Chapter 1

New Arrival

The Ponyville-Express was idly chugging along the tracks through the hills surrounding Canterlot, getting ever closer towards its name-giving settlement at the edge of the Everfree forrest. It was the last tour of the train before sunset and therefore never had many passengers.

However. this late afternoon it carried at least four. One of whom was a young guardsmare, finally able to rest, after a hectic week with her new unit.

Gleaming Shield, one among the latest rookies who finished horseshoecamp, was glad to have just made it aboard the train at the very last second.

The only mayor stop on her mad dash through upper and middle Canterlot had been her appartment. Dodging angry neighbours (No Running in the hallways!) Gleaming successfully navigated through the chaotic mess of food boxes and bags scattered across her room. Then proceeded to rip her saddlebacks via magic from her couch and immediately darted back out…

Did she even lock the door? … Probably?…maybe?

Following that came a last minute stop at the nearest place offering hayburgers, because for her to get off earlier, Gleaming had to skip lunch today. It was not much to speak of most of the time, since food for the guards in the messhall rarely ever had a quality above papier-mache.

Buying her ticket almost by flying past the booth, she had rushed inside the awaiting passenger car, the closing door almost trapped her tail. It was here, when Gleamings brain caught up with her body and she realized, that her armor was still on and she did just take stop a her place…buck!

Now, many minutes later, she was lazily draped across one of the seats, head supported by one of her hooves. Gleaming had gotten rid of her armor and stacked it in an empty seat beside herself.

Gleaming was gazing out the window nearby at the passing landscape with her icy blue eyes. Celestias sun was slowly starting to sink towards its final destination for today, casting the terrain in a soft orange glow and made room to the creeping shadows of Lunas night.

The white unicorn let out a soft sigh, thinking back on the eventful weeks, which were behind her now. Being both, happy to have passed the training and exhausted due to the rough methods of her units sergeant…

Who even thinks of hurling entire logs up and down Canterhorn´s mountain trail as a daily routine to be any good for non earth ponies? In full armor even!

She cringed slightly at the memory of an unfortunate pegasus, who had been struck and rolled over, like pastry by a rolling pin, from muzzle to tail, because the pony in front her, lost her grip. THAT had to have hurt quite a bit…

But all of this was finally over and done (until next Monday at least!), and she was looking forward to her first real weekend off duty. Her recent mare-athon left her sticky and sweaty, but she found herself uncaring about it. Only a giddy feeling in her chest came to mind when thinking about what was to come.

Blowing a loose strand of her two-toned blue mane out of her face, Gleaming remembered the latest letter of her little sister. Twily always made sure to be on point with the date they came in, but that was what made her dork of a sister so adorable.
Within the letter she was being invited over Ponyville to celebrate that she was now a fully fledged guardsmare in the Royal Equestrian Army. The young private had already had a small party with her parents of course, but it brought a smile to Gleamings face, when she thought about her little bookworm of a sibling….ok -BIG- bookworm, putting together a little celebration of her own.

Probably with help from her new friends.

Apparantly Twilight had prepared a small sleepover for the two days to come, so they could spend time like they used to, when both of them were younger and still lived with their parents. With Gleaming having to reside in the barracks during guardtraining most of the week, and Twilight being send away to Ponyville for her studies under Celestia, sister time came way to short over the last months.

As the train gradually slowed down, Gleaming started to gather her belongings. Which mostly consisted of her golden armor, a pair of saddlebags with bodycare utensils, a small asortment of vending machine snacks from the train and the meager remains of her hayburger. While the fast-food was mostly cold now, the alluring and tasty treat still had its trademark scent wafting through the air around her head.

“Next stop Ponyville! This is the last stop of this train for today, all passengers get ready to disembark! We hope to have you onboard again soon!”, the conductor called into the mostly vacant passenger car.

A lone red earth pony stallion, next to where Gleaming was sitting, awoke with a snort from his silent slumber at the loud call and groggily got up to reach for his luggage in the holders above. Another light blue mare further down the rows of seats, gently nudged her foal to remove its curious little head from the glass. The child complied with its mothers request with an audible “plop” sound.

Scanning over her collection of snack wrappers and items, Gleaming quickly realized, she would not be able to get everything out of the train on one trip. To top things off yesterdays parade to introduce the new unit, left her horn burning from exhaustion (stupid fireworks!). Not to mention her trip through canterlot, dragging her saddlebags along. She really should have invested the seconds it took to fasten them around her barrel…

Therefore Gleaming was not looking forward to do much telekinetic lifting with dozens of papers. It was not exactly the weight which concerned her, but rather the coordination required to keep track of multiple items floating in her magic. Which was not something she felt herself able to accomplish right now.

Interrupting her thoughts, the air was filled with the noises of screeching metal and the typical “Pffssshhh” sound of steam escaping through vents across the engine car.

Seeing as her time was short and the outwards lying parts of Ponyville station slipped into view in the window, Gleaming thought fast on her hooves. She hastily gulped down the remains of her burger, sloppily put her golden armor on (the straps and bindings could wait), and threw the saddlebags back on over her shoulder. Lastly she stuffed the wrappers loosely in her saddlebags sidepockets, to dispose off at a later point in time.

When Gleaming finished chewing, the train stopped entirely in its motion, brakes strongly protesting with a final loud screech of metal on metal. Casting one last gaze out the window, Gleaming turned and moved towards the exit.

The tired guard joined in behind the red stallion in the short line of ponies wanting to leave the halting train. Letting out a massive yawn he shook his head and slapped his own cheeks with his forehooves to stay awake. The poor guy looked almost as tired as Gleaming felt.
Thinking back on her choice of nutrition, she should have gotten a coffee and not a burger to help fight off her exhaustion, as a full bully always made one tired somehow. But as they say: hindsight was always twenty twenty or something…

Half an eternity later Gleaming was the last one to leave the passenger car. Hooves gripping on solid rock again, she took a deep long breath of the cool pre-night air. Then slowly exhaled and felt her body relax slightly. This was a recreation trip after all!

Taking her first few steps away from the door behind her, Gleaming tried to recall the quickest route through the town from her sisters description. Gleaming pictured a mental map together and was about to move out.

Only to jump a little when she heard the somewhat elderly conductor mare blow into her whistle right next to Gleamings ear.

´Ouch!´

“Oi! No littering around here, miss private!”

Ears flattening against her head and angered by the loud noise, Gleaming was about to verbally retort, when she felt that her bags had gotten lighter. Uh oh…

With a sinking feeling in her stomach she turned around and looked behind her. There, just in front of the train cars doorstep, she spotted the wrappings of her burger, which seemed intend on avenging its contents by escaping her saddlebags. She must have lost it by jumping the last step.

Giving an embarrassed grin and with a slight blush on her cheeks, Gleaming turned around, picked it up in her magic and relocated the wrappings to a nearby station garbage can. Peering back to the conductor, she received a stern nod in return from the glaring mare.

Once Gleaming was done, the limegreen pegasus seemed to scan the unicorns appearance with her ruby red eyes. Taking a close look at her helmguard and shoulder plates, the conductor then moved a step back before stating, “Rookie ey? Been serving too in my younger years.” in a softer tone of voice.

Fighting down her embarrassed blush and recognizing the mare as a veteran, Gleaming decided to reply with some pride in her voice, “Just got out of `shoecamp´ earlier this week, mam!”

Looking her over once more and shifting her wings under the conductors vest, the limegreen pegaus continued, “Ah so its your first leave then?” and added grinning, “Got the feeling in your horn back yet? I heard about the fireworks in canterlot. Pretty impressive!”

Gleaming released some air before she replied, “I´m going to need some ice for it. Though it could be worse…At least I got a nice weekend with my sister in front of me, to recover some.”

The older mares eyes softened upon hearing that, “Visiting family, dear?”

“Yes, mam, my younger sister and her adopted little brother live here.”

“Then you better hurry on, if you wanna get there dry darling.”, the pegasus warned.

“What? Why?” Gleaming asked bewildered.

A thunder in the distance caused Gleaming to turn her eyes towards the darkening skies above Ponyville. There she saw a large stormcloud floating above the settlement, with pegasi zipping around it, and gulped audibly.

“Storm is scheduled for tonight, rookie. Gonna last a while too. Didn’t you check in on the weather plans?”, continued the green mare raising an eyebrow.

Smiling sheepishly, and rubbing the back of her head with a hoof, Gleaming answered, “I was kinda in a hurry to catch the last train and didn’t have the time to, mam.”

“Then you better start running now,” the conductor calmy said back while looking at a clock hanging from her neck on a silvery chain. she seemed lost in thought for a while, before nodding to herself about something and looking back up.

Gleaming watched as the conductor mare turned around to close the door to the passenger car and then proceeded with giving a second loud whistle in the engine cars direction to signal the locomotives crew to depart. When the steam engine started up again, the pegasus flew to an open window further down the train. Once inside and slightly moving, due to the trains departure, she addressed the young guard once more, through the open window at the trains end, as she passed by.

“Oh and greet young Miss Sparkle from me, once you reach her. I really liked the novel she recommended!”

Surprised, Gleaming slightly yelled over the wall of noise generated by the Ponyville-Express, “But I didn’t tell you my sisters name! How´d you know?!”

Almost from out of sight and slightly laughing now, considering the hickups in her sentence, the pegasus yelled back waving, “Pinkie Pie send out invitations! Welcome to Ponyville, rookie!”

Stunned at these news, Gleaming sat down on her haunches and spend a minute staring after the disappearing trains end. Just what was Twilys friend up to? Was this what Twilight warned her about in the PS notes?

It was only when she felt the first raindrop hitting her mane, that the white unicorn realized, she should probably take the mares suggestion to heart and book it for real…

´Great´, she glumly thought, ´even more running…´

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Meanwhile, inside the most known tree in Ponyville, a certain purple unicorn was sitting in her study, silently scribbling on a scroll she picked up earlier that day. While appearing calm and focussed on the outside to an unexpierienced observer, inside she was giddy with excitement. Twilight Sparkle, local librarian and latest resident of the small town, eagerly awaited the arrival of her BSBFF.

Ever since Twilight left Canterlot, the siblings could only ever exchange letters to keep in contact, minus the occasional family meetings on national Equestrian holidays. But starting today they could begin spending more time together again.

Hearing a muffled rumbling sound, she turned her head to cast her gaze through the small window next to her desk. Behind the glass panel Twilight observed the local pegasi making last minute preparations on tonights storm. The big fluffy monstercloud was pulsing with stored energy, waiting to be unleashed. The occasional lighting bolt zipping across its surface.

“…I really hope she gets here in time before the storm starts…”, she mumbled absend-mindedly to herself.

“She´s made it into the guard now, Twilight. I´m sure she can handle a bit of water from above!”, came the immediate response from somewhere behind her.

Turning her head around, Twilight spotted non other than her number one personal assistant: Spike. The small dragon was idly bobbing back and fort on his feet, with his arms behind him. Twilight did not even notice him coming into her study!

Smiling at his sight, she responded, “Already done with the checklists?”

“Yep!”, Spike proudly announced, then added, ”… and I thought you might want one of theeeese…?” while revealing two steaming cups of hot chocolate from behind his back.

Grabbing one of the offered cups in her magic, the unicorn floated it up to her nostrils and took a deep breath of its scent. After lightly blowing some air on it, she tentatively took a sip from the hot beverage. Twilight felt the heat travel through her system, soothing her worries somewhat, but not entirely squashing them. Looking down into her cup, Twilight let her face adopt a more relaxed expression.

“Thank you Spike, I really needed that right now.”

“Don´t I know it…, you always work yourself up over nothing. It´ll be fine Twilight. Your sister knows the best shield spells there are and conjuring one up that stops the rain from hitting her, should be a piece of cake!”, the dragonling reassured her, sipping on his own drink.

Letting her gaze drop down into her cup, Twilight let out a sigh and continued, “It´s not particularly the rain im worried about. The lightning bolts of a heavy storm can be hard too…and it is a real challenge for any unicorns shield spell to adjust to slow moving objects, strong winds and fast hitting energy in a matter of seconds…or less. Deflecting everything at the same time with just one shield-“

Twilights lecture was interrupted by a loud rumble from outside, shortly followed by the sounds of many water droplets hitting her window and the ground outside. The residents of the library turned their heads to the visible part of the cloud above Ponyville and spotted the last weather pegasi making a hasty retreat from the seemingly very angry cumulus.

“Seems like they started early.”, Spike muttered. Slightly angered by the fact that all his work to calm his friend was for nothing now. Deciding to distract Twilight, before her thoughts started drifting into dangerous territory again, he spoke up.

“Hey, why not go through the Checklist once more. Your sister will probably be here any minute now and we don´t want to forget anything important!”, Spike said in a singsong voice, stressing the last part especially.

Realizing Spike´s intentions, Twilight decided to play along, smiling inwardly at his antics and sat up straighter.

“Okay Spike, 17 points list for tonights sleepover and then the,-totally not excessive- 238 point list from Pinky Pie for the -Hurray your are a guard now Party- tomorrow!”

“Coming right up!”, the purple lizard replied and quickly rushed out of the room.

While he was gone, Twilight produced her copy of the checklist from a drawer on her desk and placed it in front of herself.
Every box of each item had already been checked in green color earlier this afternoon, so Twilight opted to take a blue pen for the second round. The backend of said pen showed clear signs of somepony nibbling away at it, which caused her to frown. Twilight faintly recalled lending it to Rainbow for the prize competition on the last page of daring do comic adaptation.

The unicorn tried the abused pen on the bottom corner of her scroll and to her satisfaction it still worked properly. Right at this moment Twilights ears picked up the sound of claws on wood drawing closer and turned her attention back to the door of her room.

Zipping back inside the study with scroll and quill in each claw, Spike gave a tiny salute to signal that he was ready to begin.

“Alright, first checkbox….two large and one small sleepingbag!”

Looking around the room, they both acknowledged to the bags being there before continuing.

“A large bowl of cheesy puffers?”

“Check!”

“Popcorn?”

“Check!”

“A bag of gems?”

*munch* *munch* “…MhMmm…eck”, came the muffled response, which caused Twilight to chuckle.

“Spooky ghost stories and novels?”

“Check!”

“Sweet drinks and-“

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

The most favorite pasttime of the duo was interrupted by excessive knocking on the libraries door. In a moments notice, Twlights scroll went airborne and the mare herself was out the study in a purple blurr.

Casually catching the scroll with an outstretched arm, before it could hit the ground, the tiny dragon could only shake his head at her display and shrugged. Spike then stashed Twilights work for today in their respective drawers on her desk, and made to follow the excited librarian.

Arriving on the doorstep, at a speed which would make Rainbow Dash jealous, the Twilight reached for the doorhandle in her magic, encasing it in a purple glow. She envisioned the bright smile in the face of her BSBFF in her mind and with a giddy feeling in her belly and a smile oof her own Twilight pulled the door inwards to reveal…

A completely drenched white unicorn guardsmare standing in the downpour with hoof raised to knock once more.

The rainwater was flowing from Gleamings armor and mane in small rivers, which formed pools of a slightly brownish color all around her. Gleamings hooves were slowly sinking deeper in the forming mud puddles, causing her to visibly shrink with each second. Her mane being wet and pushed around by the wild currents of air covered most of her face, despite the helmets best attempts to hold it in.

Foreboding howls ofstrong winds and a large lightning bolt striking down somewhere in the distance behind her, rounded up the sorry sight. She clearly did not make it here, before the rainstorm hit the town.

Twilights smile faltered upon seeing the poor state her big sister was in and was about to rush her inside, when her lavender ears swiveled backwards to pick up an unmanly scream from behind.

“AAHHHHH…IT’S THE UNDEAD GUARD!! THEY ARE COMING TO GET US!! RUN FOR YOUR LIFES!!!”

Both mares then watched a familiar purple dragon disappear under the table nearby, pulling the tablecloth down and causing the piece of furniture to shake lightly. The only other sign, that the old wooden table was inhabited now, was a purple tail sticking out from one end.

The spooky white mare in the door dropped her hoof, she was about to knock with, before she activated her magic with a slight wince. Moving a part of her mane out of her face and off to the side, where it clung to her helmet, Gleaming turned her head back to her younger sibling and chuckled.

“Hey sis, I know I don’t look my best right now, but is it really so bad?”

A frown forming on her face, Twilight stared at the tail sticking out from under the tablecloth and answered her sibling,
“Its those comics he´s reading lately. I swear by Celestia the writers ran out of ideas and borrowed some from the better selling horror novels-”

Only to realize by then that her sister was still outside being rained upon. Ears splaying sideways, she spun her head back to Gleaming and gave an apologetic sheepish smile, before moving back a little, beckoning for her sister to step inside with a motion of her foreleg.

Gleaming hesitated not a single second to get out of the rainy weather, and once indoors, gently kicked the door closed with one of her hindlegs. She used the doormat to wipe the majority of dirt and mud from her hooves before picking up their conversation again.

“Thanks Twily, I was beginning to think you´d turn me into an experiment to see if I would be dissolved by the water,” the taller mare chuckled.

Catching on to her sisters jovial mood despite the situation, Twilight replied grinning, “Already did that with the pool in the garden when I was four years old. You fell asleep floating around on the surface.”

“And woke up with an underside rich with sunburns.” Gleaming filled in, forming a smile at the memory of little Twily sitting at the pools edge with glasses on. Twilight had even ´borrowed´ their mothers notepad, which floated in the tiny unicorns magic beside her. The filly eagerly waiting to scribble down anything noteworty.

The treatment of said burns however woke a rather less pleasant experience in Gleaming mind, which quickly brought her back to the topic at hoof: The little fact, that she was turning the local library in an indoor swimming pool, the longer she stood there.

Lifting one of her still wet hooves she resumed their conversation.

“Got a towel around here that I can use Twily? I kinda need to get myself unsoaked…”

Beaming up at her big sister, the smaller unicorn stated, “Sure thing Gleami, Spike will get some right away!”

Twilight turned her eyes back to the quivering table just peeking out from behind Gleaming silhouette, “I just need to get him out from under there…again.”

Bending around her older sister to get a better angle at the table her assistant was hiding under, she called out to him.

“Spike, its Gleam, you can come out now!”

“Is it safe again? Did your sister take out the zompony?”, the dragonling carefully asked, head poking out from his hiding spot.

Irritated by his antics and the repetetive topic between them, Twilight reprimanded him, “Spike, for the last time: There are no zomponies!! Its all made up by the creators of your comics!”

“Says you!! Until they actually come to get you for your big brains!!”, Spike shot back angrily while slowly crawling out from his hiding spot.

Gleaming did not want the mood to sour on her first evening here by an argument forming between the two and decided to intervene.

“Can you get me some towels please, Spikey?”

Raising his head to look at the taller unicorn, still soaking wet, Spike´s anger evaporated. The much friendlier voice, compared to Twilights aggravated tone, and the sorry sight of the guardsmare compelled him to comply with her request.

Also Spike was rather grateful for the chance to escape Twilight´s lecture at this moment.

The dragons face brightened up and he gave a tiny salute to the guard, “Sure thing! One towel delivery coming right up, mam!” He disappeared up the stairs almost as fast as when he bolted under the table.

Looking back at her sister Gleaming continued with a smirk forming on her muzzle, “Don’t be so harsh on him Twily, I remember the many times you came into my room to hide from a monster in your closet ver ---!”

Leaning up and putting a hoof to her sisters lips, Twilight put her head close to her sisters ear and whispered, “Don’t tell him that or he will never stop it!”

Feeling a grin taking shape under the hoof she pressed on her sisters muzzle Twilight continued, eyes narrowing, “…but you will do so anyway, wont you?”

“That’s what a big sister is there for Twily! To make your life just that tiiiiiny bit harder!”

Twilights only response to her sister was a silent angry stare. But when she took her hoof away and saw the trademark grin of her BSBFF not faltering in the slightest, her stare broke apart and they both started laughing. Hugging each other, the sisters enjoyed a little moment, before Twilight spoke up again.

“I really missed you Gleami… I could have used your help around here sometimes.”

“But you made things happen without me. I heard the news about everything you achieved and I must admit: Defeating Nightmare Moon and getting Princess Luna back is going to be tough to beat for me!”

Twilights chest swelled with pride when she heard the praise, until she noticed Gleamings soaked coat starting to wet hers as well. Uuggnnhh…

“Spiiiike!! Where are the towels?”, Twilight yelled through the library over her sisters shoulder.

Jogging down the stairs with an entire stack of the requested items, Spike muttered annoyed, “You don’t need to yell, I just had to reach the highest cupboard in the bathroom without wings or levitation…and my only ladder was in your study!”

Setting the stack down in front of the siblings the little dragon stood to the side of it, crossed his arms and pouted at Twilight. The sisters regretably parted from their hug and Gleamng wasted no time in grabbing a towel in her magic.

“Thanks, Spikey. If things don’t work out for you with Twilight, you can become my new assistant!” the older sibling joked.

Twilight looked aghast at the prospect of losing him to a competitor. She rushed over to her dragon, cradled him in her forelegs, narrowed her eyes at Gleaming and uttered a single word: “Mine!”

“Uuhhh………..feels good to be apprechiated……, but could you let me down again Twilight?” Spike softly asked.

Chuckling the rookie guard let her saddlebags drop to the ground and took her armor off. She stacked her stuff neatly in a pile, before she started freeing her body from the water still besieging her mane, tail and coat. Feeling better by the second, she sat on her haunches and let her eyes wander around.

The library of Ponyville was definitely the perfect home for Twilight, next to camping out in the much bigger one in Canterlot castle of course. Rows upon rows of bookshelves lined the walls on all sides. Broken apart only by small window frames and the occasional piece of decoration.

To her left was a small kitchen area. To her right the public part of the library with its many little seating corners and pillows, intended for visitors in Twilights domain. Gleaming´s little sister´s almost pedantic talent in organisation (and probably Spike´s hard work too) kept the place clean and tidy. Not a single dustball in sight anywhere. No comparison to Gleaming´s own place in canterlot.

`I really need to find some time to do a proper spring cleaning´, Gleaming thought to herself.

There was one thing off however…

One part of the public area was cleared of anything obstructive, with runes and crytals placed neatly in a circle around it.

“Twily?” Gleaming addressed her younger sibling “Whats that thingy over there for?”

Releasing the tiny dragon from her possessive hold, much to Spikes delight, Twilight explained,
“Its my latest experiment! Do you remember all the long hours you needed, to study basic magic formulas?”

The dreaded memories of spending entire nights awake, to study magic theory for even the simplest of spells, came flooding back to Gleaming, “Yea I do. Wasn’t a fan of those. I was always better at the practical part of it!”

Twilight pointed with a hoof to her creation, “This is going to solve that problem!”

Gleaming looked to Spike for help, but the dragonling could only shrug and shake his head, “Don’t look at me. She´s been like that for the past week.”

Gleaming discarded her used towel behind her, somewhere close to her pile of belongings, before she returned her attention back to Twilight and addressing her, “You lost us Twily… Not to discourage you or anything, but im kind of out of magic school already.”

Not deterred in the slightest, the lavender unicorn cantered over to her creation with a smile on her muzzle and sat down on the outermost edge of the construct. She then gestured with her forelegs at the markings in front of and next to herself.

“This is a fast learning matrix for unicorns and for now only unicorns. I´m planning on pegasi and earth ponies next. Though that might be harder considering they use magic more instinctive than us, but I digress.
The point of this construct is to shorten the time necessary for anypony to learn specific skills based on magic by imprinting the basic formulas into their memory through practical application. The underlying spell matrix awakens magic potential within the user and unlocks abilities in a pony without prior knowledge or overly long dry studies of formulas.”

At the empty gazes of her audience, Twilight rolled her eyes, still smiling and went on with her monologue.

“Or in short, you immediately start casting the spell you wish to learn and the runes help you by supplying the formula fresh into your mind, instead of having to envision and summoning it. After a few times it becomes a reflex and the formula itself redundant! This would allow for faster training of basically any magic talent. Just imagine for example weather ponies completing their studies practically overnight instead of months!”

Giving an impressed whistle the Gleaming stated, “Wow Twily that sounds like a lot of work went into it.”

…

“Sooooo… how does it work exactly?” Gleaming tentatively asked.

“You didn’t really listen at all, did you?” Twilight deadpanned.

“Most of that went way over my head” the older sibling replied, then went on smiling “but I would like to try it sometime.”

At that the Twilight perked up, “Why not right now then?”

“I don’t know Twily, my horn still feels really sore and we kinda had something else planned for tonight, didn’t we?”, came Gleamings answer with a longing look up the stairs.

“It will only take a moment and anything being cast within the field is slightly faster than normal. Also it supplies the user with magical energy from around us, so it shouldn’t aggravate your horn any further!”

Seeing the eager look on her sister face, and recalling the memories of the energetic little Twily in her head, Gleaming relented “Alright, fine. Just one try though!”

Having won her sisters favour to proceed with her little demonstration, Twilight let out a “YAY” and went to charge the crystals next to herself with her horn. Not a single second later, their color started to change from a soft blue to a bright purple. Twilight then motioned for her sibling to step forward into the field, to which the white mare complied.

“Okay Twily, now what?”

“For our test just think of any spell you already learned and cast it.” Twilight explained. “ Since you know the basic formula behind it, the casting should be accelerated even more, effectively reducing the time between start and release of the spell by half! The first one will be somewhat normal though, due to the matrix adjusting to your casting.”

“Uhm, what should I use? I don’t wanna ruin your little project Twily…”

Spike piped up at that, “Don’t worry about it Gleam. Twilight added a shield somewhere in there, to catch any spells going haywire. Otherwise they might set fire to the books and get her in trouble with Mayor Mare.”

“Well if you two insist, how about….uhm….a telekinetic projectile?”

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At the same tme high in the sky above Ponyville

“Its getting too strong! We have to tune it down! It will rip the roofs from ponies houses at this rate!” a pegasus called out from somewhere furter down.

“I know but we would have to split it in half, which might cause it to unleash heavy bolts!” another mare shouted back over the wind generated by the storm.

“We don’t have much of a choice here! Ponies might get hurt, if we cant downgrade the storm to a six or seven at least!”, the first one countered.

The current leader of the Ponyville weather patrol team wasn’t having a good day. Resealing the cloud earlier to keep the storm contained had failed twice, so they had to start the scheduled storm earlier than planned.

Additionally the winds created by the storm were making even the most mundane communication a shouting match, causing orders and actions to be executed with much delay.

That was already bad for them, but it seemed they lost control of their creation completely by now.

The cumulus was gathering up wild clouds from the sky above the Everfree at an alarming rate and something had to be done about it. In not even a few hours the storm had risen to a size barely managable by the local team. Why did their weather captain had to be on vacation now of all times?

“Mam, we need a decision!” one of her subordinates pressed.

One one hoof, the houses of Ponyville were build to withstand a storm of up to grade eight, but on the other hoof, tuning down a stormcloud of that magnitude was unlikely to happen with such few pegasi. And the cloud was still rapidly growing in size…

With her mind made up and new determination in her voice, the lead mare loudly called out.

“Lets tune it down ladies! Wing one and two on me! We ll fly straight down the middle, then come back around to cut it off from the Everfree!”

“YES MAM!” came the chorus of replies from around her. Those out of speaking range nodded their consent with the action.

The weather team formed a “V” formation and decended from high onto the cloud below at top speed. Their combined wingpower and magic build up and battled with the clouds integrity. Wings flapping wildly and tiring at an alarming rate, the team pushed with all their might against the beast they had called.

Until, with a last combined effort of the group, the cloud finally relented as they pushed through it like a knife through hot butter. But just as they thought it was over a sudden cry from behind the team alerted them to a new threat.

“LOOK OUT! RANDOM BOLTS!”

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Charging up her horn with the intention to fire a regular magic bolt, Gleaming was glad to feel no protest from it. She sensed the energy build up, formed the projectile like she had learned and released it at the height of its power.

The pink wedge of magic detached itself from the unicorns horn and sailed through the air in front of Gleaming.

After a small flight distance of two and a half seconds, it safely impacted into a purple shield flashing up at the end of the field.

“See? It works!” Twilight beamed with pride. “Try it again sis, the next one should charge faster now that the matrix is configured to your horns magic aura and the spell you are using.”

Smiling at her Twilight´s enthusiasm, Gleaming nodded in her direction and prepared another bolt.

Gleaming could clearly feel the energy flowing to her horn from around her, trying to guide her mental path like a farmer explaining a road layout to a stranger asking for directions.

Once again the projectile formed and shot off into the air in front of her, only to harmlessly impact the shield again.

“This is amazing Twily! Its almost like Mom stepping in and giving you a push!” a giddy Gleaming spoke out. “May I try it one more time? I wanna try something we learned during ´camp.”

Seeing her sister caught in the excitement of discovering something new for herself, Twilight nodded her approval and went to recharging the crystals around her sister for the final test.

“Do you want me to conjure up a target dummy for this time, Gleami?”

“That would be neat, thanks!”

Twilght horn glowed with the familiar hue and a roughly pony shaped figure shimmered into existence, not a second later. It dropped down to eye level in front of Gleaming, where it continued to float around barely an inch above the ground at the magic fields edge.

Gleaming let the familiar charge take control of her horn, but this time she also thought back on her guard training from last month. In the last exercise her group had been introduced to opponents with magical resistances. The sergeant of Gleaming´s unit had explained to them, how to add an elemental effect to their shots when the projectile was about to form. It was a little tricky to think in two paths at once, but Twilights creation helped massive in that regard.

Leaving the matrix to take over the projectile forming, Gleaming instead focussed more on adding a cold touch to her spell. She closed her eyes and thought back on the coldest winter they ever had in Canterlot… and the freezing feeling, which a snowball thrown by Cadence left in her face.

Opening her eyes again Gleaming was about to release her spell, when the entire library was suddenly illuminated, as if flooded by daylight. Arcs of electricity wormed their way past the windows and around the treehouse until the glass panes could resist no longer.

With a deafening Boom the thin glass separating the libraries residents from the storm outside shattered into tiny pieces, leaving them exposed to the dangerous weather. The stormy wind howled madly, like a beast freed from a cage.

Bolt after bolt came in through the openings in the trees trunk, scorching walls and flooring or, in some instances, setting fire to books and furniture. Twilight rushed up from her spot and tried in vain to put out as many flames as she could or attempted to redirect the energy of the bolts back the way they came. But for every one she managed to contain, two more would cause trouble elsewhere.

A particular large bolt hit the wall next to Spike, who yelped in alarm and immediately went to hide under his trusty table.

Still within the magic construct of her sister, Gleaming dismissed the energy of the spell she was about to use and went to help her sibling. Or at least that was her plan.

Finding herself unable to force the energy out of her horn, Gleaming grasped at the appendage, only to withdraw her hooves instantly from the burning hot sensation the hoofedge reported back. Next she tried her luck at simply leaving the magic booster… only to find out, that the shield surrounding her was not budging an inch in any direction she tried.
Not about to give up, she resorted to tackle the shield in the hopes of breaking it somehow. Yet the only thing that happened, was the shield flashing into existence to spoil her every attempt.

She was effectively caught within…

While she was pressing her mind for another option at escape, her ears picked up a crackling noise from all around her. Gleaming realized with growing horror that the bolts from the storm did not dance around the circle she was trapped in, but they were absorbed by the runes along the shield. Which in turn caused said runes to glow brighter with each passing second. The crystals, meant to reinforce and contain the shield, were no longer glowing purple but a deep red…an alarming deep red. The kind of color nopony wanted to see at a moment like this.

Out of options to free herself from the inside, Gleaming called out, over the howling winds and crackling bolts of energy, to her sister, “Twilight, I´m stuck in here! Help!!”

Turning around abruptly, as if just remembering she even had somepony else to worry about, Twilights eyes went wide as dinnerplates at the sight before her. Sparks of purple color were dancing all around her sister and the runes meant to stabilize the shield were glowing white with energy about to be released.

“NOnonononono! This isnt good! The protective spell is overcharging!!”

Upon seeing the panicked look on her sister face Twilight added, “You have to get out, before it starts channeling the power! Its unstable like this!!”

“Believe me, I tried!! Gleaming called back exasperated, but glad that her little sisters attention was now centered around to help her. “I cant get rid of my spell and the shield wont let me leave!”

Twilight wracked her brain for ideas about what might be the cause for her matrix to prevent somepony from leaving. When realisation dawned on her, her eyebrows shot upwards.

“It’s the spell you have conjured up still! Just release it anywhere and the shield will have no reason to keep you anymore!” Twilight yelled over the winds noise.

Acting as instructed by her sister, Gleaming turned in the direction of the test dummy. Completely unaffected by the events within the house, it continued floating there without a care in the world.

Without hesitation the rookie guard took aim and fired her frozen shot.

The spell travelled through the air and impacted on the dummy as planned, but what happened then came as a surprise to both unicorns. Instead of being shattered, the projectile seemed to splatter upon contact with the targeted surface, creating a layer of ice and deforming the magical ponykin.

Things did not stop there however, as the icy area continued to expand. The entire mass collapsed and reformed itself into a sphere, which now floated where the dummys place used to be. The newly created spere of ice began to flatten out into a larger plate, before slowly starting to rotate clockwise.

Gleaming made another move to leave the field, but no matter how often or how hard she tried, a purple wall was blocking her every path to freedom. Apparantly she still was not allowed passage.

She was about to ask her little sister on what to do next,but the words died in her throat when she noticed the shocked expression on Twilights face. The smaller unicorns eyes were fixed on something behind Gleaming. Whatever happened there was beyond her siblings expertise or expectations. Dreading what might be there, Gleaming slowly turned her body around.

The slice of ice was now spinning rapidly with small shards of it flying off in random directions. Sparks of purple energy were dancing all across its surface, giving off a spooky glow. But that was not
the most worrying development.

Starting from the middle of the large object, cracks formed and travelled to its rim, while the parts closest to its center caved in backwards to reveal a dark void of nothingness beyond. When only a thin ring around the void in the center was left, the expansion stopped, but the alien construct started spinning even faster.

All of a sudden Gleaming felt her hooves losing traction on the libraries floor, almost as if she was standing on a recently waxed surface. She braced her hooves against the pulling force, but despite her best efforts, she started rapidly losing ground. Witnessing glass shards, broken furniture and rubble being sucked into the vortex and simply disappearing Gleaming tried calling out to her sister once more, only to find out that she could no longer do so. Her mouth and tongue were moving about but no sound left her muzzle.

Growing desperate she tried to take a deep breath in order to scream, but her lungs did not find any air to draw breath from…apparently the newly born vortex greedily pulled in everything it could get a hold of, like a hungry dragon who just awoke from its slumber.

Seeing as there was nothing she could do anymore to escape her fate, Gleaming turned her head around to catch a last glance at Twilight, but even that was denied to her. The all consuming power of the vortex kept her sisters shield in a permanently activated state, presumably to keep the rest of the treehouse save.

´At least Twily will be save,´

So in her apparent final moment, all Gleaming could see was a solid wall of purple, before being sucked tail-first into the vortex. Gleaming felt her momentum increasing as soon as she passed the threshhold. She dryly thought about dying in a washing machine, due to her rolling forwards over and over again. Her lungs were screaming for air. If she could only take one breath…

She was about to pass out when out of the corner of her eye she saw it. With every spin, it got clearer to her.

A Light, growing closer and closer by the second.

And she was heading for it!

Salvation! Celestia be praised!

…

She was still not stopping and going way to fast!

…

Getting closer to the saving light she tried to slow herself down, but all she accomplished was swinging her legs wildly around to no avail.

Just as with the vortex she entered through, this one let her pass without any problem. Gleaming felt air around her again and was about to take a relieved gulp of it.

Fate had other plans though and smashed her face first into something solid at full speed.

The last thing Gleaming registered, was her horn painfully drilling itself into something metallic. Out of protest at being impaled, the item then released hot air into her defenseless face.

A ”Ppffsssshhhh” sound accompanied her, as she dropped horizontal to the cold floor and passed out.

Chapter 2

View Online

First impressions

As Gleaming slowly recovered from her unconscious state, the first thing she became aware of was an immense headache. The last time her head felt like this, was after a drinking contest in the royal barracks on a mares night out. While she had lost the contest itself (unfair earth pony stamina!), Gleaming still held out long enough to buy herself some respect amongst the other recruits. The vengeful return of the invisible pincer pressing down on her skull was a less desired reminder though.

An additional throbbing pain on her forehead reminded her of the other sore spot she would have to deal with in the foreseeable future. Gleamings horn and the entire area around it felt sore and pulsated along with her heartbeat, each time adding a new spike of intensity.

`Okay, this is officially worse than a hangover now.´

Adding to the soreness and throbbing, Gleamings horn gave of waves of pain, like somepony had attempted to wrap it in sandpaper and gave it a proper scrubbing along its entire length. It was clear to her that the appendage would not be operational for a longer period of time. Stripped of her magic completely made her feel a little uneasy and it was not a sensation she cheerished much.

During a sparring match with a mare by the name of Iron Hooves, Gleaming had received a hit to her horn for the first time. She still could not quite remember how the earth ponies hindhooves had gotten into contact with her brow, but the endresult rendered her horn useless for about a week.
While her horn recovered over the following weeks, she had to pay long visits to the castles infirmary and only got the “go-easy” treatment in training. The difference between sitting useless on a bench waiting for the doctor and sitting useless on a bench beside the shooting range was minimal. The lack of practice probably cost her the necessary points to make it on her first entry to the guard.

Needless to say, Gleaming was not looking forward to spending another seven days in a horsepital. The infamous glue factory had a certain reputation among the guards for a reason. Not to mention that every time a guard ended up in there the rumor mill about relationships seemed to spin a little faster.

While Gleaming mused about her prior attempt to pass the guard training, her brain slowly rebooted and Gleamings senses started returning to her bit by bit. With every new aspect of her body reporting back in, she got more and more intel on her surroundings.

Apparantly she was lying down on some sort of fabric with her legs folded firmly beneath her, if Gleamings belly was not telling any lies to her mind. Also somepony put in some effort and placed her head on a pillow of sorts, as it seemed to be on a soft and slightly elevated position compared to the rest of her body. The ground under her makeshift bed felt extremly hard though and was not budging in any direction regardless of how she shifted her weight.

Moving on, the next thing Gleaming took notice of, was a slight chill in the air around her. It was not exactly cold, but the lack of a covering blanket made it easy for the air to draw heat from her body on every angle. The only direction which offered some warmth, was a small spot right in front of her muzzle a little distance away from her nostrils. She could sense the heat from that spot with every breath she drew in.

´Who in their right mind puts a bed for injured ponies on the outdoors?´

…

´Maybe Twilight had found a way to get me back and-!?´

´Twilight! I have to get up and-´

Interrupting her train of thought, Gleamings ears swivelled about to pick up sounds from right next to her resting place. They appeared to originate from somepony using tools in a location somewhere off to the right.

*rrccck* *rrccck* *rrccck*

…

*clonk*

*thudd*

“OW!”

And very much apparent, whoever it was, either did not appear to be an expert at using tools or was a clutz.

“Come on, you stupid piece of-“

*rrccck* *rrccck* *rrccck*

*clonk*

*thudd*

“OW!”

Probably the latter option… but nevertheless Gleaming could tell by the speakers low sound that the voice probably belonged to a stallion. The though of company let Gleaming feel relieved at not being alone in this place. Whatever –this place- meant at the moment. Maybe this stallion could help her figure out what happened, while she was out cold?

Judging by the blanket which was provided to her, he seemed to hold no hostilities towards the unicorn and had at least tried to assist with her recovery. But guessing would only get Gleaming so far. She would have to get up and see the situation for herself. Urging her protesting body to move, Gleaming wriggled all of her limbs as a test before moving her neck left and right. When no negative response came back from any station of her body, except the headache pulsing with her movements, Gleaming felt it safe to open her eyes.

At first only blurrish images came to her. Rough shapes in grey and black covered the corners of Gleamings vision. The top was a bright yellow with no shape or form and a large blob of purple obstructed the center of her viewing field.

´Well, …either Celestia went on a hayday and decided to melt all of existence into liquid blobs, or I have to try that again.´ she glumly thought.

Gleaming blinked a view times to adjust her eyes to the brigtness of the room and get a clearer picture of the objects within her range. Formerly blurry images slowly took shape with each new try, and after a while she could finally take a clear look around. Raising her head from the pillow, Gleaming inspected her new sourroundings.

The room, she currently occupied, was somewhat square in shape and resembled a large cubic box of sorts. The walls of said box were either covered in or made of various metals. Which ones had been used to construct it, she was not sure, as metallurgy never was her forte. A large accumulation of pipes and pistons, currently unmoving, occupied most of the space within the room. The sheer amount of objects blocked her view in most directions. Gleaming could not pinpoint the exit to this industrial themed maze, let alone her own position in it. What she could confirm though, was the fact that indeed a blanket had been put under her at some point to shield her from the cold metal flooring. Additionally a crumbled up rag had been used to serve as an improvised cushion for her head. The cleaning cloth was not the purest she had ever layed eyes on, but it was not as dirty as she feared.

´It´s the thought that counts, right?´ the far back of Gleamings mind told her in her mothers voice.

Tearing her eyes from the colorful specks on the rag and pushing the though they might transfer to her coat to the furthest corner of her mind, Gleaming peered back to the ceiling of the room. The previously yellow spot was now clearly identifiable as a lightsource in the form of a broomsticks handle. It was fairly long and reached from one end of the box-room to the other , giving off barely enough illumination to see where one was going-

*clonk*

“OW!”

-but apparantly not enough to see what one was doing.

´What in Celestias name is that colt doing over there?´

As the thought entered her mind, Gleaming finished her general overview of the space. She intended to get up and find out where the clumsy stallion was located. But just as her brain send the order to her legs muscles, Gleaming noticed that the purple spot, formerly located right in front of her, had moved.

*poke* *poke*

´Wait a second-´

Slowly turning her attention back to the purple spot, lest she aggravate her injuries further and risk a the headache itensifying, Gleaming spotted a tiny purple dragon looking back up at her. The dragonling was barely taller than a pony´s head while sitting on its haunches and had its front claws clasped together in front of its belly. The lions share of its scales were a deep shade of purple, but the underside and wings had other colors mixed in. Which caused the former to take on a light blueish tint and the latter a more scarlet color scheme respectively. The dragons blue eyes curiously peered into her own, as if looking to find something held within. When the lizard was certain that his gaze was returned in full, it blinked twice, while its tail swished back and forth behind its back.

“Uhm, Spike is that you?” Gleaming tried asking the little guy, but surprisingly to her an unintelligent gurgle left her mouth. The trainwreck of noises and vocals, which left her mouth was imcomprehensible and barely resembled anything, let alone a proper sentence.

Dreadful thoughts immediately started filling her mind. Did she bite her tongue? Where her vocal chords to dry or damaged? Did she hit her head so hard that she forgot to speak? Was she captured by aliens and they did something to her?

´Wait, where did that last one came from?´

Gleaming closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath to calm herself. Then once her mind was less panicky and back in order she scrambled through her memory banks, looking for more plausible reasons for the problem at hoof. Moving her tongue about she encountered a few sticky leftovers of saliva on her teeth and her throat was as dry as a bone. She figured it might very well be the cause of her sudden lack of speech. How long was she out ? It felt like days had passed!

Peering around for a solution, Gleaming spotted a bowl with water right next to her “bed”. She shuffled awkwardly on her blanket to get closer and bent her head down to take a drink. One. Two. Three. Four large greedy gulps disappeared into her muzzle. The cool liquid soothing her throat.

Feeling the coolness of the provided water, Gleaming scooped some of it up in her hooves and clumsily applied it over her brow and around her horn as well. The immediate relief that came with the action made her care little about the water she accidentally splashed around with it. Once she was satisfied, she licked her lips and moved her tongue around in her mouth to dampen all areas she could reach. Moistening her lips as well for good measure, Gleaming went for another try while watching herself in the waterbowl.

“Hrrgglloumm…ggrrchch…”

and another…

“Jjvvuuffll…”

and another…

“Gghhllmmuuoo…”

Getting more worried with each attempt to form recognisable words, Gleaming turned her gaze back to the dragonling in front of her. Since she could not get her voice to comply, she hoped the little guy could help her. Therefore she focussed her pleading eyes on the tiny lizard and put as much -Help-Me- into her look as possible. Gleaming also went the extra mile and put her forehooves together in a pleading gesture while tilting her head at an angle .

The dragon observed her struggles with a childlike curiousity. Then when the dragons eyes lit up and the Gleaming thought she had finally gotten him to understand, the purple lizard responded.
Spreading its little wings the dragon sat upright and raised its tiny frontlegs as far as they would reach above its head. Then the tiny dragon started a waving motion with its entire body from left to right. A bright joyful smile blossomed on its face as it kept repeating the movement.

“Wah-wah!” was the only thing the dragon had to say in response to Gleaming troubles.

Dropping her hooves back to the bed, Gleaming shot an annoyed glare at the dragon, who was apparantly mocking her for the situation she found herself stuck in. This is not the time for-

´Wait a moment…did it not understand?´

Gleamings eyes softened. Looking back at the tiny creature, she spotted nothing malignant in its behavior. Only the joyful cheer of a child who had been granted the attention of an adult. It dawned on her, that this dragon had to be even younger than Spike currently was.

“What´s going on over there Pokey? Did our friend wake up?” the stallions voice came from behind the wall of pipes.

Gleaming abruptly turned her head around to look for the source of the voice, but she could not make out anything but static pipes and pistons. It seems the colt was still hidden somewhere behind all that metal, working on Celestia-knows-what. Gleaming spun her head back and was about o ponder what to do next, when the dragon answered back in the direction of the colt.

“Meheheheheheh…”

Once again spinning her head back to the dragonling, Gleaming saw that it had adapted to a new pose. Now its frontclaws were back in front of its tiny belly doing a rapid horizontal motion with outstretched arms towards each other, during each syllable of its laugh. To Gleaming it looked as if the dragon was applauding somepony somewhere behind her.

Seeing as the little guy seemed to have reacted to the stallions questioning, Gleaming assumed that the mentioned name “Pokey” belonged to the little one. An odd choice for a dragon in her mind, but the dragon appeared to be fine with it, if his cheerful demeanor was any indication. But what the reaction also told her was, that despite her earlier assumption the dragon was indeed able to communicate on a basic level. There was a chance at least to reach the little guy. Unless Gleaming opted to wait for the stallion to make an appearance or went looking for him.

´So your name is Pokey, yes?´ Gleaming thought to herself, ´Maybe if I can get at least his name out…´

`Here goes nothing!´

Focussing really hard and keeping her eyes trained on “Pokey” Gleaming went for another series of tries to communicate with him. This time it had to work!

“Ch..rrrr…ou…ki…”

´Almost there!´

The dragons focus returned to Gleaming and her lousy attempts to get anything recognisable in terms of words past her lips. Blue eyes looking up at her and sparkling with joy “Pokey” appeared to be focussed on her …or merely enjoyed himself.

´Okay, you have his attention! This time for real!´

“Brroo…chch…ki-“

“Hey there buddy, entertaining yourself with our stowaway?” the stallions voice suddenly came from right next to Gleaming. She did not notice his approach at all…then again the tool noises had stopped a while ago as well. Did that mean he was done? Gleaming was so caught up in her communication attempts, that she had missed that detail about her surroundings.

`Sloppy! A guard should pay attention at all times!´ the voice of her sergeant came from the back of her mind to scold her. Unpleasent memories of her training days tried to resurface, with Gleaming at the center of failure and ridicule, but she suppressed them for now.

`Back to the topic at hoof!´

Considering the fact that the stallion was here now, meant he was no longer occupied. Gleaming could now focus on him to help her out of her predicament. Surely he would be better to understand her gestures than a dragonling younger than Spike. Right? Right?

´Please Celestia i´m not asking for much, just a teeny tiny bit of luck here!´

Steeling her nerves and vocal chords, Gleaming stood up entirely from her bedding and turned around to address the stallion…

…only to bump snoot first straight into his crotch.

´Oh come on! … Well at least he has pants on…wait pants?´

With a blush on her cheeks Gleaming took a few tentative steps back from her misdeed and prepared an apology in her head. Along her way backwards she took in the entire picture presenting itself before her in the low light enviroment. But when her brain caught up with Gleaming, she froze on the spot, her blush disappearing instantly.

There, off to the side of the bed the recently occupied, stood a roughly pony shaped individual on his hindlegs. He was tall, but rather skinny for a male, and wore both a vest and pants in different shades of white. His attire was sporting dark specks of various sizes and shapes all over them with some fresher than others. Under his vest was a dark blue shirt with more pockets than aynpony should ever deem necessary. All of that fabric Gleaming could have easily passed of as him being one of those weirdos from a stallionists group, who were protesting all over canterlot lately to make pants the next best thing, but it was what protruded from those clothes that caught her breath.

Every limb of the creature was lacking fur of any sort and was black in color. Holes covered their entire surface, until they met a hoof on their respective ends. Some of the holes in his backlegs had strings going through them which in turn held pouches in place. The frontlegs were hanging losely by his sides, with the left one having rainbow colored friendship bracelets through the last hole before the hoof. His head, while roughly pony-shaped as well, was the same shade of black as the rest of his body and sported a short navy blue mane. Cobwebbed ears and two pony-like eyes allowed for hearing and sight. When the creature spoke, four dominant sharp fangs became visible at the corners of his mouth, completing the predatory look. What stood before Gleaming was a being only known to her from tales and tomes older than herself…a Changeling!

“Well hello there, little one!” he started then paused and knelt down to eyelevel with her, “Finally up and about again, hmm? You had us quite worried there.” Then the Changelings gaze shifted down to the dragon sitting by his kneecap, “Kept her entertained while I was busy, Pokey?”

The dragonling responded by uttering a cheerful “Wah-wah-dou” and giving another round of applause. In response the Changeling reached over with his free foreleg to pet the dragon on its head, “Good job, buddy!” to which the dragonling squeeled with delight.

Even from way back in her school days Gleaming knew changelings were bad news. And even though none had been spotted for centuries, it was common knowledge wherever there was one, there were always more. According to ancient reports and legends changelings captured, replaced and fed on ponies by means unknown to ponykind. Even gryphons and zebra tribes reported missing individuals. This Changeling had apparantly captured Gleaming and meant to replace her in pony society.

`Not when I can stop it!´

But why was the dragon reacting so positive towards the ´ling? It was positively squealing with delight at the petting…but according to the old documents concerning them, dragons and changelings were archenemies and went to war on each other even before the alicorn sisters came to power.

…

´He must have stolen the egg from its parents and then brainwashed the poor thing into thinking to be its elder…yes! That must be it! If I can surprise him and disable his horn the spell should fade and the dragon freed. Then I can look for way out of here with the dragons help before more Changelings show up!´

Seeing as her horn was no longer painfully burning,thanks to the cooling, but still could not build up a charge, Gleaming instead decided to rely on her close quarters skills. She took a deep breath, as silently as she could, and prepared her muscles for a swift strike. Her captor was still busying himself with petting “Pokey” and not paying much attention to her. An ideal opportunity, for his head was on the same level as her height. But that could change any second now, so she had to act fast!

Bouncing forward in one small hopp Gleaming positioned herself to put all her weight on her forelegs for a spin. From there she turned her body around on her fronthooves to deliver a mighty buck to the changelings head, precisely his horn. Her hooves missed the target by a small gap, but still managed to connect with his brow.

Caught off guard all the Changeling could to was utter a pained and familiar sounding “OW” while waving his frontlegs around to try and stabilize himself after her attack. The black creature fell over on his back with a dull sounding thudd. She had knocked him off balance! That was a good start, but now she had to finish the job!

Gleaming whirled back around from her bucking position and tackled the Changeling before he could recover. Regrettably however the Changeling was a little faster than her and used his forelegs to grab onto her frame midjump from both sides. Gleaming struggled in his surprisingly strong grasp as the Changeling pushed her off of himself, while she still tried to deliver punches at him.

“Woah woah, easy there little one!”, he winced while speaking to her. “I´m not going to hurt you, you´re safe here.”

`As if I´m going to buy that! The moment I let up you will zap and brainwash me!´

Gleaming felt some grease on the spots where the changelings hooves held onto her body and got an idea. Pretending to surrender, she stopped her assault momentarily and acted as if she had been believeing him. As soon as she felt his grasp relaxing though, she wriggled herself free, the grease working as a wonderful yet disgusting lubricant for her. Landing on her own hooves she jumped forwards once more and started a series of punches aimed at the changelings head. Finding himself back to square one, all the changeling could do was use his forelegs to defend himself from Gleamings ongoing barrage.

“Hey, whats gotten into you?! Calm down already!” but the changelings pleas fell on deaf ears with her. She had one objective only, to knock him out as fast as ponyly possible.

“Pokey, *grunt* a little help here?”

`Looking to drag your puppet into this are you!?´ Gleaming angrily thought.

The dragon only responded with his trademark laughter and applause at his masters request.

“Helpful as always.” The changeling muttered with sarcasm clearly dripping from his voice.

As they continued to trade blows, Gleaming noticed that her opponent was only blocking her moves. In fact he did not start a single counterattack. Almost every one of her punches, while well executed, was blocked by the changeling who used only one of his forelegs to defend himself from her ongoing barrage by now. Despite feeling herself tiring rapidly Gleaming did not relent.

´Just gotta keep going, he can´t cast while he´s busy!´

“Okay, you had your fun, but now its my turn!”

´Strong words from sompony whos on the defense with-´

…

´Wait a second, hes only using one foreleg to block…? Oh no!´

“OW ow ow…Okay, that’s it! I tried being nice, but this is for your best!”

Recognising her slip of attention to late, Gleaming did not react in time as the changeling suddenly changed tactics, took a few blows with defence and pulled her. Then he held onto her by wrapping his foreleg around her barrel. The changeling continued to keep her in place as he produced something from one of his many pouches with his free hoof. Gleaming could not make out what is was, but the next thing she felt was a sting somewhere above her flank.

´Horseapples, he got me!´ a panicked thought struck her.

From that point on Gleaming felt very drowsy. It felt like she had not slept in weeks. The metal floor seemed like a welcoming pillow…

`…wait…PILLOW?...NO!! I have to stay awake, I have to fight it!!´

“Easy there, no one´s going to hurt you, it´ ll be fine, i promise.” the changeling tried to lull her into falling asleep.

´BUCK YOU! I´M NOT GOING DOWN LIKE THIS, I….oooooohhhhhhh such pretty colors…´

“Meheheheheheh!”, came a familiar laugh from somewhere behind Gleaming. She swayed from side to side as her body was beginning to shut down for sleep. Did she study the night through again?

“Feeling entertained, Pokey?” a voice with the tone of a disapproving adult emenated from her pillowling…hmmm yes….pillow.

“Wah-wah” and another tiny applause was the last thing Gleaming heard before falling over sideways and passing out again.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gleaming Shield slept a deep dreamless slumber for an unknown amount of time. Lying on her side, she was occasionally shaken around and her ears picked up lots of rumbling noises. Even though it troubled her greatly for some reason, Gleaming could not be bothered to remember somehow, she was totally relaxed. No minor disturbence was enough to rouse her awake. She was at peace. There were absolutely no troubles…no worries…in her life…

That changed rapidly when Gleaming felt her whole body slip backwards, roll over and crashed hard into a solid wall. Physical laws then demanded, that she rolled back for a bit, before coming to a stop in front of whatever she had crashed into.

