I slowly stirred, looking about from within Ribbons shadow, still feeling her in the soft embrace of my miasma, the dark gaseous substance cooling her and reducing the swelling.

-How do you feel?-

‘Better, the medication the doctor gave me works. Still hurts to move, and I’m all stiff.’

-Yeah, no room for your muscles to flex.-

The doctor walked in. “Excuse me, but there are two changelings here to see you.”

“I-i know. Send t-them in.”

The doctor stepped aside, allowing Cloak, and a rather teary eyed Mirage, to enter. Mirage almost immediately climbed up onto the bed, and hugged RIbbon, causing her to wince in pain.

AS I stepped out of her shadow, I scooped Mirage up in a tendril of miamsa, giving her a nuzzle. “Be gentle, she's really sore.”

“How bad?” ohh… she’s really been shaken up by this if she's not acting like a foal.

“She was poisoned. They stopped the bleeding, but her muscles are still swelling and causing her joints to lock up.”

“I-it sucks.” Ribbon said with her eyes closed.

Cloak looks at the ground. “I’d bet. This is probably the worst attack on you, or any changeling, so far.”

“Wait.” I interrupted. “There have been attacks on other changelings?”

“Mostly just somepony throwing rotten fruit or a rock, nothing big like this, the Queen has had it the worst with actual attempts on her life. Some changelings has taken to disguising themselves again in fear that they might be next.”

“A-and you n-need t-to think about t-that last attack. I w-was d-disguised that t-time.” Ribbon had a point. Even if she didn’t try to hide the fact she was a changeling, she could have been just any old changeling.

“Shit, you’re right!” I almost immediately stuck my hoof in my mouth, having sworn around Mirage. Mirage however, didn’t even react to the word at all, and neither did anyone else. I was honestly afraid Ribbon would smack me for saying that, even if it would probably hurt her more than it hurt me. “How would they know!? ...Oh crap. they might know you’re here.”

“They p-probably know, w-what with all t-the g-guards.” I gripped Ribbon a little tighter, now feeling an overwhelming sense of paranoia.

Ribbon groaned from the added presser. “N-n-not too t-tight.”

I blushed and eepd out a small ‘sorry’ and loosed my miasmas grip.

“I don’t think we have anything to worry about right now, the guards will be wary of any anger or hatred.” Cloak reassured me.

“Ribbon, I know you can’t really do much right now, but, I think I could do that duplication trick, and let you commandeer one.”

“And w-what are you g-going to do while I’m c-controlling o-one of your c-clones?”

“Stay here and keep the swelling down.”

“Nah, all of m-my work c-can be done w-without getting out o-of bed.”

“The offer still stands if you need it.” I leaned forward and lightly nuzzled her cheek.

“Chi, you seem… Really shaken up by this, even more than Mirage, and she's ribbons daughter.”

I winced at being further reminded of Maria. “It’s… personal. I’ve already lost someone very close to me once. I refuse to let it happen again.”

“What was she like?”

“She had a great sense of humor, although she would occasionally make god-awful puns. She always had this playful, yet caring look in her eyes…” I sighed longingly. “I still miss her once in a while, but Ribbon has helped me greatly in letting it go.”

“She sounds pretty nice.”

“Yeah, she was.”

“...W-which one of u-us is b-better in bed?” Everyone in the room went quiet and stared at Ribbon in disbelief.

“I plead the fifth.”

“T-the fifth d-doesn’t exist here, you f-forget that.”

“And you forgot Mirage is right here.”

“That’s fine, I-i’ll just search t-the ‘do not open’ door of m-memories you g-gave me til I find the answer.”

“...I REALLY would advise against that.”

“No, now I’m c-curious about w-what you’re hiding from m-me.”

“Just the cesspool of retardation that is over half the internet.” She ignored me and closed her eyes to look through the memories I gave her. Cloak and I just stare at each other for a minute in awkward silence before I try and break the ice. “Soooo ummm… Yeah, this is really awkward, considering what was going on the last time you saw me.”

“It was, uh… I had… fun.”

“She told Wendy about it.” Mirage blurted out.

“You do realize that once she’s better, Ribbon is going to carry out that threat, right?”

“B-but I didn’t tell anypony!”

“You told the most talkative changeling in the whole hive, one that can’t keep a secret. close enough.” I then turned to mirage. “And just how did you hear about that, young lady?”

“Wendy. She saw you chasing after the guard too.” I blushed. Yeah, most of the hive saw me, didn't they?

“Just how much did she tell you?”

“Everything.”

“Hey cloak? I think Wendy’s stupidity just saved you from Ribbons wrath.”

“Cloak” We looked at Ribbon, who had one eye open locked right on the poor changeling.

“Y-yes?”

“...I’m on top next time.”

Said changeling, gulped and picked up Mirage. “Come on, time to go!” Mirage gave a yelp of surprise as Cloak whisked her away.

I looked at Ribbon with some annoyance. “What does that make me, sandwich meat?”

Ribbon gave me a pained but playful smile. “Yes.”

Oh… “I stuck my hoof in my mouth there, didn’t I?”

