The attack was something that messed with everyone. However, they were slowly being able to let it behind and focus on other things.

The cops were patrolling the hallways, in order to be sure that there was no danger. The same was true about the mages hired by the Manechester family. Apparently, they were reinforcing the house with some special magic protections, as it seemed that they still thought that there could be some danger. Charles dismissed it as simply saying that they were being paranoid, once the responsible mages were already caught. He added that reacting over things should be usual for both cops and mages. This, of course, granted some mages to look back at him.

Soon, all of the guests were relaxing, as they were drinking and talking among themselves. It was decided that this part of the mystery murder game was concluded, once they did all that was planned for the night, and now they could use their time on other things. They would be resuming the game tomorrow, as it was the plan.

"This will last for a few days, anyway." Chandler said to everyone, "We did all that I planned for today, so now we relax and spend a good night together before going to bed, and then we continue the game tomorrow."

However, it was decide that, from now on, they would be having all of the game inside of the house, as a precaution, and none of the guests disagreed.

Gazelle had just finished having a word with Euphemia, the mare's husband was by her side, and he took had took part on the conversation, although it was Euphemia that had done most of the talking.

"So, you can imagine how hard it must be." Euphemia said, looking at the popstar, and Gazelle looked back at her, before she looked to the side. Tyson was standing in a corner, and it seemed that he was looking at something. She caught a glimpse of his expression, and it seemed... troubled.

"Miss Gazelle?" Euphemia's voice said, and Gazelle looked back at the mare, who was looking at her. Her husband was looking at the popstar too, and he seemed to be expecting something.

"I'm sorry, I hot distracted for a moment." Gazelle said asked, looking at them, and soon she was getting up.

"Would you excuse me for a bit?" She said, and she was soon walking away from them and in direction to Tyson. The two horses looked at her as she was leaving. Charles made some commentary on her being "an airhead", but Gazelle didn't heard it, as she was walking in direction to the tiger, who was looking at his phone.

He was looking at the screen, more specifically, at an article that was appearing on it. It had a photo of him and his brothers, and it had the words:

DANCERS OF DISASTER?

He was frowning as he looked at it, and he was focus on it so much that he failed to notice someone approaching, until he heard a familiar voice talking to him:

"Tyson?" He immediately rose his head to see Gazelle looking at him, with a worried expression. "Is everything alright?"

Tyson looked at her, smiling as he turned the screen of his phone down, pressing a button to close the page that he had been reading just now.

"Oh, hey boss." He said, looking at her with a smile. "Of course everything is alright. Why woudn't it be?"

Gazelle looked at him, and she looked not convinced.

"What are you looking at?" She asked, looking at his phone, and the tiger was soon saying something like how it was "just some stupid anti-mage thing online", and how it was not serious and nothing that she needed to worry about.

Gazelle had knew Tyson for a long time, as well as his brothers. Even though she never suspected them to be mages, she had come to know them well enough to know when there was something bothering them. Tyson in particular, who had always been the one who was closer to her and he was one of the ones who showed his emotions the most, along with Tyler. He had always been easy to read.

"Is it about you?" The popstar said, looking as him, and the tiger looked back at her. His expression told her that it was. "There is anyone posting anything about you and the boys?"

"Gazelle." Tyson said, and the popstar looked at him, seeing in his face that it was it. That really angered her.

"Well, I am not going to accept this." She said, "I am finding this post and posting back a message online telling whoever is doing this to leave you alone."

"Wait, you don't have to."

"Yes, I do." The popstar said, looking at the tiger with a serious expression. "Tyson, you all have always been by my side ever since I can remember. You have supported me and helped all along the way, and you have always protected me. If someone is posting things against you online only because you are mages, then I am not going to accept it. Tell me who is posting these things so I can tell them to stop."

The tiger looked at her, before he looked to the side.

"What, it is more than just one?" She asked, looking back at the tiger, "Well, if that's the case then I'll just post a video telling everyone to stop bothering you." She said, looking at him, and the tiger looked back at her. "I just have to get my phone."

She stopped when she felt a paw landing on her arm, and she turned around to see Tyson looking back at her. His expression was serene, and he was looking back at her.

"Maria, please, don't." He said to her, and she looked back at him.

"But, Tyson-" She tried to protest, but the tiger cut her:

"It won't do any good."

For a long moment, he and Gazelle only looked at each other, and the tiger sighed, before he looked at her, and said:

"Not only you wouldn't get them to stop, but you would give them an excuse to attack you as well. Just like what happened two years ago."

Gazelle looked at him. She knew exactly what he was talking about.

It was during the Night Howler plot and the savage attacks scare. The boys were being attacked in social medias, as mammals were posting nasty commentaries to them and even making threats against them. One of the commentaries even said that they should be in cages like all of the other predators before they had the chance to go crazy and kill Gazelle, and that she should agree with that if she had any common sense.

Gazelle was quick to answer to this by posting something online for people to leave the boys alone, as they had done nothing wrong. However, it didn't had the effect that she wanted, as the attacks had continued. Not only that, but some mammals online started to attack her as well. They were posting that she was a "predator apologist", that she was "irresponsible and crazy", and that she "wanted to be devoured by those beasts". Of course, none of that really affected her fame, but she would be receiving these nasty messages online almost on a daily basis.

