The Envoy

On the edges of Forbidden Jungle.

PoV: Night Lily.

I was looking up at the sky above which could be partially seen through the foliage. The forest canopy created by the tree crowns in this area is much sparser than those in the depths of the jungle, allowing a decent amount of light in. The sun is already setting down; it won’t be long until the darkness descends onto this forest. I and Sapphira were preparing our camp for the night. We found some stones to make a campfire, but the broad and long palm leaves were harder to find here. The temperature and humidity in this place is lower and those plants do not grow in abundance here, but some could still be found if we search a bit deeper into the forest. The grass on the clearing itself was not too high, allowing us a decent overview, so no predators will sneak up on us easily.

While we were doing our chores, we had a nice chat with Sapphira. I told her about my job, what I could, of course, and she shared me some interesting facts about her life in the hive. Oh by Luna, we know so little about them! Well, this may change soon, since former Chrysalis’ hive was reformed by some magical event. If the information is correct, Starlight Glimmer, that troublemaker Trixie and even Discord himself were involved! I’m surprised this troublesome trio didn’t screw everything up! The hive has a new leader now and is friendly towards Equestria, and Chrysalis is on the run. Nopony knows if she left Equestria or stayed within the borders to make up new vile plans against us.

While I was busy arranging our sleeping spots, Sapphira trotted up to me with a worry on her face, constantly looking around.

“Did you hear that, Lily?” she asked nervously.

I fell silent, my ears stood up, trying to catch any unusual sounds. And here it was, some sort of muffled roar came from the direction of jungle depths. Our ears instantly turned in the direction of the sound. The source of the sound was too far away to be visible.

“What is that sound?” I asked in a whisper.

“Manticore!” Sapphira whispered back. “We should hide out of its sight, right now!”

We started trotting, as quiet as we could, towards the closest patch of brushes. But we were unable to get there in time. From the corner of our eyes we saw a rapidly flying silhouette of a manticore above the trees, a loud roar followed. It saw us. “Oh hay! This… bucking manticore!” I was swearing as I understood we had no way out, but to fight. Manticores have superior speed both on land and in the air. To our horror, after the manticore roared and changed it course to our direction, more roars were heard from the distance. It felt like my heart was plunged into ice cold water, as fear gripped my very soul. I was in danger many times, and I know I have little chances against two manticores. However, I quickly snapped back into action.

“Sapphi! Quick, get airborne! They will just flatten us on the ground!” I shouted impatiently as my wings spread out. I flapped them forcefully, strong magic-induced wind quickly lifting me up from the ground. Sapphira’s wings started to buzz and she smoothly took into the sky after me.

“Ray! Raaaaay! Come back! There are manticores! Manticores attack!” Sapphira shouted loudly in panic, looking in a certain direction, to warn Ray about our misfortune. “He should not be too far from here; I heard chopping noises from the north.”

Sapphira could not say more as she had to dodge the charging manticore. This beast was too heavy and could not make fast and abrupt turns. Sapphira easily changed her flight course to the right to avoid the beast, even without turning her body. Her mane and tail followed her movements, fluttering in the air like a blue wave. Manticore flew by at high speed, roaring, irritated by its failure. As it was making a turnaround, we saw another two manticores appear from behind the treetops.

“This is bad! Really bad!” I said, as I pulled on a ring on the side of my left saddlebag. A sturdy bandolier slid out from inside the bag. I buckled the ring to my breastplate, fixing it in place. Various potions and small bombs were attached to the belt, allowing ponies without a horn, like me, an easy access to their tools. Almost everything was personally made by me. It is my talent, my cutie mark represents my proficiency in utilizing exotic flowers. Potions, poisons, pollen powders, many things! Sapphira flew closer to me with a flustered look.

“Sapphira! Drink this, quick! It can save our lives!” I gave her the Moonlight Flare potion. It may have some strong side effects later, but nothing is better at bolstering our reaction and perception. She didn’t tarry, grabbed it with her magic and drank it all in one gulp, giving the empty flask back to me. I too, drank another one myself.

“I feel strange… Like everything is slowed down around me,” Sapphira commented while we were flying up higher from the ground.

“Then it’s working as intended. We have half an hour, we must finish our battle before we get in trouble from the side effects,” I warned her, “I have some sleeping and pepper powder bombs on me, maybe those can chase them away… But still… I’m not sure we can last for long against these beasts…” I was not too sure it will have any strong effect on these large beasts, which already started to circle around us, waiting for the right moment to attack again.

Sapphira unsheathed her sword with her magic grip. Her horn was engulfed by a dark blue flame-like aura. It was different from what I usually see when unicorns use their magic. The sword looked ancient, but the blade was brought back to a usable condition. The sword hovered to her right, engulfed in her deep blue magic aura. She have squinted her eyes, looking at the circling manticores, her wings were producing a steady buzz.

“Those two… I’m sure it was them who attacked us yesterday, back there in the forest. They have found us again. We should not stay too close, lest we will be hindering each other’s attempts to dodge. But don’t fly away too far, we can become an easy prey if they manage to separate us, a common hunting way of these beasts.” Said Sapphira, swaying in the air, strong gusts of wind were coming from the mountains often, and we had to constantly correct our flight. Manticores had it easier with their higher weight.

The manticores finally attacked, almost simultaneously. And they all targeted me! My heart started to beat in a crazy temp as I was preparing to dodge their attacks and escape. With all three attacking, I have no opportunity to do anything else. As the first one closed in, I tilted my body to the left and made a furious flap with both of my wings, pressing them to my body afterwards, planning to perform a speed dive right after that.

The force of the flap propelled me sharply to the left, letting me to avoid the first manticore’s attack by a wide margin, its claws brushed against the end of my tail. But the second one was already close. I left my wings pressed to my body, only slightly correcting my nosedive, gliding down under the manticore, as it sped past me forward. My speed became too high when I spread my wings again, making it harder to maneuver in the air. The air blew strongly against my face, forcing me to squint, and at this unfortunate moment the third one managed to get close to me from above, a little to the left, its claws reaching for me.

I was desperately trying to change my course to the right and made an abrupt roll in the air, flying in a mad spiral, the line of horizon spun around quickly in my sight, making it harder to orientate in space. But this lanky manticore was surprisingly nimble and I was already preparing myself to receive an injury to my left wing as its claws were reaching for it. The potion made this moment even more dramatic and horrifying: I can see the danger clearly, but my body just can’t do everything in time to avoid it.

An abrupt flash, accompanied by a strikingly loud bang interrupted my concentration on my evasive maneuvers. I saw the manticore flying by, diverted from its course. The beast missed and was uncontrollably spinning in the air, falling towards the ground, one of its wings stopped moving and it was trying to stabilize its flight desperately with another one. Its injured wing was finally spread out before it reached treetops, but it did not help it by much as it plunged into the foliage. Its fall was accompanied by the roars and sounds of breaking branches, followed by a quiet thud. Maddened roars could be heard from below after that. It was still alive and very angry, it seems.

I looked up at Sapphira hovering above me, the leftover sparks of lightning were still dancing on the surface of her horn, and she was panting through her mouth heavily, but she was still able to maintain her flight. The other two manticores retreated away and flew down to check on their fellow. I quickly flew back up to Sapphira, my heart still beating rapidly.

“Phew! I thought I was a goner this time, Sapphi!” A great sense of relief engulfed me, the one you might have after being by a hair’s breadth from death. “I didn’t know you can use that magic!” I smiled at her.

“Hufff! It’s not… Huff! That easy! …huff!” said Sapphira through her panting, “This bastard is lucky my spell hit just its wing, and not its head!” and clenched her teeth in anger. Her flight started to get unsteady.

“Anyway, thanks for saving my life! But what we should do now? It’s not like we can just leave…” I said, looking at the place where manticores have gone to.

At this moment, all three manticores appeared back over the trees, the injured one was flying slower than it did before. They started to circle around us again, but this time they kept at the distance, observing us carefully. They didn’t seem to be willing to give up.

“Ray is coming!” Sapphira said abruptly, turning her head towards a certain point in the forest below us, a trace of surprise was seen in her eyes. “But it will take him some time to get here.” her brows furrowed. “We must avoid the direct combat for as long as we can. I won’t be able to use this magic again more than once without collapsing.”

I nodded by head. “But how do you know he is coming?” I asked in surprise.

“I just know, Lily… Can’t explain how exactly,” she said as she positioned her sword before her, readying herself for another bout. Her pupils lost its slit form despite the bright light from the setting sun. For us, thestrals, it’s a common occasion when we are fighting or scared. Seems she is the same as us, and my own pupils are probably the same now, enlarged from all my nervousness in this fight for survival. “They are up to something!” she pointed with her hoof at the manticores.

The beasts suddenly increased their altitude, positioning above us and started to shrink their circle and get closer to us. They have started performing feint attacks, with occasional real ones, but even those were not serious, like they were not willing to put their all into their lunges. Now we are dodging frequently, our manes and tails dancing in the air, getting into our eyes from time to time. During one of the very obvious front attacks I grabbed three sleeping powder bombs from my bandolier, activated them with my hoofkinesis and threw them at the incoming assailant. Two of them missed the beast, but the last one hit its head, spreading the pollen of the black lily all over it. The manticore ceased its attack and started sneezing, flying away.

“Lily, something is not right here!” said Sapphira in worry. Her eyes darted between manticores and the ground. “They are pressing us to the ground on the clearing!” she shouted in panic.

“Hay! They attack us immediately every time we try to move in other directions!” I clenched my teeth in anger.

I had another look at the manticore that was hit with black lily pollen, its movements slowed down considerably, but it won’t be enough to knock it out to sleep. But at least now there are two which are somewhat weakened! However, they still continued to push us down to the ground, forcing us to dodge constantly, wearing us out, and we were already below the level of treetops.

Sapphira had it harder: despite the absence of need to move and tilt her whole body, the speed of her aerial dashes was not that fast like mine. She was helping herself with her old sword. After a few slight cuts the manticores started to avoid it. Sapphira managed to keep defending herself with its help, until the most bulky manticore slapped it forcefully to the side. It was also the one which remained totally unharmed. She was unable to contend with such force and lost her magic grip on the sword, helplessly looking as it fell down to the ground in a wide arc, spinning in the air.

