Fiery Starts

by David Silver

Rating: mature
Tags: Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, Romance, Slice of Life, Alternate Universe, Human, Main 6, Young Six, Drama
Length: 48301

Ponies are drawn towards earth and air magic, usually. Water happens, and sea ponies are joyful partners. But fire? Kirin are mysterious and unknown. David is one, with little idea what that means. Equestria is all too happy to remind them all.

With his transformation into a youthful kirin pony, David discovers powerful pyrokinetic talents and spelling abilities empowered by his new ornate horn, even as he still struggles to control the incredible forces now at his command. As his bond with mentor Twilight Sparkle and her quirky companions deepens into true kinship, David dedicates himself towards mastering his emerging gifts in cooperation with these remarkable friends so he might finally leave behind lingering pains from a fraying past life and fully blossom into the destined role Equestria's remarkable magic now steadily shepherds him towards.

Published 2023-12-29 19:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2024-01-29 04:09:32 UTC

2 - Obligations

"Obligations." I sighed out that word as I dug out the keyboard. I had every excuse in two worlds to just toss the thing in the trash and be done with it.

But there was someone still waiting...

I started an email, to my brother.

Hey. I'm still here. You want to live in that house, I assume? We're going to have to work together to make that happen. If you don't care, well, let me know that. Just tell me either way, we have to get moving. Me, mostly, come to think. You just need to keep doing what you're doing.

I didn't even have a 'hi' to start or 'sincerely' at the end or anything. Just words. I smashed send, or imagined smashing send.

I switched focus to a life insurance site, and began reporting that my mother had died, and started getting those wheels turning. That money would make it work, if it was going to work at all.

I laughed bitterly at that. I had gotten the insurance. I had gotten life insurance on my own mother. She had gotten some, just enough to cover burying her.

I had gotten more, to try to keep that damn house. Whatever... I was there, so I did my daily words dutifully. They didn't do anything to deserve my ghosting just yet.

With all my respons... Oh, that was fast. I opened the email my brother had sent. A lot of it was breathless ranting, but he did want to stay in that house. Good... Good... Fine.

I hit the reply. "Congratulations, the house is yours, all of it. I suggest renting some of it. Please put half of whatever you make aside. Send it to me, and I'll use it to pay the mortgage. When the mortgage is paid, I'll give you the house properly."

I pulled my hooves away with a sigh, my magic shoving the keyboard under my bed. "Handled."

I leaned back afterwards, emotions churning inside. Securing the house brought some relief, but sadness too that I couldn't be there for mom during hard times.

I glanced out the window where Spike and Twinkle played carefree, removed from Earthly problems. Even across dimensions, new connections took root - yet old ties still bound me in bureaucracy.

I couldn't unravel all those knots now when new duties called. Provide help where I could, or let another relationship fade? The choice followed me between worlds.

With heavy steps I moved to join friends beckoning me outside. Dark clouds lingered, but sunny days awaited too if I kept moving onwards. I stepped into light leaving regret locked behind me for now. There was still good I could cling to.

I, at least, got outside the library before I combusted. I had learned to feel when the fire wanted to come out. I could hold it back, but I could feel it, building rapidly. The nirik wouldn't be denied for too long. Burning, I circled around to where I had seen Spike and Twinkle.

Spike spotted me first. "Our resident fire pony is visiting." He patted me, not at all bothered by the licking nirik flames. "Still upset, huh?"

The petting was... nice actually. I stilled a moment to accept it with a little smile. "I'm working through it. One step at a time, we'll get things settled, and I'll leave things better than I found it." I took a soft breath, the flames dimming a little. "That's all I wanted to do."

Twinkle inclined her head. "That fire is not normal... I would love to study it."

"Go ahead?" I raised a hoof at her. "I'm right here, not complaining."

"Well..." With a pop, a bottle appeared next to her. "Since you're offering." She swiped at me, gathering some of the flame inside somehow and bottling it up tight with a cork. She had a bottle of nirik flame, still crackling inside. "I'll be studying this." She trotted off with a pleased expression.

I chuckled as Twinkle made off with some of my weird fire. Guess my flaming mood improved somehow seeing her so curiously excited. I rolled my shoulders, feeling calmer with Spike's comforting pets.

I looked around the undamaged yard - seems I got worked up before but didn't actually torch anything. This new fire magic probably just needs steady guidance, not freaking out.

I met Spike's waiting gaze. "Help me train better control over these powers?" I asked plainly. "You are a dragon. You know fire magic inside and out. You showed me that."

Spike nodded, waving towards an open field perfect for magical practice. I followed after him with a growing smile. My fires dimmed as my mood improved. I was legit looking forward to learning my fire magic. "Um, silly question..." I hurried to his side instead of behind him.

"How do I look?" I twisted a bit, showing off various parts of me, tasseled tail swishing eagerly. "I'm all kirin now."

Spike looked me over with a smoky huff as we reached the field. “You’re looking more badass dragon-style with all the scales and flames.” He adjusted my curly mane. “Just needs some fierce scales here and here...”

I held still as he pointed out places for color changes to add drama. I guess this shape was still a work in progress if dragon mentors had tweaks to make the look more impressive. I doubted nature would oblige him, but it was amusing to imagine.

“Yeah, some badass touches and you’ll awe folks for sure!” Spike assured with a fangy grin. To emphasize, he casually lobbed a huge boulder overhead. “Now toast that rock before it lands, newb, if you can!”

I tracked the tumbling stone, excitement rising. I didn’t need anger or fury - this was just a game to bond over magic with a master. As power gathered in my horn I realized again what wonders Spike could unfold if I leaned into this unexpected guidance without arrogance or ego getting in the way.

I punched at the rock, or it felt like I was doing that. A bright bolt of fire lept from me and struck the rock, leaving a scorch mark, but the rock was very intact.

Spike launched himself up to catch the boulder before it crashed into something and he brought it down to me. "Good aim... But your strength still needs some work." He set the rock down with a dull thud. "But good aim. That counts."

I smiled at that. "That... actually checks out. I was alright with skeet shot back home, but I could never punch anyone, ever... I'd sooner get beat up than do that."

Spike inclined his head. "Standing there getting beat up doesn't sound... ideal?" He shrugged. "You're a kirin. A fire pony. A dragon pony. I don't want to see you letting anycreature beat you up."

I scuffed a hoof, shrugging off old habit to avoid fights. Spike had a point - what use was all this magic if I just let ponies walk over me like before?

But... I didn't want... "Spike, I don't like the idea of hurting people."

Spike scratched at his cheek. "Well... me neither? I don't want to go out and hurt somecreature. But if they're hurting you, you have to do something, right? What are you planning?" He reached over me and swatted my tail. "Run away?"

"Running is an option." I shuffled in place. "Magic gives more options, besides hurting."

"Alright." Spike shrugged softly. "You're not wrong. There are more options..."

I relaxed as Spike softened. Violence left me uneasy even morally justified. My dizzying pony changes already brought enough turmoil without adding external fights!

Yet sticking heads in the sand solved nothing if injustice festered unchecked. I studied a hoof - what responsibilities now walked beside this newfound might? Wise voices called those with power to wield it responsibly.

I met Spike's gaze evenly. "Hurting folk stays last resort, whatever they've done." Spike rumbled agreement. "But you've got a point too - there's middle roads between cowering and violence worth exploring first with all my new options."

I surveyed the open field thoughtfully. "Friendship itself has real force here in Equestria from what I'm told. So understanding must come before any fixing faults." Spike nodded approval at that.

He loomed suddenly solemn. "Lessons everywhere for you now, dude. You're more than a kirin." He poked at me. "You have that book of yours, right? The earth tab's still there, right?"

"Good idea." I imagined that book, opening it up and running imagined fingers along the bookmarks. Earth, I flipped that one open. The rock toss was still there. "Yep, there it is." I threw a rock with a flash of my horn, proving I could still do that. "Yep."

Spike clapped once. "You're a fire pony, but still a pony. You were 'born' into earth, and gained fire. Actual kirins are born into fire, so they don't do earth at all. Want to defend yourself, or lock people in a timeout? Earth specialties."

I blinked, fascinated by Spike's shrewd insight around hybridized access to normally exclusive elemental spheres through my unique transformation sequence. Kirin gained pyromantic prowess in the womb, excluding alternative affinities - but I was both. I started with hooves in the dirt, and the fire came afterwards. Both felt natural.

"Spike, you're fricken brilliant - I hadn't even thought of that, and I feel stupid right now. Happy, but stupid." I glanced between hooves and the blazing mane of flames declaring fiery inheritance manifesting later. I was a creature of two worlds.

I grinned fiercely feeling fresh excitement towards the hybrid road untrod. "You're completely right - no reason to blindly conform to traditional talent tracks when I could be walking my own path!" Rearing again I concentrated, seeking sensations from my first days pony-fied. There! Rock fragments trembled answering arcane probes before catapulting skyward at my gleeful beckoning. "HA! Yes! Earth and Fire unite!"

Spike pumped a scaly fist grinning back. "Now you're getting it! Mash up and make some crazy fusion mojo!" He pointed to the original hefty boulder. "If you can drop that hunk of granite between us before my fireball arrives, dessert's on me tonight!" He wasted no time lobbing a dazzling projectile guaranteed to leave smoking holes unchallenged.

I squeaked in abject fear. Having things thrown at me, one of my few fears. Blindly, I threw a rock. That rock happened to be a boulder. The boulder smashed into the fireball, exploding into little fragments.

Sadly for Spike, many of those flaming chunks of earth were still coming at him, peppering him. He was laughing, though. "Wow... Nice." He clapped as he sat on his haunches. "I promised. Dessert, tonight, my treat. But that was earth. We're going to have to find some real combos. You can do earth, and fire, but what would a fire/earth look like? I never saw Twilight do one, so..."

So he had no idea. "Magma?" was my first thought, said out loud. "Good for making an area most don't want to walk through."

Spike shrugged. "That'll work for things without wings, or are dragons, who have wings, and also think lava's a great place for a bath." He leaned in. "Seriously, you can make lava? You owe me a dip. Learn that spell, yesterday."

I considered my mental book, just to get confused. "Do I even look for that under fire or earth?" I mentally felt over the two bookmarks. "It's technically both?"

Spike shrugged. "So it's in one... and the other just says 'look over in the other', right?"

I snorted at the idea. "If whoever indexed this did a good job. Sadly, they left me in charge of that, so we're doomed." I flipped through earth instead, just to be teased with hints of other spells awaiting my trial. "Spike, will you get mad if I just want to explore more?"

Spike leaned in. "You seeing more spells? That'll make Twilight and Twinkle's day." He snorted with a smirk. "Go on. I can wait a little for that lava bath."

Author's Note

A lighter chapter overall, I feel. We're stepping forward. David doesn't like the idea of fighting things though, even if capable.

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3 - Steady Stones

"Morning."

I sat up sharply. Now, when asleep, I could slumber through much of anything. But near the time I was going to wake up anyway, I became more and more sensitive to being disturbed. I was caught in that state, so I woke right up. There was Maud, staring at me.

"Oh, hi." I slid down to my hooves. "Wow, I did not expect you. Here. In my room?" I glanced around, yep, my room, with Maud in it. "Maud, why are you in my room? Not mad, but why?"

"I wanted to visit. So I did." She came closer, nose almost to nose. "I heard you stopped being an earth pony. That made me sad." She didn't look sad, or anything else. "What are you?" Her eyes wandered over my features. "You have a horn, are you a unicorn? Your horn's odd-looking."

"That was a very Pinkie way to ask those questions." I smiled gently at Maud. "I'm a kirin, a fire pony." I lashed my tasseled tail behind me. "But I'm still David, first. I'm still your friend, and I love you."

Maud blinked softly. "I don't love you."

Wait. "Did, dang, um." I recoiled a step. "I said that wrong." That got me blushing pretty well, the flames in me threatening to come out.

She stomped a hoof, and stone snagged me, hugging me firmly around the middle. "Calm down. I'm not mad." She sat down, the ring crumbling away. "Do you love me?"

I hesitated, cheeks still flushed. Did I love Maud? She was certainly special - her stoic stability anchoring emotions when turbulence struck. And that subtle sparkle in her eyes when passions secretly ignited towards precious stones or new friends glimmering under placid exteriors.

But was that love or merely infatuation with lingering mystery not yet fully revealed? I stirred restlessly. Even close bonds between us flowed more from little moments unveiling hidden facets slowly, not some lightning strike of Cupid's arrows behind the barn.

Still, the possibility of deeper connection flickered, not yet ready to name outright but warming bit by bit like stalagmites forming patiently across centuries, drop by mineral drop.

I met Maud's expectant gaze. "I care about you a lot," I said finally. "Enough to say things that sound silly, clearly." I scuffed a hoof, abashed. "Maybe crazy talk, maybe not. I still have lots to figure out."

I stepped forward tentatively. "But I know my heart's glad whenever you're near, Maud Pie. However you'll have me - friend or anything more someday - that's enough." I smiled anxiously. "Is...is that okay for now?"

Maud looked into my eyes a long moment before nodding once. "Yes. You're still learning to love." She stood up and stepped closer. "I'm still learning too." She reached up with a hoof and gently booped my nose. "Thank you for trying with me."

She turned for the door without another word. "Are you attending school today?"

I blinked at the sharp turn of conversation. "No, actually... Why?"

Maud paused, looking over her shoulder. "I wanted company, but now it's wierd."

"Wierd?" I moved to her side. "Did I make it that way?"

"You did." She turned to me, eyes wandering to the window and some tweeting birds. "You are younger than me. I'm an adult, you are nearly there, but not there. You want to breed with me. I am unsure how to feel." She said it all with a straight face, no alteration in her voice. "Flattered, awkward. I am a whirlwind of emotions." Nope, not even a hint of those emotions placed on her face or her stoic body.

I offered a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, think some wires got crossed on intentions and stuff. My mistake - last thing I want is making you feel uncomfortable or obligated."

Maud nodded once. "I understand. We all go at our own pace."

She turned again for the exit. "Today offers gems and volcanos. Coming?"

I hurried after her. "Volcanoes?!"

Maud lifted an ear at me. "I heard you were becoming skilled with fire magic. Use it to protect me." Not even a question, really. She just assumed I'd do it.

On one level, that irritated me, on the other, I felt warmed and trailed right after her, only stopping to snatch a few leftovers from breakfast on my way past. "Acorns, neat." My pony tongue approved of them, so I munched them as we walked towards Maud's mine.

Maud glanced my way as I crunched the acorns. "You're more pony than you look now," she remarked in her usual deadpan tone. Yet I swore a ghost of a smile teased her stoic lips.

I had to chuckle. "I suppose these new taste buds make it easier blending in at least." I licked stray nut dust off my muzzle as we walked. "So you just want to observe my spell slinging up close today?"

Maud hummed tonelessly. "I have business at the volcano first. But your tricks interest me too..." She trailed a considering hoof along faintly glowing cracks veining the path ahead. "...Crystalline infusions from tectonic activity."

I perked up, trotting closer. "Oh yeah? Some sorta supercharged gems or the something down there?" Vague recollections about her fascinations with rocks and explosives surfaced. "Could be useful for focusing magical energies, maybe?"

"Potentially." Maud halted peering over the smoking rim. "With observation and experimentation."

She turned my way, deadpan but resolute. "I require an assistant."

"You have me." And I followed her into the depths of the earth, the temperature rising around us as we wound deeper and deeper. Being a kirin, the heat felt... comfortable. The dry heat, no problems there. Part of me wanted it to be even warmer. It was... comfortable. Was that what dragons felt?

Maud, on the other hoof, was sweating mildly. She didn't complain, or advance any faster or slower. She was a stoic pony, and the heat wasn't changing that. She sweat, and marched. "The next right." She turned at the fork ahead of us. "It's warm." A bit of her fur caught on fire, and she casually patted it out. "Very warm."

I winced sympathetically as Maud calmly smothered the errant tongue of flame licking her coat. Even her legendary composure had limits it would seem in volcanic environs.

Trotting quickly over I channeled my inner fire magic, flipping through my mental book until I found one of a pony in a bubble, fires all around. I manifested a protective aura that enveloped us both in a comforting bubble of perfect room temperature. "There, how's that? It doesn't feel too hard to keep this up."

Noticing her sweat-dotted brow I let out a nervous laugh as temperature regulations clearly still needed work. But the shimmering sphere at least buffered the external oven blast.

I smiled encouragingly through my protective efforts. "It's not elegant, but keeps the worst off our backs. Now your gem hunt shouldn't boil quite so bad at least?"

I inclined my head curiosly down the tunnel, fiery radiance revealing glittering mineral treasure ahead. "Shall we press on farther and see what other wonders await discovery together?"

Maud blinked slowly in the calmer air, eyes locking on the distant glimmer at the tunnel's end. "Yes. This is sufficient." She turned marching steadily into the mysteries ahead and I paced her glad I could lend elemental talents to safely satisfy Maud's stoic scholarly perseverance however blistering the depths. "This is what I was hoping you could do."

She advanced to a particular glint. "This." She pulled a pick from her side in her teeth. "This is very rare anywhere above here. This close to the magma..." She slammed the pick down, shattering the stone around the gem. "Keep that bubble up." Her tail gave a single sway, about as close as she came to an ecstatic gesture. Dutifully, she got to mining that treasure.

I got to wait, and watch. She worked like a machine, slowly working out bits of lustrous rock. But none of that seemed to compare to the rock in front of me. She was... I shook my head sharply. Being physically attracted to someone was a new feeling. I normally shoved such thoughts out, and moved to do just that. "She already said she isn't interested."

"What?" She glanced towards me. "I didn't say that." She went back to mining. "I said you made it awkward."

"Um." Wait... "So, are you interested, or not?"

"A little." She caught another free gem and tucked it away. "Most ponies aren't interested in me. Why are you? I don't smile." She resumed her work without pause. "I don't laugh. My jokes fall flat with most ponies. I..."

I set a hoof on her shoulder. "You are not a normal pony. Neither am I." I wagged my especially long and ornate ears. "That's okay."

"That's okay," she echoed, catching a new gem. "You're strange."

I chuckled self-consciously at Maud's blunt assessment. "Well, I figure turning from human to pony overnight counts as pretty strange."

I let her work, simply keeping protective temperatures modulated with a careful hoof. Odd gemstone glyphs glimmered on the cavern walls hinting this land held deeper mysteries still slumbering.

Maud's glinting pickaxe rang steadily through the contemplative quiet. This steadfast scholar sensed secrets subtly even stone itself whispered if you bowed close enough to hear.

I studied her absorbed motions as rubble fell away revealing yet more fractal treasures glimmering within. What did she glimpse sensing my strangeness that slipped past my senses still struggling Equestria's emotional lexicon?

"I know I've got awkward edges still..." I ventured carefully. "Heck, first friendships here started with a baby doll and fire lizard!" I risked a teasing nudge Maud's way. "But you all still took in this weirdo alien..."

I met her eyes searchingly. "I mean, you've got some insights on what almost fits or why I keep bumbling?"

Maud blinked slowly my way as our eyes met across glimmering gems half-freed from stoney cages. "You see differently..." she pronounced finally. "I like it."

She turned fully from her tools, dusting off hooves. "Like following faults ponies overlook...until they crack wide wonders underneath." Maud met my fascinated stare. "You notice. You accept. Like me with my rocks."

She shifted almost self-consciously. "Most think them...or me dull as the dirt itself. Yet patience reveals our shine in time." She glanced my way hesitantly. "Do you...see things in me as well?"

The spell wavered, and heat washed over us, blasting away her sweat abruptly into puffs of steam as I got the spell's icon firmly in my mind. "Yes," I got out, getting that under control. "Sorry."

"You are young." She snorted softly. "And a stallion. You're thinking with one part of you right now, and it's distracting the other part of you that thinks. Poor thing." She walked past me, towards the cooler caves. "I have enough to study for now. Follow me."

My cheeks flushed at Maud's blunt diagnosis of hormones hampering higher thought. She wasn't wrong - this adolescent body and its reactions still ambushed my maturity at the worst moments.

I grimaced apology trailing after her. "Yeah, that magic slip kinda emphasizes your point, doesn't it...?" At least the elevated heat masked my burning face for now. I took a calming breath re-centering my focus before hurrying to catch up.

"Anyhow, to actually answer you..." I followed Maud from the sweltering tunnels towards her mercifully cooler workshop carved deeper inside. "I do admire things in you many miss at first glance, for sure."

I counted off points on a hoof. "You see intricate beauty in seemingly simple stuff, your dedication to passions is... I can see myself in that, and well..." I smiled wryly her way. "Having someone functionally mute to bounce my own ramblings off ain't so bad either."

I let those reflections stand in the ensuing silence between us as equipment and extra clothing came blessedly into reach once more. Did she hear respect sincerely offered from another oddball still learning the steps, however clumsily my own fumbles continued? I could but hope...and wait patiently to see what insights her stoic nature unveiled in her own time.

Maud fetched a vest and wiped the sweat from her brow as I watched. "You think well. You just let... other things interrupt that thinking." She slowly got herself into the vest. "The air is hot."

I blinked at that. Oh, my spell... My spell had failed. "I'm sorry." I let the heat-resistant air go, watching her sweat slowly dry up in the present conditions.

She resecured her hat. "I can handle this. You forget I work regular trips down here." She looked to a massive crack nearby. "But it's good you're making progress. I heard what happened at school. No fire pony should be caught by surprise by their fire."

"You can help me with that." I smiled and pulled open my mental spellbook. "I just got access to some more spells."

Maud perked with interest and leaned in. "You haven't given up on earth spells?"

"No way." I touched noses with her. "I plan to collect, and earth is where I started."

Maud slid a hoof up between us, pushing me back easily. "Tease." She half turned from me. "If you want to try that, keep pushing. If you want to study, sit down."

Author's Note

Maud, what are you offering?

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4 - Tense Choices

I was still and quiet. Had Maud just offered what I thought she offered? Parts of me tensed. Parts I had not thought of since arriving in that Equestria filled and I shivered with a remembered passion I had set down. Did she really?

I was just as suddenly encased in stone, made into a statue as Maud turned towards me. She looked me up and down. "You're erect." That wasn't a fact I could argue, locked in that state in my stone prison. "You're serious, but are you?" She leaned in. "Are you horny, or are you in love." She walked past me. "They are not the same."

Instead of panicking, I really thought about it. Which of those was I, really? "I'm sorry for bothering you. Um..."

The stone cracked and fell free of me. Maud nodded as she set one of the shining gems on a stone table. "You're a good boy. But you're a boy." She tapped at the stone gentle. "Good boys should keep that away, or find a good girl."

"I'm not a boy," I said before second guessing myself. "I suppose I am a boy right now... I'm an older man, in this young body. Um, shoot... Making this worse." I sank to my haunches. "I'm sorry."

"Awkward." She rolled the gem over. "I like that. Twilight mentioned you were from another world. Are you staying?"

"Yes."

"I'll talk to her." Maud inclined her head at the exit. "See you later."

Feeling humiliated, I marched out with a purpose. Always walk like you had somewhere to be was a philosophy I held close. "Later," I called back, vanishing around a corner, headed for the surface.

I spent the rest of the day thumbing through my mental spellbooks, digging about for earth and... Oh... Right. I had entirely forgotten.

I went for my saddlebag and brought it to Twilight. "I have a confession."

Twilight perked up. "A confession? What did you do?"

I dropped the bag in front of her. "Look at the papers."

So Twilight did. She read the papers I never got around to reading. Her face changed colors several times as she got to certain parts. "And you... read this?"

"Not a word. But I created them." I tapped at my horn. "That learning spell encourages you to think about what you're looking at, and writes down what comes out, I think? I can... try it again, now that you know, and you can take the paper it makes."

Twilight carefully set the papers aside, expression thoughtful as she met my anxious eyes. "Creating those personal glimpses was likely an innocent magical accident given your inexperience."

She smiled reassuringly. "The emotions stirred are understandable. But the nobler path focuses positive potential not overreacting negatively." She cleared her throat softly and nodded mostly to herself.

I sighed, tension ebbing as she didn't seem upset. Was I already forgiven? "I didn't know it would do that."

I straightened determinedly. "I'll be more careful how I use that in the future, if I use it again."

Twilight nodded. "Growth takes time. Be patient with yourself and others. For now, let's simply move ahead wiser." She leaned in forward. "Seriously, you didn't read any of it?"

I colored at that. "I read enough to see I shouldn't read it, then I stopped, and I filtered it. I forgot everything I read except it had you and Twinkle's thoughts in it."

Twilight hiked a brow. "You filtered it?"

I nodded at that, pointing a cloven hoof at the papers. "I can just decide to not remember something. Sometimes I can not hear something or not see something. Filtering."

"Filtering." Twilight tapped at her chin. "Your mind is a curious place... Now..." She took a slow breath. "Now that we're operating honestly, I would like to see you use that spell again. I will take possession of the result."

I hesitated nervously as Twilight requested observing that memory extraction spell directly despite the previous awkwardness around its privacy violating effects. But she had asked, and she would take the result. I wasn't violating anyone. I was giving her what she wanted, from herself.

With an anxious swallow, I lit my horn focusing past discomfort towards Twilight's calm, curious gaze, trusting her research aims and not fear's projections. Brief flare later and a new scroll sat between us unread but humbly offered this time.

I met her eyes uncertainly. "No looking. I won't use this on innocent ponies without asking first." I scuffed a hoof, still feeling exposed under fresh memories conjured from her inner landscape. "We good still though?"

Twilight smiled gently levitating the record away into a satchel for later review. "We were always good, so no worries there." She gave my shoulder a reassuring pat. "I apologize too, if you felt pressured just now. Guidance must leave room for self-directed timing."

I smiled back small but real, relief swelling.

"Besides, fascinating though your distinctive talents are, I appreciate you most for who you are, dear friend." Twilight nudged me playfully towards the kitchen. "Now then, enough heaviness! I believe some new herb tea blends await our intrepid sampling..."

I chuckled letting lighter subjects fill the space between us as we walked. She wanted to hear every spell I had dug out so far, so I went over them, and displayed them, with rushes of fire, earth, and a few that were human and didn't have obvious elemental hints.

"Very curious." She sipped from her tea. "Go on then. It's your day off, enjoy it."

I gave a little wave, even if not required, and dashed away from her to the outdoors.

I wasn't there, but Twilight received another guest later, as I was out practicing my magic. Maud casually walked in, eyes on Twilight as she approached. "David has a healthy libido."

Twilight spit the tea she was working on. "Excuse me?"

"He has a healthy libido." Maud inclined her head. "And he is attracted to me."

Twilight glanced left, right, then back at Maud. "Al...right..." She rubbed at her throat nervously. "What brings this up? I... You are a grown pony. You can make your own decisions."

"Yes." Maud leaned in. "But he is a boy. But he claims to not be a boy. Which is he? Am I taking advantage?" She walked past Twilight, fetching some tea for herself without being invited. "Am I breaking any laws?"

Twilight rubbed at the side of her cheek. "Even if we worked entirely off his apparent age, he is, at best, a liberated foal, which makes him an adult. He can make his own decisions. He has no parents that could claim him. His only potential caretaker is me... and I'm not assuming that role."

Maud raised a hoof to her chin, staring at Twilight in silence. Moments turned into minutes of quiet staring.

Twilight met Maud's steady gaze as long minutes passed in silence. Finally she spoke: "Sorry if I seem judgmental about your private lives." She sighed, refilling their tea. "As guardian to an energetic unicorn, maybe I projected unfairly."

She smiled openly. "You understand David's readiness better from your bonding. Legally, nothing bars consenting relationships." Twilight lifted her cup in salute. "I wish you both happiness however things unfold between you."

At long last Maud spoke: "If he walks away, I understand." She hesitated. "If he stays...I understand too."

Twilight smiled hearing pragmatism and care in Maud's tone. However strange the circumstances, perhaps this unlikely pair would find calm within the storm. The future glimmered with cozy potential.

Maud walked out, her part spoken.

Twilight inclined her head at the papers. "Twinkle." Twinkle popped out from a cabinet. "I had a feeling you were close by. Did you hear all that?"

"Mmhmm." Twinkle took flight, landing in front of Twilight. "Not fair."

"Not fair." Twilight smiled gently. "And it reads like a bad romance novel."

"The worst." Twinkle inclined her head. "Are we forming a herd? Dibs on being the leader."

Twilight booped Twinkle's nose. "No. You and David still have a tortured and messy line of consent that can't be ignored so casually. I can't recommend you two at any point."

Twinkle shrank at that. "No fair... I am his."

"That you repeat that only makes my stance all the more firm." Twilight clopped a hoof down. "Find a pony you don't feel so crushingly indebted to."

Twinkle shot her larger self a glare. "What's your excuse? I was his doll, smiling and happy to be there. He went up to Maud and they actually talked it out..." She worried her hooves slowly. "How do you fit in? Why do you even care?"

"He's fascinating." Twilight inclined her head. "But he's also hurt, and confused. I want to make his space warm and safe, so I keep my questions to myself, except when he rushes up, eager to share. But I want to know... I want to know how his mind works, and how his magic works. Mental spellbooks?! I could study this for decades without pause..."

Twinkle rolled a hoof. "Okay, so. All of that sounds not-embarrasing, but you blushed with me. I was thinking naughty things. What were you blushing about? Be honest! If you're going to chase me away, at least be honest about your side of things."

Twilight sighed, ears dipping sheepishly under her diminutive double's shrewd stare seeing through excuses. "...Alright, alright, that's fair. I suppose deeper fascinations stir beyond clinical curiosity alone..."

She cleared her throat, words emerging halting. "Witnessing fresh eyes confronting life's myriad mysteries so openly, drinking details thirstily even in strangeness...it awakens joys I thought lessened under the long weight of duties grown familiar."

Twilight gazed skywards thoughtfully through the window where clouds scudded brightly over deepening azure. "Jaded eyes newly re-enchanted beholding the world with wonder once more... Was not my childhood thus similarly immersed astonished at existence unveiled?"