´Aawww…OUCH! Just when I finally have a good shuteye…´

…

´…uuggnn…are the neighbors in heat again?´

“Hey watch your driving you maniac!” a random voice shouted.

“I did and the lights on your side are red you mudeater!” and second one shouted back.

`…left the window open again, didn’t you Gleam?´

…

´Wait a second that isn´t Mayflowers voice…or Breezes…hmm…must be a new pony moving in next door then…`

…

“Get your ugly tin can out of my way! I got places to be and stuff to do!”

*VVRROOOOMM* *BEEEEEEEEEEP*

*Thudd* *Clonk*

*Rumble* *Rumble*

´Mare, carriages in canterlot sure have gotten noisy over the last-´

…

Gleamings eyes shot open at the last round of sounds assaulting her ears. Memories came instantly rushing back to her. The vortex. The cold metal room. The tiny dragon. Her fighting a changeling and-

…her defeat at the changelings hoof.

´The bastard has drugged me!´

But the fight was not over, he had simply won the first round! Yes, that’s the spirit! Gleaming was once again awake and aware. Her thoughts still belonged to her! That meant she could ambush him at the next possible opportunity. All Gleaming would have to do is carefuly planning aheady and be on the lookout for his dirty tricks-

´Wait…thats odd. She was still mad at him. Why didn´t he try to bewitch her? Or did he try to and it failed? Maybe he ran out of time, or was interrupted halfway through?´

*VVRROOOOMM* *BEEEEEEEEEEP*

The barrage of noises on her ears continued and Gleaming began to realize that she was moving while not moving herself. Specifically she was lying in the loading space of a moving carriage, the top half open to the sky and the trusty blanket once again beneath her. This carriage model seemed big enough to transport vast amounts of fruits to the various markets in canterlot.

If she judged the speed of the clouds rushing past above her head correctly, the carriage was also moving quite fast. Why was there not a single pegasus tending to those clouds? That was a severe oversight in the weather department! Gleaming tried to get up and see more, but found that her legs did not respond to her will. She tested around for a moment and could only move her eyes, ears and head. A small part of her neck and her tail were also able to move freely. It was not much she accomplished, and that meant…

`Crap, the drug is still working!´

The small radius Gleaming could move in did not allow for her to see past the boundary of the carriage she was in. She could not even take a look behind her due to a metal wall blocking her sight! The changeling could be doing Celestia-knows-what right now! If he even was still somewhere around. Maybe, just maybe he had left, or somepony else had found her and interrupted the culprit.

´Something tells me he´s still out there. If only I could move a little more…´

Resigning to the fact that she was unable to accomplish anything until the drug wore of, Gleaming busied herself with looking at anything that loomed over the loading space. Tall building with lots of windows or entire glass fronts zoomed past her field of vision, along with low hanging lanterns and the occasional piece of wire. Bright flashing signs advertised items and the businesses selling them. Since she could not read the lines of text on them, some of those adverts did not make the slightest bit of sense to Gleaming. That is, if she interpreted the picture of monkey challenging a donkey to a duel with a banana correctly.

´Who designs lanterns with 3 different lights? And for how long have they been in Canterlot?´

…

´Speaking of Canterlot, this doesn’t look like Canterlot at all! The only thing this tall there would be the castle of the sisters. This looks more like Manehattan!´

As Gleaming pondered about the things she could see, the carriage continued on. Every now and then it would stop shortly, before resuming its journey. Each stop and start caused Gleaming slip back and forth on her spot, due to the blanket she was on. The occasional rough stop though made her hit the wall behind her with unrestricted hardness.

´Okay, this is officially the worst ride ever!
After what felt like hours the carriage slowled down considerably and only tuckered along for a much shorter period of time. A sharp left turn followed and then it stopped moving completely. From her position, Gleaming could see the location they stopped in was surrounded by those tall manehattan-style-buildings on all sides. The constant rumbling, which assaulted her ears seized to exist as well.

´Thank Celestia!´

A loud click and thudd, accompanied by the carriages weight shifting heavely to one side, made Gleaming aware of sompony leaving the vehicle at the front. The clip clop of hooves and two wing beats gave her a fairly good idea as to who it was, before seeing the familiar faces coming into her view.

´Buck Celestia!´

It was none other than the changeling and his dragon. The tiny dragon was clinging to the back of the changelings head, with his feet resting on the changelings shoulders and his own head cutely poking out above the changelings. The dragon held onto the changelings head with both of his claws. Gleaming narrowed her eyes and gave a deathglare when the changeling own blue orbs landed on her.

“Woah, such a bad mood after so much beauty sleep?”

“Wah-wah!” the dragonling added.

“Lets get you off and to Nemora, before she closes, to see whats ailing you, shall we?”

As the changeling started to bend over the loading space and made to grab for Gleaming on her blanket, she thought of anything she could do. But just as before, Gleaming was unable to move or change anything about the situation…for now. Black hooves were almost upon her when a new loud and snobby voice from further back behind her captor reached her ears.

“Come now, Brook! Mommy needs her pedicure and you are late for your wellness bath!”

The Changeling at this point had pulled Gleaming on her blanket to the very edge of the carriage. He momentarily let go of her and busied himself with fumbling on the corners of the boundary. A few swift moves here and there caused the metal barrier to fall over backwards. When the limititation to Gleamings view disappeared below the carriage and revealed what lay beyond, her formerly glaring eyes widened.

There, just at the shore of a dark black river, was a pony. A brown earth pony stallion to be precise. Wearing a collar and a leash, he was sitting next to lamppost with a doopey smile on his face.

´A pony, a real pony! Celestia must have heard me after all!´

Before Gleaming could think about how to get his attention however, the leash on the stallions collar went taut, accompanied by more shouting and intensive grunting noises, like the breathing of a big whale.

“I said, COME now Brook! *grunt* Listen to Mommy already!” *grunt*

Following the leash with her eyes, Gleaming spotted the other end of it being in the hands of what she could only describe as a combination between a monkey and a minotaur. While the eyelashes and tone of voice suggested the creature to be female, the figure and overall shape did nothing of the sorts. Also the being had a severe lack of fur on its face.
´Maybe she lost it during a fire accident? There have been rumors about those crystal ovens lately…´

Being almost completely round and wearing fur of varying colors all over her body, the creature proceed to pull with all her strength on the rope connecting her to the brown stallion to no avail. The desperation in her voice increased with each grunt. Also there seemed to be a hint of malice rising in her voice as well, but from this distance Gleaming could not be sure. The pony in question meanwhile made no attempt at all to move and even sat down on the ground while bracing against the tugging force on his neck with his forehooves.

´What in tartarus is that thing doing to an Equestrian citizen!?´ Gleaming though in rage, a loud growl escaping her throat and a deathglare once more forming on her face. This time aimed at the monkey.

A Shadow moved into Gleaming field of view. The changeling had turned around to follow her line of sight and apparantly observed the struggle between pony and monkey as well. Keeping his eyes on the pair the changeling addressed the passenger on his shoulders.

“Pokey? Watch our new friend here for bit, will you?”

The dragon flew from his perch and landed next to Gleaming on the carriage, before looking up at his master and answering with a little, “Meek!”

Gleaming watched on as the Changeling, still on his hindlegs (How is he doing that constantly!?), walked over to the other side of the black river and started talking to the beast clad in fur. While she could not make out what was being said, as the monkey was no longer shouting at the pony, Gleaming could clearly see that the beast was less amused by the interruption, as she wore a scowl on her face. Both, changeling and monkey gestured wildly when talkingto each other, until Gleaming could see a shift in their discussion, indicated by the monkey relaxing its facial features.

Leaving the monkey standing were she was, the changeling then turned to the earth pony and kneeled down on his eye level. He held out his black hoof, with the underside up, in front of the stallions muzzle and waited.

Gleaming observed as the pony blinked a few times before taking a sniff of the changelings hoof. Apparantly satisfied with its findings the pony leaned in a little closer and did not even object as the changeling started petting his mane... in fact he even closed his eyes at the treatment! Gleaming could not believe her eyes!

”What are you doing? Run! That’s a changeling!” Gleaming tried to warn the stallion, but nothing but a gurgle left her mouth once again. Completely unaware of her struggles the pony continued to enjoy his free care-time.

The changeling meanwhile had taken the leash from the monkey and slowly rose back up to his full height, before stopping the petting motion. When the pony became aware of the lack of attention to his head, his eyes reopened and he looked up at the leashs new owner, then tilted his brown head in confusion. Eventually the changeling proceeded to motion with his free hoof towards the lamppost the pony was sitting next to and waved for the monkey to approach.

A new conversation erupted between the two bipedals with the monkeys eyes switching to look between the changeling and the stallion. Before long, the monkey started nodding fervently and retook the offered leash from the changeling. The pony in the meantime rubbed over his head with a foreleg from back to front.

When all was said and done the changeling left pony and monkey to each other and made to return to the carriage Gleaming was on. As he walked, Gleaming saw the pony in the back sniff around the lamppost, pick up something in its mouth and present it to the monkey. She could not make out what it was, but the joy on the monkeys face was easy to indentify even from this far away. The monkey cradled the stallions head in her hands for a moment and as she started to move along the black rivers shore again, the pony followed suit, doopey smile back on his face.

´What was that all about!?´

Gleaming could make neither heads nor tails from aynthing she just saw, but one thing was clear to her now. Something was very, very wrong with ponies in this place if that was a regular incident.

Chapter 3

View Online

Chapter 3, Patient Pony

Gleaming Shield was in a very weird spot. The long list of failures and misadventures prior in her life have made her very familiar with awkward situations. But this was a new one, even for her high standards to step in horseapples.

In not even a single day she was sucked through a vortex, impaled her horn in a wall, fought a mythical creature, got drugged in the process and was hauled off to no-pony-land. It would be an understatement to say that things did not go well for her.

It was not even her fault!

She tried…, really!

Honest…

She let a long heavy sigh escape through her lips.

“Easy girl, we´ll be there in soon. I´ll let you down in a second.” the by now familiar voice came from above her.

´Oh right, he´s still there...´

At the moment she was being carried, bridal style, by a said mythical creature walking on his hindlegs towards a smallish buildingat the far end of the clearing between the large houses. At least it appeared small to her compared to the rest surrounding it. ´Could be the distance though´ thought Gleaming, as she was still a long ways away from it. Gleaming saw that the building sported a flat roof and glass doors, which moved sideways whenever one of those monkeys entered or left it.

When the changeling lifted her from the carriage, Gleaming became aware of just how many more monkeys, of the kind she witnessed, were around. They seemed to mingle in this spot for some reason. Maybe it had something to do with this sea of carriages? All the monkeys she was able to see, either went inside or left one of these vehicles. The carriages were all over the place, which made Gleaming wonder if the clearing was made just for them. The mingling monkeys also were a cause of constant chatter all around Gleaming.

And they were lowd while doing so! Gleamings ears were on a constant swivel, barely keeping up to pick up all the sounds. She could not follow any of the conversations, due to the multitude of layers, but they were definitely chatting in Equish.

While oberserving the sea of carriages, and the monkeys roaming about in it, Gleaming also came to realize, that the first individual she saw probably was not so odd. These creatures lacked the defining colors of ponies, yet made up for it in the way they dressed.

Furter, they all shared similar features with their bodies. Fureless faces with short stubby noses, minotaur hands and a random patch of hair on their heads, or in some cases lack thereoff, could be found on any of them. Long and thin, short and stubby, young and old examples could all in be spotted, if one were to take a closer look.

´Is this where they live? And why do none of them react to the changelings presence? Are they under his spell just like the dragonling?´

A more detailed inspection of the crowd revealed a possible solution to some of Gleamings pondering: it was not just strange monkeys in there. Not by far.

While they looked simliar from afar, there were other bipedals hidden among the rest. They too covered large parts of their bodies in various fabrics, but the limbs attached to their covered torsos were vastly different from the monkeys. Gleaming could indentify at least two more individual species.

The first new kind Gleaming spotted, had featherey heads with big beaks in front and large pearly black eyes above them, almost like a gryphons. Their arms had wings attached to the underside of them, as they seemed to slightly open each time one of them gestured with its arms. An elongated mainbody rested on a pair of chicken-like legs with the kneecaps bend backwards. The skinny ckicken-people came in a variety of colors that rivaled those of ponies. Even their claws had individual markings!

´Did these two just lift off?!´

Just as Gleaming finished her summary of them, a pair of the strange birdkin took to the skies.

Next came a species of walking salamanders, who seemed to have more on common with snakes than dragons. Long necks covered in smooth scales, shimmered in the bright sunlight. A large webby fin went along their backsides, especially dominant in the head and tailsection of their bodies. Sharp teeth peeked out from behind the scaly lips of their mouths and small, cold but intelligent eyes finished their scary look. Everything about these snake-people screamed: I don’t eat greens. It was probably better to stay away from those…for now.

More and even more alien looking beings could be seen within the monkey crowd, but it dawned on Gleaming now, that with all these strange creatures, nopony would care about a random changeling in their mids. Allthough a few stray glances from said crowd went in his direction every now and then.

´Are they looking at me or him?´

The changeling did not pay them any mind and kept on walking on his planned path. Neither did the dragonling perched on his shoulders, aside from occasionally turning his head at whatever had piqued his interest.

Additionally unlike Gleamings previous assumption of the “black river”, which snaked itself through the presumed monkey-city, was actually solid ground to walk on. Not only the changeling, but every figure in sight was clearly able to move across it, without any trouble of getting stuck or sinking in. Also every carriage she could make out was either entirely on the black surface, or standing halfway on it.

´Must be serving as a road then, but why paint them black? Whats wrong with good old cobblestone? Its easier on the hooves too!´

During Gleamings internal musing on aspects of her enviroment, she frequently tested her limbs, to see if they would move. By now, she was able to crane her neck around a bit more, at least more than the time she woke up on the changelings carriage. Slowly but surely, Gleaming regained control of her own body and once she did…

`Payback time!´

Gleaming had to come up with a better plan this time though, if she did not want a repeat performance of their last battle. Maybe a bit of magic could do the trick? It would certainly be an ace against her captor, but she had to be subtle about testing her horn and preparing a spell beforehoof.

´Hopefully my horn has rested enough…´

*whoosh*

While Gleaming was busy cracking her head for useful battle tactics, the changeling had finished crossing the distance between his carriage and the building. He was positively huffing at this point and readjusted his grip on her a few times. Is that the heat from the sun taking its toll on him or was it-?

´No I´am NOT fat!´

…

´Maybe a few pounds more than I like in minor spots…, but I´m defintely not FAT!´

Looking up to confirm her theory of weight versus heat, Gleaming spotted the sun shining brightly from the sky above…´Ahh what a lovely sight to see…´…and its little white twin shining just as brightly.

…

`Wait…what!?´

Gleaming did a double take to reaffirm for herself that, indeed, there were two suns up there. One yellow like the fireball belonging to the one and only princess of the sun and a much smaller but still visible white orb floating right next to it.

´Okay…-THAT- is not normal at all…where did that thing come from? The vortex-portal-thingy couldn´t have transported me further than the Equestrian border…right? RIGHT?´

…

´Stay calm Gleam, you´ve in worse spots before, you can do this! Like that one time where…where…´

…

´No you haven´t!!...WHERE THE BUCK AM I?!´

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*whoosh*

The sound of a door opening brought a slightly panicking and heaving Gleaming back to the immediate present in a flash. Deep down she knew that her attention was needed elsewhere, if she was to survive, until she could either escape of wait for rescue. Celestias best never left anypony behind, not matter the situation!

´All I have to do is stay calm and use my head. How hard can that be?´

A strong gust of cool air rushed over Gleamings face as the glassdoors of the flat house fully parted…and carried with it the stinky smell which every zoo produced in midsummer: tons of animal sweat.

`Oh for the love of Celestia, somepony get an airspray!´

Past the door the noise from outside was dimmed quite dramatically, allowing for a small reprieve from the constant assault on Gleaming ears. It was quite the contrast to the quiet city that Canterlot usually was. Sure the capitol had background noise as well, but never this much…outside of national holidays or the marketplace. A lot of nobles petitioning for a quieter neighborhood in certain areas of the city probably had a part in that too.

´Hurray for small miracles…doesn´t help with the smell though.´

The interior of the flat house was fairly spartanic, with tiles covering the floor and half of the walls. Skeletal, but colorful, seats and benches were arranged in a neat line to the left and right. A few of those were currently occupied by a monkey, who held a two headed bird on a leash, and one of those snake things fom outside with an oversized crab on its lap. Far in the back, past the seating areas was a low wall, with a table behind and a sign above it. Gleaming could not make out what it said, but another monkey reading a book of sorts was sitting behind it.

´A reception?´

*whoosh*

*dingdong*

Once the changeling stepped inside completely, the doors closed behind him. That unfortunately meant the foul air with its offending smell no longer had any means of escape, thus intensifying its unique aroma and restarting its relentless assault on Gleamings sense of smell.

´Honestly, did something die in here?!´

As Gleaming tried to get rid of the smell in her nostrils by scrunching up her snout and moving it around, the changeling meanwhile resumed his walk, his destination this time seemed to be the reception area in the back of the structure. The monkey seated there looked up from its reading material upon his entry, with a bored expression on its face. As soon as its eyes landed on the slowly approaching changeling, the monkeys mouth turned from plain bored, into a clearly fake smile in a matter of seconds. It was obvious to anypony, that the monkey was not happy about yet another patron entering, despite the fassade it put up.

But when something, that Gleaming could only think of as recognition, flashed in its eyes, the direction of its look drifted back down to the book immediately. The fake smile vanished from its face along with the down motion of its head. Leaning its head to the left and supporting its weight by using one of its arms as support beam, the monkey resembled the definition of boredom and desinterest.

´Does it hate the changeling in peticular or just the fact that he bothered to come in?´

´Maybe both?´

When the bipedal changeling came within one-pony-length of the receptionist, the monkey started speaking without taking its eyes from the book, “Welcome to Nemora the vet. The best care for your pet. What is your problem, Sir?”

The monkeys voice carried with it the enthusiasm of a slug being told, that it had just entered a marathon competition. Also it sounded like a females voice to Gleaming, which in turn left her with at least a faint idea to tell all these monkeys apart from one another.

Moving her eyes up and down on the receptionist, Gleaming scanned her for any other notable features to air herself with indentification in the future. Gleaming had stepped in that kind of horseaples once and did not-

´Hold on a second…did she just say vet? As in veterinarian?

…

This Luna-damned changeling took me to a vet-clinic!? What is he thinking?! I´m a proud Equestrian citizen, for Celestias sake, not some kind of dumb…´

Gleamings internal ranting halted at that point. Recent memories of the way the dragon and changeling reacted, and in the latter case behaved towards her, came back, along with the strange scene with the stallion being led on a leash outside.

Suddenly it all made sense to her!

´Not sure if I should feel relieved or offended at the fact that he thinks im a stupid animal.´

With a huff the changeling stopped in front of the counter, and leaned over to address the female behind it: “You know who I am, Bethy. Just let your boss know im here.”

Without looking up from her reading material Bethy replied back: “Very well, please take a seat, Sir.”

Gleaming could hear the changeling drawing in a breath to respond, but apparantly thought better of it and released it in a slow controlled exhale, before smoothly turning around on the spot and facing away from the reception. Then he started walking again, aiming for the nearest free seat, where he proceeded to gently put Gleaming down. After that the changeling all but collapsed on a free stool next to herself.

Letting out out a long sigh of relief, he put his head so far back over the headrest of his stool, that he ended up staring at the ceiling, his forelegs hanging losely down one each side of his seat.

´What a drama Queen…´

*flap* *flap* *flap*

A sudden gust of wind and the sound of wings beating air, were the only warnings Gleaming had before the familiar face of a purple dragon once again obstructed her view. The lizard had landed right in front of her muzzle, facing her and turning his back to the exhausted changeling. His radiant blue eyes curiously peered into Gleamings own, looking for…something.

`Sorry little guy, but I can´t help you, right now.´

Gleaming watched as the tiny dragon began to extend a claw in the direction of her snout, almost as in response to her thoughts. Bit by bit he eeked closer and closer, eyes constantly scanning Gleaming for any sign of movement, until he finally made contact and…

*poke* *poke*

When Gleaming scrunched up her muzzle up in response to the dragons antics, he let out his familiar laugh again, “Meheheheheheheh!”

´At least somepony is having fun.´

“Pokey, let the angry pony rest, we don´t want her to create a scene in here.” the changeling chided the dragon without turning his head, which made it look like he was talking to the ceiling. Gleaming could see the corner of his eye twitch though, which meant he was keeping his sight on both of them, despite his overall show of non-interest.

The dragon blew a raspberry in his direction before returning his attention to Gleaming.

`Not create a scene!? I´ll give you one tartarus of a scene once im able too, you mind controlling bastard!´

But Gleaming knew that now was not a good time to pick a fight, even if she could move more than her head and tail. The enemy was observing her every move, despite thinking she was stupid.That however could work in her favor. If Gleaming could keep him thinking that way, maybe she would be able to use this as an ace in her plans to overthrow him!

*Squawk*

The random outburst of bird noises caused everyones attention in the room to shift, from Pokey and Gleaming, towards its two headed feathery occupant. While the right head appeared to be sleeping, the birds left head was wide awake and cawed loudly through the waiting lobby. Its owner was trying to get it to calm down by petting the very noisy head repeatedly, with no real success.

With each new set of noises from the bird, the loudness of its outcry increased, which in turn made every individual in the room cringe more and more. The owners attempts at hand petting grew more frantic by the second, along with an increasingly embarassed smile on her face, which spoke volumes by itself.

As the cawing went on, the second head slowly woke up and silently rose to the same height of the noisy head. Gleaming watched on as the recently awoken twinhead then started pecking the squawking one with its beak. The cawing emenating from the left head immediately seized, when it realized that it was under attack… and was instead replaced with angry fighting bird noises from both heads.

While its head were busy fighting, the bird was shifting its weight from one leg to the other, which caused its claws to leave marks on the floortiles. Both of its wings flapped wildy during the spectacle and filled the air around the small bird with parts of feathers. Additionally it whirled up some dust from under the seatings, creating a small grey cloud. Yuck!

The monkey-owner of the twin-bird withdrew her petting hand in one quick motion as if she touched something hot and glanced desperately from her feathery friend(s) to every other occupant of the room and back. It was obvious to Gleaming she did not know what to do and was seeking urgent help. When no one made any move to assist with the distraught twin bird, she let her head sink into her hands in shame and was probably about to weep.

“…have you tried feeding them a snack yet?”, came the lackluster voice of the changeling from next to Gleaming. He still had not bothered to righten his posture, but from the grimace on the part of his face Gleaming could see and his flattened webby ears, he was not a fan of the rackus either.

The monkey perked up and appeared to remember something, before rummaging through a bag she had on her lap. After a few moments, the action produced forth a see-though bag with brown cubic objects inside. Wasting no time, she hastily ripped the top lid open and extracted a handful of wrinkled balls from within and held them out with a shaking hand to the arguing bird heads.

When the twinheads took note of the items being offered to them, the fighting ended instantly and was replaced with pecking and crunching noises as the bird creature consumed the apparent nut snacks at an impessive rate. This went on for while until the right head was seemingly satisfied and went to sleep again, leaving its sibling to keep on pecking and eating to its liking.

With a relieved expression on her face and her head held high again, the monkey then turned to the changeling, “I´m sorry, I didn´t think of that myself…I´ve just recently inherited these two from my grandmother and I don´t even know what they are…and I´m not used to them being around…and…and…thank you! How´d you know it would end the fighting?”

The changeling once again kept his head dangling backwards over the headrest, but from the corner of his eye glanced to the female monkey as he spoke, “What you have there, Lady, is called an Urobo. A rare type of flightless bird found on a jungle planet not far from here.”

“Good to know what it is, but I still don´t really understand them. I couldn´t find anything on the intranet or cyberspace. Grandmother only left us with a small guidebook and the little guy…I don’t understand how and why its doing the things it does…”, the monkey ended with her head sinking a bit again and fed another handful of the brown balls to her pet.

Pointing at the bird with his hoof, the changeling went on, “Like I said, it’s a rare type of bird. Technically it’s a mutation…” at this the monkeys head shot around to look at the changeling and adopted an alarmed expression, which the changeling seemed to be aware of as he quickly added, “but not a fatal one in most cases.”

“Can you tell me what happened there at least?”, the monkey pleaded with little hope in her voice at seeing the changelings rejective body language, while she stowed away the bag of snacks.

´How rude!´ Gleaming shot her captor an angry glare. She could not harm him directly, but she would try her hardest to at least make him feel her drilling deathstare! It was the same Gleamings mother used, whenever dad came home late.

She never had to use it often.

The changeling gave a small sigh, dropped his foreleg and reluctantly began to explain, “The two-headed version is working on a time sharing principle. While one head is sleeping the other goes looking for food.” He paused. “ However in this case, the left head had nothing at all to find and finally was fed up, that it couldn´t do its part. That’s why it vented its frustrations with loud squawking-” another pause “-to get your attention to feed them. Unfortunetely that also woke up its resting sibling, who had probably done its share prior to the rest and now witnessed its brother slacking off, while it felt their shared hunger growing. That’s why it became mad and punished its brother for being lazy. Food being offered was the only way to solve their struggle quickly at this point, as the other option would have been to wait for them to tire themselves out.”

The monkey had her hands clapsed together in front of her now and had listened through the changelings elaboration with bated breath. Once he finished, she was looking at her twin-bird again with a look of understandment in her eyes.

The bird looked back with its active left head and tilted said head to the side.

Gleaming was very much surprised at the changelings level of insight on the matter, especially since he seemed to pay the bird and every other being in the room little mind, considering his pose. Also she could not recall the changeling taking a close look around when he entered. He seemed more intend to drop her off fast, with the large steps he took.

´Is he always acting like this?´ Gleaming wondered.

When the monkey turned back and opened her mouth to speak once more, the changeling beat her to it, “If you have any further questions than that, try to immerse yourself in their situation, or read an analog book called: -The wonders of Jungala-. You won´t find anything about them in digital media, as it is too much of a niché, outside of their planet of origin.”

The monkey lady closed her open mouth at the changlings rapid response. Looking at her face, Gleaming could see, she was torn between asking for more and trying not to offend the changeling by being to greedy.

She appeared to consider the risk of offending him for a second, but ultimately settled on being grateful for what he had already shared with her and decided to bring their talk to a close, “I…I…thank you, Mister!”

The changeling did not respond back other than harumphing silently at the end of their conversation.

´Well…That was odd.´

The changeling had no reason to help her out…and obviously was not very enthusiastic about it…yet he relented at her pleading still and went a little beyond ending the noisestorm. Also Gleaming could see joy and relief on a face where, just seconds before, embarassment and despair resided.

*ding*

*beep*

“The doctor will see after your patient now, Miss Glennis. Please head over to Examination 2.” The receptionist called out over the waiting crowd without looking up. Her left arm still supporting her head, as she turned a page in her book with the free right arm.

´Being rude seems to be the norm around here…´

Gleaming watched the monkey-lady rise from her seat and gently led her bird, on its leash, to a door to the left of the reception area, past the small desk with the unfriendly lady behind it.

The bird stopped for a second to pick at the reception-tables legs, before quickyl catching up with its owner. Then both, master and pet, disappeared inside the next room, the door sliding shut behind them.

´Seems like she´s like that to everypony. I just can´t shake the feeling, she knew this changeling… somehow…´

With the formerly angry and loud bird gone, the waiting lobby quietened down to almost silent levels. The only remaining noises to be heard were various sounds of breathing from everyone left outside of -Examination 2- and occasional bubbling, caused by the crab whenever it moved its mandibles. One could hear a needle drop…

The dragonling, by the name of Pokey, had other plans however.

“Wah-wah!” the young dragon addressed the changeling and waved his frontclaws, as high in the air as the short arms allowed, to get his attention.

Gleaming heard her captor draw in a long breath and exhaling it just as loudly, before raising his head back up to its original position. Then turned to the left and fixed Pokey with both eyes, shooting him a tired look.

“What is it now, Pokey?”

Pokey had lowered his claws and semi-answered back, “Wah-wah!”

“I know waiting is boring, but it will be the last stop for today, alright? There is nothing I can-”

Narrowing his eyes the dragon interrupted him, “Wah-wah-dou!”

´Wait, what? Is he humoring the dragon or actually talking to him?!´

The changeling let a long, drawn out sigh leave his muzzle at this and rubbed over his face with one of his hooves, “You want to play cards again? Is that it?”

Seemingly happy with being understood, the dragon gave applause with his claws and voiced his joy, “Meheheheheheheh!”

´Did he seriously understand the little guy just now? How on Equus did he do that!? A translation spell perhaps? But his horn even didn´t glow, let alone spark!´

Hooves moving to the many pockets on his vest, the changeling seemed to screen them for the items requested by Pokey. Most pockets were empty, as they flattened upon being pressured. A single somewhat bulgy one, on the pants near the knee, finally bore fruit to the search. Opening the lid, a black hoof went inside and retrieved a stack of playing cards with a red backside. Random amounts of various things, which appeared to Gleaming as fruits, were displayed on the front. As soon as the the cards came into view, Pokey extended his claws trying to reach out for them.

The changeling held the stack visible above the dragons head and spoke to him, “Alright, fine. But no more than five games, are we clear?”

The dragon still reached out, making grabbing motions towards the cards, barely out of his reach.

Not deterred in the slightest the changeling cleared his throat and asked again, “Eherm eherm,… I said, are we clear Pokey?”

Pokey seized his futile grabbing attempts and looked up to the changeling, blinking. Then after a small pause, in which he slightly glared, nodded frantically and tried to grab the cards again, seemingly forgetting that he could just fly up and get them.

Nodding once to himself, the changeling mixed the cardstack and hoofed it to the eager lizard, who promptly took off individuel cards, with their backside up, arranging them in two smaller separate stacks. Eventually the original stack was gone and Pokey pushed one stack to the changeling, while keeping the other for himself.

´Did that just happen? How can this changeling have a casual conversation with this dragon?´ Gleaming squinted her eyes at both parts of the card playing duo. ´Is there trick to it?´

If there was indeed a trick to talking with Pokey, Gleaming was determined to find out about it now.

Gleaming carefully observed the strange duo, playing a card game right in front of her nose at the very edge of her seat, where Pokey had originally landed mere moments before. The dragon had scooted back a bit to make room for the used and discarded cards, which occasionally left both players hands in pairs as the game progressed.

She could not wrap her mind about the fact, how the changeling managed to make out any of the messages Pokey uttered. To her it was only unintelligent garble-warble, the kind of which baby foals used when learning how to speak their first few words. The same kind of level Gleaming was sadly reduced to, since her first time waking up in that metal room.

´Does that mean I simply have to relearn how to talk?´

“You got a wumpa seven?”

“Meheheheheheheh!”

And the cards went flying, as the first rounds victor was decided.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time went by in the vet practices lobby at a snails pace, as such places never had many sources of entertainment. Usually Gleaming would at least try to read through one of the old magazines scattered over the many little tables between the seats. There was always the faint hope of finding an article in the -Canterlot Canterer- she had not read yet, even though it was printed two weeks ago. Even old gossip was sometimes juicy!

Today she no such luck however, as the changelings drug still prevented Gleaming from moving freely about and forced her to stay in one place.

Despite Gleaming having a first row ticket to the interaction behind changeling and dragon, and the card game they played, it proved to be only a minor source of distraction. The main reason for that was not the game itself, Gleaming had a fair idea of the rules by now, but rather the outcome of each round the duo played.

Pokey always won. Always.

Which made one very happy dragonling and a grumpy changeling.

With every game that ended, the changeling appeared to became increasingly frustrated with the cards, as he spend an ever increasing amount of time to mix the stack after each loss. Also he glared almost visible daggers at the printed fruits backside.

´What a sore loser…´

While the game itself served little, to kill the time for herself, it did at least occupy the changeling enough, that Gleaming felt it safe to try and access her magic. She repeatedly summoned small amounts of energy and found no immediate discomfort with it. When the power left her horn though, the troubles started.

Firstly, even the smallest amount Gleaming was able to summon and maintain, demanded a lot of concentration from her. So much that she had to close her eyes on each attempt and she was sure that sweat formed on her forehead. This would render her horn useless, if she had to stop midfight and go into an almost sleep-mode to cast!

Secondly, as soon as she dropped the summoning of her power, it left her with a feeling of utter exhaustion all over her body. Her muscles ached, her head throbbed and she felt hungry enough to gobble up the entire menu at McBurgers. Twice!

It reminded her a lot of the first days of horseshoecamp, when all she could do was drop dead into her bunkbed and hope there would not be an alert exercise that night.

To sum it up: Gleaming was screwed.

At least if she tried to rely on her magic in fight.

The power tests revealed a glimmer of hope however, as Gleaming mentally went through the necessary charge levels needed for utiliy spells. A lightspell was not much, basically just charging ones horn to glowing levels and densening the amount of power in the tip, but better than nothin. Also with a little more time to heal, maybe she had a chance at recovering her telekinesis as well!

“Aw cmon! How can something simple be so hard?!”

The outcry called Gleaming back to the events unfolding in front of her muzzle. As expected the changeling once again lost the card game and a cheering Pokey was waving his arms through the air.

Gathering up the cards strewn about and rearranging them to a single stack, before putting them away, the changeling spoke towards the victorious dragonling, “Alright, alright I concede. I ll get a different set of cards next time.”

“Meheheheheheheh!”

“Yea, yea just you wait, I will find a game to beat you in! No one has Fortuna on his side forever!”

´I highly doubt that. And who the buck is this Fortuna? The dragons mother maybe?´

*ding*

*beep*

“Mister Pearce, head over to Examination 1 with your luggage, Doctor Nemora will see you now.”

´Ah it’s the employee of the month again. But who is-´

As if to answer her question, the changeling suddenly rose up to his full height again. Then he turned and held out his foreleg in Pokeys direction, to which the dragonling responded in jumping up and climbing along its length, until he was safely seated in the changelings neckarea again.

´That´s his name?!´

The changeling bend down a little and moved his forelegs under her to grab onto Gleamings form from below. She felt his forelegs wiggle, to gain a firm grip, before lifting her from the seat.

When he got up and rightened his spine, Gleaming saw, that the other seat, with the snake and crab on it, was now vacant. She must have zoned out completely with her focus on magic testing to have missed their call coming up. Moving towards the reception area and banking hard right, changeling “Pearce” carried Gleaming through a door on the opposite site of Examination 2.

The inside of which was brightly lit, so bright infact, that Gleaming was forced to blink a couple of times. Before she realised it, Gleaming was dropped on a hard flat surface in the rooms center, with a light right above her head. Gleaming tried to get a better look but found herself limited in her movement still. Once again Gleaming found herself lying on her side and from her current location, she could only take a look at about half of the room.

From what she could see though, the room was mostly covered in light blue tiles and had a cupboard, shelfes and a half-table on every free spot on each wall, which left hardly any room to move between the central table, she was lying on, and the edge of the furniture. Metallic looking instruments were lying on a few of the free surfaces or strapped to the walls. Lastly, Gleaming could spot one half of a window, which must have covered the entire walls opposite the door, out of the corner of her eye.

Except for the entry, there was no other way in or out of the room within her sight. Said entry had been closed by “Pierce” with a kick from one of his hindhooves, which caused it to shut with a small click.

´Speaking of doors…´

Gleaming heard the telltale noise of a door being being opened behind her, which must be the one the doctor was supposed use to switch between the patients, like in any Equestrian horspital. Short steps accompanied by an audible clickclack on the tiles below, approached Gleaming from behind her. Gleaming ears swiveled back, as each stride caused the noise to get a tiny bit louder.

The clickerclacker on the tiles told Gleaming, that the newcomer had claws on their feet. And by the sounds they made, they must have been quite sharp.

Then the noises stopped and Gleaming could feel a light breath of air flowing over her body, like a predator taking in the scent of a piece of meat.

Gleaming would have been fairly sure, that the next thing to come upon her was saliva dropping down all over her body, if it was not for the fact that this place was a vet´s clinic.

She could hear the clicking of a tongue and a raspy, yet clearly female voice began to speak, “Well, I didn´t expect to see you back so soon, Aiden!”

´Aiding? Who the buck is that now?!´

The changeling came back into Gleamings sight from the left and leaned with his back against the counter of the cupboard on the wall in front of her, so that he was facing the speaker behind Gleamings back. He let out a sigh, and crossed his forelegs in front of his chest before replying, “Didn´t plan to Nem,” then he motioned with his head in Gleaming direction, “but this little bugger popped up in my ship on the way back.”

`He´s Aiding AND Pierce? Is that a regular changeling name? Aiding Pierce…almost sounds like a ponys…

…and then there was this Nem character…is this the local vet? Nemora?

Hold on a second! Did he say ship? As in a floating vessel?´

Gleaming scrammed her brain for the most recent memory of the metal box she woke up in. Back then It did not resemble a ship at all to her. Let alone the fact it was made out of metal. Anypony with the least bit of sense in them, would be aware that a metal ship could never float without magic, and would promptly sink to the bottom of the ocean or fall out of the sky.

The clickerclacker moved to the window somewhere on the right and Gleaming heard a drawer being opened and somepony rummaging through its contents, before the female voice filled the air again, “Really? Ohh, poor thing! Any leads on how she ended up in there?”

Gleaming ears perked up instantly. This was a topic she was burning to know about!

Was she finally about to have some luck and find out what exactly happened to her?

The changelings eyes dropped down from the doctor, who was out of sight to Gleaming, into Gleamings orbs. Aiding seemed to go into himself for a moment, as he kept eye contact, thinking things through.

´Come on! Spill it!´

…

“I don’t have any actual clue.”

´CELESTIA BUCKING DAMMIT!´

There went Gleamings hopes for an easy way out.

“But I do have a couple of ideas.”

Now that had Gleamings interest! Finally something useful!

The airflow on Gleamings fur from above told her, that Nemora had moved into her first spot again and was likely leaning over her body once more. Was she using the examination table as support?

“Oh? I´m all ears, you do know I like me a good story!”

*flap* *flap* *flap*

The purple dragon, formerly perched in the changelings neck, had apparantly decided to not be left out and landed in front of Gleamings muzzle. Immediately after touching down he loudly proclaimed his presence and waved his paws through the air, “Wah-wah!”

Silence permated the air as every occupant of the small room looked at the cause of the sudden interruption, until a chuckle behind Gleaming broke it.

“Oh, I´m truly sorry Mister Pokey, how could I ever forget to greet you as well? Hello there and good evening!”

´Evening?´

“Meheheheheheheh!”

Seemingly satisfied with his achievement, the dragon placed his paws on his belly and went silent as he sat on his haunches, while his eyes kept looking towards the doctor behind Gleaming.

Clearing his throat the changeling took up the conversation with the doctor again, “To be fair Nemora, you haven´t properly greeted me either.”

“Pffff, pishpash! We see each other often enough. But let´s not get off topic here, you said you have some ideas to my latest patients origins?”

The changeling hummed to himself, “…some ideas yes, but nothing solid. Yet.”

“Care to share? It might kill some time, while I do my work.”

Suddenly Gleaming became very aware again, that she was about to be checked through from head to tail like a newly bought Manehattian gold carriage. The slapping sound of gloves being put on by the vet, made Gleaming even more anxious as to what her checkup would entail.

It did not appeal to her at all.

Not the slightest bit.

As Nemora moved around to face Gleaming from the front, the unicorn could see her entire form for the first time in this room. Nemora was part of the snake-race, which Gleaming had spotted outside, and wore a white labcoat, fitting her profession. A few specks here and there were visible but nothing to bad. Her blue scales gave the doc an aura of royalty as well as the way she elegantly moved to and fro in front of Gleaming, her tail never even touching the ground. Various golden accessoires pronounced her features, especially around her head and along the fin and spikes on top, until it reached her neck. Two white bracelets with glowing dots on them kept the labcoat from slipping over her handclaws. Despite the many pointy teeth she revealed by keeping her mouth slightly ajar, she had a genuine and kind expression on her face at all times.

As the doc moved about and did her job, the changeling and Nemora kept a light conversation going.

“Alright, were to start…better wrap this up from the beginning…”, changeling “Aiding Pierce” stated more to himself than anypony within the room, then halted and looked towards the ceiling. A thing he did regularly as Gleaming noted from the encounter in the waiting-lobby. Was it to hide his eyes or to gather his thoughts?

“…as already said, I was on my way back from Telephus station-”

“Oh the new plant they started up a week back?”, Nemora interrupted him as she moved her gloved claws through Gleaming mane and fur. Occasionally she would move the hairs apart to check the skin beneath, humming and clicking her tongue. She was moving quite fast! Was this by experience or haste?

“Yes, exactly. I was there to get some spare parts for the windmill on the farm. As you certainly know, they have quite the low prices for spares right now, as they got delivered to much last cycle.”

Nemora had Gleamings muzzle in her grip now and was in the process of opening her patients mouth, “Yes, yes, I heard about it, get to the good parts already!”

Raising an eyebrow, if he had one (but the part above the eyesocket moved!), Aiding went on, “As I left the station, everything was normal and I plotted the course back home. Nothing unusual at the dock, a normal boring launch and a regular flight until approximately the halfway point. Then suddenly I have an FTL-dropout, due to cooling failure.”

Nemora was shining into Gleamings eyes with a bright light held in her claw, forcing the unicorn to blink. The whole examination was highly distracting, but so far bearable for Gleaming, as her attention was on the changeling and his story. Gleaming did not understand any of the nerd-speak nor did she recognise the place meantioned, yet it was all she was going to get in terms of intel for now. And if she was to survive here, she needed all the info she could get her hooves on, especially about this changeling and his machinations.

“Go on.”

´Yes, go on! Tell me your secrets!´

“When I went to check, I found her lying on the floor of the machineroom, out cold, and someone had drilled a massive hole in the pressure cylinder of the cooling unit for the FTL.”

Gleaming felt her ears being stretched and something cold was inserted in her ear channel, “Ooh I love a mystery!”

“Quite, as if that wasn´t odd enough, burned paper was scattered all around her.” Aiding paused, “I don’t have any paper anywhere close to the engines, as that would easily catch fire in there.”

´Uh oh….probably leftovers from Twilights precious collections…´

Gleaming made a mental note to find out, upon her return, which books were lost in her departure. Hopefully it were not to many…

Starting pay in the guard never made anypony rich after all. Even if she was gathering danger payment right now.

At least she hoped she did.

“I did a first quick checkup on her, got her as comfy as possible and told Pokey to watch her, while I went to fix the FTL. Only problem was, I just had a smaller version of the destroyed part. So it took me a bit before I managed to squeeze it in place.

After that, I heard Pokey chatting, excitedly as he always does-“

“Weeeeee!”

“… and went back to check on her.”

Nemora briefly stopped in her actions, “And what happened next?”

When no answer came, she propped her claws on her hips and leaned towards the changeling, “None of this explains, why you of all people have sedated a pony! I know they are usually at ease around you, but this is a new one.”

Staring intensely into Gleamings eyes, Aiding explained himself, “That’s just the thing, I don´t know what went wrong.” He paused, “Pokey was animatedly chatting with her one moment and she wasn´t scared the slightest bit! But when I stepped into view, her face almost froze solid and a few seconds later, she was attacking me as if her life depended on it!”

´Because it did!´

Silence was all that came from Nemora when Aiding finished talking, closely followed by an incredulous stare she shot between pony and changeling. Gleaming expected a large range emotions to sprout fourth from Nemora at any given moment now, but what actually happened caught her completely off-guard.

She laughed.

Hard.

So hard in fact, that Nemora had to support herself by holding onto her own belly. Breathing large gulps of air, as her laughter travelled through the buildings interior, she made multiple attempts to calm herself, but failed four times before catching herself again.

Pokey meanwhile added in his own laughter to it and applauded the jovial mood.

Gleaming felt left out. ´Uhh, what did I miss?´

“Oh…haha…this is….this is rich! The famous pony-whisperer being unable to restrain a wounded unicorn!” Nemora appeared to lapse into another laughing fit at her own summary of the events, and held herself up by leaning with one arm on a table nearby.

´A changeling being famous!? Wouldn´t that contradict anything about them being hidey and sneaky? And what is a pony-whisperer? Some kind of magic flute?

That’s it!

Maybe that’s the changelings secret! A magic flute to make ponys and other creature do as he pleases! He couldn’t have used it today though, Gleaming would have seen it…maybe it was not on him at the moment?´

Gleaming felt Nemoras other claw ruffle through her mane, “Well done, little one!”

´Little one?´ Last time she checked, Gleaming found herself to be average height for mare her age!

Aiding seemed less amused at Nemoras jovial outbreak and busied himself with glaring daggers at the laughing vet, “If you´re done laughing your tail off, at my expense, you may want to take a look at her bottom end. Or her flanks to be more precise.”

“Hmm? Oh? Ooohh! That’s not looking good!”

The cheer in the vets voice dropped out so fast, that Gleaming found herself worrying as well, despite not feeling anything out of place.

´What´s so bad?´

As if to answer her question Nemora picked up the conversation again, “Hmm that’s peculiar. I have only ever seen a few of those, but never on a pony before…and never so clean!”

´What kind of mark on my bottom end would-

My cutie-mark?!´

Aiding hm-hmed and chimed in, “After our little struggle I took a closer look at my stowaway and found that. It may very well explain her sudden aggression.”

Nemoras tone took on a very serious note, “Ever seen this version of it? I know you get around a lot.”

“No, and that worries me greatly. If the Syndicate is expanding their animal fighting business, the authorities need to act. Therefore, upon landing, I called the Marshalls office to visit me tomorrow.”

“Good move, maybe they know which part of the syndicate uses this kind of symbol.”

`This is no mark of an animal fighter for a crime syndicate! That’s my very own cutie-mark and I´m very proud of it, thank you!´

…

´Also there is no need to constantly poke at it!!!´

During her internal rant, Gleaming wiggled about and to her own surprise her flank actually moved! Enough at least to cause Nemora to seize her invasive action and withdraw herself from Gleamings frame, “She does not seem to like us touching it.”

“Which just confirms my theory, if its sensitive like that. It may even serve as a trigger.”

´No!! You got it wrong!´

Changeling and snake lapsed into silence again, until Nemora moved out of Gleamings sight and ,by the sounds of it, rummaged through another drawer. A few seconds passed and Gleaming felt a slight sting on her shoulder.

“I´m running a large blood test on her, to see if she has had any repercussions from her-“ Nemora seemed to spit the word “-matches.”

“I was gonna ask you to do that anyhow, as you clearly got the better Equipment.”

“Hrm-hrm, and that equipment does not pay for itself, Mister.”

Aiding seemed to know the direction this conversation was being steered into, “Alright, what do I owe you for this?”

Nemora realized the opportunity she had with him and her voice took on a certain predatory edge, “Ohh anyone else I would´ve made pay for this. Let us summarize, yes?

First you barge in late, even later than my after closing hours last minute calls. Second you do my job with that Urobo for me. And last you cause Bethy to miss her date.

So I´d say you owe me big!”

Raising a non-existential eyebrow, Aiding peered at Nemora, “What do you have in mind?”

“Weeellll, as you certainly know, my little nephew is coming off age and needs to find a place for himself and I could really use another hand or claw in here. So if you could kindly help me out and give him the year on your farm for free, I would consider letting you off easy…”

Sighing Aiding replied, “Throw in Scarletts treatment next week, and I´ll see if he isn´t half bad. Does he have any experience with animal handling at all?”

Nemora removed the gloves from her claws as she moved back into view and clasped the appendages in front of her face, as she answered in the sweetest tone possible, “He´ll get better with you in no time, I´m sure!”

Aiding snorted, “No better or worse than the last guy you send to me…” He slowly facehoofed and dragged the hoof downwards, “Alright, I´ll see what I can do. No promises though!”

Bouncing a little with joy Nemora hugged the gruffy changeling, “Thank you so much!”

Gleaming took a long careful look at the pair. Was there a tiny smile on the changelings face just now? No, almost certainly not, she must have imagined it…

Chapter 4

View Online

Chapter 4, Dream or harsh reality?

Following the scaly hug to seal the deal they made, changeling and snake began their conversation anew, which felt to Gleaming like it would go on forever. Most of the discussed topics were about day-to-day happenings and recent rumors and did not hold any value to Gleaming or her current situation. Even before she ended up here at this very table, presented like a trophy, Gleaming never liked sharing gossip or doing smalltalk with other mares. It simply bored her to no end. Therefore she busied herself with looking around the small room and counted the tiles within her field of view.

´Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-fo- oh hello there mister dustball number 2! -twenty-five, twenty-´

*prod* *prod*

If Gleaming could look into a mirror right now, she was fairly certain an annoyed vein would be visible on her forehead as of this moment. Nemora had once again started poking around in the area of her cutie-mark, much to Gleaming chagrin. As her annoyance grew to levels previously unknown, Gleaming noticed something different about herself during the unwelcome procedure.

When she tried to wiggle her flank againt the notion of being touched, her body actually moved slightly again. Not by much by any means, probably just a small spasm, but it would have been enough to scare the average fly away from her flanks. Shooting a quick glance at the vets face, Gleaming feared Nemora might haven taken note of her hipshake attempt, yet Gleaming saw no indication of Nemora noticing anything out of the ordinary.

´The sedative is finally about to wear off! Maybe I can…´

Not about to give her captor any clues, as Gleamings control of her own body slowly returned to her, she attempted to appear as indifferent as ponily possible. Which, in her circumstances, simply meant to keep lying still, staying calm and not let anything show on her face, like a true poker player. If Gleaming was good at anything it would be maintaining the best pokerface.

She would never admit it to anypony besides herself, but the amount of bits she won from her fellow guardsmares in the barracks were actually the main reason why Gleaming could allow herself to buy takeouts so often.

Being aware of the fact, that she was still being watched from all sides, Gleaming only risked testing her range of movement, when the changelings and snakes attention turned to each other or any part of the room apart from Gleamings table. But even then she kept it to a bare minimum, lest she be discovered. Just as she did prior with evaluating her magic powers in the lobby.

The only one who noticed her movements at all was probably the dragonling in front of her. Pokey never took his eyes away from Gleaming and gazed intensely back to her, every time their eyes met. If the dragon was aware of her progress, in terms of recovery, Gleaming could not tell, as he gave no visual clue. However even if he did, Pokey seemed indifferent about it and just kept looking back at her, occasionally swishing his purple tail behind him.

By now Gleaming had confirmed to herself, that most of her legs were with her again, but she did not trust them yet, as they felt somewhat tingly and Gleaming feared her sense of gravity was most likely screwed, after laying down on her side for so long.

Her time as teenager, lazing about in her bed while consuming unhealthy snacks, reading comics and novels, mostly liked by colts, instead of burying her nose in *Starswirls magic tome vol.3*, taught her that lesson.

Especially the ungraceful landing she made, snout first, into the floor when she hastily attempted to leave her bed for the bathroom that one fateful day.

Gleaming needed an opportunity to stretch out her legs for real, to confirm her findings and get her bearings again, before she could decide on how to proceed from here. She needed a moment for herself, were she was unsupervised and could check herself through.

A distraction would be the optimal way to go, but how would she achive that?

As of right now, Gleamings options to cause such an event were limited at best. But fortunately for her, fate provided one on its own.

A loud but short -beep- sounded through the cramped space, causing all talk to seize and heads to spin behind Gleamings backside once more. Nemora, the cheerful vet, rushed over to her machinery, out of Gleamings sight, and returned a few seconds later from the left with a small vial filled with a purple liquid in one claw and some officially looking, thinly written and cramped looking papers in the other.

Nemora held the vial against the light in the ceiling, which was not hard for her, as her long arms made it effortlessly easy to accomplish, and shook it once or twice before squining her eyes at the vial when it slowly turned blue. Then she lowered her arm and scanned through the lines and tables on the papers with a scowl on her face before announcing, “Nothing bad in terms of germs, but…she doesn´t seem to have any antibodies for any typical desease or parasite ponies usually carry around with them.”

Gleaming could not believe what she was hearing. Her health bill was always top notch, as was her sisters. Their mother, Twilight Velvet, made very sure of that and took them both as fillies to any appointment necessary to keep their family up to date with the latest viral flu going around. Even their father was not spared from Velvets holy crusade.

And their father, Night Light, hated needles with a passion…

When Gleaming entered the recruitment center of the guard, her health bill was checked again per standard procedure, and while she did get one more needle in her flank that day, as a booster they said, the doctors back then found nothing major missing out of the ordinary. They even complimented her for her mothers efforts to keep up to date.

To say now that Gleaming had no antibodies could mean only one of two things.

Either this Nemora character was not very good at her job, or as Gleaming already feared, she had left Equestria behind entirely with that vortex-portal. Neither option was a good sign.

Gleaming had very little reason to doubt the first, as despite her chatty and joyful nature Nemora appeared to know what she was doing. But if the latter option proved itself to be true, Gleaming might find herself further away from home as she previously thought. At this rate it could be months before she was found by any rescue team!

´No, that can´t be right, I definitely saw another pony outside already! And then there is this changeling. He had to have to come from somewhere at least in close proximity to Equestria!

Right?´

The changeling chuckled dryly and shook his head at Nemora, “And that really surprises you? She was probably kept in a cage most of her life and only saw the outside for fights in an arena.”

“If that’s the case, then she was bound to pick up something during those times. Either from the air itself or at least from her opponents and fighting them.” Nemoras stated as she placed her claws on her hips and leaned in Aidings direction. “In my entire career, I have only ever heard of one single patient being immune to every little virus out there. And that was waaaay before I started my practice, when I was still studying the arts!” Nemora finished.

Twirling his left hoof through the air in front of him, as if he was stirring soup in a bowl floating upside down in front of his face, Aiding continued, “Not if all their combatants are kept under the same conditions. Also, you are forgetting one thing, these fights are highly illegal, which means they have to be fast to skip the authorities and avoid controls.”

Nemora placed the vial in a holder on the wall and filed the papers she was holding neatly into in a folder, which she then held out to a tiny window in the same wall, where a greedy hand grabbed it, before crossing her scaly arms in front her her chest and turning her full attenton back to Aiding once more, “I´m not following.”

The corners of Aidings mouth turned upwards. He seemed to enjoy the opportunity to be able to enlighten Nemora on the topic.

´Strange, he didn´t seem to like explaining anything at all to that monkey-lady about that Urobo thingy outside.´

Unaware to Gleamings contribution to the tale and dropping his hoof back to his side, Aiding went on, “Say, how do you best avoid an illegal operation to be found? Surely not by keeping it stationary on a planet. No matter how secluded it is, at some point someone somewhere will let something slip through...or randomly stumble upon it. Therefore the best option to stay out of reach of anyone who isn´t invited is to stay mobile.”

When no immediate reaction from Nemora came forth, the changeling used his hoof again to point upwards to the ceiling, in a look-up-motion.

Gleaming had no idea what he meant.

