//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Aloof // Story: Remnant // by preaplanes //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle sat in her basement laboratory with a microscope. Slides and droppers lay neatly stacked alongside her, a new book open in front of her, "Maladies and Mutations". She was reading very thoroughly through the section on blood. "Sulfhemoglobinemia, a condition where somepony's blood has excess sulfhemoglobin (obviously), a greenish pigment that can't turn back into normal hemoglobin. Leads to cyanosis. No, that's not it either." she sighed. Twilight Sparkle had been running tests on the mossy stains all evening. The first thing she had discovered that it was, indeed, pony blood. Type O Negative, in fact. Universal donor, but for somepony who had been bleeding there wasn't a worse type to have. Thankfully, Silky had been found before things had gone from bad to worse. But ponies' blood didn't turn green normally. That in itself was the problem. Twilight had spent a while searching, but she couldn't find anything describing a condition that described somepony bleeding red, but whose blood turned green when it dried out. Somewhere in the back of her mind was the answer she already knew, scratching to get out, driving her inquisition forward. She looked at her clock; it was about time for her to stop studying. She would resume later. Silk bolted upright with a quick shout, her lungs putting out a metronome of short, quick breaths. She looked at her surroundings, seeing that she was still in Fluttershy's... building. She didn't know what to call it, not having seen it from the outside. She glanced out the window, seeing shaft of sunlight piercing through it. It was midday now. She had spent the whole morning, in addition to the previous night, trying to fall asleep only to wake up from an inevitable nightmare. Cursing her inability to combat her own dreams, Silk wondered if she'd ever get a good night's rest again. It had been a week since she had been wounded and still her nights were sleepless, more or less. The cast, as it had been referred to by her rose-maned rescuer, didn't seem to be making anything worse. If it hid an infection it would have burned by now. Instead, all it seemed to do was prevent Silk from nipping at a continuous itch which the cast seemed to make all the worse. Today, though, Silk decided she would try her magic, her horn having sealed the small crack shut a couple days ago. She looked around for some way to scratch this infernal itch, finding nothing until her eyes fell upon a pencil on the other side of the room. That might work. Her horn lit up azure as she concentrated, using telekinesis to move the writing stick over to her. She slipped it carefully into her cast, scratching the unseen skin as her mind wandered. It was skin, right? Last time she had seen it it hadn't been, after all. Then again, Fluttershy hadn't noticed anything fishy so it had to be. Besides, if it wasn't, it wouldn't feel this good to scratch it. Silk sighed. These were thoughts that normally she would have made public: harmless ramblings that weren't in any need of privacy, but even though she still thought them publicly, there was no public there. There was only a persistent, empty ringing that swallowed up her messages the moment they left her, and even if the worst of the grief was behind her, it was still an alien sensation and a sad reminder of what was lost. Fluttershy opened the door, with Silk quickly pulling the pencil out of her cast and flicking it across the room in response, not wanting Fluttershy to see her messing with it. A small, sweet flash of self satisfaction struck her when it landed on the desk without bouncing off onto the floor. The pegasus came in carrying some kind of oddly shaped wooden stick, the purpose of which Silk couldn't guess. "Good morning. I, uh, thought you might want to walk a bit so I brought a crutch, that is, um, if you don't think it's too early." I don't like the sound of that, Silk thought, frowning at the connotation of the word. She had only heard that word used metaphorically, being a changeling. Changeling skeletal injuries were rare due to their natural defenses. Silk only wound up like she did due to an obscene amount of force being applied to her by one of Nightmare Moon's monsters. If a changeling injured its wings, which was rare, it could still walk. If a changeling injured its leg, which was much rarer still, it could still fly. Being unable to do either was almost unheard of, with the exception idle "what if" conversations. As such, the simple mobility tool of the crutch was a nigh total unknown to her. Fluttershy handed crutch to silk, who held it there in her right hoof for a moment and wordless stared at it trying to figure out what the purpose of the device was. After a few moments, Fluttershy volunteered the information, nervously giving the instructions on what the thing was used for and how it was used. Silk placed the crutch under her damaged leg as instructed, placing her covered hoof on the hold and attempted to walk with it. When she pulled back on the crutch, she moved forward. A brief moment of fright hit her as she felt herself being lifted up and forward, then back down. As soon as she was on her three good legs again, she realized what it was. It was a lever, pushing her forward in a small jump each time. Moving around with this would take some getting used to. The masked changeling hobbled about the small room a bit, getting used to moving with her crutch. It wasn't exactly a comfortable form of locomotion, but it didn't hurt, so there was that. She then tried to leave the room, only to be greeted by a staircase. Fluttershy walked up behind Silk and inquired, “Oh, um, would you like to go outside?” Silk nodded. “Okay, let me help you down the stairs,” she said as she propped her blue guest up, letting her lean on her as they moved slowly down the steps. The two moved out of the