Baa-Ram-Ewe!

-Petopia, the next day, inside the travelers’ tent, Pom-

I thought about magic, while looking at the golden wool on my left leg. I laid here patiently and quietly waiting for everyone to wake up and get off of me.

In some cases some people would say magic is the power of imagination itself made real with enough focus, in some cases that might be true, but not always correct.

It was considered an energy that was measurable by unicorns, esoteric and hard to manipulate outwardly. Not exactly true given there were a variety of ways one can use magic without a horn and unicorns are not liable to look into them since they tended to be narcissistic. Changelings can use magic outside of their horns as some of the forms they change into lack said horns.

Other examples of ways to use magic are through hooves, wings, eyes, voice and plenty more mediums such as objects outside of a unicorn’s main prominent focus on their foreheads. So the skies were the limit really as long as you knew what you might be capable of when it came to magic.

My personal magical abilities are more centered on the idea of controlling a given ‘concept’ and being imaginative with it. That concept is distinctly and noticeably ‘canine’ and all abilities and actions related to it coming about from my many familiar bonds to various canines. The number of canines outnumbered my being a single lambkin to an absurd degree in a bond that shares strength in a two way street even as disconnected as I was from all my familiars that were family to me.

I’m surprised I hadn’t fully turned into a canine… I guess I can only partially become a canine and never cease fully being a lambkin. Give me an infinite number of dogs to have as familiars and I’d still be me. Thank goodness for that at least even if I had some semi-permanent canine traits now. So it would be like wild magic.

My wool based abilities were more in the tune of natural magic given it was specifically always a part of my nature, like being a Chrysomallus was and I could have lived fairly well and much better without knowing I was one while quickly losing ground on my body.

Why was I thinking of magic today? Well it’s because I was planning on taking the bug researching the ‘magic of friendship’ with me today. Even if she couldn’t currently talk, due to the love in the air in this world being so stupidly thick, I did want to spend time with Ocellus and what Minka’s dancing and singing friends would be doing today would be neat.

“Hahhhh… that was some of the best sleep I’ve gotten in a while, you’re a really comfortable person ma’am.” Hot Dog stated as he woke up and rolled away from me. “Hey, what’s wrong with him? I don’t think anyone who sleeps next to you would be able to have nightmares.”

“He’s terrified of having broken his bond with me once, he accidentally did it to save me so I don’t hold it against him.” Mostly by getting more powerful than our bond could handle by becoming ‘Dormamon’, apparently Calumon was involved in that happening somehow.

I carefully drew Dormarch into my left hoof and cuddled him, he was likely having nightmares of killing me or being a reason I died again.

Dormarch soon calmed down and smiled as he curled up into my wool, I have no idea what he was going to do today, but maybe Dolly could get his mind off of his ‘mega level’ evolution being terrifying for him.

“Morning Pom!” Dolly stated cheerfully as she stretched out and ‘accidentally’ placed a paw on Tusky’s butt, then squeezed it ‘completely by accident’ waking him up with a cheeky grin.

Tusky didn’t get angry, but he did get a little embarrassed and seemed to not mind his personal space being violated.

“You’re taking Dormarch with you today Dolly, while I’m taking Ocellus with me.” Maybe Dormarch would have fun spending time with Dolly’s new friends? “Also check on the Sitrus Berries and see if they are growing this morning.”

“Fine, fine…” Dolly grumbled as she left and went to check on the Sitrus Berry plants and speaking of Sitrus Berries… I ate one. My shattered leg was more of a dull throb now as more of my bone knitted together.

I think Marshall might have taken a Sitrus Berry to plant in the world next door that apparently had super villains, crazy people and alien invasions. That was okay as they Sitrus Berries were generally harmless fruit to most living entities.

-A little more than an hour later, Dolly-

“Okay, so we’re checking the ski resort today, Tusky Husky, Hot Dog and Dolly will be best for that up in the mountain. I don’t like the cold so I’ll be checking around the outskirts with the others.” Enormous B… did I really want to finish that thought about such a nice dog? Only Barista… ‘Clarissa’… deserves that title in the worse meaning of it. Anyway pink small dog that grows large and was my friend, was giving us our barking orders. “You’re partner Leap Lamb is getting better, will she be capable of taking part in a fight if Snooky gets involved given how bad he’s getting?”

