//------------------------------//
// CH 5 - Everything will be okay 
// Story: The Boy and the Bug 
// by Mr B 
//------------------------------//


Four Months Before The Storm


Thunder stood tall atop one of Canterlot’s white brick buildings. The afternoon sun shining down upon his face as he basked in its tender warmth. The sky was something he’d rarely get to see before the wedding as he spent most of his time underground. Whether it be at the hive or within the city’s various tunnels, mines or the more hygienic of its sewer systems. 

Natural light was practically a luxury, one he’d taken for granted and now….something he couldn’t imagine going without. 

He took the time to bathe of course, nopony cared if the pegasus colt washed within the mountain waterfall so long as he didn’t endanger himself. Still, the increasingly cold waters were nothing compared to the shining sun that ran across his body. 

When he was satisfied, he coiled up like a cat and jumped off. His wings unfolding and taking him high, higher than the mountain tops, above the buildings he soared through the city. Dancing and spinning around twirling tower rooftops and under stone archways with the rush of autumn wind under his wings and the sounds of the city below his hooves. 

“Freedom, after so many years I’ve finally done it! I’m free of the hive!”

Thunder ascended even higher,  breaking through the cloud covers, weaving around other pegasi. Tears of joy ran down his cheeks as he raced through the heavens, allowing for a time to truly forget about the woes of life and enjoy what it had to offer him. No more bullies, no more warriors or orders, no more overseers or queens, it was just him and the skies above.

For the first time, his life was truly his and his alone. 

Thunder tore through the clouds and raced around what few buildings still tall enough to touch him, spiralling around more towers and diving under bridges. He’d been put through obstacle courses during his time with the Hunter Caste but nothing could compare to the rush he felt blazing through Canterlot without a care in the world.

For a moment he took a deep breath, allowing the crisp and clean air to flood his lungs, the sensation was positively intoxicating. Outside there was no mold,no musty or rancid stench of secretions or shedded carapice. Everything was clear, pristine and perfect, in a sense it was more addicting than love.  

He eventually rose and stopped for a moment to catch his breath, being able to really let loose with pegasi wings felt so liberating! Unfortunately it did tax his stamina more, but adrenaline was keeping him going for the time being.

Below him lay an ocean of old stonework buildings, some possibly older than the Queen herself, all in an assortment of all kinds of wonderful, bright colours. From midnight blues to golden yellows, pale whites and royal purples. The place had really turned around from the attack, with houses and businesses rebuilt with remarkable speed, yet there were scars that would remain. The larger buildings were still under reconstruction and no amount of paint could hide every chip and scrap from the angry shower of green rain. 

And that was to say nothing of the lingering fear and psychological damage brought about by the attack. 

Yet the city survived and had moved on, pegasi still pulled carts through the skies to their drop offs, ponies still greeted each other in the streets and bakeries still made bread.

Speaking of which, it was at this time that he felt a growl come from his stomach. He looked down and patted his belly, sure he didn’t have any money to buy food but who needed that when everypony was a talking walking snack?

For this though passive absorption wouldn’t be enough as he’d have to actively gather from a pony or two. He scanned the surrounding area and spotted a nearby public park. Past experience taught him that couples usually liked to hang out there or play with their kids, so It was as good a spot as any other. Barreling towards the treeline with the speed of a rocket, nearly crashing into a building or two during his descent.

Quickly, he slowed down and perched himself in a tree to get an overview of the area. He looked around for any juicy targets and with any luck he might get enough to last him more than a few days, maybe a week? 

“Don’t get too excited Shell, you still need to find somepony first.”

He saw an earth pony walking a dog. “Nah, too little, wouldn’t be able to keep up.”

He then spotted some colts playing hopscotch. “Too open, not enough cover…and it would be sort of scummy.”

His eyes then rested on a young couple sitting on a bench, early twenties and clear chatterboxes. “Perfect!”

Silently, Thunder slid down and acted natural, prancing on a cobblestone path that led behind them. A few trees and some shrubbery behind the bench made a perfect hiding spot where he could  do his thing. Taking one good look around him to make sure nopony was staring in his general direction he jumped into the bush without a second thought. 

Scanning his surroundings to ensure he had no curious onlookers, and sure enough nopony was batting an eye. The couple likewise didn’t notice him and were happily chatting away at something relating to a “D-J Pon3,” whatever that meant. “Great! The amount of times I’ve used the Hide & Seek trick…ugh I need to come up with better excuses.”

Thunder began opening his reserves up and feeling the air around him, the couple were ripe for the picking. A potent mixture of young love and affection, with a small but healthy dose of lust. “I still have no idea what that emotion does, why do ponies have it? I’ll just use it for shapeshifting anyway. It makes me feel weird.”

He reached out and began snatching a few strands of love but didn’t make it too far before something interrupted his session. The distant clanging of armoured hooves slowly approaching him caused him to  close up and whip around to see a patrol coming his way! Normally he couldn’t be bothered with such a thing if he was already hiding but instead of two guards the patrol had a box of four.

“Wait, patrols have four guards now?! What happened to just two?”

His mind conjured the mental image of one of them spotting him from inside the bush and getting suspicious that he was directly behind an affectionate couple. That was followed by one casting a dispelling spell to rid him of his disguise before a third gutted him on the spot with his spear.

Immediately starting to panic, he quickly exited the bush before flying above the treeline and bolting for the skies, looking over his shoulder to see if he was being followed and let out a sigh of relief when he saw he wasn’t. Still, his hasty retreat likely shook the couple from their chat so going back was too risky now even when the guards left. 

His stomach growled again and he looked down with a frown, his stomach now twisting with hunger pains. “Oh I know buddy, we’ll find lunch soon though, I promise.”

That however was easier said than done. Since the raid the guards have been getting better and better at sniffing out changelings, at least if he was to go off what the newspapers said. While he had no actual run-ins with them, the thought of having them catch onto his one and only personality was still enough to send him running whenever a patrol got too close. 

“At least Canterlot has plenty of ponies…”








Two Nights Before the Storm


DINGDINGDINGDINGDING

Gleaming stirred from her slumber, the fog of rest clouding her mind and dulling her senses as she opened her eyes to view the time. The alarm clock struck eight AM sharp and she half mindedly fumbled around with her hoof to press its stop button, smacking the cabinet in the process. 

The moment it stopped she released a breath. “There, sweet silence.” She rolled over with a yawn hoping to stretch her wings without hitting Copper again, but as she did she was met with an empty bed. 

“Huh? Copper?” She struggled to understand why he wasn’t there before the events of the night prior came flooding back and so did the emotions attached.

“Something’s wrong, something is seriously, seriously wrong. Why isn’t he back yet!?”

Gleaming’s heart skipped a beat as she rose from her rest with panic rising in her chest. She tore the covers off and quickly made her mane with the little time she afforded to herself. Resulting in a visible but tolerable amount of bedhead before washing her face in the bathroom.

“Maybe he’s downstairs?! Maybe he wanted to watch over Raining?”

She half glided down the staircase and landed on the corner step, twisting around to reach the living room and peer inside. She was just about to call out for him when she saw Lead and Shellac.

Her train of thought crashed and her panicking heart stilled at the sight. Copper was nowhere within the room, but she stook awestruck nonetheless. Raining’s bruises had all but receded, with no visible cuts or scraps, and Shellac’s wing sat in its correct, folded position. Not only that, but the little changeling nymph had turned himself into a life size plush toy! Which Raining was happily embracing, Shellac’s muzzle rested on his neck with a knitted smile.

Gleaming slowly approached, having to physically fight the urge to scream like a little schoolfilly at such a sight. How couldn’t she? This was adorable! When she got behind the couch and saw the two up close she put her hooves over her mouth and couldn’t help but let out a little squeak.

“He did it, he actually did it! My little Lead’s healthy again!”

She waltzed off to the kitchen to prepare something special for breakfast, in her haste however she wasn’t careful about her step and the sound of her hooves stirred the two from their slumber. Raining was first, followed closely by Shellac, who despite still being a giant stuffed toy, was able to open and close his eyelids. 

The brass colt yawned and absentmindedly bought a hoof up to cover his mouth, Raining eyes then shot open and his ears perked up. “Wait a second…why do I feel like that was a bad idea?” He found himself staring into the giant purple fabric eyes of a life size changeling plush. 

“Wha? Why am I?...” He squinted. “Oh yea right Lance happened.” 

Raining then planted a hoof against his face half expecting it to explode into pain, but no such thing happened. He examined his leg and saw that Shellac’s spell had worked! All his bruises were gone, he felt no more bumps, no pains or aches of any kind! The colt found himself laughing at the sheer amazement of the feat.

A flash of purple light then broke him out of his celebration as Shellac laid staring at him, complete with a smug grin and fully healed chin.

“Told you  I could heal ya.”

“Heh…heh…yeah I guess you did.” Lead smiled. “Didn’t know you could do that.”

“Do what? Heal ponies?”

“Well yea that and uh…”

“Turn into objects?” Shell effortlessly turned his right hoof back into plush for a moment to reiterate the point before turning it back just as quickly. 

Raining parted his lips but stopped himself short and chose to nod instead. He did however bring a leg up to examine it and found an absolute lack of injury anywhere on the limbs. “Seriously though I don’t feel anything, to be honest I heard what you were saying to mom but I didn’t hear everything.”

“It was only soft tissue damage Raining. Granted there was a lot but it was no biggie, I think our cuddles last night helped with that.” Shell coed mockingly. 

Raining’s cheeks flushed red and it dawned on him he was still hugging the young nymph with his other leg. He looked down and slowly drew his leg back to his chest, an awkward smile and little nervous laughter being his only response. 

Raining removed the covers and rolled over towards the coffee table, still a little wobbly from his rest. Shellac soon followed but wrapped the blanket around the both of them, not wanting the comfort to go away just yet. 

“You're a little clingy, you know that?” Raining asked, eying his companion a little suspicious.

“Never slept with a friend before in a comfy bed. You had a lot of love to give.” 

“Bed? This is a couch.” Raining gestured towards the cushions. 

“It’s still better than the nothing I had when your mom found me, or the resin hammock I had before that, or even the hard rocky walls of the hive. You ponies don’t know how well off you really are.”

Raining blinked…then shivered at picturing himself in such scenarios. “Huh…I guess you're right.”

The sound of clopping hooves signalled Gleaming’s return as she pranced inside with a smile as wide as the plates held by her wings. It was then both Raining and Thunder caught the scent of freshly made toast with a hint of strawberry jam, both had some kind of tiny cup holding a steaming egg with a spoon. Gleaming had also brought the jar just in case.

