Luna took a deep breath. All was fine, there was no reason to worry, no reason to be nervous.

"How long does it take? It can't be that difficult." Tia pressed her ear against the door. "I mean, be a pony, add some wings, and you’re there, right?"

Luna breathed out slowly. There really was no reason. Chryssi liked her, Chryssi was nice, Chryssi could do a lot of very scary things and yet was far less troublesome than her sister. Changing was gross and weird and remembering the sound of cracking skin sent shivers down Luna's back, but it wasn't worse than anything else. There was no reason to be afraid. No reason.

Tia frowned. "I think Willowbark is talking. Why does he have to talk so much? We have stuff to do. Important stuff. Do you think I should enter and save Chryssi?"

It wasn't right to be afraid. It was the way Chryssi was, and she couldn't do anything about it. It was important for her, she had to do it to come to the next Spring Festival. Tia was gross too sometimes. Like in the morning, when she drooled. Tia wasn't scary, and that was worse than what Chryssi did.

"She's answering something. I think he finished. I hope he finished. I don't think she could get a word in if he hadn't finished." Tia stood up and moved away from the door. "I'm kinda curious how it came out. What do you think? I'm betting on green and black for her coat and mane."

She didn’t have to see the process. She didn’t have to remember it. Luna flinched. She shouldn't remember it, it was useless, it was just making her feel ill and it made Chryssi feel bad. And Chryssi didn't transform in front of her, she had promised she wouldn't do that, and she hadn't. It was always in another room, behind a closed door, and she hadn't even shown the results. They were good, probably, otherwise Willowbark wouldn't have agreed to let them go out, and he wouldn't have pleaded for them with Donna Copper Horn and Meadowsweet.

"I wonder if her mane will be green or if it will be black. I would have guessed green because her mane usually is, but when you can change maybe it's better to change as much as possible. I'm betting on a black mane."

All the adults had given permission, that must have meant that the new form was really good. And now she was beginning to wonder how it really looked. Maybe Tia was onto something with all her eagerness. Maybe–Luna blinked and looked at her sister. Why was Tia looking at her like that? Why did she seem worried? What–

The door opened and Luna took a step back. In the frame stood Willowbark, grinning. He came out and turned around. "Come out, let's show off a bit."

"Uhm, alright…" Past the frame of the door, a white filly with a poofy blonde mane and purple eyes peeked out. She glanced at Luna and smiled coyly. "Surprise."

"See, Lulu? Neither green nor black, exactly as I said." Tia walked up to Chryssi and pulled her out from the room and into the arcade. "That is awesome! I wouldn't have recognized you at all if I didn't know it was you."

Chryssi stood there, a pegasus filly smaller than Luna, with tiny wings folded against her sides. She was stocky, and her tail was as poofy as her mane, like a soft blonde cloud attached to the backside.

Luna was confused. Very confused. Right before her stood Chryssi. That was clear, it told her so through every move and the expression on her face. It was so evident that it was almost scary, because impressions aside, the filly there was so completely unlike her friend as to be a stranger. Luna closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again. The sensation was still there, even if not as strong as before. "You are… white? Why are you white?"

"That would be on me." Willowbark patted Chryssi on the head, his hoof sinking in the airy mane. "I insisted that she tried something opposite her natural color, to learn. And then we kept it while working on shapes. We can decide to try something else, but I think it will take some time. What do you think, Chrysalis?"

"Uhm, I can try. Maybe in a day or two–"

"No need for that!" Tia grabbed Chryssi and turned around. "White is fine, we can keep it. No need to do something about it right now. Lulu, time to go. Thank you Willowbark, see you later."

"One moment."

Lulu flinched. That was the tone for I know you want to do something I won't approve of so let's ruin your fun. In hindsight, she should have expected it. Tia had been excited and eager to do whatever she wanted to do, and that sent all kinds of signals to the adults.

"Yes?" Tia turned around.

