As Selene woke he took a moment to think about how successful his quest had so far been. He had intended to travel the Western Wastes to determine how likely his plan was to succeed here—it had failed rather spectacularly in the East—and he'd like to avoid the same results here. So far he had learned basically nothing, other than the fact that there were some free towns in the mountains inhabited by mostly Pegasi. There was nothing surprising about that: Earthponies and Unicorns didn't like the higher altitudes, or the cold, so it made sense that they would filter out if they ever lived up here at all.

Other than learning this one thing, he had been captured by a Slaver—of the near godlike Unicorn verity—lost almost all of his equipment—and what he still had, was technically the hers now—and been grounded by a wing injury that was likely to take upwards of six months to heal, but, at least he had a godlike Unicorn who apparently wanted to do everything she could to keep him alive: that was something.

As his considerations came to an end Neighbourhood began to squirm under his right wing. They hadn't moved any significant amount during the night, and Selene was still draped across Neighbourhood's left side, his good wing tightly wrapped around her side. "Good morning, dearest," Selene mumbled, nosing her in the side of the head.

She peeled her eyes open, and lazily looked up at him without raising her head. After a moment laying there, her eyes hunting for focus in the dark tree well, she began to shiver and leaned forward to bury her head in Selene's chest. She was still wearing her cloak, but the thin fabric did little to keep her warm, leaving her almost entirely dependent on Selene for heat.

Selene had slept rather well, laying on the relatively comfortable bed quickly cobbled together out of evergreen tree branches and needles (they may sound painful, but were actually quite soft). The soft mare he had used as a pillow admittedly helped quite a bit too, and the air in the deep tree well stayed livably warm—for Selene's high cold tolerance, at least—thanks to the two warm bodies breathing into the small space all night long.

Neighbourhood hadn't done as well: she must not be used to sleeping outdoors, and what was an acceptable temperature for Selene and his hot Pegasi blood was likely still far too cold for Neighbourhood. Still, she was alive: plenty of ponies had been trapped outside in these mountains overnight that could no longer make that claim, or at least Selene suspected as much if these were anything like the Appalachia Mountains on the other side of the continent.

"Hey, we should get moving," Selene said, nuzzling the back of Neighbourhood's head. "You'll warm up faster once you start moving."

"No," she stated bluntly, her voice muffled as she spoke into Selene's chest.

"Yes," Selene said back, and cut off any further arguments by raising his wing off of her back, and folding it at his side.

She almost immediately began shivering violently, then began trying to shove herself under Selene's side. "Put it back, put it back!"

"No, we need to get moving. You'll be fine then, I promise." He purposefully put all of his weight on his right side, stopping her from being able to squeeze underneath him.

"Put your wing back, or I'll tear it's feathers out too!" She did her best to hold still and level a vicious glare at Selene, but her constant violent shivering spoiled the effect.

Selene cocked his head sideways, and did nothing, looking back at her with a disinterested gaze.

"Oh... Please?" she smoothly shifted tactics, eyes going wide and lowering her muzzle. "...Please!?" she repeated, shaking his foreleg, her teeth beginning to chatter.

Selene sighed, and leaned a bit onto his left side.

Neighbourhood immediately dove under his right side, wedging herself between his belly and the evergreen bough beneath them.

Selene then brought his wing back around her.

Slowly her shivering stopped, and she sighed, sinking deeper into his side. "Thank you, darling," she mumbled. "...You know, this is a perfect opportunity for you to tell me more about your name...?"

"I already told you everything I'm willing to until you tell me something about yourself."

"Well, there's not much to tell, darling."

"I'm sure there's plenty," Selene returned, before going silent. Pig headed Unicorns.

They lay at the bottom of the tree well for quite some time. Selene eventually gave in to his more lazy side, and leaned his head across Neighbourhood's shoulders, letting himself slip back to sleep. By the time he woke again sunlight was shining through the branches above then, lighting the top half of the hole, and Neighbourhood had begun to squirm below him again.

