//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: Acceptance 
// Story: Remnant 
// by preaplanes 
//------------------------------//

Silk knocked on the door to Fluttershy's cottage, looking warily behind her. Her unease after her encounter with Shadowdancer had only increased into paranoia thanks to her walk through the forest, the idea that she could be behind any tree extremely unsettling. She tapped her hooves on the ground in a nervous tic. After a few moments, the pink-maned pegasus answered the door.

"Oh, hello, Silky. How was your-"

"TALKINSIDE!" Silk blurted, blazing past Fluttershy in a blur of blue and sending her spinning. She swiftly jumped onto the couch, eyes darting between the doors and windows.

Once the room stopped spinning, Fluttershy saw how Silk was acting. "Um... are you okay?"

Silk thought for a moment. "I... guess I am," she said, rationalizing what had just happened and calming herself down, her heart still beating fast.

"Oh, that's a relief."

That pony in the woods had certainly spooked her, as had the arc of lightning, but aside from that Silk was completely unscathed. She was silent for a few moments before she spoke. "Hey, Fluttershy?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know anything about ponies with... dragon eyes?"

Fluttershy made an incorrect assumption and, despite her misgivings, was repulsed by the idea. "Dragon eyes? Like, they hurt a dragon and-"

"No no, I mean, like this," Silk replied. She closed her eyes for a moment and cast her spell, and opened them, revealing a copy of the eyes that she had seen.

"Oh, no, I don't know anypony with eyes like that," Fluttershy answered.

Silk's ears drooped as she reverted her eyes to their typical, blue disguised form. "Oh. I see." 

Fluttershy, seeing this reaction, decided to make a suggestion. "Twilight might, though. Would you like to see her tomorrow?"

"Could you come with me?" the changeling asked. She wasn't panicking, but a disappearing stalker would unnerve just about anypony. 

"Oh, sure, I could go with you. If you want to, that is."

Silk nodded. "Thank you. I appreciate it," she said, sighing with relief. The sigh turned into a yawn. "I think I'm going to bed a little early. That parade really took it out of me. Good night, Fluttershy."

"Good night, Silky," Fluttershy bid as her friend walked up the stairs.

Silk yawned as she lay down to what would surely be another, semi-restful night's sleep, though the night's sleep before hadn't been that bad. More weird than anything else. The next day she'd ask Twilight about the ponies with the dragon eyes.

That night, memories opened up from her conversation before, and nightmares still blocked by Luna's spell the night before, Silk could only dream of one thing. She dreamed of the past.





"Oh what's the point?!" Silk thought, throwing a stack of papers in the air melodramatically, "We haven't learned anything new in months. Months! Two hundred and eighteen days, give or take a few hours!"

Silk and Skitter had hit a dead end in their observations. It had gotten to the point where all their notes were plainly obvious, and redundancies were getting all too common. The two were still given supplies every few months, basic essentials of the job. Paper, quills, ink, simple instruments, even a pair of binoculars for some reason. Wasp, their scavenger and supplier, was tasked with foraging supplies from ponies and griffins (typically by theft) and delivering them to scout teams. Still, those supplies were running scarce.

To make matters worse, even with the generalistic nature of their studies, the two were not the only scout team in the area, and as such they sometimes wound up stepping on each others' hooves.

Skitter shrugged. "Want to go find some food? That spot last time wasn't too bad," he suggested.

Silk groaned. "Yes, but if we get caught impersonating that dragon's children we're in serious trouble," she reminded. There was a dragon mother about twelve miles due southeast, near what the changelings called the steam fields, but last time the two had tried they had almost been caught. "This stinks," Silk stated.

"Well, look on the bright side," her companion suggested.

"What bright side? We're hungry, tired, and accomplishing absolutely nothing!"

"Well, yeah, true, but there's always a bright side. What you need to do is think of one, and hold onto it. It'll keep you going. That's what I do."

Silk sighed. "Just come up with one? It's that simple?" she asked.

Skitter nodded enthusiastically. "Yup, it's that simple."

Silk looked up at the sky and sighed. "I guess... at least it isn't raining."

Skitter started laughing. "That's the best you can come up with? Yeah it doesn't rain much here, but that won't work too well when it actually is raining!"

"Oh yeah? Well, what's yours then, genius?" she demanded aloud, already frustrated and further irritated by his ridicule.

"I... I'd rather not say," he said, suddenly avoiding eye contact with her. There was that tiny trace of sweet on him again.





Silk woke up the next morning and looked out the window. It was overcast, but no precipitation was falling. She had taken a peek at the weather schedule a week ago and there wasn't any scheduled for two days. "Yeah, at least it isn't raining," she said to herself.

After her usual morning routine, she walked down the stairs to the first floor to see Angel Bunny reading a newspaper and eating a carrot. "Morning, Angel. Any idea what Fluttershy is doing today?" she asked.

Angel didn't even break away from his paper, but pointed in the general direction of the otters.

"Thanks," she said. "Seriously, that is one smart rabbit," she whispered to herself as she walked out the door. 

Angel, of course, overheard this with his long ears and, as usual, put on a smug grin. She muttered this almost every time she "talked" with him and, being a somewhat vain creature, he enjoyed having his ego stroked. As a result, his disposition towards her was more relaxed than that of most of the other animals.


When Silk found Fluttershy, she was searching the stream for rocks for the otters to use, having already found a number of clams for them. "Morning, Fluttershy."

The pony looked up. "Oh, good morning, Silky, did you sleep well?" she asked before recalling Silk's chronic nightmares. "Oh, sorry."

Silk stopped and considered the question. "Hmm, actually, all things considered, I slept pretty well last night. Best night's sleep for... well, about a month."

"Oh that's wonderful!" Fluttershy beamed.

Silk smiled a bit. "Anyway, need any help feeding the animals?" she asked. Except for yesterday, when she was passed out from her ordeal the night before, she had taken to helping Fluttershy with her morning rounds, if just a little.