"Let's put down some rules before you go out to play."

Chryssi could taste the irritation Tia was putting out. It was bitter, spicy, a bit ephemeral. She didn't like it at all.

"Stupid rules. I had a genius plan, and now I have to throw it all away."

The day was warm, the sun had almost reached the point where morning became noon. Chryssi and Lulu sat in the shadow of the repaired hay-shack, while Tia was stomping and grumbling back and forth in the sun, apparently immune to or at least ignoring the heat.

Lulu sighed and said, "Tia, what was your plan? You didn't tell us what you wanted to do, just that we will go to war and conquer and be triumphant."

"What my plan was?" Tia stopped and turned around to look at them. "I want to take a bath in the creek, and own it. The summer will end soon, and I haven't had one yet. I haven’t gotten to do that for–" She frowned. "–for years. That's, like, half of an eternity! And now that we can go out there with Chryssi, we can't even have her scare away Clay and his band of morons! That would have been perfect, you know? Challenge them, then get Chryssi to come in the middle of it and scare them away, and when they return with adults because they said something about a monster there would have been just us, three normal fillies playing. And then we would have the creek for ourselves because they wouldn't dare to come at us anymore and we would have won forever."

Chryssi shuffled her hooves. "Uhm, I don't know if I want to scare anybody. Fear tastes bad and then it leaves this weird stuff in my mouth and it takes at least two buns of honey-bread to get it out. And I don't think Meadowsweet or Donna Copper Horn would give me honey-bread if I scared…" She looked up to Tia. "Who did you want me to scare?"

"A bunch of stupid colts that own the creek and don't want us there." Tia snorted. "You don't know them, lucky you, but believe me, they are a vicious bunch of ponies."

Lulu groaned and leaned against the wall. "Tia, do we have to do that? Last time we got caked in mud up to the ears. And it has been, like, half an eternity, you said so. I know he's a colt, but maybe we can talk it out this time?"

"Hah, you wish. I met him and Mint at the Spring Festival, and I can tell you nothing changed." Tia sat down, and there was a strange kind of satisfaction surrounding her like a mist. "It was when we were listening to the bards. You and Meadowsweet were getting some food, and he and Mint came to me. Started out all weird and sneaky with asking why we didn't come anymore and so on, but talking a bit and a couple of very clever and pointed remarks from me were enough to unmask such a stupid ploy. At the end he said something, like, that if we submitted to him and joined his band or such we could come to the creek too, but we had to respect him and blah blah blah. As if."

That didn't sound nice at all. Chryssi frowned and turned the new information around in her head. Considering what she knew, and she knew a lot thanks to Tia, the idea of submitting to a bunch of– She blinked and asked, "What does it mean to submit and join a band?"

"It means he can give orders and we have to do what he says. I would sooner never swim again rather than take any orders from–" Tia's face distorted in disgust and she almost spat the last words. "–Clay."

Well, that confirmed it. Taking orders from a colt seemed an absolutely ridiculous idea. Something like that would never, ever happen. And now the idea of scaring them made suddenly more sense. And yet Willowbark had been pretty clear, doing that would be a very bad thing, and it would disappoint him and disappoint Master Sottile and then Donna Copper Horn and Garvino and all the others. This whole swimming thing didn't really seem worth that.

"Can't we go swim somewhere else? There are other places along the river." Lulu traced some doodles in the earth with her hoof. "I mean, submitting and that? Never! But still, maybe there are other things we can do, things that don't end with us covered in mud."

Tia squinted at Lulu, walked up to her and sat down right in front of her sister. "Do you want to surrender? Do you want him to be victorious? Really?"

"I…" Lulu bit her lip. "Isn't there another way? We can try with diplomacy. I mean, I doubt he got a teacher for that stuff."

"Mmmh." Tia tapped her chin. "The whole Judges thing was a lot of talking about stuff. What did we get out of that aside from a wasted day?"

