> Dawn the Derby Horse
>  by Meadow_Dawn
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue - Displacements and Limitations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meadow Dawn nodded approvingly as she looked over her schedule for the next year in this version of Equestria, different than the one she had come from. She had finally managed to master more of her school lessons and her physical training was geared for maintenance more than buildup. Self-defense lessons were in the roster twice a week, and cooking with Pound Cake was her continued hobby she stuck with since starting them a few years ago just before her metamorphosis. Magic was on hold till she got training back home, the rules being so different, it was a larger drain to use what wasnt naturally her world's skills.

She still smiled at the outcome of those events. Sure, that explosion would have killed a regular pony and almost killed her as a princess, but here she was, in the palace gardens, enjoying how her youngest pony daughter, Spring Dew, was mucking about in the garden with one of her nymph siblings, playing a strange kind of hide and go seek tag. The dark green foal squealed and ignored any amount of dirt in her coat and continued to look around for the brown furred, green chitined nymph hybrid that was her playmate. The two were almost lost to the casual eye by playing below the flower and bush line, but to them it was all in good fun, a veritable jungle gym all its own.

‘Legate, I got the caves in your Equestria scouted out for you. I’ve got some concerns about the location, it’s too insecure for a hive.’ Xeris, a drone of her mother’s hive, reported over the hive-link.

‘Thank you Xeris.’ Dawn relayed by thought, accepting their security concerns for creating a hive in the mountains east of Van Hoover as they made their full report and breakdown of the location.

Dawn was a princess and a changeling queen, quite by accident. It was six years ago, or nearly that long, when she first met these denizens of an alternate version of Equestria, was adopted by a now ‘good’ Chrysalis for her strength of will, and accidentally inherited some changeling traits when they had a symbolic cocooning for a hatch day. Her minor changeling traits, just gaining some chitin on her lower back near the tail and minor shapeshifting within her same general size and shape, were enhanced further after the attempt on her life. The purists inadvertently caused Dawn to require such extensive care that she was cocooned and came out half changeling and half alicorn, having absorbed more traits from the changeling ‘tribe.’

Dawn reveled in having so many little voices reaching out to her over the last few years since she started laying, calling her mother and just as odd as her inside and out. Sure, it took some getting used to, having hundreds of little foals that looked like regular foals till a pony saw a grub-like pack on their hind end, but it seemed to accelerate their growth. She couldn’t speak for the other versions of Equestria that no doubt existed, but she was proud every one of them produced their own love for their caretakers and each other. Naturally, Chrysalis was very proud of this achievement for what it meant for the future of her race.

Dawn’s hybrid nature was unprecedented, even for her world and this one where she was an ambassador. Naturally there were countless other Equestrias, each with different rules and outcomes where that might not be true, but for what they experienced, she was unique by having adopted traits unique to both sides.

She was still growing, only slightly taller than an average pony, one hoof more than her husband at least. Her lime green fur coat covered much of her front half of her body, a dark green set of chitin covered her hooves and down her spine where her mane started all the way to her hindquarters and through her hind legs. A single eye showed the slit characteristic of changeling queens, both of them being a vivid green with yellow tints highlighting the irises. She still had her pegasi like wings, though with yellow tips.

Dawn stretched out her wings, feeling them itch mildly and used a spell to float a snack from her bag to nibble on. Despite having the ability, she never felt much need to shapeshift outside of for fun and this world had no need for Equestrian changelings to go around disguised. Unlike the changelings of this world, she had to study a subject to imitate it. The greater the size difference, the greater the love energy drain. It often left her not bothering outside of going from four legs to two for exercises.

Dawn’s foals were clearly a mixed bag, just waiting to find out more about their talents as they grow older. Her oldest three were regular ponies… mostly. Morning Rise and Hearty Beacon were still in her womb when she was cocooned, and seemed to shift between the pony tribes and two-legged versions of themselves, but never took on a different pony’s look or could be alicorns, at least yet. Her youngest foal, Spring Dew, was carried by her husband thanks to a spell making it possible, and she showed no aptitude or desire for shapeshifting so far. The rest of the foals Dawn had tried to have were laid as eggs, growing up to be nymphs of her growing hive, all of whom sharing in her part-fur part-chitin natural form.

After deliberation, Dawn was just about to respond to Xeris’ report and chase down her daughters that were going too far away from her in the gardens when a rush of wind began pulling her backward.

Dawn tried to stand her ground as only earth ponies normally could. Peeking behind her revealed a dark hole she knew from her lessons was a precursor to a displacement. She was about to end up in another world, again!

‘Mom! Xeris! Displacement is imminent!’ She tried to send off the warning as the pull from the hole grew stronger by the second. She was glad in that moment she wasn’t laying eggs and could control it, having decided instead to wait as they tried to figure out the overall development and needs of her first three years’ worth of foal-lings before expanding herself further.

She began to lose her footing, even as she could sense her adoptive mother and nearby drones mobilizing to secure the area. Despite their wishes and instincts, there was little they could do but call out as she was sucked away from her foals, who were scooped up by a nearby soldier drone to safety. She felt their instinctual urge to rush for Dawn herself, but the hole to her family closed behind her and all too soon, she could see and feel nothing.

-----

Dawn groaned, her throat sore as she laid on her side on some grass. She moved to get up, fully intending to ask herself out loud “What happened?” but found her throat wouldn’t work the way she wanted and let out an awkward coughing fit instead.

She heard braying and a few snorts from somewhat nearby, opening her eyes as she tried to look around. She blinked as she saw horses, not ponies, a good fifty yards to her right as she slowly got up. From what she could tell from the agitated ear and tail flicks, they didn’t know what to think of the newcomer and weren’t sure if they wanted to bolt or not, despite the newcomer being only half their height.

Dawn’s displacement lessons kicked in, and she looked around further, anything that could help her blend in or stay out of trouble until help arrived would increase her chances significantly. To her dismay, she found only green plains, horse-height sturdy wood fencing that stood almost as tall as she did, and a ranch-like home a bit beyond the fencing.

Dawn looked to the horses, noting their dreary colors and decided copying one of them would be best until she found out more. There was no place to hide and it might guarantee at least a certain level of survival by blending in if the world allowed it. She focused on the form she wished to take, felt the familiar swish of changeling magic adjusting her form and took stock of herself. She frowned as everything felt off about what just happened, not sensing a loss of love energy, but ignored it to assess her status again.

She was no longer a slightly above average height pony. Now she was just a few hands shorter than the smallest horses present, and still somehow retained her lime green pelt, cutie mark, and dual colored mane. She quickly tried to correct it, knowing this would make her stick out like a sore thumb, but her shapeshifting wouldn’t budge, saying it was the right form and disguise. She tried using illusion magic, only to feel the spell short circuit and send a sharp shock from her forehead down her spine. Though she could still somewhat feel magic, no amount of love could be sensed, or other emotions for that matter.

A small sense of dread started to sweep her at their predicament and turned to look around, spotted a house, a door having just closed, and a figure started walking their way.

‘Well… buck.’ Dawn thought to herself.

----------

Erin woke up early that morning, feeling a sense of excitement. She couldn’t quite place what it was that she liked about today. Any day was a good day when she could take some time to care for her family’s horses and sneak a ride in, but today felt special.

She got up, brushing out her light brown hair out of her hazel eyes, got dressed, and left the house in her usual worn clothes for spending time with the animals, walking over to the fields where the herd should be resting or grazing. She noticed something was wrong as she walked toward the field, noticing that most of them were clumped together and further away than usual.

She blinked as she drew closer. She swore she saw something a lighter green in front of her vision, between her and the other horses, but she wasn’t sure until she saw it move to the side, toward one of the fences.

“A green horse?” She blinked. She had seen a lot of horses since she was little, and handled plenty even outside of her family’s occasional training courses for people to learn how to ride a horse, but a green horse wasn’t possible as far as she knew. It must be dyed. “Where’d you come from fella?”

She continued to approach slowly, taking her time and watching the horse carefully. There wasn’t anything more dangerous than an animal who felt cornered, but a frightened one was still up there.

Dawn watched as she held the attention of the mildly tanned young girl. ‘Great… of course I’m the first thing she sees… do I try to make friends? Act dumb? Acting dumb probably will include panicking and judging by the enclosure, that’d get nowhere.’ She thought, noticing how the girl was only fifty feet away and standing there. She snorted and moved away a couple steps and continued deliberating, ‘Let’s see what she does.’

“Hey there girl.” The girl said gently as she got a better look at what the horse was, their voice floating over the air toward Dawn, “Where’d you come from? How’d you get here?”

Dawn turned her head toward them and kept their attention to them, flicking her ears as she listened to her closely. This human was not speaking up at all despite the distance.

“Easy girl, I’m not gonna hurt you, just wanna say hi.” The girl said, making very slow movements toward the unfamiliar horse. She knew what she was doing was risky, but this had to be what made her day special. She believed in fate, among other things, and she was positive this was related to it!

Dawn gave a sigh, wincing at the noise she heard out of her muzzle. It looked like befriending them was probably the best way to move forward. The entire area was fenced in in a way she wasn’t sure she could manage to escape reliably. The girl had closed the gate behind her, though there seemed to be movement beyond it now anyway. ‘Time to make a good impression!’ she thought to herself as she turned mostly toward the girl, watching her closely.

“That’s it, just me… nothing to be afraid of.” The girl cooed, stepping forward slowly, keeping herself relatively small so the new horse wouldn’t think she’s being threatening.

‘Girl… if you knew just how much power I had under my horn, you’d realize I’m not at all scared of you if I had it available.’ Dawn thought. She debated approaching the girl, and heard the sound of a motor. ‘Great… if there’s motors, there’ probably guns or other dangerous tech. let’s see how naive this girl is and if I can make a quick friend to avoid being shot.’

Erin gave a near silent gasp as the horse tentatively took a step toward her, then another, looking between her and her father approaching on his cart to get to the hay bales.

“It’s ok girl,” Erin encouraged from ten feet away, slowly raising her hand from her pocket and holding out a sugar cube, “Just my dad.”

‘Doesn’t change I don’t know anything about any of you and am about to trust myself to your care until the EDF rescues me…’ Dawn thought, flicking her ears and delaying her look to the girl before exaggerating her movements. She moved her head toward the cube, sniffing at it and shying away, then repeating the process as she got within reach of the hand. ‘I don’t want to risk biting her hand to get the sugar if I’m going to play the part of a pet to blend in…’

“That’s it, just a bit of sugar for you. I’ve got more if you keep being friendly.” She said cheerfully, though with a calculated quietness to her voice, holding the cube out with a flat palm.

Erin smiled more as the horse carefully seemed to lean in and nip at the cube, only looking up again as the mostly eaten cube was ignored and they looked at each other.

“You’re a friendly girl.” Erin smiled as her dad approached, “You get lost?”

Dawn stayed relatively still, shying away from the hand deliberately at first, but when the girl persisted, she stayed put, turning her attention to the vehicle coming toward them. It was odd, not being the human of the pair, feeling a small fragile hand on her rather oversized shoulders and muscles as they trailed their fingers through her coat.

“Erin!” A gruff voice called from a rugged kind of atv with a trailer attached to it, the man pulling out a gun from a slot along the body, “What the hell is that!”

“Whoah, Easy dad! Don’t shoot!” Erin yelled, standing in front of the green mare to block the way.

Dawn acted suitably scared by backing away, not quite half faking it either. She might still be an alicorn, since the world didn’t seem to mind her original form or force her out of it, but that didn’t mean she wanted her very early stages immortality tested! At this stage, all she could have was not dying of old age and being mildly healthier!

“I see my girl with a horse with a color I’ve never seen before and you want to tell me not to protect her!?” He asked, growing frustrated.

“Dad, she’s friendly!” Erin said, frowning as the horse seemed to shy away and move behind her.

The dad, a well-built tanned individual with a clean-shaven face continued to hold the gun in Dawn’s direction before sighing and putting it back, keeping an eye on them, “So how the hell did it get here?”

“I dunno, but I like her!” She said enthusiastically.

Dawn snorted despite herself, turning her head to look away and surveying her surroundings again, trying to see if there would be any way to safely get away from the man while unconsciously moving slowly away.

“Easy girl, easy…” Erin said, turning back to the new horse and petting their shoulder to calm them down.

‘Girl, you keep saying easy, and I’ll make this hard!’ Dawn thought, getting tired of the gentle talk already. She put up with it for the moment, slowing her movements and standing still for the girl while watching the dad.

The dad frowned, his own instincts speaking to him loud and clear. Something was just wrong about what he was seeing. He slowly got out of the ATV, watching his daughter dote on this strange horse. “Erin, you sure she’s tame?”

Dawn’s ear flicked as she registered the name she heard. She continued to debate if she should try to escape, risking hurting herself or allowing herself to play favorites with this girl. It didn’t seem like she was in control though, and that made escape look a lot better.

Erin kept a hand on the shoulder of the new horse, just as much to try and comfort as well as to make sure they knew where she was relative to them. She felt them shy away, moving backward and making small noises of annoyance.

“Dad.” Erin frowned, trying to give him a stern look.

The father misunderstood, swiftly moving forward with a hand outstretched, intent on grabbing his daughter and pulling her to safety.

Dawn took the extra space, sensing the father’s mounting fear, and bolted to the center of the field past them. She noticed the gate had been left open and her chance to escape was clear. She didn’t know this form’s limitations, but it was time to find out as she heard Erin’s voice yelling out in protest and the father giving a short bark.

Dawn grinned on the inside, happy she would be able to make it to escape.

A sudden yell from Erin made her instinctively swerve. A harsh grating sound of metal on metal made her ears wince and a sharp pain registered in her flank before the whooshing sound registered and helped her piece together what had happened. She grumbled as a brief glance confirmed a syringe sticking out of her side.

‘Dammit, just haaaad to make a run for it and act skittish… great damn thinking Dawn.’ She grumbled, noticing her sluggishness, ‘Okay, so tranquilizer, not a bullet. I don’t feel sleepy thanks to isolating the syrum, but I don’t want to be shot again, let’s play the part and see where this goes… oh buck no I’m not laying in their other animals’ stool… here’s a clean spot at least.’

Erin finished screaming at her dad in anger for causing them to panic, but the dad was having none of it. She watched in frustration as he nodded with satisfaction and pointed in the direction of the other horses with his now unloaded gun, still keeping from direct aim at any of them out of safety.

“You tell me that horse was doing no harm when we finally round up our startled horses and know they haven’t been contaminated by whatever that one had!” He said angrily. “After we get them in the stables, we put that one in quarantine and try to find out where the hell it came from.”

“Gah!” Erin growled in exasperation, throwing her hands up in the air before getting on the A.T.V. to join her dad in doing as he said.
> 1 - Quarantine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Erin sighed as she sat in Math class. Her graduation was a foregone conclusion, having already gotten her G.E.D. so she could become a jockey as soon as she could. It had been her dream to find the perfect horse for the races, train them, and reach the top by the time she was twenty or twenty-five, in plenty of time to find a man who loved horses as much as her and could help keep the ranch and farmlands going.

She grumbled quietly as her math questions were left as half finished. The teachers let her do what she wanted as long as she didn’t disrupt the others. After all, she already got her education, but dad insisted she still attend school because ‘It’s like life, where you have to balance a job and fun at the same time. Besides, you might make some friends!’

‘Make friends my ass.’ Erin grumbled to herself, ‘Sure some of them are nice, but when it comes to hanging out, all any of ‘em want to do is stay in the city.’

She smirked as she thought about the mystery horse’s appearance, finding herself doodling with her pencils and coloring it in. She found herself hoping that no one would claim her. She was left in charge of making the ‘found horse’ notice to all the ranchers in a hundred mile radius. All the better for her. No way would she list it was an unfamiliar or dyed color, instead saying that a horse about 14.2 hands high had been found and a correct color and breed match would release the horse to its owner. The real one would know they had dyed it, recently too by how close to the root it was.

A few calls came in, but it was clear the callers were making stuff up to try and take the green horse away, giving any color and breed they could, one sleazy man trying to suggest she couldn’t possibly know what horse was what and she ‘definitely’ had his horse. When she asked what color it was, he tried to list every color under the sun that a horse could be, and when she gave him nothing other than a “Nope, not the one I have. Hope you find your horses, that’s a lot of em to be missing.” he accused her of being blind!

Looks like the horse was going to be hers, even by the police’s standards! She would have to see if the mare would let her ride or not and break her in slowly. Oh, and she’d have to come up with a name. They were fast, almost as fast as some of dad’s best horses if she saw that gallop right when they tried to run away. She’d have to test it on the practice track if things go well enough.

The bell rang and Erin picked up her bag and nearly flew out of the room with her things, glad the day was up. She quickly went to the lot and got her old beater of a car started and left the school lot before the worst of the rush could clog up the streets.

She drove home, trying hard to obey the speed limits… most of the time anyway, and ran through the home.

“Hey guys, I’m home, I’m off to see the horses!” She said as she unceremoniously dropped her bag on a chest by the stairs and went to the back so she could get to the fields.

“Oh Erin, I-!” Mom tried to say before she let out a sigh, going back to the kitchen. “I swear, that girl loves the horses more than her family!”

“Horses have been in our blood since her great grandfather’s days, maybe older.” The dad said, keeping an eye on her as she started the ATV and zoomed off to the stables. “At least she’s passionate about something tangible. You ‘n I both know too many her age have their heads buried in one screen or another.”

“Too true…” She sighed, going back to cooking.

----------

Dawn sighed as she stood in the stable in the coolness of spring. The pen she could access was abhorrently small, and of course she wasn’t allowed into the main pasture, yet this small little penned area barely enough to walk herself in circles.

When they got to her, they manhandled her body into the trailer that still smelled of horse waste, at least they got the tranquilizer out before she began moving, and took her over into the quickly erected quarantine zone and pen.

Now her days were spent calculating, lost in her own mind while unable to speak. She wouldn’t risk changing her form again to escape just yet, but that also meant a very awkward time when it came to relieving herself. She refused to let herself go in the stable like the other horses would and would take the walk outside to do so. The water was barely tolerable with a heavy iron taste to it, but the hay was decent, both for resting and for eating. At night, she tested her speech again, only to find her noises were incomprehensible, even to herself.

Finally last night, when she was reasonably sure of the patterns of the other horses and the humans, she tried to shapeshift back to her natural form. To her surprise, she was the same size, horn nearly poking out above the wall into plain view. Her wings were significantly larger and wouldn’t be able to unfurl in the tiny space she was in, but covered up part of her cutie mark with the longest flight feathers. She felt tired and let out a frustrated sigh. She decided against testing further shapes like a human form for the moment, not even sure if she would have it as an option yet.

In her best estimate until she found otherwise, she was stuck with two options, her normal form or the earth horse equivalent that she was stuck being disguised as and both of them at earth-horse height. Despite best efforst, she couldn’t revert back to her original smaller size. A quick sound of noise nearby her and she rushed to don the disguise once more.

Erin turned the corner, having made a beeline to see Dawn. She smiled and said her hello before cleaning up the bedding.

Dawn sighed internally in relief. Erin probably mistook the changeling fire that would declare the shapeshifting as reflections off the water as she got up. A small chuckle escaped her in the form of a knickering sound, making her wince and cut it off. The resulting reaction was entertaining.

Erin had approached with mild worry, trying to calm an already calm horse. Rather than fighting it by being calm, she played the part and paced around before slowing down to a standing position as Erin brushed her coat of fur. After they finished and were turning to leave, Dawn playfully bumped their back with her muzzle.

Erin laughed and looked over the horse, instinct gnawing at her about this horse as she left. There was definitely something special about her, and it wasn’t just her color.



Dawn looked to the sky, judging it to be sometime mid-afternoon. If the last couple days were any indication, Erin would be around soon, probably attending school.

She wasn’t sure how, but she suspected she left a strong impression on the girl. Unfortunately, the dad was suspicious and checked in on her occasionally. He left her alone, and she would act calm and fine, but there was only so much staring at her body that she could take. If he wasn’t the one providing for everything, she’d show him how bad it felt to be staring at inappropriate things!

“Hey girl! I’m back!” She said cheerfully, practically prancing into view of the pen.

Dawn turned to face Erin with some relief. At least this helped break up some of the monotony of the boring, lazy days that she was starting to become the norm.

“Looks like you missed me too!” She said cheerfully at Dawn’s approach, brushing aside the remnants of the last meal of hay and put in a new helping, checking that there was enough water for her to drink, “Good news, your quarantine is over! Now that we can let you out, I wanna see what you can do!”

‘Great… so that definitely means getting a saddle on me and being treated like a free ride. I wonder how she’d feel if she turned into a horse and the roles were reversed.’ Dawn thought, making a mental note to try her human form when it was safe again to try.

“Looks like no one was able to say who you belonged to, so here’s a little treat from me to you if you’ll stay still for me.” Erin said, bringing over a bag that hooked onto a pair of loops that seemed to have lightly sugared oats in it.

‘Well… she’s off to a good start. Not a fair trade, but I’ll take some variety in my meals since I have to fit in anyway.’ Dawn thought.

“Going to have to come up with a name for you.” Erin grunted as she lifted the saddle equipment and carried it over to in front of Dawn, wanting them to see what she was doing.

‘Why did I have to be right?’ Dawn mentally sighed, inspecting the saddle and internally shrugging at her fate before going back to her meal.

This seemed to satisfy Erin and she carefully put the equipment on Dawn’s back, straightening out straps before beginning to secure things loosely at first, intending to tie it down further after most of them were partly secured.

Dawn stayed mostly still, shifting her weight from her left and right sides as needed. The girl knew what she was doing, and they were strapped in in just a couple minutes, though another couple were spent making sure the straps were secure but not too tight to be uncomfortable.

“All right girl, you’ve finished your meal, let’s get your bridle on.”

‘Aww Tartarus no!’ Dawn thought and started to pull back, not wanting to deal with some metal bit in her mouth that had been in other horses’ mouths and had Celestia knows what creepy crawlies over it! She barely noticed the braying noise she made in protest.

“Whoah, whoah! Easy girl, easy!” Erin said, setting the bridle down and stepping back to let her calm.

Dawn backed away and snorted, looking toward the opposite corner.

Erin watched this peculiar behavior and wondered if the poor mare had a bad experience with bridles before, since the saddle didn’t seem to be an issue. She decided they wouldn’t leave her property anyway, and could try just the harness instead, see what they might tolerate. After fiddling with the bridle to remove the possibly offending piece, she pulled out a metal brush and began gently getting their coat cared for, keeping the harness nearby.

‘Erin, I know what you’re doing.’ Dawn thought with an outward sigh, ‘Come on Dawn, you decided this was the ‘best’ course of action a few days ago, stop being stubborn and just let it happen for buck’s sake!’

Erin smiled as her attentions seemed to do the trick, and slowly she brought the harness to their muzzle. When Dawn didn’t move away after giving them a chance to touch it and smell it, she slowly slipped it over their muzzle. Erin smiled wider as she managed to get it on, slowly fastening the straps and resisting the urge to squeal in delight as everything clicked into place.

“Come on girl, let’s get you some sunshine and a good run.” Erin said.

‘More like maintain my physical training regimen.’ Dawn thought, letting herself be ‘led’ to the gates as Erin took care of the makeshift fences. ‘At least it’s a comfortable level of cool outside. Mid-low humidity will make breathing not too hard. So far so good.’

Erin finished undoing a final gate and swung it partly open before she came back to Dawn, “All right, we’ll take it nice and easy.”

Dawn snorted as Erin seated herself in the saddle, climbing with clear practice and noting the grin on her face. ‘All right… let’s take it easy for now. First time with a rider at least. Feels a lot like just a bit more than the added weight beyond EDF battle-packs and armor. We’ll warm up with this and then get to my runs.’

Erin squeezed her heels against Dawn’s sides and Dawn shook her head at the signal, a poor substitute for rolling her eyes. The pair went off at a slow trot, Erin getting a feel for Dawn’s gait and Dawn getting a feel for how this addition would affect her balance and center of gravity.

Erin sat in the saddle, very pleased with what she was seeing and feeling. The full sized horses had always felt just a bit too big for her, even if they were beautiful in their own rights. Their relaxed freeform pace walked along the outside of the railing, telling her the mare was either a path horse or possibly was familiar with derbies already. It was even a generally faster pace than what she expected for a casual walk, despite being nearly two hands shorter than average horses!

Erin watched the corner of their property come up and pulled a stopwatch out of her chest pocket. If she could manage it, she wanted to time how quickly they would run. Her property was big, and a full lap around the fencing was just shy of a mile. It was no proper race track, but it’d be a good test anyway.

Dawn slowed as she reached the corner, ignoring Erin’s presence due to lack of further input. Once she slowed almost to a standstill, she smiled internally. This would be its own kind of challenge now that she had a better feel for the shifts.

“You ready for- WHOAH!” Erin started to say before she was jerked backward in surprise as Dawn started sprinting along the outside. Erin accidentally hit the start button in the process before she managed to right herself and get into position, wondering what had gotten into the mare.

