Waves of Change

Chapters

1 - No One Likes the Water Temple
2 - Making Waves
3 - One is the Loneliest Number
4 - Why is it Always a Dragon?
5 - Drowning in Gold
6 - A Breath of Fresh Air
7 - Sit a While and Listen
8 - A Little Snow
9 - Always Coca Cola, or is It?
10 - Cozy in Caves
11 - To Awaken Darkness
12 - It Hungers
13 - Give a Dog a Bone
14 - Not All Snacks are Good for Dogs
15 - Sealed with a Kiss
16 - Never Split the Party
17 - So, How Are the Kids?
18 - Welcome Aboard
19 - Welcome!
20 - Coming From Darkness
21 - Like a Fairy Tale
22 - Plaything of Fate
23 - She would Wear Pants, but has no Legs
24 - Emerging from the Dark
25 - Squinting into the Light
26 - Bros Forever
27 - This Place Looks Familiar
28 - Meeting the Herd
29 - No Means No
30 - Denying a Scholar her Treats
31 - Inspired Science
32 - Learning to Live Together
33 - We'll Never Work Out
34 - Herd is Family, Herd is Life
35 - Becoming a Family, Formally
36 - Selecting a Mentor
37 - Spike, the Great and Literary Dragon

1 - No One Likes the Water Temple

Dark had finally fallen, and Tom let out a sigh, no longer having to squint through the glare in order to see the screen in front of him. The soft sounds of music from Terraria filled the air as he blithely passed the time at work, quite bored out of his mind as he counted the minutes down until he got off of his shift.

In the corner of his eyes, he saw a tab blinked in his browser, hinting that something had occurred. Was that his email?

Frowning for a quick moment, Tom paused the game and minimized it, wondering what e-mail he’d received this time. It seemed that nine of ten of them were utterly useless, a quick glance to mark it as read before moving on, he thought to himself as he scanned the page.

The email had no from address, and the timestamp was set two years in the future. It read simply, 'Where do you wish to be?'

Tom moved to close the window to get back to his game before pausing, looking at the date once again. He’d seen errors that caused timestamps from before the internet existed, but this was the first time he’d seen something from ‘the future.’ Clicking on the reply button, Tom began quickly typing.

‘Anywhere but here right now… work is boring as hell.’

The reply came almost instantly, 'You can only bring one thing with you, what you're wearing at this instant doesn't count. Pick one thing.'

Staring at the screen, Tom thought that his boring job was starting to get to him. Either that, or the IT department had finally figured out that the security guards they hired were using their network and had remoted in. Either way, Tom simply blinked a few times before his fingers were furiously moving once more.

‘This has to be a joke, who is it? This you, Charles?’

'This is not he. Select your one item.'

Frowning, Tom crooked his head slightly as he replied once more. ‘So, you’re saying I could leave here, and take one item with me? Any one item, and whatever I’m wearing doesn’t count? Kind of an odd offer, not one I’d think up anyways.’

'Any one item. What you are holding or wearing does not count. Do not try to pick up more things.'

Tom’s hand moved to his left waist, where his gun was holstered. I must be out of my mind, but why not… ‘Okay then, if I can have any one thing, then I’d bring my house. All the comforts of home, but without all of the other mess life brings with it.’

'Your home will be sealed away, but you can bring it out whenever you please. Once it is placed, it cannot be moved again, at least not with my help. Since you have chosen something extravagant, your starting position will be penalized. Good luck,'

Before the meaning of the words could be considered for very long, Tom found himself in an inky void, falling for a brief moment before he came out onto rough grass. A small rubber ball fell on his belly afterwards, holding his entire house like a fly in amber.

His back against the ground, Tom lay there for a few moments blinking as his vision cleared. “What the hell?” he softly uttered, lifting his head before spotting the rubber ball. Squinting, he could make out all of the details of his home, just like the odd text in his screen had mentioned. But, if this was real, then what did the words mean by penalized, and starting position?

It was a bit chilly, and looking around Tom could quickly see why. There was snow everywhere except the circle immediately around himself. The protected area seemed to be contracting rapidly, allowing the cold and snow to reclaim the lost ground as whatever blessing that kept the cold at bay eroded rapidly.

Scrambling to his feet, Tom cursed under his breath. It was the height of summer, and the thin pants and short sleeved uniform shirt he wore did little to aid in keeping one warm. Scanning the horizon, he remained within that rapidly shrinking bubble, trying to find something or someplace to run to for shelter from the snow and cold. He was still in shock over finding himself elsewhere, but he had no time to stop and think, not yet.

The terrain was far from even. He appeared to be in some kind of ravine, with rough platforms extending along with the promise of a severely steep decline towards whatever dark bottom awaited. But further into the ravine, below Tom, he could see a faint glimmer down there, hiding in the depths of the crease of the earth.

“Penalized… more like screwed,” Tom whined to the air, already hugging his arms to his chest as the chill grew. He was a bit out of shape and tad overweight, so needless to say survival situations were not his forte. Noticing a glimmer of something deeper in the ravine, and reasoning that if it was this cold, it would be even worse above, he started descending, muttering curses under his breath as he carefully watched his steps.

Each platform was about six feet from the one below it, requiring some climbing and dropping to get to the next one, but they seemed secure enough, until his foot hit a slick patch and he went careening towards the edge on his back. With a cry of surprise, Tom scrambled to find purchase on the slick surface as he slid, scraping his arms and feeling the acute chill of ice on skin contact. He stopped right at the edge, his head hanging over thin air as he slowly turned to look below, feeling a bit sore.

The echo of a howl came from above, joined in a chorus with friends. Glowing red eyes peered down from the lip of the ravine, as if challenging the human to come up and greet them. They didn't approach, at least for the moment.

Turning back to look up above, Tom’s hand shot to his gun as he gulped, the cold chill forgotten for a moment. He only had fourteen shots, and while he was a pretty sure shot, the pairs of eyes peering down at him made what he needed to do extremely clear. Trying his best to take the ice into account, Tom got back to his feet rather unsteadily, slowly shuffling to the next platform below, shaking a bit from both the chill and the fear. Wolves unnerved him, there was just… something about them in person.

As Tom got closer to the light, it resolved into a stone archway set in the snowy side of the ravine. It wasn't at the bottom, if there was a bottom to that ravine. No matter how hard Tom squinted, he could see no proof of that. The archway was decorated with pictures chiseled into the stone, but they weren't humans, or even tribal animals or religious looking iconography. Instead they were ponies, some with wings, some with horns, and some with neither of the accessories. It seemed to tell a story, but what story it was remained beyond his ability to translate from the pictures. The light that illuminated the arch were a pair of torches that let off no smoke, held in sconces at either side of the entryway.

Walking through the archway, Tom started examining the pictures even as he reached a hand out to one of the torches, hoping that it would give off heat. The slide on ice and the subsequent climb down was leaving him quite chilly, not to the point of teeth chattering just yet, but it wasn’t far off. “Feels like something straight outta Indiana Jones… where’s the evil Nazis?” Tom weakly joked as he attempted to make light of his current situation.

Alas, along with no smoke, the torches gave no heat. They were like flashlights with a fancy special effect that looked like flame. The one Tom played with at least came out of the sconce with a good tug, becoming a portable light source if nothing else.

The torch that wasn’t truly a torch now in his right hand, Tom took one last look at the pictures before turning towards the torch towards the passageway, slowly heading deeper inside. He wasn’t sure just why unicorns and pegasi and horses were chiseled into the stone, but deeper inside might mean more warmth. At least, the few times he’d been on cave tours, they seemed to get pretty warm the further in you got. He kept his eyes peeled for anything that stood out, goosebumps standing out on his slightly scraped arms.

This didn't prove to be wrong, as the wind was left behind, the air felt faintly warmer with every step. It was also darker, save for the light that he had brought with him. The pictures on the walls kept on telling their stories, with the ponies having wars, crowning kings or queens, and doing other things that seemed proper for medieval… ponies… to be doing. As fascinating as the pictures might have been, the soft sound of breathing from further ahead seemed more pressing.

At the sound of… something up ahead breathing, Tom froze, no longer looking at the pictures. They were definitely fascinating to look at, even if it began to create a thought in the back of his mind… one that stated that he clearly wasn’t anywhere on Earth. But, there were more pressing matters to be concerned about as he slowly crept forward, trying to figure out just where the hell that breathing was coming from, and what it was. Tom didn’t even notice that his left hand had drifted downwards until the cold feeling of metal hit his palm, the gun quite freezing from the earlier cold air.

Creeping up to a T-intersection in the hallway, Tom took a careful peek to the left and right. To the left the hallway extended into darkness, to the right things got lighter as it entered a chamber lit with a pool of magma. Also present in that room were small heaps of riches and wealth, and a clearly dragon-like creature with brown scales guarding it, slumbering on one of the piles with lazy wisps of smoke escaping its snout.

Tom’s heart began to wildly pace out of control as his breathing quickened, eyes frozen on a creature straight out of legend and myth. Impossible… he thought to himself, unable to move for what felt like a minor eternity as he stared at what he had only previously read about. The dragon yawned widely, pink tongue curling before it sat up and stretched for the sky and spread its leathery wings out. Fully awake, it began to plod towards the entrance of the place, and Tom.

Torch still in hand, Tom’s mind jumped back to life from the shock of the first step the dragon took, realizing rather quickly that it was indeed coming his way. Dropping the torch to the ground, Tom darted left, hoping that the darkness would hide him, and that the dragon would decide to head outside, rather than down the same passage he hoped to hide in.

A soft click was the last thing Tom heard as the floor gave way beneath him, and he plunged into a chute into the depths of whatever place that was. The dragon looked up at the noise, but found nothing but a discarded torch. It soon lost interest in it, and casually picked it up to put back where it belonged.

2 - Making Waves

Now in complete darkness, Tom could do nothing more but scream as he felt himself slide down the chute, that gunbelt once more riding painfully against his back as he slid deeper into the ground. His scream died at some point, and he had no idea how much time had passed once he finally was ejected from the slide.

After what felt like an uncomfortably long time sliding down and around, and for one nauseating moment a full loop, he came to a stop in a pool of water, splashing down into its depths. There was no light, no up or down save for his own sense of gravity, mildly distorted as it was by the fluid.

Fighting against the urge to empty his stomach’s contents, Tom fought tooth and nail to find the surface of the water. His lungs were burning, and his mind was screaming, but he finally found air, gulping with a massive wheeze as the burning in his lungs was finally appeased. “F-fuck me…” he chattered, stomach still doing flips as the water all but ensured that anything electrical, such as his phone in his front pocket, would be toast. His flashlight as well, if he hadn’t lost it on the slide down. Treading water, he cleared the liquid from his eyes and took a few moments to catch his breath.

It was quite dark in the room, but not entirely. Soft green-blue light came from moss at the bottom of the fifteen-foot-deep pool, shedding a dim light into the vast cavern. A female voice called out, "That looked like a nasty fall. It's been so long since the last intruder fell in here." The source of the voice looked like a mermaid, but her front half was that of a pony, smiling coyly at Tom. "What's your name?"

“Tom,” he quietly squeaked in reply, staring rather blatantly at her in a mixture of awe and disbelief. Nope, he definitely wasn’t on Earth anymore, no doubt about it now, his brain quietly decided before filing that thought away for later processing. “I’m Tom.”

She smiled, exposing sharp teeth as she sat up on the side of the pool. "Hello, Tom. Come here." She patted a place beside her with a hoof. "Have all the ponies died? Are you the new creature that inhabits the land above?"

Wincing a bit, Tom swam to the pool’s edge, keeping a bit of distance between them as he got out of the water. Turning, he looked at her with confusion. “I… I’m pretty sure this isn’t my planet, so I don’t know?” he questioned, sitting down. “I’ve only seen a dragon, and you… what are you?”

She smiled. "My name is Tr'ol, the Softspoken. I was put here to watch over this place, and keep it free from robbers and raiders. Are you one of those?" She reached with a hoof, trying to touch Tom's chest. "You look a little lost to be one of those…"

Tom shook his head, not moving away from her. “N-no… I don’t even know where I am, or why I’m here… I just saw the dragon and ran, and then ended up here. I’d rather be back home,” he finished, remembering that ball that was in his pocket, its presence comforting him just a bit.

Tr'ol leaned in and gently nuzzled a cheek. "That's good. I have to do terrible things to naughty people who think they can take what's not theirs. This is a temple, built to gods long past, for ponies probably long dead. It's as forgotten as I am, but the rites sealed me in here very very well."

“Yeah, definitely not here to steal anything, promise,” he muttered quickly at her words, thinking about those teeth she sported, shivering at the thoughts of what she could do with them. The fur against his cheek felt a bit soft, and he shuffled a bit towards her, starting to shiver again as the cold water made the cool cave air feel even colder. “Do you know any way out of here?”

She shook her head lightly. "'Fraid not. If I knew a way, I'd use it myself, though you don't have magic holding you here, that's an advantage." She sat up, supporting herself on her hooves and powerful tail. "Maybe you could help me? It has to have been, what… a thousand? Three? A long time. Do you think I should still be stuck here?"

“How could I help you? I don’t even know anything about this… place.” Tom waved his arm around, motioning all around him. “I don’t see how I could be of any help, but… it sounds wrong for you to be stuck here.” Something in his mind clicked afterwards, and he opened his mouth halfway for a moment before he found the words. “And… you’ve been here for thousands of years? That’s…”

She shrugged softly. "Well, it's hard to keep track of time in this place. It's dark, or dark, with not much variation to work with, but I'm… fairly sure?" She raised a hoof. "I can't walk away, but you could carry me, like a knight right out of the stories." She exposed her fangs in a great smile. "I'll be sure to reward you for your chivalry."

“That’s a very long time… I’ll try to, if I can. No one deserves to be stuck somewhere for so long, I can’t even imagine being alone for a week, let alone millennia,” he firmly said, moving a hand behind him to support himself as he stood up. “I just have to carry you? If you don’t weigh too much, it shouldn’t be a problem.” Stretching a bit, he let out a small groan as he popped his neck.

She bobbed her head quickly. "Just so. And don't touch anything, me excluded. If you steal something, then I have to get down to the nasty things, and I'd rather reward you than punish you." She reared up on her tail and held out her hooves. "And don't call a mare fat, that's not nice."

He was taken slightly aback at her quip, breaking out into laughter for a few seconds at the sheer absurdity of it all before kneeling down. “I’ll keep that in mind. I enjoy breathing, and I’ve already been roughed up enough, more than I’d like to be honest… wrap your arms around my neck, and I’ll support your rear with my hands.” Tom held out his arms, waiting for her to move.

She gladly accepted his offer, wrapping her forelegs around his neck and snuggling against him. Her body was cool, but warmed quickly at his presence. "I could get used to this… Much nicer than chasing off thieves."

Wrapping both arms around her tightly, Tom grunted and got back to his feet, finding her weight not to be too bad, he could probably carry her for a short time. “Well, don’t get too used to it… I’ll be able to carry you for a bit, but not for too long… where do I need to go, Tr’ol?” he paused at her name, making sure he was pronouncing it correctly.

She perked an ear at him. "You got the name right on the first try, impressive." She tilted her head, then pointed a hoof down a corridor. "I can feel wind coming from there, it should lead outside, right?" She idly enjoyed the time, cuddling her would-be savior.

“Um… I can’t see anything that way,” Tom hesitantly remarked, following her hoof as he took a small half step. “Got anything that can help light the way? Cause I’ve got nothing at all.” The shivering was slowly stopping, her body heat helping to ward off the chill that had been present since his arrival.

A sly smirk developed on her face. "Yes, but at a small price. A kiss." She pucker her lips like any human might, despite her snout. "That isn't much to ask, is it Tom?"

Gulping just a bit, Tom shook his head. “I… guess not. It’s just, well, weird as fuck to me,” he honestly muttered, looking at her lips and then her as he paused a few seconds. Making up his mind, he closed his eyes and brought his lips to hers, picturing his last girlfriend’s face in his mind, rather than Tr’ol’s, as their lips met.

Tr'ol pressed into the exchange, seeming to warm against him as a soft tingle played across his lips, and spread up into his eyes, though nothing obviously happened with his eyes closed. She gave a soft noise of satisfaction, licking over his lips. "Maybe next time you'll give me the passion to go with it? You've paid your part, open your eyes, Tom."

His eyes opened back up, his previously rounded brown pupils now slit instead as he looked at Tr’ol. Tom nearly dropped her in surprise as he realized that not only could he clearly see her, but he could see their immediate surroundings as well, as if weak candles were lit all over. “Sorry,” he apologetically spoke in regards to almost dropping her as he took a step towards the way she’d pointed, looking between the cavern and her face. “It’s just, I’ve never kissed anything not human, not like that, anyways… thanks.”

She shot him a sour expression at almost being dropped, but recovered quickly. "Is that what you call yourself? We're talking, why not kiss? You're not a pony, and you didn't see me get all squeamish about it." She pointed off to the tunnel she had indicated before. "That way, and slowly. I'll try to keep my eyes open for traps. They get most of the intruders."

“Yes, I’m a human… and ponies back home, where I came from… they’re pretty dumb. As in, don’t talk at all. Then again, that’s the case for all but humans, really,” Tom explained, cautiously walking, not wanting to be subjected to another trap. “And don’t worry, I won’t be running through the halls.”

She guided Tom along the hallway, advising his steps at times. "No no, not that brick, that one, there we are, now two ahead, to the left…" It was slow going, but no traps went off, except one, a swinging blade coming down just behind Tom, nowhere close to hitting him, though if he had been going the other way…

“Who the fuck builds a temple with so many bloody traps?” Tom asked in exasperation, shaking his head for a moment as he carefully readjusted his grip on her rear. “This is like, right out of some movie or something, with how many there’ve been. Definitely wouldn’t be making it out without your help at all.”

Tr'ol tilted her head. "I don't know what a movie is, but this is where we are, and where I've been for a long, long time." She pointed at the skeletal remains of a pony. "I remember her. She screamed for hours about how unfair it was, and maybe it was, but the screaming didn't help her any. Look, she has a saddlebag."

Tom visibly winced at Tr’ol’s words. “That sounds… excruciating… and hopefully neither of us will be here for much longer.” Looking around for a moment, he sighed. “Is it safe to take a break here? I need a minute or two, and there might be something useful in those bags,” he explained, thankful that it was just bones… anything else would’ve left him retching and wanting to run away.

She pointed behind herself, ahead of Tom. "There's a room ahead, I can see it, and no traps, but before we go, take the bag. It didn't belong to the temple, so it doesn't count, and she might have had something useful. She can't use it now, right?"

“No, she can’t,” Tom quietly replied, feeling rather bad as he used his foot to hook the saddlebags. He winced rather heavily at the sound of the bones against the floor and each other, but he managed to snag it with a foot, slowly shuffling to the safe room ahead. Once they got inside, he let out a sigh and slumped down with his back against the wall, putting Tr’ol in his lap. “Well… guess we can take a look now?” he asked, grabbing it with a hand, noting how dusty it was.

She nuzzled warmly into his neck, looking quite cozy where he choose to place her. "Let's have a peek," she agreed as she reached with her hooves to help open it and peer into its depths. Inside was a moldy journal, some golden coins, a lantern, and some pitons. Whatever else might have been in there was rotted and gone. "Better than nothing. We're rich now."

3 - One is the Loneliest Number

Staring at that gold, Tom nodded, keeping one arm wrapped around her back. “Yeah… gold goes for a lot, least back home it does. A lantern is useful, more light would help a lot, and this here.” Tom grabbed the moldy journal, cringing a bit at its feel. “Wonder if there’s anything useful in here,” he mused, opening it up, his hand lightly rubbing her back much like one would a cat’s.

She lifted her shoulders a little. "I couldn't tell you what they're worth. I've been stuck down here for a long time, remember, but it should be something, right?" She squirmed, rubbing and pressing against the hand at her back, letting out a little sigh of delight. "Can you read it? It looks older than dirt."

As it turned out, the journal was legible, barely. Most of the pages were practically rotted away, but Tom found a passage describing 'The Temple of the Water Gods', going at great length about the three water gods, and their fierce protector that was described at Tr'ol fairly well.

Hand still scratching at her back as he read, Tom idly nodded. “Yeah… it’s a bit hard to read, but I can. Sounds like it’s about, well, you, Tr’ol. That temple was dedicated to Water Gods, and you’re their protector?” he asked in confirmation, setting the journal aside, seeing nothing else of use in it. “That’s the only thing, it goes on for a bit about the temple and you, but nothing that seems very useful,” he remarked.

She paused, her eyes going wide as a distant memory stirred within her. "Oh! I remember now. I was… chosen as the wave swimmer. In fact, I like that name better. Call me Wave Swimmer." She smiled brightly. "I hope to swim in some actual waves."

“Okay, Wave Swimmer… and right now, I’d be happy to be somewhere not filled with traps and warm. No dragons or snow… or anything that might want to kill or maim me. That’d be quite lovely,” he blithely remarked, sighing as he eyed the journal. “No point bringing it with us though, And let’s see if this lantern works,” Tom curiously remarked as he pulled it out and started fiddling with it, trying to figure it out.

The lantern had a little oil in it, and with some fussing, the little built-in striker was coaxed to life, shedding warm light across the room. Wave Swimmer looked up at the carvings in the wall. "A long time ago, ponies would sing and pray here. The traps were only turned on after they were all gone. It was a happier job back then."

Tom took a moment to get a better look at Wave Swimmer, now that there was actual light. He hadn’t really questioned just how he could see in the dark, and he noticed the odd mix of pony and fish that blended together quite well before moving on to look at the carvings. “What happened to them? Did they just stop showing up one day, or?”

Wave was a gentle blue color of welcoming water, her eyes a dazzling green. Her soft mane ran around her shoulders in a wave of gold that shimmered in the light. "I heard fighting, and it became quiet. Then the traps came on. I knew it, in my bones, and there were no more ponies." She peered at Tom. "You didn't see any on your way here?"

Tom shook his head even as he shivered, moving his gaze back to Wave. “No… I ended up in a chute pretty soon after getting here, and I would’ve noticed ponies, or, skeletons,” he added in a quieter voice. “It sounds like they all died, though, from what you said. At least we’ll be out of here soon, yeah?” he lamely added on, setting the lantern down and using his free hand to touch her mane out of curiosity.

Her mane was like finely spun silk, soft and straight. She smiled at Tom. "Well if I have to be stuck with somepony forever, at least it's a polite male. It could be far worse than that." She made an odd gesture with a hoof then pointed back out to the hallway. "We should keep going, and what was that about a dragon?"

“There was a dragon and a lot of… treasure, right before I hit the chute,” Tom remarked, running his fingers through her mane for a few seconds before grabbing the saddlebags in one hand and the lantern, the other wrapping around her. “Brace yourself, gonna go ahead and stand up… and even if I’m on a completely different planet, I was taught to be polite, and despite your obvious statement of what you could do to me… you’ve been very nice, Wave Swimmer.” Tom let out a sigh, slowly starting to stand back up, using the wall for a brace as his hands were full.

Wave's eyes were on him the entire time, watching curiously. "I wasn't sure at first, but these are clothes, right? At first I thought they were, a lot of raiders wore them, but then you aren't a raider, and not a pony, so I thought, maybe not." She reached to press at a shoulder. "Are they for rank? They look like it."

“Yeah, they’re clothes,” Tom replied once he was on his feet. Feeling where her hoof was at, he let out a rather sarcastic chuckle. “Yeah, I guess so… all it meant to me was how much I was being paid though. My job was kind of a crappy one, but it paid decently enough, and I was able to do my school, work…” he trailed off, staring into the distance for a few seconds before refocusing.

Wave perked an ear. "School? Are you a foal? Humans get big! I thought you were an adult for sure."

“I’m an adult, most humans are about my size,” Tom remarked with a small chuckle. “I’ve just been working on my college degree, sorta fudged it the first time around. I’m twenty-six, most people are done by my age, but I wasn’t quite yet there.” Tom stopped at the doorway, looking both directions, eyes avoiding that skeleton as the lantern added a rather large quantity of light in comparison to before.

She shook her head. "Twenty six? You're no foal, but you're still attending school? You must be quite a sage." She pointed ahead. "Don't step on that one, or the one two ahead of it, that's the way." She began to guide Tom along, until they reached some stairs. She hesitated, shuddering. "This is it…"

“Not really… most folks go to school for twelve years, and then another four or so,” he remarked, then fell quiet, focusing fully on dodging the traps as he felt the burn in his arms slowly return. “This is it? This is the exit, then?” he asked her, feeling that shudder as he tightened his hold on her, one arm moving to her back. Taking a step forward, he was careful to keep his balance as he started ascending the stairs.

She nipped at him when he began. "One moment… This is my last chance to turn around, go back, and just, you know, guard." She glanced left and right. "You'll protect me, right?"

Tom winced at that nip, her teeth were quite sharp after all. He stopped, looking her in the eyes. “I, uh, can’t really promise anything, I doubt I’d be of much use against a dragon, after all. I’ll do what I can, so long as you help me too?” he asked, looking over his shoulder for a moment. “I’d rather not go back through that, after all.”

She gave an uncertain nod. "A fair trade." She pointed up the stairs. "Onwards, to Equestria, and what secrets it holds for us both."

Eric Wolfgang picked up his dice and mini, looking down with a fond smile before he slipped them in their bag, and put his character sheet away. It’d been a fun session, and very nostalgic. It was hard to find time for games anymore, and getting back into character as ‘Sin the Librarian’ was a pleasure he had sorely missed. But now it was time to get back to reality.

He waved to his old friends and said a few goodbyes before heading back to his car and packing things away. Before getting inside himself, he pulled his phone out to check his messages, hoping he hadn’t missed some from his wife again. She could get a bit antsy when he got too caught up in his game and didn’t notice a message, and his phone seemed determined to deliver his updates silently sometimes, regardless of the volume setting.

But the message waiting for him wasn’t from his wife. I didn’t actually say who it was from, actually, not even a return phone number. It was simple, if cryptic: “Where do you want to be?”

As a software engineer, he puzzled on how the messenger client could even accept an input without contact information, wondering if it was a security exploit involving an all white space id or something, but then set the idea aside. Some punk scammer was trolling him. Probably offering some free trip that would never materialize in exchange for very real personal information that would get his identity stolen.

But Eric was in a fanciful mood after the fantasy gaming session, so he decided to troll the troll in return. “Somewhere where magic is real,” he answered, not able to pick a single setting to request. He half expected they would offer a trip to Tahiti in response. It’s a magical place.

“You can only bring one thing with you, what you're wearing at this instant doesn't count. Pick one thing,” his mystery correspondent replied.

Eric stopped to think for a bit. He half wished he hadn’t just set down his gaming bag, but honestly what good would that junk do in a magical place. Or even Tahiti? Did people play D&D in Tahiti? Ultimately, he just decided on his backpack. He didn’t think he had anything of much relevance to such a place, but the ability to carry whatever he found there comfortably might go a long way. “My backpack,” he responded, wondering if there was anything in it at the moment.

Eric discovered that he was wearing his backpack, and fell face-first into a marbled floor. On looking up, words were forming in the air in simple font. 'You have chosen humbly. You may start in a desirable location, or, if adventure is what you seek, I could offer that. Assist another who has taken the challenge, who may yet face the possibility of death, and I will grant a favor at a later date.'

Eric stared at the words for a minute, quietly contemplating. The reality of what was before him was just beginning to dawn in his mind, and he wasn’t quite up to dealing with the implications just yet. His mind tingled with excitement and tension. Was he really in a magical place now? It seemed hard to deny. And a favor from an obviously powerful being could be quite a boon. Struggling to his feet, he swallowed and nodded to himself, steeling his resolve. “I’ll do my best to help.”

Elsewhere, Tom ascended stairs with Wave held securely in his grip. They were just about to set foot on the last step when reality bent inwards and spat out a confused human to the ground in front of them. Unfortunately, a soft 'click' sounded from where Eric landed.

Wave Swimmer's eyes went wide. "Not that one! Run!"

Eric looked quickly and decided to get up and run in the direction Tom was facing, hoping the strange alien being in his arms would correct him if necessary. Now wasn’t the time for careful thought. “Running!”

Tom felt the burn in his arms as he hit that top step, and Wave’s voice called out moments after Eric’s arrival. “What? More traps? Come on already!” Tom loudly whined even as he started to run, on the last dregs of his adrenaline already from the climb as his stomach growled, reminding him it’d been many hours since he’d last eaten. “Welcome to Equestria!” he called out to the new arrival, groaning nearly the entire time as he moved as fast as he was able to.

The stairwell they had emerged from slammed shut with iron bars, and the heavy crash of a ball falling into place filled the hallway as it began rolling along after the humans and their mer-pony companion. Her eyes were on the ball. "Faster, faster faster!" She pointed off to the right. "There!" A small alcove, big enough to serve as a closet and little more, was coming up rapidly.

Eric ducked into the alcove first, pressing tight against the back wall and reaching out a hand to pull the others in, sucking in his gut as he did. “Thanks!” he managed, while his mind took the moment to process what was said. ‘Equestria?’

Tom was thankful for that helping hand as he hit the side of the alcove and heavily leaned against the wall, panting for air. “I’m just gonna… rest a minute. Or an hour. Yeah, that sounds nice, I hope to God those are the last traps,” he gasped, looking at Wave for a few seconds before turning to look up at the human that’d appeared out of thin air, the lantern’s light illuminating the alcove. “So… get many messages from unknown sources asking about going somewhere else?” he sarcastically quipped.

Eric waited for the ball to roll by before slipping out of the alcove and slumping to the ground. “Just the one, well, one exchange. I was a bit vague about my destination.. so Equestria, huh? Didn’t think Equestria had dungeon crawls…” He dug in his backpack a bit and drew out some beef jerky. “Trade you, for a bit?” he asked, nodding toward the mer-pony. “I’m Eric, by the way. Who’re you?”

Wave perked an ear at Eric curiously. "Well, there are at least two of you. Are you sure humans didn't replace ponies?" She offered a hoof towards Eric. "Wave Swimmer, charmed. What are you doing here?" She watched him curiously, likely waiting for him to admitting to being a raider or stealer of artifacts.

4 - Why is it Always a Dragon?

“Tom Sawyer,” Tom replied to Eric, gratefully taking a piece of jerky before turning to Wave, letting himself slide down the wall until he was sitting down. “Pretty certain we didn’t, Wave. If I hadn’t been too busy trying to focus on climbing the stairs, I would’ve told you that to us, Equestria is something out of a fairytale, we didn’t even know it was real,” he explained, trying to avoid using terms she’d no doubt not know. “How are you holding up? I think I need some sleep now.”

Eric nodded to each of them as they introduce themselves. “Some mysterious glowing writing, which I shall refer to henceforth as ‘Q’, offered me a favor if I came here to help someone, rather than go to a more advantageous and less adventurous location. I wasn’t sure how much help I could be, but I figured that… well… at this point I’ve effectively given up everything worth clinging to just by coming here. If I’m going to do something adventurous, now’s the time. If I wanted to just enjoy a nice easy relaxing life I should have stayed home.” He absently rotated his wedding ring as he spoke, eyes going a bit out of focus as he thought.

Wave Swimmer squinted a little at Eric. "Just a little adventure then? Like exploring ancient ruins, finding treasure, lost lore?" She pointed off to the side, where a golden wave was inlaid in the wall. "See, like that? I bet it's not even glued in there very well anymore."

Eric glanced at the carving then shrugged. “Is that a recommendation? It looks more heavy than useful. I think it’d be better to find a safe place before we worry about stuff like that. Besides.. uh, it’d be one thing in Greyhawk or the like, but I don’t think Equestria’s brimming with magical weapons or such that we’d need to buy ourselves. Though judging by the trap-filled corridors here, I obviously don’t know nearly enough about the place.”

Tom had tensed up at Wave’s words, his hand shooting out to grab at Eric’s pant leg before his words had stated that he had no interest in it. “We’re in a long forgotten temple dedicated to water gods, and Wave here is the guardian, until I started to help carry her out so she could help me find the way out… and do not touch anything here at all, Eric.”

Turning to Wave, Tom frowned at her. “Wave… seeing how he got here the same way I did, I truly doubt he’s someone you’d want to harm… don’t try to trick him into being a thief, okay? It’s not very nice to do.” With a sigh, he let his frown drop as he rested his head against the wall, peering up at Eric as he idly rubbed at Wave’s back once more.

She pouted a little. "He could still be a thief… What am I supposed to do with myself after we get out of here anyway?" She looked around and leaned out to peek in the direction the ball had rolled. "If you're ready, we can keep going, but keep an eye out for that dragon you mentioned."

Eric got a stupid grin on his face at the mention of a dragon, until the reality of the situation began to sink in and he got a bit more serious, with a much smaller smile. “Honestly, I think we all need to answer that question for ourselves. Though there’s no need for a long term answer just yet.” He packed his bag back up and shouldered it before leading the way. “And as amusing as it can be to play a temple raider in a game or whatnot, it’s never been my preference. It’s much more fun to play someone heroic, or at least stalwart. And I suspect the good graces of some water deities will be a lot more valuable in the long run than a bit of gold.” Eric offered Tom a hand to help him stand.

Tom let out a somewhat whiny groan, shaking his head at Eric’s hand before turning to Wave. “Unless you know of some way to deal with exhaustion, I need more than just a minute or five this time… I’m not all that much in shape, and I’ve been roughed up more today than I was growing up added up it feels like.” Closing his eyes, he let out a small sigh. “Everything hurts. Quite a bit… and Eric? I’ll be happy just to get somewhere warm and safe right now. And sleep.”

Wave looked around a moment. She tapped at her chin. "The only warm part here is you two, which I appreciate just fine… Hmm, well, if you want to rest, then we rest. There are no traps here, and I doubt a dragon will just come storming through this part of the dungeon. You called it a dungeon right? It's more of a temple, really."

Eric nodded, looking about. “It’s more of a generic term for a place full of traps, monsters, and other assorted dangers. Though if you say it’s a temple, let’s just go with that. Speaking of, miss temple guardian, if you don’t mind me asking. What are you?” he took the opportunity to slip back to the ground, getting as comfortable as he could.

Tom let out a yawn, opening his eyes back up to find Wave so that he could hug her. “Thanks a lot, by the way. For, you know, helping me through all of the traps and stuff. And letting me see in the dark, however you managed that,” he muttered, arms wrapped around her loosely. “I’d be dead or dying without your help, Wave. It means a lot.”

Wave Swimmer smiled, exposing her wicked fangs, "I can't claim to be selfless. You're my ticket out of here, but you're nice, and you don't deserve to die just yet, so we're in agreement, let's get out of here." She turned to look at Eric, snuggling back into Tom warmly. "So you're from the same place?"

“To within a rounding error, I’d guess. Seattle, eastside,” Eric said, glancing to Tom. “You?”

“No clue what you mean by a rounding error, but near New Orleans, so same country, Wave,” Tom replied as he lightly bopped Wave on the nose with a fingertip. “I’d hope I don’t deserve to die ever, not till I’m old and all that stuff. I’m rather attached to my life, Wave. And, selfish or not, you’re helping me, I’m helping you, even once we’re out of here, yeah?”

Wave rubbed at her nose with a fetlock, snorting softly. "We all deserve to die eventually, even if it's just old age or disease or falling off a ladder you were certain was secure." She chuckled a little and rolled her arm/legs, tail flopping as it got in on the act. "Can we go swimming?"

“Tom’s wiped out, and I gather you can’t really walk? If there’s a spot nearby I don’t mind giving you a lift, but otherwise… it’ll have to wait. You two seem awfully affectionate… known each other long?” Eric answered.

“It’ll probably have to wait, yeah… and Eric, she’s kinda comfy, I’m tired, and she has apparently been alone for… a few thousand years? Besides the ponies she led to their death in the traps,” he added on with a shiver. “More not wanting to be alone, I’d imagine… gonna close my eyes, get me up in an hour. Gonna still be sore as hell, but… staying here won’t get us somewhere better.” Tom remarked, nodding to Eric before closing his eyes and resting his head against the wall.

Wave let Tom rest, and slipped to the ground. She pulled herself with her hooves over to the other human, regarding him curiously. "Do they have temples like these where you're from? You look like you're out of your element."

Eric pulled out his smart phone, tapping a few times to set a timer for 90 minutes, so they would know when ‘an hour’ was up, before slipping it back in his pocket. “Temples, yes. Like this? Not in the slightest. Maybe some really ancient ones, if you stretch the meaning of ‘like this’. The closest I’ve been in are fairly comfortable wooden structures consisting primarily of a large room with a ton of seating to gather in. Not usually as much wealth built into the walls, and no death traps. What guardians they have are mostly to keep the visitors safe from anyone wishing to harm them, especially the children. And most of the time, said guardians don’t have much to actually do.”

Wave peered at the curious device the human was holding. "What's that?" She climbed up into his lap since it was so nice and available. "Show it to me." Shameless and forward, Wave Swimmer seemed to see nothing wrong with her reasonable demands.

Eric tensed a moment when Wave entered his lap before nodding and reaching in his pocket. “It’s called a ‘smart phone’, but most of what it does won’t really work without the devices it’s supposed to communicate with.” A few touches dismissed the lock screen again, displaying a bunch of incomprehensible icons. “Each of these buttons opens a different function of the phone. The one I used just now…” he reopened the timer, showing the countdown in progress. “...makes it make a sound at me after a certain amount of time has passed. So we’ll know when to wake up Tom.”

Wave Swimmer reached out a hoof, trying to tap at the screen like Eric is doing. As it turned out swiftly to become obvious, hooves were not proper pointing devices for such surfaces. She frowned. "It's broken."

"Let me fix that for you." The owner of the voice peeked around the corner. A familiar dragon with a toothy grin. "I'm very good at fixing things, like intruders in my lair."

“Not broken, just not designed with hooves in mind,” Eric said before looking up at the dragon. His expression became unreadable as his obsessive fanboyishness toward all things draconic warred against the very real concern of becoming dead in the near future. “Terribly, sorry, sir, dragon, sir, thing. Is this your lair? I must have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque, right, yes.” Eric stammered. “Mercy?”

5 - Drowning in Gold

The dragon licked over its lips. "I'm not entirely unreasonable." It pointed with a finger at the phone the human was holding. "I'll take that, and we'll forget today happened, hmm? Provided I never see your strangely-naked skin again."

Wave bobbed her head quickly. "That sounds like a great deal to me." Not that it was her phone or anything.

Eric handed it over, nodding, valuing his life quite a bit more than a phone with no internet or cell towers in range. “Here you go. Just to forewarn you it has a limited amount of power before it will stop functioning, and in about an hour and a half it’s going to start making noise, unless you want me to cancel that for you first. Don’t know how well your claws will work on the touch-screen, but the password is…” Eric spoke quickly, not wanting to try the dragon’s patience, but driven to give what he felt the dragon would surely consider pertinent information.

A hoof slipped over his flapping lips. "I think our honored host is clever enough to figure it out. Isn't that right, sir dragon?"

The dragon accepted the phone with a toothy smile. "Too right, little… what are the lot of you anyway? No matter. Intruders, that's what you are. Why is that one asleep?" He grunted, smoke escaping from his snout as he scowled at the lot of them. "I don't want to see any of you when I get back, or it's fire time." He turned to depart them, shuffling down the hallway.

Eric grinned, star struck, as he watched the dragon’s departing form, eyes drinking in the sight for what he kind of hoped was the last time ever. As much as he thought dragons were inherently cool, he did not really want to give this one or any other any additional opportunities or excuses to kill him, or mug him. Once the dragon was gone, though, he awkwardly worked his way to his feet, carrying Wave Swimmer, and started nudging Tom to wake him.

With a groan, Tom’s eyes started to open once the nudging got insistent enough. “Uugh… has it already been an hour?” he asked, looking up to Eric and Wave both, letting out a small yawn as he braced a hand against the wall, standing up a bit shakily at first to his feet. “Haven’t felt this sore since the time I got drug to a three hour gym trip… Time to go then, I take it?” he asked Wave and Eric both.

“It’s been a near-death experience, which will have to be long enough,” Eric answered, still grinning. “Surprisingly, being mugged by a dragon has not yet diminished my affection for them. Nevertheless, I no longer have a timekeeping device, and we have an unspecified amount of time to leave with our lives, so I’m cutting your nap short. Agreed?”

Wave frowned a little bit. "To tell the truth, I think he counts as a thief. All dragons covet treasures. I bet his 'lair' is covered in trinkets from the temple." She licked over her snout slightly. "Don't suppose you want to investigate that instead?"

Tom first nodded to Eric before looking over to Wave, slowly nodding again. “Mugged… by a dragon. If it’s the one I saw, then there’s a lot of treasure in his lair, Wave. And it’s right near the chute that brought me to you. So, it might be part of the temple, then?” Tom reasoned, stretching slowly as more than a few joints loudly popped in protest. “Also, I’m kinda curious… just how have you lived this long?”

“While I agree with the likelihood that the dragon has stolen more than a few things from the temple, I’m not all that keen on our chances of confronting it on that matter. Are you? I’m pretty sure that would swiftly escalate to a fight to the death. And I’m not sure what favors Q might be able or willing to offer to swing that in our favor,” Eric said. He looked thoughtful, as a remote possibility teased at his mind, but he certainly didn’t look confident.

The mer-pony crossed her forelegs with a little petulant huff. "If I see the stolen treasures, then I am entitled to certain… measures. I am a servant of my gods, even if I do leave this place. All I ask is to see it, and I will make him pay, terribly, for being a thief."

Tom shook his head at Eric. “We basically are going to have to walk right past the entrance to its lair, Eric, if this path leads where I think it does… close enough to see everything, I was close enough while it was waking up to make out all of its details.” Tom removed his gun from its holster, the strap somehow still in place as he pulled out the magazine. “And this might be useless, but Wave… what can you do, if we need to protect ourselves and he just so happens to have stolen from the temple?” Tom asked, peering intently at her.

“So our plan then is walk past the entrance, sneak a peek to target the divine nuke, and then head on out? I’ll carry Wave, since you’re still pretty wiped out,” Eric offered.

Wave shook her head. "I don't understand all your words, but yes, that sounds right. If I can see the thievery, or hear claim to it, then I can act with their blessing." She clopped her hooves together. "Even a dragon should know better than to challenge gods, after all. Doesn't everypony know that?"

Tom mussed her mane for a moment, smiling slightly. “Where we’re from, gods don’t physically exist, at least nothing that we can prove. So, they don’t really carry the same weight, you know? Folks’ll still do crazy things in their name though…” Holstering the gun once more, he turned towards the direction he believed to be the exit, the saddlebags over one shoulder and lantern in hand. “I appreciate you offering to carry Wave, Eric. Let’s go on ahead and get out of here, I guess.”

Eric nodded, and started walking forward, still relatively fresh. He adjusted Wave a bit to keep his muscles from protesting too much at the load, but kept a steady pace down the hall. “You will warn me of the trap triggers before I step on them, yes?”

They walked together towards a faint light that came from around a corner, where the exit turned out to be. The boulder they had triggered rolled right ahead into the dragon's lair, explaining why he had been disturbed. He glared at them from atop his scattered piles of treasure. "Go on! I'll lose my patience in a moment."

Wave smiled viciously, pointing to a pile. "Oh, sir Dragon, where did you get that? It looks awfully a lot like something I remember seeing the priests polishing daily. You know you shouldn't interfere with the poss--"

"Shut your horse mouth!" roared the dragon, raising to its full height and looking quite angry. "I think I'll just roast you now, on second consideration." He inhaled sharply, midsection swelling with breath.

“Oh fuck,” Tom muttered, his eyes bulging as he fumbled to grab his gun, having a bit of trouble with the strap holding it in as he tried pushing Eric into the tunnel that turned to the entrance, and out of the way of any potential fire.

Eric turned to run, trying to keep Wave shielded with his back as best he could. ‘Q, if you can hear my thought, it would be a really big favor to have Sin the Librarian’s powers right about now.’ Eric thought, not particularly hopeful for the wish to actually come true.

Flame erupted from the dragon, washing against a field of blue and green that seemed to be emanating from Wave Swimmer. "Oh, I was trying to give you a chance to apologize, to beg for mercy. The gods are sometimes lenient if you do." She brought her hooves together with a loud splash that built into the sound of two waves crashing together. The treasures around the dragon began to melt and flow, becoming like water as it pulled him down into it. "But I prefer it this way."

Tom paused in his frantic pushing to stare at the fate Wave was bestowing upon the dragon, watching in a morbid fascination as the dragon was being drowned in liquid gold… probably molten liquid gold. He couldn’t help but think of Smaug for a moment before he partially turned his head to look at Wave. “I… never want to piss you off. Anything you want, you got it,” he muttered, shaking his head. “And you had asked me to protect you? Sheesh…”

Eric stopped long enough to watch the tail end of the exchange, happy to be thoroughly unburned. “So.. not to be mercenary about it or anything, but anything in there not from the temple? Aside from my phone?”

Wave tilted her head. "Oh, a lot of it. It looks like he brought some of it with him." As the dragon sank beneath the waves of gold, she made soft gestures, and the piles started to return to their former state. "It wouldn't do to cause damage myself, now would it? Take your, uh, phone was it? Take that, and take something… Something… With significance? I don't understand, but something that tells ponies what this place was. There's a bit of a catch, but take it."

Tom turned to Wave and Eric after shaking his head at the undisturbed piles of treasure. “If you want to, I’ll hold Wave again for a bit, or I can go grab it. I read a journal on the temple, so I’ve got an idea of what might be needed,” he offered up, looking between the treasure and Eric for a few moments.

Eric looked at the piles for a moment, then shrugged. “I’ve got her. Just grab what we need, and my phone if you can spot it, and slip them in my backpack. I…” he got a bit of a sad look as his voice dropped a bit. “I told my wife I would carry all the heavy things…”

Wave tilted her head. "You have a wife?" Her voice sounded clearer, the distraction of her divine bond fading as she looked around. "Oh… We have to seal this place after we leave it. If there are no guardians, raiders will come, and nopony will stop them, so make sure you take something good, something that will remind ponies. Maybe they'll come back, and sing."

Tom nodded, giving Eric a small look of pity. “I’ll take a good look for something like that, Wave,” he replied over his shoulder, immediately spotting the phone amidst the piles of bright treasure. Eric’s phone in hand, Tom dropped to a knee, looking at what appeared to be a small pile of things from the temple. With care, he picked one up and examined it before setting it aside. When he stood back up a minute later, he had in his hand a tablet that appeared to have been carved yesterday, gilded gold and aquamarines accentuating a depiction of the temple, what appeared to be its gods, and Wave herself on the mural as well. Walking over to her, he nodded as the phone was put up into Eric’s backpack. “I hope that this will be good enough, Wave.”

