//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Megan Williams of Equestria // by MrNelg //------------------------------// Megan stood at the bow of the ship, watching the seagulls as they soared across the sky. Seagulls. That meant that land was not far behind. The low lying clouds on the horizon in the direction the boat was sailing also confirmed this. She closed her eyes letting the strong sea breeze blow through her hair, causing her lengthy golden locks to trail out behind her. She breathed in deeply, before exhaling. After a week at sea, she would be glad to be on dry land again. Plus she was curious to see what would happen in regards to her own personal liberties. On the ship, she had free range. She could climb to the crow's nest, or walk down to the very bowels of the ship, where no sunlight could penetrate. She did not like doing that as the ship had been designed with zebras in mind, and the further down she went, the more cramped it became. At one point, at the very bottom of the ship, she had to traverse its halls on all fours. While exploring the ship, she'd discovered half the animals were gone. Upon a thorough examination, she realised that all the African themed animals were gone. She'd tried to ask PT about this, but her limited vocabulary translated very little. From what she could understand, he had been making numerous trips to and from different lands. He'd shown her a map, and marked out his route that almost seemed to circumnavigate all the lands visible. There had been three large islands, or small continents, Megan could not tell. PT had his route planned out on the map with chalk. There was evidence of previous routes that had been erased. PT had been doing this for a long time. Now their travels were taking them to a large island down south that only had half its landmass on the map. Ether the other half was unexplored or wasn't on PT's places-to-visit list. The griffin port they'd visited lay up on the far north of the second island. It appearance was reminiscent of New Britain, only facing in the opposite direction. The port was situated along the lower bottom half of the island/continent, near a peninsula. The third island was much larger, the largest to be accurate, and took up a good third of the map. PT had made many stops along its coastline, which was situated to the west of the Griffin's island. Along with the numerous stops, there were a lot more markings that indicated towns and cities. There was a large kingdom of sorts on that island. They would not be visiting that island at all. According to the map, they would be heading to that southern island, before continuing down south and looping the bottom towards the edge of the map. That destination was where he intended to take her. Megan had tried to read the markings on the map, but they were in arcane hieroglyphics that were a combination of shapes and simple images. At first, she figured that they worked like Egyptian hieroglyphics, but from what she could ask of PT, and what the basic pictures showed, didn't match up at all. In the end, it proved far more impossible than trying to understand the lyrics of Macarthur Park. She gave up almost immediately. Feeling the warm breeze against her skin caused her to look upon her new clothes once more. She had discarded the old bear-skin rug for more normal clothing. To be more accurate, clothes that had been tailored for her by a zebra mare. Her new attire consisted of a tawny long slit skirt, and a short halter neck that covered her upper torso, but left her stomach exposed. Both items of clothing were adorned with strange, line patterns. They seemed more for decoration than meaning. She thought she'd have to ask for a coat of sorts, but the further they travelled, the warmer the air turned. After a week, she was starting to feel the first beads of sweat forming on her brow as the sun reached its highest point in the heavens, and she was glad for the brief attire. Behind her, she could hear the cries and shouts of the crew as they went about their business. Straining her ears, she could sometimes understand what they were saying. Humorously what she did understand were curse words. A week at sea, learning the zebra tongue, she had slowly built up a small repertoire of words, but not enough. She could communicate with PT, but only the basics. Baby talk would be a more accurate description. If a zebra did want to communicate with her, he or she had to speak very simply, and very slowly. Not far away were a group of zebras who had some time off. They were spending that time playing some poker game. What they had were these triangles shaped cards that they held in their hooves, Megan wasn't sure how that worked. The backs of the triangles were the same dull grey colour, but the other sides were of three different colours. They also held some markings that weren't in the language she'd seen on PT's map. They reminded Megan of someone attempting to write in the Japanese language, and losing interest half-way through. They resembled slashes and swirls, rather than the familiar pictorial images and shapes. From watching a good number of games, Megan deduced that the rules went like this. The triangles were shuffled and dealt out to all the players. Each player received six triangles. They could then choose to discard up to four triangles. Each zebra took their turn, discarding triangles and picking up new ones. Much like poker. Only you got to do this three times. You also took this opportunity to place your bet, which consisted of silver and gold coins. Megan had wrinkled her mouth in disgust the way she'd seen them handling the money. They picked it up with their mouths. The discarding and retrieving of triangles travelled around in a circle, three times, before the round returned to the dealer, and everyone had to lay their triangles down in a hexagon shape. The winner was determined by both the number of single colours in their hexagon and the symbols on each. For example, one could win by having a hexagon of blue, or red, or green triangles, but that would be overshadowed by someone who had a matching set of symbols on all six triangles. The equivalent of a royal flush in this game was having all six triangles of the same colour with your symbols in some ascending order. Megan did not understand it, but PT once got it and wouldn't stop shouting about it for a good solid hour. That was another thing. PT was a compulsive gambler. He took every opportunity he could to sit in at one of these games. Whenever he did sit down, he brought a lot of those gold and silver coins to the game. It didn't take long to figure out that PT didn't play for the money, like the other zebras did. He played to win. PT always won more than he lost, but the few zebras who did win off him won big. That is probably why so many zebras kept playing against him, in spite of him winning nearly every game. Being such a high stakes gambler came as no surprise to Megan. Hell, he'd played very high stakes stealing her from Joan. Judging from what she'd learned of the zebra, he was both a merchant and a smuggler: And was successful at both. The fact that he wasn't there was enough to raise Megan's eyebrows in curiosity. That meant he was off doing something crucial. Most likely to do with the dangers they now faced in these waters. Looking at one zebra who passed close by, she eyed the strange mark on its flank. A series of five horizontal squiggle lines with little triangles in-between them. It reminded Megan of a basic drawing to represent the ocean. Looking past that one, Megan had come to see that all the zebra's boar strange marks on their flanks. She had tried to ask PT about that, but he'd been unable to translate. The best she got out of it was something to do with working. PT's own flank was wired. His mark was a large 'S' shape made up of three lines that were outlined by little triangles. She had also tried to ask him what he wanted with her, but it wasn't that he would refuse to answer; he did not know how to translate it. He brought out that weird rock thing with the glowing jewel at its centre. As always, it failed to glow when pointed at her. Megan was getting frustrated with that thing. Everyone seemed to think that pointing it at her, and watching it not light up was the answer in itself. He kept repeating a strange word, over and over again. This word he would use with the rock thing. He would say this word, point at himself, and the rest of the zebra's, then nod. He would say the word, point at Megan and give a shake of his head. By the week's end, all she could figure out was that the rock was some kind of detection device and whatever it was that it detected, was present in griffins and zebra's, but wasn't in herself. Whatever this Mcguffin was that she lacked, had been an excuse enough for PT to take a gamble on stealing her from Joan. Hell, it had even been enough for Joan to take her to Henry the Eighth and propose whatever it was that she proposed. What was it she had planned for her? In spite of not having to worry about that problem anymore, it still ate at her. She also couldn't help but ponder Joan's fate, as well. Did she get in serious trouble? Was she dead? Her last vestige of Joan had her sounding irritated and annoyed, not desperate and afraid. Still, she could not help but think kindly of the griffin. Yes, she had stuck her in a cage and wouldn't let her out, but she had been nice to her, looked after her, and genuinely cared about her. Considering that she was an oddity in this world, it could've been much worse. Hell, if the situation had been reversed and Joan ended up on earth… She turned as PT called out to her. He was getting better at pronouncing her name. She nodded in understanding and hopped down, before trotting over to PT. She had managed to translate to the zebra that she needed three meals a day, not two. At first, the feeding time had been a rather unusual time, as they assumed that she ate what they ate: Grass. After a rather confusing half hour in which she attempted to make them understand she could not eat grass, PT had one of the zebras examine her mouth. With its hoof the zebra, a female, had pointed out her incisors, canines and molars. They then understood that she was omnivorous. Although they were still confused as to why she could not eat grass. Things got even more embarrassing after that, when they attempted to give her fresh fish. Uncooked and still writhing fresh fish. From what little she understood, this is what they fed the gorilla. She also found that the gorilla ate grass, as well. Okay. She didn't know enough about gorilla's to know if that was natural or not. Well, she could not blame them for thinking that their diets were similar. The only problem was trying to make them understand she had to have it cooked. That took even longer. The ship did have a kitchen and a fire pit, but it was used for boiling, not barbecuing. At first, they were confused. Apparently no one in this crazy world, except for dragons, barbecued meat. Turns out that all meat eating animals, intelligent or not, ate their meat raw. This led to the zebra cook asking her if she was something that she was only able to translate into 'Ape Dragon.' Ape-Dragon. Fan-friggin-tastic. Megan never bothered to dignify that with a response. She approached PT, and he handed her the usual. Fish and vegetable stew. With cooked fish, thankfully. It was quite nice. As he handed her a spoon, Megan eyed the way he held it in his hooves. Logically analysing it, he should not be able to do that. The spoon just perfectly balanced itself in his hoof, no matter which way he tilted it. Almost like there were invisible fingers gripping it. She had tried to ask him about it once, but her limited vocabulary did not allow a translation. After which, she just let it slide, and tried not to let the abnormal display bother her. But it was so damn hard. She attacked the bowl of stew with gusto, and it wasn't too long before she was handing the empty bowl back to PT. She watched him leave, only to pause and look up at the zebra in the crow's nest. He called out to her, and she leaned down to shake her