//------------------------------//
// Character development 
// Story: Cutie Mark Adventurers 
// by Stainless Steel Fox 
//------------------------------//

"The poor girls must be terrified!" Rarity worried as she paced up and down.

"Twilight said they'd be okay. Besides, they've got Apple Bloom with 'em. My little sis may be a bit headstrong at times, but she'll keep the others safe," Applejack said reassuringly. It would have been more convincing if one of her fore hooves hadn't dug a hole in the hard packed earth outside the library.

"What're Twilight and the Princesses talking about in there!" Rainbow Dash was flying in circles, unable to settle down. "We should be going after them! I checked at Boxxy's place, he's on a cargo run to Trottingham, and Scoots' mom is out too. I left a note, but..."

The door opened and the three ponies were motioned into the library by the Royal Guards standing guard either side of it. Inside was Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, a downcast Twilight and an even more downcast Spike. Having both princesses turn up had been worrying. Attracting the attention of one Alicorn was bad enough, a situation requiring both of them meant you had truly messed up royally, so to speak.

Princess Celestia's face was serious. "This is a grave matter. I had no idea that any copies of that book still existed."

"I'm really most terribly sorry Princess!" Rarity couldn't help but jump in. "It wasn't Twilight's fault. Had I but known..."

The Princess held up a fore hoof, and the white unicorn fell silent. "Both my student and her companion have already tried to take the lion's share of the blame, but I agree they are not solely responsible."

Twilight looked thoroughly frazzled, as she had worried herself into a near frenzy while waiting for the Princess to arrive. Combined with the full realisation of what had happened sinking in, and you had a very unhappy pony.

"It's my fault. I should never have taken it from the storeroom, but I wanted to see if modern spell-casting methods could create safe versions of those spells, and improve my knowledge of Cutieform runes. If anyone has to be punished for what happened it was me. Please don't include Rarity or Spike. Neither of them understood what the book was, and neither did those three fillies."

Celestia said more gently, "Your desire to protect your friends does you credit, and the results could have been far worse than they were. But that is beside the point. Punishing you or anyone will not rescue my little ponies. Instead you may make restitution by assisting in their recovery."

Luna spoke, "I agree. I do not believe we have need to punish any-pony, for the principals in this matter do seem to have already taken upon themselves that burden most effectively. Our first concern _must_ be the recovery of those wayward fillies."

"You can get them back?" Applejack exclaimed eagerly.

Luna shook her head. "With our powers combined, mine sister and myself might have the power to breach the walls of this dimension, but we ourselves are tied to it by bonds of vast power. While we could send an expedition through, it is most probable that such power as is needed would overwrite those traces we must follow, or that we might lose contact with the expedition, and be unable to retrieve them."

She noticed the glum looks of the three waiting ponies and quickly added, "But do not despair! Twilight Sparkle hath already beagled out an alternative most cunning. The Elements of Harmony have power that would suffice and more, and a suitable ritual wouldst allow them to create a gateway that would not interfere with the thaumic signature of the original ritual one whit. With the Elements on the far side to open a path, a similar method would assure a safe return."

Rainbow Dash perked up. "So all we have to do is go grab Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie and crank out some sparkles! Okay, I'll..."

"Wait! Until the ritual is designed, we won't be able to do anything!" Twilight exclaimed, pulling herself together somewhat.

"I can't do this alone. My talent is more spell casting and spell research. Crafting rituals and artefacts is a specialised skill, requiring applied arithmancy, and while I know something about it, that's not my field. I understand some dimensional theory from my studies of astronomy, cosmology actually, but again I'm no expert. And I'm still learning Cutieform B, which most of the reference materials are in."

"I shall join you," Luna said. "I suspect mine own knowledge of Cutieform B is somewhat better, and I do have some small experience as a spell crafter."

Twilight sighed with relief. "Thank goodness you'll be leading the team..."

The moonlight princess shook her head. "No, thou shalt lead this team. While I have studied modern magical arts since my return, from my sister's words thy knowledge of it is both broader and more recent. Also thou does't have much skill as an organiser, or so mine sister says. Select your other team members to cover the fields as seems needful, and bring together the fruits of our labours."

Twilight's eyes widened. This was an offer she'd never have thought to have in a million years. Princess Luna was greatly understating her reputation, which was, well legendary. She'd written some of the basic works on rune use and spell books that were still used today.

She tried to focus. "Well the foremost theorist in dimensional theory and cosmology is Professor Hawkwing of the Fillydelphia Institute of Science and Thaumaturgy. He's also a top flight arithmancer. Most of what I do understand comes from his published papers. If we could get one of his students..."

"Why not this Professor himself?" Luna asked.

