****

Above Shallow Shale

Ari

For the most part the storm was over.

Yet, I felt no better knowing that fact. It was just one storm of many that this planet faced. The aftermath just a another fact for the beings outside of Equestria. Buildings, lives, and lands lost with a frequency that made me worry.

What if this didn't work?

As the sun rose it had been plain to see that the gray clouds still lingered above the city, the only change being the color. Lightening to the color of ash rather than the charcoal they had been last night. Although, that small change didn’t exactly make me feel better, more rain was clearly coming in. The far reaches of the Narrow Sea’s horizon was as black as night despite the celestial body clearly peeking down through the dense covering of cumulus.

But I didn’t have time to measure the approach of the storm.

We needed to be up and over the Gryphon Republic today. It would the hardest area to maneuver in and as such would probably take most of the day, if not all day. I mean, by underground rail it took eight hours or so. And that was without fog, the possibility of storms, and maybe even air traffic. It was the Gryphon Republic after all.

But Minotaria was flat, so I could make up time there.

A smile curved up my muzzle, widening as a sudden thought struck me. My eyes found the lever stuck at the lowest setting, keeping the airship idle, and somewhere in me I wanted to ignore the mechanic’s warning and crank it all the way up. Let it run crazy for a small amount of time. My wings flexed against my barrel at the prospect, strangely excited. I shouldn’t be excited to almost stress an engine, my new home, but any thought of movement made my instincts rustle around my skull in a desire to do something.

Releasing a breath I clamped them down, I would need that energy later. First, before I could test my speed I had to cross that mountain range. Yes, that one behind the white wall of pseudo clouds.

So, I took a big breath in and focused on getting us up and over the mountains.

The engine was purring, all the instruments were showing optimum levels of magic, and the various oils we used were hardly touched according to the meters. Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to raise the lever. My gaze had been caught in the columns of dark smoke as they rose toward the sky, originating from somewhere in the city. It was a clear ‘SOS’ signal to the world if I ever saw one.

“Ari,” Chrissy queried quietly, sidling closer as she leaned further into me. Obviously wondering why we were still here when everything was ready.

But I couldn't tear my eyes away.

That was somebeing's home.

Everybeing followed my gaze to the coastal city, ears twitching slightly as faint yells drifted under the door from the crowds. Since the sun rushed to position it had been like this. The words were unimportant, but the panicked tones and frequent occurrence of the yells told me all I needed to know.

More storms, more fires, and somewhere there was more flooding. I was willing to bet on that. It was a picture so plain to see that it made me tense up under the weight of it.

It wasn’t just the destruction that ruffled my feathers, it was the fact that anybeing could remain ignorant to it as Echo was and apparently the princesses as well.

This would be front page news on Earth.

Something was definitely off in Equestria and I didn’t quite know what to do about it besides ponynap the rulers and say 'look at it'. From what I know they control the celestial bodies and weather, making their land a paradise. Surely that was genius levels of magic, controlling nature herself. Yet, how could anybeing miss the fact that messing with one thing created a ripple effect outward? It was basic cause and effect, magic seemed to follow that rule, yet…I just didn’t see how this had gone on. Racism was one of my first thoughts for motivation outside of ‘who doesn’t want to live in paradise’, but something didn’t add up with that theory…Thestrals mainly. That logic was clearly missing a motivation or a detail along that way, yet no being here either saw it or thought to inform me of it.

And the god thought I would be a good choice, the ignorant alien.

God sucked.

Chrissy and Lyric were beside me though, my rocks in this chaos, and so I exhaled away my worries for now. I would have my answers soon enough.

No words were needed as I turned to my mares, looking first to Chrissy as she frowned at scene outside, and then my gaze went to Lyric. Her lips were turned up into a weak smile as we made eye contact, it didn’t quite inspire confidence though. Around me were the rest of my traveling companions, half of which were settled in, and they also bore splayed ears and other signs of worry for the city. Pausing in their pillow fluffing to stare at the scene, since this was going to be a boring trip they had brought cushions from the dining room into the control room, and I had teleported more food up.

Going through my mental checklist I felt little calmer. We were set to leave, nothing more could really be done to the room, and I wasn’t waiting around for the sea storm to move in.

