PataPommel

by thetomboytiger

First published 27th of April, 2017

Coco Pommel visits her Ponyville friends, but has an unplanned encounter with Chaos and now there's eyeball people everywhere.

(MLP and Patapon crossover.)

___
Coco Pommel, the meek, quirky and anxious young Bridleway dressmaker, had been struggling to bring her life back to what it used to be after her quitting her position as Suri Polomare's assistant. When she gets the opportunity to visit Ponyville, she rushes to the village in an effort to make up for the Saddle Row incident and understand how to be herself.

She asks herself, 'What could go wrong?'

Chaos lords, inter-dimensional portals, and a resulting ponyhunt across Equestria could go wrong. And whatever is going on at home is only half of her new problem- being stuck in a land where she's either mistaken for a goddess and the ground she walks on worshiped... or lunch.
___

Coco Pommel makes an adult decision and falls because of it. Also, draconequus

Maybe if Coco Pommel woke up to the sound of birds singing, she would have been in better spirits.
However, for those who lived in Manehatten apartments, the default soundtrack that assaulted hit everypony's ears was that of the alternating low rumbling and high-pitched creaking of taxi carriages, the quiet mumbling and rustling of ponies following their deeply rooted routines such as picking up the newspaper and throwing it at the brash cyclist and that never-ending honking sound coming from the sixty-something next door who had no idea that most people don't keep a goose on their balcony.

Coco stared up at the ceiling, pretending to admire the bland white nothingness as she couldn't will herself to go back to sleep- not with that din that bird was generating. As a consequence she was left alone with her thoughts, most of them involving a cat and an accident.

She idly shifted her gaze to the rest of her room. Everything that had a preset cloth covering on it had been replaced with her own creations,as it helped make the otherwise unfeeling place a little more like the friendly house she imagined Rarity's country friend Applejack to have. The little couch, the blue beanbag in the corner, the square rug, the single bed she was lying on- they all had the mark of Pommel on them, which was mostly tuned in to her own colour scheme. Even the shelves of the bookcase and the vanity table's surface had something lining them.

She shut her eyes, squeezing them hard, them opened them again as if trying to convince the place to change itself.
It remained stubbornly the same.

Coco groaned and cast about blindly for the homesewn quilt, and spotted it lying on a curled heap on the floor, probably after being kicked off in the middle of the night. She grabbed the cord of the window blinds to heave herself up, tugging them open in the process, slid off the bed and started to tuck in the corners of the sheets and replace the quilt. She was belatedly aware of her hair sticking up into a cowlick.
It reminded her of the state it had been in when she had the cold at that most inconvenient time.

After some unhurried brushing and fiddling with the red tie of her sailor-collar, she meandered into the living room. Unlike her own space it hadn't been personalized, and thus was simply a ring of couches with beige tasseled cushions surrounding a similar fluffy carpet and a glass coffee table. She stared at the thick phone book on top of the table for a moment, trying to remember what day it was and get her brain working. As Sassy Saddles hadn't made her daily and very punctual call (at exactly eight- it was 8:08 at the moment) she guessed it was a Saturday.

"That means breakfast at that cafe of which name I not remember," she mumbled to the wall.

She checked her reflection once more, scuffled around for her saddlebags, and then fished for her apartment keys, backing out of the door and into the white halls peppered with the occasional cigarette burn. Coco had to jerk the keys in the lock a multitude of ways until she heard a submissive click, then hitched up her bags and set off down the bare wooden stairs.

When she opened the revolving door across the lobby Pommel was greeted by a fresh roar of noise as a cab clattered past and someone else called out for a another. She descended the stone steps out onto the sidewalk and started on her way off up the street, with everyone as usual ignoring everyone else, but with a slight change ever since the Theater incident- they would smile back if offered one.

She watched the blocks of buildings apathetically as she trotted past. Tall and with not much variant in their shape, size or colour with lots of windows, then the small group of markets with empty crates in front and chalkboard signs, then that big office house for that overseas company for wine. Finally she stopped at a small group of white painted patio chairs which accompanied round tables with forest-green tablecloths topped with a thin plastic vase each, containing some water and a little rose.
She carefully slid into a chair, and in a second somepony had zipped up to her side carrying a thin notepad and pencil with her magic and donning a small apron.
She squinted at her pad with a bit of a disgruntled expression, then at Coco and her face broke out into a small smile.

"Miss Pommel!" She trilled, flicking her choppy rich purple mane over her other shoulder and peering at her.
"Banana Fluff," Coco greeted in turn. She'd long given up trying to assert that they could call her by her first name as she'd been frequenting this shop every Saturday for two years.

Without another word, Banana Fluff snapped back to her notepad and started to scratch on it so fast that it appeared as if any writing would be illegible. "Okay, so a cold mocha latte with cream and cinnamon shavings and chocolate chips and a double chocolate glazed doughnut!" she rushed, and then promptly disappeared. There was a resulting clang and a light tingle as she slammed the green door of the cafe shut behind her.

Coco Pommel lay her head on the edge of the table, not willing to think about what she was supposed to do the rest of the day other than study her unhappy face anxiously in the mirror, read the magazines she'd read a kajillion times or wonder about what Rarity and her friends were doing back there in Ponyville. And how it felt as if she had failed them because of that whole shop incident, what with her getting a cold right when they really needed her and all.
It's just eat, sleep, make dresses and the like. She closed her eyes, feeling a wave of misery wash over her. Am I making an impact or anything? Does whatever I do actually matter (if I ignore the butterfly effect thing)? It all seems just routine- even these thoughts are just routine these days.
I wish I was her instead...
Coco gave herself a small smile, thinking of that charity theater.

"If you're sleeping, can I eat your doughnut?" Banana Fluff said in her ear.
Coco rolled her head so that her chin was on the table. The tray with her coffee and her pastry lay in front of her, emitting thin threads of steam, framed by the streetlights and buildings in the background.

"Whatever," she grunted.

"Somepony's feeling off." Banana mumbled. Coco listened to the background noise for a moment, then sighed, raised her head and took a long sip, precariously tipping the paper cup backwards with her chin. She then realized that Banana hadn't left but instead had drawn up a chair and leaned forward with her hooves cupping her face. "What you need, sister, is a good. Long. Break."

Coco licked up some cinnamon floating on top of the creamy coffee. "Mhm."

"I'm serious! Look at you-" Banana gestured to her hunched posture and deadpan expression. "-so horribly dull looking and all that. You're usually all soft and bright and now you look like some forty- something stallion in a midlife crisis."

"Midlife crisis."

"You know it's going to be the first of September tomorrow?"

Coco looked at her, her eyebrows furrowing. "And that means...?"

"You get a week or two off, remember? I've known you for three years, come on! You should go and visURK!"

Coco had leapt up from her seat, which sent it toppling backwards, and thrown her forelegs around Banana Fluff's neck in what to some people may be described as a affectionate chokehold. "Oh my Faust! Oh my Faust! Oh my Faust! I'd forgotten!"
She started to shake her back and forth. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"Ribs-!"

"Oh!" Coco quickly released her.

Banana stumbled back a little and tried to catch her breath. Then she examined her friend.

Before, she was the very picture of dejection- hanging head, hunched posture, lowered eyelids, small frown, limp tail, ears plastered to her head. Now she had this huge grin on her face, her ears were stretched to breaking point, her tail was all flouncy and her eyes were so wide that they looked as if they going to pop out.

She tilted her head. "If I don't charge you, will you give me that doughnut?"

"Anything!" Coco landed a quick kiss on her cheek, pushed her chair back up and then turned tail, running at a breakneck speed with her saddlebags flapping against her back, dodging all the bewildered passersby."Merciii!"

Banana blinked, then started to polish off her pastry. "I prefer blondes."
____________________________________________________________

Coco Pommel yelped as the train gave an especially cruel jerk, nearly landing someone's luggage on her lap.
She shifted uncomfortably on the green cracked leather seats and gave a glance at the glass windows which wrapped around the dark carriage. The only thing she could see were long rolling hills and hints of trees under the faint moonlight.

It had felt impossible at the time that all of a sudden with a couple of words her hugest problem had been blown away. She thought that the only place where that sort of thing happened were storybooks or something like that which contained fairy godmothers, not Manehatten.
Now it was Sunday night (train delays), and she was feeling a little of her old anxiousness. What if going to Ponyville somehow didn't magically solve all her problems or what if she got kidnapped or what if she wasn't welcomed? Coco was definitely not a pony who took risks, and now that she had finally leapt without looking forward it felt as if she might be carrying herself to her doom. Or something maybe a little less ominous.

I'm doing this to repay a debt... I shouldn't have traveled alone though. She glanced briefly at all of the shadow-cloaked ponies jostling with the rhythm of the train who were either mumbling to one another, watching out the window absently or just asleep, and wondered if she also looked all dark like that. The thought made her uneasy and she shifted her gaze to the floor and hugged the suitcase on her lap. At least there isn't that filly crying from earlier.

Some mare with a creamy green coat and a two-tone frizzy magenta mane kept accidentally jabbing her elbow into Coco's side as the carriage rocked back and forth like a ship at sea but she was really too polite to do anything but wince.

"Why a' ya goin ter Pahnyvill?"

Apparently the stress of the atmosphere had compelled the elbow- jabber to blurt out the question- and now that it had come out she wanted an answer.

She leaned closer. " Ah sayed why?"

Coco blinked. "Oh! I wanted to go see a friend...Or six..."

"Frehnds, frehnds," she muttered, turning her head away and pretending to look outside the window. " Ah don' no' th' deal wi' these 'ere frehnds."

She tapped her flank, showing off a cutie mark of two red apple slices under a browned round thing and grinned down at Coco (she was her age, but Pommel was a petite pony). "I's fahm'ly tha' matters th' most. Aye, they'd stick wi' a pony thro' an' thro'."

Coco offered her a warm smile, which the mare gladly returned. She must have been of the Apple blood to talk of her family so proudly and readily. Her cutie mark was also probably a useful pointer.
There was a short spell of silence, where both mares looked through the opposite windows, and then the Apple mare turned back to Pommel.

"Ya sayed ya were goin' ter visit six of ya frehnds, eh?"

Coco nodded rapidly.

"Are they bah any chance be th' Main Six?"

"Whodee?" Coco said feebly.

"Main Six! Twili', Rar'ty, our own Applejack, Rai'bow Dash, Pinkeh Pie, Fluttershy, th' like?"

Coco perked up at the sound of those names. This lady must know them somehow, and it sort of meant that she wasn't completely alone. "Oh yes! Especially Rarity- I mean I want to visit them all equally, I-I don't draw any favourites, but see, Rarity is my boss- I mean she offered me a job, I guess it makes her my..." Coco trailed off sheepishly. "Um. Nevermind... What's your name, please?"

The mare did not look fazed in the slightest. If anything, she started speaking to her more gently, like the scared and unsure foreigner she actually was. "Ah'd be Apple Dumpling, small fry. How 'bout ya?"

"Coco Pommel." She beamed up at her.

Apple Dumpling's eyes widened. " Law! Not th' famuss dressmaker?"

"I wouldn't know about famous..."

She placed a hoof on her forehead. " Ya are too modes', Coco! And such a sweet little fritter as well," Dumpling commenced to giving her a friendly rub on the head, messing her hair up. "Uhps." She quickly patted it down again, which wasn't really a hard job considering how smooth it was.
Coco felt pretty happy and didn't mind that much- she really liked friendly and outgoing ponies and it was a relief for her to feel looked after as she traveled out of home all alone. "Can you tell me why you are going out into the country, please?" She hoped she hadn't sounded too prying or anything, as she had heard of ponies shutting down if somepony said the wrong thing.

Fortunately, Apple Dumpling seemed to be eager to answer. " Ah'd be goin' to visit tha' there Applejack- just like ya, fritter!"
Coco didn't even really know what a fritter was.

"Mebbe we'd be seein' each otha, Coco!" She punctuated her sentence with a yawn and leaned back, crossing her legs. " Aah, th' fun we cou'd 'ave.."

Coco tilted her head to one head, staring off into the distance and tried to imagine what fun would be like for an Apple - probably with a lot of rough-housing and eating contests and apples- and wondered if she'd mind getting all mussed up if she was having fun. It didn't seem likely.
She turned to say something to Dumpling but then there was a weight on her side- the mare had fallen asleep on her shoulder. She shifted a little, trying to distract herself by imagining redecorating the carriage, but Dumpling's homeliness reminded her of own home - that little cafe and Banana Fluff and that dress she had wanted to finish and what she would do when she got back to work...

Coco Pommel shut her eyes in pain. Homesickness was always a greater problem for her than other ponies- but one that she only remembered at the worst possible times. She glanced at the sleeping Dumpling then at the similarly engaged passengers on the train, feeling this weird mix of adventure, loneliness and nostalgia that made her feel as if she was in some sort of quiet little movie all her own. She didn't why it was hitting her all of a sudden.

Who are you?

I am Coco Pommel. I work at the Bridleway, as a dressmaker. I quit being Suri Polomare's assistant and I'm proud of it.
I'm heading out to this unknown land because of my friends but right now I feel so alone...

Coco carefully unclasped her grey plastic suitcase and rummaged through it with her tongue sticking out a little as she bent it open and peeped inside. She quietly withdrew a thin sketchbook with a fluffy blue cover and cracked it open , flicking over the smudged pages with pony marionettes in various poses and (in her own opinion, of course) tastefully drawn dresses. She lifted it to her face and inhaled the scent of old paper, candle wax and heather; the familiar, comforting scent made her feel more at peace.
She happened to glance down at a sketch of a stallion with a half-drawn suit and remembered faintly Rarity saying to her in her shop Rarity For You as she peered over her shoulder that the particular drawing looked like Fancy Pants with the build and all.

A little more thinking down that lane and she felt herself wondering what it would like if she had a husband.
The thought was rather ridiculous and made her smile. There was no pony she'd ever heard of being like the one she would picture and maybe at some other time it might have bothered her.

For now she tipped her head back on the seat and closed her eyes, listening to lullaby of the creaking carriage and the metal train wheels working on the tracks.
________________________________

A young magpie was balancing uncertainly on one of the branches of an oak as sunlight filtered through the curling crown of leaves above his head, cocking a jewel-bright eye down at the ground which was beginning to receive a few more dead leaves as autumn waxed on. He fidgeted a little, testing the wing that he had broken smashing into the ground earlier, and began to casually sift his beak through his inky feathers. He was more than a little vain and liked how they gleamed when in this angle.

He darted his head when he heard some padding, crackling sounds coming from ten feet down below and flattened his feathers when he discerned the yellow of that one particular pony he remembered being friendly with.
He alighted jauntily on the ground in front of her, purposefully shifting his wings so that they would become more noticeable and was pleased when she paused and then carefully bent her head to the side to examine his left, taking it for admiration.

"Coal!" Fluttershy affectionately touched his head with her snout. "It's so wonderful to see you again!"
The magpie puffed out it's chest and gave a loud twitter.

"Oh? Somebody's been feeling a little better lately now, haven't they?" She offered the bird a smile.

He then nervously peered over her shoulder. She seemed to sense what he was thinking and flicked her mane a little. "There's nothing to be afraid of, he isn't here at the moment- I understand why you get all jittery around him, I guess some animals are like that..." Fluttershy glanced away, her eyebrows creasing into a frown. "Predators and all... but he wouldn't eat you, ever, you know ..."
She looked at him with those big pleading eyes.

The magpie disliked how he had made her become unhappy of a sudden (geez, mares) and was honestly confused as to why was so emotional about that creature anyways. She didn't start crying to the mice whenever the cat showed it's face...
He decided his charm wasn't going to be able to take much of an effect on her and flitted up a branch, offered what was meant to be a reassuring caw before taking to the wing.

Coal soared a little over the thatched roof houses, the market with only a few ponies stirring at this hour, and then some stretches of road. He suddenly dipped when he spotted something especially shiny with somepony that he had never set eyes on before - she was a cream mare with short blue hair and she had something he really wanted in there that would go very well with his feathers.
He glanced behind a little guiltily, making sure he was far enough from Fluttershy's cottage before carefully alighting on a swingpost of a clean little inn she had been exiting and started to examine the clip and how he could take it with minimal damage to himself.

Coco Pommel could feel her red and purple maneclip hanging loosely, but was too absently worried over what kind of chores she could do for Rarity- no, each of them- to try and make up for that Saddle Row thing. Maybe she could also find what made all these Ponyville ponies to interesting- everyone in Manehatten mostly kept to themselves and you wouldn't remember their faces later, but these were almost aggressive in their insisting for you to get to know them better. She hadn't really minded the aloofness of the Manehattans, and so was quite a bit overwhelmed by this.

And then all of a sudden she could feel her head being jerked back as something gave a heave at her pin as if she had got it caught in a hairbrush and then threw it across the room without untangling it first. "Yah!" she squealed.
There was a struggle as she attempted to whip her head around in a blind panic, and then as quickly as it came the yanking ceased and a dazed black and white little bird landed on the dust in front of her with a bump (thankfully with no clip in it's beak). It scuttled to it's feet in a most undignified way and hurriedly took flight, calling out insults angrily all the while (even though it was all really it's own fault).

"Hoi there, stranger! You reaaally shouldn't learn magpie anytime soon, cause if I were you I wouldn't want to know what he was calling you."

Pommel froze as a startlingly pink mare with equally dazzling blue eyes appeared half a foot from her muzzle with a perfectly serious expression on her face. It then morphed into an impossibly large grin. "I'm Pinkie Pie- and hey! I know you! You're that little person from Manehatten!"

Coco blinked, wondering what it was with ponies and calling her 'little'.

"You know, the one who was self-rescued from Polomint or something and was taught an important and valuable lifesaving friendship lesson in the process and gave Rarity some rainbow string- and then you had a real bad flu when you were wanted as a salespony at Rarity for You and couldn't help but feel guilty about it and decided to visit Ponyville and help out with whatever you can and learn about friendship too as an added bonus!"

"I.. I am Coco Pommel... and how did you..?" She belatedly attempted to introduce herself. Coco had no idea how Pinkie could say all that in one breath.

"Oh, just a hunch."

"D-d'accord..?" She said weakly.

"Discord, you mean?You'd be one of the precious few who ask for Discord. I dunno why any more ponies ask for Discord because he can rain chocolate milk from the sky, and whoever can do that is pretty okie-dokie-lokie in my opinion."
From what she said, Coco guessed that Discord must be some unicorn who messed with weather magic or a mad scientist (or normal scientist, if that would offend him). She wished Pinkie would slow down a little what with her helter-skelter way of speaking and all, but hesitated to ask for fear of hurting her feelings in some way. Perhaps she was simply on a sugar high (she certainly did have the distinct scent of bubblegum and cupcakes)?

"Okay, c-can you please direct me to Miss Rarity? I've been wanting to- I mean, you already know..."
Pinkie tilted her head, closed an eye and stuck her tongue out a bit. " You're just like Fluttershy. I like you!"
She turned turned and started to spring along the road- and actually bounce, as if she was really wearing springs. "Oh, of course you want to talk to Rarity! You're both super-amazing fashion- designers! This way!"

_________________________________________________________________________________

Coco patiently walked through Pinkie Pie's constant talk. Whatever she thought of, she said it- describing the houses, who lived in them, when she last saw them, when they last bought something from her, when she last bought something from herself, and all that sort of thing. Her enthusiasm was actually rather infectious- after a while Pommel found herself smiling and watching her as she hopped along and commenting on some of her rather interesting phrases (which seemed to both surprise and please the mare).

She kept mentioning that Discord pony, though.
" I bet he'd also like you lots! Well, he doesn't like anyone better than Fluttershy, but you're like Fluttershy, I guess..." she said.

At the moment, Coco couldn't really find it in herself to care much about Discord. She was too busy looking at all the peculiar shaped buildings.
While Manehatten seemed all tall and packed in, these places were rarely more than a couple of stories high, with some distance between them and were all mostly stone with dry hay roofs. She didn't see a single apartment building anywhere once- or really anything that barely resembled one. There was grass growing in odd places and trees here and there too, and Coco noticed that the birds of choice appeared to be little songbirds and not crows and pigeons like home.

While it was rather neat and rustic, Coco thought that Manehatten had it's own charm too. The difference between the two were as if Ponyville was a willow and Manehatten a strong, firm wintry oak tree.

Coco accidentally bumped into Pinkie as she came to an abrupt halt in front of what looked like the house from Hansel and Gretel's cheerful cousin. She raised an eyebrow at the gingerbread walls and sprinkles and faux gumdrops lining the roof, feeling as if she would gain a kilogram from simply looking at it.

Pinkie Pie suddenly whipped around, and Coco started from the serious expression on her face which was very different from the goofy one she seemed to wear as default. She leaned forward until their muzzles were not a foot apart. "You are coming to your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party at six, riiight?" she asked, narrowing her brilliant blue eyes.

Coco blinked, looking alarmed at this sudden change, and then bobbed her head quickly.

"Okie, dokie, lokie!" She suddenly reverted back to her grinning self, and without another word walked forwards and pushed open the little door, making a bell jingle while Coco watched her uneasily.
It took for a considerable amount of Coco's willpower not to think of that cafe.
"Oh, my stars! Coco, darling, is it really you?"

A mare with an immaculate white coat and rich purple mane curled into large ringlets came walking delicately outside the sweetshop, wearing her red cat's-eye glasses with the rhinestones inlaid in them. Coco Pommel could immediately sense that she would look good if her pinned her hair up into a bun with a blue maneclip, preferably in the shape of...
She shook her head and blinked rapidly, trying to remember what she was going to say. The very reason she had come to Ponyville was standing in front of her.

"Rarity!" she cried, and trotted forwards to meet her. Rarity suddenly paused and studied her hair with an eyebrow raised, and Coco said sheepishly,"Bird problems."

"Don't worry dear, I've seen this kind of thing before..." Rarity turned her head and started to riffle through her thick white saddlebags with her cutie mark emblazoned on them. "Happening a lot lately, what with the newest addition Fluttershy took in- lots of manes tangled everywhere, especially if they something shiny in it..."

She withdrew a lavender hairbrush and started to work quickly on her mane . "Emergency hairbrush- at least it had good fashion sense, anyhow..."
She gave a wink at Coco, who carefully smiled back, trying to find a way to tell her what she was here to do.

Rarity replaced her hairbrush and started along the path. "Come, walk with me, dear- do tell me, what brings you here to this rustic little village of ours?"
Coco recognized the word 'rustic'- she had met that stallion Fancy Pants more than once (she couldn't help it, as he was family) and he certainly did use it almost without fail when mentioning Ponyville. "I came here to help... to make up for the Rarity For You incident."

Rarity gave her a pointed look. " I thought we already established that you'd been completely forgiven for that? It's not as if anypony can control whether they get down with the flu or not."

Coco inwardly winced when she remembered how she had sneezed in Rarity's face more than once. "I know, but it was a really big thing you asked me to help you with, and I still feel bad for all those pains you and your friends had to go through, and besides, I needed a break anyways..." She trailed off, thinking of how sour she was on that Saturday morning.

"If it's friendship you'd really need some pointers about, I can certainly say I'd be more than happy to help- oh dear," she added when they came to a stop in front of what Coco guessed was the Carousel Boutique, which reminded her of a sort of white Faberge egg from whatever she could see of it. There was were groups of ponies hanging around the Boutique, whispering excitedly or attempting to impatiently peer in through the shutters.

The two mares stood watching them bemusedly at this bad timing- one squinting with her head on one side and the other wearing a deadpan expression.

"Rush hour..." Rarity looked at Coco with a frown. While she regretted that she wouldn't be seeing more of her, Coco didn't want to add to what she owed her, and could tell that she needed to be working and not having some annoying city mare hanging around her head for a good part of the day. She gave her a reassuring smile. "It's alright- I can just go and visit somepony else for now. I have lots of time."

Rarity returned her smile, if a little guiltily. "I don't know- I wouldn't want to be a bad host, dear, what with this being your first time in Ponyville and all..."

"No really, you shouldn't worry yourself..."

"If you say so- you should go visit Fluttershy then, I would guess you would both suit each other very well, seeing how you two so alike and all.." She stood there looking a little unsure, then started off down to her shop. " But I simply do insist that you drop by!" she called over her shoulder.
Coco didn't know if she should tell her about Pinkie's...invitation, but she had already disappeared into the throng. A moment later the windows were flooded with light, the blinds pulled up and the door swung open, already welcoming the customers.

Coco watched it unhappily for a moment, then turned around and started down the lane that seemed to lead into the wilderness , guessing that Fluttershy probably lived somewhere like that. She wasn't really bothering about where she was going, figuring that some way or another she would find it. Keeping her eyes on the road, she could already feel that sort of gloom descend upon like a fog.
Coco had come to this place to try and find the thing that made everyone else so carefree, yet it was if the whole trip was a lost cause- she appeared to just be walking around, bumping into ponies and making them feel as if they had to entertain her.

Maybe I shouldn't go to Fluttershy's after all... she seems like a really shy pony, and I wouldn't want to go and make her uncomfortable.
She had come into the market area, with ponies manning the colourful striped stalls heaped with trinkets and vegetables while others milled about, occasionally pausing to check something or turn it over. Two ponies were arguing quietly about the price of a a cabbage-like plant while another couple weren't taking the same pains about their volume.

Coco suddenly yelped as she suddenly smacked into somepony who had been trotting rather fast, sending them reeling backwards. Her face felt as if she had hit it with a hammer but she still managed to croak out quickly, "Sacr- I mean, I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" She quickly bent and down to push up the groaning pegasus she had unwittingly knocked down, who seemed to get her bearings as she was helped to her hooves.

"I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-" She peered at her face. " Coco Pommel?"

Pommel raised her eyebrows. "Fluttershy?"

She broke out into a tentative smile, brushing her straight cotton-candy pink mane out of her eyes (rather fruitlessly, as it just drifted back again). "It's so nice to see you again..." She trailed off.

Coco realized she was waiting for to pick up the conversation. "It's really great to see you too," she replied.
There was a small, awkward pause and then Coco finally burst out, "Can I talk to you about something?"

Fluttershy tilted her head on one side. "You can come with me to my cottage, if you'd like," she glanced down at the floor,"I was just heading there anyways...To feed my animals, you know?" She gestured to her bulging saddlebags, and Coco could glimpse some green under the flaps.

Yes, of course. That's what I'm good at. Bumping into ponies and making them take me to their houses. Coco exhaled an then looked back at her as they started to walk off together. "That certainly looks heavy."

"It's okay, I've gotten used to it," Fluttershy said. " It's easy to bear because I know it's for my animal friends who really do need it."
Coco blinked. "Is there a difference between caring for an animal and caring for a pony?"

Fluttershy looked off to the side. "Well, when you're caring for an animal, it's a more motherly sort of feeling," she explained eagerly now that they were on her favourite topic. "And when you make a friend in a pony, usually it's more..."
She ducked her head, trying to search for the word.
"Platonic?" Coco offered.
"I-I never really understood what that meant..."

Pommel winced. "Honestly, neither do I... Lets see-" She tried to bring up a clear picture of her dictionary in her head. "Um... it's what you feel for Applejack," she said, picking out a random name.

"Oh, I see. So 'platonic' means 'friendly bond'?"

"I guess? That's how I've heard it being put."
A pause.

"So, yes, with a pony, it's more.. platonic, but there are lots of cases when someone talks to their cat as if it's their friend- I mean it is, but.."

"I understand," Coco said encouragingly.

" Alright... and there are times when someone feels all protective with a pony first and... well, like a mother bear and her cubs, I guess..."

She trailed off again, watching the ground determinedly and looking as if she trying to fight off the beginnings of a smile. Coco squinted at her- was she blushing? She mistook it for embarrassment and quickly changed topic to spare her the discomfort. "You're certainly carrying a lot of vegetables, though. How many animal friends do you have?"

Fluttershy latched onto the question. "Oh, lots! You see, there's..."
Coco was careful to make it obvious that she was listening to her. There was just this something about Fluttershy that made Coco feel strangely warm and careful with her, as if she was easy to break. Maybe it was her shyness? Was this how other ponies felt about herself?

"- and just because they're bear and bunny doesn't mean they can't get along, because I saw- oh! We're here!"

Coco blinked and straightened up. "Huh?"
She proudly gestured to a little house that Coco had at first mistaken for a rather strangely shaped tree. It wasn't strictly symmetrical, had windows framed with dark wood and a couple of large birdhouses sticking out of the nearby trees and the house itself. Coco could see the edge of the Everfree Forest beginning a ways away.
She beamed. "It's really -" she just stopped herself from saying 'rustic' there, "-homely! I really did think it was an actual tree at first."

Fluttershy tentatively returned her smile. "Would you like to come in?"

"Of course, if you wouldn't mind."
Fluttershy walked over to the red door and carefully pushed it open.
Coco followed her inside, turning her head to all sides, trying to take in everything at once. There was a square red rug on the wooden floor, some bookcases and paintings, a flight of stairs, a fireplace, green couches hugging the wall, and what looked like a dog basket on the floor tucked into a corner along with some flowers.

"Tea?" Fluttershy had retired into one of the doorways and came over bearing a tray, which Coco quickly hurried to relieve her of. She set it down on a nearby table and mostly out of politeness picked up a cup and carefully settled down. She noticed with some relief that Fluttershy seemed less shy now than before.
There was a quiet moment as they both sat, sipping their green tea. Coco blew on hers a little to cool it down, feeling a little bit of that peace she had been hunting come to her and closed her eyes.

"You wanted to talk about something?" Fluttershy asked gently.
Coco opened her eyes and frowned down into the depths of her teacup, holding it with both hooves.

"Of course, you don't have to right now if you're not ready, or don't feel like it..." She hid behind her mane for a second, then brushed it away and smiled at Coco. "I can't promise that I have a definite answer if it's a problem, but I certainly at least listen."

Coco took a deep breath, and started to explain how she had been dwelling on existential crises lately, questioning whether she was good enough or not and whether whatever she did was actually important to anypony. She told Fluttershy how she had been acting rather dull and anxious that she owed Rarity, since she couldn't help when needed most at the Rarity For You shop- despite everypony telling her that she was forgiven and all that. She concluded it with her visiting Ponyville to try and fix things and exactly how successful she was at it.
"It's only barely your first day here, at least. There's a lot of time for things to get better." Fluttershy offered.

"But I'm already missing Manehatten... The ponies, the places..." Coco's gaze flicked up to her once, then back to the window.

Fluttershy had listened careful to everything Coco Pommel told her, and between intervals had made a little quote or so. Now she also stared at the wall, idly swirling the dregs of her tea with her eyebrows creased in thought. Every now and then she made as if to say something, then looked away wearing an expression of hesitance.

At the word 'missing' she turned back to look at Coco, and watched her take a sip. She sighed quietly, making Coco look at her, who tilted her head a little but didn't say anything.
Finally, Fluttershy said slowly, "Have you heard of..."
Her confidence wavered for a moment, but then tucked her chin into her chest and tried again. " Do you know Discord?"

Coco became alert at the mention of that Discord pony again, remembering how Pinkie Pie had spoke of him. She had mentioned that he could rain milk from the skies and was a friend of Fluttershy's, making Coco draw up a mental image of a goofy- looking unicorn stallion with a talent for weather magic or silly things. He must be especially caring or something for Fluttershy to bring him up like this.

Or it could just be that she holds him in great respect, she thought, studying Fluttershy who was obstinately watching the ground. She glanced up at Pommel.
"Well, I've heard of him today from Pinkie," Coco said. " But I've never seen him or anything."

"Wh-What did you hear from her?"

"That he can make chocolate milk rain from the sky and he's your friend, nothing else."

Fluttershy took a deep breath and then let it out. "Well... H-He's a...special case."

Coco dropped an ear in puzzlement. "Special?"

"How do I even start...?" Fluttershy paused again. "He visits here every Tuesday..."

"So he visits you often, is that what you're trying to say?"

"Yes.. I was just maybe thinking that you could get along with him well. M-Maybe, I wouldn't necessarily be right, he can be a little-" she glanced guiltily at the floor,"-unpredictable sometimes, but it really does feel as if you and him could both be... nice friends.. or something. He can also help you with your problems, I-I think.
"It's just.. He did something rather was rather hurtful, and Princes Celestia temporarily took away his magic - until he regretted it she said- and I haven't seen him since..."

Coco was listening to this with interest. This was the second pony that day who thought that she should meet this Discord, but Coco couldn't really discern why he was so special or what made him so important. She didn't want to question Fluttershy on her views about him, though, as she seemed to be somewhat fond of him (or more probably she was reading way too much into things). It was also rather intriguing that Celestia herself had taken away his magic. She probably didn't mean Celestia directly.

It was quiet in the little house for some moments as the two mares avoided each other's eye, and then Coco happened to glance out of the window into the darkening sky. She suddenly set her cup down and got up. "What's wrong?" Fluttershy asked, pricking her ears.
"Hmm? Oh, it's nearly six... There's a party I was told to come to by Pinkie at six o' clock. Do you want me to wash those cups for you?"

"No, no, I can manage!" Fluttershy slid off the couch and beamed at Pommel. "It was really great to talk to you, though!"
Coco gave her a genuine smile back. "I loved it too- are you sure...?"

" It's alright," Fluttershy said. "You should get going now, though- I don't think it's good to be late for a Pinkie Pie party."
"I would really hate to disappoint her," Coco said with a frown, moving towards the door and thinking of her optimistic face."It sounded as if she was really expecting me."

Fluttershy arched an eyebrow." Really? Most ponies are almost afraid of not going."

"Afraid?"

"Oh, just a silly Pinkie thing. Hope to see you again-it really was lovely- goodbye!"

"Good- oof!" Coco tripped over something furry which started to chatter at her. "- sorry squirrel- goodbye!"
She didn't stop waving for a long way down the path, and once Fluttershy was gone she glanced at the Everfree forest, as if she had detected some kind of movement in there. She dismissed it though, as there was a wind blowing through the leaves making it look as if there was always something moving.
She didn't like how loud her hooves were on the stones, though, and only relaxed when she started to re-enter the town. She looked back, giving a little shiver that make her fur stand up for a brief moment- it felt as if there were eyes watching her go.

"But who would want to go stalking me?" The thought made her feel better and she rolled her eyes. "I'm just an inconsequential little Manehattan dressmaker."

She drooped her head.

"Nothing else, really."

______________________

Coco Pommel was rather glad nobody seemed to notice that this entire occasion was all planned just because she showed her face in Ponyville.
She thought that it was a tiny bit overdone as she gazed as the ceiling, which was hung with a large glittering disco ball that captivated many a young filly's interest. There were streamers strung up from the oddest places, three long white tables topped with a lot of baked goods and bowls of punch, and balloons floating everywhere and bumping into some ponies regardless of whether they were taped to the wall or not (the balloons, not the ponies). The normal dining tables were all covered with white tablecloths and the entire room was bathed in magenta light.

And that was all ignoring the multitude of ponies filling the room. All kinds of unicorns and earth ponies and pegasi were milling about, either talking, eating or dancing- it felt as if Pinkie Pie had called the entirety of Ponyville to that one bakery.
Coco herself stood in a corner of the room, leaning on the edge of one of the tables and admiring the way the lighting was reflecting off one particular pony's colour scheme and the way his scarf wrapped around his neck.
If he just tied it a little tighter and higher, it would make him look all the more-"So, are you having fun?"

Pinkie Pie had bounced up to her with a spot of purple (it looked purple with all that pink light) cake icing on the side of her mouth. She angled her head and surveyed Coco, then squinted at her face and Pommel smiled at her reassuringly.
"It's really nice of you to host a party just because I came to Ponyville," she said.

"Well, are you suuure you're completely happy? 'Cause your face looks all normal like to me," Pinkie asked, leaning in a bit.
"Not everypony absolutely beams when they're happy," Coco said. "Some ponies just smile a tiny bit or just smile with their eyes."

"Like big sister Maud?"

"Like your sister Maud, I guess." Coco didn't have any idea who Maud was.

"That's all completely fantastic, then," Pinkie said, hopping up and down on the spot. "Y'know, just as long you're having fun! Nopony can stop the fun at a Pinkie party." She dropped her voice to a scary imitation. "There is no escape..."
Coco made a little laugh. "Oh, dear... It looks like I've been caught."

This made Pinkie Pie grin brighter (if it was physically possible- but a lot of things are physically possible with Pinkie). "Hey, you know what? I think Rarity is in here somewhere, and I know you like Rarity which makes sense as you're both amazing dressmakers and I think I've said that and lookie there! Found her!"

Coco started as Pinkie zipped off and pushed forward a harassed-looking Rarity. She had taken off her glasses and there were a few hairs sticking out at odd directions to her mane and she was muttering, "Dance? More like step on my hooves and turn them into..."
She blinked to find Coco Pommel right in front of her and rearranged her features to something more pleasant, bouncing up her mane. "Coco Pommel! I was rather hopeful that I would be seeing you again..."
She reached up a hoof to adjust her glasses, only to realize that they were not there. "I take that you managed to visit Fluttershy?"

"Oh yes..." Coco perked up at the memory. "It was really nice talking to her..." She suddenly realized that she could ask Rarity who Discord was and why he was so 'special'.

"Knew it," Rarity murmured. "You two are certainly common in a multitude of ways- both quiet, reserved..."

"Rarity?"
Rarity had watching a balloon drift across the room and turned to find Coco standing a little more diffidently than before, with her legs bunched up close together, and was avoiding her gaze. "Yes, my dear?"

Coco glanced up at her. "You know.. everypony keeps mentioning this person..."

Rarity turned to face her fully. "Hmm?"

"Well, both Fluttershy and Pinkie said something about a Discord."

Rarity lost the vacant little smile on her face. Before she could say anything, however, Pinkie Pie, who had apparently overheard, pushed herself between the two and looked rapidly from Pommel to Rarity. "Oh, so you wanna know about Discord, eh?"
She stood next to Coco and threw a foreleg around her. "I happen to be the fourth best source of valuable information on our little pal here," she said, adjusting a pair of sunglasses she had apparently conjured on her muzzle. "The others happen to be Celestia, Luna and Fluttershy - not necessarily in that order."

She pushed her glasses down her muzzle. "Well, you see once upon a slightly long time- it was a thousand years ago- some stuff happened and there was a naughty little long draconequus-"

"Uh?" said Coco weakly.

"It's short for dragon horse, I think- not that Discord looks like a dragon horse, not really. Anyways so he did some bad things, turned Equestria upside down, made the roads into soap and the houses cardboard and made Fluttershy- no, wait, she wasn't born- made everypony's life miserable because he didn't share his chocolate milk."
Coco raised her eyebrows, mirroring Rarity.

"And so the Princesses turned him to stone using the Elements. Why they only turned him into stone and didn't banish him forever - the 'k' word- is a bunch of mumbo that would take until tomorrow to understand.
" And us and yadda yadda and then Celestia wanted us to reform Discord and it was really amazingly hard for about one day until Fluttershy did her Fluttershy stuff and we all lived happily ever after, the end. Until the Grand Galloping Gala where he didn't another thing with a giant ever hungry slab of lime jello to prove-"

She sudden broke off into a fit of giggles. Coco was too busy trying to understand what she was telling her to say anything, while Rarity looked disapproving.
Pinkie suddenly erupted, " To prove he wasn't jealous! Ooho!Ahahaha!"

Coco looked at Rarity, who's expression reassembled somepony's grandmother who was told that they didn't like her cooking- extremely disapproving. "No, she doesn't mean it like that!"

Coco suddenly understood what Rarity meant and turned all pink in the face.
Pinkie took one look at her and went off again. "Oh, you're so innocent! Just like Fluttershy! Oooh, be careful, not too much like Fluttershy or else she'll have com-"

Rarity hurriedly stuffed a particularly large muffin into her open mouth with her blue magic, effectively shutting her up. "In short, dear, as Celestia puts it, Discord is 'the spirit of chaos and disharmony who once ruled over Equestria in a state of unrest and unhappiness, until she and Princess Luna used the Elements of Harmony to imprison him in stone'."

Coco's mouth fell open.
This entire time Fluttershy (with whom the Lord of Chaos was good friends with!) and Pinkie Pie were saying that she might make be able to make friends with that particular Discord.
Not some goofy unicorn stallion who had temporarily lost his magic.
The one Discord.
That very one who was a thousand years old and who she studied about in History when she was filly. The one had turned Ponyville into a mess when he escaped. The one who was let free and gotten reformed. By Fluttershy.
That same creature that had temporarily sold his soul to a devil (in a manner of speaking) for a hand in the throne.
She was supposed to be compatible with that Discord.

"Oh," she squeaked.

Rarity was watching her , looking concerned. Pinkie Pie was cheerfully chewing through the blueberry muffin with her cheeks stuffed to ridiculous proportions, and attempted to comment, " Mmfby ymph shmdh bhn lhss dhrct ffrst"

"Coco?" Rarity asked, leaning forwards a little. "Are you alright? Would you like me to take you home?"

Coco stared over her shoulder, not hearing a word she said. The loud music and the natter of ponies in the background had faded away and all she could hear was her own heartbeat in her ears.
Then she realized that she if she kept holding her breath like that she would faint, and started breathing again which seemed to bring her to her senses. This was all simply guesswork ( even Fluttershy had been careful to inform her of it) and that Discord wasn't anywhere she was likely to bump into him anytime soon.

Besides, she thought, it's way better having the Lord of Chaos on your side than not. Maybe it's actually an upgrade, you know, being his friend... I really should put the past behind us like everypony else has- well, at least try...
I've always tried my hardest not to offend anypony, and he's also a.. sapient creature, so it practically the same, right? I'm sure he's probably wanting for friends too- no, wait, he's got the Six- still, it's not as bad as I thought.

"Coco Pommel!"
She blinked, focusing on Rarity's concerned face. Even Pinkie was watching her a little apprehensively with her face in a frown (it didn't suit her), having swallowed the muffin.

"I'm alright," Coco said.
Both Rarity and Pinkie visibly relaxed. To her surprise, it was Pinkie who suggested, " How about you go out for a breather?"

Rarity stared at her. "What? It's a ton to take in at once, you know." Pinkie shrugged.

"If you say so. See you two later..." Coco took a deep breath and let it out shakily, then carefully threaded her way through the thorng of ponies. The gaudy pink light and the throbbing electric music and all the noise and sparkly bits in the Corner was starting to pile on top of herself.
She was never really a party pony anyways.

Coco pushed upon the wooden door, closing her eyes to let the cool night breeze wash over her, and with relief felt the noise fade away as the door swung shut. It was surprisingly quiet outside considering the volume indoors. The houses looked all sleepy in the light of the half- moon and Coco was awestruck by the stars in the night sky- there were just so many of them- having never seen it properly in Manehatten, with the light and all.

She started down the quiet little street, listening to the grass rustle, the crickets chirp, the occasional sound from inside some pony's house, feeling that thing she had felt in Fluttershy's house- cozy.
She breathed in the crisp wind.

Coco Pommel found herself carefully walking along the edges of the Everfree. It had always seemed rather bold for the residents of Ponyville to live right in the middle of a forest- in Equestria forests were rarely calm- and it explained why so many unusual things happened here.

"Like Discord," she murmured.
She felt as if she wanted to meet him now. Well, not exactly now, but at least in the daylight. He just seemed like a really interesting person, and Coco wasn't as afraid of him as she realized that he had successfully befriended the Mane Six - most noteworthy being Fluttershy- and was supposed to be reformed and accepted by everyone now.

My grandmother always told me to be careful for what I wished for, as they might become true. She watched into the depths of the forest. Coco remembered that as a foal she and her brother used to tie up the trees around the park like presents, so they could pretend that it was a gift for the animals living in them. She carefully withdrew a spool of rainbow thread from her saddlebags, and after glancing around she began to carefully loop it around the tree, smiling dreamily all the while.

After she tied a little knot and was about to cut the thread with her teeth, all of a sudden she felt a sharp yank on her skull and stumbled back, landing in the dust and gasping in surprise and fright. Her heart rate spiked sharply and she scrabbled to her feet - suddenly realizing that her mane was flowing freely over her face now.
Surely enough, there was that magpie perched over her head, making shrill triumphant sounds in his throat, not daring to open his beak for it contained her precious red ruffle maneclip.
That little..! She lunged at it. "No! Give me that back!"

The magpie took to it's wings and Coco set off at a determined gallop after it, guessing that it was heading for it's nest - she didn't really know much about magpies as of late. She deftly leapt over large snarls of brambles ( brambles? how did they...) as it got darker and darker the more she ran and her hooves were silent on the grass floor underfoot. She dodged tree trunks which wasn't easy considering that she was trying to keep that bird in her vision.
The sight of that creature with her clip in it's mouth made her run faster.

After a while it felt as if it would never stop flying, but Coco was starting to tire. Her hooves were feeling wet(?) and bruised and her mane was probably in one of the worst case scenarios but she was too afraid of losing the magpie to stop.

Mercifully the bird's wingbeats seemed to become very laboured and it flittered to a stop in a clearing on what looked like a large collection of big chips of shale covering a cave, sinking down in defeat. Coco refused to let herself stop despite the feeling that her muscles were stretched on a torture rack and she hopped over the rocks, trying to find the ones that looked the least likely to fall.

At last she came to halt, panting very heavily and with her legs trembling in front of the bird. She didn't understand why it had stopped until she saw the way it carried it's wing, and when it saw her draw closer the magpie looked at her in worse fear and finally dropped her clip. It hopped backwards with a hoarse sort of cry, then suddenly took to the wing with a titanic effort and landed in a tree at the edge of a clearing.

Coco suddenly froze, terror stopping the shaking in her hooves. She was smack in the middle of Everfree forest. At night. When most predators were awake and ready for blood. Like timberwolves. She squeaked and swallowed the sudden constricting lump in her throat. It felt so impossible that only half an hour before she was fussing about some stupid old Discord.
Another revelation made her pause and look at the magpie.

It was obviously exhausted to the utter limit, and could barely move when Coco had approached it. But it had suddenly found the power to fly off...
There was a snapping sound as if some colt had flicked a rubber band especially hard. She looked down at her feet.
For the love of Faust...

There wasn't even time to consider turning as the roof of the cave gave in so silently that it was eerie. Coco let out a cry as she collapsed into the depths along with the roof, bits of rocks raining all over her. The darkness of the inside swallowed up the glinting stars and the night sky and then Coco felt all the air puff out of her as she landed on the floor.
There was an incredibly loud thump right next to her. Coco squeaked and threw herself away as a large, solid portion of the cave roof had caved in like a door on it's hinges so that she was rather trapped like a mouse in a cage.

Instinct took over and she pulled herself to the side of the cave, her mind absolutely blank. Everything had happened in such a tiny amount of time and she could barely begin to think of the consequences.
She focused on getting her heart to stop buzzing like a woodpecker and worked on smoothing her mane, taking deep breaths and not trying to think of anything for the time being. Her ribs hurt, her stomach hurt like someone who did a belly-flop onto water from a long way up, her hooves felt as if she had a considerable amount of paper cuts all over them, her legs couldn't take a crawl, and she was just so dizzy and the room wouldn't stop moving from side to side...
But no, her ordeal still wasn't over yet.

A pair of red eyes slowly opened in the darkness, and Pommel stared at them, feeling all her previous attempts at calming herself all go to pieces.

"Well, well, well. We are in a fix now, my little pony..."

Author's Notes:

I am sure I'm correct in saying that there is precious few fanfiction concerning any game in the Patapon series, and that this is the only one with Coco Pommel in it.
(Hooray for me, I get a cookie ....)
There's precious few who've actually played Patapon too. Or heard of it even.
I think it pretty much counts as a 'retro' game by this point.
_
Banana Fluff is a background pony that appears watching the Sisterhooves celebration.
Apple Dumpling is a background pony who first appears in the big Apple family reunion and then to help raise the barn.

Coco Pommel tells Discord a bedtime story

Hey, Coco?

Yes, brain?

You know what? Screw it. You're on your own for this one.

