Feather Steel

by Cold Spike


Chapter Ten

“So, how was your day?”

Feather looked over to find Scootaloo glancing up at him with a raised eyebrow.

“History… Clover… May I take your order…ugh,” were some of the words he got out while looking at her with a pained expression.

“You poor, poor pony.” She feigned concern and shook her head. Then she smirked. “Do you wanna go do something?”

“No, not really.” He instantly turned around from her and started to trot away.

Before he even got ten steps away, she was in his face. “Aw, c’mon! Why not?”

He huffed and pushed her face away. “One, I’m tired and I just want to go eat something, then… uh… well, I dunno.”

She frowned and nodded. “Oookay, you can eat on the way.” She then pinched his side and grabbed onto him. “Now get going!”

“Hey! Stop shoving! I got burned, you know!” Feather protested.

“Yeah, we all saw. I’m sure you’ll be fine. I’m the one that had to sit through that horrid lecture. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Rainbow Dash seem so uncool! So, stop burning yourself! ‘Kay?” She asked half seriously, while smirking.

He stared at her with a dull glare. “Uh huh. I’ll try to keep that in mind. Note to self: Burning myself makes Rainbow Dash ‘uncool’. Can I go eat now?” he asked impatiently.

She walked alongside him and rolled her eyes. “You could be less rude. And how do you know what I’m about to show you doesn’t involve food?”

Without skipping a beat he continued on then called back to her. “Because you don’t have any on ya,” he said swiftly. Behind him he could fear the filly practically growling, like a lone predator.

“Fine! Be… stupid!” With that outburst, she stormed off in the other direction.

He watched her go and sighed. Maybe I struck a nerve? Probably not good... he thought wearily.

Looking around, he noticed just how out in the open he now was; the town had no real places to hide being so openly constructed with wide and inviting paths. He figured that he would be fine for a little while, but not when the sun set and ponies spotted a lone colt wandering in the dark. Maybe I better get back to… His train of thought derailed upon noticing three familiar fillies off in the distance. They were all heading toward Sweet Apple Acres and he could have sworn Scootaloo looked back with a disgusted look. Or maybe not. He wasn’t exactly sure just how much her friends knew about her current situation and he doubted she wanted him there right now.

“Well, I’ve been in worse situations,” he said to nopony in particular. “Just gotta find an easy spot for the night.”

He went to walk away, but his thoughts wandered to Scootaloo and her friends; for some reason, the thought of her shoving him aside for her friends made him feel jealous. I would have followed her if she just wasn’t so… obnoxious! he thought bitterly. He sighed, feeling his resentment fade away to the harshness of his current situation. Like a switch, he felt as if he were in any other town, just getting by like he always had; a lone colt like always. He started to pick up the pace when he noticed younger ponies had started to disappear from the streets; it seemed to be getting close to dinner time.

“So… you just gonna wander around until you get caught?”

His head whipped around and there stood Diamond Tiara. She smiled smugly back at him then quickly walked by. “I mean it won't take them long to notice if you don’t have somewhere to be,” she said cooly.

“I know that!” he snapped. He started following her, but kept his eyes on the road. “Weren’t you going home?”

“No. I lied. I do that. By the way, I think you ticked off Scootaloo. Nice job!”

Sighing he glanced back at her. “Did anypony ever tell you that your smile looks fake?”

Slowly her beaming smile faded and quickly morphed to a menacing glare. “Whatever. So, where does a blank flank go when they need to hide for the night?” Her question revealed just a bit more excitement than she wanted to let on, but she kept her cool.

“Uh, not really used to… this,” he stated, surveying his surroundings yet again.

She walked in front of him, which caused him to skid to a halt. “To what? I mean you have been in other towns before, right?”

He snorted to her and side stepped the annoying filly. “Of course I have, just not like this. I like to survey things, sneak around, all that stuff. It’s different when everypony knows that you live there. I wasn’t expecting all of this and that party and… ugh.” He slapped his forehoof to his head and grunted. “This could be bad.” He paused then quickly looked to Diamond with a pleading expression. ”Can’t I just stay at your place again? It would only be for another night...”

