//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Fire From the Heavens 
// Story: Improbable Truth 
// by Charon the Chronicler 
//------------------------------//

            I know that sometimes, I make really stupid decisions. For example; heating a burrito in the school microwave with the aluminum foil still on it. Stupid, and loud. Deciding to try and clean myself after nature called with a plant I didn’t recognize. Stupid, and very painful. Thankfully, Zecora showed me a suitable substitute, the Bui-Bui plant, when I asked for soft leaves. Now my TP and my bed is made of the same material. However, going after what I perceived to be a Diamond Dog from the air while I was picking Sky Mushrooms, only for him and his pack to surround me the second I landed, could really be the stupidest thing I've ever done.

“Why does winged pony follow me?” The small one in a red vest screeched. This could be a variety of things in the real world. I could have followed some poor woman menacingly, and the neighborhood watch surrounded me. Or, seeing as how they approached me with malicious intent in their eyes, cracking their knuckles, waving their spears around, sneers present on all of their butt-ugly faces, I stumbled onto a gang. And not the juvenile ‘Gimme your Yu-Gi-Oh cards’ kind. Luckily for me, I knew a trick that would get anyone off my case.

“BACK THE FUCK OFF! I’M BATSHIT CRAZY!” Perfect.

Instantly, they flinched and stopped approaching, a few even stepping back anxiously. I had to press the advantage, and maintain an unstable persona. And I doubted these people were the types to go to the authorities.

“Listen up, shitfaces, I’m going to be honest with you, I am utterly insane. In fact, I could probably kill and eat one of you with no qualms at all.” A bluff, but a very good intimidation tactic. Among humans, death is scary enough, but being eaten brings up a type of primordial terror. And diamond dogs hearing something like that from a peaceful, cute, herbivore? Needless to say, it was even more unnerving. On the slim chance these were actually diamond dogs.

“But I won’t, because, for some reason, my brain is telling me that we could help each other.” A few relaxed at that, but most were still tense and disturbed. The tall, lean one treaded forwards carefully.

“How we do that, pony?” he asked.  I gave him a wide smile that made his eyes dart around fearfully.

“Easy.” I responded. “I’m pretty sure you guys do something involving a lot of waste products. I’ll come by and get them off your hands. And that’s it. You leave me alone, I leave you alone.” The tall one cocked his head.

“Waste…products?”

“What that?” asked the small one I had followed.

“I think he mean he take rocks we not want.” stated the big one. The small one and the tall one turned to look at him, then to me.

“That what you mean?” asked the tall one “You take rocks, and bad minerals like heavy gray rock, silver star rock, fake silver?”

“Nothing else?” squeaked the small one. I nodded. The three looked at one another.

“And if we want use you as slave, to carry rocks away?” inquired the small one, with a smug grin on his face. I leaned in closer to him, and he scuttled backwards as my cold eyes met his.

“If you are implying what I think you are, then you’d best develop a damn brain.” He whimpered and turned away. But I wouldn’t let him. I walked closer to him, forcing him back. “If you do that, I will escape, and you will find the half-eaten corpses of your brothers, rotting in the sun.” His back bumped into a tree as I approached. “And you will find one, every day, without fail.” I was over him, blocking the sun from his face, casting my shadow. “Until…” I leaned in to whisper in his ear. “You are the last one left. And I won’t give you the mercy of death before I consume you.” His legs gave out from underneath him, and I turned to the other dogs, pacing nervously as they watched. I couldn’t help but remember a poem by Maurice Ogden. Among them, I had the illusion of power,  even if they outnumbered me. I was their Hangman.

I gave a wide smile, a complete turn from my behavior seconds ago, and continued talking in a jovial tone. “Additionally, nobody will get rid of the waste of your work. And it’s not like I can find stuff for you. I’m crazy, not magic” I tapped my head sarcastically. “I am willing to do so, every week, for as long as I’ll be here.” I walked towards the big one, who proved that he was slightly smarter than the other two leaders. “I’m confident that if you have two chariots, I can use one to take away the discarded products, and bring it back empty the next week to replace it with the other one, which you will have filled. Like that, I get to help you guys get rid of the stuff, and you pay me with a single thing.” I shouldn’t let them know that their rocks are what I need. And doing this for free would be too suspicious. So I need to ask for something, and something that I can’t easily find. Oh, I know!