head. He nodded, before trotting back to the rear of the ship to converse with the ship's pilot. Megan watched him until he reached his intended destination, before looking up at the zebra in the crow's nest. She was looking around in all directions, a telescope clutched in her hoof. The crew had been on the alert for something in these waters the past few days. They kept saying this one word, over and over again. Megan had tried to get a translation from them. At first, she got 'bad,' but she was able to deduce from a few more phrases. had been the one that finally nailed it. Pirates. They were on the lookout for pirates. The whole crew seemed nervous, with the exception of PT. Well, if he was nervous he did a damn good job at now showing it. PT had taken another gamble by following this route. So far, nothing had been seen and a few more days without anything on the horizon, the crew was finally starting to relax. The zebra in the crow's nest was still on the lookout though. She looked out in the direction he was. Only the flat, blue line of the ocean sparkled back at her. With a shrug, Megan walked over to the hatchway, and down into the ship, to try to explore some more. In spite of her freedom of movement, there was hardly anything to do on this ship. Hell, she would not even mind having a job of sorts. It would help pass the time. While exploring the lower levels, Megan found a whole bunch of junk in clay pots. They were weird looking knick-knacks, and what had to be tools. Those were the most bizarre. They had handles on them that were way longer than necessary. However, upon closer examination, Megan discovered that all of the handles were christened with teeth marks. So they used their mouths to grip these things. Megan wrinkled her mouth in disgust as she returned what looked like a hammer to the pot she'd dug it out from. She found it somewhat amusing that she was disgusted every time she saw evidence of the zebras using their mouths for manipulating objects. How many times had she seen them do that? Every single time they did, she reacted like it was only just witnessed. Thinking back on it, it did make sense if they lacked fingers, let alone hands. Towards the rear, she found something new. Clothes. However, these weren't clothes that the Zebras wore. She'd seen them wearing hooded cloaks and fancy jewellery, headdresses, dresses that they wore around their midsection that covered their flanks, and believe it or not, horse shoes. These were vastly different but hauntingly familiar. Upon further examination, she realised why. They were the zebra equivalent of medieval clothing. Tunics that covered only the front half, hats with feathers in them, hoods and bonnets with ear holes, capes, and all manners of surcoats, kirtles, and gowns. She raised an eyebrow. PT sure got around this crazy world. Then she found an item that caught her attention. Among the medieval stuff, was a gittern. That made her smile. She hauled it out and looked it over. Looking at the strings, she could not help but wonder if this were from the griffin's land. She paused in thought. Or minotaurs? She moved into a sitting position and cradled the instrument in her lap. She tested the strings and each one felt sound. Satisfied it wasn't going to break, she began tuning it until it twanged to her approval. Smiling, she plucked a few basic chords before trying a slow rendition of Greensleeves. After finishing that, she tried something more fast-passed: Classical Gas. Her fingers stumbled a few times over the unfamiliar strings of the instrument, but she managed quite well. As she finished, it was then that she was aware of the sounds behind her. She turned, her face full of curiosity, and blinked in surprise. There had to be about eight Zebras standing behind her, all looking quite intrigued. A few even looked excited. At the front of the crowd, Megan saw PT, a warm smile on his face. He nodded towards Megan, a gesture of respect, and suddenly began stomping his front hooves on the floor. Then the rest of the zebras followed suit. She tilted her head in confusion. Were they... applauding her? One of the zebras, she recognised as the ship's doctor, came up to her and scrutinised her hands. She made many gestures towards them, particularly the fingers, as she spoke to PT. The said zebra was listening intently, but not with his usual level of concentration he displayed whenever it appeared it found something that would be beneficial to him. Megan had seen that look many times before, over the week she'd spent at sea. This just seemed to amuse him. He stared at her, rubbing his chin in thought, before smiling and pointing at her, or rather the gittern. he said, She sighed before repeating the two words she did not understand, and shrugged. By now, the crew had picked up that was her way of letting them know she didn't understand those said words. PT repeated the first word, before rather awkwardly rising onto his hind legs. He then mimicked her method of playing the gittern, before repeating the word again. Okay, it was the zebra word for 'Play.' He then dropped back down onto all fours, before repeating the second word, before raising his front right leg, and mimed hugging something to him. He pointed at the gittern, said the word and hugged an invisible object to his chest. Megan's eyebrows shot up. It meant 'Keep.' PT was letting her keep the instrument. Megan stared down at the said instrument. She could have it. She repeated the word with a questioning tone on the end, as she hugged it to her chest. PT nodded. Megan said to him with a sincere smile. He returned the gesture. Megan then walked past the crowd and made her way up to the deck. She ignored the sounds of the zebras following her as she made her way to the bow of the ship. Sitting down on the railing, she strummed a few cords, before launching into the guitar cover of Killing Me Softly With His Song. Megan loved playing the guitar. She could play for hours. She usually did so as a method of escaping reality whenever things went wrong for her. Well, the gittern was no guitar, but it was a close enough substitute. As she finished up the song, she noticed that all the zebras were crowding around her, looking at her with mixed emotions of wonder, disbelief, excitement, awe. She smiled, rose to her feet and bowed to her audience, who immediately started stomping their front hooves on the deck. A good many shouted out what had to be the zebra equivalent of bravo. Many more shouted the zebra word for 'Play,' repeatedly. They wanted an encore. Megan smiled, sat down on the railing, and started to play some more. She must have played for a good three solid hours, because she had to stop. Her fingers were starting to get numb. There were numerous moans throughout the crowd, but PT quickly put his hoof down over the matter. After her display of musical talent, PT did not bother with any more language lessons for the day. Instead, he just let her do her own thing. Which was pretty much sit on her ass and do nothing. Feed up with nothing to do, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She sought out zebras in clusters and hovered at the edge, listening to their conversations. She had never been one to learn foreign languages in school, but trapped on a boat with nothing to do, it would have been something to break the time. She was able to pick up a few words, and with the blanks, attempted to figure out what they meant by either their actions, tone of voice, or by the reactions from the other zebras. She was hardly inconspicuous. Standing on the outer edges of their little groups, caused all conversations to diverge towards her. She could understand when they were talking about her, because of her name. She also recognised the word for 'Ape' tossed in, as well. Another interesting snippet of conversation she picked up on was the constant combination of her name, with that of PT's, and someone else's. From talking with PT before about his plans for her, he'd said that name a few times. At first, Megan had thought he was using another untranslatable word, like that word he used for that reason the jewelled rock would not light up in her presence. PT was taking her to meet someone. A few more barely understandable phrases also revealed that this someone happened to be at their final destination, not the port that they would be landing at next. Speaking of their next destination, wherever it was seemed to have a good deal of the crew excited as the days ticked by. From what little words she could pick up, it was either some big party town that was the zebra equivalent of Los Vegas, or their home. As the countdown to their next landing drew to a close, Megan kept up her language lessons. PT helped her by showing her picture book's of what laughably one of those baby's first book. It had been many years since Megan had been exposed to stories like this, and - like most adults without children - she had forgotten that books designed to teach a language to toddlers did not have plots. If you had to teach the words for ball and tree and run, telling a story was impossible. Megan knew that. And she hated every minute of it. She hated having PT read things aloud slowly and carefully. She hated him waiting for her to repeat it. She hated his waiting for her to re-read a page. Half the time she remembered the sounds for a word, she would not remember the writing for it. Symbols reappeared in different words, but she could not relate them to pronunciation. The two hours she spent reading the book felt like an entire day by the time they were through. By the time the ship pulled in at the port city, Megan had almost doubled her basic vocabulary and had formed a pathological hatred for children's books. *** The sun blazed down out of a sky the wrong shade of blue with a warmth she'd never known back on her farm. As usual, she stood at the bow, watching the port city unfolding before her. A good many of the buildings were low, box shaped one and two story mud brick buildings. The more important ones were built out of stone and towered above the rest. Palm trees dotted the landscape, sprouting above many of the smaller buildings, their green leaves standing out amidst the dull light brown of the city. Running along in the background, Megan could make out a Roman aqueduct, running parallel to the harbour, before making a 90 degree turn and proceeding out of view. Megan perked up as PT called out her name. he said as he pointed to the city. <**** No ****, bad. Boat is ****, good.