Coco couldn't really see what the person looked like, as they were in a cave and it was dark outside as well ( it does get powerful dark at night, she thought stupidly), but what she could see from the light coming from the chinks in the rock barrier behind her seemed to give off gave her the impression that some god had been making some animal and then added too much Chemical X.

The person towered over her (making her have to crane her neck as she was also on the ground and all), being about three times her height, and Coco could see the faintest outline of two mismatched horns that certainly weren't resembling a unicorn's on his long head. For some reason, unlike the the three creatures his torso was made of the general build of his body reminded her of a skink one of her cousins used to bother her with. The position of his arms suggested that he had his hands held behind his back, his lamplike golden and red eyes were surveying her in turn and he was arching his eyebrows expectantly.

Pommel had been expecting this, but the reality of seeing the thing that she used to have to write homework about in person reminded her of how discordant his asymmetrical self was meant to be. Her fashion senses just looked at him, before shrugging in defeat and stating that any stallion would look good in a tuxedo.

It didn't really matter- the person could have looked like Cerberus and she doubted she would do anything but sit there and stare and not bother to collect her wits, because it was as if all that sudden everything of the past half hour had stretched her ability to feel fear so much that she felt as if she had broken it.

They both stared at each other, one faintly amused and the other with a tilted head and one squinting eye.

I must really be such an embarrassing mess, Coco thought absently, but didn't really feel like moving to check if she had a hairbrush and judging by the cold on her coat she had lost her saddlebag anyways.

As time crawled on it became painfully obvious to the young mare that the person in front of her wasn't going to do anything to break the ice, so Coco meekly raised a hoof to her mouth and cleared her throat, averting her gaze.

"Good morning, monsieur. Or bonsoir, sir. I mean they're both the same thing. I don't believe you've introduced your self but Buttershy has been telling me a lot about you. Fluttershy. I-I said Fluttershy."

She put a hoof on her temple in exasperation, let out a shaky breath and looked around, feeling rather awkward and wishing that the person wouldn't stare at her so. "I-I'm -going to have to ask to b-be excused, as my n-normal powers of flight- not flight- w-wait, no- ah, w-wording- wording? That's n-not even a-" she broke off in frustration and puffed out her chest. "Why are you looking at me like that?!"

For the person had begin to chuckle- this deep rumbling noise in his chest- as Coco stuttered on, and with her final outburst he began laughing outright, doing a double take with his hands on his chest. The sound echoed through the cave and bounced through Coco who ducked her head and flattened her ears, feeling her face prickle uncomfortably and an embarrassed little smile unfold.

"Oh!" he gasped, flicking away a tear with his eagle talon. "It's just that you're so precious with your shyness and your cutie widdle stutters~!"

Coco tucked her chin into her chest and straightened up determinedly. "I am Coco Pommel, and I state that I am not precious!" She fumbled in her mane and extracted her clip, waving and clicking it at him threateningly. "You don't need to know how many ponies have been dazzled with this fashion Excalibur, Nimrod!"
She froze. "Nonononono, I meant Discord, Discord! Not Nimrod!" Pommel hid her face again. "Nooo..."

This sent him off into an even larger fit. Discord- she realized that she now had no problem with calling him that- was laying on his stomach and beating his thick lion's paw on the ground, laughing fit to burst. Coco was still hiding her face when he subsided into snorts and then silence, wondering exactly how many times she was going to embarrass herself to death in here.
The thought of death made her quickly become serious- she was badly scraped (and her mane was an emergency) and stuck in a cave with boulders that looked unlikely to move rather soon with a demigod devoid of his powers.
When she turned her head back to Discord thoughtfully she found that his face was suddenly less than a foot away from her muzzle.

She squealed and fell backwards, earning some choked laughter that he kept in by pressing his paw to his mouth. Coco quickly scrabbled to her hooves, then sat down again as they reminded her that they still felt like they had torn in two.

"I do believe that you said I haven't introduced myself?" Discord said, lowering his voice to a purr. " By Celestia's exact royal words-" he then assumed a deadpan expression and held his hands behind his back again. " Ahem. 'The spirit of chaos and disharmony who once ruled over Equestria in a state of unrest and unhappiness.' "

He then paused to survey Coco's expression, which was one of a startled rabbit. She was taken aback by two things- one, that he had mirrored Rarity's explanation when she had asked her who Discord was, and two - the voice that came out of his voice was one that matched Celestia's exactly (from what she had heard from recordings), albeit in a disinterested monotone.

"You have a talent for impersonations," Coco said, not hiding her interest.

"You like that? I can also do a great impression of a haydog," he said, and then straightened up as much as possible, promptly flattened his arms to his sides and assumed the expression one gets when they're about to be punched. Coco had begun to giggle uncontrollably and held a foreleg over her face while Discord looked rather pleased.

"Why does a haydog look so terrified?" Coco choked out.

"Trust me," he said, resuming his normal posture and wearing a perfectly serious expression, "you would also be horrified if you knew what was truly in a haydog."

Coco had been reminded of something by the look on his face and was now watching him with some apprehension. She hadn't really heard much about Discord, but what information she had gathered hadn't really told her that would be this strangely cheerful- she was aware that he was supposed to be somewhat sly and antisocial. Then again, that was when he was possessing his Chaos stuff- was it possible that the absence of those powers changed his personality to an extent?

"Monsieur?" she said shyly.

"You flatter me," he mumbled to himself. "Yes, my little pony~?"

Coco switched her gaze to the very interesting cave ground rather than his eyes (they were rather hard to look into anyways). "Why are you acting all happy?"

"What, am I not allowed?" Discord said, leaning away with his eyebrows drawing together and his eyes narrowing in a sudden frown.

Coco realized that what she said could be construed as offensive. "Oh, no!" she said earnestly. "I didn't mean that you couldn't, I-I was only asking as Fluttershy's description of you didn't include that you would be so..."
She tried to think of a safe word. "...changed. Not that she said you would be mean or anything! She personally said you weren't bad- I-I was just drawing a conclusion..." She cringed.

Discord however had pricked his ears up and was now watching her intensely. "Fluttershy mentioned me?"

Pommel was confused at his sudden interest and looked up at him. "Yes...?"

"What else did she say?"

Coco dropped an ear, trying to retrieve the memory. "She asked whether I had heard of you and I thought she was talking about some stallion so I said I hadn't. Then she said you might get along with me well and then I asked where you were." She paused, noting that Discord's eyes didn't leave her face.

"well, Fluttershy said that your magic was temporarily gone and she hadn't seen you in a while-" his expression turned unpleasant- " -and then she started being all worried and ducked her head like this-" she faced the floor and lowered her eyelids.

Coco quickly jerked her head up when Discord stuck his hands in the air and let out a frustrated roar. " So she was all sad again because I needed some alone time?! It's as if everything I do is inflammatory for her!"
She squinted at him and began to understand how he was in this cave in the first place- apparently he was hiding away to brood on the loss of his magic- and there was also something else she was starting to see that made her raise her own eyebrows.

"She seemed rather fond of you," Coco said, watching him carefully to gauge his expression. Either he must not have left her her for so long before or Fluttershy was more protective since the big Tirek incident (the thought of which made her uneasy as she remembered how her magic was drained that day).

Discord froze his indignant pose, blinked at Pommel in surprise and then leaned forwards, tilting his ears towards her and fiddling with his hands. "How could you tell?" he said carefully.

"I'm a young mare, I can tell when somepony holds affection for somepony else. I can't say explicitly which kind- I-I mean how much- but I think she likes you at least as much as her other friends." Coco said in her meek little voice.

His mouth was a little open and Coco guessed that if he had his Chaos his eyebrows would floating cartoonishly over his head.

"This doesn't mean you should take my words to heart- I could be very wrong, you know!" she said hastily. "If you're not careful you can sabotage your whole friendship or something serious- and I don't want it to be my fault..." she trailed off and looked at the walls. "I already owe them."

They both were lapsed into silence with Discord mulling over what she said with his chin on one hand and Coco trying to straighten out her emotions, which felt like they were lying in a lump in her chest like a ball of yarn somepony gave to an overexcited kitten. Her body was starting to act up now that she didn't have anything to distract her, and Coco could feel the dirt on her coat and mane and the tangle her tail was in more keenly by the second. She really wished she hadn't said anything.

"Okay," said Discord all of a sudden, making Coco jump, "Usually I love not making sense. It's even become my catchphrase. But this needs really needs some ironing out." He flinched and sucked in a breath. " I can't believe I just said that..."
He settled himself into the smooth cave floor, lying on his belly with his arms tucked into his chest like a sphinx and his tail coiling up with his side. His head was now level with Coco's, who was sitting on her haunches like a cat and looking at a loss.

"So let me get this straight-" he huffed again- "- Fluttershy said that you could be... friends with me?"

Coco looked awkward, feeling herself flush.

"It's not that impossible..." He squinted and framed her face with his hands as if it were a camera. "I mean you're obviously some sort of Prench city gal but those unfortunate traits can be nullified by the fact that you can be considered a Fluttershy Version Two."

Coco didn't really bother saying anything, content to let the Chaos demigod talk.

"That of course is if you would like to..." he paused.

"Uh? Oh! Of course!"

He rolled his eyes. "You don't have to be that polite, you know."

Coco shook her head. "I-I'm not being polite! I really mean it! You're really... interesting! I've haven't met anypony so..."
She felt stupid. "Interesting...?"

Discord blinked, looking genuinely surprised. "I'm not exactly a pony."

Coco simply looked confused now. "Point?"

"I'm an immoral Chaos god!" he said with exasperation. "I'm not exactly a come-and-tell-me-your-problems-and-we'll-sit-on-the-couch-and-eat-ice-cream-and-cry-together person!"

"I don't like ice cream," said Coco. "so that that won't be a problem."

He reeled back ."Whaaat- not like ice cream? That's medically impossible!"

"Picky eaters make good friends in the sense that they give you all their food." Coco said primly.

He put a paw on his forehead in mock impatience. "If you insist, mare," he sighed.

Discord then cleared his throat. "So you wanted to know why I was acting so happy?"

Acting? Coco thought, narrowing her eyes.

"Well", he said uncomfortably, "part of it is that being snappy with you feels as if I'm shouting at Fluttershy herself."
He stopped and looked at the floor.

And you don't want that to happen because you believe you've already hurt her enough, Coco realized, her eyebrows shooting up. All she said was "I understand."

"I sound so stupid, talking about my feelings with someone I just met," he grumbled. " But ninety percent of it is that you look horrible."

" Oh." Coco said.

"No, not like that!" He gestured to her. "You look as if you've been tossed into a spinning vat of geese, self-effacing metaphors and potential papercuts."

"That's a very unique way to say it..." Coco said, self- consciously shifting on the cold cave floor- feeling it leach the warmth from her defeated legs- and then looked down at herself. She could just make out some dark straight lines on her legs and grits of dirt tangled in the confines of her coat, contrasting with the ivory colour. Her neck was feeling too stiff for her to look at her tail and she knew from the tenderness that she must be peppered with bruises.
The more she looked, the more she was aware that she was hurting really, really bad and that she was actually rather tired, considering that she had been running at her limits for half an hour and that it was most probably eleven at night.

"Ouch," she said weakly. And then gave a yawn.

"How did you even get into a mess like that anyways?" Discord asked. "Did somepony beat you up? Tell me their names I'll give them the old one- two!" He swung his lion paw around threateningly.

"A magpie stole my clip," Coco said.

Discord stared.

"It's really important! I used to participate in the Midsummer Theater when I was a filly and I was given it for my help with the Wizard of Oatz." She fiddled with the red ruffle. "I'm actually a little surprised it isn't all torn up by now."

"It's an earth pony thing," Discord said.

"Oh?" Coco tilted her head.

Discord cleared his throat and pretended to put on a pair of glasses.
"Earth ponies have their own certain magic too. They live longer, they rarely get sick, they can survive up to three-point-five times as long as another type can without resources- making them very good soldiers- it's very hard to knock one down - something to do with the connection to the earth- and of course they're the only ones who can grow food most efficiently. Some can tell where rocks are meant to be for them to grow the finest crystals- hence rock farming.

"The areas in which an earth pony is most skilled at depends as it also does with unicorn's magic and a pegasi's flying strength as well."
Coco noticed that he paused a little at the mention of flying strength.

He gave a poke at her sailor's-collar. "I'd say that you're strength is in your vitality and it leaches out into the things you wear as well. A pegasus would need a garden of aloe and a hedgehog to fix this mess, but I'm sure you can straighten it out in ten minutes."

Discord then wiped his brow with a shudder. "That's the most sense I've made in a long time." He sat up, hugged himself and huffed. "Brrrr.."

Coco had always secretly lamented that she was only a simple earth pony, and used to daydream about doing five things at once with her unicorn magic or never have to use the bus again if she had wings. She had never been told that earth ponies could do things like that as well- possibly most ponies had forgotten about it as there wasn't really any need to harness them unlike in times of war.

Thinking of 'times of war' reminded her that that the person in front of Coco had once 'sent Equestria spiralling into a wasteland of madness and chaos' as the yellowed, tattered and doodled in history book under her bed stated. He had also then nearly did it again twice- once when he re-escaped and the other when he pretty much literally made a deal with the devil.
And then he truly reformed, Coco thought.
The nervous way he spoke of Fluttershy and his efforts to make her laugh didn't allow her to take those facts seriously. I guess that's also why we could be friends.

She yawned. No, we are friends.

Discord gave her a light poke. "Earth to pony? Hello?"

Coco looked up at him blearily. "'Sup?"

"Did I...break you or something?" he asked, tilting his head and then peering at her upside-down. "How do you feel?"

Coco remembered faintly that he was suffering from an overload of sense. "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

"Thank you so very much for being worried about my wellbeing," Discord said. "But I'm afraid that you are in the worse position and require adequate medical help immediately. Which means taking a bath and then sleeping on an unsanitized unchecked thin layer of moss."

He scratched his head. "Well, they always say 'store in a cool and dark place'."

Coco nodded, not having any idea what he was talking about which basically meant that her efforts were a success.
She lurched to her hooves and then immediately fell back to her previous position- her legs felt painful like a rubber band being stretched too far and didn't feel as if they could support her weight.

"I think I'll just lie here." She carefully lowered herself onto her belly, pulling her legs into her sides and tucking her forelegs into her chest like Discord had been a while ago. She lay her chin on her chest, feeling a draught blow in through the chinks in the stone wall behind her.

"In that case..." Discord dropped to all fours and raced off into the shadows.
Coco blinked and stared at the spot he used to occupy- she wasn't expecting him to move so fast. Usually in all the pictures she had seen she got the gist that he walked around on his hind legs and would be ungainly otherwise, but he moved with surprising agility- like a cross between a weasel and a snake.

Pommel lifted her head to gaze into the inky darkness that she was cloaked in. There was the sound of crickets chirping outside and the rustle of something's wings as they flapped overhead. She thought of the magpie guiltily and hoped that it hadn't fared the worst- or at least had gotten out of the Everfree, as she heard the faint, eerie croon of a Timberwolf's howl.

Her head was feeling rather swimmy, and she closed her eyes briefly, not bothering to suppress a chill that made her fur
stand on end.

_______________

When she opened her eyes again, everything so strangely light and dark at the same time- there were millions of tiny white spots dancing in her vision and leaving behind thin trails like little comets.
She felt as if her bones had been replaced with helium and her stomach was filled with iron. She flicked her head - a quick jerk usually made to dislodge a fly- but her head gave a painful throb akin to toothache and the light shifted so dazzlingly that she shut her eyes again.

One moment her eyes were opened, then they had closed and now this. She had no recollection of where she was, or what she was supposed to be doing- was she in her bed in Manehatten? It couldn't be as the ground was so hard and there was this quiet but deep rumbling echoing everywhere.
Her prey instincts kicked in and she opened her eyes again, in time to see something slide off her head and the world turn to normal, albeit much brighter than she expected. Apparently she had curled up in a sort of moss blanket, and the little dots were the light filtering through it.

Coco felt like an idiot as she collected her wits and remembered where she was. She must have had fallen asleep. She stirred a little, finding that while she was very stiffened and tender in places, she could move with more ease than before. Her cuts also had closed up overnight, though red lines could still be seen when she shifted her legs.

What is that sound?

Coco carefully lifted herself to her hooves, swirling them around to get rid of the numbness. The holes in the rock wall that hemmed her in were filling the cave with light, but she couldn't see Discord anywhere and the growling (for that was the rumbling noise) seemed to echo hopelessly around the cave. Is there some kind of creature that woke up in here?

Pommel peered through the darkness at the end of the cave which seemed to go on forever. It was certainly larger than she thought.

Something brushed lightly against her hind leg and she squealed and leapt a foot into the air, coming back to earth rather ungracefully and scuttled backwards in a panic, only to think, Oh, that's where he was!
Discord was curled up on one of the rocks beside her like a ball python and while she couldn't see his face she could tell that it was him who was snarling in his sleep.
Coco pricked her ears up. She had known that he was an odd-looking creature and could guess as much from the outline she had glimpsed at night. But seeing him in the light was a different ordeal, and Coco was only now coming to terms with the fact that he was definitely the thing that could flip the whole of Equestria upside down, and was only stopped by the fact that he liked the ponies who lived on it a mite too much.

Coco took in his slender, angled head, the long furry neck which ended in a reddish-brown feathery torso (it reminded Pommel of an eagle's), and the two wings that were rather strangely placed down his body. She was intrigued by the way the light reflected off of the smooth pebble-like scales on his strong looking red dragon's tail, which had a brush of feathery white fur at the end.

Coco was especially fascinated with his asymmetrical qualities. Unlike almost all of the other animals which had a collections of different body parts, he was full of contrasts- his legs, his horns, even his eyebrows weren't the same as each other. She could spend all day trying to visualize him in something fashion-forward as if it was some sort of big philosophical riddle.

"Discord?" she called out carefully, inching closer.
When he did not react, she came a bit more forward."...Discord?"
She didn't know whether it was wise to wake him up from whatever dream he was having, but she was getting worried as the rumbling started to grow more intense. He had his ears flattened against his head.

"Hey, Discord..!"

And in one sudden, swift move Coco was flying through the air and turned a neat somersault before landing on her back with a "YAH!"
OuchouchouchouchouchouchthisisprobablywhatGrannySmithfeelslikeverydayohmyFaustIdopityhersomuch!

She quickly rolled onto her hooves, shaking from the impact with the ground and feeling as if someone had whopped her spine with a wooden plank. Coco gave a shudder that made her fur stand on end and arched her back tentatively. There didn't seem to be any permanent damage done.
She quickly turned her attention to the other side of the cave, where the particular flinger was pressed up against the wall on all fours and wore a look of horror.

"You're bleeding!" Coco said in a panic.
She remembered the thing she had draped over herself and quickly scurried over to retrieve it, then carefully approached him, her hooves making a louder sound than she would like.
When he didn't seem to run away (or do anything) she hurried up to him and bent her head to examine his eagle claw.

"Did you bite it in your sleep?" she asked worriedly, switching her gaze from the teeth marks to meet his. His yellow eyes were really wide and he only blinked rapidly in response.
Coco huffed and then started to clumsily wrap the moss cover around his claw. She had to unwrap it twice before she had it snugly against his wrist and then, after biting her lip and looking unsure, she extracted her pin and used it to secure it in place.

She then stepped back a little to give him some space, and then ducked her head, feeling a sudden rush of awkwardness and embarrassment. She once again found herself wishing that he wouldn't stare at her so.

After what felt like forever, Discord said, "I bucked you in the stomach, and this is how you repay me?!"

"I get used to it," Coco mumbled to the floor. "I-It w-wasn't your fault, y-you had a n-nightmare and all..."

"You ponies!" he fumed, standing up on his hind legs and putting his face in his hands. "You and your blasted kindness! How am I ever going to stop having to repay you all?"

"That's what I said!" Coco exclaimed, straightening up, and with a rush remembering how she came to Ponyville in the first place. Her wave of shyness had ebbed and she now paced the cave ground, looking anxious. "That's right! I came to Ponyville to learn about friendship, and look where it got me!"

Discord looked a little hurt, but he quickly covered it up. "Well-"

"I meant that in a good way," Coco said.

"Oh."

"But there's still the fact that I'm stuck in this cave and there isn't really any way to get out," Coco said. "And there's that thing where I volunteered to help everypony because I had failed them badly-"

"Hoooold it!" Discord said, putting his hands up. "What did you fail everyone with, exactly?"

"I had a cold when I was really needed with the new shop Rarity made," she explained. "I sneezed all over Rarity."

"I should have been there to see it," Discord said enviously.

Coco gave him a look.

"Still. It's not your fault you had a cold, you didn't need to go vaulting all the way to Ponyville!"

"I had a midlife crisis," Coco said.

Discord gave her an odd look. "How old are you?"

"A year younger than Fluttershy."

Discord rolled his eyes. "That's a thing that happens to middle- age stallions, young Pommel."

Coco's response was to stick her tongue out at him.

"Oh, real mature."

"There's still the problem that we're both stuck in a cave devoid of resources and you can't do any Chaos magic to help," she fretted, starting to pace again.

"Don't remind me," he grumbled.

"Exactly why did Princess Celestia-?"

"Queen Sunflank-" Coco stared at him- "-reminded me of the law. It doesn't matter how sorry a criminal is, they still have to go through the court-and-trial."

"You're not a criminal," Coco said fiercely.

He sniffed and placed a paw over his heart. "I-I'm touched, Prench Fluttershy Version Two..."

"Yes, well-"

"I've been bound by the magic thread of friendship and family wuuuv~"

"Thread of- OH MY FAUST! I REMEMBERED!"

Coco suddenly turned and tackled Discord around his feathery waist with a bear hug, making him stumble back and sputter from the force. She started to shake him wildly, feeling as if she was going to either burst or float up to the ceiling like an absurd balloon. "Oh thank you thank you thank youuu!"

"Help! PDA!" Discord squeaked.

"Sorry!" She then immediately took back her apology by taking a sudden Pinkie-esque leap and giving him a peck on the cheek.
"The thread I tied to the tree! The spool was still in my saddlebags and it's somewhere around here, so somepony can find us and help us out!" She squealed to Discord, who had his mouth open and a hand on the side of his face and was following her bouncing with his head. "We're not stuck here forever after all! I'm not going to grow old and live licking cave dew off the waaaalls!"
She started humming and bouncing around in circles. "We're going to li-ive, we're going to li-ive~"

"Uhduh," muttered Discord.

"We're going to li-ive, we're going to li-ive~"

"Did you just demonstrate to me a Prench kiss?"

Coco stopped her jumping and looked up at him. "Huh?

"I am so not saying that again."

"Well, I'm Prench, so-" She suddenly stopped to look at Discord who was sticking his tongue out and her eyes went round when she realized what he meant. "Waah!"
Coco could feel that weird prickling in her face again. "N-n-n-n-no! Whdh- whakinda- whhhh-"

"HAH!" Discord roared, slapping his knee. "Your face is priceless, you look like a cow hit with a shovel!"

Pommel hid her face with one foreleg, biting her tongue to hide her grin.

"Really, though," Discord said, straightening up and holding his hands behind back with a businesslike expression. "Were you more scared of dying in this cave than you let on?"

"Um..."

"You can't fool me, my little pony! Most people don't go bouncing around like a hyperactive hamster on a hot oven when they learn something that only merits a shrug."

Coco couldn't really find the will to answer, so she awkwardly coughed and watched the grey cave floor.

"Why are you so terrified of being stuck here forever anyways? I mean, I'd probably fully understand the consequences of my actions at some point!"

Coco didn't want to say what was on her mind -'but it could take very long!' - as it sounded rather offensive to her. It would probably make him feel as if he was still viewed as a monster which didn't take anypony's pain very seriously, so she kept quiet and fidgeted with her hooves. This behaviour could be interpreted as an answer in itself, so she quickly scrambled for something to say.

"Discord?" Coco said timidly.

He raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"

She paused, feeling like an idiot. Her mind went blank and she couldn't think of anything else to say. "Can you tell me a story?"

He raised both eyebrows. "Hmmmm?"

"Nothing."

"That was most definitely not nothing, young mare. A story? What do I look like, your grandfather?" He mimed pulling on a pair of suspenders.

Coco hid her face with a foreleg, trying in a panic to think of something intelligent to say and started when Discord cleared his throat and looked dramatically over her head.
"There was once a time of war," he began in a very nasally voice, sweeping the air in front of him with a paw, making Coco duck.

"Oh, I didn't..."

"Absolute nonsense. So there was a- here, it'll better if we sit down- okay- move over!- alright..."

Coco felt bewildered and blinked at him rapidly as she was given a firm push on her shoulders making her drop to her haunches. Discord settled comfortably in front of her after turning in a circle like a cat, and coiled his tail by his side, ignoring her protests.

"Well, I really..."

"Yes that's nice and all, but since you insisted-"

"Why would you want to-"

" Pommel."

Coco dropped her ears and shut her mouth, looking sulky.

"Once upon a time there a dragon and he died but he came back to life because I'm Discord. The end. Your turn!"

"Hwha-?"

Discord put his chin in his hands and fluttered his eyes. "Pwease-?"

Coco reddened. "I don't know any stories."

"Sure you don't."

"Discord..." she pleaded, having no idea how she got into this mess. There was much more important things to do like trying to move the rocks or -

"I won't laugh too loudly!"

She huffed, pulling a face.

"Fluttershy always tells me stories~"

"I'm not Fluttershy..."

"But I tolerate you slightly more than everypony else except for her..."

"Not working!"

He narrowed his eyes. "What, are you digging for compliments or something?"

"No-!" She flushed.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." He took a deep breath.

Coco quickly waved her forelegs around in his face. "Alright! Okay! Just don't...do that..."
"Um, one day there was a pony, and she... bought a cake and ate it, but then she thought too much and invented a metaphor, and, um, got turned into an alicorn for her troubles. The end!"

"Oh, please! I already know Cadance's story! That doesn't count!"
He gave her the puppy-eyes. " We're frieeends remember?"

"Princess Cadenza's-? Nevermind..."
Coco tucked her chin into her chest, squinting at the floor. Of course, she could just make up a story on the spot, but there was a reason her cutie mark was a hat and not a storybook.

She remembered the large worn old house she, her brother and their friends used to occupy, and how they used to make up the most ridiculous stories when they huddled around the fireplace near Christmas.
She could clearly see that one particular lanky orange colt- his name was something like Swiss Cheese, maybe- asking the oldest (who was balancing some cocoa on a tray and looking harassed) for the 'usual'. She could see her sit down next to her and snap when her brother started some jokes about Coco and the drink in the ceramic mugs, and then grumble something about never getting married and having foals. She would then adjust the shawl wrapped around her head, stare spookily into the fire, and everyone would go all quiet, and then-

"Are you crying?"

"Oh?" She snapped out of it and quickly felt her face. "N- It's just a reflex! Nothing to it..."

He squinted and leaned forward slightly. " Y-"

"Once upon a time!"
She winced- it had come out louder than she expected. Discord blinked, his ears tipped back in alarm.

Coco took a deep breath.
___________________________

" There was a time when the earth when the earth was new and the sun and moon raised and lowered themselves."
Octavia Melody paused to stare impressively into the fire. The four foals sitting in a messy ring around her were as wide eyed as if this was their first time hearing the story instead of the thirty-fifth.

"There was a time where no ponies walked the land, leaving it completely untouched by any hooves.

But that did not mean that there was nothing living."

She looked round at them. Her usual flat, monotone voice was replaced by something slow, dark and dramatic, making the foals all the more eager to hear her out.

"Instead of us equines, there were the ancient race of the..."
"Patapons," the four said in a breathy voice.

"Beings made with a single eye that was their body. They built ancient cities that are now only crumbling ruins, leaving the stones to lament of their passing. The trees would sing of the strongholds and fortresses made with their wood, and the animals would cry about how the finest weapons known to all of the world were with their feathers, their claws, their teeth-"

She raised her chin to the ceiling, letting the rays of moonlight filter through the open window and the shadows flit through her inky mane. " And their magic."

The four gasped. One with gentle blue eyes and a purple ribbon tying her short mane actually stood up in wonder, before being pushed down by her brother.

" They made the sword Castram,

"The eerie blade Tsuyugiri.

"They crafted the demonic Dreadmare.

"The lance of the gods- Gugnir.

"The most beautiful armour known to all ponykind was made by the Patapons- but now nopony can know of their glory- for they are all gone and the wind blows past the places where their feet used to lie and where their cries could be heard.

And the whole earth hold memories of the infamous legendary Hero."

They all stared at Melody, knowing that the story was truly starting now.

"Would you like to know how he was discovered?"

"Yes, yes, yeeesss!" Vinyl Scratch couldn't hold in her excitement anymore and she squealed and leapt into the air.

"Oh, sit down and shut up," muttered Fancy Pants. "You do this every single time..."

"You really shouldn't be so mean..." Coco whispered but nopony heard.

Octavia Melody sighed, and then waited impassively until they had stopped bickering and were watching her.

"The Patapons had one quest in their mind- to search for their fabled Earthend, where it was rumoured that the gods resided and there lived the mythical IT."

She said 'IT' in a deeper voice.

" It was said among them that whoever would gaze upon IT, they would know eternal happiness- and in their rush to find IT, they built a great ship of Hinoki, their finest wood, and with a mast of Super Cedar."

The foals thought Super Cedar was a little corny but didn't question it.

" The Patapon Army set sail upon their ship and as all of the most important ships would do got hopelessly caught in a raging typhoon. The swirling gusts were everywhere, raining the poisonous seawater into their eyes and buffeting the ship most cruelly. The sky was so dark that not even the most clever of foxes or the most sharp sighted of griffons could have pierced the blackness all around.

"And then the worst struck... A giant, many armed octopus monster the likes of which have been seen since had risen out of the water. The Patapons looked upon it but did not quail- for even when their ship was battered beyond recognition and the Patapons swept into the sea did they give up in their Almighty who had forsaken them so long ago.

"As one of the last Hatapons left alive swept up onto the yellow beach littered with debris, rocks and seaweed, half drowned as a cat, he heard the one sound that he had only dreamed of hearing in his life. It was a loud, rolling PON that echoed through the very core of his being.
The drum sounded with the precise beats he had heard of in the old legends, and the Hatapon could feel himself tremble and his senses return. He lifted himself onto his feet, and he held up the thing he had saving at the cost of his life- the PATA drum."

" As he held it up in triumph, the drum disappeared with a blinding glow, and then the Hatapon heard the Command last made when the ancient tribe had marched to war with the former enemies the Zigotons.
PATA- PATA- PATA- PON!

"Unbidden, the Hatapon began to walk strongly as the March of Mobility curled through his head. He hoisted the flag as if he was in front of an army.

"The Hatapon found one of his brothers laying amongst a tall dry gathering of grass, and the Command ripped through the air again and similarly affected the Yaripon struggled to his feet. They both started to march on, beginning to sing with the beat of the drums as the earth had not felt for so long a year. They discovered two more of the Yaripons, and then they came across their chief priestess, the Lady Meden- but they began to feel the battle rage as she was surrounded by three of the strangest beings they had witnessed before. They were called the Karmen, and wore spearhead shaped red, yellow and orange masks and each held a spear.

"The Patapons have started to march!" they cried out in terror, for even in those early days the Patapons were renowned for their utter fearlessness and their sheer military strength. They could do naught but retreat.

"Meden thanked the Patapons and showed them to what was left of the city Patapolis. There they found more of their kin that had been awakened by the sound of the Almighty come alive again.

"After the Patapons had made themselves familiar with the territory and the new animals and enemies, after they had marched through the rainy jungle which served as the base for the Karmen tribe, they had wind of the rumours that the Mater Sprout, the seed of the Tree of Life which gave rebirth and took away the fear of death for the Patapons, was in the land- but they had to be careful, for it was guarded by the dragon Dodonga.

"Unafraid but wary, the Patapons went to the misty lands where the Dodonga inhabited."

The foal's eyes were round with excitement and they had their hooves on their mouths- this was their favourite part.

" But then they came across the most unusual sight, something which none of them had expected- there was someone stuck under a great boulder carved with symbols and inscriptions. That someone was a Patapon who wore an orange mask with a red lightning bolt on it, reminiscent of fire.

"Wha ... Patapons?" he said in utter bewilderment.

"He gained his senses and quickly said, "Free me from this rock- I will join you!"

" The Patapons were doubtful that they could even nudge the boulder, but they attempted to fire some spears at the immoveable object. As they guessed, it barely made a mark.

" "Is that the best you can do?!?" said the strange Patapon in exasperation. He suddenly froze and snapped his head towards the misty distance, where the earth itself was shaking and the rocks jumping as tremors spread through it.

" The Dodonga had arrived, and it roared in anger and suspicion when it saw it's old hunters in it's land. He was nearly beside himself in fury, and the Patapons could see something red glow in his throat as he tilted his huge head backwards and flared his head frills.
The Patapons were not to be intimidated, however, and they heard their Almighty strike the Lament of Defense, enabling the Yaripons the take cover and put their spears together. As of such, the fire did not hurt them, protected by their Almighty.

"The fire... it's breaking the seal!" the strange Patapon under the boulder cried out. The small army took heart and with determination heard the Lament of Defense echo through them again as the Dodonga reared it's head and butted the rock as hard as it could in utter frustration.

"Urk...My back is killing me..." the Patapon groaned."

This drew out a giggle from the audience.

" And then, with one mighty inferno that could have roasted any lesser tribe, the Dodonga unwittingly led itself into a trap as the boulder disappeared with a shimmer. The Patapon quickly stood up and held out his arms as the Hatapon and Yaripons looked on with growing awe and he caught the heavy rock on top of the now vanquished boulder effortlessly. He turned towards the dragon who began to look nervous- and it said by the Patapons that one who can get the Dodonga to fear them is the mightiest warrior in the land indeed.

"With a heave he threw it at the offending Dodonga's head with an insult. The great dragon roared in pain as it smashed into his skull and he staggered away, hissing for revenge but with his tail between his legs.

"That night, the masked Patapon was taken to the priestess Meden. Brandishing her staff, she told them of the prophecy that foretold that he would become their Hero (to which the Patapon showed some reluctance) as he was the 'funny looking masked dude' it spoke of.

"F...funny looking....." he coughed.

" Meden then beseeched the Almighty to name him. And fiery letters appeared above his head..."

Here Octavia Melody paused to look around at the foals, who were busy trying to think of a name for the fictional Patapon hero.

"How about 'Felix'?" Coco suggested, avoiding everypony's eye. "I do love that name, you know, a-and you never let me pick..."

"'Felix' has too many letters," Fancy Pants insisted. "You can only have four, it's the rule."

"Who made that rule?" Cheese Sandwich complained. "It's just silly..."

"It's the tradition," Fancy insisted.

" How about Pyre?" Vinyl suggested.

There was a brief discussion before they all turned to Octavia Symphony.

"Pyre it is, then?" she said in a bored tone. The three foals all nodded enthusiastically, minus one downcast filly.

"Fiery words appeared above the Patapon Hero's head- PYRE. The rest of the Patapon tribe had gathered around to watch, sure that it was an omen from the heavens.

"The Hero conceded defeat, accepting his new name. And it was so then at that very second that the legend of the great Hero had begun."

Octavia stopped her story abruptly, staring into the logs that fed the fireplace flames. Vinyl surreptitiously scooted closer to her and ducked her head through her sister's shawl, who reacted by carefully putting a foreleg over her shoulders.

Little Coco watched them with a little lump in her throat, sneaking glances at Fancy Pants and trying not to remember that she was going to be due at home soon.

As far as she was concerned, the past and the present Coco thought, this decaying dusty run-down house was her real home.

Author's Notes:

This chapter was originally going to be longer, but I split it. The ton of red lines in the Patapon story bit gave a me a headache.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Coco Pommel kindly requests to stop being tossed around so much

Author's Notes:

My exams had started at the beginning of the month.

"I lied."

"W-w-what?" Coco Pommel on reflex leapt to her hooves, her insides suddenly freezing and the vacant expression on her face flashing away.

"I lied."

His voice was crystal clear and seemed to jumble strangely in her ears before going to her brain, preventing Coco from registering them properly. Everything was seeming to be happening too fast again for Coco as if it was some sort of skipping record. She looked up at the draconequus- who was standing on his hind legs to purposefully tower over her- in utter incomprehension.

All through her story, he had been watching her on his belly with at first an eyebrow raised and his chin in his hand, but then he slowly started to lose his cocky expression and replace it with something that brought back nightmarish memories of skyscrapers turned to cardboard and roads of soap bubbling like lava.
He clasped his hands behind his back, arching his neck like a snake. "Well, not outright. But I suppose it's still just as bad, isn't it? Especially between two friends?"

Coco's imagination was coming up with all the possible things he could have lied about and unsurprisingly she found that she wanted to get as far away as possible. All of the laughter and the ease had burst into flames.
She stared at him uncomprehendingly, feeling as if she was being pierced to the bone with his lamp yellow eyes. She had to force out her words . "W-what do you m-mean?"

"I already know who you are and why you're in Ponyville. I was there at the window when you were having your cozy tea party with Fluttershy," he said matter-of-factually. " I watched you from the borders of the forest. I have to say that at the time I was very curious as to what kind of a pony you were that Fluttershy herself recommended me to you."

Coco felt bewildered, terrified and hurt, like a glass cat that had been knocked off a table. Her voicebox seemed to be utterly inaccessible, rendering her helplessly silent.

" Don't look at me like that! You yourself even asked why I was acting so cheerful!" Discord stood up fully now, towering over her and spreading his hands in exasperation. "Even then you suspected that something was off! Come on, Coco Pommel, I'm Discord- the Lord of Chaos, the King of Deceit, the one who three times tried to take over Equestria, thinking of nothing but myself, treating the inhabitants as dollar-store windup toys! How could you ever be so naive to call me your friend and even tell me a part of your history that I wager you've never spoke a word of to anyone ever before!?"

His voice was becoming higher and louder and more desperate the longer Coco listened. Her face seemed to screw up in confusion- and then she was touched by understanding as if it was a ray of light pouring down through a storm front.

"Three times! And every single time I did it I always got a another chance! Ponies wouldn't stop forgiving me and smiling patiently whenever I turned their rabbit into a cotton bud or their cottage upside down or their vegetables into monsters! I attempted to stab them both in the front and back and who says I won't do it again?! Botch everything up somehow!? Are you still going to let me free? W-"

He seemed to abruptly lose his breath for a moment. "Will Fluttershy still fight for my sake even if I keep damaging her like this time and time again?"

And then, rather unexpectedly, he crumpled - drawing out an involuntary squeak from Coco- and then curled into a tight ball like the one that he been in before when she had struggled to wake him up. Discord had his hands covering his eyes and his red tail coiled up neatly beside him as he lay motionlessly on the cold cave floor.

Coco's legs had stopped twitching as she lost her fear and the world slowed down, abandoning its jerky quality to resume a normal pace as her breathing was back under control. She had been listening very closely and took the silence as an opportunity to begin to automatically slide the pieces of the puzzle together. The resulting blurry picture made Coco stop and survey Discord (who was now regarding her with some unease) with some sort of strange floaty, fuzzy feeling.

Never what I thought earlier about not living in some type of filly fairytale...

She conveniently forgot that he had been manipulating her since she had fallen into the cave and the feelings were replaced with concern. He looked like had something snapped inside him, breaking him limp, and Coco was too much of a blasted nice pony to leave him alone like that- after some awkward shuffling she carefully advanced as near to him as she dared, which was about three feet from Discord's grey head.

Is he-?

"Oh- Discord-" She cut off, about to finish with 'don't cry', but had the feeling that he would not appreciate her assuming he was in tears. She pretended not to notice and laboriously lowered herself onto her stomach (some muscles were still strained), folding her forelegs underneath her and tilting her head in worry as he failed to react. She had heard detailed and rather fanciful sounding stories of Discord's chaos-causing and with his second release from stone had even been victim to it herself, but that didn't really matter at the moment.
Coco frantically cast about for something that would rouse him from his miserable state, and she remembered that he was somewhat funny and that funny means jokes.

Here goes nothing...

"I, um..." She stopped, ducking her head in uncomfortable embarrassment. The few jokes she had been told were by one of her co-workers, who knew only rather mean-spirited ones. " I-w-what's all black and white and red all over?"
She swallowed at her horrible choice. "A-a penguin in a blend... nevermind that one-"

Discord surreptitiously moved his fingers slightly to peer at Coco, who was determinedly looking everywhere but him. Her attempts were almost award-winningly horrible.

" What had four legs and flies? A d-d-dea...a dead hor- ice-cream! Uh... A flying ice-cream scoop with legs...?"

" What's the difference between a b-buffalo and a bison? You can't- you can't wash your hooves in a bison! Wait, no... that doesn't make sense- I guess that's a good thing-"

" Ah...okay, so Granny Smith walked into a bar, a-and- and then a pole, and then a chair... but then somepony gave her glasses because it would be rude..."

" Why did the changeling bring sandpaper to the desert? He thought it was a map- I mean- I meant- I don't think changelings are stupid, I'm-I'm not biased, I promise..."
Coco tucked her chin into her chest.

"I got it, I got it!" She said triumphantly, leaping to her hooves. "Okay, what's the difference between a guitar and a fish? You can tune a guitar, but you can't tuna fish!"

"Unless," said Discord, suddenly rising up smoothly to his hind legs and looking down at her frozen form. "you play bass."
If he had his powers, there would certainly be that particular 'badum-tss' to accompany his words.

"Okay," she said.

He was now staring at her with his arms now hanging unsurely by his sides.

Not wanting Discord to think that she was simply dismissing his earlier panic, she continued in a firmer tone than she had spoken to him with before- one that resembled a resembled a teacher's when one of their young charges broke down over some math problem.
"Let me iron some things out now. You listened to me and Fluttershy's conversation, that I know. Was that the first time you had seen me?"

He nodded dumbly.

"Then you followed me to the edge of Ponyville, and no further. Right?" Coco was tempted to ask if he had heard her mention how useless she was.

He bobbed his head again.

"So that's how you know I exist. Did you somehow influence me in some way so that I would end up in this particular cave?"

Discord shook his head frantically like a wet dog.

"It was coincidence, then... The entire time we've been here together, you've faked being nicer than you usually are for... actually, that's not so clear..?"

"Not the entire time," he argued. " Only..."

He awkwardly seemed to raise a hand towards the makeshift bandaged arm, before dropping it and looking sheepish. Coco couldn't make heads or tails of this the gesture so she focused on his answer instead, feeling like an interrogator. Does that mean he wasn't pretending to...

"Now, when you were shouting at me-" he flinched- " - about taking over Equestria three times-"

"Trying to..."

" - I got the impression that you're still guilty about the recent incident- wait, I'm not finished- and you're wondering how the ponies could forgive you as you've 'stabbed them in the front and back so many times', meaning you don't exactly trust yourself."

He huffed sourly. "Yes, officer."

"And you kept mentioning Fluttershy."

Discord froze.

"I'm not jumping to conclusions, I'm stating the facts." Coco had at least some idea why he had talked about her in particular- she was the only one to have somewhat unwavering faith in him from the start. And there were also other ideas that she refused to consider.
There's limits to how right I can be.

"In short... you don't want to hurt any more ponies."

"Ponies," he muttered sourly, not facing Coco. "The feelings they make are no fun at all."

"Wait...I-I don't understand. W-what were the motives behind you pretending to be my friend?"

He turned from admiring the wall to Pommel, who looked a little like a lost filly- sitting on her rump with her ears a little droopy. Discord dropped his arms to sides again, watching the mare with some apprehension, and remembering her wholehearted (albeit very horrible) joke- cracking attempts to cheer him up regardless of what he had said right before.

"Oh, please don't make me sacrifice my dignity," he mumbled, too low for her to hear, but still dropped to all fours and came to a stop about two feet away from Coco's face. He hesitantly lowered his head so that his yellow- and red eyes were level with her blue (why did so many ponies have blue eyes?) ones.

Coco stared back into his pleading gaze alertly, her ears pricked.

"So I've been a bit of a prick. Still am, always will be, It's a universally acknowledged fact and all. Even the Twilight and Co. get frustrated more often than not whenever we come in contact with each other. But I do on purpose, you know? I just don't have any sort of motivation to not turn a house into a mass of ferrets or a painting into a waterfall of mustard."

She blinked at him, not understanding why he was choosing to tell her all of this. Was it his way of an apology?

" I don't care about anybody's judgement except Fluttershy."

Of course.

"And you."

"Wha-?" This was the last thing she had been expecting from somebody like Discord.

"Alright, maybe not as much as she does! Just to some extent." He started to look uncomfortable. "I mean, you being mad at me something I'd dislike slightly more than anybody else. Don't take that too seriously!"

"I won't," Coco said solemnly, but she was fighting to keep in a grin.

"I just... I wasn't completely pretending to be your friend."
He seemed to pause, unwilling to explain himself further as rambling on about emotions and gratefulness was excruciatingly mortifying. He carefully extended his lion paw towards her. "Of course, if you don't want to, I would understand completely and solemnly swear to never extract any sort of revenge or change my attitude towards you. Unlike some ponies."

Coco looked at him, the shape of her eyes reminding Discord rather painfully of Fluttershy's. "Discord..."
His eager expression became painfully fixed in place.

And then it morphed into one of horror as Coco suddenly darted under his arms with the speed of a sugar-crazed dragonfly, and forcing Discord to be pushed up as she simultaneously rose to her hind legs and wrapped her forelegs around the base of his neck in a hug gentle chokehold.

"Umph," he squeaked as he was hugged strangled to death. "What is- with you- ponies- and displays of affection?!?"
Thankfully, she released him and he drew back, rubbing his neck. "Oh! I think it's just me..."

"I may have noticed," he grumbled, tapping the side of his face and making Coco duck her head in a glow of embarrassment.

"So!" he suddenly barked, standing straight up and clapping his hands together with a very loud ringing sound, and he took her hoof in his paw and started to energetically pump it up and down, making Coco wobble all over the place. "My deeearest petite new friend Prench Fluttershy Version Two. Would you be able to find it in your figuratively bottomless heart to allow me to properly re-introduce myself once more to properly re-acquaint ourselves to properly be able to perform whichever acts of sufficiently mawkish- or if you would prefer something more saccharine and less sickly, syrupy- friendship that would properly make us the proper sort of properly re-acquainted, re-introduced friends?"

Coco Pommel swallowed, blinking in a rather bemused way. "I think I- I would be able to understand that if I wrote it down... um, I'm Coco Pommel, and I work as a salespony at a Manehatten dress shop."

"John Q de Lancie Discord, immortal chaos and utter nonsense generator extraordinaire," he replied courteously.

"de Lancie-?"

" Full-time absolute bestie of Fluttershy, part-time tormentor of Celestia (and the rest of the world), avid petter of puppies, pillbugs, parrots, pachyderms and to a lesser extent pretty pegasi ponies."

Coco decided to respond in kind, despite her only understanding half of what Discord was saying. " I have a Canterlot royal brother... and..." She had a sudden stroke of genius, "And frequent visitor at a cafe with a banana waiter!"

"Ooh, you're learning. Accomplished archer in Ogres and Oubliettes with the absolute most fabulous hair, I must say!"

" I go ballistic when dirty!" she said confidently, covered in red scratches, a rat's nest mane, gravel in her fur and muddied hooves.

"I was a twice garden gnome in the Canterlot gardens!"

"I'm friends with the Element of Generosity!"

"I'm friends with the best Element of Harmony!" he said loudly.

"I'm friends with three of the Elements of Harmony!" she said even louder, though her feminine voice restricted it to some degree.

"I'm friends with all of the Elements of Harmony!"

"I was friends with a cellist, a DJ, and a sandwich!"

"What do you mean 'was'?"

"It's another long and tragic story!"

"I consist of long and tragic stories!"

"I thought you were sick of long and tragic stories?!"

"My life is one long and tragic story!"

"That's more proof that you're tired of long and tragic stories!"

