The next morning, he wakes up, a little groggy, to find that a fiery, red-orange landscape is across his view, and his head is comfortably supported by something plush and warm.

“Wha?”

The fiery visage in front of his eyes shifts a bit, and his pupils shrink and his eyes widen as he recognizes the view as that of just barely to one side of Summer’s plot.

“Huh...Back to sleep.”

Unfortunately, no matter how he tried, the soft form of Summer across his body and the alluring mare-scent coming off her was incredibly distracting, especially since he had no idea why it was alluring. In fact, it almost smelled bad, but he liked it anyways, and that bugged him to no end save the one above him now.

“Damn it.”

Cole tried to wiggle out, leading to some ‘mmm’ sounds and some wriggles from both Summer and his pillow.

“Carefully...”

Cole muttered as he tried to free himself of his small pile of mares, wow, that sounded like bragging. Slowly, Summer is shifted from him, and he sits up, the fabric of the tent still laying around him.

“Where’s the exit to this damn thing?”

Cole flailed around trying to get out, ultimately failing in his attempt.

“Probably near the entrance, but I wouldn’t put stock in that with your tent-raising abilities.”

Illicita was already awake, and Summer wasn’t. Cole sighed, and snapped quietly at the demon mare.

“Shuddap!”

“Hmph... fine...”

“Hmph, now help me out of the tent please, I really need to go!”

“Go where?”

“To the bathroom, and I really hope you aren’t into that!”

“What, bathing? What’s the hurry?”

“No, bathroom in my world means where you go to take a leak.”

“Leak what? You’re not making much sense this early in the morning.”

“Since you won’t get it any other way, I have to take a piss!”

“Well, why didn’t you say so? The exit’s to your right, a little ways.”

Cole began shuffling under the tent material, until he smacked his head on something along the way with a muffled curse.

“Oh, yeah, be careful, I think the tent supports fell over there.”

“Damn it, just help me outta this cursed tent!”

The demoness sighed, and and he felt a warm sensation overtake his whole body, dark smoke overtaking his vision as he was propelled from the tent, smacking his head twice more along the way. Upon reaching the outside, he shouted in pain as bright sunlight hit him dead in the eyes.

“Ugh, now to go to the bathroom.”

Cole began to walk away from tent only to have the pain of the bright light hit him like a train. With a groan of pain, he stumbled towards a darker patch in his vision, until the warm feeling of Illicita’s helping grasp wrapped around him again, steering him around the tree he had been aimed at, until he was in the soothing shade of the same tree.

“You need any help out there, or can you do this on your own?”

For once, Illicita’s voice sounded entirely sincere, rather than mocking or joking.

“I think I’m fine, I just keep forgetting about being sensitive to light.”

“Alrighty, then.”

With a hug-like squeeze, the warmth faded, and Cole got to work removing his pants, but quickly grew frustrated as the growing roar of waterfalls and oceans and streams built up in his mind, forcing him to ask for assistance.

“I seem to be having problems, but since you’re so quick to try and get in my pants can you at least help me take them off?”

A giggle and a quick pull later, he relieved himself, fairly sure he didn’t get himself, but not entirely positive. Pretty good for not being able to able to see and being unfamiliar with pissing this way.

“Thank you, now can you help getting them back up?”

Two sets of giggles answer him.

“Oh come on, it’s not like I can, I’ve only been a pony for three days!”

“Oh, that’s not what we’re giggling at.”

The voice was Illicita’s, and it was right next to his ear.

“Haha you can see my junk, can someone just help me? I am not waddling all over the place!”

“Well... that would be kinda funny...”

“Would you also find it funny that I woke up with Summer almost shoving her plot in my face?”

Illicita’s laughter answers for her, while Summer doesn’t speak up.

“Well, can someone help me? I’m basically blind here!”

“Alright... I’m sorry...”

“Solace! Don’t give in! make him waddle for a while, we can make quacking sounds!”

“That’s just mean, Illy, so no.”

“Yeah, don’t pick on the blind guy, I’m already at a disadvantage here.”

Cole feels a slight pinch as his pants are pulled up, the seam of his pants a little uncomfortable in his crack.

“Alright, now is there anyway for me not to have to close my eyes during the day? Otherwise I’m going to have to hold onto Summer and have her lead me around.”

