“So when you say he looked tired…” Twilight started the conversation as they ran towards the farm. She and Applejack had gathered the girls and were almost there.
“He looked like he’d died, been buried, raised from the dead, then killed again.” Applejack answered. Twilight had a feeling she was overexaggerating, and apparently Pinkie agreed.
“Oh, he can’t have looked that bad. I saw him yesterday, and though he may have looked a teeeensy bit tired, running around in Discord’s super fun realm perked him right up!” Weirdly enough it sounded like Pinkie was doing the opposite of Applejack – underexaggerating? No that wasn’t a word.
“Oh, I hope he’s okay.” Fluttershy said from behind, barely audible.
“I’m sure he’s fine. We’re going mostly on Applejacks gut-feeling here.” Rainbow tried to calm her down.
“Ah’m telling you, something was off with him. Though Ah hope I’m wrong too… he’s been through a lot since getting here. The poor stallion deserves some peace and quiet.”
Twilight slowed to a stop in front of the Apple farm. She hoped Applejack was wrong too but… it never hurt to be prepared. “Alright girls, I agree that the best case scenario would be that Jax is fine, but let’s prepare a plan, just in case. We are to under no circumstances allowed to use magic or the elements on him, so… you’ve got your lasso Applejack?”
“Always carry it with me, Twi. Just in case.” Applejack confirmed.
“Alright… something that bothers me is that I think Sombra can use spells even when his host doesn’t have a horn, if you remember the crystals he summoned while in Big Mac. If… if things go south, I’ll try to shield us, alright? So stick together.” She frowned deeply, as did many of the others. Fluttershy was shaking nervously, even when Rainbow Dash put a protective wing over her.
She hated that she had to say something like that… and she hated that things could go out of control before she even got a chance to reconcile with Jax. She had decided that his eating habits weren’t worth their friendship, but now she might never get the chance to….
She shook herself out of it. This was no time to doubt herself. Everything would be fine. With her friends by her side, there was little she could not do.
With that assuring thought, she opened the door to the farm and went inside with the others right behind her. Looking around she noticed the lack of a certain human. “Uhm, where is he?” She asked the residing Apple family.
“Oh, the dearie was tired. He’s resting in the room upstairs.” Granny Smith told them in a loud voice, continuing to knit.
They all continued upstairs to the guest room in a light trot. Twilight opened the door to find… an empty room. The cloak and his shirt were there, and the bed looked like it had been used… but there was no human in the vicinity… and the window was open. She closed her eyes at the complication, as she let the others pass her and figure out by themselves what had happened.
“How can he just be gone?! You don’t think… no, he wouldn’t…” Rainbow said what they were all thinking.
“Apple Bloom!” Twilight called.
“Yeah?” Apple Bloom came out from her room on the other side of the hallway.
“Applejack said that… that Jax had been rude to Zecora. How do you know?”
“Oh, Ah visited Zecora earlier today. She said that he had visited her in the late night, ignoring her apology for… you know, the potion that went bad? Though that was more our fault Ah’d wager… anywho, she said that he just went past her without a word and searched through her books. After throwing around a few of her books, he apparently found what he’d been looking for and left her to clean up the mess.” She finished with a frown.
“That really was rude. And very unlike Jax.” Rarity nodded thoughtfully. The tension in the hallway rocketed at the implication. Things were not looking very good. In fact, they were looking very bad.
“Maybe he was just busy and didn’t have time to clean up?” Pinkie asked with an innocent smile.
“Oh… oh, maybe that’s what he was making this mornin’. A potion.” Applejack suddenly realized. She went on at their confused gazes. “This morning when Ah went to get him, there was something boiling in the house, and he smelled kind of like Zecora, but he didn’t seem to know what was boiling himself. He just left it there and Ah forgot all ‘bout it.”
Twilight started pacing. She needed to think but the hallway was too small and she felt confined. “Alright… but that doesn’t make any sense. Is he taken over by Sombra or not? You said when you came to get us that he seemed confused, growling at Big Mac one second and then seemingly forgetting the next? Now he’s going out in the middle of the night and making potions, but seemingly forgetting. He’s forgetting the periods when Sombra is in charge?” She paced back and forth a couple of more times, unable to come up with an answer. Too little data for now, but maybe it didn’t matter. They needed to find Jax… the best place to start was his house, where he… where Sombra had made the potion.
