Colgate shivered. The mare fumbled around in semi consciousness, grabbing at her mass of bedding and trying to pull it more tightly to her body. She fought back for sleep, but the cold proved to be too much of an annoyance for her to get comfortable. She groaned under her blanket at her own forgetfulness. She hadn’t put any wood in her bedroom fireplace before shuffling off to bed, and the weather was significantly colder that morning. Colgate wriggled violently and muttered bitter nothings at no one in particular.

When the cold became too much for her to bear, she pulled the blanket from over her head and was greeted with a ray of morning sunshine. Colgate licked her tongue around the inside of her mouth, noting the bad morning taste, and marveled at how long she must have slept. She felt the persistent pain in her hoof and looked to see that the gauze was almost completely red with her own dried blood. Needless to say, it was not the most pleasant way to wake up.

When she bored of gazing up at her wooden ceiling, Colgate grunted and sat up in her bed to grudgingly greet the bitter cold day. Her pessimism was immediately overcome with sheer awe and a fluttering terror that washed through her as she leaned forward only to be met with the one and only Princess Celestia.

Colgate’s mouth gaped in surprise while Princess Celestia merely gazed down at her thoughtfully from the end of her bed. She was gently seated on her hindquarters while her stunning and magical mane fluttered in the nonexistent breeze of the room. The pair stared at each other for a few moment, Colgate’s heart beating a mile a minute, until Princess Celestia finally broke the frightful silence asking, “How is your hoof?”

Colgate’s eyes shifted from the princess to behold her bloody hoof once more. Colgate’s cheeks flushed in a mild embarrassment, and she quickly hid the hoof under her blanket saying, “It’s fine. I just had a little accident yesterday.”

Princess Celestia raised an arching eyebrow as she stated matter of factly, “I heard.” She stood up and rounded to the edge of the bed and sat again, this time much closer to Colgate. She gestured to the hidden hoof and Colgate meekly presented it to the sun goddess. The princess took a gentle hold of the hood in her own hooves and inspected it passively. She turned it over, causing Colgate to wince and pull it back. The princess gave her a skeptical and disdaining look stating, “That doesn’t look like the result of any little accident.”

Colgate gazed down and moaned silently. Before she could make any explanation, the princess continued, “I noticed the sign on your door.”

Finally working up the nerve to say something, Colgate asked, “Why did you come here?”

Princess Celestia gave her a mild look of surprise and asked in response, “You really think actions such as the ones you performed yesterday would just go unnoticed?”

“Well, no,” Colgate said thoughtfully as well as with a touch of worry, “but I didn’t imagine you would come talk to me about it.” The blue mare bit her lip and asked again, “Why would you come here yourself? I’m just a regular pony. Why would you want to meet me?”

Princess Celestia’s royal airs dispersed for a brief instant, and she exhaled a sigh that sounded like one of regret. She closed her eyes and explained, “I’m here because the problem you are having is a peculiar one and not easily resolved.”

Colgate drew her blankets around her and shivered again both from the cold and her own fear as she asked, “How did you know about my problem?”

The princess stonily explained, “Your good friend Carrot Top told my student Twilight, and she sent me a message.” The princess paused for a moment and managed a small smile before continuing on, “I’m glad she did. It’s a terrible thing to exist in the state of discord that you are currently faced with.” She sighed again, letting even more of her emotion slip. Colgate could not help but cock her head and wonder at how uncharacteristic that seemed for such a poised princess. Princess Celestia’s face suddenly turned very serious as she said, “Tell me in your own words what’s wrong.”

Colgate looked down, trying to avoid eye contact. She mentally compared her bandaged and unbandaged hooves and thought back to her outburst the previous day. She could not think of the event and her thoughts then without bitterness seeping into her heart and resentment building in her stomach. She at first planned to say that nothing was wrong so the princess would not be angry with her, but she knew that things had already gone to far for a simple lie like that. She felt moved with the emotions flowing through her and, after several seconds of tormenting silence, she answered, “I hate my job. Everypony hates me because of my job. They might not say it, but they all think it, and they all feel it.” She cringed and wrapped her fore hooves around a pillow, squeezing it hard to her chest. She continued, “It wouldn’t be so bad if I could do something else, have a different job, but I can’t.” Her eyes fell and scorned her cutie mark. “I have to do what my super special talent is because that’s what you’re supposed to do. It doesn’t matter that I don’t like it. I have to be the dentist because that’s what Ponyville needs me to be, and I’m the only one who can do it.”