“Who wants toast soldiers?”

“Me!” Raining held his hoof up. The kids took both plates away from Gleaming and offered their thanks, it consisted of two slices of buttered, vertically cut bread with a boiled egg held in a holder. Shellac looked at the dish with concern and then observed Raining break the top part of the egg off with a spoon before dipping his slices inside. He visibly winced at the act and turned to Gold.

“Miss Gold? Isn’t there something inside these eggs?”

“Oh, no no dear, these are chicken eggs, they’re sterile. They just have the yolk inside.”

Shellac again turned to Raining enjoying his breakfast and back to his, still not feeling comfortable with the idea. “How’d you feel if some-creature broke your egg?” He scorned himself. Tiny needles of guilt threatened to pierce his mind but Gleaming came to the rescue and picked up her jam jar, offering it to Shellac.

“If it bothers you that much, Raining can have it.”

Shell nodded and Gleaming swapped out the egg holder for a blob of bright red goo, which Shellac then spread across his toast and happily munched away. Shellac never had strawberries before and found it incredibly sweet, almost too sweet in fact, his face scrunched up from the intensity but it was a good kind of pain. Gleaming giggled and took her cue to go and fetch her own breakfast from the kitchen and quickly joined the two.

As she sat down on the opposite couch however she caught the shapes of several silhouettes emerging from behind the curtain moving through the front yard closer to the door. She sighed and placed her dish down even before she’d taken a bite.

“Shellac dear? We have guests.”

A flash of purple fire saw Thunder Chaser emerge in an instant, now holding his plate with a wing. 

Gleaming walked forward and stood behind the door when she heard a trio of knocks. 
Even before opening the door she had a bad feeling. First Copper goes missing and now a group of ponies arrive outside her door. Were they guards coming in to question her? To see Raining? It was a little late for that now.

Dreadful anxiety built up within her once again which was not helped by her stomach’s starving complaints. She took a breath, shot her eyes open, patted down her mane to prevent any more embarrassment…

And opened the door. 

Standing before her was a trio of guards, though the uniforms were certainly not what she was expecting. Instead of bright golden armour and sheathed swords, they wore tidy parkas and dark barrets, no visible weapons whatsoever. Her heart sank like a brick of lead when she recognised these clothes, Copper had worn something similar when attending Canterlot’s mass funeral after the attack.

These are dress uniforms, which only meant one thing.

“Miss Gleaming Gold?” The front guard spoke, staring into her eyes with a grim tone and pulling out a small letter with a golden wax seal. “I’m afraid we have some bad news.”

Gleaming’s breathes grew short and ragged, her heart rate skyrocketed yet the world couldn’t have moved any slower. With a shaky hoof she took the letter and looked down at it, intense enough she could’ve burned a hole right through her hoof. 

“No…no, this can’t be happening…”

“This can’t be happening.”

“I’m dreaming, I’m still asleep.”

“This isn’t real.”

“If you need anyth-”

Gleaming slammed the door shut on the trio and turned her back on the frame. Each breath was difficult and shallow like she was trying to breathe underwater. The world spun around her and she fought to keep herself upright. She thought she was prepared for this, everytime Copper went on duty she knew something like this could happen but she never actually thought it would.

They’d settle down, have a child, buy a nice cottage outside Canterlot somewhere and live peacefully with their savings. But of course things never go as you want them.

This though…”This is too much.”







“So there’s more than just one kind of jam?” 

Thunder took another bite out of his toast slice. The smooth buttery bread mixing with the sweet strawberry flavours treating his taste spuds. Raining swallowed his mouthful before continuing, “Yeah! Mum loves jam! Strawberry jam, pear jam, orange marmalade, apple sauce, there’s just so many! If it’s a fruit there’s probably a jam made with it.”

“Cool! I’ll have to try those out-”

The two colts then heard the reception door slam with enough force it shook the house, they then caught a glimpse of Gleaming bolting up the staircase with the speed of a cheetah. Rapid hoofsteps galloping into the master bedroom above them. 

They paused and looked between each other, not sure what to make of what just happened. Thunder craned his neck around and looked behind his shoulder as the trio of ponies now left the front yard.

“What in Celestia’s name was that?” Raining exclaimed. 

Thunder turned to him with just as much confusion, not sure what to make of it either. “I don’t know, maybe she was mailed a package or something?”

“Think it’s a Hearth’s Warming present?” Lead grinned.

Before he could answer, Thunder suddenly felt cold, a bitterness creeping in he was familiar with and turned his head to the source. Seeping through the ceiling above them was a horrible sadness, the likes of which he’d only ever seen in ponies just after the raid or when a terrible tragedy had struck. It was so intense he could feel its strength through the walls, sucking out the colours from the room and permeating the air with gloom.

He winced and turned back to Raining. “I don’t think that was a present…”

“Well what do you think it was?” He replied, tone deaf to Thunder’s implications. “Really Raining?” 

Whatever was happening to Gleaming it couldn’t be anything good, he sighed and cleared his throat before forcing a smile. “Why don’t we change the subject?” 

“Ok!”

Raining put on his thinking cap and puffed up his cheek for dramatic effect. Exchanging glances with Thunder and the ceiling, of which a very faint whimper could be heard if the air was quiet enough. Raining seemed too lost in thought to pick it up though and eventually went back to Thunder.

“You know, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a brother.”

Thunder’s brain was hit with a proverbial foghorn that blasted everything else out, leaving a train of thought that conflicted with his emotions. On one hoof he felt flattered for Raining to imply what he thought he was implying. On the other however…

“Damn it Lead! Of all the things and at of all the times, why that? And why now?”

Thunder rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to get his thoughts together. A task not helped by the air of sadness that had now leaked into the room. It was like breathing in a sour odour or involuntarily smelling a putrid mixture of salt and vinegar. 

Yet he pushed through despite the absurdity of his situation. He gathered his thoughts together and shared them out loud, hoping that if nothing else Raining’s natural radiance of joy would help drown out the stench. “I’ve always been told that the other changelings at the hive were my brothers and sisters but I never felt like it. Honestly, I never liked any of them.”

“Because they bullied you?”

“Because they made me feel unwanted, how can you be called family if you know nopony likes you?”

“That’s a good question, I guess they thought it only mattered that you grew up with them.”

“But I hate them! They pushed me around, called me names and made fun of my mom!”

An aura of sympathy began wafting around Raining as he put his unfinished plate down on the table and helped Thunder put his aside. He might’ve been tone deaf earlier but even he knew Thunder’s pain. To that end, he shimmed along the couch and closed the distance between them. Thunder felt relief from the room’s gloom and basked in Raining’s ambient emotions. Yet he couldn’t stop himself from feeling tingles of depression, whether it was because of Gleaming’s sadness upstairs or the emotions attached to his memories he couldn’t tell.

“Yeah I get that, Lance always said mean things about my mum too. When I got numb to that he started making fun of my dad, when that wore off he started making it personal. It’ll surprise you just how much power words can have.”

Thunder felt a pang of anger form, clearly Lance decided to shift to physical abuse after wearing out his verbal options. 

“I never even met my mom, I was taken as an egg and hatched later. I want to believe she’s a good queen, that they’re all wrong and that she does love me.” Thunder then turned his head to the side, facing away from Raining. ”But I’ll never know.”

“Thunder? Do you think Chrysalis loves her changelings?”

Thunder took another jam covered toast slice and bit down upon it, taking a moment to let the question stir. “Well yeah of course, she was willing to attack your home so they wouldn’t go hungry anymore. That has to mean something right?” He finished his mouthful.

“Then why wouldn’t your mum love you? Sure changelings have a weird way of doing it compared to us, but I’m sure if she was still around and you were her only child, she’d love you to bits like my mum does!”

“T-Thanks Raining.” Thunder knelt down to grab another slice.

“I guess they see it differently than we do, my mum always said family doesn’t depend on whose blood you share, but instead it depends on who you love.”

Thunder now felt his heart clench at the idea, and his mouth moved before his brain could process. 

“Do you love me?”

In spite of the rather on the nose and abrupt question, Raining barely hesitated to respond. 

“Well that’s what I wanted to ask you about, you're the first pony-eh well sort of-that’s stuck with me after a run in with Lance! I mean, he broke your wing!” Raining pointed a hoof at the now healed limb. 

Thunder felt a tingle of ghost pain and his wing involuntarily twitched. 

“But you didn’t run, you didn’t hide, you did your best and that’s already so much more than anypony’s ever done for me. Yeah sure, Lance might’ve kicked our flanks but you know what? If all it takes is a good night’s rest to recover from the worst he can throw at us then I don’t care! He can beat us to a pulp and we’ll spring right back up! So yes Thunder, Shellac, whichever it is you want, you’ve stuck with me so I’m sticking with you!”

With every word Thunder felt his chest rising higher and higher, Raining’s speech building his spirit block by block, minus the mention of getting beaten up again. Stocking the flames of an embering fire within his core until it burned brightly once more, and with newfound confidence he stood up straight, but he still had one more question to ask. 

“But what about my mom, my queen? Do you think I’ll ever find out what happened to her? Or who she was?”

“One day, maybe we will, maybe we’ll become brave adventurers and find out together!” Raining cried, kicking his hooves up in excitement. “But if we don’t, maybe a better question to ask is if it matters? You’ll have us and that might be all you need.” He solemnly smiled.

“I don’t know, you might be right, there’s no way I’m going back to ask Chrysalis herself and your family’s been the nicest group of ponies I’ve ever met. There’s nothing I’d trade that away for, but I’d still like to find out if it’s possible.” 

“Well for the time being, do you wanna do this thing together?” Raining offered a hoof. Thunder smiled, his heart fluttering as he looked down at the Raining’s outstretched limb. 

“He’s serious about this, he’s actually serious about having me around like that? I guess I’ve never had a real brother either, no-creature I could call for help or talk to.”

Slowly Thunder reached out, as a feeling of genuine joy flooded his body.

“It would be nice…even if only for a while.”

Thunder took Raining’s hoof and then pulled him in for a hug, droplets of joy welling up as he made his decision. “Together…brother.”







Gleaming heaved as she laid in bed. Her ragged breaths were long and heavy with the weight on her back like that of an anvil. In her grip was a thoroughly drenched pillow she’d been crying into for who knows how long and on copper’s side of the bed sat an open letter, read through and cried over. Her pendant clung to her chest, a hoof pressed into it as if it were about to drop off and never be found again.