Wave bobbed her head at it. "It's lovely. I just wish I was a priest, so I could explain its meaning to ponies when we find them, if we find them. Oh! Oh! We can't sell it, not for one tiny bit. If we sell it, then we stole it."

“Would that apply to the dragon’s other things? Just being pragmatic here, but I think we probably do need at least something we can sell or spend to buy supplies, if nothing else. Or simple coin might be even better. Not suggesting we fill my pack, but enough to get us through until we can figure out what we’re doing,” Eric inquired.

“Gotcha… no selling the temple artifact, Wave… and what Eric is asking makes sense. I’m going to need clothes, these are pretty worn out from this little… adventure we’ve had. That and food and other things, once we find civilization.” Tom gently set the intricate carving into Eric’s backpack, making certain to handle it carefully.

Wave's grip tightened. "He's dead and gone. I suppose, technically… his things are up for grabs, and technically, they belong to the temple now. Take what you want, swiftly, and let's begone before I think about it too hard."

“If you’re going to have to murder us over it later, I’ll find a way to do without. Is it too much to ask for you to commit to a firm yes or no?” Eric asked nervously, even as he looked around for some loose currency.

Wave pointed to a pile of gold coins. "Those are just bits, every day bits. They don't belong to anypony other than who's holding them, so take them, and we'll be off."

Tom smiled, gently pulling Wave out of Eric’s hands so that he could fill up his backpack. “Thank you, Wave… this’ll help all of us out. We’ll do our best to survive, we’re somehow good at that, us humans,” he remarked a bit playfully, hugging her and kissing her on the nose.

They quickly gathered what they could, and departed. Their adventure was over, and yet it was only the first step in a much larger tale.

6 - A Breath of Fresh Air

They arrived at the entrance to find the two torches were in their proper place. Wave pointed ahead with a wave of a hoof, guiding 'her' humans out into the cold. "It's not very warm out here," she pointed out with astute and keen observation before she stared at the entrance. "We'll be back, maybe in better times."

As if in reply to her words, the ancient tunnel collapsed with a sad rumble, giving up its struggle against time and sealing itself away from prying eyes.

“If I’d known we’d be dealing with such cold I might have requested a jacket,” Eric said with a shiver. “Upward and onward? We need to keep moving to keep our warmth up.”

“This is where I came in at… well, up there,” Tom motioned to the platforms a ways up. “Some of them are iced over, and higher up… wolves,” he remarked with a shiver. “God, I hate wolves.” Hugging Wave tighter to his chest, he looked upwards out of the ravine. “Any idea of an easier way back up, or?”

Wave looked around quietly a moment before shaking her head. "I've never been outside the temple, well, at least not for a long time. The last… time…" She paused, digging deep into her memories. "This was a river, not a canyon. Is there even a bottom?" She leaned over for a peek, looking into the black depths.

“I’m fond enough of pictures of wolves, like pictures of dragons. In person, though, I imagine they’ll end up about as good or worse. We could try following the river to the coast? Though I suppose that’s as good to try up there as down here…” Eric commented.

Wave shrugged a little. "If it was still a river, I'd already be swimming." She pointed a hoof towards the surface, where the ravine opened out. "I think I like up more than down, in this case."

As if on cue with her guidance, soft howls echoed in the distance.

“Down it is, even if we can’t see the bottom yet… rivers gotta flow somewhere, yeah?” Tom asked somewhat shakily, peering up to the top, trying to see if the wolves were at the edge once more. Spotting nothing immediately obvious, he turned to look at Eric. “Down, definitely down.”

“I don’t know about Equestria for sure, but I imagine it’s the same. In our world, people always settled where there was fresh water, so rivers would almost invariably lead to a settlement of some kind. Even if the water dried up, there would be some signs of civilization remaining. Probably. Hopefully more than just the one temple.” With that, Eric started looking for a way to climb further down safely.

And so they climbed down, dropping from shelf to shelf along the precipitously slick ice platforms, with Wave holding on for dear life. Without the power to punish would-be thieves or any water around, she had very little to offer but the occasional encouraging word. It was about half an hour later that the bottom did come into view, coming to a steep angular connection with the other side, and the bottom covered in frozen ice.

Tom stopped, looking at the frozen river, catching his breath. “So… follow the frozen river downstream, if we can figure that out? And hopefully find somewhere warm soon, that quick nap before the dragon fudged it didn’t do much for me… how are you two holding up?” he turned to Wave and Eric both, shivering just a bit, but feeling warm enough from the exertion of climbing down.

Eric was breathing hard, looking a bit winded, but nodded in agreement to the plan. “Do you happen to remember which way was downstream all those years ago, Wave? At least, relative to the temple.”

Wave's face scrunched up with thought as she considered the river one way to the other. "Put me down a moment and I can figure it out. But only a moment! That stuff looks cold. What is it anyway?"

Tom got down to a knee, shivering a bit as he felt the cold on his knee. “Ice? It’s frozen water, is that what you’re asking about?” he asked her, gently lowering her onto the ice. “The top of the water is frozen, and since I can’t really see the water flowing below it, it’s probably a bit thick. Knowing my luck, it’s the height of winter right now.” He remained kneeling, so that it’d be quick to pick Wave back up when she was done.

“You have good luck then? If this is summer, we’re in for a rough time,” Eric mused.

Wave set her hooves down on the ice and closed her eyes, feeling for the flow of her natural element. Deep within the ice, she could feel the slumbering water, and a trickle deep beneath it. "It goes that way." She pointed ahead. "You're right, it is water. Sleeping water."

Gently grabbing Wave, Tom grunted a bit as he stood back up, looking in the direction she’d pointed. “Well… looks like we’ve got our direction now, just gotta be careful not to bust our ass on the ice. Also, if we need em, I’ve got some of those ice spikes in this bag here,” he told Eric, letting out a tired yawn. “I’ll try to push for as far as I can.”

Eric followed along. “Okay, at least we have a direction. I’m not really well versed in this wilderness stuff, but I’m wondering if we should like… make a shelter for ourselves while we can all still move, and get that rest you so badly need? I could use some rest myself, and it’d be best to carry on in better shape in case something goes wrong.”

Wave looked around the narrow walkway. "Are we going to rest on the ice?" She held close to Tom, drawing warmth from him to help ignore the ever-present chill of the outside world. "Will that work?"

“Not on the ice, least I don’t think so… I’ve read fantasy books before, but they don’t really cover the stuff like this.” Tom looked around, trying to see if anything could be identified as viable shelter, or at least a place to make one. “And, we really don’t have a whole lot to work with, either. Like I said, I have great luck…” he grumbled, still scanning.

“If we had tools, we could maybe carve a niche in the wall, or build an igloo or something. But for now, let’s just walk and keep an eye out then,” Eric said, resigned to the trek.

With little choice but the plow forward, they set out along the ice, barely keeping feet stable. The snow was, somehow, proving to be a moderately more secure footing than where the ice poked free of its frozen depths. The light began to dim rapidly as the day ceased to be, an unseen alicorn somewhere sent it off to bed and left our travelers with nothing to work with.

As the last of the normal light faded away, the lantern was fumbled with once more, its light provided much needed guidance in the dark canyon. Tom was dead tired now, eyes drooping as he found that whatever Wave had done to his eyes was still in effect, able to see well beyond the distance of the lantern’s light. With a misstep, he let out a yelp as he foot slipped, landing on his back on the frozen ice and snow, groaning.

Eric moved forward to help, though unsure what to do. “Tom, are you-- No. What’s wrong? How bad is it?”

Wave squeaked at her sudden drop onto 'her' human's belly. "He's broke!" she offered as an answer to Eric. "Fix him."

“Ow… my back hurts a bit, and if I had an ego, it’d be toast,” Tom groaned in reply, blinking a few times to clear his vision. “And my ass, that hurts too. I think I’m just gonna… lay here for a few.”

“I don’t suppose your gods provided you any magical healing powers, Wave?” Eric asked, before examining their surroundings, trying to figure out somewhere they could set up a makeshift shelter. “You said you have ice spikes? Any other tools?”

Wave shook her head back and forth. "I'm a guardian, not a… healer? I guess. Neither of you two stole anything from the temple, so I'm on my own, and so are you." She pulled herself off of Tom and slid across the ice. For all her complaining, little immediately bad happened to her besides looking cross. "What can we do?"

Slowly moving into a sitting position, Tom peered at Wave. “Then how’d you do whatever it was to my eyes? You’ve got magic of some kind, yeah?” he quietly asked her, taking in a deep breath. “If you have any magic you can do that can help us make a shelter of some sort… we rest, that’s what we do. Nothing’s broken, so…” he trailed off, gently poking and prodding himself. “Yeah, nothing broken except my pride.”

“From what I know, ice can actually make a decent insolation. We can either carve a shelter, or maybe if we can cut out some ice blocks we build one. And then drag Tom inside and enjoy the relative warmth of not letting all our body heat blow away. Rest for the night and move on.”

Wave rubbed at one of her ears with a hoof. "I had that before I became a guardian. I was a siren. That had its own bag of tricks." She lifted her shoulders. "None of which involve rivers of, ice? It was ice right?" She rolled around, getting her tail under herself at a new angle as she sat up on it, supporting herself. "Maybe there's a cave?"

As she asked this, a soft rumble was heard in the distance, like thunder. The faint sound of discussion was more interesting, coming from so very far above, echoing down the valley's walls.

“A siren? That sounds interesting, if it’s similar to the ones back home… they were known to lure sailors to the water and their voices when singing could captivate others…” Thomas mused aloud, before pausing and looking up. “I… Eric, Wave, do you hear that? Those echoes sound like someone talking, I think?”

“Just as long as we’re in agreement that you aren’t going to murder us... “ Eric commented, before getting quiet to listen to the voices. “Do you think we should shout? We could use some help if they’re anyone friendly.”

Wave cleared her throat before tilting her head back and letting out a long held note. The deep audio blast made the icy snow on either side of the canyon shake and quiver, creating disconcerting avalanches that collapsed them inwards, though each was thankfully small in size, inching closer to the team but never quite reaching them.

Tom covered his ears with both hands, watching in fear and awe at the ensuing avalanches. “Holy crap, Wave… well, if whoever is up there didn’t know we were here, I’m pretty certain they know now. Let’s just hope they’re friendly?” he hopefully added on, slowly getting to his feet, looking around at the aftermath of Wave’s note.

“Likely more friendly than the wolves? Too late for regrets now, anyways,” Eric said, scanning the top of the canyon for signs of movement.

The movement didn't keep Eric waiting long. The glittering form of a gem pegasus came sailing down to peek at the group with wide and curious eyes. The stallion tilted his head at the siren and two humans before turning to depart.

Wave held out a hoof quickly. "Wait! We need your help!"

The stallion hesitated and peeked over his shoulders. "You aren't monsters waiting to eat me?"

“No, we’re not… just really tired, very sore, and could use some help… a lot of help, really,” Tom remarked, although he sounded a bit distant, staring at the pegasus. “You’re very… sparkly. That would mean… are we near the Crystal Empire?”

“No hungry monsters, just very lost and very cold people in need of a helping… hoof. Wing? Both,” Eric added.

The beige-colored pony bobbed his gem-like head, mane bobbing. "If you say so. Um, let me go get some help. I'll be right back, alright? Promise!" And off he went, zipping back up out of sight.

Wave tilted her head at her friends. "Think he'll come back?"

Tom watched the pegasus’ retreating form. “I hope to God he does… the Crystal Empire should be warm, at least warm enough to not worry about freezing our asses off. And fresh food, and a nice bed… either way, we really don’t have a choice, do we?” he asked, looking to Eric for his opinion as Tom slowly took a small step, making sure not to lose his footing. His entire body was aching, no point adding to it further.

Eric thought a moment before thinking to ask, “uh, Wave, before our future hosts return, can I ask a quick question. As a former siren, what exactly do you, you know… eat?”

Wave perked an ear. "Fish is my favorite, but I haven't had to eat in a long time." She ran her tongue over her teeth. "Think I do now that we're not in the temple? Gosh I hope not. I'm so not used to eating and pooping and things."

Before this matter could be considered too heavily, the pegasus returned, carrying a long and heavy looking rope between his hooves. "My friend said he can help pull you up." He let go of the rope, letting it fall limply between the group. "There you go!"

“I’m guessing one at a time,” Tom paused, looking at the pegasus, “Whoever you are? Thank you for helping us though, it means a lot to the three of us here.” Tom looked at the end of the rope, then to Eric and Wave. “Probably best to tie it around our waist when being pulled up, yeah?”

The pegasus gave a thumbs up, which was a curious expression for not having a thumb, but clearly moving his leg and hoof as if that was the intended effect. "No problem! We'll have you out of there in no time. Let me go help him." And he zipped back up where he came from.

“Tom first,” Eric suggested, grabbing the end of the rope and pulling it over. “Then Wave, and I’ll go last.”

“Sounds fine to me… I’ll try not to fall asleep on the way up,” he weakly joked, grinning at them both as he carefully tied the rope around his waist, then wrapping it around his hands to make sure he wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. “I’ll see you both up top, Eric, Wave.”

One by one, they were pulled to the top, finding their other rescuer was a bright white crystal pony with diamonds for eyes, and cutie mark. She was also quite strong, and easily hauled each to the top when it was their turn. They were rescued from the ravine. Surely it could only improve from there, right?

7 - Sit a While and Listen

The crystal ponies had a simple camp set up just ten minutes away from the gorge. The pegasus was smiling. "We were hoping to find relics of the Crystal Empire's past, not, uh, what were you again?" He tilted his head a bit, looking quite curious.

“Humans,” Tom replied, letting out a rather long yawn immediately after. “Thank god you all happened to chance along when you did… we were in just a bit of a pickle with no clue of where we truly were.”

The crystal earth pony nodded her head. "Harmony provides, but she's a little stingy at times this far away from the empire, or anywhere else civilized. What on Equestria possessed any of you to come out this far." She looked at Wave directly. "Are you a human too? You don't look the same."

"I should think not," agreed Wave easily with a sharp smile. "Wave Swimmer, at your service. Temple guardian by trade, though that was recently traded in for companion to these two." She gestured with a hoof at the two humans.

“We happened upon an old temple, containing a relic or two. What were you hoping to do with them? We can confirm quite unambiguously that the temple’s gods don’t look kindly on thieves,” Eric added.

“Yup, definitely not. But, right now, warmth, sleep, and some hot food sound wonderful, if you all happen to have any of that?” Tom asked, looking at the crystal pony questioningly. “Shame I left that book behind, it had a bit on the temple in it. Inside though, it was basically a deathtrap. It was only thanks to Wave that we got out, really.”

The pegasus brightened at the mention of a temple. "You don't say?!" He pointed at his weathered scroll of a cutie mark, a broken bit of clay overlapping it. "That's what I live for! Can you show me how to reach it? Did you find anything in it? Oh please, for the sake of all ponykind!"

The earth pony mare put a hoof on his shoulder. "Easy there, you'll scare them with your excitement, Footnote. Relax. They're about to tell us, I'm certain of it."

“We found a piece that would be great in a museum, and we’re certainly willing to tell what we can about the place. Wave Swimmer here knows a lot more of the place’s history than we do, and would be happy to tell you about it when we get back to safety. As for the temple itself… it kind of collapsed. Maybe someday it can be excavated, when ponykind is ready to return?” Eric looked at Footnote’s cutie mark curiously. “Are you a paleontologist?”

Footnote shook his head quickly. "Oh, no. I don't study living things, just dead things, usually left by ponies, not animals or things." He tapped at his chin before what else was said dawned on him. "Let me see!"

Wave held up a hoof. "One thing! You have to promise, no, swear that it will never be sold or charged admittance to see. Break this oath and the gods themselves will frown on you and rain retribution most swift and dire." She then smiled as if she didn't just give a death threat. "Other than that, sure!"

Tom tiredly chuckled at that. “She’s serious, by the way. Saw a dragon just get swallowed up… then it looked like nothing had happened.” Pausing to yawn again, he looked at everyone. “Now, not to be rude, but I’ve been thrown around, abused, and awake for too damn long, anyplace I can sleep for the next, oh, week or so?” he asked in amusement, grinning a bit at Wave’s words still.

Eric set his backpack down and dug out the tablet, showing it to Footnote and the other ponies. “Is this the kind of thing you were hoping to find?”

Footnote moved immediately to grab it, only to be casually intercepted by the firm presence of Wave, glaring at him. The female crystal pony nodded. "Get some rest by the fire. We'll keep you safe and secure, don't worry." She put a hoof on Footnote's head and drew it back away from the tablet. "Tell the nice siren you promise."

Footnote glanced back at her, then looked at Wave. "Siren? We've struck the gold vein on this, Lost Chance. We'll be famous!" Wave continued glaring at him. "Oh! Uh, OK, we won't charge for it, promise. We'll display it, where anypony can admire it."

“Wave, please don’t harm him, he’s just one of those people. All exuberant when something comes along that hits just the right note to them.” Tom was petting Wave’s neck now as he looked to Footnote and the mare. “Look, we can talk plenty about this later, okay? The three of us could seriously use some rest now, and while the temple is sealed, we’re really not going anywhere in particular, so…”

Eric gathered up his pack and went over to settle in by the fire, warming himself and letting his mind wander. His expression slowly darkened as his thoughts turned toward what he had left behind when coming here.

Wave relaxed at Tom's gentle words and Footnote's assurances. "This is all we could take with us from the temple. It was dedicated to old gods of ponykind. Um, a long time ago… I couldn't say exactly how long."

Allowed access to the tablet, Footnote brought it closer and set it down with the most gentlest of care, staring at it as if it were God himself descended from the clouds. "I haven't seen this exact method of fabrication since…" He pulled out a book from his saddlebag and began making notes, quill held in his mouth and busily scratching notes, all else forgotten.

Lost smiled. "He's going to be busy for a while. I have some snacks, if you're hungry? I was going to make s'mores tonight. Since Footnote will be too busy to enjoy them with me, how about you, new friends?"

Eric looked up at the mention of food. “I’ll take one. I can’t really manage more than that though. Did you have any snacks with a bit more protein and less sugar?”

Lost Chance looked mildly confused. "Oh, sure. I just thought we'd be celebrating." She began to dig out supplies from her own pack, setting them out in neat rows. "New discoveries. New friends. It's certainly shaping up to be a better day than the last week or so we've had."

Wave leaned forward, sniffing at the sweet smelling things that would eventually transform into a s'more. "What is that, exactly?" She snatched a cookie and nibbled at it lightly.

Eric lectured Wave briefly “it’s a small collection of sweets that are stacked together and lightly cooked to make a delicious treat. Though I’ll let our host go first, as I’m not certain how different their recipe might be from my people’s version.” Eric eyed the ingredients, curious how different it might be. The packaging was certainly different from the name brands back on Earth, even if it was still recognizably s'mores.

Lost nodded at the summary. "That's the basic of it." There are no name-brand materials present. Each thing was wrapped up like someone out there just made them and packaged them for Lost individually, rather than being mass-produced. "Eating it is the best explanation I can think of."

Wave appeared to enjoy the cookie at least, chewing away at it while her eyes rested on the rest, watching Lost settle into stacking and cooking lightly beside the fire. Footnote, on the other hoof, was taking a careful rubbing of the tablet with some charcoal to get a copy of its imprint.

Tom remained more than awake enough at the mention of s'mores, finally deciding to chime in. “They’re amazingly sweet, and made of some of the best ingredients one can find too, chocolate is amazingly good,” Tom quietly remarked, enjoying being given the chance to satisfy his sweet tooth. “I take it you want to give them a try now, Wave?”

Wave nodded quickly. "I want to try it when they're ready. So many things I've missed while guarding the temple!" She decided Tom was warmer than snow and shuffled over to curl up with him, though her vision never left the s'mores.

"I'm all for celebrating if you are," Eric said to everyone present. "A warm fire, new friends, and s'mores sounds like a party to me. " He grinned at Lost sincerely before turning back to the fire and letting his thoughts wander once again, drifting to the last time he and his wife enjoyed s'mores together, realizing it could be the last time.

Running his fingers through Wave’s mane, Tom reached out and snatched the first s'more that looked to be done, grinning at Wave. “Here, it’s hot so be careful, but you can tell it’s ready when everything between the crackers just melts together, but doesn’t run,” he explained, handing it to Wave. “And Lost, thank you, both for helping us and for all this.”

Wave carefully accepted the treat with her hooves. "Your fingers are practically cheating." She let go of the sour feelings quickly when she brought it to her snout and bit down into the explosion of sweet goodness, with that little bite of chocolatey bitterness that worked together nicely. "Mmm, it's good to see that ponykind hasn't stopped progressing while I was away."

This caught Lost's interest. "How long have you been… guarding, was it? They didn't have s'mores back whenever that was?"

Footnote had a ready answer for that. "If she's as old as this tablet, she's older than Celestia!" He sat up and peered at Wave. "You have no idea how valuable you are."

Eric took a s'more for himself. "Well don’t get any silly ideas: stealing a guardian is even worse than stealing a tablet," Eric said with an amused tone, rejoining the present.

Shaking his head, Tom glanced over to the pegasus. “Footnote, correct? You can’t have her, she’s mine,” he joked, peering down at her with a joking grin. “Honestly, I feel really bad at just the thought of being alone for so long, the world outside moving while you stay still…” Reaching out, he got a s'more, this time for himself and bit into it with a sigh of delight.

Footnote inclined an ear. "I wouldn't dream of stealing a living pony like that. How terrible!"

Lost reached over and cuffed Footnote lightly before offering a s'more. "A joke, Footnote. Take a break and snack with us." Which he did, mumbling something into the gooey goodness of the s'more.

Wave looked mildly amused. "Oh ho, so you did steal something from the temple. You must be punished…" A great glob of loosely packed snow appeared over Tom's head before landing on it with a light splat. There was hardly any force behind it, but the touch of freezing water was certainly a shock.

Tom was jolted into a heightened awareness from the icy cold feeling on his head as he started using his free hand to remove the snow, not wanting to ruin the s'more that he’d only gotten a single bite from. “Gah, Wave! I didn’t steal you from the temple, you asked me to carry you out! So, you stole yourself from the temple, so nyah!” he shot out, shivering just a bit as a bit of snow still clung to his hair, but what had landed on his face was gone now.

"So then she needs to be punished?" Eric suggested, "hmm what fate shall she be sentenced to? Aside from the obvious lack of water to swim in?"

Lost frowned a little, but it was a curious frown, not an unhappy one. "I never saw magic… quite like that?" Her eyes darted between the mirthful siren and her human friends, curiosity only building as she chewed on a s'more.

Wave held up her hooves. "Mercy! Mercy! I beg for reprieve. I'll never do it again." She swallowed the last bit of s'more, licking her lips. "I think a few thousand years of service is good for one time off?"

Rolling his eyes, Tom hugged her to his chest, chuckling tiredly. “You will be forced to do… absolutely nothing! You’re too cute to punish, Wave. Even they are, although the crystal effect is more cool than cute, I’d say,” he remarked, letting out a long, rather loud yawn.

"We shall make her sit in the comfy chair!" Eric added, trying a Monty Python impression. "Confess! Confess! I see you are made of sterner stuff..." He chuckled a few times before settling into a nostalgic smile.

Wave settled against Tom. "This seat is kind of comfortable… You fiends." She frowned and crossed her hooves. "I will have my vengeance yet, and it will be truly awful."

8 - A Little Snow

Lost put the supplies for sweets away and began to draw out a different sort of food -- namely vegetables -- that she began to set up by the fire to roast a little. "You three are quite the group. I love seeing so much genuine affection."

“Pft, you like it and you know it, Wave,” Tom blew her off earlier threat, looking down and rolling his eyes at her before looking over to Lost. “Genuine affection? I guess having folks help save your life from a temple of death and a dragon goes a long way to bonding, huh.”

“I’m not hard to make friends with, in general,” Eric said. “Though I do think these two have a surplus of affection. Wink, wink, nudge nudge, say no more, say no more.” Eric grinned teasingly at Tom.

Footnote looked up, sniffing the air. "Is that almost done?" The real food interested him quite a bit more than the sweet distraction. "Oh, the papers I'll write about this. We're going to go down in history!"

As if his enthusiastic comment were enough to summon it, a small whisper tickled at Eric's ear, murmuring a little bit of discontent, "Why didn't the ponies bring any real food?" it complained. "They're going to get rich off of you and you won't get anything at all."

Flipping Eric the bird, Tom let his eyes close and he focused on the crackling of the fire, finding it rather hypnotizing as he drowned out Footnote’s enthusiasm. It was a bit grating, truth be told, and unlike Eric, Tom really wasn’t all that great at associating with others.

Eric glanced around, wondering about the source of the whispering, but seeing nothing obvious. The mention of ‘real food’ got him to dig out a bit more beef jerky and nibble on it while he waited for the vegetables to roast. “I trust it’s not too much trouble to bring us back to town with you two? I’m sure we can figure out something from there.”

The mare nodded. "Certainly, no trouble at all." But that's not what Eric heard. To his ears, "If we have to, I suppose we can manage it."

Wave turned to face Tom and looked him over a moment. "Are you still tired? Did you sleep yet?"

Tom’s head jerked up a bit as he took a few seconds to catch what Wave had said. In that short time he’d already started to drift off. “Yeah, still wiped, and no, haven’t had a chance to catch some sleep yet… could probably fall asleep here and now, Wave,” he tiredly replied.

Eric glanced over at Tom. “Go ahead and get some sleep, I’ll stay up and keep watch for now.” He bit off a larger piece of the jerky, looking at Lost a bit suspiciously before shaking his head, and staring at the fire some more.

Lost began to pick out finished bits, offering up a big head of cabbage to the distracted Footnote. "Here you go, eat before you get sucked back in." In Eric's ears, her words were distorted. "Here, take the best, the guests can have what's left." She gestured at the rest of the food and grabbed a large carrot for herself, chewing contently.

Wave let Tom settle at least, pulling herself forward and grabbing a tomato and making it practically explode in her mouth as she chewed it savagely in a spray of fruit juice and pulp.

Eric picked out a few vegetables for himself, eating as he watched the flames. He didn’t know why Lost was wording everything so harshly, but set it aside. He really had bigger and more important things to brood over than a rude mare who was at least feeding him. Like… the massive self-loathing and guilt of realizing he had abandoned his wife and child, and arguing with himself over whether it was actually his fault or not that he was here.

The idle banter between the equines faded in Eric's mind as thoughts of his guilt built, and a new thought bubbled up. Perhaps he could still salvage something. If he came, he could draw her, or get back, if only he had the power, and the knowledge.

"The power I could give you," whispered nothing.

“Are you in my head?” Eric thought to the whispering nothing, not wanting to start talking out loud if he didn’t have to. His mind strayed back to his D&D character, and the sword he wielded that could cut paths from one world to another. Power like that… he could return to his wife and children, and then come back here, or bring them, or something. Meet his obligations while still getting to live in a magical world. It would be more dream and less nightmare.

"So clever, of course I am, and we're here to help you. The crystal ponies fear us. They believe in 'harmony', but that same harmony says you should just be happy that your wife and children are dead to you, gone forever, and never to be seen again. What sort of god is that? We don't accept that. You want it. You have the will for it. You should have it."

Eric pondered. A part of him really did want to leave his responsibilities behind and just enjoy living this new life. But he also knew he would never fully forgive himself, not if he never tried to get home. Or tried to bring them here. Besides… what was the point of living in a magical world without magic of your own. “What power can you offer, and what is your price? For that matter, what should I call you? Give a name or I’ll give you one…”

"They call us the shadow, but that is something of a slur. We are not just where the light doesn't reach. We are darkness, the void that can push back against the light, even in its face. We can seep between the cracks between worlds. All you need do is open yourself to us, and this power is yours. In return, you will need do little. We want to be more than a whisper in the arctic wind. You will help carry us where you go."

“So you will be more than a whisper,” Eric thought. “But how much more, and in what fashion? If I become your host, will I have to fight you to control myself? Or will you let me wield you like a tool or weapon of my own?” Less to them and more to himself, Eric wondered if they would have a contract, and what would be in the fine print. Was he a skilled enough rules lawyer to twist this safely to his advantage? With every objection he raised he grew closer to convincing himself to do it.

"We are an elemental force. How well you wield the power is in your hands, but you are driven, and willful. Surely you will have little issue with it." A little bit of flattery never hurt. "Close your eyes and think of the darkest place you've been, imagine that darkness becoming one with you, and it will."

The flattery, actually, was the only thing that put Eric on edge, nearly pushed him off of complying. It rang alarm bells in his head, but the guilt of not even trying finally quashed them, and he did as he was told. He imagined a starry night, far from the cities whose light washed out the sky, with no fires or flashlights, or lanterns. It didn’t feel dark enough, so he imagined tree cover blocking out even the trees, and then simplified it all down to a simple, absolute black. And then he imagined it all collapsing into him, until there was nothing but himself, the blackness held within, while neither light nor darkness surrounded him.

Back in the waking world, Lost blinked, unsure of what she just saw. A faint shimmer of darkness creeping over one of the human's skin. It was gone before she could confirm it, and she shook her head, dismissing it as a little something playing with her head in the arctic snows. "Are you alright?"

The darkness flowed into Eric, filling his body and caressing his mind. His eyes began to bleed, only visible to those with magic sight just yet, with soft wisps of darkness and a promise of further taint as he grew used to its presence and power. "We are yours. You should teach that mare a lesson for being so rude to you."

“I’m fine, just worried a bit about those I left behind. I need to find a way home as soon as I can, or at the least a way to bring my family here. Other than that, why wouldn’t I be fine?” Eric asked, wondering why she was questioning him all the sudden. Couldn’t a guy introspect in peace? Rudeness didn’t call for anything too drastic, but he did wonder just what his powers could do. Perhaps a subtle prank, something that couldn’t be easily traced back to him, could easily have been nothing at all…

Lost bobbed her head. "Your family? Where are they, if not here?" She glanced around, as if a human village would appear out of the snow somehow. "Were they in the temple?"

Footnote waved a hoof idly. "Don't be absurd! A lost species in a lost temple? How… The odds are so far against it." He trailed off, muttering as he made new notes.

“Tom and I aren’t from this world,” Eric began. “Our entry point was near the temple, but I don’t think there’s any way back there. The… god? whatever, that brought us here didn’t mention a way back at least. Q. I’m calling it Q, unless and until I get an actual name from it.”

Footnote looked up from his scribbles. "Q? Why a letter? Why that letter." He put the scrap down, his attention focusing on Eric. "Is there a meaning behind that."

Lost laughed at his intense focus. "Why not Q? Better than A, I suppose."

Eric paraphrased, “There was a story, a legend if you will, about an all powerful but sort of capricious being called Q that would teleport people from place to place, world to world, or otherwise make impossible changes. At the time, to those involved, it all seemed arbitrary and senseless. But listening to the story, taking a step back and thinking, you could see that maybe he had a greater plan, or thought to teach some lesson in a needlessly complicated way. According to the legend, while only one such being typically interacted with our people, there were more of them, also called Q, so it’s fair to assign that name to another.”

Footnote tapped at his chin softly. "Like Discord?"

Lost nodded. "Sounds like Discord to me. You don't want to associate with him too much. He'll give anypony a splitting headache in no time at all."

Wave looked back and forth between the two equines and Eric. "What's a Discord? Sounds like the opposite of Harmony."

Eric thought, trying to dig out what little he could remember about My Little Ponies. “Like… someone with Discord’s power, perhaps even acting a bit like him on the surface, but with the knowledge, foresight and awareness to predict the effects not only of what would happen with his inaction out to thousands of years in the future, but also what impact his actions would have, on every single pony. And an agenda that is only really understandable from that perspective, well hidden from those he teases and prods into line with his plans.” Playing up Q’s traits seemed fun and harmless enough. Though he honestly had no idea if any of this applied to the being that had brought him over to this world.

Wave shrugged. "And if this Discord could do that, but didn't tease so much about it, how would we know? He sounds like someone I want to meet. Maybe he remembers the time when the temple was still full of ponies." She smiled hopefully.

Footnote tilted his head. "Even if he did, I doubt he'd share the information easily. Don't get your hopes up that easily."

“Only if it suited his purposes to do so. Maybe he’s the reason the temple was abandoned, because he thought this was a better direction for things to go? Or maybe he sent Tom and I to meet you, knowing now was the time for the next chapter of your story? Who knows. It’s kinda pointless to try to understand what a Q or Discord is thinking.” Speaking of thinking, Eric thought it would be a nice, simple test of his powers to see if he could relocate all of the chocolate from the remaining s'mores supplies to Footnote’s pack unnoticed. Perhaps some form of teleportation? He focused on the darkness, seeing if he could guide it thus.

9 - Always Coca Cola, or is It?

There was a dark flash over both backpacks. A flash may be an odd word for darkness, but it worked just like a bright one, save that darkness pulsed instead of light. Wave seemed to at least notice it a little, glancing off before looking back at Eric. "Well neither of them are here, so we can't ask. You'll fix that, right?" She crossed her forehooves. "We can go to him if we have to."

“Go to who?” Eric, asked. “‘Q’ arrives and departs as it will, so far showing itself only in the form of messages. At most, glowing writing in the air. I don’t know where to go to talk to it. As for Discord… I guess we could talk to him at some point, and see if he can and will send us home. But I don’t know what we could offer to motivate him to do so. It sounds… uh, boring to him? Which is kind of his antithesis.”

Wave wobbled a hoof. "Why would you want to go back to your old world, Eric, anyway? What's there? What's so good about it?" She pointed at the ponies, then herself. "We aren't there, just more humans." As if that was a bad thing.

Lost frowned a little. "Stop being so thoughtless. Why wouldn't he want to be around more of his kind, if he had the option?"

“Actually, I kind of agree with Wave. It’s interesting to see such a strange new world, and meet new peoples. If I wasn’t married, I would probably turn my back on my world and simply embrace this one. But I owe it to my wife and son to at least try to be reunited. Whether that means here or there. And, honestly, my means of earning money back home doesn’t apply here… so unless I pick up a new career, being able to provide for my family would mean going back home,” Eric said. “Though if I can’t get home quickly, I’m going to need to sort that out here anyways.” I could always have a promising career as a chocolate thief, he thought with amusement.

Wave bobbed her head, "See, exactly. I'm just telling the truth as I see it." She exposed her wickedly sharp teeth. "Predator to predator. The way it's laid out, you don't need to go back. I bet you could find a new wife, if you wanted to." She tilted her head. "Unless ponies just don't do it for you?"

“That would, uh… take some getting used to. I just… I feel bad about it, okay? I don’t want my son to have to grow up without a father, or my wife to have to scrabble to make ends meet because I’m suddenly gone. If I was dead, fine… they’d be in the same spot and I couldn’t do anything about it. But I’m still alive, so maybe I still can do something? I don’t know,” Eric said. “But this is a magical place, right? Maybe I can learn some kind of magic that will just, you know, magically fix things?” And maybe once I’ve learned enough control to attempt something so radical, you, my shadowy friend, will be enough.

Lost shook her head. "I don't truck with magic, 'sides the Crystal Heart anyway, and that one's special." She sat up and reached for a second carrot to gnaw on. "It keeps the darkness away from the city."

"It won't work while we're together. You may feel a little prickle, a tiny pinch, but nothing more than that. If you wanted to be rid of it entirely, I'm sure that would be within your power. If not, do avoid the place while they're holding their little 'festival' if you like your skin intact." The voice was heard by Eric alone, dark and urgent.

“Will it cut me off from your power?” Eric thought back, “leave me powerless within the city? It may be worth it for a time, but I need to know.”

"We are one. If you remain during the festival, it will shatter us. That is when the heart is at its most powerful, and when we should not be there, unless you mean to shatter it before their whorequeen has a chance to recharge it."

“Do you know when the festival is? And I meant will my power be cut off there the rest of the time? I don’t intend to hang around near the heart too long, regardless, but I’d hate to depend on you when you can’t help,” Eric thought. Glancing up again he asked Lost “don’t you have unicorns and such in your society that use magic? One of them might know.”

Lost bobbed her head. "Of course there are, not that many though. Most crystal ponies are like me, earth ponies." She pointed at herself. "But we do have some pegasi and unicorns, just less often." She pointed at Footnote, who had become buried in his thoughts.

"That is up to you. We think you have the will to keep focus, but you will prove us right or wrong when you arrive."

Eric nodded, as much to the shadows as to Lost Chance. "How far are we from the city? Assuming that was your destination. I'm eager for a bit more warmth when we can get there."

Lost pointed back towards the crevice where she had dug them out. "We were going to look down there, hoping to find something, and we found you instead." She smiled. "Even better, I think? Cadance will want to say hello to you all." She looked out into the snow, frowning. "It was about a week to get here."

"Cadance?" Eric asked, feigning more ignorance than he had so he could think a bit. ”That's the Princess of love. Right? Will she sense you?”

Lost replied, but her words were lost. The dark presence spoke over her easily, "Don't use your power around her, or she will notice it. Her husband is also dangerous, though less so."

"I suppose we can take the time to meet her when we get there," Eric said, hoping it made sense as an answer to Lost. "Though it sounds like it will be a long walk. I should get some rest first. It’s getting late. You should rest too."

Lost softly cuffed Footnote on the back of the head. "He's talking to you. Get some rest. I'll make sure the camp stays safe." She sat up tall and ready, apparently meaning to watch over the camp and be ready.

Eric did his best to make himself comfortable, closing his eyes. I don't suppose the powers of darkness include the power to go to sleep easily? Eric asked the shadows, as the all too familiar restlessness if his mind began to take hold.

Without prompting or words, Eric fell into slumber, held in the grip of merciful void. Lost didn't notice anything unusual, just sleeping humans, a siren, and her friend, and she watched over them while the night passed. The next day would hopefully turn out better for them all, with home becoming the new goal.

The next day, the snow returned, blowing in fitful gusts across the camp. The fire was the first casualty, but it was time to move, or so Lost claimed as she gently shook each pony, human, and lastly a siren to wakefulness. "We should get going. We'll freeze if we just sit here."

Eric groaned in displeasure at being awakened, but without a warm comforter to snuggle into against the cold, he was unhappily roused. He gathered his belongings, standing up with a yawn as the unavailability of caffeinated soda slowly made its way into his brain. Shadows… can you get me a diet coke? This is an actual question. Perhaps a first test of your ability to cross between worlds. 20oz should do for now.

The shadow knew not what a coke was, to say less of a diet variety, but it let Eric form it, taking the idea of a coke from his thoughts and dreams and forming it into the perfect ideal of cokeness. With a harsh flare of darkness, there was soda, perfectly chilled and ready as the most sacred of shelves would contain such a thing back home. It was all a lie, of course, but it would taste and fizz correctly, so good enough?

Wave sat up suddenly, looking around and shivering. "There is something closeby." She bared her sharp teeth in a little hiss. "We should go, or we'll have to fight, and a lady doesn't show off that side of herself." As if she hadn't already murdered in full sight of the others.

Tom awoke with a quiet noise of discontent, although full awareness came quickly as he sat up, that chill more effective than a cold shower. “Come on, can’t we get a break here?” he complained, rubbing the crust out of his eyes as he peered at Wave. “If only you could use what you did on that dragon, but I’m guessing it’s not an option?” he asked, stretching a bit as he felt a bit of dull soreness permeating his body.

Wave snorted. "Not a thief, so no fury of the gods." She crossed her forelegs. "And frozen water isn't water, so what do you want me to do, flop at them?" She turned up her snout, then noticed the crystal ponies busily packing up to go. "Are we going to the city?"

Footnote nodded quickly. "We have to get the tablet to safety, and all of us as well. It would be best to head back right away. I doubt we'll find anything that even compares to this find."

Eric opened the magical beverage and sampled it, before drinking more heavily. “I agree, let’s get moving swiftly. The sooner we get out of here, the less wolves or what not we’ll have to deal with.”

Lost leveled a placid gaze at the bottle of Coke that was in Eric's hand. "When did you get that?" She pointed a hoof at it.

Picking Wave up carefully, Tom stood up and chuckled tiredly, still in the process of waking up. “We’ll just have to get to their city, then. Should be warm, and maybe I can find some way to get new clothes, too.” Pausing, he looked over to Eric, frowning. “I didn’t know you had soda in your pack… when did you pull it out?”

Eric blushed and stuttered a bit as he rapidly strung together a plausible sounding excuse. “It was in one of the side pouches on my pack, and I dug it out just now as I was getting my gear together. I was saving it for this morning, as I’m not likely to get another one until I can manage to find a way back home.”

Wave tilted her head at the black drink, getting curious and reaching for it. Her hoof didn't extend far enough to get at it from Tom’s warm embrace. "Let me try some!"

Lost turned away, apparently satisfied with the reasoning. "Just be careful with it. It could freeze solid in the cold. Are you alright? None of you are dressed very well for the cold."

“I’m feeling a lot better than yesterday, but… yeah, frostbite and freezing might happen if we don’t stay warm. It was in the middle of summer where I was at before I found myself dumped here,” he explained to Lost, taking a step or two towards Eric, unable to resist grinning at Wave’s reaction to the soda. He could feel the scrapes and cuts picked up from the day before, and sleeping out in the cold, even with the fire, left a chill inside him. At least it helped to numb those cuts and the slight ache he was feeling.

Eric quickly swigged most of the bottle before letting Wave have the last two ounces or so. “Aaaah,” he said with satisfaction. “We were having a heat wave where I came from, record setting for our area. So yeah, I wasn’t prepared for the cold either. All the more reason to hurry, unless you ponies have something you can spare? Though our different shapes don’t make it that easy…”

Wave eagerly finished off the soda, only to break into a coughing fit as the tingles of carbonation hit her throat and lungs. "You didn't say it was alcohol." She swigged the rest of it down, apparently approving of whatever it was. Despite being naked and scaled, she showed no signs of actually being cold.

Footnote moved to Lost and dug around in her saddlebags before producing two jackets made for pony front-ends. "We did bring some spares, in case ours got wet. They should… mostly fit?" He didn't sound certain, but held them up for a trial run. Of course, one of them was much larger than the other, one sized for a slight pegasus, and the other a heavyset earth mare.

Carefully, so as to not drop Wave, Tom reached out for the larger of the two. “Thank you, Footnote, Lost. Anything is better than nothing, and hopefully we won’t have to borrow them for too long.” Being careful not to damage the weirdly shaped jacked, Tom shrugged his way into it, mostly, the material proving to be quite warm.

Eric hmm’d as he took the smaller jacket, trying to figure out a way to make it work. It was obvious it wouldn’t stretch over his broad shoulders put on normally. With a bit of work he put it on backward, slipping the backpack straps over it and letting the pack keep his back covered. At last he shrugged, amused that his arms were kept a bit closer together than normal. “I feel like a t-rex or something,” he said with a chuckle. “But it’s better than nothing. Thanks Footnote.”

Wave approved of the jacketed Tom, snuggling into the increased warmth of the properly protected human. "Now we're ready to go."

10 - Cozy in Caves

And go they went, trudging out into the snowfall that seemed to only increase in intensity as they went. Lost had to shout over the howl of the wind. "I wasn't expecting it to get this bad! I wish we had more pegasi to keep the weather under control, but we don't, so it does whatever it wants out here."

Tom was keeping his head down and leaning forward into the wind, not a fan of the weather. “Is it always this bad out here?” he called out to Lost, shouting as well as he did his best to shield Wave from the piercing cold the wind brought with it.

Eric trudged quietly, hugging himself and shivering and trying to think of a subtle way to magic the storm away, though he wasn’t sure anything that big could possibly pull off subtle. Especially with the dark and ominous tell the magic seemed to have. Can you even do weather magic? I’ve got to get a clear idea on what you can and can’t do…

The dark whisper replied silently 'The darkness of a storm is our playground. Dispense with these fools and we can carry you wherever you wish within the chill embrace. Remember that the coldness is part of you as well.'

Wave nuzzled at Tom gently. "You don't have to keep doing that, even if it's very gallant of you." She turned herself subtly so she blocked the cutting wind, but she was a creature of the deep, and her timeless flesh withstood the cold easily enough. "I'll protect you for this one time."

Footnote called out, "Not usually, but sometimes! The storms don't follow any schedule, that's the worst part about them! Stick together!"

"Thanks, Wave,” Tom quietly whispered to her, finding her aid already having an effect as he looked around to the rest of the group, trying to do his best to keep them all in sight. The crystalline look of the ponies made it easy to follow them, and Eric’s tall form was just as easy to track.

Eric thought on the shadow’s words, wondering if he could somehow render himself unharmed by the cold, as Wave seemed to be. He wasn’t eager to be alone out here, but at least considered whether he should part ways when they reached the city. He considered, but the idea of giving up the last human contact he had in this world didn’t sit right with him, regardless of where Footnote and Lost might wander off to.

Lost pointed, though her hoof was hard to pick out in the driving white, with her own fur being almost the same color. "There's a cave here. We should get out of this snow." She stopped instead of rushing inside, directing each pony and person behind her towards the cave.

Squinting heavily, Tom followed her towards the cave, letting out a massive sigh the moment the cave entrance cut off that biting wind, as even with Wave’s help, some of the wind had still been getting through. “So, wait here for the storm to break then?” he asked, teeth chattering together slightly.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Eric said, as he slipped into the cave with a shiver, looking around curiously.

Lost and Footnote came in last. With a powerful buck, she caused a minor cave in, blocking much of the entrance from the blowing wind outside. "We can't keep pushing on through that. We'll freeze to death before we get anywhere at all."

Footnote nodded. "Is everypony alright? You're not even wearing snow shoes."

Now that they were out of the harsh weather, Tom started to take stock of himself, from his head to his toes. Wriggling them a bit, he frowned. “My toes are pretty numb, which usually isn’t a good sign if they stay that way for too long… besides that, I think I’m as okay as one can be in a blizzard?” he replied, perhaps a bit more sarcastically than needed as his dissent with their situation showed.

“I’ll be okay,” Eric said dismissively, taking a seat and squirming free of the awkwardly worn jacket. “How about you, Wave?”

Wave waggled her huge tail/back end about. "Perfectly fine." She slid down from Tom and reached for his shoes. "Let's have a look at you, my brave knight, and see what we can do."

While she worked on that, Footnote started gathering rocks and making a circle, preparing to start a fire, and Lost settled quietly by the cave entrance.

Chuckling lightly at Wave’s words, he took a seat and took off the boots. They were good for hiking in, but not for cold weather. Wriggling them off, he took off his socks next, a rather ripe smell coming from them. “Yeesh… gonna need to find some way to get fresh clothes once we’re at that city we’re going to,” he said aloud, glancing over to Eric before looking at his toes, wriggling them.