"Are we ready now?" Selene asked through a yawn. When she didn't answer quickly enough he answered for her. "Lets get moving." Without waiting for her, he stood above her, then jumped up, pushing off of the tree with his hindlegs to throw himself out of the hole.

He made it out easily, and skidded to a stop in the snow just in front of the tree, staring a mid sized brown bear in the face. The bear took a few lazy steps back, surprised by the sudden appearance of the dark furred pony seemingly out of nowhere, but otherwise appearing unfazed.

Selene forced down his instinctual panic, and looked the bear over. The bears on his side of the continent were rather benign for the most part, but he had no idea what to expect over here.

The bear looked back at him, slowly tracing it's eyes up and down his frame, then, with a grunt, turned to lazily walk away, apparently completely uninterested. Selene couldn't help but feel a little rejected: I'm sure I'd taste wonderful...

"That's why I didn't answer!" Neighbourhood hissed up at Selene, her head slightly sticking out of the tree well.

Hearing her voice the bear stopped, and looked over it's shoulder back at them. It moved with the lazy and careless motions of a creature that had nothing to fear from anything in it's entire habitat.

Selene opened his wings wide, and flashed their full profile at the bear, waving them high above his head.

The bear, possibly seeing something that appeared larger than itself for the first time in it's life, quickly turned and ambled away.

"Oh, now I feel bad," Selene mumbled, folding his wings away and moving back to Neighbourhood. "He's just a big lazy dog."

"That weighs several times more than both of us," Neighbourhood countered, grabbing Selene's hoof and hauling herself out of the tree well. "I'd really rather you not damage my property being silly, if it can be avoided."

Selene ignored the jab, and began to walk back through the forest, Neighbourhood quickly following and climbing under his wing.

They continued over the mountain, eventually reaching the top of the ridge. Once they crested it they could see down into the high mountain valley, and sure enough the town cuddled up under the tallest mountain on the valleys eastern side. It didn't appear to be a terribly large town, maybe sixty ponies total, but it was there, and without the supplies to reach any further, hopefully they would be welcome.

It took about an hour to cross the valley and approach the town. It was built back into the mountain, surrounded by steep cliffs on three sides, leaving only one direction to approach from, and that side of the town was behind a tall wooden and stone wall.

"They must not like visitors," Neighbourhood observed as they approached.

"Or they just want extra defenses from raiders," Selene countered, followed by a silent prayer that he was right.

There was only one gate in the wall, large enough to take in the occasional caravan, but it was closed and there were no guards, at least not on the outside. They walked up to the gate together, and paused, both looking up to the wall above, then lowering their eyes to stare at each other.

"So..." Neighbourhood began, "should we just knock?"

As ridiculous as the idea sounded Selene couldn't think of anything better to do, so he stepped forward and pounded on the gate a few times. The wood was thick, and only produced a deep muffled thud, even as he hit it as hard as he could without hurting himself.

They waited a moment, and Selene was preparing to try again when he heard a set of wings flapping above them. A thin orange pegasus stallion fluttered down from the top of the wall, and landed a short distance away from them.

"Umm, sorry, we weren't expecting a caravan today, and aren't used to ground visits. Are your wings hurt?" His voice was surprisingly deep, coming from such a thin stallion. He was a touch taller than Selene although likely quite a bit lighter.

"Yea, got into a bit of a scuffle," Selene admitted, waving his damaged wing. "We talked to Dusty... crap, I forgot the rest of his name—"

"He's a Pegasi, Darling," Neighbourhood stated, pawing at his foreleg. "Like all of you fluttery creatures, he's named after something fleeting and evocative of freedom. Skies, in this case."

The orange stallion froze, his eyes suddenly sharply focused on Neighborhood, locked on her horn.

"Minerals sir name is Fortune," Selene pointed out with a shrug.

"Oh, so you remembered her name?" Neighbourhood fired back. "Besides, Fortunes are very liberating."

"I'm named after a god," Selene countered again.

"Who's no longer with us; fleeting."

"She lived for several millennia, and you call her fleeting!"

"Ok, fine," Neighbourhood relented, "but you are a very unique pony, for at least two reasons now, and I imagine you have more hidden away..."

