Handling a fully awake, well-fed, and more or less energized changeling? Near impossible. Dealing with an extremely tired, hungry and puttered out Chrysalis? Somehow, worse.

Chrysalis didn't really appreciate it when Nightmare Moon lifted her onto the coach with her magic, which is poetic justice considering how often she laughed whenever I was the victim of it, but she settled down once she was put on the couch. As settled down as a sarcastic, sneaky, and almost Machiavellian changeling like her could be that is.

"I think I much rather preferred it when you were bedridden."

And by that, I meant she still had some 'insightful' comments on everything I did. Despite the fact that she couldn't read emotions anymore, or tell if I was lying or not, she would still seem to make it an objective of hers to keep me bothered. I couldn't really complain considering I was now practicing my comebacks on a half-awake Chrysalis, but still.

Glancing back to her, I rolled my eyes as I looked over the the collection of books that were neatly stacked within the bookshelf. Halfy had so kindly told Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, and I that we were more than free to look them over at our leisure. At the moment, I could see the bindings of books of several varieties. Some of them seeming concerningly familiar.

'The Humpback Of Notrehoof', 'Lord of the Wings', 'Daring Do'. I had seen plenty of pony parallels to the stuff in my original home in passing before, but this? It definitely nailed it down just how absurd they were.

Besides those there were some other, more unique, books. 'Green Hooves and How To Soothe Your Plants', 'A Complete History of the Everfree', 'The Anatomy and Culture of Non-Ponies', the list goes on. Some stuff was niche, other stuff was so broad I couldn't possibly get any idea as to what it could be about. In the end, I just picked out a book at random and cracked it open, glancing towards the couch where Chrysalis laid as I did so. Aside from her, I was the only person/pony/changeling that was currently in here. Halfy and Nightmare Moon had gone out some time ago to look for food.

As it had turned out, Halfy had actually made a garden of sorts nearby where she would usually get her food from. I had to say, it sounded like a pretty effective method. Especially in such a secluded area like this. Of course, it was still the Everfree Forest, so I asked Nightmare Moon to tag along with her. She had been a little more than skeptical about going anywhere with Halfy, but with a little convincing I managed to get her to accept. Begrudgingly.

I shook my head and decided it would be best not to think on that, focusing instead on the book I held in my hands.

The first page was comprised of an image of a Minotaur, his eyes red as a small group of ponies almost pleaded to him. I skimmed through the text next to it, and quickly realized that this was some sort of poetry book comprised of pony myths, some of which I had actually heard of.

For instance, this one went over the creation of 'Tartarus', which was basically the pony equivalent of hell, and how the three ponies, one from each kind, asked for the 'almighty Minotaur' to punish those that had wronged them. In response, the Minotaur accepted, creating a land to which the evil and cold hearted would suffer and he would rule with infallible power.

It was kind of a dark tale, but I guess that everyone had their own idea of life after death, huh?

I started to flick through the tales, passing image and text with every turn, occasionally skimming through those that brought about my interest. As I went along I noticed a recurring theme. The stories would get worse and worse as they passed, showing the tales of darker and more menacing themes in Equestria. I had thought that 'Tartarus' was bad? That might as well have been a man with a white bed sheet over himself compared to some of these other tales. Hell, some of them actually gave me me goosebumps.

As I approached the last tale in the book, I found my mind wandering to what could possibly be worse than everything that's passed. To what monstrous being, or place, could honestly surpass what I had seen before. Creatures that laughed at you behind your back until you went mad and they fed on you psyche, beings that's sole purpose was to cover the world in ice and end all life within it, amalgamations that sought your worst fears and used them to steal away all those you held dear. What could possibly have been worse?

The answer I got made my blood boil.

On the last pages, where the book had come to a complete end, there was an image of a night sky, the moon radiating its usual beauty. At the same time though, its seemed to have an ethereal, and almost dark glow to it. Nothing more, nothing less. As for the text...

