Cubbage

Lope Lighthoof

There it was with the accusations again. He wasn't entirely sure why Strong Copper was so suspicious of him, but he knew it was getting on his nerves. "Look, you see any horn on this head? I'm an earth pony. That means I can't cast spells. How would I be behind this? Besides, as far as pranks go, making a shadow figure is a really dumb idea. There are so many better things I could d--" he stopped because Tangent had put her hoof over his mouth, which he immediately took to mean he should be silent. Then she began to talk.

Tangent Line

And as usual, her partner showed his inexperience. After all the years they'd been working together, she would have thought he'd know better than to try to differ suspicion by claiming over qualification for the suspicious act. She was lucky enough to put her hoof in his mouth before his own went any deeper. "Wait, so you both are here on orders from Princess Twilight Sparkle? To investigate reports of a shadow creature?" she asked. She tried to sound like a confused tourist, like her alibi, but the agent side of her was beginning to show, and it came off as slightly defensive. Hopefully it wasn't enough to cause suspicion. Lighthoof was always the better one when it came to the acting. 

Lope Lighthoof

Lope sat on the train, reviewing the case file for what must have been the four hundredth time. Tangent insisted he be able to answer any one of her questions about the mission by the time they arrived on scene, and she had a knack for being able to inquire about obscure details he was sure the writers of the file themselves weren't aware of. Garden Gait, three missing ponies within the last week, two earth ponies, one male one female, and one pegasus stallion. The only reason S.M.I.L.E. was being called in was because the circumstances seemed to suggest that these may not be ponynappings done by ponies. Something seemed to be snatching the victims up with greater power. Perhaps even monstrous power. Regardless, the two were warned that other agents of the crown may be investigating in the same area. They were instructed to cooperate, but avoid giving up their organization if at all possible. Their identities were to be preserved, and they were to erase memories if their involvement with the League became known.

He quizzed himself over the names of the missing ponies again, and reminded himself where each had gone missing. There seemed to be a pattern to the disappearances. All took place at night, though the exact time of night was unknown, as nopony had been around when it happened, and all took place near the edge of town, specifically on the eastern side (Tangent suggested this may be because the eastern side of town catches more shade during the sunset, allowing whatever creature they were looking for to come out earlier). It seemed ponies in this town were responsible enough to tell others where they were going at night. That was highly useful information.

In lieu of the disappearances, the mayor had issued an order prohibiting anypony from leaving their homes after dark. Tangent and Lighthoof would be taking advantage of the fact that no one would be able to enforce such a curfew as the townsponies didn't have nightly guard.

As the train reached the station, Lope retrieved their luggage from the compartment above their seats. "Ready to rid this town of its night terrors?" he asked as the train finally arrested.

Tangent Line

Agent Tangent didn't have her case file out. She knew everything she needed to know. And from the sounds of it, Lighthoof did, too. She had conditioned him well. He was beginning to absorb debriefing content almost as well as she did, though she'd never tell him that. She didn't want it going to his head. 

She gazed out the window, watching the countryside go by. Strange to think that a beautiful area like this could be plagued by such a terrible monster, whatever it was that they were here to neutralize. This was going to be just like the last mission they were on, in Ponyville. Late nights, lots of sneaking around and chasing shadows. Though, hopefully they wouldn't run into any interference as they had last time. Though the griffon and unicorn stallion had been helpful, she would have preferred they stay out of it. S.M.I.L.E. was a serious organization. She hated when she had to work with freelancers or privateers who were only in it to earn the extra bits. It gave a bad name to the profession of monster hunting.

She knew it was likely other investigators would be in the area. She was just hoping to Celestia that when the chief had said "Investigators", he hadn't meant "S.T.A.R. agents". She didn't think she could handle a headache on top of this case. S.T.A.R. jurisdiction battles could get intense. 

As the train reached the station, Lighthoof retried their luggage from the compartment above their seats and made a comment about ridding the town of it's night terrors. She gave a slight smile, unable to help but catch a bit of his positivity. "As ready as I'll ever be. Hope you got a good night's sleep last night, because tonight is going to be quite long," she reminded him as she rose and levitated her bags from him. They exited the train and started off for the bed and breakfast where they would be nesting for the next few days.