Dawn ran along, letting all her pent up energy and near-cabin fever go into her run. She felt the wind in her face, keeping her mane out of her eyes. Having Erin on her back didn’t seem to mitigate her ability to train too much. She went past the other horses who stayed closer to the middle of the land and kept focusing on her task.

‘All right, not too out of shape. Not sure what changes there are to my speed because of my size change but- OH EW EW EW!’ she thought as she ran further, stepping in something with a bit more give and began convincing herself despite the internal panic, ‘It’s just mud, it’s just mud! It’s gotta be mud!’

Erin rode on, leaning in to the front of the green horse’s body like she was trained, grinning widely. The feeling of the wind rushing around her and her horse never got old, and the added sight of green and yellow hairs flowing in the wind toward her gave her every impression of riding on a sunny grassland plain.

Erin barely had enough time when they took the turn near the one corner of the fence to glance at the stopwatch and blinked as she saw the time. 22 seconds. Quick math in her head confirmed the fastest horse could do a mile and a quarter in two minutes, so a fifth of that was 24 seconds. This horse was almost as fast as some of the faster horses out in the derby outside of a full on sprint!

Even as Dawn ran on, focusing on pushing herself for the first lap before going into a maintenance trot afterward to cool off. Erin looked down at the stopwatch and ran over the numbers, stunned at what she was seeing.

’22 seconds on this side, 92 on the whole thing around…’ Erin blinked. ‘She would have had a good 28 seconds to finish the last quarter mile and still beat the record!’

Erin smiled and pulled back on the reigns gently to signal her wanting to go slower as she stared at the timer. Her new horse really did just hit a minute thirty on their first ride! She felt them slow down into a mild trot around the land, continuing to grin as the mane practically blew into her shirt while noting the mare’s nearly automatic cool down walk. This was definitely a racer’s horse.

Dawn was mildly content. She had a feeling she didn’t do as well as she possibly could have, but her speed felt about right for the weight she faced. It wouldn’t do if she ended up going too fast and brought a lot of attention, or too slow if she was going to be involved in some kind of work. Wouldn’t surprise her if this place did some sort of walking rehab or therapy by riding horses or something to fill in the gaps in finance it takes to keep them. Perhaps she would just be used for something that mundane.

Dawn finished another quarter of a mile with her cooldown trot before slowing to a casual gait while walking back toward the house. She almost laughed when she felt Erin pull the harness in that direction and try to straighten her out. Judging by their smile, Erin was pleased, and Dawn figured a happy girl would mean a happy pair of parents, though that’d be hard to say for sure.

They trotted over to the gate, where things slowed to a stop and Erin dismounted and tied Dawn’s reigns to the fence as the dad approached.

“Dad! She’s the one!” Erin said.

‘Wait, what the buck?’ Dawn blinked, startled, ‘The buck did I do this time!’

“Wait, what the hell are you talking about?” The dad asked, inadvertently echoing Dawn.

“Her! I want her for my races in the Junior Derbies!” Erin said excitedly, showing him the stopwatch.

“Look, Erin, I know she’s a unique color, but,” the dad started to say before blinking and looking at the stopwatch, “How far did she run?”

“The entire outside of the pasture, without prompting, and she wasn’t even panting when we finished.” She said proudly.

‘… Dammit!’ Dawn thought, letting out a sigh of frustration as she tried to wipe her hooves clean. ‘I’m a bucking idiot!’

“Seriously?” he blinked, looking at her, “Then again, if someone spent all that money dying her coat, I guess they would have spent plenty making sure she can run… still, what’s up with the butt mark?”

“Maybe it’s a clue for her name.” Erin offered. “Sunny meadows maybe?”

Dawn sighed and shook her head. ‘Close, but… why am I fighting my hiding name? Why am I being an idiot and risking exposing myself!’

“I don’t think she liked that one.” Erin frowned, despite her father’s snort, “What? If she’s going to be my partner, I want her to like her name!”

“Yeah, we’ll see when we take her out to the practice field.” The dad snorted again. “I don’t know how much I believe any of this… Still, if she’s fast, it’s your choice who you ride in the races. You got two months to get her into shape though.”

“I know, dad.” Erin said, her voice as sarcastic as a teenage girl can get, though a smile showed it was playful banter.

“Good. If you’re ready to get to work, I’ve got a call to the school to make.” He said, turning around, looking at the clock and snorting, “Make sure you clean up and are ready for dinner in two hours.”

“Yes dad!” she called out before grinning at Dawn again, “So, let’s get you groomed while I think up a good name for you!”

‘Remember Dawn, let the girl have her fun, call you whatever.’ Dawn tried to tell herself as she watched them unhook her harness and get back on her back. She trotted lazily over to the building, thinking, ‘It’s not like this is going to be what you’re stuck with forever, just till the EDF gets you back home.’

The pair moved to the stables and Erin dismounted just outside and led dawn to a slightly more spacious pen, the walls covered in various instruments for a horse’s care.

Erin loosely tied Dawn’s harness to the nearby stand with a small feeding trough, having already closed the gate behind her. She got a couple brushes and began to work on her coat, talking out loud.

“Let’s see… what’s a good name for you?” Erin asked as she started at the shoulders, looking over at the odd added dye of dark green hill, a few grass shoots visible, and a very yellow sun sitting behind it. “Definitely a sunrise, and that hill has to mean something…”

Dawn gave an involuntary contented sigh. After several days of not being able to scratch an itch, the rough tools were taking care of tangled knots in her short coat as well as scratching her just the right ways to be utterly comforting.

“Yeah, it has to mean something.” Erin determined, “You didn’t like Sunny did you?”

Dawn looked away, playing dumb.

“Didn’t think so.” Erin hummed, moving the scratches further along the lime green coat of fur, “Think Meadows should be part of your name?

Dawn twisted her head toward Erin, just as much from the familiar name as because they stopped the scratching.

“Ohhh, so I’m getting close huh?” Erin grinned, brushing more quickly again, “Well, you got a sunrise here, how bout Meadow Dawn?”

Dawn couldn’t help but lift her front hoof and stomp it down approvingly as the tool hit the sweet zone that had been bugging her for the last few minutes, and was further relieved to hear her right name. She wouldn’t have expected them to get so close so fast but wasn’t about to complain.

“I think we have a winner!” She said happily, continuing to brush before reaching up to give a scratch behind the ears, “I look forward to working with you Meadow.”

Dawn gave a long contented sigh as another itchy spot once ignored was now being taken care of.

“That’s it, you’re such a good sweetheart.” Erin said happily as she explored her horse. “I wonder how old you are…”

‘Girl, I’m older than you by probably twice as much… makes me wish I could say five hundred and change just to mess with you.’ Dawn thought. ‘Erin though… I swear that name sounds familiar… HEY!’

“Sorry girl!” Erin apologized, quickly withdrawing her hand from under the mare and backed away while they fidgeted in place, “still… seems like you’ve had a foal before then, maybe six or seven years old? That’s older than most race horses though…”

‘So help me if there was something close enough to the right height, I would facedesk right now to whatever was nearby.’ Dawn thought plainly in annoyance.

“Well,” Erin said, noticing Dawn calming and slowly approaching with her brushes again, “I think we’re gonna have some busy weeks together. Lotta training we need to get done.”

‘Better than staying bored in a pasture getting fat off hay.’ Dawn thought, ‘I want to say I know that name from a game, not that that should influence anything… but why do I now get the mental picture of her trying to act like a knight, wielding a mid-sized shield and a short lance?’

Erin spent the rest of her time brushing down Dawn’s coat, mildly surprised at the lack of tangles in their mane and coat. She managed to finish in plenty of time for dinner, taking Dawn back to her stable before taking care of the other horses before heading back on her ATV.

‘Well, that was nice to be spoiled like that. Didn’t expect the close up inspections, but this will pass the time until rescue at least.’ Dawn admitted.
> 2 - Training
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Erin woke early the next morning, once again taking care of the stables before getting to Dawn with a mild grin, once again only needing to clean up a small area and replace the bedding hay before getting Dawn’s harness on easily. She was entertained at how sleepy Dawn acted, despite her name.

“Come on girl, time to wake up and smell the grass!” Erin said happily.

‘Of course I have to get a morning person…’ Dawn groaned, walking after Erin with half closed eyes.

“Come on.” Erin repeated encouragingly, leading Dawn to a boxy trailer with many holes in it.

‘Ah, so we’re going to a different field. Joy.’ Dawn mentally complained again as she entered the trailer with Erin.

Erin was impressed again. Most horses hesitated getting into the trailer and she had expected Dawn to stop so she could get the ramp connected, yet this horse just stepped up like it was nothing new, standing near one of the hitching posts on her own. Erin watched for a few seconds before entering the trailer. She fastened the things she needed to fasten so Dawn’s weight was less likely shift and unbalance the truck they were taking, then patted her back.

“I’ll be back soon once we get you there. Be good while I’m gone ok?” Erin said.

‘Yes, of course.’ Dawn thought sarcastically, ‘because the first thing I want is to tip everything over and risk more harm to myself than to anypony else.’

Erin got out, secured the back doors, and walked over to the passenger door and got in, her dad having offered to drive earlier that morning.

“So, you’re really set on this mystery horse.” The dad commented.

“Yup, gonna see what she can do in the field while you work, get some averages in and see how she handles before we register.” Erin confirmed.

“All right… I’ll probably watch the first few before I get going. Most of the crew have already gotten things done ahead of schedule.”

Erin stayed quiet, looking out the lightly rusted truck as they got moving and started to drive down to the fields they managed, a bit of land being set aside for testing the horses or giving them space to run.

It only took them ten minutes before they began to slow down and pull in to a dirt field just large enough to imitate a derby track, with barrels imitating the inside fencing.

‘Ok, so clearly they want to see how well I can race. I can’t do as fast of a speed as before if I want to avoid being in the public eye, but it seems like my speed and stamina training from before have carried over from back home. We’ll have to see how attentive Erin is to my performance.’ Dawn thought.

They came to a stop where the stands might have been, just a couple of benches and horse posts for the guests they have visiting, paying hobbyists or friends otherwise. Erin quickly got out and got the trailer opened.

Dawn let herself be guided backward, watching where her hind hooves were and carefully walked down without the ramp again, seeing how Erin was watching closely.

They paused outside the trailer, the harness being tied to the trailer itself, and once again Erin got the saddle equipment out and got Dawn fastened up before mounting the saddle.

‘Hm, skin on fur feels funny.’ Dawn noted randomly, wondering why Erin opted for short sleeves and shorts on this mildly cool day. ‘Would have thought that would feel like petting my cat when I was growing up. Hm.’

Erin gave the light jab with the soles of her boots and Dawn moved away from the trailer, being walked around the course as she observed it.

‘Pretty hard earth there.’ Dawn noted, ‘not very slippery. I’d prefer grass, but like the sergeant taught, I won’t always get what I want in a battlefield and this is no exception.’

Erin watched as Dawn went through the field, riding softly and enjoying their gentle rocking motion. Another day of feeling good about this. If there was one thing she knew to listen to, it was her instincts.

They went around the mile and a quarter of track and Erin pulled on the harness gently to get everything ready. A quick tear tape was strung behind her from one barrel to its opposite side’s counterpart, and she took out the stopwatch and tossed it over to her dad.

“If you’re gonna watch, might as well time us.” Erin grinned.

“Sure. Show me what she can do. After three, I’ve gotta get back to work.” He shrugged, scratching his now mild beard on his face.

Erin went over to Dawn and mounted her again, and Dawn internally smirked. ‘Ok, so let’s see how a more casual pace like before gets measured and how excited they get.’

“Ready!” The dad called, “On your mark! Get Set… Wait for it! GO!”

Dawn snorted at the ‘wait for it’ and no sooner than he had said go, she managed to go into a full gallop just before Erin tried to squeeze her sides.

Erin let out a squeak of surprise before getting her balance again, holding the proper posture she was taught to keep her weight as steady for them as possible.

The dad watched, looking over at the colored barrels, most of them being blue, but eight were red, indicating when they passed each furlong to measure pacing. He hit the button when Dawn and Erin passed the first one and gave a low whistle.

“Thirteen seconds out of the gate?” He said quietly, “That’s real good.”

The rest of the race left Dawn breathing consistently with her heavier exercise breaths, taking the rest of the course in stride. Erin breathed excitedly, exercising by virtue of holding more of her weight into the stirrups than in the seat like she was taught, and this was definitely faster by the feel of the wind than any of her other horses!

Dawn ripped through the tape and continued running, causing Erin to laugh and try to tell Dawn to stop while the dad simply stared at the stopped time until Erin managed to turn Dawn around and trot over to him.

“How’d we do dad?” Erin asked, knowing that it had to have been good based on that look.

“Two minutes, seven seconds…” He said, blinking as he showed her.

“Whoah…” Erin said with a smile, patting Dawn’s neck approvingly, “And she hasn’t even hit her stride from what I can tell.”

“You’re kidding.” The dad said flatly.

“You should hear her breathing after, you saw how she wanted to keep going.” Erin countered, “She could probably go faster.”

“Hun, I know you’re excited, but you and I both know that the derby record hasn’t been beaten in practically fifty years.” Dad said, “If we haven’t had any horse beat it since, I doubt we’re about to with some horse that popped up outta nowhere that can break that under two minute record.”

“We don’t know till we try!” She said excitedly. “Come on Dawn, let’s go reset.”

‘… BUCK!’ Dawn cursed herself. ‘I should have been more cautious, but noooooo, I had to go back to my regular pace out of habit and as a ‘test’ only to find out she can call my bluff! Only way out of it now is to fake breathing hard when we’re done, and even that will probably backfire!’

Dawn let herself be led to the starting line again, Erin fixing up the break and setting up the tape again with intent to reuse it every time she could.

“Ready? Set? Go!” The dad called, and once again, he barely pushed the button down and Dawn went into a gallop.

The trio continued on like this for two more races, Dawn getting another time that was two minutes fifteen seconds the second time, only to hear Erin complain and pull out a bag of sweetened oats to tempt her. Dawn acted interested, sniffing the bag before she took the bag away and put it on the finishing barrel by her father.

“So help me, we are going to see your very best or you won’t get your treat.” Erin threatened.

‘Well, you asked for it.’ Dawn thought. ‘If I can’t fool you, let’s ride. I’m already in trouble after all…’

Dawn dashed once again, running with most of her effort for the mile this time, and Erin clung on tightly as she thought her bribe was working. She rode Dawn to the end, where Dawn broke the tape and only at Erin’s signal a good quarter of a mile later did she slow down into their ‘cool down trot.’

The dad was standing up, waving Erin to get over and look.

“What’s the time now dad?” Erin asked, only to get it shown to her face, “What?!”

“I don’t believe it either.” The dad said, looking stunned.

‘If you didn’t believe it, then you wouldn’t be so shocked and more annoyed.’ Dawn mentally countered.

“You sure you hit it at the right times?” Erin asked.

“You calling your dad a liar?” He asked with a slight grin.

“Just a prankster. I had to get it from somewhere!” Erin said proudly.

“We should get her to the track, see what they would time her at. Maybe this watch is busted.” The dad suggested.

“No, it felt that fast… we just might have a new recordholder horse right here!” Erin said excitedly, going over to get the feed bag for Dawn.

Dawn snorted, not feeling hungry quite yet and ignored the feed. ‘I’m a bloody alicorn for crying out loud! Of course after a good five years of physical fitness training I’d be faster than almost anypony mortal!’

“Really girl? Now you’re saying you’re not hungry after how worked up you got?” Erin laughed. “Maybe she’s the prankster out of the three of us!”

‘No, that would be Tia.’ Dawn mentally countered. ‘Hell, I’d still need more of my shapeshifting abilities to work or illusion magic to really prank you unless I can manage more than my natural form and this one in this world.’

The dad simply laughed with his daughter, patting her on the back and then began walking back to the truck, “Well, I’ll leave you all to it till you give me a ring and I’ll pick you up.”

“Will do!” Erin called before turning back to mount Dawn again and took her out for a trot.

Dawn thought to herself as she let the human on her back do what she pleased, ‘directing’ or ‘leading’ her as she wanted. It left her free to wonder what the next steps she should take would be.

By the time they took a break for lunch, Erin called to request dad get them picked up and back home for a break. Dawn felt mildly tired. She expected to feel a bit sore, but there was a very sore spot just in front of where the saddle was that she couldn’t quite reach to bite at for lack of a better scratching tool.

“Here girl, you did good.” Erin said, approaching and giving the spot a good scratch for several seconds after seeing dawn try to reach it, then rubbed and patted the area.

‘Of course.’ Dawn thought, still mildly annoyed that it still felt very sore, almost painful, yet the rubbing and scratching didn’t help. Still, Erin seemed earnest enough, and they did want her to do well for both of them. It was frustrating she couldn’t taste their emotions, like she had lost a sense. She was grateful it wasn’t a worse situation, but was struggling to keep her act together.

Dawn was guided into the trailer and they were driven over to the main pasture again, where Erin walked Dawn over to the stable and groomed her down before getting her meal of hay mixed with some alfalfa into the trough and refilled her water basin.

Dawn spent the rest of the day relaxing either by eating or walking around the field, taking in her surroundings and trying to guess where she might have been. Nighttime fell and she was guided back to the stable, and she had a limited line of sight to the night sky, but she took solace in how similar the star formations looked.

‘There’s some constellations that seem close to Equestria’s… Wait, that’s Orion, and there’s The Big Dipper… So somehow I made it back to Earth? Maybe not the same one though.’ Dawn hummed. She thought about what she could do if it was, and decided to test her moderate shapeshifting once more.

A quick rush of green fire went up from the base of her hooves and around her body until it vanished at the tip of her horn, only to make Dawn blink at her natural form appearing. ‘What?! I tried to change to be human!’

She tried to test it again, only to feel pain flare up from just under the strip of her chitin that went from partway up her neck down to her flanks. It was a strong, sharp pain reminiscent of a cramping muscle and Dawn could only wait until the pain passed, panting hard.

‘Bucking hell…’ She complained, ‘I guess on a slight upside, managing it is going to be a new challenge to learn this world’s rules. So help me if it still needs love and I can’t taste it to see how much I’m getting I’m going to be mad… guess I have to see if buttering her up more will make it last longer or if this works under new rules. Buck that hurt!’
> 3 - Meeting the Competition
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dawn eventually fell asleep fitfully, keeping herself alert in case someone were to drop by and discover a strange creature in the stables. It was early morning when her ears alerted her to the sound of a distant motor and swiftly began to use her now less-aching magic to go back to her disguise.

She heard the motor rev immediately after and quick footsteps were rushing into the stable.

‘Dammit, guess the fire is visible through some of the windows up there.’ Dawn mentally complained.

The footsteps slowed as they grew closer, revealing Erin looking on with worry before saying, “That’s weird… I swear I saw a light in here. You ok girl?”

Dawn acted like she was still mostly asleep, not that it was terribly hard. Erin approached the horse, amused that they were laying down and had not yet gotten up yet. Horses couldn’t do much in hostile situations other than run and took time to get up, so a horse who would lay down in your presence trusted you a great deal.

She smiled, pulling out her phone and took a picture without flash before slipping the phone back into her pocket. “Come on, let’s get you up and groomed and get to the fields. Time to meet some other horses.”

‘Wait, you’re seriously taking a horse you’ve barely known for four days out to meet other horses than the ones I’ve already met?’ Dawn thought, ‘Considering how skittish the other horses were here around me, and still are, that can’t be a good idea…’

Despite how bad an idea it might have been to Dawn, Erin once again set up Dawn for travel and she drove the family pickup, this time taking a good twenty five minutes to get to their destination.

‘So where are we now?’ Dawn thought as they finally slowed to a stop.

Erin got out of the truck, closing the door behind her before going somewhere that wasn’t the trailer, leaving dawn to poke her head closer to the ‘window’ holes in the trailer and saw a multi-story stadium about half a mile away.

‘That’s strange, why would we be taken to the stadiums to meet other horses when they probably wouldn’t want them in use except for the races?’ Dawn thought. ‘Then again, maybe it’s off season or something? I won’t know anything just wondering here though.’

The truck started again and the sound of gates rolling away seemed to reach her ears before they moved another small ways and then came to a stop again. Dawn could hear the truck door closing and the sound of footsteps going around the trailer. Wherever they were, she’d find out soon enough.

“Hey girl, let’s get you suited up and outta here.” Erin said reassuringly.

Dawn stayed put. A half hour was hardly any issue, if still boring, another few minutes for her to get the saddle and harness on wasn’t anything to worry about. Erin grinned, but little things like accidentally fumbling with a strap made Dawn wonder if she was nervous.

Dawn twisted her head to bump Erin gently, a reminder of their partnership and an early movement to bond further so if she did need more love energy, she could gather some.

“I’m ok girl, really.” Erin said with a weak chuckle, “Just got some time trials and mock runs with some other girls that come here. You’ll smoke ‘em.”

Dawn simply rubbed her nose down their arm as a subtle way of confirming that she would. She had a bad feeling about this, and wondered if these other girls might not be friendly. Dawn was backed up out of the trailer once again and another truck pulled into a small gravel trail that led from a small parking lot to the greens of a track.

Erin tried to ignore the truck, but Dawn turned her head to look. A vivid red truck hauled a way-too-pristine painted horse trailer, pulling nearby until an overly dressed male got out of the driver side while a pair of girls got out of the passenger side. Dawn could see one of the girls dressed in racing gear and the other in more casual attire, presumably the one who actually cared for the animal since these two exuded an air of ‘I’m too rich to do that myself’ vibe about them.

Dawn snorted and looked away as she heard an annoying voice say, “What do you think you’re doing, entering that into the time trials? I can’t believe you don’t have the money to get a better truck but can waste it on dying your excuse of a horse!”

‘Oh I can tell I’m going to like her.’ Dawn thought, ‘A freaking Veruca right here.’

“Some of us don’t believe in throwing out something that works just fine just because it’s ‘newer.’” Erin said, trying to ignore them and walk Dawn over to the hitching posts so that she could park the truck.

"You keep telling yourself that. It’s good advice some of the time." the father said, dressed in a crisp business suit with an ugly navy blue color and some kind of insignia on the lapel that Dawn couldn’t recognize.

Dawn rolled her eyes and stayed by the hitching post as her reigns were tied there. Erin walked to her truck and ‘thought out loud’ as she did so, “You keep telling yourself that when we smoke your overpaid excuse of a horse.”

Any retort was lost in her truck’s engine starting and her driving off to park the truck in the designated pull through zone.

Dawn watched as the dad and daughter turned their attention to her and approached, clearly trying to assess her.

“She really thinks this can win? Hah!” the Veruca tried to say, raising her nose at Dawn, ignoring how the mare was staring her down aggressively. “I doubt the paint has dried enough!”

“I don’t understand why she would bother dying it.” The father said, being more critical, “wasting money to make it seem like a horse of a different color? … What possible advantage could that even give? She would only stand out and be easier to block.”

“It won’t do her any good if she’s at the back of the pack anyway father.” The child countered, reaching her hand to touch Dawn’s shoulder to prove the ‘paint’ theory she had.

Dawn swiftly moved her muzzle to block and bat away the hand, snorting at them and watching them closely.

“You ugly brute, how dare you!” she responded, reaching back with her hand raising as if to slap Dawn when her father grabbed her wrist.

“Veronica… I have told you before, no lashing out in anger. It’s a fast track to waste business opportunities.” The father said.

‘So you don’t give a damn about proper social behavior and cooperation because it could benefit everyone involved, you give a damn only if it affects your wallet.’ Dawn thought, now feeling committed to showing them up, ‘Good to know. I’m agreeing with Erin, we are smoking your asses.’

Erin came back a half minute later, the father being too close to her horse for no clear reason as Veronica pouted hautily by her own horse. She had a bad feeling about the situation and ran forward.

“Hey! What are you doing with my horse?” She yelled out, closing the gap quickly.

The father simply folded up a hankerchief, ignoring the mare’s aggressive posture toward him and snorting as he put it back into his pocket, “I was merely testing if the color was natural or dyed, nothing outlandish after seeing her.”

“Don’t you have some business meeting or a golf course to go to?” Erin asked as she took the harness and held it tightly so she could help control Dawn. She could tell Dawn was agitated and didn’t want anything to do with this pair, and Erin trusted animal instincts. They far too often could tell the intent behind human behavior, a skill she believed humans mostly lost and buried under their desires for advanced technology.

“Later today. I set aside this morning’s schedule to watch how well my Veronica has done with her lessons.” He said with a practiced smile, “As any parent would want to cheer on their child after all.”

“Fine. See you in the stands.” Erin said, knowing quite well only the most hardcore of horse race enthusiasts or the racer’s families were going to be in the stands for this event. She had paid for their entrance fees and this trial, but every person in the stands helped keep it lower than it could be and kept the place going in its off season.