"But... he's Professor Hawkwing, the greatest scientist since Single Stone! I can't just ask him to drop everything to help me!"

"I wouldst think that the chance to put his theories to the test might bestir him." Luna responded, glancing sidelong at her sister and gave a small grin. "Mayhap if we both ask nicely?"

Twilight managed to stop herself from geeking out at the idea of meeting Professor Hawkwing and concentrated on the task at hand.

"My only other suggestion would be an archaeologist, one specialising in ancient languages would be ideal, to catch any nuances both of us might miss in the references. No offence, but some of the references will be after your time, and they may have slightly different meanings. They'll be the primary source to reverse engineer the ritual needed."

It was Princess Celestia who spoke, "I believe Maresia Bluehills may be in Canterlot at the moment. I know for a fact he is an expert in Cutieform B script. He might also be an ideal companion in your eventual expedition, since he is an experienced explorer."

"That... that would be perfect!" Twilight said, a bit breathless.

"Hey, can't I help too?" asked Spike. He'd just stood there, unable to look anywhere but down, and especially not at Rarity. "I want to make resti... resti... make up for my mistake too!"

That got the studious unicorn to focus on the rest of the world once more. "Of course Spike, I wouldn't be able to do this without my number one assistant!"

She turned to the three other ponies waiting there, looking confident for the first time since she'd learned of the accident. "Every-pony, at best it's going to be several days before we have something we can try. Work like this takes time. But with Princess Luna, Professor Hawkwing and Maresia Bluehills working on it, we _will_ find a way, and we _will_ bring all three of them back unharmed!"

"But they're going to be out on their own for several days!" Rarity worried. "Anything could happen to them!"

Applejack once again had to calm down the unhappy unicorn. "Now sugar-cube, all we can do is hope they keep out of harms way until we collect them. They've got that apple pie and those drinks, and if this spell works the way it's supposed to, they must have been sent somewhere they can survive. I know Apple Bloom will take good care of the others. As long as they stay where they are and don't go looking for trouble, we should be able to go and collect them."

Rainbow Dash winced. "Uh, this is the Cutie-mark Crusaders we're talking about. Twilight, I know you said it would take time, but take time as fast as possible, will ya?"



In another universe, Maia Marrel was contemplating the sight in front of her, a pegasus sleeping on a pink cloud. The fact that she knew why the cloud was pink didn't detract from the adorableness of the scene. She'd closed the back board of the cart shortly after the other ponies had decamped, but stayed inside the cargo area, looking at the things they'd left behind.

She hadn't been able to help herself, when she'd moved Scootaloo back, she'd prodded the cloud, and her finger had gone through it as if it wasn't there. All she'd felt was a cold mist, and her finger had been cold and damp when she removed it, though no trace of the blood that must be in there had come with it. And yet, somehow it was supporting the weight of the little pegasus. She'd eventually had to move her by holding onto her body directly.

When the news had come forward that the danger was past, she'd passed on the message to her husband. It had been little more than that the goblins had stopped chasing them, and that the two ponies that had gone back had helped. It was the first time he'd realised that they'd left the front wagon, and when she explained what had happened, his only response was, "That's another one we owe them then."

Maia decided to remove the damaged and bloodstained cloak, partly to see if she could repair it. Scootaloo didn't even stir as she undid the clasp on the neck, though she was snoring like a rusty wood saw. Maia almost dropped the cloak when she got a clear look at the inner lining, gold silk. She'd rarely had a bit of silk herself, gold silk was an impossible rarity.

The material of the cloak itself was thick, with a high thread count and evenly dyed with a rich burgundy. Once again, this was expensive material. Which meant it made no sense how the whole thing was put together. Years of making and repairing hard worn clothes had made her a good seamstress, but even by the standards of a poor one, the stitching was clumsy and amateurish. The badges sewed onto their cloaks were the same, fine material sewed together with more enthusiasm than skill.

It had seen hard use, not just in the recent battle, there was a ragged edge where it had been torn and not mended. Still, she felt she could salvage it. She had some dark red thread, and with a careful washing, some alterations and redoing the stitching would make this cloak far better.

By comparison, the saddlebags they'd left behind were masterpieces, finely crafted and robust. She was no expert on the tools Apple Bloom had dumped out, but they looked equally nice, handles varnished and the heads made of a fine metal, much brighter than the black iron she'd seen used in the caravan's tools.

She showed her husband, and got a surprised look in return. "I thought there was something odd about them when they were fixing the wheel. They're steel, bright steel, the sort you'd use for a sword! I suspected they were from rich families, but that's just crazy! Who'd use steel rather than iron for tools?"