Eric settled back against the wall, closing his eyes and resting a moment. He’s her ‘knight’, and I’m what? Nothing? I tease about their affection for one another, but there’s no need to dismiss me like that. Haven’t I been helpful since I got here? His dark thoughts revealed little on his face but an impassive restfulness as he outwardly simply relaxed.

Unaware of any emotional complexity in her new friends, Wave poked carefully at the feet in her grasp, carefully pawing at them with her hooves. "They're cold, and I should know." She frowned a little then leaned in, nuzzling them despite their stench. "I can help."

Lost raised a brow, thinking it through with the slow methodical way she had. "Will that come with any price, or are you offering something that would be best saved for when you're not in so much… company?"

“Yeah, toes and fingers are the most susceptible to frostbite,” Tom remarked aloud with a faint blush at how Wave was nuzzling his cold, stinky feet. “Not really something I’ve ever had to worry about before, truthfully.” Turning to Lost, he shrugged. “Last time she helped I was able to see in the dark, and it wasn’t anything bad, so I don’t see why others being around would be a problem?” he slowly spoke before turning to Wave and nodding. “If it’ll keep me from freezing my toes off, I’ll accept your help again, Wave.”

Eric chuckled at Lost’s comment. “Do you need someone to distract you from them, Lost?” he asked.

Lost turned a bright red through her snowy crystal-fur. "Is this a human thing?" She didn't say no though, instead looking downwards away from all the sources of her increasing shame.

Footnote, forgotten by the room, finally got the fire circle ready to go and pitched some firewood he apparently carried in his saddlebag, somehow. Despite the mild breach of physics, he casually got the fire going and the temperature began to rise in the cave.

Wave nodded with permission secured and pulled herself in over those feet, working on them with the sounds of rather energetic licking. Ancient rite, or just kind of creepy sudden makeout session, she was doing either fairly well.

Even as he giggled a bit from the faintest sensations of ticklishness reaching his mind, he blushed a bit heavier, as this was something extremely… unorthodox, to say the least. “T-thanks, Wave,” he mumbled a bit shamefully, looking over to Eric and Lost before focusing on Wave, the warmth slowly seeming to return to his frozen toes.

Eric moved himself to put Lost between himself and the makeout session, sitting a few feet away and looking at her to give her an excuse to look away. “Probably, given the contents of our own legendary ‘Internet’. But I’d say this in particular is at least as much a siren thing, or maybe just a Wave Swimmer thing. I haven’t met many sirens, so I can’t really say. What about you? We haven’t taken the time to get to know you very well yet, and honestly ponies are pretty new to me too.”

Lost looked up as the conversation seemed to come back into harmless territory. The white crystal pony gave Eric a gentle smile as she pointed at herself. "I'm Lost, but you know that already. I'm Footnote's assistant. If it wasn't for me, I keep getting afraid he'd forget his wings somewhere." She tilted her head a little. "When I'm not helping go on trips with him, I like playing in snow, normal snow, on the ground, not a snowstorm."

Footnote settled by the fire and looked around, just getting his awareness of the situation back. "We just have to wait out the storm. At least this cave's pretty comfortable." If you didn't mind rock, anyway.

Wave's attentions began to have an effect on the feet she was lavishing. Ever the agent of gods, her continued affections gently erased what should not be in Equestria, which included human anatomy. The numbness began to fade away, turned to a curious new sensation as Wave found herself grooming a dark-walled hoof instead of a fleshy foot. She nuzzled at the new frog at the bottom of each, sniffing lightly. The funk that had been on them had faded away.

Listening in on Lost’s conversation with Eric, Tom let out a few laughs, especially at her exclamation of Footnote’s tendency to forget things, wings included it seemed. Only at those new, odd sensations did he turn back to Wave and his feet, pausing as he blinked a few times. “Umm…” he wasn’t entirely certain what to say, really, as he stared at the hooves at the end of his legs. “I guess, frostbite won’t be a problem now?” he weakly finished, feeling Wave’s nuzzles rather acutely.

Eric glanced past Lost for a moment to see what was going on, before looking back to the earth pony. “Okay, that back there is definitely more of a siren thing.” He shook his head. “So, fond of the snow you say? Where I used to live we almost never got snow, though my more recent home got about a week per year. Little enough it should have been trivial, but still enough for people to get themselves in trouble. Our vehicles don’t always do so well in the snow, especially if you don’t know how to compensate.”

Lost looked between Eric, Tom, and Wave in turn, unsure if she should continue with the conversation, or… um… "Yes, snow can be very slippery, even for sure-footed ponies. You really do need to be careful, but it's also fun to make things with." She made a packing motion with her hooves, though her eyes kept wandering to the new hooves in the room. "Is your friend OK?"

Wave sat up, clopping her hooves against the new ones. "More than OK! All fixed." She moved to settle in beside Tom, to resume muzzling against his cheek with a flash of sharp fangs. "Now you're looking more and more like somepony fit to be next to."

Footnote suddenly thrust up a hoof. "Actually, according the the…" He started quoting the exact number and specifications of an old law, at least by their frame of reference. "Intelligent species are not to be converted to ponies in any permanent basis."

“Cept I’m a human, Wave,” Tom muttered, wriggling his new hooves, the sensation just weird all around. He drew his feet up, knees to his chest, and glanced at Wave. “I should really ask how you’re going to help, shouldn’t I?” he rhetorically asked before sighing, idly running his fingers through his mane. “Can you change it back once we’re someplace warmer?”

“He seems relatively not freaked out, so I’ll say he’s fine. Though I’m not sure he knew just what he was getting into,” Eric said before silently contemplating for a moment how well he knew what he was getting into with his own new found magic. “How often do you and Footnote make these little trips?” he asked, trying to keep their little conversation going.

Lost tapped at her chin, though her eyes kept darting to the changed human. "Whenever Footnote reads something that gives him an idea which way to look. We usually don't find much, but I guess we got lucky this time?"

11 - To Awaken Darkness

Tom was idly running his fingers through his mane. “Can you change it back once we’re someplace warmer?”

Wave wrapped her forelegs about 'her' human, snuggling him gently. "Well not really… I don't think 'hey, let's do that thing', I just do it. So maybe?" She shrugged a bit. "Why would I? You look better with them, I wonder what kind of pony you are. Maybe a siren like me?" She pointed at herself, looking hopeful.

Footnote frowned. "I just said you're not supposed to do that." Wave ignored him entirely.

Eric chuckled a bit at Lost’s mention of ‘getting lucky’. “Pretty sure Wave’s the one that’s intent on getting lucky. I’m going to guess at this point that Tom is inevitably going to become a pony, I’m going to somehow or other figure out how to do some magic, hopefully without sprouting a horn on my head, and you two will at least earn some respect for your recent finds. Hope that’s not too optimistic.”

Tom snorted a bit at Eric’s words, rolling his eyes as he hugged the snuggling Siren. “What, Eric, you don’t think I can resist Wave’s offers of help if it means turning into a pony? Come on, I’ve got a bit more resistance than that!” Looking down, he frowned a bit, petting Wave’s neck with a hand. Okay, perhaps it might be a bit challenging to resist, but I can do it, no problem. “And Wave? I’m not a pony, I’m a human, silly… plus, Sirens don’t have rear legs, hooves, whatever, so I couldn’t be one anyways~” he teased her lightly, smiling a bit despite the recent change.

Wave frowned a little. "Oh, you're right. I guess siren's right out then. Still plenty of options though." She tilted her head. "It's alright. You can be a land pony, I'll still keep you." She pulled him closer, not hiding her possessive streak at all.

Footnote sighed and settled next to the fire, ignoring Wave in return for her snubbing.

Lost licked over her lips and perked an ear. "Snow's going strong out there. Maybe we should have a look at this cave? Make sure we're not going to be surprised if we go to sleep."

Eric hopped to his feet, setting his pack down. “That sounds like a good idea to me. Shall we? I’m sure Footnote can keep the fire going for us to return to. And Tom’s going to have to figure out how to walk on those things…”

Groaning a bit, Tom gently pried Wave from his side, petting her neck a bit more. “Okay, so it might be hard to resist, but so long as Wave keeps asking for permission, it’ll be easier? I mean, it might be a bit hard to completely resist against someone so adorable,” he questioned with a weak chuckle, looking at his boots. “Lemme see if these things still fit, otherwise it’ll be my legs getting cold instead,” he remarked, grabbing a boot and sliding a hoof into it, thankful that he had been wearing boots and not shoes now as he laced them up tightly.

Lost gestured to Footnote. "You, stay here and be warm by the fire. I'm going to go with, Eric was it? Eric here and see what's in this cave." She smiled a little. "Hopefully nothing but some crystals and rocks, and we'll be back with a boring story to share."

Wave was in no rush to join the scouting mission. Her attention was on the boots that concealed the hooves she had just crafted, even if indirectly. "Do you have to wear those?"

“Yeah, Eric,” the human confirmed as they started off into the cave. “I wonder how far back this cave goes?” Assuming it trivial, he focused on his new powers, trying to make it easier for him to see in the dark himself, as a dark magic user being snuck up on in the dark was too ironic of a way to die. The darkness seemed to draw back. It was still dark, but his eyesight penetrated it, casting everything with a gloomy shroud that held no secrets.

“Hey, wait up, Eric,” Tom called out before looking to Wave. “It helps keep the rest of my leg warm, but,” he paused, wriggling the boot, which even tightly laced up was rather loose without a foot to hold it in place, “I don’t think it’s going to work anymore,” he finished explaining to Wave. “I’m going to try and go with them, would you like to come along, Wave?” he asked, removing that boot and frowning a bit, adjusting the pant legs to cover as much skin as possible.

Wave shook her head a little. "As nice as it is to offer, if you do find something, you might want to not be carrying me around while you do it. Go on, I'll stay with these nice ponies and see if I can't pick their brain a little."

Footnote went stiff. "Not literally, I hope?" Wave's wicked grin didn't do much to calm him.

“Have fun,” Tom casually remarked as he got to his feet, no hooves, he had to remind himself, and after a few moments walked rather unsteadily after Eric and Lost. It was rather awkward, as he was always more of a toes person than heel, and it was with a bit of difficulty and struggle that he started after the two of them, clops following his every step.

Eric waited impatiently for Tom to catch up, talking to Lost as he waited. “Ever find anything dangerous in these caves before? I’m not sure what to even expect in a place like this.”

Lost shook her head. "Nothing too bad. Well, there was that polar bear once? He wasn't that bad once we offered him some food, come to think. Wolves can be very testy, and they like the taste of ponies, but they're not usually so quiet, so I'd think we would have heard wolves,"

Catching up to them, Tom jumped into the conversation. “I saw some wolves when I got here… they had creepy, red glowing eyes, too. They’re very vocal, yeah,” he chimed in, noisily walking alongside up alongside Eric’s free side.

Eric went ahead and lead the way, searching deeper and deeper into the cave. “Polar bear, huh? Is it winter here now? And for that matter, do polar bears hibernate? Ugh, I’m so unprepared for this sort of thing. Still, as you said, there’s probably nothing.” Eric took the time to focus his newfound vision into every dark crack and corner as they went.

Lost was the only one that needed light, and they were drawing too far away from the fire to rely on it. She produced a torch from her saddlebag and struck it against the stone briskly while held in her mouth, and it combusted like a match, sending out flickering orange-red light into the dark. "I don't know, but if we see one, say you're sorry and make friendly. It'll probably just want to go back to sleep."

“Yeah, let’s not anger a polar bear. I can barely walk, god forbid I have to try running,” Tom joked, sighing. “Wave is the only reason I’m alive right now, but… I’m not sure what to think,” he muttered, looking at them both. “Is it a bit wrong that I find it a bit… interesting?”

Eric glanced at Tom, then shook his head. “Nah. It’d be silly to come all this way and not experience something new, something that our world couldn’t offer. I dunno, it might seem boring to the locals to turn into some kind of perfectly ordinary pony, instead of something exotic like a human. But I’m not going to try to discourage you. And honestly, she’s going to ask nicely and you’re going to do it. I don’t see why you need to complicate things by pretending to hesitate.” With another glance he smirked and added, “besides, she’s obviously more attracted to ponies than humans, and you got to give your lady what she wants.~”

Lost glanced between the two, looking a little, well, lost. "I think it's an odd choice to stop being what you are, but I've never been somewhere where there's no way to find more of me, if that makes sense?" She sat down lightly, holding the torch high in her mouth. "Are you attracted to her?"

Tom hummed, tapping his fingers against his waist as he focused on walking, still somewhat unsteady on his new hooves. “She’s… extremely adorable and cute, but to me that’s ponies in general?” he offered up before continuing. “I mean, I understand what you’re saying, but back home, there’s nothing quite like this. It’s humans and zero magic. I’d be lying if something like this wasn’t something I’d thought about before, but nothing beyond a ‘what if’ capacity. Wave is… unique,” he finished, shrugging his shoulders with a slight blush.

“She seems pretty possessive of you,” Eric began. “No. She is possessive of you. I think you need to decide soon if you’re going to try and get her to back off or at least understand some boundaries, or at least try accepting her more fully into your life. The longer you drag things out, the messier it’s going to be if you try to stop her. And, uh, honestly she’s not someone who’s heart I would dare to break.”

Lost nodded in agreement with Eric. "He is speaking wisdom. If you want her behavior to change, you should say so, clearly, and early. Otherwise you are inviting her further, and she does not strike me as the kind to accept denial gracefully, and that will only grow worse the closer she feels when that happens." She rose to her hooves, and her tail swayed as she looked around the dark room. "Shall we?"

“Makes sense… Dropping into another world, and within two days I’ve already got female issues,” Tom weakly chuckled, shaking his head. “She is endearing, and I’ll give it some solid thought. Good thing I’ve got an open mind for stuff, I guess?” Tom looked around, nodding to Lost. “Sure. I’m getting the hang of this, but it’s really awkward. The human body wasn’t really meant to be walking around on hooves.”

Lost wobbled a hoof, then the next, and quickly went through all four. "It feels pretty normal to me." Of course it did. "If you need help, you don't look too heavy."

Tom quickly shook his head. “Nah, I need to learn how to walk on these things. And it’s just weird to me, because if you remember how my feet looked, we use our toes and front of our foot for balance… my entire balance has shifted now, it’s a bit weird to compensate for,” he explained. “If I slow you two down too much, I’ll just head back, no big deal.”

“He’ll be fine in the long run. The brain can compensate for all kinds of physical changes, in time. But he hasn’t had that time yet, and needs to spend it doing stuff like this. Walkin’ like a toddler~” Eric teased lightly. “So for now, we’re in no rush. Get used to it here before you have to tromp in snow with those things. Though… that might almost be easier.”

They proceeded down the tunnel, only to hear a soft something from up ahead. A new dread chill came towards them. Lost sank towards the ground, trembling suddenly and looking quite frightened indeed. "N-no! Not again! I won't go back!" She turned and fled without delay, taking the torch with her as she bolted back towards the entrance of the cave.

The shadow whispered gently to its servant, "One of our servants is close, a powerful one, but difficult to control. He will subdue and capture these 'friends' of yours if you but let him free of his prison"

“Shit,” Tom muttered under his breath, able to just barely make out their surroundings as Lost fled from something ahead. Glancing over to Eric, he grabbed his shoulder gently, for balance as well to help his friend see, or so he thought. “Sounds like we need to leave, now,” he whispered as quietly as he dared to.

12 - It Hungers

“No!” Eric said out loud before realizing he was using his outside voice. They serve me well unsubdued, and will serve poorly otherwise. He tried to focus on the stone of the cave between him and this ‘servant’, willing the magic to rip it down and collapse the tunnel between them.

The tunnel didn't collapse as was willed, but the chill menace faded fairly quickly. If you do not call to him, he cannot awaken, not yet. Go then, if you think your current allies are better than he, but I assure you, they're not.

Arm still on Eric’s shoulder, Tom was looking at him weird. “Um, yes? Whatever scared Lost senseless, I do not want to piss it off or wake it up. Now, come on, let’s get back. I know you really can’t see in the dark, so you can follow behind me, okay?” he offered up.

“I… I thought something was coming right for us, but… I think we’re okay for now. You’re right, let’s head back and not wake him up. Lead the way, then,” Eric said, backpedalling a few steps before turning to walk back toward the ponies with Tom.

They returned swiftly through the tunnel. There weren't any side passages to get lost along, so it didn't prove difficult to find the three around the fire. Lost was staring into the fire, on her belly and looking lost. Wave was peering at Lost curiously, while Footnote was digging around in his saddlebag.

“Whew,” Tom remarked as they finally returned, noticing Lost. “Eric, would you mind talking to Lost? I’m going to try and chat with Wave, even though I’m not really sure what to do still,” he softly spoke, stretching his legs. It was a bit easier walking on them now, he thought to himself as he sat down carefully next to Wave. “Hey, Wave.”

Wave brightened at Tom's approach and held out her hooves. "Hey there! What'd you find? Lost came rushing in here and crashed by the fire, and just didn't look up since then."

Eric didn’t answer Tom directly, as he was already heading that way as it was. He sat down behind Lost, making a point of making enough noise to be heard coming, and gently rested a hand on her withers. “Hi, Lost. That was pretty scary huh? I think we’re okay for now… but it sounds like you know better what was down there. Do you want to talk about it?”

Lost shook her head quickly and gave a little whimper. Footnote frowned, pulled out a funny looking hat, and placed it on Lost's head. "The princess is with us, even this far away, Lost. He's gone, forever and ever."

Tom wrapped Wave up in a hug, unable to resist as he glanced over to Lost. “Nothing good… from what’s she’s saying, I have an idea, and if it’s right… they were enslaved for a long time, and the one who did so used dark magic, or whatever the taboo magic here is. And she felt that, I’d have to guess,” Tom paused for a few moments and sighed, looking at Wave. “We need to talk though, about the two of us, okay?” he softly spoke, getting up carefully with her still in his arms, walking a short ways away from the group so he could privately talk with Wave.

Lost looked to Tom, becoming curious enough to notice him through her funk. She took note of the hat on her head and smiled, giggling even. "Oh you brought it? You thoughtful soul. Thank you." Footnote smiled, but her eyes wandered to Eric, looking him over. "What did you want to talk about?" Her terror had devolved to a severe shaking, trembling a little, but aware.

“If you think it will help, I’d like to hear about what you’re so afraid of, to know just what it is that you’ve suffered, or seen. But… you’re shaking so badly. I’m almost afraid to make you think about it. We can talk about something else if you prefer. Something sunnier?” Eric inquired, stroking her back lightly like she was a giant cat, hoping to soothe her.

Lost gave a soft snort that sounded a little like a whinny. "No! I'm fine. I'm fine…" She shook her head, making the fancy hat bob about on her head. "I need to put this behind me…"

Footnote raised a hoof. "I could tell the story if you prefer?"

Over with Tom, Wave leaned in and nuzzled an available cheek. "So what's up? You all walked off, and now you're all serious when you come back? You sure you didn't find something?"

“We sorta did, but not sure what. That’s not what’s important though, Eric and Lost both made a very valid point, Wave, and I sorta need to talk to you about it before anything else,” he softly spoke, not wanting to be overheard as he held her close to him. “Basically, I need to know, how do you see me? You made your… possessiveness very clear, which is endearing, and you’re very cute,” he started to ramble on but cut himself off quickly.

Eric nodded to Footnote. “Please. It seems like the kind of thing I need to know about, if I’m going to be a good friend to you. And probably even if I weren’t,” he said before looking down at Lost’s hat with a grin. “The hat, however, I feel like I’m better off not knowing, so I can juggle amusing theories in my head.”

Footnote chuckled. "That hat's just a traditional thing. We make them for a festival where we turn back the darkness, and it helps remind us that everything's going to be just fine." He sat up, forelegs pushing his torso up. "We were held captive by a terrible creature. His name was… King… King Sombra." The fell presence swept through the cave and sent Footnote and Lost to the ground, both rendered almost catatonic in terror.

Wave frowned. "OK, that I felt. What's going on?!" The important talk being had with her was forgotten in favor of collapsing crystal ponies and dread presences.

Clenching Wave a bit tighter, Tom looked at the crystal ponies and felt fear, that presence tangible even to him. “I… I don’t know. This might be what was back in the cave, but we didn’t do anything to wake it up, just…” Tom paused, face blanching. “Eric yelled out ‘no’ for some reason, that’s it… did he wake it up?”

Eric looked back deeper into the cave, glaring into the darkness angrily. Are you afraid? Do you think hearing a little information will thwart your plans for me? I see I overestimated you.

Oh certainly not. His name calls to the beast, and it stirs in its chains. Perhaps I judged too hastily, and it may yet wake on its own, with just a little nudge.

Wave snorted loudly. "Maybe we'd be better off facing the blizzard, if it's half as bad as the shiny ponies are making it out to be." Neither crystal pony reacted, their eyes wide and bodies trembling, as if they could just play dead and make the problem go away.

“Yeah, I agree… snow would be more preferable to this right now, even if the fire is keeping us nice and warm.” Getting to his feet, he carefully adjusted Wave in his hold and moved over to the fire. “Eric, come on, we need to get moving… with how they’re reacting, a blizzard would be better than being in this cave.”

Eric nodded, beginning to pack up. “Agreed, let’s prepare ourselves, quickly.” A beast is worse than worthless. Can you sap it’s power? Perhaps give it to me? Something with so little finesse will merely invite disaster. For that matter… will you side with it against me? You’ve done well so far at trifling matters, but you give me precious little reason to trust you in anything of import.

It must be close for you to use your power against it, or with it. It will not attack you, child of shadow, controller of void. It is up to you what you will do with that power, but it is up to me to rouse him

Footnote suddenly focused on a specific point in space, and scrambled backwards until he crashed his flank into the rubble blocking the exit from the cave. "No! No no no! Go away! I won't go back! I won't! No!"

Wave looked to Footnote from her vantage point, as confused as Footnote was terrified. "Put me down and take them out. I'll be fine for a moment."

Setting her down, Tom looked around. “But… to where? We caved in the exit, it’ll take a bit of time to undo that,” he asked, eyes darting around and trying to take in all the details as he fought the urge to just find a corner and curl up himself. Tom moved over to that rubble and started doing his best to clear it.

Thinking quickly, Eric snagged the hat from Lost’s head, slipping it on his head as he headed deeper into the cave. “Get them out of here, I’ll buy you some time,” he said with what surely sounded like false bravado. Time to put you to the test then… I’m doing science and I’m still alive. I’m doing science and I’m still alive. The mantra repeated in his head, steadying his fake nerves.

In Footnote's mind, the voice taunted him, demanding to hear the name of his tormentor. If you call out to him, he will forgive you. He'll take the other ponies first, and you'll be safe, for now. Call it, beg him to forgive you. Footnote wept wildly and scrambled at the ground with his hooves. "No, noooo! Stay away from me! Sombra has no power over me!"

The dread force washed out again, thicker than ever, and a distant roar was quite clearly heard.

Eric groaned, annoyed that Footnote was saying the name again, especially since he didn’t feel he had a good enough excuse to know why that was such a bad idea. Give me another diet coke! he demanded of the shadows when he figured he was out of sight in the darkness, nearing a bend.

The power is yours. You should not learn to rely on me. Make your own confection. Rude, though perhaps not entirely untrue?

Footnote rose to shaking hooves and started scrambling at the stones and debris, apparently ready to dig his own way out. "Go away. Go away. Go away!"

Tom paused just long enough in removing the rubble to tap Footnote on the shoulder. “Focus, Footnote! Whatever it is, it cannot harm you from here, even if it feels like death in the air,” Tom chided Footnote, looking around. “Lost! Get over here and help!”

Eric focused on his own, trying to conjure the much-needed caffeinated beverage to his hand. It was a fair enough practice to focus on his own powers before facing down the beast. And the less he begged from the shadows and more he handled on his own, the less concern he would have of the shadow betraying him at an inopportune moment.

Though none were present to see it, Eric's eyes began to bleed and flow more visibly with the touch of the shadow presence, and the soda appeared. It was smaller than he intended, but soda all the same.

Lost's eyes contracted as the shadow approached her. Oh, you've lost your hat. Your last line of defense, gone. He's coming for you. You can feel it. Scream. Let the terror in you free and maybe he'll pass you by, or maybe all hope it lost for you, who cannot even hold a hat.

Lost let out a piercing wail as she rose up onto her hind legs only to fall over backwards with a crash, crying and sobbing in abject terror. The menace grew stronger, almost a living thing, breathing from deep in the cave. It was awake.

13 - Give a Dog a Bone

Eric opened the conjured beverage with an audible hiss, before consuming it as he walked toward the menacing monster. Welp, if I die, at least I’ll die caffeinated. he thought before resuming the mantra in his head. Where is this beast anyways?

That was a question that proved self-answering, as a creature that looked like a great wolf prowled out from the darkness of the cave, perfectly visible to Eric. Darkness clung to it and flowed around its massive paws and drooling teeth. It looked at him and sniffed softly before moving to pass him by, uninterested in the fellow creature of shadow.

Eric couldn’t help a surge of nervousness at the sight of the fell creature, but tried to suppress it. He asked himself What would GlaDOS do? That proved enough to set sanity aside for the moment, and reach out for the creature, moving to bar its path while trying to lay a hand on its muzzle and bid it stop.

The wolf snarled at the touch, but didn't lash out. The command to stop came with a rush of dark energy. The wolf didn't try to move past him, instead choosing to stare directly at him, as if challenging silently for him to command it further.

Footnote managed to get enough space to wriggle through and vanished through the rocks to the outside world, almost instantly lost to the still raging storm.

After a quick swig of his carbonated crutch, Eric commanded the beast loudly. “Sit!” he said with all the force he could muster, willing his power into a downward pressure on the beast. He glared into its eyes, absolutely terrified of the idea of losing the contest of wills, the fear driving him to greater determination.

Darkness swirled around the new shadowmancer's fingers as the void pressed at the wolf. It growled angrily, wrenching away, then bursting down the tunnel suddenly, losing the battle of wills, but apparently choosing to get away rather than bowing down to a new master.

Lost stopped moving. Her eyes were fixed on the wolf as it came into view, and she just stopped. Her breath stopped, and perhaps her heart did as well. She was living death, waiting to be tortured by the creature of nightmares as it charged towards her.

Wave gave an ancient explicative, not even known to modern Equestrian, but no equally ancient magic was hers to control against the shadow beast. She rose her hooves, rearing up as best she could on her powerful tail.

Eric gave a guttural roar from where he stood behind the beast, his drink clattering to the ground, forgotten. With all his will he bid the void wrap around the beast’s neck and yanked, dragging it back toward him for all he could manage.

Tom noticed that shadow beast, and that Lost had never quite made it to him. With a loud curse of his own he rushed to her, intending to knock her, and himself in the process too, out of harm’s way. Somehow, he kept his footing as he broke out into a dead sprint, arms outstretched, her barrel the target.

Lost provided little resistance, save for her crystalline and stout form. Crashed into, she collapsed under the sudden tackle, and they both fell out of the way of the wolf as it pushed through the room, only for a faintly visible collar that pulled and yanked at it, but it seemed more like a tough rubber band than a firm length. It slowed the beast rather than actually stopping it.

I said I’d buy them time, but this isn’t enough, Eric thought, shifting plans. He focused on the shadowy wisps coming off the wolf and tried to tear at them with his will, seeing if he could somehow rip the beast’s own dark magic away from it.

Tom struggled to get back to his feet, pausing as he caught sight of what Eric was doing. “What in god’s name is going on?” he muttered, before remembering that he had a catatonic pony he needed to shove through a small hole to get her away from the beast. Struggling, he did his best to pick her up, or at least push her, to that hole.

Wave shook her head. "None of my gods are involved with this," she said with utter certainty. She held her battle-ready posture, as awkward as it could be for a sea creature that was on land.

Lost wasn't too heavy, well, that was a lie. She was pretty heavy, at about four hundred pounds of dead weight, but picking her up got her to move. Fresh panic flowed through her and she lashed out with her hooves, breaking away and dashing for the exit. A great crash of stones filled the cave as she exploded through the debris with all the force her body could produce, and she was gone.

The wolf tried to get to that exit, taking a slow step towards it before a guttural yelp escaped instead. The shadow around its paws were snuffed a moment, apparently in great pain. The wolf turned back on Eric and roared at him loud and fierce enough to blow spit at him, baring its massive canines at the human.

“I said ‘Sit!’” he shouted back at the defiant canine, pointing accusingly at its eyeball while continuing to rip viciously at its power. Wondering if it would be any more effective, he tried ripping from between the wolf’s legs, attempting to ‘fix’ the problematic beasty.

As it turned out, fell shadow beasts didn't like having their sensitive bits abused anymore than any other being. The wolf yelped and cried before collapsing before Eric, ears folded and a little whimper building in its throat, will shattered for the moment.

Tom’s jaw just about hit the floor as he watched… whatever it was Eric did to that shadow beast, a sympathetic wince coming from him unbidden at what was most definitely a painful act. “You, but, how?!”

Eric put his hand on its muzzle again, this time focusing a downward pressure around its neck to keep it pinned down. He was sorely tempted to try to end the beast, not liking the idea of sparing something the shadows called ‘hard to control’. But it was hard to favor pushing the beast to the edge and risking a ‘cornered animal’ situation over the influence of those poor, sad, puppy dog eyes. Even if they were on a hellish shadow-beast. “Now, are you going to be a good puppy? Are you?” he asked, willing the question into its mind, hoping it was somehow able to answer the inquiry.

The wolf licked Eric with a pitch black tongue and panted a little. Its tail even wagged a little bit, like an adorable little hellspawn it was.

Wave tilted her head, dumbfounded. "Could he always do that? Is this a human trick?"

“Eric…” Tom slowly began, voice extremely low as he peered out that hole where Lost and Footnote had both disappeared through… and who knew where they were now? “Just what the fuck did you do? There’s no way you picked that up on Earth, that’d be fucking impossible!” Tom asked, slowly walking to that hole and uttering a curse, as not hide or hair could be seen of the crystal ponies, just snow, and a lot of it still blowing.

“Tom, I have a confession,” Eric began, while petting the shadow beast’s head gently. “I didn’t actually pack a diet coke.”

The wind gusted harshly, some of the cold leaking into the cave that no longer held heat terribly well with a crystal pony having smashed through the obstruction in a mad dash for safety and freedom.

Wave pushed herself up against the closest wall, her eyes darting between the wolf and the human that seemed to control it. "So, what's the story?"

Tom was just as leery, glancing between that hole in the rubble and Wave and Eric, trying to see if there was any sign of Lost or Footnote around, but the driving snow was doing a good job keeping visibility low. Giving up, he slowly inched over to Wave, looking at Eric. “Explain.”

Eric petted the shadow beast’s head gently a moment before trying to will it to sleep. It worked well enough on himself, he hoped it would work here too. “I will, I promise, but did you want to look for the ponies first? The longer we wait, the harder it will be to find them. And they deserve the explanation as much as you do, even if it may be harder for them to hear.”

The great wolf sagged to the ground, eyes drifting shut and peace overtaking its form. It seemed far less menacing, as even shadow beasts kind of looked harmless while catching some sleep.

“Eric,” Tom started, pointing at the shadow beast. “That thing there is part of what enslaved them. Lost was catatonic, completely unresponsive. Do you seriously think they’ll want to be within sight of it, if they didn’t just take off until they couldn’t move anymore?” he asked rather incredulously, resting a hand on Wave. “Add in the blizzard, and how Lost blends in well with the snow, and Footnote can fly… I have no clue how to go about finding them without freezing to death!”

“I… I was going to kill it. I couldn’t bring myself to, though, once it surrendered. And what now? I still wonder if it’s the best thing to do. ‘Put it to sleep’. Like a rabid dog. Appropriate enough analogy?” Eric rambled. “It’s sleeping now… maybe I should just start at the beginning.”

Wave flopped back to the ground with the wolf asleep again. "Why don't you tell it to just go away? We don't need a whatever that is." She snorted softly and rubbed over her snout with a fetlock. "How did you start doing that anyway?"

“That’s also what I’d like to know, from what Lost said, you managed to, well, do…” Tom trailed off, frustrated as he tried to find the right words. “Whatever it was you did. The thing is definitely bad business, and that you were able to control it? How did that happen?” Tom kept glancing towards that hole, but was pretty certain they’d lost their guides to the Crystal Empire now.

“Magic. It’s magic… dark magic, I guess? It started just… coming to me. Shortly after we met the ponies. I’m stilling learning what all it can do, and starting to hit my limits. I’m hoping it will allow me to return home, but I’m far from ready to even attempt anything like that. I should have said something sooner, maybe I would have made fewer stupid mistakes if I wasn’t trying to hide it,” Eric said, ripping the hat off his head. “I was just so afraid of what you would say, all of you. It’s stupid… I was more afraid of that then the ravening shadow beast.”

Tom slowly took a seat, motioning for Eric to do the same as he wrapped an arm around Wave, sighing. “Eric… magic just doesn’t start coming to you, least I don’t think so? I don’t really know, so I guess anything could happen?” Tom admitted, looking at Eric with apprehension.

Wave shrugged softly. "The gods just kind of recruited me for the guardian job. I was pretty happy as part of a concert of sirens before then. I wonder how the other girls are doing." She looked thoughtful for a moment, considering her likely long-dead friends.

Eric sat down, still resting his hand on the wolf’s head fur, instinctively drawing comfort from the softness. “It started as a whisper. It said it was the darkness, of the space between worlds. That it just wanted to exist as something more than a whisper… it offered the power to cross between worlds, and I… I couldn’t excuse myself for not trying. My wife and son deserve to have a father who at least tries to come home to them. I don’t trust it. I probably never will. I’ve never caught it in a lie, but it… says such horrible things sometimes. But as much as I disagree with it, it still gave me the power to stop this beast, and protect you from it. And if I’d been less afraid to admit the truth, I might have even stopped it from awakening in the first place.”

Relaxing a little bit, Tom nodded slightly. “I see… can’t really fault you for that, I wasn’t really attached to anyone back home. I just would like to get someplace that isn’t so damned cold, I haven’t really thought of anything long term myself… these make it a bit hard to go back at the moment, obviously,” Tom remarked as he pointed at his hooves. “Still, it sounds like a pretty bad deal, Eric.”

Wave rolled a hoof. "See, at least I was already a creature of the sea, water, all that, so hooking up with some water gods? It just made sense." She squeezed Tom gently. "But who belongs to shadow off the bat? Sounds kind of brooding at best and kind of awful at worst."

14 - Not All Snacks are Good for Dogs

“By this world’s standards? I’d be kind of inclined to say humans do belong to the shadows by default. It’s not to say we have nothing good or light in us. You do well enough on land, Wave. But how many of us can honestly claim innocence of mind and thought by the time we reach adulthood, Tom? How many of our games and entertainments are all about violence? How much of the rest about sexual fantasies we know very well would be destructive to live out? Do I give Equestrians too much credit? Our race is all about turning back our own darkness, nonstop, to live decent lives.” Eric looked down at the wolf’s head. “Still… it’s hardly the same as a beast like this, huh? I’ve tamed it for the moment, but can it even live a peaceful life if it tried?”

Tom waved a hand around somewhat dismissively. “That’s one way to look at it, although it’s a bit brooding when you put it that way,” he remarked, shrugging his shoulders. “Then again, I really haven’t found my place or where I wanted to be yet, and I know I’ve had plenty of violent thoughts, some homicidal, rather frequently at that. But having thoughts and not acting on them is what counts, I suppose.”

Wave perked one of her ears at Eric. "Huh, maybe you are dark already, with that power brooding you have going on that." She stuck out her tongue lightly. "I have ten times the reason for pouting as you. Everything I knew isn't just far away, it's gone, like, never coming back. It's not just 'not there for me', it just isn't there, and never will be." She clopped a hoof on the floor. "And that sucks, a lot." She leaned against Tom lightly. "At least I have some new things…"

“I don’t want to make light of your situation, Wave, but at least you know you can’t go back. You have no choice but to move on, and that makes it an easier decision to make. I’d love to just move on. To turn my back on them and embrace this new world, and simply look for new things for myself. But even thinking about finding someone new feels like a betrayal.” Eric fidgeted with his wedding band, rotating it a few times around the finger that had grown around it enough that it couldn’t be easily removed. “‘Until death do us part.’ That was the terms of the wedding vow. But I’m not dead, and as far as I know, neither is she. So my vow holds, and I can either break it and be scum, in my own heart at least, or hold to it and be tied by an anchor to a world that’s currently out of my reach. Knowing she was dead and gone would be simpler at least.”

Tom let out a small sigh, pulling Wave closer even though he was frowning just a bit. Things weren’t quite how he liked being described, although right now Eric’s revelation was of more pressing concern. “Eric. Just, be careful with it, okay? Given how Lost and Foot reacted, no one in the Empire, probably the closest civilization to us, is going to want you around with it. But, I understand,” he restated, leaning back against the somewhat uncomfortable stone wall.

Wave made a gesture with her hooves to the corners of her eyes. "You're starting to look the part. You're going to have a tough time hiding it, eh?" She snuggled against the hug that Tom offered, clearly enjoying his presence. "You might be better off being upfront about it?"

As Wave indicated, Eric's shadow-tears were faintly visible to the untrained eyes, waving in rolling emanations as creatures touched by shadows tended to develop.

“What do you mean by that?” Eric asked. “I don’t think we have a mirror on us, but I’m guessing I badly need one now.”

Tom nodded. “Yeah, just like I could probably use one for a look at my eyes… you’ve got some sort of… shadowy thing going on with the corners of yours.” Tapping his free hand on the ground a bit, he sighed. “So long as you control it, rather than letting it control you, that’s fine. And, the only way we’re going to see our guides again will be to send Fido there out to bring them back,” he added on with a weak chuckle. “Or whatever you’ve named the wolf that seems to be yours now.”

“Oh, hey, yeah yours have kind of a cat-like thing going on. I hadn’t noticed… I’m bad with noticing eyes,” Eric commented before looking down at the wolf. “I was thinking of calling her Poppy. Or him? I didn’t get a good look. I really don’t think it’d be a good idea to chase after them with her, at least not without doing some very serious Science! to her first.”

Wave rolled her eyes. "I don't think it matters much which it is, unless you plan to do very inappropriate things with a dog." She developed an expression between disgust and amusement. "I wouldn't send poochy there after the ponies though. You saw how they ran. If they saw that thing they'd keep right on running until they fell over and died. That hardly seems a good way to repay them for being nice." She glanced around, then pointed. "They left their chocolate at least." During the mad dash to flee, apparently it had fallen from a saddlebag, half-scattered on the stone floor.

Eric couldn’t help but laugh at the chocolate’s presence. “The very first spell I ever cast was moving the chocolate from Lost’s saddlebags to Footnote’s. I guess we see the end result.”

Chuckling, Tom shrugged. “Least we get something from them then? I hope that they are fine though, that blizzard is very nasty out there,” he remarked, turning to look outside again for a moment. “Hopefully the fire will last until the weather calms though.” Looking at ‘Poppy’ Tom pointed. “Science, huh? Well, if you wanna do that now, I still need to talk with Wave about what you pointed out earlier, Eric.”

“Have your talk. You don’t need to watch this, but I do want you to watch me, in general. If I do lose control, you might be able to recognize it easier than I can… if you tell me to stop… I will if I can,” Eric offered, before turning his attention fully to the wolf. He tried to gently pull out the dark magic from ‘her’, careful not to wake her, wondering if there was anything that would be left underneath if it could all be removed.

What do you get when you take a shadow wolf and remove the shadow? Apparently a little dog. With a little curled tail that goes waggity-wag. With the shadow removed, she awakened and sat up with a big yawn. Her tongue curled as she pawed at the ground, then she looked up at Eric, yapping at him in three little barks before she sat down.

"That is adorable," commented Wave. "You're lucky I just ate, or delicious might also qualify as a good word for it."

Lightly shaking his head with a small chuckle, Tom wrapped Wave up in a big hug to distract her from Eric. “Hey, Wave… I gotta ask, what do you see me, and Eric over there, as? To you, I mean?” he asked, looking her in the eyes rather seriously.

Eric was elated at the results, and quickly dug out a piece of beef jerky to feed Poppy as he started singing quietly. “This was a triumph! I’m making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS. It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction…”

Wave peered at the curious sing-song before focusing on Tom. "What do you mean?" She tapped her chin lightly. "You're Tom, my human. You help me get around without water around, and I like you a bit, and you like me, right?"

“I’m Tom, a human who happens to be friends with you, yes, I do like you a good bit, Wave, perhaps more than I should in such a short time. I’m just trying to figure out where our boundaries are at, if that makes any sense?” he asked, fumbling a bit. Needless to say, this wasn’t a conversation he had very frequently. “I appreciate what you’ve done for me so far, even if you didn’t properly warn me about those,” he remarked, wriggling his hooves to make his point. “I’m… bah, I’m terrible at this. Eric, some help here, maybe?” he asked over to him, looking a bit confused.

Poppy accepted the treats offered to her, snapping them up and gulping them down. Once fed, she sat in front of Eric with a rapidly wagging tail, happy with life in general it seemed.

Eric petted Poppy happily while glancing up at the other two. “Dragging me into this? Fine, but you get what you get. Wave, Tom needs to know if you’re interested in developing a relationship with him, or if you’re happy to be just friends and settle it in as such. You’re possessive enough of him to get him wondering, but unclear enough in your intentions to leave him unsure. And he’s too indecisive to just pick which answer he’d prefer and push for it.”

Wave looked a bit surprised at the question, but quickly recovered. She pulled Tom tightly and kissed either of his cheeks. "Are you proposing to me? You cheeky naked alien you. Yes! Let's be married, until you die of old age at least." The way she said it heavily implied she didn't think that would be a very long time away.

Blinking a few times, Tom simply sat there, arms around Wave. “So… that’d be a yes then?” he awkwardly said before laughing. “I wasn’t quite proposing to you, Wave, I was merely asking if you were interested in friendship or more, like Eric bluntly stated.” Deciding he was in over his head, he shut up and kissed Wave, much like the one she’d asked for in the temple.

Eric didn’t show any reaction to their affection. He was listening enough to know what was going on, but had more or less assumed it inevitable days ago. Instead, he continued his science experiments by trying to magically command Poppy to do some simple tricks, like rolling over, to see if his mental commands were still getting through without the dark magic in her.

Poppy wasn't a creature of shadow anymore, so subtle commands didn't work, but the little dog was loyal enough, and a spoken command got swift results, as if the dog was actually listening to Eric's words more than any normal Earth dog.

Wave nuzzled into the kiss, her eyes drifting shut as she went full-in on the kiss with her apparently betrothed human. Her hooves pulled at him, keeping him close as they shared warmth, though that was mostly a one way street, with her enjoying the heat he put off and only giving her passion in return.

Pulling her close in return, Tom broke off that kiss, looking just a bit dazed for a few seconds. “Didn’t quite expect this, but… I like it,” he softly spoke, face breaking out into a grin. “Guess you did get that next kiss with a bit behind it, huh? And let’s hope that I don’t die of old age, or anything else, anytime soon… I’ve still got plenty of life in me I’d like to think.”

“Poppy… let’s find Lost Chance! The white earth pony that was here… can you follow her scent, girl?” Eric said as he got to his feet. “We can leave the newlyweds to their honeymoon.”

Poppy tilted her head one way and the other before giving a little bark. She hopped to her paws and started sniffing around the entrance until she found the chocolate, which proved far more interesting than fading scents and she went for some fudge.

Wave let out a sigh when the kiss broke. "You're not allowed to die yet. I said so, so that's that." She tapped his chest with a hoof. "So… you don't mind if I keep doing what I've been doing, do you? Good!" She pressed in for another kiss without giving much time to argue about what she meant exactly.

Any reply Tom had was muffled by her lips, his arms tightening around her as he couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at how Wave claimed he couldn’t die yet, simply because she said so. It made for an interesting kiss as he melted into it, that soft fur and smooth scales adding to the overall effect of the kiss as he let kept his eyes open.

“No, Poppy!” Eric cried out in alarm, swiftly willing the chocolate to teleport into the fire. The gooey mess burned quickly, melting into a darkening mass that spread foul-smelling smoke through the cave. Poppy gave a bit of a pout at the lost treat, then returned to tracking, wandering towards the entrance.

15 - Sealed with a Kiss

Wave bit at Tom in the kiss, piercing his lip lightly, then her own, and sharing her blood in an ancient rite of binding for the two. The places where the blood exchanged tingled fiercely as she gazed into his eyes, holding his attention and almost daring him to try to look away.

Keeping his eyes open, he looked into hers, a muffled sound of surprise as he felt his lip burning, or so it felt like, alongside the sharp, metallic taste of blood. Eric’s words had drawn his attention for a brief moment, but he kept the focus on Wave, wondering what it was she was doing as his arms rubbed her back lightly, almost his entire weight pressed back against the stone wall now.

Eric got a little wobbly as his body reacted instinctively to subconsciously smelling blood. He glanced at the others, wondering what they were up to, but rather than inquire or look too hard, he started slipping out of the entrance, going off to seek out Lost with his loyal new companion.

Wave drew back from the kiss, and licked over her lips. "You're mine now. If you're wondering how close we can get, you can be theirs too." She waved a hoof dismissively. "They're a little weaker now than before, but they need servants, more than me at least. Their health insurance is pretty good." How did she know about health insurance? She'd probably never say.

“Theirs?” he questioned, running his fingers through her mane, his other hand going to his lip as the taste of blood slowly faded away as he swallowed. “You mean, the gods you serve?” Tom clarified, looking up to the cavern’s ceiling, thinking. “What would it entail, Wave? And what do you mean by me being yours, exactly? Was the bite part of something?”

Wave shrugged a little. "It's just a bit of romantic thought on my part. They enlisted me, remember? I know… so very little about them, in the end. I suppose the first thing we'd need to do is get some ponies back in the temple." She leaned against Tom with a sigh. "If you think any of them want to do that? I doubt it. They didn't look like they wanted a new god or three to worry about."

Tom lightly smiled at her, shrugging. “Honestly, I don’t know. This place is pretty cold, if you wanted to get ponies to visit again, things would need to change a lot? I still don’t even know much about this place, or all that much about you, really,” he admitted, letting his hands roam. “Besides the fact that you’re cute, extremely possessive, deadly and long lived. So, what now then? It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten close to another, to be honest.”

Wave wiggled a hoof in the air. "You've covered the really important parts, except the bit about my hair. You shouldn't forget that." She tossed the bright-golden mane lightly, letting it fall in a smooth wave. "As for it being cold, that's a little outside my control. It wasn't always that cold, but it was always a little nippier here than elsewhere. Maybe everywhere got a little colder? What am I supposed to do about that?"