Only at long last when she’d spent all of her energy did the tears stop flowing with the softness of the bed there to comfort her, while the empty space beside her stood as a grim reminder.

“Please don’t go Copper…you're my rock…”

Her grip on the pillow tightened as tears threatened to leak out again. 

“You're my rock…”

She laid there for a little longer, having shielded herself with her wings hugging a damp pillow. As it stood, she didn’t know what to do or  how to feel, so much emotion from just one scrap of paper. How was she going to take care of Raining? What about Thunder? What about work? She couldn’t be in two places at once, what if something happened while she was gone?

She had to get up and do something, but what?  As she was, she couldn’t go to work. Maybe hire a babysitter? 

“Yeah that’ll go over really well with a changeling.” She picked herself up and slogged towards the window, her weary eyes pink from stress. Pulling away the curtains the morning sun only agitated them and she jerked her head away, but before long she was looking at her neighbourhood street. 

It was mercifully quiet, quiet by Canterlot’s standards anyway. There were still the dull drones of a busy city, barely audible even from behind her windows and for a moment she asked herself what she was doing this? Was it to relax? Take her mind off things or give her mind some room to think? Or maybe she just liked the feeling of Celestia’s sunlight bathing her face?

Whatever the answer was she didn’t care, she’d only woken up an hour ago and already felt like going back to bed. But as nice as that sounded though she couldn’t, she had to do something to get her mind off things but what? The few options that crossed her mind did little to appeal to her.

Gleaming looked up above the slanted tile rooftops of nearby houses, up among the hundreds of other pegasi going about their busy lives. What could they be doing one might ask? She didn’t care, she felt as though the world was ending. 

In a sense, it felt like the world itself was mocking her as everypony went about in the morning sun, all without a care. Oblivious to the permanent and horrific change her life had undertaken. 

She looked to the spiralling colours of the castle towers, what would the princesses be doing? They wouldn’t care, they had more important matters than to help a single mother.

Then she spotted something off in the distance, a single foreign object floating through the sky. Something that wouldn’t typically be there.

A single bright red balloon.

“What’s that doing there?” She asked herself, scanning her memories for anything relevant. “I feel as though there’s something I’m forgetting, something…important maybe?”

Like always she referred back to a mental checklist, a practice that she’d gone over so many times it had become second nature by this point. She’d got all of Raining’s presents, she had plans for a Hearth’s Warming dinner and she’d gone to the library to see about Shellac. Gleaming’s eyes suddenly shot open as the answer dawned on her.

“The carnival! There’s a carnival today! The two would love that!”

Gleaming suddenly felt as though a wave of cold water had been dumped over her and she had reawakened. She carried herself back to the mirror and switched her desk lamp on, by the skies she was a mess! Her eyes had bags big enough to carry groceries, her mane was all over the place and the fur on her cheeks was all flaky and clumped from the dried tears. 

“It’s okay Gleaming, you’ve got this.” She picked up the brush and got started. Seconds turned to minutes as she sorted herself out, giving her face and mane a fresh wash, brushing all away the knots and kinks in her fur and applying a little makeup to help her those horrible bags. “Hopefully some fresh air will do me good, pegasi are never meant to be cooped up.”

A full half an hour had passed by the time she was done with the mane dryer but once she was she turned back to her reflection and gave a nice smile, now satisfied with her appearance she made her way downstairs. 

Finally feeling refreshed, she pranced into the living room where Raining and Thunder were with a half built tower of wooden blocks that Raining was carefully pulling apart.

“Hey you two!”

Raining jumped and pulled a block out too early causing the tower to collapse and spilling wooden bricks all over the table, he groaned as Thunder laughed. 

“Muuuuum!”

“Heh heh, sorry dear! But how’d you feel going to the carnival?” 

Both colts snapped their heads towards her as if she had just offered them water in the middle of a hot desert. 

“There’s a carnival?” Thunder asked.

Raining meanwhile was now growing a grin big enough you could sail a ship in the space that filled his lips. A look that was beginning to creep Thunder out the more he stared at him yet the anticipation and excitement was making the brass colt giddy. 

“I take it Raining likes carnivals?”

“Canterlot has at least twice a year. A summer one and a winter one, Raining loves them usually because there’s shooting games.”

“Shooting games?” Thunder shot back to Raining who was threatening to drill a hole in his forehead with how long he’d been staring at him.

“Oh…yeah…right…I take it you're good at those.”

Raining puffed out his chest with pride. “Carnival games are usually rigged, but I win. Every. Single. Time.”

Thunder slowly nodded as he got up from behind the coffee table and went to join Gleaming, a nervous smile across his face. Raining let the grin down and cleaned up before following suit and they went through the motions of their winter clothes with Gleaming, quickly finishing and filling into the busy streets outside. 

A few minutes of walking followed and they boarded another taxi carriage where the colts leaned back in their seats with Gleaming in front of them. Raining rested his head on the side of the carriage window watching lamp posts and ponies go by, but Thunder’s focus was drawn more on Gleaming. 

Though at a glance she seemed alright. he could still sense some uneasiness buried underneath. He recognised the clear mindedness of post breakdown lethargy and couldn’t help but ask himself if she really was okay. 

“What did those ponies tell her that did this?” 

He couldn’t ask her here in public, he knew better than to do that. But it did make him think, he hadn't seen Copper Casing for a while and last time he was around he said something about talking to Lance…

Then, like a pair of puzzle pieces, it clicked in his head. His eyes widened and he looked towards both Raining and Gleaming as if expecting them to turn around with the same sudden realisation, but they didn’t.

Moonlit Lance isn’t just some bully or psycho kid…”he’s a monster.”

It took all his effort not to scream those thoughts out loud and instead, take a moment to calm down enough to consider the facts. 

Could he really be capable of such a thing? How in the high skies would he even get away with something like that? Granted if he went off anything Sweet Fizz had told him the colt possessed dark luck, but even then that’s too much. There had to be more to it then that! The guards would never be so sluggish as to let it slip, never ever!

Maybe they’d already got him? What if Lance was already behind bars in a dark, cold cell somewhere? Then again, what if he didn’t do anything and something else happened? He could go over the what ifs and the maybes for hours but he knew he’d never get any answers. He sat back and tried to relax, allowing himself to ponder over the information for the rest of the taxi trip with a grimace.

Was it odd that he could even attempt to relax with such a realisation. Yes, he knew that full well. However, he also knew panicking would serve no purpose and simply bringing it up now would only serve to depress the ponies who’d done so much for him. Thus, like swallowing a bitter pill, he’d bury this feeling for the moment.  

After disembarking and an exchange of bits they soon found themselves surrounded by a very festive environment. Ponies of all races and ages walked or flew by with many holding balloons, sweet snacks or prize toys. Canterlot’s own town square had been converted into a massive fair ground with a massive multi-story Hearth’s Warming tree at its centre. The damn thing even trumped the tree he’d see at the Piccafilly Toy Shop!

All around there were brightly coloured tents that housed all manner of games, rides and other activities. Miniature roller coasters, teacup rides, drop towers and pendulums, hook-a-ducks and strong-pony tests, and face painting!

Thunder felt his heart skip a beat by the sheer volume of happiness present in the air around him. In stark contrast to the gloomy sadness created by Gleaming’s breakdown, the colours of the carnival were over saturated. The smell of freshly baked goods, cries of distant ponies enjoying the rides and distant laughter all came together in a special way he’d only felt a couple other times before.

The first was having his bath with Gleaming, then it was a few times at Piccafilly Circus, and now here. He realised now what that feeling was, it was wonder. Hypnotic, childlike wonder he’d never got to experience back at the hive. He practically had stars twinkling in his eyes from the sights and sounds all around him and the promise of endless possibilities.

Raining similarly pranced practically in circles around them as they walked through the carnival grounds with Gleaming taking the lead. 

“Well kids, welcome to Canterlot Winter Carnival! Try not to ruin your lunch please.” She said, her saddlebags weighing on her back with the trio’s mid-day meals.

“Aww but can’t we have something? Pleeeeeease?” Raining begged, standing before her with puppy-like eyes.

Gleaming giggled and feigned a face of consideration, “Fine, but only one treat.” She said with a smile.

“Yay!”

Gleaming then looked around her and noticed Thunder had lagged behind somewhere. The space was crowded with ponies and she looked back and forth trying to find him, concern was just about to turn to panic when she did manage to pick him out from the herd staring at something. 

There was a metal sign hung above one of the tents, depicting the silhouette of an angry changeling with a big red X plastered over it. A PSA printed on read: Suddenly feel tired? Report it to a guard! You may have just been fed on by a changeling!

Thunder looked up at the sign disheartened, his ears dropping to their sides and his head laying low. His sense of wonder shattered by a reminder of what he was, an unwanted outsider in a foreign city that didn’t want him. Horrible memories and jaded emotions threatening to steal away whatever fun he could have his day. And that was on top of the concern already weighing him down. 

Seeing trouble, Gleaming soon came over and placed a reassuring hoof on his shoulder, leaning in with a kiss on the cheek. Thunder sprang right back up from the sudden injection of affection and smiled. Now shaken from his depressive episode he quickly rejoined Gleaming and Raining. Walking off into the multi-coloured maze of ponies and prize corners.

“So what ride do you want to go on first boys?” Gleaming asked. They looked around and there was certainly no shortage of options. Thunder was having a hard time picking but Raining was already eyeing up the drop tower and poked him. “Hey Thunder, what about that one?” 

Thunder looked toward where Raining was pointing. A tall, mechanical tower, with a row of seats which ponies were strapped to, mostly non Pegasi. The platform with those seats then rose before freefalling back down to the ground, the passengers then joyfully (or fearfully) screamed during their descent. 

It looked fun but Thunder didn’t know if it could beat the thrill of skydiving as a pegasus, Raining wanted to hop on through so why not?

“Sure! Looks fun.”







“Raining, I’m starting to have second thoughts.”

The platform ascended as Thunder spoke out, tied to a chair with a set of buckles that held his body securely in place besides Raining. He thought he’d be used to this but there was something about not being able to fly that raised alarm bells in his mind and put butterflies in his belly.

“I thought this would be right up your alley! Being a Pegasus and all!” 

“You see the thing about that is normally I’m able to control my descent and my wings aren't bound!”

Raining only laughed as they passed the rooftops of Canterlot’s white washed buildings, climbing higher and higher into the sky. Thunder nervously moved in place, or at least as much as he could given the ride’s restraints. The platform then suddenly stopped ascending and the riders hung in the air for only a moment but to Thunder it felt like forever.

