Author's Prattle: Oh goodness I'm behind. And I've only received a mild amount of punishment! Well, anyway, I was traveling for two and a half weeks and promptly fell over sick when I returned. So much for excuses. This chapter turned out to be two chapters, so here you go! Please, be kind, but if nothing else be informative! I do like to think some ponies read this. :3

Chapter 3 – Hanging with the Guise

After a day and a night of rigorous danger and adventure, Aurora slept like a pony-shaped log. Flopped right over in the common area, because somehow being in the same room with his new friends put him at ease. And quite strangely, he dreamed what felt more real than waking. Of all the things that had transpired, the coltish faerie tales lingered in his head.

In his dream he was far above Equestria, so far that he could not see more than a sea of clouds and a dim sliver of dawn on one horizon and dusk on the other. The air was unbreathably thin and it was cold, but he felt the bone-chilling breeze waft off his feathers and be replaced with a silvery warmth. Flying was effortless. He reached up, laughing, twirling and looping and moving wherever his mind would take him. Towards the moon and perhaps what lay beyond, as if he was Silvergale, reaching for the stars themselves.

Thunder cracked below and the shock waves shook his body as he yelped out in surprise. He tumbled and struggled to regain control of his flight. And when he did, and his vision cleared from the spinning, he saw an odd silhouette of clouds in the distance forming the shape of a castle.

Bells sounded from one of the towers, growing in volume from a faint chime to a deafening roar. He tried to fly closer, to see what was making such a racket, but before he could get close enough to the strange place the force of the sound kept pushing him back. Then the twelfth bell tolled and the sound hit him with a very real force, and he fell backwards until smacking against another colt. He twisted around to face another pegasus.

"Gah! Silvergale?"

The young knight spoke but no words came out. He stared through Aurora, beyond Aurora, but eventually his voice came. It hardly seemed to fit the young hero, instead sounding old and weary and distant.

Beware what Summer Solstice brings
after Heaven's black bell rings.
Hope shall crumble, life shall fade
and all Equestria will be unmade.
Beginning with the Sun's last breath,
what once brought life will now bring death.
Our tale does not have to end this way
if each light rises on the fated day.
If the broken balance can be mended,
then our world can be defended.

Once the colt finished speaking, he heard another voice that now followed his lip movements. Aurora flitted a bit closer and tilted his head. "What?" he asked.

# # #

"Get up already, you lazy colt!"

Aurora's stirring and murmuring ceased quickly as something rainbow colored gave him a healthy cuff to the flank.

"I said get up," said Rainbow Dash, clearly quite cross. "Did you forget? How could you forget? You were supposed to meet me after sunrise!"

Aurora rubbed at his eyes, trying to fill in the blanks. "Rainbow...?"

"Rainbow Dash," she finished.

"Aurora... and I'm supposed to apprentice for..."

It all came back to the colt at once and he sat bolt upright. He fell off the couch but didn't hit the ground, suspended in midair as Dash impatiently tugged him up with his tail in her teeth.

"Oh geez, I'm so sorry." Aurora righted himself with a rapid flutter of his wings and waved his hooves in profuse apology. "It's just that so much as happened right after I got here and I know that this is getting off to a really really bad start but I promise I'll do anything to make it up to you."

Dash stared at him for a good long moment before she felt a sliver of sympathy and then released his tail. "Okay, whatever. I usually do this by myself anyway."

Aurora tapped his hooves together and looked down. "You didn't already..."

The rainbow pegasus laughed. Her mood seemed to improve as she began to think of a myriad of uses for an eager, if groggy pony. "Oh, no. No no no. Not when I've got my own 'apprentice' to do my bidding." She landed and trotted towards the door, looking back expectantly. "You'll have to start right away, of course. We need to start preparing for the start of winter. So you'll be clearing clouds and helping bring in new ones." She paused, one hoof outside as she looked skyward. "And thenyou'll help me with a new routine."

