Creatures and Magic

Chapters

Chapter 1: White and Black
Chapter 2: Fight Fire With Fire
Chapter 3: World of Matchsticks
Chapter 4: Light in the Darkness
Chapter 5: All the Sweeter
Chapter 6: Clashing With Colours
Chapter 7: Ripping off the Blinders

Chapter 1: White and Black

“You’re reading too much into it.”

Twilight looked back over her shoulder to see the small Changeling sitting on her saddlebag-covered back. “What do you mean, Spike? Clearly it’s only ponies they’ll like!”

“That map had a bunch of place names on it, and like, all of ‘em had a pony pun in there somewhere,” Spike replied casually in his young, slightly buzz-filled voice. “And besides, Zecora said this place was good, so...”

Twilight sighed heavily, and looked back to the wooden sign in front of her, marking the entrance to ‘Ponyville’ a short ways in the distance, with all of its thatch-roofed buildings and relatively structured look seeming somewhat pleasant to the Zebra in the light of early afternoon. “We’ve travelled all this way, so I guess we should stay...” She muttered to herself, and took a deep breath before heading down the dirt path into the town.

“So...” Spike started as he looked around the many similar-looking buildings that comprised most of the town, “Where is this ‘Library’ thing Z told us about?”

“Umm, I don’t know...” Twilight looked around as well, though much more tensely as she started to see a few other creatures roaming the town, making her add hesitantly, “I... guess we should just go..?”

Wandering further into the town, they slowly started to notice more creatures starting to populate the streets, though still a ways away from them, as well as some small signs hanging above the doors of a few buildings around them, but with seemingly little purpose to them. However, none of them had ‘Library’ on them, so they weren’t all too inclined to enter and find out what they meant.

Getting a bit more worried at the prospect of being lost in the town, Twilight took another deep breath as she walked, and Spike, sensing her nervousness, ran a hoof down her flat black and white mane to try and calm her down. “This place seems a lot larger from the inside...” She muttered to herself, and tried to look down some of the streets, but didn’t find anything but more buildings. “Where’s that Everfree Forest...? It continues to hide...”

“Eh... with how Z described that place, I don’t want to just run in there, you know?” Spike replied, sounding a bit worried about the prospect.

Nodding as she kept fretting about her location, Twilight then seemed to realize something and looked back over her shoulder and asked him, “Are you alright? I don’t have enough medicine to make it through the night...”

Shrugging casually, Spike said back, “I feel fine right now, but it’s been a while my last attack...”

Sucking in another worried breath, Twilight looked around them at the many buildings and creatures around her, but still didn’t find any hint of the ‘Library’ or Everfree. “Well... hopefully we can find that Forest soon enough.” Doing a full turn to see how far they’ve gone through the town, she started to add, “I know that’s--”

“Hi!” A pink face suddenly chirped at her.

“Gah!” Twilight jerked back in shock, lowering herself and spreading her stance defensively, with Spike yipping in surprise and holding on to her mane and saddlebags while Twilight stared intensely at the creature that was now before them, which happened to be a pink Deer smiling over-enthusiastically at them.

“Welcome to Ponyville!” The Deer spoke with an energetic voice, “I guess you already know that, ‘cuz of the sign out front! It’s still ironic, given all the not-Ponies in Ponyville, but that’s just ‘cuz its founders were Ponies! Apple Ponies! They still live here, and farm here--for apples, obviously--but they made the place!”

Twilight and Spike both blinked in bewilderment at the Deer’s rambling, which seemed like it was to draw their attention at all costs. Almost instinctively, Spike flared his green magic and opened one of Twilight’s saddlebags, and pulled out a vial of a vibrant teal fluid, and when Twilight herself raised one of her hooves up and back to receive it, he moved it toward that hoof so that she could ready it to throw at the Deer.

“...gotta be a little careful around ‘em! They still really don’t like not-ponies! They’re about the only ones that still do that here! The place would probably be named Creatureville if they weren’t so stubb--wait, what is that?” The Deer suddenly stopped rambling to look at the vial curiously.

“It’s a potion,” Twilight responded tersely as she kept it ready.

“Yeah, and it’ll glue your face shut!” Spike called out.

The Deer tilted her head for a moment in confusion as she continued to look at the potion, but Twilight soon pulled it back a little farther as a threat, and that sharply snapped the Deer to attention.

“W-wait, I-” She stuttered and pulled back in fear, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then spoke more cautiously, “Sorry about that, I, um... I always get very excited around new creatures, ‘cuz they always give me new opportunities to throw a party and I just...” She trailed off for a second, seemingly trying to put her thoughts together, but when Twilight shook the potion in her hoof a bit, the Deer cleared her throat and tried again, “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to spook you.”

“And you’re not trying to distract us so that another tribe or hive will try to capture us?” Twilight asked her.

The Deer blinked in confusion. “...No?”

Twilight and Spike observed her for a couple seconds, the latter eventually saying, “Doesn’t seem like she’s lying.”

Continuing to leer at her for another few moments, Twilight eventually sighed heavily before pushing herself back to a more normal posture, and reached back to put her vial back in her saddlebags. “So...” She started, looking the other creature in the eyes, “If you really are so tame... do you mind telling me your name?”

“Oh, how could I forget!” The Deer cried and pulled back in some manner of surprise, and quickly shook herself and replied jubilantly, “I’m Pinkie Pie! Party planner extraordinaire and second best baker over at Sugarcube Corner!”

Twilight nodded cautiously at the energy and the strange titles, but Spike was more focused on something else, asking with some enthusiasm, “Wait, is that a sweets shop?”

Twilight blinked at the follow-up, but couldn’t say anything before Pinkie replied with clear joy, “That’s right! Sugarcube Corner is the most popular bakery of light and sugary treats that you’ll just love to--”

“PINKIE!” Twilight shouted with effort at the excitable Deer, quickly silencing her and letting the Zebra heave a sigh and look back to the changeling on her back, admonishing him, “Spike, you know our bodies cannot handle that much sugar--it may be even worse than getting attacked by a cougar.” Turning back to Pinkie, she apologized, “Sorry, Pinkie, but we’ll be going; we both have better things to be doing.”

“Oh, okay then,” Pinkie said, oddly quiet as Twilight turned around and headed off, carrying a slightly put-out Spike with her, but still called after them, “Maybe I’ll still see you at a party later!”

Twilight ignored her, trodding down through the streets of Ponyville, looking around and turning mostly randomly as quite a few other creatures milled about around her, Spike grumbling to himself atop her back. Eventually, though, he looked back up and around at his surroundings, and muttered, “Maybe we should’ve gotten directions from Pinkie...”

At that comment, Twilight immediately stopped in her tracks, making Spike jerk forward from the moment, stumbling onto her neck and grabbing it with his forelegs before he fell off, where he swiftly moved his attention to his caretaker, who suddenly cursed under her breath.

Twilight almost frantically started spinning and looking around for the ‘Library’ they were there for, forcing Spike to yelp in surprise and grab a tighter hold of her neck to stay on, but she didn’t find it, making her freeze again. “We should have...” She eventually muttered to herself, then sighed beleagueredly and hung her head down in despondency.

“Uh--” Spike sputtered in shock at the emotions in his caretaker’s body language, but looked around at all the other creatures still around them, and asked, “Well--we can just ask some other creature, right?”

Twilight tensed up at the suggestion of interacting with another creature from this place, and looked up towards the sky to try and process her thoughts. She tried to weigh just how worth it it would be to talk with them--with the one creature she had already met giving them a poor first impression--against just wandering around until she found what she was looking for, but something caught her eye; a blue thing was zipping around the sky and pushing some clouds over to the side into a large pile.

The thing, presumably some sort of flying creature, then pushed the large pile of clouds off further to the side, before pausing for a moment, and then darting away, curving its flight down towards the ground and flying right towards them!

With only a few moments to react, Twilight could only bare her teeth and get back down into a defensive posture and intensely stare at that creature as it continued full speed ahead at her, and when it was just near enough, she rolled to the side to dodge it and let it sail.. past her...

Or not.

The creature instead slowed to a stop just before them, hovering a slight distance above the ground, and revealing themselves to be a cyan hybrid between a Pony and a Gryphon--a Hippogryph, if Twilight wasn’t mistaken--that had a rainbow-coloured mane and tail, and looked to be a female.

“Woah,” They--she spoke in a boyish voice as she noticed the other creature looking really defensive back at her, “You didn’t need to do that, y’know; it’s not like I was gonna run into you!”

Eyeing the almost laughing Hippogryph in stupefaction, Twilight shot back at her, “It was fair assumption to make, you fool. You were coming at us like those ponies, that worship only Celestia’s rule!”

The Hippogryph only looked amused, possibly more from the faltered rhyme than anything else, but she then rolled her eyes and responded, “Whatever, dude. I just haven’t seen you around before, and I wanted to show you just how awesome I am!”

Twilight couldn’t anything in response to that, only gaping in the sheer incredulity and offense in that sentence, leaving the pair in silence but for all the noises of other creatures, both sentient and otherwise, all around them.

At least, that was until a young, buzzing voice came from behind Twilight, stating somewhat scathingly at the Hippogryph, “We don’t care, ‘dude’.”

Hopping up onto his caretaker’s back, Spike stared annoyedly at the other creature as she pulled back a bit, seemingly insulted by the statement.

Twilight, though, having registered her charge’s presence again, sharply looked back to him, multiple questions in her expression, but he swiftly cut her off, “I’m fine; I jumped off of you just before you rolled out of the way of that idiot.”

“Oh,” Twilight muttered, slightly guilty of how she just forgot about him, but tried to shake it off as she added, “Well, good.”

“Hey!” The Hippogryph shouted back at them to get their attention, sounding very insulted, “I’m not an idiot! I’m actually a Wonderbolt in training!” Flapping her wings a bit more to raise higher into the air, she started speaking louder, seemingly trying to shout out to the heavens, “I’m Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in all the land, and I make everything at least twenty percent cooler when I’m even near it!”

Twilight and Spike just stared at her in deadpan annoyance, and even some other creatures who had noticed her were giving her an irritated glare. Twilight pursed her lips for a few moments, then stated simply, “We have no idea who these ‘Wonderbolts’ are, so we have little reason to care--but your arrogance is far worse than that, too, and it gives us no reason to care for you.”

“Yeah, and you still almost ran us over,” Spike added, deadpan, “So I don’t really think you’re all that ‘awesome’.”

Rainbow scoffed a pointed at them with a single talon, and said condescendingly, “But I didn’t. I was fixin’ to stop right in front of you, and I did, so you got no reason to be so uppity about it.”

“Given the incredible rudeness with which you speak...” Twilight started, staring annoyedly, yet beleaguered at the Hippogryph, “You seem to be nothing but a reckless freak. We never were here for just you to see, so just... leave us be.”

“What the heck’s your problem?” Rainbow retorted, and let herself fall down a bit and pushed forward towards the Zebra’s face, “I ain’t doing anything wro--hrrk!” She gut suddenly by a lasso getting thrown over her, and tightened hard around her waist and pulled back away.

“That’s enough of that, Dash,” A thickly-accented voice spoke, and as Rainbow fell to the ground from being winded, a female orange Earth Pony with a pale yellow mane and a brown hat stepped forward and pressed a hoof down onto the Hippogryph’s barrel, keeping her down. “Now, what are y’all here...” She looked towards those Twilight and Spike, and the energy sapped from her voice, finishing in a dry, almost emotionless tone, “...for.”

Twilight eyed her warily, and simply thought about leaving, but Spike leaned a bit to the side and caught side of the Pony’s mark; a trio of red apples. “You’re part of that Apple family, right?” He asked cautiously.

A terse nod and an ‘Eeyup’ were all he got from her in response.

Twilight turned her eyes back to her Changeling, and she recalled what that Deer had said, and then realized the importance of the question. Sucking in a tense breath, she remembered why the two of them were there in the first place, and decided to ask of the Pony, “We were just looking for this ‘Library’ place; we haven’t found it at all in this space.”

The Apple Pony stared back at her for a moment, then replied curtly, “It’s the big ol’ tree south of here, ‘bout thataway,” She gestured with her head down a street to her side.

“Alright, thank you,” Twilight nodded with a short bow, “I didn’t what else I’d do.”

“Mm,” The Earth Pony grunted in acknowledgement, and took a couple seconds before looking back down to Rainbow Dash, then pulled her up and onto her back, then trotted off in the opposite direction of the ‘Library’.

“...What’s her deal?” Spike asked offhandedly, and Twilight shrugged in response, turning and starting to head off towards their destination. “Um, I...” He stuttered, seemingly realizing something, getting a bit more of his caretaker’s attention, “I-I thought you’d ask for the Everfree Forest...”

Slowing her pace just a bit, Twilight sighed. “I know, I just suppose... a forest would be easier to find. And, well...” Picking her pace back up, she continued somewhat tensely, “That Pony was far from kind.”

Looking back in the direction of said Pony, Spike watched her continuing to haul Rainbow with her off into the distance, and he muttered a conflicted, “Yeah...”

Twilight continued to trot through the streets in relative silence for a while, neither herself nor Spike speaking from the thoughts going through their minds, even while the many creatures of the town milled about around them. Now more inside the town, they could at least spot some more interesting buildings; a few restaurants with tables just outside, some larger, more professional-looking buildings with varying styles, including a rather odd circular one of white and purple.

Eventually, they managed to spot a very wide tree with windows through the streets, and they headed for it, realizing that the ‘Library’ must’ve been a building akin to the myriad around them, with the caveat that it was made of a hallowed-out tree, like the one they recalled that Zecora lived in.

When they finally reached the building and arrived at its entrance, they spotted the small metal sign near the doors that read ‘Ponyville Library’.

“Okay, this truly is it,” Twilight said in relief, and reached for one of the door’s metal handle and pushed down before being able to pull it open. Heading inside and closing the door back up behind her, she added, “Thankfully that Apple Pony wasn’t lying about this bit...”

“Yep,” Spike commented as he hopped off Twilight’s back and landed on the flooring made of many wooden boards, letting the two of them look around at the many, many books that lined most sections of the walls of the main room. “Uh...” He tried, but couldn’t find the words.

“I do hope those aren’t bound in what I think they are...” Twilight said in something nearing horror, having known very well the rather... awful material her tribe of Zebras bound their books in. Hesitantly approaching a wall near the door--one that oddly had a staircase going up above where the books laid--she leaned close to the books and eyed them warily, and sniffed them. Not getting anything but an odd smell somewhat akin to a severed tree, she slowly reached a hoof out and pressed it against one of the books, but found the material under her hoof rather different that the tanned material she was used to.

Watching her from a distance, Spike kept himself still close by the door, and tentatively asked, “What is it?”

Twilight pulled the book in her hoof from the wall and felt its cleaner cover material against her fur, and realized it wasn’t what she originally thought it was. “I believe it’s some sort of stiff parchment, oddly enough,” She relayed back to Spike, who seemed slightly confused, yet relieved at the answer. “It’s far from a tanned coat devoid of fluff.”

“Oh, okay then,” Spike said back, turning his attention to the staircase that went up the wall of the room. “So, do you want to see what’s up there?”

Twilight looked up at the stairs and to the entrance to the next floor they led up to, and replied, “I think that would be good, yes... Places like this seem to have upstairs reserved for rest.” Putting the book back in the space between the others it came from, she looked over at one of the small windows in the wall above the staircase, and saw the sky was still rather bright. “It may only be the afternoon, but after our trek and those creatures... sleep would certainly be a boon.”

Spike nodded and started up the stairs, letting Twilight head over to them so she could follow, but he did ask back to her as he neared the top, “Alright, so first thing after we wake up is to find Zecora?”

“The first thing we do is eat,” She admonished him, trekking up to the dimmer corridor above where he stopped. “But, yes, after that, finding her will be our main feat. I do hope that we will have enough time,” She added as she neared the second floor herself, “For I would hate your pain to be our wake-up chime...”

Chapter 2: Fight Fire With Fire

Pitiful whimpering and groaning.

That was what Twilight awoke to.

She was somewhat thankful, all things considered, as her nightmares of the myriad books downstairs coming alive and rushing at her was something she’d much rather never think of again.

Still the sound of pain wasn’t that nice to wake up to, and her brain stalled for a moment amongst the bleariness of just having woke up, before finally being able to place that noise; Spike.

It was easy to forget for her, but her adopted Changeling brother wasn’t part of a hive, and thus had no connection to other Changelings and a Queen who could lead them, and that came with consequences, ones that she hoped she didn’t have to deal with, but...

Twilight sighed and pushed herself up off the blankets she had laid on the floor--the large bed was far too soft for her tribal liking--and looked around the dim room to spot the even darker patch of chitin wriggling in pain on a pillow a short ways away. “Spike,” She called quietly to him, knowing just how painful loud noises could be through that type of head pain, and watched as one of his light-blue eyes popped open to peer over at her. “How.. much does it hurt?” She asked him after a slight hesitation to debate what exactly she wanted to ask.

“I...” Spike tried, his normally casual and youthful buzzing voice now broken and almost seeming torn apart as he heard the concern in his caretaker’s words. Grunting and breathing heavily, he tried again, “I can still.. sense things fine, but it’s... painful...”

“Okay...” Twilight muttered in response, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath, opening them back up before slowly moving over to Spike, who forcibly pushed himself up to a sitting position atop the pillow. “Let’s go to that forest, then,” She said to him while reaching a foreleg below his barrel to pick him, then slowly and carefully deposit him on her back, sans the saddlebags she wore the previous day. “Hopefully there we’ll find our friend.”

Watching Spike nod in agreement from atop her back, Twilight turned her head to before her and quietly trotted to the door to their bedroom, tentatively putting a hoof on the handle and turning it to make sure it didn’t squeak loudly before doing the same as she opened the door itself. She left it open as she turned and headed down the corridor, turning again at the top of the stairs before carefully descending each step, making sure Spike wasn’t jostled around too much from the movements.

Peeking at the window above the stairs as she passed it, Twilight noticed it was particularly late at night, about at the time when that late night turns into an early morning, so she at least knew too much sleep wasn’t robbed of the two of them. After slowly and laboriously climbing down the many steps to the ground floor, Twilight then trotted towards the entrance doors and opened one of them, went through, and closed it behind her.

“Alright, so where would a forest be around here?” Twilight muttered to herself, looking around the dimly moonlit streets of Ponyville for some sort of giant set of trees in the distance, but alas, it was too dark and the streets too nonlinear to see far through them. “Curse this packed maze, I only wish to know where to steer...” Looking up and thinking for a couple seconds, she recalled the one entrance she did know to this place--the one they themselves had used to enter--and that place was no forest, but given how they’d already got lost and turned around multiple times on their way to the Library, she had no clue where that entrance was at this point.

“You could just ask someone, you know,” Spike retorted from her back in his pained voice, spooking Twilight into a standstill for a moment, but even when that faded, the idea of talking with another creature, especially given the time and their previous encounters, wasn’t all that appealing. But, looking back to see her brother holding his head with a hoof, the hollow pangs undoubtedly echoing loudly through his head, Twilight resolved to do what needed to be done.

Taking another deep breath, she started forward through the labyrinthine streets once more...

Only to come to a screeching stop less than a dozen steps in when she spotted a strange equine-esque creature sitting in a very odd fashion on some sort of wide chair just near the street she was going to head down. They looked to be a female, with pale green fur, and her hooves were devoid of fur like Twilight’s own, but this creature’s were also cloven and darker than her fur. From her head, two odd horns sprouted and curled around her ears, their colour almost white, almost like the highlights seen in the creature’s mane, which seemed otherwise similar to a equine’s, and a base color a bit more blue than her fur.

“That’s a Goat, Twilight,” Spike informed the Zebra, wincing again in pain.

“Oh,” Twilight muttered dumbly in response, “I did not know. But... why is she seated like that, though?”

“No clue...”

Twilight looked back at Spike as he trailed off weakly, holding his head more firmly than before. Worry growing in her heart, she swiftly turned back to the Goat and approached her, putting down her disquiet and forcing herself forward towards the creature.

Soon enough, the Goat turned to her and opened her mouth widely, looking as though she was going to exclaim something, but her eyes must’ve caught on Spike, and her mood fell until she looked back at Twilight, asking her as she approached, “Is he alright?”

Twilight shook her head, “Not quite, but I know our friend Zecora can fix it. I’m trying to find her, but I don’t know where to find this... cursed thicket.”

“Cursed...” The Goat mumbled, seemingly trying to understand what was meant, but she then asked, “The Everfree Forest?”

“Strange as it may seem, she lives there,” Twilight replied with a nod, “And she has what we need for his care,” She gestured to Spike on her back.

The Goat looked a little wary, but nodded and looked around for a moment, then pointed to the road to Twilight’s right and said to her, “Westward, down that way; can’t miss it.”

Twilight nodded in gratitude and replied, “Thank you, miss...?”

“Lyra,” The Goat finished with a grin, and added before Twilight could head off, “By the way, once you’re done with this, I suggest you head down to that pink and blue place you may have seen on your way in.” At Twilight’s raised eyebrow, mostly just in bafflement, she continued, “It’s my love’s place; she makes candy and chocolate that are low in sugar so more species can enjoy them.”

“That’d be nice...” Spike muttered, grinning through his pain as his older sister looked back at him, who then sighed in assent.

“Alright, fine--thank you, Lyra, for this,” Twilight nodded to Lyra, “For both the sweets and the location of the forest.”

The Goat replied with an enthusiastic ‘Of course!’, and let Twilight turn around and head off towards the Everfree, hurriedly trotting through the streets and trying to see as far ahead as she could, but the cramped and disorganized layout of the town put multiple buildings in her path. Even when navigating around them and keeping her direction constant, she was still left with the darkened streets looming before her.

