Chapter 2

“Until you understand your customers - deeply and genuinely - you cannot truly serve them.“

-Rasheed Ogunlaru, Motivational Speaker

Silky was dreaming about teddy bears. Giant teddy bears she could cuddle. She’d had a teddy bear a long time ago, but it had been lost at some point, left in a box when they moved to Platform five with her mother and grandmother. She kind of missed Bingo. Even though she had a giant Bingo now. Nice, warm, cuddly Bingo…

She didn’t ever recall Bingo moving, however. Or rubbing her head.

“Silky?”

“Mmmph…” She grunted, nuzzling into Bingo’s fur. She didn’t want to face the world. not yet.

“Silky, I am supposed to tell you when you’ve ten minutes left. If you really wish to spend it sleeping, that is your choice, but…” Bingo trailed off, in his wonderful Baritone rumble against her cheek. She didn’t remember him talking before either…

Consciousness gradually returned, and the day began flooding in, and memories presented themselves, despite her best efforts to ignore them. Gift Wrap was going to be… well, disappointed, and so would her grandmother… and... and…

“Silky?” Bingo’s voice massaged her once more. “What-? Silky, are you crying? Are you okay?”

Except it wasn’t Bingo, was it? it was the stud she’d hired. To… to ru…

To rut her.

She sniffled again into Amani’s chest as he ran a hoof through her mane, and used the other to rub her back, still embracing her. In the bed they r-rutted in. That word kept going through her mind, but there wasn’t a whole lot else she wanted to think about. Everything else about her day sucked.

She’d started to get his fur wet, but if Amani cared, he never complained. “It is alright, Silky. Let it all out. In this room, you are safe, with a friend.”

“A friend I b-bought…”

Amani nodded. “That is true. But I always treat my clients well, and you are no exception.” His hoof lifted off her back, and came back with a pad of paper, as well as a quill. Scribbling a quick note on it, he shifted closer to the door, and a small mailbox next to it on the wall. A puff of wind carried the rolled-up note into the box, where it erupted into green flame.

Silky rubbed her eyes with a hoof as she watched this. “I just… I needed to be happy…”

Amani’s hoof rubbed her back again. “Are you happy here, Silky Smooth?”

“No…” She shook her head. ‘’Cause I still hafta go back out there…”

The response from the front desk came swiftly, materialising inside the box almost as if in a panic. Amani flatly ignored it, and focused solely on Silky. He’d noticed a chip in her hoof while she was sleeping, and her cracked glasses had been obvious from the moment he opened the door. But he didn’t know from whence they came, he didn’t know what the cause of these injuries had been. He’d never forgive himself if he let her go back home to a husband who’d do much worse.

Another note appeared in the box. It also went ignored.

Silky drew her legs up, curling against Amani as closely as possible. “What will I tell my Grandmother? What will I tell her when we haven’t got food, or running water? Or heat?”

Amani tried to look at her, but she was still snuggled into his fur. His eyes wandered to the box, where yet another letter had appeared. This one wasn’t even rolled up. “Would you like to talk about it, Silky? We have time.”

“Are- are you sure? You said I only had-”

Amani rubbed her head again, cutting her off. “If I could, I would devote every second of my life to my clients. I live for this, Silky, for making the the river flow smoothly, as my sister put it. I have all the time in the world for any client that needs it, though Squeegee may take issue with that.”

A lump was in Silky’s throat. Swallowing did nothing to remove it. “I lost my job…”

“A common issue, in this city. What for?”

Even when she was choked up, Silky could still muster hatred for the old bastard. “My boss… He… Have you ever heard of Needlepoint?”

“Runs the textiles mill across the street, I believe. I have never had the pleasure of meeting him, but I have heard much of him.” His gaze wandered to the window. He couldn’t see the building in question, and after a moment, was absolutely sure he did not want to.

“He f-fired me… Spiteful old rat-bastard… f-fired me, just so he could replace me with his damned Saddle Arabian machinery…”

“And you came straight to me? My services are not cheap, did you have some saved up?”

“No… My friend… He gave it to me so I could buy food…”

Amani glanced back down at her. “That… that was a silly idea, Silky.”

She finally pulled away from his chest, looking up at him with eyes red and puffy from tears. “I know! I know, dammit!” Her squeaky outburst took all of her energy out her in an instant, and she slumped back into his barrel, hiding again. “I just… I didn’t wanna waste away, like my mom…”

The rhythmic thumping of hoofsteps stopped outside the door, and was replaced in short order by a rapping on the door. With a sigh, Amani swept a hoof through the smoke in the air, and the door-handle clicked upward, opening the door. The neon-yellow head of Squeegee poked it’s way in, but whatever he was going to say died on his lips as he saw the mare sobbing into Amani’s barrel.

“Amani!” He hissed quietly. “You can’t do this! It’s Friday! Rush hour for us, you know that! I’ve already got one of your regulars in the lobby, and another pony was asking for you!”

“So get 291 on it! She’s good at that!” He hissed back.

“That’s not gonna fool your regular!”

Amani growled, like an annoyed tiger in the Cinematographs Silky had seen of Zebrica. Then he paused, and glanced back at her. She blinked, tears still crowding her eyes.

Amani rubbed the back of her neck along her her mane, and looked back at Squeegee. “Which regular?”