Lovely Craft's phrasing, "ex-royal star gazer," "fried and fired," etc., aggravated wounds that were still very thinly healed in Dawn's mind, and she was beginning to think that perhaps her prediction was referring to a different pony. Nonetheless, this pony was, in a round about way, giving her praise, which she was always happy to accept. "Yes, that's me. I write the astrology column for the Canterlot newspaper now. A step down from greater things, but I'll take what I can get. I'm glad you enjoy my premonitions. As for starting my own fan club, I'm afraid I don't know what you mean. I've never considered myself popular or famous enough to have 'fans'. True, many ponies read my horoscopes, and a mare or two has come seeking tarrot or tea leaf readings since my discharge, but I hardly think that counts a fan club." In her mind, she was mostly hoping this mare wasn't referring to the meeting next week. No one outside the list her cousin had sent her was supposed to know about it. Had someone gotten sloppy? Was that what Lovely Craft had meant when she said she overheard "friends of hers" talking about her "party"?

Aaaand the three new fillies proved to be a disappointment as well. At least the pegasus did, anyway. She knocked over most of the desks, and Morning Glow had to hold on to keep from succumbing to the same fate as the others. The earth pony spoke with a country accent, which was an immediate turn-off for her. Morning Glow wasn't the type to associate with farmers. The last filly, however, seemed rather composed. Now there was a pony she might be able to get along with. And of course, there was Spearmint. Thankfully, he sat next to her. So far, he was the only other foal whom she had met that she even remotely got along with.

When the archchancelor began his speech, Morning Glow quickly levitated her notebook and quill -- only to find that she had forgotten them in her rush to be on time. Great. So there would be no taking notes on what was possibly one of the most important information meetings of the year. Well, she would just have to put that memory training to practice. 

His (or her, from the sound of it?) speech actually made her rather nervous. "Hardship and horror"? What exactly did that mean? From what she had heard, the School of Friendship was a place of sunshine and rainbows where no one did any real learning; it was a glorified social etiquette class (that spanned an entire school day). But hardship and horror were not things she had signed on for. Maybe her Theory of Defensive Magic book would come in handy sooner than she thought... She should probably read through it again, just in case.

When the time for questions came, she raised her hand politely and immediately, then waited for her turn after the corn filly had finished. "Exactly what do you mean by 'hardship and horror'?" she asked. Better to get a real answer than to overthink it all year if it was just an exaggeration...

Dawn nearly dropped the kettle at Blizzard's remark about fizzling out. She had not fizzled out. If anything, she was only ascending to greater brightness. Perhaps this old unicorn had given up on his dreams, but Dawn had not. She was going to rule Equestria one day. It was her true destiny. The Princess of Prophecy, Princess of Premonition, Princess of the Future. Nonetheless, she kept her offense hidden.

"Sounds like we both suffer from a bad case of under appreciation by the sun princess," she said, a hint of contempt in her voice. "And we both have ambitions to change an outdated system that's being run by ponies no longer qualified to handle the modern needs of Equestria," she proceeded.

She removed two green, honey-lemon tea bags from the cupboard and placed them in the cups, then filled them each with hot water and stirred. "It depends on my mood. Some days I ice it, others I wait until it's just below scalding. Some days I add extra sugar, like so, and others I take it straight." Blizzards cup moved across the room towards him, and once his aura had taken hold of it, Dawn released it. She walked back to her seat and plopped down. "Perhaps I was never told my talent was antiquated directly, but it was certainly implied when the princesses expressed the fact that they had seen a vital vision that I had not. No need for a pony who reads the stars and predicts the future if you can just see it for yourself." By now, Dawn's irritation with the Celestial/Lunar administration was showing through. Her tone was rather from the time she began accusing the system of being outdated. By the time she got around to answering Blizzard's question, it was clear her mind was not moving off the topic of the former princesses' mistakes and wrongdoings, even if the conversation was. "No, I'm afraid I've never heard of her." She said offhandedly, taking a sip of her tea. 

Cloudy found herself now getting excited over the idea of helping with the clouds of the show. After all, making clouds by wingpower was normal, but could be taxing, depending on the density, temperature, and water content. But certain clouds were made by wingpower simply because it was cheaper and easier than using cloud machines to do it. A team of pegasi could make a thin fog faster and more evenly than a machine. And fogs weren't in high demand anyway because they serve no logistic purpose. They make it harder for pegasi to fly and harder for other ponies to see. So their uses were highly rare. 