Maia looked down at the sleeping pegasus. "Maybe things are different in this Equestria. They don't act like nobility, or rich people's children."

"Children?" Dayton asked, then thought for a moment. "I guess they are, or not far beyond it. That just makes what they did even more impressive. Not just fighting, but how they approached us afterwards. They'd just been in a knock-down, drag out fight, but they came up to us without any reservations, any fear that we might threaten them, even assuming they thought Splayfoot and Brutus here were in charge."

Maia giggled. "Considering the power they showed, maybe we don't."

The caravan master shook his head. "No, it's more than that, they weren't acting defensive. Maybe I can't read their body language as easily as a human, but it was as if they didn't even conceive we might hurt them. I'm trying to think how many human teenagers would risk themselves for people they didn't know, and trust complete strangers to treat them well."

"Not everyone will." Maia sobered in a hurry. She moved back along the cart to pick up the bottles and the wrapped bundle that smelled of pie. "I can think of some people on this very wagon train that will just see rare talking animals, and treat them as such."

"Then we'll do what we can to protect them." Dayton sighed. "But unless they can find someone who can send them back in Teiras, they'll be on their own. We can't change our schedule. I should be able to find someone trustworthy to take them on the run from Teiras to Maysalon, but I think they'll need to get all the way to Greyhawk to find anyone who can send them back where they belong."

Maia was examining the bottles. Once again finely made, and identical. They had odd caps of metal rather than a cork, made in a spiral design, and even stranger, a stylised apple embedded in the very glass. She had no idea how you'd do that. She guessed that meant the fluid inside was either apple juice or cider. She put them safe on a shelf and used a cloth to pad them so they didn't move about.

Her husband continued. "I don't look forward to telling them that things work differently here. Maybe they can find a wizard, or a powerful enough priest of Pelor or Fharlanghn, to cast a spell to get them home, but it's going to be devilishly expensive. How much could we give them, and not impoverish ourselves? I want to do right by these three."

Dayton might run the caravan, but it was his wife who kept the books. "I think we can afford about thirty gold. I doubt that's even a fraction of what they'll need, but it should be enough to get some gear for the road, and get them most of the way to Greyhawk, if you can talk to the right people."

"I'll do my best." Dayton gave a lopsided grin that made him seem younger than he was. "Maybe the cleric at Macklewheat can help. Soran was a teacher at the Great Temple before he retired out here, and he knows quite a few important people in the church of Pelor, trained most of them, I think. More than that, he's a truly good person, and if anyone will be moved by their plight, it's him."

Maia picked up Scootaloo's cloak, and examined it with an eye to unpicking the thread and reusing it. Redoing the stitching would have to wait until she could wash the blood out, but she could get the thread out right away. "I can't wait to see how the villagers in Macklewheat react when our new passengers appear."

Dayton rolled his eyes. "That's nothing to how they'll react in Teiras. At least with our recent run we'll be at the village well before sundown. I can get a new wheel there too."

"Or you can get Apple Bloom to make you a new one!" Maia replied with a smirk.

While the people up front were examining the artefacts the ponies had brought with them, the ones at the back were getting to know more about the ponies themselves. Yancy was resting up against the side of the wagon, letting his half-elf friend carry the conversation. The two of them worked as a team, and Jace was the better at talking to others.

Jace was fascinated by the creatures, no, the people he was talking to. After all, it wasn't as if he didn't have the occasional problem with some idiot who thought his pointy ears meant he wasn't a real person.

Actually, his discussion was almost entirely with Apple Bloom, as the unicorn had dozed off to sleep again, humming a tune. Sweetie Belle had stayed awake just long enough to move her cloak under her. It was folded up so she could rest her chin on it like a pillow, and removing it revealed a pair of pony sized saddlebags.

The pony in front of him was a bigger puzzle. One minute she'd be acting like a little kid, the next she'd be talking about things very seriously, albeit in that strange accent of hers. She'd admitted to being able to read and write, and was clearly educated, but talked about working on her family's farm. She talked of wonders like flying ships and chariots, and instant lighting, but acted as if they were everyday things.

He'd learned a lot more about this Equestria place than she probably realised, and a lot more about her too. While she talked about her big brother and sister, and grandma, there was no mention of her parents. Add to that the occasional worried glances at her companion, and you had someone who had clearly had to learn to shift for themselves early on in life, and who obviously felt responsible for their group's predicament.

Once again he could empathise, his own childhood hadn't exactly been a bed of roses. He'd had to do something similar. His elven father hadn't stayed around long, leaving him and his mother to cope on their own. He'd become the breadwinner in the family before his voice changed, and managed to start learning fighting from one of the veterans his mother did laundry for soon after. Still, he wasn't sure he would have acted the way Apple Bloom had at her age, even if he'd had similar abilities. She'd fought alongside him, and held her ground as bravely as any warrior he'd met.

