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// 42 
// Story: Pearl's Travels 1: Hollow Shades 
// by Makitk 
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"Where's Oval?" Breeze wondered as Blaze and I neared the small group of four; two adult Changelings and two 'Hatchlings'.

"She moved ahead," Blaze returned, to which Breeze gave a slow nod.

I looked between the Hatchling posers, and realized there were small differences between them. Pinkie's ears were slightly smaller than those of Starlight, while Starlight's wings were smaller than Pinkie's.

"You two can't fly, remember that," Moonshine told them. "Also try not to use magic unless you really need to, Starlight. You already carry the wrong aura on you."

"Can you even move your wings?" I wondered, but there was a quick headshake from them both. "Can we put something like a cast on them?"

"Like with your leg?" Blaze realized, giving a thoughtful nod. "We could say they damaged their wings while in fight training?"

"Coming from you, that may be the most believeable story, Blazey," Breeze agreed. "No casts here, but I'm sure there are a couple of bandages. I'll fetch some from the common room."

Breeze spurted away at that, and I smiled at the ponies in their guise. "You know, Pinkie, you look good as a Hatchling."

"Thank you!" Pinkie giggled.

"I may be biased, though," I chuckled. "You think you can keep this spell up for a few days if you have to, Starlight?"

"Days may be difficult," Starlight answered truthfully. "We should try to find your queen as quickly as possible."

"Keep in mind the others were practically herded into those chambers," Blaze stated. "You're not going to have many options or second chances."

"I'll be there with you guys, and you can easily find me by my necklace, okay?" I suggested, motioning my right hoof at the green resin bead dangling from my neck. "I'm pretty much the only one out there you can trust, and I have no idea what we're going to be walking in on."

"Don't seek out your brother," Blaze warned. "You can't trust him. The only reason I allowed him to proclaim victory over me a few days back was to get him out of our way."

I remembered being outside on the mountain with Blaze, Oval, and my batch brother, and the way he nudged Blaze out of the fighting ring by using a dirty trick on her.

"Noted," I agreed to her. "Which means it's just the three of us. I can't trust any of the others either."

"Especially if they start showing holes in their legs, Pearl," Blaze continued. "You can't trust anyone with holes in their legs. They will be feeling the hunger and may jump at Pinkie or Starlight in an attempt to feed."

I looked down at my own legs and how smooth they still were. "I'm still not feeling it," I muttered. "We should do this before I start to get hungry myself."

Someone walked up to me and put their forelegs around my head, letting it bump into their chest. "I trust you, Pearl. We're friends. You won't hurt us."

I chuckled weakly. "I Pinkie promised, Pinkie," I agreed. "I'm honoured to call you my friend. I won't break that trust if I can help it."

Pinkie let go and looked me in the eyes, giving me a genuine bright smile which beamed straight into my heart - fangs and all.

I felt a warm glow spread through me as I looked upon my friend, Pinkie Pie, and realized she truly was just that simple to understand; everyone could be her friend and she would immediately trust them and love them unless they did something that betrayed her trust in them.

Pinkie was as honest as Applejack, and the Mane6's biggest asset. She was there to break the ice, to pull you in, and make you realize the power of true, genuine friendship. And then the others would move in for that punch that drove evildoers over to the side of good.

She had already shown Nightmare Moon, Discord, Starlight Glimmer... and maybe Queen Chrysalis would be next to feel this buzz.

This warm fuzzy feeling that just made you realize how all-important it was to share the magic of friendship.

A hoof waved in front of my face and I snapped back to attention. Pinkie Pie had wandered off already and was being bandaged up by Breeze, while Moonshine was doing the same to Starlight.

The one waving her hoof in front of my face was Blaze, who looked at me with a mischievous grin.

"Got your first taste, then?" she suggested, and I had no idea what it was she meant with it.

Blaze sighed at my complete blank stare back, and sat down in front of me. "You just had your first taste of love, Pearl," she explained slowly. "You were out for a good ten minutes there."

"I... what?" I tried, still not getting what she meant.

"Do you feel warm on the inside, like you've been resting in the sunlight?" Blaze asked, and I gave a slow nod. "Tingles through your hooves?" I nodded again. "And now you're starting to feel that heat pull away again slowly?"

I shivered as I realized she was right. It was starting to get colder by the second.

"Yes, you just fed," Blaze explained. "That there, that was pure love. That pink one has a dangerous amount of it."

I fidgeted a bit as I felt the warmth leave me, making place for an eerie cold feeling. "Well, I knew she was dangerous, but... wait, what? Ten minutes?"

"Breeze returned with the bandages while you stood staring into space," Blaze pointed out.

"I had noticed that," I agreed, then realized something. "Wait, if I just fed..."

"Yeah," Blaze commented dryly.

"Does that mean I'm going to have holes appear now?" I wondered, trying to fight the shivers pulling through my body.

"Not until you run out of that juice," Blaze suggested calmly. "Liked the feeling?"

"Let me stop shivering first and I'll get back to you on that," I threw back, sitting my butt down and trying to wrap my forelegs around myself to find some heat back from somewhere.

"That's not going to do you much good, kid," Blaze chuckled. "In case you haven't realized it yet; our blood runs colder than theirs. That wave of heat you just had is only going to come back if you feed on one of them again."

"But... how? How did I... did what exactly?" I stumbled, the whole thing not making sense.

"It sort of happens automatically; you just absorb it when it's presented to you," Blaze offered, reaching her right hoof up to scratch at an itch near her right ear. "Gotta tell you, that looked like it was a good one. Kinda got me jealous."

"Oh, leave her," Breeze snorted. "Remember how it felt, Pearl. You're going to keep chasing that feeling from now on."

Moonshine let out a low whistle at that. "And you're never gonna get it," she added. "No matter how you try; that first one's where it's at. Nothing will compare to it."

Blaze sighed with clear longing. "Yeah..."

She snapped herself out of her reverie and frowned at me. "Don't get any funny ideas while out there, okay? Remember we need to stop our Queen from doing something that's going to ruin a lot of lives."

"Oh, she'll be fine," Breeze decided. "If anything, I trust her to be able to pull it off more than any of us. You included, Blazey. You're too hot-headed, I'm too clumsy, and Oval will end up staring at a wall wondering what it was she was trying to do."

"Hah," Moonshine chuckled. "Sounds about right, if I know you lot."

"Some respect for your elders there," Breeze threw at her. "Okay, I'm done wrapping you up, Pinkie. Don't blow Pearl's mind out like that again if you can help it, okay?"

"Okey-dokey-lokey," Pinkie agreed happily.

"Pff, older by what? A few lousy weeks? We were still hatched under the same moon," Moonshine defied Breeze, finishing up her own work fastening the bandage around Starlight's barrel.

"I really hope Twilight is not going to give me a test on this stuff when we come back," Starlight sighed. "Because I don't fully get what you two are talking about."