The cold floor had woken Bronze up a hour or so ago, but instead of getting up she decided to stay put there, on top of her cloak, lazily spending time doing nothing.

The past two weeks had been a frenzy of activity, since the talk with Twilight and her friends, Bronze had decided to give the community a try.The next day she had gone to the town’s Mayor, who was surprised to see the ‘Mysterious Letter Pony’ turn up to actually extend the time that she was going to rent the house.

Actually, in the end, she had gotten the house for her, free of charge, other than the rent she had already paid that is; the Mayor’s reasoning being that nopony had expressed interest in that area from some time already, having a resident there that could contribute to the economy would far outweigh the fact that she had gotten the house for free.

That’s also when Pinkie Pie appeared, on her house, with over half of the town’s population, for a surprise “Welcome to Ponyville and We are Happy that You Got a New Home Party”.

And a job,that was something else that suddenly became of grand importance.She had never taken a actual, state regulated job.The best that she had done in the past on that regard was being a “courier” on Manehattan, six years ago, since she didn’t need to show herself to either her clients or her boss.

And as such, she found herself doing odd jobs to the town’s residents, things such as gathering and cutting firewood, fixing small things that didn’t require much expertise, and even helping haul construction cargo once.The fact that she earned bits and got to meet new ponies around town was a good benefit, but even then she hadn’t enough to buy furniture to her home, yet.

But at least small things, such as food, water and a place to sleep weren’t a problem anymore, such thing that her, a few weeks ago, would pay a foreleg or two to acquire.The forest nearby, a place named Everfree, was overflown with small critters and wild beasts, she quickly learned what to avoid, and what she could hunt without much problem.

Well, that is, if a certain yellow pegasus hadn’t discovered of her hunting practice.

Fluttershy understood that she had to eat meat, even if she felt sad about it.She knew that a grown dragon’s diet usually included animal protein, and unless Bronze could find a never ending source of gems and precious metals, she would need to continue hunting.At last, Fluttershy relented, but still made her promise that whenever she killed, it would only be for food, and that the death of her prey would be painless and quick.

Bronze finally got up, and after slowly stretching she donned her cloak.She still found amusing that she continued to hide her body like that, even if most of the city knew how she looked like already, she just felt naked without the battered old thing.Going outside she could feel the cold air that swept over a few fallen leaves and small clouds of dust, fall had set in a good week or so ago, and the temperature in the early morning had started to drop accordingly.

However, being part dragon had it’s perks; concentrating, she felt a small burning sensation on her throat, and with a small exhalation, a puff of inky black smoke billowed from her nuzzle, leaving a warmness that slowly spread through her body.Since she had started to eat regularly, she had regained enough strength to breathe fire again, and little tricks such as these helped immensely when the cold started to set in.

After warming up, she made headway towards the Everfree, intent on hunting a early morning meal.The same day she had stepped inside the forest she found the place fascinating, the untamed wilderness, the uncontrollable weather, the overall spookiness of the place.It reminded her somewhat of the forests on Draconia, only if those were more evil and had manticores.

Yes, manticores, never again.

The entrance of the forest lied away on the other side of the Town, the time she spent walking there was reserved for thinking about her situation and what she could do to either improve it or maintain it, “Still need a Mattress, it would be good to get at least an Ice box, so that I don’t need to eat inside the Everfree, and be able to stock meat.It would also be nice to see if Rarity could cut two holes on this cloak, altough I feel it would lose it’s purpose, I may not survive another encounter with those oversized chickens if I can’t fly, and I need that for the job today… I feel that I’m missing something important, there’s something about tomorrow or what have yous, but well, food’s more important now.” her musings ended as she came closer to the forest, the dark treeline that marked the entrance almost looked like a clean cut of a knife from up above, wasting no time, she entered the forest.

Moving as swiftly as she could, while still being stealthy, she made way into the undergrowth on a moderate pace.No sights of prey yet, but she knew fairly well that she needed to move more inside, maybe nearby a stream of water or a clearing she would find what she seeked.

She quickly found a clearing, making the same way almost everyday had this effect on you, but what she found laying there made her stop.A timberwolf, or more precisely a pack of them, five in total, were either sitting or laying on the grass, basking on the soft sunlight that pierced through the thick canopy.

She spared a moment to admire the sight, she couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that most ponies would run away from this sight.It was Nature’s finest on display, running away from it would be pretty stupid on her books, and more than that, she didn’t want to disturb it, and as such, she decided to avoid confrontation and slipped away from the place, leaving the scene behind.

Next stop was further ahead, and slowly the sound of running water could be heard, on the midst of the threes was a small stream of water, and on it’s border, lapping merrily and blissfully on the water, was a small bunny.

