You walk along with Harold, eyes darting from one thing to the next. There was so much to see, and you want to see it all! Oh, there was Steve, in all his horsey glory. He's leaning against a wall and whistling to himself. "Hey." You wave at him, shaking a hoof in his direction.

"Pony!" He pushes off the wall and hurries over to, wait. "Ponies! Even better." He drops down to a knee and casually begins petting both ponies he can see. "So cute. But should they be back here?"

"Her orders," sighs out Harold, who seems otherwise unbothered by Steve's antics. "Ah, right, you met her already, right?"

"Sure did, but shoulda guessed that horses love going in herds." He scratches you around an ear and gosh darn it, it's a good scratching. Maybe he learned from having one himself? "What do they call your little boy friend? Or is that boyfriend? Or even a husband?! Which would be a boy friend that's passed all the tests you can think of for the moment."

Nick snorted softly, but didn't seem bothered by Steve's energy. "Hey. I'm Nick. I'm her..." He glances at you. "Boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend," you quickly agree. You had a child coming. Being at least that felt right... "You work here?"

"Work, live, hang out." None of those sounds terribly committed. "Is he joining us too?"

Oh, a thought you had, stolen from you! "Do you want to work here?" But there was that. Nick had a job, so far you knew. Just up and switching was an ask, not an assumption.

Nick looked around slowly, circling in place. "On one hand, I don't want to ditch my job. On the other, I don't want to leave you alone with... this."

Harold waved that off. "We're not an unfriendly bunch, and the viscountess seems to like her. I know she can be a little... prickly, but we're not monsters anymore than you are."

"I'm..." His words died with a hoof clop on the floor, as if remembering that he was literally a small horse. A small magical horse. "Right. Well, as monsters go, pretty sure ponies rate pretty low on the fearsome count."

"You are a little fighter," noted Harold with the tone of telling a child that they were far bigger and tougher than they really were. "Prodigal children, you've forgotten more than you know."

Nick fixes Harold with a raised brow. "Not the first time that word's been used. 'Prodigal?' What's that?"

"Oh, how the prodigal son, or daughter, returns," sings out Steve. "They were once lost, but return to the family home." That didn't rhyme at all, but that also isn't strictly required. "There are tales of other things that have ties in the dreaming, more than even they know. The entire world was once a dream. Some argue it still is one."

Harold pointed at you and Nick. "You are prodigals. Supernatural things that aren't changelings. Things that used to be part of the dreaming, but wandered off to do their own thing." He was way better at a straight answer than Steve. "Some are welcome, others, far less so... No rules against ponies, thankfully."

Well, good... "So... others though?"

"Oh, plenty of rules about them." Harold rose back to full height. "Let's get you into uniform."

There was a uniform? You wave at Steve but walk past him to see what that might be. Harold shows you and Nick to a wardrobe closet, except the closet is an entire room. It was like being back at that clothing store, except nothing was for sale. It was all assumed to-- "I suggest here." He flexes a finger at a section. "Proper for newcomers."

Not that the newcomer clothes were less fancy looking. Look like a fairy tale prince or princess was the word of the day... "Why aren't you wearing something like this?" Harold was dressed... perfectly normally, really. Not poorly, no, but not over the top fancy and decorative either.

Nick tapped at one with a hoof. "This looks--" And he's wearing it, just like that. "Uh..." He rises up onto human legs, and is still wearing it. "How?"

"Just saying 'magic' is probably the fastest answer I have." Harold nods at Nick. "Looks good on you. Now, to answer your question, these are back room clothes. Only people working back here need to wear them. I work the front." He hiked his thumb at what was, in theory, the front? "So normal clothes for me. See something you like?"

That was at you? You bury your snout through the options and come out dressed like a pony princess. You can't even help a little giggle. Adjusting your vision, you can see that the stuff hanging on you is... like cotton candy? It's barely there. Dream stuff? You are wearing a dress of dreams, literally. No wonder shapeshifting didn't throw it off.

You rear up, but just to cycle your hooves a moment. "Ta da? Do you want me working in pony mode or person mode?"

"She was very specific about that," worried Harold with a little frown. "I think she'd rather you stay on all fours if that isn't a problem?"

Nick fell back to hooves, his fancy suit coming with him. "Alright?"

Harold smiled at the pair, eyes more on Nick. "You want to join then?"

"I promised I'd be here today." He flicked his tail. "Willing to see how it goes." That he'd rather just run off wasn't well hidden. It was maybe a bit overwhelming. With a shimmering haze, a mark appeared, a glowing sigil of a car tire on either rump that faded almost as quickly as it came, barely touched on.

He had done a good thing, risen to his calling, a little. A loyal act. Why was that so... visible in dreaming vision?