“Maybe you could make a new place? I mean, there’s nothing around here that we’ve seen, and we’re a good week or so from the closest ponies. Not the most hospitable place to have to go to. As for being ‘theirs’ I’ll think about it, Wave,” Tom remarked, messing with her mane a bit. “And yes, your hair is, hmm, not cute. Beautiful, I’d say, like strands of gold.” Grinning a bit, Tom finally looked around, taking his eyes off Wave. “Huh… Eric isn’t here. Wonder if he went off after Lost and Footnote?”

Wave frowned a little as she looked out into the blowing winds. "I'm not sure if I should hope he finds them or not. As for moving…" She clopped her forehooves together timidly. "I'd need something… That tablet would have been useful. I don't know anything about them! I feel so stupid. Spend a few millennia watching over their things and I don't even know their names. They're probably laughing at me right now."

“Should we go after Eric, or wait for him to return?” Tom asked first, also looking at that hole in the cave’s mouth. “As for the other thing, well,” he looked up to the ceiling again and shook his fist. “Silly gods, not teaching their guardian about them! It’s not your fault, Wave, it’s theirs,” Tom finished with a smile, giving her a quick kiss before stretching his arms a bit.

Wave looked increasingly guilty. "It's not their fault… The priests tried to teach me. They'd come out and say sermons in earshot of me, or invite me to rituals, but it felt so silly before. But now that they're all gone. I mean, now that everything is all gone… It feels more important now, and there are no priests left to ask these things..."

Tom gently brought a finger to her chin, kissing her nose lightly. “It’s okay, Wave, there’s been things in the past I know that I’ve ignored that I probably should have been paying attention to. We all do it, believe it or not.” Giving her a goofy grin, he hugged her tighter. “The nice thing about history? Even ancient stuff has records somewhere. And if Eric can find Lost and Footnote, then the tablet will help a lot. I’m not really sure why I ended up here, but I’ll help you out however I can, okay? Even if everything is gone, life brings new folks around, yeah?”

Wave nodded with building hope, though her thoughts strayed. She considered her new mate, and all that he stood for. "I won't make that mistake again." She pushed down on his shoulders as she sat up. "I'm listening. I want to hear what you like, and dislike. What's your favorite kind of music? Color? Tell me."

Chuckling, Tom brought a hand up to his chin, humming slightly. “I’ve always been partial to blues, as far as color goes. Could never settle on just one shade before, although I might be settling on a favorite one now,” he joked, smiling at her. “Guessing you’d rather wait for Eric to get back, so what else… music is anything with a saxophone in it, which is typically jazz, if you know what that is. It varies widely, but all of it is good.” With his free hand, he smoothed some of the fur on her legs, a bit of doubt creeping into his mind if this was something he wanted before it was quashed rather quickly.

Wave gestured down at her blueish body. "Well that works out nicely, doesn't it? Or are you just saying that to butter me up?" The way her eyes half-lidded and the flutter of her lashes implied she didn't entirely mind being buttered up. "What's your favorite animal?" She rolled her eyes. "And you'd better not say pony or siren, we're not animals anyway." She showed a rather strong drive, and ignored all comments and questions outside of where she wanted to go.

“It does work out rather nicely, doesn’t it?” Tom asked, grinning a bit as he shook his head. “But, it was that before meeting you, Wave, although red always took a close second. As for animals, back home it was just us humans who were ‘smart’ really. But, the ponies there weren’t all that attractive, and sirens were legends who lured sailors to their doom… I’d have to say that title goes to cats. Graceful and prideful, they didn’t care about anything but what they wanted, and they were never afraid to let you know… even if it meant annoying the everliving crap out of you. My cat way back when just loved hooking her claws in my nostrils when she wanted something and I was asleep.” Leaning forward, he gave her another quick kiss, brushing through some of her mane and resting on an ear, gently rubbing it between two fingers.

Her hooves rested on either side of his head as she smiled at him. "I never had a cat before. Most of them don't like the water much." She shrugged softly. "Just as well. Any cat I did have would have been long gone by now. That would have been sad…" She glanced away, then back at her mortal companion. How long did she have to enjoy his company? It already felt too short, but she didn't want to rush things. She was going to do it right. "Your friend misses a lot about your old world, what about you? You like it here so far?"

Tom brushed her cheek lightly with the back of a hand. “Hey, stay cheered up, Wave… as for Earth, I’m sorta torn, to be honest. As a child, my imagination ran rampant, and I absolutely loved fantasy novels. Magical worlds with creatures that didn’t exist on ours? It was a haven that I retreated into as a child, well into my early adult life. To know that such a world exists, and that I am in it? It’s,” he paused, face screwed up in concentration as his gaze unfocused for a long few seconds.

“I hadn’t even managed to put down any roots yet, and my contact with others was extremely limited. The time here has been hard, and I am not meant for so much physical exertion,” he paused to chuckle weakly, “But I met you, and Lost and Footnote were both interesting ponies. Eric, he has a family of his own, not just his parents, but a wife and child. That’s a pretty powerful anchor. I have nothing like that to hold me back. Once we don’t have to fear for our life, I’m sure it will become that much more enjoyable.”

Wave stuck out her tongue lightly. "We'll get you into shape. That's something you can change, if you want, and it sounds like you'd rather be moving than sitting around, which is fine. I think I've had more than my fill of sitting around, you know? If I saw that pool one more day in dim dullness, ugh." She leaned in and rubbed noses softly. "I'll take a baker's dozen of shadow hounds before that, especially if it means we get to be together." She paused a moment before asking with a bit of uncertainty, "That was romantic, right?"

Tom couldn’t help but let out a small laugh as he nodded. “Very much so, Wave, it was quite romantic, although perhaps you could choose something a little safer than a dozen shadow hounds to use. But, I’m glad that I could carry you out of your prison and back into the world… even if we are still trying to get to it,” he joked, scratching her ear lightly. “And yes, I need to get in shape. It’s one of those things that is really easy to tell yourself to do, but doing it is another matter entirely. Much easier now, though, I imagine. You’re not too heavy, but carrying you around everywhere is helping a lot, not that I’ve minded doing so that is,” he quickly added on to catch what could possibly be seen as a slip. Never, ever, infer that a woman, no matter her species, is fat.

Wave softly nudged him on the shoulder. "Exactly. We're not overflowing on food and snacks, and there's plenty to do. You'll lose weight even if you try not to at this rate." Her face soured a little. "Ugh, I should have hit up Footnote a lot harder on what he knew about sirens. By the time I started trying to get information, he was getting nervous from the wolf in the cave." She sighed softly. "We'll have to look it up when we get to a town, I guess?"

Nodding, Tom looked to the entrance of the cave briefly. “If we’re lucky, you’ll get to pick his brain a bit more. I laughed a bit when he thought you meant it literally. Perhaps it was your teeth that unnerved him?” he mused aloud, chuckling a bit more. “And I’d also like to learn about sirens, what we had in myth back home probably doesn’t compare at all, as they were mostly seen as bad, and you’re anything but. Least I can walk on those hooves now, mostly. Still find that weird, if a bit cool, to be honest.”

16 - Never Split the Party

Wave sighed dramatically. "What kind of siren am I? Not even remembering what a siren can do. That's what I get for spending this long just relying on the tricks of the gods. Fine tricks they are, sure, but I can't use them without temple robbers. No temple, no temple robbers, no gifts. And here I am, a few thousand years out of date." She flopped against Tom. "Shall we find that friend of yours?"

“Least this is still working perfectly fine,” Tom remarked, gently tapping her head. “People, er, humans at least, tend to go a bit crazy after being isolated for awhile. You’ve got your mind, and it’s a very nice one that I’ve seen so far, Wave, and what you’ve forgotten can always be relearned… you’ve got time, yeah? You’ve probably forgotten more than I’ve learned, you know?” he asked, slowly starting to get up. “And should we go look for him? I don’t know the first thing about tracking in the snow. With it being frozen water, can you use any of your abilities to track him that way?”

She shook her head. "Not that I know of? But we have two heads, and the snow's not looking as bad as it did before. We really should find him, shadow stuff or not. That's what friends are for, right?" She flashed her sharp teeth. "Don't tell him, but you're a better friend."

Grinning, he stretched before kneeling down to lift her up, kissing her for a moment. “Yeah, I’m worried about him and that shadow stuff, but it’s no reason to just stop caring about him. Especially as the only other human here that I know about, even if I’ve got a bit less of that going on now.” Pausing at the cave’s exit, he shivered a bit from the chill seeping in. “Okay, shall we, Wave?”

Eric gripped the hat tightly in his hand as he followed Poppy into the snow, glancing back at the cave entrance once before resolving himself completely to his task. Of course, with the former shadow wolf doing the hard work, his mind had plenty of time to wander, plaguing him with hypothetical scenarios of rejection and pain when he finally did talk to the pony in question. But with a glance at his canine companion he reminded himself that sometimes scary things are worth facing. And also that his sense of fear was totally upside down.

The little doggy tried his best to follow scents through the storm, and was surprisingly making some progress through the blizzard, but puppy fur only went so far, and he started to look quite chilly a few minutes out. The little thing shivered with every little paw it set down in the unrelenting snow cover, until it suddenly vanished, sinking right through the snow into something beneath.

Eric was distracted a moment, considering his options for helping the poor puppy, when his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the disappearance of their subject. Acting without forethought, he dove to his knees, digging into the snow where Poppy had disappeared. His hand quickly punched through the snow, finding a yawning emptiness just a foot into it. The snow began to crumble and fall, revealing a larger crevice that Poppy had apparently fallen into.

"Poppy!" he yelled into the crevice, looking for any way to descend safely, as well as any sign of the lost puppy. But there was only darkness in the hole. How far had the dog fallen? It was hard to tell. Sheer edges meant the poor thing could have slid quite some distance.

A sudden thought coming to him, Eric called out Lost Chance's name loudly as well, before securing her hat in his backpack. Was it time for more Science? Of course it was. He willed his magic into a pair of wings, giving them a few experimental movements before sliding down into the pit, trying to slow and control his descent. Insane ideas, don't fail me now!

This is your fault, you realize, came the voice from within. If he had the power he started with, he would not have failed in such a pathetic fashion. You took it, that makes it your responsibility.

Despite the words, his slitted eyes could pierce the dark, the bright contrail of dark magic becoming plainly visible as he channeled the force. There was so much snow and ledges, where could that dog have landed?

I know. That’s why I am going after her, not leaving her to her fate. He called out again, alternating between the names as he descended, looking around with increasing desperation. Angling over to land on a nearby ledge, he thought more. Fear. The darkness is associated with fear. Can I sense it? he asked himself, before trying to do just that.

Sensing out into the darkness, there was something, pulling, warm, and seductive. Something was afraid, and it sent an illicit thrill through his spine to feel it, as if it powered him to be in its presence and savor it.

Eric sighed to himself. That delicious sensation... he was going to have to fight against the urge to get addicted to it. Poppy's former behavior came into new focus. But first, there was someone afraid in the dark. He kept his mind on the sensation, navigating toward it cautiously. He followed it down about two hundred feet to find the fallen form of Poppy, curled up against the wall. She didn't look to be in good shape, with one paw clearly bent in the wrong way.

"Oh, Poppy..." he said, taking off his shirt and wrapping it around the puppy's form, picking her up and hugging her to him gently, keeping her broken paw on the outside. Can dark magic heal? That seems... out of character for it...

It can improve and make better. Your dog is too weak for this land, as it has clearly demonstrated to you. If you didn't like it before, make a new form for it, that isn't so weak or unruly. The voice sounded mildly impatient as it spoke.

Indecision plagued Eric as he looked around for any other sources of fear. Poppy clearly wasn’t able to handle dark power responsibly, and he questioned his ability to make her do so, let alone handle it himself. But he also had no access to veterinarians at the moment. Still...if he could find Lost Chance the expedition would have been worth the cost.

Poppy did little but give a little whimper. Likely in shock, the puppy remained largely where she was placed, covering or not. The faint scent of blood was in the air from where its fall had battered its little body around.

Eric refocused on Poppy. With no sign of the missing mare, he had to deal with what he had before him. So he focused on her namesake: a ninja wolf, indistinct from other wolves aside from her loyalty to her master, and her ninja skills. Dark magic already proven quite capable of teleportation, he hoped to infuse that power into her, along with the fictional wolf’s ability to recover from injuries with just a little rest. "I need you to be a good dog, Poppy. For great justice!"

Shadow wrapped around the puppy, who let out a little yelp before it was covered in the stuff and became lost to sight. The shadow flowed in bands of black, purple, and sinister green as the cloud roiled and almost foamed. The energy required began to drain at Eric's wings, and forced him into a landing beside the wall as whatever happened… happened.

Eric slumped against the wall, letting all other magic fade as he focused on his work. "You better not make me regret this, Poppy."

A canine shape poked from the cloud, followed by the rest of a sleekly-formed canine. It was wreathed in the colors of shadow magic until it let out a loud howl, the energy falling away and causing the snow to fall from above in a miniature avalanche that thankfully didn't knock them free of their ledge. Despite the energy no longer flowing through Eric, his eyes still shone with angry purple trails and deep green pupils, slit like that of a cat or a bat.

"It's a good look for you, now let's see how well it worked. Go, Poppy!" He said. Pointing toward a higher ledge and mentally ordering her to teleport up to it.

She stopped to lick Eric's face, apparently having not forgotten their short-lived but sincere bond. She looked up towards the ledge then vanished in a flash of darkness. Shadow flowed quickly to the higher ledge before reforming into the form of the canine. She looked down at her master and barked at him. Look at me, I'm good at this, or so it seemed to say.

"Now to see if I'm any good at it myself, " Eric commented before attempting to teleport to her side. It was an odd sensation, not having a body. Being nothing but wisps of shadows with those large baleful eyes that stared out from the mass. He flowed quickly and easily where he wanted to go, though his movement quickly slowed down when he approached the light of the outside world.

"Come, Poppy. We should rejoin Tom and Wave. Lost is lost to us, for now. We tried, though. At least we tried." With those words he started the trek back to the surface in earnest. To those around Eric, all they heard was 'Cooome… Lost...' The dog seemed to get the gist of things well enough, and blinked from platform to platform towards the surface.

Reaching the surface, he shaded his eyes from the light of day as he looked for signs of his passing, or the cave where his companions were last seen. Even returned to his human form, the touches of the shadow remained in clear evidence. He had the dread king's glare, always stark and foreboding, despite whatever mood Eric might have.

Poppy let out a bark and pointed out into the snow before starting to scramble ahead in the stuff, already forgetting whatever lesson she should have learned about the dangers of the snow.

Eric followed, conjuring himself a pair of dark sunglasses to keep the cursed sun out of his eyes. I am beginning to see why you tend to get stuck so far north he mused.

Our greatest son had a fine palace he ruled over. It served as shield enough during the day. Will you be as successful?

Poppy barked in the distance, though became visible as the snow began to let up. The blizzard was passing, for better or worse.

The one the ponies are still terrified of? I’m going to measure my success by different criteria, Eric thought, trudging after Poppy. Like... number of ponies that know I use dark magic and are still my friend. Do sirens count? I'm going to count sirens... does that make me the record holder, at one?

You will learn to hate the ponies properly in due time. They already hate you, and they haven't even met you yet.

Following after Poppy, he could see a rail line cutting through the wilderness, going left to right. Poppy barked at the rails as if they could respond and sniffed up and down along them but didn't cross them.

"Good job, Poppy! Now if we had any sign of the others..." Eric looked about, hoping the clearing weather would grant enough visibility to spot the cave.

After a short while of inspecting the area and looking for the others, Tom and Wave came into view, trudging through the snow looking for them. Wave spotted them first and waved excitedly. She shouted, "There he is!" Though only Tom could have heard her easily.

17 - So, How Are the Kids?

Tom had been trudging through the fresh snow, following the clear sign of footsteps through it. He nearly stumbled into the same ravine that had tried claiming Poppy, but he and Wave both saw it in plenty of time to carefully navigate around it. However, two things were really annoying him now.

As the weather cleared up and the first signs of the sun poked out, Tom found out just how sensitive to light his eyes were. Of course, the snowblind effect only made it that much worse. Additionally, while his footing on the hooves he now sported was quite solid, and he couldn’t really feel the cold through them, he could feel the cold quite acutely right above them, as the snow kept pushing up his pants leg. Without those boots to keep his pants tucked inside, his leg was quite chilly, which he had been a bit vocal about, grumbling along the way when he wasn’t busy talking with Wave, learning more about his new apparent wife.

“Finally, there he is… although I think the only thing you managed to do there was yell in my ear, Wave,” Tom grumbled, shifting his hold on her slightly, supporting her on his back for once. He had the barely-filled saddlebags still, his boots added to the pitons and few bits contained within. “Still, I was wondering how much further ahead he’d gone…”

Eric waved to them as well, waiting patiently lest he lose the tracks that would serve as their new guide. He called out to them loudly, bidding Poppy do the same as they awaited their reunion.

Wave whispered in her companion's ear as they approached, "You're looking a little cold. I know you're trying to put your feet in slowly, but a little fur could help with that." She rubbed her cheek against his. "If you want."

“Just a little bit? Without boots, my lower legs are freezing pretty good,” he muttered in reply, still walking forward as he closed the distance between Eric and himself. “Just… I’ve already got hooves, I guess a little fur above them wouldn’t hurt. So long as you don’t turn me into a teddy bear or something, Wave, okay? Sides,” he paused, sifting a few thoughts around in his head before speaking back up, “I’ve sorta committed myself to staying here, haven’t I? It can’t hurt, and it’ll make it easier to deal with this weather.”

Wave pressed her lips against his, the difference subtle but noticed as she pushed further change on him, willing his inner-pony to come out and sending a little more of the alien being known as humanity away. The fur just around his hooves began to spread up quickly along his legs, covering it in striking color. Yellow-green the likes of which would look fine on a street sign covered his legs as the chill was turned away.

Tom returned that kiss, pausing in his walk. The prickling sensation tickled, but the warmth that followed immediately after was very welcoming. Once he was sure that he wouldn’t trip, he continued moving forward, Eric getting much closer now as his pace picked up a fair bit.

Wave nuzzled into the kiss, no longer required, but enjoyed all the more. Her eyes glanced downwards, trying to get a peek even as she did it, but that was quite impossible. The struggle between the two eventually was won by curiosity. "Show me your legs," she said after pulling back from the kiss. Subtle.

Stopping, Tom waved at Eric before grabbing a pant leg and lifting it up, pulling it a few inches above that black hoof. “Well… that’s bright,” he remarked aloud, looking at the yellow-green fur, carefully balancing on one leg as he lifted the other up for Wave to get a good look at. “Goes up my legs, too, not sure where it stops, but it’s warm. Much better in this snow, I’ll say that. Not sure how I feel about the color, though,” he mumbled, setting the leg down as he nearly lost his balance.

Eric smiled a bit at the affectionate couple. Always good to see married couples getting along so well. It always bothered him how many felt like they had to hide their affection even when they wore their bands to proclaim it. Still, the train of thought could not go on for long before reminding him that his own sex life had recently dropped from enviable to nonexistent, with no signs of improvement coming. He saddened a moment until the sight of Tom’s leg made him laugh. 1.4 ponies, and counting.

Wave noticed the strange bands of dark magic that were much more visible than they had been. "What were you doing? And where's the puppy?" She peered at the new canine. "Is that them? Um, so, what were you doing?" She was repeating herself, but the question was the only that came to mind for her.

Tom looked from Eric to the canine, blinking a few times. Even with shadow-conjured shades, the signs of dark magic were extremely visible. “Eric? What Wave said. If you take off those glasses, something tells me you’ll be rocking the Sombra-look. Which, well, it isn’t a good thing,” he added on, shaking his head. “I get that you want to see your family again, but at what point does the cost become too much?”

"Poppy fell down a crevice, and broke her leg. I had to figure out a way down and back up, and shadow magic doesn't include something as simple and straightforward as healing. How bad is it?" Eric asked, pulling off the glasses and blinking in Tom’s direction.

Wave tilted her head. "It's… not normal? If it doesn't hurt, it's not so bad, I suppose." She snuggled against her freakish human as she made judgement calls on aesthetics. "Does it hurt?"

“Eric? It’s pretty obvious something’s not normal. You’ve got shadow literally pouring from the corners of your eyes right now, and your eyes are Sombra’s… do you really want to be using a power that an entire Empire fears? You know that we could ask one of the alicorns, and they could probably help you go to your family, or bring them here. I’m… a bit concerned, honestly,” Tom added on, finally coming to a stop. His eyes noticed the tracks behind Eric at last, and he grinned. “And… train tracks? Awesome!”

"Funny you should mention fear. I just learned that I can draw power from fear. If that's not a problematic incentive, I don't know what is. It’s probably what got Poppy acting the way she was before I purified her. Alicorns, huh? I don't suppose they can give me a less problematic form of power? This is... concerning at best, even if it's great to not helpless," Eric answered.

Wave twitched an ear lightly. "Remind me what an 'alicorn' is?" She sighed a little and pointed to the tracks. "You two know what that is. How many new things are there? Have the ponies just gone and left me behind?" She frowned a little. "I wonder if there's…" She seemed to realize she was ignoring what was being said and smiled a little. "Whatever they are, maybe they can help you, Eric?"

Shaking his head, Tom walked up to Eric’s side, resting an arm on his shoulder. “Look, man. you need help, whether or not you can get power from any of the ponies, you can’t keep using the shadow stuff. Okay? I haven’t known you for long, but I’m concerned. For you, that is.” Pausing, he craned his neck a bit to try and look at Wave. “And Wave? This might sound a little odd, but… Equestria is part of a, show, back home that has let us see into Equestria, back on Earth. I don’t know how much of it is true, but if Sombra and the Crystal Ponies exist, then logically the rest of it should too. Which means that alicorns exist, and they’re extremely powerful, embodying all the forms of ponies in one, or something like that.”

"I'll... I'll try to avoid it, but... what would you have done? Left Poppy to die because she tried to help find Lost?" Eric inquired.

Wave was caught in two conversations. Her mind tried to imagine something that had all the pony types in it. "Does she have a tail like me?" Wave wiggled her thick flipper of a tail. "And wings, and a horn, and is she crystal or not? Halfway?" Yeah, that surely grabbed her attention more than Eric's quandary.

Tom blinked, chuckling at the sight of a Celestia with the literal parts of every pony. Phrasing, it needs some work. “No, Wave, if it’s as the show goes, then she’s got the flight of a pegasus, the magic of a unicorn, and the endurance of an earth pony. And is very long lived, too.” Scratching at her ear lightly, he turned back to Eric, sighing. “Look, man, what’s done is done, okay? Just, you’re already rocking the eyes, let’s try not to have you turning into smoke and stuff too. If we manage to get to the empire, the first guard we see? We’ll tell them we surrender and want to see their leader. Okay?”

"Take me to your leader," Eric said in a mock alien voice. "Joking aside, that's probably a good idea. I am done trying to hide the truth and let things blow up at the worst time."

Wave shook her head. "Unless you have something you really think you should hide?" She clearly didn't entirely get it. "I want to get to their city though. Do you think they know much about Sirens?"

“Wave, if the stuff shown in the show reflects what happened here, that same power is what enslaved those ponies we met, and then when he was about to be beat or something, he made the entire place disappear for over a thousand years? They really don’t like it, I would imagine, but Eric isn’t that pony who enslaved them. As for Sirens, possibly. Their library is pretty big, I think? Should be a lot to look up there,” Tom rambled on a bit, glancing over to Eric. “So… which way do you think we should go?” he asked in regards to the tracks.

“South is my obvious answer, though I don’t have a… hmm, hold on,” Eric responded, before digging out his phone and powering it up, poking around on it. “Of course, assuming the magnetic field of this place is sufficiently similar to Earth may be a stretch, it’s worth a try.”

It quickly became apparent that there was magnetism at work! South was… to the right, at least from the direction they had come from, which was apparently from the west?

Wave peered at the curious device. "Is that a compass? I thought that was a… phone was it? How many things can it do?"

“A wise man once said, and I paraphrase, a smartphone is the worst kind of deus ex machina. If an author were to include one in a story it would be considered incredibly lazy writing, because it just does every god damned thing,” Eric said before beginning to follow the tracks in the southern direction. “The tricky bit with these things is getting software, the instructions that tells it what to do with all the capabilities it has. Especially here in Equestria. But it already knew how to show a compass.” He turned the phone back off to save power, while he could.

Reminded of his own, waterlogged phone, Tom patted his pants pocket for a moment before remembering that it’d been lost in Wave’s pool. However, he felt that round sphere with his house in it, reminded about that. “It can do a lot of things, Wave. Not so much being in Equestria, but it still has some uses,” he simplified Eric’s reply, turning to follow him.

“So, Eric,” Tom began after a few moments of silence. “I really don’t know much else about you besides your wife and kid, and your interest in fantasy stuff… what do you think of this entire mess so far?”

18 - Welcome Aboard

Wave held close to Tom as she looked over his shoulder, down at the back of his hooves and the peek of fur that she could see with every step. "How are you holding up? I know I've been a little pushy about that, but you're walking pretty well now."

Eric began to open his mouth to reply, but then shut up when Wave spoke up, letting her have her way in the conversation, thinking to himself instead.

Tom glanced to Eric for a moment before answering Wave. “Much warmer now, the awkwardness of walking on hooves is almost completely gone. Just don’t ask me to run anytime soon, I don’t want to be eating snow,” he paused, thinking for a few moments on the hooves and fur. “And, it’s okay, I guess? I mean, it’s a lot better than catching frostbite and having my toes fall off, and like I said, it is a bit exciting. A whole world based on magic and fantasy, now if only we could get somewhere where it wasn’t trying to kill us, yeah?” he finished up before looking to Eric again.

Wave nodded at Tom's words, but craned around, joining him in looking at Eric. She didn't say anything, but her gaze left little ambiguity in the fact that she was also waiting for his answer.

Glancing back, Eric slowed up a bit to let them walk by his side, before answering. “It’s… it’s more than a little crazy, but it’s great. I mean, I’ve basically left everything familiar behind. I used to be a software engineer… that’s like, a thing that doesn’t exist here. Can’t exist, essentially. I’m going to have to find something new to be. It’s kind of tempting to just, you know, be a wizard now. Or a warlock, or whatever the hell I am, but at the same time. Well, I don’t trust it… and know I shouldn’t. The thing that gave me this power claims it’s mine to use as I will, and that’s seemingly proven true so far. But it’s also made quite clear that it’s a damn malevolent force, and hates ponies, and isn’t too keen on the idea of friends either. So even when things are going great a part of my mind just figures it’s giving me more and more rope to hang myself with.”

“Yeah, seeing things that don’t exist on Earth… it’s tempting to just throw yourself at it. I guess that, uh, I already have, really, sorta like you in a different way,” he mumbled a bit, rubbing at Wave’s back with a hand, sheepishly grinning as she glanced down to his furred feet and hooves. “And honestly? I find it thrilling, just thinking about what else might be out there… What I might become and be able to accomplish. I hadn’t even finished college, really. Just, I’d rather be seeing things from safety. Food, water, shelter, all that important stuff figured out, rather than following train tracks in the hopes of stumbling into a city.”

The ground rumbled under hoof and foot before the distant toot of a horn blew out across the icy wastes. A train was rolling along those tracks, powering along through the wild lands between cities along the rail that guided its efforts. There were windows on the side of the train, where ponies likely rode it, perhaps to see those who wandered the waste without such comforts.

Wave looked up at the noise, an ear going up with her attention. "What is that?" She held closer to Tom, though it was more out of a desire to be close to someone than any actual fear.

“It’s our ride,” Eric said, moving a few feet off to the side and waving to see if the conductor would be so kind as to stop. “I find myself wondering if my teleportation preserves relative motion or can adjust to the target frame of reference… something I had expected to be solely relevant to roleplaying games before today.”

Tom grinned, looking at the train approaching them. “It’s a train, which means ponies, which means cities!” he gleefully explained before looking to Eric. “You can teleport?” he curiously asked, although there was a bit of concern in that question as well. “We need to get on the train, either way, and we’ve got the bits to pay for it too! Even if they are old.”

“Ideally, they stop to let us on, before we try several simultaneous dark magic experiments to get on,” Eric said. “Either way, we’ll pay our fare, and hopefully become customers of their dining car as well.”

Alas, whoever was driving the train didn't see them. Whether by wilful choice to not stop, or simply looking for obstacles on the track and nothing else, the train showed no sign of slowing as it approached the group with a growing thunder.

“They’re not slowing down any, and that’s just a bit too fast to jump onto. We are getting on that damn train though, one way or another…” Tom trailed off, thinking about the food and potential showers and bed that could sometimes be found on passenger trains, smiling at the thoughts.

“Brace yourselves,” Eric called before grabbing them both and calling on his power to try to teleport all three into the very front of one of the passenger cars, on the platform outside the door.

"Brace ourselves for--" Wave didn't get to finish before they became little more than a bit of shadow. Accuracy with a power that wasn't well controlled or practiced against something moving so fast, perhaps not as precise as desired. They appeared in the food car, crashing down on a table that had once been full of someone's lunch. Several ponies shrieked and scrambled to their hooves, gawking at the ruined remains of their food.

Other eyes turned curiously, wondering what the sudden noise was.

Come Poppy! Eric mentally ordered, even as he groaned at the inevitable complication the wolf’s arrival would add. He didn’t intend to leave his pet behind.

Tom fought the nausea that surged at the impromptu teleport through the shadows, or becoming shadows? He wasn’t entirely certain, but he knew he didn’t want to experience that again. “Ow… why do I have to keep finding myself on my back?” he muttered, blinking his eyes and looking at Wave before groaning. “And you always seem to end up on top of me.” Waving an arm, he let out an annoyed groan, looking around and perking up a bit. “Hey… it worked!”

With a dark pulse, Poppy appeared beside them with an excited bark.

"M-m-monsters!" The cry came from somewhere in the crowd, and it was enough to mobilize the rest. They began to scatter, fleeing the food cart and its infestation of demons.

Wave blinked softly. "Was it me?" She sat up on top of 'her' human. "We should get off this table?" Then she noticed something and grabbed a plate that still had some food on it, devouring it greedily. "Mmm, losers weepers."

Eric closed his eyes, concentrating on the feeling of fear in the ponies around him, and quickly experimenting to see if he could pull it out of them, much as he had pulled the darkness out of Poppy. “Apologize,” he suggested to Tom, concentrating too much to do so himself.

Groaning a little, he waved a hand, trying to get the pony’s attention. “Not monsters! Promise! Nothing monstery going on here, just some poor folks who got tired of being in the cold and snow!” he loudly declared, even as he started to sit up. “And… eww, is that food on my back?” he asked, looking at Wave somewhat annoyed. “Give me some, Wave. Please.”

Wave gestured at the plethora of available tables with abandoned food. "Take your pick, my dear. I won't stop you, promise."

The ponies seemed entirely uninterested in the platitudes offered, and the food cart was soon emptied of all equine life, minus what little Wave and Tom represented. Beside the soft rumble of the train against the tracks, the room became almost peaceful. Attempts to drain their fear only fed back into itself. The shadow force pulled but did not destroy the fear removed, creating a sense of menace that helped the room clear out all the faster.

Sighing, Tom looked around. Carefully, he lifted Wave off of his chest and set her aside carefully. “Then I’ll just put you down for a bit… We really need to avoid this, you know. Always landing on hard things back first. It sucks,” he joked, getting up and looking around for some food, annoyed at the feeling of some pony’s food splattered against his back and pants.

Eric sighed, looking around at the food. “That could have gone much better. Dark magic can remove darkness, but not fear, it seems. A shame, that would have been a terribly useful ability. Ah well, eat up while we can. I doubt we’ll be well supplied in the near future, but they’re unlikely to repossess what’s in our bellies.” He picked something resembling a burger, devouring it despite the obviously vegetarian nature of what he found within.

Hay burgers, as it turned out, were reasonably passable, what with all the sauces and other things they add to the burger, though the faint aftertaste of something kind of straw or grass like left the tastebuds curious and confused.

Wave pulled herself up as best she could and started looking around the abandoned room. "Could someone pass me a drink? All the cups spilled on this table."

Tom had found a burger of his own, too hungry to care about the odd aftertaste. Grabbing two glasses carefully in one hand, he walked over to the table he’d landed on. “Sturdy table… here you go, Wave. Anything else you want while I go grab some more?” he questioned before looking to Eric. “And yes, but… like you said, might as well get full while we can, I imagine ponies with magic and weapons will be pointing them at us soon. Maybe they’ll actually listen to us?”

“Hopefully long enough to accept our surrender,” Eric agreed. “And our offer to pay for the table, and the food variously destroyed.” He sampled a few other dishes, finding those resembling meat mildly disagreeable, but those resembling Earth-like fruits and salads quite pleasing. Familiarity held some value, after all, though hunger made it all quite palatable in the end. He passed a few treats to Poppy as he went, petting his wolf gently.

The door leading to the front of the train and the one leading to the back opened simultaneously as four guards in golden armor stepped in. Two were pegasi, and two were unicorns. "Stop right there!" said one. Wave dropped her cup before getting a chance to drink much, playing it on the safe side. The act of surrender confused the guards, much more used to monsters fighting it out to the last. "Um, you too!" He pointed at the others and their dog.

Mid-bite, Tom raised his hands. “Mwee,” he started, voice muffled by the food. Taking a big swallow, he coughed for a few seconds. “We surrender! Please don’t zap us or anything, ‘kay?” he asked, glancing over to Eric for a moment before looking at the four guards. “We’ll pay for tickets and the food, promise!”

“As well as the table,” Eric conceded, as he lifted one hand in surrender, the other on Poppy’s head to keep her calm. “Sit, Poppy. Stay.”

With the 'fearsome monsters of true terror' giving up at first opportunity, the guards advanced, though they were clearly confused. They pulled out manacles and easily slipped them onto Wave, though they weren't exactly the right size. They fit well enough on human arms as well. The large creature they slapped a collar on. "We'll take you to town and they can decide what to do with you. Lucky for you, Princess Cadance is known for her generosity and kindness."

Tom’s eyes brightened at the mention of a town. “A town? Awesome! It sure beats this cold stuff going on out there, thanks,” he finished, looking over to Wave and smiling. “A nice hot bath, perhaps a meal that we pay for…” Sighing, Tom looked back to the guards. “Where do you want to take us, well, here on the train? Wave over there kinda has a hard time getting around, especially with her hooves cuffed, so if we need to go anywhere, think you could remove these so I can carry her? I promise not to try anything.”

“If we could have access to a veterinarian at your earliest convenience, it would be most appreciated. Otherwise, we are content to await her merciful judgement,” Eric added.

19 - Welcome!

The guards escorted the four out of the food cart and towards the back. The last train was a mail cart, and there were few ponies to shoo away to make room for their new prisoners. They pointed to a chair for each while timidly guiding the shadow beast to sit in the corner. One of them looked over the group curiously. "Cadance isn't going to believe a word of this…"

Doing his best to carry Wave, Tom did exactly as the guards said, grimacing a bit at the food staining his clothes. “Well, she’ll just be seeing it for herself, won’t she? Therefore, it’ll be easy for her to believe? By chance, could either of you unicorns do something about the food on me? We sorta landed on a table… really sorry about that, too,” he spoke up, looking over to Wave and Eric a few moments after.

“If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to compensate those whose meals I inadvertently ruined,” Eric added. “At the least, pay for their meals, though I imagine at least double that is called for. If some… pony would at least determine their identities, we can deal with the exchange of bits later. I just wouldn’t want them to go home forgotten, and left with the injustice intact.”

One of the guards scratched behind his head as he looked between the prisoners. Wave fluttered her lashes back at him. "Don't you hear them? They're both trying to say they're sorry."

"Um, yeah." The unicorn's horn glowed the same color as his eyes as the mess vanished, congealed into a floating ball before being tossed right out the nearest window. "You don't have to pay those people, but I will inform Princess Cadance. The train's already refunding all the lost meals."

Relaxing a bit better now that food wasn’t all over his clothes, Tom gratefully smiled at the guard. “Thank you very much. I already look terrible enough I’m sure, no need to also be covered in soiled food,” he thanked them before turning to Wave, carefully running both of his hands through her mane. “Well, finally on the way to a city, did you ever hear of the Crystal Empire before becoming the guardian of the temple?” he quietly asked Wave, smiling as he tried to learn a bit more about her.

Eric nodded to the guard, satisfied. “Excellent. I’m sure it will be a simpler matter to compensate the rail-line when it’s all sorted out then. Or is it government run? I’m afraid I know little of how things are done here. Aside from the obvious, that the trains are normally to be boarded at stations, rather than via amateurish attempts at teleportation.”

Wave considered with a bit of a frown. "I don't think… They called it something else I think. Gem this and gem that. I remember them talking about gems a lot, not so much crystals."

One of the guards tilted his head at Eric's rambling. "You're a refreshingly honest bandit, sir." Eric gave him an amused smile, but decided to stop arguing the point.

Aside from confusion, they were treated well by the guards. Time passed comfortably among the mail, with food and drink provided by the slightly mystified guards. The train gave a soft lurch as it began to slow down. "We're almost there," announced a guard.

Full, and somewhat happy now that they’d had a proper, uninterrupted meal, even if it was in cuffs, Tom smiled at the guards as he woke from the light nap he’d fallen into. “Awesome! So, will we get to meet your princess immediately, or?” he curiously asked, hoping that they could meet Cadance quicker than sooner.

Eric roused from his own nap, blinking off sleep, as he reached out to rest his hands on Poppy’s back. “Hear that Poppy? We should be able to find a veterinarian soon, who can check you over properly. I worry how your leg will be once we’ve gotten you properly purified again.”

Poppy gave an enthusiastic bark before bouncing to his paws despite the collar, much to the concern of the guards. They were powerless to force Poppy to lay down, but he did nothing more harmful than to approach Eric for some licking.

The guard that seemed to be in charge let out a little sigh. "If you'll all come with us? We'll take you to the palace. It's up to the princess when she'll see you."

Getting to his feet, Tom did his best to pick up Wave and the saddlebags, a small grin on his face. “Mmhmm, of course we will. Sorry bout all the trouble we caused you by the way… this is still more comfortable than being in a cave waiting for a blizzard to end though.” Getting more quiet, he looked to Wave. “Comfortable enough for you? Maybe once we sort this mess out, we can look up a bit more about Sirens.”

Eric got to his feet awkwardly as well, keeping Poppy close by his side. “Lead the way, then, good sir. You’ve been most professional in this matter, and for that I thank you.”

Wave clopped her hooves together as best as she could despite the manacle, looking quite excited about finding out more about herself.

The guards escorted the three, and their dog, through the city of crystals. The buildings, road, and everything was forged of different crystals and gems, and shone brilliantly in the sun. It was warmer close to the city, with some force that repelled the winter away and kept it pleasant to be in.

The journey ended at some jails that were dusty with how often they were used. A new guard approached, dressed slightly differently. One of the guards guiding them saluted. "Mister Sentry. Good to see you. Prisoners for you, sir, caused a disturbance on the train, use of shadow magic, um, is a shadow beast. They've been very cooperative, sir."

Flash Sentry looked over the group curiously. "Well… Hello there. What are your names?"

“Tom Sawyer, and this here is Wave Swimmer, Eric,” Tom paused, realizing he didn’t know Eric’s last name at all. Turning to Eric, he shrugged, figuring that Eric could finish introducing himself and his pet.

“Eric Wolfgang, to be complete. And this temporarily augmented canine is Poppy. I suspect that reverting her to her natural state may restore her injuries, so I would prefer to have a veterinarian present before doing so. Whenever that can be arranged, sir,” Eric concluded.

Flash looked a bit perplexed. "Are you saying you used shadow magic on this puppy? It's a puppy?" He sounded doubting of that. "To save it?" He pointed a hoof at Eric's shadow-bleeding eyes. "You do admit you're a shadow wizard then?"

Wave raised her hooves. "So we're free to go, right? We're not shadow wizards."

“I’ve found it quite counterproductive to hide the fact, indeed. And she was quite a bit more shadowy when I first found her. But I’ve managed to save a few ponies from a shadow beast attack, as well as my current party from starvation, and Poppy from dying at the bottom of a chasm with a broken leg. So, at the moment I am not particularly inclined to regret the use of shadow magic thus far. Though I have been advised I should stop while I am ahead,” Eric explained.

Rolling his eyes a bit, Tom sighed. “But then we might not be able to see their princess right away, Wave,” he softly whispered before speaking up in support of Eric. “He’s a good guy, saved my life and Wave’s here once or twice already.”

Flash nodded a little. "Well, you… seem like nice, uh, what are you again?"

Wave raised her hooves. "Siren! Nice to meet you. Wave Swimmer's the full name."

"Right, siren. Nice to meet you." His eyes moved to the humans expectantly.

“Humans, though admittedly not entirely unaltered at this point,” Eric offered. “I expect it’s only a matter of time before Tom becomes some form of pony.”

Sighing, Tom simply shook his head. “Hey, it’s not my fault that I couldn’t see in the dark, and then I started getting frostbite, and then…” he trailed off, weakly chuckling as he looked back to Flash. “Yeah, we’re both humans, or close enough. We’re from a different world, dimension, what have you.”

Flash brightened suddenly. "Ah! The princess mentioned humans." He waved at the guard. "Go ahead and return to duty. I have this under control." After swapping salutes, the other ponies left. Flash looked between the two again. "She wanted to meet a human, but I doubt she expected that to be a shadow wizard and a quasi-pony?"

Wave blushed a little. "I didn't know it would upset a princess…"

“Surprising is not automatically upsetting. Though I imagine the shadow magic thing will prove upsetting. If nothing else, I should distract her scorn from you, Wave, so I’ll add that to my small list of accomplishments,” Eric added with a grin to Wave.

“Pft, you’ll both be fine, I imagine. While it was a bit unexpected at first, I’m not against it, so in the end it’s not like you forced it on me. Technically you asked for permission each time. And you,” Tom remarked, turning to Eric. “I’m sure she’ll sympathize with the why of you using shadow magic once you explain it. So, both of you relax a bit, okay?”

Flash rubbed behind his head. "There aren't a lot of good reasons to use shadows. Dark magic is extremely dangerous, for yourself and everyone around you." He let out a little sigh. "Do you promise not to cause any trouble?"

“I do so promise. Though I would like to ask you a simple question, if I may. Do you hate me?” Eric watched Flash intently as he waited for an answer. The question was simply put, bereft of emotion beyond, perhaps, a hint of scientific curiosity.

Flash chuckled at that, his ears pointed forward at the shadowmancer. "I'm not a crystal pony. The whole dark magic thing is academic to me, so, no, I don't hate you. I don't exactly trust you, but we just met. You haven't given me too much a reason to dislike you so far?"

When Eric was satisfied with the answer he nodded, taking his focus less intently off Flash’s mouth, and smiled. “Good. Perhaps we will become friends in time. At the moment I’m inclined to have friends who don’t entirely trust me; it’ll make them more apt to point out if I do lose my way.”

“A swift kick in the gnads would probably pull your focus elsewhere, I’m certain,” Tom humorously interjected, grinning at Eric. “We both saw the reaction crystal ponies have to shadow stuff, it… wasn’t pretty. They seemed pretty messed up by it. But, uh, any chance we can get moving along, Flash?” Tom politely asked. “I’d really love to get out of these cuffs.”

Flash pulled out a key and approached, undoing Wave's manacles first, then Tom's, but left Eric in his. "The Princess would get angry at me if I didn't keep you close at hoof until she had a look at you. She's out doing a survey right now, so you're going to have to wait a little bit. Oh!" He clopped his hooves together. "You could meet Shining Armor? Her husband."

“I don’t mind, under the circumstances. Though if we could arrange that veterinarian while we wait, I would appreciate it. Aside from the question of whether removing the shadow magic will restore Poppy’s injuries, I can’t help but wonder what other harm the magic itself has done to her. She had quite a lot of it in her previously, for quite some time,” Eric countered. “I’ve been mistaken before, but I doubt the rulers of this land will object to a puppy being treated.”

Tom gently set Wave down, kissing her forehead before reaching up and stretching out his arms, working out the kinks. “Thank you, Flash, this is so much better,” he chimed in, back popping a few times before he leaned down and started rubbing his legs a bit, pulling up his pant legs to do so. “It’d be nice to meet him, although,” sniffing himself, he winced. “It’s been a few days since any of us have gotten a chance to bathe. And we could both probably stand getting some new clothes, we’ve got bits to pay for stuff like that, too.”

Flash gave a smile. Wave's reaction implied it might be charming, if one knew pony physique and expressions. "Oh, sure, we can do that, that is, the bath. The vet, not so much. The only vets in the kingdom are crystal, and you know the deal there. You two, uh… Maybe you should come with." He moved to lead the whole odd group to the baths. At least Cadance had hot and cold running water ready to go.

20 - Coming From Darkness

“I understand the concern,” Eric said. “Perhaps I can remove the shadow from her first and then someone can take her to a veterinarian?” After a moment he frowned. “That is, assuming I can still succeed at that. I was warned my powers may not function within this city.”

“Awesome! Hey, Wave…” Tom started, picking her up again and smiling. “A bathtub, a big one, and water. First bit of water since that pool of yours we’ll be able to use, and I’ll be able to clean up, too.” Getting her back in his arms, he turned to Eric. “The shadow thingy told you that? Huh. If you could, you know, get rid of the evil voice thingy… it might not be that bad. And the eyes, they’re kinda creepy. Least mine are still the same color.”

Wave's expression brightened at the temptation of incoming water. "Will it be cold or warm?" She looked to Flash, who made an upward motion. "I haven't had a warm bath in… I don't even remember. What are we waiting for?"

Eric nodded, “it said it would depend how strong my will is, and that the festival would be dangerous to me. I would love to never hear from the evil voice again, despite it’s helpfulness thus far. It’s clearly a dick.”

Flash let out a soft huff, but smiled. "This way. I'll show you to the baths and you can all stay there until I fetch Shining Armor. I don't know much about banishing shadow magic or stuff like that. I just keep ponies safe, which is why you have to stay with me, alright?"

Laughing, Tom followed Flash to the baths, looking forward to getting clean. “I’ll take a cold bath at this point, I’m used to cleaning every day… I reek something awful now.” Turning to Flash and Eric, he paused. “You’re gonna uncuff him while he bathes, Flash?”

Flash looked between Tom and Wave, then to Eric. He let out a little sigh. "Well, you're the most harmless creatures of ultimate tyranny I've met so far." He put a hoof behind his head. "Still, they're trusting me to do the right thing, so, for now? Please." He started leading the way out of the jails, back up into the castle proper.