“Perfect.”

Grinning she slowly stalked, from tree trunk to tree trunk, and very silently made her way towards her pray, and just before anything could alert it, she jumped.

And stood victoriously with it’s neck punctured by her fangs.

Sitting on her haunches, she released the rather small mammal from her fangs.Holding it on her hooves, she examined the rabbit.Two deep punctures on it’s neck released blood on a steady rate, and she could feel it’s warmth slowly seeping away, a clean kill, or at least as clean as it could get.Deciding that she could begin right then, she skinned it clean, and after making a hasty campfire with twigs and stones she cooked her meal and ate it.

Of course, that one was the first of a few many.

The way out from the Everfree was, too, marked on her head like a map, she didn’t venture much into the deep forest proper, and as such remembering the landmarks that marked the way in and out was a hatchlings’ play.Just as she was about to exit the forest though, she saw something quite peculiar, and that she hadn’t seen anywhere inside the forest.

A small, fuzzy ball with insect-like wings, fluttering about merrily on a musicless rhythm, bouncing, twisting and turning around in a strange dance of sorts.She stood there, looking at it from a distance, it didn’t seem aggressive, if it’s behavior was of any indications, but then again so was the behavior of those Timberwolves at the clearing early, the little fuzzball might as well be some sort of crazed tartarus-spawn.

Leaving the forest behind, she made way to her house again.It had become routine to her: Wake up, hunt, bath, work.And as such she would now refresh herself and wash out the smell of meat from her hooves and mouth, luckly her cloak hadn’t gotten messy, or else she would need to go outside without it.

Her shower was quick, the cold water of the heat-less tub was even colder than usual, and it made her speed it up to leave the dreaded chill behind.After finishing it and toweling herself, she went back to her room, donned her cloak and grabbed a pouch that contained almost all of her earned bits.

She had stricken a deal with Fetlock-Express, or Fet-Ex for short, just the day prior.She had heard from someone or other that the town’s head office needed a pair of wings to fly some cargo from Ponyville to Cloudsdale and back, just that time however, as it had been a unexpected delivery order, and everyone that worked there couldn’t attend it.So she had taken the job herself, even tough Speedy Parcel, the pegasus that took care of administration had warned her that maybe she wouldn’t have the same luck with Cloudsdale that she had with Ponyville.

That’s why she was going to Rarity, she would still use her cloak, but then again she needed space for her wings to come out.And as such, she was going to her for exactly that.

The Carousel Boutique, “Where every garment is Chic, Unique and Magnifique”, was both Rarity’s home and workplace.The first time Bronze saw the place she almost had a laughing fit, but then again, it hadn’t come to her head that it would be literally a Carousel filled to the brim with frilly dresses.

However, she had something to do here, wasting no more time, she stepped inside the boutique.

“Coming!” she heard Rarity saying, “Welcome to - Oh! Hello there Miss Ashes, did you accept my invitation?” the unicorn had come from upstairs, wearing red glasses and carrying in her magic aura both a sketch pad and a few crayons and pencils.

“I’m afraid not, and you can call me Bronze, no need to be so formal.However, I do have something that I want from you,” she removed her cloak, noticing Rarity’s gaze on her wings, “If you wouldn’t mind, can you cut me two holes on the sides of my cloak? I’ll need it for a job I’m taking today.”

Her cloak was whisked away by the unicorn’s magic, who clicked her tongue for a few seconds, her face going through a serie of emotions, finally, she reached a conclusion, “Well… I would rather make you a new one, since this one is, well, drab and dusty and… not very good looking.But if you are in a hurry then…”

Bronze smiled in relief.It had been a few days ago, and she had showed her entire body to Twilight to see, “For Science and Recoding” she had said, unfortunately, Rarity appeared just then, and since that day she had been pestering Bronze to get her measurements to make her a set of clothings.”I have never made clothes for a Kirin, well, considerating the circunstances… but that matters not, if you wouldn’t mind showing at my Boutique later…” and since then she had reard the fashionista talk about how her body was oh so different, with shiny scales on her back and at the end of her hooves, the long, slender tail that holded so many possiblities… in the end she respected what Rarity wanted, but she wanted more than anything to not be a part of it.

“How much?” she asked, hoping that it would be between zero and one hundred bits.

“Well…” Rarity trailed, and then a mischievous glint caught in her eye, “I’ll make it free for you, as long as you let me take your measurements so that I can make something fabulous for you.”

Well, Ahken be damned.