Princess Celestia silently interjected, “You don’t seem to be doing it anymore.”

Colgate winced at the harshness of her tone. She wasn’t looking at her, but the princess certainly did not sound happy. Colgate had no clue what happened when the princess got angry, but Twilight always seemed to spread rumors of the unimaginable cruelties she had in store for ponies who misbehaved. She didn’t quite buy those stories, but it stood as a testament to her courage that she continued to speak, “No. I’m not. I won’t.” Her head swung up and gave the princess a stare that showed all the conviction she held in her heart as she said, “I won’t do what I hate anymore. I want a different cutie mark, a different job. I want to do something that makes me happy, and I won’t stop trying until I get what I want.”

Princess Celestia stared directly into Colgate’s eyes for several seconds, weighing her determination. Colgate was scared, but she would not let her resolve buckle. When the princess realized this to be the case, she did perhaps the most unexpected thing ever. The princess slammed her eyes shut and proceeded to beat her head against the mattress of Colgate’s bed repeatedly while groaning in what sounded like a great fit of annoyance. Colgate could do nothing but gaze in a mixture of confusion, horror, and mirth at what she found to be both terrifying and slightly comical.

Colgate’s silent mirth ended when Princess Celestia’s head banging came to an abrupt halt. Colgate’s eyes were wide with anticipation as the princess lifted her face towards her and asked, “I don’t suppose there is any way I could convince you that you are wrong?”

Colgate raised her eyebrow questioningly and asked, “Convince me I’m wrong?”

The princess turned her head away and stood. She took several steps away from the bed before turning back to face Colgate. She looked sad as she explained, “You have no idea how lucky we are. You call your cutie mark a curse, but I tell you now, it is the best thing that has ever happened to ponykind.” The sun goddess stepped forward saying, “You take for granted the peace and harmony we live in. It isn’t perfect, but it could be much, much worse. An egalitarian society doesn’t just happen. It takes unique circumstances that allow for what we have become.”

She stopped her walking and stood towering over the diminutive form of Colgate who felt very scared but held her chin up nonetheless. Colgate had made up her mind to be brave, to see this through to the end, to taste sweet life again and be happy. The princess brought her face down close to Colgate’s and said, “Your cutie mark is only a means of making your life simpler to make you happier. However, you neither believe nor understand that, and my explaining it to you won’t make you any happier.” She pulled her head back and said dramatically, “I can change nothing about your cutie mark myself, but I can offer you a choice to do something about your life right now. I can give you the option to change things yourself.”

Colgate lurched up in her bed and jumped up onto her three good hooves demanding, “How?”

Princess Celestia’s horn suddenly began to glow a dim yellow as some manner of magic emanated from it. As the horn’s glow began to grow ever so gradually, she explained, “The only way you can change is by going on a journey of self discovery. I can send you on such a journey, but I have no clue where it will lead you, nor do I know how long you must go on the journey. It may lead you to a very scary place, a place you would never have imagined. The only thing I can promise is that, before the end of the journey, you will be changed. I cannot say whether it will be for the good or the bad. That all depends on how you travel.”

As she finished speaking, the magic of her horn brought into existence a blue bead of light that positioned itself directly in front of Colgate above her bed. The blue mare with her white and blue mane and hourglass cutie mark looked at the bead of light questioningly and back to Celestia. The princess answered her unspoken question, “If you wish to partake of the journey then all you must do is touch the light. Are you ready to go?”

Colgate swallowed a lump of fear in her throat and answered with all the courage she could muster, “Yes.”

Princess Celestia nodded and said, “Good. Then touch the light and start your journey.”

Colgate looked back at the small bead of light and brought up her gauze wrapped hoof. She gently touched it, mindful that she had no idea what would happen next. The resulting explosion of light changed her life forever.

Before her hovered a circular vortex of blue light that seemed to slide into itself endlessly, cascading into a single point. Colgate looked into the vortex and felt herself drawn towards it. It was mesmerizingly beautiful, and it took all of Colgate’s willpower not to jump right into it. She pulled her eyes from the portal to give Princess Celestia one last glance saying, “Thank you.”

The princess looked sad and despondent as she watched the blue mare suddenly plunge into the gateway, wondering to herself exactly where it would lead her. When Colgate was gone, the sun goddess cooled the magic from her horn and fell to her knees. The spell was a very taxing one, and she was left breathing hard and perspiring in its wake. She looked at the bed with the mass of pillows and blankets. They looked so comforting and innocent. Most of Equestria looked that way. The princess was glad of that, but even the beautiful society they had set up was not perfect. There were always dissenters to rock the boat.

