//------------------------------// // Somepony Different, Someplace Familiar // Story: Sword, Shield, and Scabbard // by Shadowslash101 //------------------------------// Chapter 1 Somepony Different, Someplace Familiar “What are Diamond Dogs?” Helpful the Selfless asked as he pulled his wagon he brought from his mansion with Rarity through Everfree Forest, after lunchtime. The wagon was old, but it was large enough to be twice as large as a regular wagon at Sweet Apple Acres thus needing two ponies to pull. “Oh, they’re just a group of canines that have eyes for precious gemstones.” Rarity explained to Helpful. “They can become quite troublesome at times. That’s why I had you come along with Spike and Snowy. While they dig for gems you can protect us from getting captured.” “Yeah, well…my powers are still difficult to master.” Helpful explained, a little nervously. “But I’ll try my best to protect you three and the gems.” Giggling could be heard from inside the wagon from Spike and Snowy, making Rarity and Helpful curious. “What’s going on back there, guys?” As he looked back, Snowy and Spike looked over the edge of the wagon. “Spike was showing me something just amazing!” Snowy answered with a smile. “What was it called again, Spike?” “It’s a top, Snowy.” Spike replied as he pulled up the toy. “Yeah, a top. Have you played with tops, Helpful?” “I remember playing with tops before, but back then they were called ‘spinners’ and we spun them with string instead of our hooves.” The tan Pegasus explained as he remembered playing with the toy. “All that time on that island’s made you ignorant around this land.” “Well, I wouldn’t say, ‘ignorant’, but yeah. Although I’ve been stuck there, I’m okay with being clueless.” The Ice Dragon replied. “I’m learning so many things, making so many friends that don’t eat themselves,” Rarity and Helpful exchanged looks of discomfort as they remembered the events on Snowy’s Island, “I’m sleeping on a bed instead of a nest in the trees that I have to build every day and if it rains, I won’t have to worry about getting wet because of the roof above my head. It’s practically paradise here, living with Fluttershy in Ponyville. I care for the animals while Fluttershy cares for me and the animals, at times.” “Really?” Spike replied with a skeptical expression. “And there has been no downside?” Snowy gave that question some thought. “Well, there’s Angel, but he’s the only real downside to my stay.” Snowy answered, and Spike believed him. “’Stay’? You make it sound like you’re going to leave, Snowy. You should call it your home.” Helpful chuckled. “And who is this ‘Angel’?" “Oh, he’s just Fluttershy’s pet.” “Which is?” “A rabbit.” Helpful immediately stopped, making Rarity almost trip onto the ground, but her harness saved her, and he stared out into space with wide eyes. “Helpful, what’s wrong?” Rarity asked him, concerned. Soon, the Pegasus shook his head back to reality. “Huh? Oh. It’s nothing, Rarity.” Helpful replied as they started on their path once more. Spike and Snowy exchanged odd looks while Rarity stared at Helpful oddly as well. That was just a little new from Helpful. It’s almost as if he was scared of something, but they decided to put the thought aside and continue. “So how’re you enjoying Equestria, Helpful?” Rarity asked him so she would forget the earlier thought. “It’s been great and I love working for my sister as her most trusted servant.” Helpful explained to her. “I’ve been enjoying the life here in Ponyville and everything is just perfect. The foals like to play with me more and they made a fan club for me and whatnot. It’s great to help others here in Ponyville, because that’s what I do.” “Sounds like you have a good life ahead, Helpful.” The White Unicorn remarked as they had entered a clearing in Everfree and stopped at their destination.  Down underground, a mine of Diamond Dogs laid and the Greedy Savages worked and labored on mining and digging for any precious jewels. The three head Diamond Dogs checked on their progress to see how much they have collected. Rover, their leader, walked to one of their iron wagons, but found it empty. “What?” Rover growled, irritated. “There aren’t any gemstones in this rust bucket!” He reached in and pulled out only a small pebble that fell apart into dust. His paw tightly clenched the dirt as he turned around to Spot and Fido, throwing the dirt in front of them. Spot immediately dashed right behind Fido for cover from Rover’s fury. “You said that pony could be able to find us more gemstones!” He snarled at them both. “I know, Rover,” Spot replied, still behind Fido, “But he’s not cooperating with us, no matter what we do.” “Did you try beating him?” The Diamond Dog growled again. “Yes. We’ve t ried everything we’ve thought of to make him show us where the gems are,” Fido replied, nervous, “But he won’t break.” “Well, then we’ll break his