Warrior Ponies

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 2 Patrols
Chapter 3 Ponyville
Chapter 4 Dresses
Chapter 5 Castle
Chapter 6 Everfree
Chapter 7 Morning
Chapter 8 Griffin
Chapter 9 Learning
Chapter 1 Dreams

Prologue

The Moonpool is a small pool sitting in the bottom of a small, steep cave. It connects the Clan cats to their warrior ancestors, known as Starclan, and allows Starclan to give visions and prophecies to leaders and medicine cats.

Every night on the halfmoon the medicine cats from all four Clans gather around the Moonpool. On one such gathering Leafpool slipped and fell into the moonpool. Despite the fact that it was only knee-deep, she disappeared from sight.

“How did it go over her head?” questioned Mothwing.

“Maybe Starclan is angry?” responded Willowpaw.

Jaypaw ran back to Thunderclan camp.

Jaypaw was terrified. He had always been afraid of water, and now a tiny pool had swallowed up his mentor! After reaching the camp he yelled, “Leafpool has fallen into the Moonpool!”

“Calm down Jaypaw, it's only knee-deep,” said Hollypaw, annoyed by her brother's antics.

“But she went in over her head!”

“How could you tell, you’re blind?” Hollypaw grew yet more annoyed.

“Because one of the others said so!”

“Okay, I'll go tell Firestar,” Hollypaw relented. She was unsure whether this was a joke or serious. She padded to Firestar's den.

“Firestar?”

“Yes Hollypaw?” responded Firestar.

“Jaypaw says Leafpool fell into the moonpool, and didn't come back out.”

“But that makes no sense.”

“I know, but he seems pretty adamant. Also he claims the other medicine cats saw it.”

“We may as well go check it out then.” Firestar leapt on top of the Highledge. “Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting. I, Brambleclaw, Squirrelflight, Sandstorm, Hollypaw, and Lionpaw will go investigate with Jaypaw. Graystripe will be in charge of camp while I am gone.”

They headed out towards Windclan Territory. When they were at the border they scented a patrol and stopped to wait for it.

Before long Crowfeather appeared, leading Whitetail and her apprentice Breezepaw. “What is your business on Windclan territory?” asked Crowfeather.

“We need to speak with your medicine cat,” answered Firestar.

“Ok then, I will lead you to him. Follow me.” Crowfeather turned towards the heart of Windclan territory and led the new arrivals.

“But father?” asked Breezepaw. “Why are we leading them to our camp? They could launch an attack from the inside.”

“They have asked to speak with our medicine cat. It is our duty to take them to him.”

“Yes, father,” sulked Breezepaw.

When they reached Windclan camp everyone turned to face them, murmering. A kit in the nursery said, “Are they prisoners? Are they mama?”

“No, I'm sure they have a perfectly valid reason to come here,” said the queen beside him.

“Ok mommy, but prisoners would be more exciting.”

Onestar emerged from his den, confused by the racket. “What's going on out here? What are Thunderclan cats doing in our camp?” he demanded.

“I thought we were allies,” began Firestar, confused by Onestar's anger.

“That's still no excuse to come barging into our camp, though.”

“We need to see your medicine cat,” Firestar explained.

Onestar sighed. “I cannot deny you the right to speak with a medicine cat. Although if Starclan had something to say to you, I'd think they would tell your medicine cat.”

“The medicine cat den is this way.” Crowfeather flicked his tail towards the den in question.

The Thunderclan cats walked towards the den. “Barkface?” called Firestar.

“Yes, who is it?” came the reply.

“Firestar. I need to speak with you.”

“What is it you need to speak with me about? Couldn't you ask Jaypaw?”

“We needed to verify that Jaypaw was correct in his assessment of Leafpool's current position.”

“Come in then,” he said.

“Thank you,” replied Firestar. As he led his group into the den.

“What did Jaypaw say happened,” asked Barkface.

“He said she fell into the Moonpool and it went over her head,” answered Firestar.

“Yes, he has it basically right.”

“Why do you think this happened?”

“You can't expect me to know all the answers, I'm not a Starclan warrior.”

“I'm sorry,” responded Firestar.

Crowfeather interrupted, “Did you say Leafpool is missing?”

“How long have you been standing there?” asked Firestar.

“Long enough to know Leafpool's in trouble,” he 'answered'.

“That wasn't an answer,” Firestar said, reinforcing the air quotes.

“Look, I just want to know how I can help.”

“So, your loyalties are still divided,” Barkface accused.

“She's a medicine cat in danger, it is my duty to help her.”

“Your duty is to Windclan,” said Barkface.

“Yes, Barkface,” Crowfeather relented.

“Goodbye then,” Firestar said, walking out of the den.

“You'll need an escort to pacify any patrols you meet on your way,” said Crowfeather as he followed behind. “I’ll get Breezepaw and then we'll be off. Whitewing, inform Onestar that I'll be on patrol.”

“Who made you deputy?” said Whitewing.

“Well Ashfoot's out on patrol.”

“I guess so,” she said as she went to Onestar's den.

The Thunderclan cats went to the camp entrance while Crowfeather went to the apprentice den. “Breezepaw,” he called at the entrance.

“Yes father?”

“I need you to come on a patrol with me.”

“Yes father!” enthused Breezepaw. They went to the entrance.

“We need to escort these cats to the Moonpool,” explained Crowfeather.

“We're ready to leave, are you?” asked Squirrelflight.

“Let's go,” answered Crowfeather.

The trip to the Moonpool was made in silence. Once they were there they looked around.

“I don't see anything amiss,” said Brambleclaw. “Firestar, do you see anything?”

“No.”

“Whether anything seems amiss or not, my sister fell into the Moonpool somehow, and we have to get her back,” insisted Squirrelflight before she jumped into the Moonpool and disappeared.

“Well, I guess we're doing this now,” said Firestar, following suit. All of the other Thunderclan cats present went in except for Jaypaw.

“Hope you swim!” cackled Breezepaw, as he pushed Jaypaw into the water.

“Your turn to go in,” Crowfeather instructed Breezepaw, flicking his tail at the Moonpool.

“Are you crazy, they're never coming back alive.”

“Yes they are, and we're joining them.”

“Are you crazy?”

“No, and you are going to do this.”

“Yes, father,” sulked Breezepaw. He tentatively put his paws into the Moonpool and was, for some reason, surprised when he fell, due to the ground beneath his paws not stopping him. Crowfeather followed him into the unknown.

Chapter 2 Patrols

Lionpaw rose before the sun. Even after the world turned him into the wrong species, he would still get up on time. No matter what happened, he would remain vigilant. Though having a nightmare about killing his crush, Heatherpaw, really helped keep him from wanting to sleep in.

After his morning stretches, Lionpaw considered who he should talk to. Usually it would be his mentor, but Ashfur wasn't here. He looked around at the nests. Everyone was awake, except for Jaypaw, who Leafpool was trying to wake up.

“Lionpaw, I need to speak with you,” said Firestar. Firestar had been turned into an orange horse with wings and a horn. He had lost his stripes and his mane and tail were red.

Lionpaw walked over to him. “Yes Firestar?”

“I need you to go scouting. Take Crowfeather with you. I smelled something in that direction last night.” Firestar flicked his tail. Then he looked down. Then he pointed his head to the right of the rising sun. “So you two should go in the opposite direction.”

“Why? It might have been prey.”

“They smelled like wolves and dead plants, and I heard them howling.”

“I see, I'll get Crowfeather.” Lionpaw walked over to the edge of the clearing and called, “Crowfeather!”

“Yes?” asked Crowfeather. Crowfeather had been turned into a black thing that resembled a horse. He had holes in his legs, a black frill on the back of his neck, a horn, and tattered bug-like wings.

“Firestar asked us to go on patrol.”

“I'm on my way.” Crowfeather padded over to Lionpaw. “Which way are we going?”

“This way,” said Lionpaw, pointing his muzzle over his shoulder. Then he started walking away.

After a while they hadn't caught anything, due in part to their clumsiness in their current forms and in part due to the cold weather. Then they got to a cliff overlooking a colorful twolegplace. A few horses, some with wings, some with horns, and some with neither, were walking the paths. They even saw a multi-colored bughorse like Jaypaw. But for all that they saw, there were no twolegs in sight.

“Let's go back and tell Firestar what we saw,” commanded Lionpaw.

“Firestar!” called Lionpaw.

“Yes, Lionpaw?”

“We found what looked like a twolegplace, but instead of twolegs it had horses running around loose,” said Lionpaw. "Some had wings, or horns, but we didn't see any with both. We didn't see any that looked like Crowfeather and Hollypaw either, but we did see one that looked like Jaypaw.”

“I'll arrange a scouting mission soon, for now we just need to find food.”

“Some of our number have wings, have any of them tried flying up to the rocks we came out of?” asked Lionpaw.

“Squirrelflight is leading the attempts to get up there, but it will take time.”

“Shall Crowfeather and I continue hunting?”

“Yes.”

Lionpaw and Crowfeather headed back out into the woods.

Crowfeather and I are two of the best hunters in our clans. I may still be an apprentice but I'm better than half of the warriors, and Crowfeather is pretty good to. Not as good as me, but once when he was still an apprentice I heard he and 2 others took down an eagle. Between the two of us I'm sure we will catch something now that we're really trying. After all, I've never come back from a hunt without anything.

At sunhigh they had still not caught as much as a mousetail.

“So, we haven't caught anything, and I don't think we're going to. Should we just go back?” asked Crowfeather.