> So, the city was not safe. That or PT did not want her to wander off so she could escape. So her leash had a limit after all. As they drew closer to land, PT gave her some more rules, which weren't too difficult to translate. Don't try talking to anyone. Don't let anyone know you are intelligent, unless I say so. When doing so, only show basic intelligence. The whole idea PT wanted to everyone to see was that Megan was a smart animal. Just like Joan, PT did not want anyone else to know that she was a sentient creature. As Megan contemplated this, her thought derailed as the sights of the harbour began to make themselves visible. In the waters of the harbour, numerous dhows sailed back and forth. Many such vessels were tied up at the many piers, along with sambuks, and even a smattering of baghlahs, but there was none the size of PT's. However, the one sight that stood out like she did among the zebras was sitting in an open area over by a large river that opened up into the ocean. A blimp. A blimp with what looked like a boat slung underneath. To add to its unconventional appearance, it also had webbed wings protruding from its sides. Many of the zebra crew were crowding near the bow, yet not too close to her, so that they could point at with their hooves and gibber excitedly in their own language. They were speaking so fast that Megan could not understand what was being said. The crowd parted as PT made his way to the bow and stared at the airship. He had a hoof to his chin, rubbing it in slow circles. This was a habit he did whenever he was in deep thought. Megan turned back to the blimp and concentrated her vision, trying to make out the zebras around it. All of a sudden, one of them spread its wings, and took off into the air, soaring magisterially around the parked blimp. Megan gave a little jump in surprise. A flying zebra? No, it was pure white with something shiny and grey covering its body. The sun glinted off its ashen grey covering, revealing it to be armour. Another two winged horses took to the sky, as they started circling the airship. Megan closed her mouth as she realised it had been open. Those were pegasi. Then she rolled her eyes as she mentally slapped herself. The rug back in Henry the Eighth's attic. She'd seen pegasi and unicorns on it. She turned back to the blimp. As the ship drew near the harbour, she could make out more armour clad pegasi around the base of the ship. Only these were dim grey, their fur colour much lighter than the armour of the pegasi. Their armour was a shiny gold that sparkled in the sun, and they wore morion style helmets while the white coloured pegasi wore Gala helmets. Megan could make out the pegasi on the ground. Their wings could easily be seen folded at their sides, but the grey ones, who outnumbered the pegasi, had no such visible markings. Other than a different colour, different armour and no visible wings, they also had some kind of protrusion just under the brim of their morion helmets. From atop the blimp, a large flag flapped boldly in the strong ocean breeze. It had a purple background with gold diamonds that were arranged symmetrically in the foreground. In the centre was the proud bust of a white unicorns head with a light purple mane. Her thoughts were interrupted as PT began speaking to the crew. They all gathered round as he gave out instructions. A few nodded, many looked pleased. A slight few looked saddened. From the limited vocabulary she'd picked up, it sounded like PT was discussing the rules for shore leave. The sad ones were probably the crew who had to stay behind on the ship. The ship eventually pulled up at one of the larger piers and was hastily tied up as crew members tossed ropes to zebras down below, with their mouths. The zebras on the piers tied up the ropes, again with their mouths, as a gangplank was lowered to allow a troop of zebras aboard. They wore strange necklaces with beads and feathers. Some even wore a slit dress around their flanks, much like Megan wore. They all carried Assegai spears, and some even sported Zulu shields across their backs. The most important one, whom was the only one who wore a dress along with an African sling bag, stepped up to PT, who also had a similar bag, as he bowed towards her. From her features, Megan saw that it was female. PT took her hoof in his and kissed it, prompting a giggle from the mare. He reached back to a sling bag, and dug around inside with his mouth, before pulling out a rose. The mare's eyes widened with delight, and she held out her hoof, which PT dropped it into. She marvelled at the flower, before barking to one of the armed Zebra's, a male, who stepped forth and took the flower in his own teeth, and walked away with it, leaving the ship. Megan's mouth became a straight line. She made a mental note not to touch anything with handles on it. Either these guys did not have to worry about hygiene or they'd invented one hell of a toothpaste. She batted her eyelashes at him and spoke to him, with tones that indicated she wanted something else. Megan suspected he was going to kiss her, but instead, he reached back into his sling bag and presented her an even smaller bag that jingled with a familiar metallic sound. He was bribing her? The female zebra appeared joyous at the gift, and quickly taking it with her own mouth, made it disappear into her sling bag. She then dismissed the armed zebras with her, allowing them to turn around and leave. Megan was still blinking in surprise at the transaction from before. PT had bribed her. Was she another customs agent? Why would he be bribing her? Her mind flipped back to the dragon bones and scales. PT had posted a guard at the entrance to the cargo bay where they had been stored, and even she wasn't allowed near them. As the two customs guards started down the gangplank, the female zebra began talking rather casually with PT. She could make out many references to friendship, and much emphasis on fun. Megan paused at that, as her mind unintentionally worked on a dirty image that sprung forth. Being horses of sorts, which would put all new meaning to the phrase, 'A Roll in the Hay.' She chuckled. She stopped as she came to the realisation that the female zebra was now staring straight at her. Megan stared straight back. How she had not noticed Megan before was a mystery unto itself. Heck, even the guards that had accompanied her had not noticed. The zebra then leaned in close and whispered to PT, who spoke to her in reassuring tones. She made out the word for 'Good,' and even managed to understand a small sentence that translated into, The zebra nodded, not taking her eyes off Megan. She asked a few more questions. Although there were many gaps in the translation, Megan understood a good gist of them. What is she? Where did you get her? Why is she wearing clothes? What does she eat? PT answered all of them calmly, but when he explained how he acquired her, he told a different tale. She was able to understand only half of it, but the half she did understand said that PT had bought her from the griffins. She kept asking more questions, but PT must have grown tired off them, for he skilfully led the questioning away from Megan, and instead started asking questions about the blimp. The female zebra started talking excitedly about it as PT listened intently. Much of the discussion was impossible to follow for the zebras used words she had no translation for. After a few tries, Megan gave up as it proved impossible to nail down just exactly what they were discussing. The conversation took an interesting twist when the female zebra said a phrase that included numerous references to the word for 'child,' and PT's eyes lit up. He started talking to her in what could no doubt be a smooth tongue. Something about helping him to see children. She sadly shook her head, before talking in some complicated phrases. PT nodded, and didn't bother bringing it up again. Instead, the two shared a kiss and the female zebra walked back down the gangplank. She cast one last look over her shoulder at Megan before she left. The crew set about organising hatches to be opened on the deck, while workers on the pier organised a treadwheel crane on the dockside. They manoeuvred the crane over the boat and lowered the hook down into the hull. A few minutes of shouting, and a few swears at the more careless zebras, and the hook retracted, carrying with it a cage containing the animals PT kept below. Watching the animals in the cages and thinking back to the bribes he'd just paid, Megan could not help but ponder what exactly was PT's full story. Was he a smuggler who used a legitimate business as a cover, or was he a legitimate business man who smuggled on the side? A new zebra walked up the gangplank to converse with PT. This one was male and Jesus tapdancing Christ was he overweight. He wore no clothing, except for a sling bag, but covered his whole body in necklaces and jewellery, and nearly every inch of his face was dotted with numerous pricing of sorts. The gangplank bent perilously as he walked along it, causing a few of the pier workers to cast nervous glances towards him. PT greeted him quite boisterously and the fat zebra returned the audible greeting, sitting down on his haunches in order to talk with him. PT asked him how he had been doing, before the zebra began a lengthy answer that proved too difficult to follow. All she could make out was eating well, and lots of travelling. Eating well. She laughed. The zebra turned his head and did a double take. Megan rolled her eyes. Seriously, what is it with zebras not noticing her till she was right upon them? Unlike the female zebra, this fat one was more than willing to take a closer look. He walked over to her, circled her a few times, and even took a while observing her hands and feet. He then calmly asked PT the same questions that the female zebra had asked. As they talked, Megan thought about all the zebras who had seen her. Joan had only wanted the bare minimum to know she had Megan in her possession, while PT wasn't the least bit abashed as to who saw her. Again, most likely due to whatever it was they wanted from her. If PT had no qualms about who saw her, did that mean she was better off with him? The fat zebra suddenly started talking to PT using the word for money, while gesturing towards her. PT only said 'No,' to all his offers. It finally ceased when the fat zebra began pitching another offer and PT simply cut him off before he could get to the sweetener of the deal. The fat zebra then nodded, getting the picture. Megan was not for sale. It was then that Megan felt the hairs on the back of her neck start to rise. The same little situation like this had arisen back with Joan. Only PT had been more instant in his demands. This zebra though seemed to take the answer he was given and move on. Or was he? Megan would have to keep a close eye on him. Both he and PT walked off to his cabin, once again discussing money. Most likely payment for all the animals. Megan walked over to the side of the ship and watched the crane load the animals onto the backs of numerous wagons waiting in a patient line. Once they filled one wagon the pier workers would throw and secure a tarp over the cages, obscuring their occupants from the outside world. The tarps were bright blue and held a printed logo of sorts, strategically located so that when it covered the cages, it blazed at its audience from every side of the cage. The logo showed the jovial face of the fat zebra bursting out from the tarp itself while streamers and confetti rained down around him. In the background, she could make out a big top with strangely painted zebras prancing around. Megan blinked in shock. It was a circus. The fat zebra owned a circus. So that is why he was getting all the exotic animals from PT. And that explained why PT no longer had the African themed animals. To creatures from an African themed land, they would be old hat. Now something like beavers, or wolves, or otters, or wild cats, wouldn't be something they would see every day. The wagons were pulled by... zebras? A two zebra team hauled every wagon, and Megan had to chomp down on her tongue to keep from laughing out loud. Those working on the dock again didn't see her. Ether they were concentrating on their job or it was something else. Again, did it have to do with that Mcguffin that she lacked? Her attention was drawn to PT's cabin door as it swung open, allowing both PT and the circus owner to exit with big smiles across their muzzles. Megan chose to listen in on their conversation. It was difficult as both zebras spoke fast. She managed to make out congratulations of sorts, what had to be well wishing, and references to family. Just as the fat zebra was about to leave, PT casually asked about the blimp over yonder. The fat zebra abruptly got excited and began speaking so fast that Megan could not follow a single word. Whatever was being said apparently had captivated PT's attention. However, as he neared the end, the zebra began slowing down and she made out a few more words, and even sentences. It seemed whoever the blimp owners were, wanted to see the fat zebra: Possibly his show. The final sentence caused PT's eyes to blaze, as it involved something about children. Again with the children. PT had reacted that way before with the female zebra customs agent. What was it about these kids from the blimp that had him hyped up? Again, PT asked the fat zebra the same request he'd asked of the female customs agent. Just like the customs agent, the fat zebra shook his head. Instead of giving some convoluted reply, he told PT that whoever the parents were, they didn't see guests. He finished it off by saying something that roughly translated into 'Unless you've got something really good.' PT sighed in