And at first Nemora drew a blank as well, as the expression on her face did not shift in the slightest after looking at the changelings face for a couple of seconds. But after pondering on the the pointing movement Aiding made for a bit, realisation seemed to hit Nemora, as her slitted eyes lit up like a heartswarming tree and widened instantly, “You mean they use a ship?!”

Aiding used the formerly moving hoof and turned it to point at Nemora like a teacher would to confirm her findings as correct, as he nodded once, “Precisely. No better way to ditch the sector patrols and wide range scanners, by staying on the move, while business continues to go on inside, safe from prying eyes. Most likely they hide in a nebula as well as an additional safety measure.”

Spinning on her heels and casting her worried gaze down at Gleaming, Nemora seemed to pity her, as she moved her claw through Gleamings mane in a soothing gesture, much to the ponys dismay, “Oh you poor thing! They kept you on a ship all this time, didn´t they? You probably never saw grass before, or the sunlight, or know what its like to run wild with the wind in your fur, or…,or…”

Gleaming felt embarassed about being on the receiving end of so much sympathy from Nemora for things she did not do and fights she was never a part of. Also it aggravated her to no end, that everyone was intend on touching her against her will. Pokey, the changeling and now Nemora.

´I´m not a pet, dammit!´

Also it appeared to Gleaming, the longer this talk went on, the further those two “experts” seemed to drift from the truth. At this point she wondered how she was supposed to get out of this mess.

“This is horrible. Do you think she will recover?”

Aiding seemed to ponder on this, as he moved his head from let to right, thinking things through for himself, “Can´t say for sure, but I also thought Prickles wouldn´t make it, with his background. Same with Pumpkin, if you recall. We will have to just wait and see.”

´And who Prickles now? And Pumpkin? Is he holding more ponies captive!?´

The dragonling in front of Gleaming, who had been silent until now uttered a noise wich came remarkably close to an “Awwww”.

The changelings gaze switched between looking at Pokey and Gleaming as he spoke next, “Maybe some time with the rest of the herd and some socialising it will help her mental scars to heal.”

´Herd? So he does have more prisoners!´

Gleaming felt strangely elated at the news that she was not the only one in this predicament. Maybe there was a chance to rally up against the changelings rule! That is to say, if the others were in the right state of mind and not malnourished from their time under the changelings hoof. If worse comes to worst Gleaming would just have to wait for her rescue team to arrive and then explain to them on how to save the others.

She only had to hold out until then and gather as much information as she could.

Clasping her claws together in front of her chest, forming a triangle of sorts, Nemora announced, “Then lets not keep her waiting to long to meet the others!” as she strolled back the way she came into this room. When she passed Gleaming lying on the table, Nemora shortly stopped in her tracks as she seemed to remember something. Taking a glance at her wristband Nemora added , “Bethy should be done with the papers by now, come with me and we´ll make it quick!”, to her earlier statement.

Aiding glanced out the window from his position, eyes narrowing somewhat as he scanned the by now low amount of light slipping in through the blinds,“Agreed, lets wrap this ordeal up, its about time I get back to the farm and check on the crew anyways.”, then added glumly, “Wonder what they managed to fail at this time.”

Waving her claws dismissevely at him, Nemora walked to the door she used to enter this room and held it open with the other, “You are being to harsh on them, they did fine, judging by the low amount of calls I got.”

Gleaming saw the changeling roll his eyes as he pushed himself away from leaning on the counter. With a steady step he then walked passed her table and moved over towards Nemora, “If they had been doing “fine” as you said, they wouldn´t need to call you at all!”

Gleaming waited with bated breath for the noise of the changelings hooves and the snakes claws on the tiles to recede. Her anticipation making the steps seem louder in her head, than they were in reality, until finally the door fell shut with a soft click.

The moment had come.

Gleaming was finally left alone.

…

Well not entirely as it turned out, when she looked straight ahead.

In his infinite wisdom, the changeling had forgotten to take his pet dragon with him, whose eyes were still fixed on Gleamings, boring into her very soul. It appeared as if he was searching for something in her gaze, but what?

Just what was it with this little guy?

The dragon shifted forward, blinked, poked her muzzle and laughed again, “Meheheheheheheh!”

´You can figure out the baby dragon later, Gleaming. Now is your chance!´

Rolling back and forth on her side, and using her head and neck as counterweight to increase her momentum, Gleaming got herself into an upright position on the table, so that she was now lying on her belly. Slowly and shakely she shuffled her legs underneath her body and struggled to push herself up. To an outside observer she must have looked like a drunken pony rising up from a night of sleeping in the streets of manehattan.

Gleaming gritted her teeth and had to put up a fight just to keep her hooves where she wanted them, but she managed… she had to, as there would nopony come to her help any time soon.

So, bit by bit, Gleaming rose from the table, while swaying slightly from side to side as her legs werent used to her bodys weight after all that time lying down.

´This must be what elder ponies feels like every morning…at least my joints aren´t popping yet!´

As she waited for her sense of gravity to balance itself out and getting used to feeling of ground under her hooves again, Gleaming took the chance to peer around the rest of the room, previously unavailable to her.

The examination rooms second half she had not been able to see until now, proved itself to look vastly the same as the other half, except for the door on the right and the various medical machines spread out evenly on the counters, along with some strewn about papers. Monitors of different colors showed spiked lines, flat lines, numbers counting up and large amounts of texts, which zoomed by almost to fast to read. Squinting her eyes, Gleaming tried in vain to make out the text, but found herself unable to identify any letters known to her. If any of those symbols even were letters, then they were not definitely not Equish, of that she was certain.

´Twily would probably recognise most of these machines in an instant´ Gleaming chuckled to herself, ´or busy herself with figuring out what they do.´

Hopping down from the table, Gleaming barely caught herself from topling over, when her knees gave out, but managed to stabilize herself, before injury could follow. She found, she had had enough of that lately already.

´Riiight, gotta remember to take it slow.

Wonder how much time I have, before they come back?´

Gleaming cantered on silent hooves, as fast as she dared, over to the door, where Aiding and Nemora presumably disappeared behind. When she arrived Gleaming put her ear on the flat, cold surface, closed her eyes and focussed on listening beyond the obstacle.

At first nothing came to her, but the dim noises from outside and the slight rumbling and beeping of the medical machinery within the room. They were not loud by any means but their amount made them quite distracting. Therefore Gleaming tried tochange tactics.

As she was lacking a drinking-glass right now Gleaming instead pressed a hoof against her free ear, to minimize enviromental interference, as she tried harder to zone out the things she did not want to hear. It was not easy to pull off, but soon her efforts proved successful and she was rewarded with the sounds of drawers, shuffling papers and the scribbling of a pen at the end of what seemed to be a long hallway, beyond the door. Even noises which faintly resembled talking reached her ears.

Sadly though, she could not make out individual voices and lines like this.

´Must be soundproof to a degree...`

Which made sense, if a pet went into full panic mode and starting screaming, that the noise would not reach into the lobby next doors unhindered and cause a stampede to happen. Also it probably made for a more private athmosphere for discussing delicate matters with the various owners of said pets, Gleaming reasoned.

Straining her ears further to hear more, Gleaming pressed harder against the door, praying to Celestia it was not going to open because of it, and was able to identify the voices of three individuals. Confused about the third source of ambient talking, she recalled briefly that the enthusiastic receptionist had to be somewhere in the building still. Looks like she was still not done.

´So much for her date.´

Now that she was certain that everypony who could discover her was occupied, and was not about to return for a while, Gleaming removed her ear from the door. It was a little sore from being pressed hard against the flat surface, so Gleaming rubbed a little at it to get the bloddflow going again. While doing that she sat down on the tiled floor and let her gaze wander whilst she pondered on what exactly to do next.

Her initial plan to overthrow and subdue the changeling on her own had spectacularly failed and ended with her being drugged and hauled off into a vet clinic in a place she did not recognise. She was no longer on any familiar territory and likely in an enviroment the changeling was more accustomed to, if his interaction with Nemora and the lack of a response from anypony outside was anything to go by.

So if Gleaming was to try that exact plan again it was probably doomed to fail again. Specifically since she did not have the element of surprise this time.

´Maybe a different approach is needed here.´

The picture of the brown stallion from across the street came back to the forefront of her mind. The way the changeling reacted towards the pony and how he let his guard down easily after just a few friendly reactions.

If Gleaming could not overcome her captor in a fight, then she might have a chance to outsmart him?

Act as a pet? Act as a pet…

´Acting as a pet is my plan B? Really brain? I thought better of you!´, Gleaming grumbled to herself in her internal debate.

With her next step somewhat planned out there was also another matter to consider for Gleaming Shield: The world around her and how to get back to Equestria. If she wanted to go back she needed to figure out how she got here in the first place and simply reverse the process, right?

´At least that what Iron-Mare did in episode 37…Hey who knew comics would safe me someday!

Okay frst step…what got me here was that vortex thingy…so in order to get back I need to make one of my own in the same place I came in here…´

Gleaming doubted her ability to recreate the complex summoning matrix of her sister, but she knew the place she entered this realm from and that was at least a start. She could figure out the rest later or simply wait there for the rescue party. The only thing Gleaming would have to do, is to locate the weird metallic room, where she first woke up in and met Pokey and the changeling.

What she did not know was were that place is or how to get to it, as she was incapacitated earlier due to her own rash reactions.

As she realised her hasty assault might have doomed her one chance of going home, Gleaming mentally kicked herself.

´Wait, didn´t Aiding meantion a ship earlier? I´m sure he did!

…

Great the only one who knows were I need to go is the least trustworty creature around…´

…

Faced with a mental wall, Gleaming decided to take stock and thought about the situation as a whole. Being held as a prisoner by the changeling, after her journey through the vortex, to be replaced anytime in the future by another of his kind.

At least that is what the stories and legends said they would do.

The changeling Gleaming was confronted with however behaved completely different in all aspects. He walked around in plain sight, in the middle of the day and presented his “catch” to anypony who just glanced his way. That is one horrible abductor right there.

So far he did not even bother to use any magic at all! Not even once did Gleaming see his horn glow. That is to say if he did not already cast anything and Gleaming was simply imagining things he projected in her mind, or simply would not let her see.

A thought struck her and as faint as the hope was, she still had to confirm it. Gleaming raised her foreleg and bit into the soft part right above her ho-

´Ouch! No, okay not trapped in a dream realm.´

Begrudgingly Gleaming had to admit to herself, that this entire scenario seemed more unlikely the more she saw the changeling interact with the world around him and the creatures in it. Well at the least the ones she saw thus far, which were not much. She needed more proof to rule this one out.

Also there was still the little voice in the back of her head telling her to be on guard and not drop the possiblity prematurely, just to be safe.

She would not. Especially if she witnessed “Aiding” use magic in the near future or found the magic artefact he may have used instead to bend others to his will.

´I will need to investigate this, if I want to leave.´

Secondly there was another and much to her dismay, increasingly likely scenario to be considered: This could be another realm far from home were ponies were kept as pets and Gleaming had the unfortunate luck to be stranded among them for an undetermined amount. There were quite a few hints to support this idea already, enough even to convince a blind pony.

The waterbowl and blanket offered to her when she woke up, the way Aiding talked more at than to her as if he was not expecting an actual response, the pony on a leash she saw from across the street and the vet clinic to top the list off. Through the entire ordeal in here, Nemora had treated Gleaming more like one would a wounded dog and not a pony in a horsepital.

Not to mention the petting.

Gleaming did not like the petting.

Or being touched in general by anpony outside her family.

´I´m not a pet! My mane and fur are mine!´

However with her plan B set in motion she would have to get used to it…a whole lot of it. And while she did not like it, getting petted, would work in her favor to maintain a plausibler cover while she unrevelled the questions remaining to get her back home.

While Gleaming was occupied in her realm of thoughts, the dragonling had flown down from the table and landed next to her. When she took notice of Pokey and turned her head to look his way, the dragonling tilted his head, eyes sparkling with joy.

´Depending on which theory is correct, how do you fit in?´ she wondered.

“Wah-wah!”, the dragonling greeted her.

“Harg….ghjf….glev”, Gleaming blurted out, out of reflex.

´Oh right, I forgot.´ she glumly thought.

Regardless of her decision, on which theoretical situation was actually the truth, Gleaming needed more information about this place and its differences to Equestria. If she had more solid material to go on, she would have an easier time getting to the places she need to be and maintaining a good cover as she did. Maybe she could even leave without anypony noticing!

Yes! She could do this!

Unfortunately for Gleaming the only sources of knowledge about this place were the snake-vet and the changeling. And those two were currently holed up in an almost soundproof room out of her rea-

A thought struck Gleaming as her unfocussed gaze drifted across windows with their blinds halfway opened. Just a second earlier she had heard the receptionists voice fairly close to the other two beyond the door, which meant she had to be with them right now.

And that meant the lobby was empty.

Probably.

If Gleaming snuck out of here and through said lobby, she was surely to find a door or window closer to the room were Aiding and Nemora had gone into and could eavesdrop on their conversation without anyponys knowledge. Allowing for her to maintain the cover of indifference as a pet…at least for now, or until her brain could come up with a better plan.

´You better do better with plan C brain!´

With her mind made up Gleaming turned to the door, which she knew would lead into the lobby as it was the one she had come through earlier. The tall white rectangle looked vastly the same an any door back home to her, except for one thing: it was tall. Very tall. So tall in fact, that even when Gleaming tiphoofed she barely came to the halfway point of it.

´This is ridiculous! How do ponies here even-

Oh right, probably not at all...´

Faced with the, in her mind, poor design decision to have the doorhandle that far up. Gleaming thought about how to get to it. The way her horn felt and how much effort she had with pretending to summon lightspell in the lobby, made her certain that telekinesis was not an option for her still.

´Sooo, hooves it is…´

She was not looking forward to sacrificing half of her legs and hooves which kept her stable, as she was still a little wobbly on four hooves, but the situation left her with no alternative. Therefore Gleaming reluctantly reared up and grapped the handle with her forehoof, which left her heavily leaning on the door for support. Gently testing her hold, that she would not suddenly fall over, Gleaming pushed with all her strength on the handle, in the hopes it would open it.

It did not.

Frustrated with the lack of success Gleaming tried pulling on the handle next, but once again was met with no result to speak of, other than making herself looking stupid at failing to open a door.

´Come on! Open dammit!´

Regardless of how she pushed and pulled the perpetuous handle would not budge an inch and neither did the rest of the door. So after what felt like minutes but was probably only seconds, Gleaming decided to change tactics and leaned a bit back while her head moved forward to inspected the handle a little closer.

The handle itself was a hollowed out semicircle with the open end closed off. Said end met the doorframe with a vertical, yet slim, slab of metal, which then partially disappeared into the wall next to it. Attached to these parts were small indentations in the form of arrows.

Gleaming her eyes a little to get a better look at one of the arrow indentations, when the doorhandle suddenly moved sideways, which made Gleaming lose her balance and almost caused her to stumble and plant her head firmly into the door itself.

´What the- Ohhh now I get it! What if I try this instead?´

Lifting herself back into position, Gleaming pulled the handle to the side with her hoof and the previously offending piece of metal followed her movement. When she could not go any further a dim -click- was heard from within the door and a new set of arrows was revealed behind the now repositioned handle.

´Right, so if this means left and right than this should- Aha, jackpot!´

Comparing the arrows with the ones from before gave Gleaming the right hint to correctly interpret the new set, which told her to twist the handle now. That however meant she had to rely on her second hoof to complete this motion as the other was holding the handle in place.

Pushing with all her weight Gleaming grunted a bit but the handle finally gave way and a second resounding -click- from within the door told her she made it. Smiling from ear to ear at her success, Gleaming kept pushing as more and more of the lobby came into view when the door started swinging outwards.

´Wait? Outwards? Oh no!´

Sadly the way Gleaming awkwardly put her entire weight on the door to use the handle and stabilize herself, combined with the door swinging direction meant she no longer had the door as support or under control. So as the door followed its intended path of motion, Gleaming followed suit. But since she could not bend around like the door did on its hinges, her hooves inevitably lost their grip and Gleamings body planted itself firmly into the tiled floor. Groaning in pain Gleaming shut her eyes and kept still for the moment.

´Ooooouuuuhh.´

*flap* *flap* *flap*

As Gleaming waited for the sudden pain in her everything to recede, her ears picked up the noise of wings beating rapidly behind her. The sound grew louder and louder and eventually stopped to right side of her head, ending with the soft clicking of tiny claws touching down on the ceramic flooring.

“Meheheheh!”

Carefully popping open one eye to look at the source, revealed none other than Pokey sitting a hooflength away and applauding Gleamings fallen form. The unicorn was not entirely sure if he was congratulating her for finding the exit (and opening it), cheering her on for the free entertainment or took joy in her misfortune.

Probably a mixture of everything.

Nevertheless, Gleaming decided to let the rising anger she felt at seeing Pokey enjoy her suffering, slip away, alongside the pain which had subsided a bit by now. She had bigger haystacks to fry! So, ignoring her protesting legs and taking a deep breath to calm herself, Gleaming got up for the felt x-teenth time today. As Pokeys laughter slowly died down in the background Gleaming took in the now empty lobby of the vet clinic before her.

The first thing Gleaming noticed was that her new perspective allowed her to see things she had not taken into account before. As she was previously carried inside here, Gleaming had only had a top down view of the place and from there the clinics interior may have looked stylish and new to anypony entering, but from down here…it was a different story. Not to meantion she really did not have the mental capacity to realise it at the time.

The benches meant for clients were clearly made of a cheap material, that had taken to loosing parts of its paintjob quite some time ago. And where the color had not completely left, it had, at the very least, faded into barely separatable shades of grey. The only good looking thing about these benches was the frameworks, which were bend and gnawed upon in various places, but still appeared sturdy enough to weather any challenge.

Gleaming was very sure there would be lots to come.

The tiles which made up the entire flooring and went halfway up on each wall, had claw marks and a few cracks here and there, but not enough to break loose yet. Their once pristine white color had suffered a little too, but upon closer inspection tiny scratches on their surface meant they were kept clean on a regular schedule.

´Nemoras does not seem to make a lot of money with this place…or did she just move in? Questions for later I suppose.´

Turning her gaze back to Pokey, Gleaming found him sitting on a nearby bench now, which left him at eye-level with herself. And as always he seemed indifferent about everything around him except for Gleaming. His little blue eyes followed her very move as she traversed through the lobby on her little inspection tour.

´Weird, but at least he isn´t crying or shouting an alarm to his master…yet.

Speaking of his master…´

Straining her ears Gleaming could barely make out ample chatter coming from behind a door next to the examination room she had just left. Trotting over as silently as she could on the cold tiles, she pressed her ears against the frame and tried to listen in on the ongoing conversation. After a short while of doing this though, Gleaming had to admit to herself, that except for a few mumbles she was not getting anywhere fast like this.

´Okay back to the next best option, find a window closer to this room.´

Turning away from the door and scanning the lobby and her own position in it, told Gleaming, that she was in the corner of the building at this moment with the double doors entry right next o her. That in turn told her the room she wanted to get an ear into, must have a window just around the corner…unless it was a windowless room, which she did not hope for.

If she wanted to catch any part of the happenings in that room, she would have to try her luck outside. With a little luck the same windows from examinations were installed alongside the entire wall of the building all the way to next doors. Judging by the lack of finances in general around here, Gleaming had no doubts this was the case, as it would have saved some money during construction.

´´Who would have thought the one day school trip to a construction side in canterlot and overhearing the architect argue with the building crew could ever pay off?´

Wasting no more time Gleaming made a beeline for the entrance and halted just in front of the obstacle. Remembering her last encounter with a door in here she choose to study the thing a little more closely this time, lest she risked kissing the floor a second time. Which seemed a safety hazard in more ways than one around here.

She wasn’t sure when it had started, but by now one of her hindhooves felt kinda sticky…yuck!

A first scan of the frames holding the thin glass in place revealed no handle to operate them in any direction, neither was there any clue left for how to pass through, short of having to smash them. Not exactly eager to try her luck with that option, and the resulting glassshards flying everwhere, Gleaming tried recalling how the changeling did it, and what she noticed back then from her point of view.

´There is not much…I mean didn´t he just step towards it and-´

Lifting a foreleg closer to the middle of the double doors, Gleaming heard a low hissing noise resounding form somewhere on top and the glass frames started moving aside on their own, allowing her free passage without any problems. Gleamings foreleg remained in the air for a while, as she did not expect the solution to be this easy.

´Huh, must be enchanted then.´

Suddenly remembering her relationship with the mare of good fortune, the darker part of her mind popped up another question.

´Where is the catch?´

Just as her mind told her, before Gleaming even had a chance to walk outside, a familiar purple obstactle appeared in her view. Flapping his tiny wings, Pokey landed in the middle of the open entrance to the clinic, narrowed his eyes at Gleaming and emitted a hissing, “Wech!” Adding to his stance he raised and spread his tiny wings and claws to make himself appear bigger than he actually was. If the situation was not they way it currently was, the intimidation attempt of such a puny whelpling might have looked cute in a different place.

Gleaming felt her eye twitch.

´Really?´

As she let her floating foreleg drop, Gleaming saw Pokey relax his posture slightly, but still not budge an inch from his post. Instead he assumed his by now regular head tilting from left to right and seemed to wait for the unicorns next move. As Gleaming showed no sign of taking action the dragon uttered a, “Meek!” at her.

Gleaming still could not make out the meaning of the tiny dragons words, or speech if it even was any, but she had to avoid more noises from him, or she might be in trouble. Jugding from hist behavior and the aggressive pose he just had, Gleaming could take a safe guess at his intend though: “Do not leave.”

Since she grew up with Spike in her family, Gleaming was not the least bit intimidated by Pokeys attempt to scare her. Spike hissed and growled in his younger years too, especially around dinner time, and occasionally when being surprised. Pokeys puny threat therefore had little effect on Gleaming, even if it was not for the fact that there was a consideralbe size difference between the two.

There was a delicate problem with Pokey though, or rather his associate.

´What if he alerts the changeling or Nemora?´

Getting discovered would ruin all of Gleamings plans to remain hidden in an instant, she had to find a way to keep the dragon silent. Luckily he only seemed to voice his discontent whenever she made a move towards the entry, with a growl, snarl and other means. Pokey made no sound whatsoever when she leaned in any other direction, but the entrance.

´There has to be a solution for this.´

Talking was not an option, since she could not speak, for whatever reason, and other than the changeling no one seemed to understand the little guy, except Nemora maybe, which meant a regular talk was off the table in the foreseeable future. And slowly but surely, Gleaming was running out of time, as the talk between Aiding and Nemora could last forever.

An idea shot through head. An option she had not considered yet and might allow for basic communications: Hoof signs.

She had tried that in the metal box she woke up in before with little success, along with the gurgling of words, but maybe now that she undivided attention of the dragon and the changeling was not about to interrupt, it would yield a better result? Maybe she did not use the right motions or had to make more? It was worth a try.

Taking a small step back, Gleaming sat down on her haunches as she motioned with her forehooves towards the little dragon. Intrigued by the unicorns actions, the Lizard left his post and hopped closer to sit in front of Gleaming, like any child would during storytime. Cocking his head to the side he wagged his tail and looked up eagerly at what was to come, “Wah!”

´Okay, so much for step one.´

Gleaming then used her hooves to make walking motions towards the door, at which Pokey growled again, but when she bend her hoof a little, leaned to the left and pointed to the side as if going around an object, the growling suddenly stopped. Pokeys features relaxed, and the little dragon bend his neck around to look behind himself at the entrance for a split moment. Watching the glass doors, Pokey silently he opened and closed his maw a few times, before eventually turning his attention back to the pony.

Once his head was back in its original position, the dragon beamed up at Gleamings face and let out a small, “Meek!”

The dragon shifted his head from left to right, occasionally blinking, as if considering something, and shortly gazed into the direction of the door the changeling was behind. Gleaming feared for the worst, when he turned back to look at the unicorn once more, maw opening. But just as before he only tilted his head and uttered another, “Meek!”

Being faced largely with the same situation as she started in Gleaming let her shoulders sink, thinking her idea had failed, but then Pokey unexpetedly blew a raspberry at the general direction of the ´ling and hopped to the side, no longer blocking the middle of Gleamings path. Instead he chose to sit beside it now, where he continued beaming up at the unicorn.

“Wah!”

´Did he just understand me?´

“Wah-Wah!”, Pokey said while raising his frontclaws and beginning a short waving motion form left to right. As Gleaming shot him confused looks, he he stopped briefly with his antics and blinked up at her face again, seemingly confused himself.

Gleaming gave a shrugg at the notion, ´Uuhhhh, whatever works, works, right?´

Getting back up on all four hooves and feeling a little uneasy, as if trotting on thin ice and not trusting her luck, Gleaming moved cautiously up to the entrance. Every few step she would shoot a glance over her shoulder at Pokey, to reassure herself that the dragons position had not shifted.

Pokey just blinked back at her, joy sparkling in his eyes again.

No growl, no glare, not even a sign of movement came from him now, even though she was in the very same spot which made him take action just a second ago. It seemed he was content with just watching her, as she approached the clinics entrance for the second time.

Gleaming gave a shrugg once more, more to herself than Pokey, and turned her gaze forward once more. The glassdoors emitting the same hissing sound, as they did prior, upon sliding aside and giving way to the fairly noisy outside.

Moving past the double door and former barrier Gleaming was relieved immensely by the much fresher air out here and took a much needed deep breath of it as she allowed herself a small moment of respite to stand just outside the clinics front door.

´Aahhhhhh, the sweet taste of freedom...wait, do I smell something burning?!´

As she rested and tried to identify the source of the aroma hitting her nose,Gleamings view was filled with the sea of carriages from earlier today and the same creatures milling about in it, which got her brain into thinking of possible scenarios about them in relation to everything else. Twilight would have a field day, learning about them and their customs-

´No time for that right now! Focus!´

Shaking her head, to clear her thoughts and set them straight again, Gleaming took a turn to the left and followed the clinics outer wall until it met an alley between the clinic and the next building. From within said alley a sickly sweet smell wafted out and greeted her nostrils. Peeking around the corner and inside the dark passage, Gleaming spotted what must be wastecontainers lining the sides of both houses. Some of which had various amounts of liquids slowly trickling out of them, forming shallow pools that were likely to be very toxic.

´Whats that green slime oozing out of….no! Better not to know!´

Left with no other choice to find the window she needed, Gleaming steeled her nose for what was to come and entered the alley. Carefully manouvering herself between puddles of unknown substances and origin, she tiphoofed along the wall on whichs other side she assumed the changeling and snake to be idly chatting away.

At this point she wondered how much time she actually had left. Getting out of the clinic had taken far longer than she had liked.

As she left the clinics interior and ventured further into the passage Gleaming no longer could hear the unusual pair talk, not even the muffled voices from before. For when she passed through the double doors, her ears were overwhelmed by the sea of sounds this bustling city and its inhabitants created. In this small artificial canyon, of sorts, the sounds were muffled a bit, but still rather loud. As a result, even though she was just on the other side of the very same wall the pair was talking behind, she could not hear a thing.

´Score one for the architect…but there is always a flaw waiting to be discovered!´

While there was no immediate windowframe in sight, Gleaming hoped that deeper into the alley she would find at least an airvent and also leave a little bit of that acustic onslaught from the clinics frontside behind. Enough of it at least to understand what was being said inside the room she intended to eavesdrop on. Yet, as she proceeded to dance around puddles and piles of junk, no window came into view, let alone a venting shaft on that particular wall. Just plain solid brickstones all the way to its endzone.

When she eventually reached the end of the alley and had to admin against all hope that there was still not a single window or even the slightest opening in the wall, Gleaming became frustrated with her lack of success. She had clearly seen a window on the inside of the examination room! Or had she not, and it was an illusion? No it could not be! It even had daylight filtering in through the blinds! She could feel it on her face!

And even the changeling had gazed out of it during her time on the table!

Faced with a literal dead end, Gleaming wracked her brain for an answer to the problem at hoof, yet was unable to come up with a reasonable response to it. The missing window would elude her for the time being it seemed.

Also she was fairly certain her little excursion would be discovered shortly, and if she was not found at least somewhere around her starting point, then her plan to act as an animal (for now!) would surely fail, like her search did just now. Questions would be asked, tests would be made and she would be found out. Gleaming could not afford that to happen, while her magic was still recovering its full strength.

Additionally she still had no solid plan on how to proceed in order to get back to the metal room, other than hoping the changeling would do so on his own for some reason and she could follow him.

So with reluctance in her step, the white unicorns head sagged a little as she turned on her heel and prepared to walk back through the alley...

…only to be met with a familiar obstacle: Pokey.

The little purple dragon was sitting about three hooflengths away from her on the ground, looking up at her, claws firmly placed on his belly. The very moment he was discovered by Gleaming and their eyes met, he let out a squeal of delight and extended his claws in an airhug motion, while spreading his wings far and wide. His little purple tail wagging in excitement.

“Meeeek!”

Gleaming halted with her left foreleg in the air and slowly let it sink back down, as her mind tried to understand why he followed her into a dark, stinky and sticky place like this. She was not as surprised, as she probably should be, to find him just a few steps behind her, but she definitely expected him to stay inside the clinic waiting for his master.

Recalling Pokey blowing a raspberry at the door, made her question the dragons loyalty to him though. Were they actually not that close after all?

*WHONK*

Gleaming nearly jumped, as her heart skipped a beat, at the sudden loud metallic bang ringing out through the alley she was in. It was probably made even louder as the resulting echo travelled from its source through the artificial canyon on its way to her ears.

Immediately she would have suspected Pokey to be the cause of the noise, or worse the dreaded current occupants of the clinic next doors, but the sound came from another alley, branching of from the middle of the one she was in. Judging by how the little lizard had craned his neck around, he too had heard it just as clearly as Gleaming did and he was just as surprised by it.

“Wah?”, the dragon uttered with a wavering voice as he turned his attention back to his only companion.

´No idea what that was either little guy, but I guess we might as well find out.´, Gleaming thought to herself as she returned the dragons questioning look.

Pokey just blinked and tilted his head in response.

Steeling her gaze and narrowing her eyes, Gleaming marched with certain steps towards the interception behind Pokey. As she passed him the dragon appeared to be following her, for her ears told her of the little clicking noises his tiny claws made on the smooth stone ground beneath them. Reaching the opening which marked the beginning of the passage, Gleaming sidled up to the corner of the wall and only moved enough of her head around to peer into the backalley. Pokey mirrowed her movement as he stood under her frame and gazed forward into the passage as well.

At first the somewhat duller backalley looked vastly the same as the one they were in right now and no clue was left as to the origin of the disruptive sound, but then the noise returned much louder, which made dragon and unicorn cringe slightly at the force of it.

In front of their very eyes a large metallic trap door opened up, cleverly hidden in between two of the larger wastecontainers.

Gleaming was certain that anyone who passed through here and did not pay lose attention, or looked at it from the wrong angle, would miss the hidden entry, or even identify it correctly for what it was. But from her viewing spot, it was painfully obvious,… at least as long as it was in its opened state. In its closed position the door would probably appear like any other metal grate covering a vent.

This was highly suspicious.

And whatever went on behind that trapdoor probably was not meant to be seen by the public and likely very illegal, if its owner went so far out of his way to hide it. Gleaming was sure of it.

She had to find out what was going on in there. She had sworn an oath to help and protect after all! Even if she currently was nowhere near Equestria (probably) she still believed that it held true.

Sensing a small shiver coming from under her, Gleaming gazed down and spotted Pokey looking back up, eyes wide and maw slightly open. He clearly sensed something being off as well.

With her mind made up, Gleaming put one of her hooves on Pokey head, patted him reassuringly and gave him a little shove to get him to move behind the corner. Unsurprisingly the dragon complied and Gleaming thought she saw something like worry on his tiny face for a second, as she tried flashing him the most confident smile she could muster, before she turned back around towards the backalley and started creeping slowly closer to the trapdoor.

As she moved closer to her destination, Gleaming once again became aware of that strong sickly sweet smell wafting in her direction, along with the faint aroma of burn. She had smelled this particular scent before, shortly after leaving the clinic, just outside to double doors and was more intrigued than ever now, to figure out what it was. Especially now that she had found its apparent origin.

Steps.

Many rushed steps.

Claws on tiles.

The more the distance between herself and the trapdoor shrunk, the more Gleamings ears could pick up and her nostrils took note of other aromas accompanying the sickly smell. Right under the stomach turning scent were layers of various amounts of…spices? Was there a kitchen down there? With the way this smelled, it should have been shut down the day it opened up!

But before Gleaming could ponder on that any further, one set of claws seperated itself from the rest and became much more defined and very much louder…and neared itself to her current position, halfway into the alley.

Thinking quickly, Gleaming hastily dived behind one of the wastecontainers used to conceal the trapdoors and pressed her back on it. From there she leaned out and glanced around the object, waiting to see who, or what, would emerge. Her heart was pumping and Gleaming held her breath as she watched for any flicker of movement from the ominous entryway.

Hissing but this time not from steam, but more like an angry snake, filled the air before a tall red lizard, wearing black stripes of cloth, popped up from the secret hole. A vicious aggressive snarl on its face it turned back to face the door it had just crawled out of and pulled two large burlap sacks out of it, which had red stains on their bottom ends. Unbothered by the red liquid dropping out from the bottom and grunting in a low baritone, the red scaled newcomer then hoisted the sacks on his back and made to move towards Gleamings hiding spot.

Retracting her head instantly, Gleaming hoped she was not spotted and held her breath, even longer than she ever had, as adrenaline shot through her veins.

Gleaming heard the lizard fumble with something before popping open the lid of the container, she was leaning against, and felt it vibrate heavily as the sacks were unceriomonously dumped inside. Unfortunately for the unicorn, the opening of said container only served to increase the smells attacking Gleaming nose and she was hard pressed not to gasp for a breath of fresh air, her lungs desperately told her to take in. She only dared to let go of her breath as the lizard had closed the containers lid and she heard his step recede back into the hole.

After checking and confirming with a glance around the wastecontainer, that nopony was present anymore, Gleaming let go of her held breath, as silently as possible, before she left her former hiding spot and slowly, methodically approached the still open hatch.

Said hatch had light streaming from it, casting the area around it in a slight glow, which gave it a rather spooky appearance. That in combination with the previous sounds of rushing claws on tiles and the now ever louder getting hissing, as one was expecting a pit of snakes in a Daring Do novel to sound like, gave Gleaming an ominous feeling about what she was to see.

Closer and closer she crept to the edge of the entrance and once she reached it, stared into the worst of nightmares for a pony to witness.

There, beyond the metal hatch, a ladder led into a previously hidden basement, housing a kitchen.

But not just any kind of…

Where a normal pony kitchen had clean counters and rows upon rows of vegetables, fuits and hay hanging from zip lines across the entire room for easy access, this one had splotches of blood sticking to every possible surface and skinned bloody body parts hanging low from the ceiling on hooks.

Amidst all that were about half a dozen lizards, including the red one from before, rushing about, cutting parts of from the carcasses, mostly with their bare claws, seasoning them with spices and roasting them over crackling fires, roaring freely in the middle of the cramped bloodstained space.

Gleaming had seen a butchery in canterlot before. All ponies know griffons ate meat on a dayly basis. And while it was not a pleasurely topic to speak about, it was just the way it was and ponies learned to accept it over time. Hey, some ponies even ate fish every now and then!

But this,… THIS…

A horrified Gleaming Shield slowly became aware of exactly what these carcasses used to be…

Those werent just the average rabbit, who had gotten unlucky, or the unfortunae chicken or two…

These were pony carcasses and body parts, easily recognisable by the hooves still attached to some of them, or the piles of bones on the ground next to the oven and counters. Some of which were halfway stuffed into more of the sacks the red one had carried outside.

Gleaming knew she would find something bad. She had Pokey stay behind, because deep down, she knew…and he sensed it as well, despite his young age, that there was a horrid secret hidden beyond the trapdoor. A secret which, once revealed, Gleaming wished she never had discovered.

Gleaming felt sick to her stomage.

She was about to throw up.

But before she could even consider how to solve that new problem, her ears told her something vital: The hissing and clicking had stopped. As her empty gaze refocussed on the gruesome scenery in front of her, Gleaming became suddenly aware of every lizard staring up at her through the open hatch. She was not sure when, but after a felt eternity one lizard hissed angrily and raised a bloody claw to point at her shaken form and the entire kitchen staff rushed towards the ladder leading to the hatch to get at her.

Gleaming wasted no time and bolted back through the alley that led to this horrible place, as fast as her legs would carry her, no longer bothering to avoid hitting the puddles of dirt and grime.

And as she ran for her life, a dark realisation finally caught up with her:

Ponies weren´t just pets around here, they were on the menue...

…and she was next in line.

Chapter 5

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Chapter 5, Pet Ponies

*Badum* *Badum* *Badum*

Gleamings heart was beating like mad in her chest. Each pumping of it paired up with her hooves touching down on the sticky, half-wet ground. The grimy slick splashed up from whenever her hooves entered a puddle and coated her hooves and fetlocks to various amounts, matting the fur in the area and recoloring it to a disgusting mixture between green and brown.

Normally any grown mare would at least be mildly upset about such a thing, but Gleaming could not find it within herself to care about such a triviality, at this particular moment in her life.

Gleaming had to escape. She had to run. Faster than she ever did on any parcour in the past, be it in school or the royal guard barracks. She had to gain as much distance from those…those…or something really horrible might-

´No, don’t think about it to much…you´ll only freeze up!´

As she ran her flank of, and probably cracked the sprinting record for unicorns in the meantime, her ears picked up the clicker-clacker and occasional splitch-splash, as the claws of her persuers hit the same puddles Gleaming had just passed through mere seconds before. But the sounds of her persuers were still somewhat irregular, telling her that they were not in full sprint yet, which in turn allowed for her to rapidly expand her lead, even without the lucky headstart.

She did not dare to look back even once though. Not right now. For Gleaming feared she might loose her momentum if she did. Or discover something else she did not want to see.

Further there was something else to worry about beside herself at the moment.

A tiny little thing, she left behind prior, which demanded, that she preserved whatever timely advantage she could squeeze out of her sprint…

Namely, Pokey.

Gleaming had given the little guy to understand that he should wait behind the corner at the end of the alley, while she investigated the suspicious hatch further in. Which was of course the right call at the time, after all he was still a youngling and should not be exposed to any kind of danger. But now, as she was on a very hasty retreat, Gleaming would have no time to convey the problem to him with time-consuming hoofsigns, extensive bodylanguage or even wait it out for him to understand the urgency of the matter. Instead she would just have to grab him on the run and hope he would agree to come along.

The snake-people clearly thought of Gleaming as an intruder, a foodsource and a possible witness to their doing already and showed zero qualms about butchering with their bare claws. There was absolutely no tellling what they would do to Pokey, should they discover him, after the unicorn had been dealt with. Who knows, for all Gleaming knew they could even throw him in the meathouse as well.

Or if Gleaming was lucky and they would not find him.

Yea..., that was bet Gleaming would not take.

A thought struck her over her emergency pondering.

In hindsight maybe she should have taken a different route to escape, as opposed to lure her persuers right to Pokeys last known position. A clear tactical error on her part, for which she would later kick herself for in the flank, if she could.

If there even was a later to consider. First and foremost she had to reach that point in time.

Tactical matters and fatal hasty decision making aside, her pride as guard, rookie or not, along with the oath she had taken in front of Celestia and the gathered crowd with her family in it, called…no… demanded her into protecting Pokey from these carnivores. Or try whatever she could hope to achieve in her current state. At the very least she would be able to take him with her on her mad dash to a safer location…wherever that was.

Gleaming was not so sure about that topic yet. Maybe a quick rush back inside the clinic? It was just behind the wall ahead after all and shady people like the ones who were after her right now, usually tried to avoid being seen in a public space.

It was an option to consider, how uncomfortable that place made her feel.

´No it´s not…,´ Gleaming glumly thought ´it´s my only option…´

As she finally reached the corner, where Gleaming had seen the little dragon last, she slowed her gallop down to a rapid trot. She did so in preparation of doing a quick grab, throwing Pokey on her back and resume her dead sprint out of this deathtrap.

Unfortunately for Gleaming, it was not going to be so easy, as annoyingly common for her.

When the unicorn turned the corner leading to the deadend next to the clinic, no sign of Pokey was to be found. Despite his rather obvious coloration, which made him stick out like a rainbow-colored flower in a desert, there was no trace of his purple scales anywhere within Gleamings field of view. Neither on the sticky, muddy ground, nor on top of any of the overspilling wastecontainers. A few almost unnoticeable clawmarks on the ground were the only clue, that Pokey had ever even been here in the first place.

Was the little guy so afraid that his claws tightened and left those marks as he sat beneath Gleamings frame? Or were they the result of a sudden takeoff? Gleaming could not tell, but either way, Pokey was gone from the spot from where she left him.

´Didn´t I tell him to stay?´

Gleaming recalled his earlier bahavior from inside the clinic, as she was about to leave. The dragon had blown a raspberry in Aiding general direction. Maybe he did not like following instructions from adults? Or did he got bored and wandered off? It was entirely possible, since Gleaming could not claim to know him that well yet.

But did Pokey vacate the area entirely or just decided to hide behind another obstacle out of fright?

Gleaming could not make out his whereabouts from the meager clue of clawmarks before her. Yet her sense of duty and morality also did not permit her to risk leaving him in this predicament, which her investigation had created. Nor allowed her to leave on the mere assumption, that Pokey had left the general vicinity. She had make sure without being able to call out to him, and that meant she would have to search manually for the little guy.

Wary of the approaching threat, Gleaming had to make another hasty call, but with the lead gained from her sprint, she felt confident enough to sacrifice a few precious seconds on searching. The noises of her persuers were still far enough away from her position to take a small risk here.

The only problem now, was figuring out where to start.

Knowing her time was short, Gleaming cantered into the deadend, hoping to quickly locate Pokeys new hideout. Starting from the tiny scratches at the corner, Gleaming let her eyes scan every available surface in the small area as fast as possible, while keeping her head on a swivel for any other hints Pokeys vanishing might have left behind. Looking behind every bin and sack, Gleaming even ventured a little further into the deadend, than she initially wanted to, thinking that Pokey may have retreated back here out of fright and ended up not witnessing her sudden return.

`Come on, come on, come on…where are you?!´

But no matter how hard she looked, Pokeys location remained unknown. Every nook and cranny seemed just as deserted as they were before, prior to the duo arriving back here.

Minus a few worms squirming in the mud. Yuck!

By now Gleaming had checked every available spot, the whelpling could have possibly squeezed into, and was fairly certain, that he was indeed: Gone.

´Maybe he went back to his master?´

A little disheartened at her lack of success, Gleaming was about to conclude her fruitless search and turned around, intend on restarting her gallop and get back to the sea of carriages in front of the clinic. But then the corner of her eye took note of a newly formed large shadow looming over her form on the wall next to her. Before she could even register the implications of it, a splitsecond later another shadow joined the first, chasing out even more light. And just to make matters worse, Gleamings ears told her the one thing she did not want to hear right now: utter Silence.

The clicking of claws echoing out of the darker alley and chasing after her, had stopped.

Swallowing audibly and with a huge sense of dread Gleaming steeled herself and slowly turned around until she was face to face with two of the snake-people from the hatch. The red one, who had disposed of the bags earlier, to her left and a new one with shiny silvery scales on the right. Both of them had a mixture of fresh and dried caked blood on their claws, which occasionally loosened dried crumbs and mingled with the unknown substances hidden in the mud.

Both lizards towered over Gleamings small frame, breathing heavily while holding their claws at the ready on their sides. Occasionally they moved singular talons in small sequences and exchanged glances with each other, as they seemed to think about on how to approach their prey.

Were they sharpening their talons in preparation or trying to get some of the smeary substances off?

Standing side by side, they efficiently blocked the majority of the alleys width, leaving no space for even the tiniest pony to squeeze through unharmed. Thus the only path leading back to Gleamings point of origin was going right through them. She literally got herself cornered by two predators in a dead end. And the worst of it was, she had nopony to blame, but herself, for it! She practically presented herself on a silver platter to them…

Their breath was almost visible in the cool air of the backalley, as it slowly escaped through their slitted nostrils. Gleaming figured the snake-people probably had not recovered from their own sprint yet, as she observed their tongues darting out to lick their segregated lips on every second intake of air. Maybe she could make use of their exhaustion somehow?

Hissing loudly the scaly beasts exchanged another series of glances between one another and eventually set their eyes solely on Gleaming, before they started to move to close the remaining gap between themselfes and the unicorn. All the while the pair was making sure to stick together and not give her any room to get past them, by spreading out their arms and making use of their height.

´Is that hissing some kind of actual language? Where they talking like that?!´ Gleaming had never heard anything like it. Even dragons could not rely on hissing and growling alone to communicate with one another. Not to mention other species.

Regardless of the the answer to any of that, Gleaming was trapped. A fact she knew just as well as the two lizards, who apparantly took their time with reaching their prey. The only way out of the alley was behind those monsters, and Gleaming was certain they would not make it easy for her to reach that exit. As she slowly backed up in what little space remained behind her, Gleaming realized, that she would have to fight her way out of this mess… or die trying.

Gleaming had no intention of doing the latter. She would not go down without a serious fight! The Royal Equestrian Guard trained all of its members in hoof to hoof combat, just in case horns or wings were ever disabled. And as fate would have it, that just may safe her flank, as her horn did not feel like it should. She could not even produce a large enough charge for a simple bolt. Even the simple act of building up a basic charge, caused the sending of painful spikes directly into her head.

´Curse that portal!´

Fortunately, Gleaming knew she did not need to score a full victory here. All she really had to do was disable or distract one of her assailants enough to create a gap and then dash past and she would be home free!

With her mind made up Gleaming picked her target and lowered her frontal body in a battle stance, all the while trying to keep her eyes trained on both of the slowly approaching lizards, ever vigilant for the smallest hint of an opening or weakness.

As Gleaming moved into her ready state, the silver lizards scaly lips curled up and he seemed to smirk, revealing some very sharp teeth along with the action. Hissing a message to his red counterpart, both lizards then suddenly started to take in rapid gulps of air and release them just as quickly, while they crept closer still. Were they actually laughing at her now? The nerve!

´Enjoy your laugh while you can.´ Gleaming thought to herself, as the action only served in steeling her resolve to fight.

With the snake-people only a ponylength away from her now and Gleaming out of space to move back into, both parties were well within striking distance of each other. Muscles tensed in silent preparation, about to be released like springtraps, for what was coming. The stage was set.

But then something unexpected to everyone involved occurred.

A voice, familiar to Gleaming, yet oddly cold of a sudden and with a challenging undertone, echoed through the clinics sidealley from its entrance, “Pardon my intrusion, but may I ask, what you two fine gentlemen intend on doing to our national mascot there?”

Both lizards intantly froze in their tracks. Their slitted little eyes widened and their bodies whirled around in a flurry of movement while hissing angrily under their breath. Gleaming barely had time to dodge their tails as Reds and Silvers turning caused the appendages to smash in her direction, while the snakes readjusted their position, now facing the intruder on their little hunt. They did not seem pleased about a sudden interruption to their actions.

Through the tiny gaps between the snake-peoples legs Geaming could barely make out the alleys entry and the light filtering in from there. In the middle of it, the Changeling stood in a somewhat rigid pose, fitting the tense athmospshere, as he kept staring at the group of three at the far back. Gleaming could have sworn she even saw his eyes flicker blue for a second before returning to their usual dull aqua blue.

His aura seemed different from before. Something had changed about the vibes coming off of him. Gleaming could not quite put her hoof on it, but it felt like something close to fury, like barely restrained anger.

Up until this point, Gleaming only knew Aiding the changeling with his lackluster attitude and the desinterested, almost bored, gaze he sent pretty much anywhere he looked. Not counting the surprised look he had on her poor attempt at overwhelming him in the metal room on his ship.

But now…now there was something cold in his eyes, which made Gleamings fur stand on end. And by the way the lizards suddenly halted in their aggression, they must sensed something in him as well. Gleaming could tell that by the way they hissed at the changeling in an attempt to scare him off. Or was it to counter his threatening gaze? Did they see his eyes flash too?

Either way the hissing only got more intense the longer the staring match went on. And it only increased in volume and intensitiy when Aiding decided to casually walk into the Alley, closing the large distance between himself and the lizards besieging the unicorn.

Steadily approaching the group of three Aiding resumed talking, “Yes, yes. I get it you are angry. But being curious is the nature of these animals.”

He paused shortly to wait for a reply, before continuing, “Now why don´t we keep this simple? You leave the little one with me and we part ways peacefully…But should you decide to hurt her in any way or form, I can guarantee you, you wont have enough time to regret it.”, the changeling threatened the hissing snakes-people as the distance between himself and the snakes shortened further.

As the scaly predators did not respond Aiding surprisingly started hissing like they did, as it was the easiest thing in world.

´Did he just talk with them? How?!´

´And he is completely alone out here! He is not even armed or anything! Why didn´t he bring anypony else along?!´

Perplexed for a second at actually receiving a response in own tongue, the snakes exchanged a bewildered look before they send more angry messages at the changeling. Yet, he kept going. Steadily advancing on them. The hissed threats not deterring him in any meaningful way.

Aiding just kept coming closer and closer. At a closer look, each step of his almost appeared methodically planned, as if he was testing the water or feeling around with his hooves for a secure stand before placing it down. Gleaming guessed he very much expected tensions to rise further and the lizards were most likely to get creative soon, but still…he did not seem scared at all!

Seeing their attempts at discouraging the intruder fail, Gleaming observed the pair of lizards glance at each other, with a dangerours glint in their eyes. Then the silvery one parted with his red companion and went to meet the changeling halfway into the alley. More hissing inevitably followed when Aiding got close enough to spit into silvers face.

Both parties finally came to a halt next to rather disgusting looking puddle of green ooze, continuing their staring match from close up. Changling and Snake, staring each other down. Despite the changeling standing on his hindlegs, silver-scales still towered over him with at least one headsize, and the snake-man was aware of it being a clear advantage, as he flexed his muscles and a disgusting grin grew on his face.

Neither side backed down an inch as the staring duel continued and the tension in the air thickened to a point where one could literally bite a chunk out of it.

For a moment it seemed time itself came to stop. Changeling and overgrown snake standing face to face, trying to intimidate the other into surrendering and leaving the field. Nothing but the slow and steady intakes of air could be heard from either side. No blinking. No flinching. Not even the slightest movement, until…

Silver shot a quick glance back at his red friend. An almost unnoticable short nod was send back in return.

A silent message to take action.

Suddenly Gleaming saw the right arm of Silver shoot forward rapidly, with claws outstreched, aimed straight at the changelings gut. A move that was certain to wound, if not outright kill, the target and end this incursion in a short decisive action. The changeling would get killed and Gleaming was next in line. It would be the end.

But fate had other plans for Gleaming this day.

As the tip of the claws reached the exterior of Aidings vest, the Ling went into action with a speed that did not only surprise his attacker, but Gleaming as well. Simultaniously grabbing hold of the appendage with both his forehooves and sidestepping the strike with a small turn, he used the momentum of his attacker against him and proceeded to pull him further than the snake intended in the direction of the now failed attack.

The snake was clearly caught offguard by the rapid reaction and was only able to go along with the unintended reinforced forward motion. A move, which Aiding used to pull the attacker down to eye level with himself and dangerously close to his fangs. Aiding gave him a snarl of his own. after Silver came to a stop, revealing his own set of pointy teeth and the true size of his fangs.

Then he hissed through his teeth in a barely audible voice: “Wrong choice.”

Another twist. Another turn. And suddenly Aiding was standing behind the silver-scaled snake, still holding onto his arm. As the Snake tried to free himself by tugging on his arm, Aiding gave it a small twist.

Even if the tall lizard had not screamed in an earshattering cry to the heavens, the look of sheer agony, which appeared on Silvers face and the fact that he instantly stopped to struggle against the changelings hold, spoke for itself: He was trapped. Painfully so it appeared.

The turned appenadge, now situated behind Silvers backside, was bend in a rather unsual angle. A position which Gleaming figured was not very comfortable to the snake. And considering the grunting the snake gave off in short intervals, the hold in itself was probably rather painful, not to mention when the Ling put additional force into it.

In mere seconds and some fluid motion Aiding had blocked a lethal hit, switched sides with Silver and still held the upper hoof.

Every time the now captured scaly beast tried to do so much as hiss, growl or squirm, Aiding would increase the pressure he had on the snakes arm. Thus resulting in the aforementioned action to instantly stop and be replaced with pained hissing.

Gleaming could hardly believe it, but the hissing gradually became whimpering noises, which she thought the creature was not even capable of emitting.

By the way the snake tried to supress these noises, Gleaming could tell the silver snake did not enjoy to be at somepony elses mercy very much. His tone and whimpering only got more desperate and intense the longer the situation remained unchanged.

Aiding simply spoke to his captive “I did give you a fair warning,” in a voice as if he was just commenting on the weather.

Glancing at the red snake, Gleaming saw that his eyes had widened to an almost comically huge size. She could have sworn the color of his scales had even drained to a lighter shade of red as well, while he witnessed his allies demise and heard his pained cryouts. For the moment he was as frozen in his posture just as Silver was, but not out of an actual physical hold, but rather one out of shock.

With all the fancy twisting and turning the changeling did to subdue Silver, he ended up with his back towards Gleaming and red-scales as he continued his deathgrip on the former assailant. While this new standing point was of no particular interest to Gleaming directly, this new positioning of the changeling allowed for a peculiar detail to reveal itself to the unicorn.

There at Aidings backside, specifically his neck, clung a very familiar purple blob with wings.

Pokey.

The relief washing over Gleaming, at seeing the little dragon there and unharmed, let her momentarily forget, that she was still somewhat in peril, as Red had to make his move yet.

However for some unknown reason she could not explain, seeing the dragon made Gleaming feel like this turmoil would turn out to be okay. The dragon was in a way a small glimmer of reassurance on a seemingly very dark day.

In that very moment, almost as if he sensed the unicorns gaze on his backside, Pokey turned his head backwards and the very instant he spotted Gleaming staring right back at him, he left his perch and beelined over to her, coming to a halt on top of a small metal bin nearby.

Upon his landing the whelpling spread his wings wide and waved his little arms above his head in a small greeting, before starting to give applause to an unseen crowd with a big smile on his tiny face and his tail wagging behind him.

“Meheheheheheheh!”

Geaming spotted the red lizard shoot Pokey a confused glance from the corner of his eye, before returning his attention back to his distraught comrade and the changeling holding him in a deathgrip. It was clear that he was no longer in shock and started frantically searching for an option out of this situation, as his gaze kept shifting between every individual in the alley, but nothing promising seemed to come to him.

Was he going to strike at the changeling back? Was he going to finish the job with the unicorn?

His body language did not change in the slightest, leavng no clue to his internal though process to anyone outside of his mind.

Until Gleaming saw him shoot another glance Pokeys way, and Red started shuffling over to the cheerful, yet danger oblivious dragonling.

´Oh no! You don´t!´

Gleaming narrowed her eyes as she sensed his evil intend the moment Red started moving, and this time she would be able to keep the little guy safe. She was already in a perfect spot to attack due to her being backed into this corner earlier.

Now she only had to act.