“Agrh! It did it again! Just like the last time!” Sapphira shouted in frustration. She was left without her weapon. In her anger, she used her magic to pull the manticore by its wing, throwing it off course. However, being high enough from the ground, it steadied its flight and returned to attacking after its brief retreat.

After some more time we were almost on the ground level, and I had an idea how we can get ourselves some more time.

“Sapphira! Land and close your eyes, now!” I shouted as I landed on the ground and quickly pulled out the largest bomb from my bandolier. It was the one provided by the Shadow Guard itself. I made an effort with my hoofkinesis until I heard a click inside it. Then I threw it upwards above out heads and closed my eyes. In a second, the sound of explosion assaulted our ears and I saw a bright flash through my closed eyelids. The manticores cried in pain as their eyes ached from the searing light. They started to back off, their eyes shedding tears. They were blinking rapidly and shook their heads, trying to get rid of something impairing their vision.

I used this opportunity to unload almost the whole inventory of my bombs, both sleep-inducing and pepper ones. Most missed the targets, but the stinging pepper dust still affected them. Sapphira’s horn lit up as she caught one of the bombs flying past the manticore and threw it right into its mouth. The reddish powder burst from its maw and the manticore started wailing and sneezing while rolling on the ground.

“Good one, Sapphi!” I praised her for this move with a grin on my face.

“Yeah, but don’t get your hopes high, those beasts are tough and stubborn!” she told me in a serious tone, frowning.

This is a strange coincidence, but among all the dangerous beasts I never had to fight manticores. And what I’ve seen today… The reality appeared to be much more dangerous than I thought. They are strong, tough, persistent, intelligent, and can hunt in groups! And this should be young ones at that! I readied myself for a hard battle once again.

Manticores did not remain in their confused state for long. Their eyes reddened from all my shenanigans with powder bombs, their tails started swinging madly in irritation. They began to slowly close in after surrounding us from three sides, and this time, we didn’t have any possibility to dodge their attacks on the ground.

As we were silently preparing for the inevitable, me holding the leftovers of my bombs and Sapphira charging her horn, we heard a loud sound of snapping branches from the side, coming closer by the second. Manticores noticed it too and turned to look in that direction, giving us a few more seconds.

A bush on the side of the clearing was partially destroyed, as Ray burst right through it like a buffalo, holding an axe in his hand. He noticed our predicament and his eyes became filled with rage. He had quite a scary face at this moment, if you consider a great amount of scratches on it and on his head too. His coat resembled some rags, seems he tore it badly when he ran through the forest.

“You again! Fucking bastards! I’ll split your heads in two!” he shouted without even slowing down as he rushed to the manticores.

Two manticores instantly backed off a good distance away, but the last manticore, the lanky one, just jumped on us abruptly while we were distracted by Ray. As its paws were already spread out to grab Sapphira, a flying axe hit it somewhere between its neck and its head. The strike landed with the blunt side though, but the sheer force behind it still interrupted manticore’s jump, it had missed Sapphira and fell to the side. The beast tried to get up several times but failed, being too dizzy from the hit. We galloped towards Ray while we still had the chance. I threw my last bombs with sleep-inducing pollen at its snout as my final gift to it. Ray was standing in place, rubbing his shoulder, he probably put too much strain on it while he threw his axe, as the strike was really terrifying, and only manticore’s sturdy body and luck kept it from receiving a grievous injury.

Ray closed his eyes with force and stood like that for a moment. When he opened them again, he didn’t seem that mad anymore. He breathed out heavily and pulled his spear from his back, unstrapping it. The two manticores stood at the distance, seemingly unsure what to do and the third one managed to finally get up and slowly joined the other two. It was no longer feeling good and energetic, as black lily pollen and a heavy hit with an axe had finally affected it.

“Good, I’ve made it in time!” said Ray through heavy breathing. “Damn, I didn’t notice that I went away too far, sorry girls.” He said, patting our heads lightly. His action soothed my chaotic mind, filled with panic and unease. This was close, who would have thought this place can be so dangerous… I saw Sapphira rubbing her head and horn against Ray’s side gently; a slight glisten of tears could be seen in her eyes.

“Do they… fear you?” I asked incredulously, looking at the reaction of these two manticores.

“They should, this two attacked us yesterday and then fled, unwilling to fight to the very end. Those two are smart bastards, got to be careful around them.” Ray stated with an indifferent face, looking at the manticores attentively. “It’s too early to relax; they are not leaving, so stay close to me.” As he said it the manticores began to spread out once again.

Now they are doing something similar to what they tried to do in the air. Contrary to my expectations, the pair of manticores who fought with Ray yesterday has gone exactly for him. But they never came too close, trying to hit him with their stingers on the ends of their tails instead. One of the manticore received a deep cut on its tail when it became too engrossed in attacking Ray and became even more cautious after receiving the cut, but didn’t back out. The third one had its eyes on me and Sapphira again, but didn’t attack yet, maybe, my sleeping powder finally worked? Its eyes were periodically becoming glazed in stupor.

This strange fight continued for more than five minutes already, but it was too late when I finally noticed what they were trying to do.

“Ray, they are separating us!” I shouted as I saw the pair dragging Ray away farther and farther from us, and the third one cutting out our retreat.

When Ray tried rushing back to us, the two suddenly entered a real battle with him, trading blows and scratches. But now I could not spare any attention to his battle anymore, as the third one pounced on us, propelling itself with its wings. It was too fast! Too bucking fast! It was going for Sapphira again. Isn’t it weakened? How is it able to move so fast even now?

Sapphira tried to fly away but she was too slow; the beast grabbed her sides, the claws scrapping her armor from the sides strongly, but the armor was holding on stubbornly. Thank Luna the beast was not in the best condition from all the sleeping powder it had inhaled. Before this despicable manticore could bite Sapphira with its jaws, she unexpectedly poked manticore’s neck with her horn with all the force she could muster. It did not go too deep though, as the sharp-angled curve on her horn stopped its movement, but that prevented the manticore from biting down on Sapphira’s neck. I heard Sapphira wail in pain quietly, this must be very painful for her horn.

I desperately tried to help, flied up and struck the manticore from above with all my hooves, landing atop its back. Instinctively, I tried to bite its neck with my fangs as hard as I could, as I could not pull out my knife right now, but my teeth were just tangled in its thick mane. I changed my position and tried to bite manticore’s shoulder, this time I succeeded. Never underestimate the bite of thestrals! The blood of the beast got into my mouth, but at the moment I didn’t mind the foul taste. The beast thrashed and roared, but I didn’t let go, as well as it did not let go of Sapphira, trying to tear through her armor with no success.

“Hay! What material it is made of? But I’m glad it is so sturdy!” This random thought popped inside my mind for a moment. Sapphira will not be able to hold the beast’s weight for long! This struggle will not last and we are losing! Luckily for us, this beast got a good dose of sleeping powder and is greatly weakened now; its moves became sluggish again. Otherwise we’d be dead by now!

Suddenly, I heard a strange buzzing from under the manticore, and it was not Sapphi’s wings. A few seconds later my ears were blasted with a sound of lightning discharge. Sapphira struck the manticore with her lightning magic at point blank, with her horn still embedded in its neck. I received a light shock through the contact with the manticore’s body. The beast convulsed for a few seconds before its movements ceased. Sapphira backed off from it before its body could pin her down to the ground. She was shaking on her unsteady legs, small blue lightning bolts were still dancing along the length of her bloodied horn.

It was then when I felt a searing pain in my hind leg. As I inspected myself I found that manticore’s tail have scratched my hind leg, the injury is not too deep, but the poison… It’s good I have antidotes. I quickly uncorked one of the potions and poured its clear liquid over the wound, then drank another one, green in color, containing many herbs which help with curing the toxins. I’ve noticed Sapphira’s concerned look.

“It’s fine, I have antidotes, there is only a little poison which gotten inside that cut.” I calmed her down. Sapphira nodded her head and turned towards Ray.

When I looked at Ray’s direction I only saw two manticores fleeing away into the jungle in the distance. He had frightening-looking wounds on his chest, and probably on his arms, but those were not too deep. His coat could no longer be buttoned up as it was too torn, making his bloodied muscular chest visible. We should treat him quickly!

I turned to Sapphira, raised my body and hugged her chest tightly; tears have finally started to flow from my eyes like a stream. Sapphira reciprocated, hugging me back. We stayed like that while Ray was removing what was left from his coat from his body. Through my blurry vision, I could see he had a lot of scratches on his arms too. He sat on the ground with folded legs, closed his eyes and froze in this position. What is he doing? Shouldn’t he be busy treating his wounds now?

“Sapphira? Shouldn’t we treat Ray?” I asked quietly, still hugging her.

“Mmm…” she drawled and giggled slightly. “I think we should not.” I could not see her face, but what she said puzzled me.

“But… why?” I asked again, not quite understanding her.

“Let’s go and see for ourselves. His magic is going crazy around him right now, and he does not look too disturbed by his wounds. I’ve learned a lot about him in the last few days… If he isn’t worried, then we shouldn’t be worried too. I’m sure he will be fine.” Sapphira pulled away from me, smiling and started slowly walking towards Ray, I followed.

What I saw surprised me greatly. The wounds on Ray’s body were closing up with the speed visible to the naked eye, and there were no scars left behind in their places. After a few minutes Ray finally opened his eyes and checked his body.

“Sorry, girls, those bastards tricked me in the end. Who could have though they can be this cunning for mere beasts?” He glided his hand across his muscular chest, checking his injuries. There was still a lot of blood left on his skin, his hand smeared it. “Alright, seems I’m fine, but damn, girls, now I’m hungry like a wolf. And dirty…” He looked at his bloodied hand. “Sorry, I’ll have to expend some extra of our food and water stocks. Are you both fine? Any injuries? I’m glad nothing serious had happened this time, but that was close, Sapphira.” He smiled and looked at her, using his torn coat to wipe the blood from his body.