“What you want?” The big dog grumbled. He probably thought I was going to ask for something ludicrous. I grinned and gave him my answer.

“A weapon.”


<><><> 


I watched as the diamond dogs loaded a variety of rocks, from normal minerals to things they couldn’t use for tools in the cart. I kept smiling creepily around them, and I prepared to pull the thing. Okay, that’s a lot of rocks. Maybe I can trick myself into not feeling exhaustion by channeling the ‘flow’ from my wings to my hooves. More magic means more strength, right? I felt the inner flow, and tried to redirect it. I had been practicing on directing more flow to my wings the past few days, and I could do more, faster, the more practice I got. Now, I only had to do it in the opposite direction. Steadily, I felt my wings get weaker, while my legs felt more invigorated.

“Is big cart, with heavy rocks, pony.” The big dog looked at me. “You no need help?”

“I’ll be fine.” I latched myself to the cart and pulled. It was pretty heavy, but it would not be too hard. The small one gave me a spear, which I haphazardly threw in the cart. I waved to the dogs, my manic grin still stretched across my face. “I’ll see you all next week!” A few dogs nervously looked away, and one or two gave a half-hearted wave as I trotted away.

“Scary pony strong” I heard one say. I could practically hear the nods.

On my trip through the forest, I had time to think. That went better than expected. If it was a more jumpy gang, I would have probably been riddled with holes. I may be smuggling drugs…whatever. As long as I don’t snort the bricks of my house, I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine. Or maybe that was a false memory, and I ended up with stones. Stones I shouldn’t be able to logically carry. I slowed my pace. And I’m pretty sure my dream would have been either completely lucid, or simply an extension of false memories. But I remember all of my lucid dreams, which I never had, or dreams period, in my first delusion. Not to mention the sensation of the ‘flow’ through my body. I may really…I shook my head violently.

“No,” I said to myself, “I won’t believe it. It is indeed possible, and there is more evidence of the truth of what I see than ever. But I need more evidence. More than what I feel. Nonetheless, I should continue to act as if I am in either reality. It seems, well, more, than a simple delusion. I feel the ‘flow’ all of the time, the same way one becomes conscious of wearing clothes, so it can’t be a falsified memory, but it may be a fake sensation.” I took a deep breath. Enough of those thoughts. I need to plan the rest of my house. I already have enough wood for the roof and the supports. I’ll start digging an outhouse pit far enough away from my house, so it doesn’t reek. I should also remove some wood from the floor to make a fireplace and stove. Dual purpose! It’ll be super during winter…Crap! Insulation! Thick stone walls are nice and all, but it won’t keep heat as well. Maybe if I set up the walls to be mostly hollow, with bigger stones acting as both supports and separators…but what would I use to fill the hollow interior? A textile, like cotton, would work…Shit. I’m going to have to go to Ponyville for that. Maybe I could sell some of the rocks of value.

...I should apologize to Luna. It wouldn’t hurt.

I approached my half-finished home and my tent. The turning of flow, and the consistent use of it to pull the heavy load, had left me tired and very hungry. “Maybe an early lunch first.” I said to myself as I brought out a canteen of water, some lettuce, and a potato that I would cook over a fire. I was unaware of the icy blue eyes watching me from the dense underbrush.


<><><> 


It would have been easy for the wolf to attack his prey then. It was vulnerable; tired from its journey, hungry, and most of all, it felt safe. It was weak. But the wolf knew better. He fought his instinct to jump out now and tear the prey limb from limb, to taste its flesh, to gnaw on its bones. He would never be able to eat it all, and the stallion would have died for nothing. He was still full from yesterday’s deer, after all.

