"What did you do to my mother!?" Cotton Tail shouted at Discord. The creature had just returned and Cotton Tail had been stewing waiting for answers. He wasn't going to be polite with the creature after seeing the state his mother was in.

"Hello to you too, and still just as polite and thankful as ever I see," Discord responded back with a raised eyebrow, the eyebrow actually seemed to be completely detached from his face.

"What did you do to my mother?" Cotton Tail repeated.

"You seem to have a stutter or something, you already said that. But to answer your question I saved her from being ground up into a paste and repackaged in a chewy snack for little ponies to eat. Again, you're welcome for that, even if there seems to be a distinct lack of gratitude going on here," Discord responded.

"Thank you for saving me," Night Mist said as she walked over to them. "Don't be so rude Cotton, I was in much worse shape earlier today."

"He could have kept you from being in bad shape at all. He saved me with no problems," Cotton Tail snarled. Why couldn't she see that this, Discord, had done this on purpose. It was some sick joke to him.

"I waited till the moment no pony would realize that she had been saved. I gave your mother a great gift, Peridot thinks her dead. You can do a lot when no one knows you are alive and well," Discord said with a laugh.

"You call this well? She is only half pony anymore," Cotton Tail said with a gesture to his mother.

"My son does bring up a point. What am I?" Night Mist asked. She didn't seem particularly upset still, which made Cotton Tail's flesh crawl.

"A pony last I checked, just a little more durable, and a little stronger. Those new parts will be able to take abuse that your old parts would never have been able to endure," Discord answered, pulling one of his eyes from its socket and passing it over Night Mist, before returning it to its home.

"Why should she need to worry about taking even more harm than she already has?" Cotton Tail asked in a tone laced with aggression.

"Hush, Cotton. Let me ask my own questions," his mother snapped at him.

"But.." He began, before his mother cut him off.

"Hush," she said again. Turning to Discord again she asked. "Can you make the rest of me like that? More durable, made of metal, like the new parts?"

"Mom.." Cotton tried to interject.

"I said hush, Cotton, and I meant hush. I do not plan on just sitting on my butt now that I have a new lease on life," Night Mist cut him off. "Fury, can you do it?"

"I prefer things not be all uniform. It is kind of my nature. You will have to work with what you have been given as of right now. I am intrigued to find out what you have brewing in that head of yours. You were never a fighter, but that seems like you are getting ready for one," Discord laughed.

"I want to set Ocid free from Peridot. I can find a better way than what she is doing now. No, I am not a fighter, but being able to deal with ponies shooting at me, or that bitch trying to pound me into submission again seems like it might be important to that end," Night Mist answered.

"Sounds like this is personal," Discord smiled.

"You trying having your life uprooted, your mistress forced into exile, your back broken, and being put through a food processor and tell me how not personal I can take it," Night Mist said darkly. "Peridot is a disgrace, and my mistress should have removed her from power long ago. Sunset isn't here anymore, but I am, and I know Peridot needs to go. I don't know how, yet, but I am going to find a way."

"Sounds like it will be very entertaining. I can't wait to see how it goes," Discord said with a smile.

"Was this your plan, monster? To push my mother over the edge to doing something crazy?" Cotton Tail accused.

"Enough, Cotton!" His mother shouted. "How often have you complained about how things are done in Ocid? How often have you expressed concern I was going to be sent off to the Bakery for being too old? You have been even more against the system than I have been. I never disagreed with you, I was just powerless to do anything about it, and had made my peace with my lot."

"I wanted our mistresses to step up and do something. They had power to do something about it. What has changed for us? We still are just as powerless as we were before. You can't fight all of Ocid," Cotton said. This was madness. Was his mother actually planning on trying to fight? Even if she were a bit more capable of it now she was still no match for Peridot . The Ponymother could likely physically crush his mother, metal flesh or not. That wasn't even counting the fact Peridot had an army at her disposal.

"I don't intend on fighting the way you think. I intend to rally Ocid to take down the current government. There is a lot of unrest, and a lot of ponies that would support us. We are also freed from our suits so we can move about the city without being tracked, if we are careful," Night Mist explained.