The wind whispered by the door as I raised the levers simultaneously, sending the engines out of their purring and into a rhythmic thrumming. With a turn of the knob more gas was added, sending us both up and forward simultaneously, only a slight lurch letting me know we had moved. Heartbeats fluttered in my ears as I felt a brief shot of excitement course through me. The harbor was growing smaller with every second, the many ships around the piers and moored on the beaches becoming dots. The beings frozen in open mouthed stares as we looked down at them.

Can they see us?

I glanced at my mares with a frown, stilling my wings as they went to blanket my herd.

Keeping my magic’s grip on steering wheel tight, I started the wide turn around, and leaned into Chrissy as a tilt started. Slowly I kept on it, ignoring the masculine snort and scrapping of hooves on wood as I focused on the rocks closing in on the ship’s right side.

I could see the water foaming against them as the wind angrily howled against our hull.

Pitch black clouds still remained a great distance away, for now.

But, dear lord those rocks were close to the bow, I leaned back as well as into the turn as the dark cliff got closer. My herd and companions joined me in the lean, as if that would slow our forward momentum somewhat. As we got a closer look at the weathered formations, I noted they were still shiny with moisture, and small puddles had formed among the dips among the stones.

We were that close.

Somehow parking it facing the sea didn’t seem so smart anymore. Sure I wasn’t liable to tear off somebeing’s roof in a botched liftoff, but the obstacles around the water looked much worse in this light.

Not that turning right would have made much of a difference with how wide I had to turn the ship, modest it was not.

Alongside the harbor were the beaches, which were bordered by craggy sea cliffs that I could now see were teeming with sea birds of various species. The fact that I could identify their nests made me quite aware that we still hadn’t cleared the cliffs in the liftoff. And with collections of rocky outcrops along the cliffside it made me a tad overzealous about completing my turn as fast as possible, the tilt of the deck already telling me it was much sharper than Nomalanga would have liked.

But it still was not my worst turn.

I slumped down to the pillow as the bow just scraped past the cliff, shortly joined by my mares as the room gave a collective sigh of relief. The harbor in Malawia was much easier to maneuver, less cliffy.

The fog shrouded mountains were in my sights now, separated from the dull rooftops by fog that extended all the way up into the clouds.

Slowing the engines for a second, I let the gas go wild in the balloon above us. Holding my silence, I started to fluff my feathers as a new worry occured. Just how tall were the mountains? There was only so much of the city to pass over before the white began.

Faster and faster we rose into the storm clouds, the variety of brown clay roofing tiles growing smaller before disappearing as gray started swirling past the window. The sound of gas filling the balloon took up the the room as we watched endless ashen landscape make way for us, not daring to jinx the moment with words. This dark view carried on till we finally crested the clouds.

Well, that layer of cumulus anyway.

A brief moment of awe came over the room then as we discovered a unique place that lay between the gray masses. It shone in a diluted light that inspired both melancholy and the urge to touch the clouds. For illuminated above us was another layer of clouds, slightly lighter in color as it covered the bright orb that was unnaturally held in place over us. Puffy cumulus dominated my vision, gray and white swirling around, and even in front of the ship there was a wall of white fog that completed the feeling of being surrounded. It was the type of solid fog that made you nervous to step a hoof into. My awe was certainly gone then, the mountains weren't visible, and I almost missed the amazed stares of the townsfolk over this challenge.

I could see the stares at least, the mountain, not so much.

Not that I wanted the attention, my actions alone might have jump started the rumor mill since not many airships went into the continent. That was just another reason to park it at the edge of Equestria. Ponies would start searching for the princesses and I didn’t want everypony knowing the giant white airship had the only Alicorn stallion on it.

Breathing slowly, I tried to calm myself, tried.

You would think leaving the crowded city behind would have alleviated some of the dread that viewing the destruction created…Well, it didn’t. The mountains ahead of us would have had been hit as well, and possibly Minotaria. So, it was basically out with one worry and in with a new list of them, starting now and ending when my missions ended.

At least my tour of destruction was only going to be too easy to give…Which was…Good? Was that a good thing? What was my timeline on this? Was I some deus ex machina for an all powerful god as time ran out…?

Somehow I doubted that, that bastard could have been kinder about everything, really.

But…He did, sort of, in a very twisted, self serving way answer my wish to have kids.

