Capper's Old Days

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Wherever the map calls, it is your mission to resolve the issue. What makes it more interesting is that it expands to other unheard exotic locations like Zebrat, Caninia, Ornithia, and a town full of minotaurs. Now, the expansion continues, and more distinct lands are yet to be unearthed. It’s about to occur right now.

It was another bright and normal day in Canterlot, and everypony was having their ordinary and tranquil time. The Canterlot Castle stood tall like a mountain on the plains of the horizon, and a flock of birds soared through the air while forming their V’s. Meanwhile, within the palace, where guards stood in place, a conference was being held. Princess Twilight Sparkle was about to finish her meeting with leaders and ambassadors from different lands with Spike assisting her.

“And hereby,” the princess concluded, “with the set of proper rules in place, the School of Friendship’s sports team should and must be fair and impartial to different Equestrian schools, that way they would not be calling them cheaters or so.”

“Inquiry,” Thorax raised. “Wouldn’t that be redundant when other creatures move to locations other than Ponyville?” Thorax asked.

“Yeah,” Ember agreed, “I’ve heard about one of my subjects wanting to move to someplace in Equestria. I think it was called…” she paused, laid her elbow on the armrest, and rested her head on her claw. “Uhhhh…” she then raised her other claw and promptly snapped her fingers to regain memory. “What’s that city called? Silly Dilly? Philly Billy?”

“Fillydelphia,” Spike corrected.

Ember then glared at the young dragon with an annoyed look on her face. “Hmph! My point still stands.”

“She’s correct though,” Queen Novo commented. “Surely most of them, primarily seniors, would plan to move out and would likely choose one of the locations of Equestria, along with other places such as Zebrat and Ornithia.”

As Queen Novo was about to continue, the sound of the door opening interrupted the scene. They all turned their attention to a royal guard standing at the doorway. “My apologies for interfering,” the guard apologized. “But there’s someone here who wants to have a conversation with Our Excellency Princess Twilight.”

“Thank you for your notification,” Princess Twilight spoke, “but I’m afraid you have to tell him or her that we’re in the middle of a discussion as we’re about to conclude later in a minute.”

“He says that his name is Dapperpaws, and he’s… some sort of cat creature.”

Right away, Spike recognized what the guard was describing. “Is he wearing a red jacket, and has darkish indigo hair and light green eyes?” The guard nodded in confirmation. “Give me a second, allow me to speak with him right away.” The young dragon left the meeting and followed the guard to where the guest was at.

Outside of the castle stood Capper Dapperpaws, who had defeated the Storm King together with Spike and the Mane Six. He was pacing impatiently back and forth waiting for the response from the princess. He still has his noteworthy red jacket on his body and his classic manners. After a minute, he saw Spike exiting the door, to which he smiled.

“Well, it’s about time I see the face I recognized,” Capper chuckled. “Long time no see.”

“Hello, Capper,” Spike greeted gladly with a wave. “It’s nice to see you again. What brings you here to Canterlot?”

“Well, you see… ever since that adventure we’ve gone through, I’ve been missing you and the ponies so much for a while, and you’re much nicer than the folks in Klugetown. Thus, I need a place to crash. I was hoping your princess could assist me a bit.”

“Sorry, Capper,” he apologized, “but you have to wait for a while because she’s currently having a conference with different ambassadors, so you have to come back later in a bit.”

“Great.” Capper let out a sigh and a frustrated growl as his ears drooped. He leaned his back against a nearby pillar as Spike was about to go back inside. He turned slightly back to the anthro cat who was looking down with his arms crossed and his legs folded while facing up at the clear blue sky.

The purple dragon sighed before he spoke up. “I’ll tell her that your problem is urgent. Besides, you did help us combat the Storm King before.” Capper smirked as Spike reenters the castle.

“Whoo! New home, here I come!” Capper felt like things were looking up for him until his whiskers began glowing inexplicably. “What the…WHAT’S HAPPENING TO ME?!”

A few seconds after this, Spike poked his head out of the castle. “Um, Capper, it’s now the time for her to see you now. It’s something important.” Dapperpaws then quickly followed Spike inside the castle.

They both arrived at the conference room, and Spike opened the door. In shock, he noticed both Thorax’s and Dragon Lord Ember’s wings and spines respectively glowing, just like Capper’s whiskers. Ember, being clueless as she was like Thorax and Capper, panickily and rigorously stroked her spine thinking it is some sort of disease. Normally, the Dragon Lord is the one who made the call for the dragons by making their bodies glow, but this is different.

“This looks like trouble. Should we call a doctor?” Queen Gilda requested with concern.

“No need,” Twilight calmly replied, “this is completely normal. And it is similar to what my friends and I have experienced.”

“Indeed,” Queen Novo added. “I had that same occurrence with me and my daughter before. The map is calling you.”

“Uhh… I’m sorry?” Thorax raised.

“What map?” Capper and Ember asked in sync.

“Allow me to show you,” Twilight explained, and then turned to the attendees. “Speaking of which, this meeting is now adjourned. You may all leave.” She, together with Spike, gathered Ember, Thorax, and Capper around her and teleported away to Ponyville with her magic, leaving the others alone in the room.

“...So, Sir Will,” Queen Gilda said to Iron Will, who was beside her, “Any info about your kind?”

“Minotaurs are adjusting to life fine now,” Iron Will informed.

At the Everfree Forest, Twilight and the group via teleportation arrived in front of the Treehouse of Harmony. Capper felt dizzy after they arrived, with his paws on his head to make himself steady. The same thing goes for the Dragon Lord. It felt strange to be transported with magic in a flash. The Treehouse of Harmony, in which Capper was amazed, still stands proudly in the middle of the Everfree Forest, with the rays of the sun reflecting its shine through the crystals.

“Don’t you have a castle we can go to?” Ember inquired while holding her head from the dizziness.

“We do,” Spike noted, “But lately, the chosen ones have been called here, myself included.”

“Wow! Look at that place,” Dapperpaws exclaimed. “That looks like it came out of a storybook.”

Princess Twilight and Spike then led them to the front entrance of the unique crystal structure. As the princess was about to open the door, the knob rotated itself back and forth, thinking that someone was already inside. She was right. The door slightly opened, revealing Gallus’ head poking out.

“Another mission, I supposed?” Gallus smirked. “Glad you came.”

“How did you know that we’re here already?” Twilight disbelieved.

“I was going to say Pinkie Sense,” he declared, “but it’s not. I do have that feeling.”

He poked his head back and opened the door fully to reveal his whole self to them.

“Welcome,” the young blue griffon proclaimed with a slightly deep voice. “I can see we have new travelers today. Dragon Lord Ember, King Thorax, and…” Gallus paused when he looked at Capper. “Who are you?”

“Capper. Capper Dapperpaws,” the cat revealed. “Your princess here says there is some sort of map we need to see?”

“Yes. Right here.” Gallus moved out of the way to let them go in. Once they were in, they noticed right on their feet/hooves is the enormous holographic map with different locations. Ember’s and Thorax’s eyes widened in astonishment. Capper felt the same. “I know, right? I had that same reaction before. I’ll leave that to you. I’ll be leaving now.” Gallus then left the treehouse back to school.

“I gotta say,” Ember asserted, “this is the most splendid thing I have ever seen.”

“Indeed,” Capper affirmed.

“I’m amazed,” Thorax exclaimed.

Immediately, Ember’s scales, Thorax’s horns, and Capper’s whiskers stopped glowing. “Finally, it’s over,” Ember grunted.

Appearing in front of them are floating mini silhouettes of their heads, which once again made them shocked. Their eyes focused on the icons as they fluttered until they stopped at one location circling to indicate their exact pinpoint on the map. This place is located south of Equestria, many kilometers away from where they were standing. A city filled with culture and courteousness.

“Well…, I… never seen that place before,” Thorax commented while kneeling to observe, with Ember joining in.

Capper, the only one still on his paws, had his ears drooped in distress when he recognized the location the map was pinpointing.

“I know that place,” Capper admitted, letting out a sigh.

“You do?”

“That’s Panthera, capital of the Kingdom of Abyssinia.”

“Your homeland?” Twilight guessed.

“Yes…” Capper turned his head slowly towards her. “How’d you guess?”

“It’s been a running theme lately,” Spike replied. The dragon soon pulled out a list and a quill, before writing down some things that would be required for the trip. “Looks like you’ll be having a long quest coming.”

“So… we’ll travel by gliding over there and give this cat a ride, right?” Ember asked.

“It’s not that easy, Ember,” Twilight informed. “Most trips like this can take at least a day or more to travel. Looking at this… huge map right here, from Canterlot to that specified location based on my estimates could take a day or more to reach there.”

“You gotta be kidding me! That long!?” The dragoness complained with a groan and her palm on her face. “That’s just fantastic. I can barely leave the Dragon Lands to be civil without my diligence, vigilance, and supervision for a day!”

“Settle down. The days have gone by, and things have been improving and reforming from time to time, so the Dragon Lands should be alright. If I were you, I would appoint a substitute to look out for our kingdoms.”

Ember sighed. “Why didn’t I think of that in the first place? Okay. And you better keep those words of yours. If my kingdom is under chaos after we return, you got to help me.”

“Deal,” Thorax declared.

She then shifted back to Princess Twilight and Spike. “We’ll prepare once we take care of stuff back home. We’ll be back as quickly as possible.”

“Go ahead,” Twilight said. “Do what you can do.”

Ember and Thorax then left the treehouse back to their kingdoms to make sure everything looks fine when they get back. Capper meanwhile stayed a little longer, staring at the location on the map with his ears still drooped in distress. Twilight and Spike noticed his attitude.

“Capper?” Twilight asked. “Is anything okay?”

“S… Sorta,” Capper responded. “I left Panthera on bad terms, especially with my buddies.”

Twilight could understand why he was feeling so overwhelmed about having to go on this mission. “Hear me out, you’ll find yourself feeling better if you explain your situation to Ember and Thorax. Who knows, it’ll help break the ice with them.” Capper rubbed his arm as he did feel concerned. “Come, we’ll teleport back to Canterlot and prepare your trip.”

Capper smiled. Princess Twilight and Spike then came nearer to him, and she teleported them back to the Canterlot Castle by using her magic. Right before that, Spike had drawn a small but not-perfectly-drawn map of the pinpointed location. It is as almost accurate as the initial outline. He ain’t a professional cartographer.

Once they arrived, Princess Twilight and Spike immediately went inside to arrange his trip for him. Dapperpaws meanwhile stood back and let the rest do their work, pondering how he’d deal with not just heading back home nor meeting his old buddies, presumably due to its laws and regulations regarding certain… outsiders.

Dusk arrived and the sun was about to set. The airship is ready for takeoff. Before it goes, Ember and Thorax quickly hopped on board with Spike. “Okay, let’s make this quick,” she proclaimed. “I don’t feel too well leaving the Dragon Lands alone for too long.”

“They all heard your speech, Ember,” Thorax reminded while rubbing his ears, which still felt like they were ringing from the deafening screech from the Dragon Lord herself. “They all did.”

“I know. Anyways, where’s that Casper guy?”

“Capper,” Spike corrected.

“Yeah, right. Where is he?”

They then heard the whistle call. “Over here!” called a voice. Immediately, they saw Capper from afar waving his paw. “In the cabin at the lower deck downstairs!” And so, they followed him downstairs where the cabins were located. When they arrived, they saw him leaning his back on the ledge of the door.

“How long have you been in here?” Thorax asked.

“Since the ship was docked here… like a minute ago,” Capper responded.

“So you’ve just been sulking here while waiting?” Ember questioned.

“You would be too…” he exclaimed, “if you were comprehending what you’d say to pals you left behind on a bad note.”

“…H… how bad?” King Thorax asked with sympathy.

There came a long pause from Dapperpaws, nothing but breaths and his visible dismal face. Capper sighed. “Brutal.” He slouched on the bed staring at the ceiling as his ears dropped. Spike sensed that this circumstance was getting uneasy.

“Ember, Thorax,” Spike called whisperingly. “I think it’s best to let him have his alone time. I can tell that he’s not in a good mood. Let’s double-check your stuff, this ship is about to take off any minute now.”

Spike, Ember, and Thorax left the room, leaving the cat alone to think for himself. He wondered if he’d ever see his old buddies again, or if they would be happy to see him. Then Capper remembered what Twilight told him.

A little while later, as the sun was setting at the horizon and the sky was turning dark indigo, the airship set off to Panthera. At the rear of the ship, King Thorax and Dragon Lord Ember watched as they flew further away from Canterlot while Capper slowly approached them. “You know,” Capper declared softly. “I never thought airborne creatures like you would be so interested in a view like this,” the cat in a red jacket said.

The dragoness and changeling turned towards their partner. “Oh, so you’re finally out of bed?” Ember asked.

“Yeah, I’m not helping with the lazy cat stereotype.”

“We understand if you have any bad blood with your old friends,” Thorax informed.

“Glad you do. And… your friend suggested that it’d be a good idea at the right time to tell you what it was like. It should also help pass the time.”

Ember turned her back to Canterlot, which they could still see in the distance, implying they weren’t going very fast. “Sure, go ahead,” she requested. “Things will go slower if I’m bored.”

“Lucky for you, I’ve got an interesting story to tell.” Ember and Thorax took a seat, as they listened to what Capper had been through. “It goes like this…”

Far from the south of Equestria, there was a kingdom called Abyssinia, that was ruled by a great kind-hearted king. It has numerous municipalities and towns, including the capital city of Panthera, with a vast and bright population of bipedal cats. It is known to have amazing rich cultures, age-old customs, and sacred traditions. For a long time, the people of Abyssinia, just like what an average working pony can do, have lived their lives with many jobs to support their families and children. Speaking of children, unfortunately for some, they were unlucky to have families, and this is a minor issue that happened in Abyssinia. This was the case for this very specific young kitten.

It was a rainy night, dark grey clouds blanketed the clear blue sky, drops of rain poured over the rooftops and leaves of plants and trees, and thunder struck loudly from the storm clouds. Down the pavement road with puddles everywhere, heavy breathing can be heard, and the running motion was heard from the splashes of the puddles. With no one around, a figure wearing a black hooded raincoat kept running while carrying a big basket. It was frequently heavy, but it didn’t quit and kept running and running.

As the rain drizzled, the figure arrived at the three-story building. It is an orphanage, and it is well known to the public for adopting underprivileged, disordered, and lost kittens. It quietly went up the stairs of the well-lighted porch and stood in front of the white door. She took her breath once more before removing the hood of the raincoat. It revealed itself to be a white female Ragdoll cat with a big dark grey spot surrounding her left eye. Kneeling on her knee, she opened the basket gently, taking her last glance at what appeared to be a kitten with moderate gamboge fur, dark indigo hair, and green eyes sleeping underneath the soft blanket. Judging by his size, it couldn’t be a week older than a newborn kitten. She sobbed as she took her last glimpse of her baby, knowing that she would miss him.

“Stay safe, my little one,” she murmured while sobbing as she slowly stood up.

With no one around, she rapidly knocked on the door, put her hoodie back on, and ran away as far as she could, slowly fading away from the wet and foggy environment. A moment later, the door slightly opened, and a dark-grey-with-black-striped adult feline with black eyeglasses and a sky-blue skirt poked her head out, peeking out at the misty night rain.

“Hello?” she called, “Who’s…”. She gasped when she glanced down and saw the sleeping kitten in the basket. She looked around left and right, seeing that no one was around out of the night, not even a slight silhouette was seen. Concerned about the infant’s safety, she slowly carried the sleeping kitten still with his blanket on. The feline smiled as she gently caressed his cheek. “You poor thing. Do not worry, I’ll take great care of you.”

She carried the basket as well and finally went back inside the orphanage with the baby, who was then soon to be named… Capper Dapperpaws.

Capper, now living in his new home, has been living a rough life as a child. He wasn’t the only kitten there and everyone required attention. Not to mention, there were those days when a lucky one got adopted to a new home. No one came for Capper though, he was just one of the unlucky ones.

As he grew up, Capper would have to learn a lot of things on his own. There were important things he’d learned like the first baby steps, basic language, and mathematics with the help of one of the caregivers, but sometimes he’d need to learn it by himself, or with the help of a new friend.

At the age of 5, Capper was in the library reading a storybook on the table. It was a simple bedtime story, with short sentences and big words, but for someone like him, it was a struggle. He was attempting to read terms phonetically. “The… Fam… Farmer…. To-ok.” Capper sighed as he had no idea what he was reading. “T… to-ok…”

“It’s pronounced as ‘took’,” corrected a young voice. Turning his head to his right, Dapperpaws saw a young skinny grey kitten with black stripes on both sides of his body, on his head between his cat ears, and the tail, and white fur from his face to paws, sitting beside him.“Two O’s make the sound of ‘ooh’.”

“Ooh?”

“That’s right. Mrs. Stripe says that it’s like the sound a cow makes. You know… MOOOOOO!” The kitten then noticed the book Capper was reading. “Say… do you need help reading? I’ll be happy to.”

Capper then quickly scanned through the number of pages he needed to read, 10-12 more. “Yes, please,” Capper promptly affirmed. “I’m struggling with phonics.”

Both kittens skimmed the storybook thoroughly reading the words together slightly one by one. For kitties like them, there are terms that they couldn’t pronounce properly or never heard of. For the words ‘knob’ and ‘knowledge’, for example, Capper couldn’t silence the letter K, nor the letter E in ‘cane’ and ‘nose’. He is even confused with different pronunciations of the four-letter suffix ‘-ough’ in the words ‘cough’, ‘bough’, ‘rough’, ‘through’, ‘tough’, ‘thorough’, ‘dough’, and ‘enough’. Terms like ‘environment’ and ‘symphony’ were very new to his vocabulary and he didn’t know the definition. Capper’s partner however did try his best to correct him and give an explanation of the definition in the simplest way possible.

Once they reached the end of the book, Capper had never felt so pleased thanks to his new buddy’s assistance, and he also felt thankful for helping him. Thinking that he wanted to read again, Capper quickly searched the bookshelf for another book. As he scanned through the bookshelf, he found another very interesting book, so he grabbed it. The cover page of the book has a female black kitten attempting to hold a heavy metal sword, with her partner helping her while tilting his head in confusion. With interest, he brought it back to the table.

“I wanted someone to help me read this book,” Capper explained, sitting back down. “Now we can read it together.” The grey kitten smiled as they both opened the book. “So, what is your name? I’m Capper.”

“…The adults call me Chummer,” the kitten answered, “which is… a weird name for a kitten.”

“Well, I like it!” Capper smiled. “It is a good name.” With their names given, both of them immediately formed an amiable bond. The two then continued reading the book Capper found.

As they resumed, a female caregiver came from behind and called them. “Boys!” she called kindly with two hearable claps, grabbing their attention. “It’s nice for you to read, but it is time to brush your teeth and go to bed.”

Looking at the grandfather clock beside them, Capper and Chummer quickly noticed that it was way past their bedtime. The house rules of the orphanage rigidly stated that kittens have to be in bed by 9:00 p.m. The clock read 9:10 p.m. Not wanting to get in trouble, they swiftly returned the book and left the library to brush their teeth and up to bed.

The next morning, while the two boys were exhausted, they were still glad to be friends with each other. Capper and Chummer were the last few of the orphans to get their morning meals, they wouldn’t have much to consume compared to the others. However, there were a bunch of sweet cinnamon rolls that were just about to be served. The two kittens didn’t waste their chance and snatched as many rolls as they could before running to one of the tables. The other orphans were infuriated at not getting any rolls of that sweet pastries.