She blinked refocusing on Twinkle buzzing encouragements. Chuckling self-consciously Twilight concluded: "You have the right of it; David rekindles science's passions but perhaps also the heart's no less precious stirrings too long left slumbering."

Twinkle smirked triumphantly clearly relishing the confession wrested into sunlight at last from her esteemed sister's evasions. But Twilight simply shrugged helplessly. "So!" Twinkle pirouetted airily evading heavier conversation. "When's dinner? This emotional detective work works up fierce appetites wouldn't you agree?" And talk turned lighter thenceforth.

Unknowing of the storm I had prompted, I dug through my book, looking like I was just spacing out at the side of the road.

"David!" Pinkie landed on my back, startling me, but the hug calmed me down. "I hear you and my sister are getting along super well! I'm so happy I could cry." She wasn't crying, she was smiling brilliantly. "Are you two gonna date, huh huh huh?"

I gently wrestled Pinkie away with a chuckle. "Nothing planned yet. But hello, Pinkie. I was going to try a new spell."

"Ooo, that's fun too." She bounced in place. "What kind?"

"I was thinking to practice earth." I leafed mentally. "I can see... two spells teasing me. I'm not sure which to focus on."

"The fun one, obviously." Pinkie rolled her eyes as if it should be obvious. "Do it!"

But how did I know which was fun without examining both? I went for the first one. Opening the tome and peering inside, I saw a pony statue or golem, caught mid-trot. "Huh..." I focused on the rune and felt what I had felt before. I was being encased in spreading stone that crept over me the more I focused on it.

Curiosity kept me focused and soon I was that statue I saw, but I could still walk and move easily. "It's the stone spell you cast before."

Pinkie scrunched her nose. "Unfair... You copied me." She pawed at me, but she was giggling. "Now you can hug dangerous things too. Oh! Or you could use it when you are dangerous, to be less dangerous."

My ears danced in amazement. "Oh, good idea."

Pinkie pawed at those ears. "I got a reaction out of you, good. Now, you be nice to Maud, or I'll be angry."

Author's Note

Few dare to anger the Ponk.

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5 - Awakening

I was in bed. It was sleeping time, but I wasn't quite ready to sleep. I was tense in all the wrong ways. I was wound up in a very male sort of way. There was a cure for that. It wasn't hard to remember. I had been given a grasping hand to make that happen, but I hadn't tried it that way. A magic hand? Would it work the same, or differently? Better, worse?

I reached curiously, not facing it. My eyes were closed, in fact. Oh, yep, that was me touching me. I could determine that right away. Some part of my new wiring knew that it was me doing that touching, which kept it fairly the same.

One big difference: there was no arm involved. When I was done, I wasn't painting quite as much, and slumber claimed me swiftly away from my brief fantasy of Maud and what that might entail.

I woke up and had breakfast with the others. We chatted and ate and everything was nice and normal. "I got my writing done for the day." I chewed on the hash brown-like main course. "Class is later. I have the time to myself for the middle of the day."

Spike huffed a little smoke. "Cool. Got time for a little practice? I have a little something for you."

I smiled over at Spike, eager to continue developing that magic. "Certainly! Now's perfect timing squeezing in some spellcasting practice." I swallowed the last vegetable bites before pushing back from the table. "Just let me help tidy up first before we head out to the yard."

Twilight waved a casual hoof levitating dishes towards her glowing washbasin. "I've got this well underhoof - you two run along and mind the fire safety procedures!" Spike rolled his eyes at her worrywart fussing but nodded obediently towards the sink as we trotted out to assume that oft practiced mentor/student stance under Celestia's golden rays.

I didn't expect to be pushed over the moment we were across the street. "Huh?"

Spike loomed over me, looking down. "Not cool."

"What?"

"Not cool." Spike crossed his arms. "I thought we had a thing."

"Um." Shoot. "Shit. Shit!" I sat up sharply. "I'm so sorry! You didn't... say... We're a thing?! We're... Man... Man..." I was breathing hard. I had done it. I had done what I said I'd avoid doing. I had cheated on someone. Someone I didn't even know I was dating, let alone comitted to. "You didn't mention that. That's not really fair."

Spike hiked a brow. "I thought it was obvious... Do you usually let people... do that to you if you're not interested?" He snuffled at me lightly. "You're a strange creature, David."

"Yeah." I shrugged at that, standing up. "I am. I'm really sorry though. I really didn't even think of that, which is a shitty excuse the more times I hear it. Crap..." I wobbled in place. "I'm sorry... You're... um... interested?"

I scuffed a hoof, shame burning me under Spike's stern stare. Silence expanded painfully before I managed awkward words: "...You were interested then?"

My gaze flickered away from his clenching claws down to blithely ignorant students. Focus danced fitfully, unwilling to linger on his judgment over my misleading signals that had clearly stung an unsuspecting heart.

But Spike's stony countenance allowed no easy out for my thoughtless assumption. Mortified, my eyes finally dragged back up to face hard truths head on instead of making weak excuses.

"I'm sorry," I weakly sputtered out, feeling small, like a tiny child before him. "I'm sorry."

Spike thunked his ead head against mine, easily forcing me back, especially in my feeble state. "Not smart."

"Huh?" The way he had phrased that. "You... What do you mean?"

Spike shrugged, sitting up. "You have two creatures that want you and are willing to say they want to hang out with you and you go chasing another one that you can barely talk to? I don't get it." He huffed, smoke curling from his nostrils. "What's she got? Twilight got you to this world in the first place, you owe her."

"Um." I hadn't expected that turn. "Maud reminded me... of me. She's... She's not good at expressing herself. She's focused. She's quiet..."

"You're not quiet." Spike casually lifted me from the center, fingers circled around my midsection. "You're awkward, but not quiet. If I give you even a tiny reason, you'll talk all day long. It'd kind of neat. Like Pinkie Pie, but less grating."

"Well when you frame things that way, I guess I have been more openly chatty lately..." I managed a weak chuckle from his dangling grip.

My smile faded reconsidering. Were Maud and I truly kindred spirits, or just cling to familiar facades in an alien land?

"I don't know Maud well enough to say my care bolsters rather than just appeases fears." I met his gaze squarely, awkward swaying aside. "I haven't been fair to you." I lashed my tail gently. Dangling from Spike's grip was a powerless feeling, but I didn't hate it.

He was holding me because he cared. That meant something. "Besides... I was just making her feel awkward. I was totally creeping on her. I feel awful."

Spike inclined his head. "Well, there's an easy fix for that. If nocreature else, I'm alright with you as you are."

I smiled at that. "What does... Twilight think of this?"

Spike dropped me to land wobbling on my hooves. "Dude. She is hoping we work things out, so I can haul you home, and be the creature who's fault this is, so she can feign innocence." He rolled his eyes slowly. "I am her familiar. I know what she's feeling. She has no clue how to start this kind of thing. She wants to study you forever, and that you're a nice creature is a bonus on top of that. That you're a nice stallion creature that wants to study magic with her really seals the deal."

I steadied myself after the sudden drop, surprise swirling. So Twilight lived through unencumbered Spike sharing deeper feelings rare for her role? Makes sense they'd glimpsed hesitations and hidden longings from both sides most would miss...

"Huh...so she peeks through the curtains too in her own way..." I mused, reconsidering past interactions. Lingering looks signaled more below than mere clinical care, it seemed.

I smiled softly - what might grow unleashing feels too complex to convey directly? Touching and being touched could have meanings, a lot of them. It was only specific professions that escaped that, kinda... And Spike was not a massage therapist nor a doctor.

I met Spike's waiting gaze firmly with building excitement. "Well, um..." I sank to my haunches, tail swaying behind me without asking. For however many flaws I had in broadcasting, it seemed my new parts didn't share them exactly. My tail would wag, my ears would dance. Becoming a pony had, in some ways, alleviated it, a little.

"Be gentle?"

Spike wrinkled his snout and barked out a laugh. "Wow. You're the one giving me things to fuss about." He suddenly leaned in, tossing me up with a toss of his snout. I landed on his snout, straddling it as he stood up with me. "You brought back Twilight to me. I owe you a little... I guess forgiving this screw up counts." He started walking down the side of the road with me. "So, are we official enough now?"

I squawked gripping his snout reflexively as the sudden toss sent me briefly airborne before landing firmly astride the sinuous bridge of his draconic mug now casually carrying me down Ponyville's peaceful streets beneath Celestia's golden rays. Passerby waved and giggled clearly well-accustomed to such fanciful spectacles astride their placid guardian beast gliding with innate majesty through their picturesque thoroughfares.

My anxiousness swiftly eased under soothing repetition of his steady breaths and gait, old fears of judgment from public displays fading replaced by simple enjoyment of the unique vantage through trust literally elevating perspectives high above the unremarkable grooves my own hooves habitually trod.

"Heh, well who needs magic carpets with friendly dragons conveying new sights so sublimely, eh Spike my friend?" I gently patted his polished purple scales. "And yeah I'd call us official enough now that I won't do something so dumb again." I leaned forward peering upside down into one glinting green eye. "Official enough to seal things properly later back home maybe?"

Spike rumbled good natured amusement sending me gently swaying with each reverberating chuckle before replying in kind: "Right. No." He looked down as Missus Cake was walking by. "Hey. Check out my new boyfriend." He lowered to wag me at her. I colored faintly, waving, but saying nothing.

Missus Cake looked baffled a moment. "How... lovely for you, Spike." But she just moved on with her business.

Spike took the time to show me off to any pony that had the time to be bothered. I was waved at the other girls, at least until we arrived at Pinkie.

She looked stunned. "W-what?"

"My boyfriend." Spike pointed at David. "Mine."

"Oh... Oh." Pinkie frowned. "That didn't last long... Oh no... She's going to be so upset."

Spike put me back on his snout. "Who's going to be upset about what?"

Pinkie pointed up at me. "Maud! She was ready to have a new boyfriend. She can't do that if her boyfriend already has a boyfriend!" She clopped a hoof to either side of her head. "Oh no!"

"What?" I sat up and turned around to face Pinkie. "She never told me."

"She was gonna!"

Spike grabbed me and put me down next to him. "Too bad."

Pinkie blinked at that abrupt denial. "Too bad?! Spike, I thought you were nicer than that."

Spike crossed his arms. "Only one of us is going to have this, and I said it before she did. It's kind of a done deal. Twilight's not the kind of pony that wants to share. I am her, so I don't count. So..."

I blinked uncertainly between Spike's possessiveness and Pinkie's alarm for her sister. "Wait, Maud never actually said she wanted to date me - I just assumed from mixed signals." I turned to Pinkie. "Did she say something clear to you?"

Pinkie frowned. "Well...not in so many words. But she made a cute geode necklace!"

I rubbed my neck self-consciously with a hoof. "Oh geez, I didn't mean to hurt any feelings or step on toes. Things moved kinda fast..."

"No." Spike put a hand in front of me, barring the view of Pinkie. "You're chickening out. Not letting you." He puffed smoke at Pinkie. "Maud visited just today."

"She did? Where?" Pinkie inclined her head curiously at Spike.

"The Library." He pointed with his other hand. "She was worried if she even should think about getting involved in this. She and David have nothing but both thinking about the other. I made my move."

"Spike..." Pinkie turned left and right restlessly. "Why are you being... so mean right now?"

"I don't ask for much." Spike curled his fingers around me, holding me firmly, but gently. "I'm insisting on this one, and not taking a no. I asked first. I called dibs. No backsies."

I stood awkwardly pressed against humming scales casually claiming control bewildering to grasp fully. Spike's fingers were warm, like the rest of him, but offered no budging.

Pinkie fidgeted clearly unnerved by possessive posturing so unexpectedly confrontational from easygoing Spike. I breathed slowly. I let out a breath with calm resolve. "Spike, I understand your stance but shouldn't further talks come first?" Gently extracting myself I turned fully Pinkie's anxious way. "And apologies sincerely if I'm just messing up every dang thing right now."

Pinkie worried her hooves with a nervous little laugh. "Um..."

Spike curled a tail about me, loosely. "Maud's not even here. C'mon, man... Let's just head home."

I glanced to the library, what had become home. I looked to Pinkie, hurt and hurting. I thought of Maud, who didn't even know how to look hurt, but who could hurt, and would be. Someone was getting hurt that evening. It started with me, but I was the least important person there.

Author's Note

Which way should he go?! Seriously, which way would you prefer to see the story wander? Infinite options, but only one gets penned down.

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6 - Enough

"No." Both of them looked at me, confused.

Spike tilted his head. "What?"

"No," I repeated, louder, as loud as could come from me. I was never very good at shouting, at speaking firmly outside of selling things. "No, stop it." I raised a cloven hoof at Spike. "I like you, stop it. Stop it. You're being a complete jerk right now. Why? Pinkie's a nice pony. Maud's nice too. Why are you treating them as enemies?"

I looked to Pinkie. "Spike did ask first. You're emotionally... blackmailing him. That's not nice either. This is not nice. Neither of you are... being nice, right now... No..." I was shivering, shaking firmly. "I don't want to see people I like fighting each other, really, I don't."

Spike's grip slackened entirely, falling back. "Sorry..."

"Sorry." Pinkie looked just as abashed. "Wow... Um..." She forced a smile at Spike. "Let's be adults about this?"

Spike sat up straight. "Alright." He took a few calming breaths. "Look. I am Twilight's familiar." He put a hand on his chest. "I've been very diligently doing that. That means I make a few friends, which happen to be hers, but that's it. Okay? I'm..." He shrank, voice dropping. "I'm lonely, alright?"

I exhaled shakily as tensions slowly unwound. "Guys, I get lonely too." I looked around at laughing classmates nearby. "It's easy hiding that behind forced smiles, though."

I met Spike's uncertain gaze. "Hey, you deserve pals beyond just doing Twilight's bidding, you know?"

Spike scuffed a guilty claw, smoke wisping skyward. "Yeah, suppose sticking to duty alone ain't so healthy long term..."

I turned Pinkie's anxious way. "And nopony can force relationships that just aren't clicking, however nice they seem." I gently nudged her and Spike together, hoping the awkwardness could pass.

Pinkie managed a watery smile. "I hear you...guess gently being ourselves works better long run than acting how we think others want."

She perked an ear. "So... You two didn't go steady or anything yet, right?"

Spike jerked back with a snort of smoke. "Um, no? Why? What a strange question, even from you."

"No reason." She wobbled left and right, giving me a grin.

I'd read, and written, enough fanfiction to guess where her brain was. "Pinkie. Are you trying to... I don't think I can do poly."

Pinkie. "No?" She pointed a hoof at Spike, then over at the library. "You got two right now. You're either a liar or you're a silly billy that didn't think this through. You're already poly, kirin boy."

I sputtered, face aflame, hoof raking through my curly mane. How could I have overlooked such obvious relationship entanglements tying us together outside traditional expectations? Even the term monogamy failed capturing the fuller picture at play.

"I...but we...that is..." I stammered, seeking solid conceptual ground only to sink deeper under their waiting stares. Squirming truths wriggled up through mental mud. Polyamory aligned the sole term acknowledging rather than rejecting the uncomfortable status quo.

"Spike." I whirled on him. "I thought you and Twilight were the same person. Isn't... being involved with you two still one person."

"Kinda..." Spike rubbed at his cheek. "Legally, yes. If we got married, you'd be marrying Twilight. I'd be a bonus prize." He craned his considerably neck. "But I don't like thinking of myself like that, especially around something like, you know... dating? Shoot... I'd feel pretty bad being with somecreature I didn't like, no matter how much Twilight dug them."

Pinke rolled her hooves over one another, giggling with poorly restrained mirth that only seemed to be building. "Soooo... You three are going to have to deal with all the usual stuff poly ponies deal with. You're already in it, no avoiding it. If you want to avoid it, you'd better go to Maud and be her mono buddy."

"Hey." Spike folded his arms with a huff. "That's not fair."

"It's his choice." Pinkie bounced forward. "Neither of us can make up David's choice for him. Now... You could drag Spike over to Maud and get them all! No sad faces, all smiles. I get to run an even bigger wedding when you get to that. Sounds fun." She smiled, mind already on that distant festivity.

My eyes bounced rapidly between Pinkie casually planning some wildly elaborate polycule wedding reception and Spike smoking jealously at the imagined scenario. This whole relationship web felt ready to collapse under unspoken assumptions and mixed signals.

Drawing a calming breath of summer's sweet scent, I turned fully Spike's uncertain way. "Well, um, look. I got you to stop, but that was just a moment. It's time for you to talk. It's a crappy relationship if any of us just take charge." Gently I reclaimed his anxious claw, faintly smiling Pinkie's audacious but well-meaning way.

Spike exhaled, tension visibly easing as razored edges dulled sheathed in gentle hands not forcing outcomes. He met my smile with dawning trust that affection's odder oceans perhaps held unlooked wonders not casually discarded for safer harbors.

Pinkie giggled approvingly. "Ships go super farther when they're done bravely, instead of safely." She winked with a big grin. "I think you two were just going too fast."

Spike recoiled at that. "You? You're calling somecreature out on going too fast, really? You?! Seriously..."

"Seriously." Pinkie nodded at each of us. "Neither of you even know what it's like. So... date. Don't go steady just because you decided you like each other. Sillies. Just date a little. Work on the next step afterwards."

Spike blinked softly as he stood up on all fours. "Wow."

"Yeah," I agreed softly. "I'm... I really don't know. Part of me really wants to just..."

Pinkie poked me, booping me right on the nose. "Stop that! You have to walk before you run. You have to run before you get to the finish line. No teleporting! You've barely taken half a step. Date. Have fun. Maybe it'll work out, maybe not... Date."

I fell back from her, rubbing at my nose. Not that it had been hurt, but the contact threw me off. For just an instant, it was like I was being attacked, even if I knew she didn't mean that.

Spike huffed gently, turning back for the library. "Well... okay... Okay! Maybe I am being fast." He grabbed me, placing me on his back to slide down around him. "I'm heading home. Take it easy, Pinkie."

She didn't stop him, waving as he carried me away. "See you later!"

Spike put me down just in front of the door and slipped inside. "Twilight?"

"Spike?" She was at the front counter, looking up from a book. "Ah, both of you. How did your practice go?"

I rubbed along the side of my head. "We got distracted actually." I went up to her, standing just cross the counter from her. "Can I ask a question?" Spike looked tense, but I pressed on. "You said to ask you before I did anything with Spike."

"I did." Her horn glowed as she closed the book she had been reading. "Is there something I should know?"

Spike laughed tensely. "Nothing! We did nothing strange, promise."

Twilight hiked a brow. "Your words fail to inspire confidence. David, truth, kindly."

"Sure." I sat down there at the counter. "Spike is interested in me, and I'm not opposed to the idea, except a part of me is wondering if dating something so much larger than me might lead to trouble sooner rather than later."

Twilight colored as I just said the matter at hoof. "Do you remember what I said?"

"I do. Which is why we're talking. Twilight, can we date? Nothing serious, no eternal promises, just trying dating and seeing how it works out."

"Oh, um..." She rubbed behind her head. "Have you tried this before? You're talking as if--"

Spike put a hand between us. "Pinkie gave us advice, unasked for, I promise."

"Ah." Twilight inclined her head faintly. "That makes sense, actually. I..." She wriggled her nose at me. "I should be honest. My interest in you is, first, curiosity. Will you be upset if I take advantage of our proximity to examine and question you?"

"No?" I glanced away and back. "No, I don't think so... Cool, alright... cool..."

Spike snorted softly. "I'm doing something."

"Doing wh--" Twilight cut herself off as Spike smooched the top of my head, ears pinned out in either direction with clear surprise. "Oh. Um, was, I mean, did Spike have permission to do that?"

"Sure?" I sat up, rubbing at the spot. "Huh..." It was the first romantic kiss I had received. The fact that I had seen so many years without felt kinda sad, but also amazing. I had broken the streak. "That was fine. Oh! To be fair, there's another pony interested, I heard on the walk."

Twilight sat up. "You mentioned you spoke to Pinkie. She mentioned her sister?"

Spike nodded at that, settling into his favorite spot, curled comfortable. "Yep, her. Apparently she was thinking of snatching David up. Like a landslide, pow, hers forever."

I colored faintly, imagining being bowled over by an unemotive Maud. "I should talk to her... We're all working on second-hoof information right now, and that hardly feels fair."

Twilight shook her head slowly. "No, but it's getting later in the day. Don't you have a class?"

I perked at that. "I do!" I hopped to my hooves and hurried off to grab my bags. "See you both later!" Just like that, I fled off to educational things.

Spike chuckled softly, watching it. "He reminds me of you when he does that."

"Does what?" Twilight turned to Spike, arms already crossed.

"Gets excited to be somewhere on time." He tapped two claws. "Gets excited about learning something. Drops a conversation just like that. You two have things in common."

"Spike." She flipped her book open to resume reading. "Really..."

I slid into my seat as Fluttershy smiled at the class. "Life can be... complicated." She flapped her wings gently. "It's all too easy to get wrapped up in your own things, to forget what it could be like to stand in another pony's shoes. That's why we're doing this. Did you all pick a partner?" Hooves and hands went up.

She counted over them quickly. "Hm, looks like most of you did, but I see a few who did not." She waved them forward, which included me. "You can help each other. Please pick another student to be your partner now."

My choices were Ocellus, Yona, Gallus, or two ponies I didn't really know. Background ponies in the show. I pointed to Ocellus.

Ocellus perked and smiled, trotting up to me. "Okay." She slid in next to me. "I wonder what the assignment will be about."

Fluttershy nodded as the remaining creatures were paired up. "The challenge today will be walking a mile in each other's shoes. Pretend for the next week to be your partner. They will pretend to be you. Do what they'd do, and learn how they get through each day. At the end of the week, you'll write a report on the experience."

I had just agreed to pretend to be a female shapeshifting insect?

With a rush of green flames, Ocellus became a perfect copy of me, giggling. "This will be fun!" she said with my voice.

Fluttershy passed out cards. The one I got had Ocellus' schedule on it and a few bits of information, like where she sleeped. "Keep an open mind, and learn how your fellow student gets through the day. Your other teachers have already been informed of this, and will be expecting it."

I was not a shapeshifter, nor were most of the others, awkwardly all trying to figure out how they'd get started. Some of them had an easier time, picking somecreature that was relatively close to themselves. "Hello," I said to nothing with the best falsetto I had, which wasn't very good. "I'm Ocellus. Nice to meet you."

It promised to be an interesting week.

Author's Note

We interrupt the drama to remind you this is a school and there's work to be done. Prepare for a friendship lesson!

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8 - Back to Normal

"I hope you all learned something from this." Fluttershy was smiling gently at the whole class, me included. "Thank you for your papers." We all had to turn one in about our experience as another person. "Would anycreature like to share some specific new thing they discovered?"

Quiet rippled through the room. I raised a hoof. Public speaking did not scare me. I also kinda like showing off? "Ma'am?" With Fluttershy nodded, I stood up. "It's easy to forget, that the people--creatures you deal with have a family behind them. They're trying to do their best, and they're great too."

Fluttershy applauded gently. "What a wonderful thought. Anycreature else?"

Having broken the ice, others raised, ready to give a few of their own thoughts to add to it.

After the class, Ocellus cut me off. "You talked to them?!"

I inclined my head at her. "You didn't?"

"No..." She shuffled in place. "I thought that'd be breaking the rules. I was you. You didn't know my family..."

"But Ocellus does, and I was her, so I told them what was going on and we talked. They were great." Ocellus seemed to pick up that I seemed legit happy about it and they perked up. "Seriously."

"Good." Ocellus glanced away and back. "One thing. Your room is kinda... bare."

I thought to that room. I hadn't... done anything. "Yeah... Kind of just a place I park myself at times..."

"You should express yourself." She lifted on buzzing wings. "Later."

I waved as she took off and went on with my own day.

Feeling satisfied, even accomplished, that I had finished that long assignment, I headed home with a soft whistle of an ancient videogame that didn't even exist in that world. I willed the door open to step into the treebrary for the first time in what felt like forever.

I strode into the treebrary, still whistling the odd tune from a game in my old world. It felt good to be back in my regular body after a week playing at being Ocellus.

Spike looked up from polishing a shelf, quirking a scaly brow. "Oh hey, you're you again! How'd being a bug go?"

"It was really interesting, actually." I set my saddlebag down, glancing around. The familiar shelves and stacks felt welcoming after my dorm stay. "It was interesting, really. A different view."

Spike chuckled, returning to his cleaning. "Yeah, I'll bet." He tilted his spiny head my way, green eyes glinting curiously. "Learn anything surprising shaking up perspectives like that?"

I nodded, sinking onto my favorite beanbag chair with a sigh. The plush fabric conforming around my body felt like coming home. "Biggest eye-opener was discovering Ocellus stays super connected with her family. They're tight, and, uh, now I know them?"

"Cool." Spike reached out a massive hand to pet down my back. That felt nice. "Welcome back."

"Good to be here." I didn't move. Being pet was nice. "What'd I miss here?"

"We never got to finish what we started." He drew a hand back as he came down to all fours, facing me. "About us. I mean, school, I get it. Not complaining... Just... Now we can finish, right?" He sounded hopeful.

Our unfinished conversation hung in the air - with school hijinks resolved, nothing stood between hashing things out now. Meeting his hopeful emerald gaze, I managed a shy smile. "Y-yeah, we should talk." I sat up straighter, heart suddenly pounding. "I mean, I'm glad you still want to pick up where we left off."

Rubbing the back of my neck, I gathered courage that had fled during my week as Ocellus. Time away had granted perspective on what I sought in relationships. Playfulness and protectiveness both allured in the dragon before me.

"I thought about us a lot as her, you know." I traced a hoof self-consciously through the beanbag's fabric. "It reminded me how much we click. Your patience and humor really works for me."

I risked scooting closer, searching his studiously neutral mien. "So yeah, I'd love to make this official if you still think I'm worth the chaos." I managed a lopsided grin his way. "No more excuses or distractions. Just seeing if that spark catches flame together. I do have a question or three."

Spike sat up curiously. "Oh? Sure. Hit me." He looked proud, as if he were smart enough to easily answer whatever I had. "First?"

"First." I sat down. "The biggest thing, I imagine... You. You are large. That's not bad... But as a male, being the biggest by a margin means... issues with the less large people... Am I making any sense?"

The silence stretched on awkwardly, hanging in the air. "Pardon?"

I blinked at that. "Pardon? I mean... Shoot, how do I say this more bluntly. I don't want to be ripped in half even by a dragon I am otherwise pretty cool with."

Spike stared, color slowly spreading from his nose backwards. "Oh, oh.... Oh! Oh, right, that, right...." He snapped his fingers as if remembering something from ages ago. "Wow, not a problem. I'm a familiar, I remind again. No children will spring from these loins, for I have no loins."

My turn to be stunned a moment. "Really?" I glanced, but he was a dragon, a sort of reptile. There wouldn't be anything to see in either event. "Really?! Wow... Really?"

"Really." He nodded as he relaxed. "Not a thing for familiars. We live only for our master or mistress. Unless Twilight decided I should have some, I don't have any, and that would be very perverted of her, and anyone that noticed would probably make fun of her. Why is she giving her familiar that?! Yeah... I'm fine the way I am."

That raised yet more questions. "Okay, accepting that. Does that mean you're asexual?"

"I'm a boy dragon."

I laughed gently. "I'm not asking if you're a boy or a girl. Asexual people don't have a sexual preference, some just don't even want to have it, some just don't think about it much. I'm... guessing you're there?"

"Oh! Yep." He hiked a thumb at himself. "Asexual I guess it is. I don't care about that. But I am romantic. You can be both of those, right?"

"Sure! Yes, completely." I reached out, feeling along Spike's warm scales. Some part of me was... actually somehow more attracted. "You're just a big warm cuddle-dragon... And that's alright..."

Spike's warm scales tingled pleasantly under my exploring hoof as I registered this surprising twist. My anxieties had fixated on physical perils from his sheer size, yet that strength could also shelter tenderly.

"A gentle giant..." I murmured, meeting his suddenly self-conscious emerald gaze. Chuckling I withdrew my hoof slowly. "Sorry, got a bit handsy from the revelations there."

I smiled reassuringly, nerves settling. "But I'm glad we talked this out plainly from the start. And yep, being romantic without sexual stuff is totally valid." My eyes drifted ceilingwards thoughtfully and I nodded to myself.

"I think that dynamic could work nicely actually." Glancing back his way I dared extend a foreleg in offer. "As long as close contact doesn't bother you any. Affection through touch matters a lot to me too, just not necessarily the erm...full monty."

I managed a wry grin Spike's way. "So if snuggles and nuzzles sound good we're on the same page yeah?" Hopeful at this compromise meeting our unique needs halfway I awaited his reaction with thumping heart.

He suddenly rolled over, freeing up his claws from holding himself up. He used them to grab me and pull me in with a squawk, holding me with all four easily. "But! You are not that. You are a young boy pony with boy pony needs. Some of them are very messy. And that's okay too."

I wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that, captured, but not really unwillingly. "I have felt those... Those needs. I can push them aside. I've had a lot of practice."

"Don't." He kissed under my chin. "You're dating now. You have a need, you talk to the creatures involved, and we help. Even the messy parts."

He was being so dang nice... I melted against him with a delerious laugh. "Yeah, right.... Spike... If you don't have one and never did... Do you even know how to deal with that?"

"Nope?" He released me suddenly and sat up. "But we can both talk. I can ask, you can show. We can both learn how to help the other, because that's what two creatures that are dating do."

I sat up as Spike released me, pondering his earnest offer. True understanding began with open communication, not assumptions. And his guileless caring shone too brightly to doubt.

With a slow exhale, I nodded agreement. "You're right - being there for each other matters most." I stood, meeting his attentive emerald gaze. "I'll try better explaining my side if you share your feelings too."