the house, which was also filled with animals. Silk finally stepped outside again, for the first time since she was on that muddy, sandy shoal. The breath of fresh air was a welcome relief to her lungs as she breathed deeply, stepping onto the road into town. As they went they crossed numerous animals. Fluttershy was, of course, greeted with happiness and appreciation. Silk, however, was far more mixed and matched. Some would welcome her nearly as enthusiastically as the animal loving mare next to her. Some would actually hiss and snarl at her, only to back down and whimper for some reason when Fluttershy looked at them. Most, however, had a cautious curiosity about her, as if there was something wrong but they just couldn't put their paws on it, but weren't too worried due to the company she was carrying. The town was big, at least to Silk's eyes. It wasn't as big as Canterlot, but that wasn't her point of comparison, the marsh was. Changelings did not have buildings, at least not so grand as these. They would create makeshift shelters or hollow out trees, sure, but this level of construction was unique to ponies. Maybe gryphons had those similarly skilled in engineering, Silk wasn't sure, but changelings didn't, and from what she had seen in her time as a scout, dragons even less so. Dragons never built anything. They didn't need to, so they were usually living in caves and volcanoes, or just badlands in general. Dragons were tough like that. Ponies were all over. Some were standing and others were sitting; some were moving about and some were talking and a few were even flying. As Silk walked about, taking in the view, she found herself very suddenly facing a very pink pony with a mane that seemed way too fluffy and bouncy to believe. Silk would have checked her cutie mark, but that was pretty hard to do with somepony's face five inches from her. A pair of cerulean eyes stared at her. The pink pony eyed Silk suspiciously. “Hey, wait a minute, I know what you are...” “Y-you do?” Silk asked nervously. How did she know?! Did her behavior give her away, or was there something wrong with her transformation, or- “Yeah, you're somepony new in town!” the pink one exclaimed, her eyes widening in glee. “Fluttershy, why didn't you tell me? My pinkie sense has been going off for, like, a week! I need to make a party seven times as super as normal since it took me seven days to find out! Like a super-super party! I have to find some streamers, and balloons, and make a cake! A big one! Do you like chocolate? Maybe vanilla or strawberry or maybe blueberry, even though I haven't tried that one in a while, it doesn't seem that popular, but I think it's great and by the way what's your name?” Silk didn't know what to make of this pony, other than that she seemed to run on an energy as limitless as the sun's. “Um... Silky Sheets,” she replied, very confused. “Hi Silky, I'm Pinkie Pie! Well, that's a nickname, but I like it a lot better than Pinkamina Diane Pie! Pinkamina sounds like pinkameanie and that's not very nice and what kind of name is 'Diane' anyway, it sounds so weird, doesn't it? Anyway, I need to get going, I've got a lot of stuff to prepare and wait a second-” Pinkie yammered on but suddenly stopped. “My cheeks are all tingly, and that means... hey, I know where you're from...” Silk wasn't sure how to react to this. There was still the confusion about what she was trying to arrange, and what this “Pinkie sense” was, not to mention the fact that she seemed to be Fluttershy's exact opposite in terms of how much she talked. But now there was yet another red flag being raised instantly in Silk's mind. She gulped. “I, uh-” “You came from a rock farm! Or something like a rock farm. Oh no, I grew up on a rock farm too, it was so sad there! No wonder you look all mopey dopey! I have to make it a super special party to cheer you up! Oh no, I'm already throwing one of those! It has to be twice as special as the seven times as special, oh I've got so much work to do! Bye Fluttershy, bye Silky, I hope your leg gets better soon!” Pinkie blurted, turning and dashing off at a speed that shouldn't have been possible. Silk looked to Fluttershy, raising an eyebrow as if to ask what the hay that was all about. “Oh, uh, I try not to think about it too much. Just try to let it go and think 'it's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie'. Twilight tried to figure it out but she burst into flames and still doesn't know.” Pinkie suddenly zipped right back. "Oh, and you should find someplace to take cover, my tail is twitching. See ya!" she babbled, zipping off once more. Silk shook her head to snap herself out of her attempt to comprehend what just happened, heeding Fluttershy's advice. Bursting into flames sounded bad... especially the green kind right now. Fluttershy, on the other hoof, seemed to have taken shelter underneath a market stand... these ponies were weird. It was just as well. Once her leg was healed, she would have to leave the town. Staying in one place was too risky. Eventually she'd slip up and reveal herself and would have to go try to live somewhere else, where suspicion would also follow her. It was best to just keep moving, she figured. Becoming attached to anypony was a bad idea. Attachments brought emotions, and emotions had to be suppressed. Emotions were pain. Emotions were suffering. They were torture and agony and death. Even if ponies had emotions that were positive, that were food sources, in Silk's experience, changeling emotion was nothing but a toxin. If one were to drink in too much negative emotion, one would surely die. It happened often in the swarm. If one became too weak to fight his or her own emotion, they would cough and sputter, they would hack and spit and puke, and would eventually die a horrible, miserable death. They would die alone, no changeling wanting to get too close to those emotions lest they too get a dose too much to handle. It was a terrible way to go, and