“Lead? I don’t thin-”

Anything else Thunder might’ve said died in his throat as the platform dropped.

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

“YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”







Thunder struggled to keep the contents of his stomach in check as he stumbled away from the exit line and half leaned on Lead for support. Who of which happily pranced back to Gleaming with a content smile on his face, utterly unbothered by their prior death drop.

“That was fun! What did you think Thunder?” Raining asked.

Thunder’s only response was to mutter a jumbled mess of incoherent speech before setting down on a nearby bench, which just so happened to also have been in use by a giggling Gleaming Gold. Either way he soon rested his head on his barrel hoping the world would stop shaking.

“He probably did deary, but I think poor Thunder needs a little rest.”

“Fair enough!” 

Raining then looked around, there were a few nearby stalls he could play on. Hook-a-duck, shooting gallery, a balancing beam- “Wait a second.”

He twisted his head back to a large stall with a plethora of metal targets and a heavy duty repeating crossbow chained to the bar that fired large darts sat there, practically glowing in his eyes. He felt it calling to him, begging him to work his magic. By the time he turned back to Gleaming she’d already pulled out a bit for him to try the game with.

“You get one chance Raining, I want to save these for the rides.”

“Yea, like I need another.” Raining confidently took the bit and pranced towards the shooting gallery. Off to the right was a compartment full of different toys, wooden swords, stuffed animals, toy archery sets, then he saw a kit that had several flying targets up for grabs. With a smug grin he wordlessly placed the coin on the counter which the stall attendant stowed away.

“Okay kid, you get half a minute to knock down as many as possible. Ten shots, no reloads and no fancy magic, keep it fair.”

As opposed to wood, the frame of his crossbow was made of metal making it a deal more unwieldy, but that was fine! He’d got plenty of experience using its smaller brother back at the toy shop. 

The gallery itself meanwhile was composed of three rows stacked on top of each other that targets would pop from. Waves, pirate ships, swinging sailors and islands made up the background. 

“Ready?”

Raining nodded and levitated the crossbow into a stable shooting position. “No magic? No problem.”

The gallery sprang to life as pirates and buccaneers danced from one end of the stage to the other, music, lights and sound effects blaring all at once. Anyone else might’ve panicked or allowed themselves to be lost in the excitement, but not Raining, he held his breath and picked his shots. Tracking his targets and firing just slightly ahead of them to compensate for travel time. The heavy crossbow darts smashed against each one like an angry arrow and one after another they fell, slamming the back plates of the stage as they did.

He missed a couple shots, but that didn’t matter, he’d been keeping a mental note of how many clangs he’d heard after shooting, which now stood at seven. Once the crossbow clicked empty the game ended and he put the mechanical toy back down. He smiled, confident he’d won. 

Not missing a beat, he looked towards the attendant for confirmation and sure enough he was looking over the prize counter. He began trotting in place giddy with excitement, waiting for him to offer up which prizes to nab. Of course there was only one option he was going with, nothing else really appealed to him.

“Nice shooting kid, probably one of the best I’ve seen today.” He said, turning his attention to the brass colt. “What’ll it be?”

Raining pointed towards the magic targets box but the attendant’s expression quickly changed when he did. “Oh sorry kid but that requires eight or more points, you scored seven.”

Raining’s eye twitched as he maintained his bright, cheery smile. Trying to deny the growing frustration whirling around his core as he strained his facial muscles. He turned to Gleaming with the faint glint of hope he’d be offered another chance but she seemed to be busy giving Thunder a bottle of water.

“Hey look, you didn’t lose, you can still pick anything else out.” 

Raining glanced back towards the prize corner, looking over everything he again only reaffirmed to himself that nothing was of interest. The house was too small for swords, he already had a bunch of stuffed animals, the archery set was a no since he knew he’d be getting a repeating crossbow for Hearth’s Warming anyway. “Nah, it's fine! It’s okay, I can just…wait…until next year!” His voice cracked. He jerked himself toward Gleaming and began walking away, muttering something under his breath.

The pony behind the counter suddenly frowned and felt for the poor colt. He turned back to the target set and back to Raining who was trotting away, with an aching heart he groaned. “Oh what the heck, he only missed one shot.” He said with an undertone. “Hey kid! You can have it anyway!”

Raining perked up again and spun around in shock, once the words registered in his mind he came galloping back with a sincere smile as the attendant grabbed the set of the racks. He placed it on the counter which Raining picked up with his magic and with reinvigorated delight he looked up at the pony.

“Thank you!” 

“Hey no problem, you're here to have fun after all!”

Raining ran back to Gleaming with the target set held to his side and the pony behind the counter now relieved. Thunder had recovered from his nausea and watched in joy at the colt’s little victory and the stallion’s kindness. “Mum! Mum, I won!” He cried.

“That’s great to hear dear, what did you get?”

“A magic flying target set!”

Gleaming laughed, taking the colourful box and depositing it within her saddlebags. She rose up from her seat and helped Thunder do the same before she turned to both of them ready to keep going.

“Shall we continue?”







Thunder Chaser looked toward one of the attractions with a smug grin. 


An aerial obstacle course meant exclusively for Pegasi. With metal hoops suspended in the air of various sizes and shapes lining the circumference of around half the carnival with the stall he was looking at being its entrance.

Some kind of magic gem had been placed inside each hoop to detect when somepony brushed against them, hit the hoops three times or failed to meet the finish line in time,you lost. Most junior pegasus were failing left right and centre at it, but the prize promised to make it worth the effort.

A series of miniature silver feather trophies that you could have your name printed onto sat atop the shelves behind the counter. Sure they were probably only silver plated or even painted, and not that impressive by comparison to a real trophy, but Thunder wanted one. For some reason, he held a sudden competitive urge to prove himself against the other colts and fillies that had tried and tried again. Maybe he thought his pre-Canterlot training would give him an edge? Or perhaps he wanted something with his name on it, maybe in some way to cement his new identity as real.

Regardless, there was only one way to find out and he joined the queue, Gleaming had already given him the money he’d need for entry and now he just waited. The line wasn’t long as it was only meant for Pegasi and the course time was fairly short. Plus it was primarily for young pegasi as any experienced flyer would likely find the course too easy.

When it came to Thunder’s turn he was brought to a perch on top of the stall where the first hoop sat and a member of staff held a stopwatch on his hoof before turning to him. The hoop was fairly small for a take off point, an early trap Thunder immediately recognised to catch inexperienced contestants. He could already feel the lessons and exercises from the hive kicking in as he surveyed the tight course and plotted a route.

“Two minutes, if you hit the rings three or more times you're out, ready?”

Thunder performed some pre-flight stretches and crouched back like a cat. “Ready!”

“Three…two…one.”

The stallion rang a bell as he shouted “GO!”

A puff of snow was kicked up as Thunder bolted forward, leaping  through the first ring before unfolding his wings. There were fifteen rings total that all circled back to the platform, but many were at sudden inclines or required snap turns, something he remembered Pegasi wings found tricky.

It was at this point he realised the strength of changeling wings against pegasus wings. Pegasi were better gliders and had more speed but changelings had more control. He’d have to save his mental note for later, however as he passed another two rings, they weren’t that bad but the real hard stuff was about to come up.

He had to pass one ring and make a near seventy degree ascent, which might not have been that bad had there been more space between the rings. As he passed through the lower ring, he tried to slow down so he could climb up but failed to do so in time and hit the pole propping the ring up. A loud buzzing sound confirmed his strike, one of three.

Thunder groaned and passed through the upper hoop before making quick work of the next few in front of him. Now he was coming up on a ninety degree sharp turn, but this time he wasn’t going to play dumb and just try making the snap. Instead he passed through the first hoop and kept going, using the space to make a much more controlled turn that allowed him to enter through the other hoop. It was tight but he made it and continued through the course.

Next was a set of staggered rings that required him to shift left to right with little room for error. “Okay, this could be a problem.”

Here he had to time his movements almost perfectly and if he had to guess, it wouldn’t surprise him if this was where most junior flyers failed for hitting too many rings. He didn’t have any fancy tricks he could pull but slowing down would give him more time to weave between the rings.

He adjusted his course and began weaving, “Left right left right lef-”

BEEP!

“Damn it!” Thunder’s wing brushed against the last ring and it sounded off, now on his second strike he was determined more than ever not to screw up.

A few more rings and some creative course corrections later he was closing in on the last real hurdle, a repeat of the same seventy degree ascent trap that had tagged him at the start. This time however he wouldn’t be fooled. They were expecting him to just go up and slam into either the pole propping the ring up or the bottom half of the ring. Instead he learned from his mistake and after passing the first ring he turned and corkscrewed up until he passed the higher one, clearing it with flying colours. 

All that was left was the ending hoop which was as small as the starting one that he had to jump through with his wings closed. “Oh you ponies are evil.”

Thunder gained some speed and prepared for a hard landing, at least they had a proper crash mat for this on the platform. Still, the thought of closing his wings too early or too late made him a little nervous about threading the needle. But he didn’t know how long he had left of the clock and so refocused on just getting it done.

He flew until the hoop was a few dozen hooves away, closed his wings and braced himself. His underside hit the mat hard and he bounced once before rolling several hooves across the platform kicking up dust and snow as he did so. There he laid there for a few moments, allowing his head to orientate itself before taking his hooves away from his face.

The staff pony looked down at him with a smug grin, stopwatch held in hoof.

“Did…did I win?”

“Two strikes and twelve point three seconds…” The pony held his breath.

Thunder looked at him with immersive anticipation, the declaration of victory or defeat hanging in the air for far longer than he would ever be comfortable with. 

“To spare!” 

“Yes!”

Thunder jumped up for joy and let out a victorious cry at his achievement, almost dancing on the spot from the spike of adrenaline coursing through his body. The staff pony laughed and escorted him off the stage where another young pegasus took his place. 

Gleaming and Raining looked on with glee as Thunder pranced away from the attraction with his award under his wing. Proudly raising it high for the mother and son to see. “Look I won!”

“I see dear, oh I’m so happy for you!”

“It’s the first time I’ve won something! Like I actually won it!” Thunder looked at his little trophy with pride where his name was printed on the frontal plaque for all to see. He’d only had the item for less then a minute yet still felt as though it were an important treasure. He’d earned this trophy and it was his alone, nopony else could take it away from him and he’d be damned if they did. 

So that’s exactly what Gleaming did as she gently took the silver trophy and popped it into her saddlebags, alongside their lunch and Raining’s target set. Thunder brushed up against her with a rosy smile and she gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. “I’m proud of you sweetheart, that didn’t look easy.”