This was something that had bothered the boys deeply, as it seemed that she became a target only because she had tried to defend them. Of course, it was not something new for Gazelle, once she had long learned that the price for being on the public eyes and defending your views as a sure way to be attacked by some jerk, especially by the bigoted ones. She also received these kinds of nasty messages for defending predators in general during the time of the scare, and she continued to receive them for a few months even after the Night Howler plot was reveal and the scare passed.

Still it had not been a good period for the popstar and for her dancers.

Now it seemed that there was a new wave of problem coming. This time it was no about them being predators that could be savage, but being mages, that made them be targets. This was something that deeply troubled Gazelle, so much that she felt like she needed to do something. Even though Tyson didn't wanted her to, once the events of the Night Howler scare could repeat themselves, and they would have to see Gazelle being targeted once more.

"It is okay." Tyson said to her, giving her a smile. "It is really nothing that you should worry with. We can deal with it."

Gazelle wanted to protest. She wanted to say that it was not okay if there was someone attacking them. She wanted to say to him that it was something that needed to be worried with, once they were all her friends, and four of the mammals whom she cared about the most in the world.

However, Tyson was making it clear to her that he was not letting her getting involved into this.

"We will be fine." He said to her, gently putting his paws on her shoulders. "We can take care of ourselves. You don't have to stress over this, you know how stress is terrible to your fur."

She looked at him in the eyes, and she knew that he was trying to comfort her and, at the same time, telling her not to get involved. She knew that there would be little use trying to argue with him over that, for he would want to protect her just as much as she wanted to stand up for him and the others. That was just how her tigers were.

The popstar let out a sigh.

"Okay. But if I see anything online attacking you guys, I am doing something about it." She said, and Tyson looked at her, before he nodded.

"Fair enough." He said, and he was already making plans to try to keep her away from the computer and from the cellphone for a while. "So, this game is being quite interesting, ain't it? You already got any idea of who could have done it?"

It was a half-baked attempt to diverge the attention from the subject that they had just been talking about. However, it was a welcome one, as Gazelle felt like diverging her attention to other subjects. Both she and Tyson wanted to forget the thing and not let it consume their minds and become the most important thing of the world, even if just for a night.

They both, like most of the others, failed to notice the two mammals who just peeked through the door of the room. It were Legoshi and Melon. The wolf still wore the white clothing of his costume, while the gazelle still wore the military-style clothing and the gasmask. It seemed that they had gone in there only to check on everyone, as they were standing by the door and looking at the guests, before they nodded at each other and the wolf pulled something from his pocket.

Legoshi held his paw, and let the small cicada on his paw to fly into the room. It was unseen by everyone in there, and it flew over their heads before it landed on the wall, and it remained in there, silent and unmoving, and no one was the wiser.

With this, the two mammals turned around and left, confident that no one had noticed them.

However, they were wrong.

"Yeah, no one notices a bug on the wall." Melon said to his wolf partner. "Guess it is safe to assume that none of them noticed that."

"Melon, I am not comfortable with this." The wolf said, "It doesn't feels right to use my familiars to spy on Chandler-sama and the other guests."

"Oh, come on, Legoshi." The masked gazelle said, looking at the wolf. "We talked about this. It is not spying. It's keeping surveillance." The gazelle put a hoof on the wolf's shoulder as he said that.

"We are just keeping an eye on them to be sure that they are not in danger. I mean, it is no different from having security cameras around." The horned mammal continued to explain. "Since that horse doesn't have any of them on the inside, then nothing better than we have a way of keeping watch over the place without the need for the cameras, right?"

"Yeah, that is another thing that bothers me." Legoshi said, looking back at the gazelle. "If Adrian-sama doesn't wants cameras on the inside, he won't be mad that we are putting my familiars to watch over the place from the inside, and without telling him about it first?"

"For him to say no and accuses us of wanting to spy on his collection? Nah, we better acting on our own." Melon said, looking back at the wolf through the lens of his mask. "Besides, I don't know you, but I remember very clearly that the horse said that, as long as we did our job and prevented anything else from happening into his house, we were free to do as we wanted."

Legoshi looked at him for a few moments, and he thought about it. In fact, the horse did said something among those lines. Not with the same words that Melon used, but very similar.

"We are just doing our job, my dear wolf." The horned mammal said to his friend. "Nothing wrong with doing what it needs to be done to achieve results. These are also words of that cranky horse."

That was also truth.

"So, we just keep doing our job and earning our paycheck." The gazelle said, "After all, we are doing it in an honest way. Kind of."

"'Kind of'?" A new voice said, as a paw landed on the shoulders of each of the mammals, making them stop and slowly turn their heads. They saw Josh Clawhauser's head looking over their shoulders, smiling at them with a toothy smirk.

"Now, that is something interesting to hear." The cheetah said, and both of the mammals looked back at him. The wolf looked nervous, the gazelle... well, it was hard to say with that awkward mask over his face. However, he spoke in a controlled manner as he spoke to the muscular, leather-clad cheetah.

"Do you often sneak on others like that, Mr. Clawhauser?" The gazelle asked, and the cheetah smiled back at him.

"Not usually." He said, "But, sometimes I might feel like doing that when I see them discreetly placing a familiar into a room to spy on others."

"O-oh..." Legoshi said, "You saw that that?"