She nearly broke out in laughter, and would have if it weren’t for his anxious look. “Uh, not gonna happen. Daddy nearly had a fit from surprise guests. I mean it wasn’t that bad, but I doubt he wants to see you or Miss Blank anytime soon,” she said cooly.

He narrowed his eyes on her and he could have sworn she swallowed, as if she were hiding something. “Okay. Well.. c’mon, we have to get out of sight, now.”

She snickered and followed along. “Well, technically, you have to. But I’ll play along.”

He said nothing and did his best to remember every last detail of the town. Ignoring the ponies who were casually cantering toward their homes, he focused on the homes themselves. Plenty were clearly occupied, and for the few closed doors, there were lit candles in the windows. “Don’t they use lights? What’s with all the candles?”

She snorted in response. “This is an earth pony town, so no. Of course, my house has enchanted lights, but not even our librarian uses those. Then again, I think she can just make light; lucky unicorns…” she muttered the last part bitterly. Feather nearly snickered, imagining Diamond with a horn a horn of her own.

“Oh.” He kept looking around trying to come up with somewhere he could sneak to, and that’s when he saw it. “What’s that building for?” he asked, pointing to a rather large circular platform that rose up to several stories.

“Town meeting center. It’s only uses for events and stuff.” She narrowed her eyes, looking at him suspiciously. “Why?”

He said nothing and looked back at it. One could argue, aside from Twilight’s home, it was pretty much the town’s main feature. A wonderfully crafted building with fine wood, clean windows, and a second story balcony to overlook the town. It looked big enough to house a good portion of the town’s occupants during any event. Feather walked up to it and peered inside, and just as he’d suspected, the place was empty. He looked over and found a large lock that was tied to a chain which encased the front doors.

“Feather, it’s locked.”

“Yes, and vacant,” he stressed. “Uh, you ever break a window before?”

Her eyes widened in shock and she backed up a bit from him. What’s wrong with him?! she thought in a panic. For a second, she saw, not the kind and goofy colt that she had started to become familiar with, but a thief and a criminal. A bad colt.

But then she remembered the first thing she had caught him doing, breaking and entering and stealing from her home. It made sense. “Uh, well, I--”

But Diamond didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence when a mare’s voice called out to them. “Hey, uh, you two!”

Feather had heard an adult’s voice take that tone enough times to know that they were in trouble. However, running away would only make them look more suspicious on the off chance that they hadn’t just been caught. Hesitantly, he turned around to face the mare.

“Uh, Feather, right?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking him over. He nodded. “Look, I’m sorry about earlier. I should have been paying more attention to things and, well, warning you foals about your bags and stuff…” she trailed off awkwardly and gave the two hopeful smiles, while still hovering in the air.

He blinked, having completely forgotten that she had been the teacher on duty. Well, we’re not in trouble, she is. Feeling he was now in a very unfamiliar situation, he nodded nervously. “That’s okay. I’m fine now. I--”

“Are you sure?!” She flew closer, looking at him over.

“Yeah, yeah! Really, it’s fine, uh, Rainbow, right?”

“Yeah. Well, if you say so, kid. You’re tougher than you look!” she exclaimed then landed. The mare swiftly smacked him on the back, making sure she did it on the side away from his injuries.”Eh, anyway I just wanted to say that. I just hope you don’t blame me or anything…”

“Oh no, I had the stupid bag on. It’s not like you put it on me,” he said gruffly.

The entire time Diamond had remained silent, watching the two. The only gripe she had with Rainbow was the boring lecture she was forced to deliver after the incident. It wasn’t anything she needed to make a stink about, even if she really wanted to.

Rainbow quickly turned to the filly and nodded. Can’t quite remember her name. Rich Filly something… she thought bluntly. “Well, I’ll just leave you both be now.” She then flashed a grin and quickly spread her wings before flying off. “Stay awesome!” she called out, and soon she was gone.

Feather sighed in relief, leaning against the locked door. “Am I an adult magnet or something?”