"We aren't alicorns, we can't stand up to Peridot or make any lasting changes. There is an army behind Peridot. Even if we got support of a lot of ponies we aren't going to be a match for that," Cotton Tail argued.

"There are likely plenty of soldiers that feel much as we do. I am sure we can get support there as well. Frankly I am surprised there have been no attempts at a military coup before now. My best guess is that they didn't think they were a match for both Peridot and our mistresses," Night Mist said.

"Sunset and Shadow should have gotten those ponies behind them while they were here then. Now it is too late," Cotton Tail grumbled.

"You're right, they aren't going to swoop in and save us now. That is why it falls to us to do something. This can't keep carrying on as it has been, we need to take action," his mother said sternly. "We have an opportunity here. I can't say we will succeed, but we have to try. Ocid may be surviving, but this is not a type of survival that ponies should have to endure. If we can make some difference we should try. Perhaps we don't even need to overthrow Peridot, just force her to change how things are done, make her accept that things have to change."

"You were just saved from the Bakery. This could lead to you getting put to death. Why do you want to do something that can end your life again so soon after getting it spared?" Cotton whispered. He was trying to hold back tears. His mother was right in many ways, but she didn't need to be the one to do this. Hadn't she endured enough?

"My life was going to be forfeit soon enough as things had stood anyway, Cotton. There are countless others who are going to face the Bakery, every pony eventually if nothing is done. My life doesn't matter more than any of their lives. How many other sons and daughters of ponies are dreading their parents being hauled off to the Bakery? How many live in terror of making the finest slip up with their job? How many are worked to death on farms? How many are forced into prostitution? How many have their foals taken from them? Do they matter so much less to you than I do that you don't want to try for them?" Night Mist pressed.

Cotton knew she wasn't going to back down. He thought about suggesting having just himself trying to do something, just so she could be kept safe, but he doubted he would convince her to sit on the side safely while he put himself in danger. He knew he was going to have to agree with her just so he could watch her back, and try to do what he could to protect her.

He glanced over at the spirit of chaos. Discord was sitting on the couch casually eating something and watching. Cotton glared at the strange creature. This was all Discord's fault. The creature didn't even care about their lives, it just wanted amusement. They were all being too boring apparently.

Cotton sighed, he would play Discord's game, if only to try to protect his mother. He just hoped the creature wouldn't twist both his mother and him too much. He feared how much had already been twisted in his mother.

Quiet Word sat staring at the stream. It was nice and peaceful, and he liked looking at the fish swimming in it normally, but not recently. Recently his Aunt Midnight had been trying to teach him how to catch fish to eat. He didn't get bothered by her bringing him fish to eat, but the idea of him catching and killing one upset him enough that it brought him to tears. It might be easy for his aunt to kill a helpless little creature, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Come on Quiet, you aren't going to catch any fish just staring at them," Dove said from beside him. She was a lot bigger than him, not as big as the grown-ups, but big enough to have to have him look up to meet her eyes. His mama said Dove was big for her age, did that mean he was normal or small? He looked at her as she gestured to the water with a wing. She had recently started to develop yellow streaks in her white mane. Dove had panicked about it to her mother when she first noticed them, but was alright with them now. Quiet thought they made her look pretty.

He looked back down at the fish in the stream. Midnight expected him to keep trying on his own while she was out hunting. His mother and the two Alicorns agreed with Midnight, as did Dove. Every pony was going to force him to do this, and it wasn't fair, he didn't want to. Why did he have to do this? Midnight brought home more than enough food.

"Quiet you got to try. Mama said so, and so did your mama and the other grown ups. Just try so we can go do something more fun," Dove pleaded beside him. It wasn't a very good attempt to get him to try. He liked spending time with Dove, but she had very different ideas of fun than him. She liked to race, and she was way faster than him so she always won. She was almost as fast as Midnight when flying, but no where near as fast as the Alicorns. He sometimes wondered if she just wanted to race him because she knew it was the one race she was sure to win.

"I saw a bunch of purple birds that looked weird earlier. I could show them to you if you want. We just got to have you do this first and then we can go look. I know you want to," Dove said, switching tactics.