“Ergh… alright then…”

With a high pitched squeak she was almost dragged off her hooves by Rarity, and just before she could protest she found herself being surrounded by tapes of all kinds, all of them hovering near or sometimes touching her body as the unicorn took her measurements, and just as quick as it began it ended.

Nodding to herself and muttering under her breath Rarity began furiously sketching on her little pad, and after a few minutes of total silence, saved from the scratching noise of the pencils and crayons, Rarity finally spoke, “Well, since you’re such a fan of cloaks I might as well make you another one.”

“As long as it isn’t gaudy of frilly…”

“Well, I thought you would say that.Well, go help yourself with something to drink, it will take just a moment to fix your cloak.”

Leaving Rarity to her devises, Bronze left the changing room that they were in, and went to the kitchen.There, much like most of the Boutique, was in pristine condition.Finding a small crystal glass cup, she used it to drink of some apple juice that was stored in a medium sized, magitech fridge.

After refreshing herself, Bronze decided that the best option right then was to wait, and since there wasn’t much to do, she simply laid down on a few pillows that were strewn around the main room.

She only noticed that she was almost sleeping when she suddenly jolted up when a hoof touched her.Gazing upwards, she saw Rarity with a bemused expression.

“Surely I didn’t take that long hm?”

“Eh, I’ll just say that I have the uncanny ability of easy shut-eye.” extending her forelegs, Rarity dropped the now modified cloak onto them, the two new cuts had a small border of fabric, giving the cloak an overall new look, even if it was still the same old battered thing.

“Thanks Rarity, you have no idea how much this will help.”

“I don’t mean to pry, but I wonder why you use this cloak so much, it’s not like the ponies here don’t know of your appearance.”

“True, but the job I got has me flying to Cloudsdale, and speaking about that, I have to leave.Thanks again.”

“Don’t worry darling, think of it as a Welcoming gift, even if it is a little bit late.Now go along, I have a important order that I must finish today.”

Giving a last nod and thanks, Bronze donned her cloak, now with her two wings slacking freely to her sides, and left the Boutique.

“So, you must be Bronze Ashes then, well, the package is waiting inside, you should talk with Speedy though, he wanted to be sure you were going to be taking the job.”

The walk from Carousel Boutique to the Fet-Ex head office was a quick one, however, she couldn’t not notice the increased amount of looks and stares she had received after letting her wings exposed, but, to her relief, almost all of them were curious ones.

“Sure thing Mister Hoof,” she replied giving him a nod.Going further inside the head office landed her on Speedy Parcel’s room, and after knocking on it she was asked to come in.

“Ah, you did come after all… hmm, an interesting addition to this cloak of yours, although it doesn’t look much like one now anymore,” the pegasus stallion rose from his seat, a small smile on his face, “if it weren’t for you we would have to give the pony who is using our services a discount, since our policy of delivery is of five days, thanks to you that won’t be happening.”

“Well then Mister Parcel, where can I find the package?” she asked.

“Accompain me.”

Leaving the room, both of them made their way back to the main room, a few corridors linked it and the rest of the complex.Taking the last one on their right, they proceeded towards the packages were held, the smell of old paper hit Bronze’s nose like a wall of bricks, and soon enough she found herself coughing.

“You get used to it,” said Speedy Parcel, chuckling lightly, “That one,“ he pointed at a small sized package “is yours, be careful though, what’s inside there is rather fragile and probably costs more than this entire office.”

“No pressure right?” she said, a small amount of dread welling inside her, “Well, as long as I get it there with it, and whatever is inside is still all fine i should be all right... right?”

“Yes, just head to the Mayor office in Cloudsdale, ask for a pegasus named Wing Bolt, he’s the one.”

Nodding, she went to a few open bags, choosing one that was small enough to contain the entire package, she, carefully, set the precious cargo inside it, and after zipping it close she left the building.A last glance at Speedy Parcel, and she took off, flying.

The flight towards Cloudsdale took the best of an hour and a half, since the flying city never stood in the same spot, the time that it took to fly from Ponyville to there varied from half an hour to almost three.The city was slowly moving away from Ponyville, and had already passed Canterlot, which took one hour to go by flight if you moved quickly.

And Bronze was going as fast as she could, not because she was in a hurry, but because she hadn’t flyed in weeks.The feeling of freedom on these altitudes was exhilarating, the cold air mixed with the warm afternoon sun maintained her in a slightly chilly temperature, but again, “swallowing” fire maintained her on a warm temperature, and she could enjoy to the fullest this long lost sensation.

When she was approaching Cloudsdale she couldn’t help but feel slightly anxious, something could happen to her right then, and she would have to flee if things got nasty.At least she had the reassurence that there weren’t any unicorns flying around, or else she would be more than royally screwed.

