Long car trips. There are those that swear they're the best time one could have. Doing it with some ridesharing person you don't know? You're not sure you could share that enthusiasm right then. They don't know you, or your friends, and they're way less likely to stop anywhere fun along the way, or to take breaks of any kind that aren't absolutely vital.

It doesn't help that the company you brought along is pretty quiet for the entire way. You get the feeling they're out of their natural element. Literal warriors of a fantasy princess, er, viscountess, forced to wait patiently while a car moved. Was this the banality they were talking about? Poor things had a lot of nothing to do.

Perhaps you could help? But how... Talking about changeling things with the unknowing driver there was right out. "Jimmy?" He stirred at his name being called. "If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you visit?"

"Hm." He sat up properly, recovering from the mild slouch he had worked up towards. "I rarely have the time to entertain such thoughts..."

"You have nothing but time right now," you contend with a little smirk. "Go on. I'll give you a theoretical ticket to anywhere, hotel stay included. You just have to pick the destination."

"I'd go to Paris," volunteers the driver, not that he'd been asked.

"A fine place, I've been told..." Jimmy rubs at his chin thoughtfully. "But I think I'd rather visit the mediterranean."

Renaldo bursts into laughter he fails to hold back. "Paris is in France. France is on the Mediterranean, last I checked about that. You could visit both on the same trip without much trouble."

"Huh... That makes it easy then. As our driver suggested, Paris. A fine place to visit. I don't speak French. Will that upset them?"

Renaldo swats at his friend from behind. He's in the backseats, with you. "Get off that! They get tourists all the time. You'll hardly be alone. Still, if it bothers you that much, learn the lingo. Mercy Becoup and all that." Not that his French was at all worth writing home about. "The language of romance, don't they say? I should brush up on it some time..."

"Do you know any language other than English?" you ask curiously. Renaldo hadn't struck you as the studious sort, but then, you didn't really know him all that well when it came down to it.

"I can avoid making a fool of myself in Spanish." He holds up his hands. "And we're chatting in English, so that's two down. They say once you're up to at least two, three's easy!"

"Nice." The name was a hint, perhaps? "Where would you go then, if you had this theoretical ticket to anywhere?"

"The world is such a big place..." He sat back and folded his hands on his belly. "But if I could pick anywhere, a tropical place, where the ladies feel little reason to hide away. Somewhere they speak what I'm saying... Maybe Hawaii, or Peurto Rico?"

"You'd stay in America then?" asked Jimmy from the front. "That surprises me."

"I don't care what country it is, so long as it's warm, and its ladies are just as hot." Renaldo, at least, had priorities. He only seems to notice just then who he's riding with. "No offense."

You. But wait. You catch yourself before you trip right into that hole. You never intended to have to prove how attractive you are by arguing about it. Whether it was for the better or for the worse, you were taken. "Do you get any vacation time? Your picks are a lot easier to get to, in theory."

"As if." With a wave of his hands, he tosses them up in a sort of gesture, only for them to flop back down to where they were originally. "No rest for the wicked, they say."

The silence, at least, had been broken. Amiable little chat drifted about the car's interior instead of sullen silence. You've at least broke that layer of ice. The rest of the trip was a bit dull, but at least you all spent it together, instead of as three miserable people in isolation.

It was late morning when the driver pulled into the parking lot of the candy store. "Here you are." He didn't ask for money. Ridesharing apps took care of that. "Have a nice day."

You all return to the wonderous world of your own two legs. You stretch for the sky on the way towards the shop. "Were we gone a whole day?"

"A few." Jimmy looks awkward as he admits that. "We weren't sure how to bring that up."

Wait. "A few?! No wonder Nick sounded... Let's check in, I guess." You push in to find... It's a candy shop, with a few people browsing the candies. There's Nick! He's watching the front counter with a smile, doing his job.

You bee-line towards him, snatching a candy bar along the way. "I'd like this."

"Sure." He grabs the bar and scans it, only noticing who it is a moment later. "Hey!" His vision sweeps past you to the others catching up with you. "You weren't alone, I see. Everything alright?" He gestured at the register subtly, revealing the price without breaking the conversation.

You give your credit card to him. You don't have any employee discounts that you're aware of? "Good to be back. I need to check in with the boss, then I'll be off."

"See you after I get off then." He gives a receipt and your newly gained candy. "Good luck with her."

Sweets in hand, you head towards the back. As you start to leave, you call out to them one last time to "Be good!" Jimmy passes first, making no great show of it. You're in sight of normal people, so it's no time for a show. Move on through as if it were nothing extraordinary, without a thought as to the fact that you are passing into an alternate realm.

You're in the freehold. You can hear people chatting seriously not far away. Renaldo pops out behind you. "That sounds like she's talking. About us?" Yes, that does sound like the viscountess. "Let's not keep her waiting." Dang him for stealing the thought from your mind.