"Oh, uh... no. Sorry. I think it might be best if we let the animals get used to you again. Sorry."

Silk thought for a few moments before an idea popped into her head. "Well, maybe I could stay in changeling form and accelerate the process? I could feed them without any danger," she suggested while making a mental note to avoid larger animals just in case.

"I'm not sure that would be a good idea, you might frighten them. Maybe give it a week? If you don't mind, that is..."

Silk frowned a bit, but then shrugged. It wasn't like Fluttershy hadn't had a handle on things before, and she had only started helping out this last week. All she had ever really done was speed up the process a bit. "No, I don't mind, I'm just sorry I can't help out."

Maybe I'll just drop by Sugarcube Corner while I wait, Silk thought, absentmindedly looking to her lower right to make sure she had some money to do so with. However, as she looked down, she noticed that her saddlebag was missing. "Wah! Oh no," she fretted, unable to remember when she took it off. "Fluttershy? Have you seen my saddlebag anywhere?" she asked, very distressed. The bag was a gift from Rarity, and what's more, she had put a lot of work into acquiring its contents.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry, I forgot to tell you. Rainbow Dash found it in the swamp."

Silk was relieved, and a little touched. "Dash found it? In the marsh?"

"Mhm, and Rarity took it back to Carousel Boutique."

"Okay, thanks. I guess I'll stop over there first." Very, very carefully, she added in thought.





There was a knock on the door. Rarity knew that, since the boutique was open and most ponies would just walk into the shop, that could only mean one individual. She sighed, placed the gem she had been working on down, and walked over to open the door.

"Hi Rarity," Silk said, looking over her shoulder for some reason, tasting the air with the tip of her tongue out.

"Really, dear, you don't have to knock first when a shop is open," she reminded.

"Oh, I know, but it's your house too, right? It just feels... wrong barging in on somepony's home unless you have to."

"Ah, yes," Rarity explained, "but some ponies live and work in the same place. It's quite common, really. Pinkie Pie lives with the Cakes on the upstairs of Sugarcube Corner, as does Twilight in the library with Spike. If the workplace is open, it would only be impolite to enter the the living quarters without permission."

"Oh. Well, while we're on the subject of your house, why do you have carvings of ponies being impaled through the chest outside? I've been meaning to ask about that."

"Oh my!" Rarity exclaimed. To an outsider like Silk, that must have looked simply dreadful, both literally and figuratively. "I do apologize if that unnerved you, but it's based on the design of the first music box, which was named the carousel. Come, let me show you."

Rarity walked behind a screen an pulled out a square box. "Here we are. This is a miniature replica, mind you. The real one was about the size of this building," she explained, pulling the lid off. 

Inside was a ring with a number of tiny pony figurines on sticks. Rarity used her horn to turn a little key on the side, and when she stopped, the little figurines began to rotate around the center and spin individually. A little tune played as well. The music started out fast, but got slower and then stopped, the spinning slowing down in turn. Rarity closed the lid and put it away.

"Neat," Silk stated simply. It certainly explained a lot.

"Now then, I doubt you came here to discuss architecture, but I think I know your actual motivation..." she led off, "... unfortunately I fear your saddlebag was unsalvageable."

"Oh." Silk's ears drooped a bit. "I'm sorry, Rarity, I didn't mean to lose it. I don't even remember putting it down!"

Rarity raised an eyebrow. "You've been spending too much time around Fluttershy, darling. It was a gift, you weren't borrowing it, though you really should take better care of your things in the future."

The changeling nodded. "Sorry. Oh, sorry about... gah! Maybe I have been spending just a bit too much time with her!" she exclaimed.

The designer let out a small laugh. "Well, anyway, I thought it would be best if I made you a new one." The white pony then lit her horn and produced an indigo bag seemingly out of nowhere, bearing Silk's cutie mark of choice. "I stitched this together last night, I hope you don't mind."

Silk's face lit up. "Oh, wow! Thank you!"

"This little thing is hardly high fashion, though with the number of bits I moved from one to another (after cleaning them thoroughly) you could certainly afford a designer saddlebag."

"No thanks, I'm sure this one will do just fine. Thanks. Anything I can do for you while I'm here?"

Rarity had hoped she would ask. "Hmm, now that you mention it, could I take a rain check on that? I have an idea of how to use that transformation of yours later."

She didn't really have a use for the money, but nonetheless Silk decided to help her friend out. "Sure, more hair stuff?" she inquired.

"Something like that..."

"Okay then," Silk agreed, having no idea that she would regret it later, "see you later, Rarity!" she said, about to make for the exit.

"Oh, one last thing before you go, are you going to attend Rainbow Dash's little soiree this afternoon?"

"Oh that was today? It's a game of cards, right? That's always fun. I'll be there, thanks!"

Rarity nodded and the changeling walked out the door. "Ta ta, Silky."

"See ya!"





Sugarcube Corner was a frequent pit-stop for Silk. The absurdly sweet confections was part of the reason, and every few days she would buy something. It was about all she actually spent her bits on, really, but another part was that Pinkie always seemed to have an extreme amount of excess happy. So long as she didn't gorge herself, Silk could feed off of that without any measurable side-effects.

Silk walked in to see Carrot Cake manning the counter. "Morning, Mr Cake," she said absentmindedly, looking around the display case for whatever looked the sweetest.

"Good morning, Silky," he greeted.

Silk's eyes fell on an apple pie with sugar on the crust. "I'd like that pie, please."

"That'll be nine bits," he informed. Silk nodded and took out a few golden coins, counting them one at a time with her hoof like a filly. Mr. Cake decided to ask a question he'd been curious about. "So... I'm curious."

"Yeah, I can tell," Silk replied, having tasted that on him already.