Dawn watched as two others came while Erin took her harness and led Dawn to the registry area. Erin seemed to focus only on getting their time trial runs going as soon as possible, leading Dawn to wonder just how badly they didn’t get along.

Dawn could see an elaborate setup for the gates, as well as numerous cameras posted at the desired finish line. There were about fifty people in the stands, looking over the horses in the distance while the single camera operator managed the central platform camera with his crewmate operating his extended stand. A bag was near him with a waterbottle in a side pocket, and made her think he most likely was prepared to be up there for most of his time, shy of any breaks he got to have. A sign warned that they were ‘training’ and to leave them alone.

Dawn heard a buzzing sound and in another area of the stands, it appeared there was another pair of crewmembers calibrating a drone with a camera on the underside and she considered her options once again. ‘So, you wanted to blend in and failed, becoming a girl’s favorite horse and are being entered in the races… at this point, best choice is to continue to stand out, become a fan favorite, and use this as an easier way of notifying the EDF of where I am when they come along and get wind of the news. It goes against some lessons, but general low key survival isn’t always possible, so garnering attention and favor is better here… hopefully.’

Erin worked with an employee who was at a table and filled out some forms, and from what Dawn could read, it was information about them both. They finished the papers, and then Dawn was taken to a sheltered area where they seemed to note her height and weight, the worker asking about Dawn and her colors and so on, while Erin seemed to only answer some of the questions and listed Dawn as a thoroughbred horse like the others her family had, just with a surprise coloration.

‘Seems like she’s eager to keep me as a partial surprise.’ Dawn snorted, ‘I expected as much. It’d be poor press if she explained we only met under a week ago. I wonder if her dad knew this was happening or not. Erin has to be rushing this since he said we had two months, though the real question is for what reason.’

After some close inspections, some closer than others and much to Dawn’s annoyance, they were taken to the track to do their first recorded time trials. Erin received an explanation how they would go through a round separately, then have two more after the other seven had gone, and after three time trial runs, the average will go on their records and they will have a mock combined race that will have no impact to their records beyond having predictions of who might be favored for certain races.

Erin had mounted Dawn and Dawn felt her now familiar pre-competition rush which she tried to keep in check. They walked into dark grey painted metal cages that held the horses in place until the race would start, and they both seemed to take a deep breath and let it out at the same time.

“Heh, you nervous too girl? Come on, let’s get our nerves out and hit this track running… you ready?”

‘Damn right. Let’s get some attention.’ Dawn thought back as she turned back toward Erin before she saw the light signals turn on and focused forward, adopting a ready stance.

After the long-yet-short time waiting for the gate to turn, Dawn heard the buzz and the gate opened. Dawn was on the heels of the metal gate, almost banging Erin’s legs into them in the process. Dawn rushed down the dirt track, tearing up parts of it as she pushed herself to run, even as she saved her best efforts for later.

Erin could hear the quiet cheering of some of the crowd as the timer kept track of their progress, listing each furlong’s time as the overall timer ticked on. A brief glance told her some phones were out, recording them. She figured it had to do with Dawn being a new color at first, but according to the board, they had another reason to record this racing duo.

Dawn ignored the cheering, settling in to her gait as she rushed along the track, enjoying the feel of the wind in her face and playing with her mane behind her. She was definitely going a little faster than before, that much she was sure of, but she wasn’t about to give her best time until the final one, or maybe in the mock race.

They rushed along and before Dawn knew it, they crossed the finish line and their time was logged.

The enthusiasts were excited, even as Dawn took a slowed trot back across the front of the crowd, making sure she was easily seen, not that Erin minded. Erin finally turned to look at the board and was surprised. Dawn had an average of 15 to 16 seconds for each furlong, and had a final race time of 2 minutes and 1.2 seconds. It was only two seconds slower than the record!

“Dang girl! Trying to break the record already?” Erin said happily, “Let’s see how the spoiled brats take that news!”

The father of Veronica applauded politely having a look on his face he only got when he saw a profound business opportunity. Dawn didn’t need her ability to taste emotions to tell he wasn’t angry, or that he was up to something. She trotted back to the starting position exit as they were instructed and Veronica was acting unaffected.

“Poor thing, I bet they felt sorry for her and tweaked the times in her favor.” She said to her friends, who tittered in agreement.

“Poor thing,” Erin started to say to Dawn, rubbing her neck to cover for her retort, “So insecure despite all the things money can buy… you’d almost think they’re compensating for something.”

Erin ignored the gasps as they walked on, Dawn going to the further part of the waiting area as Veronica moved into position and her race started despite her wish to throw another jab.

Dawn could better understand what was going on here. Much like home, assuming this wasn’t home anyway, horse racing seemed to be a passionate hobby for those who needed to have horses for their living as is, or for the stereotypically rich. The spectators were probably going to be of all sorts from the ones she saw in the stands, like most sports, but the participants generally had good funding and sponsoring of some sort.

The others went through their races, somehow being proud of their two minutes and twenty five second times on average, then they raced another round. Like before, Dawn was close to two minutes, while the others trailed behind.

Erin was confident now, and kept an eye on the others as they huddled together.

“Get a good look Dawn,” Erin said quietly waiting for their third time trial, “That’s what arrogance without anything backing it looks like… probably trying to figure out a way to beat us in the race now that they know you’re no fluke… you won’t let me down, will ya girl?”

Dawn gave a small shake of her head and neck, acting like she was just itchy and received a scratch on her right side, hearing, “Yeah, didn’t think so.”

‘I can’t tell if this girl is calling my bluff, or genuinely reads too much into my behavior.’ Dawn thought before they were called to perform again. She had a surprise for the upstarts, that’s for sure.

They went to do their third time trial, and Dawn kept a close eye on the time, pacing herself for the desired end result. The small crowd that was present cheered her on, and even more so as they realized what they were up to. Dawn finished with a time almost exactly 2 minutes long, 1:59.9.

After the cheering went down and Erin and Dawn soaked in the cheering, murmurs began seeding the small crowd about how it was only half a second away from the track records.

When they got back to the waiting area, they were approached by a well-tanned girl with almost bleached blond-white hair that Erin recognized as one of Veronica’s henchmen.

“Good job on your time trials.” She said, pulling out an apple that seemed to have a pierced skin on it.

“Thanks.” Erin said cooly, trying to use the harness to pull Dawn’s head away, not wanting her to get hurt or poisoned.

Dawn had other ideas. Overpowering the harness, despite Erin’s fears, she moved her head closer, inspecting the apple. Sniffing it told her there wasn’t anything wrong, but there was piercing on the top and bottom of the apple. She suspected a blade or needle had been put in and so she used her head to butt the apple out of her grip, and proceeded to step on the apple carefully, revealing the contents.

The blonde girl’s face almost seemed to get as white as her hair, looking down at the small box opener blade that had been shoved into the apple and partially revealed.

“Looks like she doesn’t trust your gift either.” Erin said, then walked over to their usual spot to wait for the race.

Dawn waited casually for the next race, trying to act normal by inspecting some of the longer grass by the post, aware that Erin was watching her closely after that display.

The other girls left her alone at that point, finishing their runs and getting as low as two minutes and ten seconds. The one who had offered the apple still looked pale and to Dawn’s surprise, mildly ashamed.

They were all assigned positions with all the statistics being recorded for their public records, sorted out by slowest horse recorded on the inside, with the fastest on the outside, to make things as fair as possible. Their race wouldn’t start for five minutes while small time bets could be set based on the figures given so far.

Dawn was amused that few wanted to make any bets, since Dawn’s times were so good, they’d barely get more than their money back.

No words were said once the girls were all put into their racing pens, Dawn on the outer most pen, closer to the middle, considering the number of horses a proper derby is supposed to accommodate.

‘All right, let’s give them what I can do.’ Dawn thought, ‘I’ll even stay on the outside unless they can keep up, just to give them a handicap.’

“Let’s get them good girl.” Erin said, just before the racers were given the signal they were about to start.

Dawn watched, and no sooner than their light turned on and the gates opened enough she could avoid hurting Erin, she sprinted to the track. Dawn could notice the horses on her left, already a head behind her as she continued to run along the center of the track, reaching the same stride that she had before.

Erin kept her head ducked down just barely above Dawn’s neck, letting the wind resistance be as low as possible. She tried to guide Dawn over to the left to save energy, feeling the mare push herself more than before. By the first furlong, they were already a horse and a half ahead of the others, yet Dawn wouldn’t turn in.

“Come on girl, we got this, lean in more!” she insisted.

‘You want me to do my best? You do it my way.’ Dawn thought and continued to ignore the commands.

Erin didn't complain, they were leaving the others in the dust, trying to spur their horses on to keep up, yet were losing ground.

Dawn rushed on, hitting just under a minute at the halfway mark, causing the crowd to cheer in hopes that this’ll be the best race time out of the newcomer yet.

Dawn left little room to doubt. She finished the race nearly fifteen seconds ahead of the rest, a furlong ahead of the others as she breathed a bit more heavily than she had before. It wasn’t the best she could put out, but it was close.

The crowd gave polite cheering as the others finished their races, but most were talking about dawn, who began trotting around the track to lower her heartrate slowly till Erin turned her around, encouraging her to go slower.

When Erin got back in sight of the timeboards, she was speechless… one minute fifty nine seconds even, beating the standing record for about fifty years on their first race against other horses. She couldn’t help letting out a happy squeal and a big hug around the neck of Dawn, who simply got her breathing under control and a mischievous glint in her eye.

“I know that time isn’t official yet, but you did amazing girl!” Erin said enthusiastically.

The organizers who had stayed to watch put together a small prize to hand off to the top three racers, a hundred dollars for first place, fifty for second, and twenty-five for third, but the other two simply scoffed at the prize and said it wasn’t worthwhile. The organizers frowned, and after a quick word, proceeded to give all of the prize money for their race to Erin, making the girls even more indignant that ‘their’ prize money went to Erin.

“Best… day… ever.” Erin said with a wide grin, taking the prize money and seeing the faces of the stuck up pair of humans.

The others left ahead of Erin, photographs being taken with the time visible in the pictures. Dawn habitually took up her regal public pose, trying to compliment her ‘rider.’ Several spectators were permitted to join the field and give Erin a handshake, mostly saying they look forward to her future racing career.

‘Funny how I did most of the work that got us that time, yet they congratulate her.’ Dawn thought to herself as she put her head closer to Erin’s own for the pictures, ‘Still, she’ll be the one helping me get seen by the EDF when they come around, so I suppose that will be fair pay.’

They were released to go back home about fifteen minutes later, but not before Victoria’s father approached. Erin was wary, suspecting nothing good was about to happen.

“Congratulations Erim,” he said, offering his hand for a shake, “Quite the horse you have there.”

“Thanks.” She said flatly, keeping only as much of a smile as she had to for the last pictures, thinking, ‘My name is Erin, not Erim.’

“Ah, sorry. You know… if she keeps that up for the rest of the season, I’d like to reach out to you on helping her have some of her skills carry on to the next generations of race horses.”

It took every bit of self-control for Dawn to resist physically reacting, instead turning her head away toward the rest of the field like she observed the rest of the horses doing. She was glad to hear Erin’s reply, “She’s a very special horse, and I’m sure she knows how to find the right one to do that.”

“Of course.” He said, “I simply like paying what extra is needed to ensure good results, it’s just good business to invest in good ideas.”

“Of course.” Erin said, not bothering to point out she wouldn’t want to do business with him, even if he did have the next best race horse in the main derby and paid the usual breeding fees.

“Well, good day Erim.” He said as he left the track, going to meet his pouting daughter.

“It’s Erin.” Erin said, but not loudly enough to be caught by him.

‘Erim… Erim…’ Dawn thought, the name sounding more familiar, ‘Oh, right, the Sinistral of Death… How apt, though I doubt that’s connected. A mediocre to average jrpg game’s character sharing a name with someone in life isn’t that uncommon. I’d think only if it were intentional would it be an issue… or if that world was really a thing.’

“Come on Dawn, let’s get going.” Erin said as they walked along back to the truck, thinking of two things. The first was what part of her renaissance outfit this money would go toward, and the second was what her dad would say when he found out she didn’t just go to their practice track and wait like he wanted.

Dawn got into the trailer, feeling mildly worn out and ready for a small break anyway.

Erin got Dawn unsaddled and secured before driving Dawn home. The road home was a happy one, until she reached the driveway and saw her father with crossed arms in the way.

“Uh oh…” Erin said, feeling herself shrink in her seat.
> 4 - Scolding and Secrets
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Erin Selena Gothard, what do you think you’re doing!” The father asked loudly once the engine was turned off.

‘… Selena? Really? I mean, better than the other pseudonym Erim took as Lufia, but now I’m worried.’ Dawn blinked as she began listening to the conversation.

“How worried do you think I was when I didn’t see you at the field when I dropped by for lunch?” the dad asked.

“Sorry dad, but I left the note and-”

“I don’t care. You didn’t talk to me about it first!” he said sternly.

“And you didn’t listen to me at dinner when I said that’s what I was gonna do!”

‘Joy… I can tell where this is going.’ Dawn thought, starting to get moving in the trailer and acting impatient, ‘Let’s see if I can help her out some.

“I’m your father, and you need to listen to me.” He insisted.

“Dad, ‘Because I said so’ doesn’t cut it, I’m not six years old anymore!” Erin said before noticing the mild rocking from the trailer. She sighed and moved to the back.

“Don’t you walk away from this!” He said sternly.

“I’m just getting my horse put away, god!” She sighed in exasperation.

Dawn was quickly unhooked and led to the gate, guided into the pasture and Erin closed the gate, forgetting to tie up the gate as he tried to continue lecturing.

“You’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing.” He complained, “You know how much I paid for it when I tried to rush things.”

“I’m not rushing things! The races were moved up this year!”

“You are!”

“Then why did we hit under two minutes at the practice race today, huh?!” Erin said loudly, ignoring Dawn standing right by her behind the gate.

The dad blinked and froze in his yelling, quietly asking, “Under two minutes? You expect me to believe that?”

“Got the pictures from the derby to prove it.” She said, pulling out an envelope and pulled out one of the ten pictures taken and printed for her to keep, a couple during the race while some of the others showed things like Dawn at the finish line and the time of the race behind her or the final stands with the results on the board behind them.

The dad took the picture and looked, seeing his smiling daughter and this new horse, staring at the time. He got a very brief smile as he saw the upset looks of the girls beside her at second and third, knowing how much hell they often gave her. After a couple minutes he gave the pictures back.

“Still doesn’t excuse you running off.” He said quietly.

“Doesn’t excuse you not listening to what I wanted to do with her or the time being moved up.” Erin countered, knowing she was on dangerous ground.

The dad raised his brow and said, “Don’t talk back to me young lady.”

“Dad… any relationship is built on respect,” She said, repeating something she always heard him tell her, “if you don’t listen to me, how am I supposed to listen too?”

“Don’t think throwing my words back at me is going to work. Put that horse away and get your chores done. We’ll settle this tonight.”

Dawn didn’t like the sound of that. She stepped forward, opening the gate slightly and put her head close to Erin’s, bumping their chest on accident. Erin chuckled slightly and shook her head, taking the harness still on Dawn’s head and led her back to the stable area.

The walk was quiet, and Dawn didn’t like the sense of foreboding she was feeling, but there was little she could do about it. She could relate to their struggle some, as it reminded her of her old human days.

Dawn went into the pen meant for her and an hour later, received a hug around her barrel from Erin when she rushed out and into the stable. Dawn stayed put, knowing that Erin was trying to comfort herself. She wanted to give them a kind of hug back, but that would out her as more intelligent than Erin already suspected.

Erin left after a few minutes, walking out slowly and Dawn waited a full hour before she allowed her disguise to end, feeling the ‘muscle’ for it exhausted, but slowly recovering and getting better.

‘Hm, seems it’s not based on love, or I’d be fully recharged from the crowd’s love and no longer sore. Perhaps it’s like other muscles then, and needs periodic rest. In that case, I can hold a disguise for a maximum of four days after a full rest before it quits on me, maybe.’ Dawn thought, ‘As if I needed more challenges to keeping a low enough profile to avoid being experimented on outside of the lime green coat I still wear regardless. Someone will figure out it’s my natural color eventually.’

The rest of the night was quiet, and Dawn suspected she would wait until the morning to find out what happened.



Dawn rose early that morning, feeling rested as she donned her disguise. Based on the feel, she felt like it was mostly recovered, but was going to plan on not disguising herself at nights when it was safe to do so, just to make sure she could go as long as needed if an emergency came up.

Erin came at the usual time, looking frustrated. “Hey girl.”

‘Hey.’ Dawn thought back to her before blinking as she went off to the other stalls. ‘Well, guessing last night went dismally. Seems like the dad doesn’t realize she does do her chores and wants that to be done his way or whatever… I can’t antagonize him too much if he’s the provider, but I know whose side I’m on then.’

Dawn was without much to do other than plan for the next two hours before she finally came back, grumbling loudly.

“Not even worth trying to get more than a bit of a run for a bit.” Erin sighed, “Come on girl, let’s get you some sunshine while I work on my other projects.”

‘Other projects?’ Dawn thought as they got their harness put on them.

Erin led Dawn out, then used the fence to climb up and got onto Dawn bareback and led her out toward the back of the property, where another smaller building seemed to be. It was too small for Dawn to really go in, if it had the room, but she recognized a smell she didn’t expect.

Dawn was hitched on a nearby post and Erin brought out different stands and a chair to be nearby and brought out a few pieces of leather she was working on. From what Dawn could tell, especially with the sizes of the pieces, she was making armor.

With one last trip, she pulled out a barely framed sheet of paper outlining the pattern and the designs that the commission. It was a vague looking thing, with sections outlined and a basic idea of the pattern put down. A second reference sheet seemed more fully thought out, with notes scribbled over it, and while Erin set up, Dawn read it.

‘Ideas for renaissance faire armor – Lady Erin’ Dawn looked at, then blinked, ‘so she’s working on someone else’s as well as working on one of her own? Curious… runework is all wrong for spells though.’

The sides were to have different runes that supposedly meant different things, the notes being full of the combining of letters to make the runes based on what reminded Dawn of older Celtic work.

‘Well, good enough of a theme I suppose.’ Dawn thought, looking away, ‘If I were a human again or could take the form, I’d have to fix a lot of that to make it work in Equestria, but this is for her fun I’d think.’

Dawn was pushed back away from the materials by Erin, and she backed away, preferring instead to watch how they handled the leather.

Erin worked on the chest-piece and Dawn waited a few minutes before laying down nearby, partly to rest and to have an excuse to note what things she could or should do if she ever took up the hobby.

Erin spent the next two hours on this project, until too much of the shade was lost and it was almost noon. She wrapped up her work with a mild sigh that Dawn wasn’t sure if it was relief or frustration, and put the equipment back into the shed, unaware she was being closely watched for where everything was being put.

Erin took advantage of Dawn laying down, patting their neck and sides to keep them comfortable, then got on their back. “Come on Meadow, let’s get some grub and get to your riding.

Dawn felt their heels try to dig into her side, and she sighed before carefully getting up and lazily being ‘directed’ over to the back of the house, being loosely tied up to yet another log acting as a post.

“Be right back girl.” She said, patting their side and half-running inside.

Dawn winced at the slamming of the screen door, but had to admit, this would be an easier way of telling a bit more about the family that was home this time of day. It wouldn’t tell her if they had any siblings that were younger, since they would be at school, but it was something.

Erin went into the kitchen, quickly digging into the fridge for her usual items. She wanted a big lunch, relax with her horse for an hour-ish, then get to training after it digested enough.

“You get your other work done?” the mom asked, a somewhat rounded woman with auburn hair and in the middle of preparing a pie crust dough.

“Yes mom.” Erin answered simply, pulling out lunchmeats, lettuce, tomato, carrot slivers, and setting them on the table.

“Fully done?”

“As done as I’m gonna get for a bit. Leatherworking can’t be done in one day, and I need to be ready to take a call to let me know when our first races are going to be and where.” Erin said, getting the mayo on the bread she just pulled out.

“Just don’t forget what your father-”

“I know mom.” Erin said tersely, “Still mad at him for yesterday, but I’m not about to let my word go bad.”

“All right. You’re old enough to decide that yourself after all.” The mom said supportively.

“Yeah… thanks mom.” Erin said, “Just wish he could understand that.”

“I talked it over with him, he cooled down after dinner last night.”

“Sure didn’t act like it this morning.” Erin said as she finished laying out the meats and got the rest ready.

“It’s unrelated.”

“Sure it is.” Erin snorted under her breath.

The two women worked the rest in silence, Erin making her sandwiches before packing away a couple apples and some potato chips in a plastic bag before putting it all in a lunch bag and headed back out.

“See you for dinner!” the mom called as the door opened.

“Yup!” Erin called as the door nearly slammed closed.

Dawn winced at the harsh sound, sniffing at the food she smelled Erin had, only to hear Erin giggle.

“Come on girl, we’ll get you your food once we get your saddle!” Erin said, deftly climbing up on the makeshift spot and hopping onto Dawn’s back, attempting to get Dawn back to the fields.

Dawn let herself get guided back, going into the stables and Erin dismounted carefully, then got Dawn’s saddle on again, repeatedly needing to keep Dawn away from the bag, laughing as she played keep away with her.

Sooner than Dawn would like, Erin getting very comfortable with securing Dawn and fastening her faster for it, the pair rode off with the lunch between Erin’s legs as they rode away from the pasture and along the fields that her family tended. She would go to a little nook by the forest that she loved, spend some time with Dawn, then get to their endurance training she planned on.

Dawn watched the path as Erin guided her to a small trail between two of the fields, a forest laying just beyond it. To her right, she saw some kind of corn product and to her left, she saw some cotton or other fiber based plant. She wouldn’t like going into that briar patch of plants without having her chitin to protect her, probably extra too.

They walked past the fields into the light forest, walking on for a good five minutes before they reached a clearing and a flattened rock in the middle of the trail.

“Here we go girl, as good a place as any for a picnic before training.” Erin said, hopping down and sitting on the rock.

‘For you… there’s not even any grass around here to eat, ignoring the risks of parasites and such… oh god, I just realized I’ll have to get checked by the BCD for any new infection vectors on top of that anyway. Ughhh.’ Dawn mentally groaned, letting out a sigh.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about you.” Erin said, misunderstanding as she pulled out her apples, cut them, and sprinkled some sugar on them before holding them out for her horse.

‘Damn right you won’t.’ Dawn thought as she continued to play dumb, acting hesitant before eventually taking the slice while Erin ate her sandwich.

Things continued like this quietly, Dawn eating and keeping her ears tuned for any unexpected noises, and Erin ate in peace.

After half an hour, Erin wiped off her crumbs and put the lunchbag on the saddle, climbing up into it and directing Dawn back the way they came and up the road toward the track. When they reached the road, Dawn moved to a brisk trot, anticipating some heavier workouts today.

-----

Dawn was hot and close to sweating, almost not caring how the water in the trough was almost gross now for no clear reason. When she was about to give up and go to the trough, Erin had turned on the hose and held it out so Dawn could drink, almost like a water fountain, and she was glad. It was still a bit more metallic than she’d prefer, but it would do in a pinch and not as bad as the bin was.

They took an easy walk back home as a very familiar truck and trailer drove slowly by on the road.

Erin gave her dad a nod as he waved, and the dad drove back off toward the home, only another half an hour away. By the time they arrived, it was dinnertime and she barely had time to take Dawn into the fenced area and her saddles off and set to the side before she was pushed to go back inside and eat with the family.

Dawn wandered back to the stable to get her own meager meal and wait for Erin to return with the riding gear.

==========

“What do you mean, ‘the result is invalid?’” Victoria’s father asked, getting firm with the lab personnel.

“Exactly what I said.” The lab morphologist answered. “The samples I received were unable to be registered by our systems, and had to be evaluated manually. I myself put them under the microscope and compared to our characteristics tables. It most closely resembles a pony’s hair and coat, but it is too different to call it that and yet it isn’t a horse hair.”

“Wait, you tell me the result is invalid and yet you have proof that what that is isn’t a horse?”

“If you’d allow me to make my full report, you will get my complete answer.” The lab doctor replied tersely. Even though it was a client who was paying well for their service, basic courtesies were still expected. “As I was trying to say, the automated results were invalid, the manual review was inconclusive other than to say it seems to be based on some kind of pony equine we haven’t catalogued yet, and the attempts to understand the compound causing the green and vivid yellow pigmentation is inconclusive as well. There’s not enough of it to find out more than it doesn’t match any registered dyes currently manufactured.”

“So what you’re saying is I need more.”

“Yes. No less than ten from each kind of hair we are trying to work with.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Victoria’s father answered before hanging up the phone.

He frowned as he looked around his study, only having the best of the best furniture and some artwork purely to impress clients or business partners that would come to visit. He tried to consider what options would be best to secure his good outcome, weighing the risks of each and the potential reward of finding out the secret behind this mystery ‘horse.’

