"What about him?" Shining Armor gestured with his nose to a stallion walking down the road. He'd think of somepony a little down on his luck; his tie didn't have that shine of the high-class ponies he'd had to deal with, and the collar looked well-worn.

"Hmm... A business-pony about to do something dirtying or go to a place he expects to be dirty." Forest replied, letting the other ponies around her fall away from her mind's eye. "He is wearing a tie, but it isn't silk, and the collar has signs of having been washed many, many times. He has a golden pin with an encrusted gem, however, that looks quite new. He carries himself like a stallion proud of himself, but not the same way a spoiled, rich pony does, more like Macintosh after a good day's work. The wheat bundle of his cutie mark and the way his trot resembles that of Macintosh himself means that he has done work on a farm."

Velvet was impressed.

"And he's appeared on farming magazines for the last three issues in a row." Forest added with a straight face, taking a sip of a cold soda.

Twilight and her father chuckled.

"He owns many farms." Forest allowed herself a tiny smirk as she ate a candied rose.

"What about... her?" Spike asked, pointing to a young mare with his claw; she was light on her hooves, and her saddle was sparkling in the light. He would say that she was the daughter of a well-to-do family.

"It's rude to point like that, mister." Velvet gently scolded him, making him flinch and turn to her apologetically.

"A middle-class filly fresh into her teenage years wearing her best clothes." Forest said, savoring the coke-like beverage through her straw. "It's clear she's not used to wearing that saddle, not often; she keeps shifting slightly, hinting that, while the fitting is good, it doesn't settle well yet. She's still happy, though, and doesn't let it diminish her smile; from her emotions, I would guess that she's about to go on a date. The saddle itself is slightly out of fashion, but has received excellent care."

She turned to her own saddle. It had such strange connotations - back on Earth, it was meant for animals, to carry a master so that he or she would not have to walk; it implied subservience.

Forest would have shivered, badly, had she not gotten her external signs under a tight lockdown during her introspection.

Here? It was used for similar purposes, but wildly different meanings. During war, sometimes an earth pony or another species rode on the back of an unicorn, one using crossbows while the other used spells... or whatever kind of combination would require it - the point stood; one protected the other.

After all, most spells required such concentration that the pony was left wide open.

There were others, like mothers carrying their foals - the ones old enough to know not to jump down to chase every little thing they saw.

It implied both care for the rider, and trust in them.

"My own saddle is nothing special." Forest said, sighing internally as she concluded her thoughts on the issue.

"Huh. Well, what abooout... her?" Night Light said; the mare had a saddle not unlike Forest's own, simple enough to pass unnoticed in a place where at least six out of ten ponies wore something. From the package and the bag she had, he'd say she was shopping.

"A maid out on an errand." Forest replied, shifting on the bench (though not because of soreness). "She is out of uniform, but she still carries herself with that humble dignity of somepony who prides herself on a job well done. I believe servant, because she is not drawing attention to herself, and is, in fact, deflecting it. She is trotting with the same cadence as the others, but her own steps are subdued, as if she didn't want to be heard. She is focused in her destination, and avoiding getting distracted or being distracting."

"Oh, and them?" Twilight asked, nodding her head towards a stallion and a little filly; the filly had her forelegs wrapped around the stallion's head, and her hindlegs firmly planted on his back as she giggled and pointed at things. If they were not family in some way, Twilight would let Forest cocoon her.

Shining Armor knew them, partially because the stallion had met with him the previous day; a report from Trottingham, the last thing he'd have to do before enjoying a little vacation time with his family.

Like most parents, he carried foal pictures.

"Hmm... the little pegasus is a pinto pony, making it likely that her mother comes from Trottingham; it's the closest place to Canterlot with a large concentration of them." Forest peered intently at the pair. "They are definitely from out of town; the filly keeps looking at everything with wonder. Her father is a guard, or at least security; his steps are an exaggerated march, and he keeps giving those mock-salutes whenever she points at a new store to see. They are father and daughter; there is no other way to describe the extent of the love shared between them. He means the world to her; there is no safer place in the world than next to him, and makes her feel like she can do anything."

Forest sighed heavily. Forest's father might not have been the source of courage in the household, but he made it very welcoming in that way an overly-happy artist did, what with his pride as a cook and all.

"A bogeymane would go hungry in that filly's house." She let out a rueful chuckle.

"Heh... bogeymane, nice." Shining tried to chuckle as well, rolling his eyes.

"Bogeymanes are real." Forest stated, draining the rest of her soda.

To that, Shining actually laughed, loudly.