“No! We can't go back without anything.”

“Don't let your ego cloud your judgement.”

“I'm not, I just want food for my clanmates.”

“It's still better to go back emptypawed, than emptypawed and late.”

Lionpaw nodded and turned towards camp, keeping an eye out for prey and scenting often.

When they returned to camp they still had not caught anything.

“Hey Lionpaw, can you come over here?” asked Leafpool. She was a brown horse with a cream undercoat and mask. She had a dark brown mane and tale, and she had a straight horn.

“Sure thing!” Lionpaw responded as he trotted over. “What did you need?”

“I need you to eat these herbs,” answered Leafpool, through a mouthful of what appeared to be dead grass.

“But that's just grass.”

“Who are the medicine cat's here, you or us?” said Jaypaw.

“You,” admitted Lionpaw.

“So eat the herbs,” said Jaypaw.

Lionpaw took the grass. It tasted slightly bitter. He ate it under the watchful eyes of Leafpool. “And you had me eat grass because?”

“Because we are now planteaters,” said Leafpool.

“Just because we now look like horses doesn't mean we have to eat like them.”

“But it does,” she refuted. “Because we now have teeth made for eating plants.”

“And we don't have claws anymore so we can't hunt anyway,” Jaypaw added.

“So, how did you get that grass? There's snow all over the ground.”

“Watch,” Leafpool said, pawing at the snow with her hooves. After a few heartbeats she unearthed some grass. “We need you to tell Firestar so he can call off the hunting patrols, and we can focus on gathering grass.”

“Yes.” And he headed off to where Firestar was napping in a weak sunbeam. “Firestar?”

“Yes Lionpaw,” he said, looking up and opening his eyes.

“Leafpool has discovered that these forms are supposed to be planteaters, and thus thinks we should eat grass.”

“But how do we get to the grass?”

“Watch,” Lionpaw answered, before repeating Leafpool's demonstration.

“Ahh. I'll stop sending more hunting patrols. In the meantime we should gather more food, I think Leafpool and Jaypaw might already have a place to collect it.”

That evening after the hunting patrols had all returned Firestar sounded a variation off of the familiar summons. “Let all cats present gather by my nest!”

Everyone came over to Firestar's nest, where he lay in a lone beam of sunlight that had penetrated through the thick forest canopy, causing his orange pelt to glow like fire. “I need to discus the watches tonight and the tomorrow's scouting patrol.”

Brambleclaw flicked his tail.

“Yes Brambleclaw?” acknowledged Firestar.

“We should avoid sending the guards scouting.”

“Yes,” said Firestar. “Brambleclaw, Squirrelflight, and Leafpool will scout out the horseplace. Breezepaw has first watch, then Sandstorm, then Crowfeather, then Lionpaw, and then Hollypaw.”

Chapter 3 Ponyville

That morning long before moonset Squirrelflight was lying in her nest trying to motivate herself to get up. But instead she just continued lying there, thinking about all that had happened over the past two days. Ever since Jaypaw had come into the camp shouting about how Leafpool had fallen into the Moonpool her life had been turned upside down. Now they were stuck in the wrong bodies in unfamiliar territory, and until they found a way up the cliff they couldn't get back.

“Hey, Squirrelflight?”

“Yes Brambleclaw?” she yawned.

“I'm up before you for once, last time that happened you were sick.”

She looked up at the broad shouldered horse with a brown coat and cream chest who was looking down at her. “I’m not sick, just disconcerted. I am in the wrong body, after all.”

“Ah. You still have to get up though, it's almost time for the scouting mission.”

“AHHH! I entirely forgot!” she said, leaping out of her nest, or at least that was her intention. What actually happened was she stepped on her tail, so when she tried to leap she just lurched into Brambleclaw. He managed to keep on his hooves, though only barely.

“Woah! You almost knocked me over!”

“Sorry Brambleclaw.”

“It's ok, and anyway, there's no need to be in such a hurry. There's still time for you to clean your pelt and get a meal.”

“Thanks for getting me up Brambleclaw. I probably would have slept through the patrol if it weren't for you,” she said, walking off to the drygrass pile. Brambleclaw followed.

When they got there they found Jaypaw. “Good to see you didn't leave before the patrol was ready, again.”

“And she hasn't threatened to tell anyone's secrets recently either,” said Brambleclaw.

“She what?” sputtered Jaypaw.

“Guess she never told you that story.”

“Because there wasn't much to tell. Besides, you wouldn't even have gotten to Midnight's cave without me.”

“Yeah, you're right.”

“Well, now that that's been cleared up and I'm done eating, do you want to hear the story?”

“Sure,” Jaypaw responded. Brambleclaw began grooming Squirrelflight as she told her story.

“Well, back when I was an apprentice, shortly before Brambleclaw and I went on our journey to get a message from Midnight, Brambleclaw left camp without telling anyone where he was going, and was acting very suspicious. So I followed him, and found him meeting with cats from the other clans. Before he noticed me, I discovered they were going on a journey, but I wasn't sure where to. So I confronted them. The conversation was kind of boring, and I don't remember the details, but I do remember threatening to tell the rest of the clan about it if they wouldn't let me come. Not my finest moment, but it worked out in the end.”

“Well, the story's over and your pelt is better, so I believe it's time to find out when our patrol leaves,” said Brambleclaw.

“Good idea," said Squirrelflight. “We should go talk to Firestar.”

“I’m not a kit, I knew that myself.” Brambleclaw set off towards Firestar's nest, with Squirrelflight following behind. “Firestar?”

“Yes Brambleclaw?” responded Firestar.

“When does our patrol leave?”

“As soon as you're ready.”

“Ok, we'll be right out.”

“Leafpool!” called Squirrelflight.

“Yes Squirrelflight?” came the cheery reply.

“It's time to explore the horseplace.”

“Yes sister!”

The moon was still in the sky when Brambleclaw, Leafpool, and Squirrelflight were overlooking the horseplace from the cliff.

“I guess we got here quicker than expected,” said Squirrelflight, bouncing on her hooves.

“No one is out yet, so I think we should sneak in,” commanded Brambleclaw.

You idiot. It's not guarded, we could probably walk right in. “OK?” said Squirrelflight, biting back her skepticism. “Lead the way.”

Brambleclaw began stalking down the gentler slope towards the horseplace. Leafpool and Squirrelflight followed suit. They had crossed a few trails when they heard hooves clicking in one of the horsedens to their right.

Squirrelflight dove under the lower hole in the horseden. Brambleclaw and Leafpool crouched by either side, partially hidden in the bushes. Then a green horse stuck her head out the window and looked side to side. Upon seeing nothing she retreated into her den.

“Squirrelflight,” hissed Brambleclaw.

“Yes Brambleclaw?”

The larger opening flew open and Squirrelflight's eyes dilated in sudden panic. The green horse stepped out and looked away from them. Then she looked right at Squirrelflight.

“Why are you on my porch at 6 in the morning?”

“Sorry, I tripped and fell.”

The green horse nodded, but then froze. “Did all three of you trip?”

“There of me? What are you talking about?”

“Hey Bon-Bon! I need your help downstairs!”

At this point Brambleclaw burst out of the bush and tore down the trail, with the others close behind. They went until they reached the next big trail and turned right, then immediately turned right again into a small trail running between the dens. After they got about halfway back they stopped.

“We need a new plan,” said Squirrelflight.

“And who's the leader here?” snapped Brambleclaw.

“You are, but your leadership is lacking.”

“I’d like to see you try to lead this mission.”

At this point Leafpool took a step away from the quarreling mates and hunkered down.

“Challenge accepted,” Squirrelflight bit back.

“Then you'll have to explain when we come back unsuccessful.”

“If we're unsuccessful.”

And I'm not letting that happen. If I fail here he'll treat me like an apprentice again. I'll show him. “We need to break cover. This is an open area, it'll be less suspicious if we just walk through.”

“What's the plan then?” asked Leafpool.

“We walk out of here and act like we belong. Or, better yet we say we're lost.” It's not even a lie. We really are lost. “Come on.” Squirrelflight walked over to the nearest exit and peered out. The path was currently deserted. “All clear,” she said, hissing in annoyance after failing to properly flick her tail. As she walked into the center of the path she noticed the moon setting rather quickly.

“That's weird,” said Leafpool, tilting her head at the sky as she emerged. Then the sun began to rise.

So much for moonset, thought Squirrelflight, annoyed at the strange weather. She began to walk down the path, with Leafpool and Brambleclaw following behind.

By the time they arrived at a large circular horsenest more horses were walking the paths. Squirrelflight saw a white horse with a horn, a purple mane, and a pink strip around her neck walking in their direction. She called out, “Hello!”

“Hello darling. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“We're new around here and I'm a bit hungry. Do you know anywhere we can get food?”

“Certainly. I was just on my way to the Ponyville Café, you could join me if you'd like.”

“Ah. Thank you,” said Squirrelflight.

The white horse resumed her walk back the way the cats had come. “They make a lovely daffodil and daisy sandwich.”

“That sounds delightful,” said Leafpool.

After crossing one other path they arrived at the Ponyville Café. Their guide led them to one of the several giant mushrooms and sat on one of the two piles of dry grass facing the mushroom. She held up a hoof and a pale yellow horse with a dark blue mane stepped over to her. “Yes madam?”

“Would you be a dear and fetch us two more seats?”