Capper and Chummer were happy to have each other now. Now they were having fun with each other. The two’s favorite pastime in their youth was playing on the nearby playground. The caregivers have assisted to keep an eye on the children, allowing them to run and play tag, slide on slides, climb on monkey bars, swing on swings, and all kinds of things youngsters can enjoy. The boys were getting a kick out of themselves until they noticed a black cat with a grey face and matching fur collar. She managed to jump onto the top of the swing set and was balancing across it like a balance beam.

“Shadow, get down from there!” cried a caregiver.

The feline heard her and decided that the best way was to jump down toward her caregiver. However, Shadow lost her footing and ended up mistiming her jump. Instead of landing in the arms of her caregiver, she crash-landed on Capper and Chummer, who happens to be below her without realizing. The three were fairly dazed from the impact and they all gazed over at their caregiver. “Now look at what you’ve done! You need to understand what dangers lie ahead when you do that.” She picked Shadow up by the back of her neck and carried her inside, not bothering to check if the boys were okay. They were still bruised, but other than that there wasn’t any harm to them.

“Who was that?” Chummer asked while recovering himself and Capper.

“I don’t know but she just called her Shadow,” Capper noted. “Why was she above the swings?”

“You’re telling me. I don’t know we could get up there,” The male kittens eyed the top of the swing set and wondered how Shadow was able to climb above. They began by having Chummer hop on Capper’s shoulders and boosted up on top of the swings. Once he made it, Chummer struggled to keep his balance on the top, so he wrapped his arms around the pole, shutting his eyes tight. “Capper, I need help here!” he cried.

“Hold on, I know another way up!” Capper quickly climbed up the swing chains. He quickly managed to get up to where his friend was. However, the young Abyssinian didn’t think his plan through as it was much harder for him to climb down safely than it was up.

With both of them stuck, the only thing they could think of was calling for help. “Mrs. Stripe!” they cried.

After a while, the boys were back on the ground safely but were taken inside and given a stern scolding by Mrs. Stripe. “You boys should know that it is very dangerous to climb up the swing like that,” she scolded. “You two were very lucky that I was nearby when you did that stunt. Who knows what would’ve happened if nobody was there to help!”

“We’re sorry,” the kittens apologized.

“You have my forgiveness,” Mrs. Stripe sighed. “Next time, never ever do a stunt like that ever again. Understand?” The kittens both nodded in confirmation. “Very well. You’re now dismissed.” With that, Mrs. Stripe walked away.

Capper and Chummer were roaming around the orphanage for a while after getting scolded by Mrs. Stripe. As of now, they so far have nothing to do since they’ve already been playing in the playground for a while. Now they were searching for Shadow, that female kitten they’d come across recently that was dangerously balancing on the swing set before. They searched everywhere, but she was nowhere to be seen. Then, as they were going to reach the staircase from the first floor to the second floor, they found her. Shadow was seen by them once again balancing on the stair’s guard railing, holding out her arms to maintain her balance.

“Look, there she is!” Capper cried. They quickly approached Shadow, to which she looked down at them curiously.

“Hi.” she greeted. “What brings you here?”

Chummer spoke first “Hello…. Shadow?” She nodded, telling him that was correct. “Okay. We wanna ask. How were you able to get onto the top of the swings? Like… you’re up there like a spider or something.”

She smirked confidently and was about to leap off the railing. “Allow me.” She jumped to the side where the landing was close, but from the thud the boys heard, she didn’t seem to stick. Running upstairs, Capper and Chummer could see Shadow grasping her foot in pain. She was doing her best not to cry as she stared at the boys with their concerned faces. “The… The sun was in my eyes,” she fibbed. She was trying to make it sound like it wasn’t her fault.

“Are you alright?” Capper asked.

“I’m fine.” Her voice sounded like she was trying not to cry as she stood up. She stopped as she held her leg and started to whimper.

“Um… Mrs…” Chummer was interrupted by the feline.

“No! I’m fine.” She tried standing up, but she appeared to be in pain, putting much pressure on her leg. Chummer took off to find help as Capper squatted beside the feline, who couldn’t help but cry.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“I told you… I’m fine,” she sniffed. Capper took a glance at her shin and could see a pretty bad bruise on it.

“That doesn’t look fine to me.” Shadow would’ve objected, but the pain was terrible.

“It hurts.” Capper tried helping the injured cat stand up as Chummer returned with Mrs. Stripe.

“Oh, dear,” Mrs. Stripe sighed with worry. “Young Shadow, what have you done this time?” The young kitten didn’t respond as she just wept. “Come, let’s just get you some ice.”

Later, in the bedroom, Shadow was lying down on her bed with an ice pack on her bruised shin, still feeling the pain. Although the sting still shivers her, she did her best to not feel it. Meanwhile, as she rested, Capper and Chummer came in to approach her, much to the black kitten’s confusion. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“We wanted to check on you,” Chummer said. “We think you’re kind of cool.”

“...You do?” Shadow asked.

“Yeah. We did try getting on top of the swings and… we got stuck,” Capper admitted.

Shadow smirked as she sat up. “I’m really good at jumping and climbing, but I just feel a bit cramped in this place.”

“It is,” Chummer groaned. “I want to go downtown.”

“Me too,” Capper agreed. Chummer peeked outside of the window, looking down at the street. They were happy to be in the orphanage, but as children, they were bored and wanted to do something new.

Capper peeked out the window as well to see how close the ground was. He was thinking about something before he heard a voice call out to them. “Boys, you still have homework to do!” called one of the caretakers.

The boys groaned as they walked downstairs to resume their schoolwork. Shadow thought she would be getting out of it with her injury, only to see one of the caretakers carry some books up to her bed. She groaned as she knew she was going to be bored for hours.

“Great…”

It was an hour before midnight, and all orphans of this house had fallen asleep peacefully on their beds with their warm blankets wrapped around their fur bodies. All except Capper. He couldn’t get some sleep, his eyes were staring at the blank white ceiling for minutes. All he can hear was silence and his own breathing. Feeling restless, he turned his head toward the nearby window. There was no curtain covering it but could see the glimmering moonlight coming in and the stars from the sky sparkling like glitter. He quietly removed his blanket, got out of bed, and tiptoed his way to the window. From the window, he peeked outside and put his paw close to his face for a better view.

While he was gazing, Capper could hear odd chuffing sounds. He had remembered hearing these noises before. Glimpsing down at the lane, he noticed a couple of steel beams and a couple of tools lying.

“What are they doing?” the kitten asked himself. He could’ve sworn he saw something shining in the moonlight and wanted to get a better look. Wanting to know more, he tiptoed silently towards Chummer, whose bed is beside him, and shook him awake.

“Ugh… What?” Chummer groaned. He wasn’t expected to be woken up in the middle of the night. “Capper? Why are you awake? It’s midnight.”

“Sorry, but I want to see the rest of Panthera for real.”

“Ohh?” Chummer looked around to see that everyone else was fast asleep.

“This is our chance to explore the city. We won’t be in trouble if we get back before the sun rises.” Capper did seem excited and Chummer was tired of staying inside the orphanage, and he wanted to have fun with him.

“Okay, let’s do it,” he smirked. Capper and Chummer silently tiptoed back to the window and glanced down. Based on the height from the window to the base, it was not too high, but enough to reach the ground smoothly when jumping off. Capper thought for a minute and finally got an idea. He headed back to his and Chunner’s bed and took off their covers. He twisted them like wet towels and tied them together to form a rope. Chummer was confused with the process he was doing, and quickly realized his plan.

“Come on, give me a paw with this.” Chummer did so, and eventually, he and Capper had a makeshift rope for them to use to climb out the window. First, Capper tied one end of the rope of the footboard leg of his bed, then they quietly opened the window without making a single loud creek and he threw another end of the rope through it. Once he checked that the end was making contact with the pavement below, they climbed down as still as a mouse.

Once they were out, they left the orphanage right away without any trouble. Now it’s their chance to finally explore the city of Panthera for the first time.

They began their adventure by following the rails that were built into the street to see where they went. Right away, they witnessed many amazing structures and buildings they came across. At the center of the city are three separate memorials of three founders of the kingdom holding swords; they’re deemed also as heroes of the kingdom by the Abyssinians themselves because they’re the ones who brought their people to liberty from raiders. 50 miles west of the memorials is the tall metal flagpole where the giant flag of Abyssinia is supposed to be hoisted, and because it is midnight, it is not on the pole; normally it has to be formally hoisted every morning while the national anthem is being played. A few miles northeast of the memorials is the iconic tall clock tower with a giant golden bell that was established 100 years ago, and it still stands until the present. The boys were very amused with the scenery of these iconic landmarks of the city, and so they kept roaming.

Because it was past midnight, most businesses were closed, such as restaurants and a recognizable pub known as “The Milk Maid”. The only lights the kittens could see were coming from the oil-burning street lights. Capper and Chummer couldn’t see one pedestrian on the streets, but they didn’t care, this was a new world to them.

“This is amazing!” Capper exclaimed with excitement. “We can do so much out here.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Chummer gladly affirmed. “So, what can we do out here now?” Chummer asked. Capper pondered for a moment until they noticed something sitting on the nearby hill. It was a black and yellow tank engine with a coach, a crane, rails on a flatbed, and other track work tools.

“A train!” Capper cried and gasped. “Come on!” He sprinted toward the engine with Chummer following behind. Capper remembered the time back at the orphanage before he met Chummer when he had a toy train in the toy box, and played with it all day, and now that he sees the real deal, this is his chance.

Once they arrived, they were amazed by the size of the steam train engine. With no concerns around their heads, they hopped inside the cab and began fiddling around with the small wheels, levers, and a shovel to figure out how to get it moving.

“This is so cool!” Capper said. The boys didn’t fully understand how a steam engine worked though, so they had no idea with the engine being cooled down since there wasn’t any steam. The boys were disappointed as they failed to get it rolling on the tracks. The boys hopped off the engine and left.

Little do they know that there is something they forgot in the engine. Capper forgot to turn off the brakes. The brakes were the ones that helped the train itself stand still, without them, the train would be in motion nonstop. What’s worse is that it sat on top of the hill.

Capper and Chummer went down the incline of the hill, unaware of what is going to happen next. As they hiked down, they felt the swift gust of wind from behind. Their hearts froze. “Di… didn’t you forget to pull the level that stops the train?”

Capper didn’t respond, and turned around. The train was rolling down the hill with speed. They were stunned as the engine coasted down the tracks. “Uh… oh…”

At the bottom of the hill, another engine was pulling a few small vans across an intersection, which the runaway tank was rolling straight towards. It smashed destructively through one of the vans, sending a bunch of letters and parcels everywhere. Not only did it crash through, it caused the head engine to tilt forward, almost injuring the driver and fireman. They both turned on their brakes to stop the engine and collapsed.

“You alright?” the driver asked while breathing.

“I’m fine,” the fireman responded.

They hurriedly evacuated themselves out and witnessed the heavy damage it caused. “Oh good gracious, this is not good…”

Capper and Chummer from above witnessed the damage they caused, Scared about getting caught, they sprinted back to the orphanage. It is a good thing that both driver and fireman didn’t see or notice them, however because of this mess, they have to call for assistance to clean up.

As these two kittens ran and ran, they panicky looked left and right multiple times. Chummer did not recognize the way they came before. “Um…… Capper, are we lost?” he asked.

“I don’t think so,” Capper guessed. “Look, we passed those buildings.” He pointed to the restaurant and the pub, which they had passed earlier. “That means we are going the right way. Let’s go.” Capper led Chummer as he trusted him.

Once they thought they were far enough from the crash, the two carried on exploring Panthera. Suddenly, they found another set of tracks and began following them to see where they went. Capper and Chummer could see eventually they were now leaving the street track and began following the ordinary ones.

“Where do you think these tracks go?” Capper asked.

“I don’t know,” Chummer shrugged. “I hope whoever wasn’t driving the train got hit. I felt so bad for them.” The boys continued following the tracks. As they proceeded, his ears perked up as he heard footsteps from behind. He turned his back to see… no one. He swore he heard them from behind. “C-c-c-Capper, did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Capper listened carefully. Instead of hearing the sounds of footsteps, he could hear the squeak of rolling axles, metal pieces smacking together, and a whistle going off. “I hear some engines.” Capper ran down the tracks with Chummer trying to keep up with him.

The two boys ended up in a shunting yard, where there were workers wearing construction gears. The boys had never seen so much rolling stock. There also looked to be some construction workers adding more tracks to the yard, and there were even cranes assisting them. Just then, an Abyssinian staffer with a pigeon on his shoulder headed over to the workmen. That has to be the boss of the site. “Sorry lads, we’re going to have to borrow your crane for a moment,” he said.

“Aw, you’re having us on, are ya?” one male worker asked with a cockney accent.

“I wish. Rumors say that somebody has made an effort to be a driver and left the brakes off, and because of this, it smashed the mail vans to splitters, almost injuring the driver and fireman due to the tilting of the head engine.”

“Damn, they lucky. I’ll be having a word with those twats who caused it if that comes out of my pay.”

“Settle down, lad,” a female worker said in a Scottish accent. “We’ll have it sorted out. Fire up the coffee pot and we’ll be there in a few moments.”

“Very well.” The boss left as Capper and Chummer hid behind the tankers.

“This is not good, let’s go somewhere else before they blame us,” Capper said.

“Right,” Chummer said. The two were about to leave when somebody landed right behind them.

“Whatcha doing?” The two jumped as Shadow had shown up out of nowhere, almost made a loud scream by covering their mouths, and they made some noise in the process.

“Oi, what that!?” one of the workers jumped.

Scared about getting caught and being in trouble, Capper and Chummer made a run for it with Shadow quickly running after them. The worker investigated and was getting closer to the kittens. Chummer was going into a panic, Shadow didn’t fully understand what was going on, but Capper was thinking of an idea as quickly as he could. Then, he saw a small engine pulling a few trucks, one of them was a hopper car that looked to be empty. “Guys, this way!” he screamed quietly. He ran to the moving truck with Chummer and Shadow following him.

The trio quickly climbed up a nearby set of rolling stock, giving them enough height to jump into the open truck. They weren’t spotted by any workers and the three kittens made their way out of the yard.

After traveling for a few minutes, Capper peaked out of the edge of the truck and they seemed to be in the clear. The boys were relieved but were annoyed as Shadow for almost getting them in trouble.

“Shadow, why in the world were you following us?” Chummer asked. “You almost got us caught.”

“I couldn’t sleep and I was wondering what you guys were doing,” Shadow explained. “Were you exploring Panthera all by yourselves?”

“Yes, we are,” Capper responded. “We were tired of staying in the orphanage, so we wanted to have an adventure.”

“It was fun until you almost got us caught,” Chummer added. “Why though?”

“I guess the same reason as you guys,” Shadow said. “I’m tired of sitting around in the orphanage. I wanna explore new places, you guys saw how good I am at climbing.”

“Yeah, I…. I think it’ll be best if we leave the climbing to you.” Chummer didn’t want a repeat of the swing set incident. He peeked outside of the truck and watched the buildings slowly passing them. “I think we should head back.”

“Sure. Um…. Do you guys know the way back?” Shadow asked, “I was following you, so…. I wasn’t keeping track.” She grinned with guilt.

“Eh, it’s fine,” Capper shrugged. “We simply have to be up a hill where there aren’t any tracks.” Capper looked out of the truck and saw the engine was going over a set of points. It was turning right while the track was heading uphill. “Follow nu lead!”

Capper jumped out of the freight car, much to the surprise of the other two kittens. Chummer and Shadow quickly followed him, stumbling a bit from their jump since they were higher off the ground than they thought. Still, they ran after Capper, who was already halfway up the hill.

He slowed down a little bit so they could catch up, then the three continued their journey back to the orphanage. Capper led most of the way, walking away from the rails. They passed by the pub, “The Milk Maid”, and then they saw the orphanage come into view.

“See, there it is,” Capper proclaimed. The kittens quickly approached their bedroom window, where they could see their blanket rope lying on the ground. “Shadow… how did this happen?”

The boys darted at Shadow, who was scratching the back of her head. “I… was slightly cautious about my leg, so I slid down the rope to be on the safe side,” she explained. “I know I felt something come loose.”

“So how do we get inside now?” Chummer questioned. “If we go through any other way than the door, they’ll know we were outside and caused that scene.”

Capper thought for a moment before facing the two kittens with him. They were a little confused when he held his claw up to their height, then brought them up to the window. “Shadow, how good are you at balancing?” Capper asked.

“Fairly satisfactory,” she responded, “Why are you asking?”

“Wait, are we getting on each other’s shoulders?” Chummer asked. “We’d still be too short to reach that window.”

“Maybe not,” Capper noted, “If Shadow can jump high enough.” The kittens weren’t too sure about this, but they were too scared to try risking going in any other way. Shadow got onto Chummer’s shoulders and Chummer got onto Capper’s. The three wobbled a little bit until Capper managed to angle them into the right position.

Shadow jumped off of Chummer and just made it onto the windowsill. She managed to climb in, much to the delight of the boys. Chummer started piecing the plan together and, with the help of Capper’s tail, tossed one end of the blanket rope up, which Shadow caught.

She tied the rope to Capper’s bed, making it secure for the boys to climb. One by one, they carefully climbed up, making sure they wouldn't wake up any of their roommates. Once they were back, they pulled the rope in with them and started untying it after closing the window quietly. All three sighed in relief.

“We’re back,” Capper whispered.

“Okay, so if they ask why we were up this late, say that we went to the loo,” Chummer suggested. “Alright.”

“Agreed,” Capper and Shadow affirmed in unison. And soon, they went back to their beds and rested their heads.

The next morning, Capper, Chummer, and Shadow woke up and were very tired from their adventure last night. The caretakers didn’t take notice, as a few other kittens hadn’t slept that well either. The news about the crash last night had made it into the papers, which was a hot topic that the adults were discussing quite a bit, including Mrs. Stripe.

Capper eavesdropped on their caretakers discussing it, and thankfully couldn’t hear any of their names being mentioned. “I think we got away with it,” he whispered to Chummer.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Chummer sighed with relief. “What a relief. I don’t know what Mrs. Stripe would say if she finds out about us. I wish we could’ve seen more of Panthera.”

“Me too.”

Shadow eavesdropped on the boys’ conversation until they noticed her getting closer to them. Seeing they knew she was spotted, she joined in the conversation. “So, are you going to try that again?” she asked.

“Sneak out again?” the boys questioned. Capper thought for a moment as Chummer didn’t like the thought of this.

“Capper, are you so sure about this?” Chummer asked.

“Well, if we ponder it out better, we could have a promising time.”

“Could we even bring something back with us?”

“Who knows? If we’re good enough, we could. We might get away with it again.”

“I could help you out with that,” Shadow said. “I’m the fittest out of you.”

“She’s not wrong,” Chummer noted.

“I guess so,” Capper shrugged.

“It could help me practice becoming a gymnast,” Shadow said. “I’d be famous in the Games.”

“Is that a dream of yours?” Chummer asked.

“Yes. What do you guys want to be when you get out of here and get a new home?”

Chummer thought for a moment as he didn’t think about this until now. “I’m planning on being a rich cat,” Capper proclaimed. “If I can learn how to make myself rich, I can go far.”