Gesturing him to lean closer, I began gently clarifying my own perspectives and preferences around relationships, boundaries, affection styles and intimacy needs verbalized clearly between us without expectation.

His head tilted thoughtfully as I shared, claws absently stroking my back. Gradually he responded with his own self-discoveries and uncertainties navigating unmapped roads. It seemed his wants largely focused on wanting someone to put him at the top of the pile, rather than any specific physical demands.

Laughter mingled with earnest moments piecing together this unfolding relationship puzzle neither quite grasped fully yet. But patience and trust could build understanding block by block if we chose openness over assumptions.

The afternoon sun sank golden through the windows as we talked, lighting his ruby spines till they blazed. And somewhere during that rambling journey of gentle questions, a spark caught flame between us.

"I understand how you feel." I tapped at my chest with a hoof. "I thought, a world ago, I'd never find someone who asked me how I was doing just because they wanted to hear the answer."

Spike winced, but laughter came with it. "Wow, that feels familiar." He nudged against me. "So, how ya doing?"

"Well! I ran into this dragon." I lifted my hooves. "About this big? Kinda nice, little dopey.... I think I like him... We're trying things out."

"Wow, exciting." He nuzzled into my side. "Be careful. I hear dragons can be terrible creatures if you don't set boundaries."

"Good call." I tackled against him, hugging him as we flopped over and I partially used him as a lumpy, and warm, pillow. "Terrible indeed..."

"Spike," There was Twilight, trotting inside. "Are you here?"

"We got a surprise," called Twinkle, flying alongside her. She found us, both sitting up, not touching. "Here he is, with David. You're back today? I forgot!"

Twilight circled around to join us. "You two look comfortable, enjoying some reading in the evening sun? Ah, a lovely time to catch a few words."

Spike chuckled softly, casually moving away from me and towards Twinkle. "You mentioned you had something for me? What?"

Twilight floated a bag free into his grip. "Here you are. This is one of the series you partake in, is it not?"

Spike peeked in the bag just to sit up sharply. He shoved a hand in there, rustled, and yanked out a floppy comic. "Yes! Wow... I've been waiting for this one. I was going to check on it tomorrow. You are the best!" He hugged the comic, then Twilight even if she did squeak. "Oh, uh, should tell you." He released Twilight back to her hooves. "He said yes." He pointed at me.

Twilight blinked. "What did he agree to?"

"To try dating," I filled in. "And I know he's an ace."

Twilight hiked the brow closer to me. "An ace at what?"

That word wasn't nearly as popular on that world of horses. "There's not going to be sex involved, at least coming from him, and that's alright."

Twinkle inclined her head. "Oh, are you just as inexperienced? I'm still searching for an agreeable creature to show me the exact process."

Part of me was confused, as they all just... talked. They were talking about it like it was just another thing to be discussed. None of them were being grabby or lewd, just... talking about it.

Maybe I was being the odd one there.

Author's Note

Ah, right, relationship stuff! Way less dramatic than the last time it was touched on. Really, that was largely a happy ending.

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

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9 - A Bed of Rocks

"Hey."

I sat up. There was Maud, casually invading my room. "Hi." I waved at her lightly.

"Want to go mining?" She pointed off.

Did I? I slid to the ground, throughly awakened. "Sure? You don't like to give warnings, do you?"

"No." She walked out, expecting me to follow her, and I did, proving her entirely accurate.

I waved at Spike on the way past. "Going mining."

"Good luck." He waved back, proving I'd at least not vanished away, kidnapped by an overeager earth-pony.

I trotted after Maud as she led the way without further explanation towards one of her favored gem harvesting spots. Her stoic focus made small talk impossible, silence wrapping us beyond cursory mining preparations.

Soon we stepped into sultry tunnels, the singing pickaxe's rhythms and occasional mineralogic murmurs our sole conversations. Sweat beaded as the temperature rose but Maud pressed on unperturbed.

After an hour chipping stubborn stones from their molten embrace, she finally spoke: "We uncovered fifteen garnets, eight moonstones. Haul's lighter than hoped."

Wiping my grimy brow I smiled wanly her way. "They sure don't yield easy down here huh?"

She simply hoisted her gear gesturing me back the way we'd come. I followed wordlessly as questions bubbled inside regarding her unanticipated invitation drawing me away from the library's comfort. There were probably simpler motives than suspected - best let this stoic soul unveil inklings in her own time.

"So... Did you want me to try my spell?" I imagined the symbol for rock throw overlaid with one of the garnets we'd found. "Big one, big one," I mumbled to myself, horn glowing as I gathered powered into the spell. "Big one..."

Maud looked over her shoulder. "What are you..." She trailed off, turning to see as I brought up a bloated garnet, hovering there in a wobble. "Don't throw that."

But the spell was throw rock. It wanted to throw rocks. I released the rock, ending the spell. It fell right into Maud's waiting hoof and she brought it closer to examine. "Hm." She tucked it away without another word and pressed on towards one of her favorite tables to sit. "There." She pointed across it as she took her usual spot.

I blinked as Maud simply pocketed my magical handiwork before proceeding as though nothing peculiar transpired. Shrugging off her stoic nonchalance I trotted over taking the opposite bench gestured towards.

Her favorite examination table stood well-worn between us, stained by years of gemological scrutiny. She withdrew tools similar to magnifying glasses but encrusted with crystals along the rim. These she peered through intently at rough stones we'd pried free.

Minutes stretched unbroken save her occasional "Hmms" denoting facets of particular interest noticed. Unsure if input was desired I simply observed her absorption annotating attributes to refine future extractions. This patient scholar coaxed insights from taciturn stones themselves guiding where best apply precious energies delving earth's mineral bounty.

Eventually she broke silence without glancing up: "Expending such magic expanding crystals risks fracturing their arcane lattices..." Her hoof rolled a lump I'd stretched near to bursting with careless excitation. "But with care and sensitivity, new truths may emerge under gentle encouragement..."

She finally met my eyes, her own glinting inquisitively. "You have a special somepony."

There, she said it. I had expected that to come up. "I do not, technically." I rubbed at my cheek. "I have a dragon I am trying to date, but no promises have been made, other than trying it out."

She returned to examining her gems, as if we had said nothing. The silence that filled the void was opressive. "So, do you like it? Do you like being with a dragon?" She perked an ear. "Were you lying to me?"

"About what? I don't like lying..."

"I don't like lying either." She went quiet again, switching which gem she was studying. "You said I was attractive, but you did not select me. I must not be as attractive. Explain."

I winced under Maud's blunt examination turning my earlier solicitations her way against me. Shame burned in my cheeks. "You deserve honesty after my thoughtlessness before..." I began haltingly. "I got overeager assuming your interest matched me... and I got dumb." My hoof traced uncertain lines across the tabletop not meeting her gaze directly.

"Spike was patient where I pressed. He saw me, not some fantasy." I risked a glance upwards. "I never meant misleading you, but it took his steadiness revealing my unreadiness." I managed a timid half-smile. "So I apologize for mixed signals from a colt still learning what affection means."

Maud blinked once slowly processing this rambling confession before replying in customary deadpan. "I understand sexual interest. Your fire is bright lately." She placed another gem before her lens nodding faintly. "Such heat draws many moths if left uncontrolled."

I flushed self-consciously but kept silent sensing additional thoughts simmering behind that stoic facade.

Maud set the gem she was studying down, hooves on the table. "Be honest. Am I attractive or not?"

"You are!" I spat out, hot in the face. "I swear."

"Then kiss me."

"What?" I blinked at the stoic-faced earth pony. "Kiss you?"

Maud inclined her head. "You have made no promises. You aren't being dishonest. If you have no reason not to, why wouldn't you kiss a pony you find attractive?"

A thousand reasons ran through my head. But none of them fit Maud exactly. "I'm... Actually pretty bad at it?"

"I'm not good either." She inclined her head. "So I'll forgive you."

Well, dang it. Every carpet I could see was being rolled out for me. I could be a coward, or just... "Alright."

I moved around the battered table tentatively as Maud calmly awaited, hooves folded atop scattered tools expecting my next steps. This illustrated perfectly how I still struggled judging subtle hints imperceptible to awkward outsiders.

Had instincts prodded Spike's possessive display earlier detecting her unspoken magnetism awakening? Here I stood swayed once more by this glacial maiden's arid directness cutting past tangled thoughts left and right. Cold fire but fire nonetheless...

I stepped up on the bench scooting closer snout to snout gently lifting her chin with a cloven hoof to meet impassive eyes. She blinked once as I leaned in haltingly, heat rising under my coat. Our noses brushed, then our lips.

The sensation was...intriguing. Cool and scentless, but yielding, filled with potential sensations multiplied between partners offering reciprocal caresses timed correctly. My teeth bumped clumsily against hers until discovering the proper angle allowing us to share breath briefly.

It lasted seconds that felt oddly electric before I withdrew blushing through my coat. Maud's expression remained maddeningly neutral, unflustered despite her invitation.

"So?" She finally prompted tonelessly. "Your thoughts?"

I considered a moment, replaying the scene over in my mind. "I... liked it. Um, and you?"

Maud put a hoof to her cheek. "I'm swooning." She did not appear to be swooning. "You may kiss me again."

The worst part is that I actually did want to kiss her again. I was certain I had done it badly, but I had gained experience. Enough for a level? I could grind the kiss skill! I laughed suddenly at my own joke, imagining the skill increase message dancing before my eyes.

Maud just waited, patient for me.

"Sorry." I leaned in, smelling her breath. Her breath smelled of earth and stones, but something about it. I wanted more, so I nestled in and wrapped my arms around her. "Maud?"

"Yes?"

I touched nose to nose with her. "I like you."

Maud smiled, just faintly. "Are you sure this time?"

I flipped an ear back. "I am sure about me. I am not sure how this works... Because now, you wonderful people have me liking at least two different people pretty hard, and I don't want to hurt either of them, at all, ever... I won't lie to Spike about this. I won't lie to you about Spike."

I held Maud close after the kiss, feeling confused. "I like you, but I also just started seeing Spike," I admitted. "I don't want to hurt anycreature."

Maud just looked at me calmly. "Lying hurts more later," she said. "Best be honest now."

I nodded, knowing she was right. Deceit would only bring things crashing down.

Maud touched my cheek. "You're young. Don't force big choices yet if you're unsure." She kissed me herself then, a surprise that left me gasping when she pulled away.

"Go slow," she advised plainly. "Figure things out before somecreature gets burned by your reckless fire." She gathered up her tools then, direct as ever even in passion's wake. "I'll be here if you decide I'm your choice after all. But no lies."

And with that, she left me standing there wondering what to do next about the tangled web love already wove. But I knew Maud valued truth above all. I'd speak from the heart, come what may.

"W-wait, one thing. Your sister brought it up." I scrambled to my hooves. "With Spike, I'm already making myself open to, and part of, two other people. Spike is Twilight. Twilight is Spike, so I can't romance one without the other, you know?"

Maud shook herself out, looking sure she had all her things. Without answering, she started down a new tunnel with me trailing behind her.

"So... I'm already in a poly relationship, so... Do you have any feelings about Spike, or Twilight?"

Maud paused then. Was it in thought, or something else? She turned towards me. "I am fiercely demanding and jealous." There was no emotion in her voice. "If I was in a mess like that, I would be very jealous." She reached out, hoof on my chest. "You want an older lady glaring over your shoulder?"

I flipped my ears back. "I... thought I'd be in that exact place to start, but... here I am. Maybe we're both wrong?"

"Maybe." She turned to resume her trek. "Being wrong isn't the worse thing." She found a spot of the wall she favored and drew out her pick to start working at it vigorously. "But I might hurt you, or your friends. I am very..." She smashed her pick down, sending rocks flying. "Strong... Then you'll be angry at me."

I winced as shards flew under Maud's precisely aimed blows, the tunnel echoing each strike's fury aimed squarely at unyielding stone. An apt metaphor swirled observing her venting quarried frustration in lieu of nursing it behind a placid mask.

Stepping gingerly around the fresh rubble I dared approaching behind where sweat dotted her coat. Clearing the dust from my throat I spoke softly: "You're welcome to tell me to buzz off, if I'm just being a jerk, even bringing this up."

I watched muscle ripple driving steel through granite. "And shouldn't just assume openness or willingness, however kind the offer." Sparks lit the dimness as her tempo quickened. "You've been patient as bedrock."

The blows paused as I laid a trembling hoof on her tensed shoulder. "I just wish avoiding harm but seem destined delivering it instead." Eyes downcast I couldn't match her strength now physically or emotionally. "Maybe...maybe walking away protects best right now..."

I know just talking wouldn't fix things. But tears failed flowing to cleanse my mess. All I could do was leave this valiant heart room to mend from my fumbling.

So I turned to leave, but didn't get far. Maud was quite strong, and I was held in her steely arms, drawn against her chest. "Maud?" She said nothing, not that there was any doubt what pony was holding me, preventing my escape. "Oh." She didn't want me to leave. She hadn't said it, but those firm arms didn't spin any fancy tales.

I wriggled, not to escape, but to face her. "Consider this an open invitation, if you want... I can talk to them, if you'd prefer." I laughed with thoughts of the past. "Not even the first time I played the go-between." Facing her, I could put forehead to forehead. "Whisper to me, and I'll shout it at them."

Author's Note

Welcome back, Maud. Is this a good idea, or a terrible one?

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10 - Reporting In

I stepped in the library to see some ponies browsing for books. A reminder that the library did fulfill its goal. I walked past them and spotted Twilight behind her desk. "Hey there."

"Hello." She at up, watching me. "You are filthy. Every time you let Maud take you away, you return the same." She pointed off to the bathroom. "If you'd like to wash off?"

That felt like a decent idea. "I'll bring my own hot water."

"How, oh." She snorted gently, almost a laugh. "I suppose you do bring all the hot water you desire, assuming colder water is present. How did the trip with Maud go?"

Right! No delay there. "She seems interested, but we need to talk. I've chatted with Spike, but not you, and you're super part of this."

"Hm?" She leaned forward onto her clasped hooves. "I was wondering how long until you remembered that."

"Sorry." I flashed an unsure smile at her. "I've come into your world and your place, and left a real mess."

"A comple mess." She held out a hoof, and I pressed my nose to it. She seemed to be alright there, holding my face. "And now you throw yourself before me, ready to endure whatever barbs I have prepared. Sorry, but I don't have any. To be perfectly honest... You are a curiosity. Magically. Physically. I'm not opposed to what Spike has done, or I would have stopped it. He is my familiar, not the other way around. My word is the final word."

I stood there, snout to her hoof, breathing in the gentle scent of Twilight.

"You seem to understand." She drew her hoof back. "You are mine, and I don't think you even mind that."

"Not really?" I sank to my haunches. "Be nice?"

"I try." She smiled at that. "Which starts with sending you to bathe."

"Yes ma'am." I took a step, but no further. "About Maud..."

"What about her? No, really, what about her? Does she interest you?"

"Yes."

Twilight's eyes widened a moment. "Such honesty... I appreciate it. But I don't understand them. What about Maud is so interesting? Do you need an earth mentor that badly? I can teach you about earth spells. You are compatible with my methods. We've already confirmed this."

"It's not about that." I whirled in place to face Twilight, tail lashing agitatedly. "You are nice, lovely... But you aren't that. She reflects a part of me..."

"A part of you?"

"The quiet part." I put a hoof at my chest. "The stoic part. It's hard to read me, right?"

"Sometimes." Twilight smiled gently. "You're being loud right now."

"And it takes effort." I took a step towards her. "She is my quiet side, and it pulls at me. What do you think of her?"

I scuffed a hoof anxiously awaiting Twilight's assessment of reticent Maud. My halting efforts explaining connections between the stoic earth pony and I felt clumsy at best.

Twilight tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Honestly, before recent events, I barely thought of her one way or the other much at all. She seemed pleasant if reserved during occasional get-togethers."

She sighed leaning back. "But if introverted aspects truly speak to you so strongly perhaps I underestimated compatibility."

I started to relax as judgement seemed withheld for now. But Twilight raised a cautioning hoof stalling premature relief. "However, Spike made intentions towards you quite plain first, yes?"

My ears folded back shamefully realizing where this headed. "...yes. Yes he did. But... We are dating, without promises. This is the time to consider those future promises."

She inclined her head. "And you came to me, and not him..." She hummed gently, drawing a book off a shelf to float towards her. "You are wise, or foalish, and I'm not entirely sure which applies. Little kirin of strange origin... You really want my opinion?"

"Yes?"

She smiled as the book folded open gently. "So direct. I think, were I to accept Maud, her attention would largely rest on you. I don't think she has much interest in me. I don't read nearly enough minerology books for her, nor does Spike." She could see me wilt faintly. "But..." I perked subtly. "She would make you happy, and you happiness does have a value. The real question is if Spike or I would become jealous or feel left out, to see you and Maud together, where we are not as explicitly invited."

I digested Twilight's insightful perspectives somberly, envisioning scenarios playing out across her prompts. If Maud joined this tangled relationship web, would her taciturn focus on me isolate others by default? What damages might envy or neglect leave if affection flowed lopsidedly?

I stirred restlessly. "If Maud struggled connecting deeply with you both, that's already a mark against the match regardless of other pulls..."

Twilight smiled gently. "Not necessarily. Completely equal bonds between all members aren't essential for polycules thriving long-term." She levitated a quill scribbling triangle diagrams. "It simply means more self-work ensuring everyone's needs are heard and met compassionately."

The quill tapped indicating two lower corners. "As long as these connections remain robust communication conduits." It hovered over the third apex before returning back to the first two. "Gaps here needn't cripple the whole structure."

I studied the network symbol thoughtfully as she concluded.

"Healthy relationships assume many forms." Twilight rolled up the parchment setting it aside. "This merely requires more proactive nurturing is all. But the rewards can be tremendous."

I met her confident gaze with building excitement. I stood a bit taller. "Well, guess I've got a busy evening ahead chatting up certain dragons and stoics!" Determination glinted ready to explore pathways less traveled by.

Twilight laughed approval at my boldness. "Indeed! But first..." Her horn flashed sucking away the mineral grime coating my hide post-mines. "...a bath may ease subsequent discussions!"

Such magic, it reminded me of the one cleaning spell I knew. I soon had magic scrubbing at my teeth as I trotted along to the bathroom, confident things were settled, at least with Twilight. There was a single spigot leading to the tub. Turning it released room-temperature water into it.

I climbed into the tub and focused on the fire inside me. "Nirik, Nirik, come on out," I sang as the water warmed around me. "Nirik, Nirik, play with me." With soft bubbles, the water reached about the boiling point as I let it go. The heat seemed incapable of harming me, but was quite good at helping scrub away the dirt left on me as I hooved at it and wriggled about in the tub.

Cleaned in my mouth and across my furry and scaled form, I climbed out of the tub and considered the various ways of drying before me. "Nirik, Nirik, show your moves. Heat up everything there'll be none soon," I sang in random melodic noises, encouraging the heat higher and higher. I casually burst into flames, the water burning right off me. With a shake, I sent bits of ash that had been created off.

With a soft puff, I was returned to a kirin form, clean and happy. "I'm liking this..." There were far worse things to be than a kirin, at least I had decided. I emerged from the bathroom with a whistle on my lips and headed to my room to check on things.

I slipped my hooves into my keyboard and checked my email. My brother had sent a few. He sounded upset. He wanted to see me. That was impossible.

He had a lot of impossible requests.

How impossible was it, actually?

I flipped over to Discord and opened a voice channel. "Does this go through?" My little activity meter flashed, and I nodded. I had spoken to people before. That wasn't a test in need. Was there enough bandwidth for video was the question.

I moved to check my funds and moved them around. I made another payment on the house, got a game compiling, did my words of the day... There, obligations met.

I tried running a bandwidth test.

It ran, already a point there. It wobbled wildly up and down, unsure of itself. In the end, 90 kilobits per second. That wasn't great. Enough for voice. Video was an awful idea.

My dreams of enjoying some Youtube, dashed.

I wasn't actually worried about Youtube. But it did mean my brother was out of luck. I drew my hooves free and nudged the keyboard away with my magic.

I emerged from my room and spotted movement to the right. I whirled to see Spike busy in the kitchen with something. I wandered off in that direction to watch him quietly as he cooked.

"Hey." He flipped whatever it was over with a toss of the pan. "How'd it go?"

"What do you think of Maud?"

Spike inclined his head at that. "Right to the point, wow..." He poured some kind of oil over his creation, inviting a chorus of bubbles. "I think she's a bit wierd. Intense! Normally, that intensity is aimed at not-me, except when it comes to gems. She likes them about as much as I do, so there's that?" He shook the pan gently. "What about her?"

I watched Spike deftly handling dinner preparations, the sizzling pan punctuating pauses gathering courage broaching awkward topics. Best be transparent, however messy it got.

Clearing my throat, I began: "Maud was pretty blunt about her interest after our little mining expedition earlier." Spike's motions slowed, listening closely though eyes stayed on his cooking.

"And, well, I can't pretend I don't feel some magnetism too." I scuffed the floor with a hoof, nerves jangling. "You and Twilight come first, absolutely! But Maud intrigues me so..." I trailed off fumbling for proper phrasing that wouldn't ignite jealousies already smoldering since our possessiveness spat days before.

Spike set his tools down facing me directly, expression unreadable. "So you wanna bring Maud into...all this too, yeah?" One claw idly stirred the pan as he processed internally. "Another partner poking at Twilight's set up here, hm."

He shrugged massaging tense shoulders. "Not like I wasn't messing things up on my end already I guess." Rueful laughter escaped smoke wisping skywards. "Quite the batch of overeager goofs stumbling into poly pitfalls quick, ain't we?"

Suddenly solemn Spike met my nervous smile. "Just no secrets, right? however this goes?" He held up a claw. "We talk, Twilight listens and pretends she doesn't have fifteen contingency plans...and we figure it somehow." Confidence built shaky but determined. "Dealt with worse disasters - bring it on!"

The response confused me. "You're alright then?"

Spike snorted out smoke. "No. I want you all to myself. I'd sit on you and proclaim you my hoard if that was an option." He spilled his creation onto a plate and got working on the next. "But it isn't... And maybe it shouldn't... What you want matters as much as what I want."

I was quiet for a time, letting him cook, but not leaving. "I think you're pretty amazing."

"Thanks." He reached a free hand to ruffle over my head and ornate horn. "I think the same, or we wouldn't be having this chat." He tickled over a long ear. "You're a lot of trouble, but here I am." He returned his attention more squarely on the food. "So, anyway... If you want to do gross breeding stuff with Maud, well, you got the parts, and so does she. I do not, so..." He shrugged. "Have at it."

"Don't say it like that." I pawed at his sides. "I like the not breeding stuff too. You both give pretty great hugs... Oh! By the way, oh great dragon, why don't you come with me next time?"

Spike cocked a brow at that. "Don't got the parts, just went over that."

"Not that. To mine." I made swimming motions in the air. "Your claws are great for digging, I bet. Mine with us, find gems. You like those, so does she. Share, it'll be fun."

"Huh..." He doused the next load with fresh oil. "Worth a shot."

Author's Note

Dig with us, Spike! Dig! Would you go mining with Spike?

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11 - Mountains Deep

Spike trotted along beside me. "I've been here before." He stepped over me easily. "Maud lets me mine, sometimes. She charges a little tax, but she makes good mines."

"I try." Maud was right around the next corner. "Welcome."

"Maud." I advanced on her. She didn't stop me, so I toughed noses.

We stood there quietly a moment before Maud stepped back. "You are heat-resistant."

"I am." Spike inclined his head. "So is David."

"He is." Maud nodded with sureness. "I wish to take advantage of that. You two will mine. I will direct. David, protect me. You know the spell."

I focused on that icon, of the pony safe in their bubble amidst the flames. A literal bubble of red and orange popped up around Maud, shielding her from the heat we were approaching. "This is near the magma, right?"

"It is." She was angling down sharper than last time. "With two heat resistant miners, I will let you two dig. We will unearth gems that would normally be impossible." She directed to a wall. "The stone here acts oddly, being so warm."

I cheated. I gathered rocks that I could see and dropped it to the side, digging with my glowing horn.

Spike grunted, then swung his mighty hand forward, digging into the ground with savage claws. "Wow, like really heavy chalk." He worked with diligent progression. "And there are gems in here?"

"Gems you won't find anywhere else. David, protect me."

Right! I refocused on the protective bubble and got to pawing with my hooves. Using my magic to dig and protect at once was a bit much. The heat wasn't bothering me. I was a kirin. I was fire.

Spike seemed to agree with that, unbothered entirely by the sweltering heat washing over us as we pushed into the wall.

The first glittering gem fell at our feet. Spike snatched it up. "Nice." A square and bright cyan stone. "Look at you." He sniffed gently. "Mmm, smells good too..."

"Please don't eat it." Maud reached up and secured the gem. "We will decide on portions when we're done. No sampling before then."

"Aw." Spike got right back to digging.

Hours melted past as we filled stone basket after stone basked with the gems Maud somehow pointed us towards and trusted us to dig free. Emerging into cooler tunnels, we piled them on her favored examination table to begin sorting through.

Fiery sweat soaked my coat despite elemental affinities as our expedition finally finished under Maud's exacting supervision. But excitement tingled spotting precious piles sparkling from our efforts. What unique specimens now awaited her keen appraisal coaxed from below by artifact-hunters' tireless teamwork?

Spike lounged with a grunt, scales steaming faintly even after molten tunnels' blistering exposure. Noticing my impressed whistle at his durability he smirked smug pride my way. "Aww, just takes practice. Dodging Twilight's experiments builds endurance quick!"

Maud remained immersed cataloguing each crystal catch, meticulously scribing weight, luster and other attributes into a dusty ledger. Unsure whether conversation bothered I kept respectfully silent. There were certainly worse companions for quiet contemplation than diligent scholars contentedly collating data sets.

Eventually Maud stretched with a satisfied sigh turning our way smiling subtly. "Exceptionally productive outing all together. You exceeded my operation's typical solo yields notably." She inclined her head graciously. "Valuable assistance meriting formal compensation it seems."

My ears perked up excitedly. Before I could inquire details Maud continued evenly meeting our curious gazes: "I will provide twenty percent gemstone shares each by mass extracted, with an additional stipend of one prime or unique specimen selected personally as bonus."

Spike pumped his fist eagerly clearly no stranger bartering for subterranean treasures. But I still sought deeper rewards from shared exertions below far exceeding crystalline riches alone. "I'll give my twenty to Spike." That got him to perk anew.

Maud inclined her head faintly. "Why?" No doubt or judgement there, just the question.

"I assume you keep the rest." I point to the gems. "40% to Spike sounds fair, and I don't need the gems. 60% you, 20% Spike, 20% me who isn't using them feels less fair."

Spike suddenly grabbed me, squeezing and rocking me about. "You're the best!"

I smiled from my captivity. "You're very welcome."

Maud hummed softly. "Was that the intention? If I offered a kiss, would I get a percentage?"

I blinked at that. "N-no! This isn't a try to buy affection..."

"So if I did kiss you?"

"I'd blush a lot." I rubbed at a warmed cheek. "But you wouldn't get gems. I already gave them to Spike."

"That makes sense." She push her baskets back and stood up. "You can't give what you do not have."

I squirmed anxiously in Spike's celebratory embrace watching Maud calmly approach after my awkward gemstone redistribution attentions. Had that transparent transaction somehow implied ulterior motives wrongly? This stoic scholar brooked no falsities from uneasy suitors.

But her deadpan delivery betrayed no judgments beyond information gathering now shadowing me studiously nose to nose. "So generosity expects no guerdon for you, noted."

She maintained unblinking eye contact through my nervous chuckle. "Commendable, if atypical for opportunistic colts seeking advantage." The faintest smile ghosted her stoic lips. "Fortunate then you stand unique here among us, hmm?"

Without warning she kissed me suddenly herself, firm and brief before withdrawing with scientific scrutiny gauging reactions. I sputtered steam in surprise before managing coherence: "Ha, well guess not needing gifts to grab affection does help simplify things, yeah?"

I fanned cooling air Spike's amused way before meeting Maud's intent gaze more steadily this time. "But for what it's worth, your insights feel prize enough for me after our time together today." And we shared a smile then free of ulterior motives, just the promise of treasures yet unlooked for in each other's quiet company.

Maud fixed her gaze on Spike. "Does it bother you? Part of me is warmed easier than the heat we mine, knowing that David hopes I will kiss him. He hopes I will allow more than that."

Spike shook his head. "Yeah, no... Look, I don't have those parts." He lifted a leg as if to show his clear lack of any such parts. "Not how they made me, blame Twilight. When she was a little filly, making a familiar, she was not worried about that." He snorted softly. "And adult Twilight never sat down and decided to fix that. Probably for the best."

Maud examined the space that would, on a pony, reveal such intimate parts. On Spike, not at all. "I see... Then you won't mind?" She casually wrapped her arms around me, hugging close, but with no expression on her face. "I do like him."

Spike snorted gently, throwing one arm around to pull me away a little. "I like him too."

"I like him more." She pulled me back.

"Cut that out!" I swatted at either of them. "I'm not a toy to wrestle over."

"Says you," they echoed at the same time.

Spike snickered at that, releasing me. "Seriously... Don't treat me like an uninteresting rock and we'll be fine."

"Hey! Both of you knock it off already." I swept the cavern theatrically. "Do you wanna bring the roof down on this whole operation?"

Chastened spectators shuffled abashed under my dramatic scolding. Sensing a teaching moment I pressed the advantage while they were receptive. "We all want this" - I gestured around - "whatever this is becoming, on some level yeah?" Reluctant nods answered my questioning stare.

"Then we gotta plow ahead the mature way, not just reacting blind." I met Maud's neutral gaze. "That means listening first when some new boundary's bumped into." Pivoting Spike's uncertain way next: "And giving space for real reflection before possessive instincts kick in."

I let those reflections sit a minute before relaxing my rigid posture with a self-conscious laugh. "I mean, I ain't no expert on managing relationships either, so maybe I shouldn't preach, eh?"

