Three solid knocks on the bedroom door woke the magenta mare up with a start. In her half sleeping grogginess, she sat up and raised a hoof to her eye to rub the rheum out of it, groaning a little as her mind pulled together a few questions from its sluggish consciousness. Did I wake up in my bed? Did I wake up in my bed? and What time is it? She **** open her right eye, brushing the low hanging bangs to the side to make out the blurry brown blob of wood in front of her. With another defeated groan, she set her head back down on her desk, having answered the first two questions she thought of. There was no bed to have woken up in, it was another night where she fell asleep at her desk, amidst the pages of a book that, for the time being, is serving as a rather uncomfortable pillow. Her mind cranked itself awake slowly as the knocking on the door continued, and her name was called through the door, "Ruby? Are you still in here?"

"Ugghh... yeah," came her half-assed response. She looked down at the book, slouching in her chair as she tried to figure out what she fell asleep doing. The book was open to a page on Doppelgangers once more, just as it was the day before, and her tarot card deck sat next to it, the cards knocked lightly over into a long fan across her desk. Her horn glowed as she picked up the cards, rifling through them and counting to make sure that the deck was still whole. 0, The Fool. I, The Magician. II, High Priestess... The voice from behind the door came once more, "Can I come in?" Ruby collapsed the deck into a neat pile and placed it back in its box, turning in her chair to face the door as she answered, "Yeah."

The door opened and in walked an older mare, her mane tied back in a bun, taking a quick look around the room before asking, "Were you reading in the dark again, Ruby?" to which she quickly answered, "I wasn't." The older mare looked at her, expecting more to the answer, and sighed as she realized that today was going to be a difficult day, "Were you sleeping then?" The answer came flatly, "Yeah." "Do you know what time it is?" "No." The older mare gave an exasperated sigh as she said, "Ruby, I'm not in the mood to play twenty questions with you today, so please, work with me here..." she trailed off as she looked at Ruby, then back around the room, asking nervously, "Wh-Where's your snake?" Ruby looked around the room as well, glancing quickly under the desk and in her drawers, "Iunno. She might be hunting for food again-- oh, here she is." Ruby opened a drawer, peering in at the python that coiled itself up in one of the many empty drawers that it liked to make itself home in. The python shifted as the drawer opened, flitting its tongue towards the intruder before resting its head back on its coils.

Ruby closed the drawer halfway and turned to look at her foster mother, arching her brow as she let out a sigh of relief. "Oh good," began the older mare, "anyways, it is nearly four o'clock in the afternoon. You've been sleeping all day, it's time to wake up. C'mon." Ruby flinched as the dim lights were flicked on, standing up on wobbly legs as the foster mother asked, "What are you going to do for the rest of the day? Clean your room I hope?" Ruby looked at her foster mother with a withering stare before setting her saddlebag on the chair, closing the book on the desk and putting it in the bag, along with a few other tomes and her deck of tarot cards, "I have to return these books before the library closes first, and then I'm meeting some friends to see a movie." Not one, but three blatant lies in one sentence: the books weren't due for another week, she had no friends to see a movie with, and there wasn't even anything interesting playing in the theater today and thus never planned on going. Her foster mother, oblivious to this, frowned and conceded, "Well, alright, but be back before eleven tonight. You're getting into your bad habits again."

===================

A half an hour later, Ruby sat in her usual place in the market square: on top of a cushion next to an isolated table with an umbrella sheltering it from the sun. Her saddlebag sat empty beside her, the python curled up inside it as it continued to bask while Ruby stayed out of the sun. Her books sat piled up on the table, supporting one that was propped open upright for easy reading as she shuffled her tarot cards. It was a beautiful afternoon, and there was still a few hours in the day left before it would start getting dark. Some of her regulars were no doubt annoyed that she was not where she usually was, or even around for the time they were looking for her, but really, what was the point of being a mystic if you were going to be in the same place at the same time every time? She needed to mix it up a little every so often, and today was one of the few days that this table was free. It was so much better than a dank alleyway.