defeat. Okay, so it would appear that not every gamble PT made paid off. As she watched PT despair, Megan noticed that the fat zebra was eyeing her. He quickly grabbed PT's attention, before indicating to Megan and asking about her? PT shook his head before he even finished his sentence. The rather emphatic 'No' that followed, along with a stern look on his face clearly told her Megan was not leaving his care. Or was it something else? Megan took notice of the way PT was now eyeing the blimp. Although she wasn't familiar with many zebra facial expressions, she could recognise fear when she saw it. He was worried about something and the root of that fear lay with whoever owned the blimp. He would cast quickly glances between the said airship and her. She cocked her head at this. Before he was excited about it being there, but now, when the circus owner suggested showing them Megan, he all of the sudden panics. Why? And why was he okay with zebras seeing her, but not the blimp owners? PT began saying something about the animals when he stopped dead in his tracks. Slowly, he turned to look at Megan. The look in his eyes told her he was thinking something over, very thoroughly. Again he looked over at the blimp, before looking back to Megan. Now he looked conflicted. He obviously wanted something to do with those children, but didn't want to use her to accomplish that goal. Then his eyes got that look. That look they got whenever he was going to take a huge gamble. She'd seen him do it before, when he was going to bluff in one of those poker games. he called out to her. Megan frowned. So he was going to use her. She hurried back to PT's room where she kept it. PT and the circus owner followed suit. She was already seeing what PT had in mind for her as she picked up the instrument. She was to play for the kids. That in turn would get PT God only knew what. Whatever it was he wanted from the kids, it was apparently enough to make PT take a gamble on letting whoever owned the blimp, see her. Again, why wouldn't he want them to see her? He was fine and dandy about everyone else seeing her. What was so unique about them? And if that was the case, why was he taking the risk of letting them see her now? What a contradiction. She could not think of any logical reason that could make any possible sense about all this. PT said. Megan did so. She played the Gilligan's Island theme but didn't sing the lyrics. Although short, it did the trick. The circus owner was flabbergasted. He started babbling loudly and hastily about the music she played. PT listened, and then grinned as he said that Megan would get him a private audience with them. Whoever 'Them' were. Banter was passed back and forth, too fast for Megan to follow, and an agreement was made. Two days from now, both PT and Megan would show up somewhere to play for the blimp owners. With the deal concluded, the circus owner left. PT closed the door behind him and turned to Megan. he said. “What?” Megan cried out. She was familiar with the Smart Animal routine. She'd been told to behave like that before she arrived. What she did not understand was why. She then shook her head, and said, She pointed out the window in the direction of the blimp. What was that word? It took Megan a few moments to realise that it had been used extensively when talking about the blimp. Oh. So what PT wanted from her, was not to show that she was sentient in front of the blimp owners. To pretend that she was a trained animal capable of tricks. She shook her head. That still didn't answer her question. she asked. PT licked his lips and he thought very carefully about what he was going to say. That was the word for that Mcguffin that she lacked. <****,> again the blimp owners, Megan nodded. This Mcguffin was present in all intelligent creatures. Okay, so what did that… Megan blinked in surprise as it finally caught up with her. Oh. This mystery thing, this Mcguffin, was present in not only all intelligent beings, but all creatures. She was intelligent, but she lacked it. PT nodded at her realisation. he then suddenly raised a hoof to his throat and slashed it across. Megan jerked back. No wonder PT was nervous about them seeing her. No. That was the first thought that ran through her mind. No way was she sticking her head into the lion's mouth. She'd taken significant risks letting her safety rest with both Joan and PT, but this? Asking her to do something that could get her killed if she let show her intelligent nature? The second, more predominate thought was why did PT suddenly want to risk this? She said with all the finality she could muster. She shook her head for emphasis. She'd put up with doing what PT wanted, but this? PT looked upset. She thought about voicing her second concern, but PT spoke up before she could. he pleaded. <**** no find out Me-gan has no ****.> Megan demanded. She said the name of the blimp owners as carefully as she could. Having bore witness to PT's gambling habits and jumping on opportunities when they presented themselves, it was clear that PT did not want anything from the children: Just the parents. Still, even if the chances of her little secret being discovered were less than one percent, she wanted to know just what it was she was putting her neck on the line for. It was funny thinking about it. She'd been content with letting Joan and later, PT lead her around without thinking of consequences, but once they were spelled out before her, she was only now putting her foot down. <****.> The word that PT spoke didn't sound like a zebra word and it caught Megan off-guard. “What?” Megan said. She shook her head, and said, PT sighed irritably. He motioned for Megan to follow her. He led her down to the cargo bay. To the special section that was locked and guarded. He dismissed the guard and took Megan on inside. She knew what was stored in here. The dragon bones and scales. He pointed at the cargo and said the names for each. He then turned to face her and started naming each and moving his hoof down an invisible line. He added two more new words before adding that one she had asked for a translation of. He then finished off his trip down the line by doing a 'Ta-dah' pose. Megan worked on what he was trying to translate. PT needed not only the scales and bones for whatever he needed them for, but a few more... components? Ingredients? PT continued. He explained that the untranslatable component was very had to come by and very expensive. The next part of the explanation took a good three-quarters of an hour to understand, but perseverance prevailed. The blimp owners, on the other hand, had lots of it, but were very reluctant to let it out of their own internal market. They only let out a few at a time annually, driving up the price into orbit and beyond. Megan snorted and rolled her eyes as the rest of the puzzle formed itself. PT did not have to explain the rest. It was so easy to see. He wanted to impress the blimp owners' children so that he could get an audience with them, and acquire his mystery item on the cheap. A few mangled conversations later confirmed this theory as fact. Turns out that PT was going to wait a few more days for another ship to arrive to buy this mystery item from them. However, it was by pure luck and chance that not only the blimp owners were in town, but PT had arrived when they were here. If he could not only impress the owners but get access to the market it originated from, he could get it much cheaper. So to put it bluntly, she was putting her neck on the line so that PT could save a buck. “You cheap-ass son of a bitch,” she said in English. PT cocked his head. he said. Megan just waved it away and said, Now PT looked pained: And desperate. His voice was pleading. He reached up to grip both her hands with both his hooves. They felt strong, reminding her of TJ. <**** will not know that Me-gan has no ****. **** will not know that Me-gan is smart, that Me-gan is no animal.> That got her thinking about that Mcguffin again. They would hate her for being an intelligent creature and not having it? Or would they hate her for not having it? And to whichever answer, why? She tried to ask PT this, but it proved impossible to translate. She was now more nervous than PT had been, but PT calmed her. Megan looked into his pleading eyes. They looked genuine. Then again, she'd never had much experience with zebras before. However, PT's attempts to get her to play were going through her mind. He could have easily forced her to. Instead, he was asking her, begging her to play. He could threaten her, beat her, but he did not. Yes, she knew next to nothing about his past or what he had planned for her, but he was kind. Nice. Even caring for her safety. Why would she treat him as an asshole if he treated her with kindness? That had been her excuse for being so servile with both him and Joan. Well, Joan had kept her in a cage, but at that time, she'd had no other option. Now she did, and PT was resorting to pleading with her, rather than threatening her. And if PT wasn't threatening her, she did not want to give him an excuse to do so. What else could she do? Run off and strike out on her own? She had no idea what lay beyond the city walls, and what lay in any direction. What was the plant life like? What would the animal life be like? All she could do would be to run, and with no plan, no food and no idea, she'd be dead before the week was out. As annoying as it seemed, she would have to rely on PT until she had no choice but to run. Me-gan mentally translated that last word as 'die.' All she had to do was play the gittern, and pretend to be a trained, smart animal. A trained monkey. No fancy tricks, no show of intelligence, and no harm done. Whoever the blimp owners were, they would accept her as a trained animal and not kill her. Straight in, straight out and PT can get whatever it was that he wanted from them. Although she felt a little degraded at having to be an organ grinders monkey, the alternative was even worse. Was this the reason Joan had wanted her kept hidden? For fear that the blimp owners would discover her? If that was the case, why was PT not the least bit worried about the number of zebras seeing her? This was why she was playing it safe, not trying to escape and leg it on her own. What other arcane, nonsensical rules were lurking out there, waiting to ambush her around the next corner? She sighed and shook her head. The risk was too high. She was about to say no, when PT jerked his head back as if struck by a sudden thought. He rolled his eyes and smacked his head, making a pained groaning sound as he did so. Megan frowned and held off on her final answer as PT reached into his sling bag. He pulled out a tiny ruby, before holding it out to Megan. Curiosity crossed her face as she leaned down to inspect the tiny gem. It was nicely cut ruby about the size of her fingernail. PT held it out for her to take, telling her to do so. He then came right up to her right hip, tugging at the hem of her dress with his teeth, tearing a small hole in it. This all happened so fast Megan barely registered what had happened. He then indicated for her to slip it into the hole he'd screated while he rummaged through his sling bag again. When he returned, he was holding that stone again. This time, when he pointed it at her, there was a slight glow from the stone, and PT gave a shout of triumph. Megan looked confused, and then her eyes widened as realisation dawned upon her. This ruby was giving her the Mcguffin that she lacked. No. She looked down at the hem of her dress. It wasn't giving it to her; it was faking one for her. It was causing the stone to light, making it look like she was. Megan gave a quick snort. PT said. Well, that was a relief. He then placed a hoof upon Megan's hands. Again, she looked down at the ruby, obscured within the hem of her dress. This would be good to have in defence against anyone else should she find herself on her own. Or if she needed suddenly to leave PT's care. She looked up at him and smiled. she said. PT smiled a relieved smile. He then moved his hoof to her arm and started patting it gently. he said. Megan smiled. *** Two days