"Does it actually matter what you pick?" he asked, trying to ask the question indirectly.

"I'd think that's up to me to decide, wouldn't you?"

Clearly he had failed. "I mean, do you taste the same way we do?"

"I can taste emotions if that's what you're asking," she said, beginning to wonder what he was getting at.

The pony was getting a bit flustered, which both bemused and amused his customer. "What I mean is, if I eat a cherry pie, and you eat a cherry pie, do we taste the same thing?"

"Yes, the pie of course. You kinda answered your own question there," Silk replied.

"No! I mean our sense of taste. Like, how all ponies have the same taste."

That question clicked, but Silk decided to have a little fun with him. "Really? You're saying all ponies have the same sense of taste and like the same foods? Fascinating!" she responded with a teasing sarcasm.

"No, I mean, that's opinion. I mean, do your taste buds work the same way on food that ours do?" He was struggling now, trying to phrase this in the right way.

Silk doubted it, but she still teased the stallion. "Oh, I doubt I can prove it one way or another. You see, everything is subject to observational bias, and we cannot assume that the way our bodies react to one thing is the same as another. What I call "purple" might be how you see "green", and what I call "sweet" might be the same sensation that you call "salty", but you're simply programmed to react to the sensation the same way I do."

"... what?"

"Any observed phenomena must be relative as absolutes do not exist, and absolute certainty of any such hypotheses becomes nearly if not completely impossible due to our own imperfect forms of observation."

"... so is that a 'no', then?"

Silk started laughing. "Hahaha! No, I doubt it's the same, I think ponies are able to tell the flavors of their food apart a lot better than I can. I can still tell things apart, for the most part, but any subtleties are completely lost on me."

Carrot's hoof hit his forehead, silently cursing himself for simply not mentioning flavor in the first place.

"Have you seen Pinkie, by the way?" Silk inquired.

"Yeah, she's in the kitchen. We've got a big order from Canterlot and Cup is out getting more supplies."

"I see. Mind if I lend a hoof?"

"I don't see why not," he answered. Silk had helped out a couple times before and, while she didn't display any knack or intuition for the art for now obvious reasons, she followed recipes to the letter, which was perfectly acceptable for these bulk orders.

Silk nodded and trotted into the kitchen, her pie floating behind her, and was greeted by the sounds of whirring eggbeaters clanging cookware, and ringing alarms. Pinkie was zipping about so quickly that, if she didn't know better, Silk would have sworn there were two of her. "Wow. Need a hoof?" she asked, putting her pie down on the table.

"I would, but you can't taste right right now, right?" the party pony replied, not missing a beat as she rushed between taking cakes out of the oven and putting icing on desserts.

"Huh?"

"Sorry but if you can't taste right, you wouldn't know what's left to add, and you might not get the right thing right then, right?"

Silk could figure out what she was saying, but was having a hard time keeping up with the homonyms. At this point she didn't even question how the pink pony had heard her discussion with Mr. Cake (despite all the noise). "Hey Pinkie, you might want to use some synonyms."

Pinkie stuck a clean spoon in some batter quickly and licked it. "See? This doesn't need any cinnamon at all! Sorry, Silky, but I'm super EXTRA busy right now! See you at Dashie's party!" she said, shooing the changeling out into the shop and shutting the door.

Silk blinked a couple times. "... you know I can follow a recipe, right?" she asked Carrot, who wordlessly shrugged. Then Silk realized something and yelled through the door, "Pinkie! My pie!"

"My middle name isn't Mai, silly! That's almost as silly as my real middle name, and why are you calling me with a middle name when you're using my nickname in the first place, cause that's just weird!" Pinkie blabbed from the kitchen. "You might want to get some more sleep, you're talking all gobbletygookie!

Silk stamped her hoof, clearly irritated with Pinkie. She glared daggers at the door before turning and looking at the stallion out of the corner of her eye, who in turn put on an uneasy smile. "Uh, that was the last apple pie," Mr. Cake said nervously. "We could bake a new one for you tomorrow, though!"

"Why thank you," she smarmed, putting on a false smile that sent shivers up his spine. 

"I, uh, am I interrupting something?" a voice squeaked from the front door. "I could come back if you need more time..."

Silk turned around and saw Fluttershy standing in the doorway. "Not at all, it seems. I was just about to leave. Thank you, Mr. Cake," she said, trotting off with the pegasus to the library.

The stallion breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently what they said about a mare scorned applied to Silky as well.





"Dragon eyes?" Twilight asked skeptically. That sounded more like a myth than anything else.

"Yeah. I can't copy the stallion, but the mare I saw looked like this," she said, transforming into an identical copy of Shadowdancer. She was somewhat glad that her secret was out in the open, it made it a whole lot easier to show ponies who and what she meant.

Twilight looked at Silk's eyes closely. "You're sure she looked like that?"

Silk raised her eyebrow and looked at Twilight Sparkle expectantly.

"... oh, Changeling, right. Stupid question," she apologized with just a hint of embarrassment. She cleared her throat and regained her composure. 

"Hmm... I've seen this before. What am I... oh!" Twilight exclaimed, suddenly gleeful with recollection. "I know where I've seen those before! Nightmare Night! She must be one of Princess Luna's guards! I thought that was a costume, though."

Silk resisted the urge to glare. I should have known. Those fiends could only possibly be her subordinates. Silk would have to keep an eye out, but couldn't afford to make herself a nervous wreck about it. It was no different than her time in the scorched lands. "That's probably it. Thank you, Twilight."

"Don't mention it! Now, would you like to help me with some experiments?" Twilight asked with a frightening twinkle in her eye.

"E-experiments?" Fluttershy stammered.

Silk was a bit more calm, but calling Twilight "overzealous at times" was an understatement

Twilight nodded excitedly. "Oh sure! We still need to figure out how your transformation spell works, how your cells construct genetic code without deoxyribonucleic acid, why your blood turns green when it gets old, and if your blood type really is compatible with ponies!"