"Sure did, you cute little canine." He said, smirking at the wolf, "And I have to say that you two should be glad that I was the only one who did, because a few of the guys in there would be really upset for knowing that you guys are now using magecraft to spy on them. Chandler could think that you guys are planning on cheating on the game after he was so insistent for us not to cheat."

"Oh, that has nothing to do with the game." Melon said, looking at the cheetah, "We don't need these little tricks to win some game, we are smart enough for that. Well, at least I am."

The wolf looked at the gazelle, but said nothing, and the masked mammal continued:

"Anyway, you don't have to worry about that. We are only doing our job."

"Oh, your job is to spy on the guests?" He asked, and the gazelle said back:

"Our job is to make sure that everything in here is in order, and that the house is safe. That is why Adrian Manechester hired us." He had his arms crossed as he, "We need to make sure the entire area is safe, and this means using familiars to keep watch over the entire place in case anything is to happen on the inside of the mansion."

"Oh, so you guys think that there will be some problem on the inside of the mansion?" Josh asked, and neither of the two mammals answered, as Melon looked back at him with crossed arms, while the wolf looked at the ground.

Josh looked at both of them before resuming.

"Again, you two are lucky that only I noticed it, and that I am a pretty chill guy." He said, looking at the two. "Still, you should start being more careful with that, because if someone else finds out that you are watching over everyone with these familiars, they might have a serious problem with that, and being cute won't save both of you."

"Oh, so, you think we are cute?" Melon asked, looking at the cheetah, and he shrugged.

"Well, I cannot say about you, once I didn't got a good look at your face yet." Josh said, looking at the masked gazelle, and he then looked at the wolf. "But this wolf in here surely looks cute." Legoshi rose his face to look at the cheetah, who was looking back at him with a seductive smile.

"Uhhh, thank you?" Legoshi said to him, looking to be quite awkward and he immediately looked down, and Josh looked at him for a few more moments. Before he said:

"Are you afraid of me, Mr. Ogami?" He asked, and Legoshi said nothing, and he continued to look down, and he looked at him for a few moments.

"Oh, right. It is about the whole reading minds thing, ain't it?" Josh asked, and this caused the wolf to raise his head slightly to look at him. "I don't need to read your prana to know that this is the problem. Don't worry, it makes a lot of mammals nervous." Josh said and shrugged.

"Don't worry, I am not readying your minds at this moment. I was raised better than that." Josh said, looking in between the two. "I wouldn't go looking into the minds of strangers, unless I thought that they were up to something illegal. You are not up to anything illegal, are you, guys?"

The wolf said nothing in return, simply looking down. He nearly seemed guilty, and Josh now felt a little bad for playing with him like that.

"Oh, don't be like that, cutie pie." He said, petting the wolf on the head. "I'm just teasing you. No need to look like that. Unless... you are actually planning something illegal."

Legoshi looked up at him as the cheetah spoke that, and Melon was quick to intervene.

"Yeah, okay." He said, as he pulled the wolf away from the cheetah's touch. "Look, we both have a lot of things to do, and we need to do our job and ensure that nothing bad will be happening tonight."

"Oh, maybe I can help." Josh said, looking at the masked gazelle. "I am enforcer, you know? And quite a good one at that. I could give you a lot of help into doing your job."

"A nice offer, but we are good." Melon said, and he turned around to leave, "But we will let you know if we need any help with anything." He said as he and the wolf departed, in kind of a hurry.

Josh watched as they were leaving in quite a rush, and he chuckled to himself.

Yeah, this was not that strange. He already saw many mammals rushing to move away from him after learning that he was capable to reading their minds. Everyone had some kind of dirty secret that they didn't wanted someone to find out by looking inside their heads.

Of course, Josh didn't tried to read someone else unless he truly had the need. His parents made sure to teach him, as well as the rest of his siblings, how wrong it was to invade someone's privacy by reading their prana to learn their secrets, be it for curiosity or with the actual intention of using these secrets against them.

No, Josh was better than that. He only read others when he was sure that they were hiding something serious, like he had done with Adrian Manechester, as soon as had noticed, by his vibrations, that the horse was already planning on lying. The horse was a true jerk, and the hostility that he showed towards his siblings was proof of it.

These two who just left, actually let out some much nicer vibes. Even though the vibes that he got from the gazelle felt a bit odd...

"They are hiding something." Someone said standing by his side, and he looked to the side in surprise, seeing Marcy standing in there, and she took was looking at the departing mammals.

"Yeah, I noticed that already." Josh said, "But, it does not seems something serious, by what I could pick up from their prana."

"Maybe you should try reading them a little deeper." Marcy said, and Josh looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I overheard them talking on the maze, before someone attacked Ben." She said, looking at her younger half-sibling. "They spoke something about a plan and about 'getting away with the money before they found out', or something of the like."

Josh looked at her.

"What, do you think that they are thieves?" He asked her, "Or maybe scammers?"

"It was what it sounded to me." Marcy said, looking back at the muscular cheetah. "My money is on scammers."

Josh nodded.

"So, these two might actually be bad people. Well, it wouldn't be the first time I read someone a little incorrectly when doing a superficial scam." The cheetah said, before he sighed, "Well, that's too bad. The wolf looks really cute, and the gazelle might not be that bad under that mask, even though it seems that he has some issues."

"Yeah, that gazelle actually seems nice." Marcy said, "He was really friendly with me when we talked."