A private investigator could get expensive quickly, especially if they needed to get a little dirty, not that he liked having any such methods traced back to him. Many of his colleagues, one in particular, court the dangers of such methods far too much and several had been ruined in scandal for doing so. It was a game he did not wish to play any more than necessary.

A groomer could get the job done, but they no doubt did it themselves. He held no contempt for those who did their own work and he had encouraged his daughter to do so, but she was too spoiled to listen and he had already removed her allowance to teach her a lesson. It was the only reason she was supposed ride in the first place, to attempt to earn her own money, but then she squandered it by not accepting coming in second.

He scowled and refocused his train of thought, considering a groomer again before an idea hit. He started to smile again, business instincts telling him this was the right move, a method that would be sincere, yet also give his labs all the access they could want if it paid off. A brief bit of research later, and he reached for his phone and began dialing a number.

Ring… ring… ri-

“Gothard residence.” A gruff voice said, scratching noises being heard as beard hair rubbed against the microphone of the phone.

“Hello, this is Jarod Pepper. I had reached out to Erin Gothard about her horse and wanted to continue where we left off at the track.”

“Well, I’ll have to get her, but she’s busy dealing with the horses and some of her other chores. Can I leave a message?”

“I can do better if you’re willing.” Jarod answered. “I wanted to talk to either of you about getting her horse’s pedigree checked. Her performance in the trial race was impressive and should that performance continue, I’ll be making other offers to our mutual benefit.”

“And why should she get the pedigree checked just for you?”

“Because I’m interested in paying for a foal from that horse and want all the papers in place for it. I’ll cover all the expenses, and in exchange, we both find out. No requirements to promise breeding either.” Jarod answered quickly. He went quiet right after, knowing very often when it comes to business, after the offer is made, the first person to speak loses.

There was a pause, and Jarod stayed in his chair, enjoying the wait. They were too practical a people to waste too much time, something he could still respect. The practical people weren’t ones to waste much of anything, or negotiate too much out of him past their ‘fair price’ and were often far lower than the real value. It didn’t hurt they made for good workers if they chose to be employed.

“I’ll let her know.” Mr. Gothard answered.

“Here, have my number. I look forward to hearing her accept.” He said, relaying his number and hanging up when he knew Mr Gothard took the message. “Now, we play the waiting game.

==========

Erin sighed as she finished the last of the section she aimed to get done on the leather commission. She took a picture after getting the light turned on, sending it off to show her progress and make sure they were still happy with the work. She only got the material cost up front, so any sudden changes or additions they spring on her and she’d get to negotiate.

She put everything away in the dark, lit only by a partial moon that sometimes hid behind the clouds and sighed. She wouldn’t mind working at night if it weren’t for all the stuff she had to do in the day. She was exhausted, and swore that she saw that green flash of light in the stables and sighed, walking over to it.

Dawn had finished experimenting while the others were inside or asleep like she expected, nodding approvingly as she finally got an idea of what forms she could take. Worst case scenario, while she’d have very unusual hair, she could still be a human Erin’s size, as well as a few hybrid forms between her natural form and human. Anything else was out of the question unless it changed more, and that wasn’t likely as the ‘muscle’ didn’t seem to increase despite constant exercise of her disguise.

Dawn found her options interesting, yet odd. The shapeshifting alone was different, but even her magic was limited, though slowly opening up. At the moment all she could do was five pounds of weight telekinesis and magical storage access of her princess weapon, a shield. The idea was frustrating, considering she knew she had more she could get, if only it would get within reach sooner, like bacon.

When she last used her shield, it was a medium size, having an hourglass shape belying that it could split into two parts and wielded in both arms. She handled it carefully in her modified human shape fondly, feeling comfortable as she tested the shield and could still channel her magic into its shape to her needs. It could never get bigger than a riot shield, but she didn’t need it to. A good offense was also a useful defense after all.

She put her weapon away and began trying to relax as her natural form when she heard the crunch of hay just outside her stall and quickly shifted once more into her current disguise, heart trying to race as she prepared to run or attack as needed.

Erin blinked as she saw a wave of green fire-light just around the wood of the stall holding her horse and rushed to see what happened, only to find her horse standing there, looking at her expectantly.

“I swear Meadow, you are weird.” Erin smirked, “You don’t have to hide secrets from me.”

‘Yes, I do.’ Dawn thought as she stared Erin down briefly before feigning disinterest and beginning to lie down in her usual corner. She had to get Erin to go away soon, her unintended long experimenting session that was supposed to be a ‘quick check’ strained her transformation ‘muscle’ or whatever it was, and she needed to let it rest. ‘I have zero idea what you or others in this world would do if they knew what I could do.’

“Not gonna give up why you put out some kind of green firelight sometimes huh?” Erin asked, giving a sigh as she leaned on the simple guard rail before entering the pen.

‘Come on Erin, leave.’ Dawn thought, debating if she should stand up to make her point, maybe push Erin away.

Erin came over and knelt down, petting their side as she thought out loud. “You’re a fast horse, you trust me enough to let me do this while lying down, yet there’s so much I don’t know… only way to get around that is to keep going as we have and I’ll catch you eventually.’

Dawn watched, straining her abilities to the limit as Erin sighed, getting up and walking away back to home on her ATV. Only when she was good and quiet but still heard did Dawn finally revert to what this world called her natural state, panting at the effort.

‘Well… that was close. I’m going to have to keep on my hooves with her around like I should be doing.’ Dawn thought, beginning to go into a light sleep.

-----

Erin had turned back, watching the stables and only turning away after reaching the gate. She had hoped she would spot that firelight again, but didn’t see it, the flash hitting the walls only once she was about to stop and dismount to let herself out.

“One day, I will find out your secret.” She said quietly to herself, “Even if it means camping out here with you if I have to. I’ll try checking in on you in the middle of the night later on if you don’t reveal it on your own and then worry about camping out…”

Erin went inside, ready to slip off her shoes, shower, and collapse into bed when her father approached her.

“Erin, before you go to bed, I got a call for you.”

“Can’t it wait till morning dad?” she asked quietly, turning to head to the stairs now that her shoes.

“Guy named Mr. Pepper wanted to talk about that strange horse of yours.”

That got her attention, making her pause and turn around, “What does he want?”

“Wants to pay for your finding out what kinda horse you got.”

“Yeah right.” Erin rolled her eyes.

“Seriously.” He answered, “Said he’d cover all the cost, just wants to also know what she is too so he can make a breeding offer.”

“I’ll think about it.” She said, holding back her frustration and then climbed up the stairs.

She sighed once she got to the bathroom and got undressed to shower. As the water fell and she washed herself off, she thought. ‘As much as I hate dealing with his kind, that would help with figuring out what Meadow is. Thing is… she’s pretty smart, and if she’s smarter than she seems, that’d be a big breach of trust and she trusts me a lot already… but what if she’s not?’

She sighed, not liking the idea of passing up an opportunity that lands in her lap. She had resentment for ‘big company’ men who forget about caring for the ‘little people’ in lieu of the almighty dollar, but she didn’t want to let that resentment close off a good option.

Erin turned the water off and let the water drip down, deciding she would worry about it later while looking into it on her own. When the races start up a month from now, if Dawn does well, she could make it up to the tristate, maybe even the national derby if that speed wasn’t a fluke!

Erin sighed happily at the picture that entered her mind as she wrapped a towel around herself. Eighteen million dollars, before taxes anyway, was nothing to sneeze at. She could get her own ranch going, expand the family’s farms, get new equipment, whatever she wanted. If that ran out, she could get sponsorships to cover expenses so they could advertise on her uniform or whatever.

Ultimately none of that was possible until she could rely on Meadow winning against some of the best in the country and without any fancy gadgets or coaches.

Erin went to her room and got into pajamas before flopping down into bed, glancing out the window toward the shed. She sighed in frustration again as she remembered the strange lights in Meadow’s stable before turning over and going to sleep.
> 5 - Taking Risks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Erin panted mildly as she finished yet another run with her horse, reaching for her waterbottle and pouring the water over her upraised head, not caring about the water that splashed on her face. It was too hot for Spring and the amount of times Meadow had to go to the water to drink and cool down, let alone relieve herself, was a testament that summer felt like it was already here.

The pair had been training for the last couple weeks, and Erin was no closer to finding out Dawn’s secret. They would start out with a small ride around the property, warming up in the morning, and then Erin would work on her leatherworking project, growing more and more irritated that this one kept being more and more difficult. The client was willing to pay her for her time, but this was cutting in to her goals to attend the local renaissance fair coming up in two weeks and signaling the last event she could do before riding has to take over. Worse yet, her father wouldn’t let her turn it down because it was important to ‘make customers happy.’

She wanted to participate in more of the activities in her armor as Lady Erin of Waterhold, but outside of spending the necessary weekly meetup on Sundays to keep her fighting skills as a ‘lady knight’ up to par, she wouldn’t have her outfit completed and resigned herself to needing to dress up and not fight this year in the tournaments. It was something she lamented over often out loud to Dawn, who simply seemed to stay at her side no matter how loud it would get.

“Come on girl… let’s get home. You did good.” She said quietly, patting their neck.

‘Bucking right I did. You kept pushing me till we consistently got under 2 minutes a lap these last two weeks. I swear she’d almost be as brutal as the EDF training officers!” Dawn thought. She needed no second bidding though, despite her fatigue, and trotted gamely on to the trailer.

Dawn knew she was under near constant scrutiny by Erin, having had a few times where she would act like she was going back and yet stuck around to watch and catch Dawn in the act of causing the flames. Her antics the last few days was pushing her to her limit once again. She found she could shift without the blaze of fire that was becoming typical of her transformation by gradually changing different parts of her, but at the cost of increased fatigue.

Dawn swallowed dryly as she was secured in the trailer, frowning internally as she thought about the close calls they had last week. There were points that her instinct alone told her she was in danger and minutes later, Erin came along, checking in on Dawn.

The drive home was uneventful, and while Dawn missed her usual stimuli of back home, she had to admit it was a nice enough break for the time being.

Dawn was led wearily back to the shed where Erin worked on the leather armor of the commission. Once again, Erin said how she expected she might be done in time for next week, saying she was giving up on her armor.

After they finished, Dawn was led to her stable and Erin went to the house and had dinner. Dawn was surprised however when she had come back, this time with a large pair of blankets.

“Sorry girl, but I’m not staying in the house…” Erin grumbled, letting out a few choice curses as she laid her blanket by Dawn’s form laying on her side, “should have known spoiled brat’s dad wouldn’t leave well enough alone… tried to get dad to do it without my permission by paying more when I told him to go soak his head and dad told me I should and what I should do with my horse.”

Dawn blinked, now irritated as well as this girl just set down all of her blanket stuffs over their side and promptly fell down into place by her flanks, using her as a pillow. ‘Now hang on just a bucking moment! My shapeshifting is going to fall apart here if I have to keep this up!’

Erin sighed and pressed closer, mumbling, “At least you’re there for me… dad’s being an idiot…”

Any further attempts at conversation promptly ended as she fell fast asleep, leaving Dawn stumped. She knew she was on the verge of discovery, disguise ready to break down in less than an hour. She felt for their plight, but unfortunately for Erin, her own survival mattered more. If they didn’t wake on their own, Dawn would leave the stables and figure out where she could rest later, maybe the spot Erin had showed her before each day at lunch.

A half hour later though, she heard a second ATV signaling the father’s coming over to the stables. Dawn perked her head up wearily, the light of a full moon making it easier for the father to see. She could still see even in most dark situations.

He came into the stable, looking around for a bit before spotting Dawn’s stable. He glanced at her, looking away and then glanced back, looking at his daughter laying against her.

The two of them looked at their respective targets, Dawn watching the father who was watching Erin. Dawn fully intended to get up soon anyway, and started to get up when she heard him try to calm her down.

“Whoah, whoah, easy there girl. I’m not gonna do anything to ya.” He said quietly.

Dawn stayed put, watching him, but her shifting had woken Erin. Erin groaned and turned away from her father, recognizing his voice and being stubborn back at him was the only way he listened.

He sighed, looking to the stable as he stepped back, talking quietly. “Erin… I know you can hear me. Look, maybe I shouldn’t have pushed you so hard on the deal he was makin… I think it’s still good money n all, but it’s up to you. She’s your horse like ya said.”

Erin’s response was to continue trying to sleep for a few more minutes. Dawn watched him for that time until he let out another sigh, turning to leave and saying, “Good night Erin.”

Erin bit back her initial response to answer ‘good night’ back, continuing to feel her resentment. She had heard him say this kind of stuff when she was ‘asleep’ before, when he would start to regret it, only to be stern again in the morning under the guise of ‘caring.’

Erin couldn’t get back to sleep though, the ground too rough on her back and started to hurt. She sighed and got up fifteen minutes later and gathered her things, seeing Dawn start to wake up at the sudden shift in their rest.

“Sorry girl, I need my bed… maybe another night.” She grumbled before leaving and turning on her ATV to go home.

Dawn had to breathe a sigh of relief and slowly let her transformation down, finally willing to let herself rest as the motor grew quieter. ‘Well… that was close.’

-----

Dawn continued to have these close calls for the rest of the week. Erin couldn’t go a day without having Mr. Pepper calling in to ask her to reconsider, she would tell him to go boil his head first, and then the dad would ask why she was so adamant, only to try to camp out in the stable with Dawn, lasting longer and longer.

Dawn sighed in relief once Sunday came, as the only bothering she would get would be during the morning and during the night barring any surprises.

Dawn relaxed for a while longer through the morning once her meal was given and eaten before finally having recovered almost all of her shapeshifting ‘muscle.’ She knew it shouldn’t have been a muscle, but this is how the world worked for her, and she had no better comparison.

Dawn knew Erin wouldn’t be back for a while, as well as the rest of the family being busy with church functions and the like, so she decided to take a small risk.

Using her recharged ability, she took a human form, brushing her slightly too long bangs out of her eyes and noting they still held their green color and yellow stripe just off center, and began to stroll toward the leatherworking shed that Erin had used.

Technically, she knew she shouldn’t. This was a risk that she wouldn’t want to take, but keeping herself mentally alert was also a survival need, and it was far too boring without the minds of her foals reaching out to her for guidance or challenges of the court scenarios.

Dawn got out the seat and workstations that Erin had needed, making sure she kept close attention to her surroundings out of survival by listening and occasionally looking up. Setting the desired outcome of Erin’s leather outfit nearby, she studied the design and frowned.

‘Looks like they cared more about style than function. Makes sense if it’s a costume, but a proper armor of that age would have style included in function. Erin, let’s use what I had learned from Svik and the commander to get you some proper runes for these “enchantments” of yours.’ Dawn thought, then began to work.

It took hardly any time for her to get into a rhythm, having spent so much time watching how Erin had done the task, figuring out ways to improve how to engrave the patterning into the pliable leather.

First, she took the sections that had the runework and spaced it, trying to find places where it wouldn’t interfere with the equations while trying to honor their symbolism. Light penciling over the parchment, almost too difficult to see for normal eyes, helped confirm how she should place everything. She gave a satisfactory nod once finished and took up the leather for Erin’s piece and began to etch in her own world’s runes for protection, agility, and magic absorption.

She stayed there, minute after minute, she used her tools to etch in magical equations and curves into the runes, acting as if she were back home trying to enchant it. Naturally, she wasn’t putting any magic into it since this world had weird allowances and prohibitions on what she could use anyway, but if on the off chance she visited her world or the commander’s, they technically could request it be charged properly and have some mild protection.

She was surprised when her runework for the enchantments was done in about an hour and a half, if the shadows’ movement was any indication here. She still had another hour and a half before risking detection since no one got back till before dinnertime.

Dawn looked at some of the designs and began hammering away with the etcher, having an easy time molding the leather. She had noted back when she started that her equine enhanced strength was still retained, and it made molding much faster, not needing several taps each time like Erin did.

She finished the shoulder area and began on the lower corners, building up the Celtic knots that she seemed so fascinated with before letting out a satisfied hum. Erin’s piece had its core design aspects finished much faster than she feared and with half an hour left of nearly guaranteed time alone, she could add some finishing touches that Erin might enjoy.

A curved line started to form in between the area left for the bust, eventually turning into a partial circle, then triangles were placed evenly around the circle’s upper half. When that was done to her satisfaction, she began to make a lower curve toward the abdomen, shaping back up toward the other side and turning that into a hill where it would meet the circle. Once completed, she added a few final lines that were the sprigs of grass that poked up on the hill and placed a final one right in front of the sun.

‘There… Now my human has a way of showing who she belongs to by borrowing my crest… Wait, what was I thinking? That’s a terrible idea!’ Dawn thought, fretting over what she had finished right as she noticed someone pulling into the driveway. ‘Bucking horseapples! Time to move!’

Dawn blitzed most of the equipment back in, not being as careful as she would have liked to be, but not wanting to be caught out as a human by taking too long either. Humans generally were bad with not detecting trouble right away if it was ‘close enough.’ She still shared that drawback.

She barely got everything inside and closed the door before seeing that a head was looking out of the side of the house. Dawn estimated they were trying to see what activity they might be seeing or hearing from her frantic dash to put things away.

Dawn cursed, staying low to the ground and slunk behind the shed. Once out of sight and checking to confirm it, she began her flameless transformation back into the race horse disguise she usually bore.

Erin approached the shed, cautious and worried. She swore she had seen the door was opened a bit ago, but as she approached, it seemed like it was closed shut. She approached further and was surprised to see her horse out in the grass, grazing her way outside of the penned area.

“Hey girl, what are you doing out of the pasture here?” She asked, blinking. She knew her gate had been secured, but maybe Dawn was hungry enough they undid the rope. Horses were pretty smart creatures after all. “Come on, let’s get you over here so we can put you back and get you a snack.”

Dawn tried to ignore Erin, but as she approached, she knew she had to raise her head a little, and Erin simply stood by their side and with some difficulty got onto Dawn, riding bareback.

Dawn sighed, trying to continue the charade of ignoring their instructions, but Erin would just dig her heels into her sides more and Dawn let out another sigh.

“Ok… fine, be that way, let me get some rope and we’ll get you a harness since that’s what you listen to.” Erin grumbled, getting off of Dawn’s back and heading for the shed.

Erin looked inside the shed they were near for the rope when she noticed something strange as she looked around. Nothing was put away quite right. Most things seemed haphazardly put away, different than her own way of putting things away. She habitually looked over her leather pieces. The commission seemed fine, untouched really. Then she looked to hers and did a double take.

“What in the world?!” She half yelled, pulling it up from the workstation it laid on and carried it outside into the better light to look at it.

Her leather armor that she would wear for the rehearsal had been fully modified. She could tell from the feeling of it that not all of it had set, that it was like it was freshly done, and there was a lot of things different than her designs intended.

The first thing that caught her eye was the same mark that was on her horse’s flanks was pressed deeply into the leather where her chest and abdomen were. It was the dead giveaway that something was wrong. She traced it and compared it as she laid it partly on Dawn’s back to look closer, noticing how most of the details about it exactly matched, even the little bits of grass were in the right place!

The rest of the leather was equally confusing. The Celtic design she was trying to emulate was present in some places, but the runes she wanted that spelled out different significant words to her were spaced out between foreign symbols that were far more foreign and distinct, setting her runewords apart from whatever she saw.

“Ok… Meadow, you and I need to talk.” Erin said, listening to her gut as she confronted the source of her suspicions.

‘Well buck… that’s what I get for giving myself something to do. Probably shouldn’t have done my mark on the middle… This is what I get for following my emotions.’ Dawn mentally sighed as she looked to the girl, pretending she looked because her name was said.

“You see this right? You do this somehow?” she asked, holding up the chestpiece for Dawn to see.

‘Do you see any hands for me to do that with?’ Dawn thought back sarcastically.

“Come on, no one else knows your symbol on your flank, and there’s no way some random person came along and did my leather armor.”

‘And if I could kick myself for having done so, I’d be doing that.’ Dawn mentally replied, looking away.

“Meadow…” Erin tried to say threateningly, then grinned when she heard Meadow sigh. “You wanna keep it a secret huh?”

Dawn turned back to Erin, knowing that she had to do something to keep this contained. If she could keep Erin quiet, she should do so. Slowly, she nodded.

Erin grinned, “So you can understand me?”

Dawn nodded slowly again.

“All this time?”

Another nod, ‘Come on, keep asking things that make me nod.’

“Girl… you and I need to talk.”

‘Well, bobblehead time over.’ Dawn said with another nod, then gently nudged Erin toward the stables and looked that way.

“All right, we can talk in your pen.” Erin said.

‘Talk… in a world where I can’t talk, even as a human. Right.’ Dawn thought as she knelt down to make Erin’s mounting her easier. Once Erin got on, Dawn walked them to the entrance to the pasture, where Erin slipped the gate open and closed it back up once they had entered, then walked together toward the stables.

Dawn took some deep breaths, collecting herself as she prepared for the reveal, determining what she would and wouldn’t give up.

Erin got Dawn into their pen and closed the gate behind her, figuring if it was an issue, it would have appeared before now. “Ok girl. Spill.”

Dawn nodded and allowed her form to change to reveal part of her secret. Green fire went from the bottom of her hooves up her body, revealing her alicorn wings and lightly curved horn.

Erin was dumbstruck as she looked at this horse that had both wings and a horn on her head. She couldn’t help but smile as she saw this horse that was both a unicorn and a pegasus, and while she didn’t know what to call it yet, she knew she liked it.

“So, that’s your secret huh?” Erin finally asked.

Dawn nodded, allowing the misdirection for her to think that she was only hiding her horn and wings. She didn’t clarify if it was all of the secrets she had after all.

“Is there anything else you can do? How did you do up my armor?” Erin asked, having carried it with them.

Dawn looked at the armor and made a quick decision. Erin would know that they have no hands to handle the tools properly, and her muzzle was nowhere near dexterous enough compared with Equestria – She already expected Jeron’s sarcastic remark but felt a ping of sadness when she failed to feel him in the link.

Erin watched as the green flames enveloped Dawn, then before her stood a girl her own height with the same green and yellow hair pattern she had seen in their mane. They seemed to keep their green eyes, and had paler than usual skin despite constantly being in the sun. They wore a lime green tee-shirt and dark forest green cargo pants that bore the same flank mark on both sides of the seat of her pants.

“Whoah… so is this what you’re normally like?” Erin asked, feeling guilty.

Dawn shook her head, raising her hand up with a thumb out and gesturing back, indicating her last form was. ‘Technically true, since I’m no longer human outside of shapeshifting.’

“So why do you let me ride your back? What makes you stay here?” Erin asked.

Dawn frowned. She opened her mouth, tried to speak, only to cough. She bent over slightly and turned her head to the side, then pointed to her throat and made a cutting motion with a flat hand.

“Can’t speak here huh?” Erin asked with some empathy.

Dawn shook her head then brought her left hand up flat and gestured writing with her right hand, a way for her to request writing stuffs.

“Ah. I’ll get you one of my notebooks to write in, at least we can talk that way. Can ya wait for me?”

Dawn gave her a smirk and turned back into her disguise and moved forward to allow Erin a ride.

Erin hesitated getting on this time, looking at Dawn as if she should be asking permission this time. This hesitation got a nudge from Dawn toward her side, clearly telling her it was ok to get on.

Erin nodded, saying, “Thanks,” before getting onto Dawn’s back. Dawn snorted and they went off through the gate and back toward the house. Erin got off when they got close to the fencing, not bothering to open anything and ducked through the bars so she could get through quick and went inside.

Erin rushed up the stairs after she got her shoes off and grabbed a few of her still empty spiral notebooks and a few pens and put them in a bag, then stomped her way down the stairs, got her shoes back on, and rushed back outside with the bag in tow.

Dawn was waiting for her, laying down so they could get back on again. Erin didn’t need a nudge like before, and Dawn took her time walking back to the stables before letting Erin off and shifting back to a human form.

“Here… so, who and what are you?” Erin asked.

Dawn wrote down the question on the first page, taking her time as she struggled to write standing, then gave up and sat down, using her legs as a desk. Once she was done, she showed the writing to Erin.

-I am Meadow Dawn, Alicorn of Hope, Legate of the Ridgeback Hive, and Queen of the Sunrise Hive.-

“Huh… Writing in English huh?” Erin thought out loud before reading and giving a low whistle, “That’s a mouthful. Alicorn huh? So what brought you over here?”

-I come from a place where sometimes, bits of magic or other phenomena cause a warp in reality, sucking objects or people like myself into other places or times. I’m awaiting rescue.-

“Rescue? Makes sense I guess… So why is it you landed in my field, or let me treat you like you weren’t intelligent?”

-In that place, we undergo training to ensure that we are kept safe. Best case scenario is to lay low and not be detected, next best is to blend in. When I saw I was in an enclosure I couldn’t easily get out of, and saw none of your horses were unicorns or pegasi, I had to make a choice to run or blend in. I chose to blend in, hiding my wings and horn, and tried to act like your other horses. I didn’t choose to land in your field, but despite fears, not all of my magics were unreachable.-

“Seriously? There’s more of you?” Erin blinked, grinning, “More unicorns and pegasi and alicorns with magic n stuff?”