Well that hardly sounds pleasant, Silk thought. "Erm, thanks, Twilight, bu-"

Twilight wasted no time. "Great! Nice seeing you, Fluttershy," she rambled, shooing the pegasus out the door and closing it. "Let's get testing!"

Fluttershy stood outside the door. "Um, okay, I, uh, I guess I'll see you later, girls," she whispered, departing back into town.

As she departed, Silk pressed against the glass of the treehouse window. "Help me?" she whimpered, before sliding down the window under the influence of Twilight's telekinesis.

"Spike!" the violet unicorn called.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" Spike's voice came from upstairs. A few moments the young dragon showed up at the top of the stairs. "Yeah, Twilight?"

"I've got a hunch, so I need a blood sample."

Spike's eyes widened in horror. "WAAAGH!" he yelled, trying to run away, but he too was immobilized by Twilight's magic.

As Twilight chipperly walked down to the lab, the two floating behind her grimaced. "This is going to suck, isn't it?" the changeling dryly queried the dragon.

"Probably."

Oh, fantastic.





"Yes, we're done," Twilight said begrudgingly. Five hours of Silk whining in Rarity's voice had certainly given her the motivation not to dawdle, not to mention cut most of the joy out of the process. "Honestly, you're a scientist-"

"Past tense, dear," Silk reminded, still not having dropped the white unicorn's tone.

"I'd think you'd be used to a few-"

"... dozen..."

"...non-invasive procedures."

"Non-invasive my hoof!" Silk retorted in her usual voice. "I'd think the number of broken needles would have told you that." 

While collecting blood samples, Twilight had tried to take a control sample of Silk's original form, but had underestimated the durability of it and bent a few syringes. Eventually she figured out a spot where the shell was thinner and switched to a titanium needle, and Silk was still griping about how much it hurt.

While most of Twilight's experiments hardly yielded any results, and the magical genetics (if there were any) study would take quite a bit of time, she had learned a few notable things. Still, there was one experiment that she did not have ready access too. Even if she did, she would not dare to attempt it, as if her hypothesis was correct, doing so could have lethal consequences.

Silk had always been an observational scientist. Her tasks were varied, ranging from cultural and behavioral dracology, to sociopolitical studies, to a very rudimentary psychology and the physiology of the scorched lands in general. However, direct influencing of her subjects had never really been part of the agenda, and was actually an indicator to her that something had gone wrong. As such, this very pokey-prodding science Twilight had performed was very uncomfortable to her, especially since she was the test subject.

Twilight sighed and started walking out of the lab. "Well, I guess I can make it to Rainbow Dash's card game after all."

Silk perked up. "Ooh, that's fun!" she chirped.

The student of Celestia tensed up. "Oh, uh, about that..."

"Yes?"

"I was talking with Rainbow Dash and, well, we don't really think it's a good idea to let you play, with you being a changeling and all," Twilight nervously informed.

Silk tilted her head inquisitively. "Why not?"

"Well, it's just... with you being empathic and all... it's sort of... cheating."

"But... but it's not like I can turn it off, and besides! You're a card counter!"

"That's not cheating!" Twilight retorted defensively.

"It gives you a statistical advantage, and you can't help it, just like I can't help if I have a tactical advantage." Silk stated as a matter of fact.

Twilight shook her head. "I'm sorry, not today, Silky. Look at the bright side, you've got all day to do odd-jobs, or whatever you want, really." Twilight walked out the door.

The changeling sighed, looking at Spike. "How do you do it?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"How do you fit in with all these ponies?"

Spike scratched his head. "Well, Twilight hatched me, and I've spent my whole life around them. Why?"

"It's just..." Silk began, trying to figure out how to phrase it, "I'm not a pony, and all day everypony's been treating me... differently. Well, except Rarity I guess."

"Yeah, isn't she perfect?" Spike asked dreamily, exuding puppy love which Silk took as a quick snack.

The blue unicorn rolled her eyes. "She's certainly nice, but the question, if you'll pay attention," she stressed, snapping the dragon out of his reverie, "is what do you do differently? You're not a pony, either, maybe you could give me some pointers?"

"I don't really think it matters," he informed. "Yeah, you're different, so what? It's not what you are, it's who you are that counts. Come on, I'm not doing anything today, and I think I've got a few ideas to help you out."

Silk turned around and stared in a wide-eyed surprise. "I thought somepony had to watch the library?"

"Pfft, please, it's Sunday," he said dismissively with a wave of the hand, "but I would like a favor or two in exchange"

Silk raised an eyebrow. "Such as? I'm not that good at finding gems, and it is topaz season."

"Nah, I'm not in the mood for topaz, it's a little sour. Instead," Spike mischievously grinned, "tell me what you'd think of me if you were still studying dragons!" he said gleefully. The fact that he finally knew somepony who actually knew something about dragons was very exciting for him.

"Are you sure you want me to? I might get technical and come off as rude," she hesitantly warned.

Spike chuckled. "Please, did you forget who I live with? Just try not to ramble."

"Point taken." Silk inhaled and prepared for her spiel.

"Subject: male, purple scaled dragon with green ridge line and green iris. Approximate age: toddler. Name: Spike. Extra growth stunted as typical."

Spike was fearful. "Stunted?"

"Relax, Spike, I said 'as typical'. Most dragons don't get to complete their hoarding phase."

"Phew, that's all that was," he sighed with relief.

Silk cleared her throat. "Subject shows very high intelligence, possibly genius level given his age," Spike puffed out his chest with an inflated ego. "Abnormal lack of aggression in a dragon, reminiscent of the runt of a clutch. Distinct lack of predatory instinct to the point of anomaly, strikingly evidenced by presence of a phoenix chick. Strength in base state well below norm." Spike's ego deflated a bit. "Displays abnormally high skill with manipulation of the magical properties of fire for his age."