Diamond rolled her eyes, then started shoving him away from the door. “It’s probably a dumb idea to just stick around.”

He started walking and followed her away. “No kidding. We need to find me a place to just hide for the night.” He looked around, frowning at the numerous ponies that were still out and about. “Follow me.”

“Where are we going?”

He didn’t answer immediately and chose to wait until they were in an open park. A few foals could be seen running around, but no grownups. It was more of a traditional park with not but a single bench to laze on. “Somewhere I can hide until it’s dark. Uh, do you have any of that puff stuff?”

She gave him an odd look, but nodded. “Yeah, in my bag. I’ll get it out when we stop, uh, but I’ll have to go home soon… you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Yeah. Not the first time I’ve done this. Isn’t there a forest around here? It’s usually easier to hide around trees. My coat color doesn’t blend well, but it’s better than just sitting around town.”

She nodded. “The Whitetail Woods should work. Hey, how long have you been on your own?” she suddenly asked.

Again he chose not to answer right away, but this time it was because he actually had never thought about it before. He at least knew it was more than two years, but had no exact number. “A few years, why?”

A small portion of Diamond’s sympathy for other ponies surfaced, but like most times, she swallowed it. “Huh, you must be pretty good at hiding. Not that I’d ever have a chance like you.”

They continued walking until eventually the sight of a sprawling forest greeted them. It had a path for ponies to walk on, though, nopony was currently occupying it. Both of them quickly walked onto the path, but Feather only took a few steps before ducking into the thick of the trees. He called back. “What do you mean?”

She snorted. “I wouldn’t get five hooves out of this town before Daddy would have some guards go searching for me. He’s pretty well known in places and with other businesses. They don’t know me, but if word got out that his daughter was missing… I’d be found in days at the most.”

“Why would you want to leave that place, though?”

She didn’t answer for a little bit, when she did, she sounded tired. “I guess I wouldn’t. I just wish things could be different sometimes.”

“You’re following around a one winged pegasus with a magical flying machine. Welcome to Weirdo Town,” he quipped.

She sighed then shoved him forward through the bushes. “Not what I meant.”

They continued to canter in silence, with Diamond Tiara occasionally snorting in annoyance. All she could see was more trees and bushes, so what was he looking for? Eventually he stopped in the middle of a clearing. He took a seat and sighed, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to rest in a forest.

She looked around confused. For a few moments nothing was said between either of them, and then she broke the silence in a near scream, “This is it? This is your grand plan for the night?”

He shrugged. “I’ve stayed outside before. It bites, but it’s just for the night. Not like I had much time to survey things, what with… everything. Can I have that food now?”

She gawked at him. “You sleep outside?! This is normal?!”

Feather nodded calmly. “Well… yeah. It’s not that bad and--”

She slapped him in the back of the head then promptly stood up. “C’mon, doofus. We’re finding you someplace warm to sleep for the night,” she said in an annoyed tone.

He stood up, watching her leave. “Wait, this is fine! Why are you doing this? At least leave the food!”

She marched back up to him, promptly grabbed his side, then pushed him back through the trees. “Because I said so! And the food can wait, tubby.”

“Tubby?!” instinctively he looked down to his chest; wondering if there was any merit to her insult, or if it was simply a jab at his hunger. I’m not fat, good.

Feather then scowled, but followed her without complaint. She appeared to be walking toward another forest: The Everfree. “Where are we going?” he said wearily.

“Just trust me. It should be through here,” she shot back.

“Whatever.”

They traveled for several minutes in total silence. Occasionally they heard a cricket or the hooting of an owl, but otherwise they walked on undisturbed. When they emerged from the small forest, they were met with the sight of a cottage off in the distance. Feather recognized it immediately as it was nearby the day he had first seen Scootaloo.

“I overheard Daddy talk about a mare who recently left her cottage to go on some soul searching journey or something. It didn’t take me long to put together who it was; Fluttershy’s the only one in Ponyville with a cottage.”

Feather looked at her doubtfully. “So, it’s empty?”

