Scarlet Tears

Chapters

A New Day
Meeting the Gang
Hidden Truths
Homeward Bound
Smoked Feathers
Trespassers
Visiting Hours
Frozen Fury
Whole New World

A New Day

Crimsondrop hadn’t moved by the time Whiterobe returned home, her visit from Princess Celestia had been a short and –to her- heartbreaking encounter. Stranded. She was stranded, unable to return home to those she knew ever again. She would never again taste the magic-rich greenery of Nagrand, or partake in the pure spring waters of Hyjal…

Oh, sure, she would likely be far safer here than she ever was there, but… What is life without a little thrill? Sure, she’d spent her life in fear of ending up dead, or worse. Normally ‘or worse’ would be a somewhat poetic way of stating that there could be something worse than death, but being killed and resurrected as one of the Lich King’s undead minions was undoubtedly worse than simply dying.

She didn’t want to be here for the rest of her life. Forever here in this world, what was it that the Princess had called it? Equestria? Granted she’d not given it a chance yet, but she shouldn’t have to. She shouldn’t have to re-learn what was safe and dangerous, shouldn’t have to make new friends simply because the old ones were completely out of reach, she didn’t want to learn her way around another world. Wasn’t one enough?

She barely acknowledged when Whiterobe entered, wanting to stew in her depression.

Whiterobe, conversely, hadn’t seen anypony this depressed in all her years as a professional Nurse. Crimsondrop seemed not only distant but vacant, like she had literally let her mind go out for a walk. Her eyes were blank and unfocused, and her breathing deep and slow as if she were asleep. The fur on her face was streaked with tears, and she lay partly in a damp spot on the bed where she had cried enough.

She considered only leaving again, to let her have her privacy, but she had to change her bandages lest they become too heavily soiled and stick to her skin, which would only become more painful to remove, possibly even causing the stitching to pull. She sat down next to the bed and sighed, gently tugging the blankets back to reveal her patient’s body.

She’d noted it before that Crimsondrop looked particularly strong, her muscle tone was impressive and looked somewhat out of place on her frame. She looked more like one of the Royal guards than a working nanny.

Whiterobe’s horn glittered and the gauze bandages wrapping one of the smaller wounds on Crimsondrop’s body started to release its hold, quietly shifting as it unwrapped from her body and curled into a roll and was dropped into a metal bowl on the bedside cabinet. She would clean these gauze rolls in the washing machine for later re-use.

The whole time she unwrapped and cleaned the wounds on Crimsondrop’s body, she barely shifted, or made any sound. She seemed aware of Whiterobe’s actions, and did shift a little to give her better access to an injury that was practically over her spine. She just didn’t seem to care anymore otherwise.

Until, of course, Whiterobe got to the last, and largest of her injuries.

The wound had been almost six inches long, and Whiterobe had accidentally made it deeper when she had been shaving the area around the wound, stretching it a little. Still, it had been stitched shut like all of her other wounds, and Whiterobe had expected it to be healing as well as the others. Instead, as she removed the gauze wrapping it, she noticed that the cotton pad was more soiled than the others.

When she pulled the pad off, Crimsondrop yelped loudly in pain and tugged away, fresh blood now rolling down her thigh. The stitching had held, but the wound beneath was bruised worse than Whiterobe had seen in years, not since one of the weather team’s Unicorns had crash-landed through Citrus Squeeze’s orchard.

Whiterobe startled a little and turned her head, grabbing a large wad of tissues from a tissue box and forcing them to the wound.

“Clanky! Get my kit and a bowl!”

Crimsondrop only looked over at Whiterobe worriedly.

“W-what happened..?”

The look Whiterobe gave her was unnerving. She was worried about this odd turn of events.

“The wound has bled enough to cause a cavity and a bruise of a very… vibrant purple.” She said. “I had hoped that your muscles would be tight enough to keep it closed, but it would seem that you were bleeding more than I anticipated. I’m going to have to remove your current stitches, drain the wound and re-stitch it.” She gave Crimsondrop a sympathetic tap on her shoulder with her hoof. “I’m sorry, but this is going to hurt,” she said as Clank Clop hurried in with a large medical kit in his teeth and a bowl on his back, which his wife took with her magic. The kit clicked open and Crimsondrop could see a dozen differently shaped needles for sewing glint in the light. “It’s going to hurt a lot.”

Whiterobe hadn’t been lying. It did hurt. It had been so painful that Crimsondrop had twitched and yelped, being held down by Clank Clop so that she didn’t hurt herself or move too much. The bowl had filled with a substantial amount of her blood, and Whiterobe made sure to get every stray drop she could before putting the bowl to one side and wiping down the wound with an antiseptic liquid.

It had stung the wound so bad that Crimsondrop had fallen into pained tears, hissing as it was rubbed around her wound.

When Whiterobe apologised and drove the needle and thread into her thigh, she remembered screaming.

Clank Clop pushed a large wad of hardened fabric into her mouth, making her scream cut off suddenly.

“Bite down on this, Crimson; please, it’ll be over soon.”

It took nearly four minutes of stitching and muffled screams for Whiterobe to finish, by which point Crimsondrop’s mind had blanked out. She stared vacantly at the wall, only brought back to reality when Whiterobe tugged her up from her laying position into a hug, her own face streaked with tears. Crimsondrop noted her tears; it had obviously pained her considerably to have caused so much agony to her guest. Weakly she hugged back.

“I’m sorry, Crimsondrop, I had to!” She half-shouted to her, “I couldn’t leave your wound like that. Please, I’m so sorry!”

She only nuzzled back into Whiterobe’s neck. “I-it’s alright, I… y’ did what y’-y’ had tae.” She breathed, her voice hoarse from screaming into the fabric. “Th-thank y’ fer everythin’.”

Whiterobe moved slightly. “I-“

“Y’ didn’t have tae do anythin’ tae help me, but y’ did; both you and your husband ‘ave put yourselves out fer me, and I’m sorry if I become a burden.”

“Don’t worry about that, Crimson;” Clank Clop said as he tugged his wife back from her hug. “Just try and get some rest.”

She nodded faintly, shifting a little as Whiterobe wrapped her up with fresh gauze and a cotton pad.

“We’ll be back to re-dress your wounds in the morning; try and get some sleep, okay?” Clank Clop said as he and his wife moved to the door. Crimsondrop only nodded, and he smiled. “See you then.”

****

Clank Clop and Whiterobe dawdled into their kitchen having just spent a couple of minutes cleaning the blood from Whiterobe’s hooves and front. Whiterobe was still somewhat shell-shocked from having caused that much pain to another pony, and she absent-mindedly almost sat on the table as she stared into space. A knock at the kitchen door drew their attention, and Clank Clop opened it gingerly.

He stepped back and opened the door fully, allowing Princess Celestia to step into the kitchen.

Whiterobe snapped back to reality and bowed respectfully as Celestia cleared the doorframe and stood by the table.

“P-Princess, I’m sorry, we weren’t-“

“It’s fine, Whiterobe; this is somewhat an unscheduled return to follow up my original unscheduled visit.” She said calmly. “I was in a meeting with the mayor and heard screaming, so I would assume something was amiss involving your guest upstairs?”

Whiterobe seemed a little disturbed at the Princess making such an obvious referral. “Y-yes, Princess, something I missed when treating her originally developed a … slight complication.”

“I see.” Celestia replied, hers a practiced poker-face of calm. “And the screaming?”

Whiterobe scratched the back of her neck worriedly, unsure of how far into detail she should go. “I… had to add new stitches. Unfortunately I’m not allowed to take any anaesthetic from work, and I'm terrible with sleeping spells... I had to sew while she was…”

“I understand.” Celestia said, cutting her off. She’d easily noticed Whiterobe’s head lowering sadly and some fresh tears appearing at her eyes. “It must have been very hard.”

“I’m trained to do no harm.” Whiterobe said distantly. “What I did… I could have put her into a vegetative state for days. It goes against everything I’ve been brought up to do. I just… I had no time, if I’d taken the time to take her to the hospital, she could have gotten an infection, but instead I’ve caused her so much pain…”

Celestia sighed and looked down at the floor. “It is, by comparison, far less than I have done.” She mumbled.

“P-Princess..?”

“She is stranded here, Whiterobe; there is nothing within my, or any other pony’s power that can send her back where she came from without killing her. Imagine what that is like, the loneliness alone… I can only imagine what…” she drifted off faintly, as if considering something that had troubled her for some time before she returned her attention to those in the room around her, “in any case; I was here to inform her of that earlier.”

Whiterobe stared at the Princess with her mouth slightly agape, unsure of what she was hearing.

“I… I’m impressed it did not break her soul.” She mumbled.

“Whiterobe, I must inform you of exactly what kind of creature you have in your home;” Celestia said as she sat down on one of the table’s cushions. “While I do not consider her dangerous, she does have some rather… worrying potential.”

Whiterobe’s undivided attention now landed itself on Princess Celestia, and the royal smiled faintly.

“Crimsondrop is a creature from a place which, while not unlike our own, is still somewhat different. Her home world was assailed by powerful and dangerous creatures, and their abuse of the planet’s magic inevitably caused it to tear itself apart. The magical fallout from this explosion caused the world to have dramatic effects on its remaining inhabitants.

“I trust you noticed how magic has barely effected on her when you initially attempted to heal her wounds? This is because, while she is a type of goat, magic is so ingrained into her body that our magic will have little, if any, effect on her. It took a great deal of concentration for me to implant her understanding of Equestrian language into her mind and to alter her voice to enable her to speak.

“To further the torment on her, she comes from a world where violence is a way of life; she may have never been exposed to direct conflict, but hers would naturally be a flighty species. She may find it difficult to make friends or trust ponies; she may even have difficulty eating the foods which are very much a staple of Equestria’s diet. I am unsure if she needs to eat magic-infused foods to keep up her body’s supply, or if she naturally produces her own like we do. She may even be capable of using magic like horned Equestrians can, but I have not seen any indication.

“Crimsondrop is… afraid, Whiterobe.” Celestia mumbled. “She’s alone in a new, strange world, and she is unsure if it is as hostile as her own is. She’d frightened and confused, her only knowledge of our world so far is pain; while I cannot send her back to her own world without causing it, if she doesn’t find a reason to stay here she may bring about her own death.” Celestia gave Whiterobe a most imploring look. “Please, Whiterobe; this might be more stress onto your already burdened shoulders, but I ask you to give her reason to stay in Equestria.”

Whiterobe nodded exasperatedly. “Of course, Princess; If there’s anything I can do to help her, I will.” She said. “After all, it’s how I was taught.”

Celestia smiled cheerfully. “Thank you, Whiterobe; I would have gone to my personal student for this, but I felt it required a different touch.”

“Is there anything else, Princess?” Clank Clop asked from behind her. “Any… preventative measures I should be considering?”

Celestia chuckled as she stood and turned. “No, no, I assure you she will be no trouble once you get her to trust you.” She said, heading to the door. “I have you all booked to the New Ewe spa here in town tomorrow; Phony Paige mentioned that she had been unable to get a booking for you all, so I made arrangements.”

“Y-you didn’t need to go out of your way like that Princess…”

“It is quite alright; I didn’t go and make the bookings personally, I sent two guards who found that, not only were the bookings free for the next month, but that they were intentionally not letting Paige make a booking. Consider it a thank you for taking the task of helping Crimsondrop.”

Whiterobe and Clank Clop bowed to her as she moved to leave. “Thank you, Princess.”

Nodding, Celestia started to walk out the door. “If you get into any trouble, let Paige know to send a report to CL0PTech detailing the issue, and I’ll send some guards to help. I thank you, again, for taking the task of helping Crimsondrop, Whiterobe; I know this will not be easy.”

After saying these words, Celestia stepped out of the kitchen and moved through the house, coming to rest outside Crimsondrop’s current room. She stood outside the door, observing her as she slept.

“I’m sorry, Crimsondrop.” She whispered, “I truly am.”

****

Crimsondrop awoke the next morning with the sun shining in on her face. She shifted and raised her head, looking about the room blearily. She didn’t question her mind as to where she was; the pain she had been through the night before was too fresh in her mind to allow her to forget. She groaned painfully and rose from the bed, gasping in pain as she put weight on her right hind leg. She looked back at her leg, moving it a little to see where it would hurt to put it and how much weight she could shift to it before she limped out of the room.

She shambled down the hall and to the upstairs bathroom she had been in before. While only half-awake, one thing had made itself irritatingly aware to her, and now she intended to relieve at least that irritation. The door opened when she reached it and Clank Clop looked back out at her in surprise.

“Crimson! I didn’t expect you to be awake yet, let alone up and about! I don’t think that White’ll be happy you’re putting weight on that leg,” He said.

“’Mornin’, Clank Clop; c’n you move so I can use th’ little filly’s room?” She asked with a slur, her mouth not waking up with the rest of her easily.

He hurriedly moved from the door into the hall. “Oh, yes, of course.”

“Thank you.”

“When you’re done using the facilities, I’ve something to teach you about living here in Equestria, okay?”

“Alright.” She replied sleepily before closing the door behind herself.

Clank Clop waited in the hall for a moment or two, allowing her the privacy she needed before the door opened again. He’d observed her limp on the way in worriedly, but had simply chalked it up to the previous night’s worrying episode. Of course she’d be stiff and in pain this morning. He knew, having lived with his wife for as long as he had, that her trip to the bathroom first thing in the morning was nothing unusual as well. She stepped into the hall and he nodded to her, motioning her to go back into the bathroom.

“Alright, back in.” He instructed, moving in past her and to the bathroom sink. “We’ve a spare in the cabinet, so it should do…”

“Spare what?”

She closed the door as he opened the cabinet over the sink, pulling out a yellow toothbrush. Crimsondrop only looked at it sceptically as he squeezed some toothpaste onto the brush.

“It’s a toothbrush.” Clank Clop said, holding it out to her.

“Okay.”

“We’re going to clean your teeth with it.”

“Okay…”

Clank Clop sighed. “I’ll show you how, but you’ll be expected to at least twice a day, in the morning when you wake up and at night before you go to bed. No offense, but your breath could do with a little… freshening up.”

Crimsondrop hadn’t taken well to the toothpaste, but she did assure Clank Clop that she would brush her teeth every morning and night. She found herself returning to her room and staring at the bed distantly, gazing at the blood and tears that had stained the sheets. Her mind roamed over what had happened to her the day before, the Princess’s visit, the pain… She didn’t notice when Whiterobe entered, too lost in her own mind.

“Crimson, what are you doing out of bed? You should be resting that leg!” She worriedly snapped. It had all the sharpness of a soggy twig, but she did snap for what she could.

“I was woken by th’ sun,” She said quietly. “And then, after usin’ the ‘facilities’ as your husband put it, he showed me how t’ brush me teeth.”

“Well, at least that’s got that out of the way.” Whiterobe mumbled under her breath. “Well, alright; but stand still, I’ve got to change your dressings.”

Crimsondrop did as she was told and stood as still as she could as Whiterobe removed her gauze wrappings, checking her injuries before wrapping new fresh cotton onto the wounds. She double checked the largest wound on her thigh, ensuring that it had sealed correctly before wrapping it back up. The whole while, Crimsondrop just stood and stayed quiet, only once making a sound as the bandages slightly compressed the wound on her thigh. Whiterobe made a mental note to grab some oils from work that made wounds less likely to scar.

After she finished wrapping the wounds, Whiterobe took the bowl the slightly dirtied wrappings rested within in her magic and carried them from the room, taking them down to the laundry. She returned to Crimsondrop’s room to find her tugging at the sheets.

“What’re you doing?”

Crimsondrop let go and blushed shyly, though with her reddish coat it was hard to make out. “I… I didn’t want tae leave them dirty…” She mumbled apologetically. “Is… is tha’ wrong?”

Whiterobe giggled faintly and shook her head. “No, no, it’s just nice that you thought of doing it at all, especially in your state.” Her horn glittered and the sheets on the bed started to remove themselves from the mattress, pillows and duvet. They rolled into a bundle and Whiterobe carried them from the room. “I’ll take these to the laundry and we can put them in to wash while we have breakfast, I’ll see you down in the dining room.”

Crimsondrop sniffed the air curiously as an aroma made itself known to them. “What’s that..?” She asked hungrily.

With a smile Whiterobe replied. “That, Crimson, is called Baked Beans on Toast.”

****

Crimsondrop made her way into the dining room, sitting at one of the cushions and waiting for Clank Clop to bring out their breakfast. She’d taken a while to get here on her stiff muscles and wounded thigh, almost falling down the stairs once and causing her to freeze halfway down before attempting to continue. She’d felt that she could only have been more embarrassed if someone had been watching her.

Soon Whiterobe joined her at the table, sitting nearby and eyeing her curiously.

“So how do you feel this morning, Crimson?” She asked. "We... didn't really have much time to talk before..."

“Stiff.” She replied with a lopsided frown.

“To be expected I guess, you did take quite a beating.” Whiterobe said idly. “Well, we’ve got a trip to the spa in town booked for later today, about eleven, so you’ve got three hours to yourself before we head out. We’ll arrive there early, but we’ll be expected to for them to get ready for our party of nine.”

“Nine? That’s… a lot ae… what word d’you use?”

“’Ponies’, hon.”

“Won’t th' ponies runnin’ the spa be a wee bit… irritated tha’ yer takin’ nine ponies there all at once?”

Whiterobe shook her head with a cheeky smile. “Not if the booking was made by a royal guard.” She said.

Crimsondrop would have asked her what she meant by this, but Clank Clop entered with their collective breakfasts and distracted them.

A couple of bowls of oatmeal, three plates of baked beans on toast, and a trio of glasses filled with orange juice all balanced precariously on his back. He turned to grab the large platter when his wife sighed and her horn glittered, levitating the platter and putting it in the middle of the table.

“The oatmeal is for you and Crimson,” he began as he sat down, his wife moving the food about the table. “We each get the toast and orange juice.”

Crimsondrop watched patiently as the food was distributed amongst them, tilting her head curiously. She’d seen Whiterobe do this stuff before, but…

“How… are you doin’ that?”

Whiterobe looked over at her as she put the last of the orange juice glasses down.

“Magic.” She said matter-of-factly. “It takes young Unicorns many hours’ worth of practice to learn to levitate things using their horn’s magic. As we grow up, we become better at it, and the objects we can lift can be heavier and heavier as we work on it. I work on precision mostly; I used my magic to sew your thigh up last night. Hooves can get purchase, but… they’re not exactly built for fiddly work.”

“If you like we could get you a spoon to see if you can use magic in the same manner?” Clank Clop asked. “If not, it’s not like anything… breakable will be involved.”

Crimondrop shrugged a little, not really thinking his query over. “I don’t see what harm it could do.”

Whiterobe smiled encouragingly as her own magic brought a teaspoon in from the kitchen, leaving it neatly beside Crimsondrop’s plate. The goat considered it.

“Most Unicorns have a natural, innate ability to use their magic, much like Pegasi can naturally use their wings.” Whiterobe explained. “You’re somewhat a special case, so… I don’t quite know how to start. For us it’s just a feeling that accompanies our thoughts at older age, but when we’re colts and fillies it’s more like stretching a muscle within our heads. Try… I don’t know, picking up the spoon by thought alone?”

Crimsondrop nodded and stared down at the spoon. Her mind rolled through a wide spectrum of different strange feelings, one of which felt like she was looking at herself from outside her own body, before she slipped past one which made the spoon glitter faintly.

She stopped in pleased surprise, and concentrated on that feeling again. Whiterobe was right; it was like stretching a mental muscle. The spoon glittered and rattled about on the table a little before slowly levitating up about a foot.

Not wanting to leave it there, Crimsondrop slowly but surely made the spoon rotate in place or move in different directions, the actions becoming easier with each passing moment until she could manage it without having to put much concentration into it at all.

Whiterobe heard her husband laugh and looked up to see Crimsondrop eating her porridge with the spoon, and the red nanny gave her a cheeky look from across the table, the two ridged horns jutting from her temples glittering the same faint white as the spoon.

Whiterobe smiled to her cheerfully.

“You’re starting to fit in already.”

Meeting the Gang

After breakfast had been cleaned up, Crimsondrop headed into the backyard of the house that Whiterobe and Clank Clop owned. She stepped out onto the back porch and eyed the well maintained garden, from the small water feature to the large peach tree. She stepped down off the porch deck and onto the lush lawn that spread out to the timber fence, dawdling a few feet from the deck and laying down on the lawn with a contented sigh.

Finally, after a day of being cooped up indoors she had thick, lush grass beneath her.

She brushed her face against the green carpet with a smile, just enjoying the feeling of the emerald grass against her fur. It had been days since she had last been amongst grass this luxurious; the desert had been devoid of any moisture or greenery aside from the large and formidably spined cacti that thrived in the hot sun. While they held water for future use by the plant, getting at the moisture by eating the plant was something she would never attempt for one simple reason alone; those spines hurt.

She enjoyed the sun on her coat as well. The desert had been unrelenting, the blaring sun cooking unprepared adventurers alive, but the sun here was nowhere near as hot; the warmth of the burning sphere felt, for some bizarre reason, friendly.

She figured this was due to Princess Celestia holding some sway over the power the sun rained down upon the whole of Equestria. Maybe a little of her magic was mixed into the celestial sphere to control it and avoid creating vast, unrelenting deserts and dangerously hot weather during summer. At the moment, she was practicing her own magic by moving the larger bits of gravel from the garden path, levitating them about and seeing how many she could hold at once.

She observed the birds and insects that flew around the yard, creating wonderful music or tending to the garden’s flowerbed. She had found it interesting that the Ponies here didn’t only grow flowers for garden beauty, but for a food source. Back home flowers were grown in gardens in Silvermoon, large red beautiful flowers that only emphasized the beauty and elegance of the Elven town; but these flowers were not to be touched by any but the gardeners, and any tame animals caught eating them would be strictly punished.

She didn’t think Whiterobe and Clank Clop would mind if she munched on a daffodil that was overhanging the garden’s gravel path.

A shadow moved across the garden and her attention snapped skywards, her eyes watching a Pegasus fly across the next garden and disappearing behind its house. She appeared to have heavy saddlebags laden with something or other, and a little cap on her head. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been outside for, but Whiterobe opened the door and called her in.

“We’re about to leave for the spa, come on.”

She struggled to her feet and moved indoors, her smile diminishing only a little as she passed Whiterobe back into the house. Whiterobe gave a slight chuckle and closed the back door, leading Crimsondrop to the front of the house where Clank Clop and another pony stood waiting.

He stood about as tall as Clank Clop, his coat grey with a grey mane and tail; at least, she assumed his mane was the same as his tail. He wore dark grey armour with purple straps and blankets over his back on top of which a dark grey and silver saddle with a purple cushion was strapped. His armour featured a few little skulls, and looked on the whole, she noted, not unlike that worn by the undead steeds that she had seen back home. On his flank she could see a symbol of what looked like an ice cube, and his blue eyes seemed totally apathetic to the world around him.

He didn’t even double-take at her as she approached.

“Snow, this is Crimsondrop.” Clank Clop said to him. “Crimsondrop, this is a friend of ours, Snowy Doublescoop, he runs an ice cream parlour in town.”

“Pleased to meet you.” He said idly, looking her over. “You look like you’ve been in a scrap with a particularly unruly Manticore, no offense.”

“None taken.” Crimsondrop replied. “Your armour is… interestin'.”

“It’s the result of losing a bet when I was a colt.” He said nonchalant. “I’ve worn it for, what is it now? Twelve years?”

“Give or take a month or two.” Whiterobe added. “Tell the truth, we have difficulty imagining what he looks like without it he’s worn it so long. At least we’ll have a fair idea on how well you grew up today, hmm?”

“I suppose that is one way to look at it, yes White.” He sighed. “Are we off?”

“We might be a bit slow, Snow; Crimsondrop is a little… tender.” Clank Clop voiced.

“You try havin’ yer leg stitched up.” She grumbled at him.

“No need to be so snippy.” Clank Clop retorted. “I’m just thinking of you, would you rather be left behind in the middle of a strange town?”

“It would’nae be the strangest.” She sighed. “I’ve been in a town built in sewers.”

“That doesn’t seem healthy.” Whiterobe commented.

“The city was run by th’ undead, I doubt health was a major contributin’ factor in its construction.”

The others all looked at one another worriedly.

“How about we change track and just go?” Snowy Doublescoop offered. “I’m sure you could do with seeing a little of our town in any case, there are quite a few interesting sights to see.”

“Oh, speakin’ of interestin’ sights, I saw a Pegasus with saddlebags and a little hat fly over th’ garden..?”

“Oh, the mailmare’s been? I’ll have to fetch that in when we come back.” Clank Clop said idly. “I do hope she’s feeling better, she was flying wonky yesterday. Strained her wing, the poor filly.”

The four of them left the quaint abode, waiting a moment for Whiterobe to lock the front door behind them before dawdling down to the paved street.

Crimsondrop marvelled at the buildings around her and the verdant flora that, in some places spilled over the pavement. Each building, somewhat rustic in their designs, offered a different design and layout, some taller, some shorter, but each unique to the Pony who called it home. Some had bushes or vines growing across their fronts, crawling up to the roof and spreading through the thatch, while others had beautifully manicured lawns and flower gardens displaying their full splendour. Ponies of all colours and breeds trotted or flew about in their general day-to-day morning business.

Trottingham was at least a quaint and cute town, far enough out of the way to avoid the hectic nuisances that plagued other, more central cities like Ponyville or Canterlot, but close enough to enjoy the security that the Royal Guard could flex in their direction.

They passed by a building which looked somewhat newer than the buildings around it, a sign on the roof reading ‘Heavy Hoof Tavern’ accompanied with a barely painted image of a pony with a huge horseshoe on one leg. It looked somewhat empty at the moment, only a few ponies here or there enjoying breakfast. A young filly scurried past the door, a rose in the shape of a heart on her green flank and a serving tray of drinks on her back.

The next building they passed was a large white building with pale blue curtains and décor. A red cross on the roof and the words ‘Trottingham Central’ made Crimsondrop oddly curious about what the building was.

She nudged Whiterobe curiously.

“What’s..?”

“That’s the hospital I work at, Crimson.” She said with a smile. “Trottingham Central; I’ve been allowed a few months off for maternity leave, so I don’t have to be back there until the foal comes.” She chuckled at the look Crimsondrop gave her. “No, no, I’ll be back as a patient, not an employee.”

Crimsondrop eyed the heavily pregnant mare curiously before returning her attention to the town around her. Why focus on one thing when the town itself was full of splendour?

More Pegasi flit about overhead than she had ever seen in her life, delivering mail or, bizarrely, moving the clouds about the sky. She had always found their ability to fly simply fascinating; to swim through the air, gliding past buildings and through the clouds… Surely the feeling of freedom would be second to none.

She noticed the others stopped walking, and she looked about to see why they had stopped. Whiterobe nudged her attention to a building just across the street from them. It was moderately sized, the building painted in a cool blue, with white details that looked like poorly painted waves. The front doors were open wide, and a little chalkboard sign sat nearby listing some special deal or other, while a large wooden sign high on the building read ‘New Ewe’ in large, ridiculously curly letters. A group of Ponies stood by the door, all mingling about. Whiterobe, Clank Clop and Snowy Doublescoop all wandered up to the group, so Crimsondrop figured she’d join them.

*****

Whiterobe dawdled up to her friends, nodding her head to each of them as she approached. They were an unruly bunch, especially when Holly Seams, the white Unicorn, got off on a wild tandem or, Celestia forbid, got into the sugar bowl. Still, at least a couple of them were more… reserved. Silent Quill simply stood by and listened to the general conversation as he usually did, the orange Unicorn not one to talk much.

Then there was Saddleblaze, Trottingham’s star fire-fighter. The red coated Earth Pony with her shiny orange mane and tail, unkempt though it was, was a friendly and generally enjoyable Pony to be about. She wasn’t the city’s highest ranking fire-fighter, but she was their most decorated. She and Whiterobe had been friends since they were fillies, and Whiterobe would often see Saddleblaze after fires had been put out, burned and bleeding. She always walked with pride, however, no matter how badly burned she got; it was almost as if she couldn’t feel pain.

She and Snowy Doublescoop had been seen sneaking around to one-another’s houses, usually with flowers and chocolates. The general consensus was that they were becoming more than just friends.

The next Pony in the circle was the only of his kind outside of the Everfree Forest, as far as anypony knew anyway. Shadow Gazer, the groups only Nightmare was an enigmatic individual. Black fur and a mane and tail made of swirling purple fire, he was a walking nightlight. More often than not he would stare unabashedly at the ground. Since his special skill was the ability to see the future in dirt, it was clear what he was doing.

Finally was Phony Paige. A bright blue body with silver mane and tail with a single streak of dark blue through the hair, she was smarter than most Ponies gave her credit for, and far more durable. She didn’t say anything unless prompted or she felt she could contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way. Her presence at the spa was odd and somewhat out of place, especially as most of their more exclusive treatments would have no effect on her body.

Whiterobe had been looking forward to this since Princess Celestia had told her that they had been booked in the night before; never had she been to the spa in town, always busy with work, and now with a foal on the way she just hadn’t found time.

She smiled warmly at Crimsondrop as she approached and the circle grew quiet at her apparent intrusion.

“Everypony, this is Crimsondrop. Crimson, these are our friends; Saddleblaze, Silent Quill, Shadow Gazer, Holly Seams, and Phony Paige.”

Crimsondrop dipped her head to them.

*****

Phony Paige eyed the nanny introduced to her by Whiterobe as Crimsondrop. This nanny was the cause of worry to her friend..? It didn’t seem… right.

As Whiterobe began to explain who Crimsondrop was and how she came to be under her care, Paige watched the Nanny’s expressions and way she held herself. Since she herself had come into the wonderful world of Equestria in a rather more unorthodox manner, she knew the kinds of prejudices that Crimsondrop would be expecting. More than that, she had an encyclopaedic knowledge on behaviours and mannerisms which represented different thought patterns and personalities.

In short, she was studying the nanny.

Whiterobe had come to her the night before, distraught and afraid, and she asked Paige if she could dissuade her fears in whatever manner she could think of. It had nearly forced the pregnant mare to tears to explain that she was afraid, to admit that she was ashamed of being afraid of one under her care. The nanny relied on her to recover; Crimsondrop needed somepony to help her so she could heal safely and integrate into Equestrian life smoothly and happily.

Crimsondrop, to Paige’s expert eye was nervous and skittish, worried of the ponies around her. She held her weight off of her hind left leg, the leg she had been limping on the most when she approached. She didn’t smile, didn’t talk… in fact, this was the closest thing Paige had ever seen to being emotionally drained of all happiness; it truly was as if the nanny had lost everything.

Granted, Paige admitted to herself, she had. Everything that Crimsondrop could call a family or friend was back in another reality, so far out of reach that not even the Royal Sisters could return her to them. But still… She didn’t seem to have taken stock of what she had kept or gained.

‘Ah,’ another, more emotionally driven part of her brain began to say, ‘but she’s been out of her reality all of one day, she is still mourning for the loss of everything she held dear. She’s skipped past Denial, Anger, and Bargaining in the emotional table of grief and gone straight to Depression; she’ll be in tatters emotionally for days, mayhap even months.’

Then what? What could be done to help her if she isn’t even following the normal and documented order? Could she flip back around and land on Anger? Whiterobe had asked for help, not to be frightened by being told that this nanny could explode at any minute.

That was when she noticed how close Crimsondrop was standing to Whiterobe. It was as if she were sheltering, hiding in her shadow from monsters unseen to the others.

She hadn’t expected to see such evident fright.

No, no, with the new added element of fear and sheltering with Whiterobe, Paige could come to a relative conclusion. Even her more emotionally driven half had come to the same deduction. Crimsondrop, no matter how bad things got, would never intentionally hurt Whiterobe, not even emotionally. Whiterobe was her one safe haven in Equestria, her Pony in Shining Armour. While she seemed nervously aware of the mare’s inability to fill this role, it was all she had.