But Windy needed a fog cloud nonetheless. And the more she thought about it, the more possible the idea of a fog formula that would mimic the texture of a wing-made fog cloud seemed! Low dust content for less adhesion, but high water content, processing would have to be high pressure and the effect would probably work better at higher altitudes, where the atmospheric pressure was lowest, causing the greatest contrast between processing and releasing... Everything seemed to click! She was fairly certain she could do it! In fact, she was sure it had been done before, but nopony had saved the recipe because of how useless it was in practical circumstances. Well she was about to invent a recipe! It was going to be glorious! She wouldn't get any scientific recognition for it, of course, but at least she would take pride knowing she had done it! And Windy, of course would be delighted, so that would be a plus! All that was left was to grab a sample of Windy's wing-made cloud so she could get an idea of the consistency, then take it back to Cloudsdale and start work on a synthetic version. This was going to be--

Windy was looking at her expectantly. Truth be told, after the other pegasus had finished speaking, Cloudy had become lost in thought again and the conversation at hand had left her mind almost entirely. "Uh... Yeah! That sounds great!" she said, summing up her entire thought process that had taken... who knew how long. Probably only a few seconds, but she still felt awkward knowing she had zoned out. "I can't wait to see the show tomorrow! If what I saw earlier today is any indicator of how good you are when you're outdoors, then I know it'll be spectacular!" she said with all sincerity. She took another spoonful of jambalaya, this time blowing on it several times before taking it into her mouth. There was a bit of a kick to it, one she assumed would build as she continued to consume the soup, but the flavor was amazing! Windy hadn't talked this restaurant up at all! It met every expectation!

Lope Lighthoof

Lope was taken aback by the accusation, even though he was already aware that Strong Copper was already suspicious of him. "I'll take that as a compliment, thank you. I'm an athlete," he said, moving his rump so that the three horseshoes on his flank were visible. "It's my cutie mark. Getting places remarkably quickly is my thing." The stallions suspicions earlier may have somewhat warranted, but this was a downright accusation, and Lope was not fond of those."And I might point out that for somepony who had several minutes to search for a shadow creature, you stayed remarkably still," he said back, more so trying to come back with something than point out any real suspicious activity. He then turned his attention to the griffon. And his fears were confirmed with Strong Copper's question. This must be the S.T.A.R. agent he was pleading wouldn't show up. And now his trainer was right here. This was about to get ugly...

Tangent Line

Tangent had been scouting a nearby street when Lope had given the signal for backup. "Horseapples" was their predetermined safety word for if they needed rescuing but couldn't risk blowing their cover. And from the sounds of it, it had been a good thing he called when he did. She showed up just in time to see a frazzled unicorn about to throw down with a griffon, and Lope standing nearby. After the unicorn's explanation, however, she powered down her horn. No need for her intervention here, it seemed. Then, the stallion asked the griffon for clarification on who had sent her. And from the way he asked, it sounded like he was pretty sure of the answer himself. Great. If somepony -- or rather, somecreature (Celestia, how she hated this new terminology they had to use on the job) was about to claim jurisdiction on this case over her and her trainee, then this was about to get ugly...

"Sure is, kid! The number 21, to be specific." He proceeded to explain the intricacies of the game to the two fillies, and by the time he was done, even Reflection looked at least mildly interested. "I'll letcha play a few rounds free, and if ya haven't gotten anything by then, I'll lend ya a few bits to getcha started," he said, eyeing the barkeep. He shook their hands as Kara introduced the two of them, chuckling a bit at her self-title and description of Reflection, who muttered something at the comment about her attitude. 

Dartmouth dealt the cards out, and the other ponies placed their bits in the center. He then went around the table, asking who was going to hit and who was going to stay (everypony started with a hit) until he got to the two fillies. "What'll it be, foals?" he asked. Reflection thought for a moment, possibly calculating odds, and then decided for a hit. "And for the adventurer?" he asked.

Lope was already around the corner and making his way down the next street when he heard the shot go off. His training put him into auto pilot, and his athletic cutie mark propelled him back in no time, ready to face any threat. There! A griffon? What was a griffon doing here? Assessing the situation on his way, he determined nothing hostile was going on -- at least not at the moment. He skidded to a stop by Strong Copper. "What's going on here?? Is everypony alright??" he asked frantically. 

His trainer, a scarlet unicorn with auburn hair, wasn't far behind him, having been on the way to him already. "I heard a stun spell! What happened??" Her horn was charged and ready to attack as she looked between the three creatures before her.