She nodded. “Should be. Word can travel fast in Ponyville.”

He took a seat and nodded. “What kind of mare is Fluttershy?”

“Uh, she’s obsessed with animals, she’s a pegasus, really shy and quiet. It should be easy to see if it’s actually empty because her animals will be gone, I bet.”

He tapped his hooves repeatedly on the ground, debating inwardly if he should check or not. Finally, he sighed and turned to her. “Could you go check if it’s empty?”

Diamond moaned and looked back toward Ponyville. “Fine, but I need to make this fast. Be right back.”

She ran off toward the cottage and didn’t waste anytime in searching all over. From where Feather sat, the place looked abandoned; at least for now. However, one could never be too careful. While she searched, though, his mind began to wander.


Staring at a house for close to twenty minutes was not healthy. If there was anything to call attention to oneself, it had to be staring at things. Perhaps an older stallion could get away with his eyes unfocused and his mind wandering; any other pony may think he’s just thinking or maybe he’s sad. But a young colt, like himself, could barely get away with being by themselves without others pointing hooves and asking guards if he needs help. All caution to the wind, Feather had been sitting out in the open, staring at an seemingly empty building for close to twenty minutes.

“I could just check in the window, nopony would ever know,” he muttered under his breath despite the lack of anypony around.

He took a few cautious steps towards the place, but stopped rather abruptly. He glanced around at the other buildings, homes, and couldn’t help but feel a pang of nervousness. What if the other places were watching him? What if, despite the dead of night, they had ponies in them that were watching him at this very moment? His breathing quickened and for a split moment he considered dashing out of there and abandoning his new, risky plan all together.

When he thought about the whole thing was going beyond risky, it was downright stupid. He could easily find a nice, quiet alley to stay at. Or even find an actual abandoned building, one that was run down, dirty and cold, to hide in for the night. Those were much simpler and safer plans. So why did he want this place so badly? What made him linger here for so long, exposed to the elements and, potentially, other ponies? He didn’t know, only that a small, warm feeling kept popping up whenever he glanced toward the homes. Like they were familiar and part of a long lost memory and time in his life.

“There might be food,” he reminded himself and took more steps toward it. “Or there could be trouble,” he reminded himself, causing his hooves to lock up.

All of a sudden he charged, as if it were his very right to rest under that roof. It may not be his home, but he was going to make it his for the night. A simple gimmy of a window and he would be inside, comforted and warm. He nearly hesitated again, but a surge of adrenaline forced him to jam the front window open and he jumped over the divider. He landed with a soft thud onto a hard, cold wood floor. I did it.

For a single, solitary moment he truly felt like he had won that night. Nopony had seen him slip in and he now had an entire house to himself. It was, of course, temporary, but it was enough to fill his body with a happiness he had not felt in a long while. He strolled through a dimly lit hallway and froze in his tracks.

There, hanging up high above him, was a lit candle. The candle was so dim that one would never see it from the outside window. Time to go, he thought in a panic. Upon turning around, he slammed head first directly into another pony, who toppled over with a loud yelp.

There was no hiding from this, he had been caught no matter who had he ran into. The next words which came from the new pony’s mouth confirmed this, “Daddy! Daddy! A thief!” the apparently young filly screamed out.

Feather didn't bother to look back at her, however. He simply decided to run for it. The angry, enormous stallion and his screams would haunt him for months and years to come.


“Hey, Fluttershy! Are you in there?” Diamond screamed, waking him from his daze.

What the hay is wrong with her?! he thought angrily. For a second he almost considered bolting then and there, until she ran back.

“Alright, she’s not in there. Plus, I checked the door and it’s open. So… yeah,” she said intelligently. Diamond then took out his cereal and passed it to him.

“What were you planning on doing if somepony had been in there?”

She shrugged. “I’d’ve thought of something.” She then glanced back toward the cottage uncertainly. “Will this do?”

He nodded slowly. “Uh, yeah, I guess. Thanks, Diamond.”

“Sure. Don’t mention it, blank boy. See ya!”