After many minutes of ‘power-trotting’, Twilight eventually started to notice the buildings dropping off in density around her, and presumed she was at the outskirts of town at that point, and after moving around another stray building, finally saw it. The Everfree Forest lay a ways before her, the air under its canopy far darker than the rest of the sky, even moreso than any other forest she had seen before. It truly did look cursed, in some manner, but something else soon caught her attention.

In front of Twilight lay a path off into the distance that ran through an open section of the forest at its edge, and at the path’s end, far enough away that she couldn’t quite tell what was there, was a light. It was a golden-orange in colour, and seemed to be rather contained with no smoke trailing above, so it clearly wasn’t a campfire or any sort of torch.

Continuing her pace forward, Twilight then managed to pick out the silhouette of the a building around the light, and she soon realized the light was coming from within the building, emanating out through an open window or door. The building itself actually looked rather odd compared to the others in Ponyville, Twilight also noticed as she kept going, with it seeming to be made fully of wood, with its roof covered in plants, likely moss.

Closing the distance even further, now about halfway to the building from where she first noticed it, Twilight then spotted a fenced-out area to the side of the building, with some stuff sprouting up within it, presumably plants in the area’s garden. Something a bit closer between the house and herself also caught her eye, and she soon figured it to be a bridge that likely went over a small river, one that she eventually started to properly see and hear as she moved closer.

Trailing her gaze downstream of the river, she soon spotted a yellow equine-esque creature working on something by the river, shimmering green scales cascading down part of their back while their voluminous pink mane wrapped around their head and even covered some part of their chest. A leonine tail swished about heavily behind them, and a burgundy curved horn looking almost like it was made of wood stuck out from their forehead, a light green aura surrounding it. Twilight had seen enough Unicorns to know that their magic acted like that, and that it was likely being used to levitate something beyond her own sight, but the rest of the creature looked so incredibly different that she had no clue what to call it... but someone else might.

“Hey, Spike,” She whispered back to the Changeling on her back, while her steps took her across the bridge.

“Uhg... W-what?” Spike grunted in pain, and then asked in response.

Twilight looked back at his wincing face in concern for a moment, then gestured over to the creature she had started trotting towards, asking him, “Do you know of that creature’s kind? I’m.. afraid here I’m running rather blind.”

Spike looked over at the creature in the distance, squinting at it for a second before his eyes widened in realization. “That’s a Kirin... I’ve heard they.. can be pretty a-aggressive...” Coughing a bit from the pain, he closed his eyes and tried to rest again.

“Alright, thank you; I appreciate your insight.” Twilight replied and let him rest as she approached the Kirin, and started to notice the more feminine swoops of their form denoting her as a female, and she was working on a beaver dam in the river, her green magic moving about some twigs into it to help build it. Being only a short ways away at this point, she continued forward and asked of her, “Hello, may I--”

“In a minute,” The Kirin quickly and curtly cut her off in a distinctly young and female voice, only sparing a short glance to see her visitor.

Twilight blinked in surprise at the rude response, and stopped a few paces away from the Kirin and observed the concentrated, almost frustratedly focused look on her face as she continued her work. She knew she shouldn’t need that much information to find her friend in the forest, and so tried again, “Excuse me, but I just wanted to--”

“Shh!” The Kirin spat back, jerking her head to glare at her visitors for a moment, then turned her attention back to the dam.

Twilight gaped in offense; shouldn’t the Kirin be able to see the ill Changeling on her back, and at least show some level of concern about him rather than just cutting her off as quick as possible!? She stared at the Kirin in silence for some time, not even knowing what to say, or even if that would be a good idea given how little progress she’s already made.

Thankfully, she didn’t need to try again, as the Kirin soon enough let her horn’s magic fade before looking over the dam for a couple seconds, then sighing in what seemed to be relief before turning to her visitors. “What do you want?” She tersely asked of them.

Staring at her for a moment, Twilight just sighed in beleaguerment, knowing the creatures of this town were rather odd, and tried to ask politely of this one, “Do you know of my friend, Zecora? I believe she lives in this forest before us.”

“No, I don’t,” The Kirin stated in response, then turned away and started heading toward that nearby building, presumably her home, and added, “If that’s all, I’ll just be on my way.”

Blinking and gaping again in shock, Twilight watched her go for a second before shaking herself and calling after the Kirin, “Can’t you give at least a little help to us? My brother is already down with illness!”

Stopping in her tracks and sighing, the Kirin seemed to pause for just a moment before turning her head around and retorting, “I don’t know who the heck ‘Zecora’ is, so I won’t exactly be able help now will I? And,” She took in a deep breath and looked up the the dim sky above, still before any real semblance of dawn, “I haven’t really gotten any sleep, so I’d much prefer to catch up on that.”

Twilight herself sighed in annoyance, at least understanding the other creature’s point, but not why she needed to be so rude about it. “Some flowers found there may also do, so.. you could simply help us get those, too.”

Turning her head back to look down at the ground before her, the Kirin seemed to almost be seething, possibly just annoyed about being forced to do something she didn’t want to for someone she didn’t know, but there did seem to be some hesitation there. “I know you don’t see much in this for you, but--”

“SHUT UP!!” The Kirin screamed at her, forcing Twilight to backpedal, and Spike on her back to grunt in shock, holding onto his sister a bit more in fear.

Twilight tried to keep calm, but she too, caved to fear when the Kirin turned around and revealed her face to have blackened and her eyes glowing a pure, fiery white, to say nothing of the actual flames starting to emerge from her mane--or, rather, her mane was becoming that blue-and-red fire! The rest of the Kirin’s body then transformed into that monstrous form, the scales on her back turning into an ashen grey and her tail also getting set alight.

“I just want to be alone right now!” The flaming Kirin roared at Twilight and Spike, her voice a distorted and wrathful tone as she stomped forward. “I did everything I needed to, and then you came here with your stupid request! I’m not going into the damn Everfree Forest at night for you, and your stupid damned RHYMES!!” Each word she spoke was louder than the last, and accompanied by more forward steps as her hooves lit the grass below her on fire, her blazing eyes burning into Twilight’s own, and she looked like she was going to kill them!

At least, before the Kirin got forcefully stopped in her tracks and shoved down to lay on her barrel.

Pulling back more as she shivered in terror, Twilight looked up from the Kirin’s eyes to see a jade scaled foreleg pressing the creature down, and looked further upward to see another creature that was on fire, but these golden-orange flames looked far more tamed than those that came from the Kirin.

“Calm yourself, Fluttershy,” The new creature spoke with a calming tone despite her foreign and draconic voice, her ruby red eyes focused down on the Kirin’s own, who seemed to look back up and listen to those words. “Take a deep breath, and understand these visitors do not deserve grief for your own frustration.”

As the two creatures looked at each other, the Kirin’s angry, seething breaths slowly calmed down, and soon enough the flames that wrapped around her faded back into her mane and tail, the rest of her form following suit. Her went back to normal, and due to the flames of the other creature, could be seen as a vibrant green and were... filled with tears?

Pulling her hoof off the Kirin, the scaled creature let her slowly push herself to her hooves and look back towards Twilight and Spike, who were both still almost paralyzed, but now it was more in surprise than fear. Those green eyes were lacking the flaming wrath the Kirin possessed just moments ago, and were now drowned in sadness and regret, tears starting to overflow as she repeatedly mumbled, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry...”

All of a sudden, the Kirin turned around and bolted for her home, sprinting to the door and opening it with her magic, flying inside and slamming it shut behind her.

Still gaping in silence for multiple seconds, Twilight eventually managed to regain her senses and looked towards the flaming creature beside her, noticing how her red eyes gazed up towards Fluttershy’s home with sympathy.

“Uhm,” Twilight then started, but her dry voice forced her to clear her throat as the other creature’s attention was pulled to her, “What just happened to her? I... haven’t before seen flames replace fur...”

The creature nodded in understanding at the question, and replied measuredly, “Fluttershy here, as a Kirin, has a rather poor temperament. It is a part of their physiology, and when aggravated, their emotions can quickly spiral until they transform into that wrathful beast of flames you just saw, and it is known as a Nirik.”

Tilting her head slightly in comprehension, Twilight still had to ask, “So, that’s rather natural then? I cannot say.. she looked all that.. zen.”

“The Nirik is natural, but directing her anger towards you was not,” The creature spoke in response, “And I do believe she’ll need time to recover from her guilt.” Looking back towards the house, Twilight following her gaze, they saw many small animals roaming around it that weren’t there before, likely awoken and scared by the Kirin’s flames. “Do not worry, though, she is friends with these critters, and they will support her in a way that not me nor either of you could.”

The three of them were then left in relative quiet as they watched some of the animals enter the open windows of the home to presumably comfort the Kirin, while others merely wandered off to head back to sleep. However, this arrangement was problematic for one Changeling, and he soon spoke up, “Hey, uh--”

Twilight looked back to Spike on her back as he started coughing again, and held his head with both forehooves to try and curb the pain. “Right, um,” Turning to address the jade creature, she asked, “Do you know of a friend of mine? She’s.. named Zecora, and is another of my kind.”

“Zecora?” The creature replied, and turned her eyes skyward for a second in thought, then nodded. “I have heard of her, and that she lives within this Everfree Forest right here,” She gestured to the dark woods nearby. “I presume you do not know how exactly to find her?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Twilight nodded in affirmation, “We’ve only arrived here before this night. May you lead us to her? We’ve heard this forest is cursed.”

Glancing again to the forest in question, the creature replied, “That is rather accurate, but it is hardly a threat to me, so I will certainly oblige.” Giving the other creatures a small smile, her eyes looked up to the Changeling on Twilight’s back, and she added, “I see your friend is already in a lot of pain, so let us go about now.”

“He’s my brother,” Twilight corrected, “And Spike is his moniker. For courtesy, I’ll also give you my own; Twilight is how I am known.”

Raising a hoof off the grass, and revealing the flames that came from her fetlock just before extinguishing it and holding her hoof out, the creature spoke, “And I am Tianhuo of the Longma Empire.”

Tentatively raising one of her own hooves to firmly shake the Longma’s, Twilight stated with determination, “Then let us go, for time is our biggest foe.”

Chapter 3: World of Matchsticks

It was far too dark and quiet for Twilight’s liking here.

This Everfree Forest was certainly cursed in some manner or another, as she could hardly see more than a dozen steps before her, even with Tianhuo’s bright flames, and as for the silence...

“Have you heard of the creatures that live here?” Twilight quietly asked of the Longma leading a few steps ahead of her. “I feel as though, any noise we make, they will be able to hear...”

“Fluttershy has spoken about them before,” Tianhuo replied, toning down her voice as well, “They have been a threat to her pets in the past, and she wanted to make sure I was aware of them.”

The pair then went right back into silence, with only their steps and quiet breathing--as well as Spike’s own much more ragged and pained breaths--breaking it. It was hardly all that peaceful, though, as Twilight remained disquiet about it all, fearfully looking around at the near-pitch-blackness all around them, knowing that at any moment, some horrific creature she had never heard of would pounce out from the darkness and tear her apart.

However, Tianhuo was much more confident, and while she was looking around a lot, it seemed to be a more controlled vigilance where she constantly scanned the area around them with her well-trained eyes in preparation for any potential threat. It was a bit odd, though, that she seemed to have no trouble finding the way forward, despite only having heard of Zecora before, but Twilight wasn’t going to question it.

Despite the clear power the other creature held, however, the Zebra’s breaths were still shaky with fear, and so she sought to try and fill the deafening silence by asking, “Before today... I hadn’t heard of your kind. Can you tell me more, if you wouldn’t mind?”

The Longma took a moment to look over her shoulder, but Spike spoke up before her, saying tiredly, “I h-have actually...” Twilight’s head sharply jerked back to look at him in surprise and concern, but he tried to wave her worry off with a hoof, adding, “It was, like.. o-once, and i-in passing...”

“It’s not surprising, I suppose,” Tianhuo responded at a more normal volume, turning her head to look ahead again, “Our kind has decent relations with the Changelings, as their versatility and loyalty to their Queen is something we respect.”

Twilight looked over to her with a tilted head and thought for a moment before asking, “Well, I still haven’t seen your kind before, in this nation. I assume that... between you and Equestria, you have some other complication?”

Tianhuo nodded slowly in response, and spoke with a level of underlying vitriol, “While we do hold respect for some of the creatures within Equestria, its Queen Celestia is rather foolish and far too optimistic, which has led to many problems in the past.”

Twilight squinted in confusion at the comment, figuring she was missing something with how the Queen--or ‘Princess’ as the Alicorn Pony personally preferred--was often described as wise and benevolent, even by Zecora, who was typically rather superstitious and untrusting towards those in power. She looked back towards Spike, who was resting his head on the back of her neck and looked back at her, and seeing the questioning in her eyes, just shrugged in response.

Keeping that reaction in the back of her mind for the time being, the Zebra did have another question, “If you do dislike Equestria, to that order, why exactly, are you within its borders?”

Tianhuo’s steps stiffened just a tad at the question, and Twilight felt like she may have accidently struck a nerve, and swiftly tried to apologize, “Um, I--”

“I’m on forced leave,” The Longma cut her off in a blank, yet tense tone, and seemed to focus a bit more on observing the darkness around them. Almost certainly feeling Twilight’s surprised and baffled gaze on the back of her head, she elaborated, “I have been ordered by the Empress herself to keep from overworking myself.”

Hesitating before slowly nodding in comprehension, but not fully understanding, Twilight tried to ask, “Well, I supp--”

“I respect her decision,” Tianhuo stated firmly, cutting off the Zebra again, but now with an unwavering loyalty in her voice, “I know that she has done this only to help me, but I still do not... like this feeling. Of...” She paused, leaning her neck slightly forward to look down towards the ground, “Of being away from the Empire and being unable to help them.”

Twilight looked at her with sympathy, despite not really being able to empathize with her plight. She knew she wouldn’t be able to say anything to try and add to or amend the Longma’s worries, so she instead tried to pivot the conversation, saying tentatively, “That makes sense, at least for why you’re not there, but... why exactly are you here... in this nation’s air?”

Raising her neck and head to look in front of her, Tianhuo took a deep breath before responding, “I am staying with Fluttershy for the time being. Our Empire is on good terms with the Kirin community, but...” She paused, her eyes wandering a bit as she seemed to try and figure out how to continue, “Their kind is mostly very.. isolated. Their inherent aggression that I have previously explained made them mute themselves in an attempt to keep them from transforming into their Nirik forms and destroying or hurting everything and every creature around them, but not all of them completely took to that silence.

“To my knowledge, only two Kirins of their current generation have left the community,” The Longma continued, sounding somewhat dispassionate, “One of them, named Autumn Blaze, left because she found the mute-ness stifling, but Fluttershy did so because she wanted to take care of more animals than were in the small forest valley that is their Peaks of Peril.”

“I suppose that would do it...” Twilight replied, with Fluttershy’s reactions making more sense with the knowledge of her kind’s physiology. “Had you not been here, I would’ve been burned to bits.”

Tianhuo nodded at the implied thanks, then looked back at her for a moment, and said, “I am curious, though. Zebras are generally rather territorial, so why are you here, in Equestria?”

Inhaling through her nose, Twilight looked away tensely for a moment to think about an answer. She had moved to this town to get away from that very past that led her here, but... it was still only fair.

“My friend, Zecora, told us of this place...” She started, looking back over to Tianhuo, who kept some attention on her while still scanning the environment, “And from my original tribe I wanted some space. The pressure I was under, right below the Chief... I didn’t see another way out but to simply.. leave.”

Tianhuo nodded and looked at her with sympathy, replying with, “Being a high-ranking soldier, I can certainly understand that pressure, even if I prefer it much more.”

Twilight gaped slightly in surprise at the causal mention of her rank, and the Longma could easily read it, smiling slightly and adding, “Yes, I know. It wasn’t that relevant before, but with this empathy, it now makes sense to tell you.”

“Oh...” The Zebra mumbled in response, and nodded in understanding, and spared a glance back to Spike, who looked somewhat impressed, but was still in great pain.

“However, I would still like to know what made you so important to your tribe,” Tianhuo said, turning her head back to look forward, but her attention was still clearly on Twilight.

Nodding again, Twilight looked back to the Longma and replied, “Of course; I happened to be their Shamaness, but for only a short while before I.. decided to... evanesce. It was my duty to know our magic, but I was only given that position by.. a means that were rather.. tragic.” Getting a short glance from Tianhuo’s eyes looking back at her, she tried to swallow her somberness and continued, “I trained under our previous Shaman, and for several years I was under his command. I loved and respected him like, a parent, but our Chief.. was always so uncaring. It was him that brought us to battle, tearing apart another tribe like they were nothing but cattle...”

Noticing the Zebra was shaking slightly in anger and sadness, Tianhuo slowed her pace and turned her head to look at her again, and Twilight could also feel Spike stroking her mane with his shaking hooves. Taking a deep breath, she kept going, “In that fight, our Shaman was killed, bested by the other tribe’s Shamaness’s.. superior skill. Perhaps I would hate her more, if she actually wanted to be in that war...

“I can recall the emotions on her face, when we got back to her tribe’s place...” Twilight said, sounding mostly somber now, “We were separated from the battle for a while, but getting back to them... made us both want to throw bile. I went back to my own home, but despite being bedridden, I fought... with all my heart to keep that Shamaness hidden. I claimed she was gone, not wanting to hurt our bond, and.. once I was healed, I went to her, and kept our friendship sealed.

“However, she needed to leave and find a new home, one untouched by her own family’s flesh and bone,” Twilight continued, some eagerness picking back up in spite of her words, “Some months later, and after I found Spike--rather to my tribe’s dislike--she came back and met with me again, and offered me a place to get away from my pain. And, well, at the first chance I could find... I was gone like the wind.”

Tianhuo, having keenly listened to the Zebra’s words, slowly nodded in understanding and thought, and then asked, “I presume this... Shamaness, was Zecora, then?” Getting a quick nod from Twilight in response, she looked back with empathy, stating, “War is always quite complicated and unclear, and it’s good that both of you have put that pain behind you.”

Smiling again, Twilight laughed slightly and added, “I wouldn’t say that we have yet, fully, but... there is something interesting to note, actually...” The Longma raised an eyebrow in intrigue, letting her explain, “I didn’t rhyme back then, and the same for all of my kin. Zecora and her tribe did, though, and I... eventually decided to take it on my own.”

“That’s an interesting mark of honour, I see,” Tianhuo replied with a smile, some humour in her voice.

Rolling her eyes, Twilight retorted, “A lot more creatures than I’d like have questioned it, but.. I’m much more concerned with my and Spike’s wellbeing than to fit.” A short laugh and nod came from the Longma, and while Twilight was happier after having relived some of her past, it still was a bit more than she originally wanted to divulge, so... “Now, that’s enough about my past; what about your own has made you want to last?”

Eyeing the Zebra for a second, Tianhuo seemed to consider the idea, and eventually nodded as she faced forward once more, “Well, perhaps I should.. start... with....” She trailed off as her focus seemed to be drawn elsewhere, and she stopped walking while swivelling her ears around.

Twilight, taken aback momentarily by the sudden action, stopped as well and listened in the direction of the Longma’s ears, eventually starting to pick up on some very faint noises. Looking in the direction she thought they were coming from, she also manage to notice the dim green lights peeking out amidst the dark tree trunks and bushes, and they looked to be in pairs...

Soon enough, the creatures that owned those pairs of eyes seemed to noticed they were caught, and slowly came out of the darkness, with dim, broken silhouettes on four legs with otherwise sharp features.

“Wolves,” Twilight whispered to herself.

“Timberwolves,” Tianhuo corrected, getting a glance from the Zebra. “Get behind me.”

Twilight nodded and noticed the smooth and cold forelegs of her Changeling brother wrapping around her neck in fear, and she moved back most of the way to the edge of the lit area around the flaming Longma to let her take on these ‘Timberwolves’.

It soon became clear to her exactly why they were given that name, as the half-dozen wolves seemed to be made entirely of wood and magic, their thin, almost spindly forms made of cobbled together tree xylem and bark with the faintest hints of pulsing green magic between the crevices that made up their joints. Twilight had managed to take on wolves made of flesh and blood before, but these magical manifestations were beyond her understanding, and so she was thusly thankful of the skilled warrior that guarded her from them.

Tianhuo didn’t budge as the Timberwolves stepped amidst the Longma’s firelight to arrange themselves in about a semicircle around her, and it was just as they all found themselves at a stalemate that she pushed herself up to stand on her hind legs, then shoved herself into a fast twirl on a single leg, the rest closed up her body as her flames swirled all around her. It was only for a moment before she did a short hop into the air to spin faster with yet more flames, and then finally dug her free hind hoof into the dirt to stop herself with her body turn sideways to her aggressors, one foreleg stretched out towards them while the other went upward, and her second hindleg went back up to hold itself partially outward towards the wolves as well, leaving herself on a single leg in a graceful, yet intimidating pose that showcased her incredible balance, as well as the some extra flames that now poured out of her back in the shape of wings.

The Timberwolves seemed rather wary of the fiery display, but still seemed eager to fight despite it, and so when the Longma waved her stretched-out forehoof to say ‘come at me’, the wolves did just that.

All six Timberwolves jumped at the Longma, but that was about the last clear thing Twilight could clearly make out of it, as Tianhuo immediately launched into battle against them, ducking and diving away and slamming her hooves into others, sending them sprawling away from the battle for only a moment before they eagerly rejoined it. She found herself instinctively backing away from it all, even as the flaming creature clearly held the upper ground, with any attack that Twilight could make out against the Longma dodged with ease.

