As you probably won't know (unless you've been here from the very beginning), yesterday was this story's 1 week anniversary. (You can have a monthiversary, so why not a weekiversary...?) And, like, that's good and all...

But this story has over 100 views. And it's my first story. Squeeeee~. If you're new here, you won't know that I've currently been publishing new chapters daily (if not, a few times a day). So, to celebrate... Here's a special chapter. Why is it special, you may ask?

There's a backstory to one of the characters at the end of this chapter. It'll be continued through multiple chapters. Can you guess who it is before it's too late?

-MelonsAndStuff


Chapter Eleven~ The Pony In The Black Coat

Distort couldn't get his head around cutie marks. Somepony's talent really was reflected on their flank? Only on these strange, foreign ponies, had he ever seen such things. A personal talent only one pony had? It seemed almost unbelievable. He tilted his head to the ceiling, oohing to all of the knowledge he'd never had before.

"And… Everypony here has these marks?" He asked with big, graphite eyes. Princess Twilight Sparkle explained. "Wow… I can't believe they didn't teach us this." In sadness and wonder, Distort rolled his head, stretching his neck.

Twilight blinked in confusion. "Does anypony there have a cutie mark?"

"No." Distort revealed. "Not even the adults… Although, there was this one time…"


Nibbling on his tongue, a regular habit, Distort walked along the long corridor, searching for Prism, yelling for his friend. It was just a normal day; Prism would hide and Distort would go to find her so they could read books together. Then, 20 minutes later, Glimpse would join them, making up a stupid excuse about being re-tested 70 odd times, when in actual fact he'd been beating up Eternal and Universe. He wouldn't always win, which was the main giveaway of his actions.

This time, though, felt different. There was a bustle of scientists approaching. Strange; there'd usually be about three to a wing, rather than the 13 there were then. In the middle of them was a maroon stallion, a long black coat which had a collar that covered his muzzle and the lower half of his face. Although it was hidden so well, with his mane covering his eyes, Distort could feel him smiling. It was chilling, really.

The stallion stopped and analysed the blue colt, who shivered, frozen in his gaze. After a few moments, the stallion moved on, chuckling quietly about the colt's shyness. But, just as he was passing, Distort noticed something behind his coat- behind a tear in the flank region of it. It was yellow and had an odd figure from what he could see, but it certainly wasn't skin. He knew that much.

As soon as the stranger felt Distort's eyes fall upon the tear, he turned and grinned widely. "Keep on learning, young lad, and you'll be rewarded, too." Distort had reached and tried to touch it, only to be slammed into by a scientist. He felt dizzy due to the impact, wondering if the scientist was actually a robot filled with rocks. That's when the stranger moved on, flanked by the mass of scientists, leaving Distort trying to figure out what had happened.


After explaining all that to the purple alicorn, she had her lips pursed, humming quietly, trying to think about what he had just told her. That stranger he'd seen had definitely had a cutie mark. Could he have been the mastermind behind the New Detective Order?

She finally forced a smile. "Say, Distort; if I could get you out of here, would you want to go exploring?"

"Why are we going exploring?"

Twilight sighed, narrowing her eyes. "We're going to go hunting for that pony you saw with the cutie mark."


It had been a dark and stormy night, streaks of gold against the sky as lightning pelted against the ground, Brother and Sister picking berries for Mother and her cakes. Hidden in the thick underlayer of a murky forest, one bolt against a tree could possibly have been the end. I, myself, am not one to lie, but the look on Mother's porcelain face, should we return with nothing, would be a terrible reality. Already, the old mare's sharp eye for detail was beginning to waver, and her strength was fading away like the wind. Maybe once she had been an excellent baker, but I, unfortunately, being the runt of the great mare's children, had not been around to see her glory days. I had been around to see her begin to lose her sanity, which had slowly taken its toll on Brother and Sister. It is also the reason why Father... Is no longer here.

The haunted expression on Brother and Sister's faces as the berries, all bright, plump, juicy, turned to a soggy state in their bare hooves. Now dead, their faces lost all colour. As I said before, I am not a liar, so I will not hide the fact that before me, everything slowly lost its touch. It was almost as if the world was dying at our bare hooves. Brother and Sister looked so helpless against nature, their faces, so porcelain and light like Mother's, darkened by the night sky and the shadows of the forest.