“Archduke Fancy Pants! We can’t keep him waiting, and what do you think he’ll do if we tell him you’re busy?”

“He will understand, chortle a bit, and be back in an hour. But that doesn’t matter. Send him up anyway, I have an idea.”

Squeegee glanced at Silky again. “...Can I hear the idea?”

“Squeegee…”

The stallion in the door sighed. “Fine, but remember, you’re explaining this to Momma.”

“I know. And can you bring me a bit-bag with my profits from yesterday?”

Squeegee squeezed his eyes shut. “Celestia’s suns, I hope the idea’s a good one…” he ducked back out, and the door shut behind him. As he did, Amani’s gaze turned back to Silky. Her eyes were still red from the tears, but the tears themselves had dried on her muzzle, and Amani’s barrel. “Amani? What’s going on?”

Amani nuzzled her forehead. “You are not in a hurry to go somewhere, I hope?”

“I… I guess not…”

“Good. Silky, what are you willing to do for bits?”

Silky blinked again, not quite hearing the question. Then it processed, and her ears flattened against her head as she pulled away from Amani. “You want me to… to become a st-”

“Companion, yes.” Amani held out a hoof as Silky found the edge of the bed, nearly falling off. “Silky…” Amani paused again, mulling it over in his head. “This… This job, it’s more like a way of life. I’ve done it ever since I found out my talent in Zebrica, and Momma paid for my emigration here. and the thing about this job?”

He smiled, and Silky remembered not less than an hour earlier, when he had told her that he could be as little as a listening ear, if need be. He continued, “The thing about the job this is, is that it is not a job that can be replaced. No machine can do this job, can live my life. I am not a machine to be replaced when I break; I am a pony, like any other, and my job is to make other ponies happy. I only have a price because Momma Gjinka insists.”

He held out his hoof again. “Try once, Silky. At least try once.”

She looked at his hoof tentatively. “I… I don’t know...”

“If it helps,” he added, “It’ll be with one of my best clients. Very open-minded. Probably won’t mind in the slightest.”

Silky’s mind reeled. Could she be… Should she turn this down? Could she turn this down? And it was just once, and she might never need to again… She sniffled again, and looked at her hoof. Shakily, she reached down to her slit, and rubbed along it’s length. The action made her nethers twitch a little, with a spark of unintended pleasure. The remnants of their earlier activities had mostly dried by now, leaving her hoof slightly greasy, with a faint off-white sheen on the wall.

With another sniffle, she wiped her hoof on the side of her barrel, mostly cleaning it before she took Amani’s hoof. “Just once. I think… I think I can only do this once.”

Amani smiled again, pulling her into another hug. “I understand. It is all I ask.”

As if on cue, there was another rapping at the door, this time slow and relaxed. Amani pulled away from Silky hesitantly, sliding off the bed and trotting to answer the knocking. opening it revealed a white-furred stallion, with a nautical blue mane and moustache. He was a full head taller than Amani, maybe just a little more, and wore a black dinner jacket, with a magenta bow tie. A chain led upwards to a monocle on his eye, which lit with an aura the same colour as his mane before dropping into an inner pocket of his dinner jacket.

The stallion raised an eyebrow as he saw Silky sitting on the bed, before smiling at Amani. “My goodness, who is this little surprise? Ah, and I was instructed to pass this to you, my good friend.” A full-looking bit-bag was passed to Amani, who placed it on a table nearby, before he indicated Silky with the same hoof.

“It is good to see you as well, my fancy friend. Before you is Silky, who is in a… unique situation. Would you mind if we tried something this time? Something new?”

“I don’t mind at all. With you, my hour is always well-spent.” Fancy trotted next to the bed, and held out a hoof to shake, which Silky tentatively did, trying not to muss his fetlocks. “Silky, is it? It’s a pleasure.”

She’d never met the Archduke of Canterlot before. She’d never even dreamed she’d be able to. His hoofshake was strong, but loosened to match hers, and he looked directly into her eyes, though she looked away. Meeting him like this felt like she was presenting herself to Celestia. “Y-yeah… I, um… Likewise?”

Amani coughed, and began smoothing out the sheets Silky was sitting on as he explained, “Silky is a new companion, but it is her first day, and she is understandably nervous. I thought it best if she were trained on-the-job.”

Fancy Pants nodded. “I’m happy to help, my dear fellow. Though she’d be hard-pressed to replace you.”

“Good. If you could hop onto the bed? Silky, could you come here for a second?”

They swapped places, and Silky stumbled as her hooves hit the carpet. Amani helped her up, whispering into her ear the whole time. “Sit behind him. Take his coat, then rub his shoulders, he likes that. Nothing complex, unless you are a masseuse in your spare time. I shall get him warmed up.”

She nodded, and trotted around the bed. Fancy Pants had sat up, sitting on his rear, and began taking off his coat. In front, Amani gently spread the Archduke’s hinds, and found him already poking slightly out of his sheath. He rubbed his hooves gently around it, massaging his sack, and when it started getting Fancy Pants hard, he sucked the tip into his mouth, replacing the hooves with lips.