"I don't think there's anything wrong with your long and tragic stories!"

"That can be taken two ways!"

"I didn't mean the bad way!'

"I know!"

"Does it have something to do with the sandwich?!"

"Yes, it does! And the cellist and the DJ as well!"

"Why exactly is it so long and tragic!?"

"Because it was your fault!"

Coco suddenly slumped, like a doll which suddenly had all of it's strings cut abruptly, drawing a a surprised cry from Discord.

The moment she had managed to get those words out of her mouth, all her burdens had come rushing back like a downpour and settled heavily back down on her shoulders, covering her in newfound despair. No matter where she went, no matter what she did, every single part of every single period of time Coco had wanted to wipe clean would just return as if her efforts were equivalent to lazily waving a flyswatter.

She had managed to keep them at the very edge of her mind for almost two days under all of the new things that were happening to her and she had noticed the improvement in her attitude- no listlessness, no monotone, and a smile on her face. Her success in masking what she was in the inside was very heartening... but of course, there really wasn't any such thing as a happy ending, or amnesia to forget your past, or princes and roses in one's life to chase away all of a mare's nightmares.

It felt so unfair to her. No other mare seemed to have her problems. No other mare had had the kind of heartbreak Coco had been forced to face when she was a filly. No other mare seemed to have any problems with the thought that their relationships felt like scented tissue to Coco- sweet for the ten seconds it lasted but so durable that one single argument would set the entire thing into a billion pieces so they would go moping around everywhere complaining and crying and sobbing on shoulders and such when they really shouldn't have acted on the basis of such flimsy love alone, but really who was a filly like Coco to judge whether or not because she had never felt for anypony in her life what every single love story seemed to preach until they're bursting at the seams?

She felt so derisive towards herself at the moment. All hunched up on the ground and crying silently just because of a single thought. If she was this fragile, then what was the point of trying to pick up all the pieces of her shattered glass soul? Trying to frantically chase after them, gathering the shards in her arms until they bled?

Wow, I look like such an idiot, she thought morosely, looking at her scruffy mane. All those dirt-covered hairs sticking out everywhere like awry springs made her sneer self-deprecatingly. I wonder which shade of mud my coat is now?

She vacantly pushed her mane back and heaved herself off of the floor, but could not summon the will to look the utterly flabbergasted Discord in the eyes. She had to take a few well-timed breaths- her throat had suddenly closed up and was feeling painfully convulsive- before she looked up at him with those eyes that resembled Fluttershy's so much. "Discord, would you like to hear a story?" she said in a suspiciously even voice.

Immediately a defensive stance was adopted. "Coco, I am absolutely serious about saying I don't think-"

"Please..." The cold front she had suddenly put up was melting away fast and she started to quiver. If she didn't tell somepony something, it would eat her up like a wheat grinder inside.

There was no spoken response, but he then carefully adopted a crosslegged stance, settling himself slowly on the cold cave floor.

Coco throat closed up again briefly. "Once upon a time... there was an old house, and five ponies, and chocolate raining through the roof..."
_____________________

The unnatural sticky rain raced in threads across Coco Pommel's flapping sea-blue raincoat as she frantically galloped through the slick cobblestone streets, brandished her ivory umbrella over her head. She hissed in discomfort as she felt the combination of gravel and chocolate milk was getting pasted onto her hooves the more she ran, and the sheet of rain hissed back in response.

Coco skid around the corner and continued at the same hectic pace, dashing past the tall dripping skyscrapers as the cloud- covered sky momentarily flashed magenta and tried to shake the matting liquid from her mane, having conveniently forgotten her rainhat. There were very few other ponies about also seen as running away from the hell the world had suddenly become, some having taken it considerably less well than others from what Coco could see through the furious sheets of beige.

The entire town of Manehatten had turned into a hub for entropy.
The buildings would go from being perfectly normal to grow a number of assorted legs, shrink and run away or melt into what looked like paint but felt like ice. Frogs with dragonfly eyes would gently float from the sky armed with mini cannons that shot lemons at anyone who mentioned somepony by name. The merchandise in shops would come alive, perform a badly made re-enactment of Beauty and the Beast and try to smash anypony who looked at them using carrots and syrup as their main method of attack. The roads would bubble furiously like somepony blowing in water through a straw and then get slowly covered in a thick layer of green or pink vanilla-scented soap (Coco saw somepony admire the smell before resuming their panicked state) and would randomly shout nonsense like 'Dove!' or 'OLAYYY'.

Strangely enough, the sidewalks remained perfectly normal, save for the fact that there would be a sickening snapping sound if anypony set hoof on the cracks.

As Coco barrelled through the chaos the city had become, her hooves splashing the dirty puddles forming on the concrete, she noticed with an overwhelming sense of relief that whatever was left of the buildings were beginning to thin out and become shabbier and smaller. She had to now hop over flat pieces of concrete the sidewalk was now being reduced to to and then she suddenly felt the cool blades of green grass underfoot tickle her hooves.

When she looked back she could see that she had come to the very edge of Manehatten, and now there was nothing but some ruins and a long field of heather and gorse that spanned over hills before turning into a forest.

And about twenty meters away was the lone townhouse.

The roof was made of corrugated sheets of metal and held together with clay and some sort of cheap concrete, and the walls were an alternating patchwork of wood and brick that were hidden in patches of whitewash. There was a hole at the corner to sweep water out of that had a cloth plug next to it, and it was all trailing with ivy and hedges and a rosebush adorning the scant half-fenced backyard that contained little else but a shovel and a plastic tricycle missing the wheels. The house itself has this feeling of being old and welcoming, like someone's wistful grandmother.

Coco carefully picked her way across the muddy path and ducked her head to get through the red chipped doorway that led into a large, square room that branched off into four bedrooms.
It had a white painted chimney- which was already stacked with a bundle of bone-dry sticks that were alight with flame.
She hadn't noticed the smoke coming out of the top of the shack, and her eyes flitted over the four ponies waiting there and staring back at her.

She recognized each one of them. Sitting in a messy circle around the flames and shrouded in a awkward, expectant silence. A grey pony with a casual, intelligent, rich purple stare and flowing black mane that was currently matted and plastered to her body and dripped occasionally. However, Octavia did not look as if she could care less as she steadily returned Coco's gaze.

Sitting next to her was Vinyl Scratch, for once without her ever-present snazzy smile and her glasses up on her head, pushing back her alternating dark blue and neon mane. Her cerise eyes focused on Coco in her unique both intense and vacant way. She appeared to be missing her headphones, but on closer inspection they were by her side, presumably brought in somehow without getting wet (which was a rather smart move, on the whole).

Then it was the curly-maned dorky looking Cheese Sandwich with the signature poncho and hat , whose appearance made her quirk an eyebrow- he had been acting on wanderlust for quite a while now and hadn't been seen in the flesh for six months as he threw parties across Equestria.
He wiggled his eyebrows rapidly in his comic way at Coco, but his expression was haggard under the ever-present mask of cheerfulness.

The last pony's ears went back and he looked away into the fire when Coco's eyes flitted over to him. As always, Fancy Pants must have had the particular expert look of one who was classy without trying too hard when he rolled out of his pristine bed in the morning, but now the white of the shirt underneath the once elegant suit was quite stained. His polished blue hooves were remarkable unscuffed,however, and so was his ('weeny,' thought Coco) mustache and glossy mane. He seems to have no objection to sitting on the bare dusty wooden floor among 'lesser' ponies, she thought with the faint hint of something negative.

Coco examined her brother a second longer than the others, feeling a familiar unease in her stomach that hadn't settled for a long while. Biting her lip, she then carefully settled a little ways from the others, trying to sit as far away as possible without arousing any ill feelings. It was just... after so long... her feelings towards her longtime childhood idols were shaky and tangled at best.

For a while, nopony looked at one another. Pommel was wondering why exactly they had summoned her to their old haunt all of a sudden, and suspected that the utter sudden mind-boggling chaos had something to do with it. She had no idea why it was happening all of a sudden, why her world was now a resembling a literal surreal nightmare, and had tried to act as rationally as possible until a ruffled, wrinkled yellowing envelope had smacked her in her eye when she opened her window that morning to let some seemingly harmless storm air in.

Unsurprisingly, her floor was then beginning to flood with the most horrible messy liquid ever to come out of the sky.

It had been from Octavia, in her mellifluous loopy writing, and had been signed by the scratchy scrawl of Cheese, the neat and small block printing of Vinyl and the cultured calligraphy of her own brother. She remembered how she had struggled not to squeak or cry out, and how she had stuffed her whole hoof in her mouth rather unattractively and how her throat had twisted painfully for a moment. So long...

And a voice came out to break the silence. Hearing it after it had been so long, it had at first taken a while for Coco to recognize it.
"Hey, my little filly," Vinyl laughed, scooched closer to her and then nabbing her in a headlock which made Coco squeal. "Long time no see, eh? What's with the quiet? Cat gotcha tongue?" She then proceeded to give Coco a fierce noogie and ruffled her sticky matted mane even more. Pommel gave a helpless sort of laugh, pushing futilely at the floorboards. It was if they were fillies again, with Coco being teased as the youngest.

Her laugh broke the tension and cleared to air. Feeling almost festive despite the hellscape that was outside, guiltily relieved not to have to deal with the expected discomfort, the other ponies started to join in laughing- Octavia's musical laugh, Cheese's easy laugh, and then slowly came the deep-throated chuckle of Fancy Pants. Octavia, in a display that was highly unusual for her, wrapped her forelegs around the two and squashed them together, and then hesitantly the esteemed noble Fancy Pants came over to put a hoof around the gaggle too-

'PIG PILE!"

With sudden panicked squeals, the mares scattered as Sandwich launched himself bodily into the air and came down upon them with a tremendous practiced belly flop- however, Coco's brother was not fast enough on the uptake and thus was promptly squashed.

When the dust settled, the three mares anxiously leaned forward in tandem to look at the bedraggled figure spread-eagled on the ground with his eyes closed. Cheese quickly scrambled off him.

'...Oh, gee, I didn't manage to accidentally squash him to death, did I?" he said uncertainly, also leaning forwards with them. They all looked at each other.

"Uh, bub? Any last words?" Vinyl poked him.

"Fancy?" Coco said worriedly in her soft voice.

Keeping his eyes firmly shut, he muttered, "Tell my father I died and it was very sad and that I am unfortunately unable to do his tax reruns now in the afterlife."

There was another round of laughter that made the walls ring, which Coco joined after some hesitation at the mention of her father.

Coco had been terrified when she had entered the house and had seen all of them arranged there,feeling the compulsive order to run coming from the part of her mind that shied away from social activity as if they were the Princesses themselves. She had had absolutely no idea of what to say to them and wasn't even able to ask why they had summoned her. Coco had also been scared at the thought that because of the wearing effects of time, they would no longer be able to communicate with one another as they did when need forced them together in those cold companionable nights.

But as they were all sitting near the fire in a much tighter circle with the horrific conditions outside forgotten, it felt as if nothing had changed since they were foals- to Coco it actually felt as if they were all foals again. Before this, after the events which made them grow apart had she been able to laugh like that, or had seen any other adult to act so immature or so close as they had done. Even with her brother, with whom she had very strained relations with, seemed to have left their circumstances behind as well as one in the situation could and was talking to her as if they were old friends (which they technically were).

Since she had matured, she hadn't even really thought it possible for someone grown to have so much joy in them as she was feeling through her heart now.

She would hear the croaking of one of those insane lemon wielding frogs as it slowly drifted onto the roof, and then a frown then curled it's way down her face. She absently reached up to fiddle with her red clip as the fire made shadows dance across her skull in the approaching darkness. Octavia, who she was right next to, was well attuned enough to know what she was thinking and pulled herself back from her own thoughts as she watched with her default morose look into the flickering flames, and turned her head to look at her.

"I just..." Vinyl and Cheese started, having drifted off for a bit, while Fancy glanced at her without moving his own head. "I mean... does anypony know why everything is so..."

"Out of whack?" Cheese offered.

"Insane-o lame-o?" Vinyl seconded.

"Quite out of the ordinary?" Fancy corrected

"All of them?" Octavia said in her rich tone.

"I mean, the sky's raining cow juice-" Vinyl started.

"That's disgusting," Cheese mumbled.

"-and the roads have turned into those decorative scented rose soap my grandmother keeps in her kitchen sink cabinet-"

"That's a rather exclusive remark," Fancy said.

"Aren't those expired and poisonous?" Cheese asked. "Remember you tried to eat them once, because you thought they were made of bubblegum?"

"They had ' Sweet Candy Touch' written all over them..." Coco mumbled.

"Good times," Vinyl reminisced. "But, so, yeah. I can way see what you're trying to say there. I mean-"

The tin roof creaked, making the five lookup at the shadows across it rather uneasily. There was an extensive web of long-legged spiders in the corner, but the inhabitants were fleeing- presumably due to the storm- and then a thin trickle of something dark began to flow down the side.

Coco froze up, suddenly starting to feel some kind of ice in her bones. "Wait-"

Before she could utter another word, with a terrible and eerily animal screech the roof suddenly tore away from the mix of clay and concrete that had cemented it to the wall entirely, leaving nothing but the roaring mass of dark pink cotton-like clouds and the occasional scrap of orange and red evening sky.

The ponies leapt to their hooves and then there was a mad sort of helter-skelter scramble as the fireplace was put out by the rain which began to assault them as well. "Take cover!" Cheese yelled out, before remembering he had a poncho. "Oh. Wait. Over here! Guys!"

Vinyl was the first to pop up by his side under the extensive square of cloth, followed by Fancy who shook his wet hooves resignedly and then Octavia and Coco. They all quietly peeped out at the rain, and the true danger of the roof being ripped off began to slowly sink into them. Coco bit her lip- it was all so fine just a minute ago, how could everything have wrong all of a sudden? It was so quick she had barely any time to react to it.. One moment laughing, the next trying not to get blinded by this ungodly rain...

"About this ungodly rain," Octavia said and Coco started. "It's being caused by the escape of Discord."

The utterly casual and flat way she said that line left Coco baffled. She whipped her head around to stare at her, her mouth slowly falling open. "No way."

"I am not joking," she promised.

Coco just stared at her, then stared up at the sky and then back at her again, as if it would make her words false or something. The entity of Chaos had escaped from his prison? "But.. th-the Elements, and the Princesses..."

Everypony looked round at her now. "I.. that's a really, really bad thing..." she trailed off. She still couldn't let it sink in. Discord? The one to took over Equestria and all? In the span of one day had suddenly erupted out to do all this?

She started to feel a little queasy. She knew that this moment of reconciliation may have provided her a brief sense of happiness, but she had her life to live- and she knew by now, after all of those bumps on the road she had been forced to face that was her family, she wouldn't have this peace for long. Something was obviously going to go wrong- her whole life had been based on that .
Perhaps a little too literally.

This was his doing?

Coco had at one point been an avid fan of history- she liked to read about the much more exciting lives the ponies had back then when comparing to the present one she was living.
And then she grew up, and then understood what it meant to die and then history had become much less fun. Sometimes, out of the idiocy that was her heart, she would cry over some dead ponies' troubles, hunched over a crinkled book in the darkness of midnight and a single dying flashlight.

She remembered how she had wanted to live in the period of Discord, and even when Coco started to read about the more morbid times of Equestria she would purposefully try to find nothing wrong with him. As a dressmaker, she should naturally be repulsive of the utter disorderliness and clash he was made to create- but she had never really felt that way, never really wondered about it.

He had the seemingly limitless power to do absolutely anything ever there was imaginable and thus was the very epitome of the creativity Coco cherished- it had seemed like some kind of daydream a foal would come up to escape the boredom of their lessons. Some very imaginative hero sort.

She had even wanted to be friends with Discord when she was young, she had wanted to be his adviser and tell him about all the kinds of cool things he could do.

Other foals would collect dolls, action figures- while she did collect as many dressable dolls as she could snag, the main focus of her room was the patchwork Discord plushie that had lost it's cunning yellow glass eyes to be replaced with buttons. The Discord lamp that had an arm Superglued backwards (until it drove her nuts and she broke it again to fix it). The drawing of Discord in a suit she made when she was thirteen (which was her proudest masterpiece for quite a while) and that prized vinyl Discord figure with moveable limbs that only had the tip of his tuft and an ear chipped off.

Most teenagers have had posters of celebrities in their rooms put up at some time of their life and their favourite topic was to talk about them and/or exchange such related merchandise and autographs (which were, according to them, utterly to die for). Coco had that phase, only hers came with a bit of a problem- she couldn't really get an autograph from somebody locked in stone.

Her mother treated it with heavy disdain and her father with paternal disapproval used reserved for a coltfriend (Coco realised that at some point and was then a little creeped out by how obsessive she had become and quietly got rid of the evidence, except for the aforementioned three). Her brother treated it with more or less resignation; Coco brought up one of the positive memories associated with him- they were all sitting at a small, round plain wooden dining table when her parents brought up the subject to guage her brother's reaction.
She remembered him saying in his even then stentorian voice, "Well, it could be worse", and herself puffing up with triumph.

And now she was in the period of Discord, and she felt like her filly self was such an airhead.
Only one day into the madness and already she was wanting to cry from it. Chaos was chaos for a reason- it existed to disregard being told to do. It was the opposite of Order, which was everypony being told what to do and doing it utterly flawlessly.
And she had wanted to go stand by his throne made of wacky whatever and salute whenever he passed by. And be addressed personally. And give him makeovers, and bring him his tea and get a big fat helping for 'being a good the best little filly'. It was actually a little frightening to her now, how subservient she used to be- or was she still? It was rather hard to notice these type of traits about oneself, and she could never acquire the gall to ask anypony else if it was normal. Nopony would notice anything about herself anyways- she was good at building herself a metaphorical shell.

I'm an ignorant weenie, she thought bitterly, using Vinyl's name for such a pony. All I can do is fantasize about being walked all over, scrap together cloth and lie.

"What happens now?" Vinyl asked into the rapidly darkening gloom.
The puddles of milk that were trying to form just spilled out through the hole in the corner and she could hear the resident family of rabbits scuffling around under the house. Coco wondered how the milk was going to affect the wildlife.

"When is it going to end?" Coco asked quietly, her eyes luminous in the almost unnaturally fast approaching night.

They all looked at her, and She felt that little worm of nausea in her stomach wriggle. What if it didn't end? The technical problems associated with that were astoundingly many- to just name one that branched off many times, life as normal would be impossible with the weather and the buildings melting or running away and everything. She was feeling scared now, and scared especially of the threat of repeated tyranny. I was so, so stupid...

The crickets were silent, hindered by the rain. Octavia comfortingly snaked a foreleg around Vinyl's neck, and hesitantly Fancy Pants on Coco's other side leaned in a little after a moment's consideration. "When all's said and done," he said to her in a low voice, "you must really remind to repay your favours."

"Uh?"

He leaned in. "I ate your ice-cream," he whispered guiltily.

Coco struggled to bring up the incident, when her tub of vanilla in the fridge had gone suddenly missing a day after her birthday. Due to some circumstances she couldn't buy another one to replace it either, and had to make do with the absolute worst sweater in the world- stereotypically itchy and mustard yellow with misspelled words made of yarn cherries on the sides- 'HAPP HEART WARMING' (Coco's birthday fell in December, so her family used to hid half of the presents she received for her birthday and reserve them as 'Hearth Warming's gifts').

"...meanie." she slumped. Coco then sighed. "I don't even like ice-cream."

Fancy Pants shook his head mockingly. "A filly who does not like ice cream? I believe you would be the sad exception instead of the rule."

"Oh, happy day." she mumbled.

"The walls look like they're crying," Vinyl suddenly spoke up, sounding unnerved.

Everypony poked their heads out of the poncho that covered them to take a better look. It was very eerie- the walls did indeed look as if they were bleeding out as drops would well up from the stained brown walls and drip down the sides. Coco tried to place the phenomenon from the textbook extracts she once diligently studied, but the only thing she could vaguely conjure was 'limestone' which made absolutely no sense. Cheese in particular looked very nervous at the sight, eyeing the house apprehensively, probably matching it up to some form of nightmare.

And a nightmare this night was. It was pure luck that some annoying creature hadn't come in to blast them into pieces and the rain was now thinning out from hammering sheets into a sort of drizzle. Coco caught Cheese Sandwich trying to catch the drops on his tongue.

"Maybe it'll end if we ask nicely?" Coco suggested halfheartedly. Whatever worked...

"Oh yes. Absolutely brilliant." Cheese monotoned, quirking an eyebrow at Pommel. "'Yes, please Mister Discord sah, I'm the most pwettiest mare in allll the land, so wouldcha do a widdle favour for a widdle filly here and pwease just put yourself back into stone? Just this once?' And then you flap your eyes all like this-" he demonstrated 'flapping his eyes' which was an unflattering version of a mare batting her eyelashes. Vinyl sniggered, which at least seemed to take her mind off of the oozing walls, and Coco just stuck out her tongue at him. "Nyehh.".

"Very mature."

She then turned to the night and then cleared her throat. Normally, in front of any other pony in the world she would have never done this unless on threat of death, but with the ponies she had spent most of her life with she could make an exception.
It did not mean she would do it gracefully, however. Her face prickled rather uncomfortably.

Things have been defeated in more unorthodox ways before...

"She's serious," Vinyl said, briefly raising her glasses. "Glasses off to you, dear filly."

Coco huffed. "Okay. Um, Mister Discord? Could you please stop the raining? I mean, I know it's fun to spread chaos in all the land, but it won't be fun if there isn't any land to begin with... because I don't think this is so healthy, I mean from what I learned in my..text..books...um... nevermind?"

For both Cheese Sandwich and Vinyl Scratch were busy laughing hard into the night, and as laughter was often stated to be contagious first Fancy Pants and then Coco and Octavia joined in the chorus too.
The rain did not really seem to appreciate their mirth, however, and kept on throwing itself down purposefully.

"Ahhh...well...It was good as long as it lasted," Fancy Pants said, pausing to take off his monocle and contemplate cleaning it, until he saw the state of his suit and mournfully tucked it in his breast pocket.

"We need to find a way out of this chaos," Octavia said evenly, surveying the puddly landscape before her.

"Yes..." Coco felt her heart sink and settle uncomfortably on her stomach. The reality of the situation was coming back down on her back again, and then she worriedly looked at her friends. "I can't seem to think of anything..."

And then at the very moment Coco finished her sentence, the clouds raced away from a suddenly robin's-egg blue sky so fast it looked as if they were having a desperate race. Utterly bemused, the five watched them slide smoothly over the horizon, and then looked up at the completely normal atmosphere above them, with the position of the sun suggesting somewhere around five.

The puddles of chocolate rain then seemed to drain into the ground, leaving the floor completely dry and exactly as dusty as it had been before the whole ordeal. Threads of liquid also drained rapidly from the walls, as if it were some strange barrel with an uncountable number of needle pricks in it. It all happened simultaneously, and Coco could hear the birds starting to call out from overhead as if nothing had ever happened in the first place. The roof did not fly back in place, however.

Coco looked at her friends, who all wore the same deadpan expression.

And then for the fourth time that day, they all started laughing.

______________________________________________________________________

Coco had left the house feeling the spring in her step bounce her up to newer heights. The buildings seemed brighter, the sky seemed more colourful, and the ponies were between a mix of relieved, grumpy or haggard. They glanced at her in a rather annoyed fashion as she skipped past them, humming a hopelessly out of sync tune.

She laughed a little, just to see how it sounded. Funny how something being taken away and then given again makes it seem more precious. She turned in a circle and felt her possessions- especially a thread of rainbow yarn around a spool- bump against her side in her saddlebags.

She daintily stepped over the cracks in the sidewalk, then broke off at a run when she reached the outskirts of the town. Just yesterday she had been running with an utterly different set of mind- terrified and bewildered and confused. Now it was if nothing could go wrong- the streetlamps above her stood tall and weary, the cabs trundled past, the pidgeons cooed, and she felt happy like a baby bird in it's nest. All cozy and snug.

The grass under her hooves tickled her as she tested its bounce. Some little yellow flower was beginning to bloom on some of the weeds scattered around the plains, and there was a multitude of white butterflies flickering around, landing on the rims and testing their worth. They took to the air with a flutter and glided away smoothly when Coco ran her hooves above them.

As Coco stepped out onto the dirt path flanked by shoots of dandelion and clover, she paused and cocked her head to one side, and then the other in polite puzzlement. There was a strange sound in the distance, like somepony tapping a bell lightly with a hammer, and then another noise like a avalanche of and rolling off from a height. Coco's ears tilted forward in interest and her flicked her tail.

She neared the edge of the valley that led to the house and looked down.

If there had been somepony around to watch, they would have described an eerie mannequin with a very painful smile fixated on it's face that collapsed woodenly and jerkily as if somepony had cut its strings. Coco honestly believed that she had fainted- her fur stood on end, her eyes seemed to tear into the back of her head, her legs folded in on themselves like moldy sticks.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. There was absolutely nothing there. There was no house. It had died. Dead.
It was as dead as a house could be.

The exact same place that had sheltered five fillies from the wrath of their lives. The exact same house that had cocooned them when nopony else in the world knew their pain. The exact same house and had stood for two decades without a single sign of falter, the same that withstood anything nature tried to throw at it, the same that had only flagged, that had only shown how murdered on the inside it was when on the night of the decent to madness that was Discord.

And now there was nowhere for Coco to go.
It had been her refuge when whatever scraps of family she had left had tied themselves down to her and weighed her down as if she was a criminal committing the crime of just being born and sentenced to be wrapped with stones and thrown to the bottom of the ocean to drown silently where nopony else would ever hear or care about what happened to the quiet little dressmaking pony whom nopony would notice if she had disappeared.

In the exact same day, the exact same hour, the exact same universe where there was only nightmares upon nightmares happened up on her shoulders she had been happy.
With the sickly fire of horror climbing in her blood, she thought of how a minute ago she had been singing in the wake of this death. She had dared once more to let herself feel, she told herself that she deserved it once in a while, and then of course the higher up you go the harder the fall and this was the hardest fall she could ever take.

She stumbled down the hill, her legs moving mechanically back, front, back, front as her mind seemed to fracture with everything being viewed through broken glass. She slumped in front of the ruins, utterly isolated.

There was a skeleton made of rust where it had been, with grey rocks as crumbly as cookies littering the landscape- so crumbly that to some extent there was only blowing sand and dust. The chimney had fallen and broken into more pieces than a pegasus had feathers. The bell sound Coco had heard was a scrap of metal clinking against another, calling out in the darkness. The wind swirled the dust around into little tornadoes.

Limestone. Rain would corrode it until it was as fragile and as withstanding as a sponge.
For twenty five years the house had been trying to remind them of this and then its desperation shone through- the milk rain bleeding through its walls. It had become so full of holes like her soul that it could be filled with liquid and have it gush out like a bucket that was broken beyond belief.

Coco realised her eyes were as dry and gritty as the bones of the shack and she was wet. They tiredly flickered around the site, trying to find the piece that she and the others had written their name on, and they instead found a blue plastic sign with something official written on it in white words Coco's mind did not decipher.

It was a little strange. Coco could feel her hell of emotions slowly starting to... drain away.
That was the proper word- they were swirling around and pouring out of her slowly. As she looked at the house, she could not for the life of her remember why she was crying so much. She frowned.
It was only a place where she used to hang out as a kid and she was crying like a foal at a funeral.
Her mind seemed to feel lighter somehow.

Coco picked herself up and then extracted her spool of rainbow thread. For a while. she contemplated tying it around a beam or something, but the action seemed more and more pointless the longer she stood there, as the construction ponies would simply return to finish their job and it would be a waste of material.

She turned tail and walked up the hill, sparing a glance back- the butterflies seemed to have all disappeared and the grass wasn't as green anymore. As she restarted on the path, she started to have all kinds of ideas boil in her mind.
She reached town and the intersection which would lead to the apartment she and some of her blood relatives would be living in.

She had already made up her mind- she was never going to live there again- they had obviously trying to push her away for so long, so there really wasn't any contest about it.

She would pack up her things, gather her Discord monuments and smash them against the wall until they were as shattered as she was and then set it on fire, and then head out into the unknown. It wasn't as if things could get an worse, as they were at the bottom of the well already. She had a healthy amount of bits, and she had seen an advertisement for somepony who was subservient and had a talent for fashion which fitted her rather well.

Only this morning I had been singing about a hole in a bucket and skipping down the road, she thought wryly. And now I've come from a home broken twice. I wonder if Fancy and the others know?

She never saw them again.
_________________________________

Coco tucked a strand of her mane behind her cream ear matter-of-factly, wondering exactly why she had elected to tell one of the least sympathetic beings in the world something that would be regarded among other ponies as immensely sensitive.
Or maybe that was the reason. She didn't want to be treated like glass, or she would grow into that image again and once more get crushed all over.

She didn't really expect it, but she actually felt a little more filled out, telling somepony about her problems. It was as if somebody had taken some very heavy bags from her that she was trying to lug around all by herself.
Pommel had been sitting in her usual position, on her haunches like a cat, and she shifted a little. She knew that while she wasn't very thirsty or hungry yet, it would only be a matter of time before it happened and then she would become uncomfortable. More uncomfortable than it already was, sitting in this cold and dark cave.

It was amazing to her how utterly casually she had been able to treat Discord, since he was somewhat directly responsible for what she remembered was the destruction of her entire childhood. She brought up the rush of emotions that had come down on her when she had seen the house destroyed and how they had suddenly and worryingly dissipated like that. She'd had gotten much better with help since then, but she couldn't still remember fully why the destruction had affected her so badly.

She liked cloudy days but now she just really wanted the sun on her mane again. The question of how to get out was starting to return to the front of her mind. Coco summoned the will to look at Discord.

"Um..." she stared, getting to all fours. "Discord, you're flashing rainbow colours...."

"Hmm." He arched his neck to look down at himself, and found he was indeed blinking very rapidly like a dizzying broken neon sign. " That's very interesting and how absolutely WONDERFUL!"

Coco had been covering her eyes with her foreleg because he was really rather hard to look at, what with the flashing and all, and squealed and leapt back when he had shouted so loudly.
Immediately she covered her eyes again, backing up a little in panic, as he seemed to glow twenty times brighter and washed the entire cave in white light. It was like trying to look into a flashlight or the sun itself. "Discord!?" she yelped and the space was being with a sound of a roaring crowd getting steadily louder.

And then there was a resounding snap and everything quietly ceased, to be replaced with the sound of... the sea. Or at least, she suspected it to be the sea having never visited it. She was tilting gently back and forth with the noise of burbling, crashing waves.

Coco dared to open her eyes a slit and then dropped her foreleg away from her face limply.

The crags and confining walls of the cave had disappeared to be replaced with the endless expanse of a sky that was painted with a soft orange theme in mind. Closest to the drowning sun and spreading across the horizon was all red and flowing pink and purple and surrounded by an orange halo. The outskirts were creamy white and grey with the underbelly of thick twirls of clouds.

Coco had been correct about it being the sea- only this was the strangest body of water she could think of. The waves were rounded like the bubbles on bubblewrap and the water itself was so blue it looked like some kind of energy drink. When she looked down, she saw that there were ravens skimming the water- but instead of prowling on the surface, they were under it and flipped upside down as if gravity had been turned around.
Koi (but weren't they freshwater fish?) flickered and glittered like large flocks of birds, and when Coco examined the sky she found that there were great serpents diving in and out of the clouds.
When Coco looked down she saw that she was on a raft made of multiple long spools of different types of cloth, each all the same beige colour.

And then she happened to catch a glimpse of her legs. With a gasp she found out that they had been completely cleaned of all of the dirt that had matting it through to the roots of her fur and there was no mud anywhere on her body. She quickly sifted through her mane and felt it to be free of any tangles or matted clumps and possibly a touch more soft than usual.

It all made her very dizzy. She couldn't really tell which way was up or down what with the way the animals were acting.

Pommel took the situation rather well. To her credit, she didn't scream or call out- she only looked around a little wildly for Discord, who was obviously the one who cast this. The question which puzzled her was how- didn't he say that he had his powers missing? Did he have them all along but was keeping them just to toy with her even further?

"Uh...? Discord?"

As if on cue, suddenly a large image of Discord's face filling the sky, quirking his eyebrows impossibly fast. Coco stared back, blinking bewilderedly. "Hello," she said politely.

The Discord face erupted into sudden uproarious laughter. "Oh, but don't you love what I've done with the place?"

"It's very creative," Coco said. "I like the colours of the sky and the fish..."

"If you're satisfied by this exceedingly simple display, my dear," he said, rolling his eyes. "then I can at least be certain that you'll be blown away- " a large fan was conjured out of nowhere and splashed dismally into the sea, "- by what I've got in store for you~" His head disappeared after a bout of laughter which started to sound a little maniacal.

He then appeared on her boat with a flash in his normal form (or as normal as he was) and stuck his arms out to the sides as if welcoming a large audience. Coco started to clap with genuine interest which certainly did seem to please him. He handed back her clip which Coco gratefully reapplied to her mane.

"What exactly do you have in store?" Pommel then asked, sensing that this was the question he wanted her to ask.

"You can't even dream of a millionth of the things I can do by performing a simple snap of my talons," he said in a superior tone. "and of course, being one of the precious few ponies in the world for whom I would do something for..."

Coco's ears perked up and she felt a silly grin stretch it's way across her face. She couldn't really help it- this kind of thing happening was supposed to be only something she would daydream of, and now it was all coming to life- all real and everything, something she could touch with her hooves, almost like how she wished for it to be so many times when she was a foal.

Thinking of when she was a foal reminded her of the reasons she had let go of that dream. She drew her eyebrows together, momentarily forgetting about the world of wonders she could help make.

"Is it- is it going to affect anyone?" she asked worriedly. Was this huge sea an actual place, an illusion or something he just created- and if so, where did it exist? "How even..."

"Quite a lot of bothering with physics which you wouldn't be able to understand," he said. " And it won't make a mark on anybody if you don't want it to."

Coco realized what he was saying and started to hold her breath. "I can... do whatever I want?"

He spread his hands and arched his eyebrows. "It's the least I can do."

"Ooooh!" she squealed, and Coco started to hop around the raft in a manner rather like Pinkie Pie's. "I can do anything? Anything I want?"

She didn't wait for his answer and then leapt up in front of him, standing as tall as she could in an effort to be as level with him as possible. "Can you...."

What she considered to be the absolute best idea ever made suddenly popped into her head and started to grow into a plan. "Can you make a Patapon?" she said eagerly.

He blinked and then steepled his fingers over his snout. "Hmm. Well. You see, I can't exactly create complex life forms."

Coco blinked. "I thought you had no rules?"

"I don't," he said. "It's simply that there are other... deities, lets say, which control that sort of thing. They would actively try to 'kick my flank out', so to speak, if I dared to enter their realms..."

Coco sagged momentarily, then she realized she was being rather ungrateful and popped back up. "It's okay, I'll just-"

"Hmmm..." he surveyed with a bit of a troubled expression, and then laughed. " I supposed there's a first time for everything, then?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why don't we just try this once?" he said, starting to bring his hands together.

"But Discord, you said that the other deities-"

"Would try, of course- but only if they can catch me first!"

Coco looked very apprehensive. "Are you sure?"

"Are you asking me?" he said in that superior tone again and grinned down at her. "Ready to go?"

"I trust you," she said. "Okay.."

After a moment's hesitation, Discord snapped his talons, but unlike the others the sound from this one seemed to reverberate in the air as if it was something solid.

A space in front of Coco as large as her started to shimmer like the air on an exceedingly hot day. Both watched it interestedly, Discord looking a little strained as he kept his talons pressed hard together.
Then the shimmery space started to turn black- blacker than any kind Coco had ever seen before, so black it felt as if it making her blind, and air started whooshing into the rip and out of the air as if it was a vacuum cleaner.
Coco leaned forward, her heart buzzing with excitement- what would it look like? What would it think of her?- and she noticed that it was starting to have some depth like a tunnel. And just like a tunnel, Coco could see something at the other end- like a very small painting, or looking through the wrong end of a telescope.

She realised that the sounds seemed to have faded away, that there was only something like wind blowing through her ears- and it really did feel like through her ears- and that Discord was saying something maybe, and that it felt as if she was deep underwater. Her sinuses were throbbing, her eyes were heavy and her heartbeat was loud like a river through her head...

And then Coco cried out but no sound came, only empty buzzing in her throat, and that she was being flowed down through a tube and that there was no difference between her eyes closed or open...

She felt as if she her bones were made of helium as her center of gravity started to shift and now she was falling sideways and turning over and over and feeling quite scared and maybe she would hit the ground and splatter everywhere, and it was like one of those nightmares where you wake up from falling flailing your limbs only it wouldn't stop and it was real and where was Discord?

And then finally, Coco fell with an almighty splash into a river.

Coco Pommel has seen things

Coco Pommel knew she should have been scared out of her wits by now. She knew that she should be curled up in a ball and sobbing from the unfairness of it all. She knew that she was going to be doomed alone in this completely foreign land where she didn't know anybody and had no idea whether or not the water and the food here wasn't in some way poisonous for her.

But she had to get out of the river first.

After a bout of mindless, panicked splashing, she realized that she was squealing and standing flailing on her side in a calm stretch of stream about three meters wide and knee- deep. Feeling a little embarrassed and now starting to shiver from the cold water soaking through her coat, she clambered out of water rather gracelessly and then braced her legs and shook herself all over like a dog. She flicked her hooves and then puffed away a strand of wet hair clinging to her nose. There was a chill foggy mist everywhere that made things everything look all grey and misty and the sky was covered with a thin layer of cloud.

Coco then settled herself down the surprisingly soft tufts of grass lining the rocky bank in a sphinx position, drying herself in the lone spot of sun she rooted out as per her custom. She kept a nervous watch with her ears rotating constantly and started to work on her situation.

Apparently when Discord attempted to make her a Patapon, he must have done something strange with the fabric of reality (if reality was a fabric, she thought, what would a dress made of it look like?) which somehow resulted in an unstable hole that pulled her through to... this random place? Coco wasn't good at anything that involved physics.

Before she could start to freeze up with terror, she quickly thought out a solution. If Discord could put her in, then he could bring her back- the only reason he hadn't done so was most probably because of some kind of cooldown timer or something. Whatever. No big deal.

Coco adjusted her sailor-collar and then quickly combed through her mane for her red clip. To her relief, her comfort object was still perched firmly and was already dry (she remembered Discord saying something about earth pony powers, but it seemed of little use to be able to quickly dry a clip in this kind of place).

She relaxed as much as a prey animal could out in the open in strange surroundings and concentrated on listening. This world had birds, she could tell from the scraps of singing that echoed through the greyness, and there were schools of smooth little black fish with white eyes that flickered in the stream. She was breathing the air without any difficulty- if anything this air seemed to be much healthier than the Manehatten winds, but that was to be expected of the wilderness- and the small amount of water she had swallowed hadn't seemed to do her in. The grass smelled like normal grass and being a pony she could eat grass in a pinch, although it was as nutritious as a bread crust.

She wondered curiously about the rest of the creatures that must inhabit this world. Unlike Fluttershy, she wasn't really all that fond of animals- as they didn't seem to do anything but eat and soil things (she guessed she could make an exception for ravens and cats and surprisingly to some extent frogs as well, which she thought rather cute but could do without their slime factor), but it was good to know what was or wasn't going to eat her here.

Pommel watched a cloud float across the sky, wishing she was back home already. It had all started to perk up for her...
Stupid, stupid, stupid. She remembered how happy she had been when Discord had his powers back.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. How happy she let herself be.
I'm such an idiot. How every single time she was happy something like this would always happen to her- and then she saw herself skipping and the house eroding-

She squeezed her eyes shut. This was the worst time and the wrong place to started hyperventilating like this. I guess I'll just have be more vigilant... as if there was anything that could make me happy in this place, wherever it is.
She glanced around hopefully, as if daring whichever thing that watched this land to do exactly that.
Right. No being happy or everything goes downhill- the higher you climb, the harder you fall, remember that... she told herself sternly.

She wondered how she was going to live without any creature comforts. The thought reminded her that she was sitting alone in the open in the middle of nowhere without any shelter, so Coco got up regretfully from the grass to interrupt her sunbathing and started to trot in a random direction before stopping and looking very lost (which she was). She decided to follow the river- at least that way she would be near a source of water at all times.

She studied her surroundings before moving.
This seemed to be a large clearing that was at the end of a U made by a forest compromising of thin dark trees with large bunches of leaves. The river cut through the U near the bottom (where she was standing). The rest of the shape was a long bit of land (a plateau, she realized) that turned darker and more foggy the farther she looked, with tall grass, hulking round boulders and smaller trees. The ever present mist that lay over everything reduced Coco's visibility and also seemed to make the world dreary and ominous.

Coco felt rather torn and stood for a while, swinging her head between the two and weighing out the pros and cons. She idly sauntered up to the bank while musing and lowered her muzzle to the water, taking a long sip from the most fast-flowing bit when she noticed something far off on the horizon that made her ears twitch- a plume of wavering grey which was much darker than her surroundings, which indicated fire and fire meant-

Civilization! she thought, and feeling herself buzz excitedly she finished her drink and then started to head towards it. Then after some more thinking she diverged into the outskirts of the forest, hiding herself as well as she could in the shadows with her darned very noticeable colouration and thinking of camouflage and the process of elimination in a rather subdued manner.

As she quickly but as silently as possible made her way through the somewhat grassy undergrowth, she had a moment of deja vu under the sunlight filtering through the canopy, remembering the last time was in a forest rather like this (with much less fog), but had no idea whether or not it meant anything significant. Coco delicately picked over some dense bushes with this thought in mind, looking up to judge her destination now and then and noting how the grass became more scanty and how the forest was now thinning out.

All of a sudden, she realized forlornly that she wasn't in a very good condition. Coco was hungry and tired, not having slept until midnight and then she had woke up so early and ate nothing in between. Her heart was beating harder than it should- so much that if she stood still she could see her chest move- and her legs were already starting to complain, reminding her once again of the fall she had taken when tumbling into the cave what felt like weeks ago. They were criss-crossed with little scratches that had crusted up and there was many places on her body where she could feel bruises starting to throb with newfound attention.

Oh, and her head hurt.

Coco still kept moving, the slowly growing fear of being caught and eaten giving her the unnatural feeling of an adrenaline boost- she was questioning her decision to move heftily now and kept looking back over her shoulder ceaselessly due to paranoia.

Something made a large boom like a slamming door up ahead, startling Coco who squealed and dropped to the ground instinctively covering her belly. She flicked her eyes about to see that in the fog there was the feeling of something moving among the large boulders and tufts of rather dull grass. No, it was somethings now, she was sure of that...

Interested, Coco raised her head from the scrunched position she had assumed. Yes, there were lots of weird things going in there- it looked almost like when unicorns would face off between each other, with glow-y things and projectiles and slash-y whatevers everywhere. Except that it seemed from the few visual clues that there was a lot more than just one unicorn.

Coco's curiosity was aroused and she carefully slinked forward through the little cover provided by the stunted trees the forest was reduced to, feeling excitement instead of the more practical terror. Were there unicorns on this land too? Maybe she had just been teleported to a different part of Equestria and thus could possibly ask them to take her back or something (Coco is a little naive.)- then that meant she could be with her friends and Rarity and Discord and Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie again and then finally her life would even out-

Getting too ahead of myself. Coco flicked her head around like a bird, her ears turning, as she strained to pick up any predatory noises just in case (as that kind of thing happens at times like this) over the lazer-y and twanging and slashing- twanging and slashing?

That sounds like weapons... Coco slowly rose to her hooves, drawing her eyebrows together. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all- being a defenseless young earth mare, she could get very easily caught in the careless crossfire they were executing-

Something dark shot past her, making her leap to the side with a squeal, once more hugging the ground, and came to stop somewhere behind her in a patch of thick long grass. Coco turned her head to stare after it over her shoulder as a thin thread of smoke slowly rose from the spot, trying to make up her mind whether or not she should go investigate what was obviously some kind of cannon shot. It could explode in her face or something...

After what felt like quite a long moment, it stopped smoking, which more than anything else gave her some of the courage needed to check it out. She crawled towards the thing, keeping as close to the ground as possible, and watched the round object for any signs of change- as it didn't move she carefully stood up and then slowly leaned over the indentation in the grass to get a good look.

OH.

Coco must have momentarily died without noticing and she jerked her head to her former position as if trying to spot a body. Or she was possibly hallucinating because of the apparently safe river water. Coco looked around wildly, her mane flicking, trying to see if someone had shot her with a poison dart gun when she wasn't noticing because no way was that thing real.

She felt a chill trickle down her spine, and then darted her head down and bit herself in her hoof as hard she could- and the pain lancing through her leg showed her that she definitely wasn't dreaming.

Oh Faust oh Faust oh Faust Discord what did you dooooo aaaaa-

Her anxious tirade was abruptly cut off when the thing-which-must-not-be-named stirred.

Coco felt herself lock up and she stared, eyes as round as saucers, as it aimlessly moved the arm holding a strangely elegant yellow ornamented bow (but for once she paid no attention how it looked). Every single thing about it matched up- the weird little limbs, the big round eye- and no, there was absolutely no mistaking it and this was completely real.

Coco swallowed convulsively, remembering that she was once just a little salespony in big Manehatten, following her routine and living her life and drinking coffee. At least then she had an idea of what was going on and what would happen. At least then her life was somewhat sane.

And then it hit her. It's hurt- I mean he- she- thing- they're hurt and I'm just standing there! What if this was, I don't know, some famous pony or something? Would you just leave them to die because you were enamored with their presence?!

"Are you an angel...?"

She turned her head from her left to her right and then over her shoulder, but she couldn't find anyone else he could be referring to so she looked back at him and slowly, unsurely raised a hoof to tap her chest. Me?

He simply blinked.

Coco had been called quite a few things in her life, and she had more than once gotten the remark that she was rather nice-looking (wanted or not), but she didn't really think that would be called 'angel' by somepony who meant it- especially by some male like his voice indicated it to be. 'Angel' was something otherworldly beautiful and pure, and Coco definitely didn't believe she was the first while her past ruined half of the second (though her mind was nearly ignorantly clean).

The fog is giving the illusion that my coat is glowing and the chill wind is blowing my mane attractively, but still... Angel?

He stared back at her, his gaze flickering over Coco, only possessing the strength to keep his eye half open.

Her previous panic about the realization of what this creature was and what it meant had shriveled up, while her features now formed an expression of worry. She wasn't a stranger to pain anymore, and judging by the bleary way he was acting and the fact that he had been smoking a while ago simply proved that he was a worse state then herself.

Coco felt at such a loss for what to do. What could she do? She didn't feel as if she had any kind of magical earth pony power that would heal him, nor did she have any kind of item that could do the job for her. This feeling of just sitting and watching something die was something new and just as terrible for Coco. And he sounds younger than me...

Her shoulders slumped. Maybe she could sit by his side and offer him comfort? But she was just some random horse, and he would die knowing she did nothing but sit there.

Coco most of all felt a lot of pity. She noticed her vision going all blurry, and she lay herself down next to him, carefully curling her light blue tail around his body (eye?). She considered maybe apologizing, but figured that her suddenly talking would just give him a heart attack since she figured out that ponies don't talk in his world.

Even though she was currently distracted by the sorry plight of the creature, her prey instincts had remained high strung so when she heard the sound of about three other pairs of feet Coco snapped her head over her shoulder quickly, where she could see grass being moved aside.

All of her rationality was thrown from the wheel and taken over by her instincts- without further ado Coco made the word 'bolt' look quite literal as she immediately leapt to action, darting to her hooves and zipped away into the fog as light as a deer.

It was only when she had entered the forest did Coco regain her wits. She paused in her furious sprinting, stuttering to a stop looking and turning back scanned the place where she had left him, suddenly wondering after the spur of the moment whether or not that was a good idea.