The sigh was filled with meaning, telling almost a story in itself. Lulu closed her eyes and said, "We got two lectures. And nothing else."

"We also got Donna Copper Horn to glare at us," said Chryssi. She felt that it was the kind of important detail one shouldn't forget. Forgetting that could mean one got another glare.

Tia smiled and nodded. "Right, we also got that. Now, Clay isn't the kind of pony giving out lectures. Or glares. Well, he tries, but let's be honest, he isn't that good at it. Anyway, Clay is the kind of pony who falls back on mud." She reached out and put her hoof on Lulu's shoulder. "If we fight we could lose. I don't think so, because I've already got a couple of ideas for a cunning plan, but let's say something unexpected happens and we lose anyway. Then we get caked in mud, but at least we put up a fight. That is better than talking and losing for certain, right?"

That was pretty solid reasoning, thought Chryssi. If the plan didn't require her to scare anybody then it would be perfect. They would win and she wouldn't even get a bad taste in her mouth. And yet—and she couldn't understand why—Lulu didn't seem quite convinced. Uncertainty and worry floated around her, which was such a strange contrast with Tia's determination that tasting the two things together felt weird.

"I don't know, Tia. It still sounds like a bad idea."

"It's three of us, I think we can take anything." Tia pulled Lulu in a hug and patted her on the back. "Look, I need you to do it, but if you really don't want to come, then we can leave it be. We'll find a way to get to them next year, alright? I hate the idea of having him win without having to lift a hoof, but I won't be angry or disappointed with you, I swear."

"I…" Lulu nuzzled Tia's shoulder. Chryssi took it as a sign and joined the hug.

They stayed that way for a while, when Lulu said, "Let's hear the plan. As long as we are together, we'll never back down."

The path amid the trees was well trodden, not just by ponies but also by the many other denizens of the woods. Shafts of light cut through the canopy and danced on the dirt. From the end of it, hidden behind curves and plants, came the shouts of foals playing and the splashing of water.

It was a peaceful scene, something which a zebra ruralist could write about in verses. A deceitfully calm prelude of what was to come. Celestia knew all about it. She had read the chronicles of Commander Snowstorm's campaign against the Unicorn Enclave and the Journal of Iron Hoof the First Mechanist. Soon there would be a battle.

She smiled. It would be a very short one if everything went according to plan. And if something went wrong, well, there were contingencies. Not that she expected any part of it to fail. She knew well her adversary, and he was predictable and far from brilliant.

It was almost time. It should have been enough for Lulu and Chryssi to take position, or at least to be on their way. Celestia took a deep breath and moved on the path.

The shadow cast by the trees was pleasant, and for a couple of moments, her mind wandered from the challenge she was about to face. Not for too long, though. After a few turns, the path opened up on the creek.

A three-pony-high rock-wall covered in moss rose at the back of the clearing, from which a small waterfall gaily blubbered into a large pool. Boulders all around it made for wonderful jumping platforms, and from the larger trees surrounding the water hung ropes and the occasional creeper. From the top of the wall a thick-built pink filly jumped with a happy scream, landing with an impressive splash. Behind her, two other foals were waiting. She recognized Mint's green coat immediately, while she didn't know the gray colt. A pegasus was napping on one of the rocks on the side of the pool. On the other shore, two almost identical foals, a colt and a filly, piled up rocks in what could, if one was generous and added a healthy supply of imagination, be a small house, with a jute doll lying between them.

Celestia observed the scene, and for the first time, she felt doubt. Was her plan really the best way to go?

"Look who came!" Right, him, up there on the rock-wall right next to Mint. He was the reason why she had to do it. It was his fault.

Clay hadn't grown much in height in the past couple of years, with Celestia becoming a full head taller than him. What he hadn't gained in stature he certainly had gained in muscles. His gray coat was trimmed, and his black mane was cut short. The delicate, decorated vase on his flank struck a weird contrast with the rest. He smiled. "Finally decided to join us? Where's your sister?"

