"Twilight!!!!!" Rarity bellows into the night, the exertion of speaking that single, simple name leaving her panting in the middle of the street. Her ears perk as a barely audible whisper penetrates her rage-filled senses and she twists her head around towards its source just in time to watch the nearby group of pegasi make a hasty retreat, the cloud containing their injured member hurriedly pushed along by two of his compatriots.

"Well." Rarity spits the word out like a curse as she turns to her fellow abandonee, face burning with barely suppressed anger, "I don't know about you, but I am going to search for a way to return to Ponyville. You are welcome to join me, if you like, though I must admit I have very little idea how one would go about leaving Cloudsdale at this time of night."

Turning sharply on her heel, she stomps briskly away down the street, her forceful steps leaving tiny, displaced puffs of cloud floating in her wake as she mutters to herself, "Oh-hoho, but when I do get back to Ponyville, THEN… "

Caramel takes a few hesitant steps after the infuriated mare, then pauses as he gives his surroundings a long look, his gaze moving from one of the dark, empty, and unfamiliar buildings lining the street opposite the mostly deserted hospital to the next while the potential danger of ending up on the receiving end of Rarity's ire battles with his growing fear of the unknown. However, prior to either side being able to declare victory, something small, dense, and soft impacts the back of his head and he stumbles diagonally a few steps before his balance gives out, the clouds much softer than solid ground as he falls on his side. Blinking slowly once from his place on the street, he watches Rarity turn a corner and disappear from sight, the fuzzy haze filling his rattled brain preventing any further action. Three more blinks follow in Rarity's absence, the gap between each opening and closing of his eyelids shorter than the last as the the daze fades from his mind, his train of thought restarting just in time for a much heavier, four pronged object to drop onto his side, forcing the air from his lungs along with a pained groan.

"Hey, are you ok?" a colt's voice asks from above him, the four points of pressure on Caramel's barrel shifting as the colt repositions himself, stepping forward to place his forehooves on Caramel's shoulder.

Drawing as deep a breath as he can manage despite the weight pressing down on his barrel, Caramel raises his head to examine whoever is standing on him, his gaze landing on a young thestral colt with a light grey coat and a deep blue mane and tail watching him curiously through slitted pupils surrounded by gold.

Aided by the small pony still standing on him, Caramel exhales loudly, then with some difficulty inhales again, "Yeah, I'm fine. Do you think you could get off me though?"

"Sure!" the colt replies, hopping off to stand next to Caramel's back.

Free of his passenger, Caramel stands, only to be greeted by his previous dilemma as he turns to look at the corner Rarity had vanished behind.

"Wait… " the colt says suspiciously, Caramel wincing as a small hoof pokes him in the side, "you're not a birdpony, you're a… a… a ground pony! Yeah! Let's play!"

The young thestral darts over to where a foam ball shaped like a red apple, and as large as his head, had landed, his eyes shining with enthusiasm as he kicks it in front of Caramel, "Let's play let's play let's play!"

Caramel glances between the colt and the corner, fear of being left behind finally tilting the scales of his internal conflict far enough for him to make up his mind, "Look, uh… what's your name?"

"Blink!" the colt replies, grinning widely enough to just barely reveal his tiny, pointed canines.

"Look, Blink, I'm sure there are a lot of ponies who would love to play with you, but I've really got to get going and I'm sure your parents are wondering where you are, so-" Caramel says, hesitating as Blink's ears droop, his eyes shimmering with rapidly accumulating water as he tugs sharply on Caramel's heartstrings.

"I'm not saying I don't want to play with you," Caramel clarifies as a knot of guilt twists in his chest, the tenuous resolve behind his recently made decision quickly beginning to unravel, "but this really isn't… a good time… "

Tears begin to form in Blink's eyes, his lower lip trembling as utter despair threatens to overwhelm him.

Caramel glances in the direction Rarity had left one last time, opening his mouth to further protest his participation in playing, but the words catch in his throat and after a few seconds he sighs, "Alright, how do we play?"

Blink's sadness vanishes in an instant and he nudges the ball resting at Caramel's forehooves, "Throw it!"

Noticing many pairs of tiny puncture marks scattered randomly across the ball's surface as he picks it up, Caramel tosses it over Blink's head to land a short distance away, returning his attention to the colt after nothing happens for a couple seconds. Empty, thestral-less space greets him instead however, and he blinks in surprise, his eyes flicking to the ball's landing place just in time to see Blink pounce – the colt tumbling head over hooves as he clutches the apple-ball and sinks his tiny fangs into it.