"This way." He led the two of you into the largest room of them all. "This is the ball room." It looked like one. "When there are events, which there aren't any planned today, we gather here. You'll be expected to offer drinks and to give a good impression. Your manners reflect on the Viscountess." He looked awkward suddenly. "Most will assume you belong to her, and with that, they may think reaching for a pat or stroke is fair game."

"Even if I talk?"

Bright leaned in suddenly from the side. "I talk and you pet me."

You had forgotten he was there. Also, he had a point... "You like being pet."

"I do." He did a little dance in place. "You're better at petting when you have hands." Telling it like it is, Bright was reliable for that. "But you're cute as a pony. Nice dress." He whipped about towards Harold. "Can I get one?"

"You should have gotten one while we were there. Maybe next time?" He wriggled his fingers. "Now, me? I already know better. No touching without permission." He smiled suddenly. "Your boyfriend is right there. We don't want to make him jealous."

Nick snorted softly. "You seem alright. Why is 'miss royal face' there so... whatever she is?"

"Because she's royal," he explained as if that being was its own explanation. "Now, the food is here..." He showed where to get drinks and refreshments, and where the cleaning supplies were and such like that. "You'll be expected to clean and tidy when you're not helping a titled person directly." He let out a little sigh. "We hope it won't come to it... but if you wish to become part of things permanently, you will also be expected to protect the house."

"Protect the house?" you repeat dubiously. "Like making sure not to break anything?"

"To start, but that goes without saying." Harold waved that away. "You've dealt with other things, unpleasant things. They may try to cause trouble. You will be part of the force that keeps them out."

"Oh." Crap. That was not your specialty... "I can help the ones that fight feel better afterwards?" He looks at you funny. Did you phrase that badly? "I can heal."

"Oh! There's my mind in the gutter. You can heal? Now, I don't claim any real knowledge of how ponies work." He looks between the two ponies there, you included. "Does that leave you drained? Does it work on... more banal injuries?"

What was a banal injury?! "It feels good, actually." You look towards Nick. "I cradle them and warm away the hurt."

"That is... adorable..." Harold tapped a foot on the ground. "But you can do it as long as you wish?"

"As far as I know? It's not... instant?" If you had a healing spell, you imagined it would be instant. That's how spells worked, right? "But I could hug someone all day if I had to."

Nick put an arm in front of me. "Cool it. You said it's like warming them up, right?"

"Yeah?" About the best analogy you had for what it felt like.

"So if they kept passing cooling people to you to warm up, you'd eventually get cold, right?" Nick rolled a hoof in the air. "And that would be bad."

Well, shoot... When he put it like that. "Alright, that makes sense. So I can't hug all day. Coffee breaks at least!" Your tail swishes with a mind of its own. "But I wouldn't want someone being hurt if I could help."

"Your worth just skyrocketed... I'm not even sure if I should tell her." He glanced off where you had come from, where the Viscountess had been. "She may never let you leave... Now, look." He crouches to be at pony level. "We changelings? We have a lot of tricks! A lot of them! We call them cantrips." He held up two fingers close. "Little tricks, triflings, but they can be quite the big deal. Healing someone? That's considered a big deal. Not many changelings can do it. And to do so outside the dreaming world, twice as hard, and leaves a changeling drained very quickly. Now..." He pointed at Nick. "If he were shot with a normal gun by a normal person, you would?"

"Hug him until he was better?" you venture, uncertain. Was that even a real question?

"Blast it all." He puts a hand to his head. "That is a power. I wonder if it would work on a serious injury, the deep kind..."

Nick raised a hoof. "Like the kind a vampire's claws leave? She handled that."

You could remember that, the cold, deep and stubborn. "It was harder, but I could do it... That felt like real effort, but I wasn't going to let Nick be hurt."

He rose up and clapped his hands. "On the bright side, I can confidently declare that you are hired."

Yay! "Wait... I came here to help some people, and not just rich people that don't even need my help..."

"What kind of people?" he asks plainly, curious, but also without a clue. "Having friends like those can make things happen."

"I hope..." You spot a rather fancy crest and point at it. "What is that?"

"Oh, that's hers." He turns to it. "The Viscount. House of Autumn Leaves, stubborn as the last ones to let go. That's their motto." He crosses his arms over his front. "They could use a little friendly company, and you seem about right. Now... Nick." He turns to him. "You must be confused, and a little bored. Let's talk about you. Do you understand the basics, where things are, how to get things done?"

"Like a butler... with a tail." He lashes his pony tail on thinking about it. "What does this job pay, anyway?"

"I'll find that out for you." Harold glances towards you. "I have a feeling she'll be the one being paid, but I also imagine she would gladly share with you."

"Bad dynamics." Nick crossed his arms across his front. "We get paid separately."

Wait... "You're joining me then?"

Author's Note

Be a curious little pony was by far the winning impulse. Good, but curious!

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