"Hah, join you? In your dreams. I'm here to get the creek, and I don't need Lulu for that."

"To get the creek? Heh, right…" He jumped down on a boulder below the rock-wall, then landed on the ground. It wasn't graceful by any measure, but it was… Celestia guessed that solid was a good way to put it. "You're still in time to join us."

By this point, Celestia had become the center of attention. Even the fillies on the other side of the pool had stopped their games and were looking over to her. "Join you? You mean to submit, right? You told me so yourself. Well, no, that won't happen. Not now, not ever."

"I did? I did!" Clay's face went through weird motions. If Celestia had to guess he didn't seem, for some reason, too happy. He didn't probably like that she remembered and had seen through his plans.

"You did. So, I won't submit, and I don't think you will surrender, will you?" It was only right to give him a chance to back down.

He frowned and looked over his shoulder.

Celestia nodded. "Thought so. Well, that doesn't leave many other choices, right?"

"What do you mean? Wanna fight? We’re a lot and you're alone." He scratched his head. "I know you unicorns are weird, but that sounds stupid."

The trap was laid out. Time to put the bait in. "No, that's not what I mean." Celestia smiled, she had the right to be smug at this point. "I'm great, but even I couldn't do that. No, I propose a battle of champions." She looked around, making a show of measuring up every foal in the creek. "You said we should join your band, which means these are your minions. Choose one, and they shall battle against my champion for the right to keep the creek."

A not very subtle whispering rose from the foals. "What did she mean by minions?", "Who's that?", and "What's a champion?" seemed to be the main topics of furious if confused discussion.

Another piece right where she needed it. Confusion was good.

Clay's ears swiveled following the back and forth of the discussion. He turned around and shouted "Silence!"

The foals obeyed.

When he returned his attention to Celestia he almost snarled, "That's a griffony thing to do. You spend too much time with the pony-eaters. It's not good for you."

"They're not pony-eaters! And even if they were I would prefer passing time with them than with you!" Celestia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. That wasn't in the plan, at all. She had to find her place in the scheme again, and it wasn't to simply start a brawl. When she looked again at Clay, who had lost his snarl and replaced it with shock, she was once again the calm center of awesome machinations. "Anyway, a challenge of champions isn't something griffons do, it's more a minotaur thing, and an old tradition of the ancient pony kingdoms too. You aren't scared, right?"

And so he fell for it. "Ain't scared of you. Mint, come here."

Mint was a big colt. A whole head taller than Clay, a whole lot less nimble, and almost uniformly green. He didn't so much jump down from the rock-wall onto the boulders as much as falling and landing on his hooves. He wasn't as muscular as his boss–more on the lanky side–but still cut an impressive figure. He came up at Clay's side and lowered his head. "Yes, Clay?"

"He's gonna be my champion." Clay looked Celestia right in the eyes while he pointed at Mint. "Who's gonna be yours?"

On her right, between the bushes, Celestia saw a brief glimpse of a dark-blue coat. She allowed herself an open smile. "I'm going to be my own champion. I will stand up to the challenge."

Both Clay and Mint were taken aback. Good. "What d'you mean, you're your champion? You can't do that!"

"I can, Clay. I mean, who else should I call? It's just me right here. Certainly, there's not my sister. Or anypony else. I can't have one of yours be my champion, can I?"

Clay glared at her.

All in all, Mint gave the impression of being more confused than usual. "Clay, what does a champion do? Do I have to fight her? I don't like fighting fillies."

"Don't worry Mint, I won't hurt you. I don't want to hurt you." Celestia stood straighter. "But you weren't much opposed to dragging me through the mud in the past, were you? I think we can do something like that, just with me doing the dragging this time. If you want, you can surrender, though. It would mean that I'm the winner, which suits me just fine."