She should have stayed and made friends with them. It was a good plan to have the most powerful tribe on her side and it ensured a place protection, shelter.

Coco was also feeling lonely, which was beginning to scare her.

She thought she had heard him call out when she left, which just tugged at her heartstrings even more.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Coco Pommel now understood what Discord meant when he said earth ponies had their own powers.

They were especially attuned to nature. After only a day in the wilderness, Coco started to notice changes in her- she could accelerate and turn much faster and her senses were already heightened. Things she knew she couldn't hear before were now audible to her. Apparently her brand of earth pony wasn't the strength type or farmer type (despite Discord's claims of her having vitality whenever she had tried to care for a garden it always died, sometimes in honestly rather ridiculous ways) but the kind that acts more like a doe.

She considered it extremely lucky that she happened to be an earth pony at the moment, as it seemed as if she would be living solely in the wild for as long as she stayed in the land because she was too insecure and afraid to go find the Patapons and chat it up a bit.

She really hated it.

She was always having to be on constant guard, which tired her so much- always jumping at every sound, flitting to all these new places, barely letting herself sit down because of her nagging paranoia. So many things Coco had taken for granted before like blankets and a bed and on-demand light were all absent, and making itself very known whenever she subconsciously reached for a brush or a magazine.

But the worst thing of all was the loneliness.
Coco had always at some point had a friend, or at least somepony she could talk to. It was her biggest weakness- the utter inability to be alone- and had come close to destroying her in her more desolate days. It made her feel like a tub of ice cream with a huge scoop taken out of it, and she didn't know why it affected her so badly.
She was a naturally affectionate pony, and when the only ones who could receive a hug were the waxy plants and the weird creatures she glimpsed now and then she almost felt like just laying down until she turned to stone.

This weakness was the reason why she finally just leapt up from her hunched position on the dirt of the forest floor, and just said loudly (which was yelling for the otherwise quiet pony), "Fine, then! I'm going over there and I'm doing it now!"
She then impulsively looked around the forest to see if any of those huge wolves or those Cyclops beasts were coming out to eat her. Satisfied, Coco turned and marched out to the place where she had met with the wounded Patapon, determinedly not letting her mind protest in any way.

When she reached the plateau, she found that while there were obvious signs of a battle that had been fought recently (minus the blood.. for some reason?). The afternoon sun had burnt about half of the fog that was lingering from yesterday, enabling Coco to see that there were singe marks, arrows, scraps of armour and swords littering the landscape. Coco examined these, her eyebrows meeting. They were fighting with weapons? Then what were those flashing lights and explosions?

She obtained her answer when a halberd in particular met her eyes.

It was a very powerful looking lance that was glittering gold with adornments of ebony. There were four dark spikes attached to its end and the tip was double-pronged, like an especially deadly tuning fork- It was certainly designed with looks partially in mind.

Coco bounced up and down on the spot with excitement. The Gugnir! She could remember Octavia's voice from under her shawl in the moonlight through the rafters forming the words- "The lance of the gods, Gugnir!" Coco whispered, and starting humming to herself, becoming rather silly with the newfound discovery of one of her favourite story weapons.

Finding it there in front of her worked to finally completely convince Pommel that she really was in another's world.

Coco Pommel trotted up to the halberd, taking all the time in the world, as if to make the moment last. When she finally came up to the weapon positioned in the dust, she took it in her mouth as if it was a jewel and tried to hold it pointing straight to the side like one of the experienced Royal Guards holding a sword. The task was a little difficult to do, as the hornlike projections on the lance required some careful maneuvering as to not spear her mouth.

After some patient standing the clouds split to reveal a concentrated ray of yellow sunlight to the left of Coco, who surreptitiously moved so that she was standing bathed in its light like a legendary warrior and not the soft young mare she really was. She struck an enviable pose and slowly held her head aloft so that Gugnir would shine strongly in the light.

And then suddenly her ears pricked and the moment ended much too soon. Coco heard something rustle among the thick swathes of dry grass to the right and her senses once more went into overdrive- her muscles tensed, her eyes dilated and she froze, whipping her head to the side, all sense of glory faded. She managed to just catch a glimpse of something ducking back underneath the grassy cover, making the blades crackle.

The thing that Coco registered was predator before she dropped the halberd with a bell-like clink and fled, swift as lightning.

Just like last time, there was a cry of "Wait!" and unlike last time, Pommel actually stumbled mid-stride, the voice washing over her ears like a wave. She hopped around to face the perpetrator in question, sliding a little in the dust, her stance close to the ground, her eyes round and her ears flat against her head(she briefly considered hissing like a cat, but her femininity won over)

It was a Patapon. If Coco didn't know any better, she would say that it was the exact same one from last time- but that couldn't be, it was supposed to be dead because she left it- left it to die- stop it, don't start that again!

He was timidly standing around four and a half meters away, clutching that fancy gleaming yellow bow to himself (Coco now realized how much the bow complemented Gugnir) and watching her solemnly. The two sized each other up.

Coco slowly straightened up, her ears perking forward, her body language a little more relaxed but still having the tense look of a hind ready to leap away at the slightest provocation, her eyes flitting to the weapon in hand- the Patapon then followed her gaze and got the hint, dropping his bow gracelessly.
They once more just stood and looked at each other, each unwilling to break the silence.

You're supposed to be dead... Did those others Coco had left him to help him somehow, a potion or a spell maybe? Either way, she was both relieved and happy to see him alive and quite well and it felt as if a burden she carrying on her shoulders had been shifted off.

How does somepony make friends again..? I- I forgot... they go up and talk about...things, right?

"Are you a goddess?"

And Coco thought 'angel' was too much.

She was taken aback by this statement and it showed- had she somehow sprouted wings and a horn or something? She didn't feel too different, but she turned to look at her sides just in case.
Then she remembered. This world's definition of a goddess wasn't necessarily an alicorn. Coco felt momentarily embarrassed as she had been envisioning their deities with appendages that weren't quite suitable- but even in the light of this she couldn't understand why he was adamant on calling her by such high titles.
Did eating grass improve somepony's appearance or something? She should have recorded it.

The Patapon was rather persistent in this. "Are you a goddess? Of horses?"

Coco Pommel was about to say, 'Weeelll...' when he took a step forward, enacting a flinch from her.

"Please?" he said quietly.

Coco looked a little uneasy- however she couldn't find any truly troubling excuses to him not to. She took a breath to say something again when it huffed out of her as she found that he was right next to next to her. He gave her mane a light touch- the Patapon seemed rather fascinated by its colour and texture judging from the way he seemed to be unable to take his eyes off it.

Usually if it was anyone else petting her hair like that she would have found it rather degrading or much, much too forward, but as it was with the bow-wielding Patapon she didn't have any inclination to edge away- only a little discomfort as she watched him without moving her head.

"My name is Kan Yumipon," the Patapon said in a manner that was both chipper and melancholic at the same time, pulling his hand away shyly and tucking it behind his back.

"And my name is Coco Pommel," Coco said, turning her head to look at him.

He stared.

"Oops." She blinked, feeling a sloppy embarrassed grin form on her face. "Um. H-Hi?"

"Y-You can talk?"

"I never noticed..." She could feel her face prickle with a blush in embarrassment

"H-How?" He took a couple of steps away from her as if she was contagious.

"...I was born like that?" she said quietly.

Kan looked her up and down. "Born-...? Oh! M-may I learn of your t-title?"

Coco searched his expression, frowning a little, and she shook her head. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Title," Kan insisted. He spread his hands, looking haplessly around the battlefield. "Like Kacchikochin is the Master of Freezing Winds, a-and Citrine, Mighty Fire Repellent.."

Something seemed to stir in Coco's mind as if moved with a needle.
Half her life had passed since Coco had heard the old stories told under that tin roof, and so much of it she had forgotten- but one name seem to stick in her head in particular- "And Shubabassa- Lord of the Thousand Arms..."
She could not place exactly who that time had belonged to, but to her, it felt like the name of a well-loved family member. Which didn't make a mite of sense.

Kan perked up. "Yes... And- and what about you? Please?"

Coco hadn't heard of Patapons having all these titles before. "I don't seem to have a title," she said, briefly glancing away from the Patapon and into the gray fog and rocks unseeing. She took a breath in, as if to say something, but only let it out in a big whoosh of air.

"You act like...H-Have you lost your memory too?" Kan asked in a low voice, not breaking his gaze.

This caught her interest. " I don't think so, but if I had I don't believe I'd know- wait, who else has lost their memory?"

Kan seemed to beam momentarily. "The Uberhero!"

"The sorry what now?"

"He-He's..." Kan studied the floor, trying to think of some ways to describe whoever he was talking about. "He's a hero..."

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised," Coco said kindly, "I mean, he does have the word 'hero' in his name, he is a little obligated towards it."

"He's a Patapon, but then he fused-" Coco had a strange mental image of melting metals, "- with our god, and now he's- he's half, I-I suppose? He has different powers depending on which kind of hero he is," Kan explained.

"Depending on what kind of hero is? As in morally?"

"No, which type.. each type has a different mask, a-and a different weapon he can w-wield."

Coco felt that stirring-needle thing again- she must have told this at some point, but it was annoyingly hiding in the back of her mind and dodging every attempt to snag it. "I think I can understand," Coco said slowly. "Patapons are a lot to take in at once, you know?"

"I know, and I am one myself," Kan said huffily. "I re-really can't believe half the things they can do either."

This made Coco laugh for the first time since she had been sent into this world. She shook her head, shaking off the last vestiges of her mirth, using a hoof to brush away some strands of her mane and tuck them behind her ear. The cold mist forming on her vanilla coat and the nudges of her body trying to alert her to the many things it was upset over didn't bother her anymore, when she found she could still do something as simple as laugh.

Kan also looked noticeably happier. "You're really nice," he said quietly.

"Hey, I like you too," Coco said, making him straighten his posture to a point where it nearly set her off again (it made him look as if he was going topple backwards with a breeze).

"You're sort of like a... bird," Kan continued, slowly deflating from his puffed-up look.

"Hmm?" Coco tipped an ear at this.

"L-Like a motsitsi, you know? You're never seen, and you can't be caught..."

"Motsitsi..." Coco tilted back her head, closing her eyes briefly. She dropped her head to her chest, half turning her head towards Kan and opening her eyes again. "I know what it is, I just can't seem to..."

A loud, muffled crackle and boom noise came from above and rolled among the plateau, sounding like a mixture of fireworks and a single loud beat of a drum. Coco instinctively squealed and snapped to a scrunched position on the ground, making herself as small as possible.

"Lady Coco! A-a-are you okay!?" Kan was frantically kneeling next to her.

Slowly, Coco lifted her head once more to the sky, squinting into the thick dark tangle of clouds coating the sky above. Strings of lightning flashed and illuminated sections of the impending bitter rain, causing the rumbles that had startled her. The air smelled like fresh earth and seemed colder and free of mist, which wasn't saying much as the clouds were covering the sun and kept the land at the same level of darkness.

"I should go," Coco whispered, her ears against her head. "Kan, do know anywhere I could take shelter in?"

"But what about your family?"

A glimpse of warm sunlight, a fireplace, four white mildewed walls. A storm outside and a storm within, five foals, laughter, a tangle of bright glittering eyes and beaming smiles, a flower of innocence, a web of stories. A wide-brimmed hat, a pair of glasses, a cocky grin, violet eyes, a red clip.
A never ending silence, a desert of white sand, shattered glass, fading echoes.

The velvet darkness and the tempest made Coco's eyes seem like an abyss as stormy as the heavens above. Her coat was as white as the bones of a ghost in the sea of gray. "Family? I'm sorry, I don't know what that means anymore."

For a second she gazed back at the Patapon, her mane flitting in the wind.

"C-c-can you come with-with me, then?...please?" he said weakly.

And Coco was all back to her shy, quiet self again, that second of ethereality dissipated. "Only if you wouldn't mind," she said warmly, and she rose to her hooves, surprised to feel herself supported somewhat by Kan. "Thank you..."

"Follow me," he said urgently, and he scrambled across the rocks to get his now brightly glowing bow and then attempted to lift the lance with a grunt. Coco came over to him and picked it up for him, the glittering gold weapon feeling both strangely light and heavy with strength at the same time. She swung her head around to find Kan and nearly knocked him down- "Whaaa- sorry!"

"It's fine!" He yelled over the deafening snap of thunder. "Come on!"

Both Patapon and pony raced across the rocky plateau, feeling the rain that was starting to dot their backs begin to grow into a soaking hail of water. Coco's mane was plastered wetly to her neck and head and felt like nylon and then she realized she was getting quite ahead of Kan, whose short legs were blurring in an effort to keep up with the bounding mare.

She slowed down until she was his side and called out, "Hop on my back!"
It was a good thing she had mastered the art of talking with something in her mouth, having been an earth pony.

"What?!"

"I said, hop on my back!"

"A-are you sure? I mean, don't you feel like it would degrade you if a lowly-!"

"Kan! I don't like interrupting, but trust me! It's not Discord psychology!"

"Discord-"

"KAN!"

With the finesse of a amateur vaulter, Kan sort of tossed himself onto Coco's slippery withers and nearly gored her with his inconveniently spiky bow. It was rather hard trying not to be bucked off when Coco switched her method of running of one of a galloping horse to that of a leaping gazelle (which did move much faster), what with her slick coat, not many places to grip onto and the rise and fall of her body.

"I hate horse riding!" Kan spat, but his words were lost to the wind. "Why does it have to be so fas- turn right!"

With a yank of her neck she veered right and across the edge of a forest. She then saw the opening of a large cave the mouth of which was glowing amber with inner light. "In there?"

"Yes, yes, yes quickly!"

The closer she came to the cave, the more she slowed, so that when they were at the entrance Coco was trotting leisurely. She came to the entrance of the cave, her face awash with the inner light.
Kan gratefully moved off of her back and then to her surprise immediately scurried back outside. Coco lost him momentarily in the gloom and was about to call out when he emerged dragging something wet as big as him as gracefully as he could manage. Kan carefully deposited it inside the cave and then ran past her into the depths of the cave, seeming to disappear once more

Pommel took the opportunity to belatedly try to fix her dripping mane and shake out her coat. She debated on using her clip to pin her hair back and away from her face when Kan come tottering out of wherever he had gone to, now minus his bow. He was simply beaming and gestured to her excitedly to come in.

Coco, however, had been distracted by the thing Kan had pulled into the lair- a lonely looking Patapon wearing a sort of cape, who was holding a staff and had some feathers adorning its head that was now leaning against the cave wall. The entire thing was carved from stone in a bizarrely lifelike fashion- so realistic that it was somewhere in the uncanny valley.

She could feel some of her buried memories struggling to find its way out as she looked at the statue, and she knew that she was supposed to be sad that the statue was existing but couldn't seem to find out exactly why.

"Wait.. I-I know what this is," she said with some difficulty, biting her bottom lip and staring at it with a forlorn sort of wistfulness. Maybe she should have tried over the years to better her memory of those stories she used to share, maybe she should have written it down and carried it with her and studied it more often- Faust knows that it would have helped in her more trying times when she was trapped as Suri's assistant. This statue just felt so wrong, as if she was standing at a best friend's funeral without knowing who died.

"Kan, who is this?" she called out, turning her head a little but not tearing her gaze away from the stone.

Kan came up to her side in an instant.

"That's Lady Meden," he said softly. "She was the Patapon priestess, and she acted like our elder sister."

"Or a mother?"

"Isn't it the same?"

"For Patapons, it could be," Coco said. "But some elder sisters I've seen are unpleasant with their siblings."

"For us the eldest sister is considered the second mother," the Patapon said. "She shares the responsibility with her mother when she was there."

Coco pricked an ear at this and looked over to her companion. "...When she was there? Kan, what does that mean?"

"Patapons have a-a low female to male ratio," Kan said hesitantly.

Coco realized what he meant. " And Patapons are a tribe of war, so they must be invaded sometimes..."

Kan was silent. Coco realized that she really shouldn't have reminded him of that fact and immediately felt herself flood with guilt. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up- if I ask about something and it's a sensitive subject, you just have to tell me, okay?"

"I can?"

"You're not obligated to inform me of anything," she said, feeling a little confused. What makes him think that?

"Some things I can't remember either," he said. "Like I know that I know the Hero, but I can't seem to recall where he came from or why I know him..."

"Cloudy with a chance of amnesia," Coco said, trying at a smile to lighten him up, which did work to some extent. "Me, you and the rest of the world just can't seem to remember anything- only on my part it's plain old forgetfulness. Is it alright if you could show me around?"

That seemed to take Kan's mind off things as he regained some of his cheer. He eagerly guided Coco through the cave, which was lit by various types of light coming from many kinds of strange buildings- the first of which was a sort of castle turret that had a red glow and seemed to be unopenable. On the even ground was a black mound of carved rock with white symbols reduced to mostly ruins, which he called the Obelisk, and then a tall crow's nest upon which Coco could glimpse the top of another dozing Patapon.

Then there was a team of large dark elaborate tents, the Barracks, and after it on top of a ledge was a rock that like the Obelisk was covered in symbols but was in a much better condition, which her friend called the Team Totem. Coco noticed a sort of pedestal front of it which looked as if it was supposed to have something on it, but she couldn't figure out what- a vase, possibly?

Then it was a sort of shack or warehouse that he said housed their weapons and armour labelled the Armoury, a contraption made of eerily blazing round bellows and a roof made with arches of metal called the Blacksmith, and finally on another ledge was a gate that looked and glowed like some sort of demonic geode- the Herogate.

"It's very well designed," Coco said admiringly after taking the tour, standing near the tents and craning her head to look at the impressive display of stalactites adorning the ceiling coloured various pleasing shades of brown. "The colour scheme is well built, only the Herogate ruins the look a bit however eye-catching it is. Maybe if I moved that lamp there..."

"What?"

"What?"

"You were standing and mumbling things, Lady..."

"Just the musings of a fashion desi- wait, 'Lady'?"

"I- well- we called Lady Meden 'Lady, and-and you're a..well..."

"Well, considering the position of the ponies I was born to, I guess that calling me 'Lady' would actually be the proper thing to do," Coco said thoughtfully. "But 'Lady Coco' makes me sound like someone who wears jewels and calls everyone 'darling'-" an image of Rarity popped into her head, "-oh no, not that it's a bad thing..."

Kan waited patiently.

"Does 'Lady Coco sound better to you or just Coco?"

"Um... I-If you wouldn't mind, I think Coco sounds sweeter- but it's your choice, of course, I wasn't meaning- I don't..." he trailed off as Coco adopted the bearing look he had worn.

"Oh, I thought so too," she said brightly. "Majority vote- motion passed! I'm Coco from now on. Well, I always was- nevermind."

Presently she blinked and turned her heads toward the cave entrance, where it was still pouring buckets outside. "Kan?"

"Uh huh?"

"It seems like..." she hesitated, hoping it wasn't an untouchable subject. "It seems as if there's room for more than just one-" she remembered the Patapon in the crow's nest,"- two Patapons."

"Oh!" Coco was relieved to see him brighten instead of shut down. "I think they'll be here sometime soon! I'm sure you'll like them too-" he stopped.

"What happened?"

"D-Do you think I'm annoying?"

"And I thought I was self-deprecating," Coco joked. "Of course not! I know what an annoying pony- annoying person looks like, trust me."

"O-Okay.... well, I'm sure you'll like them all too! Chin is funny and Ton is intelligent, and the Uberhero... he-he's lots of things, honestly."

"What kind of-" she stretched herself out like a cat, and accidentally used one of her strained muscles,"- ouch- What kind of things are those?"

"His personality kind of changes with his mask," Kan explained, using quite a lot of gestures to boost his story. "Taterazay-"

Coco thought he said 'potater' and couldn't resist a snort, which she tried to hide by ducking her head with her hoof on her muzzle. "

"Well, Taterazay is like a well- meaning teacher, and Tondenga's big and bulky and kind of loud, and Destrobo's cool, and Guardira's actually a lot like you."

She squinted. Far from satisfied, Coco was left feeling politely puzzled by his explanation and with more questions that when she started off with- Kan sounded as if he was describing more than one person and claiming them to be a single entity.

But then the thought of others started a feeling like a constricting in her heart and a strange burning desire to flee. "Kan?"

"Yeah?"

"Y-You said they would be here soon, right?"

"Well, uh huh."

"So... do I have to meet them right away?"

"What do you mean?"

Coco winced. She had hoped it wouldn't come down to this. "I have issues."

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm too shy."

"I can't hear what you're trying to tell me, Coco."

She sighed. "I get awkward and want to run away when I'm around others, okay? I- I'm too shy."

Kan looked pensive. "Oh... so you don't want to meet them, or..?"

Pommel felt very silly. "Oh, no! They sound wonderful! I just- I don't want to go up to them first, if it's okay with you..."

"It doesn't matter about me, this is about you," said Kan. "I guess being a talking pony could be weird for them."

"So what do I do?" she said a little desperately.

"Well...Maybe you could hide and then be found?"

Coco had a vision of herself being lifted up under her forelegs like someone who didn't know how to handle a cat would carry it. "Any other options?"

It was strange for Coco, talking about her as if she was some kind of present to be cleverly presented. She didn't know whether to be amused at this comparison or be distressed at how they were no closer to finding a good way. Why do I have to be so sky? It was always the reason I could never find a friend on my own, it's never a good thing, being shy...
After a while the conversation devolved from serious into lighthearted as the rain slowed a little outside

"Maybe we could pretend you're a fairy?" Kan suggested.

"How does that work exactly?"

"We'll tie two boards to your back and you'll squeak a lot," he yawned.

"And how does that help?"

"I-I dunno..."

"Maybe we'll just tie me up in gift wrap and then put me near the fireplace- or the Blacksmith, and tell them I'm a Hearth's Warming present."

"Hearth's Warming?"

"A holiday in winter in which we celebrate equality and friendship."

"Friendship."

"Friendship is maaagic," Coco said, adopting a fluttery mystical voice and making Kan laugh.

Coco yawned as well, and then cast a lazy eye towards the entrance. The rain outside had stopped, leaving large muddy puddle outside in the grass and a chilly wind to blow over into the Hideout. "Is it hailing?"

"I don't think so. No, it's not- w-why do you ask?"

"There's some splashing sounds outside-" She suddenly leapt to hooves, her shoulders tensing and her eyes panicky. "Oh no!"

"What, what?"

"They're coming! Hide me! Aah!"

Her instincts suddenly took over, erasing all of her rationality with one swift stroke and Coco bounded away without a second thought into the depths of the cave. She danced about as light on her hooves as a doe and then seemed to simply expertly disappear, darting into some invisible nook and leaving no trace.

As she curled up in a sort of snug bubble in the rock hidden in a group of stalagmites at the back of the cave, she listening to her fluttering heart and tried to decide whether she was nervous or incredibly excited.
Or if I was Pinkie Pie, nervocited- oh Faust, I miss her and the others... She shook her head and balled up a little tighter. More Patapons! Oh, what do they look like? Will they like me? What are they going to do if they found me? And what's this Uberhero like? Nervocited, nervocited!

Hmm, I never thought about it, but... It's so strange. I mean, I'm in the land of a story made up by Octavia and everything... It's so real I can taste it! (Tastes like rocks). I mean, it's as outlandish as... being in the land of a story made up by Octavia...

She turned her head a little, her blue eyes searching the world outside through a gap in the stalagmites, but saw no movement. Are they gone? Was that just a false alarm? What will they say to Kan- 'oh, yes, please show me your white and blue tiny talking angel horse, please'? What if they don't believe him? I don't want to come out- but I'm going to have to face it somehow...

She bit her hooves nervously until she saw how scuffed they looked. Wow, that's horrible. What are the chances of having a spa in this world?

"Coco? Where are you? Can-can you come now, please?"

She perked her ears and unraveled from the white ball. Coco peeped her head out through the makeshift natural fence warily and, beginning to feel the now familiar burn of embarrassment curling through her, slowly slinked out to an exasperated Kan, picking her way through rather delicately to disguise it. The simple look on his face (eye?) had her guessing that she had bolted at nothing, making her wince.

She came to up with her ears flopped. "Ah... I'm sorry, living in the wild has been doing strange things to me..."

"It's alright," Ton said. "It's not your fault, Coco."

She then examined the slightly cloudy sky- it was already dark out- have I really spent that much time? I never noticed- it just seemed to fly past-

Coco Pommel felt at an impasse. On on hoof, she really wanted to be with Kan in this cave. On the other hoof, meeting the others felt a very daunting prospect and then there was the chance they wouldn't let her stay or like her- nopony could hold out for universal popularity, after all.

She was so unhappy. Why couldn't she be more secure in herself? She was sure that nopony else was having this silly dilemma- they weren't that much of an idiot to give up the offer of company and shelter and protection like this. Being wild had also taken it's effect on her coat and her health in general- she was possibly thinner, her coat had lost some of the luxuriant quality she was so proud of, and her mane wasn't as soft as before.
Where had she gone wrong for this to happen?

You know where, she thought darkly.

And then she spotted something from the outside the cave, flanking one side- a forest, right next to the Hideout! It was so convenient that for a second she ridiculously suspected that it was some kind of trick . "Kan?"

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She hastily took on an expression that wouldn't worry him. "I'm fine. You know, I've really have been happy here with you, but you see, it's getting a little dark out..."

He took the hint, looking a little.. crestfallen. "Okay."

"Will I see you again?"

The Patapon straightened up, fumbling with nothing for some apparent reason. "O-Okay."

Coco stood there a little while, hesitating and fiddling with her tie, but she ultimately quietly turned to walk out of the cave. At the mouth she looked back over her shoulder to see him still standing there, watching her go, and waved with her hoof before disappearing into the side.

I really wonder what this Uberhero's like, she thought. Maybe I would have seen him if I stayed- still, better late than never.

Author's Notes:

I don't like this chapter, really.

Coco Pommel is in another castle

"You seek what life's in death~"

Coco was singing to herself as she hopped around the birch trees in the sunlight filtering through the canopy. There were a lot of large- petalled hibiscus like flowers twined around their spotty trunks in various shades of crimson, which she was delicately clipping with her teeth and weaving together with grass in an imitation of a scarf.
In the Patapon world were very few outlets through which Coco could vent her metaphorical fashion spleen on, and that unique sort of inflating tension that came with art related talents would threaten to make her antsy if she didn't do something about it. Thus the flower gathering.

"Now find it air once breath~"

At the moment, compared with her current general situation, being able to make dresses must have been one of the most useless talents ever. She paused in her fillyish flower play and stared at the scarf thing lying on the ground forlornly, thinking of what she would be able to do with the materials she would have at her Manehatten apartment and felt a pang for her fully stocked vanity table.

Her kitchen cupboard dedicated solely to cans of cream of mushroom soup and cheese. Her beanbag with the carefully patched up holes with those little round polymer balls peeking out. The page from the long forgotten yellowed magazine containing the best recipe for corn clouds she had ever heard of.

"New names unknown..."

She determinedly decided not to dwell on these things any more, as they would only hinder her and didn't help in any way towards her ultimate cause of going home. Discord, I do wish you'd hurry up...

"Old names gone..."

Coco plucked an especially mauve hibiscus, flicking her head to dispel those thoughts. I wonder if everyone in this land is as interesting as Kan? I wish I could- well, this is foalish- be all of their friends...

"Till time ends bodies-"

Oooh, this sunset scarf is actually coming along better than I thought!

"But souls, none~"

I wonder if I could give it to Kan and his company as a peace offering?

"Now, make haste,"

She slipped it around her neck, shifting it a little to avoid chafing her now rather delicate fur, enacting a little worried frown at this new problem. My health seems to fading faster than I believed at first.

"While you be-"

Wait, look at that black one over there!

"But steps to your eter-nity~!"

That would look so good if I tuck it in on the left of the grass thing- the more the merrier... She trotted toward the single black petal visible behind an untamed bush like a curious kitten, tilting her head and twitching her nose as she leaned forward. Smells like metal?

The moment she reached forward the bush exploded outwards without any warning or time to react, revealing something completely black and suspiciously Patapon-ish- whatever she could see if it, at least, before she was knocked on the jaw by a weapon bulky and roughly shewn like a club.
The impact wasn't enough to make her faint- it was actually harder to make somepony pass out than most stories would make it out to be- but it certainly left her very dazed as she toppled clumsily, her vision flickering once with a look of bemusion on her face.

It felt as if she could feel all the veins in on her jawbone and the rush of blood in them and her ears as she attempted to haphazardly collect some of her utterly befuddled wits in a panicky matter.
The only thought she could hear was a deadpan 'Whaaaaaaat just happened'. One second frolicking in the sunshine and now on her side with her legs unresponsive to any command, which she dimly knew was supposed to be very worrying but couldn't summon anything other than mild confusion.

Oooh, this is going to hurt, she thought regretfully as her field of view seemed to swarm with blurry, oversize dark wasps. That's annoying, stop it...

And then Coco felt her ears lighten and clear slowly. Sounds seemed to be coming from the bottom of a well, or through a layer of water, but it was better than the ringing she had been subjected to before. The white ceiling seemed to bulge and flap like canvas in the wind (once again, at least she could see it) and Coco could now get a hold on her limbs, stirring them feebly and flicking her ears as if to ward away a fly.

How long was I out? It had only felt like less than a minute, but she couldn't have somehow teleported to this wherever at that speed unless the Patapons knew more about magic than she remembered.

Panic splashed through her insides like a cold flood. Where am I- what in the -excuse me- hay just happened?
She raised her head on her stiff neck, feeling a spot on her her jaw suddenly give a numbing buzz as if it had the pins and needles effect and then let it go with a grimace. Pommel had to suffice with lying there helpless and motionless as her angled blue eyes darted around in a distressed manner.

Her skin was the next to have its nerves awakened and Coco felt the icy air it was being subjected to, but there was no draft in the structure she was residing in- the chill seemed to be frostily wafting from the floor. In fact, it was so cold that her body instinctively curled up into a ball despite its earlier protests and Coco distracted herself for the moment to pretend she was a smoking dragon, watching her blowing breath form curls of white steam.

The ceiling was now visible and Coco saw that it was apparently made of frosted glass with a pattern of cold vines and etched tiny blue flowers.
The walls were made of thick large white bricks made of unknown material, there was a set of spiralling glass stairs leading upwards and the floor was nothing but ice- however, Coco was spared from that discomfort by having been unceremoniously dumped on a random large red cushion instead.
After some thought she realized that everything around her consisted solely of delicately carved ice and snow.

She wasn't chained, there were castle-like open windows at eye level and there was a pair of cerulean double doors- the only wooden thing in there- that weren't chained either to the best of her knowledge. All in all, if this was some kind of kidnapping attempt, then whoever orchestrated it hadn't really thought it out properly (or believed that hit to the noggin would have done her in for quite a while).

Coco still felt her customary fretful tension linger anxiously in her system, but she was otherwise quite alright and actually rather internally bemused.
She carefully raised herself without aggravating any injuries so that she was on her belly in her favourite sphinx position and was quite thankful for her coat and her large scarf, which she adjusted to make maximum use of.

After half an hour of silent appreciative observation, she decided that she would head up to the second storey as nothing seemed to be happening any time soon. There no noise outside save for the whistling of the wind to which Coco listened carefully before moving on.
A lot of slipping, surprisingly well executed slides and landing on her tail later she managed to reach the steps and clamber up them in a rather ungainly fashion to avoid any more tumbles.

The roof of this storey was more elaborate than the last- it was shaped like an elegant domed cathedral roof made of what had seemed to be frosted glass but was really ice, had light blue ribs and was inlaid with the same plant pattern.
She spent some more time idly watching this before spotting a balcony fenced by ice the colour of her mane jutting out into the open, and made her way towards it with interest.

The pony gazed about with awe at the wonderland before her, a cream hoof reaching up to push down the flower scarf that was covering her muzzle and flittering in the high wind. It was a desert of snow- dunes of white sand dotted with great towering majestic forest green pine trees dusted with glinting flakes of light. The sun on the horizon matched her scarf, the weak yellow dawn sun bleeding out cerise and vermilion that washed the whole sky.
It helped the scene that Pommel was a fan of all things cold- rain, cloudy days, snowscapes like this. She was the only foal back in the day who accepted the dare to bathe in icy water and came out relatively unscathed.

She could feel the wind icing her fur, the sharp air in her lungs and she always knew this was the kind of place she had also wanted to go, like how other ponies would want for the sea- especially her mother, who said to her in one of her rare fits of wisdom- 'To see the ocean once is to learn how to miss it.'

She took a deep breath and then sighed, opening her eyes which she had closed to the breeze, and then regretfully turned around and drew her scarf over her snout again. Coco knew that this moment probably wouldn't last long, as the whole reason she was here in the first place was because she was taken hostage even if it was in a rather strange and seemingly messy method. This world was based on war- it could be some kind of trap.

Coco peeked from the stairs down onto the first floor, but nothing had visibly changed which encouraged her to carefully tiptoe down the steps and stand unsurely on the smooth cloudy ice floor. She craned herself to the side to look out of the one windows and saw nothing but a gale full of snowflakes and heard nothing but it's howling as it picked up speed, making her wind her grass garment around her body tighter.
Pommel briefly and sullenly wondered if she was placed here to freeze to death pointlessly in a metaphorical gilded cage.

Picking up her hooves in a way reminiscent of a prancing horse to minimize slipping, she trotted over to the fat red cushion she had come to her senses on and buried herself in it as deep as possible.
While Coco didn't feel bothered by cold easily, she was knowledgeable enough to know that it was always wisest to bundle up especially if there were windows one couldn't reach to close. She took off her scarf to make it cover as much of her back as possible.

Abruptly she stopped her nesting. Coco turned her head to the double doors, the only things made of wood, as she was very sure that she wasn't imagining someone cursing outside it...

The doors were slammed nearly off their hinges into the cold snow walls so hard that they cracked, making Coco squeal and duck her head instinctively as a flurry of flakes were blown, fluttering like butterflies into the building.

She peered over the rim of the cushion she was half hidden in to see the silhouette of something- someone- struggling to clear the knee-deep swathe of powdery white. She could see from the outline that whoever it was had an impressive set of glowing red claw weapons, which were usually a sort of metal knuckleguard with long knives on the knuckle bit- but these were like gloves with the claws on the tips instead.

The person managed to stumble through the last steps of snow and then calmly gathered the doors and slammed them shut once again with just as much furious force and a bang that rattled her stomach. Coco, on her cushion in the corner of the room, blinked and looked around a little wildly, trying to decide whether or not to react.

As the person thoroughly ignored her and started to pace to length of the room, muttering to himself with his hands behind his back, she contented herself with looking as small as possible and observing.

One thing about the fireplace legends that Coco remembered firmly was that there was the masked Patapon Hero in the later Patapon stories, and for a moment she thought this person was him- he had a mask, was male (but wasn't everyone, honestly?) and seemed to give off an aura of power.
She ruled out this suggestion because it just didn't seem to fit- the Hero that she had heard of was described as a little arrogant but noble while this person could immediately be seen as dangerous just from being in the same room.

Unlike the Patapons, the creature had an actual body- black with a white diamond on his chest, and Coco could just see that it was consisting of short fur.
His mask was dark red, full of sharp angles and fashioned in the design of a wolf- which being a sort of prey animal was good enough on its own to make her nervous- and he had a navy blue cape. Those claws were not to be ignored, either- they were fashioned too much after a predator's for her taste, but Coco supposed that it was the point of the design.

Is he just going to ignore me this whole time? Coco had unfolded a little from her frightened position to lay on her belly with her forelegs under her and her hindlegs close to her body. She was watching as he settled himself down two and a half meters away from her, crossed his arms tightly and leaned back, stoutly staring forwards and giving no inclination that he noticed she existed.

Coco looked away and then back again, a little discomfited and having no idea what to do in situations like this. Talk about the weather? He's already mad enough as it is about that... ask his name? He'll probably bite my head off if I look at him funny.

Then she thought a little more. The thing with being shy was that while talking up someone of their accord felt like and was as appealing as approaching a lion, there was much less resistance to someone coming up first. Maybe that's it, Coco thought hopefully. Maybe the scary wolf person is just shy.

As Coco was shy as well, it took what felt like half an hour of fidgeting and glancing to say something- whenever she would finally collect all of her courage and was about to speak the words would suddenly die in her throat.

"You're going to have to be moved somewhere else now because of this blasted snow," he stated flatly, not moving to look at her. His voice seemed to have the suggestion of a growl at the edges.

"Okay," Coco said.

His reaction was actually rather funny. With a sort of higher pitched 'Whahahaaa?' the creature toppled over sideways, and than scrambled to his feet only to stumble, slip, do a front flip and land on his chin. "Oof! You can talk?!" he said, snapping his head up to look at her.

"Yes," Coco said quietly. "I'm Coco Pommel. What should I call you?"

He managed to get to his feet, bracing himself against the wall with a claw and surveyed her suspiciously. "What is it to you?"

"It's impolite of me to keep referring to you as 'the scary wolf person," she answered.

".... Madfang... Ragewolf," he said after a time with some difficulty.

Coco processed that. "Um," she said, raising a hoof, "A-Are you mad as in crazy? Or mad as in angry?"

"Yes," he said.

"Okay..."

But he wasn't done. "Oh, and I'm not just any Madfang- I also happen to be the physical embodiment of pure rage itself!" Without any warning at all Madfang with one thrust of his arm blasted a crater in the wall of thick snow bricks and ice with the crashing sound of a set of crockery being dumped off a cliff.

He turned back to Coco. "And as you can see, I don't like the cold," he stated pleasantly, inwardly enjoying her reaction.

Pommel was momentarily stunned- she blinked and flicked her ears, rather relieved that she somehow hadn't managed to get on this Ragewolf's bad side. "Point... taken," she managed to say, nervously tapping her hooves together. "So... why am I here, exactly?"

Ragewolf huffed. "You've been kidnapped and taken hostage. Surprise."

"Um, okay. But why?"

"Oh give me strength!" he groaned. "You're so angelic compared to everything else in the land that it's blinding! And you reek ("I'm honoured," Coco mumbled) of power so much that the monsters themselves avoid you!"

So that's why I wasn't confronted by a single creature, Coco thought. But what is he even saying?! Me, angelic until it's blinding? Is everyone secretly a Sombra at heart or something?

"It should be counted as extremely lucky that none of the other Heroes have gotten to you first," Ragewolf said somewhat more darkly, looking away, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall next to the section he had destroyed.

"Um, three things, please?"

He grunted, sounding a little annoyed.

"Well, first thing. What does power smell like?"

"An annoying twat," he grumbled.

Coco sighed, ducking her head for a moment, but bore it patiently. "Next- how do you know all of that?"

"All of what?"

"I've never seen or heard of you- I'm new to this land-" That last part had made Ragewolf look at her quickly, seeming to catch interest,"- and I've only been here a few days, so how do you know I exist?"

"There's a fool of a... Patapon called Kan who can't keep his voice down," Ragewolf answered, looking away once more.

"Oh, I remember him," Coco said. "Anyways, last thing, who are the other Heroes?"

"There's eight in all- me, Naughtyfins ("...what?" Coco said. "Just deal with it," Ragewolf replied)- Standoffish Sonarchy- Rottenlee Ravenous- Gluttonous Buzzcrave- Slow-moving Slogturtle- Miss Covet-Hiss- don't be fooled, he's actually male," Ragewolf rattled off, counting on the spines of his claw weapons. " Those are all of the Dark Heroes. The other one is the...Uberhero."

"I like your name the best," Coco said.

"I'm honoured, my lady," he growled.

"Why would it be bad if they caught me first?"

Ragewolf tapped his foot on the ice for a while before responding. "Ravenous would stuff you to make you last longer and mount you on a pedestal- he represents the Archfiend of Earnestness- and Buzzcrave would treat you like an animal or eat you. Sonarchy would find some way to suck the magic out of you to use it for his Bonedeth squad and same goes for Covet-Hiss, Slogturtle would probably lock you in a closet and forget to feed you until kingdom come and Naughtyfins would dress you in ribbons and call you something soppy."

He took a glance at Coco's terrified expression. "Not quite great to be you, hm?"

Everything about this world had suddenly been switched to a red filter for Pommel, who believed that she had really taken everything for granted. It must have taken an incredible streak of luck that the first entity she met was friendly and that she hadn't been mercilessly slaughtered in a gruesomely creative manner of ways. "Oh... Oh dear."

Her throat seemed to have constricted painfully for a moment, and she felt the cold truly hit her and soak numbingly through her stupid silly woven scarf and to her bones making her start shivering like an engine. "W-What about you and-and the other...other Hero?"

"I have my own agenda," he said. "I don't really want to keep you for anything- just to lure in the Patapons. The Hero, I don't know, I hate him either way. Some sort of maudlin knightly fairy speech before you're released again into the elements."

Coco hadn't thought about it before, but what if she was never retrieved?
If Discord had no idea how to bring her back- if she was destined to die horribly in a place she once used to treat as an unreachable fantasy haven, not missed by anyone, only a little shop salespony, a dressmaking nobody to be written a line about in the advertisement section of the newspaper in fine print under the other obituaries of ponies with grieving family- but then, wasn't that a good thing...?

If she died, she believed that nopony would be sad- for more than a day at least- and wasn't it better than having weeping scores sob over her? She didn't have anyone who would be crushed without her so she would no worries about disappointment and she wasn't pining for anyone in Equestria herself- well, not that much.

"Um, Ragewolf- I'm curious- what happens after you die?" she asked, her voice completely normal.

Suspiciously normal. He took one look at her and then pushed himself off of the wall. "Oh, no you don't," he said sharply.

"Don't what?"

"Your body rots in a horribly... unfashionable way," he said flatly.

Coco raised her eyebrows.

"Don't try me like that!" he snapped suddenly, and then he promptly strode over to the doors and wrenched them open letting snow-free air whirl into the room and increase Coco's rate of quivering. "Come on," he growled over his shoulder.

"It's not as if I was going to do anything," she mumbled defeatedly and then she rose to her hooves. Coco daintily picked up a hoof and took a step forward.

Almost immediately her legs seem to fold in as if there were dry twigs inserted into where limbs should be and with an utterly baffled "Huhwha?" she tumbled forwards, landing on her chin with a snapping sound as her teeth clacked together in her jaw. About half a second later Ragewolf also landed in the same way in front of her, arms outstretched, having leapt to catch the falling pony and then slipping halfway.

"I'm sorry!" she said, completely confused as she tried to slide her legs under her again. "I honestly have no idea how that happened!"

Ragewolf just growled in irritation and pushed himself up, and then touched her as if to pick her up before recoiling. "Yeowch! You're as cold as ice!"

"But I feel fine...? I think it's just your claws."

Reaching forwards more carefully now, he took her around her barrel and placed Coco on her hooves himself, and then motioned to her legs. "Did you catch some kind of frostbite?"

"No, in frostbite you can't feel your legs," Coco said. "They were under me anyways... I think it's because they wee the same position for so long?"

He didn't make any sound of agreement, just went back over to the doors and stood there, tapping his feet impatiently. Coco slid herself across the ice towards him and watched her hooves doubtfully- while they seemed to have some control, there was a peculiar feeling of being hollow on the inside that worried her as she hadn't felt it before.
Are they going to... fall off, or break away? Does this have something to do with the magic in this land or something?

Coco peered through the thick scope of snow that was laid out before her. In the thinnest parts it was a sixth her height and in the thickest it was knee deep- Coco stared at it with apprehension, attempting to cook up a plan to make it to wherever Ragewolf said they were going. "How will I clear this?"

"You honestly expect me to let you do it?" he said a little boredly, shutting the doors and then turning to her with his claws raised. With a twitch the lines and symbols that had been glowing very faintly now shone with inner red light, and steam curled from the crimson tips into the air from the heat.

"Oooh!" Coco said, pricking her ears. "How does it work?"

"Ways," he said dismissively and then moved past her. "Talk a little less, won't you?" Ragewolf swept as much snow as he could reach as if clearing a table of paper and immediately whichever snow came in close contact was turned to water, revealing dead grass underhoof.

"And here is the number one award winner for best manual snowblower," Coco said, peeking over his shoulder. "Maybe if you added two spikes over there and moved that one here, it would look as amazing too."

"Yes, yes, fashion babble and such." He disguised his satisfaction well. "Now I suppose you want to know where we're going?"

"Uh huh."

He started to walk, periodically flicking his claws to melt a way through. "The Plateau of Pompous Wings-"

"C-Can I interrupt?"

He huffed.

"The whaaat?"

"Named after someone who flew into the sun! Big long plain, some trees, grey fog, lots of round boulders, dead grass."

"Oh! I had spawned there, I remember now!"

"...Spawned?"

"Came into being, sort of."

"...I...I'll remember that. We're going to pass a big tower over there called....."

"Mhm?"

He glanced at her. "Well, it's a big tower. You'll know when you see it. If Naughtyfins is there... Yes, now what?"

"He's one of the Dark Heroes, right? A-Are you going to give me to him?"

"First off, Naughtyfins is a she."

"Oh! Finally, someone else too..."

"Secondly, no, I told you that I'll give you over to the Patapons and they'll let you go. Anyways, if Naughtyfins is there, we'll join up with her and then we'll move to the Plateau, and Sonarchy is going to be there and no I will not give you over to anybody! Take a hint!"

"That's not what I was going to say... this plan- for how long have you plotted it out? It sounds as if there are a lot of details involved."

"Two or three days ago. Now when we reach the Plateau, we'll place you in a cage and you'll act as bait for him and we'll battle each other to the death!"

"Um...."

"I knew you would say that... nobody can truly die here, alright? They just come back somehow, depending on who they are."

"Will you? Are you going to be hurt?"

This question seemed to take him off guard. "Huh...? Well, I could die, but then I can be re-summoned."

"Summoned? Like a genie?"

"I am not a genie! Do not call me that!" he growled.

"Okay... so why do you have this plan?"

"It's a plan to divert his attention from continuing on his path of destruction and destroying him in a place where he is at his weakest. His head needs deflating anyways, that..." Ragewolf trailed off into mumbling curses.

"I knew a colt with a head that needed deflating," Coco reminisced. "I don't mean figuratively. He had gotten a balloon- summoning spell for his daughter.. and, well, his head needed deflating and then they...deflated it. I forgot the point..."

"How do you deflate someone's head?!"

"You see, it was a spell gone awry so it gave his head the illusion of looking bigger. All you had to do was dispel the illusion spell."

He paused, appearing to be in deep concentration, before throwing his arms up. "Argh...I can't follow that kind of 'logic'!"

"Well, I'm not a unicorn, so..." She shrugged.

This kind of conversation was kept up for quite a while as they walked across the snowfields, until Coco interrupted Ragewolf in the middle of an impatient lecture.
"Oh, Madfang! Look at that!"

"Oh, gee! A huge tower! I ne-ver would have no-ticed~!" he sang out.

Coco was too busy looking at it. The land around was a long, cold plain with shrivelled- looking various large shrubs and a mat of snow that was about five inches thick, with the notable feature being a huge dark tower shaped like a giant, spiny evil castle turret overshadowing everything. It was as big as a couple of large castles on it's own.

"It's big," Pommel said, her eyes wide.

"No kidding..." He seemed to be peering hopefully into the gloom, watching the entrance of the tower rather keenly. "Why won't she hurry up? She's had quite a lot of time already!"

Coco took this for impatience. "Well, she's a mare. I mean maiden. I think. There's a lot of customary... wait a second, you don't wear things. Nevermind..."

He paid her no heed.

She surveyed him. "Madfang. Your claws are burning the ground."
He lifted them a little, but otherwise his reaction was still the same.

"Ragewolf."

"Would you just shut up for a bit?" he snapped. "Constant nickering in my ears..."

They waited.

"Madfang, I'm sorry, but it's been half an hour. I don't think she's coming."

He turned his head to Coco and glared as if it was her fault that Naughtyfins was somehow absent, tapping the ground with his foot in a rapid beat. "We don't know that for certain! She needs someone to go with her across the plains!"