The princess closed her eyes and felt a tear slip down her muzzle to drip from her chin. It pained her deeply to know what she had done. Never mind that it had been necessary. The princess hated dooming any of her subjects to such painful truths. She opened her eyes again and looked at the empty bed saying, “You won’t be thanking me anytime soon.”

Daemeon gaped up from the ground to where the bead of light had been and was greeted instead by a swirling vortex. The circular portal emanated from a single point and spiraled outward, giving the appearance of growing larger while staying the exact same size. Daemeon gazed in a silent horror. It had been a long, long time since he had felt fear like that. True fear could only come from the unknown in Daemeon’s mind, and it had been a long time since he had come across something he did not know. The only thing that kept him where he was was his overwhelming curiosity to know what he had just opened up. Everything new to him was well worth studying and understanding.

His conception of what was new was blown out of the water as there emerged very suddenly from the portal a small blue and white figure. Daemeon lurched back and winced in pain. He brought his hand before eyes and discovered a large gash across his palm gushing blood. He caught his injured right hand in his left, squeezing hard, and looked back ahead. The shimmering blue portal had dispersed and in its place sat the strangest creature Daemeon had ever seen.

Colgate sat where she was equally confused and thoroughly horrified. The flat and naked, ape face of the monkey before her would have been scary and unusual enough, but the fact that the monkey was huge and wearing clothing from head to paw drove her to freak out altogether. She launched to her hooves and wheeled around to run away.

Daemeon watched her go while he cradled his hand which throbbed in pain. The blue creature seemed like a diminutive equine of sorts though there were several physical differences. The most immediately notable discrepancy was its size. It seemed to be no bigger to him than a small dog or large house cat. There was also the matter or its color. Daemeon couldn't remember ever having seen a blue horse before. He thought, “Perhaps it has something to do with that horn on its head.”

Daemeon’s thinking and Colgate’s running were both abruptly stopped as they experienced the same crippling pain simultaneously. Colgate fell to the ground and curled into a ball, whimpering, as she felt her chest burn like fire. Daemeon forgot the pain in his hand and instead clutched agonizingly at his heart, falling to the ground. They, both of them, laid still for several moments, heaving great breaths of pain.

When the pain did not seem to cease, Daemeon forced his eyes open and looked at the small blue horse also curled up on the ground. He thought, “She has to have something to do with this,” and shoved forward with his legs against the ground, intending to catch her and interrogate her. As he scooted forward, he suddenly found the burning in his chest to be less apparent. With much less effort, he shoved forward again. Every push brought him less pain, and he gradually found that he could crawl to his knees.

As Daemeon ascended, so too did Colgate. The diminutive blue mare rolled to her stomach as the pain disappeared and pushed shakily up on her three good hooves. She turned her head to consider the huge ugly monkey crawling menacingly to her. She was about to bolt again when the creature lifted a hand and cried, “Wait!”

Daemeon noticed that the small blue horse’s expression changed from one of fear to animated surprise. Daemeon’s mouth fell open as he considered her face. “Recognition?” he thought to himself, “Can it understand me?”

Daemeon received his answer in perhaps the most unexpected way imaginable as the blue mare cried in surprise, “You can talk?”

Daemeon’s response was given in equal emphasis, “You can talk?”

They gazed intently at each other, both much less scared and far more curious about the other. Gradually, Colgate slowly trotted towards Daemeon, looking to get a better look at the ugly, confusing creature. She stopped just a few feet from him, gazing up in awe at his size which seemed formidable even as he knelt before her. It was Daemeon who broke the silence by asking in his gentlest facade, “What is your name?”

Colgate managed a weak smile in response to his. With her injured hoof pulled up to her chest, she answered tentatively, “My name’s Colgate. What’s yours?”

Daemeon’s mind instantly shuffled through a library of possible names to use. It had been a long time since he had answered that question with any degree of truth. He could not, however, come up with any name he should use as he had never come across a situation like this and no thoughts of any devious scheme had lurched into his mind yet. Unable to come up with a reasonable name to lie with, he unexpectedly told her, “My name is Daemeon.”

Colgate flicked her tail behind her absently as a mosquito landed on her rump. She sat back on her haunches and asked, “Where am I?”

Not willing to give up such information so readily, Daemeon said, “I will tell you where you are if you tell me where you came from.”