-Far more creatures than I wish to name here, including dangerous ones. Magic is something that requires a number of things to use.-

“So you can be human and use some of your magic, can you be other things?”

-I haven’t experimented too much with that yet. Unlike back home, I seem to have a limited time I can stay in a certain form before I revert, possibly about four days. I will also warn you nothing of our conversations must go beyond us, or I will ensure my survival. I have no desire to be experimented on and simply wish to wait until I get rescued.-

“If you’re just trying to wait till you get rescued, how come you tried to do my armor or ran so fast?” Erin asked with a smirk. “Not very good for keeping yourself just to survival.”

-You got me there. I got bored, knew keeping myself mentally active was needed and without helping review policies or working with one of my foals, I needed something to do. I figured I’d start with your armor while I ‘knew’ you’d be gone. I misjudged my available time and now it’s backfired.-

“Well, if you were gonna help, why did you change it? It didn’t have what I wanted on it.” Erin countered, referencing the magical equations.

-Way to look a gift horse in the mouth missie.- Dawn paused her writing to look up at her and show her that line, then when Erin started to speak, Dawn raised a finger to indicate she should wait, and began to write again. -To answer your question, you had notes stating you wanted defense runes. Those are magical equations being grafted into your armor with whatever your excuse for defensive magic runes being put into non-critical parts of the enchantment. As far as I know, no magic transferred, but if you were going to have defensive magic, might as well do it right.-

Erin blinked several times as she read it, jaw opening as it sunk in that her request for defense rune things had been answered. She took a look again at the armor and began to trace the equations with a new awe, “Real magic runes? How can I repay you?”

-You probably don’t use our currency, but I’ll take being able to go with you to your medieval reenactments.- Dawn showed with a smirk.

Erin blinked, then looked at her with a smirk, “Aaaand what’s this about keeping a low profile again? Won’t that ruin it?”

-Not if we have a good cover story and make it part of the act. I had been listening when you talked about the others in your group as you worked, ‘Lady Erin of Waterhold.’ Perhaps your lands rely on the upkeep of one Druid who has spent so much time in animal form she’s forgotten to speak.-

Dawn grinned as she saw Erin’s reading of the sheet, seeing that Erin smirked and began to give her answer.

“You like flirting with danger huh? You could get discovered doing that you know.”

-If it’s a small enough group, no one will take that seriously unless they record my transformation magic. If it’s a large performance area, then we could say it’s part of the show. Just need a tent or something to change in when they decide to let us participate so no one can see were not just trading out a horse with a realistic horn prop on her head with a human with a wig.-

“Oooo, sneaky.” Erin grinned, “Well, we’ve got a meetup for battle practice in a few days, and then our rehearsals and setup at the fair’s grounds are next week. If you’re sure you want to do that, I’ll do it and let dad know. It’s a pretty big fair, people come from the big city an hour away to participate and it’s so hard to park that without reservations for staff parking. We’d have a hard time getting around without it!”

-I do want to participate, including the battle practice. I need to see if you can keep up after all. Teach me your ruleset and maybe we can spar after dinner or something. All I ask in exchange for continuing to be your derby horse is you keep me and my identity safe.-

“You got it!” Erin said with a grin, then talked with her new secret friend about the rules of combat, societal rules, and then when it came to dress, she looked at Dawn, who seemed to be wearing modern clothing. “I don’t suppose you can control what clothes you’re wearing, can you?”

-To an extent. If I see your outfit, I could model my form to reflect it. I just need to be careful as ripping the clothing would be like getting a scratch or a major tear in my skin. The clothes are a part of me still.-

“Oof. Keep it around knee length then, or perhaps your druidic magic made you copy the closest clothes and a visitor ‘happened’ to be nearby.” Erin grinned briefly before asking, “Can you feel through the clothes?”

Dawn gave a shake of her head. Any further conversation was cut off by a yell from a familiar voice.

“Erin! Food’s ready!” her dad called.

Dawn shifted in front of Erin, having gotten their promise of keeping it secret, and once again became the wingless, hornless green horse the family had assumed she was. Erin grinned as she saw the near instant transformation that followed the fire and patted Dawn’s withers.

“Don’t worry girl, I’ll keep your secret.” Erin said before yelling back out, “Coming!”

The father went back toward the house with Erin on the back of his ATV since she had come to the stables on Dawn’s back.

Dawn reverted to her ‘natural’ form for this world so she could rest once more, feeling her heart beat in anticipation. This was a huge risk she took, but she knew her prior actions left her no choice. It reminded her this was another lesson in paying more attention to her surroundings. There was a feeling of irony in knowing she needed to take to heart that Changelings knew nearly instinctively from so many near-extinction events… and she was courting another.
> 6 - The Introduction of Druid Dawn
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dawn spent the next few days being treated like a regular horse outside of the stable during most of the day, and a friend inside of the stables when they took a break from training for the derby. Dawn would then shift into human form in front of Erin and they’d go get their fighting gear and spar. Granted, the equipment barely amounted to much more than PVC pipes or sturdy dowel rods surrounded by two inches of foam and then wrapped in a linen cover, but it kept things safe.

Dawn grinned as she tried to play along, wondering if their sparring was how the Commander felt when her own combat training had started. Dawn tried to take it easy on her owner, but years of combat training was hard to ignore. Even when they fought with Dawn only using her shield, Erin did not get through her defenses until Dawn slowly taught her what she needed to know.

Dawn kept much of her militaristic knowledge to herself. It wasn’t likely Erin would need to know how to perform SWAT maneuvers or permanent damage strikes in emergency services. That wasn’t her place to teach it. She taught deflection as best as Erin could learn.

Erin grew frustrated but also held some admiration for her friend for their patience and knowledge. By the end of their practices, she couldn’t land a blow on Dawn, even when Dawn only used a quarterstaff or a bastard sword. Erin kept using her arming sword and her round shield, making progress in using the shield and sword for defense and creating openings in her opponent.

Dawn discovered to her pleasant surprise that all of her equine strength and endurance was still preserved, though she had suspicions from the leatherworking as it was. It was distributed differently to match her form, yet she still looked slender beyond the chest that she sported. She smiled internally as she realized she took after her adopted mother’s curves in human form. Each swing that Erin had taken, she had to make sure not too much power was put behind it or else she could hurt Erin.

One day before their meeting the group, Erin received a sprained wrist when Dawn accidentally got too involved in the combat and used more strength than she should have. She reached down to inspect it, medical knowledge already coming to her forefront and habitually tried to reach for her magic to assess and heal the damage.

To both of their surprise, magic flowed from Dawn’s palm with a mild lime green glow and began to heal Erin, borrowing from Dawn’s stamina to do so. Once it finished, Erin flexed her hand and got a small explanation from Dawn about how she thought she didn’t have that magic available. It led to teaching Erin about how it sped up healing at the expense of stamina from both sides but Dawn repeatedly reminded Erin she was still experimenting about what worked and it wasn’t teachable.

-----

The pair rode in the truck together, Dawn keeping out of sight as she got into the passenger seat until they were out of sight of the house. It was easy enough for Erin to drive the truck to the storage shed, where Dawn would sneak in as Erin loaded up the truck with their equipment. Erin was making sure she didn’t leave either armor piece behind, the commissioner was attending this session according to her last message.

The drive was uneventful, taking about half an hour to get to the grounds where they would set up the fair. Dawn grinned as they came to a stop and found a good crowd of fifty participants, and it wasn’t the rehearsal day either.

Dawn got out of the truck and joined Erin in getting equipment carried over, foldable seats being brought with to enjoy downtime.

“Ho there Lady Erin!” a bigger, muscled man a head taller than her approached with a raised hand, “You’re just in time. Who’s your guest?”

“I bring with me a guest who wishes to be part of our little fair.” Erin grinned, going with their agreed upon cover story “She’s a druid of my lands, who prefers to go by the name Dawn.”

“Ah, well met.” He said, taking it in stride. “We don’t have many druids attending our festival, what brought you to us today?”

“She’s relayed to me that she has been curious about our celebrations and has spent too much time away from civilization that she has become curious once more, if only for a brief time. She cannot speak, and tells me it is because she spends so much time with nature to where it hurts to try and has borrowed suitable parchment and ink to communicate.”

“Interesting.” He grinned, “I confess curiosity, but will hold for later. We have bouts to take part in and then the long process of planning out where all the tents will go so our vassals may set it all up. Come! Be welcomed!”

Dawn chuckled, making a rasping noise on accident, but took the offered hand and shook it, matching his strong grip to where he blinked and looked at her.

“You are far stronger than you look maiden Dawn.” He observed, gesturing for them to go to the fighting ring, a set of ropes between posts that already had people warming up within it.

Dawn pulled out her fresh mini notebook held in a saddlebag held on her right hip instead of at her back and wrote a response, -I get that a lot. Sometimes nature has its ways of surprising us, and I am similar in that way.-

“Fair enough.” He said when he read it. “Has Lady Erin taught you our rules?”

-I have been briefed over the last few days.- Dawn wrote out and displayed with a mischevious smile. -Let’s see what you young recruits can do.-

He laughed as they reached the edge and set up their gear, “Well, I guess we should show you no mercy then!”

Dawn simply nodded and finished gathering her two weapons and set them on the chair as she subtly summoned her shield and equipped it and the sword before joining the fighters waiting to join in. Erin turned to deliver the armor and stowed the money away before joining Dawn.

It was a fun environment, the two fighters in the center being fit and familiar with each other. They proceeded to push their luck, fighting for a good ten to fifteen seconds at a time, blocking each other’s attacks until finally, after another minute, one fell to the other.

“Good match!” The battlemaster called, stepping in, “Now that most of our company is here, let’s get this practice tournament going! Split up into pairs, find an opposing pair of your choosing, find a spot to battle, and begin when ready!”

Erin looked to Dawn and smirked, “No question who we’re partnering up with. So, who wants to come face me and my druid!”

A few turned to Erin and Dawn and snickered mildly, seeing a slender woman next to Erin’s more built muscles from farmhands and a pair stepped forward, a mid-sized younger man and his partner of a taller muscled man in black tabard and gold trim.

“We’ll meet you in battle Lady Erim.” The bigger one said after getting agreement from him, “We will try not to be too tough on your guest.”

“My name is Erin.” Erin said, sounding annoyed.

Dawn pulled out her notebook and sarcastically asked, -So to even out our handicaps, then should I go without a weapon? Do not underestimate nature, for when pressed, she will show you no mercy.-

“I don’t know if you should Sir Evan and Sir Oscar.” Erin said with a grin while giving Dawn their names, tall one was Evan and Oscar was his partner. She turned to them in warning again, “She’s good.”

The smaller one laughed but shrugged as they took up a spot in the ring toward the corner, “We thought we’d offer. Don’t blame us when we win this challenge.”

-May you find dignity in defeat.- Dawn wrote ominously before setting her notebook in her pack and standing regally at her opponents as she focused on her teachings. ‘Remember Dawn, do not take what they do for granted. The Commander had taught you much, but you still couldn’t beat her. There are better people than you anywhere you might care to look, and even in places you don’t.’

They held out their swords to each other, tapping their blades as the three who could speak called out the battle start, “Lay on.”

Dawn spared no time in acting. She saw mild hesitation in Oscar’s stance and swung her sword at his shoulder.

Oscar blinked and barely managed to get his sword into place to parry the attack. He batted the fabricked sword to the side as best he could, only barely making it scrape against the side.

Dawn took a step forward, inviting an attack from the Two-handed sword Eric wielded as she swept her sword down to hit the leg.

Oscar gasped and took a knee, keeping the now ‘dead’ leg on the ground as he was supposed to. Eric did not miss the opportunity to make a swing at Dawn. His sword hit her shield and he called out, “Break!”

Dawn ignored it. Ordinarily, three strikes with that cue to a shield from a “great weapon” will cause a shield to need to be dropped as a ‘broken’ item, but Dawn only needed to block the one stroke.

Twirling the blade into a backhanded grip, she sliced the weapon across Oscar’s chest, overpowering his guard as he was forced to yield and hit Eric with the same swing in the side of the torso.

“Geeze Lady Dawn, give me something to do!” Erin laughed as they both were ‘felled’ without her being able to do more than watch.

“Well done honored guest!” The battlemaster said, looking over to their group and saying, walking over as he kept an eye on the other guests. “Be ready, for the winners move on to face the others.”

“Well done.” Eric nodded, offering his hand to Dawn and Erin and shaking them, “Taught me not to take a newcomer for granted again.”

Dawn pulled out her book, keeping an eye on the field with an expert’s sight as she replied in writing, -It was good of you to do so, but not when you are warned. If the challenger is not ready after claiming they are, they are at fault.-

“Agreed.” Oscar said, shaking his head before stepping over the rope out of the way.

The other battles continued, none going over a minute, with the losers exiting the ring and the remaining pairs stood inside.

“Again!” The battlemaster said.

Such matches continued, Dawn trying to leave Erin openings for her to be involved, but the other fighters did not fare much better. In the next two rounds, Dawn proceeded to win within half a minute, the second of which after Erin was ‘felled’ and Dawn still won despite fighting two on one.

Now only seven pairs were in the ring, and the battlemaster called out once more.

“All fighters, this is the final round. All pairs free for all on my mark. Ready?” He called, waiting for everyone to raise their weapons, “Lay on!”

Dawn struck quickly, to ensure that they would not be the first ones out. She whipped her sword at the pair on her right as soon as the words were released and managed to hit the leg of the fellow, a red tabard wearing fighter with a mace and shield.

With them immediately crippled, she quickly went to assist Erin, who was barely able to block a similar strike from the pair to their left.

Dawn engaged with the intent that the Commander had cultivated in her, ‘protect yourself and protect everyone you care about with you.’ Dawn barely managed to get her shield up in time to block a counterattack from his partner, another red tabard wearer, shifting to perform the same belly-slice move.

The foe blocked the strike, barely managing to deflect Dawn and prevent her from continuing the strike like she had the prior fights.

Dawn pulled back and quickly struck at his leg, letting him block it before swiftly reaching up to hit his arm. He let his weapon fall and brought his shield to bear, trying to defend against her and give his partner an opening.

Erin managed to untangle herself and was barely managing to hold her ground against the larger, stronger foe. He had already rendered her shield useless, having tossed it out of the grounds out of the way so it wouldn’t be damaged, and was wielding her sword with two hands for better strength and leverage.

Dawn pressed herself to move more quickly, moving around her current foe’s side so he would have less attention he could give to Erin and a better view for herself of the field. She noted how many were taking it easy as they kept an eye on her own battle. She frowned slightly as she realized they were none too eager to take each other own, preferring to use each other as fodder to wear her down.

‘Well, if that’s the game they’ll play, I can play.’ Dawn thought, not intending to be reckless, but reinforce the mindset that it was Erin and her versus everyone else.

Dawn used her inherent speed and power to get past her opponent’s guard and forced him to block one side, only to swing around and hit him on the opposite side in the torso. Once done, she moved to Erin’s opponent and moved to attack his side.

The red tabard swung wide as he quickly brought his sword to bear. He attempted to attack Dawn again, but rather than allowing her shield to absorb a blow, she simply dodged the attack, using her sword to block and slid it under his guard to hit just under his shoulder.

He let out a growl of frustration and stood out of the way toward the rope, grumbling a false sounding “well done.”

Erin and Dawn reassessed the field, only one other pair had fallen and the partner of the one who had their leg gone had also ‘fallen.’

“Us two versus 11?” Erin said quietly, “Hope you can keep this up.”

Dawn merely tapped her shield’s symbol, her cutie mark emblazoned on it, thinking, ‘I am the bearer of the element of hope and went through a hell known as Camp Mendez, I’d better be hoping and delivering here too even if I don’t know yet if other’s hopes empower me here or not!’

Dawn stepped forward, taking a vanguard position to protect Erin as she stood, sword held at the ready and eyes unfocused, ready to react to motion rather than specifics so she could broaden her field of view.

A new pair came forward and approached Dawn cautiously, both wielding shields and one wielding a flail.

‘Flails are problematic for both sides. Just as likely to hit yourself as your enemy. Let’s see what I can do to overcome that.’ Dawn thought as she stepped forward once to face them both.

The others began to fight each other once again now that their biggest threat had something else to distract it.

Dawn watched as the flail began to swing around lazily, as if the owner was still getting a feel for its motion. She turned to face this opponent on her left and favored shield arm more, deliberately leaving her right side more open as bait.

Unfortunately for the orange crested fellow who took the bait with a short sword, he found himself held off by Dawn’s sword reach, despite only needing to face her sword. His partner, a lady bearing the same orange crest and what Dawn assumed to be his life partner as well, quickly took the opportunity to swing the flail, trying to reach over the shield to hit her arm.

Dawn anticipated this, twisting the shield to catch more of the weapon and pulled up on it, effectively yanking it out of her grasp. She countered by attacking the remaining armed opponent with a shield rush, bowling him over and then hitting her sword on the exposed back of the lady fighter.

The lady yelped in surprise and mild pain as she was taken and Dawn continued to whirl around before holding the blade at male’s neck after disarming him as well, unable to say what her thoughts were.

“I yield.” He nodded, dropping his sword before rolling away to get out of the way once again.

Erin watched this unfold and almost felt like she was holding Dawn back. She couldn’t let her guard down, but she could see they knew what they were doing. No wonder she wanted to come along!

Dawn engaged the next set of pairs facing off, no other groups had expected her to finish so fast, and Dawn managed a sneak attack against the backs of two pairs engaged in a shield shoving match.

The pair flailed their weapons back as they noticed their opponents looked past them at something, but Dawn deflected with her shield and weapon both, pushing them back before hitting their backs successfully and engaging the remaining pair without pause.

The two were barely ready for her, getting their shields in place and then trying to push against her with them to tie her up.

Dawn pushed back, her shield caught between the two of them. She barely slid back an inch. The one on her left was off center enough that he started to slide to Dawn’s left, risking flanking her badly.

Dawn took a step back, keeping her shield in the way of the left person and began her attack on the right figure. The left one tried to bring his sword up to attack, mirroring them.

Erin moved forward, getting their shield to push the left figure back, unbalancing the attack and causing it to miss, but losing her sword arm in the process. Dawn blocked and parried the right attacker’s attack before getting him in the torso with a quick counter under his shield.

Dawn turned to support Erin, who was barely holding her own with her off arm shield, getting it locked with her enemy’s as they raised their weapon to strike at their side. Dawn quickly hit them on the back and their strike was fended off by a dodge from Erin.

Out of the seven that would have remained, there were only four now. Dawn only then noticed the cheers and small bets some of the others were using among each other on the outcome, but she continued to tune them out once again.

“Final Six contenders! Who will win?” The battlemaster called.

Erin whistled quietly to herself, feeling eyes split between her and Dawn. She didn’t expect to last so long, but this was an amazing match. She would definitely have to ask more later.

Erin watched as the group sent three fighters to Dawn, as if by mutual agreement needing to take her down, and only one went after her, the only two bladed swordsman left.

Dawn frowned. Erin was as good as gone then, and it was a good strategy. She eyed everyone and brought her weapon up, batting aside one attack attempt with ease as the three coordinated their attacks and Dawn found her hands full handling them.

Erin watched Dawn but turned back to face the fourth one who paid Dawn no mind and went toward her. Erin took a deep breath and quickly picked up a dropped short sword in her shield hand after she slid the shield off.

Erin barely managed to pick up the sword in time to deflect the incoming blade attack like Dawn had taught her, sending it away from her body and tried to make a counter attack. He brought the blade up to block and shoved the weapon across her body before getting ready for another swing.

Erin brought up her weapon to do the same, hoping Dawn would be able to help her out soon.

Dawn was having her own issues. After blocking the three successive attacks, Dawn had to rely more on dodging the attacks than fully blocking so she could keep herself from taking a hit.

‘Remember what the commander taught you. Against uncoordinated yet outnumbered enemies, make them fight against each other first, whittling them down one by one… still, if I could get a strike on Erin’s foe, that could get things more even.’

Dawn blocked another attack from the center fighter with her shield, lifting up her left leg from the attacker to her left, and deflected a blow with her blade and tried to counter, only to be blocked by the middle one’s shield.

She risked a brief glance to the side and saw Erin deflect another blow like she was taught. Dawn mentally nodded and calculated the odds of getting that target downed. It would almost definitely be successful, but risk Erin falling to the three she’d leave behind. As long as Erin kept being defensive, she could last as long as her stamina did.

Erin continued to counter as best she could, getting worn out and frustrated. This was the best she had done in battle yet and despite a mild burning ache in her arms, she didn’t want to give up just because the enemy’s weapon was heavier and had more strength behind it.

Erin remembered how Dawn handled the situation before, going in as he raised his sword for an attack and slashed at his body by getting in close.

He dodged, pulling his body back and giving another diagonal over the shoulder strike. Erin squeaked involuntarily and ducked while bringing up the blade barely in time to make it miss her collar, going past the shoulder entirely.

Erin tried again, slashing upward now that most of his blade was below her waist and being pulled back.

Her opponent was surprised and had started to pull back his stomach again, only to lose his arm in the fight and the crowd roared in support of both sides. He nodded his acknowledgement of her hit and tried to wield the sword one handed, a large strain on his arm even if he was strong enough to do so.

Erin decided to go to the offensive, forcing him to rotate the blade in such a way that it acted like a post, a shield for him to use, but was unable to attack while he did so.

Erin glanced back at Dawn, and noticed she only had to face two opponents, but missed how Dawn did it. She deflected a counter attack her opponent tried to make with her distracted, and then attacked at his torso again, with him barely dodging out of the way.

Erin continued this dance, both of them moving out of ready sight of Dawn’s fight, focused on each other. Erin would attack, he would try a counterattack, inviting hers, back to his block and her attack.

They continued this for what felt like forever in the moment till he suddenly gave a strong sigh of frustration and nodded, straightening up. Erin looked at him confused until she noticed the applause and Dawn standing slightly behind him, sword sideways with a smirk on her face. Erin was slightly disturbed as she noticed Dawn’s eye briefly looked different. She swore she saw it with a slitted eye with yellow hues by the iris, but when Dawn blinked, it was gone.

“We have our champions!” The battlemaster called, “Lady Erin of Waterhold and her druid, Meadow Dawn!”

There was cheering and many weapons raised in the air in celebration as some came forward to congratulate them.

“All right! Battle time is over! Everyone get going or help us outline the layouts for the tents! We have a lot of work to do so the crews can get to work.” He called out.

Dawn smiled and gave handshakes to those that came forward and congratulated her, wondering how she did what she did, but she gestured to her throat, opened her mouth, and waved her hand to indicate she couldn’t talk.

Erin watched and the others went to work getting out of their combat gear and started getting the fields marked with appropriate lawn paint to help indicate where they wanted different tents or tables for the fair. A large board was leaning against a truck with the outline of the layout for the fair with a transparent sheet over it to protect it from the elements gave a guideline for everyone’s markings and doubled as a backup reference for the hired setup crew.

“Well, we’d better get going.” Erin said to the leader, “Thanks for letting us join so late Tom.”

“Not a problem Erin. It was surprising to see all our experienced fighters trounced so quickly.” He chuckled, “If anything, I’d suspect she did this professionally.”

Dawn pulled out her notepad and began to write a reply, using her shield as a portable desk. -It was fun, but it helps to have actual combat training with a shield and a variety of weapons. I had a good teacher.-

“Oh? I used to be military till I got my knee busted up.” He replied with curiosity, “Didn’t hear too many soldiers trained in shields and you look too young to make it to a specialized group. Hair’s too long unless it’s a wig.”

Dawn smirked, then shrugged before writing her reply, -I’m afraid that’s classified. I’m older than I look though.-

“Fair enough…” he shrugged, “I know better than to ask a lady her age.”

-I’ll probably stop caring when I hit 500.- Dawn wrote back, which gained her a belly laugh from the group leader.

“You really think you’re going to live that long? If you make it, let us know your secret so some of us can live with you.”

-Trust me, if I could, my husband would be the first to get it if he wished.- Dawn said, smiling despite hiding her dead seriousness behind that statement.

Erin looked at Dawn and wondered how much was her playing along and how much was making things up as Tom smirked and gave his reply.

“Well, I’ll let you both get home. I don’t want to keep you. Come to our rehearsal and festival like planned ok?”

“You got it boss.” Erin answered after a pause, forgetting Dawn couldn’t answer.

Erin and Dawn climbed in the truck once everything was packed away, Erin started talking at Dawn, giving a list of things she wanted to find out, and Dawn would do her best to try writing them down.

Eventually the questions slowed and Erin rambled, letting Dawn think. She had fun, and it was nice to be with other people instead of non-sapient animals, but she missed her family.

“Hey Dawn.” Erin asked, getting her attention after a bit of quiet, only a few minutes away from their home, “You said back there you would stop caring about your age when you hit five hundred… Are you five hundred?”