Mint scratched the ground with his hoof and looked away. Clay looked around, eyeing the surrounding trees and sniffing the air. Finally, he turned back to Celestia and snorted. "Yeah, that would suit you alright. No, not gonna do that. Not gonna lose to a pin-head. Mint, drag her through the mud, she asked for it."

There was a moment of silence as Mint looked back and forth between Clay and Celestia. "But–"

"Do it, she asked for it." Clay turned around, ears low, and walked to the rock wall where the other foals were gathering. "I said she should submit, she won't, she wants to fight. Can't help it."

Something didn't sit right with Celestia. He fell for the trap, but he didn't seem satisfied. Did he suspect something? What was his problem? Thoughts and hypotheses flashed through her mind while she tried to reexamine every possible angle to see if the plan was at risk of failing. Nothing came to her, and then Mint's presence looming over her brought her back to the present in an instant. Things were in motion, and if she wanted to avoid eating dirt she had to concentrate on the immediate threat of the colt coming at her.

Mint wasn't fast, but his long legs gave him an impressive reach which he was determined to put to use as he half-pounced, half leaned forward to get Celestia.

Flights of fancy were a thing Celestia indulged in often and with delight. She was fairly certain that many who knew her thought that meant she was easily distracted. They were wrong. One of the things she had learned while living with her old mother and father was to be aware of the now and to understand her circumstances with crystal clarity. There was no other way if you wanted to have a chance when in a scrap with somebody stronger and bigger than you, like a sibling. And since she had joined with her new family she hadn't lost it, because Lulu was the exact same way, and Celestia had no intention of losing to her little sister.

Mint was almost on her, and it was clear that he lacked that particular trait. He was a colt, he was big, he was strong, he never had needed it.

A fraction of a heartbeat later the course of action was clear. Celestia dashed forward and ducked under the outstretched leg. Her magic flashed, grabbing his hind-hoof and making him stumble forward.

"Hey, no fancy magic!" came from somewhere amidst the spectators.

Celestia didn't stop, dashed forward to the river-shore, and levitated three blobs of thick, clay-like mud. "I'm a unicorn, it's what I do." She turned around and shot at her adversary, who was still turning around.

She hit him all three times, the mud leaving dirt tracks on his flank, his neck, and his face. Good.

Mint faced her, spat out a bit of the mud that had managed to enter his mouth, and glared at her ignoring what should have been an ignominious end of the duel. Not good.

Three new blobs rose from the ground while Celestia stepped back. "There's more where those came from."

It didn't seem Mint had learned the lesson as he stormed forward. Celestia again shot him, hitting him only once. He had jumped sideways and dodged the other projectiles.

He reached out, Celestia ducked and slipped below his foreleg like before, and grabbed his hind-hoof. With a bit of luck, he would tumble into the creek, sealing her victory. She pulled, but this time the hoof didn't budge.

And then she felt something pulling her tail, making her stumble and fall down.

Her nostrils quivered as she smelled the wet dirt from so close. She had to get up and away, she was far too exposed. And then two forelegs pressed down on her head and her back. She tried to raise and throw off her captor, but he was too strong. Wiggling and slipping out didn't bring any better results.

"Stay down, you lost."

Hearing that almost brought her to try again anyway, but her mastery of tactics and strategy overcame those primitive impulses. She couldn't overpower him directly, which meant she had to play it smart. There was a plan, and if she could just get a bit of time then–

"Hyaaaa!" Lulu's warcry put a smile on Celestia's face. She felt Mint's weight shift as there were shouts asking "What?" and "Where did she–?" coming from the assembled foals. That was her chance. She twisted around and felt Mint's hooves slip off. Just a bit more, a push here, a kick there, and she would be in the fight again.

Mint catching himself and blocking her again put an end to that.

In the trap again. At least she had moved her head enough to see what was happening with Lulu's attempt to cripple the enemy's structure of command.

Lulu was struggling under the twins, with Clay standing back and looking down on her. "Let me go!"