Colgate looked around her and took in the dark, dank alleyway. The tall brick walls were imposing and frightful and the shadowy overcast of the day seemed dreadful to her. It was not at all like the bright Equestria she had just left. The princess had been right in saying that she might end up somewhere scary. Colgate turned away from her ugly surroundings to look at Daemeon again as she answered, “I’m from Ponyville.”

Daemeon raised an eyebrow and asked, “Ponyville, where’s that?”

Colgate felt nervous as she heard his answer. If he didn’t know about Ponyville then she might be quite a ways from there. She answered, “It’s my home village. It’s just outside of Canterlot.”

For once Daemeon didn’t have to fake his confusion as he asked, “What’s Canterlot?”

Colgate gaped, feeling even more apprehension building as she exclaimed, “What’s Canterlot? Why, it’s the capital city of Equestria! How could you not know that?”

Daemeon scrunched up his face. She seemed to be listing places from some country he had never heard of. That she was a little, talking, blue horse was weird enough, but his being ignorant of one of the world’s nations was truly unnerving. He demanded, “Where is this Equestria you speak of?”

Colgate balked. Either Daemeon was really stupid, or she was very, very far from home. “You don’t know Equestria!? It’s south of the Crystal Empire, east of the Gryphon Federation, along the coast of the Green Sea.”

Daemeon listened in awe as places were ticked off as though they were made up creations from some fairy tale he had read. The small mare seemed on the verge of tears as he kept shaking his head to her descriptions. When she finished, Daemeon said very coolly and calmly, “None of those places you just said exist here.”

Colgate stuttered and sank to the ground. Tears started to seep from her eyes and she felt desperation well up in her chest. She turned frantic and demanded shrilly, “Where am I!?”

Though he was surprised by the outburst, Daemeon kept his poise and said, “You are in the city of New York in the state of New York in the nation of the United States of America. Does any of that ring a bell?”

Colgate shook her head and hesitantly asked, “Should it?”

Daemeon nodded his head answering, “It would if you were from this planet. This is the most powerful nation on the planet, or at least it has the most guns.” Daemeon stood up and brushed his coat and knees saying, “If you have not heard of it than you must obviously be from some other planet where this Equestria and Canterlot exist. They do not exist anywhere on Earth. Trust me,” he said lifting a finger to tap his temple, “I would know.”

Colgate’s gaze fell to the pavement as she absorbed the revelations. The princess said she would be going on a journey, but she would never have suspected it would take her to another world. She dug her good forehoof at the unyielding tar, marvelling slightly at the unbroken texture of the pitch. This new world even felt different. Her eyes slid up to the towering monkey’s shoes. They were black and covered each paw entirely. Her eyes shot up suddenly when she felt something grab the tip of her horn. They were greeted with the big monkey’s grubby claws and his curious expression as he asked, “Are you a unicorn?”

Daemeon had read enough about unicorns to recognize one when he saw it, but he’d never have believed they were real without seeing one. He received a great scowl from the little blue horse as it dug its hooves in the ground and yanked out of his grasp saying, “Yes, and I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t go grabbing my horn like that.” She stood up on her hind hooves with much more ease than he would have expected, not unlike a prairie cat, and gave him a quick look over saying, “What kind of hairless monkey are you anyway?”

Now Daemeon knew for certain that she was not from Earth. There was no way she could be and not know about people. He gestured to himself in his entirety and said, “I am not a monkey. I’m a human.” He ran his fingers through his short brown hair remarking matter of factly, “And quite a handsome one at that.”

Colgate stuck out her tongue and said, “You look ugly to me.” She dropped back to all fours and asked, “Why are you so big? Are there more of you ‘humans’ around here, wherever here is?”

Daemeon gave a gentle smile. He didn’t find any humor in her ignorance, but he felt some dramatic effect was necessary. He swept out his arms around him, gesturing beyond the walls of the alleyway, and said, “Why yes, in fact there are over eight million people in this city alone.” In the back of his mind, he added to himself, “Over eight million fools.”

Colgate looked at the human skeptically. That was such a ridiculously large number that he had to be lying. There were not that many ponies in all of Equestria, much less in any one city. The thought of eight million big monkeys living together in one city was too much. “You’re lying. There aren’t that many ponies in the entire world where I come from.”

Any other man would have busted out laughing at the irony. It took telling the truth for him to be accused of lying. Daemeon kept his small smile, not feeling any mirth, and said, “You will probably learn soon enough yourself.” He leaned down and took in her white and blue mane asking, “So, you’re a pony unicorn? Why is your coat blue and your mane blue and white?”