Maud blinked slowly. "Your passion shows wisdom beyond years..." she pronounced evenly. "Channel it constructively and all benefit." Nodding agreement, Spike offered a conciliatory claw my way which I bumped companionably with a hoof chuckling together, tensions thawing.

I circle around Maud to see some of the gems, but something distracts me. I peel my lips back and sniff in some new way. It occurs to me a moment later. A flehmen response. What had caused that. I snuffed, trying to find the source, soon facing Maud's rump. "Oh."

Maud looked over her shoulder at me. "You noticed?" She smirked faintly. "You're from another world. You probably don't know."

"Don't know what?" Spike really wasn't much more knowledgeable about that. "What am I missing?"

Maud shook her bottom sedately. "I am in season. I am burning hot, and wouldn't mind the service of a virile stallion." Despite her heated words, she spoke evenly, as if commenting on the weather or a passing butterfly. "I am told the animals of your world did not talk, save the one you were. I am not a critter. I do not lose control. You have not lost control. You are a colt, heavily swayed by such things, but you stare and do not act."

Not that I didn't want to act, but Spike was right there. That felt rude, at best. Also, I didn't have a single bit of permission from Maud. Hopping on her felt, at best, kinda... impolite. Still, her lesson made sense. "You want to, but you don't have to. I want to, but don't have to."

"Exactly." Maud fanned her tail, teasing me with that scent. "Spike, I am enticing him."

"What with? Your butt? I don't get it..." Poor sexless dragon had no clue what the other two of us were feeling. "You two are being so strange right now."

I squirmed under conflicting impulses sparked by that enticing aroma wafting Maud's artful way. She wasn't exaggerating brute biology's influences judging by instinctive reactions - yet conscious consent complicated matters immensely however alluring the prospect.

Despite smoldering temptation I sighed regretfully withdrawing a few steps shaking my head clear from that dizzying perfume's grip. "Yeah this pony brain's revved up for sure but we gotta steer things sensibly..."

I shrugged meeting Spike's baffled curiosity. "Apparently nice lady rocks there are putting out some sorta pheromone vibe my altered wiring finds real interesting if ya catch my drift."

Spike's eyes widened comically. "Wait wait...Maud's in season and you can smell that?!" He pointed between us frantically. "No wonder you're acting mega weird!" Relieved at grasping contexts finally he glanced Maud's impassive way. "So that means you wanna...with him...to uh..."

His claw traced random shapes in the air before the last tumbler clicked. "OHHH. Oh jeez." Scales flushed faintly at the biological basics dawning at last. "Guess that explains stuff..."

Maud simply nodded. "I have needs. I stated them plainly. I assumed that was proper." She turned fully to me. "Was I wrong to say such things aloud?"

"No, no." I waved my hooves frantically. "I mean... it does make things plain. I just don't know the rules here for all this." I gestured around helplessly. "Do we all talk first, make sure everycreature is good? Do I need anything to uh...be...safe?"

Spike suddenly put a hand on my back. "I'll be back at the library." He reached over me, snagging his forty percent. "I already said, you two want to do gross biological stuff, you do that. Not my game." And, just like that, he headed for the exit and left us behind.

Maud raised her tail higher. Even if she couldn't shout, her tail's motions were practically booming, speaking clear messages. She wanted what I had. "Tell me." She was watching me over her shoulder. "Did Twilight accept me? Spike seems to be alright with me."

With Spike no longer there, the tense parts of me spill free. I do it. I hop on her and hug her gently from above. "She would like... to learn you more...But she's alright with you." I rub my belly against her back. "Is this... alright? Isn't there a chance things will happen?"

"Maybe."

She was not resisting what either of us wanted.

Author's Note

Is this at all a good idea? Perhaps it's time to run away!

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12 - Proper Times, Proper Places

So I slid down from her, tense, but without having done anything, ultimately. "We should talk. You and Twilight specifically."

Maud turned towards me. "Is it because of me?" She curled a hoof at her face. "I'm sorry. I want this." Her words implied a strong desire, but her tone did not. "Don't you understand?"

"I do, really." I lick over my lips. "Really... I agree even, but I can't, not without Twilight being on board. I refuse until we get that."

"I hate that." She went to touch nose to nose. "But you aren't wrong. Go home."

"I thought you'd want to talk to Twilight?"

She inclined her head. "I'm in no shape to talk to her. You aren't either." She pointed past me. "Go home. I will speak to her later. If she agrees, then we will play, when next the timing is right."

That bothered me. "Why then specifically?" I colored across my face, thinking about it. "You want a kid?"

"Yes." She inclined her head. "Do you? I think you do. I want one, with somepony who wants one with me. I want one with... Go home."

I hesitated as Maud dismissed me abruptly after intimations of motherhood's pulls awakened. She wasn't wrong - passions still raged leaving rational discourse impossible stacked atop prickly implications.

Grudgingly I dipped my head conceding temporary retreat best for now. "Yeah, giving this breathing room makes sense I guess..." Distracted emotions warred internally tallying unspoken costs suddenly multiplied if fertility emerged part demands.

But Maud simply awaited my exit, unruffled by turmoil telegraphed plainly across my face. With a regretful sigh I turned obediently towards the surface leaving her to plan next steps should cooler heads later convene and bless unlikely unions with...consequences intended.

The winding tunnels towards sunlight felt longer than before, preoccupied pondering chances and changes whispered suddenly on molten vapors coaxed up from below. Maud wanted things - yet did I truly beyond biology's blunt nudges in this peculiar second foalhood?

I had sealed off such desires, once, but that was due to just being older, and tireder. I felt young and ready. I emerged out into the later evening. the air was fresh, helping to drive the forced thoughts from me. "Good Maud..." Good of her that she accepted stopping that.

I scampered home and rushed into my bedroom to wait for things.

That didn't work.

"Spike mentioned you were having quite a bit of fun." There was Twinkle, watching me. "But here you are. Did something go... oh." Her eyes were fixed on the part of me that made it clear I had been excited. "Bad timing?"

Part of me wanted to very loudly agree the timing was kind of bad. "You're new to this world too." I sank, belly first, onto the bed, hiding all that was questionable. "You have thoughts too, I bet."

I buried my flushed face under the pillow as Twinkle's wide eyes tracked my failed attempts hiding obvious lingering arousal. Molecular magic clearly didn't modify adolescent refractory periods.

Her startled stare mercifully lifted resting sympathetically on my prone defeated form instead. "Oh gosh, yeah I wasn't thinking barging in sorry..." Sheepish silence hung awkwardly before she tried gently changing topics sensing sore spots.

"But um, since you brought it up, I guess I am still figuring out a bunch of stuff everycreature else takes as read..." Twinkle's little laugh sounded as self-conscious as I felt. "Heck, I was a doll not that long ago!"

She floated down as I peered up cautiously. "So yeah, no clue really about matters of the heart beyond book stuff." Her tiny smile held no judgment. "But seems to me what matters most is how they make you feel, not just the pieces that fit physically, right?"

Twinkle nodded firmly. "I bet there's all kinds of ways showing affection. You'll explore and learn the right rhythm in time." She stroked my ears comfortingly. "We both got a lot ahead discovering how love works one step at a time eh?"

I managed a shaky chuckle. However halting, the journey looked brighter facing it together open-hearted. "I expected you to be more aggressive, honestly."

"I am capable of learning my lessons." She curled up on my back. "Besides, you have something going. That something I have not been invited to. It's complicated enough. Bad enough with four, maybe three ponies involved, depending on how much you count Spike or not."

"It would be mean not to count him," I murmured into the pillow. "He has feelings."

"He has feelings." She wagged her tail above her. "But he lacks feelings. He has no libido, only romance. Not that romance doesn't count."

I nodded against the pillowcase contemplating Twinkle's valuable perspective on our polycule's complexity from her outsider vantage. "Yeah, there's way more tying folks together than pieces slotting physically if it's gonna last, you said it."

Lifting up, I propped chin on hooves, considering that diminutive double. "Still, sorta confusing why you're excluded though, yeah? We're connected pretty deeply ourselves another way."

Not wanting to tear open awkward scars I treaded gently sensing old wounds. "I mean we started about as messily as creatures can so no judging anybody..." I smiled encouragingly her way. "Just meant maybe lines blur 'tween friendship and more sometimes regardless form ya know?"

Twinkle blinked thoughtfully clearly not expecting philosophical detours from frustrated fumbling's aftermath. But she rallied gamely enough: "Huh, never thought of it like that..." Ears perked contemplating.

"I was your doll. I watched you do things, and ponder things... I was there." She pondered possibilities with building enthusiasm.

"Yeah maybe you're right - friendship's already pretty intimate if you're really open with someone." A decidedly impish smirk emerged. "Bet we'd baffle everycreature else royally expounding that theory though!"

I had to laugh at the imagined confusion over thinking too far outside love's 'proper' boxes. But as warmth grew comfortingly from simple acceptance I cared less what others thought. "It's complicated."

Twinkle laughed at that. "Still, operation success" She jumped at my neck from behind, hugging firmly. "You stopped looking at me like a lost child. My fault for encouraging it to start, but finally..."

I grabbed her with my magic, bringing her around for a proper hug. "You are a little lady."

"I am that." She nodded, looking so very pleased with herself. "Which also means, I'd have to ask all the ponies involved if I wanted to be part of this, if I want to be. You know... if Maud wasn't involved, this would be a lot easier."

That caught me by surprise. "Why does she mix things up specifically?"

"Easy!" Twinkle hopped to the bed. "I could just ask to be part of the family, the househouse." She spread her forehooves wide. "Nice and simple. If we agree that ponies that live together might do things together, that isn't very complicated."

Twinkle's unexpectedly bold assertion left me blinking dumbly. She spun fanciful scenarios casually co-opting cohabitation arrangements granting access other roads barricaded off jealously. Could simply sharing a roof enable unorthodox unions going against the cultural grain?

My lips quirked wryly despite awkward undercurrents. "Huh, never considered domesticity alone conferred consent; that's pretty subversive..." Humor quickly faded left facing the immovable object blocking easy paths - the pie who coveted a private slice not for sharing.

I flopped over sighing softly. "You ain't wrong though - things clicked simpler before Maud muddled the map demanding me specifically." I cast about mentally seeking fresh alignments accepting limitations imposed by that taciturn third.

"Might need reframing this not as all or nothing to satisfy everycreature..." I mused hesitantly. Distant lessons surfaced from a past life about embracing diversity without exclusion. Could that apply even navigating intimacy's trickiest tetrads?

I rolled over meeting Twinkle's gaze. "Like what if Maud and I did our thing sometimes, but you and I hang separately doing something low key she's not into?" I threw hooves up anxiously. "Not trying to scheme around anyone just makes sense playing to each strength, right?"

It felt like baby steps down an unsteady road, but any path forward beat burying heads ignoring complex needs flowing already in strange harmony whether acknowledged aloud or left unspoken. Things somehow felt less tangled simply talking openly even lacking clear answers.

It was at that moment, I frowned. "Is this how people end up cheating?"

"What?"

I pointed at her, then myself. "This. Is this how people talk themselves into cheating. Here we are, casually chatting about breaking those boundaries. I don't like that... I don't want to ever be that person that breaks those rules and leaves pain behind just because I thought with the wrong part. No."

Twinkle inclined her head left. "Then we won't. Simple as that." She hopped to the floor. "I'll talk to twilight."

Crap. "Wait. I..." I massaged my head between cloven hooves. "I need to talk to her already. This is so complicated... Can we pause this?"

"Consider it paused." Twinkle pressed an invisible pause button. "And I won't unpause it until you say so. You look stressed." She flitted to the door. "I'll head out and let you think big thoughts, okay?"

I breathed a sigh of relief as Twinkle granted gracious exits from awkward exchanges compounding complications already woven densely day by day. Was it my fate finding footholds amid foreign fanfics somehow fashioning analogs aligned around each avatar abnormally animated?

Shaking my wooly head wryly I rose from the lumpy remains of impulsive fantasies deflating rapidly. Time to trade barbed repartee around poly pitfalls for truer faces unarmored before the silent tribunal of my scattered thoughts.

Twilight awaited outside my room, her eyes on me with unspoken thoughts, her gentle gaze stirred forgotten assurances springing from our first fragile moments together. However ungainly the gait I walked or weird the roads ahead appeared, patient partners passed no judgment here even stretched to strangest shapes on my behalf.

I sat next to her and quiet settled on us a moment. "So..." I slid to face her in a turn. "I am quickly learning how complicated this can be, from the inside."

"Spike mentioned." Twilight leaned in closer to me. "From the way he went over it, I thought you'd be far later, but here you are. Did you two...?"

"We did not."

"Hm." Twilight tapped at her chin. "I apologize. This is partially my fault."

I blinked in surprise. "What is?"

"Allowing this to happen." She waves over my form. "I should have insisted you be brought to an age closer to where you started. Instead, here you are, forced to endure these awkward times all over again."

"Oh." I turned an ear aside. "Don't regret that. I'm only upset I may hurt someone in the process. You are one of my favorite ponies, as awkward as that sounds, and I'm a hair's width from maybe hurting you."

"David." She sat up tall. "I have no interest in breeding. Me and Spike are an ideal match. Neither of us desire to breed. He has more physical intimacy wishes than I, but neither of us want a foal. Maud, clearly, does. You, clearly, do." She turned an ear. "If I understand correctly, my little copy would also like a foal, given the opportunity."

I squint rapidly. "When did you talk to her?"

"She's not a subtle copy of myself." Twilight folded her arms. "Let us arrive directly at the point. Twinkle and Spike need to discuss how they feel about each other. You will not advance that until that occurs. Spike already likes Maud, so you may proceed with that. I do not care." She lifted an ear. "About Maud, or any foal she creates, with you or not. If she wishes to exchange earth magic tricks, I am entirely open to that."

Twilight put a hoof on my shoulder. "Simply talk to Maud plainly when she's ready. For now, patience. Her pace is slow but steady."

I nodded, still processing her unexpected support. "Got it. I'll let Maud lead when she's prepared, no pressure."

Twilight smiled. "Communication solves much confusion when all participate openly without demands. Let her decide if she remains interested after passions cool."

I exhaled, tension ebbing. Maud flowed like stone - slowly but profoundly. I merely needed match her pace. "You're right. Thanks for making this simple."

Author's Note

I think it's time to get back to other topics, hm? Thoughts?

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13 - What One Wants

"They wrote about you." Ocellus was chewing gently on her food, there in the cafeteria. The sounds of other students conversing around them and the smells of delicious food filled the air. "My family."

I perked at that. "How are they doing?"

"They wondered why you stopped writing to them." She reached to give me a poke. "They liked getting your letters."

"Aw!" I smiled so awkwardly, unsure what to say exactly. "Um... Okay... I'll get back to writing them."

"They will be so happy." Ocellus clapped with easy joy. "There was one odd thing they told me. You are a stallion, right?"

I blinked, looking myself over as if unsure. "I look like a stallion?"

"They said you felt like a mare. They thought you were one. They were very surprised when I said you were a stallion." Ocellus inclined her head. "We changelings can be whatever we want, but we usually find a favorite and tend to give off that kind of energy." She curled a hoof at herself. "I'm a mare."

"A lovely mare." He considered her. She wasn't a mare, not technically. She was a female changeling. "Stupid question, please don't be mad, but do female changelings have a specific name, outside of pony terms?"

Ocellus recoiled, looking more surprised than offended. "That is not a question most would ask." She leaned in. "You're a funny pony. Changelings don't worry about that, unless they're a queen. I'm not a queen, so I am a changeling. A changeling that is most comfortable as a mare." She nodded, as if this was very obvious. "I could be a stallion if I wanted, but I don't want to."

I digested this lesson in changeling culture contemplatively as Ocellus patiently explained her people's more fluid definitions around concepts most species considered immutable foundations. Perhaps such adaptability enabled greater empathy across diverse perspectives.

"That flexibility makes a lot of sense from a shapeshifting race." I stirred my food absently. "Being less, uh, attached to forms must take some social pressures off too around roles and stuff." I hesitated unsure how to phrase things politely. "Is it rude asking if you have changeling terms for parents or is using pony mother/father okay?"

Ocellus nodded eagerly. "Oh we do have our own words but pony terms work fine too! I know other species get confused." She counted off on her hooves. "Our gender neutral parent is zar, mothers are damas, fathers are sars. And babies are nymphs!"

She smiled proudly at the impromptu lesson. "So my dama birthed me as a nymph then helped me choose this form as I got older! They were so patient..." She trailed off in happy reverie before focusing again curiously. "What about your terms? Oh wait - you said you were aliens before!"

I had to laugh at her belated realization. "Too true! Humans use mom for dama and dad for sars. No exact equivalent for zar that I know sadly." I rubbed the back of my neck feeling oddly wistful. "Funny how even between worlds some concepts feel...familiar, I guess."

I tapped at my cheek a moment. "I don' t have either, right now. One's a world away, and one's even further than that."

Ocellus inclined her head. "How do you get further than that? That's about as far as you can get..."

I pondered what I should even say. The truth? I went for that. "She is dead."

"Oh! Oh.... I'm sorry." She reached, just to hesitate. "You don't look sad."

I didn't feel especially sad. "I'm happier that we're talking, and I'm learning a few things."

"That's a good thing to be happy about." She pushed her plate aside, finished. "You feel like a pony I could ask without being looked at funny."

"Ask what?" I leaned in. "I've been told I'm easy to talk to sometimes. And very hard other times. I'm glad to hear I fall on the easy side for you. What's the question?"

"Just a little one." Ocellus buzzed her wings, reminding me she was far more of a beetle than the cartoon had implied. A pretty beetle, but a beetle. "If you could be a stallion or a mare, which would you pick? Pretend you were a changeling, and far away, so nopony knew you. It was entirely your decision. They don't know you and couldn't tell your friends or family. Which do you pick?"

I pondered Ocellus' hypothetical as she peered with innocent curiosity awaiting my response. With family tragically terminated and friends left behind in another world, which form might some isolated soul select starting life over if beholden to none?

I stirred my cooling soup contemplatively before answering slowly. "You know, if I was some nameless changeling in witness protection or something, I think I might actually try being..." I hesitated, then pushed ahead with building excitement uttering words never voiced aloud before. "I think I'd be intrigued waking up a mare one morning actually, yeah."

Ocellus' wings shivered in shared excitement. "Ohhh how wonderful!" She leaned in awed whispering. "Does this mean you feel more like a mare inside, deep down?" Those big innocent eyes searched mine enthralled by intimate implications.

My cheeks heated as I registered what I had revealed in speculative fantasy. "I uh, hmm." Carefully schooling features I considered her words reflecting within. "Maybe some part of me does lean kinda that way sometimes." I managed a self-conscious chuckle. "Heck of a revelation over lunch period huh?"

But Ocellus just smiled wider patting my hoof supportively. "It's wonderful having somecreature trust sharing vulnerable stuff - that's real friendship!" Her joy shone undimmed by society's stale strictures. "However you feel is just perfect as you are!"

I smiled. It was a forced smile, as if a camera were trained on me. I felt happy, and smiling felt like the proper response, so I smiled. She seemed to accept it as a natural reaction. "Thank you, for asking... Shoot."

"Shoot?" Ocellus blinked at that. "What are we shooting?"

"Your question's making me think over a lot of things."

"Anything I can help with?" She put a hoof on my arm. "I'd love to help."

Aw, I felt warm and fuzzy at Ocellus' offer, but also wasn't sure I wanted to gush at her about that. Well, an excuse to learn, perhaps? "Do changelings have... thoughts about making nymphs? Feel free to use this." I floated over some rolled paper and set it down. "Hit me with it if I ask or say something dumb."

She colored brightly. "Oh!" Her horn grabbed the paper, but she didn't hit me with it. "You're asking for real... So you deserve a real answer. Of course we do... We are alive. Most living things have to think about that a little. I don't, um, spend a lot of time..." She worried her hooves together. "Some of us do more, and some of us do less. Like ponies, I think. Are your creatures different?"

"You make a fair point - most species do wrestle those drives on some level even if it manifests differently." I stared past her shoulder gathering scattered thoughts. "For humans though physical urges seem more separate from reproducing specifically."

I stirred my cooling soup contemplatively before continuing. "Like hormones happen regardless wanting kids or not. So conversations around that stuff feel extra vulnerable compared to just biological facts."

Noticing her confused tilt I backtracked apologetically. "Ah geez, sorry for the awkward rambling! Your openness invited mine and I kinda dumped a bunch out without warning."

I patted her hoof in reassurance. "Didn't mean making you uncomfortable or anything - just meant it's touching you felt safe enough for me to explore out loud too." I managed a timid smile her way. "So seriously, thanks for listening and being so chill."

Ocellus visibly relaxed and even giggled at my flustered backpedaling. "Aww, I don't mind at all! I asked first, after all." Her own smile strengthened buoyantly. "And it is really neat having somecreature who just lets feelings out without getting all weird about it!"

She nodded firmly. "My new goal is getting you totally comfortable saying anything around me! Friends should uplift and explore together right?"

Oh, goodness. I felt an overwhelming urge to give Ocellus a big hug. "You are a delightful creature, you ever get told that?"

She smiled through her blush. "Thank you. Now... Why did you ask that? You asked because you're thinking... Do you want a nymph? You're a little young." She waved over me. "You're still in school, with me! You should wait until you're done with that at least." The way she spoke, it was as if she were just going over basic facts.

"Solid logic." I fell forward onto a waiting cloven hoof. "Very good logic. I'm in no position to be seriously thinking about that."

"But you're thinking, I can see it." She nudged my bowl suddenly. "You should finish that."

Oh, right, the soup! I grabbed it in my magic and gulped it down with big heavy chugs, soon erasing it from existance. "Mmm, good."

"Did you even taste it?" she asked amid giggles. "Good job."

I set the bowl down. "I think... You've calmed me down, and I can really think. I... think... I was just lonely, which feels bad."

"Being lonely is awful." She considered me quietly. "So what was being lonely making you do?"

"I think I wanted to be close to any pony that wanted to be close back, that felt at all appropriate... So... if making nymphs with them tied them up close to me... good?"

Ocellus nodded thoughtfully as I haltingly confessed impulsive motivations stirred by loneliness towards rushed intimacy. Fresh understanding dawned hearing inexperience speaking rather than calculated designs.

She touched my hoof gently. "Making connections that uplift everycreature does sound very good." Her voice remained kind but frank meeting my uncertain eyes. "Though bringing new lives into the world's a big responsibility - probably too big facing alone while still finding your own footing."

I exhaled feeling heard and seen beyond kneejerk reactions. "You make a really fair point - I'm pretty new getting my own life figured out, let alone guiding somefoal else's." I nodded determinedly. "I should focus on building trust with partners first before making decisions with long term impacts, huh?"

Ocellus smiled approvingly. "Understanding yourself and others takes time but pays off better for all." She winked playfully. "Good thing you've got me to cover basics your alien origins missed until you've totally adjusted!"

"Besides." I shuffled in place as Ocellus perked. "Maybe I'm just chasing the wrong thing to start."

"What do you mean?" She sat up, magic drawing a glass of water closer. "Please, explore. You're onto something."

"Well, this will be awkward..." Still, Ocellus had been nothing but kind, listening, and a great converstional partner. "I've had multiple opportunities, but, ultimately, didn't do... the thing that makes nymphs. I could have, but, in the end, didn't. I made up a thousand excuses, but, bottom line, I did not."

Ocellus' blush returned brightly. "I see... Maybe you don't want to?"

"That's what I was thinking!" I realized a moment later I had said that far too loud. "Sorry..."

My exclamation echoed awkwardly across the nearly deserted cafeteria. Thankfully only one or two stray students lingered clearing trays to notice my outburst regarding reproduction reservations. Face aflame I slid lower in my seat wishing I could vanish within my uniform.

"Maybe...inside voices about private stuff, huh?" Ocellus' embarrassed whisper barely reached my burning ears. But her tiny supportive smile lifted my mortified face eventually as we mutually acknowledged public discretion's importance even in excitement.

"Heh, yeah subtlety ain't my strongest suit sometimes." I managed a self-conscious chuckle. "But seriously you've given me a lot to process with this gender stuff. Never felt things that plainly before."

I glanced around ensuring nosy neighbors had departed before leaning closer across the table conspiratorially. "Got me seriously wondering if I avoided...certain steps just because it wasn't with who I really am or want openly, deep down. If that makes sense?"

I searched her compassionate features for understanding. "Like maybe this body I got shuffled into, however unexpectedly, unlocked feelings waiting behind walls I didn't even realize?" I shook my head amazed at connections suggesting themselves. "Wild thought I know..."

Ocellus simply smiled and patted my hoof. "Then we keep slowly helping you stretch into who you can be, no rush!" She giggled softly. "My little caterpillar's got a lot of cozy cocoon ahead before you're ready to fly free." And her unconditional support warmed me more than any fire as we walked together into freshly imagined possibilities.

It was good to have a friend.

Author's Note

What if we stopped hurrying into things, hm? Is this the way we want to go?

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14 - Price of Fire

A loud banging from the front door got me to pull my hooves free of my Earth-Keyboard. "We're open, aren't we?" I was baffled at who would bang on an open door to a public building.

I emerged from my room to find Spike standing defensively in front of Twilight, barring much of the view of her. "Uh?" I had one bubble, so I used it, putting up the temperature shield up around me, for what little good that'd do when I was already fire resistant. "Should I be worried?"

"Yes." Spike glared at the front door behind me. "I can feel it..."

"Spike, cut it out." Twilight tried to get around Spike, but he kept cutting her off. "Somepony's at the door!"

Figuring Spike might be overreacting, I went to fix the problem and get the door. "Coming." I willed the door open to find myself face to face with another kirin. My emotions died. "Hello. Can I help you?" My voice was flatter than usual, and it was already flat half the time.

"There you are." The other kirin scowled, a male of the species, though that was easy to miss. Kirin had a female leaning to them as a whole. We had softer lines than a pony, overall. "Uck... Look at you..." His horn glowed, casually picking me up and floating me right out of the library. "False Kirin, you have many crimes to answer for."

"Hello. Can I help you?"

The kirin put me down, the glow of his horn ebbing away. "What spell are you casting? It is nearly impossible to subtly cast as a kirin, are you not aware of this?"

I glanced up at my glowing horn. "Yeah, sorry." I canceled the heat bubble, leaving myself vulnerable to such attacks, not that I could be hurt by them? "Just a defense spell, forget it."

"It is time for real answers." He slammed a hoof beside my face and I flinch fearfully. A tear runs down my face without prompting.

This seems to surprise him. "You may be an infidel, but I have not struck you. Why do you cry?"

"Sorry."

"You apologize a lot." The kirin scowls at me, as he had done from the start. "I haven't even gone over what you have done wrong yet. False kirin, what were you before? The rumors say you were an earth pony. Is this correct?"

"Yes."

"Stop giving me one word replies." He stomped the ground instead of next to my head. "You are a false kirin. Let me explain it, as you do not seem to grasp it." He raised a hoof, a haze of an image appearing of an earth pony and a pegasus flying side by side. "Land ponies are born as this, or that." He angled his head towards either of the two. "Neither will become a kirin, that is simply not their fate. They will grow in earth or air magic, perhaps both... But not fire."

The image faded and a new pony appeared with fins and a smile, across from them, a kirin standing tall and proud. "Water and fire are different. A kirin makes a kirin. A sea pony makes a sea pony. A kirin does not become something else. Something else... does not become a kirin." He leaned in, heat washing over me. "But you did."

The angry kirin glared, accusations piercing my pretenses. "You're no true kirin," he pronounced harshly.

I cringed under his stare. "Didn't choose changing," I mumbled, gesturing at the sky. "Just happened."

He hardly relented, doubtful my excuses placated pride in pure elemental lineages. Sparks flickered warningly from his horn. "Meddling with reality without elder blessings risks turmoil until amends manifest."

I winced, not liking the way he was aggressively pushing at all. "Look, magic gone weird dragged me here, um... I think it's my own people."

He suddenly perked. "What people? You said you were an earth pony."

"Before that."

"Before that?" He frowned thougthfully. "What was before that?"

"Human, alien. Fire set them apart. Fire let them do miracles. If they had to pick an element, I'd pick fire to represent them. Their mastery over other elements, um, fire. Fire lets them do it in the end."

The kirin sits suddenly. "That... changes things... If you are a fire creature, your bring a kirin is understandable, but you were an earth pony first. Do you practice earth magic?"

"Yes?"

He grunted. "Impure... A kirin is just fire. Do you not understand me?"

"I am something new." I crack a little smile. "I was odd before. I'm odd now. Why would I be normal suddenly?"

"So cocky." He shaked his considerable mane, tail lashing with equal vigor. "Abandon the earth magic. That is all we require. Purify the fire within you, and the rest can be forgiven."

On one hoof, that was, relatively, an easy request. On the other, I hated that he had asked it. I hated being told what to do or not do. "I'm not hurting anything. Go away."

With a sudden rush of heat, he went full nirik. "I was trying to be kind!" he roared out, eyes white, purple-red flames burning brightly. "Whelp! I will burn you to ashes."

I doubted that specific part. As warm as he felt, I wasn't burning from the flames. That did nothing to help me when he basically punched me, and my vision sparkled from the aftereffects of it. I hadn't been punched since I was a child. I was stunned.

So he hit me again, driving me back into the wall of the library. "Good, die," he snarled, lashing with flailing hooves. The fire did nothing, but sharpened hooves were quite capable of bruising and cutting flesh.

At least, that was true until I erupted in stone, encasing myself into a statue that stood as still as ever I had, staring out, unfeeling and unknowing. I was on complete lockdown, and my magic was helping me flee the suddenly hostile world. He couldn't hurt me.

But my mind was just as stuck. I lost all track of time, just focused on being still and quiet, as if that might make the problem go away.