The wolf didn’t just stalk his prey, he knew more now. He scouted his prey’s territory, explored beyond the forest. He found many things, especially in the direction the sun set. There was a small cottage where much smaller prey was being taken care of another similar creature, this one light yellow with a pink mane, but she was far less secluded than the other one. Every now and then, a variety of the creatures, which the wolf learned were called 'ponies', would visit the cottage. So, even if he could have gone in and eaten anything, from the tiny, bossy rabbit, to the bear that was smaller than him on all fours, it would have brought on the wrath of the local populace.

So the direwolf simply sat behind the cottage and eavesdropped. And the things he learned from idle conversation! He was surprised at first to understand the chatter of the rodents and the chirping of birds. It wasn’t full conversation like the ponies were capable of, but a more basic mean of conveying ideas, like “This food is good”, “That was funny!” and even “Thank you!” But not full-fledged stories, ideas,  and original concepts, like the ponies talked about. Even if they were prey, he could not help but feel enamored by the tales the ponies spoke. From the time parasprites invaded, to the ‘winter wrap-up’, and then the more recent trip to the town called ‘Cloudsdale’ and the subsequent ‘Sonic Rainboom’. It was only when some of the animals closer to the back of the cottage smelled ‘danger’ and a ‘predator’ that the direwolf decided to limit his trips to the cottage.

But he couldn’t help but feel like he wanted to listen to more, to communicate. It was impossible, though. He was a predator, they were prey. They had to die so he would live, even if it was just a bit longer.

So he sat, he watched, he waited from afar. And when he was hungry enough, he would eat.


<><><> 


Shining Armor really understood why the princesses sent him here. Truly, he did. As Captain of the Royal Guard, he was privy to sensitive information. The Hall of Armaments, where Equestria’s most dangerous weapons and artifacts lay, sealed, with accurate descriptions on what they have done, what they could do, who they belonged to, and who brought it in. Apparently a certain Miss Do had the highest count of sealed relics. There was also the Hall of History, where only the most privy would walk and see stained glass murals of important events in history. Shining was quite proud to have his sister on the most recent one. There were other secrets, such as the Hall of Celestia’s Moste Embarrassing Moments (inaugurated by Luna upon her return, as a joke), the Hall of Delicious Cake Recipes, and far more. Shining had only just realized the Royal Sister’s obsession with secret hallways, but chose to chalk it up to odd alicorn behavior, like Luna’s recent  ‘perfect cheese hayburger’ mania.

So if Luna entered the dream of a potential danger to Equestria, it was only logical to secure Equestria’s borders in case the dreamer was a scout or capable of calling for reinforcements. And it was only logical that they would send the most experienced and renowned member of their guard to the border with the most potential danger.

But still, he thought, they didn’t need to send me somewhere so hot!


Shining walked across the rampart of the fort on the border of the Badlands, the mighty Fort Alamane. What the fort lacked in comfort, however, it made up in defense, and in spades. Originally built in the shape of a square from the surrounding sandstone two thousand three hundred and eighteen years ago, before the Royal Sisters came into power over the unified pony tribes, it had been destroyed five hundred and eighty four years ago by a marauding tribe of minotaurs, led by the mighty Praised Beast, and his massive warhammer, Ironshock, which called dark lightning down from the heavens. The first Alamane was destroyed by lightning, but the casualties on both sides were the worst in centuries, with hundreds injured and dozens dead. The attack was repelled when Praised Beast was felled by the dying unicorn, Beloved Curl. Beast had fallen, his troops disbanded, his hammer locked away in the Hall of Armaments.

The Alamane was erected once more, in the shape of a hexagonal fan, around a statue of Beloved Curl, with enchanted gems residing within its marble walls, and mithril plating the outside of the twenty meter walls and the thirty meter watchtowers. Celestia had spared no expense on a fort she considered to be on the most dangerous border, and skilled unicorns came annually to redeem and upgrade the enchantments. It was the most protected place in Equestria, save Canterlot itself.

