****

Ari

After leaving the mine, the train continued chugging along for a solid five minutes before it hit the final station. During that time I took in the sights, well after my eyes stopped seeing spots. We had been on that train, in dim lighting, for a good ten hours before reaching daylight again. But it had turned a two day trek over muddy mountains into a ten hour train ride through them so I wasn’t going to complain. Thank goodness they had trains in this world.

I couldn’t help but wonder what else they had in this world as I gazed at what was easily the biggest city I had seen here so far.

“So this is Shallow Shale huh?”

Beside me Chrissy and Lyric hummed in confirmation, both relaxed against my barrel with half lidded eyes, Lyric was actually not flagging for once. A guy, err, girl, stallion can only take soo much teasing, in fact she actually doesn’t smell as strong as before, thank goodness for small reliefs, that 'heat' is crazy stuff. When people's lives weren't being ruined everyday we wasted I wouldn't mind enjoying it at a more leisure pace, all it takes is a little sex after all.

Still I couldn't help but smile at their relaxed state, even if they both were not really taking in the wondrous sight that was the city. It probably wasn’t the first time they had seen it so that might have something to do with it, but to me the view was incredible, like something out a storybook.

I wonder what princess or prince ruled here.

Ok I didn't want to meet them or anything, I may have liked reading bedtime stories a little too much, and this looked soo picturesque that it brought back the stories I loved: fairy tales, despite how unrealistic they were they were the funnest to read. You can only imagine how it bugged me more than a little that I couldn’t read anything here. Although It had made this journey a little interesting so far, trusting others on their word only, well and common sense, but that didn’t always work. Berry bushes in trees anyone?

Right anyway, we were coming out from a high point of the mountain, allowing us to see nearly the whole city. From up here it appeared to be divided into districts, the buildings appeared to be mere building blocks from here but they were still close enough to hint at the purposes they served.

Closest to the station we were entering was a collection of brown, blue, and beige two story houses, small balconies showcasing various plants and statues that were unmistakably hoof carved. It appeared to be residential area, most likely for the families of those that worked in the mines, and was currently busy with a variety of beings.

Some of the beings I had never even seen before. Multicolored fish people conversed in a strange language that sounded like a mix of screeches and dolphin clicks; they were walking on two scaly legs and breathing on land despite having gills. Ironically enough Striped and spotted cat people strolled around among them as well, shifting their large, slitted eyes and oversized ears at every sound, they were walking on two feet like a human which through me off, they get to be bipedal but ponies don’t?

What was slightly less strange to me was Hippogryphs. I at first thought I was imagining things as I saw a bright orange Gryphon, only to realize it had a pony’s lower half complete with a tattoo of a sword and shield on its flank. What is it with pony flanks and tattoos? Even the princess had one, the princess! But i'm getting off topic, the Hippogryphs came in all sorts of colors like the fish people did, although they still favored the earthy tones that Gryphons seemed to only come in.

Beyond the residential district I saw streets lined with stores, all the way down a hill before reaching a busy market place. I had to double check when I saw what looked like fish down there. The fact that fish were being sold seemed surreal in a world of ponies, still there was bins piled high with them and many other various seafood, some I didn’t even recognize. But I tried not to linger on that section, I guess there was sentient fish people and non-sentient fish… that disturbed me a little but Gryphons and the cat people had to eat something, I guess I really should be glad nothing eats pony here.

I might have jinxed myself, I thought as a tingle went down my back suddenly.

Past the market was the harbor, from our spot I could see huge boats coming and going and even a lone airship hovering at a raised platform. I really wanted to know how you parked an airship. Did you anchor it or just stop the engines? This was going to be fun… I had to get my hooves on one of those for this plan to happen and they looked like a nice ride too with a slim aerodynamic design, and...

Woah, getting carried away here.

The fact that I only had five bits to my name was going to make this hard. Getting here it didn't really occur to me how I would get the money. So it looks like I might go with Lyric’s suggestion on stealing a pirate ship, or hell, why not just steal the airship that is parked there?

I immediately smacked that idea, stealing a airship, in a bustling city, with no clue how it works. Genius was not the word for that plan, the pirate ship possible still seemed possible as I have steered a boat before, mind you it was powered by a engine and these ones looked…well they had the classic colonial look with huge sails and a mess of ropes that was just asking for someone to be tied up in them. It couldn't be that hard.

When did stealing become soo attractive?