Now that she was comfortable she had come to a result that would at least calm Whiterobe, she could observe Crimsondrop in a more… physical sense. She wasn’t that much taller than the average mare of, perhaps, Saddleblaze’s age. Her legs were slim and longer perhaps, but they seemed to be slim in less of a sense that there was a lack of anything and more that what was there was well toned. Her whole body lacked any apparent weight beyond muscle, making Paige think of Ponies who plied physical fitness every day, or even the Royal Guards who had to be in rather prime physical condition.

She looked, very much, like a working nanny who did some pretty serious work.

She didn’t bare a Cutie Mark on her flank, something that Paige knew that some goats could acquire, though on somewhat rarer cases. Usually Cutie Marks were exclusive to ponies, even Zebra ponies, but there were exceptions… She wasn’t sure if Crimsondrop would ever earn a Cutie Mark, but she just had a feeling she couldn’t explain that she would.

The next thing to be scrutinized by Paige was the Nanny’s horns. All six of them. Yes, goats had horns, usually the rams, but with many breeds the nannies were known to grow and keep their horns, though she’d never seen any goat breed with six. Two larger horns that grew from her temples which were ridged on their upper side three times, and another four horns on her lower neck, two on either side which were all conical in shape. These four were only little, and barely showed through her scruffy and unkempt mane. What in Equestria were those for?

Her fetlocks were long and unkempt too, almost covering her glowing red hooves. They were cleft, as is usual for goats, and appeared to be in need of a trim. Other than this, and her evident injuries, she appeared to be in prime physical condition, possibly even healthier than she’d seen many ponies.

Silent Quill said something and began to head to the door, the others all following suit, and Paige turned to join them.

*****

“Party of Nine..?” The desk clerk asked snidely, looking down at the bookings. He’d been running them for a loop for the last five minutes that Paige had been talking to him.

He didn’t want to let her in.

The whole town knew what Phony Paige was, and he wasn’t the only one who didn’t like her. He was well aware that he was grating on her nerves. If he kept going, he might just manage to get them to leave and forget the booking that the two Royal Guards had made the day before.

His ears flattened to his head when Whiterobe pushed Paige aside and glared at him.

“Look, I’m pregnant, tired, and now getting rather angry.” She snapped in his face.

“And you are..?”

“I’m one of the Party of Nine you’re attempting to screw over; so if you don’t mind, we’ll be taking our booking or I’ll have to find a reason as to why I kicked you so hard you walked funny for a month!”

He recoiled at this threat worriedly.

“Or you can explain to the Royal Guards why you ignored their booking? I’m sure the Princesses would love to hear all about it!”

“F-fine! Just go in!” He panicked, backing off. The last thing he wanted was to have his job taken from him by the Princesses which, after this little fiasco, would be likely.

“Thank you!” Whiterobe growled, before turning on her hooves and heading further into the spa, the others following her steps.

*****

Crimsondrop watched Whiterobe sigh as she sat down just inside the spa antechamber, glaring irritably at the ground. Worried she walked over to nudge her, only to find Clank Clop beat her there.

“Hon, are you alright?”

She nodded. “I’m fine, Clanky, just… he pushed all the right buttons for all the wrong reasons for five whole minutes. I just need to calm down.”

“Well, that’s what you’re here for.” A chirpy female voice said as she entered. She was a faint yellow with her red mane tied into a strict bun behind her head. “Hello, I’m Desert Rose, and I’ll be in charge of your masseuses, masseurs, and other relaxation carers. I do apologise for Scribbly Note’s behaviour, he’ll be reprimanded later on, for now however I’ll give you the basic directions.” She lifted her left hoof and pointed to one side of the hallway. “The Colts’ change room and bathroom are to your right, and the Fillies’ change room and bathroom are to your left. Through the door behind me is our main hallway which leads off to the heated bath, sauna, masseuse rooms, cold room, and our speciality care room.

“While we do look forward to serving you all, we must ask that you please use the change rooms and bathrooms before entry. There are showers for you to have a light rinse before you enter. We also apologise for the inconvenience of only being able to see two of you at a time in any of the ponied rooms, as we’re a little shorthoofed this morning.” She finished with only a slight flicker to her cheerful smile. “Thank you for coming. Now unless there are any questions..?”

Phony Paige held up a hoof.

“Yes, sweetie?”

“I assume you’re not going to enforce that we attend the masseuse at some stage?” She asked.

“No, you’re free to come and go as you wish; the Royal Guards booked your party for the majority of the day, so you may use the relaxations provided at your leisure. I understand that you’ve some… special circumstances, Miss Paige, and we’re willing to take these into account.”

“Scribbly Note wasn’t.” Phony Paige grumbled.

“Scribbly Note’s opinions do not reflect the opinions of our establishment or myself,” Desert Rose said, “you are welcome here, Paige, as are all of our customers.”

“Do you provide hooficures and fetlock trimming?” Saddleblaze asked.

“We do, in the Speciality Care room. We also provide facials and hot towel treatment.”

A general positive murmuring went through the gaggle of friends.

“Now, if you’ve no further questions, I must be off to ensure our masseuses and masseurs are ready. Please enjoy your stay.” Desert Rose said, bowing her head and backing out of the room.

The small herd of ponies split up, headed to the separate change rooms. Crimsondrop, a little unsure of it all, followed Whiterobe into the Fillies’ change room. Phony Paige and Saddleblaze were already standing under the shower, letting the clean water stream over her fur and wash away the dust she had collected, while one of the bathroom stalls was locked, evidently where Holly Seams had gone.

She wasn’t sure what to think about these Ponies. Were they as friendly as Whiterobe had implied? They had certainly eyed her curiously as she approached, but Crimsondrop wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing.

Whiterobe, evidently aware that Crimsondrop had been following her, turned and motioned her to stop and stand still.

“Just let me get these off.” She said as her horn began to glitter and the gauze wrapping Crimsondrop’s wounds began to unwind itself. She stood as still as she could, looking down at the ground sadly as Holly Seams left the bathroom stall and gasped.

“Oh dear Celestia, those look awful!”

Whiterobe shot her an irritable glare as Crimsondrop’s gaze weakened further, the mare evidently aware that she’d struck a nerve.

“Do they hurt much, Crimson?” Whiterobe asked calmly, to which she nodded.

“Only when I move.” She mumbled sadly.

Whiterobe nodded faintly as she removed the last and largest of her bandages before pointing her to the bathroom stalls. “Go use the bathroom and then have a quick rinse in the shower; we’ll take you to the warm bath first.”

Crimsondrop nodded, heading to the bathroom stalls and stepping in, closing the door and locking it behind her.

She stepped back out of the stall and over to the showers, where Phony Paige was still enjoying the water streaming over her back. She stepped into an alcove and looked about curiously, unsure how to get the water flowing.

“Let me help you with that.” Phony Paige’s voice said as her head and shoulder slid around the alcove wall, pressing a button.

The water stung her bruises when it first struck her, and she shifted uncomfortably as it rolled off her back, taking with it dust and dirt otherwise stuck to her fur. Her former master hadn’t really considered cleaning her in any real sense, the closest thing she’d gotten to being clean was when she had forced herself to clean her coat in snow or by taking a prolonged dip in a lake or stream.

“Turn around, Crimsondrop; you still need to clean your face.” Phony Paige pointed out.

She grumbled and turned so her face was in the water, flinching a little with her eyes closed as the streams hit her face. By the time the water stopped flowing, she certainly felt heavier and wet.

Paige gave a small grin and shook herself, managing to get a fair amount of the water that still clung to her fur off. Crimsondrop tried to follow suit, managing to shake her head and right legs, but giving faint whines and pained gasps when she did the same to her left.

“Don’t hurt yourself, Crimsondrop, Celestia knows I’d never hear the end of it if you got hurt while Whiterobe was expecting me to help you to the warm bath.” She said before turning to the door. “C’mon, let’s not keep White waiting.”

Crimsondrop followed the mare through the building to the warm bath, a sign over the door indicating what was within the room so clients could find it. Within the door was a large, glass-roofed room, the walls painted a clean white and with healthy, flowering potted plants about the walls apparently thriving in the humidity. The cloud cover overhead was dark and foreboding, and rain gently pattered against the glass. Nopony was in the pool yet, all crowding around Snowy Doublescoop who still had his helmet on his head.

“Oh! Paige, you’re just in time!” Holly half shouted from the group at them. “Snowy is going to take his helmet off!”

“I don’t see what the fuss is, it’s not like he’s got a deformation or something.” She grumbled, stepping over. “He just wears it all the time.”

Snowy Doublescoop sighed and sat down before reaching up and slowly tugging his helmet up and off of his head, allowing his mane to fall free.

And fall it did; the colt’s mane slid down around his head and neck, reaching below his shoulders easily. The group were all rather dumbfounded at how… flowing his mane was, or how strong his face appeared without the helmet masking it.

“How in Equestria do you hide all of that hair?” Silent Quill asked sarcastically. His own mane had been removed from the usual ponytail and now trailed down his neck and rolled off his back.

Snowy Doublescoop shrugged.

Now that the entertainment was over, the group of friends all went about their own days of relaxation. Snowy Doublescoop moved to one side and set his helmet down before going to sit in the sauna with Saddleblaze, while Clank Clop, Silent Quill, Holly Seams and Shadow Gazer all moved into the warmed bath and sat back to relax.

At least, they managed to relax until Holly Seams started a splash fight.

Crimsondrop watched their revelry disinterestedly until Whiterobe nudged her.

“C’mon, in you go.” She said.

Crimsondrop looked back worriedly, finding only Whiterobe’s warm smile, before swallowing her nervousness and stepping into the water. Its warmth felt wonderful on her skin. On her wounds it stung like bees, and she bit her lip as she stepped deeper and moved to one side to sit, avoiding the splash fight.

She sat quietly for a short while, just trying to enjoy the warmth on her skin but finding herself unable due to the sting on her cuts. Paige sat to one side of her and looked at her worriedly.

“Crimsondrop, are you alright?” She asked, barely audible over the noise of the others playing.

She shook her head.

“Is it your cuts?”

She nodded.

“How badly do they hurt in the water?”

Crimsondrop’s eyes slid to the water beneath her and she mumbled her reply, but couldn’t be heard over the noise.

“Sorry?”

Another inaudible mumble.

Phony Paige sighed. “Would you lot be quiet for a moment?!” She snapped at them, managing to get them to stop. “Please, I’m sorry, could you…”

“They really sting.” Crimsondrop mumbled as a tear rolled off her face.

“Oh, I know how to help you with that!” Holly Seams blurted, moving over.

“H-how?”

Holly looked her in the face seriously. “This is going to really hurt though, at least for a moment.”

Crimsondrop nodded and Holly stood her up, turning her right side to the wall and putting her hoof near the cuts on her body.

“Which ones hurt the most?” She asked.

“M-my thigh and th’ one above my shoulder.” She replied worriedly.

“Alright.” Holly Seams said. “You may want to grit your teeth and set your jaw, try not to scream okay?”

Crimsondrop nodded and bit her lip, waiting for Holly to do what she was going to do.

Her eyes bulged when Holly pushed hard against the injuries.

She twitched and writhed, trying to get away from the pressure on the tenderest parts of her injured body. Her breathing caught in her throat and she felt like she was about to pass out before Holly pulled back and hugged her.

Finally Crimsondrop’s breath returned and she coughed out some sobs before breaking into tears.

“Holly, what the hay did you do?!” Whiterobe snapped.

“I applied pressure.” She said calmly. “She’s tender because they’re fresh wounds, a little pressure will desensitize her to the warmth of the water so she can enjoy it. I’m sorry, Crimsondrop.”

Crimsondrop nodded into her shoulder before pushing off of her and sitting back down with a sniffle.

Again she stared at the water, letting a couple of tears roll off of her cheeks as she finally got over the searing pain that Holly Seams had administered to her. Slowly the warmth returned, and she noticed that, yes, the pain had subsided somewhat. If Holly Seams had done anything, it was to numb her injuries by overloading the pain receptors. By the time the numbing sensation faded, she would be used to the heat on her cuts.

It had hurt like no tomorrow, but at least it would pay off in the long run.

Soon enough the others returned to their splash fight, occasionally splashing Phony Paige and Crimsondrop in attempts to provoke them into joining in. Paige only giggled at their attempts while Crimsondrop would brush her sopping mane back from her face irritably.

“Now that we’ve got you comfortable, Crimson, how about we go to the Speciality room and have your hooves and fetlock feathers trimmed?” Phony Paige asked. “I did notice that you looked a little… ungroomed.”

Crimsondrop looked down at her hooves, noticing for the first time in months that they were far more unkempt than they should have been. Her master had never bothered to really care for her in that sense and she’d only had her hooves trimmed and fetlock feathers shorn to a more respectable length when she was left in a stable for several nights and a passing stable-hand had taken the time to care.

She sighed and stood back up, bringing a hoof up to her face to brush her mane away again.

“And maybe we’ll see if they can do your mane for you too.” Phony Paige added. “At least it will get us away from these troublemakers.” She finished with an irritable hiss and giving Holly Seams a glare.

Crimsondrop nodded and followed Phony Paige from the pool after shaking off what water she could.

Not ten seconds later she was laying on a mattress up off the floor on her front with her legs splayed out to her front and back. Phony Paige had joined her in the room, but she only sat nearby and waited patiently, saying something about being here to be a friendly face in the room.

The staff member who would be tending to Crimsondrop entered with a smile and moved over, looking down at her hooves with professional curiosity. She seemed thoughtful for a moment before her horn glowed and Crimsondrop found herself being lifted and the lay on her right side with her legs all out straight.

“Sorry for that, Miss.” The staff pony said. “I find it easier to trim hooves like yours from this angle; I trust there is no problem?”

“N-no.” Crimsondrop replied timidly.

The Unicorn smiled warmly and lifted a pair of hoof clippers and got to work. Other than the gentle snip of the clippers, the room stayed awkwardly quiet until the Unicorn decided to chat.

“Have you enjoyed your time here so far miss?”

“I guess.” Crimsondrop replied quietly. “Th’ warm water hurt m’ cuts a little, but I’m gettin’ used t’ it.”

The Unicorn paused her clipping to look up at the Nanny, actually noticing the stitched up injuries scattered across her body.

“Oh, I’m sorry miss! I didn’t even notice! I didn’t lay you down on any, did I?”

She shook her head. “No, they’re on m’ left side only.”

“Well, that’s one good thing, isn’t it?” The Unicorn said cheerfuly, resuming her work. “Just make sure to tell the masseuse or masseur if you go and get a massage, okay? We wouldn’t want to make them worse.”

“Okay.”

The Unicorn smiled wide and returned to her work, focusing on it more intently than before. After finishing with the clippers, she took out a small pair of scissors and quietly clipped Crimsondrop’s feathering.

It was unusual for goats to have feathering around their entire hoof, but since she did have it and didn’t seem to mind the unicorn only trimmed it shorter so she wouldn’t end up treading on it and it showed her glowing hooves.

It would be a nightmare to attempt to give her a full hooficure, but she could at least give them a light polish. For that, however, she wanted to be able to see her hooves, so a feathering trim it was.

“Miss?”

The Unicorn looked up and over at Phony Paige, who had spoken up.

“Yes, Miss?”

“Do you do manes here too, or will we need to go to a salon?”

“Oh, I’m sorry Miss, but we don’t do mane cuts.”

“Alright, thanks.”

She nodded gracefully. “Of course, Miss.”

She returned to her work, putting down the scissors and lifting a hoof polisher which she gently brushed across the Nanny’s glowing hooves. She was impressed at how easily she got a light sheen from her glowing hooves, though somewhat more impressed at how the glow only seemed to become more vibrant as she went. Wherever the polisher had done was a brighter glow than the rest of her hoof, so she went by that to determine where she hadn’t done.

Once she was finished with the Nanny’s hooves, she allowed her to sit up and took out a file. Gingerly she brushed it across one of Crimsondrop’s horns. To her, and Phony Paige’s surprise, the file managed to get a few sparks of magic to leap from Crimsondrop’s horn, bursting into the air around her head like little fireworks as the mare worked.

It was rare, but not unusual for a Unicorn’s horn to do this during horn filing. Any Unicorn who used magic extremely often or for greater purposes, such as moving very heavy objects would have excess magic build-up in their horn, which would discharge when the file ground away at it. Crimsondrop hadn’t seen the sparks, so she didn’t know that anything was off.

When she was finished with the main file, the Unicorn used the nail buffer to get a slight sheen from them, as she had with her hooves. Thinking her job complete, she took her tools to one side of the room and looked back at her work.

“Miss, she has smaller horns on her neck…” Phony Paige pointed out.

“Oh?” She asked curiously, returning to Crimsondrop’s side and brushing her mane aside, finding the four small conical horns. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize…”

She levitated the buffer over and, for about fifteen minutes, gently buffed the horns she had missed. Looking over her completed work from afar, she nods to herself.

“I am finished, Miss.” She says. “Thank you for your patronage and patience.”

Crimsondrop looks up and over at her before nodding and gingerly shifting off of the raised mat. Finally on her hooves, she’s directed to a mirror on the far side of the room, where she can see her reflection. She looks somewhat neater now, her hooves rounded and smooth with neatly trimmed feathering, her horns now not as sharp edged as before.

She turned to one side faintly, looking at her red fur and frowning sadly, the missing patches reminding her all too well her circumstances. From the angle she looked at it, she looks like she has isolated rashes. She gave a sigh and her gaze drifted to the ground.

“Miss, do you not like it?”

“I’m sorry, Miss, could you… give us some privacy?” Phony Paige asked.

The Unicorn bowed her head and left the room through the door she had entered through.

“Crimson, are you alright..?”

Crimsondrop didn’t answer, staring at the ground sadly before she turned and left the room, heading out and to the warm bath. Phony Paige, confused, follows her to the bath where she sits in the water with a faint whine as her wounds slowly become reaccustomed to the warmth.

“Crimson..?”

She sighed and looked up at Phony Paige.

“I’m… alright.” She said quietly. “I’m just…”

“Homesick?” Phony Paige offered.

Crimsondrop nodded sadly.

“I miss… everyone.” She huffs. “A… and I don’t ‘ave… any way tae talk with them, or… or anythin’ that…”

Phony Paige steps over to her in the water and gently sat down, letting the Nanny rest her weight against her. She didn’t know anything about helping with homesickness, her programming didn’t detail that much. She figured the least she could do is be there for the distraught nanny, to comfort her.

“I want tae go home.”

*****

After a short while, Crimsondrop calmed down and returned to enjoying the water she rested in.

She’d never been in warmed water back home, as she told Phony Paige; the only warm water was in the desert or reserved for those who could afford it. She was pleased to be told that warmed water was available to all in Equestria, though she was advised that the water she was currently resting in was impregnated with minerals to make it more luxurious and relaxing and that she wouldn’t get this kind of water at home unless she bought bath salts.

Their conversation became idle and slow as they ran out of things to talk about. Eventually Saddleblaze, Snowy Doublescoop, Whiterobe and Clank Clop stepped out of the sauna in the far corner of the room. They dawdled over to the edge of the bath and smiled down at them.

“Enjoying yourself, Crimson?” Whiterobe asked.

Crimsondrop looked up and gave a faint smile.

“There’s nothin’ like this back at home…” She mumbled.

“Tell you what,” Phony Paige began, nudging her faintly, “you go with Saddleblaze here to the massage room while I have a chat with White, okay? Remember to tell the staffpony about your injuries.”

Crimsondrop nodded and managed to stand, wading through the water to meet up with Saddleblaze who, with a cheerful smile, walked with her out of the room. They passed by Silent Quill and Holly Seams at the door, the ponies only smiling to them as they passed.

After the two were well out of sight and in the massage parlour, Phony Paige’s face turned to Whiterobe.

“White, I need to ask you something.”

“What is it?”

“Crimsondrop… when she arrived…” Phony began, trying to pick her words carefully, “Did she have… any personal effects on her?”

Whiterobe blinked and thought, her mind trying to return to the events of the day.

“Oh, I remember!” Holly chimed, bouncing up and down cheerfully. Paige grumbled, listening to Holly Seams was, at times, like listening to somepony who’d eaten too many sweets.

“Do tell.” She said, though her tone was somewhat irritable.

Holly seemed genuinely hurt by her tone. “Gee, lighten up, Paige, I’m only trying to help.” She said defensively. “Anyway; when Crimson arrived she was faintly steaming, like she’d stepped out of a hot shower into snow.” Paige sighed, this was going to be the ‘long version’ whether she told the mare to cut to the chase or not. “She was bleeding rather heavily, but I do remember seeing her wearing what looked like it could have been a saddle.”

“’Could have been’?” Paige asked.

“It looked like whatever it was had been through a wood chipper, but since it was on her back I’m assuming it was a saddle.”

“That would make sense, since she said she had been ‘owned’ by somepony who used her to ride to places.” Whiterobe pointed out. “Though the way she speaks of them, I doubt they were any kind of Pony.”

“Other than that, she did have something on her face; it looked like armour, but it was so mangled…” Holly mumbled.

“Do you think you could recreate it?”

“Not to wear;” Holly replied, “it required a bridle and bit to keep it on from the looks of it, and I would never…”

The other ponies all hummed in agreed understanding. Bridles and bits were not used in day-to-day life in Equestria; they were used to restrain Ponies who needed to be controlled, such as those in mental health. Other than this they were... well, rather taboo bedroom paraphernalia.

“But I could recreate it for aesthetic display, like a wall ornament or in a glass display tube; but I wouldn’t be able to make the whole thing. Some of the shreds, mostly the bridle, were made of… leather.”

One or two of them shuddered alongside her.

“Couldn’t you use faux leather?” Paige asked.

“Eeh…” Holly grunted, “It’s hideously expensive; I couldn’t just go using what little I have on a personal project.”

“Don’t you have faux leather on that getup you wear?” Whiterobe asked sidelong.

“Yes, but that’s more my work uniform than a personal project.” Holly sighed.

“Alright, Holly, if you can please do.” Paige says firmly.

“Why do you want it made, anyway?” Clank Clop asks.

Phony Paige shrugs faintly. “Clank; have you seen how she acts when she thinks of home? Of what she left behind? She’s so desperately homesick I’m impressed she’s not physically sick.”

“I see what you’re getting at, Paige.” Whiterobe starts, “If she can get something, anything, that reminds her of home and she can find comfort in, it could at least ease her pain.”

Paige nodded firmly.

“From what you said her world was like, it’s unlikely we’d be able to do much else than that, but… anything is better than doing nothing.” Paige says. “I may not get homesick, but I can at least understand what she’s going through.”

The others all looked between one another clueless.

“What do you mean?”

Paige sighed. “In Equestria, I also am one of a kind.”

Hidden Truths

Crimsondrop sat in the sauna at the New Ewe spa in Trottingham, taken there by Silent Quill. She’d been in the massage parlour, and she had never felt more relaxed. She’d almost fallen asleep on the massage table, kept awake only when the masseuse had accidentally brushed her left thigh.

The Pegasus had apologised profusely, but Crimsondrop had only brushed it off and thanked her for at least keeping her from drifting to sleep. Saddleblaze, conversely, had already drifted to sleep and needed to be roused from her slumber before the two could leave.

Crimsondrop had been pleasantly surprised by Saddleblaze’s voice. She spoke so smoothly, and her voice was like chocolate to hear. How she managed to make fire fighting sound so… sultry and alluring, romantic in its own special way. The mare was charming, and when Crimsondrop asked why she had been so quiet before, she simply said that the ability to listen well is a key quality in any fire fighter. She could talk the others’ ears off if she were to be given the opportunity, but usually that was being done by Holly Seams.

Silent Quill, conversely, was true to his namesake. He sat in thoughtful silence, apparently not doing anything aside from enjoying the heat of the sauna. Every now and then she’d catch him looking in her direction curiously, but he would divert his attention forward the second she looked over at him. It gave her the unnerving feeling of being studied.

She could feel his eyes on her, and she could only take so much.

“What?” She groaned, turning her attention on him.

“Nothing.”

“Yeah, nothin’; sure.” She grumbled. “Pull th’ other one, it has bells on.”

“Well that’s a colourful phrase.” Silent Quill grumbled.

“Don’t change th’ subject.” She hissed. “Y’ keep lookin’ at me but say nothin’; there somethin’ in my fur or somethin’?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “No, no; nothing like that, I assure you.” He said. “It’s just… well, you’re surely aware of how… unique you are in Equestria, you can hardly blame my curiosity.”

Crimsondrop sighed. She could surely think of a dozen things to rebut this argument, but she really didn’t have the heart to, he was right after all. She was such an oddity in this world that she must stick out like a sandwich in a soufflé.

“You’ve certainly got a nice coat.” He said sidelong, grabbing her attention. “Aside from the Zebras, who rarely come to our neck of Equestria, I’ve not met anypony who has stripes.”

She looked back over herself at her coat, eyeing the stripes on her side and back; stripes which cut her tail into coloured strips except for the long white fur which plumed from the top and bottom and made a point far beyond the end of her actual tail. She was pleased, in a small sense, that the change to her fur hadn’t concealed her stripes, instead making them a darker hue than the red of the rest of her fur.

“I used tae be white.” She said faintly. “My horns and hooves were purple, but… I guess magic is ae funny thing.”

“Well, at least you kept some of your white, even if it’s only on your mane and tail.” Silent Quill said. “It looks… good.”

She giggled faintly at his nervousness to say so.

“Thank you.”

Another twenty minutes in the sauna saw her growing used to the heat, and when she’d finally grown tired of the room, the air outside felt frigid and made her cuts ache in a somewhat pleasant way. She didn’t want to return to the water for long, but she did take a quick dip to clean her sweat off before she shook faintly and found a spot to one side to lay and rest, looking up at the glass roof.

The heavens had opened, and rain pounded against the glass, though it didn’t make much noise because of the thickness of it. She sighed and lay on her side, resting her head against the tiles as she drifted to sleep.

******

The grass beneath her hooves was thick and lush, and the sky above her was the familiar and welcoming mists and beautiful swirls of Outland’s sky. She smiled wider than she’d smiled in years, her heart racing as she hurried to her trip, wanting to join her mother and tell her she loved her, even if it was only by nuzzling and being close to the elder Nanny.

When she arrived, her trip was all there, her brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles. Her mother stood near the back, chewing peacefully on some grass. She drew nearer and gave a faint bleat, only for the trip to look up at her in fear and back away.

She halted her movements. They… they were afraid of her? Her own family? Why?

She moved forward and bleated again, this time her tone of worry, of fright. Her trip only redoubled their efforts to back up, some fleeing to the far side of the village. Only one remained in her place, her mother, and she looked on with her eyes wide in fright at her as she approached.

She bleated a third time, and her mother gave one of her own, one of warning and threat. This caused her to stop moving altogether. Her mother was… threatening her? She backed up confusedly, a second questioning bleat leaving her throat, one that quivered on her lips.

Her mother only nodded at her and snorted angrily, and she looked down. Her coat was red and dripping blood and her body looked like she’d starved to death long ago. She whipped her head to where a metal tool, a plough, rested against a fence and looked at herself. She was atrophied and frail-looking, her mane grimy and dirty, her horns were stained and gave off little glow. The feature that frightened her the most was her eyes. Instead of her natural, purple eyes, she saw only a ghostly blue. It was something she’d seen before.

They were the eyes of the undead under the Lich King’s control.

She looked behind her, where she had come from, to find the villages’ population massacred, laying in pools of their own blood, hoof marks and deep gouges littering their bodies. She looked back to her mother, fear lacing her mind and soul and she bleated.

Her mother backed up, and she took a step forth, repeating her frightened sound. Her mother turned and fled, and she hurried after her, bleating out her fright and desperation, tears running down her cheeks as the world blurred and vanished.

*****

She jolted awake, the last echoes of her voice reverberating about the bath, the others all standing nearby watching her worriedly.

‘Mother..!’

Her breathing came in fast and erratic pants, and she could feel the blood pulse through her veins and the heavy beat of her heart. Her face was, once again, streaked with tears and she looked about at the ponies standing around her.

“I… I..!”

It was all she could say before her dream replayed in her head and she broke down into terrified crying, putting her forehead against the cold tiles as she cried.

She’d had nightmares before, but they had never been so… vivid and bleak. They’d managed to jostle her awake in shock, but never had she been so terrified. Everypony she loved everypony she treasured... She’d been chased and attacked by the Lich King’s minions in her nightmares before, but never had she been the monster. Never had she instilled fear in others. Her mother had always been her one beacon in her nightmares, the one thing she would sacrifice herself for, or see watching in terror from a distance, but this time her mother had feared her.

She felt somepony lie at her side and carefully nuzzle her neck, and her eyes flicked open to see that it was Whiterobe.

“Shh, it’s alright Crimson.” She breathed into her ear. “We’re here, you’re safe.”

She huffed and tried to catch up with her own heart as it raced away, pounding blood and adrenaline through her.

“I’m sorry..! I’m sorry!”

“You’re sorry? Sorry for what? You’ve done nothing wrong.”

She shook her head; how could she possibly explain what troubled her so? How could she forgive herself for imagining something so… so revolting? How could she forgive herself for breaking down so pitifully? Here she was, lying on the floor crying over a nightmare like a little kid.

No, explaining what terrified her would only lead to more questions and answers she wasn’t ready to give, that she might never be ready to give. She couldn’t do that to them, it wouldn’t be fair.

“I… I’m ruinin’ yer day by being such a…”

Whiterobe sighed. “No, stop that.” She scolded gently. “Our day has been too good to be ruined over something like this; we’re worried about you, Crimson, why else would we be here?”

“I… I don’t want tae ruin your day and cut short your relaxation…”

Whiterobe sighed and Saddleblaze giggled. “Crimson, we’ve been waiting for you to wake for an hour; we figured we’d let you sleep, but none of us wanted to risk waking you to get you home.”

Crimsondrop nodded. “I’m sorry.” She mumbled, trying to stand. Her legs were wobbly from fight now fading.

“Don’t be, Crimson; you need your rest to heal.” Whiterobe said. “We’re just pleased that you were comfortable enough around us to let yourself fall asleep.”

With a sigh Crimsondrop nodded and started to dawdle from the room, the others following her close behind. She’d been so deep into her dream that she was sleep talking? All she remembered was bleating in her dreams, but… in Equestria her bleats would have been translated into the language she now spoke, and she’d been calling out for her mother. Her mood drooped lower than it already had; now the others had something to ridicule her with.

Part of her brain berated her for showing such a weakness.

When the group reached the foyer, Desert Rose met them and dipped her head.

“I have spoken with the other management and as an apology for Scribbly Note’s earlier behaviour-” she shot him a dirty look from the corner of her eye, making him cringe, “we are going to give each of you a hamper full of our finer range of bathing salts, soaps and facial cream.” She motioned to a row of hampers sat neatly in a row on a counter by the door. “We thank you for your patronage and hope to see you again soon.”

The group thanked her and retrieved their baskets. As they headed outside, Crimsondrop was stopped by Desert Rose.

“You have a good friend in Whiterobe.” She said. “You look after her, alright Hon?”

Crimsondrop nodded nervously in response, and Desert Rose smiled cheerfully.

“Look after yourself too; next time you come here I want to give you my speciality massage.” She added. “It’s full body, so you get better okay?”

She looked at the mare curiously, but Desert Rose only smiled back cheerfully. With the smile infectiously creeping across her face, she nodded.

It was a short walk home, and being able to keep a faster pace now they made it to Whiterobe and Clank Clop’s home in only a few minutes. Again she was looking about the town as she walked, enjoying the sights and sounds of Trottingham. The sun warmed her coat and skin, Pegasus flew overhead delivering mail or handling the clouds from their recent downpour, Unicorns and everyday Earth Ponies moved about on the ground cheerfully handling the day-to-day business that kept Trottingham on the map.

They almost dawdled past the hospital, but a commotion by the door got their attention.

Three colts, each larger than Clank Clop in size, were trying to budge a large rock at the door.

Whiterobe hurried over.

“What’s going on?”