As Red shuffled closer to Pokeys seat, he unknowingly moved into Gleamings path and the unicorn wasted no time in kicking herself of the backwall and tackling him into the back of his knee, causing Red to stumble forward quite a bit.

Caught offguard by the surprise attack from behind, Red had to stretch out his arm, in order to catch himself from falling over, by digging his claw into the wall closest to him. And as soon as he was stable once more, Red shot a deathglare over his shoulder towards Gleaming, which she countered with her very own glare.

Granted she had not yet mastered her mothers patented deathbeam-glare, which forced even her dad to seek shelter, but she did her best attempt at it. Also Gleaming scraped her left fronthoof on the ground and lowered her horn in preparation for use as a ram for good measure.

Turning his attention away from Gleaming, Red hissed a message to his counterpart and rose back to his full height, while giving a small grunt. The silver lizard in turn hissed his answer back without skipping a beat, almost cutting his partner off.

Apparantly following their conversation and reading their intend Aiding turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder and addressed the unbound lizard, “If you want to join your friend kneeling in the dirt, be my guest. Otherwise I suggest you take what´s left of your so called warrior pride and leave.”

Aiding then went ahead and carefully released his grip on Silver, shoving him a small ways away in the process and rightened himself back up. Keeping his eyes on both lizards ,and his back to the wall, he motioned with his head towards the alleys only exit, silently commanding the scaly pair to leave.

Getting back on his feet and glaring daggers all the while, but not objecting, both the snake-people shot one last glare in unison at Gleaming and Aiding in turn, before vacating their spots and slowly started trudging to the alleys exit. Red supported his friend, who cradled his arm like somepony would hold a newborn. Their tails snapped angrily at the containers and walls of the backalley all along their way, creating banging noises on the metal in a semi-rhythmic pattern.

Gleaming watched her former attackers marching into the direction of the clinics front and eventually disappearing around the corner to the left. Probably towards the regular front entrance of the building to whatever the hatch was the backdoor of, Gleaming assumed.

Through the entire walk of shame, the changeling did not turn around fully to watch them depart. He just stood there staring at a seemingly random spot at the wall opposite of him. But Gleaming saw his webby ears swivel around to follow the pairs every move until they were out of earshot. Only when the lizards finally went out of view, let the changeling relax his posture and the usual uninterested look in his eyes returned.

Crossing his forelegs in front of his chest and breathing a small sigh he muttered, “Unbelievable…and in broad daylight too!” in the same voice with the bored undertone, that Gleaming was familiar with by now.

“Meheheheheh!”

Turning his eyes to the ever cheerful dragon, Aiding casually addressed him, “Happy Pokey?”

“Wah-wah!”, Pokey responded in his usual fashion, by waving his arms through the air above himself.

Chuckling to himself Aiding then pressed something on his collar with a hoof before starting to speak to seemingly nothing but air, “Nem, we were lucky. Pokey found her. Come back to your place, backalley on the right.”

Gleaming glanced at the whelpling from the corner of her eye. ´Found me?´ Once again Gleaming could not believe how far off the truth Aiding actually was and could not resist rolling her eyes.

If the changeling received any response from the vet, then Gleaming could not hear it, but a mere moment later he added “…yea yea, I know I send you the other way... Look, just come here for second, then I´ ll be off, alright?”

Removing the hoof from his collar, Aiding then came a tad closer and slowly knelt down a small distance in front of Gleaming, from where he aimed his next words at her, “Now lets try this again.”

´Try what?´

He held out his hoof to Gleaming with the bottom side up, yet he did not close the gap still seperating the two on his own. Gleaming could see his blue eyes being fixed on hers for any flicker of movement or emotion.

´Whats this now? Whats he up- ohhhh, right´ The stallion from across the sea of carriages suddenly popped back into Gleamings mind. Weird as it was to watch, the stallion seemed to trust the changeling mere moments after he adopted this pose and now Aiding was trying the exact same number with her.

´Is this some kind of ritual or a trap?´ she wondered.

…

Then she deadpanned, ´I am not a dog!´

Partly to maintain her pride and not about to trust the ´ling on the other hoof, Gleaming remained standing where she was. Instead of doing what the stallion did, Gleaming decided to watch what Aiding would if she did not react the same way. Also she had to figure out, what to expect from him, when she did or did not certain things.

`If the situation was any different Twily probably would have loved to book this as an experiment.´

So far Aiding gave no indication of suspecting her of anything. Therefore Gleaming felt it a safe bet to just play dumb and keep fooling him, until she could figure out his true intentions with her. Or any other pony for that matter. And also maybe figure out what the hay was wrong with this place!

Thinking things over like this, finally steeled her resolve to go along with her earlier draft of a plan after all. Even though she still did not like it one bit.

´I´ll do whatever I need to survive, until either escape or return is possible…even if it means pretending to be a pet! I cant believe I said that last part…´

When no visible reaction came from Gleaming to answer his approach, Aiding let out a tired sounding sigh, dropped the outstretched hoof to the floor and quietly asked, “Still nothing from you?”

Gleaming barely caught herself from willing to answer with a snarky comment, but thankfully the words still would not come to her.

Just another point of her ever growing list of things to figure out, she guessed.

Seemingly accepting his lack of success for the time being, Aiding stood back up while glancing to his dragon whelpling. The tiny dragon looked back up to his master and simply tilted his head in response. They kept eye contact with each other for solid five second before Pokey broke it by turning his gaze back to Gleaming.

An unspoken conversation must have passed between dragon and ´ling at this point, or maybe they did this more often, but suddenly Aiding decided to ask, “You want to give it another shot, Pokey?”

The dragon responded in his usual cheery manner at the offer and clasped his paws together in applause before he jumped from his position and touched down in front of Gleaming.

Gleaming herself saw the whelpling in a way more positive light, than his changeling master and therefore had no problem with him invading her personal space at all. Even as the tiny lizard hobbled forward to first poke, then hug and finally wrap himself around her foreleg she did not object in any way or form.

It somehow reminded her of Spikes younger years, when he was still freshly hatched.

It was cute.

Gleaming was about to use her other foreleg to gently pet the dragon on his head, until a thought struck her and she stopped dead in her tracks, ´Do ponies around here behave different around dragons?´

As if reading her thoughts and confirming her false handling of the situation, Aiding commented Gleaming interaction, or lack therof, towards Pokey with, “Weird. Maybe she´s your lucky one Pokes.”

The whelpling overjoyed with his success at hugging the unicorn simply answered with, “Wah-wah!” and started rubbing his cheek on her upper leg.

´Crap! Cantered right into this one Gleam…´ the unicorn mentally berated herself.

Fortunately for her though, her inner turmoil was hidden from both dragon and changeling. The former had his eyes closed as he was rubbing his cheek into her fur and the latter had his eyes on the formers actions, so neither was able to discover Gleamings scrutinizing gaze on Aiding.

Or so she thought.

Was Gleaming imagining things or was there a thin smile on the changelings face, as he was observing Pokeys cuddle session with her fetlock? Nah, probably not. Also the very moment Gleaming thought she spotted the smile, it was immediatly covered by his bored expression again, which he used to wear pretty much all the time.

Gleaming eyes narrowed. What was he hiding?

Peering closer into his facial expression Gleaming noticed no further hints to the changelings thoughts, but she did see his webby ears swivel around at the same time as she felt her own locate a new source of noise within the alley. The familiar clicker-clacker of approaching claws. Gleaming was about to return to her alerted stance, but refrained from doing so as she realized just who was coming.

Recalling the thin air speech from Aiding in her mind and peering around the changelings prone form, she spotted none other than Nemora in her lab coat running towards them. As she sprinted towards them, the vets golden jewelery jingled with each large step in the groups direction, giving off the impression that a windplay was gliding through the air somewhere.

When Nemora finally reached the alleys end, she dug her claws in the dirt and came to halt right next to Aiding, who rose from his knelt down spot in front of the unicorn, to meet her at eye level. Well, almost eye level, since he was still a little shorter than the vet.

Nemoras posture shrunk a fair bit as she put her front claws on her knees and gasped at every intake of air, as she obviously tried to regain her breath from the sprint. The parts of her scaly hide, which were not covered by her coat also sparkled in a shiny sheen, hinting at her sweating profoundly while she searched in the wrong spot prior to her arrival here.

Aiding watched her take in huge gulps of air, before addressing her with a rapidly spreading smirk on his muzzle, “Out of shape, Nem?”

´Where is he coming from?´

Nemora paused her panting for a second at his remark, to glare daggers at him. Then after another round of breathing, she struck her forked tongue out at him and shot right back, “I want to see you… after you were send looking…in the absolut wrong spot…not knowing how far my patient could have gotten…and then get told…to head in the complete opposite direction!” and ended her tiny rant with a harumpf, before she resumed breathing.

Nemoras seemed to mull things over in her head, as she added, “This is revenge… for lauging at you…earlier…isn´t it?” a few seconds after.

Smirk still on his face, albeit a little smaller now, Aiding explained, “There was no way telling which way she actually took back there.” He turned his gaze downwards, “Not until Pokey arrived at least. So it was the best course of action to cover as much ground as possible. Especially the areas, which we can be sure, she remembers. Ponies have a good memory of places, due to their wandering habits after all.”

“Doesn´t make it…any more…fun…” Nemora heaved.

Turning his head around, to look over his shoulder, Aiding peered down the alley with the hatch in it, which by now probably was concealed again by the containers. Not breaking his gaze away from the vet, Aiding spoke over his shoulder, “Say Nem, do you happen to know who owns the shack next doors?”

Taking a moment to gather some much needed breath for speaking, Nemora hummed in thought and scatched at her head, “I might be wrong, but I think that’s the ambassadors fancy place…a restaurant for the high-ups. Never been there myself though… the prices are outragious!”

“Since when do places like these hire ruffians from the docks?”

“Ruffians?” After a very long pause Nemora proceeded to smack one claw into her face, before slowly dragging it back down. “Please don´t tell me you started something again!” At Aidings silence, she went on, “The Scream I heard earlier was your doing, wasn´t it?”

“I didn´t start anything, but I´m not about to be intimidated by a pack of wanna-be-warriors.”

Turning his head back, to look at his partner in the conversation again, Aiding probably spotted Nemoras aggravated face, as he quickly tried to calm her, “Nothing you need to worry about.”

His attempts were futile though.

“I honestly can´t believe it! You are back one day, one…single…day…no scratch that… Not even a full day and you are already back to this!” Nemora finished by throwing her arms into the air. Then after a while with no reaction from Aiding, other than a raised eyebrow, she dropped them back down and shook her head in defeat.

Lowering his brow and ignoring her outburst, Aiding decided to change topic, “If I were you, I´d try to get my money back for the pony-safe door, or at least sue the one who installed it. It oviously ain´t working.”

Righting herself back up to her full height, Nemora closed her eyes, took one last deep gulp of air and slowly exhaled, while stretching her neck upwards and pushing her arms down. When Gleaming heard a Pop emitt from somewhere on Nemoras spine, the vet let out the air she was holding in a satisfied sigh an reopened her eyes. Once that was done, she was back to the way Gleaming remembered her from inside the clinic, minus the occasional glistering sweat pearl on her scales.

It reminded Gleaming heavily of the breathing exercise Cadence tended to do when stressed.

“Its obviously wasted breath to talk to you again…so, what do we do now? Do you still plan on keeping her without a leash on?” Nemora asked the changeling standing next ot her, as she crossed her scaly arms over her chest and nodded Gleamings way, “She might get in trouble, if you let a wildfang roam freely.”

`A leash?! There is no way in Tartarus I´m gonna wear one of those!´

At the mentioning of trouble Aiding choked barely audible, but before Nemora could comment on it he answered her, “You know what I think of leashes. Its not an option.” Weighing his head from left to right, as he scanned Gleamings form he added, “Most of them reject the collar anyways. They bite and scratch at it, or rub it on a tree in order to get it off. Right now the risk that she injures herself is higher than the risk of her injuring someone else.”

“If you say so, but she is quite the skilled escapist and we still know next to nothing about violent tendencies. I´d be more cautious.”

“Don´t worry, she hasn´t had an episode in awhile. Also we seem to have found a method to steer her now.”

“How do you mean?”

Gleaming saw Aiding motion with his head in her direction, or rather in the drection of her leg. When she followed his gaze an excited looking dragonling was gazing back up at her.

“You can´t be serious!”, Nemora exclaimed with disbelief dripping clearly from her voice, as she followed the same path with her eyes, as Gleaming had.

“I am. Right, Pokes?”

At the mention of his name, or nickname in this case, the whelpling gave a chirp and hugged Gleamings leg again. He seemed more than just content with the idea of being an impromptu handler.

The unicorn herself had to admit, that the idea of letting a child, no matter the species, of his age bear the responsibility for the actions of a wild animal would have been scoffed at back home as well. Nevertheless in her circumstances it was the most ideal outcome she could have probably hoped for. For Gleaming had waaaaay more faith and trust in the dragon, than anypony else present at the moment.

“Well, it´s your funeral…and handlers license.” Giving Gleaming a scrutinizing look, Nemora let her arms drop, “Well for what it´s worth, she doesn´t look any worse for wear than before.”

“Glad to hear we don’t need another inspection, we ve lost enough time as it is.”

Rasing a single talon in Aiding face, Nemora sharply interjected, “…however, I would highly recomment giving her a proper bath in due time. There is no teling what the neighbors stack back here and she is covered from head to tail in the gunk!” Nemoras face took on a disgusted look and she struck out her tongue at nopony in particular “Yuck!”

Gleaming quickly glanced over the parts of her fur she could see and with a disheartened feeling in her stomach could only agree to the vets assessment of her overall state. She probably reeked too! If her mother would know about this, she´d never hear the end of it!

“Fine fine, If I can find anyone to volunteer for a wrestling match with her or put on a combat suit, I´ll be sure to let them bath her!”

“You better! Oh and be sure to let me know how she copes at your place! Tataaa!”

And with that Nemora the chatty vet turned on her heels with a small wave and marched back the way she came. Once she had reached the alleys exit, she yelled one more time in the groups general direction, “Oh and be sure to bring her around in the next few days for a complete checkup, if she hasn´t run off by then!”

Gleaming was not sure, but she could have sworn there was a smirk now present on Nemoras face. But before she could confirm it, the only snake creature, who had not tried to murder her (yet), vanished around the corner.

Shaking his head, Gleaming heard the changeling mumble something about “tables” and “luck” before he addressed Pokey, “Alright buddy, think you can get your new best friend to follow us back to the partking lot? We have to get going.”

Pokey responded to Aiding question, by finally letting go of Gleaming leg, well at least partially, and pulling on it with his tiny claws. When no reaction came from the unicorn, Pokey hobbled a bit backwards and repeated the same motion with the addition of leaning over backwards.

By itself the action would probably never get anypony moving anywhere, but Gleaming understood the whelplings intend all to well. And since she had agreed with herself to act under the guise of pet (for now!) she was more than less inclined to follow the notion and go along with it.

So it was back to the sea of carriages, that the Ling had referred to as “parking lot”, where she had to jump back up onto the backside of his so called “car”.

As she settled in for yet another bumpy ride to Celestia-knows-where, Aiding pulled the lid back up, which closed of the loading areas backside. While he did so, Gleaming caught the changeling cast a rather peculiar stare over the many carriages back to the frontside of the building the secret hatch belonged to. Nemoras was right, the fancy lettering out front clearly marked the place as restaurant.

But why was Aidings stare standing out to Gleaming? Because it seemed like he was deep in thought about something, until he suddenly turned on a dime, walked around the vehicle and entered the front part of his personal carriage, as if nothing had accurred.

But not before Gleaming caught a glimpse of his eyes, which had the same cold expression they had back in the alley as he was facing off against Red and Silver…and they flashed again… It did not bode well with her.

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For the second time this day, at least the white unicorn hoped it was still one day (it surely felt like more), Gleaming Shield found herself on the loading area of the changelings weird carriage. Whereas said vehicle rumbled along the road to yet another unknown destination, Gleaming allowed herself some rest after the recent events in the literal open air backseat.

To that end she had made herself comfortable on top of the blanket, once again provided to her, tucked in her legs and leaned with her side on the right edge of the, mostly empty, loading space. It was not exactly a soft cushion, but the small metal railing helped much to stabilise her body against being thrown around like a ragdoll again. There was a mysteriously unmarked crate further to her right,which stabilised her body the other way and had initially piked her interest, but as Gleaming lacked tools or any other (mostly magical) means of looking inside of it, the contents would continue to elude her for the time being.

Maybe an opportunity would provide itself later.

True to Aidings words, Pokey had stuck with Gleaming from the moment they left the parking lot and was showing absolutely no signs of leaving. To be more precise, the whelpling was currently snuggled up against her chestfluff, like a regular young foal would, and Gleaming was quite positive at this point, that he was fast asleep. She could clearly feel his tiny chest heave up and down on every intake of air and every breath of the dragon infant lightly tickled her fur. The rhythm of Pokeys breathing had decreased considerably over the last few…minutes, hours…whatever, leading to her assumption of his status as the latest resident of the dream realm.

Why was she okay with Pokey being there? Gleaming did not fully know herself but it sure felt reassuring to have the purple lizard to hold onto. Maybe it was his faint resemblence to Spike, which put her mind at ease around him.

And besides, it would surely help to maintain her chosen cover.

Just like her trainride to Ponyville, which felt like a ages ago, the unicorn busied herself with gazing out at the passing landscape. Only this time, with the open top of the loading decks backside, she was had no window to shield herself against the wind. The unfortunate side effect was, that said wind was taking very much gusto in throwing her mane around and about.

Usually the long strands ended up flinging right into her face, and without magic there was little she could do to prevent it from happening repeatedly. Aside from brushing the loose strands out of her face via hoof, that is.

At least it was not too cold outside here. At this point Gleaming really was glad for the tiniest spark of positivity. It almost was like she was grasping for straws of light in a weird and dark alien place.

Especially after witnessing…that...

Gleaming shook her head to clear the horrifying images from it. She was fairly certain, that the pictures would encourage her mind to imagine something even more shocking for her dreams tonight.

´I hope Princess Luna isn´t too busy tonight…´

Granted, even in Equestrias history, there were times when things got really ugly. General history class in school taught every filly and colt the basics, but it was not so hard to see for even the most gullible among them, that wars with pointy sticks usually ended with more than just a few bruises.

Especially if aimed at the face or far below the waistline…

Additionally, as she got into cadet classes, Gleaming got to know more about the turbolent past of the Royal Guard, back when Equestria itself was just a mere idea the royal sisters had. The Unification Wars, Sombras Dictatorship over the Crystal Empire, the struggles with the old Gryphon Empire and Discords nasty little traps to poke fun at ponykind and its rulers, to name just a few of the past millenia.

But ever since the sisters solidified the borders of modern Equestria, not a single pony had to endure a fate as grim as the ones, Gleaming witnessed down in that basement kitchen. It just was not right.

And if she ever got out of this mess, she was sure to inform the princesses about it!

While Gleaming tried to mentally swallow the load of trouble she was in, the rumbling metal carriage moved on along the road to...Gleaming had no actual idea, what their eventual destination would look like. She faintly recalled Nemora and Aiding mentioning some sort of farm in their chat.

A farm filled with ponies.

`A pony-farm run by a changeling?´

Gleamings imagination ran wild with horrid images about ponies in chains, the cracking sounds of whips in the air and the foul stench of sweat, grime and misery in forced labour, while a mean looking changeling overseer let loose a diabolical laughter.

An uneasy chill spread across her back, as the thought struck her, that maybe the Ling was even farming ponies to sell them to those snake-people. Or at least the ones who could no longer meet their quota… Hundreds if not thousands of ponies, raised, worked into ruin and finally killed to serve as a source of food…

If so, Gleaming was in grave danger!

And she had just delivered herself on a silver plate!

But then again, why did he stop the two overgrown snakes from killing her? Would it not have been much simpler to demand up-front cash and be done with it? Why go through the trouble to intervene and save her, if he has a full farm of ponies? Why care about a single unicorn he did not even know anything about? Besides his seriously off-track guesswork, that is…

Gleamings could not wrap her head around it.

A frustrated growl escaped her throat and she rubbed a hoof rapidly through her mane in frustration, ruffling it up in the process.

´I´m not getting any anywhere like this! I´m not as good as Twily is with the analytical stuff!´

One floor further down, on her chest, Pokey stirred in his slumber at the vibrations of her growl and Gleamings movement, but quickly decided not to worry and instead snuggle back into her fluff, as the unicorn calmed herself. Gleaming observed his small form for a moment, a peaceful smile grazing her lips as she was observing him in his sleep.

Then she shook her head and narrowed her eyes.

´I have to get a grip of this crazy place and its rules, before it gobbles me up like Nightmare Moon the sweets on Nightmare Night!´

Gradually the tall manehattan style buildings of the city grew smaller in size in front of Gleaming, as the Lings vehicle left the urban area behind. With Gleaming looking out over the backend, she also took note of the traffic thinning out, the longer they went.

Then after some more time had passed, the smaller building too, got fewer and the space between them grew, eventually giving way to a green hilly terrain. A few odd, sickly looking, trees stood out here and there. but overall this type of land looked much more like the evergreen, fertile plains of Equestria, which Gleaming was used to.

More roads and occasionally a river snaked itself through the wide valleys between the mostly flat-topped hills. At the bottom of quite a few of those mounds and sometimes even on their sides, nature, and quite possibly intense labour, had formed large flat areas, limited at their ends by strange fences with long silvery poles. Various tall and bushy plantlife grew out from these fields in rows, carrying colorful fruits of different sizes. Gleaming assumed the long poles must have been made by the locals, but was unable to discern their function from a passing glance alone. A few huts and small houses completed the picture, decorating the hills and fields, scattered about liberaly like the topping on a piece of candy. Considering their proximity to the fields in general, these buildings were likely housing the individuals, who went to work on the local farms.

Gleaming idly wondered how many creatures actually lived here.

The city, they had left behind, was bigger than any metropolis she knew…okey, bigger than Canterlot at least. The whole of Canterlot City, not to mention the palace, would have fitted multiple times in that place!

And then there were individuals living out here as well!

Hills and field passed by in an almost hypnotic, repetetive sequence, until the scenery began to slowly shift again. The otherwordly trees, which were only sporadically growing out of the ground before, now covered more and more of the mounds surfaces and the areas between them. The trees on average grew in size and their foliage started to become much thicker. So thick in fact, that they started to extend over the road and blocked out parts of the light, keeping lots of illumination from reaching the ground. The very few lightstreaks, that made it through, were barely enough to brighten up the road ahead, yet made for a beautiful spectacle as the leaves shifted in the breeze and caused the lightsstreaks to follow suit, like beams in a danceclub.

Trying to gaze past the foliage and tree trunks, Gleaming could not make out any defining landmarks anymore and slowly she realised, that the road they were on, was leading them through a rather dense forest area. The air had cooled considerably and Gleaming felt the hairs of her her fur starting to stand up, to provide more of a heatshield against the drop in temperature.

Gleaming was not certain, but a pair of glowing red dots seemed to follow her as the vehicle she was on flashed past a rather thick underbrush. She tried to lean over the railing a bit and squinted back to the bush in the distance, but the red dots were gone as quickly as they appeared.

´Am I going crazy?´

Suddenly, with no warning, Aiding steered hard to the right and abandoned the mainstream of black road leading through this gloomy, green maze. The speed at which the carriage was travelleing decreased by a lot and the humming it gave of became less noisy. At the same time Gleamings ears began picking up the sound of soft sand or dirt being crushed under the vehicles wheels.

The forest appeared even more dense in this area and Gleaming saw the beginnings of a simple dirt path emerging from under the carriages backend. Guessing from the almost crawling speed, Gleaming figured that they were either nearing their destination or the path was to uneven for the this vehicle to handle it at a more rapid pace.

Gleaming really hoped the former would be the case, because the suspense was starting to get to her. Much to her growing anger, Gleamings mind restarted to bombard her with various images of ponies in distress and despite her best efforts to push them back into the dark recesses of her mind, she felt her heart beat faster.

As opposed to how the dark forest slowly enraptured them upon their entry to its foreboding domain, the entire carriage easily popped free of its grim hold without any forward warning a short while after they took this sideway. Intense light flooded back in from all directions and its warmth was more than welcomed by Gleaming in the open backseat. Lush green grass came into view on all sides, occasionally decorated by a single tree or bush ladden with fruit, but otherwise undisturbed as it formed a huge open field of grass. A few of the fruit had fallen down, and showed signs of being partially eaten, before being left behind for an unknown reason.

Had they just entered a clearing in the forest?

Gleaming felt their ride rumble on, further into the green space, for a few more moments, but eventually it slowed down to snails speed. Aiding, the presumed driver then proceeded to pull a short sharp left turn, before commanding his weird wagon to halt completely. The vehicle complied, but not without protesting via a small, drawn out, screech of metal. The constant rumbling the carriage used to emitt while moving, died off not a second later, giving way to the natural sounds of rustling leaves in the wind, singing birds and the serene calmness of nature.

Gleaming noted that Aiding had puled his carriage into a spot, where another two of similar look already stood, cold and silent. He had more than one of those!?

As she took in the new sights and sounds, Gleaming heard the changeling exit his vehicle and felt the familiar shift in weight. Presumably due to the vehicles frame adjusting to the center of its mass being moved back and forth. When the Ling came into view on her right, Gleaming made to look the other way to her left, where she spotted another identical carriage standing there, just like the one she arrived on.

Inevitably coming into her field of view over the railing from the right, Aiding then made his way to the loading areas backend. Once there, he eyed Gleaming holding Pokey securely for a moment with a small smile on the corners of his muzzle forming, before he began fumbling with the backside ramp, presumably to lower it, like he did prior to their visit at the clinic.

While he went about his task, Aiding gently informed the napping Pokey, who was still buried in Gleamings fluff, “Were home Pokes, time to wake up, buddy!” about their arrival, without looking up from his work.

Other than obey the request, all Pokey did was give a small squeal of delight, while he snuggled deeper into the safety of Gleamings hold. Finished with the railing, Aiding huffed in frustration at the whelplings antics and idly tapped his hoof on the metal of the carriage, but soon a mischievous smirk started to creep onto his face, as an idea formed in his head.

“Alrighty then, if you have already decided on your bedding for tonight, then you probably don´t need dinner anymore…”

´Dinner?´ Gleaming wondered, ´Just how late is it actually here? The sun is still up!

Both of them even!

…

Did I really just think that?´

Almost instantly when his ears picked up the message, Pokeys eyes shot open and he practically bolted from his comfy resting spot, to the ramp at the loading decks end. Once there, he squealed in what sounded like protest, up at the changeling, which only ended up increasing his smirk.

“Works every time.”

Even without the smirk dominating his features Gleaming could tell, he was not serious. The more than obvious glint in his eyes, told her everything she needed to know. It was nothing else, but the usual ruse parents apply when facing an unruly child.

´Even though it makes him look creepy, due to his fangs lightly showing, everytime he smirks like that…like a timberwolf trying to grin disarmingly.´

Changing the object of his attention from the protesting dragon in front of him to Gleaming in the far back, Aiding chose to ignore Pokeys outrage for the moment and lowered his voice, “Think you can convince her to hop off, buddy?”

Ceasing his attempts to avoid missing dinner, Pokey peered over his shoulder at Gleaming for a split- second and replied with a firm nod of his head and a pride swelled chest, “Meek!”

“Good. We should also see about getting her something to eat rather soonish I think, before she start nibbling something random,” Aiding commented as he pulled out a rectangular object from inside his vests inside. After glancing at it surface, he scowled and then lightly nodded to himself. “Its well past feeding time for the others, but we should at least see if she is hungry at all and determine some of her preferences for the future.”

“Wah-wah-dou!”

With his bits added, the whelpling turned around to face Gleaming, who had not moved an inch from her spot and hobbled over to her. She had wanted to get up and leave on her own, but wisely hesitated halfway in getting up, as the action would have likely given away a hint at her ability to understand, what was being said, if she had moved before Pokey made an attempt to move her himself.

Something she would like to keep a secret from the Ling.

Gleaming also figured, if she wanted to blend in the best way, it was necessary to wait for Pokey to give her reason to act more often from now on, rather than taking action herself. Therefore she waited patiently for Pokeys approach and the tugging sensation on her foreleg, which was the whelplings way of relaying the “come along” message to her, before she started to move.

Once “received” Gleaming wasted no time to rise and get to the edge of the carriage, where she pretended to hesitate about leaving it. Under the changelings watchful gaze it seemed most vital for Gleaming to do so, in order to maintain her cover. Gladly it was not to long of a wait, until Pokey had flown past her, sat down on the ground behind the wagons ramp and waved up to her as an encouragement to complete the final stretch.

When her hooves touched down on the sandy ground, it produced a small crunching sound and upon her landing, Gleaming found herself immediately on the receiving end of vigorous applause from the dragon sitting in front of her. It was very weird situation for the grown mare, which triggered an old memory from many years ago. Her face heated up a little, as Gleaming recalled how it felt to be complimented by her mother for successfully taking her first few shaky steps as a foal.

But luckily for her the only one who could have noticed the tint of red rushing to her face was unable to really talk about it, because as her ears informed her, Aiding had busied himself with reattaching the rear-railing of his carriage behind her, as soon as Gleaming had vacated it completely and passed by his post to meet up with Pokey. That left the tiny dragon in front of her, as the only witness to her discomfort of the situation.

Breathing a small sigh of relief and fighting to eliminate her small blush, Gleaming sat down on the ground and patiently waited to receive her next “order” from Pokey. The irony of which was not lost on the guard part of her mind. When Aiding reappeared into view on Gleamings left side this time, Pokey stopped his abundand cheering and gazed up at him while cocking his head to the side, as if asking what came next.

“Lets find out what we missed, while we were out, buddy. How does that sound?” Aiding announced while pressing his forehooves into his backside, until a soft pop was heard. Rightening himself after the small stretching exercise,a heavy sigh escaped his muzzle and he glanced far to his left, as he began stretching his forelegs over his head. “Nemoras nephew should have arrived hours ago, do me a favor and be on the lookout for him, will you?”

“Wah-Wah-dou!” the ever cheerful whelpling replied and Gleaming spotted his little purple wings twitch briefly to take off, but he seemed to reconsider an abrupt exit, as the motion stopped instantly. His vibrant blue eyes landed on Gleamings form and he cocked his head sideways, “Meek!”

“Hmm?” The Changeling aborted his observation from whatever was happening to the left, and payd attention to Pokeys squeaking, potentially reading his thoughts. “Don´t worry about your new friend, buddy. Let her roam a bit, maybe she´ll tag along on her own.”

Pokey huffed and pouted, looking thwe very image of unconvinced.

“Don´t worry, she´ll be here when you come back. She did, after all, cuddle with you, didn´t she?”

´I´ll be here alright, but no because you want me too!´ Gleaming angrily thought, while keeping her gaze solely on Pokeys little face.

Pokey weighed his scaly head from left to right, as if his life depended on his choice, between staying with Gleaming or carrying out his masters request. But eventually he rushed forward to hug Gleamings leg for a short moment, rubbed his face against her fur with a delighted squeal and then briskly flew off to an unknown place.

Gleaming was caught a little off-guard at the sudden contact, but did not reject it. Through the action, she felt fairly certain, that Pokey would not stray far away from her and keep his search radius fairly minimal.

Still… seeing the purple lizard depart was making her feel uneasy once more. Especially since she was now alone with the changeling. Who might very well be staring down at her right now…

Swallowing the lump in her throat as silently as she could, the unicorn lightly twisted her head, so that she could barely make him out on the edge of her view, standing to the left and maybe read his face.

But still…She was alone with the Ling.

A thing she would have liked to avoid. At least, until properly prepared for it, for this was most likely the moment he would surely unravel his evil plans for her!

…

Or maybe not…

Surprisingly to Gleaming, Aiding did nothing of the sorts.

After Pokeys departure, all Aiding did was spare her a short glance, as if simply reaffirming that she was there, and click his tongue, when he saw her looking back at him. Then he promptly turned around fully and followed the rest of the dirtpath leading further into the area, leaving the vehicles and the unicorn next to them behind. The crunching noise of the loose surface under his hooves, made every step he took clearly audible, so that without any problems Gleaming could tell, even without turning her head, that he slowly distanced himself from her.

But was that a good or bad sign?

He made zero effort to restrain her freedom of movement in any way. In fact, Gleaming could see now, that there was not a single fence, gate or any other obstacle blocking an escape attempt from this place. The entire area was only limited by the strange silver poles she had seen earlier from afar. But those things were far to wide apart to be of any use to stop anypony from leaving, were they not?

They did not block the carriage and all of its passengers from entering the place either.

´Whats the point of a fence if you only place the poles down and put nothing in between. It won´t stop anypony from-

…uuhmmm…are those things perhaps enchanted?´

Gleaming was not very eager to find out the hard way, and get herself zapped, if they were. Both of her last decisions, namely to attack the Ling and investigate the hatch, had played out poorly, mostly because she acted before knowing all the details about this place. This time, she would be smarter about it.

This time, she would be prepared.

Twily did not get all the brains in the family!

She could be smart too!

So instead of trying to flee the way she had come, Gleaming found her hooves carry her in the opposite direction, right in the changelings wake, following along the dirtpath roughly leading to the center of the area. An area, which she realized, just after she started walking, was indeed a giant clearing in the middle of the forest. Though there was no way to tell if it came to be naturally or was artificially created at some point in the past.

But still, her initial hunch was correct!

Yay!

As she let her head swivel from side to side, to take in the new sights, Gleaming saw that all along the edge of the clearing, where the dense forest would begin, somepony had build these strange poles in a regular rhythmic pattern. But if those contraptions were actually meant to keep somepony in or something else out, was still a mystery to her.

And, how they were supposed to actually work too.

If they worked at all…

The massive clearing in itself was very much circular in shape and had a shallow, oval shaped climb in the middle of it, where in its center, a large wooden house dominated the top. The by far and large wooden structure would not seem to much out of place in any modern day ski-resort, the kind of, which tourists would hang out to warm up and seek shelter in, from the biting chill outside. Preferably with a hot chocolate and a thick cozy blanket wrapped around them.

It even had a stone chimney on its roof, hinting at a fireplace within, even though there was no smoke coming rising from it at the moment. Was nopony home at this hour?

Looking further ahead and following the path upwards with her eyes, Gleaming noted, that the windy dirtroad Aiding was following, directly lead up to the large building in question. And as she gazed back over her shoulder, the way she had come, a thought struck her.

`If this is where he lives, why not park his carriage closer to the house?

It would have saved him some time getting there.´

When the path, they followed, started to slowly rise and slightly elevated them over the surrounding terrain, Gleaming could make out the roofs and some walls of a few other buildings, scattered behind the big central one, somewhere halfway between the edge of the clearing and the center. Oddly enough these buildings were all the same light red color and had two huge doors on their fron-

´Are those barns!? Well… even if they are, its still a far cry from chains, gurneys and cracking whips, so that’s a plus…

But didn´t a farm require more than one pony?

Speaking of ponys…

Where the buck is everypony?´

Gleamng looked around, but she could not make out any other equine, besides herself that is. The only other thing worthy of note was, that now, even further up, she could see the right side of the clearing was bordering a lake of sorts. The watery surface glittering in the light, inviting thirsty travelers to take a cool and refershing sip, free of charge, any time of the day.

But nopony was in sight there either.

Not here, not there, not anywhere.

Literally no pony.

Yet the changeling in front of her continued on his solo march unpertubed up the flat hill, seemingly unbothered about everyponys absense in this part of the world, completely ignoring the unicorn mare following him.

Granted, the slope of the path was going up at a steeper angle now, than it was a moment before, which would explain why there was nothing in their line of sight yet, except for the barn-like buildings top parts. But it was oddly silent as well! Should they not hear something by now?

Gleaming was getting anxious.

Maybe following him was the wrong choice after all.

There was no way Gleaming walked into a trap and ended up as the sole pony resident here, right?

“…ou…wou…”

“…eeeeep…”

At first Gleaming thought her mind was playing tricks on her, but focussed on her hearing, she identified the source of the noises as coming from the big houses rooftop. And when she scanned over the site once more, she could definitely make out movement on the roof of the central building, specifically around the aforementioned chimney. And jugding by the way the changelings head angled upwards for a second, he must have spotted it too. Nevertheless, Aiding kept walking without changing his step, at the same pace he started out with, even as they reached the front porch of his presumed house and the ground leveled out somewhat.

But instead of slowing and heading for the front door like Gleaming expected him to, he made a light change to his course and moved around the buildings corner on its right, where the unicorn promptly lost sight of him, as he slipped around it.

´Darn it! Did he notice me following after all? Is he trying to shake me off?´

Gleaming did not want to be left in the blue and hastened her step into a brisk trot to quickly follow after him, in case he was up to something. She had no intention to be caught off guard again today!

But as soon as she cleared said corner, the sight, she was faced with, took her breath away.

Here they were…

Ponies!

´Finally!´

Behind the massive central structure, just at the point where the hill sloped downwards again, was a huge gathering of ponies. Sitting closely hunched together in a semicircle in the soft lush grass, unicorns and earth-ponies of all colors and ages were present. Their eyes aimed forwards and ears swiveling about to pick up any stray noises.

And occasionally they bend down to chomp an a chunk of grass, tore it free and idly chewed it, before gulping it down.

´Are these ponies…grazing?! Why for Celestias sake?

Ponies haven´t had to graze in millenia!

And why is there not a single pegasus among them?!´

Gleamings felt her ire towards the changeling grow and narrowed her eyes.

´Is he not giving out enough rations to them? The bastard! I knew he was up to something!

Speaking of him where is he?´

The mainfocus of Gleamings anger had moved further behind the house, where a small group of three individuals stood, all gazing up at the roof towards the general area of the chimney. They consisted of a much skinnier version of the furless faced monkey, wearing a stetson and a similar outfit to Aiding, except much darker, and two of the bird people, Gleaming had seen in the parking lot of the clinic. These feathery bipeds almost identical to one another and were mostly colored orange with bits of yellow feathers mixed in, sporting tribal looking attires, decorated with trinkets and barbles. They even had paintings on their beaks!

All three of them had their back towards the huge pony group, arms crossed in front of their chests and their eyes peeled for any movement on the roof.

Since their attention was focussed upwards, they did not seem to take note of the Lings arrival until he was practically standing next to them and cleared his throat, “Anything good up there, Ced?”

“Welcom´ home, boss! And aye, there is indeed somethin´ up there,” the stetson wearing monkey answered him in a thick accent.

´Boss?´

Gleaming could not quite tell what was going on, but did not want to miss anything important and crept closer to the group, before sitting down and listening in. The ponies in the back did not look to be in immediate danger right about now, so Gleaming found it safe to pry.

“And, pray tell, that would be?” Aiding inquired.

This time one of the birds answered him, in a voice that clearly marked her as a female of her kind, “A little one got up there this morning and hasn´t come down since. We can see her move about and watch us, but everytime we try to approach her she hesitates and ducks behind the chimney again.”

Her beak, albeit bigger and taking a larger part of her face, moved like a gryphons when she spoke.

“At this point we have tried almost anything, we could think of, to get her to come down, from toys to food…,” the second bird, also female, chimed in. But no matter what we do, she simply stays up there looking at us, as if waiting for something. We even tried to rope some of the others in the action as well, to make her see, its okay, hence, why they are all here now.”

“At dis point we we were debatin´. If we should´a just climb up with a ladder and get ´er, but then you came around, boss.”

Pinching the bridge of his muzzle with his hoof, Ading shook his head, “And what, have I always…always told you again and again?”

“Never make pony do anything it doesn’t want to,” came the immediate reply in a unified choir from the trio.

“But we need tah do somethin´ soon, boss. Lil´ one up there is lookin mighty ´urt, the way she carries her fron´leg, and all!”

At this the Ling squinted up at the roof, “…So tell me, did any of you see her climbing up, or getting assistance from our little buggers?”

“Nope. After breakfast, me and sis´ saw something green flash behind the chimney, and once we went to check it out, we saw its head disappear behind the brickwork,” the first bird girl explained.

“Did you count through the entire herd, to make sure its none of ours?” Aiding further inquired.

“Twice, and we are fairly certain, by now, that she must be a wanderer from the forest,” the second bird filled in.

“Well then that only leaves one option,” The Ling concluded.

The trio raised one eyebrow each and questioningly stared in Aidings direction, who still kept staring up at the roof himself. After a moment he chuckled shortly, then looked each of them in the eye before resetting his gaze back up and taking a step back. “None of you saw her climb the house at any point in time, correct?”

“Aye, boss!”

Motioning for the other three to mimic him and slowly move backwards, to which they complied without any questions, Aiding continued, “…and none of our ones assisted or is missing?”

“Bingo, chief. But what´s your point?”

“Yeah we´re kinda left out here, fill us in!”

Aiding did not elaborate any furter, but instead sat down in the grass and compelled the trio to follow suit one more time, “What did I teach you to do, when you can´t figure out, why an animal is acting in a specific way?” Without waiting for an answer this time, Aiding filled the gap himself, “Imagine yourself in its spot.”

He pointed at the roof.

“Right now, she´s all alone up there, in an unfamiliar environment and to top if off, she´s hurt. Anyone in her spot would be scared and very distrustful towards any strangers. Especially if they group up and stare at her like cats under a tree, waiting for the bird to come down.”

“But that still doesn´t tell us, how she got up there in the first place!” huffed the first bird in frustration as she crossed her winglike forearms once more and puffed up her cheeks.

Aiding just smirked at her, “Be patient.”

It took some time, but eventually Gleaming heard shuffling from up top, hooves scraping on wood, then on a ceramic surface, and after a while, a green pony head appeared over the roofs rim, away from the chimney it supposedly occupied all day until now. The ponies emerald eyes shimmered with uncertainty, but it send out a small chirp in the direction of the former trio, now quartet, sitting in the grass below its position.

Visibly fighting with the decision, the pony head disappeared and reappeared for a while over the roofs rim. Only to finally reappear in a flash and followed by its entire body, as the pony jumped from the three story houses rooftop. The sunlight obscured almost all of its features, except the general vicinity of the mare and her rapid decent.

Gleaming was shocked a first to see the mare jump all of a sudden and rushed into action, to cushion her fall with her own body. But the distance combined with the speed the pony had jumped, made her misjudge the angle and landed her muzzle first in the dirt behind the house.

As she laid there, reconsidering her lifes choices, a few exchanged words from her right made her doubt her assessment of the situation entirely.

Visibly alarmed and with urgency in her voice, the first bird spoke up again. “WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING, SHE´S GONNA HURT HERSELF, CHIEF!”

Not moved at all by the outcry and remaining seated, the changeling reeled her back in, “She´ll be fine. After all she got up there on her own as well.”

At a loss for words, the bird girl gapred in abject horror at the Ling.

Also realising it was far to late to do anything to remedy the situation the bird closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable impact…

…which never came.

Just before hitting the ground, the green mare opened a pair of vibrant, lush green wings to slow her fall dramatically and graciously touched down in front of the Ling and his group. Shaking her head and refolding her wings, the mare favored her left over her right fronthoove and semilimped a small distance, before sitting down halfway between the Lings group and his wooden abode.

With a sly grin on his face, Aiding lowered his voice a bit, “…And that my dear students, is how the pony got on the roof!”

Almost in unison once more, the trio cried out, “A PEGASUS?!”

Gleaming also could not believe it. This was the first pegasus she had laid eyes on thus far.

´And why the buck are they so surprised to see a pegasus?´

The green mare in question and former roof resident, who had gathered all attention for herself and pretty much stolen the entire show, folded her fluffy wings, blinked her lively emerald eyes and then tilted her head, with the dark green mane on it, to the side, before uttering single word.

“Oowou!”

Chapter 6

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Chapter 6, Oowou!

“A PEGASUS?!”

“Eeeeep!”

The shocked and loud outcry of the changelings minions caused in the roof pony to flatten her ears on her head. Even worse, the green mare shakily rose to her three good hooves again and took an uncertain halfstep backwards. The pegasus clearly regretted in her choice to abandon her safespot and approach these strangers.

Seeing the mares attempted retreat, the smirk on the Lings face shrunk and was gradually replaced with annoyance. His eyes swiftly moved to his left and right to shoot a scorning gaze back over his shoulders. Upon spotting said gaze the trio of culprits sheepishly grinned back at him.

“Keep going like that and she´ll be living on the roof for the rest of her life,” he admonished them with a low hiss, before returning his attention back to the still fearful green pony in front.

Once their boss had finished voicing his displeasure, the trio shared a knowing look amongst them and gave a shrug to each other behind Aidings back. Somehow Gleaming had the impression that they were familiar with that kind of response from him and did not take their boss´ slight aggravation to seriously.

´Shouldn´t they be more catious? He´s got fangs and magic at his disposal, not to mention a mean grip and an aptitude for close quarter fighting, if the encounter in the alley is anything to go by…,´ Gleaming wondered. ´Then again they do seem to share a rather mellow way of interacting with him. Whats going on here?´

When the sudden commotion had died down, after Aidings address, the pegasus slowly started to relax her posture, bit by bit. She retook her former postion and placed her flanks in the grass again. But still, she kept lifting up her right foreleg and eventually decided to let it hover in the air for now.

The dangling limb did not seem injured from a first glance to Gleaming, as there were no obvious signs of injuries, like cuts or bloodstreaks visible from this far away. Also Gleaming was not a physician, so there was no way, that she could figure out a proper diagnosis on her own. But as the mare occasionally tried to put the bad hoof down out of habit, like her other leg, and whimpered, it became obvious even to Gleaming that it must be something serious.

“…eeeee…”

The picture was not unlike a foal, who had just touched a hot stove, finding it to be “slightly displeasing” and immediately withdrew the hoof to cry for the soothing aid of its mother. The discomfort that the mare undoubtabtly felt from her appendage, was clearly visible on her face and in her awkward posture alike.

And yet to Gleamings growing ire, the Ling and his group apparantly decided to remain where they are. They just kept watching the poor mare. Despite the pegasus unmistakably showing them, what was bothering her, nopony moved.

Did they not know what to do? It sure seemed otherwise at first, when Aiding asked his peculiar questions and took the lead a few minutes before. When he lured her from the rooftop, Aiding gave the impression of having a plan on how to deal with the situation.

Did his initial plan fail and he has to improvise now? It did not look like it to Gleaming, as Aiding kept his gaze firmly glued to the mare sitting a few steps in front of him. Rather it seemed, that he was waiting for something the pegasus herselfhad to do…

With things at a standstill for the moment, Gleamings body took the opportunity to kindly remind her, that she was still lying in the dirt from her failed emergency dash to rescue the previously doomed roofjumper. Her legs and their respective joints ached from the odd entangeled position she was in. Also some new bruises on her belly and on the inside of her legs took the opportunity to make themselfes known.

Her impromptu landing was not as smooth as Gleaming assumed it was going to be at first, despite the mild grass cushioning part of the fall. Even worse the grass was slightly wet and only aided in Gleaming skidding further along than she had planned for. It was disheartening to her to have failed in her plans so often in a row now.

Gleaming was not known to give up easily though.

Therefore, in a manner she had more practice in than she wanted to admit, Gleaming gritted her teeth and mustered up the will to get up on her hooves, protesting body or not. Once she stood again, she proceeded to give herself a quick checkover to assess the new damage to her overall condition.

It was not as bad as she feared from the discomfort she felt coming from all directions, yet at the same time she had to admit, that she took on way more dirt and grime on than before coming here. Gleaming really needed a bath or at least find a way to organise some cleaning utensils soon or she would risk an infection by leaving the gunk all over her. It was basic knowledge after all that all, that wounds, no matter how small, should be kept clean instead of letting, whatever resided in this stuff, to slowly seep into her newly aquired cuts and bruises.

´Stupid rocks hiding in the stupid grass,´ Gleaming grumbled to herself while idly kicking a small sharp edged pebble, before moving to take a seat in a softer patch of grass nearby. Hopefully free of pointy rocks seeking to annoy her.

“…oowouuu…”

The almost silent, and pained outcry from the green mare pulled Gleaming out of her inner monologue. Compared to the pegasus´ first line as she proudly announced her arrival on the ground, this time her voice was undoubtly lacking in strength. Her leg really seemed to bother her, as she continued to to try to put it down, without much in the way of betterment.

After yet another series of unsuccessful tries to attempt to put pressure on her foreleg, the mares eyes lifted up to meet with the changelings gaze. Blinking twice, the pegasus chirped shortly and tilted her head. In response Aiding reached into a pouch on his vest and slowly pulled something out, that Gleaming could not indentify, despite craning her neck.

From what she could see, it roughly resembled a small cubic object, with rounded edges and corners. Said item was then kept in the middle of his hoof and presented to the injured mare on an outstretched foreleg. The underside of his hoof pointing up, so that the pegasus would have an easier time to spot the item than Gleaming did.

Aidings slow methodic movement, unlike the outcry from his underlings before, did not seem to be a cause of concern for the injured pegasus, as she made no move to back up. Quite the opposite actually, as Gleaming could see that the presented object seemed to have piked the mares curiousity.

Intriqued, the green mare sniffled at the air and started to slightly lean in the Lings direction. Presumably to get a better look at the offered item. She advanced towards it in foalsteps, bit by bit. Taking careful time between each move to check if something or somepony had changed their position, posture or moved at all. Occasionally she would change the angle of her head and wait for a few seconds before resuming her approach.

Whatever the curio he held was, the Lings action brought movement into the situation again.

Having reached the end of her necks length, the pegasus realised she would not get any closer without walking. So she retracted her head, got up and just as cautiously went closer towards Aiding to further inspect the item resting in his hoof.

Aididng did not move a single muscle. Instead he almost appeared frozen like a statue in his position, unlike his underlings, who shared hushed whispers amongst them while leaning towards each other.

Shortly after, the green mare reached the Lings position with almost no gap to speak of between them anymore. The pony chirped and first moved her head forward again with ears leaning back as far as they would go. Still visibly cautious of some sort of trap, her emerald eyes scanned the Lings frame looming above her.

A wise choice in Gleamings opinion. Maybe she was the smartest of the bunch around here?

When nothing remotely dangerous happened, the pegasus firmly gazed up at Aiding and tried to move her head the last stretch. Until she became aware of the fact that her body was not as stable as it usually would be, with just three legs, and almost fell over forwards. Luckily the pegasus averted stumbling, just in time, by replacing her good hoof further in Aidings direction and a small flap of her wings. The wind and blown up dust caused by the action, made everypony present flinch for a second, but ultimately helped her to regain her balance.

After the moment of panicked flapping had passed, the mares ears perked up. Her large eyes scanned the group in front for any visible changes in their attidtude. Nothing had moved.

Eyeing the Ling and the trio behind him curiously, she proceeded to tilt her head and chirp at them. Seemingly it was her intend to provoke a hostile reaction, as she made to approach the curio.

With none coming her way, her head shot forward in a flash and she quickly snatched the offered item from Aidings open hoof and retreated back half a step to where she felt safe.

As she started chewing, the mares ears laid back and her eyes closed for the slightest of moments. Then she chewed even faster before loudly gulping down whatever she had aquired from the Ling. It dawned on Gleaming now, that what he gave her must have been some kind of treat.

´A special treat for ponies? Or just some leftovers…´ Gleaming grumbled to herself. And yet she felt her own stomach rumble at the mere thought of leftovers. When was the last time she ate something herself?

Gleaming could immediately say that it was the hayburger back on her trainride. But how far back that that moment actually was, she could not tell. It was all but impossible for her to measure time without any fix points and the weird twin suns glaring down on her.

´Mental note: Gotta find a clock.´

The mares happy face as she munched on the convinient snack provided to her, caused Gleaming to rethink her assessment of the pony-food though. Was it really so satisfying? It was hard to believe from how little of it there was, since that amount would hardly cover a meal.

Having finished the free snack, the mare licked her lips, opened her bright green eyes and moved forward once more, obviously hoping to find another snack-to-go in the Lings still outstretched hoof. Yet, there was none to be found and her ears started drooping along with her head.

“…oowou…”

´What now? Wait, I ve seen this before…,´ Gleaming recalled the brown stallion from across the parking lot and how the changeling assumed a similar posture to now back then, minus the snack. A little while later he tried the same with her in the alley, but left it to Pokey when Gleaming did not react the way he wanted her to.

´Where did he get the snack from anyways? Had it been in his pocket the entire time? Why did I never receive one? Hang on…am I really this hungry already?´ A loud grumble from her belly told Gleaming all she needed to know.

Aiding used the presented opportunity with the green mare just as Gleaming predicted and let his hoof rise to catch her lowering head from below, gently scratching on the underside of her muzzle as it went down. Surprised at first, judging by her widening eyes, the mare made to withdraw her head and semi-flared her wings, until her brain caught up with her and all of her movement seized.

Stuck in her semi-retreating pose, she obviously decided to enjoy this new sensation as she let her head drop onto it and even angled, so that the scratching would reach into different areas.

“Oowou!”

Smiling again, Aiding slowly brought his unused other hoof around, intending to do something to the mare while she was lost in bliss. With the pegasus having closed her eyes again, this time in comfort, Gleaming feared for the worst. Her legs tensed and she was ready to rush into action to aid her kin, even if it meant to lose another fight with the Ling.

But once again nothing even remotely malicious happened.

All Aiding did was bring his other hoof to the top of the mares head, from where he started to give her ear-scratches as well. Much to the pegasus appearant delight, if the relaxed expression on her face was anything to go by.

Gleaming observed Aiding closely as he gave a random mare, who had just moments before living on the roof of his house, an ear scratch. Or multiple.

As he did so however, Gleamings watchful gaze noticed that he had removed the hoof under the mares head when she started to press against the pleasurably scatching coming from the top now. The free hoof then travelled to her folded foreleg, where he gently tapped on its side.

The mare, lost to a world of bliss for the moment, raised her leg and Aiding took it into his hoof, where he held it and twisted it slowly upside down, revealing its spotty black underside. After taking a first short glance at it, the changeling frowned and motioned with his head to the trio sitting behind him, inviting them to peek over his shoulder at the hoof he held.

“What is it, chief?” one of the female birds asked in hushed voice, barely loud enough for Gleaming to hear.

“Take a closer look and you tell me. This might be in your exams as well, I think, if last year is anything to go by…,” Aiding trailed off.

Delicately moving closer to their leader, whom kept the mare occupied, the three leaned over him and squinted their eyes at the hoof, closely inspecting it, checking for anything out of place. The mare meanwhile clearly enjoyed her carefree petting time and paid them no mind anymore.

Gleaming observed as one after one the individual faces of the three lit up and their brows shot skywards. Sharing a quick knowing look they nodded at one another and fell back into their original spots Behind Aiding.

Once seated, Aiding restarted their conversation at a lower volume.

“Judging by your silence, I presume, you ve seen whats bothering her,yes?”

“Never would´a guessed that, but its kinda clear up´n close.”

“Is it normal for them to have that, chief? I know the others get it sometimes, but I ve never seen it this bad before…before…well now , I think.”

´What did they see? Whats ailing her? Am I in danger of something? I wanna know too!´ Gleaming tried to get a closer look by straining her neck, but ultimately only getting closer would yield any further gains. And getting closer was the last thing she wanted to do right now.