Sure it is immoral to steal but this was saving the fucking planet we are talking about here, a little bending of the rules is called for I think. I was not a bad…Pony, I babysat my friend’s munchkins, I volunteered at the library reading stories, and although I hadn’t visited my mother in ten years I still sent her cards and presents. Money had been tight lately and I have some trouble handling her. But my morals were up in the air right now, like i was when I was tossed here with little thought to my life. I'm adjusting pretty darn well if I do say so. But If we are going to point out moral grey areas let me point out how I’m planning to drug and abduct royalty for crying out loud, though it is for a good cause. Everypony's lives seemed like as good a reason as any to do what was generally 'bad' actions.

But my introspective on morals can wait as the train has finally stopped, nearly deafening me again with it’s breaks, but it still got us here in one piece.

We get off and start off down the road leading into the city, stretching our legs and adjusting our cloaks and the saddle bags, letter tucked away safely. Further into the city I can see even more blocks of different buildings, ranging from what I would call German in design choices to Spanish with their clay tile roofs. It was a real jumble of culture here, with a catacophony of different languages conversing, and many conflicting scents flowing through the street that seemed determined to assault my nose.

I was beginning to miss the quiet of the countryside.

“So have you been here before?” I looked at each mare on either side of me, ears perked forward as I strained to hear what their response would be over the chatter around us.

“Yes, long, long ago.” Lyric looked in the direction of the harbor in the distance, feeling what I was sure was sadness as her ears folded down underneath her hood.

Right, she probably missed her mother, a seapony would be from the sea after all.

“Many times, it’s a great place to learn things.” Chrissy had her hood pulled even further down her face than Lyric, her horn not even visible, but I could still see her muzzle turn into a happy grin as she walked along.

I’m glad someone has some good memories of this place.

We continued moving through the crowd as a herd, following nothing in particular at the moment, but I wasn’t worried. My mares knew this place a little and I could always ask somepony where The Steel Anvil was…If we saw anypony that is. Though we didn’t stand out too much from the crowd for with our cloaks, our equine shape was definitely rarer in the streets. I could clearly see some Saddle Arabians in the crowd and they waved at us when we passed by, most likely thinking we were a herd of Arabians. I wasn’t going to correct them.

The sun was still beating down above us when I decided to add some purpose to our stroll in the coastal city.

“So do you lovely mares want to stop anywhere before head to The Steel Anvil? See the sights or whatever while we are still anonymous?” I turned up the charm, trying to get Lyric to smile mostly; she was looking off into nowhere. It also wouldn’t hurt to maybe do something romantic, I mean sure I could do dates after the world wasn’t dying but I felt like I went in reverse with them.

Although…they seemed very into going forward in the relationship, they had actually initiated most of it now that I thought about, not that I was resisting it nor am I complaining about our relationship but it left me wondering if it was a culture thing like flank tattoos were?

“What do you mean Ari? Aren’t we trying to get this whole business done as fast as possible?” Chrissy sounded confused and a little worried at my words, leaning into me more. I regretted making her worried but couldn’t help my words.

I had been thinking about the ‘after’ portion of the mission lately.

Would the princesses really let me run around free after capturing them? Sure I was going to return them but I didn’t believe they would let this go away so easily, I know I wouldn’t, in fact I imagine they will be quite angry even after I explain why. However I know they won’t just listen to my ‘crazy’ words when it is not visible to them in Equestria. Even with the polite letter explaining the situation a bit that I had Chrissy write to them for me I still expected some hostility, it was a given the nature of the talk. My nerves over basically telling them they had been causing uncalculated destruction, death, and assumed poverty due to their actions over the last millennia were completely founded. I was saying they were the 'bad' guys here, but there wasn't any real 'bad' or 'good' just ways to take others actions, i'm sure they felt justified in their actions.

My status as the only Alicorn stallion also didn’t seem like a good thing either, sure it was probably going to get me in the door but if they took a interest in me I was screwed then. I had two loving mares that happened to be strongly disliked by ponies and somehow I don’t see these princesses accepting that, sure we were all rational adults, some older than others but adults still. Right? Well, if the strong presence of instincts that I had in my mind and the way the heat, a hormone based state, can turn a mare into what is essentially a sex crazed flasher, then I don’t hold much hope for them understanding my big 'no'. But the bottom line was I didn’t know how I escape unharmed after I returned them, that part of the plan was blank still.

I knew I needed more help.

As much as I loath to admit it, I don’t know how to do the complicated forms of magic that would be necessary to enchant the inhibitors, or how to properly talk to royalty without insulting them twenty ways to Sunday unintentionally, and I didn’t know how to drive, err, steer an airship. I knew very little and that would have to be changed. With a glance to the airship parked in the distance I turned back to Chrissy and Lyric who had been very patiently waiting for my explanation.