"What did–" Clay shut his mouth, then turned around and glared at Celestia. "Was that your plan? Distract me and attack me from behind?" He stomped forward and glared at her. "Was that it? Well, it failed. You failed. I win. You lose."

Celestia turned her head a bit. "Well, that was one of the plans, Clay. Just, not the only one. And you didn't win."

"What?" Clay took another step forward. "What'd you mean?"

He was standing alone between the rock-wall and Mint. Celestia dared to glance upwards, then smiled. A bit of dirt ended in her mouth, but it was worth the confused expression on Clay's face. "Well, you'll see what I mean in an instant. It will be a splendid surpri–NOW!"

Chryssi flung herself from the top of the rock-wall and opened her wings. An instant later she hit Clay in the side and went tumbling with him tail over head towards the shore. Surprised cries came from the assembled foals around Lulu. Mint's hooves left her back as he turned around to see what had happened.

It was now or never. Celestia rolled away and jumped up. She tasted earth, she knew her mane was a mess without even looking at it, and her coat was probably in even worse conditions. But as she saw Chryssi sitting on a downed Clay on the shore of the creek, her hooves holding him down, her left wing holding a large glob of mud ready to strike, Celestia knew it had all been worth it. Every knot in her mane, every scrubbing she would have to endure, the scolding they would get for how messy they were.

Victory was sweet.

Clay gathered his wits as he was struggling under Chryssi. "Who in the frozen wastes are you?"

"I'm the surprise," said Chryssi.

"She is, and we won." Celestia stood straight. "Tell your band to let Lulu go, and then leave us the creek."

The river burbled, the birds sang in the trees, and the blades of light framed the scene of Celestia's victory in a way she would probably try to capture somehow. And then Clay asked, "Or else?"

That wasn't a surrender, Celestia was pretty sure of it. "Or else what?"

Clay looked her right in the eyes. "You said I should let your sister go and leave the creek. What happens if I don't do that?"

Chryssi blinked, looked at Celestia, then down at her prisoner. "Then I cover you in mud. Right, Tia?"

"Yes, she'll cover you in mud." Clay wasn't going along with the plan, and Celestia started to have a bad feeling about this.

There was a brief moment of silence that gave Celestia hope, and then Clay grinned and said, "And?"

"You know? I was thinking that the whole talking a lot and doing the Judge stuff wasn't that bad." Lulu chewed and then spat out a glob of mud. She was covered head to hoof in dirt, some of it already cracking and thicker clumps falling down. "I mean, it was boring, but boring doesn't taste so bad."

The dirt between her feathers itched. Chryssi opened her wings and closed her wings. Something was lodged in there.

Maybe she could transform. Her smooth chitin plates would be easy to clean, it would all simply fall away. Chryssi looked around. The forest was far behind them, and the fields all around seemed empty. Just for a moment, just to get the itching out.

A wave of misery, shame, and regret washed over her.

Tia was walking a bit behind them, head low, her coat even dirtier than those of Chryssi or Lulu, sticks and grass in her mane.

Her friends weren't happy, they all would get a scolding like they hadn't had in months, and Tia seemed to have lost all her energy. Transforming and risking to make everything worse wasn't a good idea, Chryssi decided. She could live with the itching.

"I admit I wanted to swim too, but I think the whole approach here was a bit wrong." Lulu stopped and passed her hoof over a stone, bitterness surrounding her like a stinking cloud.

Guilt joined the unpalatable mixture emanating from Tia. It was awful, almost intolerably so.

Chryssi's ears dropped, she folded her wings and slowed down until she walked on Tia's side. "I'm sorry. I… I should have scared them, like that time with Geno. I–"

"Shut up."

The words made Chryssi stumble. It was sharp, hard, hot, focused. She had never felt so much anger from Tia, and it was all directed at a single pony.