You advance at the fore. You've gotten used to that place, and it's not even a dangerous place. You worked there, and were a prize employee at that! You even had mostly good news to share. It was a fine day to talk to the viscountess

"I don't care!" roars the viscountess through a door that fails entirely at muffling her voice. "Patricia is breathing down my neck and I'm down--" She trails as you approach the door. "Tell me that's who I hope it is. If that's a maid, go away. We're busy."

"Ma'am," you start, grasping the handle of the door. "We're--"

You don't get to finish. The Viscountess bursts free of the room, throwing the door open and wrenching your hand with it. "There you are! All of you." She looks from you to the others quickly. "Great! Now tell me why Patricia is losing what few marbles she had left in her beer-soaked brain?"

"M'lady." Jimmy bows properly and low.

"We return." Renaldo advances to your side. "with news. Our lady physician--"

"--I want it from her mouth." She's looking at you directly. "What happened?"

"We walked the path." You cycle your hands as you go over it. "Fought some things, but nothing we couldn't handle. Then we ran into Baron Patricia... Is that right?"

"No." She rolled her hands. "Lousy time for etiquette lessons, but Patricia's her first name. you don't call someone Doctor firstname, usually, do you? Just stick with baroness. Only sleeping normies and higher-ranking people get to pull out her name as a rule." She hikes a thumb at herself. "That's why I'm the viscountess, and very few people are likely to call me differently."

Renaldo elbows you lightly. "I get away with it once in a while."

"Don't tempt me! Alright, then?"

Right, then. "We ran into the baroness and were headed back to her freehold. We were attacked by a bunch of... chimera wolves?"

"They weren't nice," adds Bright Spark without further prompting. "But we beat them up!"

"I used a new power doing it."

"Speaking of that." She casually grabs you by the shoulders and pulls you forward and down until your hooves clop on the tiles of the floor. "There we are. No need to lie in here. You are a pony, and we happen to like that about you, so no reason for shame, is there?"

Hmmph. Having fingers was kinda nice sometimes, really... But she's the boss, so four legs it is. "I used that new power. It healed everyone and got them through the fight, but knocked me out."

"Where she remained," adds Jimmy. "That is why there was such a delay, ma'am. We didn't want to leave her there."

"Abandoning our physician?" Renaldo shakes his head with an affronted expression. "And the lady? I think not, ma'am. We waited."

"That part makes sense... What trick was this?" She took a hissing breath. "It makes you more valuable, and Patricia knows about it, obviously. Damn it all. Can you do that again, if you had to?"

All your parts seem to be in the right place. "Probably, yes... It'd help if it wasn't at the end of an already exhausting day of travel and healing. I hate to bring this up..."

"Already on it." She smiles so sweetly. "Your paycheck will have this included, so don't even worry about that. You earned your homeless ward's keep, and some extra for your own pockets. Try not to waste them too quickly." She turns on the two companions. "Anything to show for this besides a cleared path?"

They unload assorted goods, the various trinkets and things dropped by the chimera. No meat though. You were sure there had been meat. You can't help but ask, "What happened to the food?"

Jimmy shrugged softly. "Payment for our stay while you recovered."

Renaldo laughs lightly at it. "Don't feel bad. It would have gone bad if we tried to hold onto it for that long. Not as if we had a place to store it."

The viscountess snaps her fingers, summoning help to ferry away the goodies. "Glad to see this, at least. You're all in one piece, and healthy enough at a glance. I'll mark this as a tenuous success. Now..." She pats you on the head, ruffling your mane. "This won't stand. Were they wild wolves, or did they have a purpose?"

"Purpose, ma'am." Jimmy salutes sharply. "They claim m'lady broke an oath, but did not provide specifics."

"Of course..." The viscountess sighs deeply. "Blaming almost any prodigal for breaking an oath is justified, technically, isn't it? Still, that's taking sins of the father to another level... Not as if that isn't possible. We pay for the mistakes of our ancestors all too frequently... You." She levels a finger right between your eyes. "Figure it out. You're learning how to be what you are. All signs point to you doing a good job with it. It's not my business to get involved with pony politics, but figure it out. You are hereby banned from passing into the dreaming until you do. We can't have more fights like that. The baroness said she lost a few people keeping your hide intact."

"Should I do something for them?" What you could do for them escapes you, but offering feels right.

"Not make them do that again," she firmly orders. "You're alive because of them, so keep on living and keep on healing. Pay that debt back. Speaking of that, you are expected to keep on with your duties, just no passing past the freehold. That was a mistake. Let's not repeat it."

But how would you learn more about your new pony self?

Author's Note

No no, let's take care of business first, then we can relax. Voting against taking a wild detour, off we go!

We got to report in, and get sent off on an assignment, but it doesn't involve horrors from beyond, just the clawing existential dread of knowing what you're made of. No big deal.

Props to those who are still on this ride, voting for each step. Let's keep it up! Click here 👉https://forms.gle/vNXmpWkiyeB9gi9w5

Join the special community of folks who like my stories, see the updates early, and/or get your own written here at atreon!

Join my discord to chat!