Shining admitted that he was maybe a bit of a history buff, but he couldn’t really blame himself when it came to being raised in a household of scholars. At least he wasn’t as bad as Twilight. Despite the heat, Shining shuddered. She could probably name what Beloved Curl’s last meal was, and Praised Beast’s pet dog’s name. Shining passed by a couple of his troops, out of armor, playing dice, and decided not to reprimand them. There were six lookouts posted at all times, and he was confident that his soldiers could get ready when need be. But still…

“ATEEN-TION!” Within seconds, the three mares and two stallions donned their enchanted armor, and stood in a line. Where there were five ponies of differing ages, genders, and colors, playing a casual game of dice, now stood, in a perfect line, five white coated stallions, mirror images of one another in all but race. Five, stoic, immaculate royal guards. Shining scrutinized the guards, and after five minutes of motionlessness, Shining was satisfied.

“At ease.” The guards didn’t visibly change, but Shining could see their muscles relax somewhat underneath their enchanted coats. “Nice to see you colts are still in shape. Don’t get caught unaware.” The five nodded, and proceeded to get back to their game, taking off bits of their armor all the while.

Shining continued on the ramparts, up to Hawk Eye, the sole gryphon soldier stationed at the fort. Gryphon-Equestrian citizens were rare, and soldiers in Equestrian guard were rarer. They were more frequently found in cities like Cloudsdale or Las Pegasus, working as fishers or weather managers, despite being from a more honor-bound military culture, much like the pegasi. Shining had heard from some pegasi in the military that gryphon-caught fish was often far better than pegasi-caught fish, but he knew that was a minor reason for the small gryphon presence in the guard. As much as Shining hated to admit it, specist hate existed in Equestria, regardless of how it had drastically declined through the effort of the princesses. But ancient cultural ideas clung to the nobles and all those who were in their influence, and even older fears held strong among many ponies. A minority, yes, but still enough for it to be difficult for a non-pony in the guard. 

Nonetheless, however much Hawk Eye’s eating habits bothered him, he was still one of his first friends in the guard. The two had moved up through the ranks together, one sometimes finding himself the superior of the other. However, Shining came out on top, becoming Captain of the Royal guard, while Hawk Eye remained First Lieutenant. But Shining Armor believed that Hawk Eye was more deserving of the position, and suspected that he was only Captain because nobles put pressure on Celestia for a unicorn of ‘higher birth’ to be placed in the position. Despite the validity of his claim, Hawk Eye waved it off, and told him it didn’t matter. Now that Luna had returned, Hawk Eye, like most gryphons and pegasi, was moved to the Lunar division, and was often paired with Shining in missions such as this one.

“Anything odd, Hawk?”

“Nothing odd, Captain.” His tone was curt, and his eyes were still on the horizon, but his mocking grin told a different tale.

Giving a good-natured punch to his friend’s shoulder, Shining chuckled.

“I keep telling you I hate it, and you use it even more.” He turned to look out to the Badlands. “What about news from your family? Don’t deny it, I knew you got a letter.”

“How scandalous!” The gryphon cried in simulated despair as he held a claw to his beak, “The Captain is reading our mail! Will the treachery ever end?” The two shared a laugh at his faux-Canterlot accent. “But seriously? Really pluckin’ busy. My cousin is complaining because an old friend of hers realized she was an uppity plothole.”

“Did she really word it like that?” Hawk waved a claw away.

“Psht, creative license. So Gilda’s upset while her mother coddles her like a spoiled little cub. Mum’s friend is going to be laying eggs soon, but she’s under pressure because the father’s a stallion, and some gryphons and ponies are against that kinda stuff. Looks like a few little hippogriffs are going to be born in Equestria.”

“A ridiculous sentiment, but understandable.” Shining nodded.

“Why understandable?” Hawk asked, eyes unmoving from the distance.

“Well,” Shining almost rose a hoof in the air, but stopped himself before he could go into pure ‘lecture mode’. “Hybrids have a really bad reputation because of the Minotaur-Pony hybrid, Tirek, whose evil actions could be more attributed to his unicorn father, who practiced dark magic. Tirek wanted to steal all of Equestria’s magic, but was stopped by his brother, and ̶ ”

“Okay, okay,” interrupted Hawk, “I didn’t want you to get into lecture mode.”