"Right!" Aurora smoothed his feathers and tried to bring up some fresh enthusiasm for the days ahead. The dream rang fresh in his mind, and he eyed one of his blank scrolls. If only he had time to write the strange words down... but Dash was already leaving, and he didn't want to get on her bad side any more than he already had.

As he trotted outside he looked up at the sky. Although far from gloomy, there were bits and scraps of the white fluffy clouds everywhere. He swallowed. "I've never actually done any cloud kicking before..." he admitted.

Rainbow Dash looked back at him, surprised. "Really? It's super easy. Come on, I'll show you." She then launched straight into the air and called back. "If you do a good job, I'll think about forgiving your little snooze fest."

Aurora huffed and hurried after. He was probably only going to get one solid demonstration, and he didn't want to miss it. The pegasus boy barely managed to reach eye level before Dash slowly (for her, at least) aligned herself with a cloud and hovered there.

"Everything you need is already in the hooves," she said, rather proud of herself. "You go at it anyway you want, really, but that's where you'll get the most oomf!" And she kicked as she spoke, obliterating the puffy white cloud in a single stroke. She looked over long enough to accept Aurora's awestruck look and then nodded. "Your turn."

All in the hooves. Aurora drifted to a nearby cloud and imitated the blue pegasus as best he could, reeling back and delivering a fierce buck. He barely felt the vapor rush around his hooves. For a moment he thought he missed, but when he looked over his shoulder the cloud was gone, vanished into mist.

"How was that?" He grinned and looked back towards Dash. She'd already drifted to another cloud and reclined, eying him when he spoke.

"Yeah, good job, kid," she said, sounding excited for all the wrong reasons. "Now finish the rest of them and we'll move on to phase two."

Aurora looked up at the sky full of small clouds and did his best not to sigh. It was going to be a long morning.

# # #

Sunlight. Luna was used to sunlight, really, since she was used to pittering around for a bit of the morning or evening. Dawn or dusk. But she wasn't used to being outside of the castle, in the open of Ponyville. Friendly or not she could feel the ponies stare at her, at her wings, at her horn, at her mark and into her core. Wondering. Judging. It was enough to make her shiver and hide under her wings a little. She quickened her pace towards the library.

"It's the princess! What's she doing here?"

"Is something bad going to happen again?"

"Can I get you anything, your majesty?"

Pony after pony offered their greetings and respects. Luna felt a small panic coming on. "P-pardon me, but I have business I just have to attend to right now," she said, trying to sound as diplomatic as possible. She nickered and hurried on.

The crowd didn't pursue her, and while she was grateful she was still a little alienated. She never got used to any of it. Especially the ponies who tried not to let her notice them scrambling away.

Luna pushed it out of her mind and exhaled. She shoved the library door open with a hoof and trotted inside. In her brief experience she knew that the library was always impeccably clean or in total disarray; never in between. This time, it was the latter. Stacks of books on the floor, more delicate articles on tables, and even more volumes on Twilight's working space. At the moment, though, she was dictating a note to Spike.

"Dear Princess Celestia..." she started, tapping her hoof on her mouth. "Oh, what am I supposed to say? I haven't been able to find anything on the shadows or the lost village or... argh!"

The young dragon hesitated his quill. "Do you want me to write that?"

"Yes. Wait, no!" Twilight waved a hoof. "It would be inappropriate. Write something more like, 'I've been rigorously studying the recent phenomena, but as of yet..."

She stopped when Luna gently cleared her throat and asked, "is this a bad time?"

Twilight twisted about and her mane frizzed a bit when she saw Luna there. The filly made a quick move to bow but when she saw that Luna only smiled and flustered a little at the action, she sat back and laughed.

"No. Well, yes. But it isn't that big of a deal." She nodded to Spike. "We can finish the letter later."

Spike set the quill and scroll aside and peered at Luna. "Um, okay Twilight." And he shifted just a little behind his unicorn friend.

Luna smiled nervously. "My sister and I didn't think you'd find anything in here. It's a thorough selection but it's not quite... old enough."

