I could not tell you how grateful I was to get away from that guy. Obviously he was getting better, but I could only handle so much before starting to feel like I was going to freak out. I was lucky to have the Breezie come to my rescue right as I was reaching my limit. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I had to keep dealing with Lycus after what he pulled with the amber.

Though I wouldn’t have minded staying in the sanctuary for longer.

With a sigh, I looked at the Breezie fluttering ahead of me. “Did the others go back?”

“Back, back.” It answered,

“Good.” I relaxed my shoulders.

Once I met back up with them, we could meet with Sir Manuscript again, show him the proof, have the road plans amended, get my toe back, and be on our merry way. Holding up the piece of bark to look at it, I froze.

It was dead. I don’t know how else to explain it. The green glow that came from the veins below was gone, and it took on a much more solid, duller color.

“Oh shiii-” I glanced at the Breezie again, “-oot. Shoot.”

“Shoot, shoot?” It echoed, doubling back.

“Look,” I presented the piece of bark to it,

The Breezie just landed on it, crawling across the surface as it inspected it. Without the glowing veins, this just went from a mystical piece of a tree infused with the very life of the forest to ‘here, look at this cool piece of bark I found.’ Even if it looked masterfully crafted, it would hardly prove anything, just that there was some strange plant in the forest. It was the same problem I had with the fruits and flowers.

This was a bust.

I would need something else green and glowy, but I really didn’t want to go back to get something.

…

My eyes landed on the Breezie as it settled atop the piece of bark.

“Say… I think I just had an idea on how you can help me.”

“Help, help?”

“That’s right.” I nodded, “But first, can you leave the forest?”

Going off of Indigo’s information, Breezies, while rare, are at least known to the rest of the world. They had to have been seen elsewhere, and supposedly they didn't stay in place for very long, meaning they probably weren’t bound to one singular location. Whether this was actually accurate or not I didn’t know, which is why I was asking.

The Breezie squeaked and spun in a few circles. It started bumbling something, but to me it just sounded like gibberish, a slurry of high pitched syllables that was almost too fast to make out individual words. Eventually, it stopped, took in a relatively large breath, and turned to face me.

“Can, leave.”

“Oh goo-”

“Don’t, want.” The Breezie continued,

“...Oh. I see.” I thought for a moment, “Please?”

“...Don’t, want…” It repeated after some deliberation,

“I promise it won’t be long, just enough time to convince Sir Manuscript to change the road.”

The Breezie gave a small whine, shuffling from side to side.

“You’ll be with me the entire time, I won’t let anybody hurt you.”

“Promise, promise?”

“Promise,” I nodded,

I would’ve held my finger up to shake on it again, but I had to hold the piece bark the Breezie was standing on.

With a sigh that sounded more like a hum, the Breezie turned around and pointed forward, “Town, town.”

“Right,” I started walking forwards again, only to stop after a few steps, “But second,”

It was hard to tell, but I think the Breezie glanced back at me.

“What should I call you?”

It chirped, jumping up into the air.

“No, name! No, name!” It exclaimed,

“I know, I know,” I tucked the bark under my shoulder and held up my hand, “But I can’t just call you ‘Breezie’ or anything like that, especially if there are more of you around.”

“No, name.” The Breezie repeated,

It was being weirdly insistent, and I couldn’t help but tilt my head, “Are you not allowed to have a name or something?” I asked,

“N-No…” It muttered,

“Well is there anything you’d prefer to be called?”

“No, no.”

“Hmm…” I pursed my lips, “Then is it okay for me to give you a name? Or at least call you something specific?”

“Eep!” The Breezie jolted in the air, zipping around my head at ridiculous speeds. Once it finished orbiting me, it fluttered down to the piece of bark, and I slowly held it out again. “Okay, okay.” It said, plopping down.

“Alright then…” I started forward again, only slightly dizzy.

What should I call this Breezie? I didn’t have a name prepared or anything, I started the conversation in hopes that it would pick something of its own, but I guess the decision was left to me. I would prefer something fitting, but the only faerie name I knew was Puck, which definitely wouldn’t work.

What other names could I use? Something based on the color green? Like shamrock or chartreuse? Maybe I should go for the mineral route like me, use a name like emerald or jade. But that was hardly relevant to a forest Breezie, something more plantlike would fit better.