Twinkle backed into the entryway as this other pony circled her. Most of what she was saying didn't make sense, at least not at first. She gathered from the jumble though that she must make predictions like her. How interesting. Even more interesting, however, was that this strange pony knew her name. "Um... Yes, that is my name. And actually, my aura is green. Like my eyes." She demonstrated by manipulating the door back to its shut position. "Lovely Craft, you said your name was?" she offered a tentative hoof. "I'm Twink-- but of course, you already know that. In fact, you seem to know quite a bit about me... May I ask where you got your information from?" She tried to maintain appearances, but was most definitely not comfortable around this pony's sudden... presence. She had a strange aura about her. Strange, and yet somehow... familiar. Had they met before and Dawn just didn't remember? Is that how this pony knew so much about her?

This thread takes place during the events of Season Four of FiM, hence the title "Memories"

The sun was beginning to rise, illuminating the Canterlot observatory better. For the first time in more than two hours, Twinkle Dawn looked up from her parchment. She had been charting stars and trying to write horoscopes all night to submit to the local newspaper, but nothing was coming to her. She looked around at the decor and the large telescope. It was the best one in Equestria, so they said. Adjustable scope, extremely powerful, and decorated in beautiful gold and polished wood. She had been using it for years to talk to the heavens. But now, it seemed the heavens had closed to her. It had been more than three months since her discharge, and she still was having trouble with her predictions. It seemed they relied largely on her confidence in her own abilities, and tonight, she just hadn't had any.

She sighed, balled up the parchment, and tossed it into the nearby wastebasket. The day workers would be here shortly to open the observatory to the public, and she usually liked to be gone by the time that happened. Oh well. There was always tomorrow, right? She perked up, trying to stay positive. If her visions and predictions relied on confidence, then she would just need to fake it till she made it! Still, the nagging doubt remained with her...

She before closing up the observatory, she felt that she should check one last star in the sky. It was Venus. It was rising with the sun, and she decided to rotate the roof and telescope to get a better look at it. After studying it for several moments, it slowly faded away with the rising of the sun. She wrote down her impressions and then studied what she had written. "Today is a good day to make a new friend." Well, it wasn't much, but it was something. She supposed she could stay up a little longer if it meant following the guidance of the stars.

She closed up the observatory and looked over a note she had exchanged with her cousin, detailing the location and time for the first meeting she would have with her potential followers. In a week, she was going to be giving a speech in front of at least fifty ponies, trying to convince them that she was princess material. She needed to get her confidence up before then. Otherwise, no one would believe her. For now, though, she needed to focus on following the stars. They had sent her a message. Make a new friend. Simple enough, she reasoned. Canterlot was full of ponies. All she had to do was talk to one. 

As she opened the door to the street, she came face to face with one. The pony seemed to be here to visit the observatory. "I'm sorry, the observatory doesn't open for another hour. Can I help you?" she asked, assuming the pony's intentions.

The barkeep did not look to be in a very patient mood. "Not at any of my tables, you aren't. You look barely old enough for cutie marks, now skedaddle!" At a table behind them, however, another stallion spoke up. "Aww, c'mon Marukas! Let 'em have their fun! They can't learn gamblin's bad if they don' ever try it!" 

The two stallions argued a bit. It was clear the barkeep was firm in his stance, and that the other stallion was seeking some kind of amusement by advocating for the fillies.

"A tavern isn't a place for fillies!"

"It ain't like we're givin' 'em hard cider or takin' 'em upstairs! Relax! They just wanna play some cards! Heck, I'll let 'em use some of my bits if it makes ya feel better!"

Finally, the bartender caved, but only on the condition that the two fillies keep their own bits to themselves, and that any they won stayed with them. He also refused to serve anything harder than water to the table where they sat until after they left. "And I'm keeping my eye on you, Dartmouth. You make one backwards comment while those two are over there, and you'll never set hoof in this tavern again! Y'hear?" The other stallion agreed, keeping his cool and escorting the fillies over to his table.

"Now, you foals ever play blackjack?" he asked as he sat them down. Several other stallions and one mare laughed a bit as the two joined their table.

Reflection was actually a little surprised at Karakusa's desire to be honest. She had taken her for the kind of pony who would do anything to get in an extra bit. She supposed, however, that Kara was still a filly, however, and probably still carried with her the innocence of youth.

As they entered the tavern, they found many of the same ponies who had fled Iron town, presumably stopping here either on their way to larger settlements or to try to take up a new life now that their home had succumbed to the forces of chaos. Reflection only hoped this village wouldn't soon fall to the same fate...

Their immediate greeting was from the barkeep, who shouted, "Turn your flanks around, fillies! This is a place for stallions and mares! We don't serve hard cider to foals!" Reflection sighed. Being reminded of her juvenile body was not only annoying, at times it could be downright depressing to remember that she had years to gain back before anyone would treat her like an adult again.