That made her a comrade in arms, and the others too, and he fully intended to commend them to Heironeous, god of martial valour, the next time he visited a temple. After all, from what he'd seen, they could do with all the help they could get from the gods. Which brought him to something he really didn't want to have to tell her.

"What do you mean there aren't any Princesses?" Apple Bloom had reacted about as well as he'd expected.

Sweetie Belle was still sprawled on her front, dozing. At Apple Bloom's exclamation she only groaned, pulled a loose fold of cloak across her head, and mumbled, "k'p i' d'wn, m try'n sl'p."

"Whoa there!" Jace held up his hands in a calming motion. "There are, but not in the way you mean. It's the gods who control the sun and the moons."

"But... oh great, this place really is like they describe in Humans and Horses!" Her attitude showed that great was the one thing she didn't think it was.

"It always confused me when I was a filly why the Princess who was trapped in a tower or whatever couldn't rescue herself, and had to wait for a handsome prince." She shook her head. "I get it, here the word doesn't mean the same thing. I just didn't connect the dots. So these Gods are doing the job the Princesses... okay, the alicorns do in Equestria."

Jace made a mental note to ask what this Humans and Horses thing was that she kept talking about. "I'm no expert, but from what you were saying, pretty much. I don't see the problem, can't the unicorn over there just magic you back?"

"She never..." Apple Bloom's eyes widened. "Huh, I guess she might be able to at that, if she knew the right song. That's kinda how we got here, after all. Maybe we can try tomorrow, right now I don't think she could magic her cloak clasp open."

She shook her head. "I guess I'm not used to thinking of her as a spell-caster. If that doesn't work, who can we go to? Can we get in touch with these Gods, write them a letter or something?"

That got both Jace and Yancy chuckling. Jace replied. "Doesn't work like that, the gods work through their priests. The gods grant them the power to cast spells, and they each work for whatever goal their god wants."

"Right... There'll be more than just sun and moon, they'll be gods of generosity and courage and that kind of thing, and probably some bad ones as well. Like my character was a paladin of Belepheron, God of Courage..."

"Never heard of that one." Jace said, and asked. "How do you know all this stuff, and what do you mean by 'character'."

That led to Apple Bloom explaining what a role-playing game was, and naming some of the places and deities from Twist's custom Humans and Horses setting.

"It sounds like some crazy game of make believe." Jace said. "I haven't heard of any places like that, or any of those gods."

Apple Bloom shrugged. "I guess it is. But with rules."

Surprisingly, Yancy spoke. "I'm trying to get my head around the idea that you actually have a book, just to set out the rules of some child's game. Books are expensive."

"No they're not..." Apple Bloom suddenly realised something. "Oh yeah, the books will be all mouth written here... hand written, sorry."

That led to another side discussion about moveable type printing presses. Apple Bloom had done a school project on them, so she could explain the basic idea. The two guards looked at one another, now that was a useful thing to know.

"I guess it was too much to hope that this place would be exactly the same as the game I played." Apple Bloom suddenly realised something. "Maybe the only reason it's this similar is is because we needed to be able to talk to people and make sense of things to get our cutie marks!"

She shook her head. "Which gets me no nearer to getting us all home, assuming Sweetie Belle can't do it. I'm guessing that whether we try to get a uni... wizard or a priest to cast a spell, we'll need to pay."

"A lot." Jace agreed. "Magic is expensive, and the sort of magic your talking about sounds big and difficult, in other words, very expensive. In the thousands of gold region sort of expensive."

The earth pony filly sighed. "A bit's made of gold, but I don't have a thousand of them on me. Only time I've ever seen that amount is during cider season."

That still surprised the other two. "That must be pretty good cider if it's so expensive."

"Ain't expensive, it's only three bits a mug." Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Finest cider in all Equestria too! Uh, so I guess a gold piece is worth more..."

Jace pulled out one of his few gold pieces to show her. "Our wages for this entire trip, two weeks, will be around 20 gold each, and Master Marrel pays well."

Apple Bloom did some not so fancy mathematics, and her shoulders slumped. "Earning enough will take along time... even if we could sell Sweetie Belle's spells, three of them in one day wiped her out. And it's not like we had anything else to sell..."

Suddenly she looked thoughtful, and went over to Sweetie Belle. She reached a hoof into her sleeping friend's saddle bag, and pulled out a topaz, stuck to the tip of her hoof. "Maybe these are worth something?"