She knew him well. His ears perked up at the thought of seeing those birds. He hadn't seen purple birds before. Maybe she was just making it up to try to fool him. Dove lied sometimes, and he could never tell when she was telling the truth and when she was lying. He didn't want to miss out if there really were purple birds.

"Really?" He asked her.

"Yes, really. Just do this real fast and we can go see them," Dove answered quickly.

"Not making it up?" He asked again suspiciously. He really hoped she wasn't lying to him again.

"They were not too far down the cliff that way," Dove said with a gesture of a forehoof off in one direction. "I saw them when my mama was trying to get you to do this, before she went off hunting and told me to make sure you tried. Hurry up and we can go look."

"Don't want to," he said and wrapped his wings around to block looking at her.

"Stop being a little brat," Dove scolded, using the dreaded word on him. She then sat on her butt and crossed her forelegs in front of her. "The grownups are having you do a grown up thing, you should be happy. They never let me do any grown up things."

"Then you do it," Quiet said.

"I can't, I don't have teeth like you and Mama. It's unfair, but I don't. I wish I did, so my Mama would spend time teaching me how to do a grown up thing," Dove pouted.

It just occurred to Quiet that Dove was jealous. Midnight spent a lot of time with him trying to teach him about being a thestral. Dove was jealous about it. He guessed he could understand. His own Mama spent a lot of time with the Alicorns instead of with him. She still did spend a lot of time with him, but she couldn't teach him to do the things she could do. He didn't have a horn like her to do magic with, and sometimes he wondered if he would get even more of her time if he was a Unicorn too.

He really should just do it. He should try to act like a big pony. Every other pony was bigger than him, every other pony had a cutie mark, and every other pony was braver than him. The Alicorns barely even paid him attention, they paid attention to Dove. They constantly asked her about what she was thinking about and what she had been doing. All the grown-ups did that with Dove, even his Mama, and they all seemed so interested. His Mama did that with him, but most the other grown-ups didn't. Maybe if he started trying to do grown-up things they would pay attention to him too.

Quiet Word stood to his hooves and got closer to the edge of the water. He leaned in close to the water. If he fell in it wasn't a big deal beyond being embarrassed, he could swim well enough. Dove would laugh at him if he did though.

He felt like he could almost hear the fish in the water. Hear them like hear their voices, not just the sound of swimming. It was probably just his imagination, fish didn't have voices. But the sound was in his mind whenever he got close to any animal, like there was something he just wasn't hearing right. He had asked his mama about it, but she didn't seem to hear it, none of the other ponies did. He was just weird, and heard things that weren't there.

The fish were all small, not as big as the ones Midnight would catch. That was alright, he was small too, and if he tried to catch a bigger fish he likely wouldn't be able to pull it out of the water. They were little silvery slivers going through the water. As he watched them he realized he could tell where they were going to move.

None of them were getting close to the shore though, which meant he was going to have to go out to them. That was going to make this harder, he flew alright, but his hovering in place got really wobbly. It would make getting a good grab with his fangs be a good deal of luck. That might not be really that bad a thing though. He didn't really want to catch a fish, but he had to try.

He flapped his wings, and flew out over the river. A moment after he took off Dove followed, and he could see her shadow in the water from where she hovered above him watching to make sure he was really trying. She didn't need to be so nosy. He was going to give it a real try. He wanted his mama, and Midnight, the rest of them to be proud of him. His not wanting to do this and his want for approval had fought and want of approval had won out. He also really wanted to see those birds and wouldn't give Dove a reason not to show him them.

Quiet carefully tried to lower his muzzle down near the water while still keeping in the air. It wasn't as easy as the grown-ups and Dove made it look. There was a bit of fear that he was going to mess up and go splashing into the river and have Dove laughing at him again, so he took extra time to try to make sure that didn't happen.

He took a quick glance around. He already knew that Dove was watching him from above, but he noticed that his mama and Water Shadow had stopped practicing and were watching him. His mama gave him an encouraging wave and he gulped in response. Knowing that she was watching him made this more important, and the blue alicorn was paying attention to him too. If he messed up then they would be disappointed in him. It was important that he do this right.