Behind the Archduke, Silky had taken his coat and folded it, placing it on a nearby stool. Her still-shaking hooves were placed on his shoulders, and she froze up. How was she supposed to do this? She couldn’t do this, she couldn’t do this, especially not for the Archduke-

Fancy’s right hoof met hers again, and he gently guided it in a circle around his left shoulder. “It’s alright. Just like that, for both shoulders. Here, I’m just another client.”

Silky nodded, continuing the circle, the shakes fading just a tad.

Amani had gotten the Archduke to full size by then, and was gently bobbing his head down with a breathy ‘gluk-gluk’ noise. From Fancy Pant’s panting, it was working, and he shifted slightly to spread his hinds a bit better. In shifting, he leaned back, and Silky shifted as well to let him put his head in her lap.

His eyes met hers again. “You’re doing well, now. Have you had much training?”

“N-no… In fact, I was a v-virgin this morning…”

Fancy Pants chortled, looking at Amani, who was halfway down his length by now. “Hah! Amani does that well, from what I’ve heard. I’m guessing it went well?”

Silky smiled, closing her eyes. “It was wonderful. I’m glad I picked him.”

Amani bobbed his head again, and Fancy’s hips twitched upwards. “Mmph. Sorry old chap, getting close already. It’s been a while.”

Getting adventurous with her rubbing, Silky began widening her circles down Fancy’s forelegs, and across his back. Scant seconds later, she felt his muscles twitch under her hooves, and Fancy’s hoof leaped to Amani’s head, pulling him down with a grunt. Amani’s muzzle was pushed straight into the latter’s crotch, taking a deep whiff of his musk as the Archduke’s length was forced deep into his throat. A glob of cum escaped into his mouth, while the bulk of it was instantly swallowed. Even that only helped, as the sensation of the swallowing against his rod got another grunt out of Fancy.

The hoof fell away, and Amani pulled off of the shaft, coughing as some of the cum went down the wrong way. Wiping his eyes, he smiled at Fancy. “Apologies, I do not get much practice doing that. How was that for a warmup?”

Fancy Pants grinned. “Exemplary, as always, though sorry for grabbing you at the end there. You’re alright?”

“I am still well. I’ll need to have a glass of water before I go again, however.”

Fancy Pants motioned with a hoof towards Silky. “Surely you’re not going to leave out your trainee here?”

Amani paused, then nodded. “Ah, I almost did! Silky, be you moving to take my place? I shall instruct you.” He slid back off the bed as Silky moved around Fancy Pants again, pulling a glass and a bottle of soda water out from beneath the bed.

“Er…” Silky began, but trailed off as she looked at Fancy Pant’s still-hard shaft. “I… I’m not sure how to start…”

“You don’t need to follow his example, if that’s what you’re worried about. Would you just like to rut as normally as possible?”

Gently, Silky reached out, her hooves shaky again as she touched the bobbing shaft. It wasn’t as large as Amani’s, but it wasn’t wildly different. “I… Think so? This is all so new to me…”

Fancy Pants took her hoof in his own again, and used them to gently pull her up onto his lap, resting his shaft against her flank. “I’ve got you. Just position yourself right, and lean back. I’ll handle positioning.” He used his other hoof to adjust his length, and she gently felt it bob against her slit. “Do you mind if I finish inside? Fleur never lets me, some old wive’s tale about secret estrus or somesuch-”

Silky’s eyes widened, and she put a hoof on Fancy’s chest. “Wait! I still-” She glanced back at her rear. “I haven’t had a shower since Amani finished inside me earlier, so it’s still in there.”

Fancy Pants chortled again, and turned to Amani. “Tut tut, not even teaching her the cleanup spell?”

The Zebra swished the soda water around his mouth, and swallowed it, before looking back at them. “I’ve never been good at teaching that. I was going to have Squeegee tell her after.”

Shaking his head, Fancy turned back to Silky. “Well, I’d better teach you then. I use it myself every once in a while, so… Hm. Close your eyes, and focus on your privates.”

“O...kay…?” Now that she was doing so, Silky could feel a faint trickle of gooey liquid inside, and gently seeping out into the fur surrounding it.

“Focus on the walls, and carefully put some power into them. It’ll make them work a damn sight faster at absorbing the fluids. Makes cleanup a breeze, but it also gets rid of any natural lubricant.” Amani set the glass down, and pulled out a small glass bottle, which Fancy Pants took. Uncorking it, he dripped no small amount onto his shaft, which twitched from the cold contact.

An ‘eep!’ from Silky indicated she’d figured it out, and her hoof went to her slit again, wiping and prodding to make sure everything still worked right. “That… That’s amazing,” she said, gritting her teeth. The process left her a little sensitive. She looked back at Fancy , who had finished coating his shaft in the clear liquid using his hoof. He held that hoof out for her, and she took it, guiding it to her slit so she could prepare it as well.

Fancy took the opportunity to rub her a little bit more than was strictly necessary, though Silky certainly wasn’t complaining. The edge of his manicured hoof spread her still-sensitive lower lips, and the motion got a pleasured huff out of the mare.

Amani replaced both bottles beneath the bed, and joined the two ponies on top of it, taking position behind Silky. His hooves lifted Fancy’s shaft, and he helped line it up with Silky’s prepared slit, to the happiness of both. “Ready, Silky?”