“Well, we could use a thick blindfold, with just enough light getting through for you to see! Oh, but we don’t material for that...”

Summer’s response came slowly, and she shot herself down quickly.

“Just use some thin fabric, if we layer it I should be fine, and trust me, you don’t want to have to lead me around everywhere.”

“We don’t have any fabric though.”

Illicita chimed in,

“Hey, while you two chat this out, I’m going to go scout ahead.”

“Damnit, looks like you’re being my guide dog, here Summer, here girl!”

Cole could almost hear her pout at the joke.

“What? You want me to just wander aimlessly into certain death? Or are you just embarrassed you showed me your plot?”

“No! Never!”

“So you wanted to show me your bottom? Well, mission accomplished.”

“What? No! I- I meant I didn’t want you wandering into certain doom! A-and I’m really so-”

“Don’t apologize, it’s not like it wasn’t a good view.”

Summer just sputtered, trying to form coherent words.

“Come on Summer, be embarrassed about your flank later, I’m driving blind in a minefield here.”

“A- a- what?”

“A field full of explosives, now get your cute flank over here.”

“My- You think I have a cute flank?”

“You’re cute, and you have a flank, by transitive properties you have a cute flank.”

Summer simply stood in place, just barely visible in the white glare of the world.

“Hello? Are you still there Summer? Hello?”

“Uhm, ah, yeah! Y-you, ah, want to start going now?”

“Alright, where are you, I need to hold onto you so I don’t get lost.”

Cole flailed around for a moment, finally finding something by smacking it with his leg. Summer yelped slightly as he did, and he announced his triumph happily.

“I found you!”

“Y-yeah, you did...”

“What’s wrong? I got your back, right?”

“N-nothing’s wrong... but no, that’s not my back.”

“Then what am I holding?”

Cole squished whatever he was holding, eliciting a happy-sounding squeak from Summer.

“Oh... nothing much.”

“What am I holding? Seriously, are you ticklish here or something?”

Cole squeezed it again, and she made a sound halfway between a giggle and a purr.

“My cutie mark.”

“Oh...Sorry.”

Cole traced his hoof up to the middle of her back, and she shivered under his touch. He felt her lean towards him a little.

“Don’t be, I don’t mind... at all.”

“Okay, once again, sorry.”

Summer just sighed at his apology, and the mare began leading Cole along, as he held his one hoof to her back and walked slowly along with the other. After a few minutes of walking, Cole felt Summer’s tail drape across his back and circle his own tail.

“Tail holding? Oh yeah, we’re pretending to be a herd.”

“Yeah... Pretending.”

“What’s wrong? Did I say something?”

“N-nothing, Cole. You’re fine.”

Illicita’s voice almost made Cole jump, and it came out of the air a bit above him.

“Damn right, he’s fine! So, you two love nerds ready for some social interaction? There’s a town just a few hour’s walk away. So, can I join this back-scratching parade?”

“Sure, just watch where your hoof goes, I already messed up.”

“Oh, I’ll make sure it goes were I mean it to.”

Cole felt a hoof come to rest on his own flank.

“Even blind I’m pretty sure I should’ve have seen that one coming.”

“Too late, the invite was given.”

The sound Summer face-hoofing was audible all down the line, as Cole felt the hoof on his flank start kneading it.

“Let’s just go before she gets any further.”

Summer tugged him a bit faster towards the town, Illicita’s hoof falling off his backside. The three ponies continued onward, the demoness occasionally groping his butt again, each time being fended off hurriedly.

Finally, she stopped as the sound of speech caught Cole’s ear. A large crowd of voices mixed and mashed together, jumbled up and incomprehensible.

“Why is it so loud all of a sudden, I hear nothing but indistinct chatter.”

“Loud? There’s nothing around. I can’t hear anything.”

“Yeah, I hear a lot of people up ahead, are we in town or something?”

“No... the town’s a good ways down the hill, still.”

“Then how the hell can I hear them?”

From down the hill, a single voice stood out, shouting something about carrots being for sale.

“Ooh, carrots are for sale!”

Summer stops entirely.

“How do you know that? We’re still a long distance from the village!”

“I don’t know, I just hear things, and apparently the carrots are fresh.”

“B-but...”

Another voice called out fromt the village, this one sounding angry. Something in a mare’s voice, yelling about a lazy colt.