He sighed as he looked back down to the water and the fish in it. Again he got the strange feeling he could hear them, but he pushed that thought out of his mind. He couldn't be thinking like that or have would never be able to do this. With a great deal of care and clumsy flapping he got his muzzle down to where it was just submerged in the water with the rest of him still in the air.

The fish didn't seem that disturbed by his muzzle being there. They were still moving in ways he could predict, he just had to wait for the right moment when one got close to try to catch it. He didn't know how long he could keep himself in this position. He was holding his breath, and trying to stay still where he was was making his wings ache. It was alright for now, but he would have to catch a fish soon or come up for air and go land on the shore to rest his wings.

His eyes widened as he realized the moment was about to happen. There was going to be a fish passing right near his muzzle and he all he would need to do was strike quickly. It was only seconds but it felt like it was going on forever and everything was going in slow motion. It was swimming close, and Quiet's muscles were tense.

He moved quickly and struck. Fangs pierced the small fish's flesh. Quiet had done it, he had caught a fish!

No! Pain! Fear!

Quiet jerked in shock as the worlds hit him like a blow. In his shock he tossed the fish away to the shore rather than keep it in his mouth. His mama was cheering, as were Dove and Water Shadow. He felt like he was going to be sick. The fish, it had screamed. He knew that was impossible, bit he was sure of it. When he had not the fish it had screamed in pain and terror.

His mama rushed over and collected up the fish in her magic. She was shouting to him with pride, but he couldn't pay attention to what she was saying. He was shaking with terror at what he had done. The words that had hit him were still echoing in his mind. Why were they all cheering? Hadn't they heard it too? It had been so loud, and so clear.

Quiet's wings chose that moment to give out. His body hit the river with a huge splash. He struggled for just a moment before he was lifted from the water by the familiar magic of his mother. She pulled him over to herself and embraced him in a tight hug.

"It's okay, it's okay. I got you. I know you are a little shaken up, but I am really proud of you," his mama said to him as she hugged and kissed him. He wished this made him feel better, it should make him feel better. This was what he wanted after all. The screams of the fish were too much though. He felt dirty, he felt vile, and he never wanted to do that again. Why couldn't he have been born a Unicorn like his mama? He wouldn't need to do that kind of thing if he were a Unicorn.

"Quiet? What's wrong? You did good, why are you upset? What's wrong with him Aunt Sweet Pea?" Dove started asking, having taken notice of Quiet's condition.

"He is just a little upset. Don't worry, he'll be okay. I think he just needs to do something else for a while. How about you two go play for a bit while I cook his catch. He will feel better when you start playing," Sweet Pea assured Dove. She kept brushing his mane with her hoof and didn't want her to stop. He didn't want to go play, he wanted to go into his home and cry.

"I don't wanna," he complained as he hurried his face in his mama's fur.

"You can't sit here brooding on this, Hun. It is better if you do something to distract yourself. You'll feel better faster that way. To play with Dove and when you come back you'll feel better. I'm proud of you, and you need to be proud of yourself," Sweet Pea said soothingly. She hugged him tightly and kissed him on the head. "I love you so much."

She released him then, and he wanted to cry more because he wasn't in her embrace. Dove was still looking at him with concern.

"We can go see those birds now. I was telling the truth. There are purple birds nesting down the cliff. We can do something else if you want to," Dove said. She sounded worried about him.

"There are really birds?" He asked, trying to hold back his tears still.

"Yes, right down the cliff," Dove said, gesturing the same way she had before. "If you want to see them then come on. I'll show you the birds and you will feel all better."

"Okay," he replied in a low voice. He doubted it would really make him feel better, but he did want to see the birds, and his mama wanted him to go play.

Dove jumped up into the air and flew a little bit away before bringing herself into a hover at the edge of the camp.

"Come on, this way. I won't go too fast so you can keep up. We don't need to race," Dove called over to him.

He gave one more forlorn look at his mama. She just smiled down at him and then bent and gave him another kiss.

"Go on. Go play and when you get back I am sure Midnight will tell you a story. She will be very proud of you just like me, and I am sure she will want to reward you for catching your first fish. I am sure Sunset will want to tell you how proud of you she is too when she gets back. You'll feel better, you'll see," she said to him. He sometimes wondered if his mama had magic mind reading powers. She knew things about him without him telling her. Or maybe that was just a grown-up thing.