The colts looked over at her and huffed exhaustedly. “White, sorry, a Unicorn got a mite upset at being brought here and dragged this thing with her. We’ve been trying for ten minutes.”

Whiterobe sighed, it was a somewhat common occurrence; a unicorn had hurt herself and didn’t want to be taken to hospital for one reason or another and had tried to hold onto something solid. She eyed the rock wearily; it had to weigh at least a tonne. Crimsondrop looked the boulder over.

“Got any rope?” She asked.

The colts nodded and pointed to the rope they had tied around the rock, indicating that at least one of them had been pulling. She poked Whiterobe with a hoof.

“Could you tie it around my waist?”

Whiterobe blinked at her incredulously before nodding, her magic lifting the rope and tying it neatly in a loop around Crimsondrop’s waist. Crimsondrop grinned and waved the ponies away. Their faces all shared the same look at Whiterobe’s.

There was no way…

Crimsondrop gritted her teeth and strained against the rope.

It’s impossible…

Slowly but surely she took another step.

That’s impossible.

She grinned as she dragged the rock from the doorway and to one side, the sound of heavy stone grinding against the paving stones echoing around their section of the street. She’d kept grinning as she dragged it another four meters before she yelped and stopped, freezing in her steps with her eyes closed as she shivered. Whiterobe’s magic untied the rope from her middle and she hurried over.

“Crimson, are you alright?”

Crimsondrop nodded. “I’m fine, Whiterobe;” She huffed, “I just… pulled on a muscle in m’ thigh‘s all.” She motioned to the cut on her flank. “This ground’s unrelentin’, but this is hardly th’ heaviest I’ve pulled.”

“You’ve just pulled a rock that three stallions couldn’t budge.” Clank Clop reminded. “And you’re saying you’ve pulled heavier loads?”

Crimsondrop nodded. “Only slightly though.”

Whiterobe and Clank Clop gave one another nervous glances before motioning for Crimsondrop to continue home with them.

*****

Whiterobe’s thoughts hadn’t been this conflicted about another pony in years, not since before marrying her Clanky… She’d been the spitting image of a nervous bride, but the moment that she’d walked up beside him at the Alter and looked into his eyes, her fears had simply melted away to give way for the love she felt for him.

No, this time she was conflicted about the Nanny she was guiding home.

She’d just done something that three fully grown stallions had failed to do together. Something she was uncertain that Paige would be able to do. Crimsondrop had frightened her before with her sudden entry into her life, and her appearance worried her too, but… She was still unsure of the Nanny’s motivations and intentions, she was still afraid that she would turn on them. The strength she had just demonstrated only added to that fear, if she did turn on Whiterobe and her friends, she could do a lot of damage in a very small amount of time, and it was doubtful that they could reliably contain her before guards showed up.

No, no, she had to assume that Crimsondrop meant well, stress would not be good for her unborn foal.

They reached their home to find Paige waiting on the front doorstep patiently, watching the other ponies move about the street in their daily lives. She seemed content to continue this activity for some time, but the moment that Whiterobe noticed her, she noticed them and stood up with a smile. While Clank Clop got the mail in from the letterbox, Whiterobe unlocked the front door and let everyone in.

“I’ll just put these in the kitchen.” Clank Clop said, moving through the house with the mail. “There’s one here for you from the hospital, by the way White.”

“Thank you Clanky.” She replied, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Crimson, I’ll be with you in a moment to bandage your stitches, alright?”

“Okay.”

“Crimson, let’s get a couple of drinks and let the mares talk.” Clank Clop offered.

“Okay.”

Whiterobe waited for her husband and guest to be out of the room before sitting at a couch.

“So…”

Paige sighed. “Whiterobe, last night you came to me distressed…”

*****

Crimsondrop and Clank Clop strolled into the kitchen. The room was clean, dishes thankfully done from the morning’s breakfast and the counters clear and wiped clean. Disinterestedly Clank Clop deposited the mail on the open countertop before opening the fridge and retrieving a bottle of juice and two glasses.

“Oh!” Crimsondrop exclaimed suddenly before turning back around. “I’ll go ask Whiterobe ‘nd Phony Paige if they want a glass!”

“Oh, thanks Crimson.”

She limped back through the house to where Whiterobe and Phony Paige were sitting and chatting, her ears catching a little of the conversation, specifically her name. She stopped and listened worriedly.

“-she’s certainly an interesting creature, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like her.” Phony Paige’s voice said.

“She’s nice, but…”

“But…?”

“She… I’m still afraid, Paige; she managed to learn levitation magic in a matter of minutes; I’ve never seen anypony manage that. Even I took weeks to master it when I was little.”

“And yet I’m certain that Princess Celestia’s protégée, Twilight Sparkle, did not take long to master it.” Phony Paige pointed out.

“That’s beside the point!” Whiterobe snapped. “On our way home she volunteered to help move a boulder from the front door of the hospital, three Earth Pony stallions failed to move it together, but she managed to pull it alone!”

‘They’re talking… about me..? Wh-why’re they talking about me? And why does Whiterobe sound so… worried?’

“I understand your worry, Whiterobe, but I assure you that you have nothing to fear.”

“But she’s shown that she’s apt at magic, and she’s very strong..!” Whiterobe snapped worriedly, the distinct tone of her choking up cutting into her voice. “She… she came from a world full of violence, how am I supposed to… how am I supposed to trust her?”

Crimsondrop’s heart skipped a beat or two. ‘She doesn’t… trust me..?’

“She could be dangerous, Paige! She could be dangerous and I allowed her into my home, into my life!” Now the sound of Whiterobe crying was evident and audible, even in the hall where Crimsondrop hid to listen, though her own face had begun to streak. “She scares me!”

Crimsondrop blinked and gasped, unable to stay hidden or hold herself back as she swayed into the doorway. She realized she’d been noticed, the two ponies watching her worriedly as she stared at Whiterobe in tearful disbelief. Unable to hold herself in place anymore and ignoring the searing pain from her leg, she bolted through the house and up to her room where she slammed the door shut and huddled on the bed, her heart broken once again.

*****

Clank Clop entered the lounge to find his wife and Paige staring at the stairs. He’d heard the door slam, but he didn’t quite know the cause.

“So… did either of you want drinks?”

Whiterobe’s head snapped in his direction. “What?”

“Crimson headed back here to ask if you wanted drinks.”

His wife blinked at him before she looked at Paige. “She… she wasn’t spying on us intentionally?”

“It would seem that way.”

“H…how much did she hear? Oh dear Celestia, what did she hear?!”

“Whoa, whoa, hold it up; what’s going on?” Clank asked. “All she said she was going to do was ask if you two wanted some juice.”

“We were… talking about her.” Whiterobe admitted.

“Oh?” Clank pushed, sitting down next to his wife. “Please do elaborate honey.”

“I… She scares me, Clanky.” Whiterobe admitted. “She came from nowhere; we know nothing about her… She could be dangerous.”

“Honey…”

“No!” Whiterobe snapped. “Even Nightmare Moon, that evil, heartless witch was once Princess Luna, and we’ve seen how lovely she is in person. She… she could be…”

A sigh cut through the conversation, the sound coming from Paige and catching their attention to her.

“White, you asked me to observe her.” She said. “And I promised you I would. I did observe her, I used my experiences to analyse her body language when you first arrived at the spa. Though, initially I was uncertain, I did come to several conclusions.

“My first conclusion was that she was evidently more torn up about her current predicament than I would have guessed for somepony who has had so much torn from her only a day ago. In the usual model for grieving, there are five stages; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. Just observing her I could tell that she was forced through denial, skipped anger and was forced through bargaining right to depression. Psychologically, this would be a huge blow. If you’ve not noticed, she has barely smiled since this morning; it’s as if all happiness has simply drained from her life. She’s emotionally drained and exhausted.”

“Paige, those stages can happen in any order.” Whiterobe pointed out. “And if she becomes depressed like this, if she switches to anger she could…”

“She won’t.” Paige argued. “As I said, she was… negotiated past it, possibly by a third party.”

“Princess Celestia came to talk with her last night, just before Whiterobe came home.” Clank informed them.

“That would probably be the cause then.” Paige mumbled. “She cannot be angry at anypony, it was an accident and nopony is to blame. In any case, I can confidently tell you, White, that she is safe.”

“How can you just-”

“As I said, I observed her; and through all of the contributing factors to her emotional and physical state, one thing shone through enough for me to ignore them all and come to my conclusion that she will not be dangerous.”

“And that was..?”

Paige smiled faintly. “Fear.”

“What?”

“She was afraid of us. All of us. I could see it in her eyes, the way she held her body and cringed from us slightly… Most importantly, I could see what, or rather who, she clung to for what little comfort she could gather from her fright… you.”

Whiterobe blinked in momentary astonishment. “Wh…what?”

“You took her in and cared for her. You helped her to the bathroom and to where she could find food…”

“You cried alongside her last night during her emergency deep-tissue stitching.” Clank added.

“You’re her saviour, her one beacon of hope in this otherwise bleak world of unknown strangers and threats. She feels safe when she’s with you. Or, at least, she did; I don’t know how she feels now. I may have an encyclopaedic knowledge on pony behaviour, but if there is anything I have learned it’s that everypony behaves differently to things, even her; she could be emotionally ruined.”

Clank Clop sighed.

“I think, Paige, it’s my turn to fix things. And this time you’re going to help me.”

*****

This was a stupid idea. Paige knew this was a stupid idea. Why was she going along with this? Oh, right, because Clank Clop told her to, and that if she didn’t then Crimson might break down into an inconsolable mess.

‘And for White, we’re doing this for White too.’

Quiet you; this is bad enough without your input.

She sighed and knocked on the bedroom door nervously, but didn’t receive a response. With a second sigh she worriedly opened the door and looked in.

“Crimson? It’s me, Paige, I want to talk.”

Crimsondrop shifted, but didn’t respond.

Paige stepped into the room and closed the door behind her, eyeing the Nanny currently curled up pitifully on her bed. She could hear her crying, oh Tartarus she could hear her crying from out in the hall.

“Crimson..?”

Crimsondrop shifted in the bed before getting up and moving over to her, her face streaked with tears and her eyes furious. She stepped right up to Paige and spun, pulling in her hind legs.

‘She’s going to kick me and send herself sprawling. It’d take a team of stallions to move me.’ Paige thought, before another thought moved through her head.

‘You mean like the team of three she out-muscled to move a boulder?’

Oh… buck.

The Nanny yelled in furious exertion as her legs sprang back, managing to push Paige into the wall where she slid to the ground. The walls and floor shook while the windows rattled when she struck the thankfully strong wall.

She sighed and watched Crimsondrop as she rose over her, bringing her forelegs up high to crash them down onto her. She thanked that she was made of sturdy stuff; this would probably kill any other pony. She stuck harder than Paige thought anypony of Crimsondrop’s size could manage but merely waited for her to wear herself out, enduring blow after blow from the furious and frustrated Nanny.

Eventually Crimsondrop relented, slamming her head into Paige’s side wearily as she wept out apology after apology.

“Are you finished, Crimson?” Paige asked, making her jolt.

“Y-you’re… not dead..?”

“I have endured worse than you can dish out, I assure you.”

Crimsondrop looked away sadly. “Why’re you here, what do you want?”

“I want to explain,” Paige replied calmly. “That is all.”

Crimsondrop nodded and moved back to her bed, dropping onto the ground next to the mattress on her right side and looking across at Paige. Paige, in turn, grabbed the tissue box from the bedroom bookshelf and put them next to the still crying Nanny, taking a tissue and putting it onto her thigh, where a small streak of blood had moved down her skin after she exerted herself to kick her.

“I want to start by saying that we are sorry.” She began, lying down in front of her. “We did not even consider that you might have heard us talking, and we’re sorry for talking about you without your knowledge. We understand that it was meant to be a private matter, but… you should have been privy to it, and we apologize; but considering what Whiterobe was talking with me about you, you can understand why we were concerned about not including you.

“However, we need to elaborate why Whiterobe said what she did. I know that you cling to her for comfort, Crimson. I’m not blind or stupid, but I’m also not heartless, and I would never say you should leave her be, but… A few years ago, a great and terrible pony returned from being imprisoned magically in the moon for a thousand years. Her name was Nightmare Moon. She intended to plunge Equestria into eternal night, to force us to look upon the stars forevermore. After about a day of endless night, she was defeated and the sun was returned to the sky.

“She had her power stripped from her, and her mind returned to the pony she used to be, a pony we all address as Princess Luna. She is Princess Celestia’s younger sister. Whiterobe is afraid of you because Princess Luna is a charming and wonderful mare, but she turned quite easily into something dark and dangerous the likes of which Equestria rarely sees. Whiterobe is frightened that you, also, could become as dangerous as that wicked and dastardly mare.

“I have known since we first met that it would not be the case, but I needed to reassure Whiterobe of this; unfortunately you happened to hear her voice her worries before I could manage to say anything.” She smiled faintly and put a hoof gently on Crimsondrop’s shoulder. “We’re sorry, Crimson, but… we did not mean to hurt you.”

Crimsondrop nodded faintly, though she still seemed somewhat depressed.

“There’s one other thing we need to show you.” Paige said slowly and deliberately. And for that, I need something sharp.”

“I would offer m’ horns, but they were filed down, remember?” Crimsondrop mumbled sadly.

Paige sighed and headed to the door, opening it long enough for Clank Clop to hand her a small knife before closing it and turning to her.

“Remember… remember how you’re alone, as the only one of your kind in Equestria?” Paige asked, to which Crimsondrop nodded nervously. “You’re not the only one.”

She dragged the knife across her shoulder, cutting a gash clean through her skin before dropping the knife and showing Crimsondrop the cut, or rather the shiny metal beneath.

“Wh-what?!”

“I am a machine, Crimson.” She stated flatly. “I was made to be as close to real as possible, and I do like to think of myself as a success. After an… incident, I became known as a machine to the whole town, and the project which created me was scrapped. I have no brothers or sisters, nor mother or father; all I have are my friends, who are the closest things I have to family.

“I… I would like to add you to that small and somewhat dysfunctional in the case of Holly Seams, family if you want...”

Crimsondrop looked up into Paige’s eyes, her own face pasted with astonishment, before she gingerly rose to her hooves and moved across the room, throwing her head over Paige’s undamaged shoulder and hugging her. Paige was taken aback for a moment, but gently returned the hug when she felt a tear tap onto her skin and heard Crimsondrop sniffle.

“Thank you!”

Homeward Bound

Following the awkward revelation and explanation from Paige, Crimsondrop had been somewhat more… accommodating to returning downstairs. Initially she had only returned to the kitchen where Clank was to fetch her drink, saying that she wanted to find somewhere to sit and think, but Clank and Paige had been insistent on her and White getting some time alone to work out the suddenly vast rift between them.

The conversation had been awkward and stunted, full of nervous fidgeting and each being unable to look at the other.

Eventually Clank nudged his wife hard enough to dislodge her voice.

“Crimson, I…” She began weakly before swallowing to clear her throat, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“I understan’,” Crimsondrop said quietly, “I suppose its t’ be expected; I did sorta just drop intae your lap an’… pick up skills. I…” she sighed and looked away, “I can refrain from usin’ m’ strength and magic if y’ want… I know how y’ must feel with a foal on th’ way…”

“No Crimson, you shouldn’t have to stop being you just to quell my fears; I’ll… I’ll get past it in time…”

Clank gave a short chortle and rubbed her stomach with a hoof gently. “Soon enough you’ll have plenty of distraction, I’m sure.”

Whiterobe swatted his hoof away playfully. “You sound so eager now; wait until you’re on twelve AM diaper duty.”

The couple looked across at Crimsondrop conspiratorially, prompting the nanny to lift a hoof.

“Don’t look at me like tha’, jus’ because I’m a nanny don’t mean I’ll be yer nanny.” She said, before lowering her hoof and looking away. “Never liked kids in th’ first place; too… naggy.”

Whiterobe gave an amused chortle at the nanny’s admittance. “Well, there goes that idea. We’ll just have to do the parenting thing ourselves like real parents, won’t we?” She punctuated her statement by nudging her husband sharply in the ribs. “Won’t we, Clanky?”

Clank Clop coughed awkwardly and nodded. “Yeah, we’ll be ready; if a certain somepony weren’t taking up the room we’re planning to use I could get it prepared.” He said, giving Crimsondrop a sarcastic and accusing look across the room to which she huffed.

“Well, excuse me f’r needin’ a place t’ sleep; I can take th’ couch if y’ want me to.” She huffed. “Honestly it doesn’t make much difference t’ me, I’ve slept on rocks and sand before, anythin’ is comfortable after that.”

“No, you’re fine, Crimson; if push comes to shove we might move you to the lounge, but for now you’re fine where you are.” Whiterobe said before her stomach grumbled and she looked over at her husband with doe eyes. “Clanky, could you get some lunch?”

Clank Clop gave a well humoured laugh. “Of course, Hon; anything in particular you’d like?”

With a voice that would put a pining lovesick schoolgirl to shame, she replied with but one word; “Apples~!”

“Everypony gets different cravin’s when pregnant, be thankful yours is only apples, White.” Crimson said as Clank walked out to the kitchen. “A mare I knew back in my world had a cravin’ for cactus.” At this, Whiterobe shuddered.

“Cactus..? Yuck; all stringy and tough and so very disgustingly tart…” She stuck out her tongue distastefully.

Crimsondrop gave a hearty laugh, thankful that things were back to normal.

Well, subjectively normal anyway.

*&*&*&*&*

Crimson awoke the next morning to a heavy pounding on the door to her bedroom. Groggily she got to her hooves and hobbled to the door. She’d been able to walk almost perfectly without pain the night before, so she assumed that she was simply feeling her wounds in the morning and that the pain would go away after a short while. She gave a displeased grumble when the door pounded again, and her horns gave a faint glimmer as she reached out with her magic to open it. Beyond, a pony she did not recognize stood in full armour with a professional frown on his face.

“Who th’ hell’re you?”

The pony double-took at her before his mouth managed to work around his tongue. “Royal guard, second division, Princess guard regiment; I’ve been told to wake you and bring you and your hosts to the house of Miss Phony Paige. Please take a few minutes to make yourself presentable and be at the front door.” With that he turned and strode away towards the stairs, leaving Crimson to stare incredulously at his retreating form.

She shook her head, figuring that she would find out what was going on after brushing her teeth. She meandered to the upstairs bathroom and stepped in, finding Whiterobe to be over the sink already, toothbrush in hoof as her magic attempted to run a brush through her bed-head. She looked over at Crimson in the mirror.

“Good morning, Crimson; sorry for the early start, what with you still recovering and all, but when the Princesses call, one goes.” She said after rinsing her mouth out and finally getting her mane in order. She eyed Crimsondrop’s own mane for a moment before sighing. “I suppose you cannot go like this.” She mumbled, before beginning to run the brush through her surprisingly neat mane.

“Ah, what’re y’ doin’?”

“Brushing your mane; you’re meeting at least one of the Princesses, you can’t go to them looking like you just got out of bed.”

“She didn’t complain when she met me two days ago.” Crimsondrop countered.

“Two days ago you were crippled and unable to get out of bed.” Whiterobe huffed. “Princess Celestia is hardly going to make you get up and dance a tango when your hind leg is held together with surgical thread and good intentions.” Anything that Crimsondrop would have retorted with was cut off through her toothbrush and a rather large knot that the brush caught before untangling. For a minute or so the pair continued to brush their respective tasks until Crimson rinsed her mouth out and White put the brush back on the sink top.

“Alright, if you need to use the toilet do so now and I’ll check your bandages.”

Crimsondrop nodded and moved to the thankfully isolated cubicle of the toilet, closing the door behind her.

She stepped back out of the little private sub-room that was the toilet and washed her hooves before sighing and stepping over to where Whiterobe was waiting for her. She stood as still as she could as the surgically trained professional removed her bandages, carefully checked and cleaned her wounds, and then tightly bound them up once again.

Crimsondrop hadn’t made a sound the entire time, not even when Whiterobe tentatively prodded the deep gash in her thigh to ensure that it wasn’t becoming infected or bruising oddly. It was still red raw, and the pregnant mare’s mind flashed back to the night she’d had to restitch this particular wound. Still she felt terrible over it; she could have killed Crimsondrop from that, or worse put her into a vegetative state for the rest of her life.

She was drawn from her reprieve by Crimsondrop tapping her shoulder and tugging her into a hug, evidently aware of where her mind had been straying.

“I’m fine, White;” She breathed into the mare’s ear, “y’ did what y’ had to t’ save m’ leg, I’d never begrudge ye for tha’. I should be thankin’ ye, though what I’d do t’ thank y’ enough I don’t know.” She pulled back and smiled as the cool gauze wrapped around her leg and tied off neatly. “Now, we should get goin’. After all, when royalty calls, one heeds, hmm?”

Whiterobe smiled back and nodded before the pair headed out the door and down to the living room.

*&*&*&*

Phony Paige was currently seated in her lounge room reading from a novel that Holly Seams had recommended she read. Said mare was not present, currently still asleep at her home from a late night working on the project that she and her friends had devised. She’d tuned out the pony that was fussing over her housemate almost an hour ago, when she had been fussing over her instead.

She knew all about Princess Twilight Sparkle, it was hard to not know about one of the princesses but, well, she had almost every fact that could be known about her within her hard drives. She was utterly disinterested in the Princess’s rambling questions that she assailed her housemate with.

The housemate in question, Shadow Gazer, was slightly terrified that one of the alicorn princesses could be this… energetic. Granted he was the first Nightmare beyond the Everfree forest in possibly a thousand years, but she was looking him over and asking him questions that raked his brain and baffled his sense of personal space. From what he could gather she was the most scholarly pony that Equestria had birthed in many millennia, as evidenced by the notes that she was furiously taking with her magic. A purple dragon with green spines, apparently named Spike, sat nearby gnawing on some cookies that Paige had put out for the visiting royals. Two other alicorn, Princesses Celestia and Luna respectively, sat nearby with a cup of tea in fine bone china teacups, possibly the only crockery that Paige owned that she had splurged on.

Luna had been most disappointed in her sister withholding the continued existence of the Nightmares from her, resorting to yelling at her sister in fury to get her point across. She’d known about Paige for quite some time, having been added to the ‘need to know’ list and her authorization for any stages of her project’s development being required before they could undergo the proceedings.

Paige heard her name called, and she returned her attention to the room.

“You need not shout, Princess Sparkle, I can hear you quite well.” She said, tilting an ear in the lavender alicorn’s direction.

“If that’s so, what did I just ask?”

Paige grinned as her memory recovered the archived data for her. “You just asked what the noise out front is.” She replied, before recovering the supposed noises. “It sounds like someone is throwing bottles again. Though it has become a somewhat less frequent event, it is still a common occurrence; there are many who do not like that I am here. One stallion in particular, Marky Red, has been at every single one of these little… events.”

“It sounds like he has a vendetta against you.” Twilight commented.

“He is the secretary to my manager at Trottingham Central Savings, he seems to dislike that I can get through a week’s worth of work in an afternoon. I used to take longer; it would be strange for me to be able to do such calculations so quickly if I were a normal pony after all, but since my unveiling to the town I’ve been a bit less reserved in using my processing power in my work. I think he finds it unfair that his superior, Bucky, likes me more than him.”

“The fact that Marky is such a colossal jerk does not help him.” Shadow grumbled irritably, before looking sheepish. “I’m sorry, Princesses, I didn’t mean-“

“It’s quite alright, Shadow Gazer, we are aware that there are ponies in Equestria who might be… less than pleasant to make the acquaintance of.” Celestia replied calmly with a wave of her wing.

“To be honest, Princess, that’s putting him mildly.” He replied. “To this day he calls me ‘Horror-Spawn’ and refuses to speak to me directly, and let’s not get started on what he says about me behind my back. I’m looking forward to our little expedition today, if only to get away from him.”

“Well, we suppose-“ Luna began, only to finish again when the sound of hooves entering the front door and voices reached their ears.

“… wish that he’d stop throwing bottles, last thing I want is to step on a shard when I come around.” This was the voice of a mare, and it was joined by a voice she recognized as belonging to an ex-guardsman.

“You know what Marky’s like, Hon.”

A third voice joined the conversation, “I take it tha’ was why y’ kicked him?” Her accent was thick but thankfully not unintelligible.

“No, that was for calling my wife a deviant for being friends with Paige.”

“Would explain why you kicked ‘im in th’ jimmies.”

“Oh, I could have kicked him anywhere; I chose that because he’s in need of a personality adjustment.”

The speaking stallion came around the corner with a smile that reeked of personal pride in his all too recent actions. Behind him a mare walked with the tell-tale gait and girth of the heavily gravid. Her face was one of both recent harangue and amusement. When the third figure walked into the room, Princess Twilight Sparkle seemed to forget all about the Nightmare she had been focused on.

“Who, or what, in Equestria is that?!”

The three newcomers bowed to the royals in the room before Luna could also talk.

“Celestia, are you holding out on us again?”

Celestia chuckled as she observed both the ire in her sister’s glare and the eagerness in her student broil over and cause her to almost vibrate in her desire to study this new creature. “Of course not, I’ve simply not had cause to bring her up; Sister, Twilight, these are Clank Clop, his wife Whiterobe, and Crimsondrop.”

Luna put a hoof to her chin. “Clank Clop… isn’t he the guard who tried to…?”

“Have Twilight Sparkle arrested?” Clank finished for her with a sigh. “Yes, but it was a prank from my lieutenant at the time. I resigned a few months later; never could be near Miss Sparkle without feeling ill after that.”

“How are you so calm now?” Princess Luna asked curiously.

“I’ve not been a part of the guard for a few years now, my need to uphold the strict routines and rules sort of weaned away, especially after I married Whiterobe.” He replied, giving his wife a peck on the cheek.

“You still kept the crew-cut though.” Whiterobe added. She then motioned to Crimsondrop behind her. “This is Crimsondrop; she’s been staying with us while she recovers from her injuries.”

“Okay, so you’ve answered part of my question, but I still want to know what Crimsondrop is; I’ve never seen anything like her!” Twilight Sparkle snapped.

“Space goat.” Crimsondrop said flatly, before smiling at Twilight’s expression as she wrapped her head around this. “I give her ten seconds before her head explodes.”

Princess Celestia sighed. “Crimsondrop is from another reality, brought here by magical mishap. Though I’m sure we could recreate the event and its effects, it is extremely unlikely that she would survive it and I am unwilling to attempt it if it might mean her death.”

Princess Luna gave Celestia a diminishing look. “You know more than you are telling, sister.” She huffed.

“She is of the Capra genus, has never taken a mate, and could give Snowflake, the resident muscle-pony of Ponyville, a run for his money in terms of strength.” Celestia stated calmly, before holding Twilight Sparkle back with an outstretched foreleg. “Now is not the time to study her, we’ve a task ahead.”

Though still looking over at Crimsondrop as if she were the most amazing thing in the known world Twilight nodded and sat back a bit.

“Now that everypony has arrived, I would like to inform you all why we are here;” Celestia began, “last night I received a scroll signed from one ‘Silver Glare’. After having the Canterlot record keepers delve into Equestria’s birth records as is usual for unexpected letters, we discovered that the only ‘Silver Glare’ that has been born in Equestria was over two hundred years ago. Though not impossible, it is highly unlikely to have been him.

“The letter asked, simply, for one Shadow Gazer to return home for family matters. As of his arrival in Canterlot all those months ago, the only Shadow Gazer within Equestria is this one.” She waved a hoof at Shadow who stood in the corner with wide eyes.

“Silver Glare wrote to have me return?”

“You know this pony, I take it?”

Shadow chuckled. “Silver is one of the Council.” He said, earning slightly confused and inquiring looks in return and sighing. “My home is divided into six Districts, each of which has a Council member that listens to and voices the opinion of their District. Council members must be a resident of the District they represent, and each Council member is elected by their represented District. Silver is the Council representative for the District in which I lived with my mother until I left to explore the world beyond the Everfree.

“From time to time the Council cannot come to an agreement on any given point or decision, in which case the Night Terrors, effectively our version of Equestria’s monarchy, can yae or nae a decision. Night Terrors remain in power until it’s seen that they are not morally, mentally, or physically capable of holding the position, in which case the Districts must elect a new Night Terror who is not of the Council.” He huffed what breath he still held before looking back up at the room. “Does that clear everything up for you?”

“That’ll do for now, yes.” Celestia replied with a slight smile. “I’m sure we’ll learn more once we get there.” She smiled at their shocked faces. “Oh yes, we’re heading out there by carriage once it arrives. Miss Applejack didn’t take kindly to the last trip she had in it and it should be reupholstered by now. All I shall need is who is going and a location for us to fly to.” A large scroll of paper burst into the air before her from her magic and she held it out to Shadow. “If you could mark where your city is located on this map, the information can be relayed to our drivers. I assume you’ll be coming with us as matter of course.”

Shadow nodded, taking the map from Celestia’s magic almost reverentially. “Of course; I’ve been summoned back for a family matter, and I’m not leaving my mother in want.”

Celestia nodded and turned her gaze on the other ponies in the room, her stoic silence asking the question for her.

“I can’t go by air carriage, I’m too heavy and it’d never leave the ground.” Paige stated. “If CL0PTech can find a way to make my body out of Mithril, I’d be all too eager to go. That stuff is pretty light for what it can take…”

Whiterobe shook her head. “I’d love to go, but… with a foal so close, I don’t want to risk it. I’ve seen the havoc of mid-flight carriage deliveries and, if you’ll forgive my language Princesses, to Tartarus with that!”

Celestia gave an understanding smile and nod. “Of course; if you were to come along I would have insisted in additional guard. I’m not going to put an expectant mare into the middle of the Everfree Forest.”

“That’ll count me out too, Princess.” Clank Clop said. “I’m stickin’ by White; I don’t want to be in the middle of the Everfree if she goes into labour.”

“I understand.” Celestia said, before looking to Crimsondrop. “Crimsondrop, why don’t you accompany us? I’m sure you would like to see a little more of Equestria that just the home of Whiterobe and Clank Clop and the New Ewe spa?”

Crimson shrugged. “I… suppose I can go.” She said reluctantly. “Though so far it sounds like only m’self and Shadow Gazer‘re goin’ from this town. I… don’t know anypony else.”

“I don’t believe that you’ll have much to worry about, Crimsondrop; surely Shadow Gazer can keep you company?”

Crimsondrop cringed. “I don’t like puttin’ somepony on th’ spot like that. I dunno if he’ll even want t’ keep me about.”

Shadow stepped across the room and nudged her shoulder. “I’d like a friend to join me to my mother’s house. If anything wants to tumble I’m sure we could handle it together, huh?”

“She managed to kick me off my hooves, you’ve no idea.” Paige mumbled to herself, unheard by all.

A clattering outside the house told them of the arrival of their carriage, and Shadow Gazer held the map out to Celestia, a new mark just to the west of where the Princesses old castle’s ruins were. She nodded to him thankfully before turning to the Pegasus guard who strolled into the room and snapped a salute.

“The carriage has arrived, highnesses; if I might ask, how many are coming?” He asked firmly, ignoring the glare that Clank Clop was drilling into the side of his head.

Celestia’s magic handed him the map. “We are headed to that location, lieutenant, and there will be five of us going, including myself, Princess Luna, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Shadow Gazer and Crimsondrop. Give this information to our drivers.”

“Of course, Princess.” He replied, before snapping another salute and taking the scroll back out front, Clank Clop’s glare boring holes into him the whole time he could see him.

“Clanky, what was that all about? You looked like you wanted to tear him a new navel.” White asked worriedly.

“He was the one who put me up to attempting to arrest Twilight Sparkle. Never apologized for all the manure he put me through, either.” He huffed irritably.

Twilight laughed. “I’ll be sure to have the captain dock his pay.” She said as she moved to walk past them. She paused to put a hoof on Crimson’s shoulder. “By the way, if you don’t have a stomach for flying, I’d suggest a window seat.” She advised. “The windows roll down and there’ll be less of a mess.”