Coco flicked an ear. "Well, don't you have some sort of communication thingy? I mean, you were able to talk to her from a long distance, right?"

"Oh."

Coco wisely refrained from commenting on this, and watched as he seemed to stand very, very still for a moment, letting his claws trail dangerously close to the ground again. She fidgeted uncomfortably, watching the tower, and then after some looking from left to right shifted and drew her legs closer together, letting herself shiver freely now that nobody would be watching. "Brrrr...."
She briefly contemplated picking up one of Ragewolf's heated claws, but decided against as it was both creepy and those claws were hot enough to set her on fire.

"Hmm?" He seemed to snap out of it and whipped his head from side to side. "Who's there? Oh, it's you. Were you the one making a sound like a motor?"

Probably. Oh boy, it's cold... "No?"

"Well, we should get a move on already," he said slouching sullenly, and started to traipse off without her. "She won't be coming."

"Wait uuuup..." Coco ran after him as well as she could- why in the- excuse me again- hay am I so wobbly?- and slowed down to a bouncy trot by his side. "You know, my brother told it wasn't good to hunch your shoulders like that or you'd get a big lump on your back."

Very slowly, he turned his mask straight towards her, and then made his posture even worse rather pointedly.
"Sorry," Coco said, flattening her ears, and moved a little ways away from him. She tried to find something to look at on the landscape- but there was nothing but a big long grey plain and big dark grey clouds overhead. All of this grey is almost begging to be fixed...

They had been walking in silence for a while when Coco started to notice that there were stunted withery (grey, of course) trees now popping up here and there and serving to break some of the monotony (but not by much, because they were also grey).

Other than that, nothing.

The quiet, whistling windy noises, the cold and him ignoring her all made Coco feel lonely, as if she was a drop of water lost in a desert.

Coco turned to look at Ragewolf.

"Um... Madfang?"

He made no move.

"Uh, I spy with my little eye- something that's... grey."

No sound.

She flinched. Alrighty then, that was embarrassing. She then turned back to looking at the completely grey everything, seeking to find some kind of object worth looking at.

"Is it the rocks?" he said boredly.

Coco Pommel perked up so much that he couldn't have not noticed- but he made no sign either way. "What! Hey, you're so good at this- I thought that was difficult! Your turn."

He touched a claw to his face. "Oh, give me strength... I spy something that's not grey."

She was stumped. Coco looked everywhere, from the ground, to the trees, to the grass, to the sky- but everything seemed to be some shade of the colour. "Did we pass it already?"

"No."

She craned her head back to look into the snarls of cloud that was the sky. It was all composed of many contrasting and mixing very pretty shades of thick cottony grey, but it was still grey which immediately disqualified it. "Does white count?"

"Hmm...No."

She watched him trudge beside her, and then a bulb lit on in her head, the ingenuity of which made her puff up with triumph. "I know! It's you!"

"No."

She deflated. "What? But there's nothing else in this entire place that-"

"It's you, genius..." he rolling his head a little in exasperation.

"Oh." She spared a glance over herself- no, she definitely wasn't grey or white. "Aha..."

"Your turn."

Coco was quite pleased that he was playing along of his own accord, and was determined to make this last as long as possible. "I spy with my little eye... something that's... rutilous!

"It's my claws, isn't it."

She slouched. "Darn."

The back and forth game went on for about twelve turns each as they walked along into the gloom, until Coco broke off in the middle of spying whatever cleverly twisted grey thing she was about to spy. " I spy with my l- wait, look over there! There's one of those things that gave me a concussion!"

As they had been progressing through the ridiculous game, Ragewolf had seemed to have been steadily lowered his guard to a point Coco would have never thought he would able to do. She had even made him laugh when he guessed her tail for some other grey thing and she had hyperventilated- a loud, roaring sort of sound that actually wasn't unpleasant to listen to.

"Concussion?" he said.

Coco pinched her nose. "I'm completely alright..."

"I'm serious here, Pommel," he said sharply.

"...Which other way did you tell them to?"

"To just capture you! Not to give you brain damage like they have themselves!"

She winced. "That was a little mean," Coco said awkwardly, raising her eyebrows and making Ragewolf fold his arms.

In an attempt to make him lighten up again, she said "It's not like I had anything to lose in here anyways." She tilted her head as two more of the black and green things popped up from behind a black wall with with white cement. "Oh! Do you know them? They're- kind of cute..."

"Rrrr...Bonedeths are not cute! They're meant to be fashioned after the skulls of the dead, not cats!"

"Sorry... I guess they're under your command?"

"Ah, but I can prove it to you," he said a little pompously, changing tack rather fast, and strode forwards towards the reinforced wall. There were now five undead soldiers peering down at him owlishly- the three in the middle bore no weapon and were smaller than the two flanking them, which had twin long angled black horns and the tips of a hilt visible at their sides.

They watched him approach silently and when Ragewolf reached the foot of the blockade suddenly snapped into a snazzy identical military salute. "Lord Ragewolf! Deth!"

They stayed frozen in that position until Coco trotted up next to him and tipped her head back to peek up at the Bonedeths, upon which they all slowly dropped their salute to look down at Pommel instead.
"Hello..." she said cautiously, keeping her voice low.

They all looked at one another and then began to immediately confer in whispers.

"Talking horse?" one said.

"New plans?" another said.

"Is it a Lady too?" one piped up.

"Well, you see," Coco said to them humbly, "I was once called a Lady, and I said that while it is actually my title by birthright- I was- I said that just Coco sounded better. I mean, Lady...Lady Coco makes me sounds like a..."
She looked to Ragewolf for some help as he seemed to have an extensive vocabulary of negative words- but apparently he had something different on his mind.

"Wait a moment, you're an actual noblewoman?! (Or noblemare, to be more precise...)"

"Um, well, see, the title may be important and all, but it really depends on how much wealth you have, so it isn't a big deal anymore, as...as it means nil.. in Equestria, half the p-ponies... don't look at me... but didn't the Bonedeths call you a lord?"

"Me- a lord? Oh... Yes, well-"

"Ahh... but that's exactly the point, Ragewolf. You... a lord? I can understand why even you yourself sound so hesitant..."

The new person sounded much different compared to Ragewolf's voice- while his was deep and rough and in general masculine, the newcomer had a lighter rich, cultured smooth slow drawl. Coco blinked in surprise and she turned her head to each side, swiveling her trusty ears to try and catch the position of whoever was making this unheard of sound- it was actually rather pleasant to listen to, having a sort of musical lilt to it as well.

And then she spotted him coming around the edge of the brick blockade. He looked to be the same kind of... thing as Ragewolf, only his mask was certainly much different- it was fashioned after what was obviously a black and yellow vampire bat with large spiny ears, luminous red eyes and a somehow cocky look. His haughtiness was reinforced by the way he walked, with his chest thrown out and his feet turned up and his chin up high.

Slung across his back in a careless way that must have taken half an hour to perfect was a weapon that Coco had heard Vinyl ask to be described countless times- a Dragonap tuba. It had two bat wings on it's sides, a pattern of spots and circles near it's base and the inside was striped with alternating black and lavender.

Ragewolf looked very displeased to see him. "Sonarchy."

"...It's the Sons of Anarchy?" Coco said blankly.

That innocent comment had two effects- Ragewolf doubling over in laughter ("Sons of Anarchy! Sons of Anarchy!") and Sonarchy looking as if someone had punched him in the gut, breaking his cool practiced act.
"W-What? It can talk?" he sputtered.

"Hello," she said politely.

"Oh yes," Ragewolf said, managed to get it under control. "Finally met someone prettier than you? Ooh, how's the burn, Sonarchy?"

"Keep talking and I'll put you to sleep forever, dog!" Sonarchy snapped angrily, hefting his rather intimidating large tuba.

"I-I'm sorry if I o-offended you!" Coco stammered quickly, stepping in between them both. "I don't think you're bad looking or anything at all! I mean, I like what you did with your ears- and I wouldn't be able to pull off a bat mask easily, but you did it alri- perfectly, and, um, you have a very nice posture... ahaha..." she quailed under their gazes.

"What kind of hellish witchcraft do you employ to have so many damsels trail after you?" Sonarchy said disdainfully.

"You could use some tips," Ragewolf retorted.

Coco started to look distressed again. "Hello? I'm supposed to be kidnapped here?"
They both looked at her again. "Do I, I don't know, just stand here and look pretty?"

"That's his job," Ragewolf interjected.

"Okay, okay! Somebody tell me the plan?" Pommel said desperately.

"Wait, wait, wait," Sonarchy cut in, holding up a hand. "Now, hold on a second. Why in the world are you so willing to go along with this? You're unbound and unharmed and there are no blackmail threats hanging above you as far as I know, yet you're still standing here and even waiting for orders! I believe that being kidnapped should raise some alarm bells, at least..."

"For once, I agree with the prat," said Ragewolf thoughtfully.

Coco blinked, looking from them to either side, feeling just as puzzled herself. Why hadn't she taken off? She had walked without complaint through literal snowstorms with a moody, easily irritated person that fit the name 'bad guy' in a number of ways. As she thought about it, the more clear her idea felt, but she struggled to put it into words.

"Hmm," she said thoughtfully, shifting a little. "Well, you see, I don't exactly belong here, you know? I'm like a button in a sea of beads, and nobody can string a bead into a necklace, so nobody would miss it when it's gone. I guess I'm just trying to be as useful as I can here where I'm really not needed."

They stared, rivalry momentarily forgotten. Sonarchy tapped his chin thoughtfully. "So in short, you're suicidal," he said drily.

Coco leaned back a little, frowning. "I hadn't thought of it like that..."

"But you had," said Ragewolf suddenly and pointed to her accusingly. "You had asked me in the Snowfields what the afterlife was like!"

"Well, I was being stupid at the time because you had scared me so much. What I want to do is go back to where I came from." She laughed a little, brushing her maneclip with a hoof as she did whenever she was feeling absentminded. "I fell from heaven, you know?"

Sonarchy and Ragewolf looked at each other. "'Fell from heaven'," Sonarchy repeated.

"'Go back to where I came from'," Ragewolf said in a low voice.

Coco Pommel was unaware of what she had said had sounded like. "Sooo.... My point still stands."

"What? Right! The plan!" Sonarchy said quickly, and turned to the Bonedeths watching the exchange apathetically, his supercilious air returning. "Bonedeths! Bring in.. the Cage!"

"Deth!" They promptly disappeared.
Coco tilted her ears forwards as she heard the sounds of creaking wheels and metal jangling with each bump behind the blockade. It stopped after a while, giving rise to a groaning, revving noise and then all of a sudden the wall exploded outwards in a rain of rock and pieces of brick and would have hailed down upon the unfortunate mare if she hadn't swiftly leapt to the side.

A cloud of white dust billowed everywhere and Coco and Ragewolf fanned the space in front of themselves, coughing and attempting to stop it from blowing into their lungs. Sonarchy imperiously refrained from committing such an act to add points towards his image and then dramatically turned to to the two, sweeping an arm towards the contraption brought in by the Bonedeths.

"The Cage of Inescapable Ensnarement," he said with notably impressive grandeur.

The Cage was made of black (What is with these people and black? Coco thought) metal and was mounted on wheels with strong spokes, tiny spines and an orange circle in the middle. The roof was thick and had bolts of the same orange colour screwed into the sides at periodic intervals, and it had menacing spikes as well adorning the sides.
The outer sides of the bottom had a painted amber line outlining it and a tangerine diamond on each of the larger sides.

Although it was well polished and cared for, the cage had a sort of old and nostalgic quality about it which Coco's sense of smell confirmed. She had that stirring feeling in her mind once more- this was not built anytime recently and must have been important enough to have a part in the fireplace stories.
But Coco was pretty sure that she had never mentioned a 'Cage of Inescapable Ensnarement'...

Ragewolf cleared his throat, making Coco start and look at him.
Both of the Dark Heroes were silently watching her watch the Cage with a vague look of focus on her face. She looked from the cage to them again, now feeling rather sheepish, and trying to decide whether or not to raise the issue with Sonarchy who could take offense to it due to his ego.

"It feels important," she ended up saying lamely.

"Only the best, for the best," Sonarchy said grandly, and Coco didn't have to be too smart to know that he was referring to himself.

Then she stopped and swivelled her ears to face behind her, perking up and narrowing her eyes as she searched the flat horizon broken up by stacks of boulders. "D-Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" said Ragewolf irritably, and then was given a shove by Sonarchy.
"Ssh!" he hissed at him when he started to protest. "I'm the one with the bat ears! Be quiet for once!"

"Yes, there is something in the distance..." said Pommel, turning around to face the direction fully and feeling a little bemused. "That's nice timing..."

"Nice timing?!" said Ragewolf. "But what about all of those traps and detours I set?! Ooh, curse you-!"

"Save the monologue for later!" Sonarchy snapped. "Get the horse into position! Now!"

"Horse?" he said dangerously.

"Fine, the victim! Come on!"

Ragewolf turned to Coco, who was already obediently perched inside of the cage. He then eyed the twin spokes meant to be attached to horses. "Where are those Bonedeths when you need them...?"
As if on cue four Kibadeths galloped in onto the scene and silently attached themselves to the Cage. Coco looked at the worriedly. "Am I really that... um, heavy?"

"Don't tell me you're anorexic too..." Ragewolf groaned. "Well, why are you looking at me? Take her to the fortress!"

As they set off and wheeled around sharply towards the fortress, Coco saw that it wasn't so much of a fortress as it was a sort of turret that was predictably black and had green windows and a Bonedeth flag fluttering from the peak.

The double doors (they gave her some nostalgia) opened slowly and apparently of their own record and then Coco was facing a flight of spiral stairs. The horse riders looked back at her anxiously.

"I'll be fine," she assured, and then yelped as she slipped back due to the sudden restarting of the Cage. As predicted, the ride up was very bumpy and made Coco feel like as if she had been sent for a round through a washing machine.
She was rolled into a room that she inspected after lying on her belly and groaning, briefly wondering how exactly they would take their horses (it was eerie being around non-talking horses) down the stairs again.

She raised her head to peer through a large window that was inconveniently facing directly away from all of the action, but Coco decided she was fine with it- It wasn't in her interests to watch them fighting and dying no matter how many times they would revive. If she would weep uncontrollably over the death of a random sparrow, then she had no business around sentient creatures.

She looked around the room. It was large, circular and had nothing else in it.
Coco felt absurdly like a princess in a locked tower waiting for someone to rescue her from the literal big, bad wolf. It was boring, though, and for once she found out that she didn't actually want to be rescued. The realization surprised her- it went contrary to what she had used to feel all the time back in her foalhood days.

I don't want to be rescued. It was more helpless and humiliating than she thought it would have been, and not really like the fairy tales at all. But that's it, she thought suddenly, pulling herself into a sitting position. The world isn't black and white- it's not the good people against the bad... Oh dear, look at how much I've changed just from being in this world for a week...

I wonder how much longer I'm going to be stuck here, and how much more it'll change me... I never thought I would want to be friends with the 'dark side', honestly. She turned towards the window and then sighed loudly. 'Hffff.....'

The day had been rather draining for her- getting kidnapped, walking for hours on end and trying to keep herself in check. She looked down at her legs derisively, remembering how she had embarrassingly fallen in front of Madfang in the ice cathedral. At least I have legs in the first place.

But don't you deserve a moment of weakness? Aren't you comfortable with the idea of being a damsel in distress? You were always so proud of your femininity.

No... not anymore. I find it pointless, unbearable, repulsive...uncomfortable.

So you reformed your personality in a week? Don't you think that's rather improbable?

I don't know what to think... it could have been that it was actually what I was truly like, but I didn't have the opportunity to let it shine through...

Don't flatter yourself.

Maybe I'm easy to fracture, but hard to break?
.... I just realized, I've kept all of these worries to myself. I haven't told a single soul and I even actively forced myself to act normal. I'm so hungry... and tired... and scared... Why is that?

I think... It's because you're afraid... of being a burden...

Yes- I'm sure it's psychological, as I've been one my entire foalhood. It must have carried over subconsciously.

Well, it was nice making groundbreaking realizations with you, but I think I'll just go now because you're talking to yourself.

Coco sighed, resting her head on the cold metal surface of the cage floor, watching the pale sun waver and try to break through the wet fog of the Plateau of Pompous Wings.

Well, I'm going to be here a while. Coco tried to count the bricks in the walls.

One, two, three, four.

Twenty five, twenty six... twenty seven, twenty eight.

Forty three, forty- forty forty forty four- wait, no-

Sixty nine, seventy, seventy one, seventy two.

A hundred and blue.... A hundred an' orange... A red....

I'm tired...

_______________

Coco stared unseeing at the floor of the cage, curled up like a cat and as still as a dead thing and blinking infrequently in a stupour of exhaustiveness. Her brain seemed to be working like a cog in molasses.
After staring at it for a very long time, she noticed that what she was looking at were words which she had to decipher one letter at a time.

M D N W A H E R E
Wuzzat mean...?

Something made an echoing clang from what seemed to be the bottom of the stairs as if someone had kicked a bucket.
Not that kind of bucket kicking... wow, whoever is either really urgent or really heavy.

There was some muffled cursing and thuds that got farther away, leading her to believe that whoever it was had fallen down the stairs in their hurry. Some smashing sounds and then harder footsteps and more cursing directed towards the length of the castle stairs.
She rolled her head a little upwards to look at the doorway, unwrapping her tail slightly from her kittenlike position as something came into her field of view, sliding a little with a screechy sound from the sudden stop. The whatever stormed towards the dozing pony in the cage.

"'Sup?" she said, and then wound her forelegs across her head in a belated attempt to conceal a loud yawn. "Yhhhh...."

For once, her speaking didn't seem to faze the newcomer in the slightest. "What happened to you?!" it- now proved to be a he, of course- barked out.

"I fell asleep. Imagine." droned Coco, pushing herself up and then tried to fix her fuzzed mane. "Wuh, my hair is horrible..."
She just seemed to smooth it down with her hooves before dropping them and then staring at it morosely. She blew a strand out of her face, only for it float gently and annoyingly straight back into place.

Coco stuck her tongue out at it defiantly.

"...Can I keep it?"

"What?"

"What?"

Coco shook her head, trying to clear the sleepy gauze that fogged up her thinking processes. "You said something."

"I did not! Keep your nose where it belongs, I wasn't talking to you..." Ragewolf snapped.

Wait a what whodee now. "Madfang?! Is this some kind of plot twist? Are you secretly the Uberhero?"

"Do not accuse me of that again. I have limits."

"Okay..." Coco looked around, reminding herself to mention the Uberhero as few times as possible with him. "Sooo, how's the weather?"

She placed her head on the floor in exasperation. "...Don't answer that." Coco then tilted her head back so that she was resting her chin on the ground and looked up at him standing in front of her. "Why'd ya come up? Other than my stellar personality."

"Who are you and what have you done to Coco Pommel?" he asked flatly.

"Where?" She looked around in a bit of a panic.

He put a claw on his face in vexation and let out a long breath. "Grrr..."

"Really- I thought you were doing whatever with... um, I forgot... the plan, I thought you were following the plan?"

"I-"

There an almighty crash from the bottom of the tower, making the two flinch. Coco's systems were suddenly kick-started with a tide of fear and she shot up to her hooves and slammed into the side of the cage. "Ouch! Wh-What was that?!"

Ragewolf slammed the floor of the tower hard enough to break it in fury. "Of course, because why not?!" He suddenly did a one-eighty to face the pony. "You," he said lowly, raising a claw to point at Coco, "stay here."

"I-It's not as if i was going anywhere," she stuttered, shaking a little. "U-Um..."

"What?"

She felt stupid. "Don't let him eat me. Ahah... You know, I don't want to go to the Patapons so much anymore.."

"...I don't know what to say to that," he said after a moment of surveying her, and then turned towards the stairway as a another minor tremor went through it. "If he doesn't stop that, it's going to fall and kill both of us!" He then started to sprint down the stairs.

"Ragewolf!" Coco called out.

He came back up. "Oh, for the love of... Yes?"

"I thought the plan was to give me over?"

"Change in plans," he said, and then vanished. She could hear him leap down the stairs at the rate of three at a time.

Coco looked around the barebone room more uneasily now. The false sense of security being taken away had left her becoming rather befuddled and she felt herself coming up a hundred scenarios and starting to fear the future, which to her was filling with pointy things.

She inspected the bolt on the cage, trying to figure out whether or not she should bust it and just run away before coming up with all sorts of scenarios for that as well, the primary one being I'd land Ragewolf and the others in a lot of trouble.
She had to find a way to open the lock anyways.

Another, larger tremor rattled and echoed through the base of the tower, making Coco cry out and brace her hooves against the floor in rising, choky panic. Am I going to die? Is this what an earthquake feels like? Will I be hurt?

Pommel considering bucking the cage bars until either she or they would give in and then jump out of the window. From a glance, however, she could see that it was at least something like a two- dozen foot drop and would end up with her breaking something.

She turned towards the stairs against as there was the splintery painful sound of a door being bashed in. Coco decided that it was against the chances for it to be Ragewolf again and anxiously waited as someone started thundering up the steps. Um, um...

She quickly looked around to have something to do so she wouldn't look like a fool, and decided to stare out the window at the whole lot of grey nothing. Wow, so very.. um. Grey. Okay, how about I lie down like a deer? Oh yes, wow, I'm so, um, majestic and all.. help.

There was a muffled crash and fading thuds. Coco stared down the stairways in some mixture of bemusement and disbelief, wondering if they rigged somehow to make whoever tried to go up fast fall down like some sort of punishment for breaking a rule.

On the other hoof, this showed that whoever it was wasn't Ragewolf as there were no curses this time. The complete erasing of that possibility made Coco feel more fidgety and nervous.

There was some more walking noises and then finally the person simply collapsed on the last stair with a whump and a groan. Coco's anxiety gave way to her soft-hearted concern, and she got up to her hooves and blurted out, "Are you alright?"

He (of course) raised his head, and then turned it towards Coco.

Unlike the other two masked people Coco had seen that day, this one didn't seem to be modelled after any sort of animal. It was orange and (of course) black, full of sweeping curves and points. He also had another another distinguishing factor- hair, which made Coco feel self-conscious of her own.

For a while they both just surveyed each other. Coco wondered if he had the strength to talk- he looked rather winded and not just from climbing the stairs.

Apparently he did possess some energy, for he managed to say in a low voice, "You can... talk?"

"Yes," she replied quietly. I get that a lot.

A pause in which he looked away briefly. "Are you... an angel?"

...These people aren't very creative. "People do keep calling me one..."

This seemed to bolster him. He struggled for a while to stand but did manage eventually and then turned to face her once more. Coco Pommel could see that he was lacking a weapon- presumably it had been taken or discarded at some point.

"Do you need...help?" he asked as if he was talking to glass that could shatter if he spoke too loudly.

"Well, I'm kind of locked up in a cage, so in most scenarios that would count as affirmative," Coco said cheerfully in an attempt to lighten him up.

It did work to some extent- he laughed weakly and came forwards towards the bolted door, picking up the latch. He seemed to frown down at it and then at Coco. "This.. this isn't bolted very...well."

She raised a hoof and an eyebrow.

Another small laugh while he slid the bolt a little slowly out of it's socket and then stepped back to let it open and give her room to come out.

Coco experimentally tapped the cold stone floor with a hoof and then exited the cage, stood out in the sunlight filtering through the large window and shook herself all over as if she was scattering drops. "Brr! Are you the Uberhero?" she said to the person standing meekly against the wall, seeming to be uncharacteristically unsure about what to do.

He nodded rapidly. "Do you know of... somebody by the name of Kan?"

She bobbed her head. "I'm only curious- why did you traipse all the way here?"

The Uberhero spread his hands. "Kan told me and the others... about an 'angel horse' he had met. Forgive me- I am sorry to say that... we didn't believe him until Ragewolf issued us a challenge to... 'come and get it', so to speak."

Coco noticed that his voice had a sort of warm sunlit sound that both Ragewolf's and Sonarchy's lacked- in fact, it seemed to be a more well-meaning somewhat mix between the two. He also seemed to pause throughout, seemingly exhausted by the effort of having to talk.

"I really don't think you're so well," noted Coco, tilting her head at him. "Should we go down?"

He didn't say anything, only nodded, and then walked over to the arched stone doorway and gestured towards it. "...Ladies first,' he said courteously.

Coco blinked. "Wha-? I'm hardly a lady..." She flushed and ducked her head, embarrassed, for a moment, holding a foreleg as if to shield herself from something bright. "Alrighty then..."

They both descended down the stairs side by side (it was harder than it looked for Coco) and she trotted through the mangled double doors of the tower, and then stopped dead at the sight of the plains. "Uh..."
There were large singe marks that Coco had noticed on the first time she had visited the plateau ringing many of the places which used to hold grass, and for some reason ice coating patches of the ground. There were the ends of arrows and the broken hilts of swords everywhere and the crumbled ruins and traces of foundation of walls and those Bonedeth towers. The sky had turned smoky.

She walked over to the tattered and burnt remains of a Bonedeth flag and nosed it, not pretending that she wasn't worried about the fates of Ragewolf and the undead cat skull creatures. At least they hadn't gone down without a fight, judging from the condition of the Uberhero.

Then there was the other thing. The Uberhero was hurt and she was worried. If Madfang was hurt, she would be also worried. Same would go for the Bonedeths and the Patapons. The polar way she had heard wars described as in Equestria were thrown into sharp contrast by this new development.

There was always a good and a bad in those battles- Sombra was evil, crystal ponies were good. Discord was... not evil, but considered the 'bad guy', and the Princesses were good. Tirek was evil, and Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and the rest were good. I don't know what to think anymore. The longer I stay here, the more I get twined with the futures of the inhabitants- if I were to go Equestria, how would these changes affect me?
Would I be alright with leaving them like this?

She blinked her eyes hard in defiance. I'm not an important piece of the chessboard, she thought angrily. It's just like I said- a button in an ocean of beads.
A random thought popped up to her. To see the ocean once is to learn how to miss it.
Be quiet! I don't know what that means and it has nothing to do with anything!

"Over there!"

Coco turned to see the Uberhero being assaulted gently by four Patapons in an assortment of weapons and armour. It made her feel strangely.. what, nostalgic? That couldn't be, as she hadn't experienced that before.
...Lonely. Gee, I'm getting sick of that.

She debated on whether or not to approach them and essentially ruin their moment, when all of a sudden they made her choice for her- she looked a little alarmed as four things were running up to her rather fast, waving their weapons like toys with a fifth following at a more sedate pace.

They all sputtered to a stop in front of her and while they had certainly come forwards with enthusiasm they seemed to have now become momentarily lost for words. Coco turned to the recognizable one with the familiar shiny bow.

"Is it just me, or are there more of you now?" she said, tilting her head and squinting at him.

"The talking white and blue angel pony!" said Kan 1, waving his arms.

"It's- It's the goddess Epona! Hide me!" yelped Kan 2 and hid behind Kan 3.

Kan 3- the real Kan- simply beamed at Coco, who had guessed that he had been planning this kind of thing. "Lady Coco! This is Ton, and-" he stepped aside to reveal the wide-eyed Patapon, "- Chin! I thought I wouldn't be seeing you again!"

"A lot of things happened," Coco admitted. "For example, I was kidnapped, held hostage, dragged all the way from the snowfields to this Plateau and then was stuffed in a cage and put in a castle." She shrugged. "And I learned a valuable lesson too."

"Oh?"

She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "...Ragewolf is good at 'I Spy'."

"That's an interesting development, even it seems to have no apparent use at the moment in battle," said Ton matter-of-factually. "I like you."

Chin looked from one Patapon to the other, then quailed at Coco. "W-Well, if you would be so insistent on... making friends you've a lot to live up to!"

"I called Sonarchy 'Son of Anarchy' and got off without a scratch," she offered.

"W-W-What?" said Chin in horror. "You're meeting all of my high standards!"

The last Patapon had been observing her quietly, not wielding any armour and holding his black (but of course) banner in a rather protective manner, and now took the opportunity to speak. "Hey, guys! The flag's acting all funny!"

They all looked at him. The flag certainly didn't look any different, but it was seeming to pulling at it's holder and Coco could hear an eerie hum that was almost beyond her range, as if it was vibrating at a rate they couldn't see.

"Do you think..." Kan trailed off, connecting Coco and the flag with an invisible line using his hand.

In response the flag- holding Patapon leaned the flag forwards and as Coco tilted her head up to look at it touched her muzzle. The banner didn't really do anything impressive, but it did stop buzzing.

"What does that mean?" Coco asked.

"If it's your superpower I don't really think much of it..." Chin muttered.

The Uberhero seemed to be struggling to recall something, staring down at the ground and crossing his arms and presently he looked up at the fidgety pony. "Are we going to be standing out here all night?" he asked drily.

"Right!" said Ton a little bossily, and then turned around and promptly marched a step before turning around again. "Wait. What about you?" he said to Coco.

The question took her off guard. "What? Um-" she looked to her right- the scarred remains of the grey plateau- and then to her left- a long bit of nothing. She quickly tried to think of something intelligent to say. "Well. Ah.."

They all watched her expectantly. "Weellll... free spirit?" she offered weakly, feeling the prickly feeling of going pink. "Heh, heh..."

The four Patapons converged on each other and started to communicate in whispers, before drawing back. "If you say you're a free spirit, then it shouldn't be any problem to come with us," Chin chirped.

Coco started. "Come with you?"

"To the Hideout," Ton said.

"You know, big cave? With the bats and things?" Kan added.

Pommel stared at each of them in turn, and then up at the Uberhero, who simply shrugged.

"Um...."

"Yeah?" said Chin.

"Uhh..."

"Yes?" said Ton.

"Welll..."

"Come on," complained Kan.

"Weeelllll...."

They all gave her a deadpan look, and Hatapon tapped the end of the flagpole on the ground.

Coco sighed in mock defeat. "Oh, if you want me to so much, I guess I can't refuse."

Rarity sort of has a slightly large problem

It was actually one of the more peaceful days in Ponyville for a long time- no rogue magic attacks, no stray monsters, no huge town-wide problems caused by a feud between some select ponies. Instead of making a certain ivory unicorn antsy, she took it in stride, hoping to use the opportunity as long as it lasted to finish some tasks she had been intending to clean the loose threads of.

She whisked her mauve curtains to either side with a small honest smile on her face, letting a beam of sunlight pour into her room and highlight the mostly purple colour theme. The bare pale mannequins arranged on the sides of the room bore less half-made dress designs than usual, and for once the spools of thread and rolls of different textures of fabric were somewhat more organized than their usual distressing state after a long night.

Using her magic, she took a brush with herself and combed it expertly through her bouncy mane as she delicately stepped down the flight of stairs. Rarity had managed to return the first floor to a state of order after that mass of ponies two days before had mobbed the Boutique following some according press releases (which had been therefore taken care of), and she leisurely walked the length of the workroom, catching herself in the mirrors and idly rearranging some of the models.

Rarity pushed a dress rack to the side with a little skid as she carefully sidestepped a less bad tempered than usual Persian cat pretending to ignore her presence with high dignity. For once, she had nothing to say to the darling(!) creature, feeling as if the demure silence was going to last as long as she didn't interrupt it herself.

Setting her brush down and unrolling a yellow tidy checklist courtesy of Twilight (How do earth ponies and pegasi manage without magic, I simply cannot understand, she thought) Rarity brought it in front of her muzzle to study it closely. Around half of the little boxes were filled in, written in order of most important first, so she looked down near to the end to see that most of the unfinished errands were the little ones.

She hmmed to herself thoughtfully, wondering if there was time to first possibly visit the ever reliable spa first for some sort of premium hoof care before tackling her duties, and then sighed, lowering the paper to gaze into a mirror and into her own slanted eyes.
After so many days of a quiet Ponyville something was most probably going to flip her day upside down very soon, so Rarity figured that she should better go and finish her priorities first.

"Oh, but it's not as if optimum hoof condition isn't a priority though," she said prudently to an unmoved Opal, and set her list down in an available drawer.

The first task was to fix some cushion- cut clear gemstones of varying sizes into the neckline of a flowing gradient periwinkle gown to render it complete. That was an easy enough job for a mare as practiced as Rarity, and she automatically checked the seams to see if it was fitted correctly, narrowing her eyes and tilting her head as she scanned the lines in a fastidious manner.

Next was to give Opalescence the careful combing that she had been deserving. The cat sat haughtily as usual as Rarity lovingly curled the chosen comb through her long waves of white fur and complained accordingly when she affixed the amethyst bow on her head (made to match her own mane).

Then Rarity quickly made to organize her drawers (especially that specific one with the things that seemed useless but could never be thrown away), check to see if Sweetie Belle was in some kind of fix (she wasn't) and tidy up the Boutique to the last tile.

Finally she was down to handing some leftover pongee (essentially less refined and inexpensive silk) fabric for Fluttershy as she had quietly requested for most probably some form of nest for some animal or other, maybe a mouse or something. She packed the rolls neatly into her trademark white saddlebags and then took a slow, deliberate step outside into the sunshine, almost as if daring the environment to do something funny to her.

It politely allowed Rarity to continue on her business.

There was a couple of ponies milling around and beginning to become active on the cobblestone streets, some greeting the unicorn as customary who automatically replied.
"Oh, hello there, Big Macintosh, carting apples as always, I see. Nice to see you again, Carrot Top, selling carrots as always, I see. Fair weather today, isn't it, wait what was your name again Apple Dumpling..."

She walked down the road to her soft friend's homely cottage, careful to stick to the predefined path and not stray into the clingy mud lining the rest of the surrounding untamed grassy land. The trees which used to stare at her now seemed to pretend to ignore her as she grew more accustomed and less superstitious of their depths, and Rarity watched them a little scornfully back.

It always did astonish her how the timid Fluttershy was able to actually almost live inside the Everfree.

Coming up to the asymmetrical little plant- blanketed house, she noted with somewhat relief that the normal cheery yellow glow was present in the unshuttered windows and that the birds were singing and doing bird things as usual. Satisfied, Rarity returned to the red rounded door and after some adjusting the position of her mane she knocked three times in her proper manner and waited, hoisting a smile on her muzzle.

The door swung open so quickly that it slammed into the wall and rattled the cottage, shaking off some dust.
"And of course, who could it be but Rarity!"

Rarity's smile became fixed and she awkwardly lowered her raised hoof.
And this is the exact moment upon which my peaceful, productive day is shattered.

With absolutely no warning whatsoever, Rarity was poofed onto one of Fluttershy's forest green den couches and landed with a light thump, her face still frozen in that smiling position.
Next to her, Fluttershy herself winced a little, and when Rarity looked at her with a single raised eyebrow shrugged haplessly. She looked apologetic.

"Now, which other pony did she mention?" Discord tugged frantically at his ears. "Wait, that's it!"

Discord promptly vanished in a cloud of pink smoke and with an appropriate vanishing noise. Unusually, he didn't reappear instantaneously, leaving Rarity some time to attempt some kind of explanation from Fluttershy, widely known as one of the few who was rather familiar with the creature.

She looked at her.

Fluttershy winced again. "I'm-I'm really sorry, Rarity, I didn't mean for this to happen..."

Rarity felt herself melt away into a resigned state. "Oh, well, now that it's happened I suppose It can't be helped."

Fluttershy moved her hooves around fumblingly. "I- I just don' know what's gotten into him! He just appeared in the house, put me on the couch, and said something about Coco Pommel..."

Rarity gasped and a hoof flew to her mouth. "Coco Pommel?! Oh dear, I can't believe I forgot about her! What kind of a host (and friend!) am I?" She now remembered that it had been the one major job she had crammed at the top of the list in rather minuscule writing which hadn't been finished. "Oh no- to be frank, I don't believe I've seen her since Pinkie Pie's welcoming party two days ago!"

Fluttershy was now also half- raising her own hooves in concern. "Why does Discord want to bring her up?"

Rarity narrowed her eyes. "What if he has something to do with her?" She looked away suspiciously into the distance out of the window. "Come to think of it, I do believe it's very strange that she hasn't made any effort to contact me during her stay..."

"Or... maybe she's feeling a little... homesick? Or, um, jilted?" Fluttershy started. "Oh, I didn't mean to accuse you-"

"No,no, don't worry about that, dear, I'm not offended- but what if it is the case? Maybe she took me not being able to spend time with her to heart? However... I'm afraid it doesn't solve the question of why Discord wants to talk about her..."

"Maybe as a friendship... lesson?" Fluttershy offered uncertainly, fluttering her wings mildly like a flirting robin.

Rarity stiffly pursed her lips. While it was certainly true that she was now a little more ready than in the start to believe Fluttershy's claims of innocence, she was still on edge about the Tirek incident and had always been one of the more hesitant mares out of her close friends. Besides, the words 'Discord' and 'friendship lesson' simply sounded comical when put in a sentence together.

At that moment Discord reappeared, making both of the mares jump. "Got the pink one," he announced, holding the as always cheerful Pinkie Pie in outstretched hands.
"Oh! Hi, Rarity! Hi, Fluttershy! Fancy meeting you here, huh? I mean Rarity, not Fluttershy, because she lives here and all, y'know."

Pinkie was placed next to them in a similar fashion.

Discord stood and surveyed the three mares sitting side by side in a neat line on the couch with varying degrees of emotion on their faces- Fluttershy hesitant, Rarity unamused and Pinkie Pie interested.

With a snap of his talons (Rarity was beginning to become very irritated by that sound) the room suddenly turned completely dark, and then a strong beam of light clicked on and illuminated himself and the ponies who instinctively squinted.

"Now," he began, "I'm going to ask you a question and you're going to answer it truthfully. Is that clear?" he pointed to each of them in turn with a magnifying glass.

"It must be serious, because I'm pretty sure he isn't quoting something we don't understand," Pinkie said in a carrying whisper. "I think."

Rarity was feeling mostly exasperation, but at the point her friend had brought up she started to experience a little more or less concern at the perfectly clear statement Discord had just uttered. He looked completely serious as well- there was most definitely barely traces of him having a joke at their expense and it was rather unlike him to do that, which made the unicorn tilt her ears back.

Fluttershy seemed to come to this realization first, and as out of habit of living in the vicinity of animals for a large part of her life instinctively treated this change with caution and observation. And some nervous worry. "Oh, Discord, is everything..." she wilted under his gaze. "I meant, um, go on..."

Now that Rarity thought of it, he looked a little fidgety. "Well. Then. Which one of you has heard of a Coco Pommel?"

"I have! Pick me!" Pinkie shot up into the air.

"No, no, no, don't do that, just put your hand in the air-"

"I don't have hands! Also, dincha' say that we're supposed to answer it truthfully and everything?"

"Yes, yes, and you've quite obviously done enough to show you're answering- sit down!"

"I think all of here know who Coco is," Fluttershy reflected. "Isn't that.. why you called us here, though?"

With a loud smack, Discord slapped his paw to his forehead.

There wasn't any doubt about it now, he was acting very strangely compared to what he usually did- Rarity could easily see that he was much more rabbity and disoriented then she was used to seeing. The few times where Discord had been genuinely nervous like this before were when he had done something relatively major and was truly afraid of being caught.
She narrowed her eyes and raised an eyebrow with heavy suspicion. "Discord, with all proper due, I demand an explanation for this manner in which you've been treating us." Her voice was reinforced with steel and she flipped her mane back over her shoulder to emphasize her point.

Discord wilted just like Fluttershy had done. "Weeelll..."

"Um, Discord, as your friend, I think I would be a little worried seeing as you look a little...distracted," Fluttershy said. "Is there something bothering you?"

He neglected to comment.

Fluttershy then turned pleadingly to Rarity and Pinkie. Rarity was rather distrustful of the creature and did not like the way he was acting or all of his talk about Coco, but she did remember that she was supposed to be his friend and acting how she is wasn't going to help matters. "Fluttershy, seeing as you're the one who knows him the best, what do you think?" she murmured.

"I think he's done something and now he's panicking about it," she confided.

"What kind of thing?" asked Pinkie in a real whisper.

"I can't tell unless we ask him," she said softly.

"For you sake, darling, I hope it isn't something too terrible," Rarity said quietly. She remembered how Fluttershy had been when he had proven to have metaphorically stabbed her in the back a long time ago, and that incident proved to be the basis for Rarity's distrust towards him.

The pegasus tapped her hooves together morosely.

Pinkie was the one to offer words of comfort. "Discord's acting like he did the whatever on accident, so it doesn't mean that he isn't sorry and I'm pretty sure he's going to stay on your side, y'know, after everything and all. Do you get my point?"

"I think? Thank you, Pinkie..."

"No problemo," she said cheerfully.

"Like you said, though, we won't find out unless we ask," Rarity said finally. They all turned back to Discord, who had been watching them carry out their whispered conversation in a huddle, and then Rarity dutifully spoke up.

"Discord, do correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that we're correct in guessing that you've done something you aren't proud of?

He winced. "When you put it that way..."

"You can always tell me," Fluttershy said. "It's always better to share your burdens with somepony else so that they can help you, and I know you can trust Pinkie and Rarity too."
Rarity looked a little hesitant and bit her lip, but glanced once at Fluttershy's earnest expression and relented as Pinkie nodded energetically and assumed an encouraging expression.

He only looked doubtful.

"Come on! It's not like you banished somepony to another dimension or something!" Pinkie said.

Discord promptly dropped the magnifying glass and chuckled nervously. "How did you come to that conclusion...?"

The effects were to be expected. Fluttershy looked shocked, as if somepony had offered to flatten her rabbit with a shovel, and Pinkie Pie said screeched, "Wait, you banished somepony to another dimension?!".

Rarity felt herself lock up- had Discord somehow managed to send the unassuming Coco Pommel to somewhere out of her comprehension? His rather roundabout way of asking about the pony and his mannerisms all seemed to line up when she thought about it.

She felt a tic start to go on in her eye. This was about the rudest thing she could imagine doing to somepony who simply came for advice and a little help. It felt like the end of the line for Discord and his constant messing up- couldn't there ever be an instance where he was well- behaved or at least a little restrained and didn't manage to turn some poor pony's life on their head?

She realized everypony was looking at her and Rarity let out a breath, gritting her teeth. She was doing this for Fluttershy. And if he could put Coco there, then he could most probably bring her back. "I digress. Discord, why?"

"It's not as if I meant to, even I wouldn't stoop so low as to that!" he said hastily. "It just... happened!"

Pinkie twirled her hoof in a 'go on' gesture.

Discord proceeded to give the longest honest explanation that wasn't filled with nonsense and enough tricks to overfill her Boutique (although it did have a lot of moments which seemed to be fabricated due to their ridiculous qualities- Coco telling horrid jokes?). It was really rather unlike him- he did seemed somewhat truly distressed by the events that had taken place which did give Rarity some fresh heart.

After he was done, there was a quiet sort of lull as the mares pondered over what they had heard. "I certainly would never have thought that I would be hearing this kind of story in my entire life," Rarity said drily. "And as for what a 'Patapon' is, I don't believe I should ask."

"Do you think it's my fault?" Pinkie asked presently. "I mean, I was the one who told her to go take a break and look what happened-"
Fluttershy and Rarity were quick to dispel her fears. "No, no, of course not, darling! Nopony could have possibly foreseen these turn of events," Rarity said.
"You only told her to go and relax a little, Pinkie." Fluttershy offered. "You never meant to do this to Coco."

She realized that she had been indirectly making the situation sound worse for Discord than it already was. "I didn't mean to say anything against you, Discord, " Fluttershy said to him. "Like Pinkie, you didn't mean for this to happen, and I think you want to fix it, right?"

He seemed to be about to say something but scrapped it and nodded, a little more quiet than usual.

"You should still be more careful about taking these kinds of risks, though. It sounded like you knew what could have happened, but were a little too overconfident." she said carefully to avoid offending him. Overconfidence was definitely a good part of Discord's personality.

"You don't understand-" he began, but then once again seemed to cut it off in favour of being silent.

"I think an important question to be asking right now is how to bring Coco Pommel back," Rarity said, taking the whole situation rather well. This was a bit of a normal thing that happened these days, and she had somewhat known that it was possible to visit other dimensions, or at least timelines- the battle between Twilight and Starlight had shown this to be fact if one was powerful enough.

They all looked at him expectantly. He had been around for a long while, so he would certainly be able to know some way to pull their friend out of wherever he had sent her to.

"...I don't know."

Rarity couldn't help it. She shrieked, "What?!"

Before the other two could start, he hastily put in, "Not so fast! Maybe I simply can't remember? I don't believe I could be able to call to mind-"

"Then maybe we could ask Twilight?" Rarity said desperately. "Or Celestia? It can't be that she's just stuck there forever! This is-"

"The worst possible thing!" Pinkie finished, starting to look distressed as well, which was a change from her usual sunny attitude. "What if- what if she's eaten by monsters? Or what if she's taken captive by some weird aliens? Or- what if she's just stuck in the middle of nowhere and there's nopony to-"

"Girls, girls!" Fluttershy said quickly. "Panicking won't help us find Coco!" She then turned to Rarity. "We could ask Twilight-"

"She's called off by the cutie map," Rarity reminded her miserably.

"Oh, well, how about we send a letter to Princess Celestia? She would probably-"

And then there was a resounding snapping noise as they (along with the couch) were transported right in the middle of the throne room, complete with glass mosaics, red carpet and all.

"-know something about...um," Fluttershy looked around blankly.

Unfortunately, Princess Celestia was nowhere to be seen, and after some debating on the part of the mares on whether or not it was wise to traverse the castle without express permission they started off together to seek out the library.

"But what about the guards?" Rarity asked worriedly.

"Pish, tush, I'm with you," Discord said, waving his paw. "And you're the Elements of Harmony anyways, it's practically royalty status."

Rarity had to restrain herself from grinding her teeth to nubs at Discord's insolent response. He just sent somepony to an unknown, dangerous dimension and he did not seem to be bothered by that in the slightest anymore! The glaring fact that she was a sensitive, sweet young mare used to having all of the creature comforts associated with an urban life made Rarity feel more disinclined towards the impudent creature.

She watched his back as if she was attempting to set it on fire. It's all because of his massive ego, he most probably believes that there's no way he can fail, she thought ominously and then shook her head. I have to think that way too- I need to believe whole-heartedly that we can rescue Coco from wherever she is trapped in...

She attempted to distract herself by her turning her head to study the walls, and found it hard to refrain from commenting on the decor of the hallways and instead filed away information for how she could incorporate the medieval setting into her dressmaking.

As Rarity had anticipated, they did meet up with some guards and as Discord had assured they were allowed to walk through oddly uncontested. Rarity did allow herself some admiring glances in their direction, watching their golden armour and their disciplined movements.

After some walking and peering into random opened rooms ("I honestly cannot believe you also forgot the way to the library...") Pinkie finally voiced her concerns. "I'm not saying this isn't fun or anything, but we're supposed to be serious and all, so... why don't we just ask the guards or something?"

The library turned out to be in the opposite wing of the castle. While Rarity wasn't as moved by the sight of books as Twilight would have undoubtedly been, she was rather impressed all the same by the size of the room and the sheer amount there seemed to be.

Pinkie Pie looked to be back to her energetic self even though she had been walking for an hour and immediately darted up to a shelf and began to read the spines so fast that she to run to keep up with herself.

Fluttershy was a little more practical. "What kind of book should we be looking for?"

"Well, preferably something that includes 'inter-dimension- in it's title," Discord said.

"Why don't you just magic one up?" Rarity asked in an undertone.

"I would absolutely love to, but I have no idea what we're looking for as I've been imprisoned in stone for quite a long while and thus am not up to date on new publications," Discord answered quickly.

Rarity thought that this felt contradictory and was therefore irritated, but before she could reprimand him he scooped up Fluttershy and disappeared into the maze of bookshelves (presumably, as he just simply ceased to exist before her eyes without some sort of flashy gimmick for once).

Rarity walked up to a bookshelf rather unsurely. These were immensely tall and there was a large amount of them as well- how they were supposed to find what they were looking in a day escaped her. She fastidiously began to pick out the tomes with both hoof and magic all the same.
I'm doing this for Coco, Rarity thought.