Dawn shook her head.

“But… will you get to be?”

Dawn looked away, not wanting to say anything on that subject right then. It was dangerous enough that Erin knew as much as she did, and didn’t want to give more.

“Another secret huh?”

Dawn nodded. At least if she told them that’s a secret, they wouldn’t push too hard, she hoped anyway.

“So basically you probably will and don’t want to lie to your friend… Huh… You really haven’t told me a lot about you then, huh?” Erin asked, looking over to Dawn again briefly.

‘Damnit girl… I am not that transparent.’ Dawn thought, not reacting so she would avoid encouraging them.

Erin drove home and pulled into the driveway, going past the house to drop off their equipment first. Thankfully her dad didn’t stop her despite them being slightly later than usual, or else he would have seen Dawn for sure. Dawn got out of the car and snuck her way over to the stable without incident and took up her horse form once again.
> 7 - Investigations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jarod Pepper was mildly annoyed. Erin had been ignoring his calls now, and while he knew that his attention should be on his brat of a daughter and having some harsh reality lessons for her, Erin and their mystery horse ate at his business instinct. The idea that they raced was of little concern, he could benefit just as much from gambling proceeds as he could from having Victoria win the race. No, what bothered him was the opportunity that a new horse with unprecedented abilities was right under his nose and waiting to have its potential untapped.

He considered reporting this directly to some of the government agencies, but that wouldn’t help him in the slightest and would hurt any possibilities of garnering profit from the situation. He needed that horse, and more importantly, foals from them to profit from their sale and their offspring overall. It would be hard to do that if it was locked away or worse, dissected for some reason.

He also knew he was on a timer, because it was only going to be a matter of time before zoologists and other biologists took interest in her unusual nature and the payments from research grants or to purchase her outright will come.

A knock came to the door and he called, “Come in.”

A darker skinned man in a business-casual outfit opened the door and walked in, his dark hair only serving to make his blue eyes stand out, even more than the gold watch on the wrist that supported his briefcase.

“Nice to see you again Mr. Pepper.” He said as he set the briefcase down on the chair and offered his hand for a shake.

“Good to see you too. What do you have for me on Erin Gothard?” Jarod asked, getting straight to the point. He had told this investigator that he had concerns about the experiments being done on the horse and wanted to potentially establish a case to recover and ‘treat’ the animal back to health. It was the cheapest option and let him gather more information.

“Nothing out of the ordinary beyond how she had gained her GED at 16, yet still attended school until recently. Much of what they do is standard fare for any person who owns and rides horses... save one thing.” He said, opening up the briefcase and pulling out a stack of printed photos, setting them on the desk. He slid the topmost one out from under the rubber bands that kept the stack together and held it out. “What do you make of this?”

Jarod took the picture and gave it a casual glance at first. The land was nothing special, and the stable was mildly rundown but serviceable.

“There’s something about it if you’re having me see it first.” Jarod said, using it to prompt more information out of his investigator.

The P.I. snorted and then said, “It’ll be more clear when you see this.”

Jarod saw him drop a new photo on the desk, and it showed the same nondescript stable for the horses, except there was a lime green light that hit the top of the wood.

“Okay, they had a light on in one of the stables.”

“It was a flash of light that lasted a second and rolled around like flame.” he answered.

“Interesting... so a brief chemical fire?”

“That’s the best guess... until you see this.” He said, pulling out another picture from earlier in the investigation.

Jarod looked and hummed. It was the same shed, same land, almost same perspective, but showed the horse in the stable, head poking out the window.

“What do you make of it?” Jarod asked. “I think it’s an experimental animal or in danger from improper care from this.”

“At this rate, while interesting, we don’t have enough for a valid case for endangerment and need more solid evidence for mistreatment.” The P.I. answered, “Having said that, I do know that the subject is already planning on attending the medieval faire for the area as one of the performers and according to a few of the people there, they’re bringing the horse with them. We can do more inspections for signs of abuse or chemicals on their fur then.”

“Well, that’s something at least. I’ll have to see them there in a few days then.” Jarod said before pulling out the payment for the P.I’s services. “Something tells me we might not have much more work to do before I can act.”

The P.I. nodded and took the payment before leaving. Jarod hummed, looking at the pictures that were left for his recordkeeping on this ‘case.’ He had wondered if something was going on, and experiments on the animal would make a degree of sense, but she didn’t have the education for that, and as far as the P.I. had discovered, she didn’t have the horse for much more than a few months. It couldn’t have appeared out of nowhere...

A chime from his phone reminded him of a business lunch meeting with one of his partner companies, and someone he knew who didn’t mind getting his hands dirty. Perhaps he could mention this to them, though if they got too much interest beyond what he’d be willing to pay Erin for securing the horse, they might keep it for themselves. Maybe he should keep it to himself a little longer…

=====

Dawn rode in the trailer for the truck in her horse form, their human equipment being stored in the wooden trunk at the front of the trailer. Erin was driving them both to the faire early. It opened to the public at 8am, but they aimed to be there at 6, just to prepare. Dawn was barely awake, sleeping on her hooves as Erin drove. Meanwhile, Erin was as cheerful as a decent sized coffee would let a normal person be.

‘It figures that I, the ‘pet’ am matched with an owner that is an early morning person... though I shouldn’t be surprised, farmers and ranchers always did have that reputation.’ Dawn thought, recognizing her body was still almost asleep. Despite having adjusted to keeping a relatively active mind even in sleep for maintaining her hive at any time, her body still required proper sleep in order to heal, relieve stress, and otherwise help her mind function effectively.

They pulled into their staff parking area and Erin got everything unloaded before helping Dawn out of the trailer. The tent they had was a general white fabric tent, secured well by cord and deep wooden stakes. They walked inside and put everything away, enjoying a small break and breakfast in the tent.

Their practice runs last week confirmed that she could retreat to this tent to transform out of sight, since no one but employees could go to this area, and then they would go to their stall where they would meet and greet other members and visitors in their roles as Lady Erin and her druid, who happens to be nice enough to offer rides occasionally.

Dawn was going to be selective on who would ride her. No one too overweight, just for safety concerns for both herself and the ‘rider,’ and if she stopped and stomped her front hooves at someone who is being belligerent or inappropriate, hitting her too hard or the like, she was done and the free ride was over. As much as Erin wanted Dawn to be a unicorn, Dawn was adamant that she would not allow that to take place. It added too much risk if someone could find out that it was part of her, and it was still fairly sensitive should someone try to break or pull it off. She confessed it had broken once and it was a miracle that it could be fixed. She would not risk it breaking again.

Erin finished feeding them both, having learned that Dawn’s food needs can be met in either form and her meal as a human was far more enjoyable and easier to prepare and pack, even if it was similar cost. They then got dressed into their outfits and began their work as performers.

The event started with a parade of everyone walking up to the entrance, where the people who had paid and were waiting to come in, would watch them come by and only once they had gone by, the crowds would follow.

Erin rode on Dawn’s back as agreed, the members on horse being in the back of the column. When they walked by the crowd of modernly dressed people, the crowd pointed out their favorites, though most noticed the odd colorings of the horse of a different color. Erin smiled and waved at the onlookers, fully expecting them to walk over to her tent to visit them, bringing more shoppers to the crafts store she partnered up with for the event. If Sir Aaron got enough extra sales compared to before, she’d get paid a little for it.

They walked along and took their places, Dawn standing in the nearby tent across from the crafts store and Erin standing next to her, grooming their coat and mane. As predicted, they got a lot of attention, various visitors coming and asking about them. Erin played the part appropriately, saying her druid dyes her coat green to hide from predators and prey.

Dawn entertained many a curious hand who wanted to reach and touch her despite Erin’s repeated warnings and the sign saying ‘do not touch the druid without her permission,’ visitors still tried. She simply treated it with patience, considering a green horse was a rare sight.

They spent some time relaxing, preparing themselves for the events they were going to visit. They were scheduled to roam three times through the day for an hour, allegedly just as much to help Dawn get her exercise in so she wouldn’t be restless, and they had two fighting events they would take part in today as well.

Their walk was uneventful and Dawn considered it a decent warmup for the fight, and a decent sized crowd of several hundred came to the stands to watch the knights and ladies fight early on, while there was still plenty of shade over the stands.

The fight was mostly done for entertainment, playing at mass combat as various performers were called for the crowd to cheer on or boo at. After a couple of warm up fights of three versus three to get the crowd warmed up, the ‘king’ surprised many by saying that he was looking for his ‘royal child.’  The squires went forth and looked around for an eager child who was ready to be royalty for the tournament, and the young boy they chose was taken to a front row seat by the king with free baked chicken and kettle chips.

Erin and Dawn fought for performance value, making larger sweeping attacks for much of their attacks while doing what they could to stay alive. After many bouts, Dawn and Erin did not place well enough to get the king’s favor, and they were released early back to their staff tent.

“Phew.” Erin said with a relieved sigh as she got into the tent, the flap closing behind them.

Dawn simply nodded her agreement, only mildly tired, but quite warm. She had no intention of fighting as hard as she had at practice the first bout when she still had the rest of the day to go.

“We’ll go for your walk once I get a drink and we get you a bite to eat and rest.” Erin said, using a towel to wipe herself off and cool down so she could change back into her ‘lady’ outfit.

Dawn paid it little mind, her ears picking up faint sounds of something that could be cause for worry.

“What is it?” Erin asked, noticing Dawn’s attention to a side of the tent.

Dawn pulled out her notebook and scribbled, -Sounds like someone is trying to come in to the staff area.-

----------

James, the P.I. hired by Jarod had dressed up casually to continue his paid investigation work. It was one of the rare times he got to have where a bit of fun and work could mix. He didn’t care a great deal for the medieval setting itself, but there were often crafts or other nick-knacks that couldn’t easily be found that he did like without paying a higher price tag.

He dressed in a red shirt and jeans, having his camera equipment in its bag, going to the event early so he wouldn’t have issues with parking and hoped to get an early look at the site. He wasn’t quite early enough. Even though it was half an hour early, he struggled to find a parking spot and then couldn’t see anyone, opting to go the route of waiting for their parade to end and following them to their tent or booth to know where they would be.

He saw the parade, taking pictures of Dawn as they passed by like many of the others around him were doing, and then followed to see where they would have a tent. He was intrigued, since the horse was never seen up close before by him. It was a thorough dye job that reached down to the root, assuming it actually was dye.

He made sure to get enough pictures while he could from what his spot would allow, but he soon had to focus on walking with the rest of the attendees and followed over to the tent where his target of investigation was staying. As expected, there were a lot of visitors to her tent after that parade display.

James waited his turn, wanting to stay within hearing distance for a while and readily let people get ahead of him after he got close enough for his liking. A quick conversation between Erin and the visitors showed a fairly consistent story that was clearly made up for the fair, how she was visiting from her lands and her druid wanted to see what civilization has become.

He took his time, walking away from the tent as he explored the fair. It was doubtful they’d manage to get anywhere without him noticing and after fifteen minutes of hearing the same thing over and over again he wanted something to do. He wouldn’t have much he could ask without hogging too much time away from other newcomers and would be shoo’ed away. Perhaps later he could ask questions like how this druid gets its alleged power, only to lead into the real reason why the horse was green.

He went around, looking at some of the crafts and games that some of the people displayed, then went over to the medieval fighting ring half an hour later. Much to his surprise, Erin and someone else with the horse’s hair colors at their side, using a white shield that had the same butt marking on its front.

“Well, someone’s going all out for their cover story.” He mumbled out loud, thinking as he took out his camera and took more pictures of them both.

The fights themselves were interesting, and he made the most of the front camera row were people who were clearly taking pictures were allowed to sit and watch as long as they still took pictures occasionally.

He got his shots in and made sure he occasionally got action pictures of the other fighters, but as he watched, he noticed how Erin and Dawn both fought somewhat differently than the rest. Often times, the people who practiced together all had a shared ‘style’ in his opinion, despite each person sometimes having unique ones due to strength, shape, and size.

Once they were knocked out, he decided against taking more pictures of the rest of the fight or events afterward. He exited using the deliberately empty second row to leave without disturbing anyone’s pictures and walked to the end of the fighting. The flyer had pointed out the schedule and said how the main tournament was later that day, so his side job he took up for providing pictures for the event was still covered.

He followed them toward the staff area at a respectable distance, but was stopped on the way.

“Staff area only, sir.” He was warned.

“Ah, I was just wanting to conduct an interview with Erin, both for the faire coverage and for another subject she’s pursuing.” James said as a mostly-true interest.

“Then you’ll need to reach her when she’s not in the staff area.” Came the response.

“I wish I could. The difficult thing is because of how colorful her horse is, she’s been rather popular and we haven’t had the time without being interrupted.” James persisted.

“And that’s something that you’ll need to arrange with her.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do. How about this, you or someone else can relay a message to her asking for it, and I’ll wait here. I have a bit of time before I need to get my report in.”

The staff member sighed before pulling out a radio and signaled for support. It took only a minute for the roamer to check in.

“What’s the problem?” a shorter muscled male asked, draped in priest-like robes.

“Reverend John, this gentleman wants to ask us to find out if Lady Erin would be open to an interview while he is here.

“And just who is this traveler?” John asked.

“I am James, trying to put together a report regarding Erin and her horse. It’s gathered a bit of attention and have to get in my report later today but she’s been swamped.” James explained.

“Ah. I will go to her and ask.”

“Thank you.” James said, checking his equipment to make sure it was still ready in case they do decide they will interview. He had low expectations of doing so, but it was worth a try.

==========

Erin looked at the tent flap, mildly worried at Dawn’s statement, only to see John appear in the tent. The pair had re-dressed for going out in dresses, but Erin had their leather chest piece on just in case.

“Ah, you are in here.” John said, “Lady Erin, I have someone who says they’re wanting an interview with you, something about your horse and their report.”

“We will be leaving shortly to rejoin the faire.” Erin said, glancing over at Dawn and seeing they were cautious. “Tell him I don’t mind a couple questions when at my booth, but I’m not interested yet in having a full interview.”

“I can do that. See you out there.” He said with a friendly wave before leaving, the flaps waving with a light breeze.

Dawn got out her notepad and asked, -Should I go back to being a horse?-

“No. I don’t want you tiring yourself out going back and forth. Stay like that till after the dinner tournament.” Erin said.

-Yes oh master.- Dawn replied with a grin.

“Oh buzz off with that talk.” Erin smirked back. “You’re not a genie and not exactly a pet either.”

-Then let’s get going.-

-----

James watched as the tent opened and his focus walked out of the tent. He had heard John’s answer, and while he wasn’t fully satisfied, it only would have helped more.

After taking a few more pictures of the girl Erin had with her and the unusual hair coloring, he decided it was time to leave and make his report.

It was a long hour driving back and he called his employer to pass the time.

“I’ve finished all of my investigating I can do.” James told Jarod Pepper. “I’ll provide all the pictures and everything else that I’ve got related to the case and will be getting you those fur samples for your lab. At this point I simply don’t have enough reason to believe they are poorly cared for as you claim. The girl cares about her horse a lot, shy of a vet saying otherwise.”

“That’s fortunate.” Pepper said, tone telling James that wasn’t at all the case. “I’ll pay your fee and consider why I had those concerns.”

James frowned as the phone hung up and a few minutes later they received their final payment notification on their phone.

“Well, something’s fishy about this job, but if it’s dirty, they’re not going to use me to get it done.” James said, gritting his teeth, “Maybe I should keep tabs on this just in case.”
> 8 - Junior Derby Championships
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The fair came to a close and the pair went back home, exhausted but happy. Erin had a good time with her enactments and camping out, and Dawn finally had the full exercise she had needed that wasn’t just derby training.

Dawn spent the rest of the night recovering from her energy from spending so much time transformed, worried that she would be discovered. Thankfully, that fear never came to pass as she got time alone each night.

A month passed and the races began, Erin and Dawn continuing their strong performance with each bout as visitors came from neighboring cities, then states as Erin continued to climb the ladder with Dawn’s help. The two continued to spend time together in downtime to the point where Erin slept outside with Dawn on the cooler nights as the weather warmed again.

-----

Jarod Pepper didn’t give up on his project as the pair continued to advance in the races. His daughter didn’t make it far. Her lack of training and discipline was her undoing and he took away her allowance until she learned the meaning of hard work and planning like he had. It made him frustrated to see they only became more bratty and tried to go to her mom to get what she wanted. He would not be the one to spoil her further, even if his wife was too soft.

He looked over the various pictures of the horse and looked over to the lab testing that he could do now that he had the hair samples he needed. The labs were claiming the horse was a pony of some kind, yet wasn’t able to determine more specifics. All attempts to check on the chemical makeup of the mane and fur colors broke down, seeming to dissolve into bits of insect chitin. None of it made sense and the labs now wanted to have the horse even more so they could do more extensive tests. It defied everything they knew and that excited them somehow.

He continued to work his business, but he couldn’t let go of the idea that he could get this unique specimen and do something profitable with it. When his instinct kicked in, he wouldn’t let it rest. It was always right.

After the state competition for derby races completed and Erin and her horse progressed to the national junior races, he was being driven mad with all his offers and ideas failing. He had put off business lunches with key people until he no longer could, leading him to the current discussion with his less than savory but very loyal businessman friend once again.

“Jarod, you’ve been staring off into space this whole time.” The muscular, slightly heavyset Italian man said with hardly any accent. “What’s bothering you?”

“Oh, sorry, just another business venture that’s giving me trouble.” Jarod said dismissively, taking a sip of his red wine to go with his pasta dish.

“Oh? What is it?” He asked, interested and with a glint in his eye that Jarod knew all too well.

“It’s nothing. Nothing I should get others involved in.” Jarod insisted.

“Come on Jarod, you helped me get my businesses off the ground and we’ve been successful ever since that boost. What is it? Maybe me and my boys can do something about this.”

“Frank, we don’t need you acting like you’re a mafia boss on this.” Jarod chuckled, then sighed after a minute, his friend staying undeterred. His friend knew him too well after all this time. “Ok, there’s this horse.”

“Jarod… I know you’ve been busy, but surely there’s better ways to relieve stress.” Frank answered mischievously.

“Frank, no! Ew.” Jarod winced, “No, you know I have a side business in the derby races.”

“Right. Not my thing, but go on.” He answered with a small chuckle.

“Then you haven’t seen or heard… here.” Jarod said, giving some pictures, some showing Erin by Dawn.

“Ohh, there’s a horse of a different color. Dyed for the races?” He tilted his head slightly as he looked each picture over.

“That’s what’s driving my instincts crazy. I know there’s something big going on there, but nothing lines up. Fur samples say she should be a pony of some mix, yet she stands as high as any thoroughbred. The colors don’t come back as dyed, claiming its natural but when labs try to check the chemical compounds, they only find traces of insect chit-in.” Jarod explained.

“It’s chitin.” Frank corrected with a smirk, pronouncing like ‘kite-in’ instead. “Anyway, yeah. That’s real weird… and she won’t sell it?”

“Not even for a million. Her words.” Jarod smirked.

“Was gonna say, you don’t spend a million on anything but business!” Frank smirked, then frowned as he looked things over. “What are you thinking of doing with it?”

“Number of things, figure out how they’ve got the colors to stay in the fur, could put it into some of the pet industry, or see if she breaks any records and keep her going as a derby contender till she’s slowed and get some prize winners bred.”

“So, this girl, what does she want?”

“Not money, not sponsorship.” Jarod said, “Says she loves her horse and wouldn’t part with it for anything.”

“Hm, all girls part with anything… just a matter of finding their price.” Frank hummed, eying them and seeing one picture of the home ranch and a flash of light. He rambled on as he thought, debating how best to help his friend with this problem. “Some girls want chump change, some want a diamond ring…”

“We’re not talking about getting company for the night Frank.” Jarod said.

“Same concept… Tell you what, I’ll see what I can come up with for your little problem here.” Frank offered, setting down all of the pictures and jotting down notes on the notepad in a code only he knew.

“Just… don’t do anything either of us will regret.” Jarod warned.

“I haven’t yet.” Frank said, thinking, ‘hard to regret it if you do it right. I’ll get us squared away with this favor and then we’ll be on an even playing field…’

-----

The national junior championships finally came at the tail end of September, even though Dawn would have sworn it normally happened around springtime in her birth world. Once the junior races were finished, the real derby would come tomorrow, with the winner joining the derby races with the pros as a second prize on top of the money.

"You ready for this girl?" Erin asked as the pair borrowed one of the stadium’s stalls. It had been a long journey and they arrived early the night before while still having the cost of the stables covered by the competition. Most of the other jockeys were at the nearby hotel, but they weren’t taking any chances.

Dawn gave a subtle nod of her head. She had to risk being in her ‘native’ form for the world during the trip so they wouldn’t have any chances of issues during the three days they were expecting to stay. It left her only one day to spare if anything went wrong, but that ignored any resting chances she got in this unusual place. It didn’t help that she felt something in her mind shift. The hive mind’s link with her fellows seemed to click, like she knew someone was out there, but none of its features seemed to work. Rescue, however, had arrived or was in range.

“Good. Rest up, we’ve got races at about eight in the morning and our day won’t be done until about dinnertime.” Erin said.

The two of them knew what they were in for. They got the bracket placements and studied it well, making sure they knew how they would handle the day’s races, when each race would be should they win through it all.

The pair spent a few more minutes together before Erin went off to rest in the hotel. Dawn’s night was quiet, despite her repeated small periods of waking due to unfamiliar noises, and Erin slept similarly from nervousness. They were so close to winning!

The morning came, and Erin entered the stable at the first light, making sure they were both ready.

“You nervous girl?” Erin asked.

Dawn snorted and shook her head.

“Really? Performing in front of everyone whose anyone interested in the derby doesn’t scare you? Remind me to ask you what does scare you when this is over…”

Dawn let out a knickering sound for laughter before they rode out of the stables and began their required warmups to participate.

Their junior races would boil down to four matches. Despite Dawn not being a morning pony, here she was at a few minutes before 8, standing in the stall for the junior derby to begin. The announcer was hyping up the crowd.

“You ready girl?” Erin asked Dawn quietly.

Dawn gave another subtle nod.

“All right… let’s smoke these girls.” Erin said,

Dawn gave another slight nod and the jockey to their right, a boy, asked, “Did your horse just answer you?”

“Yep, we’re that good.” Erin said.

“That makes no sense…” He answered before getting into position.

“The racers are set and we’re about to begin the first matchup of the Junior Derby! Cheer for your favorites for Bracket 1 once the gates open!” The announcer started.

Dawn took her customary deep breath and shifted her weight as she prepared to dash, ready to not let her rider down, or miss this opportunity to broadcast her position. If rescue trackers were already here, it could only help her location spread straight to them, especially since the hive link barely functioned here.

The gates opened and Dawn bolted out ahead, taking the lead as the crowd cheered. She barely had to push herself anymore to keep her lead, galloping along as her breathing took its mid-level exercise stress in stride.

The crowd cheered and the announcer mentioned every move, Dawn stayed just barely ahead of the pack. They had learned the average time of racers was just above two minutes, and once again, Dawn finished at just shy of the two minute mark.

The crowd cheered louder as Dawn kept the lead, and two hours later in the next advancement they cheered again when Dawn set a 2 minute time in the second race.  Their third race caused the announcer to nearly yell out over the noise when she finished with 1:59.5, only a tenth of a second slower than the fastest record.

“You’re really somethin’ Dawn.” Erin said.

-Trust me, I know.- Dawn scribbled, having taken up a human form briefly to rest and stretch out better.

“You really want to win huh?- Erin asked.

-I want to win so I can send a message to any rescue groups of where I am, yes. I think breaking the record will do just that.- Dawn relayed with a grin before putting away the notepad and changing back to her form.

“Seriously?” Erin asked in surprise before trying to re-do all of Dawn’s riding equipment from the change to human form and back to her horse. “Geeze… I’d better hold on tight and ride well to not throw you off.”

Dawn gave a brief nod, determination showing through her eyes, and four hours and two more race wins later, she was at the final match.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have had an outstanding lineup of races today and now we end with the most exciting race in the junior derbies to date!” The announcer called, doing their job of hyping up the crowd well since it was nearly deafening to Dawn’s ears. “Today we have our contenders, all of them have done exceptionally well. The bets are in with Erin and her horse, Meadow Dawn, as the current favorites! Will she be able to keep up her remarkable performance? We’ll find out! Racers, get ready!”

“Here we go.” Erin muttered only to her horse as the crowd. “I’m ready girl, give it your all.”

Dawn looked back at Erin with a mischevious eye, and Erin swore she saw a glimpse of yellow in her horse’s eye.

Dawn could hear the buzz of the gate starting to open before it did, and she bolted the moment that she could, gaining a length’s lead over the others.

“And like every time so far, Meadow Dawn takes the lead!” The announcer called, “They just passed the first furlong and- She’s reached it in twenty seconds, gaining a quarter second lead over her competitors!”