“Oh it was nothing, just a few tricks.” He humbly claimed, while mentally letting his still focused mind slowly return to a normal setting. Seriously, that course was way harder than he thought, made him wonder how many actually won at it.

And as if to prove his point, as they started walking another pegasus scored their third and final strike bouncing between the weaving rings.

“Let’s keep going, I think you’ll enjoy the teacups!” 







Somewhere else in the densely packed fair ground a pair of navy blue siblings walked among themselves through the maze. A unicorn mare with a large hat and sunglasses alongside a towering colt with a darkly coloured parka. They stuck close to each other to avoid being separated and scanned the surrounding area for anything of interest. Their school bags laden with lunch boxes and spare space for souvenirs. 

“I still can’t believe mum didn’t come with us, she’d love this place.” Said Mirror.

“At least she gave us plenty of bits. I guess that’s the perk of working fourteen hours a day.”

“Still, it would’ve been nice.”

Not wanting to get lost in the tide of bodies trotting back and forth, Mirror kept close to her big brother through the town square. There were so many options available with many she’d seen before but knew she could have fun with. Lance however already had his sights set on one thing in particular, the Strong-Pony Test.

They marched towards it and he tossed a bit over to the staff member where a large metal plate and a pair of horseshoes printed on beckoned his call. Attached to a tower with a metal gong in the middle and a bell at the top. He spun around and gave it a buck, slamming the plate with both hooves and sending the gong skyrocketing towards the bell hard enough he left a slight dent as it dinged. 

The staff pony didn’t even have time to get up from his seat by the time the gong struck and he scrambled to grab a coloured pin from a rewards box before passing it to Lance, who then tossed it into his schoolbag. “Another for the collection.”

“You seem to enjoy those…”

“They’re easy.” He replied, though eyed the pin for a moment with pride.

Mirror rolled her eyes and looked around trying for a stall she could enjoy. Her gaze fell upon a tin can alley with prizes hung all over the upper skirt of its gallery. She poked Lance and pointed to make sure they were both looking at the same thing and he wordlessly agreed. 

The two made their way to the stall but as they did Lance looked down at his sister, she was wearing a smile sure but the bags under her eyes and sluggish step told of anything but joy. He prepared to say something but held his breath. “Maybe later, but keep an eye on her. Let her atleast have some fun.”

They reached the tin can alley and hooved a bit to the staff pony. She was given three baseballs to lug at a pyramid stack of cans. Knock them all over and she won a prize, simple as that. 

Mirror picked one up with her magic and felt its weight within her grip. She was by no means a baseball player, her brother out ranked her in that department. But she wanted to give it a try and raised the ball up, cocked it back and like a magic slingshot hurled it forward like a snowball. 

The ball went wide and merely kicked off the top most can which bounced off the podium before crashing to the floor. Mirror sighed and picked up the second, taking deep breaths before repeating her previous actions and throwing it. Instead of smacking the cans however it glided to the side and punched the gallery backwall. 

Mirror groaned and hung her head sensing defeat. She’d only knocked off a single can by this point and was down to her last ball, how was she meant to win now? Briefly she turned back to Lance who gave her a supportive smile but the gesture deflected entirely off her depressive demeanour. She took the ball and just looked at it, glancing between it and the cans.

Then the glance turned into a stare…She stood there, looking at it lost in thoughts unknown. Her shoulders slowly sinking towards the ground and the air around her seeming to gloom.

Lance moved beside her and lowered his head. “Hey, do you need me to help?” He asked.

Mirror took a moment to respond before gently cranking her head to face him. She looked back at the ball and quietly nodded before passing it to Lance, who took his cue and grasped the ball from out of the air. The colt took one step back, cocked his arm and with a sudden fire in his eye threw it as hard as he could. The baseball flew through the air with the speed of an arrow and hit the dead centre of the pyramid. Knocking all the cans over, with some being hit so hard they bounced off the back wall. 

The staff pony behind the counter stood shocked by the demonstration, having been woken from his weary work day absent mindedness. “Goodness me kid, where’d you learn to do that?”

“When you practise physical education with three Griffon exchange students, you either get tough or treated rough.” He answered without missing a beat.

The staff pony chuckled under his breath from the snappy comeback and went to the prize corner. “Okay, what’ll it be?”

Lance looked to Mirror who pointed at a large stuffed ursa minor toy before it was hastily taken from the rack and passed over to her. As they left the stall with Mirror’s new companion she took a moment to sit down and hug the plushy bear. Her eyes glazing over its soft fur and large, beady eyes. 

She wasn’t even wearing her smile anymore as she embraced herself. The bags under her eyes somehow got larger and her very presence seemed to suck out the colour from the air around her. 

“Okay Lance, now try.”

“Are you okay sis?”

“I…” She glanced up at him and then jerked her head away, trying to avert his gaze. “Last night was…it was just too much, okay?” She said, as quiet as a whisper. Lance sighed and sat down next to her planting a hoof on her shoulder.

“Look, Mirror? I’m sorry things got out of control like that, and I’m sorry for what happened to Raining’s dad. But what’s done is done and we can’t change the past.”

Mirror said nothing, she had nothing to say and nothing more came to mind. She knew her brother by this point, he’d apologise, make some promise and maybe he’ll keep it? It was a routine she could set her watch to at this point, but she didn’t have the energy to keep playing this song and dance anymore. Still, he might’ve been a meat head but he at least had some kind of heart. “Who else would I turn to?” She thought.

Mirror took a deep breath and got to her hooves before continuing their adventure through the fair ground with Lance not far behind. She stuffed her new friend inside her school bags but didn’t have enough room to close it, so instead the cuddly ursa was left with its head peeking out the top of the bag. 

They continued for a bit and briefly stopped at a food stand to pick up a soda and a bucket of salted popcorn. The sugary yet slightly acidic beverage did help wake Mirror up from her depressive episode. But it was when Lance dunked his head into the bucket and popped back out with bits and pieces of corn clinging to his face did she actually smile again. 

For all his size and strength she loved it when he acted like a big goof. “And not like a manticore.” She produced a cloth to clean him up and sorted through little knots in his fur from where the corn kernels had embedded themselves. Soon enough they got back on their way and made for the mechanical teacup ride.

But as they weaved through the pony packed maze Lance caught sight of something and grinded to a half. A familiar colour pallet that rang alarm bells in his brain of a brass yellow unicorn colt and royal purple pegasus. His smile immediately dropped and the colour drained from his skin, as if he’d just seen a ghost or had his blood drawn.

“How are they here? How the actual BUCK are they here?!”

“Mirror, get behind something.”

“W-What? Why?” She turned to him in confusion. 

“Just do it!” He commanded.

They hid behind a nearby stall wall and watched with Mirror peeking around the corner and her larger brother shadowing her. They had their mother with them so the moment any of them spotted the duo they’d be running for the hills. Something Lance would normally be fine with but this was different.

“Mirror? Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

“Yeah, Raining and his new friend are about to board the teacups ride. So what?”

“Exactly, I beat those two to a pulp. You were there, how could they be here?”

“I-I don’t know, healing magic?”

“Pfft yeah, like Raining would know that. The only unicorn who might’ve was his dad and you saw what happened to him. Ain't no way guard healing magic is that quick. Especially after I broke that pegasus’s wing.”

“Well then what could it be?”

Lance picked through his memories of the prior night, he dealt with Raining easily enough but that purple pegasus was an anomaly. “He doesn’t go to our school so he doesn’t know me, which explains why he had the nerve to defend him. He was way more annoying to deal with then Crossroads though, little pigeon was fast and played keep away.”

The young bully continued to mull over his memories, particularly focusing on how well the pegasus fought. 

“But then there was his finishing move. I thought he was trying to summon a tornado right in the middle of Canterlot just to screw with me but he ended up doing something…different. He tried hitting me with a ball of purple-”

Lance’s mind then flashed back to the day of the Canterlot Raid. Swords clashing against chitin, buildings being consumed by green fire and angry flaming balls of death raining from the sky. 

A city street like any other, a food stall selling chocolates themed after the wedding and his father with him off duty for the day. Then the sound of glass shattering on mass, more comparable to thunder or lightning. Panic ensured and chaos broke out with tall dark figures surrounding them…

Lance began to stare at the purple pegasus with a rage he’d not felt for a long, long time. A burning hatred only tempered by a thin shroud of reason.

“I have a hunch, but I don’t want to rush to conclusions without evidence.”

“What are you thinking?”

Lance then pointed to a nearby anti-changeling sign which Mirror frowned upon as she realised what Lance was likely about to ask of her.

“Okay Lance but please, please don’t draw attention to yourself. As unlikely as it is, I don't want you getting hurt.”

Lance made a zipping motion across his mouth and the two ducked between a pair of tents where nopony would see them. A flash of magic later and Mirror stepped out alongside a colt barely reaching head height with her and having a coal black coat. “Okay Lance, just remember this-” She poked a hoof against his chest before a sheen of blue magical energy stopping it dead before it looked like it should’ve. “-Is an illusion. Don’t strain it with heavy activity please. And try to avoid getting touched by anypony.”

“Got it sis!” Lance’s voice sounded much higher pitched then it otherwise should’ve, another effect of the discount disguise spell. He wandered off and strode towards the teacup ride with a fake smile on his face, careful to avoid bumping into any of the dozens of ponies around him.







Contrary to what Gleaming promised, Thunder did in fact not enjoy the teacups. Just like the drop tower he found it difficult to stand upright after he got off, only this time it was much worse with the added dizziness thanks to the rapid rotations. The contents of his stomach once more ready to walk out the door had he not shut it in time.  Laying down didn’t help since his head refused to stop spinning. 

Admittedly He wasn’t the only one, though Raining seemed to recover the quickest followed by Gleaming. But poor Thunder could still see wings flapping around his head even after he’d sat down hoping his brain would slow down.

“Again, for a pegasus I thought this would be your jam.”

“Jam? What kind? I’ll take strawberry.” In his post ride dizziness he almost face planted into Gleaming’s barrel but was able to shift his weight and ended up brushing against her. Gleaming laughed and bought a hoof up to help him sit down. “No more thrill rides please, my tummy hurts.” He added.

Gleaming smiled and held him close. “Okay Thunder, no more thrill rides.”

They sat down for a few minutes to let Thunder reorient himself while Gleaming broke out the water bottle again, just in case he needed another drink.

That was when an incredibly sweet scent graced his and Raining’s nostrils. They both turned and saw two food carts on opposite sides of a street. One selling freshly fried doughnuts and the other offering cones of pink fluffy cotton candy.