The scorching orange flames bursting out of the creature were often hidden behind the scrawny branches that made up the wolves, keeping the area rather dark, but it still seemed to be no issue for the Longma as she struck at the wolves with unbridled power and precision, with several large chunks of wood being cracked off by sheer force of her blows. It was hardly all that long before one of the whole wolves was sent barrelling off into a tree, exploding into a mass of pulp and splinters as the green magic that held it together faded into the ether.

While the removal of one of the creatures made the battle slightly more comprehensible, Twilight still had trouble tracking all of their movements, but she could still see Tianhuo at the center of it with all the Timberwolves clawing with feral rage and desperation to strike her even once, yet not a single one succeeded. Soon enough, more wolves were sent flying out of the battle, with one getting thrown up into the treetops, but barely fell back down any before the next wolf was hurled up into it even harder, breaking them both in half and letting the light fade behind their eyes.

With a distinct ‘thump’, the Longma landed back on the ground, the remaining three wolves around her, all with large pieces of their bodies--even some limbs or sections of their barrels--taken off, and all of them looking back at the flaming creature with fear--no, terror in their eyes.

The Timberwolves, which begun as a fearsome pack of magical beasts that could kill other creatures with ease, were now looking like kicked puppies that wanted nothing more that to flee for their lives... but Tianhuo wouldn’t let them get the chance. All too swiftly, she propelled herself forward with a gust of those flames coming out of her back (which now seemed to actually be wings?) and shoulder-slammed hard into one of them, then sweep-kicked its legs to throw it into the air, and next sharply kicked it even higher, flew up to it and around it, and finally shot it at one of the other wolves, sending them both sprawling as their rough bodies got tangled up with each other.

The last Timberwolf barely had time to react before the Longma flew at it, picking it up by the legs and flinging it into the air, then flew above it, and then kicked it hard down into the ground, and finished it off by diving down and slamming her hind hooves into its neck, smashing into into pulp and ending it as well. Turning back to the other two she left, Tianhuo flapped up just a bit into the air and rammed her forehooves down into their heads, and when that didn’t finish them, picked their heads up, and then slammed them down once more, turning them into splinters as well.

And just like that, all of the wolves were defeated, with not a scratch on the Longma that bested them, who now turned casually back to look at Twilight and tilted her head slightly at her. It was only at that point that Twilight actually realized just how low her jaw was hanging from the flaming creature’s display, but she hardly had it within herself to pick it pack up, only letting it flail as she uselessly sputtered, “Wh--I don’t--how d--”

Tianhuo calmly placed a hoof to her lips to silence her, which Twilight finally managed to do as the Longma smiled back at her, and stated, “Wild animals, despite their brute strength, are quite easy to fight. They always attack very predictably and hardly change their strategies over the course of a battle, especially one that quick.”

That hardly answered any of the myriad questions whizzing about Twilight’s mind, such as how she could stay so casual about it all, to how she was able to pull off those moves, to how her wings of fire actually worked in all their aspects, but there was a question that wasn’t in her mind, and got put into the open air nevertheless.

“W-why no fire?” Spike asked hoarsely from his position on Twilight’s back, stiffly holding onto her neck and staring in awe and confusion at the fiery creature before him.

Tianhuo just smirked lightly and looked around at the dark pillars of wood around them, and the impenetrable canopy of leaves far above, and then she spoke, “We are in a forest, Spike. I would prefer not to set it ablaze.”

“Oh...” Twilight muttered in response, having finally regained some hold over her words as she felt Spike start to understand as well, calming his grip on her neck.

The Longma nodded, closed her eyes for a moment, then reopened them and added, “Many of my subordinates have failed to make that realization in the past, and that control is one of the reasons I hold my current rank.”

“...Your rank?” Twilight asked of her, mostly confused about what that rank was rather than what the word meant.

“Captain of the Houshan Royal army,” Tianhuo stated proudly in response, “And Champion of all the Longma Empire under the glorious Empress herself.”

Blinking in incomplete understanding, Twilight could at least acknowledge how important that title sounded, despite how little she knew of what it meant, and carefully replied, “Right.”

The look she got from Tianhuo clearly told her the Longma knew the full gravity of the title was lost on her, but she didn’t say anything more about it, and instead turned a half-circle in place and seemed to look around for something.

Hesitating for several seconds in an awkward silence, Twilight eventually tried to break it by asking of her, “Not that I particularly mind.. but, what are you trying to find?”

The other creature didn’t immediately respond, but her gaze did soon enough seem to latch onto something before she turned her head back to the creatures behind her and spoke, “There are some notches in these trees.” She started walking forward towards one of them, and Twilight soon followed, approaching one of the trees that was subtly lit by the flaming creature before her.

The light only grew as they approached the tree, and Tianhuo placed a hoof on it just below chest level, and Twilight could suddenly see that there was a decent-sized gash in the tree bark right above her hoof. “I have heard from Fluttershy about these,” She continued, then looked slightly pensive for a moment before adding, “They were clearly placed here to find Zecora’s home, but I believe they were made subtle so no random creature, sentient or otherwise, could find it as well.”

“That makes sense,” The Zebra replied with some level of relief, the subtle nagging question she had before finally quashed, “I wouldn’t want to give the monsters here any hints.”

Tianhuo nodded, the gestured with her head for them to continue going forward, and she said somewhat suddenly, “I suppose I will tell you my own backstory when we get to your friend.”

Taking a moment to recall where out that topic came from as she followed the Longma, Twilight nodded in understanding and replied, “Yes, I think that will work. Repeating the story would likely be... irked.” Taking another glance around her to see the remains of the Timberwolves barely visible in the blackness, she knew just how lucky she got to have the warrior before her on her side, as she may not have survived those wolves otherwise. Hopefully, though, she wouldn’t need to rely on the other creature for too long before she reunited with her old friend.

Chapter 4: Light in the Darkness

It was warm here, in more ways than one.

Located in the dark and scary depths of the accursed Everfree Forest lay a respite in the form of a massive tree with a carved out interior, with the friendly Zebra known as Zecora calling it home. Inside, where she, Twilight, and Tianhuo sat, the slightly-toned-down flames coming off the latter creature who was meditating near the closed door, eyes closed and mind clearly calmed and far away from reality for the time being.

Twilight was thankful for all of that, as she could talk to her old friend in peace, with the Zebra in question having already taken the liberty of making her special brew of tea for the both of them.

Still, that hardly meant the air between them was perfectly calm...

“You can stop glancing at her flame,” Twilight spoke slightly admonishly to the other Zebra, “I trust her power, and that element she has tamed.”

Zecora smiled wryly in response, distinctly taking a sip of her tea, and said, “Don’t think I have no reason to be wary; wood and fire often only leave ash to carry.”

Sighing slightly in acceptance and understanding, Twilight set her own tea on the floor before her and looked over to Spike, who was resting on Zecora’s bed on the side of the room opposite the door, having been given his slimy green potion of medicine and was now thankfully resting rather calmly, with his illness tamped down for the time being. “I hope he’ll be okay...” She muttered, almost only to herself, “This strange illness gives him a lot of pain...”

A soft snort came from Zecora, and she responded in a faintly admonishing tone, “You truly ought to trust me more. This medicine has already proven itself before.” Pausing for just long enough for the other Zebra to slowly look back over to her, she added, “And, I’d say you must work on your rhyme; your conflicted thoughts make more than wasted time.”

Twilight took a deep inhale and let her gaze fall to the floor, a light amusement on her face, yet it hardly covered the disappointment and worry underneath. “He is my brother, you know... and I regret getting him here so slow. I do have every right to speak freely, even when he is healing. No matter... what his kind has done to yours in the past...” She continued, speaking more cautiously, “I will still care for him so that these moments won’t be his last.”

Looking back up, she could feel the lingering pain in Zecora’s eyes, her tribe’s battles with the Changelings clearly flickering in her mind, and Twilight knew to be thankful of how accepting the other Zebra had already been of her younger brother, but it still didn’t quell her sorrow with what she must’ve been putting her friend through. At the very least... she could try and push those thoughts away for the time being.

“I suppose, on that note, though,” She started, picking back up her tea, and trying to shrug off the weight of her earlier words, “Why does your tribe rhyme with such flow?”

Smirking slightly at the very obvious change of topic, Zecora took another sip and obliged, “It was to do with spells--my tribe makes much abnormal use of our magical wells. Many of these uses are all done in rhyme; be it potions, rituals, or any other way our magic shows itself in time, and it was not only a matter of doing it with more speed, as it had quickly seeped into our minds and become our creed.

“Of course, this focus on magic was clearly not all good,” She continued, expression falling as her tone turned somber, “Our bodies were left as weak as dead wood. You have already seen the outcome with my home, as it is now being a place only the dead roam.”

Twilight, despite being very intrigued about the intricacies of magic (and disappointed that the conversation immediately went back to her friend’s dour past), didn’t try and push the topic any farther, instead simply replying, “That makes enough sense; those words can often make songs, no less...”

Zecora nodded curtly in affirmation, but spoke in return, “Indeed, but there is something I’d like to ask in return, as your own kin has a secret I’d like to learn.” Getting an intrigued look and nod back from her friend, she continued, “Your tribe’s names are quite the oddity; all others, including my own, begin with ‘Z’.”

“Ah, I suppose that is rather strange..” Twilight muttered in response, looking down for a moment and seeing her tea quickly growing cold. “Well, it always did offer our names more range,” She remarked as she picked the tea up carefully and held it before her, continuing, “Our names did have a pattern, though; they always meant ‘the end’, or some other woe. I believe you recall my Chief and Shaman?” Getting a quick nod from the other Zebra, she took a long sip of her tea, trying to drown out her fears once more, and explained, “Termina and Omega were the names they were given.”

“That was their mindset, I suppose?” Zecora asked, a tint of horror in her tone, “To bring all other tribes to a close?”

“Yes, I think they believed themselves the absolute best...” Twilight replied, slightly unsure about it as she recalled the many rituals they had forced her into. “It was.. something to do with how other tribes were ‘filled with weakness’.”

“That’s hardly surprising.”

Twilight started and jerked around at the sudden voice, almost dropping her cup in the process, and saw Tianhuo still sitting near the door, her eyes now opened and looking towards the two Zebras. “Warlords often justify their conquests through such self-superiority, as I’ve seen all too often throughout history. Even my own Empress’s predecessor was like that.”

Getting another hint at the Longma’s backstory, but hearing the slight tension behind her words, she decided not to press it, only setting her tea down on the floor while glancing back towards the bed on the other side of the room, sighing lightly in relief when she noticed Spike hadn’t been spooked awake.

“Indeed, it’s common for such a belief to fuel all manners of malice,” Zecora spoke, sounding like she had hardly been startled by the other creature, “From the mundane bullying all the way up to those in the Canterlot Palace.”

Tianhuo nodded and grimaced, a faint growl escaping her lips, and Twilight could imagine that given her rank, she’d have dealt with those stuck-up ponies in the capital city. As long as they were moving the conversation away, though, Twilight did have something to ask, “Along those lines, there seem to be some like that in this town, with that Apple Pony looking at me with a... very distinct frown. Some of the other creatures around here are rather... odd, but that one looked like she wanted to beat me out with a rod.”

A deep, irate sigh came from the Longma, faint flames flowing out of her maw, making Zecora tense slightly, but Tianhuo soon spoke, “I have always despised ponies for their distrust. From their blind leviathan of a legal system that requires reams of paperwork, to the peasants’ which-hunts of those completely innocent; they cannot help but be utterly afraid to show any level of trust to each other, even when their own lives are at stake.”

“I can certainly attest to that...” Zecora muttered darkly in response, taking a large swig of her tea to empty the cup, then set it on the floor to her side. The other two creatures looking concernedly at her, she continued, “None have ever accused me of turning into a bat, but some of the Foals here were running some news; nothing too crazy, just a hobby they got to choose. Unfortunately, it did soon devolved from that innocence, with a pair of children turning it into a system that spewed nonsense.”

Twilight and Tianhuo glanced at each other, and the latter gestured for her to keep going, asking, “How so?”

They both received keen and intense look from Zecora as she begun, “They began to defame creatures that were not of their race, and while I was hardly the only one they ‘put in their place’, it was quite hurtful to my reputation and life, causing me nothing but strife.” Twilight gaped at what she was saying, quickly growing horrified and angry at the very idea of that, but the other Zebra continued, “Thankfully the mayor, an Earth Pony in their own right, manage to bring the falseness of these stories to light, and within about a single week, the Earth Foal behind it all was up a creek.”

Twilight snorted in indignation, turning her gaze downward as she ruminated on how cruel and petty Ponies could be. She hadn’t had too many encounters with them in the past, but every single one was tainted in some level by their unreasonable bigotry.

“The cowards,” Tianhuo spoke, seeming somewhat angry as well while Twilight’s attention jerked over to her, confused, but willing to let her continue, “They cannot be bothered to accept something different from themselves, so content in their little world that anything outside of that terrifies them...” Snorting another small flare from her nose, she took a deep breath, still decidedly angry, but seeming to have been hardly surprised by what had happened.

“Is that the reason; fear?” Twilight asked curiously of her, understanding the idea at least, but struggling to believe that Ponies would be doing all of that horrific stuff because they were afraid of what they were facing. “That alone drives them to make us shed such tears?”

“Fear is often the strongest motivator,” The Longma nodded in response, looking between the two Zebra with an almost pained gaze, “I’ve seen all too many creatures make poor decisions because they were afraid of something. Whether it be the reasonable fears of death or heartbreak, or the more foolish ones of admitting a simple mistake or even speaking to others, creatures can often get driven away from doing what’s right due to fear and causing others, and themselves, much more pain that is necessary.”

Looking towards Zecora, she paused for a moment before saying, “I do not mean to get so personal, but Twilight here has spoken of your past together, and I believe there is some relevance to what I am speaking about now.” The Zebra she was addressing looked to her friend for a moment, and getting a slightly embarrassed and guilty nod from her, looked back to Tianhuo for a couple seconds, seemingly in thought about how much she wanted to relive that past, before somewhat tersely gesturing with a hoof for the Longma to continue.

“I have been told the main conflict between you two was because of your leaders fighting each other, and how you stopped fighting once you were away from the rest,” Tianhuo addressed Zecora again, and Twilight could see her expression harden as she recalled that fight, “It’s clear, then, that you were only fighting out of fear, rather than true loyalty. I know there is more to it than that,” She quickly added when Zecora gave her a sharp barb of a look, clearly wanting to say something, but backed down and let the Longma continue, “I’m sure you both respected your leaders to a degree, and you fought for your people as much as you did your own lives, but the point remains that solely due to the battle between those above you, you two did not meet in peace and simply talk to each other, as fear of punishment and fear of your tribes dying drove you two fight.

“I hardly wish to say that that instinct to fight was irrational, either,” She added calmly, looking more pointedly at Twilight, who somewhat wanted to verbally detest the idea that what they did back then was wrong, “Fighting for everycreature you know is certainly a noble cause, but you cannot tell me that you two did still want to fight back then, rather than work together to keep you and your tribes alive.”

Twilight was given pause, not really sure what to say to that; she always looked back on that battle with horror and regret, believing it was all an inevitability given how her tribe operated. Even after all this time, she could still feel the rage that first went through her when she saw her Shaman die before her eyes at the other Zebra she now called a friend, and wasn’t always sure befriending her was worth forsaking her own family. However, she also knew of the regretful look on Zecora’s face back then, and that really did make her think; if they weren’t forced to fight, then maybe they could’ve been true friends, without this schism between them, and perhaps they could’ve kept her destructive tribe from ever getting near Zecora’s.

Truly, all of those emotions had gotten the better of her back then, but would it have even been possible to do anything more than just not kill each other back then..?

“I cannot speak to the way your cultures work,” Tianhuo interrupted Twilight’s thoughts, pulling her attention back to see the Longma’s careful mannerisms, and Zecora eyeing her warily, “But I can at least speak to my own. Twilight,” She addressed the Zebra, more sharply pulling her focus over to her, “You did say you wanted to know my own backstory, and I find that only fair given what you’ve told me, so here is the perfect opportunity.”

Twilight opened her mouth and gaped somewhat at her, hesitating as she wasn’t sure if she wanted the other creature to speak about her own past so openly, but she looked to Zecora, who looked still a tad wary, but mostly curious.

The other Zebra soon caught her eyes and the question within them, and sighed deeply in hesitation, eventually addressing the Longma, “I may be one to keep my past sins hidden, but it may be best that we may speak of this ‘fear’ unbidden. Your past is your own to spread as you please, but... perhaps you may not want to let be as a fire through the trees.”

Twilight paused for a moment at that last comment, and rolled her eyes at the coincidence before looking back to Tianhuo, who made sure both Zebras were paying attention before she begun, “In my earlier years in my Empire’s Academy, I was actually somewhat of a bully.” She let Twilight almost violently jerk back in shock as that got dropped on her, with the creature before looking the least bully-like of any creature she’s seen before!

“I’m aware that may be difficult to reconcile with the Longma I am now,” Tianhuo said calmly, looking between Twilight and Zecora, who Twilight just noticed also seemed rather surprised, “But I did used to believe myself superior to many others there, and often punished them for doing anything I considered weak. Being unable to light one’s flames or trying to pursue the arts were something I tormented them for, as I saw them useless to our Empire, but...

“I would soon be met with a reality-check.” Her voice was regretful now as the Zebras listened to her, and she continued on, “My mentor, whose name I shall not speak of here out of respect, showed me what those ‘weak’ Longmas were capable of. He showed me there was far more to our society and our lives than fighting, and he said that it was something I already knew, but was afraid to admit.”

“...Why?” Twilight interjected weakly, unable to speak another word to make a rhyme or clarify her question.

Tianhuo looked over at her measuredly, and spoke with guilt, “I had always believed that our combat prowess made our race as powerful as it is, and anyone or anything that wasn’t focused solely on combat I couldn’t believe could actually support our Empire, no matter where or how much I saw them doing so. It was all around me, in the weapon and armor-smiths that make the tools we fight with, the teachers and caretakers that educated and raised for us, the artists and musicians that gave us entertainment in an otherwise dry world, and the diplomats and maids that upheld our Empress’s Palace and our peace with other nations.

“Those that trained solely to fight were but one part of our culture and society,” She continued, talking with more love for her Empire now, but still filled with guilt, “And it was only after my mentor challenged that belief of mine and forced me to see the truth that I actually acknowledged all of it. Soon enough, I had accepted that aspect and the mistakes I had made about it, and many more years of training, each physical, mental, and spiritual, that I truly found who I was and what I was capable of.”

Tianhuo’s voice had become more confident and self-assured as she went on, and both Twilight and Zecora were very intrigued, and the latter decided to say, “And that has lead you to your rank and power, truly now making your enemies flee and cower.”

The Longma showed a faint smile on her lips as she amended, “It’s hardly just power, as I found back then.” Getting a confused look by the others, she explained, “I am not as fast as others of my kind, nor as strong or as agile as many others, and I am not as capable as spewing as much flame or as with so much control as yet others; for I am instead a Harmony of all of those attributes, and others, allowing me to refine each facet of myself to create a creature with no edges, no seams, no swaying toward one aspect or another, and no weaknesses. In many a Longma’s word... I am perfection incarnate.”

The air was still after she spoke that, the world itself seeming to bow in reverence to her, and both Twilight and Zecora were completely silent as they processed what was said to them, but Tianhuo soon interrupted it to clarify, “Of course, I know that’s mostly an exaggeration. I have made mistakes, I have been defeated. It may not be something I speak of in the presence of my subordinates, but while part of that is protect my reputation, I’m not even sure whether they’d believe me if I told them of my faults.”

Even with that amendment, the idea that her kind held her in such high regard was rather overwhelming for Twilight, in a way that simply knowing the Longma’s rank wasn’t before. Zecora, at least, was able to recover from her awed silence and skeptically ask of the other creature, “Why are you telling this to us, then? Especially with how you don’t even bother to tell your brethren...”

“There are those that understand I am imperfect,” Tianhuo chided, sharply looking at the Zebra, “It’s merely those below me that I know it would be pointless to. As for you two...” She slowly looked between the pair of Zebras, and while Zecora was still looking at her warily, Twilight had to shake the overwhelming-ness off before paying proper attention. “You two have show you are willing to put in the effort to spite your superiors in order to do what you believe is right, and for that, you have my respect.”

Twilight froze again at the admission, and struggled to understand what was just said. “W-wait,” She sputtered out weakly, “You, the Champion of your kind a-and proclaimed as perfect, respect me? U-us?”

Tianhuo’s expression was thoughtful as she looked at the other creature, who stared in awe and disbelief at her, taking several seconds before carefully replying, “Twilight, I do not care for a multitude of accomplishments. I do not care that you are weaker than me, nor younger and less wise than myself. No, what I care for is your spirit.” Glancing over at the other Zebra to presumably make sure she was also listening, the Longma continued, “As I said, you both did what you believe is right, in spite of everything around you. In spite of the battle of your tribes and being forced to nearly kill each other, in spite of getting lost and finding them again having ended the battle in such a horrific manner, in spite of being disillusioned with your tribe or watching them all burn...

“In spite of all of that, you two still sought each other out and befriended each other, escaping from your previous worlds to find someplace new to truly thrive.” Tianhuo paused for a moment, and in that silent moment, Twilight realized that she herself was shaking with emotion; some incomprehensible mix of pride, awe, dread, disbelief, denial, and fear, and she felt like she had to say something!