“Well… we are fine, almost.” She looked at me after that, but I kept silent.

“Sapphi, that was brutal! But I like it! That bastard deserved it for trying to kill you!” He made a pause, thinking about something and then sighed deeply. “Again… I let the situation to threaten your life again… And Lily’s too. Damn I’m so useless!” He hit the round with his fist with such force it left a little crater. Then he abruptly stopped, incredulously looked at the crater he had made with a raised brow and lifted his hand before his eyes. He clenched and unclenched his fist a few times, alternating his gaze between his hand and the crater.

“Don’t be too harsh on yourself, Ray. You can’t babysit me all the time. And… we almost managed… by ourselves. Uh… Alright… we couldn’t pull it off by ourselves in the end, but who would have though the manticores will appear on the edges of the jungle, right?” said Sapphira nervously.

Ray snapped out of his strange thoughtfulness. “I guess you are right…” He said and chuckled. “My rotten luck! Why did they have to appear at the moment I was not around?! You know, Sapphi, it was not even a day without some shit coming up… since I… since I got stuck in this jungle, you know what I mean…” Ray said this strange phrase, puzzling me with his vague words. “And I hoped that today it will be somehow different, but nooo!” – He raised his hands up theatrically and rolled his eyes to the sky. – “It just had to be manticores again who had to spoil our day this time!” He snorted and flopped his hands on the legs.

I giggled at his abrupt outburst. “Sorry, Ray, but you made it look funny.”

“We will go crazy if we don’t laugh at these things, Lily.” he said with a smile, “Well, let’s return to our spot; I’ll be right back, I need to drag the dead manticore farther away and throw away this bloody rag too...” He picked up his torn coat, throwing it over his shoulder. “I don’t want any predators skulking around at night, attracted by the smell of blood.”

He went to the dead manticore and grabbed it by its tail, trying to drag it into the jungle, but it was too heavy to do it easily. His feet just slid on the ground. After trying a few more times without much success he dropped the tail to the ground forcefully in irritation.

“Blyat! Fat bastard! How am I gonna drag you away now?!” He was swearing in some strange words and kicked the manticore’s body in anger.

Then he placed manticore’s tail over his right shoulder, grabbing it with both hands and tried pulling it one more time, exerting all his strength. Now, he could finally drag it away, his boots leaving deep indents in the soil.

“Ray, do you need help?” Sapphira shouted.

“No, thanks, I’ll do just fine. You two should rest.” He shouted back, stubbornly dragging the manticore away.

Sapphira decided not to argue. I looked at his figure moving away, slowly dragging the dead manticore away all by himself. I’m not sure how strong he is. Ray is smaller than minotaurs, but sometimes, I feel like he is as strong as them… just lighter in weight.

We returned to our spot, continuing our preparations we had to abandon because of manticores. I was still shaking from all of the stress. Sapphira was slightly better than me. She was showing signs of mild magical exhaustion and was nervous too, but not that much as me! Was she risking her life that often? I’m a member of Shadow Guard, not a combat specialist, of course, but I’ve seen my share of danger. Today’s events… are just crazy! These two are crazy, in a good way! And from today on there are three crazies here! I chuckled at this thought.

“Remembered something funny? Share with me!” Sapphira said with a soft smile.

“I just thought about how crazy the things got today…” I said, still giggling, perhaps the stress was playing with my mind that I found it funny.

“Welcome to the club, Lily!” I heard the voice of Ray who had finally returned. He chuckled at his own remark. “My whole life for the past several days was like that!” He plopped down on the big leaves we had laid on the ground. “Damn I need to wash off the leftovers of blood while it still hasn’t dried up completely.” He started to fiddle with the bags, wetting a piece of cloth with the water from some kind of a large bottle and started to clean his body. We sat in silence for some time.

“Did you throw out your coat, Ray?” asked Sapphira.

“Yep, it was completely destroyed by the manticores. And it also got soaked in blood,” he answered smiling wryly and sighed, “I’m almost out of clothes now, only my shirt is left. Are you alright, Lily?” he asked me. I’m probably not looking too good.

“Well, I’m starting to calm down already. Thanks, both of you. Now we are… comrades in arms, I guess?” I said smiling.

“I guess so, Lily. You both fought well,” he praised us. “Sapphira, your horn… let me clean it.” He got up with a clean cloth in his hands and removed all the blood from Sapphira’s horn with firm, but careful strokes.

“What’s wrong with my sight? And my head feels dizzy.” Sapphira shook her head. “I see white flashes and spots like those you can see after you look at something too bright.” Sapphira started to get nervous. Ray became alert too.

“It’s the potion we drank earlier. Moonlight Flare. Now you can guess why it has such a name… I’m the same as you right now.” I answered with a bit of regret. “But that potion saved our lives.”

Sapphira nodded in agreement. Of course, if not for this potion, we would not be able to avoid all that attacks for so long.

Ray looked at me attentively, or so I though, as my sight became indistinct too. I can swear his eyes flickered with green light for a moment.

“Are you poisoned, Lily?” he asked looking me in the eyes. “You should have told me earlier.”

He didn’t wait for my answer as he put his hand on the back of my head; his fingers ran along and wove into my mane gently. My eyes squinted inadvertently in pleasure.

“And now sit still and don’t talk.” he demanded. “You should never argue with a doctor, and I think he is one, maybe even a military doctor, judging by his skills with his weapon. Oh hay! Why do I need to make up excuses like that every time? I just like when he does that, however weird that might sound!”

Sapphira stayed silent, watching the whole process. A cooling sensation spread through my body. My burning poisoned wound stopped aching slowly too. It took him a lot more time than when he used his magic earlier to restore my energy. In around a quarter of an hour he stopped his magical therapy. The weakness from the poison left my body, as well as the side effects of Moonlight Flare were replaced by a common sleepiness.

“Thanks again, Ray!” I said with half-closed eyes, a desire to sleep was getting better of me.

“No need, Lily, you were dragged into this mess because of me in the first place…” he said with an apologetic look.

I just scratched my ear, not sure what I should say. In a sense, he is right, but this was my job!

“Just forget it, we survived, this is what matters. Now you, Sapphi, we should remove the toxins left by that potion.” He said as he started to do the same with Sapphira. It took much less time for her, must be because of the absence of manticore poison.

“Now try not to fall asleep, let’s make a stroll to the place where I left the firewood. I’m not leaving any of you here alone in this state, but we still need a campfire.” he said to us, “Ummm… Soon I might need some help navigating the forest in the dark…” He looked above at the darkening skies.

The twilight had already descended on the land, submerging the forest in darkness. Left without any options, we sighed and slowly stood up, unhurriedly following Ray into the nearby jungle. According to Sapphira, he could see in the dark better than regular ponies, but soon, he will have trouble navigating the forest too, when complete darkness descends.

Camp at the lake. Current time.

Twilight and Starlight were sitting on the rug in their tent. Spike was already fast asleep in his special basket they took with them, snoring quietly. They were talking quietly between themselves, not afraid of waking him up. Spike was always a heavy sleeper; even loud noises were unable to wake him up sometimes.

“… But Twilight, don’t you think this whole expedition is a bit fishy?” said Starlight with a bit of agitation in her voice.

“And just what is so fishy about it? We arrived here and found nothing dangerous. We even found some ancient historical relics! Isn’t it a good thing? Of course, it’s very puzzling how this amount of magic left no traces behind, but still…” said Twilight hesitantly, slowly waving her hoof in the air.

“Exactly, Twilight! We found nothing, but received a strange order to search for harmful magic around the whole area! Without any explanations at that! There were no explanations before, and no explanations after! There must be something wrong with the whole situation! Perhaps, the Princesses think we are not up for task to help them?” Starlight said in a louder voice, abruptly standing up from the rug. Her mood was definitely soured by this situation.

“Perhaps you are right… Maybe we should ask Princess Luna personally about it tomorrow?” said Twilight uncertainly. She was not sure how to react to such a situation. She had too much faith for the Princesses to doubt their motives and judgment.

“Bah!” Starlight interrupted her loudly. Spike have stopped snoring and turned in his bed, covering his head with a blanket, mumbling something unintelligible. “Do you think they will tell us if we just ask them nicely when they did not tell us anything from the start?” Starlight’s speech became sharp. “… Sorry, Twilight, I didn’t mean to shout at you…” Her voice became mild again and she sat down with a sad look.

Twilight stood up, came closer and hugged Starlight softly.

“It’s alright, Starlight. I know you feel like we are kept out from some secret, but I’m sure Princesses have a serious reason for that.” Twilight’s hoof was gently stroking Starlight’s back. “But we really should ask them first and don’t jump to conclusions before we do so.”

Starlight made a deep breath and exhaled slowly before speaking: “Perhaps you are right, Twilight. Let’s go to sleep then, it’s already late.” They stood up and moved to their sleeping places. “And thank you for your patience; I’m not exactly the best student in regards to my temper…” Starlight giggled lightly.

“Ha-ha, maybe, but it’s not that bad! Good night, Starlight!”

“Have a good night too, Twilight!”

Both of them closed their eyes, a slight smile on their lips.

Dreamland, nighttime.

PoV: Princess Luna.

“Alright, time to check up on Lily and listen to her report.” I said to myself after finishing with my duties in the dreamland. My strength had restored itself over the time of my rest, so I could even search for nightmares tonight and still have some time to meet Lily. I was a little worried about Lily and our new friends. This jungle is dangerous despite its serene look around this place; anything can happen to them over there.

I conjured the magical diagram before me unhurriedly. Glowing cyan magic lines flowing out from the tip of my horn, was drawing intricate patterns in the air before me. This was the spell which will help me to detect the ‘mark’ I left on Lily to find her easier in the dreamland. I projected my will to find Lily through the diagram, and the magic responded obediently, like it always does. But how can it be otherwise with my practice of many centuries?