Silk had stopped talking. "So, the verdict?" he asked.

"You're really weird!" she answered gleefully.

"Oh, gee, thanks," Spike said sarcastically.

"Hey, you asked!" she laughed, now in a much better mood for having gotten to analyze a dragon like that.

"Point taken," he echoed. "Now, the second thing: I want to know  what you look like as a dragon!"

"Anything I want, really, so long as I don't try to imitate one too old."

"Oh come on! Just turn into what you usually did!" he insisted.

Silk sighed. "I can't. All dragons are either too small, such as yourself, or have wings, which bar me from transforming without mine. Why, haven't you ever seen another dragon?"

"Yeah, but the only dragons I ever hung out with were a bunch of jerks." They had also all been male, but he decided not to mention that.

"Let me guess, teenagers?"

"Yeah!"

"They're teenagers, almost all teens of all races are jerks, though I suppose I would give the ones I saw five stars for pigheaded boorishness." Spike had a curiosity growing and Silk could tell. "So, let me guess, one last question?"

"How'd you know?"

The changeling only raised an eyebrow, looking at the dragon expectantly.

"And that was another stupid question, wasn't it? That wasn't the question. I'm just wondering, what does your real voice sound like when you're not copying anypony's accent?"

"Like this. Now I'll just give it a moment..."

After about ten seconds, he opened his mouth. "Are you gonna say any.... oh. Very funny."

She chuckled, "Well, I thought so. So, what was this little plan of yours?"

"I'll tell you on the way."





"Hold onto your cards!" Silk announced, dramatically flinging open the door to Rainbow Dash's lowest floor.

"We haven't drawn any yet," Pinkie said.

The group was stunned. Twilight gasped. "Silky? How did you get here? How are you standing on clouds without magic?" The rest of the non-pegasi had taken Pinkie's balloon up and were using Twilight's magic to stand on clouds.

"I'm a changeling, I can stand on clouds! Which, by the way, is how I got here. I used telekinesis to form a cloud bridge. I just had to find two, one to move and one to stand on, to get higher. After that I just walked. It's overcast, remember?"

"That's... actually pretty clever," Twilight admitted. "But what are you doing here?"

"Well everypony, if I can't be a player, I can be an observer. A judge, if you will," Silk grinned. "Here are the rules. If somepony other than myself catches you cheating, you're disqualified and are on the bottom tier. If I catch you cheating, you're placed into the middle tier after the game. If you aren't caught cheating at all, you're placed into the upper tier."

"Well what if nopony cheats at all?" Rainbow Dash protested.

"Well, I guess you don't have anything to worry about," Silk chuckled.

"Ah reckon that sounds fair. Whaddaya say, y'all?" Applejack asked

"Perfectly reasonable."
"I, uh, I think that sounds fine."
"Yay! Bigger party!"
"I guess that's alright."
"Eeyup."

Silk smiled. "One more thing, I've got an extra player," she said, levitating Spike into sight. "Twilight, would you mind? He doesn't weigh that much, but this is a bit distracting." Dragons could fly, but no cloud could hold an adult normally, and Silk hadn't done any experiments to see if the youth could cloud walk. So, to be safe, she had levitated him the whole way here, much to his chagrin.

"Spike?!" Twilight exclaimed, casting her cloudwalk spell on him. "What about the library? What are you doing here?"

"It's Sunday," he said, rolling his eyes as he landed on the puffy floor. The library closed early on Sundays, or rather, closed early on Sundays whenever Twilight remembered. She had a life, too.

"Oh," the bookish unicorn answered sheepishly. She couldn't say no here, this wasn't her game, and it wasn't like they were playing for actual bits. "Your call, Rainbow Dash."

"Hah! Just one more player to beat! Fine by me! Now," Rainbow boasted, pressing the button on the card shuffler, "let's start this thing!"





Twilight and Rarity were the last two left, each holding their expressions as still as possible. "I'm all in," Rarity said, pushing her collection onto the table.

"I'll match that. Now, let's see what you've got," Twilight said, putting down three fives and two eights.

Rarity sighed, revealing a hoof of diamonds. Specifically, a two, a three, a four, a five, and a ten. "I was rather close, too."

Silk grinned. "Not so fast, everypony, I'm afraid I've caught a few of you. Now, here are the places."

The changeling cleared her throat. "Only one in the bottom tier, Rainbow Dash," she said.

The rainbow-maned mare grumbled. "I still say I wasn't cheating!"

"You were caught leaning over to take a look at Fluttershy's cards, Dash," Silk reminded.

"Yeah yeah, fine" she muttered.

"Now, for the middle tier, the ponies I caught cheating. The order is simply how well they placed, not when I caught them. Now then, in seventh place is Fluttershy."

Everypony stared. Fluttershy was surprised. "What? How did you know?"

"Let's just say a little birdie told me. Or rather, told you," Silk grinned before pointing up. A bluejay had flown in earlier.

"Oh my. I'm sorry. I didn't ask him to, honest. Sorry," she apologized in a whisper, clearly feeling guilty.

Twilight patted her on the back reassuringly. "No need to be, it's just a game for fun between friends, and my book says five-card draw is a game about not only statistics and reading your opponent, but also who can be the sneakiest," she said.

"About that, both of our top placers are also in the middle tiers. So Rarity, Twilight, you're in sixth and fifth places, respectively."

The fashionista got flustered, and Silk could see it, let alone taste it. "What? But I never-"

Silk smirked and raised an eyebrow before pointing behind her. There was a glass cabinet behind her, just close enough for Rarity to have looked at Spike's cards.

"Oh, that. I did hope that nopony had noticed that. It was just a peek, really."

Spike actually had noticed but, given who it was, hadn't said anything. Silk smiled, "yes, I know, for the most part you played fair, unlike Miss Sparkle."