“Umm…. I don’t know about me,” Chummer admitted. “Maybe just something where I can help other cats like our caretakers.”

“I’m sure that you’ll figure it out sometime,” Shadow reassured.

“She’s right,” Capper added. “We’re best buds and we can make a great plan together.” Chummer smiled as he was looking forward to what he and his friends could do with their skills, planning, and confidence.

Capper rested his head on his paw as he finished up the little trip down memory lane. “How often did you and your friends leave the orphanage?” Thorax asked.

“Usually… once a week,” Capper answered. “We had more fun once we snuck out during the day. I’m surprised by how close we came to getting caught by Mrs. Stripe. I wonder if she still works there.”

“How could she not notice you guys were missing?” Ember questioned with a sleepy yawn. “I get them not noticing you at night, but how could you be unnoticed during the day?”

“There were a lot of us there,” Capper said. “Plus, we’d often hide from adopting parents, so we couldn’t be separated from each other. They got tired of looking for us for a while so that made sneaking out easier.”

“I guess that makes some sense. But you said you came from another town, right?”

“Oh… Kludgetown,” The Dragon Lord just nodded. “Why do you ask about that?”

“How did you grow up in Pantshera…?”

“Panthera,” Thorax corrected.

Ember just glared at him before resuming. “Panthera… and then move to that place? We passed that place miles ago.” Capper suddenly looked nervous as he started twiddling his thumbs.

“You see…” He said, “...It’s a part of being a con cat… I don’t want any guards or police catching me…” Capper slowly stepped back from the edge of the ship, and held up his wrist like he has a watch even though he doesn’t. “Heh, look at the time. I guess it’s slumber time! I’ll see you in the morning.” He then swiftly rushed back to his cabin, leaving the Dragon Lord and the king dumbfounded.

“Yeah… we’ve been up for a while listening to his backstory,” Ember commented with a big yawn. Feeling sleepy, Thorax carried her back to the cabin.

The following morning, Capper was at the bow of the airship drinking tea while enjoying the view of the clouds. He had finished his breakfast a while ago after waking up from his slumber. He is as of now soothing himself after a long night telling his story, although he is still feeling uneasy on his trip back to his hometown. As he takes another sip of his tea, Ember and Thorax come from behind, joining him with cups of coffee.

“Good morning,” Thorax greeted. “I see you got yourself some tea.”

“Ey, good morning as well,” he greeted back. “You slept well?”

“Yes we did,” Ember replied with a sip of her coffee with gems. “Kinda… I gotta say: these gems really help make my coffee sweet.”

As they drank, Capper noticed something in the distance. “Heh, would you look at that?”

Ember and Thorax faced towards Capper’s direction and saw the ship flying above land, not only that, they could see the city coming into view. “Is that Panthera?” Thorax asked.

“I haven’t seen it from this angle, but I’m sure it is,” Capper commented. “We’re here.” When he took a gaze at the city, he quickly caught a glimpse of something else. Two hot air balloons floating above the metropolis connected by a red, long and enormous banner with painted white text in all caps that read something none were pleased about: NO MAGIC ALLOWED! “Ah nuts, that can’t be good.”

Wanting to play it safe, the airship landed a few miles away from the city as everyone on the ship was worried about magic not being allowed. Capper, Ember, and Thorax were planning on the strategy.

“Okay, one question: Why’d they ban magic there?” Ember suspected.

“There has to be a few reasons,” Thorax noted. “A few creatures like us do tend to go mad with power.”

“We can fix that magic problem later,” Capper proclaimed. “What’s important is getting you two into that city without getting caught.”

“If we need disguises, you got the right guy to do the trick.” Thorax had a flash surrounding him and his form had changed into one of an Abyssinian. His fur was green with an orange patch on his chest that matched his ears. His eyes had slits now, which were still purple.

Ember rolled her eyes at this while Capper was surprised by what he witnessed. He then laughed and remembered something. “Ooooooh, CHANGEling,” he giggled, “That’s a good one.”

“Good for you, guys,” Ember said, “But I don’t have a special power that can turn me into a cat like Thorax. How the heck do I follow you guys without someone screaming at my face?”

Capper then thought about this. “Hold on, let me have a look.” He went back to his cabin and searched for an object that would give Ember a disguise. A few minutes later, he returned with a neon green cloak, which he helped put Ember into. “What are you doing?” the Dragon Lord asked.

“If the townsfolk don’t see you as a dragon, then they won’t freak out. Now stay still, I have to ensure your wings are hidden.” Ember grumbled as she tried to stay still and have Capper put the disguise on her, especially with her wings since she normally never closed her wings. When he was done, only Ember’s muzzle, claws, and feet were visible, with her tail making an attempt to escape underneath the cloak. “Not perfect, but better than nothing.”

“How do you feel?” Thorax asked.

“My wings are going to feel cramped by the end of this,” she answered. “Can we go now?”

“Okay. Sure thing,” Capper said. “Better start movin’.” Capper led the way to Panthera, with the disguised dragon and changeling following him.

“We should find more clothes to hide more of your body,” Thorax noted to Ember.

“You’ll also be needing contemporary names too,” Capper noted. “Since you’re not supposed to be here, I guess you’ll go by… hmmm… Ember will be Alison and Thorax will be Chester.”

“...Really?”

“Why? You got better names?” his voice raised. Ember didn’t respond while Thorax just shrugged. “So be it, leave the strategies to the experts. Follow me.” Capper continued leading the way towards Panthera as the disguised creatures followed closely behind. This is going to be complicated.

Welcome Home

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Ember, Thorax, and Capper made their way to the city. It is not a short nor a long walk, but it is not far from the ship. A few minutes passed by, and Thorax, still in his disguise as an Abyssinian with his base colors visible, began to feel uneasy to enter Panthera. Remembering the banner he has witnessed, it is super risky to get in. “Capper, one more thing. Have you thought about someplace to sleep in for tonight? Because we might be here for long.”

Capper pondered and considered it as he checked both of his pockets for money. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any of it. None except for a moth flying out of his right pocket, and circling Ember’s head two times and left. “We’ll… work that out later,” he said as they noticed that they were now entering the city of Panthera.

As they entered the city, Ember and Thorax were very amazed by the sights of Panthera. They saw how busy the urban environment is with pedestrians walking in different directions, and how decent the weather is. No rain, just the bright yellow sun and the white fluffy clouds. They even witnessed a very notable landmark from a mile away; the tall flag pole with an enormous flag of Abyssinia waving in the windy air, which is very amusing to the eye. Most buildings appeared to be boxy and the taller ones looked like scratching posts, especially the big clock tower in the distance. When they saw once again the citizens strolling on the sidewalk, some of them wore clothes, while others didn’t. It was baffling why only most of them walked around with their fur coats.

“Hey, Capper,” Thorax whispered, “Is there anything you could tell us about Abyssinian culture? Why are only some of them wearing clothes?”

“It’s a sort of symbol of their professionalism and/or wealth,” Capper said. “I’ll be able to fit in with them and pull a couple of strings and strike a deal with them.”

“Uh huh,” Ember remarked as she struggled to keep her cloak closed. “Ugh, how does Smolder do this?”

“I assume the trick is that the problem finds us,” Thorax guessed. He wouldn’t be too far off as they suddenly heard…

“Oi!” cried a voice. The two visitors and Capper froze in place and saw a police officer in his uniform and sunglasses approaching them.

“Good afternoon, officer,” Capper greeted with uneasiness, “What seems to be the problem?”

“It’s a bit of a hunch,” the officer said, “I’ve never seen ye folks around here before. Some of you seem to be a little suspicious.” Thorax and Ember were getting a little nervous, fortunately for them, Capper stepped in.

“Sir,” he said, “I’m… simply helping this old lady and her…… grandson to the grocery store. Her back isn’t doing so well, so walking is challenging for her. We don’t want any more trouble than she needs.”

The officer scrutinized Ember, seeing the hunch on her back, which he didn’t know was made from her wings. He then looked down at Thorax, who also gave a bit of a concerned look.

“Right, I was unaware of your condition,” the officer said. “You all have a good day, my apologies, and be sure to remember the curfew.”

“…When’s the curfew?” Thorax asked, a bit confused.

“In case you forget, 10:00 PM.” With that, the policeman left, leaving Capper confused.

“Wait… since when did we have a curfew?” he doubted.

“Presumably when they banned magic,” Ember guessed. “You got lucky with that guy, but where are we going to hide?”

“Relax, I got this.” Capper turned to see a couple of commuters standing at a tiny stop with a steel bench and a thick-layered canopy to cover. They heard the ring of a bell as a tram engine came into view, pulling a bogie coach with balconies at each end. The engine had side plates that covered its wheels, and cowcatchers that looked distinct from the ones on Equestria engines. One interesting feature was the top half of the tram was made of wood. Capper was also curious about this engine he hadn’t seen before. “Huh, I guess they cut the budget on the locomotives,” he joked. “Let’s see if we can catch a ride.”

“How?” Thorax asked. “We don’t have any money.”

“Don’t worry, my friends and I jumped on moving trains when we were young.” Capper waited for the right moment just as the tram started moving. He quickly ran towards the coach’s balcony and climbed on while it was moving. Ember and Thorax followed suit, climbing on board with little issue.

“This doesn’t feel safe,” Thorax muttered.

“We’re in a town that has banned magic,” Ember whispered. “Let’s be calm, and hopefully this cat won’t get us caught.” The two disguised guests followed Capper inside the coach to find a seat.

The coach was fairly full with many passengers. The trio managed to squeeze their way into their seats as they had a couple of eyes looking at them. “What do we do?” Thorax whispered.

“Act natural,” Capper responded quietly. “We’re going to be fine.” He sat back as Ember sat down beside him and Thorax. As she adjusted herself, she noticed that one feline sitting across was holding a bouquet of flowers that had a familiar orange color to them. The Dragon Lord sniffed the air and her nose already began to sting.

“Oh no,” she said to herself, realizing those flowers are from the dragon sneeze tree. Again, they were almost straight across from where Ember was sitting, so she was going to get a good whiff of the pollen. Ember did her best to cover her nose, but it was not going to be easy.

Just then, a conductor came over to Capper with a suspicious look. “Excuse me, sir, I don’t remember seeing you entering the coach,” he said, “Did you pay?”

Despite being put in a tricky spot, the con cat kept his cool. “We were in a rush and… sweet old Alison here was worried so we scrambled on here,” Capper responded, “You might’ve missed a few other passengers while they were on.”

“That might be likely sir. If you and your acquaintances here have paid for your rides, then we’ll be able to check the bits.” Capper kept up his smile, but a bead of nervous sweat started trickling down his head.

“You do that.” A loud sniffle was heard from Ember, much to the concern of Thorax.

“Ember?” the disguised changeling worried.

“It’s… allergies,” Ember groaned. She pointed to the flowers the other passenger was holding. Thorax recognized the flowers and knew what was going to happen.

“Oh, dear… Um… we should get off at the next stop.”

“If she’s ill, I have a first aid kit with me. We can use it until we can get her a doctor,” the conductor said. Ember didn’t respond as she tried to cover her nose to stop the smoke from escaping her nostrils. She started coughing as some of the passengers started staring at them with uneasiness.

“What’s going on here?” One passenger said.

“I don’t know,” the other one replied.

“This is not good,” the third one exclaimed with concern.

“Come on, control yourself,” Capper ordered quietly. Ember would’ve given a remark, but her nostrils were messing with her.

With the pollen penetrating her system, Ember cannot hold it back. Without warning, she let out a huge sneeze of fire straight right up at the coach’s ceiling, burning right through it. Some bit of fire got caught on her cloak, which was starting to burn and create smoke. The driver and fireman noticed the heating flame shooting out of the carriage and quickly brought their tram to a halt. Passengers scrambled out of the coach as the cart burned, and Capper and Thorax both jumped out of opposite sides of the carriage, out of fear of getting caught, with Capper running away from the scene.

Once Ember managed to recover, she took a minute to catch her breath before she saw the burning remains of the coach. “Oh no,” she groaned. She saw that her disguise was being turned to ash now, so faking her way out of there was definitely impossible. The Dragon Lord looked outside to see a panicked Thorax waving a call for her.

Knowing what was going to happen next, Ember braced herself by just walking outside of the burning carriage. When the passengers got a good look at her, it took a few seconds before someone screamed, “DRAGON ATTACK!” They soon started running around like headless chickens as Ember darted her eyes toward Thorax.

“Run!” she ordered.

“But what about…?” Thorax was interrupted by the dragon lord who was wanting someone to stay in character.

“GO!” Thorax didn’t argue and fled from the chaos blending in with the panicking crowd. Ember scattered around to see if there was a certain she was looking for. “Where in Tartarus is Capper?” She soon heard a flurry of bells along with the puffing of engines. “Now what?”

Suddenly, a few tank engines pulled up to the scene, one was blue and yellow with a matching carriage, both of which had “POLICE” painted on their sides. Another engine and carriage matched their shapes, but were painted red and had a couple of tankers and a van coupled to them. The engines appeared to be like actual steam locomotives, but still had the cowcatchers and side plates that the wooden tram had.

Police officers approached the dragon, some holding shields that were bigger than them and spray guns. One of them is a skinny white-and-grey cat with some black stripes on the sides of his body. What was the most eye-catching thing about him, was his right eye having an eyepatch. (No pun intended)

“Alright, ye beast, STATE YOUR BUSINESS!” the officer with an eye patch demanded.

“First of all, this was an accident,” Ember stated. “Somebody had a dragon sneeze tree flower on board.”

“You mean a sneeze sparker?” one of the other officers asked.

“Silence!” ordered the eye-patched cat. He picked up one of the spray guns and held it toward Ember. “Now then, you come quietly with us or you’ll suffer severe consequences.”

Ember looked at the gun and knew they just had some liquid that was likely not going to do much with her. “And how whatever is in that could…” She stepped forward and got a spray of familiar dust. She wheezed as she recognized it as the same pollen that caused her to accidentally burn down the coach. “Okay… that’s enough… I’ll cooperate.”

Meanwhile, Thorax had gotten a good distance from the incident only to find himself getting lost. “Oh boy,” he sighed, “They’re going south fast. I wish I could’ve saved her, but with this disguise, I’d get the same treatment as well. For now, it looks like I need to find a place to stay. But where?” As he was about to move, he heard the scampering of feet and yelling. They came from a local bakery right in front of Thorax. “What’s going on in there?”

All of the sudden, a small blonde kitten popped out of the door and ran swiftly on all fours like a cheetah. As she ran, while turning back, she roughly collided with the disguised changeling without noticing, making both of them fall. “Ugh, get out of my way!” the kitten growled. She tried to get up again, only to be tackled and caught by a police officer.

“Gotcha!” he cried. The cat was quite big and chubby, and also had blue fur on the front of his body with the rest of his fur being purple. He held the kitten up by the nip of her neck as the kitten flailed around trying to break loose. “Little Molly, this is the third time this week you’ve attempted to escape.” He then drew his attention to Thorax, who felt a little bruised at the moment. “Oh… and I’m sorry if you got caught in the crossfire, lad.”

“It’s okay,” Thorax responded, “I’ve had worse.”

“C’mon, little one,” the officer said to the blonde kitty. “Time to go home.”

The officer then left with the kitten. For a while, Thorax then thought back to his current situation and tried to think of an idea. “Um, excuse me, officer, I was hoping you could help me.”

“What’s the matter?”

“I… I don’t have a home to stay in.”

“Hmm, are you lost?” Thorax nodded yes as he pretended to be scared, though, right now that feeling was becoming real. “Do you have any other relatives you know around here?” Thorax shook his head left and right. “Okay, I think I know a place you can stay for tonight until we can find your family. What’s your name?”

“Um… Chester.” He held onto the officer’s claw as he took him and the kitten named Molly away to where they could stay for a while.

As for Capper, he ran for a while until he was a safe distance from the conflict. He took a minute to catch his breath as he realized he was now separate from the two creatures he was supposed to be doing his mission with. “Aw, hairballs,” he panicked while bringing his claws to his face, “what do I do now? This mission might not end well.”

As he sighed, he noticed another tram engine sitting on a siding. Unlike the one that he escaped from, this engine had the same shape as the ones the policemen and firefighters used, and its carriage had a lovely color of aquamarine with purple linings. Capper took a peek at the very customizable carriage, wondering what it was for. The coat of paint was polished so that it could easily reflect the rays of the sun, and with a small rub with his finger can make a satisfying squeak noise. As he curiously observes the cart, he heard voices talking from the other side.

“Mrs. Fluffington, we need to be getting home now,” said a male voice.

“I know, it’s just… this is going to be the biggest decision of my life,” said a woman’s voice.

Peeking to the other side of the engine and coach, Capper saw an Abyssinian in a purple and blue-green dress with a diamond necklace. He gasped as he recognized her black fur with a big fluffy gray collar. The fancy-dressed cat was about to climb onboard the carriage when she noticed the raggy trench coat. “Hey, you can’t be here. This is private…”

She paused when she took a good look at the cat who was watching her. She stepped away from the carriage, much to the confusion of the engine crew. Capper and the fancy cat walked up to each other and got a good look before they spoke the names of who they thought they were looking at.

“Capper?”

“Shadow?”

The two stood there in awe before the female cat got tears of joy in her eye. She cheered as she swooped up Capper in a hug. “Oh, Cap, I haven’t seen you in years!” she wept. “I… I wouldn’t think I would see you again.”

Capper chuckled as he hugged his old friend. “I’m alive and well, Shadow,” he noted. “How… How are you?”

“Never been better.” Shadow let her friend go so she could wipe away her tears.

“I’ll say. Since when did you get a sweet ride like this?”

“I’ll explain on the way home. I have so much to tell you.” Shadow held her long-time pal’s paw and led him inside the coach. The inside was something a sight to behold. Inside of benches on each side of the carriage, there was a bookshelf, a compartment to hold a tea set, and seating that looked to be just as expensive as regular coaches used for public transport.

“Seriously, what deal did you make to get all of this?”

Shadow took a seat before giving him an answer. “My husband.” She smiled as she showed the ring on her left ring finger.

Capper swore his jaw hit the floor. “Yo… You’re… You’re married?!” He suddenly felt his balance shift as the engine started moving.

“That’s right. A lot has changed since you left. Take a seat, we’ll be home in a few.” Capper was just stunned by what he just learned while he sat down. He didn’t know what to say or even think. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but after…” Shadow paused as she remembered something that she thought Capper would want to forget.

“Could you tell me more about these anti-magic rules? Those banners I came across recently are kind of hard to miss.”

“It all started with… you know who.” Capper groaned as he thought he knew who she was talking about, and the two filled the air with awkward silence while staring at each other and fiddling with their paws. As they awkwardly stared at each other, the train stopped all of the sudden, and another Abyssinian onboard approached them. The cat had brown and beige fur with thick fur on his muzzle, giving him the appearance of a mustache. He wore a blue-green bowler hat that had a purple stripe around it and he also wore a matching suit. The fancy dress cat looked at Capper and was rather confused.

“Sir, this isn’t a public coach,” he said, “You better be…”

“No, Andy,” she pleaded. “You don’t have to command him to leave. He’s my friend… Childhood friend.”

“Childhood friend?”

“Yes. I haven’t seen him in a very long time.”

“…I see.”

“Um… hi,” Capper said, giving a tiny wave.