Setting the aforementioned hoof gently back down, and letting the mare retake control over it, Aiding stopped his petting before turning around to fully face his apparent students. The mare, clearly upset over her pleasure time being cut short, as well as being faced with Aidings backside, emitted a loud and angry “Oowou” and puffed out her cheeks. Eyes narrowing, she then plopped down on her flanks and started to prod the Lings back with her good hoof in protest, making him wobble ever so slightly as he spoke.

´She doesn´t seem to like getting ignored much. Why isn´t he doing anything to stop her? Why on Equuu would he tolerate being treated like that!?´ Gleaming could not understand it, the mare was positively punching his back with her foreleg. Yet he did nothing to stop her!

If it annoyed him at all, then Aiding did not show it, as he addressed the two bird girls and Mr. Stetson. “…Normal, yes, in a way. They all get athletes hoof from time to time. However its especially bad with pegasi.”

Leaning in closer, to peer over his shoulder at the poking mare, one of the birds pointed at the upset pegasus. “Why them? Is it because of a different diet, chief?”

Instead of Aiding, Stetson answered her. “Nah don´t think so, dear. She can´t be eatin´ anythin´ different than the rest o´ ´em in that forest. Then we´d be havin´ lots´a more cases here too.”

“Right on Cedritz,” Aiding smiled approvingly in the guys direction.

´What kind of odd name is that? It almost sounds like a minotaurs. But he doesn’t even closely resemble one of them! Well to be fair he has some muscles on him…and he does share some similarities with them… a beard, fingers …but he still lacks the fur and horns!´

“You see, the mainreason for this ailment is their exposure to the ground, specifically moist areas.”

*wobble* *wobble*

“Oowou!”

Aiding smirked, which by now seemd to be a trademark of his figured Gleaming, and pointed at a random patch of grass beside him. “Constant exposure with such surfaces trains the body to effectively fend off funghi and bacteria living in or on it, allowing for longer periods of a heathy state or complete immunity. The body naturally learns to fight these germs off over time. Genes help as well, as you might have noticed the Terran ponies to be the most resilient of them all.”

´Terran ponies?`

*wobble*

“Unicorns are next in line with their resistance to it, as they spend just as much time down here as the the majority of the regulars. Their health largely depends on how much Terran pony DNA is in their family tree…” Aiding finished.

“…But pegasi, sir?”

Turning around halfway, Aiding gave the green mare a pat on her head, much to the mares delight as her pouty face ceased to exist for a moment. But when no petting resumed the pouty face was right back. “…Unfortunately,” Aiding started as he clearked his throat.

“Oowou!”

“…pegasi spend much of their time not on the ground at all. Meaning, their exposure time is much more limited and their bodies don´t learn to fight the funghi as effective as their relatives, who are forced to a life on the ground for the most part. Its not a constant threat but certainly one to keep track of. It essentially turns their featery limbs into as much of a blessing as a curse.”

Gleaming glanced at her own hooves, lifting one up and checking its sides all over. ´What kind of things am I actually exposed to out here? Have I already contracted anything? ...No, Nemoras test would have shown anything, wouldn´t it?´

“Awww, so…”

“…so you have to remember to look out for hoof ailments, especially with ponies, who lack time on the ground in, for example, primarily urban areas. The same goes for ponies living mostly in the trees or mountain regions.”

“Oowou!”

Aiding smiled at the pegasus mare. “As for treatment, we give her the same the other get. The difficulty is just in making sure the treatment stays in place, as these little buggers tend to nibble and gnaw away at bandages. The very itchy ones in particular.”

Looking thoughtful the second bird voiced her mind, “Why bother telling us so much about her being a pegasus? Unless…You think they will have pegasi at the exams, chief, don´t you? Aren´t they kinda rare nowadays?”

´Pegasi rare? Sure they are the least dominant tribe of ponykind, but there are still hundreds of thousands of them around! What in tartarus is this place? What happened here?´

“You never know, what they come up with. Every year the officials think of something special, just to throw trainees like you off track. Last time, Mrs.Skelk came up with a rare horn rot, so be on guard for everything.”

´Horn rot?!´ Gleaming absendmindedly touched up and down her own, as she got increasingly worried about what deseases she may catch here, especially during unpredictably extended stays…

At the mentioning of the name -Skelk-, the group of three visibly collectably flinched and exchanged worried glances with one another, twiddling their respective fingers and claws.

“…uhh are you sure she will be holding the exams this year again, chief?” the first bird girl hesitantly asked, with a rapidly sinking head.

“Why yes, she usually leads the committee. The last decade was just an exception due to personal…,” Aiding seemed to chew on the word “…circumstances, as she put it.”

When only silence greeted him and all of the trio suddenly avoided his gaze, Aiding hastily added “Don´t worry, you´ll be fine. She´s not that bad…anymore…, I heard.”

“You heard, sir?” One of the birds complained, raising her arms with the attached wings skywards like an outraged prayer to a higher power. “Last time she lead the exams, half didn´t make it! Just cause she had to pick a totally stubborn unicorn of her own stock, that wouldn´t even follow you a single step in an all edible outfit!”

“Oowou!”

Relenting to petting the pegasus a bit, Aiding seemed gather his thoughts, while he watched the mare lean into his ministrations. “…Well, as I am your instructor, you know I can´t apply to be a judge as well, to avoid playing favorites…as such are the official rules.”

“So we´re officially doomed?” Both the females visibly lost their vigor at Aidings answer and angrily clawed at the soil beneath their skinny chicken-feet.

“…however…”

The trios eyes shot up, a faint glimmer of hope sparkling in their eyes.

“…I might be able to convince them to take one of my little ones for the exams. I´m certain Pumpkin or Fluffels would love to take part in some activities outside the farm,” Aiding finished with his trademark smirk.

Clasping her claws together the first bird let out an avian cry of joy and the second went to hug-tackle the Ling, scaring the green mare enough to jump back a fair bit. She did not make any attempts to fly off though, presumably not to miss out on more scratches. Nevertheless the mare felt the need to voice her anger.

“Oowou!”

“Oooh you´re awesome, chief! That will save us!”

Stetson shook his lead looking glum, “Not to pop yer bubble, Kel´, but wouldn´t that be cheatin´ boss?”

Aiding smirked. “If it was, then every other pony-handler would be guilty as well. They all want to see their protégées make it, and be it just for the extra cash influx their farms get for every successful handout of a license.”

Having recovered from her little shock, the pegasus returned to prodding the Ling. “Oowou!”

Aiding chuckled at the pushy mares antics. “Anyhow. How about we help out the little one here already, before we get back to painting the future even more black?”

“Alright, watcha´ be needin´ boss?” Mr.Stetson replied, seemingly eager to spring into action and change the topic.

“Another glibbercube and the can with the hoof-ointment should be enough.”

“Comin´ right up, boss!” Cedritz tipped his hat at the Ling and marched off to the houses backside, where, now that GLeaming looked a little closer at it, a small shack was attached to.

“Won´t you need some bandages too? You know…, to keep it in place, chief?” the, as of yet still unnamed, bird inquired, watching Mr.Stetson leave.

Aiding waved her off, “No need, I´ll procure one,” and then stopped his petting of the pegasus before getting to work.

Gleaming observed, slightly stunned, as Aiding then began to slowly spin his forelegs horizontal around one another in front of his chest. He did so for a small while until greenish looking substance oozed from the holes in them. The individual strands inevitably caught up with each other, and to Gleamings astonished eyes, little by little the loose strands attached themselves to each other and stuck together. Slowly but steadily they formed into some kind of green, lightly glowing, fabric of sorts, as the Ling proceeded to adjust the angle and speed while he kept spinning his legs.

´He´s actually weaving together some sort of fabric on his own? Changelings can do that?´

In the stories about changelings, whenever they abducted somepony, it was said that they used cocoons to trap the individual pony inside of. A former rumour, that had proven itself fact, when a group of archeologists found some dried out ones in a cave, far in the northern reaches of modern Equestria. But it was never cleared in the official reports, if the changelings were able to make these cocoons on their own or if they procured the fabric through other means. Which, of course, led to wild speculations in the newspapers and the general populace.

Yet, as Gleaming continued to watch with a growing mixture of fascination and increasing uneasyness, it was abundandly obvious to her, where the strange material came from. And she had little doubt what Aiding intended to do with it.

´He´s definitely planning to put her into a cocoon! He must be! First by pretending to help her and then while she was trapped, screw with her mind. Helplessly suspended inside of it, she would have no choice, but to eventually succumb to his evil will and become an obedient slave!´ A fate that Gleaming suspected, awaited her as well.

But once more, reality caused Gleaming train of thoughts to derail spectacularly, as Aiding stopped his crafting earlier than expected.

“This should do nicely,” he announced with some audible pride in his voice, holding up a thin blanket of weavery art. Aidind then proceeded to bite of the strain still conncecting it to the holes in his legs. The small piece of green fabric he held up as a result of his crafting, was barely be enough to cover up a ponys head, let alone the entire body.

Gleaming was confused and a little disappointed…or was that relief?

Returning from his short trip to the house, Cedritz placed a small grey canister next to Aiding in the grass. As he knelt down, Mr.Stetson also carefully opened the lid, pulled it back and held it in place. With the lid open the smell of the cans contents were free to spread through the air and once it had reached Gleamings nostrils, she could faintly smell a sweet flowery aroma wafting from within the round container. The scent, Gleaming found, was actually rather enjoyable.

Aiding meanwhile wasted no time to scoop up some of the contents in his free hoof while holding the finished fabric in the other.

“One of you girls feed her a cube, and then keep her occupied. I´ll deal with the rest,” he paused “…oh and make sure she keeps still, at least for a minute.”

“Go for it, sis.”

“Leave it to me!”

A series of nods was shared and Cedritz reached for a small pouch hanging from his belt, holding it out to his coworker. Walking the short stretch to him, one of the avians retrived the pouch, before turning and kneeling down a small distance in front of the winged green mare. The wary pegasus in the meantime eyed the exchanged item hungrily, sniffled at the air and licked her lips, seemingly eager on aquiring it.

Approaching the mare slowly and deliberately, the oversized bird carefully watched the mares reactions and halted in her movements each time she spotted the slightest hint in the pegasus´ posture that indicated flinching or a retreat attempt. Gleaming assumed the large bird was probably a little nervous about the entire ordeal, as she could see the avians eyes flicker everywhere over the mares body and her own wings shook slightly. Her beak was also slightly ajar.

´Or is she just excited?`

Having reached the closest point she could, without towering to much above the pony, the bird girl sat down in the grass, reached into the pouch and offered the glibbercube in very much the same way Aiding had prior to her. The presented item was placed in her claw, which she held upside down. The edge of the attached wing on the large birds elbow dragged itself through the grass along with her actions, slightly marring the tips of the attached feathers in the process.

But the avain did not seem to mind.

The green pegasus tilted her head to look at the bird, scanning her posture for any signs of hidden treason, just like Aiding, before uttering a cheerful sounding “Oowou!” as she quickly snatched the snack from the birds claw. Unlike Aiding however, the bird immediately rushed forward when the pegasus closed her eyes as she started to devour the snack and started scratching behind the ponys ear, before the pony even had finished chewing.

The mare paused her chewing for a splitsecond, her wings flared and her eyes shot open in surprise at the sudden approach. But as she seemed to realise the bird was the new source of her petting, despite havng violated her personal space just now, she relaxed again and leaned into the the scratching. Happily munching away and enjoying the petting at the same time. As she gulped down what remained of the cube, the mare started to hum in content, slowly refolding her wings to her sides as time went on.

“Risky move to jump a step ahead Kel, but it worked in your favor this time,” Aiding critized her. “Always remember to let the pony control the encounter, lest they will see it as a trap and try to flee.” Nodding in response to the Ling, the bird-girl named Kel, kept her sight on the mare as she kept caressing her head, much to the pegasus´ delight.

And also Kel´s joy, if the growing smile on her beak was any indication.

Scooting closer to the oblivious mare, Aiding carefully took the bad hoof in his own again, this time with the fabric on it. Gently guiding the ailed hoof to himself, he then generously smeared the mass he had scooped up from the can on and around the affected hoof, effectively covering it. The pegasus did not seem to oppose the ointment much, as her hoof only twitched a little.

Aiding checked for any spots left unattended on the hoofs underside, before he moved the fabric in position around it, before tying it closed with a knot. Pulling it tight to make sure the knot stayed in place and would not come off easily, he first nodded to himself and then tapped Kel on her shoulder.

Appearing somewhat sad, presumably about having to stop caressing the pegasus, the bird relented and let the mare free, who once again pouted about the missing of the pleasurable feeling. Therefore the green mare returned to a method that had restarted the petting once already and loudly protested with an “Oowou!” and angrily stomped her hoof.

Her bad hoof, Gleaming noticed.

A fact that must have caught up with the mare as well, because she instantly withdrew it from the ground in expected pain…but none came. Gleaming watched along with everypony else present as the green mare curiously sniffed at the new addition on her hoof, before checking it over and placing it back down. And again stomping it? And again?

“Oowou!”

Joy practically exploded on the pegasus face as she repeatedly stomped her previously bad hoof on the ground, now wrapped in green bioluminscent fabric and emitting a faint flowery odor. It was more than obvious now, that she no longer felt any discomfort from the action and when that finally cemented itself within the mares head as well, she started jumping in place.

“Well done Kel!”

“Thanks chief, but you did most of it.” Raising back up to her full height the bird scratched her beak, looking embarrest.“She seems more than just happy now. Should we feed her something as well?”

Getting back up and disposing the rest of the ointment on his pants by simply smearing his hoofs over them, Aiding took a quick glance skywards. “If she doesn´t run off within the next hour, feel free to try. Otherwise simply let her go.”

´Go? He´s surely not serious about letting her leave?!´

“Go, chief? Don’t you mean fly?” Kel cheekily asked.

“…very funny, but at the moment even she seems to have forgotten that she´s able to.” Aiding explained while pointing over to the green pony jumping around and stomping her hoof on the grass in newfound joy, oblivious to the world around her.

*flap* *flap* *flap*

The unmistable noise of wings propelling something through the air, announced the arrival of a creature, Gleaming had not seen after leaving the carriage. Landing a few steps in front of Aiding, Pokey folded his wings and waved up at the much taller Ling to gain his attention. “Wahwah!”

When Aiding tore his gaze from the pegasus and caught sight of Pokey he adopted a small smile. “Back already buddy? Have you found the new guy?”

The answer to Aidings question came in the form rapid nodding and the dragon pointing a single talon in a seemingly random direction, somewhere past the large gathered croud of ponies. Thus far these ponies had been mostly indifferent about everything happening around them. Seemingly content with just huddling together and nibbling on random patches of grass around them.

But as Pokey came into the crouds collective view, a visible chill went through them, as all activity suddenly grind to a halt.

Gleaming had seen these ponies watch the ongoings between Aididng, his group and the green pegasus only with mild curiosity. Just occasionally would they pay any real attention, indicated by their ears pointing forward, as they slowly munched on whatever grew nearby.

Now however, all of their colorful eyes, or at least the ones who sat in the front row or could see above their kin in terms of height, were fixed on the tiny firebreather. The ponies with clear sight of Pokey had their pupils dilated, their big eyes wide as dinnerplates (which made them even bigger) and all ears ramrod straight at full attention. Every now and then a couple of ears would twitch a little out of position, before switching back to full alert mode.

Gleaming also noted a sudden and complete lack of chewing amongst them. Not even a single pony had any remnants of blades of grass sticking out of their muzzles. In fact, Gleaming caught some of them even spitting the rest of their meals out, while keeping a watchful eye on the approaching lizard.

Either completely oblivious to the changes the ponies went through upon his arrival or simply ignoring them on purpose, Pokey clapsed his paws together and flew in a beeline towards the croud with a cheerful smile on his face and a slightly opened jaw.

A big mistake, Gleaming immediately realised.

No sooner had Pokey taken off in their direction, multiple ponies within the croud gave frantic, loud cries of “Eeeeep!” , which only intensified in their amount and loudness the closer Pokey came. Hurried gazes were send through the group and heads turned every way to find the rest of their kind also in a state of panic. This act only kept up intensifying, until Pokey came almost within touching reach of the first row of furry equines.

Without any more warnings, aside from one very loud cry of alarm, the large croud of ponies dispersed in utter panic into all available directions. Grown mares and stallions grabbed any nearby foals with their mouths and placed them on their backs, before galopping off like teir tails caught on fire. The most frightened ponies even scrambled over each other in their frantic hurry, which occasionally resulted in hitting each other accidentally with their hooves. It seemed to matter little to the scared ponies which way to go, if it would just see them getting further away from Pokey.

It was pure chaos. And all of it just because of one little dragon.

Gleaming watched on as all ponies around her, caught up in sheer massive panic, bolting off in the direction of the barn-like structures in the far back of the clearing. Of those who passed by her, some even came dangerously close to running Gleaming over!

The only one safe from the stampede was the green pegasus, who had the unique advantage of an airial escape. Wasting no time to get airborne, the mare first returned back to the roof and as things did not calm down fast enough for her, made a beeline for the treetops skimming the clearing. She must have been flying quite fast, Gleaming surmised, as it did not take long for her to vanish from sight.

Every way he turned, Pokey caused these ponies to flee for their very lives. Those who did not run far enough in the first few seconds and stopped halfway to the barns in small groups, had the unfortunate pleasure to be scared out of their wits a second time, whenever he approached. Some even threw up some dirt and grass in their hasty retreat in the vain hope to obscure the vision of their persuer for the briefest of moments.

It was a surreal situation for Gleaming. But she did had the advantage to grow up with a dragon in her home. Was this how ponies used to react towards dragons in ancient times?

After what felt like minutes, but was probably just a few seconds, the reality of the situation finally caught up with Pokey. No matter where he went, all ponies present immediately left in a frightened hurry when he got anywhere near them.

Gleaming saw as the whelpling first slowed his advance on the last group shakily huddled together and when they split off and ran as well, stopped his flight alltogether. Almost plummeting to the soil beneath him, he landed in the middle of the spot where the ponies had gathered not to long ago.

But unlike his usual happy-go-about self, Gleaming spotted the whelpling loose all his vigor as his small form slumped together. Pokey pulled in his wings and arms in a protective selfhug and visibly deflated, all his energy lost in an instant.

Eventually he laid his head back and started cyring. Hard.

It was hearthbreaking for Gleaming to see the ever cheerful dragon suddenly feeling so miserable. Even more so since he was the only thing she could somewhat call a friend out here. Therefore, without thinking much about it almost on instinct, Gleaming found her legs slowly carry herself to the point where Pokey had given up.

As she went to console the upset dragon, Gleaming saw the bird named Kel elbow the Ling. “Chief, why´d he do that? He should know by now it always turns out this way. He probably scared the crap out of them again.”

Aiding heaved a heavy sigh and cast a long thoughtful look at Pokey before answering her. “He probably thought this to be his lucky day, as our newcomer back there doesn´t seem to mind him at all.” He finished while motioning with his head in Gleaming direction, only to find her missing.

“Hey! Where did she-?”

“Oh, we got another newcomer today?”

Gleaming could barely spot Aiding shoot Kel a bewildered look from the corner of her eye, when out of the blue her path was blocked by a large yellow avian and her feathery appendages. She settled down right in the middle of the unicorns way. “You mean this one, chief?”

“Yes but- Hold on a second! What do you mean another one? You don´t mean the pegasus, do you?”

The answer to Aidings questions, if he got any, was lost on Gleaming as the bird obstruckting her view started gushing all over her. “Oooh, look at that! Pristine white fur! Well it´s a little dirty, but still!” The bird then sat down directly in front of Gleaming and started a familiar maneuver. Reaching into the pouch she still had with her, Kel produced another one of those cubes and held it out in her wingclaw. Moving the cube closer to Gleamings face in an obvious act to lure her in, the avian eagerly awaited the unicorns reaction.

´That´s not going to work on me…I don´t even know what that is!´ Gleaming deadpanned with hoof halted midstep. ´But then again…maybe I should pretend?`

With her being the one closest to the cube now, Gleaming could inspect it for the first time, since coming here. The item was indeed a cube of barely an inch in all directions and of dark brownish color. Small specks of green, yellow and red protruded from the mainmass of the cubic form and a coat of a slimy, glibbery substance surrounded it. Despite its odd appearance a sweet smell wafted from the offered cube, which made Gleaming stomach growl in protest.

´Maybe I should try one. They can´t be that bad, can they?

…

Or…or maybe this is how they control these ponies! I can´t risk that!´

Gleamings stomach strong disagreed with her.

Unaware of Gleamings inner turmoil, the avian Kel tried to encourage Gleamings decision making process. “Go on, little one. This is for you. Yumyum!”

´One of those things surely won´t hurt…much. What the worst that could happen?´

When Gleaming hesitated further, the avain called out over her shoulder. “Can we name her Snowflake, chief? Please let me name her!”

´Should have known…´ Gleaming fumed internally and narrowed her eyes. ´Hey you oversized featherbag! I have name already, and I like it the way it is! Thank you very much!

…ugh, who am I kidding here? I can´t even tell her that, even if I could tell her!

…does that even make sense?´

The other bird, who remained at Aidings side called out to her avian sister. “Oh come on sis´, not this again! You´re trying to pin that name on every white furred pony we´ve had so far, and none of them wanted it!”

Scowling over her shoulder, Kel countered her sisters critique with a glare. “Why are you always so negative?” Refocussing on Gleaming , either oblivious to, or ignoring the uncorns silent protest. “I have a good feeling with this one!”

´Your feeling is garbage then, sister.´

Gleaming placed her hoof back down, as she spotted the other bird shake her head, while burrowing it in her wingsclaws. “You said that last time too!” The still standing bird groaned. “And just for your information, I´m simply being realistic!”

“Hey, hey, easy girls. No fighting over things you cannot control, alright?”

When both birds chose to remain silent and refused to look at each other, Aiding pressed the issue. “Alright?”

“Alright, chief.”

“…Fine.”

Heaving a sigh, Aiding whispered something to the avian he was closest to, to which she nodded and rushed off towards the barn area. Then Gleaming spotted him glance Pokeys way, before he spoke louder again. “Be careful with this one Kel. I´ll need to check on Pokey for second.”

The outstretched limb in Gleaming face wavered almost dropping the cube, as a look of alarm flashed over the birds face. “What do you mean, chief? She´s not having fleas, is she?”

´Tartarus no!´

“Nah, but she kinda made a scene back on my ship and is quite the escapist. Nemora can attest to that. Keep an eye out for potential hidden aggressions too.”

´What?! I have no hidden aggress-´

“She didn´t attack you, did she?” When Aiding chose to not answer that, the birds gaze intensified. “She did?! I don´t believe that.” Kel pointed with both of her claws in Gleaming direction now. “Look at her! She´s the very definition of calm! What could possibly drive a pony like her to behave like that, chief?”

“Don´t know yet, but maybe she´ll come around after some time spend here. Once things get normal again.”

“Leave it to tha boss, to giv´em all a chance.” Cedritz smiled as he leaned on the ointment canister. “Anythin´ yo´ll need us doin´ before finishin´ up, boss?”

“Oh right, almost forgot. I got the spareparts for the swollok fence in the back of my truck. See yourself to them and get to fixing the faulty section. I´d like to get things back in order before we hit the dark season.” Aiding made to move, but halted midstep. “And try to teach the newguy some tricks. The little ones need to get used to him being around. Renna will send him over, once she´s found him.”

“Will do, boss.” Cedritz tipped his hat and marched off to whence Gleaming had come from.

With having assigned a task to nearly everyone present for the moment, Aiding moved over to where Pokey had plummeted into the halfeaten grass and lowered himself down next to him. At first the dragon did not seem to react to his presence at all, preferring instead to remain in his selfhug-bubble. But as Gleaming saw Aidings mouth move, Pokey slowly but surely left his little wing tent and poked his head back up. Gleaming could not hear what was being said between them, but Pokeys tears dried almost instantly after Aiding pulled something halfway out from his many pockets before stashing it away again. The little dragon eyes lit up, and after a little more words were said, a genuine smile dominated the tiny lizards face once more, as he clasped his claws together like he used to.

Gleaming watched as Aiding held out his foreleg to Pokey and the dragon immeditely clambered up along its length, until he reached the spot between his shoulders, right behind the Lings head. The very same position he was in, when Aiding took on the butchers in the dark alley, back in town. Once Pokey was seated, Aiding rose and came over to where a still hopeful looking avian girl was still trying to get Gleaming to approach her and her snack.

With little chances of success, as Gleaming attention was on the interaction between dragon and changeling…aaand the little fact that the bird was not aware of Gleamings true mental abilities.

´I should probably keep it that way.´

When he was back within hearing range, the avian girl addressed the Ling without taking her eyes off of the unicorn. “Chief? Am I doing something wrong here? She´s not making any moves, just staring straight at you, like all the time. I get the feeling, she doesn´t even acknowledge me being here. Is she ignoring me?”

Aiding crossed his forelegs in front of his chest. “Nonsense, watch her ears. She´s clearly paying attention to everything around her.”

A cold chill went down Gleaming back. Her ears! The one part of her body a pony had very very little control over, could have potentially given her away!

Now being made aware of the small attachment to her head, Gleaming noticed that indeed, her ears were swiveling all over the place. In an effort to keep her true mental state hidden Gleaming tried to suppress their movements as much as she could.

´Stupid, stupid, stupid!´

A dejected look crossed the avians face. “But still, she isn´t even trying to sniffle at the cube…”

“Not all of them like glibbercubes and besides this one is behaving kinda weird anyways.”

´Uh-oh…´

The avian scrunched up her face at that revelation, which resulted in a rather funny grimace since her beak did not quite follow the movement from the rest ofher features. “Weird how, chief?”

“Well for starters, just look, what happens.”

Having said that Aiding motioned with his head for his passenger to detach himself and surely enough not a single second wasted, Pokey was sitting on the ground, right in Gleaming sight. Unlike the behaviour Gleaming was used to, the dragon now hesitated with a fearful look in his eyes as he very carefully came closer. Gleaming could see the last remnants of wetness still glimmering in his eyes from crying earlier, as his blue orbs searched hers for any sign of rejection or panic.

´Might have dug a hole for myself with this one, but by Celestia I simply can´t…´

As soon as Pokey wobbely entered Gleaming range, the unicorn snatched him with one on her forelegs and pressed him to her side. Looking down at him, Gleaming did her best of smiling reassuringly, without revealing to much of it to Aiding and his feathery minion, who were closely observing the encounter.

Surprised, yet elated, Pokey hugged her side and nuzzled it with his face, as his fear of more rejection fell off of him and the dragon quickly returned to his usual cheerful self. “Mehehehehehe.”

When raising her head back up, Gleaming made sure to wipe her face of any trace potentially giving her away. As her sight refocussed on the avian, she was pleasantly surprised to see the open beak and shocked expression right in front of her.

As the avian struggled to get her beak to work normally again, she stammered under her breath. “Whaaa…Why…I mean how in the great mothers name?!”

Wearing a smug smile Aiding simply said, “Fascinating, isn´t it?”

Kel whirled around to address her superior. “But, but, HOW?! We´ve been trying for months to get a single pony to accept him, with zero success and she just takes him under her wing no problem?! Hows that fair?”

“Still with his forelegs crossed over his chest, Aiding leaned forward slightly. “Lower your voice a bit Kel, we´ve already scared one wildfang away today.” Then he motioned with his head in Gleamings direction. “Remember when I told you, that all ponies are fairly unique individuals?”

Kel simply nodded, but returned her attention back to Pokey rubbing his face into the fur on Gleamings warm body.

“Just like people, they all come with their own little quirks and habits, which you will only discover if you invest enough time in them. Never expect one animal of the same species to behave exactly like the other.”

Kel finally retracted her claw with the snack offering and stashed it away, before adopting the same posture as her mentor, wingarms crossed in front of her. Then she adopted an angry look, furrowed her brows and somehow pouted, which was an impressive feat with that beak of hers.

“Why is this all so complicated? Why can´t they simply behave like one another? At this rate I´ll never figure everything out before the exams. The Jury is gonna rip me apart! I can already see that ugly, slimy yellow teethed smile of Madam Skelk, when she announces, that I haven´t passed.”

Sighing, Aiding put a hoof on her shoulder. “Didn´t I already tell you, that I´ll help? And besides, I´ll be at the sidelines. Just look my way whenever you´re in doubt and you will recall everything I´ve said over the years, trust me. Theres a reason why I keep repeating myself so often…even though I hate to do so.”

When the aggravated Kel showed no reaction despite his words, Aiding knelt down next to her. “Also, there is still some time left before then. Just ask away whenever you feel like your stuck somewhere, okay?”

The avian closed her eyes for a long moment, took a deep breath and relaxed her posture, while Aiding removed his hoof. Then she rose along with Aiding on her long chicken-like legs and morphed her expression into a new determined look. “Will do, chief!”

“That’s better! Now I´d like to to take our newest addition-“

“Snowflake!” Kel interrupted him with a smile.

Annoyed at the interruption from his student, Aiding slowly resumed instructing her, “… Snowflake to barn seven and give her a preventive fleabath. We´ll give the rest theirs, as soon as they have calmed down from Pokeys assault. Or tomorrow if we don´t get through with every pony in one go. The foals take a lot of time.”

“Just one tiny problem there , chief. Snowflake doesn´t even take snacks from me. I doubt she would follow me to bathing time.”

“No problem, just ask Pokey.”

Kel shot him a dumbfounded look, that practically screamed: “Are you kidding me?” , which Aiding must have read correctly as he hastily began to elaborate.

“Look, I don´t know myself yet why, but she is rather found of our scaly bugger over there. She doesn´t even seem to like me at all.”

A confused expression once more took hold of Kels face as she shot Gleaming a quick glance. “But how did you get her here then?”

“Simple. I asked the one, who already has a connection with her, just like we do with other problematic ones around here.”

“You´re not serious, are you chief?”

“Afraid, I am. Just give it a try. And if it doesn´t work out, there is always the next day. She´s hopefully smart enough to not stay out in the open for too long.”

Kel weighed her head from side to side as if she was not certain if her boss was trying to pull her leg or not, but eventually relented to carry out his instructions. “Not so sure about this, but I´ll give it a shot.”

“Good. Now before you do that, one more thing.”

“What is it, chief?”

“Why is there a red band on the ointment cover?”

The question Aiding asked came completely out of the blue for Gleaming, as it had nothing to do with the discussed topic from seconds before. But as she leaned past the avians legs, she could clearly make out the abandoned canister with the anti-funghi-paste still sitting in the grass, where Cedritz had left it.

And also just as clearly she could make out a thin red stripe sticking out of the canisters top.

While it made no sense to the unicorn, the sudden look of dread on the avians face, meant that she knew exactly, what Aiding was refering to. Under Aidings scrutinizing gaze, Kel shrunk a little in her posture, twiddled with her claws and shuffled on her feet. Suddenly Gleaming found her avoiding eyecontact with her boss at all costs and instead found the grass very appealing to look at.

Aiding crossed his forelegs over his chest and tapped his backhoof on the grass. “I´m waiting.”

In a voice, lacking much of the energy the avian had prior and not unlike a foals, who got caught with its hoof in the cookie jar, Kel reluctantly answered him, “We might have forgotten to refill some stocks, while you were out, chief…”

´Oh oh, did they fail him? Is he gonna be mad? This might get dangerous still!´

Gleaming subconciously pressed Pokey closer to her side, as she heard the Ling draw in a lot of air, but ultimately nothing happened. Again! Except for him dramatically facehoofing and shaking his head.

Slowly. Very slowly, the hoff travelled down his face. All the way from the bottom of his horn, down to the end of his fangs. And all the while he howled like a ghost trapped in an old castle…or a dog missing its owner.

“Oooooohuuuuuuuu…”

When Aidings hooves reached the end of their journey, his gaze snapped back to Kel with anger sparkling in his eyes. As he grumbled something unintelligerable under his breath, the avian busied herself with shuffling her feet on the ground and hid her arms behind her back. Watching her for a moment, Aiding let his gaze bore into her form, probably roasting her, before he eventually relented and figured things out for himself.

“Fine. I´ll go back into town and get what we lack. I assume we´re down on all supplies not required for day to day happenings?”

When Kel remained quiet, but nodded shyly under his boring gaze, Aiding went on.

“Just so you know, this is the last time, I´m the one doing this. Actually, I should be sitting in my office planning out your next lecture and counting money. Next time we are missing just one bar of soap, I´ll let the three of you bath, shave and hooficure the entire herd on your own for a month! You may inform the others of that once you´re done!”

Aiding made to move, but halted his departure after barely turning. “Now back to your job and scrub her clean. And make sure you don´t get any soapy water into her eyes! She seems easy to scare…aside from Pokey that is…”

´What? No! I don´t get cold hooves so easily! I just had some bad luck lately!´

With a very annoyed look Gleaming watched after the leaving Ling, until he disappeared around the house looming over the middle of the premise. Even when faced with trouble in his own place, he did not lash out, at least not physically, and rather saw to it himself, that the problem was fixed. He acted more like a business owner running his company, than a diabolical tyrant seeking to oppress the rest of the world.

It was very confusing for Gleaming to see a mythological creature, that was always aligned with devious plotting and evil doings, act so normally like any regular pony citizen would. And yet she could not shake the feeling, that something was off here. She just couldn´t quite put her hoof on it.

“Phew…dodged a bullet on that one.”

Gleaming suddenly became aware of the avian still standing next to her, as she wiped her brow and readjusted the feathers on her head backwards again. She appeared quite glad about Aiding not exploding in her face.

More than he did.

Kel leaned on her knees and looked down to where Pokey had attached himself to Gleaming frame. “What do say Pokey, can you help me get your friend to barn seven? That’s the one with the yellow roof, remember?”

Pokey too had looked after his masters departure and briefly stopped nuzzling Gleamings fur. But now that he was directly addressed by the avian, it seemed he was knocked out of his own stupor.

“Wah-wah!”

Letting go of his furry friend and hobbling backwards, Pokey made himself some room for his gestures. Gleaming of course knew what to expect by now, and let the little show commence. A show whichs end hopefully would see her get rid off the grime sticking to her like glue for almost a day now. Even if it wasn´t by her own hooves and magic…or even her shower back in Canterlot.

As she felt the familiar tugging sensation on her leg, that signaled the begin of her act of studying, understanding and following Pokey, Gleaming idly observed the avians claws from the corner of her eyes. Claws that were looking really, really sharp all of a sudden and were meant to go through her fur and over her body.

´Bloody claws ripping through muscles and firmly gripping iron tools to cut bones and sinews still attached to them. The wet sound of meat hitting meat, as slab after slab landed on a pile, meant for cooking or direct consume by greedy looking mouths with sharp teeth.

And the dead, cold stare as the butchers caught the intruder to their doing, quietly observing them from above…´

All of a sudden Gleaming was very aware of just what was going to come very close to her body in a manner of minutes. And paired with prior experiences it did not sit well with her.

´Any chance for her to get those talons filed real quick?´

When Kel caught Gleamings look along the way to the barn, she tried shooting her a disarming smile back, as she subconciously flexed her claws in preparation, not realizing that exactly these appendages were the cause for the unicorns concern. As their eyes briefly met, Kel took the opportunity to speak to Gleaming.

“Don’t worry, Snowflake. Relax and it´ll be over quick.”

´That’s what im afraid of here.´

…

´AND STOP CALLING ME THAT!´

Chapter 7

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Chapter 7, Barn adventures

*nudge* *nudge*

Gleaming Shield found herself wrapped in a comfortable blanket of warmth and darkness, as her mind slowly but surely left Lunas realm of joyful dreams and began the journey to return to the waking world. The process of waking up naturally took different amounts of time for anypony, but seeing as Gleaming was not a morning pony like her mother and sister, she usually tried to postpone the inevitable time of getting up for as long as she possibly could.

Squeezing out just a few sweet seconds here and there. Just like her dad.

Normally Gleaming would just pull the soft sheets or her flower scented, trusty pillow over her face and snuggle back into bed. At least until mom called for breakfast. But the relentless pushing and prodding of tiny hooves on her muzzle and face made it sheer impossible to find her way back to slumberland. Not to mention the lightbeam from her rooms window was hitting her right in the face. It seemed even Celestia conspired against the alabaster unicorn today.

´Mom must have snuck in and opened the curtains and left the door to my room open. Naturally Twily jumped in on the opportunity to wake me up. A genius and almost devious plan like always mother…´

*nudge* *nudge*

“…mhmm…mnot yet Dwily…”

Gleamings half-asleep mind figured it must be around Saturday, for that would explain her siblings antics to get her big sister out of bed early. Ever since she was old enough to be trusted with supervising her younger sister by their parents, Gleaming made it a habit to go out on trips through the neighborhood with her. They never went that far away, mostly to playgrounds or watch what new stuff the stores had to offer in the nearby Canterlot Park Avenue.

The Sparkle sisters almost always landed in or near a book store or comics shop.

For the adults it was an easy way to get both kids out of the house for a few hours and sometimes get said house to themselves on the weekends. For little Twilight it was most notably the very few moments in her foalhood, she did not spend with dried papers glued to a labeled spine. Much.

And for Gleaming, well… it served mostly as a method to take her mind off of things at first, but gradually it evolved into a cherished activity, regardless of what they ended up doing. Gleaming did not have many talents, like her parents did, but she gladly taught little Twilight anything she could.

For Twily, as smart as she was, always knew the most complex way to tackle a problem, but generally failed at the simple things in life. Mom and Dad usually were either busy with their own projects and hobbies or had something important to do at work. Therefore it fell to Gleaming to teach those little things to her younger sibling and be admired in return by the little filly.

That did not mean their parents neglected them, quite the opposite actually. But asking Mom and Dad for some advice or an open slot…well, it took some time, if it was not an outright emergency.

Gleaming however enjoyed being admired for a change. It was a rare occurrence for her. Wearing braces for a long time in school really messed with Gleamings self esteem. Not to mention that she never felt like she could compete with any of the other fillies in terms of appearance at all.

But this felt good. It felt right. And Twilight liked it too.

So it came as no surprise to anypony, that Twilight was eager to reach her big sister as early as she could by the start of each new day on the weekend. After all, the sooner they started, the more hours they had to burn in the day.

Gleaming was not totally opposed to the idea of getting up early for these occasions, since it was always fun to toy around with her little sister. Watching the purple filly explore her surroundings and try to get behind how the world was functioning, made little Twilight even more adorable than usual.
Especially when she looked up everything in a book she carried with her, comparing what she read with what was really in front of her on the spot.

´But why does it have to be this early?!´

*nudge* *nudge*

“…just five more minutes, mkay?...”

Gleamings unwillingness to move only seemed to encourage the foal, as Gleaming felt the little hooves increase the intensity of their movement all over her face, in response to her plea. The tiny appendages were not hurting Gleaming one bit. They never did. But it started to tickle her further out of her comfy, sleepy state.

For a moment Gleaming even thought that she may have forgotten an important date…or even worse, a BSBFF promise or something special!

But her mother would have never let her sleep in, if that was the case. She kept track of her daughters activities to much for that. Also Gleaming could not recall the previous day somehow. It was all…a blurr…

Usually Twilight Velvet would have been relentlessly hinting at something major happening the next day, all over the previous, so no one in their family could even try to forget. A habit her she developed over the years, with her husband having trouble at times to recall certain vital dates in their shared life.

But still…something about yesterday tingled in the back of Gleamings mind, like far away ghosts angrily rattling their chains in the fog…

*nudge* *nudge*

“Eeeeee!”

“…C´mon Twily, you get to have the bathroom first too, if-“

Suddenly Gleaming felt like she was just struck by a lightening bolt, as the memories of recent events came rushing back to her in a mighty flood of pictures in front of her minds eye. A show with entry free and for one customer only.

The portal, the changeling, Pokey, the weird carriage, the basement and the farmhouse with the Ling´s minions behind it.

Gleaming hastily opened her eyes to check on her surroundings and instantly regretted the instinctual move as she had not just imagined the aggressive lightbeam in her sleep.
Also she was correct on how it was aimed right in her face, almost blinding her. In response, Gleaming shut her eyes tighter than they had been before and tried in vain to provide some extra shielding to them by lifting a foreleg over her eyes as she cursed under her breath.

While unpleasant, Gleaming was sure of one detail now. The offending bright light came from somewhere up high in the opposing wall, far above her head. Quite sadly out of reach.

“…stupid sunlight in the stupid morning! There should be a law against light being shone in ponies faces. Especially so bright this early-“

The string of words escaping Gleaming mouth let her momentarily forget her fury against the Celestial fireball in the sky and she froze up. Words! Words had come from her mouth! She had spoken actual words again! She had to retry that immediately!

Dropping the leg she had raised prior as a means of protecting her eyesight Gleaming flawlessly recited the first thing she could come up with, “The itzy bitsy spider fell in the watercup. YES! One more, one more…uhm…”

Encouraged by her success a stray thought struck her and Gleaming tried to lower her voice as much as she could to replicate her old math teachers voice, Mr. Equal Numbers, and rightened herself up a little: “One cannot devide by zero, Ms. Shield.” And then burst out laughing.

“Eeeeee!”

Gleamings elated laughter was cut short as somepony voiced their presence in her immediate vicinity. Judging by her ears, said individual also happened to be fairly close by, right in front of her.

A cold chill went down Gleamings spine when her sleepy mind caught up with the ramifications. She had just spoken and did not know who was around to listen. She still had her eyes closed!

Gulping loudly, Gleaming used her leg to block out as much light as she could and slowly opened her eyes one after the other. She was mindful of both the direction of the light still shining on her face and dreading what would come to light in a few seconds.

But all that came into view was a harmless little foal and the inside of the barn she was being lead into by Pokey moments before.

´It could only have been moments, right?´ she figured, as evidenced by the lightbeam the sun had not set yet, despite Gleaming obviously nodding off sometime between then and here. The bright light from outside still retained the same intensity it had when Gleaming entered this barn after the avian.

Or at least that was the best she could come up without any other indicators.

The barn in itself was nothing spectacular to speak of. It looked just like any other barn back in Equestria proper. A wide free area dominated the middle of the building, creating a makeshift aisle between the rectangualr stalls for easy access. A high and somewhat pointy ended roof closed the structure up on top. The walls were mostly made up of some sort of reddish looking wood, as were the support beams holding the roof up and the individual semi-walls seperating the stalls from one another.

Gleaming found herself lying flat on her belly at the far end of the aisle in an empty stall in the barns far back. Well, empty apart from herself and a foal that is. Over the top of the semi-wall to her left Gleaming could barely spot the upper part of the large double doors she had entered the barn through. It was a tough angle to make out any details, but they appeared to have been closed at some point during her sleep.

A bit of stale, yellow hay was lying in piles around here and there, decorating the interior flooring somewhat. Most notably it was piled higher in the small spare area beween the barns backwall an the end of the stalls. The hay was unremarkable and looked unappetising, but it sure served to add familiar natural farm scent to the air.

As far as Gleaming could tell the only entrance to this place was the big double door, apart from a series of small open windows close to the ceiling, which only pegasis could have accessed. Upon closer inspection. one of the lightspending wall holes ultimately proved to be the culprit of Gleamings initial blindness, as the lightbeam still fell on her like a spotlight on stage.

Glowering at the inanimate fiend, Gleaming shuffled a bit sideways to get out of its range.

´Seriously, if this place was meant to keep ponies in, should the windows not be locked or at least blocked by something? All any pegasus had to do was fly up a few levels and they would be out for good!´ Gleaming did not even feel any oppression one would be exposed to under a magic nulling field to prevent the use of high class magic, like teleportation. This was weird.

The only escape that would be even easier is walking out the front door!

´Hang on……NO ANTIMAGIC FIELD!´

Gleaming could hardly believe her stroke of luck. If magic recovered just as well as her speech did then she would have a much easier time in getting out of here and leave this place for good!

Plus saving the ponies on her way out of course.

Feeling for her horn and the power it witheld, Gleaming found it far more responsive than it used to be earlier today. It still felt somewhat strained and sluggy, like a leg that’s fallen asleep and now took some time to wake up ebfore working properly again, but she could work with that!

Going through the usual steps to channel power through the appendage Gleaming send a small pulse of magical energy out in all directions. And just like she predicted, the invisible waves travelled all the way through the barn and beyond without being blocked, which would have made them visible.

That was great news!

Elated at her success, Gleaming tried a light spell next. And even though she had to use up way more power than she was used to, a few seconds later a small pinkish lightbeam shot out towards the ceiling.

That was even better!

With little regards to her earlier concerns Gleaming proceeded her line of utility spells until she reached levitation, which worked almost flawlessly as well. Almost.

For every time she increased the complexity of the spell she wanted to use, she had to draw in way more power than before. She had to literally strain herself to the core just to get a single straw of hay floating at the end!

That was bad!
´Whats going on here? I never had this much trouble! Not even in magic kindergarden!´

*grumble*

It was at exactly that moment, that Gleaming body reminded her that she was running on empty for longer than she should have. And the all the magic energy she had just used, even if it was just minor spells, probably did not help the matter.

In essence, Gleaming felt weakened, despite being well rested.

Suddenly the stale, raw hay looked waaay more appetising than before…

´No, I´m sure I can find something better.´

*grumble*

Gleaming rubbed her belly to negiote a deal, ´Okay, okay, if I don´t find anything soon, i´ll try it. Until then no more experiments with magic!´

The subject of magic brought Gleaming mind back to the Ling. ´If Aiding planned to keep me in here, would it not be safer to at least try to subdue my magic?...´ Gleaming eyes travelled to the barn doors ´…or keep the place locked up?´

Sure she was no pegasus and definitely not an alicorn, but still. Any half decent captor would have had any such measures in place. It was extremely odd of him to say the least. But that was not the only thing that stood out to Gleaming as rather strange.

Gleamings stall, as well as the one right across the middle aisle, was entirely open on one side. Nothing was put in place to keep the individuals residing in them from leaving any of the stalls or freely venturing between them! No metal bars, no chains, no spikes…Nothing but hay and air!

“Eeeeee!”

Speaking of things standing out…

As she completed her assessment of the overall situation, Gleamings eyes had finally finished adjusting themselves to the light. The second, more dominant, source of her previous plight, that would not let her go back to sleep, also made itself known.

It was a small orange filly sitting on its rump, legs stretched out, half a step away from Gleaming. The little pony stared up at the taller unicorn with her big and curious eyes. She was gazing with wonderous intense at Gleaming and followed her movements with her little head.

Gleamings figured that her befuddled mind must have subconsciously registered the fillys presence, but confused her with little Twily in her sleep. To be fair on her brain, It was not even that far off, as the foal looked to be the same age, as Twilight was in her sleepy-memory.

“Eeeeee!”, the filly repeated in a high pitched voice, that almost sounded like squeaking, as she reached out to touch Gleamings muzzle with her tiny hooves. A perplexed Gleaming watched on with interest as the little pony started to chirp along happily, when she moved her tiny hooves all over Gleamings face.

It seemed to be the fillys goal to distort Gleaming facial features in order to get her to make a grimace of sorts. It might have been all she was doing since she got here. It would surely explain the relentless prodding Gleaming noticed even in her sleep.

And the fact it was not little Twilight explained, why Gleamings pleas fell on deaf ears…

Leaning back to admire her work, the filly chirped with glee at Gleamings new look. Even if it only lasted for a few precious seconds, it seemed to be more than enough to amuse the young pony.

Joy over her accomplishment lit up her face like a beacon and the filly stomped her fronthooves in approval. The filly kept her happy expression intact, until Gleamings fur, mane and skin naturally moved back into their original spots.

When the show was finally over, the filly was about to go to work again.

“Eeeeee!”

Somewhere deep down, a small part of Gleaming was utterly annoyed by the fillys “game”. It was probably the disturbed longsleeper within her, who strongly disliked getting up at all. But an even bigger part of her just found the foals behavior much to adorable to let that lazy fragment win the upper hoof. So instead of calling the filly out on her antics, Gleaming went ahead and decided to make a funny face of her own. With tongue pushed out and a goofy smile on her face, Gleaming stared back at the foal.

Seeing the bigger pony join in on her game and then beam back at her with a silly face, the filly threw her forehooves in the air and erupted in even more cheer, “Eeeeee!”

When the filly calmed down, Gleaming mumbled, “Aren´t you the cutest thing ever! … Next to Twily that is.”

The foal responded by cocking her tiny head. Then she lightly touched the tip of Gleamings muzzle with a orange hoof and chirped, before staring up at Gleaming from up close.

“You didn´t understand a word of what I just said, did you?”

Gleamings reward was another head tilt from the filly, this time the other way, accompanied by a rather questioning look and a swish from her tail, as the little pony leaned back.

“Nevermind then. Maybe your Mommy will.”

The filly chirped.

“Aha! You understood Mommy, didn´t you?”

Believing she had an angle now, Gleaming rolled her shoulders and crossed her forelegs over each other. Then she pushed her front up and shifted her weight in a manner that would allow for her rear legs to slip a bit forward and under her frame. Finally she uncrossed her forelegs again and pushed herself up into an upright position until she was sitting in the same manner the filly was before her. Minus the head tilt and clueless (but oh so cute!) look of course.

´Right. How do I go from here?´

While she thought about how to get the foal to call its mother, or get her to show the place where missing the parent may be, Gleaming rubbed the sand from her weary eyes by using her fetlocks. Her suspiciously clean white fetlocks with the blue strains mixed in were a trademark of her appearance. Shortly before the fur ended and her hoof began a small patch of blue hairs stood out. A trait she inherited from her father, she had always figured, for he was the only blue pony in the entire family lineage.

Wasn´t there some grime stuck there last time she had inspected them?

“Oh, right, there was that…”

The clean state of her fur was another cue to Gleamings brain to remind her even more recent events, promping it to fill the missing gap in her memory with a dia-show. Luckily in color.

After she had followed the avian girl into this barn, the bird moved through some hay piles and pulled out a metal tub from the far back corner. If Gleaming looked straight ahead, the bathtub was once again covered up with hay, as it sat in the stall across. Although it lacked any water now.

Filling it with clear water from a hose attached to a nearby faucet, Kel had asked Pokey to assist her in getting Gleaming to go inside. Gleaming herself did want nothing more than to jump straight in. The gunk all over her had dried in most places and was making her really itchy all over. But she knew she had to hold back in order to avoid suspicion by the feathered biped and report it back to the Ling.

So it was back to “Let´s pretend” with Gleaming in the main role and sole actor of the play.

The water was not as warm as Gleaming would have liked it to be, but it served its purpose to get her coat properly soaked. And in stark contrast to what Gleaming feared at first, Kel, as the bird was called, did a remarkebly good job of keeping her talons in check, as she smeared a soapy substance into the unicorns fur. Even as she added shampoo and foam had to have blocked her view partially, she did not scratch Gleaming once. With the utmost care, Kel´s claws glided effortlessly through the unicorns coat like sleds on snow. It almost like a spa-massage.

Gleaming felt the stress and anxiousness, that had accumulated over the day leave her body bit by bit, right then and there. Especially when Kel used warmer water to rinse Gleaming after the main program was done. Afterwards Gleaming had closed her eyes for just a second to relax and then…

Blackness.

´Must have nodded off back there!´

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!”, Gleaming cursed while lightly knocking on her forehead with one of her hooves, who had previously served as eye cleaner. “She could have done all manner of things with me during that time!”

From the corner of her eye Gleaming saw that her display of selfharm seemed to greatly amuse the filly, who still observed Gleamings every move. The foal beamed up at her, stomped her tiny hooves in rythym with Gleamings knocking and chirped with glee, “Eeeeee!”

“Uuugh…that’s not a game, you know?”

The filly either did not hear or did care as she kept stomping and chirping away to get the adult to continue. Once Gleaming stopped, the filly calmed down and kept searching her face for more entertainment.

“Yes, yes, lets laugh at me for being stupid. What else is new?”

A sigh left Gleamings mouth. She could not be mad at a foal. The filly probably did not even understand her own situation, let alone Gleamings history of being the clumsy laughing stock at her former school. And it was not the kids fault that Gleaming found herself in this particular predicament either. The only one here to blame for anything, was herself for nodding off.

So, all she could do was to drop her hoof, take a breath and let the foal have its fun.

The filly flicked an ear, “Eeeeee!”

´How do I get her to introduce me to her mom? Or would it be smarter to pick her up and just look for her on my own? She can´t be that far off, right?´

As for usual in her life, Gleamings choice was taken from her by a sudden turn of events.

No sooner had she finished her thoughts, had a large pink mare with curly mane rushed around the corner of the stalls semi-wall. With flared nostrils and wide eyed, the young adult poked her head in every spare space available, clearly looking for something with haste. She even went so far to bust through the haypiles in the back corner, sticking her muzzle into them.

As the search yielded not the expected result, the mares shoulders slacked. Twising her head this and that way she seemed to be wondering where to go next.

It was at one of those moments, that she briefly halted in her scanning the area like a lighthouse. For as soon as she spotted the orange filly in front of Gleaming her vigor returned and the pink mare wasted no time to rush towards the filly with great steps. She almost seemed to fly over the ground seperating from the child and came to a grinding halt at the stalls border. When the little pony took note of the commotion behind her, the filly turned around and calmly chirped at the newcomer in very much the same way she had greeted Gleaming earlier.
Gleaming watched the filly jump up from where she sat and gallop towards the taller pony as fast as her little legs would carry her. And as the two met, the taller pony used a foreleg to pull the filly closer, her breathing slowed considerably and she bent down her much larger head to nuzzle at the foal.

The latter action was much to the foals apparent delight as she chirped with glee and rightfully leaned into the much taller equine affections. It was obvious they knew each other and whatever history they shared was a definite positive one. It was more than likely they were mother and child.

The new arrival had to be at least a close relative, Gleaming guessed. If the lovely greeting and shared curly mane were not indication enough, than the frantic searching the mare showed upon arrival would only be so, if the foal was hers to begin with. And even though she had had some moments to compose herself, it was obvious the fairly young mother would still need some more time to fully recover from the shock of almost losing her child. Or so Gleaming thought.

In an effort to console the mothers worries and gain some bonus points, Gleaming tried to explain the situation. Maybe it would help alleviate her fears?

“Am I right to assume you to be this fillys mother, Ma´am?”

Gleaming suddenly speaking up, caused the earth-pony mare to freeze in her actions. She all but stopped showing affection to her child and slowly raised her head to be at eye level with the speaker.

But unlike Gleaming had expected, the mares entire body tensed and her intense gaze firmly locked on Gleaming as the pink mare took the unicorn in her sights. Gleaming had a feeling, that she was being sized up from top to bottom, before a decision was reached.

The calculative look she gave Gleaming was not one to be desired however. It was a stare that basically drilled holes right into the unicorns body, all the way through and out the back. It was a very uncomfortable experience to be on the receiving end of this mare ire.

The more the young mother looked on, the more the mares eyes seemed to narrow. That was not speaking in Gleamings favor. Gleaming clearly had gotten onto her bad side in a matter of seconds, but how? Did she think, Gleaming had foalnapped her kid?

´Well, at least I got her attention… Maybe she is still worried about her kid? I know I would be, if I found my child with a complete stranger.´

“I´m sorry if I angered you somehow. If I had known you to be her mom, I would have taken her to you immediately. But as you can see she´s alright and had just been playing around here with me.”