“Uhm… should Ah go back to my room or….” Apple Bloom looking around uncertainly.
“You do that. We’ll handle things from here. Right, Twilight?” Applejack looked to Twilight for confirmation.
“Yes… yes we will. Let’s start with his house and see if we can find anything… and hear what Mr. Bear can tell us if he’s there.”
“Oh, darling, I don’t mean to slow us down but… if things are half as bad as I think they are, Princess Luna deserves to know what is going on. I know I would like to be updated if….” Rarity let the sentence hang in the air.
“Right, of course you’re right Rarity. Luna might also know something more about… I should have brought… I guess we can use the dragonfire in Jax’ house.... Let’s go girls.” Her sentences were left half-finished as new thoughts came. She couldn’t concentrate properly as the thought of Jax giving up because of her kept invading. Of course it was a silly notion… she hoped. Jax wouldn’t surrender to Sombra just because they had a little argument… would he?
… She might as well be honest with herself. It was more than just ‘a little argument.’ She hadn’t regretted her actions so much since she decided it was a good idea to march in on Cadence’s – or should she say Crysalis’ – rehearsal and try to convince everypony that she was evil simply by saying – yelling really - that she was evil. She should have thought everything through instead, in both cases. After all, Jax had been very accepting of her, he had even forgiven her for setting him on fire… she really wasn’t very good at staying friends with him, but she wouldn’t give up.
They arrived at the edge of the Everfree, to see the door to Jax’ house open. Twilight couldn’t take that as anything but another bad sign. There was a small hope that he was there….
That hope was crushed when they entered the almost empty house. Mr. Bear was there, but Jax was nowhere to be found.
“Fluttershy, ask Mr. Bear if he knows what happened or where Jax went. Rarity, write a letter to Luna, telling her what happened and ask her to teleport here as fast as she can.” Twilight asked her friends as she followed the slightly spicy smell to the sink, where a washed pot stood. She sniffed it a few times to be sure. Even after it had been filled with water, it still emanated that herby smell that Zecora was always surrounded by. Either King Sombra was weirdly polite and didn’t want to leave a mess behind, or he was covering his tracks.
“Uuh, is this one of the so called ‘pens’ I’ve been hearing about? Fascinating…” She heard Rarity exclaim before the sound of scratching on paper started. “Marvellous…”
There was the still the option to go to Zecora without the potion and hope she noticed which recipe Sombra had been looking for, but she would have preferred to have it with them… just in case.
The sound of hooves coming towards her made her look up. “Find out anything, Fluttershy?”
“Oh… Mr. Bear doesn’t know very much, but he has noticed a few things.” Fluttershy muttered. “Apparently Jax has been resting very badly for some time now, spending a lot of the night pacing around frustrated instead. He’s barely said a word to the poor dear for a couple of days now. It was especially bad yesterday, where Jax came home looking more exhausted than ever… but still being unable to sleep. Mr. Bear thought he had succeeded when suddenly Jax just got up and left. I uhm… I think this was where he went to Zecora. He came back smelling of the Everfree, and started making the… uhm, potion. He came back not long ago, filled a glass with the potion, cleaned the pot and then left… towards the Everfree again.”
“Would you hurry up, Rarity?!” Rainbow suddenly exclaimed.
“Oh, this isn’t easy you know. You have to be careful with which words you choose. How would you tell somepony that the creature she loves might have been taken over by a tyrant?” Rarity defended herself.
“Well, she already knew it could happen, and we aren’t sure that that’s what happened, so I would hurry it up so that she can come here and find out whether he was or not!”
“Alright everypony, let’s calm down.” Applejack said with a soothing voice. “Ain’t nothing’s gonna come out of yellin’ at each other. Rarity, while it’s always hard to be the bearer of bad news, Ah think it’s going to hit hard no matter which words you choose. Just be sure that she understands the situation. Rainbow, let’s go out and sweep the place. Ah know it’s dark, but maybe we can find something.” Nopony could argue with Applejack when she was that reasonable, though Rainbow did grumble something under her breath. They were all a little on edge, she guessed, but they would have to pull through like always. Even Pinkie’s smile was missing, as she bounced out with Applejack and Rainbow.