"Okay, so how was I cheating?" Twilight asked, acting quite well with her false skepticism. This was all just another part of the game, keeping a straight face. If Silk couldn't prove it, she'd be in first place after all. Silk herself had said that card counting was fair.

"Simple: you were using a spell to look through everypony's cards, as well as the deck. I couldn't figure it out at first, but then I noticed how often you were staring directly at somepony's hand, and whenever you were deciding how many to discard, you looked intently at the deck."

"Oh yeah? Prove it."

"Your horn is still glowing and you're not holding any cards anymore."

Twilight went cross eyed for a second to look at her horn, then facehoofed. However, a second later she giggled. "Okay, you caught me."

"Now then, time for the top tier, the ponies who either didn't cheat, or didn't get caught. Pinkie, I'm quite sure from the emotions I was getting off you you that you were doing... something... but I can't prove a thing. In fourth place is Pinkie Pie."

"Yay!"

"In third place, Spike."

"Naturally," Spike said, huffing on his fist and rubbing it.

"In second place, Applejack."

"Darn tootin'!"

Oh now she says that. "Which, of course, means that our big winner is Big Macintosh!"

"Eeyup."

Applejack was grinning. "Ah reckon y'all just can't beat the Apple clan!"

Twilight walked up to Silk. "Well Silky, I have to admit, that was a lot of fun. I'm sorry we didn't let you play."

"Yeah, sorry, Silkster" Rainbow said.

Silk squinted in annoyance. "What have I told you about nicknames of nicknames, 'Dashieo'?"

Rainbow Dash recoiled at this awful example. "Yeesh, that's what that sounds like?"

The changeling shrugged. "Probably. Anyway, I don't mind if there are a few things I can't do. It's the things I can do that matter."

"Ooh! Like maybe like Mr. Cake was saying! You can cook and I'll tell you what it needs!" Pinkie yelled, bouncing up and down unusually high with the springiness of the cloud flooring.

Fluttershy walked over and whispered. "And I guess you could still, uh, help me feed the animals that are still comfortable around you."

A lightbulb lit up in Twilight Sparkle's head. "I think I know what I'm going to write for my next friendship report! Spike, take a letter!"

Aside from noting the fact that Twilight wasn't writing a letter so much as orating it, Silk wasn't paying attention. The tip of her tongue was sticking out of the corner of her mouth, looking out the window for something. Even now, though she couldn't see or taste it, she couldn't shake the feeling that somepony was watching her.

And she was right.







Weeks passed. It was now the middle of June, and Silk was helping Rarity with that task of hers.

"Really, dear, hold still. I can't get the measurements right if you're squirming like that," Rarity said, manipulating a piece of measuring tape.

Twilight walked into the boutique. "Hi Rarity, I brought that book you wanted. Oh, hi Octavia, I thought you were in Canterlot."

"Help me," Octavia said in Silk's voice, looking like she was about to cry.

Not Octavia, then. "Rarity, what are you doing and why is Silk posing as Octavia?"

"Oh,  I had this marvelous little idea. A client sends in their picture, and with the help of our dear friend Silky, I can tailor their dress or what have you to them without them even stepping into the boutique!" she responded with glee. "Now if only she could stop fidgeting."

"I'm telling you, I can't help it, my bones are aching!" the Octavia-changeling whined.

Twilight was a bit concerned. "That doesn't sound good. Maybe we should take you to the hospital, if you don't mind that is. Your anatomy is close enough to a pony's when transformed that they could probably help."

Silk shook her head. "It doesn't seem like... I think I might just have to..." she trailed off, suddenly blushing beet red and mumbling something. "I just need someplace private, and secluded, for a while."

Rarity placed the tape down. "It's just as well. I just finished the last of my measurements. This should wrap up the trial run."

Silk gasped in horror. "'Trial run?'" 

"Of course, dear, I couldn't offer a new service and charge full price for it just yet, it's still in the experimental phase. I'm quite certain that this will work, but that doesn't mean my clients are. Once the first few are delivered, if word of mouth goes well, the orders will come flying in! Mind you, I'll have to make it a limited offer every so often so that I don't monopolize all of Silky's time, that would be rude."

Oh joy. Days on end of corsets and a disconcerting lack of concern for personal space, but at least there's a limit. Because otherwise that would be rude! Silk thought with sarcastic apprehension before her look softened. "Hey Twilight... do you have it ready?" Silk asked.

The mare's expression changed. "Yes..."

"Could we go there when I get back? I think I might need a friend with me."

"Of course, but where are you going?"

"Everfree," Silk said, moving her head about and cracking her neck and rolling her shoulders. "It's the only place secluded enough. I'll be fine... I think. One way or another it can't be avoided."

With that she cantered away.





A couple hours later, Silk walked into the library carrying a long box, back in her usual blue form. Twilight looked up. "So, what was it that you couldn't even do in ponyville? Or anywhere safe, for that matter?"

Silk blushed and started muttering. "I w.. ...t..g."

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

The blush got more pronounced. "I was .ol..ng."

Apparently Silk had been taking lessons from Fluttershy on how to be inaudible. "I'm sorry, one more time?"

Silk's face turned bright red. "Molting! I was molting, okay?!" she snapped.

"Aah! Eww, gross!" Twilight exclaimed, repulsed at the thought.

"YOU asked!" Silk yelled in embarrassment. It was a private matter in the first place, but the immature reaction just made things worse.

"Sorry, sorry," Twilight said, calming down. That certainly explained why she needed seclusion, having a pony-sized pony-shaped shell around would be really gross (though somewhat fascinating). "But why would you molt? You're an adult, aren't you? Wait, aren't you?" she asked. She had no idea how old Silk was, or how old a changeling got before reaching adulthood.