Gleaming tried her best, but still received no answer.

“There is nothing to worry about, mam. Nothing happened! She just woke me up a little early, is all. No harm done.”, Gleaming finished while rubbing the back of head with a hoof. The unicorn gave her the most reassuring smile she could muster and hoped the message would come across the right way.

In spite of Gleamings efforts though, the pink mare did not respond kindly and instead her eyes narrowed to barely a slit to see through. That was not good! Gleaming watched the foals mother gently shove the energetic filly under her body with a swift motion from her forelegs hoof.

All the while she kept her gaze trained on Gleaming, almost daring the unicorn to make any move. The angry mother ended her posing with blowing some air through her nostrils and scraping a hoof losely on the ground, which kicked up some loose hay and dust behind her. That was even worse!

Gleaming knew she had to do something quick, before things escalated and tried the diplomatic route again. She really did not want to get into a scuffle over something that had to be a simple misunderstanding!

And also she did not want to explain why she got into a scuffle with the local civilian. It was not a good first impression, if she was the first guardspony they ever met.

It was clear to the alabaster unicorn now, that the mare absolutely had not understood her earlier messages (or ignored them entirely) and thought Gleaming to be a threat to her child. And it was also very obvious, that she about to act on her childs defense. Soon.

Gleamings training told her, that explaining things calmy was still the best option to diffuse the situation and deal with an angry civilian. After all the mother was just worried for the wellbeing of her kid and Gleaming simply lacked a means of communicating her that all was fine.

Extending a hoof, frog up, to point in the foals direction, Gleaming tried her best to look friendly and evade the young mothers deathglare. She used her second free hoof to mimic basic body language and stated, “I did nothing to her, she´s is fine! See for yourself! Look, she´s just smiling and having fun!”

The foal was indeed just as chipper as its ever been, in the short time Gleaming had known her. Even under her mother protective frame the filly kept its joyful nature, as evidenced by its gleeful chirping and hoof stomping.

But any movement from Gleaming, especially movement in the foals direction was exactly what the mare had waited for. And it was the one worng move to much as it turned out, as the mare went dead still.

In contast to the very happy filly, Gleaming would not have as much fun.

In a pink flash, the foals mother rushed forward and tackled Gleaming with her body. Granted the mare had not much ground to accelerate on, but the sheer force produced by the young mother, with what ground she had available, was still quite impressive. It was comparable to a frontal hit by a fully loaded fruit cart.

Or taking a freight train head on, for the malnourished unicorn.

Gleaming was very much lifted of her hooves and unceriminiously slammed into the backwall of her stall. The noise of the impact must have startled some residents in the stalls nearby, as Gleamings ears faintly picked up rustling through some hay and some “Eeeep!” calls going out, at the time of contact.

By using her shoulder as the tip of her attack the pink mare had effectively used her entire body as a battering ram. Backed by the full force of an earth-ponies might, Gleaming was helpless to oppose the assault.

Sandwiched between the aggravated mother and the wall behind herself, Gleaming was unable to defend. The sudden strike knocked the air out of Gleamings lungs and she was fairly sure, she even heard the wall crack and groan during the moment of collision.
Or it was the sound of her own bones cracking. Gleaming hoped it would not be that bad, but the pain Gleaming felt was certain to accompany her for a while after this.

“Ooof…” was all Gleaming managed to get out as the air was pressed out of her lungs.

Just as quickly as the mares attack had started, it luckily came to end. Gleaming barely registered it, but the pressure generated by the pink mare had let off after the point of impact was firmly crossed.
Gleaming had her eyes shut in pain, but she was certain she heard the pink pony back off a few steps to admire her work. Also GLeaming duly noted that the mares breathing was no longer right in her face.

So despite the immense pain she was in, Gleaming thought it to be wiser to stay still. If the overprotective mare attacked her again, she might really break something or even worse!

So, when the mother let go and surely checked on her fallen opponent, Gleaming remained stuck to a wall, completely unmoving.

With the mare no longer pushing the attack and supporting Gleamings weight from one side, the unicorns flattened body slowly sagged down the backwall of the stall. Gleaming was sure to find a sizeable crack in the wooden texture later on. When she finally hit rock bottom, Gleamings body collapsed against the wall in a heap. She felt herself leaning with her back on the cracked wall to stay semi upright.

`Owww…´

The overall pain Gleaming felt was actually fairly bearable, she had had worse in the past. But that did not mean she liked it any more than the next pony. Even during to her training, Gleaming had often brawled with other earth-ponies and drawn the short end. Like the one time that ended with her in the infimary.

At least her decision to remain still seemed to be right course of action here, as Gleaming opened her bleary eyes and stared back at the fuming pink mare towering before her. The unicorn did not know what the mare thought she did to her child, but Gleaming had no intention to give this crazy mother any more excuses to vent her anger.

Also even if she wanted to move somehow right now, Gleaming doubted her body would follow up as usual and comply, as she felt the aftermath of a small shock course through her system.

Gladly for the beaten guardspony, the mare considered her immediate foe dealt with and was content with huffing loudly in Gleamings face once. Uttering an angry sounding version of “Oowou!” after her display of physical dominance, Gleaming go the message: “Stay away from my child in the future!”

Gleaming could not be entirely certain, but she was sure she detected a bit of pride mixed in there as well. Pink mommy was apparantly very satisfied with herself about her achievement in defending her child from this threat. Gleamings hunch was confirmed with the way “Mommy” carried her head a tad higher now.

Not about to spare any more attention on her former adversary than she already had, the pink mare eventually turned on the spot and cantered back over to her child. But not before she used a rear hoof to kick some dust at Gleamings fallen form. Just to add insult to injury.

Retreating to where she had left her offspring by itself, she carried herself with an aura of authority she did not have before.

Gleaming could only watch in stupor, and no small amount of pain, as the cheerful filly was hoisted up by its mother, who gently bit on her neck and placed the foal on her back. Harrumphing in Gleaming direction the mare raised her head higher, if that was even possible, flicked her tail and finally pranced out of view to the left. The filly bounced on her mothers back with glee, completely unaware of what exactly just accured…or enjoying the entertainment.

The direction “mommy” disappeared into, probably was another stall, neighboring Gleamings own. If she focussed a bit, Gleaming could even make out the shuffling noises from earlier during the attack fight very close by. That noises slowly died down as things were settled, but could only mean other ponies were nearby, Gleaming figured.

Waiting a few moments before picking herself up, Gleaming began the slow process of untangling herself. Gleaming hissed along the way whenever she found a new bruise had formed in a previously unharmed part of her body.

At this rate she would be more blue than white!

She started by slowly roating her shoulders and winced when she hit a very sore spot on the primary side that hit the accursed wall. Looking back over shoulder, she glared at the Gleaming sized imprint in the buildings structure.

Only a single question ran through her head at that point: ´Why had it come to this?`

Ponies only resorted to violence when provoked or having no other option. They were generally speaking a very peaceful kind.

So, what had gone wrong here?

It was obvious the mother attacked her, as she perceived Gleaming as a threat to her foal. But why did she not react to Gleamings attempts at explaining the situation? In hindsight it seemed, Gleaming was doomed to be smacked into the wall the moment the crazy mare had spotted her. Gleaming made a mental note to avoid her in the foreseeable future. At least until she found a safe way to talk to these ponies.

´Hopefully that nut case was the exception and not the rule around here. I really don´t know how many of these encounters I can take…, Gleaming looked at the wall behind her for a second, or survive.´

Gleaming rubbed her sore shoulder. One way or another she would have to find out more about these ponies. And find a way to understand any of them.

If achieving this goal meant getting into a few brawls would finally see her somepony to speak to, she would have to bear with it and be ready next time!

The only alternative would be, that all these ponies are just acted on instinct…

Gleaming shook her head. ´No, it couldn´t be. Its still to early to assume that. Maybe I had a bad start!´

So with a new vigor and dusting herself off, Gleaming cautiously trotted to the border of her stall. Taking a peek around the corner, she made sure the mother was truly gone before venturing into the wide aisle connecting all stalls to the large doubledoor, which marked the only visible entrance to this barn.

Short of flying out the top windows that is. But alas Gleaming possed no wings and hence was stuck to walking.

With no better option present at the moment, Gleaming decided that this would be her goal and made her way over towards it. Or rather she hobbled a little, as she seemed to have developed a nasty bruise on her right shoulder, thanks to a certain encounter.

While she walked, Gleaming carefully cast her gaze into the stalls she passed by. All of them had the exact same layout, and were decorated with different amounts of hay strewn about. Some, however had a metallic plate on the ground with a hose closely hovering above it and a small bowl sitting beneath it.

´A makeshit faucet maybe?´ Gleaming could not be sure, as testing it out would mean getting closer, but that could prove to be a problem for her…again.

For Gleaming discovered, that the stalls were all but empty. Ponies of different sizes, colors and ages were either lying or sitting in them. Most of them lay on a flat pile of hay, but some simply had draped their heads over somepony else in order to have a pillow of sorts to sleep on. They all seemed to be in a rather relaxed state, either fully or half way dozed off.

All except for one.

Each little group had one randomly selected pony wide awake, sitting at the entrance to their little box. They looked largely indifferent about the general state of things and maybe a little bored, but whenever Gleaming passed by them, they would instantly tense up. Gleaming saw them remain in that state until she had passed their line of sight, before they relaxed again.

Owed to the fact that Gleaming was looking back over her shoulder, observing their reaction, instead of where she was headed, that her legs carried her a little to close to one of them. Stumbling forward and pondering over the behavior of these ponies, Gleaming had not realized the pony to the left of her tensed up.

“Eeeeep!”

The high pitched cry the pony emitted dragged Gleaming out of her thoughts and made her aware of where exactly she was heading. She recalled the exact same cry ring out back when Pokey had dissolved the large gathering outside and instantly knew what it it was…

A warning.

But was it to warn her or the others? Gleaming had to test this out, even if it meant another fight. She needed answers. So instead of marching on or moving out of the way, Gleaming simply halted in her steps and gauged the ponys reaction.

The pony in front, who had made the noise kept deadly still. But unlike the mother from before his eyes had not yet narrowed. That was a good sign, Gleaming figured.

However the outcry woke up all the peacefully slumbering ponies behind the sitting one. And once awake, all eyes and ears would quickly turn to the source of the disturbence, namely Gleaming. The whole stall then went eerily silent and stare at her, for as long as Gleaming stayed were she was. A few ear flicks were all that could be observed from the group.

´Are they waiting for something?´

After a while of this Gleaming gulped and dared to move a hoof in their direction. A dozen eyes followed her hoof as it slowly rose and glided closer to them. This provoked another response.

The initial cry of alarm was repeated by the pony at the entrance, but this time the others in the back chimed in as well, until a they almost sounded like a chorus. The ponies closest to Gleaming tensed up and completely froze, except for the occasional “Eeep!” coming from them. It looked rather chaotic at first, but finally, two of them joined the lone pony in front and the rest retreated behind the three pony shield.

The two aides announced their arrival with a defiant sounding “Ouwou!” before closing shoulders with the one, who was there from the beginning. Together they stared Gleaming down and pretty much dared her to move. When Gleaming did not react, the three were about to assume the same stance “mommy” did prior to them.

Realizing what was about to happen, Gleaming hoped she had not gone too far and ended her experiment. She hastily withdrew her hoof and stepped back quite a bit, while being careful not to reverse into another stall with her rear and anger its inhabitants as well.

The ponies did not leave their positions and at first Gleaming thought she might have overdone it, but eventually the cries stopped and the formerly tense ponies relaxed. Looking more annoyed than angry, all but the one pony, who originally sat by the entrance, eventually retreated back into their cozy spots from the start. After a while the scene looked vastly the same as before Gleamings test.

The only thing being different now, was that the guard kept a close eye on her.

Gleaming was elated about her success (and the probably fact that she was not beaten into mush at this point), ´So it was a warning sound!´

But that posed another problem.

´But why are they so defensive about me getting closer? Can´t they see I´m a pony too?´

Gleaming had an idea of why and briefly scanned over the group she had just disturbed.

´Nope, not a single foal among them either…so why?´

Despite her success, the progress Gleaming made was rather shortlived, as she saw herself roughly being at the same spot she started in. Gleaming was not about to test her luck any further therefore had no desire of a repeat performance. So she went back to making her way over to the barndoors.

As she walked, Gleaming mulled over what she learned, this time careful not to step into anyponys personal space. Most interesting to her was the fact that it was the one sitting the closest to the stalls exit, who first Eeep-ed and alerted the others that way. It had to be some sort of guard!

Her experiment had shown Gleaming, that she could not approach closer to a group of these ponies without invoking a hostile reaction. Gleaming instead forged a plan to try to talk to the next “guard” pony from a distance instead. Maybe that would get her new intel on them.

But considering the wary looks she was still given by the members of this group now, she was probably better off to find a new one instead, Gleaming figured.

So Gleaming returned to walking along the only path not claimed by these ponies and made her way over to a stall closer to the barndoors. This way, if things went south again, she would have a way to retreat into a direction that, hopefully, would not set off another group right away.

Along the way Gleaming also spotted the aggravated mother and her foal in a stall between the group she had just left, and her destination. The mother was sitting upright on her haunches and upon spotting Gleaming in return, threw her another death glare, which made Gleaming subconsciously hasten her step quite a bit.

The filly on the other hoof was trying its hardest to escape its mothers reach by constantly going around or climbing over mommys forelegs. But every time she succeeded, the foal was nuzzled into submission by its mother and gently pushed back, resetting her progress.

Leaving the pair behind, and passing two more inhabited stalls, Gleaming eventually reached the barn entrance. The big double door was shut tight and rested on metallic hinges, which bore clear signs of recent usage. Gleaming saw no markings on the ground near the doors, which told her that they most likely swung outward.

Pushing against these doors resulted in no movement at all from the sturdy wooden contraption. Increasing the force she used to push Gleaming achieved a slight rattling from the hinges and somewhere outside. The hinges making a noise where obvious, but the noise from outside could only mean one thing.

´Its bolted down. We´re locked in!´

Out of frustration, Gleaming gave the door a kick with her rearhooves.

A chorus of “Eeeep!” erupted from the stalls closest to Gleamings position.

In her sudden burst of anger Gleaming had not considered how the barns inhabitants would react to some sudden rampage in their vicinity and flinched when the ponies nearby were startled by her actions.

“Sorry!” she yelled in their general direction.

After some time the commotion in the barn died down. Likely due to nothing else happening, which let Gleaming exhale a sigh of relief. In hindsight, it might not have been a very rationable response, but it did make her feel a little better, despite the fact that she disturbed the locals.

It did however unexpectedly provide a new angle of insight. When the door responded to its abuse by Gleaming with more rattling a some wooden groaning, Gleaming not only heard the bolt outside and the hinges shift a little, but also something smaller to the far right produced a squeaky sound.

Surprised and more than a little curious Gleaming cantered over to the source of the sound and found a small hatch installed on the bottom of the right barndoor. Still affected by the force of Gleamings kick it was swinging horizontally on it hinges, in and out, in and out. And ech time the hatch passed its turning point, the squeaking returned. Walking over, Gleaming inspected her find and pushed a hoof through the hatch, checking to see if it went all the way or would stop at some random angle.

To her surprise, it did not.

The hatch went all the way open both ways and was roughly pony-sized. When pushed open light from outside filtered into the barns inside and lush green grass from outside was visible.

Elated at having found a way out, but slightly confused Gleaming could not help but wonder, “Why would anypony lock the doors and leave this hatch open? It doesn´t make sense! That’s like locking somepony in a dungeon cell that’s open to one side!”

´Also, if the hatch is open, why wasn´t anypony leaving? Why do all of them stay in here? They could all just walk out and be free!´

Gleaming did not undertand the logic behind the construction of this barn, or the reasoning these ponies had for staying. But she was more determined than ever now to get some answers. And she knew where to start!

With the escape route clear, Gleamings mind rested easy and she felt more confident to firmly approach a group of these ponies. She now knew roughly what to expect and if things went sour, she could always retreat out of harms way and return to try again. SO with the promised safety of the hatch behind her, Gleaming started to make her way over to one of the nearby groups.

Her group of choice was, not only out of convinience, located in a stall to the left of the barndoors. The group consisted of six ponies alltogether and just like before the majority of them was lying around in the hay, half awake and half dozed off.

Only the one at the stalls border was wide awake, and therefore logically the first to notice the strangers arrival. Gleaming guessed from her previous attempt how far she could invade into his personal space, before he would inevitably sound the alarm.

Gleaming carefully observed his body language and sat down right when she saw him lean back and take a sharp breath. In response the pony stopped briefly and fixed Gleaming in his sights. Both his ears swiveled around and started pointing her way.

She had avoided the alarm and had his attention.

Gleaming cleared her throat. “Hi, I´m Private Gleaming Shield of the Royal Equestrian Guard serving under the command of Princess Celestia. Who are you?”

The pony sitting at the edge of the stall, a light blue colored earth pony stallion with a pale yellow mane, perked up at her words and flicked his ears. He had definitely heard her. That was a start!

But the only real response she got from him was to blink his rosy red eyes and tilt his head at Gleaming. As Gleaming waited some more, his tail changed sides, swishing from left to right, opposing the movement from his head. Aaaand he flicked an ear…but that was it.

´Erm…did he not hear me? No, that can´t be it. I definitely got his attention from the way his ears moved… Okay, so maybe he did not understand me?´

So, Gleaming repeated her earlier phrase, albeit in a much slower speed and she made sure to ennouciate every syllable more precisely this time. “Hi, I´m Private Gleaming Shield of the Royal Equestrian Guard serving under the command of Princess Celestia. Who are you?”

The second attempt at communicating with the stallion ended very much like the first had. The only difference was that his head ended up tilted the other way this time. Oh, and his tail swished to its original spot back again.

Seeking help, Gleaming leaned to the side, to peek around the stallion into the stall behind him. The ponies there however seemingly paid the interaction between Gleaming and their guard no mind though, as none of them had moved from their spots in any meaningful way.

Gleaming let out a frustrated sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose with her hoof. She had to try a different approach. She had to get through to them somehow!

“Do-You-Understand-Me?” Gleaming pronounced every single word of her question loud and for itself. There was still a chance she had just picked the slowest one of the bunch.

When another head tilt was her only answer this time, Gleaming threw her hooves up and then covered her eyes with them, before slowly dragging them down over her face. Her frustration knew no bounds at this point and she kept her eyes closed tight after her hooves had travelled across them and returned to the floor.

At the end Gleaming vented her frustration with a long drawn out whine, “…Uuuuuugh…”

But then after a long drawn out period of silence the unexpected happened.

“Oowou?”

Gleamings eyes shot open and she stared in disbelief at the pony in front of her. His head was still at an angle to the side and he was still looking rather clueless about what was going on. For a moment Gleaming even thought she had imagined him saying anything, that she simply must have misheard who the speaker was…

But then Gleaming saw him repeat his “Oowou!” right in her view.

Gleaming was excited. Had her earlier words reached him? Had she finally made contact with these ponies? Finally found a way to communicate?

´Only one way to find out.´

Pointing towards herself with a free hoof, Gleaming tried the most simplistic to start, that she could think of, “Me. Gleaming.” Then she pointed with the same hoof at stallion, slowly as not to antogonize him enough to call an alarm or worse. “You?”

A few seconds passed before she saw any reaction from him, but eventually the stallion began to move. Gleaming watched with growing interest, when the stallion slowly repeated her gesture of pointing between himself and then her. He paused here and there, as if unsure on how to proceed, but the endresult was the same.

He sat upright and chirped.

Gleamings hope soared to a new height and she hung at his lips to hear his answer.
The ponys chest rose, as it filled with air, in order to release it with the intent of speaking.

“Oowou!”, he declared cheerfully.

Aaand Gleamings hopes came crashing down again.

Before Gleaming could even fathom what was going on, the stallion was already in the process of doing the entire gesture she showed to him once more… with a total look of glee on his face!

´Does he think I´m playing here!?´

The childish joy which sparkled in his eyes all but confirmed her guess. Gleaming felt a vein of annoyance starting to throbb somewhere on her forehead. This was not some sort of game! This was serious!

But getting angry at each would get nopony nowhere.

Gleaming let out a sigh and held a hoof to her forehead to feel for the pulsing vein and get it to calm down. But as she was doing this, she spotted the stallion from the very edge of her vision. He had stopped with the greeting gesture and was eying her curiously.

Gleaming did not move.

And sure enough, after a few seconds, the stallion started to mimic her again. It was kind of amusing to see him feel for something on his head, that was not even there to begin with.

Gleaming however, was less than amused. Was he actually mocking her at this point?

Before things went any further, she had to test something here, just to be sure. Gleaming halted her hoof momentarily and instead began waving it through the air in front of her face.

Seeing this, the stallion stopped doing what he did again, and his eyes hungrily followed her every move. Gleaming observed him closely for any change in his posture and behavior, as she focussed on keeping her movement as simple and evenly paced as possible.

Sure enough, after a about five seconds of watching her actions the stallion started doing the same.
He chirped and beamed at Gleaming, seemingly proud of copying her actions perfectly again.

Then the stallion surprised her by replicating all “moves” she taught him in the correct but short order, one after another. The pointing, the feeling for a vein on her forehead and last but not least the wave. When he was done, the stallion chirped again and beamed at her with a big smile.

Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, Gleaming took things one step further. She got up, looked left and right, turned on her spot, tapped her hoof on the floor three times and trotted in a small circle before sitting down once more. All through her latest act, Gleaming tried to keep her sight at all times on the stallion, carefully gauging his reactions. She had to figure out what was going on in this ponys head. Even if it was all in vain to get behind his obscure thinking.

The stallion gave her entire act his full attention. His ears were at full mast, and his eyes blinked shortly at the end, as if asking if she was done. Then after a short wait, he moved his head left and right, turned around, tapped his hoof and trotted a small lap in his own spot too. When the act was completed, he sat down in front of Gleaming and chirped. Somehow he seemed even more proud of himself over this accomplishment.

Gleaming could not believe it. “Are you kidding me?!”

“Oowou!”, came the instant chipper reply.

Both of the stallion rosy orbs were aimed in Gleaming direction. His eyes sparkled with the joy of a child, who had just opened a heartswarming present and was very eager to start playing with it.

Over and over and over again.

A few of the other ponies, who were previously just lying around in the stall behind him, also starting to get interested in what rosy eyes was doing. More and more heads started peeking around their guard in Gleamings direction, their looks full of curiosity.

The stallion going active must have woken them from their light slumber, Gleaming reasoned. Their interest apparantly grew the longer the exchange between Gleaming and the guard continued and was now at an all time high. It made Gleaming somewhat angry that she was not making progress with these ponies the way she had intended. But progress was progress, right?

Gleamings anger, about being potentially mocked and copied, evaporated, as a thought struck her.

´Okay, its not ideal but I am getting somewhere with this, right?´

Before Gleaming could build upon her miniscule progress with the locals in this box however, the creaking sound of metal hinges attached to a wooden door alerted her to something that happened behind her. She knew from memory that the big double door was locked tight, but the hatch on its bottom was left open. Ruling out the big one, could only mean the smaller entry was being used by somepony right now.

Seeing as the eyes of every pony in the stall went from Gleaming over to somewhere behind her, only confirmed it. Even from the various other stalls, along the aisle, a few curious individual heads poked out. They were all eager to gain a glimpse of what had caused the squealing metallic sound it seemed.

A natural response really, Gleaming guessed, when literally nothing else of real interest went on in this barn.

Whirling around on her spot, Gleaming saw that the bottom hatch of the big double doors was bend inwards at a slight angle. Then after a few moments of nothing major changing the hatch closed and was promtly pushed inwards again, this time a little further. Then again at a deeper angle. And again.
The hinges the hatch relied on for operation, squeaked in protest on each individual push and on the way back to its original position.

Gleaming could not be certain, but she thought she heard the swinging hatchdoor collide with something outside each time it swung outwards on its return trip. Whoever was trying to get in had clear trouble in doing so.

Turning back swiftly, Gleaming hoped to get a clue on what was happening from her new “friends”, but they just watched on without much in the way of intending to investigate. While Gleaming could see they were just as eager to know who was coming, something told her, that none of these ponies would move an inch from their spots without an emergency.

Even more creaking from the door and some shuffling drew Gleamings attention away from her test group and back to the moving hatch. She observed as the door swung inwards at the greatest angle thus far, almost parallel to the ground, and all of a sudden a pony rushed through it, just before the squeaky door had the chance to swing back into position. The necomer halted just short behind the door and took an eager look around the inside.

Unfortunately for him, the hatch still carried enough momentum to swing back outside once and return shortly to slap him on his hindquarters. Startled by this sudden “attack” on him, the pony yelped a loud “Meep!” and scrambled to get out of this fiends reach. Once he was a safe distance away, the pony took a cautious glance backwards to determine if the door was still a threat to him or not.

Deciding it was safe enough the newcomer sat down and perked up before he began looking around the barns interior once more.

Gleaming blinked, rubbed her eyes and checked again.

Yes, her eyesight was not getting worse, nor was her mind playing tricks on her. That pony right there had just mistaken the hatch for a threat to its wellbeing. The sound of the unintended slapping even caused the ponies in the stall next to the barn entrance to “Eeeeep” in alarm at the sound of impact. The group must have been scared quite a bit, as the female “guard” peered around the walls corner to check on what had just happened.

Upon seeing the cause of the sudden interuption of blissful calm silence in the barn, the pony guard snorted and instantly went back into her stall. Gleaming heard a few “Ouwous” coming from the box, but shortly after that the pony group went quiet and apparantly settled down again. To them it seemed everything was fine.

To Gleaming it was not.

For the poor clumsy pony who had just arrived, had something wrong with it. Something terribly wrong..

For the young pony was lacking its left foreleg. Only a stump remained of what was once an entire limb to carry its weight.

Gleaming was at a loss of words for it and the fear of being turned into food, deep inside her, rose again.

Tearing her horrified gaze away from the pony and its moving stump, Gleaming glanced at the individuals in her field of view, but none of them seemed particularly bothered by the ponies missing limb. Did they not realize that they could be next? Could they not realize it?

´How can you all be so calm about this!?´

“Meep!”

The small happy chirps the stuck pony sent out, stood out in contrast to Gleamings assessment. The pony who should be worried the most, did not seem bothered at all by the loss of it leg. Instead he had an air of childish curiousity about him and everything his eyes travelled across was inspected thoroughly before moving on.

Despite this ponies friendly attidude, Gleaming felt the general atmossphere in the barn changing.
After scanning just a few faces, Gleaming knew, that something was definitely off. Even the rosy eyed, blue coated stallion, who had semi-communicated with her earlier, now wore a rather sour expression on his face.

Gleaming could tell fairly certain that the annoyance was not aimed at her this time however. For when she turned and looked at him, the stallions expression mellowed out. But when she followed his gaze to the new pony, the happy face fell as quick as it came.

It was to obvious Gleaming now, that the others inside here knew, who the unlucky pony was. And judging by their overall reactions, it was not an individual their liked very much.

But still, this was not right!

“Meep!”

While Gleaming had been pondering on what to make of this, the three-legged pony had gone to box, whos guard went to check on him briefly. With a smile on its face and a cheerful greeting, it appeared the newcomer wanted to introduce himself to the group.

The response he got was probably the opposite of what he hoped to achieve however.

Because the mare installed as guard to the group, stomped her hoof once and narrowed her eyes before uttering an angry, “Ouwou!” at him.

Not about to be deterred so easily or reading the room wrong, Threelegs tried again with a chipper “Meep!” as he moved in a little closer.

Without even looking Gleaming could tell what would happen now. With Threelegs still on approach, despite her warning, the guard lowered herself into an aggressive stance. She stomped her hoof another time and was shortly after joined by two other ponies who copied her posture.

With widening eyes the young pony finally seemed to understand, that he was not welcome here and scrambled to get back, but due to him lacking a vital part of his propulsion, fell. Because he could not move fast enough out of their domain, the three ponies then rushed to tackle the intruder together.

Luck was in his side however and he barely managed to get back up in time to avoid collision with them and get to a safe distance. From there he watched wide eyed, with a hanging head and droopy ears, as the mare and her companions snorted his way and returned to their box…without him.

“How can you do this to him!?”, Gleaming called after the three. “Can´t you see he just wanted to say hello?”

But the three ponies just ignored her and went back into their place. Instead her blue coated friend piped up to her. “Ouwou!”, he exclaimed in a tone, as if that would explain everything.

Gleaming shot him an angry look to silence him up, and quite surprisingly, it worked. The stallion visibly yielded under her furious gaze and shrunk together with sunken shoulders and a head tucked in.

This time he got the intended message Gleaming sent him.

Without wasting any more thoughts on the matter and disregarding the voice in the back of her head, that this may have some repercussions, Gleaming got up and marched to where the pony had decided to take refuge in an empty stall. Along her way she cast a glance over her shoulder to see if anypony would stop her from reaching him, attack her or anything else in the line.

But all she could see was the light blue stallion sadly looking behind himself and back at his own spot. The more the distance between himself and Gleaming grew, the more his head sunk and his ears drooped. The longing gaze he threw after Gleamings departing form looked almost… apologetic.

He appeared conflicted about his new playmate suddenly leaving him in the dust and the fact, that he was still assigned at his guard post, which he could not leave for some reason. His sulking expression tugged at Gleamings heart, as she witnessed his growing sadness, but she steeled her resolve in the matter.

´He had his chance to be nice.´

When Gleaming turned around again she had arrived where the young colt had retreated towards to seek shelter. Noticing her approach, Threelegs had perked up and was now sitting only a few hooflengths in front of her, awaiting what Gleaming planned to do. This gap of activity gave Gleaming a small window to properly check him over, before moving on.

He turned out to be a fairly young stallion, who had left behind the annoying teenager time, but not quite reached adulthood yet. His stubby face still lacked some of the defining corners and edges, which a stallions face usually sported. The pale yellow coat covering him, clashed wildly with the vibrant green mane sprouting from his head like a freshly cut salad.

´Not the most thrilling color combination. Is that why they don´t like him?´, Gleaming briefly considered the option, but discarded it quickly, for there were also some neon colors in here.
Somewhere in the midst of the sea of greenery on the colts forehead a small yellowish horn poked out. The spiraling lines on it were a little dirty, but nothing mayor, which could prevent the colt from using it. As far as horn go, this one was good to go.

´Why didn´t he use it to hold the hatch open when he entered? Why didn´t he defend himself earlier?´

Questions which greatly puzzled Gleaming. But as thing were right now, she had very little means to answer them…and also more important things to do!

In stark contrast to how the rest of the ponies behaved in here, the young stallions eyes lit up like stars in the night upon spotting Gleaming approaching him. The colt looked up at her with curiousity and eagerness in his eyes, instead of the apprehension, and hostility Gleaming saw when she tried to move into one of the occupied stalls.

Was it because he was by himself and the others were not? Gleaming did not know, but seemed it likely to be the case.

Disregarding the horn issue and seeing the youngster in his entirety made Gleaming also realize very quickly, why he struggled so much with getting through the door. Not only was he missing a leg but he was also a fair tad smaller than the rest. Not to mention that he was a little on the slim side of things in terms of food.

Therefore, logically, he had to use up more strength to push the door open and keep it that way for him to enter through it.

Gleaming steeled her resolve, gulped and inspected a little horrified the leftovers of his right foreleg. A stump that the pony aimlessly moved about as if the limb was still attached to it. How could it have come to this? Why was nopony doing anything about it?

Images of the hidden basement, where the brutish lizards hacked and slashed away at slobs of meat still patially fitted to the skeletons of former living beings flooded Gleamings mind anew. Now even fresher and more gruesome, as she was probably looking at a possible survivor of these crimes against ponykind. She could almost smell the smell the scent of blood in the air, taste iron on her tongue…

Shaking her head to push these dark thoughts away, Gleaming had a hoof hovering in the air and was about to close the remaining gap to console with the young stallion. Realistically, she could not do much here, except for some moral support. Gleaming knew that much. But maybe once they all escaped, back at Canterlot, some doctors or zebra shamans could regrow his lost leg.

Or at the very least fit him with a proper prosthesis.

Before Gleaming could make the final step towards him however, Threelegs met her hovering hoof midair with his remaining good leg and hoofbumped it with a resounding “Meeeep!”.

A little perplexed at his openess Gleaming stared at the colt and the still connected hoof they shared with confusion. She had not expected this. Not in here. Not from any of these ponies.

But Threelegs was all smiles.

An innocent smile that should not be possible on the face of such a troubled pony. But there it was and there it remained. It was such a simple act and yet, it made Gleaming hopes soar and she felt a smile grace her face soon after.

If this little bonding exercise meant anything then, unlike the other ponies, he did not seem to mind personal space or physical contact as much as the rest did. That was good. It made things easier then.

“Meeeep!, Meeeep!”

Seeing that Gleaming did not shy away from the contact either or made any attempts at chasing him off seemed to please the young stallion greatly. The smile on his face grew and threatened to split it in half.

He even removed his hoof from the contact shortly, and re-hoofbumped Gleaming multiple times. Each time they reconnected his joy seemed to grow and he moved a tad bit closer to Gleaming.

When he was barely half a ponylength away he suddenly stopped himself however and withdrew his hoof without a warning. The happy look on his face was washed away and replaced with a new look of…contemplation? Gleaming was not sure. But even a short glance at his face showed that he was in the process of thinking about something.

Dropping her hoof as well and returning to an upright sitting position, Gleamng realized something was about to happen. She expected nothing bad, but still would have liked to be prepared somehow. She hated being left in the dark…

´What now?´

*nuzzle*

Without any warning, the youngsters muzzle shot forward and he nuzzled at the upper part of Gleamings foreleg, whilst emitting a small humming sound.

Caught offguard by the action Gleaming instinctively drew her shoulder backwards and got her leg out of his reach. That was a little to close for comfort for her!

Nuzzling in ponykind was a very intimite affair. A personal gesture that was usually only shared between lovers or family members and was always returned in kind. Did he not know that? Or was he thinking that she…?

“Meeep…”

The sad eyes on his retreating head, almost crushed Gleaming heart as Threelegs withdrew from Gleaming personal bubble. His ears were laid backwards flat on his head, whilst his widened eyes fearfully looked up at Gleaming. But that was not all, once he had reached his own spot, a small almost silent whining started to erupt from him.

His sad whine only made Gleaming realize that she probably overreacted and had to think fast to salvage the situation. If she did not do something quick, she might loose him and be seen as mean as the others around her.

The one thing she actually came here to avoid.

With her limited knowledge about these ponies she had not much to go on in terms of solutions. That left her with only one thing she could do right now to remedy the situation, but did not look forward to doing.

Not to mention she was rather uncomfortable with nuzzling a stranger…

´Lets hope nopony in Canterlot ever find out.´

In the end Gleaming settled on a (very!) brief nuzzle back, in the same spot the colt had nuzzled her.

…

On his shoulder… and nothing more!

When Gleaming hesitantly neared, his breath hitched and Threelegs shrunk a little in on himself. Appearing to fear reprisal he huddled closer together by himself and waited for the inevitable to happen.

Sensing the contact to be non-hostile and Gleamings withdrawal, Threelegs dared to glance her way with a doubtful expression. After scanning her face for a bit and deeming the result satisfactory, he left his self induced shell and went back to beaming up at the taller unicorn.

Luckily for Gleaming the action had had the desired effect and slowly Threelegs perked up again, as chipper and smiling as he was when he first arrived in here. Gleaming breathed a big sigh of relief.

´Dodged a bolt on that one.´

With a smug expression Gleaming turned back to look at rosy eyes and the other ponies peering out of their stalls, “See? This is how you should treat each other! There is no reason to fight. There are greater things to worry about here.”

Gleamings response was a series of “Ouwou!´s” from various faces staring back at her.

´This might take a lot longer than I thought…´

*grumble*

It was at that very moment that Gleamings body took the relative calm situation to remind her that she was still behind on her promise to find nurishment. And the tone her stomach voiced its anger with her, left little room for argument.

Ignoring all ponies in the barn for a second, Gleaming put her head on a swivel in the vain hopes of finding a quick something to snack on, if only to calm her belly for a few more minutes. But her search came up empty, except for the pale yellow hay strewn about the barns interior.

´Am I really that deperate yet?´

*grumble*

“Alright, alright!”, holding a hoof to her belly and starting to rub it gently in a circle, Gleaming reached for some hay with her magic. Not knowing who had walked over it, and how clean their hooves were Gleaming opted for the top of a nearby stack.

Surprisingly for her it was way harder to levitate the hay than it should be. But she could not really be certain if this was caused by a mgic dampening field or simply her lack of energy. After all the horn required a steady supply of power…derived from plenty of food!

Hovering the hay in front of her face, Gleaming spotted Threelegs look at her with a weird look on his face. Something she had not yet seen on a pony since she came here.

Was that…pity?

*grumble*

Overriding all her concerns, her stomach demanded food and Gleaming steeled her tongue for what was about to come. She opened her mouth and hesitantly chomped down on the straws of hay she had picked from the pile.

It tasted as bad as it looked. The hay was at least dry, Gleaming had to give it that. But sadly that were the good news ended.

Gleaming could not tell how long the hay had been lying here, but all taste it ever had was gone a long time ago. Also the more she chewed the more fibers of it texture broke loose making the chewing ever more difficult to complete.

In essence, it tasted like a cheap old bubblegum, scraped from a parkbench or table somewhere.

`No wonder no other pony in here ate anything from it.´

Gleaming briefly considered spitting it out, but another grumble from her stomach, convinced her otherwise. It took a lot of self control, but she eventually forced it down her throat and the continued rubbing on her belly made sure it stayed inside.

*grumble*

And judging by what little it did to quench her hunger, Gleaming knew she would have to repeat this for a while if she did not find anything better soon.

Preparing for the worst, Gleaming was about to select and levitate the most tasty looking straws from the pile, but halted when she spotted Threelegs giving first her face and then her belly a weird look now.

“Meep!”

“What? Got anything better?”, Gleaming asked him with a sad smile.

Tilting his head at her response, Threelegs flicked an ear and looked behind himself. Then with one more look towards Gleamings belly, accompanied with another rumble, he sudenly darted off.

Running faster than Gleaming had expected him to with a missing leg, the colt made a beeline for the barns exit. Shortly after, Gleaming heard the familiar sound of the hatch being moved.

´What was that all about?´

As Gleaming chewed on yet another portion of her “meal” she turned around and watched what the others were making of this.

Not much it seemed.

Now that the commotion which Threelegs had caused was over most ponies had either retreated back inside their stalls, or laid down next to their border guards. In both cases the ponies looked more than ready to got to sleep again rather than doing anything useful.

It took a while, but after a few moments, which Gleaming could only guess were minutes, due to a lack of time measuring, she heard the hatch moving once more. And sure enough Threelegs bolted around the corner into the aisle, where he steered right towards Geaming as fast as his legs would carry him.

When he grinded to a halt in front Gleaming, the alabaster unicorn duly noted the ponies nearby were less than enthusiastic about his return. Some of them stood up again and joined their guards, apparantly intend of stopping Threelegs from intruding into their places from the get go.

But as he sat down and recovered from his sprint, Gleaming slowly took note that he had no intention to do so this time around. All his attention was solely focussed on her and her alone.
His eyes stared up at the taller unicorn and his ears stood straight in expectation of anything being said to him.

But the smile on his face was suddenly gone.

“Why are you…?”

It did not take long for Gleaming to figure out why though. His mouth was blocked by something.
By something he carried within it.

And he was attempting to smile around it.

Realising he was observed by Gleaming and that she had spotted the carried item, Threelegs lowered his head and unclenched his jaw. When he raised his head again, a small green orb sat on the ground, barely as large as half ponies hoof and speckled with purple dots. It was shaped like a tomato and despite the bits of saliva still attached to it, looked very freshly picked.

Gleaming was very surprised to see the strange new fruit. And while she thought about how and were Threelegs had procured this object, her mouth started to water.

She could hardly believe it. She had no idea where this thing had even come from and it was as far away from anything hygienic as possible…but the waterworks in her mouth were running.

Gleamings body wanted the fruit, that was certain. Gleaming herself did not. But she really di not have much of choice. So in order to avoid confusion Gleaming hesitantly asked, “oh, uhm…for me?” while pointing at herself.

Her answer came in the form of a firm “Meep!” and Threelegs using the top of his muzzle to push the fruit further Gleaming way. Gleaming watched the green ball roll for a bit and come to an eventual stop at her left hoof. When she looked back up Threelegs beamed at her.

“Meep!”

Unsure of what to say, Gleaming stuttered a rushed “Thank you.” and dropped to hay she was holding in her magic. Picking up the fruit, Gleaming inspected it for any flaws and brushed of some of the grime and saliva on it. Gleaming had no clue on what it was or how it would taste, or if it even agreed with her diet.

From the corner of her view though she got an unexpected clue. For when she picked the fruit up and hovered it in front of her, she drew almost all of the other ponies looks towards herself.
Some were even licking their lips!

But should she eat? Could she eat it?

Not eating it would very likely upset her new friend, as he seemed to have gone outdie just to get it for her. An admireable feat in itself, for he seemingly understood Gleaming was hungry and went to get her something. Which further proved to Gleaming that she simply had to just fin a way to speak with these ponies, for they were clearly capable of complex thinking.

“Meep?”

Peering around the floating orb in her magic hold, Gleaming spotted Threelegs shoot her a questioning look and his ears slowly started to drop.

´Oh no, he thinks I don´t like it!´

Gleaming heaved a heavy sigh, “Can´t be worse than the hay right?”

Taking a deep breath, Gleaming popped the fruit in her mouth and rolled it around, much to the joy of her new three-legged friend, who stomped his remaining hoof in approval of her decision. Disregarding the lack of sanitation for the moment, Gleaming tried to gauge the taste of the exterior.

´So far, so good. Nothing out of the ordinary.´

Encouraged by both, Threelegs and her own experience, Gleaming felt it safe to advance and chomped down on the green tomato in her mouth. She found the fruits shell to be a tad more sturdy than the average tomato. But eventually it yielded under the pressure of her jaws and released its juices and flesh onto her tongue. Swirling the mix around in her mouth, Gleaming pushed through the juices with her tongue to get abetter taste of the inside of her snack.

The instant her tongue touched the juice though, she wished she had not been so eager.

For the very moment the liquid made contact with her tastebuds, her entire mouth went up in flames.

Chapter 8

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Chapter 8, Meeps!

Gleaming Shield has had her fair share of mishaps all throughout her life. Sometimes they were the result of rushed and overhasted actions. Sometimes they were pranks played on her by ponies of her own age.

Such as the incident during physical education, where she got herself stuck in the fence bordering the northern edge of the playing field. Gleaming simply had not watched where she was heading, preferring to keep her eyes on the ball overhead. It was the matchball after all! The one which would determine the games outcome! And Gleaming had the opportunity to make the final score!

Unfortunately Gleamings eagerness and unattentiveness caused her to crash violently with the fence. Once the connection was made her braces were refusing to let go and when Gleaming tried to rear back after recovering from the crash, she quickly realized the problem she had at her hoofes.

Other incidents, like her later guard comrades deciding to cover the inside of her guard armor with itching powder, were equally uncomfortable, but less of her own fault. Gleaming had always suspected Ironhoof to be the mastermind behind that last one. But she never had any concrete proof to show for it.

Being involved in so many misfortunes, regardless if selfmade or not, did have one positive side effect though. Over time it gave Gleaming a rapidly growing reservoir of more or less viable options to get her flank out of pretty awkward situations, with mostly minimal repercussions for herself.

None of those experiences would see fit to get her out of the current predicament however, for it was an entirely new affair. With the squashed remains of the unknown fruit still stubbornly blocking her mouth, Gleaming opted for voicing her pain around it instead, “AAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!” HOT! HOT! HOT!”

Though it was muffled by the offending fruit, Gleamings sudden outburst still managed to jumpscare Threelegs. By pulling back his head and moving the upper part of his body out of harms way, he tried to stay clear of Gleamings motion range. The longer the situation remained unchanged, the more Threelegs realized his gift did not have the intended effect and head sunk along with his ears.

Despite his obvious signs of disappointment, he remained seated right where he was and slowly, deliberately extended a shaky hoof Gleamings way. A very hesitent “Meep!” was all he had to offer, while Gleaming oblivious to his plight, waved her hooves in vain to get fresh air onto her burning tongue.

Gleaming could literally feel the all the blood in her body rushing to her head, as it suddenly felt very warm. She was fairly certain her head was as red as the apocalyptic fire she felt raging on her tastebuds.

´AIR ISN´T HELPING!´

The normal reaction for somepony trying to eat something waaaaay to spicy would have been to spit it out and either consume some tea, milk or break to soothe the aggravated tastebuds. With every gulp or chewing motion the pain would subside bit by bit and the problem solved eventually.

Gleaming knew that much, thanks to prank as well.

Unfortunately for her she had neiter access to any of the usual soothing appliances, nor could she simply spit the tartarish fruit out and be done with it, because it was presented as a gift to her. Not to mention that her line of fire was blocked by the gifter himself.

Further comlicating the matter was, that spitting it out right in front of the gifting pony could be seen as disrespectful by all the others in here, who were busy watching the encounter right now. Gleaming could not afford that in her situation either.

The culmination of everything together, left her with only one open option: Swallow the damn thing and be done with it! So, with tears flowing freely from her eyes and a massive forced gulp, loud enough to be heard by her own ears, Gleaming started swallowing the cracked and pasty fruit.

At first the fruit stubbornly refused Gleamings attempts to disappear, but the large amount of saliva provided by the ongoing attack on her tongue helped to guide it down her throat after a rocky start. It took some time to get all of it down, as parts of the fruit refused to let go of its victim, but Gleaming somehow managed to stay strong throughout the ordeal and finish the entire thing off.

With the main threat finally removed from her tongue, Gleamings tastebuds keenly reminded her that the crisis was only halfway over. The burning was remarkably lessened by the absence of the main agitator, but still notably present. So much so, that Gleaming was stuck with sticking out her tongue in the hopes of getting more cooling air on it that way, while she looked for alternatives.

A task made that much harder as her eyes had started to water even more heavily since she had forced the fruit down and aggravated her throat with the juices as well now. In turn, Gleaming development a dry cough, signaling her throats distress.

´There has to be something in here I can use! Think Gleam, THINK!´

Gleaming quickly thought back on everything she had seen so far, which could immediately help her. The lake outside was in theory a good idea, but probably to far away to make a run for at the moment. The hay could serve to alleviate the pain she felt, but not in the bone dry condition it was in. She would have to chew for hours to get the effects going.

`Is there really nothing else…´

Maybe it was a stroke of luck, maybe it was all the blood rushing to her head that made her remember it, maybe it was her watering eyes catching a glimpse of it again. Whatever it was, Gleaming was more than grateful as she recalled the hose in the back of the stalls she passed by earlier. As far as she remembered it even had a small bowl underneath, sporting small puddles around it, strongly indicating that it was somehow used to procure drinking water for the residents of the barn.

Without little regards to anything, not Threelegs sudden surprised outcry of panic, not the protesting ponies crying out as she rushed past, not even potentially making an enemy of supermom again, Gleaming rushed inside the next best stall and quickly located the object of her quest, right where she recalled it being. Galloping past the residents towards it, she hastily checked the bowl for any trace of her soon to be savior. The mystical, soothing and cool liquid, called water.

But the bowl was empty. Safe for a few drops on the edge and center, which would not eve be enough for a bug sized Gleaming Shield. While she keenly observed the small droplets, Gleaming had sunken deep into her thoughts for a second. So much so that she briefly paused in her haste and the local ponies had time to recover from their stupor. Therefore Gleaming barely even registered, as the ponies around her started to close in to dispel the sudden intruder from their home.
The angered outcrys around her, pulled Gleaming quickly back to reality and she quickly resumed her quest after a quick headshake. She had a bigger problem right now!

The bowl was right where she remembered it being, as well as the hose dangling above it, but the round ceramic container sported no amount of liquid whatsoever and the hose barely even dripped.

´But it has to be here! You have got to be kidding me! They can´t all be going to the lake all the time!?´

After checking the angry crowd with a brief glance over her shoulder, Gleaming frantically searched the stalls backside for any sort of valve or switch that could be pushed or turned to get the hose to work. But nothing immediate sprung to her attention and the burning sensation in her mouth flared up once more as the only option to alleviate the pain was pushed further out of her reach.

In her sheer frustration or possibly out of pain, Gleaming angrily stomped her hoof down hard next to the empty bowl, scattering quite a bit of loose around herself. “Come on!”

Had Gleaming had the time and presence of mind as she fumed at the dried up water source, she might have taken notice of the advancing group of ponies halting in their steps at her small display of violence. They “Eeeped!” in unison and shared uneasy looks whith each other, clearly frightened by the stomp and unsure on how to proceed. Yet at the same time they appeared increasingly disgruntled with Gleamings presense and occasionally pushed each other with their muzzles in Gleamings direction. Each time the unlucky pony shoved closer to the intruder against its will, rapidly scrambled to get behind its friends again and emitted an angry, “Ouwou!” at the pusher.

After what felt to Gleaming like an eternity, but really lasted only a few dozen seconds, Gleaming realized a small section of the floor right next to the waterbowl had developed a depression. Right where she stomped her hoff in anger. Intrigued and desperate for clues, Gleaming found this part of the floor to be colored in a slighty different way from the rest. The section was rather easy to miss, if one was not aware of its presence, due it being partially covered with random bouts of hay, probably carried in here by some random careless pony.

Wasting not even a second thought on it, Gleaming pressed down hard on the previously hidden floor plate and felt it gave in easily enough. At the same moment of her applied pressure, she heard the hose above the bowl come to life and the familiar sound of running water greeted Gleamings ears, before the stream hit the bowl under the hose and gathered there.

Despite Gleaming not moving an inch from her spot and still pressing down on the plate, the rush of water stopped just as quickly as it had started, the flow randomly cut off by an unknown source. Acting on a hunch Gleaming let go of the plate and pressed it again, only to be rewarded with the exact same result.

A small amount of cooling white-blueish liquid was added to the bowls contents. The bowl itself was somehow attached to the surface of the ground, preventing somepony from lifting it up or moving it around to a new spot. This meant Gleaming would have to drink by sticking her muzzle into it to get the water into her mouth.

With the relentless burning in her mouth and the cough restarting, Gleaming wastes not one more thought on the matter, as greedily gulped down as much of the freshly procured liquid as she could. For the moment she did not care, if it could be tainted or where it even came from. All she could think about was the the soothing effect it had on her tongue and throat and how good it felt to be finally relieved.

Every time the bowl was emptied, Gleaming would press the plate once more to get a free refill. Each time she would not wait until it had filled up completely and just dove right in, not even caring about getting wet in the process.

It was only when she could drink no more and the burning on her tongue had subsided to a mere throbbing, that Gleaming collapsed in front of the bowl. She felt exhausted, relieved, but totally out of it. She pressed a hoof to her stomach and was not even the slightest bit surprised to hear the water sloshing around inside of it.

While Gleaming just lay there, praised Celestias mercyful soul and recovered the will to move, her mind restarted itself. Along that restart came all the new knowledge she had aquired about the locals with it. And with each little bit, Gleaming became more and more concerned.

She had boldly run into a stall claimed by a group of local ponies.

None of them had previously allowed her to come closer, yet alone inside.

And lastly she had used their water supply without asking for permission first.

´Horseapples! I even ignored their warnings…If all of them are like supermom i´m-´

With how territorial these ponies had been thus far, Gleaming dreaded what was probably brewing behind her right now. Suddenly, despite all the water she had had to drink, Gleamings mouth felt very dry. Her ears swivelled around to search for any sort of sound of approaching hooves, or the angry “Ouwous” which were surely to accompany them.

But Gleaming could not make out anything at all. It was dead silent in the barn all of a sudden. Not even the slight rustling of hay could be heard anymore. The only thing she could make out was a small, cautious sniffle right behind her. Steeling herself for what was to come Gleaming gulped and prepared an explanation for her behavior as she slowly got to her hooves and turned around.

Only to be greeted with…Threelegs.

Not a single pony beside him was anywhere in sight, not even in the stall right across.

Gleaming was all alone, sitting in this previously inhabited stall.

*Sniffle, Sniffle*

“Meep?”

The familiar and unsure sounding exclamation of Threelegs drew Gleamings attention back to her new friend. He had positioned himself half a pony length away from her and had his head lowered and ears laid back. With each sniffling sound his muzzle twitched a little. He looked apprehensive for some reason, maybe even scared.

´Did I do this?´

“Hi, uhm,” Gleaming scratched the back of her head, “…don´t worry I´m not mad at you.”

His head rose back to its usual height, upon hearing Gleamings words, but the rest of his posture did not change. After a moment of silence, he tilted his head.

Uhm…I´m sorry. Could you tell me where everypony went to?”

Head and ears perking up high, Threelegs blinked at Gleaming as if pondering the question for real. Then he briefly checked behind himself, scratched at his ear with a hoof and turned his attention back to Gleamings prone form, before cheerfully announcing, “Meep!”

Somehow Gleaming knew he would say this, but for once this did not matter to her. She could deduce on her own that Threelegs never would have had the strength nor the courage to scare this many ponies away. Even if she did not witness his earlier plight it was rather unlikely that the young colt managed to chase the barn inhabitants out of the stall, the one across the aisle or any part of the building at all.

No. Something else must have occurred. Something that Gleaming must have missed while drinking. Whatever had occurred, caused all of the ponies around here to instantly vanish out of sight.

The only thing which could have accomplished this feat, to Gleamings knowledge, would have been the reappearance of Pokey. But the whelpling was nowhere in sight. Nor could Gleaming hear his trademark clapping and laughter. Or the flaping of his wings.

´Maybe they went in the direction he was looking?´

*Sniffle Sniffle*

“Meep!”

Threelegs looked much more chipper than before with his second call. Gleaming rolled her eyes but smiled, “… Let´s go and find the others.”

Earning herself a confused look Gleaming watched him tilt his head at her response the other way. She briefly considered how much he actually understood, before she dusted herself off and turned to leave the stall behind. For all she knew, he might not have understood anything she just said. Just as well Gleaming could not make anything out of “Meep!” in return. But so far, Threelegs was as close to a companion as she could get. He had proven himself to be helpful once already in providing something eadible to her… even if it backfired dramatically.

Gleaming sighed, “Just stay close and follow me, okay?”

He chirped at back at her and nodded his head, “Meep!”

Wondering if he would comply, but still determined to see where everypony had suddenly gone to, Gleaming cautiously walked out of the stall, awaiting an ambush at any second. Looking back over her shoulder she checked the only other pony left behind in the mass-exodus, besides herself.

But he just blankly stared back at her, blinking few times.

“Uhh…you coming or what?.”

“Meep!” he responded before springing to his hooves and adopting a doopy smile on his face and cantering over to catch up with her.

Gleaming shook her head at his antics, “Whatever.”

Deciding not to question things any further, Gleaming ventured out into the aisle and briefly checked the corners of each box. Except for the odd pile of dried hay, nothing remained in the previously filled stalls. They were all vacated rather simultaniously by their former owners, as if commanded by an unseen force. And as evidenced by some of the hay being carried out into the aisle, they were quite in a rush too.