despite her fate, she was in no hurry to do so. Ever since she woke up, maybe before it, it was much harder for Silk to control her emotions, so she simply had to avoid getting to know everypony as much as possible. Silk sighed as she thought of this fate to wander eternally, and looked to her usual bright side. At least it isn't raining. Silk then felt the sensation of being suddenly soaked, as if somepony had thrown a bucket of cold water on her. She looked up to see a single small raincloud hovering not thirty feet above her. "OH COME ON!!!" she yelled, far more in indignation than in anything else. She tried to sidestep, but forgot about her crutch, winding up stumbling onto her right shoulder. She wasn't hurt, but the rain was still overhead, and that made her feel a bit grouchy. "Whoops, sorry about that!" the cloud yelled in a female voice. "I guess I must've rolled over a bit too hard in my sleep," said a sky blue pegasus mare who stuck her head out. Her hair was... well, arranged in a spectrum of the traditional primary and secondary colors. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. There was a bit of debate about the true identity of the primary and secondary colors going on between the scientific community and the artistic and magical communities, though Silk was unaware of that. To her, a rainbow was a rainbow, rather than roygbiv or rbg/cmyk. Fluttershy offered a hoof, realizing that the thing that was going to fall out of the sky was rain. "Are you okay, Silky?" Silk nodded, carefully getting back on her hooves with Fluttershy's help. "I'm fine, thanks," she said. The blue pony flew down and looked at Silk. "Friend of yours, Fluttershy?" "Yes. But uh, well, we haven't known each other very long, only about a week." "So what? A friend's a friend! Hi, I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in all of Equestria!" Rainbow said, offering a hoofshake. Her parents named her Rainbow? Yikes, I guess they must not have been the most creative couple. Silky thought, shaking hooves, replying "Silky Sheets." Of course with that stupid alias, I'm hardly one to talk. Then again, I came up with it on the spot. Dash retracted her hoof, shaking it as it had become wet by contact with Silk's sopping fur. "Want me to blow you off? It'll only take a sec." Silk refused. "No thanks, I've got it. I have a spell. I just need a bit of privacy," she stated. It wasn't a lie. "Oh, nice!" Dash said. She noticed Silky was standing on a crutch with a cast on her leg. "Ouch, broken hoof? I broke my wing once. I hated not being able to fly." "I know the feeling," Silk muttered bitterly. "What?" "Nothing." "Anyway, I'm gonna go practice some stunt flying, I'll see you two at the party later." "How did you know there's a party later?" Fluttershy asked. "Pinkie always throws a party for anypony new in town, duh," Dash responded, taking flight "See ya around!" And with that the multicolor-maned pegasus flew off in a blur, leaving Fluttershy and Silk standing there. Fluttershy trotted out in front of Silk. "I have a friend who can help with your mane. I could take you to her... um, if you would like to, that is," she suggested. Silk nodded, following the mustard pony through the town. Fluttershy led her to a tall, circular building. It was colored in some parts by a diagonal checkerboard pattern, alternating between light purple and lighter purple. The wall on the ground floor was blue, though. The structure was covered in elaborate markings and frilly patterns. At the top was a small flagpole with a long triangular red flag flying on it. The building was near a collection of nine tents, and the shape of the building was somewhat reminiscent of a tent. Silk noticed what appeared to be two carvings of ponies being impaled through the center of their bodies, and a picture of one up front, which seemed like a pretty morbid decoration to her and made her apprehensive. Still, she followed her guide inside. Hey, it had to be better than being cooped up all day. She hoped. The interior was no less decorative, probably even more so. The molding was in ornate, two lines coming to a heart repeating over and over, above which was a pattern that looked something like the ends of a doily. The room had a few mirrors and mane equines within it, and thick drapes colored a deep royal violet were all over the place. Silk's wariness lessened greatly as she looked about. Well, it doesn't seem like someplace a killer pony would live. Fluttershy looked about quietly with Silk until she found who she was looking for. Silk turned toward where her friend was looking and saw a white pony hard at work. It was a mare, judging by the shape. Her mane and tail were clearly meticulously styled, and three blue diamonds adorned her flanks. She hadn't heard her guests enter and Fluttershy seemed unwilling to disturb her. Still being quite new to this, Silk didn't question it and simply followed suit, sitting down and waiting. After five minutes, Silk grew tired of just sitting in the same spot on the ground and went to find a chair, discovering a seat in a vacant mirrored booth behind a curtain. She made sure the cushion wouldn't be damaged by water and sat down, closing her eyes to relax a bit. A half an hour rolled by before the pony turned around. She was a unicorn, judging by the horn. The unicorn jumped when she did so, apparently startled. "Good heavens, Fluttershy, how long have you been standing there?" Fluttershy, of course, began her apologies. "Oh, I'm sorry, Rarity. You just looked to busy concentrating on your work that I didn't want to interrupt you." "It's fine, dear, just make sure you let me know you're there next time," Rarity replied, regaining her composure. "Now then, did you need something?" "No, I didn't, but I was wondering... if you could maybe help my friend whose mane got messed up... that is, if you aren't too busy." Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Rainbow Dash or Applejack?" she inquired, wordlessly asking which of the two had needlessly messed up somepony's hair this time. "Rainbow Dash." The fashionista sighed. "Well at least she's less prone to get everypony absolutely filthy. Well, let's see what the damage is, where is the poor thing?" Fluttershy looked to her side. Silky wasn't there. "Oh, I guess she must be here somewhere, I didn't see her leaving." "Very well, Fluttershy, we'll see where she went off to." It did not take long. The first place that Rarity checked was indeed where Silk had been waiting. She had fallen asleep, her nights hardly being restful this last week. She was lying on her stomach. Her forelegs, cast and all, lay in front of her, her hind legs tucked in, and her head resting in between her forelegs. A doleful expression was worn on her face. Rarity could tell that this young mare had been through a lot recently. She had a very fine mane that had suddenly lost its luster. Tear lines could be seen beneath her eyes. And yet, there was something deeper, something unusual hidden beneath, and Rarity could not make out what. Of course, that was all beneath the still damp coat. It looked almost like she had lost a water balloon fight with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and that might lead to split ends, perish the thought. "Oh the poor thing, I only wish I had known sooner!" Rarity exclaimed dramatically. That woke Silk up. "Wha-?" "We simply must get your mane some proper care!" the white mare said, whisking the pony into the seat. "Wait, I-" "Such lovely highlights, they really bring out the color of your eyes. Maybe we could put in a-" This was all a bit too much for Silk, who had just woken up. She made the first excuse for some breathing space she could come up with. "I have to use the bathroom!" she said. "Ah yes, down the hall on the left." "What hall?!" Silk snapped. It was a circular building, for crying out loud! Rarity sighed. "Over here" she said, pointing her hoof down the hall. As Silk dashed in that direction, she heard Fluttershy whisper, "Um... I think you scared her." Yes, yes I think that's a fair assessment. Silk arrived in the bathroom and locked the door behind her, breathing a sigh of relief. She walked over to the mirror and realized she hadn't actually seen herself in the mirror. She could tell what her coat color was, obviously, and her mane color(s) would surely be very similar to her tail, so that wasn't a big deal either. She could see her eyes, though. They were blue, with the typical white sclera and black pupils of a pony. Of course, that wasn't the problem either. The problem was her mane itself. She had no idea what shape it was in normally, and she had mentioned around Fluttershy that she could dry herself off with a spell. Was it straight, or maybe wavy? It couldn't have been curly or very styled, it wouldn't be shaped down as neatly as this. Well I guess I can try for something between the two. With a flash of emerald flame, her mane and coat were dried, and she had decided on a slight wave, hoping that the middle ground was the answer, or at least wasn't too noticeable a difference if it wasn't. She had kept the length, the color, and the turquoise stripes. It had been a rushed, unreliable spell when she first took on this form, after all. She was honestly surprised it hadn't bitten her in the flank. Silk walked out of the bathroom a little more confident, until she saw Fluttershy and her white friend, that is. "Oh wow, you made your hair wavy!" Fluttershy marveled. Oh horseapples. "Oh my! Your coiffure is simply marvelous! The gentle wave, the lustrous sheen, and the texture! It's as soft as a foal's!" the marshmallow mare gushed as she swarmed around Silk and handled her, single-hoofedly crowding her guest. It better be, it's about thirty seconds old. And what is with this pony? Even with their limited telepathy, changelings still had a sense of personal space. Silk's was being heinously violated right now. "That was magic, wasn't it? You simply must tell me, what spell did you use?" Silk shifted nervously. "It's uh... a family secret." Silk felt satisfied with that answer. The best cover stories weren't lies, merely carefully phrased versions of the truth. At least that's how it worked for her. The pearl coated pony seemed a bit disappointed. "That's a shame, but I suppose we all have our own little tricks of the trade. Oh! Where are my manners?" I've been wondering that myself. "I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Rarity, what's yours?" "I'm Silky Sheets." The answer had come quickly. Silk had introduced herself as such twice already today, and it was getting easier, though she couldn't help but feel like a broken record. "I do apologize if I made you uncomfortable, Silky. I can get a bit... overzealous in my work." Silk could taste a bit of embarrassment coming from Rarity. Embarrassment didn't really taste like anything else, it was a weird emotion. Rarity wasn't really suppressing it, but she was doing her best to keep her equanimity. It also seemed she didn't suspect her for what she was, which came as a relief. “I think I can understand that,” she answered, accepting the apology. “Thank you for understanding, Miss Sheets,” Rarity smiled. Silk, on the other hoof, recoiled. “Ugh, just Silky please,” she insisted. The extra syllable haphazardly slapped onto her name was bad enough, but being called by that poorly thought out last name was just too much. “Tell me, Silky, what does a mare of your talents do for a living?” You're not of the woods yet, are you, Silk? a little voice said in the back of Silk's mocked as she fought her panic down. How exactly was she supposed to answer THAT?! She would have to demonstrate whatever she said somewhere down the line, it was only a matter of time, and that whole "cutie mark" think complicated things. Just what the hay was she supposed to say about a stupid bed?! It wasn't even real, so whatever she decided to say wouldn't match