"Yes," Silk said, turning into her changeling form with a flash, "but I finally regrew part of my wings, see?" Her wings were damaged still, and there certainly wasn't enough there to fly. At most she could reduce the rate of a fall by a measurable, yet impractical amount. Still, they were undeniably longer than the tiny little stubs that had been there.

"That's great!" Twilight said, happy for her friend. "Are you sure you're done growing, though? You seem a just a little bigger than I remember."

The changeling shrugged. "Pretty sure, but it's not unheard of to grow a whit after you're an adult. Anyway, the last changeling to lose his wings like this took nine years to grow them back."

Twilight produced a ruler out of nowhere, measuring her wings. "Well, how long are your wings normally?"

"I'm a scout, so normally? About the middle of the hip."

"Hmm... well, actually, I think it's only going to be a year and a half at this rate!" Twilight said.

"What? No way, that's impossible! That's not even a good joke. A little mean, too."

"Well, the changelings were in a state of long-term famine, right?"

Silk could taste her own hot anger. "Not that there was any actual shortage," she said bitterly.

"Well, malnutrition greatly reduces the healing process. You're a lot better fed than you used to be, so your body has what it needs to repair itself more quickly."

The changeling blinked, unable to think. "You're saying..."

"That you'll be flying again in a year, and back up to full speed (though maybe a bit rusty) in seventeen months, give or take a couple."

Silk sat down wordless for a few moments, stunned. Then, suddenly, she started beaming and ran into the purple unicorn with a hug. "Oh my gosh, are you sure? That would be so amazing!" she said, blabbing with Pinkie level excitement. "I really miss my wings and do you think everypony would mind if I started going around as a pegasus, because I prefer flight to magic anyway and I don't really mind one or the other since I think everypony would totally  freak out if I started imitating an alicorn and I'm not so sure that I want to walk around untransformed because it might make ponies uncomfortable, not that I blame them after the Canterlot incident and oh I can't wait!"

"Silky... can't... breathe..."

Silk let go. "Oh, uh, sorry Twilight. I guess I got a little worked up there."

Twilight gasped for breath. "That's alright, eighty three point three repeating percent off the time it would take for me to use my horn would excite me, too."

"You know, you can just say five sixths. Or heck, seven and a half years."

"Well I could, yes."

"You just wanted to sound smart, didn't you?"

"Kinda," Twilight admitted.

"Hmm, what would be an appropriate response... ah yes," Silk began before doing an Applejack imitation, "y'all ain't foolin' nopony, sugarcube. Besides, ah know you're smart, you're the only one I haven't had to explain mah fancy schmancy wordin' to. Heck, y'all knew what that picture box was."

"A television or a computer?" Twilight asked, eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, one 'o them. I ain't-"

"Stop that."

"Oh, you're no fun," Silk said, dropping the impression.

The sky outside was getting dark, and it wasn't the time: it was high noon. Twilight looked outside. "I'm sorry to ruin the mood, Silky, but do you still want to go today? It'll still be there tomorrow if you don't, and it's going to rain in-"

"Three hours, yeah, I know. Big storm that'll last all day, that's why. I'll probably be in a foul mood tomorrow, and I'd just like to get it out of the way."

"Okay, let's go."

The two walked out of the library and started making their way out of town. Silk would keep her tongue out of the corner of her mouth, and her eyes would dart around on occasion. She didn't feel in danger, and it had been long enough that her nervousness had become minimal, but Shadowdancer's words still creeped her out.

"So, are you trying to taste the air like a snake or something?" Twilight asked, fishing for conversation to keep her companion's mind occupied.

"Well, I hadn't really thought of it like that, but I guess you could say that. Still, watch the animal similes, will you? They can get pretty insulting. How would you like it if I compared you to a monkey or a dog all the time?"

"Okay then, so anypony you're looking for?"

"Well, not really, just keeping an eye out for anypony new," she said, not wanting to tell anypony just why she was worried about the dragon-eyed ponies. "I'm still new at this whole thing, my taste wasn't quite this acute a couple months ago, but I think I can tell the usual residents apart for the most part. Still, there's a lot of ponies that come by, but they usually don't stop here long enough for Pinkie to throw her parties for them. In fact, I don't think I've ever noticed anypony new sticking around at night."

"Well, we don't have an inn," Twilight explained.

"Hmm, well I guess a lack of social connections would be contributory to nocturnal habits of nonresidents," Silk noted.

Twilight also took note, but of the fact that Silk had just shown her scientific and naive tendencies at once. "No, Silk, not that kind of an 'in'. I-N-N. It's a building where ponies go to sleep in a town where they don't live, since most ponies aren't used to sleeping outside. They usually serve food, too."

The changeling was a bit intrigued. "Why don't you have one? Ponies seem to have everything."

"Well, simply put we don't have an innkeeper. It's a business, ponies pay to rent a room for the night, and in return the innkeeper makes sure that the amenities they listed are provided. They have to make sure the rooms are neat and clean. They also provide protection from wild animals in the more remote places of the world, though that wouldn't be a problem in Ponyville."

"Well, okay, I'll do it," Silk stated.

Twilight stopped walking. "Huh?"

Silk turned around, noticing that her friend had stopped. "I could be an innkeeper, I think. I'm not afraid of any animals. In fact, they're usually more afraid of me."

"But you don't know the first thing about being an innkeeper, and you don't have the talent for-"

Silk looked Twilight in the eye. "Now you listen here. It's true. I'm not a pony. I've got no clue what I'm doing half the time in this town. I've screwed up roughly 31 percent of the jobs I've done, and the rest I've been so-so at. I don't have one of your intrinsic, oft-touted 'special talents' permanently emblazoned on me. I won't be able to fly again for quite some time still. My magic is only good for lifting medium-size objects, blowing things up, and knocking creatures on their duff. I don't even have the ability to do what I was born to do anymore. Not without a partner, not without my wings. But one thing that I do have, even if slowed without the presence of the swarm, is effort and learning. Don't you ever imply otherwise." By the end of that speech, Silk was pointing a hoof accusingly a half inch away from Twilight's eyes.