Their short spat over, Selene looked back at the stallion: he was still staring at Neighbourhood's horn.

As she turned to look at him and noticed he was staring, she lowered her head and pressed against Selene's side.

"I hope this isn't going to be a problem," Selene stated, trying to force the other Pegasi to respond.

He stared a moment longer, then forced himself to turn to look at Selene. "Umm, I don't think so." He glanced up at the wall above them, then down at Selene, then spared a quick glance at Neighbourhood—again, eyes staring at her horn—then back to Selene. "Ok, I guess I'll just fly you two over. The gates take more ponies to open than we have on watch right now. I'll start with you?"

"Sure," Selene nodded, stepping forward, giving Neighbourhood a quick nod over his shoulder. He turned around and stood beside the Pegasi's side. "My right wing's still fine, so if you can balance my left I should be able to get myself up easily enough."

The Pegasi nodded, giving him a reassuring smile. He looked old enough that he must have tired this before at some point. Pegasi were always injuring themselves, usually on a botched landing, and helping another to fly with only one wing was a fairly common practice, for situations exactly like this.

Selene stretched his injured left wing out, and gently laid it across the other Stallions back, then pushed himself into the air with just his right wing. The other Pegasi carefully timed his own flap to push, with the force from both of his wings, under Selene's injured left wing, keeping Selene from rolling uncontrollably to his left.

Working together they managed to hover straight up rather easily, quickly climbing over the wall. Moving sideways to come down on the other side was a little more tricky: Selene eased off on his flapping, first in time with the other Stallion to stop them rising further then necessary, and then backed off further to allow them to lean to the right and begin to slide sideways over the wall. He then held steady as the other Pegasi reduced his flapping to lean them back to the left, to stop them moving further to the side and to begin their decent.

On the way down they began to wobble side-to-side, and Selene had to fight the urge to try and balance them himself, instead simply holding a steady rhythm and trusting the uninjured stallion to balance the both of them. As they approached the ground they both began to flap harder, to slow their landing to a gentler speed. Apparently the other stallion had a looser definition of gentle, and didn't flap as hard as Selene did: this resulted in them leaning heavily to their left just before landing, as Selene slowed faster than the other pegasi, and he ended up crushing hard against his side as they skewed to the side on touchdown.

"Ack, sorry," Selene said as he pulled himself up, off of the other stallions side.

"No problem. It was a better landing than if I had been carrying you without your help."

"Hey, I never got your name?"

"You never told me yours, stranger," the orange stallion returned, turning to face him.

Crap, I need to stop forgetting to introduce myself. "I'm sorry. Selene, distant relative of Princess Luna, and recent arrival in the Western Wasteland." He held out a hoof.

"You're not from the West..? Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Veiled Ember!" he said, taking and shaking Selene's hoof.

"Veiled?" Selene asked as they let go of each other.

"Yea, most ponies just call me Ember," Ember said, rubbing the back of his head. He suddenly pressed forward, very close to Selene. "Look, are you sure she's cool?"

"Neighbourhood?" Selene asked, stepping back from Embers sudden advance. "Umm, I guess that depends what you mean by 'cool.' She isn't going to kill anypony... well, at least if they don't try to kill her or me."

"I'm being serious," Ember said, stomping a forehoof.

"So am I," Selene returned with a shrug. "At the end of the day she's nice enough, although I haven't known her too long."

"Ok, fine, I'll go get her, but if she destroys anything you're paying for it!"

"What? Why!? She's her own pony and can pay for her own mistakes! Besides, technically she ow..." Selene was going to finish, owns me, but suddenly decided heavily against it. Neighbourhood's earlier words suddenly came back to him: not all groups in the Wastelands practice slavery, and many don't tolerate it at all. If there was a group that wouldn't tolerate it, it would be an isolationist town of Pegasi.

"Besides, she what?" Ember asked.

"She owes me, big."

"Oh, I gotcha, she owes you a life debt."

...What? Selene deadpanned for a moment, but recovered quickly "Yea... but don't grill her about it: she doesn't like to think about it."