Her hooves found Fancy’s barrel, and she made sure she had her balance, before she nodded and started leaning back. Letting another pony’s shaft in her felt just as good the second time, if not better, as this time she had a little more control. She could pick any speed, any depth, whatever she wanted, but for the moment, she simply let gravity pull her down onto the pale rod.

In moments, she had reached the base, and Fancy Pants, Archduke of Canterlot, was balls-deep in her… And she loved it. Hind legs shaking, she leaned forward, sliding only a few scant centimetres back upward, before letting herself fall back with the faintest ‘pap’ sound. Silky liked that sound, that sound of flesh meeting flesh, of Fancy’s balls slapping against her, and she wanted to hear it again, and again. Lifting up, pushing down…

Not unlike her sewing needle pushing into fabric.

She started speeding up, and Fancy didn’t complain in the slightest, breathing heavily as he started thrusting upward against her. The sound started getting louder, and the bed creaked beneath them with each thrust. And with each thrust, Silky felt wonderful pleasure arcing up through her into her core, warm and tingly.

Amani had moved around again, taking Silky’s position from before behind Fancy’s head, his own hooves rubbing the stallion’s shoulders, which prompted him to begin moving his own up Silky’s body. He traced the line of her thighs up to her hips, amplifying the pleasure as he used every bit of leverage he could get to press her down onto his shaft with even more power. The sound had scaled up to outright slapping now, and Silky closed her eyes, focusing on the sound, the feeling from between her legs…

Fancy had already come once, down Amani’s throat, so he was lagging behind just a tad when Silky felt herself start getting close. Her squeaking had returned at some point, drowned out by the slapping, but Fancy had noticed, and sped up his thrusting to match. Silky felt her forelegs give, but she used the opportunity to hug Fancy’s barrel, and just use her hinds to rut him.

She felt it again; that familiar flash of happiness, of sheer electric pleasure as she clenched around his rod. Her squeaking matched, and then surpassed, that of the bed she was rutting Fancy on, and then it was finished, and Fancy was still thrusting into her.

In fact, after Amani, and now Fancy in the same hour, Silky was feeling sort of numb. Her legs were tired, her head felt fuzzy, and her barrel just felt heavy, but her crotch felt numb—and still Fancy kept thrusting, hard and fast, and it began to grow into discomfort.

“F-Fancy…”

“Almost done, just need one-one sec-”

“Fancy, I- it’s kind of sore-”

The thrusting hit a certain speed, and stayed there, as Fancy finally reached his own finish. He kept thrusting into her like a pneumatic piston as he started squirting into her, but it made it worse, it was too hot, it was too much for Silky-

The edges of her vision blurred, and started going dark, as the day caught up with her for the second time. Her short nap after the first, with Amani, hadn’t been nearly enough rest for the sewing she’d already done earlier that day. Her hooves fell away from Fancy’s barrel, and her head dropped onto it instead. Unconsciousness took her with the barest warning, and the last thing she heard was Amani’s concerned voice.

“Silky? Silky!”

* * *

“What is this, Rubber?”

“What’s what- Oh. Sod. It’s a, uh-”

“Alright, I know what it is. Why do you have it, and why is it recently dated?”

“Well, you know, what with the whole mess brewing in Zebrica and all, Colonel Mustard Gas has been sending all of us those-”

Silky lay in her bed, hugging Bingo close as she overheard the conversation from down the hall. Only a single blue ray of light from a biolamp in the hallway illuminated her otherwise pitch-black bedroom, and the light from the glowing micro-organisms fell across her sheets.

Mommy and Daddy were arguing again. They argued a lot.

“This isn’t a recruitment letter, Rubber. It’s a medical letter. And according to it, you’re still cleared for combat. When did you go for a checkup?”

“A few weeks ago. Look, Rifle Butt came by, asked me to-”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass about Rifle, what about Silky?”

“What about Silky?”

The voices changed.

“Well? I asked, what about her? Are you gonna keep her on?”

“Ja, ja. De numbers annoy me und de front desk iz runnink hyu ragged, Sqveegee. She already has de cote secretary look, might as vell pot it to goot use.”

“Alright. And Amani?”

“Dot Zebra drives me mad sometimes, bot Hy shtill love him, und he iz demed goot at vot he doz. As long as he dozn't make a habit uf it, Hy let diz vun slide.”

“Thank Celestia. 291, is she okay?”

A third voice joined the conversation, the words accented by a strange buzzing. “She’s fine, just exhausted. Let her sleep. I’ll get you, Gjinka, as soon as she wakes up.”

The voices were her parents again.

“For star’s sake, Shutter, if you keep caterwauling like that, you are going to wake her up, and the whole neighbourhood with her. It’s a risk of the job, you know that. You’ve known that since you met me. And we need the money. Colonel Mustard always pays his troops well.”

“We don’t get any money if you die. What happens to the debts then?”

“I won’t die, relax. It’s just a little rebellion, we put down the noisy ones and play peacekeeper while the rest sort out their issues civilly, and then we come back. Nothing to it.”

“Fine. I don’t like it, but fine. When do you go?”

“Tomorrow morning. Silky won’t even be up yet.”

“You were planning on leaving without telling us?”

“I was gonna leave you a note-”

“Sure you were. Just like how you were gonna pay Full House.”

“...And how you were gonna pay for your medicine, right?”