I was not in the mood to make a leisure stroll in the dreamland tonight, so I’ve created another diagram below me, one I am proud of, as I developed it myself. A long-range teleportation spell for dreamland. The regular one will never work in this place, so I had to create a new one from scratch. It will take some of my power, but that’s irrelevant for now. The circle below me followed my will and I was engulfed in a cyan sphere of my magic. After a few seconds, the sphere shattered into a myriad of tiny cyan wisps of lights, swirling around and fading away with a quiet chiming sounds, and I was already standing on a moonlight road before Lily’s door. I saw Sapphira’s door nearby, but Ray’s could not be seen anywhere.

Then, instead of entering Lily’s dream I’ve created my own. The space around me warped and changed. I found myself in the black space devoid of anything, but it was quickly replaced by the outlines of my royal chambers in the palace. Floor and walls, various decorations and furniture started to appear around, recreated from my memories. As a finishing touch, I’ve added a table and two comfortable sofas around it, so my tonight’s visitors will have place to sit and talk with me.

I’ve made myself comfortable on one of the sofas. A cyan aura appeared around my horn as I probed the dreamland around me. It was easy to find Lily’s dream nearby, so I yanked her out and sat her on the opposite sofa.

Lily sat on the sofa with closed eyes and a wide grin on her face, with a slightly raised head, her wings were spread out freely.

“Ah! Yes… stroke me like that!” she said gently.

“Oh my… My little Lily had that kind of a dream… Sorry for spoiling it, Lily.” I said with an apologetic manner.

Lily abruptly jumped up on her hooves, but plopped back onto the sofa when she saw me, covering her face with her hooves. But it did little to cover up her beet red cheeks, visible even through her coat. She quickly performed a deep bow, still standing on the sofa, almost burying her head into the seat.

“Princess Luna, I’m very sorry you had to witness this shameful conduct,” she said in quiet and trembling voice.

“No, Lily. It is me who should apologize for pulling you out of your dream without a prior warning,” I said as friendly as I could, “so raise your head, Lily.” I wanted to make a little more fun of her, but she is a bit too serious about it now. But it seems my little Lily finally took some interest in somepony.

“Thank you, your majesty!” she answered, but was still uncomfortable.

“Well, I can see you are fine and in good health. Tell me how did you journey go. I want to hear everything about it!” I said in anticipation. I was somewhat bored at this moment, so I really wanted to hear about what happened.

“Uh… where should I start?” asked Lily.

“From the very beginning, if you might, Lily.” I said with a smile.

“As you wish, your majesty.” Lily fell in thoughts momentarily before continuing. “I found them at daybreak. They were hiding some distance away from the manticores’ territory. I found a dead body of an elder manticore while I was tracking them. Their claims that they have killed it are true. A piercing hit to the chest had ended its life. There was a lot of blood around, including Ray’s blood, but when I found him, there were no injuries on his body. Nothing at all! But now, I’m no longer surprised by it,” she said with a mysterious smile.

“How so?” I asked. “How unusual, I never saw such reaction to anything from her. Now I can understand why my sister like to personally interact with her subordinates that much.”

“Princess… How should I put it… Two young manticores who attacked them along the elder one returned with one more young manticore today before the sunset… So we had to fight them. At first, it was only me and Sapphira. Ray had gone into the forest to get us some firewood. We would have died without each other there…” she made a deep sigh, “And then, when all three cornered us, Ray appeared from the overbrush and saved us…”

I was listening to her story with an open mouth, asking for more and more details. “How silly of me, I should have gone there personally. I didn’t know this jungle cam be so merciless! Not only I neglected the real danger threatening these two, but I even put the life of my subordinate in danger!” I felt regretful concerning my careless decisions. “It seems this jungle became even more dangerous over the last thousand years…”

“… and then, all his injuries started to heal by themselves rapidly! I didn’t see any magical glow. He had also removed the leftover manticore poison from my body, as well as side effects of Moonlight Flare. But it took much more time compared with some healing spells of unicorns.” Lily reported in great details. “Also, Sapphira told me that she was able to hit the manticore with her lightning spell only thanks to Ray, because he told her how the lightning works in natural conditions, more or less. Like he said, ‘without delving too much into the subject’, or something like that…”

“You did well, Lily, you really did, both in surviving and collecting information. Ray is a very interesting individual indeed, and from your words, I guess he has a decent character too. You can see the real face of someone in such dangerous situations. He was readily shielding you two from the other manticores with his own body, without any armor! You and Sapphira did very well defeating the last one!” I praised her, but I still felt I didn’t praise her enough! “But that’s incredible! Forget his magic being a bit slow, the unicorn magic cannot remove the side effects of Moonlight Flare at all! Else it would be used widely, instead of being strictly regulated and distributed only in the ranks of elite military units or Shadow Guard. Even I don’t know such a spell! And also, the knowledge about natural lightning? Just where did he learn about it?” This information left behind more question than it answered to.

“Thank you for your high assessment of my actions, your majesty!” Lily said humbly, performing another bow.

“Oh, Lily, perhaps I should promote you, so you stop bowing to me every single time?!” I laughed lightly. “But still, the award is due for you. I will arrange it later in Canterlot personally!”

“Thank you, Princess Luna!” Lily slightly smiled at my words. Her ears twitched a few times, and her wings spread slightly, a sign of her good mood and excitement.

“I also thought you deserve a good rest, what do you think? Want to go home, or visit any resort? All of your expenses are on me, so don’t be modest!” I asked, stretching my wings.

Lily started fidgeting on the sofa, seemingly uncomfortable at my proposition. “I… I have nothing but an empty house in Canterlot to return to, all my relatives moved to far away villages long ago. And I’m not comfortable to go to resort all alone…” she said hesitantly, her tail was slightly swinging nervously and her ears were lowered to the sides of her head.

“I can arrange for you to go with somepony from the Shadow Guard, if you want.” I tried to cheer her up, smiling at her.

“Sorry, Princess Luna, I’m not close to anyone from our department, we are just colleagues who work together occasionally. I would prefer to continue with my work, as always.” Her eyes were lowered towards the floor, not daring to look me in the eyes.

I have to do something about it, decisively!

“Then this will be your next mission: you won’t be returning back to the expedition after you reach the station, as we are almost finished here. You will be escorting Ray and Sapphira to Appleloosa, and you will accompany them after that, as a guide, and just to keep an eye on them so they won’t get into trouble. They are a peculiar pair, don’t you think? They might blend in while in Appleloosa, but anywhere else they are bound to attract excessive attention… and trouble! Do you like such an arrangement?” A sly smile was slowly widening on my face as I spoke.

Lily’s ears instantly perked up, along with her wings, when she heard my first words about staying with those two. She was definitely interested. Then, I was not mistaken about her. She has found herself new friends, and perhaps more than just friends. Time will tell!

“Yes! I agree!” Lily said quickly. Her tail twitched a few times.

“Then it’s decided! You can spend the funds provided to you freely. If need be, you can always come to the local department and request more bits.” I informed her, nodding my head. “Oh, yes, the task will not be hard for most of the time, I suppose, so treat it as a partial vacation and try to relax while you can. I need my agents to be well rested and in good condition when I need them! So, having a good rest is a part of your task!” I giggled; she won’t be able to wiggle out of this now.

Lily looked at me with a surprised expression on her face, scratching her head with her hoof, then stood up and struck her chest with it. “As you command, my Princess!” she said with a serious face.

That is too cute and hilarious! I tried not to laugh, but failed miserably, embarrassing Lily. “Ha-ha! Lily, that was a good one! Ha! Sorry, never seen my subordinates taking an order to go on a vacation with such seriousness and determination!” I covered my mouth with my hoof to cover my wide grin.

“Um… That’s… alright… I guess,” said Lily, drawing circles with her right hoof on the surface of the sofa, avoiding my gaze.

“Sorry, Lily, I’m not making fun of you.” I said mildly, putting my forehooves on a table. “Shall we invite Sapphira now?” I inquired, looking at her reaction.

“Oh! Of course!” She answered even without thinking.

“But before I do so, I wanted to ask you, what do you think about them, in more details? Sapphira is a changeling, and not like those from the former Chrysalis’ hive, but a genuine changeling who feeds off other’s emotions. And Ray is a… stallion of unknown species; let’s call him as such for now.” I looked at Lily with a pondering look, putting by elbow on a table and propping my head with my hoof.

“It may be inappropriate to say, but I won’t lie to you, Princess Luna. After that life and death fight against the manticores, I have more trust in them than in my colleagues from the Shadow Guard… or from the regular army, especially from the regular army.” She lowered her head and ears in shame. “I should not say such things about our soldiers…” She shook her head.

“All is fine, Lily. I can understand what you mean, and the things you said about the regular army are exactly the reason why Lunar Guard and Shadow Guard as well were created by me in the first place. The regular army is no longer the same it was a thousand years ago, and I can’t change everything in just a few years.

“But we digress here. So, you deem both of them trustworthy, right? Ha-ha! It was a long time since I was able to have such a talk with anyone, I hope you don’t mind the ramblings of an old mare about old times, he-he!” This situation amused me, Lily was always easy to talk to and often had funny reactions to my words, but nevertheless she was a smart mare for her age and rarely failed her assignments.

“W-what are you saying, your majesty? You… You are not old!” Lily was stammering with her speech, not accustomed to such an informal talk from my side.

“Oh yes I am, Lily, I am…” A bit of nostalgia traced my soul. “As well as my sister. But everypony’s soul is forever young, never forget about it!”

Lily just nodded silently, unsure what to say, and after a brief silence she finally spoke: “And concerning Ray and Sapphira… Yes, they are trustworthy. They were really nice to me, albeit I’m sure they think you have sent me to keep an eye of them, I’ve heard some of their conversations. We, thestrals have quite a sensitive hearing. But still, they don’t seem to mind it at all. About Sapphira being a changeling… she says it’s enough for her to be around Ray to never feel hunger for emotions. I don’t know how it works, but it seems to be true. Ray himself was never concerned about it even once, and honestly, Sapphira looks more like some exotic pony, rather than a monster, like we were always taught about changelings. Her temper is a bit… strange. She likes to make fun of me and she does the same to Ray too, occasionally, but she cares for me at the same time, while it was supposed to be me who must take care of them!” Lily was telling me this while looking up at the starry ceiling of my royal chambers. “But still, I’m useful as a tracker.” She nodded her head, seemingly assuring herself of that fact.