passed painfully slow, especially with not much to do. The crew rotated their shore leave, coming back smiling, singing, laughing, or carrying clay bottles containing a foul smelling liquid that they drank. A small few looked like their dog had just been run over. The way they eyed the bulging moneybags of their crew mates told the story. Often, Megan would climb to the top of the mast and sit in what passed for a crow's nest, observing the port city. She could see where the city ended as all the buildings came to a sudden stop near a rammed earth wall. What lay beyond was a mystery. There wasn't much one could observe of the city life, only those of the pier workers, as they bustled this way and that. Megan could not help but laugh at the irony of the workers acting as pack animals. Carrying things on their backs, or even pulling carts and wagons loaded to the brim with goods of all sorts. Looking over at one of the other big ships, Megan saw the tiny, but recognisable figures of the customs department, accompanied by soldiers, methodically inspecting the ship's cargo as it was being brought out upon the deck. They would go over it by sniffing the bags and crates before nodding to the ship's crew, who would then load it upon their backs and walk it down the gangplank to the waiting pier workers. Sometimes, they would shake their heads and the soldiers working with the agents would then proceed to open said cargo. She absent-mindedly looked down at the deck below her. The dragon scales and bones were still packed aboard the ship. They weren't off-loaded here, and most likely being intended for their final destination. Where she would meet this mystery zebra whom PT was taking her to see. She looked over at the blimp, with the pegasi flying combat air patrols not too high above. Watching the blimp drew her back to the task at hand. It was early morning now, and mid afternoon was when they would go to play for the blimp owners children's. The grey horses in gold armour formed a cordon around the base of the blimp. What few zebras who were visible near gave them a wide berth. Megan had seen many of the soldiers who accompanied the customs ' agents would often cast nervous glances their way. She looked down at the call of her name, and saw PT waving a hoof up at her. Megan nodded and started to climb down the mast. She then headed back into PT's cabin to fetch her gittern, and waited patiently for PT to give the word. When he was finally ready, the two of them walked down the gangplank and onto the pier where the circus owner was waiting for them, with what had to be an assistant. As the two greeted each other, the circus owner began spouting some complicated rules for PT, or was it payment for the favour he was doing for him? Megan wasn't able to understand, but when it was over, PT nodded and reaching into his sling bag, pulled out a large bag of coins, which the circus owner eyed greedily. He snatched the bag out of PT's mouth and jingled it, listening to the sound it made, before gleefully tossing it to the assistant who just as quickly made it vanish into his own sling bag. However, from the serious talking the fat zebra made after the exchange of money, Megan was beginning to suspect that what she'd seen was only part of the deal that the two had been working on. After PT had agreed to whatever was said, the circus owner joyously called them to follow, and they did. As they marched down the pier to the dock, zebras who were working there stopped what they were doing to gawk at Megan openly. It reminded her of her arrival at Joan's village, even when the overseers started swearing at the workers to continue doing their jobs. They did, but kept a curious eye on her all the same, talking amongst themselves. Of course, this time she could understand most of the chatter. The zebras did not exactly use words to describe a female, but another word that wasn't male or female. Nor ape. Megan's mind ticked over the word. It? Thing? Beast? Monster? Being on the ship for a good two weeks, the crew had gotten used to her. All of a sudden, the stares were back and Megan was beginning to realise just how unsettling it all ways. Megan sighed. Was this to be her new life? Constantly gawked at? No. She quickly shouldered it aside. She was a strong girl, and she wasn't going to let herself be dragged down by depression. Whatever was going to happen, she wasn't going to let it get to her. She knew if she did, that would be all she wrote. The one thing that confused her was when she overheard a few zebras exclaiming that she had no smell. This confused the living tar out of her. No smell? That damn dragon she bumped into when she first arrived didn't think so. It took a good whiff of her and decided that she 'Smelled' good enough to eat. She suddenly cut herself off in mid rant as it finally dawned on her. A few more tip-bits of conversations and she realised that they were saying something else. They were adding another word to the word for smell. It was the word PT used for that Mcguffin that she lacked. Megan rubbed her chin in thought. It wasn't that she did not smell, rather it was that she lacked a certain smell used to detect other creatures. Her mind flipped back to when she'd first arrived and how the zebras did not seem to notice her until she was upon them. That made her look at the noses on the zebras. Could they detect certain smells that the griffins could not? She did not know what the differences were between bird and horse noses. Then again, with this crazy mixed-up world, maybe the rules were different. She remembered how the zebras were able to pick up objects with their hooves in-spite of the lack of fingers. Megan just shook her head in disgust as she filed it away in the too hard basket. The complexity of it all was just too maddeningly confusing to think about! she concluded. They quickly left the dock behind and walked out into the streets of the city proper. The streets were wider here, compared back to the Griffin city, where the streets had been just wide enough for cart traffic. Here, they were wide enough and then some. Within this part of the city lay the lower merchants, traders, dealers, hawkers, along with business of all kinds crammed into the walls. Wide streets laid out to no set plan, just placed according to whim and need. All were cobbled in rough-cut stones, with here and there, a Periodic gratings in the street meant there was a sewage system working. Noise: That was everywhere. The shouting of peddlers, hawkers, and merchants competing with the bass rumble of heavy wheels and the clamouring of pack animals. Much like the griffins, the zebras had their own large pack animals: Elephants. Megan and her little troupe had to stop to allow one such beast to lumber down the street, its back laden with all sorts of rugs and sacks. All traffic halted to allow it through. Megan could not help but laugh at that. The traffic was horse drawn carts, or in this case, zebra drawn carts. A single zebra pulled the most, but here and there would be a team of two pulling much larger wagons. Megan had to bite her lips as they walked past two duel zebra drawn wagons who hadn't bothered giving each other the right of way. One zebra from each team had collided and were knocked senseless, while the other two zebras were busy shouting curses at each other. Megan chuckled as they passed the crash. No matter how strange things in this world seem to get, they always seem to remind her of home. Here and there hung banners and fluttered flags. They contained the same symbol of the white unicorn that Megan had seen flying from the top of the blimp. They hung from street lamps, windows, and even the tops of buildings. The whole scene reminded Megan of visiting dignitaries. A finger went to her bottom lip. Well, if these blimp owners were big-wigs, of course the zebras would go out of their way to make them feel welcome. It was then that Megan noticed how everything seemed to stop when she walked by. Zebras stopped what they were doing to stare openly at Megan as she passed. It wasn't too difficult not to notice her, as she stood higher than everyone else. Those who caught sight of her slapped their neighbour's shoulder and pointed. More and more heads turned. There was laughter from some, silence from others. A good few blinked uncertain surprise at her, but lost their fear upon seeing the circus owner. Much like at the griffin port city, they dismissed their worries as if the circus owner were the answer. This time, Megan understood why. A circus owner with a weird creature would not draw any suspicion: Just curiosity. As the crowds studied her, she studied them. There were scars on the body or nicks in the ears. Sizes varied enormously. Some were about PT's size; others were larger, almost coming up to her chin. There were tiny zebras too, foals. They came up to her knees and looked so adorable big heads and oversized eyes. One thing she did notice was that there weren't very many males. The vast majority of the zebras were females, who appeared to be doing most of the rolls, from seller to buyer, to minder or children. As the group moved slowly through the city, they picked up a small entourage of foals who ran after them. Megan was the attraction and they held back but within a good distance or her, hissing too low for her to hear, and pointing at her. She smiled and waved back, causing the group to squeal in surprise and scatter. They just as quickly regrouped. Observing them, she saw that they lacked those strange marks on their flanks. Well, not all of them. A few had the strange symbols of squiggly lines and triangles. They were the bravest, coming closer towards her than the non marked ones. Suddenly, they were in an open area and Megan turned to see a very large, dull orange pole tent was sitting in the middle of what obviously was a park with dull green grass, bushes and trees. The circus owner gave a hearty shout as he approached the tent, waving a greeting to another zebra who looked huge. Although he was big, he only came up to Megan's chest. The rest of him made him look like he was built out of bricks. He paid her no attention as he held aside the tent flap for the groups to walk on by. The foals, on the other hand, received a bellowing roar and they cleared the distance between the tent and the park, back to the safety of the buildings and streets with speeds that would leave a Kentucky Race Horse back home gasping for breath. Before the tent flap closed behind her, she could see their tiny faces poking out from behind the building walls in a way that made them look even more adorable. As the flap closed, Megan turned to look around her. This place was a circus big top. Instead of the usual circular formation, it was rectangular, with seats lining both sides, and entrance ways or exits at both ends. At the other end of the tent, zebras were putting the finishing touches on a fancy looking booth. Atop it, lay a shield with the same symbol she'd seen atop the blimp. The unicorn's head surrounded by diamonds. The circus owner pointed to the centre of the tent, where a large wooden platform had been erected. A few mangled sentences revealed that would be where she would play the gittern. Megan ignored whatever was said after that. It had to do with time, and what translated into other acts, so she began looking at the seats. They were strange at first, but on closer inspection, Megan realised that they were not raised seats, but rather raised platforms. There were no seats whatsoever. There were stairs to get to the platforms, but nothing else. Her thoughts were interrupted as PT tugged at her dress, indicating that she should follow him. She followed him, and the circus owners' assistant who'd accompanied them from the docks, through a side flap she had not seen, and through a tunnel towards another large tent. There were zebras everywhere. They rushed this way and that, jabbering excitedly, or shouting out questions. They were the weirdest bunch she'd seen so far. Some were covered head to toe in brightly coloured make-up, which glowed with a fluorescence under the flickering torch light. They ran about at