Maybe this Breezie could be the real Chlorophyll?

Nah, that would be too confusing, especially if I had to introduce it to Sir Manuscript. I don’t think he would believe us at all if we used that.

It would have to be something unique, something that a pony wouldn’t have heard before, something like... a different language? Did I know any names like that? Sure, I could list plenty of characters with foreign names, most of them Japanese, but would I like it? If I was using another language, then it pretty much boiled down to my preferences, what was a good sounding name that was relatable enough to me?

“How about Shinsha?”

I know it didn’t fit like the others, but this one was special. It was important to me, or at least to Phos. I couldn’t actually remember the reasons though.

“Shinch… Shinshhh… Hmph!” The Breezie pouted,

I don’t think it was too happy to have a name it couldn’t pronounce.

“Uh oh, should I call you something else?” I asked,

The Breezie perked right back up, “No, no!” It inhaled deeply, “Shin… Shinsh… Shin… Sha… Shin-sha…” It tried, “Shin-sha, Shin-sha! Shinsha!”

“You got it.” I smiled,

“Shinsha! Shinsha!” The Breezie cheered,

“Do you like it?”

“Shinsha, Shinsha!” Shinsha bobbed up and down.

Good, Shinsha liked it too. If they didn’t, then I would’ve gladly changed it, I wasn’t going to be completely selfish here.

Shinsha leapt from the piece of bark, landing squarely on my face.

“Woah!” I stumbled back a bit,

They then picked themself up, and stood proudly along the bridge of my nose. I had to cross my eyes just to look at them, and I could see a lot more through the intense shine. They looked like a tiny pony, with long, spindly legs, rounded features, and a number of insect traits, from wings to antennae to possibly even compound eyes, it was a little too bright to tell exactly.

Again, this was oddly expected, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t a little disappointed at not having a little humanoid fairy buzzing around. A pony would be just fine though, and it would work either way. Presenting a Breezie of all things to Sir Manuscript would be a surefire way to gain his approval. I can imagine the look on his face already, I couldn’t wait.

But first, “Let’s get back to town,”

Shinsha leaned forward and pecked me on the forehead. I couldn’t really feel it through the disguise, but I could definitely see it.

“Well, aren't you sweet?” I commented, “But you’re kind of blinding me.”

“Ah!” Shinsha took off a moment later, zipping ahead to take the lead in navigating the forest again.

I quickly followed behind, but not before taking a moment to inspect the piece of bark again. I didn’t know what to do with it now, and currently it was just a large object I was carrying around for no apparent reason. I considered just leaving it, but what would the deer do if they found out I took something from the sanctuary, only to drop it immediately afterward? I strengthened my grip on the piece of wood, I’ll find a use for it later, hopefully.

♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦

Our pace slowed quite a bit once we were back in town. Though there wasn’t anything directly impacting our movement like the plants of the forest, we were subject to wandering the streets under the prying eyes of countless ponies. I was relatively used to it, though I felt a little exposed without one of the mercenaries with me.

Neither Indigo nor Fletch were at the forest’s edge, and with no obvious signs of where they were or where they went, the only place left to go was the inn. Hence why I was currently walking alone.

Well, technically alone. This was probably Shinsha’s first time out of the forest, and as such it took a lot to get them to actually cross the divide. Once they were actually over they remained glued to my side the entire time, and when other ponies started coming into view, Shinsha quickly disappeared into the depths of my cloak. I couldn’t tell exactly where, but I think they were situated somewhere behind my neck.

At least we could still talk to each other, I could whisper, and if Shinsha was somewhere close to my ear they could respond. Though right now they seemed to be having trouble just speaking in general.

I could see why. It was the latter half of the day, and there were a lot of ponies out and about. I did my best to ignore them, but the same could not be said on the other side. I was getting a lot of looks, much more than I was when walking through town before. At first I thought it was just because I was eye-catching, I mean I was a tall, two-legged creature in a land of small ponies, of course I was going to stand out. But when some of those looks turned sour, and the confusion turned to contempt, I remembered what Fletch had said earlier.

The Tungsten state doesn’t welcome non-ponies.

I had assumed that it would only be a problem with the law, not the locals. You could immediately tell I wasn’t a pony at a glance, and with no pony of my own to ward off any would-be offenders, I really began to feel out in the open, despite being completely covered with a cloak and a full body suit made of plants.