"Well, I'll be keeping a close eye on these two from now on." Josh said, looking at his sister. "I'll see if they are up to anything that is truly illegal. If they are not, well, maybe I can still get lucky with one of them. Or maybe both."

Marcy looked at Josh, who had a lewd smile that she had already seen in his muzzle before.

"Oh, Josh." She said, musing on how her brother really hasn't changed.

"So, if someone is speaking something in Nipponese, would you hear their thoughts in Nipponese?" Chandler asked to Ben, as he and his girlfriend were both looking at the cheetah, and Ben looked back at him.

"Well, not really." He explained, "You see, when it comes to minds it has not really to do with language. It is more like, feelings and impressions, and the general ideas connected to the specific concepts that they are thinking. These are the kinds of things that are universal among mammals, no matter the species or the language."

"Oh, so this means that you can read anything from anyone?" Chandler asked; the horse seemed to be deeply interested in the mechanics of this specific magecraft that Ben's family was so good in using. "Is it easy? I mean, you just have to connect to someone and you can understand everything they think?"

"Well, not really." Ben said, "I mean, I did learned how to read the prana from others at a young age, but it was not just focus on someone and know what they are thinking, you have to decipher it."

"Decipher?" Hannah asked, and Ben nodded.

"Yeah, it is kind of... well, a good thing to compare would be like learning a new language. If you don't understand the language, then the words that you hear sound like only noise. Only as you go learning the language is that you start to truly understand the words, to know what you are hearing and you are able to make heads and tails out of it."

He looked at the two as he said that:

"You can say that it is like minds speak a language of their own. You need years to be able to fully master it, just like you would need to fully learn another language."

"So, it takes a long time to master mind-reading?" Chandler asked, as he found the whole thing to be quite interesting. Ben nodded.

"Yeah, you need to learn how to interpret the vibrations to know their meaning. You need that to be able to figure out precise words and phrases on their minds. But even without practice you can still pick up their vibrations, and you can notice certain things about them. For example, their overall mood, or even small clues about the most meaningful aspects of their personalities." Ben said, "Once you learn, you will have full control over it, even though you still need to actively focus to be able to decipher the vibrations of others and know what they are thinking. Of course, except when they are being too intense, in this case, you can end up eavesdropping their prana."

"Eavesdropping?" Chandler asked, looking at Ben.

"So, you can read the minds of others who come near you, even when you don't want to?" Hannah asked, looking at the plump cheetah, and the feline rubbed his head as he answered the question.

"Well, yeah. Sometimes, when they are having strong thoughts or experiencing strong emotions." Ben explained, and he looked at her. "You see is kind of like... when you pass by someone who is speaking something aloud. You don't mean to eavesdrop, but sometimes you just... hear it."

"Most of it are just intense vibrations, and it is kind of like the noise of a person talking near you, but they are not talking loud enough for you to understand what they are saying, or you are not paying enough attention to it for it to make sense." Ben explained to the two horses.

"But, sometimes, if the vibration is intense enough, you might be able to make sense of it nearly by instinct. For example, when someone is thinking about a mammal that they have a huge crush on." Ben said, "Or when they are having... really lewd thoughts about someone..." Ben was blushing, Chandler and Hannah shared a look, as they could not imagine what it would be like to overhear (or overfeel?) something like that. "Or maybe, someone near you is having a terrible nightmare and their prana just..."

Ben stopped, and he looked straight at Chandler. The horse now was looking right back at him.

For a moment, Hannah had the feeling as if things had suddenly become awkward between the two of them. That was when, all of sudden, Ben got up, saying something about needing to go to the kitchen to grab himself a snack.

The cheetah moved away surprisingly fast, and Chandler continued to look at him as he left, even after he passed through the doors and vanished from sight.

Ben sighed as he passed through the doors, and he walked through the hallways. Well, since he said that he would go to the kitchen to help himself with some food, he might as well actually do it, as not to pass by a liar.

The problem was remembering where the kitchen was, once that mansion was so big.

Luckily, it was not that hard to find, once a kitchen was an important part of the house, no matter how big said house was. So, it was not hard to find the kitchen. Well, not as hard as Ben thought.

The kitchen was as impressive as the rest of the house, and it served to demonstrate how much Adrian Manechester loved surrounding himself with beautiful things. From the table at the center of the kitchen, to the decorated plates and the flatware with ornamented handles. Ben could easily see the hoof of Chandler's father all around the place.

Ben had hoped to grab a snack for himself in there, maybe something from the fridge. However, this plan was forgot for a moment, as he saw that there was someone else in there.

"Oh." Ben said, as the mare stopped midway her glass of wine, the bottle resting on the table as she was sitting there and looking at the cheetah.

"H-hello, Mrs. Manechester."

Carolyn Manechester looked at him for a few moments, not really saying anything, but only looking back at him. This made Ben more than just a little nervous.

"I-I was just... coming to grab a bite." He said, walking to the fridge, while the mare only kept looking at him. "I-I mean, I thought that I could get something to eat right now, from your kitchen... I-if it would not be... taking advantage of your hospitality."

"It is." The mare said, her voice slurring a little bit, letting Ben know that she was a little drunk. The cheetah flinched as she said that a little bit aggressively.

"I-I'm sorry..." Ben said, giving a step back. "I-I didn't meant to cause any problem."