He wiped his eyes with a hoof to make sure he wasn't crying one last time before nodding to her. Then he lifted himself back into the air to fly after Dove. His wings didn't ache so much now that he had a few minutes to rest.

Dove smiled at him as he caught up to her. She did a silent gesture for him to follow and started flying slowly along the side of the cliff. She really was being nice to him, because normally she would take off quickly and expect him to try to race after. He wasn't sure he was happy about her feeling bad for him though. It just reminded him that he was small and wimpy.

Quiet flew after her, and tried to just not think about the fish. It was hard though. He never talked a lot, but he did think a lot. Right now he really did want to talk about what he was thinking, but was afraid Dove would call him stupid or silly.

"Dove? Can I ask a question?" He called out to her.

Dove came to a complete halt in her flight. She might have been shocked that he had said something that loud. He never got that loud. He felt embarrassed about getting that loud now, but he really wanted to talk for once.

"Um, sure. What do you want to talk about?" She asked him as he caught up to her. He was glad she didn't mention that he had just yelled to her. It would have killed all his current courage.

"Did you hear anything when I got that fish?" He asked her.

"I heard you scream when you tossed it over to the side of the stream. It was like you never touched a fish before," she said. He looked down in embarrassment and she lowered her ears as he did.

"I hadn't realized I did that, but that isn't what I meant," he said.

"What did you mean then? I heard you scream, I heard the splash from the water, I heard every pony cheering for you. I'm sorry if I made you feel bad by mentioning the scream," Dove said.

"You didn't hear the fish scream?" He asked.

"Um, fish don't scream, that's silly. So I didn't hear any fish scream," Dove said with a raised eyebrow. His ears dropped at her saying that and she looked sad again as she looked at him. "Um, sorry. I didn't mean to call you silly. I'm doing a bad job at trying to make you feel better."

"It's okay, I am just weird," he said.

"You aren't weird! Well..yeah, saying the fish screamed is kinda weird, but if you said it screamed then it screamed. I believe you," Dove assured him.

"Really? You just called it silly," He reminded her

"I'm sorry, okay. I changed my mind, if you say it screamed then it did. Why would you lie? When do you ever lie? I didn't hear anything, but you say you did, so I believe you," Dove confirmed.

"Do you think the grown-ups will believe me?" He asked hopefully.

"Uh, maybe, I don't know. You can try talking to your mama about it when we get back. Do you want to go back and talk to her now? We can look at the birds later," Dove offered.

Quiet hesitated. He did want to talk to his mama about it. Did he need to go do that now? She might think he was still just being emotional if he went and talked to her right now. If he waited a little while then maybe she would believe him more.

"Birds now, then my mama," he told Dove.

"Whatever you want. So come on, we are almost there, I think," Dove said before turning and starting flying off again.

He followed after, and after a few minutes Dove stopped. The pegasus then started looking around the cliff.

"I was sure they were around this spot, somewhere," Dove said to herself.

"You are sure there are purple birds?" Quiet asked suspiciously.

"I didn't make it up!" Dove insisted, and continued looking. After a moment or two of looking she gave a little, almost birdlike, chirp of triumph as she gestured to a nest very low on the cliff near the ground.

"See! Here is the nest. I thought it was higher up. Maybe they moved it?" Dove said as the two came in close to it.

"I don't think birds just move nests," Quiet said as he looked at the little nest. There were no birds in the nest, just one little egg. The egg was hard to notice at first as it was partially buried in the nest, and it looked there there was dirt in the nest with it which was covering part of it.

Quiet got really close to the egg. As he got close he thought he could hear just the finest sounds, like a voice that was muffled. It was like the fish in the stream again, only even lower in sound.

The nest was positioned so it would get plenty of sunlight to keep the egg warm. It was a little oblong thing. Quiet could tell there was something in it alive, something that was making the same sounds he could almost hear like when he was watching the stream. The egg was wiggling a tiny bit, which meant it might hatch soon.