Raining looked at the cotton candy cart before glancing at the donut cart with Thunder doing the same but in the other order. So in effect the both of them had criss-crossed lines of sight or were turned away from each other before both coming back to look at each other and grin. 

Gleaming already had the answer on the tip of her tongue when they both turned to face her. “Only one boys, and no Raining, you can’t split up and then share.” She squinted an eye. “I know what you're like.”

“Hay bales!” He exclaimed. “Okay mum…you know what? Why don’t you pick Thunder?”

Thunder began glancing between the two. “The doughnuts smell nice, but I wanna try out the fluffy stuff, but then again I wanted those back at Piccafilly Circus, but what if I don’t get the chance for the other one? Damn it Gleaming! Why'd you have to make me do this!?”

“Um…let’s go with…” Thunder held his hoof close to his chest ready to point out at one of the carts. But once again he was paralysed with indecision. So many times before this had happened and now it was getting to him. He frowned and turned to the others where Raining Lead came to the rescue.

“What if you just shut your eyes and point at one?”

Well of course Thunder wouldn’t do that! It was too simple and…”Actually that might work.”

He took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders and shut his eyes. He pointed his hoof up and began panning it left and right. “Eeny meeny miny mo, catch a pony and cocoon him so-Why am I defaulting to this?”

Losing track of his little rhyme he paused for a moment and pointed in a random direction. 

Thunder opened up his eyes and found he was pointing towards the cotton candy cart and he half smiled, still not entirely sure if he’d made the right call, but it was too late now. Raining helped him up and they trotted over before returning with a pair of wooden sticks that held giant pink puffy balls of threaded sugar. 

“So this is cotton candy? It looks like a cloud.”

“It gets better, try some!” Raining insisted, already taking a bite out of his own.

Thunder wasn’t wholly convinced he’d enjoy it, but it did smell sweet enough so he tried, taking a little nibble out of the fluffy cloud. Upon savouring the sweet taste that little nibble turned into a great big chomp and he ripped a chunk off of the pink bush and devoured it as the substance literally melted in his mouth. It was a weird sensation and the first thing that came to mind was like eating tasty strands of hair. 

After he’d finished he heard stuffled giggles coming from both Gleaming and Lead. 

“What?”

The two of them only fought harder to keep their breaths contained within their lungs.

“What is it?” He repeated, his tongue reflexively swiping some sugar that lingered on his lips.

Raining tried to answer but he only ended up bursting out into a fit of laughter which caused Gold to equally break down. 

“No seriously, I don’t get it! What’s so funny?” Thunder pleaded.

Gleaming pulled out a mirror from her bags and with a wing showed Thunder a reflection of himself. A large pink curly moustache had formed across his nose and even he couldn’t help but crack a smile which then became giggling and before he knew it he was laughing with his companions. 

“What next? A red mane?!” Raining jested.

They laughed and laughed, enjoying the moment of nonsense brought on by a simple pink confection, unaware that not too far away a coal black colt watched them like a hawk… 







A few hours had gone by since the trio had arrived. Thunder and Raining had their packed lunch, which wasn’t bad, but the cold slices of vegetable pie did leave something to be desired. The bread had gone soggy from the gravy and so Gleaming had to help clean Thunder’s mouth afterward. 

Obviously the pair pretended to enjoy it so as not to upset Gleaming, while internally crying as they swallowed the food. 

Thunder didn’t know why but the thrill rides always messed around with him so he had to sit back whenever Raining wanted to go in one. Gleaming figured it was because her son had gotten used to them by now while Thunder didn’t have much experience being thrown around against his will.

They played on a few more stalls and won a few more prizes, which didn’t amount to anything super exciting. A sticky dragon’s claw from a hook-a-duck, a glow in the dark badge from a hoop throwing game, and Raining’s self esteem from a kiddy fighting game where they had to knock each other off a balance board. Ok they didn’t get a prize from that but it was fun!

But as the mid-afternoon passed their energies began to run dry, especially for Gleaming with all the excitement. Her face ached from how much she’d been smiling and laughing, while Raining and Thunder were also showing visible signs of exhaustion. Both now had a gentle pair of bags under their eyes and occasionally yawned which the other would jab at them for since it made them yawn too.

“Okay boys, one last activity and then we’re heading home.”

They both looked at Gleaming and nodded, falling back on their routine of looking around and hoping to find something interesting. There was a hook-a-duck which they’d already played, a tin can alley which brought back some painful memories, a mirror maze Thunder didn’t fancy for fear of getting lost…

Then their attention was drawn to another shooting gallery but this one wasn’t like the rest. Instead of only one crossbow there were now three and there was a brightly coloured, decade old unicorn colt struggling to aim the heavy metal weapon. What’s more is that the targets, even in their dormant state, seemed to glow slightly. Whether it was because of how brightly coloured they were or some chemical reaction they couldn’t tell, but it looked promising!

“Eh, what do you say?”

“Sure, why not?”

They marched forward towards the gallery and placed their last bits on the counter before taking positions with the crossbows. When Thunder went to grab his he examined it for a trigger but found nothing, instead there was a strap that let him attach it to his side. Confused how he’d meant to use it he turned to Raining.

“Hey Lead? How am I meant to fire this thing?”

“Oh! Normally these come with something called a trigger gem, try looking under.”

He did as instructed and found a small light blue crystal that faintly glowed within the weapon’s shadow. No larger than an eraser, yet he could sense the hums of enchanted, arcane power within.

“Trigger gems read the mind of the user. Will for the weapon to fire, and it’ll fire! No fancy mechanisms required.” 

“Huh, well this should be interesting.” Thunder smiled as he positioned the weapon. 

The game had the same rules as all the other ones only here it was more team based with everyone scoring points. The unicorn colt meanwhile continued to struggle trying to aim with the unwieldy weapon. Where Raining had an iron grip on his weapon, the unicorn was waving around like it had a few too many drinks. 

“Hey, do you need help there?” Lead asked.

“Nah, I got it!...I think.”

The tip of the crossbow then bounced off the face of the counter and the staff pony facehooved with a smile. 

“Actually, on second thought. Yes please!”

Raining moved over beside the unicorn whose coat was such a bright shade of teal that it made looking at him just a little painful with just how well the light reflected off his fur. His mane was jet black, but with yellow and green highlights that, again, were just as bright as the splattered neon colours of the gallery. 

Made Raining wonder if the pony’s parents wore sunglasses when in the house. 

Despite the bright colours Raining moved to help the younger colt out but as he did so Thunder was struck with a sense of Deja Vu. He remembered what Sweet Fizz and Crossroads said about Lance going after anypony who  associated themselves with Raining. At that same time he also had the familiar feeling of being watched and so he set the bow down to look around. There were plenty of ponies with Gleaming Gold among them, but he couldn’t so easily shake the feeling. 

With his senses on high alert, he scanned the area and could see there were a few ponies of various colours watching them, mostly parents with a child or two, but nopony that stuck out as sinister.

He shrugged and returned to the gallery where he fastened the crossbow back to himself as Raining took to the stage.

“The problem is, you’re focusing too much on trying to get the crossbow to hover where you want to shoot. What you should be doing is thinking of where exactly you want it to be pointing, like a pen laser!”

The colt tried and there was an immediate increase in the wavey weapon’s stability, it was still fairly shaky compared to Raining but at least it was aiming in the desired direction now. Lead smiled and returned to his station with his own crossbow hovering into place.

“Everypony ready?” The staff member asked. 

“Ready!” They all cried in unison.

“Three, two, one!”

Click

The gallery lit up with an explosion of neon colours and bright bluish-purple lights making each surface gleam in ways that forced their eyes to open wide. Electronic music blared from nearby speakers only intensifying the action. Firing on a slew of different targets that mostly took the guise of differently-coloured slimes. Raining scored hit after hit, feeling a competitive urge to outperform the other two that stood side by side with him.

Shooting wasn’t quite Thunder’s thing, but he tried anyway, and managed to knock over several targets after taking some cues from Raining. More targets popped up with inverted colours and a bonus score sign over them, which Thunder was able to beat Raining to the punch in hitting. The unicorn colt meanwhile wasn’t landing very many shots, but he quietly celebrated the ones he did connect as he toppled his targets back over the stage. 

One after another they fell to the horns of over dramatic sound effects filled the gallery. The points counter at the very top ticked over again and again, endlessly updating the group’s score as the timer beside it counted down the last ten seconds of the game. They scrambled to fire as many darts as possible and get as high as they could with only a few seconds left to spare.

“Three!”

Raining blasted another target clean off its spot on the stage.

“Two!”

Thunder fired and knocked a big bright orange slime over its hinges.

“One!”

The neon coloured colt managed to knock over one final target before a loud buzzer sounded the game’s end and the music shut off, the lights and targets with it. They all laughed to themselves as they put the crossbows back on the counter where the staff pony moved to the prize corner to pick out their winnings.

Raining wasn’t overly interested in the prizes offered but Thunder saw a thin cardboard box with a picture over it, advertising a giant, rubber hammer with splattered neon paint over it’s head. He pointed it out and the pony soon passed it over along with a toy crossbow for the unicorn colt while Raining received a toy wooden sword, with quite a colourful blade. Again it wasn’t his thing but he had to pick something, even if he’d only end up putting it in his toybox and forgetting about it.

“Well that was fun!” Raining said, still bouncing a little from the adrenaline rush. 

The unicorn then moved behind them with his new boxed up toy held within his magical grasp, still shaky from the excitement. “Tell me about it, you guys are crackshots!” 

They turned to face him, both half a hoof taller and with smiles on their faces. “Thanks, you're not bad yourself!” Raining gestured towards the gallery.

“I don’t know, I wasn’t hitting very many targets.”

“As opposed to none? You were waving that thing all over the place before I got here.”

“Yea…yea…” The colt faltered.

“I don’t think you ever gave us your name. I’m Thunder Chaser, he’s Raining Lead.”

“My name’s Neon Abyss! My birthday’s tomorrow and we’re going for a game of Spell-tag!”

Raining immediately perked up and his eyes widened with excitement. “Oh nice! Happy Birthday Neon!”

“Thanks! I don’t have any more paper invites but I’d be glad if you could join!”

Despite having just taken part in a shooting gallery, Raining was already prancing in place. Almost bursting with glee at the verbal invitation. Thunder though was exposed to yet another pony thing he didn’t get, but judging by Raining’s joy, it was probably something fun.

“What’s Spell-tag?” He asked, not wanting to be out of the loop.