“Of course.” He walked back into the horsenest the mushrooms were centered around. Then he came back with two bags of dry grass. He dumped them out into two more piles around the mushroom. Then he set four flat brown things on the mushroom and walked off.

“Come, sit,” offered the white horse, gesturing at the three remaining piles of grass. The cats all sat on one of the piles as indicated. Squirrelflight sat across from their guide. The white horse took one of the brown things and opened it. “My name is Rarity, what are yours?”

“I'm Squirrelflight, this is my sister Leafpool and my mate Brambleclaw.”

Rarity set down the brown thing and the tom from before came back. “Have you made your decision?” he asked.

“The daffodil and daisy sandwich you mentioned sounds delicious, so I was going to get that,” said Squirrelflight.

“I’ll have two Trottingham muffins,” added Rarity.

“I think I'll get the same as you,” said Leafpool, nodding her head at Rarity.

“And for you sir?”

“I’m not hungry,” answered Brambleclaw. The yellow tom took the brown things and walked off again.

“That's nice,” said Squirrelflight, pointing at the thing on Rarity's neck with her hoof.

“Oh you like it? It's just a simple little thing I made one day. Would you like one like it?”

“Sure!”

The yellow tom came and set three white circular slabs on the mushroom. The ones in front of Rarity and Leafpool each had two white cylinders that had been cut in two through the middle. The third circle was set before Squirrelflight with a light yellow square filled with green leaves set on top of it.

Leafpool eyed her white cylinders warily while Squirrelflight leaned in and bit her square. “Mmm, this is delicious,” she mumbled through it. The yellow tom placed a small bowl with a silver stick and a yellow liquid on the mushroom and stalked off. Leafpool took a small nibble out of one of the cylinders. It tasted rather bland but much better than grass.

Rarity's horn began to glow a pale blue. Brambleclaw looked warily at it. Then the silver stick begins to glow in the same manner and it rises into the air. All three of them stare at the flying stick. It dips into the yellow liquid and takes some to spread over Rarity's cylinders. “It's just butter darlings. Do you not have any at home?”

Squirrelflight decided to try and avert suspicion. “No, it's just that the thing you are spreading it with is very nice.”

Rarity blinked. “The butter knife?”

“Yes.” The meal continued in awkward silence with Brambleclaw glaring at Squirrelflight while Rarity glanced at all three of her guests with apparent concern. “What's wrong?”

“Are you three doing alright? Anything you need help with?”

“No, we're fine,” insisted Squirrelflight, before finishing her square.

The yellow tom came back to the mushroom. “That will be three bits.”

Rarity uses her horn to pull out a golden circle and set it on the mushroom, which the yellow tom takes and puts into a pouch on his side. “Do you have any bits at the moment, darlings? Or do you need help?”

“I lost our bits when I tripped and fell earlier this morning,” said Squirrelflight.

Rarity placed two more ‘bits’ into the tom's pouch. “Now why don't we go to my boutique and I'll get you something for the cold?”

“Thank you.”

Author's Note

I am well aware that this is hardly universal, and the show itself was less than forthcoming about details, but I have developed a framework for currency in my works. I have equated 1 Equestrian bit to $0.10 in 1890s America, or $2.96 in 2021. I am using the basics of 1890-1900 America for Equestrian economics, and probably for other things I might need later that the show doesn't specify. This isn’t the story I developed that system for, it hasn’t been published yet. I’m pleased that that hour of research could be reused.
P.S. Equestria does not value mineral wealth as highly as Earth.

Chapter 4 Dresses

Rarity walked into her horsenest with Squirrelflight leading Brambleclaw and Leafpool after her. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique and magnifique.”

This is a waste of time, thought Brambleclaw.

“If you’re looking to keep warm in the cold weather we’ve been having, this should do the trick nicely.” Rarity held up a bright green strip of a flexible material.

“It's pretty,” pandered Leafpool.

“Thank you!” said Squirrelflight.

“Think nothing of it, I simply couldn’t let you freeze in this cold! Would either of you like something as well?” Rarity asked, turning to Brambleclaw and Leafpool.

“That’s really pretty,” said Leafpool, pointing at a green fluffy thing.

Rarity grabbed it with her strange blue power and held it over to Leafpool.

“Thank you,” said Leafpool, grabbing the green thing in her teeth.

“Is there something wrong with your horn dear?” asked Rarity.

“Nooo?” said Leafpool. Rarity blinked at them.

“Why do you ask?” said Squirrelflight.

“Well, it’s just that most unicorns prefer to use their magic for fine manipulation.”

“She’s... not very good with magic,” replied Squirrelflight.

“Ah… I see. Will you be staying in town for long? I could help you find a place to stay.”

“That sounds wonderful,” said Squirrelflight. She paused and looked thoughtful for a few heartbeats.

Idiot! Don’t tell them about our camp! thought Brambleclaw.

“We have some friends who we’re going to be meeting with soon, it would be nice to have a place for all of us to stay.”

Well at least you didn’t tell them where our camp is.

“I’ll look and see where you can stay, I should have an answer by this evening.”

“Thank you,” said Squirrelflight.

“It’s no problem darlings. It wouldn’t do to let you suffer out in the cold when there’s plenty of room in town. Think nothing of it.”

“Hey Rarity, I have a question.”

“Yes dear?”

“Someone said we don’t have cutie marks, and I get the impression that might cause issues. Do you have something that would cover our flanks?”

“Let’s see what I have at the moment.” She walked over to a soft billowing wall and stepped though. “No, no, no, aha! Here we go!” Two… things flew in Rarity’s magic out unto two horse shaped lumps.

Rarity walked back into view and picked back up one of the things. “This one would go lovely with your complexion,” she said as the green and off-white thing floated onto Squirrelflight.

This is stupid, you would never be able to hunt in that.

“There! That looks marvelous on you!”

“Thank you. I’m also going to need something for a few friends, since they also don’t have cutie marks.”

“How many grown mares?”

“...two?”

“Oh, not counting present company darling.”

“Yes, two.”

“Could you tell me the color of each of them?”

“Firestar is flame colored and Sandstorm is brown.

“Ok,” Rarity pulled a brown and yellow square and a feather and started drawing something.

“And can you tell me who has wings?”

“None of them.”

“Alright, I’ll have their dresses ready to pick up when you come by this evening. Now for you.” She lifted the green and black thing and put it on Leafpool. “There, now you match. I’m sorry but your outfit I’ll have to make later good sir,” she said to Brambleclaw.

“That’s ok,” he answered. I never wanted it in the first place.

“Well, it looks like it’s time for us to go. Thank you.”

“You’re most welcome.”

Squirrelflight turned to leave and Leafpool followed, while Brambleclaw was still by the door. After they had all left the nest Squirrelflight turned back to the others and said, “Well that went well. Don’t you think Brambleclaw?”

“No. You won’t be able to hunt in that thing.”

“It’s not like we were catching anything anyway.”

It was nearly sunhigh by the time they returned to camp.

“Welcome back, I trust your patrol was successful?” asked Firestar.

“Yes, it was,” answered Squirrelflight. From the faint fear scent coming off of her Brambleclaw could tell Squirrelflight was nervous about her report.

“What are you wearing, twoleg pelts?” asked Breezepaw.

“Don’t interrupt,” called Crowfeather.

“Yes father,” Breezepaw sighed. Then he wandered away from the returning patrol.

“These are horsepelts, wait no, they’re like twoleg pelts. Pelts made for horses. All of the horses had marks on their flanks except for us, so we got them to cover our flanks.”

You should tell him how you got them. Brambleclaw seethed.

“Um, Squirrelflight, why are you giving the report instead of Brambleclaw?”

“It’s a long story, nothing you need to be concerned about. Anyway, a horse named Rarity made them for us, and she’s making more for you, Brambleclaw, and Sandstorm.”

“Alright. What did you learn about these horses?”

“They’re very friendly, and have something called bits that you need to get food. And a green one and her friend Bon Bon are suspicious of us.”

“And why are they suspicious of you?”

“Because Brambleclaw told us to sneak in and they saw us sneaking around.”

“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you for your report.”

“Your welcome,” said Squirrelflight, before walking over to the grass-pile. She grabbed a mouthful of grass and began to walk back towards Brambleclaw. “Here, I brought you some grass,” she told him.

“Thank you Squirrelflight. I’m sorry for saying the patrol would fail if you led it. You’re a great leader.”

“Thank you.” Brambleclaw began to eat the grass as Squirrelflight left.

As sunhigh was passing into sundown Leafpool and Squirrelflight were walking through the horseplace. Brambleclaw had stayed behind so they wouldn’t draw attention since they were the only two with coverings. They had found a grassy area they could walk through instead of the hard packed earth of the horsepaths. As they walked they heard a strange noise and saw the green horse who had first spotted their ill planned stealth attempt using her magic to move a gold thing. They started to walk past and hoped she would not recognize them.

“You there. What were you doing sneaking about my porch?” the green horse asked.

“I told you, I just tripped,” answered Squirrelflight.

“And I don’t believe you. There were three ponies against my house, not just you.”

“No there weren’t.” There were three cats.

“I’ve got my eye on you,” she muttered before she stalked off away from them.

Leafpool and Squirrelflight continued on their way until they reached Carousel Boutique. Squirrelflight stepped up to the wall where Rarity had opened it earlier. She raised a paw and pressed it to the wall, which opened.

“Hello darlings. I asked my friend Twilight and she said she would be happy to house you,” said Rarity.

“Thank you,” said Squirrelflight.