There were, nonetheless, a few interested ponies who had approached her for readings, and she charged her usual fee of one bit each. From starstruck lovers, to ponies whose hearts pined for greater things, she would see many different kinds approach her, and many more consider it. It was only one bit after all, only half of an apple, mere pocket change. What was the worst that could happen? Right now though, she waited, reading her book on divination out of the corner of her eye as she shuffled, waiting for a customer to talk with, and possibly perform a reading for.

Four o'clock and there was nothing to do. Pouting vehemently, Nightingale sat on top of the jungle gym of the playground as she glared towards the view of the open market square she could see from her perch. The leaves of the tree above her had slowly been changing as she sat there, the glowing horn atop her head the sole indicator that it was she who'd gradually been changing the leafy green into a rainbow assortment of cotton candy. Practicing her illusions was about the best thing for her to kill time with, so far, and even that was getting a little dull today. Partly because there weren't any other children around at the park today to impress.

She needed excitement. She needed adventure. She needed to mess with somepony and giggle childishly at their reaction. Yeah, that was the ticket. But who, and how... There were pretty much always ponies wandering around the market square, but most of them were either not worth the time to bother with, or much too easy to bother. Eventually, however, she could spot a mare sitting alone, looking unlike the other stalls set up nearby. The small parasol and... stack of books, it looked like, piqued Nightingale's interest. That was her target. Grinning to herself and already giggling a bit, Nightingale hopped down from her perch as she cut her spell, the cotton candy leaves returning to their normal selves.

It only took a brisk trot for her to reach the square a few minutes after, after which was when she had to put her plan in motion. First, she needed to make either way either behind or beside the mare, then create a crate around herself. Next, was slowly creeping up on the mare, the crate sliding along the ground as it kept up its illusion around Nightingale, the filly inside completely unawares that the tippy tip of her horn could still be seen outside her fabricated illusion. Then, finally, when she'd arrived at her destination, she took a look around from inside the crate, trying to figure out how she'd do this.

The books weren't really an option. She didn't have any ideas for those yet. Neither were the cards--they'd be seen pretty much instantly, and that was just too easy. But this saddlebag... Seemed empty at first, but it turned out there was actually a snake in it, and ponies who carried snakes around with 'em usually loved them to death. For some stupid reason. Either way, Nightingale had found her quarry. Gathering up another illusion, the snake inside shimmered a little bit as its appearance started to change--it went from a scaly abomination to a cute little pink balloon. It moved and felt every way that it did before, but now it looked much, much better in Nightingale's opinion.

But she couldn't stop there. As she had begun to mess with the card-mare, two other ponies had approached the table: one grey filly and one orange pegasus. Nightingale's eyes narrowed behind her 'impenetrable' fortress of illusory wood as she scanned her two new victims. The filly didn't have anything immediate she could use, but the pegasus... Creating another illusion alongside the other two she already had up, the wings at the pegasus' side also shimmered, changing into what would look like a wing made out of orange cotton balls, rather than the feathers normally present.

Satisfied with herself, she sat back in her crate, waiting for potential confusion to ensue.

Carri watched as a balloon crawls up the mares foreleg, she smiles and is mesmerized by the neat magic trick.

Brash on the other hoof pays it no mind and squints at the mare, unsure of how helpful these hints might be. Most questions about her future she knows the answer to, like how she's obviously going to one day stand at the top of pony society and rule with an iron fist, or how she'll be the one saving Equestria from dangerous monsters with her all-powerful automaton.

"I suppose I could ask something, now that I don't want to take back the bit you touched." Brash glances over to Carri, not noticing her wings at first, "However I'm sure Carri has much more concerns than I."

Carri looks up from the balloon, "Oh, uh..." She thinks of the first future thing she is unsure of, "What am I having for lunch tomorrow?"

Brash grunts and shoves Carri aside, "Don't waste my bit," This time taking notice to Carri's wings, "And preen your wings or something, you're embarrassing all of us."

Carri stumbles but regains her balance as soon as she notices her wings as well, she gasps and gazes at them in panic fearing that she may have contracted some rare wing disease. Desperately brushing them with a hoof and gnawing at the strange cotton.