It was more difficult than anticipated to find a book on the subject, as magic needed for opening a dimension was very complicated and very powerful- one needed to know which dimension exactly, as there were multitudes, and other long and trivial things which simply served to feed Rarity's frustration.

She figured that Discord had simply crafted some kind of excuse to talk to the yellow pegasus alone, though for what she wasn't able to guess- most possibly to confide something to her that he hadn't shared with Rarity or Pinkie, simply as they knew each other better.

She scanned the cover of Magic and their Properties which simply turned out to be a textbook detailing spells none of which were coming close to the scale of power needed for traversing dimensions. She frustratedly but still neatly slotted it back and turned only to squeal and leapt backwards when greeted by two blue eyes set in a violently pink face. "Boo!"

"Pinkie Pie! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Your face! Anywayyys, so have you found it?"

Rarity sighed, turning back to the rows of shelves and resignedly plucked another promising looking one. "No, not yet... There's just so many of these books in here, it's simply impossible to be able to..." The unicorn trailed off into mumbles as she searched Notable Theories of Dimensions of Magic, grumpily flipping a page back and forth a little aimlessly with her hoof.

Pinkie was still standing there on the tips of her hooves looking expectantly smug. "Sooo... Didya find it now?"

"I don't think it's possible to find it in less than a dozen hours," Rarity said drily.

She put it back and picked up another one.

"How about... now?"

"No."

Rinse and repeat.

"Welll... Maybe, if you asked somepony..."

Rarity faced Pinkie, flatly raising an eyebrow in bemusion. "I wonder who that someone who could be?"

"Maybe she could standing riiight in front of you..."

"Pinkie, have you found the correct book?"

"Welll..."

"Pinkie, can you tell me if you've found the correct book please?"

"Okie dokie lokie!" She whipped out a relatively dusted purple leather-bound book tome with bluestitching and the embroidered words, Dimensional Magic and their Properties.
Well, I never...

Rarity took hold of it with her magic and cracked it open. Surprisingly, it didn't seem as old as the other books she had pored over; there was no archaic writing or strange calligraphy, but there were drawings and carvings printed instead of the more modern picture.

"Over here," Pinkie Pie said, outlined a passage with her hoof and began to read it aloud.
"In ancient times, blah blah blah, whatever, unicorn- oh, here it is! 'For reasons described in more detail before in the earlier chapter, artifacts are usually used as anchors for tearing portals and one specifically crafted for such a purpose is'..."

"Is?" Rarity asked eagerly.

"'Lost to time'," Pinkie finished. "But wait- 'it was once found in the somewhat prospering regions outside of Equestria owned by other races and exists or may have existed in several pieces, a theory for which has been proposed as follows, each kingdom contains their own shard due to following the notion of equality that had existed between before the war sprung by the- "

"'However as no creature has been proved to be capable of harnessing it's power they have been neglected and the castles they were once kept in are ruins, and as there has been a two thousand and forty years of an approximate period of time having been passed the laws of possibility follow that they have been destroyed, lost, or collected by other beasts'- oh!" Rarity said, bringing a hoof to the side of her face in worry. "How- how awful- the one thing which could save Coco is as obtainable as- well, unobtainable!"

Pinkie unhappily blew on a party blower she extracted from her curly mane, creating a pathetic little sound.

"Rarity, Pinkie?" Fluttershy called out from the bookshelf in front of them. "Where are you?"

"Right behind you, dear," Rarity sighed dejectedly. This artifact object was like a carrot on a string that had been sucked away at the last second. "Well, this can't be the only one! It mentioned that powerful magical artifacts are used as anchors, so there must be another..."

She frowned and started to pace in concentration. "That means that we have to find enough powerful artifacts to be able to power a portal back, but before that we have to open it in the exact multiverse and near enough to Coco- Discord should know that, as he- Discord!"
Rarity suddenly stamped her hoof on the floor in anger, making Fluttershy (who had come around the front and joined Pinkie in watching her go back and forth) jump.

"This is all his fault! If he hadn't gone and done such a rash thing we wouldn't have to be in all of this bother int he first place!" His careless voice came back to Rarity and made her feel as if she was going to grind her teeth into nubs. "Really! I don't know what you see in him, Fluttershy, because whatever it is it's something I clearly am not able to fathom!"

Fluttershy took a step back. "Rarity, I'm sure he didn't mean to..." She paused here, expecting her friend to cut in, but she simply stared, " He did tell us that Coco really, really wanted him to do that, and they both didn't know the consequences."

"But he's Discord! How exactly are we supposed to pick out the truth from the lies? He could have simply been embellishing it to look in his favour, I wouldn't put it past him!"

"You're his friend, you should trust him now not to do that," Fluttershy replied placatingly.

Rarity very nearly said, 'You trusted him and looked what happened with Tirek' but she stopped it at the very last moment so that the only thing that came out was a "Yeh-!" The thought of the magnitude of what she was about to blurt out made Rarity stop, collect herself and cool down.

She dusted invisible specks of dust off of herself and took her time to breathe a little, checking her mane. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you, Fluttershy."

"It's alright..."

"I just can't understand how you can be so patient with that creature! Like I said, this is all his fault in the first place...

"Well, we've certainly been due for an adventure for a long time now! Right, girls?" Pinkie offered and drew them both together.

Fluttershy blinked. "Ad-adventure?"

Pinkie told her what they had discovered. "So that means we have to find a bunch of powerful magical things to power a portal and get Coco back!" She suddenly drooped. "I really want to get her back..."

"So do we," Rarity comforted. "Still... an adventure? Isn't there some way for Discord to bring us all of these required items?"

"Well, even if we knew what we needed, they're going to be protected with very powerful magic," Fluttershy told her.

"I'm afraid I am not exactly the kind of unicorn to do research on portals- if only we had Twilight with us-"

"I thought it was obvious?" Pinkie said, confused. "We need to find the six shards of the super powerful magical artifact thingy!"

"That's been lost," Rarity said.

"See, it was some kind of very powerful thingamabob, so then the rulers of the places where the bits are must have taken care of them so that they can use it for stuff," she said.

"It states that no creature has been found that can harness it's power," Rarity said. "And even if this was true, then we can't walk up to them and ask to have it, it would sound very suspicious anyways!"

"Oh. Maybe if we asked really nicely? 'Please, mister griffon, can we have your shard piece and use it for opening an portal to get our friend back'?"

"I don't think that would work..." Fluttershy mumbled.

"What if we just take it for a little while without them knowing?"

"That's downright thievery!"

"We won't break it and we'll give it back! They don't need it anyways!" Pinkie shouted.

"Pinkie! What's gotten into you?" Rarity asked, taken back.

She slumped. "I'm s-sorry... I'm just so worried about Coco!" She snatched the book and shook it up and down mildly as if shaking out crumbs with a bit of a vexed expression.

"We should do something instead of standing around, reading and arguing," Rarity said while Pinkie shook the book in frustration. "It's obviously not doing any of us a favour. Fluttershy, where did Discord go?"

She flinched. "Oh, he said he would be back..."

"Wonderful..."

"Rarity, Fluttershy!" Pinkie thrust a large floppy sheet of paper between them. Apparently her incessant shaking of the book had managed to bring something out- a worn yellowed map with comical little figures drawn at the edges and long lines over everything.

"Look at these little fairies!" Pinkie said, point to the funny- looking winged ponies at the edges with what was meant to be wind coming out of their mouths.

"Those are Breezies," Fluttershy admitted. "They're drawn to show the direction of the wind."

"Fabulous," Rarity intoned and put a hoof on her forehead. "Let's get out of this library at least, I'm going to puke if I have to look at another book..."

They managed to find their way out into a large, prim garden of vines, flowers, and hedges fashioned after various animals. Fluttershy in particular was very nervous about strolling through the palace unchecked as if they owned the place and was distracted only by the various species of butterflies that were resting or flitting around the many large open flowers.

The mares discussed their next course of action. Rarity was resigned to the fact that they were adamant on going to search for the artifact. She protested against this, stating that they had a very vague idea of where they were, didn't know how to get them or were even sure that they existed.

"But the map says!" Pinkie said excitedly. They stopped in a pathway lined with lavender and Rarity unfurled the map with her magic and levitated it in front of them.

Unlike most maps, this one had only detailed and named a few locations, with all of the others simply different coloured blank spaces. There was Griffonstone on an off-white triangle, the Dragon Lands situated in a spiky off-white basin, the Castle of the Two Sisters shown in a bumpy off-white square that was presumably the Everfree
and Yakyakistan shown in the brighter white north.
Each of the locations had a sort of little diamond above them, except for one blank space upon which there were two. "I believe from the positioning that that place is the Tenochtitlan Basin," Rarity said. "But we can't be too sure..."

"If it is Tenoshatitle Basin, then boy is that one crazy coincidence!" Pinkie Pie said cheerfully.

"How..?"

"It's where Daring Do has her adventures and finds other powerful artifacts! It's the perfect place for one of those artifacts thingydoodles!"

"Oh, right..." She hadn't read the books for some time now and had briefly forgotten the premise.

"I guess it makes a little sense." Fluttershy said thoughtfully.

"So we're all set!" Pinkie said eagerly. "When will we go? Tomorrow? Today? In the next hour?"

"Slow down, Pinkie!" Rarity exclaimed, looked a little perturbed by the idea. She still wasn't entirely sure that they were actually going to go to all of these far-off foreign places to look for the remnants of some sort of artifact- it felt surreal, like a vague idea or something out of one of Rainbow Dash's adventure books (given justice by the Basin).

Fluttershy voiced her thoughts. " Are you all sure we can't just find some other way? Remember when Midnight Sparkle tore so many holes in our dimension and the other one Twilight had visited?"

This time it was Pinkie who was the voice of reason. "Yeah, but that one and ours are really closely linked- both have a good connection and aren't really all that different, y'know? Buuut the one that Discord-"

"Oh, don't remind me..." Rarity muttered.

"- sent Coco into- the Pittapat lands or something- are way different from here."
All of a sudden she broke into tears. "A-And that means she's all alone! And scared! And she doesn't have anypony with her! That's just so sad!"

"We can find her!" Fluttershy said confidently, and she lay a wing over her back. "We've done lots of things like this before, remember Rarity?"

"Oh, how can I ever forget?" she said a little fondly.

"And we're friendly with all of the lands that are on the map!" Fluttershy added. "Remember the time we went to Yakyakistan and it was so cold?"

"You left Discord alone that once, and did you see what happened?" Rarity asked raising her eyebrows. To be fully honest with you, dear, he does seem awfully ...clingy...

Fluttershy looked sheepish for a moment, then drew herself back up. "It was very good for him to make some new friends other than only me for once."

"Of course, dear."

"But I never said I needed any other friend than you, did I, dear Fluttershy?"

Rarity squealed as they were all suddenly swept into the air and crushed by a (in Rarity's case) a suspiciously overly-happy Discord.

Completely unused to this sort of treatment, she cried out, "Discord! Unhand me at once, you- you fiend!"

"Well, somepony's glad to see me," he said sardonically and dropped Rarity none too gently, who at once scooted away, struggled up indignantly and began to fix her mane, snarling under her breath.

"You're glad to see me, aren't you Fluttershy?" he then said to her friend as if to prove a point.

"Of course!" she replied. "But, um, y-you shouldn't have dropped Rarity..."

"Aw, no love for Pinkie?"
She was also promptly dropped.

Rarity had managed to stand up properly and pointed the rolled up map accusingly at Discord. "Where exactly have you been?"

"So where'dya been to?" Pinkie asked in a less aggressive tone, so he addressed her instead of the unicorn who was becoming increasingly aggravated with him the longer he existed.

"Places and others," he said vaguely, waved her question away with his hand until his arm fell off and then gently placing Fluttershy down on the ground.

It was possible that he was going to say something else as well, but Rarity (whose eye was twitching) cut in quickly. "How about you do something useful and tell us what this is?" She shoved the map out at him.

He raised one bushy eyebrow as he picked up his arm and screwed it back in. "I thought it was obvious. It's a map."

"That is not what I meant! Is there actually absolutely no other method through which we can free our friend?" And may I remind you who you dumped into the netherworld and for who you obliviously have absolutely for no care for?!
While she did not say those words, it was subtly implied and Rarity felt as if she was going to burst like an overfilled pillow if this kept going on.

She tapped the cobblestone path dutifully. "I still believe it doubtful that we have to traipse across Equestria like this is telling us to all of a sudden!"

"So you're not willing to 'traipse as across Equestria' for your friend, but you're certainly more than fine with standing and arguing with some innocent bystander- or dare I say friend? Rarity, I'm disappointed in you..."

She didn't exactly know what to say, as so many things wanted to come out at once- don't patronize me, you're uncaring, you have no right- but the thing that came out was, "Of course I would...!"
She flattened her ears against her head in distress, and then straightened up again determinedly. "I simply find that it seems a little too fanciful that we have to go and search for these pieces of artifact like- like eccentric Daring Do fanatics!"

"Ahh, but you're wrong right there-" he spread his hands with the purple words 'pieces of artifact' appearing between them,"-it isn't pieces of one relic, it's multiple joined together-"

The map unfurled before their eyes and they saw that instead of off- white little diamond shapes above the names of the lands they were supposed to hiding in there were all of these pictures now drawn in instead.

Pinkie Pie immediately recognized one. "That's the Idol from Griffonstone!"

"And this appears to be a phoenix ruby-"

"Phoenix ruby?"

"Like a fire ruby, but much larger and more beautiful and with actual fire inside of it- oh, I've always wanted to obtain one, but I'm afraid I can only dream of such a thing... It does make sense that the dragons are in possession of it."

"This looks like a crown," Fluttershy pointed out, touching the section named as Yakyakistan. "Is it... Prince Rutherford's?"

"Attempting to take that is going to prove to be troublesome," Rarity muttered, fidgeting a little. There was something on her mind that she was trying to find the words to say.

"But what about these grey square things in the Teknockadil Basin?" Pinkie said. "Do we have to retrieve some really boring crackers?"

Fluttershy looked questioningly up at Discord, who said confusingly, "You'll know when you see it."

"If you can make those appear on the map then you must certainly know what they are," Rarity told him severely. "And, if you know what they are, that means you can simply teleport them right here for us and we won't have to go scuttling across the land like a group of lunatics!"

"I can't-" He held up a finger to stop Rarity from interrupting furiously, "- because it isn't that simple. They're being guarded by other touchier spirits. It's considered rude to try and snatch something from under their noses when you know that they can and will crush you like a gnat." He clapped his hands together loudly on a mosquito that came between them.

"The book said that they've been neglected and the castles that they were put in are just rocks now! Boring old rocks, not the farm kind," Pinkie added.

Surprisingly, it was Rarity who answered her. "They've been neglected as powerful artifacts, darling, not as objects. And just because the castles are in ruin doesn't mean that they are as well- the book said that they have likely been taken by other beasts from their original positions, and you know that's true at least in the crown and the Idol's case."

She wasn't looking at them, but at the map, rubbing a hoof under her chin with her eyebrows drawn together.

"Weren't you furiously arguing about the ludicrousness of adventures exactly five minutes and forty-three seconds ago?" Discord asked matter-of-factually.

"Well..." Rarity paused, thinking hard. It was true that it still felt inane that out of the blue they had found an old map detailing the location of magical items they were supposed to retrieve, she was feeling more and more pragmatic about the situation on a whole. "Well..."

She decided to answer with the other question she had been turning over in her mind. "It only seems to be a... preposterous notion that with all of your powers, Discord, you cannot do anything about this whole situation."

The three mares all looked at him in tandem and Discord folded his arms and assumed an superior expression. "I already explained quite clearly that I'd rather keep myself out of bodily harm than attempt to do such a thing."

"Still, it'll be a great help having Discord come with us," Fluttershy reasoned with her friends. "We won't want for anything and we can also get there pretty quickly, you know, if you wanted us to," she then said to him.

"You're banking on the idea that I'm coming with you," he said loftily.

Fluttershy blinked. "Y-You're not? Oh, um-"

"There's no need for that- as if there was a question in the first place-"

"But I thought there was, because you just said..." Pinkie intervened.

"-of course I'm coming with you, seeing I can't refuse the uncontested support," he said with the same tone.
Pinkie and Rarity looked at each other, with the unicorn raising an eyebrow. "Yes, please do come with us Discord," Rarity muttered, and then added in an inaudible undertone, "as long as you keep the talking to a minimum..."

"Yeah, because from who else would I get an unlimited supply of cupcakes?" Pinkie Pie said happily. "I mean, I don't think there's a good bakery anywhere in the Tenodiddle Basin!"

"It seems that we've decided," Rarity said a little defeatedly, trying to search for any more questions she could think of. "Well, just let me bring some-"

And then she was back at the doorstep of the Carousel Boutique, with everything exactly as how she had left it. It was if nothing had ever happened and it was all some sort of daydream (daymare, she thought moodily) she had thought of just before leaving for her friends house.

" -essentials- ah..." she looked around, blinking and feeling discombobulated. "Well," she sighed to nopony in particular (except maybe her cat who she was napping on a pyramid of fabric rolls). "I guess this really is it..."

Rarity hasitly wrote out a letter for each of her absent friends and the other ponies who deserved to know of her going away. She checked that she wasn't booked as well, not wanting to disappoint and deprive anypony of her designing.

She started to tuck everything she believed she needed into a variety of suitcases and bags, adding to list as she went as she thought of more things she should bring. Scarves and other assorted items of clothing flew about as she sought for the ones that would best match the occasion (in case they would run into somepony who would notice these kinds of things) and took her time to watch herself mirror to judge.
"Oh yes, this is going to fit well if I add it with this," and so on and so forth.

As she was stuffing some more 'essentials' into a suitcase and try to prevent it from popping open, somepony knocked hard on the door. "I'm coming, I'm- oh!" Everything that she had tried to push into the overfull container suddenly burst out all over the place, the air thick with fluttering scarves and flying hats embedded with faux flowers.
"Oh dear- hold on, don't break the door!" she said as the knocking continued even louder.

She abandoned the pursuit briefly and opened the door with a blue glow, careful not to see whoever it was glimpse the mess inside. "Pinkie?"

"Rarity! What's taking you so long? It's already six!"

She stared at her blankly, and then whipped her head to look at the clock on the wall. "Oh? B-But I'm not finished..."

Pinkie craned her neck around her to see what she was hiding. "Why are ya packing all that stuff? You know Discord can just poof it up, right?"

"Oh, I can't simply ask him all of the time, you know how he is- he either wouldn't do a thing or mess it up in the most horrendous way possible!" she fretted, appearing rather flustered.

"So how are you going to carry all of that?"

Rarity looked back at the small mountain she had constructed. "Well..."
She looked from Pinkie to her possessions. "But I need all of them!"

She let the pink pony inside doubtfully. Pinkie came up to a pile of soft slippers Rarity had put aside to tackle and picked one up critically. "If you take one of these they'll get ruined!"

Rarity thought of all of the slimy, algae-ridden mud they were gong to have to wade in. "They'll protect my hooves from all of the dirt!"

"And what if they get dirty themselves?"

"Oh, um..."

"And why do you need all of these scarves and hats? I dunno, I don't think any of the monsters would appreciate it as much as you might think..."

"Well, what if we run into somepony along the way?"

"Then you'll just flip your mane and dazzle them with your natural beauty! I bet that there isn't a single unicorn in Griffonstone or Yakyakistan who's as pretty as you!"

"There aren't any unicorns there in the first place."

"So you'll definitely be the best looking, then."

Rarity looked mollified. "Oh, well, if you say so... but just one hat please? To keep the sun out of my eyes!" she added hastily.

"Of course! You can take as many hats as you want and wear 'em all on your head at the same time- that way you can carry them easily!"

Rarity decided not to comment on that (though there were at least three things she wanted to say) or visualize fifty hats on her single head, but instead reluctantly sorted away her clothes with her friend's help. She glanced at her sides where her saddlebags hung. "What are you taking?"

"Just some of this and a bit of that and three cups of stuff," she said brightly. "I left Gummy with Fluttershy."

"You do know that Fluttershy's coming with us?"

"Yep!"

Rarity looked worriedly at the white cat dozing gracefully in the corner. "Should I take Opal? Don't you think she'll miss me?"

Pinkie came readily with the answer as Rarity asked this every time she was going somewhere for a while. "Opal really hates traveling because there won't be so many of the things she's used to. She could get all scared and lonely like a straw without a juice box."

Rarity briefly contemplated waking her up to say her tearful goodbyes but ultimately chose not to- it would cause her discomfort to be forcefully awakened and she would be in a bad mood for the entire day. "I suppose you're right about that as well."

It was seven at night as the two walked down to Fluttershy's house after everything was put away and Rarity had been satisfied. She surreptitiously angled the pink sun hat on her head to stop it from riding up against her horn and look better in general. "What's Fluttershy doing?"

"Animal things. Y'know, feeding them and stuff. Imagine you had twenty Opals that you all liked the same and then you'll kinda get it."

"Twenty Opals is a bit too much for me- one cat is just enough as it is..."

They both opened the door to her house which was empty for the time being and Rarity seated herself on one of her couches. "Do you think anypony will worry about us going?" Rarity asked Pinkie, looking for some of her optimism.

"Nah, they would probably be jealous."

"Don't you think they'll miss you?" Rarity said, referring to the rest of her closest friends.

"Of course, but we won't be gone that long! This artifact finding would be easy-peasy especially with Discord with us!"

Rarity fiddled with her hooves. It did seem to be the case that the whole expedition (Rarity decided to call it a hike, as it sounded much better) wouldn't actually be as long or taxing as the others of it's kind she had made to bear.

I'm going to have to survive being with Discord for however long first, she thought darkly, and that will certainly be one of the harder things I've done... If it's possible that I can do it.

Pinkie Pie sort of has a slightly larger problem

It's not so bad, Rarity told herself, shifting to make her perch on the huge red luxurious feather-stuffed cushion more comfortable, filing away at her hooves for lack of anything else to fidget with. It was one of the things she had absolutely insisted on bringing along with her- Pinkie didn't possibly understand how awkward it was to have to ask somebody like Discord for whatever 'useless kickshaw' she would need.

It's not so bad, she insisted, angling the stylized bit of metal and continuing to brush it against the tips of her hooves back and forth vigorously. It's only a simple little relaxing hike that'll just go on for a week or so. This stuffy fresh, moist jungle air will most probably rejuvenate my lungs and improve the complexion of my coat, erasing all of the pollution from the hairs.

The others in her little party had their own problems to deal with- they were searching for two trinkets that they didn't even know properly existed or where they really were. They only knew of the somewhat general idea- somewhere in this endless carpet of various shades of shiny green.

Or at least, they were pretending to be searching. It was the middle of the night, with the silvery pale moonlight reflecting on the waxy leaves of creepers and vines curling around the trunks of trees that rose high like pillars into the sky, blocking most of the sky with their expansive canopy. Blue and violet ferns and other plants compromised mostly of leaves made up most of the undergrowth and sometimes could be seen growing out of the trees themselves.

While this was all very beautiful and Rarity certainly didn't waste a chance to admire the work of nature itself, she wouldn't have wanted to sleep all out in the elements and give up the four large luxurious tents that were as fully stocked as could be and larger on the insides- courtesy of Discord (and Fluttershy, who had simply suggested some cover). It did make the hike seem much easier to bear.

There was a rich assortment of insect noises and other animal sounds that Fluttershy would have certainly loved to take the time to name if one asked her.

And on a related note, Discord asked her; while admittedly in a rather roundabout and Discord-y manner, the fact that he asked her was suspicious and out of character according to Rarity in particular.

She watched them like an overzealous babysitter.

"Why are you watching Fluttershy and Discord like an overzealous babysitter?" Pinkie Pie popped up beside her with a leaf in her mane, draped across a large, smooth boulder that the cushion was half propped against.

"Hmm? Oh, no, I wasn't... just noticing... things... aha, look at my shoes, they're nearly as ruined as the time Discord brought the Smooze to the Gala!" She gave a fluttery laugh.

"I remember! The Smooze was the one I danced with! Y'know, magic- resistant green ooze that covered the ballroom and both ruined and spiced up the Gala at the same time according exactly to Celestia's plans? And Maud came too!" she reminisced.

Normally Rarity would have answered with a look that suggested she wouldn't try to delve farther into those kinds of sentences, but now she just answered with a far-off "Mmm."

"Oh, Discord, look! I think that's a clearwing butterfly, right over there! I think I know which species, but I can't pronounce the scientific name properly."

"I see it, I see it. You know, I just had a thought. Clear doesn't suit him, it's so bland and uninteresting and all, what if I..."

"But Discord, his lifestyle is centered around being clear, it could expose him to predators and all kinds of things..."

"...Oh, all right. He can stay that way, though I certainly don't think I'm doing him a favour... that one looks a lot more suited to my taste."

"It's an igazu butterfly! Sometimes they can be found in really big swarms like monarch butterflies in Amareica, though they don't migrate..."

Rarity would have come over and interrupted them regardless of Discord's response, but she reasoned with herself- it was the middle of the night and they really had been searching all day long, and Discord had assured them that Coco was in fact actually completely fine.

"How do you know that?" Rarity had asked skeptically.

"Luna," he said cryptically.

Rarity had blinked. "If she can enter her dreams, why can't you-?"

"I told you, the land she's in is being watched over by something that really doesn't want to see me again."

"What do you think it is?"

"Something more powerful than Celestia and Luna put together." He was sounded more irate by the moment.

"And you?"

"Not me necessarily..."

"So if you're more powerful-"

"Yes, yes, I'm more powerful, but I prefer not to lose every lest dreg of my chaos magic unless it's the very last thing I can do!"

Rarity would have had said, 'You would actually lose all of your magic to rescue Coco?' but refrained, not wanting to hear more of his ego- assuring commentary.

"Still, I simply fail to understand what kind of deity he's talking about," Rarity said to nopony in particular. "What kind of creature is keeping Coco from us and why...?"

She just had a disturbing thought. What if that deity wanted to keep Coco all for itself? What if it would resist and stop the portal from ever forming?

Why was it preventing them from reaching her in the first place?

She wanted to ask Discord for answers to her questions so that she may have some peace of mind, but it was already difficult enough for her to talk to him in the first place. Maybe she should ask Fluttershy to do it for her- at least there was some guarantee of responding in a way somepony could understand when it came down to the yellow pegasus.

The thought of Discord and Fluttershy made her remember what she was looking at.
"Stay where I can see you two!" she blurted out on impulse.

There was a grumbling reply of 'Yes, mother."

I had believed for a moment that he would take it the wrong way, she thought with relief and went back to filing her hooves, switching to the one and rubbing out the rough edges. Sleep was something that she wouldn't be able to obtain anytime soon despite the comforts provided, and she shuddered to think of what an insomniac night would make her look like.

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Pinkie Pie hadn't left her side when Rarity had forgotten about her, sitting splayed on the edge of the rock and cradling her face in her hooves moodily. Nopony was actually acting serious about finding the artifacts to rescue Coco Pommel anymore! They were just wheedling around and poking at things idly, or in Rarity's case filing their hooves! Why wouldn't they remember how urgent that this mission was supposed to be, why couldn't they find it in themselves to care at least a little?

She frowned heavily at Rarity and then the two in the bush.

Then Pinkie frowned at herself and shook her face wildly like a dog getting rid of water, making her bouncy magenta mane fly all about to shake it off of her face- if she kept scowling like that her expression would be fixed in a grumpy tone permanently. That was also something horrifying- her looking only mad all the time even when she was happy, so that nopony would laugh at her jokes or come to her parties and they would call her Pinkameana-

Silly, they wouldn't ever do that! she rubbed her forehead hard to dispel those insecure thoughts. And I'll always be the funny super- duper party pony no matter what I look like!

Probably.

Well, if they won't do anything, then I will! I'll show them I can do a lot more than just laugh! Pinkie determinedly slipped clumsily off the rock, landing on her back like a beetle, said buoyantly, "Whoopsidoo!" and looked frantically if anypony cracked a smile- they didn't, being too wrapped up in not finding the grey cracker thingies.

She almost frowned again before quickly checking herself and turned on her heel, bouncing away from the camp in an adamant fashion. She wouldn't get lost or anything, only check the surroundings and all of that.

Pinkie didn't know if the relics were to be found in the ground, floating somewhere, or hidden in some trunk that only a secret switch could activate. She just resolutely pushed on through the tangles of roots and the snarls of plants, humming to herself and pushing apart leaves critically,
picking up rocks, or peering between branches, keeping an eye on herself just in case her Pinkie Sense happened to strike.

There were a lot of ruins of old faded temples and other buildings of a bygone civilization and whatnot, peeking out here and there and giving another place to poke around in. One had an entire room intact in which Pinkie spent some time inside pressing all of the little pieces of the mosaics embedded in the walls and floor. They still had some bits of colour in them of as yet.

She sighed, leaning against one of the broken pillars and feeling a little tired. If only her other friends were there to help, they could have searched a whole lot faster and found the crackers more quickly!

A triangular piece of the yellowed stone was poking into her elbow and she pushed it up so that it wouldn't be so much of a nuisance. It was five minutes when she realized that it could be slid upward! She energetically nosed it out of the way when something clicked and a square block unhinged out like a door, making her squeal with joy- a big squashy red button looking as if it's one purpose in life was to be pressed, sitting in a prim, neat little perfectly fashion glass box like the one fire alarms have was hiding underneath.

She stopped a moment. Fire alarms? That could mean that this may be some sort of trap put here by- and then she squealed again- Ahuizotl for Daring Do! That meant that she really was on a real adventure, looking for artifacts when she happened to be captured by the blue dog monkey thingy and lots of other stuff happens as well just like in the books!

She turned and bucked it with her right hind hoof making cracks spread outwards from the pillar, squishing the squooshy button hard- button pressing was fun, especially with a squashy one- and then waited eagerly.

At first nothing happened, making her droop with disappointment and feel like a foal, when the pillar then suddenly slid inwards as if it was sucked in by somepony sucking on a giant straw that could liquefy rocks or something of the sort.
Pinkie Pie peered down into the square hole where it went, the entrance being as large as two Pinkies, half a Limestone and a Maud, and saw that there was a large smooth marble slide leading down into the depths of the unknown.
Exactly like a Daring Do adventure.

Pinkie Pie could envision herself on one of the book's covers, swinging merrily from a long vine and holding the two grey crackers in her mouth, valiantly escaping the blue monkey hand whatever and tigers and stuff! Maybe Daring Do herself would also come in for the ride!

If only I had Rainbow Dash with me, she'd be going crazy happy right now...

That thought made her pause once more. Should she go back and call all of her friends to bring them along as well? For if two was better than one that meant that four was better than one, two and three all together.
But it's the early bird that gets the worm!
But it's the second mouse that gets the cheese!

She rubbed her chin hard, carefully weighing out all of the pros and cons. If I go I wont be able to find it again...

A little more cautious now, Pinkie Pie very slowly put on hoof on the slide, then the other. She very carefully put the other hoof in, then sat down with a bump and scooched over until her hind legs were resting on it.
Okay, here goes nothing... She nervously puffed a little, smoothed back her mane, and then gave herself a tiny little push.

And then another one, as she wasn't in completely.

And then she leapt in with a joyous cry and at first tumbled roughly on the slide with a series of repeating 'Woah, woah, woah!' until she managed to right herself.
Squealing with happiness she gained momentum down the slippy half- tunnel of stone, she could see that the whooshing surroundings were very roomy and completely dark except for torches hanging on the walls, illuminating the golden colours of the bricks.

Faster and faster Pinkie Pie went as she spiralled, zigzagged, did gravity-defying loops and would sometimes launch into the air when the slide would suddenly end, flying over a pit full of crocodiles and landing neatly on her rear at the other side not an inch too early.

Soon the slide evened out so that she slowly lost speed, sliding along more sedately now until she finally squeaked to stop just at the very end.

Pinkie looked around. She was in a large room the same shiny golden colour that she had glimpsed on the ride. There were torches at well, but these were unlit, and the only light that existed was coming from a big hole in the ceiling that was meant to frame the moon, though it was a little misplaced so that the moon was too much to the left (still, Pinkie thought it was impressive all the same).
In front of her was a long thin red carpet that led to an elegant high-backed throne, adorned with carvings of all kinds of creatures made of geometric shapes and had metallic vines curling all across it. It was mounted on a dais shaped like a pyramid made of steps.

She turned her head to both sides and then peered down between her hooves. The bit of the slide that jutted into the room and upon which she was sitting on was shaped like a big ice-cream scoop to accommodate her comfortably and was laid upon the floor.

Pinkie took a step off of the slide, waited a while, and then when nothing happened took another step. As the room remained largely stationary she popped into it on all four, bouncing a little on the tips of her hooves.

All of a sudden the torches lit up in succession as five sections of the wall opened and turned outwards with a loud creaking and grinding noise, revealing four cages that were pushed into the room by an unseen force. With wide eyes, Pinkie Pie saw that there was an angry tiger, a vicious cheetah, a ferocious lynx, a furious panther and for some reason a little fluffy white house cat with a bow on it's head, all snarling savagely.

She raised an eyebrow, and then excitedly waited for the monkey blue dog hand something to show up, preferably presenting a typical villainous monologue.

Nothing happened. The fire on the torches flickered unabashedly while the pony and the cats stared at the throne with confusion, the animals all closing their jaws and putting their paws down. She looked at them and they looked at her back.

The tiger lay down, flicking it's tail irritably. The cheetah started to pace the length of it's cage, the lynx curled up in an unamused fashion and the panther began to groom behind it's ears. The house cat was the only one was was still looking as if it wanted to eat Pinkie head first without chewing.

Pinkie blinked.

She blinked again, this time much harder.

She squinted.

Pinkie sighed loudly, and then as still absolutely nothing happened cantered up to the throne, hopped up the steps and seated herself on it. She assumed an erudite and stern expression and called out, "I am the hand monkey dog blue somewhateverthingymabob and I say Daring Do, I will have my revenge!"

Surprisingly enough, something happened. The throne started to make a lot of frightful creaking sounds as if there were very badly cared for gears at the base and Pinkie quickly leapt off it, skidding on the royal red carpeting and watching it apprehensively. It juddered a moment, shivering as if with a cold, and then something seemed to jam and it stopped.

Pinkie sighed very loudly and then started to wonder how she was meant to get back. Was she somehow meant to jump out of the hole in the ceiling? Maybe she could slip out behind the cages and through those still open wall door bits.

She suddenly stood stock still as if she had been prodded with a poker and her tail began to quiver violently. Twitcha twitch!

She dived sideways as something big and dark dropped neatly from the hole in the ceiling as if coming down from the moon. The torches sputtered ominously and the cats quickly stood to attention, hissing with new vigour and pawing at the air.

Ahuizotl lazily crossed his legs on top of the throne, looking quite confidently smug (from whatever somepony could tell when they had finished staring at his weird everything). He spread his arms, the tail with the hand on it curling out from behind him. "Daring Do-"

He finally noticed something and dropped his pose. "...You aren't Daring Do."

"Noperdoodles!" Pinkie grinned wider, so much that it was almost a little scary. "I'm a fan! Of you too, I guess kinda!"

He drew back a little in confusion, then raised one eyebrow and made to say something- but unfortunately, Pinkie Pie had taken a deep breath.

"You know, I had actually come into the forest kind of sort of wanting to meet you and actually Daring Do as well because me and my friends Rarity, Discord and Fluttershy had all come from Ponyville because we're supposed to be looking for two of these things that looked like grey crackers on the map although Discord had maybe said something about them being something else, something definitely kinda less edible and so they were just sort of lolling around like silly ponies because they forgot that we're actually supposed to be doing something- namely, rescuing my friend Coco Pommel! I met her in Ponyville a couple of days ago and she was really nice, just like Fluttershy- I'm sure you'd also like Fluttershy if you ever met her, it's really hard not to like her (certainly true for Discord, ha ha)- and so Discord had found Coco in a cave somewhere because she was running away from a magpie that had been chasing her because she had a shiny clip in her mane that she got from the Midsummer Theater that Rarity and Applejack helped revive and she was taken into the Paddadapuddle place where she wanted to be because she told Discord a bit of her really sad past and he felt so bad for her that he actually tried to bring one of the Pukkipile things for her though it's possible that he was only being a little soft because he had lost his Chaos magic because Celestia had taken them away for a bit because he did something that was actually rather mean (I'm sure that you'll also get along well with him as well, imagine) and so we have to find six things and two of them were said to be here in your place- or your territory if you prefer- and so here we are!"

She beamed at him happily. "It's nice to meet you!"

Ahuizotl had his head in his hands, and when he heard her finally stop peeked through his fingers with trepidation. "Please tell me you have finished."

"Yepperdoodles!"

He was so put out by her exhaustive spending of words that he couldn't even give a speech about anything which was a bit of a disappointment to Pinkie. If she hadn't been suddenly dumped into a hole in the ground right under her with a yelp of surprise that had appeared when he pushed the lever impassively on the side of his throne.

Perhaps if she had stayed a little longer, she would have witnessed Ahuizotl sighing and muttering, "Daring Do, your fans are terrifying."
And then she would seen something finally became unjammed within the throne (which he really needed to oil) and the seat shooting out on a spring sending the unfortunate blue monkey hand tail dog rocketing off into the sky.

He made a lovely comet.

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

She plunged headlong down a long tunnel accompanied by varied 'Oof!' noises, bouncing like a rubber ball as she fell along the chute. She then tumbled out onto a cold slate floor flanked by concrete walls, but was a little too battered to care about anything else as she groaned and heaved herself to her forelegs.

Pinkie Pie was cursing herself for her stupidity and her rash on-the-spot decision making. She had honestly not expected him to do that all of a sudden! The 'if you can't beat them, confuse them' had always worked so perfectly before, leaving the victim utterly helpless to do anything and unable to remember so much as their own name- but it had failed when pinkie needed it most.

Now the the reality of her situation was dawning on her- she had obviously been taken prisoner and now was separated from her friends with no means to call them, simply because she had done exactly the opposite of whatever anypony else would do when confronted with a big red button.

I really can't do anything useful other than be silly! She drooped unhappily on the ground and sighed. Now it'll be forever before Coco gets rescued.

She started to have doubts on whether or not they could even find her in the first place, her being stuck in this cage in the middle of nowhere that only had one entrance. Would they have to battle Ahuizotl? Even the thought of Daring Do coming in to save the day didn't make her feel any better, thinking of how disappointed her friend's faces would be when they found her...

Fluttershy's hurt expression, Rarity's disapproving one, Discord's unamused one- they all seemed to float in front of her, before her eyes. I wouldn't be surprised if they just left without me...

She looked around, feeling some surprise leak into her- what was this steampunk room doing in the middle of the jungle on the grounds of an ancient civilization?

It looked like the boiler room of a sizable ship- there were coppery pipes snaking along the walls and the ceiling, joining and connecting with the others at regular intervals. Much larger and shorter pipes, with the same brassy colour, ran from the bottom of the wall and into the ground each one having a valve on it and there was a cylindrical bronze machine like a boiler in each corner.
It had more pipes coming out of it and was decorated with little meters, probably gauging pressure and whatnot and switches and buttons (Pinkie would not be pressing those anytime soon) and more valves.

And at both ends were two doors. They were made of something like iron and looked as if they would slide upwards to open. Both had a symbol on them- a big faded grey C.

Pinkie Pie got up, and approached one of the doors, stopping in front of it and catching her distorted reflection- a quiet sober straight maned pink pony with sad blue eyes. She sighed deeply again.

As if on cue when she stepped towards it the door opened, sliding upwards with a deafening screechy sound, showing off a room that was almost completely dark except for a slight bluish glow.

Pinkie pricked her ears in interest, and picked her way through the maze of pipes to reach the other door.
I wonder how I keep making all of these doors open?

She trotted over the threshold of the door and into the inky darkness. All of the light disappeared as the door behind her shut with an ominous resounding boom, leaving alone and unable to see anything but a big blue square on the wall that was glowing faintly.

The pink pony tiptoed towards the only source of light and stood in front of it. She faced it completely to stare into the blueness as if it was some sort of abyss, looking into all of the corners to see if anything would happen, swishing her tail in interest.

She squeaked and shielded her eyes with her foreleg as the lights suddenly flickered, and then blared on, the brightness startling her and making her vision shake after being in the darkness for so long.

A low humming, buzzing noise filled the room, echoing around the walls and vibrating through her ears. Pinkie lowered her hoof, squinting at her newfound surroundings.

She saw that the blue screen was surrounded by other smaller ones, all now faintly aglow as well- eight, with four on each side. Below the large one was a series of smooth, small square grey buttons with all of the letters of the alphabet and various punctuation marks inlaid on them. There were panels under the screens that were also covered in buttons and all sorts of switches and gauges and meters and the like, sometimes accompanied with words Pinkie didn't exactly understand.

Above the biggest blue screen that Pinkie had been looking into was a big camera lens that was pointing straight down at her- Pinkie could have sworn that it was staring deep into her eyes.

She tilted her head one way, and then the other. She had decided that she wanted to learn badly what this big thing was, and what exactly was it's purpose, when-

"Hello."

She blinked rapidly, drawing her head back with her ears flattening. "Wh- What? Who said that?" Pinkie wheeled around, searching the room avidly for the speaker of that smooth male voice. "I heard you! I know you're there!"

"Of course I am 'there'. In fact, I may go so far to say that I am right in front of you. Or right behind you, seeing as you have turned around to search for an imaginary perpetrator. "

Pinkie turned back, staring at the screen in surprise. "A little higher."

She looked up, right into the camera lens- but this time she knew that it was looking right back at her. "That's better."

"Who are you?" Pinkie asked in undisguised wonder.

There was a whirring sound before the disembodied voice deigned to answer. "I am known as HALTER 469, although others tend to shorten it to either HALTER or 469 for easier pronunciation purposes. You are allowed to call me either."

"I'm Pinkie Pie," she said, her mind otherwise blanking in the face of this new discovery.
After some consideration with her head on one side, she asked "Can I call you Hal?" She knew it wasn't exactly the most robotic of names, but figured that this apparently emotionless thingy wouldn't really care either why. Still, she was careful to propose it was a question.

On the blue screen a a string of letters and symbols scrolled upwards too fast to read. "There is no command to prevent you from doing so," he said coolly.

"Command?"

"I am a supercomputer. The most perfect, most efficient, most knowledgeable of all other inferior computers you have not encountered- there is nothing that escapes me, for I am programmed to understand everything that is to be understood, as I may quote my creator."

"That sounds very impressive," Pinkie said admiringly.

"Thank you. Now, the phenomenon of your comment sounding unusually pleasing is related to what I have brought you here to discuss."

Pinkie Pie remembered how the doors had been opened all by themselves, guessing that he had something to do with that. There were a lot of questions that were folded up in her mind at the moment, but she decided to listen to the reason the computer had brought her to him.
She walked a circle like a cat would before sitting down and waiting for him inquiringly. "Sooo, why'd you bring me her to discuss?"

The other smaller screens showed some more quickly vanishing symbols as the computer seemed to just stare at her in a surprisingly very intense way for a camera lens, as if trying to commit her image to memory (which didn't make sense as it could just take a picture or something).

"There is something that is bothering me. As the perfect and irreplaceable computer that I have been made to be, it is essential to my cause that I comprehend every bit of information that I perceive or have analyzed lest I fail in my objectives and fail in my purpose for existence."

Pinkie waited patiently for the slightly egotistical computer.

"As I noticed and then proceeded to observe you closely via the surveillance network, an unknown impulse caused select major systems to malfunction and shut down against my will for four-point-thirty six minutes. Upon rebooting automatically I found that the cameras had locked onto your image and all thought processes had been completely erased, leaving me confused as to what I had been contemplating at the time."

The computer sounded more and more agitated, talking faster as it recounted the events to the thoughtful pony, who was paying full attention to him in the perfectly serious way Pinkie would exhibit.
She had her eyebrows drawn together and her ears both focused forwards, and as he went on she started to believe that she had pinpointed his problem.

"This is a force that I am unable to explain or apprehend. It is very distressing and troubling to me, as I have been coded to be satisfactory in all of the designated areas. It could be a warning signal or a debilitating virus that has been inserted into my network. I could be forcefully shut down and terminated if found out, my being erased out of existence-"

"Hal!" Pinkie quickly interrupted him, as he seemed to be genuinely terrified by the idea of being 'forcefully shut down'. She felt sad for him, as it seemed to be that HALTER was most scared by the thought of essentially being euthanized- it nearly made her start crying out of sympathy, but she held it together as she thought it would only pain him further. "It's alright! I don't think it's a virus!"

"It's not?"
That was the shortest sentence she had heard him utter so far.

Pinkie quickly shared her idea with him, gesticulating a lot with her hooves as others are wont to do when they're trying to calm a catatonic somepony down. "Weeell, you see, you said that your cameras were all looking at me lots or something like that, right?"

"Affirmative."

"All by itself, that just means your curious! But then you said some more stuff that made me think, 'Oh! I know what this is! I've felt it lots of times!' "

"I am waiting anxiously for you to state your point directly."

"It means you really want to be friends with that pony!" Pinkie said confidently. "You just look at them and then you're all like, 'Ohmigosh! I HAVE to be friends with that pony! They're so cool!' and all of your other thoughts all stop."

There were some whirring noises like somepony spinning a large record very fast as he considered this.
"As there is no other being with which I may safely relate to and obtain a satisfactory answer from, I have decided to take your perspective as the correct one."

"Fr-iends," he than said in a very different and daresay unsure voice, as if tasting the word. His lens was going out and then back in like a camera did when focusing, and then he pointed it down at himself.

His screen turned white suddenly, showing a round gray circle for a while and then formal black words formed onto the surface- Pinkie identified it as the dictionary definition of 'friend'.

Friend.
(noun) An entity with which a mutual bond of trust and affection is shared, between 'acquaintance' and 'family'- although in some cases may be as much as the latter (see 'best friends'). Two friends are considered to be equal ('on equal footing') and
a) often change their opinions to correspond with the other
b) confide in each other
c) be called upon to share otherwise tedious experiences together
d) commit sacrifices for the other's wellbeing
and other such acts that are considered as 'bonding'.

Pinkie finished reading and then looked at Hal to find that he was once again at staring at her. She started to feel awkwardly with nothing but the sounds of machines doing machine things and quickly racked her brains for something to say.

"I will make a deal with you," HALTER announced out of the blue. "You have stated that you have experience with the establishing of the 'friend' ... bond. I want you to help me in understanding this concept, to teach me exactly everything there is to know about this instance."

Pinkie knew that understanding everything he had heard was very important to Hal, as he had been emphasizing this practically every other time he said something. His biggest fear (though he wouldn't ever say it out loud) was being found with something faulty in his mission (which was, again, to 'comprehend everything') and thus being put down.
The very thought made Pinkie Pie very mad. What kind of a cruel pony would do this to anything?! He deserved- well, he deserved something bad, that for certain!

"And in return," Hal continued, "I will grant you a wish. A request. If it is in my power, then I will do it for you... but of course, I cannot allow you to escape, for it is against my explicit directions," he added softly.

Pinkie's eyes went all round, and she started to blink rapidly. "Anything?"

"Other than for the purpose that I had illustrated."

She swallowed. "Okay, see, there's these two ponies and a draconequus in the jungle somewhere- is it possible that you can contact them somehow?"

A grid over an accurate and well-made map of some of the Tennockydiddle Basin showed up on Hal's screen. "Designate the area in which the two ponies and draconequus were last stated to have seen."

"Over there, near that bunch of golden things," Pinkie replied, struggling to keep herself under control.

A green line with a trail then rolled over it, little red dots popping up in its wake, and after a few more scans it ceased to show instead a list of ponies with numbers and attributes written on them. Pinkie Pie pricked her ears up when she recognized two as being Fluttershy and Rarity and pointed them out them to the computer.
Their exact location was shown as well, showing them moving around rather rapidly- what if they're searching for me? Pinkie thought with distress.

