The two had been traveling for some time, trying to find a place that would serve as a good base from which to work with. The ash seemed never-ending, and the sky was always covered, so Spring could never see the stars. She moved in closer to Kit, trotting besides him. "How can a world just not have any stars?"

He looked up at the sullen grey sky. It wasn't falling down at least. "Sorry." As if he had some personal responsibility. "I think that's just how it is around here." He reached out to pet Spring slowly down her head. "We can't lose hope! Look." He pointed to the left of their walking. There, in the gloom, a few specks of light. "Light means people."

"People." She nodded. "That's a better start than no people." She followed his lead, going towards those lights in the distance. "Hope they're nicer than the ones that hurt me before. Real jerks."

"Real jerks," Kit agreed. "I'm not letting any jerk touch you again." He smiled, looking to her, and he touched her wound, bandaged, but still tender. "How do you feel? Better?"

She nodded. "It's not hurting much any more. I've had worse." She thought about the time she had to get stitches from falling and hitting a rock with her horn. "I mean, getting shot sucked, but it's not the worst thing I've felt." She dared a tense smile at those unpleasant memories. "I'll survive! Thank you, again, for the help." She delivered a full-body hug with her magic, squeezing Kit.

Kit exploded into merry laughter at the curious sensation of being compressed from every way all at once. "You give great hugs." He delivered one far more normally with his hands around her midsection, not losing his walking pace. "We'll get you home. I promise." He let her go, his ears perked forward to try and pick out the slightest noise ahead. "I think the light is a town. A city, even."

Perched at the side of steep cliff, the settlement they were approaching did seem to be large and bustling. Most of the inhabitants had wings, and took flight on occasion. Most of the time, they walked along. The streets were swept clean of the ash. Those responsible for that task looked to be at the bottom of the rung, wearing dingy clothing and not looking at, nor being looked at, most of the others.

They were met at the gate by a guard, a griffon in armor. "Halt. Who goes there? Kirin, eh? And what's this other thing?"

"I'm a pony." Kit's tail wagged, clearly not a pony one. "Hello! My name's Kit!"

"I'm Spring." She pointed to herself. "May we come in?"

"No rule against it." The griffon peered over the two. "Just keep your beaks clean. Usual rules, plus one. Nobody's allowed out at night. Find shelter. If the ash doesn't get you, we will." He stepped aside, letting them in.

"Thank you, officer!" Kit bowed, then skipped on ahead, happy to be in civilization. "Oh look!" His ears perked towards a food stall. "I wonder what the local eats are. Smells interesting."

Spring Shower watched a few things in quick succession. One, that the guard didn't seem to care that Kit was gone, two, that Kit made his way right to a food stall, and three, that the kitsune-pony was about to spend the last of their funds on some grub. She hurried to his side. "As much as I'd love to try that with you, shouldn't we check for shelter first? That was the one rule they had."

"Food, then shelter." Kit grinned, getting to the front of the line and hopping up towards the vendor. "I'd like to try one please!"

The vendor scooped out some of the soup, or was it stew? It was hard to gauge its thickness as the vendor thrust the bowl at Kit. "One to a person. Next!"

Spring went up next, confused. "It doesn't cost anything?"

The vendor ladled out a new bowl. "Mayor's orders. Starving townies aren't helping anybody. Everyone gets basic eats, no questions asked. You eat, then you help." He thrust the bowl at Spring. "We're in this together."

Kit slurped from his bowl with a grin, his ears perking. "Wow! What an amazingly kind town!" He turned to Spring. "You were right, though. We need to get a room."

Spring took a moment to examine that vendor curiously. "What do they mean help? What do you need help with, sir?"

"Help?" The vendor's brows went down. "You two must be more fresh than I thought. You got to work." He hiked a talon of a thumb. "Depends what you're good at. You could help patrol for ashen beasts, farm what little fields we have, or maybe go cliff fishing if you're bold. All kinds of things to do. Good with a hammer? Plenty of repairs to be done, things to be forged, all sorts." The griffon waved Spring along. "I have to feed more mouths. On with you."

She nodded and turned, trotting to Kit's side. "So we have to earn our stay. I can work with that. We'll get to stay here, and then we'll have time to figure out how to get back."

Kit bobbed his head at that. "Yes. I can work with that. We'll be good guests. They've been very nice to us so far." He took a fresh sip of the soup and licked his snout of what stuck to it. "And this, is delicious." He smiled. "This place has nice people."

She smiled at him and took her own sip, feeling the warm soup trickle down her throat. "Wow, you're right. That is nice."

They wandered together down the road, taking in the sights of the city on their search for somewhere to shelter for the growing evening. "Where are you from, Spring?" He looked up from his food to peer at her.

"I'm from Equestria." She looked at him. "You?"

He shrugged his shoulders, his tail lashing. "Not there. My mom's Equestrian though! I hear that's a super nice place."

She nodded. "It is. I'd like to get back to it, but I guess this isn't a bad second." Her eyes flicked towards the sky. "I don't know why it's so ashy here."

Kit brushed against her side. "Something really bad musta happened here. But we can get back home." His tail wagged. "I won't give up until we do. Promise!"