I only became unstuck slowly. I realized I was standing in front of the library. I was not being attacked. It still hurt. I could feel the stings of opened wounds and throbbing sores. Just standing hurt. I let the stone fall away and a new smell could reach me, burning wood and paper.

With a squeak, I whirled back on the library to find it was entirely intact. "G-good...." Breathing hard, I pressed inside. "Twilight? Spike? You two alright in here?"

Spike growled like a threatened, or threatening, dog. "I didn't let them in..."

Twilight hurried up to me. "Where were... David..." She felt over my injuries with all the softness the kirin didn't have. "Go sit down. I'll bring some bandages..."

"T-thanks." I just obeyed her, heading to my room. "Sorry."

Spike perked up. "Sorry? What'd you do?" He trailed after me. "That jerk seemed ready to fight, for real. How'd you not get hurt even more than you actually did?"

I winced lowering onto the bed, pains registering as adrenaline faded. Cuts and bruises stung badges of shame where anger left marks. Fighting back never tempted though - fleeing failures loomed larger.

"Tried hiding under stone but that just delays problems..." I muttered. Spike's querying stare sparked flickers of insight as Twilight wrapped bandages. "Standing against hate takes real courage. He assumed wrongly but violence just breeds more violence."

Twilight nodded. "Enduring hostility hardly seems just, yet striking back often perpetuates harms..." She squeezed my shoulder gently. "Rest now. We'll unravel this confusion later respectfully when you've healed."

I sagged into her supportive embrace as Spike kept sentry, resolve glimmering. Confronting fear with empathy proved hard but hatred multiplying ended only when someone finally stood unmoving against those sweeping tides. My wounds would mend given care. "Not fair." I flopped on the bed. "I haven't felt this helpless in forever, and I hate it."

Spike turned towards me, looming over the head. "I used to be smaller." He flapped his wings lightly. "It was nice, when I got larger... I don't let anyone pick on me, or Twilight." He reached to stroke along my side, soothing even if it was also painful. "If you had stayed, I would have protected you too."

"Aw, thanks." I kicked weakly. "Is there a healing spell?"

"Hm?" Spike considered that a moment. "I think Twilight mentioned that was a water trick, and none of us have water, so..."

Maybe I had some water in there, somewhere? I decided reaching for it right then would be a bad idea with fire purists already furious at me. "I didn't know ponies had such strong feelings about the elements."

"Most don't." He lowered, resting his head on my side. "But some do... Like those kirin. Jerks." He nuzzled into my pelt, then perked. "Oh, your scales did good. Not a mark on them."

I chuckled at that. "Good... Kirin are tough. Shame I had parts that weren't covered in those scales... Should I give up being a kirin?"

"Can you even do that?" Spike shrugged softly. "Never heard of a pony going backwards before. You're a kirin, the best you could do would be adding to it. Winged kirin! Winged sea kirin, oh wow, imagine how annoyed they'd be." He chuckled at the very image of it. "Can you do that? Please! I wanna see them flip their stupid heads all the way."

I chuckled softly, closing my eyes. "I like the way you think. That'd show them..." I sat up with a huff. "Does Twilight know how?"

Spike flashed dangerous teeth. "That's more like it. You sound less dead about it. So, uh... what'd they do? You came in somehow... more..." He cycled his hands helplessly a moment. "Hard to describe it, but you were super shut down."

"Sorry."

Spike hummed. "You didn't do anything wrong, besides go out there in the first place. What are you sorry for."

There was little but awkward silence. "Hello?" Spike curled his tail up and wrapped it around me. "You're feeling things, even if you aren't sharing them. Can you tell me if you want me to shut up and be here or drag them out of you, kicking and screaming?"

"That... is actually a very nice offer, either way, Spike. Thank you." I pondered the two options. "It means a lot that you want to know, and not because you're angry at me." I took a slow breath, sides swelling out before I let it all out in a gust, some flames licking with it. "Go ahead and drag them. I'd like to share."

"Alright!" He put a hand down on the bed, making it lean to the side easily under his considerable weight. "So, getting right into it." He pressed his sharp claws against either of my sides and began dancing them up and down.

As it turned out, I was pretty ticklish. My stoic facade became struggling laughter as I swatted at him helplessly, unable to escape the tickles despite my complaints. My attacks were nothing against him. "I give, I give!"

"Do you?" He drew his dangerous hands back. "Then get talking, or the tickling resumes."

"What do you want to know?"

Spike sat up, off the bed. "Really? Okay, since you're just letting me ask anything..."

I hiccuped, an odd reaction, but the one that came to me. "About this... Look, that guy was angry at me, for existing. It set off a lot of things, especially with him being ready to hurt me about it. I feel stupid now. I should have.... fought... But I don't like fighting, so I froze instead... I feel dumb, and weak, but I froze up pretty well. There."

"There." Spike pondered the words. "Thank you. That does cover most of it, but you still need something."

"What's that?" I ask guardedly.

He hugged me gently. "You were very brave, and we're proud of you."

Author's Note

The fire nation's attacking! Nothing will be the same!

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15 - Stealer of Fire, Legacy of Man

I awoke the next morning and got right to work. I ate breakfast quietly and headed right out to class. I got there early, to the school. Sitting down, I brought out the Earth Keyboard and got to doing my words of the day. I wasn't going to skip on those!

"Hey." I could hear Gallus, but not see him as I busily typed. "You're here early." I could feel him sit next to me. "What's up?"

I finished that portion and drew my hooves away, allowing me to see Gallus there, watching me with thin patience. "Sorry. I was doing some work. Not like I can go to class."

Gallus rolled his eyes. "You came to school early, just so you could work? Strange..." He prodded me right on a sore part. "Gonna explain why it looks like you lost a fight? Did you lose a fight?"

I slipped the keyboard away, floating it with my magic into my saddlebags. "Yes, actually. I suck at fighting."

"Points for honesty," he laughed out. "But that sucks. Who's picking on my kirin, huh? I'll bite 'em in half!"

I imagined Gallus and that kirin coming to blows. "I'd really rather you didn't... I don't want you getting hurt."

"Getting hurt for a friend is a good hurt." He crossed his arms with a huff. "Worth it. So spit it out, who hurt you?"

I chuckled uncomfortably at Gallus' fierce protectiveness, not used to others leaping so readily to my defense. His dangerous beak and claws cut an intimidating figure to would-be bullies for sure!

"Well I definitely appreciate the solidarity..." Gingerly I stretched muscles still sore from that angry kirin's assault. "But going after him directly might just stir up more trouble, honestly."

I met Gallus' skeptical stare frankly. "He was pretty worked up over me kinda faking being a proper kirin when I started as an earth pony." I gestured at my bandaged wounds. "So me abandoning earth magic and 'purifying the fire within' would satisfy him or something."

I rolled my eyes with a snort. "As if I'd toss half my spell arsenal just because one blowhard disapproves." Smoky wisps stirred with those words - maybe my fiery side felt that defiance too.

Noticing Gallus' cheeky grin I waved dismissively. "I know I know, not very fiery or intimidating normally. But I'm not groveling to any jerk, whatever threats he makes!" Tiny licks of flame emerged punctuating that stubborn stance.

Gallus laughed loudly at the display. "Now that's more like it! Show that temper little dude!" He leaned back arrogantly. "Besides, he'd change his tune quick with me backing you up fang to claw."

He stretched nonchalantly. "So yeah, point him out if he shows his ugly mug spouting lies again. I got time to teach wannabe bigshots some manners..."

I smiled weakly at Gallus' fearless blustering, simultaneously touched but anxious. "Well, let's hope respect emerges without resorting to biting folks in half if we can... For now though, I do appreciate you in my corner."

Gallus shrugged with a snort. "Fine, fine... don't tell me... But you already did, sucker." He prodded my shoulder. "They're a kirin. How many of those do you think there are?! Seriously, might as well have given me a map." He clacked his beak. "Kinda dumb. I thought you were clever."

Oh, wow. I had been caught in a silly step there. "Point... Please don't start a fight."

"You got it. Shame he already started it." He punched one hand with the other. "Gonna friendship his face inside out." He suddenly took to the air a foot. "Be right back, gathering the crew."

"No!" But he was already taking off, away from me. "Damn it..." I slumped back on that bench, tail lashing fitfully. "Damn it..."

I started pacing restlessly, possibilities swirling. Would he simply scoff finding the library vacant, or stubbornly stake out the premises awaiting my return? Neither appealed. But neither did passively waiting for fresh disasters spawned from over-enthused "help"! I had to intercept him before things escalated without dragging more innocents into the mess.

I cantered quickly towards the clubhouse hideaway I knew Gallus frequented with Silverstream and Ocellus when cutting class. Sure enough raucous laughter echoed from within as I approached. I took a bracing breath and pushed inside.

"Whoa, hey who invited Sparky?" Sandbar exclaimed. Gallus froze guiltily with claw upraised, no doubt illustrating creative violence to come. The others looked confused by my sudden entrance.

"Sorry to interrupt..." I began awkwardly. Noticing Silverstream's excited gasp I quickly clarified: "And no I'm not staying transformed!" Her pout was almost audible. "I uh, I need Gallus a sec, real quick outside."

I tilted my head meaningfully towards the exit, fighting nerves. "Few things to clarify I'd rather discuss one on one if that's cool?" The tension was palpable under their curious stares.

Gallus leaned in with a frown. "Look, some creature hurt our friend. We're going to have a talk with them, hm. If they're reasonable, it can stop there."

Sandbar nodded swiftly, staking up a spot beside Gallus. "But we're not going to ignore it. You're a friend."

I smiled at that. "You're too nice."

Gallus fired a finger gun. "And you're too weak. Now, fire boy thinks fire's all that, but air's pretty great." He clapped his hands, lightning crackling between them. "I got wind, lightning, and thunder. All he has is fire." He patted at Sandbar. "And some backup right here."

"What are you talking about out there," called Silverstream from inside. "Can I come out?!"

I winced as Gallus casually conjured lightning while Sandbar offered earthy backup against my fiery foe. Their camaraderie was touching but worrisome given the display developing outside.

"Whoa take it easy on the elemental stuff huh?" I waved my hooves placatingly. "Last thing we need is escalating a freak storm and trashing half of Ponyville!"

I could understand their instinct to rally around a friend. Heck their very world ran on friendship's power after all! But projecting strength differed from picking unnecessary fights.

I met Gallus and Sandbar's excited gazes earnestly. "I think we all agree talk before talons if possible, yeah?" Reluctant nods answered my appeal. "Then help me brew up a plan catching my fiery counterpart alone first."

I glanced back at Silverstream bouncing eagerly just inside. "And let's keep club business club business for now. No need dragging others into personal stuff unprepared right?"

Gallus grumbled unhappily but waved Silverstream back before she tumbled out. "Yeah yeah, we'll figure things out a way that don't ruffle your feathers too much..." He leaned closer with a toothy grin. "But that kirin's gonna learn respect one way or another!"

With a nervous chuckle I wrestled Gallus roughly away defusing rising tensions with rowdy play. "Fair enough, tough guy. For now though let's grab some grub while we scheme next steps hm?"

Sandbar raised a hoof. "One thing, our club's more than the three you see here. If the others ask, we will tell them. Good luck making Yona not go someplace she wants to."

I imagined anything standing before that great yak. "That wouldn't work."

"Glad you get it." Sandbar turned for the inside. "Look, for now, why don't you do the student thing. We got this. We were a group before you got here. None of us will charge in alone, promise."

Gallus thumbsed up at that. "Seriously. We got this."

They headed inside, leaving me out there. Not having the courage or will to chase after them, I went back to the main courtyard of the school and sat down on the same bench, just to have my tail swatted at. I jumped with a squeak to find a little filly had brushed it. "Sorry?"

"Golly, why would you be sorry?" I recognized her the moment she spoke. Cozy Glow. "You look a little lost. Can I help?!"

In the show, she was an evil little pegasus pony of undetermined age that attended the school briefly before being tossed out. What was she in that world? How did I even ask without being rude? "Hello, Cozy."

Her eyes widened. "Gosh, you've heard of me? I heard of you, golly, how could I not? You're the only kirin in all of Ponyville!" She threw her hooves wide. "And you look so neat." She reached out to casually brush over scales with obvious fascination. "Gee... can I get cool scales like this?"

I tensed involuntarily as Cozy Glow's intrusive hoof stroked along my pelt uninvited. Even without fully grasping her canon nature something felt...off balanced in her too bright gaze.

"Heh, uh thanks but they just kinda showed up when I got zapped kirin-wise." I gently extracted myself from her fascinated attentions. "Not really a spa treatment I can recommend per se."

Her exuberant smile faltered briefly before redoubling. "Rats! Well at least tell me there's special kirin magic I can learn too, pretty please?" Without waiting for confirmation her next words tumbled out rapidfire. "Ooh, think Chancellor Neighsay would give me extra credit mastering outside talents?"

My ears pinned back defensively as requests piled thoughtlessly atop each other. Did she just overlook personal boundaries automatically assuming compliant good will? As she prattled on about ambitious academic aspirations I studied her uncertainly.

Maybe casual callousness explained canon conquests better than innate malice? Still her chaotic friendliness set me on edge after recent encounters with controlling personalities.

I stood hastily backing away with fixed polite smile. "Well, magic often manifests unexpectedly as we discover our talents. For now though class calls - take care Cozy!"

And I trotted briskly off before she could barrage further with disarming invitations I lacked defenses against just yet. Those big eyes seemed to promise friendship but something lurked behind them hungrily.

She descended in front of me, little wings fluttering. "Don't run away so quickly! Just tell me the truth. Friendly ponies tell the truth."

I hesitated a moment. "Alright... I might have lied a little."

She gasped dramatically. "How could you? Gosh, we only just met. Did I say something wrong?"

"No! No..." I pinned an ear back. "You know how pony elements work, right?"

She twirled in place. "I'm air!" A gust of air exploded from her in a gentle wafting from her. "And you're fire, right?"

"Sorta..." I wobbled a cloven hoof at her. "But playing with fire brought out the kirin. I have a talent for it, and poking my snout in it far enough pulled me the rest of the way. Make sense?"

"Ohhhh. I get it." She nodded, hood at her chin. "Hmm, don't think I'm any good with fire, boo... I'd be pretty cool as a kirin! Lucky you!" She darted in, almost nose to nose. "Nice to meet you anyway!"

I blinked rapidly leaning away from Cozy's abrupt invasion of personal space. For all her dizzying friendliness something unreadable lurked behind guileless eyes that set my teeth on edge.

"Luck had little to do with it - more magic gone haywire." I resumed cautious steps towards the main building hoping she'd get the hint. But wispy wings carried her effortlessly backwards keeping uncomfortably close pace.

"Still though, getting to be special without hardly trying seems delightful!" She twirled casually sideways. "Don't you just love standing out brightly among dull crowds?"

Before I formulated careful responses she breezed on cheerfully. "Everyone watching your next move, having teachers and celestials take such interest up close?" Her even wider theatrical grin held strange hunger. "Why, that's practically being a star!"

I halted abruptly, scaliness bristling as subtext dawned. She thought infringing rules won fame through controversy alone? The pain that standing out still stung as a clear reminder.

"Brighter lights often cast deeper shadows, little one. Focus on figuring yourself out before you go for standing out."

The bell rang out clearly across the campus. School was starting, and with it, a chance to suck a little less at interacting with my fellow creatures. I hurried to the next class with a faint smile.

Author's Note

You know life's odd when school's the happy place.

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16 - Matter of Religion

Starlight stood smiling at the front of our class. "Rarity's not feeling well today." She floated a pointer over to tap at the board. "So I'll be going over something else while she recovers. Let's touch on something suddenly relevant. David." She grabbed me with her magic, floating me to the front of the class.

"This." She pointed at my hovering form. "Is a kirin, as you are aware." Many heads nodded at that. "There's another kirin visiting, and tensions are... high. But do any of you understand why?"

I raised a split hoof.

"Not you." Starlight smiled at me. "That's cheating. Anycreature else?" No hands or hooves raised. "For the kirin, their fire is one of the greatest things about them. They praise it, almost worship it, inside themselves and around themselves." With a spark of her horn, a little bonfire appeared in front of her. "I know a little fire magic," she admitted. "Just a touch. Now, behold, fire." She waved at it.

"You all understand most creatures have one element, hm?" Most heads bobbed. "Good! Ponies tend to be earth or air. Pegasi and griffons for air, earth ponies and yak share earth, for instance. Hippogriffs, just to give an example, are air and water hybrids, with individuals often showing a strong preference for one, though some sit right in the middle and enjoy it there."

Ocellus raised a hoof. "Ma'am?"

"Changelings are whatever element they feel like." Starlight brought her hooves together. "It's just a matter of what they study, and what form they're in. A changeling sea pony could make reasonable use of water, but not as well as a good actual sea pony. Close enough. You, Ocellus, could learn to wield all the elements you put your mind behind."

Murmurs spread, creatures impressed at the idea. "Now, before you think changelings are too special, ponies are, in some ways, similar." She curled a hoof at herself. "If I pressed too far into air studies, I'd get wings, and with them, I could fully master air. Too much earth, and I get earth pony. The classic 'alicorn' is a pony that has done both of those things! An alicorn, just by being an alicorn, can usually practice, with magic, most elements, but the 'classic two' come most easily."

She turned a hoof on me, still floating there as the demonstration. "Then we have David. Technically, you could say he is an alicorn of sorts. Earth and Fire, at once. That earth part is very irritating to the kirin. Earth is not supposed to be with fire, at least if you were to ask them."

Starlight suddenly put me down on my hooves. "Which is the problem, since David, I'm told, has no interest on giving up his earth magic, or his human magic." She rolled her eyes. "Don't even mention he has a third kind of magic to the kirin. It's tangled enough."

I flushed self-consciously under the scrutiny of classmates as Starlight concluded her lecture spotlighting my peculiar predicament. Her sympathetic yet matter-of-fact delivery outlined core quandaries without overlaying excess judgment either way.

Still, unease stirred under myriad curious gazes now freshly aware of brewing elemental tensions tied to my unorthodox transformation sequence. Awkward hoof scuffs punctuated the trailing silence following revelations of traditionalist dissent.

Then Silverstream raised an eager hoof, unable to contain quivering enthusiasm. "Ooh! Ooh! If David's a kirin alicorn, doesn't that make him extra super powerful and important?!" Eyes shone envisioning exponential awesomeness no doubt.

Before I formulated coherent reactions, Ocellus chimed agreement, wings buzzing softly. "He does kinda combine all sorts of special talents, doesn't he?" She beamed my way heedless of gathering blushes. "Bet there's crazy strong hybrid magic just waiting for you to uncover it!"

Even aloof Smolder perked with interest hearing this suggestion. "Hey yeah, that'd show up those fire snobs if you whipped out some badflank mashup they've never seen before!" Sudden schemes glinted imagining the chaos potential.

Starlight hastened raising a gentle yet firm hoof, sensing my building panic as unwanted attention piled assumptions atop me. "Easy students, let's tread lightly with projections, however well intended..." She smiled reassuringly my grateful way. "Untested talents often carry unforeseen costs after all."

I let out a slow relieved breath as scenarios spawned by innocent idolization slowly unraveled in our teacher's compassionate wisdom. Specialness alone cured no ills; only serving others manifested miracles that uplifted all.

Starlight nodded, meeting my eyes warmly across chastened students now pondering impulsive words more carefully. "Alicorn is a measure of respect given for an achievement, not a measure of power. David is still learning his elements, even if he's dipped a hoof into either and embraced them, he's still a beginner. So... Even if we were to call him that, he's not suddenly some great wizard that will fix things by force."

She started tapping at me, specifically the wounded parts. "As you can see, he's not interested in physical conflicts anyway. He needs our support, not our calls for him to become a superhero. Let's save those for the comics, hm?"

A few dissapointed noises drifted through the room, but the too-excited calls had also died. "Very good. Are there other questions about cretures and their elements while we're on the topic?"

Gallus raised a hand. "Hey, Star. What about not-ponies and not-changelings?" He hiked both thumbs at himself. "What about griffons?"

"An excellent question." Starlight strode to him firmly. "We don't know about griffons, truth told. Maybe they could learn more than the air they start with, and maybe not. Like the yaks, their elemental restriction may be, entirely, something their society made up. Yaks think earth and its strength is simply the best. Griffons prefer to soar and fly and think little of the other elements. Nature, nuture? Perhaps you could prove it one way or the other?"

Starlight sat in front of Gallus' desk, meeting his gaze. "I'd like to see that. Keep me informed." She brought her hooves together. "In fact, I will give extra credit to any creature that manages to touch another element, however small. That goes for any creature. Pony or not. If it isn't one you already had, reach in a new direction."

I perked up as Starlight concluded her impromptu lecture by opening up intriguing avenues for further exploration. Her offer of extra credit for tangible demonstrations of elemental flexibility sparked fresh curiosities within.

I raised an eager hoof as students buzzed excitedly. "Hey since we're already bending expectations, maybe we work together mixing our specialties too?" I gestured around the classroom. "Like, what if I tried wielding air through a pegasus conduit, or Yona channeled fire through kirin me?"

Noticing some bewildered stares I clarified sheepishly: "Just, seems friendships themselves tap elemental power here...so maybe uniting our gifts unlocks more than we'd manage solo?" I scuffed a self-conscious hoof. "Plus, teamwork's kinda Magic of Friendship 101 right?"

Starlight beamed approvingly. "Excellently reasoned! Collaboration multiplies potentials." She addressed the class broadly: "Do feel free attempting weavings with others - I want to see that work."

Turning my way she winked slyly: "I foresee certain fiery tutors receive eager new students shortly..." Laughter echoed together as imaginings took flight on wings of curiosity kindled in this place of learning.

She went on to less exciting topics, resuming where Rarity had left off. Even if I was trying to become less awful at social bonds, I still wasn't that interested in fashion or what covered my shame, not that clothing seemed very mandatory on that world.

A paper bounced off me. I grabbed it in my magic and brought it over, uncurling it.

Hey, David!

Meet after class? Let's burn things!

Lightning and Fire, Classic Combo,
Gallus

There was a little picture of a griffon on fire under that. There were no doubts left as to who had left that. I saw nothing wrong with the general idea. If I could be a two-elemental creature, why try to hold that away from the others? I gave a thumbs up, as best I could. Having two fingers allowed it better than one big hoof.

The way he nodded, I figured he got the idea.

We put our attention on Starlight and tried to, or at least I tried to pay attention for the rest of class, typing away notes for later.

With the ringing of the bell, the class was over. I barely made it to the door when I was tackled, Gallus casually riding me out into the hallway. "Aw, yeah, let's do this." He snapped the fingers of his right hand, lightning crackling between them. "I may not look it, but magic's pretty fun, especially when we're going things I like doing. So, fire, how do we start?"

I turned a long ear back at Gallus. "First, why are you riding me?"

"Because you're a horse?" He squeezed me with his legs. "And because we're pals."

"Solid logic." I grabbed him with my magic and pulled him free, putting his pouting self on his own feet. "Your legs work, so use them."

"Fine, fine." Gallus rolled his eyes. "Seriously, where to? My house or yours could go up in flames if we try there."

"True..." I trotted out of school with him following behind. "I can think of two places. Do you prefer on the ground, or under it?"

"On it?" Gallus hiked a brow as he followed. "Was that a trick question?"

"On it it is." I headed to where Spike had offered some practice, not too far off the road. "A quiet place with fewer things to set on fire on accident."

"More dirt, less wood, yeah..." He nudged the ground with a foot. "I can dig it, alright. So, step one?"

I considered that. What was step one? "For me, it was envisioning me place with fire. Fire is a big friend of my people. It keeps us warm. It cooks our food. It powers... everything... Fire's a big deal. Do griffons have that kind of connection?"

Gallus scrunched his beak thoughtfully at my question, talons flexing restlessly. "I mean, we use fires plenty keeping cozy or cooking grub, sure." He shrugged watching puffy clouds drift. "Just kinda happens without much fuss though, not like we gotta bow before it or beg permission."

Noticing my curious look he explained further: "Like we'll gather branches for a bonfire bash no prob, but the actual spark just comes from smacking rocks without a buncha ritual, yeah?" He laughed suddenly. "Heck starting fires by clawing lightning strikes looks way flashier! Why trudge for tinder?"

Gallus struck a pose claw upraised dramatically. "BOOM! Roasted!" Tiny bolt zapped a nearby bush obligingly smoldering as he cackled. "Now that's more griffon style, baby!"

Sobering slightly he peered my way inquisitively. "Yeah though guess you pony types venerate elements way deeper huh?"

I chuckled at Gallus' bombastic lightning summons but considered his question seriously. "I'm not a pony, to start. My people did worship fire, for a long time. We got over it. This is personal as much as anything else." I went over to the fire Gallus had started. "Consider this. Put your hand out, feel the heat, listen to the sounds it makes."

Gallus came closer, peering skeptically. "It crackles. It's... kinda warm, sure? Now what?"

"Feel it. Not too close you get burned, but know it could burn." I thrust a hoof half-into it. Being fire resistant is nice. "It's like the lightning that made it, but without the flash, without the bang. Burning, always burning, brighter without the sudden... Feel that."

He put out both hands, feeling that warmth. "Yeah... Yeah, alright... I get where you're going, I think." He nudged some grass onto the fire, encouraging it. "It's like the lightning, but... different, yeah." He flashed a feral smile. "So..."

"So think about it and stop asking questions right now." I elbow him in the side. "Just feel it right now. When you got that, we can try more."

Author's Note

Gallus wants fire, right now. Fire! All the fire. Burn baby! Is this a good idea?

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17 - Burning Griffons

Gallus gently rubbed his hands, talons clicking. "Alright, I felt it. Next step?"

I chuckled softly, sinking to a seat next to it. "Now feel it. Bring it inside." I tapped at my chest. "Bring it on in, not literally. Feel it inside, and let it burn in your chest. Let every breath have flame in it. Feel it."

"You are getting really into this." But he sat next to me and closed his eyes. "Feeling it..." Things grew quiet as he just breathed. I couldn't read his mind, only imagining what he was imagining in a two layer mental image. "Feeling it..."

It took about five minutes, but a little fire puffed out of his beak, and I giddily cheered.

He started with surprise. "What? I didn't do anything."

"You did. Imagine what you just imagined, and keep your eyes open. I saw you breathe fire."

"No way!" With a grin, he tried to capture that spark. "Awesome... C'mon..." He puffed bits of smoke, but the fire wasn't coming back. "What am I doing wrong?"

"You're excited." I put a cloven hoof on his shoulder. "But I saw it. It'll come back. You just have to feel that fire. It's your first little tiny kinda spell."

"Yeah... Okay!" He laughed breathlessly, a little fire escaping. He saw it that time, grinning. "Yeah! Yeah! Woah.... Fire...." He suddenly slapped me on the shoulder. "You gave me fire! It's... a little fire, but it's fire. I can't thank you enough."

I smiled warmly as delight dawned across Gallus' face beholding tiny flames dancing at his summons. However fitful those first firefly flickers, pride clearly ignited within discovering budding talents.

"It starts small, but grows in time." I let him savor the triumphant moment before practical concerns resurfaced. "Gotta learn control alongside the power though." Gentle puff dispersed the crackling seeds. "Unwise strengthening spells too quickly risks nasty backfires if you can't snuff surges."

Noticing his crestfallen beak I hastily clarified: "Not saying that'll happen! Just...patience pays with magic, trust me." I smiled sheepishly through my own scorched memories. "Start working on it daily even for a few minutes. See where practice takes you before pushing harder."

I clasped his shoulder reassuringly with a grin. "Besides, first steps always look wobbly! Once you consistently call little flashes intentionally, we can try growing out." Visions swirled of winging free wielding flames alongside airborne allies, lighting the skies gloriously.

But frost must precede such flights of fancy. "For now though, just breathe deep and let the fire find you." I swept a hoof towards the little campfire crackling comfortingly between us. "Can't force a connection - only tend the conditions allowing it."

Gallus spat a little fire, on his command. "Too awesome." He kicked at the bonfire, knocking it dead with some dirt. "Fire griffon! Ha, take that... The suckers back home said I was wasting my time." He folded his arms, looking so very pleased. "But here I am, a two-element griffon. It's official now, right?"

I shook my head. "Don't be in a hurry. You touched the fire, nothing more. Until you can do more than puff some flames, you're a griffon with a side of fire, not a fire griffon. Let it happen and grow into it." I turned my hooves at myself. "Now, me? A pony that falls into fire becomes a kirin. I don't even know what a fire griffon is, if there is such a thing. We may find out, together."

"Together!" He brought his hand to my hoof in a thunderous high five. "I can't even wait!" He hopped to his feet and danced in place. "Oh, wow, this is gonna be so cool! Stupid Ocellus was always so smug, look at me, I can do everything!" He huffed at that. "Whatever. I got two elements now, yeah!"

It was a fine reminder that he was, in the end, still a young college kid. He was immature, and it was lovely in a way. "Keep at it. We can practice fire together, even if I'm not sure if pony fire and griffon fire are exactly the same."

"Hey. Fire is fire." He waved a finger. "Let's burn it up!"

I chuckled at Gallus' irrepressible enthusiasm now that initial success unlocked fiery talents potentially. Clearly visions swirled of flouting social conventions through flash and spectacle. I hoped I could lend a calming hoof to it.

"Well magic manifests uniquely across species, so griffon fire might differ from pony flames somehow." I demonstrated a flickering hoof absently. "Like dragon fire gets enhanced by consumed gemstones I hear, but kirin aren't attracted to gems."

Noticing puzzlement I quickly clarified: "Just saying mystery still surrounds this, is all!" Another casual puff sent wispy smoke signals skyward. "Your inner fire could cook up totally new expressions. We'll discover them together though, no worries!"

Gallus ruffled feathers pensively clearly less interested in formal research over unleashing awesome displays soon as possible.

I smiled subtly seeing him wrestling the impulse to vent teenage passions against discipline's restraints requiring deeper roots. "Hey, even lightning needs clouds and time gathering right?" A stray spark winked empathetically his way. "Your flames will blaze brighter when conditions align inside too."