“It wasn’t ‘lecture mode’” Shining grumbled under his breath. “If it was, I would have talked about ̶ ”

“Neeeeerd.”

“Says the one who plays three instruments!”

“That’s not nerdiness!” the gryphon retorted, “That’s culture!” Hawk kept his eyes on the Badlands while he stuck his beak in the air.

“Culture?” the pony scoffed “I’ve seen more culture from Shrimp Jambalaya, the cook from the bayou!”

“That’s a different kind of culture!” Hawk exclaimed, “The fungal kind.”

“Y’all know I can hear y’all right?” a shout came from below the bulwarks.

“Curse his freaky swamp sense.” muttered Hawk.

“It’s called hearing, ya moldy bog sloth!” yelled Shrimp.

“Mane, bat-ponies have amazing hearing.” Hawk commented. “You know we’re ribbing you right?”

“Ya, ya. I can forgive ya, Hawk, cause ya take care of our rat problem. But what’s gonna stop me from spittin’ in Armor’s gruel?”

Before Shining could say anything, Hawk jumped in.

“Just call him Captain. He hates that.” Shining groaned in irritation.

There was a chortling from below.

“Alrighty. Y’all be good now, Hawk and…Captain.” Shining groaned even louder.

“So what did we learn today?” Hawk asked Shining innocently.

“The same thing we’ve learned every time something like this happened, ever since boot camp.” Shining grumbled.

“Don’t mess with the ponies who could mess with your food.” The two said in unison. They sniggered, and Shining began to walk away.

“Your shift’s up in an hour, Hawk.”

“Captain.” Hawk said stiffly. Shining sighed.

“Hawk, you know ̶ ”

“Shining Armor.” The gryphon interjected. “I see something.” The captain stood straighter.

“What?” He teleported to his quarters, found his telescope, and teleported back. “Where?” he asked as he focused the lens of his enchanted scope, a gift given to him by his sister when he was made captain.

“South, twelve degrees east.”

Shining looked in that direction and spotted movement. It was almost invisible, blending into the desolate, rocky, mustard brown of the Badlands, but he found the creature.

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Shining gaped.

“Round, rocky creature? Possibly a golem?”

“No,” the captain denied “It has beady eyes and a wide mouth, and it has no magical glow around any part of it.”

“It looks like a fat, furless diamond dog with a rocky back and a chestnut-shaped head.”

“Yeah. But it has no muzzle, ears, and its legs are bending weirdly.”

“I think it may be female. I found her mammaries. Wait a second. It has a goatee.”

The two paused for a minute.

“What in Tartarus is that thing?” exclaimed Hawk. The two continued to watch the odd, shambling creature.

“We should probably ̶ gnnnnn…” A sharp pain flared at the base of Shining’s horn, interrupting him mid-sentence, and Hawk Eye turned to look at him, worried.

“Shining! Are you al ̶ ” A bright flash. A second of loud, consistent roaring. A shockwave that knocked them from their hooves, claws, and paws. The entire fort shaking. Loud silence. An alarm bell ringing. Shouting. Screaming.

Hawk Eye shook his head, clearing stars from his vision. He found Shining in a crumbled heap next to him.

“Shining! Get up, colt!” Hawk shook his friend desperately, “You’ve got a special mare in your life, colt!”

“Don’t call me cooooolt.” Shining moaned, and Hawk let out a sigh of relief. He helped his friend to his hooves as Shining blinked blearily. Hawk stopped a pony running by in a frenzy.

“Guard! Gather the other lookouts and bring them to the infirmary.” Hawk ordered. “That flash could have damaged their eyes, and if you want them to see again, you’d best get them to medic Strong Recovery.”

The guard looked to Shining, who was stumbling to his hooves.

“Sir?”

“Do what the lieutenant says, soldier.” He grumbled.

The stallion saluted and galloped off. Stallion and gryphon turned to look where the flash originated. Where the creature once stood, kilometers away, was nothing more than a perfectly smooth crater of glass, a kilometer wide.