Brash turns back to Ruby, "Well, how's her future in general lookin'?" She asks nonchalantly.

"The future in general," Ruby began, trying hard not to sigh at the generic question, "is always in fluctuation, and will continue to change as long as ponies are able to make their own choices. Perhaps you are more interested in how your endeavors in your immediate future are going to pan out? It would take a great deal of time and an impossible amount of effort to determine how the future in its entirety will be, but for specific things, it is much easier." The python on Ruby's leg moved further up her leg as she continued to passively shuffle her cards, most likely looking for some sort of attention in the meantime. Ruby gave a quick glance to the python to maybe see if she needed to give it a more comfortable perch, but immediately froze when she saw it.

This was not a snake that she was looking at, at least, not in the traditional sense. What she was looking at was some sort of inflatable abomination, a bright pink balloon snake. As she stared at the thing on her shoulder in outright, wide-eyed surprise and horror, the snake flitted its tongue out, and a long kazoo sound could be heard. Of course its tongue was a party favor, what else could she expect. Hesitating a little bit, she gingerly set her other hoof under the balloon snake, picking it up and setting it down in her now empty saddlebag. Where did Pharasma go? In her mind, she tried to run through the different things that could have possibly happened, but it was clear that she was a little shaken up by the fact that there was a balloon animal that felt an awful lot like a snake on her leg.

"That's... what..." she muttered out loud, having been distracted long enough for Brash's ears to have taken on a new illusion. She turned her attention back to the filly in question, starting to get ready to voice her apologies for having to stop what she was doing so that she could try to figure out what happened to her pet, but immediately recoiled with a little yelp as she saw the horns that had sprouted where the filly's ears had been. In her surprise, the grip on her cards slipped, and a good quarter of the deck slipped to the ground in front of a crate, a few of them landing face up, including The Empress, The Fool, and Death, as well as several different suits. "Kid, what the hell is wrong with your ears!?" She exclaimed as she scrambled backwards, nearly bumping into the crate. As low as confronting a demon child was on her list of things to do that day, she still had priorities, and she scrambled to pick up the cards that were dropped, having been on the ground long enough for any pony paying attention to study them.

Nightingale had to clamp her hooves tightly over her mouth now more than ever as the pegasus began rolling around on the ground, it taking every fiber of her being not to giggle at the obvious distress the pegasus was going through. This was exactly what she wanted to go for. To her, this was one of the highest forms of entertainment, and it could only get better from here. The pink pony finally seemed to notice her snake, apparently causing her mind to shut down. Everything was going so well. All the pieces were falling into place, and it made Nightingale a very giddy filly.

Next came the grey pony's ears being addressed, and although to Nightingale's slight disappointment it hadn't caused all that much chaos, she still had to give the pony props for rolling with what had happened, even if she couldn't see what was being talked about. She almost wanted to clap for the pony, but knew better than that. Even better, the pink pony dropped her cards. This, of course, caught Nightingale's attention and out of intrigue she stopped paying attention to the scene before her briefly to look at some of the cards that had landed before her crate, not even flinching when the pink pony nearly bumped into her 'fortress'.

With a look of intense concentration, the filly's eyes scanned over three of the cards laying before her, a plan having come into motion. If the drawing of the cards was important, then that meant she could try to influence it a little bit by 'putting' those cards in front. Whatever they meant. The thought of the noble looking pony wielding the scepter followed by the pony standing on the cliff with a knapsack, followed finally by the skeletal looking pony greatly amused Nightingale, however. Still running the image of the cards cards through her head, she looked back to the scene when the cards were picked back up, her eyes finding their way to the pegasus once more. Deciding the orange pony had had enough, Nightingale cut the illusion on her wings once they were covered in dirt before turning her attention to Ruby, ready to cast the illusions on the faces of the cards before they were drawn, in the order of the Empress, the Fool, then finally Death.

Brash looks to Carri as Ruby speaks about her.

Carri cowers, with her wings covered up she can't tell that the illusion has faded. She shivers in place on the verge of tears, unable to prepare for the coming cotton-ball apocalypse that she believes awaits her.