“How psycho is this cat again?” Dormarch asked as he was going to be playing in the snow with me today. “I don’t want him or this Agent Del anywhere near mom if we can help it.”

“Very bad if given the time to do anything, let me tell you what he did to his more innocent brothers and sisters.” Here Hot Dog cleared his throat and started telling us some of the vile things Snooky did in his childhood, before he became a well-known galactically recognized evil.

“Wow, that is sickening and I can see why Dolly refers to him as a psycho…” Yeah, little bro, that evil cat had no chill.

“I think Pom can still do things, but she needs far more time to relax and heal before we go into a very dangerous place to finally get our traveling team home. So she’s on vacation and nobody is going to pull her out of it unless the entirety of Paw-tucket is completely covered in robots or something.” Why did I say that? No, seriously, why did I say something like that knowing as well as Dormarch does that Pom has a habit of getting into fights with robots on multiple occasions. “Snooky can’t just make entire armies of robots ludicrously fast… can he?”

“…” Hot Dog looked away, I guess I remember his name because it was food.

“…” Wumbo Warg was being fairly quite too.

“… eh.” Really like Tusky’s adorable verbal tick, even his quiet ellipses moment ends in an ‘eh’.

“Well, I’m sorry about squeezing your butt on purpose Tusky.” What a tight butt that was and I might have problems with personal space, guy had to be ninety percent muscle and all hunk. “Not sorry that I did it, but sorry that it might have upset you.”

“Apology accepted my friend, it feels nice to be appreciate eh! Also you’re paws are quite interesting in how the digits on them can operate.” Nice to know that Tusky was very forgiving, also yes my digits have been noted by everyone here in Paw-tucket as being a bit odd given they can grab and pick up things as if I were an animalistic or biped with hands. “Though I have a feeling we should be prepared for a Cat Bot army in the near future eh.”

Ah so Dog Star Patrol fighting robots was a common thing… well darn, now we will have to fight some guaranteed! Knowing Pom’s luck like I do, there will be a lot of them.

“I’m more worried about what this Agent Del is doing.” Don’t worry Dormarch my beloved little bro, I’m sure the other cat isn’t nearly as much of an evil psycho and will be much easier to deal with.

At least one could hope.

-Paw-tucket town, Ocellus-

I was in the form of a gecko I had turned into previously, compressing mass and weight into such a small and compact space wasn’t very easy. Thankfully I had a lot of energy with which to do so as I followed Pom as we moved through the streets of Paw-tucket, apparently drawing the attention of every dog within five miles of Pom.

“So I might sing a song too... do you think you would enjoy some dancing?” Attention drawn back to Pom talking to me, I nodded and we were about at the building. I could feel Pom’s affection for me as well as for the others.

It was easy to see which building it was at least, given we saw the dog named Zoe Trent eagerly waiting for us, or just Pom. Oddly enough she looked like a dog version of Twilight Sparkle.

“Oh you came, I’ll really have to thank Minka for this later! Well at least she’s the one among my friends that ran into you first and asked for me anyway.” Despite looking like a dog version of Twilight, she almost sounded more like Rarity in a diva kind of way, she sounded like she sings quite a bit. “Come on, I want to introduce you to Vinnie! So who’s your friend?”

We followed Zoe Trent inside and she seemed fairly excited to have Pom around. I wouldn’t know a dog that didn’t at least like having Pom present and pleasant. It doesn’t matter if they were alien or not, if they were a canine, then they liked Pom and nobody could tell them otherwise.

“Oh, this is Ocellus, she’s a bit shy at times and is functionally mute at the moment.” Pom leaned closer to me as we moved on to this dance thing. “You can decide whether you reveal you’re true self if you want.”

“Oh what happened to make her mute? Her throat looks fine.” Zoe asked as she looked at me walking alongside Pom.

“Well that’s a bit hard to explain… unless she wants me to explain.” Pom looked to me and I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it, she can do some dancing at the very least.”

“Can you sing?” Zoe asked in interest as she looked at Pom with a wagging tail.

“Yes, I can, but I need to look over the music to see what I can do… unless you have musicians present that I can do specific songs?” There was some more excitement as Pom said she could do some singing.