The air around the flying city buzzed with pegasi, and those who saw her had varied expressions, but what she didn’t expect was for a few of them to actually come close to her, and fly together for a few moments, and after they appeared to be satisfied, they left her again.

Except one case, a cerulean blue pegasus mare with a long, flowing aquamarine mane and two shooting stars that pointed downwards cutie mark adorning a rather athletic looking body.

“Hiya there!” the pegasus said, a slightly mellow voice for the type of greeting, “Haven’t seen you kind around here, name’s Falling Sky.”

“Bronze Ashes, if you don’t mind, can you tell me where’s the town hall?”

She heard the pegasus humm, and after a mischievous smile appeared on her face she quickly sped up, and glancing at Bronze she made a motion of Come at Me with her head.

Looking at her cargo, which still stood safely on the bag, she shrugged, “Heh, why not?”

The two of them quickly accelerated, the pegasus small wings making her stay in the lead for a moment, but as soon as Bronze’s rather big wings caught speed she was rocketing forward without much difficulty in maintaining her speed.

However, the pegasus took a sharp turn, and seeing where this was going, Bronze followed her.They went lower, and the flight became a trial of precision more than speed, as they dodged fellow pegasi and buildings.Soon enough they were both fetlock to fetlock, and as they both noticed that, they decided to stop.

Gaining altitude and losing speed, both pegasus and kirin found themselves high up from Cloudsdale, panting with the exertion and a small smile on both of their faces.

“Heh, you’re a good flier huh.The hall’s just bellow there,” she pointed a hoof downwards, and following it, Bronze saw a dome-like roof, “well, it was nice flying with ya, if you come around here again I’ll make sure to find ya.” and with that, Falling Sky shot off, flying away with less speed than before.

“Heh, that was fun… well, time to go make the delivery then.”

Extending her wings, Bronze slowly set into a glide, lazily circulating the town hall below.A minute later she was on the ground, and as she stood there she stopped to appreciate the beauty of the city’s architecture.

Much different from Ponyville, everything in the pegasus centric village was built using clouds, and there were different types of it too.Construction grade clouds were imbued with a permanent cloud walking spell, and they were obligatory in every house, park and government building.Common grade clouds are the day-to-day type you see pegasi moving around, the same kind that can rain and snow, although those are rare on homes they aren’t unheard of, those are usually used on walkways, roadways and non government buildings, such as stores, although most of the times those use Construction grade on the floor.

Also, everything there had a sense of balance and fluidity to it, pegasi architecture was praised for it simple yet beautiful looking aesthetic, easiness to the eyes and, most importantly, bounciness.

After her ‘Let’s appreciate stuffs’ moment, Bronze went inside the building.It’s inside, much like the outside, was simple and elegant, but what got her attention was a big poster plastered on a billboard, “Come and be a Part of The Best Young Flyers Competition, all of you pegasus that want to impress and leave a mark on history, come be part of the annual competition, Princess Celestia herself as part of the judge’s team, together with the Wonderbolts!” raising an eyebrow she quickly shrugged it, it was obviously for pegasus, and while she wouldn’t mind being part of something quite like that she wasn’t ready to be in the center of attention of everyone.

The receptionist, while looking bored out of her mind, straightened up when she noticed the kirin eyeing her, and while Bronze approached, she could see the growing unease of the mare.

“Ahm, hello there.I’m from Fetlock Express, and I’m looking for a pegasus named Wing Bolt, I heard that he would be here.”

“Ah! sure thing, I’ll fetch mister bolt right up!”

She couldn’t help but feel annoyed at the display, although she was expecting this reaction since the start, to see it happening in front of her was a completely different story.While she waited, she removed the package from inside the faux leather bag, and looking at it it seemed just like how she had found it on Ponyville’s Fet-Ex office.

A cherry red stallion pegasus with a dirty blond mane accompanied the still fidgeting receptionist, assuming that he was Wing Bolt, Bronze took the package in one of her forelegs and went to meet him.

“Well, if we don’t have a Kirin in our midst?”

The comment made her stumble, but quickly recovering she put a few steps of space between them.

“Oh heh, that was unexpected.Well, since your kind has been banned from here since what… A thousand and a half years ago? you are either the dumbest kirin alive or the banishment has been lifted, but that matters not right now, I suppose you came with my order?”

Finally finding her voice, Bronze managed to speak, “Well, it’s that I’ve flown from the borders of the city to here and no one seemed to bother with.And where I’m living no one does too… Name’s Bronze Ashes, and yes I do have your package.”

She slowly closed the distance between them, and seeing that the pegasus didn’t assume any aggressive stance she passed the package to him.