The young princess' horn flashed and she began to produce several books from thin air. They were bound in a thick material that looked a lot like dragon scales. Twilight peered at the titles and shoved Spike out from behind her.

"Could you put these on the podium, Spike?" she asked, giving the dragon an encouraging nudge. Spike inched a little closer and reached a hesitant hand out toward the magically levitating books. Twilight laughed and assured him, "the princess won't bite."

Luna clicked her teeth together and giggled nervously.

"Dawn and Dusk: A Chronicle of the Sister Cities," Twilight read off before Spike could put them away. "Three volumes... I've never seen any of these. Even in the royal library!"

"They're from our private collection," said Luna. "I know you'll take care of them."

Twilight's eyes glimmered. "Really? Oh, I promise I won't let anything happen to a single page." Spike sneezed, and she winced, glancing over her shoulder. The young drake shrugged.

"There used to be a town near my... the old castle. Before the forest was the way it is now." Luna looked out the window toward the Everfree Forest. "But it disappeared not long after I did. It might have some clues as to what happened with the copy of Ponyville, though."

Twilight nodded. "I'm sure! There's so much here..." she peered at another title and lifted and eyebrow. "'Granny Grimm's Book of Mare's Tales?"

Luna bumped it towards her with her snout. "My old book. It's actually a favorite of mine. It... means a lot to me."

"I'll keep it safe," Twilight promised, curious but uncertain.

"You should read it," Luna said, almost defensively. "I know it's not as dry.. uhm... as descriptive as the histories. But all myths are born from a seed of truth. And what we're looking for might be older than those other books."

There was some truth to this, so Twilight didn't protest. She let Spike place it on top of the stack and then smiled awkwardly at Luna. "So... can I get you anything?"

Luna glanced towards the door. "No. Thank you." Then she hesitated and looked Twilight in the eye. "Actually, yes. There is something."

"Anything!"

The ruler of the night swallowed. "How did you learn to get along with the ponies here? I mean, Celestia always talks about how everyone looks up to you and gets along with you and... I just can't seem to make friends. Or talk to anyone."

Twilight tried to hide her blush with a hoof at hearing such praise. "Honestly, I probably couldn't have done it without my friends to help me out. It's easy now, but... I think I have them to thank."

"Oh." said Luna, looking down. "I don't know anypony here well enough."

Twilight tapped her horn and then an idea sparked in her head. "Ah! There's nopony that knows this sort of stuff as well as Pinkie Pie. She should be working at Sugarcube Corner this morning, but she'd never say no to a pony in need!"

"I think I'll say hello to her, at least." Luna smiled. "Thank you, Twilight Sparkle. If you're not too busy writing to my sister, maybe you can send me a little note now and then too." She peeked at Spike, who was still rather shying away from her. "If that's okay with you. Don't want to wear your poor claws out."

"I can handle it," Spike said proudly, puffing his chest. Then he shrunk again when he remembered who he was speaking to.

"More reports?" Twilight ventured wearily.

Luna shook her head. "Just whatever you feel like. It's nice to actually talk to somepony without worrying about formalities and..." she sighed. "Oh, listen to me grouse. I'll see you again soon. And let me know if you need any more books. I'm sure I'll be able to find a few things to surprise you."

"I love a surprise as much as anypony," said Twilight.

"Well then, thank you for everything." Luna dipped her head and then made for the exit of the library. Without looking back she could already tell that Twilight was eager to pour over the books. Sure, she'd probably start with the histories. But her enthusiasm still made Luna feel a little warmer inside. She couldn't help but hope, just a little, that things might go back to the way that they used to be. Long before most any pony could remember.

There was only one way to find out. And that was to go to Sugarcube Corner.

# # #

Unbeknownst to Aurora, Cocoa had awakened far earlier than the pegasus. She wasn't sure exactly how she'd come to the kitchens of Sugarcube Corner, or how she became so thoroughly inundated with sugar that she was fully lucid in spite of the persistent weight around her eyes. A cheery, perhaps pink voice bounded around her, chasing the pony who had introduced herself as Pinkie Pie.