“B-but, I’ve made so many mistakes...” She muttered out, her voice wavering as the flaming creature looked keenly at her, “Even just now, I.. y-you saw how much pain Spike was in as we came here...”

Tianhuo nodded, and spoke in a calm, understanding tone, “Yet even then, you were doing your best to keep him from feeling it. There may have been mistakes there, but we all make many mistakes throughout our lives; even myself.” She hesitated for a moment, then smiled faintly, a hint of regret coming back, “I’ve already told you about my past grievances in the Academy, but there are so many more times where I’ve failed those close to me. Back with Fluttershy, I do feel as though I should’ve been watching her more carefully, as I knew she was already agitated from her late work, and that almost got you and Spike burned.”

Twilight pulled back, gasping in shock. The creature before her still seemed perfect, despite everything she had said about her past, and the Zebra herself couldn’t have imagined that was an actual mistake back then, just bad timing. But... seeing the honest regret and guilt in Tianhuo’s face really forced her to realize that the undefeatable fighting master that slayed a half-dozen magical beasts without a scratch to show for it actually did make mistakes. Even if that event with Fluttershy was hardly her fault, it was all just an honest mistake that could’ve been prevented if any of the creatures involved had done things a bit differently, if the Kirin tried to calm herself more, if Twilight was less pushy, or even if Spike tried to stop her...

“I suppose that makes sense,” Twilight muttered to herself, then slowly took a deep breath to try and collect herself before finally looking back at the Longma and saying with a sincere smile, “Well, thank you for helping me realize that... friend.”

Chapter 5: All the Sweeter

Twilight pushed open the door to the pink and blue shop, the sudden noise of bell ‘ding’ing as she did so, startling both her and Spike, who was sitting atop her saddlebag-laden back, and making them look up at the small golden bell hooked up to the top of the door. They paused for a moment in bewilderment, but any debate between them about the bell’s purpose was quickly tossed away when they heard a call from the other side of the shop.

“Hey,” The voice called, drawing both the Zebra and Changeling’s attention over towards what seemed to be a series of glass boxes lined up on the floor, many different pieces of what they’ve come to know is called ‘candy’ on different shelves within the boxes, all labeled and presented for any creature to view. The boxes did also separate out a small section of the main room behind them, behind which stood a Changeling with their attention turned towards them, a friendly smile on her face while a curly mane of pink and dark blue sprouted out of her head.

“Oh, hello there...” Twilight spoke back to her tentatively, not at all expecting her to be another Changeling, “I do believe Lyra is creature for which you care..?”

“Yep, you can call me Bon-Bon,” The Changeling replied in her faintly buzz-filled voice, waving them over towards her with a hoof. “You’re Twilight and Spike, right?”

“Er, yes, that’s true...” The Zebra responded, slightly wary as she moved slowly towards Bon-Bon, but also glanced back at Spike, who’s eyes were affixed onto the glass boxes with the candies inside. “How did you..?”

The other Changeling laughed a bit good-naturedly, and simply answered, “Lyra told me about you.” Getting a short ‘Oh’ in response, who was looking over the rest of the room with its pastel colours painted on all the booths and tables that filled much of the room, some creatures sitting amongst them and mostly ignoring the conversation, and all of it lit up by the daylight beaming in from the large windows that made up much of the wall the entrance door was on. “She said you’d probably like some of the stuff here, especially ‘cuz of your species..es.”

“...What do you mean by that?” Twilight asked as she stopped near the boxes in front of the other creature, “I thought these...” She gestured to the candies, “Mostly just served to make creatures fat.”

Bon-Bon raised an eyebrow for a moment, seeming somewhat amused as she replied, “I’ll try not to take too much offense to that.”

Suddenly realizing just how rude her comment sounded to the creature that made the candies, Twilight sharply pulled back and tried to apologize, “Ah, s-sorry! I didn’t--”

“It’s alright; I know you didn’t mean that,” The Changeling replied calmly, a smile still on her face as she watched the other creature try to settle down. “It’s the sugar that’s the main culprit,” She explained as she crouched down to look at some of the candies in the boxes (which Twilight suddenly realized were open on the back side), specifically at a tray of striped shiny swirls atop thin white sticks, “That stuff already causes problems in Ponies if they have too much, but other species that aren’t exposed to eating it by the barrel-load would end up even worse.” Pulling two of the candies off the tray with her green Changeling telekinesis magic, one of them made of blue and red swirls while the other was coloured white and green, she then pushed herself to stand back up at look at the Zebra, continuing, “The ones I make have a lot less sugar in them than Pony-made ones, and while they may taste odd to them, I’ve gotten a lot of other species that prefer these more.

“Of course, I’ll just let you judge these lollipops for yourself,” Bon-Bon finished as she presented the two candies, apparently known as ‘lollipops’, to Twilight and Spike, with the former looking at them for a moment before glancing at the candy-maker for a moment. Getting an encouraging smile in response, she tentatively reached for and grasped the stick of the blue and red lollipop with a hoof, then pulled it towards her face to examine it more closely. Spike, however, while still quite enamoured by the quantity of the candies, had taken to staring at the white and green one in Bon-Bon’s magic as she moved it over to him, letting him eagerly take a hold of it in his own magic and bring it close to his face, then swiftly lap at the surface of shiny part of the lollipop.

Seeing how her brother definitely enjoyed the taste of it, despite the supposedly lessened sugar amount than other candies he’s liked in the past, Twilight slowly took a lick at her own lollipop, and... “Oh, wow...”

“Nice, isn’t it?” She heard Bon-Bon ask, making her nod instinctively as she savoured the sweet taste of the candy that was nowhere near as overpowering as the stuff she’d had in the past. “Don’t worry about paying me for this, either; it’s on the house.”

Twilight took a few more licks at the lollipop in captivation, but did soon look up at what the other creature just said and asked in confusion, “...’house’?”

“Right, sorry,” The Changeling replied in something akin to guilt, “I just meant it’s free. You don’t have to pay for it.”

“...Oh,” Twilight muttered in response, then took another lick, incredibly intrigued by the flavour and how unique it was, before adding, “Well then... thank you, Bon-Bon.”

Nodding in thanks, Bon-Bon then gestured over to the main section of the room with all the booths and tables, saying, “Well, you can go sit down while you enjoy that. Don’t want you to get in the way of any other customers here.”

“Oh, right,” Twilight started, and spared a look at the other Changeling on her back, who was still lapping away at his own lollipop, making her roll her eyes and say, “Well, come on, Spike.”

The Zebra then begun trotting over towards the booths for a moment, spotting a pair next to the main window with no other creature sitting on them, but got stopped when she heard an almost-shout from behind her.

“Wait!” Bon-Bon sharply called out, making the two creatures stop in place and turn their heads back over to see her, some level of worry on their faces. “S-sorry, but... You don’t have anything important to do for the rest of the day, right?” At a hesitant shake of each of the other creatures’ heads, she requested, “Well, can you stay in my shop for a couple hours until I close it? I’d like to talk in private about...” She trailed off, seemingly not knowing what to say, but finished by gesturing to her body, likely signaling her species as a Changeling.

Twilight and Spike looked at each other for a moment in contemplation, both of them worried about what exactly the other creature wanted to talk about, but the latter was clearly still excited to be in a place filled with sweets, especially ones that didn’t make him ill. Twilight was less optimistic, weighing her options between simply leaving at that moment, leaving after they were done with their lollipops, or waiting as requested, and in the end, she knew she might as well oblige, given how unlikely it was other Changeling would harm either of them and how she had already gifted them some sweets as a sort of peace offering.

“..That’s alright with me,” The Zebra returned with a nod, and spotted the excited smile his brother had at her agreement, then glanced down at her saddlebags, and added, “Luckily I have some books I can read.” Looking back at Bon-Bon, who smiled and nodded in thanks, Twilight then resumed her trot over to the empty booth, feeling a little uncomfortable as she held her lollipop close to her chest while weaved through the tables, passing by the other creatures that sat around, still mostly ignoring her and Spike, before she eventually reached the booth itself.

Pausing for a moment to let Spike hop off her back and sit up onto the left booth, shuffling down towards the window as Twilight moved over to sit down as well, setting her lollipop carefully down on the table. Next, she reached down for the straps on her saddlebags to undo them and pull the bags off her, lifting them up and setting them onto the table, before opening them and pulling out the book about mathematics and setting it out. Hesitating for just a moment, Twilight decided to take the saddlebags back off the table first, placing them onto the wooden seat between herself and Spike, before finally being able to put the lollipop back into her mouth and open up her book and get to reading to let the time pass.

Multiple hours did indeed pass, and Twilight managed to learn some more things about basic algebra while the lollipop in her mouth slowly got whittled away by her saliva, leaving her with just the stick in far more time it took Spike to do the same. He, though, was just left bored by having to wait, and while he tried to pester his sister about getting more candy, she put her hoof down with how even if this candy was better than normal candies, he still shouldn’t be eating a lot of it at once. After that, and with nothing else to do, he just went to sleep leaning against his sister as she continued to read.

During that time, as the Sun slowly set with dimming light coming in through the window, Bon-Bon continued to work at her shop, greeting and selling her candies to customers of all species, with most just talking with a calm smile, some children popping in every now and then to make a bit of noise, but all were cowed by the candies before they left, and the occasional creature making a bit of a ruckus, though they were handled expertly by the calm, yet firm shopkeeper who’s no doubt seen it all before.

Eventually, though, as the night truly kicked in and some magical lanterns on the ceiling turned on, Bon-Bon talk to the few dwindling customers that remained so that they left before locking the door and turning around the ‘Open’ sign to have it say ‘Closed’, leaving her to sigh heavily in exhaustion as she headed over to the glass boxes, and turned her head to call out to the two customers still left inside, “I’ll be with you in a minute; I just need something to drink first.”

Taking her eyes off her book for a moment as she heard the Changeling speak, Twilight nodded in understanding as Bon-Bon went back behind the boxes and headed through a door on the wall behind them that the Zebra didn’t actually notice beforehand, throwing her off for a second before she shook her head and turned back to her book. A few more minutes passed in peaceful silence before that door opened back up with Bon-Bon trotting through it, closing it behind her before she approached her customers’ table.

Looking up from her book as she heard the other creature approaching, Twilight could clearly see just how tired she was from her slightly hanging head and drooping body, but also that she held a mug in her magic, steam wafting out of its top. Mentally marking her location in her book, Twilight then closed it before reaching down to open her saddlebags and put the book inside.

“Sorry about that,” Bon-Bon said as she got to the booth and sat down opposite her customers, taking a sip from her mug before setting it onto the table before her, which let the odd, somewhat bitter scent of it waft out towards the other creatures.

“What is that smell?” Twilight asked of her, unable to place it despite all her knowledge about plants and what could be made from them, “Its source I am unable to tell...”

“It’s coffee,” The Changeling explained, taking another drink of it, “It’s a stimulant of sorts, and it helps keep me awake. Normally this stuff’s actually pretty dangerous for my species due to it being so strong, but I’ve diluted it a bunch to help with that. I still wouldn’t recommend it to him, though,” She finished, gesturing to the other Changeling at the table, who was still sleeping against his sister’s side.

Looking down at Spike as well, Twilight commented in response, “..I suppose that makes sense.” Knowing that Bon-Bon wanted to talk about her own species in particular, she figured her brother would have some input as well, and wrapped a foreleg around his shoulder to shake him slightly. “Eating the sweets already seemed a bit up to chance.”

“Eh, you could say that,” Bon-Bon replied, sounding slightly thoughtful, which drew the Zebra’s attention. Shaking her head a bit, the shopkeeper elaborated, “Low-sugar candies were a bit of a hard sell at first, honestly. While Lyra can be a bit annoying, her shoving the idea down creatures’ throats pretty much forced them to try it out, which helped get all this off the ground.”

Nodding in (slightly amused and worried) understanding, Twilight looked back at Spike as he started to wake up, opening up his eyes to blink blearily at his sister.

“It certainly didn’t help that I had some pretty strong competition,” The other Changeling continued, her head tilting down slightly to look at Spike with a muddled mixture of emotions. “No doubt you’ve seen that pink Deer by now, Pinkie Pie,” She said, getting almost a wince from Twilight as she remembered that blindingly-excitable creature, “She works at another store, Sugarcube Corner, and they mostly work in baked goods, like donuts, scones, cupcakes, etcetera. All of them are very sugar filled and would no doubt cause a lot of problems in any of our bodies if we were to eat them, but other creatures around here love them and have loved them for years, so...

“Anyway, I know there’s definitely a market for low-sugar sweets in this town now that I’ve started this,” Bon-Bon turned her line of speaking a bit, still watching the younger Changeling wake up, his attention mostly on her words as he did so. “I don’t doubt that Pinkie and the other creatures that run the Corner have contemplated about making low-sugar versions of their own stuff to get customers from that area too, but you know why they don’t?” An intrigued look and ‘hm?’ from Twilight allowed her continue, “Because they’re better than that.”

Turning her head to look more fully at the other creature, Twilight replied uncertainly, “I’m.. not entirely sure what you mean. Could you please explain?”

Nodding with a hint of an amused smile, Bon-Bon swiftly answered, “If they were to actually sell that stuff, it would take away customers from me. The Corner’s already a bigger operation, with more creatures working there and more customers, so they want to take any sales away from me, who relies on this job very heavily.”

Twilight nodded slowly as she processed the information, with many of the terms going over her head, but... “If I understand this correctly, them selling low-sugar sweets would harm you indirectly?”

“That’s right,” The Changeling responded, leaning back in her seat and lifting her mug to take another drink of it before going on, “I know you don’t really like Pinkie all that much, but I can assure you she’s a good creature. She never gives the best first impression, with literally being ‘in-your-face’ and all, but I really think you ought to know how hard she tries to help everyone else around her.”

Hearing Spike scoff at it, Twilight turned her attention down to him as he said, some sleep still clear in his voice, “Yeah, that’s an understatement. She only stopped being really annoying after we almost threw a potion at her face.”

Snorting a bit at the memory herself, the Zebra felt a little guilty as she turned back to the creature across from them, empathy written on her face. “Well, we’ll try to keep that in mind, just.. in case we see her or her kind.”

Yawning as he finished waking up, Spike changed the conversation as he said to Bon-Bon, “Yeah. Cool to see another Changeling around here though. Especially one that isn’t all... you know.” A slightly amused, yet moreso solemn smile came up on the shopkeeper’s face, and Twilight remembered how he’d already said how strict and mindless the hives usually are. “Not exactly sure what happened to your mane, though,” Spike also remarked a bit tactlessly.

“Well, yes,” Bon-Bon muttered in reply, glancing up at her pink and blue mane for a moment, then looked at Twilight to ask, “You already know we’re shapeshifters, right?” Getting a nod back from the Zebra, she continued speaking to both of the other creatures, “This whole thing is just a change on my base form, really just because it makes me feel more... me, if that makes sense.

“Like, I could...” She continued for a second, then with a quick flash of her Changeling magic, a green flame wrapped around her mane, emerging from one side and swiftly shooting across to the other, leaving her mane completely gone behind it with only the typical very dark green ‘fin’ in its place. “...do this, but now I’m just a normal drone, not.. Bon-Bon.”

“Yeah, I got it...” Spike replied slightly offhandedly, his attention seemingly taken a bit elsewhere by his thoughts as he analyzed the other Changeling’s appearance for a few seconds, eventually saying, “You’re an.. A-class, right?”

Humming and nodding in agreement, Bon-Bon swiftly flashed her mane back its previous form, and Twilight could definitely agree it fit her a lot better, but her attention was far more taken by what the shopkeeper replied in a slightly hesitant manner with, “Number 192, under Princess Embioptera...”

“Huh, I’ve heard about her..” Spike muttered back, tilting his head a bit, but just as quickly shook it off to reply, “Well, I’m TC304.”

Bon-Bon raised an eyebrow, saying in a bit of awe, “The Queen, huh?” Smiling genuinely as she leaned forward with an elbow on the table, forehoof supporting her head.

“Um, sorry to interrupt,” Twilight felt like she needed to interject, “But what exactly are you meaning? I have known of his... ‘ID’, and have found it very demeaning...”

Turning to the Zebra, Bon-Bon took a moment before replying, “Sorry, I was just a bit surprised...” Putting her hooves back down and taking another drink of her coffee, she then cleared her throat before explaining, “Well, I should probably start with the entire reason we have IDs in the first place, and that’s because were generally all replaceable. You already know about the general way our hives are structured, right?”

“Yes, Spike has told me so,” Twilight answered, feeling somewhat perturbed as she recalled the way he described it, “The Queen was at the top, with all others utterly below.”

“It’s part of our physiology, so try not to feel that bad about us,” The Changeling slightly admonished, clearly noting the other creature’s tone. “We’re made in droves, clutches of at least fifteen each, and are all completely mindless at birth. It tends to be kept that way for multiple years, with only experiencing the outside world as the main thing that can make a Changeling become properly sentient.

“I only got that because of my class, being an A, which stands for Assassin,” Bon-Bon continued, making her Zebra customer pull back in shock, but she quickly clarified, “Most of what we do isn’t actually assassination, mind you; it’s moreso just spying, but A is just the classification we’re given.” Twilight was clearly still put off, but mostly acquiesced at her explanation and let her gesture to her brother and continue, “Spike here has the T class, which means Thief, and I will say they do certainly steal.

“I imagine Spike’s made you aware of how Changelings feed off of emotion?” She asked, getting a nod from both of the other creatures, “Well, Thieves are meant to steal large quantities of those emotions and store it in their bellies. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but his barrel is actually very soft, and that’s because of how much his belly is supposed to expand in order to store a lot of excess emotion that gets transported back to feed the hive.”

Twilight nodded as she digested the information, taking a second or two before turning her head to Spike, who looked back at her and nodded in response. “Yeah, that’s information we’re taught pretty early to help us work together better.”

“Yes, and also...” Bon-Bon interrupted, getting a very intrigued and slightly overwhelmed Twilight to turn her attention back to her, “You can see that my horn’s a lot larger than his,” She pointed to her horn and then to Spike’s, “And while part of that is obviously because he is younger and smaller than me in general, the other reason I because I’m an Assassin, and having stronger magic with more control is really helpful when blending in and trying to stay hidden.”

“...Okay...” Twilight muttered, closing her eyes for a few seconds as she processed everything she was told, with the classes of Changelings clicking in her mind. It was clear to her those numbers were the number of that type Bon-Bon and Spike were, with the multiple other classes there must’ve been meaning were at least thousands of Changelings in each hive! And that wasn’t even accounting for one other thing...

“And, as for this Princess, you called her?” She asked of Bon-Bon, “What exactly.. is her position of power?”

Taking a moment to close her eyes and nod almost solemnly, the Changeling took another sip of her coffee, and seemed to finish it given the distinct noise it made, and set the mug back down before beginning, “Her name is Princess Embioptera, and she rules over her hive of Changelings, much like the other Princess and Queen Chrysalis herself, who rules over the primary hive. Princess Embioptera has always been very careful and conniving, with any enemies getting manipulated away from her hive before they can become a real threat.”

Nodding slowly once more, Twilight pondered on the nature of that Princess for a moment, with the general knowledge that her manipulation likely wasn’t isolated to her enemies, and as Bon-Bon told her about becoming more sentient with finding out about the outside world, she had a hunch... “Perhaps I am reaching here, but did this Princess of yours lead you through fear?”

The Changeling looked at her for a second, seeming to think about a response, then tilted her head in a sort of amused manner. “I won’t say that’s untrue,” She began carefully, “But once again, our very minds and bodies are made with the sole purpose to serve our ruler. I don’t think she ever did a bad job as Princess, and she never tortured any of us.” Staring more directly into the Zebra’s eyes, she continued more passionately, “She’s not evil, and if you’re asking if that’s why I left, then you’re wrong.”

Pulling back and lowering her head in regret, Twilight quickly apologized, “S-sorry for assuming about that, then. I...” Taking a deep breath, she lifted her gaze to look back at the creature across from her, “I am mostly concerned with why you’re no longer in her den.”

“Yeah...” Bon-Bon replied with a mostly assenting shrug, and took a glance at Spike before adding, “It is pretty weird to see a Changeling living outside the hive, after all.”

There was a bit of an awkward silence after that, with the three creatures sitting there for multiple seconds, Twilight taking a quick look outside the window at the starry sky with the moon still not seen above the houses, but it was ultimately Spike that broke the silence, asking the other Changeling, “So, if the Princess isn’t the reason you left, then what is it?”

Pursing her lips and looking at him for a moment, Bon-Bon turned her head to look out the window, but it didn’t seem to be an annoyed dismissal of the question; no, it was moreso like she didn’t know what to say...

It took several more seconds of silent contemplation on the older Changeling’s part, but she eventually spoke, “...Honestly? It was mostly Lyra.”

Twilight tilted her head, and she had a hunch as to what the other creature meant, but she had already pushed her luck before and now chose not to respond. Thankfully though, Spike wasn’t so hesitant and asked Bon-Bon, “Really?”

Nodding slowly, Bon-Bon paused a little bit longer before explaining to the other of her species, “You know how it feels, to... be within your hive. This... urge to serve your ruler, with no other goal within your mind, and no obstacle you’re not willing to try and push through.” Turning her head back to lock eyes with Spike, she continued with enflamed passion, “I had already became sentient before I had ever met Lyra, and it was only by sheer chance that she saw me with my disguise down from my exhausting trek to Ponyville. But, unlike many others I’ve met, she wasn’t repulsed by my appearance or parasitic way of life; no, she was enthralled by it.