However , I had to talk with royalty first. Feathers spread themselves out as that thought hit me, like really hit me. Me talk to royalty, it was almost unreal.

Royalty…No, I ignored their title for the moment. I had to converse with mostly racist mares that would almost assuredly be thinking of exactly along the lines of what god wanted from me. And one had killed my mare friend’s father, while quite possibly both were responsible for sending my other mare friend’s family to another world…I really wish there was a way to describe how fucked I felt about the upcoming meeting.

But, there was Chrissy and Moonlit Echo’s experience to draw on…

“So,” I briefly glanced at Chrissy before turning my attention to the approaching wall of fog, “How do you talk to royalty?” Both Echo and my mare raised an eyebrow at that. Right, maybe that was the wrong word, “Properly I mean. You know all that etiquette stuff?”

Just ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ wouldn’t cut it for princesses; call it a ‘feeling’, but nothing was ever that easy.

Her muzzle opened to answer me when a strident voice exclaimed, “Did you just say etiquette stuff?” I nodded at the Thestral, glancing at the fog before returning to his pinned ears. “This is a key part of your plan! Why are you talking about it like it is the gossip column in the local paper?” Finished for then, he huffed at me, trying to look intimidating, and he failed at that in my opinion. The matted fur and shackles just made me feel bad for him.

Baths were in the future…

“Look Echo, I didn’t mean it like that.” I narrowed my eyes at the fog but it didn’t get any clearer, so I turned the ship slightly, so we ended up parallel to the mountain rather than heading straight for it. We watched the wall a minute longer before releasing our disquiet in various sighs, rustles, and even a gulp.

The tips of the mountain were still absent.

Coming back to the cabin I gave him a small smile, “After everything I have had to learn I just feel a little played out,” sighing, I nuzzled Chrissy’s cheek. At least they brought some sanity to my crazy life. “So I meant that more in the sense that I don’t even know if I am using the right term for this planet.” He blinked as his withers lowered. “I really appreciate the help everybeing is giving.” Ears perked up from the cushions around my herd, Ayodele’s eyes shined slightly, even as my mares leant into my barrel slightly harder than normal. The correlation wasn't lost on me, but that was so far down my list I let it slide. “So,” I locked eyes with him, “Since you work with Luna every night, what tips do you have for conversing with them?”

Golden orbs just blinked before they focused on the floor.

Dividing my attention once more I adjusted our path slightly and brought a bale closer. Disappointment on my mind as I noticed the straw-like color of it, bran flavored breakfast. And the barrel of apples was in my siren’s clutches…She couldn’t eat all of them, right? My magic tipped the barrel slightly as rose colored magic held the apples in, draconic eyes started to narrow, and with that I quickly returned it to its upright position.

Half of it was gone already, so maybe with the foal helping her she could finish it.

I would just get another one later.

Settling for the hay, I began inhaling breakfast, instantly understanding her reaction. The rolling of my stomach coming to the forefront of my mind with each bite. I wouldn’t give up my food with this consuming feeling inside me. The clearing of a throat made me pause in my ‘chewing’ as I watched the guard shift his rump on the pillow.

We waited and all eyes were on the colt as the ship continued to climb higher. Bringing back the question, just how tall was the Gryphon Republic? I mean, we couldn’t even see a hint of the town anymore! Endless gray surrounded us, more clouds gathering, along with the white wisps of fog that clung to the rocky spires in sheets.

Another clearing of his throat echoed around the room, thankfully this time he finally managed to produce his thoughts. “For starters,” his eyes grew hard, “Don’t arrive late to a set time.” A pause hung in the air as I scrambled internally to count the nights...It had been almost three weeks now, possibly, I wasn’t one hundred percent certain on that.

I wasn’t late, was I?

Looking to Chrissy, I panned my head slightly, suddenly very uncertain if my timeline was correct. Being knocked out in the hull of ship didn’t make for great time keeping, and the ponies imprisoned with me hardly made good watches. She was counting as well, tapping an ebony hoof in time as Lyric cocked her head.

“You did put my arrival time as three weeks, right?”

It would be just my luck that Chrissy would put it as two weeks instead of including the important ‘or’ in the letter.

