Dust. Or is it dirt? Any amount of it brushed from her coat would float in the air as dust.
Yet while in her coat it is the same color and texture as the dirt beneath her. Such thoughts float through the changelings mind as she trudged along a dirt road in a field of wild grain. Tall golden stalks sway in great waves around the path and its slowly moving occupant. Dust is brushed aside by thoughts of some poets words on the subject. The walk of a pony dejected and alone, those words coalesce in her mind.
This sort of thinking really doesn't help her mood. The changeling continues, her preferred form of locomotion carrying her slowly across the golden no-where.
More productive thoughts, about where this path was going and how long it had been and still steams to be, float around. Without answers, she decides not to care.
The changeling holds a pony form. Wings hang , folded on her back. Her coat is so dusty as to be unrecognizable. It had been so the night before when she had woken in the crater, stumbling around in the field had found her this road and she had decided to trudge.
She doesn't look ahead. She only sees dust and road.
The sound of wheels bouncing down the road pulls her slowly out of her own head. Her legs bring her to the edge of the path to avoid being run over.
"Hello there fellow traveler!" A mares voice calls out to her from the approaching wagon.
Dark blue coloring shows through a light coating of dust on the tall unicorn, pulling the wagon. A swirl of stars and sparks adorn her hip and the large sign , on the wagon, emblazoned by the words," Magic and Other Wondrous Things".
The imitation pegusus slows her steps. The sight of this other traveler and her burden giving her allot to think about. Traveling showponies had visited her detachment of royal guard. Such entertainers had been a favorite distraction. Thoughts of that other life bring happiness and a sense of loss. That isn't the pony she is now, some part of the changeling reminds her. Still a smile touches her face at the sight of the performer.
She can feel emotion radiating from the newcomer. Only ponies can produce such radiance. A constant love for everything and everypony around them brightens the changelings soul , a mirror to this emotion.
The unicorn slows her step as well, pulling herself alongside th pegusus from behind. " would you mind if we walk together the last few miles into town? I hate to be rude, but it has been a long and lonely walk. I'm Bright Stars."
The changelings mind races quickly. What had this pony been called? She would have to make up a name. Blue wings, she knew she had those. Something to do with weather would work.
"I'm Fallen Rain. Its nice to see somepony else out here." Her voice falters. Her throat is very very dry. She spends a few moments coughing and swallowing to clear it.
"Are you okay?" Bright Stars horn glows as a water bottle floats out the front of the wagon and down to the pegusus.
Gratefully, Fallen Rain accepts the bottle and drinks. "Thank you."
"It sounds like you haven't had many ponies to talk to either." The unicorn smiles warmly.
" not exactly," the changeling returns the bottle." I would be grateful for the company on the way into town."
For a time the two ponies walk together in silence.
"Are you a magician?" Fallen Rain asks quietly.
The unicorns smile widens and her head rises with a little pride." I am. I perform small magic acts and trade in magical artifacts and substances. My travels have allowed me to seek out the wondered of the world."
That's why im here. What about you? What brings a cloud walker like you to the golden Valley?"
"Honestly, I'm lost." Fallen Rain lookes down at her hooves, then up towards the far off mountains. "I was blown so far..
"You got caught in that storm last night didnt you?"
Bright Stars says quickly with a good deal of concern in her voice. "The Windigoes seem determined not to let winter end with those with terrible storms blowing over half the continent before they wind down. I wouldn't fly into one of those with a dragons wings. You could be caught up in it for days."
"I think I was." she stretches her dust covered wings. Many of the flight feathers are out of place.
"Where were you when you entered it?"
"Somewhere over Equestria. I think so, anyway." her gaze settles again on the mountains.
Bright Stars seams lost for words. Her Horn shimmers in a magical haze and a simular haze passes over Fallen Rain's wings. And then the rest of her body. The look of concern on the unicorns face softens somewhat as her magical examination completes itself.
"You are very lucky. No broken bones or dislocations, you may have some bruises. I was expecting allot of damage."
Fallen rain chuckles slightly."The first lesson you learn about flying is how to hit the ground." she slowly refolds her wings. "How far are we from Equestria? "
"I dont know exactly. Probably two weeks walk." The unicorn now takes a look across the horizon."Ive never been that way. By roads I know, it would take almost a month."
"Ouch."
"I suppose you could fly back allot quicker though. Do you intend to go straight home?" Bright Stars wonders at this pegusus. She is so dirty and disheveled and so far from home."You should come into town with me.
Its a beautiful little place and you need rest before you try to fly so far. you are here by invited to spend the night on my extra bed."
Fallen Rain simply stops walking. The offer of a place to sleep and the company had been so sincere. She starts walking again slowly. " I would be really grateful for that."
Its not as if I can actually go back to Canterlot. She thinks to herself.
I dont know where to go now.
The hive is probably closer.
I dont want to go there. I never want to go back there again.
The change lings thoughts are interrupted by the sound of flowing water.
"The little bear river! I like to be presentable when I enter a town and this is a perfect opportunity for a bath." Bright Stars pace quickens in anticipation."I know I need one."
"That sounds wonderful."