“Here are the dresses for your friends,” said Rarity, bringing over two horsepelts and setting them on Leafpool, with a smaller one on top. “And a kilt for Brambleclaw. Would you like me to show you to Twilight’s castle?”

“Yes please.”

Rarity led them back out and down the path. “So Leafpool. Would you like me to help you with your magic sometime? Maybe next week?”

“That sounds good,” said Leafpool.

“If I may be so bold, where is your companion from earlier?”

“He’s getting our other friends,” said Squirrelflight.

Rarity nodded. “And here we are,” said Rarity, pointing at the largest horsenest they had ever seen, made of shining stones.

“Wow, it’s huge,” marveled Squirrelflight.

“Yes, and quite lovely, don’t you think.” They nodded and Rarity resumed her approach. Once she got almost to the wall she lit it in her magic and the wall opened towards them. “We got you two rooms, but if you need more space the two across the hall are empty.”

“Thank you,” said Squirrelflight.

Once they got inside they saw a vast cave with blue sparkling stone and many yellow and green spots that looked like the walls that could open. To the right stood a pinkish-purple horse with a horn.

“Hello there! I’m Starlight, and I’ll be your neighbor while you’re living here. I know it can be a bit of a maze, so I’d like to offer you a copy of my map. Trust me, you’ll probably want it later.”

“Thank you Starlight,” said Squirrelflight.

Starlight magiced over a light brown sheet that was rolled up and held shut with a red strip. “Would you like a quick tour after you put your things in your room?”

“Yes please.”

One of the open-walls opened and Rarity lifted the pelts and set them inside. “Well I’ll be going then. I hope to see you and your friends around town. Goodbye darlings.”

Starlight began walking further in. “Alright then. The map room is through the big doors at the end of this hall. The dining room is the second to last door on the right, and this door here, one to the left of the exact middle, is the closest bathroom to your rooms. The library is found by going through the dining room or the room six to the right. You are welcome to join us for breakfast and dinner, but lunch isn’t regularly scheduled. If you need me my room is in the back wing. I don’t have a good landmark, use the map.”

“Thank you for showing us around. When is dinner?”

“Dinner is right after sunset during the winter.”

Squirrelflight and Leafpool went to their room and Leafpool grabbed the dresses. Then they headed back out of the horseden towards their camp.

As they neared the camp they heard arguing and quickened their pace. When they got in sight they saw that it was only the apprentices squabbling, much to their relief. Leafpool went off to talk to Jaypaw while Squirrelflight went to talk to Firestar.

When she got to his nest she called out, “Firestar?”

“Yes Squirrelflight?”

“I’m ready to report.”

“Good.” After a moment of hesitation Firestar spoke again. “That means you should begin.”

“Oh. We got the horsepelts from Rarity and she found a place for us to sleep in the horseplace. Apparrently they're called dresses and Brambleclaw's is a kilt.”

“Good,” said Firestar. “Anything else?”

“We now know the green horse intends to keep an eye on us.”

After another awkward pause Firestar asked, “Have you finished reporting?”

“Yes”, responded Squirrelflight.

“Then you should either signify that or leave my den.”

“Oh.” Squirrelflight walked off towards Brambleclaw.

"Here," she said, thrusting the kilt at him.

"Woah, what's with the aggression?"

"What. Do you. Think! You've been pushing me around for the past moon and I am done with it."

"Well if that's how it's going to be you can go make yourself useful somewhere and get yourself out of my fur," he snapped, snatching the kilt.

Squirrelflight stalked off. Who does he think he is, treating me like an apprentice all the time? She tried to push away the guilt gnawing at her mind. She walked to her makeshift nest and laid down, hoping Brambleclaw wouldn't figure out his kilt before they had to leave so she would have the time to herself.

She heard Firestar telling the others they would don their horsepelts and leave immediately. He told Crowfeather and Hollypaw that they were to camp here until a new plan arose.

Chapter 5 Castle

The walk to the big horseden had been rather strained. His daughters Squirrelflight and Leafpool had been keeping to themselves and whispering to each other while Brambleclaw varied between sticking by Firestar’s side and tailing his daughters. Firestar had noticed that any time Brambleclaw came near they would move away. He wondered why Squirrelflight was avoiding her mate. Then again, he didn’t exactly like it when Sandstorm yelled at him either. He smiled as Sandstorm came up to his side.

“Firestar,” Sandstorm purred.

“Yes, Sandstorm?”

“Is it just me, or does Squirrelflight seem... upset about something?”

“You're right, she does. I think Brambleclaw yelled at her.”

“Ah, so that's it. Odd though, they're already mates. I could see that as a courtship problem but seriously, they've already had kits.”

“Yes, well, I'm sure it'll pass, it always does. They both have such abrasive tongues but they love each other.”

“There could still be a problem there.”

“Yes, I know. Mates can have problems, but I'm sure he'd never hurt her.”

“I believe you, I just get worried about them. You know how queens can be.”

As sundown came the group arrived at the largest horseden Firestar had seen the whole trip. Firestar stared up in awe at the shimmering walls. “It's amazing.”

“Like the Moonstone,” agreed Sandstorm. The two cats continued to look on for a few more heartbeats before Firestar hurried to the head of the patrol, Sandstorm at his flank.

Brambleclaw joined him at his other flank and together the three of them led the patrol. Squirrelflight and Leafpool fell back. Firestar walked up to the door and used his paw to hit it repeatedly, as he had seen other housefolk do on his housefolk's door before entering.

Firestar waited a few heartbeats before turning to his deputy. “Hey Brambleclaw?”

“Yes Firestar?”

“There's something I've been wanting to ask you.”

“Ask away.”

“You and Squirrelflight seemed to be having some kind of issue on the walk here. Is everything alright?”

“Yes yes, everything's fine. She's just in one of her moods.”

“I guess that's good then.” They waited in awkward silence for a few more heartbeats.

“Do we just go in?” asked Sandstorm hesitantly.

“What do you think Firestar?” queried Brambleclaw.

“I think we should. After all, we live here... for now.” Firestar squinted at the dooropeners and took one lightly in his teeth. He rotated his head as far as he could. Unfortunately his grip slipped. He straightened his head, tightened his grip, and tried again. He then took a lurching step backwards pulling the door open and bumping into Sandstorm. “Sorry for running into you.” Then he stepped back into step with Brambleclaw.

I hope I didn't look too silly in front of my clanmates. They need me to be a strong leader more than ever.

Firestar needn't have worried about how his clanmates thought of his door prowess, their opinions ran from mildly impressed by his ability to open it at all to slight annoyance at the door for its stubborn nature. However there was one individual watching who was stupefied by his clumsy efforts.

The strange procession continued their military precision as they walked into Twilight's castle. Bon Bon decided to tail them further. While they had been on the move she had heard them talking, though she had been unable to make out the words. But she could tell they were militant and not royal guards. After the entire group passed through the door the orange mare in the rear stopped and closed the door behind them by biting the doorknob and walking backwards. Bon Bon was undecided on whether these ponies were from some tiny poor town beyond Equestria... or just inept. On the one hoof she thought that even ponies who had never run across anything pony made would be more capable of dealing with such simple devices, but on the other they displayed a capable entry of a possibly hostile location. It was all very suspicious.

Bon Bon strolled casually up to the steps of the castle while subtly checking to make sure nopony was looking. After she reached the steps she simply kept walking into the bush on the right and positioned herself under the window. She took a periscope from where either she or Pinkie, she could never remember who had hidden what, had placed it sometime earlier in case of 'periscope emergencies'. She held the periscope up to the window and peered through. She was glad to have put in the effort when she observed the orange pegasus in the rear glancing her way for a moment before looking at the brown unicorn mare with a white face and belly who was marching between her and the others. Bon Bon slowly lowered the periscope back below the windowsill and counted to ten.

After her count was done she poked her periscope back up to see what the strangers were up to. They appeared to be in the middle of a conversation, but Bon Bon couldn't make out the words. After a few exchanges between the orange unicorn and pegasus the group started towards one of the doors. When they reached it they closed up onto themselves and said something. There seemed to be some uncertainty, and then the gold earth colt shouted, “I can defend them! I can even defend Jaypaw from himself!”

There was a slight pause, then the changeling shot back: “I don't need defended from myself!” The black earth colt said something which appeared to anger Jaypaw. “I don't care what you rabbit breathed Windclan-” then he stopped abruptly, as though he had been about to say something that he thought better of.

The black colt started yelling back. “You say Windclan like it's an insult! We’re the best clan around the lake you idiot!”

The golden colt drew in a breath for what was undoubtedly more bickering, but just then a door in the back opened and Spike poked his head out. The strangers quickly got back to an orderly formation and stopped arguing. Bon Bon noticed that even though the exact layout had changed the orange unicorn was once again in front.

Spike was grabbing the plates for dinner when he heard shouting from the entry hall. He considered going to see what was the matter before deciding to finish setting the table first, since it sounded excited and then angry rather than panicked. He set a plate at each spot. Normally they used a smaller round table but they weren't sure how many guests were coming and it would be awkward if there wasn't room for everypony so Starlight had brought in a larger rectangular one. The shouting continued. As soon as he had finished he walked over to the door and stuck his head through.

As soon as he saw the dozen or so ponies in a loose circle they all looked at him and hurried into rows. “Is everything alright out here?”

“Yes," answered a bright orange unicorn standing in the center. "Everything's fine.”