Yancy sat bolt up, eyes wide, and Jace stifled an oath, then glanced in the direction of the front of the wagon. Fortunately the drover had apparently tuned out their conversation. The man in question, Tonas, was not one of the sharpest or most observant swords in the scabbard. In fact common cant around the caravan was that he was only slightly brighter than the horses he drove. Others considered that slander on the noble animals.

Jace schooled his voice into a bored monotone, and said, "Maybe a couple of gold pieces, if you found the right buyer. Can I get a better look at it?"

Apple Bloom visibly sagged, but moved on over in a three legged gait. "I guess. These are the left-overs from Sweetie Belle's sister's dressmaking, the rejects that weren't fine enough, so I figured they couldn't be worth much, especially a small one like this. Still even a little money would be a start."

Jace gave a meaningful glance at Yancy, and he moved around to block the view from the front of the wagon. Up close, the faceted, yellow honey coloured stone was even more impressive, not least because it was as big as his thumb. He was no expert on jewels, but he'd stood guard duty for a shipment of gems from a dwarf mine, so even he could make a rough guess as to it's worth.

He spoke in a low tone, covered by a well timed cough from Yancy. "Keep your voice down! Don't show that around, by the gods, that thing has to be worth a hundred gold at least! And you've got bigger ones?"

"Yep, diamonds and rubies too." Apple Bloom looked confused. "But why did you say it wasn't worth much?"

"The fewer people who know, the less risk you're in." He looked over at Yancy, who was now humming tunelessly to cover their conversation. "There are people who would kill for that kind of money, and few people I'd trust just in this caravan not to want a piece of it, I'm not sure I can trust myself..."

He saw her draw away, starting to looking scared and held up his hands, slowly. "No, I don't really mean that. You can trust Yancy and me. You fought alongside us, as well as anyone could, better than most, and that makes us comrades. Heironeous doesn't look favourably on people who betray their comrades..."

In response to her unasked question, he pulled out an amulet on a chain, the symbol of a fist clutching a lightning bolt upon it. "The god of honour and martial valour, a bit like this Belepheron of yours. A lot of guards and soldiers pray to him. You can bet we were praying to him when those goblins got close."

Seeing his explanation had calmed her down, he started thinking. "Tell Master Marrel, if anyone can be trusted it's him, and he'll know people in Teiras who'll buy them, as I doubt anyone in Macklewheat will have that much loose cash. In the mean time, spread them out among you, and don't show them to anyone else. If you have concealed pockets in those cloaks of yours, use them!"

He breathed a sigh of relief when the gem was back in Sweetie Belle's bag. "Well, I suppose that answers how you can pay for your return spell. Pay for anything you need for that matter."

"I'll say!" exclaimed Yancy, then checked behind himself to see that it hadn't attracted the attention of the drover up front. Thankfully that individual was still facing front and ignoring the antics in the back of the wagon.. Yancy breathed a sigh of relief.



Scootaloo woke up, and bounced off the cloud, wings spread. "Alright you goblin..."

She floated back down to land on the cloud when she realised she wasn't in the middle of a battle any more. "Ow! My wing hurts! What happened?"

Maia looked up from where she was unstitching Scootaloo's cloak and smiled. "You're awake, thank Pelor!"

Dayton glanced over his shoulder. "We owe all three of you a great debt. Without your delaying tactics, and your friends helping the defence, those creatures would have over-run us."

"So where are they? Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle? Last thing I remember I was flying back after pulling off an awesome stunt and..." The pegasus immediately turned her head to check her flank. "Yes! I have a cutie-mark, and it's awesome!"

Then she looked around and her enthusiasm dampened a little. "I guess the spell didn't send us home after all."

Maia gave a small shake of her head. "No, and I'm sorry you didn't get to go home, but it was fortunate for us that it didn't. The goblins kept chasing us, though your efforts slowed them up, but the guards at the rear ran out of arrows. Your friends took more of them back, and helped keep them off us."

"Huh? Apple Bloom I can understand, but Sweetie Belle? She's not a fighter!"

"No, but she is a healer. One of the guards was injured. You were too. She sang a magic spell to heal you."

Scootaloo flexed her wing with a wince, testing it's range of movement. "She'd better work on that, I don't think she quite got it down."

"Trust me, you were _badly_ hurt and unconscious when Apple Bloom brought you back. She jumped out of here and somehow towed you back with that bottle over there." Maia pointed to the stoppered flask.

"She did?" The filly frowned in thought. "The bottle sucks in and stores my cloud when I'm not using it... I guess she ran ahead of it!"

She finally looked properly down at her surroundings and down at her cloud. "Why's my cloud a girly pink?"

