Part of you is ready to step forward on your own. Another, almost equal size, wants Nick to not be kicked out just yet. But how to keep him? Making a big fuss would probably get you fired before you even started, so not that...

"Nick and I share a taste in horses."

Both Nick and Harold gaze at you with some confusion. Bright isn't nearly as shocked. "They're both ponies!" He really isn't good at secrets.

Harold gave a soft noise of consideration. "Close that door." He pointed to the one we had come in through.

Nick swats it, but it's already closed. "Yeah?"

"All the way." Harold makes a twisting motion.

Nick gets the idea and clicks the deadbolt into position. "Making me a little nervous."

"You shouldn't be." Harold's got a kind sort of smile. "Sorry for raising such a fuss. You're obviously very important to her, and she is a bit nervous. Who wouldn't be, first day and all?"

Nick relaxes a little. "I'll stay out of the way."

"You'll have a candy." He offers one, a bright yellow thing in a wrapper. "On the house, for making such a fuss."

He doesn't see a reason to decline the little candy, reaching to take it. "Thanks, I'll--" He doesn't finish that. As soon as he's taken hold of the candy, he starts. "Woah..." He drops the candy, but Harold catches it. "Is that?"

"Hi!" Bright gets right up in his face. "I've waited so long to talk to you. How ya doing?"

Nick puts a foot back, but doesn't try to run. The dragon in front of him is both adorable and a little terrifying. They are a reptile with all the marks of it, but chipper and clearly happy to see him. "What just happened?"

Harold gently brushes Bright aside. "Just a little gift. Now, the plan hadn't been to bring her into the back so quickly... but situations change. I don't mean to be rude, but I do have to insist."

Had you made the wrong decision? "I'm here to help. Where do I start?"

"I love that attitude." He taps you on the arm. "Love it. But we need to get to know you first. This way." He heads towards the backdoor, what would lead into a stock room, you're guessing.

You take Nick's hand. He's busy looking a little lost. "Uh, is... your friend coming?" He's looking at Bright.

Bright waves. "I'm always here." He points at you. "I am her dragon and all."

"'Course, makes total sense..." He walks with you, that riddle put in place.

"Now, first lesson." He taps at the door. "This door only opens for long enough for someone to walk through it. No dallying! Very firm rule." He opens the door and slips through, it closing behind him.

In for a penny... You open the door and pull Nick along. You're standing in a fancy hallway, like the sort you'd expect from a castle more than the back of a candy shop. Still, instructions! You reach back to cl--Oh, Bright's slipping in as quick as he can. You shut the door as soon as he's clear, and the door from that side is far fancier, gilded, and everything.

"This is nuts," whispers Nick. "Glad I came with you." Aw, he still wants to defend you even against the step onto another planet.

"I don't think it's nuts." You gently pat Bright as you press further inside. "I think it's not what we're used to."

"Pardon me." A lady emerges from a side room, looking at you all. "Are you supposed to be here?" She was no ordinary lady, with elven like pointed ears and an air of magic about her. Which is odd, since you wouldn't have been able to say what an 'air of magic' was until you saw her.

You point in the direction you think Harold went. "I'm on my first day. Sorry for bothering."

She looks you over with an intensity, then gives Nick a turn. "I see." She points at you, then curls the finger downwards. "Down."

What? "What?" Nick says out loud, echoing your thoughts.

"A couple of horses wander in as if they own the place, lying while they do it?" She folds her arms, an air of annoyance growing. "I will not stand for it. Are you a mated pair? Obscene. Down."

Um. Mated's not the word you would have reached for... but she wasn't entirely wrong? You nudge aganist Nick and drop to all fours, becoming a unicorn dressed for work.

Nick sighs softly. "This is the strangest first day of work I ever saw." But he clops down next to you, a casually dressed earth pony. "Better?"

She points past Nick and you. "Leaving ceased to be an option."

You glance back there and see a stark absence of the door you had come in through. "They hired me to help with the shop," you quickly blurt out. "We're not here to cause any trouble."

Her hands go to her hips. "Silly thing. If I thought you intended that, we wouldn't be having this conversation." She closes with you, fingers curled. "Do you bite?"

You flush at that question. "I'm a person, so no, I don't bite."

Having determined that it was safe, she casually places a hand on your head and pets you in soft long strokes of her fingers, palm stationary. "Is the dragon one of yours?"

Bright had been entirely silent, watching the interaction. "I'm hers." Still bad at secrets, he points at you without a bone of subtlety in his body.

"Ma'am!" Harold comes rushing from further in, looking quite abashed. "I'm sorry for the disturbance. She's--"

"Introduced herself." She taps you on the forehead, an easy task with how close her fingers already were. "But I didn't catch her name."

So far, every changeling you met has been a little dodgy about their name. Maybe it was just how they did things? "Some call me Sally." Nick give you a look, knowing that's not your name. Still, you said it.