"So your name is Cocoa? That must be because of your coat. Oh! I bet your favorite thing ever is chocolate cake. Chocolate pudding? Chocolate moose! Chocolate reindeer?" The pink pony tapped her head with a hoof thoughtfully. "No, that doesn't sound right."

Cocoa found herself almost apologizing. "Actually, it's strawberry shortcake," she said.

"I love strawberry shortcake. And tallcake. All the cakes, really." Pinkie rewound herself a few steps and peered at the chocolate-covered strawberry on Cocoa's flank. "I get it. You're a cocoa and you love strawberries?"

Cocoa flicked her tail across Pinkie's nose and snickered. "Close. Maybe. Well, I always said, 'everything's better with a little cocoa.'"

Pinkie thought this over far too long and grabbed a tin of cocoa. "I never really thought about it that way. I'll have to give this a test!"

Before the pink pony could go crazy dowsing everything in sight in chocolate powder, Cocoa raised her hoof. "You can just take my word for it. So what was it we were supposed to be doing this morning?"

"Preparing for a party," Pinkie mouthed around a chocolate-dusted dandelion sandwich. "Hm! Not bad."

"And what does that entail?" Cocoa wondered.

"Lots of sweets, and lots of other things, too, but all you have to worry about is getting the food ready. Normally you're going to be helping me work on the bakery stock, but I want to see how you do things before I set you loose on Ponyville. You wouldn't believe what used to get through before I started worrying about quality control."

Cocoa flinched. The legend of the baked bads had spread quite far over the past year, after hitting Ponyville like the plague. She could understand why the shop would want to take certain... precautions.

Pinkie glided a clipboard with a list- well, almost a list. It had sketches of cakes and cupcakes and other small treats and empty check boxes on it. "Cool, huh? So do you know how to make all of this?"

"I think so..." Cocoa gave the list a discerning look. "Yeah."

Pinkie shut her mouth in disappointment and Cocoa could swear she heard the first hints of a drumbeat cease. "Oh, alright. Show me what you're made of, pony girl!"

Cocoa laughed off Pinkie's choice of words and took a quick assessment of the kitchen. In spite of the pony's apparent manic habits, everything seemed impeccably organized. It didn't take her long to gather all the ingredients she needed to start on her first batch of cupcakes. All the while Pinkie followed her about at a distance that seemed physically impossible at times.

At least I'm used to cramped kitchens, she thought.

Pinkie leaned over the bowl as Cocoa administered portions of flour and baking soda and salt. By the time she'd gotten up a respectable batter, Pinkie abruptly swiped a hoof in the mixture and gave it a lick.

"That's good~ keep going."

Cocoa smiled and reached over Pinkie's mane to recover the tin of cocoa. She didn't even watch as she chocolized the batter. "Don't you have those huge orders to fill?"

Pinkie gave a confused look over her shoulder to several filled ovens and a stack of muffins already cooling on a rack. "I guess I am going a bit slow, but that's okay because you're here to help me."

Cocoa's jaw dropped. "When did you..."

"While you were getting ready, silly! I've been doing this for a long time so I guess it just comes naturally."

"I guess so..."

"Try beating it counterclockwise. I find it's more delicious that way." Pinkie propped up against the counter and watched Cocoa with a deadpan stare. "So you've been here for about a week. Making a lot of friends?"

"A few," Cocoa murmured. She hadn't been going out that much between settling in and beginning her apprenticeship. And her insane adventure, of course.

"Oh, like who? I bet I could introduce you to a few ponies you'd reallylike. Like I think Caramel really likes brown fillies. I'm not sure why." She paused. "Come to think of it, I haven't really had a chance to meet your other friend. Aurora?"

"The pegasus kid?" Cocoa began to beat the batter a bit faster. "He's only been here a couple days, but I can already tell that he sleeps too much. He's nosy and gets into trouble all the time and I'm sure I'm going to be involved in half of it." She propped her whisk against the side of the bowl and gave it an experimental twist. "Insufferably enthusiastic and... and..."