There was a rustling of wings, her mother’s. “Shut up. Just shut up. Have fun in Zebrica.”

“I will.”

* * *

Silky groaned, her eyes cracking open and letting in entirely too much sunlight.

“Oh! You’re awake!” It was that buzzing voice again, one of the few she’d heard in her sleep. Blearily, she turned her eyes away from the shuttered window, and they fell instead on a black, blurry shape sitting beside her. An emaciated foreleg approached her muzzle, holding a wet cloth, and Silky tried to blink her rheumy eyes clear.

The wet cloth, when it touched her forehead, felt relaxing. As it gently rubbed, soaked with warm water, she yawned, and her vision finally sharpened, as much as it could without her glasses on.

There was a pony-shaped bug sitting next to her.

She screeched, leaping backwards and scrabbling across the bed against the wall. She was trapped, trapped by the bug, she had to get out, it was gonna eat her-

“Whoa! Hey, it’s alright! It’s alright!” It yelped, it’s mandibles flicking to imitate Equuish, as if she wouldn’t notice! Glancing around the room, Silky spotted two cocoons made of bright green webbing, one on a bed, and the other hanging just above it from the ceiling. The former was empty, but the latter… There was the silhouette of a pony inside the latter!

“What- what are you?” Silky asked, eyes flicking from the cocoon to the bug, and back again.

“Changeling,” it buzzed. “It’s alright, honest. I know I look kind of freaky to you, but I just want to help.”

“And the pony in there?” She motioned towards the cocoon with her hoof.

The Changeling’s compound eyes blinked, and it turned around to see what she was pointing at. “Oh, him. That’s one of my clients, he wanted to- that’s his thing, he’s into that. He’s perfectly fine.”

As Silky watched, the silhouette twitched, turning slightly inside whatever liquid filled the cocoon. Shivering, her gaze settled back on the Changeling sitting in front of her, who hadn’t moved since the initial screech. It didn’t look like the Changelings she’d seen in The Equestria Daily. Its forelegs were thin, instead of being filled with holes, and it had no horn to speak of—but it did have a single, thick antenna above it’s forehead, extending back over it’s head between its leathery not-ears. “I thought Changelings had holes in their hooves…”

“You’re thinking of Worker Caste. I’m Infiltrator Caste, which means I can’t build anything but those cocoons.” It tilted it’s head. “If it helps, I can shift into something more pony-like.”

Silky shook her head. “No. Just… Just stay like that. So I know where you are.”

The Bug nodded. “That’s reasonable.” Motioning with a hoof at the bed, it continued, “You should lie down, you were exhausted yesterday.”

Silky’s eyes were drawn to that hoof as she slid back down into the sheets. There was something wrong with the frog… She swore she could see claws wrapped against each other inside…

The Bug followed her eyes, and yanked her hoof away. “Don’t- Don’t worry about that. You’re already freaked out enough.” Glancing around the room again, she picked up a pitcher of water with the glow of levitation, and poured it into a nearby glass before passing it to her. “Here, you should drink this. Your throat must be parched.”

Silky’s horn lit with it’s own colour of magic, and took the glass, however much the aura flickered and the glass bobbed correspondingly. Bringing it to her mouth, she took a sip. It tasted fine, and so she started drinking it greedily, the bottom of the glass distorting the Changeling’s image as it shifted uncomfortably.

“So, uh… How are you feeling?” It asked, as Silky gulped the last of the water.

Setting the glass down on a bedside table, next to a small stack of books, and her glasses, folded up on a hoofkerchief. Silky gently prodded her shoulder, and it ached just a little. “Sore. Kinda groggy.”

The Bug nodded. “Okay. That should pass.”

Silky let her eyes wander again. The Golden Cat’s outside may have been brightly decorated, the inside may have been lush and cushioned, but whatever room she was in now exuded nothing else but “living space”. The walls were drab, though somepony had thought to put up wallpaper maybe twenty years ago. Despite that, it was at least well-maintained—there were no rips or tears exposing the wall behind, and the room had been dusted recently.

The bed she lay on, and the blanket that lay atop her, weren’t particularly well stitched, but they were functional. She could spot several tricks in the stitching to conserve materials, such as skipping every few stitches, and widening the spaces between the ones that were there. The edges were fraying, and some of it had loosened, but it was still comfortable. The mattress beneath her had been bleached, seemingly several times over, and if it had any original colour, it had long been lost to time.

Much of the furniture in the room shared the same feel. A lonely chair by a mirror had more bleach stains on the legs where an over-zealous pony had spilled some while cleaning the cushion. The floor was oak, worn flat by years upon years of ponies walking across it, hundreds upon hundreds of hooves going out to the opulent Golden Cat in the morning, and coming back late that night. An oak cabinet by the bed opposite Silky’s was worn, with nicks across a surface originally lacquered maybe a hundred years ago.

And then, there was the most recent addition.

She’d been trying to look at anything else in the room, but found her eyes inexorably drawn to it anyway. The pony in the cocoon twitched again, and she felt her lips curl in disgust as it rotated slightly, tethered to the ceiling with the same green muscled strands that formed the cocoon itself. Where it was tethered, the plaster of the ceiling warped, shrinking and drying on contact with the alien substance. The bed the second, empty cocoon lay on was stained with liquid coloured the same organic off-green, and there was no evidence of any attempts to bleach it out.