Eric followed along, nodding. “I would appreciate them being removed for the bath at least, and… just between us, I’m not so sure they’re doing much to limit what I can do. They’re a useful prop for the moment to keep everypony else from panicking, so I’m glad to have them for now.”

Tom glanced at Eric for a moment before internally sighing. Letting the ponies know that their manacles probably had no effect might not be the best thing to do. “We’re not really creatures of ultimate tyranny, so of course we’d be harmless, Flash.”

Flash chuckled a bit as he ascended the stairs until he arrived at the right door. "The last pony they said used to be human was the most harmless little filly I ever met. Her marefriend made up for it, little spitfire she was." He opened the door and led on in to the stately looking bathing room. "Only Princess Cadance and Shining Armor usually use this one, so it's safe in here. We guards have a different place." He gestured, pointing out soaps and shampoos and where the faucets could be found. "Now, I really should get back to things. Shining Armor will be by in a moment and he can make judgement calls."

Wave stopped paying attention about halfway in. With the blessed tubs in sight, she suddenly pulled from Tom's grip, flopping to the ground only to start scooting herself along the smooth tiles quickly. She had the water flowing, both hot and cold, in rushing torrents. "Yeah yeah, thanks!"

Eric shifted his wrists to smoke for a moment, freeing himself from the manacles long enough to take his shirt off before putting them back on, and struggling to remove the rest of his clothing, despite his face and body language quietly betraying his embarrassment at having an audience for such.

Tom was chuckling at Wave’s reaction, stripping his own shirt and tossing it aside with the saddlebags. “So… one bath. This might be a little awkward,” he muttered, getting out of his pants and looking at the fur covering his legs, curious as to where it stopped.

Flash was gone by the time Eric slipped from his cuffs, thankfully, leaving them to their privacy. Wave cared little for things like clothes, not having any on herself. She pulled herself up and flopped into the lukewarm tub with a loud ahh as she sank into the water. She began to make bubbles as she went beneath the surface, but she looked happy despite being submerged and away from air.

Eric slipped in as far from Wave as could be, turning his back to her to give the newlyweds as much privacy as the situation allowed. “Come, Poppy. You need a bath as well. Let us hope wet shadowwolf fur is better smelling than the usual wet dog smell.” He struggled to wash himself and his pet with the manacles on, but made do, patiently.

Noting how Eric took the far side, Tom glanced over to Wave before dumping the last of his belongings aside and sliding into the water near Wave, letting out a sigh at the feeling of the warm water. The fur came up almost to his waist it seemed, and he watched as it seemed to gently wave a bit in the water from the small disturbances in it. “This is nice…” he delightfully sighed before dunking himself completely under for a few seconds.

Wave popped up from the depths. For as clumsy as she was on land, her body seemed to move through the water with scarcely any effort at all. She smiled at Eric. "Smile. It's nice to be in water." She approached him and grabbed some soap on the way. "I'll get your back."

Eric blushed back at her, nodding, and making a point of relaxing. “Thanks, it’s hard enough to get without these on. The water does feel nice, though I prefer hotter for baths. Still, it’s a lovely contrast from the past few days, regardless.”

Popping back up from the water, Tom glanced over to Eric and Wave for a moment before he began cleaning himself off, eyes constantly darting back to Wave to examine her in what was, arguably, her natural element finally. He found his cheeks burning slightly as he thought once more on how attractive he found her, despite the alienness of it all, and was once more reminded of their odd, impromptu union, looking at his own fur covered legs as he did so.

Her tail reached out, slapping the faucet and turning down the flow of cold water even as her hooves worked the soap over Eric's back diligently. "You should have just said so. The temperature doesn't matter much to me either way. Hot, cold, it's still a lovely bath. The tub's nice and clean too, that's a change, but I do miss the glowing peace of the pool a little, but I get friends in trade."

Eric glanced over at the faucet, a bit impressed with her dexterity with what appeared to be a big, awkward limb. “Thanks. I… do tend to err on the side of letting others get their way, and just accepting things as they end up being. I’d rather not fight someone over something unimportant, like water temperature, even if it turns out they wouldn’t mind doing it my way.” Eric finished up with Poppy’s scrubbing and bid her get out, finding as reasonable of a place as possible to shake it off.

Hair full of shampoo, Tom made his way over to Wave and Eric, having been listening in to them both. “The glowing of the pool was different, but this is much better. Just wait till you see more. And Eric, you say that now, but you’re more than willing to do what you can when it’s something you really find important, so letting smaller things go? Not so important in the big picture, I’d think. I tend to let others walk over me at times,” he offered up a bit of personal information as well as he started gently lathering up Wave’s mane for her.

Wave snorted softly as she nodded at Tom. "If I disagreed, I'd tell you to sod off, but we wouldn't stop being friends." She hugged Eric firmly before letting him go and turning to Tom. "Now your turn." She made a swirly motion with a hoof. "Let's see your back. Nopony's leaving without a sudsy back."

Eric laughed a bit. “You remind me a bit of my own wife, Wave. And there’s definitely something to being so… upfront. But I learned long ago that I’m overly sensitive to other’s discomfort, and much more resistant to my own. When getting my own way is so often less pleasant to me than letting others have their way, it’s only natural that I would err that way. At least when it’s not important. Sometimes it’s worth the pain.”

“Just gotta finish… there, done,” he remarked, sudding up the last of her mane before turning around, listening quietly to Eric’s words. “I can relate to that a bit, Eric. It might have played a small part in me and Wave ending up married, but… I don’t think I regret it one bit, not so far anyways,” he warmly remarked, sighing as all of those knots and bruises felt so much better the longer he remained in the water. “Or how I ended up with pony parts, which is sorta weird. I mean, my legs look like a street sign now!”

Wave only just noticed she had been shampooed. "I'm so excited to be in water, I didn't even see you doing that when I had water down below.” She shook out her mane, sending some soap every which way before she moved in on Tom and got to soaping him up. "Can we just stay here? I think I could be happy here."

A new voice joined the conversation from the door. "I'm glad to hear you're enjoying yourself." Shining Armor approached the group, eyes locked on the shadow-tainted eyes, the green irises and purple streaming dark energy. "I'm Shining Armor, husband of Princess Cadance. And you three are?"

“I am Eric Wolfgang,” Eric began, bowing as best he could without standing and exposing himself. “Fledgeling shadow wizard, as it were. I thank you for the use of your bath and the opportunity to explain ourselves. The canine there is Poppy, and as I have pointed out to others, I plan to de-shadow her again as soon as we can obtain the services of a veterinarian. She was injured before her transformation, and I suspect the injuries will return when her form does. And regardless she should be checked for any long term harm from being a more frightening shadow beast for who knows how many years before we found her.”

Chuckling quietly, Tom turned to look at Wave first. “I think he might have a problem with us stealing his bathroom, Wave,” he joked before turning to Shining Armor. “It’s nice to meet you, Prince Armor, I am Tom Sawyer, a human of nothing particularly remarkable, unless you count part pony now as remarkable…” he waved a hoof for a moment, chuckling. “And this here is, my wife, the lovely siren Wave Swimmer,” he added, the word wife a bit hesitant as he felt unsure about the commitment he’d jumped into so rapidly.

Wave raised a hoof at Shining Armor as she was introduced. Shining Armor nodded slowly and looked quite uncertain. "I can activate the crystal heart? That should expel all shadow forces from the city, though it's a little tricky to do without Cadance in the city."

The voice whispered softly, ”Don't let him do that, not if you value living. It would break us.”

Eric raised his hands, palms out toward Shining. “That shouldn’t be necessary, though it’s probably best for everyone that you have the option available. I’m not sure it would be good for my or Poppy’s health, so if you could hold off so long as we’re well behaved, I would appreciate it.”

A somewhat nervous voice called out from the hallway, "Have you defeated it yet, sir?"

Shining sighed softly before calling back, "It's not that simple."

"What's not simple? It's Sombra, reincarnated in a new body! Make it go away!"

21 - Like a Fairy Tale

Shining put a fetlock over his face. "Eric was it? Mister Wolfgang? How do you end up this way?"

Tom was mindful of the exchange between them but remained silent, content to let Wave clean his back while he focused on getting more clean himself.

“First off, don’t say that name. Ever. Again. If you must refer to him, I think a new name is in order… how about King Douchebag the Friendless Loser?” Eric suggested. “As for how I got this way… an ominous sounding voice of dubious judgement offered me the power to get home to my wife and child, and I accepted. Thus far my skill and power are far from enough to even attempt jumping across worlds, but I felt it was my duty to try, and thus far nothing bad has come from using my power aside from this ominous visage, and nothing good has come from hiding it. Nevertheless, I have some concerns regarding the safety of continued use, particularly regarding my mental health.”

The white unicorn raised a brow at Eric. "A fine sentiment, but calling him names won't change the threat he, or his kind, poses to the empire." He quieted as Eric went on about the rest and gave a light nod. "I think you've been lied to. They're offering what you want to hear, in return for… Well you, all of you." He waved a hoof at the human. "You're a human, right?"

Wave pointed at Tom. "So's he, for now."

Eric nodded. “I admit to not being the most versed in magic, but I do know that his name itself has some measure of power, and thus should not be uttered. I would like to hear more about your theories, however. In what sense do you believe they will… acquire me?”

“I think he means something else completely, Wave,” Tom remarked, rolling his eyes a bit as a thought came to mind. “While we’re on the topic… would it be possible, if I were interested, to undo the changes?” he asked, pointing at the fur and hooves. “Not asking for it, just if it’s possible.”

Shining pointed at Eric's eyes. "They already have you. The more shadow magic is used, the more powerful it becomes. The more fear is spread, the darker the world is." He raised a hoof to tap at his horn. "Black magic is terrible. Terribly powerful and terribly awful. If you are still a human, you should let Cadance work her magic. She's a very sweet pony. She'll do her best."

Eric took a deep breath through his nose, resisting the instinct to answer defensively, at least this time. “Come, Poppy,” he ordered, drawing the wolf closer to him before gently pulling the shadow magic out of her, restoring her to her natural state.

Darkness pooled around Eric as the energy began to gather, but Poppy resisted it much more easily than she had when she was her original shadow wolf self. She snarled and backed away, then vanished in a dark flash. The shadow that filled the space she once was in darted out the door, leaving nothing but the shrill cry of a surprised crystal pony behind.

Shining let out a slow sigh. "Is that dog dangerous?"

“More so than I thought, but mostly less so than she once was. Her current form favors mobility over raw power. I should have put her to sleep first... “ Eric slumped into the pool, looking defeated. “I’ll await Cadance’s efforts. If I can’t even do such a simple thing, this power is less than useless.”

Tom could be heard groaning, his face finding his hand for a few seconds as he lightly shook his head, muttering under his breath rather unintelligibly.

Prideful fool. You can make many things, but undoing them is not so easy. You created the beast, now you live with it. I doubt she will surrender her new title so easily as your whim demands it. The voice hissed in Eric's ear, disdainful at his mistake.

Shining moved for the door and peeked out for any actual harm, then looked back inside. "Yes, that would be best, I feel. Do you need anything while you wait?"

“A moment to get dressed and a cell to sit in should do for now. How long do you expect her to be?” Eric asked.

Tom, meanwhile, had finished cleaning up and chimed in, watching Wave out the corner of his eyes. “I’d rather not be in a cell myself, and I think Wave would agree. Any chance of finding a tailor, Prince Armor? Our clothes are the only ones we’ve got, and mine aren’t in the best shape anymore. We’ve got some bits, although no clue how much they are worth.”

Shining tilted his head a little. "You're not exactly the same shape as a pony, but we have some things that should fit a little loosely?" He looked to Wave. "Tops, yes, bottoms… not so much?"

Wave wobbled a hoof. "I understand that, just make sure it won't get damaged bringing it into water and I'll be happy as can be."

Tom nodded, a grateful look on his face. “Even if it’s loose, it’ll be fine, Prince Armor. Having more than one set of clothes is what I’m looking for here, really,” he explained, scratching the back of his head as he glanced over to Eric, who seemed to be somewhat introspective over something.

I'm sorry, Poppy, forgive me, Eric thought, trying to project his thoughts to the wayward wolf. I failed to ask your permission, and didn't take your thoughts into account. You just want to be big and powerful, don't you? Be safe... You've chosen a dangerous path and I can't protect you anymore. I'll miss you. But if you don't come back now, your best chance is to escape the city, quickly. His thoughts concluded, he rose and took a towel to try and dry himself as best he could.

And you mocked us. The voice echoed harshly in Eric's ears. You called us cold and indifferent for allowing others to make their decisions, and here you are, doing much the same. We are more alike than you cared to admit, shadowmancer.

No, I called you a dick for wanting me to hate ponies and accept their hatred as inevitable, Eric thought before refocusing on his surroundings, including the struggle to get dressed with manacles on. “You were saying something about clothing? I’ll need some more of those myself. Jeans might last a good while if we’re lucky, but shirts can be a bit more of a problem. To say nothing of undergarments.”

Shining suddenly perked up with an idea. "There was a very talented pony that a friend of my sister's mentioned. I'm sure she'd look forward to the idea of such a unique challenge. I'll send word out for her to come by and we'll get you all something nice and properly fitting."

“This might be a bit of an odd question, Prince Armor, but… Flash mentioned something about other humans, so I’m assuming that there’s more here. Any of them express knowledge that they, well, shouldn’t have, logically speaking?” Tom hesitantly asked.

“Like, how you knew Flash Sentry’s first name, when he was only introduced to us by last?” Eric offered.

Shining looked curious at the idea. "Well, I heard…" He trailed off a little, glancing at Eric with what could be suspicion, or at least uncertainty. "Let me see about those clothes first, then we'll talk about that."

Tom nodded to Shining. “Fair enough. We’re not really going anywhere in any hurry, so it can wait I suppose,” he remarked before turning to Wave. “I’m supposing you’d like to stick around this bath for a bit longer, yes?”

Wave sank into the water and rinsed out her mane in the tub. The water had never been turned off, and was starting to overfill, but the overflow ran down into available drains instead of making a big mess. "I'm doing alright, thanks."

“Would you mind turning off the water, Wave? You don’t have to get out, but there’s no need to be wasteful,” Eric suggested. “We owe these ponies a big enough debt of gratitude without running their water down the drain needlessly.”

Hand already outstretched as Eric finished speaking, Tom was turning off both knobs, deciding to remain in the warm bath a bit longer himself. “Again, Prince Armor, thank you. Allowing strangers to use your bath is extremely kind and generous.”

With a bit of an awkward bow to Shining, Tom turned back to Wave, rolling his eyes. “So you’d like to stay in the water for longer then, Wave. That’s all I was asking. How’s it feel after so long? It’s not a river or ocean or anything, but I imagine it must be nice, don’t have to be carried around in water.”

Wave splashed a little in the water. "It feels fantastic. The warmth, the soap, the… the surroundings. It's delightful, all of it." She turned to face Shining Armor. "You have great taste in tubs."

Shining smiled a bit. "I'm glad to hear you approve of it, miss. It came with the castle, truth told. We didn't have it made for us, it just kind of shaped up that way, so, please, enjoy." He waved a hoof. "I don't remember a siren being in pony lands for some time. I think there was some kind of report of one somewhere near Ponyville at one point? She didn't stay around very long. They're very rare."

“You know Shining… those two are newlyweds, and haven’t had much time to spend alone together. I have a few matters I’d like to discuss with you if you’d like to give them some privacy?” Eric suggested, at this point shirtless but otherwise clothed, and carrying his pack a bit awkwardly in his hands.

Tom nearly jumped, water splashing lightly all over as he coughed. “Um, I guess that’s true, yeah,” he muttered, biting back the urge to shower Eric in some rather colorful language. Being put on the spot was not much fun, to say the least. “But, uh, we wouldn’t do anything more than talk, I’d imagine?” Tom hesitantly glanced to Wave, cheeks flushed.

Wave looked confused at the innuendo. It was as if it just flew right over her head. "You don't want to be with us anymore? If you're done bathing, I guess you can talk with Shining, but I think he's waiting for his marefriend."

Shining nodded at that. "Um, yes. Princess Cadance should be back in a day or two and she can set this straight. Have you met her before?"

“Her reputation precedes her,” Eric said, finding a spot to slip to a seated position, resting against a wall. “And I’m not trying to avoid you two, Wave, I just thought you might enjoy a little time with your hubby without my ever-present distraction. Though, I suppose it’s arrogant of me to think I could ever distract you from what you want.~”

“Eric, just… enough,” Tom spoke, somewhat annoyed as he swam to the edge of the massive tub, resting his arms on its side. “Wave and I may be married, yes, but what we do or do not do doesn’t need you trying to give us time alone, we’ll ask for it if we want it, okay?” Turning over his shoulder, he looked back to Wave.

Eric cringed back from Tom’s response, raising his hands apologetically. “Alright, alright. Sorry. Just trying to be helpful, and screwing that up too, I guess.”

Shining coughed softly into a fetlock. "Yes, well… If I can trust you to remain with your friends, I'll let you go." He moved towards Eric as a key floated out from his saddlebag, held in his magic.

Eric nodded, raising his wrists for Shining’s convenience, while looking a bit enviously at his horn.

“It’s fine, Eric, just don’t try to force it or anything, okay? I’ve got an idea of where you’re coming from, so thank you for that.” Sighing, he ran his fingers through his soaked hair. “If you’d like to go with Prince Armor, if he allows it, then Wave and I will spend some more time here, though,” he offered the option up, should Shining even allow it.

Wave leaned in closer to Tom. "What is it he thinks we should be doing that would be better with him not there?"

Shining chose not to answer Wave's question. He inserted the key into Eric's bindings and soon had him free. The envious look he gave was misinterpreted. "That happy to be free?" He smiled. "If you continue to behave and are a good pony, I'm sure Cadance will help you."

Must be nice having magic that doesn’t inherently terrify everyone, Eric thought wistfully, while he rubbed his wrists a bit. “Thank you, sir. I look forward to whatever help she can offer. It was a pleasure meeting you.”

22 - Plaything of Fate

Tom leaned in closer to Wave, blushing heavily as he whispered as quietly as he could into her ear. “He thinks that we’d be having, well, sex, Wave…” Pulling back, he looked at her a bit sheepishly, shrugging.

Wave's expression evolved into a whole new layer of confusion as Shining found a convenient excuse to vacate, all the blushing stallion despite being married to one of the prettiest mares in the land. Wave watched him go, then looked back at Tom. "Why would we do that?"

“And… that would be a marked contrast with my wife,” Eric chuckled. “Though I’m amused at how fast you got the Prince to flee.” He busied his newly freed hands checking the contents of his backpack.

Bringing his knees up to his chest to cover himself, Tom couldn’t help but laugh, despite the burning blush on his face. “Wave? It’s a very common activity that married couples engage in, and those who aren’t married, too, for that matter. Humans have a tradition of after getting married, they tend to be very, physical with each other in an extremely intimate fashion for a time. Does that make sense?” he asked, hugging Wave with an arm, the other hand playing with her wet mane. “You look even better in your natural element, too, Wave,” Tom complimented her, figuring it was something that married folks did.

Wave pressed into the hug and wrapped her hooves around him in a return of the affection. Despite any confusion about actual sex, affection and cuddling were no strangers to her. "I think that's a pony thing, or maybe a human thing? I won't lay an egg, um…" She looked thoughtful and even confused after a moment. "I don't know. I haven't since I became a guardian."

“The fish parts continue a bit too far up the siren anatomy, then? Though…” Eric shook his head, “okay, any further conversation down that road is between you two. But I will say for humans at least, sexual pleasure is one of the things that helps bind us to our spouses, emotionally.”

“We’ll just have to add that to the list of things to look up about sirens then, Wave. It’s been a very long time, and you said it yourself that being a guardian had its own things to it. Who knows, perhaps trying to talk with your gods could help explain some things, too?” he offered up, hugging her close against those furry legs that were pressed against his chest, closing his eyes as he thought hard about trying to reach out to her gods. They were in water, after all, and that was their domain and everything, or so Tom assumed.

Wave looked downright embarrassed at the line of conversation. "No one came to me and wanted to be, you know, like that. I was 'the guardian', so romance and things didn't come up at all." She frowned a little and crossed her hooves. "And now that I think back on it, I haven't… done anything in so long, and I barely remember what it was in the first place, and I feel stupid about it."

Eric laughed a bit, light heartedly. "Can I tell you a secret? Nobody knows this stuff when they get started. Being two different species will make it even more awkward at first, but everyone's a little different anyways, and every couple has to sort it out themselves. Just take your time, communicate a lot, and give each other a lot of grace, and it'll work out. When you do finally get that alone time, that is."

Tom squeezed Wave a bit tighter in that hug, kissing her lightly for a moment. “Don’t worry, it’s something that, like Eric said, can be worked through in time. So long as you realize that I’m going to be awkward as hell about things…” The gears in his mind went to work, and an idea formed. “Do you think trying to reach out to your gods would give us any information we could use, Wave, or?”

Wave returned the kiss and squeezed in with her chosen partner as she gave Eric a dirty look. "I'm sure you know what you want to do to make it work with a mare. I don't have that advantage, er, with a stallion, of course." She nuzzled into Tom's neck. "I never tried that before. I always just did what they wanted me to do, protect their stuff."

“Hey, don’t bring me into this. I’m sure Tom is perfectly capable of figuring out what to try with you, when he sorts through his own hesitation,” Eric answered. “I would have suggested talking through some of this stuff before proposing, but I know you’re not one to wait on a decision, Wave.”

Weakly chuckling at Eric’s words, Tom faintly nodded. “Yeah, I probably should’ve said something myself, but… things should work out in time, I believe?” he turned his full attention back to Wave. “We’re in water right now, which is technically your gods’ domain. I’m pretty sure whatever you’re using to change me is divine in nature, which means it comes from them… using that, and being in the water, do you think that would let us reach out to them?” he offered up, running a hand through her mane.

“Oh! Tom’s turn to trying doing some Science!” Eric grinned.

Wave didn't know, and said as much. She lowered her hooves and swam back half a pace. "It couldn't hurt to try, I think? So long as we're polite about it. I don't remember any of them being very grumpy. The ponies that worshipped them were always smiling. They did have a mean streak though." She pointed at herself. "They picked me for a guardian."

“I think that means they’re smart and chose well more than them having a mean streak,” Tom reassured her with a smile, nodding slightly after a few moments. “I give you permission to go ahead and try it, maybe we can both talk to them if it works? Or, perhaps Eric can get wrapped up in things as well,” Tom remarked, glancing over to Eric for a moment. “Want to try and talk to some deities?” he lightly joked before turning towards Wave once more, arms outstretched for a hug.

Eric opened his mouth to comment, then closed it, looking decidedly thoughtful as he hmm’d to himself, mentally going over questions of whether it would be more or less likely to succeed, what changes if any might be applied to him, and whether or not he did in fact want to meet water deities.

Wave put her hooves even with the water and splashed a little. "Hey? Hey guys? Or girls? Um, damn, I'm terrible at this. I'm still your loyal servant! Please come talk with us? We mean that with all due respect and things. We just have a few questions, please?" She flashed her best winning smile at the tub in general. "I've been good?"

Tom couldn’t help but chuckle quietly at the display before him. It was, in all honesty, extremely cute as she splashed a bit, trying to summon them up by simply asking. “You’re very cute like that, Wave, but do you think it’ll work, simply asking them?” he asked, still with his back against the edge of the tub.

“I know when you last talked to them, when we were leaving the temple, you had just channeled divine power, energy, something like that. Which is what you’ve been using to change me, so I figured that link would make it even easier?” Tom remarked, shrugging his shoulders. “If they don’t come from your cute display, I’m still willing to try that.”

Eric sat up and watched intently, curious if anything would reveal itself. He barely bit back a suggestion for what exactly Wave could change, deciding to leave the previous topic of conversation unreferenced.

Wave nodded a little. "I was just kind of following my gut. I know I can draw out your pony, and I felt like I needed to do a few things, and say a few things back then. It was really important. I'm still sad we lost that tablet. I hope it made it back…" She sank into the water a few inches. "Come on! We said please! What more do you want?"

Wave's eyes suddenly filled with light as water spilled from her mouth like a fountain. "What do you want, ye who accompany the old guardian?" asked a voice that sounded ancient and female.

Freezing, Tom’s jaw opened a bit, shocked at how something so simple seemingly worked. Now that it did, he found himself a bit lost for words at first, coughing quietly to clear his throat before speaking up. “Um, greetings to you, god. We were looking for knowledge, both about Wave and a bit about yourselves, too?”

Wave looked frightened for her possession, with tears welling up in her confused, if light-filled, eyes. The water gushed in time with the words that forced out of her, and she seemed to be controlled as well as any puppet, with no volition on her part. "She is a guardian, not a priest. See how tormented she is to serve as our mouth. She is a siren, but so much more than that. You are a stranger, but becoming much more than that as well. Do you truly love our servant?"

Eric looked sympathetic at Wave’s plight, but kept silent, knowing this was Tom’s experiment.

Noticing Wave’s extreme discomfort, Tom heavily winced as he moved forward, hesitantly reaching out a hand, even as he was put on the spot by that question. Despite the indecision and personal doubts he had, there was really only one way to answer. “I… yes, I do, if not completely just yet, I do care about her a lot,” he shakily spoke, resting a hand on Wave’s shoulder, the other moving to wipe away those tears welling up.

"That is good. She is lost and adrift in a world that scarcely understands her, and that she does not even begin to comprehend. You think you are a stranger? You are, but you still have more than her. Protect her, and she will be always loyal. I will grant one question, and one boon, then you must find your own way." Wave's expression lightened as she said that. That sounded good!

Tom nodded, smiling at Wave a bit, still extremely off guard by the whole possession bit, but Wave’s comfort came first. And, speaking of, Tom slowly started asking his question. “Wave… seems to have forgotten a lot about herself, I would like to ask if you could tell me about sirens, for Wave’s sake, and mine as well.”

"That is not a question," countered the god-in-Wave. "Ask a specific question, stranger."

“Where,” Tom started, trying to figure out the best way to phrase his question, “is the best place to learn everything Wave and I need to know about Sirens?” he rephrased, both arms on Wave’s shoulders now.

The god's voice chortled softly, sputtering water from Wave's mouth. "There is an aged siren, who yearns for the life of youth, but her years have passed. Tell her the old ones demand her obedience, and she may yet yield the secrets of her kind. If you do not like that, you could seek a younger member, but they do not often dwell near land. See the old one at the docks of Baltimare, where she lives in uneasy peace with the ponies there. Now, your boon?"

Looking at Wave, Tom paused to consider his choices. This was, perhaps, the worst time to draw a blank, which is precisely what was going on at the moment. “I want to be able to better understand her so that I can protect her the best I can, but that is something that only time can make happen, I think,” he muttered in a rash of embarrassment, scratching the back of his neck with a hand.

The old goddess laughed at the indecision. "Do you want me to select? I doubt you would appreciate my taste. I have found my taste is not that of modern ponies, to say little of a stranger such as yourself." Wave's hooves were drawn downwards to brush against Tom's new hooves. "Though perhaps you will learn that?"

Wishing he could die of embarrassment at having a goddess literally laughing at him, he took a few deep breaths. “You chose Wave to be your guardian, did you not? I would have to say that your taste is quite good. Since I cannot decide, then…” Tom faintly nodded, despite the potentially loaded offer. “I’ll accept your selection, if Wave finds it in good taste. These haven’t been that bad, truthfully,” he finished, words quivering just a bit from nervousness, cheeks a stark red from the lingering embarrassment as he wiggled a hoof underwater.

Wave was set free long enough to shake her head. "No, don't let them do whatever they want." Her will was suppressed right afterwards with a soft giggle.

"She remembers some things. You, husband of a siren, a fitting boon for you. I would first grant you the gift of the sea, to know its embrace and welcome it as she does." Wave made a gesture at Tom by the god's will, and a powerful warping pressure was felt at his neck, pulling and folding as he grew gills rapidly and his lungs seemed to atrophy, making air feel stale in comparison.

“Oh crap,” Tom muttered as his eyes went wide at Wave’s warning, although it was entirely too late to do anything about it. His hands shot to his neck, feeling the odd structures that’d formed as his breathing seemed to shift a bit. Coughing from the sudden change, he shook his head in an attempt to clear it, that staleness rather off-putting. However, there was something of equal concern, with how things had been phrased. “First?” he slowly and hesitantly questioned, sliding deeper into the water until just his head was left peeking out, staring up at the goddess occupying Wave.

Wave seemed to rise from the water, her fins holding her up easily at the end of her tail and towering over the mortal that invoked her goddess. "Oh yes. There is much to be done. You are too clumsy for the waves." A sharp tingling turned into a strange euphoria as fins developed along his furry legs, becoming capable of moving him through the water easily. Little pops and bends announced the legs reforming to better suit an equine creature.

Tom’s eyes went crossed as what should have been painful and excruciating was warped into odd pleasure instead, and he found himself blinking a few moments later, head somewhat muddled. “I… what the hell?” he muttered, cowering slightly underneath the goddess that was seemingly literally standing on water by Wave’s tail, his hands running down both legs. “Fins?” he muttered in disbelief. “Okay, I think that’s more than good enough now, mmhmm, I’m good,” he quickly started stammering, trying to put an end to things before they progressed any further, and potentially more awkward at that.

Eric drank in the details, watching a true master at work. His experiments on Poppy had been as a beginner, but this was a goddess at work. The difference was not lost on him in the slightest.

Wave pointed a hoof that dripped with glowing water. "This is your last chance. Do you swear fealty to me? Will you be the priest she cannot be?"

Recalling Wave’s remarks of him becoming closer to her by serving the same gods she did, Tom wondered somewhere in the back of his mind if this is how she’d planned it on going, if he had decided to say yes. Tom found himself unable to speak, figuratively pissing his pants as a goddess essentially gave him an ultimatum, the last chance sounding extremely ominous. Finally, he found his voice and gave a reply, “Yes,” he shakily squeaked out, nodding again.

Wave's hooves moved in intricate ways as the waters of the tub rose up angrily and began to gather around Tom, lifting him up to match Wave before she came up higher, floating over the water. "You shall be my first then, and serve me and her equally. She is scared, but she also rejoices, for you surrender that frail life for a new one." Water suddenly crashed in on Tom, crushing the breath from his lungs, then somehow the blood from his insides. The tub turned a dark and murky red as that vital force was expunged from him, only to turn a sparkling cyan and flow back into him as he was set gently down in the dry tub. "Mark this day well."

Her presence vanished and Wave fell into the tub with a squeak. "Tom?! Are you OK?"

Tom fell into the now empty tub and was unmoving, very much in shock from becoming a goddess’ bitch as he lay there on his back, eyes blinking and chest rising and falling about the only signs of life for the moment. After a few seconds, he groaned, slowly stirring and bringing a hand to his forehead. “Let’s talk to a god, it’ll be a great idea… my ideas fucking blow,” he muttered, coughing a bit as he weakly lifted his head.

"I've had worse ideas," Eric mentioned. He was starting to look pale, sweat beading on his forehead and starting to rain down as the presence of blood overwhelmed him.

23 - She would Wear Pants, but has no Legs

Wave swiftly gathered Tom up into a fierce hug. "You're alive! I thought she took you away for a moment there, to serve her, you know, like some kind of after-life thing? I didn't know." Her hooves began to explore over his chest and sides. "You look alright. Do you feel alright?"

“I… it felt like she crushed everything out of me that I had, and then kept squeezing. It’s… the single, worst feeling I’ve ever felt in my life,” he muttered, hugging her back and closing his eyes. “Just… what did she do to me, Wave?” he questioned rather fearfully. slowly flexing his legs, getting used to the changed musculature. Glancing towards Eric, Tom raised a brow at his remark, shaking his head. “I… doubt it, physically anyways. It’s like I was a sponge, and she wanted every last molecule of life out of me.”

Eric shrugged, trying to push through the lightheadedness. "That sounds painful... I wonder if that's what it felt like felt like for Poppy. Regardless, I expect better from your goddess than the shadows."

Wave sat up with a delicate frown. "She didn't do anything bad, I don't think? If you don't feel bad, then it's alright, and how can you compare her to shadows anyway? She doesn't get happy when people are scared of her." She leveled a hoof at Tom. "She got a new priest to talk about her! So you know about her now? Like magic, right?"

Tom kept his arms wrapped around her, slowly working on sitting up the best he could as the pain started to fade. “Um, I don’t think so, Wave,” he muttered, closing his eyes and seeing if she’d popped any knowledge into his brain while doing her best to kill him. After a few moments, he opened his eyes once more and shook his head. “Nope, not a clue. Just that I really shouldn’t have asked to talk to your gods, and that’s about it. I have no clue what being a priest is supposed to entail.” Pausing, he looked around, finally noticing a rather obvious detail. “Where’d all the water go?”

Eric pointed at Tom. "In there, somehow. Probably somehow metabolized into some measure of water based power. At a guess anyways."

Wave considered it with a slow clapping of her hooves. Clop. Clop. Clop. "Oh! Yes! Like Eric said. Guarding is what I do, it's a part of me. Priest'ing is what you do, it's a part of you. You just have to relax and, you know, do it. Stop thinking about doing it and just do it, and I bet it'll come to you."

"Or if that fails, you could try praying for a tutorial," Eric suggested, amused as he started to recover himself.

Blinking a few times, Tom looked completely and utterly confused. “I’m totally lost right now,” he muttered. Finally, some things started to kick back in, such as his modesty that had been long abandoned. Hastily, he gently moved Wave to the side and covered himself, blushing heavily, wishing that Shining would return with clothes. Speaking of, he looked at the fins that ran from just above his hooves to about midway up his leg and groaned. “And I think I’m done wearing pants now, too. They look so weird...”

Wave would not be dissuaded so easily. She was brushed aside for a moment but moved quickly back in and started inspecting Tom's form curiously. "You're more like a pony now." She reached out a hoof to brush against those fins. "A pony that's made for the water. When we're done, um, she said Baltimare? What is Baltimare?"

“It’s a city, but where it is? No clue. We’ll be here at least until Cadance returns though.” Tom looked over to Eric, surrendering a leg to Wave’s idle curiosity, knowing that she wouldn’t be dissuaded. “So, Eric… enjoyed watching a goddess make me her bitch?” he weakly joked, sighing.

Eric looked embarrassed. "It was quite... illuminating. Hmm... So, we've got a paladin, a cleric and wizard. Now we just need a rogue to round out the party?" he asked Tom.

Tom weakly chuckled, nodding. “You can have her when she rolls around. Just saying that now,” he joked right back, sighing as he closed his eyes and let his mind drift on the whole priesthood bit.

Wave pointed a hoof directly at Tom. "I was being serious. Just try it, once. Let all the tension go and try to act like you've always been a priest. Act more, um, think less. I don't overthink it when I'm cursing dragons to death by gold burial."

Eric nodded in agreement. “You really should try it. Something… modest in scale for the moment,” he said as he conjured and opened a diet coke. “Maybe try filling up the tub again? Or at least a little bit.”

Cracking his eyes open, Tom nodded. “Fine, I’ll give something a try… and refill the tub, I’m sure you’d enjoy some more time soaking, and I guess I’m sorta tied to the water rather intimately now myself.” Scooting over, he turned both faucets on, running a hand through his hair. “Well… not sure what I’ll be trying to do, but gonna just let my thoughts go and do what seems right, I guess is the best way to put it.” Closing his eyes, Tom did just that.

The water poured smoothly over the hands as Tom tried to focus on it. The water was already filling the tub, and willing it to do so felt like a waste. The water gathered a little closer to Tom, starting to pool around him specifically as if to get him wet first.

Wave clopped her hooves. "See? It's working I think! Now stop doing that, I want the water too."

Eric smirked. “I was thinking more like, conjuring water to fill it, but that’s at least enough to show you have some power,” he said before starting in on his beverage.

Tom opened his eyes, surprised that something had actually happened. “Huh… that’s weird,” he watched the water sort of just, fall away, leveling the tub back out. “I’m curious, too… Wave, do you think you could prick one of my fingers with a tooth? Not much, but just enough to make it bleed.”

Wave flashed her teeth, sharp as they were. "I don't want to hurt you." Having said that, she went right in and chomped his shoulder, which was not a finger at all. The marks she made stung, and bled the same bright cyan that had filled his body before.

“Would you, umm… mind doing the same to me, Wave? If that’s not going to turn it into some weird siren marriage thing,” Eric said with a wink.

“Owch! There’s a difference between pricking my finger to check that yes, my blood did change, and chomping down on my shoulder,” Tom complained, rubbing his shoulder as he got some of the cyan liquid on his finger. “Eric, what, think you might be changed from the shadow magic?” he asked before giving the blood on his finger a quick taste and smell. The blood tasted mostly normal as blood went, if a little off in some small indescribable way.

Wave smiled at Eric. "I only bite to eat, or because I love. Which is it? I've bitten in self defense before, but you're not much of a threat." She looked across to Tom, then to Eric again. "Before I go further, I want an answer. You two keep acting like we're splitting up at every moment, but I thought we were together, like a herd. Are we a family or not?"

“I, umm. I hadn’t realized you thought of me that way as well. Or am I misinterpreting? I don’t… aside from going back to Earth, I don’t think I could bear to be parted for long. Maybe if I had someone else, that’d be one thing, but I’m not someone who can cope without friends. So just… what, exactly, are you proposing Wave?” Eric managed.

Tom rubbed his shoulder as he looked between Wave and Eric. “I see, I’ll have to keep that in mind then, dear,” he replied before addressing the bigger thing. “As for the, herd? Family? I mean, Eric has his family back home, and he hasn’t given up on reuniting with them yet. We, me and you, are married, Wave. Friends? Certainly. Unless you mean something else by that? I’ll admit to be pretty confused now,” he finished, rotating the shoulder that’d been bitten a bit.

It likely didn't help that Wave was just as confused. She leaned against the side of the tub. "You've been with us just as long… Are you going to go to wherever 'home' is, or be happy with what you have, with us?" She smiled gently, keeping her teeth in. "We're not that bad, are we?"

“No, you’re not bad at all,” Eric began, looking down at his hands, and the conjured empty bottle he held. “I… Tom? I know, you don’t know her but… do you think my wife would even accept me back, as I am now? These stupid eyes… I can’t really go back, can I? And… I hate myself for even thinking this, but I don’t really want to. I really do want to just cut off my past and be a new person, freshly minted upon my arrival here.”

“Honestly, I’m not all that sure. The eyes would be a major issue, and not just talking your wife, either. Cadance might be able to help you and all, remember that, but me…” Tom lifted a finned leg and then washed away a bit of that blue blood. “I’m not going anywhere, but I also didn’t have the same ties you did. Honestly, being human? Not much point to it here for me anymore, given all that’s happened. If you want to be family with us, then… why not?” Tom shrugged. “Ultimately, it’s up to you though. I don’t really have any experience to back anything up here, so…”

Wave suddenly perked with a new thought. "Oh! Tom, Eric. I mean, are you going to be jealous? Is this a human thing? One to one?" She put a hoof behind her head. "Then again, Shining Armor and Princess Cadance are one to one? Maybe ponies are doing it that way too now?" She sank into the water a little. "I might be messing all this up."

“Yes, we humans generally go one to one. And jealousy is one of the major reasons… not sure about ponies though. Anyways, if we’re going to do this… I need to ask both of you, honestly. What would you feel if I decided to keep the shadow magic? I’m still torn on it. Especially… knowing I’ll have something here to protect. I don’t… want to be powerless again,” Eric said. “But it’d be far better than being alone, or being a burden to you.”

Tom sighed, slowly making his way to the edge of the tub as well. “Wave, like Eric said, humans are a one to one thing. I’m sure one guy wouldn’t mind having two or more women, but one woman to two guys? That’d be weird looking at it from a romantical sense.” Turning to Eric, Tom shrugged. “I think it’s bad news, but if Cadance can remove the negative influence it’s having on you, and leave you in complete control of it, then? It’s a tool and can be used. Just like how I’m a the bitch of a bitch goddess, I apparently still have some power I can use to my own ends, sorta,” he remarked, shrugging with a strangled chuckle. “No offense meant, of course, Wave,” he hastily added on.

Wave frowned at Tom's words sharply. "Why is it alright for a stallion to have a bunch of mares, but not OK for a mare to have some stallions? That's hardly fair at all. Forget that. I'm just as worthy as any male." She crossed her hooves with a little huff before the current topic of shadows came up. "You don't have to scare people. I'm a guardian, I'll guard you just as well."

24 - Emerging from the Dark

“It’s not that different, Tom’s just being a bit foolish because he isn’t attracted to me and doesn’t want to deal with the awkwardness if he can avoid it. It’s nothing to do with your own worthiness, Wave. If you weren’t worthy in my eyes, we wouldn’t still be having this conversation. Anyways… I have no desire to scare anyone, though I have been wondering if I might be able to become like… a super hero or something? Go to wherever people are already afraid, and drink in that power while I help put an end to whatever’s scaring them? It’s just a thought though. Regardless, I need people who will set me straight if I get tempted to create my own fear, and I trust both of you in that respect. So… I’m inclined to put up with the awkwardness,” Eric said before smiling at Wave with a blush. “Besides, you’re pretty and cuddly and have great curves. All great things in my view.”

“What, I don’t swing that way. I’ve got no interest in guys, thank you very much,” Tom grumbled in extreme agitation, already feeling more than a bit jealous with Eric’s compliments to Wave for some reason. “Wave, look. I love you, not much as I could just yet, but that’ll come in time. Part of what you’re proposing includes physical activities and attraction, and Eric there? Bout the last thing I’d want on my mind when it comes time to get down. We’re all friends here, yeah, but I really am getting extremely uncomfortable about this now,” he griped, ducking down into the still rising water for a few seconds, rubbing his temples.

Wave looked to be in heavy thought, puzzling it through. "So you wouldn't want to hug him then? Or is this about that sex thing from before?" She raised a brow lightly. "I'm not doing that, so there's not much to worry about there." She pushed to the levers and adjusted it so the water flowing was warmer. "But let's put that aside. We're not here to settle our family, which I thought was settled, but I was wrong." She lifted an ear at the two. "You're the aliens, even more than me. What do you want then?"

“I think perhaps settling our family is the most pressing thing at the moment, one way or another. I don’t think I need to be family to continue your journey with you and remain together, for the most part. We’re all going to Baltimare once this meeting with Cadance is concluded, and we’ll decide what to do next from there,” Eric said definitively. “But Wave, as much as I enjoy a good cuddle, I think Tom doesn’t much appreciate it. He wasn’t even really willing to let me carry you when he was exhausted, and that’s a lot less… intimate in nature. And as much as you might be okay with it, I’m not really willing to accept a life without sex any longer than circumstances demand. If that’s not something you’re interested in, I should probably follow your earlier advice and find a suitable mare of my own in time. So… friends?”

Popping back above the water in time to hear Wave’s words, he impulsively wrapped his arms around her from behind, trapping her tail to a degree with his legs. “Wave, you and I will need to have a chat about some things soon, I think, especially when it comes to relationships,” he softly spoke, glancing up to Eric before some of the anger bled from his expression. “Eric, look… I’m sorry. I’m more than a bit on edge, to say the least, and for a moment there you might’ve hit a button. I’m more than happy to call you a friend, as you’ve saved my ass so many times in such a short time. But, Wave, I think before we talk about something like this again, we really do need to talk, as husband and wife, since we are married. Okay?” He gently kissed her cheek from behind, sighing.

Eric nodded to Tom, doing his best to hide the pain he felt at Tom’s anger. “I’m not attracted to you, either, Tom. But you’re welcome to your lovely wife.”

Wave nodded and returned the kiss eagerly before she sank into the water. Things became quiet then, and the evening passed there in the tub. A servant passed by an hour later, but was never seen. Her presence was only made known by the sliding tray of food and the scuttle of her nervous hooves as she hurried away. They were left to enjoy the food at least, and one another's company through the night.

They were guided to a bedroom, not a jail, by a guard, who remained outside their door. Breakfast was carried in by another guard, or was it the same guard? With their armor on, they all looked kind of familiar, but he offered the food with a smile, and they were being treated mostly like guests and less like rabid animals, so that was a step up.

Tom adjusted the loose fitting pair of shorts he was wearing, courtesy of Prince Armor. “So, best night of sleep I’ve ever had while being a ‘prisoner’ I’ve gotta say,” he remarked with a chuckle as they ate breakfast. “Beats the one time I spent the night in jail back on Earth, I’ll say that. Much nicer here, bed is a lot comfier.” Reaching over to Wave, he ran his fingers through her mane with a sigh, feeling mostly content for the first time now since arriving in Equestria.

Wave nibbled at a breakfast roll, looking uncertain. "I've felt odd since we got here." she nestled in against the touch and was soon snuggled against Tom even as she chewed. "Like I have to… do something."

“Can you be more specific?” Eric asked with a yawn from where he had slept on the foot of the bed, arching his back while he contemplated his warring desires to either eat or sleep in longer. “Something your goddess wants you to accomplish here?”

Wave shook her head. "Oh, no, she's more ob--" she cut off suddenly and flopped to the ground, and hurriedly waddled herself off to the restroom and slapped the door shut with a tail. It seems she remembered what it was.

While she was busy, a soft knocking came from the door.

Blinking a few times as he watched Wave hurry to the bathroom, Tom shrugged as he got up and walked to the door, opening it up with a bit of fruit in hand. “Yes?” he questioned, curious who it was at the door.

The smiling face of a pink pony was revealed. Cadance gently entered with a nod towards Tom. Her eyes took in his details curiously, but she didn't make it painfully obvious. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Are you truly a human, or partially, I should say?" Her eyes darted off and she gasped. She raised a hoof to her mouth as she beheld Eric.

Eric sat up, focusing his mind more now that they had company. “I am physically unaltered other than the eyes, so I’d make a better basis for your understanding of what humans look like. A pleasure to meet you as well. I am Eric Wolfgang, the partially transformed person there is Tom Sawyer. And you would be?”

Eyes going a bit wide at the pony before him, Tom was saved from making a fool of himself thanks to Eric. “Princess Cadance, it’s a pleasure to meet you, please, come in,” Tom remarked, stepping aside. “I was human, but now not really, even if I still mostly look the part, I guess. I’ve got some great luck, just like Eric over there does.” Tom stuck a finger out in Eric’s direction.

Cadance bowed her head towards Tom. "You are as you chose to be. I will recognize you as human if you wish." She approached Eric though, her attention largely dominated. "How did you come… You've been foully tainted." A hoof raised to brush against the corners of his eyes with the greatest of care and sympathy. "Does it hurt?"

Eric thought a moment. “I’ve been granted the power to save lives, and used it as such. But I am well aware it has other uses, though perhaps not as aware as some of your ponies. It doesn’t hurt, physically, but… I don’t care for being feared or hated. That does hurt, deeply.”