up. Was she supposed to be a good sleeper? Even if that was a job, which it wasn't, she hardly qualified with the nightmares she'd been having. Was she supposed to be able to literally make a bed? Yeah, right, like she knew how Ponies built things. Was she supposed to be able to pick out great linens and bedding? As if she could get away with that fib around this fashion-obsessed dressmaker who undoubtedly knew about such materials. There was only one thing to do: come up with an excuse and get the heck out of dodge. "I, uh, oh, look at that, it's almost lunch time! Come on Fluttershy, you can show me where to get something to eat!" she yammered nervously, pushing the pegasus with her head despite her broken hoof and sliding her across the ground. "Um, okay, I guess I can do that," Fluttershy said, confused about what was going on as she slid out the door, leaving an equally confused Rarity behind. Back in town, Fluttershy had led the two to the market. Street vendors with quaint booths full of goods of all shapes and sizes lined the streets as far as the eye could see, though due to the large crowd of ponies that gathered to shop there, that wasn't all that far. It seemed everypony was wearing saddlebags here. "So, uh, what would you like to eat?" Fluttershy queried, having finally worked up the nerve to ask. Silk had, of course, noticed her hesitant nature not long after interacting with her, but it still surprised her how much the pony did so. Such hesitation was somewhat alien to the changeling, who shared many of her thoughts with the rest of her kind... or used to. Silk thought about the answer. She wasn't truly hungry, of course, at least not for anything that could be picked up here. She doubted she could just order a happyshake. Oh, wait, that vendor over there is advertising those... but I doubt that's literal. "Um, maybe we could get some fruit?" Silk asked. That idea wasn't bad. Fruit was sweet, usually, and it was sometimes eaten by Changelings. It wasn't food, really, but it tasted sorta like it. It was something used to lift the spirits, or at least keep them from crashing down, and made one feel like, maybe, one was something more than just some stupid, oversized bug. "Oh, sure, I know where we can get some. It's this way... I think..." You think. Terrific. Fluttershy led Silk through the crowd. It took a while because she kept letting everypony who crossed her path cross first, but she still arrived at her destination in a few minutes. She had stopped at a wooden cart with a green and white striped, triangular-prism-shaped canopy. Above the canopy sat a flat wooden apple with a horseshoe on it. Standing to the side of the cart was a proud looking orange mare in a brown stetson hat. She had both her mane and tail done up in ponytails (a word which baffled Silk as to its origin). Her chest was puffed up in a clear display of pride in her wares, her legs straight and hooves planted firmly on the ground. The mare's posture relaxed when she saw the two approach. "Well howdy, Fluttershy, what can I do for ya?" she asked in an accent that Silk could not place, not knowing about places like Hoofston or San Anponyo. Silk's attention wasn't on the mare, though, but on the two bushels of shiny red apples being displayed. Silk hopped forward with her crutch and looked at them all; she rarely saw this much fruit in one place. She took one that looked especially nice. "That'll be one bit," the straw haired pony said politely. Silk's head drooped a little. Money. Of course. Just one more thing that was different about this culture. She was about to put back the fruit, when Fluttershy saw her crestfallen friend, pulled out a pair of bits, and took one apple for herself. "Here you go, Applejack. This is enough, right?" "Thank ya kindly, sugarcube!" the pony, apparently named Applejack, replied. Silk was touched by this, but this sentiment soon led to a struggle within her. She's just been so nice, and I've been so... useless. she thought, shuddering as she repeated the word from her nightmares. I'll find some way to repay her later, I have to. Wait... what later? What am I doing? I can't get attached to them! I'll have to leave as soon as I recover so I don't get caught, and then what good will those connections be? But maybe the good now will outweigh the bad later? What good? All my emotions have ever brought me is pain. "Um, Silky, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, bringing Silk back to reality. "Oh, uh, yes, I'm fine." Silk answered, regaining awareness of her surroundings. She was staring down and noticed her cast. "Well, mostly." Applejack went to shake hooves. "The name's Applejack, proud owner of Sweet Apple Acres" she said, grabbing Silk by the good hoof and shaking it up and down almost as fast as a changeling's wingbeat. "I'mSilkySheets" Silk blurted, trying to take control of her hoof as quickly as possible. The "Silky" bit was beginning to grow on her, but she was really starting to hate the "Sheets". Oh well, too late now. "A pleasure makin' your acquaintance, Silky Sheets." Yup, definitely starting to hate that part. "So, how'd you bust your leg, if ya don't mind me askin'." Fluttershy reacted slightly at this question; she hadn't wanted to pry and hadn't asked all week how Silk had broken her leg. "I... I got wounded during the fight in Canterlot." she answered. It was the truth, and surely injuries after the attack had to be fairly common. Applejack nodded. "Ah, I gotcha. Nasty, good fer nothin' varments, those changelings. Impersonatin' princess Cadance, going all mind-doohicky on Twilight's brother, and attackin' everypony to boot! What kinda monster does somethin' like that?" "Uh, heh-heh... yeah..." Silk chuckled halfheartedly, guilt beginning to weigh on her. She had considered that "the enemy" would turn on her when they knew what she was, but she hadn't actually looked at their perspective of things yet. She took a bite of her apple. Now she needed this