“Yes, this will be great!” Zoe seemed to have a fairly positive personality and a lot of friends from what I was feeling, when we came into the studio there were various pets with musical instruments and some were tap dancing and we saw one gecko in particular that was dancing his heart out. “Hey, Vinnie I want to introduce you to someone special, her name is Pom Lambchop!”

“I’m not that special…” Pom you were like every dogs dream of snuggling the cuddliest thing around. Even as battered and scarred as you were, you were still fairly adorable.

“Nonsense, you’re probably a very talented individual and you certainly have that air about you even if you aren’t!” Hearing Zoe talk, it was the general thing I came to expect from dogs. “So can she do one song while here? I think she’ll have a great singing voice.”

I’m kind of surprised Dolly wasn’t as crazy as most dogs, but then again she was bonded more closely to Pom and was likely protected from a specific kind of madness that overcame everything canine around the lambkin. Pom could basically almost befriend any dog she wants, very few times had the whole magnetism thing ever came out to a negative. Yellow Dog being one of the notable situations where Pom got the downside of being liked by canines in general.

“Sure, but I was kind of teaching how to dance at the moment. Dancing as pets for their owners, and dancing here where we can more openly do things our owners don’t have to be aware of.” Vinnie the green gecko seemed nice, then again this was a world of the nicest pets that came here for what was basically magical therapy realm connected to a much bigger world. It was kind of like a mirror of Tambelon and Equus. Also Vinnie’s tap dancing was kind of amazing. “Uh, you’re not going to tell anyone right, I don’t quite think you’re pets given your abnormal for Paw-tucket. Vinnie Terrio, nice to meet you. I might not be the brightest gecko on the block, but I really do enjoy a good dance and I’ve become a decent teacher of showing off some moves. Sure I can be a little clumsy sometimes, but who isn’t?”

“Pom Lambchop and my friend Ocellus.” Introducing me as well because I currently couldn’t.

The world these pets actually lived on outside this magical side realm sounded like it was fraught with all kinds of peril. From what I heard from Marshall and Quincy, aliens, monsters, natural disasters, malicious magic and super powered beings were normally occurring. If I didn’t know any better I’d swear it was the same world that Sunset Shimmer currently lives on and the only reason why we hadn’t heard about all of this other stuff from there, is because Sunset Shimmer was distracted by dangerous magical stuff from Equestria that was haphazardly dumped into that world by Starswirl the Bearded.

Watching pets learn to dance was interesting and we did so for a bit, Pom and I were invited guests and Zoe Trent was teaching some pets to sing including Roxy’s friend Quincy. Quincy apparently had a horrible singing voice and he was still trying.

“So Zoe, does anyone know how this world was made, I don’t mean building Paw-tucket, but this world itself.” Yeah, that was something of a curiosity Pom that I’ve wondered myself.

“That’s the thing, nobody knows, but at least most pets understand how they get here and how to leave once we get our key. We do not know the why of how this all started happening, we just know that if we could bring our owners here with us… we would. Sadly we can’t.” Whined Zoe before she considered Pom for a bit. “You didn’t get here by having an owner, that’s for certain, so how did you end up here?”

“Helped a functional god with a series of problems… no he isn’t related to this world either, he was just aware of it and sent me here for a vacation away from trouble.” As Pom was talking I thought I saw movement of a familiar figure, but nothing occurred. “Anyway the god couldn’t heal my shattered leg personally, but sent some healing berries with me that I’ve been consuming for a good long while. Things here have been really relaxing, also Mitzi and Pepper really help with the pain when they visit the tent in the morning before I’ve had my necessary medication in the form of aforementioned berries I’m tired of eating.”

“Oh those two are always so sweet, nice to hear that they are helping you with your pain.” Zoe turned and looked at all the dancing and some pets singing.

“Yeah, helps that those skunks have something akin to a medical super power between them.” Yeah, one that you pointed out as a possibility Pom. “It also helps that this is a very therapeutic world to visit.”

“That it is, now let’s get started… well except for you Pom, you can at least sing when we get around to some of Zoe’s lessons.” Vinnie said motioning to my leg still glued to my side that was feeling quite sore from lack of movement.

From there things were pretty fun, I did some dancing as a gecko and I even got to have fun while Pom rested and watched the pets do fun little dances they’d be doing for their owners and the dancing they’d actually be doing here outside of that.