speeds Benny Hill would have trouble keeping up with, and collided with each other in ways that looked painful, but were skilfully controlled so that they weren't: Clowns she realised. There was a zebra mare in the most elaborate dress she'd ever seen, with her mane in some organised mess. She was busy sorting out small bags that contained multicoloured powders. Most of the performers and stage hands, or was that stage hooves gave her a peripheral glance. They were most likely used to seeing all manner of weird creatures, so this was yet another freak to them. Still, Megan got the impression that they stared a bit longer than they would usually have. PT took her over to the far corner and through another tent flap, into a small but empty room with a woven rug. He motioned for her to sit down on the rug in the centre of the room. As time passed, the assistant would poke his head out of the tent flap, before leaning back in. PT and the assistant spoke with each other, but from what she could make out, it had to do with what he did around the circus. Listening to the conversation, she picked up snippets about PT's line of work. Apparently he was a well known trader of exotic items. Interestingly enough, there was nothing about smuggling. Trying to pass the time, Megan tuned the gittern, even plucking a few of its strings. Every time she did this, the assistant would flick his ears towards her, and PT would give a wry smile. Eventually, after the assistant poked his head out one more time, he leaned back in and nodded to PT. PT called out for Megan to follow. This was it: Show time. She rose to her feet and tailed PT out through the tent flap. The first thing she realised was the emptiness of the room. Last time she was here, the room was packed with zebras and now there was barely a soul. A few stagehands stood around chatting, but no performers were to be seen. The second thing she realised was the noise. As she followed PT down the tunnel towards the arena, she could hear the sounds of the crowd, intermingled with drums of sorts, along with the occasional explosion. They reached the tent flap and stopped. The assistant stuck his head through the flap, and Megan craned her head to get a small glimpse of what lay outside. The zebra mare with the fancy clothes and hairdo was up on the centre platform. She was speaking loudly to the audience, while holding different powders in her hoof. All of a sudden, her tone shifted into one more dramatic and she flung down the powder upon the stage. There was a loud explosion, and a green fireball erupted from the stage in a small mushroom cloud. From out of the cloud sprung a giant green fiery dragon. It soundlessly rose and circled above the mare who continued her talking. No, story. She was a storyteller. Megan wasn't concentrating on that, she was staring in disbelief at what was going on before her. Her jaw hung limp as she blinked surprise. How in all the bastards creation had the zebra mare pulled that off? From what she'd seen of the level of technology, there was no way they would have holograms or lasers. How was she doing this? There were some zebras situated around the base of the platform who were banging their front hooves on drums in a frantic rhythm that added to the excitement of the story. The zebra pulled out some more powder, before tossing it in an arc through the air. From the powder, an equally giant blue eagle sprung forth. The two behemoths suddenly struck at each other, clawed a few times, separated, then circled about and struck again. Instead of marvelling at their mid-air acrobatics, Megan nearly gave a cry of alarm at the second illusion. That zebra mare was pulling of a light show, and Megan had no idea how. A slight thought tickled at the back of her mind. Magic? She violently shook her head, throwing the idea out into the gutter and lighting it up. There was no such thing as magic and that was final. From the back of her mind, a small voice began to taunt her in a sing-song voice. There's no such thing as griffins. No such things as dragons. No such thing as pegasi. She unintentionally hissed at it to shut the hell up. Upon realising what she'd done, Megan froze, looking at both the assistant and PT, wondering if they thought her crazy. She had not needed to bother because they didn't hear her. That was when she became aware of another sound. Looking past the zebra mare on the platform, she saw hundreds of zebras now standing in the well, stands. Looking at the seating arrangements, it all made sense. Some were sitting on their haunches, while others stood on all fours. All of them were enraptured by the light show before them as they 'Oohed,' and 'Aahed.' Suddenly the two combatants were locked in a death roll and they both plummeted towards the zebra mare on the stage. They hit the ground with a loud 'Whoomph,' as the entire platform was engulfed in a plume of blue, green flame. The audience gasped as one and silence fell throughout the tent. The flame vanished leaving the platform and the zebra mare, completely unharmed. The audience went wild. They stomped their hooves so loudly and violently that Megan feared the stands would shatter. They did not. They did not even so much as shudder from all the punishment. The zebra mare bowed to both sides of the audience by lowering the front half of her body, and then towards the other end. Megan could not quite see who, but she knew it was where that booth had been located. With that, while the audience was still stomping their hooves, she collected her bags, and scampered down the stairs of the platform, before hurrying over to the tent flap where Megan was: Her drummers behind her. They barrelled passed her without a second glance, before PT nodded to Megan and indicated her to follow him. The voice of the circus owner bellowed out across the tent from atop the platform in the centre as Megan walked behind PT. He spoke so fast she wasn't able to understand a single word he said, or rather yelled. This guy could put a race announcer to shame. PT stopped just outside of the tent flap and waited as the circus owner did his thing. Turning to one side, then the other, before finally addressing who ever occupied the booth. Megan was beginning to suspect that the blimp owners were there. Then he finished up and galloped down the stairs. Once at the bottom, PT headed over to him and Megan followed. PT started climbing the stairs but asked Megan to wait at the bottom. Megan nodded, and PT climbed the stairs and into the light upon the platform. He bowed to the audience, before launching into his prepared speech. Megan listened intently, catching a few sentences. PT was explaining about a wild, but tame animal he'd trained to play music. Megan noticed that he was very illusive on where he'd found her, not even mentioning the griffins at all. Looking into the audience, Megan could make out many of them trying to get a glimpse of her. The bottom of the platform was shrouded in darkness, but they could make out her silhouette and stared with awe and wonder. Finally, PT called her up. Megan climbed the stairs and walked calmly into the spot light on the platform. The silence that filled the tent was deafening. All eyes were on her as she stepped to the centre of the platform, and unslung the gittern from her shoulder. PT then said two simple words. And play she did. She launched right into an instrumental version of Johnny B. Good. Megan stood as still as she could while she played, the only movement being her fingers that danced back and forth across the strings. She did not get into the swing of things, like Michael J Fox had in Back to the Future, but she did turn her body from side to side, so that the whole audience could see her hands and fingers move along the cords. Speaking of which, there was no sound from the audience as she played. As she finished up the first song and started Keith Richards, Satisfaction, she chanced glancing up. They were mirroring her stare when she'd first seen the zebra mare make a dragon and eagle out of powder. A select few were even swaying with the beat. She smiled, before finally daring a glance in the direction of the both. She nearly missed the next cords. There, standing in the booth, were a group of unicorns. They were about the same height and size of the zebras. Two stood out in particular. One, a male, with a coat that was a dark sapphire blue and a mane that was a moderate cobalt blue, wearing a simple gold crown upon his head. From in front of that crown, protruded his horn that was the same colour as his coat. Next to him stood a pure white unicorn with a blond mane. She wore an impressive jewelled crown atop her head. She wore an impressive gold and white robe, with a fancy looking collar with a large oval gem at its centre. The male unicorn wore a highly embroidered bright red shell jacket with a white sash across his chest. To either side of their booth, stood ashen grey unicorns in golden breastplate armour and morion helmets. Like the other two important looking unicorns, their horns proudly stuck out in front of their head ware. She also happened to notice that they weren't watching the show, but rather the crowd. To the side of the red coated male unicorn, stood a zebra, a female. She wore a red shawl over a long white silk slit dress, and a red deshret upon her head. Megan gave a low whistle. All those crowns meant that these were some paramount equines. It did not take Megan long to understand those two unicorns with the crowns were the blimp owners. Unicorns. The little voice in the back of her mind snickered. Megan rolled her eyes as she finished her second song. In spite of all the freaky and weird things she had been witnessing, she found it rather amusing that she was still finding everything else that popped up surprising. She wondered when, or if, the time would come where nothing would surprise her anymore. As she prepared to start a third song, she hesitated slightly. There was still no sound from the audience. Looking around, they were still staring at her in undisguised shock. No stomping or cries of approval filled the tent. She turned to give PT a quick glance, but he was smiling broadly. Megan turned away and swallowed the lump in her throat, unsure of the silence being a good thing or bad thing. On the opposite side of the female unicorn with the large crown, was an armoured unicorn, only his helmet was crested with a feathered plume. However, what sat between him and the female unicorn had to be the children she was supposed to play for. She could not see much of them, just their heads. Much like the zebra foals, their heads were big with their adorable, yet impossibly huge eyes that watched her with wonder. Their forelegs were draped over the side of the booth so that they could lean out over the edge of the booth to get as close a look as possible. One had a pure white coat, with a pink mane, while the other, much smaller, had a coat of dark sapphire blue, and a moderate cobalt blue mane. The two horns protruding from the manes of both children revealed their species. Both wore tiaras. The white one had a golden tiara, and the blue one had one of black pearl. Observing the way they watched her with a mixture of awe and admiration, Megan could not help but crack a tiny smile. She started playing Horse With No Name, and took satisfaction from the way they tried to crane even further over the edge of the booth. The older white unicorn leaned down to say something to the both of them, and the turned to give her apologetic expressions, before quickly turning back to Megan. Megan could not help but chuckle softly this time. Kids will be kids. She played song after song. Day Tripper, Pinball Wizard, Hank Marvin's Apache, Black Magic Woman, Lyala, Sultans of Swing, Wipeout before finally finishing off with Nuno Bettencourts Play With Me. The numerous and complex notes that needed to be played on the gittern did not come out sounding like they would on an electric guitar, but they none the less sounded impressive. By the way the audience was staring in amazement when she finished, they were more impressed by the sheer amount of notes in the air, rather