I hurriedly made the rest of the way to the inn.

Thankfully, none of the ponies tried to stop me, and I was able to make it inside the inn without much issue, but my problems didn't end there. Fletch and Indigo weren’t there either, the room was locked, and there was no response from knocking. They weren’t downstairs either, in fact, the whole building seemed to be devoid of life, with the only pony I could find being the one behind the bar, and with the look they were giving me, I didn’t dare talk to them.

And so I was left alone in the inn, with nowhere to go. I even tried knocking on Captain Morningstar’s door, but there was no response there either. I didn’t know how many other rooms we had, or where any of them were, and I wasn’t going to risk knocking on every door, especially if the first two were empty. I ended up just sitting with my back against the door to the girls’ room, waiting, alone.

Well, technically alone.

“How are you holding up?” I whispered,

A small amount of green light entered my peripherals, “Scared, scared.”

“Yeah…” I sighed, “Sorry. I didn’t think we would have to make it all the way back here alone. Or that that many ponies would react the way they did.” I murmured, “I’m a little scared too.”

There was a tiny whimper in my ear.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe. I promised, didn’t I?” I stuck a finger into my hood,

“Promise, safe.” Shinsha responded,

I smiled at that, then leaned forward slightly, resting my arms on my knees, then my forehead on my arms. My cloak didn’t have sleeves, but if I held it up right, I could create a semi-enclosed space, just large enough for a Breezie to get comfortable in. That didn’t immediately happen though, and it took a bit of coaxing to get Shinsha out from under my hood.

“I’ll fight anybody that tries to take you away. Although…” I drummed my fingers against my stump,

I broke really easily, which meant if I wanted to hit something hard, I could probably only do it once. I would have to be able to take my opponents out in one punch, and while I imagine getting slugged by a rock wouldn’t feel good regardless, it probably wasn’t enough to send most down for the count.

“I’m not sure how well that would work out.”

“Fight, fight!” Shinsha exclaimed, it looked like they were punching air.

I chuckled lightly. What would getting hit by a Breezie feel like?

…

Actually... What could a Breezie even do?

“Do you think you could zap people like Indigo said?” I asked,

Shinsha stopped their little boxing routine to look up at me. “Zap, zap?”

“Yeah, Indigo said that Breezies could punch really hard, enough to… well… knock a pony down.”

“Punch, punch?”

“Are you that strong?”

With a hum, Shinsha moved over to my thigh, reeled back, and socked me. Unsurprisingly, my leg was not shattered to pieces, and all it felt like through the disguise was a light tap.

“Is everything known about Breezies wrong?” I wondered,

Shinsha trilled, sitting down on my abdomen.

I tried to recount what Indigo said. It was already proven that they weren’t magical wisps, nor were they very strong. We just left the forest, so them not normally staying in one place is still possible…

“Do you at least like flowers?”

“Flowers, flowers!” Shinsha practically jumped up and down,

“Oh? What do you like about them?”

“Flowers, tasty, pretty.”

“Tasty?” I repeated,

“Tasty, tasty.” Shinsha agreed,

I mean Fletch ate flowers, and she was a pony. Breezies were kind of just tiny ponies, so I guess they could eat flowers too. At that size though, I imagine it would take a long time just to eat one flower… Or maybe they weren’t eating the whole flower, just what was inside. Breezies were also like insects, they could probably reach the nectar inside.

“Do you like sweet things?”

“Sweet, sweet.”

I nodded slightly, “What about pollen?”

“Paw, len?” Shinsha asked,

“It’s uh… It’s that yellow, powdery stuff that flowers have.”

“Ah! Paw-len, paw-len.” Shinsha jittered, shaking off a fair amount of yellow powder.

“Well what do you know?” I guess Breezies were more like butterflies rather than bees. I wonder how that misconception came to be. “So what’s your favorite flower?” I continued,

Shinsha shot back up into my hood, clutching one of the many flowers growing in my hair. I couldn’t tell exactly which one, nor could I remember how many types I had now, but I remember it was mostly white petals with yellow highlights, similar to the dandelions I had earlier. If I had to guess…

“Is it daisies?”

“Daisies, daisies!” A tiny voice came back down,

I don’t think Shinsha actually knew the names of their favorite flower, similar to Lycus with grapes. They were just repeating what I said, so I can only hope that I was right.