pick-me-up. Applejack didn't notice, and was too busy whispering something to Fluttershy. "Did she run into Pinkie yet?" Fluttershy gave a slight nod. "So it is a welcome party? But she's been actin'... Pinkier than usual all day. I haven't seen her actin' this weird since the parasprite incident. She came by and bought a dozen apples so fast I couldn't even tell who it was, until I found a trail of confetti that is." "Oh my!" "Well, I guess we know what we'll be doin' later on today, don't we? Take care of yourself, now, I've got to get back to my cart." "Oh, uh, okay," Fluttershy mumbled under her breath. "Well, what now?" Silk asked, her spirits better than a few moments ago. It was an temporary increase in morale, but the apple did take the edge off of things. It was like an aspirin tablet in that way: it didn't take away the cause of the pain, but it let one ignore it more easily for a while. Fluttershy thought for a moment. "We could go to the park." she suggested. Silk liked the idea, a park would be someplace she would be more used to than any street or building. And so the two set off for the park, arriving there a few minutes later. Silk looked around for something to do. If she could still fly, she could sit in a tree and enjoy the view. She could sit on a cloud, for that matter. But she couldn't fly, so that was out of the question. She could enjoy a swim in that lake over there, or was it a pond? Either way, with her hoof still in unknown condition beneath this "cast" thing, it was probably not a good idea. Fluttershy had taken to feeding a family of ducks, but the ducks just looked at her warily. So Silk decided to simply sit down on a park bench. Well, more lie down than sit down. Maybe rest her eyes a bit... okay, she admitted to herself, she was sleepy. Even though she was she was still going a little stir-crazy back in that little room, and wanted to move, she was still so very tired. "WAKE UP, SLEEPYHEAD!" Silk rubbed her eyes with her good hoof. She had woken up from the same nightmare again, the same one she always had. The same hallway, the same swamp, the same faces disappearing, and the queen ever slipping through her hooves. Only, there was something different this time. She could have sworn she saw Fluttershy for some reason. Or did she? It was all becoming a blur now. It was getting late now, the sun had set and the moon was in the sky. She had been asleep for a few hours. Silk looked to the front of the bench and saw Fluttershy standing behind Pinkie Pie. With a name matching her so well, it was a hard name to forget. Actually, a lot of ponies seemed to meet that criteria. Silk thought, maybe, she could have called her self Bluebug... or, uh... Imapony... maybe "Silky Sheets" wasn't the worst name in retrospect. Pinkie bounced up and down. "Oh good, you're up! Most ponies don't sleep during the day, that's really weird. Do you stay up all night? Well, I guess Princess Luna would like that, but I mean, really! You must've been super tired! What were you dreaming about?" Silk had a shot to take some of the wind out of Pinkie's sails, and she knew it, and Pinkie seemed to have plenty of it to spare. "The worst day of my life," she answered bluntly and truthfully. That ought to slow her down just a little, maybe make her comprehensible. Pinkie frowned, her bouncing ceased. "Oh, well that's no fun at all! Rock farm..." she growled, shaking her hoof at the air in no direction in particular. "Oh well!" she said, her smile right back to its full beaming glory. "I've got just the thing to fix that, over this way! Come on, come on!" Or maybe not. Huh. I guess ponies DO hollow out trees. Silk found herself staring at a large tree with windows, a door, and a balcony installed. The upper floor, or floors, were lit up, but the ground floor was dark. Silk couldn't see anything in those windows. Pinkie was excited, more so than usual, if that was possible. "Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on!" Pinkie squealed, urging Silk into the door. Silk shrugged and opened the doors and stepped through. It's too dark to see anything. Maybe I should try using some ma- "SURPRISE!" a large number of ponies yelled, popping out of nowhere as the lights flashed on. WAH! I'M UNDER ATTACK! Silk thought in a panic, diving for cover and backing herself into a corner, her eyes darting around the room looking for movement; she wasn't paying any real attention to the room itself. The ponies were all quieted by this unusual reaction, producing quiet mutterings of confusion when Pinkie came bouncing in, giggling as she did so. "What, you look like you've never seen a party before! Oh, right, rock farm, or something like a rock farm, I guess you haven't!" Silk calmed down a bit as she noticed no angry mobs, boulders, fireballs or lightning bolts seemed to be coming for her. "Party?" she asked. She'd heard the word before, but wasn't a party a group or something? "Sure! You invite all your friends somewhere and have fun! Here, try this!" the party pony said, grabbing a piece of cake and stuffing it into the faux pony's mouth. "No no, wait, I'm not hung-RFF-" Silk tried to refuse, only to have her protests smothered by the offending material. Wait, this was sweet. This was very sweet. The subtleties of the flavors were lost on her, not having a pony's palate and whatnot, but Silk really enjoyed whatever this was. Silk had had honey once before, and was currently debating with herself about which was sweeter. Silk swallowed the cake, which took some effort to do without choking since her mouth had been literally stuffed with it. "Good, huh? I KNEW my blueberry apple cake would be delicious! Want another piece?" Silk coughed, not having swallowed all of it perfectly. "Uh, no, thanks, I'm not hungry." She wasn't a pony, she didn't have the same hunger they did. On the other hoof, she did get full at a similar rate while transformed. "... well, maybe one more." Pinkie smiled and sliced "Silky" another