bones until he gives in!” Rover snarled as he stomped off from his comrades, who both sighed of relief as he left. Rover stomped into the prison and opened the cell that held the pony that they were keeping. “Now, Pony. You better show us where the gems are, or your bones will be dust.” The pony looked up toward Rover. The Diamond Dog, just now getting a good look at him, saw that the pony’s mane was a brown tangled mess. He had a dull green coat and blue eyes. He was teenaged, but the Cutie Mark he was supposed to have was gone. What really shocked Rover was that the pony was not the type of pony they needed, it was an Earth Pony. Not a captured Unicorn like Rover assumed from Fido and Spot. He was now angrier than before as this reality of miscommunication was revealed to him. “You! Stay here!” He growled, pointing at the Earth Pony to stay. Then he left the cell closing the door, locking the Pony inside. The Earth Pony dashed to the door of the cell, wincing in pain from his bruises. “Where are you going?” He shouted after Rover. “That’s none of your business, Pony!” Rover shouted back as he left the prison. The Earth Pony had awoken here in this mine a few days ago with no memory. He was terribly confused on why these dogs wanted him to find them gems when he doesn’t know how. He’s been beaten so many times that it hurts to even walk, or even sleep.  Up above, Spot and Fido cleverly hid themselves behind a large bush as they stalked Rarity and Spike, not sure why they’ve returned. “It’s that Pony again, Fido.” Spot whispered to his friend. “What’s she doing back here?” “Maybe for a picnic?” Fido guessed. “No, you fool!” Spot growled, but then he spotted Helpful and Snowy. “Look. There’s others.” They both watched as Helpful and Snowy walked to the wagon and filled it with gemstones. “Uh-oh. We better leave before Rover finds out.” Fido and Spot turned around, but Rover was right behind them with a very infuriated expression. “Find out about what?” He snarled, making them both squeal in fear. “You fools!” He stomped closer to them, forcing them to step back out of the bushes into the open, where everypony could see them. “That Pony you found was an Earth Pony, not a Unicorn!” He growled at them. “L-look, Rover. We can explain.” Spot tried to reason with him. “Excuses! That’s all you ever give me is excuses!” Their boss snarled. “You better find me a Unicorn, so help me, or I’ll skin you both alive and make you as supper and two new carpets on my floor! Do you understand?” Not looking behind them, Spot and Fido bumped into the wagon that Helpful, Rarity, Spike, and Snowy brought making Rover crash into them. The lead Diamond Dog growled in intense anger. “Who put this wagon here!?” He shouted with a reckonable level of volume. “We did.” Rarity scoffed with her chin held high. “What you doing here?” “I-It’s the Pony!” Fido stuttered, nervously. “And she has others!” Spot added as they both bowed to her with respect. “Please don’t whine at us! We were just looking for gems when we noticed that you were as well.” “Is that normal?” Helpful asked Spike, curious. “Actually, Helpful, this is a first for me.” Spike replied. “Get up, you idiots!” Rover pulled Fido and Spot back up onto their feet. “But what if she starts whining again, Rover?” Fido asked him, nervous. “I don’t care!” He snarled back. “Oh, please, I don’t even care for what you’re after. I’m busy on my business and I’ll leave you alone if you leave me alone, deal?” Rarity outstretched her hoof for a hoofshake. Rover looked at the Unicorn questioningly, but he grabbed her hoof and shook it gently. “Deal.” He agreed with her, but Spike noticed that Rover’s expression had a slight smirk, and that meant trouble. “Rarity! Be careful!” Spike warned her. “Now, be confident, Spiky.” Rarity told the dragon. “Rover here understands th—AH!” Fido quickly scooped up Rarity into a bag and Spot swiftly tied it as Rarity struggled to get out. “Ha! We have the Pony!” Rover shouted with delight. “Now we can find those gems again!” They all dashed off, but Helpful chased after them. “No!” Helpful shouted as they all jumped into a hole that was quickly refilled by dirt from the inside. Helpful started digging, but he couldn’t get through. The dirt just continued to fill up. “Oh-no! Rarity!” He shouted in dismay as Spike and Snowy quickly dashed over to help him dig through the dirt. But it was to no avail.  