"You like him, don't you?"

Cocoa rolled her eyes and blushed. "No, I don't," she said. And she didn't add inthe part where she already had her eyes on another particular pony. She tried not to think about it too much, even, because Pinkie might be able to read her mind. She couldn't tell.

"Well he's fun at least, isn't he?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Cocoa let the conversation dwindle while they both set about pouring their batter and setting it to the ovens. Once that had been done Cocoa took a moment to break and poured herself a glass of water. She'd have to come up with another batch of cupcakes at least.

"So what was it like being all captured by icky globby shadow stuff?"

The question made Cocoa freeze in place. How did it feel? You can't possibly imagine how horrible it was. Like being locked in a dark, cramped cabinet but worse. Like that cabinet was buried under a hundred feet of ice. Like being trapped in a nightmare, fully lucid... knowing your friends are nearby and being unable to sense them. It was...

The kitchen doors swung and Princess Luna trotted in, looking about curiously. Cocoa simultaneously tensed up at the presence of the princess and was grateful to hide away the question of her previous plight. They bowed, and Pinkie sprung up rather quickly to go to Luna's side.

"Hi there, Princess! What brings you here? Cupcake craving?"

Luna laughed. "Not quite. I was hoping I could talk to you."

"I think you're doing that right now, silly."

Luna blushed. "So I am. I mean..." she glanced over at Cocoa. "A word in private, perhaps?"

Pinkie grew serious and bobbed her head. "Ooh, top secret. I gotcha. To the supply closet!"

Luna blinked in confusion but did not protest as the pink pony began to lead her towards a small door in the corner. Pinkie stopped long enough to wave at Cocoa.

"I'm leaving everything in your hands!"

And then the ponies disappeared into the closet. The door slammed shut and the kitchen was almost painfully quiet, save for the sound of the ovens. Cocoa soaked it in and set to working double-time. She compared the lists to what she'd already made, and looked over what Pinkie made... but something struck her as odd.

Some of the muffins were chocolate, but one of them was blacker than the others. Cocoa recognized the shadowy formations on it immediately. It tantalized her with the promise of delicious black licorice evil and chocolate. She picked it up in a hoof and it seemed to tremble, begging her to shove it between her lips and...

Cocoa carried the muffin across the room to a cylindrical tube with a spiral grating. She stepped on the switch and held it down; the door to the incinerator swooshed open revealing the glow of fire below. It didn't strike her as terribly odd that the kitchen had an incinerator. As a matter of fact it seemed to perfectly suit her needs. In this case, in disposing of a vile villain.

"Not today, you fiend," she muttered as she cast the muffin towards oblivion. It sailed silently down the tube for what seemed like minutes, exuding a sense of remorse and sadness. Then it struck the flame and turned to ashes. The world seemed to right itself a bit. Cocoa popped another caramel into her mouth and rubbed her eyes.

"Now, where were we..."

# # #

There was barely enough room in the closet for both Luna and Pinkie to fit somewhere between bags of flour and a pile of tin cans. Pinkie raised a hoof and turned on the swinging light bulb.

"Your wish is my command, your highness," Pinkie said cheerfully.

Luna flustered. "No commands or anything like that. I just wanted to ask you, you know, how you make friends."

Pinkie considered this and gave a puzzled look. To her that was a lot like, 'how do you breathe'? "Talk to them. Give them cake. Remember birthdays, that's important. Just remember to have fun!"

Luna shrunk back a bit. "But uhm... what if they're scared of you and won't even talk to you?"

"Oh, that requires some extra work," Pinkie groused. "Usually you just bug their friends until they give in." She looked up to see Luna smiling hesitantly and saying nothing. Then it dawned on her. She switched the light off and on again in sequence. "A-ha! Everyone is scared of you because of the whole eternal night thing, right?"

Luna shrunk back. "Yes."