Crimson chuckled as she turned to follow the lavender princess. “You’ve clearly never had t’ carry an undead warrior through a sewer. Trust me, Princess; I’ve done stuff you can only nightmare about.”

*&*&*&*

“I changed my mind, I wanna get off!”

Twilight sighed. “It’s too late now, we’re almost there.” She said, backed by the amused chuckles of the elder princesses.

“I forgot I was this bad with flying travel.” Shadow Gazer groaned. “I don’t feel sick, I just don’t feel well.”

“A natural aversion to being so high off the ground,” Luna said calmly, “The one pony I thought would be having trouble, however, seems to be doing better than expected.” She added, looking over at Crimson who was watching out the window passively.

“Again I said; undead, sewer. I recall a few zeppelin rides too, so maybe I’m just well-weathered fer this kinda travel.” She replied, waving a hoof dismissively. “Don’t recall them being this, well, boring though; we usually got into a battle or two on th’ way.”

“I could punch you a few times, would that make it feel like the good ole days?” Shadow asked sidelong.

She sneered in return. “Don’t think I won’t fight back. Paige can attest I throw a mean hoof.”

The voice of one of the pegasi pulling the carriage shouted back at them. “We can see the city between the trees; we’ll be attempting to land now!”

“Hold tight, landings are a bit rough.” Twilight commented as the carriage drew lower and lower to the ground.

When the first wheel hit the ground, all was well. When its siblings joined it, however, the carriage struck a loose cobblestone and jolted as if attempting to pirouette and flung all except Princess Celestia from their seats. After a moment or two of painful jostling, the carriage came to a halt and the jumbled ponies attempted to disentangle one another.

“Whose wing is tha’? It don’t belong there!” Crimson protested. “I warn ye, I kick hard!”

“I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!” Shadow repeated over and over as he struggled to remove himself from the pony pile without pushing against, poking with his horn, or kicking any of the mares.

“I’m sorry; I think that’s mine, Crimsondrop.” Twilight managed to mumble, before pulling her wing back to her side, earning a yelp from Luna.

“Watch where you’re putting those things, Sparkle!”

The door to the cabin opened and the Pegasus guard looked on confusedly. “The hay..?”

“Rather than stand there and watch us like some kind of peeping tom, would you kindly help us up?!” Luna snapped at him.

“I’ve ‘ad smoother crash landings, at least then I didn’t end up with a wing lodged against my-“

“This is awkward enough without you saying stuff like that, Crimsondrop!” Shadow growled. “And get your hooves off of my stomach, the last thing I need is you unintentionally groping me!”

With a sigh, Celestia’s horn gave a gentle glow and all four found themselves sitting neatly back in their seats, blinking at one another in bashful confusion before giving nervous coughs.

“We speak of this to nopony.” Luna said sharply.

“Agreed.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Aye.”

“Now that the entertainment is over, I believe that Luna and I should head to town hall and introduce ourselves to the Night Terror and Council. Twilight, I’ll leave it up to you as to where you go, but I would advise taking a guard with you if you go alone. Shadow Gazer, could you direct us to where your government is?”

“The town is set up on a grid; parliament is in the middle, along with the marketplace, and residential districts are set up on either side. There are parks to the north and south of parliament.” He rattled off as they disembarked the carriage. He followed them out, letting Crimsondrop out before himself and looking about. “We look to be between District Blackberry and Peach, so parliament should be that way.” He pointed a hoof in one direction before pointing into the district to their south. “That’s Peach District, that’s where my mother lives so I’ll be headed that way.”

The princesses nodded and dipped their heads. “We shall see you back here by nightfall to plan accommodations.”

“If needs be, we can stay at parliament hall.” Shadow said. “The Council will allow it.” He began to stroll into Peach District at an even pace. “Come on Crimson; let’s go see what my mother needs.”

Twilight hurried after them. “I’ll come too, would be nice to see what life here is like.”

After a few minutes of walking through the streets of Peach District, one thing was for certain; life here was dark. Light was sparse down beneath the canopies of the Everfree Forest, and a few times only the magical flame mane of Shadow Gazer’s lit their way. He had voiced his dislike of this, apparently the streets were only so dark because somepony had failed to light the magic-fuelled lanterns that lined the streets, and he reignited those that he passed with a flick of his magic.

Finally Twilight felt the need to add conversation to their trip. “So, Shadow Gazer,”

“Just Shadow, Princess.”

“Just Twilight in return then,” She retorted before continuing. “Why does every home have a greenhouse? Isn’t that a little extravagant?”

Shadow shook his head. “You must’ve noticed that the city is not very well lit. What little sunlight we get needs to be concentrated on our crops, and everypony has a greenhouse to aid the city as a whole in crop rotation. We grow crops depending on what District and part of district we’re in and grow accordingly to ensure that everypony’s soil rotates. The greenhouses are enchanted to magnify what little light we get down here to a useful level, and be capable of providing artificial light when need arises.”

“Magical hydroponics, that’s a fantastic idea!”

Shadow nodded and stopped out front a house. “Here we are; my mother’s house.” He said, before stepping up to the door and knocking. As the knock echoed into the house, the mares behind Shadow wondered what kind of mother Shadow had. Was she domineering? It seemed unlikely, since he managed to leave and explore Equestria.

Shadow blinked and knocked again before turning to the mares. “Weird; she doesn’t usually take this long to answer.” He commented. A third knock was accompanied with shouting. “Mom, it’s me, can you let us in?”

Again the house remained silent, and Shadow sighed before searching through a nearby flowerbed, retrieving a key and unlocking the door. He allowed his companions in before closing the door behind himself and flicking the living room light on. Twilight strolled into the room proper and looked about.

“Doesn’t look like anypony is home.” She commented, before Crimson shushed her.

“I hear sobbin’, sounds like it’s this way.” She said, leading deeper into the house. Shadow hurried over to her and held a hoof up to slow her before taking the lead.

Sure enough the sound led to a bedroom, and Shadow knocked on the door politely before speaking. “Mom, you alright in there?”

The sobbing halted and, after the sound of frantic hooves charged in their direction, the door was pulled open and a bubble-gum pink Nightmare unicorn mare with a purple fiery mane and tail threw herself against him and wrapped her forelegs around his neck. Her cutie mark was similar to Shadow’s, a large eye with a small triangle constellation of stars around and behind it.

“Shadow, you’re home!”

Startled, Shadow took a step back before relaxing and wrapping his hooves around his mother. “I’m home, mom. It’s been a while.”

“Don’t you ‘it’s been a while’ me, young man!” She snapped. “You could have written, or sent magical messages!”

He sighed. “I’m sorry, mom; I’ve been busy. Got a job telling fortunes and helping farmers, you would not believe the sort of stuff they put up with.” He gave a cocky grin at her teary face. “By the by, you know that you should have alfalfa planted, right? Nopony else seems to have it in.”

She laughed and lightly punched his shoulder. “Cheeky foal, of course I know; still using that list you gave me before you left.”

“I’ll write up another before I go to see the princesses tonight, okay? Don’t want you in the lurch just because you’re retired.”

Her enthusiasm trailed off for a moment, and she looked about the hall noticing the mares behind him. “And who are these ladies? You really should have told me if you got hitched.”

“I’m not married, mom; this is Crimsondrop, she’s a friend of mine.” He said, motioning to the nanny who dipped her head.

“Pleasure t’ meetcha.”

“And this is Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Magic.” He said, motioning to Twilight and dipping his head faintly. She also dipped her head to the mare.

“It’s a delight to make your acquaintance, ma’am.”

“Twilight, Crimson, this is my mother, Star Gazer. She was an astrologist and meteorologist for the Council until she retired before I left to Equestria.” Shadow said, wrapping a hoof around his mother’s shoulders. He gave her a squeeze before looking her in the eye. “Now, we received a letter from Silver Glare about some form of family business. Should we move into the lounge?”

Star Gazer lowered her head before nodding, leading the group back the way they had come.

“Make yourselves comfortable, I’ll just put the kettle on. Would anypony like anything; tea, cookies?”

“I think we’re all fine, mom, but if you want to bring some cookies out it might be appreciated?”

She nodded mutely before heading off into the kitchen. She wasn’t gone long, and soon returned with a plate of cookies which she placed on the coffee table. By this point everypony had seated themselves on a respective piece of furniture, in Shadow’s case laying on the couch while leaving his mother enough space to settle herself.

“So, mom, what’s got you so upset that you’ve got a Council pony sending me letters and you’re crying so badly you can’t answer the door?”

She sighed. “I’ll not beat about the bush,” she mumbled, “Shadow, I’m pregnant.”

He blinked at her. “What..? I didn’t know you’d remarried, this is great news!”

“It’s not!” She shouted, fresh tears rolling over her cheeks. She heaved a breath and lowered her face. “It’s not good news. Honey, I’m not married and I have no intention to marry. I… When I had you, it took two days for me to recover because of a complication during childbirth. My blood doesn’t clot well, you see, and I almost bled to death having you from… tearing.” She hissed a breath as her face lowered further. “The doctors told me that I mustn’t have any more children because my body simply couldn’t take the strain of that much blood loss a second time; I was risking death with you. I… I also cannot simply abort the foal for the same reason, I’ll haemorrhage to death.”

She smiled up at him distantly. “In nine months, I’m going to die.”

Shadow just stared at her, jaw dropped and ears pinned to his scalp in shock. His throat croaked as he tried to say something which died before it could even leave him. Twilight cleared her throat calmly.

“Mrs Gazer, might we ask how this foal came to be? I don’t want to point hooves, but this doesn’t sound like something you would do to yourself.”

She shook her head. “It’s not, I wouldn’t.” She agreed. “I… I’ll just say that it was not something that was agreed upon by all parties.”

Twilight coughed. “Rape, in this day and age?!”

Shadow growled. “Who?!” He snarled furiously. “How has this not been addressed by the Council?!”

“Because the stallion in question is the current Night Terror and only Silver would even speak out against him! Silver’s an elder, he’s had years on the Council and he knows his constituents by name. The others are, well, young and inexperienced; they think that the Night Terror can have them banished from the town, or worse, so they don’t speak up. I turned to Silver and had him send the letter because there was nopony else to turn to!”

Shadow’s face didn’t seem to be capable of becoming any more furious, and he gave her one last question. “Who is it? I want a name to spit on.”

She shivered slightly in place as she spoke. “Moonlight Flare, he’s from Rose District.” She breathed. “I know it was him, I even have proof; he left a scarf he’d been wearing in my bathroom when he cleaned himself up.”

Shadow nodded, somehow managing to calm himself a little before speaking. “Mom, I’ve a friend out in Equestria who can help, she’s a medical professional and she should be able to help you. Princess Twilight Sparkle might even know of any procedures that can be taken to help you with this, so I’m going to ask that she remains here with you, alright? I have a few things to do.”

He got up and wandered to the door, pausing only to look back to his mother calmly. “I will not allow a Night Terror to get away with something as disgusting as this.” He hissed.

“I’m comin’ with ye.” Crimson said as she stood. “Wait fer me out front, okay?”

He nodded and stepped out, closing the door behind himself with a click. Crimsondrop moved over next to Star Gazer and pulled her up into a hug. “Lass, don’t ye worry, everythin’ will be alright.” She breathed into her ear reassuringly. “We’ll be back, alright? I promise ye.”

She eased the mare back into her seat before moving to the door and opening it with a hoof.

“Don’t kill him!” Twilight called out. “Alright?”

Crimson turned her eyes on the lavender alicorn and nodded her head. “No promises.”

*&*&*&*

Celestia and Luna had been having a reasonably pleasant conversation with the Night Terror they had been introduced to, one Moonlight Flare. He was charming and pleasant, yet also young and, to the Princesses’ experienced minds, hiding something. They couldn’t put their hooves on whatever it might be in particular, but he was certainly not the kind of pony they were expecting.

His coat was a navy blue, and his mane and tail vibrant orange, much like his eyes. The lounges that they rested on were edged with silver and upholstered with some of the most exquisite satin that the Princesses had rested on. Of course, since they themselves used silk or velvet to upholster everything it was still no real competition for home.

The sound of raised voices came from the halls beyond the room in which they rested, held back mainly by the solid marble doors that enclosed the room. As the voices died down, a heavy thud against the doors sounded, and the trio in the room looked over at them alarmed.

A second strike reduced the door to rubble.

Shadow and Crimson emerged from the dust, striding confidently into the room.

“Worry not, Princesses, I’ll handle these two.” Moonlight said, getting to his hooves and stepping between the royals and the intruders. His horn burst with magic and a shielding bubble trapped them.

Shadow pushed against it, glaring daggers at Moonlight Flare. “Release us, you son of a-”

“Language, sir; you’re in the presence of royalty and your Night Terror.” He snapped back.

Crimsondrop, undeterred by the shield, strolled on and passed right through it as if it weren’t there. Celestia and Luna’s brows launched themselves skywards at this. On the ride in, Celestia had informed Luna and Twilight of her resistance to magic, but this was something else entirely.

Crimson closed the distance between the shield and Moonlight in almost no time at all and she stopped before him, sizing him up like he were an opponent. “You’re not my Night Terror, and they’re barely my Royals.” She spat.

In one swift move she head-butted him to the ground.

The Princesses got to their hooves and hurried over, attempting to hold back the nanny from any further violence.

“Crimsondrop, explain yourself at once!” Celestia snapped, “This is very out of line and I will not have you treat dignitaries like this!”

“This bastard,” Crimson spat, ignoring the slight flinch from Celestia at her harsh language, “is not fit to lead a parade, let alone a culture!”

“That does not excuse your action!” Celestia snapped back. “Night Terror, are you alright?”

“Not that I care!” Crimson snarled. “He deserves far worse for what he’s done!”

“And what exactly has he done to enrage you so, Crimsondrop?” Luna asked.

Shadow’s voice rang out furiously from where he stood by the door. “He raped my mother and now she is pregnant with a foal that might kill her upon birth!”

Celestia blinked back at him, trying to wrap her head around this information, before she sighed and reached out with her magic. After a moment or two there was a loud pop and both Twilight and Star Gazer materialized in the room with a burst of golden magic.

She uttered a single word, though her tone made it reverberate throughout the room. “Explain.”

After the momentary confusion of a forced teleportation wore off, Twilight shook her head and nudged Star Gazer into the room. She draped a wing over her back comfortingly as she stepped over with the pink Nightmare.

“Princess Celestia, this is Star Gazer, Shadow Gazer’s mother.” Twilight explained, “I assume you’ve heard the accusation already?”

“I have, Twilight; such an accusation must be backed by evidence, you are well aware.”

Twilight nudged Star again, motioning for her to reveal her evidence. “Star Gazer told us of her… unfortunate predicament, and after performing the necessary spells to verify her claim, I can assure you that she is both two months pregnant and that she is rather impressively haemophilic. I’m surprised that Shadow does not show the signs, but he might have gotten lucky. I’ll have to do more tests later to determine…”

“Twilight, focus.” Celestia snapped.

“Right, sorry, with these pieces of information I can deduce that she is pregnant and that birth very well might kill her. She was lucky to have survived giving birth to Shadow, though if we can get her to any of our hospitals when the foal comes or she decides otherwise, I’m certain that she’ll be able to handle the foal without incident.” She smiled at her conclusion before continuing. “I’ve also managed to use scrying magic to narrow down the father to the owner of this scarf left at her house after the fact.

“Now all we need to do is use a spell to determine who the owner might be; to avoid risking emotional contamination, I would suggest that Luna perform it.” Twilight finished, taking the scarf from Star gently and offering it to Luna. The Princess, in turn, took the scarf and focused a spell onto it. For a moment it shook in her magic as she held it.

“It will now move directly to its owner.” She stated, before letting it go.

In an instant it slapped to Moonlight’s face, and he struggled to pull it off before glowering.

“Nice trick, Star Gazer, but I told you before that you cannot prove anything, and your little marefriend there is a horrible liar, no spell can do what she claims; we would have discovered it by now if there were.”

Twilight visibly bristled, but Celestia spoke out before she could. “Princess Twilight Sparkle is the Princess of Magic itself. Few know magic better than her, and she has been my personal student for many years; if she says that she has performed a spell, I shall trust her. The spell she refers to has been in our medical spell books for over three centuries as well, after a mare invented it to prevent issues between spouses should one fear the other is cheating on them. If that is not enough, if you or your Council are too naïve to understand or will not accept this, then there is nothing further for us to discuss.” She turned to the ruined door and, after motioning for her sister to follow, began to walk out. “Good day, sir.”

*&*&*&*

The Princesses, Shadow, Star, and Crimsondrop arrived back at the carriage to find a group of six ponies milling about who swiftly turned and gave their undivided attention to them. An elder stallion with a black coat and silver mane and tail bowed to them before smiling.

“Greetings, Majesties, we are the Council. I am Silver Glare, representative for Peach District. We were just having a discussion over recent events.” He announced with a smile. “It is dreadful what has been committed to one of our own, and I’ll do everything in my power to assure she is cared for until the day comes.

“I took a short detour to lock your house up for you, Star, I assumed that you would like it to be secure for your return.” He added.

She smiled at him. “Take care of it, Silver; it’ll make a nice holiday home.”

“… Mom?”

“I’m coming with you, Shadow; I can’t stay here if I’m to get the medical attention I’ll need.” She said calmly. “And I wouldn’t trust anypony except Silver to look after our home while I’m not here.”

“If it’s all the same, Star…” Silver began nervously, “I was actually considering something a little different. While I hate to see one of us go, and don’t you dare imagine this as asking you to leave, I was wondering if you’d rather move to Equestria to be with your son? Consider it as ambassadorial business for us.”

“B-but all of my possessions, what about..?”

“If you’re to move to Equestria, you’ll need furniture for your home, don’t you think?” Twilight asked. “We can send a few carriages to pick up your things.”

“We apologize for what Moonlight Flare has done, and we shall have him removed from office and detained immediately. One does not commit such a heinous act within our city and expect to get away with it. A new Night Terror shall be elected within the week and we can put this whole ordeal behind us.” Silver said, looking hopefully at Celestia and Luna.

“It is not our place to tell you how to run your government, nor would we.” Celestia stated. “I’ll have an ambassador sent as soon as possible, and shall have the components for a Shield Tower to be installed sent down; with any luck it should help to deter dangerous monsters. Whether or not you receive further aid is down to how Moonlight Flare is handled.”

“I hope he never sees the light of day.” Star Gazer grumbled.

“We shall see what the courts decide.” Silver stated. “He has violated a widowed mare which could have caused her death; he is unlikely to get much less than imprisonment for life.”

Celestia and Luna dipped their heads. “We thank you for your hospitality during our visit, representatives. Farewell.”

With dipped heads in return, the Council watched as the visitors boarded the carriage and it flew off into the distance.

*&*&*&*

The carriage had landed with far less issue this time, and Crimson, Shadow and Star stepped down before bidding the Princesses farewell and watching them disappear towards Canterlot. Shadow sighed and motioned for his mother and Crimson to follow him.

“C’mon, we might as well go meet up with the others; they’ll probably be at Paige’s house.” He said as he led them up a street. “She’ll at least tell us how terribly we behaved.”

“You think so?” Star asked, to which Shadow nodded.

“Whiterobe is going to chew us out so bad.” He added.

“And I only just got her over bein’ scared o’ me, too.” Crimson joked.

“You kicked in a solid marble door, Crimson; she has good reason to be scared of you.”

“I promised not t’ kill ‘im and I didn’t.” She huffed in return. “Got m’ fury out on th’ door instead. He should count ‘imself lucky I did so.”

Shadow gave a laugh as he gave up arguing with her, his eyes latching onto the house they were approaching and his magic opening the front door. “And here we are, home sweet home once more.”

The trio wandered inside and to the lounge, where the several ponies they were expecting to be here were, indeed, waiting. Crimson hopped up onto a couch and lay down, resting her head against the armrest.

She was asleep before anypony could even say ‘hello’.

Smoked Feathers

Hooves pounded heavily against a laminated floor, pushing a trolley with a single occupant atop it hurriedly through what appears to be a gleaming hospital hallway. The occupant of the trolley could only watch one half of the corridor pass blearily. She appeared to be a perfectly healthy gryphon cub, her coat and feathers ash brown with dark grey primaries and feather crest, until one took a look at her wing’s pits, between her toes, or at her face.

Her wings or between her toes would be easy to solve, but problematic in the long run if she showed signs of infections, a small hoof-full of ticks clung to her skin and were removed by magic as they hurried to the surgical ward. These menaces to Equestria were, without exception, placed into a small tub which held magical flame that incinerated them upon entry.

Her face was another issue altogether.

The cart thundered into an operating theatre and she was transferred to the surgical bed. A unicorn stallion with glasses and a surgical mask trotted over to her and lay her down, his eyes looking across hers’ with worried professionalism. The cub beneath him was actually bound to keep her from moving, as he wanted to keep her from scratching her injury, but she was crying in pain, and tears mixed with blood streaked down one side of her face. He ran a hoof gently over her scalp.

“It’s alright, sweetie, we’re going to help you, okay? You hurt at the moment, but when you wake up, the pain should be all gone, alright?” The gryphon nodded weakly, and he turned to one of the mares accompanying him. “Nurse, administer an anaesthetic if you please?” He asked calmly, internally worrying about the procedure he was to operate. He waited until the gryphon cub was asleep before he turned to the nurse who was currently intubating their young patient. “I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s rare enough that we get deep wounds to require treatment, let alone on a child, but…” He looked back at the cub sadly, “that she could take such a wound to her eye and not scream in pain constantly…”

He sighed and turned fully to his charge, clearing his throat and levitating an array of examination tools over. He spoke aloud only for the records that he was recording and glancing over before he began, in case he or his superiors needed to review the case –as they might considering the circumstances; “Surgical procedure twenty-eight-nine, being performed under emergency protocols and recorded by Doctor Quick Stitch, nurses Rhythm, Sling, and Silverheart in attendance. Patient is a gryphon cub, female, and appears to be about six years old. Patient arrived approximately three minutes ago in the emergency ward, having been delivered by a resident pony of Trottingham, a member of our fire-fighting team no less, Saddleblaze.

“The patient was found within an abandoned building on Coffin Bone Drive after the building itself was discovered to be on fire. She was showing an infection of ticks, which have been removed as per regular procedure, minor smoke inhalation which will be dealt with over the next few days barring complications, and her feathers, almost sixty percent of them, are dirty, smoky, and badly unkempt. This would be indicative of simple abandonment at a young age, not learning the finer points of coat and wing preening, and having been found within the burning building she was discovered in; however she also has a contusion across her left eye which has caused the affected organ to swell to… a remarkable degree. It appears to have reached a bursting point, however, as blood has begun to leak from her over-stressed tear duct. Upon magical inspection, her eye is non-functional, host to an infestation of fly larvae, and must be removed.” He sighed as he floated over a scalpel and surgical-surface cover, which he placed around the cub’s face before pulling his surgical mask over his mouth and nose. “Dear Celestia I hate this part.”

*&*&*&*

Saddleblaze sat in the living room owned by Whiterobe and Clank Clop, watching Crimsondrop take out her bedding from inside the couch. She’d been moved down from the spare bedroom after Whiterobe and Clank had come to the conclusion that they would need the room for their foal, and the ultimate decision was made when Whiterobe went into labour while Crimson was away in the Everfree visiting the Nightmares.

Crimson had copped a huge lecture from Whiterobe when she’d been told how said nanny had kicked in a pair of solid marble doors, arguing that it was just another reason for her to feel afraid for her foal. This had sent Crimson into recluse for a day or two, and Paige had dragged the nanny out of the attic of Whiterobe and Clank Clop’s house herself only to tell her that White wasn’t mad and that she could go back to normal.

Well, as subjectively normal as things could get in Equestrian day-to-day life when you’re an alien from another dimension, one of your friends was a robot, and another had a mane and tail made of magical fire.

She recalled Holly Seams saying something about them hosting a scrying spell that had shown her going into the hospital in labour a month after Cimson’s arrival, and that she was confused as to why she’d dropped so soon. Both Shadow Gazer and his mother, a newcomer to the town and a second Nightmare skilled in future sight Star Gazer, had told her that unless it was a trained and heavily practiced user of future sight, such as their own skills, it was unlikely to be very accurate.

Star Gazer had then complained about how births were rarely predictable, and that her own son had been three weeks early himself. She’d predicted him arriving at a later date the day before and had been furious with herself when she was proven wrong.

Still, said mare had been around this particular household since Whiterobe and their new colt, Stealthy Step, had returned, and he’d been lavished with her attention.

The foal in question skittered past and into the kitchen, where he found a place to hide from his ‘aunt’ playfully.

After the bedding had been stowed away within a chest in the corner of the room placed specially for such a purpose, Whiterobe and Crimson sat upon the couch and waited for the noise of Stealthy Step being overexcited died down.

Said nanny goat was also looking into getting a flat or home of her own within Trottingham with the aid of Silent Quill, and the pair were eyeing up a modest little two-bedroom building that had long been on the market down near the farmyards. It had been on the market so long that the building was in dire need of repairs, but Paige had said that, should they manage to acquire the building, she would help pay for Roof Raiser’s team to do the work.

“So, I’ll assume ye didn’t hang around after bein’ healed of yer burns just because ye wanted some company.” Crimson said almost bluntly. She’d seen Saddleblaze come in covered in high-degree burns, blackened and bleeding, and she’d gone to throw up as Whiterobe used her magic to heal the wounds. “I cannae speak for Clank Clop and White, but your visit is appreciated; well, with th’ exception of ye comin’ in lookin’ like ye went toe-t’-toe with ae volcano.”

“As I told you both, the old amphitheatre building on Coffin Bone Drive burned down a little while ago; we’re suspecting arson as there was no power within the building and only water was being supplied to the property.” She said calmly. She’d explained earlier that water would never be cut off from a building in case somepony became trapped within, or if water were required in the case of an emergency. It was possibly the only free resource that anypony could rely on. “But… when I arrived on scene and entered the building to check for any potentially trapped ponies inside, I came across a gryphon. She’s young, younger than she should be to be alone or within such a building. She… she was in poor condition. Ticks, mild emaciation, smoke inhalation, and there was a… a wound to her eye. It looked kind of old, and her eye was damaged to a degree that was…” She sighed heavily. “It hurt to look at.”

“That bad..?” Whiterobe asked sadly. “Since this is coming from a mare that can walk several city blocks with third degree burn just to see me for healing as if she’s not hurt at all…”

“Worse, White; notice they’ve not called you in to help her? The docs don’t think that even you could save her eye; they were talking about something called ‘enucleation’, whatever that means.”

Whiterobe balked. “They’re removing her eye?!” She asked slightly louder than she thought she would. “Dear Celestia, I didn’t think I’d hear of the day that such a procedure would need to be undertaken while I worked there… There’s nothing that I can think of that would be able to recover her eye once removed, either; not for sure. We have the Snake-Eyes method where we replace the missing organ with a donor and use magic to make it fit the patient, but that’s notoriously unreliable, or the Jelly-Crème and healing patches, but that has low reliability on other species… Since I’ve not been called in, they’re unlikely to want to risk either, so she may have to put up with a half-face for the rest of her life.”

Crimson huffed. “This is soundin’ more and more like somethin’ from m’ own world.” She grumbled before giving Saddleblaze a firm look. “But I doubt ye would come tae us just tae tell us of ye work. Don’t get me wrong, Blaze, ye likely saved that Gryphon’s life and ye’re a hero for doin’ it, but if ye needed comfortin’ for what ye’ve seen I’d assume yeh’d have gone tae Snow.” She only smiled when Saddleblaze’s eyes widened and she blushed. “Oh don’t deny it, even I can tell ye’re sweet on th’ stallion. If y’ think nopony saw ye sneak that kiss at th’ spa, you’ve got another thing comin’ to ye.”

After getting herself back under control Saddleblaze nodded. “I’m a bit torn; normally I’d think nothing of leaving a rescued individual at the hospital, but…” She sighed forlornly, “From where she is, she would be put into the Equestrian Foster Care system and placed in an orphanage if her family isn’t found, and the fact that she wasn’t with her family in the first place means she’s either a runaway, abandoned, or orphaned... And the nearest orphanage to Trottingham is either Canterlot or Ponyville, and that is a hay of a trip for somepony of her age and with her injury. You’ve never seen the foster system, have you, Crimsondrop?”

She shrugged. “It’s not somethin’ I’m familiar with.”

“Foals are placed into orphanages, essentially mass-housing for dozens of children.” Saddleblaze explained. “Usually there are three or four caretakers who look after the foals until a family can come along and adopt them. It’s… not a nice system for those who are different. Some foals become bullies, others the bullied. Most are adopted by ponies who want a new addition to their life, and it’s a joyous thing. For those like the gryphon I saved… she’ll probably be in the system for her entire childhood because of what’s happened to her.

“Don’t get me wrong, there are as many children of other races in the foster system as there are ponies, but she’ll be singled out by bullies because she’ll have one eye, and she’ll be less likely to be adopted for the same reason. Few ponies will want to adopt a special-needs child.” She paused for a moment to think and sigh. “Her life, if she goes into the foster system will not be a happy one; she may not be adopted at all, and that’s no life for any child.”

“So what do you need from us?” Whiterobe asked, shifting a little as her son threw himself into her forelimbs and snuggled down. She looked down at him irritably. “You know, most newborns can’t even walk yet, and here you are driving mommy crazy.” She said before nuzzling his head.

Star Gazer dawdled in from elsewhere in the house, her hooves still slightly damp from being recently washed. “I just changed him.” She said, almost hauntingly. “Do you know how hard it is to put a new diaper on him? He doesn’t have magic, yet he’s more trouble than Shadow was when he was newborn.”

Whiterobe giggled. “He’s proving to be a hoof-full, yeah.”

“You misunderstand,” Star Gazer retorted sharply, “I spent half the time I was changing him trying to find the diapers, only to find that he’d hidden them when I was finding a safety pin. How does a toddler hide diapers? Stars help you if you play hide and seek with him, I could swear he can turn invisible.”

“I need advice.” Saddleblaze cut in, trying to return to the conversation that had been going before the interruption. “I don’t know what to do in relation to the cub. If I leave her to the mercy of the foster care system, she could be ruined for life; but on the other hoof, I can’t just adopt her myself, as I’m not in a safe profession and she could wind up orphaned a second time. I… I just can’t bring myself to let her go into an orphanage. What if she’s never adopted? She could be scarred for life… she is scarred for life…”

“I think it’s easy t’ see.” Crimsondrop said firmly. “Take her in.”

“But my work-“

“Take her in.” Crimsondrop said more firmly. “Would y’ rather risk her never findin’ a place for herself than findin’ even short amount ae happiness with ye?” She smiled across at Saddleblaze warmly. “Take her, ye’ll not regret it. As much as I don’t like kids,” her sentence was punctured by Stealthy Step jumping onto her back heavily, “they’re still nice t’ have about.” At this she turned over sharply, catching the colt unawares and grabbed him before planting him firmly on his back and starting to blow raspberries on his stomach. “And fun t’ tire out.”

Whiterobe sighed. “Blaze, you’re unlikely to come to a conclusion tonight; you’re likely still exhausted from work, and that’s not a mind to come to conclusions with. Not of this magnitude. Get some sleep, think on it, and talk to Snow in the morning. Get his opinion, because if your little get-togethers with him evolve how we all think they will, it’ll be something he really needs to have his opinion weighed into.”

“I suppose so.” Saddleblaze said distantly, before standing and dipping her head to her hosts. “Thank you for this, you’ve been most helpful. ‘Til later, White.”

“Of course, Blaze, anything for a friend; have a good night.”

*&*&*&*

Crimsondrop woke to a knocking on the front door the next morning, and she woke with a stretch before getting up and standing by the door.

“Who is it?” She asked. At this time of morning, she wasn’t sure that anypony sane could be out there beside the mailmare delivering a package. The voice that returned was a familiar one, Saddleblaze’s.

“It’s just Blaze, Crimson; could you let me in?”