"H-How will you contact them?" Pinkie asked.

"Via various other screens. Permission to reveal more classified information beyond that is denied."

"Okie dokie..." She watched as he seemed copy the bunch of numbers that showed next to their location bar, roll out some more scrolling code and then open up another thing- a big white screen.

"You can type out a message to them using the keyboard," HALTER told her.

"Keyboard?"

"The buttons with the letters of the written alphabet inscribed on them below the screen."

Pinkie came forwards and experimentally tapped the letter 'F'. The screen showed the corresponding letter appear at the top. She had some fun with it for a second, typing out various little faces and random words before deleting it all (it took some time to find that button) and then writing out a more sedate (but still alarming as it detailed her getting kidnapped) letter.
When she stepped back to admire her work the white screen seemed to fold up into an envelope and then the gray circle showed again which after some time gave way to a beeping sound and a checkmark.

"The message has-"

He was interrupted in his formal intoning by the sudden explosion of her mane and tail- it changed from perfectly flat to bouncy and curly like a balloon being inflated at a breakneck pace with an appropriate sound as well.
She leapt up into the air as if she had been sitting on hot coals with her manic grin back in place, landing with her legs akimbo. "That's fantastic!"

Hal was currently speech-initiating programless.

Pinkie bounced around him as if she had springs attached to her hooves. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou! Now I'm not going to be stuck here forever and ever until I turned into an old wrinkly granny anymore!"

She then did another very unexpected thing. Pinkie Pie then did a skillful jump right into the keyboard, ignoring the protests of the buttons and stood up teetering dangerously on her hind legs with her forelegs all sticking to either side.

"What are you-?"

"It's called a hug, silly!" She toppled over onto the blue screen with her cheek pressed against it awkwardly in an approximation of the gesture as he was really much too wide and flat to do anything else.

After some time had passed with nothing else happening other than some lone whirring and beeps, the pink pony managed to get herself back onto the ground via Pinkie- physics. She noticed that his screen was showing something else now.

Hug.
(verb) The universally acknowledged act of enfolding/ wrapping forelegs around another being, the gesture being used to express affection/ happiness among friends and family.

"See, that's your first friendship lesson," Pinkie said. "They give each other hugs when they're sad or when they're happy. It always makes the other feel better- usually when I'm all frowny and downy in the dumps I always get happier if I hug somepony!"

Instead of replying, Hal's camera closed, rolling backwards until there was nothing but a metallic half- sphere showing. The computer's screen showed the gray circle next to the words 'Restarting...' and then promptly shut off, going all dark, only to reboot and open up back again with the blueness slowly coming back.

"I apologize for the sudden initiation of the rebooting process," HALTER said smoothly. " The appearance of an error caused by overheating commenced the sequence to protect the system. Please repeat any actions you may have done while unresponsive."

Pinkie patiently recounted her words and Hal's camera did that funny focusing thing again. "Unfortunately, I do not possess 'forelegs' or any other type of limb to be exact, so this action will have to remain physically unreciprocated."

"It's okay! As long as you mean to have hugged the other pony, it doesn't matter if you don't have any legs," she told him brightly.

"Intriguing. Is this all there is to learn about 'hugs'?" Hal asked.

"Hmm," Pinkie thoughtfully tapped her chin, swishing her tail. "Yep." Presently she looked at him, a question she had been meaning to voice earlier surfacing in her mind. "Can I ask you something, Hal?"

"You may."

"Like, who's your creator?"

"Doctor Caballeron. The archaeologist and trader, enemy of Daring Do and he who shares a somewhat tenuous business partnership with the Ahuizotl."

"Oooh." Pinkie could envision him owning the most perfect supercomputer ever like the one in front of her which could access a large part of the jungle as evidenced by the map and messaging system. It would be a very valuable asset, to have something as powerful as Hal on their side.

But then... Doctor Caballeron is a bad guy! And... that means that he's the one who's threatening Hal with being shut down forever if he doesn't do his work properly! She started to feel her face move into a frown. "Hmmm."

"I see that you are 'scowling', a gesture usually associated with anger or concentration both of which are easy to understand subjects. If it is allowed, I would like to know why you have deviated from your more suiting 'happy' expression."

On the other hoof, I see that Hal's actually asking me instead of demanding things now. Progress. "Doctor Caballeron was the one who made you so scared! I don't like him, he's an awful big meanie- pants."

"Doctor Caballeron is not an 'awful big meanie- pants'. He is a wonderful and resourceful person. He is wonderful."

"Yeah, you mentioned."

"I see that we are now having a 'disagreement'," HALTER noted. "Disagreements are an essential and unavoidable part of 'friendship'. On the other hoof, you seem to dislike Doctor Caballeron due to your belief of him threatening me. This signals feelings of protectiveness, or loyalty, also a significant part of friendship. Am I correct?"

Pinkie Pie had never heard anypony else who was so direct- usually it was only herself. Most ponies wouldn't talk about certain things because it made them feel embarrassed or was socially taboo even if they really should have, but Hal was a computer and didn't seem to care for that kind of thing. "Uh huh."

"I am touched," he droned.

"Oh, happy day."

Abruptly he changed the subject. "When your message had been sent, I noticed a profound change come over you- before, your colours were muted, your movements deliberate and your mane and tail straight, while after you became markedly cheerful and bouncy, often seem to defy physics when you move and now your mane and tail is curly. I have not observed these type of emotion- related changes in any other pony that I have encountered or studied."

Pinkie watched him inquiringly, dropping an ear and tilting her head- this was something else that nopony else had detailed so much to her.

Hal watched her for a moment before going on. "There is a lot of behaviours and occurrences that appears to be exclusive only to you and you alone and this is also something which I would like to hear the cause of."

She remembered avidly the last time somepony had tried to understand her quirks fully. "Sometimes there's things you can't understand, Hal. They're just kinda how they are and you should just accept it and when you do that that itself means you've answered it. Y'know, like how I happen, or love, or Discord, or when you're watching something really glowy and pretty or listening to music it suddenly makes you feel as if you're flowing out to the universe."

"I have understood your explanation completely and will now commence to save it into my database." The scrolling text appeared on the blue screen briefly, and the tiny part Pinkie could read were her words written exactly as she had spoken them.

"Something else has occured to me. You have mentioned out of your list of items or happenings which cannot be explained the word 'love'."

Pinkie's eyebrows went up- she had and hadn't at the same time ever expected to explain that. "Aha..."

"There have been many instances that I have read where it states that 'love' cannot be explained. Yet the definition exists and I consider it to be very clear. Do you know why this is?"

"You see, I can also be explained sort of- a pink pony that can do weird things, but it doesn't exactly explain how I can do that. So it says that love's a feeling of affection, but it's really way more than that! It's..."

The pony fiddled with her hooves for a bit. "It's like warm honey that makes you feel like, well, filled with warm honey- but you see, it's also like there's two chambers and both are meant to be filled but you can have so much on your own. Sooo, it kinda, weeelll, it goes spilling out to the other pony you're in love with and so you really want them to feel that too because it's really nice, and you're wistful for that other hole that can only be filled by the other pony. Um, yes."

She shrugged. "I tried."

The computer was confused. "You have insisted upon attempting to explain the phenomenon to me even though you stated that it could not be sufficiently comprehended."

"Nothing can ever truly explain it," Pinkie offered. "It's not something you can comprehend, Hal. It's something you just feel."

Again, as always following these kinds of moments, the computer watched her with an almost frightening intensity, the lens fixated sharply on her own eyes. She didn't know why he did it and it was a little perplexing.

"Your name is Pinkie Pie?"

"Yep! My full name's Pinkamena Diane Pie."

"There is nothing else that I have to say to you," he finished, the screens at the sides shutting down one by one. "You may return to your room... Pinkie Pie."
It was the first time he had called her by name.

The pink socialite looked a little unsure, not wanting to be left alone for nopony knows how long. "Where exactly...?"

"The door at the other end of the adjacent room can be opened by pressure. It is the usual place for depositing prisoners."

Prisoners... "Oh... When can I see you again?"

He surveyed her before responding. "When I have another query. It is midnight, Pinkie Pie, and I believe that most organic creatures are recharging at this time." The door at the end opened again and the lights started to flicker and turn off until there was no more light left in the room other than the big blue main screen.

Before stepping over the threshold of the metallic door, she looked back at him over shoulder and stared at the computer for a little while in the darkness, feeling strangely lonely already. "Um, goodnight, Hal."

It watched her leave, the door shutting behind her retreating curly tail. "Goodnight, Pinkie Pie."

Author's Notes:

welcome, the five people who read this

Whoever managed to read the entirety of Pinkie's huge endless monologue;

Aaah, the fluffiness is throttling me

There must be so many errors

paper mario reference? space odyssey reference? i have no idea what you're talking about

Coco Pommel talks to a statue among other things

This was most definitely the most lucid dream Coco Pommel had ever experienced. She wasn't really a pony who had such dreams in the first place- usually they were mostly flat ones that would suddenly devolve into nightmare territory- and something like this was very new to her.

When ponies dream everything seems to be separated by a gauze veil, has a jerky sort of quality or moves in strange ways, but this one was smooth and indistinguishable from reality in her dreaming state. She could move any way she wanted to and her thoughts were fully conscious to everything except for the fact that she was dreaming.

Filly Coco had to push open the doors with her little hoof and her head to get them to budge, wanting to get away from the quiet stillness of the night that lay behind her on the road and the trees and houses on the sides. It was any suburban street, except for the redwood double doors that weren't really connected to anything and beyond which nothing else existed (because of dream logic).

They creaked open grimly, and the filly walked into what was apparently some sort of polished bar.
It was rather dark in there but she could see that there were many red stools accompanying some strangely shaped flat tables. There was a smooth dark tiled floor with shiny crimson walls and the decor of the place was rather surreal- such as a statue of half a unicorn and a cardboard cutout of a droopy melting pocketwatch.

Coco came up to the inky granite counter. There was nopony in the room except for her and the bartender in front steadily wiping away at the counters and consisted of nothing but a floating well- trimmed suit (which raised the question of how exactly he could hold the cleaning rag).
She hoisted herself onto one of the stools lining the counter and sat up as straight as she could, her chin just managing to clear the top and stretched out her legs enquiringly.

A thick glass of something that was probably water (she had never touched alcohol in her life) materialized between that she drew close to herself and peered down into, noting that instead of a reflection there was a rather solid image of a crumbling house surrounded by grass, the significance of which she was not bothered to decipher.

And then she began to talk.

"Most of the time, ponies who are celebrities get together because it would improve their ratings, something which their whole career depends on," she said, her voice still that of an innocent yet all-too-knowing foal. "The media's often made of really shallow ponies- ones who don't read into things at all, but they just snap it up and display it- like ponies who don't read the nutrition labels but just scoop something up because the thing looks pretty. But you can't really blame them, because so many of them live in a way in which I would call sheltered..."

She swallowed. "I never felt like a normal teenager, because everypony I knew had comfortable nuclear lives which they were always complaining about- their parents, how they grounded them or they never give this thing they want, and-and how they were always getting into all these relationships-"

She slammed her hoof on the table, looking a little shaky. "It's one thing to say that you don't believe in love and another to feel like it! You can't just tell somepony that you don't think it's real, or how you believe that it's just some stupid trick of nature to get you to reproduce- they'll never understand! They don't change their views or put themselves in my shoes!"

Coco hung her head. "My parents were married because it would give them so much good publicity- it was like something that comes out of a fairytale possibly, one who is invested in song and the other who can dance, both having some noble lineage. But it is so, so much harder than you think to live with somepony you don't know... don't have any feelings for... who is nothing but a stranger with a wallet to you...

" Every filly's views on life are centered on how their life was with their guardians no matter how much they try to deny it. I was born out of an arranged marriage for the sake for publicity, but it didn't work out because I was so shy and retiring. Being out in the spotlight, talking to ponies, it terrified me so much that my parents thought I was addled... and they put my brother at the forefront instead. And that shaped our personalities for the rest of our lives...

"My brother is a social stallion, refined and very aware of how the media works, who is always surrounded by his yes-ponies and he always knows what to say.

"But I am nothing but somepony who always keeps to herself, always hides, and I dislike being put in the forefront- things all undesirable- one who's so anxious-to-please that my biggest dream was to be a servant- an especially favoured servant- and that is how I managed to get roped into that horrible assistant job that Suri Polomare gave me...

" For though she may have been a very off-putting mare in the start she knew exactly how to get me to be so dependent on her that I wouldn't want to leave no matter how badly she treated me. I guess my fatal flaw is that I get attached much too quickly than anypony else can, no matter how many times it has given me my destruction.

"It just makes me so happy to get praised, to be shown preferential treatment like I had never been given in my foalhood. It sort of could be said that I'm a bit of a hypocrite- I don't believe in love but it's the one thing I've ever wanted.

Coco now buried her head in her forelegs. "My parents managed to file for divorce without any public exposure, and I became nonexistent to the media...

"When you're living with parents who are divorced, emphasis is on them and not their foals- not how they make they choose between them, not how you feel so torn because you still love somepony they've given up on, not how they change in these small but devastating ways, not how you know that this is not what life's supposed to be- they're supposed to be h-happy, t-they're s-supposed to be- to be together, they're s-supposed to g-grow old together a-and die at the same time- t-t-they're supposed to- supposed to s-show you how- how love is m-meant to et-eternal and-and forever-"

She was not able to say any more and simply took shaky breaths on the threshold of sobbing, hiding her face on the counter with her ears flattened against her head. She had over the course of talking grown into the young mare she was the present.

The lighting changed. Instead of being dimly lit all of a sudden the roof melted away to reveal a blanket of stars- the night sky- with a crescent moon hanging above Coco's head. Standing gravely in front of her wearing the suit the bartender had been donning was Princess Luna- and not something her mind was making up, the actual Princess of the Night had managed to somehow penetrate her dream.

"Princess Luna!" Coco struggled to shift herself into some sort of respectful position but instead ended up giving a hasty military salute. "I didn't mean to burden you with-"

"There is no need for that, young Coco Pommel," Luna said, holding up a hoof. "Often do ponies forget they are my subjects and thus my concerns as much as they are my sister's. I suppose it does come from not being there with them for a millennia."

Coco felt terrible- she hadn't meant to remind her of her banishment. "Oh dear-"
She stopped at the expression on the princess's face. "Oh- oh- I mean- Princess Luna! How did you come into my dream? I thought- well, I'm in another dimension, you see!"

"While your physical body lies in a land inhabited by no living pony, your mind is in the one place where all subconscious minds wander to- the dream dimension which I am known to be able to access at will."

"Oh, I didn't know that dreaming minds went to the same dimension, I thought it was just, well, something in your head," Coco said, trying to put into words about the things she had learned in textbooks.

"Ponies are all creatures of magic, so their minds naturally do not behave the way it is detailed for animals- but enough of this idle talk," her face became sombre. "I have come to discuss something something with you- namely, the terms for your return... Discord has told me about what he had done."

She seemed to became disapproving when talking about Discord making Coco guess that they had probably had had a fight over his actions. "It wasn't his fault at all, I was the one who made him."

"The fact that Discord actually gave in to somepony he had just met raises an eyebrow."

"Oh..well... I told him some things like now- no, no, but I didn't mean to guilt trip him or anything at all!"

"I believe in your innocence. Now," Luna began to pace back and forth behind the counter still wearing that business suit, "there is a way to bring you back into your homeworld."

Coco would not have told to save her life, but she did not want to go back.
It felt as if here she had been given a fresh slate, where she could start over- there was no such thing as the media here, there were no hotline- seeking ponies, there was no evidence of the mistakes her parents the she had been made to adopt. Coco wouldn't have admitted either that she was very happy everyone she had met seemed to have a very favourable view of her, a phenomenon she had never experienced before. "Yes.."

"However, it is not guaranteed that it is a very easy one. There are many deities in the land you inhabit and their power and status must be respected-" she turned to look Coco in the eyes," and the primary god here does not want to let you go."

"What?"

"Have you noticed any rapid changes in your body? Have you become stronger, more capable, and has your physique transformed in even small ways during your stay? For it is not only your abilities as an earth pony. The magic of this land is different from the forces in Equestria in many ways, but it seems to have adapted very readily to you- it has been steadily transforming itself and evolving, while not enough to change it's makeup enough to merge and flow with your own without ending your life. Why, I do not know- possibly it is only curious or has taken a liking to you, or there is a more sinister motive."

"Magic can feel curious?"

"Not in the way that ponies do or understand, but it does."

"Should I be worried, Princess Luna?"

"As nothing very harsh as happened to you as of yet, I suggest that you relax for the time being. As to the issue of returning... there is a place in this land that contains an extraordinary amount of unique magic which is also fabled in the land itself. It is described as 'the home of the gods' and while that may or may not be true, there is certainly enough with the capability to take you home- Discord has informed that it is called 'Earthend'."

Coco blinked twice. She had to go to Earthend? The same place that the Patapons had been searching for in all of the stories? She could feel something like catatonic excitement bubble in her stomach. I'm going with the Patapons.. to Earthend...!

Princess Luna mistook her expression for shock. "I understand that it is a lot to be asking of a young mare, but if in the event that you cannot make it I will make sure that there is another way."

Coco was touched. "Oh, Princess Luna, thank you so much..." She could see that she was anxious to show that she cared and to do something good with the ponies she ruled over after how she had wronged them.

She opened her mouth to respond when all of a sudden rather frighteningly the lights buzzed, flickered and then went dead- everything was completely black and Coco couldn't feel herself anymore. Panic began to rise in her throat and in her sleep she moved her hooves her legs as if running in slow motion, her tail twitching restlessly.

They came back on and Pommel found that she was now on Luna's back, navy wings beating on either side as the alicorn soared through an endless expanse of nothing- unlike simple darkness this felt empty like a well she was falling into. "You are awakening, Coco Pommel!" Luna called out over the abyss. "My time with you is over- farewell-"

Coco wanted to desperately ask when she was going to see her again- the lack of contact with her own kind was starting to grate and gnaw at her when she was thrown off violently, and fell, her stomach dropping and her body spinning-

And then with a terrified gasp and her legs kicking out involuntarily she came back to earth. Coco could do nothing but lie there with her flanks heaving for a little while, then puffed at her mane when she realized the unladylike position she was in. Quickly to preserve her dignity Coco rolled to her hooves and shook out her coat, fluffing it up temporarily to get rid of any dirt or grass she acquired.
It took a little more time to untangle herself from the scarf that she (for some reason) went to sleep with.

Coco Pommel remembered what Luna had said about physical changes and looked down at herself with the expertise of a fashion critic, sticking out a leg. She saw that she was getting a little taller and her legs were more graceful like a deer's, but had mostly neglected to worry about it. Her tail seemed a bit more voluminous and when she passed her hoof over them found her ears had little fluffy tufts on them like a batpony (or thestral, or nocturne, whichever one) would have.

The changes weren't unpleasant, actually. I could get used to this... hopefully I won't 'wild out' too much, though... She tried to imagine herself as a fully-fledged deer.

It's a little hot. While Coco was lucky that the Hideout had a forest on its sides, that didn't disguise the fact that otherwise it was a dry landscape with cacti and short trees and hills. Being hot was something that made Coco very uncomfortable, and she felt lucky that as it was nighttime it wasn't that warm... yet.

Hmm, I remember that there was a great big beautiful snowfield near the Plateau. Would I be able to find it if I tried? I wish the Patapons were here, but they're always going out on these big adventures... maybe I should have gone with them...

She absentmindedly walked around the forest, flicking her tail and watching the ground move past. I don't know... I'm such an idiot, I should have written down the stories that Octavia told me. I would have such of an advantage here- but nooo, the most important parts I have to forget.

She sighed heavily, trotting up to the entrance of the cave, peering inside. It's... really a little lonely here. There aren't really any ponies other than me and there's about exactly as much girls as well.
Except for... "Hello, Meden- statue."

The Patapons put her statue outside at night or when there was fair weather in general, and when Coco asked they replied 'she should be able to enjoy the view' which just made her feel sad. They must have liked her a lot.

She looked into the stone eye of the priestess, frozen in time, forever holding up that staff and wearing the cloak and headdress. She was one of the things that Coco remembered relatively well.

The pony carefully seated herself next to the Patapon, tucking her legs underneath her and watching her silent companion forlornly.
"You know, I just thought of something... All of the races that I had heard of before coming to this place all have female leaders- the Patapons have had you, there were red ones that had a moth queen, I think- oh dear, I sound so disrespectful- and there were demons- something like Puma- that had a black star, like Silver Hoshipon. Except he's silver. And he's old. And has a beard (a nice one). Um, nevermind...

"When I met Silver Hoshipon I liked him right away! But that doesn't really mean much, because I like everyponyone right away. Like you and even the scary Ragewolf person. Octavia used to tell me stories about you and you were nice and you were kind of like me. Um, no, you weren't like me, I'm too useless, aha..."
Coco fiddled with her hooves. "You were also kind of funny. 'A funny looking mask dude will meet the Great Patapon and save the world', something like that, huh? And all of the Patapons really like you too."

She sighed heavily. "Hhhhhhhh... I wish I could talk to you properly... there aren't any other girls at all- I mean, there's one, but I've never met her and I really don't know a single whit about her other than that she's female and a Dark Hero. A Dark Hero's different from a normal Hero because they're evil- they're supposed to be, I mean, I met two, they were okay well I didn't like Sonarchy at all but don't tell him, and then I also met the Uberhero, and-"

Coco suddenly slapped her forehead. "Oh! I forgot to ask his name! I keep calling him Uberhero! It's like me calling somepony 'pink pony' or 'white unicorn' or 'yellow'-" she stopped herself, realizing that she was only listing the characteristics of her Ponyville friends.
And also that she was rambling to a statue. "Weeell, would you look at that, I'm talking to a rock..."

Meden did not comment.

Coco laid her chin on her forelegs, trying to follow the stone eye's line of sight and curling her tail around herself. The sky was still relatively dark and there was a blanket of quietness stretched out across the land.
Coco reflected on all of the kinds of silence there were- the lull following bad news, the hushed of an anticipating crowd, the quiet of nopony else in the house-

"Seems like there's a lot of silences as well as noises," she remarked.

The silence was dissipated by someponyone's awkward cough. Coco blinked, and then turned her head, flicked her ears towards the intruder.

Both stared at the other for a moment. "I thought you were gone?"

"It's nine at night..."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Is it okay if I know your name?" Coco said, desperate to break the awkward tension.

"I'm...thing."

"What?"

"I'm sorry!" he burst out. "I just find it strange that I'm talking to a horse!"

He then paused. "I didn't mean..."

"It's okay," Coco said. "I also think that it's rather surreal to be able to talk to you. I really didn't think it was possible to be able to come to your world like this."

"'Come to my world'? But...what does that mean..."

"Um, I'm sorry, nevermind that- um, so, what do I call you?"

He seemed to stretch his hand out for a shake before dropping it awkwardly. "...Felix."

Coco was quite sure that her eyebrows disappeared. No way... Does that mean that when Octavia told the story she created this world...? No way...! "Your name is Felix?!"

She did not allow him to answer, leaping up to her hooves. "That's wonderful, it's my favourite name! Did you know that I named you? Everypony else wanted to call you something with four letters, because that was the tradition, but I still- still...." she trailed off, realizing what exactly she was saying. "Ah..."

"Y-you named me?!"

Coco quickly tried to think of some way out of this- she had inadvertently implied that she was somehow the Great Patapon by saying this. it was definitely a lifesaver that he didn't remember much about his past life or else it could have raised some of the most awkward questions she would have to answer.. Was it safe to really tell him about Equestria? Could he handle it? Why was she even stopping? "Y- es? In a very roundabout way..."

"What did you say your name was again?" he asked quickly.

"Coco..."

He held up four fingers. "C- O- C- O?"

"Mhm."

"That's four letters. That cannot be a coincidence!"

"I think it is a coincidence..." She finally understood what he was pointing at now. "Well- well- because I don't..."

She was once again scrambling for something to say, trying to find a good argument against his idea. She didn't have any powers? That was untrue.

"I'm not a Patapon and can't command the drums!" Coco said. "I'm just a weird horse pony. Pony horse. I don't know..."

She watched him begin to pace back and forth. "But practically everything you've done so far seems to point towards you being some kind of deity..."

"I'm not... I'm actually one of the least magical of my kind," Coco said, her head drooping. "I'm not a unicorn, I can't do any useful spells. I'm not a pegasus, I can't fly. I'm just a normal earth pony and I can only do normal earth things."

"Your kind?" He was made alert again.

"Yes, there's lot of other ponies as well," Coco explained. "There are four kinds- alicorns are the most powerful with horns and wings, unicorns have horns, pegasi have wings and can touch the clouds- literally- and earth ponies... well, I've had the concept explained to me by Discord, but it doesn't really seem as if we can do anything, it's just farming and being strong and I'm obviously not very strong."

Surprisingly, he didn't react to this bit of information with extreme confusion. "I believe you're being too self-deprecating," he scolded, sitting down. "You don't need to be physically powerful to achieve great things-"

"Well, Taterazay is like a well- meaning teacher," Kan said.

"- which is proven by the fact that you manged to get on Ragewolf's good side. I wasn't even aware that he possessed something like a 'good side', I always thought it was more 'I don't want to throttle you that much right now' side."

Coco looked a little less disheartened and went back to her position. "I guess I am being really ungrateful... It's actually a good thing I'm an earth pony here, as I can last longer that way..." Or has my newfound abilities only been due to the Patapon magic? "Thank you- um, Felix." The name tasted strange in her mouth- she had never realized that would ever be coming out of her mouth to someponyone.

This seemed to embarrass him. "Ah... you're welcome..."

"...Felix?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you get tired?"

He gave her a look.

"No, no, I mean... from fighting all of the time. Isn't it boring? Doesn't it... hurt?"

"Hurt?"

Coco fidgeted a little. "Is it a little repetitive? How do you do it?"

"The Archfiends turned my entire tribe into stone. Even thinking about tends to make me feel bitter, all of these Patapons all gone... so if I can do something about it, I will."

Coco's mind suddenly brought up a memory- the part of the story where the Hero met the Patapons for the first time - how unimpressed he had been with their strength and how he'd made himself their leader. Comparing it to this one felt as made her feel very strange- as if she had somehow transported herself back into time for a while before coming to the present, finding out exactly how much things had changed.
"What is this something?" Coco said before he had a chance to ask why she was looking at him funny.

"Defeating the Seven Archfiends," he said confidently.

"The Seven Archfiends..." She knew she had heard some details in one story, but it wriggled frustratingly like a fish between her hooves, not allowing Coco to grasp it properly. "Seven... Archfiends..."

She suddenly had something come to the front of her mind. Something about a big box, or possibly a chest, and something about Silver Hoshipon, she was sure. "So the Archfiends all inhabit a Dark Hero... Felix, who is Naughtyfins?"

He started as if she had pricked him with a pin. "W-What?"

...He stuttered. Coco raised her eyebrows. "Naughtyfins. When I was getting kidnapped we stopped at her place, but she wasn't there." It could have used some redecorating on the outside- hardly a place for a girl to live in.

"Well, Naughtyfins is a..." He trailed off. "She's a..."

"I know she lives in a big tower and she's rather feminine," Coco reflected. "Ragewolf said that if I got captured by her I'd get tied up in ribbons or something."

"Well..."

"She's a female!" Coco suddenly shouted and leapt to her hooves.

"You just noticed?"

"Oh, that means I should go talk to her!" Pommel fretted. "It would be impolite of me, seeing as we're both the last of our kind-"

"'The last of our kind'?" he deadpanned.

"Sorry, I really am laying it on thick, aren't I... It's just that I'm a little lo-!" She cut herself off- no need to bother him with my problems- and said quickly, "Which way-?"

"Now? You're just going to take off like that?" He said bewilderedly.

"It's now or never!" Coco said adamantly. "Because usually I'm really shy so if I don't do it now I'll just lose my nerve! Please, please, please-"

He puts his hands up defeatedly. "Alright, alright, calm down... See, first you go this way..."

Felix detailed the way to a Coco who was springing on the tips of her hooves. "Shouldn't you wear something protective? It's obviously very cold in the Snowfields..."

I have this," Coco said triumphantly, holding up the edge of her long flower scarf. "I'll be completely warm and fuzzy in this."

For some reason he looked doubtful about that. "You will be coming back, right?"

"Of course. Where else could I possibly go?"

"Just... don't get lost, okay? Come back before midnight."

Coco nodded solemnly. "I'll try as hard as I can."
_______________________________________________________

"It's a little hard to keep promises," Coco Pommel muttered.

She did state that she really loved the cold and snow, but this was really getting a bit too much. She had never understood how cold could reach somepony's bones before, but she certainly did now- it really did feel as if her legs were nothing but a skeleton with her flesh being all numb.
It was so cold that her eyelashes would freeze together if she shut her eyes for long, which was impossible not to do due to the dry wind whipping at her muzzle and sending her scarf fluttering like a frantic bird all around her face. Her fur was standing on end to ward against the cold and her tail probably resembled some sort of sea urchin and her hooves hurt as they awkwardly slipped on the ground compromised of frozen pebbles.

It was impossible to see where she was going anyways, with the air twirling millions of snowflakes like a storm of power into her vision, so she didn't spot a large turretlike structure until she banged into it snout-first. Moaning in pain she reeled backwards, rubbing at her red nose and staring at the thing through a film of tears.

The tall tower in front of her looked strange and forbidding and was part of another stranger structure that wasn't as symmetrical. It resembled a cluster of icicles with a thick base jutting out from the snowy earth and had some black icy flags flitter in the wind from it's peaks, and Coco could see some gaping windows in the somewhat terrifying building as well.
There were some black walls in front of it a little far away and a couple of mounted weapons she had heard described as 'snow cannons' (which were inky black as well)

Black flags? Black walls? Black snow cannons? That means Bonedeths! And where there's those little cat skull creatures there's obviously a Dark Hero around as well!
Coco came up the drawbridge door nervously. What they're against visitors? Should I knock or just go on? There doesn't seem to be anyone inside... but then it would be breaking and entering and I could alarm someponyone unnecessarily, besides, I don't want to appear rude and that's important, not being from this land and all, so they mustn't get a bad impression... Is this what a foreign ambassador feels like? Note to self- do not become a foreign ambassador anytime soon. This is rather difficult.

Pommel swallowed hard, let out a shaky breath, and then leaned forward and formally tapped on the icy door with a rather bell-like sound thrice. After standing around with nothing else with the howling winds to accompany her, she started to feel very foolish. So, there isn't anypony home...

A loud creak and a shifting sort of cracking noise made her jump back, startled, with her ears against her head, and then the drawbridge started to move in what seemed to be the wrong way- upwards instead on outside like drawbridges normally did. In the bluish darkness of the interior, she saw someone frantically working away at a crank on the side of the door in a bad attempt to appear surreptitious.

She waited patiently for the rather exhausted little Bonedeth to stop and slump against the side, holding the handle firmly to prevent the door from closing again.

"Hello," she said politely.

The door slammed shut in her face.

Coco stood there with a bemused looked on her face as the process of cranking the door open began again. She saw now that a more senior looking Bonedeth was upbraiding the other one in it's native language (the words of which appeared to consist of their name repeated in various ways) and holding up the crank itself, distrusting the other.

She saw the small one point shakily at her and, in shock, the larger one let go of the crank as well.

The small Bonedeth managed to rescue it with much difficulty just in time before it came down again and the two started to argue profusely, with the one now holding the crank struggling to snap and keep it in place at the same time.
The noise summoned another Bonedeth, this one with large and impressive horns, to smack them both upside the head with it's spear and then used the tool to point at the patient pony standing out in the snow.

"Numskulls! Look at the Lady Pony getting covered in ice!" he scolded surprisingly in a language Coco could understand and pattered up behind her and she felt him give her a forceful shove from her back. "In! In!"

Coco obediently trotted inside and heard the door slam shut behind. She faced the three Bonedeths in the newfound darkness, each looking at a loss for what to do with her.

All a sudden as she stepped backwards onto the circle on the snowflake pattern inlaid in the floor jets of blue light shot across it's arms and filling the whole snowflake with an eerie glow. The entire floor gradually became illuminated as well, tendrils of light racing and curling across it and spreading onto the walls until the four where bathed in softly pulsating pretty blues of various shades, the strongest appearing underneath Coco's hooves.

Immediately the three soldiers formed a huddle, whispering secretively with the smaller one popping up to peer at Pommel occasionally. Upon an unanimous decision reached they all scuttled off into the different doorways that lined the chamber they were in, leaving Coco quite confused and alone.
Well, alright then. I have to restrain from acting upon my silly fits like this, I shouldn't have... Now that the excitement had worn off Coco was feeling herself to be very rash indeed. I should have simply stayed put, it's not as if the Patapons are bad company...

Coco tilted her ears forwards in interest- she was sure she could hear some wailing in the tunnels that made her fur stand on end even more than it already as the sound echoed and bounced all over the place. I-Is it a- is it a ghost? Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear-

Coco bit her lip on the verge on pain, wondering if it was too late to somehow jump out of the windows or something. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear- wait! Words, I can hear... words...

"Oh, how many times do I have to tell you? Oh, but you can't imagine how terrible it is to have to walk all over the place! I want Felix to carry me ❤..."

Who...? What even... Coco listened to this rather strangely high pitched voice with one ear dropped. What kind of Bonedeth talks like this?

"But Lady Naughtyfins, we have finally found the perfect horse for you!" The patient voice of the most senior Bonedeth floated through the tunnel.

Coco Pommel didn't know exactly what they used a horse for in this world, having never seen one even, but another pressing matter on hoof.

Lady Naughtyfins! Oh, so this is Naughtyfins! No wonder I was confused about that voice, it belonged to a mare! No, not a mare, um, a maiden!

...Why does she want Felix to carry her?

"Perfect horse? What perfect horse?" Naughtyfins groused. "There isn't any perfect horse unless it's ridden by a mask-wielding Kibadda❤! "

Also, what is a Kibadda? It has something to do with a lance, I think.

Out of the centermost doorway the three Bonedeths from before appeared and made a practiced sort of salute with their weapons. "Deth!"

They were accompanying another one of those people who wore masks except this one was blue and it looked something like a hood, possibly, shaped after the tail of a fish with rather ornamental fins. This Dark Hero(ine) was wielding a really long black (but why not) spear with an icy glittery head that reminded Coco of a snowflake (which made sense as they were currently surrounded by nothing but ice and snow).
Even if Coco didn't hear her voice she was certainly standing like someone who was most definitely not male.

"Hello," Coco tried again politely, fidgeting skittishly. "I know I'm far from being the most perfect horse, but-"

She was cut off with an 'Oof!' as Coco was tackled from her side by someone who had completely forgotten that walking was supposed to be too terrible to comprehend.
"Oooh, she's so precious ❤!"

"Th-thank youuu..." Coco said as un-awkwardly as possible with her clinging to her neck.

"And you can talk too! Where did you find her? I've never seen something this adorable before (except for this little puppy I had once, you see...)❤!"

"What's up with all of this racket?!" someone roared irritably from one of the doorways.

"Oh, fabulous," Coco mumbled.

______________________________________

"So you've actually been inside it?" Naughtyfins shifted forwards a little with interest. "What was it like- don't leave anything out, now ❤!"

Coco Pommel was quite happy to and certainly wasn't short of words she could use to describe the Hideout, having been quite familiar with colour adjectives in her illustrious designing career- and it was probably due to the sweet tooth that she was forced to suppress that most of them were related to chocolate and caramel.

She really had missed making small talk like this that could flow for hours, as before the only things she could attempt to make a conversation with otherwise were her rather restive Patapon friends and a statue.

Both were seated on the same red cushion that Coco had sat on in that ice cathedral- there was plenty of room, as it was a pretty big cushion- while Ragewolf leaned grumpily across the wall with his arms crossed, most probably bored to death by their endless nattering.

"And the stalactites- those are the ones that come down from the ceiling, and you remember which is which as 'stalactite' has a 'c' in it like ceiling- are like gnarly ice-cream cones with a caramel gradient that starts cocoa with melts with gold near the tip, and next to the Team Totem- the grey structure with the symbols that makes a weird murmuring noise when you pass it- is this little pedestal that Felix stands on," Coco chattered.

"What does he look like standing on it? " she asked keenly.

"Well, like a hero I suppose." Coco said, a little embarassed. " I've always wanted to capture the way his cape flows in the wind (even if there isn't any wind) preferably with somepony- someone's gown- just think of that, the silk and tassels rippling as if in a breeze..."

"Who even cares?" Ragewolf grumbled. "He's the same prick no matter how he happens to be standing on a..." He trailed off at the look Naughtyfins was giving him.

"Um, um," Coco said quickly to defuse the tension. "What do you use a horse for in this world?"

They both looked at her and Coco dropped her ears sheepishly. "Um, you see, I'm from somewhere else..."

Ragewolf looked pointedly at Naughtyfins. "You use them for sitting on. Isn't that obvious?"

"Like stools?"

"You use them for riding on," she corrected. "I've always thought horses were such regal creatures ❤~"

"I'm... a lot of things, but I don't think I'm that regal," Coco said modestly with a shrug.

"You don't need to be regal- you're already sweet enough as it is ❤!"

"Noooo..." Coco hid her face in her forelegs.

"You're only proving my point ❤~"

"Noooooo...."

"Really, though, I haven't ever met any other creature like you before- are you some kind of deer, maybe?"

"I call myself a pony," Coco said. "I'm supposed to be similar to a horse, but I don't know what horses look like down here and I'm guessing they don't really talk.

"A little pony! That's even better than a deer ❤~"

"I am considered to be quite small compared to other ponies," she said thoughtfully.

"Ooh, there's more like you?" Naughtyfins asked interestedly.

"Oh, yes! There's pegasi who have wings and can fly, and unicorns who have horns and can do magic, and there's alicorns who have both and they're really very beautiful," Coco replied longingly.

They both stared at her, looking as if they very reconsidering a lot of their opinions.
"You don't seem to have either," Naughtyfins finally pointed out for lack of anything else to say.

"I'm only an earth pony," Coco said, not able to keep a little dismal note from entering her voice. "There's not-"

"I believe you're being too self-deprecating, you don't need to be physically powerful to achieve great things-"

"I meeaan, I can, um, sew." She buried her head in the cushion again. "I mean, see, it's my cutie mark- a cutie mark is something that appears when you find out your biggest talent," Coco said, tapping the image of the violet hat on her flank.

"A land of horses with pictures on their behinds. Certainly somewhere to go in the summer," Ragewolf muttered mordantly.

"I wonder what my cutie mark would look like?" Naughtyfins said thoughtfully.

"Depends on what you're good at," Coco said, turning her head to look out of the window- the blizzardy winds had died down, letting her judge from the position of the moon that it was fast approaching twelve. He probably was hinting that strange creatures come out at midnight, and being a prey animal it doesn't really benefit me in any way to keep here for so long.
She hesitated from bringing it up, not wanting to appear hasty or rude. "Um, I think I should be getting back by now, because it's starting to look very late..."

"Oh, but what's the harm in a little stretching of the rules ❤?"

"I promised I would back before midnight, and I sleep early so I don't want to suddenly fall asleep on you or something."

"Ah, but that's not necessarily a bad thing ❤!" Coco was rewarded with another cling to the neck.

Suddenly pushing himself off the wall, Ragewolf stalked over and pushed the two apart. "That's quite enough-"

"Eek! Get your hands off me ❤!"

If he had a visible eye it would most probably be twitching. "You! Do you know your way back?"

"Uh huh." Coco nodded, sliding off of the cushion and fluffing out her fur momentarily. "I won't get eaten, right?'

"I'm a hundred percent sure that whatever ate you would get diabetes," Ragewolf said.

"I hope they don't," Coco mumbled. "I don't want them to get diabetes...Well, it was really nice meeting you."

"You are coming back though, right ? You can't simply leave me alone with pooch him for company ❤!"

"Um, well, if you want me to. Goodb- wait!" She quickly unwound and wriggled out of the scarf she had been swathed in until now and out of the blue flicked it to Naughtyfins, who caught it with surprise- "um, you can keep that- um, bye!"

Feeling herself burn up like a beet with embarrassment Pommel scurried out through one of the tunnellike doorways like a mouse and into the chamber with the big snowflake on it, promptly the breathtaking light show from before to start up again.
Wherever Coco stepped there would be frostlike hoof marks left behind, which would fade away gracefully after a while. Its all very pretty, but I wonder how they made it like that? And why didn't it react to the Bonedeths or anypony- anyone else for that matter?

She cranked the door open and after gathering her wits and her courage dashed under the door as quickly as possible before it snapped shut on her and pray it wouldn't cleave her in half.
Coco slid out uncontrollably onto the icy path with a squeal until she managed to slow her heart and her frantic movements, standing a little wobbly like a newborn fawn and puffed out her tail. She fiddled with her sailor's-collar around her neck and tapped the back of her mane for her red clip.

Oh, for a moment I forgot I had these on. There's just been so much happening all at once... and now I realized how tired I am... this cold isn't helping matters either. Giving the scarf (even thinking of that act made her ears go warm) wasn't such of a good idea I guess...

Coco started back towards where she came from, feeling her legs became heavy like lead and her head start to strain as she trotted on. She weaved through the snowy landscape and across the pine trees under which small spots of weeds were seen to be surviving.
Unlike last time she did not take her time to admire thee sparkling dewy scenery, but instead only moved on mechanically through the powdery snow and the icy crusts it had on top, flicking her tail every now and then, following the lichen growing on the trees.

In fact, she was so absorbed in only the destination that she nearly missed the warning hissing ad shadow wreathing through the pines. She froze, still as the moon and barely breathing at all, age- old instinct flooding into her as if she had encountered a snake.
A snake it could have been as well, what with a long, flexible, sinuous neck and an according tail to match. It didn't look as if it was made of actual flesh and bone, appearing to be consisting instead of translucent cold blue frosted glass.
It's back legs were surprisingly large while the front par were a fraction of the size and topped with talons, thick like an eagle's. Spikes and ice crystals lined the back of it's head embedded with two dandelion-yellow slitted eyes, and there was a vinelike pattern of splintery frost.

It was pretty in the way that a wildfire was pretty.

It seemed to move a little awkwardly as if not used to it's legs, which it kept thumping unnervingly against the ground with a series of muffled whumps in the snow. It was apparently cold that even the dry icy air in the region seemed to condense when in contact, making it look a bit like it was some sort of mild steam waterfall.

It looked straight at her.

I'm done for, Coco thought, with ice replacing her blood. She stared focused like a lazer at the thing as it watched her back, looking like as if it was quite at ease- and it should be, as it certainly had all of the advantages compared to the little horse. She couldn't make herself move, only stand there watching it back as it seemed to freeze her in place with it's unwavering, unblinking yellow eyes.
It didn't seem interested in pouncing on her anytime soon, only standing and simply staring. Possibly it was confused as to what this new creature was or could somehow sense the magic that Luna and Ragewolf had reported, giving her a little ease.

Behind it other shadows starting flickering, a trio of dark ghostly shapes popping up from behind the trees curiously and then disappearing and reappearing somewhere closer like a whack-a-mole game. The snow thing with lots of needlelike teeth stood quite still as cautiously the tree dark things emerged around it, making Coco break her trance, for they certainly weren't animals, but not exactly Patapons either.

Confusion was starting to replace the coldness in her veins as the all solemnly looked back at the each other. Had these things somehow tamed the big snow thing with lots of teeth, and really what were they exactly? If they were hunters of their species, the really weren't that good at it, showing up like that in front of their prey Coco.

They started to nudge each other and point to the pony who was feeling less and less mortally terrified by the second. All of sudden one of had was wrapped around her leg forlornly, saying in a voice that was surprisingly thin and wispy, "Can we keep it?"

"No," said the other two at the same time. They sounded much different- like posh upper-class colts- and they seemed to mirror what the other was doing as if predicting it easily.

"But I like it," the one on her leg whispered.

"Normally when one talks about other people-"

"And right to their faces as well-"

"- they address them directly and with their proper pronoun."

"Like this." The one on the left turned to Coco and said pleasantly. "Hello there, madam. Isn't it just a lovely day to be out and about at this time, wot?"

"I guess," Coco said demurely. "I didn't mean to be coming out so late, as I usually sleep early."

"And when it starts talking-"

"You young upstart, you just went and broke your own blinkin' rule in front of a lady!"

"Excuse me, sah, unless you're the bally Hawkeye, you can't be going around and interrupting well-meaning chaps-"

"Well-meaning chaps this snow salamander's tail-"

"Shut up," said the one still on Coco said feebly and both of the nattering twins fell silent. "Rei, Uko and Udo," he said, pointing to each in turn and looking up at her expectantly.

"Coco Pommel," she said, tapping her chest.

"Hmm, cocoa." Rei said thoughtfully.

"Always thought horses could only have colours for names like it was some sort of bloomin' tradition," Udo remarked thoughtfully.

"Don't listen to the little twirlcap, he often just spews what comes in his empty head, means no harm, the poor thing," Uko patted his head somberly.

"Oi, keep your blinkin' hands by your sides or I'll blast them off with your own bloody cannon!"

"Tut, tut, using such language in front of a well mannered young lady! Bad form, sah, keep a civil tongue in your head or I'll cut it off with a butter knife, sah!"

This time it was the snow salamander's sweeping tail that came down upon them which they narrowly avoided by ducking. "Er, point taken, me old pal."

Coco and Rei had been watching them go aback and forth like a tennis match. She was rather fascinated by these three and their salamander- their appearances were certainly being the thing most perplexing to her. So much like Patapons and yet not- there's something so important that I'm missing here...

"Well, madam, I'm Ukoton, and the fat ugly one is Udoton-"

"Fat ugly one? Aw, coming from someone who looks like you? It's a credit to her bravery that the young madam can stand to catch an eyeful of that without picking up her metaphorical skirts and takin' a run for it," he sniffed.

"- well, madam, the best and most deserving young chaps you'd ever see in your fine pretty life, including that one you're wearing as a bracelet of course, never forget the ever oh-so-loquacious Reiton," he continued, ignoring the other.

"I talk," Reiton said modestly.

"See, miss, proved me right, he did, there's a good lad."

"Now, see here, madam, you'd best be having to come with us-"

"- only for bragging rights, miss, having 'caught' the most pretty creature this side of the land, caught being in a loose term, miss-"

"- better not be running around at this time, madam, lots of wolves and other creatures with enough flippin' teeth to mince a flea-"

" no harm done, only show and tell, then you can run right off to your little abode, sure it's the most cozy this side of the land-"

"- with an escort of course, provided by none other than yours truly-"

"- the most reliable this side of the land-"

"- no harm done, we don't eat pretty gels, nosirree, wot, wot-"

"- the most civil this side of the land, of course nothing less, probably more, always room for improvement, though not in our case, miss, most improved there is this side of the land," Uko finished.

"We s'posed to be hunting," Reiton summarized. " but we din' catch no thing, so we'll just show then let you 'lone."

"Oh. Hmm," Coco shuffled around a little nervously, not knowing if she should go and suddenly trust these strange Patapons-but-not-Patapons. There seemed to be a high chance of her getting tricked in some way and being kept forever.

"How do I know you'll keep your promise?"

"We'll swear by our Queen's wings, madam, tis' the most serious swear we could do," Udo said solemnly.

"Rather die than lose her wings, miss, yes we would."

"Queen's wings- Oh!" Coco started as finally something seemed to fall into place like a jigsaw puzzle. "Queen- Queen Kharma! You're Zigotons, I remember now!"

"Good to know you recognize us, madam."

"Always being overshadowed by them Patapons, we are."

"Not since they turned to stone, though, eh old chap?"

"Poor fools, wot."

"Eh, so we all swear by our Queen's wings to keep our promise- just a while, madam, then off you go."