Silky smacked her lips to wet them again, before looking at the Changeling. “He asked for that?”

“Oh yes. I can sympathize, it reminds me of when I was a little nymph. It’s just one of those triggers, I think. With the symbiote in there giving him air and nutrition, it’s probably not unlike your pony wombs.”

With a shiver, Silky shook her head. “Not… Not my thing. I guess.” Her horn fizzled as she tried to pick up her glasses, and they didn’t get far before clattering to the floor. Silky sighed, and tried to get up, only for the Changeling to put its hoof on her chest. It made her sit back, admittedly, though it was more out of revulsion than anything else.

“Hey, wait. I’ll get that for you, just rest, alright?”

“Be careful with them…” Muttered Silky, as the Changeling looked under the bed. It came back up, holding the spectacles in that sickly green glow, and examining them, to Silky’s discomfort.

The Changeling turned them over, looking through the lenses before yanking them away. “Wow. That… that looks wrong.” Passing them back to her, she asked, “Why do you wear those? That can’t look right to you.”

“They’re correctional.” Explained Silky, as she wiped them off on the blanket. “I need them to see, because I’m near-sighted.”

The Changeling mulled that over in her head as Silky finished cleaning them, and the world came back into proper focus. Except for the large cracks still running through the left lense.

“So… your eyes are damaged?”

Silky blinked, looking at the Changeling again. Still creepy. “Not damaged, as such, just… They didn’t form right. It’s been like that since I was born.”

The Changeling’s blue eyes, with no discernable pupils, widened. “Oh! Oh. I know what you mean. There’s Changelings like that in the Swarm. Mother makes them look after the Eggs and the Nymphs, though. She doesn’t want them to get hurt doing much else.”

“Is that… common, among Changelings?”

The bug shook her head. “Not really. And whenever it does, Mother tries her best to figure out why. Usually it’s because a Broodmother acquired some bad Essence.”

“Essence?” Silky asked. “Sorry, just… I don’t really know anything about Changelings.”

“It’s alright,” The Changeling was smiling now. Silky had to give it some credit, it was at least trying to be friendly. That was good. “I don’t think Ponies have a word for that yet. It’s… It’s kind of what everything is made out of. Ponies, Changelings, Cats, Dogs… Everything is built out of Essence. Mother can see the Essence, manipulate it, infuse it into our own.” She paused.

“That’s… One of the reasons I’m here, actually. Acquiring Essence, because one of the best places to get Essence is from… uh... Stallions.” The Changeling was blushing. Through her Chitin. Or her chitin was blushing, somehow.

“So… Essence is cum?”

The Changeling shook her head. “No no, it’s a source. It’s… Agh, Mother would be able to explain this so much better… Anyway, sometimes we get Essence that makes us stronger, when Mother infuses us with part of it, but sometimes there are side effects with the new Hatchlings. Brittle bones, or bad colouration, or distorted vision. Like yours.”

“...I feel kind of insulted.” Silky stared at the Changeling.

“Don’t be!” it practically yelped. “Look, it’s just… Look, we got off on the wrong hoof, alright? My name’s 291. What’s yours?” She held out her hoof again, for a shake.

“Silky Smooth.” Cringing, Silky held out her own, meeting the chitinous foreleg.

With a grin, 291 sat back on her chair. “Good! Step in the right direction. Now, Gjinka will want to meet you, since you’re conscious. Give me one moment here…” She stood, and went to her own message-box, starting to scribble a note.

“Gjinka?” Asked Silky, struggling to pour herself another glass of water.

“Momma, or so the other Companions here call her. It’s not hard to see why, she’s really not so different from our own Mother. Very protective.” She sent the message, and caught the jug just before Silky’s magic cut out again.

“Thanks.” Silky sighed, begrudgingly, before gulping down the glass. “So… She’s a very protective mare?”

291 chuckled. “Nope. Biggest damn Gryphon I’ve ever seen. Granted, I haven’t seen any others, but considering how everypony else talks about Gryphons, I think she’s irregular. She is very protective, though, that’s correct.”

The sheets were getting sweaty. Silky shifted, trying to get comfortable under the sheets again. “Guess the rumours were true then… I’ve met some Gryphons before, when I was little. They were soldiers, just like my...” She trailed off, and swallowed. Her throat was dry again.

“Family issues?” The Changeling ventured.

“I don’t wanna talk about it.” And Silky stayed true to that, clamming up until there was a knock on the door.

As 291 opened it, Silky’s jaw dropped. It had not been exaggerating about Momma Gjinka. While the ceiling was comfortably low for ponies and gryphons alike, Gjinka’s crest had to be constantly brushing against it. Silky was shocked when she managed to fit through the door that must’ve been half her width, following 291 in and looking at her. She didn’t wear anything, but neither did she need to. Her fur was the sort of thing they made Couriers to the Far North wear for long deliveries.

Silky knew she was gawking now, but Gjinka was simply massive, even bigger than Brick Wall had been. Her fur was mostly whitish-brown, speckled with black. Her crest and wing-tips were coloured a dark green, and held no tell-tale signs of being dyed—either she was very good at it, or the colouration was natural. Her beak was short, but curved, like a hawk, and her eyes, predatory but focused on her, were easily both larger than her hoof.