Gallus scuffed the turf with a wry laugh. "Lightning just happens bang, no patience about it!" But his resigned smirk acknowledged the wisdom. "Still, getting all obsessive cramping my style won't help either I guess..."

I bumped his shoulder affectionately with a grin all too familiar. "Careful focus cultivates the crops, but joyful play keeps your spirit fed too." I mimed a familiar fighter's stance, flames flickering. "Now c'mon, let's get back to balancing studies with a little smash practice!"

With a whooping laugh Gallus pounced after me, just to crash into the wrong kirin. The other kirin scowled at Gallus. "Leave. I have business with that one." He directed a single hoof at me. I was already starting to freeze over into stone.

Gallus slid between us. "Not happening, flame horse. You think you're the only one that can put up a fight around here?"

"That is a terrible mistake." The kirin slammed his hooves together, fire exploding from the impact. "I would hate to harm a child, but I will, if you refuse to get out of the way."

Gallus clenched his hands, lightning dancing over his talons as wisps of flames rose and flickered with it. "No, jerk. He's my friend, so, no, don't think I will get out of the way. He doesn't want to talk to you, obviously."

Things got real quiet as the angry kirin and Gallus stared each other down. I was so freaked I turned to stone again by instinct. Gallus was in the older pony's face not backing down about chasing him off though.

Part of me admired Gallus refusing to ditch a friend in trouble. But picking fights with a super powerful fire master seemed real dumb too. Before I could work up the guts to talk, Gallus was already lighting his claws up with sparks taunting the visitor to throw the first punch.

So I stumbled outta my frozen state and put a hoof on Gallus to gently pull him back. Last thing I wanted was my buddy burned to a crisp against impossible odds! Still, hiding hadn't helped before. It was time I stood up straight and talked things out with this guy right.

"Hey, um, sorry about the confusion earlier..." I managed not quite as brave as Gallus. "But I learn earth and fire cause both feel natural to me. Not trying to insult your ways, but can't quit half myself either."

I met that kirin's glare with my little flame. "Think we could try starting over and talk? I don't seek trouble with your folk but won't abandon friends or talents either. There's got to be a compromise yeah?"

I tried putting on a brave smile for Gallus' sake but inside I was all jelly legs and flop sweat praying this grump would take the olive branch! Otherwise we probably got seconds before fiery explosions started!

The kirin laughed at that. "Finally, some words." He fell to all fours. "Even if I hate them. Dirty flame, why shouldn't I stamp you out? It's what we do with guttering, filthy, flames."

I lit up, flames erupting from every surface I had, eyes going white. "Shut the fuck up."

The kirin looked surprised. "What anger. What was that word?"

Oh, right. Earth curses. "Shut up. I'm so tired of hearing people like you go on and--" He punched at me and hit my suddenly stoney face. Bits of rock flaked away when he drew his hoof back, but I wasn't hurt. "And on! God damn it, I won't face it in another world. You don't have a gun! The closest you have, we both have."

Gallus chuckled darkly. "No idea what half of what he's saying." He slapped his lightning and fire hands together. "But I like the sound of it. You wanna take us both on at once, or are you going to turn tail and get out of here?"

With him at my side, I felt confidence swelling. I wasn't sure if I could throw a punch, but magic wasn't a punch. Perhaps, the limits didn't work the same. "I'm not backing down."

The kirin growled darkly. "If you won't purify yourself... the least... The very least... you could do is learn what you are." With a glowing horn, he threw a book at my burning hooves. "Read and educate yourself." He half turned away. "If you decide you want to be true to what you've become, come to us, and ask."

Gallus glared daggers as the kirin backed away with what was left of his pride. "Yeah, back off." He wheeled around in front of me with a laugh. "We did it!"

I slumped, tension fleeing, flames fleeing. I was left in kirin form, nirik flames gone. "Can we not, in the future?"

"Wuss." He patted me on the shoulder anyway. "You did good! Today is just full of wins! I'm going to practice this fire. You--" He pointed past me, towards the treebrary. "Head home."

"Yeah..." That sounded like a great idea actually. "You did good."

He swatted my tail as I left and took to the sky with a victorious whoop.

I gingerly lifted the mysterious gift/peace offering with telekinesis, curious what knowledge it might contain. My strides towards home felt lighter - it had been harrowing, but somehow facing that fear left me walking taller. Tucking the new book away, I pressed into my new home. "Twilight, Spike, Twinkle?"

"Hello." Twinkle was there, smiling up at me. "I smell a new book."

I blinked at that. "That has a specific smell?"

"Am I wrong?"

The worst part was I couldn't say that. I floated out the kirin book and offered it to her.

With an excited squeal, she opened it and got to reading eagerly. "Where did you get this?"

"Did that jerk show up?" There was Spike, closing on us. "You okay?"

"I'm okay." I met Spike and soon we were hugging gently. "Good to be home."

"Good to have you." He squeezed me gentle before he let me go. "Food will be ready in about an hour. How'd school go?"

"Great, really..." I thought back on it, and Gallus' lessons. "I taught Gallus how to touch fire with his magic. Proud of that."

"Awesome." Spike chuckled as he turned for the kitchen. "I remember when I first got my fire going. That was a big moment for me... Poor Twilight was so scared I'd set the library on fire..."

I smiled warmly reminiscing alongside Spike about unlocking inner flames for the first time. "Yeah, it's really special when talent ignites, huh?" I peered towards the kitchen picturing a young anxious Twilight panicking over her familiar's sputtering sparks.

"Heh, Gallus looked ready to start blasting everything nearby to cinders seeing success." I rolled my eyes affectionately. "Luckily, he agreed going slow for control first."

I nodded gratefully as Spike passed a gem-garnished snack. "Still, felt good nurturing that breakthrough. Maybe he'll teach me air tricks someday!" My gaze drifted back to where Twinkle devoured arcane wisdom excitedly.

Spike put an arm out in front of me. "Be careful with that. If you fall into air like you did for fire, you'll get wings. There's not even a word for a winged kirin."

Author's Note

Would that be a good or bad thing?

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18 - Fire and Fire

I pressed past Spike, but didn't make it. He casually picked me up and carried me to the kitchen to resume his work with me in his lap.

Part of me was annoyed at being so casually grabbed, but another was crazy happy... because I had been so casually grabbed. "What brought this on?"

"I'm cooking." Which he did with soft whistles. "And I want my kirin around." He gently stroked over my mane. "Is that wrong?"

"I suppose not." I touched my nose to his arm as it went around, working on the food. "I'm just not used to it."

"Get used to it." He tickled under my chin. "You're mine."

I colored at that. "Spike, a question."

"Mm?"

"You don't have those parts." I curled in his lap to confirm as best I could that he had none of those parts. "You are, biologically anyway, not a boy or a girl."

"Nope." He slapped his tail down lightly. "But I have a guy voice and I'm happy being a guy, so keep that up, kindly."

"So... I can't be yours, that way, can I?"

"Hmmm." He casually nipped at my neck, sending a jolt through me. "I guess not, but I don't need you that way." He tickled along my barrel slowly. "I just want a creature that cares, and is open for cuddle time."

"I'm still learning how different relationships can work," I replied thoughtfully to Spike as he cooked. "But I appreciate you wanting me close by. As long as we talk openly about what we both want, we'll be alright."

Spike nodded, placing a claw gently on my back. "You got it. I want you feeling safe and happy however this unfolds..." He trailed off, focusing on seasoning the vegetables perfectly as the comforting scents of dinner preparation filled the kitchen.

I snuffed gently at those aromas. "You're pretty good at this." My tail swished against his belly. "I really do want to take a turn or two sometimes."

"You're bad at it." He pat me on the head. "You're busy, with work, with school, with being chased by angry kirin... A lot of stuff. I'm not mad. Cooking's my job, and I like doing it." He lifted a pan to another burner and brought a new one in. "Now, tell me how it went. Did you run into that jerk again?"

"Actually, it went better than expected," I replied. "He gave me a book on kirin lore instead of attacking again. Still not thrilled with me being an 'impure' kirin, but it's progress at least."

I nestled comfortably against Spike as he cooked, the scent of sizzling onions filling the air. "Gallus was with me too this time. Get this - I helped him tap into some fledgling fire magic! So now maybe I've got a partner to train elemental abilities with."

I grinned up at Spike, imagining his mentorly pride. "You should've seen Gallus preening when he managed little puffs of flame. Like a chick with his first feathers!"

Spike chuckled at the apt analogy, spikes glinting in the kitchen's glow. "Nice job nurturing that spark - gotta grow your gifts wisely." He added spices with a flourish. "So what'd that book say then? Some stuffy lore I bet."

I magicked it over from my bags, only to remember that I had given the book away. "Twinkle has it. Oh! Spike, you helped me. Wanna help Gallus? Now that he's broken through, he's ready to try more fire magic out, and you're the local expert."

"I was wondering if you'd ask." He nipped at my closer ear gently, grooming at it quietly a moment. "I'd be honored. Tell him to stop by and we'll hurl some fireballs around."

"He'll love that." When the grooming stopped, I flopped against him. "I'm going to try to relax now."

"You're not already?" He started adding ingredients to the new pan with fresh hisses and sizzles.

"You're missing all the parts, I'm not." I didn't go into more details, just relaxing with closed eyes. "Um, but... just to get out there, I appreciate this. You're awesome."

"Thanks." Things grew quiet, save the sound of his little whistles and the clink and clank of cooking as he went on cheerfully.

"Oh, you could help him learn some fire, like you did me." I nodded at my own thought.

Spike chuckled, spikes glinting in the firelight. "Happy to pass some pyro tricks to another student itching to jump in! Gallus'll eat up the razzle-dazzle for sure."

He kept up a rhythmic chopping, vegetables scattering neatly into the sizzling pan. "And you just park yourself here awhile, buddy. No running off into looming battles today, doctor's orders!"

I grinned at the playful prohibition, muscles unwinding. The scents of simmering spices joined the chopping's steady beats, kitchen symphonies soothing away stress. Questions still burned but drowned for now in humble domesticity's simple comforts. I nestled closer, tension fleeting. "Maybe just a short nap wouldn't hurt. You'll rouse me for dinner though, right?"

"You know it!" Spike shot me a wink over the vegetables. "Can't have you missing my five alarm chili!"

That worried me. "I can handle all the sour you have, but hot I have limits on... I'll try my best."

"All I ask." He didn't bother me, and I did fade away, only waking when he put me in a chair. Twilight and Twinkle were already there.

Twilight had her eyes on me. "What's this I hear about Gallus learning fire magic?"

I jumped in surprise. "Oh! He wanted to learn fire, so I helped him get into it, and he did. Nothing but that, but he's the one that jumped into it so eagerly."

Twilight tapped at the table. "First steps... If he stops there, charming and harmless. If he fully embraces it, this will be historic... What did Starlight get up to? She was just supposed to be a sub teacher!"

Spike began serving bowls of exceptionally spicy smelling chilli. "It's best when it's hot!"

"Oh, yeah - Starlight was subbing and offered bonus points if anyone accessed new elemental talents..." I explained through a wide yawn. "So Gallus asked me to help stir up some sparks. Just baby steps so far!"

I smiled sheepishly their way. "Guess word spreads quick about fireworks, huh?"

Spike slid a generously brimming bowl my way, steam fragrant with spices rising. "Careful now, hot stuff coming through!"

I eyed the brooding crimson contents warily. "Woah...you weren't kidding on heat levels!" Tentatively I lifted a spoonful, bracing for fiery impacts. "Hope becoming a kirin boosted my tolerance..."

The first taste exploded gleefully across my tongue, rich flavors dancing. My eyes widened in surprise. "Oh wow, it's got kick but you can still taste the textures!" I swiftly scooped up more beaming Spike's way. "You're a genius chef, you know that?"

Twilight just looked amused, levitating the first aid kit nearby in case of spontaneous novella combustions. "Well, as long as everycreature minds safety measures we'll sort things out." She took delicate nibbles unruffled by the rising spices. "Do pass Gallus my compliments though - two elements is remarkable!"

She inclined her head. "Keep in mind, learning a few tricks of a new element is easy enough. I know a few elements myself." She brought up a hoof, water swirling around it briefly. "But I can't claim mastery over them. We'll see how far Gallus goes."

Twinkle curled on herself and pulled out the book with her magic. "The kirin book is fascinating! There's a whole ritual for 'sudden kirin'." She pointed at me. "That's you. First, fire with fire. You experienced that. If that doesn't work, fight fire with water. Hot, then cold, just like their names." She tapped her chin. "Though their names are usually the other way around."

Twilight tried some chilli herself, only for her face to go a bright red, tears leaking from her eyes as she danced in her seat. "Hot! Hot!" She chugged down some water with a relieved sigh. "Spike... Not all of us are dragons..."

Spike inclined his head at me. "He handled it."

Twinkle laughed at that. "He's a kirin! Fire element, a little heat won't bother him."

I had resistance to cooked heat too? I counted that as a score, even as I took another spoonful, enjoying the heat that brought no pain to my mouth. "Is this what it's like, for the people out there that just... like heat?"

Twilight shook her head quickly. "No, it still hurts them, but they like it anyway. You're enjoying food in a different way."

I grinned, savoring another spicy mouthful. "True, kirin fireproofing is handy avoiding pain here - I'm just tasting the zing!"

Twilight fanned herself desperately, muzzle still scarlet from incendiary impacts beyond tolerances. I magicked her bowl aside with concern. "Maybe break time on that?"

Spike just looked inordinately pleased by the reactions to his handiwork, puffing tiny flames happily. "All part of the fun! Nice seeing if people can handle the sizzle." He leaned my way conspiratorially. "But yeah, you're catching a legit fire-breather's buzz from those peppers now probably."

I blinked thoughtfully through the pleasantly tingling haze of delicious demolition dancing on my tongue. So these were faint hints of sensations sought by those embracing blistering treats? What blazes beyond braved the boldest foodies testing limits for that elusive perfect burn?

But Twilight's visible relief as water soothed cooked tissues reminded me to respect differences in our frames now. "Well I better rein it in - don't wanna accidentally torch taste buds we can't repair later right?" I raised my refilled glass her way smiling ruefully. "Here's to enjoying spice life safely!"

Spike reached across the table to swat at me. "You're a flamie, like me. Eat up. We could bury ourselves in the stuff without hurting ourself. Watching a not-flammie get scorched isn't a good measure of it."

Oh, well... I took up another spoon to savor those flavors. "Mmm...."

"Yeah, exactly." Spike looked over to Twinkle. "How are you holding up? You've been quiet about it."

Twinkle took a bite of hers and considered it a moment. "New, but not bad." She took another bite, unbothered by any heat in it.

Twilight peered skeptically. "How are you...?"

"I was a doll, then I was a pony." She took a fresh bite. "I was made differently. It's not bothering me that much." Her spoon fell out of her magic suddenly. "Oh."

Twilight looked smugly pleased. "Just caught up to you, did it?"

But Twinkle firmed her jaw, clearly stubbornness warring with the urge to pant. She lifted the spoon again for another defiant bite, eyes watering but resolute. We kept quiet - no interfering in this battle of wills waged one searing spoonful at a time!

I grabbed a glass of water and slid it closer to Twinkle in a quiet offering of succor.

She took another bite with a forced 'Mmm' of false delight. I let her struggle, actually enjoying my next bite. Being resistant to chemical heat was kinda great. "Good job, Spike. But, I'd vote, you ease up a bit. We have two ponies we could singe with the flames turned up that high."

Spike snickered softly. "What? I just wanted to see how it'd turn out, at least once..."

Twinkle made a visible effort to relax her rigid pose, tension unwinding a hair at my gently teasing tone free from judgments. With a shaky exhale, Twinkle managed a faint grin my way before sipping the cool water gratefully.

"We still respect your moxie, no sweat." I raised my refilled glass towards persistent Twinkle before glancing Spike's amused way. "But yeah, maybe go easier on non-dragons next round!"

He rolled his eyes in mock annoyance but obligingly toned down the lava levels on the backup pot. And the rest of dinner proceeded pleasantly enough for all diners' tolerance levels present at our humble table built on bonds beyond mere biology.

Twinkle cleared her throat. "As I was saying! Expect cool. Cool is an older kirin to speak gentle and kindly to the unexpected kirin and try to talk sense into them."

I blinked at that. "Couldn't they do that the other way around!?"

Author's Note

The kirin aren't done, but who cares, chili time.

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19 - Hot and Cold

Words of the day completed, email checked, and teeth brushed, I was ready to greet the day. I had breakfast, chatted idly a moment, then headed off to school.

Starlight was waiting patiently. She spotted me, face brightening. "There you are." She trotted towards me. "The pony of the hour. Have a moment?"

I glanced at the hanging clock there in the courtyard. "I'm early, so yeah. What's up?"

Starlight turned to lead the way inside. "I heard you're rushing to get Gallus his credit. I'll be sure you get some points. It's a team effort, and what kind of friendship school would we be if we ignored that?" She laughed as she arrived at her office, waving inside. "But this isn't about that. Somecreature's come to visit you, specifically."

I perked an ear, approaching hesitantly. "Someone good?"

"I think so." She rubbed at her collar. "Better than the last."

I went inside to see a kirin seated on the other chair in the room. Starlight swiftly took her usual seat. "This is Dusk Spark. Dusk Spark, David."

Dusk was a female kirin, a subtle difference. She was older, in her 50s? "Hello, David. I was hoping you could spare a few moments for me." As angry as the first kirin had been, she was calm and welcoming. Fire and cold, indeed. "You've done a wonderful thing."

There wasn't another seat, and I didn't feel like sitting, so I just stood there. "Nice to meet you, Dusk. What did I do?"

"You." Dusk pointed at me. "Found the warmth and connection of fire. Most ponies don't, unless they are born a kirin. But you were not scared of it. You grasped it between your hooves and made it your own. Quite lovely..."

I shifted awkwardly under Dusk Spark's praise, scuffing a hoof self-consciously as she described my fiery transformation so poetically. Given recent attacks over impure elemental lineages, accolades felt unusual from a visiting kirin.

"I uh, kinda stumbled into things more than courageously embracing fire..." I admitted to her lyrical assessment. My tail curled anxiously recalling volatile accusations only soothed by a gifted book on kirin customs days before.

But Dusk's serene features simply crinkled warmer still at my halting honesty. "Dear child, destiny's embrace selects those already walking the threshold however uncertainly." Her horn glimmered scattering motes resembling fireflies seeking sustenance drawn by instinct alone.

"Yours became flame, but fate's call manifested nonetheless." She leaned forward, dark eyes twin hearthfires in her dusky face. "Take pride in following your nature thus, however great the trials still ahead." Gentle certainty suffused her words despite my lingering doubts.

I stood a little taller as confidence kindled sparking fresh quirks of nascent power feeling her faith's warmth wrapping protectively. Teacher Starlight watched approvingly this unexpected change of temperature regarding my controversial origins.

Starlight cleared her throat. "Ma'am. As my student, I would like David to not be attacked in the future. Can I get a gaurentee of that?"

Dusk touched her cloven hooves together. "He has passed the first test. His flame is not so frail that the first gust of wind would blow it out. However..." She gestured, for me to come closer? "There remains a problem. Our little spark remains... troubled. Little one, why do you cling so tenaciously to that other element?"

I tensed. There it was. "Because I like magic."

"All magic?"

"All magic," I echoed. "Every bit... Earth is just one element, but I know things beyond that."

Her eyes glimmered. "Beyond that? Curious little flame, I would love to know more..."

I tensed as Dusk Spark's friendly facade cracked subtly, old tensions reemerging as she pressed about my "impure" magical pursuits. Teacher Starlight stirred, ready to intervene if this visitor reneged on civility.

But I stood firm meeting Dusk's suddenly razor-sharp gaze unflinching. "The magic you call impure comes from my people beyond this world." I lifted my head proudly though nerves jangled within. "It lets reach to parts of what I used to be."

Her eyes widened slightly in surprise but I pressed on emboldened. "Earth, Fire, and Human needs sustain me in exile. Rejecting any would maim me as surely as losing a limb." My voice softened pleadingly. "Please, I respect your ways and mean no insult retaining mine."

I bowed respectfully but remained resolute before regal Dusk arising from that gesture. "There is space enough if we walk together, not warring over differences."

The clock's ticks punctuated the heavy silence enveloping my appeal. But Teacher Starlight and I stood united amidst uncertainty, committed to elevating discourse from demands towards dignity affirming all.

The kirin messenger weighed my words thoughtfully before inclining her graceful neck slightly in concession. "Your unique path thus laid cannot conform to traditional trails, this is truth..."

She met my anxious eyes directly. "Reverence endures the right of all souls to seek sustenance by customs calling them most clearly across strange seas." Her flickering smile returned wan but concilatory. "Let flames fuse someday, perhaps..."

Dusk took a slow breath. "Know this, if you turn me away, then it is done."

I blink. "What is done?"

Dusk pointed at me. "You will not be a true kirin. You will not be welcome among us as one of us. Are you alright with that? We are a tight clan. As one of us, you would be cared for."

My face somehow became even blanker. "Wouldn't be the first time. I didn't fit into the clans of my home. Why should I here? I have a family, which is a step up. I will stay with them."

"I hear such pain." She tapped her finger-hooves together gently. "Such pain... You erupted into flame in defiance, and in defiance, you will burn..."

Starlight sat up in her seat. "David should get to class."

My ears pinned back as Dusk Spark's poetic pronouncements took a melancholier turn. This kirin elder clearly sensed deeper hurts beneath my defiant embrace of 'impure' magic born more from necessity than noble ambition.

Teacher Starlight's reminder tugged me gratefully back from cold memories threatening my fragile composure before classes even started. I dipped my head respectfully towards Dusk regretfully. "Apologies, but I should get to class..."

Dusk studied me with an inscrutable gaze before sighing softly. "Another time then." She stood gracefully nodding to Starlight. "I appreciate the audience and mean no disruption to scholarship's schedule."

As she turned to depart, Dusk half glanced my way with a flickering smile. "Flickering wicks oft gutter lacking proper fuel and care..." A tiny flame manifested upon her elegant horn momentarily as emphasis. "Should you desire understanding your new fires beyond mere defiance, I remain open to further civil discussions, little spark."

And with that intriguing invitation suspended amidst swirling smoke trails, my polar kirin caller excused herself leaving behind roiling thoughts that promised to distract throughout morning lessons at the very least.

I shook my head at where she had been. "Not sure it'd be smart to take that..."

Starlight shrugged. "I won't tell you to, or not to. That's your decision. I'm just trying to be a good counselor." She hopped down and circled the desk to give a gentle hug. "Go on to class. The faculty is behind you, so there's one clan you did well with."

I smiled at that, stepping back. "Thanks." I fled off and away. The class that day was friendship signs through the clans of ponies and known creatures. That sounded far more fun than dealing with kirin.

I slid into an open desk just as the lecture was beginning on unique friendship gestures across various species. Exploring positive emotional expressions suited my jittery mood way better than brooding over heavy debates on destiny and magic's proper forms!

My eyes lit up spotting familiar faces amidst the scattered students as Professor Fluttershy gently recounted notable bonding rituals. Smolder slouched arrogantly near the back clearly present only under administrative protest. But she smirked in what passed for social acknowledgment my way.

Yona waved enthusiastically nearby before Silverstream bubbled over with excitement spotting me. Fluttershy gently guided the gregarious hippogriff's chatter back towards educational channels with practiced finesse.

Ocellus offered a tiny smile sensing my gaze as she scribbled notes studiously. I settled in feeling tension ease surrounded by these eccentric but earnest companions all fumbling together towards connection using shared steps or wholly invented ones!

As lonely as I had been, I seemed to have a family in that world, more than one, if one counted. I smiled, thinking about them all. I had more and increasing friends... It could be so much worse.

"Even critters have friendship signals." Fluttershy pointed to a squirrel, then a rabbit picture posted on the board. "They can be far more difficult to notice for a creature." She pointed at all of us. "But, if you pay attention and take the time, you can hear them."

That Fluttershy insisted animals could be talked to hardly felt out of character for her. I raised a hoof. "All animals have a few universal words."

Fluttershy perked at that. "Oh? How lovely. Would you share what words you've learned?"

So I went over the universals. I am scared. I am angry. I am curious. You don't scare me. How to try to not trigger some of those and invite others. Be calm, be slow, and be quiet...

Fluttershy clapped with joy. "You've dealt with critters before, haven't you?"

I smiled at that. "Not in any professional way. I just like them, so I don't want to scare them, and I want them to feel safe enough to come closer."

A pleased murmur rippled through classmates as I outlined gentle gestures for bridging divides between species. Even aloof Smolder managed an approving toothy grin my way at the tips for not triggering defensive aggression.

Professor Fluttershy beamed, clearly delighted to discover a kindred spirit who relished gently coaxing connections across Communication's trickier frontiers. "Oh I simply must introduce you to some of my shyer forest friends soon!" she gushed, wings fluttering animatedly.

"Your empathy and patience would help tremendously building trust with feral populations we're nurturing self-sufficiency for prior to releasing." Noticing puzzlement she quickly clarified: "Oh nothing fancy dear, simply supplementing the occasional meal while they recover from injuries and such out in my cottage."

Murmurs rippled regarding Fluttershy's absentminded revelation of informal animal rehabilitation initiatives many had never considered. But her sunny smile soothed skepticism as she described healing wings and psyches through therapeutic soundscapes and nutritional support.

As the lecture continued exploring unique courtship dances and scent exchanges, I felt heartened realizing even beyond ponies connection crossed unimagined species lines. If frightened foxes could befriend fluttering pegasus through her compassionate treatment, perhaps there was hope still for this peculiar kirin to someday reconcile external demands with his own identity.

Besides, a chance to pet a wild critter? I was alright with that... I nodded with a decision. I'd visit her, later.

With the bell, the class ended with cheers and smiles, most happy with what they had learned. I turned to leave to find Yona in my way. "Hey, Yona. What's up?"

Yona nodded at me. "Hear you get into fight. Why not call Yona? She smash." She stomped one hoof on the ground, making it shake. "You okay?"

"It's okay!" I held up my hooves quickly. "No fighting going on. That's over."

"Good." She leaned in at me, looming tall. "Hear they don't like earth. Too bad! Earth not ask opinion of stupid fire." She rolled her eyes with a huff. "They bother again, Yona show them!"

That reminded me. "I doubt it... but are you going for Starlight's extra credit?"

"What? Why?" She looked legit baffled. "Yaks do earth. Not need other element." She reached out to give heavy pattings on my head. "You strange one, do earth and fire? Not yak, do, um... Kirin things? No, Kirin mad. Do David things." She nodded, confident in her logic.

Author's Note

Class time! Nice class time, I vote.

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20 - Roll for Initiative

"Panicking is a free action," I sang out to nobody, at least nobody in the world I existed in. "Ah, alright, so give me a will save for no reason at all." I could see their rolls and hear their cries. Laughs echoed for my ears alone. "Nice roll. Do you open that door?"

I drew my hooves back when the game ended, to realize Twinkle was staring at me, on the other side of my room. "Woah, hey."

"Hey." Twinkle hopped to her hooves. "You sounded animated."

"I was running a game. People pay for me to be animated and adventurous." I struck a pose, or tried. "Am I bothering?"

"Me? No. Not even the first time." She pointed at me. "I was there, before, watching you do this before I knew myself, remember?" She hopped up onto the bed and sat next to me. "This has been humbling."

"My running my games?"

"No." She flopped against me. "Watching my other self. She's... so much smarter, I hate to admit. She feels more mature, and knows more, and... Compared to her, I feel like an infant, even if I am aware I'm smarter than most other ponies I encounter."

I blinked, surprised Twinkle was wrestling confidence issues I hadn't expected. Her little form slumped against me as she nestled into my warmth.

Gently, I lifted her chin. "Hey, someone else shining doesn't dim your light." I stroked her shoulder. "Don't sweat it. You'll grow into your gifts in time."

Twinkle managed a half-grin. "I know...just hard realizing how far behind I seem."

I pondered her uncertainty before smiling inspiration struck. "You're already examining at least one magic in a way she isn't."

She perked up a bit and I went on: "You're looking at things from a different perspective." I floated the keyboard away and grabbed her, pulling her up into my 'lap' for a hug. "Also, you're cute, if that helps."

"It does, actually." She flopped there to her belly. "Also, you've admitted a lot today."

"I did?"

"You did." She peeked over her shoulder. "You don't see me as a mewling foal anymore, which is good. I'm not."

I turned an ear back and slipped to my hooves, floating her beside me. "I'm going to head outside. Coming with, or not?"

"With." She flapped her wings, getting onto my scaled back. "Where are we going?"

"I want to check on Gallus." I trotted from the library with spirit. "Let's see how his fire's coming along."

Twinkle settled between my shoulders, tiny hooves clinging tightly to avoid bouncing off as I trotted eagerly towards our destination. I felt her tension unwind gradually as my steady gait and the sunshine soothed away her dour mood from earlier.

Soon enough, raucous noises identified the clearing where I'd led fledgling pyro Griffon Gallus days before. Twinkle peered round curiously as we entered the impromptu training ground now scarred by tiny craters amidst scorched grass and blasted tree limbs.

In the center loomed Spike directing the chaos, while an airborne Gallus lobbed sizzling projectiles his way with fierce glee. The adult dragon deflected bolts almost lazily, scales untouched despite blistering impacts exploding tree trunks nearby. His casual corrections aimed wild shots harmlessly skywards when lethal accuracy threatened surroundings.

I blinked stunned by the razor's edge balance between unleashed power and mindful restraint the playful lesson somehow maintained. Twinkle oohed admiring fiery fanfares lighting the arena, innocent delight belying lethal potential. Yet oddly I sensed form and focus emerging slowly through the mentor's patient discipline elevating rawness into skill.