“Of course I did Ari!” I looked between her and my siren, who was still thinking, “And we are definitely going to make it!” She turned her muzzle to me, frowning, possibly at what I suggested. “I merely edited some of your redundancies and added more detail where it was needed.” Her frown held, but her eyes wavered between mine and Lyric’s with her ears following suit as I looked back at her. I tried to think back to what parts she meant but it was all a blur. Hell, the hydra seemed like a blur of swamp gas, burning pain, and rapid fire movement in my scattered memories.

Releasing my breath I shook my head at the floor, “Sorry, it is just I can’t quite recall exactly what I said and I didn’t know what you edited-.” I cut myself off, opting to breathe deeply for a second. My heart slowed down, “I was just worried that I broke the first rule…It wouldn’t due to be walking into a meeting with two already pissed off Alicorns.”

The slap of a hoof to a face sounded as I finished.

“And don’t swear!”

I turned from the growing scowls on my mare’s muzzles to look at the exasperated look on the guard’s face. Noticing my eyes on him Echo pinned his ears, more confident as he continued. Just bite him… “You won’t make far in the castle talking like an uneducated dirt muncher.”

His mouth continued to move, but I ignored his words, slowly narrowing my eyes at him instead. That phrase almost sounded racist with that tone he had said it in.

Those pinned ears grated on my nerves as well.

Stealing a glance at the zebras to the left of him I confirmed it was definitely derogatory. The way their eyes narrowed, ear flattened, and nostrils flared all but screamed what they desired to do to him.

And I did want to keep to my word…

“W-AHH,” the exclamation cut through the chatter as I felt a grin make its way up my face. I really didn’t mind this part of the deal.

Echo watched the ethereal paddle fade, huffing noisily as the mares and I restrained our laughter. Violence didn’t solve all my problems, but it certainly made them more amusing. Blinking at the sudden smooth sensation on my body, my humor was replaced by confusion. A pair of tails whispered across my butt, slowly dragging themselves down to my short length of a tail as I turned to glance at the owners. The grins they wore grew almost conspiratory in nature.

I didn’t mind that one bit.

Slowly I extended my wings, spreading them over my herd as we watched the colt in amusement. His nostrils flaring as he struggled to calm himself. But I let him struggle, learning wasn’t always easy, and quite frankly I wouldn’t mind if he took the hard way.

My magic was still growing.

We still hadn’t cleared the fog but I was caring less and less about that, we had hours left in the morning, and a whole afternoon to use as well.

Finally, he came to his senses. Shooting me a glare, Echo simply ground out, “Don’t swear, they will take offense.”

Well, wasn’t that elementary. Don’t use profanity around officials, sheer genius.

“I wasn’t planning on doing that,” I had some common sense. “Anything else I shouldn’t do?” I looked between Chrissy and Echo as both grew thoughtful.

“Bow-,” Echo started.

My mare interjected, “No!” Both Echo and I gaped at Chrissy, “He shouldn’t bow.”

As they became locked in a scowl-off complete with ears pinned back. I couldn’t help but cock my head at Lyric, and finding no answer I turned to the cousins. They splayed their ears back at me, raising eyebrows as the opinions clashed silently across the room.

“Okay, I give.” Turning to my marefriend, “Why should I not bow? Cause I was figuring that bowing or kissing hooves would be more along the lines of respecting royalty?” Common sense said ‘yes’.

Her ears perked up, considering my face for moment before a twinkle came into her eyes.

The scowl was gone and that worried me more than her anger.

Rising from under my wing she trotted around to face me. By this time we all were watching her with looks of confusion.

Averting her eyes from mine she folded a foreleg to her chest, extending the other far ahead of her chest while her face tucked into the gap between her forelegs. I slowly came to realize this was a bow of sorts for equines. I watched the demonstration intently and yet I didn’t see the point as the clock ticked on, she wasn’t moving. Was there more to it?

The ticking started to echo in my ears as she remained in position.

Lyric looked at me pointedly, her eyes whipping between mine and Chrissy’s prone form as the seconds grew longer, a minute having passed then. Mouthing ‘what’ back at Lyric, I gesticulated at the form of our herd mate. I didn’t know what to do. And the mares across from me weren’t helping when they looked at me expectantly.

The fog was still outside the windows, hints of something darker peeking through as I tried to catch Chrissy’s eye.

But she had them closed; even her wing was silent and folded to her chitin.