Pinkie fumbled around, tossing bags and cans and springs as she went. "Then all you need is a little secret identity until they get to know you better. Sure it's a little unethical but sometimes you just have to go the extra mile!"

The pink pony produced something and promptly plunked it down on Luna's nose. She almost sneezed to feel something fuzzy on her snout and above her eyes. "What is this?"

"Ta-daa!"

Pinkie held up a small mirror. Luna stared. A pair of plastic glasses adorned with an oversized nose and giant bushy eyebrows (and one glorious moustache) hid most of her face. The frames somehow made her eyes seem just a little bit googly. She adjusted them with a hoof, laughing and sighing in the same breath.

"Pinkie, I appreciate the thought, but..."

"Just give it a try," said Pinkie. "You'll be surprised."

Luna sucked in a breath. How much could it hurt? "Alright. We'll see what one of our friends has to say about this."

"That's the spirit!"

They shut out the light and crept out of the narrow pantry closet. Cocoa was whipping up a storm of batter and dough when the two came out. The chocolate colored pony peered over her shoulder and lifted an eyebrow.

"Who's your friend?" she asked.

Luna's mouth hung open a little bit and she stared at Cocoa. Cocoa stared back.

"This is my new pal Lul-"

"Eluna," Luna 'corrected' Pinkie, scuffing a hoof. "Pinkie was just showing me around the kitchen."

"Well, this is it," said Cocoa. "Hopefully she doesn't have much more work to do."

Pinkie gestured to stacks and crates of baked goods that Cocoa could swear weren't there before. "Already done~" she said. "You finish up. I wanna show her off around town."

Cocoa sighed and shook her head. "You trust me with that?"

"Yep! Keep up the good work."

Luna waved as they left out the back door. And yet she was hesitant. It could be that she was on the verge of embarrassing both herself and the crown. Perhaps her sister wouldn't punish her too badly...

# # #

Aurora worked clear into the afternoon clearing the skies above Ponyville. He had the inkling suspicion- only encouraged by the sheer number of pegasi that seemed to be watching him just out of sight- that there were usually more ponies assigned to this job. Still, he didn't complain, and even though his wings ached he kicked every last cloud. Even the one Dash was dozing on, much to his embarrassment.

"Who what huh?" she muttered before spiraling towards the ground, and then caught herself with an alarmingly well-practiced maneuver. . She gave a brief glare to Aurora but didn't hold it. "Oh, looks like you're finally done here."

"Yep!" Aurora puffed up his chest proudly. "So what do we do now?"

Rainbow Dash smiled.

Clouds. Aurora found himself moving even more clouds in setting up for Dash's new trick, though she set most of it up herself. Even half the ones he brought in she made minor corrections on until she was satisfied with the lay of the course.

"Run this through with me one more time," said Aurora. "You're going to do a sequence of inverse rolls through the top layer..."

"Triple backwards somersault off the spire, twist through there, and use a bit of lightning to launch myself outward destroying everything in my path."

The blue pegasus was clearly in love with the idea of the trick. Aurora thought it sounded pretty cool, too, but one thing still eluded him.

"What am I supposed to be doing?"

Rainbow promptly forced a small checkered flag into his mouth. "Kick me off," she said. "And take pictures! Take a bunch, and then meet on the last stretch." She pointed with a hoof to the area just above. "Get oooone more and then get out of the way. Got it?"

"Yeah," said Aurora. "I think so." But she was already off at 'yeah'.

She was barely a speck by the time she got into position. Aurora flashed the flag, then tugged up his camera and got to work. He did the best he could, trying to keep track of her moving about, twisting the camera as she went. Even with all of his practice he could barely keep her in the viewfinder, which, he had to admit, was kind of cool. And not bad practice.

"Oh, is Dash trying out a new trick?"

Aurora looked away from his camera for a split second. It was Fluttershy, and Axel not far behind, looking rather uncomfortable and tweaking the strings on his mandolin.