‘Good, looks like my pace will get me to the finish at just the right point if I can hold this.’ Dawn thought as she continued to race, trying to ignore the announcer and watch the board progress.

They reached the halfway point and the cheering stayed loud as Dawn kept up her speed through the curve while others started falling behind by up to a second before trying to regain lost ground.

She reached the corner where the others started to catch up, feeling another horse brushing against her tail’s end. She continued to push herself, using Erin’s good posture to keep her speed and reach the final stretch.

“What’s this! It looks like Scooter is starting to make headway toward the lead! They’re neck and neck!” The announcer called.

‘Awww, the stallion’s rider thinks they’re catching up, how cute.’ Dawn thought. ‘Time to stand out!’

Dawn pushed herself harder, breaking out into a sprint.

“I don’t believe it! She made the fifth furlong in 11 seconds and showing no signs of slowing down! Is this a new record in the making!” the announcer cried

Dawn ran, focusing on summoning her strength for that final run. She shaved more time than she expected, and as long as she kept her lead, she’d be fine. The last quarter mile rushed past her mane as she kept up the pace and only registered that the crowd nearly went into a frenzy at her finishing and she started to run around for a second lap, but slowing herself down gradually before looping back aground and realizing Erin’s voice was a part of the yelling.

“Oh my gosh, look at you! One minute fifty eight seconds! You cleared the best times by a second and a half!” Erin roared happily before trying to smother Dawn’s neck as they headed back.

“A neewwwwww record!” The announcer cheered, “The Junior Derby race results are in! Erin and Meadow Dawn are number one this year with one minute and fifty eight seconds! A record that stood for fifty years stands broken today folks! I don’t believe it!”

Dawn breathed heavily as she walked back, getting her stamina back from the push. Honestly, she could have done better if she had started that strong, but this would already be enough to get the attention of the EDF rescue groups if any of them were present. If her hunch that they were in this world now was right, she would definitely help them get to the right direction with that record.

The event coordinating crew quickly moved to get everything in place for pictures, prizes, and appearances as a stand was placed for the three horses and riders, and flowers put into place on the track while a photography station was set up further down.

Erin was on cloud nine, elated from the win and the new record. She and her horse had done it, after months of practice and training, her dream had been realized, one that she knew she didn’t stand much of a chance of getting.

Time seemed to speed up and slow down in the same time for Erin, barely remembering the pictures or the holding of the trophy. Questions flew at her left and right and she answered what she could about her own goals and dreams from there. Many a reporter asked for information on Dawn’s coat color and she said that she still was trying to figure out how it happened to stick, but thought Dawn was beautiful. Her origin was left as Dawn being a lost horse who made their way to her ranch, didn’t get reclaimed by her owner and has been lovingly raised since.

Dawn snorted internally during that part. ‘Lovingly’ wouldn’t quite be accurate despite their friendship. What little emotions she could still taste mostly was happiness, mild adoration, and other positive feelings. Love was not exactly present except with her family, but she could live with that. At least this world didn’t require her changeling magic to be run on love, though for no clear reason.

“Looking forward to your race tomorrow with us.” One female rider said, an adult in her early twenties Dawn assessed.

“I’m glad to join you all.”

“We’ll have to see how you do.” She smiled, eying dawn with cool confidence, “I’d say we’ll go easy on you, but somehow I think your horse won’t let us.”

“Nope! Give it everything you’ve got.” Erin smiled, “I wanna see how much we have to train to keep up with you when we race next year.”

“All right, don’t say we didn’t warn ya!” She laughed, shaking hands with Erin as cameras took many pictures and Dawn had to close her eyes from all the flashes.

After the junior victory ceremonies, Dawn and Erin were released to go into the stables, many of the other junior derbyists having had their horses resting and cleaned up or left to go home early. Erin could barely keep still, brushing Dawn repeatedly just to give herself something to relax herself with.

“I can’t believe it. I really can’t believe it!” Erin kept repeating to herself, “You didn’t just win, you set a new record!”

Dawn let out a rumbling sigh, mildly tired out from the numerous runs and required cool down jogs she was given. She would live. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the EDF training, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t feel tired from it.

“I know, you did a lot of work out there.” Erin said, planting a kiss by Dawn’s ear before putting things away.

“All the love for your horse huh?” The dad’s voice asked before walking around the corner, “I can’t say I blame you though.”

“Dad!” She said happily, rushing over to him and giving him a strong hug.

“Looks like you proved me wrong about using the mystery horse.” He said quietly, “I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks dad.”

“Come on, let’s get you to the hotel. You’ve got a big day ahead.”

“Yeah yeah, see ya tomorrow Dawn!” Erin said cheerfully.

-----

A deep lavender coated pony with cybernetic legs and eyes looked out over a city’s border, a radio sitting on her chest as she stayed under the cover of a thick pine tree, listening to an announcer’s voice and the cheering of crowds.

It was not easy going around this world, staying hidden despite heavy civilization in many areas, but she adapted, much as the rest of her squad did. Every single one of them wore full combat armor and had no less than two firearms, two melee options in easy reach, and plenty of ammunition. They were sitting about under cover, drinking water they had recovered from a nearby running stream.

Discarded newspapers were their first attempts at recovering information, and once none of them seemed to mention anything about Dawn, they knew that either she was still safe and sound or enough time had passed that any news of dawn’s appearance could have passed.

When they found signs of horses in a fenced in field a few days prior, they decided to check for any events that would star horses or need them. It was another week when the lead pony’s AI caught a signal through a nation radio sports broadcast that a green horse was catching attention for consistently staying close to recordbreaking speeds in derby racing.

Here they were, listening to the derby championships with the AI being the only other words for them, speaking through a speaker that was on the lavender pony’s right foreleg while the radio played quietly enough to not give them away should a person investigate their hideout.

“Erin and Meadow Dawn continue to stay ahead, veterans struggling to get ahead of her fast enough to reach the lead and hold her back! This horse is something else! Erin takes her to the outside around the first corner and is keeping up!” The announcer called, continuing to sound excited as the crowd cheered in the background, making it hard to hear him until the race ended a minute later, “And there it is! Meadow Dawn surges forward with impossible speed and stamina, keeping her lead and wins by a length! Precious and Solarus finish second and third a whole three seconds behind! Dawn has done it again! The new Derby record is one minute fifty seven seconds! She beat her own record! This is incredible! The small racer from just east of Denver has-”

A black shiny hoof twisted the knob before the figure connected to it sat down next to the purple cyborg in military gear. It spoke in a soft but hissing voice, “Knew she had it in her.”

“Of course.” A voice said, projected from a shoulder of the cybernetic pony. “Between the two of you, it wouldn’t come out any other way.”

A black equine standing nearly twice as tall as the cyborg enjoyed the shade, the light hitting but not reflecting off the dark carapace. It was a fearsome looking creature, with thick unyielding plates of chitin over its body and legs, a leathery substance covering the gaps and areas where flexibility was required. Green adorned its abdomen under the insectoid wings that laid below the covering plates of chitin.

“Naturally.” She hissed, a toothy sinister smile crossing her face. It was a face that held a reptilian pair of eyes and a strangely jointed mouth, having a plate covering the jaw hinge and a long flexible tongue hidden behind its many predatory teeth. “Denver… we have our intel. That confirms my daughter’s location. Time to switch to retrieval and survival until the gate is remade. We will need to travel one hundred miles to reach our target if this atlas isn’t terribly out of date. Any questions?”

The ponies in armor seemed to make nickering noises of amusement, shaking their head. Four creatures very similar to the speaker shook their head as well, being the same size as the others, answering, “No our queen.”

“Right… This world’s taken everypony’s voices.” The speaker announced quietly, indicating the AI’s work. “Good work everyone, Commander says we’re moving in two hours. Burn, you’re on watch while rations are pulled. Everyone, rest while you can.”

The fourteen ponies nodded, a red and orange furred pony with yellow cuffs near his hooves barely poking out of the armor at the ground moved into position, pulling out and opening a ration pack with their mouth and nibbled on a bite as they scanned through the treeline.

Two hours later, the strange small herd was trotting through dense woods southward.
> 9 - Securing the Prize
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Frank watched the proceedings of the race with great interest. He could see why Jarod had his eye on the creature. Strong, mysterious, and ripe for helping the right people get even more power. As the race ended and he got into his S.U.V., he pulled out his phone.

“Yeah boss?”

“We’ve found our next job. Deadline is a week. See me at the usual place.” He answered, then hung up the phone. “I repay my debts Jarod. You’ll see you can rely on me.”

----------

Dawn enjoyed a quiet trip home, being sent out into the fields once they arrived to get out her ‘stir crazy’ as the dad put it. He and Erin were going to the bank to handle the redemption of their prize winnings. Erin was already thinking a new family truck and equipment for the farms, and the father was proud, but encouraging holding off on too much spending too early.

Dawn went to the stable and proceeded to let her form rest, feeling worn out from having to maintain it close to her limits. There was no time to recover while still at the derby from all the pictures that were had during the day. The ride home she could risk some rest in her natural form like on the way there, but she felt even more tired than usual in spite of it. She felt something 'pop' inside and a habitual reach into her magic filled her with relief that she finally had access to her other equipment in her magical storage, her armor, her weapons, and yes, finally bacon.

It was practically evening by the time Erin and her father came back, and Dawn felt rested enough to don her disguise once more until she knew they would go to rest for the night.

Erin came to the stables elated.

“Oh my god, this has been the best time of my life!” She squealed, coming up to Dawn and giving her a hug before smacking her forehead and rushing back out, coming back with the saddle and saddlebags. “Sorry about that.”

Dawn shifted in front of Erin as she had many times before, turning into her human self and dug out the notebook and pen, -Not a problem. I get more worn out from travel than antsy, so I’ve been napping in here.-

“I hear ya!” she laughed, “Dad doesn’t get that issue. No idea how he does it!”

-So, are you back to being broke already? I heard a different engine park in the yard.-

“No, I’m not broke yet.” Erin chuckled, “Figured I’d hold onto most of our winnings until we figure out what we’re going to do. Could see getting you a place closer to my plot of land, have a bedroom above the stable or next to it or something so if someone comes you can turn back but be yourself whenever.”

-I have warned you that my stay isn’t permanent.- Dawn relayed.

“And you’ve also said you don’t know when you’re going back.” Erin countered. “No, you and I are meant to be together for good. I can feel it. Everything turned for the better when you came along and I’m not about to stop looking after you.”

-Right… Erin, even if you came with, there’s no guarantee- Dawn scribbled before Erin stopped her.

“Hey, sorry I can’t stay long, we’re about to go have dinner and celebrate as a family. If you want, I can say I’m inviting my friend over so you can walk in.”

-That’d be nice. I’ll see what I can do. If I come, I should be there in about half an hour.- Dawn said, making sure that Erin had to see her earlier warning as well.

“All right.” She said eagerly, smirking, “So I’m coming with huh? Better pack a few things for when that comes!”

Dawn could only sit there and facepalm as Erin quickly dashed out and their ATV roared to life to head back home.

‘That girl…’ Dawn sighed.

Half an hour later, Dawn got up and walked to the family’s home to join them for dinner, grabbing their second, more public version of the notebook so their other conversation wouldn’t be seen.

She knocked on the door, appearing to wear a lime green v-neck shirt and khaki pants.

“Coming!” Erin said eagerly before smiling at her friend. “Glad you decided to join us. Come on, meet the family.”

-----

The next two days were peaceful, Erin looked over the catalogues for what kinds of crops she’d be able to plant in the fields she was thinking of purchasing while her father went out to work the fields they already had.

The second night, the father didn’t come home for dinner.

“I’m sure he simply lost track of time and wanted to get the last bit of field done.” Erin’s mother said.

“Mom, he’s never been late to come home since you chewed him out for staying in the fields too late ten years ago!” Erin protested.

-I concur.- Dawn wrote out, visiting once again at Erin’s insistence. –One of us should check in on him.-

“Now children, He’s an adult, I’m sure he would call if there was trouble.” She replied, ignoring the phone ringing until she had finished. “Gothard residence”

Erin and Dawn watched as the mother seemed to freeze in place, then silently hand the phone over to Erin. Erin took the phone and put it on speakerphone. “Hello?”

“Am I speaking with Erin, owner of the green horse?” a distorted voice asked.

“Yeah…” She said, “I’m not selling her.”

A laugh seemed to come through, distorted to the point it sounded more sinister than she was prepared for. “I’m not looking to buy, I’m looking to trade.”

“You couldn’t possibly have anything I-”

“I’m sure your father will be disappointed you aren’t willing to get him back.”

“Wait… what?” Erin said, deflating as she felt a cold sense of dread.

“You have two choices and twenty-four hours. You can agree to get me your horse for your dad, everything goes back to normal for your family. You fail, and you will never see your father again. Contact the police, and we’ll end the deal early.” The caller said, before a familiar sound of a gunshot could be heard. “Hm… pulls slightly to the left. I’ll keep that in mind.”

The phone call ended and Dawn took a deep breath before scribbling her message.

-I do believe it’s time I let your mom know everything she needs to before I prepare our rescue mission.-

“Erin…” The mother asked, “What is going on?”

Erin turned to her friend, who was furiously writing out her message and spoke while they waited, “So… The horse that arrived suddenly before the derby stuff? I’d like you to meet her.”

“Erin… Erin don’t be ridiculous. This is your friend who is visiting like you said.” She protested, “What does that have to do with your father?”

-Greetings, I am Princess Meadow Dawn, Alicorn of Hope, Legate of the Ridgeback Hive, Queen of the Sunrise Hive. I am the horse you found in your fields some months ago, and regret that my unique nature has brought this upon your family. I have spent several years training under the Equestrian Defence Force and am equipped with a variety of equipment that is suitable for situations from skirmishes to SWAT-level tactics and emergency rescue operations. In exchange for your hospitality and care, I am prepared to assist in your husband’s rescue to my fullest ability.-

The pair of them looked at the paper, stunned as Dawn gestured with a hand and levitated it with magic. After a brief moment, the mother turned to Dawn, blinking.

“What?”

Dawn sighed. This was going to be a long night.

-----

An hour later, and several drinks for the mother, they finally had reached an understanding when a knock came to the front door.

"What now?” Erin’s mother sighed, rubbing her temples before walking to the door and seeing an African American in a short sleeved collared shirt. “Look, this is not a good time whoever you are.”

“I know.” James answered, “I saw everything.”

“Wait… what?” Erin’s mother asked, stunned yet again.

“Look, I’m posing as a friend right now, can you let me in so I can help?” he asked quietly.

“I suppose.” She sighed, rubbing her head and stepping aside.

“Thank you.” He said, closing the door behind him before speaking up. “Forgive me, but I couldn’t risk being overheard. You have at least one person I was able to spot watching the place and for all I knew, they could be able to pick up what we said outside.”

“You said you knew what happened to my husband.” She said coldly.

“I do. I’m James, a Private Investigator who was passing by on my way to another job when I saw what happened.” He introduced, pulling out his small camcorder with a screen and played back the footage.

Erin and her mother watched as the footage showed, at a distance, how the father’s fertilizer spreading machine was surrounded by three dark SUVs and three men with guns stepped out and yelled at him. The father slowly turned off the machine, took his keys and left the vehicle before being knocked out by one of the men and dragged off into one of the cars and they drove off.

“I’ve already called the police and as far as I can tell, these guys have no idea I reported this in. Have you gotten any calls for demands yet?” He asked, pausing as he looked over to the kitchen table, where a peculiarly colored scimitar-like blade with leather handle was being polished by a familiar figure.

“Yeah… can’t call the police or they’ll know.” Erin said quietly.

“I… see.” He said as he looked to Erin, then looked back and the sword had been replaced with a rifle of an unfamiliar make. “Excuse me, who is this and what are they doing with weapons?”

Dawn paused her preparations to field strip her equipment and pulled over her notepad and pen, writing her answer. –I am Meadow Dawn, and I am preparing to perform a rescue operation.-

“Like hell you are.” He said with a raised brow, “What kind of weapon is it? Where’d you get it, and where’s your license to use it?”

-You want the truth or what’s comfortable?- Dawn asked with an amused smirk.

“The truth, of course.” He said.

Erin tried to answer as Dawn wrote. “James… this is kinda a family secret, we can’t just go over that-”

-I am a creature from another dimension that is awaiting for rescue. It started as a standard military issue rifle with Zebrican origins, then underwent some modifications inspired by the Griffon Empire for my use in coordination with the Equestrian Defense Force. – Dawn wrote, sliding the paper over before resuming her work on disassembling the equipment.

He read the paper and snorted, “Fine, let me see the serial number.” He paused as he suddenly had the relevant piece floating in front of him at a comfortable reading distance stating ‘Serial 0348ZK742-PE’ “I’ll run that through the system…”

-Not going to question a floating object?- Dawn wrote before levitating the piece back and cleaning each one thoroughly.

“I think I have more important questions right now.” He said.

-Good.- Dawn wrote, -Then answer one of mine. Since you have already reported the crime to the authorities, can we coordinate through you since we cannot?-

“Yes, I’m required to report this sort of thing, they were planning to dispatch a car here.” James said before pausing, “I’d better call that off if I can and explain the situation.”

-You do that. I have every intent to assist with the rescue and if they’re able to help, all the better.-

James took a deep breath and went to the front door to make his call and Dawn continued to clean. He immediately relayed that the cop car should not arrive and ran the registration of the rifle while he was at it. As soon as the serial number was stated, Dawn let out a snort, only to hear the confirmation that the registration did not match any formats, claiming the device was simply a fake or a replica.

Dawn wrote her message and then finished up her rifle maintenance, moving on to the pistol in her magical storage as James continued to discuss how to proceed before he came back.

“I’m still on the phone, I’m going to switch to speakerphone but keep it quiet in case the uninvited guests are listening.”

“This is Master Sergeant Jorgensen. Is this the Gothard family?”

“This is Erin,” Erin spoke up first, “I’ll have to speak for Dawn since she’s mute.”

“My friend here tells me you have a kidnapped individual being held ransom for property. Is that true?” He asked.

“It is, and they said if we reached you, they’d know.” Erin answered.

“All right. First thing’s first. We will not be permitting any vigilante actions here. Let the trained professionals do their job or there will be charges.”

-I will comply, even if you would be unable to enforce such threats.- Dawn wrote, which Erin read only the first part.

“Good. Now, do we know when this is going to happen or where?”

“Not yet, it seemed like they were going to reach us in 24 hours to find out what out what our answer is.”

“Good. Since this situation is delicate, we are going to let James be our eyes and ears on this.”

-Suggestion: I can be the bait, have some equipment to keep myself and your father safe when rescue comes so they are able to enter, should they not accept surrender.- Dawn offered.

“Negative. We will not trade a hostage for a hostage.”

-So you’re telling me that you’d keep a civilian who is unequipped for capture nor have any way to fight back in a bad situation and not improve your odds of success by sending someone to be an inside agent?- Dawn countered.

“And what kind of skills would you bring to the table?” He asked.

-Military training, military grade equipment fit for protection of royalty, Special weapons and tactics training for three years, primarily with riot shield position, not to mention other classified skills- Dawn had Erin relay.

“Uh huh… give me the authorization code to view it and I’ll see about considering it.”

-Unless you have access to the Equestrian Defense Force’s network, you won’t find anything.- Dawn replied. Any more she was writing was cut off by the sergeant.

“So you’re playing make believe. All right, Ms Gothard, send the children away so the adults can work please.” He said dismissively.

Dawn rolled her eyes, -I’m fifty years old already, but sure, let’s listen to someone who is willing to ignore sense. Come on Erin.-

Erin said nothing of the message and at her mother’s command, went off to her room with Dawn, planning out how they would handle everything.

“So, can you type?” Erin asked, pulling up their laptop.

Dawn motioned to see the keyboard, then nodded when it was the same format that she was used to.

“Good, if you’re faster with typing, use it. Now, let’s come up with a plan to save my dad.”
> 10 - A Rescue Within a Rescue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The small herd of armored ponies made their way over the course of their next day following the map to their town’s destination. After a brief rest under another secluded place outside of town, they fanned out into pairs to check the various farmlands at night. One black insect-like pony was with each of the scouting pairs, the others that didn’t have such a partner being placed on guard duty of their campsite.

Each night, the group returned and reported about what they found. The changelings would speak in their hissing dialect and then they would move on when nothing was found.

After three nights of looking, and the AI relayed a command through its speaker that more searchers would be assigned despite the inability to speak. It covered more ground and when the AI debriefed the pairs, it wasn’t long before one pair raised their hoof, indicating they found their target. It was no surprise that the group left immediately, putting their fatigue aside to arrive at their destination

It was nearly midnight when they got close enough to the field for inspection. A break was issued while the commander and the larger black form scouted ahead. The commander’s eyes were glowing a soft green as her night vision was engaged while the other could not be seen at night at all with human eyes beyond as a dark form. Neither would rest until they knew for sure their target was confirmed.

No less than three people were able to be found, partly with the assistance of her AI outlining the figures, all of whom were less than equipped for the task and not nearly trained enough if they were aiming to be stealthy. What worried her was the appearance of hunting rifles and camo jackets and pants. It was one talkative fellow that they listened in on to get the situation, like he was trying to keep from falling asleep.

“Yes boss, no boss, three bags full boss… Come on, what are we doing here just watching some girl and her horses… Get us back to where the money is.” He rambled to himself, then would look through his binoculars and continue muttering, seemingly oblivious to the glow behind him.

When it was clear he was just repeating his frustrations to keep himself awake, the pair skirted around the sentry and could see the stable but wouldn’t be able to approach without the sentries knowing. A plain field would still see a dark form moving across it. After a careful trot back, they relayed the information they gained and began formulating a plan to scout and retrieve with minimal detection.



Tomorrow came readily, with most of the squad being fully rested and another stream provided their water needs while a nearby farm’s produce would sustain their food needs between three different crops they were able to find within a half mile radius.

Observation confirmed their target at the ranch again. Dawn appeared to stay in the stable during the day, but left midafternoon to go to the house. The commander had two ponies and two changelings assigned to observing the rest of the family, to determine their disposition and how much resistance they would give when ready for retrieval.

Dawn didn’t leave the house after dinner like expected, and the commander’s eyes narrowed. Using her binoculars to look into the home, through the sliver of curtains, she could see a gun being polished.

“So… something’s definitely wrong.” The speaker in her shoulder commented.

“Apparently.” The one beside her whispered, looking through her own binoculars. “You trained her better than that otherwise.

The commander didn’t give any reply, and continued to watch, seeing a new car come in and a dark skinned human approach the house. Something was definitely about to go down, she knew it, but she couldn’t determine what until she had more intel.

It wasn’t until an hour later that the four squad members returned, being stealthy but quick and rejoined the group. The two changelings didn’t catch much, being on the wrong side of the house, but the two ponies began drawing in the dirt as best they could with their hooves to relay a message.

Stick figures were drawn, two adults, one not quite adult, one equine. A box around one adult, bars drawn in the box, signifying capture. An arrow drawn from the box to the horse above, an arrow drawn from the horse to the father below. An arrow pointing down was drawn, three human stick figures again, horse to the side with a question mark. A circle, notches added, must be a clock. Short hand drawn, an arrow going around once, no, twice. So they had twenty four hours to decide what to do.

The cybernetic horse frowned. This would not do. It took a couple weeks to get this far as is, and while they didn’t know when the gate would open for return, they needed to have the target ready and waiting.

“Take a rest you four. Close observations beyond the target are suspended until further notice.” The AI said through the speaker. “All units not on watch duty are to make sure their equipment is in full readiness for deployment at a moment’s notice. Rotations are to proceed as planned.”

The group gave a salute, bringing a foreleg up to their heads before setting about preparing their equipment again, three of them staying at their posts to observe for maintaining their outpost’s secrecy.

“Ransoming my daughter,” the large insect-horse hummed, still trying to keep some of the hissing down but failing, “clearly they can see her value, but they are making a huge mistake.”

“Not like anyone knows we’re here.” The ai countered through the speaker.

“Considering she revealed her armor and weapons and shapeshifting, she must have told the family who she was.”

“Probably.” The ai replied as the cybernetic pony tried to allow herself to rest.

The large insect-horse settled down by the cyborg at her back, resting close and protectively. Neither slept much, but they would be ready for what was to come.



The next day, there was some activity that the long range group could report. The newcomer had already left late that prior night, looked from afar like they were just a friend to the family, though the commander was sure something else was ahoof. Dawn had passed several of her tactical training tests, as well as performed admirably in the test where she faced a no win situation. That contact was probably going under the radar to request help, considering last night in the distance an emergency vehicle seemed to come partway and then turn around.

All the two leaders could do was trust that Dawn would do what was necessary to ensure her survival. She was as equipped as they were able to make her be.