“So do you just pollinate flowers in the forest all day long?” I asked,

“Flowers, paw-len. Hmm…” Shinsha fluttered down, “Oh! Watch, protect.”

That’s right, Breezies seemed to be the eyes and ears of the forest. They could monitor it for threats or anomalies, like me, or ponies that wandered too far in…

“Protect?” I asked, “How?”

Shinsha gasped audibly, sucking in a breath and holding it. They then grunted slightly, concentrating hard as they did… something, I don’t know what.

Poof!

I was momentarily blinded by a flash of light. Very brief blindness I might add, my eyes were also crystal, meaning I technically didn’t have any aversion to intense light. I could stare straight at the sun without issue, so a simple flash wasn’t going to do much.

Though I still wasn't expecting to essentially get flashbanged by a fairy. I suppose that’s one way to ward off intruders, simply harass them with flying lights. That could easily scare off any animals or ponies that didn’t know any better, but for those that did… I can imagine why the deer are needed. Even then I doubt they could stop something like road construction.

Well, that’s what I was doing, and that’s why Shinsha was here with me.

Looking down at them, I was surprised to see that they were a lot dimmer, most of their shining light was gone. In fact, without the bright green glow, I could see their true colors, that being a darkish red. Or some sort of red, it was hard to tell in the sudden absence of light. Their mane, as seen earlier, was ridiculously poofy, standing tall yet still somehow looking slicked back. It was also relatively long, to the point where it would drag on the floor if they weren’t flying all the time, and the same went for the tail.

I guess the name Shinsha fit after all.

...

I don't know why I said that.

Shinsha stumbled a bit, teetering back and forth as they struggled to find their balance.

“Uh oh,” I began, “That take a lot out of you?”

“Tired, tired.”

I smiled, “Here.” Breaking the seal, I let light into my little space as I lifted my head and moved my arms.

Reaching up into my hood, I picked one of the flowers I think Shinsha latched onto before and handed it to them. It did indeed look like a daisy.

They slowly grabbed it, then promptly buried their face into the center.

Chuckling lightly, I carefully scooped them up and deposited them over my right shoulder. Once they were situated within the confines of my hood, I sat up straighter, glancing up and down the hallway again. It was still completely barren, even though the sun had started setting.

I imagine that once ponies were done with their day, they would return to where they were staying, and that applied to the mercenaries as well. With only eight rooms lining the hallway, at least three of them being owned by us, and the possibility of not all of them being occupied, there was a good chance that the next pony I saw would be one of the mercenaries.

And so I waited.

Alone. Truly alone.

Sitting around like this, not doing anything, it brought back some… not very fond memories. Of course, there was an important distinction between not being able to do anything and simply choosing not to do anything. Right now I was doing the latter, I just didn’t know what to do next. I had my proof, but I wasn’t with Fletch and Indigo. I wanted to regroup before going any further with Sir Manuscript, but since I didn’t know where they were, the next best course of action was to simply wait where I knew they would be.

The door creaked open on the opposite side of the hallway, and a pony I’ve never seen before stepped halfway through. We locked eyes for a moment, then she dashed back into the room with a gasp.

“What?” A familiar voice asked from behind the door, “Who’s out there?”

“I-I don’t know.” The other pony responded,

There was a groan, “Let me see…”

The door opened again, and Rusty stepped out, immediately noticing me against the far wall.

“Phos?”

“Oh hey,” I waved,

To Be Continued…

Author's Note

Who the heck is Shinsha?

It's simply really, for those that don't know, Shinsha(シンシャ in katakana, 辰砂 in kanji) is the Japanese word for Cinnabar. In the series, Cinnabar is one of the only two characters that do not use the English words for their gemstone, the other being Kongō(Adamant). Of course, subtitles and text translations sort of cover this up, but it's still an interesting little factoid, and it's a good name.

You want to really cross reference some stuff though? Shinsha is also the name of a character in the "That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime" mobile game. It is important to note that this isn't a reference to Land of the Lustrous. HOWEVER, for those who have read most of the manga, go look at season 1, episode 20, timestamp 15:08 of the TTIGRAAS anime.

Cinnabar is indeed important to Phos, but it seems that our Phos doesn't remember why.