“Hm… if what you’re saying is correct, then the banishment must have been lifted.But as I said, it matters not,” he handed a pouch of bits to her, weighing easily three times that of the package, “Do you know what you brought here?” he asked to her, grinning.

“Not exactly, I was only tasked with the delivery after all.I’m not an actual worker, I’m just covering for this order.”

“Hmm.Well, what you had in your hooves there is the Best Young Fliers Competition prize,” he smirked, seeing as Bronze eyebrows rose,”now that you know I suppose it would be best for you to go back no? if I’m correct you came from Ponyville, and it’s best to fly when there’s still sunlight.”

Not arguing agains his logic Bronze simply nodded, and collecting the receipt note from the receptionist, she went off.

The next hour and a half was spent flying without any thoughts in mind.

“Well, I do see that you made it hm?”

Just as she landed in front of Fet-Ex, Speedy was closing it, but as seeing her, he decided to finish the business right then and there, and now they both were at his office.

“Yes, here are the bits and the receipt,” she said, giving him both the sack and the little paper note.

“And here’s your pay,” he gave her ten bits, and just as she was about to complain she noticed something in particular, they were all ten bit bits.

“Whoa there, isn’t this a bit too much?” she asked as she recounted it, yep, one hundred bits.

“Well, I did say that I was going to pay you handsomely didn’t I? and well, as I said, if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have made the delivery in time would we?”

She nodded her head, with those one hundred bits she would have TWO hundred bits… she could Easily buy a bed now, best day ever? yep, “Thanks Mister Parcel, this is really nice of you.”

“Call me Speedy hon,” he chuckled, “and well, seeing that you made the flight there and back on this day… maybe later I could look if we have other orders like those?”

She stared at the pegasus for a while, and finally comprehension dawned on her.

“Are you offering a permanent post here?”

“Well, if I really need to be blunt then yes,” he smirked, “but then again we must let this matter to be resolved later, It’s almost night and my Wife and Kids await me.I will see you around, Bronze Ashes.”

Yep. Best.Day.Ever.

“Whuh…”

“Wha…”

“Whm… whu? whazzat?”

“What’s this sound?”

A sound of tearing and buzzing woke Bronze Ashes up, feeling confused as to why she had woken up so… late? ah yes, yesterday she was so tired…

But then again, the sound, yes, it appeared to be important, but in her’s hazy state of mind she didn’t care much.

Until she looked up.

Her roof was being eaten, literally.Small spherical things were buzzing around, munching a hole big enough for her to pass flying through it without any difficulties, all of the haziness dispersed as she stared at those things… those fuzz bals.

The next thing she remembered was a strong gust of flames erupting from her mouth in a vertical pillar.

And then toasted insect rain.

Bronze jumped from her sitting position to the air with a single leap and flap of her wings, airborne, she quickly left her house from the eaten-out hole.Outside, what she saw made her stop for a moment.

The entire Town was covered in those little bugs, and they were eating it.

Self preservation in mind, the first thing that Bronze did was to check her home, other than the hole in the roof, there was minimal damage, and apparently the fire tower she had spewed just now was keeping at bay those little insects.

With a few bouts of flames she quickly cleaned a small area around her house, the smoke and fire that lingered for a moment acted as wards against the pest.Bouncing from her home to her neighbor’s, she quickly did the same, careful enough to not set fire to things other than those that she was aiming for.

A few minutes of keeping this up she managed to keep away a good amount of the little things, and those who tried to pass her were quickly dispatched with well aimed fire bouts.

But then she still couldn’t do much against all of the swarm, if this continued the town would quickly become rubbish, and the amount of these.. things, whatever they were, would come on her full force and easily overpower her.

It was then, when she was already winding up and getting tired that some sort of music started playing in the distance, and to her surprise, all of those little fuzz balls started to bob, twist and dance on a strange rhythm, and soon enough all of them had created a long line that pointed at the entrance of the Everfree forest, and as they kept dancing they kept moving, and a few minutes afterwards the entire swarm had been dealt with.

“Well, this is probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen on my entire life.”, dropping from the rooftop that she was on, Bronze quickly made way to every house in the vicinity, seeing if there were any injured or any fuzz ball that had survived.Luckily enough, no one had been hurt on the incident, and the only thing that remained on her head was how all of this started, what happened there at the end and most importantly, how to get someone to fix her roof.

For now though, she would be content on buying a new bed.

Author's Note

And then a 5k word chapter appears.
If the quality of this chapter fluctuates it's because i spent a whole day writing it, and didn't stop much to edit/ fix stuff.
There's also the fact that i've not gotten any sleep for about 30 hours.
So yea.
See ya doods.