The cheerful atmosphere felt good, also that Pom was actually relaxing was a major surprise and quite nice to feel. Though Pom’s anxiety was still there and couldn’t be completely depleted it was quite minimal.

Pom knows where Dolly and Dormarch are at all times and likely noticed that Dolly was nearby while she was at the theme park and knows that I came in later after that. She did make sure I was alright and wouldn’t sleep until I got back and neither would Smolder.

I wonder how hard Pom was resisting the need to ask about what Dog Star Patrol was doing here as, like us, they were an oddity in this world. She really does not need to know that evil alien cats running around until there’s no other choice but to tell her about them, so far they’ve been laying low and Dog Star Patrol has managed to slow down whatever was going on.

It was really becoming harder for Pom to ignore the fact that there were now three alien dogs staying at our tent as a base or that something was going on that warrants attention. At least Pom was taking her vacation seriously, we just had to keep her away from trouble, which was actually going pretty well so far.

I smiled and simply enjoyed the feel in the room as I learned some dance moves, the animals had a whole lot of dancing skills. There was anything from slow dance to quick ones, from the Tango to Break Dancing like Shanty could do… wait, why didn’t Pom bring her here? Shanty loves singing and dancing, so why did she bring me instead?

Still the fun I was having was absolutely nice, but why would Pom bring me to a place where she could only enjoy half the activities? Maybe… ah! She could only enjoy half the fun and so could I because I couldn’t talk.

Pom was relaxing on a cushion and watching me, she noticed me looking over at her and she waved cheerfully with a hoof. Vinnie even said there was something called Dance-Fu, which was basically just capoeira and something Pom and Shanty could basically do already. Still rhythmic dancing spoke to me for some reason, maybe it’s because changelings were like bugs and bugs did do interpretive dancing.

It’s when we got around to singing that the mood in the room took a slight dip, because Quincy’s singing was horrible. The fainting goat could crack glass with his voice and he wasn’t even trying to hit a frequency that does it, yet was still somehow managing to do so. His voice was naturally not meant for singing quite clearly. Where Quincy failed at singing, he was probably a master class tap dancer as good as or possibly even better then Vinnie was. That was saying something when Vinnie was teaching several forms of dancing.

“My singing’s still that bad huh?” Quincy wilted. He felt a little upset, but still relatively chipper.

“Sorry, but I don’t know how…” Zoe started only for Pom to interrupt.

“I think can help with his singing problem, but it will only work the one time though.” Is Pom about to what I think she’s about to do? “Let me talk to the music players and I’ll get us started, do you want to try a duet with me?”

“Yeah, but what are you going to do?” Here Quincy simply got a smile and affectionate rubs to his head, it seemed Pom was happy to make his day.

“Don’t worry, it’ll happen by itself. Just let it all out when get going and don’t hold back.” Pom then went to talk to the musicians and she got them nodding and then Pom came back to the front of the room. “Okay everyone, gather round this is going to sound rather somber to start, but it’ll probably pick you right up. In fact this song is about picking things up and not leaving them be.”

A heart song from a native of Equus does increase coordination and harmony between many disparate individuals by quite a lot and even those that have no singing or dancing talent prior to taking part in the heart song. I’ve been caught up in a few myself and found them quite tasty and fun to share in the love and excitement.

“Lights.” The room dimmed as Pom took to sitting with Quincy next to her in the spotlight. A slow piano tune started up with several fiddles readying and several other instruments including a drum. “When it seems like the world isn’t fair, when you can’t do something or no one seems to care~.”

The world seemed to just shatter and everyone felt a jolt as the heart song formed. I wanted to sing the next part and I already knew it by heart, which was the general effect of the song Pom started. It was sad that I simply couldn’t. Pom looked at me and motioned for me to dance with the song when I feel like joining in and I nodded.

“When your world lies in pieces scattered all to its doom, then you find a dustpan and sweep away that gloom~!” The entire room lit up and Pom’s golden wool sparkled in the light. “Just start gathering all the pieces, try to get them all together, find the sun inside you, fight that stormy weather~! Be strong from the start, don’t give up in your heart, picking up those pieces after your whole world falls apart~.”

Here Pom motioned to Quincy as she tossed him the microphone, much to his confusion.