“If I had been looking at it, I would definitely be blind.” Hawk Eye gulped, his throat dry. The other lookouts, being ponies, would heal. But gryphon eyesight is far more sensitive, and he doubted Strong Recovery would be able to fix the damage.

“As I was saying,” Shining dusted himself off, “we should definitely report this.”


<><><>


Ah, Ponyville. The bright, cheery, little town that, besides from the occasional monster attacks, was basically the typical small village utopia.

One I really did not want to enter.

I had passed Fluttershy’s cottage and stood right by the bridge that led into Ponyville, which I knew was the official ‘border’ of the small town. Apparently Fluttershy’s been skimping when it came to property tax. No judgment, I was doing the same. But that is not where the problem lay.

The second I entered, the friendly inhabitants would force me into the most difficult position. Forced, extended social contact. I didn’t mind social contact, but I really had to measure my words to not seem completely bonkers, and after a while, it became exhausting. And I could not afford to slip up. So I prepared myself for a very controlled dialogue, and I stepped onto the bridge.

Halfway across, I could help but have an errant thought. I wonder where Pinkie is. She should have assaulted me by now. Never invoke the pink.

“HERE I AM!” Pinkie leaped out of the water like a neon pink shark attacking a poor piñata, and landed in front of me, on her back hooves, forelegs in the air, perfectly dry. My eye twitched, and I decided to write her off as a hallucination. I walked past her and headed off towards where I thought ‘Carousel Boutique’ was. Of course, the pink pony bounced after me. After a few minutes of humming, I decided to pander my imaginary stalker.

“Sooooo,” I began, trying to strike up conversation with what was likely the insane part of my subconscious, “Why are you following me?”

“Oh, that’s easy!” she started hopping backwards as she faced me. “I felt itchy hooves, and I knew somepony new was in town! Then I felt my spine prickle, my nostrils twitch, and my tail twist! That means that somepony believes that everything they see is fake, and that's really sad.”

“How do you have a combo for that last one?” Realizing that I could be talking to either nothing more to air, or a curious passerby that I just confounded, I decided to add, “And yes, I am crazy.”

“No you’re not, silly! And I learned that combo after I spent a full month following Papa around!”

“Figures,” I muttered. And an idea came to me. “If you are real, Candy, wouldn’t you be able to point me in the direction where I can get some cotton?  I already know my way to Main Street but ̶ ”

“You mean Mane Street.” Pinkie piped, ignoring my chosen nickname for her. “And Carousel Boutique is on the second left!” I had to stop walking at that. She knew where it was, so she was likely a ‘translation’ of a sociable pedestrian.  But how…

“How could you tell the difference between 'mane' and 'main'?”

“I read it, duh!” She giggled.

“Wha…buh…what!”

“I have good eyesight! Cause I eat a lot of carrots!” Pinkie pulled a carrot out of her mane and started munching on it.

“Uuuuh…thanks for keeping me company.” I trotted away, and tried to not look to panicky while doing so. Pinkie gave a wide smile and an energetic wave before she hopped away. Soon enough, as I tried to fix the damages to my perception of reality, I arrived at Rarity’s doorstep. Being ever the gentleman (in public), I knocked three times and waited.

“Cooooomiiiiing!” a sophisticated voice sang. The door opened and the silk-white unicorn stepped aside to let me in. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is chic, unique, magnifique!”

“Hello, I’m actually not here for clothing.” Thinking about the fact that I may have been naked, I decided not to push it. I saw this woman as Rarity, and one wrong phrase like “Unless what I’m wearing is taboo” would trap me here for hours as a glorified mannequin. Or, as I saw it, a ponyquin. Equiniquin?

Rarity rose an eyebrow, and gave me an inquisitive look.

“So, darling,” she began as her eyes skimmed over me, dressing me with her eyes “What would a windswept stallion like you need from little moi?” She batted her eyelashes.

“I actually need cotton. A lot of it. I have the money to pay for a bit, but I believe I have…raw goods.” Time to see if what I’ve got on me is actually worth anything. If not, it’s likely I’d be going in for possession. I unfurled my right wing to reveal about seven hundred grams of what the diamond dogs called ‘false silver’, which was utterly worthless in their eyes. However, since I took an interest in my mom’s work while I was in middle school, I knew enough geology to be able to properly identify it. Rarity examined the assorted rocks.