"Yea, man, I know, it happens. It sucks, but it happens, although I suppose she's very useful?" Ember asked, raising his eyebrows in a very suggestive manner.

Selene completely ignored the sex reference, choosing instead to answer completely seriously. "Yea, she can field strip a rifle in seconds with her magic, and doesn't make bad backup in a fight. She can also heal basic injuries in just a few moments, although she can't do shit about feathers."

"Yea? Well, I guess I'd better get her," Ember said, crouching to takeoff. "Be right back," and with that, he sprung into the air and quickly climbed over the wall.

Selene took a moment to look around the town: the buildings were all various combinations of wood and brick, and the majority looked to be houses. It was also a lot larger than it looked from the distance, with most buildings being at least two stories and some being four, and possibly even more. He upped his population estimate from sixty to at least a hundred, and likely a bit more.

There was also no one at street level, and many of the homes looked old and worn. He considered the possibility that the town was partially abandoned, but then began to realize that the upper halves of all the homes were in much better condition. Oh, it's a town of Pegasi. I'd never move around at street level if I lived here either.

Sure enough, now that he was looking up, there were plenty of Pegasi moving around deeper in the town, flying above the town rather than using the narrow, poorly maintained streets. Other than the one main street, going from the one gate to the town square, the rest of the gaps between the buildings were nothing more than narrow alleyways, never intended to be used for more than heavy deliveries and waste removal.

Selene looked up and watched as Ember came back over the wall, Neighbourhood wrapped tightly across his back. Apparently she didn't enjoy flying very much. Ember flapped his wings furiously, but was unable to slow their decent much, and landed hard with a loud four hoofed thud, almost crumpling under Neighbourhood's extra weight.

"Oops, sorry," Ember mumbled over his shoulder, struggling back up to his full height. "...Rides over."

Selene moved up and grabbed Neighbourhood's hips, pulling her hind half off of Ember's back while also steadying her. She had locked up, and it took a little shake to loosen her grip on Ember's chest enough to pull her front half off too.

"I–I'm sorry," Neighbourhood mumbled, leaning into Selene's side. "I'm thinking it may have just been easier, and safer, if I had ripped the gate down myself." She punctuated the end of the thought by flaring her horn, casting dark purple sparks across the side of Selene's face.

"I'm rather happy you didn't, ma'am," Ember said, backing away. "I've got to get back to my watch. Enjoy your stay, and please, don't break anything or hurt anyone." He didn't wait for a response, just leapt into the air and powered himself back onto of the wall, moving far enough forward to be out of sight.

Selene wiped his hoof across his face. Neighborhood's small spark shower hadn't been enough to cause him any pain, but it did char the fur on the side of his face a little. His hoof came away with some soot smeared across it, which he quickly wiped across Neighbourhood's cheek. The black didn't standout much against Selene's dark fur, but it was extremely obvious against Neighbourhood's stark white.

"Hey, don't do that," Neighbourhood stated bluntly, wiping as much of the soot off her cheek as she easily could.

"I thought you liked cuddling?" Selene asked, rubbing the side of his face across the back of her neck, leaving a small trail of soot as he rubbed the last of it off.

"I do, but I'd also like to stay clean, Darling. I'm willing to accept getting a little dirty though, in this case, as long as you go a little lower~"

Selene immediately moved away as she began to purr, but she hopped forward and kept pace with him as he moved into the town, and began to lean into him with so much force he had to lean back into her to stop from being pushed over.

"So, we need to get something to eat, as well as something that will last long enough to travel," she began, speaking to Selene even as she looked around at the town as they moved deeper into it. They were alone on the main street, the few Pegasi traveling at this time of day flying well above the rooftops to get from place to place. "We'll also need to get some more canteens, and maybe something with a little bit of bite to put in them. I'd also like to stop at this 'Alchemists' Mineral Fortune mentioned: I may not have a clue how to mend your wing, but they very well may. Is there anything you'd like to look for, Darling?"

"I'd like a new set of armor, since somepony refused to let me go back for mine."