With a grumble, Crimsondrop opened the door and let the mare in; she looked like she hadn’t slept a wink. Her mane was dishevelled –though for her that was a norm- and she had bags under her eyes. Still, through all this, she was otherwise cheerful. Behind her, Snowy Doublescoop stood idly watching, fully dressed in his usual armour.

Crimson stepped aside and let the pair in, closing the door behind them before returning to the couch. She wasn’t surprised to find Stealthy Step lying atop her pillow on his back, legs in the air and one twitching idly as he slept. She sighed.

“Every time; I get up f’ two seconds and he manages t’ break out of his crib and get t’ m’ pillow. I don’t even know how he manages it.” She grumbled to herself before picking him up in one hoof and moved to carry him off. “One sec, I’ll just get ‘im back into his crib.”

She moved off through the house while the visitors found seats to settle on, waiting patiently for her to return.

“Right,” Crimsondrop’s voice called from the stairway, “now, what’re ye here for? Clank and White’re already awake and goin’ through th’ usual rituals, so they should be down soon enough.”

“We talked.” Snowy said as bluntly as he ever would.

“Talking is what ponies do, Snowy.” Crimson huffed in reply as she tucked her bedding away inside the couch. “I, for instance, talked t’ th’ stallion who runs th’ orange grove on th’ outskirts o’ town about ae job yesterday. Sure as heck ain’t hangin’ about here bein’ a drain on White and Clank forever, I feel terrible stayin’ when they’ve got ae foal.”

“We talked about the gryphon.” Snowy said with a huff, before grumbling sidelong to Saddleblaze, “that was a worse rant than when Paige gets preachy.”

Saddleblaze cuffed his shoulder playfully. “Be nice, Snow.” She scolded, before looking back over at Crimson. “But yes, we’ve talked about the cub. We chatted with the mayor on our way through town before coming here, too; he said that adopting her should be fine, since we both have comfortable income, but that because of my risky profession it should be a form of joint custody. Since we’re not married, or even living together yet, it’ll be a little tricky; but with the cub’s approval it can all be official by sundown.”

“We just wanted somepony to join us to the hospital.” Snowy said calmly. “We… might need a little moral support.”

Crimsondrop blinked at him and developed a playful grin. “You need moral support? The stallion who mixes and eats ice-cream that should be classed as ae weapon?” She’d not enjoyed that dessert one bit. “The stallion who wears armour fittin’ an icy solider –armour that, I might add, looks like th’ stuff worn by some of th’ most formidable and dangerous equines from where I hail. And th’ mare who can be burned almost to ae crinkly crisp and walk it off, who I watched walk in ‘ere with burns that put my own cuts tae shame as if she were walkin’ in tae have a simple cup ae tea? Two ponies that’ve seen what Paige looks like beneath her mask? You need moral support?”

Snowy Doublescoop, face unchanging, said but one word in response: “Yes.”

Again Crimsondrop blinked, but only for a moment before her smile turned warm. “Alright then, when d’ we leave?”

“After we see if Clank or White want to come along.” Saddleblaze replied with a grateful smile. “But thank you for offering.”

“Breakfast first.” Whiterobe said from the stairs. “Step’s had his, I ache, and it’s our turn; Crimson, go turn on the kettle then go get cleaned up.” Crimsondrop did as she was told and hurried into the kitchen, leaving the couch for Whiterobe to occupy. She groaned as she sat down. “I cannot wait until he’s on solids, really, though I do dread when his teeth come in.”

“It’s the midnight changing that drives me bananas.” Clank said as he stumbled through the living room and towards the kitchen grumbling something about coffee so black it put the heart of King Sombra himself to shame.

“You’ve yet to reach the Terrible Twos;” Saddleblaze teased, “one of my officers has twins, and I have never seen a more stressed pony in my life.” She giggled when Step crawled out from beneath the couch; none of them having seen him get there in the first place. “His foals didn’t get up to the kind of nonsense that yours is, though.” She groped out wildly to grab Step, succeeding in getting a hold on him and drew him in close. He struggled impotently against her grip until she turned him over and began to tickle his stomach, making him writhe wildly and giggle madly.

“I’ll probably stay behind to keep an eye on and entertain Step, but Clanky should be available to join you before he goes in to work.” White said patiently. “I’m on paid parental leave for a while except for emergency calls, but I’m not going to go back and risk him going for a trip through the hospital.” She shuddered faintly. “The trip to the store was bad enough.”

Clank Clop laughed from the kitchen. “Those folk had a field day ripping that store to bits trying to find him; how he managed to hide inside the watermelon display I’ll never know.” He called jovially. “I swear I’m thinking of putting a bell on him, he’s going to drive me to drink more than my students do.”

“Alright, breakfast and then a walk,” Crimson began positively as she walked down from upstairs, where she’d been using the bathroom, “great way to start the day.” Her mane, tail, and coat had all been brushed neatly, and she looked much better than she had when she’d awoken. Granted she still had a few pale patches where her wounds were healing and the fur growing back, but she didn’t need bandages anymore, and she wasn’t limping either.

“If only everypony were as enthusiastic as you.” Whiterobe chuckled, eyeing her husband as he dozed in the kitchen. The toasted snapped up and flung the toast into his face, waking him with a start. “Oh, he is going to be so energetic at work today.” She said bluntly before bursting into laughter.

*&*&*&*

“Alright, we need to ask the nurse at the counter about a gryphon child that I brought into paediatrics last night.” Saddleblaze said for about the tenth time. She’d been going over their plan for the entire trip, and it was slowly driving the others crazy. Well, except for Snowy, who seemed to have been going through it in his head himself. “Then, provided they let us see her, talk to her doctor about adoption procedures, and finally talk with her.”

“If everything goes as planned, she’ll be your little bundle ae joy by th’ time th’ sun goes back down.” Crimsondrop cut in. “Calm down, lass, ye got this.”

The four walked into Trottingham’s only hospital, trotting up to the front counter and ringing the bell that sat in wait. It was empty this day, with no injuries or illnesses having come in overnight or during the morning, and the nurse at the desk seemed to be utterly bored. She’d been playing a game of some sort with cards –possibly making up the rules as she went along- before they had rung the bell to get her attention.

“Yes, is there something you need?” She asked as her eyes lifted from the stacks of cards before her. “Oh, Saddleblaze, I wasn’t expecting to see you this morning; I assumed that Whiterobe would have healed you after you just sort of left last night.”

“Good morning Cast, I brought in a gryphon child last night, should be on the books. Ashy brown, with dark grey, she had an eye injury..?” Saddleblaze asked a little shakily, earning a nudge and a smile from Snowy.

The nurse looked through the files at her desk, a simple reference file for each patient resting in a cabinet neatly organized for her to reference through. “Let’s see, gryphon cub… here we go, just the one in at the moment.” She read through the file before stopping, her breath catching as her eyes went wide and she shut the file. “Oh dear Celestia… Uh, Blaze, the cub…”

“I heard the doctors say that they were doing something about her eye, Cast, and upon mentioning the word to Whiterobe she told me what it meant.” Saddleblaze said calmly. “Big words are nice to keep younger patients from knowing what will happen should they overhear, but adults aren’t that easy to fool; I know she underwent a major operation.”

“Yes, her eye was removed.” The nurse said sadly. “Though that may be both good and bad news; she didn’t get an infection from the wound, but we did find that some fly larvae had begun to, well…” She coughed back the bile rising in her throat. “It must have been excruciatingly painful for her, I can’t even begin to imagine…”

“We’d like to see her, if that’s alright?” Snowy asked, seeing as Saddleblaze was busy looking shocked.

“Of course, she’s in the paediatric ward, room three. She woke up a little while ago and we gave her some breakfast, but I’m not sure if she’s eaten it.” Her face turned stern. “If you cannot stomach seeing her eat meat, now is the time to turn away. She’s partially omnivorous and meats are the majority part of her diet. As such she’s been given something that is suitable for her; fish, some fruit, and nuts.”

“We should be fine.” Snowy said, before looking around his companions, “Right?”

Saddleblaze and Clank nodded, and Crimsondrop only shrugged. The four then began wandering to the ward in which the gryphon was resting. “Oh, like seeing something eat meat is going tae send me intae shock.” Crimsondrop mocked playfully as they walked through the halls. “I used to hang around wolves th’ same size as us, and I’ve seen things that’d put these healers through their paces.”

“Such as?”

The four stopped and turned sharply to the pony who had called out, the stallion looking at them disapprovingly.

“Ah, Doctor Quick Stitch, it’s nice to see you this morning.” Saddleblaze said quickly, trying to diffuse the situation and failing miserably.

“Indeed, though there have been better ones for many of our patients I’m sure.” He replied dismissively. “Now, what was this about things that would put us through our paces?”

“Do ye really want tae know?” Crimson asked, getting a nod in response.

“Oh yes, I would very much like to hear the sort of things you think we’d find difficult.” He snorted dryly.

She put a hoof to her chin. “Let’s see… well, there was that one time I went intae a portal and m’ old owner and twenty four of his buddies fought with him against ae massive fire elemental.” She probed. “What was he called again, I keep forgettin’ on account of me tryin’ tae make myself look as small as possible and not get burned to a crisp at th' time.”

“Okay…”

“Or there was that dragon keep we went into; poleaxes th’ size of my whole body… That was ae bloody one, now that I think of it.”

“What..?”

“Maybe the sewer city of th’ undead that we used tae run through on ae regular basis..?” She shuddered faintly. “I still remember th’ smell, ugh.”

At this one, the doctor looked affronted. “Where in Tartarus are you from?!”

Crimsondrop smiled wanly. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told ye.”

“Anyway, back on track here,” Saddleblaze cut in, hoping that Clank could keep himself from bursting out laughing. Snow was grinning himself, something that didn’t happen often. “I wanted to talk about the gryphon cub I came in with last night, remember?”

“Ah, yes, right.” Doctor Quick Stitch managed to blurt, trying to keep himself focused. This strange female could come later, he had work to do. “Now, after you left without treatment for your third degree burns which I see have miraculously healed overnight –White does good work- we had to perform an emergency procedure to remove her protruding and damaged eye. Magical scanning showed that there was nothing we could do to save it,”

“Nurse Cast told me at the counter that it was infested with maggots.” Saddleblaze mentioned.

“Yes, it was.” Stitch confirmed sadly, clearing his throat a second before continuing. “There was very little left, really. We don’t want to risk putting her through more pain just to replace her eye should our other procedures fail, so we’ve closed her eye-socket and stitched her eyelid closed. She didn’t use it anyway, so she’s unlikely to try to open it until the stitches come out. With the adapted healing magic we’ve placed on her, that should happen this afternoon. We, also, had to remove her tear duct for that side of her face, a procedure which has damaged her operculum, the fleshy growth at the base of her beak. While removing her tear duct, which was beyond repair, was a necessity and has obviously made an impact on the function of that side of her face, the minor damage to her operculum is merely cosmetic and should show no long-term complications.”

“Why are ye telling us all this..?” Crimson asked curiously. “I don’t remember askin’.”

“Because it may help Miss Saddleblaze knowing that her work will have saved a life, but also because I’m certain that she would ask for the information as well.” He replied smoothly. “Now, come on, say the line I know is coming.” He added shortly.

“Doc, I want to adopt her.” Saddleblaze blurted bluntly, before blushing hideously and hiding her face. “I mean-“

“You said exactly what you meant to say, Miss Saddleblaze.” He said bluntly. “And while I’m all for her going to a good home, we don’t know if she’s even available for adoption yet. We’ve had no word from her family or from her if she even has a family, and we cannot complete any of the required paperwork until then.”

“Is she awake?” Snow asked calmly. Or maybe nervously, it could be hard to tell with him sometimes.

The doctor looked at the room in question. “I believe she’s still eating her breakfast. She looked somewhat overwhelmed at the amount of food that was offered to her, so we’re waiting for a call nurse button to indicate she’s finished. She didn’t seem to be frightened of any of our staff, but I would suggest not going into her room in large numbers, she might be intimidated by groups.”

The four friends nodded, and Saddleblaze indicated for them to remain out in the corridor before she headed in, opening the door and peeking in before stepping in fully. She smiled to the young gryphon who sat mid-bite of her portion of fish, looking up at the new yet somehow familiar face quizzically.

“Hello?”

“Hello, little one; do you remember me? From last night?” Saddleblaze asked with a smile. “And no, I was not the arsonist; that particular Minotaur was found. I pulled you from the building?” At this the gryphon nodded and Saddleblaze smiled wider. “My name is Saddleblaze; I’m a member of the Trottingham Fire Brigade, we respond to fires and attempt to put them out or rescue any trapped survivors. Last night, I found you inside what was once Trottingham’s old amphitheatre.” She paused at the confusion that spread across the gryphon’s little face cutely. “The building you were in, it was once a theatre for seeing plays.” She said, taking note to dumb down her language a little for her to understand. “As the building was going to be torn down in a few days, it may have been a good thing that we found you, but the, ah, circumstances could have been better.”

Saddleblaze sighed. “I hate to ask this, but do you remember anything? Your name, age, your family? We need to know to see if we can contact them.”

The cub’s furious eating stopped and she put the food back down on her plate –she’d finished the fish and had started on the fruit, but now her mood for eating had halted altogether. “I’m six,” she began cautiously, “my name is Softcrest, and my family… I don’t have a family.”

Saddleblaze could see the gryphon cub struggling with something in her head, be it her ability to hold back a breakdown, or just to remember anything, or even just to hold down the serving of fish she’d evidently scarfed like it was her first meal in months. She carefully moved closer to wrap a hoof around her and let her lean on her.

“I… I remember mommy calling me Softcrest, but she wasn’t around for long. D-daddy didn’t want me, and he l-left me in that b-building…” Now tears were running down her cheek, and she was leaning much more heavily into the figure beside her.

“How long have you been there?”

“T-two years.” She admitted shakily. “I-I would take things that restaurants threw out, mainly fruit or things in boxes...”

Saddleblaze nodded. “I understand, sweetie.” She cooed, “But what did you do for food besides that? Don’t worry about upsetting me, I’ve seen a lot and I know that you need to eat meat.” She softly said, though mentally she was growling. ‘What kind of parent would abandon a four year old in such a way..? How much hurt has she been through..?’ She sighed and nuzzled into the gryphon’s head gently.

The cub shivered in her bed and took a shaky breath. “I-I hunted rats in th-the building you found me in.” She said. “I cooked them by using a grill thing I found in the trash one night by plugging it into an outside plug in somepony’s back yard.”

‘And that would explain the complaints of a strange smell near the amphitheatre.’ Saddleblaze thought with a smile. “How did you injure your eye?” She asked.

“I tripped over a wooden thing in the building and a nail poking out cut me.” She admitted, curling up a little and hugging her tail. “It hurt so bad I just screamed and screamed until I passed out. When I woke, I couldn’t use that eye, and the pain was mostly gone…” She groped about her face with a forepaw for a moment, feeling the stitches left where her eye had been. “I suppose it’d stopped working altogether, since the nice doctor took it out…”

Saddleblaze sighed. “Yes, sweetie; your eye had been damaged to a point where it no longer worked, and it was becoming dangerous for you to keep it. You could have gotten much sicker if it had stayed in, so Doctor Quick Stitch had to remove it. I’m sorry, sweetie.” She gave the gryphon another gentle nuzzle. “You’ve been really brave to be in pain for so long; a lot of ponies would have given up.”

The cub shook her head faintly. “It’s okay, I guess.” She mumbled. “If it didn’t work, what’s the point of keeping it? Besides, it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“I suppose that’s a good point.” Saddleblaze giggled. “Would you feel comfortable if a friend of mine came in?”

She nodded, and Saddleblaze gave her a smile before calling. “Snow, you can come in.”

The door clicked and said stallion stepped in, closing it behind him. He looked completely impassive as he gazed over at Saddleblaze and the cub. “Snow, this is the gryphon cub I was talking about; she’s told me that her name is Softcrest. Softcrest, this is Snowy Doublescoop; he and I have been seeing one another for a few years as special someponies,” She gave her a silly mock-conspiratorial look, “Don’t worry about his face, he was born with a frown. He’s smiling on the inside.”

Snow chuckled. “Very funny, Blaze.” He said. “You try thinking of ways to –no, I won’t say it; it’ll ruin the surprise.” He sidled over, his armour clinking gently as he moved, and gave the mare a chaste kiss. “Now, little miss Softcrest, I’m going to assume that Blaze has already asked you a few important questions, but I have one myself.”

“Y-yes?”

He cracked a small smile. “Do you like ice-cream?”

*&*&*&*

Crimsondrop sighed as she leaned against the wall outside of the room in which Snowy and Saddleblaze were talking with the cub. It had been ten minutes or so since the doctor had been called in to help with some forms, and Clank had left for school, something about ‘dodgeball’ and needing to be there to oversee his class injuring one another.

Okay, maybe he didn’t put it quite like that, but she knew that was what he meant when he gave his almost evil grin.

A little pain never hurt anypony, after all.

A pony coughed to get her attention, and she looked over at them disinterestedly. “Yes?”

The pony, a mare with a cap on her head looked a little nervous. “I-I couldn’t help but notice your flank,” she said, before blushing furiously and shaking her head, “I-I don’t mean like that, I mean-“

“You mean th’ cut, right?” Crimsondrop asked her, cutting off her embarrassed rambling.

“Y-yeah… w-we don’t get many injuries like that, not in Equestria.” She blurted. “Where are you from, anyway?”

Crimsondrop’s eyes narrowed as she observed the mare, something Whiterobe once said flicking through her head for a moment, something about ‘news ponies’ and her not wanting the hospital to be swarmed with them.

“Somewhere else.” She firmly stated.

“O-okay; I’m sorry to bother you Miss.” The mare blurted, scurrying off into the hospital and out of sight. Crimsondrop only blinked confusedly.

‘What in the name of Princess Celestia’s ruby boxer-shorts was that all about..?’

Author's Note

And this begins the Softcrest arc.

If anypony finds a spot where she's called or referenced to as 'Giggle' please let me know, as that was, I suppose, her codename before I settled on the one she has now.

An image of Softcrest has been uploaded to my Deviantart, go check it out!

Trespassers

“No!” A little voice shouted sharply. “No, you can’t make me!”

“Sweetie, please…”

“No! Brussels Sprouts are evil!”

Crimsondrop sighed, having hung around for her friends, Saddleblaze and Snowy Doublescoop, to be finished visiting the young gryphon cub they intended to adopt together. It had been several hours, and was now lunch time, as evidenced by the sounds of the cub herself protesting part of her meal.

“I don’t know why you hate them so; have you actually eaten any..?”

“Yes and they’re icky! All boiled and yuck!”

Crimsondrop had sat and listened to her protest for the last three minutes and had finally had enough. She knocked on the door firmly. “Hey Saddleblaze, could you come here for a minute?”

The sounds of protesting cub continued as Saddleblaze stepped out of the room shaking her head. “She must be getting better, she’s protesting her food.”

Crimsondrop nodded. “I can hear her from out here, she’ll be fine. Hay, the doctor even said ye could take her home after her meal.” She said. “Look, Saddleblaze, I’m goin’ t’ get goin’; I want t’ see what th’ orange farmer will be wantin’ me t’ do. Will you and Snow be alright here on yer own?”

Saddleblaze nodded. “We should be alright if you have things to do. Thank you, Crimson, you’ve helped more thank you may know.”

Crimsondrop chortled and shook her head. “Oh, I’ve an inklin’. I’ll come back later if ye don’t come see me at th’ farm, okay?”

“Of course, have a good day and thanks again.”

With a nod, Crimsondrop left her friend at the hospital and began her steady trek to the farm on the outskirts of town. Despite being a sunny and beautiful day –something that Ponyville found quite often invited in all sorts of trouble- her walk, and the town, was undisturbed by rampaging bunnies, invading pests, or even a stray monster from the Everfree.

That wasn’t to say that the town was boring. No, no, there would still be the occasional issue that would crop up. This was Equestria after all, and a year without some sort of exciting event was like the moon turning to cheese. Of course, seeing that Crimsondrop was one of the latest ‘interesting’ things that had graced the town, she found herself under scrutiny from much of the populace. Some thought she was a strange new monster that had yet to show its darker side, while others just found her a strange and curious oddity to be admired from afar.

Like the moon turning to cheese.

Her walk, uneventful as it was, brought her to the expansive groves of oranges that belonged to one Citrus Squeeze, and she found the stallion in question spraying something around the roots of a nearby orange tree.

“Good day, mister Squeeze.” She called, startling the pony a little and gaining his attention. “I’m here to ask about what I’ll be doing when I start work?” She looked at the tree he was watering, then at the watering can he held. “… Did I come at a bad time?”

The stallion chuckled and put the watering can down. “No, no, I was just doing some pest control.” He said before waving her to follow him. “Thanks for coming in before you’re contracted to work, by the way; makes the first day a lot smoother.”

“Of course.”

“Now, what you’re here for; we’re almost into harvest season, and as always I’ll need a few extra hooves to help with the harvest itself. Like the fine ponies at Sweet Apple Acres, we try not to use magic if we can help it. As such, we need a few fine young folk such as you to help buck the trees.”

Crimsondrop stopped. “Buck the trees? Uh, sir, I… don’t think I’m one t’ ask fer that. Maybe t’ collect the buckets and pull the carts?”

“Oh? Are you worried that you might not be able to kick the tree hard enough? You certainly look like you can?”

Crimsondrop chortled and picked up a rock. “I could demonstrate the problem for ye?” She asked, to which he nodded. “Okay, watch the rock.”

With his eyes on the rock –barely larger than a tennis ball- she threw it up into the air and, when it came back down within reach, bucked her hind legs and kicked it.

With a bang signalling something breaking the sound barrier and a contrail following it, the stone promptly vanished from sight as it sailed towards Canterlot in the distance.

Princess Celestia and her sister had just finished a rather splendid lunch, each having a succulent and expertly crafted salad each which had been a delight to simply look at let alone taste. The main meal, finished as it was, had been cleared from the table and now the after-meal coffees and desserts were being brought out.

Well, dessert.

Luna had been foregoing midday desserts in favour of having a larger dessert after dinner and enjoying nibbles during the day. Her sister, however, had a large piece of colourful and delicious-looking cherry-cream cake. Luna smiled over at her sister knowing how much she enjoyed her cakes and sipped at her coffee. Celestia, in turn, moved a spoon to cut at her cake for her first mouthful of this delightful treat.

Then, a series of sounds cut through the peace of the room. The first was the sound of glass being broken by a tennis ball sized rock, and the second not even a second after this was akin to somepony punching a semi-frozen puddle.

Luna looked up at her sister in disbelief, her solar sibling staring at where her cake had been not moments prior, her face now spattered with the very dessert she had been trying to sample. Neither sibling made a sound, each trying to process what had just happened.

Then Luna burst into laughter.

Crimsondrop looked, disinterestedly, at where the rock had vanished into the distance. Her gaze turned to her employer who stared dumbfounded at the long-gone rock in amazement before coughing and trying to return his attention to the here and now.

“R-right, no bucking trees;” he managed to stammer, “with a kick like that I wouldn’t be surprised if you uprooted or snapped one in half…” He took another worried look at the horizon before shaking his head and motioning her to follow him. “Right, well, I guess that’s not for you then. I’ll see about getting a couple of colts in from town to help me with the harvest.” He held a hoof out to a cart laden with sturdy looking baskets. “These are what we’ll be using to bring in said harvest; usually I get the more strapping stallions to pull them, as they become quite heavy when fully laden.”

Crimsondrop nodded and eyed the cart and the dozen or so baskets that sat upon it with an air of somepony who could be a connoisseur of pony-pulled vehicles. Idly she pushed at a wheel and gave a scowl as the cart shifted.

“The axles are rusty and in poor need of replacement, and I’m not sure if it’ll support ae full load with them in such disrepair. I’ve pulled worse though.” She said, before adding, “Boulders for example.”

“Speakin’ of rocks, a few days ago I unearthed a Cluster in the north-western field and I’ve been unable to budge it. I was goin’ to hire a bunch of the local stallions to help me drag it to the barn and crack it open; if you think you can handle it, I’ll let you keep a basket or two of its contents for your troubles?”

Crimsondrop nodded and motioned for him to lead the way. “Why do y’ want this rock dragged intae the barn?”

He replied as he led her through the orchards, “I don’t really have the tools to crack it open here, and the unicorn in town that does it makes a hay of a mess.” They reached an open paddock, and sure enough a large stone sat unearthed nearby. A long and sturdy set of ropes were already tied around it for when the stallions would be hitched to it.

She approached the stone and ropes and, after studying the coils for a few moments, she tied them around her waist.

“What’re you doing?” Citrus Squeeze asked her, earning only a confidant smile in return.

And then she pulled.

She heaved against the ground with all her might and, after a few seconds of resistance, the stone began to succumb to her heave. The stone, of just over her height and twice her length, was promptly dragged from its home in the soil and through the open gate.

“Where’s th’ barn?”

Citrus Squeeze, who had been staring in stunned shock, snapped back to reality and hurried past her, motioning for her to follow him.

“We follow this path to the end of the field, and it’s the third building on our left.”

She nodded. “I’ll meet ye there, then.” She said, before putting on a burst of speed that again had Citrus staring in amazement, watching her drag the rock away from him at a working trot.

“If I weren’t already married,” he mumbled to himself, “I’d be seriously considerin’ that nanny.” With that aired, he shook himself and hurried after her, hoping to catch her before she needed him to open the barn doors.

It only took a few minutes for them to reach the barn in question, and once the boulder was situated within they took a short break to look it over. The large, ugly and oddly shaped lump of minerals was unyielding in attempts to find a weak point through which Citrus hoped to crack it open with one of his tools. He ended up admitting defeat, however, and stated that he would have to call in the unicorn as usual.

And then Crimsondrop approached it again, still with a confidant smile on her face.

With a grunting cry of exertion she reared up and brought her forehead down upon the solid rock, much to the worry of her employer. The stone, despite its clear resilience and clear desire to remain in once piece, cracked open like a walnut in a nutcracker and spilled gemstones across the barn floor.

The nanny groaned and shook her head before smiling at the farmer. “Anythin’ else you need, or…”

“By Princess Celestia’s beard, Crimsondrop, warn a stallion before you-- you’re bleeding!”

She blinked at him before dabbing at her forehead where she’d struck the rock with a hoof and looking at the red that dribbled off of the glowing keratin. “Oh, would you look at that.” She breathed, returning her attention to the slack-jawed stallion. “Be ae sport and get a rag fer this, would ye?”

“R-right, you look through the gems and pick out the ones you want and I-I’ll go get something for that cut…” He stammered as he made his way to the door. “I’ll… I’ll send my wife out t’ help you pick through them.”

“That would be nice; I’ve no idea what kind ae coin I’d get for them. I’d like t’ get started on buyin’ a home, and every little helps.”

“Marmalade can help with that, I’ll go get th’ first aid kit.”

Crimsondrop nodded. “Ta, Citrus.”

*&*&*&*

“You had better not be wasting my time, mage.”

The Forsaken warrior, Toothache, was glaring at the Blood Elf mage he had hired. The air around her hands warped in a combination of magic and the heat of the day that is a staple of Gadgetzan’s atmosphere. He snarled at a Worgen mage who looked over at the pair curiously, the female werewolf sighing and returning to talking with her fellow Kirin-Tor.

“Watch your attitude, Toothache; it took but misdirected blame to have the Blood Elves ejected from the Kirin-Tor. I do not particularly want to see what happens when they are angered.”

“I am not afraid of some pansies in dresses, Kirisla,” he growled back at her. “And I don’t see what the fuss is about; your name is exalted amongst them!”

“Being exalted merely means that I am tolerated at the moment, you brute; I have a meeting coming up with Kirin-Tor leadership in a few days to discuss anything further and I will not have you ruin that for me.”

He gave her a disgusted (and, as his face was somewhat decomposed, disgusting) glare. “You’re going neutral? What kind of cowardice is this?”

“The kind of cowardice that lets my children grow up with their mother.” She hissed angrily. “If all goes as planned I’ll have a nice library to study my portal and teleportation spells in and some classes to lecture. It’ll be a darn sight better than the warzones that I’ve been objected to getting here.”

Toothache harrumphed, “You know as well as I do, that Proudmoore witch has it out for anyone in the Horde races. You’re more likely to wind up scrubbing the Dalaran sewers than studying in their libraries.”

“That’s why I asked for that pair to accompany us; they are here to observe and make sure I don’t cheat. A portal to another realm… can you imagine the possibilities?”

“The goblins can.”

“Keep them out of this; those exploitative guttersnipes would drain these realms for all their worth. It’s bad enough they do it to Azeroth.”

“For once, mage, we agree on something.” Toothache hissed before shivering as a wave of magic washed through him and, with a loud sound not unlike two swords sliding against one another, a portal opened before him.

“Finally, it opened!” Kirisla cheered before waving over the Kirin-Tor pair. “The wavelength was strange, but I managed to isolate it using the method that Lady Proudmoore taught.”

“I can finally get my damned goat back.”

“This will not be the exact place that she disappeared to, Toothache;” Kirisla warned, “the magic signature was too degraded for me to get that precise a location.”

The undead waved a hand dismissively. “Bah,” he spat, “I was not expecting you to get it right, useless mages.” He growled before stepping into the portal and disappearing. The three spellcasters shared a look.

“You two feel that too, I take it?” Kirisla asked worriedly. The pair nodded.

“Great power resides on the other side of that portal, possibly unlike any on Azeroth.” The Worgen stated. “It does not seem to appreciate our intrusion into its realm, either. We should proceed humbly and with caution.”

“Tell that to tall, decomposing, and stupid.” Kirisla complained. “Look, I swear to behave, I’ll geas myself to you if you want, but I would really appreciate if one of you could head back to Dalaran and alert leadership. If we anger whatever it is that’s on the other side of this portal…” She shuddered, “It could be the Well of Eternity all over again. I don’t think Azeroth will survive a second Maelstrom.”

The human male of the trio nodded. “I’ll go; you two keep an eye on that corpse.” He instructed as he opened a portal to Dalaran and stepped through, saying a quick, “Good luck,” before the portal closed.

The remaining two females sighed. “Men,” Kirisla groused, “Can’t live with them, can’t live without them, eh Elizabeth?”

The Worgen chortled, “Quite,”

And with that, the pair stepped into the shimmering portal before them.

They stepped out into a dense, dark forest. Sounds of creatures unknown moved about through the woods around them, and Toothache stood waiting for them.

Elizabeth, the Worgen, was the first to speak after having sniffed the air. “Predators frequent this place.” She said, an ear twitching to listen to things moving through the underbrush, “despite your rot, they are not afraid of coming for a free meal. I suggest we move quickly.”

“Where do we go, though? I don’t know the lay of the land; this could be a world covered in endless forest for all I know.” Kirisla said calmly. “And that feeling is getting more hostile the longer we’re here.” She shivered. “You don’t think one of the Old Gods could be here… do you?”

“I don’t hear whispers in my mind; I don’t think it is their doing.” Elizabeth replied warily, “Though we do tread in the realm of something… very powerful.”

“Words, words, words; let’s go!” Toothache snarled. “My stupid goat is here somewhere and I’m not going back without it.” He pointed off through the trees, where a rooftop could faintly be seen in the distance. “There’re buildings over there, so that must be a town.”

“Lead the way then, musclehead.” Kirisla spat, to which Toothache grunted and obliged. As he stepped a little ahead of the pair of women, Kirisla leaned up to Elizabeth’s ear. “Getting really sick of him,”

“What’s his deal?”

The elf shook her head, “A few days ago he and his team returned from the Caverns of Time to Gadgetzan after attending to a task the dragons wanted done. According to one of his teammates, my paladin sister no less, he hadn’t left food or water for his Talbuk, not even when he reached town.”

“That’s… somewhat cruel.”

“Yeah, well, the Talbuk sort of collapsed while he was in the inn and after he tried to get it to rise –violently according to my sister- a freak magical occurrence whisked it away. The reason I conducted my cross-realm portal experiment where I did is because that’s where it was last seen.”