The mare looked at him for a moment, before she chuckled.

"Of course you didn't." She said, and she donned the rest of her glass in one go, before she started to serve herself another one.

"Of course you don't mean to cause any problem." She said, looking at Ben as she served herself. "No, you are not the kind who want to cause problems. You are a little cinnamon roll who everyone loves."

Ben looked at her as she now looked back at him with a fully full glass.

"No, you are not the kind who causes problems on purpose for fun." She said, looking at him, "You are the inconsiderate kind who comes barging in other mammals' lives like a hurricane and causes problems without meaning to."

Ben flinched as that was said to him.

"I-I don't..." He tried to say, but the mare once more cut him.

"Oh, look at you now." She said, looking at the plump cheetah, and still drinking from her glass of wine. "The poor wittle cheetah, who gets all sad and upset when someone points out his flaws. Like a little foal that just got told off by his parents." She was looking at him as she spoke that.

"You really are a little cinnamon roll, aren't you? No wonder everyone loves you so much."

She got up from her seat, and started to walk in direction to the cheetah.

"Say, if Chandler were gay, you would be stealing him from his girlfriend, wouldn't you?"

"What?" Ben asked, looking at her, "N-no!"

"Oh, you probably wouldn't do it on purpose." She said, looking back at him, "But you would end up doing that anyway, right? And then you would feel bad about it and would spend the entire time apologizing to her for having ruined a perfectly good relationship."

She looked at the cheetah with a smile on her muzzle, but the glare that she was giving her was positively poisonous.

"Because that is just the kind of mammal you are. A reluctant homewrecker."

Ben said nothing, as he only looked down. The mare continued to look at him, and she continued:

"Of course, you are the adorable kind of homewrecker." She was looking at him with a gaze full of contempt, "The kind who can make everyone feel bad about you after the problem has happened, and make everyone be at your side. It seems that everyone loves you, no matter what happens. They just have to look at this round kitty-cat face of yours, take a look at these sad round eyes, and they instantly want to side with you."

"It was like that with Chandler, who wanted to stay your friend even after all of the trouble you caused." She said, her voice dripping with a form of resentment. "It was like that with Chief Bogo, who always wanted to protect you, his newest officer whom he barely knew and yet he wanted to defend."

She scoffed.

"How you do that, I still don't know. But let me say something, it doesn't works on me." She said, and Ben now looked at her. She was giving him a very hostile glare, any fake sign of sympathy had completely left her features, and all left was anger and contempt. "I can see you by the fat, inconsiderate troublemaker that you are."

"I-I don't..." Ben said, moisture forming on his eyes as he looked back at the mare looking at him with so much anger. "I never... I... I am sorry... I didn't meant to..."

The mare laughed.

"Of course you didn't meant to." She said, and downed the rest of her glass in one go. "Still, you did it anyway. Everything was perfect and in order before you came along, then you appeared, and everything went to Hell!"

With this, she made a wide gesture and threw her glass away. It shattered as it hit the wall, and Ben flinched, nearly jumping, as the sound filled the kitchen. The glare that the mare was giving him now was positively murderous. In a corner of his mind, Ben actually felt glad that she had threw the glass into the wall instead of throwing it at him, as he had the feeling she had a certain intention of doing.

"And in the end..." The mare continued, swaying slightly, showing that she was more than just a little tipsy. "In the end, you still became the victim of the entire story. It is always like that, something happens and you, you little fat feline, are only a poor victim to whom everyone feels sympathy. Just like what happened tonight."

She gave another step in direction to the cheetah, who retreated a step, as if he was afraid of her.

"Yeah, I heard my husband mentioning how there was an attack in the green maze when you went outside." She said, looking at Ben, "He told me on how some crazy mage attacked you, but they chased him away before he managed to hurt you in any way."

She looked at Ben, and a smirk crossed her lips.

"Well, I wish that they hadn't."

Ben flinched more as he heard that.

"I don't know why that mage was attacking you, but I am sure that he had good reasons, and I wish that they had not got on his way and that he had got to punish you for whatever you did to him."

"I-I didn't' do anything!" Ben said, moisture still forming on his eyes, and he was now trying to defend himself.

"I don't even know that dog! I don't know why he wanted to-"

"Well, he certainly had a motive to come all the way here and attack you." The mare said, looking back at the feline. "He wouldn't have done that only out of boredom, would he? Maybe you did something to him and don't remember it. That totally seems like you."

Ben said nothing. He could barely hold back the tears formed on his eyes now, and the mare noticed it, and she snickered.

"Oh, are the wittle fatso going to cry now?" She asked, looking back at him, "Of course, that is one of the few things you are good at. Bet it helps you play the victim when you need to, right?"

She scoffed once more.

"Yeah, I really wish that mage had been able to do whatever it was that he wanted to do! It would have been great to finally see you get what is coming to you!"

There was poison on her words, and Ben looked back, a single tear was running down his cheek, and it seemed that it would be the first of many if the mare continued.

However, she didn't continued.

"Oi, you drunkard!" A voice suddenly said, making both Ben and Carolyn turn to see who had spoke it.

In there, stood Marcy, with Josh and Chandler right by her side, and none of them looked happy.

"What are you talking about my brother, mare?" Marcy demanded, as all of the three walked forward, and the mare was a bit taken aback by this, however, she soon recovered, and she looked back at her.