“And now some mare is being sexist.”

“What?!”

“I have a feeling that this is going to be painful.”

“W-why?”

Summer sounded worried, and stopped walking again.

“If I can hear them this far away, imagine how loud they’ll be in person, I’m going to need some migraine medicine.”

“Oh, I am so sorry! I never thought this would happen! I- I should’ve guessed, based on your ear structure that you’d have enhanced hearing, but I forgot and today is market day, and I didn’t think to bring headache re-”

“It’s fine, let’s just hurry through the louder part of town with the mean mare and carrot guy. On a side note, can I have some carrots?”pp

Summer agreed, and the three ponies, one blind, walked into town. Eventually, the noise was too much, and Cole was forced to be carried, because he couldn’t walk from the wall of sound.

“Thanks, that mare really hates her colt. And those twins, wherever they are, need to shut up already!”

Summer huffed and responded.

“It’s probably a result of her being stressed, he’s likely just a bit behind or something, and the stress is making her angry. I’m sure he’s normally a perfectly good worker.”

Picking the conversation from the crowd, Cole caught a piece of the mare and her colt’s dialogue. The mare was yelling about it being his thirtieth mess up in the last two days, and that the cookies aren’t going to bake themselves, even with her help.

“No, it’s just the fact that he sucks at cooking. Lets just go find a hotel or something, and if I have to share a bed I call Summer’s.”

Minutes of headache-inducing racket and careful maneuvering later, Cole gasps as the light suddenly departed from its relentless assault on his eyelids, and he cracked one open. Summer had carried him into a building, looking like a tavern from a fantasy novel, and that the ceiling had granted them a reprieve from the light.

The noise, on the other hand, was only worse, every bar patron talking or muttering. Clutching his head, Cole could only watch as Illicita, disguised as an earth pony mare in purple and blue, walked up to the bartender. After a few minutes of conversing, Illicita came back, and led them up the stairs.

“This place hasn’t changed in three centuries. I love places with real history to them.”

“What history? Did you have an orgy here or something?”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? But no, I helped the original owner build this place and just posed as my own great granddaughter. Got us a discount.”

“You had kids? Oh crap.”

“Nah, but they didn’t know that. Just look very similar and tell them the code I made sure the original builder remembered. Shouting it right as we finished each night really made it stick for some reason.”

“I am not surprised by that in the slightest actually.”

Illicita just chuckled, and the group settled into a room with a red door, while the rest had plain brown doors. As the door shut, the deafening din finally died away completely.

“Thank you, finally I can think. Oh, wait, Summer, you remember those circles we stood in? They look like the pentagrams on my hoodie and wa-er, money pouch, can they do anything?”

“I looked them over, and they lack the proper materials and the runic portions of the bindings, but things could replace them rather nicely.”

“Like? Anything to stop people from stealing my money bag, or to help heal me? I really do get hurt a lot.”

Summer paused and thought for a moment.

“Yeah... things like that could be done. But we’d need somepony who could cast the runes, and replace the symbols with the proper equivalents.”

“I’m in no rush to get anything done, if we find someone to do it, great, if not, you’ll just have to keep a few bandages in stock when I’m around. And now my headache is gone, sweet.”

With the lack of noise and the lack of windows, his headache had, in fact, faded away. Summer looked really exhausted, though, and even Illicita was curling up on the massive bed.

“You two helped a lot today, thanks.”

Cole hugged Summer since she was closer, and she hugged him back, dragging him towards the bed.

“C’mon, I’m tired.”

Summer yawned on the last word, Illicita already curled up on the head of the bed. Cole and Summer slowly snuggled into place, warm and comfortable.

“Anything I can do to thank you Summer?”

“Would you mind not sleeping in your clothes? It’s a bit weird holding you like this.”

“Fair enough, help me get them off, I also don’t think I will be wearing pants anymore, too much trouble.”

After a few more careful adjustments and her helping him, they got him undressed, and the two ponies curled up on the bed together.

“You really like it when I’m naked, don’t you?”

Summer just blushed vividly. In place of an answer, she just buried her muzzle in his chest, rubbing the top of her head against his chin, his tuft of beard-hair tickling her horn.

“You’re a cuddly one tonight, aren’t you?”