The canine woman said nothing for a few moments. “So you’re saying that you weren’t trying an interdimensional portal experiment?” She probed accusingly.

“No, no, I was,” Kirisla replied with a shake of her head, “I used the type of portals that are commonly used by our troops in Draenor to return to Azeroth; I merely added a tracking formula. The idea was to use the portal to track the last teleportation used and follow it, even between realities, such as Draenor and Azeroth. Imagine the potential; we could track down magical offenders wherever they go.”

Elizabeth nodded, eyeing the forest around them as they walked. “Yes, it would be interesting, not sure how it could be pitched to Lady Proudmoore, but it does sound clever. Offenders such as Kael’thas would find it much more difficult to escape us in future.” She smiled as her attention was drawn to the town they were walking towards, now leaving the forest behind them. “It looks to be a quaint town. I can smell many horses, as well as some other scents, including gryphon. Maybe they’re a farming community.”

”Perhaps this won’t be as difficult as-” Kirisla began, only to cut herself off as she saw an equine using a hammer to nail something onto a building. She turned to look at Elizabeth, who was likewise flabbergasted. “D… do you see what I see?”

Elizabeth nodded. “That horse is performing maintenance.” She said. “Perhaps you did break dimensional barriers; look over there, that one is manning a stall! And that one is... wait, what is that one doing?”

“Delivering the mail by the looks of it,” Kirisla said as she watched the winged horse flitter between buildings and deposit letters into mailboxes. “There are pegasi and unicorn mixed into the herd… Could they be sapient?”

Elizabeth hummed, still following Toothache as she pondered the chances. A shout of mild alarm came from the equines, now that the trio had entered the town proper. A small ashy blur, clearly not looking where it was going, slammed into the side of Toothache’s right boot, causing the trio to stop.

Somewhere the words ‘unhitch me’ were voiced in the silent street, but this was ignored by the mages and warrior, who looked down at the curious creature.

It appeared to be a Gryphon chick missing an eye, female by the looks of it. She shook her head and looked up at Toothache worriedly as he turned to glare down at her. Slowly he reached up to his shoulder, where the handle to his greatsword sat waiting for his grip.

Then she spoke. “I-I’m sorry.”

The blade swung down.

*&*&*&*

Crimsondrop strolled cheerfully through town, pulling a small cartful of gems to the jeweller’s for evaluation and sale. Marmalade Scoop, the wife of Citrus, had been a wonderful host and quite helpful in aiding the nanny in selecting gemstones for sale.

For now, Crimsondrop would be contented if she just got to talk to her every time she worked; the mare was thoroughly pleasant to be around, and was incredibly hospitable. Something about ‘Orange Family Traditions’ or some such; she had to admit she didn’t pay much attention to the prideful lecture about being in a long line of such farmers.

Crimsondrop was looking forward to dropping off these gems, getting her Bits and meeting up with Doublescoop and Saddleblaze; she wanted to see if they were interested in going to a diner for some lunch or if they’d had some already. With this many gems, she was certain she’d have some Bits to spare.

Having spotted the pair as they walked towards her, the gryphon chick dawdling alongside them looking about in curiosity, she made her way over and greeted them.

“Crimson, I thought you said you went to Citrus’ grove;” Saddleblaze began, eyeing the cartful of gems that the nanny was pulling, “where’d you get these from?”

She smiled at the trio. “Citrus had something called ae ‘cluster’ in ‘is fields he wanted movin’. I dragged it from the field and cracked it open; Citrus said I could take a cartful.”

The two adults nodded in understanding. “Ah, he let you have some for services rendered, seems fair.” Saddleblaze said, as if clarifying to herself. She then gestured down to the gryphon that was looking up at Crimsondrop in wonder. “Crimson, this is the gryphon cub that we’ve adopted, Softcrest. Softcrest, this is a friend of ours, Crimsondrop.”

“Hello, Softcrest,” Crimsondrop said down to her warmly, “Nice to meet you.” The cub nodded, still staring in wonder at her glowing horn and hooves. “Did the doctor say anything about taking her home early?” She asked the adults.

“She’s not to run around too much, as she did inhale some smoke that still needs to clear her lungs, but she should be alright provided we take her back for a check-up in two days or so.” Saddleblaze replied.

“That’s good; have ye had lunch yet? I was goin’ t’ trade these t’ the jeweller in town for bits, I was wondering if ye wanted t’ go for somethin’ t’ eat?”

“I don’t see why not. Softcrest has already had her lunch at the hospital, but I’m sure she would enjoy a nice piece of cake.” Saddleblaze responded with a nod. “The jeweller is that way, near the edge of town.” She added, waving a hoof.

Crimsondrop waved a hoof in response. “Lead th’ way then,” she instructed, turning and tugging the cart into motion.

“Where are we going?” Softcrest asked from down around their ankles, making Saddleblaze chuckle.

“We’re just going to go sell Crimsondrop’s gems, and then we’re going to go to a diner for something to eat.” She said, leaning down to speak into her ear. “I’ll buy you some cake, would you like that?”

Softcrest’s face exploded into bliss and she nodded furiously, before starting to run down the road. “Let’s go!”

“Softcrest, wait! Watch where you’re going!”

It was then that the gryphon cub ran into a hard metal boot, bowling over onto her flank. She rubbed her cheek before looking up at who she’d run into. The figure was tall, and walked on only two legs, their entire body covered in heavy metal armour. Two other figures stood behind it, one of which looked like a bipedal wolf in a dress, though they at least only looked curious.

Crimsondrop shoved Saddleblaze. “Unhitch me.” She snapped, watching as the familiar shape reached up to his back. “Blaze, unhitch me now!”

Something in the urgency in her voice seemed to have spoken to the subconscious of the mare beside her, because she was out of the harness faster than she’d thought would be possible. Knowing she was now free of the cart, she bolted towards the figure.

Her left front hoof slapped the blade from its original downward angle, making it bury itself into the soil next to Softcrest’s now terrified form. With a feral snarl Crimsondrop spun, brought up her rear legs, and bucked.

Her hooves connected with his helmet, and the force behind them brought him up off his feet and knocked him back behind his companions where he rolled to a stop. One of the robed figures turned to his prone form.

“Toothache, are you alright?!”

“Kirisla, is that a Talbuk?” The wolf-like female asked.

The other figure turned and stared at Crimsondrop as she stood protectively over Softcrest as if she’d never seen their like before.

“She’s a little small, isn’t she?” Kirisla asked confusedly, realizing that the talbuk in question only came up to her chest. “She seems… different from the talbuk back home. Something about her face feels… off.”

Crimsondrop snorted angrily, “Yeah, well something about your face makes me think of paladins!”

The two mages stared, gobsmacked.

“She just spoke.” Kirisla stated.

“By the light she just spoke.”

“Yeah, there’s a whole lot o’ things I can say, like that ye can crawl back through the hole ye came out! I ain’t goin’ back! Not t’ him! As much as I miss my family, as much as I long for the companionship of his teams’ mounts, I’d rather miss all of that than go back t’ him, so take yer undead sack of manure and git!” She shouted.

The pair only stared.

“I’ve had enough of his beatin’s, had enough of his mistreatment!” Crimsondrop belted out angrily, a few tears struggling to break free of her eyes. “I have a life here!”

Toothache growled as he struggled to a kneeling position, clutching his greatsword with a tightly-bunched fist. “Two hundred Gold pieces… wasted on some pathetic, poorly trained piece of meat!” His head swivelled and he glared directly into Crimsondrop’s eyes. “You have a life here? Fine then, I’ll take it!”

With a roar he leapt from the earth, bringing his sword over his head and leaping towards where Crimsondrop was protectively shielding Softcrest. Her eyes went wide, and she scooped the cub up into one of her forelegs before jumping to one side. Her jump had extra momentum put behind it when Toothache struck the ground and she rolled a few times before coming to a rest. She found her feet and gently shook Softcrest.

“Hey, kid, I’m going to throw you to Saddleblaze, okay? Spread your wings when you’re airborne, keep them wide. Ready?”

After a nod from the cub, she jumped back to dodge a swing of Toothache’s sword before hurling Softcrest where she said she would. Thankfully the feeling of being airborne in such a way didn’t startle the cub too much and her wings spread, making her glide over to where Saddleblaze and Doublescoop caught her.

“Toothache, what are you doing?!”

The warrior turned his sword on his elf companion. “Stay out of this, mage, or you’re next!”

Crimsondrop took this moment to grab a nearby metal broom, and managed to just barely block Toothache’s next swing with it. The swing that followed, however, cleaved clean through the metal pole before burying his blade into the soil. With a grunt he used the sword as leverage and put his full weight into kicking her square in the head, sending her tumbling to the ground.

“Pitiful,” Toothache snarled down at her as she struggled to get to her hooves, “can’t believe I wasted so much gold on you.” He pulled his sword from the dirt and gave Crimsondrop a strong kick in the stomach to which she yelped loudly. “Useless piece of meat; I don’t know why your trainer thought you were worth that much, you’re barely worth me having to clean my armour!” He stopped and sneered, raising his sword high. “But at least I’ll enjoy this.”

Crimsondrop coughed, glaring up at him, “And at least I’ll be free of you, master.”

With a yell, Toothache’s sword swung down.

The sword collided with a golden barrier which burst to life around Crimsondrop, and the blade shattered into fragments when a short jolt of magic shot along it. His eyes bulged in fury, and the two mages hugged each other shivering in fear as a new creature floated down from the sky. Its fur, horn, and wings a pearly white and a flowing multi-coloured mane and tail streaming around her.

Celestia cleared her throat to get Toothache’s attention, speaking only when he looked over at her. “It would seem that someone is about to have a very bad day.”

“That someone is an interfering mare!” He shouted, pulling a dagger from his armour and rushing her.

Unfazed, Celestia merely waited for him to close in before backhoofing him hard enough to make him spin and crumple to the ground. She huffed down at him, rolling him over with a hoof.

“Stay down.” She instructed, only for him to grunt and attempt to rise.

“I will not… be humiliated… by a damned horse!” He bellowed as he struggled to his feet, dagger still in his hand.

“Toothache, stop; you don’t know what you’re up against!” Kirisla shouted warningly.

“Don’t tell me what to do, you damned stupid witch!”

His return to attacking Celestia was cut short when her magic grabbed him and made him simply vanish with a burst of light and sound. Celestia sighed before her eyes connected with the two mages, and her gaze bore into their terrified eyes. “And what of you two, hmm..? Do I need to send you to the castle dungeons too?”

“NO!” The wolf-like woman yelped, cringing as if struck.

“Then you will not come back after returning to your realm.” Celestia hissed, “Your constant conflicts, petty squabbles, and resource exploitation will not be brought to Equestria; you are not welcome here if you bring such things to our realm, especially the small green ones.”

“W-what will become of-”

“Your… undead companion will not be returning.” Celestia stated firmly. “If asked, you will tell that he bit off more than he could chew.” Her eyes narrowed at them, “Leave through your portal and never return.”

“O-of course.” Elizabeth stammered as she backed away and tugged Kirisla to join her. The pair walked in sullen silence until they reached the forest edge and Elizabeth spoke up. “We are lucky, elf,”

“Why do you say that?”

Elizabeth chuckled humourlessly, “We just walked away from a face-to-face with something akin to a god.” She stated, stepping over a root. “Walking away from that is lucky in itself. The power I could feel from her… it was like standing before A’dal all over again.”

Kirisla took a nervous look over her shoulder as she prepared to return through the portal. “Light have mercy on Toothache… I doubt that she will.”

With a sigh, Celestia lifted Crimsondrop to her hooves with her magic, helping her stay steady as she struggled to stand. It had been a long time, she noted to herself, since a sentient creature from that realm made it through to this one. The light-birthed Naaru had been a sight to behold and wiser than she could hope to be, and those two females were, while terrified of her and following an obvious dunderhead, smart enough to not cause trouble.

“Crimsondrop, are you alright?”

“I… I’m sure I'm alright, princess; I ache, but I’ll get better.”

Celestia nodded, looking out and over the crowd idly. Angry, she’d been angry at these intruders to the realm she called home. Her mother would probably not approve of her bias against their intrusion, but she would likely accept her judgement against the undead. He clearly would not be dissuaded from violence.

“What are ye going to do to my master?”

The question was so out of the blue that it gave Celestia pause, her thoughts freezing in their path as if struck with a freezing spell; master? Is that what she knew him, their relationship, as? Master and servant like those who were freed of Diamond Dog slavery?

“Now that he is no longer your master, what do you wish upon him, Crimsondrop?” She hesitantly asked in a breath. Would she have to remove another potentially violent and dangerous factor from her realm?

Crimsondrop shook her head. “I don’t know.” She breathed, still struggling to find her balance but becoming steadier by the second. “Justice, for what he did to me, for what he’s done to me. He nearly killed me, princess; twice now I’ve been at his mercy and he‘s decided to grant none. He almost killed Softcrest, the gryphon cub that my friends have adopted. A child, princess, whose only crime against him was bumpin’ intae his leg.

“He’s a true product o’ my home, a true warrior. There’s a sayin’ that I can remember hearin’ from one of his friends; ‘blood and honour’, I don’t think he knows anythin’ else. Can such a… disruptive element be allowed in this world, what with the added problem of his undeath as well?”

The princess sighed. “I suppose not,” She breathed, “Discord was difficult enough to tame, and he wasn’t violent in the same way.” She smiled and dipped her head to the battered nanny. “And thank you, Crimsondrop, for showing me that your realm is not without good souls.” Her wings spread and tensed, ready to take her into the air. “If you are alright, there is a… visitor in the castle who must be attended to. Have a good day.”

Her wings beat and she took off into the air, soaring into the distance towards Canterlot.

Crimsondrop groaned and held a hoof to her stomach. “I… I think I need to see a nurse.” She grunted, before collapsing as darkness swallowed her vision.

*&*&*&*

Toothache strained against the bars of the cell he was restrained within; normally iron of this width would be easy for him to flex, and thus escape through. The white equine from before stepped into his view, him having been too busy with the metal to hear her approach, and he growled at her angrily.

“Let me out of here you damned-”

“That is enough out of you, corpse.” She spat, cutting him off and feeding his anger. “You do not quite understand the situation you are in.”

“I’m being held prisoner by a damned white horse, that about sums it up!”

She sneered at him. “You truly won’t see reason, will you? Your talbuk spoke of your cruelty and violence, but I thought it unlikely that anything could be so dark of soul.” Her eyes narrowed at him. “How disappointed I am to find I was mistaken. You come into the realm of my family, threaten my subjects, and attack the innocent. Your actions are inexcusable, irredeemable; there truly is no good left in you is there, child of the Fallen King?”

He continued to strain against the bars and she sighed, letting magic collect on her horn. “While corporal punishment has long been abolished in Equestria, I find that you give me no alternative; Toothache, as Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria and Regent of the Sun and Bringer of Dawn, I find you guilty of disharmony, assault, assault on royalty, and attempted murder.” The magic gathering on her horn became blinding and she pointed it directly at the struggling undead. “May the Light embrace you.”

The magic burst from her horn, engulfing him as he struggled against the bars in a blinding wave of power; when it faded, only the white-hot iron of the bars remained where he had stood, surviving only because of the enchantments upon it. With a sigh, Celestia strolled back out of the dungeons. She paused only at the final door between the dungeons and the rest of the castle to look over her shoulder at the cooling metal.

“Such a waste.”

Author's Note

Phew, got that done. There were several parts where I really did consider stopping and leaving it on a cliffhanger, but I think I've left you one as it is huh?

Visiting Hours

To a monotonous beeping she slept, her restful health under the watchful guard of her nurses and doctors. One such nurse, Whiterobe, stood idly by as the nanny’s surgeon filled her in on her condition.

“... not surprised you didn’t catch it, White; since magic scans barely press through her subcutaneous tissue and into the dense muscle beneath, we had to resort to manual ways of finding the injury on her intestine and even then we had to operate to be sure and to correctly suture it closed. We’ve given her enough sedative to keep her under for the day, and we would like to keep her in observation for a few days, a ruptured intestine is nothing to shake a stick at.”

Whiterobe nodded in approval, “Yes, that would be the best course of action, Stitch;” she agreed, “if I didn’t know you already had something in plan, I would advise that she be placed on mandatory painkillers until she’s recovered enough to not need them anymore.”

“You know me too well,” he laughed amusedly.

“The head nurse and lead magical surgeon of a hospital knows the lead manual surgeon, go figure.” She joked in return, nudging the ocean green earth pony with a hoof. “Look, Stitch, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if she wakes in the next two days, most of my friends will be unavailable; Paige has managed to get us invitations to tour CL0PTech, and we’re going to be in Canterlot.” She sighed and shook her head, “Star Gazer was kind enough to volunteer babysit Stealthy Step for us, though I’ve put a magical tracker on him anyway, but there’s no way I am going to take him with me.”

“A foal like Stealthy in a high-security, potentially dangerous environment like CL0PTech? I don’t think any dam in the world would question your choice.”

She shrugged, picking up and reading the clipboard at the foot of Crimsondrop’s bed, “The first one who does is getting a diaper on their head,” She commented, “Hm, Crimson’s running a selenium deficiency here.”

“We noticed, we’ve got her on a supplement for now, but we’ll suggest modifications to her diet when she’s up and about again.”

“It’s not that big a deficiency, and if you’re running it at a baseline for other goats you could be all wrong;” White mentioned sidelong, “while modifying her diet might help a possible problem, it could also introduce massive complications…”

“... How do you mean?”

White sighed, “Look at her, Stitch, seriously; does she look terrestrial to you? Her biology is likely only similar to her cousins in the capra genus, for all we know these could be normal levels. The supplements are a good idea, sure, but keep an eye on her overall health, Stitch; we don’t want to induce Selenosis inadvertently.”

Quick Stitch sighed, “White, though you know as well as I do that your input is appreciated I have to ask, are you stalling?”

The question set off a tic in the mare’s eye. “Yes,” she grumbled, “I hate trains, and being away from Stealthy for a couple of days is upsetting all of my mommy instincts.”

“White, you of all mares understand what having a child is like to the parents. If you don’t take even a little time to yourself you’re going to be a nervous wreck. I’m sure that Star Gazer has given you this little lecture herself, even.”

Whiterobe grumbled irritably, “She’s managed to out-experience me and lecture me on being a mother and then introduced me to a pump. It was most insufferable, and embarrassing.”

“Then don’t take it from a coworker, take it from someone who has been there. Hay, she had it worse than you do, she was laid up in their ward for weeks, and shortly after didn’t even have Shadow Gazer’s father around to help.”

“She told you about that? The hydra attack?”

Stitch smiled, “The PHD in psychology comes in handy now and then, White,” he crowed, before starting to nudge her towards the door, “now, go on, get going before I have to have security call your husband to have him drag you out of here.”

Whiterobe gave an exasperated groan and began to stroll out, “Fine, I’m going, I’m going!”

****

“This is decidedly nicer than an air carriage.”

Whiterobe groaned, “Ugh, speak for yourself.”

“I honestly don’t understand your fear of being on trains, White,” Saddleblaze said sidelong as she idly read through a novel.

“I hardly enjoy sitting in a big metal box travelling along at a hundred miles an hour which, at any point, could come off its rails, jackknife, and kill everypony aboard!”

“Sounds fun,” Clank Clop muttered sarcastically as his wife pressed herself harder into his side with a whine, prompting him to kiss her temple, “calm down, Hon, we’re safe. Big bad guard won’t let anything happen to his little damsel.”

She swatted his shoulder, her face turning red, “Not in public, Clanky!”

“Yes in public, Clanky!” Holly teased from her seat across the booth, giggling like a child afterward.

“We are nearly there, White, we’ll be slowing down any moment now.” Paige pointed out from her seat, “If it’s any comfort, I’ll work on organizing an air carriage for your return trip, alright?”

White nodded appreciatively, “Thank you, Paige.”

The train lurched slightly as it slowed, squealing to a halt and opening to allow the numerous passengers within to filter out into Canterlot. Paige led her own little posse out through the thunderously busy station into the Canterlot streets, where a trio of ponies stood on the sidewalk alongside a carriage, each garbed in armour unlike that worn by royal guards.

“Phony Paige and associates?” One stallion asked, eyeing the group warily.

“That’s us!” Holly cheered loudly in return.

“We have been sent to transport you to security check-in, please board and we’ll be off.” He gestured to the carriage, nodding as they filed in and sat down before the door was closed. With a lurch they were off, trundling away through Canterlot’s streets. Softcrest, having joined the group for the journey on promises of behaving, balanced herself against the closest window and watched the beautiful city drift past.

“It will likely take us about ten minutes to reach CL0Ptech’s gates, so we might as well get comfortable.” Paiged noted as she leaned against the sideboard and sighed ponderously.

“It’s not entirely like I expected.” Clank muttered as they walked up to the front gates, “I mean, this is the Crown’s lead research and development facility; the barbed wire, searchlights, and security guards are a given, but I thought the front door would be more…” he waved a hoof as he searched for a word in his head.

“Imposing?” Snowy offered.

“Yeah, that.”

“Why spend money fixing something that isn’t broken I suppose.” Quill mumbled sidelong, eyeing the guards warily. “A building with a lot of security in the heart of the Royal District won’t attract much attention, unless built like the Royal Library as those kinds of buildings have token protection at best.”

“An astute observation, sir;” a female voice interjected, pulling their attention to the dark blue alicorn that approached them from the air, “most ponies won’t think twice, usually assuming it to be a private security firm or the like. The media tends to swarm to buildings akin to the Royal Library in attempts to catch one of the royal family for an interview, or just to snoop to write any sort of article at all.”

“Princess Luna;” Paige noted as she and the others bowed, “I didn’t think anypony else was coming, the invitation was not entirely specific.”

“It’s fine, Miss Paige, really; I was the one who instigated the invitations in the first place. My sister wanted me to become better acquainted with the kingdom’s finer research and development minds and facilities for administrative purposes.”

“What?” The young voice of Softcrest asked dully from her adopted mother’s back, earning a cringe from the mare and a chuckle from Snowy.

“She said she sent out the invitations for us to be here so she could have an excuse to be here herself.” He translated, much to Saddleblaze’s consternation.

The chick considered his words, tilting her head this way and that much like her smaller avian cousins. “Okay.”

Luna beamed at the chick, drawing closer to get a better look, “Oh, you have a chick, I was not expecting any children along!” A pop of magic from her horn summoned a fish-shaped candy which was offered to the young gryphon, whose face exploded with glee and whose claws took the treat thankfully.

One of the guards from the facility trotted over, a stern scowl on his face, “Sir, we must ask that you remove your armour for storage while you are within the facility.”

“Piss off.”

“Snowy!” Blaze snapped, rounding on him, “Not where Softcrest can hear!”

“He can keep it on, I’ll vouch for him myself.” Paige said.

“That’s not-”

Paige leaned closer to him, pressing a hoof to the door they now stood outside of, “Not good enough, Cuirass?” She asked, cutting him off, “Funny, I find I don’t care.” And with that she shoved past him and into the building, leaving her half-stunned friends to follow her in.

“What was that all about, Paige?” Quill asked worriedly, “I’ve never seen you like that, not even with Marky.” He put a hoof on her shoulder as he spoke, “seriously, what?”

“Cuirass is the captain of the guard here at CL0PTech,” the princess filled in, “He has a bad reputation for abusing his power, it’s why Princess Celestia had him transferred here.”

“Guarding this place is sort of… one of the last chances before being shipped out to Farpoint Outpost in the tundra between Sunny Equestria and the Crystal Empire.” Clank filled in, “simply put, you screw up here and you go to the roughest and worst place to be posted in the kingdom. Make a mess of that and you’ll have bigger problems than being drummed out. Hay, it’s preferable to getting that posting.”

“Is it really that bad..?” Holly asked, to which Clank nodded.

“Farpoint is in the middle of frostwolf territory, not to mention it’s in the dead center of what’s called the ‘Kitsune Blackspot’; the post is solely to monitor the Kitsune and ensure they don’t get up to any more mischief than usual.” He said, “If you mess up, you get sent here. Mess up here, you go to the Outpost.”

“And if you mess up at the Outpost..?” Holly probed, to which Clank gave her a sidelong look.

“If you’re lucky you come home with a discharge.” He said, “others, whatever’s left of them comes home in a box.” He shuddered and turned his face forward again, “The unlucky ones don’t come home.”

“Every guard captain has to do a short tour up there,” the princess noted aloud, “Shining Armour, Princess Twilight Sparkle’s brother came home with more guards than he was sent out with. He supposedly negotiated something with the Kitsune, who had been holding some ponies hostage over something that the previous captain up there had done.”

“He also negotiated a cultural exchange of sorts, dear Princess,” an echoing, ethereal voice reverberated into the room, startling them and making Softcrest bury her face into Saddleblaze’s mane. “Oh, wee lamb; did I frighten your chick? I’m sorry, I am still getting used to this whole… interaction thing.”

“Ms Silverfang, it has been too long;” Paige called cheerfully.

“It really has, dear, I almost miss your correcting of Doctor Barbell on everything, it was most enjoyable to see him seethe.”

“As much as I enjoy talking to the walls, Ms Silverfang, could you perhaps make an appearance and stop worrying my friends?”

The voice sighed, “I would love to, my dear, but sadly a couple of our subjects are loose and I am busy both keeping an eye on them and hunting them down.”

“Subject H-B21 and U-05 to be exact, though really only one of them is any real threat.” A unicorn mare stated as she entered before bowing, “greetings, I am Doctor Sewn Breath, project head and lead technician for the artificial intelligence silo, Project Blueprint. It was my project that led to the creation of Paige here.” She said, waving a hoof in Paige’s direction.

“It’s good to see you again, mom.” She cheerfully said to the white coated, purple maned unicorn.

“From what little I have dealt with the fruits of your labour, Doctor, you have done admirably.” Princess Luna stated.

The doctor blushed, “Thank you, your highness, it was a lot of difficult and frustrating work, but we are proud of what we’ve accomplished.”

“Does not compute!” Paige shouted in a drone, startling her friends and making the doctor glare at her.

“Oh no, not this time, Paige, I’m not falling for that again.”

“Aw, you’re no fun,” Paige chuckled.

Sewn Breath sighed, “Now, I suppose I should begin the tour. Please bear with me as I’m an engineer and scientist, not a tour guide; Double Tap, the CEO of our little operation here assigned me this task on top of my other duties mainly because Paige would be here and I've not had time to rehearse. We’ll be going through three different wings of the laboratories, including the Habitation Wing, also known as Subject Storage, the Generation Wing, where we run our generators and study new ways of making mana-infused electricity, and finally the Blueprint Wing, where project Blueprint was worked on.”

She pushed open the doors and led them into the building proper, “I must warn you all that there are things in this building which can kill you. The Habitation Wing is especially dangerous, as we house several species which are known pony killers, including H-B21, currently being re-contained after an unfortunate breach.”

“Out of curiosity, what is this… ‘H-B21’?” Quill asked.

Breath nodded, “Everything here has a code identifier. Paige, for example, is AI-P-24. This, in our system, is translated to ‘Artificial Intelligence Project Twenty-four’. H-B21 is ‘Hostile Beast Twenty-one’, commonly called a Timber Wolf; in all likelihood, he pretended to attack his handler and escaped again.” She said, “We’ve had H-B21 since he was only a pup, so he doesn’t really attack ponies but is known for going on playful rampages throughout the labs whenever the opportunity presents itself. After this one, he is likely to have a pair of guards assigned with nets outside his door for the foreseeable future.”

“And what’s this other creature, U-05?” Whiterobe asked, looking around curiously.

“Unknown entity five, it… he was brought here a few months ago for study.” Breath stated as they rounded a corner and she waved to an empty forest-like habitat behind a shattered glass window. “‘Unknown’ entities are creatures we do not understand, pending reclassification; Timberwolves were U-03 for twelve years before being reclassified, now U-03 is reserved for something that our staff have called ‘Prettyboy’.” Here she waved to another habitat, within sat a queer-looking creature.

“Curious, it would appear to be what one would imagine a hybrid of a gryphon and a stag.” Luna stated. “I have certainly never seen anything like it before.”

“It took some time, but eventually we managed to get him to calm down enough to tell us what he is, something called a ‘Peryton’. He was in a furious bloodrage for a lot of the time we’ve had him, but, desperate to get him to eat something and having noted his sharp teeth, we offered him an assortment of meats, including the heart of a boar donated to us by the Gryphon kingdom for capturing him.”

“That’s a bit unbecoming, isn’t it?” Holly asked, her face a little green.

“Boar heart is a delicacy to the Gryphons,” the princess stated, “and the boars they breed for foodstuff are not sapient. It’s not so different to how we harvest certain plants and cook them, really.”

“That sounds weird, why would anyone want to eat a heart?” Softcrest asked curiously, her head tilted in thought. “I tried to avoid bits I didn’t know what they were…”

Whiterobe chuckled as she turned and ruffled the chick’s feathers. “Hearts are just one big muscle, Softcrest, just usually full of blood.”

Doctor Breath nodded, “Indeed; anyway, he devoured the heart and touched nothing else, and has been most cooperative since. He said something about a curse, so we’re keeping him under observation pending reclassification and, or, training.”

A howl farther up the corridor drew their attention, and they all turned to find its source, only to find that the hallway, after the next pair of habitats, was shrouded in a dark mist that appeared to absorb the light.

“O-oh dear, this isn’t good…”

Luna ground a hoof into the concrete floor, her eyes never leaving the black smog that clouded their path forward while her muscles tensed. “My dear, can you tell me anything about the creature that you, until recently, held up here, U-05?” She asked over the din of creatures in now hidden habitats crying out in outrage or distress.

“Large, pony sized canine. Black fur, dark-magic infused eyes. Supposedly took four stun spells to incapacitate for transport.” She recited, backing up to stand behind Princess Luna, waving for the others to move back as well, “W-we couldn’t keep him contained once he came to his senses earlier today, he found some way to break warded glass to escape and attacked a guard, left him a gibbering mess down in the medical wards. P-princess, I advise we retreat back to the entrance, the guards will protect us.”

“Nay,” Luna stated, “I will not back down from a creature of shadows. Come, beast!”

And then the wolf charged from the mist.

He was fast, faster than the ponies thought something of that size should be, and bore down upon them in moments. Saddleblaze twisted and grabbed Softcrest, pulling her into a protective hold and then lowering herself to the ground to cover the chick from this oncoming threat even as Snowy, Paige, and Clank moved to intercept.

Luna’s voice boomed through the hall, “Heel!”

Suddenly, jarringly, the wolf stopped, sat at Luna’s hooves and gazed up at her expectantly. The princess, in turn, placed a hoof on his scalp and eased him onto his belly, all the while staring straight ahead, anger evident in her eyes.

“Who brought him in?” She asked, her tone steady and firm, brokering no small talk.

“I don’t know, your highness.” the doctor whimpered, “Supposedly several guards captured him within Canterlot city limits and brought him to us for study.”

The canine whimpered, wiggling as he tried to get out from under her hoof. His protests died when she began to move her limb back and forth, stroking his fur. “Ease, Shuck, ease, these ponies are not… all… deserving of your ire.”

“P-princess do you… know this creature?”

Luna nodded, “Of course I do.” She stated as the wolf tried to get up and nuzzle into her chest, “I created him, back before I was banished. He was yet another reason for my… fall to the Nightmare. I created him to be like the Phoenixes, using the smoke of Philomena’s reincarnation flames to forge him, capable of rising from the remains of his last death as she can.”

The canine rose and nuzzled into her chest, giving her a lick before sniffing the air and moving, carefully, over to where Saddleblaze stood protectively over Softcrest. He whined and nosed at her leg, causing her to tighten her protective stance.

“He is perfectly safe, my dear. Unless I command him to, or he finds himself threatened or captured, he will behave essentially like a puppy.” Luna noted, placing a hoof on Saddleblaze’s shoulder reassuringly. “Albeit a very large puppy.”

