"What the heck sorta name is Volo?" Well then that was kind of insulting.

"What's wrong with that?" I asked immediately on the defensive "I mean I'm not really from around here so I know you guys have a different naming scheme than I do but still, that doesn't mean that it's a-" I stopped mid ramble realizing that Braeburn was smirking at me. Oh the realization was terrible "meanie, I don't like people who mess with me" I said sitting upright and crossing my forelegs.

"Ha ha, calm down now partner I think it's a good name, just wanted to mess with you for pulling this on me is all" He stood up from the table and walked over to me to pat my back "Besides we can't all have names as great as mine" he said with a laugh.

"Whatever Mr. Apple" I said getting up to move out of the dining room. The house Braeburn lived in was rather nice, portraits decorated the halls, displaying pictures of what I assumed were his family. There were also a few dressers, cabinets, and tables here and there that held little ornaments, like silverware, plates and pans, little marbles, and even a bowl full of what looked to be turquoise stones.

"Hey!" I heard him call out after me, "Mr. Apple was ma father, don't call me that" With a smile a looked back and stuck my tongue out at him before scampering off. Last night Braeburn had put me in the guest room, which was rather nice. I stuck with the general theme of his house, as there was a large oak dresser and desk both of which contained or held little interesting items on them. The bed looked like it barely fit through the door as it was ridiculously big. There was easily enough room to hold three or four ponies, of course I was always bad at putting things to scale so maybe it could only hold one? well whatever three to four sounds more impressive so lets go with that.

"What'd you have to go runnin off for?" I turned and faced the stallion with a smile.

"Sorry Brae, I was full and ready to go to sleep" He looked passed me and to the bed, suddenly his face sported an incredible blush and he looked away. I wonder why? "Hmm? whats wrong, you look so red, are you feeling sick?" I stepped closer and held out my hoof to see if I could help in some way.

"Ah, no that's!" He stumbled over his words while taking a step back from me. I took another step forward and he took another step back, this was silly.

"Let me help Brae" I gave him my best puppy dog face to persuade him into letting me help, after all, what kind on perso- no changeling would I be if I didn't try to help the stallion that was giving me a room to sleep in. If I didn't know better I'd say Braeburn's face had grown redder than red itself. "That's it Braeburn come here!" I said  sternly before trotting behind him faster than he could react and pushing him into my room. I forced him onto the bed and tucked him under the blankets before looking at him again. "You rest here and let me go get you some water for now, oh and an ice pack too!"

Braeburn could only watch as I left the room to grab items needed for a sick pony.

*   *   *

"Okay I couldn't find an ice pack but I did get a cup of..." my voice trailed off as I found Braeburn asleep in the bed, he didn't looked to be flushed anymore and with a strategic placement of my hoof on his forehead a lack of fever was confirmed as well. "That's good" I whispered to myself glad that he wasn't sick, this threw into question what he was all red for but it was probably nothing anyways. I realized with Braeburn sleeping in my bed I would have to find someplace else to sleep. I couldn't take his bed it would feel weird, and the only other thing to sleep on was a large chair, not the ideal sleeping surface. I looked back at the bed and smiled to myself, there was still enough room for 2 more after all.

*   *   *

Braeburn awoke early that morning and at first he couldn't remember why he was sleeping in his guest bed. Lets see, Volo an' I were eating dinner, he ran off I followed him and then he somehow was convinced I was sick and forced me into his bed. Braeburn sighed and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before realizing there seemed to be something wrapped around his torso. Looking down his heart almost stopped, the white changeling was nuzzled into his side and didn't seem to want to let go. Braeburn pushed at Volo's arms to try and get out of this very compromising position but instantly stopped and he heard mumbling from Volo.

"Please don't hurt me" Volo mumbled, Braeburn's spirits fell, he must be dreaming about the tour of town he had given him the other day. "Just because I'm a banana fudgesicle doesn't mean you can eat me!" Braeburn choked out a laugh before stopping himself, at least he knew that Volo wasn't bothered that much by the townsfolk. Suddenly Braeburn felt a wave of tiredness wash over him, maybe a few more minutes of sleep would be nice.

*   *   *

"Braeburn Breakfast is ready!" I shouted from the kitchen of the house. I was lucky today, I had somehow been able to wake up before Braeburn had and get myself out of bed without waking him, he would also never know that I liked to cuddle in my sleep. Instead of waking him up I went downstairs to the kitchen to see if there might be anything for me to snack on. Even if I didn't 'need' to eat food it still freaked me out not to so I still tried to eat every once in a while, like, three times a day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I wonder if I had to worry about extra calories from the substance in the air that I fed on. When I had entered the kitchen, much to my dismay, nothing had been cleaned up from last night, though I suppose that was my fault for forcing Braeburn into my bed and then falling asleep next to him.

It didn't take long to clean up the food that had been left on the table and the dishes were a quick snap. After cleaning the mess up I started on making a new one, today it would be pancakes, and they would be awesome. Eggs, milk, flower, sugar, all of it went into the mixing pot and soon the batter was cooking away on a griddle. It still fascinated me that these ponies had been able to invent gas-powered stoves and even more so knowing that it used a spark-plug to ignite the gas. Once the pancakes were ready and Braeburn had been summoned we sat down at the table. I couldn't help but smile as Braeburn sat amazed at the pancakes in front of him.