“When your world breaks down into tearful streams, when nothing but nightmares come for your fondest dreams~!” Quincy sang and he sounded much better under the heart song, everyone started slowly dancing. “With a shining star that’s broken, shattered on floor, you can do the same thing that you once did before~!”

Here Pom motioned for him to raise the microphone between them.

“Just start picking up the pieces, you can try to stick them back together~.” Quincy and Pom sang together warmly. “Find that strength inside you, don’t let sorrow hold you down forever~.”

Both of them were smiling now.

“Take your strengths to heart, don’t forget you can restart, start picking up those pieces if your whole world falls apart~.” It seemed that Pom had gotten Quincy into the song as she motioned to her shattered leg as an example, now everyone else was wanting in on it the song.

Here the fiddles started up and everyone started lightly square dancing. It was a nice and slow song that even the least coordinate animal could follow along to.

The entire world felt like we were all suddenly in a barn, both Vinnie and Zoe were joining in on the dancing with one another and the room filled with an ample amount of warmth. Was the cozy barn what Quincy was imagining or was it Pom that was imagining a nice peaceful pile of soft hay to lay on?

The mood was rather uplifting either way.

“When everyone around you seems aloof, then you shout out and seek out a helping hoof~!” Quincy sang along side Pom as he gripped his right hoof against hers with a smile.

“When you feel like you’ve been battered and knocked all about, your true friends will show up to always help you out~.” Pom sang back and despite only having two working legs given one was occupied she dancing with Quincy with a cheerful smile on her face.

Pom motioned to the audience and Quincy, now everyone was to be in on the song… everyone except me that is, but I was okay with that.

“Just start picking up the pieces, find the strength to get it back to better, find the song inside you, heart as light as a feather~!” Everyone sang and I felt my heart warm at the feeling of love and comfort flooded the room. “Be strong in your heart, shake off any bad start, pick up those pieces when your whole world shatters apart~!”

Pom was singing about her gloomy nature and I could see everything we’ve been through, feeling the bad times along with the good and no matter what happened to her she always got back up after functionally breaking her body for us. That even with anxiety riddled as Pom was, she was only anxious because she cared and worried about getting us home safely and she did have good memories of this journey we’ve been on.

“Picking up the pieces, try to keep it all together, find the smile inside you, fight for that sunny weather~!” Multiple voices rose up with Pom and Quincy’s as they sang together. “Just be strong in your heart, and make a brand new star, picking up those pieces when your whole world falls apart---~!”

The fiddles trailed off and ended on a bright note, like that song did as Quincy and Pom held that last word and then Pom his as her right hind leg shifted a bit under her wool. She still gave Quincy a bright smile.

“Thank you.” Quincy stated happily, probably the first time he was able to sing without cracking glass. “That was certainly an amazing experience, felt like I was home and cuddling up to family and my owner.”

“Was that a heart song? My you are quite talented Pom!” Zoe stated cheerfully. “Usually it’s my friends and me doing one when we feel our friendship bursting full of energy, or sometimes even Fluttershy when she ends up singing them to the shelter animals.”

“Fluttershy?” My cheeks immediately swelled and I tried not gag on the air, my mouth was now full of love and some of it was for me from Pom.

I started the process of safely swallowing and whimpered at Pom, there was no chance I was starving in this world…. quite the opposite, it was like I was constantly underwater yet that water was made of food and it threatened to make me a glutton. I have never had a problem with gluttony, starvation maybe, but never gluttony and I don’t intend to start having one!

“Uh… she didn’t inhale, how did her cheeks fill up like that?” As soon as Vinnie said that, I had gotten it all down my throat and felt queasy. This world was going to kill me with love if I wasn’t careful, did not want to explode like a Pinkie Pie Party Piñata trademarked by the Pink Part Pony Corporation.

“Ocellus is curious if it’s the same Fluttershy she knows, does she have wings?” Pom asked gently.