Cole began stroking her mane, and she just snuggled closer. Cole kissed the top of her head before dozing off as he stroked her mane. The two began falling asleep, as Illicita puffed into dark smoke. Curious as to where she was going, but not willing to get up, he slowly fell asleep wondering...

Waking up, Cole yawns as he rubs the sleep from his eyes.

“Well that was comfy. You awake yet Summer?”

Cole looked down at the sleeping unicorn against his chest, her forelegs wrapped tightly around his barrel. Her face, almost angelic in its fiery colors, was still covered by the mask of sleep.

“Damn that’s cute.”

Cole booped her horn out of boredom, causing it to glow slightly in response. Intrigued by this he continued to boop it. The glow steadily brightened, and he noticed that her face was buried in his chest again, just in time for a spray of glowing sparks to hit him in the face. They tingled slightly, and left glowing tangerine patches on his coat. Cole deadpanned for a moment.

“Wha-What was that?”

Summer just moaned slightly in her sleep, a slightly glowing and happy expression plastered on her sleeping face.

“Did I just... God damn my curiosity.”

The glowing patches were slow to fade, and he looked around worriedly, expecting some sort of joke to be made at his expense by Illicita. Oddly, she didn’t seem to be around. There was some heavily filtered light pouring in from a thickly-covered window he hadn’t noticed before.

His sensitive eyes made the thin light work to illuminate the entire room, allowing him to spy bookcases and shelves of writing materials and bottles of some sort. It looked like a medieval chemist’s room, minus scorch marks.

“Those look like fun, I hope they have the ingredients for thermite.”

Cole had the heart of a pyro, and the destructive nature of a child when it came to chemicals.

“Mmph... Cole? Wha- what smells like citrus fruit?”

Summer was waking up, and a quick sniff revealed that his still-glowing orange marks were what smelled like tangerines.

“Hey Summer, and now that you mention it something does smell like oranges.”

“Weird... I don’t remember having any, and they’re out of season anyways. The only other thing that smells like that is my... Why is your face covered in glowing spots.”

“Your horn exploded when I tried to wake you up, sparks came out.”

Cole was hoping she wouldn’t ask anymore, last thing he needed was for this situation to get even more awkward, if it just happened he can brush it off and move on.

Summer just stared at him, her bright, golden eyes wide. She starts to open her mouth to say something then stops.

“You... you played with my horn?”

Her face was going from orange-white to scarlet red.

“I had no idea what it’d do, no one on my planet has anything like it, I was just poking you to see if you were awake.”

“Y- you played with my horn...”

She sounded like she hadn’t heard a word of what he’d said, and had an oddly dreamy look on her face.

“A-and you did it... until I released.”

Well, when she put it that way...

“I guess I did, sorry, I was just-”

He was cut off by her lunge for him, her forelegs wrapping around his neck as she pressed her lips to his. Least to say, Cole was caught off guard, his eyes wide.

“No need to apologize, you can play with my horn any time you want.”

She nuzzled her face happily into his chest, a big grin on her face. Pausing for a moment in the moment of shock, a niggling, evil thought crept into his head. ‘Where’s Illicita?’

“H-Hey Summer, where’s Illicita?”

“Wait, she’s not here?”

Summer looked up, peeling herself from him as she looked around. Taking a look at the door, she began to shuffle off of the bed.

“Where could she have gone? It’s not like her to disappear like this. She usually hangs around me.”

Straining to remember the previous night, Cole vaguely remembered something about her leaving via smoke-form. but can’t remember any details.

“Well, I did see her go poof last night, like a puff of smoke, does that mean anything?”

“Just that she was largely incorporeal when she started moving around. It’s not a common thing, nor common knowledge, but even shapechangers like herself can’t actually turn truly incorporeal. She just became vaporous. It’s why vamponies supposedly can’t stand mirrors, they can’t go through the glass.”

“Huh, she’s full of tricks isn’t she? So, any idea where she went? I would’ve thought this morning’s events would’ve caught her interest.”

“Well, I have honestly no idea. I- I’ve never actually been down here to the village before. In fact, I’ve lived my whole life on one estate or another. as for her being full of tricks, well... she could’ve descended any time she wants, but I think she sticks around so I’ll still know her name.”

“Then what could’ve happened? Does she have a time limit as to how long she can stay here?”