"You made these?" He asked, I smiled and nodded before picking up a fork with my hoof and cutting into the pancake with it. I gave pause as I realized what I just did, I picked a fork... with my hoof... whatever. I continued onwards ignoring the obvious slap to the laws of the universe and ate my pancakes in peace. Braeburn who must have been tired of watching me eat decided he would try the pancakes. It was weird how he acted like they might be poisoned, I've been here for days now and he seemed pretty trusting of me with everything else. Braeburn took a bite of the pancake before him before his eyes widened in surprise "It's really good!" He started to eat the rest of the pancake and soon took a few more off the stack I had made.

"Hehe Thanks!" I said, happy to have my work appreciated, I'm glad I was able to do something nice for him before I left. The other thing I had done this morning was find a map of the surrounding areas. It seemed that I was in a country called Equestria which I had never heard of before. What really confused me were all the familiar names for cities. Las Pegasus, Manehattan, Baltimare, it was ridiculous, and the fact that they were all made into horse puns really confused me. Maybe the primary species of this world were ponies like the ones in this town. Hopefully some of them were more like Braeburn and didn't instantly hate me at first glance. Something told me that it wouldn't be the case. Fortunately the location of Oasis was also on the map, unfortunately for me I would be needing a compass to make my way there. I wasn't able to find one with the map so I just had to hope that their might be one elsewhere in the house. With all the stuff Braeburn has on display a compass should be here somewhere. Still, I felt guilty having to get what I needed this way, maybe if I just asked him he would help me out? "Hey Brae..."

I noticed he had been looking at me with a slight blush, which increased when I made eye contact with him. It finally clicked in my mind, and it made me feel all the more guilty. Somehow I had made the stallion fall for me, not that it grossed me out or anything, in fact he was kinda cute, but that wasn't the point. I was just contemplating stealing from this guy, he hadn't done anything to prove that he wouldn't help me and here I was thinking he would try everything in his power to lock me up. "I should leave soon" I finally said pulling out the map I had found earlier "I found this map, and I really should be leaving before something bad happens". I saw his face shift down to the map then back to me he looked a little bit sad, but otherwise was able to cover up his feelings quite nicely.

"Why, what bad thing might happen if you stay?" Braeburn asked, it occurred to me that he hadn't realized it himself, the day of the tour there had been plenty of ponies that gave Braeburn a mean look behind his back.

"The townsfolk" I said bluntly not wanting to dance around the issue. "You know they don't want me here, and it's only a matter of time until they do something"

"No, I won't let them, the Sheriff and I will..." He sounded desperate.

"No Braeburn, it would be better this way, and I know you know it too" I smiled at him "and don't worry it's not like I'm disappearing forever I'll come visit some time again okay?" His ears flattened and he looked at me for a few minutes before finally speaking up again.

"Give me your word" He said looking into my eyes. I blinked before holding my hoof up and crossing my chest with it

"Cross my heart, and hope to die" he looked at me for a couple more minutes. I didn't mind, I knew he would need sometime to think before I could finally go.

"All right, what do you need to get going?" He asked me while getting up from the table.

"A compass and maybe a bag if you have one" I smiled inwardly, at last I could start on my journey and figure out why I'm here in this world. Braeburn left me standing in the kitchen while he went off to search for what I needed. I picked up the dishes and started to clean them as well. I noticed a pad of papers with a pen and decided I would leave a thank you note for him to find after I was gone.

I stood at the front door of his house with a saddle pack on. The compass he had found me had been carved out of a dark wood and looked somewhat Tribal in origin. It hung around my neck with the help of a black string. Braeburn stood before me with a smile.

"Look at you!" he started happily "you look like a traveler now, don't you?" I laughed and nodded, itching to go, but goodbyes would have to come first.

"Listen Brae, It might be a while before I come back, so I wanted to give you something to remember me by until I get back." This might be the worst decision I'll ever make, ever I thought before continuing on "So close your eyes and don't open them until I tell you too"

"What are you?"

"Close em!" I said before he could interject. He closed them and I smiled before taking a step towards him and gave him a peck on the cheek "Thank you" I said before running off following the compass north. I didn't look back, now I was on my own and I only had a couple of days to reach Oasis. Nothing would distract me from my journey ahead.

*   *   *

Braeburn stood in shock as he watched Volo go. As Volo disappeared on the horizon Braeburn turned back and went into his house, his heart beating like mad. He walked into the kitchen and was surprised to find it perfectly clean. On the kitchen table was a letter written on his note pad. He walked over to it and picked it up to read it.

Dear Brae,

Thank you for all you've done for me and for giving me a chance on the day you found me.

If it wasn't for you I'm sure that Sheriff Silver Star would have smashed my head into oblivion which

would not have been fun for me. Oh right as thanks for letting me stay with you for these past few

days here's the recipe for those pancakes I had made you this morning. I'm glad I got to meet you

-Volo

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