A bend in the road reveals a break in the tall grass and a wide riverbank of small rounded stones. The large wagon is left on the edge of the road and the two ponies approach the river. The water flows cold and fast and looks almost as refreshing as it tastes when they drink.
A light hearted giggle is all the warning Fallen Rain gets before a rather large amount of magically lifted water falls out of the air above her.
"What hey!" The pegusus blusters.
For a moment all she can see is a riot of color. Red, purple and green streaks are obscuring her vision for a moment before she realizes its her own mane.
"Come now, surely you didnt wish to remain that dirty." The unicorn is now pouring water over herself in a gentle spray and a small bag is floating toward her from the wagon. "Shampoo?" She offers.
Fallen Rain has been using the pretext of the bath to examine the form she had apparently held since Canterlot. Six hues of the rainbow flow in her main and tail. Her coat and feathers are but bright blue and a multicolor lightning cutie mark adorns her hips. The colors hold her in a small state of shock but the body pleases her. She is happy to be fit and healthy, and her wings are clearly well trained. Vague memories of such a pegusus crashing about in the fight at the castle put the changeling in deep thought about her past.
"With a mane like that I would make every effort to keep it clean. It must never fail to attract attention." Bright Stars removes a bottle from the small bag and dispenses a small amount of creamy product into her hooves." It looks so bright and fun. Did you dye it like that? "
The pegusus accepts the offered product and looks over her companion as they each begin scrubbing their own locks."It just came out of my head that way."
Bright Stars mane and tail are nearly black. The hair glitters and sparkles like a clear night sky.
"You look like princess Luna." The statement falls out of Fallen Rain's lips so easily she seams surprised she said them.
The unicorn gives her a somewhat curious look. "normally ponies say I look like Nightmare Moon."
"Oh" the changeling hesitates. She had spent most of time among ponies becoming a royal guard, as part of the queens plan to take over. Not many ponies mentioned Nightmare Moon around the royal guard, especially not Luna's personal guard, of which this changeling had been a member. She now wonders what most ponies think of the reformed princess and her past.
"I think I prefure how you phrase it." Bright Stars says with another light hearted giggle and turns her spray of water on the pegusus again.
The pegusus in question is so far into her memories she flinches heavily when the water hits her. She lets the lather wash from her mane before retaliating with a large splash.
After some horseplay the pair continue cleaning themselves. Fallen Rain begins the proscess preening the many twisted feathers in her wings. Bright Stars small bag contains many wonderful hygiene products and after almost every small container is slightly lightened she trades it for a stack of extremely fluffy towels from the wagon.
"I am a firm believer in quality towels." She explained." If you enjoy using them they have an almost infinite number of uses."
This was demonstrated when she wrapped her long tail in one and tied the end up so none of her freshly cleaned hair dragges behind her. Her mane also gets a wrapping and it seems she is going to keep them that way as she returns to the yoke of her wagon.
Fallen Rain contented herself with touseling her colors dry. They were quite a bit shorter and kept themselves clear of the ground.
The yoke gets a quick scrub with a damp towel and the remaining towels are returned to the wagons interior. Then the two ponies set off again down the road.
Bright Stars rekindles the conversation."Only about ten minutes are left before we reach Oak Lake. Have you ever been here before?"
"I dont think so. I haven't spent much time outside of equestria."
"That's ok. Ive heard its really nice there."
"You've never been to equestria?" Fallen Rain was genuinely surprised. Equestria was as big as it was because of the three tribes of ponies uniting. Almost no ponies lived outside of the great nation. Other species had small countries in other parts of the world, and many ponies travel to see distant places but for a unicorn to have never been to equestria or to have never taken advantage of Celestial schools of magic, is beyond rare.
"My father and I left Equestria when I was just a filly. I dont remember much." The unicorn had drifted away in that sentence. She remembered something and it didn't please her.
"It's so wonderfull there. There is nothing wrong with traveling but Equestria is ... just wonderfull. Everypony is freindly and loving, unless you get on their bad side. Then they all work together to overcome whatever danger or threats are present."
Fallen Rain felt a surge of pride in the ponies she had known and called freinds.
"I think I may have been born on their bad side."
Bright Stars statement left a silence in its wake.
Fallen Rain tried to find a meaning in it. She didn't have enough information. She tried imagining a meaning in it. And found herself wondering how alike the I unicorn and her might be."Why?"
The question was allot more serious then the casual statement that had preceded it.
"Because everypony says I look like Nightmare Moon." a shadow passed over Bright Stars face as she said this. This short narration was going very deep for her and she didn't know why she was willing to talk about it with this new companion.
"Its been a thousand years.
Until Princess Luna came back a year ago everypony thought she was a myth." More of this unicorns past was as surprising as what she already knew. "Who's bad side did you get on by looking like her?"
"Pri-Princess Luna, came back?"
the wagons wheels fell silent. Bright Stars had stopped moving. Except for her lower jaw. This particular part of bright stars kept moving as if forming several questions at once. Her vocal cords refusing to participate meant that no sounds came out.
Fallen Rain looked at her companion quizzicaly for a moment. "Yes, she returned from the moon last winter solstice."
"I think, I would like to hear more about that."