“In order, I don’t know, there shouldn’t been any seers, zebra shamans, or spirit hunters around here, and no, she can stay as long as she has some sort of tie to this world. Usually demons use their summoners as that tie, but some are bound to objects instead, forced to endure the slow burning away of their essence over the course of however long the talisman is active.”

Summer shuddered at the explanation, looking vaguely upset. She looked once more at the door, looking like she wanted to get going to look for her friend, but she seemed conflicted.

“What’s wrong, don’t you want to go look for her?”

“I- I do, but I can’t bring you along. It may be the evening, but there’s still a lot of ponies and lots of light still around, I can’t just carry you around all the way.”

“I have an idea actually, do you have earplugs and some thick cloth?”

Summer looked at him for a moment, before digging into a bag. From it, she pulled a scarf-like length of cloth, solid black, with tasseled ends.

“I- I have this, but what are ear plugs? The name sounds kind of explanatory, but I’ve never heard of them before.”

“Ear plugs are little rubber plugs, normally attached to both ends of a length of string, we put in our ears so we don’t damage them from extremely loud noises, like large explosions.”

“What’s rubber?”

“Damn, you guys aren’t that advanced yet, well, a large amount of cloth should help block out the sound just as well.”

Thinking back to the previous day, in which he was nearly deafened even with a solid oak door between him and the marketplace, he faltered.

“Actually, the cloth won’t work, do you have any ideas?”

“I could cast an incarceration spell, but that would leave you blind, deaf and mute. It’s... not very pleasant.”

“Umm, is there anyway you could weaken it so it only lessens the senses as opposed to blocking them entirely?”

She shifted uncertainly on her hooves, not looking at all sure. She appeared to be weighing multiple choices, her head tilted adorably. She kinda reminded him of Twilight from the show, trying to make a difficult decision.

“Well, I’m no good at improvised casting. I’ve mostly learned by rote. I may have a lot of versatility, but I’m kinda bound by what I’ve learned directly.”

“Hmm, well, this spell would do the job. We may not be friends, but she’s important to you so I’m more than happy to help.”

Summer still looked indecisive.

“I- I just don’t want to cause any problems. The- the other problem with the spell, is that, well... Idon’tknowifIcouldtakeitoff.”

She spat the last line of words at top speed, the individual consonant sounds blending together.

“Could you repeat that? All I got was ‘I don’t’.”

“I- I don’t know if... if I could take it off afterwards. I can only cast stronger spells because I practised them a lot. This would actually need to be overpowered.”

“Well, I don’t want to be a burden so I think I should just wait here, you know, for moral support.”

“I- yeah, that sounds good. I’m sorry I have to leave you here.”

“Wait, before you go, is there a way to check the room for anyone who made themselves invisible?”

Summer just looks at him funny.

“Who’d use an invisibility spell in a room this small? I can’t even think of anypony who could cast one and remain hidden in here, unless they were Ninjaponese.”

Cole just mentally laughed at the term she used for ninjas.

“But how do we know she didn’t? She is a demon after all.”

“She’d still need to keep vaguely consistent mass. Conservation of mana, after all.”

“I don’t know, I feel like she’s setting me up for something. Paranoia and all.”

Summer just shrugged, sighed, and closed her eyes as her horn lit up a soft orange. Quietly wiping his face in memory, he felt his cheeks warm. She just turned around the room once, then stopped.

“No, there’s nopony here besides you and me.”

“Well then where did our favorite demoness go? I know you aren’t her because of what happened earlier, I doubt she would’ve stopped with the ‘horn play’ as you called it.”

Summer just blushes. Stammering as she speaks, she tries to explain.

“W-well, it’s really n- nice to have somepony to p- play with something as s-sensitive as a horn... i- if they don’t mind, that is. B- but I don’t know where she went, I already said that.”

“Crap, what if something happened? Did she get caught?”

“I don’t know!”

Summer looked near tears now as he kept questioning her, making him feel bad in response. reflecting back, he thought about how much his emotions were on a seesaw, swinging back and forth so easily. It was really unlike him.

“I’m sorry Summer, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Cole walked over and patted Summer on the back to calm her down a little, and she sniffled. Nodding and composing herself, she began to speak again.

“Alright, I’m going to make use of my reading about searching for fugitives to try finding her. I think I can modify the process to not involve tormenting or the use of memory purging spells.”