The fancy-dressed cat came near to Capper and shook his paw. “Nice to meet you. I believe Shadow has told me about you before,” he said.

“I bet.”

“I’m Andrew Fluffington,” he greeted while tipping his hat.

“Capper. Capper Dapperpaws,” he greeted back. “Uh, sir. I’m guessing that’s what most cats call you?”

“Indeed. It’s often sir, or Mr. Fluffington, My wife here and my close friends call me Andy.” Andy sat down next to Shadow, who he wrapped his arm around, making her blush.

As the train started moving along the tracks again, Capper had a couple of questions. “Okay, first question, how did you two first meet each other?” he asked.

“Remember the pub, The Milk Maid?” Shadow reminded.

“Yes,” he replied, recalling the time he passed the pub when he and Chummer were sneaking out for the night. “I remember that.”

“That’s where I first met him,” she noted. “I worked there as a bartender serving the best drinks. Andy frequently came there most of the time and had the best chat with me, he’s occasionally or sometimes stressed from working on his railway system.”

“Indeed,” Andy confirmed. “It was only a short time after inheriting my father’s business. I met your friend here and…. we hit it off. We would both vent to each other about the issues we had, with or without work.”

Shadow chuckled. “Yeah. Andy sure had a lot to say. And after a while, then he said something… Well, it’s obvious what he said.” Shadow showed her ring before she nuzzled against her husband.

“Well… uhhh… I’m very happy for you, Shadow,” Capper said. “So um… these trams are new. Why are they made of wood? Normally, it’s made out of metal.”

“I’m glad you noticed. It’s only the outer layer that is made of wood,” Andrew answered. “That’s to cover up the boiler. Trams like this are some of the most versatile engines of the Fluffington Rail Network, or the F.R.N. for short.”

“I’m guessing by that name, it’s the company you own, am I right?”

“Absolutely,” Shadow confirmed. “It’s one of the three major railways in Abyssinia.”

“Awesome! You know, maybe you two should give me a tour of your railway and how it works and changes over the years. This is my first time back home in a very long time, and I am yet to see some changes for myself.”

“I can help with that. It’ll be like the old days when we sneak out and explore.” Capper chuckled as they would soon reach their destination.

When they came to a stop, the three all stepped out of the coach and Capper gasped at what he saw. There was a huge mansion on the outskirts of Panthera. It was a two-story tall building that stood in front of a roundabout of tracks that lead in and out of the city and was surrounded by nicely trimmed shrubs.

“Woooah!”

“Right this way, Cap,” Shadow said, guiding her friend to the entrance with her love.

Once they were inside, Shadow showed Capper the interior, which he couldn’t believe seeing. There were such clean carpets, a chandelier hanging from the second floor, which had a large opening to make room for the balcony and stairs, and artistic paintings hanging on evenly coated light yellow walls. It was almost too much for Capper to take in at once.

“You. Are. Loaded!” he cried.

“I know,” Shadow responded. “It’s what happens when you’re married to the owner of one of the biggest railways in the kingdom.”

Just then, a female orange cat butler approached them and Andy promptly gave her his hat. “Welcome home, Mr. Fluffington,” the butler welcomed. “Just in time, lunch is about to be served…” She paused as she noticed Capper from behind still observing the fancy mansion in awe. “…in a moment.”

My apologies, madam,” Andy said, “but my companion seems to recognize him as a childhood friend.”

“I understand, sir. Surely there will be enough food for all three of you. I’ll notify the chefs right away.” The butler quickly headed back to the kitchen to let the chefs know about the visitor while Shadow then thought of something.

“Capper, I almost forgot to ask you: what brings you back here?” Shadow asked. “I was just so excited to see you… I didn’t even think about it.”

Capper chuckled before he tried explaining himself. “Believe it or not, I’ve been sent here by the princess from the kingdom called Equestria by the name of Twilight Sparkle. This might sound crazy, but there was a magical map that…”

Capper was quickly cut off when Shadow covered his mouth. “Cap, I might be happy to see you again, but you cannot be saying that word around here anymore. It’s the orders of the new king.”

“New king?”

“Exactly, I’ll…. explain more over lunch. Come.” Capper, Shadow, and Andy then headed over to the dining area to have their afternoon meal. The round table itself is made out of white marble covered with giant ceramic white table cloth, and its diameter is enough to fit 14 occupants to sit down with each other. On each spot are white and gold ceramic plates with silver forks, knives, and spoons on each side. On top of the plates are soup bowls made out of the same material used for the plates. In the middle of the round table are 6 bundles of roses placed in a glass vase filled with iced water, which helps them last longer. As they reached the table, Capper shared one more detail.

“You should know this, I didn’t come alone. I also had others who came along with me.” As they sat down, Shadow and Andy were confused by this. “Yeah, allow me to start from the beginning.”

Back with Thorax, he and Molly were taken to an orphanage with the fat policeman assisting. Molly had given up getting herself free and just crossed her arms in a pout. “Here we are, kids,” the officer said, pointing at the orphanage. “And little Chester, this is where you’ll stay.”

They soon arrived at the entrance, and the officer knocked on the door. It opened shortly to reveal a female caretaker, who saw Molly and sighed in disappointment. “Oh, Molly, what will we do with you?” the caretaker questioned. “What damage did she cause this time, sir?”

“Nothing major,” the officer replied. “Only a small disturbance in a bakery. And… she also got a new friend this time.” The caretaker looked towards the disguised changeling. “He revealed himself as Chester.”

“Hello,” he fibbed.

“Oh, dear,” the caretaker sighed, “Another mouth to feed. Come inside, Chester, I’m sure we’ll help find you a home in no time.”

“That’s what they all say,” Molly whispered.

“Now don’t you go planting ideas in his head,” the caretaker ordered. She picked up the blonde kitten and put her under her arm. “I’ll take it from here, officer. Thank you very much.”

“Very well, ma’am,” the big cat replied. “Take care.” He waved goodbye and walked away as Chester and Molly were taken upstairs.

“Honestly, what is it going to take to make you stop running off?” the caretaker questioned. “Wash up and get ready for bed, it’s time for your afternoon nap.” The caretaker took a breath before calming down to talk with Chester. “Now, little Chester, I’m sure we’ll find your home soon. Be on your best behavior.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the fake Abyssinian said. He was given some assistance by the caretaker to get cleaned up. Molly did most of her bedtime routine on her own, dragging her feet in the process. Eventually, the two were taken to the dining hall where lunch was being served to the kittens. Some of them were zooming around being crazy, and some were making a mess while eating their food.

The caretaker sighed as she just looked down at the kitten. “Now, just get some lunch and behave,” the caretaker requested.

“Yes, ma’am,” Thorax replied. He and Molly got what remained of the lunches, which mostly consisted of cold fish and some vegetables most kittens refused to eat. The two got their food and sat down at an empty table together, much to Molly’s annoyance.

“What are you doing?” the blonde kitten questioned.

“I’m just sitting down,” Thorax responded. “What else?” He glanced at the other kitten, seeing they were giving them dirty looks.

“I’m not used to having others join me.” Molly scooted a little bit away from Thorax and started eating her lunch. The disguised changeling was about to dine in when he overheard two caretakers talk.

“By the way, have you heard about that dragon attack recently?” one whispered.

“ Yes, I saw smoke while I was arriving back,” another said. “I’m glad I decided to walk instead of taking the tram.”

“What would a dragon even be doing on a tram?”

“No idea. I don’t know if that’s accidental or intentional. Who knows.”

Thorax kept eavesdropping on what the caretakers had to say about the earlier moment when he was with Ember and Capper during the incident. Molly noticed this and tapped on his shoulder to get some answers. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“They’re… talking about dragons,” Thorax quietly responded.

“Wait, a dragon is in Panthera!?”

Molly’s cry was heard across the room and the other kittens didn’t think she was serious until one of the caretakers gasped, “How did she know?” Within seconds, the dining room was now filled with panicked chatter with the orphans questioning what was going on. Thorax was wishing he kept his mouth shut. He was hoping that Ember would be alright.

Ember was playing along with the police taking her to a jail cell within the police department. The officer with an eyepatch threw her in there and locked the cell door while holding the puffer that was filled with the dragon sneeze powder. “You realize I could just break these bars whenever I want, right?” Ember asked.

“We have gear specifically built to contain dragons,” the officer stated, “so don’t do anything destructive, and all cats would not get hurt.”

“Ugh, fine. It’s just if you let me explain myself, I wouldn’t have to be in here. I’m a Dragon Lord ruling the Dragon Lands.”

“And how do I know that doesn’t make you a dictator?”

“Because you seem to have forgotten to bring your common sense.” A little puff of the dragon sneeze power quickly made Ember shut up. She sat down on the tiny bed she was given to sleep on.

“Is there anyone else working for you?”

“Well, the other dragons are back in my place, though I had two friends traveling with me.”

“And who were they?”

“Ehh… one of them is a cat like you and the other is…. uhh…”

“Who is it? State it now.”

“…I don’t know much about that cat guy, but I do know I’m not letting my boyfriend get caught.”

“Your boyfriend?”

“Yes, dragons like me can have dates. If you lay one claw on him, I swear I’ll be shoving that puffer down your damn throat and know what it feels like when I inhale that powder!”

The officer pointed the puffer into the cage, pointing it right at Ember. “Now you’re threatening me, huh?”

“Go ahead! Spray that s*** on me and you’ll regret it. Do you want to see a dragon in a blind rage?” The officer wasn’t wanting to risk injuries like full blindness, so he took a step back.

“Ugh, I don’t have time for this.” He turned away from Ember before calling out for someone else, “Can somebody contact the king urgently?!”

“Oh, sure. Maybe he can explain why you guys hate magic so much,” she mocked sarcastically and loudly

“We have our reasons, MADAM!” He turned to see two other policemen walking over to Ember’s cell. “Alright, you two, keep your eyes on her.” The officer handed his puffer to the ones taking his shift. “Let me know if you can get any useful information out of her. Until then, I’ll be waiting for him.”

“Yes sir,” the policemen replied in unison. The cat with an eyepatch headed towards the exit of the room to contact their king, leaving Ember in her cell with the two officers with puffers loaded with dragon sneeze powder. She covered her head with her pillow, knowing she was going to be there for a while.

A little later, Capper was finishing his meal at the dining table with Shadow and Andy. The two old friends were recalling the tricks they pulled off in the past. The two laughed when they remembered one time they stole fish from a salesman. “I still can’t believe we got him to drink white paint,” Capper laughed.

“I know,” Shadow agreed. “It was sticking to the side of his glass. And the smell. It was so obvious.”

“If he couldn’t tell the difference between milk and paint, I think he was too easy to trick.” The two calmed down from the laughter as they enjoyed their quick trip down memory lane.

“You two certainly sounded like you had fun in your youth,” Andy commented.

“We sure did,” Shadow commented. “Such good times.”

“I miss those days honestly,” Capper sighed. He looked down at his empty plate as a butler walked over to him.

“Are you finished, Mr. Dapperpaws?” the male butler asked. Capper simply nodded and the table was soon cleared by the mansion’s staff.

“Speaking of which, you guys think you could give me that tour around this mansion and show me what else has changed?”

“Sure,” Andy shrugged.

“We’ll be happy too,” she joined. “And… you should take a shower first.”

“Oh, thank you for saying that,” Andy sighed. “I notice a bit of a stench from your friend.” Capper rolled up his sleeves and sniffed her fur, not noticing his smell.

“Phew, you’re right. It has been a while since I had a proper bath,” Capper admitted.

“There’s a shower room on the second floor,” Shadow noted. “I’ll take you there.” Shadow quickly stood up and took her childhood friend upstairs to the bathroom. Once there, he immediately took off his coat. “Go and shower until you get the smell…… and sand… out of your fur.” She just noticed the sand that looked to have been stuck under her friend’s fur.

“Huh. That explains those itches I’ve had the past few days.” Shadow rolled her eyes and closed the door after leaving the bathroom.

Capper glanced at the walk-in shower, then he saw the bathtub that stood beside it. Normally, he would go for the tub because it would allow a more relaxing wash, but since this was the home of his friend and her husband, he went for the shower instead to get cleansed quickly.

A few moments later, Capper exited the bathroom with steam still coming from the shower. He wrapped a towel around his waist and was about to get his trenchcoat. He noticed that it was not inside, he had sworn that he placed it on the toilet seat before walking in. So, with his towel still tied on his waist, he searched everywhere around the mansion. As he was about to turn the corner, he could hear Andy and Shadow talking with each other. He poked his head and saw them standing having their conversation.

“Shadow, dear, can you genuinely trust your friend when he’s in that kind of condition?” Andy questioned.

“Andy, please, I haven’t seen him in years… and you heard his story,” Shadow responded. “He barely survived the Storm Strike. He could’ve lived with us if it…” Shadow paused her tone and changed from concern to fuming. “If it wasn’t for that no good one-eyed swine just crashing…!”

“Shadow, please!” Andy grabbed his wife’s claws to try and calm her down. Both of them then noticed Capper had been eavesdropping on them for a bit.

“Sorry… you want me to forget everything you’ve said?” Capper asked.

“No, Cap, i… it’s not important,” Shadow muttered. “So… are you ready for your tour?”

“Almost. Have you seen my trenchcoat?”

“It’ll take a little bit since… it seriously needed a wash.”

“Heh, tell me about it. Wish I could have Rarity remake that thing.”

“She’s that unicorn that makes garments, right?” Andy asked.

“That’s her,” he declared.

“Okay, Capper, we’ll have your coat clean as soon as possible,” Shadow said, “Just remember: whatever you do… don’t mention magic. Understand?” Capper simply nodded and gave her a thumbs up.

A little bit later, Capper was riding in the private coach with the Fluffingtons, sitting back in his seat with his newly clean coat. “Gotta admit,” he said, “That was one of the best showers I’ve had in months.”

“I could tell,” Shadow chuckled. “Where were you living to smell so much?” Capper rubbed the back of his head as Shadow could tell something was bothering him. “You were a little… vague when it came to where you landed and met the ponies.”

“There’s sort of a reason for that.” Capper looked away as he seemed uncomfortable, so Shadow decided to try and change the subject.

“Anyways, let’s take a look at how the station changed while you were gone.”

Capper noticed the coach suddenly got darker and peeked out the window to see the reason. The tram was stopping at a platform that was right underneath a big station. The platform and upper station were connected by flights of stairs which led to six platforms filled up with passengers coming in and out of the city.

The three Abyssinians climbed up the stairs into the busy station, seeing there were already trains, either picking up passengers, leaving, arriving, or some of the tank engines shunting some trains for the bigger engines. Capper was amazed at the size of the station. “I… don’t remember seeing this on our adventures,” he commented.

“It was a rebuild of the last one,” Shadow explained. “This now has a transfer from the platform for the trams and some of these tracks can be used for engines passing through. And if you think it looks busy now, wait ‘til rush hour.”

The two then looked over to Andy, who was double-checking his pocket watch. “He should be here any minute now,” he commented.

“Who?” Capper asked.

“You’ll see.”

A few minutes later, they heard a loud whistle, which seemed to delight the railway controller. Looking down the track, they saw a big tender engine swiftly approaching the station pulling fancy brown and cream coaches. The engine started slowing down and stopped at the platform. A door opened up and a roll of carpet popped out and unrolled itself. Trumpets can be heard playing. Out of the coach, stepped a black and white cat, wearing a golden crown, and purple cape, and holding a staff with a violet gemstone on the end.

Andy and Shadow kneeled to the royal cat, which Capper didn’t do. “Cap, kneel to him,” Shadow whispered, “That’s the king.”

Capper quickly realized his mistake and kneeled like the others. “You couldn’t give me a heads up?” he questioned.

“We weren’t expecting to see him. I’ll tell you, this is the current king of Abyssinia; King Meowmeow.”

“M… Meowmeow?”

“Thank you for introducing me to this hobo,” King Meowmeow said bluntly.

“Wha?”

“And Mr. Fluffington, your men have done a brilliant job with this prototype. It has such a smooth ride and we didn’t have to stop thanks to the new design of that tender.”

“My honor, Your Majesty,” Andy said as he stood up.

“Hobo?” Capper questioned quietly. “I recently showered before we left.”

“Quiet,” Shadow ordered, “You can’t win an argument with him.”

“Now, I would now send a letter to you saying what I’ve just said,” the king continued, “But I’ve been given a word about a dragon suddenly running loose.”

“Oh yes… that dragon,” Andy commented. “I’ve heard about that incident in the papers.” He glanced back at a nervous-looking Capper. “What’s your plan on that, Your Majesty?”

“My guards and I will take care of that beast. Who knows what abominable plans that thing will bring? It might be as worse as the former if you know what I mean.” King Meowmeow held his staff in his mouth and clapped his claws. Out of the coach summoned three guards, each one wearing armor, and each one being a different shade of blue.

“Did we bring Sheila along?” asked the indigo-colored guard.

“For the last time,” groaned the cobalt-colored guard, “She’s too big and dangerous to bring her out.”

“Hey, Capper,” Shadow whispered, “Remember how you said you didn’t come alone?”

“Yes, I think that the dragon he’s talking about is the same one that came here with me.” They both glanced at King Meowmeow and his guards, who thankfully didn’t hear them whispering. “Okay, let’s ease ourselves. We should be able to think of a strategy like old times.”

“Now then,” King Meowmeow said, “this prototype is too big for the city tracks, so I was hoping we would be able to use your private coach.”

“It shouldn’t be too much of a problem, Your Highness,” Andy responded. “Shall we go to the police station now?”

“Certainly. Come along, men.” The king and his guards walked down to the tram platform, boarding the private coach. Andy then followed suit, and Shadow and Capper came too. Despite the fact that King Meowmeow called him a hobo, it still annoyed him, but the king himself didn’t mind him coming along. After they were all boarded, the tram set off toward the police station. Meanwhile, Shadow and Capper stepped onto the coach’s balcony so they could talk privately.

“Capper, you better play smart,” Shadow warned. “If the king knows you’ve befriended creatures like that dragon you’ve mentioned, you could be labeled as a traitor, and would be sentenced to jail for a lifetime, or worst-case scenario... death sentence.”

“I can handle this,” Capper retorted. “I helped with a plan that took out the Storm King. I think I can help think of an escape plan.”

“This isn’t like when we were kittens, my friend. King Meowmeow has made stricter rules since you left.”

“I know about the curfew and the anti-magic thing. I’ve convinced creatures in that other town. I should be able to convince those guys that dragons and other creatures aren’t threatening.” Shadow wasn’t feeling too confident about this but wasn’t too sure what else they could do.

Eventually, they made it to the police station and left the tram in a siding near the police engines’ sheds. The Abyssinians stepped out of the coach and headed towards the entrance before someone called out to them.

“Your Majesty,” said a rough voice. King Meowmeow turned to see the police officer with an eyepatch walking toward them.

Capper, Shadow, and Andy also took notice of the approaching officer, with Shadow not pleased to see him. “Chummer,” she said unimpressed.

“Excuse me?” Capper suspected. He hadn’t heard that name in a long time. The officer took a moment to turn around, and noticed Capper behind him with Shadow and Andy. Immediately, he recognized him. A large amount of awkwardness could be felt in the air. “Ch… Chummer?”