“Chrissy?” I watched her intently, an odd sensation of discomfort clenching at my stomach as I watched her continue to prostrate herself before me. Despite having her rump high in the air there was nothing alluring about the pose. I didn’t feel respected either, but maybe it took a special mindset for that. My ears were gravitating backwards slowly as even the guard didn’t have an answer to my look.

She still remained in position.

I just about to use force make her move from the pose when the guard spoke up, “You have to allow her to rise.” His tone was almost automatic in its nature. While his ears were splayed at the display and a faraway look hung in his eyes.

Controlling the discomfort for a second, I turned back to my mare. “You can get up Chrissy.”

Like a switch had been thrown she rose with a grace that eased my discomfort somewhat, although it still lingered with the image of her bowed low in my mind.

It was just wrong, both my instincts and logic agreed on that. The phrase My mare didn’t mean lower than me and if that was a bow…

“Are you feeling alright my liege?” Chrissy asked in a flat tone, a tone that I pinned my ears fully at. A smirk slowly grew on her muzzle, “I see that you saw my point.” Confusion briefly filled me as I pondered over the last two minutes of awkwardness. “As everybeing seems to forget, I had to be Lovebutt for awhile and you would be surprised what you learn about them when the public isn’t around.”

She seemed to be waiting for something as sea-green eyes glanced at Moonlit Echo then back to my deflating feathers.

The mountains tops were slowly growing clearer.

“Well,” I questioned. My wing lifting as she pressed up to me with a relieved sigh, shifting on the cushion for a second before looking to me. Dulling eyes searching mine with a grim line on her muzzle.

“It isn’t entirely about being proper with them; they are schooled in keeping a straight face through anything, even a verbal slip up.” As a second sigh escaped my marefriend I turned and started nibbling at her ear, but she just shook me off. “Thank you, but I can’t concentrate like that,” a small smile played at her lips as my mare nuzzled me in return, and I smiled back. Turning to look at Echo her smile retreated, “Even around their guards they have a pretense to keep up.” He simply slumped his withers, most likely already coming to that conclusion.

A flash of slick rock caught my eye as more cumulus swirled behind us in our seemly endless ascent.

Her eyes returned to mine, “What I was trying to make you all see is how much bowing separates the royalty from the ponies. It felt odd to be bowed to, didn’t it?” I nodded slowly, already seeing the way it would come across. “So I think I don’t need to say how unattractive that is when you want an equal partner, assuming they do.”

Yeah, I had to act interested in mares that ruined and tore up my mare friend’s families…What a nice reminder.

“But you met them; surely you have an idea of what they are like? I mean you were disguised as an Alicorn so they must have revealed some things.” She had hinted at it. I looked intently at Chrissy as her frown deepened under everybeing’s gaze.

“I almost blew my cover.” We all blinked at her admission. Ears splayed she began, “I-I may have missed some fact or quirk from when I observed Cadence for the mission.” My grip on her was quick to tighten as her brow furrowed, and she looked down, “Whether it was due to Moonbutt’s time with Lovebutt or my own failure to cover all the bases in my disguise, somewhere along the line I messed up. Sunbutt turned distant to me partway through the mission, Moonbutt grew unsure and awkward in my presence…Even the nobles seemed to grow suspicious.” A light buzzing was added to the whisper of gas and thrumming of the engine. “They would hush up whenever I entered a room and would only talk of mindless diversions when the guards were around.”

As she paused to stretch out her legs it hit me. What about the third Alicorn?

Before I could question that possible obstacle Echo spoke up. “Of course they do.” We turned our attention to him, the confusion practically tangible as he gave an eye roll. “The nobility of Canterlot are renowned for considering status above practicality; it isn’t really suspicious that they talk of pastimes you consider mindless.” Several snorts came from the mares in the room, but he only had eyes for my changeling. “Besides, didn’t you have changelings disguised as nobility too?”

Like a tennis match our eyes went to Chrissy as she gave an eye roll in return, “I did, but they never got anywhere with the others.” For a second she clenched her jaw, “In fact, several almost blew their cover when they asked questions for me. Even subtly worded questions like ‘what do think of Princess Cadence’ were met with standard complementary answers, cookie cutter responses,” the Lunar guard was frowning, ears splayed while he slumped down onto his cushion. “Your princesses are clever, they, or should I say Celestia has kept up the act for over a millennia.” Chrissy’s eyes met mine then, “It is so ingrained in her that she can hide her suspicions behind mask after mask.” Her eyes were fearful to me as they dilated.