And she was upset by the talk of torture? What?

“You know torture and memory purging spells? Damn, what else do you know?”

“W-well, I kind of did go through mother’s collection of contraband tomes that she had saved from being destroyed during the various information purges... and that one talking book was really nice to me.”

“Damn, you’re more like me than I thought.”

She just shrugged and dug into her bag again, her plot raised towards him as her silky tail swished side-to-side while she searched for something.

“You know, with how often you show me your plot I would think you were taking tips from Illicita.”

“W-what? I- I’m not showing it off! My tail is still down, a-and I’m not even presenting!”

Cole just laughed a little at her reaction.

“Wait, what do you mean by ‘presenting’?”

Summer backed up a bit, in order to get fully from the confines of her bag, which she had been almost shoulder-deep in, head and all.

“Well, according to the anatomy and breeding books I read on the subject, a mare would raise tail and spread herself by muscular contractions, thus ‘presenting’ herself. Also, she’d use her raised tail to swipe the colt’s nose, applying her scent to him and making him aroused. Then, to put it bluntly, they fuck.”

She says the last sentence with a furious blush but a perfect poker face. Cole laughs loudly at her last statement.

“Damn Summer, I didn’t think you could make that funny.”

“How is that funny? It’s biology! All the funny jokes are in geology!”

Summer sounded honestly indignant about the whole thing.

“It was funny the way you politely explained it, then finished with, ‘they fuck’.”

“W-well that is the common colloquialism, right? Or, wait, you wouldn’t know, not a local... Oh, fudge it all!”

Her serious expression and completely mixed vocabulary proved too much for whatever shredded remains of Cole’s poker face he had left, and he fell to the ground, laughing so hard it hurt his sides.

“Summer, stop it, you’re killing me with cuteness!”

Cole was still rolling on the ground in laughter. With a huff she returns to digging around in her bag, finally taking out a battered brown book, with what definitely looked like... leather? It was bound in leather?

“Is that leather? I didn’t think ponies had that, considering what it’s made of.”

“Uhm... yeah. It’s made from griffin-tooled leather. They’re pretty ethical about it, too. And it’s not like pigs or cows are people.”

“Are they sentient like us, higher intelligence?”

“That’s been debated before, but they’ve failed every probing test. Piglets are still cute though, and as such I refuse leather made in the Idder desert.”

“Seems fair to me, so, what’s in the book?”

“My notes. It’s got several layers of compression spells on it, so it’s actually more like five or six books in one... but I still seem to run out of room, somehow.”

“That is kind of cool, so what’s in it? Science, physics, history, math, politics, more spells, your favorite book series?”

Cole said the last part of the sentence almost too fast to comprehend.

“Uhm... my diary. And my casting notes. And other doodles I did in my spare time. I’ve had this since I was five.”

“You keep a diary? They say those are good for venting and relieving stress, I probably should’ve kept one.”

Summer just shrugs. She looks into the book, flipping past pages that don’t seem to get her any closer to the back of the book or further from the front. Pausing every now and then, she ‘hrmm...’s and ‘yeah’s a lot, nodding each time to herself, leaving Cole to sit it out and shift from hoof to hoof uncomfortably as he sits on the bed.

“What did you write about in your diary? Am I in there yet?”

Cole’s short attention span was getting the better of him.

“Hmm? No, not yet. I need to start updating my diary again. I’ll just pour out my memories into it tonight. Say, this spell says it needs some Nightwing tail-hairs, c-”

Cole tried to pull a few hairs out from his tail, only to have none come out.

“Huh, they don’t want to move, also, ow...”

“So is that a yes, then?”

“Yeah, they need to be cut, I think if I pulled them I would also take off some skin.”

“Well, you’re right about one thing... and I can’t cut them for them to work as reagents.”

She shot him an overly-large grin, an apologetic look in her eyes as her horn lit up.

“Just do- FUUUUCK!!!”

The pain was comparable to having one’s nose hairs removed by getting them stuck in a motor, and yanked in succession all in a row, then replanted, and having the process repeated a few times. That was for the first hair, and she needed four more.

“Damn it, any way you can do them all at once?”

“I might end up taking your entire tail off that way!”

“Fine, just do it really quick then, just get it over with.”