“You have habit of doing that… Chitsuki?”

I looked at Ribbon in confusion, she never uses my whole name. “Yeah?”

“What’s wrong with you humans?”

“The internet corrupted our minds.” I grabbed my head in an overly dramatic manor.

*The next day*

Both me and Ribbon woke at the same time, our shared dream ending.

“Y-you’re right, banana peels do m-make go-karting fun!”

“See? Told you you would love it!”

My head whipped towards the door as the doctor walked in. “Ah yes, I thought I heard you awake! You have more guests here to see you.”

I leaned in and whispered to Ribbon. “Who is it this time?”

Ribbon took a minute to answer. “Rarity and Scootaloo, you can send them in.”

“Very well, and I can tell you and your friend what we found out about the poison.”

“Oh? what is it?”

“One second.” The doctor lead Rarity and Scootaloo in and took a position at the end of the bed with his chart in hoof. “There we are. A Wyvern Toadstool extract. Nasty stuff. incredibly toxic, and reacts rather badly to common antidotes, on top of causing numerous symptoms, such as internal bleeding, nausea, drowsiness, muscular swelling, diarrhea -you're lucky you don’t have to deal with that last one. Well, in some extreme cases, respiratory and heart failure can also occur but it doesn’t look to be quite that bad. Now for the bad news!”

“That wasn’t the bad news!?” Rarity yelled.

“Most certainly not! The bad news is that Wyvern Toadstool extract wasn’t the only thing in that poison, it was mixed with magic, I’m afraid you may have been cursed on top of everything else. It seems to have been designed to be a pain amplifier, whoever cursed you wanted you to die quickly, but none the less, painfully. Not to worry, we’ll have a few mages come by and see if they can’t pull that awful thing off of you. In the mean time, enjoy your company.” The doctor left in a hurry.

Scootaloo leaped up and wrapped around my chest in a hug. “Im so glad shes okay!”

“So am I, Scoots, so am I.”

“I’m glad that ruffion is going to be behind bars. To attack another creature just because their different? Tis unthinkable!”

I sighed. “And this was planned. not just some attack of opportunity.” I was wanting to change the subject by now. “Lets talk about something else, yeah? What brought you here Rarity?”

“Oh, well, changelings have been coming and going through Ponyville quite a lot recently, I even see them at the spa now, and I thought I would try to rekindle my friendship with Ribbon. And when I heard of what happened I knew I had to see you, darling.” Rarity patted Ribbons hoof reassuringly before eyeing my mane. “If you don’t mind me asking. What is this?” She said, pointing to my makeshift blanket.

I gave a slight chuckle. “A full body ice pack?”

“F-feels really cold and m-makes me feel a l-little numb, w-which is nice.”

“Yeah, keeps down the swelling.” I gave Ribbon a small nuzzle. “If you need me, you know how to get me.” I gave her a quick peck on the cheek, before sinking into my own shadow.

Once inside it, I just sort of hovered there. Before long, I turnrd my attention forth and began traveling ‘down’, or at least I assumed that was the direction I was moving, the one speck of light that served as my window when I’m in my shadow was getting farther away.

My god, my shadow is deep, is there even a botte- *smack* Next thing I knew, I had smashed my face into something. “...owch.” As I layed there with my face on the floor, and ass floating in the air, I felt a familiar tugging sensation. “So we meet again, gravity..” The rest of my body was pulled down to join me on the ground. Looking back up, I was overcome with a feeling of dread when I could no longer see the ‘window’ that used to both see out of, and enter or exit, my shadow. standing up, and casting an illumination spell, I looked down at what I was standing on. What I had thought was the ground was a rippling lake of liquid shadow, yet where my hooves where, it had frozen in place. As a matter of fact, it looked almost like a liquid version of my miasma with wisps of something coming off it… Just calling everything a shadow is getting old, I need a better way to name this stuff. Maybe I should mix the naming of things with ‘abyss’ or ‘void’, something like that.

I closed my eyes, and focused on the… abyssal essence surrounding me. It responded like, if not better then, my miasma, and when I opened my eyes, an orb of it was floating in front of me, nearly my size. It felt… empty though, like it was waiting to be given it instructions. I had three quickly come to mind. Make sure nothing gets lost in here, dispose of ‘trash’, and insure the wellbeing of any other beings that I brought here with the intent of eventually letting them out.

Soon, it begun to pulsate, shifting around, and bubbling slightly. It slowly begun to take on an equine form, and what was once the abyssal essence begun to take on the appearance of a tar like substance. As its body became more and more defined, I realized it was shaped almost like me, although what was its mane and tail lacked the ethereal, gravity defying effects of mine, and as it head formed, I noticed it had no face, yet I could tell it was looking at me. once it had finished, it backed up a few steps, its hooves leaving a small glob of itself that rapidly dissolved back into the abyssal essence that made up this place every time they lifted up, before it lowered itself into a kneeling bow.

I smiled at my creation, before thinking. I couldn't just keep calling it ‘my creation’. It needed a name… The Keeper? Yes, that was a fitting name.