“She’s always been a very curious creature, even if I’ve helped her tone down the overwhelmingness it can manifest in, which you no doubt remember from meeting her,” Bon-Bon continued, some wistful ‘oh, you’ vibes creeping into her voice, and Twilight was growing certain about the strength of her feelings toward Lyra, “She definitely made me uncomfortable back when I met her, poking and prodding me, both metaphorically and literally, as she tried to figure out the way our species worked, but... she ended up making me feel safe.

“As my sentience and knowledge of other creatures’ culture grew, I started to get.. attached to that feeling,” The Changeling kept going further, her tone now becoming more somber and... regretful, almost. “In Princess Embioptera’s hive, and probably in all hives, honestly, “There’s this feeling of...” She gestured widely, clearly uncertain of her words as she started speaking more towards Twilight than Spike, “It’s like, some mix of both dread and relief. It’s... well, we’re replaceable, and while that may ensure how we’d never be saved without a truly reason, it also means it doesn’t matter if we fail at something, as some other Changeling will always end up doing it in our stead.”

Taking a few breaths, Bon-Bon let her gaze fall down to the table, and her words only became more unsure as she resumed, “With Lyra, I felt.. unique, a-and special... and I didn’t like that feeling. It was alien to me, and went against everything I was made to be and wasn’t ever something I felt like I earned, but... as I continued my mission, staying within Ponyville and with Lyra herself, as I learned more about other creatures and started to empathize with them more, I started to like that feeling.

“I... started to care less and less about how I was meant to be just another drone who never earned a Name, and instead I used the name Lyra gave me.” Her cheeks turned the slightest shade of green while she glanced over to the glass boxes that contained the sweets she clearly loved to make, and she finished, “After the candy she helped me make.”

The silence came back over the three creatures, but it was more calm this time around, with all of them thinking about the speech that was just given, the emotion infused into it so very clear in each of their minds. For her part, Twilight was starting to understand just how little she knew about Changelings and their culture, with the replaceability at their core running counter to any and every piece of advice she’d be taught as part of her tribe, and being even more contradictory when coming to the way she thought about creatures. She had heard of things like that before from Spike, but this example, this bearing of one’s soul really put into perspective just how different it all was to her.

“So...” Spike began, startling Twilight a bit as she looked down to him, “How did you manage to leave the hive for her? There’s no way Princess Embioptera wouldn’t have had you executed for treason if she knew about you abandoning her.”

Twilight shivered a bit at the casual mention of such a quick and violent sentence, but now knowing what she knew about Changeling society, she didn’t bother doubting it, and instead turned her attention to Bon-Bon as she responded, “Obviously. That’s why I didn’t let her know about it.” At the confused looks from the other creatures, she pointed at her deathly-sharp horn and elaborated, “I am an Assassin-class, remember? Any of the changelings sent in my stead that I had to kill, I ended up making it look like the creatures of this town killed them, so any other Changeling, including Princess Embioptera, would just figure that I was another victim of them.”

Shuddering a bit further at more mentions of killing, Twilight leaned back into her seat and took a deep breath, images of creatures she’d seen die flashing through her mind, and she just couldn’t comprehend how either of the Changelings could bring themselves to do that... How they could possibly end someone, with all the years they’ve lived amounting to nothing, and the years they had yet to live getting cut short... and they speak about doing so like it was normal.

Of course, that’s probably because it was normal to them, with the threat of death looming over them at all times, both having it happen to them and doing it to others...

Suddenly, though, Twilight felt something brush down her mane, and she closed her eyes and took some deep breaths, feeling just how weak and shaky her breathing had gotten from her panic. Taking some more time in the quiet blackness of her closed eyes, she evened out her breathing and tried to relax.

Eventually, she opened her eyes back up and looked over to her brother, still feeling his hoof brushing through mane and she said, “T-thank you, Spike.” Smiling at him to help assure him she was okay, she then looked over at the other Changeling, who was clearly somewhat worried as she looked back.

“Are you alright?” Bon-Bon asked, that same worry also in her voice.

Twilight nodded quickly in response, and took a second to gather her words before saying, “Yes, I am well. Just... what you said led me to... dwell.”

Bon-Bon nodded and looked away, replying with a level of guilt, “Sorry. Sometimes I forget that... well, death isn’t that common for other creatures.” Glancing back at getting a nod of relative understanding from the Zebra while Spike took his hoof off her mane, Bon-Bon then returned her gaze to the window, and seemed to be thinking uncertainly about something.

“I honestly...” The Changeling started, hardly sure of her own words as she trailed off, taking a couple seconds before looking back towards her customers and resuming, “I feel like doing all of that might have had some... side-effects.” Seeing the confusion on their faces, she elaborated, “Princess Embioptera isn’t really on good terms with Equestria, and despite their replaceability, she’d still take issue with her subjects dying to this nation, and might... well, you might be able to guess the consequences by now.”

Twilight and Spike returned a shaky nod and worried look respectively, the latter deciding to add, “And obviously you can’t explain it to them...” Given everything that had already been said, Twilight could already tell what that implied, and she was forced to take another deep breath. While she knew she could trust Spike and Bon-Bon, the way their species worked was starting to make her uneasy around them in some regard.

“I can’t take any of it back,” Bon-Bon said, her tone that of acceptance of her past mistakes, and she grew a sad smile as she added, “Now I just gotta keep going with the life I have now with Lyra.”

Twilight was taken aback by the level of regret in her tone, especially with how calm and casual the Changeling seemed to be, but it was also clear just how much she loved and devoted herself to Lyra. But, there was something else in her expression as well, and it seemed almost.. empathetic, as though she could tell both Twilight and Spike had made mistakes in their pasts as well and was trying to tell them something...

Thankfully, Twilight was given a reprieve from trying to think about that when Spike stirred, drawing keen attention from both the other creatures as he looked both amused and confused, then asked of the other Changeling, “I wanted to ask earlier, but what exactly is the deal with her?” Getting a bewildered and slightly offended look from Bon-Bon, he seemed to rethink his words, and then specify, “I mean, the--uh, the way she sits is very weird.”

“Oh!” Bon-Bon gasped in sudden understanding, and dropped her glare to smile apologetically and reply, “That is pretty odd, isn’t it?” Her smile turned both more genuine and more baffled as she answered, “Well, apparently she’s gotten obsessed with myths about an odd race of bipedal creatures--by that, I mean they stand on two legs, like... most dragons, if you’ve ever seen them?” Getting a hesitant, partially understanding nod from both the other creatures, she continued, “These creatures, I think she called them... ‘Hyoo-mans’?

“Um... Lyra’s always described as industrious and technological, their inherent and utter lack of magic pushing them to create things that might have well have been magic.” Very intrigued looks, especially from Twilight, prompted Bon-Bon to further elaborate, “They supposedly made small bricks filled with wires that do many different things, like compute mathematics, take photographs, record and play music... but it also was connected to this massive network of different but similar devices that allowed for instant communication across the world and predictions of weather patterns.

“Uh...” Looking directly back at Twilight, who was leaning very far forward over the table in immense interest (to put it lightly), Bon-Bon cleared her throat and added with a hint of concern, unable to keep her eyes off the Zebra, “I will say again, these are only myths, not actual records, so there’s no real evidence of this race ever existing at any point...”

Blinking for multiple seconds as the sudden surge of curiosity faded with the knowledge that it may have all been made up, Twilight needed a moment to realize just what she was doing, and how uncomfortable it was making the Changeling across from her. Swiftly jerking back and looking guiltily at her, she quickly moved to apologize, “S-sorry about that! I, um...”

“I-it’s alright…” Bon-Bon replied hesitantly, though clearly tried to be reassuring. “You get very invested in these things; I get it. Lyra’s a lot worse at times, honestly.”

Nodding quickly and laughing guiltily at herself, Twilight settled uncomfortably back into her seat, keeping her eyes away from the other creatures to not feel further embarrassed at her behavior.

“Anyway...” Bon-Bon then spoke, her tone clearly trying to divert the conversation as she looked at the other Changeling, and asked of him, “Spike, right?”

“Er, yep,” He replied, seeming a bit startled by suddenly being asked something.

“I know you’ve heard a lot about why I’m out of my hive, but what about you?” Bon-Bon asked, sounding genuinely curious. “Like I said before, living outside a hive is far from normal...”

Spike nodded at the assessment, and his head turned towards Twilight for a moment in questioning, and as the Zebra was calming back down, she caught his look and nodded back at him, already having been told his past, but believing it would be best for him to tell it himself.

“A-alright, well...” He started hesitantly, looking back towards Bon-Bon, “I was still just a drone when it happened, so I don’t really remember everything very clearly...” He shifted a bit in his seat, and continued uncertainly, “I know I was out on a mission far out in the Badlands desert, with the black cracked ground serving as good camouflage for us. Something must’ve startled us--that being me and some other Changelings--out of our group and into hiding around, but I didn’t find them after that. I wandered around for a while, and probably would’ve died if I wasn’t found by Twilight...” He turned to look up at her, trailing off as she looked back and they both recalled those distant moments where they found each other.

“...I was outside my tribe for a break,” Twilight picked up the story, still keeping her eyes locked on her beloved younger brother, “Very far away, just so I could think. But I then found him, starving and broken... My own tribe would’ve easily left him to end. But I was different, and kept him alive on my own.. even if how to keep him alive was very much unknown.” Sighing in a mix of exhaustion and pain from her past, she lifted a hoof and put it on Spike’s shoulder, then turned to Bon-Bon, who was clearly invested in the story. “It took me a while to figure out what he should eat.. until I learned it was not grass nor meat. Thankfully, emotions are common enough, but the ones in my tribe were typically quite... rough.

“But, I still did what I needed to keep him alive,” She continued, her voice only growing more passionate as time went on, and she leaned towards her brother as well, “It took so much effort to let him thrive.. and that’s one of the main reasons we moved here; a friend of mine told of this place’s lack of fear. By then though, I started to notice something with Spike...” A smile crept onto her face, small and tired, but awe-struck and utterly loving, “He was far more than the mindless drone I met on that hike.”

Bon-Bon smiled back at the both of them from across the table, clearly touched by their care for each other, but for Spike and Twilight themselves, a quiet moment of reminiscing on the good times they had in the past was sorely needed after the dark stories of Changelings’ replaceability. They were hardly even hugging, but just keeping their hooves on each other’s back was enough to keep them stable, and knowing that despite whatever else they’d have to deal with in this town, they’d be able to do it together.

Chapter 6: Clashing With Colours

This whole place was still quite unfamiliar to her. The entire wall space of the main room was taken up by nothing but shelves half-full with books, all bound in hard paper and written with uniformly printed ink, with their individual scents of dry bark suffusing the entire room and giving it a sense of preserved age that felt so eerie to her. It was quite silent as well, with no bubbling cauldrons or wandering Zebra about to wrench it any further from the sense of dread she felt within it—really the only thing she could hear was some light breezes and quiet birdsong from outside, but even that wasn’t all that known to her, due to her her previous home being in a desert.

Twilight eyed the room warily as she stood in the doorway of what was called a ‘kitchen’, making minimal use of the strange enchanted appliances to heat or cool something at will to make what could charitably considered ‘breakfast’ behind her, and looked across the massive swath of books with a question long since lodged in her mind: why in the world did anyone need this much knowledge in one place?

It made some sense to the Zebra, to keep all the knowledge a settlement may need in one place, just to keep things tidy, but surely even the some hundreds of creatures that lived in this town did not need this much knowledge...

Knock knock-knock!

The sudden noise of someone knocking on a door startled her, making her sharply crouch downwards and quiet her breathing, rendering the silence of the building even more tense for the couple seconds before the door slowly opened up, and someone peeked through, calling out into the room, “Yoo-hoo, Darling! Is there anyone home?”

The voice was feminine and elegant to an outright alien degree, and as its owner stepped inside, rather visible in the dim light of dawn as a type of Pony, though one clearly distinct from those Twilight was familiar with, what with the odd type of bat wings on her side—however, there was a more important question on the Zebra’s mind, which she spoke as she answered cautiously, “Yes, there very much is, but why is someone else on these premises?”

The Pony swiftly looked over, not seeming too startled by the sudden voice, and she smiled friendlily over at the Zebra, though did look a bit befuddled as she replied, “It’s a public library, dear. I do trust you are the librarian here, and not simply a creature hiding out from the night?”

“‘Librarian’?” Twilight replied quizzically while she composed herself, standing up and moving over to the Pony, getting a better view of her. “I’m unfamiliar with the term. But, I do live in this, overgrown fern.”

The other creature tilted her head and smiled with some amusement, no doubt at the imperfect rhyming, but then simply asked, “You must’ve just moved in, yes?” Getting a tentative nod from the Zebra in response, she closed and nodded in understanding. “I see, you must be unfamiliar with quite a lot of the culture here in Equestria, Darling. I was somewhat as well, but...” She sighed theatrically, and softly kicked the door behind her closed, before then heading closer to the other creature.

“I imagine you’re already aware of the general purpose of this building,” The winged Pony begun as she trotted further inside, her hooves clacking in a remarkably refined manner along the wooden flooring, but when she opened her eyes back up to look at Twilight, clearing wanting a response from her, she could see the very distinct red those eyes were. Gulping lightly, the Zebra nodded again, letting the other creature continue, gesturing to the walls of the room and saying, “Obviously, you can see the myriads of books around here.

“This is...” The Pony started for a moment, but trailed off, seeming to wonder on something for a time, and then turned to Twilight and questioned, “You likely have some sort of communal section of the settlement where you’re from, yes?”

Nodding once more, the Zebra could easily recall the way her tribe’s home was set up, and carefully responded, “I very much can, yes... Some of our land was for individual rest, however much of it was, to bathe and cook, though these spaces didn’t need so many books.”

“Ah, of course,” The other creature replied, still quite understanding, “But here, due to all of the different creatures with varying interests, it’s quite useful to have so much knowledge in one place. Take myself, for example,” She spoke, putting a hoof to her chest, “Right now, I am looking for a book on the history of Hippogryph fashion. It’s hardly something anyone would look for on any other occasion than one such as myself being inspired into looking into it, but, it will no doubt be quite useful to me right now.

“Though...” She continued, her smile turning a bit guilty as she stopped in place, “You’re probably more concerned about why someone you don’t know is in your home.”

Twilight had taken note of the mild tangent for what it was, but wasn’t quite able to fully think with those blood red eyes so focused upon her, but now with their owner silent for a spell, she was free to figure out the reason for that question. “The way you spoke, it’s what this place is. Not.. mine alone, but for all the creatures around these premises.”

“Indeed!” The Pony cheered, but a thought seemed to occur to her and she added, “But, I do believe you ought to speak to the mayor ab—the um, local leader around here,” She quickly defined, getting a nod from the other creature before she continued, “About making your status as the librarian—that being the one who works this place, knowing in general where individual books are and how to find them—official.”

“Oh...” Twilight muttered in return, recalling some of what Zecora had recently told her about how creatures tended to live in Equestria, “This would be my ‘job’, then? To help others around this.. den?”

“That’s right, Darling,” The other creature confirmed with that smile of her, which the Zebra was starting to notice held a pair of prominent fangs... “And, of course, you will be compensated for your work. This place is rather infrequently used by most, but still quite important, as is your capacity to hold this place day and night, which, I believe, is why it contains both personal living space as well as the library itself.”

Pulling in a breath and nodding in understanding, Twilight was thankful that any privacy wasn’t going to be robbed of her, even though it seemed like mere paranoia before. “Good to know about that, mare... but, I may be familiar with many creatures in this town’s air, though I can’t say I’ve seen your race before. I know you’re a Pony, but nothing more.”

“Ah, my apologies, Darling,” The Pony replied, and then stood up a bit straighter, swung her head about to flash her silky purple mane, and unfurled her wings in a proud manner, where she spoke, “I am a Thestral, a bat-like Pony that lives under the Moon... and you may call me Rarity.”

Blinking at the somewhat ostentatious display, Twilight did still feel free to observe the mare freely for a moment, taking note of the Thestral’s smooth white coat and purple tail, styled in a coil and just as cared for as her mane. The Pony’s Mark was also visible within the light of dawn, showing itself as three stylized diamonds on her flank, no doubt representing the mare’s gaudiness in some manner.

Regardless, Twilight looked back up to the Thestral’s face, her eyes tracked on the Zebra as she watched her with a raised eyebrow, making her feel a little embarrassed for a moment, but then Twilight realized it was more of a prompting look than a judging one. Shaking herself, she held a hoof to her chest and responded, “A-and I’m known as Twilight, a Zebra shamaness... neophyte.”

“Ah, I’ve certainly heard of Zebras before,” Rarity noted, tilting her head and observing the creature in question, “They certainly tend to keep away from Equestria. How nice to finally see one in the fur...” She trailed for a moment, her expression dimming as she seemed to observe Twilight a bit more intently. “We... do have another in this town, though...” Looking back up at her eyes, she asked skeptically, “You wouldn’t happen to know of them, would you?”

“..You mean the one in the cursed forest?” Twilight asked in response, and got a curt nod back, “Yes, she’s a friend of mine, and very.. much....?” She herself trailed off as she heard something outside, and a moment later, the front door rattled as if from a strong gust of wind. Leaving the thought for now, both the Zebra and the Thestral looked over at the door, where after a moment—

BANG!

“Oh...” “Rainbow Dash...”

“Yep, that’s me!” The rainbow-maned Hippogryph cheered out as she flew inside, staying aloft and smirking over at Rarity with overly ecstatic expression on her face... one that was borderline manic, for whatever reason. “No idea what you’re doing here, but I heard that the new Daring Do book finally came out and—”

“Oh, that...” Rarity grumbled, rolling her eyes in incredible exasperation. Sighing as she threw a sympathetic glance at Twilight, she looked back over to Rainbow and spoke strainingly, “Darling... you ought to know by now that it takes a while to get those things shipped here, yes?”

Scoffing and waving a claw, the Hippogryph blithely retorted, “Oh, come on, it can’t be that bad! It’s just a single book!”

“You’re not the only one who likes those books, Rainbow,” The Pony shot back, keeping a defensive glare at the other creature, “And if you’re really so adamant, why don’t you just fly on over to Cloudsdale or Canterlot and pick it up yourself? Surely that wouldn’t be such a task for ‘the fastest flyer in Equestria’, hm?”

“What, like I want to go through all that effort when I have stuff I got to do here?! I gotta work on my tricks for the Wonderbolts, and I gotta eat and nap a bunch to maintain this bod!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed in return, and when Rarity was about to reply, she sharply added, “And my job, which is pretty important. Keeping the storms at bay, making sure all the farms get enough rain... it’s tough work, and the rest of weather team would have a heck of a time without me!”

“Says the one that always sneers at how ‘easy’ it is, and is late to more often that not...” The Thestral muttered, glaring more openly at the Hippogryph with a faint blood lust in her eyes.

Rather exhausted of the irritating weather creature herself, but wanting to end things calmly, Twilight spoke up, “You have some concerning priorities, Rainbow.. but we don’t have this book you want, so you may as well go.”

“Well, why don’t you have it!?” Rainbow shouted back, flapping up a bit higher in the air and throwing her arms in consternation, “Why’s this place even exist if you can’t the books creatures actually want to read!?”

“Rainbow Dash...” Rarity then spoke, her voice low and full of anger as she took one step forward, stomping on the floor hard enough to echo through the entire room, “I do understand why you care so little for so many books, but you must understand that they still do hold value for many creatures. Many nonfictional textbooks exist here to help the young ones learn about anything they need or want to, and fictional stories of all sorts provide them with differing entertainment based on what they like about stories.

“You are but one single creature, Rainbow Dash,” The Thestral continued scathingly, a faint lisp sneaking into her voice as her fangs became bared and her lengthy, forked tongue slithered in her maw, seemingly hungry for the blood of the incessantly foolish Hippogryph before its owner, “And while I do know how popular these bookss are, it only came out a few dayss ago, and any medium-scale shipment from Canterlot happens at a specific point in time, irrespective of your desiress. Do you understand me?”

Rainbow had grown a bit pale at the blazing red glare of the bat-Pony, and the flapping of her wings slowed somewhat, though still kept her above the floor, and she could only reply with a muddled, “Y-yes, ma’am...”

Rarity’s glare and her posture, tensed as it was, lightened up a bit, and she replied, “Well, good. Though, you really ought to be more respectful of other creatures by now, Rainbow. Especially given how they have their own problems and may not be able to attend to yours.”

Twilight got a bit startled when the Thestral turned to her, the crimson of her eyes seeming to nearly glow with waning anger, and the Zebra definitely understood why Rainbow was so shaken by them. However, Rarity did seem to notice it, and averted her eyes just a bit, giving a guilty smile in apology, which let Twilight calm down and look back over to Rainbow Dash—she did have her own thoughts on what the Hippogryph did, and it seemed as though Rarity was allowing her to voice them.

“I.. may not be familiar with the books of this nation,” She spoke tentatively, that very unfamiliarity leaking into her voice, “But I do such works often contain vital information. I do believe this story you speak to be not real...” She paused for a moment, glancing over at the Thestral beside her, who nodded in affirmation, “Though.. I can still tell you care for it a great deal. Despite this, it is still fake, so any priority would go to works with greater stakes... I do not know how I would acquire these books regardless.. especially of those that I am so knowledgeless.”

A beat passed in silence, and Twilight could only imagine the other creatures taking understanding of her atypical speech for a moment, but then Rarity gasped with a hint of dread audible before she spoke in a high-strung manner, “Uh, Darling, you do mean of Equestria’s fiction in general, yes?”

Bewildered, the Zebra could only reply, “Um, yes? Though, why did you digress..?”

Rainbow seemed to pick up on it as well, though took a short while longer before asking in borderline disbelief, “Wait, do you not know who Daring Do is!?”