“We keep hearing about him having trouble sleeping… it must have something to do with Sombra.” Twilight muttered mostly to herself. “Maybe Sombra can take over his body while he’s sleeping? But then why keep him up at all?” It wasn’t much, but it would have to do. It would explain some things at least, like why Jax couldn’t remember some things. On the other hoof, it could be that Sombra could take over whenever, and just somehow blocked Jax’ memory from noticing.
She shook her head in annoyance. Didn’t Jax say he had sealed him? Of course it had been done with chaos magic, and chaos magic was unstable at the best of times. Even the pen he had made for her to analyse had disappeared somewhere. She should have seen this coming….
The scratching of pen on parchment ceased, replaced by the sound of burning parchment. It didn’t take long before a light exploded outside, with a pop louder than normal. The tell-tale sign of a hurried teleport.
Luna rushed in, worry clear on her muzzle, her eyes looking almost panicked. She took one look at the assembled mares, before her withers visibly slumped. “No…” She whispered, looking at the floor. A silence hung thick in the air as each second seemed to tick by like an eternity.
“It’s not over yet, Luna. There’s still a chance.” Twilight couldn’t take the silence, but she also hated the look of defeat on everypony’s muzzle. They had overcome worse odds than these. “We just have to find out what potion Sombra made, and then find Jax. Don’t give up at the beginning of the battle!” Her voice became stronger as she spoke. She was sure of this. They needed to act.
“…Thou art correct, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna shook her head, then raised it with determination. “‘Tis the time to act, not stand idly. Forgive me, I do not know what overcame me.” She took a firmer stance, likely summoning her resolve. “I shall not give up on my Jax until the rivers hath run dry, the night sky is naught but an empty void, and time itself ceaseth to exist!” She stamped a hoof down on the carpeted floor causing a crack. There was a fire in her eyes and a determination in her voice that lifted Twilight’s spirit, her inside surging with a fire of its own. They would find Jax, and they would get him back to normal. No matter what.
“Oh my, Princess, that was so romantic. We simply must find Jax.” Rarity looked about ready to swoon. Twilight hoped her fainting couch was ready. “Oh, I hope this can all be resolved with love.” She fell back down, the couch coming out of nowhere to catch her.
Luna blushed deeply, but her determination was still clear. “That would… actually be a nice way for this to evolve….”
“Hey girls! We found something!” Rainbow called from some distance away.
They all trotted over to the group waiting for them by the Everfree. Rainbow pointed down on the ground, at shattered glass. “I found this while flying around. It must have reflected off the moonlight or something.”
“And look! Jaxprints going into the forest!” Pinkie pointed out.
“Oh, this must be the glass he drank the potion from!” Twilight was pleased that they might just have a lead now. There was a few drops of the potion still in the remains of the glass. Zecora could use this to figure out what it was, and hopefully help them negate it. She took the glass in her aura. “Good job, everypony. Alright girls, let’s go see Zecora.”
***
Luna trotted beside the elements, worry gnawing at her very core now that the moment was gone. Her determination was still very much there, there was no way she was going to give up without a fight, but thoughts of failure kept invading her mind. The thought of Jax falling to Sombra was so painful that she could not focus properly. As if that was not bad enough, guilt kept resurfacing with thoughts like ‘this is how Celestia must have felt when you turned to Nightmare Moon,’ and more disturbingly, ‘you do not deserve happiness. This pain is what you deserve.’ It was not the first time such thoughts traveled through her troubled mind, and that was the problem. The burst of confidence she had had in front of Twilight was how she used to be, so sure that she could achieve anything if she put her mind to it. Maybe the Limelight was gone, but the effect of its constant whispers had remained whether she liked it or not. She was so afraid of turning into Nightmare Moon again, but what had she really done to prevent it from happening? Should the Limelight return, how long would she really last against its whispers?
Luna had thrown Celestia’s suggestion to go see a professional out the window when she had first returned, convincing herself that she did not need some stranger hearing her deepest darkest emotions, but… maybe there would be some merit to it. These thoughts only confirmed what she already knew… she was her own worst enemy. As hard as that was to admit, she did not want to be this ball of angst anymore. Jax had done a great deal for her, but she could not rely on him unconditionally, and… he deserved better.
What was the name of that psychologist Jax and her went to see when they were stuck together? Slow Healing? She was not a stranger… she had been fairly nice, and she showed that she knew her profession when she managed to separate Jax from her. It was decided. When they rescued Jax, she would make an appointment.