piece of cake, then went off to dance somewhere in the crowd. Silk took in the decorations as she stood there contentedly munching on the cake a little at a time. There was a bowl of what appeared to be some sort of fruit liquid, though that neon color couldn't possibly be natural. The cake was massive, standing twice as tall and just as wide as its baker, yellow and blue frosting decorating it. Hung from the ceiling was a large banner that read Surprise Belated Not On A Rock Farm Or Something Like A Rock Farm Welcome Party!!!. Silk had no idea how she'd managed to fit all that on the banner. "Enjoying the party?" a familiar voice said from behind her. Silk turned around to see Twilight Sparkle. "I guess," she replied dispassionately. "Wow, Pinkie really wasn't kidding when she said you came 'from a rock farm... or someplace like a rock farm'. Everypony has a blast at Pinkie's parties!" "They're great, but the cleanup afterward isn't!" a voice said half jokingly from behind the purple unicorn. Silk couldn't place the gender of this one well. It was either a young male or a somewhat older female. She did not have to guess for long because not a second later the voice's owner stepped into view. It was a dragon. Now these creatures Silk understood, to a degree that is. It was pretty poor scouting to wind up getting too close and too barbequed while trying to get more details. Risk-reward and all that. This was a male, a toddler by the size and shape, one that either hadn't gone into his hording phase or hadn't had the access to treasure that it required, which was very common for a couple of reasons, namely scarcity and maternal intervention. The young dragon here had purple scales, green eyes, and green ridges. His ears, for lack of a better word, were a lighter green, while his underbelly was a green that was lighter still. Dragons were highly intelligent creatures. At this age they could talk, since they were able to learn as quickly as a changeling or pony even if they did not grow at the same rate. By all accounts but two, he was your typical dragon, but two accounts were two accounts still. Where was his mother, and why was he socializing with ponies and being friendly about it? Maybe he was a slave? He did say he was cleaning up after the party, so that seemed likely. Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled. "Oh alright, Spike, I'll help you clean up. With a party this big, I couldn't ask you to do it all by yourself." Well, so much for that theory, Silk thought. "Thanks, Twilight, I just hope the party doesn't get too loud and wake up Peewee." The unicorn snickered. "I don't think you have to worry about that, Spike" she said, pointing her hoof straight up. A small, bright orange phoenix hatchling was fluttering in a chain of loop-the-loops around the banner, just smiling to itself. The dragon's ridges went stiff, similarly to how somepony's hair might stand on end. "Yikes! Peewee, get down from there, you might hurt yourself!" It's a phoenix, I really don't think anything non-magical could hurt it for long... wait a second, he's concerned about it? He's a dragon, they're the natural predators of phoenixes! If they didn't hunt the young for sport, the population of phoenixes would explode, so to speak, in theory leading to widespread famine and wildfires. Well, so much for knowing something about anything in this town. Silk sighed and used a bit of telekinesis, her horn lighting up as she gently stopped the chick, which looked disappointed, in midair, handing it to the dragon. She'd be lying if she said she didn't half expect him to eat it or smash it or something as soon as he had it; instead, he started talking to it with a concerned tone and walked off through the crowd, up the stairs, and out of sight. Twilight smiled at this display. "That was very nice of you." Silk shrugged. "Was it?" she nonchalantly asked. "You're not having fun, are you?" The changeling shook her head. It wasn't that this wasn't wonderful, it really was. There was plenty of food here, even for a changeling. Especially for a changeling; the amount of happiness and joy in the room was overwhelming, the chatter was punctuated by bouts of laughter. The music stank, but that was probably because it was pony music. Different cultures, different tastes, after all. The cake, too, had its merits. Overall, there was no reason for her not to be having fun, save for the most important reason: she wouldn't let herself. She couldn't let herself. If she got too close to anypony, she would just have one more memory of loss when she had to go, whether voluntary or forced. Voluntary would be better, that way at least nopony would hate her. "I can't let myself," she confided. Twilight used her magic to grab Silk by the hoof, the bad one. "Hey, wait! What're you- OW!... ow!... ow ow ow ow owowow!" Silk winced as she was dragged through the crowd. Even without the distracting pain, the magic coming from Twilight Sparkle was leagues ahead of her own; a gap in ability that even a lifetime of training could not bridge. She couldn't have gotten away if she tried. The taste coming off of Twilight was one of resolve. It was a very neutral, almost metallic taste. "You need to talk with Pinkie... which come to think of it may count as cruel and unusual punishment... but if there's anypony who can get anypony to actually have fun, it's her!" Twilight let her go when she saw Pinkie dancing the... actually, that shouldn't be physically possible. Come on, Twilight, it's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie she thought as she tried to let that one go. Silk was rubbing her hoof, rather ineffectively due to the cast. "Next time at least try to ponyhandle me by someplace that isn't shattered," she accused. Twilight sheepishly apologized, having forgotten about that whole broken-hoof thing. But still, Silky's choice of words was odd. "Shattered"? Maybe she was tired of the word "broken", or just wanted to make a