Getting to his hooves after wrestling the fake apple into submission, Blink runs over to Caramel and places the ball in front of him again, backing up with a few small, excited hops, "Again! But farther!"

Blink removes his mouth from the ball to leave behind behind a fresh pair of puncture wounds in the false apple's skin, though he continues to hold it in his hooves as he catches his breath, eventually releasing his captive from his clutches once he has sufficiently recovered. Turning his back to the ball, he grasps it with his tail and begins to spin, adjusting his grip partway through the eighth rotation to fling the ball through the air towards Caramel.

Caramel watches the ball sail through the air nearly straight at him, shifting half a step to the left and tensing his muscles just prior to impact, then wrapping a foreleg around the ball with practiced ease as it hits him square in the chest to keep it firmly in place. The foam ball expands as he relaxes his hold on the now unmoving projectile, though worry squirms more insistently in his belly as he watches a tiring, and slightly dizzy, Blink run in a mostly straight line to stand in front of him once more.

"So, Blink," Caramel queries casually after a quick examination of the surrounding street and sky still reveal no other thestrals in the vicinity, "where are your parents?"

"Dunno!" Blink replies, his eyes still brimming with energy despite his heavy breathing and sagging shoulders, "Throw it!"

Caramel glances at the ball held to his chest and steels his resolve, doing his best to toughen his expression as he returns his attention to the young thestral before him, "Alright, but I'm only going to throw this a couple more times. Then we need to go find your parents, ok?"

"Fine… " Blink pouts, though the attempt to pierce Caramel's emotional armor is quickly replaced by a wide grin as Caramel draws back and launches the ball high into the air. Leaping into the sky after it, Blink intercepts the ball a split second after its peak, somersaulting midair once before spreading his wings and slowly gliding down in a wide, lazy circle. However, as he watches Caramel waiting patiently on the street beneath him, a stray cloud wanders into Blink's path – the colt noticing it just in time to plow his head through the bottom of the cloud face first, the water vapor blinding him while the uneven change in speed flips him over backwards.

Caramel's eyes widen as soon as Blink loses control, the ball still clutched tightly in his hooves despite the flailing of his wings as he tumbles towards the edge of the street. Adrenaline surging, Caramel gallops to the street's edge and leans out as far as he can, just barely managing to bite Blink's tail as he falls past. Caramel sighs, though his relief is short lived, the combined weight and momentum of the colt and his ball lifting Caramel's hind hooves from the street as they tilt forward. A sudden yank on his tail saves them both though, the pull powerful enough to sink Caramel's hind legs knee deep into the clouds.

With a grunt, Caramel pulls Blink the rest of the way up, extracts his hind legs from the street, and takes a few shaky steps backwards before turning around – immediately coming nose to nose with a stone-faced thestral mare, her coat a dull grey while her mane and tail match the feeling with a monotone dark purple.

Uh-oh

"Uhhhhh… " Caramel says, his attempt to explain the situation thwarted by his frozen thought processes, though the act of opening his mouth allows Blink to drop head first onto the street.

The mare's eyes narrow, her lips parting just enough to reveal the tips of her fangs.

Caramel gulps, slowly backing away from the angry mare, "Sorry?"

Closing her mouth and lowering her gaze, the mare stands tall and severe over Blink, "What do you think you're doing all the way over here?"

"I j-just w-wanted to p-play," Blink replies tremulously, tears streaming down his face unimpeded as he holds his ball in a death grip.

Leaning down, the mare tilts Blink's head from side to side as she looks him over, her expression softening, "And, you're not hurt?"

Blink shakes his head, his grip on the ball loosening ever so slightly as a thestral stallion with a light bluish-grey coat and dark grey mane and tail streaked by white lands beside the mare, sparing Caramel a glance before joining her in examining Blink.

"As for you," the mare states harshly, returning her piercing glare to Caramel as soon as she is satisfied of Blink's wellbeing, "what were you doing with our son?"

I wonder if facing an angry Rarity would have actually been preferable, a voice in Caramel's head wonders as he takes another nervous half step away from Blink's mother, feeling the street falling away from the back of his hind hooves. "W-Well, uh, he wanted to play, s-so-"

Blink's father sighs, "Don't be too hard on him, Connie. He did risk his life for our kid just now, and it's hardly his fault we let Blink get away from us again; if anything, we should be thankful that he kept Blink in one place long enough for us to find him."