"Hm..." the other filly thought aloud. "Maybe it will be! At least for 24 hours!" Her horn glowed, and an aura appeared around the coins. After a moment, their shapes blurred, and they divided like cells into six. "There! Now we have six silver bits! Half of them will disappear tomorrow, though, so we'll have to get back on the road pretty quickly."

Me too! I call dibs!

Reflection seemed hesitant. "I don't know, Kara..." she started, "I don't have a ton of bits left, and even if I did, they're not from this world. They're Equestrian bits. I was counting on the barkeep in Iron Town to not look too closely at them before we left, but I'm sure ponies at a gambling table will be much more perceptive. Unless you have bits of your own to spare, I think it'd be safer to just lay low..."

Pleased to meet you! Welcome to the server! I'm so jealous that you do digital art! I can't draw worth anything hahaha I watch artists on YouTube because it's so cool to me and I wish I could do it!

Reflection laughed. She seemed to be relaxing a bit as they departed from the center of what she was certain was armageddon. "I suppose you're right. I know we're going to need plenty ourselves..."

By the end of the day, their hooves were sore, but they had finally wandered their way into a small town, which looked to be more of an outpost for travelers than an actual town. There was a small inn, a tavern, a general store and stable, and one or two houses, but for the most part, that was it. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I have the bits for cider before bed. Unless we want to try our luck at a gambling table, I say we find a room and turn in for the night. What do you think?"

Welcome to the site! Always good to see a new face! Don't worry if you're having trouble getting the hang of things. Everyone takes a bit to grasp onto it. It was super nerve racking for me. Once you get into your first RP, it makes a lot more sense. That being said, I have Discord and DMs here if you want any help or need an RP partner! Great to meet you!

Also, horror is horrifying. AAAAH!

Dawn's eyes perked up at the mention of the word amulet. It brought her thoughts to the amulet she was currently seeking, and she wondered if perhaps this stallion would know anything of its location... Best not ask that just yet. She didn't want to create unnecessary suspicion. Bringing up magical artifacts that had once been used for evil often did that, even though her intentions were nothing of the sort. 

"Well that sounds like quite the project! Please let me know when you've completed it! I'd be very interested in one. I have something of a love for magical artifacts myself.

"As for me, I'm just a humble astrologer. Once upon a time, I was in the same class as Twilight Sparkle at the School for Gifted Unicorns. I was even named royal astrologer after graduating. Unfortunately, I was stripped of that title after a certain minotaur escaped from Tartarus and I was unable to provide the princesses with a warning before they received their own. I still remember the dream I had of an entity escaping the prison, more than a year before Tirek attacked. But I was told I was crazy then, and that I was wrong. If anything, I was told that I probably saw Cerberus leaving his post and just mistook it for a prison break. Princess Celestia assured me that agents had checked the prison and that all inmates were accounted for. 

"But I'm not bitter about it. I'm much happier here, honestly. There's a lot less at stake in the event that I'm wrong. And I know my discharge was probably just the result of two panicked princesses grappling with the idea that the fate of Equestria was hanging in the balance, and they probably just needed somepony to blame. I'm sure if I had gone back and asked for my old job, they would have apologized and forgiven me. But I didn't want it back, and I still don't. I have my sights set on much higher aspirations."

As she finished her monologue, the tea kettle began to whistle. She hopped to her hooves and levitated it to the counter, simultaneously walking to a cupboard and removing two teacups. "Are you partial to any kind of tea? I keep a variety here so that I can drink whatever I'm in the mood for on a given night."

Well, so much for delaying the dragon. And now Strong Copper was going to be suspicious of him. Probably would be best to part ways about now. "I'm just staying at the local bed & breakfast. I can walk myself back. You sure you don't want any help out here, though? More eyes might be helpful. Of course, I understand if Spike made you suspicious of me. I guess it's not common to wander around at night, and just my luck that there would be a shadow demon stalking the streets the night I can't sleep." He sighed. "Well, on the bright side, I think I'm finally getting tired enough to sleep. Now the question will just be whether any nightmares wake me up. It was nice to meet you. I'll head back now." And with that, he turned away from the unicorn and started towards his hotel. Hopefully, Strong Copper wouldn't follow. Then he could double back and start tailing the pony. If he had a talent for finding monsters, then Lope would most likely want to be near him. He'd be the most likely to spot the creature first. If Strong Copper did follow him, though, well... "Horseapples," he muttered, defeated. 