"Sally, that's a nice name." She takes hold of your horn. "Now, Harold wouldn't invite you back here without a reason. A good one." Her grip tightens. Turns out, that actually hurts a little. "This isn't the place for store employees to be wandering."

Harold looks like he wants to get involved, but doesn't, working his fingers on each other nervously.

Nick, on the other hoof, isn't having it. "Let her go," he demands, stomping towards her.

She shoves you back by the horn, making you step awkwardly. Horses are better at forwards then backwards. "Harold, which of these caught your eyes so intently you'd do such a thing? Be honest."

"As if I'd be anything else, um, ma'am." He dipped his top towards her in a proper bow. "She is aware without any help, and walks with a chimera she is aware of."

"Hi," added Bright, doing his best to be involved. "She's also really nice. So is he. They're best buddies!"

"I see." She considered the dragon. "You seem to be a source of unvarnished truths."

"I don't know what that is," he admitted. "But if I can help!"

"I think you can." She raised a finger under his chin, scratching gently to his clear purring delight. "She is a pony. Are you aware of what that is?"

"A pony is that." He points at you and Nick. "They have hooves, sometimes, and tails, sometimes."

"More than that... You describe them like one of the wolves... Prodigals, hm, but not that." She's tapping one arm with the other hand, considering you and Nick.

"Ma'am." The elf looks to Harold sternly. "Sorry. Tim's the one that scouted her. Said she was glowing and walking right into a pit."

"Oh dear..." She's shaking her head at you like someone pitying a lost child. "And that one?" She extends a finger at Nick.

"We're a 'mated pair,'" he scoffs out, snorting in an equine way with a lash of his tail with clear agitation.

"And a pony, clearly." Harold looked over Nick curiously. "Not a unicorn."

"I can see that," spits the woman with a bit of acid. "It's not exactly subtle." She sneers down at you. "Look at you, shaking. Are you sure you want to be here?"

"Ma'am?" But she's ignoring him, at least for the moment.

That question was aimed at you. You're behind Nick, but her keen glare is impossible to not feel. That question's for you. "If we're being completely honest?" She nods, just barely. "This seems like another part of myself I can't ignore." You smile at Bright. "I had a friend waiting my entire life for me to notice them with infinite patience."

"It was worth the wait," assures Bright, clapping like an eager child.

"And," you press right on. "It came with another big upheavel in things. Right now, I just want to help a person, maybe two. They need the help, and deserve it, but I don't know how to get them what they need."

With your vision in the dream world, you can see it, a glimmering from the corner of your eye. When you peek at it, you see your rump glowing, also revealing a sigil that hadn't been visible before of a stencil outline of a heart with two hands trying to meet in the center. The more you focused on it, the dimmer it got, blinking out of sight.

"Hm." She stands tall and straight. "Glowing. Delicious morsel, you know horses are one of many things people have devoured over the years."

Nick growls at her, hoofing at the ground just in front of him. "You are really testing my patience."

"No, I'm testing hers." She brushes him aside without touching, as if dismissing him.

Right, no pressure. "You know about ponies then?"

"Quite a bit." She folds her hands in front of herself, arms at her side. "More than either of you, judging. A sad state if we're being honest."

"I know a lot about ponies," grumps Nick, but he's still being ingnored.

Bright is busy singing a quiet song about twitchy tails and flappy ears, enjoying what little he knows of ponies.

"Then what was that?" You direct a hoof at where the symbol had been.

"Oh... Asking favors before you even begin working." She flips Nick's nose, his is so much closer. "Cheeky. You have to earn such things." Nick tries to bite her, but her hand is already removed. "And the promise of not biting doesn't extend to your partner, noted..."

You nudge past Nick, pushing him to the side. "Don't be rude, even if she's being that a bit."

"Only a bit?" She looks more amused than angry. "I must be losing my touch. Harold, I want her working in the back."

Harold perks at that. "Ma'am? She's not--"

"--I know what I said. See that it's done," she flatly ended that thought.

"Yes, ma'am. This way." He waves you and your crew on past the bossy elf. "This changes things. She's the viscountess... Very important." He worked his hands together as he leads you on into a large opulant entry room. "You'll see her pictures everywhere." He wasn't lying, portarits of her and people like her adorned many of the walls. "If she says you work in the back... then you do. I apologize if you were looking forward to working with the sweets."

You did have some hope for the candy, but it was a small one. "So, what will I be doing instead?"

"An excellent question," grumbled Harold. "This wasn't the plan. Still, let me introduce you to the others you'll be working alongside. If you do your job well and are polite to them, we shouldn't have any problems." He glanced back at Nick. "She didn't order you to leave, and she would if she wanted it, so you can stay."

Author's Note

Changelings have intricate societies. Behold it!

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