Connie's angry gaze turns towards her husband, though confusion now dilutes the heated emotion, "What do you mean 'risked his life'? All he had to do was spread his wings and-"

"What wings?" the thestral stallion interrupts, raising an eyebrow inquiringly.

Connie glances at Caramel for an instant, her mouth opening in a retort, then does a double take, speaking after several seconds of silence, "You're an earth pony."

"Uhm, yep, yes I am," Caramel agrees.

Blink's father chuckles, "And Blink, you're alright?"

Blink nods, swallowing and rapidly blinking to fight back any fresh tears, "Mhm. We were just playing, a-and I flew into a cloud."

The stallion returns his attention to Caramel, smiling and raising a hoof, "Well then, it's nice to meet you. I'm Stellar Drift, the angry mare over there is my wife, Constellation-"

Constellation narrows her eyes at her husband, though Stellar Drift pretends not to notice.

"-and you've already met our son, Blink."

Blink sniffles from his place between Caramel and his parents, wiping his eyes and turning around to give Caramel a timid wave.

Caramel bobs his head once, glancing at Blink as he hesitantly sidesteps the younger pony and walks forward to shake Stellar's hoof, "Hi, I'm Caramel."

Looking between Stellar Wind and Constellation once the hoofshake ends, Caramel manages a surreptitious look at their flanks – Constellation's cutie mark made up of 10 white specks connected by thin white lines to form an easily visible five pointed star, while Stellar Wind's cutie mark features a telescope.

"Well, Caramel," Constellation says slowly after a moment of tense silence, "I suppose I should apologize, for immediately assuming the worst about you. So, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Caramel replies, risking a smile. "I should've been trying to find you instead of agreeing to play with him."

"Yes, you should have," Constellation agrees bluntly, Caramel's smile shrinking as she locks eyes with him.

Stellar Drift rolls his eyes as Caramel breaks off Constellation's staring contest to look at the clouds beneath their hooves, "That wouldn't have done any good and you know it, Connie. He would've just run off again, and then we would've spent the next hour or more looking for him."

"Either way," Constellation huffs, "what's an earth pony like you doing up here in Cloudsdale, and awake at this hour?"

Caramel shrugs, "Princess Twilight took me with her when she teleported here, but I'm almost 100 percent sure we ended up at the wrong hospital. Then she left me here when, I assume, she teleported herself back to town, so… I'm not really sure what's going on. I've never been to Cloudsdale before though, and I definitely didn't mean to wind up here tonight."

Constellation's ears prick at the mention of Twilight's name, the remaining hostility in her gaze giving way to curiosity, "You know Princess Twilight?"

"We both live in Ponyville, so I know of her and we've talked a few times," Caramel clarifies, "but I'm pretty sure the only reason she brought me along was because I was the one who reported the attack to her."

"You're from Ponyville?" Stellar asks, his smile widening as he lets out a chuckle, "Well, that explains things then."

Caramel's brow knits in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Even we thestrals have been told of Ponyville's reputation," Stellar Wind explains. "It was one of the few places we weren't allowed to choose to try and move to; between all the stuff we were told went on there and the 'Zecora Incident' in particular, we were told it was too dangerous of a place to try and settle until there had been more success reintegrating with the rest of Equestria first. Honestly I wasn't sure how truthful any of the many crazy stories we heard were, but from the sound of things you're an earth pony who was teleported up to Cloudsdale in the middle of the night by a Princess after an attack put somepony else in the hospital, so maybe the stories weren't so far fetched after all."

"Oh," Caramel replies, frowning. "I didn't know Ponyville was so well known for that."

"In any case," Stellar continues, "is the pony who was hospitalized going to be ok?"

Caramel stifles a yawn, "I don't know. All I know is that we couldn't wake her up, and that the pony who attacked her looked like a vampony."

Stellar's smile immediately falters, Constellation frowning and giving him a hard, flat look while Blink groans as he lets his head fall to rest on the ball still held in his hooves.

"And I know how that sounds," Caramel adds quickly, "but the pony wasn't a thestral either – even Ponyville has had a thestral pass through from time to time, and we've gone through the whole 'Thestrals aren't Vamponies' thing. Princess Twilight even forced the whole town to take an hour-long seminar that she put together after the fourth thestral to land in town still caused a panic."