“Well, after this all is over every pony will know of us, or at the very least me, and even then it won’t take long for others to find out about you. So I thought if you wanted to see any interesting sights now I wouldn’t object, since it’s probably the only time I’m going to be able to move soo freely in the city.” They shared a glance at my words, bodies tense beside me. “We could consider it a date or something, see the harbor or whatever statues they have here. I only have five bits but im sure we could find someone that would trade labor for food.” I gave them a hopeful smile, I wanted them to be happy again.

They were still stuck up on the first half of my statement, not even cracking a smile at the date suggestion.

“Maybe we can go on dates after, when we aren’t trying to save the world.” Chrissy didn’t sound very hopeful about that though, she sounded like she was lost in her thoughts, each word following the other without a natural flow.

I wished she would just tell me what was wrong with her, sure I could ask but her current state made me believe she would evade me.

“B-but aren’t we going to hide away somewhere? Take a vacation from this world? Maybe we could…even visit a new one?” Lyric’s voice cracked over the words ‘new world’ and I felt curious now, was there a magic to jump worlds? And just where was this ‘new world’ bit coming from? We had never talked about this before.

“Lyric-“ Chrissy started hesitantly, almost sounding panicked if I didn’t know any better, but there wasn't anything to panic over.

“Are you saying you know a magic to allow us to visit another world, maybe even Earth?” My heart raced and my eyes shone for a second at the thought of home before reality came crashing down on me, making my heart ache something fierce. I wish I had splurged on that plane ticket now and visited my mother, sure the institution made me nervous but she was still my mother. She couldn't help being Schizophrenic. And Josie and Ethan would never get to hear the end of the story we had started, not my way anyway, with the ridiculous accents and reactions that they giggled over. Now I wasn’t human anymore and no world hopping spell could change that. He had changed my DNA at the base level, miraculously keeping my personality intact even if as he added some extra instincts. There was no going back-

We stopped suddenly as Lyric stood frozen looking out at sea below us, she blinked back tears before turning back to us, looking at Chrissy apologetically before turning to me. Ignoring the crowd as they weaved around us, my full attention was on her face; Lyric’s unshed tears tearing at my heart as I wished I could use my wings to hug, show her I was here for her.

I had Chrissy and Lyric now, my mares, my rocks in this journey. Yes our relationship progressed quickly but my instincts didn’t seem to mind terribly, and after all this was said and done we did have millennia to get to know each other.

“N-no Ari, there is something you don’t know-“ She shifted closer to me and for a second I thought she was going to rub herself on me from her heat but she was just shuffling her hooves, a sign of her uncertainty. She continued at a solemn pace, “-my, no, I miss my family very much. They were sent to another world, well my mother and aunts anyway, my father…” She sniffed and broke her fragile mask as a tear fell, soon followed by more as she started to sob.

I quickly licked her muzzle off as more and more tears fell and I fought to keep my wings down, to not comfort her in the most natural way, I pressed into her more trying to will my love to her. It didn’t work completely, but her sobs slowed slightly.

Luckily Chrissy had more sense than us and nudged us forwards, steering us as we blended back into the crowd, the stares fading as we moved down a new street, it was full of bakeries and resturants.

We couldn’t afford to draw attention to ourselves.

Giving a grateful nod to Chrissy, I continued to press into Lyric began to process what she had said, what had probably been kept inside her all this time. It was no wonder now why she accepted me being from another world so easily. Lyric was trying to figure out how to reach her family that were trapped in another world.

“What happened to your father?” I whispered to her as her sobs had nearly ended, the shops slowly faded to the background as Lyric became my sole focus.

Chrissy steered us down another street, this one a residential, middle class if the cookie cutter look of the homes was an accurate parallel to Earth’s middleclass home design. But the appeal of this city already beginning fade like the light around us, the sun was setting. We had walked around longer than I thought.

But despite the darkness falling I felt no rush to tuck in for the night, I had hardly walked at all really compared to the previous days of walking for eight hours and more. I know I’m a horse but you should really see my muscles after all the walking, I was getting very fit here to my joy. On Earth I wasn't always quite so active, bookstores don’t exactly need a lot of physical labor besides lifting books, reaching, and finger aerobics…Typing to be exact.

Anyway the night didn’t scare me in the city, there were no monsters of the Hydra variety and I knew I could handle any ‘swindlers’ as Gennady put it.