“Uh—” Twilight sputtered back, even more baffled by the derailing train of thought.

“Wait, no—!” Rarity tried to speak up, but the Hippogryph had already started.

“Well, that’s one heck of shame!” Rainbow exclaimed, ignorant of other two creatures’ emotions, “Daring Do is AWESOME! She’s a Cheetah treasure hunter that goes through ancient temples and crypts to get a bunch of crazy treasure, dealing with all the crazy traps in there, and saving a bunch of creatures from evil maniacs! This new one’s all about a temple in the desert...” She continued to ramble, but Twilight begun to tune her out and looked over at Rarity, who was hanging her head in visible frustration.

Moving a bit closer to the Thestral, she hesitantly asked of her, “Is Rainbow usually like this..?”

Rarity slowly nodded in confirmation, still keeping her head low as she muttered a curse under her breath. “I was trying to avoid this... Usually she is infuriatingly ignorant and brushes off anything that would be of concern, but this is one of two things she gets this.. mad about. And unfortunately...” She turned her head up just enough to look Twilight in the eyes, and she added with great dread, “I am going to need to jump out of the fire and into the frying pan.”

Not elaborating on the strange metaphor, the Thestral righted her posture and turned towards the yapping Hippogryph and shouted at her, “RAINBOW DASH!”

“...course, then the aliens—er, whah?” Rainbow sputtered at being interrupted, thankfully being more befuddled than irate, and focused back down on the creatures on the floor.

“I was actually planning on meeting you this afternoon, as I’ve finished that order of yours,” Rarity spoke, her tone more professional than usual, though likely no more than a mask above her lingering anger.

“Oh, sweet!” The flying creature cheering, pumping her forelegs before quickly asking of the Thestral, “So I can go ahead and pick that up at your shop, yeah?”

“Yes, but—” Rarity confirmed and attempted to say something else, but Rainbow had already jetted off through the main door that she had left open, the wave of air from her sudden take-off swept across the rest of the room and the two creatures left behind.

The Pony’s mouth was kept open for a couple seconds after Rainbow’s rude escape, before eventually it snapped shut with a loud clack, and she kept her gaze on the still-open door. “I do so hate to ask this of you, dear Twilight,” She spoke to the Zebra next to her, who was still somewhat mentally recovering from the Hippogryph’s madness, “But I believe I’ll need someone to accompany me back. I fear that if I’m left alone with that Rainbow Dash...” She turned her head just enough to let Twilight see those red eyes of hers, now seeming that they were truly glowing with bloodlust, “That I will end up killing her.”

A short time later, Twilight and Rarity hastily walked back to the extravagant Carousal Boutique, which was one of the few places the Zebra recalled from her stressful entrance into the town, where it served as both a home and place of work for Rarity. It was the troublesome nature of this most recent client of hers that kept them on edge, and had Twilight bring along her saddlebags, holding a few specific potions and other alchemical supplies to help deal with the Hippogryph—and of course, she made sure to leave a note for Spike, in case he woke up before she managed to get back to the library.

The town had gotten a bit brighter during their walk, with the Sun hanging just above the horizon, much to Rarity’s chagrin. She held one of her wings up to the side of her face to block the light as they neared the building, but with the front door thrown wide open, it was clear things were only going to get worse.

“Grr, what was I thinking..!?” The Thestral swore to herself, but Twilight could hear her just fine, “Keeping that door unlocked for any length of time was a mistake, especially with poor Sweetie...”

Twilight had remained silent for most of the trip, not having anything to say to the Pony leading her, but said Pony’s continued grousing made her more and more assured in her decision to bring those potions along. As they finally arrived at the shop itself, Rarity put down her wing to trot into the surprisingly dark interior and Twilight tentatively followed her, finding that the entire main room was veiled in a level of darkness, only broken by the sunlight coming in from the door behind her, as all the windows had been covered up with thick curtains.

The room itself was filled with at least a couple dozen metal racks, which each had several pieces of clothing hung from them on strange triangular hooks, many of which... didn’t seem to cover much of a creature’s body. Some were still proper clothing, though rather ostentatious and glittery, but most were composed of strange triangles, thin socks, and fancy saddles that the tribal Zebra had no clue the purpose of. However, it still rung with a sense of exclusivity, with the no-doubt expensive and fragile clothing all wrapped in the room’s darkness, and it made her feel.. uncomfortable, as though she wasn’t supposed to be there.

Rarity did invite her inside though, and so Twilight kept following her deeper into the room, where the Thestral gave some more aggravated grunts as she adjusted some of the clothing on the racks, righting them from their presumably incorrect positions. Eventually, they reached another door at the back of the room, which was also wide open and letting out some noises of things being opened and closed, as well as wings flapping and annoyed grumbling.

“RAINBOW DAAASH!!” Rarity screamed through the door, her gaze landing on something—likely the disruptive Hippogryph—through the impregnable darkness, where the creature in question could be heard setting something down before flapping her wings to move into view of the door.

“I know, I know,” Rainbow muttered somewhat nonchalantly, not seeming to pay much attention to the other creatures, “I just wanna get my suit and head back to Clouds—”

“Shut your mouth right now,” The Thestral commanded, that edge to her voice coming back stronger than ever and silencing Rainbow, her blood-red eyes boring into the other creature’s, who despite still seeming a bit distracted, was clearly perturbed at a fundamental level by them, her wing-flaps slowing down again. “You have no right to enter my shop and mess with my works like this, you damned fool. You still have more than two days to get back there, so do not tell me you are in any urgency!”

The continued berating started to pull the Hippogryph back into that trance, where now even Twilight could feel the power of those rage-fueled eyes, making it so very difficult to look away, or even move under the pulse-pounding fear of invoking the mare’s wrath... “I do have the finished suit, Rainbow...” Rarity spoke more slowly now, tempering her emotions while keeping both other creatures under that spell, “But it is in a protected place where disgraces like you won’t ruin them.

“Honestly, Rainbow, you ought to have learned even a little respect by this point in your life,” The Thestral scolded, sighing and finally pulling her gaze down to the floor for moment, breaking the hold it had on Rainbow, but before she could move or speak, Rarity quickly looked back up and added, “And I really ought to charge more to deal with clients as rude as yourself!”

Her words did seem to sink into the Hippogryph, who stayed silent for a moment while she kept herself aloft with her lethargic flaps, but eventually took in a breath and looked the thestral in the eyes to say tentatively, “Right. Um, I just wanted as much time as possible to prepare for the training, and I didn’t really know where to look, and this place is pretty dark—”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Rarity cut her off once more, tilting her head slightly in an almost deranged anger, “Are you really blaming me and my needs rather than your simple impatience, you ignorant buffoon?”

“Well, n-no, but—” Rainbow tried to sputter, backing up just a bit as those crimson eyes grew ever more enraged.

“‘But’? But you don’t care about waiting a few minutes and would rather trash my shop and make me burn my eyes in borderline daylight?” The Thestral interjected, her tone becoming truly chilling with its lack of emotion, but Twilight could easily tell how she was mere steps away from letting loose. “You absolute self-absorbed moron... you are aware of my kind’s reputation, yes?”

That was a threat if Twilight had ever heard one, and she was quick to stop the Hippogryph from forcing it to come to fruition; on instinct, she hastily flipped one of her saddlebags and pulled out a large vial of pink liquid, and, with a quick glance at the symbols scrawled onto the paper tag attached to it, threw it at Rainbow, smashing it over her face.

“Gah!” Rainbow Dash cried out in shock, her beak flapping open, with the pink fumes that erupted from the shattered vial quickly finding their way inside, and the actual fluid splashing across her face. Twilight took that brief moment of distraction to look at Rarity, noticing the other effect of snapping the Pony out of her state and into a bewildered shock, where she did soon look back the Zebra, who gaze a pointed expression in response.

“That is a concentrated lethargy potion, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight stated, returning her gaze to the Hippogryph, who was now swiping at the fluid that was quickly sinking into her fur and the flesh beneath it, eyes still closed to protect against said fluid, “And I do not like how you treat this Pony like trash. I know her emotions were being taken too far.. but they are real, and come from her heart. You are the one that caused it, fool, so, of course she would lose her cool.

“The potion itself, is to slow you down,” She continued, noticing the effects of it setting in as Rainbow’s wings flapped ever slower, now unable to keep herself in the air, and making her stumble a bit as she landed on the floor, “And.. it’s power will make you drown. You will fall asleep for quite a long while... enough that time will be up when you get to Cloudsdale. However, I have an antidote with me, right here,” She reached into saddlebag again, now pulling out a very light blue potion, that she once again double-checked the tag on, “But do allow me to be clear; I will only give you it if you show us respect—truly and clearly.. and not some superficial aspect.”

The potion was clearly sinking in even deeper down, enough so that Rainbow was beginning to tremble under her own weight, but now she was able to open her eyes and look back at the Zebra, a level of disbelief and irritation in her expression. Still, Rarity quickly muttered an apology to Twilight before pushing past the Hippogryph and into the room behind her, no doubt eager to be out of her presence, even for a moment, though Twilight remained before her and continued, “I do hope you understand my actions, Rainbow, as.. it is your rudeness that made me lay you low. All I ask of you is simple respect, and that you think before you act.”

It may not have been the wisest of moves to ask such a question of a creature that was barely keeping herself awake, but Twilight knew keeping the Hippogryph from making things worse was the greater priority, and so even as Rainbow was forced down to her rump just to not fall over, her head hung down in what was certainly a mix of lethargy and shame, Twilight kept the potion from her. Only after a while was Rainbow able to actually process her thoughts, and then struggled to lift her head to look back at the Zebra, muttering out with a light slur, “A-arright, fine... s..srry...”

Twilight eyed her for a moment, noting how difficult it was to tell if the Hippogryph was actually being genuine or simply assenting—but she supposed it wouldn’t be fair to pass judgement on that given the creature’s potion-induced lethargy. “Here, drink this.. to counteract your exhaustion,” She said, and lifted the potion to her mouth to uncork it with her teeth, then held the cork in the corner of her mouth as she finished, “Though, it will take longer than a single moment of combustion.” Bringing the potion over to Rainbow, the other creature opened her beak to let Twilight pour the fluid in, slowly enough to let Rainbow gulp it down without overflowing.

Once done, Twilight was free to put the cork back into the vial and place said vial back into her saddlebags, but her eyes were soon drawn back down to the faint glints of light on the floor barely visible in the room’s darkness. They were the shards of the previous vial she threw, and there was also some of the fluid that splashed there as well, even more difficult to see, but it did all make her more thankful that she also packed a small rag amidst her other supplies. Flipping open her other saddlebag and pulling the rag out, she sat down on the floor and carefully scooped up the shards of glass and mopped up the fluid in the rag, and once she was sure she got all of it, she rolled the rag up into a small bundle, which was promptly placed back into her saddlebag.

Returning her gaze to Rainbow Dash, she could tell the second potion was working by how the other creature was able to keep her eyes open more and posture more upright, but it still took some time before she looked awake enough for Twilight to address her, “I believe it would be best if we went outside, for now. Rarity would certainly appreciate.. being away from you, you know.”

Seeming to snap out of a light daze, the Hippogryph looked over to her, and silently nodded after a moment. Pushing herself to stand, she paused for a moment, presumably to make sure of her balance, before then gesturing with a claw to the main door at the other end of the main room, still open with the daylight pouring in. Twilight took the cue and headed for the door, walking past the many racks of strange clothing again while Rainbow followed her, and soon enough arriving back outside, and having to squint slightly from the quick shift back from the dark interior to the bright sunlit town.

With both herself and the meddlesome Hippogryph outside and having nothing to do but wait, Twilight opted to sit on the ground a short ways in front of the door while Rainbow closed it behind her, before then taking a second before tentatively sitting down herself. The two creatures were now left in relative quiet, though not a particularly comfortable one as Rainbow fidgeted in place, unable to keep her eyes on any one thing for long, but Twilight kept herself still as she pondered the creature beside her.

The Zebra had hardly been in this land for long, and she had been exposed to a great many species in that time, each with their own culture that they brought to this town, and seeming to share said town quite amicably... for the most part. There would always be exceptions in any group of things, so it was inevitable that among the nice and helpful creatures of Ponyville, there were some bothersome and rude creatures... but that didn’t really help her understand why. Why, beyond the simple freedom of this land, that some creatures decided to act so poorly to others...

“I have a question for you, Rainbow Dash...” She spoke carefully, but still heard a light gasp from the Hippogryph next to her while she turned her head to look at her surprised and.. somewhat fearful expression, “Why are you so intent on being this.. brash?”

Holding her beak open for a moment in surprise, Rainbow then looked away and shut it, and soon tried to reply, “I... I’m not...” Sighing and glancing over the other creature for a moment, she muttered in assent, “It’s.. not something I’m trying to do.”

Somewhat mystified by her words, Twilight pondered them for a moment before asking, “So, why do you—”

“I’m not trying anything!” The Hippogryph cut her off in a mild panic, and her eyes locked onto Twilight’s, allowing her see the true seriousness of her tone, “I don’t want to cause problems for other creatures—I just... I don’t think about what I’m doing before I do it.” Her voice trailed off at the end, and she pulled her gaze away from the other creature, hanging her head while her entire body drooped in defeat.

Pausing again, the Zebra could tell how well that matched up with the creature’s previous actions; bursting into Twilight’s home and announcing her presence as if she was the only one that mattered, rambling on about a topic only she herself cared for and asking for the unreasonable, and of course, throwing another creature’s place into (based on Rarity’s reaction) disarray and remaining unmoved by said creature’s reasoning. The Hippogryph was not stupid, simply unaware of how her actions would affect others—at least, not without being forced to think on it.

“That is.. rather immature, you know,” Twilight spoke carefully, uncertain of why exactly the other creature acted as she did, but with a strong idea in her mind, “I do believe.. you’re growing up quite slow.”

Rainbow nodded slowly in acceptance and affirmation, her eyes remaining in place as she seemed to think for a few seconds, and then took a breath in and responded, “Yeah... I know. I just...” She went silent, looking even more uncomfortable and strained for some time, but eventually spat out, “I don’t like trying to change. I... All I really want is to live in the moment and have fun, but... a lot of the time, that causes problems for other creatures, a-and me...

“All this keeps happening...” She muttered, her tone becoming somewhat exhausted and exasperated with herself, “I’m just trying to fly around and have fun, all while working towards a dream of mine, but then other creatures tell me that I’m making things irritating for them, and...” Gulping, Rainbow looked over at the Zebra and spoke more candidly, “You know, I can tell when others want me to stop, and that I’m actually causing problems for them. I just.... don’t want to have to admit to them—and me—that I’m actually being dumb. It... really makes me really uncomfortable...”

Twilight kept looking at the Hippogryph as she turned away, gaining a level of sympathy for her despite all the frustration she had caused, but... that didn’t absolve her from needing to get better. “I know you want to hang onto your carefree childhood, Rainbow Dash, but.. those days are long since in the past. Every other creature has.. moved on in some way, but you’re... letting this discomfort stand in your way.”

Rainbow didn’t reply, but the Zebra could tell she was thinking. Reflected, really, about how much her petty immaturity had cost her and others. Pulling her attention away, Twilight was content to let her do so, especially with little knowledge about all of what the other creature had actually done in this town or gone through in her past that led her to be so... cowardly. Thus, the two creatures were left in relative silence as they watched Ponyville go about its morning business, what with creatures trotting about for whatever purpose, most of them seeming quite content in it all.

Twilight thought and reflected about it too; it was easy to get a wrong opinion about the creatures that lived there with the poor first impressions, all the chaos and shortsightedness of those who greeted her, but it was now clear that, just like the Hippogryph beside her, there was far more to this place than just that. Intentionally or not, Twilight had been digging deeper into this society, eager to learn and know all she could about anyone and everything, not just to keep herself and Spike safe, but also because it was insightful to learn about all the different creatures that had come here and lived here, from so many different cultures and with so many different pasts...

It was certainly strange to see so many differences among those that managed to work and live together like this, and it did certainly make her wonder how long it’d take until she, too, would feel at home in this strange, unfamiliar, and chaotic place.

However, her thoughts were interrupted by a sharp inhale from Rainbow Dash, and Twilight snapped her attention over to her to see her looking down at the ground and grimacing. From what, though, was soon answered when she heard a set of hoof-steps approaching her and Rainbow, making her look over at their owner—a female Pony Pegasus with a yellow coat and cyan mane, as well as a mark on her flank of three water droplets.

“Rainbow Dash,” The Pony called once she had gotten a dozen or so paces away, and Twilight looked at the creature in question, who was steadily getting more uncomfortable as the Pony approached.

After a moment though, Rainbow looked back at her, took a deep breath, then stood up and faced the Pony and replied, “Hey, boss. Sorry about... not showing up to work yesterday. I was... busy.”

The Pegasus’s eyes widened in surprise at that, and she only fixed her expression a few seconds later after getting within hoof’s reach of Rainbow. “Well...” She muttered, some disbelief still clear in her tone, “It’s good that you’re owning up to that, for once. ...What exactly were you busy with, then?”

Flitting her eyes away for just a moment, Rainbow replied with some guilt creeping in, “Packing, ma’am.” At the other creature’s raised eyebrow, she elaborated, “I was packing to head back up to Cloudsdale, as the Wonderbolt cadets will be training again. ...Ma’am.”

The Pony’s look was somewhat stuck for a moment, then she closed her eyes and heaved a sigh of disappointment. “And you didn’t tell me about this advance because...?” She prompted, her eyes opening to give a firm stare back at the Hippogryph.

“I.. thought you were aware of the times the camp started at, ma’am,” Rainbow returned, her body grower stiffer with each sentence tossed back and forth, “I know you know that I have to go there, but I didn’t realize that that’s—” She cut herself off, wincing at herself, but then started again, slightly more put together, “I assumed that you knew about all the details, even when you had no reason to. That was my job; I should’ve told you. S..sorry.”

Pursing her lips, the other creature looked very contemplative for a short time, but it was enough for Twilight to feel horribly awkward about being there; this conversation was hardly related to her, and barely understood the topic of their conversation.

“...While I certainly appreciate you being more.. forthright for a change, it doesn’t change the fact that you didn’t tell me about this before, and the disorganization this’ll cause us will cause some issues for everyone in Ponyville.” The Pony looked somewhat irritated through her otherwise professional tone, but that tone grew a bit colder as she added, “And that cost is going to end up coming out of your paycheck. Understood?”

Rainbow sharply pulled back in shock, her expression indignant and she looked ready to shout back at her superior, but then she just shut her beak and hung her head. “I.. yes, you warned me about that. I get it.”

Still a bit slow to accept the respect the Hippogryph was giving, the Pegasus nodded slowly with eyes trained on her, but then they looked over between her and Twilight, and she gave a nod and said cordially, “Rarity.”

“Hello, Dar—”

Twilight swiftly jerked away in shock, practically tripping over herself as she saw the Thestral somehow right outside her shop’s door, and right behind herself and Rainbow, with neither of them noticing until she spoke up.

Rarity held a hoof to her mouth as she tittered in amusement, then spoke with a slightly apologetic, but still laughter-filled tone, “S-sorry, Darlings, I didn’t mean to spook you!”

“Graaaah,” Rainbow groused from a short ways away, apparently also having jumped away in surprise, but then shot back in a somewhat miffed voice, “You really need to cut that stealthy crud out!”

“Oh, puh-lease,” Rarity retorted with a wide roll of her eyes, “It’s simply my nature, dear. I can’t avoid sneaking up on creatures more than you can avoid ticking them off.” Her voice gained a tiny bit of venom at the end, but she still held a rather genuine smile.

“Actually, she was quite a bit more respectful just a moment ago,” The other Pony said in response, gaining back the Thestral’s attention. “Actually admitted her mistakes for once.” She gave a light snort, glancing over at the creature in question, who was blushing a bit now in shame.

Tilting her head and looking over at Rainbow as well for a moment, Rarity also seemed quite surprised, but understanding as she spoke, “Ah, really now?” Turning her attention over to Twilight, who still hadn’t moved since getting startled, but had calmed down her heartbeat, she asked, “I take it you managed to knock some sense into the girl, hm?”

Blinking at being put back in the spotlight, Twilight took a moment before nodding in tentative confirmation and replying, “I.. suppose you could say that, indeed; I did have a talk that, she did very much need.”

“Well, I definitely appreciate it,” The Pegasus nodded in thanks, then hesitated for a second before saying somewhat awkwardly, “Uh, sorry about ignoring you for a while here; I was a little busy with...” She trailed off gesturing towards the Hippogryph.

“O-of course,” Twilight returned, a bit awkward herself at the odd point of conversation, “I do know what you mean. Your priority was on Rainbow, and how difficult she’s been.”

Nodding sharply, the Pony was clearly appreciate of the understanding, and she raised a hoof to the Zebra, and introduced herself, “Raindrops. I’m captain of the weather team here, and—well, I can’t say I recognize you. You’re new around here, yeah?”

“That’s.. correct, Raindrops. I’m a Zebra named Twilight,” Twilight herself replied in turn, lifting her own hoof to shake the Pegasus’s, “And I haven’t been here.. anywhere close to a fortnight.”

“Alright,” Raindrops muttered, nodding to what seemed to be just herself while the two creatures returned their hooves to the ground, “Since you’re probably not familiar with the way this all works, there’s a rollout of mail every week that goes over all the weather we’re planning for that week—though, it can end up being affected by other stuff sometimes.” She threw a glance towards Rainbow, who blushed even harder and looked away in shame, but Raindrop just rolled her eyes and went on, “Mainly though, it’s the Everfree Forest, and all the magic there that can end up changing stuff. We try to keep everyone up to date, but sometimes storms can roll in pretty fast from there, and we can end up stopping them. Alright?”

