//------------------------------// // Harmony Meets Grace // Story: The Tale of Saving Grace // by Cold Spike //------------------------------// KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK “Ugh! It’s a public library, come in!” The pegasus mare sighed and gently opened the door. “Hello, Twilight? It’s okay if you want me to come back later…” Fluttershy who had already chosen for her was walking back through the door when Twilight ran downstairs to greet her. “No, don’t be silly Fluttershy. Sorry for yelling I was just busy reading for an experiment, was there something you needed?” “Well not really but I was wondering if you knew of a little filly named Saving Grace?” “Uhh… No, should I know her?” “I think so. She was really nice and offered to make me a bird feeder of some kind. I was just going to go meet her and I was wondering if you wanted to come along?” “Sure why not? Where does she live?” “She said she lives with a stallion named Night Shade in the White Tail Woods, at some campsite…” “That sounds odd, but as long as it’s not the Everfree. Spike!” They both waited a few moments for the reptile to call down, it took him thirty seconds. “Yeah, what is it Twi?” “I’m heading out, watch the library!” “Kay!” “Alright Fluttershy, lead the way!” Staying on the ground she did just that, eventually they found themselves on the same trail that was often used for the Running of the Leaves. “I had no idea that anyone actually lived out here, hmm.” “Oh me neither, but she seemed sure of herself. Oh that must be it! Wow!” They both paused to gawk at the massive campsite. The first thing their eyes spotted was the massive outdoor heater, to them it looked ugly but it was impressive none the less. The massive sized tents, the various odd shaped inventions and machines and finally Saving Grace herself who seemed to be busy tinkering away at something. Fluttershy and Twilight looked at each other while the former nodded for her to lead the way. “Um, Grace?” The filly whipped around and smiled, just as a screwdriver fell from her lips. “Oh hi! Oh is this Twilight Sparkle?” Grace stood up and made a bee line for them. She then smiled and offered her hoof to the lavender mare. “Hi, I’m Saving Grace!” “Uh, oh pleasure to meet you and indeed I am Twilight!” She awkwardly returned the gesture and decided to take a closer look at her camp, Fluttershy stood off to the side and waited. “So you live here?” “Yep! We have for a while but I’m afraid that Night Shade is out.” “Out? Leaving you alone?” Twilight’s tone turning to that of a concerned mare but Grace just giggled. “He’s not that far away, he would never actually leave me. Oh and I’m almost done with that bird feeder Fluttershy!” Forgetting about Twilight for a moment, she walked back over to her new machine, it was a long looking table with various weights and holes, one of the weights was being installed by her. Fluttershy began to inspect it but looked confused. “Um, how does it work?” “Oh it’s simple, you see depending on the weight of the bird they will land on one of the weights here and then that type of bird seed comes out of those holes. You may have to train your birds to ignore the ones not meant for them though, can you do that?” “Oh that shouldn’t be too difficult, this is actually brilliant! Oh Twilight when she’s done do you mind using your magic to carry it back?” Fluttershy looked up and noticed that her friend was looking at the water system, studying it. “Hmm? Oh sure, by the way what is this for Grace?” “That’s our filtration system, I built it myself! It’s how we get water for our plants.” “So you grow your own food?” “Yes, I am an Earth Pony silly.” “Of course, but growing crops is not your special talent, wouldn’t they be…Not as well grown? No offense.” “Nah, we do a pretty good job. Granted I can’t run an orchard or something, but it’s just us two and Night Shade doesn’t, uh eat that much.” “Right, Night Shade. What kind of pony did you say he was?” Twilight’s voice turning from concerned to quizzical in an instant, it threw her off guard but she kept on tinkering with her device. She figured a half truth was best. “He’s a unicorn, really shy but he talks … Enough,” she replied with a giggle. “Well what is his special talent?” Twilight did not feel out of place asking those types of questions, to her it was simply being curious. Even if she had an ulterior motive. Grace almost frowned but kept her smile up. These were the rare moments in where she was forced to lie, she hated doing it but Twilight was not giving her much of a choice. Half lies are something that she is used to but full on ones made her cringe. But it was then that she came up with an idea for his special talent, something that was not a lie at all, cutie mark or no. “Construction, he helped me make most of my inventions even if I was the brains so to speak!” That was the full truth; the changeling colt was good at following most instructions. “And he’s a stallion?” “…Yes, is something wrong?” Another half-truth, he was a changeling colt but you could call him a young stallion if the case called for it. Twilight shook her head and smiled. “Nothing dear, I was just being my old curious self.” “Ahh, that’s okay. Feel free to ask me anything I suppose.” Her smile wavered slightly but she kept working on the machine, Fluttershy was busy singing to a few birds off on the edge of the camp. “Right, so I’ve never seen you attend Miss Cheerilee’s classes, are you homeschooled?” The question was as innocent as it could get, now she had to not only lie but mix it in with another half-truth. She prided herself in keeping up with private studies and various books that others would give her in exchange for her ‘services’. “Yes, Night Shade home schools me. Just not every day, I keep up with all the books that we own.” “That’s good, wouldn’t want something as important as education to go to waste. Still living out here must be rough?” Grace smiled at this. She even felt like smirking but held it in. “Actually, we much prefer living outside. For one we get plenty of fresh air, especially in the forest and it seems to help my coat shine brighter. The water is