“Well, I should go get the others, take a seat and make yourselves at home.”

Chapter 6 Everfree

Hollystar leapt down from the highledge as her siblings came from either side. Lionpelt looked worried.

“Windclan plans to take some of our territory. They’re crossing the border as we speak.”

Hollystar called the clan together and announced the battle plans. They were very good, sure to defeat Windclan without losing any territory, and probably gaining some.

She charged out of camp, many warriors behind her. The two forces clashed in a quick and decisive battle, with Windclan breaking ranks and fleeing, her warriors in pursuit. She had just finished chasing a few stragglers back into their camp when something prodded her side.

She looked around, desperately trying to find the source to no avail. After several more prods she woke up to Crowfeather standing over her.

“It’s almost sunhigh, done hibernating yet?” he asked.

Hollypaw stood up. “Yes. If you’d taken one of the night watches then I wouldn't have slept so late.”

"We both know I’m the better night hunter, so it made more sense for me to go hunting while you guarded the camp."

That reminded her she was very hungry, not having eaten since coming through the Moonpool. “Did you catch anything?”

“No.”

Hollypaw turned away. “That makes sense,” she muttered under her breath.

“And why is that?” Demanded Crowfeather, giving her a sharp look she didn’t need to see to know was there.

So, she had underestimated his hearing. “Think about it Crowfeather. You’re Windclan. In a forest this dense…”

“Ok, then you go hunting. A Thunderclan cat like you must be able to catch some prey,” he snarked.

“I think I will,” Hollypaw retorted. She set off to find prey and show him that she was a capable hunter.

As sundown approached Hollypaw returned to Crowfeather with her catch.

“What’s that?” asked Crowfeather, pointing his paw at the skinny white fox-like thing in her jaws.

She dropped her prey and replied, “Not sure. It stole a plump vole I was about to pounce, so I took it as prey instead.”

“Like the Tribe,” Crowfeather observed, memories of the Tribe cats putting fresh-kill out as bait for eagles running though his mind.

Hollypaw paused for a heartbeat, “Yeah, I guess it’s sort of like that.”

Crowfeather ate the mouse and they shared fox-snake in the awkward silence of two students from rival schools who had, for some reason, been forced to sit next to each other. Just as they were finishing their meal they began to smell something halfway between a wolf and rotting plants. They both got up and looked towards the source of the scent.

Crowfeather had smelled wolves once before, but the scent had been stale. He’d heard them described as intelligent dogs, and he believed those who told him, but it was hard to imagine such an animal could exist. He had also heard that they lived without twolegs. Usually a wolf wouldn’t mess with animals as large as he was now, but if it was resorting to eating crowfood it would have to be desperate. On the upside a starved or sick wolf would be easier to fight, on the downside it would probably attack them.

As it got closer he realized that wolves must be a lot bigger than he had thought. He looked at Hollypaw, but she was staring at the bushes from which the wolf would emerge. He hoped they were ready.

The bush surged forward, growling. “Great Starclan, it’s a plant!” Crowfeather shouted as he and Hollypaw leapt away from the snarling wolftree.

“Hr hrrrrrraaarrrrrrrr!”

Crowfeather and Hollypaw took two steps backwards and circled around in opposite directions until they were as far from each other as from it. It leapt at Hollypaw but she deftly dove aside. The wolftree kept going for a few tail-lengths before coming to a stop and turning around. “Badger defense?” suggested Hollypaw.

Crowfeather nodded. Good plan. They both ran towards the wolftree, Hollypaw started to swipe at its foreleg but it swung its head at her. She spun around, but her paws had no claws in her current form, causing one of them to come off the ground as she spun. She tried to run, but the delay caused by her stumble let the wolftree hit her flank which made her tumble to the ground.

While this was happening Crowfeather leapt at the wolftree in an attempt to pass over it and attack it from the rear. Unfortunately he only reached its upper back before slamming into it, frantically scrambling to catch hold before it could reach him. He made his way to atop it and began digging at its neck with his teeth. It snapped at him but couldn’t reach. Then it slammed into a tree, causing Crowfeather to lose his grip and fall to the ground.

The beast staggered back a step, and Hollypaw took the chance to ram its right foreleg as hard as she could with her shoulder. Unfortunately this appeared to have little effect. She jumped back right before it smashed its paw through where she had been standing.

Hollypaw looked over the back of the wolftree. She smirked and her eyes glinted with a spark of determination. She leaped up, and just before she reached the height of her jump her wings snapped open and began flapping like she was a giant hummingbird.

Crowfeather blinked. Of course, we have wings. I should have used those, he berated himself. Hollypaw touched down behind the wolftree and bit down on the left rear leg. The beast howled and slowly turned around. By Starclan, she bit its leg off! Pushing past his shock he attacked the remaining hind leg at the lower knee. It snapped off with less resistance than he expected. Then it fell to the ground and tried to claw its way towards them to no avail.

They both backed up a few fox-lengths. Sooo, maybe I overestimated its durability. He grunted. Hollypaw beamed, but stopped when she noticed he was watching her. There was a long pause. “I saw it knocked you off, are you alright?”

“Yes,” Crowfeather responded curtly. He looked away, awkward at the attention from a random Thunderclan cat.

“At least it’s down.”

Slowly the pieces of the wolftree's hind legs began floating together and reforming. Both cats stepped back. Hollypaw stole a glance at Crowfeather. “I can't take it alone, get over here!”

By Starclan! She wants to fight it again? “Are you harebrained! We can't, now jump up a tree!” Crowfeather leapt up, and with the help of his newfound flight landed on a low hanging branch. When he looked back he saw Hollypaw had done the same.

Crowfeather and Hollypaw began climbing further up into the canopy. The wolftree continued to prowl below as they slowly but surely made their way to each other. “Do you have a plan?” Crowfeather asked.

“Why are you asking me? You're a warrior and I'm just an apprentice.”

“You're more familiar with forests,” he countered.

“Oh. Right.” Hollypaw thought for a moment. “Maybe we could do something like when Bluestar and Firestar killed the dogs.”

“Bluestar was involved? All I knew was that she died and Firestar killed them.”

“Yes, Bluestar and Firestar got the dogs to chase them off a cliff.”

“Alright,” Crowfeather agreed. "We should look for a cliff.”

That night Crowfeather and Hollypaw slept in a sturdy pair of branches, which overlooked a steep cliff. All night the wolftree paced below, with occasional growling. As Crowfeather stood the second watch Hollypaw was uneasy about falling asleep, unsure which was more disturbing, the wolftree below or the rival cat across from her.

When sunrise came Hollypaw stretched and looked around. She looked at Crowfeather. “Crowfeather, do you think you can still turn sharply?”

Crowfeather thought for a heartbeat and nodded, then looked at the wolftree. He checked to see if it was far enough away for him to get enough of a head start. Deciding that it was he nodded to himself and dropped to the ground.

Behind, he heard the wolftree scramble after him. As he neared the cliff he smelled its rancid breath getting stronger and stronger. He didn’t dare to slow down as he approached the cliff. Starclan help me, I'm going to fall!

A mere fox-length from the edge he turned as sharply as he could to the side, barely avoiding both the cliff and a furious swipe from the wolftree as it passed over the cliff. After two heartbeats he slowed down and looked over the cliff to where the wolftree had shattered into pieces. Thank Starclan, I didn’t fall. As he continued to watch in dawning horror the wolftree began to reform.

Crowfeather leapt up the closest tree with a burst from his wings and began to shakily make his way back towards Hollypaw. About halfway back he met her making her way along the branches toward the cliff. “It's reforming!” he warned. “We should probably stick to the trees.”

Hollypaw nodded. “I guess we'll hunt from the trees like owls then.”

Chapter 7 Morning

The night of their arrival at the large horseden, they were shown to their dens. They had two on each side of the walkway. One for the apprentices, one for the warriors, one for Leafpool and Jaypaw, and one for Firestar. Sandstorm had slept with Firestar since they were mates.

Lionpaw and Breezepaw walked up to the den they had been assigned next to the warriors’ den. Lionpaw raised his paw high in the air and brought it down onto the wall opener like a downward strike at his opponent’s head. After it turned a quarter circle it resisted further movement and he shoved it inward with his shoulder and stepped into the room, Breezepaw following after a few paces.

Inside the den were two raised nests set against one of the walls. On the far side of the wall opposite the nests was another openwall.

“The front half of the den is mine,” Lionpaw announced.

“No it isn’t!” Breezepaw tried to tackle Lionpaw, but he was clouted and sent to the ground. Then Lionpaw placed a paw heavily down on his back.

“Yes, it is,” Lionpaw growled.

“Alright, alright, get off of me.” Breezepaw walked over to the openwall deeper in the den. He opened it and saw an empty space big enough to comfortably curl up in. I’ll make my nest here, he thought. He trotted over to the nest on his side of the den and grabbed its bedding, carrying it back to his nest-hole.

After Breezepaw had put the bedding into his nest he turned back and saw Lionpaw stealing his raised nest. “What do you think you’re doing?” he snarled.

“Well you’re clearly not using it.”

“But I might, and it’s on my half of the den!”

“Deal with it,” Lionpaw dismissed.

Breezepaw leapt at Lionpaw with a snarl, but was once again batted out of the air before he made contact. “Don’t try that again,” Lionpaw growled before turning back to the nest.

Breezepaw got to his paws and went to his nest-hole, wondering if his dreams would still find him in the Dark Forest here.