Twilight nodded in comprehension, though not quite full understanding—she was a Zebra after all, and Zebras couldn’t bend the weather to their whim, nor did they use any sort of mail.

An intrigued hum from Rarity brought the other creatures’ attention to the Thestral, where she spoke, “Actually, that may be a bit of a worry. She lives at the library, but hasn’t officially registered herself as the librarian yet,” She explained, getting a slow nod of understanding from the other Pony.

“Gotcha...” Raindrops muttered, but then looked away and sighed. “Well, I suppose I’ll have to leave you to that,” She said, looking back at the others with some apology in her expression, “I gotta get to my job soon. And Rainbow...” She trailed off, turning specifically towards the Hippogryph and keeping her eyes there long enough for Rainbow herself to actually look back, “...Try to keep this up, yeah?”

Rainbow inhaled a breath, and nodded in agreement, which let Raindrops give her a nod of thanks back before turning around, then jumping and flapping her wings to fly off into the air, heading away from the other creatures, back to where she was needed.

“Now that that’s all over...” Rarity spoke up, getting back the attention of the remaining two creatures, but she herself focused on Rainbow, “I do indeed have your order complete, Darling.” Reaching one of her hooves up, she pulled a small, flat white box made of what looked like stiff paper off of her back and held it before herself, but spoke scathingly to Rainbow, “However, I do believe you forgot to actually bring your bits to pay for it, Rainbow.”

The Hippogryph gaped her beak in turn, then smacked a claw to her face in embarrassment. “S-sorry...” She muttered, sounding slightly afraid after what she had already dealt with from the blood-lustful Thestral, but then pulled away her claw to hold it up and look at said Thestral as she said warily, “I’ll.. go get them right now.. alright?”

Rarity forcefully waved her off, which made Rainbow quickly turn around and jump and flap her wings to swiftly dart off into the distance, clearly heading over Ponyville to presumably her home, though her take-off did blow a gust of wind at the two other creatures, making them flinch back a bit in annoyance.

“That bloody girl, I swear...” The Pony uttered to herself, placing her box back onto her back.

Looked over at her in concern, Twilight took a couple seconds before asking, “Are you alright, Rarity? I do understand.. this other creature’s difficulty.”

Rarity shrugged and replied noncommittally, “Eh, we’ll see, Darling. It all depends if Rainbow actually heeds her boss’s words and manages to think before she acts.” After a few more seconds, she shook it off and turned to the Zebra, and spoke more apologetically to her, “Terribly sorry about involving you in all that, Darling. Would you like to come inside and join me for some tea?” She gestured over to her shop, and added a little curiously, “Perhaps would we could talk some about things you might like to know about Ponyville?”

A bit surprised by the offer, Twilight asked herself if that was something she actually wanted, or she’d prefer just going back home to calm down after everything with Rainbow. She still had that note in place for Spike, and library itself was still a bit eerie to her, but it would be nice to have some regularity, especially in the morning... Though, it wasn’t like talking with the Thestral would be terribly disquieting, unlike the Hippogryph, and learning some important things about this town would be useful...

“Yes.. I think that would be nice,” She agreed, nodding to the Pony, “After what just happened, I’d like some peace.”

Author's Note

Well, it’s good to be back with this.
And a more important chapter too, as it ties back to the prequel story with Rarity, even the plot of that story isn’t mentioned here. Don’t worry though, it will be next chapter, as well as some major stuff about this world and Ponyville in general.

Something I thought worth mentioning here though; it may seem a little strange how Rarity is so angry about Rainbow messing with stuff, despite very little of it being shown, but it is for a reason. Twilight doesn’t really know what these clothes are or if they’re ripped, especially with how dark the room itself is, even with the door open, and Rarity was already somewhat predisposed towards being angry at Rainbow, given the history between them. This will likely be elaborated on in the next chapter though, but I didn’t forsake the confusion that Twilight should be in, as it further shows how unfamiliar she is with Ponyville, and that the town’s been getting up to a lot of stuff without her.

Chapter 7: Ripping off the Blinders

“So, I imagine you have quite a few questions, Darling,” Rarity spoke calmly as she sat down in an elegant purple chair before an elegant white table. Twilight was already sitting in another chair across from her, with a pair of freshly-steeped cups of tea placed on the table by Rarity just a few moments ago, and the lights of the ‘dining room’ had been turned on, but due to the Thestral’s nature, they were somewhat dim. “But first, I really ought to start with my shop itself.

“You’ve no doubt seen the.. wares I have on offer,” She begun with some strain and worry in her voice, “And I’ll have to urge you now that they’re not something that should be talked about in public. Whether you wear them in public is rather up to you,” She added with a coy grin, “But my wares are quite private, even if they aren’t the sort that you’ve seen out there. Commissions, of course, can be anything from personally tailored to one’s desires... to simply a suit or dress for a formal occasion.

“I will add, though, that any orders I make for any creature are to be kept strictly between myself and them,” Rarity continued, keeping the other creature informed while letting her tea set for the moment, “Even in the case that it may clear up some problematic misconceptions, such as with what Rainbow Dash asked of me.”

After the Thestral finished her introduction, she lifted her cup and took a dainty sip of her tea, but Twilight didn’t do the same, as she was quite confused about what she had just been told. “I’m... not quite certain of the core of what you mean... You seem to imply that wearing those clothes in private is the way it should be. I only know clothes are meant for.. warmth and culture, but.. what those clothes would achieve in private, I’m not sure.”

Blinking as she registered the words, but keeping her cup against her mouth, Rarity seemed to think about the response in a state of.. uncertainty, if Twilight could call it anything. Soon enough, she did seem to partially settle on something, and set down her cup before looking more curiously at the Zebra and saying to her, “Apologies, I believe I assumed you knew what those clothes were, but... do you not?”

Twilight shook her head, still confused, but now more understanding that there was a gap in her knowledge to clear up and that Rarity was likely willing to do so, and she replied, “I do not know of those.. wares. I simply know they would cover very little hair.”

The Thestral inhaled deep through her nostrils and closed her eyes while nodding slowly in comprehension. “Ahhh... of course, of course...” She muttered, leaning back into her chair and letting her head fall back over its backrest, where Twilight could only see how she opened her eyes from the red of her irises. After some more seconds had passed, Rarity pulled her head back down and looked at the Zebra apologetically and responded, “Sorry, Darling; I shouldn’t have assumed you knew anything about lingerie, as you’re clearly a tribal Zebra and non-Equestrian. And...” She sighed, grimacing a bit as she looked off to side for a moment, “Well, I’m not going to explain that now. Quite frankly, it’s a whole thing that is quite expansive, nuanced, and not really my business to explain anyhow.

“Regardless of that in particular,” The Pony noted, waving the matter aside, “I do still need your assurance that you won’t speak of anything in here to anyone else. Obviously, I am a shopkeeper and would like to known about,” She added with tinge of sarcasm, “But I do still need you to be aware that discussing my shop as relating primarily to.. less than decent affairs will only shine it in a negative light.”

“Ah, of course, Rarity,” Twilight returned as she nodded in understanding, “I.. know little about your wares anyway. You have my word.. and I won’t mention this to others, as, I didn’t come here to cause problems or be a bother.”

Nodding in thanks, Rarity added with some exhaustion seeping in, “I appreciate it...” Taking another sip of her tea, she let it clack down onto the table before she sighed loudly, looking down into her tea in visible contemplation. After a couple seconds of slightly awkward silence, she laughed a bit to herself before looking back at the other creature and explaining, “It’s always a strange topic... everything in here. It may only be to protect my livelihood, but forcing others to keep silent... almost feels like some petty, elaborate payback for them forcing me into this business.”

The Thestral cleared her throat, pausing a further moment while Twilight was left somewhat baffled and waiting for further context, but Rarity started on an aside; “I feel like I need someone to vent to here—someone who isn’t as intimately familiar with my story as my friends, as this whole story would only be redundant...” Pausing again, she sighed at length, and then elaborated, “My business didn’t always relate to these things. It used to be open to all ages, though aimed towards the higher-class, as they’d be free to pay for any elaborate ballgown or dashing suit I may make. I did still like making things for other reasons, of course, like simpler wares for a normal creature during a formal occasion, or things that aren’t even clothes for some event, like banners or flags.

“But... I am still a Thestral at the end of the night...” She muttered, looking downward somewhat solemnly, with Twilight only able to give her a look of concern in response before the Pony continued, “And other creatures still fear me, like they always have, ever since the bloody founding...” She groused, a faint growl escaping her, “My business wasn’t all too attractive given who I am... but I did have something in the works for a while that wasn’t affected by that. In fact... I think me being so ‘scary’ only made this aspect more enticing.

“At some point in my business, I had decided to create some... less than child-friendly wares, and had them displayed in a back room,” Rarity spoke, sounding just slightly hesitant, as she were feeling the same trepidation that she must’ve back then, “And—well, you probably didn’t even see the door as we came in,” She interrupted herself, looking up at the other creature, who tilted her head in confused comprehension. “That’s because there is no door; the door is part of the wall itself that acts like a door. A testament to my secretiveness about those creations...” She said with a coy grin.

“Anyhow...” The Thestral went on, her smile fading, “Those clothes and other tools I made seemed ever more profitable than the normal wares I made, so I begun to focus more on that... and they slowly became more and more essential to my business until I finally switched to making them the primary aspect of my shop here. Which, well, proves to be quite ironic,” She muttered, irritation returning to her voice with a bit of a mad smile, “Considering the entire reason I started selling fancy clothes in the first place was to escape other creatures’ fear of us Thestrals, so that perhaps we could be more well-accepted!”

Twilight blinked at her in a wary sort of confusion, which was mainly due to the unexplained fear the other creature’s whole tirade was about, but given her emotions at the moment, the Zebra wanted to let some time pass before asking it. Looking down at the table, she saw the cup of tea she hadn’t yet drunken any of, and so tentatively picked it up and took a sip while Rarity sighed and hung her head down, definitely seeming to need a moment to calm down.

The tea was... odd, to Twilight’s senses. Her own tea, and those she’d had between any other Zebra, including Zecora, were a familiar sort of exotic to her, but this cup felt... precise, was the only word she could think to describe it. It was as if any unique personality was drained from it, turning into a standardized thing that was bereft of the usual oddities and imprecision that came with the homebrewed tea that she was so used to. It was all too easy to tell that this wasn’t something created by Rarity herself, only purchased by her from larger group that had it in their best interests to keep everything consistent, and so Twilight wasn’t going to actively hold it against the Pony herself.

The Zebra could see Rarity’s tension had waned, though she still hung her head, but now it seemed more out of contemplation that irritation. With the question still on her mind, Twilight set her cup of tea down and voiced it to the Thestral, “May I ask... why exactly is it your kind is so feared? I can’t imagine it’s.. simply that you’re fanged and bat-eared.”

A slow, deliberate inhale came from the Thestral before she lifted her head to look at the other creature, her crimson eyes a bit brighter, though not out of rage—moreso just a deep-seeded annoyance, which only became clearer as she spoke, “Well, we are certainly nocturnal, which in and of itself causes some fear in those that are afraid of darkness... but most of it is related to our diet.” Licking her lips, likely in an intentional show of her forked tongue, she begun methodically, “Many of the beliefs about out kind are myths; such as needing to feed off the blood of others to survive. However... we are still capable of leeching blood from living creatures in order to sustain ourselves, and in fact it is not a poor idea given our dietary needs require more of what is found in blood... as well as meat.

“We are omnivores, Twilight,” Rarity stated in calm manner, keeping her words slow as if to portray that she wasn’t going to eat the other creature where she stood, but her pacing and blood-coloured irises only made it more creepy. “While we could survive purely off of things that are grown—and other products, of course—meat is better for our bodies, and I personally do quite like the taste of it.” Her face split in a grin, her fangs showing prominently as her eyes roamed up and down the Zebra’s body, making her gulp and pull back in fear...

But then, Rarity sighed heavily and her face fell. “But of course, that really only makes herbivorous creatures fear us more than anything. A fellow Thestral here in Ponyville—one Vinyl Scratch—actually had hidden her nature as a Thestral for a while, and back when she was in Canterlot, I could hardly have blamed her for it. I’ve been there myself a few times before, and I’ve always faced some ridicule by those damned Unicorns...” She growled out a sigh, closed her eyes for a second, “Though we do tend to face scorn wherever we may go.”

Twilight watched the mare as she opened her eyes, her expression annoyed and contemplative while she raised her cup back to her mouth to another drink of it, this time much more than just a simple sip. “I was... under the impression Equestria was quite welcoming to all...” The Zebra started, letting the other creature finish her cup and set it back down before continuing, “And now, you seem to say that for some, it is like a wall. I’ve... talked with some creatures of this place, and, only a few seem all that perturbed by my race. Is this... just for your kind alone, or.. is there more here than I could’ve known?”

Rarity’s eyes turned down towards the table for a second, but then looked back over and spoke slowly, sounding deliberate and uncertain, “Well.. every corner of Equestria has different culture, some of them more accepting than others. Here in Ponyville, we try to be as accepting as possible, but even in the rest of Equestria, seeing many other creatures is completely normal, and thus most of them tend not to be bothered by them... but, I won’t say that it’s just that simple. It’s easy to clash with other creatures, primarily due to the different cultures they come from, but a lot of it comes from misunderstandings...” She trailed off for a moment, pausing in thought before asking, “To make a point; I don’t suppose you have seen many Hippogryphs around, have you?”

Pulling her thoughts inward for a moment in recollection, Twilight knew she had seem many different creatures within Ponyville as well as on her way to it, but... “Only very few in number... Perhaps... Equestria doesn’t mesh with their culture?”

“Perhaps,” The Thestral replied with a half-hearted smirk, “But, I’d like to ask; what do you think they are usually like?”

Twilight frowned; she obviously recalled one Hippogryph in particular, and she could see where this was going. “I see the point you wish to say, where I reply that they’re all free and gay. I can imagine.. that Rainbow is an outlier among them, and that I shouldn’t judge, based upon one so dumb. However...” She paused for just a moment in further thought, “Other creatures likely are not the same. They will speak... and act without thought or shame. They simply see something.. different than what they know, and with no respect for others, they just.. want them to go.”

A more genuine smile came on Rarity’s face at the full understanding, but it was tinged with sorrow as she replied, “Well said. To answer your question, though... Thestrals do tend to be more feared than other creatures, all down to being uniquely nocturnal. Dragons and Gryphons are feared more than Zebras due to being omnivorous, and Zebras more than other Pony races due to simply living apart and having different magics... It’s complicated, really,” She uttered with a shrug, “And I know it’s different for each race, and indeed, each individual creature. There are those, like myself, that try to be as welcoming as possible, and then there are those who reject all other creatures at every opportunity.”

“...Like those Apple Ponies I’ve seen,” Twilight then responded after a moment of recollection, getting a slow, almost solemn nod from the other creature, “Do you know.. why they are so mean?”

Opening her mouth, Rarity didn’t immediately respond, instead pulling her eyes away for a second in though before closing her mouth to further debate in her mind. Eventually, she looked back and spoke carefully, “‘Mean’ isn’t quite the best word to describe them, Darling... I won’t say it’s untrue, but...” She sighed and flitted her eyes away again before continuing hesitantly, “It’s a complicated matter, and one that can only really concern them and their family...”

As the Thestral kept her gaze away from Twilight, the Zebra herself couldn’t help but draw some conclusions from that, and while it did seem to be a private manner that indeed didn’t concern her that much, she still was a bit perturbed... “Did some creature...” She begun ever so slowly, not seeing the other creature look her way, but able to see her ears twitch as she registered the noise, “...Harm them in some way?”

Rarity sharply turned her head towards the Zebra at that, a look of surprise across her face, but she quickly closed her eyes and collected herself before shaking her head with a guilty smile and replying, “No no no, nothing like that, Darling. I.. should’ve been more careful about how I said that. No, it’s...” She tilted her head to each side, seeming to debate on how best to say it, which Twilight was thankful for after being surprised herself at the misunderstanding, “...More related to their business.. really.

“I—er...” The Thestral muttered, her eyes flitting about as she tried to collect her thoughts, “I.. only said their family as both that and their business are quite related. Their grandmother founded this town, you see, and farming apples was a great part of that, so... the rest of the family gets born into it and continues to carry it out. What I meant was that other creatures pose a potential risk to this business that’s been so important to all of their lives.

“..I take it you don’t know much about economics, do you?” Rarity asked after a slight pause, getting a confused look and then a head-shake from Twilight, which let her explain, “Well, this whole matter is related to that. This whole town begun with just them, the Earth Ponies, and so when other types of creatures arrived, with other capabilities, such as flight, levitation, and everything else... they could tell those types of magic may allow for those creatures to possibly do their job of farming apples better than they could. They could’ve either had their own farms to compete the Apples out of a job, or taken over and replaced the Apples themselves, so either way, the Earth Ponies felt threatened by all the other creatures, and reacted by forcing them away. They’ve continued to do that even now, as you must know by this point, and given the clout they have in this, I’m surprised that it’s really only them that are so against other creatures. Thankfully they’ve mostly kept to their own these days...”

That was an odd concept for the Zebra to behold; where the idea of diverse types of creatures that could help each other out could somehow be seen as worse... “I don’t understand how farming better could be bad, is this.. a real fear, or are the Apples simply mad?”

A bit of a grimace came from Rarity, and she replied with some guilt, “Sorry, I really suppose I shouldn’t be expecting you to understand much of economics, Darling. I... won’t say that their fear is entirely realistic, but at the same time...” She sighed and looked with a genuine fear of her own in her eyes at the other creature, “I know I’d certainly be put out of business if a bunch of other clothiers moved to Ponyville.”

The Thestral could clearly see the confusion still present on Twilight’s face, and so she took a deep breath and explained, “Imagine, if you would, that, amongst the entire group of creatures you live with, that you are the best-known one for creating a specific thing. It doesn’t matter what this thing is—for me it is clothing, and for the Apples it is, well, apples.” Twilight recalled her tribe, as well as her role in it as shamaness, the keeper of alchemical knowledge and was to be responsible for sharing it carefully, and so she nodded to let Rarity continue, “Now imagine that many other creatures arrived at where you live, and they are capable of creating this same thing, and some could do it better than you.” An odd comparison with the metaphor in Twilight’s mind, but if other Zebras were promoted to shamans and shamanesses, then the knowledge could be more widespread and kept less safe than in her hooves, but if some were better than her...

“Oh...”

“Mm,” Rarity grunted in agreement, “Now you get it, don’t you?”

Twilight certainly did, as if there were even a single Zebra in her tribe that could do her job far better than her, then it would be quite possible that Twilight would be ousted from her own position—even if the logic of how it would all come to be may not be as coherent as the other creature may have expected. However, a thought then occurred to her, and she couldn’t help but speak it; “Wait, but the creatures that move here aren’t, that unique, and I can tell that you.. aren’t repulsed by them as though they reek. They certainly wouldn’t have the skills you do, so.. of course they would not make you rue. The Apples.. don’t seem to think the same, and they’re eager to place on all creatures that blame.”

Slowly nodding as she processed the thought, the Thestral hummed for a moment, then replied thoughtfully, “Well, I suppose the difference comes down to what those creatures can do. Most of them are hardly clothiers, as you mentioned, but... farming apples hardly takes that level of finesse or knowledge, so...” She trailed off, letting Twilight nod in understanding. “However,” She soon amended, getting a curious look from the Zebra, “I will say that the way they treat other creatures still is rather rude, despite the misgivings they may have about us. As I said, they do mainly keep to their own, but... they really ought to realize that they shouldn’t fear us; we’d rather not upend their business and are more than okay with staying on our own turf, so to speak.”

That.. was a rather familiar sentiment to Twilight—how fear can drive creature to make incredibly foolish decisions—and she took some time to recall the conversation she had about it some days ago... “Fear is a very strong motivator...” She uttered, feeling the passion and anger that flaming creature had when she spoke of this, “Too often, terrible decisions are made from this.. terror.” Looking more pointedly at Rarity, who looked quite intrigued by the words, she continued, “I suppose I shouldn’t expect.. the Apples to act with reason, as this fear.. drives them to not consider another creature’s emotion.

“I should add.. that could only have this thought, because of a Longma that knew quite a lot,” She added after a moment, but her elaboration was cut off from a gasp by Rarity.

“A Longma?!” The Pony asked in surprise, which got look of confusion from Twilight, who did then nod after a second. “There’s no way they’d be in Equestria just randomly, Fluttershy made that abundantly clear...” She mumbled to herself, looking away as she contemplated it, but when the other creature cleared her throat, Rarity’s attention was brought back to her, where she apologized, “Oh, sorry, Darling... You, um, said the Longma spoke to you...?”

Nodding in affirmation, Twilight did also recall said Longma’s reasoning for being in Equestria, as well as her misgivings about the nation, and relayed them; “Yes, and she, explained that she was ‘on forced leave’, as apparently she was holding herself to tightly to her duties. She did say she did not like this nation, and even then.. she was hardly here on vacation. She wished to.. check on Fluttershy, the Kirin, who was of concern, given their kinds’ relation.”

“Ahh, I suppose that makes sense...” Rarity muttered, nodding to herself. “Fluttershy is a dear friend of mine, actually, and she has mentioned the Longmas before on some occasions... as well as their general distaste for Equestria,” She said, sounding a bit conflicted, “I believe it had something to do with Equestria being... too ‘relaxed’ and ‘free’... though I will say, it would be right to take issue with nepotism. Passing down leadership through bloodlines alone...” She scoffed and shook her head.