Sitting on a block of conjured ice, Cole had tears in his eyes. He could honestly say that, in all of his years of accidentally injuring himself, he’d never been in that much pain before. And Summer wouldn’t stop apologizing.

“I’ve cracked my head open, busted out all my teeth, taken a metal rod to my knee, a wood chip stuck 2 inches in my leg, and yet pulling five tail hairs tops the list...”

“I’m so sorry, I forgot you weren’t aware of the thaumotological connection of the tail to your magic, due to your species! I’m so, so sorry!”

“It’s okay, but damn, how does this top getting a metal plate in my head?”

“I’m so sorry! A-and, well, with your body attuned to feeling your entire thaumotological field, having a chunk of it ripped out is pretty painful, at least for nightwings, unicorns, crystal ponies, and-”

“Summer, stop apologising, it isn’t your fault. Would a hug help?”

She sniffles and accepts, before suddenly pulling away in a panic.

“Oh, oh no! I forgot about Illicita! I need to get going, bye-bye!”

And with that outburst, she turned, grabbed something from her bag, and ran from the room. The light from the window was somewhat less, but not by much. She must’ve been wrong about what time it was.

“Now what? I’m sitting on a block of ice, my ass is nearly frozen, and I can’t go outside...”

Waiting for a moment, he decides to wander to the door, see if he can hear anything through it.

Sure enough, pressing his fuzzy ear (I have fuzzy ears!) to the door, he could actually hear someone in the hallways beyond. Two someones, in fact.

“I heard she’s some sort of agent from the Bureau of Information. She had some sort of bat-guard with her, and you know how nasty those are.”

The first voice was feminine, and spoke in a gossipy way. The second voice was also female, and a little higher pitched, maybe younger.

“I- I dunno, that sounds pretty risky. why would you risk bringing in a thing like that?”

“Maybe she’s going to be searching for more blacklisted books. It’s just not worth learning to read anymore, it can get you killed these days.”

Cole cracked open the door, hoping to hear a bit more clearly.

“Now this sounds interesting.”

The two gossipers continued chatting.

“I hear that it’s almost illegal just to cast magic without a licence for it in the capital. And then we have agents crawling over the villages now... Makes me glad I’m an earth pony.”

“From what I heard, they caught some sort of demon-spirit or something. It was sneaking around outside last night, but that new group of spirit-hunters caught it. I rather liked the show, even if it was a group led by a colt of all things. So scandalous...”

Grumbling from behind the door, Cole muttered to himself softly.

“What is with the gender hate here, geez?”

Oblivious to his eavesdropping ears, the two continued to talk.

“Still, they did do a rather nice job, and that colt had such fine, rippling muscles... I know I’d have a go at him if he was still open... but with four mares already, I could see that being a problem. As for that demon- that scares me! How could the Bureau go about letting such horrid things loose?”

Cole sighed.

“And back to sex, what a surprise, but damn it Illicita!”

“Did you hear something?”

“I think it came from that door... the red one. It’s open a little.”

The sound of hoofsteps advance towards the door, and Cole realized he has no idea how to grab the door and pull it back closed. In a panic, no idea what to do, he hid under the bed. The door creaks as it opens, a shaft of light from the hallway pouring in.

“Oh, my! This place must be for the bureau’s agents to concoct their evil spells!”

It was the younger-sounding one, of which he could only see the ankles down of. She had nice, brown fur, with light tan hooves. Next to her was the older-sounding one, in gray. they were moving closer to the bed. Cole saw the gray one begin to step closer to Summer’s bag.

Cole didn’t want them digging through Summer’s stuff, so he quickly got out his iPod and began to flip through his songs, looking for something to scare them off with, within moments he finds it. Before he could play it, however, the younger one said something that stopped his blood cold.

“Hey, don’t go into that! It might be trapped. But what’s under the bed?”

With no other options Cole went to hit play, encountering difficulties hitting the play button. About to hit it, the mare looked under the bed. In shock, he stared at the the mare’s face, an aroma wafting to his nose.

“H-hey there? W-what’re you doing under the bed?”

“You found something?”

“Avoiding the light.”

Cole hoped his half assed answer would put an end to their curiosity, however unlikely it might sound, he was not a people person, especially under these circumstances.

“Ah... why don’t you come out then?”

“What is it, Marigold?”