Neon looked at Thunder with a hint of shock while Raining slowly cranked his head with such a delebriate, steady speed one would swear it was like a statue grinding against the ground turning to face them. The creepy, over eager, thousand yard stare making a return threatening to drill a hole in Thunder’s forehead, which probably only meant one thing.

“I take it Spell-tag’s a big thing?”

“Oh, you have NO idea Thunder!” Raining exclaimed. Breaking out into a full, fat rant that ran rows around Thunder’s weary head. “It’s one of the most fun things you can ever do at Neighberton Arcade! Heck all of Canterlot! There’s an arena and you're given these special vests that detect when you’ve been hit by one of the arena’s weapons that fires spells which there’s different kinds of and there’s different areas and-Mmph!”

Thunder jabbed a hoof over his mouth to quiet him, unable to process the office desk stack of information being dumped onto his brain. “Slow down Raining, you can explain everything when we get home.” Thunder then turned to Neon with a tired smile. “We’ll see what we can do, but we have to ask our mom first, okay?”

“That’s fine! I’d be happy if you could make it.”

Thunder nodded and took his hoof off Raining before using a wing to direct him towards Gleaming Gold. The mare gave both a kiss on the cheek as they turned and headed away from the noisy festival. Heavy sets of bags weighing under their eyes from the prolonged entertainment. At least Gold’s bit purse wasn’t nearly as cumbersome anymore, though with her carrying the bulk of the kid’s prizes, that was only a small mercy by comparison.

Not far off however, a disguised Moonlit Lance sat on a bench with a smirk. Her sister likewise waited behind the back of the bench to peek her head out. “Neighberton Arcade huh?” Lance thought.

“Lance, are you done yet? I’m tired, I wanna go home and concentrating this long hurts.”

The colt craned his head over the bench to meet her with his scheming demeanour shifting to one of concern. Mirror had to recast the spell a few times over to ensure her brother’s cover wasn’t blown. While she could manage it, (her cutie mark was of a smokey mirror after all) having to focus on any single spell for this long had slowly hammered a nail into her skull and she looked visibly drained.

“Oh, yeah sis they're gone now, you can switch me back.”

Mirror’s horn glowed and Lance was enveloped in an aura of blue energy as a distorted wavy effect washed over his body. He quickly grew back to its correct proportions, with his original colour palette intact. A few ponies took notice, but quickly realised it was simple illusion magic and not a changeling disguise. 

Moonlit Mirror then proceeded to faint from near exhaustion and softly hit the ground with a whicker. Her eyes droopy but still open. “Oh sis, what would I do without you?” Lance solemnly smiled and reached around to pick her up, carrying her over his back and away from the fairground.







Gleaming Gold was relaxing on the living room couch reading a newspaper and sipping a cup of tea. The fire had already been lit courtesy of Raining with Thunder having reverted back to his base changeling form, who’d quickly  unpacked his inflatable hammer, the curtains drawn to prevent any accidents with onlookers. 

Speaking of which, Shellac’s silver award now sat above the fireplace, a first of a kind for him and one even now he cherished. But alongside the cracks of a freshly filled fireplace were the high pitched squeaky noises of the young changeling’s new toy. Every time its neon splattered head hit something it made a loud, high pitched noise like one heard from a dog toy. 

Which he was teasing Raining with.

Squeak!

“Shell, I’m trying to-”

Squeak!

“Shell please-”

Squeak!

“Enough already!”

Squeak!

“Mum make him stop!”

Squeak!

Gleaming couldn’t help but chuckle to herself, it wasn’t everyday she heard her son playfully cry for mercy and was delighted to hear them play together. That being said the squeaking was getting to her a little, so she set her newspaper down for a moment to glance at the two with a grin.

“Okay Shellac, stop hitting Lead with the hammer.”

He stopped mid-swing and faced her, giving a playful grin that showed off his fangs. Instead of hitting Raining though he chose to smack the couch so the squeaking continued. The nymph couldn’t help himself, there was something just so amusing about the sound it made.

Now free of the changeling’s tyranny, Raining unpackaged the magical target set he’d won. 

It consisted of around four mechanical balls that vaguely resemble parasprites, with each having a hole in the back meant for a wind-up key that came with the set. Raining immediately took out a single shot toy crossbow that he’d pilfered from upstairs along with some darts and got to work, winding up the first Target Sprite and letting go.

A pair of translucent wings similar to Shellac’s sprouted from its sides and a plate on its face slid away to reveal a couple of blue mechanical eyes protected by a metal mesh. As it flew upwards it produced in illusionary protection of a target cross in front of its face. 

“Cooooool!” They both said.

Raining brought up the instruction manual and started reading, the target sprites had several settings. An Easy Mode where they just stood still and didn’t react, a mode where they flew around at a gentle pace in a predictable pattern and a Hard Mode where they buzzed around very sporadically. The best part was that it was all voice activated so Raining didn’t have to mess around much to switch settings.

He loaded the hoof crossbow and fired at the static sprite to see how well it would react and, to his cheer, the sprite made an audible beep to sound off that it had been hit, it even displayed where exactly the dart landed on the target after it bounced off. 

“Snazzy little thing huh? Still can’t fly better than me though.”

“Yea well, let’s see just how good it really is.” Raining reloaded and snapped back to the magi-tech construct. “Target Sprite? Hard Mode please.”

Shellac looked at him with some concern. “Wait, don’t you think that’s too much?”

Raining only grinned as he enchanted the dart held inside the crossbow. “Yeah…for you.”

“Rude.”

The brass unicorn took aim at the flying target, snapping in a zig-zag pattern in all different directions. Up down left right, it was hard to track and given the dart’s travel time it would’ve made trying to lead a shot near impossible. But Raining was confident and took his time, controlling his breathing to steady his aim.

He fired and the dart shot forward, even faster than the ones that had chased Shellac during their duel at Piccafilly Circus. Speeding up was the only way for the dart to connect with Raining’s target as per the special enchantment and it gained so much velocity that by the time it struck it may as well have been a cannonball. 

However the sprite was still able to move mostly out of the way before the dart struck, instead connecting with one of its delicate wings and sending it tumbling down from the air. Smacking Gleaming’s newspaper and spilling her tea in the process. 

“Raining!” She shouted, practically leaping off the couch.

Lead’s eyes shrank to the size of peanuts and his heart sank in horror, quickly scrambling behind the couch to hide from his mother’s wrath. Shellac meanwhile sat on the side with a smug grin that just screamed, “I told you so!”

Gleaming set her papers down and wiped some of the hot tea off her fur, noting more than a few spots of tea had also gotten on the couch. Groaning at the sight she quickly picked up the fallen sprite from her overturned cup. She turned to face Shellac who pointed to where Raining was hiding behind the couch. 
“Traitor!”

Shell merely shrugged his shoulders and chuckled. 

“Raining, you take this and all your other toys and you go to your room this instant! And clean up the mess you made” She commanded. 

The colt lept from behind the couch and grabbed the darts, hoof crossbow and the sprites all up with his magic. Using a nearby box of tissues to clean up most of the spillage from Gleaming’s tea while gritting his teeth in discomfort under her glare.

“I’ll bring dinner up when it’s ready, I don’t want to see you downstairs for the rest of the evening, except with a bottle of fabric cleaner to get those stains out of the couch.”

Raining nodded and bolted away from the living room, galloping up the stairs with guilty haste before ending the moment with an audible slam from his door.

Shellac winced from Gleaming’s outburst, until now she’d never raised her voice like that and it sent a chill up his spine. It wasn’t the searing, burning anger of Moonlit Lance, but a brief spike of high frustration that had set her off. Come to think of itl since the taxi ride the changeling had felt an underlying sense of dread from the mare. But he dared not bring it up in case he touched a nerve he’d rather not.

Right now he was just grateful it was Raining who made a mess and not him. 

Then like a deflating balloon, Gleaming’s frustration dissolved into quiet depression and she sighed. “I shouldn’t have shouted like that.”

“Hey, I warned him.” Shell said with a hint of hesitation, fearing he might set her off. 

“Yes…you did.” Gleaming looked down at her tea drenched newspaper and soaked fur. “Funny, I was reading about the carnival, apparently it almost didn’t happen due to bad weather.” 

“Wait, seriously?”

“Yes dear, the Weather Teams were able to slow down the winds and thin out the snow so it went ahead, but the weather’s only getting worse. They said there’s a snow storm scheduled soon.”

Shellac stood still as a statue, he’d never seen a snow storm before, but imagined something akin to howling winds, lots of snow and only being able to see a few hooves past one’s face. So it wasn’t a good picture, he hoped he wouldn’t have to go outside during one, it was much better inside the house.

“You should probably go up and keep him company, there should still be some of that pie left I can heat up.”

Shellac nodded and trotted upstairs, leaving Gleaming to her lonesome as she began cleaning up what was left of Raining’s mess.

The young changeling walked up to Raining’s door and knocked. “Raining? It’s Shellac!”

The door opened enough for Raining’s eyes to peek through by a crack, were it not for Shellac’s sense he wouldn’t have guessed he was feeling guilty through his smile. “Hey Raining, I know now might not be the best time, but would you like to show me your room?” Shellac gave a sympathetic smile to the colt.

“Uh…sure, yeah sure!” He perked up. Raining’s excited demeanour waltzing back into his headspace.

Immediately after, he swung the door wide and allowed him entry and his room was full of stuff. 

It had a wardrobe, a desk cabinet, an adult sized bed which itself had an orange sheet with a picture of a trio of enchanted, flaming arrows, a starry blue ursa minor plushy sat tucked under the covers. 

There was a pinboard full of different drawings he’d made, a bookshelf lined from end to end with different titles and small items. These included a naval compass, a picture frame of him with the family, small figurines ect. One of which looked like a robot with very thin limbs that ended in cones and had a white mane, with a big yellow X on its face.

His walls also had several comic book and wargaming posters, such as illustrations from Hammer & Anvil! As well as mentioning things like Iron Mare and Power Ponies, it was a lot! But one item that stuck out to him was a poster plastered across his bedroom door. It was placed much lower, at chest height as opposed to eye level as with the other posters. but he couldn’t linger too long on it.

He also had a bright orange toy chest that he’d set the target sprites on, and in the corner of the room was a weird device Shellac had never seen before. It was a bulky metal box with several cables and plugs, a blank glass panel and a cable connected to a tablet with several buttons and a joystick. Several small boxes with different kinds of artwork were littered around it. Shellac didn’t know what to make of it until Raining told him it was his video games console.

“And that’s the tour! So what do you think?” He grinned with glee, excited to hear Shellac’s thoughts.