Cat Out of the Bag

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Dragon Lord Ember, still locked inside the rocky tiled walls of the prison cell, had a sense of boredom while lying on her prison bed while being given a small green bouncy ball by the guards moments ago to entertain herself. She, being the leader of the Dragon Lands, loathed that she was being detained in a foreign land, and had to deal with the silence she was making to prevent herself from getting sprayed by the sneezing powder again even though she is a tough leader of the dragons. The two officers guarding the cell had a difficult time keeping awake at this point as she undoubtedly didn’t attempt to escape, likely because she thought she was too tough. Looks like they need another cup of coffee to get their senses back.

As she entertained herself, she heard the door from the outside of her cell open. Ember turned and noticed three guards entering the police station, all wearing armor in different shades of blue including indigo. “We’ll take it from here, men,” the indigo guard stated to the two guards, “under the orders of His Majesty.” The said two guards left their position and allowed them to take care of Ember. “Greetings. We can see that you’re that dragon who had caused the scene. Under the orders of the King, we’re here to take you away.”

“Don’t talk to her,” the teal guard ordered. “She might burn you into a roasted cat.”

“How else are we supposed to take her? ”

“Knock her out then,” the aquamarine guard asked. “She can’t do anything if she’s out cold.”

“What are you people, clowns?” Ember blurted. “I ain’t taking you seriously.”

“Silence!” the teal guard commanded. “We’ve got devices that deal with dragons like you.”

“We left them at the castle,” the aquamarine guard whispered, and the teal guard grabbed his mouth telling him to zip it while yelping in pain. Ember gave a low brow as she thought these guards had no idea what they were doing. They all faced toward the door to see Chummer, the one-eyed officer, entering the station with Shadow, Capper, and King Meowmeow following him.

“Chummer, we should be happy,” Shadow stated. “He came back like…”

“Yes, hooray, Capper’s back. I know,” Chummer expressed with little care. “Right now, we have issues to deal with.” He picked up his keys from his pocket and unlock Ember’s cell. Once the cell door opened, King Meowmeow went inside to examine.

The king of Abyssinia eyed the imprisoned dragon, not feeling too impressed. “Bizzare… I thought it would’ve been bigger than what I’ve imagined,” he commented. “Looks like we’ll need the regular police engines to transport it with a small cage car instead.”

“You have a cage car?” Shadow asked.

“Indeed. I’ve ordered the police to collect it. Best to wait and keep this beast entertained.”

“This beast has a name,” Ember stated. She looked towards Capper and held out her claws as she thought he would say something by now. Capper didn’t speak as he had a feeling that he could’ve been caught. He just glanced at Shadow, hoping she would say something.

“Um… Chummer,” Shadow said, “How much damage was caused by this dragon?”

“Only the carriage she was inside,” Chummer explained. “Fortunately no deaths and injuries were reported. We’re keeping it in the siding for evidence, but we’ll take it to the scrap yard later.”

“I don’t think you’ll need the carriage when you have somebody doing the talking right here,” King Meowmeow said.

“I have yet to hear one reason why I should do anything you guys say,” Ember blurted.

“We’re not getting anywhere with her,” Chummer said. “You should be able to get her into the cage.”

Shadow leaned to Capper as she remembered what she was told. “Cap, this now might be a good time to tell them about it.”

“They’ll think I’m a lunatic if I tell them about Ember,” Capper quietly responded.

“Well, she’s not enjoying this anymore than you are.” They both looked toward Ember, who hadn’t heard what they said, she was still looking forward to being set free. “You should tell them now. If not, then when?”

“Officer Chummer,” called a voice. Everyone who heard the voice turned to see the chubby purple and blue cat walking in.

“Officer Max,” he saluted.

“My apologies for the delay,” he apologized, “I had to help a little kitten named Molly and her new friend get back to the orphanage.”

Chummer rolled his eyes as Molly was pretty infamous to them. “Of course… Molly, that one runaway kitty cat ALWAYS likes to escape the orphanage,” he grunted. “And… Max, who do you mean by this new friend you’re talkin’ about?”

“It was a green cat,” Max explained. “He had orange ears and… what I believe… purple eyes” This reminded Capper and Ember about a certain disguised creature.

Back at the orphanage, Thorax, still under his name Chester, was hanging around with Molly in the lobby. The blonde kitten was reading a book and paid no attention to the disguised changeling. She had also ignored what other kittens were saying about the dragon that had caused the scene earlier that day, which worried Thorax.

“Molly,” Thorax said, “I wanna ask. How much do you know about…… dragons?”

“Why do you ask?” the kitten responded.

“Everyone here seems worried about it, so… I want to learn more about them.”

“Let me see.” Molly looked to see if one of the caretakers could answer Chester’s questions, she stood up and gently yanked one of the caretaker’s skirts to get her attention, but raised her paw telling her it was not the time to do so since they were all busy at the moment. The kitten groaned and grabbed Thorax’s paw and dragged him over to the bookshelves.

On that specific shelf, she grabbed a book and showed it to Thorax. On the cover page, it contained various familiar creatures, i.e. dragons and ponies. He recognized it, however, they weren’t shown as the kind creatures he had met. While the dragons were shown as stereotypically mean and greedy, the ponies were something Thorax never expected. The earth ponies were shown to destroy with their immense strength, the pegasi caused havoc with their ability to control the weather, and then there were the unicorns, the most common species in the book, using their magic to bring our terror to all of Abyssinia.

“This…. This can’t be right!” Thorax proclaimed.

“Others say otherwise,” Molly muttered. “This is one of the reasons I wanted to get out of here: to learn more about them; but they keep catching me and putting me back.”

“How old are you?”

“I have no idea. 10? I am the “grandma” of all the pussycats here. I just want fun and explorations, but they keep me from doing that.”

“...Maybe it’s because the world is dangerous in their eyes?”

“I guess. I’ve never seen them up close though.”

“They’re probably nicer than most cats think.”

“How would you know? You barely look older than me.”

“You don’t know everything about me. I wish I could show you what these creatures truly are.”

Molly was confused by this statement. “What are you talking about?”

“It’d be easier to show you rather than tell.”

Molly still didn’t understand what he meant, but she did have an idea. “So… do you want to escape from here?”

Thorax was about to decline, but he knew this would be the best way to find Ember and Capper. “…Yes, but…. how?”

“Oh, I sneak out of here all the time.” They both looked back to see the caretakers were all still busy, giving them the perfect chance to escape. The two quickly snuck upstairs and arrived at their bedroom, where Molly took out her backpack, went back down again, and grabbed a couple of snacks.

“How often do you do this?”

“It’s gotten to the point where I do it for fun. Now, let’s go.” Molly found an open window, which she quickly leaped out of, taking Thorax with her. Once outside, they ran away from the building before they got caught.

Molly almost left Thorax behind before she rounded a corner, right into a female police officer. And because of that, he quickly hid between two wooden barrels before he was spotted. He knew she was in trouble, and so he thought of an idea for how to get Molly out of this predicament.

“You did it once again, huh, Molly,” the female officer said, “Let’s get you back to…”. Before either the officer or Molly could react, they saw another policeman walk over to them, he looked to be out of breath. He has the same height as the female officer, has black fur with white eye spots, belly, and tail tip, and chartreuse eyes.

“Hold up,” he panted. “I was…. following her and…”. He held his paw to his chest, trying to catch his breath.

Molly was confused about where this officer came from while the other policewoman was concerned. “Oh, dear… Do you want me to get you a bottle of water?” she asked.

“No thanks, I’m good. I only need to take this troublemaker back to the orphanage.” He grabbed a hold of Molly’s paw, and she didn’t put up much of a fight as she was still confused.

“Okay. Have a good day, sir.” The other officer left, leaving Molly trying to break the grip of the one holding her paw.

“Who even are you?” the kitten questioned. She was dragged behind some bushes before a flash surrounded the officer. Molly rubbed her eyes from the flash and blinked a couple of times thinking she saw some kind of bug horse before another flash revealed Chester the kitten.

“I’ll…. explain the situation later,” Thorax said. “Right now, I need to find my friends.” He stepped out of the bush with a confused Molly following him.

“Did you just turn into some sort of bug creature?” Molly asked.

“It’s a long story, but the short version is I’m not supposed to be here. Legally at least.” Thorax began explaining what happened so far as they headed downtown.

Back with Ember, she had been moved into another cage that was attached to a flatbed. It was being coupled up to one of the police engines. Chummer was assisting with securing the dragon as the others watched from afar.

Shadow leaned to Capper and whispered, “Come on, Cap, say something to him.”

“What should I say?” Capper quietly reacted.

“Anything at this point,” Shadow stated. “You said you knew that dragon. Get your silver tongue out and tell him why you’re here!”

Capper knew his old friend was right. He sighed, adjusted his jacket, and he approached Ember and Chummer. “Um, sir,” Max the chubby cat called, “please stand back.”

“Sorry I didn’t speak up earlier, officer,” Capper said, “But… that dragon and I know each other.”

Max and Chummer were confused by this statement, and the latter was feeling suspicious. What?”

“I’m not joking. I knew her.”

“How long have you two known each other?” Chummer questioned.

“It hasn’t been too long since we met,” Capper continued. “But she isn’t the first one of her kind I’ve interacted with. I’ve met a little purple one who’s been with some ponies and…”

“He’s been with ponies!?” King Meowmeow gasped. “Seize him!” The three guards followed his orders with no second thoughts, pouncing at Capper before he could get any more words out.

“Ow! Hey, what are you…?”

“Silence, pony cat!” the indigo guard cried. He instinctively picked him up and tried to open Ember’s cage, only to see it was locked. Sheepishly, he looked towards Max. “Um…. Could you please…. open the cage for me, so I can toss Mr. Traitor in with his dragon friend.”

“This ‘friend’ has a name,” Ember stated, sounding very annoyed.

Max unlocked the cage and Capper was quickly tossed inside. The cage got locked up again by Max before Ember could escape. With the two prisoners locked up, the policemen started their engines and pulled them away.

Shadow looked towards her husband to voice her concern. “Andy, we can’t let this happen,” she stated.

“I’m sorry, but there’s no way we can fight with the law,” Andy noted. Shadow watched as Capper was taken away feeling pitiful.

Capper himself meanwhile just looked at Ember, feeling like asking the obvious question. “Shouldn’t you have broken out by now?” he asked.

“I’ve been trying to play nice,” Ember stated. “As much as I want to breathe fire on those guys, it could make things worse.”

“Fair point. Can’t you at least bend these bars apart? You’re the strong one. They act without thinking and they didn’t hear me out.”

“That I can do.” Ember grabbed hold of two bars and made an effort to bend them. Unfortunately, she was struggling, finding it more difficult to bend than she was expecting. “What the hell was this made out of?” So, she planned another strategy. This time. she used her fire breath to weaken them and snap them out of place. Thankfully, it worked. “There ya go.”

Capper carefully stepped around the hot broken bars and checked how fast the train was going. So far, the train was traveling fast, nearly far from the police station. “So, when shall we jump?” he asked.

“We’re not jumping.” Ember quickly grabbed Capper under his arms and told him: “We’re flying!” She leaped out of the cage and took to the skies. The police saw their escape and promptly brought the engine to a stop.

“Max, I told you to give her the damn muzzle!” Chummer cried.

“I didn’t want to risk getting burned,” Max stated.

Chummer facepalmed in disappointment. “Imbecile! We’re going back. Reverse the engines!” The police heard his command and reversed the engine back to the station to quickly alert the king.

Once they got back, they quickly gave a short explanation about the escape of Ember and “Mr. Traitor.” King Meowmeow wasn’t pleased. Shadow and Andy heard their conversation, and she was shocked as well that Capper was able to escape. “Oh my gracious,” he groaned. “This is not good. I order every officer to search for them immediately.”

“We’ll send out the squad, Your Majesty,” Chummer noted. “It would be best to have every citizen of Panthera in lockdown until the criminals are taken to justice.”

“Wonderful.” King Meowmeow then turned back to his three guards. “You three, head back to the castle grounds immediately and gather all troops.”

“Does that mean we can get Shiela?” the indigo guard asked.

“Yes, you can get her out. She’ll be a big help.” The guard cheered as he got back into the private coach just as Max had the police engine back down on the tram.

“Mr. and Mrs. Fluffington,” Chummer called, “you two should head back home now until further notice as we’re about to implement a lockdown. Take your coach, I’ll drive you back with it.”

“Chummer, Capper said that…” Shadow spoke but was swiftly cut off.

“Get in!” A faint growl was heard from Mrs. Fluffington as she and her husband got back into their private coach together with the king. They were towed away as Andy made an effort to calm his wife down.

“Shadow, I know you and Chummer have had bad blood in the past,” he said, “But you…”

“You know that Capper knew that dragon personally,” Shadow interrupted. “The guards interrupted him before he could explain. You thought that’s right!?”

Andy felt like he was put on the spot. “I’ll try to talk with him and see if we can settle this.”

Shadow sighed. “Do what you must.” She sat back and glanced over to where the king was sitting. She thought back to when she was a kitten and had fun with her friends and their schemes. She remembered that she was the most athletic of them and often jumped into tricky situations while the boys kept the unlucky fool distracted or planned things out. Shadow pondered about this and wondered if it was time she had taken matters into her paws.

Elsewhere, Thorax and Molly were wandering with no one knowing Thorax’s true form. “You dated a dragon?” Molly questioned.

“Yes,” Thorax confirmed. “she tries not to show her emotions too much, but she’s nice and friendly once you get to know her. Although my first dragon friend was Spike.”

“Yeah, you already said that. You seriously hid from an entire kingdom?”

“Yes. You could say I’m used to it.” A bit of a down tone could be heard when Thorax said this. “I’m… hoping that Ember’s okay.”

“You told me how tough dragons are, we don’t have anything that can hurt her.” The two carried on until a large shadow passed over them. Looking up, they saw a zeppelin flying above the city.

It was painted yellow and blue, just like the police’s engines and rolling stock. From the zeppelin, a voice announced to everyone in Panthera. “Attention citizens, we interrupt to bring you the following official announcement. There has been a blue dragon breaking free, and it’s now on the run, together with a culprit who collaborated with it! The Royal Guards are now sending their troops to contain them. Until then, we urge everyone to get back home and remain indoors until further notice. The City of Panthera will be now under lockdown.”

This was more than enough to send panic and commotion to several Abyssinians. They began running to their nearest homes with some cramming their way onto any available tram. Many citizens began pushing and shoving each other to save themselves from the “danger”.

“We better hide,” Thorax shuttered. He and Molly searched around for any place to run. They attempted to catch the tram, but it quickly puffed away before they could get on board. “Darn it!”

“Can’t you just shapeshift?” Molly questioned

“Not in the middle of the public.” Thorax started to get anxious as his back was soon against the wall. Molly meanwhile grabbed Thorax by the paw and looked around and heard a couple of voices talking. They walked around a corner and could see some railway workers trying to get a few tankers and vans ready to go.

“Can’t we just leave this behind?” a workman asked.

“No, you know how the last time trucks were left in this siding, it caused a huge traffic jam,” the tram driver stated.

“A dragon is flying around here! We could get burned.”

“Either I get burned fleeing like a coward, or I get burned to stop another problem from occurring. What’s the difference?” The workman grumbled as he got the trucks coupled to the tram.

Because he was in a rush, he didn’t pay attention to the doors of the vans. A couple of them were unlocked. Molly scurried over one of the doors and climbed inside. Thorax wasn’t pleased. “Molly, what are you doing!?” the disguised changeling cried.

“Getting a ride out of here,” Molly responded.

“But we can’t be caught in these kinds of cars.”

“Your species isn’t legally supposed to be here.” Molly got comfy in the new van as Thorax knew she wasn’t wrong about the laws around here. He quickly jumped on board just as the tram pulled the rake of trucks away.

Nobody saw the stowaways in the van as the train carried on through an already dead-silent city. Peaking out of their hiding spots, Thorax and Molly couldn’t see a single civilian out on the streets and the only sounds they heard were the puffing of the tram and the ring of its bell. “Wow, they’re really afraid aren’t they?”

“Tell me about it,” Molly groaned. Thorax kept watching for what was outside as Molly would try and get comfy inside the van.

Meanwhile, in the air, Capper was riding on Ember’s back as it felt like the most secure position to be in right now. “You seriously had to keep that honor you had?” Capper questioned.

“I wouldn’t be able to help with the dragon stereotype if I just set that place on fire,” Ember retorted. “We should do everyone here a favor, find Thorax, and get out of here.”

Capper wanted to say something about his friends, but he had a feeling one of them didn’t want him around. They would struggle to find a place to hide since the police were on the streets either on foot or with an engine. Capper examined the streets for a moment to see if he could find it. Luckily from there, he could see a manhole, and that is where he got the idea.

“I think I know where we can hide,” he informed, “but… you might not like it.”

“What is it?” Ember begrudgingly asked. He pointed down towards the manhole. Immediately, her eyes went narrow, realizing what she’ll go through. “Oh heck no.”

“We have no other choice. We’re hiding in there.”

Ember sighed. “You’re right.”

So, she flew down and landed near the manhole. Capper hopped off her back and with his remaining force, he was pulling the metal cover. It was very heavy. “Need some help over here.”

Pushing him aside, the Dragon Lord effortlessly lifted the cover, and the con cat leaped into the shaft first to hide. Ember followed suit and quickly put back the lid. The police were none the wiser as they kept searching the streets, just right over them. At least they made it in time.

Both of them could already smell the pong of the sewers. Ember, covering her snout while trying not to have a dry heave, hovered above the water as Capper also covered his nose, holding onto not wanting to fall in. “Okay, so it’s either this stench or getting caught by the police and possibly guards.”

Ember groaned as she already couldn’t stand the smell. However, she couldn’t stand the guards either. “Let’s stay down here until we find an exit,” she grumbled. “This could be a lot easier if you were more open to your friends.”

“I said we had a bit of bad blood between us.”

“You ended your story with the three of you becoming a team. What happened to the part when you split up?” Capper didn’t answer. He held up his jacket so it wouldn’t get wet as he jumped off Ember’s back and started walking through the ankle-high water.

“You wouldn’t want to talk about it if it destroyed everything you trusted.” Ember didn’t understand that statement, but the tone of Capper’s voice indicated it wasn’t pretty.

Back on the surface, Thorax and Molly arrived at the shunting yards. It was unusually quiet apart from the sounds of the tram. At the first chance they got, the two jumped out of the van and ran to the workman’s hut. It looked like it was evacuated as there were a couple of books and cups on the floor. “You think we can hide here until they stop the search?” Molly asked.

“I don’t think so,” Thorax commented. “The railway is essential to the city from what I heard, so somebody will likely be back.”

“Okay, there should be an engine nearby. Let’s take one and get out of here.”

“First of all; that’s stealing. Secondly; I can’t leave my friends in trouble with the law. I have to help them clear their names.”

“Okay. You can do that. This is the furthest I’ve ever gotten from the orphanage.” Molly then headed towards a shed where the engines were kept. She found a tank engine and a few trams inside.

She hopped into one of the cabs and could see the fire in the firebox hadn’t fully been extinguished. Smiling, Molly started tossing in some coal and pulled on the throttle. After a few seconds, nothing happened. Molly quickly got upset and jumped out of the engine, kicking one of the wheels in frustration. She didn’t think it through and ended up grabbing her foot in pain. “Ow! Stupid train!” she cried.

