Misty's eyes sparkled and shone as she looked over some of the toys offered by the stand she was checking out. There were stuffed animals of many kinds, including some that were traditional plushes or filled with beans, to ones with bells inside them, or special little goodies tucked into secret pockets.

She saw Amber wandering past and waved at her in a frantic moment. "Amber! Come here! Take a look at this!"

Amber wandered over towards Misty and looked at what she was so excited about. "Hmmm? What's this? A stand of trinkets and baubles?" She saw a display with some fancy jewelry and stopped in front of it to admire its delicate beauty. "Looks pretty enough."

"Not that." Misty took Amber's head and directed it at the stuffed animals. "These. They're so cute! Just look at them! They've got feathers and felt and little bits of ruffle sewn in places. You can tell they put a lot of love into these!" She picked up one of the little animals in particular that caught her eye and snuggled it close to her chest, cooing softly.

Amber smiled at the sight. "Which is your favorite then?"

Misty floated the animal back, horn glowing. "Now that's a hard question! With so many great choices, how does a pony pick just one? How do you decide between something so cute and soft? I really think I might have to just get one of each!" She tilted her head towards Amber with a wry smirk. "But since you asked so nicely, my favorite one is this one right here." She pointed to an armadillo that looked like it wanted to give a hug.

Amber clapped gently. "That is pretty cute. Excuse me?" She waved the vendor down. "I'll take this one." A moment later, she offered it to Misty. "From magic buddy to magic buddy. Consider this my thanks for making magic happen."

Misty accepted the little plush with a wide eyed look of awe on her face that rapidly melted into an expression of deep joy and touched tenderness at being gifted such a precious thing from a friend. "You are the best." She hugged her plush, then Amber. "Are you going to get one for yourself?"

"Tempting, but, mmm, nah." She threw an arm around Misty. "I already have something I can hug."

Misty softened and touched her plush in consideration, then nudged Amber with it with a smirk. "Hugs are always good."

"Truer words have never been spoken." Amber nuzzled against Misty's side softly before slowly pulling away from her friend. "Enjoying yourself? I was with Comforting and Toots. We went on rides and did all sorts of things."

Misty quivered with the effort of suppressing her excitement. "Did you really? Sounds like fun!"

Amber grinned and mussed Misty's mane with a hoof playfully. "I'm still here, and clearly you are too. If you want to do something?"

Misty backed up from that hoof, craning her neck around to find anything interesting on offer nearby. "Do I ever! I wouldn't mind checking out some of those stalls and booths around here for some more magical amusement! Maybe some ice cream! Or anything that's magical and tasty!"

Amber tapped at her chin. "They have tasty, but I didn't run into much that was magically tasty." She waggled her brows. "We'd probably have to make that up ourselves, or get really lucky. Let's go check out some of these other booths and see what they have to offer?"

Misty bounded alongside Amber, leading her towards the next booth that looked promising for such things, though there were stalls full of treats and gifts that intrigued her just as much, so they were constantly darting around to check them all out and explore everything that was available. There were fried dough confections that came in various shapes, some apple flavored, some chocolate dipped, others dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Amber kept up with Misty, nodding as she gushed over the things that caught her eyes. "You're having a good time."

Misty drew to a sudden stop. "Oh no. Am I dragging you along? Do you feel forced to be here?! You're supposed to be enjoying yourself too!" She grasped Amber's hooves with both her own in a panic. "This is supposed to be about you! And me! Not just me!"

Amber shook her head calmly with a little smile curving her lips upwards. "I am having fun seeing how much fun you're having." She touched noses. "And you are having a lot of fun, so I'm happy."

Misty settled slightly, looking uncertainly at Amber, then returning her gaze to the world around them. She had stopped in front of a large building with a casino inside it for some gambling or betting, whatever the case may be. "I didn't think they had anything like this. Want to check it out?"

Amber nodded at Misty's suggestion and started to lead her inside with a curious bounce in her step. It was warm inside with a strong scent of spilled drinks on the ground from gambling games or fun or bets lost or won. "Be careful in here. Don't spend bits you aren't already comfortable with having lost." She curled a hoof to her chin. "Think of it like money you're spending to have fun, not to make more. You probably won't. I read about that."

"Interesting." Misty hurried inside to take a look around at the sights offered within and soaked in all the sights and sounds, flinching slightly at a slot machine that was making a lot of noise with a jangling chorus of metal in motion from whatever was happening behind that curtain of lights and the grim pony pulling the lever at it. "Huh." She turned away, ears pinned against the wild noises. "There are so many ponies in here!"

Amber spread her arms with a soft huff of laughter when she spotted some cards being played at one of the tables on offer inside and headed towards it with a calm smile on her face. "There sure are. You know how to play this one?"

"Maybe?" Misty stepped closer to try to watch what was happening at the table. "They seem to be dealing out cards and tossing some chips around. A little confusing though, but it looks like they're playing against each other for now?"

Amber waved Misty to her side. "We'll play a round together. I'll show you how it works. Hey." She waved over the nearest pony in charge, an employee judging by the outfit and how they helped her out, getting them a table to sit at with some other ponies taking part in the game, and giving them the basics of how to play quickly and easily before walking off again.

Misty lifted the cards tossed at her and looked at them curiously.

"Don't say what you have." Amber leaned over for a peek without saying them herself. "Alright, so you may want to put that one down." She pointed." She straightened up to examine her own hand. "Yeah, go ahead and discard it if you can. Let's see here..." She squinted at her own cards with a smile that she fought back quickly. "Hmmmm." She had a good hand, but the odds of that working out well were still against her. She could do it though. "Alright, I'm ready."

Misty blinked at Amber before examining her cards more closely and comparing them against what she could see of her friends and what little she knew of the game. She went with Amber's suggestion for what card to put down. "I think I'm good."