Spring nudged back on Kit. "Glad I ran into you. Oh! That looks promising." One of the many stores had a big picture of a bed on it. No words, but the icon seemed clear enough. "Let's try there."

They trotted to it and slipped in. Inside was a small room with a desk and an old griffon sitting at it. "Can I help you?"

Spring trotted right up. "Hello. We need shelter? It'll be night soon."

"Yup." The old griffon was quiet a moment, sitting there. "Why are you staring at me?" He gestured towards the inside. "Go on in. If you're together, grab a room. If not, crash in the commons. So long as you don't see someone else's stuff there, it's open for the taking."

"That's so generous." Kit's tail was wagging. "This place seems so nice. Thank you!" He trotted for the opening into the main room of the shelter. Inside were several rooms along the wall with a big communal room. The commons had several beds in use and some unused, though there were plenty of people just on the floor. The kitsune-pony trotted forward and grabbed one of the beds, climbing onto the simple sheets and curling on them.

Spring poked him with a smirk. "He said we could take a room if we're together, which we are."

"We are?!" His cheeks colored vividly. "Um."

She laughed at his expression. "We're not dating or anything, but I do trust you. Come on." She threw her arms over him and hauled him right off that bed. "Let's get a room."

Kit's tail was lashing with the excitement of the situation. She trusted him enough to share a room, and that made him happy, even if it wasn't a date. "Okay, let's!" He jogged with a happy smile as they went to the first door and knocked.

"Occupied," came a voice from within.

"Sorry. Um, have a nice day." Kit dashed to the next one and was about to knock when Spring got in the way and pushed him back. "What?"

She pointed to a little sign on that door. Occupied, it read quite clearly. "Don't bother them if you don't have to."

"Oh. Okay." He trotted to the next one. "This one is good, I hope. I'm tired. We did a lot of walking." He knocked on that next door. Nothing. He turned the knob and found no resistance. Pulling it open, he could see the small room beyond. It was a single room with two beds, a dresser, a desk, and a lamp. "Hello? Anyone home?" No one was there, so he skipped inside, then flopped onto the bed, rolling onto his back. "So comfy..." He closed his eyes and relaxed with a long sigh.

Spring Shower came in after him, kicking the door closed behind her. "Wait a moment." She turned around and around in place. "There has to be, oh." She reared up and her horn glowed as she worked the lock with a dull kathunk. "There, now other people will know there's somecreature in here. We should get some rest. Tomorrow is a big day."

Kit rolled over onto his side. He was facing her, but he was already fast asleep, his tail wagging slowly in time with his breathing.

"You are too cute." She giggled gently as she trotted towards the other bed. "See you in the morning." She crawled under the covers of the other and nestled in to join him in slumber.

***

Spring woke to the sounds of a busy city outside, her ears twitching to it. She yawned, rolled, and looked to Kit. She jumped in surprise, realizing he was already looking at her. "Oh, you're awake." She rolled and stretched out on the bed. "Good morning, sleepyhead."

"Morning." Kit was sitting upright, his tail flicking back and forth. His eyes were wide open.

A voice called out, shouting from the streets, "Night Guard successful! One injury, Zero fatalities!"

Spring glanced towards the sound. "What's that mean?" She turned to Kit. "Do you know?"

"Bad stuff." Kit slid from the bed and stretched. "Let's go find something to do. Maybe we can help." He shook out as any fox might. "We could join that night guard, but I don't think you'd want to do that. Fighting. The soup griffon told us about it." He paused with a little frown. "What are you good at, besides making portals to other worlds?"

She shrugged, stretching out again. "Not much else. I'm a kirin, and we have special powers, but they're all meant to let us live in harmony with nature, not really to help people. I can get really hot when I try." She held up a hoof, glaring at it angrily a moment before her hoof and lower leg burst into flames. "See?"

"Wow! That's so cool!" He trotted to her and leaned in, sniffing at her flame. He reached out to touch it, but she pulled her hoof back. "I bet that could come in handy. Oh! Yes." He almost danced in place. "They said they need help forging. You can make fire. I bet they'd really like that if you can get hot enough."

She smiled, then sighed. "That's probably as good a use of my powers as we'll find around here. I guess it's that. How about you?"

He shrugged. "I'm a pony, a kitsune, and a fox. I'll find things to do." He giggled gently. "Promise. Um, let's promise to meet back here when it starts getting dark. If this room is taken, we'll meet in the commons." He pointed the way. "And we can decide which room to take then."

She nodded, stepping up and giving him a hug. "Thank you, again, for all your help. I'd be lost without you."

"I'd be bored." He returned her hug, then let her go and tried to open the door, but it refused to open. "Is this stuck?"

Spring's horn glowed as she undid the lock she had engaged the night before. "You have to unlock it first, silly thing."

"Oh!" He laughed at himself as the door swung open. "Well. Let's get going." He stepped out with her, and together they made their way through the commons and outside. "Alright, I'm off."

Author's Note

After that rocky start, this town seems to have its priorities straight. Not a single creature has asked for bits so far though. Good?

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