"You were bleeding, and your cloud must have absorbed it." Maia wasn't sure just how much detail to go into. This youngster had shown she was brave, but she didn't want to burden her with gory details.

Scootaloo noticed the faint smell of iron and the red patch on the floor where the arrow had been tossed aside. She could also see the darker stain that soaked a large section of the cloak Maia was holding. "Blood... eww, that's gross! Hey, what are you doing to my cloak anyway?"

"I thought I could repay a bit of what we owe by restitching your cloaks. Who made them? The material is very fine, but the workmanship isn't."

Honesty warred with the desire to defend her friend in Scootaloo's head, resulting in a victory for honesty, with heavy casualties. "Sweetie Belle. She wants to be as good a dressmaker as her sister, but she... well her talent's singing. But she worked really hard to make those cloaks!"

"Well, I'm only repairing this one, removing the thread so I can restitch it actually. It's the least I can do after the way you risked your lives for us."

"Aww!" Scootaloo blushed, "Rainbow Dash would have done it in an instant. Of course, she wouldn't have needed to ride around on a cloud, she;'d have just flapped her wings..." she flapped her wings in demonstration and rose up to the ceiling. She was so shocked that she barely noticed the sting of pain.

"Now don't do that!" Maia scolded. "Your wing may be healed but it still needs rest. Don't make me bind it up..."

The little filly didn't seem to be noticing her admonition, looking totally thunderstruck. "I... I can fly!"

"Not until that wing's better!"

Scootaloo had floated back down to the cloud for a second time. "No, I mean, I can really fly! But how..."

Her dumbstruck expression would have been almost comical if it wasn't so confusing. Maia said, "I thought that's what pegasi did?"

That opened up the floodgates as Scootaloo explained exactly why she was riding around on a cloud in the first place. Maia's heart went out to the poor thing, not being able to fly must be even worse when you should be able too. The cloud wasn't so much a magical item as a pair of crutches for a cripple... That sparked off a thought. "Maybe... That healing spell Sweetie Belle used on you looked powerful, had to have been to heal the damage. Maybe it healed your flying magic at the same time."

"But the docs said they couldn't use magic to fix my flying!"

"They weren't your best friend doing their best to save your life. I could feel the effort, the love she was putting into that spell from across the cabin. I don't think she was making petty distinctions, she just wanted to heal everything."

Scootaloo was clearly uncomfortable about the 'L' word. Then she latched onto something else. "Save my life?"

Maia mentally kicked herself. She'd hoped to avoid explaining just how bad Scootaloo's injuries had been, the young pony, no the young girl, was courageous, but Maia wasn't sure how she'd react to this revelation. But there was no help for it. "You'd lost a _lot_ of blood. I'm no healer, but I know a little of the healing arts, and to be honest, I was worried you wouldn't make it."

Scootaloo turned a little pale at the revelation, then shook her head as if waving off annoying gadfly. "But, but I did survive! I'm okay now, aren't I?"

"Apart from some slight scarring, you're fine." Maia replied confidently. "But you still need to rest that wing. I'd also suggest you have some soup, something to drink at least, but I can't make anything until we stop for the evening."

Scootaloo looked around and spotted the bottles. "Apple Bloom brought along some juice. I bet she'd say that'd be good for what ails me."

Maia got down a bottle, and was treated to a view of how a screw-top bottle worked, not to mention how someone without actual fingers could hold a bottle. It just seemed to stick. She picked up the discarded cap and was amazed at how light it was.

She waited until Scootaloo had finished drinking, the pegasus had found out just how thirsty she was and had consumed half the bottle before taking a breath, and then asked, "What is this metal, it's too light to be silver or steel, and so carefully crafted..."

"Uh, alicornium I guess. It's nothing special, they cook it out of rocks with electricity. They use it in pie-plates and airships because it's light, doesn't rust and is easily bent into shape." Scootaloo only knew that much because there'd been a science lesson on it a week ago, and she'd been interested in the air-ships bit.

Thinking of pie plates made her thing of what was on them, and her stomach rumbled. She looked up at the bundle on the shelf by the remaining bottles and licked her lips. Still it was Applejack's apple-pie... "Uh, maybe I should take that apple pie back to where the others are. They must be as hungry as I am. We were gonna have it for lunch, but we got sorta side tracked."

Maia wouldn't have minded trying some of this apple pie herself, but if anybody needed to keep up their strength it was those three.

Scootaloo mistook her hesitation. "I'll fly on my cloud so I don't put any strain on my wing, okay!"

"Of course dear." Maia brought down the pie as Scootaloo slung her saddlebag over her body and cinched the belly band tight. She brought down the other bottles and put them in the saddlebag along with the pie. Scootaloo grabbed her cloud bottle while she was at it.