Constellation sighs, sending an exasperated look up at the moon hovering in the night sky, "But, this time, you're really really sure it's a vampony, I suppose?"

"Yes!" Caramel insists, "I mean, she did have bat wings like yours, and tufted ears, and fangs; but her fangs were a lot larger than yours, and the rest of her teeth were pointy and sharp like a manticore's."

Stellar Drift's eyebrows knit and he opens his mouth, then after a couple seconds hesitation glances at Constellation.

Caramel looks between them, "What?"

"Did the 'vampony' have red eyes?" Constellation queries.

"I don't know," Caramel answers. "She was unconscious. And also taken to the hospital, now that I think about it. Why?"

"We and the other thestrals who came to Cloudsdale all went through the same thing, with some ponies convinced we were vamponies," Stellar says, "but what you described actually sounds similar to an old Thestral legend."

Caramel blinks, "Wait, what? Really?"

Constellation nods, "They are called Shades, and were said to be the restless spirits of thestrals who had met a sudden and violent end. They were also said to have razor sharp teeth, glowing red eyes, and would haunt the shadows of places no sane pony would dare travel. Nowadays they're just a scary story to frighten foals, but at the time they were thought to be omens of grave misfortune, appearing only to those who would eventually join their ranks."

Caramel stares mutely at Constellation, his eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

Blink's stomach grumbles loudly in the ensuing silence, drawing a laugh from Stellar Drift, "But like Constellation said, they're just foal's tales now, so who knows, maybe you actually found a vampony this time. In any case, we were going to stop at a nearby shop for some fruit before Blink here flew off, so you're more than welcome to join us. The cloudferries don't open until mid-morning anyway."

Caramel scans the now completely empty streets and alleys surrounding them, every shadow suddenly seeming particularly dark and foreboding, "You know, a late night snack does sound pretty good, now that you mention it."

"And then Fluttershy stayed a vampire fruit bat pony, right?" Blink asks excitedly from his place riding on Stellar Drift's back, his ball held securely in place on his own back by his partially raised wings.

Caramel chuckles and shakes his head, "No, Princess Twilight and the rest of her friends were able to trick Fluttershy into staying still using a bunch of mirrors and an apple as big as Princess Celestia, which let Twilight cast another spell to change her back."

Blink's ears, and expression, droop, "Aww… but she sounded so much cooler as a vampire fruit bat pony… "

"Though," Caramel adds mysteriously, pausing for dramatic effect, "apparently, ever since that night, she's been buying quite a few more apples than she used to. And sometimes, just as she's about to eat one of them, you can see the point of a fang pushing out from her teeth." He shrugs dismissively, "Or so I've heard."

Stellar Drift stops as they round a corner, pointing further ahead to a location on the other side of the street, "Well, I don't think Husk's has any apples that big, but they still have a pretty good selection of fruit, especially for a non-thestral store."

Caramel follows Stellar's hoof, his gaze landing on one of the only storefronts still lit on the entirety of the street in either direction, "Husk Family Fruit and Vegetable Emporium?"

Constellation nods as they adjust their heading to walk towards the store's entrance, "Their fruit is decent enough and it's the only place in Cloudsdale that's able to get fruit shipped from our old home in the 'Undiscovered West' as all the maps around here insist on calling it. Though they're probably the only place to have actually tried, either. Convincing anypony to ship from a place that's supposedly 'undiscovered' is almost always an exercise in futility."

"So, I guess, what's the real name of where you lived previously?" Caramel asks awkwardly.

"Princess Twilight didn't cover it during her lecture?" Constellation queries.

Caramel shakes his head, "No, she only went over Thestral biology and appearance; things like thestrals having an almost entirely liquid diet, nearly all thestrals having yellow eyes and slitted pupils – that sort of thing."

"Huh." Constellation shrugs, "In that case, our homeland is called Ælün."

"A-loon?" Caramel attempts to repeat, his tongue fumbling with the unfamiliar word.

Stellar Drift lets out a bark of laughter, "Close enough. The name itself is ancient, even pre-Discord, and has remained the same ever since the Thestral clans first united under Princess Luna thousands of year ago. It means 'of Luna'."