"Oh, I am just having a word with him, hybrid." She said, mocking Marcy, by the tune she was using. "I just thought that I could look right at your brother's face and tell him exactly what I think of him, now that I finally have the chance."

"Oh, it looked like you were speaking your mind, alright." Josh said, and his look was aggressive, as he and Chandler soon were rushing to Ben's side. The plump cheetah was sniffing, trying to swallow back his tears, but it was too late. They had already seen them.

"So that is how the Manechester show hospitality to guests?" Marcy said, looking at her, "By attacking them verbally until they cry?"

"I am just saying this fatso what I have wanted to say to him for the last five years." Carolyn said, "Besides, he is not my guest."

"He is my guest!" Chandler said suddenly, with an anger and intensity that caught Carolyn off guard.

"Chandler!" She said, looking at her son as if he had just slapped her in the face.

"Benjamin is my guest, Mother." Chandler said, looking at his mother right in the eye. "I have invited him to this mansion, and both you and Dad have gave the okay for him to come, and both of you have promised that he would be well treated during his stay. This included not attacking him and making him feel bad over things. Now, was it a lie?"

"But he-" Carolyn tried to say, but Chandler cut her.

"Was it a lie, Mother?"

They looked at each other for a long moment, and the mare seemed lost for a moment, before her face relaxed.

"Oh, I see..." She said, looking at her son, "He got you hypnotized, didn't he?"

"What?" Chandler said, looking back at his mother, and she looked back at Benjamin, her face more furious than before.

"So, is that your game, Clawhauser?" She asked, looking back at him. "You use your magecraft to brainwash the others so they always stay on your side?"

Ben's face was in shock, and so were the faces of the others.

"Yes, of course. Now all adds up!" She said, and she looked at the cheetah with pure and absolute hate. "That's why everyone always stays by your side! Because you are always controlling them to see you like the victim!"

"No!" Ben said, his voice raising in volume and pitch. "It is not like that! I don't do it!"

"The hell you doesn't!" She screamed back, so loud that some of the glasses around rattled. "You are a mage! Mages know how to hypnotize others! Of course you would do something like that! How I didn't saw it before!? You are a manipulative little shit!"

"No!" Ben said, more tears running down his cheeks. "No, I don't do this!"

"Why not!?" Carolyn demanded back, "Because you gave up on magecraft!? Bah! Like that would stop someone from doing something like that! A fox does not forgets how to steal things from pockets only because they decided to stop being a thief! You still use your magecraft to do around hypnotizing others, don't you!?"

She looked at him, and she said:

"You did it five years ago, didn't you?"

"No..." Ben said, and the mare continued to look at him.

"Of course, that does explain how all of that happened." She said in a low voice. "That explains how all of that ended up happening. You have been messing with their heads, haven't you? Were you bored? Did you wanted to have things your way?"

"No..." Ben said, giving another step back, and more tears running down his cheeks, blurring the red make up on his lower jaw. "I-I didn't... I didn't do anything..."

"You have been messing with their heads." She said, the accusation clear on her voice. "You have been doing it ever since that day, haven't you? That's how you ruined everything. That's why everyone thinks you are the victim. That's how you ruined everything for us! You stupid, fat, manipulative devil!"

Ben flinched once more, and he shouted back:

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"

The mare opened her mouth, ready to shout something in answer. However, she didn't had the chance.

Immediately, her head whipped to the side, as a sound like a very hard slap filled the room.

Everyone looked shocked, including the mare, as she now could feel a heat spreading through her cheek, followed by a dull pain. The kind you have when someone slaps you.

She blinked, looking around and taking a hoof to her cheek, trying to understand what had just happened. That was when she looked at Marcy once more.

The hybrid was looking back at her, and she was lowering her paw, which was in a position that it made it seems that she had juts used it to slap someone.

Carolyn blinked.

"You..." She growled, hostility in her eyes, and the hybrid acted quickly. With a swipe of her other paw, in a slapping manner, there was another loud smack, causing Carolyn's head to whip to the other side.

Everyone looked at it in shock.

Marcy had just slapped Carolyn Manechester!

From over six feet away!

The mare looked back at the vixen, with the pain of a slap now on her other cheek. A line of blood was coming out of her nostril.

"Why you little...!" She said, ready to advance against the hybrid, but Marcy raised her other paw once more, and looked ready to do it again if the mare tried anything.

This was enough to make Carolyn stop on her tracks, but the mare still glared murderously at the hybrid.

"You dare assault me on my own house!?" The mare demanded, to which Marcy answered:

"You dare insult my brother and accusing him of using magecraft for personal gain?" The hybrid was looking right at the mare as she spoke that. "Well, now you know that you cannot do that in my presence and want me not to do something about it. Badmouth Ben, or anyone of my family again, and you will be the one getting what is coming to you, got it?"

The males on the room were so silent that it was as if they were holding their breath, while the females continued into their standoff. Eventually, Carolyn was the one to step back, and she gave one final glance at Ben.

"I'll still see you get what you deserve, Clawhauser." She said, looking at the plump cheetah. "I'll see you get what you deserve for what you did to my family, and when this day comes, I'm going to laugh harder than I ever did in my life!"

With this, she turned around and left, grabbing the bottle of wine from the table and taking it with her, as she walked unsteadily out of the kitchen, leaving the three other mammals in there alone.