After breakfast Jaypaw slipped away from the others to explore the horseden. After he had been exploring for a while he decided to head back. After he had been making his way back for half again as long as he had been leaving he decided that the horseden was the most twisty thing he had ever seen.

He stomped a paw and mentaly cursed his useless eyes. Why couldn’t he see like everyone else! He hissed in frustration before he heard someone humming as they approached. He stood and looked at the approaching stranger.

“♪Hm hmhm hmmhmm, hm hmhm hm-agh! Dude, are you ok? You look… mad.” Jaypaw recognized the voice as the dragon Twilight had introduced last night.

“I’m… Fine.”

“I know that look, it means you’re stressed out over something. Are you lost?”

Jaypaw considered the question. On the one paw he was lost and wanted to find his way back, and Spike probably could tell him, but on the other paw he didn’t want to look weak in front of outsiders.

After a moment Spike continued. “You should have seen the places Starlight ended up in her first month here.”

Jaypaw decided that if he wasn’t the first to get lost here then Spike was unlikely to belittle him for it. “I’m lost.”

“Where are you heading?”

“Back to mine and Leafpool’s den,” Jaypay answered.

“Right this way!” Spike said, and then his pawsteps headed off at a quick pace, Jaypaw following closely behind.

“So, where are you guys from?” Spike asked.

“Far away.”

After they had walked for many heartbeats in silence Spike spoke again. “Are you… planning on staying in Ponyville long?”

“For a while.”

After another awkward pause Jaypaw heard an openwall moving and Spike’s pawsteps passed it, so Jaypaw followed him through.

“Here we are, the closest reading room to your guest rooms.”

Jawpaw nodded, trying to look lost, despite not knowing what a ‘readingroom’ was.

“Is there anything in particular you want to read?”

“No.”

“Well, if you want we have some Power Ponies comics.”

“That sounds good.”

“Alright! Just a sec… ah, here they are.” Jaypaw heard something fluttery hit a hard surface. “Have a nice morning. I’d join you, but somepony left a mess in the library. Again. See you ‘round.” And then the openwall made a closing boom.

Jaypaw stalked over to the place Spike had set the ‘Power Ponies comics’. He sat on his haunches and tried to read them. Despite his powers he couldn’t sense any emotions from them. He sniffed them, and they had a strange smell he hadn’t smelled before. They smelled a bit like plants. He prodded them with his paw and they felt like a very dense stack of leaves. Jaypaw was confused how he was supposed to read these things.

Starlight had just finished taking a shower and decided to check on how their guests were doing before she left for the school. She found three of them in the dining room hallway talking to each other and looking at her map she had given them.

“Hello there. Can I help you find something?”

“We were having a little trouble deciphering the map,” the bright orange said with a friendly smile.

“No problem… Firestar, was it?”

“Yes. And these are Sandstorm and Brambleclaw,” he said, nodding to each of his companions in turn.

“Alright let’s see here.” Starlight stepped next to Firestar. “Here’s the dining room,” she said, pointing with her hoof. “We’re here.” She slid her hoof slightly, held it for a moment, and then set it back down. “Were you looking for anywhere specific?”

“No. Thank you for your help,” Firestar replied.

“If you need anything, feel free to ask one of us and we’ll help point you in the right direction.”

“Thank you.”

“Bye,” Starlight said, starting to walk away. After she got to the next hallway she saw the black colt muttering and glaring at the ground as he walked opposite her path. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes,” the colt growled.

“It’s just that you seem a bit upset,” Starlight probed.

“It’s that stupid Lionpaw’s fault,” he growled again, coming to a stop.

“What happened?”

“Jerk thinks he can push me around just because he’s bigger.”

“Hmm. I see…” Starlight decided she should talk to Lionpaw and get his story before she did anything about this. She set off toward the guest rooms, hoping he would be there. She got to one and knocked, but after a few moments she decided it was empty. Before long she had checked all of them without any luck. She looked back, but the black colt was gone. Then she heard somepony shouting from a nearby room.

“Reveal your secrets to me, Power Ponies comics!”

She walked over to the door the noise had come from and opened it, revealing the changeling colt glaring at some of Spike’s comics. “Jaypaw, are you alright?”

“Yes,” he said, in a tone that clearly spoke otherwise.

“You’re shouting at comic books,” Starlight deadpanned.

“Yes?”

Starlight simply stared at the odd colt. He continued staring at the books, though his ears here tilted toward her. A moment of silence passed. “Can you read?” Starlight finally asked.

“Of course I can!” he responded indignantly. “Can you?”

Starlight took a deep breath. She considered just leaving and letting this colt figure himself out on his own. He didn’t seem to want her help and she did have other plans for today.

“Though I’m not sure how to read these,” he conceded, making Starlight raise an eyebrow. “They’re not alive.”

Starlight opened her mouth, and then closed it. She took another deep breath, and slowly let it out. “Have you been talking to Pinkie Pie?”

“Who?”

“Nevermind. What do you mean, the books aren’t alive. Of course they’re not alive.”

“Then how, would you expect me, to read them?” he asked.

“With your eyes?” He stared at her now, with his unreadable changeling eyes. Even after talking with Ocellus now and then for months Starlight could never read a changeling’s eyes, and the rest of his face showed nothing but intensity.

“You… really haven’t figured it out?”

“Well I’m starting to think you can’t read, but I already asked you that. If you lied, that’s on you.”

“I CAN READ,” he started, speaking slowly and clearly. “EMOTIONS. I’M BLIND.”

“That doesn’t explain why you would pretend to know how to read. If-”

“I can read,” he interrupted. “I can read. People. I didn’t realize that word had another meaning.”

“You’ve never heard of reading a book?”

“No, I haven’t.”

Starlight started to ask where he was from before she stopped herself. She thought back to some of the things Ocellus had said about her hive. And when she had visited the hive there hadn’t been any books… “I’m sorry. I guess I need to work on keeping other cultures in mind. Would you like to learn how to read?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm. Well, I can think of two ways you could go about this. Either we should find out if Twilight has any books in ridged type, or we could try to help you see. Can you do that now?”

“Of course I can’t see. I just told you I’m blind.”

“Well, I didn’t know if you’d already mastered any transformation tricks that let you see. If you haven’t then we should talk to Ocellus. Lucky for you, she's staying here over winter break.”

“Transforming?”

Starlight shrugged. “I don’t know for sure if it will let you see. If your eyes are the problem then it should be as simple as transforming into something with different eyes, but if the problem is in your head… I don’t think we can fix that. Still, it’s worth a try, right?”

“Ok.”

“I was just on my way to the School of Friendship, that’s where she’s staying. So follow me and let’s see what we can do.”

Chapter 8 Griffin

Gilda grinned as the early morning sunlight slowly worked out any lingering cold that her flying hadn’t already vanquished. She looked down at the town below. Ponyville wasn’t anything impressive to look at, even if she had to admit that it was nicer than back home. But it wasn’t the scenery she came to Ponyville for, it wasn’t even the freakishly nice ponies. Seriously, even by pony standards the place was positively oozing with sappy love and brotherhood and stuff.

No, what brought her to Ponyville today, and every other visit, was the second fastest flier in the world, Rainbow Dash. She and Dash went way back, and other than a slight bump a few years back they had always been good friends. Even now that Gilda had other friends back home Dash was still her best friend, and they came by every now and then to see each other.

Gilda had tried Dash’s house, but she wasn’t home, so Gilda had decided to get something to eat before searching the town for her. She found a mostly clear spot and dove, planning a showy entrance and hoping to startle the morning crowd.

She landed with a loud burst of air, spreading her wings and letting out a screech. Suddenly a small earth pony started beating her wings with his forehooves and growling. She snapped her wings back to her sides. The colt lunged toward her and she barely kept herself from snapping at him, instead swatting at him with her talons. He sailed into the ground to her left and immediately rolled back to his hooves. Before he could attack again, she lunged toward him and held him down. He responded by rapidly flailing his rear hooves into her stomach and biting at her wrist. She pulled her talon back and he quickly crawled out of the grapple.

Just as he was spinning back around to face her again two unicorns in matching vests showed up. One held the colt back while the other pointed a lit horn at her. “Stand down!”

“Why are you holding me!” the colt shouted. “Get the eagle!”

“You little punk! You jumped me!”

“Eagles can talk here!?”

“Did anypony see how that started?” the unicorn holding the colt called out to the crowd. One of the ponies whispered something in her ear and then backed away. “Look, why don’t both of you come down to the station and we'll get everything sorted out there.” The colt muttered something and the mare holding him shouted, “Verdoof hem!”

The mare that had been pointing her horn at Gilda turned and shot the colt with some sort of magic beam, and he passed out. Then both the unicorns looked back at her. “What about you?” the leader asked.

Gilda growled. “Fine. I'll come get this dealt with.” One of the ponies led the way while the other followed behind Gilda with the colt.

Lionpaw woke up in a strange smelling enclosed area. “Yah!” he shouted, leaping to his paws and quickly looking all around him. He was in a large cage inside of a horseden, and the talking eagle from before was in another cage next to his. He backed away from the giant eagle until he hit a wall. To his right he saw the top of the wall was missing. He leapt onto the wall, and then fell down, since he didn’t have his claws right now.

“What are you doing?” asked the eagle. He turned to face it. Its back half looked much like a tawny cat, with talons coming out where the front legs were, instead of a normal eagle’s structure. It grinned. “Never seen a griffon before, pony?”

“Nnnooo.”