Their conversation pauses as they reach the store's entrance, Blink sliding off Stellar's back while Caramel waits behind them to let his newly made friends enter first. A nearly black lump of cloud stuck to the wall just inside the store draws his attention as they pass through the doorway, the tiny storm cloud giving a quiet roll of thunder to herald their arrival. However, as he steps inside, the clouds give way beneath his hooves, for a split second his entire world reduced to an impenetrable sea of grey before expanding once again, the nighttime world of Equus laid out far below him. His scream of terror dies in his throat as he falls, a strange serenity pushing it to the back of his mind while he observes the calm, darkened world. The sensation of four hooves wrapping around his barrel pulls him out of his peaceful descent though, his suppressed scream finally managing to escape his mouth despite his savior already reversing their direction to carry him back to the safety of the street.

Caramel slumps to the fluffy ground as soon as his hooves touch the relative solidity of the clouds outside the store, his shaking legs unable to hold his weight. Constellation meanwhile lands to his left, looking down at him as Blink and Stellar Drift watch worriedly from just outside the store's entrance, "Are you alright?"

"I-I-I think – I think-" Caramel takes a deep breath, "I think so, yeah."

"Outta my way, outta my way!" a burly yellow pegasus with a plain brown mane and tail shouts as he exits the store, Stellar stepping aside to let him pass.

"I already got him, Corn," Constellation says, shooting the pegasus a pointed smile. "He fell through your floor."

The pegasus trots over to the pair, coming to a stop in front of Caramel, "Oh, you're an earth pony; well that explains it. The heck is an earth pony doing up here?"

"Well whatever," he continues, giving Caramel no time to answer. "I used to have a sign warning about that. Took it down since no earth ponies ever come out this far, they usually stick to the stadium or the weather factory – the more touristy places, ya know? Guess I shoulda kept it up after all." He lifts Caramel to his hooves, "Name's Corn Husk by the way. What's yours?"

Caramel blinks a few times, noticing Corn Husk's cutie mark of a green, unhusked ear of corn as he repositions his legs a little wider than normal to steady himself, "My name's Caramel."

Corn Husk takes a step back, giving Caramel a once over, "And you're okay, Caramel? Didn't catch any electrical discharges on your way down?"

Caramel shakes his head, "No, I'm fine."

Corn Husk smiles widely, "Great, wonderful. Now you stay right here, and I'll be right back with just the thing for you."

Caramel looks over at Constellation, confusion plain on his face as Corn Husk canters into the store.

Constellation snickers, "He's a memorable pony, if nothing else."

True to his word, Corn Husk pushes the store door open less than a minute later and waves to Caramel, "Come on over here. I got a solution to your uh, falling problem."

Walking over to stand next to him just outside the doorway, Caramel finds a thin, dark grey rectangle floating a few inches above the store's floor, a thauma powered fan with a slowly pulsating red crystal sticking out from the base sitting on the far end.

"Tada!" Corn Husk says, gesturing at the rectangle, "One sheet of stratosteel, made from the finest ironcloud in the lightning forges of Pegasopolis!"

"And… I won't fall through that?" Caramel asks, tentatively letting one hoof rest on the rectangular cloud's surface.

"Not a chance," Corn Husk replies, shaking his head. "If the streets can take your weight, then there's no way in Tartaurus that this can't."

Carefully placing another hoof onto it, Caramel pushes down, his end of the cloud dipping slightly, but otherwise remaining as solid and impermeable as a rock. After taking another several seconds to gather his courage, Caramel clambers up onto the cloud entirely, the floating platform lazily shifting with his weight as Caramel moves himself to its center.

Corn Husk claps his hooves together, "Wonderful! Now, I know the fan won't be very fast, but it should at least be enough for you to look around a bit."

"As for you three," he says, turning to the thestral family, "I have your order, but I haven't gotten around to unpacking it yet, so if you'll give me a few moments I'll have it right out for you."

Turning around, Corn Husk spreads his wings, quickly flying through a gap between the ceiling and the shelves separating each aisle.

Caramel meanwhile sits on his cloud, picks up the fan, places it behind him to face the store's entrance, and activates it, the thrust managing to slowly move him out of the doorway to give Stellar Drift, Constellation, and Blink room to enter.

Carefully leaning forward as his cloud's incline changes ever so slightly to match the distribution of his weight, Caramel picks up a golden delicious apple from the selection in front of him with his mouth, slowly leaning back and twisting around to place it beside another golden delicious already held securely against his flank by his tail. After waiting another moment to ensure his cloud's continued stability, he turns, and with the press of a button activates the fan to his right, its thrust slowly accelerating both him and his chosen produce down the aisle.