“And…exactly how much cotton do you want?” I did a minute of mental calculations, and winced.

“About sixty-four thousand kilos.” Rarity gaped and took a deep breath.

“A…fan of metric, I see! As am I. As for the cost…” She bit her lip. “I don’t think this much silver will be able to pay for that much cotton.” I shook my head.

“This isn’t silver.” I stated.

“Really?” She lifted one of the rocks in a blue glow and furrowed her brow in concentration. After a moment, her eyes opened wide and her jaw went slack. “P-pla-platinum?” She blinked in confusion a couple times. “This is more than enough to pay for that much cotton.” Her gaze settled back on me. “Where did you find this?”

“In a pile of other rocks.” It was true, except that pile was given to me by the diamond dogs.

“Fine.” She huffed. “Where do you want to get the cotton delivered? I can give it to you right here and you’d have quite a few bits extra, but that much cotton would be difficult to carry by yourself, dear. But if I hired delivery, you’d only have about a hundred and fifty bits left over.”

“Just deliver it by the eastern bridge,” I answered, “I’ll take it the rest of the way. Could I have a written voucher?” Rarity gave me another quizzical look, but nodded.

“I’ve never had somepony ask for proof.”

“I’m just from. . .elsewhere.”

“Ah.” Her tone was short and non-committal, likely because she noticed my own, more reserved, word choice. She levitated a paper and quill, wrote something on it quickly, rolled it up, and passed it to me. I grabbed it and put it under my left wing as she levitated the platinum off my other wing.

“Thanks, Marshmallow,” I called as I strolled out, “Nice doing business with you!”

I failed to notice the confused look on the mare’s face as I left.

“Marshmallow?”

The walk back to the bridge was fairly uneventful, save for seeing Snips and Snails crash into Spike. When I saw the three together, I couldn’t help but draw a couple similarities between them and the Three Stooges.

 “Hey, Spike, I heard there’s new entertainment in town!”

“Oh yeah? What is it Snips?”

“I dunno, Heh heh, but you’d really fit in with the clowns!”

“Why I oughta…!”

“Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. Woop woop woop!”

Classic.

When I got to the bridge, I ran into Fluttershy. Literally, because I was too busy imagining the shenanigans the Equestrian Three Stooges would get into, and she was too busy looking at the birds. When we had first met, I had gone back to her cottage to introduce myself and explain the basics of my condition. She was really quiet, shy, and pretty much everything you’d imagine Fluttershy to be. She looked worried, but more for my sake than hers, when I described the basics of my condition.

But she really started talking when I told her I had studied biology, and was concentrating on avian biology. We got into a lengthy discussion of animals, ecosystems, and bird care in general, and she really warmed up to me. She really took it to heart when I explained the importance of bird down to conserve temperature, and I learned a lot about the local fauna. I was comfortable in her presence, and she didn’t run away screaming when I told her about my disorder, so we were pretty much buddies at that point.

“Oh, um…hello, Windell.”

“Hi, Effie, it’s nice to see you.”

“You too…I’ve never seen you coming from Ponyville.”

“I just had some chores to do.” Looking over my withers to Ponyville, I couldn’t help but continue. “And I hear there’s going to be some kind of show.”

“That’s…nice. But, um, I wanted to ask, would you like to join me, Rainbow, and a couple others through the Everfree tomorrow? If you don’t mind that is…” I cocked my head.

“Why?” I asked as Futtershy looked away.

“If you don’t want to…” she barely whispered.

“No, I do, I just want to know why. Isn’t it a bit dangerous?”

“Oh, yes,” Fluttershy nodded vigorously, “but that’s why Rainbow Dash is there. After some ponies I know decided they wanted to see the unique wildlife and ecosystem of the Everfree, Dash insisted on coming along in case we need help. And I’ll be there to tell the animals everything will be okay, so we should be fine.”