“Not surprised. We don’t normally hang with ponies, but I was in town when I tried to buy breakfast.” It glared at him. “Before somepony attacked me.”

“What! You tried to eat me!”

“As if! I don’t eat ponies, and even if I did you’re too tiny.”

“But… eagles go after the young?” Lionpaw said.

“Sha, so what? We’re only half eagle, and lions don’t just go after wimps.”

“Well, I can tell which half you got your personality from,” he groused.

It looked at him oddly and tilted its head. “Heh, you’ve got guts kid. I think I like you. Name’s Gilda, what’s yours?”

“Lionpaw.”

“Huh. That’s an odd pony name. You from around here?”

“No.”

After a moment of silence a loud bang came from the opposite corner of the den. A strange thing expanded from the roof down toward the floor. He took a ready stance as one of the hornponies from earlier came down the thing. “Good, you’re awake. I talked to a few ponies who saw your little fight this morning.” Lionpaw started to worry just how long he had been out. “As far as anypony can tell you,” she pointed at Gilda, “dove into a crowded market street and tried to start a panic. Then you,” she pointed at him, “decided to try to kill her.”

“I thought she was trying to eat somepony!” Lionpaw protested.

“Noted,” the hornpony said, in a tone of obvious exasperation. “You were under the impression that a griffon roaring in the middle of downtown was going to openly murder somepony in broad daylight.” She rubbed her forehead with a paw. “What about you Gilda? Any defense?”

“You guys know who I am? I guess my awesomeness precedes me.”

“Remember last time you came by and Pinkie threw you a party? Remember all the little problems you made? Because we do.”

“Oh.”

“You aren’t in trouble for fighting, since it was him that started it. But you are being charged with two counts of disturbing the peace and one of shoplifting. All in all, we’re asking for a 20 bit fine and a warning. Do you want to fight it?”

“No.”

“Good. Now, you.” She looked at Lionpaw. “What’s your name and where are you staying?”

“Lionpaw, Twilight’s home.”

“How old are you?”

“Ten and a half moons.”

She sighed. “Look kid, I really don’t need your age, so if you don’t want to tell, just don’t.”

“But… I just did…”

“Look, I’m going to send my friend to find your folks and we’ll straighten this out. Odds are good that you’re going to be doing some community service for a while, but nothing long-term. But I don’t want to hear you giving out any more death threats, am I clear?”

“Yes.”

The hornpony let Gilda out of her cage and they both left the way she had come.

Perfect Timing stood in front of the steps leading to Twilight’s castle. This was it. She was about to walk into the home of Equestria’s newest princess. Her feelings about the strange librarian had always been complicated, even before she ascended to royalty. On the one hoof, Twilight and her friends did a great job of saving Ponyville, and the rest of Equestria, from several major threats. On the other, they seemed like a magnet for trouble, and even though she hated to admit it, Perfect sometimes felt a bit like they stole the sheriff’s office’s job. Her family had been keeping this town safe for decades, and now the Elements were doing that.

She took a deep breath, walked up to the doors, and knocked. After a moment she pushed them open and walked inside. In the entry hall she saw a large brown earth pony stallion in a strange plaid skirt and an orange pegasus mare in a green and cream dress. “Hello, I’m Ponyville’s deputy, and I’m looking for the caretakers of a young stallion by the name of Lionpaw.”

“That would be us,” answered the mare.

Perfect nodded. “Right. He’s down at the office for assault, and we wanted to talk to you about what to do with him.”

“Who did he assault,” the mare asked, both of them looking concerned.

“A troublemaker we’ve had problems with before, who did startle him, so the charges aren’t as severe as they might be. He did strike first though.”

“I see.”

There was a lengthy silence as Perfect waited for her to continue, before she realized she was done talking. “So… Would you both like to come to the office, or just one of you.”

“We’ll both go,” the stallion cut in.

“Right, if you’ll follow me,” she said, turning and starting back towards the sheriff’s office. It shouldn’t take too long to get everything squared away. Our office is just on the other side of town square.”

After a few moments of walking Perfect thought about for a conversation starter. Sure, telling somepony’s parents that they were in jail wasn’t a great first impression, but these two didn’t seem angry at her, so she would try to keep things friendly. “Hello, my name is Perfect Timing, what are your names?”

“I’m Squirrelflight, and my mate’s name is Brambleclaw.”

“So… are you friends of Twilight?”

“Not really,” Squirrelflight answered.

“How did you end up staying at her castle, if you don’t mind my asking.”

“Someone named Rarity said we could stay there.”

Some…one? Odd. “Let me guess… You’re from another town. You happened to run across Rarity somewhere. And…” Perfect realized she didn’t have a third point. Quickly she tried to think of another point to round out her statement. What do I say?!

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, Brambleclaw was barely keeping his worries from being visible. What does she know!?

Perfect looked back and saw them both wearing fairly nice outfits. “And Rarity made you those clothes! Right?”

“Yes, she did,” Squirrelflight said. Perfect looked forward again and all three silently breathed a sigh of relief.

After that Perfect decided to let the silence reign for the last block of their trip to the office. Once they got there she opened the door and gestured for them to enter first. “Welcome to our office. I’m sorry it couldn’t be under better circumstances.” They both walked in and she followed them.

Inky waved her hoof at the opposite side of the table she was sitting at. “Would you like to sit while we talk?”

“Yes,” said Brambleclaw. Then they both sat down at the indicated spot.

“Would you care for some cider?” Perfect asked. “Soft cider only when we’re doing legal stuff.”

“No thank you,” Brambleclaw.

After a slight pause, Squirrelflight said “I would like some.” Perfect nodded and headed for their icebox as Inky began the discussion.

“What is your relationship to Lionpaw?”

“We’re his parents,” said Squirrelflight.

“Has he had a history of violence?”

“No.” Bramble looked at his wife, and Perfect came back in with the cider. She set one mug on each side of the table and took her own to the kitchen counter where she could watch in plain sight but not close enough to be threatening. Inky took a sip before she started talking again, and Squirrelflight lapped hers up with her tongue.

“He got into a fight with a griffon after she tried to intimidate him and everypony else on the street. Normally this wouldn’t be too bad, and I would have just told him to be more careful and let him go, but after we had restrained the griffon he asked me to kill them.”

“I’m certain that there was a miscommunication somewhere,” Sqiurrelflight said nervously.

“He claims he thought she was trying to eat somepony, what does he know about griffins?”

“Um, if you don’t mind me asking… What is a griffon?”

Perfect spoke up. “Imagine somepony with the head, wings, and talons of a big bird, and the back half of a big cat.”

“If you’ve never heard of a griffon, then odds are he hasn’t either,” Inky said.

“Do you mean like a hawk or an eagle, or just like a big bird?” asked Squirrelflight.

“Any bird of prey, as far as I know,” answered Inky.

“Where we come from there are giant birds of prey that eat the young, so it’s understandable that he got confused.”

“Hmm. Well I still want to make sure he doesn’t try something like that again. Would you be too upset if I made him help patch some streets for a week?” Inky asked.

“No.”

“Alright, I’ll send somepony over to collect him tomorrow. He’ll work from late morning to mid afternoon. Perfect, would you bring him up?”

Perfect walked over to the trapdoor and opened it, before walking down into the cellar. They usually just used it for storage, but it had been built to serve as a jail cell. Around the room were piles of things they normally kept in the cells, which they had cleared out this morning. They colt looked suspiciously at her. “Your parents are here to pick you up. You’re free to go, but you will have to do some community service this week.” He nodded while she picked the keys off their hook with her magic. She opened the cell and the colt stared at her. “Go on upstairs.”

He went up and she followed, closing the trap door behind them. He and his parents looked at her and Inky. “Anything else?” Squirrelflight asked.

“Not today,” answered Inky. “Just be ready tomorrow.”

After they were gone Perfect looked at Inky. “They seemed a bit nervous. Was I too pushy?”

“I think their kid’s been arrested for fighting before. The father gave it away when the mother said he had no history of violence. Probably nothing serious yet, but he’s getting old enough he could cause serious harm.”

“Do you have a plan?”

“I’m going to ask our good friend Miss Hooves. I can’t think of anyone better to befriend him or beat him into the dirt, whichever, or both, he needs.”

Chapter 9 Learning

Ocellus was humming ‘Winter Wrap-up’ as she put away the dishes that she and her friends had used for breakfast. As she was putting the last one away she saw councilor Starlight walk in with a changeling she didn't recognize.

“Good morning Ocellus!”

“Good morning Counselor Starlight! How can I be of assistance?”

“Well, Jaypaw here wanted to learn how to use his shape-shifting to see, and I thought we should ask you.”

Ocellus smiled at Jaypaw. He looked bored. “I’d be happy to help. How are you at transforming in general?”

Jaypaw hesitated for a few seconds before responding. “Not great.” He lowered his head slightly.

“Hey, it’s alright. Everyling learns at their own pace. Would you like me to help teach you?”

“Yes,” he answered curtly.

After about an hour Ocellus stepped out, leaving Jaypaw with some exercises to practice for a while. She closed the door and walked down the hall to Counselor Starlight’s room, entering since the door was open. “Hello Counselor!”

Starlight looked up from some papers she was writing on. “Hello Ocellus. How’s practice with Jaypaw going?”

“Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. He’s learning really well, but it seemed like he had never been told even the basics before. He didn’t even know he could levitate things.”

“Hmm, that does seem odd. Is that normal in the hive?”