Down below, in the mines of the Diamond Dogs, Rarity was squealing and whining as they took her to the prison cell throwing her out of the bag, and slamming the cell door hard. “Welcome back, Pony.” Rover cackled as Spot locked the door. “Don’t try to whine. It’ll only prove worse for you.” “Let me out, please!” She whined as she stood back up, but they ignored her. Upon leaving the prison they secured an iron door behind them. “Oh, why I’ve never…” Rarity huffed. She heard a low moan behind her. Alarmed, she carefully turned around to find its source and was shocked to find a badly bruised Earth Pony on the floor. She dashed over to him deeply concerned, “Oh my stars, Darling! What happened to you?” “They…they beat me and b-bruised me,” The Earth Pony groaned as Rarity helped him sit up, “All because they wanted me to show them where the gems were.” “Oh my stars. Are you alright?” “I’ll be fine.” “How did you get captured?” She asked him curious. “I don’t know. I can’t remember.” He rubbed his head, but winced in pain from the bruises. “Here,” Rarity gently pulled the Earth Pony to a wall to lay him against, “Sit still and try to breathe, okay?” The Earth Pony nodded as Rarity concentrated her magic onto his wounds. She concentrated on the spell she learned from Twilight. The bruises began to heal, but slowly. “M…My name is: Eli.” The Earth Pony told her. “What’s your name?” “It’s Rarity.” She replied as she finished her spell. “Now you need to sit still and allow the magic to heal your bruises.” “Okay.” Eli nodded as she sat beside him. Some time went by and the minutes felt like hours as the silence lingered around them. Rarity soon noticed that Eli had no Cutie Mark and that meant that he also may have amnesia. She decided to speak since there was nothing else to talk about. “Do you remember where you live?” She asked him, curious. “No.” Eli answered. “I can’t remember anything. I just woke up on the floor of this cell, and that’s as far as I can remember.” “Hm…” Rarity thought over this thoroughly. “So where do you live?” Eli asked her to keep the conversation alive. “I live in a town named: Ponyville.” Rarity answered him. “I own a fashion shop named the Carousel Boutique there.” “Oh…” Eli replied with a thoughtful expression. “Do you make a good profit?” “Every-so-often, yes.” Rarity nodded. Silence came back for a few seconds, until Eli spoke again. “The Diamond Dogs mentioned that you’re here again. Have you been here before?” “Yes, but they didn’t hurt me as much as they did you, those ruffians.” “How’d you escape?” “Well, I didn’t really escape… I took control over the Diamond Dogs. They did everything I said so they could find the gems they needed, but since they don’t listen to me now; I fear what may actually happen to me.” Rarity explained to Eli with a nervous expression. She looked up toward the ceiling in thought, but then she gasped at the feeling of another hoof gently holding hers. She looked down to her hoof and found that Eli was holding it. She quickly pulled it back from him and stood up. “Well, I didn’t know you felt that way, Eli.” She held her chin up high as she walked to the door, confusing the Earth Pony.  “Now what seems to be the problem?” Merciful asked the two mares as a crowd gathered around them. “Well, Your Highness, when I came to the stand, I knew that the price for oranges was just three bits, but once I got there, she raised the price to eight!” The first mare explained to him. “That’s not true!” The second mare objected. “I had raised the price this morning, not once you got here. My husband just got fired from his job in Cloudsdale and now we can barely have enough profit to pay for resources. I needed to raise the price.” The crowd began to murmur and converse among themselves as Merciful turned his gaze to the first mare and then to the second, looking into both of their eyes. Finally, he came to a conclusion, and turned to the second mare. “You are lying.” Merciful pointed at the mare. “You have no family, and your husband does not work in Cloudsdale--in fact, you have no husband at all. You did raise the price on the oranges once you saw this mare come your way, in a greedy effort to have even a larger profit, and have revenge after what she accidently did to your wagon.” The crowd became silent after the Prince explained this, and the second mare seemed to be a little withdrawn as well. “Greed and Revenge do not solve anything in life. Money cannot buy you Joy, and Revenge cannot bring you Satisfaction. When Violet broke the wheel of your wagon, it was indeed an accident. You should forgive her for she is truly sorry for her clumsiness, and never attempt such a course of action on anypony.” The second mare just glared back at Merciful, but she sighed sadly. “Yes, Your Highness.” The second mare nodded. “I forgive you, Violet, and I’m sorry for trying to take a lot of your money.” “I forgive you, Maggie.” Violet answered, and the two mares hugged and made up. Merciful watched in satisfaction as the two mares became good friends in a short length of time. As the crowd walked on toward their businesses, Applejack, who was watching the scene in the crowd, trotted over to Merciful, curious on how he could have known that happened. “Hey, Mercy.” She grabbed his attention. “Yes, Applejack?” Merciful replied, curious. “How’d you know that the mare was lying?” Applejack