Deactivating the fan upon exiting the aisle, Caramel moves it to his left and turns it to face the opposite direction, activating it in a few quick, successive bursts to bring himself to a complete stop. Turning it again to point the same direction as he is sitting, he reactivates it just long enough to rotate his floating platform to point at the three increasingly impatient thestrals waiting a ways ahead of him at the register. Returning his fan to its original position, Caramel turns it on once more, beginning his slow journey towards the register as Corn Husk flies overhead carrying a container meticulously sealed shut with copious amounts of tape.

"Sorry about the wait," Corn Husk apologizes, placing the package on the counter next to the register. "I must've moved it at some point earlier and then forgotten that I'd moved it. Anyway, here's your order; and I know how much you like this stuff, but in the name of Celestia, please, don't open this up in here."

Stellar Drift's lips quirk and he raises an eyebrow.

Corn Husk groans, "Fine, fine, in the name of Princess Luna, please drink these somewhere else, anywhere else, just not in here."

"Of course," Stellar Drift replies, smiling and hoofing over several bits.

Caramel watches Corn Husk drop his newly acquired bits into the register, time seeming to slow to a crawl as a fearful chill settles in his stomach, I don't have any bits!

Coming back to himself, Caramel fumbles with the fan, once again switching it to his other side in an attempt to quickly decelerate. The fan proves entirely inadequate for this task however, the thestrals stepping aside as it brings him to a stop right in front of the register – Caramel nervously turning off the fan and directing his attention to Corn Husk.

Corn Husk eyes the two apples riding with Caramel, then smiles, "If that's all you're getting, you can have them for free. Consider it an apology for you almost dying from falling through the floor."

Caramel blinks, "Oh. Uh, thanks."

Corn Husk waves away the offered gratitude, "Don't mention it."

Returning the fan to his right, Caramel activates it with the press of a button to begin his slow voyage towards the store's exit. Stellar Drift trots ahead with Constellation, their recently purchased container held in his tail while Blink enjoys the wind from the fan blowing in his mane as he walks behind Caramel. Waiting just outside, Constellation props the door open with a hoof, Caramel risking a yawn as he dismounts from his cloud and places his apples on his back.

"Come on," Stellar Drift says once Caramel has safely left the store, "there are some tables we can sit at a bit further this way."

Hopping onto and over Caramel's previous means of transportation, Blink canters after the adults, slowing to a trot beside Caramel, "So there are a bunch of other cool things that've happened in Ponyville, right?"

Caramel looks down at Blink, shrugging nonchalantly, "Oh yeah, tons. You want to hear about them?"

Blink hops excitedly, his wings starting to open only to immediately snap back into place to keep hold of his ball, "Yes!"

The colt's infectious enthusiasm draws a smile from Caramel and he stares up at the night sky, What story to tell… there's just so many – Mount Dragonshy, Discord, Trixie…

Glancing back at an eagerly impatient Blink, Caramel's eyes flick to the young thestral's unmarked flank, Hmmm…

"And, here we are," Stellar Drift announces, drawing Caramel out of his contemplation as they head for the closest table. Blink runs off in a different direction however, returning moments later pushing a small lump of cloud over to their table upon which he sits, Stellar Drift meanwhile beginning the task of removing the multitudinous strips of tape from their purchased package.

"Alright, so," Caramel says, his first apple giving a loud crunch as he takes a bite and directs his attention to the now equally tall Blink, "in Ponyville there's a group of fillies called the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Their goal is to help each other get their cutie marks, and they get into all sorts of trouble, but there was one time in partic-"

A weak but pungent aroma wafts over to Caramel as Stellar rips off the last of the tape and pops open the container, his nose wrinkling as the scent derails his train of thought, "What is that?"

"Durian juice," Constellation answers simply, pausing as a mischievous glint appears in her eyes. "Want to try some?"

Stellar Drift sends her a warning look, but she ignores him, maintaining a perfectly neutral expression as she removes a clear bottle filled with an off-white fluid and pushes it over to Caramel, "And it tastes best if you smell it first; just exhale and then take a really deep breath through your nose."

Caramel eyes the bottle warily as he rotates it to bring the label into view, an image of Luna's crown placed behind its text.

Durian Juice

Princess of the Fruit Juices!