“Hey, did you hear that?” the female voice jumped. Thorax had heard the scream too and knew what would happen. The driver and fireman did some quick checks on their tram as the disguised changeling ran to find the kitten. He found her and the moment he got her away from the engine, the driver and fireman found them.

“What are you two doing here?” the fireman questioned.

“We’re sorry, sir,” Thorax said, “We got scared when we heard about the dragon on the loose…” He began to stutter as he didn’t quite know what to say.

“If you wandered off because you were scared, that’s understandable,” the female driver stated. “Come with us and we’ll get you somewhere safe.”

“Easier said than done, mate,” the fireman proclaimed. “The blonde rascal there is named Molly. Everyone lost count of how many times she broke out of the local orphanage.” Molly simply stuck her tongue out when she heard that.

“Come on, she’s only a kitten,” the driver said. “Besides, they’re alone and if that dragon catches them, they’d be eaten alive. Come on kids, let’s find somewhere safe for you.” She reached to hold Molly’s paw, but the kitten scampered out of the shed with the disguised changeling and the engine crew chasing after her.

Eventually, Molly would try climbing over the trucks and managed to get on two vans before she jumped on a cover from an open truck, making some dust of black powder spill out. Molly landed on the ballast-covered ground as Thorax got a face full of the powder from the truck. He coughed and wheezed as the tram crew turned at the truck’s spilling cargo.

“Aw, that’s torn it,” the fireman groaned, “She spilled the black pepper.”

“I can see why you sounded annoyed by her,” the driver said. He then looked at the disguised changeling, who was coughing from getting pepper up his nose. “Are you okay, lad?”

Thorax was unable to talk as his nostrils were burning. He couldn’t hold it in as he let out a big sneeze and he lost his balance as he shapeshifted right back into his changeling form. In a state of worry, he was fearfully breathing to get caught. The driver and fireman were shocked and speechless by the creature they witnessed.

“What the meow is that!?” the driver cried.

“Whatever that is, but it’s got some kind of magic!” the fireman guessed. He swiftly grabbed the shovel and was going to strike him. “I’m gonna kick ye ass! C’mere!”

Thorax was frightened as the fireman raised his shovel and was about to strike Thorax’s face, but not for long with Molly biting down on his tail, and he loudly shrieked in pain and dropped the shovel. With the fireman yelps, Thorax and Molly ran off as the driver was too much in shock from the scenario.

“You couldn’t hold that in?” Molly asked angrily.

“I couldn’t help it,” Thorax responded. “My cover is blown and I need to hide somewhere!” The changeling king was in panic mode, but Molly remembered something: she recalled that the street they recently passed by had a manhole, and so her light bulb lit above her head.
the part of the city

“I have an idea!” Molly exclaimed. “Follow me.” She held his hoof and dragged him along the way to the said pinpoint. Thorax was confused. They eventually arrive at the manhole. “Here. We can hide inside there.”

“The sewer hole? No way, that’s gross,” he gagged.

“What other choice did you have?” He was about to argue when he rethought the decision.

“Okay,” he sighed. “I guess you are right.”

She ran over to the cover and pulled the cover to open. Because she’s a kitten, she was struggling to lift the metal cover. Thorax thought fast and quickly turned himself into a dragon, and instantly lifted the cover with ease, opening the shaft completely.

“Oi, there’s another one!” cried a nearby policeman.

Molly quickly dove into the sewers with Thorax diving in after her. The police looked down but they quickly lost sight of the two. “Did we see another dragon in Panthera?” one of the officers suspected.

“I think there was a word about a shapeshifter around here,” another officer said. “That could’ve been it.”

“Do you remember that myth that dragons have the power to shapeshift? That could be possible.”

“We better let the rest of the squad know about this. Onwards!” The two policemen ran off as Thorax and Molly began their journey through the sewer systems. Thorax had changed back into a changeling as Molly held onto his horns to stay on his back.

“Hold tight, Molly,” Thorax warned. “I think we… phew… can both agree you don’t want to get… washed away down here.”

“Right. I hate water, but…” She gagged as the odor alone was making this experience a disturbance. The two flew down the sewers while covering their snouts, hoping the police would get off their tails, staying above the filthy water.

As they flew around for a while, they saw and heard nothing. Nothing but sounds of dripping from the pipes and flowing of sewage. They kept going until they heard voices coming from the front. They were scared, thinking it was the police, but when Thorax listened closely, they sounded familiar. He went forward and turned a corner, and saw a blue face right in front of his face making them jump in fright. Thorax then realized it was Ember with Capper behind her back. Needless to say, the three creatures were delighted to see each other.

“Ember!”

“Thorax, you’re alive!” Ember cheered. She instinctively flew up to her boyfriend and hugged him, accidentally knocking Molly off of his back. The kitten ended up splashing into the water, much to Thorax and Capper’s shock.

“Who’s that kitten?” Capper asked.

“That’s… Molly,” Thorax said. He released the hug and flew back down to help Molly up. “Are you alright?” Molly only pouted the sewage water at Thorax’s face, showing she wasn’t very happy. “Sorry.”

Capper approached the now-soaked kitten. “Where did you come from, anyhow?” he asked.

“I’m attempting to escape the orphanage and explore,” Molly proclaimed. “I’ve been doing this multiple times.”

Capper smiled as he thought back to his younger days again. “Well. You remind me of myself when I was your age, kid. How many rules did you break?”

“A lot. I just want to explore Panthera and beyond.”

“I know that feeling. Right now, we’re in a bit of a bad stop, so how about we help each other out here right after we go out? Okay?”

“If you can get a train to somewhere out of the city, then it’s a deal.”

“No promises.” Capper helped Molly onto his shoulders. “Let’s go.” They carried on through the sewers, fighting through the smell.

Back on the surface, Shadow and Andrew we’re back at their mansion with Chummer assisting. She was still disappointed and irritated with the officers for not listening to him, especially with Chummer, why would he do such a thing? He was Capper’s old buddy. At the entrance, Chummer was standing in front of Andrew Fluffington talking about Capper. Like Shadow, he was also disappointed with Chummer.

“Shadow only wanted to explain,” Andy said with a disgruntled tone, “and you didn’t listen and towed us back here. Mr. Dapperpaws has done nothing to you!”

“My apologies, Mr. Fluffington,” Chummer said, “I’m clarifying to you that I don’t make the rules, and…”

“And you follow them like a loyal fool,” Andy finished. “A puppet! Imbecile!” Chummer then stood silently after he finished his sentence with a sigh. “My apologies as well… I know the risks, but I’m worried about my wife. I haven’t seen her this upset before.”

“I think I know the reason. Do you mind if… I come in, so we can have a conversation with her?” Andy nodded and led the officer upstairs to Shadow’s bedroom, which was locked shut.

He requested the male butler to find the keys to the bedroom as Andy and Chummer knocked on the door. “Shadow? Honey? Can we have a minute?” There wasn’t a response, so he knocked on the door again. “Chummer’s here to talk with you.” Still, no response.

“Shadow, I understand we’ve got bad blood after the situation when we were teens. You… You know I can’t go against the king’s orders and… the law is the law.” Chummer felt like he was struggling to think of the right words.

There was still silence. Eventually, the butler came to them with the keys Mr. Fluffington requested and gave them to him. He unlocked the door, and instead of finding the cat sulking, they all found that Shadow’s dress was lying on the bed with the window wide open. “Oh, bugger!” Andy cried.

Chummer sprinted to the front door where the police engine was waiting. “We’ve got a runner!” he cried. “Mrs. Fluffington has left the building!” The engine crew started the police engine and headed down the track to find her.

Shadow, meanwhile, had wrapped her body in black bandages with a gap for her eyes. She jumped from rooftop to rooftop before she stopped on one of the highest buildings and glanced over the city. She also took a moment to catch her breath. “Boy, this was a lot easier than I was a teenager,” she muttered.

Shadow noticed one of the blimps behind her start to get closer to her. She avoided getting spotted by hopping down the buildings and running along the streets. She hoped that she would have an easier time hiding since it was getting close to sunset. Shadow carried on searching for where Capper ran off to. “Capper, I’m coming for you!”

The said cat was pushing one up a manhole cover to peek out on the streets. The only sounds being heard were the puffing of the police engines patrolling the streets. “Is it safe?” Thorax asked.

“I don’t think so,” Capper guessed. “I could still hear the engines. Can you turn into something that won’t be suspicious around here?” Thorax pondered quickly and he already thought of a disguise. He shapeshifted into a pigeon, which seemed to please Capper. “Perfect.”

With his disguise set, Thorax flew out of the sewers and checked the city from the air. He could see a couple of exits that led to where Canterlot’s airship was blocked off by the police. Then there was more trouble. Another police engine was heading back into the city, pulling two coaches.

Curious, Thorax flew down to peek inside and could see the ponies from the zeppelin locked inside, none of them looked happy. Seeing this, Thorax flew back to the hiding spot to explain the bad news.

“We’re going to be stuck here for a while,” he informed.

“How many policemen do we need to get past?” Capper asked.

“It won’t matter if we pass a duo or an army. They have the crew of the zeppelin so we can’t fly home.”

“But you have wings,” Molly commented.

“It took nearly a day for us to get here by ship,” Ember stated. “I think I can make it if I put off sleep, but I’m not testing Thorax’s stamina.”

“And another obvious thing is that I can’t fly,” Capper added.

Molly thought about these details before thinking about something. “I can distract the police while you get away,” she proclaimed.

“Molly, that’s too dangerous,” Thorax noted. “We’re not letting you get involved.”

“But I want to help!”

“How about you help… by not helping,” Capper asked. “Can somebody else be a distraction?” He looked towards Thorax, who quickly figured out where this was going.

“Okay, which form do I have to take?” he asked.

“Assumably… a troublesome kitten.” Molly was perplexed when Capper said this until she saw Thorax turn into an exact copy of her. The two of them moved in sync like they were both looking in a mirror.

“Whoa! You can copy others too?” the real kitten gasped.

“Sure can,” Thorax said in Molly’s voice.

“Hold on a minute,” Ember proclaimed. “Are you saying that you guys are staying here while I fly back to Equestria?” Capper nodded in reply. “Heck no! I’m not leaving Thorax here.”

“We don’t have too much of a choice,” Thorax stated. “If you can get help from Equestria, we’d have a better way of reasoning with the king.” The Dragon Lord groaned, as much as she wanted to give them a piece of her mind, it would make their relationship worse than it was before.

“Fine, just… Stay safe.” She gave a hug to the disguised changeling before Thorax started climbing out of the sewers. He made it up and with the help of Capper below, he shut the manhole tight and sprinted away. As he ran, he noticed a bunch of policemen blocking the city’s exit. He knew that it was going to be risky, so he had no other choice. So, he approached the officers.

“Excuse me, officer,” the changeling said with the kitten’s voice. “I… I got lost.”

“Molly? How’d you wander so far?” an officer questioned.

“She’s acting better than she usually does,” another officer noted. “Come on, let’s take the wee lass back to the orphanage before any kind of trouble starts.”

“You know we can’t leave our post.” From the hiding spot, Capper, Ember, and the real Molly watched Thorax, trying to convince the policemen to move.

“What’s he doing?” Molly questioned. “I would’ve gotten them chasing after me by now.”

“Thorax is too sweet for this kind of trick,” Ember noted.

“He’s still good at doing tricks, right?” Capper asked.

“Of course. Come on, Thorax, mess with them or something.”

Thorax was staying quiet as one of the policemen took her inside the coach. They both turned to Max, who was inside filing papers. “Oi, Max,” the policeman said, “Can you watch this kitten for a moment until we can take her home?”

“Sure can do,” Max responded. The officer thanked Max then walked outside to tell their colleagues why he didn’t understand why Molly was such a troubled child. The fake kitten waited inside the coach before he noticed Max sitting inside, filing some papers.

The big cat looked at the small kitten. “Hi there,” he said. “You’ve wandered pretty far this time, haven’t you?”

“...You could say that,” Thorax noted. He looked outside at the other officers talking and had to ask Max something. “Why does everyone hate magic?”

Max stopped working on his papers as he thought of the best way to explain them to her. “The thing is… There are a lot of horrible creatures out there who use magic to get their way. Citizens like me are afraid of what we don’t understand.” Thorax sighed as he remembered how changelings were treated once they started getting their reformations.

“Do you think all creatures are bad?”

“Not entirely. I’d like to meet one, but I don’t know who’s safe to talk, or a threat to be risked.” Thorax would like to show Max who he truly was, but he didn’t think it would be worth the risk with the amount of police outside.

The real Molly was getting impatient. “Can’t I run in and do double trouble with Thorax?” she asked.

“Then they’ll know one of you is the imposter, and it’s likely they’ll injure you instead of him,” Capper warned.

“I’m honestly thinking we’re screwed,” Ember noted. “The first second a wrong move occurs, I’m making a beeline back for Equestria.”

“Just give him another minute.” Capper looked around and then noticed King Meowmeow, walking up to the coach, along with Chummer.

“Listen, your friend is slick, but my men will find her,” King Meowmeow stated.

“She and I haven’t been on good terms for a while, Your Majesty, but…. promise me you won’t be too hard on her. I beg you!”

“That depends on the crime she commits.” The two stepped inside the carriage, where Max and Thorax were at. The fake kitten seemed quite tense when he saw the king entering. As he sees the fake Molly, King Meowmeow peeked at his staff, seeing that the violet gemstone on that staff was glowing, indicating that there is something suspicious going on.

“Your staff’s glowing,” Chummer clarified.

“I know,” the king replied, taking a peek again at the glowing gemstone. “It means that intruder is somewhere close… closer than you think.”

“Th… That’s sus.”

The king turned back to him in confusion. “Sus?”

“Sus… as in suspicious. I learned that young kids.”

“Riiight….”

Thorax started clinging to Max as he was scared about getting caught.

The others saw the cop and king stepping inside the coach. At this point, Ember couldn’t stand on the sidelines anymore. “Screw it,” she growled, “Capper, are you going back to Equestria or not?”

“I was planning on it,” Capper admitted. Without warning, he was picked by Ember and they both took off towards the coach, with the real Molly sprinting out of the hiding spot.

King Meowmeow picked up Thorax by the back of his neck, seeing him start to fidget around. “Sir, might I ask… what you’re doing?” Chummer asked.

“Wanting to test something,” King Meowmeow said. “There are things that are not what it seen to your naked eyes.” Before he could do anything, Ember broke through the wall of the coach. She quickly grabbed hold of the disguised changeling to take him and Capper outside so they could make a break for it. King Meowmeow, Chummer, and Max stepped out of the coach seeing them fly off, unaware of the real Molly showing up. “Oh no… you’re not going anywhere!”

Unbeknownst to anyone, the king held his staff higher, with the gem on the end glowing as Ember stopped in mid-air. “What the… AHHHH!” She, Capper, and Thorax plummeted to the ground with a heavy thud. This made Thorax dizzy and he shifted back to his regular form.

“....What the bloody Tartarus is that?” Chummer questioned.

“Shapeshifter,” King Meowmeow commented. “I have a hunch there are more.”

Some policemen turned around and saw that Molly was there. Two of them turned to each other before they thought of something. “You think that she’s a shapeshifter too?” one asked.

“You’re telling me,” the other commented. “Maybe it could explain why she’s constantly attempting to escape.”

The three failed escapees could tell things were going to get ugly fast. “They can’t be serious,” Thorax gasped. He glanced toward Ember and Capper, who were puzzled about what just happened.

“Did anyone else feel… like they were pulled down by something?” Ember grunted.

“Who cares, we need a diversion for Molly now!” Capper proclaimed. They could see the police surrounding them. Then Capper had an idea and turned to Ember. “Now might be a good time to sneeze fire.”

Ember understood what he meant and, with her mouth, she huffed smoke to create a smokescreen, blinding everyone that got caught in the vicinity. The Dragon Lord and the changeling king took this chance to grab Molly and fly into the city while Capper tackled whom he thought was a policeman to the ground.

When the smoke was cleared, Chummer caught a glimpse of Molly flying away with the dragon and changeling. What everyone else was focusing on was who Capper had tackled; instead of a policeman, it was King Meowmeow, who stares at him with ire.

“Oh… nuts!” Max quickly grabbed hold of the con cat as Chummer helped the king stand up. “I don’t see how the Fluffingtons would let a hobo like you became so close,” Meowmeow complained.

“Hey, I was close,” Capper stated, “At least one of them.”

“You tackled the King of Abyssinia… to the rocky asphalt… almost had your dirty fist to my face. For this assault, in addition to colluding with magical beings, you’ll be sentenced to jail for life with maximum security. Guards, take him away!”

As they held Capper in handcuffs, he gazed toward Chummer, who refused to make eye contact with him. The now-declared fugitive sighed as he was taken into the remains of the coach. From the buildings’ rooftops, a shadowy figure was watching the scene unfold and knew that she had to get involved. So she parkoured her way across the buildings to keep pace with the police engine.

Burning Bridges

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Not far from the city, Ember and Thorax managed to find a spot to land and brought Molly down safely. While they were relieved that they were safe from the chase, they were worried about Capper who was arrested by the police.

“This is perfect,” Ember growled. “It’s becoming FULL-ON CHAOS!”

“Ember, calm down,” Thorax pleaded.

“How am I supposed to, Thorax? We were hunted down, too far from home to fly, and the only ones who can get us back are captured! They arrested Capper for crying out loud, he had it!”

Molly, hidden behind Thorax’s legs, looked up at the changeling. “Are all dragons that angry?” the kitten asked.

“Most of the time,” Thorax answered. He glanced down at the lanes, seeing another police engine on patrol before he turned towards the Dragon Lord. “Why did you break into the coach like that?”

“Because I didn’t know what they were going to do to you, so I panicked! I just want to go home!”

“So do I, but we still need to fix the problem. We cannot leave this place unless we accomplish it.”

“I think they’re too far gone from saving.” Ember held her fingers between her eyes with anxiety.

“Well, you’re not helping with dragon stereotypes,” Molly proclaimed.

“Quiet, you little!” The kitten and dragon stared at each other and quarreled. Thorax had enough of the conflict and chose to break them up.

“Break it up!” the changeling ordered with fury. “We’re not gonna get anything done if we can’t solve what the big problem is. You can’t keep quarreling all the time, that’s not gonna help!” Molly and Ember fell in silence as Thorax breathed in and out after releasing his irritation. “Anyways. Ember, did you find anything that we haven’t known yet?”

“Well, I think I know what happened to Capper’s friends,” the dragoness explained. “One of them I think is the rich one, while the other is one of those cops with an eyepatch for some reason.”

“Officer Chummer?” Molly asked.

“Yeah, that’s the name Capper said was one of his friends,” Thorax noted. “I wondered what happened to his eye.”

“I’m more curious about what pulled us back to the ground,” Ember wondered. “There weren’t any airships around us, or any kind of cables or such.”

“Have you seen anything glowing?” Molly asked.

“I’m sorry?” Thorax asked.

“I thought there was something pink glowing around the king when you two crashed.”

“That sounds like a pony using…”. Ember paused as she and Thorax thought about what that glow could’ve been. “Hang on a minute, do you think it was his staff?”

“It was the same color,” Thorax said.

“If it helps, I haven’t seen anyone else hold it,” Molly noted. “I even assume some cats think it’s illegal, and magic is considered illegal here according to him.”

“Then I’m guessing that we need to get that staff,” Ember proclaimed. “Sounds like we’re about to expose the hypocrite.” She then glimpsed behind Thorax and Molly, seeing a figure leaping across the rooftops in the distance. “What’s that?”