“And what about Ray?” I asked curiously.

Lily looked at me, her ears nervously twitched and then pressed to her head. She was unsure what to say.

“Alright, Lily, you don’t have to answer. I already guessed who it was in your dream.” I giggled, Lily’s wings fluttered and partially spread out behind her, seems I hit the mark! “Oh… my little Lily has finally grown up…” I just could not restrain myself from doing the same thing my sister likes to do with me, a wide smile on my face. But that’s also true, she is working for me for a few years already, and she was very young when we met for the first time.

Lily just lowered her gaze again, looking at the dark tiles of the floor.

“Alright, I’ll invite Sapphira now!” I said joyfully and lit up my horn in preparation.

The space of this dream waved and Sapphira appeared on the sofa beside Lily, sitting in place with closed eyes. Her mouth was open and her long, forked tongue of azure color was performing licking movements in the air. When she noticed the changes in her surroundings, her tongue darted back to its place and she nervously looked around, but, after noticing it was just me and Lily, she calmed down quickly. Lily was looking at her with great interest. “Yes, seems I did it again!” I thought and made a somewhat forced smile.

“Hello, Sapphira. Welcome to my dream and sorry to interrupt yours. Would you mind joining us?” I said kindly to her, remembering her last wary reaction to me.

“Oh, hi, Luna! I didn’t know you could do that!” She answered energetically, having already regained her composure, waving her hoof like she met an old friend, smiling naturally at me. “Glad to see you too! Thanks for sending Lily to help us. She was really of big help to us, such a nice young mare!” Sapphira smiled, looking at Lily.

This new reaction of Sapphira was really pleasant for me, and it was seen on my face. Lily wanted to say something about it, but after looking at me, she just waved her hoof and exhaled, then turned towards Sapphira.

“Not that much younger than you, Sapphira!” Lily retorted indignantly, crossing her hooves before her chest, shifting her body to vertical position. I’m sure she is grumpy about Sapphira’s familiarity towards me.

Ah, now I see what Lily meant by talking about Sapphira’s attitude. Funny! Not that much different from what I do with Lily regularly. I chuckled involuntarily.

“Lily already told me about the difficulties you all have encountered; I suppose everything is fine now? By the way, where is Ray?” I fixed my magical mane with my hoof, not that it had to be fixed, just old habits.

“Oh, Ray? He said he will stay on watch for the first part of the night. He should wake me later and we will swap,” said Sapphira while pondering. “I and Lily became very tired after the Moonlight Flare’s side effects were removed. But he still forced us to make a walk with him to get firewood. He refused to leave us alone there…” She said grumpily. Lily nodded her head in agreement.

“And he was right to do so, Lily.” I retorted to her grumbling. “And… for the first half of the night, you say? But the middle of the night has long passed already, girls. Now it’s around an hour till daybreak.” I said to them.

“What?” They both exclaimed together. Lily’s brow twitched and Sapphira had a wry smile on her face.

“That’s just Ray being himself, Lily,” Sapphira said jokingly. “He let us sleep while he still guards us, I’m sure.”

Lily just sighed. “If only other soldiers were like him!”

“You mean, stallions in general, Lily?” Sapphira asked in the same joking manner.

“Um… yes, many of them could learn a thing or two from Ray!” Lily said with a bit of hesitation.

“Anyhow, can you please wake us up after our meeting, Princess?” asked Sapphira. “We have some things to say to certain someone… And force him to sleep!” Her brows were slightly furrowed. Lily nodded her head, agreeing.

“Of course, my little… ponies… Sorry, Sapphira, just a habit. But, honestly, you can be considered a pony too. Changelings were once ponies, until some unfortunate event changed them.” I said, reminiscing what I knew about changelings as a race.

“Really? I didn’t know about that!” Sapphira said in surprise.

“Oh, yes, Sapphira, we have some pre-Equestrian era books in our special library, but the information about changelings is still very sparse, I could not find any more information on that.” I waved my hoof to show my helplessness in this matter. “But we digress again, what I wanted to say, what do you think if I send Lily on vacation with you and Ray? She refuses to go on vacation for more than two years now already, but she really needs one. She can be your guide and keep you out of trouble too. I know that may sound suspicious…”

“We agree!” Sapphira said loudly, interrupting me and unexpectedly hugged Lily. “What? Lily, you don’t like it?” she asked, softly talking in her ear. Lily was still a bit shocked by Sapphira’s reaction and had a dazed look on her face.

“Why? Of course… I like it!” Lily said and reciprocated the hug.

I saw a soft smile on Lily’s face. “It seems she had finally found real friends.” I thought to myself. Her solitary life was worrying me for some time already. “As for Ray, I’ll just meet with him in the town later, but that will be a surprise!” I smiled slyly thinking about it. “Ha-ha, Lily… When she was reporting to me, she did not miss even tiniest details, like a veteran officer, but when the things come down to personal affairs she becomes so shy and timid...” I shook my head with a smile. A little sigh escaped my lips as I remembered the time to sunrise was short.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have much time left, girls.” I drew their attention. “Sapphira, you should not be too worried about your identity as a changeling. At least not in Appleloosa, this town became a trade and logistic center in last two years. Goods started flowing in and out, going south by the rails and then to the eastern continent by the sea route. Many different folks live and work there now: minotaurs, griffons, even diamond dogs showed up lately. And if anything happens, you have Lily; she can get you out of trouble, if you wouldn’t do anything bad, naturally. As for Ray… he will probably draw less suspicion than a changeling would, but definitely more interest.”

“So, I should not be worried about being disguised all the time? That’s good! Ray too told me that I should not hide myself.” Sapphira said, visibly relieved by my words.

I took a good look at her again. “Umm… where did all those holes disappear to? She could be considered pretty overall, from a pony’s viewpoint, but the body of the changeling will still repulse some ponies from her. Well, that can’t be helped.”

“Oh, yes, I’ll provide some extra bits to Lily. Consider those my welcome gift to you and Ray. I know you two have almost no belongings on yourselves. It will help you to settle in initially.” Lily told me about their situation. They don’t have any bits at all. I can understand why Sapphira did not have any, but Ray’s situation puzzles me.

“Thank you, Princess. It will be of great help to us, but… why are you so kind to us?” Sapphira asked, bewildered by all the things I’ve done for them and by my personal interest too.

“Well…” I was spinning my hoof in the air before me, trying to put my thoughts into words. “I always try to help those in need. And besides, you two are interesting! Do you know how boring it is to sit all day in the palace, meeting various ambassadors and politicians who will be readily spouting meaningless words for hours just to get some preferential treatment from me! And I have my night duties too, you should know, right? In the end, I don’t have that much free time, like some think I do. And if anything, I prefer to spend my time interacting with unusual individuals like you, than conversing with those hypocritical aristocrats in Canterlot.” I said with a content smile.

“Yes, I despise those freeloaders. I would never allow those spoiled fools to have any authority during my old reign, but too much time had passed, even our old castle crumbled.” My voice gained that sharp sense to it, like when I was Nightmare Moon, scaring Lily a little, but I quickly changed it back. “Now, I don’t have too much desire to busy myself with government affairs. I’ve missed too much over that millennium. Sorry, just thinking out loud. Do I bother you with my rambling, Sapphira?” I asked, looking at Sapphira, but she was undisturbed. Yes, sometimes I envy changelings’ ability to read the mood.

“Not at all, Princess Luna, I understand.” Sapphira said.

“Luna, just Luna, have you already forgotten?” I laughed softly. “There are not much ponies aside from my sister whom I can complain to, you know… Our subjects won’t understand, my status is too high in their eyes to do so. Even Lily is still uncomfortable with it, after all those years working for me.” She looked at Lily who has made a somewhat ashamed face. “But you and Ray is a breath of fresh air for me.” I smiled at Sapphira. “Well, I hope he won’t change his attitude just because I’m a Princess.”

“He was nervous about it, yes, but I think he won’t, especially if you ask him to treat you the same as he did before.” Sapphira said, thoughtfully rubbing her chin.

“Too bad he is not here tonight! Well then, I wish you all a safe journey, the time to move the Moon draws near. Good bye!” I said as I spread my wings wide and lit up my horn.

After saying our goodbyes to each other, I dispelled our shared dream and woke them up, like they asked me.

Several hours before, early night.

PoV: Ray.

I was sitting before the burning campfire; flames were dancing in the mild wind. The girls were huddled together nearby, deep in sleep. My ears could occasionally catch small mumbling noises they sometimes made in their dreams. It’s not surprising, given what they had to go through today. My gaze landed on them from time to time. Alright, alright… it moved to the campfire from time to time, remaining mostly on these pretty mares. I could not help but feel affection towards them, and of course, my love for Sapphira. They both have their own charm and rather seductive curves to boot, capturing my gaze frequently.

A lot of thoughts were floating unhurriedly through my head, replacing each other, while my eyes were savoring the pleasant sight before me. This world… and how I got here. Out of all places I had managed to land in a local hellhole. Well, shit happens! I won’t blame Falda’ar for that. But if at least a small part of inhabitants of this world are as nice and kind as these pair of mares sleeping beside me… it should be a good place to live! The situation could be a lot worse than appearing in this dangerous jungle if it was some other world, and I understand it well when I think calmly about it.

I thought again about my reason to be here. My goals are too global and vague at the same time. But of course, how can I be of any use with my meager mastery and development of my ‘aspect’? This is exactly what Falda’ar was hinting at. Then… to get actual instructions I’ll have to contact him somehow first, and I don’t know any method of doing so. That means it’s hidden somewhere inside my memories. Falda’ar would not make such an obvious mistake, that’s a given. I won’t be able to do it until I’m sufficiently proficient with my ‘life essence’. Then regaining my memories will be my current task, next after the task of keeping ourselves alive, healthy and fed.

I have a hunch our struggle in this green hell is coming to an end. What should we do after reaching the town? I and Sapphira are penniless, and while Lily would likely want to provide some help for us, it would be bad to burden her too much. We should think of a way to earn some cash for a living. But without knowing the situation in the town it’s just useless to plan anything, we should think about our options after we get there and see everything for ourselves.