Determined to reach his prize, Shuck snuffled closed and forced his head beneath the mare, finding a gap through her sacrificial protection to his goal beneath where he promptly- “Ack! It’s licking me! No, stop it, not my face! Cut it out!” - began furiously licking the chick she was trying to keep safe, making a series of noises that sounded like throaty laughter all the while.

“In case you were wondering, Miss Saddleblaze, he is saying what sounds like ‘mlem’, likely trying to be amusing.” Luna stated before sighing, “I was wondering where he’d gone; he’d returned to me upon my return from the Moon and had scarcely left my side until a few days ago. He was likely humouring your staff until he got bored and escaped.”

“Well, with him accounted for and, I suppose, back in custody, if this even counts, we should continue with the tour.” The doctor said as she regained her wits. “Come, I’ll show you to U-15 and then we can move down through the facility.”

Shuck had followed them the whole way, teasing and amusing Softcrest as they went, though he did earn a scowl from Princess Luna at one point, supposedly for something he’d said that no-one but her and he could understand.

Their destination, upon entering, appeared to be an enormous, well tended garden. Flowers bloomed all around, hedges bordered every wall, and a large willow tree loomed in the middle, surrounded by a donut-shaped pond. Now Shuck was alert and his head glancing around, a low growl in his throat.

Whiterobe blinked at the canine owlishly, “What on Equus has you so spooked?” She wondered aloud.

“It would likely be myself, or possibly the phoenix whose nest inhabits the willow.”

From the opposite side of the tree emerged a figure, at whose appearance Shuck growled louder and even bore his impressively large teeth.

“Oh my,” Luna breathed, moving with more caution as she observed this new pony-like creature, “wherever did CL0PTech find you, my dear? It is not often that a Dryad would be seen by ponies; that one could be in the very heart of Canterlot is astounding.”

“Subject U-18 came to us on her own, accompanied by her… I’m sorry, Pitaya, what did you call him? Boo?”

“Beau, Doctor.” The dryad corrected as she buried a wooden hoof into the soil beneath her. “Though that would make an acceptable nickname, I suppose.”

“She’s remarkable…” Whiterobe mumbled, stepping forth only to be held back by Luna as Shuck snarled furiously.

“Stay back, all of you!” She snapped, “Dryad are more than just woodland protectors, they are extremely dangerous!” She nodded her head in the wooden pony’s direction, “Dryad, how many have you killed to make my protector hate you so?”

The Dryad stared at her idly, before shrugging and looking down at the soil.

“Answer me, or I’ll loose Shuck’s chain! How many have you butchered?!”

“I lost count centuries ago.” Came the calm response, “I have trusted but twice, alicorn. My first friend tried to turn me in for a bounty with sword and bow, and many came to find me only to assault me in fear, leading to my own defence.”

“And the other, Pitaya?” Paige asked.

At this the Dryad paused, “My beau… Oaken Orchard, is currently on an errand. I am in need of pollinators for my garden, and he has been given money with which to buy some bees and beehives.”

“Pitaya has been here since before I was built, and after the initial stage of study, she was moved out here.” Paige said as she walked over, carefully avoiding plants skillfully hidden in the grass. She looked down at where Pitaya had dug her hoof into the ground. “A new plant, Pitaya? What is it this time?”

“Sunflower, Paige.”

Paige laughed, “Learned your lesson with the Aurora, then?”

“The scientists did not like me growing, what was it they called it? Ah, yes, a ‘class A controlled substance’. Perhaps I shall have to try growing some Milk-Suckle, I’ll need to grow a sturdy tree for them to grow on, however; I am loathe to grow them on my willow as they will strangle it. I’ll need a sturdy wood, maybe a eucalyptus.”

“Pitaya is our resident expert on nature and botany. Being a literal spirit of nature itself, she has knowledge and magic which we have found invaluable to our research into new herbal remedies and plant based derivatives for medicine.” Doctor Breath informed, “She hasn’t hurt anyone since she arrived, a far cry from some of our other patrons.”

“The emergency regarding escaped subject H-B21 has been resolved. Subject is currently being returned to its enclosure, and all staff who have been directly affected are to report to medical for treatment immediately.” Silverfang’s voice echoed from the hall behind them.

“I suppose that’s our cue to return to the tour, then.” Breath said, beckoning them to follow her. “Thank you for your time, Pitaya; if there’s anything you need, don’t be afraid to ask.”

“I shall endeavour to remember that, Doctor Sewn Breath. Have a good day.”

“She doesn’t like me much.” Paige said as they wandered through the halls, “Pitaya, I mean.”

Luna nodded, “She’s an incarnation of life and nature, whereas you are metal and magic. Opposites, in many respects; you unnerve her because she knows all about everything in the natural world, but next to nothing about you.” She said, eyeing a sign as they strolled past it. “She did not seem much afraid of me. She’s either certain of her strength, or much older than she appears.”

“What does age have to do with it, Princess?” Whiterobe asked, following her into the elevator that Doctor Breath led them into.

“Everything, Whiterobe; with age comes wisdom, but for many long-lived creatures, such as dragons, dryads, even alicorn, along with wisdom comes power. While still unlikely to be as powerful as myself or my sister, if that dryad is old enough she could arguably bend the forces of nature to her whims.” Luna replied, “She could plant a seed and feed it life to birth a giant redwood in moments, then have it uproot itself and tear itself into pieces to form an army of Timber Wolves. A single dryad, if determined enough, could make or break the environment it dwells within. The death of a single dryad created the Everfree and set his wooden wolves feral.

“That dryad will need to be closely monitored for the future.” Luna finished, her eyes narrowing. “She could become very dangerous.”

“We don’t believe so, Princess;” Doctor Breath said, “her beau, Oaken Orchard, is a remarkable stallion, and has managed to ground her very well. We believe that, by the time he passes away due to old age, she will become a valuable asset to ponydom.”

Luna only hummed in thought.

With a loud ding the elevator reached its designated level and the doors opened, allowing for the group to step out and into the halls beyond, each looking about curiously as they did so.

“The air feels heavy.” Softcrest whined, kneading her adoptive mother’s back plaintively and earning a nuzzle from Shuck that everyone hoped was meant to be reassuring.

“She is correct,” Luna stated, “how deep into the earth does this facility go?”

“Bottom floor, Blueprint Wing,” Paige breathed, “mom, what are we doing here, I thought we weren’t to see this area until later on?”

“Bottom floor? How deep are we?” Quill asked worriedly.

“We are currently twenty one storeys beneath the surface.” Paige informed them, “these are the halls in which I was… born, I guess you could say.”

“We don’t have much time,” Doctor Breath hissed, “please, follow me, and don’t touch anything. The only security we have down here is automated, as Ms Silverfang cannot extend her aura down this deep. I have something I want to show you all.”

With that she walked off at a brisk pace northward. With a shrug, the others followed.

“This place is rather bare,” Silent Quill noted, “not much in the way of amenities or signage, unlike the Habitation Wing, just blank concrete walls and doors with numbers.”

“The part of Project Blueprint I was supposed to show you was on the fourth basement, where we tested Paige with her movement and behavioural programming; it was supposed to be something for you to use yourselves to see the sort of lengths we went through to get her to where she is now.” Doctor Breath stated, “everything below the eighteenth floor is where we have manufacturing and storage of spare components, old proof of concepts, and data storage in case of emergency.

“Technically this is all decommissioned, no longer in use. Only a hoofful of ponies ever come down here anymore, myself included. The signage and other important informational documentation was reused upstairs.” Her eyes drifted over a few doors ahead of them, glazing over a little, “I have so many memories of the days when these floors were packed with ponies… Ah, here we are, two-twenty-four.”

Her hoof pressed against a panel next to the so-numbered door, and after a moment of buzzing it clicked and slid open with a fizz of magic. She entered, motioning for everypony else to do the same, before closing it again behind them and switching on the lights.

Illuminated, the room displayed little in terms of amenities. A door to one side showed signage of both lavatories and showers within, a large device with screens and numerous buttons rested against the far wall, and standing in the middle of the tiled floor…

“It appears to be a replica of Paige’s body without the bodystocking. Well, at least for most of it.” Quill muttered. “Though why green? Paige is blue…”

“Welcome back, Doctor Breath,” it stated flatly, robotically, and unmoving, “and greetings to you as well,

“Little sister.”

Author's Note

Sorry this chapter doesn't contain much of Crimson, little bit of world expansion going on.

Also sorry that it took so long; I got a new job in Feb which hasn't left me with much time to write until now, but I'll be doing what I can to churn out chapters for stuff in what little time I have.

Hope you enjoyed, and see you at the bottom of the next one!

Frozen Fury

“Welcome back, Doctor Breath, and greetings to you as well, little sister,” spoke the half-complete robotic pony standing still as a statue in the middle of the room with a male voice that vibrated oddly. It blinked momentarily before scanning its eyes across the group before it. “Guests were not expected, however I welcome you all as well.”

“Paige, explain,” Whiterobe demanded as she moved to put her husband between herself and the unknown automaton.

Phony Paige sighed, “I suppose you could call him my elder brother,” she said, waving a hoof at the immobile metal pony, “this is Model Slip; he is the iteration of Project Blueprint before my own.”

“I was deemed a failure due to an instability with my vocal unit, and with an error in my linguistic databases that rendered me unable to speak any language other than Doggan for several hours during my first test run,” Model Slip informed statically, his eyes moving to stare forward blankly at the door they had come in. “As such I was decommissioned and confined to this room, with my emotion and personality subroutines disabled and removed for refinement and reuse in my successor, Phony Paige.”

“Since then he has been down here, plugged into our calibration and analysis mainframe,” Doctor Sewn Breath added. “I’ve been allowed-” she spat the word, “to continue working with him since Paige went public and was made a full citizen. That proclamation, and the legal documentation following it, technically applies to Model as well, and the powers that be aren’t able to just unplug him anymore.”

Luna nodded, a hoof raised to her chin in thought, “It would technically be murder, at the least mareslaughter,” she muttered thoughtfully. “I wonder what Sister would make of this? Perhaps I should send a message and get her opinion.”

Quill shook his head, “Over twenty storeys into the diabase bedrock of Canterlot Mountain? I don’t think there’s any magic that can pierce that far, even if most of the interior of CL0PTech is hollow, princess.”

“Our internal data network has a direct line to Canterlot Castle’s messenger network, through magitek communication link to both Royal Guard Internal Affairs in the case of guard misbehaviour, and an emergency line direct to a Royal Messenger by way of communication crystal, much like Royal Guard communication crystals,” Model Slip informed in a monotone drone, “currently this room does not have access to said networks for security purposes, but a computer terminal is available in the southwest corner for staff use.”

Luna raised an eyebrow, “And how would we gain access to these communication networks if said terminal is disconnected?”

Model Slip replied with, “Processing, this may take some time,” and fell silent.

“While he runs through internal protocols, there’s something I’d like to know,” Breath began, turning her attention to the lone gryphon in the room currently being sniffed at by the large shaggy form of Shuck, “Why’d you call her Softcrest?”

Saddleblaze and Snowy exchanged confused looks, though though his helmet it would be hard to tell what look Snowy Doublescoop gave anyone, “We didn’t,” Saddleblaze replied, “she told us that’s the name her mother gave her; we only adopted her a short while ago.”

“Why do you ask?” Snowy asked curiously.

Breath shook her head, “I’m not neighsaying or anything, just curious. It’s not really a traditional gryphon name. With a name like Softcrest I can only assume her mother was a pony.”

“Daddy used to call me Genevieve,” Softcrest mumbled, reaching a talon up to pet Shuck’s snout, an action the dark furred canine took to with gusto, “he used to get called mean things by other gryphons for being with mommy,” she shook and seemed to cringe a little at the memories, her talon slowing in its petting and shifted instead to paw at her missing eye, “the gryphon that mommy said was my grandmother used to call her a ‘no good pegasus bi-’”

“Enough of that,” Saddleblaze said, turning her head and nosing the chick into silence, “we don’t use that word, and you don’t need to think about them again, okay? You can choose whichever name you want, alright? It’s up to you.”

“I don’t wanna be called Genevieve;” she huffed, nuzzling into Saddleblaze’s face, “daddy left me all alone, I don’t wanna…”

“Softcrest it is, then,” Snowy said calmly.

“If I might ask, do you recall your father’s name?” Luna probed curiously with a sympathetic tone.

Feathers folding to make her look smaller, Softcrest replied with a small voice, “Giovanni, he was a cook;” her voice hitched and she shook her head, “he taught me how to dress down prey and cook meat, it’s how I knew how to cook the rats I caught when I was alone…”

Luna recoiled with her eyes wide and shouted, “Giovanni the ambassador’s chief chef?!” She stepped back a pace, shaking her head as her gaze moved to a horizon beyond the walls around them, “I knew he’d taken a pegasus wife and had had a child, but was unaware that anything had happened to their marriage beyond the introduction of a chick…”

“Perhaps something to look into upon returning to the castle, Highness?” Clank Clop suggested.

Princess Luna nodded with a hum, mentally filing the information away for later and smiling warmly, “In any case, it’s delightful that you’ve gained a new family.”

Model Slip’s monotone robotic voice cut into the conversation, “Solution found.”

“Do tell,” Luna returned as she physically turned to face the immobile automaton.

“Security Failsafe Directive PRS-221, security blockades on any internal system can and will be overridden by magical signature sampled and identified as belonging to any Alicorn or Princess with security clearance. Security clearance level of all Princesses, Imperial, supersedes that of any internal CL0PTech staff including C.E.O. Double Tap’s own level of Kepler-7-A. Samples of Princesses Celestia, Luna, Mi Amore Cadenza, and Twilight Sparkle are on file for override cross sampling.

“Messaging Service Security Override PRS-011, Princess security clearance, Imperial, shall not be impeded by any override or blockade of any internal system. Imperial Clearance messages are not to be interrupted by any internal security sweeps and are under strict confidentiality. Any CL0PTech staff found intercepting or reading Imperial Clearance messages not intended for the individual involved will be immediately fired from CL0PTech and imprisoned under Anti-Treason Act 821ANM section 21.

“Due to these contingencies and several others, Her Royal Highness Princess Luna is legally able to access any terminal within the facility, cannot be impeded by security beyond life and death safety, and any message she wishes to send to external recipients will be sent and arrive unimpeded by internal security or personnel,” he finished, his eyes and tone never leaving their flat neutrality.

“Sounds pretty robust,” muttered Clank Clop, “where’s the catch?”

“For myself, there likely isn’t one,” Luna huffed as she stepped over to the computer in the corner, “from the way things are worded and the inclusion of Princess Twilight Sparkle, I am going to hazard a guess that she reworded these rules herself to make them foolproof when she provided her magic sample for their systems.”

“I don’t imagine that Double Tap will be terribly pleased that we are circumventing security to send a message directly to Princess Celestia through a method he cannot interrupt,” muttered Paige, "especially when the message pertains to something he's been trying to keep a secret for years."

“There is a high probability that C.E.O. Double Tap is already aware of your presence and is sending a security detail to detain you all,” Model Slip intoned neutrally.

“Miss Paige, could you assist me in the use of this device?” Luna asked from the corner, “I admit I am not familiar with such new contrivances.”

Paige smiled and wandered over, “Of course, Princess, dictate in my ear and I’ll type your message; you’ll merely need to add your magic to the system when we send it, I’ll instruct you on how to do that when we get to that point.”

A speaker set into the wall next to the door they had entered through crackled to life, static buzzing relentlessly through the voice that spoke, “Specimen transfer in progress, subject U-03 in transit by elevator under Kepler-05 authority. All personnel are advised to stay clear of the specimen. Destination of subject: Need to Know basis only. This is not a drill.”

Breath shook her head, “That’s not right, no Unknown subjects are scheduled for transit today, and the warning has never listed a specimen’s destination as ‘Need to Know’.”

Luna nodded, zapping the terminal she stood before with her magic. “Perhaps this is their first move in an attempt to get us to surrender. A poor attempt to frighten us into revealing our position or simply outright leave for fear of injury.”

“We’ve only been here all of, what, ten minutes?” Whiterobe asked worriedly as her ears pinned themselves to her scalp, "how'd they manage to arrange this that quickly?"

“Kepler-05 is the clearance code for the guard captain stationed here, Cuirass,” Paige huffed, “either Double doesn’t know what he’s up to, or doesn’t want to get himself involved in any way that would trace back to him.”

Luna sighed, “Double Tap is moving on to progressively thinner ice through his actions or inactions here. Already I have been hearing unfavorable things about the goings on at this facility.”

“I can’t imagine what he thinks this will accomplish,” Clank voiced, “I mean, he can’t just attempt to threaten a Princess into doing what he wants.”

Softcrest tugged at her adoptive mother’s mane, “I need a bathroom…”

With a warm smile Breath motioned to a door near the computer, “This lab has its own lavatory for staff use when we used to spend long hours down here, feel free to use it.”

“I’ll take her,” Holly volunteered as she helped Softcrest off of her adoptive mother’s back, “what do we do if they come here anyway?”

“We resist arrest, of course,” Clank growled, “I’ve not been in the guard in years but I still remember much of the law we had drilled into our heads. We’ve broken no laws by coming here and they have no right to detain us, especially not a Princess. With Princess Luna essentially leading the group, almost anything we do can be considered by her will, giving us near carte blanche in terms of actions. We were brought here by Doctor Breath, under the authority of Princess Luna, making our presence here legal, if unwanted by the powers that be. If they think they can just threaten us into compliance they have another thing coming, we’ve a child to protect, and thus any resistance on our part falls under the statutes of child protection at the very least, and protecting royalty at worst.”

Once again the speaker crackled to life, “Princess Luna and guests, this is CL0PTech Guard Captain Cuirass speaking with the authority of Princess Celestia. You are trespassing in a restricted area and are in violation of privacy laws; you will surrender, return peacefully, and sign non-disclosure agreements or be detained until your cooperation is achieved. Sewn Breath, you are hereby terminated for facilitating this breach of privacy and will be arrested, turned over to the Royal Guard, and detained for the duration of ten years. These terms are non-negotiable.”

“Well that doesn't sound legal at all,” Saddleblaze huffed. “Kinda sounds like extortion.”

“You can respond by pushing the button beneath the speaker, Princess.” Paige advised, pointing with a hoof.

Luna growled and strode over, pushing said button, “Captain Cuirass, you have no authority to impose any of those threats and are lucky I do not currently consider this an attempted act of treason. You are to stand down immediately, by order of the Lunar Court.”

“The Lunar Court has no jurisdiction over CL0pTech's security, Princess, and by your tone you clearly have no intention of standing down as ordered; as such we shall detain you using all force afforded by law.”

Luna blinked furiously at the speaker, a crackle of magic sparking along her horn and her mane growing turbulent. She pushed the button again and spoke in a calm tone, “On your head be it, Captain.”

“What do we do, Princess, we’re not exactly what one would call a fighting force down here,” Holly fretted, returning with Softcrest and setting her back upon her mother’s back. "I mean, we're a group of townsponies, a robot, and yourself. Clank has guard training, but he's still only one stallion."

Clank shook his head, “If I may, Princess, I need a shield; I cannot protect any but myself without a wall.”

With a nod Luna’s magic reached out and ripped a steel panel larger than an adult pony off a wall, followed by the handle from the bathroom door. With a bright flash the door handle welded itself to the large steel plate, and this makeshift shield was offered to Clank Clop. “Will this suffice?”

He nodded, giving it a few experimental swings, “Bulky, but serviceable, Princess. Thank you.”

"Hopefully you won't need to lose it, Clanky..." Whiterobe muttered, giving him a worried hug.

“Clank Clop and Shuck shall be our front line,” Luna instructed, “Snowy Doublescoop, myself, Phony Paige, and Holly Seams shall back them up; Whiterobe, your ability to magically heal may be required, but I would prefer that yourself, Doctor Breath, Silent Quill, and Saddleblaze stay back to protect Softcrest."

“Are you sure, Highness?” Holly asked worriedly, glancing about as Shuck and Clank stepped closer to the door.

“As sure as ever, miss Seams. If they intend to breach the door and detain us, they will find it considerably more difficult with Clank and Shuck halting their advance, especially in conjunction with my own magic.”

Clank chortled as Shuck bumped his shoulder with his own, “If these half-rate guard dropouts think they can get past us, Holly, they’re dreamin’.”

A sharp, hard knock at the door caught their attention, and with an unsteady hoof Clank pushed the button to open it, causing it to slide aside and reveal the figure that stood in the hallway beyond.

With a wheeze he asked, “May I come in? The guards have been awfully rude and I wish only to rest.”

“Prettyboy!” Breath called from the back of the room, prompting Clank and Shuck to both raise his shield and begin to growl furiously.

Paige worriedly looked the winged beast over, “U-03 what are you doing here?”

He huffed a wheezy breath, head lowering down tiredly, “That idiot Cuirass and his cohort dragged me from my room, said something about using me to scare you into the open or some nonsense. I was at the elevator while he made his threat over the intercom. They want me to scare you out of the lab, but I don’t think he’s aware that I’m not just a stupid beast and can make up my own damned mind,” he paused to yawn widely, showing off his impressive pearly white omivorous teeth and pale gums, “held me down and drew a lot of blood, too, said some gibberish like ‘peepeehead seven one nine’ or something.”

“Doctor, do you know what he could be referring to?” Luna asked curiously.

Breath cringed, “P-Ph-719 is a potion,” she fretted, “performance enhancing subclass, commonly called Brawndo.”

“I know what that is, I did a case study on it during med school,” Whiterobe snapped angrily, “illegal performance enhancer, it was discovered some three hundred years ago that the blood of magical creatures can be used to synthesize a body enhancer, makes you stronger and faster depending on the creature the blood was drawn from. The more magical a creature, the stronger the potion.”

“To what extent, Whiterobe, I’ve never heard of before?” Luna probed worriedly.

White shook her head, “Unicorns are the bar set, and that will usually only improve the imbiber a little bit. Never tested with Alicorn blood for good reason, dragon blood is one of the most powerful versions ever concocted and it made the imbiber more than ten times stronger than usual. It was made illegal because of the obvious blood component required, and because of the self-harm caused to the consumer. The pony who tested the dragon-blood concoction snapped his own foreleg in half from the strength of his muscles flexing alone.”

“I just want to sleep,” Prettyboy groaned, “please may I come in and use your floor?”

Luna considered him warily before nodding, “Very well, Prettyboy, come in; I’m warning you, though, do not test me else I shall see how well you fly hogtied with your feathers clipped.”

A weak smile spread on the winged being’s muzzle and he stepped in, dipping his head to the Alicorn as he approached her, “Thank you,” he mumbled, “I go sleep now.”

With that he crashed to the floor and almost slammed his head against the concrete, slowed only enough to save him from a serious head injury by his left antler both cushioning his fall, and snapping off and bouncing across the room to come to rest at Luna’s hooves.

A small pool of blood oozed into being under his head as he softly snored.

Whiterobe scurried over, lifting his head to check for injures other than the obvious, “Doctor Breath, I need a first aid kit to stanch his bleeding,” she snapped before lifting his lips to check his jawline, “his gums are almost white, how much did they take? It only takes a small vial of blood to make the potion, with as anemic as they've made him they could make gallons of the stuff!”

Her mouth muffled slightly from the kit she had retrieved from under the computer terminal, Breath replied, “Enough to make him pass out, which isn’t good in itself.” The first aid kit was snapped open and gauze and a cotton pad levitated out, unwrapping themselves from their sterile packaging in Whiterobe’s magic and wrapping over the stump that remained of Prettyboy’s antler.

Luna nudged the velvet-covered bone with a hoof uncertainly as it oozed blood itself, “Well, this is an unfortunate injury,” she mumbled, “I do hope he does not become upset at its loss.”

“He sheds them every winter, Princess,” Breath informed, “and it’s not the first time he’s snapped one off prematurely either; he was very hard to control when he first came here, and he took them both off attacking the walls of his enclosure in the first week or so.”

Softcrest wiggled free of her mother’s embrace in the back left corner of the room and dawdled closer, “He’s worse at preening his wings than I am!” she laughed, “He looks silly!”

Nodding, Whiterobe gave the downed peryton a scrutinizing look over, “And that’s not his only issue, either. He looks like he’s not been grooming much at all. He smells clean, but his fur is ruffled and unkempt, not just his feathers. Does nopony care for him?”

“I don’t think he’s been allowed grooming utilities,” Breath huffed, “if anything I’d say his caretaker has been doing the bare minimum. I admit that I don't know as much as I'd like, but he's part of an entirely different wing of the facility, information like that doesn't come my way much anymore except through internal gossip.”

“Words shall be had with his caretaker then,” Luna grumbled, “once we’re done here. This is essentially neglect of a sapient being, something else I'm sure is against the law. I am finding that things are rotten in CL0PTech and I do not approve in the slightest.”

Cuirass's voice echoed down the hall, “Come out, come out wherever you are…”

Like a bolt Shuck took off, darting out the door and down the corridor towards the voice, his departure punctuated by his own snarling, and Luna calling, “Shuck, no, come back here!”

The sounds of struggling and an angry canine echoed in the door for a few moments only to grow suddenly silent, then be followed by Shuck yelping in pain and a meaty crunch and snap.

The canine was silent.

“Clank, Snowy, Paige, with me!” Luna called, hurrying out into the hall, “The rest of you, stay here and close the door behind us!”

Rushing to comply, the three called did as they had been told and followed Luna out and slapped the door button behind them, making it slide shut. Grouped in the hall a little ways away near the elevator door they could see Cuirass and his fellow guard holding formation blocking the corridor.

Cuirass threw Shuck’s limp form to Luna’s hooves, “Well, that’s one less security breach to worry about,” he said before lifting his gaze to eye Clank Clop’s shield before meeting Luna’s own, “destruction of private property as well? How disappointing to have to add that to your charges... Now, surrender; all of you.”

“It is you who shall surrender, Captain,” Luna snapped, “throw yourself to the mercy of the Night Court. This is your last chance.” She gave the canine’s corpse a sad cursory glance before levitating it over to Paige, who seemed the least perturbed by it. “Keep him safe, my dear.”

Cuirass sighed, shaking his head, “Really now, still this resistance? With Brawndo already in my veins, breaking the dog’s spine wasn’t even a challenge; I am not afraid of some wannabe princess, a robot, and some peasants. Come now, I am more than aware there are parents amongst you, would you have me make orphans?”

Clank Clop slammed the shield he held to the ground, burying one of the panel’s corners into the solid concrete, growling furiously the whole time, “Brawndo or not, I’d like to see you try you wannabe guard coward.”

Cuirass started forward, calmly closing the distance between them, “Such bravado from the civilian. You act as if you know what it is to be a guard, yet here you are disobeying one.”

“This one, Princess, is on us;” Clank stated firmly as he and Snowy stepped past her, “no-one threatens our families.”

“Are you certain?”

“With your blessing, yes. He crossed a line and I ain't having it.”

“The usual, Clank?” Snowy asked angrily.

“Show of force this time, Snow;” Clank growled, “shock and awe, make it cold. Give us a remorseless winter, I wanna see these cowards scared.”

Snowy nodded as he stopped walking and raised his right forehoof, allowing the light to reflect off of his grey-blue horseshoe and his cutie-marks started to glow. The hallway grew cold, the breath of everypony coming in wispy puffs as his gaze went from his hoof to the guards angrily, “You’ve threatened our families and made Clank and I mad,” he rumbled, “you lads bucked up.”

His hoof struck the ground.

Ice spread across the walls, floor and ceiling, filling the corridor in an instant in sheets of cold. Rime built up on the armor of the guards, icicles stretched from ceiling to floor, wall to wall, and half of the hapless guard were caught so unawares that they were frozen in place by the ice forming around them. Pinned guards groaned in agony, and those not frozen in place grabbed their heads and gave shuddering shouts of pain as the air around them turned so cold their breathing alone inflicted brain freeze.

With an angry grunt, Cuirass strode forward, face flinching as he fought off the pain in his head from every breath and the cold that soaked into his very bones. “How are you doing this? Is there a horn hidden under that ridiculous helmet?!”

“I’m as Earth Pony as they come,” Snowy stated, “surely you, a fellow Earth Pony, are aware that every generation has its outliers and purebreds. We Earth Ponies can do all kinds of things with our magic if utilized in the right manner.”

Cuirass snarled as he neared Clank and threw a punch at the stallion, hitting him square in the chest with enough force to shake the ice from the armour he wore. Clank, for his part, slid back a foot from the force before stepping forth once more and shrugging his shoulders.

“Allow me to reintroduce myself, Captain, as I think a few things have been missed,” he rumbled, “Clank Clop, former sergeant of the Solar Royal Guard, Titanium Bulwark division. Awarded for bravery during the Nightmare Moon’s return, the Discord Incident of ANM 1001, and recognized as one of a small number of ponies capable of blocking Alicorn level strength. You, like an idiot, decided to threaten my family and the family of my friends. You decided to threaten one of the only ponies who has ever seriously hurt me and walked away. I don’t need to be here to put you in your place, Princess Luna herself could twist you like a pretzel, but Tartarus damn me if I won’t humble you myself for sheer satisfaction.”

Cuirass barely had time to process this before Clank grabbed him by a forehoof, spun him like a hammer and tossed him down the corridor towards his pinned and shivering fellows. He struggled to his feet and cautiously started moving back towards his opponent, shaking out the hoof he'd been swung by.

“I was guarding Princess Celestia when Nightmare Moon returned, present when she manifested in Princess Celestia's dressing room to lock her in the sun. She punched me in the chest so hard she collapsed a lung and crushed four ribs, but still I stood my ground; your punch? I barely even felt it.”

Spinning he kicked a pillar of ice into chunks and then promptly kicked the fragments out of the air, making each one bounce off of Cuirass’ helmet with a resounding clang. Now seeing white as well as red, Cuirass dashed in close and swung a forehoof at Clank’s head, only to miss as the stallion tilted his head to one side and let his neck crack audibly.

“I work out every day and teach physical education to foals. My special talent is the fact that I'm physically built to take abuse. I meet up with the Fruit Clans at Iron Pony competitions and give them a run for their money. Those stallions are my contemporaries in strength, though I have never beaten them. You hopped up on a performance enhancing potion? You ain’t a fight, you’re practice.”

His left forehoof connected with Cuirass’ chest and the sound of abused, denting armor was accompanied by the wet crack of breaking ribs. As the abused stallion reeled, coughing and trying desperately to catch his breath, Clank only sneered.

“Snowy is an outlier, you’re an above average coward who uses potions to help him;” he snarled, “I’m a purebred.”

He spun on his hooves, reared up, and bucked Cuirass with both rear hooves, breaking his nose and sending him flying over the heads of the other guards to land noisily and heavily behind them. He huffed an angry breath as he turned back to the guards, glaring down his nose at them.

“Big Mac is going to be mighty peeved that I used his bucking technique on a pony. Maybe it's best if I don't tell him.”

Luna moved to stand next to him, peering down at the bruise that was forming on his chest. “That does not look painless, Clank Clop.”

“It stings, but I’ll live, Princess,” he huffed, “it is far from the worst I’ve ever had. White will patch me up.”

“I feel I must apologize again for nearly killing you as Nightmare Moon,” she mumbled, “it was most unbecoming of me to-”

“Princess, it’s fine, you weren’t yourself,” he chuckled amusedly, “quite literally.”

Luna chortled in response, “I suppose having ten generations of pureblooded Earth Pony assists you,” she tittered, “but what did you mean about Snowy Doublescoop being an outlier?”

“First Earth Pony born to six-generation strong pureblooded unicorns, Highness,” Snowy informed, “magic is in my blood.”

She nodded, “The ice magic, I take it?”

“Yes, Princess.”

“I suspect the Rimesteel horseshoes assist in your magical output somewhat.”

“Correct again, Princess. Uncle Slag helped to mine up and forge my horseshoes when I was younger and their magical nature, much like Mithril shoes, makes them grow over time to continue to fit my hooves. They provide me with a conduit to channel my magic.”

“So that’s the secret to your ice cream, Snow?” Clank asked cheekily.

Snowy scoffed, “Buck no, that’d be too easy.”

