//------------------------------//
// Dawn 
// Story: The Stranger Among Friends 
// by PhycoKrusk 
//------------------------------//

	The whole party had left town hall, and for Driftwood began a period of waiting. The Guard cohort had travelled light, bringing only a single wagon with only a small amount of water, dry rations, and medical supplies. Accordingly, there was plenty of extra space for them to pack up the luggage that he and Rarity had brought with them to Hoofington. With nothing to do himself, and without the weight of incarceration on his shoulders, Driftwood had settled for looking to the east as the first rays of the sun began to creep above the horizon: The first sunrise he could remember watching that was not accompanied by the whisper of surf.

He glanced over his shoulder when he heard the sound of hooves, and greeted Rarity with a smile as she approached. She smiled in kind, and he returned his attention to the sunrise when she came to stand next to him. The pair stood in silence for several seconds, and then Rarity moved her attention from the sunrise to Driftwood. “You still seem worried,” she remarked.

Driftwood turned from the sunrise to look at her, and then he nodded. “Yes,” he said.

Rarity sighed. “At least you aren’t hiding from me anymore,” she replied.

Driftwood took a step closer to her and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “It’s easier now, not to worry about meeting your friends. It’s other things now,” he said, a smile tugging on the corners of his mouth.

“Oh?”

“I’ve never been to the Midland before.” Driftwood looked back towards the sunrise again, more red and gold creeping into the sky now. “I don’t know Canterlan customs outside of the odd book, and I’ve never had the food.” With a suddenness, he turned to look at Rarity again. “Is it true that they’ll only sell water in glass bottles?”

Rarity couldn’t help herself, and a giggle escaped before she could stifle the rest behind a hoof. “No,” she said. “And forget what you’ve read. You’ll find that much of the Midland is nothing like Canterlot at all. I think you’ll find that Ponyville is a good deal like Portside, in fact!” She leaned in close and whispered conspiratorially, “But I sincerely hope you like apples, because you won’t find many oranges at all.”

Driftwood quirked his brow, his mouth drawing into a frown, and Rarity giggled again. “Never mind me, dearheart. It’s a bit of a private joke between the girls and me.”

Driftwood nodded, although he did not smile even if his frown disappeared. “As you say,” he said.

Conversation paused, interrupted by the light ‘clank’ of one of the Guards approaching them. “All luggage is packed, Lady Rarity. We’re departing now,” she said.

Rarity nodded. “Thank you, Corporal,” she said. The Guard gave a shallow bow, and then turned and left to rejoin her compatriots. Rarity turned back to Driftwood, and found him regarding her with a quirked brow again. “What is it?”

“‘Lady Rarity?’ I feel I should be panicking right now. Won’t I cause a stir with the rest of the gentry?” he asked.

Rarity smiled. “We all received titles after re-imprisoning Discord, dearheart, but as we were granted no land and are otherwise of common birth, that’s all that we have,” she said. Her smile turned mischievous. “Besides, wouldn’t you rather like to cause a stir among the gentry?”

Driftwood gave her a lopsided grin. “You’re incorrigible,” he said.

Rarity giggled again, and then pecked Driftwood on the lips. “I told you everything would be fine,” she said.

“You did,” Driftwood replied, pecking Rarity right back. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You’d worry,” Rarity said. “You’d worry a great deal, but you’d still overcome, just as you always have.” She looked briefly towards the wagons, and then back to Driftwood. “Shall we?”

Driftwood nodded, and then followed after Rarity to the rest of their party, before thirty six ponies and one changeling set off down the road as the sky was painted in the colors of dawn.