“Go shut the door, Silver Pendant, I think he can’t come out in this light.”

“What is it, Marigold?!”

“I think he’s scared!”

“Will you just answer me already?”

Cole just shivered and looked back and forth, Marigold still looking under the bed with a kind expression, interest or curiosity in her eyes.

“What do you two want?”

“M-Mari... step away from the bed, we don’t know if he’ll bite!”

“I’m as likely to bite as you are Silver Pendant...”

“Did you hear that! He’ll bite!”

“Th-that’s not what he said, Silver!”

“Now will you please leave and shut the door on your way out?”

The gray mare had already backed her way to the wall near the door, but Marigold was still staring at him with those big, warm eyes...

“What do you want from me?”

“Uhm... would you come out from under there?”

“Isn’t your friend scared that I’ll bite her and drain her body of all its blood?”

“You can do that?!”

Marigold sounded more enthusiastic than frightened by this idea. Silver, on the other hoof, was looking as terrified as Cole could guess, with only her knees down visible.

“M-M-Marigold, I- I think we should get out! N-now! H-he might come out here!”

“No, I can’t, I eat fruit, not ponies, I can’t believe she believed that.”

The two mares seemed kind of unsure, and Marigold looked a little disappointed.

“What will it take to get you two to leave?”

“I- I already do!”

“Come out here, so I can lookit you!”

Cole was a bit off-put by the two answers.

“You can let your friend leave first, she’s too loud.”

Silver looked like she wanted to bolt, but it was evident that she didn’t want to leave her friend.

“If you won’t leave then just shut the door and stop yelling, this isn’t the market, there’s no need for such noise.”

“A- alright... I- Uhm, I’d b-better be here. To make s-sure nothing happens.”

Silver sounded nervous as hell... And Marigold had only backed up enough that he’d be able to get out, not much more.

“Alright, as long as you two don’t jump me nothing will happen.”

Cole said, crawling out from under the bed, sticking his iPod in his hoodie pocket. Standing up, popping his back loudly, the bed was really uncomfortable.

“Happy?”

Marigold just stood there, her tawny mane tousled and oddly attractive to h- NO! BAD BRAIN. Silver, on the other hand, was pressed up against the wall nearest the door, up on her back hooves to keep her as physically far away from him while still able to runs screaming as possible.

“You’re so... muscley. Isn’t he, Silver?”

“Y-yeah, now can we leave?”

“Just a sec, I wanna touch him...”

“I wouldn’t mind if you both left, my herd should be returning soon.”

Cole just wanted them gone, Marigold was a creeper and Silver seemed to be the only one with any common sense.

“B-but your coat looks so soft... And your wings- they look really nice...”

Marigold had stepped closer, and a strong, pleasant scent accompanied her.

“Silver, take Marigold back before I do something I’m going to regret...”

Cole’s eye was twitching, something was bothering him to no end about this mare. at the same time, something seemed really, comforting. But still off. What was going on here?

“M-Mari, he knows our names! I don’t wanna be blacklisted!”

“Then, we should oblige his every need, as best as we can!”

Something about that sentence set off every red flag in Cole’s head at once. Immediately, something to do with brakes and trains came to the forefront of his mind. Backpedalling verbally, he tried some tact to avoid the suddenly-obvious issue.

“What I need right now is a quiet room to myself! Now get out before my herd comes back, or I’ll kill us all!”

“K-kill us all? M-Mari. let’s get going! Please!”

“B-but Silver, he’s so gorgeous!”

“Mari! We’re leaving, now.”

The gray mare reached out and snagged Marigold’s tail, and dragged her to the door, swinging it open and racing out, a pouting Marigold behind her. Cole ran over to the door, grabbed the handle in his mouth and closed it, ignoring the taste.

“What the hell is wrong with this place?!”

Cole sighed and went back under the bed, right now he just wanted to pretend he wasn’t in this world.

Hiding from everything, he turned on the music and listened until he could fall asleep again, wishing he could leave and get some food, but not too sure if that would be a good idea with Marigold still wandering around... Not to mention if he were to make that threat outside it wouldn’t end well.

Author's Note

Owch, that must've sucked...

Well, at least some good seems to be coming from having an ancient demoness with the group, right?

Anyways, as always comment about anything in the story you want or feel the need to. Also, Hamsters.