Clank laughed, “We’ll discover it one day.”

A wave of warmth flooded through the corridor, melting the ice coating the walls, ceiling and floor. Six royal guards in full armour hurried into view from the elevator door some meters back, surrounding the shivering local guards, Luna, Snowy and Clank, while Princess Celestia strode confidently into the corridor. She paused momentarily to look confusedly down at Cuirass passed out on the floor before shaking her head and nosing Luna into an embrace.

“Sister, ‘tis good of you to arrive.”

“We got your message, Luna,” Celestia informed airily with a calming smile on her face, “and departed post haste. It would seem that there are some things which need explaining.”

“Quite right, sister, though while we speak I would appreciate if Local Captain Curiass be arrested for quite a list of offenses of which I’m certain that Clank Clop here would be more than happy to elaborate.”

Celestia nodded and, after raising a wing for her guards to detain the comatose captain, turned her gaze expectantly to Clank Clop, wincing as she noticed the bruise on his chest.

“Extortion of private citizens, assault and battery, bloodletting without consent which led to grievous bodily harm, possession and-or use of illegal potions or substances, extortion of royalty, physically threatening royalty, ignoring royal orders…” he huffed and shook his head, “he’s been a very silly pony.”

“Several of those charges warrant prison time, these are serious accusations,” Celestia informed, “though what illegal substance are you referring to?”

“Brawndo, Highness,” Paige said, still cradling Shuck’s still form.

“I suspect, sister, that he has been using and abusing his position here to gain access to illegal potions and substances which have gone to his head. Pitaya, the dryad in their care, mentioned that at one point she grew Aurora.”

Celestia nodded and eyed the corpse of Shuck before she sighed sadly and shook her head, “And what happened to Shuck?”

Shifting uncomfortably, Luna turned her attention to the wall on her left, “He decided to try and take on Cuirass without backup or bothering to actually fight like the shadow-based creature he is and had his back broken. I usually have more sympathy for him, but he did bring it on himself this time and ignored my ordering him not to.”

“And how long does he intend to continue playing dead this time, do you think?”

Luna shook her head, “Until it either stops being funny to him or he realizes that he will traumatize and not be getting any pats from Snowy Doublescoop and Saddleblaze’s chick if he’s dead.”

At her words, Shuck’s body burst into smoke, surrounding Paige in a thick, dark as thick cloud which just as quickly sucked into a central point and reconstituted as a smaller, yet no less shaggy, canine. Despite the astonished stares from everypony except the Princesses, he scurried over to the door and started scratching at it as if begging to be let in.

“Much like a phoenix he is reborn when he dies, I just wish he would last more than a few months." Luna huffed.

"The halberd falling off the wall was not his fault, Luna, nor was that time he drowned after saving a schoolfilly from the garden pond," Celestia chided.

"I suppose we should get to the real reason I sent the missive, sister,” Luna intoned before pointing imperially at a nearby solar guard, “you, guard, fetch C.E.O. Double Tap from his office and bring him here at once;” she swung her attention next to the local guard still huddled together, “If any of you foals are still loyal, you will fetch the caretaker of Prettyboy and bring him here as well.”

Several of the huddled guards nodded and scurried off to the elevator, holding it open for their solar guard compatriot before letting it close.

Paige pushed the button to open the lab door, allowing Shuck to scurry in and throw himself bodily at Softcrest who giggled at the pup-sized shadow wolf that licked at her face, much to the confusion of everypony else present. Luna, Celestia, Clank, Snowy and Paige then filed into the room followed by two solar guards who took up positions inside the door as it closed behind them.

“Greetings, Princess Celestia,” Model Slip spoke from where he stood still as a statue, gaining her attention.

“Alright Luna,” Celestia began, sitting on her haunches and observing the half-built robot in the middle of the room,

“Explain.”

Whole New World

She had been the prize of her herd, the best trained riding Talbuk that had been seen on Outland for many years. Her handler only gave her -what she considered to be- the best of things. Greenest fields, the cleanest of waters, and a soft bed of straw on which to sleep at night or when she caught ill. Her coat was the purest of whites, and her horns and hooves gave the faintest of light purple glows. She was special, and all of the Orcs who lived in the town she was raised in knew it.

She had been bred from the greatest Patriarch in all of Nagrand, Bach’lor, and as such her stock was legendary.

One day, a man came to purchase a Talbuk for a mount to ride, having heard of the strength of their hooves and stamina almost unmatched by other beasts. He had been shown the other trained Talbuk in the stable, their master praising their fleet hooves or sturdy frame, but he would take none of them. He had had his eye on her since the day he first saw her, passing the quaint village to hunt the Ogres who had trespassed so recently on Orcish lands.

He demanded her reins as his own, and for a very hefty sum of gold they were; though her trainer, the Orc she considered her best friend, was otherwise highly reluctant to let her go.

And so it began that she was to take this man, this Forsaken, wherever he wished to go.

A ride through the grand city of Shattrath? Done.

A detour through the magnificent and lush Sholazar Basin? Easy!

But as they went on, things became progressively more and more dangerous for her. A run through Ice Crown? He was pushing his luck with that one, and they were very lucky that they hadn’t been captured, or worse. Soon enough she found herself in Tanaris desert, running from the Caverns of Time to Gadgetzan. She had been left outside a portal through time by her undead master with no water or food, and the Custodians of Time were too preoccupied to help her thirst or hunger. She was parched and starving, having not been fed in almost two days because of his absence. Upon reaching the desert town, she was tied up outside the inn whilst he went in to converse with his team, and despite her nudges and insistence, he had gone inside without getting her the drink she so desperately needed.

When he returned, she was laying on the sand, breathing shallow and unable to move. The other mounts that had been tied to the same hitch as her had worriedly nudged or sniffed at her, but otherwise did nothing to further in case they might harm her.

He however had kicked her, told her to rise, yelled at her to obey; and for all she was worth she tried. But, being as tired and weak as she was, she managed little more than to bleat pitifully and shift her legs in the sand.

He became outraged, called her worthless and pathetic, and complained at how much gold he has spent for the most magnificent creature he could find to be his mount, to show how great he was as a result, returning to kicking and abusing her physically, her skin splitting from his sharp plate boots. A passing Alliance, a Dwarf who knew well the value of a Talbuk of as evidently high breeding as hers, was somewhat outraged at his actions, and yelled for him to stop, to cease his actions on the barely alive animal.

Her master, however, decided that the Dwarf was due a good axe to the face.

With her fur already marred by her own blood, the Dwarves’ own was then spilled atop her. Spurred on by the bloodshed and magic in the air, something within her changed.

Magic is a powerful force on every world connected by the Twisting Nether, but few had as powerful a tie to magic as Outland. The very land seeped powerful arcane magic, and the wildlife thrived as a result. As a further result, the bodies of these animals are heavy in magical properties, which is what allows some Purebred white Talbuk to have glowing horns and hooves.

The blood now seeping all over her body caused a dramatic change in the Talbuk as it interacted with her magical essence. Her coat, once glistening white and pure, changed to an almost rust colour, and her horns and hooves shifted from a mystic purple to a violent red. The crystal affixed to the nose of her head armour picked up on the shift in magic, and also changed, transforming into a deep red ruby.

She remembered feeling a pulse of magic surrounding her, and a Gadgetzan guard pulling the dead Dwarf from her body as the magic intensified. The world around her became one of blistering white…

****

“I don’t know why you brought me into this;” Whiterobe grumbled as she followed Holly Seams and another unicorn, Bright Globe, into the latter’s basement.

“Because we need a third unicorn who knows how to use scrying magic,” Holly Seams replied enthusiastically “and you happened to fit the bill!”

Whiterobe sighed in irritable agreement. Granted she did know how to use magic intended for scrying into the future, but she hated experimental magic at the best of times. It was dangerous and often unpredictable, and results of such experiments ended up in her clinic in dire need of medical attention.

That she was the one to be here performing such dangerous magic…

She’d been the head medical practitioner at Trottingham for almost six years, and in that time she’d seen her fair share of everything. Colds, viral infections, broken bones… She had a friend, Saddleblaze, who was a firefighter and would come in after almost every blaze with multiple burns that would have disabled most ponies. Not Saddleblaze. She was a tough one. She’d come in once with third degree burns to a good forty percent of her body and a collapsed lung acting like it was nothing.

The white unicorn had her worries over this experiment, she didn’t want to know how her husband, Clank Clop, would react to her being a part of this, especially since she had been pregnant for almost ten months and was clearly –and proudly- displaying a fine baby-bump.

With all the weight she’d been picking up, she was thankful she wasn’t carrying twins.

She sighed and sat at one spot at the circle carefully chalked into the wooden floor. Of this she disapproved; that chalk will get into the grains and never go away if not cleaned proper.

Bright Globe sat down, waiting for Holly to do the same, before he mumbled a few words. This was an older magic, words were needed to complete it, Whiterobe noted to herself. She waited for Bright Globe to begin casting before joining in, letting her magic intermingle with those of the other two in the room on a crystal ball in the centre of the magic circle.

All was going well; the crystal was showing the events of a few months from now, Whiterobe and Clank Clop in the maternity ward with a midwife.

She felt a sharp kick from her unborn foal, and she gasped in surprise. Her momentary distraction made her magic flicker.

The magic surrounding the crystal ball turned a painfully bright purple, glittering and pulsing disturbingly in the room. The three unicorns, now no longer in control of the spell, hurried to the stairs and hid just behind the door.

“What happened?!” Bright Globe snapped. “We were doing so well!”

“I’m sorry, the foal has never kicked that hard before and it startled me!”

“White, hide behind us; you’re the last pony we want to get hurt!” Holly yelled over the din of the now rogue spell.

Not wanting to argue, Whiterobe complied, but she did peek worriedly over their backs.

The magic seemed to reach critical mass, growing brighter and brighter until it was a painful and searing white before the crystal globe exploded, throwing glass shards around the room, some of which embedded themselves into the door behind which the ponies hid.

Bright Globe looked around at the glass shrapnel embedded in the solid oak and mumbled, “Whoa…”

Holly, however, pointed to a figure lying near where the crystal ball had been.

“Who is that?”

Whiterobe peered past her.

“Never seen them before,” She mumbled “They… don’t look like anypony I’ve ever seen.”

The trio looked on for a moment or two, noticing that the newcomer didn’t move and barely breathed. Holly’s eye caught on something.

“Is that… blood? Beneath them?” She asked worriedly, “Whiterobe, I think they’re injured!”

Not missing a beat, Whiterobe hurried over and gently nudged the… creature that lay on the timber floor. From this distance Whiterobe could tell that this was most certainly a she, and that she had a bit of glass in her coat and mane. Her main worry, however, was the blood that gently pooled beneath her and was soaked into almost every inch of her fur. Worriedly she rolled her over, finding her to have been laying on her injuries, and that she was covered in cuts and bruises.

Carefully she lifted the sleeping female from the wood with her magic and hurriedly carried her to the door, where she found her baby bump to be somewhat impeding her haste.

“H-Holly, carry her upstairs..!”

Holly nodded and allowed her magic to take hold of the comatose female before carrying her upstairs and putting her on the couch. Whiterobe followed close behind, and she sat before the injured… whatever she is. Her magic reached out, feeling over her battered body, trying to repair the damage she found. What she found astonished her.

“I can’t…” She mumbled. “My… my magic isn’t healing her…”

She looked up and over at Bright Globe, her very gaze daring him to argue with her following orders.

“Get me a needle, spool of thread, one of your kitchen knives, and a bowl of boiling water!” She snapped at him. “I’m going to have to do this the old fashioned way.”

****

Groggily she awoke, blearily aware that she was laying on something soft. She shifted slightly, her body protesting her movement painfully. She still felt as dehydrated and starved as before, and something tugged at her foreleg. Despite having almost no water in her system, her bladder demanded release, and she groaned as her eyes slowly drifted open.

A white equine with a crimson mane and tail sat at her side, watching worriedly.

She blinked at the odd appearance of the evidently pregnant equine. She was somehow less… normal than what she knew. It was uncanny, but there was just something that didn’t fit, though she couldn’t quite figure out what.

As she continued to stare into the eyes of this equine, the feeling faded and she felt more comfortable.

The equine spoke, a clear female tone to her voice.

“You’re awake.”

Her eyes widen and she reels her head from her, spooked by the talking mare. The mare easily noticed her fright and her expression shifted to portray her worry.

“P-please don’t be scared, your injuries have not yet healed. I-I did what I could, but I couldn’t do much more than stitch them closed.”

She blinked and looked down to see what the white mare was talking about, only to find her body below her shoulders to be covered over in a blanket. The mare, evidently aware that she wanted to see the extent of her injuries, gently moved the blankets from her.

Large patches of her pelt had been shaved away around gashes in her skin, where she could see the wounds being held closed by thread. Bruises could be barely seen through her now red fur, the discolouration something that she didn’t quite understand. She groaned and lay her head back down on her pillow, using the fabric to scratch her cheek idly.

“Can… can you speak?”

She went to bleat in response, but found her voice to respond in words.

“I- I… hurt.” She managed, before stopping in momentary shock. She sounded not unlike the Dwarf who had tried to defend her from her owner with a Scotland accent.

The mare nodded. “You look like you’ve been thrown down a mountainside, but I did what I could. Normally I’d use my magic to heal you, but you’re somehow resistant. I… I’m sorry for having to shave off your coat, but I needed to see what I was doing.”

She nodded faintly, and tried to relax back in the bed before remembering why she had woken; her bladder painfully reminding her of its fullness. She gave the mare a nervous look.

“I-is there a bush ‘round ‘ere somewhere I can…”

The mare only smiled and nodded. “I’ll help you to the bathroom.” She said, before standing and carefully helping her to her hooves. “And then we’ll see to that dehydration of yours.”

After returning from the bathroom and resting back on the bed, the white mare brought her charge a glass and pitcher of water, the glass with a straw to ease the task of drinking from the wounded female’s muscles.

While she drinks greedily from the glass, the mare looks over her charge curiously.

“I… I do apologise for my ignorance, but… I don’t know what you are.” She mumbled.

The female released the straw with a contented sigh, not wanting to make herself sick by drinking too much too quickly. “I…”

“For that matter, where did you come from? What should I call you?”

She sighed and looked away.

“I… I don’t know where I am.” She mumbled. “And I didn’t have ae name. I ‘ad an owner who used me tae ride tae places, but… ‘E never named me. As far as I know m' only name’s ‘space-goat’.”

“You’re a goat?” The equine asked.

She shrugs. “I guess I must be some sort ae goat, why would ‘e call me that otherwise?”

The mare gave a short hum as if considering her question.

“Well, my name is Whiterobe; I’m one of the chief medical practitioners at Trottingham Hospital.” The pregnant mare said calmly. “Currently you’re in my house, in the guest bedroom.”

This news took a moment or two to sink into the wounded female. She was alone, wounded, and currently in the guest bed of a mare she’d only met a short while ago. Nervously she shifted.

“I… I’m sorry tae…”

Whiterobe waved a hoof dismissively. “No, no, don’t worry about that.” She hurriedly said. “The hospital is a bit busy, and I don’t think that a public hospital would be the right place for you anyway.”

“Why not?”

“Well…” Writerobe began, scratching one leg with the hoof of her other nervously, “Let’s just say that a mysterious creature like yourself appearing at our public hospital would raise… media interest.”

“Eh? I don’t think I follow..?”

“The last thing I want is my hospital to be swarmed by news ponies.” She grumbled. “So for now, you can stay here as a private patient.” She tried to smile warmly, but gave a little gasp and flinched.

“You alright Hon,” A voice asked from the door, “I heard you startle.”

“I’m fine, Clanky, the foal kicked is all.” She said with a bright blush on her otherwise white features.

Another pony stepped in, tan fur and a brown crew-cut mane, his tail kept strictly combed neat and tidy. His eyes fell on the ‘goat’ laying in the bed, who only looked back in nervous worry. He seemed to not notice her differences and just nosed Whiterobe lovingly.

“So long as you’re alright hon.” He said. “I’m making salads tonight, you want extra apple in yours? Or are you into the pickle cravings like your mother had?”

“Apples!” Whiterobe half shouted as she nodded furiously, and the stallion gave a chuckle.

“Alright, I’ll be downstairs starting dinner.”

The stallion moved out of the room, and Whiterobe gave a gentle sigh, a contented smile on her face. The nanny, however, only looked on confused and Whiterobe smiled to her.

“That’s Clank Clop,” she informed, “he’s the sports teacher at the local school, and he’s also my husband.”

“’Husband’?”

Whiterobe blinked at her. “Yeah, Husband; I’m married to him, and he’s the father of my unborn foal.”

“Oh.” She replied, looking down. “I… my parents weren’t married.” She mumbled.

“Not married? Then..?”

“My father’s what‘s called ae ‘Patriarch’…” She mumbled, “and my mother was just ‘nother female a’ the ranch I grew up at. I… I was brought up tae be a strong runner.”

Whiterobe looked a little nervous. “Brought up how?”

“Oh, tha’ usual; pulling ‘eavy loads, running long distances fer hours at a time…” She mumbled. “It builds up the muscles… I’ve run for a solid day through a marshy swamp ‘n been keepin’ good pace, so I’d say my upbringing was ae success.” She offered with a nervous smile.

“I only have one other question;” Whiterobe began, though her tone made the ‘goat’ nervous, “Why do your horns and hooves glow?”

She looked down at her hooves, actually remembering that she did glow faintly for once.

“I… I guess it’d be because where I grew up was full ae magic. Everythin’ would be seepin’ powerful magic there, even th’ waters I drank. It must’ve just… accumulated in me bones and in me hooves. The last thin’ I remember before wakin’ up here was bein’ covered in blood, and no’ jus’ my own mind; I’m guessin’ tha’ the magic which’s very much a part ae me jus’… soaked it up and changed me colour. I used tae be white, and me hooves and horns were purple, but now I look like I’ve been left tae soak in red paint.”

“Well, for now, why don’t we call you Crimsondrop?” Whiterobe asked. “If you really think that way, it at least suits your coat.”

She blinked and considered the name. Crimsondrop, Crimsondrop… She rolled it around in her head, and it didn’t seem to set off any warning bells.

“Yeah, that sounds alright.”

Whiterobe allowed Crimsondrop some time to rest before helping her downstairs to the kitchen for dinner. Clank Clop seemed to have taken her presence in the guest bedroom as an indication to make extra salad, and Crimsondrop had eaten hers rather swiftly. Whiterobe had watched her eat worriedly, wondering why she ate so ravenously. Crimsondrop, however, acted like her eating had been nothing unusual.

It had been almost three days since she had last eaten anything, three long days of slowly starving. The others of her old master’s team had fed and watered their mounts the minute they returned from the portal, but her master had wanted to get going as soon as he returned. She had complained and resisted his urging on, hoping that he’d get the message that she was parched and starving, but eventually relented and just ran as he wanted.

This hadn’t been the first time he’d left her without food or water for a while, but it was the hottest and driest she’d ever been. The desert had robbed her body of its moisture, and the long run back to Gadgetzan had taxed her depleted energy to the point of collapse.

If she’d had any energy left when he’d started abusing her, she’d have reared up and given him a piece of her mind, preferably one that left him unable to walk.

Whiterobe was admittedly curious about the nanny who sat across from her. She ate like every bite was her saving grace, but instead of asking for seconds she waited patiently for her host and her husband to finish eating their respective meals. She didn’t even seem to know that seconds were an option until Clank had asked if she wanted more, and even then she asked if Whiterobe could be served her seconds first.

What she was created another mystery for the mare to try and figure out. Some type of magic goat? She’d never heard of anypony in Equestria who had glowing hooves and horns, let alone a goat. Then there came what she’d said earlier, something about an ‘owner’ who used to ‘ride her to places’. While riding another pony from one place to another is not unheard of, especially when the ‘rider’ in question is seriously injured, someone owning another was very, very weird.

Then there was a question that had been stuck in her mind for only a few moments, one she decided to voice.

“Crimsondrop, why’d you insist that I get seconds first? Not that I’m complaining, but… you’re so underfed I’d have thought…”

Crimsondrop gave a small giggle as she chewed her salad, swallowing before she replied.

“Durin’ my upbringin’, pregnant nannies got fed first.” She said. “If there wasn’t enough food after their feedin’, th’ rest of us just made do. Future trips ‘re more important than the present one.” She gave Whiterobe a calm and knowing smile. “Y’ may not be of my trip, but old ‘abits die ‘ard.”

Whiterobe and Clank Clop blinked in a momentary shared shock.

“How... how’d you know that she’s pregnant?” He asked. “She could just be overweight.”

His wife gave him an irritable glare, but Crimsondrop only chuckled.

"I’ve seen my fair share ae pregnant mares and nannies; ye can’t fool me.” She said, taking a sip of her water while looking over at Whiterobe through a half-open eye. “No offense, but yer about as overweight as my mum was when she was pregnant wi’ me sister at, ooh, nine months?”

Whiterobe shifted uncomfortably. “Ten months.”

Crimsondrop shrugged, though she didn’t do so without a slight groan of pain. “I was close.” She said. "'sides, she told me earlier." She added with a cheeky grin.

****

After Crimsondrop had been returned to the guest bedroom, Whiterobe made an excuse to go out. She had told the resting nanny that she only wanted to go ensure she would be safe to keep some time off from work so as to look after her, but she’d told Clank Clop that she had every intention to go and talk with Phony Paige about this new, strange addition to the town’s population.

She was worried; not just for Crimsondrop’s wellbeing, but for her own. Somepony who just pops into existence during the middle of a scrying spell gone awry is someone to show caution around. She could be dangerous, be it willingly or not. Whiterobe knew nothing about her, to be honest about it. For all she knew, Crimsondrop could be… well, evil, for lack of a better word. After all, Nightmare Moon herself had been the charming and quite lovely Princess Luna who had even come to Trottingham for a visit and happened to be in town to reopen the Heavy Hoof after its completed reconstruction. Unlike what her sister Princess Celestia would have, Princess Luna had actually showed some minor irritability at being volunteered for the job on the spot simply because she was in town; though her bad mood was quickly replaced with a smile when the townsponies had cheered as she cut the ribbon.

Whiterobe could only imagine how Princess Luna would react if she ever found out that her sister was withholding the fate of the Nightmares from her.

Secondly she was worried for her own wellbeing. Again, this new, strange female dumped almost literally into her lap could be dangerous; and with a foal on its way, she wanted to clear her head of these worrying thoughts.

She didn’t go to Paige for much these days; the number-crunching pony was, granted, a close friend, but Whiterobe had always been able to sort out her own problems, and she had her husband to lean on for support. But, when times really became hard, she had turned to the sturdy mare for support.

Almost two months back, the mixed stresses of being pregnant and the sheer workload she had been handling at the time due to an unfortunate contaminated food incident had taken its toll, and she had gone from her own home to Paige’s and simply walked in, throwing herself against her and breaking down.

Paige had been calm and quiet, and had politely listened to her as she blubbed her woes amongst tears. At the end of it all, Paige had given Whiterobe some soothing tea and offered calming idle conversation, as if her emotional breakdown hadn’t happened. It had been oddly effective, especially when, as she was leaving, Paige calmly reminded Whiterobe that she would be there for her, no matter what happened.

This had set off another fit of crying, but she’d had a warm fuzzy feeling the whole way home. She knocked on the door, knowing that Paige would be in, and waited for her to answer the door. Instead of Paige, another pony opened the door.

Her roomie, Shadow Gazer, was also a recent addition to Trottingham. He was of a reclusive breed of ponies that supposedly lived out in the Everfree Forest, the Nightmares. Manes and tails of magical flames, and dragon-like dagger pupils were two of their most notable differences, the other being their naturally darker coats. They came in the same varieties as normal ponies, Earth, Unicorn and Pegasus. Shadow Gazer was a black Unicorn which, while not strictly a rare colour amongst Equestrian ponies, was as common to Nightmares as white is to their non-Nightmare cousins. Supposedly his grandmother had been a navy blue. His fiery mane and tail of a royal purple illuminated the darkening front porch of the house.

He smiled at Whiterobe and let her in, telling her that Paige was in the lounge. She’d nodded and let her feet guide her through the house to where she found Paige reading a large book on the couch. She looked up at Whiterobe and smiled.

“Good evening, White,” she said cheerfully, “have you had a good day? Should I put on a pot of tea?”

Whiterobe shook her head. “No, no, I’m alright today.” She said, sitting in a nearby chair. “Within reason, anyway.”

“Care to elaborate?”

Whiterobe shrugged. “I have a… guest at my home.” She said. “She’s… different.”

“Different how?” Shadow Gazer asked as he wandered in, a plate of daffodil sandwiches on his back. His horn glittered as he lowered the plate to the table and took a sandwich, holding it up as he took a bite.

“She’s not a Nightmare, that much I can assure you,” Whiterobe said, “but… she’s not a Pony either. She says that she’s some kind of goat, but that’s not important, to be honest.”

“Okay…”

“White, start at the beginning,” Paige instructed.

“Well…”

*****

Crimsondrop lay on her less injured side staring at the wall. She had only been lightly scratched on that side, so it didn’t hurt her to be on it, unlike the side which Whiterobe had to sew up. Currently she had gauze and cotton pads wrapping up her wounds which she found uncomfortable and constrictive.

This wasn’t her main concern.

She was… admittedly confused. These whereabouts were new and unusual in a way she couldn’t identify, which unnerved her greatly. Where were the… others? The undead, the Orcs, and the Trolls; where were they? Hell, she’d have been happy to see one of the Alliance races, but there was no evidence of them. Whiterobe had been confused and conflicted when the topic of her master came up, so she decided to try and avoid it in future, but…

And her other confusing issue was her understanding and ability to speak. She’d only been able to bleat at best where she came from, but here should speak a fluent language, though admittedly it was with a thick accent. Where had that come from? Had she been granted this new ability when pulled here with magic? Or had her normal vocalizations simply adapted into a language that could be understood in this world? Could there be a third reason, beyond her comprehension? She sighed a little, remembering that she was, effectively, alone here.

The thought hit her harder emotionally than she’d thought it would. Alone, the first and only of her kind in this entire world; the closest thing to her own kind she knew was here were goats. She knew they were here, because Whiterobe had shown she knew about them. She had no family here, and her owner would never know what had happened to her, just that she had mysteriously vanished from the middle of Gadgetzan amongst a burst of magic.

Subconsciously she started to cry, her tears snaking through her fur as she tried to sort through her now long list of those she would never see again. Her mother, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews… The mounts of her master’s teammates, who she had come to care about as if they were of her own trip, especially the magnificent steed of their Paladin, a mare called Lulu.

Lulu had been pregnant for some time, and when she had her foal, a wonderful filly, Crimsondrop had been there alongside her to offer support. The filly had been raised by Lulu for about two months before she was handed to a stable for training into a powerful mare, but the bond built between Lulu and Crimsondrop had been built, and it was a powerful bond.

Like all the others, she would never see Lulu or her filly ever again.

By this point she’d more than realized she was crying, and she only let it overtake her. She’d not been outside, and already she hated this place. She didn’t know anyone, she didn’t know what the world, or what the residents were like. Were they friendly? Unfriendly? Were they… dangerous? Whiterobe had seemed untrusting of her, sceptical of her. Was she a threat to them, or frightening?

She curled up for what she could in the bed.

“I want to go home.” She mumbled to no-one, or perhaps even to the universe itself, as if something would hear her plea.

“Oh? You don’t like it here?”

Clank Clop had been watching Crimsondrop from the door to the guest bedroom for a few minutes now, quietly observing her behaviour. Thus far, he’d established two things: firstly that she was in pain, and secondly that she was distraught. She was crying whilst hiding under the covers. He moved to enter, offer her at least a little comfort, when the door shut in his face.

A gentle golden glow surrounded the door, and no matter how hard he pushed he couldn’t manage to budge it. Still, he’d spent some time in the Royal Guard, and he’d even met the Princesses in person a few times, and he could tell that, no matter what he tried, he would not be getting into that room.

Celestia herself barred his entry.

Crimsondrop looked up at the female equine that towered over her worriedly; this otherwise majestic female had an aura of power unlike any she’d felt before, and she’d once been before the Lich King himself even though it was a blessedly short encounter. She had a pearly white coat, and a glittering mane and tail of blue, pink, and green which flowed in a wind not present. Her wings were spread wide, making her figure only more imposing than ever, and her horn glittered mystically.

Her face was split with a cheeky grin.

“Wh-who…”

The newcomer shifted, her movement cutting off Crimsondrop’s question.

“I am Princess Celestia,” she said, “the eldest ruling sister of Equestria, regent of the Sun and day. Though it is rather customary for townsponies to bow, I rather think we can overlook that formality.”

Crimsondrop only stared back in confused shock. The amount of magic this… Celestia gave off was immense. She’d only felt this much power in the presence of Alexstrasza, the Matriarch and Aspect of the Red Dragonflight back home.

How had she gotten in without being noticed..? With as immense an aura she had, Crimsondrop was fairly certain she would have noticed her entering the door. No, she had just suddenly appeared as if she had been there the whole time. Teleportation maybe?

Furthermore, what did she want? Crimsondrop had only been in this realm for a few short hours, surely no messenger could be that fast, unless she lived within the town, in which case she was unsure why she hadn’t come to see her before…

“You may be wondering why I’m here.” Celestia began, her cheeky smile unwavering. “To tell you the honest truth, I find myself curious as to the exact opposite. You’re lucky, young Nanny that I managed to detect your arrival and implant what I could into your mind in time.” She nodded faintly at the look of realization spread across Crimsondrop’s features. “Oh yes, it was I who planted your comprehension of our language into your head.

“Though I can’t keep calling you ‘Nanny’ now can I? Have you adopted a name?”

“C-Crimsondrop…” She mumbled in reply.

Celestia’s smile flickered ever so slightly. “Because of your coat, I would assume.” She said, her voice holding only a slight amount of irritation. “Well, Crimsondrop, I-“

The door thundered heavily, cutting off Celestia’s next sentence and grabbing their attention.

“Open the door, Princess!” Clank Clop’s voice shouted. “Don’t make me call the town guard!”

Celestia sighed and let the door open. Clank Clop stepped into the room and, after bowing to the Princess respectfully, dawdled over to Crimsondrop and looked her over.

“I hope you have an excuse for interrupting, Clank Clop,” Celestia began irritably.

"White told me to keep an eye on her patient, and I can hardly do that through a closed door.” He grumbled. He seemed to not really care who he was talking to, or the tone in which he was speaking to her. Celestia, despite the appearances she should be keeping up, only looked amused at his insubordinate behaviour.

“Well, at least I know you’re getting used to no longer being a Royal Guard, Clank Clop.” She joked.

“Princess, I will be beating myself up over this later.” He said bluntly, well aware that he would spend at least an hour hyperventilating under the bed in the master bedroom once the Princess left. “But until then I’ll continue to fling the ‘this is my house’ authority about until it wears off.”

Celestia gave a faint chuckle at his words before returning her attention to Crimsondrop.

“In any case, Crimsondrop; I have been considering all of the options which could pertain to your unique situation, and I can assure you that they have all been strictly thought over. Unfortunately, the only solution that is best for all is for you to stay here in Equestria.”

“B-but..!”

“I’m sorry, Crimsondrop, but to send you back to where you came from would require another freak magical accident, and I am uncertain if you would survive the physical forces that could take place within such an anomaly. To be honest, I am unsure how you survived the first one.”

“B-but..! I want to go home! I don’t belong here!”

“I understand, Crimsondrop, but there’s nothing I can do.” Celestia mumbled apologetically. Clank Clop headed out of the room upon hearing a sound at the front door, leaving them alone in the room. “Please understand.”

Crimsondrop heaved under the blanket, her tears running through her fur and dampening the bed beneath her as she stared at where they hit the bed.

“Just… go.” She mumbled sadly. She heard Celestia shift slightly, and she breathed in sharply. “Go away!”

She whipped her head up to glare angrily at Celestia, only to be staring into a blank wall. With a sob she tugged the blankets over her head and broke down.