"You two having fun over there?" I called out teasingly amidst the impromptu artillery duel. Twinkle squeaked, ducking instinctively as an errant bolt sizzled past and I settled beside amused Spike.

Spike waved for Gallus to come down and join us. "He's doing great. A natural! I didn't expect a griffon to take to fire like that, if we're being honest."

"That's on you." Gallus landed before us with a smokey huff. "Don't give us a chance and we can't show you what's up. David did, and now I got this." He threw his hands wide, one crackling with electricity, the other burning with new flames. "And I'm loving it. Fire, Air. Both me." He slapped his cheeks with the two, the energy evaporating as he made contact. "That still tingles."

Twinkle slid down to the ground. "You are doing quite well. I'll be honest... I've only recently mastered force magics. Unicorn magic, if we're being blunt." She colored faintly at that. "I can't have you two showing me up..." She spread her wings. "In this world, I should have easy access to Air and Earth, correct?"

I gave her shoulder an encouraging nudge with my nose. "Getting a late start handling two whole elements would overwhelm anycreature. Be proud of tackling one sphere solidly before stretching further!" Nearby Gallus nodded agreement, not usually sympathetic.

Spike waved airily. "Yeah, take your time - princess pony there started on basic telekinesis same as the rest of the unicorns." He grinned Twilight's way. "Took her weeks getting apples to even wiggle at first!"

Twinkle flushed slightly but smiled back bolstered by our support. "Ha, well I did bypass wobbly fruits at least." Her tiny laugh softened retrospective embarrassment at normal limitations. "But you're both right - one step at a time it is."

She ruffled feathers regaining poise. "No reason I can't start sensing earth currents and air flows while improving force skills. Eventually the elements should converge intuitively."

"Maybe we all support each other learning somehow?" I ventured brightly. "Like a study team of sorts?"

Twinkle tapped her chin. "The rest of you would be working on fire magic. I'm not learning fire magic, not yet. Wind and Earth, remember? Maybe some force in there."

Gallus shrugged. "Magic is magic. Practice more and worry about labeling it less. Are we studying it, or actually getting good at it?"

Spike laughed lightly at that. "My avian student has a point." He nipped at Gallus, almost knocking him over with sheer bulk. "He often does, if you can get past the put downs."

"Hey!" Gallus threw a fireball at Spike, but it washed over him harmlessly, as if a dragon could be burned. "I always have a point!"

"About that." I sat and raised a hoof at Gallus. "How is your fire going? What I saw looked pretty impressive. Is it natural now? More than little puffs, at least."

"Way more." He clapped his hands, tail lashing with a grin on his face. "So much more. Thanks for hooking me up with Spike. He has a big mouth, which is good for teaching, I guess."

"Think you can show us some of what you've picked up then?" I waved a cloven hoof at some nearby targets. "I know Spike's already impressed but it'll inspire the rest of us!"

Gallus ruffled feathers nonchalantly but I spotted a fierce grin tugging beak tips. "Eh, guess I got a trick or two now worth seeing..." Casually he launched himself skyward, wings beating strongly.

Circling twice building anticipation he suddenly thrust both forelimbs outward unleashing twin jets of writhing flame spearing battered logs. The radiant torrents twisted in elaborate arabesques guided by clenched talons like myriad fiery serpents obeying his whims.

With a final flourish he dispelled the crackling columns then flashed down snatching the torched timber and casually crushed flaming fragments within ruthless grip. Droplets of molten wood pattered down as he flung the remains aside and landed arms theatrically wide soaking up our stunned applause!

"Hah, just a sample!" He nodded smugly my gaping way. "Bet we can get you breathing multi-colored fireworks someday!" Spike just smoldered quietly, mentor's pride plain across noble features seeing eager potential unleashed responsibly.

I clapped softly. "Very nice. Hm... But maybe there isn't a griffon fire?"

Gallus inclined his head. "Griffon fire? I'm a griffon. I just did fire. What more do you want?"

Twinkle seemed to pick up on it. "He means an evolution. A step. A pony with fire." She waved at me. "A kirin. A griffon with fire..." She waved at Gallus. "Still a griffon?"

"Huh." He squinted at me. "Well, what'd you do? Is there a next step I didn't do yet?"

"Sitting this one out." Spike crossed his arms, sitting up tall. "Dragons don't have a next step. We're already perfect, thanks."

I snorted at that show of self-pride. "You keep being perfect... Remember when I was going over feeling fire? I was feeling out my connection to it, and how deep that connection ran. Think about all the ways fire has changed not just your life, but helped the people who made you, and made them, and made them. Go back as far as you go. You were always fire. Just find that, and grab it tight."

Gallus descended from storm-dancers, didn't he? Maybe answers lay in ancestral memories, not external forms. "Your kinship with winds and lightning goes deeper than mine, friend." I let tiny flames flicker demonstrate. "If transformation awaits, that fire comes from within."

I suggested gently: "Try relaxing and imagining fierce skies - instincts could guide you deeper."

"Fierce skies..." He closed his eyes. "If anycreature else suggested this, I'd already have punched them. Fierce skies..."

But he did imagine them. I can tell because of what happened next. Densely fired skies, lightning dancing, the heat unbearable, until it was, or so I was told later. With a keening bird-like howl, Gallus combusted. All of him, on fire, in an instant.

Spike jumped back with a heavy thud. "Uh, that supposed to happen, or should I be freaking out?"

Twinkle inclined her head at Gallus. "That is either intentional, or we have to explain why Gallus expired. I will hope it is the first."

Assuming the best, I clapped Gallus on. "Fierce skies. Hold it!"

"Fiercest," he growled out, fingers clenched tight. "I am the fierce sky." He threw his arms out, fire billowing. Some of it washed over me, but, like Spike, that wasn't hurting me. His arms were brilliantly flame, feathers of those fires draping down.

Gallus was no griffon. He was a phoenix, the fire controlling itself slowly as Gallus seemed to gather himself. "I am... the fire. I am... the fierce sky." He flicked his fingers, sending fire splattering about. "Woah, this feels... good." He laughed with joy. "Why didn't you show me this before?! Wait 'till the teachers get a load of this!"

We shielded ourselves instinctively as fiery shockwaves blasted the clearing, kindling trees instantly. But fascination doused caution beholding fiercely flaring pinions framing Gallus amidst billowing flames!

Gleeful laughter echoed between detonations as testing talons directed devastation, marveling at responsive conflagrations engulfing all touched. Spike rumbled approval - dragons never spurned beautiful carnage after all!

But I winced thinking how Rainbow Dash might react finding her favorite napping trees ignited so exuberantly. "Maybe tone down the indiscriminate immolations while you adjust, hotshot?" I waved at the buildings barely visible awaiting errant embers. "Last thing we need is angry townsfolk, and they'd have a good reason to be pissed."

My feeble joke penetrated his entranced glee somewhat. Gallus blinked, thoughts clearly racing wildly behind the fierce eyes. "Ha, right...don't wanna scare the plebes I guess." He smirked seeing us unharmed still. "But you like the dramatic entrance yeah?"

I chuckled ruefully surveying fresh scorches surrounding the casually hovering phenix. "Kinda hard to ignore nearly getting roasted even fireproof! But hey, guess the fierce skies came through big time for you huh?"

Gallus pumped still-wreathed fists eagerly. "You know it! This power's no joke - I better grab some flight practi--"

Abruptly the wreathing flames engulfing his form sputtered out leaving only a very startled (and very feather-less!) griffon yelping in dismay before crashing rudely down amongst cinders. We rushed over hearing inventive cursing underneath charred logs...

I found Gallus, knocked dizzy, but looking alright other than that. "Phoenix is not like dragon, or kirin... You're going to have to get used to that." I waved at the fires. "Spike, can you put those out?"

"Oh, on it." He gathered a great heaping of dirt and took flight to bomb the fires out.

We had a new creature to greet, even if we already knew his name.

Author's Note

Good job, Gallus. Pity phoenixes don't stay in active forever. Maybe with practice? Still, fire griffon!

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21 - Failed Management Rolls

I pressed my hooves to the Earth keyboard. I caught up on the words of the day and moved on to my email. Oh.

Oh.

I drew my hooves back. "Oh... damn it..."

Twinkle was watching me. "Something wrong?"

"Several things... Our old home is lost."

"I though it already was." She inclined her head. "Did something happen?"

"It's still there." I put the keyboard down, or meant to. It fell the last few inches, and I lacked the will to pick it up. "You're kinda useless..."

I flopped to the bed. "On the positive, I can write off the other world entirely now."

Twinkle landed on my prone form. "What happened? Please tell me."

"It's lost. The house, lost. I didn't keep on top of it, balancing work, this life, and that... I messed up. It's... my fault."

Twinkle pawed gently at me. "You're a world away! Most ponies would have given up on it a long time ago..."

"I tried, and failed." I grunted softly, then sighed. "Oh well... Oh dang well..."

Twinkle nudged at me with a hoof. "You sound sad, but you don't. I'm not sure which you are right now... Please tell me."

I smiled at that. "Thank you for caring." I grabbed her and hugged. "I'm sad. I spent a lot of time trying to do that, for people I felt deserved it. I messed up, that makes me sad..."

I let out a soft sigh, barely holding Twinkle. "And now it's over... I'll close up shop, I guess." I rolled upright. "It's the right thing to do."

Twinkle slid to the bed, watching me. "What do you have left to do?"

"Stop my games so people aren't changed for them." I willed the keyboard up to rest in front of me. "Close my patreons. Send my emails off to my niece so she can take the money and do whatever she wants... Finish it all, and finally admit I'm dead."

"You're not dead." She flared her wings at that last word. "I can see you quite alive."

"Not there. There, I am dead. I was just being a friendly ghost." I got to doing what I said, closing up shop on my former life. "I'll miss it, but that was a messed up world."

I methodically closed accounts and subscriptions associated with my old existence on that other Earth left behind unexpectedly. Despite the magical wonder surrounding us here, melancholy still haunted my motions surrendering those lingering threads finally.

Twinkle fidgeted anxiously clearly wanting to interject comfort but respecting the bitter solemnity of this goodbye. "Does...does everycreature there think you died somehow?" she finally ventured hesitantly into the brooding silence. "Seems so sudden losing contact..."

I simply nodded, throat tightening fighting back pointless tears over funerals held ages past beyond reach. Maybe they'd even held empty memorials after my inexplicable disappearance.

With a decisive tap I sent one last email to my uncomprehending kin - business concluded on one side.

I turned slowly from the instrument of old sorrows and met Twinkle's compassionate gaze. Wordlessly she wrapped me in a fierce hug joined soon by Spike and Twilight drawn somehow to wound's raw ache as if by kindred resonance sounding struggles of their own.

Things were quiet, though part of me wondered if Twilight or Spike had any idea what was going on. "I'll be locked up in here a lot less often."

Twilight drew back. "I'm happy to hear that, but you seem... What happened?" She looked to Twinkle, who looked to me.

I chuckled at the silent exchange. "My old life finally ended... It had to, we were just waiting for it. It's over. That's it..." I floated the keyboard against twilight. "I won't need this."

Twilight pushed it back. "Hold onto it, just in case." She shrugged. "Besides, what will I do with a keyboard connected to your world? Now... Know this--"

Spike cut in suddenly, "We care about you. If you wanna talk, just let any of us know. We're a family."

"Yeah!" Twinkle pumped an arm with a nod. "Um, not a blood family, but just as good..."

I managed a shaky smile as three ponies clustered around me. simply sat, letting tears fall unashamed by sorrow or strangeness. I didn't cry that often, but they came then. I felt somehow consoled that they did come then.

I took a soft breath and hopped to the ground, shaking out. "Now! Twilight." I turned to her. "What happened to Gallus? Is he alright?"

"Hm? Oh!" She clapped her hooves firmly together. "Yes. His feathers are recovering at a remarkable rate. I have a theory... It is in the nature of phoenixes to burn up and regrow. I think he may already have entered that cycle. He burned, but he's recovering swiftly, possibly better than he started. He is a phoenix."

Spike blinked at that. "Wow, kinda cool really. Almost as cool as a dragon." He buffed his chest with a great claw. "Almost. Now, I'm going to get back to dinner before something burns." He squeezed out the door of my room and was lost to sight a moment later.

Twinkle leaned against me. "I volunteer to stay."

"You have more emotional maturity." Twilight slipped to her hooves. "I am not ready for this." She walked out without another word.

Twinkle rocked with amazement in her eyes. "Huh, I... I beat her at something!"

I reached to pat her gently. "I knew you would." We shared a little nuzzle, both smiling. "What do you want to do while Spike gets dinner together?"

Twinkle visibly swelled under my gentle praise and nuzzle, little wings finally flaring with pride. "Ha, well helping friends through bumps seems my special talent lately!" Her grin softened introspectively. "But honestly still figuring myself out mostly..."

She abruptly hopped up clapping hooves excitedly banishing gloom. "Oh I know - let's peek what the phoenix is up to before eats! They're all mythical rebirth and metamorphosis right?"

Twinkle looped playfully around me eyes aglow. "Maybe Gallus has wisdom helping certain conflicted ponies explore transformations too? We can ask subtle-like!" She winked hugely.

I laughed, heart lifting as her enthusiasm swept sorrows away. "Alright let's catch our combustive classmate while the roasting's optimal!" Spirits rose trotting alongside Twinkle bubbling over with restored cheer towards wherever adventure led next.

We hurried out nearly bowling over anxious Spike. "Woah hot plates coming through!" He hoisted startling stacks of platters purposefully past. "Unless you're suddenly disinterested in cheesy crispy potato perfection?" One skeptical reptilian brow quirked sharply awaiting our decision.

Twinkle started drooling audibly. Priorities promptly shifted smelling such aromatic ambrosia near hoof! "Sure, phoenixes are cool but hey, hatchlings eat free yeah?" She shrugged haplessly towards the burdened dragon. "C'mon, lets grab seats before the horde hits!" And we galloped off leaving explorations for later.

Only after dinner was safely stored in our bellies did we try emerging anew. We cut across the town into the school. It was a strange place at night, so quiet and still. Under Luna's...

"Is there a Luna?"

Twinkle perked at my question. "I haven't seen one?"

But she was just as much a stranger of that world as I was. "We should ask. I'm curious now."

That put aside, we went to the nurse's office, where one light still flickered. That light was just over Gallus' bed. He had his feathers back, though none of them were quite long enough, leaving him looking oddly cut. He sat up as we came in. "Oh, hey. Here to make fun of me?"

I smiled at that. "Even if that is a new look, no. Why would I? It's a mark of honor. You're a damn phoenix now."

"Damn right!" Gallus flashed a big smile, his worried gone in a flash. "You figure out what happened yet?"

"One theory." I raised a hoof. "You were reborn, phoenix style. So, how're you adjusting to rebirth redux there hotshot?"

Gallus ruffled emerging quill shafts absently clearly relishing new status not fretting setbacks. "Ha, it's wild! Burning up then shedding is funky but feels kinda cleansing getting that fresh start y'know?"

Noticing our blank stares he cackled waving it off. "Eh, probably not yet - it's my new normal!" Sobering slightly he tilted his head inquisitively my way. "So hey, figure out what triggers the whole ignite and rise from ashes deal? Wanna grab that switch soon as able!"

"We don't know for sure, but my guess is the fire nature you were looking into, you fell in, much like I did." I waved over my scales. "It hit me like a sack of bricks too, and I showed up looking odd the next day, so I'm with you."

Gallus just looked more excited though. "So I just gotta turn up the heat inside past safety levels and blammo!?" He started smoldering faintly around the edges just envisioning new experiments. "Hoo boy, we're gonna have fun figuring out my limits!"

Noticing smoke trails from smouldering sheets I cleared my throat hastily. "Er, maybe outside though so we don't torch the infirmary?"

Gallus glanced down and quickly snapped upright cackling agreement readily enough. "Right, right."

He fired a fingergun at me. "Still, thanks. We both get that extra credit, and I get to show off the moment I get out of here. That's, what, a triple win."

Twinkle blinked. "You only listed two things."

"Three: I get to use fire magic." He snapped his fingers, fire dancing at his fingertips. "All wins! Now... Real talk, but I'm going to have to go, and... I don't want to do it alone."

I hummed at that. "Go where?"

"Home." He crossed his arms. "I have to tell them what happened. I have to show them what happened. I'd be a real jerk of a griffon, even more than usual, if I didn't... Um... Long part short, come with me?" He waved at me. "Please?"

Surprise flickered through our circle at Gallus' unexpected invitation back towards a homeland barely referenced since classes started. For all his standoffish bluster, uncertainty clouded fierce eyes measuring reactions to an uncharacteristic request.

Twinkle broke the awkward pause first, wings buzzing earnestly. "Of course we'll come if you want Gallus! Cutie Mark Crusader Griffon Escorts, at your service!" She blinked. "...well once we make some badges anyway."

Her automatic cheer rallied spirits from stunned silence. Chuckling I bumped her shoulder gratefully for breaking tension sympathetically. "What this goof said - just say the word when discharge day dawns buddy."

Noticing lingering hesitancy I added gently: "I get not feeling ready facing folks changed unexplainably." Flickering motes manifested emphasizing my altered state. "Having some pals in your corner makes a difference if things get hairy."

Gallus shuffled talons but finally nodded brusque thanks clearly relieved by our ready agreement. "Yeah, just gotta show off these fiery tricks then duck quick before cousins start drama or Uncle gets lectury." He mimed tossing spectator griffons casually. "In and out before boiling over, ya get me?"

I nodded a bit stiffly. "You got it... You protected me when I needed it. I'll do my best to return the favor. Now... Do you want us to stay, or get out of here?"

He looked uncertain a moment. "We'll get plenty of time to get sick of each other on the trip. For now, go home. Don't worry Professor Twilight or anything. I'll let you know when I'm ready to head out."

Twinkle saluted sharply. "You got it! Um, just checking, but you're okay with both of us?"

Gallus shrugged. "I wasn't gonna ask you, but you invited yourself. If you really want to see Griffonstone, welcome aboard."

"Woo!" Twinkle did a little twirl in the air before landing on my back. "I'll be there! A fine time for some practice. Oh, you know air magic, don't you? You could help me."

Gallus smirked at that. "Fair trade. Get outta here." He waved us out of the room. There were things that wouldn't happen that night.

Author's Note

Our protagonist died. Oops.

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22 - A Poor Excuse

I woke up the next morning, started the brushing spell, and marched out into the main room of the library. "Twilight?"

Twilight perked from where she had been reading. "Yes?" She seemed to notice something. "You're looking determined, somehow. Why?"

Twinkle landed with folded wings. "Bet he's going to ask. I know what..."

Twilight hiked a brow. "Ask what? Go ahead. I'm right here." She put her book aside. "I doubt it'll be too bad."

I pointed to myself, then Twinkle. "We want to go with Gallus back to his home. Is that alright? I need to be excused from school, obviously... I assume Gallus is already asking for himself."

Twilight blinked. "Oh, well... I'm just a teacher, not an administrator... Still, that shouldn't be a problem. May I ask why? That matters, and influences if you'll get a no or a yes."

Twinkle looked as surprised as I did. "You can't let us go?!"

Twilight tapped her smaller copy. "You can go whenever you want. You are not my student. I don't control another adult."

"Gallus became a phoenix griffon, wants to tell the others at home, and wants us with him when he does it." I considered a moment. "That's a friendship activity, right?"

"It is indeed." Twilight waved me over for a wing-hug. "Just tell them at the school and they should let you go, with credit even. Going to another country, to support a friend? Yes, plenty of credit." She leaned in. "But, you can practice while you do it, your magic, and your socialization skills. Get to know Gallus, and any other creatures you run into, and practice fire magic."

Twinkle waved a hoof wildly. "I already asked to practice air with him and he agreed. We're going to get so much done!" She danced in place, clip-clopping her hooves with excited giggles. "I can't wait!"

I smiled as Twinkle danced eagerly and Twilight calmly assessed our trip, clearly already surveying likely impacts spanning social opportunities, diplomatic goals, and magical skills to sharpen. I was just as eager to try all of those things.

But her wing-hug eased old insecurities about rejection. Perhaps less rigid realms awaited beyond Equestria's nurturing border? A good part of me doubted that. Ponyland was the friendship center, right?

I drew myself upright, snorting a little flame. "We'll make you proud spreading magic of friendship!" A tiny oath bound heart to cause and comrades beside me.

Twilight simply chuckled affectionately. "I know you will in your own way. But first ask the right pony!" She waved us off, already penning endorsement notes as we departed.

I was soon outside, with a Twinkle. "What's up?"

"This world is funny." She casually landed on my back as I walked towards school. "It's not quite right. Not bad, but not the Equestria I knew, or the one you knew either."

"No." I looked left and right at the smiling ponies going either way. "But not in a bad way. I like it." I flicked my long tail. "Racism aside, I like being a kirin too. It's a nice body. Way better than the old one in almost every way."

"Good to hear." Twinkle hugged the back of my neck. "Now let's get that permission."

"Are you allowed in there?" I was walking onto the campus, the noise of the other students falling on us. "You're not a student."

"Maybe I should be..." She didn't move, riding me along further into the school. "Let's get this done."

I chuckled, feeling Twinkle make herself comfortable at home astride me as we crossed the bustling campus. Students and faculty called cheerful greetings our way - whatever quirks set this Equestria apart, warmth was the default.

"Well they allow 'independent study' projects, so probably can bend visitor rules..." I replied thoughtfully. My little living backpack buzzed with excitement at that notion. I could feel plans percolating back there to legitimize her unscheduled visit.

I laughed aloud, imagining the faculty struggling to contain this miniature dynamo's exuberant curiosity. Not that I minded her there, riding me. It was nice to have a friend close at hoof.

We passed by Starlight's office, but she was a counselor. Wrong pony, I thought? Actually, I had no idea... I knocked gently on the door. "It's open," came from within, so I pressed inside.

There was Starlight behind her desk, watering her plant carefully. "David, good... Oh, and a friend?" She put her watering can down. "Welcome again. What brings you this way?" Her glowing horn closed the door behing me. "Are the kirin bothering you again?"

"Not today." I went to in front of her desk. "Gallus has advanced, like I did. He's--"

"A phoenix griffon, we were informed." She snorted softly into a chuckle. "He was in the nurse's office a little while, I remind. It was hard for us not to notice. And... I'm told he's going to Griffonstone."

Twinkle sat up. "About that! We want to go with him. I want to study air magic, and experience this world's Griffonstone."

"I'll help Gallus with fire magic, and I want to see Griffonstone too, and be there for Gallus. He sounded like he really wanted us." I considered that a moment. "I don't want to let him down."

"Precious." Starlight put her snout down on two supporting hooves. "I wish I could go with you. It sounds like such a little adventure! Fortunately for you, there is a train that goes there. I imagine Gallus was thinking of flying, but he has a ground-bound friend. First friendship lesson of the day."

I scuffed a hoof self-consciously understanding how tempting truancy called feeling trapped by stable systems however supportive. "Well, maybe you take a vacation week after we get back and do some adventuring too?" I offered hopefully.

Her sudden startled laugh warmed the quiet office. "Look at you cultivating compromise!" Starlight winked playfully Twinkle's way. "Your empathy coach here keeps such thoughtful company!"

Twinkle preened proudly from her perch as I flushed faint pleasure at minor peacemaking kudos. But administrator gears churned steadily through fanciful hypotheticals steering back on track.

"I'll help handle the paperwork so you all travel officially representing school interests abroad." Starlight tapped tidily organized documents. "With Ambassador Pinkie Pie overseeing the delegation, no bureaucrat would obstruct such prestigious friendship tourism!"

She met my anxious eyes warmly. "I know Griffonstone's reputation seems daunting, but hearts can change when shown alternate paths." Her gaze shimmered subtly emphasizing redemption's realities. "Just be your best selves through challenges ahead - often that's enough light illuminating better ways, however narrow the window."

I blinked. "Did you mention Pinkie Pie? She's coming?"

She rolled a hoof. "Of course. At least one faculty member's going with you, and she's rather good at what sounds like is required. You're good friends with her, are you not?"

I perked as if accused. "Y-yeah. Pinkie's great!" Visions of the bouncy earth pony came to mind. "Does Gallus know?"

Starlight waved that away. "Of course he does. I didn't just make that up. We decided that when he wanted to go. You're the new part, not him." She leaned to peer at Twinkle. "So, going to introduce me?"

I raised a hoof to point a cloven finger at Twinkle. "This is Twinkle. She came from my world."

"Hello, Twinkle." Starlight nodded, then pointed at herself. "I'm Starlight Glimmer, and you.... look like a miniature Professor Twilight Sparkle, and it's adorable."

I felt Twinkle swell proudly under Starlight's fawning over her diminutive doppelgänger appearance as introductions were exchanged. No doubt that consistent association with her prestigious progenitor gave confidence however wobbly her own newly functional wings still felt at times.

Her buzzing ascent brought us nearer eye level as Starlight continued administrative ministrations assembling traveling papers. "This Ambassador Pinkie Pie sounds super official! Is she ultra formal and fancy and stuff?" Twinkle mimed an exaggeratedly prim posture nose lifted loftily.

I bit back a bark of laughter at the absurd images evoked. "You've met Pinkie before. I imagine she'll be far more interested in foreign party planning..."

Starlight rolled her eyes in mock exasperation but couldn't hide smiling. "Well it's technically about promoting trans-species friendship bonds, but Pinkie definitely colors outside bureaucratic lines on the job." She neatly stacked approved documents. "Which is why she's perfect chaperoning your chaotic crew's antics away from my campus!"

I caught paperwork levitating my way in telekinetic grasp. "Touché!" Our laughter lit the cozy chamber. "I'll get out of your, uh, mane."

"Have a fun trip." She waved as we headed out.

"What'd you do?" There was Smolder, looking at me suspiciously just outside Starlight's office. "Why'd he ask you?"

"Huh?"

"Don't 'huh?' me. Why did Gallus ask just you?" She pushed off the wall she had been leaning against. "I thought we were tight!"

"It's not a contest," I weakly countered. "Pretty sure he wanted someone he could point at as an example of another advanced creature."

Smolder raised a finger, just for it to crook and fall. "Point... Point... I was already born at the top." She sways her tail with a cocky smile, watching me. "Can't go up from dragon, now can ya?!"

A thought came to me. "You have wings."

Smolder glanced back at her wings. "Sure do. Good wings. What brings them up?"

"All the other creatures with wings." I gesture at them. "Can use air magic. Why do dragons not use air magic?"

Smolder frowned at me. "You are full of thoughts that annoy me... But are also kinda on point. Why don't dragons use air magic?" She rocked forward and backwards. "You just gave me the best idea. Oh, the dragons back home are going to be soo jealous when I come back with that. I'll learn air magic. I'll learn it real good."

Twinkle sat up. "I'm practicing with Gallus."

"Show off." Smolder rolled her eyes. "I'll hit up Ocellus and Silversteam. They both know air magic enough to get me going. If I can't figure it out, I blame you in advance." She pointed at me directly, finger in front of my snout, which she tapped. "You love shoving that snoot into things, don'tcha."

I smiled gently. "Glad to help. Hope you're doing great at that by the time we get back. Um, anything else?"

"What? Oh. Dude, that's an awkward way to end a conversation." She waved us away. "Go on. 'Bye' is the more traditional way."

"Bye." I fled, cheeks colored. "Not graceful," I complained to myself. "Just socialize like a normal person."

"You aren't a normal creature." Twinkle hugged me from above. "And that's okay."

I sighed acknowledging Twinkle's gentle reminder even awkward exchanges moved me gradually towards normalized interactions. Smolder's teasing poked precisely spots still raw and reactive from harsher rebukes by fiery purists. Each clumsy misstep nonetheless carried connections forward however clumsy the dance still felt.

We emerged into sunlight alone but together. "Not normal suits us fine. But sometimes I wonder."

"Hey." Just across the bridge leading out of the school, another familiar face. Maud was approaching. "I heard you're going to Griffonstone."

I blinked at that. "I hadn't even told..." I aborted the question. "Pie magic is amazing."

"Sometimes." She came up to me, barely an inch away. "I want to go too. There are rocks there I'd like to see." Her voice was even and muted, like my own. "Do you mind if I accompany you?"

Twinkle peered at Maud suspiciously. "You heard from your sister, didn't you?"

"In part." Maud didn't look at Twinkle, just me. "May I?"

"S-sure..." Shoot, I had forgotten all the things that had been going on between Maud and me, but her presence had brought it all up to the surface. "Sorry, for being strange, before... Both ways..."

"I'm not normal." She inclined her head faintly. "And neither are you, or you." She pointed up at Twinkle. "May I?"

I chuckled at that persistence. "You're quite welcome along."

"Good." She turned away. "See you on the train." And she marched off, just like that.

Author's Note

Fill out the proper paperwork to begin the adventure.

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23 - Choo Choo

It was all handled. I was excused from school, and they all knew where I was going. I also had a pink companion. "This is going to be so fun." Pinkie bounced in place as she grinned at Maud, Gallus, and me in turn. "Are you ready for Griffonstone?!"

Gallus snorted softly. "Been there, but also no." He punched at my side lightly. "Thanks for coming. I didn't expect quite so much extra... But the schol insisted." He angled his head towards Pinkie. "How'd she get involved?" He turned his angle to Maud.

Maud shrugged. "I asked."

I laughed nervously. "She did, and I said yes. Mad?"

"Confused." He reached to poke the grey pony, only to get his finger batted aside easily. "Huh..."

The train slowed at the station with soft squealing breaks and the cooling chug of the engine. "That's us. Let's get along and we all get what we're going for." I waved a hoof at the opening doors as ponies came and went. "Everyone have their tickets?"

They all held up their tickets in mouth or fingers and we all headed up into the train to take our seats on the soft benches they had ready for us.

I chuckled as our motley delegation brandished tickets, mismatched yet united embarking upon unexpected odysseys beyond schoolyard gates. Gallus ruffled feathers brusquely but anticipation glinted behind nonchalance at his old stomping grounds revisited.