Colgate scowled, not at all enjoying the scrutiny and retorted, “Why is your face hairless? Why shouldn’t my coat be blue?” Colgate was fuming. She didn’t find herself to be very pretty and anything that lended to this view of herself could do nothing but antagonize her.

Daemeon was quickly discovering that, although she was a small blue pony, she had the temperament of most women he’d met. Daemeon felt like he was standing on firmer ground in this situation. He’d been caught by surprise, but he had always felt truth to be stranger than fiction. He was sure that, wherever this Equestria place was, it was probably a lot like Manhattan. His curiosity was insatiate and he could not help asking, “Can I touch it?”

“Touch what?” she asked, backing off a step.

Daemeon held up his hands open palmed before him and said, “Your coat and mane. I want to touch them and see how they feel.” He used the kindest tone he could fake. This creature, Colgate, was something he could learn a whole new world from. He was not going to let her get away. He had to get her to trust him.

The prospect of Daemeon touching her was not the most pleasant thing she had ever thought of, but he seemed to be kind enough. She reluctantly acquiesced, “Okay. But you have to be more gentle than you were touching my horn.” As a snapping afterthought, she added, “And don’t touch my horn.”

“I won’t,” Daemeon promised, kneeling down again.

He lifted his hand to pet her, but Colgate shrank back suddenly crying, “Ew! Don’t get blood on me!”

Daemeon had forgotten the cut on his hand. He looked down to see that the bleeding had stopped, but it was still a wickedly ugly cut to see. The blood had run down his arm and stained the cuffs of his suit. He sighed when he saw that. There was no getting around his having to launder the suit now. Colgate interjected with a worried look, “You should bandage that up.” He pulled it away from her and she asked, “How did you hurt yourself?”

Daemeon glanced at the ground where he figured he had gotten hurt but could see nothing that would have caused him to cut himself. “I don’t know,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “I got it when you came through that portal thingy.” He pointed at her own injured hoof which she had pulled up to her chest and asked, “How did you get hurt?”

Colgate slumped her face to the ground sighing and said, “It’s a long story. I’d rather not say.” While her gaze was off him, Daemeon gently laid his uncut hand on the top of her head behind her horn. Colgate grunted slightly at the touch but did not recoil. She was actually quite surprised to find that the ugly monkey’s touch was really very soft, tender even. Daemeon was equally surprised to find that the mane of the small pony was extremely soft. His hand shook a little as he slid it down the back of her head and down her neck until it brushed the length of her gossamer, blue coated back. Colgate felt a shiver of silent delight follow in the wake of Daemeon’s hand, and she was almost morose when he lifted it from her just short of her tail. Her disappointment was assuaged as Daemeon brought his hand again to her head and renewed the gentle descent.

Daemeon petted her one more time, following the full length of her body, noting how she arched her back against his hand. He wanted to keep petting her. She felt so soft that it inflamed his senses. It was a rush rather like seeing an unimaginably large and grand sight. He pulled his hand away though, never having been one too prone to indulging his senses after sating his initial curiosity, and said, “I want to know more about this place you come from.”

Colgate shook herself a little and asked, “How come?”

Daemeon smiled and explained, “Talking ponies, gryphons, a crystal empire, everything you have mentioned sounds fascinating. I make it my business to learn what I don’t know, and this land you say you come from is just rich with the unknown. I must explore it as much as I can.”

“Sure,” she said, “I can tell you about it.” She stopped and again eyed the dark alleyway and the forbiddingly darkened sky and went on, “But could we perhaps go somewhere a bit more comfortable? It looks like the pegasi have a storm planned.”

“Pegasi?” he asked, soliciting a blank stare. “Never mind. I can take you somewhere where we’ll be safe from the storm, but you will have to do exactly as say.”

Colgate looked skeptical again as she asked, “What’s that, and why?”

Daemeon put his hands in the air, gesturing all around him, and said, “I am sorry to say that you have been sent here under without any knowledge of this place. Otherwise you would understand the extreme level of danger you are in.”

Colgate gulped and whispered, “I’m in danger?”

Daemeon nodded his head as a father does when explaining something to his child. He went on, “You see, there is no such thing as a talking pony on Earth, this planet you’ve landed on. You were extremely lucky to have come across a man as nice as I am. Anybody else would have grabbed you up to give to the government so you could be caged for experimentation.”