What if he touched the egg? When he had touched the fish was when it had screamed. Maybe if he was more gentle this time and didn't do anything to hurt it he could hear the egg better without it screaming. That kind of made sense to him. If he could hear this egg then he could prove he was telling the truth to the grown-ups about the fish screaming if they didn't believe him.

He carefully reached out a hoof and gently touched the egg. The egg didn't feel like he expected. It was soft, and it felt kind of like his wings. He had expected it to be harder, and have a feel kind of like a shell.

Mama?

He withdrew his hoof in a quick jerk. He had heard that for sure. He looked over to Dove, but she just looked at him curiously. She didn't act like she had heard.

"Did you hear that?" He asked her.

"Hear what?" She asked with a tilt of her head.

"The egg talked," he said.

"Are you sure you are okay? First you said fish and now an egg," she said, concern in her voice.

He sighed and looked back at the egg without answering her. He had heard it. The egg had talked. He would find some way of proving it. He reached for the egg and touched it again.

Mama?

"I am not your mama. I am a colt," he told the egg.

"Um, you are being really weird right now, Quiet," Dove said beside him.

Mama. Came the voice from the egg again with a sound of certainty.

He wasn't going to argue with an egg. He was confused over how Dove could not hear it. The voice was so clear, like it was right in his head. Frustration was building up in him and he wanted to cry because he couldn't figure out how to prove he could hear the egg.

Mama sad? Came from the egg. He could tell that it was upset at what he was feeling. How did it know?

Quiet sat and thought for a moment. How did he know the egg was upset? He just knew it was upset that he was upset. He thought about the voice. Something was off about it, like the idea of what was said came before him hearing the words. Maybe he needed to talk to the egg with ideas?

Not sad. He thought at the egg, and tried to make it convincing.

Happy Mama not sad. Love Mama. Came the answer from the egg. Quiet smiled as he was making progress. He would have to convince this egg it wasn't its mama, but for right now he was figuring out how to talk to it.

"What are you doing? You are being really quiet, Quiet," Dove asked. He almost got startled by her speaking. He had actually forgotten she was there for a second.

"I'm talking to the egg," he told her.

"I'm right here, I could tell if you're talking to the egg, but you're being quiet," Dove said.

"Not with words. I've gotta think at it. It's weird. The egg is talking to me in my head, and I've gotta talk back to it with thinking," he tried to explain.

"Okay, if you say so," Dove said skeptically.

Want out Mama. Want be with Mama. Help out? Came from the egg. The egg started shaking even more. He realized it was trying to hatch, and it wanted him to help.

Quiet put a tiny bit more pressure on the egg. He was trying to be careful, he didn't want to hurt it. The egg wasn't very hard, it couldn't take that much to make it open up. The egg kept shaking as he applied pressure and a little crack appeared in the egg.

He pulled his hoof back and watched as the egg continued to shake and widen the crack. He watched in fascination as a little wing finally pushed its way through the crack. The shaking kept up as the hatching continued and another wing pushed its way out. More shaking and then a third wing, and then a fourth. Birds didn't have four wings. The only thing that had four wings was..

"Snake!" Dove yelled in terror, and flew backwards away from the hatching egg.

Yeah, that was right. He didn't feel scared though. He knew somehow the snake wouldn't hurt him. He stayed where he was and kept watching as the little snake finally freed itself from the egg.

It was a small thing. It looked almost like a big worm. It was all black except for the wings, which were blue and feathery. The little snake pushed itself completely out of the egg and raised its head up to look at him.

Love Mama. Hungry Mama. He heard it say to him. He didn't need to touch it now to hear it. He needed to find it food. What did baby snakes eat? Bugs most likely was his best guess.

He looked down around and found a big beetle crawling around on the ground. He went down and carefully grabbed the beetle up in his teeth, careful to keep the squirming thing from biting his lips or tongue. He was silently pleased he didn't hear anything from the bug like he had from the snake or the fish. Maybe bugs were too dumb to talk?

Quiet brought the beetle back up to the nest and dropped it in. The little snake quickly gobbled it up. It was a big beetle, and he was surprised the snake was able to get it down.

Mama fed. Mama good. Love Mama. Came the simple short thoughts from the baby snake.