Meanwhile implacable Maud simply seated herself and peered out the window as landscapes rolled by, perhaps already compiling geological surveys from afar. Pinkie bounced between random passengers cheerily making new friends wherever she landed.

I settled contentedly across from Twinkle as the train picked up speed. "Well, ready to see how griffons school their fledglings?" I waved a spiraled hoof her way playfully. "Maybe you pick up some air tricks teaching the teacher over there!"

She giggled excitement lighting eager eyes that still saw boundless worlds awaiting exploration. "Here's hoping! Oooh maybe they use flight a lot creatively?" She mimed exaggerated wind sprints leaving me ducking and laughing. "Let's ask!"

And as the train's rhythmic roar lulled passengers towards naps or novels, our chatter carried on chasing colorful dreams where old barriers stood perhaps unlocked by new keys friendship's magic made mundane.

The conductor's call awoke me later - we'd arrived at last! Scrambling to the exit I saw spires of mythic Griffonstone awaiting under sullen skies completely clouded. This land's warlike past harbored hidden hurts history dismissed conveniently.

I shook my head, taking it all in. "Less run down than I remember, that's good."

"Than you remember?" Gallus peered at me oddly. "You've been here before?"

"He has not." Twinkle landed on my back, standing there easily. "But his world has stories like it, get it?"

"No." Gallus pointed ahead. "My old home's that way. That's where my adventure begins." He sighed at it. "David and Twinkle are coming with me. What are you two doing?" He was looking at the Pie sisters.

Pinkie blinked. "I'm with you, obviously! That's why I came here, duh! Keep you out of trouble and watch all the friendship you get up to." She leaned in, snuffing at Gallus. "What'd you think I came here for? I don't know anycreature around here's birthday, silly. Besides yours."

Maud pointed off. "I'm going prospecting." She walked off, statement given.

I stared after laconic Maud already marching determinedly towards craggy peaks. Chuckling, I waved a cloven hoof her way. "Happy prospecting! Don't start any gemstone avalanches if you can help it!"

Twinkle buzzed bemusedly, watching the dour spelunker depart heedless of bystanders. "She's sure focused huh? Think she'll actually find us later?"

I shrugged philosophically. "Maud works on stone's schedule - we'll meet when our paths cross and not before then."

Gallus just rolled his eyes skyward clearly discounting flighty details derailing his dramatic homecoming. "It's barely half a day's flight from central peaks to the bay if she cares. Now c'mon!"

He flourished showily towards imposing cliffs and ruined fortifications lurking beyond the lonely station as lowering clouds promised storms. "I got generations of griffon greatness to shock and awe!" Brazen confidence hid anxious tells - he needed supportive witnesses making this mythic metamorphosis public however it shook out.

So we strode alongside preening Phoenix towards an uncertain reception. But Pinkie pattered cheerily in our wake pausing only to inflate celebratory balloons somehow fitting the gloom. "Oooh I can't wait seeing their faces when magic multiplies!"

I hastened to Gallus' side. "Can you do it again?"

"Hm?"

"The phoenix, can you do it again, when you want?" I leaned in. "I'll be honest, I can't just go nirik whenever I want." I tried, but did little but allow a little flame to lick over my lips and nothing else. "So... no judgement, just checking... It'll be awkward--"

"--You think I don't know that?!" He threw a hand aside, almost hitting me with it. "I'm working on it! Cut a griffon a break." Huffing, he stormed ahead of us, stomping.

"You said no judgement." Twinkle hugged from above. "But that sounds like he doesn't have it under control yet anymore than you can do the nirik. Hm... Yours is... permanent and showy. His isn't. How is he going to show it off?"

Pinkie clapped once. "Obviously he just needs a spark to get started. Gallus!" She zoomed ahead and whispered wildly at him where I couldn't hear yet. "And that'll take care of it!" she finished as I did get close enough.

I tilted an ear curiously as Pinkie whispered rapidfire schemes towards flustered Gallus who finally flushed shaking feathers out irritably. "What're you two conspiring already?" I eyed them askance. "I know that look bodes chaotic explosions somehow."

Gallus just snorted smoke, embarrassment swiftly shoved aside under swaggering indifference. "Yeah, don't worry bout it - this big entrance needs my personal flare is all!" Sharp beak clicked subtly counting down fuse-length as Pinkie nodded vigorously barely containing premature explosions.

I hesitated asking further about suspiciously smoldering balloons winking subtly my way.

Luckily distraction surfaced quickly enough! "Um, Gallus? Who're all them watching us?" Twinkle peeked from behind my flickering plume pensively as shadowy figures lined the crumbling avenue slanting suspicious gazes our way.

Our brash companion froze ruffling feathers defensively before those stern sentinels.

Pinkie squeaked faintly deflating herself under intensifying scrutiny. I considered the group. "Do they... already know?"

"Maybe." Gallus crossed his arms. "But they really should just come out and say it."

One of those dark figures stepped forward. "Since you request... You." He leveled a sharp talon towards Gallus. "You have broken several laws. How do you plead?"

"Innocent until you tell me what the heck you mean by that?" Gallus shrugged emphatically. "Not sure what else you expected."

Pinkie stepped forward. "Excuse me! I'm their teacher." She gestured over the rest of us. "Minus that one." She nodded at Twinkle. "I need to be kinda involved before you go arresting any of them."

"You claim stewardship over this one?" They took a firm step forward, a sword sliding into view.

"Yep!" Pinkie had and displayed no fear.

She also proved to be poor at dodging as the griffon casually lassoed her neck with a big cuff. "You're under arrest then. You all are. Anything you--" He paused to caw loudly. "--say will be used against you, so shut up!"

I inclined my head, feeling dread ripple up through me. "Is this about the phoenix thing?"

"Ooo, using that." The griffon swatted me across the top of the head. "Shut up."

Sullen anger flared, and with it, flame. The nirik surged through my terror, overwhelming me in a roar of anger as my everything combusted into violent white-blue fire.

Ominous portents gripped me as hostile griffins encircled us. Their menacing steel matched frigid stares beneath iron authority.

Yet Gallus bristled defiantly before startled comrades. Even bold Pinkie wilted as overlords pronounced merciless judgment on us.

"We'll appeal your sentences to truer powers!" My voice rang out as I transcended old limitations.

I extended a flame towards shaken Gallus hoping he saw the way out, however late. The rest stood unscripted, but freedom flew now where once only gloomy submission reigned!

The heat washed over him, and consumed him. I had meant the barest touch, but he lit on fire as easily as a match. I had set my friend on fire. I gaped with outright horror, even my anger fizzling a moment, though I remained a nirik.

But he wasn't screaming, at least not in pain. He roared with the primal fury of fire itself as he threw out his hands. "Did you think I came to lie and boast?! I am a phoenix!"

The guardians of the law, ready to arrest a moment before, dropped to a knee, all of them, their heads bowed low. The one that had been in the front released Pinkie. "Apologies! We... We were defending your ancient pride, sir Phoenix. We would never allow a little pest to claim your might."

I stared dumbfounded as hostile griffins abruptly knelt heads bowed before fiery Gallus. Ancient prophecies perhaps foretold this rebirth under stars none bothered tracking anymore amidst apathy's dampening shroud?

My own special flames receded as I perceived threats extinguished by mystical transformations kindling awe instead of outrage. Gallus nodded almost casually though eyes shone feverish marveling his newfound status elevating beyond former outcasts.

Shame stirred remembering impulsive immolations nearly interrupted epic awakenings by lashing out rashly. But maybe things had worked just the way they needed to.

I gently helped startled Pinkie to her hooves as celebrations swiftly overtook would-be executions. "Who knew your field trip would feature mythic metamorphoses eh?" I murmured nodding Gallus' astonished way.

She blinked twice then giggled bubbling over anew. "It's a sign this is an extra super special diplomatic mission!" Pulling party supplies from nowhere, she advanced on the former guards now bowing obediently awaiting the reborn phoenix's bidding.

I sidled cautiously up beside preening Gallus amidst the chaotic transformation unfolding. "So hey, feeling fiery today?" I ventured lightly nudging him playfully. Smoke wisped skywards punctuating the loaded pause...

Twinkle landed next to me. "Are you done being on fire?" She poked at me, testing the lack of flames. "Better. Warn a pony before you do that when they're on top of you." She blew a raspberry, then took her spot back atop me.

Gallus took a slow and deep breath, forcing his flames back before all his feathers burned away, again. "Al... right. There we go. Um, you." He pointed to one of the guards.

The guard stood up sharply. "Sir?"

"Come with me." He waved the guard along as he marched. "You need to tell Grandpa what you saw if he doesn't beleive us. I am not going through proving that twice in one day, thanks."

"As you wish, sir." He trailed along behind Gallus.

This put him near me, so I went to the guard's side. "So, can I ask how phoenixes are seen around here?"

"Legends." The guard clasped his hands with a smile. "Lost, we thought, but that's proven... wrong. Lost, but found. The nation was once great, and there were many phoenixes, then few, then none at all. We lost our fire, and with it... our fire."

I snorted softly, getting what the guard meant by that. "Then this is a good thing, I imagine?"

"Very good... But your friend will be... busy." He turned to Pinkie. "You said you were a teacher of theirs. This ends. He will be needed here, in Griffonstone, and nowhere else."

Pinkie scowled at that. "What? No. I can't do that. We only have permission to be here a few days, not forever! Forever's a lot longer than a few days! They'll be super duper mad at me! I have to bring him back."

"Your 'student' is far too important. This isn't really something we can argue." With a determined frown, he led the way behing Gallus towards his home.

Author's Note

You win, sorta, maybe? This is a mixed bag...

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1 - There is No Past, Only Future.

My life has been punctuated with several great cliffs. I fell down each, and I got up and walked forward. There was never any going back. I had fallen and there just wasn't any way to climb back up, nor did I try very hard.

When I fell into Equestria, I had Twilight's device. It let me keep working at home and doing my part. I had fallen, but a phone line stretched from where I had fallen to back up to the top, so I lived in both places without complaint.

Until I got an email.

It informed me that I had a Facebook message waiting for me. Not a site I checked often, especially after going to Equestria. I pulled it up then curiously. A message from a friend of the family.

A message inviting people to a funeral. The funeral was for my mother. "Oh."

I felt bad. My mother had just died, and I started with 'oh?' Surely... Surely she deserved a stronger response than that... But I was never terribly good at crying for humans. Also, she was a world away... "Oh..." I shook myself out firmly and began digging. What happened?!

I found her messages. She had texted me, with emotions moving from pleading to outright raging and back again. She had gone through the stages of grief, several times. That I had been doing my part was not much of a comfort.

I wasn't there, and that proved too much.

"Crap." I had killed my mother. By not being there.

I scowled at nothing, drawing my hooves up and away. "Well... damn it."

"What's wrong?" Twinkle was there, watching me. "I never saw you get so upset, and you don't do upset very well."

"My mother died." I tucked the keyboard under the bed. "I killed her. In celebration, I'm going to school."

Twinkle blinked rapidly. "That is not how that works!"

"It is exactly how that works." I hopped to my hooves and willed my saddlebag into place. "See you later." I left the shocked Twinkle behind without another word, and without grabbing breakfast.

A thought came to me and I flipped through my mental spellbook. "Still new," I murmured, drawing up the spell that showed a pony with their mouth wide open with a toothbrush pressed against exposed teeth. "And..." I could feel it and hear it, inside. My teeth were being brushed by my magic. If it was a spell I could do while walking, I had no excuse not to do it.

I continued my swift stride towards school, ears pinned back against Twinkle's pleading cries echoing down the hall behind me. Her fumbling empathy grated; how could she understand?

Better to simply outrun the unwelcome sentiments. But a moment later I sensed the rapid patter of pursuing hooves as Twinkle drew up insistently by my side once more. I steeled myself against the coming trite comforts every mourner had doubtlessly heard a thousand hollow times before.

"David please, wait!" Twinkle puffed, slight form struggling to match my agitated pace. "I cannot claim to fully understand your bonds with those across worlds. But death bites deep even planets apart." She met my glare briefly before looking away. "Cherishing memories helps in time..." she began tentatively.

I nearly snarled at the obnoxious platitude but she pressed on gently before irritation spilled forth. "Just...don't shut out hearts here wishing to stand with you too." Her wingtips brushed my rigid back. "Besides, I knew her... I remember her, from the beforetime. She didn't show up that often, but I remember her..."

I wavered stride slowing. Twinkle had been there, silent as a doll she was. She knew mother. "She's gone..."

"And that... That hurts." Twinkle hoppped up, landing on my armored back. "That hurts. That's normal, and that hurts." She sat on my back, patting gently. "I'll tell the school what happened. Go home."

"No." I looked over my shoulder. "Sitting at home will only make me feel worse, not better. I'd rather do some schoolwork and hang out with some friends."

"I am a friend too." Twinkle dared a little smile.

I paused at that. "True... Sorry. I'm being a jerk, but I do want to go." I grabbed her gently in my magic. "Let me go." And I put her down next to me.

Twinkle sighed but nodded acceptance as I set her gently back onto the path, hooves scuffing the dust. Lingering hurt shone in her eyes realizing I still held back from relying overmuch on others during torrential inner storms. But she blinked hard forcing a trembling smile instead.

"If schoolwork suits your turmoil best, far be it from me to gainsay such a studious soul!" Her weak laughter echoed hollowly in the awkward pause. But sincerity burned brighter still somehow kindling hope where my stubbornness had barricaded care away. "Just...just promise if you need...anything..."

She faltered as emotions crested. I froze, realizing wetness suddenly glittered on cheeks from no cloud above.

"...I'm here." Twinkle finished hoarsely. "We all are, neophyte niece notwithstanding." She waved a floppy hoof back towards the treebrary, smile wobbling but determined. "You gave me family when I had naught. Let yours embrace you too now. Strange though we remain still to you, perhaps."

She took a half-step closer, almost hesitantly. "You are never alone unless isolating by choice, dear friend. And together is less painful than any solo sorrow."

I pawed at the ground. "I'm not running away." I glanced at the ponies walking past, as if they all stared at me. "I just have to get to school. This can wait until I get home tonight. I will come home, right on time, promise." Without waiting for a reply, I hurried through the gates onto the school and shook myself out.

"Present, future..." The past had little for me... Though I did need to clean a few things up.

I nodded to ponies and creatures I walked past, forcing a smile. Could they even see I was sad? Most couldn't. I knew that from practice.

I moved swiftly through the milling morning crowds, muzzle set determinedly though anxieties still gnawed beneath my carefully composed facade. Other students passed in laughing chatters, blessedly oblivious to inner turmoil.

Only one or two familiar faces registered cursory surprise at my too bright eyes or twitching ears hinting hollowly at unspoken burdens. But true friends lingered blessedly elsewhere granting me maneuvering room should steely resolve finally shatter sending me scrambling for safe harbor before the final bell.

The friendly bustle eased no ache but focused movement quieted the clawing maelstrom, if only briefly. It was time to focus on some work. I sank onto my seat and... The seat combusted under me. "What?" Ponies were screaming and fleeing me as I stood up, catching fire myself.

Water poured down over me, sending steam hissing in all directions, but the fire was quite insistent. I sputtered and thrashed in confusion, burning, steaming, and... oh. I sank to my haunches. "I went nirik."

"You went nirik," echoed Twilight, her horn still glowing as she conjured an unending stream of water from above me, dousing that curious body of mine that desperately wanted to be on fire. "David, go home. You are a wa..." She paused. "I take that back. You are not to enter the library. Call for Spike and Twinkle. They can keep you company while you work through this."

Shame flooded me as Twilight lectured, the scorched furnishings accusatory evidence of my unchecked explosive potential. I could have badly harmed innocents had things escalated further out of control.

I couldn't argue with her. A nirik kirin was about the last thing anyone wanted in a library. Much as it pained being barred temporary sanctuary in the treebrary, I had to get ahold of myself before that became an option.

I bowed submissively to Twilight's stern but caring authority. "I understand. Outside's best so I don't reduce your home to ashes." I fled the school, dripping water, puffing steam, and catching back on fire as the damp faded away. As much as I wanted to deny being angry and upset, my new body refused to hide it.

The world could see that one emotion at least. Thanks, I hated it.

"Neat." Pinkie landed beside me where I had sank to my haunches. She was casually roasting several marshmallows at once. "So, what's the occasion, huh?" She turned the stick in her hoof. "Learned a new spell and wanted to show it off?"

"No."

Pinkie inclined her head. "Wow. Maud only gives me that no when it's really bad." She munched one mallow and tossed the others away. "Want a hug?"

I raised a burning brow at her. "That's a bad idea."

"You don't trust me? Little fire padawan, I'm an earth master!" With a soft glimmer, she was encased in stone, then hugged me, unharmed by the licking fire. "See?" She squeezed me firmly. "I will hug you until you feel better."

I made soft notes of displeasure, and she bowled me over anyway, both of us flopping with her straddling me from above, cuddling me with giggles. "You're a little less owwie, you must feel better."

I laughed at that. "Damn it, Pinkie... Damn it... You are really hard to stay upset around..."

She squeezed tighter, nuzzling and tickling my sensitive belly without mercy despite yelps. I writhed vainly - no escaping her relentless snuggles!

Finally releasing me panting with lingering giggles, she beamed bright triumph. I nodded wordlessly, torn between dignity and gratitude with embers fading as my pulse slowed post-tickles.

Pinkie whispered knowingly, one ear cocked to my chest: "Feeling lighter?"

I flushed but smiled back, the brief blaze banked to warm coals again. It was really hard to be sad around Pinkie... "Well, I could tell you what made me upset to start with. It's a heavy one. I don't want to crush my favorite pink pie under it."

Pinkie raised a brow, patting out a little flicker of a fire as the stone flaked off her. "I'm up to your challenge. Did you fail a test? Did one of your besties leave you stranded?" She gasped, eyes so wide. "Did somepony not invite you to a party?!"

"This is maybe too dark." I rose to my hooves, ready to plod away from her, until I was tackled to the ground, belly first. "Pinkie?"

"Yup." She climbed up over me, sitting on me. "Not letting you go until you tell me what's bothering you."

I grunted, squirming under Pinkie pinning me prone in sunlight. "C'mon, lemme up!" I protested. "Don't need more clowning now!"

But she refused to budge, braiding my splayed tail as I wriggled. "Nope! You got yucky again." She scrutinized my scowl. "As party pony I cannot allow relapses! Spill or I break out the silly guns!"

I snorted steam, muscles tensing under her stare. But playfulness couldn't mask persistent caring there.

Defeated, I sighed muzzle drooping wearily. Maybe plain truth would satisfy? Eyes downcast, I whispered: "It's...it's my mom. She died back home while we were apart."

"Oh. Bummer." I turned to look at her, to see her mane had gone limp. She was... She was a Pie. Sometimes her emotions were hidden behind words that didn't carry the meaning, but I knew. I knew she understood. I rolled over, belly up, and she flopped on me.

We hugged each other quietly as ponies walked past, pretending they didn't see us.

Pinkie suddenly hopped off me. "Look, if you want to talk, me and maud are here, okay? I mean that. I'd... I don't even want to think about that... We're here, okay? You have friends." She touched noses with me as I sat up. "You got a ton of 'em! In fact, pretty sure I see Twinkle watching us from a window. You better get to her before she explodes."

I snorted, imagining that. "I'd better. I'm not on fire anymore, so..." There was nothing stopping me from retreating to the library and the creatures within it.

Author's Note

On a somber note, we begin a new story. The ties to the old world are frayed. There is no past, only the future.

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7 - New Horseshoes

I slunk back to my house, my actual house. We weren't supposed to go there. I had a new home so long as I was pretending to be Ocellus.

She spotted me instantly. She was sitting there at the counter, chatting with Twilight, as I came walking in. "Hi, Ocellus," she called with my voice. "So nice of you to stop by."

Talking to a copy of me was a curious experience. "Sorry. I couldn't leave my keyboard here."

Twilight perked. "Oh, yes. Silly me." She hopped to her hooves and hurried into my room, emerging with the keyboard. "I trust you have the school one with you already?"

Ocellus inclined her head. "Shouldn't I be using those? I can't learn what it's like to be David if I don't do what he does."

Twilight clopped a hoof to her head. "Those are not cheap, hm..." She shoved the keyboard against me. "And we only have those right now... I'll explain this to Fluttershy."

Rather than listen to how it played out, I walked out of that tense situation.

A pity Spike blocked the way. "We have so much to talk about."

I squeaked in surprise. "Spike! Hi... Um. Look, I'm pretending to be Ocellus right now, so unless you want to chat with a friendly shapeshifting bug, you're talking to the wrong creature."

Spike blinked with surprise. "Really?" He leaned to look at Ocellus, trying her best to have an intellectual conversation in a poor stereotype of a stiff conversation. "Wow... How long does this last?"

"A week." I trotted around him, making for the exit. "Just a week."

I sighed, ears drooping slightly under the keyboard's awkward bulk. "Yeah, a full week walking a mile in somepony else's shoes for class. Fluttershy's idea to build empathy."

I managed a self-conscious half grin Spike's way. "So I gotta pretend being a cute bug and Ocellus is working on being a kirin klutz for the next few days."

Spike crossed his arms, tilting his head. "Weird school assignment, but okay. Sure you aren't just bailin' to avoid talking things over?" He raised a skeptical brow.

My cheeks heated slightly scuffing a hoof. "No, nuh uh, not avoiding anything! Just you know, awkward with Twilight ogling my lookalike trying to chat intelligently and all." I cleared my throat. "I'll swing back after the keyboard exchange, promise!"

I rushed back to the dormitory and set the keyboard down.

"Funny, Ocellus doesn't have one of those." Smolder was smirking viciously.

I turned to the bipedal dragon. "Hey, Smolder. Who did you get?"

Smolder shrugged softly. "Gallus. We thought we were signing up for something cool."

Gallus snorted, laying on Smolder's bed, back down. "Being a dragon's easy. If anycreature bothers me, I'll set them on fire."

"That doesn't sound very nice." I rubbed behind my head awkwardly.

Smolder hiked a brow. "Wow, nice Ocellus." She barked in laughter. "You're into this." She punched me in the shoulder. "So, you get to sleep here, with us. Lucky you, hm?"

I imagined fluttering wings, but I had none of those. I was a kirin, even if pretending. "Yeah. I'm interested, and nervous... Does Ocellus, me, do I do anything after class?"

Gallus rolled a hand in the air. "More often than not, she writes."

"Home," added Smolder. "She loves updating her family on how it's going."

I imagined that cheerful little lovebug, literally, penning her family. "Aw... I'm not sure if they want a letter from some random alien pony though..."

Smolder shrugged. "That's the assignment, dude. Get to writing."

I sighed softly, eyeing the blank page set aside for some cheerfully perfect letter home as "Ocellus". Conveying her bright personality sounded tricky for one more used to just candidly portraying flawed folks.

But assignments were to get us growing surer even stumbling. How much more mingling a little magic and sincerity however clumsy the start? I set my jaw determinedly, snorting gently.

Thus did "Ocellus" proceed with pen freshly dipped. I also learned that writing with a quill was far trickier than I imagined. Thankfully, Ocellus had telekinesis, so I didn't have to double-practice it in hand instead.

Hello,

This is not Ocellus. This is David, a kirin pony that is a friend and classmate of Ocellus, but I am pretending to be her. Shh. She's doing well, and I'm doing alright pretending to be her. Hm, not sure what to write here, as I dont' know any of you. I'll be pretending to be her for a week, so if you write back before then, I'll reply. It only feels right.

Sincerely,
David "Ocellus" Silver

I nodded at my words with satisfaction. "This'll do. How do I actually get this to them?"

Gallus sighed softly. "I send a few letters, but I'm Smolder right now."

Smolder rolled her eyes. "Get off it. Show David how to send that letter."

"Fine fine." Gallus sprang to his feet. "Don't tell the teacher, okay?"

"I'm not a narc." She stuck out her tongue as he led the way outside.

Gallus led the way downstairs shrugging casually along the wending halls. "Sending letters here's easy peasy - just gotta know how to catch a breeze."

Noticing my puzzled stare he grinned waving towards the vivid equine flier busy sorting scattered envelopes outside the administrative office. "Muffins there's the mail mare moving stuff quick as lightnin' all over Equestria daily. Slip her the envelope, she zips off, ka-bang got yourself postal service!"

I examined the boldly emblazoned grey Pegasus with a grunt. Of course it'd be her. She spun airborne orbits gathering additional letters from animated students. "Derpy, in the flesh..."

Gallus smirked back mild pride straightening his griffon frame. "Muffins, but nice insult there. I didn't expect you to have teeth like that. Not very Ocellus like if you ask me."

With conspiratorial wink he approached the wall-eyed pegasus diplomatically. "New student has a letter for you."

Muffins darted up to me with a curious smile. "Do you?! Where?"

I floated the letter into her eager grasp. "To the changeling hive, Ocellus' family?"

"Oh! I know them." Derpy twirled with a giggle. "They are so nice. I'll be sure they get this." She lifted several inches into the air with a flap. "Nice to meet you, but I should get delivering!" And off she went in a puff of dust, managing to avoid crashing into anything.

I blinked as the wall-eyed messenger zipped erratically off, twin trails of dust pluming. Somehow she dodged every obstacle almost unconsciously. This mailmare paired passion and calamity with practiced ease navigating breakneck speeds.

Gallus followed my stunned stare chuckling. "Yeah, Derpy's a trip but super reliable!" He flashed a casual wave her way. "Mail's in good hooves so don't sweat it."

I lingered thoughtfully as her form vanished over the horizon.

But Gallus clearly cared more for immediate gossip than pondering postal workers' problems. With a dismissive claw he pivoted back towards the dorms. "C'mon, time's a wastin'!"

I laughed and followed his impatient stride. "Wonder if they'll actually reply."

"Like clockwork." He didn't hold the door on the way inside, to my brief annoyance. "They write back as soon as they see her letter. It's a ritual with only a day or two between letters. Good on you for keeping it up."

I stepped back onto Ocellus' bed and turned about. "Hello, my name is Ocellus."

Smolder snorted. "Yea, that voice is not cutting it."

Yona stomped in. "Yeah, you should just relax."

I flopped to my belly, staring at her. "Who are you?"

Yona inclined her large head. "Sandbar. Silly, we've met before." She waved that off, speaking like Sandbar fairly well despite her usual simplistic speech. "Did you remember your homework."

"Later," called Gallus, laying down on his back. "If ever."

Yona rolled her eyes. "That didn't change." She turned to me. "Welcome. As a pony, I want you to feel welcomed and to be my friend."

I smiled at that, hearing Yona's awkward words mixing in with the ones she was trying so hard to imitate. "You know me. I'm Ocellus." I pawed at her. "One of my best friends."

Yona gasped with obvious shock. "How silly of me. I didn't recognize you." Still, that put aside, she hugged me fiercely. "I am always happy to see you, Ocellus."

I wheezed under Yona's fierce yak hug, wondering if genuinely befriending living tanks ever left bruises.

Disengaging slightly, I managed a lopsided grin her way. "No worries, that's what this mixup's all about yeah? Broadening appreciation?" I patted her sturdy shoulder.

Eyeing snoozing Smolder I added slyly "And some of those lessons stand nearer than we think if you keep it light." My tossed pillow elicited muffled protest.

I winked playfully Yona's way eliciting girlish giggles nearly harmonizing with my own high pitched snickers.

Though awkward, I resolved to have a good time with that assignment.

A letter arrived the very next day. I unfolded it. "Not many other people are David 'Ocellus' Silver..." That left no doubt who it was intended for.

Hello, infiltrator!

This is so exciting! A changeling, infiltrated? I didn't even know that was possible, but there you are, doing it. You're putting up quite a disguise. If you hadn't told me, I would never have guessed this in a million moons. But you did tell me, which makes you kinda bad at this. That's alright. Nice to meet you! David's a curious name. What does it mean?

I paused reading to smile at that thought. So many humans didn't know what their names really meant, but I did! I had a perfectly fine pony name. I paused with thought. Did it still apply in the pony world?

I grabbed a new paper in my magic and got to writing, even if I hadn't finished reading.

Hey there,

Nice to hear from you. This one is typed. I realized after the last one there was nothing stopping me from typing it, so here I am. My name means Beloved.

I paused. God was a big concept to drop on people.

Destiny. My full name means Beloved, like Destiny, but who's perfect? That or I work with silver, which I do not, so I stick with but who's perfect? That always fit me better. Even the name's imperfect.

I turned my eyes to the other paper to finish reading.

I so rarely get to talk to Ocellus' friends, or write them. What's your favorite color? What's your favorite sport? You meet a lot of other changelings?

This and many other questions dotted the paper. It took quite a while to dig through them, one by one by one. But I did pick through them, typing busily with my hooves pressed in their proper spots. "There." I folded the paper shut in my magic and delivered it to the waiting mail pony. It wasn't Derpy that time, but they spirited it off just as quickly.

That left me with checking on Earth. I groaned softly, my spirit on touching that world diminished. Still, abandoning it, and my brother, felt bad. I checked email, communicated the situation in more detail to the mortgage company, and sent a payment, a month late. It was all the money I had ready at that point. Mother surely wasn't contributing.

I pulled my hooves away with a sigh. "Words written, games run, letters written..." I looked over at my temporary roomies. "What does Ocellus do just for fun?"

Smolder just grunted, lost in some comic. But Yona stomped over eagerly attempting another awkward Sandbar smile. "Wanna go for a nice evening walk under the pretty stars until our hearts feel like talking?"

I smiled back, touched by the gentle thoughtfulness. "Sure, okay." It was, perhaps, refreshing to have someone care, but not about that.

With returned nod I gestured her out the door into spring constellations' tranquility. Students still milled about laughing nearby at day's satisfied conclusion. It was a fine evening for a hike, and I did just that. "There are so many friends out there."

Author's Note

Schooooool! A whole chapter of just teens being teens with no drama really. Felt nice.

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