They made it to the end of the path, and Twilight knocked on the door to the tree that was Zecora’s residence. It did not take long before they got an answer. “Who is knocking at my door the late hour?” the zebra called out as she opened her door, looking at them with surprise. She gave a short bow when she noticed Luna among them. “Princess, what causes you and the others to look so sour? Usually it is good when Twilight Sparkle brings a friend or two, but it is plain to see you are all quite blue” Her words had a familiar accent. Luna had visited Zebracon a long, long time ago. She had learned about many things from the zebras there, about life and death alike. They were a spiritual society known for their curiosity and brew making. Or at least they were back then, Luna had not read up on the current affairs in Zebracon. This particular zebra made her uneasy because one of her potions had hurt her love. What self-respecting zebra would give away a potion with random side-effects?
Twilight levitated the glass with the drops of potion they had found in front of the stripped equine. “Do you know what this is?” Luna could hear the worry in the soft-spoken words.
Zecora took the glass and gave it a swift sniff. Her eyes widened. “This is no harmless potion, Twilight.” Her words hit the small group like a punch. “A glass of this, and the recipient would be quite the sight. They would forget who they were and all that they knew, for five hours at least is the strength of this brew.”
A silence reigned after her words. Everypony just stood there, some gaping. Luna closed her mouth quickly.
“But…” Twilight tried to say something, but apparently she couldn’t think of anything more.
“Twilight, what circumstances led you to come by this potion?” Zecora continued when nopony said anything. “Somepony – or should I say somehuman – came by last night, and caused quite the commotion. They looked through the book where this potion’s recipe does reside, but I did not know this was the information he pried. I don’t know why your friend would try to forget what they knew, but I can’t think he meant the potion for any of you”
“Jax would never-!” Luna stopped herself before she became too agitated. She was more tense that she could recall being in a long time. She wanted to go look for Jax. Run, fly, anything other than just stand there and talk. Even though she understood the importance of information she found the delay frustrating… but she would not allow herself to take those frustrations out on anypony else. So she took a deep breath to try and calm herself. “You may not know this, but Sombra of the North tried to possess Jax a… almost a week ago. How, or why… we are not sure, but his attempt was a failure... apparently not as completely as we had hoped though.” She stepped out from the group to stand in front of the zebra. “I will bet my alicornhood that the one who visited you was not Jax, but Sombra. He is trying to take over Jax’ body without using magic, but is apparently having a hard time. He must have decided to cheat with this potion… after all, if you do not remember who you are, then how do you argue with your own thoughts?”
The Zebra in front of her adopted a thoughtful frown. “It is true that the ingredients though some are quite rare, with patience and determination the search can be fare. What’s needed can be found here in the Everfree if you know where to look. Though you should not underestimate this shadowy crook. For if what you say is already part of the past. Then this Sombra indeed works incredibly fast. He must only have gotten a glimpse of what he sought in my hut. To remember it well enough to gather all the ingredients and make it so that it is already ready? Preparing all the herbs takes skill as it must be done with perfection in every cut. For this potion his determination and mind must have been quite steady.” She looked up into Luna’s eyes. “You must save your friend before it is too late. This time I have no mystical advice. If all you say is true he is headed for a most unhappy fate. For this… Sombra is most surely not nice.”
Twilight nodded. “I agree. We think he is somewhere in the Everfree, but we lost his hoof-prints after entering….”
“He couldn’t have gotten far! Let’s go!” Rainbow exclaimed, apparently as eager as Luna.
“I concur! Let us find Jax before it is too late!” Luna agreed. They were both off in a dash, barely hearing Twilight’s voice telling them to wait. They flew high to overlook the forest, but most of the paths were covered by branches. On an unspoken agreement they angled themselves towards Jax house and where he went into the forest, and started scouting different areas from there, getting further and further apart.
***
He didn’t know where he was. The forest was dark, mostly because the sky was blocked out by the trees.
Speaking of trees, they too were weird. He could swear that they were looking at him. It was… unnerving.
Yet every time he decided to head back, he told himself to keep going. It didn’t make any sense. Why would he keep walking into this forest instead of, oh he didn’t know, maybe getting the fuck out of here as fast as his legs could carry him? To make things worse he kept getting dizzy, he was parched, and constantly falling over roots didn’t help him.