"Um, Quiet..your flank is glowing," Dove said to him.

Quiet turned his head and looked at his flank. There was now the image of a winged snake with little symbols all around it. He had a cutie mark now, and couldn't help but smile with pride.

"We should go back to the camp," Dove said with worry.

"I need to take care of this baby. It needs me," Quiet told her.

"It's a snake, Quiet, snakes are dangerous," she replied. She looked at his cutie mark and gave her head a shake. "Fine, stay here and I am going to go get the grown-ups."

He didn't watch her go. He was far more focused on the little baby snake that was convinced he was its mama.

Mama up? Up to Mama?

Quiet tried to figure out what the little snake wanted. What did it mean by up? Did the little snake want him to pick it up? He liked it when his mama picked him up and put him on her back, so maybe the little snake wanted the same thing.

He extended a hoof down to the snake and the snake tried to crawl up on it. It wasn't doing a good job. He felt a little pinch as the snake bit down on his hoof to try to get a better grip on him. It didn't hurt, the snake's fangs were really tiny. When he felt the snake had a good grip on his hoof he reached his hoof around to his back, and the snake crawled off into his back and curled up into his mane.

Love Mama. Sleepy now. Came the contented thought from the snake. It made Quiet smile as he could feel the love coming from the snake. He tried to send back loving thoughts to the snake. He thought about what his mama did when he was trying to sleep and decided to give the snake a lullaby.

Hush now,quiet now
It's time to rest your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to go to bed

He continued the singing until he could tell the little snake had drifted off to sleep. He lowered himself black down to the ground and curled up there. He didn't want to disturb the little snake with his wing-beats. He looked around the forest and he could hear more voices like the snake's and the fish's out there. He had to focus on them to really tell anything about them, but they seemed clearer now. He could hear all the animals out in the woods. They weren't talking to him, just thinking random things. He lay his head down to the ground and just tuned them out, it felt easy to do now. He focused instead on the contented thoughts of the little snake as it slept.

"Quiet, there you are! Are you okay? Dove said there was a snake. Did it bite you? Can you move?" Came his mama's frantic voice.

He turned and looked at her. She was there with Water Shadow and Dove as well. She looked really worried, they all did. He put a hoof up to his muzzle to indicate for them to be quiet. Then pointed to the little snoozing snake in his mane and then his cutie mark.

His mama let out a gasp at each and seemed unsure what to do. Water Shadow looked at the cutie mark, to the snake, and back to the cutie mark again.

"Explain," Water Shadow ordered.

"I can hear it, I can hear all the animals. I heard the fish yell out in pain when I caught it. This baby snake, it thinks I am its mama. It loves me," Quiet explained quickly. He thought that might be the most he had ever said that fast at once.

"You hear the animals? Like voices? Voices in your head?" Water Shadow asked him.

"Yes, and I can talk back to them, in my head, and they hear me. They understand me and I understand them," Quiet explained further.

"Well then, that is special. Congratulations Sweet Pea, your colt is the first pony with a gift for talking to animals since Fluttershy. It is a rare talent," Water Shadow said.

"Um, that's great to hear, and I am proud of him, but..the snake?" Sweet Pea said in a shaky voice.

"Oh that? I suppose he is stuck being the thing's parent now, they have bonded. It actually is a good thing. That snake will defend him with its life when it gets to full size, and the little bites he will get from it now while it is small will help him develop an immunity to the snake venom. Don't worry about the snake being a danger to him," Water Shadow assured his mother.

"If you say so, Shadow," his mama said. Then she turned her gaze down to him, trying not to look right at the snake too. "You've had a big day, and I am very proud of you. How about we walk back to camp and you can get something to eat and we can figure out someplace in our home to let your snake rest. Are you going to name the snake?"

"I don't know any snake names," Quiet said with embarrassment.

"Let me suggest one that came from a story Sunset once told me," Water Shadow said. "Quetzalcoatl, it is the name of a winged serpent. You can call him Quexy for short."

"Quexy?" Quiet said, feeling out the name. Yes, that felt like a good name. He got to his hooves so he could walk with his mama. He gave his newfound companion a thought as he did.

I love you Quexy.