As the mare left, the three males let out the breath they had been holding, and Marcy finally lowered her paw.

It seemed that the tension had finally disappeared now that Carolyn had left the room, and they could calm down now. However, calming down was not the same as cheering up. Ben was proof of it.

Tears were still streaming down his face, blurring his makeup, the other mammals soon were becoming aware of it and were now trying to cheer him up.

Soon, all of them were sitting on the table, whit Chandler picking up something from the fridge. He brought back a plate with cupcakes that he had baked himself. He offered them to Ben, who was soon picking them up and eating them, saying thank you to his friend.

The sweet taste of the cupcakes helped Ben feel a little better. It seemed to have made his tears stop. However, it was clear that he was still very upset for what Mrs. Manechester had said to him.

"I just can't believe that Mom did that." Chandler said, "I'll be having a serious word with her later."

"You better." Marcy said, "Because if she pulls off something like that on Ben again I am going to give her beating, and no one will stop me."

Ben heard to them without saying anything, as he continued to eat nearly mechanically, still looking crestfallen. Of course, all of the three mammals looked at him, and they all try their best to cheer him up.

"Come on, Benji." Marcy said, looking at her brother. "You won't be letting some drunk old mare put you down like that, are you?"

Ben said nothing in return, as he continued to eat, and Marcy looked at him for a few moments and, after a while, she placed a paw on Ben's, surprising the cheetah, as she looked at his paw, and she soon was saying:

"Hmmm." She said, looking at his paw, and she gently pressed the pads in it.

"M-Marcy?" Ben said, looking at his sister, and she continued to press on the pads, one after the other.

"No, this is not the combination." She said, and she pressed the pads a little more, causing Ben to look at her. The way that she was pressing on his pads tickled a little bit.

"M-Marcy..." Ben said, as he started snickering a little bit. Marcy continued.

"No, not this combination either. Have I forgotten it? What about... this one."

Then she pressed the pads once more, this time harder, making the tickling be stronger. This did caused Ben to start giggling, and this now put a smile on the hybrid's face.

"Ha! I knew I would remember the right combination." She said, looking at the still giggling Ben. "The one that makes this cheetah cub giggle."

"Oh, Marcy." Ben said, looking at his sister, and she looked back at him.

"I am glad I can still make you feel better, Ben." She said, and Ben smiled at her.

"Yeah, you sure can." He said, looking at his sister. "You always can."

She nodded at him, and she asked if he was okay, and Ben said that he was, and this seemed to be enough for the hybrid, as well as for Josh. Soon, they both were leaving the kitchen, while giving some final words to Ben, letting him know that he shouldn't let that drunk mare get to him. Ben took their words, and he nodded, and the two left, saying that they had to "check on a certain thing about someone else".

Chandler stayed on the kitchen with Ben, as he wanted to be sure that the cheetah was okay.

"So, you really alright?" Chandler asked, and Ben nodded with a smile. This was something that Chandler thought was good.

However, after a few more moments of silence, Ben looked back at the horse.

"Chandler?"

"Hm?"

"Is... is your mother right?" He asked, and Chandler looked back at him.

"D-did I really caused problems by getting involved with your family?" Ben asked, and Chandler looked back at him.

"Ben..."

"I mean, sometimes it does feels like what happened was because of me." He said, looking at the horse. "I mean, the scandal, the fights, what happened to Bogo, and everything else about..." Ben hesitated, and it seemed that he had caught himself before he could finish the thought. Chandler looked at him for a few moments, and he sighed, silently cursing his mother for not letting go of the past and bringing all of that up once more for no reason.

"It was not your fault." Chandler said, and Ben looked up at him.

"But all of that happened because-"

"Ben." Chandler said, cutting her off before he could continue, placing both hoofs on the cheetah's shoulders, and looking at him straight in the eyes. "It was not your fault."

He spoke it with a seriousness that made the cheetah be silent.

"None of what happened was your fault. None of it at all." He said, and he looked at the cheetah. "If anyone has a fault over what happened, it is him. He was the one who caused all of that to happen, all because he was a stubborn jerk who thought he could have all he wanted."

"But..." Ben tried to say, and Chandler cut him off once more.

"None of what happened to Dad or to anyone else was your fault." He spoke gently but firmly. "Stop blaming yourself over this only because Mom and Dad still blame you. You did nothing wrong."

Ben looked at him for a few moments, and he nodded, and Chandler now let go of his shoulders, and he was looking at the cheetah for a few moments.

"There is one thing that you actually did by getting involved in our lives." He said, and Ben looked at him, seeing the horse smile at him.

"You made me chase me dream of being a confectioner."

Ben looked at him, and he looked down again.

"I am serious, Ben." Chandler said, looking back at him, "You were the first one that actually supported my dream. No one else ever did. Not Grandpa. Not Dad. Not Mom. Not any of my other friends."

"All of them told me how stupid it was for me to want to dedicate my life to make sweets and candy." He said, remembering clearly as day all that he ever heard. "They all told me how I would end up being a complete failure with my obsession with confections, and that it would be much better if I got a 'real job' or something that was 'appropriate to a mammal like me', that last one was one of Dad's favorites, you know how he is, right?"

"I was ready to give up on that dream and just do what the others wanted me to do, but then you came and started supporting me." Chandler said, looking at him, "You supported me like my own family never supported me before, and it was thanks to you that I decided to go for it, and look at me now! I am the king of confections! Bet no one in my family ever believed that I could make it this far."