Colgate was confused and horrified. “Caged? Experimentation? What’s the government?”

Daemeon explained, “Oh it’s this horrible organization of people that controls everyone. They steal money that people worked hard to earn under the pretense of using it to protect them. They make rules that everyone has to follow just so their accepted form of continuous thievery can be instituted with no one being able to resist.”

“Really?” asked Colgate, shocked at the thought of such an entity, “That sounds awful. What would they want with me?”

Daemeon had to think quickly on his response. He had to tell her something that would create fear in her enough to stay away from any other person but realistic enough that she might believe and understand. He decided to go with, “The people of the government are afraid of anything that they can’t understand. Governments go to war all the time over misunderstandings. Some people might be so scared of you that they will try to kill you.” As he spoke, his voice grew louder to emphasize his point, “It would be a terrible shame if you were to visit my pleasant little world only to be captured and killed.”

Colgate gulped in fear and started to shy away from Daemeon taking first one step back, then another asking, “If that’s true then how do I know you’re not one of those humans looking to give me to that government?”

Daemeon laughed lightheartedly for her sake and pointed out, “If I were afraid of you, do you think I would have pet you like that?”

Colgate thought back to the feeling of his touch. It had been so gentle and kind. He couldn't possibly be one of the cruel monkeys he was talking about. She was scared though and completely alone in this foreign land. She could not turn down friends just because she was skeptical. She still had to press him with one last question, “How do I know I can trust you?”

Daemeon responded by pointing out a painfully obvious truth, “You have no one else to trust. If I am not trustworthy, then you can run away from me and get yourself killed or captured. I would count lady luck on your side for bringing you to me instead of someone else.”

Colgate stood weighing her options for a moment before deciding to give in and trust this total stranger. He was ugly, but she needed a friend. “Okay, Daemeon. What do I need to do?”

“Good!” Daemeon pulled off his suit jacket and laid it down on the ground, soiling it even worse. He didn’t care at that point. It had to be laundered anyways. He opened up the chest flaps and patted the inside saying, “We can’t allow you to be seen or else someone will try to take you. I need to wrap you up completely in this so no one can see you. Your blue coat sticks out like a sore thumb.”

“A sore what now?” asked Colgate, tilting her head at the foreign terminology.

Daemeon slapped his hand against his face and said, “Note to self, avoid expressive language.” He gestured again at the coat, “Just get it. I’ll wrap you up nice and cozy, and I’ll bring you to where we can talk safely.”

Colgate nodded and climbed into the suit jacket. Her heart raced as Daemeon proceeded to bundle her up tightly, even going so far as to tie the sleeves of the jacket together to fully cover her head so only the very tip of her snout might be seen and only then if one were to look at the tight bundle from the right angle. When she was completely bundled up, Daemeon curled her in one arm against his chest and said, “You can’t so much as say a word or move a muscle unless I say so. We are going to come into contact with a lot of people, and many of them may be interested in what I’m holding. You cannot give anyone any hint that you are sentient or even alive. Otherwise, they will try to take you and cage you or even get scared and kill you. Do you understand?”

Colgate swallowed her fear and hugged her tail harder against her chest and whimpered, “Yes.”

Daemeon stood back up and walked down to the split off from the alleyway he had entered. He was about to turn right when he noticed the backed up traffic. “Oh right,” he thought, “the crash.” He turned to the left instead, determined to find a taxi. After all, even if he had to be incognito, there was no way he would walk all the way across Manhattan by himself.

Colgate was not jostled around as much as she had suspected she would be. She actually found it quite cozy being wrapped up and held close like that. It reminded her very much of her cozy bed back in Ponyville. She pouted slightly as she thought of her bed. There was surely no bed in this new world that could compare to hers. Every pillow and blanket had been hoof picked with care for maximum comfort. It would probably be awhile before she got a good night’s sleep. “Still,” she thought absently, “I feel like a little filly again with him holding me like this.”

Daemeon worried about how he would keep curious eyes off of his prize. He waved down a taxi and climbed in. As soon as he shut the door it seemed like all the build up in the sky had suddenly given way. Such a torrential downpour ensued that he was certain of his good luck. Had he been out a moment longer, he and his cargo would have been soaked.

Daemeon sat back in his seat and was greeted with a familiar question, “Where to mon?”

Daemeon wrinkled his nose wondering whether good material should be used twice in the same day. The bundle in his arms caused him to refrain himself. “Looks like lady luck is with this guy as well.”