We had to find The Steel Anvil, not that we could afford a room even if we wanted one. I was sort of counting on Dinari letting us bunk with her till we acquired a ship.

After a lengthy pause Lyric answered “He tried and tried to bring them back, experiment after experiment, till one time he heard a rumor of a magic mirror. ‘I’m going on a research trip’ he said, ‘I will be back in a couple days’ he promised me, only he never returned. I eventually tracked his route, it lead all the way to the mirror, it was hidden in the Canterlot castle itself.” Chrissy and I were paying all our attention to Lyric now the street forgotten, leaning closer as we felt something important coming. “I found his bag dropped in front of it, filled with the letters and cards I made mother every year since her banishment. I also found a letter he had hastily written. He had appeared to have found the same magical signature that he found when he tried tracking spells.” Lyric gave a sad smile now, “But, my silly father had never looked for a way back before he jumped right in, or more likely there is no way back. He made it through to her through the mirror but I was u-unable to f-follow. I-It d-didn't...” Tears filled her eyes again as she stuttered over her words.

With that bombshell dropped I felt empty and sad at the same time for her, this was why she had latched onto me soo readily, she had her family literally disappear under her nose. Determination growing in my heart, I knew I would help her find them, return them to this world.

I might have to do the whole meet the parents bit after all.

“Lyric, I-I care, no, I love you.” I paused as I gulped down my remaining nerves, that had been hard to say, not that I didn’t mean every word but it was because I meant every word that it was an immense statement to say. “I would do anything for you-“ looking at Chrissy now, “-, both of you to be happy. I think I speak for the herd when I say we will look for a way to get your family back. Perhaps we should linger a little and do some research here, there has to be a library in this city right?”

Lanterns were lit as the moon began rising, highlighting the new tears rolling down Lyric’s face, and showing Chrissy starting to cry. My ears splayed as I saw the new tears, had I-

Both of my mares leaned in and kissed the sides of my muzzle.

I wasn’t expecting that but I enjoyed it all the same, a relieved smile on my muzzle now, those had been happy tears then.

But the street was emptying now as we walked on, the middleclass homes having shifted to shops, and now warehouses stood before us as we approached the docks. Our hooves had taken us towards the boats it would seem. The warehouses were dimly illuminated by small lanterns and surprisingly free of trash.

Looking around I felt uneasy at the clean area, this wasn’t a good place to be according to my instincts, my fur raising slightly as the feeling of being watched descended on my mind.

Turning to Chrissy I went to ask her opinion on where to go instead of here only to freeze at the sight behind her. She quickly caught on and turned around, I could feel Lyric shiver beside me in the warm night air.

We watched our visitors approach with a bated breath.

Stepping out of the shadows that rested between the warehouses was cat person followed by several Diamond dogs, a creature I hadn’t seen yet in this city. I snorted as the cat walked confidently from the shadows, his fur a mottled mix of tan and grey, and his clothing screaming narcissist to me. I don’t know any man, err, tomcat I guess, that would wear a suit with the shirt buttons half way undone, did I mention he was also wearing a neon pink cravat. The cravat looked especially useless to me when his shirt was open anyway. He even wore what I swear was real alligator boots, or maybe it would be dragon hide here, somehow I don’t think ‘pleather’ exists here, and it was custom made if the golden ‘A’ carved into them was a hint.

He gave me the creeps anyway as I looked at him, had I not been trying to stay anonymous I would have flared my wings out and challenged him here and now, he felt like danger. It could have been that he was a carnivore but I think it was more the reaction my mares were having. Especially the way Chrissy trembled slightly against me, probably remembering our last encounter with Diamond dogs.

Lyric’s breath suddenly hitched beside me.

“Why hellooo there my equine friends! Fancy seeing folks like yourself out these ways…at night, and soo alone. Did you need help finding anything in particular?” A cheshire grin spread across his face as he finished his banter, I guess I would call it that, though it felt more like a taunt to me. He looked at us, grin growing as I turned my herd to face him.

My instinct told me not to turn my back on him as I looked at him from under my hood, holding in another snort as I just felt that would break the fragile feeling in the air, which told of bloodshed at one wrong move.

“No, I’m sorry sir, we were simply leaving. No need to bother yourself with us, we will gone in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”

He looked at me strangely for a second, something flashing in his eyes before his grin returned.

