//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Exchange 
// Story: Wild Magic 
// by Detsella Morningdew 
//------------------------------//

I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

"I'm sorry, Light. Despite the odds, I had hoped that you would find your home today."

"No, it's fine. You, Twilight, and Fluttershy have done nothing but help for the short time you've known me. I wish I had something to offer in return." I looked back across my body at the swirling portal. "Still, I'm at a loss. What is next, other than just wait... years?"

"There is still one other option. We could try to stabilize the prototype."

I nodded. "Right. Twilight mentioned that when we were over there."

"It won't be a sure thing. We will be able to lock down the spell to be more precise, fix the major instabilities, and we may even be able to reduce the time involved, but the more complex the changes are, the more likely it will be that the spell will break down, and lose the current connection. You probably won't be able to return as a human, even in the best scenario."

"Right. Twilight explained why that severed connection would be bad. Still, coming back as a fox is going to seriously suck. At least I can talk, but... I'm less worried about what my family will think, and more of what the government might do when they notice an alien fox."

Celestia looked confused. It was an odd look on her.

"Oh, it might help if I told you that humans are the only sapient species on my planet. Maybe even dimension, though we don't know for sure about that last one."

"Ah. That would be an interesting study. I wonder how differently your culture developed with only one type of being."

I rolled my eyes. "We just created more arbitrary divisions of who was "better." But that doesn't matter right now."

Celestia nodded. "Right. If you want my honest opinion, the most helpful thing you can do right now is to simply... live. Even with our best experts around, it is going to take some time, time that is better spent with others. Getting to know your new body."

She narrowed her eyes at my tail. "And for Faust's sake, get a saddlebag or something. Walking around with your star in your tail is just asking for trouble."

"But-"

"I know your instincts say it's just fine, but how do you think <kitsune> went extinct?"

I dropped my jaw. How does she know Japanese?

She sighed. "Sorry. That wasn't fair to you. I had a few friends... anyway. Perhaps it isn't as much a problem as it was then. Still, I wouldn't do that until you're at least ten times as old as you are now."

No matter. It was not the right time to be asking those questions.

"Right. Good to know."

"Forget about the portal, for now. If anything significant changes, you will be the first to know."

I glanced at the swirling mirror once more, then back at the Princess. "Thank you again. I just wish there was something I could do in return."

Celestia smiled warmly. "It will be enough to me if you live happily. But if that does not satisfy you, I'm sure you will find something."

The conversation felt over now, but it still felt awkward to turn away from Celestia and back up the wooden basement stairs.

And as I stepped out of the library and into the town, I felt a great weight lift off of me, even as an odd feeling of loss settled into my chest. I liked Celestia, but she was certainly different.

My previous plan of moving to Whitetail Woods was now thoroughly shot. Not only was it later than I was expecting, I was also hungry again. It would have been a rather uncomfortable, not to mention dangerous hunt in the Everfree Forest, and it was certainly not the time to learn how to fish, but if I could now speak the same language as all the ponies here, I might just get somewhere.

Most importantly, I could now read signs. The library Twilight lived in was called Golden Oaks. And many other businesses advertised their shops in much the same way. Though why a single store sold quills and sofas, yet nothing else was beyond strange to me.

I didn't exactly have to read anything, though, when I came across a giant gingerbread house. Or at least the building was styled like one. The overpowering smell of sugar in the air probably didn't help dissuade the illusion. It was called "Sugarcube Corner."

It was a place of food. I was hungry. I walked in.

"Oh, hi, Mr. Fox! Need something to eat."

"Shining Light. Sure."

I had decided to keep my mistranslated name. Aside from having to correct the ponies that already had heard it, it fit in rather nicely with the names I had heard the ponies calling themselves. Well, aside from Celestia. And her sister, though I couldn't remember what she had called her.

"Oh, cool! You learned a new language!"

The violently pink pony working the register was quite excitable, it seemed.

"Sure did. What sorts of things do you sell here?"

She grinned brightly. Or rather, her already bright grin somehow managed to intensify. "Anything you can think of to bake, we can make it!" She put a hoof to her chin. "Well, anything where the individual pieces involved are less than four feet wide. Or three feet tall. So many good ideas..."

I blinked. "Okay then, is there anything that you sell a lot of, so you'd have them already cooked and stuff?"

"Of course! We wouldn't be much of a bakery if we didn't, now would we?" She said this in the same, overly cheerful tone. The most disconcerting thing about it was that the cheer didn't actually seem fake.

"Do you have any muffins?"

"Yep! What kind do you need?"

It was at this moment that I realized that I literally had no local currency.

"Oh, wait, never mind."

"Okay, you want something else instead?"

"No, I mean, I completely forgot that I have no money."