My head hurt a little at that.

Okay, it was racing and pounding as my instincts demanded and pleaded with my common sense to abort the mission. Not only did I have a third Alicorn floating around somewhere in this plan, very possibly working with the diarchy, but I am dealing with mares that sound like they could lie their way out of a murder…While covered in blood and stabbing the body still. Were the nobility in on it? Where did that leave the guard? I looked to our resident guard…How had he believed they were so altruistically good if…

Excuse me if I felt a little overwhelmed.

“Chrissy,” I rubbed a hoof to my head, breathing deeply before continuing, “Just where is Lovebutt?”

Looking up I saw her mouth form a ‘oh’ before she rubbed her chitin along my neck. “Don’t worry Ari, she has her own kingdom to run in the north,” a rueful chuckle escaped her muzzle, “And that magical mess is going to keep her pretty occupied.”

I didn’t ask what that entailed, but that was more because I didn’t want to know what sort of ‘magical mess’ took up an Alicorn’s attention for awhile.

With that out of my system I went back to etiquette training. Bowing was a big ‘no’ if I wanted to attract them, along with the common sense of ‘be on time’ and ‘don’t swear’. Obviously I wasn’t going to touch them, well, when they were conscious, and I certainly wasn’t making any of the mistakes I made around Ayodele...Actually, being overly friendly might work if they weren't complete stiffs.

Speaking of that mare, she suddenly twisted around as my eyes unconsciously traveled to her. The zebra’s ears shot up as she gazed outside with her best impression of a fish. Following her line of sight I went with that reaction as well.

The fog was finally below us.

Feathers ruffled along my wings at the sheer expanse of dark peaks before me, my mouth couldn’t form words for the sight. The Diamond Mountains had nothing on this view. For as far as I could see there were rounded points breaking the expanses of pale wisps, slick stone shiny in the muted light hitting them, and some tips were just indents in the mountain top. I focused on the nearest one as it came near, the spider web of cracks, and the matte look odd beside the otherwise shiny stone spires.

Just what had made those?

Recovering a little, I started to spin the wheel to the right while I slowed the whisper of gas. The airship was high enough to clear them now, but the endless horizon of peaks and valleys didn’t inspire relieve. Most were too far to really tell how tall they were.

Taking a breath look back at the way we had come as we the slow turn I lost the smile that had come to me. It was just dark. Different shades of storms merging to smother the sea in a deadly blanket.

Facing away from the super storm, I snorted and turned to group. “Some weather, huh?” The responses were unimportant; I meant it more as a rhetorical question and my mares seemed to pick up on that, staying silent. Laying my head down, I filed that image away for my motivation, placing it right beside my herd in my mind.

“When you meet with them sit up straight,” I perked my ears towards Echo, who also hadn’t bothered rising. Nodding into the cushion I watched him wiggle, faintly jingling the chains under his body. “And never pin your ears at them, or snort, or really anything disrespectful.”

“So I just smile, nod, flirt,” He was nodding along with each word, “And don’t inform them about the coming doom the rest of the world is facing because of their actions.” And that was when he stopped nodding, instead blinking as I quirked an eyebrow his way. I had accepted already that it was unavoidable to say or do something negative. In fact, I would be suspicious if somebeing was all smiles and cordial behavior, which was just unnatural-.

“Mmm,” I hummed out.

His reaction was lost on me then as Lyric had started licking at my scabs, muscles that I hadn't realized were tense relaxed, and I melted into the fluffy seat. Pure heaven, the itching had come third to eating and steering, but it had been there still. Her moist tongue spread over each lash with a slow care, removing errant hairs that had folded into the cuts.

And then Chrissy started on my other side, her tongue narrower when compared to Lyric’s, but none the less very effective at soothing my wounds.

We did have hours to talk...

Before I could fully turn my head and start on Lyric’s mane a snort captured my attention. Muzzle poised over my mare’s head I simply swiveled my ear in his direction, “Yes?”

“Can you ever not do that?” The way he spoke, ‘that’ was synonymous with murdering puppies.

