A pegasus mare with a set of eyes that didn't quite line up right was playing with a unicorn filly a short distance from the spot we had chosen to set up our picnic area. When the filly saw us, she called out "Doggy!" before trotting towards us. The mare, being a rightfully cautious caretaker, flew in and picked up the filly before she got too close. When the filly tried to ask questions, the mare apologized and quickly flew away with the disappointed filly in tow.
"It looks like you're going to be popular with the foals, Scraps," I called out to my roommate, who happened to be a diamond dog.
His full name was Thaddeus Rex, but unless he knew he had to be formal or get in trouble, he always just called himself Scraps. He was the real reason we were having the picnic. It was some variant of exposure therapy. He had been in prison for years, solely because no RRE officer would take a diamond dog on as a parolee and he wasn't used to life on the outside anymore.
He didn't even understand what he was doing to get in prison was wrong. From what I had been told, he just did what he had to to survive and that got him stuck with the wrong crowd. Other than being slightly bigger than an average pony with claws that could rend flesh easily enough if he ever needed them to, he was pretty much as innocent a soul as the foals playing in the park.
"Just remember to not roughhouse with the foals," Fluttershy cautioned him, "Handle them with the same gentleness as you would Angel Bunny. They're just as fragile."
Tempest, Scraps's RRE officer, and the Senior officer Fluttershy worked with me under, placed her hoof on the eager diamond dog's shoulder. "We need to set up." She spoke in an almost military fashion. "Permission to play granted, provided you do not venture further than that tree." She pointed at a sturdy tree only a few yards away from our picnic spot. "The tree or with us. Got it?"
"Scraps play in tree while Boss Tempest set up camp!" Scraps answered back in a respective, but still hyperactive tone, "Scraps treat little ponies gently, same as Scraps treat white bunny! Scraps understand!"
He waited for the final signal for permission to go, but Tempest waited a few seconds in silence before finally asking, "And what was the other thing? The thing we always do when we go out?"
Scraps closed his eyes and gently bit his lip in thought. When he put his paw to his head he shook it for a moment then snapped is eyes open. "Don't take baubles when it look like baubles belong to others, and bring all baubles Scraps finds to Boss Tempest when Scraps and friends done to see if Scraps can keep!"
Oh yea. And I forgot to mention he was a borderline case kleptomaniac. Loved to pocket anything that interested him, but didn't totally understand what was right or wrong to pocket.
And so the morning went off pleasantly. The foals and their caretakers overcame their fear of Scraps as he played and laughed. Fluttershy introduced them to him, and some of the tougher foals were even allowed to play with him. Meanwhile I chewed on the mixed nuts I was rationed in substitute to meat while waiting for the time we could share the sweeter items. Even Tempest, despite completely hating the job of being an RRE officer, managed to relax and laugh a little at his antics.
Even though she wasn't technically his RRE officer, Fluttershy worked so well with Scraps. Fluttershy and Tempest had an interesting silken glove and iron fist dynamic with him.
Sadly, I knew I couldn't stay quiet and hidden forever. When Scraps was settled in, Fluttershy turned to me with an expectant look on her face.
I gave the look back to her as I pressed my amulet. "Fluttershy, you know I love you, and that's the only reason why I agreed to do it." I took a pause to steel my will against my urge to just cave in. "But you're going to have to say it. I'm not doing it otherwise."
Fluttershy didn't need Tempest to complete the silken glove and iron fist combo when it came to me. She raised an eyebrow and met my terms with a flat, yet still sweet tone, "Bring him out already, Moss."
I slumped down and took a breath in defeat. With my arm brought out to a level position, I mentally called out, "You there, kidnapper? It's time to humor them."
An owl appeared, perched on my arm, as I heard a response back in my head "I am here, master. I have to be." I could sense a tone of undirected disdain in the voice.
I wasn't prepared for what happened next.
While the more gruff n tough foals still played with Scraps, a lot of the other foals started forming a crowd around me and the owl. With a quick mental request and a "I don't care" in response, the foals quickly were awed at him and how he could respond to my complex commands. Despite being unexpected, the owl did prove to be entertained, and a bit of his disdain seemed to waver as he would jump from head to head of the foals with increasingly complex directions. When that finally lost its novelty, I used my druid shape-shifting to turn into a cat and pretended to hunt him while ordering him to "outwit" me time and again so as to keep the children laughing.
It was going so well until I heard one foal ask a question with the word I recognized as "name."
I could only pause at the question I managed to piece together with my cat ears. "Do you have a name?" I asked him as I transformed back and let him hop to my arm.
"Of course. But I can't tell you my name any more than you could tell them your name, 'Moss.'" He responded in a knowing tone. "A true name has power over entities not native to a world and we've both been bewitched to never reveal ours as a safety precaution. Just call me whatever name you wish, and I will respond to it."
The foals stared at me as I looked at the owl, conversing in secret. I shook my head and turned back to them, pressing on my amulet of translation as I did so. "I haven't given him a name yet because I haven't found one that fits. I'll be sure to tell you all when I do."
* * *
Lunch was decent, even if it was limited in items Scraps and I could enjoy as meat eaters, most of which he was allowed to hog, being the one that leaned towards meat eating the most. The afternoon was spent draining the children of their energy, which even with our combined efforts, Scraps, myself and the other distractions at the park were barely able to do without exhausting ourselves too.
We were about to pack up and Scraps had just spilled out his bauble bag for Tempest to check when we heard a commotion coming from the entrance to the park.
The zebra shaman, Zecora, and a small creature that barely stood as tall as her, but only on two legs marched towards us with the local alicorn princess following behind, shocked. I could only describe the creature as a tiny satyr with a goat lower half complete with tiny hooves and a loosely humanoid upper torso.
The satyr looked up at me as if he recognized me. Once he saw he had my attention, he gave a courteous bow. "Hail the Beast-kin, who was so blessed by our surrogate mother, the Animus Mundi of Equis. Your Fey brethren seek your aid."