"Something brand new." Aurora snapped a few more shots. "Can't really talk about it."

"I understand." Fluttershy hopped up into the air. "I should give her some words of encouragement. She likes that sort of thing."

Aurora smiled. He couldn't help it, really. As he moved to adjust his view, Axel tromped up behind him. Dash was plummeting through the cloud layer about then.

"So this is what they call work for you pegasi, huh?"

Aurora waved a stray hoof. "We finished up earlier today."

"Me too. Fluttershy is a great instructor, but our tastes in music don't exactly click that well."

"Too much teeny bop for her?" Aurora teased. He kept shuffling around but found that Axel was almost always in his way, anyway.

"Too much rock."

"You can rock on that thing?" Aurora looked up for a second.

"Like no other!"

"Play something. It'll fit the... hold on." Aurora stuck out his tongue and flashed another picture as the rainbow-maned pegasus became a twisting blur in the air. "Shoot. I've got to get in position."

"That's what she said." Axel mused as he played a chord.

Aurora sighed and took off into the air. Fluttershy was making little movements and throwing her hooves up, cheering on Dash with surprising enthusiasm. Axel started playing with more than just the mandolin. Somehow he was using his unicorn magic to amplify the sound, and it screamed through the area. Aurora didn't have time to be surprised. The notes got faster and faster.

Aurora barely managed to get his camera up before Dash hit the charged, black cloud with the back of her hooves. It catapulted her forward and swaths of clouds began vaporizing in her wake. There wasn't much time. He flexed his wings and arched upwards, then aimed his camera at Dash again.

Fast. She was coming on too fast and too close. Dash tried to turn around but was still being carried by the momentum of the thundercloud and flailed in circles before colliding with Aurora. They both fell to the ground in a heap as Axel's performance reached its climax. Aurora noticed that some of Dash's coat had been singed by the lightning.

Fluttershy hovered down over them and clapped her hooves together. "Wow, that was amazing, Rainbow Dash," she said with muted sincerity. "Though the landing could use a little work."

Dash, quite used to the aftermath of her new stunts, pried herself up and dusted her wings off. "Meh. It's just not flashy enough for me. Sure it's cool, but..."

Aurora groaned and rubbed at his eyes. He fluttered his wings. Nothing's broken... he slumped a little in relief. Dash rather abruptly tugged him to his feet.

"And you need to really work on your reflexes. It'll help you in the long run." she smiled. "Can't wait to see the pictures. We'll try this again tomorrow. After I make a few adjustments."

"Sure thing," said Aurora, without really thinking about it.

"Cool." Dash inspected Axel for a moment before tapping Fluttershy on the shoulder. "I think you and I need to have a little chit chat, Fluttershy. You're done for today, right?"

"Oh. Yes." She peeked back at Axel. "If that's okay with you."

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Right. The two of you are free for the rest of the day, then. You can get back to napping or whatever it is you colts do when no one is looking." She dragged Fluttershy into the air. "So, where was I."

Aurora took his camera off his neck and gave it a generous shake. Satisfied at the absence of clattering parts and broken glass, he replaced it and sagged. "Things sure are lively around here, aren't they?"

Axel stroked out another chord. "Surprisingly. My kind of town."

"So what do we do now?"

"Chow," said Axel. "Obviously."

A great big gurgle came from Aurora's stomach when he realized that he hadn't even eaten that day. "Good thinking."

"There's a nice cafe near our place," he continued. "Why don't we go there. I'll treat."

"That's... awfully kind of you."

"Well it just means that you're buying next time." Axel shouldered his mandolin and stamped his hoof. "Think we need every friend we can get, you and me."

Aurora smiled. "Yeah. Alright."

Aurora's head still spun a little from the impact earlier. He couldn't quite remember the way back, but it didn't matter too much. Axel seemed to move with such confidence. And thinking back, there wasn't anyone he'd ever managed to get close to in his old home.

"So... you seem to be having more luck with the fillies than I am," said Axel.

Aurora sighed.

Continued in Part 2.