fresher out here or at least it tastes that way to us. Our alarm clock is usually various birds singing and it feels quite peaceful. Not to mention all the peace and quiet I can get out here.” She finished with a grin, both Twilight and Fluttershy were at a loss for words. Sure this filly seemed intelligent but she had left the Element of Magic speechless, but not for long. “What about during the winter? That can’t be comfortable!” Grace just laughed at this and stood up, she then walked over to the outside heater and turned it on. It made a scorching noise but pretty soon it was turned on, on the bottom were ventilation grates were heat was coming out. “What is this…” “It’s my outside heater! It was my first real invention, and how I got my cutie mark! Pretty useful when you can’t use magic heh.” She shook her head. “But what about Night Shade, can’t he wield magic to warm you both up?” “Hmm, nope! He’s not that great with magic at all I’m afraid. But that’s okay, oh and Fluttershy?” “Hmm?” “It’s done! I don’t have that much bird seed here but a few should do the trick, let me just toss some in here…” “Wonderful, I think I can get this birdy here to test it out. Won’t you little guy, hmm?” The bird thought about it and nodded, Fluttershy gently lifted it up and placed it near the feeder on the proper weight. A small amount of seed popped out and the bird began to eat. “Oh this is marvelous, thank you Grace!” Without warning she picked her up and brought the filly in for a hug, they both blushed. “Heh, no problem Fluttershy I was glad I could help!” Fluttershy was now busy looking it over but Twilight still did not seem convinced of a few things, namely the filly’s safety in the woods. “Grace, these woods may not be that dangerous but from time to time they do get wild animals. Have you two ever encountered those?” Once more all she received in response was a little giggle, at first. “Nah, you see these?” She gestured to a few machines off to the side and began to crank something on the side of them, emanating from them was a scratchy kind of sound but the second she stopped cranking it stopped. “Any wild animals such as timber wolves head in the opposite direction when they hear that noise.” “I see, well it seems you and that stallion have everything planned out. Is he your…Well never mind, it was certainly a pleasure to meet you, um, perhaps you could stop by my library one of these days? I could offer a history lesson or two?” Twilight hated to feel useless but once more she hated to be outsmarted by a filly, she knew something was up and come Tartarus or high water she was going to discover it. The mare was doing her best to hold up a smile but one of her eyes was twitching. “Sure, that sounds like fun! Was this all you needed Fluttershy?” “Oh sweetie you’ve done more than enough! You’re welcome for tea at my cottage any time of the week, good bye!” “Cool, bye bye!” Twilight used her magic to gently lift the device high in the air and waved to the filly, and with that they both left. Grace let out an audible sigh. “You can come out now.” “Finally!” Night Shade coughed and flew out of the tent he was hiding in, he grinned. “That was them alright…Twilight and Fluttershy don’t seem so bad when there not trying to harm changelings…” He played with the dirt with one of his hoofs, she knew that look it was the kind when he was nervous. “Shade, no one is going to hurt you I promise that. Twilight and her friends…They were just defending themselves at that wedding, you-“ “I know, I know that. I’m not stupid!” “No you’re not and I never said you were. Still that Twilight was more curious than I thought she would be.” “Whatever, since I’m apparently the stallion in charge of you-“ “Oh shut up.” She laughed and gave him a playful shove. “Hehe, oh I had another idea on how I can head into town.” “Oh?” “Yeah, what If I just take on your form, you know for a little while?” “Uhhhhhh, no? It’s not that I don’t trust you but…” She bit her lip, thinking about the right way to proceed, and it was then that she had another idea. “Okay, most folks know me by now but they don’t exactly know me so that might work, but you need to know how to act like a pony even for a short trip. Can you even do me?” “Of course, just stand back.” Grace deadpanned and sighed, she had seen him change before and she knew there was absolutely no reason to stand aside but she did anyway. A green flame overtook his body and was replaced with an exact mimic of her, his horn and wings disappeared, but something was not there. “Um, I have a cutie mark silly!” “Huh?” He turned to his flank and then the other and sighed. He then concentrated slightly and out popped her cutie mark, they wavered for a bit when he lost concentration but eventually it worked. “There!” “Well you look like me and sound like me, but do you act like me?” “What do you mean?” Grace did a face hoof and sighed. He was a changeling but a very young one, the act of deceiving or impersonating others was still lost to him. “Silly, you need to act like me and you also need to act like a filly. If you’re not Saving Grace to others then they will know something is wrong, get it?” “Yeaahhh- No, I don’t get it.” One massive face hoof later she began to explain the simple process of impersonating another pony and her personality. She told him it was best to keep his introductions to a minimum and to try to avoid the adults for now, she knew most of them so he could wave but making a friend with a filly or colt was his best bet. He did not care, he just wanted to talk to someone other than Grace and this was his chance! “Okay, got that?” “Yep! Let’s do this!” He declared, and she sighed. “You mean you will be doing this, I can’t come along silly.” “Uhh, why not?” But the obvious realization dawned on him quickly. “Sorry there can’t be two of us, are you sure you will be okay?” He hesitated but he was not going to give up this chance. “I’m good, I’ll see ya later!” He tried to unravel his wings but then realized he had none anymore and sighed. “Right Earth Pony, got it.” He then left the campsite as Grace thought about calling him back. “Ehh, he will be fine, I hope.”