“Well how could I forget my manners? My name is Arch and helping lost…souls is my game. I couldn’t help but notice that you poor ponies are out here, my territory if you will, alone I will gladly escort you somewhere safer.” A small chuckle before he continued his talk, “No charge of course, I wouldn’t dare-“

I interrupted his long winded explanation, it was telling me to leave. “Sorry we were are leaving, have a pleasant evening.” A firm but polite statement to let him know we are as good as gone.

With that said, we turned to leave, not needing to confirm our direction, as there was really only one way to go: the city. Turning around while keeping them in my peripheral vision I almost relaxed, only to shift my wings under my cloak as our steps were cut short with more Diamond dogs coming out of the shadows from where we came from.

Fuck, I tempted fate tonight, just had to think there would be no trouble at night. I wouldn’t be doing that again.

“You seem to misunderstand me pony, you will be escorted somewhere safer-“ My mind began racing as I tried to figure out how to get out of here without flying and revealing myself. “- and more private. The streets aren’t safe at this hour after all.” I could fight my way out of this, Chrissy and Lyric are pretty good at magic. But if there were any police forces in this world this would attract them and I didn’t want to gather their attention.

“Ari?” Chrissy said quietly, fear in her voice, which made me worry even more. She had been off lately, less confident I guess, maybe I was just reading too much into her reaction at Gennady’s but I felt like I was missing something. Her fear seemed too great for the measly six dogs and one cat we were surrounded by.

“Aww is the little mare scared? Don’t worry we will take care of her.”

My eye twitched at his tone, the care sounding like something perverted and I felt my magic thrum in my horn, and the golden glow illuminating my face before it hit me. An idea, a crazy idea that might not even work, but I had to try.

“OH! A unicorn, this will be fun! Boys-“

I never heard the end of what he said as my magic enveloped Chrissy, Lyric and I. My body feeling like it was swirling on a breeze as I pictured my destination: a bakery we had passed on the way down the hill.

As my magic dimmed I opened my eyes and immediately saw the wooden bakery sign in the shape of a cinnamon bun, it was why I remembered it in the first place. My stomach was never full here. A thump beside me made me look over, Chrissy and Lyric had landed in a heap in the empty street, my golden glow dissipating from them.

Landings would have to be worked on, but I figured out teleporting at least. It was like the locating spell except I pictured the particles rearranging themselves like in ‘The Time Machine’ only this time it would be teleporting not time travel, I figured if magic was intent and focus it might work. If not we would have fought so it was all good.

Even with my less than stellar landing I couldn’t help but give a small whinny of happiness and broke into a prance around my mares, my cloak billowing with the speed of my victory prance. My happiness was overflowing, we were safe, and I learn-

"Ari!”

“ARI!”

I stopped and looked at them, they were giving me a weird look, “I teleported!” And with that I gave them each a quick kiss.

They looked at each other then back to me, “We saw.” Chrissy stated in a tone I didn’t understand, it was flat but with an edge. Something was off, now Lyric was giving her an odd look too. At least it wasn’t just me that thought Chrissy was being strange.

“What’s the matter? Shouldn’t you be happy, we escaped those skeeveballs!”

Lyric turned her attention to me and gave me a kiss back as she raised an eyebrow playfully at me, “Skeeveballs?”

“Yup they gave me the creeps and I am soo glad that worked!” My adrenaline was still pumping as I hugged them with my forelegs, it felt a little different than wing hugs but I went with it.

“No, those were Diamond dogs Ari, that means- we were soo close to being captured! They are slave traders!” Chrissy sounded afraid still and it made sense, being a slave would be scary. Going to her side I placed my neck over hers, no one would touch her. Especially those slave traders, we might have to investigate them, I mean slavers really shouldn’t have a boat, right?

Giving me a trill in response Chrissy took a deep breath and smiled, it was a little faked, worry still leaking through, but she was still trying to calm herself.

Again the topic of slaves was coming up and that troubled me. The Diamond dogs, Jabbar and his gang, and now Arch. Perhaps there was more than the weather going wrong in this world. But the pressing question is who would even buy slaves? I hadn’t seen any in the city, or any, well, anywhere! This was something I would have to figure out later, we had to find Dinara still.

“But we weren’t captured, we are safe and strong. I know we could have taken them in a fight but the less attention we get the better.” Looking at her I saw the worry slowly fade from her smile. “Anyway since a date is out of the question now and the library is probably closed, how about we start looking for Gennady’s sister now? He said she is always working and nothing bad could happen to us, we are the only ones in the street.” I felt Lyric come to my other side, ready to start looking. “Plus I can-“

A thump sounded from behind us.

Jumping around with our horns ready, with golden, green, and pink magic thrumming, we all turned around to face absolutely nothing.