Tom smiled at Cadance’s words, moving out of the way so that the more pressing concern could be addressed first. “I’ll admit, he’s saved my ass a few times, and he got us on the train where we were… apprehended,” Tom chimed in. “I’ve expressed my concern about it, though, but I can’t fault his original reasoning for it.”

Cadance took a slow breath and moved a hoof along with the motion several times, calming herself down. "Now, I imagine my subjects expect me to blast you until you're gone or clean, but I don't think that's called for." She smiled ever-so gently at Eric. "Instead, I'm going to ask that you trust me, completely, more than any whisper in your head. It may hurt, it might not even work, but if it does, you'll be something that even Sombra tried, but failed, to be."

Eric nodded. “The whisper has… proven itself more worthy of trust than I’ve ever given it. I always feel like it’s telling me the truth to lower my guard until it can tell me that one crucial lie that will destroy me when I believe it. I’ll trust you, and I can bear with some pain. Can you tell me what you intend to attempt?”

“I say trust her, Eric. Can’t be any more weird than ending up a goddess’ priest, after all, yeah?” Tom gave Eric his two cents, moving to his side and resting a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Especially if it’ll get rid of that whisper… like I said, if it wasn’t for that, I don’t really see an issue with it.”

Cadance glanced towards Tom, new questions forming in her mind. There was only time to deal with one human and their oddness at a time. "The darkness does not have to be evil, but it has… a lot of momentum towards that. I want to free you from that." She sat down and raised her hooves. "I have a theory. Humans are very susceptible to the harmonies of this world. The last I met became a pony not long after he came here, just to be partially returned. It would be far from the last change he, then she, and eventually he again would face. Not because they are specifically susceptible to magic, but…"

She took a slow breath. "It is a matter of the mind. They, you, you wanted to change. Am I wrong?"

“No, you’re not wrong,” Eric confirmed. “We come from an age of change in our world, where new changes spread swiftly and inspire even more change. But personally… I’ve always been more comfortable than most with the idea of shadow magic, and well… tired of feeling powerless and irrelevant. It’s not that I want to conquer or bully, just that I want to have the means to make a positive impact. I wanted to help. It’s why I ended up here, at Tom’s side, rather than in someplace more quiet and pleasant. Not that this palace is unpleasant… perhaps I would have arrived here directly instead of trekking through ice and snow, though.”

Cadance gave a sad little smile. "You would have been wiser to take the quiet option, but you are a good person for seeing to the safety of another. Come." She reached with her hooves, cupping Eric's cheeks. "It's not the magic that is foul. Magic is magic, in the end, with no purpose, but the shadow of the north is a terrible thing, looking always for weaknesses, like a frail human mind. I will banish it, and it will hurt, a lot. You may even feel powerless for a while, but I doubt the memory of how it works will be gone forever."

“Do it,” Eric consented, closing his eyes and bracing for the pain.

Her horn glowed a soft pink light and her vision shifted to the love realm. She looked for ties and found a timid wire going towards the other human, barely that of camaraderie-filled friendship. Another tether wove into the bathroom that had a promise of unfulfilled love and she grew curious, but there was little time to go exploring that. There were no shortcuts to soothe the pain to come, so she let the vision fade. She called out, "Bring it in!"

The door opened and a guard trotted in with a crystal heart held in his magic. He carefully set it beside Cadance, saluted, and stepped back outside.

Don't listen to her! She'll break you. Break us! Strike her down and flee with the gifts you have learned, and I'll show you better tricks. The dark whisper sounded very displeased and even, dare one to say, afraid.

25 - Squinting into the Light

Eric smirked, adversarially, as he thought back to the whisper. Is this the best you can do? I don’t feel guilty indulging in a little schadenfreude toward you. I told you, I’m going to set the world record for most pony friends for a shadow wizard, and set the bar so high normal ponies will feel embarrassed they can’t meet it. That’s not a trick you can pull off.

Tom took a step back, nodding to Eric. “I’m sure you’ll be fine, man. Once it’s over, we can compare it to my little experience at least, yeah?” he joked, moving out of the way some and sitting on the bed.

“For Science!” Eric answered Tom with a grin, before his now-opened eyes settled on the Crystal Heart, drinking in its details. “Ready when you are, Princess.”

Cadance directed her horn at the heart-shaped crystal and fired her pink love ray at it. It pulsed powerfully in a wave, but without the proper ceremony, it could only fill a room, which was enough. Eric felt like he was punched in the gut, and the shadowy essence was ripped from him.

It formed an angry sneer in the air as it was carried a few feet away. It tried to rush back for Eric, but Cadance would not have that. She wrapped it up in a field of pink and pulled it close to herself, away from the still reeling human. "You are safe now."

The shadowy emanations were gone, the gift, gone, perhaps to return? She did offer as much, but all there was at that moment was dizzying pain.

Moving from his spot on the bed, Tom helped steady Eric, looking at him with concern. “How are you feeling? It didn’t look that bad, least from out here. Not like getting wrung like a sponge,” he joked again, looking over to Cadance with a smile.

Eric glanced at who he was leaning against long enough to tense for a moment before relaxing and leaning on him fully, his expression quite pained. “It feels… like someone ripped out half my soul. Or probably, more reasonably, ripped the parasite off my soul, along with half the ‘skin’ it was clinging to.” Thoughts of power or powerlessness would come later, when the pain was more memory than present reality.

Cadance moved for the closest window and lowered her head towards the distance. Like a great love cannon, she fired the shred of foul shadow-stuff off into the distance, to trouble her people no more. "Are you alright?" She turned to look at the human she just hurt. "I'm sorry, but there really isn't another way to do that."

Eric managed a weak nod to her question.

“Ah, yeah, that doesn’t sound very pleasant either. Same thing, just different methods to get about it? Least there wasn’t any blood with that, just a lot of icky looking shadowy stuff.” Speaking of, Tom turned to Cadance, having noticed how she launched the shadow away. “You can’t destroy it?”

Cadance shook her head. "I represent love, not light. They are not the same thing. The most I can do is hurt it, sometimes to seal it. Even sealing it is a tremendous effort." She let out a soft sigh. "And not permanent, still…" She smiled at Tom. "Welcome. Tom was it?"

“Yes, Princess Cadance, Tom Sawyer,” he reintroduced himself, now that the shadow issue was dealt with. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, and thanks for helping Eric out.” Speaking of Eric, Tom moved an arm around his shoulder to help support him, feeling just how limp Eric felt at the moment. “I wonder what’s taking Wave so long…” he quietly said, glancing towards the bathroom.

Cadance glanced towards the bathroom. "It is often ill-advised to disturb a mare in there." She returned her eyes to Tom. "Please, tell me your tale? Have you been in Equestria long? Did you mean to come here?"

“Not really, I was at work, back on Earth, and all of a sudden words just started popping up. Thought it was someone messing with me, but then blam, ended up here, in Equestria. In the ruins of a temple, actually.” Tom paused, reaching into the pocket on the shorts he was wearing, pulling out the sphere that had his house in it. “Apparently I was put out there cause I brought my entire house along,” he remarked with a chuckle.

“It was hard going, met Wave Swimmer, who when she gets out of the bathroom I’ll introduce you to, and then Eric dropped in just in time to trigger a rolling boulder trap that nearly killed all three of us.” Tom continued on, giving Cadance an extremely brief summary of events leading up till now. “It’s hard to think that it’s only been, what, perhaps a week at most since I got here? Already married, part pony, and apparently a priest of a goddess that no one really worships anymore.”

Cadance reached out with a hoof and brushed the new fur along one of Tom's legs. "I'm sorry if your stay in Equestria has been difficult so far. You're in a safe place now." She smiled gently. "I can see you have a good heart." Or at least she saw the firm if confused line of love that flowed both ways from the bathroom. "But I can't recommend the two of you--three of you? I can't recommend the three of you stay here. Once you have fallen to the shadow, it can happen again. Better you all get far away."

Tom glanced to the bathroom again, and then looked at Eric, who appeared to have actually fallen unconscious at the moment, or perhaps just asleep? “We were going to go to Baltimare next, there’s a siren living there that can tell Wave and myself a lot about sirens as a whole,” Tom paused, a look of indecision on his face for a few moments. “What’s it like, being a pony, anyways? I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m not going to go back to Earth, so… do you think it would be a good idea to just let these changes finish?”

Cadance perked an ear. "I've always been a pony, so that's hard to explain exactly. Actually, since you'll be on the rails anyway, why don't you stop by Ponyville and ask for Twilight Sparkle. She's a princess, and she's been human before. She could explain it far better than I could." she put a hoof on her chest. "As for going with it or remaining human? That's a very personal question. There's nothing wrong with you, as you, in either way. There's a human in Ponyville who has remained quite well as one, without problem."

“Softer this way,” Eric mentioned before opening his eyes. “Speaking of changes… are my eyes back to normal?”

Nodding, Tom smiled a bit. “Thanks, that sounds like really good advice. The other issue, is, well, more personal. How exactly do you bring up how a relationship is supposed to be when the person, well siren in question is thousands of years out of date with times and doesn’t think of sex as important?” he weakly questioned with a chuckle before turning to look at Eric’s eyes, letting his hand fall from the shoulder.

Cadance's attention slid towards Eric to look him over. "Your eyes look the same. I assume that's normal for a human?" Humans have slit eyes? Must be standard. Her eyes darted back to Tom and his more complex question. "I haven't met a siren before. Let me talk to her, before you go. In fact, why don't the two of you wait downstairs?" She pointed to the door.

Getting to his feet, Tom gratefully nodded to Cadance. “Thank you, Princess. You’ve been a massive help to us both, well to all three of us I imagine really,” he said before holding out a hand to help Eric up. “And Eric? They’re blue again, but your pupils are slit like mine are now. So, I imagine you’ll still be able to see quite well in the dark.”

Eric grunted against the pain as he climbed to his own feet with Tom’s help. “Good enough. Much less needlessly intimidating. Thank you so much, Princess. Despite the pain, you’ve lifted a great weight from me. If there’s ever a way I can repay you, don’t hesitate to ask.”

Cadance dipped her head towards Eric. "Find a happy life and you'll have done enough. Send a letter if you're feeling generous." she smiled gently. "Now, wait for me please? The guards will show you to the dining hall."

“We both will, Princess. And if Lost Chance and Footnote are fine, I’d like to exchange letters with them as well. They’ve got that tablet, and I guess now that I’m a priest, might need it again some day in the future,” Tom remarked, starting towards the door.

“We wouldn’t leave without Wave Swimmer, regardless,” Eric mentioned. “Though I would like to talk to Lost Chance before we leave town. I owe her a few things best delivered in person. Do you have any means to locate them? I’m not sure they would have made it back to town yet, and I worry the blizzard may have been a problem for them.”

Cadance gave a little chuckle. "Stallions, they're the same of any species. Go, shoo. I'm going to talk to your lady friend, then we can see about the rest of that." She made a gentle shooing motion with her forehooves.

Tom nodded, opening the door and leaving it open for Eric, peering around for a guard. “Ah, cool. Princess Cadance asked that you show myself and Eric here to the dining hall?”

Eric smirked at Cadance’s comment. “Good luck with Wave Swimmer. At least we got the best expert on the case now,” he said as he followed Tom out, looking around the palace with fresh eyes.

The two were led away by the guards, who had no reason left to be much wary of their guests, and so talked animatedly along the way about how lovely the princess was. Apparently how hot their princess was not an uncommon topic among the guards, even if she was entirely off-limits.

Inside the room, Cadance waited patiently for Wave to emerge. The siren poked her snout out with a happy sigh. "I'm alright now!" She looked around and didn't see her husband or friend, just a curious pink pony. "Hello?"

Cadance nodded at Wave. "Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Cadance. To be exact: Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but we don't need to worry about formalities." She reached out a hoof and held it towards Wave with a smile.

Wave looked at it without immediate trust. "Are you here to boss me around?"

Cadance tilted her head. "Whyever would you think that? You are a guest, and a friend, I hope. I want to talk to you about your stallion."

That drew her attention and Wave accepted her hoof. Cadance hefted her up easily and set Wave down on a large cushion. "There we are, now, what do you know about yourself, as a siren?"

Wave knew precious little, and said as much. Cadance pouted a little. "I see. May I examine you? It's for your good, I promise." She held up a hoof. "Pinkie Promise, the most serious kind of promise there is."

Wave smiled at the gesture as Cadance started going through the Pinkie Promise motion. "Well, alright, do what you have to do."

Cadance slid in a bit closer and allowed her hooves to explore the siren curiously, to see what parts were the same as any pony, and which parts were not. "You know, he's worried for you. He cares for you a great deal, and wants you to be happy."

Wave sighed softly. "I know that. I'm the one that doesn't understand things. I've been in that stupid temple for thousands of years, and now, wham, here I am, with someone who knows somehow more than me despite being an alien. It's so--Eek!" She squirmed as Cadance found a sensitive spot. "Watch it."

Cadance nodded lightly. "I think you can give him what he was hinting at. Does this hurt?" She tried to stimulate the female with the least amount of lechery involved. Her eyes never left Wave's.

Wave started to flush at the contact and her tail spasmed as she let out a little coo. "Yes! Yes I feel that, I mean, no, no, it doesn't hurt. What are you doing?"

Cadance drew her hoof back. "Nothing I'll repeat, but something your husband will be glad to do with you. Couples do this sort of things, as a matter of trust, and pleasure, and eventually foal making. Do you want a foal?"

Wave's breath started to return to normal as the stimulation stopped. "I didn't think about it… I don't age, it seems kind of selfish to think of foals. Why would I 'pass on' something if I'm never going to die?"

Cadance raised a brow. "I can see the logic in that, but you can enjoy the presence of your mate without that, if you want. I know he does. He thinks he should, to prove how much he loves you, and he wants to love you this much." She spread her hooves wide. "How does that make you feel?"

Wave developed a little smile. "I… I'm really glad that he likes me. I was worried he was just humoring me. Are you sure?"

Cadance nodded slowly. "Absolutely. Now you show him where I rubbed you, but don't tell him I talked about it, just guide him to it, and you'll see. He'll get right to it and try his hardest to make you happy. He's a stallion. Human, pony, doesn't matter. He wants a happy and fulfilled mare."

Wave grinned with thoughts of the future. "I'll do that, promise. Do you have a library?"

Cadance tilted her head. "The city has a fine library, why?"

Wave pointed to a window. "I want to go there. Can we visit?"

She nodded. "Of course, now let's get you back to your stallion." She lifted Wave gently in her magic and trotted off to find the boys.

26 - Bros Forever

Elsewhere, Eric slowly regained his normal gait as they walked, the pain fading slowly to memory. “Sorry about that whole… mess with Wave earlier. I should have just shut her idea down sooner, rather than letting her make it a whole awkward mess for all of us.”

Tom nodded as they walked along. “It’s, well not okay I guess, but you’re not at fault, Eric. I think we all made it into a bigger issue than it had to be, and things just got a bit out of control for a moment,” he slowly replied, shrugging. “Wave is rather beautiful, and if a beautiful woman wanted to think of you as more, well… hard to resist, yeah? We just haven’t even had any time to sort things out between us, trying to bring another into things? A mess.”

Eric nodded, idly fingering the wedding band still on his finger. “Wave’s just naive, I at least should have known better. Though… perhaps a compromise? Why don’t we declare ourselves brothers? Then Wave can have me as family like she wants, just not, well, how she doesn’t actually want?”

Chuckling at Eric’s idea, Tom shrugged. “That sounds like an interesting way to give her what she wants. You might have a good idea about me, when it comes to her. I find myself crumpling to her wants and needs. Plus, so far you’ve been a great friend, Eric, so…” Tom trailed off, holding out his hand. “Brothers indeed. You wanna do any over the top theatrics to go with it? I’m sure we could find a knife if we really wanted to,” he joked.

“I’m pretty sure the correct ritual is sharing sake, but I don’t have any on hand,” Eric joked in return, before taking Tom’s hand, clasping midway up the forearm, and dragging the surprised Tom into a hug with his other arm. “So this’ll have to do for now, bro.”

Stumbling right into Eric’s hug, Tom returned it, if only to regain his balance. “Different things for different places, really, I’ve seen the whole cutting palms thing before, so many ways to do it,” tom remarked with a chuckle, finding his balance. “Bro, huh? Always wanted a sibling, this’ll work just fine, just twenty something years later than I’d wanted.”

Eric released him, satisfied. “I’m not so great around blood, as it turns out. But really it’s the commitment that matters. No matter what, we’ve got each other’s backs, right? Though, speaking of commitments… Wave’s got Cadance talking to her right now, you need any words of encouragement or advice yourself, little bro?”

“You probably wouldn’t want any of this weird blood of mine, anyways, who knows what might happen. As for Wave, well,” Tom paused, going silent for a few seconds and faintly blushing. “Just need to find my confidence, I think? She’s physically attractive enough, and well, earlier I had to fight a certain urge, so…” Scratching the back of his neck nervously, he kept walking after the guard, hurrying just a bit and nearly stumbling.

Eric nodded. “Just borrow a bit of her confidence. She chose you for a reason. Sure, it was just opportunity when you first met, but she didn’t agree to marry you because you just happened to be there, or because you pressured her into it. You didn’t even bring up marriage, she did. And as far as sex has been from her mind up until now, well. If all her parts work vaguely like a woman’s, she’ll love it if you do a decent job. Just don’t be afraid to use your hands, and give each other a lot of grace while you’re learning how it all fits together. And if they don’t have that kind of sensation, then, well… I’m betting she learns to enjoy pleasuring you anyways. Because she loves you.”

“It’s… a learning relationship, certainly. The other thing on my mind is perhaps letting her just finish changing me. Being human really isn’t all that special, here in Equestria really. I’ll wait till we get to Ponyville and talk to Twilight, perhaps,” Tom muttered, shrugging his shoulders. “Better let Wave change me than her goddess… gods really are assholes.”

Eric chuckled. “You’re my bro, either way, and Wave certainly wouldn’t reject you for it. Take your time and make your choice. I wouldn’t want to give up hands, personally, but I’m sure you can get used to the hoof thing eventually. The ponies seem pretty dexterous with them, at least after a lifetime of practice. I’ve… actually been considering experimenting with changing myself. With Poppy, I learned I can both add and remove alterations, as long as the subject is either willing or, well, incapacitated. I’m hesitant to try on myself, probably start with something small, but then technically I already did the eyes…” Eric rambled.

Eventually they ended up in the dining hall. The guards saluted and wandered off on their own business. A modest amount of food was kept available for guests of the castle, along with crystal berry juice and water in crystal carafes for anyone's thirst.

It was scarcely a minute before Cadance trotted into the room with Wave floating beside her. On seeing Tom, Wave perked right up and reached for him. Cadance was only too happy to gently drift the siren towards her husband. "Here we are."

Tom warmly smiled and gently took hold of Wave from Cadance’s magic, kissing her. “Did you have a good talk with Cadance, Wave?” he quietly asked, hugging her tightly as he glanced to Eric with a friendly smile. “And, guess what? Eric and I decided we’d be brothers, so now we’re all family. Figured you’d like to hear that.”

Eric nodded. “It’s a human tradition. Any two guys who have been through some serious shit together can swear to be brothers from then on. So, I guess that makes me your brother-in-law. No awkwardness needed. Hugs optional.”

Wave looked a little confused at the concept of brotherly ties, but nodded despite it. "Well, alright? So we're all family now, right?"

Cadance looked between the snuggling Wave and her stallion-companions with a faintly raised brow. The ties she saw were… "Do you… Is everything alright? If you need to speak to me, just let a guard know and I'll be back, but I should return to work." She turned from the gathering. "Please, feel at home, and say hello to little Twilight for me."

“Yes, Wave, we’re all family, which is closer than friends, but not as close as a husband is,” Tom calmly explained, letting up on the hug to toy with that lovely mane of hers as he looked up to Cadance. “Princess, we’re alright, I think. Just need time to properly sort things out, you know? And, again, thank you so much for the help,” he finished, turning his attention back to Wave, resting his head on her shoulder.

Eric waved to the princess, before turning to focus on getting some breakfast. “So there’s some things to know about bros, Wave. For one… we’re allowed to fight each other at any time for any reason, just nothing lethal or maiming… it’s part of being bros. But we’re still good once the fight’s over, so you don’t have to worry or intercede… but if anyone else threatens either of us, they’re in for a no holds barred double-team of doom,” Eric began rambling, a tone of amusement to his voice that made it hard to tell how serious he was.

Wave lifted a hoof. "I can fight with you two, what's the difference?" She rubbed her chin. "I suppose it doesn't matter too much in the end, so long as we're family now, right?" She nuzzled into Tom's cheek, then held out an arm/leg to Eric, inviting him as well. "Cadance was very helpful, I think. She showed me things I didn't know, or forgot. I'm not sure after this long."

Eric accepted the hug, hugging both Wave and Tom firmly before stepping back. “Spouses should never fight, not physically anyways. Verbally… will happen, just be quick to forgive.”

Breaking off from that group hug, Tom smiled at Wave. “I’m glad to hear that, we can spend some time together later, if you’d like?” he offered, having a general idea of what Cadance might have mentioned. “And like Eric said, family having a squabble is different than spouses having one, somehow, I guess?” he chuckled. “Also, I’ve started thinking about it… would you care if I went ahead and went full pony, Wave?”

Wave bobbed her head eagerly. "Later, sure. Um, what do you mean by that though? I mean, I love you as you are, but…" She tried to reconcile her feelings with a frown. "Any time we get close, I feel like I should keep rubbing that off. I get those itches around Eric too, but he's been pretty insistent about staying away from me. Hay, he just made up a new term to not be too close to me."

Tom looked somewhat surprised at her answer. “That’s… rather odd. Our humanity is making you itch?” he curiously asked, lightly massaging her neck. “I’d miss having hands, myself, that’d probably be the worst part of it all, I imagine. Given this whirlwind… I’d rather give in and enjoy it than fight it. I’ll still be me either way, which is all that truly matters in the end I’d say,” he mused aloud before leaning in to gently kiss Wave’s neck.

"I'm only holding back for Tom’s sake, Wave, you know that. The 'bro' thing might be made up, but not by me. Though... wonder how you will feel when I start altering myself, " Eric mused. “Did Poppy give you anything like that ‘itch’?”

Wave made a soft and happy sound as her neck was rubbed along. "I... I like your hands too. They're very clever and nice and…" She clapped her hooves together, looking between the two humans with growing uncertainty. "Maybe… Maybe this is my issue. I should get ahold of myself, before I let myself do anything more, even if you feel ready. I don't want to hurt either of you." She smiled and exposed her sharp teeth. "We're a family now, and that makes that my responsibility too."

Smiling, Tom slightly nodded at Wave’s thought. “Wave, yes, we are a family now, and if you want to take time to figure out more for yourself before doing too much with us, that’s perfectly fine. Just remember, family helps each other out when they need it, so if you need anything, just ask,” Tom finished, hands moving from her neck to shoulders, gently massaging them next.

Looking to Eric, Tom raised a brow in curiosity. “And what do you mean by altering yourself? The, would it still be called shadow magic? If it comes back, do you think you could honestly do that?” he questioned.

Eric shrugged. “The eyes are still altered, and don’t seem to be a problem now that the shadow itself is gone. Beyond that? I would want to experiment a bit cautiously, make sure I can undo whatever I do, if I can get some time to do so. But I think there’s something to be said for making temporary changes to suit the situation, rather than permanent conversions. Like… you’re a lot better suited to the water now, I imagine, but what would we do if you went a few steps further and had a flipper instead of hind legs, like Wave? You wouldn’t be able to carry her on land anymore, and you’d need someone else’s help like she does now, right?”

A soft knocking came from the door to the dining hall before Flash Sentry poked his snout in. "Hello there. The Princess said to arrange train tickets for you, here." He produced a hoof with tickets balanced on it nicely. "Are you visiting Ponyville? Say hi to Twilight for me. It's been a while since we had a chance to chat."

Wave reached a hoof for the tickets and claimed them between them before her mouth took them into her grip. "Thanks. We will! Does Twilight have a library too?"

“Will do, thanks for these,” Tom replied, gently taking the tickets from Wave’s mouth with a hand, passing them over to Eric. “You’ve got the backpack, if you don’t mind holding onto them?” he asked. “And, something tells me Twilight will have a library, Wave. Trust me.”

Eric accepted the tickets, looking them over briefly before securing them in a side pocket. “Twilight, Twilight… I think she was a librarian or something? My pony knowledge is pretty lacking, but I even I know that one. I think she was big on research or something too, might be a great person to ask about sirens when we get there. Hey, Flash. Is there a specific time for these tickets? I don’t want to miss the train if we do some things before leaving town.”

Flash tilted his head lightly at Eric. "Yeah, she was a librarian before, but she's a princess pretty full time now. Be sure to be polite to her." He raised a hoof to point at where the tickets vanished to. "Not specifically, but she said you should get moving while the coast is clear. I mean, you're not being kicked out or anything, but it'd be pretty bad if something bad happened to you."

Sighing, Tom nodded as he understood what was being said. “She’d rather not come out and say that we’re being booted out, but right now there’s a country full of ponies who think Sombra is back, and an angry shadow somewhere out there,” he paused, pointing his hand in a few random directions, “that probably isn’t too happy right now. Right?” he questioned with resignation.

Eric sighed. “I still need to find out if Lost Chance and… Footnote are okay, and apologize to her, in person if I can. I guess maybe I can write her a letter? That’s…” Eric shook his head, looking a bit defeated.

Flash smiled at Eric. "Oh sure. You can write them any time. I checked around and they were still out of town. You beat them back here, I guess? I'll send a letter myself when they come back, and tell them where you went to, no problem."

27 - This Place Looks Familiar

Tom reached out to pat Eric’s shoulder. “Cheer up, I’m certain they’ll be fine. And, even if we cannot come back here, I know a surefire way to get them to come to us…” he trailed off a bit conspiratorially with a grin. “More sit down time with a certain lovely temple guardian, and her newly minted priest, yeah? Footnote would follow us in an instant, and Lost Chance would follow him to make sure he didn’t leave his wings behind!”

Eric looked up at Flash, before pulling off his backpack and digging in it. “Can you deliver something to her when she gets back here? Along with a brief message?” he offered Flash the festival hat. “Tell her I said ‘everything is okay’. I think she’ll know what it means. If not, she can always ask when Footnote does finally drag her down to see us again.”

Flash accepted the hat, even as he looked at it a bit oddly. He hadn't held a festival hat in person before, and he seemed to find its curious construction amusing on some level. He put it on his own head, where it added no dignity to him. "No problem. Do you remember where the train station is?"

Wave pointed in its basic direction. "Can we take some food with us?" Flash had no objection, and Wave reached for the table. As soon as she was close enough, she scooped up a big selection and started chewing. "Ready."

Snickering a bit, Tom stood up and looked over to Eric. “If I didn’t know any better, Wave, I’d say Eric would like Lost Chance to be his family, too,” he teased Eric, finally being the one to jab for once as he carefully lifted Wave so as to not disturb the massive amount of food she’d decided to swipe. “And, I believe we do, yes. A guide to make sure we don’t get lost wouldn’t hurt, though.”

Eric flushed brightly, stammering a bit. “I don’t even, maybe, I don’t know. I don’t know her that well, I just feel I owe her an apology for what I did wrong, and want to make sure she didn’t get hurt on my account. Though… I wouldn’t mind getting to know her better.”

Wave perked an ear curiously. "Do you like her?" She didn't have much in the way of jealousy in her tone. "We know her less than we even know each other, and we're still working on that."

Flash excused himself. "I'll be sure to tell them you stopped by. Good luck!" And off he went, returning to his other guarding duties.

Walking towards the door, Tom smirked at Eric. “You don’t need to justify yourself to me, I just saw an opportunity and took it… and it was oh so sweet, I must say,” he finished, chuckling. “So, train station, then a train ride to Ponyville. If we’re lucky, it’ll be a calm visit?”

Eric followed along, slipping his backpack back in place as he walked. “I, well… I like her a bit from what time we’ve spent together, but as you say we barely know each other. I’m not in a rush to drag her into our crazy family, though at least I know she’s not completely averse to travel and exploration. We couldn’t exactly make anything work with a homebody at this point.”

With their words shared, the group set off from the castle/palace. The guards saluted them in a friendly enough fashion as they went. Without the shadowed eyes or obvious taint, the crystal ponies were polite enough to wave and smile as they went by. Wave smiled back at them, intimidating no few with her sharp fangs.

“You know, one day… it’d be nice to actually come here and relax, I think. It really is a gorgeous city,” Tom mused aloud as they made their way to the station. “I’ll admit, one of my guilty pleasures was art, and this looks like it came straight from an artist’s imagination.”

Eric’s demeanor and posture was much brighter walking away as a guest than it had been arriving as a suspicious prisoner. He returned a few of the waves as well, enjoying the positive feedback. “I kind of see what you mean Tom. Hey, do you suppose they have like… banks here? It’d be great to have, like, a checkbook or something instead of a backpack full of heavy coin. As great as it is to not be broke, it’d be nice if the space were available to carry other things.”

Wave looked a little confused. "What would you get here, if we're leaving it? Shouldn't we check in the new town?" She seemed to know not what a bank was or why one would want the services of one.

Turning to look at Eric, Tom shrugged as well as he could. “Honestly? We can probably ask Princess Twilight about that. Wave’s right, I’m sure they’ve got some sort of banking system in place, but it’d make more sense to have it closer to where we’ll be. I want to say that the Empire is pretty far removed from Equestria.”

“Alright. I’ll carry our load as far as Ponyville, and then we check into it. I guess expecting an international banking system without an internet is a bit much. Besides, I’m kind of getting used to having the weight there,” Eric replied. “I guess we don’t have much else we need to take care of then… any supplies you want before we get on the train?”

Wave held up one of the little pastries she nabbed. "Nope, I have what I need." She chewed on the flakey little thing and looked pleased. She had been appeased with baked goods and was ready for a journey on the train.

“Eric, relax… it’s just a bit of a train ride to Ponyville, and then when we’re there, we’ll make sure to do everything we can think of before moving on to Baltimare, okay? It should be a nice, relaxing ride there, I hope.” Tom remarked, snatching a smaller pastry from Wave with a grin.

Eric nodded, and then just let everything go, enjoying the sunshine and absolute lack of life threatening danger. He didn’t have anything more to say, or do, or help with for now. Nothing to do but be.

With everything settled, they soon arrived at the train. The tickets got them aboard and to even their own private room to relax. Wave was happy with the presence of a tub, and spent the trip there in the water, splashing and generally making merry as Equestria went by in the window.

Tom took up a spot near the tub, letting his feet soak for a bit, eyes drifting between the world outside, those fins on his legs as they rippled in the water, and Wave and Eric. He hadn’t been on a train in well over a decade before getting to Equestria, and this second ride was much better than the first had proven to be. One thing bugged him more than the rest, however. “So, Wave… this being a priest thing. She ever gonna tell me what it is she wants me to do?” he asked, looking to her and Eric both.

Eric looked up curiously from where he was seated, and had been trying to focus on his own magic, trying to replicate his early success at conjuring diet coke. As his most practiced spell he expected it would be the easiest to relearn. The complete lack of response was getting a bit frustrating and, frankly, boring so he turned his focus to his friends with a soft “hmm?”

Wave shook her head. "I honestly don't know, but!" She lifted a hoof high. "I can think of where to start. The priests always did a water dance, right when the sun was setting. I'll show it to you, when we have a pool large enough. Do you think Ponyville will have a big pool?"

“A water dance?” Tom asked with a laugh, nodding. “I’m sure they’ll have a lake or something around, I should probably get a feel for what I can do. Who knows when it’ll come in handy?” he questioned, reaching over and scratching at one of her ears, smiling. “Glad to see that you’re enjoying yourself, Wave, and Eric?” he questioned, looking over. “What you thinking about?”

“Diet coke, and my regrettable lack of it. Or more relevantly, my inability to conjure it. It’s the only thing I did more than once with the magic other than teleporting, and I figured I would start there. So far… nothing. I’m not terribly surprised, but I’ll just have to keep trying on occasion until I can get something to work.” Eric shook his head. “Still glad to be shadow free, though.”

The threat of shadows become more of a distant thing as they drew out of the snowy north and the terrain became green and fertile. They had time to sleep and to awaken and eat. Their tickets, as it turned out, included meals on the train, so they were well-cared for by the time they approached Ponyville. The scenic little town stood ready to receive them, or at least its train station did as they came in for a smooth stop in front of it.

Departing the train, there was a single person waiting for them, a purple dragon by the name of Spike. He raised a claw and waved excitedly on spotting the lot of them, a gesture that Wave returned with a hoof from where she rode along in Tom's grasp.

“Hey there,” Tom greeted Spike, nodding his head since his hands were once again full. “I’m guessing you’re our greeting party, hey?” he questioned, smiling at him. “I’m Tom, this here is Wave, and over there is Eric.”

Eric was grinning uncontrollably at Spike as he approached, too distracted to wave. “Nonhostile dragon,” he managed to say quietly, as his eyes drank in every detail.

Spike tilted his head at Eric curiously. "Sure am. Hey Tom, Wave, Eric?" He paused a bit to make sure he got the names right, then pointed way past the station itself at the huge crystal castle. "That's where Twilight lives. Welcome to Ponyville. Um, she wanted me to ask if you wanted a more 'modest' place to hang out for now?"

Wave squinted a little at Spike. "You're much nicer than the last dragon I ran into."

He flashed a big thumbs up. "I'm a pretty nice guy, or I try to be."

Tom looked to the castle, where Spike had been pointing at. “Nah, I’m sure we’ll be fine for the moment waiting to meet her, Spike. Speaking of, it’s good to meet you,” he offered up, chuckling a bit. “The last dragon we met wanted to eat us, and Eric there seems to have a fascination with them. So, forgive his staring? He’s harmless,” Tom finished, grinning at Eric.

Eric finally shook his head. "Sorry. Don’t mean to be rude. We have legends of dragons, but you're the first I've gotten to meet properly. Lead the way, I'll be good."

Spike was fairly accustomed to rough treatment, and the group had been mostly polite so far, so he had little issue leading them along towards the castle proper. "Is it, uh, true that you're a siren, Wave? I met a few of those, once, but I didn't really get a chance to have a conversation with any of them."

Wave bobbed her head. "The tail didn't give it away? Were they nice? Awesome? What did you think of them? Are they close? Are--"

Spike held up his claws. "Woah woah woah. They're not here, and I don't know too much about them, sorry. Maybe Twilight will know more."

Tom laughed that Spike had beaten him at stopping Wave's tide of questions. “Wave, dear, it’s a bit more polite to ask one question at a time, and then wait for an answer,” he humorously chided her, grinning still. “I think I can safely speak for all of us that we’re looking forward to meeting Twilight, Spike.”

Eric nodded. "Any specific advice to avoid offending her? I'm hoping my dealings with Princesses remain consistently positive."

Spike frowned a little with thought. "Uh, don't call her a nerd or a geek. If you like books, you're off to a good start; just be polite."

28 - Meeting the Herd

Spike led the way up to the castle and reached for the door when a human opened it for him, headed out. The athletically-shaped human tilted his head at Spike. "Hey Spikester, just heading out for some ball with… Who's that?" He looked at the guests curiously.

"Hey Jake! This is Eric, Wave, and Tom." He pointed at each in turn at he introduced them. "They're coming to meet Twilight."

“Good thing to know,” Tom mused quietly on Spike’s advice about Twilight before catching sight of the human who was still completely human. “Uh, yeah. We were hoping to talk with Twilight a bit, been here for a bit over a week or so now, I think?” Tom questioned, turning to look at Eric.

Eric shrugged. "I was bad at tracking time when I had regular access to a calendar. Nice to meet you, Jake." Eric offered a handshake.

Jake laughed good-naturedly. "Oh man, you have no idea. I stopped trying to keep track of time around here. I think it's just the way all the ponies live around here or something? You'll be losing track of seasons and years in no time, promise." He accepted the offered handshake and gave it a firm pump. "Nice to meet you all though. I really should get going. RD gets super pissed when I dawdle."

Wave leaned in to whisper to Tom, "He's the worst of them all. Just being near him makes me itch all over. I think he's way overdue to change, but he's just… not. I guess the world hasn't gotten to him."

“Nice meeting you, Jake, perhaps at some point we can chat?” Tom offered up, slightly nodding to Wave, but not bringing it up just yet. “I have a feeling we’ll be in town for at least a few days, but we’ll be moving on at some point, I imagine.”

"We do have another destination in mind," Eric confirmed. "Though we have time to spare, for now."

Jake raised a hand to wave. "Sweet, catch you all later." And off he went with a parting word of advice, "Don't mention her weight."

Spike blushed. "Oh yeah, good idea." He stepped into the house and gestured for the others to come in.

Following Spike inside, Tom whispered back to Wave. “So, since Jake is still completely human, it makes you itch all over, huh? Maybe Twilight can help figure out why that is?” he whispered before speaking up. “Why’d he mention the weight?” Tom quietly asked Spike.

"Pregnant?" Eric inquired quietly, while wondering about all the whispering.

Spike nodded, but before he could answer, Twilight entered with a belly that was clearly rounded and pudged. She was a pregnant mare, but her look hadn't changed much. She smiled at her guests. "Oh, hello there." She focused on Wave and approached her and Tom directly. "You must be the siren? Cadance sent word about you! I can't wait to have a look at you!"

Wave got a little nervous quickly. "I'm not an experiment, miss princess."

Twilight waved off the objection. "It's for your own good, and ours. It won't hurt even a tiny bit, promise."

Eric cut in quickly. "Excuse me, Princess, would you happen to know where I could find any books about shadow magic? I heard you are quite well read on all manner of magical lore... and given my recent past I wish to be as informed as humanly possible."

At Twilight’s rather insistent approach, Tom took a step back and rotated around a bit so that he was between Wave and Twilight, smiling at Eric somewhat thankfully as he started to address her. “Princess? My wife isn’t an experiment, and I gotta say… you’re making her a bit nervous. If you’d like to do something, politely ask first, please?” he explained, although his voice was perhaps a tad shaky for the moment.

Twilight became confused at the talk of wives. "You're married? Oh my!" She conjured a scrap of paper and a quill and began to write busily. "There's so much to document." She only just barely took note of Eric's query. "Hmm? Oh! Shadow magic, hmm… I did borrow a book on the topic after I got back from the Crystal Empire some time ago." She pointed a hoof at a bookshelf and a thick tome rushed to the hoof, held in her pink magic. "It's really made for magical adepts though, so you're not going to get much out of it."

Reaching out, Tom tried to grab that quill in his hand as he looked at Eric for some help. “Twilight? How about we all sit down, first? I’ll even consent to being poked and prodded at, if you’ll slow down a bit. We did just get off a very long train ride.”

"May I?" Eric asked as he took the tome and plopped down. He turned to the first page and started reading. "It wouldn't be the first reference I've had to pour through without proper and prior contextualization."

Twilight waved a wing dismissively. "Please, go ahead." It was only then that she noticed that her quill wasn't in her grip. Oh, Tom said things. "Yes yes, of course. Spike!"

"Right here, Twi." He had never moved far from here.

"Yes, Spike, see that they're comfortable and get them some rooms, and some food, thank you." She pointed to the stairs.

Wave frowned a little and squeezed at Tom. "We only need one room. We're one family."

“Wave? Eric could stand to use his own room, family doesn’t mean we all sleep together. We’ll still be spending time together though, okay?” he softly whispered before speaking up and looking at Twilight, holding out her quill. “Here you go, Princess. Sorry, but you seemed really wrapped up in your note taking there. I’ll let you poke and prod me if you’d like to, just dial it down a little bit?” he restated.

Eric was too zoned out to join the great rooms debate, muttering to himself about some terms he was trying to make sense of from context alone.

Twilight held up a hoof. "Two rooms it is!"

Spike saluted and gestured for the group to follow him. "Right this way. Dinner's not gonna be ready for a while, fair warning." And up he went along the stairs.

Tom followed Spike up the stairs, giving him a grateful smile. “Is she always that… enthusiastic when it comes to studying something she doesn’t know about, then?” Tom asked, not wanting to make any assumptions from what he knew about the show about anyone or anything in it.

Eric managed enough awareness to follow, carrying the tome with him. "I'll have to get Twilight to teach me some of this jargon..."

Spike shook his head. "Twilight? Oh man, everything she can sink her teeth into is fair game." He looked to Eric and his book curiously, but moved along and reached a door. "You two can stay in this one, it's a little bigger, and your friend can be right next door." He pointed at the next door. "They don't really have locks, but everyone here is pretty polite, so don't sweat it."

Wave suddenly flopped, hitting the floor with an energetic thrust, then scootching herself towards her door. Spike peered at her confusedly.

“I… I don’t know,” Tom said in confusion, staring at his now empty hands and then quickly darting inside after Wave. “Thanks, Spike, but gotta see what’s up!” he said over his shoulder, scooping Wave up as he caught up with her. “What’s up, Wave? Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

Wave accepted Tom's offer despite her sudden bid for freedom. She hugged close as she giggled. "Why aren't you excited? I haven't had a room that was really mine since the temple! I want to see it!"

Spike gave a light salute. "Well, enjoy! I have to get back to work. Enjoy your stay," And off he went.

Eric slipped into his own room, sitting on the bed with his new treasure.

Smiling at her, Tom looked around the room before settling on her face as his focus. “I didn’t even think of that, Wave. As far as I can remember, I’ve always had my own room,” he explained, walking around the spacious room slowly before grinning. “That bed looks really soft, too,” he mischievously said before jumping backwards, landing on his back with Wave on his chest, laughing loudly.

Before they could get cozy, the presence of another was felt. "I heard there was a siren here? I've missed one for so long!" announced a deep male voice.

Wave turned quickly to see a male siren smiling at her, and she looked confused, deeply and profoundly. "Um… Who are you?"

Hugging Wave closer, Tom turned his head to face the new speaker, slowly sitting up. “Umm… can I help you?” he asked, just a bit annoyed at the fact someone could just intrude in their room like that as he examined the newcomer closely.

The male siren was shaped… desirably. He had muscles that stood out against his fur a little, and his tail was clearly strong and ready to propel him through water with ease. He lifted from the ground with an aura of magic as he moved towards the two. 'Oh ho, she has a mate? I am Fast Change. A pleasure to meet you both."

“Fast Change?” Tom enquired, tilting his head to the side ever so curiously. “I’m Tom Sawyer, and this here is Wave Swimmer,” he greeted the male, somewhat on guard as he got curious and tried reaching into those newfound powers of his as he continued speaking. “So… what brings you here?”

Wave was not nearly as friendly. She allowed Fast Change to come in close before she lashed out. Wave sank her sharp teeth into one of Fast's waving legs and she bit him quite viciously with a snarl of clearly lethal intent.

Fast Change squealed in surprise, and his/her form vanished along with any shred of her concentration. The mare flopped to the ground, but her leg was still held. "Mercy! Mercy!"

Tom was thoroughly stunned at first, unable to do much more than hold on to Wave before the mare’s words kicked his brain back into action. “WAVE! Let her go, now!” he screamed, eyes wide and his heart threatening to beat out of his chest as the sight before him.

Wave spat out Fast Change's leg with a grunt and scowled at her. "Don't you dare do that again!"

Fast Change held her injured hoof with her intact forehoof, sniffling at a few tears that forced their way from her. "It was just a joke. A little prank."

“I, you, that,” Tom muttered, looking between Wave and Fast, still trying to process what had just happened. “What. Wave, what was that all about? Why did you bite her?” he asked before looking over to Fast. “And you… just, how did you do that? And, uh,” Tom paused, a hand halfway outstretched. He was a priest, so perhaps he could heal it? Focusing on that still unexplored power, he tried his best to focus on mending the mare’s leg. Joke or not, she didn’t deserve what happened.

A spritz of salt water suddenly washed out over Fast's leg and she hissed in pain. "Ow ow ow, easy with that." She got up to her three working legs. "What did you just do? I didn't know humans had…" She paused as she looked over Tom's very inhuman parts. "I guess you aren't one of those. What are you?"

Wave scowled at her. "He's mine, and you tried to steal me away from him." She crossed her legs. "Like I said, never again, or I won't let go, ever."

“I… don’t think she was trying to steal me, Wave,” Tom slowly remarked, pulling his hand back and sighing. “And what I did, still learning? I was human, still am to some degree, just with more?” he slowly questioned, looking at her leg. “I tried to heal it, cause I’m sorta a priest, but guess not.” That said, he turned his attention back to Wave, making sure she was facing him. “Wave, dear, please try not to bite anyone? It’s not like someone is going to steal me away, you know. I’ve pretty well thrown my lot in with you,” he softly spoke, finishing it with a kiss.

Wave smiled at the kiss and her general posture became less threatening. "I don't promise that. I'll bite anyone that tries to separate us. It's my job, to guard it as well as any treasure. It's at least as valuable, don't you think?"

Fast Change flashed a bright smile. "I like your attitude. You keep him nice and safe. I'm sorry I scared you, but I wasn't trying to intrude, just play a joke, promise. So you're the siren, obviously." She looked Wave over a moment. "I hope you don't mind my saying so, but you're both very fetching creatures in your own ways."

Tom brushed a bit of Wave’s mane and smiled, rubbing her neck as he sighed. “I can’t argue with that, but try to hold it back a bit longer, perhaps?” he asked before nodding to Fast. “And I’m sorry that your joke went so wrong, but she is a very possessive and lovely siren. Not quite sure how you get fetching from me, though, but thank you. So, Fast Change, if it doesn’t hurt too much,” he asked, pointing at her injured leg, “who are you, really?”

29 - No Means No

Fast Change kept the injured leg up off the ground. It was clearly injured, but she didn't make much noise about it. "I'm almost jealous. Most of my wives and husband aren't so quick to defend me. Well, except Night Watch, she'd bend somepony in half if she thought it'd save me. You're lucky she wasn't around when that happened. I wouldn't want you two duking it out over me, even if that is kind of a sexy idea."

Wave became a bit confused. She leaned against the petting, but her eyes were solidly on the enigma that was Fast Change. "Do you know her? I don't understand her…"

“I don’t know her, Wave, but she’s definitely an interesting pony, it looks like. You are a pony, yes? I mean, changelings can shift, too, but I don’t know much about that.” Tom sighed, shaking his head. “I’d rather not see anyone get into a fight, especially over a, misunderstanding.”

Fast Change reared up a bit so she could wave a hoof unimpeded. "Oh I tried the changeling queen thing once. It was kind of nice for a while, but I missed my mates way too much. I'm happier as a pony. I'm 'just' a unicorn, or whatever else I get the urge to be." With a sudden glow of magic, she showed off a practiced spell and became a human, like a slightly distorted version of Jake. "'Sup?"