than the music. A good many of them had even plastered their ears back against their skulls that told her what they thought of the song. Note to self, no more heavy metal. As she finished up, she put the gittern down and faced the audience. The crowd went wild. They stomped their hooves, they bellowed approval, and a few even were jumping up and down as though they had springs. Still the stands did not even shake. There must be some good engineering behind them. She was about to bow, but hesitated. Would that be revealing that she was intelligent? PT saw this, and motioned for her to bow, which she did. She bowed to both sides of the audience, before turning to bow to the unicorns. The three adult unicorns were politely stomping their hooves, but the children were jumping up and down. Megan frowned. As they peaked in their jump, they hovered for a few seconds before coming back down to earth. Was it just her imagination or did she see a slight blur at their sides. A tugging at her dress caused her to look down to see PT trying to get her attention. He motioned with his head towards the exit. Time to leave. She followed PT down the stairs and towards the tent flap. Heading towards the flap, she could make out numerous zebra faces poking out from behind. A good many of the circus cast had watched her play. Megan could not help but smirk. She remembered the songs that the griffin had played, how it seemed like a simple song for beginners. These creatures probably weren't used to hearing such complex chords and melodies being played. Hell, they lacked fingers, and those that did didn't have enough. She felt the spring in her step as she walked through the tent flap. This was the first time she'd felt good about herself since landing in this world. The circus cast had long since gone by the time they left the tent behind. PT hurried her back to her small little waiting room where she'd waited out her turn on the stage. The circus cast and crew were all back in their waiting area, all talking amongst themselves. Although they were all chatting at once, blurring their conversations, she did make out the word for Ape, mentioned numerous times. This time, Megan did not care that they were talking about her. Once inside her little waiting area, she turned and asked in a low voice, PT smiled and nodded. Megan now understood that word meant unicorn. They waited for some time before the circus owner returned, a huge grin on his face. He conversed with PT, talking about the unicorns and how their children wanted to see more. PT was ecstatic and agreed but only on the condition about that mystery item he wanted to get. Megan found she wasn't as panicky about performing a private show. She knew what not to do, and wouldn't have to worry about getting found out, and killed. Her hand went to the hem of her dress near her right hip, where the ruby was still snugly secure. Besides, part of her wanted to see those little unicorns again. She smiled herself. They were adorable. Seeing them up close would be nice. The circus owner left, telling PT something about organisation. They waited for some time more, before the circus owner returned. He said that they had agreed and were waiting. PT called for Megan and she followed. The back area of the circus was now empty. No one was present. They walked down another tunnel towards another tent flap, being guarded by two unicorn soldiers. They passed through into what had to be the circus owners' private quarters. It was pretty large for a personal room, but there was junk everywhere. Standing in the middle of the room, flanked by more guards, were the three adult unicorns and their two kids. That fancy looking zebra wearing the red deshret had apparently followed them back here, as well. Her dress covered her hind quarters preventing Megan from seeing her weird flank symbol. She was busy chatting with the female unicorn, while the male unicorn in the red shell jacket stood on the other side calmly watching. From the tone in her voice, the female zebra appeared to be attempting some pitch to the unicorn mare, who wouldn't seem to accept it, if the shaking of her head were any indication. The armoured unicorn with the feathered plume in his helmet stood next to the children. Those said children grew excited as Megan entered the room, and she nearly baulked upon seeing what happened next. They had been sitting down on their flanks when she entered, but the instant they caught sight of her, both rose. That is when she saw what was on their sides, by the shoulders of their front legs. Wings. She now saw them because as they rose, their wings shot straight out and began to flutter with excitement. Both of them. They not only had horns but wings? Did that make them horned pegasi, or winged unicorns? She also saw they too had strange marks on their flanks. However, unlike the zebras who had lines and triangles, these were proper pictures. The white one with the pink mane had a picture of a stylised sun, blazing away. The dark sapphire blue one had a crescent moon on a dark purple background. Her eyes shot to the other adult unicorns. No, they did not possess wings. It was just the kids. PT bowed first to the unicorns wearing crowns, then to the deshret wearing zebra, speaking complicated words of greetings to her. She smiled and nodded in return. The adult unicorn mare began addressing PT in her own language, which PT then revealed he was rather fluent in. Whatever was being said appeared to be in PT's favour for his grin grew wider with every passing syllable. Megan turned from the adults to the children who were eyeing her with awe. By the way they shifted from side to side they clearly wanted to get a closer look at her. The unicorn with the plumed helmet kept shifting his glance between her and the children, even putting his front leg out in front of the blue one to keep her back from Megan. She was beginning to suspect that he was their bodyguard. The talking between PT and the unicorns must have concluded because he then called for her attention. He pointed at the children and told her to play. She had given some thought to what she was going to play. Looking at the pictures, or tattoos, on their flanks, she had briefly entertained the possibility of playing Here Comes the Sun, or Bad Moon Rising, but no. That would be cruel, plus she did not want to favour one over the other. Instead, she chose to play Sweet Child of Mine. They watched with reverence as her fingers danced across the strings. Even the adults watched more closely this time as all ten of her fingers strummed out chords and notes more complex and detailed than anything they'd probably ever heard. Bohemian Rhapsody, Don't Stop Believin', Red River Rock, William Tell Overture, and When I Come Around. She then moved on to something a little more soft. She played We Three Kings, Leaving on a Jet Plane, Auld Lang Syne, Do They Know Its Christmas, and Rocky Mountain High before finishing off with another complex song, doing a fairly decent rendition of Randy Rhoads guitar solo of Crazy Train. Okay, that last one wasn't soft, plus she did make the decision not to play any more heavy metal, but she wanted something that put a lot of notes in the air. Besides, it seemed only the Zebras didn't like Heavy Metal and at the moment, there were only two. As she finished off, the children began cheering as they bounced up and down. They particularly liked the John Denver songs. That made her wish she'd only played more of them. PT, on the other hand, looked as though he'd struck gold. The male unicorn with the red shell jacket eyed Megan suspiciously, before he turned to PT, addressing him in his own language, as he occasionally pointed at her clothes and the gittern. PT casually shook his head, then reaching into his sling bag, pulled out the familiar stone. Megan went stiff as a board. It was then that she finally remembered something else. She lacked a certain smell that the zebras couldn't detect. Would the unicorns notice it? Then she paused in deep thought. If they could, why would they have not noticed it when she walked in to meet them before? Maybe they could not. Was the smell something only zebras could detect? Possibly. That would explain why they did not ask PT about it the instant she walked in. Still, it didn't stop sweat from breaking out across her forehead as he pointed the stone at her. Thanks to the ruby, it emitted the faintest of glows, and PT continued talking in the unicorn language. All present nodded in understanding as if the stone answered everything. The male unicorn too nodded in satisfaction and the suspicious looks he'd been given Megan vanished with the wind. What had just transpired? Then a thought struck Megan. The male unicorn had been pointing at her clothes and the gittern. Did he not fully believe the cover story that Megan was a smart animal and that she was possibly an intelligent creature? After showing the stone and it gave off a small glow, he seemed to believe whatever PT said without a single counter argument. She would really, really love to know what it was that she lacked to make the stone fail to glow upon being pointed at her. So that she could at least know what to guard against being found out. Until then, so long as she kept the ruby on her she'd be fine. The unicorn mare spoke with him again in her own language and his grin grew to the point where it would only take a few more inches to either side to make him look like the Cheshire Cat. So, PT's big gamble had paid off. Megan gave a mental sigh of relief as he hand rested upon the front hem of her dress where the ruby was hidden. She wasn't too sure if she was willing to do this again, but looking at the gleeful children's faces, she might. Well, only for them. The sapphire blue one spoke to the unicorn mare in an excited tone, and all adults in the room went stiff while the bodyguard moved his leg to block the children from Megan. This worried Megan and her own body tensed. The unicorn mare gave Megan a long, thought stare, before turning to PT and asking him something. PT nodded, and said something back, putting a hoof across his chest, almost as if he were saying, 'I swear.' The unicorn mare gave Megan a reproachful glare, before looking back to the children who were watching her with patience eyes behind the outstretched leg of their bodyguard. Looking into their faces, she sighed and turned back to face Megan. The look on her face needed no words. If any of those kids ended up with a bruise, her death would be the least of her problems. She turned back to the bodyguard, nodded once and the leg was lowered. They suddenly rushed at Megan, but slowed to a trot after a short, harsh sound came from the mare. Megan was now starting to suspect she was their mother. She eyed the lack of wings on the unicorn. Or guardian. They came up and stood before her with no hint of fear in their big, expressive eyes. {Meeg-han?