"Very well, and then maybe you could carry some of our supplies too, but trust me, Darling, those ponies would have put up far too much of a fight, and I was, and to an extent still am, very tired from having to mend your wing."

"My wing that you had broken!"

"Calm down: I've already apologized for that and I will not be again. I had not realized how fragile you creatures are. To make it all up to you I'll buy you a new set even better than it was, to make up for any sentimental value that has been lost. Besides, I'd like to keep my new pony as safe as possible."

They wandered deeper into the town, and began to come across the various shops lining the towns central plaza. It didn't take Neighbourhood long to zone in on a small shop in the far corner; it's sign was written in Old Equitish, and Selene didn't have a clue what it said.

"I take it this is the Alchemists?" Selene asked, stopping just outside of the door as Neighbourhood pushed her way through.

Hearing him she stopped halfway through, and turned to look at him over her shoulder. For a moment she wore an expression somewhere between shock and impressed, but it quickly faded as her eyes narrowed and she lowered her head. "You don't know what it says, do you Darling?"

"Of course not: that's how I know this must be an alchemists or a magic shop." Selene was rather proud of his logic.

Neighbourhood was clearly not as she sighed and moved into the store. "Ugh, street smarts; how the ignorant make sense of the world."

The stores owner was a dusty grey pegasus stallion, who was likely the only pony in town who was excited to see a unicorn. Before even introducing himself he began questioning Neighbourhood on all sorts of magic and alchemy facts, very rapidly exceeding Selene's own knowledge, and just as quickly losing his attention. As Neighbourhood began to ask her own alchemy questions and the back and forth exchange continued, Selene wondered deeper into the store.

Selene wasted an hour looking over everything in the shop, twice, and as their conversation continued, and continued to bore Selene to no end, he curled up in the back of the shop and quickly fell asleep.

***

It seemed like just a short moment later Neighbourhood was gently shaking him awake. "I'm sorry I've kept you so long, Darling, but I have so truly good news."

Selene forced himself to stand. "How long was I—"

"We've been here about six hours. I wasn't paying attention to you, so I'm not sure how long you've been asleep, but I guess you'll be up all night then hmm?"

"Umm?" Selene watched as Neighbourhood looked him over, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable, but not entirely sure why. "I tend to sleep quite a lot, actually, at least when I have the time."

"Oh..." she mumbled, looking very disappointed. "Well, Prophetic Radiance–such a luxurious name for a Pegasi, don't you think?"

"An old, grey stallion? I'm not sure the name fits."

"It's a radiance of the mind, my Darling. I doubt it is something you would understand." She carefully watched his face for a reaction, but when none came her ears drooped slightly, and she turned towards the door. "Now come along. We're in luck: Radiance is married to the towns blacksmith, and is more than happy to accept payment for your new armor here. Usually a blacksmith would have little use for the rare gems I have to barter with, and I would have had to exchange them for Caps here, but this allows us to cut out the middle mare, or stallion, as it were."

Selene had hardly been listening as he followed her out, not caring too strongly for economic issues. He was always hesitant to admit it, but he was generally a very poor barterer, and the overwhelming majority of his equipment was scavenged off of raiders, and he only rarely managed to convince an honest trader to give him anything worth more than what he could find normally. Some of his best equipment, like his armor he had originally arrived in, was even stolen, not that he'd ever admit it.

"So I'm going to drop you off and the armorer's, and then I'm going to go collect up some supplies for our journey. We'll figure out where we're going tomorrow, but we're only staying here one night. Agreed?"

"Yea, sure." Selene still wanted to explore and learn as much about this land as he could, so that fit perfectly with his own plans, and he didn't much care why she wanted to leave already.

"Oh, and one more thing," she said, suddenly turning around and walking up directly in front of Selene, getting uncomfortably close. "Drink some of this." She pulled a light blue bottle out from under her cloak.

Selene took it and pulled the cork. It smelled of thunderclouds and ozone. "Why?"

"It's from Radiance. He says it will help you re-grow your feathers much more quickly than normal, taking a week at most for them to be back to full length. I'm not sure how it works, to be honest, but it will only effect the feathers that are missing, in effect skipping over your molting cycle all together... or something like that. It cost me quite a lot, even more than your armor, so I'd appreciate it immensely if you'd trust me."