I have finally remembered that Luna wanted to visit us at night in our dreams. Well, nope, I’m not sleeping tonight. Sorry, Luna, but our tonight’s meeting is getting rescheduled. I just can’t let anything bad happen to the girls again, and they need a good sleep to get rid of all that stress. Perhaps, I can sleep for an hour or two after dawn, that should be enough to keep me going. If anything, I can expend some of my life energy to keep myself energized.

My state of mind was not bad, the harsh training I was put through by Falda’ar in that strange place paid back, and so I don’t feel too stressed by today’s battle. But my emotional swings are another matter altogether. Precisely speaking, it’s my anger. Yes, I may rage and shout at the situation occasionally to vent my frustration; it’s just a small matter. Going berserk during combat is what concerns me the most. First time it was in a fight with those hounds. Then… when I fought with the big manticore, everything got out of my hands. The cause is probably that I’m no longer alone. When those close to me are in danger, the rage kicks in. I managed to suppress it today, and I can’t even describe how much willpower I had to muster to do it. I don’t even know how to train myself to resist it. I sighed and started thinking about this problem.

Thinking about training, maybe having more precise control over my ‘life essence’ will do the trick? After all, this state is instigated by my power itself. While I still had a whole night I decided that a little training can be useful. I could not pay my full attention to it, as I still had to keep my senses on surroundings constantly. There was little use for my eyes now, the night sky was covered in clouds and the moon rays only occasionally pierced through this veil, and the campfire illuminated only limited space around our spot. I mainly relied on my hearing and my new sense for lifeforms. There was no way anyone could sneak up too close on us and stay unnoticed.

I was performing basic routines that I was taught: circulating my power inside my energy channels, concentrating it on certain points outside of my body, retracting it back without losses and stuff like that. Do unicorns feel the same when they channel their magic through their horn? I should ask Sapphira. This task required high concentration, and this could possibly help me with overcoming my emotional outbursts, along with improving control over my own power.

After spending over two hours or so on this activity, my mind finally started to feel tired. Not from power exhaustion, but from excessive concentration. A few weeks of sessions like this, and I will be able to project my energy with pinpoint accuracy!

My legs had started to feel numb from remaining in one pose for too long. So, after training my mind, a little physical training is due. I chose some exercises which were silent enough and began working up my body, some distance away from the sleeping girls. Of course, I could always rely on my power to improve my physical condition, but the efficiency will be the best when combined with common physical exercises. And more importantly, my real body was not as trained as the one I had in that sort of reality simulation Falda’ar created for me. It had to be trained properly. Its flexibility was lacking too, and muscle mass insufficient, but that’s only a matter of time. If my body was in a better condition, it would be a lot easier to fight those manticores, as my body was constantly lagging behind, or too inflexible, unable to execute the moves I wanted to make properly. That’s why I’ve got so many injuries, mainly.

The time was steadily going by as I was training while still paying attention to my surroundings. Years of mental discipline allowed me to avoid unnecessary thoughts and concentrate on the task at hand. I’m not sure how much time has passed already, but the Moon was already gone from the sky and a weak light could be seen from behind the trees from the east. I was doing pushups with one hand, alternating between left and right from time to time, while my heavy backpack was on my back. I was closing in to the limits of my natural endurance without the help of my energy.

It was at this moment I noticed I had spectators. Sapphira and Lily woke up and were sitting, looking at me with interest. I could not discern their mood; their faces looked like a mix of appreciation and desire to punish me for something. Well, I can guess what that ‘something’ is, so I’ve stopped my training routine.

“Morning, girls!” I said with an innocent smile through my heavy breathing. “Did you sleep well?”

“Don’t mess me about, love,” said Sapphira with discontent. “Why didn’t you wake me up as we agreed?” Her eyes were drilling me with their sharp gaze. In dim lighting, these fanged mares had large pupils, making their gaze so much more impressive. It was hard to defy this cuteness.

“Ummm… Because you two needed to sleep more than I did? Also, I was unable to put my guard down through the whole night. What if manticores had returned?” I said, scratching the back of my still bald head awkwardly.

“Is he always like that?” asked Lily, giggling.

“I guess so, always doing things his way, if he deems it’s better for me. It’s nice and all, but GRR!” she made an angry roar, accompanied by a small hissing noise, “I want to take care of him too!” she said with furrowed brows.

“I see!” Lily said in amusement.

“Ray! You’re going to sleep, now! And no bickering!” she pointed at the sleeping place with her hoof; her face conveyed a message she won’t accept ‘no’ for an answer.

“Alright, alright! Sorry for making you angry, but I really can manage with just minimal sleep, while you two definitely needed it.” I’ve put down the backpack and lied down of the palm leaves. “Ah, yes, Lily probably needs some more sleep. The poison, albeit removed, still inflicted some harm. Wake me up in two hours or so,” I said, yawned and closed my eyes.

Lily and Sapphira were having breakfast and talking about something. I could not discern their words as my mind was swaying on the edges of a dream. After some time I felt something warm and soft by my side, but I was already departing for the dreamland. My mind was finally became submerged in a dreamless sleep.

“Mmhhm…” I started to wake up because someone was shaking my shoulder.

“Ray, wake up! It’s time.” I heard Sapphira’s soft voice beside my ear. “You too, Lily!”

Ah… so it was Lily. She was lying beside me, hugging my hand with her forehooves, using it in place of a pillow.

“Wake up, sleepyhead!” I said quietly to her ear, stroking her heavy grey mane. I need to do something with my compulsive desire to stroke manes of ponies. What if they dislike such things? They are no pets.

Lily opened her eyes and wanted to say something, but noticed she was sleeping on my hand, the words she wanted to say got stuck in her throat. She coughed lightly and got up.

“Sorry, was I inconveniencing you?” she asked coyly.

“Not at all, Lily, it’s actually the opposite. It’s always nice when such a soft and warm mare sleeping by your side.” I looked at Sapphira’s reaction through the corner of my eye. While it was indeed flirting, the words I said were nothing, but truth. Sapphira smiled slyly, well, now she’ll say something for sure.

“So, am I not soft enough for you, Ray?” she asked, enjoying my awkward reaction.

Whatever I would answer now, she had already won this word battle.

“Ahem… Of course you are, but do you really need to ask such awkward questions?” An apologetic smile adorned my face.

“Of course I need to ask such questions, lest you’ll really let yourself go when we arrive in town. I don’t want you going for every pretty mare you’ll take a liking to!” she laughed heartily. “But I don’t mind if it’s Lily!”

At this moment my brain made a short circuit:

…

… …

… … … “What?”

“I say, I don’t mind if it’s Lily!” Sapphira repeated it with a nonchalant look.

I moved my gaze to Lily; she was deliberately looking away, digging at the ground with the tip of her hoof. “I need to pack my bags!” She made a hasty retreat.

“I’m missing something here, definitely.” I thought and scratched my head. “It must be that specific pony mentality. Herds, was it? Did they become this close while I was not paying much attention?”

“Ray, come on! Stop breaking your head over it! I just like her, and she likes us in turn. Don’t forget who I am!” She said as she was walking to me. She bumped me with her rump as she passed me by and slapped my side with her tail. When she turned back to me I saw she was smiling mischievously.

I bent down and gave her a light kiss on the lips. “Sometimes, I just think too much. But Lily… She will leave us as soon as we get on train, right? We might never see her again, considering her specific job. We should not play with her feelings if it’s the case, lest we’ll just hurt her.” I said seriously.

“Don’t worry about that. Lily is staying with us, and it’s unlikely she will be going anywhere. Princess Luna gave her permission to remain with us. You know… she did not take any vacations for two years and now Luna is forcing her to have some rest from her job… along with us, as Lily would refuse any other way to do it. This may sound strange, but there was no scheming in Luna’s words, so her intentions towards us are good, you don’t have to be concerned about it. But she is definitely keeping an eye on us, for some reason, and I guess the reason is you.” Sapphira nodded her head, accentuating her conjecture.

“Hmmm…” I crossed my hands at my chest, lowered my head in thought and started slowly rubbing my forehead with a fist. I spent some time in silence, analyzing the situation. “You know, I always suspected we would be put under some sort of surveillance. But this… way of surveillance… is just too cute! Lily? Seriously? She is probably the cutest being in this whole jungle!” I laughed. “I’ll agree to it any time!”

“See? Nothing bad would happen! And I really like Lily. She is my first friend I’ve made after being freed from my hive… What? You don’t count! You are my stallion!” she laughed again. “Let’s go, we need to pack up too!” she said and started fiddling with her bags and food.

“Women…” I grumbled.

“What?” Sapphira asked.

“No, nothing, you girls have already decided everything without me.” I chuckled. Of course there is no word ‘women’ in Equestrian, should I use ‘mares’ instead?

“Blame yourself for not sleeping tonight!” Sapphira answered casually. “And have a breakfast while I still haven’t packed our food.”

We have moved out after half an hour. The terrain became a constant slope, going upwards. The jungle was slowly transforming into a sparse deciduous forest as we travelled further. Our travel was uneventful, the wildlife became smaller in size and we could not see any big predators along the way. The temperature dropped considerably and constant cold winds were blowing over the treetops.

After a few more hours of our travel we reached the point where the forest could no longer be called a forest. Sparse single trees and groups of them were growing here and there. In the distance, the soil was dry and infertile, with a lot of stone sand and dust, and the whole terrain was reminiscent of desolate steppes.

There, we’ve made a small stop to rest and have a meal, while we still could have a shelter from the winds. From our vantage point we could already see the edges of this plateau. Low mountains separated it from the plains and forests on the other side. But these mountains were low only from our side, on the other side it will be a long and treacherous descent for me. I hope I won’t tear my last shirt there…

“We should probably go to that point between two mountains; there will be a greater chance to find an easier way to descend.” I pointed to a certain place.

“Perhaps, I don’t know this place and the maps are not that accurate. Finding an easy way for you to descend will depend on our luck,” said Lily, looking into the distance.