In moments, the eyes brightened. “Hello, leedle vun. Relax, hyu iz safe here. How hyu feelink?”

Her accent was so thick Silky almost couldn’t understand it at first. She had to repeat the words quietly to herself to grasp the words themselves. “I’m… I’m okay, I guess. You’re Gjinka?”

The Gryphoness was beaming now, and SIlky couldn’t shake the feeling that if she could with a beak, she’d have a giant grin. "Hy em! Bot hyu leedle vun, may call me Momma Gjinka, or jusht Momma if feel like it. Hyu iz vun uf us now!" Moving closer, Gjinka sat on the wooden floor, practically enveloping it in her fur. A giant talon-tipped claw landed atop her, and ruffled her mane.

Silky shrunk into the blankets, swallowed by Gjinka’s claw alone. “I’m… I’m one of you? A Companion?”

"Vell, only if hyu vant. Bot Emani speaks vell uf hyu, und told me uf you day." The Gryphon pulled back, and turned to a closed window nearby, opening it up. Behind her, the pony is his cocoon twisted slightly, the resin shimmering strangely under direct sunlight. "Hyu had de scat keecked out uf hyu yashterday, bot shtill gave de Archduke de besht rutting he's had in veeks."

Silky’s eyes widened. “He… he said that? But… That was my second time, ever… I passed out on top of him, there’s no way-” She trailed off as Gjinka tilted her head at her, still hawk-like. “Look… Maybe he’s just being nice, is all. I… I can’t do that again… I just… I just can’t.”

The continent’s-worth of Gryphoness sighed, her shoulders slumping. “If hyu say so. Shtill, Emani vanted me to give hyu diz, for helpink him." Reaching into her feathers, she pulled out a corduroy bit-bag, heavy with coin, and tossed it onto Silky’s lap. With trembling hooves, she opened the top, and started counting.

“There’s… There’s a thousand bits in here.” Disbelieving, she looked at Gjinka. The Gryphonesses’ eyes were practically sparkling.

"Dot's vot Hy say, bot no, he insishts. Hy tell him he iz crazy zebra, bot no, he tells me to give it to hyu anyvay." Turning to 291, she asked, "Tvo-nine-vun, vould hyu say diz iz enough for havink sated de Archduke uf Canterlot?"

The Changeling smirked. “Since it wasn’t Amani, yes. Usually he’ll hire no other.”

Silky was still staring at the gold coin in her frog. “I… I can’t, this is too much-”

She was enveloped in feathers as Gjinka leaned in close, wrapping one claw around her and using the other to push the bit-bag into her barrel. In an instant, she felt felt almost at ease, feeling the feathers around her. "Leedle vun, take it. Ve are not shtrapped for bits; after all, dot vas Emani's profit for jusht a veek. He vould be rich, bot he insishts Hy keep it."

Nuzzling into the feathers, Silky finally nodded. “Even though I probably won’t be coming back?”

"Even den, leedle vun. Call it votever hyu like—payment, a gift, charity—jusht keep it. Hyu hef far greater need uf it."

Something in Silky’s heart unclenched. “Thank you.” She whispered. “Thank you so much, Momma...”

She started crying again, as Gjinka rocked her from side-to-side. Her eyes flicked again to the Changeling, who was checking the cocoon. "Tvo-nine-vun. Go gets Emani. Nopony vants a Companion firsht ting in de mornink, zo he should not be busy. He vill valk her home."

291 nodded, giving it a final glance before ducking out of the room.

Silky didn’t cry for long (Celestia’s suns, she’d been crying a lot…) but it made her feel better, especially with Momma there. Before long, she wiped her eyes one last time. “T-thanks. Have you seen…” She trailed off.

“Momma? You said… You said ‘nopony wants a companion in the morning’, right?”

Momma nodded, patting her head. Ho, yas. Hyu slept de night here. Hyu veren't vorried about rent, vere hyu?"

Silky immediately squirmed out of Momma’s hug, and stumbled onto the hardwood floor. “No no, but if I didn’t come home last night my Grandmother will be so worried-” She stumbled again, as the room spun. “Whoah… Got up too fast…”

"In dot case, yas, hyu're right, hyu'd besht gets movink. Here hyu bags, und keep those bits safe, Ja?” Her saddlebags were placed on her back, and Silky hid the bit-bag inside as Momma Gjinka stood, leading her out of the room. They exited into a hallway, and then down a flight of stairs.

Amani and 291 met them at the bottom. “Oh! Silky! What is the rush?”

She finished tightening the barrel-strap just in time to respond. “My grandmother… I’m always back in time for dinner, she’s going to be worried.”

With a smile, Amani nodded. “Then we had best be off. Which platform do you live on?”

“Number five.”

Momma Gjinka and 291 both paused in their conversation about the cocoon upstairs as Silky admitted this, but Amani just took it in stride. “Alright. You lead, I follow.”

With one last wave to Momma Gjinka and 291, they opened one last door into the lobby. Squeegee was back behind the desk. “Oh! She’s awake!” With a warm smile to Silky, he added, “Are you feeling better?”