Selene considered it for a moment before asking, "how much?"

"Don't worry, my new stallions health is worth any cost. You should take about a sixth of it each day, although apparently it's not too specific as the results per Pegasi vary quite widely."

"...New stallion?" Selene asked, cocking his head sideways and staring at the light blue bottle in his hoof. "What happened to all your old stallions?"

"...Technically you're my first, although I suppose that depends on how we define my stallion..."

"Really?"

"I'm still quite a young mare, Selene dear, and not every mare throws herself at the first stallion to cross her path."

"...As far as I've seen—"

"No! You are not the first stallion to cross my path... I'm not that young... now drink!"

Selene smirked at her for a moment, then sipped from the bottle, approximating about a sixth of it's contents. He was expecting it to taste terrible, but it tasted mostly of water and dirt, like drinking from a freshly dug spring, and left a gritty texture in his mouth. "...That could be significantly worse," he commented, re-plugging the bottle and hoofing it back to her.

"I'm glad, now lets go."

***

True to her word, Neighbourhood had abandoned Selene at the Armorer's the moment they arrived. The blacksmith, an ironically light cerulean coated mare, was apparently not in a good mood over being called into work on her day off. She decided to skip measuring him, and just assemble the lower layer of his armor around him directly, cutting and sowing it together quickly out of thick cloth strips and pads.

She then added a few thin metal plates down his flanks and across his chest. On their own they didn't provide too much protection, but it could easily be enough to stop the tip of an arrow or knife after being slowed by the outer layer of leather, although it would do nothing against even a medium caliber bullet.

She then pressed the large sheet of soft leather across him, and quickly cut out the patterns, and then threw those patterns in a large pot to boil, and harden the leather. She didn't waste any time waiting for it to finish, instead taking the time to take some fine mail, and wrap it around his legs to create mail sleeves for all four of his legs, then cut them to be the right diameter and length.

She then used a pair of pliers, and with awe inspiring speed, clipped new rings into the mail to 'stitch' the sleeves closed. She then repeated the process all over again with a thicker, heavier sleeve of mail tightly around the outside of each, and finally stitched the bottom of each to the lower section of his cloth under-armor as he was still wearing it.

As she went to remove the leather from the boiling pot, Selene took a moment to wiggle his legs around to see what would happen. The mail was loose enough it didn't limit his motion as much as he was expecting, but it was tight enough it didn't jingle or chime either. His only complaint would be the color, as it was the bright shining silver of what he suspected was some type of steel.

The mare came back with the now hardened scales of leather, and began sowing them into his cloth under-armor, also holding the metal sheets in place underneath them. She worked incredibly fast, and not once poked him with the large needle she was working with at a blinding pace, sowing everything together with thick chord.

She made one last addition, adding another layer of thin chain mail in two patches, sown onto his armor along his back and draped over his wings. "Try opening your wings," she commanded bluntly.

Selene did, and as he unfurled his wings to hold them open at his sides the mail slid off and 'pooled' across his back between his wings.

"Now give us a full flapping motion."

He did, slowly moving his wings through a full flap although slowed down enough he wouldn't move too much air and lift himself off the ground. The mail jingled on his back, but otherwise stayed out of the way. He looked at the mare was was about to make an objection when she beat him to it.

"I'll sow on a thin bit of cloth on the underside, to separate the metal from your wing and keep it quiet. Now fold your wings away: you may need to lean them further forwards that normal before bringing them up."

Selene folded his wings, and after tipping his 'wrist' joints forward a bit, the mail slid into place over his folded wing, covering it entirely.

"It's not a lot of protection, but it's better than nothing," the mare said, coming up to stand in front of him. "Now move around and make sure it fits well enough."

Selene stretched around as much as he normally would while moving. He hopped in place a few times and walked in a tight circle a few times. The armor was a lot lighter than he was expecting, considering how much metal had been used inside it and with the mail, but it was hardly noticeable. It was a little thick around his sides and chest with all the thick leather compared to what he was used to, but not enough to snag unnecessarily on anything he was walking by. Other than the noise the mail over his wings made, that was going to be fixed, and the bright sheen of the mail, he had no complains. He was preparing to say so, when the mare interrupted him again.