I looked around the landscape one more time. “The changes are so abrupt, in the morning we were still in a hot jungle, and now we are traversing a windy, desolate place…”

“What’s so strange about it? Isn’t it natural?” Lily asked, not thinking too much about it.

“Huh… perhaps it is?” I answered uncertainly. “Well, this is no Earth, I should not rely too much on my knowledge from there.”

Sapphira was still munching on some fruit and kept silent.

“Alright, we must head out as soon as Sapphira finishes her meal. We still have a long way ahead.” Lily was concerned we might not be able to arrive to the station before nightfall.

“I’m ready!” Sapphira quickly gobbled the rest of the fruit and got up.

And here we are! A magnificent sight opens up when you look from the edge of the plateau on the endless lands below, covered by mixed forests and rarely interspersed by green grasslands. Tall mountain peaks could be seen on a horizon if you look attentively, almost invisible behind the hazy veil of the atmosphere. The cloudy weather we had in the morning changed for a sunny day, alleviating the chill of the constant winds.

“Beautiful!” said Lily in awe. “The scenery when looking from the sky is good too, but when you look down while standing atop of a mountain, it is completely different sensations!”

“Indeed, Lily. Mountains are beautiful, but dangerous,” I looked at her wings and chuckled, “if you don’t’ have wings. Alright, we should start looking for a path to descend; the time is already closing in to the evening. There is no way I can climb down this steep cliff.”

“Good, I’ll check the northern side!” Said Lily and took to the skies, not wasting any time.

“Then I’ll go looking south. Ray, don’t go anywhere.” She flew away in another direction with a low-pitched buzzing noise. Her fluttering transparent wings glistened in the sun rays. Her flight speed increased considerably after the holes on her wings disappeared, but Lily was still faster.

Having nothing to do, I found myself a big flat boulder to sit on. I was looking into the distance with new hopes. We are finally out of that goddamn place! Looking more attentively I could see the railroad in the distance, going through one of the few areas with meadows. I wouldn’t have noticed it if not for the smoke of the steam engine. Straining my eyes I tried to have a better look at it. The locomotive didn’t look too advanced, according to my sparse knowledge of, but a train is still a train, even if it’s slow! The train was a passenger one and its cars looked a bit short to me and somewhat few in numbers. Well, maybe it just can’t pull more weight when going up the slope. The road itself was single-track, speaking volumes of the level of its development.

In about twenty minutes, Sapphira returned.

“It’s no use searching south; the cliffs there are even higher than here, maybe Lily will have some luck,” Sapphira said and got atop the boulder to sit beside me. She leaned her body against me.

“Well, even if we can’t find a suitable path quickly, it means that we will spend only one extra day searching for it. I’m sure it’s not that difficult to find one.” I hugged her with one hand. Sapphira pressed her cheek to my chest, greedily inhaling my scent. My other hand waved through her mane, shimmering in blue colors. She closed her eyes in pleasure.

“Sapphira, I have one peculiar question…” I decided to ask her about one touchy subject.

“Hmm? Ask away!” she smiled at me with half-closed eyes.

“How should I put it? Do ponies… like to be stroked? The mane, or in other places? I was not sure about Lily’s reaction to my… spontaneous actions.” I smiled wryly after asking that weird question.

Sapphira giggled, raised her eyes to me and said in a sensual voice: “Oh, Ray, I will show you all the right places where you should stroke a mare! Later…” She continued giggling while stroking my chest with her hoof, enjoying my awkward situation.

“Oh, that came out wrong!” I thought, but it was too late to correct myself. Sapphira, on the other hand, was in a playful mood.

“Well, Ray, I’ll tell you ponies are herd creatures and we, changelings, are swarm creatures. Perhaps, we are not that much different actually in this part, but the local peculiarities of hives can be different, of course, like mine was. Ponies usually have a lot of close contacts. It’s natural for friends to have a lot of skinship between them, but please refrain from touching ponies you don’t know well, and don’t do it too much in public too, so those around won’t get some wrong ideas. If you were wondering about Lily… She actually likes it, a lot! This little mare can’t deceive me!” Sapphira laughed lightly.

“I see…” I said and thought about it all for a moment, but Sapphira was not finished with her answer.

“And your hands, Ray… Compared to all those sharp claws other bipeds have, or coarse hands of minotaurs, your hands are just heavenly! The hoof can never be so… gentle and nimble.” She raised her head from my chest, noticing how I was looking at the swaying sharp tip of her horn. “It won’t be too much of an exaggeration to say that any mare would melt under your hands, if she likes you.”

Her tongue slipped out of her mouth and she traced my neck with it, eventually reaching my lips, capturing them in a sensual deep kiss. We closed our eyes, enjoying ourselves, sitting at the edge of the world. Strong wind made Sapphira’s mane fly in waves behind her, creating mesmerizing sight.

When we snapped back from our entranced state, we discovered Lily standing beside the boulder with the look full of delight. Seems she have enjoyed our little show! And no, I won’t be embarrassed by my relationship with Sapphira!

“G… good news!” She stuttered a bit, but tried not to show her agitation. “I’ve found a little valley with a mountain stream farther in the northern direction. I think Ray can descend there without much trouble!” Lily said energetically, she was in a good mood. I’m not sure if it was because of her finding the path or watching our little performance.

“Great, Lily! Let’s go right away!” I said, putting on my backpack.

“Let’s go! Maybe we’ll be able to make it to the supply station before dark. It’ll be much better than spending another night in the wilderness!” said Sapphira with relief. “Ray, help me with the saddlebags!”

Now I’m walking down the narrow and steep valley. It took me some serious efforts to climb down from the top of the cliffs. The girls took away my backpack and dropped it off below, so it won’t constrain my movements. I’ve spent almost an hour on that endeavor and was finally able to reach the ground below. The stream was gushing out from the cracks in the mountains and it was a good opportunity to replenish our water supplies.

The terrain around is starting to get green again, which is pleasant to the eyes. At the end of the valley there is a mixed forest. We’ll have to go through that forest, but it will be hard to miss the railroad anyway, if we just keep going west, or rather, north-west, it will save us some time. Lily and Sapphira preferred flying above ground to walking through the rugged terrain of the valley, while I was carefully going down. The further I was going, the less rocky the ground became, slowly changing to soft soil with grass on it.

Eventually, I could relax without the fear of tripping or sliding down, my travel transformed to a comfortable hike. When we exited the valley, the trees were already growing around us in abundance. We turned to north-west and entered this mixed forest. It could not be compared to the dense jungle, it was comparatively easy to navigate, and we didn’t see any danger around.

“Are there any dangerous beasts living in these forests?” I asked Lily.

“The bears may be the most dangerous ones, but they are rare, and usually not as dangerous as manticores. Also, timber wolves.” Lily answered after a little pondering.

“Those… magical creatures made of wood?” I raised my brow.

“Yes! Usually they leave you alone if you leave their territory. And they are not that sturdy as manticores. The magic which holds their bodies together is not that strong, but still, they can inflict serious wounds.” Lily said, flying backwards steadily in front of me, slowly flapping her wings. I can’t stop admiring their ability to control their flight with their magic. Mild gusts of wind, created by the magic flow of her wings blew softly against my body.

“Sapphira, can you pull out my axe from the backpack? Just in case.” I thought that my spear will not be useful at all against those wolves should we meet one.

I stopped and waited for Sapphira to finish fiddling with my backpack. After some time the axe had flew from behind and stopped before me, surrounded by the dark blue magic aura. I took it in my hand and we proceeded to our destination.

After half an hour Lily had stopped us.

“Quiet!” Lily said in half-whisper. Her ears perked up and started rotating in different directions.

“What’s the matter?” Sapphira asked in a whisper.

“Something is rushing through the forest ahead.” Lily said and her ears had finally picked up a direction the noise was coming from, she started listening attentively. Sapphira did the same. I was just waiting silently, preparing for a battle. After some time I too, started hearing the sounds of snapping branches ahead of us.

This forest was not that dense and soon we saw a silhouette in the distance, flashing between the trees. As if sensed something, the creature had stopped, and now I had a chance to take a better view of it. It resembled a wolf to some extent, but was made, yes, exactly made, of tree branches, broken logs and foliage. The creature slowly turned its head in our direction, its glowing yellow eyes flashed under the dim lighting. It was a genuine timber wolf; its size was considerably larger than that of regular wolves from Earth. The wolf produced a dry semblance of a howl and rushed in our direction madly.

“Get in the air! Try to stall it!” I shouted.

“Sorry, Ray, I don’t have anything on me what can be useful against timber wolves! I usually just fly away!” Lily replied in a panic.

“No matter, just stay safe!” We should pull it off together with Sapphira then. I shifted my grip to a more optimal one. I still remember my lessons of using axes, I took a stance which would allow me to move around more quickly and dodge the attacks. “Come on, get into the air already!”

“From the left, Ray!” Sapphira shouted from above in a panicked voice.

I heard rustling noises from the bushes to the left. In a split second another timber wolf jumped out of the brushwood a few meters away from me and charged to attack Lily, who was still on the ground. I turned towards the wolf, getting ready to repel its attack.

“Son of a! Grrra!” The axe hit the wolf to the side of its head in a large swing with a loud sound of scattering branches and wood chunks. “Fuck! Why didn’t I sense it?”

The wolf’s body was in midair when it was pouncing on Lily, so, after getting a heavy hit, its body had abruptly changed its course and landed heavily on the ground to the side.

“Another one on the right!” Sapphira shouted again.

Lily was already in the air, avoiding possible new attacks. She didn’t have anything on her, but her own hooves to fight them.

Sapphira lit up her horn brightly. Now it resembled a burning blue torch, electric discharges could be seen inside the magical flame. She closed in to the wolf from above and threw her lightning at its head from a close distance. The wolf’s head shattered and some places of its body caught fire. The wolf quickly disintegrated into its basic components: branches, chunks of wood and leaves. A large smoking pile of wooden garbage is all what was left of it.

I looked around at the other wolves, the first one who was diverting our attention was already close to us, and another one, which got hit by me, started to get up, it was missing some parts in a place of my hit, but overall, it did not sustain serious damage.

