//------------------------------// // 28 // Story: Pearl's Travels 1: Hollow Shades // by Makitk //------------------------------// The storage room's ceiling was far lower than that of the common room, and had the added oddity of low walls hanging down from it to create as much of a maze as an equal number of low walls did on the ground floor. These walls had alcoves hewn in them, as they had in the common room, but these were half the height of the ones in the common room and were stacked four above one another per wall. Another difference was that these were obviously not used as beds, but instead kept a large variety of objects in them. The walls themselves were just high enough that a Changeling standing on their hind legs could easily reach the top 'shelves' while standing on their hind legs, with the upper walls having a similar height to them. There was just enough room left between both upper and lower walls for two Changelings to fly by each other at different heights without problem. Blaze closed the doorway behind us again, while Oval led the way over to a specific shelf and pulled a backpack off from it, which she swung over her back immediately after obtaining it. I looked at the way the straps ran past her wingjoints and raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, it's more comfortable to wear after I take on my guise again," Oval chuckled to my unspoken question. "We should pose as a single family if possible," Breeze mentioned, walking over to a different shelf and tucking the green pearl she had still been levitating near herself with her magic into a smaller backpack shaped like a flower. Blaze walked past the three of us and disappeared around a corner, but as I made it to the same corner, she had already disappeared in the depths of the room's shelf space. Not wanting to get myself lost, I decided to walk back to Breeze. "Cute backpack," I suggested, looking as Breeze fastened the small thing to her back with some effort. Not being in a filly guise, she had to loosen the straps considerably just to get it to fit her. The backpack was shaped like a flower, with one of the petals having a button hole so as to serve as the flap. I wasn't sure what kind of flower it was exactly, but it looked far more cute than Oval's rough and battered backpack which looked like it had been in several road accidents since she started using it. "Thanks," Breeze smiled up after working her forelegs through the straps. "I have to get a new one every time I move from one town to another. It's a bit annoying." Oval shook her head at her older sister, motioning back to her own backpack. "I've been using this one for the past fifteen years now. It's served me fine." "It shows," I offered to her. "The threading of it looks about ready to burst, Burst." I received a snort from Oval in return, while Breeze grinned up at my joke at Oval's expense. "So, you just store your stuff here and nobody else takes it, huh?" I wondered, motioning around the room. "Pretty much, yes," Oval agreed. "The family as a whole respects another sibling's property. We have to; if we can't trust each other, the Hive will fall apart," Breeze explained. "We have a different room for items that are for anyone to take; we all bring back at least one such item every time we come back from the ponylands. If we need to take on a new guise, it's better to drop all their old stuff off here and exchange it for new items." I could see the thoughts behind that system. After all, you could hardly change identity only to be found out by wearing the same heirloom your old identity had been wearing. It was smart to change the items you carried along with you as you changed looks. "We also have a vault for money and gems and the like," Oval added to Breeze's explanation. "Remember Iridium?" I thought back to the eerily thin alicorn from the second teaching room, who had looked like one of the four horses of the apocalypse. "She couldn't have made it into the ranks of Canterlot's high society without a starting capital," Oval pointed out. "Even if you just go to some random backwater pony town, it's smart to take a few coins along with you to pay for housing. Setting up a new guise can be costly." "Which is why we bring back what riches we can spare whenever we return," Breeze smiled up. "I see. So we all bring a little something back from our travels, to keep the family as a whole functioning?" I suggested. "Pretty much," Oval agreed. "Now, what's keeping Blaze?" Breeze giggled softly. "She's probably staring at that spandex suit of hers; she's more vain than she lets on." Blaze let out a snort from somewhere nearby. "I am not that vain. I'm just trying to decide what to bring along." Breeze flew up from the ground at hearing the voice of the eldest sister, and buzzed around a little until she pointed down. "Ah, here she is; two lefts and one right." Oval and I took Breeze's instructions to find Blaze standing in the center of a small number of (duffel)bags and suitcases, most of them opened up. Breeze landed near one and pulled a bowling pin out of it. "I don't think you'll need any juggling items, Blazey," the middle sister suggested. Oval laughed softly. "Jeez, Blaze... it looks like you took half the circus back this time." Blaze took the bowling pin out of Breeze's hold and stuffed it back in the bag it came from, then zipped it closed. "I've been on the road for a while. I have several different acts for different audiences," she explained. "Different suits, too," Oval suggested, motioning to a bag near us which was filled with different brightly-coloured outfits. I wondered if I was looking at the cartoon-version of spandex... Blaze grumbled and zipped that bag closed as well, stuffing it back in the alcove in front of her together with the bag the bowling pins went back into. A third bag was put next to them, although it had not been opened so I could not tell what was in it. With the three bags set side-by-side in the alcove again, Blaze just stood between two suitcases, and pulled a few dresses from them. The dresses ranged from heavily decorated ones which were obviously made to impress the richer ponies, to simple designs made for comfort rather than show. "I guess I could pose as the mare of the family, with Oval as the stallion," she voiced her thoughts, folding the dresses up again and dividing them among the two suitcases. "Pearl does a mean teen impression," Breeze suggested. "Complete with breaking voice if she does a young stallion," Oval added. I coughed uneasily at that, pawing a little at the floor in front of me with my right forehoof. "That decides it; I'll be the mare again," Blaze accepted. "But if you dare fool around again you're going to get buried face first in the dirt, Oval." Oval looked innocent. "What'd I do?" "Suggesting we'd consumate our marriage last time was going way out of line," Blaze grumbled. "That was a joke, and you know it," Oval threw back in a huff. "The mood called for it; all the other stallions were making jokes along the same line." "That doesn't mean you have to do it as well," Blaze decided, giving Oval a deathstare. "Fine," Oval sighed, shaking her head a bit. "Moustache or no?" "Do you intend to kiss me while we're out there?" Blaze wondered, pulling a few accessories like earrings, necklaces, and hairclips from the suitcases and giving them a look over as well. "Are you going to punch me if I try?" Oval returned, and I raised an eyebrow in Breeze's direction. Breeze gave me a smile and a nod and mouthed 'every time' to me. "If you make a fool of yourself, yes," Blaze answered. "Then I'll put on a moustache and leave it at that," Oval decided, then glanced in my way. "We're going to have to get Pearl something to wear." Blaze raised an eyebrow at me. "Do you know if you'd prefer being a mare or a stallion while we're out, Pearl?" I sighed and looked down a bit. "I honestly don't know yet." Breeze walked up to me and smiled up. "Take your time with this. You need to feel comfortable in the guise you take on. It's easier to keep it up that way; if you don't feel comfortable with it you'll just continue to fight it internally, which will inevitably mess it up." "Yeah, like Blaze's Pegasi forms," Oval chuckled, but then winced as Blaze punched her in the shoulder. With Breeze still looking up at me with an encouraging smile, I mentally went over the pony OCs I had made on various online resources over the years as well as the guises I had taken during my training. There had definitely been some guises which felt more... natural? I think that's the word for it. On the other hand, or hoof as the case may be, there were other forms I could barely wrap my mind around. The most obvious of those were the foal forms Breeze was so good at, as well as those Pegasi forms with their wings. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. "I think I know what I want to go for."