Sighing, I felt Lyric shudder but tried to ignore them. “Look, I need to have some fun, some joy in this twist my life has been thrown in.” His ears slowly moved to the side as I raised my head, arching it as I continued. “We all know that I won’t get this luxury when your rulers get here.” The urge to bite him rose again. “Even if I hide my herd you will tell them everything,” everything. I held back the wince, replacing it with pinning my ears back, “And I won’t get a break.” What about after? “Even my new home isn’t safe, is it?”

My herdmates paused in their ministrations, replacing the moist warmth of their mouths with their hot breaths as muzzles pressed into my mane.

I watched the ears fold back on my new friends as they watched the Thestral with me.

He was watching the window.

Quietly a sound came from him, too low and quick for me to catch. The sea of fog stretched on beyond the glass barrier. As I opened my mouth to ask him to speak up his shoulders shook with his breath in. Pausing, I watched him, relaxing my neck as he shuddered once more.

“I couldn’t quite say where you came from to anybeing that didn’t…” He trailed off, his own batlike wings hugging his barrel before he continued, “If they are aware, then I won’t really be a guard anymore.” Exhaling he finished quietly, “My Luna isn’t one that would allow that destruction…Then she might not be my Luna.”

Keeping my muzzle shut I laid my head back down, the feeling of relief at his words not feeling as sweet as it should be.

What if I couldn’t change their mind?

Mountains passed by below us, indifferent to the stale atmosphere in the room. The idea of being right had never felt so bad. My herd had settled into the same state as the rest of the room. Dull, only twitching an ear or eating on occasion. The clock showed it had passed into the early afternoon when the feeling grew too much.

This moping can’t be good for the foal. I glanced at the dark crown of my mare’s head. I’m not changing anything like this.

Among the things left to do some were last minute things, the cake would be baked the morning before I left, and the pack would be packed the day of as well. But, the horizon ahead of us hadn’t differed much from the black and white mountain range, I was going to hitting Minotaria tomorrow which was still better than walking.

I wasn’t doing that if I could help it.

But I could do my favorite activity on lazy days, reading.

Crackling sounded as I imagined the stack of books appearing, the golden glow attracting everybeing’s attention. Yawns reverberated around me as the tomes appeared. The five nondescript books that I laid out before my herd.

Eyebrows rose as the covers revealed themselves, sliding the two obvious foal centered ones aside I looked between the last three. One had the stylized ‘S’ on the cover, beside it the other two looked slightly interesting if only due to the easier to understand cover engravings. One had a hoof arranging symbols along a line and the other had a picture of an Alicorn’s silhouette dominating the cover.

Yet I understood none of it.

“So which book do you think would have a healing spell in it?” I looked between Chrissy and Lyric, the latter frowned at the ‘S’ book as I had come to think of it as.

Using her hoof, Chrissy dragged that book forward, indifferent to the pinning of Lyric's ears. “Probably Star Swirl’s Compendium…” I stared at the massive tome with a dropping jaw; it was easily a thousand pages. As if she saw my look, a grin played over her muzzle, “That is volume one, he was a magical prodigy in his time.” Lyric simply snorted and whipped her tail around. We all looked at her, a frown growing as I thought back.

“Starswirl,” I said hesitantly.

Her eyes closed and she started to breathe deeply, her brow furrowed and jaw working. Just as I thought, there was a dislike…Strong dislike for that stallion. But he was dead, at least it sounded that way. Chrissy had said he was old and that he was a prodigy, of course he could just be retired and senile.

Moving on from the clearly sore topic I tightened my wing over them and flipped the book open to what appeared to be a table of contents.

“Oh fun…” Lyric muttered as her eyes opened to scan the page with me, the only ‘reading’ I was doing was trying to find common symbols. Which I did, sort of, there were over thirty different symbols that I counted so far.

“Flip.”

Dutifully I did, nearly groaning as I saw the headings and subheadings multiple. This would be so much easier if I could read…

“Flip.”

As I did this time I caught a peek of what appeared to be at least five more flips worth of the table of content. It didn’t surprise me when I heard the order given again or even when Ayodele and Ayomide grabbed a book to read. Echo went back to watching the fog below us.

Once more they called in unison, “Flip.”

The mountain range looked about as endless as well.