asked him. “I mean, that really sounded true to me.” “Well, my dear, ever since I was a young colt, I could see the thoughts and minds of ponies by just using eye contact.” The prince explained to her, but the mare looked at him confused. “Say again?” “I can see the truth, unlike other ponies.” Merciful, because of having the height of Luna, kneeled down to where he can be at the height of Applejack, who understood what he meant. “Oh. So is that why your Cutie Mark is a full moon with four six pointed stars?” Applejack wondered with a glad smile, but Merciful turned his gaze toward the ground, sadly. “N-not exactly… I--.” Merciful’s sentence was cut off by racket from the outer edges of the marketplace. “What in tarnation is that?” Applejack pondered as she and Merciful trotted to the source of the commotion. Once there, they found that Helpful, Spike and Snowy had crashed into a pot and pan stand, sending pots and pans everywhere. Helpful had his head stuck in a large pot while Spike and Snowy were buried in a pile of pans. “Help! Who turned out the sun?” Helpful’s voice echoed from the pot as he blindly stumbled around, crashing into a pole which vibrates the pot. Everypony started to laugh at Helpful’s show as he stumbled around, dizzy. Merciful rolled his eyes as he used his magic to pull the pot off of Helpful’s head. “Brother, what is wrong?” Merciful asked him as the pot released his brother, and Helpful regained consciousness. “Oh, uh… Merciful! Am I glad that I’ve found you,” Helpful started, “You’ve got to help me! Diamond Dogs have captured Rarity!” “Again?” Applejack stared at Helpful, confused. “But why would they ever capture Rarity again? I thought they made an agreement.” “Well, it seems that somepony broke it.” Merciful remarked, indifferently, as Snowy and Spike dig themselves out of the pans. “Well, it doesn’t matter why. We need to save her before we’re too late.” Helpful told his elder brother then he turned his gaze to Spike and Snowy, who dazedly scuffle beside him. “C’mon, guys. We’re going back.” “What?” Spike asked as he shook his head to reality. “I thought we were getting everypony to help.” “Well, Spike, my brother, Merciful, and I are all the help we’ll need. We’ll get into those caves if it’s the last thing we’ll do.” Helpful explained to them both. “Now let’s go.” “A-alright.” Snowy agreed after he came back to consciousness. They both climbed onto Helpful’s back and they all galloped off with the cheers of ponies behind them.  “So why do they want gems?” Eli asked Rarity, curious, but she only gave him a blank stare of thought. “I…I don’t really understand it exactly…but they just want them because of their beauty is what I’ve known so far.” Rarity explained as she continued to study the jail cell around them. “They should really clean up this cell, I mean, look at it! They’ve really let this place go.” “Well, there was a few times that I’ve wondered if this is how life is supposed to be.” Eli continued, a little thoughtfully. “Is your home like this, in a cage with nothing to do?” “Oh, heavens, no!” Rarity immediately responded, shocked by his question. “My home is much different than here.” Eli felt relieved to know that there could be hope to escape, but then the clicking of keys could be heard from behind, Spot and Fido were opening their cell. “C’mon, Pony.” Spot ordered Rarity as Fido hid something behind his back. “Come here and we’ll give you a gift.” “A gift? From you? What a joke! You Diamond Dogs never give anypony anything unless you can’t stand them.” Rarity scoffed, and Spot began to growl with anger. “You will come and receive your gift or we’ll force you to!” Spot snarled at Rarity. “I’d like to see you try!” Spot and Fido exchanged looks of confusion at first, but then shrugged as they walked over to Rarity, somewhat surprising her. She immediately started what got them hustling for her in the first place: whining. “Oh, pleeeeease, don’t hurt meee!” She cried out as Eli covered his ears from the loud noise. “I just wa--!” Her sentence was cut off once Fido fastened something on her face. It was a Dog Muzzle. She tried everything she could to get the muzzle off, but her hooves weren’t made to fasten and unfasten things. Her cries and sentences were muffled up by the leather net. Fido and Spot sighed as they pulled the ear plugs from their ears. “Why didn’t we think of this in the first place?” Spot wondered aloud, and Fido shrugged. “Oh well. Now, Pony! You will show us where to find those gems, or we’ll do the same to you as we did to him.” Spot pointed to Eli, still sitting on the floor, healing. Rarity gasped in shock. Since when did the Diamond Dogs become so hostile? They would never really hurt anypony like they did to Eli. “C’mon, Spot.” Fido urged his friend to continue. “Mas--.” “Shush, you idiot.” Spot whispered to the big dog as he covered his mouth. “We can’t let the