“Yes, she did say this nation... was full of cowards and fools...” Twilight replied tentatively, looking down at the table as to help recall the creature’s precise words, but in doing so saw the tea which had been steaming hot and had now become lukewarm. “They get driven away from what’s right.. or even just following rules... all because, they don’t want to trust others or admit their flaws, and.. due to that, so many more problems are caused.” Slowly moving her hoof to grab ahold of the cup and intending to take another drink of it, she suddenly paused as she recalled how she had arrived at this position, and she uttered out, “Much like with Rainbow Dash...”

An inhale could be heard from the Pony as she understood the revelation as well, and seemed to ponder it for some time before saying, “That bloody fear, hm... I suppose I should’ve known by now...”

Lifting her head to return her attention to the other creature, Twilight, feeling as though she was missing some context, questioned, “How exactly, do you mean? Do you know why.. it’s this way she’s been?”

Perking up, Rarity seemed to realize that the Zebra was, in fact missing some context, and nodded before explaining, “Well, she’s always been quite brusque, Darling, but it has gotten quite a bit worse in recent months. I do know the event that caused it and how it would relate to her, especially with how no doubt afraid this event would make her... though I suppose I’ve just been putting it on her ego, too afraid myself to ever give her the benefit of the doubt that she would have a reasonable reason for being that way...”

“I... think it would be your anger, would it not?” Twilight asked in return, trying to figure through what she now knew about Rainbow, “And, nor can I blame you for having those thoughts. If.. she was always quite rude, then the blame would be still on her, not you.”

Rarity paused for a moment in thought at that, but then a smile slowly crept up on her face. “Ah, I suppose that would fair, Darling. She was quite a nuisance even before that bloody thing, and never gave me much of a reason to suspect that she was anything but a rascal. Still...” She sighed, her face falling into a self-disappointed frown, “I do think I could’ve taken a guess given what I learned.”

The Zebra was going to ask what precisely that was, but Rarity already seemed intent on it; tapping her hoof on the table for a second, she turned her head to the main doorway of the dining room and called out, “Sweetie Belle! Can you please bring that newspaper about Surprise and the Wonderbolts over here!”

Somewhat thrown off by that, Twilight wasn’t sure what to make of it before she heard a quiet, squeaky voice call back from another room, “What! Why?!”

“I wish to discuss it with a friend of mine!”

“That weird Zebra lady? How do I know she won’t try to eat me!?”

Sighing, Rarity looked over at Twilight to give her a heavily guilty grimace, then called out again, “Watch your tongue! And Twilight here helped ensure Rainbow won’t yell at you again!”

After some seconds, during which Twilight was left very confused, the voice called back, “Fine!”

Taking a deep sigh, the Thestral kept her gaze on the doorway for a few more seconds before turning back to Twilight and explaining, “That was my younger sister, Sweetie Belle. She’s... not good with strangers, what with us Thestrals being treated with trepidation, scorn, and... worse.” Her eyes falling away, her expression fell as well, becoming somber as she said, “The first thing I did when pushing past that brute was check on her, and apparently Rainbow had startled her and shouted at her about her order, which... is just further evidence of how rude she’s been lately.”

The other creature could understand the Pony’s priorities, as well as how taking care of her sister made her take longer than would be expected to get back outside, but Twilight also recalled when Rarity mentioned that ‘Sweetie’ name when they were heading back, though only after dealing with Rainbow did she now understand truly why Rarity was so worried about her.

Soon, some soft hoofsteps could be heard from the doorway, and Twilight could see through it the form of another Pony peeking inside. “Oh, come in, Sweetie,” Rarity called out the Pony with a roll of her eyes, prompting her sister to, after a couple more seconds of trepidation, move into view trot inside. With the lighting of the room, dim as it was, Twilight could make out the white colouration of the smaller Pony’s fur, as well as the bat wings on her sides as well as a curly pink and purple mane on her head, which helped frame her pink eyes that stared back with visible fear.

“Sweetie, this is Twilight,” Rarity introduced, gesturing towards the other adult, clearly eager to break up the tension between the other two creatures, “She’s a Zebra, and will be working at the library. She’s quite new to Ponyville, but is very nice and knowledgeable, so please show some respect to her, okay?”

Sweetie Belle didn’t immediately respond, only continuing to watch the striped creature for some more time, but eventually stuttered out, “H-how do I know you’re not g-gonna eat me..?”

The other Thestral heaved out a sigh, then looked over at Twilight herself, who was more confused by the odd accusation than perturbed by it, and so Rarity opted to explain, “There’s been some foal’s tales going around about a Zebra that lives in the Everfree and eats young foals... I do believe I’ve seen the Zebra myself, and.. if I recall, you mentioned that you knew her as well?”

“Yes, she is a close friend.. to me,” Twilight returned with an assured nod, “And she does live out in that Everfree. She, is quite safe from it, though.. and you shouldn’t consider her your foe. ..Zecora is her name,” She then added after a second of thought, “Though.. she does not want any fame. She is a shamaness and master of potions.. quite like that one that stopped Rainbow’s motions.”

“Ah, that would be quite useful, now wouldn’t it...” Rarity murmured to herself thoughtfully, but then looked back to the Zebra in the room with her and added, “Especially in that dreadful forest, too!”

Sweetie was more skeptical though, and still looked very uncomfortable with Twilight’s presence, but seemed to fidget with something held in one of her hooves, which Twilight didn’t notice when she entered. Eventually, she managed to look back over at her sister and ask of her, “Um, I was gonna ask if I could go and play with my friends...”

Rarity raised an eyebrow and looked pensive for a second, but then shrugged and replied, “Oh, sure. Give me that paper and you can go—but,” Her tone turned more stern, “Still, you must be back her before 9 AM, alright?”

“Okay..!” The filly nodded happily, but her emotion toned right back down when she looked over to Twilight again. Keeping her eyes on her, she moved over to the table and tossed the stack of papers she was holding onto it in front of her sister, before then quickly dashing out of the room, and not even a few seconds later, the main door could be heard opening, and then slamming shut.

Rarity sighed at that, clearly a little disappointed her sister was still so afraid of the Zebra. “Hmm, I probably should have reminded her to keep herself clean out there too...” She then muttered to herself, though her voice easily carried through the otherwise silent room.

“I... imagine that happens more than it should?” Twilight tentatively asked, though with how the other creature slowly turned her eyes back to her, she didn’t seem surprised that she was overheard. “Coming back here.. spraying dirt even as she stood?”

Laughing a bit to herself, the Thestral replied, “Oh, you have no idea, Darling. She gets up to a lot of crazy things with her friends, and yet somehow, nearly every single time, they end up covered in tree sap by the end of it. I’m thankful they only have so much time together each day, lest they get up to even worse things...”

That was an odd statement, but given the nature of the type of creature both Rarity and her sister were, Twilight had a hunch; “Her friends are not like you, right? They.. would be awake during sunlight?”

Rarity gave a bit of a smirk in appreciation of the other creature’s intelligence and affirmed, “That is correct. Those two friends of hers are diurnal, with Scootaloo being a Hippogryph, one that loves to follow that crass Rainbow Dash around, and the other, Apple Bloom, being an Earth Pony like the rest of her family. Which...” She paused for a moment, seeming to acknowledge that family in particular, “...Does cause some tension between them, as you can imagine.”

Twilight nodded in understanding, but with another moment of silence, she glanced back over to where Sweetie had left, and asked hesitantly of the other Thestral, “Sorry.. if this is odd, but may I ask why your sister’s eyes are pink? Thestrals’ eyes are all red.. or so I’ve been made to think.”

“Oh, that’s a common misconception,” Rarity returned, seeming just a bit exasperated by the question, “Red is just simply the most common colour of eyes for us. It’s far more common than others, and even then, many of them are red-adjacent, which you can see with Sweetie.

“Anyhow...” The Pony went on, picking up the ‘newspaper’ and looking over it for a second, them flipping it around and placing it on the table before Twilight, allowing her a moment to take in the front page: right near the top was in large, bold lettering, ‘Surprise Denounces Wonderbolts at Grand Galloping Gala’, and below that was a coloured image of a group of ten creatures on a stage within... what looked like Canterlot, given the white walls and stained glass windows behind the stage. Nine of the creatures were clad in a matching blue suit with yellow lightning bolt highlights, and they surrounded the final creature in an arc, all in varying degrees of anger, betrayal, and disbelief at the white pegasus with a curly yellow mane in the middle, who was holding what looked like a ripped-up suit that matched the other creatures’.

It was easy to tell that this ‘Surprise’ character was the pegasus in the center, and the ‘Wonderbolts’ were the creatures around her, angry that she had ‘denounced’ them, but without context, Twilight had no idea what to make of it. Thankfully, Rarity already seemed quite aware of that and, as the Zebra looked back up to her in intrigue, she begun with a question, “Tell me, Darling, does something seem... off about the group of creatures you can see here?” She gestured to the newspaper, clearly indicating the image on it.

Confused, Twilight looked back down at that image and at the creatures in particular..... After a few seconds, she tilted her head and replied tentatively, “Ponies make up most of this team.” That was a glaring issue now that she noticed it, and it raised a great many questions about these ‘Wonderbolts. “Nine Pegasi and one Gryphon... quite biased, it would seem.”

“Indeed,” Rarity confirmed, letting the other creature turn her attention back up to her, “And that was what Surprise wanted to call out there—or, rather, that was just a part of it. The Wonderbolts, it seems, are quite corrupt as of late, with this discrimination among the recruiting system being one major aspect of it. Based on what she has said, and what else has been dug up in investigations, the system was inherently biased towards Pegasi...

“I... don’t imagine you’ll understand the entirety of this, being unfamiliar with the team and unable to fly,” The Thestral spoke cautiously, “But the training and flight patterns the Wonderbolts go through generally revolve around quicker, sharper paths that are easier for Pegasi to perform, compared the larger forms of Gryphons and Dragons.” Twilight nodded in understanding after a moment, recalling seeing those creatures before and understanding how momentum worked, which let Rarity continue, “Those two races, as well as a few others, also are at the disadvantage of having claws, which can easily tear through the thin suits that are standard for the team. Just between you and me...” She spoke more quietly, almost conspiratorial as she leaned forward, “That was why Rainbow was here earlier; to get her suit stitched back up, with how easily those claws of hers tear it.”

That felt peculiar to the Zebra, even despite how little she knew of Equestrian business; “Do they truly have to do that..? Make these suits.. so delicate?”

“Mm, yes, it’s rather petty, isn’t it?” Rarity uttered back with an annoyed sigh, leaning her forelegs on the table while she looked down at the newspaper. “Apparently this is a ‘budget’ thing, despite how much the Wonderbolts makes in profits at all their shows. ...I believe Surprise only knew that it was cheap, and could be better,” She added after a moment, seeming thoughtful, “But I have other sources that elaborate on that. I... won’t say who they are, just to protect their privacy—nothing to do with yourself, I assure you,” She turned her eyes up to focus on Twilight, giving her a reassuring, though not all that happy smile.

“And there is far worse than just these matters as well,” The Thestral further continued, now with a more dour tone, “The Wonderbolts are used by the Equestrian military for assistance in certain events—no battles are fought with them, thankfully, but some evacuations are led by their rallying cry, scouting parties, which are more in tune with their actual speed and agility, taming out-of-control storms, and more that they are hardly properly trained for. And,” She continued, making Twilight cringe at the rapidly extending list of issues, “There has been some... unsavoury practices in regards to the team’s business practices.

“For context; they hold their shows at certain locations with various businesses helping provide for these events, boosting money gained for the business, and in turn, money is given to the Wonderbolts for their assistance.” Twilight nodded in comprehension, having a vague idea of a ‘business’ as a ‘group of creatures working together and producing a specific thing to make money’, which let Rarity keep going, “But, the team has generally partnered up with specific businesses repeatedly at these events, and with the profits generated for those businesses, it’s difficult for those businesses’ competitors to keep up, which ends up damaging the economy. Which is.. a similar idea to when I described other creatures taking over the Apples’ business.”

Pausing in thought, the woefully-out-of-her-depth Zebra managed to figure that the ‘competing businesses’ would be like the Apples in the previous metaphor, going out of business because of stronger opponents. Focusing back on Rarity to let the Pony further continue, “Some charities—which are groups formed without intention of making money, as they only serve to help creatures in need—also partner with the Wonderbolts on occasion, where all of the money generated at that specific event is to go to the charity, and even a single lost bit out of that is a high crime. Despite that, bits often do go missing at these events to facilitate after-parties for the team. Though... I will say, this seems to happen more out of failed business sense and lack of understanding on how to properly distribute funds than outright greed... but still.”

Twilight needed some more time to process all the information as the other creature left the thought hanging, and she eventually asked to confirm, “Correct me if I am wrong here... as all of this talk is horribly weird. But... these ‘Wonderbolts’ are mainly for show, and.. the problems come when they do things not on their own. They are, out of their depth in relative war, and.. they aren’t suited to work with businesses any more.”

“..I’d say that’s right, Darling,” Rarity returned tentatively, letting the silence breathe for a few seconds before she reached a hoof over and pointed at the picture, specifically at the center Pony, where she begun again, “But now, Surprise. This image doesn’t show her as she usually is; the jovial and excitable creature that loves having fun and hates making others sad, but... it all comes from her heart. This was a great sacrifice to make on her part—she’d been in the Wonderbolts for quite some time, as the forth longest-standing member of those in the team when she quit, in fact. The three above her, though?”

Leaning more forward, the Thestral pointed to specific Ponies in the image and described them: the first, a yellow mare with a fiery orange mane, and who looked especially angry at Surprise; “Spitfire, the Captain. She’s quite the firecracker, with a testy temper and goals of furthering the team’s fame.” The second was a stallion, very light blue with a dark blue mane, and he looked... scared; “Soarin’, the second-in-command. He’s rather calm and goes with what he’s told... for better or worse.” The last one was a cyan mare with an off-white mane, who looked bewildered; “Fleetfoot, a trusted friend of Spitfire, and who helps manage the team. She’s very relaxed and easy-going, and isn’t the best at upholding rules.

“Each of these three had a part to play in all the problems plaguing their team,” Rarity continued grimly, leaning back to let Twilight keep looking at the image, “Spitfire does most of the training and sets up the regimens, so she’s no doubt behind that aspect, which Surprise brought great issue with. Soarin’ managed the events they set up at, and given how he doesn’t act well on his own, it’s no surprise the business issues came from that. Fleetfoot keeps track of the team’s money, so the ‘budget’ issues with the suits and stealing from charities is at least partially on her.

“It’s one Tartarus of a conspiracy,” Rarity grumbled out, “And the only reason Surprise wasn’t inducted into it was because of her heart. Spitfire knew she couldn’t be trusted with, what she called in interviews, ‘managing the needs of the team’, citing Surprise’s general obliviousness to issues around her, which... I cannot entirely blame her for. Make no mistake, a very large reason—perhaps the main reason—why Surprise was kept in the dark was because of these crimes, but I don’t believe Surprise would’ve been good at managing a team like this, especially with how this whole thing slipped under her nose for so long... but when she did learn about it, she made sure to wait for months until the most creatures possible could be made known of it, and even quit the team and ripped off her suit there, just to make damned clear how bad these problems truly were.”

Twilight nodded as she understood the Pegasus’s mindset, and she soon found herself with a bit of a smile, even through the disgust pointed at the Wonderbolts. “That was.. quite brave of her,” She spoke with admiration, and looked up to Rarity, who also showed clear respect for the Pony in her eyes, “And very unlike her keepers. I... may never understand all the consequences that came of speaking out, but I know she must’ve lost a great amount.”

“And if only everyone else could have that conviction...” Rarity muttered in return, looking away for a second pensively. “To bring this conversation back to where it all began, with Rainbow Dash... She was, to put it lightly, furious at the news, and lashed out against anyone and everyone around her.” She heaved a sigh, no doubt able to recall how horrible the Hippogryph must’ve acted back then. “At first, her ire was directed towards anyone that spoke ill of the team, so utterly in denial of it... but with the mounting evidence from further interviews and some legal interrogations, as well as pressure from her friends—mostly Pinkie and Fluttershy—she di—”

“Wait, Fluttershy?!” Twilight interrupted in shock, the reserved and apologetic Kirin she encountered seeming so utterly opposed from the reckless and loud Hippogryph she had just dealt with.

The Thestral started a bit at the sudden outcry, but soon understood what it was about; “Yes, that did surprise me quite a lot, too. Apparently Fluttershy had just recently gotten to Ponyville at the time, and Rainbow was looking for a friend of hers when she happened upon the Kirin... Their first meeting did not go all that well,” She muttered morosely, “And I do believe Rainbow still has some burn scars from that under her fur, but...

“Well, Rainbow Dash is quite persistent,” Rarity continued with a hint of exasperation, good-natured though it was, “And she saw how Fluttershy got easily stressed out whenever she was in Ponyville proper, so she wanted to help the dear out with that terrible anxiety of hers. Believe it or not, she used to be quite a bit worse than she is now, jumping at her shadow and burning up whenever someone ever dared to harm her little animal friends.”

That sounded almost comical, how bad the Kirin’s fear was, but given what she had heard about the creature, she didn’t want to make light of such circumstances. Though, that all was dependent on words alone—her actual experience with Fluttershy was a far cry from that. “I suppose I cannot judge.. how she acts all that well, as when I spoke to her, her anger was impossible to quell. She was quite irate, at the time, and I did not help, nor did my rhymes.”

“Oh...” Rarity murmured in response, her tone dripping with concern, “I-I’m so sorry about that, Darling. I did say she used to be rather bad at controlling her emotions, but even now, it still can be difficult to reign that Nirik side of her... She.. didn’t hurt you, did she?”

The Zebra shook her head, recalling those cursed flames nearly singing her, “No... but she was closer than I’d like. Thankfully.. that Longma I spoke of stopped her without a single strike. Fluttershy... went back home, crying in sorrow, but the Longma said we should wait to confront her until tomorrow.”

Rarity closed her eyes and nodded in understanding, clearly still sorry about what Twilight had to deal with, but now trying to calm back down. “Sorry once again, Darling... as much as Rainbow Dash has helped the dear out, she’s still quite dangerous to be around, both for her and whoever else it may be...

“Regardless...” She uttered with a sigh, pushing past the topic, “Yes, Rainbow has been a close friend of hers for some years now, and both of them are better off for it. But even dear Fluttershy needed quite a while to get through to Rainbow that her favorite team was anything but perfect. However, without that ideal to live up to, and with the betrayal still stinging at her, she started caring far less about the consequences of her actions.”

Smiling to herself a bit wryly, Rarity then added, “As hard as it may be to believe now, a while before that news broke out, Rainbow had been considered for the weather team captain due to her strong charisma and leadership ability, even though Raindrops was the one to get the job, as she’s far more careful and respectful.”

That was quite difficult to believe for Twilight, but it sounded sincere... and if true, it really proved how greatly she was impacted from that news. But, that only brought a question to the forefront of her mind; “If Rainbow was so hurt by.. what the team has done, then why does she still.. find the idea of joining them fun?”

“I believe...” The other creature returned, putting a lot of emphasis on that term, “That she wishes to right their wrongs. The Wonderbolts have cleaned up their act somewhat since then, and have checkups making sure there isn’t any further under-the-table activity, but it’s difficult to properly deal with all of their issues. The Pegasi bias is more fundamentally baked into them, with the whole way they perform tricks being built upon the high agility of Pegasi... and they can always fall back on that response—of tuning their cadets towards high-agility, which has the side effect of neglecting other species. A lot of other jobs have that sort of bias baked into them as well—Earth Ponies are still good at farming with their type of magic, and the precision of a Unicorn or Kirin horn helps one apply into academia, so what the Wonderbolts are doing isn’t wrong, per se... but the intent of does still seem quite narrow-minded and driven by some level of discrimination.

“And that’s not even addressing the pettier aspects, like with the suits, which...” She groaned out a breath, “You cannot even blame money on that. Not only do they have a lot to go around, based on the high-class apartments the Captain and her close subordinates live in, but I’m rather sure the cost of just.. investing in better suits from the start would more than outweigh the cost of all the bloody replacements they have. Now, I can’t fathom how Rainbow Dash would plan to address those issues,” She rolled her eyes with a smirk, “But I do respect that goal. I do suppose she does stand a better chance now that she isn’t so... maddeningly reckless, but still.”

Twilight slowly nodded in return, “It took her quite some time to deal with her own fears... so I can only imagine how long it will take to help out her peers. I believe.. it was only how you spoke to her.. eyes blood red and tone filled with anger, that ended up, showing her how bad her actions were, though I don’t know if the others.. have the same sympathy as her.”

“They may not...” Rarity uttered back, then took a deep breath, gave a wry smile, and finished, “But I suppose we’ll have to hold out some hope for them. Quite a lot of young fliers’ hopes and dreams are riding upon it, after all.”

Author's Note

Wow, I did not mean for this one to be this long.
It’s just with all I meant to address, and how I kept getting other stuff pulled into it... I do hope this chapter does still come across as coherent.

I did mean to address some other stuff about Ponyville, like Rarity’s other friends, as well as about Equestria in general, primarily that of Celestia and Luna, but they seemed little more than passing mentions that were unrelated to the main topics, so I left them out.
I do still mean to discuss those later, but not right now.

Next chapter... well, there’s one more of the Mane 6 we need to really address, and we’ll see a lot of her there.
Plus, that TFH tag ain’t for just one character, and they’ll be popping up there too! They probably won’t take too well to it, though...