Thorax and Molly turned around and saw the figure leaping from one building to another. Their eyes were glued to it as it leaped. As their eyes followed, they noticed another police engine rolling in the lane. It is the one that’s carrying Capper. The shadowy figure they saw was stealthily going after it. They were baffled.

“Where is it going?” Molly asked. “Why is it going after that cart?”

“I don’t know, but we must follow it,” Thorax declared. “Still, we have to be careful.” Seeing that they had no other leads, they decided to follow the figure. Molly hopped onto Thorax’s back and left together with Ember.

The police engine that carried Capper came to a stop at the train station. The con man was locked in a cell with officers Chummer and Max keeping a close eye on him. The chubby cat could tell something was up with his colleague. “You know this guy, right?” Max asked.

“…You could say that,” Chummer spoke. He was trying to keep his expression serious as they saw the coach being pushed into a shed.

“I gotta go and check if there’s a spare engine. If you have anything to say to him, do it now, I suggest.” Max left the damaged coach as Chummer glanced at his old friend, now behind bars.

“You couldn’t even at least make an effort to defend me?” Capper questioned, holding onto the iron bars.

“How? How should I?” Chummer asked, approaching Capper. “You were assaulted by the highest-ranked in the kingdom. I’m just a police officer, I can only do much.”

“Including apologizing to your best friend… who has never been seen by you in years… SO WHAT!?” They stood in silence. Capper’s expression altered and knelt while still holding onto the bars. As silence filled the air, they heard something light land on the roof of the coach.

Chummer sighed as he peeked out the window up to the roof. “I know you’re up there. Get inside.” A figure wrapped in black bandages with only its eyes and fluffy collar exposed leaped through the window joining the men inside of the coach.

“...Shadow, is that you?” Capper asked. The figure removed the bandages from her face to reveal she was their old friend.

“This isn’t how I expect us to be together,” Shadow sighed. Chummer then pulled out a seat for her to sit on, and Shadow sat down.”

“How did we… get to this point?” Chummer questioned.

“I kind of feel responsible for the incident,” Capper sighed.

“Cap, you can’t put yourself down like that,” Shadow noted. The three would sit in awkward silence for a moment until somebody stepped into the coach.

“Well, care to share with the rest of us?” asked the dragon. Shadow and Chummer looked back to see Ember, Thorax, and Molly had snuck inside.

“I feel like I should ask you all how you got past the police,” Capper commented.

“I… had to make a distraction,” Thorax admitted.

Outside, one of the police engines was rolling away with its crew chasing after it. “I told you to put the brakes on!” one cried.

“I swore I did,” the other cried, “I always forgot to take it off!”

Chummer chuckled at this as he remembered the first time he and Capper snuck out of the orphanage. “Oh, so you can smile,” Capper commented. Chummer rubbed the back of his head as this was likely the nicest thing that they had both said to each other.

“Alright, cut to the chase,” Ember proclaimed. “We’re being hunted down, we have no way of getting home by ourselves, and now your kind is super paranoid about us that they’re not hesitating to hurt a kitten.”

“I know, it’s a catastrophe,” Chummer admitted.

“What we want to know is what happened with all of you three,” Thorax noted. “How did you all fall out with each other?” The three cats glanced at each other before Chummer took off his hat and sighed.

“I… Uhh… I feel like some of us crossed the line more than others.”

Years ago when Capper, Chummer, and Shadow were in their late teens, they were forming a plan to get themselves free fish. At the outdoor market, they peeked through the corner and checked out a fish stand, where a vendor was arguing with a few customers. The three friends hid back and huddled up to go over their plan one more time.

“Okay, you know what to do, right?” Capper asked.

“Yep,” Shadow responded, “I’ll grab one of the crates while Chummer distracts the vendor.”

“And what will you do, Capper?” asked Chummer, who still had both of his eyes at this time.

“I spent all day yesterday making this plan,” Capper explained. “Besides, I could only figure out how to fit two of us into the plan and make it work.” Chummer turned over to Shadow, who shrugged in response. “Come on, let’s do this.”

“Right,” Shadow nodded as she hopped off their spot to get into her position. Capper went into hiding and Chummer approached the stand to begin their plan.

“Sorry, sir,” the male vendor said to a customer, “this ain’t going to convince me to give you this fish. Now go!”

“Excuse me, sir.” The vendor looked down and saw the young Chummer standing in front of him. “Could you tell me about some of your best fish?”

“Of course,” the owner responded. He took a minute to look at his newest customer, a little puzzled by his appearance. “Aren’t you… a little young to ask about my best?”

“Do you want any money?” The owner didn’t like the tone he was given but carried on with explaining the quality of his fish.

“Anyways, here I have this nice freshly caught tuna, straight right out of the sea. Costs 4 bits per kilo. Yes, sir! And here we have what they called a milkfish, which I have no idea why except it is as white as milk. 6 bits per 3. And… we got a bunch of anchovies…”

As he speaks, Shadow, wrapped in black bandages, snuck around the stand and looked towards one of the crates he had behind him. She tiptoed stealthily and carefully as there was melted ice surrounding it. Cold and slippery. It’s common sense that ice is a way to make fish fresh. She was about to grab it, until she accidentally stepped on a chunk of ice, making an audible crunching sound. The vendor heard it and was about to turn around, making both Chummer and Shadow worry until something broke the leg of the stand, knocking most of the fish on display onto the ground. “Who did that!?”

“Don’t look at me, I’m standing right here,” Chummer responded. He began to help clean up the mess while Shadow took one of the crates without the vendor noticing. She snuck away as Chummer helped to push the leg back into place.

“As if I don’t have to worry about any con cats already.”

“You’ve dealt with them before?” Chummer asked.

“Ah yes. I’ve seen most working in groups. More often than not the low-tier ones always backstab each other.”

Chummer was a little nervous about hearing that. “How often does that happen?”

“It’s usually cats thinking they know better than their leader or the latter gets too greedy and throws his or her team under the rock.”

Chummer was feeling like he might’ve been in this situation though after hearing about his experience. He glanced back to Capper, who gave a thumbs up to signal that the job was complete. “Um… I think I need to go now, sir. Sorry about your stand.” The teenage Chummer ran off, leaving the salesman to salvage what he could of his stand.

After getting a few blocks away for their safety, the trio met up again to look at their reward for the fresh fish in the crate. The three were looking at their reward. “Alright! We’re having a feast tonight, guys,” Capper proclaimed.

“Okay, that was a simple job,” Shadow admitted, “But you should pull your weight, Cap.”

“It was a simple job, Shadow. I feel that I’d get in the way other than the leg I knocked out.”

“Yeah… You sure I couldn’t just kick it out of place?” Chummer questioned.

“We had to make it look like an accident.”

“Like with that coffee pot that just happens to have a broken coupling?”

“Yeah. I told you the file would work.”

“You nearly got us caught.”

“I can’t fit a chain cutter in my pockets, Chummer. We’ve got to use what we’ve got.”

“You both have points,” Shadow noted, “But you still have to be careful, Cap.”

“I know.” By the tone of his voice, Chummer wasn’t sure he truly meant what he said. “Let’s get this somewhere we can cook it.” The three cats took their new fish to get it cooked as Chummer thought about what the salesman said.

Further away from the scene, as they carried the crate of fish, they had to pause for a while to regain their energy since it was a bit heavy. Chummer broke out of his trance when he noticed a group of strange things in the sky. His eyes narrowed. “Guys…” he raised his voice. “Look!” He swiftly pointed his finger up, and Capper and Shadow turned in the direction where he was pointing. Their jaws dropped as they saw those huge objects Chummer was glancing at. Swarms of dark-colored airships hover up the atmosphere, with dark clouds turning the sky from light aqua blue to dark gray. They don’t appear to be the royal airship because their colors were supposed to be vibrant blue and golden yellow.

“Is the king having a special event?” Shadow asked.

“I don’t know,” Capper said, “Don’t these ships look… intimidating?” He wouldn’t be too far off as multiple huge cannons appeared out of the side of the ship. In a short moment, it began shooting cannonballs straight toward Panthera. It was so loud that they had to cover their ears. One after another, each cannonball destroyed every structure in sight causing chaos in every corner. Petrified screams were heard from afar.

The trio became horrified seeing the disaster unfold throughout the city. They soon saw humongous creatures with spears jumping down from the ships, 4 of them landed in front of the trio with a big strike on the ground sending waves of vibrations colliding with the teens’ bodies, almost making them collapse. They saw them up close, towering over them with their metal armor and sharp deadly spears, with their creepy blue glowing eyes staring right at the cats.

Capper, Chummer, and Shadow shivered in fear.

“R… R…. R……” Caper stuttered. “RUUUUUN!” The three screamed and sprinted away from the yetis, which quickly gave chase.

Panthera quickly dove into disarray as explosions ignited and destroyed several buildings, including the ones Shadow and the boys ran past. They saw burning coaches, fallen debris, and bodies of horribly-injured young and adult cats pleading for help. It’s getting worse.

“Watch out!” Chummer cried. He and Capper dragged their paws to a stop as giant rubble and debris collapsed in front of them. Shadow didn’t have much trouble as she simply parkoured over the debris and continued onwards. However, this action and their panic got her and the boys separated when they were forced to run in different directions.

“Great, where’s she?” Capper questioned. “GAH!” The yetis were still jumping down from the ships and creating havoc. Capper and Chummer barely managed to get away from them as they ran toward the train station.

“Wait, what about Shadow!?” Chummer exclaimed.

“She’s smart, so she’s assumably getting a ride to escape too!” The residents were running away to escape or for cover. Trains were filled to the brim trying to escape. One train was so full, they needed another engine to help push it out of the station just as the boys arrived.

“Dang it! It’s full!” Chummer groaned as the train drove away at full capacity. They both looked up and saw something fall from one of the ships. Capper and Chummer ran away just in time as an explosion ignited, wiping out all of the stations, buildings, platforms, and even the tracks were torn up from the blast. The passengers who were left at the station were even wiped out as well, becoming either seriously injured or completely dead. Both boys had their ears ringing from the deafening blast as they didn’t have a way of getting out of the city “What do we do? There are too many of them!”

Capper frighteningly and panicky searched for some kind of escape. Thankfully, he saw one of the medium-sized ships landing where the station used to be. It looked like everyone was abandoning the ship for some reason, which was just what Capper was looking for.

“Follow me! Quickly!” Capper cried. He ran towards the ship with an uncertain Chummer trying to keep up.

“What about Shadow?” he asked.

“She has to worry about luck. We need to get out of here if we need to stay alive and find her!” The boys’ luck would be in their favor as the ship was abandoned. They quickly entered the ship and headed towards the deck. It took a while for them to search for it since it was enormous compared with their height. They arrived, and not wasting a second to question it, they began fiddling buttons and levers to make it go up. None of them seemed to function.

“Which one starts!?” Chummer panicked.

Capper then headed towards the steering wheel and randomly pushed a lever beside it. Soon, they heard the engine running and noticed that they were elevated into the air. “I got it!” he cheered, with another distant explosion ignited.

As the ship elevated, Chummer and Capper peeked out of the window and saw the tremendous destruction of Panthera caused by the unknown enemy. The skies turned dark red from the flames, thick ashes rose, lots and lots of explosions were seen, and the sounds of faint cries of the victims were heard. Chummer could’ve sworn he heard them.

“We’re… We’re leaving?”

“We’re flying. Maybe we should start buying lottery tickets.” They quickly made their way back, and Chummer accidentally tripped over a small chest, making it tumble and open by itself. Fortunately, he didn’t collapse completely. Out of the chest are arbitrary clothes, including a red trench coat.

Gripping the steering wheel, despite his age and not knowing how to drive. Capper began sailing away from the devastation. Chummer watched as his friend tried to steer their way away from Panthera. He looked back as they were slowly leaving the city as he was getting worried about Shadow.

“Capper, we can’t leave Shadow behind!”

“But there’s no way we can help her with all of those monsters attacking. They blew up the station for crying out loud! It’s survival of the fittest right now.” As Capper spun the wheel to steer them away, Chummer clenched his fist in anger and charged toward his friend with a holler, and decked him in the face.

“No! We’re going back!”

“OW! Chummer, what are you…?”

“What kind of friend are you if you leave Shadow behind!?” The two fought over the steering wheel before Capper was given a kick in the gut, making him recoil before he stumbled over the chest, the one where the teach coat was.

“How on earth are we supposed to fight them? We’re better if we flee to get help and…”

“Stop saying WE!” Chummer violently steered the ship, making it rock side to side. Capper struggled to keep his balance as the chest and clothes slid along.

“Look, buddy, why are you doing this?”

“Why? You’re always making us do the dirty work! You do not care if we don’t get caught as long as you get what you want!”

“Chummer, please! Think about the fun we had. Exploring Panthera, and tricking other cats…”

“By stealing from them? What happens if we get older and are put into jail? How will we live? I’m not going to wait until you throw me under the rock!”

“Chummer, you’re not making any…”

“GET OFF!” With one mighty swing, Chummer spun the wheel all the way to the right, knocking Capper overboard with the clothes and chest following right behind him. Luckily, for him, he landed on a lifeboat, which activated its small balloon and heater when he landed in it. Unfortunately, the chest knocked Capper out, leaving the lifeboat with no one steering it.

Chummer wouldn’t have that much luck either as he collided with another ship flying into Panthera. The crew on the ship he hit jumped clear with their parachutes, but Chummer wouldn’t be so lucky. His ship would start plummeting and crash to the ground, just entering the city’s borders, knocking out Chummer, which would be buried in the remains of the ship, and making a scar right on his eye.

Capper and Chummer felt terrible as they explained that part of their story. The visitors were just as speechless. “No! You were seriously going to leave Shadow behind?” Thorax asked.

“Yes,” Capper admitted. “Until now, it was one of the worst decisions I made in my life and it cost me everything. The next thing I remember, after falling into that small boat, was that I woke up in Kludgetown. I swore I broke my tailbone, but… It was terrible. I had to trick others all the time there to pay rent.”

“...Kludgetown?” Shadow asked. “Was that a thing?”

“It’s a run-down town in the middle of the desert. It’s every creature for themselves out there. …The same method I was planning during that attack…”

“...Of the Storm King.” Thorax finished.

The Abyssinians turned towards the changeling and dragon in surprise. “You’ve heard about him?” Chummer asked.

“Our friend, Novo, knows too much about him,” Ember said. “She would know how you feel about losing someone you love.”

“I… guess he affects more lives than us,” Capper sighed.

“You don’t know the half of it, Capper,” Chummer said. “We managed to fight off the Storm King before he could fully take over Abyssinia, but he left his mark. Cities had to be rebuilt from the ground up, and several kittens were left without their parents.”

Thorax glanced down at Molly, who looked a little concerned. “So… does that include… mine?” she asked.

Chummer sighed as the others looked away in awkwardness. “Sorry, kid. You were only a few months old when he attacked and…” Chummer couldn’t even finish his sentence as he was feeling at his lowest point. Molly’s ears drooped as she didn’t know what to think. Thorax simply sat down and gently hugged her to give them some comfort.

“I’m sorry you all had to go through with everything,” Thorax said. “Now I understand why you’d be paranoid about us.”

“We’re just afraid of things we don’t understand,” Chummer sighed.

The mood of the room felt very depressing until Ember had to point something out. “Uhh… Not to make things worse here,” the Dragon Lord noted, “but I feel that history is repeating itself.”

“What do you mean, Ember?” Thorax asked.

“Think about it. The Storm King attacks with no mercy and doesn’t do what you have to say in the matter. Now, think about this, who has this city under a tight curfew? Who has all of the weapons? Who is attacking us without letting them explain themselves?”

The cats in the coach thought about this as they could see some things were pretty similar to the Storm King’s strategy. “She’s not entirely wrong,” Shadow commented. “They are… pretty similar.”

“But the forces aren’t blowing up buildings and ruining lives.”

“The building part, maybe not. But why would one need someone, especially for taking down dragons like you?”

“Who are you talking about?”

“Someone said somebody about Shiela?”

Capper was just as confused as Ember, but Chummer was a little worried. “Oh no… You three need to leave Panthera. Like… right now!”

“What do you think we’ve been trying to do?” Ember blurted.

“Care to catch us up to speed?” Capper requested.

“Shiela isn’t really an Abyssinian. Capper might be fine, but you two have to beat it.”

Before either dragon or changeling could give their input, they heard someone call out, “What are they doing here!?” More police had shown up, not pleased to see Ember or Thorax.

“Welp, if you say so,” Thorax remarked to Chummer’s warning. He and Ember took off, breaking through the glass at the end of the coach with the police getting to their engines to follow them. Once they were gone, Chummer faced his locked-up friend and revealed his keys.

“I might regret this later,” he sighed, “But I have a feeling things are going to get ugly real quick.”

Ember and Thorax flew across Panthera as fast as they could. “How are we supposed to get out of here without an airship?” the dragon asked.

“Who knows,” Thorax admitted, “I’m more worried about what they were saying about Shiela. If she’s not like them, who is she?” On cue, a giant bullet missed them by an inch and stopped. Looking down to see where it came from, they saw a big cannon on wheels being pushed by a big tank engine.

The canon and engine were being piloted by the three guards Ember met earlier. The cobalt one was in the cab shoveling coal into the furnace, the aqua one was controlling the engine with a special system inside of the cannon car, and the indigo one was the one aiming at the unwanted so-called beasts. “Let’s go, Shiela!” the indigo cat howled, “the only good magic is the type that is a vanishing trick!”

They fired another shell at the., who dodged it and started flying around to make themselves harder to hit. “Looks like we now know what Shiela is,” Thorax cried.

“Very good, Thorax,” Ember said sarcastically. “How do we deal with that thing without killing anyone?” She glanced down at where the three guards would be. “Despite how tempting it is.”

Thorax thought quickly for a moment. Immediately, he had an idea. “I got it! What if we fly down to street level? They wouldn’t dare hurt any citizens, would they?”

“Do your plan, I’ll follow.” The two flew down to the streets with the railgun still following them.

“Aw, great, they’re too close to the buildings,” the cobalt guard groaned. “We can’t fi…”

“Fire in the hole!” the indigo guard cried. Despite the dangers, the aqua and indigo guards didn’t let up on Ember and Thorax. They kept shooting and shooting to get them but failed.

“Come on, punch it,” the indigo guard cried.

“It’s on full throttle!” the aqua guard stated. “Keep your aim steady, we got one shot.”

The cobalt guard didn’t feel them slowing down at all. “What the heck are they doing? We need to stop.” He tried to brake the train to a stop, but the aqua guard kept opening the throttle.

The indigo guard would have a harder time keeping his aim until he finally thought he had a good shot. “Fire in the hole!” he proclaimed. He fired one more shell at Ember and Thorax. Fortunately, they dodged it, only scraping their feet. However, it found a new target and obliterated two of the pillars holding up the bridge at the Pantherian Station.

There was a large moment of silence as they all stared at what had happened to the bridge.

“Oh no…”

A few moments later, a few police engines showed up, including one containing Max and King Meowmeow. “What is the meaning of this?” the king gasped.

The guards got out of the engine and looked toward the police. “Not my fault,” the indigo guard proclaimed, “Somebody put a bridge in my way.”

