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.