'T'was one day, upon a beautiful equine sun, that darkness came to soon overcome. Two monarchs that ruled, one sun and one moon, a balance gently broken as it had begun so soon. The night grew jealous of day, or so it was told, a monster soon created, passed by tales of old. From anguish and anger, as mayhem was soon strewn, came about the creation, of the fear-feeder, Nightmare Moon.'

Let me make this abundantly clear. Despite the story having no spooky images, no creepy text, no horrifying context, or anything like that, she had even beat out Sombra. The same unicorn tyrant that had used dark magic to enslave and punish an entire kingdom for no real reason other than power. I would say that I took it well, but that'd be a bold-faced lie.

"I take it you read something you don't like?" Chrysalis commented, breaking me out of my thoughts. I had apparently at some point closed the book and was now glaring at its cover. The words 'Tales of Terror To Frighten Your Filly' stared back at me almost mockingly.

"Can you believe this?" I exclaimed, pointing to the book and turning to Chrysalis as I did so. "In a book where the stories get worse and worse, Nightmare Moon, of all ponies, is listed as the worst! Of all the asanine bullshit, this has to be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read. Sure, the alicorn who supposedly feeds on fear is worse than the 'pondigo', which eats the flesh of other ponies. Uh-huh, definitely makes sense."

Chrysalis' ear twitched as I spoke, a brow of hers raising. "... Not often that I see you so upset about something." I rolled my eyes at this, pinching the bridge of my nose for a moment before looking to her again.

"Well, of course! The fact that they're calling Nightmare Moon a monster in, not only this, but I can only assume basically every scary story or book, its just-... Ugh!" I started to involuntarily pace at this, constantly glancing back to the book as I did so. "How are you not more annoyed by this? Doesn't all of Equestrian see changelings as power hungry creatures that want nothing more than to feed until nothing is left?"

Chrysalis brow raised even higher at this, suddenly seeming to take in greater interest at my mindless spiel. "Oh? So you care about the public's opinion of Changelings as well as Nightmare Moon?" I clicked my tongue against my teeth at this.

"Look, I was taught not to judge someone by what others tell me when I was growing up. That I should figure things out on my own. You two are no exception." I closed the book with a loud slam, walking back to the bookshelf I had gotten it from. "If anypony knew you two for who you were, I doubt that they would have the same opinion of you as they do now." I practically mashed the book back into its place. It was only once it was out of my hands that I bothered taking in a couple of breaths to try to stem my annoyance.

There was a moment of silence as neither I nor, surprisingly, Chrysalis, spoke a word. It was during this that a thought rose in the back of my mind. "Chrysalis," I began, breaking the silence, "we don't tell Nightmare Moon about this book, alright? I don't think it'd be good for her to hear any stories about herself like that." Chrysalis didn't answer immediately, instead just gazing at me emotionlessly. "Chrysalis!"

Finally reacting, though with a roll of her eyes, she let out a sigh. "Fine, fine. I won't say a word." Crossing my arms, I looked at her more than a little skeptically.

"You give me your word?" I heard her growl slightly as her eyes narrowed even further, her obvious annoyance picking away at her.

"Yes! I give you my word! Are you satisfied now?" At the time, it would have to have been. And I certainly wasn't given time to double check.

As I made to answer her, the door handle suddenly jostled before opening, revealing both Nightmare Moon, who was currently holing a variety of berries and fruits in her magical grasp in front of her, and Halfy, who seemed to be dwarfed by Nightmare Moon's size. She also had a small wooden basket that she held in her mouth, filled to the top with what looked like vegetables.

"We hath returned!" Nightmare Moon exclaimed dramatically, raising a hoof to the air in what seemed like victory as she did so. Chrysalis began to laugh outright at this display. I managed to restrain myself, though barely, at the same time trying to throw away all earlier pretense of the conversation Chrysalis and I had.

