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A pear-green unicorn trotted through the Ever-Free Forest. Her head was lowered, and her face was slightly enveloped by her chestnut colored mane. Energy emanated from around her short horn, as a glimmering white stone floated before her. Her rose eyes were locked with the stone, only leaving for a moment or two to avoid tripping over the old roots and rocks scattering the woodland floor.

At last, the stone changed to a golden color and she stopped. Scanning the area around her, she spotted a gnarled old tree. Approaching it, she put a hoof on the trunk as she got up on her hind legs, and with a stretch, she pressed against a large knot above her head. Suddenly, a thumping noise erupted from the tree, and she fell back down onto all four hooves. The front of the tree peeled away like curtains to reveal a hollow inside and a grey marble floor.

She took a deep breath and smiled. Soon, she thought, I will get to see him again. She walked onto the marble floor, and the tree slowly closed behind her. The gem changed from gold to green, and she levitated it into her pack as the floor began to move beneath her in the darkness. It dropped downwards, not slowly, but not too fast either. She looked around expectantly with wide eyes, but as the trip grew longer, she sighed lightly.

Once the platform came to a stop, she was at a doorway before a large circular room. She looked around a moment, surprised to see a lack of anypony other than her. The dull sandstone and desert colors of the floor and walls didn't really set a feeling of comfort, but she had gotten used to them. This was, in fact, the Chaos Sanctum, her home and place of employment in a way, but more importantly it was his home.

She cleared her throat and called out, though not loudly at all. "M... master?" After a moment without response, she wandered about the room and peered down the three corridors which branched out from it. Her horn glowed again as she pulled a parchment from her pack and looked it over. The entrance dropped me off in mid-sanctum, she thought, how odd.

As she wandered through the halls, she noticed a lack of activity. She decided that instead of going to her quarters, she would stop at the Master's Study, where she would hope to find Eight Star.

Upon arrival, she found the lights were off, and a strange scent was in the air. She heard heavy breathing nearby in the tell-tale manner of napping. How curious... she had never caught Eight Star napping in his own study. She resolved that she did not want to wake him, but at the same time she wondered how it looked for him to be sleeping. A blush rose to her cheeks as she imagined how cute he must look while asleep, and decided that she must look upon him!

As she crept towards the sounds of his slumber, her horn illuminated with a dim white light, shining with little more power than a candle light. So as she approached she saw him there, slumped back in his study chair in a position obtained only by one who has passed out with exhaustion. His long red hair enveloped his crimson face, and parted prominently at his sizable horn with its slight corkscrew shape. She tried to stifle her giggle as she noticed his mouth agape, and a trickle of drool beading at the left side of his mouth. As she noticed a sound escape her lips, she clapped her hoof up to her mouth. In hind-sight, she regretted the movement, as she made enough noise that his eye-lids twitched. She gasped and backed away, her horn's illumination going out quickly as she did, hoping not to have woken him.

A few moments passed, while she dared not even breath. Finally, she felt safe and let out a reassured sigh.

Then, his golden eyes glowed in the dark as they opened, and worry struck her.

Suddenly, Eight Star knew he was not alone in his study. He dove from his seat, and his hooves met her chest as he pushed her back to the floor. His horn burned with dark energy as weakness and sickness painfully enveloped her entire body. She let out a squeal of anguish as he growled dangerously. "Who dares?!"

She cringed back against the ground as fear and pain took over for a moment. If he were anyone else, she'd stay paralyzed. However, this was Eight Star, and she knew that if he knew who she was then he would never show such aggression against her. Her hooves lifted to his as her horn lit up with white illumination.

As soon as he saw her face, he stopped his spell and became stricken with worry! "Agent Pickpear!? Ah, what a silly thing to do, sneaking up on a sleeping sorcerer. I do hope you're not permanently damaged!"

She smiled lightly as she felt the pain stop as quickly as his spells did. "Of course not, Master. I'll be just fine." The darkness around them was calming to her, but only because it made her feel like they were closer in the small glow.

He gently got off of her and his horn flashed a white color. The rest of the room suddenly illuminated. Crystals hanging from the ceiling by steel chains gave off a bright white light. They weren't in a study, but a fairly sizable library with wooden shelves that reached three stories tall. He turned and trotted back towards his seat. "You are back fairly quickly, agent. Something wrong?"

Pickpear was slightly disappointed by the illumination, but understood. She stood up and shook her head. "No... actually, the mission was a lot easier than we thought. So I've already retrieved the package, Master."

He seemed distraught for a moment, and then he turned to face her, waving a hoof in her direction. "I told you, mares needn't call me Master. That's reserved for my apprentice."

She smiled, "It's a term that commands the respect you deserve, and for me... I use it as a term of endearment for you Master." They had this conversation every time. It was just one of the things they shared.

He sighed and shook his head as he turned back around and crawled back into his seat, sprawling onto his back without a word.