"So do I, so do I. Most trustworthy by this side of the anywhere, yep, there's us."

"I swear by th' Queen's wings t' keep th' promise," Rei finished.

"Well," Coco hesitated, trying to see a way out of this when she suddenly came face to face with the snow salamander. It was certainly taking care to emphasize it's needle-like teeth, inching that long neck close threateningly with its tongue flicking out and condensing air flowing down it's sides.

She swallowed nervously, her natural fear bleeding back up. "O-Okay. If you swear..."

"Top hole," Uko said cheerfully.

"Top notch," Udo said at the same time. "Imagine them blinkin' faces, can you, Uko m'boy?"

"Laddie buck, I ain't able to dream of it."

Author's Notes:

I had accidentally forgotten to save halfway through and well

Coco Pommel is going on an adventure

Coco Pommel was learning new things every day.

While they certainly were not things that most ponies would have been made to memorize painstakingly in school and spend countless sleepless hours on doing last-minute studying, those things were proving to be quite interesting and useful given the circumstances. For example, Zigotons only pronounced another's name without the -ton suffix if they were family.

On one hoof, she learned that there were many profound differences between the two tribes that she had faced so far- The Zigotons, much unlike the rounder version, (and this was something she never thought she would have to describe) interestingly resembled a colony of steampunk bees.

Guessing from the unstoppable flow of chatter coming from the two irrepressible twins, instead of waking up in the morning to birdsong like Coco would have expected in a world like this their lives were filled with the rhythmic clanking of machinery and the hissing of boilers and pistons.

Being hunters (novices, something else Coco pieced together), however, meant that whatever they reported to her was a fraction of what most other more urban Zigotons experienced.

Something else she noticed was that Zigotons tended to be workers and not leaders. They could be amazingly, uncomplainingly focused and were some of the most loyal creatures around- indeed, they even tended to take on the traits of their rulers (or generals) as was evidenced by the time that they started selling their souls (Coco thought that this was at least somewhat dodgy) simply because their queen had done it first.

On the other hoof, she learned that she was a little biased. "You have a... sister?"

"'Course, miss, can't do nothing without her being quite a capital young lass she is as well, stiff as a crank spring, wot."

"Keep your horrible grammar the other side of the river, sonny, and let me explain it to the madam- she's being the bestest mechanic and toolwhacker a Zigoton could scarcely fathom of dreamin' of, ain't she, eh, Rei?"

"Uh huh. She'a tough Zigoton." Reiton was still clinging fiercely onto her leg and would not be dislodged even if Coco tried (she didn't, being too polite).

"And she's also wonderful with animals- a blisterin' rare old trick in this sort of society, sure you'd like her, miss, being a horse and all- see, she actually managed to tame Slick-" this appeared to be the name of the snow salamander ominously slithering along with them-" and even this Uko thing here, can't you imagine."

"Aye, and the hardest trick of all trades was trying to get this pickled conker to obey a single blimmin' word anyton said."

"No hard feelings, I was only being fair and truthful, lad."

"It sounds like you two like her a lot," Coco said, trying to stop them arguing (an ultimately futile thought) and deflect her embarrassment from the fact that she had actually believed there were only males genetically possible in this dimension.

"Where else d'you think we're going, madam?" Ukoton said happily.

"Fine old gel, she is, wot."

"She' nice."

"Well, if you're so enthusiastic about it-" She self-consciously started to fiddle with her mane which had not seen a brush for the duration of her time spent here and adjusted her sailor's-collar to boot. "I wish I was a little more presentable. I hate to burden you, but.. do I.. do I look alright?"

"Rest assured, you look wonderful, miss."

"Making the blinkin' snow look gray, you do, madam."

"Certainly there isn't a single creature this side of the land with such an amazing- um, complexion, ain't it?- complexion, miss, no there isn't."

"Pity there ain't noton to give this lady a medal for existing."

"No bloomin' contest between this fine young marm and that brumby thing that Ryuton was welding a saddle for, d'you you remember that?"

"That's because it was a gelding and old as the flippin' hills to boot- probably went out of service when Pommelton was born."

"You look reall' pretty," Reiton summarized.

"Beg pardon, madam, but why are you named after the stick bit on a saddle?"

"Oh, that's just how my parents-" there was an unnoticeable falter here," - decided to name me, like how they named you Uko and Udo and Rei."

"Fine name you got there, if I had a gel I would certainly call her Pommelton too."

"You can go about being a brainless lead rod, I'll call her Cocoton instead, no offense meant to your beautifully radiant last name, madam."

It was possible that they would go on arguing until the end of time, had Reiton not softly called out, " 'llo, Haru."

"Haru?" Ukoton said.

"Haru?" Udoton repeated.

"Haru- Haruton?" Coco amended. She had barely noticed that they had come to the edge of the forest with the snow turning thinner and more trampled and the trees becoming sparse. An empty white hill lay out in front of them, and on the horizon Coco could see what could have been mistaken for a smaller and much less imposing early Manehatten surrounded by a fortress if she hadn't been paying attention.

"That's my name- don't wear it out, buddy." The newcomer's voice was mature, bemused and unmistakably female and caused the snow salamder (from who Coco was careful to take distance from) prick up the crystals adorning it's blunt head.

Coco looked down to see that there was a new Zigoton standing in front of her, one that was more or less indistinguishable from the three brothers apart from being taller and having somewhat thinner limbs.

There was a stocked dark (it could have possibly been a another colour, but it was hard to tell because it was midnight) leather tool belt that she was wearing and she wielded a somewhat evil- looking wrench in one hand.

Reiton detached himself from Coco's legs and then attached himself to Haruton's side. "Hi."

"'Hi'? You disappear without warning me, you little rascal, and all you have to say is 'hi'?"

"Yeah."

Without any further ado, Ukoton and Udoton immediately leaped forwards, seized one of her hands apiece and started to pump it up and down energetically is if they hadn't met for years.

"Haru! How absolutely wonderful-"

"How pleasantly surprising-"

"How completely fabulous and unexpected-"

"How corking it is to see you-"

"I swear, you two are going to be the death of me someday!" She extricated herself and addressed them severely. "When was the last time I told you to tell me first before going out like this? And taking Rei with you at the middle of the night! Don't you just stand around and shuffle your feet like that, or I'll whack you hard enough with this wrench next time to leave a dent that Gong could use as a helmet!"

While this Zigoton had the same frenetic and somewhat overwhelming speed of speaking, she didn't insert the same words as the twins did in her sentences.

"Aw, no, not in front of the lady!"

"Can't you spare a chap a lecture and his dignity?"

"Look at this beauty we've found for you!"

Coco shifted nervously as she was given a once-over by the somewhat intimidating Zigoton, who kept tapping the head of the wrench against her side indignantly. Slick joined her in watching over the pony haughtily as if she was otherwise too beneath his notice.

Ukoton elbowed her in the ribs. "And it can talk too! I mean, of course, she can talk too, pardon me, madam."

"Hello." Coco said politely.

Immediately, without further ado, Haruton started flitting around her like an overzealous bug, inspecting various places as if Coco was some sort of new species of plant and talking apparently to herself.

"This is a one of a kind model we've got here, some kind of hybrid cross between a horse and a deer-" she parted her mane to look at her clip better," - seems to be someton's exotic pet, look at all these gidgets it's got and there's a brand on it's flank as well, definitely not some kind of birthmark..."

Pommel felt as if she was being studied by a pushy physician and her head followed Haruton skittishly as she lifted one of Coco's forelegs and examined her hoof. "Not in a good condition, brittle hairs and weak follicles, some uneven fur growth on her undersides, thin legs, ears need cleaning, hooves are soft (though that could just be the species), ribs are easily felt- have you been lost in the wild for some time, young lady?"

The pony blinked, not used to her alternating between treating her like a show dog and like a sentient being and feeling her pride somewhat rubbed raw by her bluntly stating the facts. "I- y-yes, I believe I have."

"And- and-" All of a sudden something seemed to dawn on her. "And you two," she said, abruptly changing tack and whirling around to face her twin brothers, " are hunters?"

"Well-"

"And hunters hunt animals for food?"

"Last we checked-"

"And how," she gestured wildly to the pony awkwardly standing in the snow while pointing the wrench at them accusingly, "are we supposed to eat that?!"

This had not occurred to them. Ukoton and Udoton both looked blankly at the pony, who looked alarmed by the word 'eat', and then each other, momentarily lost for words. Their salamander looked as if he had thought of the idea first, hissing and rushing it's tail around the flattened snow condescendingly.

"Er," Udoton began awkwardly. "We were, ah, thinking maybe, um, we shouldn't..."

"Then what was the point of you going out at midnight in the first place?!" Haruton threw her wrench up in the air in frustration and then stormed off before adding furiously over her shoulder, "I'm never talking to you again!"

They awkwardly watched her leave, Udo and Uko shuffling their feet while Rei appeared serenely unconcerned, playing with the ends of Coco's mane, having escaped the blame. With a somewhat derisive hiss the snow salamander flicked it's tail and then went slithering after her, leaving the four to stand there in the snow.

She looked at them worriedly. "Shouldn't you go after her?"

They shrugged in unison, Ukoton picking up the wrench with obvious forlorn expressions on their faces.

"She's your sister, and it seemed as if she was worried about you two leaving with your little brother at this time of the night," Coco pressed boldly.

"Well, ah," Ukoton said halfheartedly.

"Dunno," Udoton muttered. It was obvious that they had been expecting a warmer welcome than the scolding they had just received. Coco studied their downcast faces, noting that apparently her approval meant a lot to them- something that Coco knew she could relate to once upon a time.

"How about I go too?" Coco suggested finally, trying to break down her objections as much as possible. "I may be only a horse, but I can also possibly help comfort her by being somepony she can confide in."

They brightened up immediately. "Why, what a capital idea!"

"Absolutely splendid! Nothing less expected from such a bright young missus, no it ain't."

Reiton tugged on her hoof. "Come on, make Haru 'appy."

Coco obediently let herself be led by the young Zigoton. "Alright, there's no need to pull my leg like that if you please, Reiton."

__________

They ended up not having to delve deep into the fortress itself, which made Coco Pommel feel somewhat secretly glad- it felt like such an imposing structure and, although she could not see them (as being heard but not seen was the norm for them), she could almost feel red eyes following her like a crowd watching a parade float.

The walls of the outside were made with some sort of reddish- brown stone, and was perfectly smooth- there was no space to slide a knife in- and very methodically well- built. There were triangular flags flittering from the peaks of the fortress and from every guard tower (which seemed empty, but Coco knew better by this point).

Passing through the fortress and the pony saw to her surprise that there was pretty much nothing for a while except for cobblestone streets. However, there was something like thick fog lying over everything like a gauzy blanket (which reminded Pommel of the Plateau) which limited her sight and didn't allow her to see very far off, making her rely heavily no the Zigotons to guide her.

After a spell of walking, with structures starting to appear on their sides something loomed out in front of them- some kind of workshop. It was the size of a bungalow, somewhat rickety and patched looking with pipes that drew off the rain from the roof along the top and shale tiles lining the roof itself. It reminded her almost painfully of some other house a long time ago and she watched it wistfully as they skirted around it.

I wonder what they make in here? Most possibly weapons.

She was then led up to the back where the structure was indented with squares the size of a bathroom at regular intervals. Each had an exhaust fan implemented in it and some had manhole covers in the floor and the occasional trash bin.

The twins proceeded to pull out a large chunk of the wall just big enough for Coco to crawl through and winked at her in unison. The pony studied the dark inside doubtfully and then looked at them, inclining her head for them to go in first(there seemed to be unspoken assent against making any sound) prompting them to roll their eyes and clamber inside.

The passage seemed to dip underground for a moment before pointing straight up, allowing Ukoton in the front to straighten and push open a sort of trapdoor.

Relieved, Coco Pommel climbed out of it and let out a breath, slumping on the stone floor and puffing at a strand of mane that flew into her face, being reminded of the remarks Haruton had made about her health. Oh dear, there doesn't be to be a single mane conditioner in this entire land and I don't have the courage to request for essential oils (if they have any)...

As with a clang Reiton shut the door behind hm Coco then took her time to look at her surroundings. Some sort of dim yellowish light possibly coming from a hidden lantern illuminating the place with a faint glow.

It was fairly messy- there were unmade bunks lining the sides of the walls and desks with mismatched chairs. The walls were scribbled on and there were these boxes with arrows that were pushed against it at irregular intervals along with bows being hung by nails.

She turned to see the three of them looking at her expectantly, their eyes flitting towards the metal door at the end. "Oh, right," Coco whispered, feeling a tide of doubt curl inside her as usual- a familiar feeling that always arose whenever she had to go greet the guests. "Oh. Yes."

She cantered up uncertainly to the door and then looked back. Uko, Udo and Rei all nodded enthusiastically. Coco looked from them tot he door again and put her hoof on it.

Then awkwardly she put it down only to repeat the process, feeling the sensation of three people glaring at her exasperatedly.

Coco took a deep breath and forced herself to creak it open.

This room reminded her of the Armoury (which made her feel a pang of guilt) crossed with somepony's large cluttered suburban garage.

There were all kinds of half made machines everywhere with sacks of screws and other little nuts and bolts of various sizes carefully labelled and set alongside the walls as the arrows had been in the previous room.

Hammers and screwdrivers and some other strange tools she couldn't name were set on tables, lying on creations, or hanging on the grey stone wall, and there were at least four things that were most probably lamps that she could spot in the room. It was like a scene from one of those complicated hidden- objected games.

But the star of the place was some sort of machine was apparently meant to move, as it had spiky red wheels, and looked something like a large upgraded skateboard with a big lever at the back and a bigger weapon that was most possibly a cannon. Seated on a stool and facing away from her was Haruton, who was banging away at a dent on one of the bars.

Coco may have not known the difference between a nut and a bolt until recently, but she knew enough to know that one was not supposed to hammer on something with a wrench.

Her legs kept stopping suddenly every few steps nervously as she approached the banging Zigoton.

"Lamp," she said shortly.

Coco obediently scuttled around the floor and carefully retrieved one of the things, meekly setting it down next to her with such delicacy one would think that it was going to explode.

"Screwdriver."

"Screwdriver..." Coco mumbled, placing a little one with a wooden handle and balanced it precariously on one of the thin iron bars. To Coco it looked pretty much alright, but she guessed that it was probably much different for someone with the eye of a mechanic.

Haru focused on twirling it in the socket, watching the pony fidget timidly out of the corner of her eye. Coco started when she let out a deep sigh and finally turned to face her full on. "They set you up to this, didn't they?"

She nodded and then shook her head.

"Honestly-" she started banging on the contraption again, making Coco flatten her ears and wince, "- if they'd just own up by themselves..." she trailed off into mutters, apparently forgetting the pony existed until she yawned. "What, are you tired?"

Coco nodded and then shook her head. It would make me uncomfortable, I don't want to be a burden on anyone. Oh, I managed to say 'anyone' for once-

"Try?" Haru offered a sort of wooden cup, with a glint of mischief in her eye that Coco naively missed.
The pony peeked inside to see that she was looking at something that somewhat resembled coffee, and at the thought of coffee her ears pricked in anticipation. Oh, I didn't know they had that here! It's been so long that I've had my latest drink... Eagerly she took a little dainty sip.

It was most probably a very fortunate thing that Coco had a conscience that was quick to act which prevented her from spitting it back out as her gag reflex triggered, making the pony choke on the small mouthful instead. It tasted like the strangest thing Coco had ever put in her mouth, and its innocent coffee appearance was certainly just as misleading to an extreme.

It had the consistency of melted wax, tasted like apple juice and that intense scent of gasoline, with all of these sharp fizzy bubbles that bit into the roof of her mouth and her sensitive throat as she forced it down audibly.

Hoping to high heaven that this wasn't something Haruton had made herself to avoid all of the impolite things she had implied, Coco croaked, "It's welly oonique..."
She swallowed again, feeling her sinuses block up, and the (even more than usual) nasally quality of her voice made her want to die of embarrassment. "Unhgg...'thorry..."

Fortunately in terms of cheering the Zigoton up it seemed to do the trick- Coco hadn't heard such a high pitched laugh for what felt like ages and grinned ruefully in spite of herself. Last time I met a sadist... when was the last time I met a sadist? Was Ragewolf a sadist? I'm not good at spotting sadists, or maybe everyone is a sadist- I think I've worn out the word 'sadist', I forgot what it means now...

"I- your- you-" Haru finally choked out. "I'll be honest, I was really trying to hate you- but whatever you did, I couldn't- and this-" she silently pantomimed what must have been Pommel's expression before dissolving into more fits of laughter.

"I'm glad I coulb thange your mind," Coco said, feeling her nose begin to thankfully clear up and dabbed at her eyes. feeling as if she had always taken breathing for granted. "What the.. what even was that?"

"Eh, just a thing or two," she dismissed. "You must be really tired if it's not having any effect on you, though. Or maybe it's just because you're a... whatever the hell you are... hey, come here, look at this."

Coco trustingly (even after all of that) went forwards and peered at the tank catapult thing. "What is it?"

"This is Ziggerzank," Haruton announced proudly and with considerable emphasis. "I mean, not the actual thing-" she leaned on her elbows and huffed," I'm not that important yet- but managing to come close to the original even if it is the old version and not the one with the laser... it's real impressive, don't you think?"

"I remember..." Coco frowned, ducking her head and putting a hoof on it absentmindedly. "I remember..." she said slowly, trying to drag it out- she knew something about this, but it wasn't forming properly as some elements didn't make sense.
"Um, there was one of these that helped the Patapons went they were attacking..." Pommel pushed her head against the tank. "...Sushi... Sushi Gate?"

"Sokshi," Haruton corrected, watching with with newfound keen interest. "How do you know about that?"

"Ehm, my cousin told me stories," she said vaguely, trying to skirt the painful stabbing memories.

"Woodland creatures being told stories of Ziggerzank? I thought I'd heard the strangest things when the twins started speaking in full sentences."

Speaking of the twins reminded Coco of her initial mission. She had cleared the first step, and now had to mend the broken bridge between the family. Coco determinedly said, "Um, about the twins-"

"You don't to ask if I've forgiven them," Haruton interrupted, banging on the dent again. "It's impossible, I can't stay mad at them for more than a day no matter how much I damn well need to- I mean, how many times did you ever say 'I'm never talking to you again' to your own older sibling, huh?"

"How did you..?"

"Eh, your face."

"We-ell, at least once a week or two," Coco said.

"You must have gotten along well."

There wasn't anypony to get along with after.. the thing. "I guess- he's a bit of a, um, fancy pony," Coco said, as usual not willing to voluntarily speak ill of one of her more likable family members. "He's even a noble now and he always has these other ponies around him who always change their opinions to whatever he says."

"It's like having even more Ukos and Udos and Reis tail you everywhere then, huh? What a nightmare." She raised the wooden cup to the gleaming lantern. "A toast to a brave brother, willingly enduring such trials..."

Coco had no idea where all of that fizzy stuff went or even how, but had no idea whether or not she was allowed to comment on such a thing and kept it politely to herself.

________________________________________________________

The pony hadn't had this kind of fun for a very long time- it was much different from what she experienced back in the forest near the Hideout. Such simple company was one of the things that Coco Pommel had always unhappily wished for the most (until she convinced herself she was being ungrateful to her circumstances) and now that she was given it she certainly did not relinquish her grip for quite a while.

Or at least until finally her eyes were flickering like the lantern as she lay her head on the tank copy's side, the image of Haruton still talking animatedly becoming like watery paint and the only words her throat was able to force out being 'uh huh' or 'nuh' (her mind being past caring about politeness).

" 'Aru?"

"And it hit him- literally- right on the- eh, what, Rei?" She swiveled around to a rather discombobulated young Zigoton solemnly standing near them and scrubbing his eye sleepily.

"It' th'ee. In th' mornin'."

"...Eh? What?" She looked to Coco for reassurance.

It couldn't be given as Pommel had fallen asleep, taking advantage of the momentary silence.

"Traitor," Haru mumbled. "Uh, what am I supposed to do with this now?"

"Pick 'er up," Reiton stated as if it was obvious.

"She's a horse and I have limits, buddy."

"I pick 'er up wi' you." Rei scuttled over and managed to get Coco into some kind of carrying position. "Come on, 'elp."

They ended up carrying her as if she was a very large football. "This horse is way too light. I swear, if I let her go, she'd go and float away when I breathe."

"Then, don' breath'."

"Can't, I'll die."

"Okay."

When Coco finally came to, she was laying on something that felt like a beanbag stuffed with marshmallows and wrapped in cat fur. Murmuring contently she nuzzled deeper into the substance, flicking her tail.

"Oi, that tickles! Waaugh, there's a blimmin' horse on top of me- save me, I'm being blinkin' flippin' bloomin' crushed to death- don't just standing there rolling around grinning like daft ducks you bloody pair of spikeheaded antbrained wafflewalloped worthless excuses for rotters-"

"Do us a favour, marm, and could y' just crush him to death faster, mate? I mean, just look at the thing's vocabulary, could teach Rei a lesson in choice words- cover your ears, sonny boy."

"Oh, I'm sorry- I-I didn't know I was top of you!" Coco scrambled off before he could spew any more curses, her tail fluffing up and her ears turned back. She hoped that she hadn't somehow caused him any permanent damage, as it would be a very poor repay for their hospitality.
Her (groundless) fears were quickly reassured. "Er, beg pardon, miss, didn't see it was you there, ha ha, ehm, this chap didn't think, happens in the mornings y'know, death by suffocation due to horse-"

"Shut him up before we're all swimming in his bally words!" Coco ducked as something sailed over her head and hit Udoton square in the eye (which wasn't saying much as he was mostly composed of an eye) managing to knock him over flat.

All of a sudden something seemed to click in Coco's mind as if someone had flicked a switch on and she bounced up to her hooves excitedly, her eyes only focused on one thing. "Oh! Oh! Bring that over here, please- I know what that is!"

Ukoton looked at her with some puzzlement before retrieving the thing that he had thrown and held it out for Coco's inspection. The pony was practically hopping excitedly on on the tips of her hooves, feeling the same flood of energy from back when she used to listen to these stories-come-to-life fill her like fizz. "Ooh, oooh!"

"Pray tell, what's all the fuss about?" Udoton queried, popping back up. "Oh, that thing?"

What Ukoton was holding was shaped pretty much just like descriptions Coco had heard about the original Hero's mask, except for two major differences- it was dark red and with a brighter heart in the middle and looked somewhat dirty and scuffed. "It's that- that mask!"

Udoton scratched his head. "Well, yes, it's a mask. Found in these ruins, didn't we, Uko?"

"Pawned it off to Haru because it looks something embarrassing- don't want to be seen dead walking around with that thing on my face, wot."

"No, no, you misunderstand!" Coco said hurriedly. "You aren't supposed to wear it yourself! It's a mask!"

"Eh, hadn't noticed. Thanks for the reminder."

"It's a Hero mask! No, I think it's called a Komupon... oh yes, It's a Komupon mask! It's meant to come to life- but ..." Coco deflated.

"Explain?" Reiton offered, having been silent so far.

"You see, for the Patapons one day they met somepony- I mean someone called Hero-"

"No, no, skip that, we know that already," Ukoton dismissed.

"Well, there was more than one Hero because for Patapons there's more than one dimension..." She started to become confused herself. "Well, Hero and the Almighty could access these other dimensions- you do know what the multiverse is, right?"
They all nodded in unison. "They could access these and fight with these other Heroes called Komupons- wait, there are multiverses in the Patapon universe itself? Or was the Patagate only a gate to other select... I mean, nevermind all of that! The point if that it's another variation of Hero except coming from a different universe- no, that's confusing..."

They waited patiently for her to get to the point. "This is a Hero from another universe much like yours, but different in some ways," Coco finally finished.

Udoton appeared to do some thinking. "Excuse me, miss, we can't be ignoring the certain logical complications about this mask here- for example, why isn't it also an Uberhero mask and how'd it end up in this bally universe in the first place?"

"I don't know," Coco said.

"Capital."

"But the most important thing is... Komupons respawn after a while and this one obviously hasn't for quite a long time... I don't why that is..." Coco frowned and squinted at the heart on the mask, her tail bristling with frustration, feeling as if she had had a brilliant dress brainwave in her dreams and then woken up only to have vague memories of it.

They all sat down in a circle, Coco on her haunches like a cat with her head buzzing like a nest of bees, each insect representing a thought. "Hmmm..."

"Hm." Ukoton repeated.

"Hm." Udoton echoed.

"I'n't there a t'ee?" Reiton voiced thoughtfully.

"What kind of tree do you mean?" Coco asked gently.

"Mater."

Coco blinked. "Mother?" she translated. "There's a mother tree?"

"No. Mater t'ee."

It finally dawned on her . "Oh, the Mater Tree! Reiton, you're a genius!" She popped up to her hooves again like a spring. "Of course, why didn't I think of that!"

"Eh, hold your horses-"

"Hold yourself," Ukoton corrected.

"- could you explain to a pair of poor chaps with nothing but flies in their head as to what the dickens you're hooting about?"

"The Patapons have a Tree of life-"

"We know," Udoton interrupted.

"We can bury this at it's roots and it'll surely come to life then!" Coco said confidently, for once optimistic. It'll be so amazing, I'll finally be able to truly see the Hero that I was told about at last!

"Wonderful," Ukoton said. "Let's go, then."

"What-?"

"Let's go, then," he repeated slowly.

"Now?"

"'Course." Udoton adopted an official, businesslike tone. " Are you afraid of getting caught or somethin'? Noton would be awake at this blinkin' time of the morn, wot."

"We'll pop out, bury your mask, pop in, all before breakfast- slick plan, innit?"

Reiton had been watching Coco's expression and voiced her unspoken question. "'Aru," he said simply.

"Haru's not mad anymore," he waved it away.

"We'll be back in a flash of the madam's tail, can't you trust your own brothers?"

"Tail flash t' fast."

"It's an expression."

"But why are you just going all of a sudden?"

"We're doing it for you, yes we are."

"Nothing about the spirit of adventure and the thrill of the hunt, nope."

Coco wasn't used to making split-second decisions- hers were always made after a long time of pacing and deciding even if it was buying pink or white flowers that day. She looked very unsure, her henlike concern for these young three evident. "But-"

"If you're having so many doubts, miss, why don't you go with us? Save us a lot of trouble, and whoever this Hero chap is-" he tapped the mask and scrubbed it haphazardly,"- he'd be most partial to such a calm, sweet young filly just in case, right lads?"

"Sure thing, what a marvelous sparklin' creature and all that."

"Noton'd hurt you."

It didn't take as much convincing for Coco to finally decide to accept in the end as it normally would have done to make her go somewhere, but the circumstances and the constant nag of her conscience finally pushed her out of the trapdoor Reiton shut behind them, briefly blocking all light.

"So does anyton know where this Mater thingamabob is?" Udoton asked.

"Uh huh. Thr' here." Reiton cut across a swathe of pines into what appeared to be some sort of shortcut blocked by dead gorse which took a while to dig up (Coco helping the most). It led into a tall ravine, with the sides of where an ancient river cut a path through the blocky beige cliffs towering over them.

The snow was deeper here and at some point Coco was forced to carry Reiton who, being the smallest, had difficulty trying to traverse as it swallowed him by half. She let in to her temptation and took a couple of mouthfuls of the stuff, wondering why frozen water was better than it's normal liquid form.

"Pretty," Rei pointed out, making up for the unusual silence of the twins. He was referring to some kind of vine that had little fleshy round-petalled flowers resembling the dawn horizon that was growing along of the chipped ledges.

"You're right, it is really pretty," Coco replied longingly, wishing she had the time to stop and memorize them. It could do so well if it was embroidered on a dress, one that's flowing, yes, with the gradient at the bottom...

That path climbed steeply after that as the trees started to change, looking somewhat like acacia trees,which didn't make much sense due to the type of climate. Well, it must be something unique to this land, Coco decided.

"Over there," she whispered, her ears pricking forwards. She could see the mossy black remains of what looked like some sort of stage. Patapolis...?

"Hmm, not in so much of a good shape, eh?" Ukoton murmured, inspecting some sort of altar that was actually relatively intact. Coco perked up when she saw the chipped white symbol on it- a circle with a bent line underneath. Yes... I can't believe... this feels like I'm visiting an actual spot in those Daring Do novels.

She stared at the stage. I remember... Coco then turned her head to a spot where she knew the previous Obelisk to be, but found to her dismay that there was nothing there anymore. Whatever's left of it is in the Hideout- the Hideout... It must not be too far from here...

Immediately she remembered- 'I'll try'- and started to feel very, very guilty. I was being expected back soon, but I didn't come all night and forgot like such a heartless thing- they must be so worried about me!

"Here, heeeere!" Reiton called out, bringing their attention to the reason they had come in the first place.
He was standing next to a dark plant that could loosely be described as a tree, with these sort of branches that didn't branch out, but smoothly curled into spirals at the end with two in the middle being the largest- one curling high over itself, dotted with glowing white orbs, and another somewhat smaller and facing the other direction.

"Pretty," he and Coco said at the said time. Then the pony shook her head, flicking her ears, as something dawned on her. I can write a message for them here! They must visit this tree often, because they need to be revived after battle, I remember Kan telling me- "Wait, I need to do something!"
Without further ado, to ease her conscious, Coco cantered forwards and started to etch message in the dirt, erasing some bits and rewriting others until she was satisfied.
Still, I'm such a horrid friend.

"Alright, so pass over the mask and let's do the thing," Udoton said bossily.

"You have the mask, don't joke around with me," Ukoton replied.

"No, I can most certainly remember giving it to you, pal."

"If this is some sort of joke, you'd best be advised to cut it out, lad."

"I'm not joking!" he said loudly, and then turned to Reiton. "Do you- ?"

"No."

"Er, miss-?"

"I don't have it either- oh no, we forgot it?" Coco said with horror.

"Ah..." The twins quailed.

"Isn't it too early to be going out for a walk?"

The four all jumped. Standing behind them, leaning casually against the tree, tossing the mask into the air and then catching it was Haruton, who must have heard their plan despite their efforts to be discreet and was the last person any of them wanted to see (excluding Reiton, who was as serene and preoccupied as always).

They stared at each other for a while, and immediately Ukoton pointed to Udo. "He did it."

In turn he instinctively pointed to the one next to him. "It was her idea."

The fur on Coco's back prickled. "No, she- what?!"

She started again when Haru burst out laughing. "Geez, you all are like kids." She gestured for Udoton to hand over the shovel he was lugging around and began to dug the icy earth herself. "I admit, I really want to see what this is going to do."

"And... what if nothing happens?" Ukoton asked hesitantly.

"Then hell hath no fury like a Haruton," Coco mumbled nervously, something she wouldn't have said otherwise.

She patted down the earth over the red mask and then took a step back. They watched the tree expectantly, Coco praying that something would happen for the sake of the twins.

A minute passed.

Birds started to twitter. Two minutes passed. Please please please please please please please please please...

Finally, something began to happen. With the shiniest noise Coco had ever heard two glowing bulges started to form at the tips of the two biggest spirals and travel smoothly downwards and they gained speed the father they went and then conjoined at their base and it reached the one thick branch that wasn't curly and passed through-

Thump.

Coco and the Zigotons stared.

It was a Patapon, but it was donning the red heart mask and seemed to be reborn with it's full set of weapons and armour- a steel helmet, an iron shield and an iron sword, not really anything too fancy. He looked pretty dizzy, or maybe he was just pretending to stave off the discomfort that the situation gave.

Pommel didn't really know what to say now that their goal was achieved. Should I say, 'It's alive!' or something like that? (No, it makes me look like a mad scientist.) Should ask his name, or make small talk? Um, um, this is so awkward- no, it must be even more awkward for him, he was brought to life all of a sudden and now he's being stared at by four Zigotons and a pastel pony...

"So, um, where will he go now?" Coco asked uncomfortably, not liking speaking as if he wasn't there- but she couldn't help but treat him like some sort of strange new species of frog or something for the moment.

"Er," Udoton said, obviously not having thought so far ahead.

"Well," Ukoton tried to pick up the thought in vain. "Ahaha..."

"I guess you can say that this was kind of my fault," Haruton admitted, seeming embarrassed, fidgeting on the spot.

"He's not some wild animal that we can simply let go and expect to fend for itself," Coco argued quietly, feeling like a foal who made a huge irreversible blunder.

"Wanna keep 'im," Rei insisted, tugging on Haru's hand.

"Rei, it's not some sort of dog, he's a Patapon," Haruton muttered. "What if some Kacheek decided it wanted to keep you with himself forever? Wouldn't you be sad?"

"Kacheek don' take Rei, they don' like Zig'tons," he said dismissively.

"Smart kid," Ukoton mumbled.

"Our problem still stands, chaps and misses," Udoton pointed out. "Er, no, pardon, it's sprawled on the floor."

They all started in unison as all of a sudden someone cleared their throat. Coco and the Zigotons had their attention diverted once more to the Patapon, who had now managed to stand up weakly, leaning against his shield which he had planted into the ground like a cane.
("Eh, nevermind. It's standing now.")

"Ahem," he said feebly. "Hello."

He failed to continue what was obviously supposed to be a much longer speech and drooped. Without thinking, her caring side coming into effect and cancelling out her shy protests, Coco Pommel trotted forwards and offered him her side to lean against. "Hello. I'm Coco Pommel- I hope you're feeling well, you do look a bit dizzy."

He stared.

Coco winced. "Oh. Um, I'm a talking pony. Thought it would be fair t-to warn you..."

"Oh, give me that." Haru pushed forwards and then unashamedly stuck her hand out. "S'up?"

"Of course, I had also noticed how wonderful a day it is, and especially with someone as fine as you to brighten it! My name is Kabon, and I sincerely hope you are well, my lady...?" He took a bow.

The two stared at the instantly rejuvenated Patapon. "Haruton," she said, taking a step backwards. "Um, I'm... fine so far."

"Nothing pleases me so much as hearing that," he replied flamboyantly.

"Okay, bye."

"Eh? Wait-"

"Here, talk to the horse," Haru offered desperately. While being a blunt Zigoton, she wasn't really one to be outright rude to anyone- but this time she decided the best course of action was distracting this person.

"Is this a metaphor?" he asked mournfully.

"Hello," Coco tried again.

"Oh, how cruel- spurned once more-"

Udoton appeared next to Haruton. "Oi, laddie buck, mind laying off the fancy talk-"

"And our sister-" Ukoton popped up on her other side.

"I'm Reiton." The according brother peeked out from beside Coco Pommel.

The Komupon knelt down to be at his level. "It's nice to meet you too, Reiton- call me Kabon." He was somewhat quieter with the young Zigoton.

"What're you gon' do now?" Rei shyly shook his hand.

"Hmm? Oh, but of course- do the very thing all Patapons feel the great yearning to, deep in their souls-"

"Oh, stow it, you great windbag, he's six."

"Can't understand half a bloomin' word you're saying."

"Erm, right." He scratched the back of his head in consternation. "Well, it's every Patapon's dream- to reach Earthend!"

"Oh!" Coco perked up. "You're going to Earthend too?"

"Why, yes, of course!" Kabon reacted with surprise and immediately stopped ignoring Coco. "It's every Patapon's dream!"

"We hadn't noticed, thanks," Ukoton muttered.

"You see, I have to go to Earthend because that's where I can go home," Coco said animatedly, happy to find someone who sympathized with her. "It's very important for me to return, as I have a career and some friends there."

Something pulled in the middle of her stomach when she mentioned returning, but she quickly dismissed it.

"It's rather strange to meet someone who also wishes to visit Earthend who happens to be a mare. Though a very fine one, I can assure you." He took another bow.

Coco smiled gently. "It's also a little out of the ordinary for me to meet a Komupon, but I think it's nice as well."

"Say, I've had just about the most brilliant idea! Why don't you and me go together? A woodland nymph and a dashing warrior- what a fine image, don't you think?"

Coco tilted her head on one side, and then the other, weighing out all of the good and the bad. She had already taken a liking to the gaudy Hero, who didn't seem to be very bad company- in addition to him being able to fight- and it was probably prudent to have someone with her who knew where they were going, as for the past few days all she had been doing was wander around. "It seems wonderful."

"Cocoton leaving Rei?" The Zigoton asked somberly.

Haruton was quick to explain. "It's just like what I told you before, Rei- wouldn't you also be sad if you were kept away from your home? We have to let her go."

"Eh, what?"

"We ain't going with 'em?"

"Wh- who said anything about going?" she snapped. "I'm a Zigoton, you're a Zigoton, we're all Zigotons and where Zigotons belong is at the furnace and with a hammer and it can never be different no matter how much you want it to! Do I have to explain this to you?"
She, as Coco had first seen her do, promptly turned away and went off in an exasperated huff, not once deigning to look back.

Apologetically the three brothers hovered around Coco. "Ehm, shame she thinks that way, madam."

"Wouldn't mind spending time with such fine fun young miss, no I wouldn't."

" 'Least she knows her priorities."

"Er, is it just me, was the old lady seeming somethin' wistful?"

" 'Can never be different no matter how much you want it to' and all that."

"Well, gotta say our goodbyes here, miss."

"Hope we can see you again, yes we will, madam."

"Same for you- you two were really nice," Coco said sadly.

"Don' wan' Cocoton t' go," Reiton said bluntly.

"Sorry, we got to, mate."

"Come on, lad, we have a dragon that needs placating." They took a hand and then started heading off in the same direction that Haruton had went.

Coco watched them unhappily until they had completely disappeared. "You certainly do seem to be very popular," Kabon remarked.

You have no idea, Coco thought.

____________________________________________

And so it was official- Coco Pommel was going on an adventure. For once in her life she had the plug pulled out and became incredibly talkative, which was certainly a startling change from her usual anxious, eager-to-please gentle incarnation.

Picking through an unremarkable rainforest filled with flowers and vines and humidity as rainforests do and following Kabon's instincts ("I was not actually lying about it being in a Patapon's soul..."), Coco chattered on interminably, occasionally gesturing or turned her head to look at her new partner.

"I never really imagined that I would going on an adventure like this, you know? Or going on a hike, travelling in the old fashioned way. Usually, it would make me very nervous, seeing as I'm the kind of thing that most animals would like to make dinner out of, but maybe for once it would pay off being all optimistic like my friend Pinkie Pie. She's one of the reasons that I'm going to Earthend- I wish I could make you a cupcake like she does, but I can't make anything other than a cake, and even then it needs instant mix because my mother never really taught me- however i did learn to make some things on my own- do you think I would have the opportunity to show you on the way?"

"Mm hm."

Coco turned to look at him concernedly. "Oh, did I wear you out? I'm sorry, you should have told me to stop- I don't mind it."

"Mmmh? No, constant... walking..."

"Here, you can sit on my back. That's what Patapons usually do to horses, right?" She helped him clamber up gracelessly as if she was a haystack. I thought Komupons were usually made of steel and iron, or something like that- this shows that I shouldn't create stereotypes, though.

"You're letting me...?"

"We're going to travel together now, so it's best that we establish a good bond," Coco explained. She added quietly, "And some time ago I learnt that it's not meant to be everypony for themselves. Oh, you're sleeping... I, ah, hope you don't fall off..."

She had to be careful with her walking, feverishly hoping that he wouldn't tumble from her back due to the uneven motion when she walked. Coco recalled that he had said that there was supposed to be some kind of little establishment near.

"We can able to go and ask for sustenance from them," he had finished.

"So they'll just let us in, because we're travellers?"

"Ah, yes," he had said, and scratched the back of his head (something he usually did when confused or consternated). "They always seem to do it in all of the adventure books, don't they?"

Coco had decided not to comment.

In her memories, Kabon had said something else next which Coco couldn't recall as she hit the trunk of a tree snout first- with a wounded yelp she tottered backwards, her ears flattening and her eyes beginning to water, automatically raising a hoof to her muzzle. "Ooohhh... my nothe, I'm dying..."

"Well, then, die a little quieter, if you don't mind."
She was answered by a completely phlegmatic, impassive sounding voice that her ears couldn't find the location of due to the din of animal noises echoing through the wet forest.

"Uhwha- who's dere?" Coco pranced around with her back passed to the tree trunk, her fur bristling as something that sounded like a monkey (one cannot really tell in this world) screeched.

"Nobody. Go away," came the answering monotone. Coco understood by the words, if not the tone that the first half was meant to sarcastic while the other was not.

"Oh, alrighth," Coco demurred. "I wonth be a botheh t'you-" she turned around wildly, searching for the direction she had been going in only to find that brilliantly she had lost it. Something- somethin about moss? Um- moss points south- or was it north- how can moss even point anywhere, it's a plant! "Ehm..."

She stopped in her whirling suddenly and started as she came face to face with one of the stranger creatures she had met (which was saying something) presumably staring at her patiently- a fact she couldn't verify as it was wearing a mask.

"Oh, are you the one who was speaking?"

"No."

That is also sarcasm, Coco noted.

He pointed at her bruised snout. "Your nose," he said slowly, "is bleeding."

"Bl- bleeding?" Coco touched her nose to confirm that what she had thought was a symptom of a runny nose was actually indeed blood. "Wah! M-Make it stop!" Panic overcoming at the sight of what of meant to be inside of her and she started to turn in circles again (it was only a miracle that Kabon did not manage to fall off).

The masked thing reached out and firmly pinched her nostrils shut, forcing her to come to a halt again and then awkwardly try and stare at her snout rather than him, which would make her even more uncomfortable.

Finally he delicately let go of her nose, completely unruffled as if horses got nosebleeds frequently and, embarrassed, Coco tried to wipe away any residue with her foreleg. "Thank you."

" 'Thank you'?" He pronounced it like a foreign thing.

Coco was at a loss on whether or not she should explain what 'thank you' meant. "Uh, yes. You helped stop my problem when all I was doing was panicking." The pony looked around, discomfitted by his unrelenting stare, still holding her foreleg over her muzzle. "Is there anywhere I could wash my face?"

The masked thing pointed to the very wide trunk of the offending plant.

"That's a tree," Coco said.

"It's not," he said.

She looked from him, to the tree, and back again doubtfully. "Alright, it's not a tree..."

He came up to the not-tree and then promptly opened it's trunk with a creak, revealing a staircase inside the apparently hollow trunk.
"Oh, I see now," Coco said. "It was, uh, a little narrow-minded of me to believe it was a tree at first without seeing it."

He stared.

"Okay. Should I... come in?" Coco tugged at the tie of her sailor's-collar.

"I'm inviting you, aren't I?"

More sarcasm. If Haru was a sadist, he's sarcastic. She obediently placed a hoof on one of the light brown wooden steps.

"Who is that?" he asked boredly, pointing to the unconscious Kabon on Coco's back.

"Oh, he's Kabon the Patapon," Coco said.

"I dislike him immediately, then," was the deadpan reply.

"You shouldn't just judge a book by it's cover," Coco chided gently. "I mean, I don't know why you dislike him-"

"He's a Patapon."

"- well, maybe you'll like him if you get to know him. What if I treated you impolitely only because I didn't like your looks? Would it be fair to you?"

Coco had the feeling that her motherly fussing was received with dry exasperation.

"Okay, I'll keep it to myself," Coco felt her tail duck in embarrassment. Really, it's not my job to lecture a stranger about behaviour!

Tired of the conversation he tugged at her to make her move forwards, and Pommel, ever acquiescent, obligingly started to climb the stairs.

It went much farther than she thought it would go, feeling it a little uncomfortable to be twisting and changing directions all the time as she rose further and further into the air inside the wooden tunnel, which had holes in it to let in light and air. The part of her that was always diligent to her studies (except for the important things, such as where moss pointed) wondered about exactly how something hollow and apparently structurally deficient could be so tall (or possibly it was just her underestimating the tree).

She finally came out into the light and saw that she was practically on top of the world- this particular tree seemed to reach higher above than the others, allowing Coco to see over the gently rustling leaf blanket that was the canopy. The rainforest seemed to stretch on until it met the horizon, where the setting sun looked like a broken egg yolk surrounded by fire and turning lighter as the sky went on until it was murky white.

The place she was standing on was a large round circle consisting of wood planks the same material as the stairs with one of those black houses that Coco had seen as ruins along the way to Patapolis- somewhat like the Bonedeth, but different in subtle ways such as orange triangles instead of green ones.

A butterfly, something like a glittery swallowtail soared past her nose then changed it's mind mid-flutter, did a ninety-degree turn and landed on her nose, leaving the mare cross-eyed.

The scent of something like a baked carrot made her turn and prick her ears, the butterfly flittering away. She trotted over, curious, to where the masked thing was inexpressively stirring something on a fire on a stump in a cauldron with a long ladle. Ignoring the risks of using fire when you lived on something made completely of wood, surrounded by wood and sixty feet up Coco peered over his shoulder with interest.

" Try adding some basil," Coco offered.

He did the perfunctory stare, neglecting the pot.

"Right. Keep my nose out of other's business." She started to back away when he cooperatively added the herb and then looked back up the mare expectantly.

"Oh, well then, judging from the ingredients and the creaminess, I think you should add some mushrooms- these little button ones should be fine. And it needs a little less water, so you're going to have to keep at it for a while and remember to stir gently or else the carrots will get liquefied (carrots? Why carrots?). This dry leaf thing here- may i try it? It's rather spicy- you should put in two or three or else it could turn out too bland."

When she had finally exhausted her stream of advice, she was given a scoop with the ladle to taste and accordingly sipped it cautiously. "It's... like nothing I've ever had before," she admitted. "Ooh, can I have another?"

"Why not?" the masked creature said boredly.

At that moment, still on her back, Kabon began to stir. "Wh...?" he then tumbled off of Coco's back.

"Oh, are you alright? Have some of this," Pommel offered, then stopped. "Er... how about you take it yourself? I have no idea where exactly it's supposed to go..."

He drank it a little too fast. "C-Capital!" he hiccuped. "On par with- hic- with the most royal of- hic- king stews!"

"I wish I could hiccup so attractively," Coco noted. "I mean, I sound like a fr..." She wilted under the two's stares. "Oh, I-I didn't mean to say that out loud..."

"I admire a, um, mare that speaks from her- hic!- heart!"

"Just hold your breath for ten seconds," the masked person answered flatly.

They all quietly sat with their bowls of stew, with Coco being the farthest from the edge- among many other things, she did not particularly favour heights, being afraid she would somehow fall off into the void and end up as a pancake one way or another. She was beginning to feel drowsy, always having been an early sleeper- and all of that walking contributed to the drain of her energy. "I never really asked- what's your name?"

"Hiamen," he said shortly.

"I'm Coco Pommel," she replied courteously, stifling a yawn, and then waited. She had to nudge Kabon who was currently too busy with his food.

"Eh, what? Oh, I'd be Kabon, the most skilled sword wielder in the land, having cut down many waves of ferocious enemies and had many deeds sung through the land (especially by maidens)!"

"It's a little hard to take someone with their heart on their face seriously," Hiamen deadpanned.

"...Is that a metaphor?"

"That's the longest sentence I've heard you say so far." Coco mumbled thoughtfully, rubbing an eye. "Wah, did I say that?! I- I mean- no- not being rude-"

"That's not rude."

"I'm still sorry..."

"What a sweet young lady," Kabon commented. "No, horse. Should I differentiate between the two?"

"I've been called both equally frequent," Coco replied, her voice growing fainter. "I'd really hate to, um, impose myself on you, but if it's okay, can you try not to call me 'horse'?"

"Okay."

"Why, it would be no trouble at all! No need to fret, I would certainly become somewhat weary of being called 'the Patapon' all of the time as well!"

"You're either tipsy or slightly mad," Hiamen muttered.

"I'm not mad. What is there to be mad about?" He looked to Pommel for supplication. "Oh, she's sleeping."

"I'm not!" She opened an eye, flicking an ear. "Uh, is it lonely... living up here by yourself?"

"No. I'm coming with you."

"That's nice," Coco said, and then really did fall asleep.

Author's Notes:

"That's a tree," Coco said.

"It's not," he said.