He watched her dart off in a hurry towards town. When she was out of sight and hearing range, he finally started walking toward the cottage. “She’s crazy.”

Turning toward the cottage he saw, not a warm and welcoming environment like from his last daydream. No, he saw a cold and sterile cottage; one that seemed to have been abandoned long ago. To him it almost didn’t seem worth all the trouble and he would have loved to just forget the whole thing so he could find a nice, quiet bush in the forest. At least a forest, in his opinion, was up front about being uninviting and creepy to boot. With this cottage, he couldn’t quite decipher if he should be scared or not. Was it even considering breaking and entering if the previous occupant of said house no longer occupied it?

Reluctantly he creeked the door open then took a few tentative steps inside. Feather felt a light breeze blow through the cottage, indicating that this Fluttershy had inexplicably left her windows open. However, upon closer examination he saw that where glass would ordinarily appear, there was none. “If she didn’t want windows… why window bars?” he said to himself irritably. It was so cold in the place that it almost wasn’t worth breaking in; surely any of the nearby forests would be just as uncomfortable. Still, he couldn’t deny that furniture was much better than cold dirt.

Sighing, he set his bag aside and plopped onto the empty sofa. For the first time since the first night in Ponyville, he was alone. No Scootaloo or Diamond Tiara to pester him, or keep in company. After several moments of utter boredom, he glanced over at his device. His hoof wiped off a few scuffs on the edge of the wing. “Not much else to do,” he surmised. While it was true that he had homework to do, somehow he just couldn’t make himself care.

He had spent the last few years of his life surviving on his own and doing his best to learn everything there was to know about mechanics, his device and science in general. So long as that science pertained to mechanics. A part of him wanted to to do the homework though; to feel normal for once. Like an old memory that wanted desperately to surface, from his old life. Still, if he weighed how he felt, he concluded that his device, the focus of his whole life, was not going to be ignored for trivial school activities. A very familiar feeling of focus and obsessing washed over him and soon he had forgotten all about which school assignments he had.

He dug the device out and cleared off Fluttershy’s table to lay it on. Digging into his bag, he brought out a few tools and his notes. While he didn’t have his part made yet, he still had things to work on. For one several of the gears inside had either chipped or worse, bent from overuse. Or rather, from misuse on his part. Sticking his tongue out in concentration, Feather grabbed the nearest screwdriver and jammed it behind the largest gear. It was usually the easiest to get out, but before he even bothered, something else caught his eye. Next to the smaller gears was a very tiny switch. This particular switch hadn’t ever gone unnoticed by the colt, but it wasn’t as if he ever had a reason to use it before. He, of course, didn’t know everything about his device and he figured making more notes couldn’t hurt.

“I swear if this breaks something, I’m gonna scream,” he said with a sigh. But he knew it was inevitable. He had to make his device work by any means necessary. Feather had often used blind experimentation to discover new features on the flying device’s engine, but it usually meant a whole host of headaches followed by a full week of fixing things. Taking a deep breath, Feather took the end of the screwdriver and pushed it onto the switch. To his astonishment, nothing broke, instead the mechanism holding the gears appeared to sink lower inside the device with a satisfying click, revealing a hidden chamber.

“What the…?” he muttered.

A circular shaped, golden colored door had been hidden behind. This came as a surprise to him, having never flicked the switch before. Feather summarized that perhaps it was only accessible when the maintenance door to the entire device was open. “Here goes nothing,” he said then firmly jammed his left forehoof into the second door. A satisfying click was heard and the door gently reared open. A dull sparkle of dust had been left inside. Behind it was a wall with a purposely placed hole that lead to only Celestia knew what. Feather placed his hoof into the powder and felt around.

“What is this stuff?” he said to nopony in particular. A bit had come off onto his hoof, but all it seemed to be was crushed powder. Feather shook his head then closed the door and flicked the switch, causing the gears to retract.

The colt laid on the sofa, in the growing darkness, with the only hint of light coming off his hooves from the strange, flickering dust. Had anypony been home, or been lurking outside, they would have heard the scratching of a quill on parchment late into the night.