She could tell something was wrong. He always said "you'd best be careful with those terms, mare. I have a special somepony else." Plus, she never ever remembered him acting so hostile to being woken up. This time was different, and she couldn't bear to see him troubled, and certainly couldn't let anything come between him and her unique relationship with him. "Is everything alright? You're not acting yourself, and you appear worried."

He sighed and slumped in his seat, running a hoof back along the leather side of the chair. "You believe me worried? Perhaps I am. I over-reacted in public and Darkshine Dancer had me apprehended by the royal guard." Pickpear was astonished to hear such a thing, and Eight Star continued. "So of course, I got to spend some time in royal jail while they retrieved Princess Luna, who was more than a little vexed over the matter. She seemed upset I used my real name, but what matter is it of hers?" He sighed and twirled his other hoof in the air. "Well, long story short, me and Darkshine Dancer are at a bit of a bad time, you see."

She was surprised he opened up to her so quickly! Then again... perhaps this was her opportunity. She didn't want to get too brazen though. "I'm sure things will get better with you two again quickly. Just give it another chance. You've been together this long, after all."

"Yes!" He spouted, throwing his hooves in the air. "We have been together so long it is expected that we work it out and stay together! Do you even realize, Agent Pickpear, that this is probably the Twentieth time we've had such attrition?" He growled and pulled a hoof back, rubbing it against the side of his head with a scowl. "The crystal told me I needed a mare, but any time I ask it for help when such events arise, it can't offer but riddles. I'm beginning to think I was silly to take love advice from a rock!" At that moment, the crystal lights flickered and Eight Star looked up in worry for a moment. After the flickering stopped and calmed he commented, "It knows I'm right. Pony emotions are too far outside of its realm of understanding, even as it knows so much more about other things."

Pickpear gave him a warm smile as she approached, and gently rested her hoof on his thigh. "Perhaps like the crystal, you don't understand as well as you want to. Four hundred years isn't enough when you've only had the experience of one faithful mare."

Her voice was calm and soothing, and he smiled with a short sigh. "Never have I felt so good to hear of my own ignorance. Though, who else would stand by a monster as insane as myself?"

She didn't hesitate to act, rather than speak. Gently, she laid her head against his chest, closing her eyes with a smile. She had longed to be close to him like this.

He paused, astounded as she rubbed the side of her head against him. He seemed to snap out of it after more than a minute and he put a hoof to her back. "You? You, too, are but a child to the ways of love. What chance would we stand?"

"I am no child, Master." She lifted her head and looked into his eyes. "Remember that my appearance belies my age. I have dated before, but..." She wanted to tell him how she really felt. How he held her heart so tightly from all he'd done for her. Her personality began to fight her heart. What if he told her he didn't feel that way about her? It would create a most horribly awkward life for her with the order.

Eight Star, however, had other plans. He helped her get past her low confidence in many other situations, and so he would again with four well-planned words. "Prove it now, then."

She was stunned, and stared at him quietly, both of them stock still as her mind galloped through the possibilities of what kind of proof he was looking for. She rushed the history in her head, and he had never actually asked her to prove anything, not even her loyalty. It was like he knew he had everything from her, but this was something very different from that. Her heart pounded as she gazed into his golden eyes. She wanted to just embrace him and kiss him and never let go.

Well... what was he waiting for? What if it wasn't what he meant? Would he hate her forever?

No, of course not. Even if that's not what he meant, he was so incredibly understanding with her, and that was one of the things she loved about him.

So she threw herself on him! She was small for a pony as it was, so she had no reservations about embracing him and pressing her lips right to his. Eight Star met this with shock at first, the kind of shock that made his eyes shoot open wide. As he felt her soft young lips meet his, he smiled against her, and his eyes slowly closed to match hers. Even her stunted horn rubbed against his, and the tip gently caressed the curving bump of his.

Her eyes opened slowly and she saw a dim grey, and had the strange taste of cotton in her mouth. Her eyes almost closed again before suddenly shooting open. She had her lips locked with her pillow! Her horn was rubbing against one of the corners of it, and she had both fore-hooves wrapped tightly around it. As she slowly pushed it away, and leaned up in bed to take a look around, she noticed she was in the Boar's Tusk Tavern in Gallopmere... and it figured!

It must have all been a dream, but what a realistic dream it was, she thought. She smelled the strange scent lingering in the air that she smelled when she entered the sanctum study, and she still wondered what it could be.

Then, a glow caught her peripheral. Looking over, she saw her calling gem was glowing with magenta energy. It hadn't done that before, but when she moved out of her bed, the stone flashed gold and then suddenly went dim. "Right... you're going back in the bag." She commented out loud as she levitated the stone back into her pouch. That dream... so vivid, so realistic, she felt every bit of it. Was this the crystal's doing? If so, did Eight Star have the same dream?

She smiled to herself and began to pack her bags. "I think a visit to the sanctum would be nice. I need to restock on herbs, anyway."

[END]