"Um... welcome back?" I offered, not really certain of how to respond to that entrance of hers. The two walked inside of the home, Nightmare Moon having to duck down slightly at the entrance, before Halfy went around her and closed the door again. What little night breeze that had been entering at the time was all but brought to a halt, whistling gently against the wood of the door. "You seem... happy?" I noted.

Nightmare Moon nodded at this, a smile in her face as she almost effortlessly moved the fruit from the living room to the kitchen counter. Halfy following after the floating basket and place her own down just nearby.

"Verily, yes!" Halfy made her way back towards the rest of us as she finished leaving her basket. Much to my and Chrysalis' surprise, we watched as she gave out the smallest of squeaks as Nightmare Moon quickly hooked a hoof around her and pulled her into her side. "Halfy hath proven to be a most wonderful companion in our time outside! Almost so much so as thee, Sir Jeremy, or Miss Zecora!"

The combination of this whole event as well as the look of embarrassment on Halfy's face drew a chortle out of me. Still, as you might imagine, I was more than a little confused at Nightmare Moon's sudden friendliness to Halfy. I was happy about it, sure, but very much confused.

"Wow. That's great. What exactly happened out there?" I mean, honestly, there weren't out for that long, and Nightmare Moon might as well have been prepared to push her off of a cliff when they had first met.

Placing Halfy back down next to her, the earth pony rubbing the back of her head as she did so, Nightmare Moon turned to Chrysalis and I with a smile. "Oh, 'twas a grand short time we had. When it first began, we admit, we were very wary of Halfy-..."

********************************************

To think, that I had agreed to even step hoof with this mare by my side! Truthfully, were it not for Sir Jeremy's intervention, 'twas likely that I would never have even thought of such a thing. Be it as it may though, I suppose that I was bound to honor the wishes of Sir Jeremy, despite my hesitance to such a thing.

As the mare known as 'Halfy' and I walked along one of the many forest paths that surrounded the outer regions of her home, the mare walked in a slightly quickened stride, attempting to keep her distance from me while at the same time keeping herself at a somewhat respectful boundary nearby.

She didn't speak a word as she continued to lead, escorting me to whatever area she was attempting to have me follow her to. As a precaution, I was more than prepared for any sort of act of treachery, my horn poised to cast a spell of any sort should she threaten me or my companions.

'Twas several moments more before anything truly eventful came about. The arrival of ours at this claimed garden of hers. An open clearing in the repetitive collection of green, brown, and gray, with several varieties of blooming blues, violets, and colors of all sects greeting us as we entered.

Surprise became an overpowering emotion at this time, soon shifting to that of wonder and curiosity as, despite myself, I began to wander through the area. The many flowers and crops that grew throughout were organized in a chaotic assortment of color and shape.

Glancing behind me, I spotted the mare veer off from my direction, eventually halting as she craned her head below a particularly large bush and came back up with a wooden basket of sorts in her maw. I watched as she carefully looked among the many plants, occasionally placing down the basket to pick from some of the vegetation around her.

Following her example, I looked where she had searched prior and found another basket amongst many. Then, I searched among the other side of the garden, reaching out for and grasping various fruits and berries within my magical grasp that seemed edible. This continued for a matter of minutes, the small ensemble of berries and the like that I had assembled growing to a large clump, much like the crops that almost overflowed off of the basket of Halfy. A sizable harvest indeed.

Taking a glance to the garden once more, I made my way to the mare, who despite her filled basket continued on.

"Prithee, what art thou doing?" I inquired, the mare jumping slightly in surprise. Evidently, she had been so focused upon her endeavors that she had seemingly forgotten of my presence there.

Turning to me, the mare gazed at me nervously with her single eye and began to stutter out a response. "I-I still have something else to d-do." A brow of mine rose at this, my suspicion of her not yet deserting me despite Sir Jeremy's request. After all, I had told him that I would attempt to be more 'friendly' with this mare. He did not mention to what extent.