“You destroyed a bridge!” Max proclaimed. “If there was anybody on it, who knows how many would get killed.” A bit of argument started with Ember and Thorax watching from above.

“Should we tell them we’re still here?” Ember asked.

“Nope,” he replied. “Best to wait for them to settle.” This would be the least of their worries. With the two pillars, the bridge began to crumble. Everyone soon knew what was going to happen next. This included Capper, Chummer, Shadow, and Molly, who had just shown up in one of the spare engines.

“That’s not good,” Capper said. “Good thing all trains have been canceled, right?” He’d be proven wrong by the sound of a whistle, one that seemed to be getting closer.

“Oh no!” Shadow gasped. “The Sunset Service!”

A few miles away from the city, a passenger train filled to the brim was bucketing down the line. It passed by the last signal before the station, meaning there was no chance of it stopping in time. Everyone at the disaster knew what would happen if the train tried crossing the bridge.

Thorax could see what was going to happen and dove into action. “What are you doing?!” Ember cried.

“They’re at stake now!” Thorax cried. Without hesitation, he flew under the bridge, changed his form into a dragon, and held up what remained of the bridge. The Abyssinians were surprised by what he was doing. Max, however, could see that he was trying to help save the train, so he jumped in to help keep the bridge up, but it wasn’t easy. Ember rolled her eyes as she flew down to hold up the crumbling bridge as Capper and his gang were making their own plans.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Capper asked.

“If they’re keeping the bridge supported, we can catch up with the train and warn the driver to speed up,” Chummer said.

“Won’t that cause the bridge to collapse?” Molly asked.

“Not if they pass over it faster,” Capper noted. “Shadow, do you think you can hop on the train and warn the crew?”

“As long as you two can get this engine moving,” Shadow proclaimed. “I’m in!”

“Perfect,” Chummer commented, “Capper, you scoop the coal to the furnace. Shadow, you do your thing. Molly…” He paused as he picked the kitten up and placed her on the sidewalk. “Stay put, understand?” She just simply nodded. “Okay, let’s roll!” The trio hopped back on their tank engine and took off.

Capper struggled a bit to shove the coal into the furnace as Chummer gave a quick explanation of how to keep the boiler filled with water. Shadow pulled herself onto the cab’s roof and kept herself steady as they were entering the main line. “I see the express!” she called pointing to the Sunset Service.

Chummer slammed on the breaks, nearly making Shadow lose her footing. They started backing the engine up just as the express started to approach them. While they weren’t at matching speed, Shadow took the risk and leaped onto one of the coaches, sticking the perfect landing.

“Alright, it’s up to fate now,” Chummer noted.

“We’re not done yet,” Capper said. “Keep this engine rolling to the bottom of the bridge. There’s one thing I have to be sure about.” A little bit confused, Chummer listened to his old friend and headed back to the town tracks.

Shadow ran to the front of the train and jumped onto the tender and slid into the cab, surprising the crew. “How did you get in here?” the fireman questioned.

“No time to explain,” Shadow stated, “You need to speed up. The bridge you’re about to pass is about to fall. It’ll take this train out if we’re on it.” The driver understood the severity of the situation and set the accelerator to full speed. “Warn the passengers as well.”

“On it!”

Back at the bridge, Max, Ember, and Thorax were struggling to keep the bridge up. It was more than just strength, since more cracks showed up, meaning there were places they had to keep supported. Max would’ve asked them queries if he didn’t have to put all of his focus on the bridge. Then they heard the train approaching. “Brace yourselves!” he cried.

The Sunset Service came rocking towards the bridge. As it raced across, the three creatures could feel the weight doubling. It was hurting their muscles. Once the last coach was off, Thorax swiftly pushed Max out of the way as Ember held the bridge. This allowed him and Thorax enough time to get out of the way before the bridge finally collapsed. Huge clouds of dust came out rising.

Everyone saw the remnants of the bridge. Just then, Ember climbed out of the rubble. “Just a reminder, this was on your guys,” the dragon stated.

Thorax changed back to his base form to help check on Max. “Are you okay, sir?” the changeling asked.

“I think so,” Max responded, dusting himself off. “Th… Thanks.”

Chummer and Capper soon returned with the engine just as the king stepped forward. “Gentlemen, take those creatures away.”

“Excuse me!?” Ember yelled. “How many cats did we save?”

“Hard to say depending on the coaches,” Max noted. “Did anyone count how many there were?”

“Fifteen,” answered Shadow. She had just run back after the train came to a stop. She hopped down onto the street to stand with Ember and Thorax. “These two have saved hundreds of lives. And you’re just gonna throw them in jail for their heroism?”

The king was going to speak up if it wasn’t for the fact he felt something bite him on the tail. Looking back, he could see Molly sinking her teeth into him. “What gives you little twat!?” he exclaimed.

“Leave my friend alone!” Molly proclaimed. She quickly ran over to Thorax and hugged his leg.

“You dare bite your king and befriend a…”

“It’s one thing to attack creatures you know nothing about,” Thorax raised, “But if you even think about hurting your own kind, let alone a child like Molly, I’ll show you what a changeling can do.” He looked down at Molly, both of them smiling at each other.

Chummer and Capper were watching from the engine’s cab, not impressed with the king’s attitude. “I’m starting to believe he and the Storm King might not be too different,” Chummer admitted.

Capper didn’t respond, instead, he was looking at the gem on the tip of the staff. “I’m going to do something stupid, but I hope it works out for me,” Capper explained. He sprinted out of the cab towards the king. Before anyone could react, Capper tackled Meowmeow and snatched the staff out of his claw.

“Guards! Officers! Arrest…” Before he could say anything else, Capper held the staff high which had the pink gem glow. Meowmeow suddenly started floating into the air, and so did the guard and police.

Everyone just stopped and stared at what was going on. Chummer decided to walk forward and break the silence by proclaiming, “You hypocrite! The first time you showed me the staff, I knew that you broke your own rule.”

“Have you had the magic staff the entire time?” Max questioned.

“I don’t have a hard time believing it,” Shadow admitted.

Ember leaned closer to Thorax. “Didn’t the Storm King have a staff like that?” she whispered.

“Yeah, one that stole the magic from the alicorns,” Thorax answered.

“What’s an alicorn?” Molly asked.

King Meowmeow could see all eyes were on him. He gave a nervous chuckle as he tried to explain himself. “I was trying to fight…. Fire with fire?” he said, not too confident. Capper then brought King Meowmeow closer face-to-face with the magic from the staff.

“And that’s not the only thing I want to know about,” Capper noted. “I haven’t been back here in Abyssinia for years. I know for a fact that there are laws you’ve implemented that weren’t there during my early days. Have you enforced any restrictions that were extreme like the 10:00 pm curfew?”

“I…. Any suspicious activities related or similar to magic would be integrated.”

“9 times out of 10 subspecies were innocent,” Chummer spoke, and he turned to Ember and Thorax giving them a wink

“What about those of the ten?” Ember asked.

“They were guilty of something else!” the king shouted.

“Which means it’s a useless regulation that constantly makes creatures like you mad with power,” Capper guessed.

“You don’t know half of it.”

“And I’m guessing there’s a trainload of other regulations that make things worse but keep Your Highness in control.”

“I swear, my goal is to keep this country safe from any domestic threats and terrorism!” King Meowmeow proclaimed. “You all saw the horrors that the Storm King did. Millions of lives were claimed, including children! I cannot let it happen within my reign!”

“You didn’t have to go so far, Your Majesty,” Thorax noted.

“He’s not wrong,” Shadow commented. “He went overboard a bit but…. did have a good reason to be terrified.”

“Exactly, thank you,” Meowmeow noted. “Now, please put me down?” Capper just rolled his eyes as he lowered the king, guards, and the police back to the ground safely.

“Oh my gosh that was awesome!” the indigo cat cheered. “I want to do it again!”

King Meowmeow stood up and reached for his staff, but Capper pulled it back as he wasn’t done. “Hold on, I know this would complete your look,” Capper proclaimed, “but we have a couple of demands.”

“What do you want?”

“For starters, we’d like you to release all of the ponies you arrested, so my friends can get home.”

“I’m guessing you want the ship too?”

“Well duh, of course. Not only that, we should tell everyone else the truth about foreign creatures. Right?”

“Yep,” Ember and Thorax agreed.

“I’m sure they can also give more details about ponies and others too. Not to mention… could you give my old pals some solids too?”

“Are you kidding me?” Meowmeow questioned.

“I’m with him on this,” Chummer said.

“I’m holding onto mine,” Shadow added. “...just in case.”

“…Fine,” King Meowmeow groaned. “You two can name… whatever favor you want.”

“Much obliged,” Capper said. “And…. are we missing anything else?”

“Nope, we’re good,” Ember responded. Capper smiled as he handed the annoyed king back his staff.

A little later, the lockdown was lifted and a team had been sent to help tidy up the broken bridge. The guards were also there since they were responsible for the incident.

Not too far away, Ember, Thorax, and the Abyssinians were watching the scene unfold. “I keep wondering how those guards get hired,” Chummer admitted.

“I think they went too far with quantity over quality,” Capper guessed.

“So, what happens now?” Ember questioned.

“There’s going to be some major delays given that the bridge is out,” Shadow noted.

“Not that, I was talking about our mission.”

“Usually, some parts of our bodies will start glowing again, like our friend Spike did,” Thorax explained.

“I feel like it might be about me,” Capper said. This was a little perplexing to his old friends.

“Cap, you already made up for the mistakes you made,” Chummer said. “If anything, I’m the one who ruined everything. I crashed the ship which caused you to get lost, and a scar on my eye, and…. I deserved everything Shadow said.”

The said cat then faced her friends before looking at Molly. “I’d… rather not say around her,” Shadow noted, “but I was furious when I heard about it.”

“I can’t say I didn’t deserve it,” Chummer admitted with his eyes filled with tears. “I wish we had a redo of that event, Capper. We would’ve still been able to grow up together… happily.”

Capper simply nodded as the past still left a pretty big scar. “It could’ve been a blessing in disguise,” Capper noted, “I helped make a plan that took out the Storm King.”

“No!”

“Oh yeah. One of his best soldiers was the one who took him out.”

“Wow! That is something I would love to see.”

“Yeah. I swore those pirates kicked his head like a pawball.”

“Pirates?” Chummer, Shadow, and Molly questioned.

“Yeah, there were these guys called the avians gliding this airship to find treasure. They also took revenge on the Storm King.”

“Ooh! I wish we could meet them,” Shadow noted.

“Yeah, they were fun to be with, but I wish I could’ve been with you two for stuff like the wedding.” Shadow looked a little guilty when she heard that Chummer decided to inform his formerly lost friend about something.

“I wasn’t invited to it after the ship crashed.” Capper then rubbed the back of his head, feeling like he shouldn’t have said that.

“I know how you all feel, wishing to turn back the clock,” Thorax noted. “I spent most of my childhood not doing what changelings did when we used to look like this.” He shapeshifted into what changelings used to look like, surprising them a little bit.

“That’s what you used to look like?” Molly asked.

“Yes. We always hunted for love to feed on… literally. That was until with the help of my good friends, the former queen was dethroned.”

“Dethroned for a good reason,” Ember noted. “Times are different now.” Thorax smiled before changing back into his normal form and nuzzling against his girlfriend, who only cracked a smile as she was still getting used to showing their affection in public.

“Wait, you two are a couple?” Chummer questioned.

“Yeah, any issue with that?”

“No, it’s just… Never mind.”

“I’d assume some like you would have a hard time with changes,” Capper commented. “I did plan on moving in with one of the ponies after we helped each other out with the Storm King.”

“You’re already planning on moving there?” Shadow raised. “We just got reunited.”

“I know. It’s just…. I’m figuring out what to do after I leave Kludgetown. But hey, life keeps finding ways to make events interesting, huh?”

“Understatement of the century,” Chummer commented. “Nonetheless, it’s great to see you again, Capper. Still friends?”

Capper just simply smiled and just said, “Best friends.” The Abyssinian trio soon shared a group hug after being separated for so many years.

Suddenly, as they separated themselves from the hug, Capper’s whiskers started to glow again, much to the shock of Chummer and Shadow. They saw the same thing happening with Ember’s horns and Thorax’s wings.

“Yes!” Ember cheered.

“What’s going on?” Molly asked.

“It means that it’s time for us to go home,” Thorax sighed. This was a bit of a disappointment to them. “Mission accomplished.”

“Look, I’m going to work things out with the princess of Equestria,” Capper stated. “Maybe we can try and make a deal with foreign kingdoms after they start getting along. Maybe have some tourists for the F.R.N.” He winked at Shadow.

“Oh, Cap,” Shadow chuckled, “You always know a trick to get rich.” The two of them shared a high-five before Chummer spoke up.

“Once you get settled in Pony Land, make sure to write a letter to us.”

“I will.” They soon heard a whistle and looked to see an engine waiting for the three visitors.

“We’ll put in a good word for you all,” Ember informed.

“Thank you,” Chummer said, “And we’ll vouch for you if someone attempts to make up clichés about you being mindless monsters.” Ember gave a thumbs up as she and Capper headed to the coach.

Thorax was about to go as well, but Molly held his hind leg tight to stop him. “Please stay for a moment?” the yellow kitten pleaded with kitty eyes.

“Sorry, Molly,” Thorax apologized, squatting down on her level. “I have to go. There’s still more for me to do. It’s nice meeting you though. I’m happy that you had that amazing adventure you experienced with me.”

“Will you come again soon?”

Thorax smiled. “I will. I promise.”

Molly then gave him the final hug, knowing that this might be the last time she met him. So, Thorax headed back to the coach so they could get to the airship and go home. The whistle blew and the train rolled onto the tracks.

Molly felt upset and sad seeing her first friend leave. She now has to wait for her ride back to the orphanage. However, for Chummer, he has a plan for her.

A few weeks went by after the visit, the bridge of Panthera was almost fully rebuilt and there was talk about old myths of magical creatures being put to rest. Molly, meanwhile, had started acting differently since she met Thorax. She hadn’t attempted to escape since then and she hadn’t tried irritating any of the others. While the caretakers were happy Molly had calmed down, they were concerned about her.

One day, Chummer arrived at the orphanage. He was reminiscing about the simpler times he and his friends had during those times. With certainty, he knocked on the door, and a female caretaker came out.

“Excuse me, sir,” she said, “May I help you?”

“Oh, yes,” Chummer responded. “My apologies, I was taking a trip down memory lane. I used to stay in this orphanage.” As he was taken inside. Several kittens saw Chummer, and they were a little scared about his eye patch and scars.

“Pardon me, sir,” the caretaker said, “I’ve seen you around the block once or twice. No offense, but you don’t seem to be the fatherly type.”

“I’ve… had a rough couple of years due to personal issues. I recently got them sorted out and I heard that one of the kittens here was in a similar position to myself.” The caretaker raised an eyebrow. “She’s a bright yellow kitten named Molly. Do you know where she is?”

The caretaker paused a little bit before she answered. “She’s been pretty quiet lately. We’ve been figuring out what was wrong.”

“I know the reason. Can I speak to her?”

The caretaker nodded. “Right this way.” She took the officer outside, where there was a playground still standing. There, they saw Molly sitting by herself on the swing set. “There she is.”

“Thank you.” Chummer then approached her, remembering the time that he and Capper got stuck up there. He then focused his attention on the glum kitten and sat on the swing beside her. Molly looked up and recognized him.

“Hello,” she said meekly.

“Hey, kid. You seem quieter than usual. My buddy Max was kind of worried about you.”

“Everyone is worried about me. It’s just like when I tried escaping.” She sighed as she looked down at her feet.

“I’m not sure if anyone asked this but… Why have you been trying to escape?”

“...All I want to explore more of the world and… maybe find my parents one day.” She sounded a bit somber saying that after she heard about them when she was in the coach.

“I’m afraid that won’t be easy, kid. They’re… in a different world…”

“You can just say they’re gone. I remember what you said about the Storm King.”

“...It never gets easier telling anyone about this. I’m sorry you had to have this kind of life, Molly. I know how it is.”

“...You do?”

“Yes. I grew up in this very orphanage for most of my childhood. I made best friends. We hit a rough patch but… it’s all in the past.”

“I saw you made amends with your friends and the glowing whiskers. Why are you here?”

“Because I want to help give you a real shot at life. It wasn’t too bad for me and my pals living here, but our social circle was low. And… we didn’t have that much of a parental figure growing up, something I think you deserve.”

Her head raised and her eyes broadened. “You mean it?”

“Yes. I understand you want to be something more, and I want to help you. I want to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes I did.” Molly thought about what Chummer said, realizing she didn’t connect with anyone else until she met Thorax. She smiled, simply stood up, and faced the officer.

“I’m ready,” she said.

“Alright. Let’s sign some papers, and it’ll be official.” The two head back to the building as Molly reached up for Chummer’s paw, which he held onto as they went to complete her adoption.

Author's Notes:

So, that is the last of the rewrites I had planned for the Season 10 comic series. I gotta say, I was looking forward to writing Capper’s story the most. I was excited to do some world-building on this pussycat and I still do.

Out of all of the characters of “My Little Pony: The Movie,” Capper Dapperpaws is my favorite. He seemed to have the most interesting backstory out of the movie origin comics. I only recall one comic book about Captain Celaeno and her crew being in the books, though I did wonder what would’ve happened to the rest of them.

Tempest’s comics, meanwhile, I only remember coming across it once and my memory is a bit blurry. From what I can remember, Capper had the most in-depth account in the comics, though I had to change a few things to make this story work, such as his meeting with Captain Celaeno.

Like most of the other characters in the comics, Capper’s old gang didn’t get much character development, except for Chummer. Since I didn’t want this story to drag on for too long, I decided to cut the group down to just Capper, Chummer, and Shadow. The idea I had for those three was planned for two of them to accept their responsibilities while Dapperpaws continues to dodge his responsibilities. It might not have gone according to the initial plan, but I hope the idea was still there.

As for the other characters, i.e. Max, Andrew Fluffington, and Molly, they didn’t have much to work with, allowing a lot more wiggle room for them. Max, I planned to make him a big friendly giant, he was kind of there to help bring a lighter side to Chummer, a big-guy-little-guy trope. I don’t feel like I did too much with him, but it is certainly better than being referenced as; “The Muscles.”

Admiral Fluffington, who I renamed as Andrew Fluffington, like Max, didn’t have too much to his personality, but his appearance did help me shape what the city of Panthera would be like in the rewrites. Andy appears to have a professional look, coupled with the idea of adding freight trains, it felt right making him a railway controller.

Last, but not the least, there’s Molly. She was a fun one to write. All we got was that she had a liking for explosions, which helped shape her into a bit of a troubled child. This helped me consider her to be in a similar position to what Capper and his old friends used to be in. I wish I could’ve done more with her in the story, but with numerous characters and my focus having to be set on their development, something had to give.

Back to the trio, Shadow was another fun one. Adding to the idea of her accepting responsibilities, it felt fitting that she’d want to have the choice of becoming a mother and give a better childhood than she had. Chummer becoming a police officer was a fairly ironic idea since he and his friends used to pull off several crimes in their youth.

All in all, I’m delighted with how this work turned out. I’d be more than happy to write more about Capper and the Abyssinians in the future when I ever get the chance. And now, there’s just one thing left I have in mind for Zebrat, Caninia, Ornithia, and Abyssinia.

Back to Panthera's Past

by PonyPixel

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