Something was wrong, but every time he tried to sit down and think, he would get a headache with a dose of memories that seemed foreign to him, mostly of ponies frowning at him, be they guards or civilians. He seemed to be in some place made of crystal in the memories, whatever that meant. He didn’t recognize anything in them. You would think that getting your memories back meant that you recognized shit in them? Also did he have a muzzle? What was up with that?
… Did he used to be a pony?
Did he lose his memories when he transformed?
Why was everypony frowning at him?
So many questions, so few answ- “Argh!” He clutched his head in his arms, trying to endure the pain.
The memory was clearer this time, like a mirror instead of an wavy pond, and it brought a bout of strange feeling with it as it encompassed him completely.
A pony made of crystal looked at him, a weird sort of smile on her muzzle. She had a silver mane while the rest of her was lavender. Her cutie mark was a chess piece… the queen piece. “Now now, dearest-“ She started, the first pony to speak to him in these memories.
“Do not call me that, mother.” He interrupted. His voice sounded strange, like the voice of a stranger. “You have made it perfectly clear that I am not your dearest anything.”
The mare’s – his mother’s? – face contorted in anger so fast that it felt like a mask being ripped off. “You spoiled brat! How dare you talk to me like that? Your father will beat some sense into you when he gets home!”
“It is a good thing you at least realize you are not strong enough to do that anymore.” He answered with a deadly calm as he turned his back on his… on the mare. A range of emotions swirled inside of him. Pride at his perceived calm, anger and hate at the mare behind him, hate for his father that would come home and ‘teach him some manners’, hate at Princess Amore for being so blind, hate for the entire empire, especially the crystal ponies that were actually crystallized. He had so much hate inside of him that he would not be surprised if darkness itself would manifest around him.
Misery loves company, they say. Maybe that’s why he keeps ending up in this part of the empire. The pathetic part that nopony really acknowledges in the other parts, but everypony knows it is there if they ever need a mare or stallion for a good time, or some herbs from down south that would make you forget your worries. He had not tried any of those specialities yet, but that did not really matter. What mattered was that rarely anypony here shone with crystallization, meaning that they were just like him. Miserable and unhappy. Why should he look at other ponies being happy? It was a stupid crystal pony trait to let everypony around you know just how happy you are, and by default not crystalizing showed just how unhappy you were. The most infuriating thing was that his parents punished him for not crystallizing, letting everypony know that the child of the famous adviser and captain of the crystal guard was in fact unhappy and have not crystallized in years. Apparently it was the talk of the neighbourhood, and oh so embarrassing for his poor mother.
He spat to the side with contempt, almost hitting some random pony. He almost wished the pony would start a fight, but he just took one look and then turned around to leave.
He shrugged, letting him go. It had been a while since he had felt the thrill of the fight, but at the same time he was not really in a fighting mood. He felt like something else. Maybe it was about time to try one of those herbs he heard about that would let his worries melt away. That sounded nice right about now. Maybe they could numb him enough that the beating he would take from his father would hurt less. He may be strong, his magic stronger, but his father did not become captain of the crystal guard without a reason.
“Hey there handsome…” A stranger’s voice interrupted his thoughts. He looked over to see a prostitute giving him a smile as fake as his mother’s. As if the fake huskiness in her voice was not insulting enough.
He scoffed at her without saying a word and continued on his way, thinking she would try for easier pray. He realized he was wrong when she blocked his path, the fake smile replaced by a thin line. He thought she was going to be all offended at his reaction, but once again she proved him wrong.
“Alright, not in the mood for fake interest? I can get behind that, so let’s just cut to the chase. I need money, you seem like you could use some relaxing. You have bits, I have methods that can make you relax. Hey, you can even vent about whatever is eating at you, and I will pretend to listen, for a little extra I will even fuss over you.” She ended by looking at him with big, hopeful eyes.
He took a step back to get a proper look at her. She did not look stunning, nor beautiful, nor anything like that. Her mane was a boring, kind of flat looking gray colour, and her coat a tame beige. Her cutie mark was covered up by a short skirt, and she looked a little underfed. Not by a lot, but still noticeable. She must not get a lot of customer’s… he had heard that these kinds of ponies charged a lot.