"Shiny!" Twilight chided; she had tried to convince him of that one for years.

"Oh, goodness! Your face sold it!" He laughed, tapping his bench as he tried to get his breath under control. "You sounded so serious! What are you, six?!""

"Shining Armor." Forest spoke in the same even, flat tone as before; Shining flinched ever so slightly. She turned to face him. "Look at me."

When somepony said those words, in that tone, it was really, really hard to comply.

He'd know, he did it all the time.

"Shining Armor, I want you to look me into the eye, and tell me I am kidding." She said, leveling a flat stare that made him sweat a little. She was not sharing his mirth, and didn't appreciate being laughed at. "Don't turn away; look at me. Tell me that bogeymanes are not real."

Mares. Can't agree with them, can't disagree with them without having one's precious internals turned into externals.

"Bogeymanes arennnnn... there are no bogey... bogeymanes are real." He said, to which she closed her eyes and nodded and hummed, making him turn away quickly.

"Their greatest defense is that ponies stop believing in them from peer pressure; it's some weird magic, I don't understand all of it." Forest ate another flower. "They power it with fear, but are pretty weak, so that, after a pony is brave enough to confront them, they are also usually strong enough to take them and make them flee - double if they do so during the day. Stuffed toys and other bedtime rituals weaken them. They can't stand the sun, either."

"HA!" Twilight pointed at Shining Armor with a victorious grin. "I told you! I told you that there was a weird faceless pony wearing a suit in my closet!"

"And so, when you asked me to make Smarty Pants guard the inside of the closet..." Night Light trailed off as he had that moment of dawning realization.

"You probably scared him off." Forest nodded. "I heard a case of a bogeymane going after an adult; others told the victim that there was no such thing as bogeymanes, and somehow convinced the poor sap that it was 'all in the head', making the idiot try to ignore or 'disbelieve' him or her instead of going for a confrontation. Most adults discard their teddy bears, so that they are extra-vulnerable, too."

Chrysalis had warned the infiltrators about bogeymanes, since they could interfere with love-gathering if the changelings decided to pass for an existing pony.

*****

"To be perfectly honest..." Forest began. "After taking a better look at my life? I do believe my mom was slightly perverted, or a tease."

That had not been the answer anypony had expected.

"It's all of the little signs. Dad sometimes gave a start when walking past her, and there was this little twirl she did when she put on her apron..." She sighed. "As for myself, I do not know if I am romantic or anything... Too preoccupied with base survival and all. I became so focused that I never paid attention to anything my body said that wasn't related to making sure I would open my eyes the after going to sleep. Even after I left those conditions, now I have a mental technique, if you could call it that, and I've never ever let my hormones take a single decision for me."

The others blinked.

"Choices are hard, and I don't want... I mean, he looks like a nice guy and takes care of his brother, but I still don't know what I want out of this new opportunity. I don't know if I am..."

What? Desirable? She knew she was, physically; her constructed persona was also interesting. Worthy? Forest didn't have any illusions about that. She was a fake unicorn, fake changeling, and the least bad thing she had done was kill some criminals and other infected. She was scared of dying, yes, and she knew others were... however, some infected didn't take kindly to Forest not going out of his or her way to prove the superiority of the Blacklights, or whatever the hell reason they had to interpret her refusal to go out and just kill everything in her path as being weak or whatever.

Forest didn't even have much of a choice. It was join Mercer, or die... and the bastard pointed out that he wouldn't have to lift a finger, either. He could walk away, and his rejection would be a worse fate than consumption.

Forest had been infected already, had been a carrier. Blacklight had sentenced Forest to death before even meeting Mercer.

Carriers had contracted one or even multiple strains of the virus, but did not display any symptoms, yet; they could get cold, hungry, and sick still... Forest was a bit of a difference, though; his DNA made the two strains he had lay dormant, limiting the infected tissue to his respiratory and digestive tracts, but that only made it worse. Forest accepted Mercer's offer to turn him into a full-fledged Blacklight. It was better than the alternative.

Forest... could have ended as an experiment. Strapped to some cold table, cut open like a butchered animal-

"Don't worry." Twilight said, placing a hoof on her back. "You just need to make an opinion of him; talk to him, to Rumble."

"It's quite alright, dear." Velvet added. "Don't forget that we are here if you need a hoof."

"Fine."

Author's Note

Making this shorter because there's no need to cram too many scenes in the chapters.

Plus, I've been putting off the publishing for too long trying to get the next one started without clashing with the last. To heck with it, it's going into the next Chapter.