point. Twilight then said five little words. "Pinkie, Silky isn't having fun." Pinkie stopped dancing and gasped. "STILL?! This is serious! When did you get off the rock farm?" Silk still didn't quite know what she was going on about, but her situation hadn't changed until the battle, so she gave that number. "I don't know... a week ago?" Another gasp. "Look, I just can't afford to be making friends with anypony. I just can't. If I do it'll just make it that much harder when I have to leave... or they have to leave... or when they start to hate me." Pinkie frowned. "Well that's just dumb!" "Huh?" "Friendship doesn't mean any of that stuff! Duh! Real friends don't ever hate each other, they have fun and laugh and play together! They're there to make you happy, not sad! True friends stay friends even if they wind up far away! Don't think about goodbyes, think about the hellos! Have fun now, don't worry about the what ifs and the laters! I know living on some rock farm is hard, I used to too, but if you try to feel nothing so that it doesn't hurt, you won't feel the happiness and joy everypony can give you, and that's no way to go through life. Now, what do you say we go get some fruit punch, okay?" the party pony said. As she did so, her frown turned slowly back into the same beaming grin that she seemed to always wear. Silk was speechless. Her ideas, everything she had been taught, every way she had known how to survive, all of it had been shot down and shown to her as utterly wrong in less than a minute. She had already discovered it had been so much harder to suppress her emotions but... maybe she didn't need to. While still reeling from the shock of this revelation, Silk decided to take a leap of faith and finally let all of her defenses down. Silk began to cry, tears streaming down her face unchecked. And yet, on her face she wore a giant smile. She was happy. She was sad and confused and curious as to just what the heck a rock farm was, but more than anything she was happy. She was happy, and Pinkie, and Twilight, and the whole party was too. This joy, the jubilant mirth that filled the air easily overwhelmed the sadness that Silk could taste, the metaphoric acid thoroughly neutralized by the base and then some. Silk sniffled. "... okay," she said, following Pinkie to the proverbial fruit punch. She at least hoped it was a fun game, punching perfectly good fruit seemed like a waste otherwise. "TWILIGHT! You said you'd help with the cleanup!" Spike called down to the purple pony in aggravation. This party was big even by Pinkie Pie standards, and cleaning it all up himself was NOT his idea of a great evening. Twilight was in her lab, taking care of one final thing. "Just a minute, Spike! I've already eliminated every known disease, toxin, and genetic disorder, so I'm just going to get a sequence of Silky's DNA to send to the Canterlot Health Institute! Who knows, maybe they'll name the syndrome... or whatever... after me!" she said gleefully. The chance at discovery excited her more than the recognition, but the recognition would nice too. Spike rolled his eyes. "Don't they normally give the name to the patient?" "Quiet, Spike!" she snapped back. He could be such a killjoy sometimes. Twilight lowered the sample into the sequencer apparatus. Being the student of Princess Celestia herself had its perks, and second-hoof, semi-cutting-edge equipment was one of them. She flipped the switch on and the machine made a few motions with the vial, pouring and measuring until... ERROR: INVALID SAMPLE "Huh?" She tried again. ERROR: INVALID SAMPLE Twilight blinked. She took a cursory scan of the machine that lasted a few minutes. "Nothing SEEMS broken. Alright, let's give this another try." ERROR: INVALID SAMPLE "Lousy hoof-me-downs" the mare complained. She knew this was the right sample, she'd been running tests on it all week. She hit the override code to set it to scan for a valid sample continuously. A couple broken up cells wouldn't stop the law of large numbers! OVERRIDE ACCEPTED ESTIMATED COMPLETION TIME 500 HOURS "20.83 days... three weeks!?" Twilight's hoof met her forehead. "Ugh. Oh well, I guess I wasn't really going to be using a gene sequencer for anything else... except documenting plant species from the Everfree Forest with Zecora the Tuesday after next," she groaned. "Coming, Spike!" Twilight left the room, leaving the machine whirring behind her. Silk returned to Fluttershy's house after the party. As she sat there in bed with the shades drawn, she pondered about the events of the day. While a large part of her was apprehensive about simply lowering her proverbial guard like she was doing, a larger part felt that she kind of had to. She was living in an entirely new circumstance, maybe it was best to look at the world in a completely new way. And then there were the lies. The queen had lied to her; had lied to every single one of them. It felt like everything Silk had ever known was an illusion breaking apart. Maybe she was in the illusion now, being lied to by these ponies. But they had yet to lead her astray. Perhaps it was a desperate changeling's gamble to trust them in the first place, but she had, and she was... better... for it. It's decided. I'll just stay hidden, it's been a week and I haven't been caught yet. I'm not going to leave as long as there's a place here for me. This thought, even as it came, filled her with guilt. She had no purpose here. Fluttershy was letting her stay out of the kindness of her heart, but she had no job. Her "special talent" was a fake, just as she was a fake. She was determined to find a way to pay Fluttershy back. Pinkie, too. Still, the ashes of the queen from all of her nightmares rang clear in her mind. Useless... Silk shook off this bad thought as she spat. Lowered defenses meant stronger emotions, which meant bad feelings tasted even worse. Silk went down to sleep. Perhaps this night her dreams would be kinder. No such luck. Did I just see Pinkie?