It was slightly spooky. But a short glance behind herself showed that Gleamings friend was as calm as can be and right on her heels. Occasionally he was sniffing the air, but seemed overall fairly attentive to what Gleaming was doing. Unlike herself, Threelegs did not show any signs of something being out of the ordinary.

´If he is´nt worried then there should be no reason for me either, right? This barn only has one exit and-!´

No sooner had Gleaming finished her thought and turned towards the barns front, did she spot the missing ponies. Every single one of them had gathered right in front of the barns double doors, huddled as closely together as physically possible. Unlike before however, they were not lazing about. Instead they all sat together and watched the tightly locked doors. It was as if they expected them to magically open any second.

´What are they up to, now?´ Gleaming wondered as she walked as close to them as she dared. She expected a hostile or defensive reaction at any second any step now, just like in her previous attempts.

But this time none of them paid any attention to the strange white unicorn at all. It was as if Gleaming was not even there. Gleaming felt like a ghost. Wholeheartedly ignored by the rest.

“Meep!”

´Well, not all of them.´

Everyponys eyes were somehow transfixed on the doors as if expecting them to magically open at any moment. Weirdly enough, even the ponies ears were aimed at the door and barely twitched to a random noise every few seconds, before snapping back to face the front.

“Erm…if you want to get out, you know there is a hatch to the side guys.” Gleaming stopped herself, “ You do know that, right?” After receiving no reply, Gleaming checked on Threelegs, if he could share any light on the matter. But aside from closing the gap and happily beaming back at her, he proved to be as helpful as the others.

“Ouwou!” one of the gathered ponies suddenly exclaimed, while raising his forelegs as far into the air as it could, before dropping them back down. Gleaming was about to raise an eyebrow, but after a small moment of silence another pony did the same. Then another. The odd scenery reminded Gleaming of ancient temple rituals, where ponies of old tribal cultures would gather around a high priest or altar and sing words of prayer while raising their limbs into the air.

Gleaming facehoofed. She did that a lot lately, she found.

´Hopefully it wont become a habit.´

“There no reason to pray to a door guys! It wont open that way either! Look you can just use the doggy door on the side!”

If they heard Gleaming at all or simply did not care, the “praising of the great doors” continued unabated. In fact Gleaming was certain that the intervals between the individual praises even shortened with each uttering of “Ouwou!”

With a hoof raised slightly off the ground, Gleaming intended to march over and show these ponies the small hatch on the side. But before she had a chance to go through with her plan, her friend objected, “Meep!”

A little perplexed at the sudden interruption from him of all sources, Gleaming shot a surprised look over her shoulder and was stunned to see him adopting the same pose the other ponies had. Ears up and forelegs, or the one remaining one, raised, he was facing the barn entrance and smiling up at it.

´Seriously am I missing something here? What is going on?!´

Then she heard them.

It was faint at the start and they sounded very distant. But there were distinct voices coming from the other side of the barn doors. And judging by the fact that they got clearer, the individuals they belonged to must have been heading straight to this very building. Gleaming made an effort to get as close to the doors as she dared, pushing her way past some ponies, who strangely did not object, and strained her own ears to get a read on just who she would be facing.

There were three voices…no…two voices, yes. And they were deep voices too…must be two males then. It was hard to make out any words, due to the “chanting” mass of ponies around her, but one of the strangers sounded slightly annoyed to Gleamings ear.

Gleaming sat down and closed her eyes. She forced her ears forward and tried to drive the weird ponies out of her head for the moment. She tried to envision the pair moving and talking as they came closer and closer, focussing on making out as many syllables as she could. At first it was hard to make out anything that was being said, but since the voices came towards her, it gradually became much easier.

“…would you hurry it up back there already?! The little ones are hungry, and if I were on my own I´d already be done with the morning round!”

´Morning? How could it be morning? The sun had not set yet… Have I slept through and entire night?! It didn´t feel that long at all…if so that’s bad. Anything could have happened in that timespan!´

The second voice grunted a little every few words, indicating that he either carried or pushed a heavy weight, which he was not quite accustomed to, “I´m trying my hardest here! But there are to many potholes in the grass and the cartwheels get stuck in each and everyone of them!” More grunting followed and what sounded like a foreign curse, “Why do we have to feed the furballs anyways? Theres enough green grass around here!”

“Because they only munch on grass whenever they are bored, or really desperate. Its not their primary source of nutrition-,“ the voice stopped itself and uttered a warning, “Watch out, there is a bigger gap here.”

A series of ceramic and metallic clattering followed before the second voice continued, “..ugh, see what I mean?! Just like that, every time! Ugh, why don´t you use floating carts around here anyways?! They don´t get stuck and everyone else uses them! Or at least fill up a couple of these stupid holes!”

“Okay, first one kid, I´m not everyone. And second, it´s much easier to strap a wheel back on one of these, than it is to fix a broken floater unit out here. And second, ponies like digging around for roots, the holes would be right back the next day. Not to mention they would wonder why we filled the holes in the first place and go dig around to see if we hid something.”

“Hey I´m not a kid! And whats with the rush anyways?! It shouldn´t matter that much, when the furballs get their meals. A few minutes sooner or later probably won´t make such a big deal. They can´t read the clock anyways!”

“Because I´d like to be done with the feeding in the morning, before Pokey wakes up. With him around the little ones are much more tense and eat a lot less than they would normally. Also they need to start to get used to you being around. If your late or not there, they won´t,” the voice finished explaining and then demanded in a commanding tone, “And now, quit stalling with your complaints and get going!”

Gleaming was not quite sure, but she thought she heard a small howling sound in response, followed by something being hissed quietly, “…yesss, Sir!” It reminded her a lot of the voices from the lizards in the alley…but it sounded off somehow. Maybe it was a younger one?

“Oh and one more thing. Stop with that stupid “Yes sir” crap. This is a farm, a simple business on Agria. Any type of military is far, veeery far away from here. So either address me as Mr. Pearce or Boss, or whatever else that isn´t an insult and lets me know I´m the one being mentioned. I don´t really care.”

“But auntie said it would be polite of me to-”

“Don´t know if you´ve noticed it yet or not, but your auntie has the tendency to overdo things a lot. She just wants you to get on my good side. But just for your information, I used to be part of the military a long time ago. Used to as in past tense. Nobody here cares about that stuff anymore and neither do I. Are we clear, boy?.”

Gleaming could pretty much hear the underlyling threat in his answer. It sounded like a touchy spot.

“Alright, you´re the boss, boss.”

Also that first voice sounded oddly familiar, along with the mentioned name… And it was not something Gleaming wanted to be correct about.

Unfortunately no further hint on their identity was shared between the two from there for a bit. A shortlived semi-silence followed before Gleaming could start to make out steps on the lush grass outside, as well as the squeaking wheels of carts being forceably shoved across it. The wheels pretty much screamed their protest over the weight they were supposed to carry. The ponies in front of Gleaming obviously heard the steps and squeaky wheels as well, as they started to shuffle their hooves in place with barely contained anticipation.

`Have they been expecting this? Do they know what is coming, or who? Didn´t somepony mention food? Does that mean this occurs every day?´ Slowly it dawned on Gleaming, ´Is this breakfast?!´ Gleamings stomach joyous rumble soon joined the orchestra of ponies and she felt her mouth starting to water, as she heard the squeaky wheels stop.

“Are you sure they are even up yet? Nothing has come out of that shack in hours!”

“Ponies have a very sensitive hearing, kid. They probably heard your constant whining from across the farm. Also they are very light sleepers.”

“Hey, I´m not whining. I´m just voicing honest concerns and like to point out possible improvements! Besides, auntie said you could use some hints.”

“I´m pretty sure she meant something else with that, but nevermind. This place has been running for many cycles without your improvements or your aunts meddling and will continue to do so for many more cycles. You may also want to keep in mind, that you know next to nothing about ponies and their way of life. So your ideas would only make things worse, due to a lack of understanding. Which, ultimately, is your reason for being here.”

“Then why arent you teaching me things already? Just give me a holofeed and I´ll be-“

The first voice started to sound aggravated again, “Listen, for I´ll only say this once. Pony handling cannot be learned by studying material alone. Its practical work. You need to be out here with the little ones. I know there are different ways of teaching, but this is mine. For let me tell you, that there is no failsafe concept A or B that works every time. Every single pony is an individual with its own personality and may react differently from expectations, due to its traits, flaws and habits. Even if, by random chance, one fancy trick works for a single one of them, its likely to fail you on another. They only share some common rules, by which they live together.”

“But-“

“And one more thing, you don´t always know the background of each animal. There might be hidden scars and traumas, which will cause even the best handler to fail and earn themselfes a hoof to the face!”

A small thudd could be heard from where the carts most likely ended up, when the squeaky noise died, “And how am I supposed to learn anything related to them if they constantly run away frome me? Thats kinda counterproductive. I tried to get them to like me all day, yesterday!”

“Because they need to learn to trust you first, before anything else. The little ones don´t like being surprised or approached by strangers. And before you ask, a stranger is everyone not related to the herd. Therefore we´ll help you get a voucher. Once you have one, we´ll move on from there. And the best way to do that is by familiarisation.”

The steps belonging to the first voice moved from left to right on the barns front now and Gleaming could hear something heavy scraping across the entire doorfront. A large bolt being removed or lock being opened perhaps?

“Heads up, by keeping your distance and allowing them to get to know you on their terms, you´ll intrigue them enough at some point and they´ll lose their fear. After all you could be a potential source of food and fun. And with ponies being ponies, they will eventually get curious and come to you. If you manage to gain the trust of the most curious ones and others see that, you´ve effectively gained a voucher. That’s how everyone starts.”

The second voice groaned, “That means I have to wait on them?!! And just how long will that take exactly?”

“Well, you are no pony. They can see that, yes. And you tower over them. It largely depends on how they perceive you. The more threatening you look, the longer it takes. In your case…I´d wager about a day or two, If you don´t screw it up on the first try. Then you might be looking at a week or more like Kelrianna, before another one is willing to get to know you.”

The groaning got louder and more distinct, “Why does it take so damn long? I could just feed them snacks and they´d trust me instantly, right? Works on any other critter too!”

“Wrong. Ponies aren´t your usual dog or cat. Second, ponies don´t take food from strangers. There is no shortcut around their natural survival instincts. There´s a reason why they can survive in the wilderness out here.”

A howl of frustration could be heard through the door, “I´ll never get away from this place that way… They probably think I´m gonna eat them! I´m stranded here forever!”

An annoyed sigh could be heard through the doors gaps, “Don´t be such a drama queen, you need to see things from their perspective to get aynwhere with them.” The steps stopped in the middle of the barns entrypoint, “Look, if some random creature finds them in the wild, its most likely something gonna be something dangerous. Naturally they will try to avoid the threat and react accordingly, through warning shouts or mounting a defense. By explicably not acting like a predator, you can circumvent a hostile response.”

“But I am somewhat of a predator! How can they not see me as one?”

“They don´t know what a predator actually is, only how it acts. Why do you think they like me? Or Cedritz and the twins. We´re working on the concept that you might not be one. Should you decide to force the issue however, you´ll most likely invoke a defensive response. And let me assure you, that almost always ends with a broken bone or two. Your aunt does not only treat the little ones, but sometimes the injuries they cause as well.”

The second voice scoffed audibly, disbelief dripping from it, “Pff, as if those little furballs could threaten anyone for real. They are not even half my size!”

The first one chuckled briefly, “You´ve apparantly never met a truly scared or angry pony then. Sure, they may look cute and cuddly and behave like teddybears now. But if you ever cross them, you´ll get to experience first hand just how hard and sharp edged a pair of hooves can be. Especially in a very soft region they have prime access to, due to their size.”

“Still, I don´t believe it.”

“Have it your way then, its your hide with the hoofmarks, who I´ll be sending back to your aunt.”

That detail seemed to have shattered a part of his confidence, considering how he phrased his next words after some hesitation, “…Just to be sure, what do I need to stay away from then?”

This time it was the first voice, who had found an angle of attack. But still, he answered the younglings question, “Stay away from any pony crying out in alarm, keep far away from any foal, lest you will incurr the mothers wrath and steer well clear of Muncher for the time being. He doesn´t like anyone, except the twins. Only the girls truly know how to handle him.”

´I figured that much out myself! I wish that warning came a little earlier… Wait, who is Muncher?´

“Who´s Muncher?”

The response that came was dark chuckle, “You´ll see. He is hard to miss. And his punches and kicks rather hard to forget.”

With that the conversation between the two male voices concluded. A loud click sounded from somewhere on the other side of the barn doors and with a loud groaning they finally opened up in protest. White piercing light greeted all ponies present and filled the barn to the smallest corner. It blinded Gleaming shortly and she rapidly blinked her eyes clear to see just who the voices belonged to.

Her heart skipped a beat in fright and cold dread made itself known to her once again. She was unfortunately right. The first voice revealed itself to be none other than the changeling himself, standing tall, and weirdly enough, smiling broadly at the gathered ponies. Strange was also that even the tiniest bit of white from his fangs, showing from his wide smile, did not cause any of the gathered ponies to scramble and run.

Instead they decided to stay and greet him the same way them had praised the great doors just moments before, with Ouwous and raised hooves. The only thing missing to complete the picture Gleaming had, was some bowing down to his hooves. To Gleaming it was more like staring down her nemesis. The one who brought her here and held her captive. To the locals it was…

“Ouwou!”

The Ling smirked and glanced back over his shoulder, “Told you they´d know we´re coming.” Then the Ling turned back and let let his gaze wander across the gathered crowd, “Good morning my little ones,” and a series of chirps greeted him back, “…I hope you slept well enough?”

Gleaming watched wide eyed as an impatient grey mare in the front row even dared to walk up to him and knock lightly on the changelings legs with her fronthooves. Gleaming expected the bugpony to retaliate at any second for that kind of assault, but he just smiled over it and ruffled her respective mane, “Yes, yes. I know we´re a little late, Pepper. We´ll get right on with the breakfast. Lets just do a headcount real quick! We don´t want anyone to miss out on it, right?”

Another Ouwou was send his way, but Ading ignored it and mumbled something under his breath, while briefly tapping the air over each ponies head, apparantly already lost in counting. While he was busy the second voice adressed him again, “Why bother talking to them anyways? They are just dumb animals. They can´t understand you anyways! You´re not actually awaiting a real response, are you?”

No longer obscured by the locked doors, voice number two revealed itself to be another one of those bipedal lizards Gleaming had met behind the vet clinic. This one however had yellow, almost golden scales covering most of his body. Starting at the visible portion of his neck and tail, darker orange scales took over and disappeared under his finely cut, loose clothing. The attire was covered over and over with weird patches of different proportions. His head, tail and his extremities sported the same fish-like fins like Nemora, indicating that he was very likely related to her.

´Is he related to her or just the same species?...Wait a minute!! Animals!? Dumb!? Hey!! I´m not accepting this!´ Without knowing it, Goldy had earned himself a prime spot on Gleamings, Do-not-like list with his last statement.

Still continuing his counting and oblivious to the fuming Gleaming among the crowd, Aiding of all things surprisingly came to the ponies defense, “These ´dumb´ animals are much smarter than most people you´ll ever meet in your life. Not to mention they are much more loyal.”

A single “Ouwou!” came from somewhere in the crowd.

The Ling chuckled, “Exactly!”

“What?!”

“Given time, you´ll see what I mean, and hopefully-“ Aiding paused himself momentarily when he came to Gleaming. For a very chilly second Gleaming thought her cover to be blown and considered her options. But then she came to realise it was not actually her, who caused Aiding to pause, but rather the pony next to her. “There you are Meeps! I was wondering where you ended up today.”

`Meeps?, Surely he doesn´t mean-´

With a single “Meep!” Gleamings companion confirmed Aidings claim on his indentity with a happy chirp.

“Who names their pony Meeps?” the yellow lizard burst out loudly as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned a little forward to peek over the crowd at Threelegs. The ponies around Gleaming tensed up at the lizards movements and froze in their spots. The happy atmossphere vanished in an instant and the ponies eyed him wearily. Gleaming witnessed first hoof how the crowds mood shifted from friendly to cautious in a mere second, as soon as the reptile violated an invisible wall.

´It’s the same when I-´

Goldy had unintentionally breached their safety zone, just like Gleaming had earlier in the barn. And the ponies reacted to that breach of protocol, just like Aiding predicted. He was…right. Something within Gleaming balked at admitting that fact. Still he had correctly foretold their behavior.

Aiding being right, did not sit well with her, and GLeaming sure as tartarus did not like the name he gave to her first and only friend around here either. But she could not do anything to change either at the moment. Therefore she thought it wiser to remain quiet, as he still did not suspect her of being anything more than the average pony he knew. Something that played well into her cards. So with a deep breath to calm herself, Gleaming wiped her face from any protruding emotion to stay in her role and maintain her cover.

“I do. Its better than naming a pony Buttercup. Every second pony is called that way these days it seems. Still, if he didn´t like the name he wouldn´t react positively to it,” Aiding explained over his shoulder. “…and you might wanna stop enclosing them.”

“What?! But I barely even moved!” Goldy started to object, but when he saw the ponies closest to him shrink back slightly , he reluctantly complied. After a short moment of trying to find the words to express his anger he instead opted to silent fuming and huffing his frustration. This time from further away, by taking a step back.

Him being a lizard however turned it more into an angry hiss. Gleaming felt the crowd shift uneasily upon hearing the hissing even more than the yelling or lack of distance. More than one pony threw a cautious glance Goldys way, keeping him in their sights.

“Stop that!” Aiding reprimanded him on the spot.

Goldy threw his arms up, “Oh come on! I didn´t even do anything for real this time!”

“Yes, you did. Stop with the hissing around the little ones. It’s a telltale sign of a predator and it scares them!” Aiding continued to lecture his apparent stubborn student. In turn the lizard threw up his arms dramatically one last time and plummeted down into the grass, deciding to silently mope by himself, in the vain hopes of not doing anything wrong by it. Again.

In a weird way Gleaming could somehow relate to him. She too had the unfortunate luck to unintentionally do the wrong thing first or catch the ire of her teachers. Twilight was always many, many times more telented on that front, despite her lack of social skills. Gleaming often thought, that Twilight inherited all the good traits, which made her an excellent student from their parents, while she herself came out empty on the bargain and only got the clumsiness.

From slightly behind her position, Gleaming felt the warm and fuzzy muzzle of her friend, poke her shoulder and then nuzzle into her cheek from behind, “Meeeeeep!” Ripped from her thoughts, she withdrew from the contact on reflex, as soon as she became aware of it. Awkward as it was, the sudden affection also made her realize something else and freeze. Gleaming unwillingly had let her head sink, when she thought back on her life. The longing and sadness making themselves unintentionally known through her body language.

´Was he trying to cheer me up just now?´

When Threelegs or Meeps saw Gleaming look back at him, he cheered with another “Meep!” and threw his forelegs into the air. Well the one he still had, at least. It made Gleamings heart feel a little warmer, and soft smile grazed her lips.

“What the hell happened to his leg?!”, Goldy suddenly shouted from where he sat, a look of severe shock on his face. By cheering for Gleaming, Meeps had unknowlingly exposed his condition to the lizard. Prior to the action, the lizards direct view on his limbs was obstructed, by the rows of ponies before him.

Aiding who had finished his counting and kneeled down next to one of the carts briefly glanced over his shoulder, shrugged and then went back to whatever it was he did. Then he casually commented “We sold it.”

The look of shock that took a hold on goldys face morphed into downright horror and Gleaming was sure his scales had lost a few shades of color. He slowly, very carefully shuffled backwards on the grass with his arms. Crawling away from the apparent crazy Ling. It was obvious he was trying to get out of his reach, and gain some distance between himself and his crazy tutor.

Gleaming meanwhile was furious. Her gaze shifted between her friends leg and the Ling and she was about to march over to him and do the worst things she could possibly imagine to him. She did not know yet what exactly, but it would not be pretty. Of that she was certain. With his back to her once more the odds would be in her favor too…

Even if she failed in the end, she could at least leave a mark on him. One, he would never forget!

But then she spotted the slightest hint of a smirk tugging at the corner of Aidings fanged mouth. A smirk that made her reconsider for some reason. Something within herself told her to be cautious and on high alert. That faint little smirk…it was not an indicator for somepony about to laugh, but rather…calculative, predictive. Like a predator, who was sizing up his prey before the inevitable strike.

´It’s a trap!´

Gleaming watched as Aiding carefully glanced sideways by keeping the front of his face between his cart and the pony crowd and his backside to his trainee. The Ling maintained the status quo for bit, careful so the lizard would not spot the verbal trap too early, but still kept him under surveillance from the side, gauging his reaction with a fairly neutral expression.

Gleamings anger subsided a bit, but did not evaporate completely. Something felt off here.

´What´s he up to?´

Finally Aiding turned around without a word and his faint smirk completely gone, like it had never been there in the first place. He looked at the shocked lizard and sized him up, keeping his own gaze locked with him, “I thought you said they were just some dumb furballs, hm? So…, why do you care?”

Goldy, despite shaking like a leaf, held the eye contact, before he fearfully lifted a claw in the one ponys direction, who started all this, “H-h-hhow could you do this? I mean, I know they are sold as food, but-but…THIS IS JUST CRUEL FOR NO REASON!”

Taking the shouting in stride, Aiding got up and marched over to him, before he leaned down to his eye level. Mere inches were seperating the two´s face from one another, as Aiding checked his students face for any emotion betraying his thoughts. Eventually Gleaming saw his lips moving, but had to strain her ears to hear just what he said. It was a short message he wispered at a barely audible level, “You passed.”

Gleaming could literally see the gears in Goldys head grind to a halt. Gone was the fear and shock from his face. Infact, everything was gone from it, really, for he only had a blank stare left to send back to his teacher.

“I-I don´t unerstand, didn´t you just-“

Interrupting him with the smirk now back on his face Aiding explained, “What? Insinuate exactly what you just thought? Yes, I did. Worry not, it was a test.”

“A test? What for?!”

“For your integrity,” Aiding spoke over his shoulder as he walked back to his cart. “Selling ponies in part or at all for food production is highly illegal on Agria. For it is extremely cruel and unjust to these smart creatures. Not to mention they are a national idol here.”

´So that’s why that kitchen was so hidden back then. And it also explains why the cooks were less than enthusiastic about having a witness!

…Wait, if they see ponies as animals here…

…they never expected me to sell them out! These monsters were more concerned with getting me to-´

Gleaming had to press a hoof to her muzzle to suppress the bile from leaving her body at that revelation. Luckily both the lizard and the Ling were to deep in their own conversation to notice.

Realising he had been pranked, the look on Goldys face morphed into annoyance, “Okay, but why do you neeed to test me?! Auntie is pulling my fins enough as it is!”

“Just because its illegal, doesn´t stop people from doing it. And some of those… individuals try to sneak into my farm from time to time under the guise of a student,” Aiding shook his head, “I´m sorry but I needed to see your honest reaction for myself.”

Goldy grumbled with his arms crossed, “You didn´t have to be so scary when doing it…”

“Then you should stop being so gullible. Nemora was right, I´ll have to remember that!”

Being the perfect image of a spoiled child who had just been told that it could not have the toy it wished for, and with cheeks turning red from embarrassment Goldy grumbled further, “…so what has really happened to him? Will you tell me that now?”

Getting back up with a sizeable tower of colored stacked bowls in his forelegs, Aiding marched over to the second cart while he explained, “Honest answer? We don´t know for certain. He arrived here the way you see him now.”

Gleaming watched on, as Aiding placed the bowls down, before he opened up the second cart, revealing multiple buckets ladden with exotic and , to Gleamings relief, some familiar fruits. Even if she could not tell what most of the exotic ones were, the aromas floating her way, told her, they were most likely more than edible as well. The ponies around her sure thought so as well, because they started to get anxious again. All their eyes were zoned in on the food, like eagles about to strike.

“The most likely cause of his predicament is a swollok attack though.” Aiding pointed in Meeps general direction as he reached for a bucket with his other foreleg, “If you take a careful look at the edge of his stump, you´ll note the serrated edge of the former wound, which looks remarkably similar to a swolloks set of teeth. Possibly the upper jaw.”

´There is was again. And I still don´t know what a swollok is! But seeing what it does…´

A short moment of silence followed, as Goldy visibly contemplated on what he just had heard. Then he spoke up again in a much softer voice, “And why haven´t you done anything to help him?”

´Yeah, why didn´t you help him, you pony enslaving bastard!´

Aiding gave a dry chuckle, all the emotion drained from his voice, as his tone got very serious all of sudden, “Who says I didn´t? We, as in the team and I, tried everything possible in todays world. Any type of prosthesis we tried to attach to him, he downright refused. Either by shaking it loose, scraping it along rocks and trees or gnawing away at it until he finally got it off. He simply does not see it as a part of his body, but instead something foreign.” Aiding turned his attention back to the bowls and Gleaming watched as he started to fill a selected amount of fruits into each of them with a small shovel. Each shovelling motion was closely observed by the hungry eyes of many ponies. Some even started licking their lips in anticipation.

Aiding angrily pointed with his shovel over the horizon, “The only remaining option would be to genetically regrow the entire limb in a lab tank. Money isn´t the problem, but with the current state of laws, it is not an available option for animals and I quote -reserved for sentinent species only- unquote.”

When Aiding had finished his rant and the words had sunk in, the annoyance and red on Goldys face was gone and a soft sadness took hold of it. “So he´s stuck like that?”

Gleaming glanced at her companion with a new set of eyes. This young colt had barely lived a fraction of his life and already been marked for eternity. Face to face with a lethal predator, staring death in its literal jaw and narrowly escaped with his life. But he paid a hefty price for it.

´That is, if the story fits and he´s telling the truth…but there is little evidence to the contrary.´

Returning to his task the changeling lamented, “For the time being, the unfortunate answer is yes. But I have your aunt looking into things. Maybe there is another way, that we haven´t thought about yet.”

After that, Aiding decided to let his last words linger in the air and remained quiet for a while, silently shovelling fruit into each bowl until he had a dozen or so filled up to little mountains. As he arranged the bowls into a straight line, he glanced over to Goldy, who in turn had not let his eyes leave the young colt. “You know, personally, I still consider him a very lucky indiviual.”

“Lucky? How can this be lucky?? How can losing part of yourself be considered good fortune at all?”

Gleaming found herself agreeing with Goldy there. She could not imagine losing a part of her body and still remain the pony she was now. There would be hurdles in her life. Hurdles she never even thought about. As a unicorn she would have less of them than an earth pony for example, but even the reflex of opening a door with the wrong hoof could lead to a sad reminder each day.

“Think about it for a minute. He encountered one of Agria´s most lethal predators and got away with his life. On his own! I´ve met a lot of ponies and people, who had far less luck in their encounters. Additionally he found his way here, where he can safely live his life the way he wants, far away from any danger.”

Goldy did not say a word. Either he did not have an answer, or he took things to heart and was thinking deeply about what he just heard. The way his jaw moved and the way Gleaming saw him look at Meeps, told her that he thought not only about the ponies fate.

“No need to be so downtrodden. Take a piece out of his book instead!” Aiding pointed with the small shovel in the general direction of the pony he referred to, “Do you see him being all sad and mopey? No, you don´t. In fact, you never will! He is one of the most chipper animals I have. Always gets up in a bright mood each day. Second only to Pokey. Right Meeps?”

“Meep!” the threelegged pony chirped, to which every other pony stopped eying the food and shot him an annoyed look.

Animals…there it was again.

Ever since arriving in this weird place, Gleaming could never be quite sure, if these ponies were animals, slaves or simply mind controlled. The latter was only realistically possible by the black colored insectoid kneeling next to the arranged foodbowls.

The only option of the three she could definitely rule out by now was the slavery part. Thus far she had neither seen shackles, forced labor or the typical overseer cracking a whip overhead to encourage the labourforce to break their backs. This was not saying that it could not still be the case somewhere, but the chance was fairly low. Especially if what Ading said about a national idol was true.

Which essentially left Gleaming with two options. Either mind control or she really just was surrounded by nothing but preevolution, stone age ponies.

When Gleaming woke up earlier, she had briefly suspected to be under a spell of some kind or kept in a magical field, maintained in secret by the Ling, to disguise himself as a benevolent harmless local, while in reality the case was different. However, neither could Gleaming detect any magic field being powered up, nor had she seen the Ling cast any spell whatsoever in the time Gleaming had seen him.

Gleaming was not a master spellcaster by any means, and she also was not certain if her powers could still be altered someway she did not realize yet, but even she should have been able to pick up any trace of magic emenating from him. It was as if his magic simply…was not there at all.

And then there were these local unicorns. Neither one of them had used magic this far either. Or at least not in way that Gleaming would have noticed or seen.

“There. Done. This should be sufficient for now,” Aiding announced, seemingly havng finished his reparations. Satified with his work, he turned his head to look behind him at his student, “Now, tell me what exactly you know about ponies, boy. Maybe your aunt told you something vital to the cause already?”

“Why don´t you use my name already, Mr. Pearce? I do have one too, you know? Its Zix!”

“I´ll use your name when you earned it, kid. And if you refuse to answer me, that path will be even longer than earning the little ones trust.”

Zix grumbled with his arms crossed. A thing he did quite often Gleaming noted. Apparantly he was thinking about a witty retort. But seemingly decided the time was to short or the fallout not worth it, “I know there is a whole bunch of them living around here in the forest and beyond. And they live in groups…and…, and what was it auntie said…oh yes! They are herbicores or something!”

Being done with shedding his knowledge Zix lead a pleased smile play over his scaly lips. But when he spotted Aidings unimpressed look, he went right back to his defensive posture, continuing to brood.

Aiding turned away from him and back to the crowd of hungry ponies, who Gleaming noted had creeped almost imperceptibly slow, closer to the foodbowl, while Aiding was not looking their way. Gleaming herself almost had missed it as well, but the sudden free space she had in front of her could not be explained otherwise.

“To be frank, that’s not much. And if you´re honest with yourself you´ll admid that too.” In the background, Zix huffed to himself. “…But to tell you the truth, you´re far from the worst I´ve had to start with, so listen up.”

Aiding took a few of the bowls he had prepared and marched over to a portion of the pony crowd to Gleamings left, “You are right that ponies live in groups, quite large ones too, for they are very sociable animals. These groupings are called herds and can easily contain up to 500 individuals.”

“Why is that important to know?”

Aiding placed the bowls he carried right in front of three ponies, who had oddly not objected the slightest bit against him coming closer to them, “Because a group of animals of that size will locically only work with a set hierarchy. There is an undeniable leader and sub leaders among them with varying degrees of responsibility in between. Every one of these make sure that the herd stays cohesive and all tasks of survival are taken care of.”

´That’s absurd! Ponies haven´t lived like that in centuries, maybe even thousands of years!´

“And whats that gotta do with feeding them?”

Aiding smirked again, but only Gleaming could see it from her spot, “A lot, kid. For the highest ranking individuals of the herd always get to eat first. Then the second then the third. That way the leader or alpha makes sure they understand their position and maintains their loyalty. Its pretty much the same with wolfes or other similar creatures.”

“What´s a wolf?”

Gleaming heard Aiding sigh, “A pack hunter on Terra Prime, but that’s not important. Now look here,” Aiding leaned back a bit, so Zix could better see around him, “The ponies on my farm are essentially one big herd. It is only due to the circumstances around here that they´re divided between the barns into smaller groups. Mostly for feeding and grooming. And the leader of this particular group is this little bugger right here, whom we call Blaze.”

A black coated unicorn stallion with a fiery red mane stepped forward as soon as the name had left the Lings lips, leaving the other two mares in the group behind. He continued to walk towards Aiding until only a ponylenthg seperated the two, with the bowl in between. And it was then that Aiding kneeled down and finally pushed one of the bowls towards him as the first pony to get breakfast.

The back unicorn dubbed Blaze, stomped his hooves in approval, let out a whinny and began immediately digging into the small mound in the bowl, causing it to rapidly shrink. Small bits and pieces of the meals flew around as the stallion delved deeper into his food, searching for the most jiucy bits. Munching and crunching the pony visibly enjoyed his meal while he held onto the bowls edges with his fronthooves, not wanting it to escape.

Gleaming was at a loss for words. What she saw there was the final straw in her theories and it all became loose. Even the last ditch glance to the Lings horn and a really quick check with her own, could only confirm what a back portion of her mind told her since she came here. These ponies were simple animals. Nothing more, nothing less, but the way ponies had been prior to building up their societies.

It all came back to her once more. The pony on a leash. Nemora being a vet and not a real doctor. Everyone around her assuming the same stance the Ling had. The way the ponies behaved around here and towards herself. The way they conversed…

´I´ve been trying to talk to an animal…´ Gleaming would have facehoofed, if that would not give her away. She always had to be wary of being watched after all. But still…

What surely was the jackpot for any biologist or historian studying into the past and origins of ponykind, was a true nightmare for Gleaming. She now knew she was utterly alone out here. The only lighthouse in an ocean of darkness.

Gleaming would have liked to withdraw into a corner and cry about her situation, but one single thought stopped her from doing just that: If her assumption was finally on point, then what was the Ling doing here? He was the only thing not fitting into the overall picture.

And if that was the case, then he must have come from Equestria too, right? Did that mean he knew a way back? Or were there others of his kind nearby she would have to worry about? Did changelings come from here instead?

Of course Gleaming could not just waltz over and casually ask him about it. Neither had she any reason to trust him, nor wanted Gleaming to notify a potential enemy of Equestria about her plight and exploit it for his own reasons.

“Why is he called Blaze?” Zix called out from where he sat, carefully studying the munching equine for clues from his position.

Aiding chuckled, “He´s called that way because he has the tendancy to set everything around him on fire, when angered.”

Gleaming was suddenly very glad she had not started picking a fight with this stallion.

Upon seeing Zix trying to retreat again, Aiding rolled his eyes and added, “We´re not in any danger here kid. The fires he causes are mostly started by sparks from his horn, as he doesn´t quite have it under control. Which is the reason he´s here. But as you can see he´s all good.”

Zix looked aghast, “Why are you taking such dangerous pony in?”

Not answering at first, Aiding instead moved the other two bowls to the mares waiting behind the stallion, who wasted no time in digging in too. Then he turned his attention back to the black stallion and moved a hoof through the chewing ponies mane.

Blaze hummed in content at the touch and briefly lifted his head with his eyes closed while the contact persistet. When Aiding stopped petting him, the pony returned to attacking the remains of his meal with just as much vigor as before.

Aiding then quietly spoke, “Because he doesn´t have anywhere else to go. Like most around here.”

Zix seemed perplexed, “Huh. What do you mean? Can´t he go back to the wild?”

As Blaze finished off the last crumps and bits in his bowl, licking along the edges, Aiding turned to answer Zix, “Not an option, cause he´s been raised in captivity all his live. He would not survive for long out there. Not to mention his anger issues.”

“And why not sell him to someone else then?”

Aiding gave a dry chuckle, “And who, may I ask you, buys a pet which can spontaniously set your house on fire?”

Gleaming could see Zix mouth opening to retort, but no words came forth from it. Wordlessly he closed it and remained silent, while watching the black pony licking his lips.

“I don´t know if your aunt told you or not, but my farm is pretty much the final station for most ponies you see here. Take Meeps for another example, if you don´t believe me.”

“Meep!” the pony next to Gleaming piped up. It was only now, that Gleaming noticed, that unlike the other ponies, who had migrated to the food, Meeps had opted to stay behind, right by her side.

“No. If a pony ends up here, that’s mostly the end of the line for them. Which is the main reason why my farm sometimes gets refered to by the colonists as the -Sanctuary-, even though it doesn´t have an official name. For I take any of them in, rather than see them send over to a permanent cage in an animal shelter or worse.”

Gleaming did not know what to feel. It was either a life behind bars, slowly eeking out an existence here or turned into food. The available option for unwanted ponies here were not pretty. All the more reason for her to get away from this crazy place!

“Why would you take them in, if you can´t resell them or anything?”

Blaze meanwhile had finished his serving. The pony had sat down in front of the empty bowl and looked up at Aiding before emitting the typical “Ouwou!” When Aiding did not react, the black unicorn instead used the top of his muzzle to push the bowl closer to the Ling with a low whine. “The answer to that is complicated. All you need to know is that I do. And before you ask, no, your aunt doesn´t know either.”

Visibly unsatisfied with the answer he got, but a new question burning on his tongue, Zix wasted no time to voice it, “Whats he doing?”

Aiding chuckled, “Isn´t it obvious?”

Turning back to watch the pony in question more closely, Gleaming spotted him now tapping the bowl with one of his hooves. The “Ouwou!” that came along with the action also being more vocally demanding in turn.

Zix took a closer look at the stallion, moving his upper body this way and that, while humming in thought. Gleaming understood. She had seen many a dog and even Spike and Twily do the same when their were little. He was asking for seconds.

´No not asking. More like demanding.´

“Does he want more?”

A small nod was all he did, as Aiding approved his student without turning around, “Good. Very good. Pony care is all about reading their intentions right.”

“Uhm, but why aren´t you giving him any?”

“Because ponies are piggishly greedy for food. They don´t stop eating until its all gone. If I were to feed them until they stopped on their own, they could only move around via rolling after a week.”

Suddenly Gleaming felt very different about the hungry gazes ponies had sent her way when she was offered the green tomato. Despit the hefty cost she paid, it was probably safer to eat, than reject it and cause a race for the fruit.

Instead of fillling the bowl back up or giving him a new one, Aiding ruffled the stallion mane and gently pushed his head to the side, before pointing to the rest of the ponies. At first it seemed Blaze would not yield as he tried the same moves a second time to get his will. He even stomped his hooves angrily, barely missing the bowl. But it was to no avail and Aiding eventually removed the emtpy bowl entirely to signal that the argument was over.

With the bowl gone and Aiding not about to move any further to get a new one, Blaze seemed to realize his defeat. His head sunk and ears drooped, as he slowly turned around and shuffled back to his place in the crowd. Another low whine escaping him as he dragged his hooves along the grass.

“Awww but he look so sad….can´t you give him any more?”

Aiding shot him a warning look, “Don´t fall for it. Expecially not in front of all the others watching. Ponies are the masters of looking sad. With their big puppy dog eyes, the long face and hanging ears its all to easy to break a heart. If I were to feed him more, the others would want the same. Also, he knows that there will be another meal soon. There! Just take a look at him now!”

Gleaming and Zix both turned to look to the previous very definition of gloom, but spotted him no different than he had been before the feeding, minus the fruit juice he was licking from his lips. His face a mask of neutrality he eyed both pony parties just as they were watching him.

´A clever trick. He´s right back to normal…

Does that work for me too?´

Aiding chuckled as he prepared himself for the next ponies in line, while the two mares were about to finish as well, “Told you they are fairly smart buggers. They have a couple of tricks you need to be aware of. This one being among the more important ones to keep in mind. They use it quite often.”

While Aiding reached over to his assortement of prepared bowls, Zix voiced his thoughts, “And how can I tell if they are actually sad then?”

“Easy. Watch the tail. If its tugged in close, they are depressed. If its anywhere but that, it’s a ruse.”

As the forth and fifth pony today began happily munching away on their share of breakfast, Gleamings ears perked up. And when she cast a gaze over the crowd of assembled ponies, she knew they had heard it too, probably even sooner, but how many of their heads had turned away from the feeding taking place.

´He was right about their hearing too…´

Shaking the thought from her head, Gleaming focussed back on what she picked up. Just like this morning, it was faint at the start, but steadily continued to get louder. This time however not due the noise coming closer, but rather the same noise was made by different indiviuals closer related to her own position on the farm.

“Eeeeeep!”

A short pause. Then it came up again.

“Eeeeeep!”

By now even Aiding had noticed something amiss, as he stopped overseeing the ponies eating in front of him and instead gazed over his shoulder in the rough direction of his house. His webby ears also travelled the same way, further indicating that he had heard something too.

It was different speaker each time, but always the same message.

“Eeeeeep!”

Gleaming knew, what it was by now. Having been on the receiving end, or rather the reason for it not to long ago. It was a warning cry. Somepony or something was coming, and was not slowing down or stopping, which resulted in the ponies on guard duty to warn others nearby. Even Zix must have noticed that something was going on, as proven by his next line.

“Whats going on?”

Aiding returned his focus to the ponies sitting in front of him, two of which had finished their meals and were now looking up at him for a potential bonus, just like Blaze before them. “That, is the reason why I don´t need an overly expensive alarm system,” he stated while removing the empty bowls and beckoning the next ponies in line forward. “Thanks to these little guys, I´ll always know when someone is on my grounds, regardless which time of the day it is.”

´Sounds convinient idea to make use of their calls. But why is he so calm about it, if they are indeed reporting a threat approaching the farm? He´s not making any effort to check it out!´

“Aren´t you worried that it could be dangerous to your animal stock?”

Again the Ling just chuckled, “…Didn´t I tell you earlier how they operate upon intrusions on their perceived territory? If whoever it is, gets to close, they are going to be the one having a problem. Especially so if they happen to cross Muncher. Pony hooves maybe tiny compared to an actual horse, but theres a lot of them,” Aiding explained while exchanging another set of bowls. “Besides, I have a fairly good idea on who it might be.”

As if on cue, one of the avians, who worked for the Ling, came running across the grounds, right towards the group gathered outside the barn entrance. In tow she had a random mare running after her with its tongue poking out and and expression of glee on her face. Apparantly the pony was thinking her rush to be a sort of game and she happily galloped along the feathered handler to whereever she might be headed.

A little out of breath, the oversized bird came to a stop a little behind her superior with some dirt and grass still clinging to her clawy feet. The pony accompanying her skidded to a stop at next to her and looked up at the bird to see if she might continue the race. “…Chief, theres…hah…I mean…”

Not turning around ,but acknowledging the avians presence by addressing her, Aiding instead kept his gaze locked on the ponies munching away in front of him as he spoke, “Easy Kel, take a deep breath and start again.”

Kel complied and pressed her claws to her chest before loudly inhaling through her beaks holes. She kept the air in for about three seconds, before she released it and moved her wingarms along on her chest, as if pushing a heavy weight away. “…Phew…The marshal just drove into the slip, chief… Me and the others just wanted to give you a warning ahead of time.”

´Does he have trouble with this marshal guy? Is he in trouble?´ Gleaming wondered.

“That’s nice of you guys, but entirely unnecessary this time. I´ve asked for him to be come here whenever he could spare some time.”

The avian put a claw in the air and opened her beak as if she wanted to say something, but after a few failed tries, where she opened and closed it wordlessly, she gave up. Instead she opted to put her claws into her hips and voice her confusion, “Why would you do that for? I still recall the last time you two met, both of you were shouting loud enough that even the little ones in the barns got scared!”

´That sounds a little excessive.´

Despite Kel obvious aggravation, Aiding kept as calm as a rock. The pony who had accompanied Kel on her way here, sat down next to her and kept knocking on her leg with a hoof. A few chirps were emitted by the mare and the ponies next to Gleaming, who were still waiting for their turn started chirping as well in response.

“Contrary to popular belief my relation with the marshal is not as bad as it looks. In fact we have a relation of mutual respect for one another. After all he sends his troop here for sensibility training every few cycles for a reason,” Aiding calmly elaborated while fending off a particular stubborn attempt by a grey coated mare to secure herself a second bowl. She did not succeed and puffed out her cheeks in protest, “Pepper, NO! Out!”

“Ouwou,” was the mares answer as she finally turned around and stomped off. She looked back over her shoulder at the bowls and carts still holding potential food, before ducking into the crowd by lowering her head.

After having dealt with the pushy mare and glancing up to his left, Aiding went on, “I asked for his presence here, to discuss the circumstances of out latest addition to the herd. Namely your Snowflake and how I suspect her have become the way she is. I heard you had trouble feeding her yesterday?”

Hearing the name she gave to Gleaming, Kel scanned the crowd until her eyes located the alabaster unicorn sitting in the back row, or what was left of it. When she saw that Gleaming returned her gaze, hey hawk-like eyes lit up in an instant and she gave a small wave, “Good morning, Snowflake! Did you sleep well? Did you enjoy your bath?” Kel pointed proudly at her feathery chest, “I hope you did, cause I give the best scrubbs!”

´Not this again…´

Either not realizing or completely ignoring the glare Gleaming leveled at her, the large bird kept smiling, apparantly waiting for a vocal response of some kind. Gleaming had a fair idea what she expected, but of course had no intention of giving any Ouwou, for she did not want to reinforce the avian in her quest to pin that name on her with a false positive reaction. In her search for a way out Gleamings eyes fell on the Ling.

´Should I do something? Aiding is looking at me too now…´

Luckily Gleaming did not need to decide, due to Aiding interjecting with a groan, “…Are you still trying to pin that name on a white pony? I thought your sister and I made it clear that they pick their own names.”

Not moving her eyes from Gleaming Kel countered quickly, “I´ll get her to like it, you´ll both see! I think we have a connection.”

´No, we don´t.´

With mighty eyeroll Aiding seemed to put a lid on the topic, “…fine. I won´t address this any further. But back to yesterdays events. What happened after her bath?”

Blinking a few times, before breaking eye contact with Gleaming, Kel answered her boss, “…well yes, I…gave her a proper scrubb down, being mindful of course, but then she suddenly fell asleep. Pokey saw her being out of commission and probably went to harass some other unfortunate pony by then.” She shuffled her chickenlike feet, playing with a silvery ring attached to one of the talons, “I briefly considered to leave her with a small plate of something, but by the time I had gotten the shacks key from my sister, it was well past feeding hours.“

“…Well that’s unfortunate, but probably for the best,” Aiding stated after some consideration.

´For the best?! Hey, I´m starving here!´

“If she was out, and the plate unguarded, some other pony might have taken it, and we would be none the wiser, thinking she ate properly. Rest assured it was the smarter move,” Aiding praised his student. “Also she doesn´t look like she´s gonna starve anytime soon. Her flanks are well rounded.”

´What the- HEY! Are you calling me a fat-flank?´

Despite the hidden insult, Gleaming begrudgingly had to admit, that was an option. It might be the likely result of her very unhealthy diet in canterlot and the sudden lack of training. But her belly still demanded a proper meal! And come Nightmare Moon or Tartarus she would get one, before the end of day!

“Now while you are here, you might as well take over for me… and keep an eye on our greenhorn over there,” Aiding ordered her before dusting himself off and rising. Then he went over to the cart with the buckets inside of them and spoke over his shoulder, “The beta had his share already and so did most of the gammas. These ones are the last before the rest. Make sure they don´t sneak over and get themselves some second helpings. And keep a steady lookout for Pepper. She might be up to something again.”

“Ouwou!”

“Yes, yes, you know we are talking about you guys, don´t you?” Aiding stated while ruffling the mane of a close by pony. The affected pony squealed in delight and closed her eyes, pressing into the contact. A broad smile of joy erupted on the mares face face and her tongue poked out, when the Ling started to scratch behind her ear.

Taking her boss´ former spot, Kel carefully placed herself next to the hungry crowd and addressed him one last time, “Sure thing chief! And what are you going to do, now?”

“Take care of our guests,” Aiding said to her, while starting to walk towards his house in the center of the clearing.

“Hey what about me?!” Zix shouted after him.

“You, stay and watch Kel. She was in your spot last cycle. Listen carefully to what she says, and ask her, before you do anything!” Aiding replied, almost out of earshot. Zix grumbled in response and went back to drilling holes in the air. His forked tongue danced angrily across his lips.

Gleaming meanwhile was presented with a different problem than Zix now. On one hoof, she needed to stay around the Ling in hopes of finding a way to get him, or possibly herself back to his ship and out of this crazy place. And somehow hope that he did not see through her. Also she really wanted, no needed to know more about him for her own survival, in case things went south and she had to improvise for her cover or find his ship on her own.

On the other hoof, she really really did not want to miss out on the only meal in a day or more. Not counting the green fire tomato, which almost oblitered her tongue and sense of taste. Her stomachs relentless rumbles seeming to agree with her line of thoughts.

Unfortunately the culmination of those two objectives, left her with only one choice: She would have to find a way to speed up the feeding or help herself to some of the goodies. With approximately three dozen ponies around and only ten or so of them fed by now, the potential time loss was simply to big to ignore. Gleaming had already missed out on whatever was being said between Nemora and the Ling back at the clinic. She did not want to miss anything else that could get her out of this mess and finally back home.

And she could barely make out his figure as he strode off towards his home by now.

Gleaming wracked her brain for a solution to her problem and was soon rewarded with one, as her eyes drifted over to the cart where the Ling had originally filled the bowls from. The cart was in a perfect position for Gleaming to shield herself from the lizards gaze. And once she had reached that semi dead spot, all she would have to do was watch Kel for a moment, where she could slip inside the wagon unseen.

The contents of the carts buckets were removed to the point where they no longer spilled over, but Gleaming was certain that they were not entirely emptied, as Aiding only ever took a bit out of each. If she coul get to the goodies without either the bird or the Lizard spotting her, she could skip her turn in line and get right after the Ling with only a few second behind him. Hopefully.

´What was it the changeling said about ponies being hard to refuse? Maybe that’s my ticket!´ A quick glance at the avians ineraction with the crowd changed Gleaming mind. After all she was the one who got her stuck with that name… ´But then I´ll have to….ugh lets just put it on the backburner as plan B in case I get caught…´

Having reached a conclusion to avoid the oversized bird, Gleaming watched the two handlers present for a bit and when both of their attentions was aimed on the next ponies in line, while changing the bowls and Kel had to reject another, Gleaming made her move. Cautiously, almost imperceptibly slow, she moved sideways towards the bucket cart. Her eyes trained on the bird and the corner of her eyes keeping the lizard in check for any flash of movement.

Despite the clock ticking on her, Gleaming made sure her movements were not hasty enough to cause anypony around to notice, that she was moving at all, until she slipped into a dead angle.
From here Kel could no longer see her unless she craned her neck and Zix would have to lean forward to the extreme to spot Gleaming because his vision on her was now blocked by the cart.

´So far, so good,´ Gleaming smiled to herself. She felt a little like a secret agent, sneaking around, avoiding guards…and now she would be able to steal something too! It made the filly in her heart giggle with glee. The giddy feeling persisted until Gleaming reached from her position around the cart, whose doors luckily have not been closed, to claim her prize. That is, when her hoof came into contact with something warm and fuzzy.

´What kind of bucket is this? Must be a fruit, which had been lying in the sun for to long.´

“Eeeeep!”

´…Or not.´

The shocked outcry of a pony erupted from within the very same cart Gleaming had reached into and she felt the warm and fuzzy mass in contact with her hoof rapidly bending and scrambling to get away. Gleaming then heard how the pony knocked over some of the buckets within the cart, before leaping out of the container and onto the grassy plains. A few buckets and their contents following the escaping mare either by sudden wind or cohesion. Once she had landed outside, the mare sat up quickly and looked around with shock in her wide open amber eyes.

Everyones and everyponies attention was promptly transferred to the mare, who had just made her presence known. She was covered from head to tail in copious amounts of mashed fruit remains of mostly red and yellow, as well as their juices and was looking around frantically like a deer caught in a headlight. It was hard to tell, due to the relocoration, but her original coat color may have been a metallic grey at some point. All in all she was the very definition of a filly caught with its hoof in the cookie jar.

Kel recovered first from the interruption and decided to address the scared food thief, “Well, well…good morning to you too, Pepper!” Upon hearing Kel´s voice the mares eyes normalized. The grey mare sat down in the grass and promptly started licking off the fruity remains from her coat, “Ouwou!”

*Slurp*

Apparantly Gleaming was not the first pony to have noticed the dead angle between the two guards. And this mare had somehow managed to get in before her, ruining her plan…or did she?

Gleaming looked at the mare, whos back was turned to her, as she licked herself clean. All eyes present were on her at the moment and the cart left to itself once more. She may have made a mess in there, but surely some the food must still be in an appetizing state, Gleaming figured. So when Kel turned back to the Ouwou-shouting ponies closest to her, probably to calm their rightfully growing protests about the holdup, Gleaming hopped inside the cart looking for anything she might recognise.

Quickly going through the buckets still inside and upright, Gleamings effort of sorting through the mess was soon rewarded. Multiple yellow and red fruits she knew by heart were massed in some container, who still remained largely untapped, by both the Lings shovel and the intruding mare.

´Hey banana slices are in this one! And that one has pineapples in it! Strawberries!! Jackpot!!!´

Gleaming wasted no time to dig in and shoved as much of anything she could indentify into her muzzle as she could. Her chewing could barely keep up with the amount and her stomach voiced his approval with a small growl. In addition and because Gleaming knew she was running on borrowed time, she opted to float a few selected fruits right outside the cart in a light telekinetic grip for later comsumption. Despite her earlier fears the magic flowed naturally again and the field was fairly stable to hold what she considered an appropiate amount.

Gleaming was so absorbed in the process and enjoyed her stroke of luck, that she almost did not hear Kel frantically shouting, “SNOWFLAKE! NOOOOOOO!” amidst her search.

With stuffed cheeks like a chipmunk and some more fruit floating around in her magic, Gleaming turned around just in time, to see how every single pony, regardless if they ate already or not, started charging towards her after Blaze gave a mighty whinny.

*Gulp*

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As she walked towars the changlings house with a full belly, Gleaming briefly glanced up at the two suns high in the sky. The bigger of the two, the one that looked like it would devour the world at any moment, luckily did not seem to grow. In fact, as far as Gleaming could tell, it did not even move in the slightest. It was covered in horizontal stripes of whiteish clouds, which travelled across its surface. The smaller one in contrast glintered softly right next to it, flickering occasionally like a white star plucked from Luna´s nightscape to shine brightly, but only during Celestias day.

It was weird to look at but also somehow…pretty. So far as the situation in the sky was not deteriorating it was probably okay. Still, Gleaming was no astropony. Who knows, how long it would stay that way?

´Speaking of deteriorating…`

Back in the cart, Gleaming barely had enough time left to jump out to safety before it was stormed by a vicious mob of greedy ponies. Her primitive relatives left nothing standing in their wake to secure as much of the food for themselves, right after Kel´s shouting. The resulting chaos of Ouwous, Eeeeeps and loud munching noises would have made even Discord proud.

Kel had tried in vain to regain control of the feeding frenzy, but the three dozen or more ponies were simply to much for her to handle on her own. Expecially so, after a few random ponies from across the meadow came galloping over to join the rebel group in their cause, effectively drowning the poor bird in bodies.

Zix meanwhile just looked at the scene once, fell over and held his belly, while a series of quick breaths and hisses escaped his mouth and scaly nostrils. Gleaming did not understand at first, what exactly it was that he did, but the body language helped immensily to relay the message to her. His laughter renewed itself and increased tenfold, when Kel started waving in distress from her position in the sea of ponies. Struggling against the pushing equines, she was crying for help one second, only to disappear a short moment later among them. She was like a ship out at sea during a massive storm, going up and down tall and unrelenting waves.

To Gleaming it was a surreal experience. And the first time she got away scot free, even though she was probably the one reason things escalated. She did not know what exactly she did wrong, but even Gleaming knew that the situation started escalating right after she had found the pony in the cart and jumped in herself. Sure she had to drop a few of her gatherings to deter some persuers as fled the scene, but for the most part the other ponies let her have her share.