She bit her lips. “Yes. Thank you. Um… we’re kind of in a hurry-”

Squeegee nodded, “Well, don’t let me delay you then! Watch out out there, both of you, alright?”

She gave him a wave as well, before pushing the doors open. Outside, it was nearly midmorning, and the front of the Golden Cat was still in shadow from Celestia’s sun, though it was peeking over the edge of the roof and playing through the leaves of the Cherry Blossoms out front. They started moving towards the corner, and Amani quietly coughed. “So… Will you be joining the Golden Cat?”

Silky looked back at him, before looking away. They’d need to take the staircase up to the next platform, as the intracity locomotive wasn’t allowed to stop at platform five any more… “I’m sorry, Amani… I just… I’m not sure I can do that, day in, day out… I don’t know what to tell my Grandmother, either…”

“I understand.” His hoof patted her on the back. “But you gave it a chance. That is all I asked, no more. And… You can always come back, even if you don’t work there.”

She turned to see him smiling at her serenely. “Like Fancy Pants, I will never be too busy for you, Silky.”

The mousey mare blushed. “Thanks.” The staircase, next to the water-lock elevator, came into view as they turned another corner, and Amani looked at it with disdain. “This is still the only way up to the fifth platform?”

“Yeah.” Silky nodded. As she started upwards, nearly every footfall knocked a clump of rust loose. “It’s holding together for now. Don’t worry, it’s stable enough. I take this staircase down and back up every day.”

She paused. “Well… I used to, anyway. I’m not sure if I still will.”

It was a long climb. The distance between platforms was somewhere around six stories, and even though the staircase was anchored to both, around three stories high their hoof-steps alone were enough to shake it. Amani peered back. He was about level with the rooftop of the Golden Cat now. “Never before have I been afraid of heights, Silky.”

She chuckled. “You get used to it.”

As they started to get closer to the top, they could make out a conversation over the wind, from the top of the stairs, though the actual words were lost. Silky turned a final time and reached the top, where three gruff-looking stallions were sitting on or around a concrete bench covered in graffiti. “Hey, it’s that seamstress again.”

“Leave her be, no point.” Growled the blue one sitting on the bench, shuffling a deck of cards with his magic.

The first one nodded, but his ears perked up as Amani came into view. “Whoah, who are you?”

“I am Silky’s Escort.”

“Yeah, I bet you are!” Laughed the last one, flicking a break-barrel pistol around by its trigger guard in his own aura. “Whaddya think, Girder?”

The blue stallion looked up from the cards. “Escort? Who’s your boss?”

“Momma Gjinka.” The name gave them all pause, and especially the first stallion. “Oh, rut that. I already pissed off that bird, I’m not doing it twice.”

To Silky’s amazement, the blue Stallion waved them past. “Fine. Don’t start any scat, and we won’t bug you either.”

With a last nod, they passed by without incident, and Silky continued leading him down a main street. When they were out of shouting distance, Silky turned to Amani. “Wow… They’re afraid of Momma?”

Amani smirked, glancing behind them. “I believe the last Madam had some sort of deal with one of the gangs up here. When Momma took over, they came in and started trying to demand their ‘usual’ from Snowy. Apparently freebies.”

“And Momma…?”

“If any of them had touched Snowy, she broke the forelegs they had used to do it.” Silky’s eyes widened in shock. “Of course, one of the bosses, Rex caught wind of it. He came alone, and they worked out some kind of deal. I think Momma set the terms.”

“Wow…” Silky turned down a side street, avoiding a stain of Prismapetrol on the street. “But... She’s so nice…”

“Not to gangs. They are lucky she had not unpacked nor loaded the Mare’s Leg.” A newspaper blew by, and Amani watched it. “She protects her little ponies. I have heard Celestia is very much the same, but I have my own doubts…”

Silky was quick to come to her defence. “She tries. Her heart’s in the right place, she just… She looks at the bigger picture.”

As Silky finally approached a small, three-story apartment building, Amani responded thoughtfully, “Somepony in charge of so many has to choose whether to make a few ponies very happy, and damn the rest, or try and please everypony a little bit.”

Silky paused on the sidewalk outside. “Well… She tries. Not many try at all.”

With a chuckle, Amani gave her a hug. “If everypony tried to make every other pony around them happy all the time, nothing would get done.”

“I guess not,” sighed Silky. “Well… This is it. It’s not much to look at, but…”

“It is where you live,” interrupted Amani. “I will say nothing bad of it for you.”

“Thanks.” She turned, stepping onto the stoop, but stopped. Turning back to Amani, she swallowed.

“Is there something wrong, Silky-” He was interrupted by Silky moving closer and kissing him passionately. Surprised by the suddenness, Amani smiled a moment later, and returned it.

As the kiss ended, Silky stepped back. “I- I really mean it. Thanks. I think… I think I’m gonna be okay now.”

“Of course, Laini.” With a final smile, they turned away from each other, and Silky pulled her key out of her saddlebag, slotting it into the door. With one glance over her shoulder at the Zebra, she slipped inside.

Author's Note

It was surprisingly hard to write a negative description of a Changeling. It's actually part of why this took so long to put out.

I swear I'm not biased. Not at all, not even slightly. And that pony in the cocoon is in no way meant to be a self-insert.

(Comment! Please! On any subject in the story, anything at all! Feedback is how I get better!)