“Not to mention we would be safer in a large group” I noted. “Sure, I’ll come along.”

“Really?” the mare gave a tiny squeak as she smiled. Going to ignore that. “Oh, thank you! We’ll have so much fun, talking about all the flora and fauna, and the unique workings of the Everfree, and we’ll have so much fun!” She flapped into the air excitedly. I chuckled at the sight, and began to walk towards my clearing.

“Nice seeing you, Effie!”

“You too!” she yelled as loud as she could. It was barely more than a normal speaking tone, but it was quite loud for her.

Today was a progressive day.


<><><> 


Luna’s moon began to rise into the sky when Lyra knocked on her roommate’s bedroom door.

“C’mon Bon-Bon,” the mint coated mare said through the door, “You’re going to love this! I went there last week, and it was really mysterious and beautiful and really, really cool!”

“Euuugh.” Something grumbled from the other side. “Lyra, you know, I worked all of last night to cook that batch of caramel and chocolate candies. Can’t we do…whatever this is…tomorrow?”

“But Boooooooooon-Boooooooooooon” Lyra whined, “Please? You’ll love it, I promise.” The door opened to reveal a disheveled cream coated mare with a two tone mane of dark blue and neon rose.

“This better be really bucking amazing, Lyra.” Said mare started bouncing about in place, eyes closed and a wide grin plastered across her face. Bon-Bon grinned at the sight, but averted her eyes and let the smile fall from her lips as soon as she realized she was doing it.

“Comeoncomeoncomeon! We’re going to miss it!”

“Alright, alright,” Bon-Bon relented, “Let’s go.”

The two mares walked out of their home, cool spring wind nipping at their ears. Bon-Bon saw that they were heading out of town, towards the northern lake that she heard some of the locals refer to as the ‘Singing Lake’. Bon-Bon watched the houses as she passed them, remarking how different Ponyville was at night compared to her home town of Fillydelphia.  She’d never really had the time to explore Ponyville the evening in the past few years she’d been there. The candy maker looked at the mare walking on her left. She’d first met Lyra when they bumped into each other at the Ponyville station, then they became quick friends at the book club, and they found it quite funny when Lyra had applied for an offer to share a home, and ended meeting a surprised Bon-Bon at her doorstep. Lyra had called it destiny.

Bon-Bon realized she was getting a bit too close to Lyra, and slowly scooted a respectable distance away from her side. Lyra didn’t notice; in fact, her eyes lit up as they came upon the lake, a small crowd of ponies already gathered there. They all stood still, in silence, staring out to the center of the lake.

“Lyra, what’s going on?” Bon-Bon whispered.

“Shh. Watch.”

The silence was palpable, but an odd, plucky tune began to play. An airy stallion’s voice rang out from the center of the lake. Tiny lights from Rambling Rock Forest appeared, and they began to flow towards the center of the lake.

Fireflies? From the song? It was with that thought that Bon-Bon snapped out of her reverie and noticed something different. Nopony’s singing. And I don’t know the lyrics, I can’t feel the harmony. But…it’s still nice. It’s different, and I…like it.

The lights flowed towards the crowd of ponies, moving to the rhythm, and moving between ponies like drowsy parasprites. A few passed by Lyra and Bon-Bon, and the cream coated mare could not help but let her gaze linger on the lit-up unicorn. She shook her head, dispelling the errant thoughts. No. Nopony thinks like that. It’s…it’s wrong. But a little voice at the back of her head made itself heard. ‘It’s different, like this song’. Bon-Bon listened to the rest of the song in silence, trying to ignore her tumultuous thoughts.

“So,” began Lyra as they walked back to their house “Was it good?”

“No.”

Lyra’s ears drooped, and she slumped a bit.

“Oh. Okay, I guess ̶ ”

“It was fantastic.” Bon-Bon beamed. Lyra instantly perked up and bounced in place.

“I knew it! I told you Bonnie, I told you!”

Bon-Bon smiled, and found herself a bit close to Lyra, the brisk air having pushed her closer to her unicorn roommate, seeking warmth. She didn’t move away.