ponies know of his existence.” He turned back to Rarity. “So, Pony? Will you obey, or will you fight like last time?” After a long moment of silence, Rarity nodded in agreement with Spot, shocking Eli. “No!” Eli immediately tried to stand on the floor and charge at the two dogs, but he grunted in pain as he hit the floor and gasped for breath. Rarity squealed in distress, and it was obvious that she shouted his name. She dashed over to him, concerned, but the two canines grabbed her from behind. “Come now, Pony!” Spot told her. “You have work to do.” Fido added as they dragged Rarity out from the cell and closed the door behind them. Eli recollected his breath and sat up, but he was too late as the Diamond Dogs closed the door behind them with a slam. He slammed his hoof on the floor out of anger, but a sharp pain on his back hurt him, forcing him to rub it to have it feel better. “I swear, Rarity.” Eli spoke aloud. “We will get out of here.”  Helpful, Merciful, and Applejack galloped back to the scene of which Rarity was abducted before. “Here we are!” Spike pointed to the big dirt mounds around them. Helpful turned his attention back to the wagon they pulled here, and found that it was empty. “Well, they cleaned out the wagon. That’s for sure.” Helpful remarked as he looked into it. “And I was looking forward to having that big emerald.” Snowy crossed his arms, disappointed. “What do you reckon we should do, Helpful?” Applejack asked him, curious, but the Pegasus only shrugged, making Merciful laugh. “I apologize, Applejack, but my brother is not trained on creating plans on such short notice.” Merciful explained to her. “But I am.” “Okay, Mercy, what’s the plan? You’re gonna teleport us in?” Applejack asked him. Merciful laughed once more. “Now, Applejack, what would be the fun in that?” Spike immediately remembered something that worked miraculously last time this happened. He dashed over to the pack Helpful was still wearing since they got here, and pulled out a quartz shard. “Well, I’ve learned that if you want to get into the Diamond Dogs’ cavern, you gotta bait ‘em.” Spike explained. “Anypony got a fishing rod with them?”  “Rover! We’ve got the Pony to do as we want her to.” Spot announced with obvious excitement as Fido and he pushed Rarity in front of Rover at the very center of the mine. Rover seemed very pleased with this report. “Very good.” The Diamond Dog walked toward her with a menacing grin. “Now, Pony,” He spat, “Show us where to find the gemstones.” Rarity, at first, was disgusted by the slobber that the canine spewed onto her face, and the stench his revolting breath. Just what do these Diamond Dogs eat? “Well, Pony?” Rarity sighed as she unwillingly concentrated her magic, but after a few moments, nothing appeared under the ground. Rover’s anger kindled greatly against Rarity. His patience was beginning to run increasingly thin, and he was tired of everything not going as planned. He immediately raised his paw and slapped Rarity, knocking her off balance forcing her to fall on the cold hard ground. “You’re not obeying again!” Rover exclaimed in intense infuriation. “Get up, and show us where the gems are!” Rarity stood up, her cheek had a small red spot on it, and she concentrated her magic once more, but nothing happened again. Rover growled and slapped Rarity off balance again. “Don’t think that disobeying will break us! It’ll only break you!” The Head Diamond Dog snarled. “Now show where the gems are!” Rarity lifted her head off the ground; her eyes were filled with the tears from the massive pain she just endured. What in the great wide land of Equestria had made these Diamond Dogs so threatening? It’s almost as if something is forcing them to, but what? And she has been using the spell needed for finding gemstones. Before Rover could slap Rarity again for not getting up, Spot spoke up. “Perhaps, the gems aren’t here, Rover.” Spot reasoned, a little nervous of his boss’ reaction, but to his surprise, Rover raised an eyebrow of thought. “Hm…” He thought aloud. “Perhaps…” He turned to the other Diamond Dogs that have been standing around, watching. “We’re moving the mine! Take all provisions and tools southward, and start digging.” Rarity stood up, slowly, but she was shocked to see Rover in front of her. “You may have lucked out this time, Pony, but next time, you will show us where the gemstones are, and you will be here forever, working for us. Welcome to the mines.” Fido and Spot exchanged looks of uneasiness to one another. Somehow…their leader has changed, and not in a better way. Sure Rover has been rude and angry when things aren’t going well, but not in this fashion. He’s become more aggressive since the Master came. “Spot! Fido! Take our Pony back to the other one, and then come back to supervise operations.” Rover ordered them. “I need to, uh…never mind.” As Rover left, Spot and Fido escorted Rarity back to her cell.  “Here, Doggy, Doggy, Doggies!” Spike whistled as he shook the small quartz above the dirt mound, but nothing happened, and it was like that way for some time. “Here, Doggy, Doggy, Doggies! I got a nice pretty gemstone for ya!” As he continued to call for the Diamond Dogs the rest, except Merciful, called for them as well, in hopes that the dogs will appear. “Spike.” Applejack grabbed his attention. “I know this worked last time, but I just don’t think that it’s gonna work this time.” “C’mon, Applejack.” Spike replied with an earnest expression. “You’ll just have to trust me.” “I know, Spike, I know.” Just then a paw reached out and grabbed the quartz and pulled it into the dirt, pulling Spike with it and surprising them both. “Whoa!” They shouted. Helpful, Snowy, and Merciful responded by helping them pull the Diamond Dog back. After a short-lived stand-still, the quartz was released and they all fell onto their backs. After standing up, Rover’s head popped out of the dirt. “Are you serious?” He asked them with a confused expression. “Using a Semiprecious stone to allure one of us up here? You must be joking, Ponies.” “It worked didn’t it?” Helpful asked him with a confident smile. Rover stared at him for a few seconds and rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m not letting any of you in, like it happened last time.” Rover disappeared into the dirt mound and Spike ran after him and started digging into it. “Wait!” He demanded. “Where’s Rarity, you coward?” The others exchanged looks of concern as Spike continued his futile attempt to dig inside. “Uh, Spike.” Helpful tried to grab his attention, but he didn’t listen. “Spike.” The dragon growled in anger as he turned around to face them with his infuriated expression. “What?” He barked at them all. A short moment of silence swiftly lingered around them, until Merciful broke it. “I understand that you want so desperately to save your beloved, but, Spike…” Merciful thought to himself for a brief moment. “Perhaps a different approach is in order. We’ll need to find a new solution.” “But we can’t!” Spike shouted, upset. “They won’t take the gem, and we can’t find a different one for them to take! And Rarity has been asking Fluttershy if she could borrow her Water Sapphire Shards, but she said those were for emergencies.” “Is this not an emergency?” Merciful raised an eyebrow. Spike gave that question some thought. “Well since you put it that way.” Spike replied. “Great! Then let’s get moving!” Helpful insisted as they left toward the Shy Mare’s cottage.  Eli was startled awake as the iron door of his prison was slammed shut and the Diamond Dogs pushed Rarity inside. He immediately stood up and dashed to Rarity concerned as the mongrels left. “Are you okay, Rarity?” He asked her concerned. The mare looked up to Eli with tear-filled eyes, and he could see that her right cheek was red and swollen. He gasped in shock. She began to cry from all the pain she had just endured; Eli reached out, held her and patted her back in sympathy. “It’s alright, Rarity.” He assured her. “You’re safe now.” It was some time before Rarity’s sobs begin to quell. Eli helped her to lie down onto a small, but soft pile of dirt he had dug up from the ground. Night had fallen. Eli covered Rarity with the only item he had, a small blanket from the Diamond Dogs. “I know it’s not very clean, but it’s the best I can do to keep you warm tonight.” Eli assured Rarity, she nodded in understanding. “Good night, Rarity.” He turned around to begin making himself a bed, like he made for the mare, but she grabbed his hoof and stopped him. He turned his gaze back to Rarity, who looked at him as if she needed something. “Do you need something?” Eli asked her curious, and she nodded. “What is it?” Rarity only pulled him closer. Eli began to understand what she meant. “Do you need somepony to sleep with you?” He raised an eyebrow, a little uneasy about this, and Rarity nodded with sweet eyes. “Um…okay…” He laid right beside her on the dirt mound and covered half of the blanket onto him. He turned his gaze to Rarity, who stared back with pleased eyes. Now he felt a little awkward about all this. “Well…goodnight.” He turned over to his other side and closed his eyes for sleep. Rarity didn’t mind if he had turned around. Eli was beside her and she felt happier with another pony near her, especially in this terrible place. Strangely, Eli having amnesia seems to be a little far-fetched. How did he get the amnesia in the first place? And how can he remember his name, unlike Helpful who couldn’t when he had it? It was all…strange, but no matter. His body temperature was enough for her to be warm tonight, and it’s awfully warm, like a radiator. Is that even normal pony body temperature? Oh well. He’s warm and that’s fine. “Sweet dreams, Eli.” She thought to herself as she closed her eyes, asleep.