"Oh? Then we suppose, thou wouldst not mind our attendance?" At this, her eye widened for a moment, her surprise evident, before looking to the floor and giving her answer.

"Um... S-sure."

-------------------------------------

Along the sides of this garden of hers, we arrived at a clearing of groves and vines that very nearly made a perfect pathway for us to follow. Trotting down the winding pathway, consistently having to either lower my head or push aside a collection of vines with my magic, I found myself growing more and more irritated as time went on.

Surely, the mare was jesting? 'Twas the time of the stars and moon, and there could not truly be any reason of her to be in such a remote part of this forest of Everfree.

At a point, I was tempted to end this pointless trek with a single spell, but once again I was held to my acceptance of Sir Jeremy's request and held myself from doing so. Upon the eventuality, we soon reached what I presumed to be our destination.

Another even smaller clearing in the woods, surrounded by a viable wall of thick branches and outgrown roots that formed a small dark dome with only hints of moonlight peering through a small collection of openings. My brow raising, I followed the mare inside of the dome, glancing to her as she reached for an unspecified object in the dark.

"... Where hast thou brought us-" I was brought to a pause as, upon noticing a particularly noticable ray of my moon's shine, I traced its path and saw that at the middle of this shielded clearing was a sight I had long thought no longer existed.

Passing around me, and taking great care in doing so, the mare carefully tilted her head near the plant, the odd tool in her maw dripping a scarce few droplets of water onto it before then just as carefully pulling it away and putting it off to the side, looking to me in timidity.

I, in the time that she did this, could only repeatedly open and close my mouth as no words found themselves to escape. The mare decided to speak for me.

"Lunar Blossoms... I'm sorry I didn't just tell you about them, but I thought that y-you wouldn't believe me." In truth, I wouldn't have. In fact, I may have even been insulted had she mentioned them. One of the rarest possible things to find in this land and she was tending to it.

It was an enchanting sight to see. The midnight blue, dotted white pattern of this star shaped plant in full bloom as what looked like small miniatures of it grew close to its thin, violet stem. The plant was... I had long thought that they had gone extinct. That they were extinguished by the fear of the many citizens of Equestria who, having seen that this plant, would grow nervous at the thought of something that grew from the rays of 'the mare on the moon' as opposed to that of their glorious princess of the sun. So, it was their goal to wipe out the entire species of blossom.

Finally, words left me, but all they could form was a silent query of "How?"

"My mother found it when she was just a filly and she cared for it as she grew up. Then, she gave it to me... It's one of the last things I have to remember her." Halfy gained a saddened look, but giving one last glance to the flower seemed to at least bring some semblance of a smile to her features as well.

"We... do not understand..." I began, still in shock at the sight of the blooming plant. "Why... Why wouldst thou retain a bloom that was so heavily linked to us?" Rather than answer immediately, she looked downwards in thought.

"... Well... I wasn't there when you... first came... Or when you came back... And my dad taught me never to look at something one way..." She looked up towards me at this moment. "I guess... I just don't see any reason why I should think of you, or this flower, to necessarily be bad, princess."

My eyes grew wide at this, most of my thoughts all but disappearing as she spoke. "W-... What didst thou refer to us as?"

Having thought she had done wrong, her ears laid themselves flat as her gaze shifted away from mine.

"Oh, um, sorry! I thought that, since you are royalty, that I-" Before she could speak any further, I found myself to be pulling her into my grasp, all but dragging her into the air as I held her close to me.

"Oh, thank thee, thank thee, thank thee! Thou, or rather, you hast no possible thought of how grateful we are to hear you, or anypony else, speakest those words!"

********************************************

And, almost as though she were demonstrating, Nightmare Moon had Halfy gripped close to her in the pony equivalent of a bear hug. The height difference between the two practically made it so that Halfy's seemed like a ragdoll while Nightmare Moon affectionately held her with a smile.