The unicorn went cross-eyed, looking at the hoof. She grabbed it and put it down. "Well if that's how you feel about it, maybe you could try it. I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't do it, I was just saying that it would be hard."

"I don't need easy, Twilight, I just need... something."

Twilight smiled. "Well, in that case you have my support. Still, the startup costs are expensive."

Silk was a bit crestfallen. "Aw, really? Well, can you tell me how much more I need?" she asked, taking off her saddlebag and telekinetically handing it to Twilight Sparkle.

"Sure, I can GAH!" she yelped, almost dropping the saddlebag. She hadn't expected to be lifting something that heavy. "What do you have in here, lead weights?!"

"No, just a few essentials. Zebra Navy Knife, one of those cool portable lightbulb things that timekeeper gave me when I asked for a torch, an apple, and my bits. I didn't want to keep these in there since they might get crushed", she explained, indicating the box she was carrying.

Twilight looked into the container to see it over half filled with bits, looking like a miniature dragon's horde. "Silky... where did you get this?"

"Jobs around town. I know it's not much," Silk explained.

Twilight was trying to think of why Silk would still, after several weeks of hard effort, not know what the value of a bit is. Then it hit her. "Ugh," she groaned, as if somepony had made a bad pun, "Silk, you do realize that the typical measurement of value isn't nearly as low as it is to a dragon, right?"

"It isn't? But they've got huge piles of these things!"

"Yes, but they never spend any of it, so that doesn't reduce the scarcity. In fact, since they take bits and never recirculate them, they actually increase it. Remind me to loan you Economics for the Uninformed later. Anyway, you could definitely buy an inn with this."

Ponyville, with its tendency to be demolished once a month or so, and its perpetual damage from Rainbow Dash and a certain blonde pegasus, had developed the capability to build structures quickly and cheaply. Admittedly the quality was lowered a bit as a result, but by now the construction ponies were very skilled.

"I'll have to give that a read," Silk said, a bit embarrassed, taking back her saddlebag and walking again.

Twilight made a suggestion, "You might want to think of amenities you'll offer, where you'll get supplies, what the layout would be-"

"A bedroom," Silk interrupted.

"Well, obviously, an inn would have a number of them."

The fake pony shook her head. "No, I mean someplace for me to sleep. You live at the library, Pinkie lives at the bakery, Fluttershy lives with her animals, Rarity lives at the boutique, Applejack lives on the farm, and Rainbow Dash lives in the clouds. I think I would want to put a bedroom in there. Maybe get supplies from Sweet Apple Acres and Sugarcube Corner, and a room for Pinkie to throw all her wild parties in. I don't suppose you know a soundproofing spell?"

"No, but I know somepony who does... we're here."

Silk stopped and looked down. They had arrived at the shore of a gentle stream that ran along the bottom of a number of rolling grassy hills. Here the noon sun would illuminate the area, and the water would shimmer, casting a million little lights across the land. 

On the bank, just high enough that it would not wash away with a storm, sat a piece of simple granite. Etched into its surface was a simple carving of a dragonfly, and a single word.


SKITTER


Silk stood there wordlessly, staring at the simple piece of rock. Her entire people, now represented with only a rock. Dozens, perhaps hundreds dead. All save one gone. She couldn't help but feel that they deserved more. Perhaps that was wrong. Perhaps it wasn't. It certainly didn't matter now.

"They lied, you know," Silk said. "They always said, whenever one of us died, that the swarm would always be there comfort those who remained." She silently cursed the moon. "What a joke, and I'm the punchline."

Twilight just stood and listened.

The changeling opened up her box, gently taking out a number of freshly cut purple hyacinths and placing them next to the stone.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. So very... very sorry," she whispered sadly as her words left a bitter taste in her mouth, but no matter what she said, it would never match how she felt. She had never even said goodbye, to any of them. She began to sing a song she heard one fateful day.

"Hush now my dear, it is that time I fear, when we must say our goodbyes before too long.
Sweet little foal, I have to pay the toll, remember me and please listen to my song.
and I do not wish to but I must, we will soon go separate ways,
Lay down and sleep, my dear, and dream of better days.

Please do not cry, it is my time to die, it will not be long before I am gone.
You have to see, you mustn't cry for me, for though I must leave it's you who must move on,
it has always been like this, you see, one must go the other stays,
please carry on, my dear, and wait for better days.

Please have no fears, now wipe away your tears, even now as my life comes to its end,
I wish you the best, but now I lie and rest, but first I have one last thought that I must send.
You cannot simply dwell on the past, wrapped inside a bitter haze
I'm sure of one thing, my dear, you will find better days."

"...I will find better... days."

Even Twilight was sad now. "Nopony ever accused my mother of being a poet," the changeling joked, but her voice was choking.

Just then, a thunderclap was heard in the sky, and the heavens opened up in a rainstorm. "We should get back, Silky, the pegasi must have started the rain early by mistake," she said. Twilight had a feeling that somewhere overhead Rainbow Dash was probably yelling at Ditzy Doo.

"No."

"Do you need a minute?"

"No, it just isn't raining," Silk said, turning around. "If it was raining, I-I'd be upset, but I'm f-fine, see? I'm just fine so... so it can't be raining!" she said, giving a big grin as the water streamed down her cheeks, but her sobbing voice belied her.

Twilight gave a halfhearted smile "... yeah. Clear, blue, and twenty two."

Silk nodded and sniffled. "Uhhuh. Let's go."


As they made their way back, a letter twirled out of the distance, stopping in front of Twilight Sparkle. "What's this?" she asked. The letter was sealed with the royal seal, and laminated with magic. The unicorn opened the envelope. "Eight invitations to the Summer Sun Celebration in Canterlot?"