"I'm on my way," came a response in his ear. Hopefully she'd be able to resolve a situation if one arose. If not, it'd still be nice to fill her in on everything he had learned, and especially on the possibility of S.T.A.R. agents en route.

Dawn recalled the day vividly. It had been quite frightening. 

His explanations all seemed to make sense. At the mention of the Princess of Friendship, a hint of malice, unnoticed to the untrained eye, flashed across Dawn's face. She surpassed the thought, however, and continued the conversation. "Why would anypony run off in fear of you? You seem charming enough! I'm certainly not afraid of you! I doubt you would hurt anyone on purpose unless you had a very good reason." She smiled reassuringly to show him that she did indeed trust him. After all, if he were dangerous, the stars would have warned her. "But I digress. You're stressed about a project? What project might that be? I'm sure it's something fantastical! Perhaps the reason you were guided here is so that I might assist you in some way, either by relieving your stress or providing some component necessary for its completion?" 

Great... Now he was the object of both of their suspicions. "What? A prank? Of course this isn't a prank! And I'm not a shadow pony, either! Until tonight, I didn't even know there was a shadow pony! I just... worry about calling in royal assistance. Something about it just gives me the heebie jeebies. Maybe I'm just in denial about there being a possible monster attack on my vacation spot and calling in royal assistance will make it all seem too real to me. I don't know. I just think maybe we should get a little more info on what we're dealing with before we call the princess." 

Being in the spotlight wasn't his forte. He was supposed to stay out of it as part of his job description, in fact. Now that he had gained their suspicions, the spotlight was where he was, and he needed to do what he could to get out of it.

Then he saw it again. Out of the corner of his eye. There was something there, and then there wasn't, almost like it had just appeared long enough to be noticed and then vanished as instantly as it had come. His head jerked towards where it was, but not nearly fast enough. "Did you guys see that...?" he asked, pointing in the direction of the motion.

Dawn was delighted! This visitor was stranger than she could have ever imagined! He was from the Frozen North?? Why did he "sneak through Equestria at night"? He had been a student at the School for Gifted Unicorns, too? So many more questions were swirling through her mind!

Then he threw an insult.  "Who would have thought Astronomy would have been a useful class in magic school." What did he mean by that?? Study of astronomy was important in magic school regardless of your primary discipline! Of course it was a useful class in magic school! Nevertheless, she put aside her clear differences in interest, and focused on the matter at hand. He had requested a horoscope, and even given his sign. That was certainly helpful. But she also found it helpful to find out as much as possible about her clients before doing readings, and she certainly wanted to find out as much as possible about this pony!

"Oh but of course! The stars can tell me everything I could want to know! Well, perhaps not everything." She had flashbacks to her dismissal as royal astrologer, but brushed them off without missing a beat. "For instance, the stars cannot tell me why you live in the Frozen North, or why you have to travel at night. I'm not endangering myself legally by talking to you, am I? Normal ponies don't live in a harsh area such as that... That's the land of shadow ponies and yaks." She gave a look that conveyed playful suspicion. She was sure he wasn't a criminal, and even if he was, who was she to judge him? Perhaps he was misunderstood, in which case the least she could do was provide him with a hot cup of tea and some information about his future. Perhaps she could even work towards clearing his name. If it was so that he was a victimized criminal, then when she took power, she would be certain that he was pardoned for whatever imagined crime he had committed. The stars had told her he would be strange, not dangerous. And she intended to treat him as such.

Morning Glow froze again when Chipper Demise ratted her. She turned back and walked slowly towards the archchancelor, horn pointed down, tail all but between her legs like a puppy. She shot Chipper Demise a dirty look as she turned and entered the room. She took her seat, front and center, and waited for the rest of the stragglers to be seated and the orientation to begin. Her parents had filed her paperwork ahead of time, unlike the corn fillies, apparently. She sighed. Rural communities were the worst. Granted, this was the first rural community she'd ever been in, but if they were all like this one, then they were the worst.

Then buckball trio entered. She hadn't met these fillies before. She just hoped to Celestia that they were nothing like the other foals she'd met. She wasn't sure how much more she could take. Spearmint, of course, was an exception. From the sounds of it, he even had a personal recommendation from Princess Twilight! Morning Glow didn't have high enough grades to work directly with her. Her grades were good, just apparently not good enough. Supposedly, that's why she was here instead of back in Canterlot focusing on real education. Magic education. She sighed again as orientation started. It was going to be a long semester...