-----

Dawn rather quickly came to dislike the Master Sergeant. He was cocky, know-it-all, and wouldn’t take any advice even if it was sound. He almost tried to say it was “stupid” to try and sneak horse armor into the delivery because it wouldn’t do any good. That was when she realized she as a horse would be nothing more than ‘lesser property’ and she as a person was disregarded as a crazy teenager. She sighed as she realized she should have seen that coming and simply prepared up in Erin’s bedroom to make sure her armor and weapons were ready for that night. The greasing of her equipment unsettled the mother still.

She would be delivered in her horse trailer after dinnertime. Erin’s cover story if she ever got pulled over is that she’s visiting some relatives. When they arrive at the intersection, they will follow the other vehicle to their destination. James will be on standby and when the exchange is made and Erin is driving in, police will arrive to make the arrest.

Dawn’s only positive point to this plan is that they would be caught off guard and if they did let the father go, she would have free reign to act as she needed to defend herself, only to revert to being a horse and be assumed uninvolved.

“I don’t like this.” Erin said, moving her suitcase of stored things she had packed two days ago close to the door. “It’s too risky.”

-Honestly it’s not a bad plan. It needs improving with more actual backup, but it’s not bad. I simply have to act before they simply reattach the trailer and drive away with me in tow if they don’t bother to unload me.- Dawn wrote back. –Just make absolutely sure that you don’t hand me over until you have your father unless you are going to be hurt.-

“I know.”

-I’m lending you a set of armor to wear under your clothes. It’ll only block one shot in any given section, but it’s better than nothing and they won’t suspect anything in the dark.-

“Dawn, I don’t know about-”

Dawn simply ignored her and proceeded to summon a light set of dark camo armor, still meant to fit an equine shape, bearing the patch of the EDF on the left side but no namebadge for the chest piece. A patch to be put where the namebadge would go appeared, stating “V.I.P.” and was pushed onto the velcro.

Erin stood in surprise, then blinked, “It looks like it’s meant for a child.”

-It’s meant for a pony.- Dawn corrected. –We’re actually smaller than your horses normally. Only the older royalty grow to be as large as your horses. Just be glad it’s able to fit at all since it was my backup armor. This is definitely not going to be spotted under clothes.-

“So, after this, can I keep it?” She asked.

-For now. If you insist on coming with me with no guarantees of coming back, then you’d have to earn it, assuming they even let you enlist.- Dawn warned.

“It’s why I packed all my essentials in my suitcase here. Some clothes, electronics, plenty of photos. We’re meant to be together. I know it!” She grinned. “Even told my dad as much… you are gonna be able to get him home safe right?”

-I will take off my own armor and put it on him myself if they renege on their agreement and this goes from a takedown to a hostage situation.- Dawn answered. –My shield is durable and a bit flexible, and I have options for creating escape routes. As long as rescue comes, we will make it.-

“Good. I’ll do my part.” She nodded, taking a deep breath and patting Dawn’s back. “You focus on taking care of the rest and get back safe ok?”

-I am the bearer of the element of Hope. I’d like to think I’ll be ok or I wouldn’t be true to Hope.- Dawn smirked as she wrote and then showed the message.

Erin laughed, giving Dawn a hug before hearing her mother call for dinner. “Come on… it’s time.”

-----

The squad sentries waved to the commander, daylight already beginning to fade. The cybernetic pony approached the line and followed where they were pointing.

Their target, currently in the form of a green horse, was climbing into the trailer now hitched to a cherry red pickup truck.

“Attention all units, prepare to move out and follow target as best as able. It is on the move.” The speaker said, only loud enough to be heard.

Multiple clicks of equipment being set into their armor for safe transport and ready deployment into action. As the truck began to pull away, they moved out, making as little noise as able as they followed the road, allowing their leader and her mate with the best visions to keep track of the vehicle.

In following the vehicle for the next hour further into the countryside, they saw another car trailing just barely behind, the one of the visitor. The disregarded it outside of minor awareness. It changed little about their mission.

The group followed the vehicle into an abandoned cabin’s lot. The entire area was thickly wooded and full of brush, an ideal situation for stealthy approaches, but poor observation. A quick hoof signal later and the group stopped to grab what rest they could while staying ready, the tireless leader creeping ahead.

The truck waited, running in idle as it waited. After ten minutes, three men armed with semiautomatic weapons in plain view approached and a black truck parked alongside the truck. It rolled its window down and the red one followed suit.

The commander couldn’t make out what was said, and her AI was unable to remove the engine distortions in time to capture what was said. The black truck began to pull out and lead the way, and the red truck shifted gears.

A quick stealthy dash back to the main group and a hoof signal later, and the group once again began tailing their target.

-----

Dawn felt the trailer hit bumpy road after bumpy road, small swerves here and there as Erin no doubt tried to avoid the worst ones.

All she could do was stay in her earth horse disguise and wait, paying attention to her surroundings so the moment they get disconnected and have the father, signaled by Erin ‘accidentally’ turning off the truck briefly, she begin her plan.

Another half an hour later, with many turns, she could see through the nightfall they had arrived at a small abandoned warehouse with a cabin nearby.

Erin pulled forward and when she stopped in front of the cabin. Another pause and Erin slowly began to move, circling the building before the rear of the trailer showed the wilderness behind them. As her anxiety to perform well and keep everyone safe mounted, she went through her relaxing techniques as she waited for the signal.

-----

Erin parked the car, really nervous but glad she was wearing the armor Dawn gave. It was uncomfortable and a little tight, but she couldn’t loosen it any further. Besides, any looser and it’d show through.

A vehicle had followed them to the place, practically screaming “escort” in her opinion, but the two trucks shut down fully at the cabin and left their lights on, staring her in the face.

One of the goons stepped out of the truck and motioned for her to cut the engine, waving a flat hand over his neck. She complied and an eerie silence fell on the place.

“Stay put while we secure the horse and bring out your father.” One voice called, she couldn’t tell which.

“Show him to me first, then we’ll unlock the trailer!” She called back.

“If we wanted to just take it, we would have. Shut up and sit there.” He ordered, implying the ‘or else,’ that followed.

Erin sighed and did what she was told. The trailer wasn’t unhitched yet from what she could see, and it seems like they were going ahead and following through with their demands, so far.

It was ten minutes of stressful waiting before her father was guided out to view, blindfolded, gagged, and stumbling, but very much alive.

“Come on, let him go and we’ll unhook the trailer!” Erin called.

Her father tried to yell through the gag, but a small jab kept him quiet again and they walked back toward the warehouse.

“We’ve already unhooked it. Start your truck and pull forward slowly!”

“That wasn’t the deal!” She protested, “Just give me my dad back, why are you taking him inside!”

“It’s called insurance bitch!” He called back, “We don’t want any funny business, so until we know we’ve got it, you do what we say!”

“We’ll see who the bitch is.” She muttered to herself, starting up the truck and pulling forward slowly. “Sorry Dawn, looks like it got harder for you.”

She pulled into the middle of the ring of people and the two trucks, debating if it was worth it to ram them before she was told to stop. A brief glance confirmed they did somehow get the trailer off without her knowing or noticing.

“Ok, you have her, now give me back my dad!”

“Shut up already or you’re not seein’ him again!” He warned.

Erin growled loudly as she turned to watch her mirrors, seeing how two men had her firmly tied around the neck and holding her leash leads, guiding her to the inside of the warehouse.

“All right. Now git out of here. When this is done he’ll be dropped off and you can pick him up.” She was instructed.

“That wasn’t the deal.” Erin started to protest before the guy fired three rounds above the roof of the truck.

“You think we’re gonna do things your way bitch? You have no power and you’re gonna do what we say and maybe after today you can go to your life cursing that you got nothin’ or actually bein’ glad you’re getting away! NOW GIT!”

Erin growled in frustration, rolled up her window while the guns all faced her truck and began driving away. “Dammit! Dawn, you’d better save my dad!”

-----

Dawn took a deep breath as she heard the gunshots, barely getting to hear the truck start up and get faint. She did not hear the truck engine stall earlier either, signaling that her father was not in the car.

‘All right, so this got harder. Let’s follow plan B.’ She thought as they guided her into the back of the warehouse.

All kinds of hazards were littered about, creating various corridors of stuff further in, but they stopped by a relatively clear area, twenty feet by twenty feet. A desk connected to some battery hookups held a computer and a couple bits of recording equipment. What held her attention more was the father figure, unblindfolded and ungagged, watched by two armed men as he sat bound to a chair by rope in a darker corner.

‘All right, two targets who likely would focus on me as a threat when they realize what’s hitting them. Approximately one second after gunfire is heard before support would come, could be enough to release the hostage.’ Dawn thought, continuing to calculate as she was taken to in front of the recording area.

“Get that horse over here, boss is gonna want to see we got it.” One of the goons said while they turned the computer on.

Dawn gave an internal smile. She should wait until they finished, and then launch her surprise. The real question was if she could dash forward fast enough to knock them out with the flat of her blade or if she would have to use lethal force.

“Yeah boss, we got the horse right here.” The goon suddenly answered and moved aside. The computer had turned on insanely fast, perhaps it was in sleep mode Dawn wondered, “Good for delivery.”

“Good.” The boss said, no video being sent on his end, leaving just a silhouette of a person as the icon. “Keep it running. I want to make sure we do this right from start to finish. Don’t let it get loose and treat it good.”

“Look, we got this.” He answered confidently before turning around to face the horse.

Dawn made her move.

In a split second, the lead ropes around her neck went slack, getting pushed off her by a pair of legs that turned into arms. Another split second and combat armor was on her body and a sword and large white riot shield appeared in her hands.

They barely had time to register what they were seeing, despite the cameras recording everything as it progressed. Dawn swiftly used her blade held sideways to bash the heads of both the handlers, knocking them out cold, and then the computer operator before the two guards of the hostage finally reacted by raising their weapons.

Dawn put her sword back into magical storage, acting like she was sheathing it and proceeded to pull out her pistol in its place, putting it at the edge of her shield, aiming at the first of the two.

Several bursts of gunfire ensued, hitting the shield and marring its surface ever so slightly before Dawn let out two rounds, hitting them in their hands. Both of them yowled in pain as they dropped, feeling the bullets go through one hand and into their chest, though in non-vital areas. A few swift steps and a pair of sword-strokes and the guards were knocked out.

“Don’t hurt me!” the dad cowered, blinking before he realized who he was looking at and looking at her in confusion.

Dawn rolled her eyes and gave him a smile before using her sword to cut through the ropes binding him to the chair.

She barely finished when people rounded the corner.

“Hey! Pillip! What’s-” one of them asked, guns raised before seeing the others on the floor and then seeing an unfamiliar person with their hostage. “Hey! You! BACK AWAY FROM THERE! YOU ARE TRESSPASSING ON PRIVATE PROPERTY!”

Dawn used her shield to stay in front of the father and bullets started to fly, rapidly hitting the shield as she stood her ground.

‘Come on Dawn, think! There’s got to be a way-’ She grumbled to herself when a new, familiar set of gunfire sounds reached her ears.

Bullets broke the more fragile pieces in the shed, one of them going through the computer screen.

“What the-” One of them started to say before dropping his weapon as his hands shot up to his throat.

The remaining two turned around, guns raised, only to meet similar fates and falling to the ground.

Things went quiet, distant yelling could be heard and occasional gunfire when Dawn’s eyes caught motion from some bushes in her line of sight. Four armored dark dog-sized forms and a fifth the size of a leopard were dashing forward to the warehouse entryway, taking cover under the wall before peeking around and seeing Dawn’s hand in a thumb’s up signal.

“Dawn!” the large one hissed happily, bounding forward with mouth open and tongue wiggling in plain view of the damaged equipment.

Dawn poked her head out and grinned behind her shield while the other four forms began to sweep the area.

“What the hell is that!” The father yelled, looking at Chysalis in horror.

“How rude.” She hissed in reply, looking at him straight on with a mild smile, highlighting her fangs as she gave an unnatural tilt for his benefit. “You should be asking who the hell I am, not what.”

The father started shaking before he fainted and fell off the chair.

Dawn chuckled quietly, patting her mom on the neck as she put away her equipment into magical storage. She gestured to herself, pointed to the throat and made a cutting motion. She pointed to the father and covered her eyes, then her mouth, then gripped both wrists.

“See that he is gagged, blindfolded, and bound.” Chrysalis ordered and two of the squadmembers began to make the order be fulfilled as another burst of gunfire could be heard outside the building and then went quiet once more.

Once he was secured, Dawn pointed from the father to herself, patting on her back before turning into her horse form once more, laying on the ground to make reaching it easier.

The father was grabbed none too gently and hoisted onto Dawn’s back. Once he was loosely held in place with some additional rope, one of the four squadmates spoke.

“Legate, we are going to make a break for the cover and then head to rendezvous point.”

Dawn knickered mildly in protest, looking back to the father and tapping him.

“We will ensure his safety until he will be released.” It replied.

Dawn wished she could frown, instead stamping her hoof in insistence on returning him home.

“Daughter… this is not negotiable.” Chrysalis warned. “You will come with us to the rendezvous point before we decide what to do with the rude one.”

Dawn sighed, then gave a bow to her adopted mother.

The six of them approached the entryway, Dawn standing in it just inside the building to broadcast they were about to exit. A few seconds passed when a mirror flashed toward them three times.

Dawn took off into a gallop toward that the direction of the mirror, and two bursts of gunshots rang into the air along the warehouse before they were deep into the bushes, galloping away.

Dawn could feel her heart pound as her body worked off the adrenaline dump from the engagement. A glance around as they fled showed twelve ponies in formation around her, keeping an eye out for interference as they fled.

----

Frank growled internally as he watched his men be tricked by some person in a suit. They had to have been tricked! A horse just doesn’t change into a person! They must have called the police and they had been set up!

He slammed his desk as he watched his men taken out with ease only seen in the movies, then stopped as he saw four miniature horses in military gear approach. Each of them looked strange, like out of a horror film with their serrated teeth like a shark lining the black chitin covered mouth, not to mention the rest of their bodies. The largest one was by far the scariest, especially when it could speak

“What the hell?” He asked, checking the feed to make sure he wasn’t seeing something wrong or being pranked. Every location he could check confirmed the same thing, even the backup of the full quality video was still in progress, if slow due to being out in the sticks.

He watched as the dog sized horse horrors went behind the desk while the girl and larger monster embraced. To his surprise, the girl turned back to a horse and then had a conversation that was just barely too quiet to be heard clearly beyond the hissing of the smaller creatures.

He watched for several more minutes before a much more familiar scary scene came into view. Red and blue flashing lights were outlined on the treeline. He immediately ended the video and stream, then remotely tried to activate the self-terminate program… and the system wouldn’t respond. All he could do was disconnect fully and pray the command would act in time to prevent any unfortunate outcomes… Maybe the police could believe they were attempting to film a movie scene for an idea they had and some vigilantes came and attacked his men, planting the weapons on them to make him look bad…
> 11 - Home Sweet Home?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dawn traveled for the half an hour the group required before they reached the rendezvous point.

The group slowed to a trot as they approached, everyone scanning for possible threats or changes before entering a large burrow they had cleared prior when the Commander was planning.

Dawn changed into her human form and sighed, setting the still unconscious father down on the ground.

Twilight turned and gave her a smile, Chrysalis moving to pull her daughter in for a hug. Dawn accepted the hug and then pulled Twilight in, ignoring the glowing from their eyes. Once they finished, she began writing in the dirt.

A horse-shaped stick figure, hoofprints moving to a trio of stick figures and a stable.

“Why would you need to return to them?” Chrysalis hissed, her voice staying quiet and gentle.

Dawn paused, then circled the smaller stick figure human. She wrote the words ‘friend – goodbyes.’

The cybernetic pony turned to the ground, extending one metal ‘finger’ from the hoof, and drew a box, then waves inside the box. Next to it was a circle, no, a clock, then a question mark. She looked up closely to Dawn.

Dawn wiped the ground clean, then wrote, - promised return dad.- She wiped it clean again, -friend thinks coming with, tell no.-

“One of them wishes to come back with us?” Chrysalis hummed despite the hiss, a smile hinted at by how her eyes partially closed. “Have you warned them about the dangers of this?”

Dawn held up a hand with 3 fingers raised. After a pause, she raised a fourth and tapped on the message again.

The commander made a partial grimace as if debating with herself, then gave a small sigh and nodded. Dawn leaned forward and gave the two of them another hug before changing back to her horse shape once more. Once they re-mounted the father on her back, the group made a lazy pace back to the ranch.

-----

Erin paced in the main room, grumbling as she took the shirt covering the armor off, pacing around in the kitchen.

“Erin, sweetie, stop pacing. You’re making me dizzy and more anxious… and what are you doing wearing that?” The mother insisted.

“Look mom, you have your way of coping, I have mine. This is what Dawn had me wear to keep me safe and I’m keeping it in case I have to go back out there.”

“And what good are you going to be getting in the way of the police?” She demanded, her fingers busy knitting yarn together.

“Assuming they got to the right place.” Erin scowled before a knocking noise came to her door and a familiar voice called to her.

“Erin? Erin! Open up!”

“Dad!” Erin exclaimed, running over to the door and letting him in.

The father stumbled, tired, mildly shaking, but supported from behind as he stumbled in and sat down in the recliner.

Erin hugged her father as he sat down, and pulled back, “Are you ok daddy?”

“I… I don’t know.” He said as he was helped to a chair, his spouse kneeling by him and beginning to cry in happiness at getting him back.

Erin looked to Dawn, now a human once more and striding to the table where her notepad and pen laid. She stood nearby, glancing between Dawn and her father before noticing someone else had joined them. Erin saw an almost impossibly curvy tanned woman with sickly green waist-length hair and green eyes, came forward and looked around while wearing a black suit that clung provocatively to her chest and a black pencil skirt to match.

-He will be fine when the adrenaline stops. Healing was my first profession and all indicators show he is unharmed, just rattled.-

“Dawn… thank you.” Erin said, giving her a full hug, ignoring the armor they both wore to express her gratitude, then turned to the other figure her own height. “So who’s this?

Dawn simply raised her hand and patted Erin on the head as she gave a one-armed hug in return. When they broke off, she accepted the paper back and began to write as the human answered.

“My name is Chrysalis, I am Dawn’s mother.” She said, moving forward with a sultry hip sway and a confident smile to match, “and you must be the family that had been looking after my daughter.”

“Yeah.” Erin said, looking at her and blushing before getting a tap on the shoulder from Dawn.

-Erin, this is my mother, Queen Chrysalis. Mom, this is Erin Gothard, my rider, caretaker, sparring partner, and otherwise friend who looked after me most these last six months, though her father helped provide the hay and alfalfa I would eat otherwise.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you Erin.” Chrysalis said, reaching her hand forward to take Erin’s own, “I am deeply grateful for you looking after her and keeping her in good health. I also want to apologize for that unfortunate mess you were just involved in.”

“It’s not your fault.” Chrysalis smiled.

-Erin, my squad has reached me, and now I need to be ready to return home. I’m sorry, but it is probably for the best if I headed out and prepared to go before any more harm comes to your family, especially when the police check in and try to find out what happened.-

Erin looked at the message, looked up to Dawn and took in the sight of the armed vibrant haired human in front of her. Dawn had been her best friend in the last several months, and they were close. Dawn trusted her with so much information about her world, it was practically an invitation in her eyes.

“Hang on then, let me get something.” Erin said, swiftly dashing off upstairs to her room.

She looked to her suitcase, looked around for anything she could have missed and stuffed it in before putting some more outfits and intimates into a backpack, then shouldered the backpack and came rushing down the stairs.

Dawn sighed and facepalmed before writing out a new reply.

“I don’t care what you’re going to say, I’m going with you.” Erin insisted.

“Oh really? So ready to leave all you know behind without any thought to your parents and how much they’ll miss you?” Chrysalis asked, having an amused expression.

“I’ve given it thought already,” Erin countered, “I’ve told Dawn several times I’m sticking with her and I’m ready.”

-Erin, I make no guarantees you will come back. When we try to connect to a world, any amount of time could pass. It could be one minute, one month, one year, one century, one millennia or anything in-between, and it is never consistent. If we connect once and a month passed for them and a year passed for you, it’s not like you can stay another year and it’ll be only two months here. It could be a century the next time. This ispermanent and you might never see your family again.-

“I guess that means I’ll say my goodbyes. I follow my instincts and they’re telling me to come with.” Erin said, frowning and setting the suitcase next to Dawn.

“Erin, you’re not an adult yet, you can’t-” her mother protested.

“So I’m adult enough to race in the derbies and drive on my own, but I can’t decide what I want to do with my life?” Erin asked, giving a mischievous smile before dropping it and giving her mother a hug. “Sorry mom, but I got this. How many other girls are going to be able to do something this fantastic? I need to jump on this or I’ll regret it the rest of my life.”

“But I…” The mother trailed off as all too soon, Erin broke away and gave her father a hug, even as he still sat in the chair.

“I’m glad you’re safe daddy.”

“I’m glad you came for me.” He said, hugging her tight, “You sure about this? Those creatures… they-”

“I am daddy.” She said quietly. “Not gonna change my mind.”

“… All right. I’m gonna miss my little girl…” He said before turning to Dawn and looking at her with tearful eyes. “You look after her if she doesn’t change her mind, or there’ll be hell to pay.”

-I will do everything that is within my power to keep her safe and equip her for the future she’s insistent on choosing, even if Tartarus itself were to break loose.- Dawn showed before taking it back and adding, -You’re taking this more calmly than most humans seem to.-

“My daughter takes very good care of her friends and family.” Chrysalis emphasized, standing more rigidly and businesslike.

“I’m a simple man, but even I’m not blind. My daughter knew you were special, and I watched you. I knew there was something different but you chose her… besides, how can I tell her no after she proved me wrong before? She’s got my blessing to do what she likes, even if I’m going to miss her terribly and worry about her.”

-You both are good parents, and I hope to get her to you soon. If she chooses not to, I will take care of her to the best of my ability. I have three children of my own I’m looking after, and she will be welcomed among them.-

“Good.” Erin’s father answered before a bright light seemed to appear from the field outside the pastures. “What the heck is that?”

“That would be our ticket home.” Chrysalis answered. “Again, it was a pleasure meeting you both.”

Dawn gave a salute, then began walking out of the home following Chrysalis. Erin looked to her parents, gave them a smile, then turned to walk after Dawn.

Erin was met with a bright wavy liquid-like box in the field behind the shed that held ten figures standing in front of it. One more figure stood, closer than the others. It looked like a lavender miniature horse, seeming to have mechanical limbs and numerous scars. She looked back at the house, only to see chrysalis had been replaced with a much more intimidating figure. It was horse-shaped, smaller than her smallest horses but not by much, maybe a year old horse, but it was dark and insect-like.

Erin felt her heart pound as she noticed the change, even as Dawn moved forward, giving them a salute, then hugging the lavender pony. The insect-horse that she could only assume was Chrysalis walked forward to join the hug, then the trio separated, Dawn standing to the side with notepad and pen at the ready.

The purple pony seemed to shift in a way that Erin didn’t expect, pushing off the ground with its forelegs and stood up like Erin did with the help of the augmentations, only standing up to her chest due to the height difference.

Dawn began writing in her notebook, then passed the notepad and pen to the purple horse. Erin was surprised to see small digits of metal pop out of the hoof and grab both, writing their own message for a while before showing Erin what was written.

-Her name is Erin- Erin saw Dawn had scribbled, then read the main message.
-Erin, As Commander Twilight Sparkle of Equestria and the Equestrian Defense Force, accompanied by Major Chrysalis of the Ridgeback Hive, I require you to provide your informed consent that you are knowingly and willfully leaving to join our world, something we do not normally allow. You do this knowing that you will not have any guarantee of return, that in the event such an option is granted, you have no guarantees of how much time will elapse in your birth world or ability to return to Equestria, and accept responsibility for the actions that you take, to live in accordance with our laws and promises made. Do you accept these terms?-

Erin looked it over, then saw the X and the underlined area where her signature would be present. She took it in her hands, signing the document and adding, “I do.” Spoken and written as she handed it back.

Dawn nodded as she took the notebook and put it in storage, making it disappear in front of her. She gestured for Erin to step through.

Dawn offered her hand to Erin, and Erin accepted it, pulling her suitcase behind her as she smiled at the adventure that must await her. Another world with unicorns and pegasi and other mythical creatures was bound to be fun!

She saw Dawn disappear through the gate, taking a deep breath as she walked through, and felt insanely cold temperatures surrounding her, barely able to see the hand holding hers. She followed for what felt like a long time before finally reaching warmth as she stepped onto a metal walkway in a room.

She looked up with a smile, then froze as she saw countless guns pointed at her, both held by these miniature horses that barely came up to her waist and by machines, even seeing a gunboat turret pointed at her. It was all she could do to keep from having a heart attack or doing something particularly embarrassing when she heard a voice beside her.

“Home sweet home.”

She looked to the girl next to her and blinked as soldiers approached, ordering them to not move.

“Don’t worry. This is normal.” She said before looking forward again with hands on her head to show compliance.

Erin blinked again as she imitated Dawn slowly, confused. This was not how she pictured this would go!