“It’s massive! And you have so much…stuff!” He waved his hooves around. “It’s way better than anywhere I’ve lived in. The hive had none of this! After the raid I had to sleep in a little ditch I’d dug for myself on a hammock. There was one other place, Cantermore-”

Shell was abruptly cut off by the overeager unicorn as he pranced circles around him.

“Oh It’s fine! And I’m glad you like it! What do you want to do first?!” Raining then bounced around the room like a ping-pong ball gesturing towards all of his room’s activities. “Video games? Drawing? Tabletop? I have Buck Legacy!”

“Uhm, give me a moment okay? I’m not used to this.”

“Fair enough,” Raining shrugged before turning around to his target sprites, specifically the damaged one. “In that case…”

Next Raining walked over to it and enveloped within his magical grip. One of its eyes was flashing, its wing was bent out of shape and it had taken a nasty dent to its side. Shellac watched as he cast a spell of some kind, causing the wing to began pulling itself back into its proper position. In seconds, the little remaining liquid from Gold’s tea dried up, its eye went back to being fully lit as the dent buffed itself out. 

“Wha? How? Lead, what spell was that?”

“Mending!” He presented the pristine looking sprite. “Works on any small object, tears, cuts, and bumps. How do you think I keep all my posters looking so nice?”

“Nice Lead! I didn’t know you knew so many spells.”

“Eh, not actually, besides my cutie-mark stuff, Teleportation and Mending. I don’t know any more spells. What about you?”

“Uh…well…uhm…” Shellac rubbed the back of his head with a hoof having been blindsided by the question. “How best do I put this? I know a few changeling specific ones like that healing spell, but I don’t actually know the Equestrian names for them, just the Vespid names.”

“Vespid? Is that like the changeling language?”

“Yeah! Though it requires a pair of wings like mine to make the noises needed for it.”

“Oh that’s cool, can I hear some?” 

“Raining, It’ll just sound like bug noises to you. Be like trying to understand what a cricket is saying.”

“Pleeeeese?”

Shellac chuckled, knowing he wouldn’t take no for an answer. “ Alright, if you insist, this-” His wings flickered for a split second, making a chirping sound. “-means yes. And this-” he chirped again. “-means no.”

Raining stared at him with a blank smile for far longer than Shellac would’ve considered comfortable. Sure he could tell what emotions the colt was feeling, but it did very little in telling him what was actually going through his head. 

“Neat!...I can’t tell either of them apart but neat!”

“Did you really have to wait that long to tell me Raining?” Shellac audibly grumbled in mild frustration.

“What did that mean?” Lead asked, to which Shell’s only reply was to facehoof. “Oh you're upset! Did I do something wrong?”

“No. Raining. You did fine.” He muttered through gritted teeth.

“Could I hear some more?”

“Okay Shellac switch the subject, you can give him Vespid lessons later. What does Raining like?” To change the topic, Shellac then looked over Raining’s shoulder and saw his toy chest.

“Maybe later, why don’t you show me your toy collection?”

“Sure thing!” Immediately forgetting the prior topic, Raining turned around and headed for the chest, closely followed by the purple nymph. It had a bunch of stickers on it depicting cogs, gears and valves with some bumps and scratches, and a very fine shade of orange that didn’t assault the eyes.

“So what’s inside? I bet you have tons of toys.”

“I’m going to admit I’ve forgotten at least half the stuff I put in there. It’s to keep my room clean and make sure things don’t get lost.”

Raining flipped the lid open and Shellac found it was filled to the brim with all kinds of toys. From colourful swords and crossbows to puzzle cubes and action figures, there was even a tub full of crudely painted miniatures. “What are those?” He picked up the tub and pulled it out.

Embarrassment immediately shot through Raining as he took the tub himself and looked inside.

“Oh these? They were my first set of miniatures I tried painting.” Next he pulled one out and Shellac suddenly felt uncomfortable looking at it. It was a mini of a pikepony, but the paint job was horrible, the paint hadn’t been thinned so the pony’s face looked like a disfigured blob of colours that vaguely resembled the real thing. 

Lead gave a nervous smile as he put it back with the others. “Emphasis on tried, I was seven and dad wasn’t around to help me.”

“So you keep them around for the memories?”

“Yeah! Shows how far I’ve come painting, speaking of which, where is he? I haven’t seen him all day.”

Shellac’s blood froze at the question and his mind entered panic mode as the events of the morning and taxi ride realisation came flooding in. A tidal wave that threatened to paralyse him and risk Raining probing further if he didn’t act immediately. Thankfully his teaching’s once again whispered words of wisdom from over his shoulder. “The best kind of lies are the ones that merge with the truth.”

“I-I think he’s helping the guard out, you know? Dealing with Lance?”

Raining squinted his eyes, as if trying to gauge his answer. Shell’s nerves lit up and a bead of cold sweat ran down his forehead. But then Raining stood right back up again with a playful grin. “Oh yeah! I guess I forgot about that, think he’ll be back soon?”

“I don’t know, hopefully soon.”

“Great!” 

Shellac let out a quiet sigh of relief as Raining closed the toy chest and gestured towards his book shelf, waltzing over none the wiser. “Do you like reading Shell? I like reading!”

In response he brightened himself up and put on a smile, trying not to make his nervousness too visible.

The collection was vast and varied, but mostly had adventure novels, though he did spot a few oddballs in the lineup such as a thriller or fairy tale. Dead Mares Walking, Fury of the Firefangs, The Legend of Coltlantis. There was a lot to pick from. “Sure, I haven't read many books before but I guess I can try. Have any recommendations?”

“Oh! You might like-” Raining began scanning the shelves, searching among them for a special title. “-this one!” He pulled out an action adventure novel titled, What Lies Below, with the cover art depicted a group of adventurers fighting a massive stone golem inside some kind of dungeon. He looked at the book and smiled before taking it. 

“Thanks Lead, I’ll try it out.” He said before finding a spot to sit down, Raining picked a book of his own and followed suit beside him.







Several hours had passed by now and besides the occasional toilet break or going downstairs to pick up a drink, the two colts had barely moved, fixated on their respective story books. Shellac hadn’t even realised how much time had passed until Gleaming knocked on the door to deliver them their dinner, which prompted another episode of laughter from the two ponies.

How could he clockwatch when the book weaved together another world from the threads of his imagination? It was another atrophied part of his brain that was slowly waking up again. The dark stone walls and bright blues that ran magical energy derived from some ancient, unknowable source that the heroes in his book had to figure out, lest they be trapped within the dungeon until they starved…or worse.

The images practically leapt off the page into his mind, to the point where he could practically smell, hear and see everything that was going on. 

It did at least remind the two about Neon and prompted them to ask Gleaming about going to his birthday party which she was hesitant about. She’d already spent a lot of bits on the carnival so if they did go they wouldn’t be able to play any of the arcade’s video games. Granted, she’d at least be able to pay for their tickets to Spell-tag,which almost sent Raining through the roof he jumped so high.

Now the two were settling down for the evening, Raining was getting ready for bed and brushing his teeth but Shellac had taken a break from the story so he could play with Raining’s games console. The unicorn had picked out an easy game for him to try, it was called Pong and it played like a weird blocky version of tennis. Shellac was still somehow having fun despite not being used to handling a controller so at least it was decently challenging.

That was when Raining walked inside, now with a freshly dried mane and minty clean mouth. Shellac paused his game and turned around, having remembered a question he’d thought of during his playtime.

“Hey Lead? I wanted to ask, do you think Neon will be okay?”

Raining halted. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, I heard from some ponies back at Piccafilly that Lance…doesn’t like it when you make friends.” Shellac gestured toward his wing.

“Hey, if Lance doesn’t know about him then he should be fine, right? We only had a chance encounter with him, he doesn’t know where we’re going.”

“Yeah, yeah you're right.” Shellac moved to turn the device off, but something in his brain was ringing an alarm bell he couldn’t quite find. He’d checked around him, he never saw Lance or his sister once, they should be fine right? So why was he uneasy? Then it came back to him.

“Mirror could disguise herself and her brother, I’m not the only one who can blend in! THAT’s why I felt uneasy at the gallery!”

“No Shellac, you shouldn’t just assume stuff because of a bad feeling. You need some kind of evidence to back it up.”

“Sure enough, still though, is this how ponies felt after the attack? No wonder they got so jumpy.”

As he concluded his thoughts he sighed and climbed to his hooves, discomfort seeping into his psyche while heading for the door as Raining crawled into his covers. He extended his leg to grab the handle but stopped himself short, memories of the nightmare from his first stay at the house made an unwelcome return and with it a  wince. 

Suddenly the idea of sleeping alone again didn’t agree with him, granted he was thankful for everything this family afforded him, but he felt a longing for Raining’s company once more. Shell turned around as the colt adjusted his pillows and began walking back towards the bed. “Hey Lead?”

“Yeah Shell?” 

“Is it alright if I uh…sleep here? With you again?”

Raining slowed down and sheepishly glanced to his sides. “I don’t know Shell, it feels…weird sleeping with another colt.”

“Please? I-I don’t want to be alone again.” He pleaded.

The two locked eyes, Raining’s embarrassment and Shellac’s longing both clashing to see who’d win out. Raining really wasn’t sure if he was okay with this, it didn’t feel normal, then again none of this was and even he had to lament that he enjoyed being by his side the night before. So naturally he relented and sighed, pulling up the covers. “Fine, alright then, but can you do that thing again?”

“Thing?...Oh right! Yeah sure I can.”

Shellac climbed into the bright yellow bed alongside the colt and made himself comfortable within his grasp. Raining wrapped his hooves around the changeling’s barrel and did his best not to breathe into his face. 

The cozy soft sheets and puffy bed pillows out did his bedding on the couch tenfold, and he found himself resting in a sanctuary of warm safety. Assured no harm would ever come to him in this state, the worries and woes of the past several months, maybe even his life as a whole, seemed to just float away in Raining’s embrace. “Maybe I should ask mom for a bunk bed.” Raining added.

“Nah, I don’t like bunk beds, this is better.” 

Shellac’s body was engulfed in purple flames for a fraction of a second. Causing Raining to briefly jump, wondering if the flames could actually burn him but thankfully he was left unscathed. In the changeling’s place was a big cuddly soft toy that resembled him with big purple eyes and silky smooth fur in place of his hard shell.

Sheepishly smiling, Raining held him tight and that same affectionate desire returned in full swing. With his magic he grabbed a small fabric baseball and lugged it at the light switch. 

“Good night Shell.”