Dayton spoke over his shoulder. "You can tell them we'll be stopping for the night at Macklewheat, a farming village. We'll be there well before sunset by my guess. What's more we're probably going to take a day tomorrow to rest up. We ran the carts hard today, and I want to give them a full check over before we carry on. The horses, Abyss, all of us could do with a rest too. Oh, and I think there's a bag of apples in the last cart. All three of you help yourselves."

He thought about telling them about Soran, but decided not to get their hopes up. If the cleric of Pelor was willing to help, it would come as a pleasant surprise for them.

Scootaloo nodded as she mounted her cloud. "Okay, and thanks!"

"No, thank you." he replied.

There were cheers as she flew along the line of caravans, and it felt awesome. This was what it must be like for Rainbow Dash all the time. She barely used her wings, except to do a neat 180 turn which took her around the back of the last wagon and in the back. She'd no sooner sealed her cloud away then she was hit by an enthusiastic earth-pony hug that nevertheless avoided her wing.

"Scoots! You're really okay!" Apple Bloom's voice was thick, and Scootaloo felt wet spots on her shoulder.

"Heh! Like one little arrow would ground me for long!" she said, but her voice betrayed her by cracking slightly at the end. "I guess Sweetie Belle's whammy helped, though according to folks, it was an earth-pony who dragged me to safety."

"Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle squeaked, and added her own hug. "I was so worried!"

"Hey, it's cool! With both of you watching out for me, there was no way anything was going to happen to me." She hugged her two friends back.

Jace and Yancy watched the three way embrace and thought they saw an almost visible golden aura encompass the trio. Scootaloo broke the hug first. "I brought some food, and I've got a lot of stuff to tell you."

"Us too." Apple Bloom sat back, wiping her eyes with a fore-hoof. "Pesky trail dust."

The three of them were so busy talking, they barely noticed the wagons coming to a halt. The place where they'd stopped was a wide unpaved square in the middle of a large cluster of thatched houses. A small church stood at one end of it, and various open fronted shops and a small inn lined the other sides.

They were closest to the inn, but people were starting to appear from all the other sides, neatly but plainly dressed, though most of them showed signs of having worked hard in the fields. The three of them could hear Dayton's voice from up front, greeting some people, and a rising chatter around them.

Apple Bloom actually felt a bit worried by the number of humans outside after Jace's cautionary comments, but they had to go out some time. She glanced over at the half-elf warrior and was relieved to see him grin. "Don't worry, if anyone tries to bother you, we'll ask them not to."

"Yeah!" Yancy smirked, hitting a fist into the palm of his hand. "We'll ask nicely."

Apple Bloom jumped down easily, to gasps from the nearest people, followed more sedately by Sweetie Belle and finally Scootaloo, who dropped down with her wings folded.

Jace and Yancy had clambered out after them, but the crowd's attention was all on the three fillies. Apple Bloom saw Sweetie Belle backing up nervously at some comments of "What are they?" "Animals?" "Pets?" from the humans in the front row, while further away ones were starting to push in to see what was going on.

While the tone didn't seem hostile, more confused, she decided something needed to be done. Sweetie Belle looked ready to run, while Scootaloo was starting to look annoyed, stepping forward and spreading a wing protectively over her. Apple Bloom bounded up onto a nearby barrel and leapt up to the roof of an outbuilding attached to the inn, put a hoof to her mouth and gave a sharp whistle.

"Hey, every-pony!" Her sudden movement and the loud noise drew the villagers attention towards her and away from the other two. She suddenly realised what she'd said and continued.

"Every-pony... That's most of the problem right there! We ain't pets and we ain't animals. We're people, and used to thinking that 'pony' means people. Though I can't blame you folks for thinking otherwise. We made the same kinda mistake ourselves when we first got here. We saw the wagon train, and figured the guys pulling the wagons were the ones in charge."

The tension that had been building broke and more than a few people laughed. Encouraged, Apple Bloom continued.

"We had less excuse, in our homeland, a place called Equestria, we have griffons and dragons and sheep and cows and a bunch of other critters, and all of them can think and speak, though truth be told, cows ain't the greatest conversationalists. Good at making cheese and butter though.

"We even have stories about humans, though until we got here, I figured that's all they were. I guess it's natural to assume that people, are the ones that look like you. But ain't people the ones who think like you, talk, have hopes and dreams, make jokes... bad jokes... and laugh about 'em?"

The mood had improved, so she decided to continue. "My name's Apple Bloom, I'm an earth pony, as opposed to a unicorn pony like Sweetie Belle or a pegasus pony like Scootaloo. Guys, come on up here so people don't have to push to see you."