“No,” Ocellus answered with a shake of her head. “I didn’t want to pry, since he was already uncomfortable, but I don’t think he’s from the hive.”

“Well he did come into town yesterday with several ponies, do you think he could have grown up with them?”

“That would explain things, but what about the wedding? If he can’t shapeshift then they would have had a hard time hiding him after that.”

Starlight nodded. “I’ll think about it and try to find out his story, you focus on making him feel welcome and teaching him anything a pony can’t. Can you do that?”

“Yes ma’am,” Ocellus said with a smile.

After many tries and a long while, Ocellus said that they had been practicing for long enough and that he should come back tomorrow morning. He walked out of School and up to the path, which was less busy than it had been when he and Starlight had come here, but it was still active.

He shifted his eyes so that he could take in the sight before him. It was brighter and more colorful than anything he’d seen before his first night in this new world. There were about as many horses walking the several paths as there were cats in all of Thunderclan, and he knew that many more were inside.

He walked down one of the smaller, less well traveled paths and just took it all in. As with the previous trip, he noticed that there was a general feeling of happiness around. He wondered if they were having a good season.

After passing a few dens he saw a brown tom sorting a large collection of small stone objects. When he reached the horse he stopped. It looked almost like he was sorting herbs, but Jaypaw had never seen anyone sort stones.

“What are you doing?”

The horse looked up. “Hmm? Oh, hello there. I'm sorting my assorted connectors.”

Jaypaw stared at the collection, trying to understand them. Many of them had groves running in circles around them. They came in two shapes: Circles and straight sticks with larger nubs on one side, and none on the other.

“Would you like to help me sort them, and I can teach you about them as we work?”

“Yes,” answered Jaypaw, doing his best to conceal his excitement. He stepped up to the raised wooden slab with several containers.

After they finished sorting the hardware, Time Turner started packing up the boxes. “Would you like to help carry the last box in and I'll show you my workshop?”

Jaypaw nodded and grabbed the final box in his mouth, following as Time Turner led the way back into his house. Jaypaw had known nothing about his pieces, but he had been an eager study. It made sense, from what little Turner knew the Changelings were much less technologically advanced than Equestrians. Once they were inside Jaypaw appeared uninterested in his surroundings, but Turner had seen enough colts pretend not to be interested in something to know better. Time Turner led the way towards the basement.

“What is this?” Jaypaw asked, pointing at the blue metal doors with glass window at the top.

“That’s my lift. It’s something I invented to work like stairs, but it takes less room and it’s easier to use with furniture.”

“Alright.”

They stepped inside and he pulled the lever to the basement position. As it began to move it shook and made its customary scape! noises. Jaypaw froze, eyes wide and ears folded down. “Not to worry young colt, we're perfectly safe. The lift is just a bit noisy, nothing to worry about.”

When the lift opened Jaypaw gasped. Time smiled, it was always nice to introduce a young foal to the joys of learning. Then he stepped forward. “Welcome to my laboratory! This is where I try to define the underpinnings of reality.”

Jaypaw just tilted his head.

Time Turner frowned thoughtfully. “Hmm. How about: This is where I do my science?”

Jaypaw nodded.

“How would you like to help me make a lightning rod?”

“A what?”

Time grinned. “It's a metal rod used to attract lightning. I'm planning on catching some in a jar of acid this evening.”

“How?”

“Well, certain elements’ reactions produce or consume electrons, and by running a powerful electrical current back through the circuit we can reverse the processes.”

That evening Jaypaw returned to the castle and had dinner with the others. They spoke of what they had done that day, from Lionpaw being arrested to Jaypaw’s new studies. Squirrelflight expressed interest in learning to read as well, and eventually Twilight suggested that any of them who wanted should ask Cheerilee for reading lessons.

After dinner they went to they rooms and settled in for their second night.

Chapter 1 Dreams

Jaypaw fell. Well at least I'm not drenched. Wait a second, why am I dry? Breezepaw if I get my paws on you-, at this point he felt something scatching at his pelt. It felt like falling through sticks. What's going on? What's going on! What's going on! One of his outstretched paws hit a solid object that felt like bark. He tried to sink his claws into it, but nothing seemed to happen and his paw bounced off without effect. He hit another branch. “Fox dung!”

“Jaypaw, is that you?” he heard Leafpool's familiar voice before crashing into the cold, wet, ground. “Jaypaw, are you all right?”

“Probably not? I'm not in that much pain, though. I think I'm in shock.”

“I was looking for herbs but I didn't find any.”

“Where's the horse?” he asked.

“Um, your probably still confused from your fall. You should probably rest.”

She's lying to me. I know she's lying to me. How should I confront her though? Hold on, the ground around me is kind of, soft. Like a thin layer of snow. But the only lair of snow like this, is Shadowclan. “We're in Shadowclan! Why are we in Shadowclan?”

“Gyaahh,” he heard Breezepaw screaming above him.

“Breezepaw!” he shouted before Breezepaw landed on him. “Breezepaw, why did you jump on me!?”

“Why didn't you get out of the way!?”

“And how was I supposed to know where to go!?”

“Maybe you could just see me! Oh, that's right, you can't because you’re blind!”

“Don't tease my brother! That's my job,” Lionpaw said as he walked up. His pawsteps were heavier than his usual stomping. Odd.

“Did someone tie rocks to your paws Lionpaw,” teased Jaypaw.

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“You're as loud as a horse! Every prey from Thunderclan camp to the Tribe of rushing water would be scared off by that racket.”

Thump! “Oh, that's not going to work now.” Crash!

“Get off,” moaned Breezepaw.

“Oh,” responded Crowfeather. The snow crunched as he got off.

“Hahaha, you looked so dumb being landed on,” said Lionpaw.

“For your personally edification,” commented Hollypaw, “I would like to add that I, mostly gracefully-”

“You were not graceful!” objected Lionpaw.

“Don't interrupt me! I'm going back to the side of the clearing where the sane people are.”

Jaypaw tried to follow her, but as he got up a rock hit him in the leg. “Who did that?” he shouted.

“Who did what?” asked Leafpool, returning from the other side of the clearing.

“Someone hit me with a rock.”

“You're probably just imagining it.”

“You're just trying to save Breezepaw's fleabitten pelt.”

“So, you think you could take him?”

“Just tell me where he is.”

“Just follow me to the others and then get some sleep. I made you a den.”

“Yes, oh great, all-knowing mentor,” snarked Jaypaw.a

“Just follow me,” huffed Leafpool. He followed her across the clearing. She led him to a nest. “This nest is yours. I'll be right beside you if you need anything.”

“Stop acting like you're my mother.” He smelled a dark, mysterious emotion wafting off of her.

“Goodnight anyway Jaypaw.”

Jaypaw found himself in an expanse of colorful spheres resembling a starry sky. He looked down, and saw more of the same, spanning off forever. He also saw two dark blue legs. “What am I?” He decided to investigate the spheres, as they were not a normal part of his dreams. Upon closer examination he discovered they held moving images. The one he had approached held a pink horse and a green lizard in a twoleg nest. They were dashing around making a mess everywhere.

“Gummy, put the flour into the batter,” said the horse. The lizard poured some white dust into an off white goop.

“It's a horse too. I wonder if I can talk to it?” He cautiously stepped into the orb.

“Oh hello there, I'm Pinkie Pie. Me and Gummy are making cupcakes! Do you want to join us?” the pink horse said quickly.

“Um, well, I don't know how,” he began.

“Oh don't worry it's easy, I'll teach you!”

“I think I'll just watch for now,” he responded quickly.

“Okie dokie lokie!” The pink pony went back to her task.

“What is baking?” asked Gummy. “Is it nothing more than the endless search for the perfect cake? And what is a cake, but a constant reminder that we're all one roc attack away from oblivion?” Jaypaw stared at the talking lizard. “And what of the poor cat? Never tasting confection of any type, destined to forever yearn for a fullness they can never have.”

Jaypaw decided to leave these two strange creatures and return to the Orb-field. Once outside of the dream he spoke. “Observing people's dreams could be a good way of learning about this place.” He looked over to another orb where a blue winged horse with a striped mane appeared, hovering over a light, overly colorful landscape filled with large yellow flowers. She looked around as all the flowers started singing a happy tune.

“We are such, happy flowers, we will now, sing for hours.

“Aren't we unbearably cute!” At this point a menacing tone crept into their song. One pulled out a stick and said, “Watch me solo on jazz flute!”

“Come on!” shouted the horse. “Not you guys again! Wasn't once bad enough!” It rushed at the flower that was making weird noises on its stick, only for the flower to shrink down into the ground and pop up behind the horse.

The flowers kept messing with the horse for many heartbeats. Then a new horse arrived, from outside the orb. It was larger than the other two horses Jaypaw had seen tonight, and its starry blue mane and tail waving in the breeze. The only problem was that they kept flowing after the horse landed, and there was no wind in the Orb-field. The new horse also possessed a horn. It entered the orb and spoke in a commanding tone, "Enough!" Then she flashed her horn so bright Jaypaw had to look away. When he looked back the flowers were gone.

“Thanks Princess, those guy just kept singing that sappy song.”

“You are most welcome. Now I must get going, pleasant dreams.” And with that the big winged horned horse flew away again.

Another in the dreamscape? Maybe they're part of this world's Starclan? He decided to go investigate other dreams and see what he could glean of this world.

Author's Note

Here is a picture of Jaypaw.

Shh! He doesn't know he's a changling yet, so don't tell him.