Chrysalis was, to put it simply, laughing her flank off at this. She barely stopped herself from rolling off of the couch a numerous amount of times. I can admit, the sight of Nightmare Moon treating Halfy like a teddy bear was both adorable and entertaining.

"So-", I paused for a second to repress a laugh, "...You two are friends now?" Nightmare Moon nodded, still not letting up on her grip of Halfy. The earth pony mare, in the mean time, was practically turning red from the blush on her face.

I took the whole thing as a small victory of sorts. I had hoped that the two being out there alone would ease at least a bit of the tension there was. I wasn't quite expecting Nightmare Moon to be instantly won over by a flower and a few kind words, but hey, I'd take it!

"See? I knew that there were more ponies that didn't just sleep at night." Nightmare Moon once again nodded at this before finally Halfy to be reacquainted with the floor of her house. Halfy wobbled slightly from her sudden reintroduction to the concept of standing while Nightmare Moon used to chance to approach me.

"Yes, we suppose that ye were indeed correct, Sir Jeremy. Ye truly-"

Whatever she was about to say at the time, much to my shame, was cut off by the sound of my stomach practically screaming into the room. Twice. This had happened twice now. I was starting to wonder if I had stomach issues.

My own face heated up as Halfy, Chrysalis, and Nightmare Moon all giggled and chuckled at this.

"We take it that ye hunger?"

-------------------------------------

I have to say, compared to the many, and I do mean many, berries that I had eaten while the three of us were out in the forest, the ones that Nightmare Moon and Halfy had picked were just amazing. I had no idea what Halfy did while she was growing them, but it sure as hell worked. The fruits and vegetables that she added with them helped make it all the feel more filling and varied as the four of us sat in the living room. Halfy and Chrysalis sat next to one another on the couch, which surprisingly earned little more than a growl from Chrysalis, while Nightmare Moon and I sat on the floor.

As I went on eating though, I noticed that despite her condition Chrysalis wasn't eating any of the food that was before her. She instead seemed much more keen to just lazily roll around one of the loose berries on her given plate as though she was playing with a marble.

I swallowed the mouthful of food that I had crushed between my teeth before looking to her questioningly.

"Uh, Chrysalis? Are you okay?" I asked, drawing her attention as she shifted her sight to me.

"... Fine. Just not hungry, is all." I blinked, more than a little surprised at this.

"Not hung- How can you not be hungry?" Narrowing her eyes at me, she lifted her lazily laid down head to look at me.

"I'm just not hungry." Despite her apparently growing aggression and annoyance, I persisted nonetheless.

"Chrysalis, you nearly collapsed a few moments ago. You need to eat something." At this point, both Nightmare Moon and Halfy's attention had been shifted to the two of us. Chrysalis, stubborn as she was, continued to argue that she was fine.

"I told you, I'm not hungry!" Yet again, I held my ground/

"Look, could you just listen to me? I know we don't always get along. In fact, I'm pretty sure we could have our own novel filled entirely out of the dumb little arguments we have all the time. But you have to realize I'm trying to help you. If you don't eat, you may lose even more strength. Strength that, in case you haven't noticed, you don't have." She continued to glare at me, but she didn't respond. "So please, just eat, alright?"

She looked at me angrily for another moment or two, the thought that she wouldn't listen to me coming to mind, before she thankfully turned to her plate of food and took a mouthful of berries into her maw.

"Thank you."

-------------------------------------

Our plates empty, eyelids heavy, and minds content with a night well passed, Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, and I were more than ready to get some sleep for the next night. Besides, it would be day soon, and despite the fact that were indoors, I really didn't want to test if some light would peak through the numerous cracks I could see in the walls of the house while I was conscious.

I stretched out my arms and gave out a yawn as I made to stand up. Nightmare Moon followed quickly after while I glanced around for a good place to get some rest in the time I took my and Nightmare Moon's plates to the kitchen. Halfy had done the same with hers and Chrysalis' plates.