Wave shuddered violently as her form played havoc with the innate sense she had for things not of the world. She suddenly leaped from Tom's arms, but she didn't bite Fast, she… began petting her/him, rubbing away the humanity in wide swathes as she hyperventilated.

“That’s… pretty damn fun looking, actually,” Tom remarked moments before Wave performed her leap. Tom followed with a leap of his own a few moments afterwards, arms wrapping around her as he pulled back, trying to get her back up onto the bed. “Wave, come on already,” he complained as he pulled back, groaning. “You okay, Fast Change?” Tom asked, his view obstructed by Wave as he held her tightly to him.

Fast flopped to the ground with a stunned look on their half-formed face. They were caught between pony and human in an awkward blend between the two. "I… Wow…" She became her old self as she regained some sense of her space. "I never ran into anypony that could mess with my magic that well before."

Wave had the decency to look ashamed. "I… I wasn't trying. You did that thing, and it felt like I was on fire, and I had to put myself out, by putting you out. I'm sorry."

Tom squeezed Wave, kissing her briefly again before moving on to simply petting her comfortingly. “Fast? Wave gets an itch of sorts around humans, apparently, and has the desire to, well, ‘make them fit in’ I guess would be the best way to look at it? It’s partly why I’ve got hooves and furry legs, although the fins and gills were from her goddess. I guess that what you did was even worse than when we bumped into Jake, Wave could control herself with him.”

Fast grinned at Wave. "Can you do that whenever you want? I want to try that out later!" She hopped to her three working legs. "I should get going. If you want to chat, let me know." With no hard feelings apparent, she departed.

Wave watched her go before nuzzling into Tom. "I don't understand her, but I'm glad she's not angry with me. I… I suppose she wasn't trying to steal you. I don't think she's capable of that."

“Yeah, she seems really cool, if a bit weird,” Tom agreed, wrapping Wave up in a hug as he fell back to the bed again, sighing. “And she wants to try your thing out, whatever you’d like to call it. Definitely an odd one.” He confirmed, chuckling to himself. “But, how are you doing, Wave? You looked really freaked out there for a bit.”

Wave brushed over her fur and scales with her hooves. "Now that she isn't doing that thing she did, I don't feel like I'm about to explode. Other than that, I'm fine." She pointed to the bed. "Put me down."

“That’s good to hear. I know me and Eric make you itch a bit, just wanted to make sure it wasn’t heightened or anything after that.” Tom gently set her down onto the bed next to him, turning to look at her. “Eric and I don’t bug you too much or anything?” he asked once more.

She stretched out the moment she was down, then held out her hooves to him. "Let me see your hands." She didn't answer his question, however.

Shifting around on the bed a bit, Tom got on his knees and held out both of his hands within easy reach of Wave’s hooves.

Wave placed her hooves gently over the hands. She nuzzled over the two gently before she nodded. "You're not the only thing in this world with fingers," she said as much to herself as anyone else. She kissed over the digits and licked up over each finger, starting to groom and love over them.

Nodding, Tom smiled somewhat thoughtfully as he suppressed the urge to giggle at her licks. He had a vague idea of what could be coming, but letting her do what she wanted for now. “Very true, I imagine that there’s a lot of different folk out there. We’ve already seen quite a few ourself, haven’t we? This wacky adventure we’re on that Eric seems to enjoy the most,” he mused aloud with a chuckle. “Who knows, maybe I could even come to look forward to adventuring!”

Wave suddenly shuddered, swallowing back a reaction, but it was too powerful. She leaned in and licked over those hands with her eyes closing of their own volition. "Do you trust her? The goddess we share? I can… She's inside me again. She won't let me stop. Do you trust her?"

“I,” he started, pulling his hands apart a little bit as he wiggled his fingers against her tongue. “I honestly don’t know, Wave, but I’m a bit of a sap. She kept you around, and I’m rather attached to you now, despite such a short time. A hopeless romantic? I think that’s what folks call it. Gods are just so detached, they’re kinda dicks.” His conclusion came to, he brought his hands back to her tongue, presenting them both. “I’ve already decided to follow this road, wherever it might lead.”

Wave smiled just before she pressed forward, nudging her husband to the soft fabric of the bed and clambering in over him. "Good, then we can be happy together." Her hooves pawed over his sides and up over his chest as warm tingles spread from everywhere she touched. "You can be a human." She opened her eyes, suddenly growing more confident. "You can still be human."

“Oh?” Tom curiously questioned, squirming a bit from those warm tingles. “How so?” he curiously asked, hugging her tightly. “I’m,” he paused, looking into her clear eyes. “I’m me either way, Wave, so it hasn’t been bothering as much as one might think. I want to be closer to you, though."

The door suddenly opened. "I found it!" came Twilight's voice as she casually interrupted the intimate moment.

Wave squeaked and scowled at her. She covered Tom's hands in her hooves as they tingled between them. "Twilight! You are… You are rude, very rude."

Groaning, Tom turned to look at Twilight, annoyance clearly written on his face. “Twilight? Knocking. It’s something people do. It’s polite. I’m fairly certain I asked you to tone things down, yeah?” he grumbled, wriggling his fingers against Wave’s hooves as his eyes rolled.

Twilight looked between the two, where hands and hooves were in contact. "Um, what are you doing?"

Wave whickered in annoyance, but then tuned Twilight out and began rubbing her hooves together more determinedly. The warm pulse ran through the hands, but… did anything change? It looked the same even when she brought her hooves back.

“Attempting to spend some time together!” Tom shot out, Twilight obviously not getting the hint. At the pulse, he glanced down to his hands, curiously looking at them and wriggling his fingers again before shrugging and running his fingers through the fur on Wave’s legs right above the hoof. “Please, for the love of god, give us some time alone? We’ll be here for awhile, so there’ll be plenty of time for other stuff. Okay?” he tried bargaining with her.

Wave gently nuzzled into one of his hands when it approached her legs. She looked toward Twilight. "I'm done for now. What did you want to share that was that important?"

Twilight clopped her hooves together. "Oh great! Look here." She hurried forward as a book lifted out of a bag she wore and plopped on the bed beside the two. "I found a book that has several compelling clues to sirens and I wanted to verify its authenticity with you."

Lightly scratching at Wave’s neck, Tom groaned again and sat up with Wave in his lap. “Twilight? We don’t really know anything about sirens. Not much, anyways,” he amended, shaking his head. “Does everyone here just barge into someone else’s room without knocking or showing any hint of common courtesy?” Tom asked with a frown.

Twilight opened the book with her magic. Wave leaned in, a bit curious about the book, and calmed with Tom's presence. "Look here," said Twilight, tapping the page. "It said that, in ancient times, sirens that visited the land were seen to hover and float with a seemingly innate magic of their own. While they couldn't fly, like a pegasus, they could easily move with about a foot or two of distance from the ground at most without effort."

Beating down his growing anger at her complete inability to focus beyond her current spasm attack of knowledge, which Tom knew he should have seen coming in the first place, he turned to Wave. “This ringing any bells to you, Wave? I know it’s been such a long time for you.”

Wave frowned a little at the idealistic picture of a siren hovering in the air in front of a pony. The siren in the picture had musical notes coming out of her snout, and the pony had dizzy-looking eyes. "I'm not sure how I'd do that, any of that…"

Twilight sat on her haunches and applied her magic, trying to lift Wave right up and away. "Let's try reminding you how it feels to float, and then maybe it'll come on its own!"

Tom took insult with this idea, rather enjoying having Wave on his lap, plus her attitude was making him rather angry. From the show, he had figured her to be the act first think later type, but it was so much worse when in person. One arm wrapped around Wave, the other reached for her horn, closing his hand around it in the hopes of keeping her from being able to use magic. “Twilight! Stop, now,” Tom firmly stated.

Twilight squawked as her wings went wide. Her magic was disrupted with the unexpected contact with her horn. With the lapse, Wave was dropped into Tom's waiting grip. Wave perked an ear back at Tom before nuzzling him in quiet thanks.

As for Twilight, she huffed in annoyance. "I'm not hurting anypony. How is she going to learn if we don't allow her to learn?"

Eric popped into the doorway, frowning a bit from his growing headache. All the exclamations from next door weren’t making it any easier for a total noob to grasp adept level shadow magic from a book written for a species with magic-organs he didn’t have. “Twilight, where we come from we have an important phrase for situations like this. I want you to repeat it until it sticks in your mind. ‘No means no.’”

30 - Denying a Scholar her Treats

Tom gratefully looked to Eric before turning to Twilight, hand still on her horn. “Twilight, look, I get it. You like knowledge, yeah? But, consent is key.” Letting go of her horn, he sighed. “If you had simply knocked in the first place, or been polite about it, we probably would have been perfectly fine saying yes. But, you barge in here, interrupt a moment Wave and I were having, and then try to pry her out of my arms without even asking. Would you like someone doing that to you?”

"I would probably show them a few moves," spoke a new voice as a new figure moved in around Eric. Her form was large, more swollen than Twilight, but moving with a greater control of herself than the self-admitted geek could be. Her leathery wings ruffled as she frowned at Twilight. "But, since I know this one, I'll settle for denying her any sweet or sour treats tonight."

Twilight paled quickly. "What? No! I didn't mean… I'm sorry!"

Wave started to smile with apparent amusement at their interaction. "Miss Twilight? What did you plan to do, besides throw me and hope I caught myself before I hit the ground?"

“Thanks for the help,” Eric said quietly to the newcomer. “If I might ask, what kind of mare are you?”

“Thank you,” Tom said to the newcomer, mirroring Eric’s sentiment on the matter. “And that doesn’t sound like a really good way to see if Wave remembers how to float… there’s a reason we’re going to be headed to Baltimare in a few days, specifically to learn about sirens from a siren.”

The bat-winged pony directed at herself with one of her wings. "Me? I'm Night Watch, a pleasure, humans, or what's left of them." She glanced towards Twilight. "Answer them, or no snacks gets continued."

Twilight fidgeted with obvious dread at being further denied the clearly coveted snacks. "Oh, um. I was just going to hold you up at the right height and see if you reacted to it at all. I wouldn't throw you, ma'am, no sir ree, no way no how." The fact that she was fibbing was not very well hidden.

“I don’t think Wave Swimmer much appreciates being Science’d, especially without prior consent. And as they said, we are planning to go consult someone actually well versed in that particular topic. I on the other hand could actually use your expertise,” Eric offered, trying once again to drag Twilight’s attention away from the siren.

Tom’s eyes went wide as he shook his head to Eric, but it was most likely already too late for him. “Night Watch, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Tom, this lovely siren is Wave Swimmer, and the soon to be experiment over there is Eric.”

Night Watch nodded at Tom. "The feeling's mutual. I never met a siren either, hello there, Miss Swimmer. As for you…" She moved up to Twilight just to bite her ear. Twilight squeaked at the harsh fangy-bite and Night tugged twice to make a clear message. "You will be polite to your guests."

Wave's remaining anger continued to dissolve watching Twilight get her comeuppance from the other pony. She leaned against Tom before proposing. "Let's try it, but there is a catch. If you can float me and it works, you can have your snack tonight, but if you can't do it, then no snacks for two evenings."

Tom snickered a bit as he gently moved Wave off of him, kissing her nose for a moment. “Let’s see what she does, hey? Gonna go bug Eric for a moment,” he added on, getting up off the bed and walking over to Eric, nodding to him as he spoke as quietly as possible. “How’s the reading been? Anything useful for you?”

Eric replied quietly, “it’s hard going, as I don’t have all the relevant organs of the target audience, but I have been gleaning a fair bit. I am actually hoping Twilight has some idea how to measure whether I’m wasting my time, or can actually potentially get things working again.”

Twilight got distracted. She looked towards Eric as he spoke, only to have her ear tugged again. "Wave first!"

Twilight grunted and squirmed out of Night Watch's grasp. "Fine fine! Here we go…" She lifted her hooves as her horn began to glow, at least in the view of the humans. She lifted Wave from the bed carefully and floated her over the floor. "How does that feel?"

Nodding to Eric, Tom looked between Twilight and Wave. “That makes sense, hopefully it’ll come back. Cadance claimed it might, anyways, but I should probably,” he started, walking over to where Wave was at and sliding underneath her with a wink to her. “Just in case, Wave, but I have faith that you’ll figure it out,” he explained, wrapping his hands underneath his head.

Wave squirmed in the air before giving Tom a brief smile. "Should I be… trying to do something? It just feels like you're holding me right now." She made a swimming motion, barely moving in Twilight's telekinetic grip. "I want to float."

Night Watch perked an ear. "Twilight, put her down, gently. Wave, you get back to where she had you. Don't ask how to do it, just do it, like you were a wizard or something, and I bet it'll come to you."

Returning that smile, Tom moved to hold out his hands so Twilight could carefully drop Wave down before she took Night’s advice. “Hear that, Eric? A wizard or something. Maybe your stuff is partly like that, just think, yeah?” he asked jokingly, grinning at his friend.

“It pretty much was before Cadance did her thing,” Eric said with a shrug. “Well, usually. The ‘remove fear’ spell had basically the opposite of the intended effect.”

Twilight looked displeased. "Magic doesn't work that way." She set Wave down gently, but her face suddenly brightened. "Oh wait, spells don't work that way, but this isn't spells!"

Night Watch nodded. "Exactly. Now go on, Wave, you can do it now that you know you can do it."

Wave didn't appear entirely convinced, but she was ready to try. She took a slow breath and reached up for the space she was in. "Flyyyy! Come on, in the air!" She huffed and puffed and even jumped in place, to little effect. She scowled at Twilight. "It didn't work, you're going to lose your snack."

Twilight squeaked. "No no no! Don't give up yet. Um, wait! I have an idea. Imagine the air was just like the water you swim in, and you're just floating on the top of it."

“Swimming… in the air. Interesting way to look at it,” Tom muttered, smiling at Wave. “Why not? Might as well try, yeah? Although, now…” he paused, looking to Eric first, before settling on Night. “Is there anywhere in town, or just outside, where one can go swimming? I’d like to do that at some point.”

Wave reached up again, then withdrew her hooves. Like water… She looked back at her powerful tail and began to wave it to and fro. She closed her eyes and envisioned swimming along with it, and she began to lift up into the air under the subtle movements of that powerful limb. Her eyes shot open and she exclaimed with surprise and joy. "I'm doing it!"

Eric looked about to comment before Wave lifted up into the air, then shrugged. “Congratulations, Wave. Though I’m sure that must be extremely tiring, and you’ll still need to be carried around a lot. Wink, wink,” he suggested playfully.

“Like I could tell her no,” Tom muttered, shaking his head in amusement. “Congratulations though, Wave, looks like you’re a ton more mobile this way now. How does it feel? Like swimming, but in the air?” he questioned as he grinned, reaching his fingers to her belly and lightly tickling her.

She bobbed her head at Tom. "It's just like that." She did a quick circle, easily guiding herself with all the ease of being in water. She couldn't lift much higher than a foot off the ground, give or take, but she couldn't care less about that. "This is wonderful!"

Night Watch smirked a bit. "Looks like I have to share the treats tonight."

Twilight huffed. "You just wanted it all for yourself." She poked Night lightly, who showed absolutely no shame.

Climbing back to his feet, Tom smiled at Wave before looking at the squabbling couple, or so he assumed. “So, are you two an item, then?” he curiously enquired, glancing over to Eric.

Night pointed at Twilight. "Twilight Sparkle is but a mare that is a member of the same herd I am."

Twilight flushed as that came out. "You make that sound so incredibly inappropriate, but, yes. I am a member of a herd, with Night Watch here, and Fast Change, have you met her? Our stallion is on an important mission at the moment." She sighed softly. "He'll be back soon, hopefully."

“A herd?” Eric inquired. “So that is a thing here then? Are they limited to one stallion with a number of mares, or more generalized? Just out of curiosity…”

“You seemed to interact like a married couple, so was curious, thanks.” Tom shrugged his shoulders before raising a brow at Eric, rolling his eyes for a brief second. His attention shifted right back to Wave, a smile creeping over his face.

Wave became quite intrigued at the ongoing discussion of how ponies could be bound together. She floated over Twilight and Night. "Yes, please tell us all about it." Her tail wagged almost like an eager dog with her excitement.

Twilight tilted her head a little. "Traditionally, it's one stallion and some mares. I suppose that makes sense. Biologically, only one male is technically required for several females to do their part, but legally speaking, there's no such restriction. There have been marriages or herds with different ratios. Why, there have been a few stallion-only marriages, but those cause a bit of sca--"

Night Watch prodded Twilight, cutting off her words. "You've told them enough, Twilight."

Eric nodded, “enough about that topic, at least. It’s good to know, but if I could, Princess, I’d like your help investigating the after effects of Cadance’s magic on my person. Do you think you could spare the time?”

Thankful that the topic seemed to have been passed rather quickly, Tom shrugged. If Eric was going to bring Twilight’s scientific drive upon himself, Tom might as well help things on along. “I’m assuming not many folks play host to the shadow of the north, yeah?”

Twilight perked with renewed drive. "Oh, I'd love to help with that." She trailed off a little and glanced at Night, who nodded. With permission secured, Twilight began to grin. "Tell me all about it. How did you come into contact with dark magic? Does it have any after effects? What are you trying to do now?"

Eric himself began to reflect her excitement, all too happy to explain. “I first heard from the shadow of the north when we were trying to make our way back to civilization from Wave’s temple. It offered me power in exchange for ‘existing as more than just whispers’, though I’m fairly certain it had a more nefarious end goal in mind. It was able to grant me the ability to use shadow magic while it was present, and quite easily at that. However, it was clearly a jerk. Also, it’s use had a side effect of making my eyes more… ominous looking. You’ll have to ask Tom, I never did get to see a mirror…” Eric began rambling.

Tom had moved over to the bed, taking a seat on its edge and watching them all. “He had Sombra eyes. Green, bit of red, wisps of shadow rolling off the edges,” Tom paused, humming thoughtfully. “You know, Eric, I’m sure some metal bands would’ve loved how they looked.”

Wave moved through the air with her newfound ease. She moved to settle beside Tom and snuggle into him. "Green and purple. It was very obvious. I never saw it before, or since, once Cadance blasted it."

Twilight nodded her head thoughtfully as she looked Eric over. "Did you both get your eyes from her?" She pointed at Wave. "Or was that part of the dark magic? Did you spread it to Tom?"

“Despite the similarities, Tom’s was from Wave’s power, mine are from my own,” Eric answered. “I’m not aware of any other remaining after effects, other than Poppy’s modified state, but I was hoping you could somehow… I don’t know, analyze me? Cadance seemed to think I’d be able to regain control over shadow magic eventually, but thus far nothing.”

“Yup, mine came solely from Wave. Went to carry her out of the temple, couldn’t see in the pitch black, so voila. First change, of a few as you’ve noticed by now,” he explained, wrapping an arm around Wave. “I think his eyes changed after using shadow magic, really, while that voice was in him.”

Twilight clopped her hooves together. "Well since it's your idea… Let's go analyze you." Without any further prompting, she lifted Eric right off the ground and trotted from the room with a happy little whistle on her lips. There was science to be done, and, by golly, she was looking forward to it.

31 - Inspired Science

“For Science!” Eric concurred, excitedly, pulling his legs up into a crosslegged position as he rode the magic. “I’d particularly like to see if there’s any chance I will be able to regain the power, and if there’s anything that can be done to expedite it."

With nothing in her way, Twilight made off with Eric. Night Watch dipped her head at the happy couple. "I'll leave you two to have some privacy. If you need anything else, you just shout." She rose to her hooves and trotted heavily out of the room, leaving Tom and Wave alone.

“Thank you, Night, we will,” Tom warmly remarked, chuckling at the sight of Eric being carted off. Turning to Wave, he wrapped her up in his arms and fell back against the bed, smiling at her. “Now, where were we?”

In the basement, Twilight set Eric down on a chair, then put a fancy-looking helmet that could double for draining pasta on his head. "Let's start with getting some baseline measurements. I wish we could have gotten some before the event, but we can't go back in time."

“We can’t? Oh well, much too headache inducing, anyways, I’m sure. I love the aesthetics, in here, by the way,” Eric said as he settled into place. “So, baseline. Go for it.”

Twilight zapped a machine with her horn and it began to spew out reams of papers that she looked over with soft 'hmm's and 'ohhh's. "You don't match Jake's readings very well at all. There are clearly lingering effects, or you're just different humans. I'm afraid I haven't had many to compare with."

“Well, we’re different, but we’re both male humans. So what kinds of differences are you seeing then?” Eric inquired.

Twilight frowned at the readouts thoughtfully. "Some of this, I admit, I'm just guessing at. I'd need a much wider sample size to start making educated guesses. I would like to try something." She smiled sweetly. "Permission to use magic?"

“Permission granted, though I would like to know what you’re doing,” Eric confirmed, waiting eagerly to see what would happen.

Twilight lit up Eric's form with her magic as she looked him over. Odd little patterns played over her horn, each one intricate and detailed, and each one playing quite quickly before the next. "Are you a student of the arcane arts?"

“I’m aspiring to be one. What I did back home was… ‘arcane’ in the sense of being exceedingly complicated and well outside most people’s understanding. But we didn’t have magic, so I’m learning that mostly from scratch. Your book has been… informative, if difficult,” Eric answered.

Twilight lifted an ear. "You've only had it for a little while. I can't imagine you got that much out of it. Do you even know the alphabet?" She played the alphabet over her horn rather quickly, not that most people could see it, but humans and trained mages could with practice.

“I’m sure you could have gotten much more. In truth that ‘alphabet’ and a fair number of terms are too foreign to be of use to me, yet, but that doesn’t mean I got nothing from reading through. For one, my goal at the moment was to learn a better sense of what shadow magic can and cannot do,” Eric admitted. “I’m not sure how relevant your alphabet will prove. I don’t have a horn, but will it be possible to… I don’t know, emulate one with something akin to sign-language? I have no idea.”

Twilight tilted her head, looking curious a moment. "Well that would be the challenge, wouldn't it? You have to direct the energy. For a unicorn…" She reached up and poked at her horn. "That happens up here. We control the volume, the flow, the signalling for the universe, all of that, up here. You don't have one, as you pointed out. If you plan to use magic, you're going to need an alternative way to do the same thing."

Eric nodded. “I was hoping your analysis might help point to how I managed to do it before. The shadow played a large part, but he made a point of pushing me to doing it on my own, or so it seemed. Back then it was mostly just a matter of will and focus. If it was within the limits of my power, I basically just had to… wish it? I imagine he was translating that, somehow. I don’t know. You’re the experienced magic user here.”

Twilight frowned a little. "That makes perfect sense. It needed you to work up your reserves and general output, but it was handling all the rest. The signalling, the volume control, all of the fine details were left to it to handle." She waved a hoof at Eric. "I'm glad Cadance got to you when she did, or you'd eventually be a puppet for that thing."

“That sounds about right. It was careful enough to never let me catch it in a lie, or break my trust, but I always had the sense that it was just waiting for the right moment. Biding its time and waiting for the point when it could betray me in the most spectacular way. Though I guess it could have been a lot more anticlimactic than I realized, simply whittling away my true self until I was too far gone to notice the change. So without it then… am I well and truly mundane? Or is there still a chance I could learn to do this stuff myself?” Eric inquired.

Twilight brightened with a wide smile. "No! If you had any output at all, that means it's there. If it could make its own output, it wouldn't need you." She wobbled a hoof. "That wouldn't make sense. It needed you to generate the magic. The only part we're missing is… the rest of it. Technically, earth ponies have magic, but explaining how to get it out of them, that's the tricky part."

“I had a particular spell I got a lot of practice with. I’ve been trying to repeat it on the way over here to no success. Would you mind seeing if you can see any sign of it working, with your analysis thingy? It’d be good to know if I’m on the right track in the slightest, or completely off base,” Eric asked. “If it’s at least getting things moving, maybe I can try something simpler.”

Pinkie suddenly poked out from behind Twilight. "You mean I could learn magic?"

Twilight sprang ahead with a cry of alarm. "Pinkie! I swear… You already have magic! You don't need more magic!"

Pinkie tilted her head. "You really think so? Huh…"

“Oh! The Pink one! The one with the legendary powers of the Fourth Wall!” Eric said. “Eric Wolfgang,” he said with an offered hand. “Forgive me, I don’t know your name…”

Pinkie rose up to two legs and shook hands with Eric eagerly with one of her own hooves with remarkable ease. "Pleased to meet you, Eric! Wolfgang huh? Do you have a special talent with wolves? That's pretty cool! Oh! Party." She pulled out a card and offered it to Eric, not that she seemed to have pockets.

Eric took the card, glancing it over before pocketing it. “Well I once turned a vicious dire wolf into a cute little puppy. But she got hurt so I had to turn her into a smaller, sleeker ninja-wolf that could teleport herself out of the chasm she fell into. I hope she’s okay, and being a good wolf now.”

Pinkie looked a little baffled. Twilight stepped in and nudged Pinkie out of the way. "Rewind a little bit there. What's this about wolves? What did you do?"

“Hmm? Oh,” Eric began, switching contexts. “We were attacked by a shadow-infused giant wolf monster thing, but I was able to subdue it with shadow magic and then remove the power from it. And when I did, it turned into a cute little puppy dog. But our pony friends that were with us ran in terror during the attack, and got lost in a blizzard, so we tried to find them. Poppy accidently fell into a chasm and broke her leg, so I upgraded her with a bit of shadow magic to a form that could self heal and teleport, to get back out. She, uh… ran away when I tried to undo it though. It’s really hard to catch a teleporting wolf that doesn’t want to be caught.”

Pinkie blinked cluelessly. "Huh, well be sure to be there!" And off she went, vanishing into whatever temporal anomaly allowed her to get around town.

Twilight peeked behind the machine Pinkie had ducked behind, but found nothing. She didn't expect much, and turned back to Eric. "It sure sounds like you were working yourself out pretty good. That dark magic… thing… would have taken you over in no time at all. You should write Cadance a thank you letter."

“She slipped past the Fourth Wall again, I take it?” Eric asked, following the ponies’ antics with his eyes. “I’ll write that letter, later. But in a sense we owe the shadow our lives. Both for that, and for the, uh, insufficiently well aimed teleportation that got us onto the train to Cadance’s place. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried teleporting onto a moving train? I don’t recommend it.”

Twilight raised a brow. "I couldn't more strongly recommend against that. You could have killed yourself, and your friends." She let out a soft breath. Ding! The machine she was reading spat out new set of papers for her to look over. "Fascinating…"

“It arguably would have beat starving and/or freezing to death. And in the end it merely resulted in a unique form of food fight,” Eric countered. “What did you find?”

Twilight lifted the paper that was held in her magic. "Well, it's not a perfected science so far, but your general thaumic levels are quite acceptable. For coming from a magic-starved world, you're doing very well. I'd put you on the level of a healthy earth or pegasus pony. The trick remains, how to channel it into something… I don't know what the 'natural' human ways are."

“Well… according to legends it involves speaking otherwise incomprehensible words and/or making hand gestures, but those legends may be completely bullshit. So why don’t we start by seeing if there’s any measurable reaction to… this!” Eric focused really, really hard on making a diet coke appear. Come on… always Coca-Cola… He tried to recall exactly how it felt when he had done it successfully before, cursing the casual ease of his prior success.

Twilight stared at where Eric was staring. When nothing happened after a while, she raised a hoof. "Maybe you need a horn too?"

Eric sighed and relaxed. “Alright. That would simplify a lot of things, I imagine. Is that something you can arrange?”

Twilight tapped at her chin. "It would be better if the princess, another princess that is, did something that dramatic, but…" She pointed out in a direction Eric didn't know. "Zecora could probably manage it. She knows about little tricks of magic that can even surprise Celestia."

“Alright. I suppose it isn’t urgent, and we can put that on our todo list after we get back from Baltimare. Unless you think I should prioritize it? I can probably continue studying abstractly for now, if you would let me borrow the book… or perhaps one a bit more targeted toward neophytes like myself?” Eric responded. “Though… I have a party to attend before we leave. Is Zecora close?”

Twilight shrugged softly. "Your friends said they'd stay a day or two, and you were invited to a party, so why not say hello to her? Besides, she's here in the castle often recently, looking after me and Night Watch, so there's plenty of opportunity to introduce yourself."

“It’s decided then. Introduce me the next time she stops by. We can discuss the matter, then, and see what she has to say,” Eric said. “Is there anything else you want to analyze?”

Twilight took that as a cue and depressed a button on the big machine. Beep! "You're clean of outside influences. If you hadn't been exposed to magic-use to begin with, you'd be entirely normal as far as I can see. You could just let this go, but you don't strike me as that sort of pony?"

“Not really. I guess if I had reason to believe I’d be going home soon. Is that something particularly likely? If I’m going to stay here, my professional skillset is useless, aside from my practice at rapidly learning new systems… which will hopefully serve me well as a wizard,” he shrugged. “And while we have a fair amount of bits for the moment, and generous treatment by Princesses, I expect we’ll need and want to earn our own way eventually.”

Twilight winced lightly. "I tried to reach your homeworld, or at least one of the human homeworlds, and it didn't work out very well at all. I've promised not to try that again." She moved to disengage Eric from the monitoring equipment with her hooves and magic. "There's not a lot to learn until you can do it, I warn. It's like learning the reading alphabet while blind, not that practical."

32 - Learning to Live Together

“It is if you have access to braille,” Eric countered, as he rose from the seat.. “And I’d like to keep reading, while I have time for it. Though… I wonder. I think I’ll talk to Wave about it, whenever she and her husband aren’t busy playing newlyweds. Her transformative powers might be able to give me a horn, possibly even without making Tom dangerously jealous. It’s worth at least asking.”

Twilight nodded. "That is actually an excellent idea. You should try that first. You've already been exposed to her and her, um, what kind of magic was she using anyway? I'll need to study that, later. For now, you're free to go!"

“Thanks. I think it’s some kind of divine, goddess powered magic? Her temple guardian status apparently came with a few perks, like being able to go hundreds of years without pooping. Or dying,” Eric said, as he started to make his way back toward the rooms. “She started transforming Tom without really thinking about it, but her goddess did a big chunk personally, like the gills.”

Twilight shook her head with some obvious doubt. "If she's as old as she claims to be, maybe she is using the magic and just forgot she could do it, like the flying? The whole 'god' thing is just her coping mechanism for dealing with it all. A mental trick! We don't have 'gods', after all."

“I suspect it’s more akin to the shadow of the north, only less evil and more… water themed? She’d probably smite me for likening her to that thing, and I’m sure there’s a bunch of very relevant differences, but well… I’ve seen Wave’s goddess possess her before. Don’t ask her to show you, it sucks for her, seriously. But I’m convinced her goddess is a real thing that actually exists,” Eric explained. “Though in our culture the word ‘god’ can have a pretty big range of meanings.”

Twilight shrugged softly. "I learned my lesson long ago to not come between ponies and their beliefs, even if I personally don't agree with them. If she's comfortable with her 'god', then what a fine 'god it is. All hail and all that." She waved a hoof dismissively. "As for you, you should focus on talking with her, not the 'god'."

“Agreed… her goddess has kind of a ‘fae’ vibe that I’d rather not mess with. The shadow put me less on edge,” Eric said with a laugh. “Anyways, thanks for your time, Twilight. I’m going to go hunt down the rest of my family now, and see a mare about a horn.”

A lollipop hovered out of her bag and moved to pop right into Eric's mouth without a pause. "You were a terrific test subject. We really should schedule another session." And, just like that, he was dismissed.

Eric flailed a bit, taking the lollipop out of his mouth with alarm. “Ack! Sugar! My one true weakness! You’re worse than my old coworkers… everyone always trying to poison the diabetic...”

Twilight looked confused a moment, "Diabetic?"

“It means my body doesn’t process sugar well,” he said as he sucked on the lollipop. “If I have too much it can make me irritable, light-headed, even pass out. There’s less obvious problems too, over time or if I let it get too far out of control. I’m not as bad as some, but I need to watch what I eat. Especially since it’s all still so damn tempting. Ponies don’t have diabetes, huh? Lucky…”

Twilight shook her head. "Not a disease I'm immediately aware of. If you feel ill, please report to Ponyville General Hospital. They're very nice and professional, even if you aren't the usual species. I would suggest you get an engraving of some sort that explains your condition to them, if it can hinder your speech."

“Good thinking, though for now I’ll just go have some jerky. Protein helps stabilize me. Anyways, see you later, Princess,” Eric waved before heading back to his room. He spent a moment enjoying his last piece of beef jerky before heading back to the hallway to listen and see if it was obvious whether his friends were intimately engaged at the moment.

Back upstairs, Wave snuggled in close to Tom and peeked over him towards the door as if suspecting it could fly open at any time, but it remained closed. "I'm glad we have a moment to ourselves, but I'm not sure this tower even knows what being alone means."

Tom rolled his eyes, hugging her tightly to his chest as the soft fabric of the bed pressed against his back. “Yeah, I’m getting that impression. First Fast Change, then Twilight… we’ll be here for a few days, if you really wanted to we could try to find somewhere else to stay? I’m sure she’d understand, with a bit of explaining… okay, maybe a lot of explaining,” he amended with a chuckle, running his hand through her mane.

She rubbed her nose into his cheek before floating away from him. Her snout quickly found a corner of the blanket that would cover the bed, and soon served as a partition instead. The bed couldn't be seen from the door, and the bed couldn't see the door. "And here we are. And they say I'm only good at guarding things." She landed beside Tom and held out a hoof towards him. "Shall we?"

“Very innovative… it should stop anyone but Twilight, I’d imagine, but thanks to Eric we won’t be having to worry about her for awhile,” he remarked, taking her offered hoof with a hand, smiling. “Enjoy being able to float around now, though? I am thankful for that, although I’m still more than willing to carry you around anytime you want.”

She pulled at his hand to draw herself in and came in for a complete landing. "It's so easy to do, now that I know what I'm doing. I don't feel… crippled about it anymore, and yes, I do enjoy that." Sle pointed at his fingers. "You'd need some time to adjust if your hands stopped being hands, I bet, and if you got your hands back, you'd be really happy too."

Humming, Tom wriggled his fingers before nodding. “Very true, but I don’t think I’d feel crippled over it? I’m not really sure, but I am willing to change more, now. Speaking of, earlier before Twilight popped in, the building tingle, magic? I’m not sure what exactly it was, but it went into me. Do you have any idea what that was?” he enquired, laying back down and running a hand around where the fur became scales, getting the feel of both on one hand at the same time.

She smiled shyly. "Not exactly, I admit, but you don't feel nearly as itchy as you did before. You're almost not, I think? It's really hard to explain, but that's what we both get for working for the gods instead of ourselves." She raised her free hoof into the air. "All hail and such, but I still don't understand them, never did."

“I don’t think gods and goddesses were ever meant to be understood. It adds to the mystique of it all, gives them that much more power, I would imagine. I’d never really given it much thought before my own personal experience with one, honestly.” Leaning in, he gently kissed her, taking both of her hooves in his hands.

As she learned how to love, she also learned how to fear in little steps, but she had bravery enough to reach for one of his hands and guide it brashly towards where one would expect such petals, but it was discretely hidden under her smooth scales. Without being led to it, one could go without ever finding it for some time. "Cadance said you'd want to find this." Well, there went the idea of not ratting out Cadance. "Do you?"

Tom blushed heavily, only thinking about it for a few moments before nodding. “I, Wave. You’re gorgeous, and while I’m inexperienced at this whole husband bit, I want to learn to love you more. That is one way a couple does so, physically,” he managed to keep his voice level, cheeks heating up. Gently, he brushed his fingers over her, his other hand gently gripping her hoof. “I know you seem to have forgotten about sex, but, if you’d like to, we can take it slow and get you reaquianted with it?” he offered, nervousness showing.

Wave pressed his hand towards herself. "I've been thinking about this. If I wasn't sure I wanted to do it, we wouldn't be right here, right now, right this way." She fluttered her lashes lightly at him. "I want to be alive again. I want to eat. I want to love. I want to be loved. That means learning some things over again, but, with you, I think I'm ready for that." She hadn't reacted very strongly, biologically, to the play yet, but not much had occurred beyond pointing it out and the mere contact.

Smiling, Tom gently rolled over with Wave in his hold, leaning over him as he gently kissed her again, wrapping his free arm tightly around her chest. When he broke their kiss, he nodded. “I love you, Wave, you adorable, sexy siren,” he softly spoke, removing that ill fitting shirt Cadance and Shining had provided. His hand softly started to rub her, getting a feel for her sex as well as to try and recall the best way to go about things. Tom was no virgin, but it had been quite some years for him, even if nowhere near as long as Wave.

She was slow to warm, but she began to stir under the exploration of her human. She watched him intently as he worked, silent at first, but a little coo escaped from her and her hips rose of their own volition before she reached a hoof. She tried to explore him in the same place, to see what she could do in return. "It it… Is it right?" If one ignored the fact that much of the area was that of a fish, she was perfectly shaped.

Tom nodded, quite ready himself, but doing his best to try and get Wave used to the physical feelings of it before moving forward any further. “It’s just fine, Wave, it’s just like it should be, I do believe,” he remarked, kissing her nose. “And your coo was very cute~” he lightly teased her, working off his shorts as he kept his hand moving, letting a finger tease her entrance, slipping dangerously close to sliding inside.

Her teeth clenched, going firm as her body shivered with forgotten pleasures. Her hoof gently pressed and explored as he made himself available to her questing. She opened her mouth and eyes wide as she began to feel that male bit of her lover and rubbed slowly along the firming flesh with the smooth edge of her hoof. "You're very hard." She blushed a little. Her statement was truth, but she still felt silly. "What… What do you do with it? Tell me, and don't be embarrassed."

Blushing a bit and laughing at the slight absurdity of the truly honest question, he kissed her nose once more. “It’s hard because I like you that much,” he started, grinning just a bit. “Really, it’s a dick, Wave, and blood makes it grow like this when we’re aroused. Which is what you are, from the lovely sounds you were making. As for what I do with it,” he paused, getting up and gently grabbing her hoof. “It goes inside of you, Wave.” Tom shifted around, gently pressing at her entrance.

Her blue fleshed turned a bit purple as the concept of anything being put inside of her sank in. "W-what? You're… You're serious." She gently brushed past that hard shaft to find his balls. Her first touch was a little rough before she turned her hoof and the sensitive flesh that lined the bottom seemed to grip and explore as she smiled. "We'll try that, slowly. Maybe not today. Today, we introduce ourselves to each other, like we should have done days ago." She looked down at his probing finger as she murmurs in pleasure. "Whatever you're doing, more…"

Tom winced at that rough treatment, moving a hand down before she got more gentle, letting it rest on her hip, or where her hips would be at, as he kept himself propped on his knees. “Okay, Wave,” Tom replied, not letting any disappointment show in his words as he continued to probe around with a finger, his other hand softly massaging her hips now. “A week ago, I’d think myself crazy to be in this spot,” he muttered humorously.

She purred at his gentle exploring before she pulled her hooves to his shoulders together and began to knead into his flesh as she gazed into his eyes. "A week ago, I would have been alone and bored. Now I'm… I'm loved, and I am learning what love is all over again. I'm an adult, but I feel like a little filly with this new joy filling me." She leaned in to lick over his nose. "It's all your fault."

33 - We'll Never Work Out

“So it is, and I’m more than happy to take responsibility for it,” he replied, scrunching his face up from the lick to his nose. “Just like I’ve got pony legs and fins and other interesting things. Being human is fine and all, but this has been, well, exciting to be honest,” Tom wrapped up, playfully licking her nose in return, getting a bit more aggressive with his hand as he watched her reactions. “You have a lovely voice, too, Wave.”

Wave burst into a giggle at the compliment as her own nose wriggled. "You read that somewhere, didn't you? Flattering a siren by calling her voice nice. It works every time." She drew a slow breath before letting out a wavering note that shook down to the bones, but it changed as she let the tone go on, and began to shake softly at the soul instead. She began to sing of her love, and the both of them were subjected to the warming and powerful penetration by pure love itself, flooding them with the echo of her feeling of utter satisfaction and adoration.

Tom felt himself get lost on those notes, holding her closely to him as he closed his eyes, running his free hand along her chest, legs and neck, basking in her melody. His hand continued its gentle assault, and only once the music ended did he open his eyes once more, looking down at her. “...you truly do. That was, easily, the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. Thank you for sharing that with me, Wave,” he whispered before bringing her deeply into a kiss.

Her note was cut off as he came in. She tensed, and then their lips met. She tilted her head to let their lips meet more deeply, then pressed firmly into it. The urges of her body became stronger and she slowly started rubbing up against him. Some part of her wanted everything he was offering, even if her mind was still scrambling to catch up with it.

Pulling her closer, he pushed forward with his kiss, tongue probing at her lips, the fact her teeth were extremely sharp forgotten for the moment as he put more of his weight against her, his hand moving as he felt his member against her fur and scales, shivering. Tom felt conflicted, like they could go all the way right now, and he was really wanting to, but her earlier words were enough to hold him back, for the moment.

The sensation of his shaft rubbing along her soft fur and naked scales made her draw back a little. With their lips parted, even if only a little bit, she inhaled sharply. She didn't have the breasts of a human woman, but that didn't stop her front from being sensitive to his presence. She pulled him tighter and ground her sinuous form against him. "We're going fast." She sounded excited, thrilled, and yet a little scared.

Mustering every ounce of self control he had, Tom nodded as he gently pressed a hand between them. “I… yes, we are. Do you still want to wait, because if so, we should stop,” he muttered, not that it would matter too much at this rate, with how she was moving he wouldn’t be long.

She tried to marshal her willpower and bravery, but she had come far enough. She gently squirmed away from her human, but she had a gentle smile. "I'm very glad we were together, like that. I want… I'm sure I want to do that again. Just let me get used to it? It's not the same as hunting down thieves and all."

Tom nodded, kissing her nose, but not trusting himself to wrap her up again. “I understand, Wave. Now, I need to use the bathroom, I’ll… be a bit, okay?” he asked, biting his lower lip as he painfully ached for release. “I can wait for you to be ready though, Wave, and thank you,” he softly spoke before getting off the bed, grabbing his shorts in hand and heading off to the bathroom with a look towards her.

Wave's eyes never left him. The way he walked off stiffly seemed to capture her interest, and curiosity. Had she failed? She felt like she had on some level, though she wasn't sure what to do about it. She flew at him quickly and hugged him from behind. "I'm sorry."

Stumbling, Tom nearly fell to the floor before he caught his balance. Using a hand, he held both of her hooves, shivering a bit. “Don’t be, Wave. I think part of the married bit is accepting each other, and pressuring you into having sex when you aren’t ready is, well, it’s really bad,” he explained, rubbing her fur with a thumb. “I just, really need to take care of this, otherwise I’ll be walking around awkwardly for awhile.”

His kind words did little to make her feel less awkward. She wished Cadance was around. Surely she'd know just what to do to make her husband feel better. She gave a little grunt and landed on the bed, and promised herself to play with him again soon, and maybe get further that time.

Tom took care of his personal business in the bathroom, coming back out in the shorts as he moved to the bed, sitting down on it and softly smiling at Wave. “At least we weren’t interrupted this time!” he playfully remarked, looking towards the door even as he said that.

Hearing muffled voices that sounded more like normal conversation than lovers intimately involved, Eric knocked firmly on Tom and Wave’s door, waiting patiently for an answer. No one else in this tower seemed to have any manners, so he guessed they would know it was him from that alone.

Wave flew at the door from where she had been. Her mouth grabbed the handle and she had the door open to reveal Eric. "Eric! How did things go? Me and Tom had a good time. We learned so much. I can't wait to tell you about it."

Tom was just a few steps behind Wave, shaking his head rather rapidly with a massive blush on his face. “Wave, I don’t think Eric will want to hear details, trust me. Just that we had a good time should be enough,” he muttered, burying his face in his hands. “How was playing guinea pig?” he asked, voice muffled slightly.

Eric paused a moment, amused at their contrasting reactions. “ We’ll hold off the sex talk for now, so your husband doesn't blush himself to death. Twilight’s analysis was quite informative."

Wave glanced back at Tom. "Why wouldn't we tell him? We're family, and I want to hear about his awkward encounter with Twilight, and I'm sure he wanted to hear about our awkward encounter. We'll learn together. That's what family does." It all seemed to make perfect sense to her, at least.

Weakly chuckling, Tom shook his head. “Some things should remain private, such as what we were doing, Wave. Just, even with family you don’t talk about some things, okay?” he tried explaining to her, scratching the back of his neck as he turned back to Eric. “Learn anything useful, though?”

Eric nodded. “The most actionable bit I learned is that I’ll probably need a unicorn horn to continue learning magic. At the very least that’s the most expedient way. I was actually wondering if that was something Wave could manage, without making you jealous.”

Wave looked between them before shrugging her shoulders. "You mean like the one Twilight has?" She frowned a little. "You'd look a little funny, having a unicorn's horn on your not-unicorn head." That didn't stop her from reaching for Eric's noggin without delay.

Eric braced himself, leaning towards her a bit to give her easy access. “I’ll deal with it for now, though I’m wondering if going full unicorn would make more sense in the long run. Let’s wait till I can lift stuff first before I lose my hands though.”

Tom watched the exchange, humming thoughtfully to himself for a few moments. “If you think that’s the case, and you want it, well,” he paused, lifting a leg, “I can’t really speak up against it, can I?” he jokingly questioned. “I think I wouldn’t mind going full pony, the only thing I’d truly miss would be my hands, but I’m sure I’d make do in time.”

The one critical error made was assuming Wave had much control over things. She thought of horns and gently rubbed at Eric's humanity, willing it away since she was asked to, and the power of her god flowed through her swiftly. She let out a deep grunt as the power tingled over her smooth flesh and the flesh under her hooves pushed out against her as a spiraled horn burst free of the skin that held it back in a bloody display of abrupt pain.

Eric bit his lip and grunted, bracing against the pain and struggling to avoid losing balance. He waited for the pain to subside before reaching a hand up to gingerly touch it, exploring it gently. “Th-thanks… thanks Wave, let me… see… I want a mirror this time.”

Tom put a hand on Eric’s shoulder and pointed to the bathroom where a mirror was at. “It’s… white, like snow?” he slowly said, blinking a few times at it before finally turning away, focusing on Wave instead. “Does Eric still itch a fair bit?” he asked her, lifting her up into a hug.

Wave waggled her hooves. "It feels like I'm still rubbing, even though he's moved away."