"And it was all thanks to your support." Chandler said, "All because you told me that I should try and do it."

Ben blushed, and he looked away.

"W-well, I could not just tell you that it was not worth your time." Ben said, "Not when I sensed just how much it meant to you."

Chandler looked at him, blinking.

"Sensed?"

Ben's eyes widened, he looked at the horse, who was looking back at him. Ben soon was looking away, and nearly tripping on his words as he tried to explain himself.

"Y-yeah..." The cheetah admitted, "I... sensed it. Sorry, I shouldn't read others like that, but I couldn't help it. Your prana vibrated so intensely with how excited you got every time you were talking about confections and about being a confectioner. It was practically as if you screamed that this was the thing that would make you the happier than anything else in the world. I juts couldn't help but perceive it when we were near. I didn't meant to peek on your mind or feelings, I am sorry."

Chandler looked at him for a few moments, and he didn't seemed to be mad, as Ben probably expected from him. However, he didn't seemed that he was thinking on something.

"So, you sometimes felt when I was thinking too hard or feeling something intense, didn't you?" He asked, and Ben nodded, not meeting his gaze.

"So, back on the day we met..." Chandler asked, and Ben now looked up at him, "Did you felt it?"

He was talking about the time they met.

Normally, Chandler and Ben would not get to know each other, once they would not frequent the same social circles. However, the Manechester family had a certain tradition that started out with their grandfather.

Yahya had not yet been born when the family lost everything in the roaring twenties, but he certainly heard about it from his own father, and kept it in mind after he came back to Zootopia and restored their fortune by founding the Beastar Corps.

Due to this, he started a tradition with his own children, who were born privileged, like his ancestors had. Upon a certain age, the young adults of the family were to leave the house for one year and live on their own out there. Their access to the family funds were cut off, they had to find normal jobs and pay the bills with the fruits of their own work. This was maybe something to help them get ready and be capable of arranging themselves in the world, in the case they were to lose their fortune again.

Chandler himself, as a Manechester, went through this passage rite, and he left home and had to provide for himself by getting a job and finding some place that he could afford on his payment during an entire year.

The place he found was nowhere else than the building to where Ben had just moved. Not only that, but he got to stay on the neighbor apartment.

Still, that would not be enough for them to actually get to meet each other.

No, it was all in one night, when Chandler had a terrible nightmare. A recurring one, that the horse didn't even liked to talk about.

Chandler woke up panting, sweating and crying. He was still shaken by the dream, and even more when the fat cheetah who lived next doors to him broke into his apartment.

After the scare had passed, Ben explained to him that he had heard something coming from the apartment, as if it was a scream, and he thought that someone could be in danger. That was when Chandler, after three months living next doors, finally learned that the cheetah was a cop.

Chandler apologized at the cheetah for making him worry, and told him that it was okay, but the cheetah kept insisting, asking him if he was okay, or if he'd like to talk about it. Chandler didn't talked about it, of course, but the cheetah still stayed with him making him company, and they talked nearly the entire night.

That was how they ended up on the path to become friends.

Chandler remembered that night very clearly, and it was a night that he actually treasured. He remembered how scared he was when he woke up. He remembered how he and Ben both cried out when the cheetah broke through the door with a dart gun ready. He remembered how friendly the cheetah was to him.

However, there was one thing.

Chandler didn't remembered screaming.

He considered the possibility that he may have let out a scream without realizing it, since Ben had heard it from his apartment. However, as of right now...

"You didn't really heard me scream back then, did you?" The horse asked the cheetah, and the feline looked away, before saying:

"N-not really heard." He spoke, sounding as if he was ready to start apologizing at any moment. "It was more like... I felt a very intense vibration of prana coming from someone near. It was so intense that it woke me up from my sleep. To be honest, it was nearly the same as hearing someone scream."

Ben met the horse's gaze.

"I couldn't make up anything of the vibration, but I could clearly perceive the emotions within it. It was like a scared voice. A terrified one. It could just as well be calling for help." He said, looking at the horse, "Seriously, when I sensed the fear on your prana I was sure that you could be in life-threatening danger. So... I just went to help."

Chandler looked at him for a few moments, before he nodded.

"And it all turned out to be just a nightmare." He said, and Ben looked to the side. Chandler sighed.

"Well, I am glad you could feel me back then." He said, and Ben looked back at him.

"I am glad that you felt that I needed help and went for it, and I am glad that you felt how important confectioning was to me and decided to encourage me into it." He said, looking back at Ben. "I know that you didn't peeked into my head on purpose, and that you wouldn't do it. But I am glad that you were able to sense when I really needed someone. You did helped me in the best way."

The smile on his face was sincere. He didn't looked angry our outraged that Ben peeked on his feelings and thoughts, like most other mammals would certainly do. There was not a single shadow on that smile, only "I am glad were there when I needed, thank you very much", nothing else.

This made Ben feel gratitude, as well as some warmth inside.

"So, just one thing." Chandler said, looking at him. "If you accidentally hear one of my new secret recipes from my head when I start thinking about them, could you keep it a secret? I can't risk the competition copying me." He said, winking at the cheetah.

"I will. Pinky promise." Ben said back, and soon, the cheetah and horse were both laughing about it.