She giggled. "That happens to me all the time. It is weird that it happened to a fox, though. No offense."

I had no idea what she was talking about. "Uh... none taken?"

"Tell you what. I give you a couple muffins now, and you help out the Cakes in a mysterious, vague way later. Deal?"

"Um... deal?"

It wasn't that I wouldn't at least try to pay it back later, it was that this random pony thought that I would. Also, the way she worded it was... odd.

"So... what kind of muffins do you want?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Surprise me."

She gasped. "I love surprises, especially when I can give them to others!" The pony started to dash into the back of the store, but stopped suddenly partway. "Oh, how much spicy stuff can you handle? I wouldn't want to give something you might not like."

Wait, aren't we talking about muffins?

"Uh, I guess a little spicy is fine, but I've heard really hot spices can damage your ability to taste things."

She tilted her head. "Huh. I've never had any problems. Oh well." She zipped off again.

Precisely three seconds later, she zipped back with a box.

"Twelve probably random muffins, to go!"

Probably?

Still... "Twelve? If I have to pay you back later..."

She waved a dismissive hoof at me. "Muffins aren't that expensive, Light. I was just making it your money's worth." She giggled. "Or rather, your not-money's worth. Either way, don't worry about it."

I took the box from her with my mouth, and transferred it to my tail, which curled around it.

Now that I thought about it, my tail was approximately the length of my entire body, which was probably not normal for a fox.

"Thank you." I tilted my head. "What was your name again? If you told me, I forgot already."

She started. "Oh! I knew I was forgetting something! My name's Pinkie Pie!" She held out her hoof for me to shake it.

The name certainly fits. I shook the hoof. "Well, see you around?"

Pinkie looked at me more closely. "Oh, are you staying here in Ponyville?"

I shrugged again. "I'm not sure. Maybe?"

She smiled. "Okay then! See you around!"

I walked out of the shop with my prize, and couldn't help but smile at that encounter. Almost all the ponies I had met had been unusually kind, at least by the standards I was used to, but there was a refreshing amount of... well, something approaching calculation with that one.

Pinkie Pie seemed just as friendly as the others, but unlike them, seemed to understand... something, a little better. Well, Princess Celestia definitely understood that it felt good to do good things in exchange for others, even if she didn't want anything particularly, but it wasn't the same.

I wasn't sure if I understood it myself, but somehow, Pinkie's "exchange of favors" was a lot more appealing to me. Now all I had to do was find out what the owners of this store needed, and do something about it.

I laid down on a nearby park bench, opened the box, and picked one out at random.

It was quite tasty, even though I couldn't quite identify the flavor.

There was definitely something strange about me, that was for certain. I had taken all of this well. Too well. I took another casual bite of the muffin, somehow holding it in a single paw, sitting on a bench designed for laying down on, in a body that definitely wasn't mine a month ago, and yet I felt perfectly fine. The fact that I wasn't freaking out about it almost made me freak out, which was stupid.

Perhaps it was more that the last month or so was a figurative hell, and this was just so much better, my brain didn't care what I was, or even where I was.

I picked up another muffin. This one I could understand. It was blueberry. I took a bite.

Oh, and lemon. Nice.

The fact was that I was stuck here. Probably for a long time, even if Celestia could fix the portal. Was it really that bad?

I took another bite of the muffin. No, that was... well, I couldn't say that was never a problem, but once I got out of that forest, my life improved significantly. It all really came down to time, didn't it?

Where is my family right now? Are they worried about me? Are my friends? Do they even care? What about the time thing? Did I get sent so far forward or back in time that it doesn't even matter anymore?

"Hmm... That certainly isn't something you see every day."

I looked over at the source of the voice. A white unicorn stood there, with a purple mane that looked purposefully styled.

"Hello?"

She started. "Oh my. I apologize for my rudeness. My name is Rarity."

"Shining Light."

"Terribly sorry, but have you seen Twilight anywhere? Lavender alicorn, blue mane, somewhat obsessive?"

I nodded. "Last time I saw her, she was on the other side of a portal, catching up with a friend. Not sure when she'll be back, but I don't imagine it'll be that long."

Rarity frowned. "She went to the Crystal Empire?"

"I don't know where that is, but she has the portal thing in her basement."

"Ah. While that makes more sense, it is quite unlike her to not keep her appointments."

I packed up the rest of the muffins, putting the box back into my tail, and hopped off the bench. "I believe that was my fault."

She waved a dismissive hoof. "It was no real issue. An oddity rather than a problem. We still had plenty of fun at the picnic, despite Twilight's absence. Still, I'm sure you have places to get to. I won't take much more of your time."

"Right."

Where am I going next, anyway? Oh, right.

"Rarity?"

"Hmm?"

"You wouldn't happen to know a tailor, would you?"