The fool card seemed perfect, Brash finds no way Carri could avoid doing something stupid. Thankfully, Brash gets an idea, "Carri, you have a coltfriend?"

Carri looks up and shakes her head, holding back tears.

"Well then you're fine, just keep it that way." Brash states, believing that whatever the death card entails won't happen if Carri avoids anything to do with fertility.

"Bwah?" Confused, Carri lifts her wings out of the dirt to find that they're cured. With a smile she says, "You're right!" Then she gets a confused look, "That's an odd cure." Carri walks back over to the table and picks up her saddlebags. Her eyes stray to Brash and she does a double-take, "Brash, your ears!"

"I noticed." Brash says before hopping onto Carri's back. Having lost interest in the horns since they did her no good. Looking back to Ruby, "Thank you for your services."

Ruby took the bit that was offered to her for the reading, sweeping it into an open bit purse as the two younger ponies turned to walk away, the pegasus seeming to have dealt with her little cotton-wing issue. At least that was one less trouble that the pegasus was going to have. After seeing them turn to go, Ruby went to collect the three cards to reshuffle back into her deck. So strange how a simple deck of cards could turn ones day into something else, and possibly affect their life. When the deck reshuffling was done, Ruby set the cards back in their box and turned to look back at the balloon animal snake that had managed to replace her old python, gingerly picking it back up to get a closer look at it. It was so off-putting, looking at the shiny pink latex that moved around her leg as though it were alive, flicking out its little party favor tongue to smell the air. It still felt scaly though, and she could still feel the snake's muscles keep their grip on her arm. What on earth was this?

She then suddenly heard a young filly behind her calling out to the two leaving ponies, much to Ruby's surprise. Where did she come from? Wasn't there supposed to be a box right behind her? Taking a quick glance behind her, Ruby could indeed see that the box had disappeared, sending her into a renewed bout of confusion and asking herself what in the world was going on. The next thing that the new filly said was enough to make Ruby's brow furrow in confusion. How could the reading be rigged? Only Ruby had a chance to see the cards, and know what they were, and they were in her possession the entire time, except when she dropped them. That wasn't all that the young filly did either, she had made the horns on the demon child's head, and the cotton-wing issues for the pegasus. This all sounded incredibly unlikely, but this kid seemed to know what she was talking about, so there must have been some explanation.

"So you are saying..." Ruby began, holding the balloon-snake out, "that you managed to create a false reading, somehow, and give these ponies all their strange defects? Are you by any chance also responsible for turning my snake into this... thing? How?" She harrumphed to herself, wondering how she could have missed such a thing, or be fooled by a filly, but worse still, since her tarot card reading was not accurate, it meant that if Brash and Carri asked for either their money back or for a second reading, then she would have to comply, since technically, Ruby did not fulfill her end of the bargain. Hopefully it wouldn't come to any of that, and the two would just walk away, but for now, she wanted to hear this new pony explain herself.

After Nightingale's apology, the pink mare behind her spoke up, causing Nightingale to look back to her over her shoulder. The mare was asking her questions about her illusions, apparently doubting that she had, indeed, done all that she'd said she'd done. "Well, duh," Nightingale scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Of course I turned your snake into a balloon. And I did it by using magic. Sheesh, what a stupid question." Shaking her head in irritation, Nightingale then looked back to Brash when she spoke. At first, she was taken aback that the apology had been completely ignored, then insulted that she had dissed her illusions. The best illusions in all of Equestria.

"Oh, whatever, you couldn't even see what the horns looked like," Nightingale snapped back to the filly, an idea coming to mind. "Besides, even if you could see them, your eyes are probably so bad you'd mistake a dog for your mother! And I owe you three bits? Since when? And who's gonna make me pay up? You? Because I've seen squirrels more terrifying than you!" After speaking, Nightingale turned her nose up in the air to mock how Brash had done that a few times whiles waiting for her reading, while at the same time, summoning another illusion. Alongside the horns, the air above Brash's head began to shimmer, moments before a jester's hat appeared over the filly's head, the ends of the hat ending in what looked like miniature clown faces. As with everything else that had appeared, however, the hat was intangible and could not be touched.