“No, but some animals says she’s a bipedal angel and might have seen wings on her at some point. She does have a pet rabbit named Angel though and works at an animal shelter nearby where I live… she tends to not like animals being put down and runs a sanctuary out of her home. It’s a wonder that girl has any money to care for herself as much as the animals around her. Jade can confirm she’s wonderful, as Jade lives down the same street from me.” Wait did Zoe say bipedal? Oh my goodness, was this one of the worlds actually next door to home?! Also, there was a world of chaos next to our… Discord, of course there was, why would I think any differently? Doesn’t help that Starswirl’s dumping ground for magical artifacts might cause the world to be a bit contaminated with magic. “Your friend seems excited to hear that. Some pets think Fluttershy is a meta-person, super hero or some kind of magical girl in some way, which why it is said that she can understand animals like a dear friend of mine called Blythe can. I thought that talent was quite rare and two girls within the same state can do it.”

“Well thank you for telling us, I’m sure Ocellus will write down what she wants to say later. She can’t breathe through her mouth for several reasons, but eating is definitely not a problem for her.” Yes, but being stuffed silly after opening my mouth just once was painful Pom. At least she recognized that I was in distress. “I think I need to take Ocellus outside for fresh air.”

-Skulking around the shadow filled alleyways (what few of them Paw-tucket actually has), Agent Del-

Those Dog Stars are getting quite annoying with all their sniffing around and their newest members were quite powerful, now where was that gecko I saw leaving the base they tore down? I’m not letting that little snitch get by me again or find another one our bases!

We should be more careful Snooky, it seems that there are more joining the Dog Star Patrol in trying to root us out before we can carry our plans of terror. Mechanikat will definitely be coming eventually, we have to at least get started… these setbacks have been disastrous and it’s all that brimstone smelling gecko’s fault.

Those Dog Stars might have the right of it though, the brimstone smell really is annoying to track when it’s on the other paw! I needed to quickly find where they were basing themselves out of here so I can set up a trap for them.

Ugh, thinking of those dogs, they’ve probably got a lock on me by now… I’ll head back to base and will watch out for that little snitch as I do. If I find them, they were getting my claws to their throat.

-In space above the planet, Brainy Barker-

“Do you see her?” I said as we caught sight of Agent Del and the image zoomed in on the stealthy cat sneaking around.

“Yeah, that varmint is running around in the open and we finally caught wind of her!” Tail Terrier said as they saw a white furred cat dart about trying to visually lose them on the satellite coverage.

“Call Hot Dog and get someone to tail her while we’ve still got her on satellite view.” If I knew my companions as well as I think I do, it would be likely that Mammoth Mutt would be sent to follow her. Mammoth Mutt does have some stealth training and can take care of herself.

Agent Del was proving to be quite a wily one to keep track of even if we had planetary coverage.

-Paw-tucket, Pom-

“It’s been, fun Zoe! Now if only I knew where I can find a submarine for tomorrow…” My thoughts were mostly on how Ocellus looked a little healthier, she was carefully breathing through her nose and seemed quite out of sorts after getting a lungful of love, compassion and warmth.

“You need a submarine? I have an idea as to where you can book one that’s big enough for your needs!” Bev the ever active box turtle said as she was about to skate on by and came to a stop, the land turtle apparently knew someone that could help. “Just head to the docks and ask around for my uncle Captain Gilturtle, he’ll help you out… in fact, I’ll set things up for you to find him tomorrow. I also have some seaside friends you can get help from too! My friend Octavia Inkhart is free tomorrow!”

“Octopus?” I asked blandly.

“Yep, a lot of animals have names that are easily descriptive like that. Like Luanita.” After having said that and waved at us, Bev started skating away on the roller skates. I didn’t have a good guess as to what animal that could be. “Last name Walton.”

“A walrus, who would own a pet walrus?!” It didn’t take me five seconds after hearing Luanita’s last name to puzzle it out and shout after Bev.

“Someone who’s really cool, that’s who!” Bev laughed jovially as she continued rolling on her way.

I felt Ocellus touch my shoulder and look around, then in a flash of flame Ocellus returned to normal and whispered into my ear.

“I had a good, urp… time mph… today.” Poor Ocellus, she would be writing a lot of questions later this evening and would be spending more time thinking about thing, as we would be spending the rest of this day quietly at the tent. She could hardly talking without swallowing a mouthful of love every few seconds.

“Come on Ocellus, let’s get you to the tent before the world makes you physically explode with love.” Ran a gentle hoof down Ocellus’s back. "So twenty questions when we get back?"

"Mhm!" Ocellus chirruped cheerfully.