Steeling his resolve, he removes the bottle's cap, exhales, places his nose over the opening, and inhales – almost immediately letting out a sharp cough and falling over backwards, eyes watering.

Stellar snorts, a small smile forcing its way onto his face, "Are you alright?"

Caramel grunts in response, hastily pushing himself to his hooves and grabbing his once-bitten apple to place its exposed insides over his nose. Breathing in deeply, he nods, "Yeah, yeah I'll be fine."

"Sorry," Constellation says, grinning widely as she reclaims her bottle. Following her own advice, she inhales a lungful of the juice's scent before taking a swig, staring dreamily off into space, "Couldn't resist."

Stellar meanwhile passes Blink another bottle, the smaller thestral immediately yanking the cap off and chugging half the juice in a single breath.

"So then Applebloom was tap dancing and plate spinning and all sorts of other things through the middle of town," Caramel says, randomly bending and waving his forelegs in a combined approximation of Applebloom's actions, "and she probably would've kept on doing even more stuff until she passed out from exhaustion if Zecora hadn't shown up. She had figured out what Applebloom had done, and said she had a flower that would cure Applebloom, but it would only grow if 'true words' were spoken."

"How does telling the truth make a plant grow?" Blink asks critically.

"I have no idea," Caramel replies, shrugging. "Magic, probably. Anyway, Applebloom eventually admitted what she did, which caused the plant to fully grow and bloom in just a few seconds. She then ate the plant, which cured her and removed all her fake cutie marks, and after a couple minutes everything was back to normal."

Blink narrows his eyes at Caramel, clearly not quite convinced of the veracity of the tale, until a clink draws both their attentions.

"Well Caramel, it was interesting to hear some stories about Ponyville first hoof," Stellar Drift says, the now empty bottles giving another clink as he closes the container.

"And to talk to a non-pegasus for a change," Constellation adds.

Stellar nods, "But we need to head home. The sun will be up in a couple of hours, and there are a few things we need to get done before that happens." He looks pointedly at Blink, "Homework, for example."

Blink groans, faceplanting into the relative softness of the cloudy table.

Caramel bobs his head, "Alright. It was nice to meet you too; I've never talked to a thestral, well, ever. I just have one question before you go, though."

Stellar Drift tilts his head, waiting.

"So uh… where exactly are the cloudferries?" Caramel asks, glancing embarrassedly at the clouds beneath his hooves.

Stellar's mouth hangs open for a split second, a laugh following as he looks at his wife, "Connie, you take Blink home; I'll show Caramel how to get to the ferries, and make sure he doesn't fall to his death along the way."

Caramel shrugs, moving with Twilight as the line shortens, "And then he led me to the cloudferries. I ended up falling asleep on one of the benches; and the next thing I knew, one of the ferryponies was poking me in the side telling me to get up."

"Wow, that was… not at all what I was expecting," Twilight replies, taking a few moments to order her thoughts. "That legend about 'shades' is definitely interesting though. I wonder if there are any other stories or myths, or maybe even recorded, historical claims of sightings-"

"Why Twilight," Luna interrupts coolly from just behind her fellow princess, "how good of you to finally rejoin us."

Twilight glances sheepishly at Luna, then out at the now significantly shorter pair of lines leading to Princess Luna and Mayor Mare, "Right, so, you had a question, Caramel?"

Caramel looks at Twilight blankly for a moment, "Huh? Oh! Right. I was just wondering, what did you mean by 'extreme circumstances' earlier?"

"There was a bit of an incident a couple nights ago, between Cheerilee and Big Mac," Twilight explains. "Cheerilee was attacked by a powerful nightmare, one which required Princess Luna to intervene against. Then when she woke up she was terrified, and accidentally fed on Big Mac's love more than she should have. Big Mac was fully recovered within a few hours however, so even though it was an extreme circumstance, the actual effects were still pretty minor."

"So just walking next to them isn't dangerous or anything?" Caramel asks.

"No, it is not," Twilight states clearly.

"And you are 100 percent sure of that?" Caramel queries.

"Yes," Twilight answers, smiling confidently, "I am."

Caramel sighs, "Well, that's a relief. Thank you, Princess."

Stepping aside, Caramel turns around, trotting past what remains of the line of questioners and towards his home.

Author's Notes:

Runner up name for the Thestral homeland: link

Also, fimfiction finally added a Batpony character tag!