Sweetie hesitated, then looked around at the humans towering over her and clearly decided that having the high ground was a better idea. Scootaloo popped her cloud out and hauled Sweetie Belle up, carrying her on her back.

"As you can see pegasus ponies have wings, so they fly, and control clouds, and unicorn ponies have horns and can do magic, and earth ponies can draw power from the earth and do..." she tried to come up with a short description of earth pony powers, gave up and just continued, "... very well. Say hi guys!"

Sweetie Belle raised a hoof and said with almost Fluttershy shyness, "Uh, hello!"

Scootaloo was a bit more enthusiastic. She reared up on her hind hooves, wings spread in one of Rainbow Dash's best poses, and called out, "Scootaloo's the name, awesome flying is my game!"

Apple Bloom was ready to take over again. "We got sent here by a magic spell that went a bit wrong, and we're trying to get back home. So yeah, we're different to you folks, but we're still people. My family runs a farm, Sweet Apple Acres, grows the best apples in all of Equestria, Sweetie Belle's big sister is a dress-maker..."

"A fashionista!" Sweetie Belle's voice was loud enough to cut across the crowd.

"Right, a really fancy awesome dress maker." Apple Bloom corrected herself. "... and Scootaloo's dad works for a pegasus cargo company."

She looked around at the crowd. "We met up with these folks on the road, and helped 'em out, and now we're travelling with them. We aren't asking you to treat us any different from them, just the same as you would any other traveller... well, there is one thing, don't crowd us too much. You folks are pretty tall, and it's kinda scary being loomed over like that."

Three humans came bustling up, one of them Dayton, the other two a middle aged man in a better cut of tunic, and an elderly fellow in a grey robe wearing a sunburst medallion and a neatly cut white Van Dyke beard.

Dayton called up to them. "Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, I'd like you to meet Mayor Vennor, the mayor of Macklewheat, and Brother Soran who is the local cleric of Pelor. I was just telling them how you saved our caravan from that goblin ambush."

The mayor called out, "Miss... uh Apple Bloom? You can come down from there, no-one is going to harm you."

"You got that right!" Apple Bloom grinned, and jumped straight down. "Not twice anyway. Y'know, we have a mayor in Ponyville too, except she's a grey mare."

Sweetie Belle carefully followed her down using the water butt as a stepping stone, and was singing some song about 'the old grey mare she ain't what she used to be.' under her breath. Scootaloo had sealed away her cloud again and just jumped and glided down with her wings outstretched.

Meanwhile Apple Bloom went up on her hind legs, and extended a fore-hoof to the mayor. "Pleased to meetcha!"

"Charmed." after a second of hesitation, the mayor took it. The other man took a knee to bring himself level with Apple Bloom and the others and gave a gentle smile. "I am happy to meet the three of you as well."

He projected an aura of such serenity that even Sweetie Belle was willing to trot forward and meet him. He nodded to each of them in turn, and said, "As Master Marrel said, I'm Brother Soran, a cleric of Pelor."

Apple Bloom asked directly. "That's the god who raises the sun right? Like Princess Celestia? Does that mean you can help us get home?"

"Not directly I suspect. From what I know of magic, such a boon from Pelor is beyond my power to ask. However, I know some people who might. Considering your heroic actions, it's the least I can do to put you in touch with them. Oh, and one other thing..."

He held up a golden sunburst amulet from around his neck. "Don't be alarmed, I want to cast a detection spell on you to prove that you are people of good intent. I'm sure it's not needed, but many people here are simple folk, and you will seem strange to them. People often fear what they don't understand, but they will take my word that you are nothing to fear."

Seeing Sweetie Belle looking a bit nervous, Apple Bloom said, "It's okay, remember how everyone was scared of Zecora? Well right now that's us with these guys."

She looked back to the cleric. "Go ahead!"

He spoke some phrases in an unknown language, liquid and musical, and his sunburst amulet glowed.

The three ponies felt something wash over them, and Sweetie Belle giggled. "Hey, that tickles!"

The cleric seemed pleased with the result. He stood up, moving back so as not to loom over them. "As I thought."

He raised his voice. "I have asked Pelor to show me the truth of their hearts, and they are indeed good and worthy. While they may not look like us, I say in the name of Pelor that they are indeed people, and ask everyone to treat them as such."

The three ponies could see that made an impression on the crowd.

Dayton came up to them. "We have to get a move on, we need to set up camp for the night. I've arranged with the mayor to set up in our usual place."

There were rumbles from the crowd, and he looked around and said ruefully, "I guess we'll need a bigger fire pit than usual. Looks like we'll be having a lot of visitors."