Tia was so furious with herself as to be scary. "You didn't do anything wrong. Lulu didn't do anything wrong. Nobody did, except me." She sat down and closed her eyes. "Me, me, me! It was just me. And you came along anyway and did everything right and you did well not scaring them because that would have been a mess and–and– Yargh!"

There were maybe three heartbeats between the first tear peeking from Tia's eye and Chryssi and Lulu hugging her.

"I–me and my stupid plan, it's all my fault. I messed up and– and you paid for it and–" Tia sniffled. "–Donna Copper Horn will be angry and Master Sottile will be disappointed and it's all my fault."

"Glad you saw it too." A gust of wind pulled up dust around them as Ginevra landed behind Tia. "I feared for a moment that you would be too stubborn to recognize the f–foul up."

"Wha–?" Tia tried to wipe the tears away, spreading the dirt even more across her face. "Where did you–?"

Ginevra snorted, her feelings all mixed together in a soup where Chryssi couldn't identify the ingredients. "I followed you. We were a bit worried about the little bug here, but I gotta say she held up admirably even when those little pests got the scum. Little Moon here was pretty brave too. No tears at all." Ginevra patted Lulu on the head, then turned her eyes on Tia. "Now you, well, what were you thinking?"

Squirming, Tia tried to disentangle from the hug with little success. "I… I wanted to play in the creek again and swim and jump from the waterfall before the summer ended. And Clay and his minions have it, and they are too many and I thought we could be smart and win the creek back. And there’s all the stories about the battles won when you get the other queen or king or when you make a surprise attack or such. And–"

"Hush." Ginevra's claw closed on Tia's mouth. "That's not what I meant. The plan itself wouldn't have been half bad in the proper context. If your threat had been–" Ginevra shut her beak, shook her head, then released Tia and said, "Look, the problem is that the thing at the creek, that wasn't a life or death situation where there were no other choices. That was a spat over having a place where to take a bath, and to get it you broke your word on the challenge. You don't do that, or what you say isn't gonna be ever worth anything."

"Tia just wanted us to have a nice place!" Lulu hugged her sister tighter. "What else could she do?"

Ginevra sat on her haunches and left out a sigh. "I'm not the best one for this stuff, you know? I'm far too glad to go into a scrap and all that, but even I can see some of the things smart ones like Master Sottile or Donna Copper Horn would say: you could have looked for another creek, you could have asked for the help of us adults, you could have talked it out with the other brats–"

Tia exclaimed, "But Clay hates us. And he hates me most of all."

Knowledge could, at times, be pretty uncomfortable. Mostly when one wasn't sure if using it was a good or bad thing. On one hoof, what Chryssi knew would show that there had been some false premise from which Tia had started making her plans. On the other hoof, it could maybe help in the future.

"No, he doesn't," said Chryssi and Ginevra together.

"Right." Ginevra shook her head, "Like the little bug said, he doesn't hate you. Heh, if I had to guess I would say that…"

They waited for a couple of heartbeats, then Tia asked, "You would say what?"

"Nothing. You'll get it soon enough, and I don't want my feathers plucked because I put ideas in your little head too soon." Ginevra snickered. "But yeah, believe me, he doesn't hate you. And talking would have done the job for you before this whole thing."

Tia lowered her ears and bit her lip. "Oh…"

"Hey!" Lulu perked up. "You were there. You saw everything. Why didn't you help us?"

Ginevra reached forward and lifted Tia out from the hug."You weren't in danger, and you didn't put them into danger, no reason for me to break up a pretty good lesson." She hugged Tia and patted her on the head. "And I think you learned something important here, right?"

"I–I guess so."

There was a huge clump of dirt and grass lodged in Tia's mane. Ginevra pulled it out and passed her claws through the hair like a comb. "Good enough. Keep it in mind the next time you deal with those other brats. Now let's return home and get you a bath. And when you'll not be grounded anymore, let me show you a little place I found in the forest. There's a river, a nice pond, and no reason to fight over it. I think it'll do until you get a better plan."