While her hooves were free, his hands were not so fortunate. Eric's hands clenched tightly, bound by her thoughts of them, even if they were 'don't touch them', the don't part was casually forgotten as they began to rapidly harden and reform, becoming black-shelled hooves with not a finger in sight, terminating into fleshy arms.

“Okay, this is just ridiculous,” Eric said from the bathroom. “Can you just finish the job? If I’m going to have hooves for hands, I might as well just go full pony. At least that way I can just deal with learning it all at once, and get on with it.”

“Still rubbing? Uh oh,” Tom remarked as Eric’s words reached his ears. Walking into the bathroom, he couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight, shaking his head. “Looks like you traded hands for a horn, huh? Levitation and all that jazz, I mean,” Tom clarified, looking to Wave. “Wanna do a two for one deal? We plan on being here for three days, maybe a bit longer anyways,” he asked Wave.

Wave smiled hesitantly, but with some smoldering hope. "You two both want to be ponies?" She suddenly withdrew. "Wait, are you doing this just for me? This is a big deal! I want you both to think about it a moment." She crossed her hooves and sternly looked at both of her family members.

Eric nodded. “I actually thought about it before knocking. Ultimately, if I’m here for good, being a pony makes life a lot simpler than trying to be the one, odd, human wizard in the world. And since you’re taken, it certainly opens up the dating pool. I was hoping to learn levitation before losing my hands, but there really wasn’t much other reason to forestall it. Well, aside from the fact I should probably undress first, rather than shred a bunch of clothes, incredible hulk style.”

Shrugging while holding Wave, Tom nodded at Eric’s reasoning. “Sounds enough. Mine is for me, too. Besides my hands, there’s no real advantage to being human here. I’m not saying it’s been such a bad thing, but I’m here to stay, already married to a lovely siren… might as well go full native. So, yup, so long as your, well, our goddess doesn’t have any weird ideas, I’ll be a pony and fit in a bit more.”

She rubbed her forehooves together a moment before she nodded and smiled. "One last thing. I don't want you two saying I didn't warn you, and it's been like this from the start but you never learn anything so I'll point it out. I can't control this! I can't say what you'll become or how you'll become it and it'll probably hurt and I don't want to hurt you, but that's how it works, so there it is."

Tom kneeled down and let go of Wave, rubbing her neck. “Wave? I know that, and you see this?” he asked, pointing at a leg. “Didn’t feel a thing, least not pain. Eric looked like he felt some, and I’m not really sure why, but it isn’t an issue for me. Thank you, though, for worrying about the both of us. It means a lot.” Tom kissed her chastely for a moment before falling back to a sitting position.

“The shadow didn’t hurt, but Twilight assures me it was half way through murdering me from the inside,” Eric pointed out. “I can cope with a little pain, from someone who actually wants the best for me. Now, uh, bro. Since you still have hands, can I trouble you to help me get this stuff off before I do have to hulk out of it?”

Wave flushed gently when she was kissed and returned it with a quick peck of her own. "You two are just the best. I couldn't ask for better stallions to be with." She rubbed her chin softly. "I still think I deserve my own herd. You two really should get over that. You two are such good friends already!"

Groaning and flushing a bit from Eric’s statement of the obvious, Tom was almost oblivious to Wave’s remark. “Y-yeah, I guess I can. This’ll be weird, but… yeah.” Tom started helping Eric out of his clothes, addressing Wave as he did so. “And, Wave? There’s just no attraction there… I love you dearly, but me being a guy and Eric here the same? I just don’t see any appeal.”

34 - Herd is Family, Herd is Life

Looking himself in the mirror, Eric smirked. “If it helps, I don’t see the appeal either. Anyways, not sure she’s trying to imply we should do anything with each other, Tom, though unless she suddenly became a nymphomaniac, I’m not so sure she could really handle both of us even one at a time.” Eric took in a deep breath as he saw himself unclothed. “Alright, Wave, let’s do this! And for once I can actually see it happen.”

Wave flew up to Eric and gently embraced him from behind as her hooves pressed into his sides and chest. A sudden warmth of powerful heat ran through him along with a chorus of snapping bones and rearranging flesh. It became a haze of discomfort and pain as his body was surrendered to her will, or the will of her goddess, or maybe both. Neither claimed full credit as Eric's body sprouted white fur all over. His eyes changed subtly, becoming almond shaped and long-lashed as a long slender snout grew in. Eric wasn't becoming a stallion. Maredom was rushing on him with all the unstoppability of a train going downhill.

Watching, Tom blinked a few times as that white fur started to completely cover Eric, although from the angle he had Tom couldn’t really make out much more beyond the fur and general shape. Still, he had a vague clue, and a hand shot to cover his mouth as he winced.

Eric started laughing through all the pain, struggling to keep his or her eyes open and watch as many details as possible as they rushed in. Hooves pressed on the bathroom counter to brace herself as everything shifted into place, the bipedal balance disappearing along the way. “So… Wave… heh… are you the… jealous type? … Still want me… in your… herd?...”

Wave twitched her ears as the new female voice. "Of course I do." She punched him, er, her, in the side with a hoof. "Dummy, you're family, and I made you, uh, this way. Are you OK?" She flew around the new mare, looking her over curiously before sniffing at her. "At least you're a land pony." She looked to Tom curiously. "I doubt you'll be so lucky."

“You, Eric,” Tom muttered, now that it had been confirmed. “Uh, you make for a very pretty mare?” he hesitantly offered up, looking over to Wave and shrugging. “I’ve got these, so I’ll be a mix, or something weird like that?” he said, waving a leg as he held out his arms. “It comes from your goddess, so… whatever I end up as can be blamed on her if there’s any craziness?” Tom smiled, looking at Wave and nodded his assent.

Eric nodded, looking herself over in the mirror from different angles. “Thank you, both. What do you think of ‘Pyrite Glitter’ for a pony name? I told you’d been thinking about it.”

Wave cast a nervous smile. "That's a nice name, for a nice pony, but I don't know, I mean, about Tom. They could become a tail, like mine." She wagged her thick aquatic tail. "I know you don't want that…" The thought seemed to depress her a little. "I guess no one would want to be a siren if they didn't have to be."

Before the last word slipped from from Wave’s mouth, Tom wrapped her up in a fierce hug. “If I became a siren, I’d be perfectly fine with it, Wave. There’s nothing wrong with being a siren at all, please don’t feel down? Like Eric over there, I want to change. The only difference is that I’m already partly changed, and I’d rather just get it over with so I can adapt and fully enjoy life, Wave, as whatever I end up,” he softly spoke, finally relenting his hug just a bit. Glancing over to Eric, he nodded with a weak smile and gave a thumb up for the name.

“Your turn then, Tom,” Pyrite said as she slipped up next to Wave to whisper. “So just to be sure, you’re saying you want Tom and I both in your herd, and you won’t get mad at me for seducing him later? I mean… I need some time to adjust first anyways, but I want to know I won’t be angering you or anything.”

Wave only got more confused before something clicked in her and she made quite the O of an expression. "If you both become mares, we won't be able to do what I almost did before, but we could do the rest of it." She frowned a little. "That's…" She returned Tom's hug firmly. "Don't care. We're together, as family. That's the important part. Now, ready?" She didn't wait, and began to rub at Tom's ribs and up over his face as she willed the last of the humanity away and banished her itchiness with it. The parking-sign green color spread up over Tom rapidly as those fins began to migrate upwards in strange fits. He was clearly changing, becoming something new.

Pyrite interrupted the process with an exclamation of “only almost?!” before shaking her head with a hoof on her forehead.

Closing his eyes, Tom felt those odd sensations return, catching what the newly named Pyrite had said. “Yes, she wasn’t ready, so I didn’t push it. This feels weird, but not a bit of pain,” he muttered, shivering slightly as he felt that fur spreading, and the gentle tugging from the fins.

The herd went from stallion dominated to solely mare run as he became a she. Those fins reached her back and began to spread out and grow, becoming like strangely shaped wings as she fell to all fours in Wave's changing grip. Wave tilted her head in confusion. "What kind of wings are those? They don't have feathers."

“Alright then. Enough crowding around the bathroom,” Pyrite said as she started toward the bedroom, only to end up sprawled in the doorway in a tangle of hooves. “Oh, right. Need to learn a whole new set of limbs too… all the more reason to not be crowding around the bathroom.” With determination she managed to flounder ridiculously into the bedroom to have more space to flounder.

Shivering, Tom’s eyes slowly opened. “I have, wings?” Hooves shot to her mouth, successfully smacking her muzzle somewhat painfully with newly formed hooves. “Ouch! So, it’s done then, Wave?” she questioned, a hoof slowly moving along her face, stopping on her throat. “So… I’m gonna be as graceful as Pyrite there, too, huh…” Tom muttered, still trying to comprehend the new feelings of her changed body as a raspberry colored lock of mane fell into her vision.

“Wave, would you mind informing Twilight that we’ll be needing to stay a bit longer as guests than previously anticipated? I’m sure the Princess will understand. Especially once the species and gender changes enter the conversation,” Pyrite requested. After a moment, she looked back and forth between the two ponified humans. “Oh, hey, my mane matches your fur. Neat.”

Wave smirked a little. "I told you it could change, but I thought it'd be a tail, not wings…" She reached with a hoof to swat at Tom's raspberry colored tail. "You did get a tail though. You both have nice tails, but mine's bigger." So she has a little pride. "I'll tell Twilight, and maybe she can figure out your wings? They don't even look like fins anymore. I don't understand." She suddenly flew/swam off through the air.

“So…” Tom started, trailing off as she watched Wave leave before turning to Pyrite. “We’re both mares now, and I’ve apparently got wings? Fins?” she queried, slowly moving her neck to get a better look for herself. “I, uh, hadn’t really thought about any pony names, not like you did apparently.”

“Pyrite means ‘fool’s gold’. It felt particularly fitting to me, all things considered,” Pyrite mentioned. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about my mistakes along the way. Even if they do tend to work out. I’ve always had a bit of a charmed life though.”

Tom looked at those sleek wing-fins, able to make out some of the tiny scales that seemed to completely coat them. “Hmm, I can see the reasoning behind that. This is, weird… it’s sorta like Night’s wings, but not? Wonder if they work,” she mused aloud before splitting her focus, half of it trying to move them, the other half continuing with Pyrite. “I suppose a name mixing sucker and water would be a good idea for me, hmm?” she joked, giggling a moment before her eyes went wide at the action and she felt two pricks against her lips.

“Hmm… what do you think of ‘Hydrofoil’? Just a thought,” Pyrite offered. “You’ve probably got as much learning to do with the wings as I do with the horn, I’d bet. Less books involved, if that’s any consolation.” She was still stumbling about, trying to get her legs to bear her around the room properly.

Awkwardly attempting to get four hooves underneath her, Tom shook her head. “Nah, that just sounds weird. I’d go with something cliche like Ocean Breeze before going with Hydrofoil, Pyrite,” she retorted, licking at her teeth. “And, I’ve got fangs. A pair of them, it feels like.” She opened her mouth and turned towards Pyrite. “See?”

“Oh, neat! Not complaining about being a unicorn, but you got to be something pretty nifty and unique in the end. So, no regrets, bro? err.. sis? Herd sister? I dunno how this stuff works,” Pyrite stumbled verbally to match her movements.

“Ask Twilight when she gets back with Wave?” she questioned, a wing twitching randomly ever so slightly. “You could always swear fealty to a goddess too and end up with her heavy touch all over you too, you know,” she remarked with a shrug, scrunching up her nose as she got to all four hooves, onto to fall flat on her snout. “Ouch… Also, Ocean Breeze might not be half bad… whatcha think? I’d thought bout going pony, but didn’t think one second about the whole new name part.”

“Tom and Eric just don’t fit anymore, right? Ocean Breeze is perfect, actually. Seems like only a few days ago I was watching…” Pyrite got a bit of a sad look on her face before shaking her head fiercely. “That was another lifetime. No regrets. Can’t move backwards, only forwards.” Determinedly, she pushed to her hooves and managed a couple of steps before tripping herself up.

Getting back up to her hooves was a slow process, to say the least. “Ocean Breeze,” she rolled the name slowly off her tongue, playing with it a bit. “I suppose I can live with that. Ocean for the water, and if these things work, well, Breeze becomes quite self explanatory then,” she mused, peeking once more at those wings. “What an interesting turn of events, though… I’d read novels and wondered what the opposite sex would be like… looks like I get to live it instead, heh.”

“I’d honestly been curious since like… high school. Hadn’t imagined being a pony, to be honest. Always ran more toward the scaley side of the furry fandom. Not that I mind. New experiences by any measure, right? So… now that we’re both mares, still thinking that a herd with a bunch of mares is for you?” Pyrite asked as non suggestively as such a thing could be asked.

“New world, new life sorta deal?” she questioned before sighing, taking a hesitant step. “This… might be easier on a floor that isn’t tiled too, by the way. But, yes, my curiosity has also been there for a long time. As for that last bit… I still love Wave, and I asked her to do this, so I’m not going to change my mind so quickly. Especially not with a goddess who’d mince whatever Wave left,” Ocean said with a shake of her head, nearly sending herself tumbling again. “But… might as well try?”

Pyrite drew her hooves up under her to just lie on the floor in a particularly equine pose. “This is… new. Anyways, I guess I’m being too subtle here. Now that we’re all mares do you still find me, you know, sexually repulsive? Or do you think I could actually be with, well, both of you? Sexually. Not, like… before we figure out how to walk, or anything, but… soonish?”

“Wave is still under the impression that family is a herd, and vice versa… even if I kept holding out, she’d still insist, even once she fully understood what I was trying to say,” Ocean muttered in exasperation. “You’re… rather stunning for a pony, I’ll admit. Attractive? Yeah, even though you don’t have any of that exoticness that drew me to Wave in the first place. Sexually? I don’t even know how I feel about being a female, beyond curious still.” She stared at a spot in the mirror, shrugging in response.

Pyrite sighed. “This is the longest I’ve been without sex since… three years ago, give or take. Though now I guess we’re all virgins in a sense? The newness of it all… it fills me with a burning curiosity, that just compliments my libido. But I get the sense you’re both the opposite. Afraid? That’s probably overstating it.”

35 - Becoming a Family, Formally

Ocean nodded, taking a few slow steps without making a fool of herself, although they were still beyond shaky. It was enough to bring her closer to Pyrite, and she flopped down to the floor in front of her, grimacing a bit. “That would be awkward… I’m no stranger to sex, but it had been, a long time. I so wanted to push Wave to go for it, but she wanted to wait, so I did. Now?” Rather awkwardly and with some cursing, Ocean got onto her side and lifted a rear leg up to take a look, and Pyrite, should she be curious enough.

Pyrite took a look, but there wasn’t much to see from this angle. “I think we’re more designed for rear entry? Speaking of which… think we’ll be inviting a stallion in at some point? I’m fine with waiting on that for a good match… our highly mobile lifestyle isn’t going to be for everyone. Every-pony. I get why you didn’t want to push Wave, but I feel like she needs some nudging sometimes.”

Moving her gaze back to Pyrite, Ocean flatly looked at her. “Sometimes? Yes. But you never nudge with sex. It’s an important part of a relationship, I’ll give you that though. As for a stallion?” Ocean shivered. “Can we not be thinking that far ahead just yet? That makes me think of,” she paused, shaking her head. “children. Which is now a severe possibility.”

“A good point. At least I didn’t have to go through any of that stuff myself before… all the more reason we need to be selective. I guess you two have, what, literally forever to be chosey? I might need to be a little more rushed than that. But.. not now. We’ll agree on that. No stallions unless it’s unanimous, too. That’s the rule,” Pyrite said decisively.

“You do realize that if you want to stay with us in an actual herd, chances are you’ll end up doing what I did, eventually,” Ocean questioned with a raised brow, shaking her head. “Might be awhile, but Wave would probably ask you about it, or the goddess would try to corner you, or something. Just saying. But, yes, we need to adapt to these changes, to the three of us together, and figure out what we want to do with our lives before thinking about anything else. I’ve still got my house in my bag, but not sure if it’ll be any help…”

“So we’ve got a house to settle down in when we feel like it? Heh, it’ll be so awkwardly proportioned. Anyways… did you ever find out your goddess’ name? I’d kind of want to ask a few questions like that first, before I try multiclassing,” Pyrite said, half joking.

Ocean tsked a moment. “You really enjoy your D&D references, huh? But no, I don’t know a damn thing about her, besides the fact she lacks people skills completely. A politician, she is not,” she remarked with a sigh, ears flicking a moment. “Betcha Twilight is going to want to cart me off in her magic more than you.”

Pyrite stuck her tongue out. “She’ll be teaching me how to cart you off for her. And did you notice, what’s her name, Night Watch? She had a d8 on her flanks. I’m going to have to ask her later if they have anything like D&D here. It’s a long shot, but I feel like she’d know if anyone does.”

“Mmhmm, she did, didn’t she… weird, they might have something equivalent to it, yeah,” Ocean muttered, thinking. “You know, I do look just like her, just all… fishy instead of batty? Lots of similarities. But, any desire to try and at least make it to the bed, or should we just wait for Wave to return?”

“That’s as good of a challenge as any to focus on for now. I know, nothing’s going to happen, but I’m going to just pretend there was more innuendo there than you meant,” Pyrite said as she pushed up to her feet again and fixed her eyes on the goal, wobbling her way toward it until she reached the furnishing and had to try to figure out how to actually climb it.

Twilight entered the room with Wave just behind her. "I have a…" Her words trailed off as she took in an eyeful of the two new ponies. "Eric? Tom?" She conjured up a paper quickly and began scribbling. "There is obviously some effect at work, but I know of two humans, two, who are untouched. Is this a societal thing?"

Ocean paused, still standing on the floor next to the bed while Pyrite tried climbing up onto it. “Oh, hey Twilight. Welcome back, Wave,” she warmly spoke, moving to hold out her hooves towards Wave and landing on her face instead with a groan. “Ouch… And Twilight, what effect? We were already touched by this world pretty heavily, we just sorta… leaped instead of crawling along. Didn’t help Eric, now Pyrite, there wanted a horn but got hooves instead of hands too,” she remarked with a giggle.

"Is there a distinct tendency for us to know things we shouldn't about you and your friends?" Pyrite asked. "I would guess we aren't being pulled over in a representative sampling."

Twilight frowned a little. "Silver and Jake were already forward about the links between our worlds and the tendency for my world to appear as entertainment media in yours, but that's beside the point. Let's try a test!" She raised a hoof, then pointed it at Pyrite. "I'll make you a human, just like you were, do you accept?"

“A test?” Ocean questioned, sighing as she worked her way back to her hooves. “Wave, how are you doing?” she asked curiously. “This is a bit weird, but kinda cool. I look sorta like Night, but with fishy bits instead of batty bits,” she quietly remarked, knowing that whatever she had to say would be ignored by Twilight.

“I’m up for it," Pyrite offered. "I could use a break from the crash course on hooves. Anyways, my point was MLP knowledge and transformation affinity are both minority traits, but probably both disproportionately high in those brought here."

Twilight shook her head. "It's not a 'break', uh, which are you? Either way, you're either a human, or a pony, not both, and not back and forth. It's a one way ticket I'm offering. Yes or no?"

Wave frowned at the offer and put her hooves on where her hips should be. She looked ready to complain, but quieted down and looked towards Pyrite instead, waiting for her reply.

Pyrite frowned as she considered, taking her time. There was a lot riding on this decision, and it felt like a choice between clinging to her past, and the hope of returning to it, or grasping this strange and wondrous future. "No. I haven’t even figured out how to use this thing yet," she said with a hoof tapping her horn. "But I’m already not willing to give it up. I wouldn’t mind returning to my former gender, but I'm ready to leave my former race behind. When Q asked me where I wanted to go, i said somewhere magic was real. And I want to be a part of that, not just in its vicinity--"

Twilight cut in before she heard more. "Enough, enough, the test is only half complete." She moved the hoof to point at the other new pony in the room, Ocean. "Same offer. Do you want to be human again? Yes or no, one way offer."

“Twilight, I’m fine like this. It’s, weird being female, yeah, and I’m pretty sure there’s nothing else like me in the world right now,” Ocean started, one of those wings moving just a bit. “But, you know what? Even if I were to look human, I wouldn’t be, not completely anyways. I’ve made some strong bonds here, and I’m fine moving forward, learning about my new home,” she finished up, smiling widely at Wave.

Twilight let out a soft sigh. "Alright, test complete." She sat down on her haunches and looked up at Wave. "Your, uh, friends, are happy the way they are, or were unhappy they way they were? Psychology is far from my field of expertise."

Wave smiled with a bit of triumph. "They're both happy being part of my herd, as they should be."

Twilight lifted a brow. "You can't have a herd without a stallion involved. None of you can make foals. I mean, not to say you aren't a family if you want to be, but it's not a herd, just a family."

“So is that a no on getting my gender back?" Pyrite inquired.

“I don’t think that matters to Wave much, Twilight,” Ocean remarked with a smile. “Especially now since I think me and Pyrite here sorted out our hangups… hard to get hung up on what isn’t a problem anymore, after all.”

Twilight gave a warm smile to Ocean before looking towards Pyrite and tilting her head. "Gender changes are… complicated… But maybe after you learn to use your horn? Fast Change knows a little trick that might work very well for you, just for mares." She rose up full height, rounded form moving a little clumsily. "Learn to be what you are, first."

Ocean piped up a moment. “Speaking of, any idea as to what exactly I am?” she questioned. “It’s pretty cool, but don’t know if there’s any other ponies out there like me.”

Wave tilted her head. "It's like you say. It's like that bat pony, Night Watch, but you're made for water instead of hiding in the dark. I like it better."

Twilight made a quick shushing motion. "Don't call them that. Lunar pony, or you'll make them mad."

"Fast Change? I'll have to meet her later. And you have a good point, Twilight. I have a lot to learn about being a mare, and a unicorn. And a once and future wizard," Pyrite agreed.

“She’s very, enthusiastic,” Ocean interjected, nodding at Pyrites words. “Yeah, learning about what being a mare entails… I hope these things can fly, and aren’t just very large water sails. I’m a sea lunar pony, perhaps?” she mused, shrugging her shoulders. “”Either way, I kinda like it… definitely wanna go swimming soon now!”

Twilight held out her hooves as she balanced on her hind legs. Wave reacted first and got a soft hug, but she held it out to the other two with a gentle smile. As soon as she could gather everyone up, she squeezed them all against herself and her round belly. "Welcome to Equestria, and formally welcome as a citizen. I recognize you all as my citizens, and as a family, and I wish you the best."

“Thanks Twilight. Is there any paperwork we need to sign? Cause... that could take a while.~ Oh! My new name is Pyrite Glitter. Don’t think anypony but Ocean Breeze heard it yet," Pyrite said.

Ocean giggled a bit as she nibbled on one of Wave’s ears for a moment during the hug. “Mmhmm, thanks a lot, Twilight. And, like she said, I decided Ocean Breeze isn’t too bad of a name. Sorta fits well. Also, because I’m kinda curious, if you wanna poke and prod at me for science, that’s fine by me. Consider it my thanks,” Ocean added on.

Wave eagerly returned those nibbles and snuggled warmly with her friends, new and old. "I admit, I thought you were trying to be a meanie face, but you're alright, Twilight. Thank you."

Twilight regarded Wave quizzically a moment before she nodded. "I'll have the papers drafted up. All you'll have to do is sign it, and a hoofprint will do." She let them all go and fell back to all fours. "For now, I'm exhausted. Just shout if you need anything, Spike will help."

“Thanks, Twilight. I think we can manage hoofprints." Pyrite turned her focus to Wave, giving her a nuzzle before nibbling at her neck. “ Finally fully part of the family."

“Thanks, too, and I think we’ll be fine for a bit. We’ve got some stuff to talk about and sort through, I believe,” Ocean remarked, carefully moving to lean against Pyrite and Wave both. Waiting for Twilight to leave, she turned to Pyrite. “You know, you’re really just as gorgeous as Wave is now. I’m curious how all this works, hmm,” she muttered, leaning in and kissing Pyrite curiously and rather awkwardly.

Twilight accepted her cue to depart, and did so without delay. She closed the door behind her with her magic and left the new family to their own devices.

36 - Selecting a Mentor

Wave became curious at the behavior of the two even as she warmed from the affection. "Y-you are pretty," she agreed though with an uncertain tone to it. "I think we all are." She pointed at Pyrite. "You're a unicorn, and a tall one, and so slender. It's good, and then we have you." She pointed at Ocean and leaned in to nibble at her. "You're mine, and that's all we really need to know, but you're a great, uh, lunar sea pony."

Pyrite blushed hard as she returned Ocean's kiss awkwardly, one ear pivoting to listen to Wave. She giggled as she broke off the kiss. "You know... alone time can finally include me.~"

“You must have had one hell of an active sex life before coming here, you jump to innuendos and sex so quickly,” Ocean muttered, shaking her head slightly before walking over awkwardly to the bed and climbing up onto it equally so. “Wave, thank you dear for changing us. And a lunar sea pony, it works well enough~ How’s about we all just cuddle for a bit, hmm? As a family?”

“Well we were down to every seven to ten days, due to pregnancy. .. anyways, I think cuddling is about all i can physically manage right now," Pyrite conceded.

All the conversation of sex and such were beyond Wave's complete understanding, but she knew they were discussing intimacy, and together. The walls that were between them as human males were nothing as pony mares, and she delighted in it. "I still want to do that slowly, but yes. Oh! We can tell hi-her all about it now, right? We're all together."

Rolling her eyes with a playful giggle, Ocean conceded to Wave. “I suppose so… and yes, I don’t plan on pushing you into anything quickly in regards to sex, Wave, but Pyrite here seems a bit starved for it,” she teased her friend, holding her hooves open as she found a decently comfortable position on the bed. “But first, hugs and cuddles, I declare it so! Then you can tell Pyrite about it all.”

“If it helps, Wave, none of us really know what we're in for, anymore. We’ll just have to learn it all together,~" Pyrite said with a bit of a sing-song. "Mmm, I like my new voice. One of the perks of being a mare, i guess."

Wave drifted into the air to move over Pyrite and squeeze her lightly around the neck. "You had a nice voice before, and a nice one now. It's different.. Before we do any of that, I think you two need to be ponies, I mean, learn how to be." She waggled a hoof. "Can you even walk across the room?"

"Honestly? No," Pyrite admitted, leaning into the squeeze. "Being a quadruped is a whole new challenge. Guess we should get back to toddling?"

Humming quietly, Ocean nodded. "Yeah, a mare's voice is much more... softer? Smoother? It's got a nice appeal to it, either way," she finished, turning to Wave. "Does stumbling around like a fool count?" Ocean joked, grinning a bit. "We can probably walk, you know, with all of our focus on it." Carefully, she got off the bed, landing in a pile of splayed limbs. "Yeah... not so great," she groaned.

Wave crossed her hooves with a bit of a pout. "Now if this were swimming, or I guess floating now, I'd be glad to help out, but I never had four hooves to try crawling on, so I won't be a lot of help. For tonight? Some sleep, then tomorrow, we can find someone who will help." A hoof suddenly raised. "We could go to Baltimare! Find that siren, and someone to help, all at once. It's a big city, right?"

“I… don’t think going to another city is a good idea while walking is hard to do,” Ocean admitted as she untangled her limbs, sticking her tongue out at Wave to blow a raspberry at her. Pausing afterwards, she stuck her tongue out a bit further, until it couldn’t extend anymore. “This is long,” she said rather muffled, tongue still outstretched.

Wave kissed the nose above that long tongue. "Now you're just showing off. Come on. Sleep now, we can decide for sure tomorrow." She landed gently on the bed and snuggled up with her circle of mares. Herd or not, they were surely her family, and she looked quite comfortable with that.

The next day found them welcomed with a hearty breakfast, and a polite reminder that they were needed in the form of invitational cards that appeared in their eggs, despite Pinkie Pie being nowhere in sight. Apparently the party had been finalized to be that very night, at Sugarcube Corner,

Wave nudged the card out of the way before resuming her meal. "I don't know who that is. Why are they so eager to have a 'welcome' party? I'm not sure I want to meet all those strangers at once."

"You neither, hmm?" Pyrite responded. "I hate crowds... they make me extremely lonely. Especially strangers." She poked at the eggs with a hoof, frowning at them as she tried to figure out how to eat them, short of just shoving her snout in the plate. That remained an option, however, if her hunger got too much worse.

“Pinkie is, from the show anyways, pretty big on parties,” Ocean explained a bit, finding it an odd experience to be eating without the aid of hands. “Personally, I’d rather deal with us first, and getting used to being on four legs now. Maybe we can ask Twilight to keep it to the bare minimum?”

Spike twirled a claw. "If you say no, she'll find you. She's pretty insistent. She's pretty nice overall, you'd be better off just telling her how you like your parties. She'll make it smaller if you like it smaller, but she doesn't deal with 'no' all that well." He hopped down from his seat and toddled off with his plate.

Wave looked over at the only human at the table. "You had one of these?"

Jake waved a hand. "Yeah, sure. I loved it. I like Pinkie, and most of the other ponies, even if Rainbow became best pony over time."

"Smaller sounds better. It’d be nice to keep it to a dozen or less, including us," suggested Pyrite. "Preferably mostly those who already knew we were human literally yesterday." There was a fork nearby, so she poked at that with her hoof, repeatedly. The fingers weren’t completely gone, just completely reconfigured. There were multiple bones, and the muscles to manipulate them, but they lacked the joints and independance from before. In truth, that was part of the trouble with walking: simple peg feet would have been easier to master, but these changed their shape with poorly controlled impulses.

Ocean nodded her agreement. “Yeah, that’d be best. It’s awkward enough trying to eat in front of y’all right now, and it was a trip getting down here. I’d hate to have the entire town be there to see me eat the floor repeatedly,” she mumbled, shaking her head before turning to Jake. “What’re your thoughts on all this, by the way? Twilight says that she’s seen a fair bit of humans, but you’re the only one who hasn’t ‘gone native’ as they say.”

Jake lifted his shoulders lightly. "I like being what I am. Ponies are cute and all, but I don't want to be one. I mean it's like having a pet dog, they're adorable and you like them a lot, but you don't want to be one. No offense, right?" Without asking he reached to muss the head of the pony named Ocean and scratch into her scalp a little bit.

“I can get that,” Ocean started to reply before relaxing a bit at that scratching. “Now I see why Wave loves this so much, wow,” she muttered, looking at Wave for a moment and sighing quietly. “I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I came here, but I don’t think I have any regrets so far, and it’s definitely been the most interesting thing to happen in my life… you think Rainbow would be up to helping me see if these things work?” Ocean asked Jake, nodding towards a wing.

Jake barely restrained his laughter, trying not to sound mocking and mostly succeeding. "I think she'd make you cry before the day's over. Just ask Twilight what it was like to learn to fly from her. You may be better off with a more timid flyer, like Fluttershy, or one a little more disciplined, like a real instructor, or even Night Watch, when she isn't, you know, expecting."

Wave became curious at the back-and-forth dialogue. "You have a lot of choices for flying ponies it sounds like. I think walking should come before flying, right?"

“Of course, I’m just figuring out some future plans, Wave. Like, I want you to teach me to swim. It’ll probably be a little different and all that, but that’s something that should also come after learning how to walk. Doesn’t mean I can’t think about it~” Ocean remarked with a small giggle, ignoring the bit of laughter from Jake as she turned to Pyrite. “Just like I’m sure you’re already thinking about magic, yeah?”

“Of course,” Pyrite answered. “I’m planning to keep poking at that book even later today, when my hooves need a rest and I’m tired of faceplanting. Eventually I’ll need a proper tutor for the basics, though, or I’ll never be able to put what I learn into practice, or even fully contextualize it.” Even as she said this, she managed to lift the fork triumphantly, until it dropped from her hoof with a clatter. Progress!

Jake had precious little advice on the walking of pony bodies, so he excused himself. As luck would have it, Twilight was not entirely without a plan. She came in with a broad smile and three cards and placed all three on the table. "I have three perfectly suitable candidates to get you on your hooves as soon as possible!"

The first card had a picture if Cheerilee. "She's a local schoolteacher, and great at, well, teaching. She's patient and kind and she won't pressure you too much.

The second card had a picture of Fast Change. "You already know her and she can be a good teacher, just watch out for her playful side. She's not above playing a prank if she thinks she can get away with it or she gets bored."

The third picture showed Bulk Biceps. "Don't let his appearances fool you. That stallion's been around and is very physically active. If he can get off the ground with those little wings of his, I'm sure he can show you two how to move, and maybe even fly."

Ocean glanced over all three cards, giggling for a few seconds at the silliness of the presentation before looking over to Pyrite for a few moments. “Fast Change seemed really nice, and she’s already here?” she questioned, shrugging her shoulders. “Plus, if we can stay on our hooves after being pranked, then I’d say it’s a win. Whatcha think, Pyrite?”

“I don’t think I met Fast Change. A unicorn, I see… she a shapeshifter then? That’s actually toward the top of my list of what I want to learn,” Pyrite replied, looking over the cards with interest.

Twilight shook her head in denial. "Calling her 'a' shapeshifter is a bit of an understatement. In fac,m she's not here this morning because they needed her to cover for another pony and she could play the job well enough to not be caught, but she should be back later, if you pick her."

Wave glanced between her friends before pointing at Fast Change. "They obviously want her. I met her before, didn't you, I mean, she's married too, right, like us?"

Twilight bobbed her head quickly. "She sure is, so don't let her get too naughty, even if she invites it." Twilight softly snorted. "So which will it be?"

“We did, and shapeshift she can… even if the prank didn’t quite go as planned,” Ocean mumbled at the end, rubbing her neck, only managing to hit it hard enough for a bit of discomfort. “But yes, Fast Change seems like she’d be able to get the two of us on our hooves and then some with a bit of time, and perhaps Wave could even learn something, too?” she questioned, looking to her.

“Well, Fast Change is the obvious choice for me. She knows most of the things I want to learn, and should be able to get me far enough to research the rest eventually,” Pyrite answered. “Would it make sense for us to split up? Or is that even an option? I don’t know if Fast would be much help learning to fly, for example.”

Wave waggled a hoof at Pyrite in a scolding manner. "We're learning how to walk, not how to fly or use magic or anything else. One thing, then the next. Sheesh, you think you'll have that down in a day now?"

Ocean giggled a bit at Wave’s scolding. “She is the one who seems to think longer term than us. But still, I think Fast Change will be a good pony to teach us how to walk, and once that is done, if we have the time, perhaps after our trip to Baltimare, we can learn more from her. I promise, we won’t delay that anymore than we need to, Wave,” she softly spoke, smiling at her.

Pyrite lifted her fork in a hoof and waggled it at Wave. “I learned the basics of how to program computers before I learned algebra. I need to know the basics of magic as soon as possible, even if I’m still mastering these hooves at the time. And studying each will help distract me from the frustrations of studying the other. So there.”

Twilight pulled the cards off the table with her magic and tucked them away. "Well don't worry about that. Fast Change can show you all of those things. She's had wings, horns, flippers and paws at different times, and learned how to use all of them. I'll let her know you want to talk with her when she gets back." And off Twilight went with a happy whistle, another check on her list marked off.

37 - Spike, the Great and Literary Dragon

“Well.. should be interesting once she does get here,” Ocean mused aloud, looking to Pyrite and Wave both. “So, eating. Lot more complicated than it should be without hands, I’ll admit. Also, Wave? What do you think of our choices for names anyways, hmm?”

Pyrite managed to cut eggs with her fork, something that felt far more difficult than it should have been. “It’s just as complicated with hands, we’ve just had the chance to master it already. It wasn’t that long ago I was watching a toddler slowly progress through that process. Sounds like Fast has had plenty of similar experiences. Should be a well suited teacher, I hope.”

Wave looked between the two. "I'm proud that you picked a name so quickly. I mean, I did too, but I think I was just remembering an old name more than making up a whole new one, so that's pretty cool." She set a fork down on the table. "For now, how about we go over forks and things. Even I can show that."

Nodding, Ocean fumbled with her own for a few moments before setting it down. “Yeah, that sounds great… this is perhaps a tad bit awkward, I’ll admit. I’m just glad that there aren’t too many others around to watch us make fools of ourselves,” she weakly chuckled.

“I’ve been fond of the word pyrite for quite some time. It sounds super smart and sophisticated, and cool. But it’s also known as ‘Fool’s Gold’, something that feels quite appropriate for me after all the mistakes I’ve made along the way. I do strive to learn from my mistakes, though, and strictly make new and different ones,” Pyrite said with a laugh. “So, teach us the way of the fork, then, great sensei Wave Swimmer.~” She tried twirling her fork, causing it to simply clatter to the table, before picking it up again.

Time passed by, with rewards coming in the form of getting food into their new snouts when they worked the forks properly. Just learning the musculature of their new limbs was vital, though when they didn't think too hard on it, their legs did seem to want to go where they wanted to go, following their urges subconsciously, but that wasn't good enough for eating or other fine gestures. Their steps were about as clumsy as they started, but they reached at least a passable level of food dexterity.

Ocean let out a sigh, looking at her now empty plate as she tried to lick some of the various crumbs off her snout, a byproduct of her clumsy eating. “So… that went a bit better than I’d hoped. I wonder if these things can grip anything, hmm,” she mused, trailing off as she looked at her wings for a few moments. “Thanks, Wave, that helped a lot, but it’s just one thing of many. Let’s try to,” she paused, eyes crossing.

“Try to what?” Pyrite asked, looking to Ocean curiously, wondering what that expression was meant to convey. As she waited for an answer she licked her own snout clean.

“Make it to a bathroom?” Ocean nervously replied, weakly chuckling. “It seems that it’s all of the basic things that are the hardest to do, huh?”

Wave flushed with a giggle at the personal nature of the problem, but she didn't seem actually put off by it. She lifted into the air and zipped at Ocean. "I'll get you there in a jiffy, just let me get a grip." She grabbed up Ocean in her hooves. "Be right back!" Her weight did pull down at Wave, but not beyond her means, just slowing down her flying a little.

Pyrite strolled after them, as smoothly as she could manage, figuring she should probably try to go next. “It’s strange to think that’s going to be in some sense ‘new’ for each of us within such a short time.”

Ocean found herself giggling a bit at the impromptu method of transportation. “This is pretty fun! Makes me wanna learn how to fly even sooner, Wave,” she remarked, watching Pyrite do her best to keep up without losing her balance. “For once, you get to carry me~” The moment Wave got her to the room, Ocean managed to stumble her way to the bathroom, the door closing behind her quickly.

Wave parked herself just outside the door to let Ocean take care of business, and talked loudly as she did so. "I'm not really flying, not like you will be. I just kind of swim through the air. It's different I would think. I don't have wings. I don't flap." She spotted Pyrite approaching along slowly and flew over to give a hand, er, hoof.

“Thanks, but I think I’ve got this,” Pyrite declined politely, but still took the chance to nuzzle Wave while she was close. “Oh. Ocean! Don’t forget to wipe. Front to back! It’s important, I think.”

“Awkward enough without commentary!” Ocean’s muffled voice came from the bathroom before she reappeared a minute or three later, shaking her head. “Okay, that was a new experience that I hope gets easier. But, Wave? Swimming through air is a tad close to flying, I’d imagine. But, when I can fly, I’ll bring you up and you can tell me how it differs?” she amusedly offered.

Pyrite promptly slipped in after Ocean was done, ready to do her own business.

Spike wandered past on some business or another and chuckled on the way. "Only in this house…" He said nothing else and was gone as quickly as he arrived.

Wave peered after the dragon a moment before looking to Ocean. "Oh come on, I'm just floating here." She waved her hooves down at her torso, which floated serenely in the air. "That can't be the same thing, can it?"

Shrugging, Ocean nuzzled her before leaning down and looking underneath Wave. “I see air under you, so… I doubt it’s the exact same thing, but still a bit close to some degree?” Grinning a bit mischieviously, Ocean blew a raspberry against Wave’s belly.

Wave flinched at the last minute in surprise, but it was far too late to avoid having a snout pressed against her scales. She didn't have an actual belly button, but the sensation of having a raspberry blown on her was enough to dissolve into gales of laughter. She flopped to the ground, her floating disrupted entirely in helpless twitches.

Giggling, Ocean continued her pursuit, at least until she lost her balance and fell down next to Wave rather awkwardly, giggling herself. “That was fun! Not to mention that I like your laugh, I’m gonna have to do that again sometime~” Ocean flopped her head onto Wave’s belly, smiling at her.

Pyrite could be heard flushing and washing her hooves. “What am I being left out of now?” she called out before finally emerging.

Wave hooked one leg around Ocean and held out another to Pyrite. "You aren't being left out of anything, unless you want a turn torturing me like a not-nice, uh, herd sister? Marefriend! Yes, marefriend is right. We're all marefriends." She looked happier with that being firmly settled.

“One word… raspberry~” Ocean replied, giggling a bit more as she wrapped a hoof around Wave as well, holding one out hoof to Pyrite as well. “A group of marefriends, hmm? Sounds good to me, Pyrite is pretty hot for a pony, and Wave, you’re just right~” she cheesily spoke.

“Why thank you, Ocean,~” Pyrite replied, before turning on Wave with a devious grin. “And thank you for the invitation, Wave.~” She swiftly leaned in and started nibbling Wave’s neck rapidly, knowing many found that tickling, and moved one hoof in to Wave’s side to try tickling her there.

As the group fell into giggles and playing, a pony landed on the balcony and entered only to almost trip over the group gathered there. "What the? What are you all doing here?" asked Rainbow Dash with a bemused expression before pointing at Wave. "Aren't you one of those Siren things? Twilight mentioned fighting a bunch of you once."

Ocean’s head perked up and looked towards Rainbow curiously, her giggles slowly dying out. “We’re staying here for now? And Wave isn’t a ‘Siren thing’ she’s a Siren,” she clarified, wondering what brought Dash here. “You’re Jake’s friend, Rainbow Dash, yeah?” Ocean asked, although she already knew the answer.

“Also, learning how to be mares. Please forgive us a few missteps, as the hooves are freshly minted,” Pyrite said as she disentangled herself, before quickly introducing herself and her two friends.

Rainbow blinked owlishly. "Freshly minted?"

Wave squeezed both of her marefriends. "They just became mares, and now we're all marefriends."

Rainbow gave a little nod, barely stifling a giggle. "Well, I don't want to get in between good marefriends. I'll just be moseying along now…" She looked towards Ocean. "Did you see Jake? He's late to a game."

Ocean sorted herself out a bit and hummed thoughtfully, wings twitching a bit. “He left sometime after he finished breakfast, I believe. Haven’t seen him since though. I don’t think he mentioned where he was going though.”

“What sort of game?” Pyrite queried, perking up a bit.

Rainbow rolled a hoof slowly in a circle, gesturing here and there. "Just a little game of hoofball, but he knows what's in for him when he's late. He's probably in trouble, again. I swear, that guy is a magnet for trouble, but he always gets out of it, eventually. I better go check on him. Later!" She dashed, living up to her name, and left little more than a rainbow streak behind her.

“Huh,” Ocean muttered as she watched the streak Rainbow left behind. “She really is fast. So…” she turned back to Wave and Pyrite in amusement. “What should the three of us do, you think? Sounded like Fast Change is gonna be busy for a bit, and I’m not averse to, oh, learning all of Pyrite’s ticklish spots or something equally fun~”

Pyrite’s interest had waned when ‘hoofball’ was named as the game, but the mention of her ticklish spots got her alert again. She tried to ward them off with her hooves, looking nervous even as she said, “Fair’s fair I guess, but... how about something else?”

Wave wriggled out from under them. "Actually… It may not be as fun, but Twilight has a lot of books, I mean, a lot." She spread her hooves wide. "I want to poke through them, see what she has about sirens, maybe learn more about Equestria today? I mean, I'll look really stupid if I keep, you know, assuming it's the same as back in my day."

“Sounds like a good and smart idea, really. We can read until lunch, or Fast Change arrives to help out?” Ocean offered up. “Reading with hooves will be a bit tricky, but I’m sure we can manage, and learning more about Equestria would be good for all three of us,” she admitted, getting to her hooves carefully.

“Oh, Spiiike!~” Pyrite called out as she started toward the door. “Maybe they have a ‘Dummy’s Guide to Unicorn Horns’ or something. I’ll trust you two to learn the common lore, while I focus on getting this thingy figured out.”

Spike poked his head in as if summoned. "Huh? You're not Twilight." He pointed a claw at Pyrite. "Only Twilight and Rarity get to call me that way. Anyway,I'm already here, so what's up?

Wave quickly answered with a grin. "We were hoping for the help of a skilled librarian assistant."

Correct words spoken, Spike beamed. "You've come to the best one!" After hearing what was desired, he turned to leave, but paused. "You two want anything?"

“I guess some basics on flight on top of Equestrian stuff would be useful, I’m assuming there’s more to flight than just flapping your wings,” Ocean remarked with an amused giggle. “Thanks a lot, Spike.”

“For future reference, how would you like me to call you, Spike?” Pyrite asked, head quirked.

"Hey, Spike. Excuse me, Spike, almost anything but 'Oh Spiiike'. Only Twilight uses that really." He made a dismissive gesture before looking back at Ocean. "I humbly suggest against it. Twilight read a bunch of flying books and it put her back like three weeks. Physical stuff is better learned doing than reading about it."

Ocean nodded. “Okay then, if you say so, I’ll agree with that. Um,” she paused, blushing a bit in embarrassment. “There wouldn’t happen to be any books on mare biology? Pyrite and I could probably use that knowledge, too.”

Spike looked baffled by the request before his scales turned colors. "Um, sure thing!" And he fled before more questions could be asked of him or any explanations given for why he needed that particular book.

Wave watched him flee then pointed into a quiet study with a table. "Let's have a seat while he looks." Not that she seemed to actually 'sit' so much as lie down on things.

“I’m thinking I’ll go with ‘Oh great Spike, draconic lord of literature, we humbly invoke thy name!’ next time,” Pyrite mused, before strolling to the table. “Anyways… hopefully whatever book he finds for me will demystify some of that weird arcane jargon that was in the other book… though, I’m sure I won’t fully grasp any of it until I can get this thing lit up.” She tapped her horn, then shuddered a bit.

“Guessing you shouldn’t go tapping that horn of yours, hmm?” Ocean asked, following after Wave into the study, a bit more sure on her hooves. “And I’m finally starting to get the feeling for these things. It’s like… two limbs that were numb my entire life that I’m just getting used to feeling,” Ocean tacked on, letting her wings move around a bit before tucking them back in.

“It’s fine it’s- mmmm..~” Pyrite said as she rubbed the appendage in question, getting a bit of a spaced out look before she blushed and quickly put her hoof down. “I’ll uh… maybe I’ll let one of you check that out later.~”