My Little Pony - Dark magic

Geo grumbled as he used his magic to levitate a grass mat over to Roan from the back of the cave, "Here. Oh, before we talk much more, my name is Geo."

Roan lay on the moss and chuckled "sorry, I'm pretty air-headed. My name's Roan"

"Good to meet you Roan." Geo looked out of the cave for a moment then returned his attention to Roan, "Where can we find other ponies that will help us, since I can't go into town without my cloak and I lost it when you bashed into me. And you've been seen with me, so the guards will be alert to us more than usual."

"I heard there was a guard that escaped from Canterlot. Maybe he could help?" Roan suggested

"Maybe... Any idea of where this guard might be?"

Roan sighed "back to square one"

(I have no idea what to post -_-')

Geo grumbled, "Alright then. I know the area around Canterlot pretty well as I was a student up at the school there. So if I were a guard that had deserted, where would I go?" He trailed off into silence as he thought it over.

"What about the caves under Canterlot? It's pretty much a maze down there, easy to hide down there... but how to get down there is the question... Dammit."

"If it were me I would get as far as I could from Canterlot..." Roan said, mostly to himself "I doubt a guard would bet on a maze to save his hide"

Geo nodded, "Granted, perhaps he went to hide in th-" Suddenly he fell quiet, quickly looking out he saw something that dropped his heart to his hooves, the helmet plumes of a group of guards!

Motioning with his hoof for Roan to be silent, he 'told' the moss to darken as he crawled to the mouth of the cave with his belly to the dirt to listen.

((You can handle the guards, I have no idea what to say))

One guard grumbled "are you sure this is a short cut to Trottingham?" The second guard sighed "are we even sure he's in Trottingham?" The leader turned on the others and snapped "quiet! Tuxedo Masquerade was spotted headed towards Trottingham so we must try and cut him off!"
"Wasn't he the one that trained you Crimson Dagger?"
"I never thought you would turn on your mentor"
"I don't hunt him because I want to!" Crimson shouted "but I can't betray our princess..."

After the guards left Roan turned to Geo and said "what are the odds of two guards rebelling and running away at the same time?"

"Slim to none. But it would seem that we struck gold more or less. If this Masquerade is in Trottingham, then we have to get there first. Maybe we'll get lucky and 'recruit' Masquerade's student as well."

Looking around outside for a moment, "I know the Everfree well, it's like a second home to me now. Plus my magic provides me a sort of pathfinding ability. I can find anything or anypony that I know, and I've been to the Trottingham side of the forest a few times."

((His pathfinding is limited to distance, Trottingham is barely within distance.))

"Let's stop blabbing and go then" Roan replied excitedly. Finally, they were going to get somewhere!

"Done deal. We can leave this stuff behind, I'm not terribly attached to it."

Geo quickly extracted him from the cave and closed his eyes and focused on his image of Trottingham, he traced the image through the earth below him.

Opening his eyes, he smiled, "Got it. Let's go." He began walking off to the northeast, "Fastest way is a straight line." He explained.

"Lead on" Roan replied.

Tuxedo Masquerade ducked into a sweets shop, evading some ponies that might have recognized him. He was pretty good at staying under radar, but he never took chances.

((Tracking will be fine, but keep the use to a minimum. Otherwise it seems op))

Geo stopped for a moment in a clearing and closed his eyes to recenter himself.

"Roan, we're not too far away now from Trottingham. We are ahead of those guards, though. We have some time."

"What do you mean? We have to find that Tuxedo guy" Roan replied

"I mean we have time before they show up. Which allows us a little more breathing room; we don't have to go in like Parasprites looking for food. I have to make a cloak though, to hide my horn."

Taking some leaves from a nearby tree, he began working his magic to manipulate the leaves to grow into a cloak.

About ten minutes later, it was done. A forest green cloak, with hood. Putting it on, he adjusted it so that his horn remained hidden, "How does that look?"

"suspicious. Try moving it away from your eyes a bit, that should help" Roan said after taking it in. He had a unicorn friend that wore a cloak and got caught because it covered the eyes.

Readjusting it so that the brim wasn't so close to his eyes, he looked at Roan, "Now?"

Roan nodded and replied "good, that should do it." He sighed and said "y'know what I realized? Trottingham is way to big for us to go searching for one pony. In hiding, no less. We may need more help than I thought"

"Damn... You're right. We can't easily split up either. I can't talk to anypony as they might get suspicious..."

"Ugh... Now what? We could wait for those guards and tail them and intercept Tuxedo when they find him. I could deter them with a wall of vines, but I'd need some time to concentrate."

"..."

"or we could find a detective"

"But that would probably require bits, and I don't think either of us has any on us."

In the back of his mind, he made sure to keep tabs on where the guards were in relation to them.

"True, but do we want to risk the only lead we have on what's happening in Canterlot?"

"Gah. Let's go. Maybe we'll get lucky. Makes no sense just waiting around."

Geo walked towards the border of trees that separated them from Trottingham.

As they entered Trottingham Roan already felt out of place. He approached a Mare and asked "excuse me, but do you know where we might find a detective? I, uh, I lost my cat"

As Roan talked he made sure to keep an eye out for anypony that might give them trouble. He tried not to speak as he might let himself slip.

"Oh, you want Octavian" the mare replied
"Octavian?"
"You don't know? Falsetto Octavian is the best tracker in all of Trottingham!"
"Where can we find him?"
"Look for the musical looking-glass"
"Thank you" the mare stopped Roan and handed him a bag of apples "what's this for?" The mare laughed and said "that's what you pay Octavian with. He helps ponies in exchange for food"

Listening to the conversation, Geo's eyebrow went up, Helps ponies in exchange for food? What?

Roan thanked the mare again and left. "What do you think she meant by a musical looking-glass?"