"Ok, now lets get it off of you." She quickly undid the chord lace on either side of his chest piece, loosening it enough he could squeeze out through the now widened neck hole easily enough. His earlier armor had been nothing more than leather scales attacked to a loose leather strap harness. This was basically a full body suit, with leather and metal plates strategically sown to the outside. The multi layered fabric was thick enough it alone would give him some serious protection against blunt force and duller weapons, as well as some serious isolation, while the mail around his legs gave him excellent protection without limiting his range of movement. It was excellent work.

Once he was out of it, he was about to voice his final concern, over the metals bright finish, when the mare interrupted him one final time.

"Now get lost. I'm going to finish up some of the finer details, and paint it. It'll be ready first thing tomorrow morning... Go on, get," she finished, shooing him away.

***

Selene met Neighborhood back at the Alchemist shop, as they had planned. The sun had completely set at this point, and the Pegasi town lacked lighting at street level almost completely, leaving them mostly in the dark.

"It took you long enough," she taunted with a massive smile as he approached. "Lets go, I've already arranged for a room at the local inn. It's basically empty this time of year, although it supposedly fills up quickly when the caravans come through in the summer."

"Alright. Do I get to make some decisions for myself today, or..?"

"Oh course not, Darling. Now common: I'd like to get to sleep early enough you don't get mad at me because I'm not a morning pony."

"I thought you were excited about keeping me up all night?" Selene asked, following her across the plaza.

Neighbourhood began to sway her hips quite a bit more than she usually did as she lead him towards the inn. After awhile she turned to look over her shoulder at him.

Selene made a point to look into her eyes, ignoring her hips. He held her gaze all the way to the inn.

Neighbourhood, still looking over her shoulder at Selene, walked straight into the side of the inn. "Ouch... that was rude."

"Yea, what a rude building," Selene mumbled, coming up and rubbing her back.

"I meant you, for not telling me," she mumbled back, switching smoothly to her pout face.

"I think you'll live," he returned, pulling her with him into the inn. He was only slightly surprised to find it's downstairs bar empty. "So where is everyone?"

"I told you, it's normally empty this time of year, but I've already paid for our room."

"Our room?" Selene asked, separating slightly from her. "I thought cost wasn't an issue for you?"

"Cost isn't an issue for me because I don't waste moeny on frivolous things."

"A second room for a second pony is frivolous?"

"For us, Darling, of course it is." Neighbourhood pressed against Selene's side as she moved passed him, and began her way up the stairs. "We're on the top floor... common."

Without anywhere else to go, Selene followed her up, trying to stop his eyes from staring at her flank ahead of him.

Author's Note

That was a long one. I've always tended to write chapters in the 5-7,000 words range. I've been keeping them shorter in this one to try and quicken the pace, but I've decided to slow it a bit and fall back into my old habits for much of this.

Another very important note: you will notice I've added the sex tag to the story recently. This is because, well, there's going to be sex.

I know not everyone is into that (meaning not everyone can tolerate it) but I've decided to do some rather major character development in these scenes, and after making that choice it's become inevitable that I'd have to add the tag. For those of you who can not into pony sex, I will be trying to keep major plot details out of them, and will be clearly labeling them by both having them an in-between chapter (7.5 for example), and having a note at the top of each warning those who can't deal with pony snuggling off, to skip the chapter if they want to.

I'll make sure it's possible you can still understand the story if you skip these chapters, but it will take a lot of the personality out of the story, especially out of Selene's and Neighbourhood's relationship (which is going to be bumpy, to say the least).

They are going to be quite explicit, but I'll try to write them in a way that's not too over the top and reasonably grounded. Still, even written lightly, sex is sex, and you have been warned.

Side but somewhat related note: I've intentionally not revealed their exact ages yet, but both are over 20 (and I'm assuming they age in human years for story reasons/familiarity).