“What? Who’s there?” I asked the thin air, not believing that the thump was nothing.

We waited for a good minute and nothing jumped out of the shadows, no doors opened, and no nets came down from above. Relaxing my stance I looked at my mares than back at the empty street, our hoods were down from the sudden turn and I could see my confusion mirrored on their faces.

“Maybe that’s a good idea.” Lyric piped up, looking at the shadows with weary eyes and ears pinned back in fear, eager to be inside chatting with our new helper right now instead of here.

Giving her a nuzzle I turned to Chrissy to see her opinion, she was gazing at a shadowy alleyway two shops back, blue green eyes unblinking. I looked at the darkness then back at Lyric before she too gave that spot a gaze as well.

“I don’t see anything.” I stated looking at Chrissy.

“Me neither.” Lyric chimed in.

Chrissy gazed at the spot a second longer before sighing and kissing me, “I-it must have been just a cat. Let’s get going.”

I felt her glance back before we pulled our hoods up again and started off. Following Chrissy’s lead we took a turn down a new street. As we moved down the unfamiliar streets a fact hit me, there were no homeless sleeping in the archways here, there was no litter, and yet there were slaves. What the hell world?

But I tried to focus on the here and now.

Like how the road was gradually leading us to a trades district, the shops having open storefronts, showing still glowing kilns, bag upon bag filled with partially polished gems, and most importantly anvils. That fact alone made me pick up our pace.

After taking a left Chrissy halted at the corner, gazing at the shop in front of us. I couldn’t tell if it was the one, the writing was hieroglyphs to me but the pictograph of a gray anvil made me think we were at The Steel Anvil. Looking to my mares I smiled at their happy smiles, which confirmed that this was our destination.

This was The Steel Anvil.

It was a slightly more elaborate shop than the other smith’s shops around it, for starters it was actually fully enclosed, with a ten foot tall door that was twice as wide as the other shop doors. I was filled with a little trepidation at the size of the door and what lay beyond, no who lay beyond, a potential helper that can do what I can’t.

There was still somepony up, a faint ting of metal being hit reaching my ears even with the doors closed.

Grabbing Gennady’s letter from the bag, I held it in my magic as I held a hoof to the grand door. This was it, I looked at our appearance quickly: three ponies in poorly made cloaks, that if anyone looked closely could tell they used to be blankets and our faces were covered by the hoods. We were arriving in the middle of the night as well.

Not suspicious at all.

I’m soo glad I thought of having him write a letter now, this would save some confusion hopefully, and really I just didn’t want to go through the whole ‘she is a changeling AND she isn’t going to kill you’ bit again.

Anyway here goes nothing, knocking my hoof on the door three times, the polite number I believe, I took a step back and waited. The soft tinging ceased inside and muffled thumps could be heard, shuffling my hooves I looked around. The street was still empty, the moon still shone, and I began to sweat beneath my cloak. I couldn’t help but be a little nervous about meeting her.

What if it isn’t Dinari but her mentor that answers the door?

What if-

My worries were interrupted as the door swung inwards, the handle being held by a tall, slate gray Minotaur much to my relief. No dealing with her mentor tonight, unless her mentor was a minotaur too... No this minotaur was eight feet tall, taller than me like Gennady said his sister would be.

The Minotaur was a obviously a heifer, her assets covered by a off white cotton shirt and further protected by a thick, black apron. A sweat soaked bandana was tied across her forehead, a forehead that was scrunched in confusion now. Caution clearly warred in her eyes with curiosity as well, glancing at the letter I held in my magic, then back at us.

“Sorry I don’t speak Saddle Arabian, do you speak Equis?”

It took me second to realize what she meant and I guess it made sense. We were taller than the Equestrians after all.

“Actually I speak Equis better than Saddle Arabian, although my mares are quite fluent in Arabian if you wanted to learn. But I digress, Are you Dinari Vasiliev?” Surprise flicked across her face before it turned into a stone mask, eyes cold.

“Yes and who am I talking to?” Her voice sounded guarded now, most likely wondering how I knew her name, being a suspicious looking pony in the middle of the night and all.

I might as well gain some trust here.

Flicking back my hood I passed the letter in front of her hands, she grabbed it after a second, still looking at me. “My name is Ari, Gennady said you wouldn’t mind doing some…special work for us.” I stressed the word special, locking my eyes with her. “He wrote a letter for you, it should explain everything. May we come in and talk?”

Her face was unchanged, before giving a snort and opening the door wider for us.