On the other hoof, her eyes were a beautiful amethyst that almost begged him to say yes. She was actually pretty young, only a few years older than him. And he had been considering spending his bits on something relaxing…
He sighed in defeat. It was mostly the eyes. It was the only thing she had going for her, but they just drew him right in. “Alright enchantress, I take you for the rest of the day and night.” He said with authority.
She gaped at him. “R-really? The w-whole night? That is…” She took a second to compose herself, fake-coughing into a hoof. Maybe she had not thought it would work. “...going to cost you, but worry not. Little Hidden Gem will take good care of you.” She looked at him expectedly.
He rolled his eyes. “Little Hidden Gem better keep her promise. And do not ask for my name.”
She rolled her eyes in turn, almost making him smile. “Just Gem will do. And alrighty, I will just call you Broody, since you were brooding.”
He shot her a glare.
“Scowley since you scowl?”
He intensified the glare, but on the inside he was a little amused.
“Uhm…” she looked around nervously. “I take it you don’t like nicknames.”
“I do not like the nicknames you were trying to give me, no, but that could have something to with your ability to give out nicknames….”
“Impossible! Must be your brooding nature.” She stuck out her tongue at him.
He suddenly understood why she did not get any costumers. That being said, he had a little trouble keeping the smile off his muzzle. “Alright, just… just call me…” he looked around for something, anything that did not sound so stupid. His eyes fell on the shadows. “Sombra. Call me Sombra.”
She looked at him in confusion. “Like the hat?”
He gave her a deadpan look. “No. The hat is called a Sombrero. Sombra means shadow.”
“Oh… okay.” She bit her lip, then seemed to make up her mind about something. “Alright my little shadow.” She took a step forward and nuzzled into the nape of his neck. He froze completely at the sudden show of affection, making her retreat in confusion.
“Oh… uhm, you’re not into the whole nuzzling thing?” She looked a little sad.
Using his willpower, he forced himself to relax. The smile finally broke through, though it must have looked a bit… hazy. “No.” He found himself saying. “No, it felt nice. P-please do it again.” He was stuttering. He must look like a fool.
He did not know how he expected her to react, but her giggling took him by surprise… it was also a surprisingly pleasant sound. This mare seemed to be full of surprises. “As you wish, Sombra.” The merriment was still clear in her voice, but she still took a step forward and started nuzzling him again.
It felt exhilarating. It was everything he had ever thought it would be. He started nuzzling back, enjoying the feeling of their furs brushing against each other, the warmth that they were sharing, the warmth that was spreading to his muzzle and neck.
He had just bought more love from this mare with a pouch of bits, than he had ever received from both his parents combined. He did not know if he should laugh or cry.
They kept nuzzling each other for a long time. He had always wondered what it felt like, and why everypony was doing it all the time. Now he understood.
“Oh Amore, this is your first time is it not?” Hidden Gem suddenly pulled back.
He nodded, a bit shyly with all traces of his confidence gone, but he still could not stop smiling.
A mix of emotions crossed her muzzle, until it settled on determined. “Well do not worry about a thing, love. I promised to make you relax and I shall.” She put a hoof on one side of his muzzle and kissed him on the other. He shivered as her soft lips left behind a nice warmth.
“Wow. Who would have thought that dangerous looking stallion could be so innocent.” She smiled warmly. This smile fit her much better than the fake one she had given him at first.
“And who knew such a boring-looking mare could be so beautiful.” He answered without thinking. Both their eyes widened. “I mean… I… thank you for your time. It was very pleasant.” He threw her his pouch of bits with his aura and made to leave before he embarrassed himself further.
He felt a hoof on his withers before he could go two steps. Looking back, he saw that Hidden Gem was at least as embarrassed as him. “I… nopony has ever…” they looked at each other for a few more breaths, before that determined look entered her amethyst eyes again. “You asked, and paid, for a full night. That is what you are going to get. You cannot just tell me that you expect me to keep my promise and then leave before I can!”
He could do nothing but nod under her stare. He could not even begin to think about denying her then and there. Not when she was looking at him like that.
“My place or yours?” She asked.
Not coming home was only going to make his parents angrier. Coming home with a… paid mare, was going to make them unbearable. He could not say no to her.
“Yours.” He answered, a shiver of excitement running the length of his body.
Her hoof lowered down his foreleg, so they could walk hoof in hoof.
He still could not get the smile of his muzzle.