At this moment I heard Lily’s shout as she dropped from above on top of its head like a hammer with all four hooves, pinning the timber wolf to the ground again. Its wooden skull did not survive the heavy hit and shattered. Then, like the other wolf, its whole body lost its magic and fell apart.

“Serves you right!” shouted Lily in an angry voice and flied back into the air.

“Nice moves, Lily, Sapphira!” I praised them for their quick wit in this combat.

“Careful, the last one!” said Lily quickly, pointing with her hoof.

I turned back to our last adversary.

The wolf just continued to stupidly rush forward without any clever maneuvers. Well, all the easier for us! I prepared to intercept the wolf with a strong hit to its head or forelegs. It was already close to me, but he was looking at Lily in the air behind me, not bothered by my presence in the least. Lily flew to the side and the wolf started to follow her, as if locked onto his target. I did not allow it to ignore me, and with a wide swing, putting maximum weight into the strike, I smashed my axe into its head. Splinters, snapped branches and dust flew in all directions. The wolf had lost its balance and fallen to its side, sliding on the ground to a full stop. It didn’t try to dodge and ignored my presence completely. The wolf was made from some literal trash. I spat the dust from my mouth.

“Rotten wood and dried up mud, seriously?” I shouted in annoyance. Now half of my body was covered in dust. This wolf had long exceeded its service life.

Nevertheless, the wolf started to get up slowly. It did not sustain too much damage and just lost a substantial amount of rotten wood on its head. At this moment I sensed some strange waves of energy coming from the wolf’s wooden body. I slowly walked closer to the wolf, which again ignored me and was tracking Lily and Sapphira with its gaze. There was no way for the wolf to catch them in the air. “There is no mistake; this is life energy of plant type. But this wolf is no living creature itself! If so, I can try to take it for myself and convert to my own ‘life essence’ without any consequences!”

“Sapphira, can you hold it in place with you magic grip?” I shouted without turning my head from the wolf. “One interesting idea popped up in my head!”

“I can try, but not for long! Be quick if you want to do something! I’ve already expended my magic power on the lightning spell!” she shouted back.

The wolf started slowly walking towards Sapphira, who flew closer, albeit it was a useless action as she was in the air. After it closed in to me, it tried to walk around me like I was some kind of inanimate object. This wolf does not see me as a target for its aggression, but it can definitely see me, as it tries to avoid bumping into me.

“Now!” I gave Sapphira my signal. Dark sapphire aura surrounded the wolf and its movements slowed down to a halt. I did not tarry and quickly grabbed it by its withers with both hands, pressing it to the ground with my weight. My hands flashed in green light and energy wisps of the same green color started to leave wolf’s body, swirling around my hands and seeping inside after some time. The wolf tried to struggle, but soon, it became too weak and didn’t move, even when Sapphira’s magic disappeared. After half a minute I’ve absorbed the last bits of the energy of this strange magical golem. What was a timber wolf not long ago was now a pile of rotten wood, branches and leaves, and I felt energized like I just drank a liter of strong coffee.

“Ha-ha-ha! Not bad! Not bad at all!” I laughed and turned towards the girls. They had puzzled faces.

“How did you do it?” asked Lily in bewilderment. “And why it did not attack you?”

“I’m not sure why it ignored me, but all I did is taking its magic away. These wolves were not living beings, and had some magic within, which powers them. Take away the magic and all what will be left is an assortment of logs and branches!” I said what I did exactly, just didn’t mention how.

“This can be important news, but unicorns from the academy most likely already know this fact.” Lily said thoughtfully, hovering in the air. Her mane and her impressive tail were waving in the gusts of wind created by her wings. “Alright, let’s move! It will be bad if other timber wolves are coming here, attracted by the howls of their kin.”

“Damn! Just who made those wooden things? And why?” I said grumpily as we started to leave the scene of our short battle. The fact we were almost ambushed by some stupid wooden golems did not sit well with me.

“Nopony knows! Some say they are created by magic spontaneously, deep in forests, and they are guardians of those forests.” Lily scratched her head with a hoof, flying along me. “But it sounds like a fairy tale to me!”

“I agree!” Sapphira decided to express her opinion too. “The whole matter with those wolves is strange.” Her hooves softly touched the ground and she started walking beside me.

“I’ll scout ahead!” said Lily and flew up above the trees.

Sapphira slapped my butt with her tail, attracting my attention, before saying: “She is quite energetic, isn’t she? Did you see how decisively she tried to protect you from that wolf who was getting up after you’ve knocked it down, with just her bare hooves at that?” Sapphira looked me in the eyes attentively, smiling.

“Are you sure she was trying to protect me? That looked like a regular battle move to me…” I scratched my head.

“I’m sure Ray; do you know how much it hurts? Our hooves can become very hard, of course, but those wolves were made of logs! And she rammed into that wolf with such speed! She wouldn’t do such a thing just to damage it.” Sapphira’s ears lowered to the sides and her brows furrowed. “You should check her hooves later. You can help her… right?” - Sapphira made a pleading look, - “She won’t tell us if she is hurt. She is trying to seem strong to us…”

“You don’t even need to ask me. Of course I’ll do what I can, as always!” I said reassuringly, patting Sapphira on her back lightly.

At this moment we saw Lily returning. She stopped in the air above us without landing.

“Come on, everypony! There are an area with meadows ahead, and I think we’re close to the railroad, I’ve heard a train whistle, if I’m not mistaken! And timber wolves never come out of the forests, so we can have a rest there!” She turned around and led us forward.

“Ha-ha, ‘everypony’, she usually says, what a funny word! I’ve never heard this term from you, Sapphira!” I said jokingly.

“Naturally! Why would I use it? I’m not a pony!” Sapphira said with a smug smile.

While having a small talk with Sapphira, we followed Lily’s lead and soon exited the shade of the forest into the sunny meadow. After walking a safe distance from the edges of the forest we decided to make a stop.

“Lily, come here!” shouted Sapphira, flattening the tall grass around her to take a seat.

Lily descended from the sky and landed before me, but suddenly her right front hoof gave way and she stumbled, her body started falling forward.

“Ah!” Lily exclaimed in pain.

I was fast enough to catch her before she fell headfirst. She steadied herself, standing on three legs. She could not stand on her right forehoof.

PoV: Night Lily.

I almost fell down, but luckily Ray caught me.

“Thanks, Ray! I’m afraid… I won’t be able to walk for some time.” I said sadly. The joint of my hoof got worse gradually after I smashed the head of that wolf.

“We’ll see about that!” he said as he sat before me on the grass. “Sit and let me look at your hoof.” He said with concern in his voice.

I did as he asked and started observing his actions. He gently took my hoof in his left hand. His fingers touched my soft pads under my hoof. I smiled involuntarily, despite the nagging pain in my hoof. I raised my eyes to look at him, and I saw it! “Aha! So the last time it was not just my imagination!” I thought as I saw his eyes glowing faintly with saturated green light. His gaze traced different parts of my hoof, spending the most time on my aching and already swelling joint. He nodded his head and observed the rest of my body quickly. His eyes lost their unnatural and mysterious appearance after that.

Ray snapped his fingers with his right hand, which became instantly surrounded by the faint yellow aura and then his hand lightly touched my hoof from above. The sensation of moving cool waves, coming from his fingers, quickly numbed the pain and sense of uncomfortable heat in my joint. I looked up at him again, he had a serious face with slightly furrowed brows, and it was easy to see he was concentrating on the task at hand earnestly. The treatment was finished in a while. Ray released my hoof and I tried to move it in various ways and everything felt right, I could even stand on it!

“Thank you, Ray!” I said to him joyfully, and following a sudden impulse I raised my forehooves and hugged him, while he was still sitting before me. I rubbed my cheek against his. This time, I didn’t think it was strange or inappropriate for some reason. Ray reciprocated my hug and slowly stroked my mane. I closed my eyes in pleasure and accidentally made the smallest of whinnies through my closed mouth.

“As if I’d let my little Lily to suffer!” Ray laughed lightly and continued to stroke my mane.

And now I was starting to feel a little embarrassed, so I just pressed my head to his body, unwilling to meet his eyes. “He-hee! I need to do this more often!” I thought to myself.

“Oh just kiss him already, Lily!” Sapphira said suddenly, giggling.

My eyes opened and I looked at her askance. “Are you making fun of me again, Sapphi?” I asked her with a scheming look. “Then look!” I raised my head, puckered my lips and kissed Ray on the cheek with gusto, making a loud smacking sound. Ray had a bewildered, but very content look on his face. Despite my burning cheeks I felt very satisfied with my behavior. “It must be Sapphira’s influence on me, but I’m tired of being shy all my life! Especially after I’ve observed Sapphira’s interactions with Ray for the last two days! Was I envious of her free disposition? Perhaps I was!” I stepped away from Ray and looked at Sapphira, smiling. “Satisfied?” I said smugly.

“Of course I am!” Sapphira walked up to me with a grin and then suddenly smooched me on a cheek. “Huh?” My eyes widened as I wasn’t expecting it from her.

“See? You don’t have to restrain yourself if you like somebody! You will only suffer if you do!” Sapphira rubbed her head against mine and sat down beside me.

I was feeling almost as awkward as I used to feel before, but this time I was fighting stubbornly against this feeling, and I had trouble answering something sensible. “U… Uh-huh.” It was all I managed to say. “Sorry… you know I’m bad at such things…” I said quietly.

“No, no, no! You must not be sorry at all! You’ll get used to it, so relax, we are all friends here, right?” said Sapphira kindly.

“Right, we are friends!” My mind began to calm down finally.

Ray nodded his head in agreement. “Alright girls, I’m glad we’ve made it through without getting any serious injuries this time! So let’s have a snack and find that station! Cheer up! I’m sure our journey is almost complete.” Ray noticed I was feeling uncomfortable and changed the topic.

I can see he does that often when Sapphira takes it a bit too far. I like that he is concerned about my feelings. I’ll take it slower; it’s too much for me to do it so straightforwardly, like Sapphira does.

And so, we’ve started to prepare our short dinner with a hope of reaching our destination before the night falls.