The pony dealing out cards shuffled through his deck and dealt everyone a card each until everyone had six cards total in their hooves and went through the betting phase.

Amber slid some chips forward with a sneer.

One of the other ponies tapped out, crossing their arms.

Another slid their cards forward to show their hand for a simple exchange of more chips for any other pony with better cards. They lost their bet though.

The pony across from Amber glared at her, but not at the cards in her hooves, only at Amber herself before they showed their hand.

Amber did not win. It wasn't a bad hand, but it wasn't the best at the table.

That was Misty's, who looked amazed, and confused, as chips were pushed at her. "I won?! But how?"

"Probably your straight flush." Amber let out a huff of laughter under her breath. "Go ahead and scoop up your winnings."

Misty dragged a hoof along the top of her pile of chips, but they kept rolling off each other in clumps that threatened to get everywhere. The dealer offered her a bag to store them in. "Congratulations, ma'am."

Amber chuckled softly when she got handed a couple chips from Misty's spoils. "That was really impressive luck. Guess you're one lucky pony." She perked up when she heard someone call out behind them and saw Comforting was waving at them from outside. "Let's go say hi."

They had to pause briefly for Misty to turn her chips into actual money. "You got real lucky, walking out of a casino with more than you went in, after I gave that warning and everything." She laughed under her breath at the thought. "But you did get lucky. Nice."

Misty grinned from ear to ear as she pocketed her cash before bouncing alongside Amber towards Comforting with the bag of money in tow. "Comforting! Hey! What brings you out this way?"

"Wanted to check on you both!" She got a hand on either of them, ruffling her two uni-buddies. "Up to magical chicanery?"

Amber shook her head. "Only if you count having some fun as that."

Misty jumped beside Amber with an eager expression on her face. "Yeah! Checking out the shops, games, and more!"

Comforting let go of them to spin around with a chuckle. "This boardwalk is full of distractions, isn't it?" She stopped, facing them. "I heard something, big news for our magical tutors. Wanna hear?"

Misty leaned forward eagerly with her eyes shining brightly. "Yeah! Anything big enough to catch your attention is worth hearing about!"

Comforting gathered up both unicorns, whisking them off towards some distant corner of the boardwalk with a brief glitter of chaotic magic. She set them down on a bench facing her. "Your students, some of them went home." She made a walking gesture with her fingers. "But they're spreading magic. Magic is returning to Bridlewood!"

Amber's jaw dropped for a moment. "They went back and told others about what we were teaching them?" She covered her mouth with a hoof and looked away for a moment. "That's amazing. And fast!"

Comforting leaned in towards the two. "A good idea can travel really far in a day. I've seen it happen before. The question is what to do with it." She poked at each of them gently with a single finger. "And how far do you want it to go?"

Misty grabbed onto Amber's hoof tightly in her own and gave her a pleading expression with her eyes and face both. "This is great news! I just hope they use it without getting into too much trouble, but they deserve the chance to try."

Amber squeezed back against her and looked down at the ground. "It is good news. I don't know if it was the right choice for the ponies who left, but I want to think it was." She took a slow breath. "I would have preferred they finished our lessons before they galloped off, but, still." She shuffled in place. "I am glad unicorns are getting their magic back. I just hope they use it carefully."

Comforting gave a little wink. "You never know. Oh! Amber. You had learned a spell, but what happened with it? The partial transformation. I really liked the idea of it, but did you get anywhere with it? And if you did, would you be willing to share?" She held a hand up to her chin in thought. "We could have a whole class on it."

Amber blushed and glanced away. "It's a bit complex, and dangerous, so I wasn't rushing to teach that one. But I did get the magic words for a few other parts of a few other critters. I'd love to get some other creatures, but the only one around that isn't a pony is you, Comforting, and not sure I should be looking at chaos spirits like that."

Comforting raised her brows. "Really?" She glanced around, then back, before vanishing into mist, reforming next to them with her wings spread. "Well, go on, if you want to see a griffon. I'm happy to help a hoof out."

Amber whirled on Comforting. "You know where griffons are?! You could take me to them!"

Misty hopped up and down in a circle. "What's a griffon? You sure sound excited by them, whatever they are."

Amber pointed back at the library. "I've read about them in books. Never actually saw one, but they're amazing creatures. They look like birds in the front." She waved at her top half. "And cats down here." She waved at her bottom half. "I'd love to actually meet one." She waved at Comforting. "You know where they are?!"

Comforting raised her hands. "I have an idea. I might be able to get you there."

"Please! I'll do anything!" Amber hopped back and forth. "Take us there!" She cantered in place. "A lost creature, found! If they're nice, we could even invite them to pony cities."

Comforting flickered next to Amber. "Whoa there. That's a lot of energy for no reason." She glanced back and forth between the two ponies with a raised brow. "We're not going today. You two already spent most of it having fun around here. Dragging you off on a wild adventure hardly feels right."

Amber ducked slightly with her hooves covering her mouth with embarrassment written on her face in pinkish tones. "Sorry." She stepped back towards Misty quickly to give herself some distance from Comforting without losing her altogether and thumped into Misty's side. "You're right, I got a bit overexcited. We did have fun earlier, so it might not be the best time for more adventuring."

Comforting let Amber gather herself for a few moments before asking gently, "Tomorrow, after breakfast?" She looked to Misty. "You want to come along?"

Misty brightened up at that offer and bobbed her head vigorously. "Yeah! I want to come!" She leaned in against Amber with a chuckle. "If we're going together, that is."

"Of course." Amber hugged Misty, the two giggling with clear thoughts of griffons, even if the two weren't imagining exactly the same thing at that moment.

Author's Note

Did somepony say griffons?!

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