I spotted a comfortable looking corner in the room, slightly darker than the others, and a small smile worked its way onto me as I made my way towards it. That is, until I heard the familiar hum of magic and gravity once more decided to leave me for dead.

"What the- hey!" I exclaimed, looking over to Nightmare Moon as I did so. "Why?"

Smiling, Nightmare Moon levitated me closer to her as she turned and made her way to one of the other doors of the house. "Ye do not need to rest uncomfortably any longer, Sir Jeremy."

"Um... again, why?" I asked.

"Ye will be glad to know that our new host, Halfy, has offered her own resting place for you." My eyes widened slightly as I turned my head to Halfy, who looked to me with a small smile and a wave.

"Uh... really? You don't mind?" As a response, Halfy shook her head.

"It's no problem. I have some things to do during the day anyways, so you can go ahead." Honestly I didn't know what to say. Offering to give us shelter and food was one thing, but to outright give up her bed?

"Uh... Wow... Thanks Halfy. I really do appreciate it."

"As do we." Nightmare Moon added in, giving Halfy one last smile before she opened the door to another room and went through, myself floating quickly behind. On the other side there was a small staircase leading upwards to the second floor of the home, where I figured the bedroom would be.

I was levitated up the stairs in nearly an instant as Nightmare Moon followed, her hooves echoing slightly in the empty stairway with every step she took. Making a turn around the wooden railing that surrounded the stairs, the two of us came upon a single wooden door. It was at this point that Nightmare Moon finally decided to let me down onto the floor.

I took a moment to get used to having weight again before I walked past her and grabbed hold of the door handle. The bedroom was simple enough, actually. There weren't really many decorations, aside from a counter near the bed, a single window, which luckily had the drapes covering it, and a single bed near the far wall of the room. Two large and surprisingly soft-looking pillows that were seemingly sown together out of stray scraps of cloth and a thick blue bed sheet laid over it. I felt much more tired just looking at it.

There was very little hesitation from my part as feet shuffled below me. I flopped face first onto the soft mattress, letting out a content sigh as I did so. "... Perfect..." I said absentmindedly before dragging myself upwards, further onto the bed, and flipping myself onto my back.

Glancing to back to the door, I noticed Nightmare Moon looking to me with a smile, my own quickly going away as a thought came to mind. "Hey, Nightmare Moon? Where are you and Chrysalis going to sleep?"

I somehow completely forgot about them that whole time. I guess the idea of a bed kind of just took priority over everything else, what with it having been more than a little while since I had last slept on a mattress of any sort. Nightmare Moon just smiled, waving me off before responding.

"We shall rest downstairs, with Chrysalis. We are certain she would not mind too greatly." I wondered if she realized who she was talking about for a moment. Seeming to notice my concern, Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. "You have no reason to worry, my friend. For the moment, concern yourself with rest, rather than the matters of our own."

Turning to the door, Nightmare Moon trotted her way out of the room, opening and closing the door behind her using her magical grip. She left the room with one last smile and a quick 'sleep well'.

It wasn't until a couple minutes had passed though before I even thought of getting sleep. Putting my head back against the pillows, I thought over what had happened tonight. We'd met somepony else that was willing to help us, despite not even knowing us. Or, more accurately, despite knowing exactly who we were. Nightmare Moon had, surprisingly, gotten along with her quickly. And as for Chrysalis... she's gotten worse physically...

I dragged both my hands across my face, lingering as I rubbed my eyes for a moment. I couldn't imagine how stuff was going back home. That is to say, both my home on Earth and, more importantly at this point, back at Canterlot. I had a slight feeling the princesses were probably going crazy trying to find us.

Shameful and petty as it might sound, the idea put a genuine smile on my face.

Next Chapter: Chapter 12: Life Back Home [Here Again] Estimated time remaining: 12 Hours, 32 Minutes