} the sapphire blue one said, attempting her name. {Me-gan,} the white one said, as if it were correcting the other. {Me-gan,} it said again, proud of her ability to pronounce her name better. The sapphire blue one shot the white one an unimpressed glare, while the said winged unicorn only stuck her tongue out in reply. The white one then reached out with a hoof towards Megan but hesitated. Megan smiled, before slowly raising her own hand, and holding it out to the outstretched hoof. Hesitantly, the hoof touched her hand, and then began feeling it. A second, sapphire blue hoof joined the white one, as they explored every inch of her hand. They grew more adventurous, testing the fingers and her thumb. Watching with awe as they bent the digits this way and that, she had to remind them that they could not bend every which way, and she gave little grunts of pain when they tried to bend them in directions that they could not. They ran their hooves up her arm, marvelling at the smoothness of her skin. Then they were feeling her long blond hair, exclaiming at this and that. The small sapphire blue one started feeling her face, particularly around her mouth and nose, before feeling its own muzzle. Its quizzical little head turned to one side and asked something in a questioning tone. It was almost as if it were asking Megan why she did not have a muzzle. It was so cute that Megan almost reached down to beep her on the nose. Looking at the both of them, Megan finally realised that the two winged unicorns were girls. How she missed something important like that until now was just too embarrassing to think about. The white one was observing her feet and toes, feeling them, and testing their flexibility as with her fingers. Her sister came over to see what it was that had her sibling so occupied. Then she found something else to be fascinated with. Her backside. Or rather, the lack of a tail on her backside. She poked around the area, feeling the small stump of a tail bone and frowned. She tried to lift up Megan's skirt, but Megan firmly held it down. Meanwhile, the white one was trying to figure out Megan's knees. Prodding the kneecaps, and exploring her hamstrings. Megan smiled and slightly crouched, allowing her to observe her knees in action. The white one gave a squeal of surprise. Blinked a few times, and then gave another squeal as she clapped her hooves together and shouted in what could only be, 'do it again.' She crouched down fully and rose about three times. On the fourth, she curled up into a ball and rolled forward. The two children gave another excited squeal and gave chase. She came to a stop, not far away, letting the two foals catch up with her, before suddenly back flipping and rolling in the opposite direction. They thought it was the greatest thing ever. They rushed after her, laughing and squealing with excitement at the flexibility of her body. Megan even caught the adults staring at her with amazement. As she stopped, and prepared to roll back the other way, the sapphire blue one caught up with her and in the heat of the moment, jumped up on her back. Megan stopped in mid role, not wanting to roll backwards and hurt the little foal. Then her mind began to process the situation she was in, and a smile spread across her lips. She could not resist the irony and reaching around, held the little foal by her flank as she rose to her full height and began slowly to jog around in a circular motion, giving the little foal a piggyback ride. The foal was silent for a split second, before letting loose an almost hypersonic squeal of glee. She held onto Megan's shoulder with one hoof while waving her other around in the air as she whooped out cries of exaltation. Her white sister galloped along at Megan's feet, looking up with awe and expectation, until after a few minutes, her expression started to sulk. The female unicorn said something that made the sapphire blue one sulk herself. She patted Megan on the head and motioned with her free hoof for her to lower to the ground. Megan did so, allowing her to get off, and the white one to climb on in her place. Now it was her turn to mirror her sisters cries as Megan trotted around the room with her. They swapped positions at least five times before they finally called it quits. Well, they did not grow bored; they grew fascinated with her ears. Sapphire had accidentally brushed her ears climbing onto her back, and instead of wanting a ride, started playing with them. White, not to be outdone, started playing with her other ear. They folded them, bend them and even tried to see how far they could twist them. Sapphire - she sighed mentally. They needed proper names. - reached behind her ear and unintentionally tickled her, causing Megan to giggle. The noise startled her and she moved away suddenly. Megan smiled at her, before slowly reaching out with her own hand. Sapphire did not even flinch as her fingers sneaked behind her ears to tickle them. Now it was her turn to giggle. Still smiling, Megan carefully worked her fingers down into the joints between her ear and head, where she knew TJ liked to be scratched. Sapphire closed her eyes as she leaned into her fingers as they worked their magic. She sighed and smiled contentedly. White suddenly appeared at her other hand, nuzzling it. She needed no words as she worked her hand behind her ear and started scratching there, as well. For the first time, Megan noticed the silence. There were no sounds other than the two children sighing and grunting happily. It was like driving in the rain, only to go into a tunnel and realise that the rains no longer pelting your roof. She left their ears and started patting their manes. They felt so soft, almost like silk as her fingers practically glided through them. She was very mindful of their horns. No telling what would happen if she tried to touch them. Watching them, she once again focused on their tiaras. She looked back to their mother, or was it guardian? Her crown and that of her male companion. Her husband? It was obvious that they were all monarchs. She looked back to the two foals. Maybe they were her children. It was then that it hit her. She knew exactly what to name to two foals. White would be Princess Elizabeth, and Sapphire would be Princess Margaret. She moved her hands from their manes to their coats, stroking and petting them. They liked that just as much, allowing her hands to slide across their fur, even sighing as she gave their hind quarters the occasional scratch. Then to her surprise, Margaret moved closer to her, nuzzling under her chin. Elizabeth soon followed, nuzzling into the base of her neck as she petted the both of them. Megan could not help but smile and her strokes became more caring, lovingly petting them, but making sure to stay away from their wings, just as she'd avoided their horns. Again, no telling what they would do if she touched them. Their mother spoke to them, her voice full of amusement. They answered back in contented voices, which caused their mother's now visible smile to broaden. She turned to her husband and spoke to him, after which he replied with the shake of his head. After musing over his response, she turned to PT and asked something. Whatever was said had an imitate effect on the two foals as they sharply turned their heads towards him with expectant eyes. PT, on the other hand, looked like he'd just sat on a tack. The last time she'd seen him with that expression was back in the dining hall of Henry the Eighth, when Joan had revealed for the first time that she lacked the Mcguffin. He quickly blinked it away to replace it with his usual mask of professionalism and politely answered along with a shake of his head. The two foals' ears drooped at his answer. Their mother turned to give them a sorrowful look and shrugged in a way that said, 'I tired.' The zebra wearing the deshret spoke all of a sudden, drawing everyone's attention. Although she spoke to the unicorns, her glance kept sneaking over to PT. After she finished, PT stared at her as though a cobra had suddenly slithered out from under her deshret. He carefully licked his lips and spoke to her, still in the unicorn's tongue. She could hear the occasional tremble in his voice as he spoke. The two foals returned to their depressed expressions. The zebra mare noticed this and turned on PT. She then spoke in the zebra tongue this time. What she said exactly, Megan could not understand. Although she spoke calmly and slowly, the zebra mare used complex words Megan had never heard before, allowing her to only understand one in ten words. Upon completing that speech, Megan grimaced at the expression now on PT's face. It would have had to lighten to seem grim. Whatever was said, it did not bode too well for PT's future if he said no for the third time. He slowly turned to face Megan, a pained expression on his face. At the sight of that, Megan began to worry. What exactly was being said, she had no idea, but she was starting to understand it involved her. PT turned to the zebra mare again, before gradually turning to face the unicorn mare and nodding, said one word. Both the princesses started jumping up and down, shouting with jubilation as their little wings blurred. Megan watched in fascination as they hovered in the air because of this, before realising what was going on. Something involving her had just transpired and whatever it was, PT wasn't happy about it. So, PT had gambled big and it had failed. Panic suddenly gripped her. What had failed? Her thoughts were interrupted as the two princesses gathered around her, hugging her affectionately and saying her name over and over. She petted their manes in confusion, while watching PT talk begrudgingly with the two unicorn monarchs. The zebra mare looked pleased with whatever had just happened. PT looked like he wanted a cyanide pill. At first, she thought his attempt to get into the market of whatever it was that he wanted had failed. It soon became clear that wasn't the case. As Margaret began nuzzling under her chin while babbling excitedly, it struck like a thunderbolt. PT was being forced to hand her over to the unicorns: As a pet. Sitting there, Megan felt no emotion whatsoever. She was surprisingly calm as she sat there, petting the two foals as she stared blankly ahead into space. She could not even muster so much as a sob. She just sat there, hoping against hope that whatever had transpired could somehow magically reverse itself. It wasn't until PT turned to give her one last regretful stare that she realised it wasn't going to happen. He then turned away to converse with the zebra mare in tones she could not hear. PT then moved away as the unicorn female came over with a broad grin, and began talking to the zebra mare. Looking at the smile on the zebra mares face, along with the enthusiastic nods, she began to understand the irony of what had happened. PT had used her with the foals to get what he wanted. The zebra mare had used Megan with the foals to get what she wanted, and PT had not calculated that into the equation. She obviously had more rank in zebra society than PT did, and simply threatened him with something he could not afford to say no to. Her mind flipped back to when she'd first arrived in this room, and the zebra mare was attempting to pitch some idea or trade deal to the unicorn mare. Whatever it was that she wanted from the unicorns she was going to get it, judging by the way her grin grew as the female unicorn spoke. Then she remembered something. The Mcguffin smell she lacked. The unicorns had not noticed it, and when the zebra mare had threatened PT, she'd spoken in her own language and in words she could not follow. Did she know? If so, why wasn't she telling the unicorns? Again, she thought back to the bribes, and secret deals she'd seen. First the griffins, and now the zebras. Maybe she did, maybe she did not. Whatever the answer was, she probably would never know. What she did know was that, once again, she was the victim of secret deals she did not understand, nor knew existed. PT just stood back and watched with an unreadable expression. The female finished up with the mare and turned to talk to PT, who only nodded, adding a few more words of his own to the conversation but never once gaining that painful look while talking with the zebra mare. Listening, it soon became clear that PT wasn't going to miss out on being let into the mystery market, just being forced to give Megan up to the unicorns. Whatever plans he had for her, she would never find out now. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Megan had not been an essential part of PT grand master plan, just an unexpected bonus that he had stumbled across. His plans for her rested at their final destination, along with his other plans, but she did not play into them. Still, he was bitter about having to surrender her. It was obvious PT did not have to worry about money, so what? Just like Joan, she'd have to miss out on the final act of that particular show. Now, once again, she was starting up a brand new act. Only this time, she had a clear idea on where the show was going. She was a pet to children. A pet to children whose parents would kill her if they discovered that she not only was an intelligent being but that she also lacked something that she had no clue on. Sitting there, petting the two excited foals, one word did pop into her mind. Shit.