Taking one last almost guilty glance at the massacre behind her, Gleaming hoped that her friend would get something out of it too. He could use it, and probably deserved it even more.

´Maybe I should keep some of this and hide it somewhere safe for him,´ Gleaming thought idly. ´After all he gave me something too.´ Gleaming made a mental note to save some food for him, it was the least she could do. And as Princess Celestia always said,´A little kindness goes a long way.´ As she neared the changelings oversized cottage Gleaming could see neither the Ling nor his guests anywhere around it. She figured that they must have already gone inside.

What she spotted instead were a lot of ponies evenly spread around the entire clearing encircling the house. Most of them were playing in small groups, but a few singular ones always sat a few spaces away in between the groups and on the edge of the grassy plain, where the forest started. The majority of the groups ignored Gleaming completely, but the single ponies kept thir eyes on her at all times, while slowly munching on a patch of grass. Whenever Gleaming came to close to any of them, they stopped to chew briefly, only to resume it when the distance between herself and the pony grew again.

Gleaming hated to admit it, but Aidings predictions seemed right as far as these ponies were concerned. But he did not know that to her great relief, because Gleaming could almost imagine the fat smug he would wear should he ever come to realize this. It fitted into his character.

Finally arriving at the house, Gleaming climbed the few stairs up to the terrace surrounding it. Her hooves touched solid wooden planks beneath her, which creaked slightly with each step she took.
Of anypony heard her inside the house, they did not seem to care, as nopony was coming to inspect the noises her steps made.

Glancing up at the remains of her booty from the food heist, Gleaming stopped herself from eating the very last three. She wanted to save them for Meeps in case he got unlucky in the chaos and also to repay her debt. Scanning the terrace for a possible hiding spot, she found a ceramic jug sitting next to an old looking brown bench. Peering inside the dark jug revealed it to be empty and dry, as far as Gleaming could see and she carefully lowered the leftovers into it until they safely reached the bottom.

As she completed her task, Gleamings ears picked up voices coming from right around the corner. They were fairly clear already, but she did not want to miss anything being wispered as well. So she tiphoofed her way closer to the source, which was ultimately just a window left slightly ajar to vent the stale air from the inside of the house. Gleaming sneaked closer until she was just below it, always mindful of leaving as little indications to her presence as possible. She aligned herself carefully so that her horn and head were hidden by the dark brown window-sill.

“…hasn´t changed at all since the last time I´ve been here. Some new décor could work wonders every now and then Aiden.”

´Aiden? Who is Aiden? Does he mean Aiding?´ Gleaming was certain she had hear him say the first, but that did not make any sense to her. After all Aiding Pierce was a much more sensable name in her mind. ´Do changelings have different names than ponies?´ Also Gleaming did not recognise the voice speaking. She figured it to be one of the guests, but did not yet know who. All she could make out was, that it was a male.

“Sure. But then I´d have to change it every few days due to all that holiday nonsense, seasonal festivities and other vital dates. And each time I´d have to buy more and more useless junk, which ultimately just serves to collect some dust out of season.”

That voice Gleaming knew by now. It was the Ling. And he was very stingy it seemed.

“You can´t just hole up out here and ignore the calendar. Also it would add some color to your life.”

“I place antlers on the little ones each christmas. That´ll have to do.”

The new voice sounded sceptical, “…they let you do that? I thought they dislike any attachments.”

“Some of them do, but most of them just ignore it and continue as usual.”

“Marshal, were getting off topic.”

Gleaming did not know that last voice. From the strict sound of it, it belonged to a fairly young female. Most likely she was the second guest, who came along with the Marshal. By the way the word Marshal was said, it sounded like the pony wielding it was quite the authority and yet Gleaming could not shake the feeling that the female thought herself to be in charge.

A loud sigh was heard, “…yes,yes. No smalltalk, no pleasantries with you, is there?”

The female did not respond vocally, but Gleaming had the feeling that some looks were shared, before the conversation resumed.
“Let us move this to the kitchen. Can I offer you something? Coffee, tea…,” the Ling asked his guests and Gleaming could hear how multiple feet and/or hooves started moving away from her.

´Darn it!´

Hastily but still concerned to remain unnoticed, Gleaming ventured along the houses outside to the next window. This one was unfortunately closed tight, but as long as things around her very relatively quiet, she would still be able to catch on.

The scraping of wood on wood could be heard and a few cupboards were opened and closed, “You do have some real coffee Aiden? Where did you get that?” The Marshal sounded fairly surprised.

“From my last trip.”

“Then I´ll take a cu-…mug please. I haven´t had some in ages! All you get here is that cheap knockoff they make from seashell or something.”

“Marshal were here on official business! I must insist we-“

“New to Agria, is she?”Aiden interrupted her, while Gleaming could hear and smell the distinctive sound of a coffee maker starting up. “Fresh from the academy, I take it?”

“Indeed she is.” A vary loud scraping of a chair, pulled across the floor, sounded from within the house. “Take a seat girl. Things around here move at their own pace.”

“B-But protcol strictly-“

“The political head bureau is very far away from here. Nobody over there really cares what happens on Agria. And long as the agricultural transports arrive on time, nobody will come looking either,” the old voice of the Marshal explained things to her. His voice sounded a bit distorted to Gleaming. Maybe he sported a beard?

“Want a cup as well, Junior-Inspector?” Aiden offered.

After a small pause, Gleaming could hear how somepony slumped down into a chair. Probalb ythe one the Marshal dragged out. “…alright, but only a small one.” She sounded defeated.

“I´ve got to apologize, Aiden. New ones they send us, are always to eager to get promoted,” The Marshal grumbled as explanation.

“No harm done Wilford,” Aiden answered while a loud -DING- announced the coffee being ready. Gleaming could almost imagine the way it was filled into three cups as the typical noise of a fluid flowing into something filled the air. Then the knocking of hooves on the floor indicated that Aiden was walking over to the table, where his guests sat.

“Milk?, Sugar?”

“Nah, I´m good,” Wilford the Marshal said before he took a first audible sip of the hot beverage. “Aaaah that is the good stuff! You’re a hero, Aiden!”

The female was way more hesitant, “…uhm… some milk, please, Mr Pearce.”

“On the counter behind you, young lady. Spoons are in the drawer below it.”
A moment of silence passed as the female law-agent stirred milk into her drink. The loud clinking of the metallic spoon against the ceramic cup filling the air as the only soun, before the scraping of her chairs legs indicated, that she took her seat again.

“…So…,” the Marshal began, “What exactly is the problem you think you´ve found this time?”

Aiden chuckled, “Straight to the point after you had your fill.”

The Marshal chuckled too, “You know how it is.”

“Right.” Aidens chuckled died and he begaan to sound much more serious. “You know how I went to the nearby outpost to buy me some spareparts for the lightfence recently, correct?”

“Yes, of course. Departures at the port a recorded you know?” The Marshal asked him back, before he added, “Is that were you got the coffee from?”

“Yes, but that’s not the point.”

“You´ve intrigued me now,” The Marshals voice got lower, indicating he as leaning forward on a table of some sorts as he spoke.

“When I was halfway back, my ship broke down suddenly…and no, before you asked I haven´t missed any inspections. All was fine at launch,” he took a sip from his own drink. “Drifting aimlessly around was no fun, except for maybe Pokey, but it wouldn´t serve to get me anywhere. So I set out and checked all the systems.”

“And?”

“And guess what I found?” Aiden paused a moment, “A pony, unicorn to be precise, had attacked the cooling unit of the jump engine. Poor thing knocked herself out in the process.”

“Of course. The loss of cooling would see to the energy intensive system to overheat rapidly and then fail entirely in a matter of seconds,” Gleaming heard the female speak.

“Precisely,” Aiden approved her diagnosis.

“And then?” the Marshal beckoned him to continue his tale.

“I exchanged the damaged cylinder with the tools I had and barely made it to dock,” Aiden winced, “Probably wouldn´t have made it through inspection on launch, but it worked for a while.”

“…I understand it was an emergency. I won´t hold it against you.”

“Thanks, Wil.”

“But,” the Marshal shifted back to leaning into his chair once more, by how it creaked under the weight, “…why do you think this is a matter of concern for me?”

Gleaming could almost hear the smirk on Aidens face, as he answered and she could see it in front of her mental eye to. She hated that smirk somehow. It made her feel uneasy.

“Because of the little one who caused my unplanned stop. She has a mark on her flanks, Wil, and we both know what that means.”
The old Marshal remained silent for a bit as he let that fact sink in. After a while he sounded much less relaxed and way more offical than anytime before, “Are you certain its them again? Can I see the pony?”

“As for being certain…It does not necessarily have to be the same group, but there could be another. And I had Kel take a picture of her, while she slept,” he shuffled through his clothings, “Here take a look for yourself. I doubt she is very keen on being touched with the way she acted at Nemoras.”

“Understandable,” the Marshal grumbled before he lapsed into silence once more. Gleaming could hear something being moved over the table and his mug being placed down.

“What is this about Marshal?”

“She hasn´t been briefed much on Agria, has she Wil?” Aiden intercepted.

“No, but feel free to enlighten her if you will, I gotta take a closer look at this.”

“And whats this about a lightfence?”

Aiden chuckled, “Suddenly eager for smalltalk, off topic, are we?”

The female grumbled.

“Agria is a planet which rotates very slowly, which causes very long dark seasons, instead of the day and night cycle on most other worlds. By itself the darkness isn´t so much a problem, but rather what it houses.”

“Swolloks,” the Marshal grumbled, “You should know about these ones at least.”

The female scoffed, clearly offended, “Of course!”

“Good. But have you seen one yet?”

She sounded hesitant again, “Erm…no. Not exactly. But I´ve seen pictures. Nasty things, if I´m honest.”

“And why do you think that is?”

…

“Swolloks live exclusively in the dark. Light hurts them tremendiously, to the point of death. They avoid all bright places like the plague,” Aiden explained and added, “…which is our luck.”

“How so?”

“We can´t just move every single house and family a few meters each days, just to avoid the dark season. Its simply not possible. Not to mention very expensive. It would make Agria far less profitable as an agricultural colony,” Aiden stood up and the scraping of ceramics across the table, indicated that he took the cups with him. Presumably empty. “So we put up light post and fences and wait the darkness out. The swolloks simply avoid the lit up places and we can coexist without much trouble.”

“I know it sounds mean,” the female started after some consideration, but why not simply wipe them out, if they cause so much trouble?”
“Because the excrement of the predators is the reason why the ground is so fertile here, that the farmers can grow two harvests each cycle,” the Marshal explained. “Exterminating the threat would cause the economy to collaps with sinking harvest returns. SO we shield the houses and leave the field to be fertilized.”

“And what about the ponies?”

Aiden answered her, “They live her longer than the first colonists. These little buggers are smart enough to stay in well lit areas.”

“Okay and what this about the mark on the pony?”

“A while back,” the Marshal started, “…the laws surrounding these little equines were much different. And to not bother you with to many historical details, they were used for animal fights, as soon as people discovered, that they could indeed fend even swolloks off, if they had too.”

“And to mark their best fighters, each syndicate gave theirs a burnmark on the flank,” Aiden finished.

“So this one, is…”

“Yes, youngling, we think so. And if they really are back around these parts, that’s bad news. Any more leads s far Aiden?”

“Afraid not. She just appeared on my ship randomly. I think she must´ve snuck on board somehow. Or a very thoughtful and hearfelt pirate got her out and placed her on the next ships leaving the station.”

The Marshal chuckled, “Yea, a pirate with heart, sure.”

“As for their operation. If they did it like last time, you probably would´ve found them by now.”

“So?”

“I think they moved their operations into a ship. A flying arena of sorts with a low profile to reduce detection.”

“Hm,” Wilford the Marshal considered his words. “Well, if we can´t say where they are hiding I´m afraid I can´t do much. But I´ll kep my eyes peeled for anything suspicious and double the patrols, just incase.”

“With nothing solid, yet, that as much as I can ask for, thanks Wil.”

“Think nothing of it. And if it turns out to be a ruse after all, it´ll be good flying practice. You and I both know how many flying hours these youngsters need.”

“Speaking of suspicious,” the female sharply interjected. “There is still another matter, Marshal.”
The commanding edge in the Junior-Inspectors voice was suddenly back.

“Hm,” Aiden asked innocently, beckoning her to continue. “Anything you want from me, Wil?”

“Ouwou!”

Gleaming almost jumped into the window-sill she was hiding under. Somehow a pony had snuck up on her and poked her with its muzzle. Half.expecting Meeps to the cause of the interruption, Gleaming turned slowly around and was surprised to see rosy eyes instead. The light blue stallion looked at her with an expression of genuine interest, but had his head tilted a notch, as if not sure on how to proceed.

Gleaming lightly hissed at him and motioned with her hooves, “Sssh, go away! This is important right now!” Then after a few seconds Gleaming facehoofed, ´What am I doing here? He doesn´t even understand!´

As if on cue, the stallion chirped happily, joy sparkling in his eyes, as he repeteated the same gesture Gleaming did to shoo him away. After he had finished, he returned to the same pose as before, his eyes closely watching Gleamings every move to continue the game. `Ughn…I got not ime for this,´ Gleaming thought to herself and decided to ignore the bothersome stallion and his antics of copying her.

Unbeknowst to Gleaming, the stallion had no intention to be ignored by her.

Wilford cleared his throat, “Erhem, erhem…last evening we were called by the local fire department, for they had a false alarm…“ he trailed off, shortly before continuing, “…instead of a fire they found the entire workforce of the establishment bound and gagged, all of which had minor injuries-”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“I was getting to that!” Now were was I?”

“You were about to say what the firefighters found next, sir.”

“Oh yes, you probably won´t believe this, but in the back of the place they found an illegal butchery for ponies, probably supplying the local black markets or outright serving it to their own customers. For you see, the place were talking about is owned by the Ska´jar amabassador himself.”

“I´ve told you many times before, that guy is up to no good. But I still fail to see, why you´re telling me this…,” Aiden said with a voice that was rich with desinterest.

“Because, my friend, and you´re not gonna believe this…you were seen at the crime scene, multiple times.”

Aiden gave a dry chuckle, “Of course I was seen there more than once-“

“Ahah! We got him Marshal, he´s admitting it!”

Calm as a rock in a storm Aiden responded, “I did no such thing. You didn´t let me finish.”

“Go on, then!”

“First, I was there visiting Nemoras place, getting our new one checked through and through. Then I had to chase her down after she hadescaped Nemoras clinic, where I had an interesting encounter with some goonies in the backalley, mind you. And lastly I had to go back before days end, due to my employees forgetting to restock before the dark season.”

“That is-”

“Totally accountable for. If you do not believe me, ask the people at the store. As usual I had the luck to find the slowest cashier on the planet.”

The silence which followed spoke volumes of ho much wind the Junior-Inspector had lost from her sails. A fact that did not escape her mentor either, “So as usual,” Wilford started.

“I have a perfectly explainable reason why I was seen, yes,” Aiden finished.

“Ouwou!”

Beside Gleaming, rosy eyes had enough with her inactivity and was pushing her with his hooves to move. “Hey, stop that!” Gleaming hissed, hoping nopony would hear her or the pushy pony next to her. But it was too late.

“What was that?” asked the female from inside.

“What was what? Wilford asked her in turn.

“I just heard someone talk outside!”

´Horseapples!´

“Let me have a look,” Aiden announced and Gleaming could hear his steps getting closer to the window. There was no time to get back around the corner to the bench, nor was she certain that the floorboards would remain silent enough when she moved. So instead she pressed herself as close to the wall as she could, hoping that the angle from inside would not allow her to be seen.

After a few seconds, which felt like minutes, Aiden spoke, “Its just Cotton playing outside. You must have misheard.”

“No I haven´t!” the female grumbled.

Wilford laughed, “Bwuhahah, Its quite alright, dear. We´ve all been there thinking they can talk to us. Never hurts to dream.” Then he added, “Watcha looking for Aiden?”

“Nothing, its just strange. Cotton isn´t the type to play by himself. He´s even willing to play with strangers if no one else is around. Maybe I should check on him.”

´Oh no. Please don´t come outside, please don´t come outside. I don´t have a hiding spot!´

As if to answer her plea, Cotton reared up and pressed his fronthooves and muzzle on the glass, “Ouwou!” it sounded a little muffled, but the messages still reached the people inside the kitchen.

A rubber ball from somewhere, suddenly landed next to Gleaming. It bounced off the wall and slowly rolled away from it, to where it could be seen from inside. If anypony would see it, open the window and reach for the toy, they was no way in Tartarus, that Gleaming would be missed. ´Away with you!´, Gleaming angrily tossed the rubbery object sideways as far as she could.

“See?”

“What does it want?”

“Most likely it saw people go inside and is now wondering where they went. Now he knows.”
“Don´t you think he´s just playing Aiden?”

“Nah.”

“Why not?”

He chuckled, “Ponies play different than other animals. People often compare them to dogs, but I find that comparison lacking.”

“Ouwou!” *Plonk*

“Lacking how?”

“Well, for one if you play ball with a pony it won´t fetch the toy for you.”

“Don´t they like playing ball?”

“Oh they do. Very much so. But if you play ball with a pony…the ball comes back.”

“What?!”

`Comes back?! Uh oh!´ Gleaming had barely enough time to to finish her thought and turn her head to make out the rubbery projectile speeding towards her. There was no time to dodge.

*PLONK*

Author's Notes:

I´m terribly sorry how late this chapter comes to you. I tried my hardest to keep my promise, but it was simply out of my hooves. For against the almighty bluescreen I am put a powerless mortal.
It took me not only quite some time to get my old rumblebox running again, but once I did, I noticed that half the chapter was missing
So I had to rewrite a big portion, before I got to the juicy bits, I was itching to finish...
On a plus note, I am much more happy with how it turned out this time. There are ups and downs to everything, I guess.
Oh well, I hope the big fluffy pink pony forgives me and will enventually stop trying to squeeze herself through the wall on my left O.o
I did however, despite the circumstances, keep my word in regards to the promised content of this chapter. Hope you like and happy ~~Helloween~~ I mean Nightmare Night to you folks.

PS: I ll get a new PC (hopefully) by the end of january. Then I can send my old rumblebox to the eternal hunting grounds.

Chapter 9

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Chapter 9, The other end

The Ponyville library was unusually abuzz with activity. Ponies were coming and leaving en masse and quite miraculiously they all fit into the small structure. Even more remarkable was that nopony stepped on any shards of glass still littering the floor or anypony elses hooves. If one did not know any better it could almost appear to an orchestrated event. Almost.

If one were to take a closer look, the equine mass could be easily seperated into two groups.

For one, there were the local residents of the small town, going about their daily routine and either looking for or returning a book or two. To provide the usual service to them Spike had put up an improvised desk, made out of an upside down cartboard box with foldable chair behind, right in the middle of the hallway just behind the door. He did what he could with what was left of the inventory. Most of the bound knowledge had survived the night, but some envelopes were less fortunate. Luckily books with minor burns on the outside were still legiable on the inside and if time tought the library staff anything, then it was the fact that some books were returned in even worse shape, much to Twilights anger.

"Hey, there is only half of this book left! Does that mean I get to keep it twice as long?"

"Uuuuuh...."

On the upside though, any book returned made the shelfes look less…empty. If only for the moment until one stepped closer to them.

Other ponies came by to offer their help after the desastrous event which had struck the central building of their little community. They salvaged and fixed whatever they could of the trees interior and disposed off what, unfortunately, could not be saved. Balancing the charred items on their backs they carried it out of the tree in large boxes or floated them out of the missing windows. Some of the shelves and furniture would have to be replaced entirely at some point in the future, but that could be dealt with after addressing more pressing demands, and the question of how to fund the effort.

The other and far more dominant group of equines were the Royal Equestrian Guards, which came here over the course of dawn. They had beelined to Ponyville in flying carts even before the sun had risen and quickly established a perimeter with orange tape around the tree. And, to make absolutely sure nopony could miss their presence, even set up a basecamp consisting of few big tents and signs. Not to far from the libraries entrance they also set up an impromptu landing strip right next to their camp, making it look like a maneuver campsite.

Now, many hours later, a constant stream of ponies in golden armor was venturing between the tents on the outside, the strip and the mainroom on the right side of the library, occasionally bringing items in or dropping some others off. But always making certain that nopony could see what was being transported. Except for a glimpse on lots and lots of boring papers and magical crystals, everypony was left to guess at the contents.

In the early hours of the day the guard had stubbornly tried to prevent anypony from entering the structure entirely, who was not from the troop. While they busied themselfes with setting things up, they asked everypony lots of questions, even if they had heard or seen nothing. But the taped in perimeter and the minor detail that the guard occupied an official building of the town, not to mention that anything happening in Ponyville always attracted a lot of attention, quickly forced the local authorities to intervene on their citizens behalf.

Quite reluctantly and due to the timely arrival of Mayor Mare the guards were eventually forced to concede some control over their investigation site, into the hooves of the local ponies. So it was decided between the mayor and the commander of the force, that the regular business could take place in a somewhat reduced form. At least in all parts of the tree that were not of immediate concern for the guard and their duty.

With details scarce on what exactly had occurred in the previous night, except for a large explosion that anypony, save for the heaviest of sleepers, must have heard, the townsfolk were logically upset and worried for their safety. And with the usual secrecy the guard behaved with, it only increased the locals desire to speculate and catch a glimpse of the interior happenings, further spinning the rumor mill with each miniscule item they spotted.

It was therefore no surprise that a set number of individuals from the crowd of onlookers tried to sneak by the fence around the library. Or they simply just pretended to have a book to return that was late due. The amount of ponies willing to attempt such a coup lessened a bit after the guards uncerimoniously kicked out a couple of ponies, but never once dropped to zero, as curiosity always got the better of a crowd.

To further undermine these activities the guard commander had quickly resorted to tighten security around and inside the tree by assigning a pair of guards to everything. Even the bathroom. And the coffeemaker in tent 3. Additionally the already limited entrance of the tree had been converted into a checkpoint, which also had the unfortunate side effect of slowing things down considerably for all parties involved due to overly prolonged check-ups.

Amongst these few admitted ponies were a certain orange applefarmer and alabaster fashionista of the little town.

The pair had arrived here almost on time with the first guards touching down to investigate the magical disturbance and stayed ever since. The other girls of their group of friends had intended to come as well, but could not due to various circumstances. They had made it clear though, via manner of sneaked in messages throughout the morning, to come over as soon as the situtation allowed it for them.

Pinkie always found ways to papercards to places.

The initial contact with the armored ponies almost saw Applejack and Rarity removed from the place like some other troublemakers, for manner of interfering with royal business. But a quick intervention by Twilight, and the resulting arguement with the mayor and commander, resolved the issue for the moment. After the guards had departed, a tearful Twilight had tackled the pair of friends and refused to let go for an entire hour, all the while berating herself about how stupid she was and how everything was her own fault.

Despite Raritys and Applejacks best attempts to remedy the situation and calm their friend, it was not to be. For each and every time they though they had made some progress, it was immediately torpedoed, by the investigators of the guards. The golden mares harshly demanded an explanation from Twilight how a type 13 magical anomaly came to be in the middle of the town with little to no regards to Twilights emotional state.

A fact that did not sit well with her friends.

While they both had jobs and families to look after as well, Applejack and Rarity could clearly see that their new friend needed them to be here right now, to keep from falling apart emotionally and to ward off the unusually unfair treatment of the guards. So they comforted her with their presence and stood with her, as Twilight braved the investigative questioning by the lead mare with a rather shaky voice.

Twilight explained in almost typical fashion, meaning in way to much detail, what had occurred during the night. While the guards hung on her every word, Rarity and Applejack knew they were in way out their depths here and instead focussed on shooting down any malicious glare from the guard commander with two of their own.

Usually such a thing would not be much of problem, but with Twilight remembering to much of the catastrophic event in way to much deatil, it made it appear as if she had intended for things to work out as they did. A clue that made some guards and more specifically their boss, ever more suspicious of the librarian and her actions. And that was despite the results of everything being clearly to her disadvantage. It was therefore very likely that Twilight would remain a suspect for some time to come.

After being asked a couple of additional questions about the townsfolk, which basically forced Twilight to tell her lifes story thus far, only in segments, the last officer ended her interrogation. The armored mare narrowed her eyes, and quickly marched off outside to the tents. As soon as she had arrived, the shouting of orders to subordinates could be easily heard through the entire yard. A moment later an aide of the commander returned and asked the trio to stay out of the mainroom and wait for the Princess to arrive, for the commander had notified her of the situation via dragonfire. Until then they were free to enter the premise.

Seeing as Twilight was already on the brink of a mental collapse, it was rather unsettling for Applejack and Rarity to see their friend devolve even further into a mentally unstable state at the mentioning of the word: Princess. They quickly grabbed Twilight by her withers and excused her and themselfes for the time being, to which the aide gladly agreed.

Ever the most experienced individual in reading between the lines, Rarity informed Applejack in hushed whispers, that the guard commander probably only let them in to get Twilight to cooperate. And with the way the mare in uniform behaved, it seemed absolutely certain to them, Twilight was considered more of a prime suspect, and not a victim in the investigators mind.

She was not of the hook yet.

The trio had since then retreated into the kitchen area, situated left of the entrance hallway of the ruined tree house, seating themselves around the table with a hot cup of either hot coffee or cocoa. They had to wrap a blanket around themselfes, as the storm had blown out all but one window and it was rather chilly inside. After a while of silent consolidation, a distraught Twilight explained what had occurred a third time to her friends, but this time without any pressure or guilt implying questions.

It was not that the farmer and the fashionista had to hear the story again per se, but speaking seemed to ease Twilights pain and nervousness a bit, for the mare was a truly a mess. Random patches of her coat and strands of her mane stood out at weird angles and even the pinkish line which normally sat right in the middle of her mane somehow managed to be in several places at once, which were not connected at all.

Twilight looked into her cup of coffee with red eyes and the typical matted fur from tears rolling down her cheeks was very visible on her cheeks. She was rocking back and forth in her chair cuddled into an additional blanked brought in from Spike when he took a break some time ago, and every so often her left eye would twitch uncontrollably as she took a sip from her cup.

Every time she moved slightly, Twilight was silently whispering to herself, “…its all my fault…Celestia will know…I´m gonna go back to magic kindergarten…”

Applejack and Rarity shared a knowing look, that spoke more than a thousand words ever could and after a long drawn out sigh Rarity decided to take the lead, “…Darling, none, and I mean none, of this incident is in any way your fault. Nopony, not even our dearest Princesses could have foreseen this desaster.”

“Rares is right ´bout that, Twilight,” Applejack chimed in, “…way I see things, ya only tried to help ponies…and besides, ya couldn´t have known how da weatherteam screwed up last night.”

Twilight did not stop shaking, nor did she gave any signal back to her friends, aside from a twitching ear. She just continued to stare into her now empty cup and sniffled on occasion. It was only when Rarity tried to reach out to her with a hoof, that she answered the duo.

“…its not just that. I had securities in place for everything!” Twilights mood slowly switched from sadness to anger as she spoke, “Even a magic overload should have never had this much of an impact to the influx of magical energy within the first circle, let alone the innermost!” She threw her cup against a nearby wall and stomped her hoof on the table hard enough to shake it. The kitchenware sailed through the air and impacted on a wall right above the sink, where a purple glow barely stopped it from shattering and gently floated it into the awaiting bubbly pool beneath.

Cancelling her spell Twilight ranted on,“Don´t you understand? Nothing of this should have happened! Not even in a million tries! I triple checked all my calculations and then did it again, just to be certain! I would have never let my sister try it out otherwise! I send her to Celestia-knows-where! Possibly even the moon!”

When her rant ended, Twilight noticed that she had risen out of her chair and was now leaning on the table with her forelegs, towering over her friends. Applejack and Rarity had a little shrunken back from the verbal assault and were looking at Twilight with wide eyes, clearly intimidated by her sudden outburst, but no enough to make them run.

Quickly realising what she just did, Twilight sagged back into her chair and gave a meek “Sorry!” to them both.

Applejack was first to recover, “Ya know sugarcube, Ah might not be the best in this magic mumbo jumbo stuff ya horn types are doin´, but even non magic things can go terribly wrong sometimes. Like the time Applebloom tried to bake a cake for ol´ Granny,” Applejack leaned back in her chair, “It came out all black and the ´hole house was smellin´ like it had burned inside for weeks after. Smelled like it too! But despite all this we were not mad at her for long. She meant well and we solved any problems comin´ from it together.”

“I´m afraid a cake does not quite compare to an incident like this AJ, for your sister is still around, but thanks anyway,” Twilight pointed out.

Her friends could tell though, that the gratitude did not entirely seem to come from heart and more from being polite. Applejack attempt to relate to Twilights experience only seemed to have grown Twilights anger at herself, as the mare continued to sulk.

Rarity shot Applejack a scornful look, “I think, what our mutual clumsy farmfriend is trying to say with her tale is, that even with the best intentions and best preparations there are always things beyond your control in play. And that there is nothing that cannot be repaired with a little time.”

Applejack shot Rarity a warning look, while Twilight just scoffed and sulked further. Not to be deterred by these responses Rarity continued unpertubed.

“Sometimes it also takes a little magic, I must admit. I cannot tell you the amounts of time I had to fix an order that was due late to delivery, or simply repair whatever Sweetiebelle caused.” Twilight raised an eyebrow and was about to respond, probably to shut Rarity down like Applejack, but the white unicorn beat her to it, “Just think of Princess Luna for example, Darling. She is well and back with her sister. And all it took was a little time and magic-”

Twilight scoffed disbelief dripping from her voice, “…aaand the entire Elements of Harmony.”

“Ahm sorry, but Ah have ta side with Twilight there. Ah think a thousand years might be stretchin´ the lil´ time a bit there Rares,” Applejack retorted in an attempt to get back at Rarity for the earlier insult, which earned her a glare, “But yeah, we can probably figure out a way to fix it. Ah mean we still got the elements and all-”

Hearing the word “Elemtents” a second time Twilights mood shifted from dark to hopeful in an instant. Her eyes lit up and both of the other mares were fairly certain to have heard a “Squeee” sound emenating from somewhere. “The Elements! Of course! Applejack you´re a genius! Why didn´t I think of that sooner?”

“Uhm thanks for the the compliment sugarcube, but Ah´m not quite followin´. Ah mean, when we used the elements on Nightmare Moon we had her right in front of us. Ah don´ think we can use´em on stuff we don´ see-“

Rarity cut in,“Darling, we don´t want to stomp on your parade or anything. But we kind of don´t really know how to properly use the elements yet. I mean we just…felt what to do.”

Despite their friends concerns for her plan, Twilights vigor remained unbroken,”Rarity, Applejack, if I can retrace my steps and those of the accident, I can figure out what went wrong and we might be able to use the elements to get Gleaming back by reversing the effects!”

Rarity and Applejack blinked in surprise. This was not what their efforts intented to do, but a quickly shared sideways glance and barely perceived nod between them, was all it took for communication. Twilight was back to herself, at least for the moment, and her spirits were definitely lifted. Even though her new plan sounded rather dangerous to them, both mares were glad to see Twilight back to her usual self.

Twilight rubbed her chin and angled her chair to peer out of the kitchen, “Now if only we could get into the mainroom. I need to get my notes and some samples to start looking for problems with my array and how it was affected by outside forces.”

“That might be a lil´ ta´ do tough right now, sugarcube.”

“She´s right there, Twilight dear,” Rarity leaned back a little in her chair to peek over her own shoulder across the hallway into the living room, ”…even if it was not for that rude excuse for a guard lieutenant, I doubt any of us are permitted anywhere near their sacred ground right now.”

Applejack turned on her chair and squinted into the next room,” What kinda´ clowns are those tincans anyway? Ah´ve neva seen that crest on their armor befor´.”

Without missing a beat Twilight answered her, “Royal Archmage Corps, 17th Devision, department for magical disturbances.”

Applejack whistled, “Dat´s a housenumber and a half. I reckon ya met with ´em before?”

Twilight weighed her head left left and right before answering, "More or less. I´ve ran into a couple of them back in Canterlot Castle, but I never had much to do with them. I did however read about them in in a history book about Discord, his reign of terror and sometime after that."

"I´m willing to bet they were quite the number back in those days," Rarity chimed in, "...must have a been a very stressful position to be in. I cant possibly imagine going from one end of equestria to the next all in the same day. Their manes and coats must have been in ruins by then!"

Applejack rolled her eyes, "...sure, Rares, sure. I bet their looks were most definately their main concern." Deftly ignoring the look Rarity shot her for the remark, Applajack continued, "But how come d´ere was a Royal Corps even before the Princesses established them?"

Twilight smiled and hopped down from her chair, discarding her blanket along the way. "They werent. Not originally at least. Back when they first started out, they were but a loose collection of... mostly unicorns, who tried to mitigate and contain the chaos caused by Discords actions for the betterment of all ponykind," Twilight explained as she walked over to the kitchen door, "Later, when Discord was sealed by the Princesses use of the Eements of Harmony, they became one of the first real Corps under their command."

"And now they have nothing better to do than harass the average pony?"

Twilight shook her head, "No its just that the council of nobles think that they have mostly outlived their usefulness and is trying to cut corners with disbanding them."

At Twilights input, Rarity scoffed loudly, "Typical. One sacrifices themselfes for ponykind with their hard work and as soon as a bill is presented to them, the excuses on how not to pay come flowing in."

"Sounds like you have some experience in the matter, Rarity."

"Why of course, darling! I do run a flourishing business after all. And let me tell you, its more often than not the higher class customers, who dont come by to pick their orders up. Especially after one toiled through an entire night to find the right fabric for the desired color and even made the stitching less-"

"Ah think we got it, Rares."

Rarity shot Applejack another glare for the interruption of herlabour tale, when Twilight now with her back to the kitchens opening adressed them both, "Look, girls. I think I have plan for this. I don´t need the guards out of my house, or living room for that matter, all I need is my notes and the maincrystal from the...well...former array. Somewhere on either of them i should find the answer to what went wrong exactly."

"And how would a simple crystal help you dear? Didn´t they all get destroyed?"

"Not necessarily and not this one..., I think." Twilight scratched her chin, "I did have the main crystal embeded in an extra spell matrix, excluding and including it at the same time. Thats why it should have recored every single spell casted last night, but not be affected by the accident." Then she mumbled to herself, "...unless the overload caused a massive manaburst which overrode all data or the protective spells failed-"

Appljack cleared her throat and pointe with her hoof in the general direction of Twilights desired venture, "Aaand exactly how ya want us to get past all that´em there guards in tha next room sugarcube, without the Commanders permission?"

"Applejack is right there, Twilight dear. It is rather doubtful they let us in, let alone touch and seek through the debris for your items and let us us leave with them." Rarity took the last sip from her cup, "Unless your intention is to cause another explosion as distraction and then smuggle them out."

"But even then, they ´ave many more eyes than we do. They´ll be eyeing us closer than da darn timberwolves do their prey."

"I will figure something out. I still have to restore the place to how it was. And besides this is still a public building, and not to mention my home! I have houseright here and a duty to the ponies visiting! They can´t keep me confined for things I didn´t do! And somewhere in the mess I´ll find the clue I need to prove my innocence and a way to get my BSBFF back! An so Celestia help me, I will!"

At the end of Twilights monologue a humble, angelic voice drifted into the room, "Oh, I´m always happy to help my little ponies. What can I do to assist my most faithful student?"

Had Twilights back not been facing towards the kitchen entrance, and had she not closed her eyes at the height of her rant, she might have caught on to the presence of a new arrival within the trees walls by observing the behavior of her two friends. Both Applejack and Rarity jumped down from their respective chairs and bowed deeply towards their ruling monarch.

After having realized in shock just who the new voice belonged to, Twilight whirled around and bowed as well while she stammered a hasty, "P-P-Princess Celestia!"

"Rise my little Ponies. There is no need to bow for each of you. It is I who should, for it was you, who brought me back the last remnant of my family."

Hearing those words from her mentor Twilight was quick to regain her voice, as her friends rose back to their hooves. "How is Princess Luna doing? Is she alright?"

"Luna is almost back to how i remember her to be, even after all those years. And I have all of you to thank for that," Celestia told them with a genuine smile grazing her lips. Stepping further into the kitchen, Celestia gently floated a chair away frm it and summoned a pillow for herself. Fluffing it up she placed it in the stools former spot and took up a place at the table. "Now, if I what I heard about last nights events to be true, let me return the favor in kind."

Twilights expression fell a little, when she remembered whom she had lost, due to her invention ending in a desaster. A detail that did not went unnoticed by her teacher.

"Worry not, my faithful student. Ponies have gotten lost in magical accidents ever since they started to dive into its depths. And ever since my sister and I took up the crown we have always managed to bring them back somehow."

Twilights features brightened a little, but fell shortly afterwards again, spawning a hint of confusion on Celestias face. "All of them. All except Starswirl."

Celestia flicked an ear. Of course it would be Twilight of all ponies to find the one exception in their history. "...all except for him, yes. But he has always been a very complicated stallion of a pony. To this day, it is still my firm believe, that he is not as lost to us as it may seem. Just as your sister."

"What do you mean Princess?"

"All in due time my little pony." Celestia sniffled at the air as she continued to float the worlds tiniest saddlebag onto the table. It was of regular brownish coloration and sported Celestias cutie mark, leaving no doubt as to whom it belonged. "But for now, what is that delicious aroma floating around?"

"We just had ourselves some soulwarmers, your Highness," Rarity explained. Ever the well mannered mare, Rarity guessed the princess´ hidden question. "Shall i prepare a cup for you?"

Smiling at her, Celestia took up her offer with a short nod, as Twilight and Applejack moved back to their seats at the table. "Yes, Miss Rarity, that would be most welcome."

Applejack and Twilight exchanged glances, waiting for Celestia to continue. But she just rummaged through her bag and produced one prachment after the other out of it. The rolled up notes quickly piling up to her eyelevel.

Just when the metaphorical dragon in the room, became to big to ignore and Applejack was about to open her mouth, a sudden clattering of metal could be heard from the corridor along with some shouting from various ponies. Shortly after, a royal guard first skidded past the kitchens entrance and then came galloping in...with her armor full of dust and her helmet hanging at a weird angle.

The guard bowed, then quickly threw a salute, "P-Princess! Forgive me, but nopony thought to inform me of your arrival. Nopony even saw your carriage coming in! I would´ve prepared a proper welcome for you otherwise, your Highness!"

Seeing the crest on the armor and having met with the mare before, the three younger mares in the room quickly adopted a collective scowl to send towards the guardmare. The guard likewise responded with a glare to counter them, but could not afford to meet their gazes constantly, while she waited for her superiors response.

The mare also started to tense up in preparation to what Celestias would say or do, which made her efforts of intimidation even less effective than the state of her coat and armor. Or the less than stellar way of her own arrival just now.

But Celestia busied herself with her bag and scrolls, completely ignoring what just happened. The only hint that the Princess even knew of the guard commanders arrival, was a short flick of her ears as she entered the kitchen.

Rarity, having finished her task, was the first to resume conversation in her singsong voice, feigning indifference, but the way her eyes moved portrayed otherwise. "Here you go, Princess," Rarity presented Celestia a steaming hot cup, matching saucer and spoon and some sugarcubes on the side, "If there is anything else you might want just let me now! Its no trouble at all!"

"Thank you, my little pony."

When Rarity marched over to the table, she shot the guard commander a warning glare in passing, while Celestia busied herself with stirring her drink. After taking a sip, the ruler of all ponykind spoke up again.

"Mhmmmhm, not quite my brand, but recommendable still."

The lonely guard officer shakily lowered her hoof, her bravado being completely shattered by not being acknowleged at all. "P-Princess?"

Celestia looked at her, blinking innocently, "Yes, Lieutenant Starfall?"

The trio of cilivians in the room supressed a snicker, while the poor guard went red with a mixture of embarressment and anger, "Excuse me, ma´am, but none of my guard saw you arriving on scene. We would have loved to welcome you properly and inform you of our investigation progress concerning of last night as well, before entering the premise. If you could please enlighten me, possibly not in front of possible suspects," she eyed the trio of mares warily, "that would be most appreciated, your Highness!"

"Oh," Celestia began in a way of someone just remembering something they forgot to buy, while standing in front of the cashier in a long cue, "that. Yes I can see why this must have confused you. For you see, somepony had all the royal carriages requisitioned for an emergency of sorts and the only one left for me was the closed top one reserved for my sister. She is still quite reserved about being seen in public you see?"

When the Lieutenant heard the Princess words her blueish-grey coat visibly got paler with each word that sunk in, as realisation slowly dawned on her.

Celestia took another sip from her drink, then blew on the remainder of it, "...and when I attempted a teleportation spell instead, I was quite surprised to notice that an anti-teleportation field had been put up at my destination as well." Celestia stirred her cup with a spoon engulfed in her golden magic, "So I had no other choice, but to get her by my own means, which ponies may have forgotten about, but I am still capable of."

The poor guard had shrunken into so much of a shell of her former self this morning, that even the present half of the Elements had pity on her by now. Celestia spoke with the experience of a mother who was chiding her child on the proper use of items in the well known passive aggressive voice.

"But..., I am sure that such a thing will not repeat itself anytime soon in the future, without my me being informed about it, yes?"

Starfall happily took the offered branch an jumped on it, "Yes Princess! Of course Princess! I will make sure of it myself!", finishing it with a salute.

Celestia gave a nod to her subordinate, and finished her drink. Then she floated the empty cup and saucer into the sink, where it swiftly joined the rest of its family. Then she turned back to the gathered ponies and tapped the scrolls she had placed on the table minutes before.

Plucking one from the pile, Celestia unraveled it and swiftly read through its contents. She nooded to herself before returning her attention to Starfall.

Applejack whispered to Rarity, "Mind me ta neva´ get on the bad side of ´er." To which she received a barely perceivable nod in return.

"Now where was I? Oh yes the incident, you´ve mentioned! Why dont you tell us what you puzzled together by now, Lieutentant? That would be most kind of you."

Throwing a sideways glance at the trio of mares, officer Starfall saluted once more, dusted herself off and rightened her helmet before starting. "According to our measurements, and witness reports, at somewhere around midnight a loud explosion of magical energy rocked the entire center of the town, Ponyville. The exact source of this phenomenon has been identified as the living room of this very building. We found traces of a magical experiment designed to channel magic into a user for an unknown purpose, which likely was meant to summon something large into our world by force."

Twilight looked about to strangle a certain somepony, but was held back by her friends and a hoof held out by Celestia to let Starfall continue her tale.

"If just by itself or the combination of an out of control bad weather front, we cant tell yet. But the spell misfired and only caused minor damage to the interior of the house and its equipment. We have nullified all leftovers to make sure no leftovers of magical energy might still cause it to resume its function or harm any ponies nearby. Well any more that is. According to out calculations, approximately one hour after midnight, all traces of Private Gleaming Shields magical presence within Equestria have completely vanished. We have scanned and scryed for her as far as our mages would dare, but nothing has been found, except for her helmet on top of some mountain in the far south. We have confirmed its signature enchantment but were unable to recover thus far."

Finishing with a another salute Starfall ended her report, "Right now we were waiting on you for further instructions on how to proceeed."

Humming in thought Celestias gaze moved to Twilight, who looked about ready to explode into a million of pieces if the kettle was not removed from the fire soon, "Thank you Lieutentant Starfall. But do you also have the other side of the story for me?"

"Of course Princess! But I dont see why-"

"Then i would like to hear it as well, if you´d please."

Celestias tone of voice made certain that there was no room for argumentation. So the guard officer reluctantly retold Twilights version of last night. During which she made sure that disbelief rieked from every word she spoke of it. But to Twilight, Applejacks and Raritys surprise the story was reviewed in all honesty and without leaving anything out. Starfall was a professional in that part of her job at least.

When Starfall had finished for a second time, Celestia addressed her student, "Is that correct, Twilight?"

"Yes, Princess. But you have understand, I was just trying to help ponies! It was never meant ot turn out this way! Even less so for Gleaming...I could not...would never do that her!" Twilights ears drooped as she realized how loud her voice had gotten and lamented much more silently, "If I had just my recording crystal and my notes I could proove it."

Looking at the sinking head of her personal student Celestias eyes softened and she addressed STarfall one more time, "Am I correct in your thorough investigation of all possible items involved in the incident, Lieutentant Starfall?"

"Yes your Highness!"

"Then would you please find and bring me these two items here as quickly as you can?" Celestia glanced at Twilight for confirmation, "A recording crystal and a notebook of sorts, yes?" Twilight silently nodded back.

"Of course your Highness! But-" Lieutentant Starfalls eyes shot briefly towards Twilight and her friends.

"Two items out of all the collected evidence should not matter as much now, do they? I assure you nothing will be done without proper encasements in place, Lieutentant."

Not entirely happy with the way thing went, Starfall grumbled, but nevertheless gave a salute and hurried presumably towards the tentcamp outside.

"You dont believe all that nonsense from her do you, Princess? I mean summoning an otherworldy threat into Equestria? That doesnt sound like Twilight at all!" Rarity scoffed.

Celestia smiled and reached over the table to gently lift Twilights still lowered chin with a hoof. She looked square in the eyes. "No, of course not. For as long as I have known her, my student always has had only academical interest in the higher arts of magic and used it to make life easier for herself and others with the spells she created. She would never do anything harmful with her knowledge on purpose."

"Pardon me, but why did´ya let her get away with all dat nonsense then, Princess!?"

Celestia shifted her attention away from Twilight, whos eyes sparkled again after she heard her mentors true beliefs about her. "You have to understand that Starfall is leading a dying department of the guard and desperately tries to keep together what funding she can get her hoofs on. The nobles are shouting at me for decades...no centuries to disband the departement for magical disturbences for good. But if Starfall can present a real success with proper result to the council, that her unit is still in dire need, she hopes that they would see reason to keep it."

"And why are you keeping them if nopony else wants to, if I may ask, Princess?"

Celestia tapped her chin and looked at the ceiling, "Lets just say I have experience in the matter."

The other mares in the room shared annoyed glances.

When her gaze shifted downwards again and Celestia saw the looks of disbelief leveled at her, she relented, "For as long as ponies have had access to magic, they also always have meddled with it in ways they only partially understood. These experiments have often caused great progress for all of ponykind, but can sometimes have desastrous side effects, which need to be adressed promply to prevent further harm. Even after all these years we still only have a rough understanding of the tip of the proverbial iceberg we are studying.

Is that understandable?"

A series of nods greeted Celestia and it was about that time the officer returned from her epically short fetching quest.

"Ah Lieutenenant, if you could just place the items here on the table," Celestia tapped a spot next to her set of scrolls, "that would be most appreciated, thank you. Now if you dont mind let me explain afew thing you both," Celestia pointed between Twilight and Starfall, "need to know about all of this."

Unsurprisingly the military mare did as she was told an took a seat next to the door, as Celestia began, "You have both been right and wrong about all of this in both versions of the events. To a degree at least. Neither of you could have foreseen this or prevented it from happening at all. For there is a force at work her that is far older than me and my sister rule."

Confused looks were shared between the occupants of the room, except for Celestia of course, who tapped with her hoof on the top of the tower of notes she brought with her. "For you see, that portal, which swallowed up your sister Twilight, was neither a creation of your experiment, nor was it meant to summon anything."

"How do you mean Princess?"

"Yea, Ah´m not followin´ eitha."

Celestia chuckled mirthfully, "That portal has always existed in Equestria way before Luna and I took the throne. Even Starswhirl the bearded has stumbled across it in his research of other worlds, but never once got it to open. But he was sure that all gates lead to places unknown to ponykind. All of which he deemed inhabitable. But no matter how hard he tried and what methods he invented, this peculiar portal always remained closed."

"Until last night..." Twilights worry about her sister was momentarily relieved at hearing those words. Gleaming was quite possibly alive, but where was she?

"Until last night, indeed, my faithful student."

"And what are those scrolls?"

Celestia smiled, "Starswhirls notes on the portal and its movements. I had to spent a few hours to copy them all, but these are all notes he had regarding the wandering portal."

This time it was the Starfall who was intrigued, "Wandering? As in Movement? As in its-not-staying-in-one-place?"

Celestia nodded, "Your department gave it another name, but never paid it to much attention for its inactivity. But yes, this is anomaly 237 true name."

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"What do you think they are doing? I hope they are not hurt."

"Nah, ponies are rather resilient and quick to recover. This happens from time to when some of them dont pay attention. Besides, I think one of them is just playing dead. Aint that right, Cotton?"

"Ouwou!"

The voices Gleaming heard came from somewhere right above her head. Both of which were familiar to heras of late, belonging to Wilford and AIden respectively.

The ballgame Gleaming unintentionally started with some random pony, resulted in her being smacked with said ball right into her face. Gleaming figured it would not have been as dramatic, if she had not checked last minute, where the rubbery projectile came from.

´Note to self: Don´t give these ponies anything to throw...or kick.`

Despite bing made of soft rubber, the ball still packed enough of a punch to drag Gleamings head a small ways along its intended path even after impact. And with the upper part of her body attached to her head, they both went the same way, effectively knocking her over for the second time today.

Instintively Gleaming had started rubbing her muzzle at the point of contact, where her body made its displeasure known via a painful throbbing. That is until she heard steps from inside the house coming towards the window she used to peek inside.

In a flash of panic Gleaming stopped moving as she realized, that she would get caught after all now. Most importantly however, with nowhere to hide that quick, Gleaming could do nothing but stay where she was. She opted to keep her eyes closed in a vain attempt at blocking out whatever was going to happen.

But once again thing turned out differently than she thought.

As expected the window opened up and Gleaming could hear somepony sticking their head out, which she now knew where the LIng and this Marshall. But neither of them made any move beyond talking about what they saw.

´Don´t they realize whats happening?´

"Eeeeeeee!"

"See he´s just having fun. Allthough I think hes missing the point of playing dead."

"Why?"

"He forgot to close his eyes as she did. See? He´s looking at us."

Slowly Gleaming risked opening her eyes to check what exactly was going on around her. And when she did, she quickly discovered just why her cover remained intact.

For Rosy eyes, or Cotton, must have seen her getting knocked over from that ball, and thinking it to be a game, copied Gleaming actions once more. There was no daoubt about it in Gleamings mind, for how else would he have ended up on his back with all of his legs sprawled out. Gleaming felt a huge wave of relief crash over her as she came to the conlusion, that the silly antics of this pony just saved her flank.

"See, Wil? She coming back too."

Hearing Aidens voice made Gleaming turn her attention to the windowsill above her. Due to her awkward postion, both individuals leaning out of the window were upside down in view, but they definately had their sights now fixed on her.

The LIng was just as Gleaming remembered him to be, a chitinous face with two blue eyes and the tops of fangs protruding from between his lips. His expression almost void of any emotion and hard to read.

The other one however was more in line with the overly voluminous monkeylike creature, who had the pony back in town on a leash. A bald head and a scraggly white beard covered most of his face, but the wide smile he wore and the mirth which sparkled in his eyes gave him a rather bright aura. He appeared like your friendly old grandpa down the road.

"This the one you told me about, Aiden?"

"Indeed she is. Still easily spooked I see. Maybe she´ll needs a whole lot more time to calm down and fit in with the others. Cotton seems to like her already, so there hope."

At the mentioning of the copycat stallion, Gleaming eyes travelled sideways, away from the window and there he was. Standing upright and looking down at her, like nothing happened at all.

"Ouwou!"

´Great what does he want now?´

"You think he wants her as his mate, AIden? They seem to be attached."

A cold chill ran down GLeaming spine as she rightened herself back up. Out of all the thing imaginable, she had not yet thought of THAT implication! How was she supposed to respond if he really was after her for that?

"Don´t think so, he is still a year to young. Not to mention mating season is over for this cycle." Gleaming briefed a relieved sigh. "Last one to get her foal is Scarlett...and before you ask, I already made an appointment with Nemora for that."

"Mhmm, will that be before or after the dark season? I need to knowm in case we need a rescue party on standby."

"No telling about that I´m afraid, they each have their own clock. Nem´ will have have to use an airtaxi or just-"

The conversation between the two was suddenly interrupted by the sound of tiny wingbeats drawing closer to the window from inside the house. GLeaming saw Aiden retract his head back indoors as he began to speak again, "Morning there Pokey. Did we wake you wake up? I´m sorry about that, buddy."

The whelpling gave his usual unintelligable squealing in response, which reminded Gleaming once more, that she needed to figure out how the Ling understood the dragon.

"Want some breakfast? I can whip up some pancakes for you in about....two minutes or so. Sound yummy?"

"Mehehehe!"

From the corner of her eye GLeaming saw Wilford turn around to look inside from his position, "You throwing us out already AIden?"

"Have to, you drink to much of my coffee."

Wilford burst out laughing at Aidens remark. It sounded honest and hearty to Gleaming, which made him even more sympathetic to her. Then he moved back inside as well.

"Then its probably best if we head out again. You got your hands full, I see. Let me know if you find any more clues about your latest aquisition."

"Will do. Keep me updated as well. You know how hard it is to get any information out here."

"I can imagine. Alright, young lady, enough sitting around. Lets get back on track."

"Uugh, Yes sir! But that clock looks mighty suspicious if I may add."

"Everything looks suspicious to you! We still need to check on the more outlying farms, Move it!"

Anything else being said, was either to silent for Gleaming to hear, as both voices left the vicinity of the window or was swallowed up by the return of sompony else she knew.

"Wahwahdou!"

While Wilford and his Aide, the young junior inspector, announced their departure, Pokey had taken the time to fly out the window and land right next to Gleaming. In his usual manner he waved his claws to get her attention and spoke gibberish as a greeting.

Gleaming did not mind the tiny dragon much. He was a welcome familiar sight and if she had anything to say about it, she would save him from the LIngs clutched someday.
In contrast to GLeaming however, Cotton had a very different opoion of the flying lizard, which he made audably known.

"Eeep!"

No sooner had he spotted the little dragon, Cotton had jumped to his hooves and went to hide behind Gleamings back, apparantly hoping that she would shield him from the little fanged menace. But when Gleaming allowed Pokey to come even closer, it became to much for the stallion and he bolted off into the distance.

The sight of the departing pony caused Pokeys posture to deflate somewhat, but seeing as Gleaming did not move away, but even smiled back at him, instantly restored his happy mood. Enough so that Gleaming forgot herself and whispered to him.

"Hey there little guy. I know I don´t look like it right now, but I can help you get away from here, if you want. All you have to do is let me know how and when, alright?"

Her reward was a headtilt from the dragon, "Meek?"

´Okay, foalsteps Gleaming, foalsteps.´

When Pokey brought his head back into its upright position, he clasped his claws shortly, which made Gleaming think he understood her after all. Pokey further reached behind his back, where a dark purple glow appeared shortly and made to grasp for something Gleaming could not see.

When the glow faded and seemingly happy with what he had found, Pokey then turned back around with the procured item between his claws and presented it proudly to Gleaming. The very sight of the item in question made her quickly reconsider her earlier assumption. Especially after Pokey placed it in front of her and gave his gift a little push.

It was another green tomato with purple spots.

The Strangeling

by Codiak

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9