“Clink Clank, Clink Clank.”

It was an odd noise.

“Clink Clank, Clink Clank.”

A mechanical noise.

Off in the hills, unheard by any in the small town nearby, a pony was tinkering with tiny gears and pieces of metal. He was a small pony, but not too small; he was just young, a colt with time left to grow. His coat was dark and blue, and his mane a deep brick-red. He was alone, save for the machine he worked on, and he gave it his utmost attention. He mumbled every so often, and his quiet, unintelligible muttering joined the sounds of clinking metal parts.

“Clink Clank, Clink-”

No Clank? No sound at all.

“No, no, no.” The pony working on the device peered into its inner workings, seeking out the source of the problem. He picked up one copper-colored piece after another until he found what he was looking for. He held up a shiny little piece, nearly symmetrical save for one tiny notch at one end. “Thought you could get away with being put in backward, did ya?” Nopony but he would be able to tell it from the myriad of other parts he was working with, but they didn’t have to. He worked on this machine alone, and he was fine with that. He put the tiny metal piece back where it belonged. Then he started on the rest.

Like a puzzle being built from an image that only this young pony knew, gears and parts were put back in place. Slowly, the pile of parts sitting at the pony’s side shrank, and the device he was working on began to look whole.

With one last click, the last piece snapped into place. The young pony examined his work, running his eyes over every surface and visible bit of machinery. After double and triple checking the device, he gave it a good shake, making sure no parts would come loose. A smile formed on his face when all the tiny parts stayed in place.

He ran his hooves over the semi-circular device. The coppery metal was polished to a shine, and he took great care to keep it that way. It was a thick, heavy device, but he kept it with him wherever he went. Canvas straps jutted out from the sides of the device, waiting to fit around anypony willing to secure the device to their back.

The young pony opened a door on top of the copper disk, revealing the tiny gears and complex machinery within. In the middle of the intricate clockwork, at the very heart of the device, was one long ruby-colored cylinder. It was hollow, forming a tube that ran from the base of the disk to the top. The young pony checked every gear one more time. Then he made sure the ruby tubing was intact and connected properly.

He used a hoof to give the biggest gear a quick turn. He pumped his other hoof in the air when the smaller gears turned in a perfectly synchronized display. The machine passed all of the colt’s tests, now there was only one thing left to do; turn it on.

He closed the door slowly, snapping it into place with a loud click. Then he gently extended a series of golden metal pieces that were tucked into a slot at the center of the device. Fully extended, the pieces looked like feathers. They were attached to a short metal armature that could be rotated outward. This formed a perfect wing that could mimic all motions of a natural one. Some would see it as an ungainly monstrosity; it was heavy, had to be strapped on, and lacked a wing for the left side; but to the colt who held it, it was a piece of art.

He said a silent prayer as he prepared to turn it on. He wanted it to work. He needed it to work. The idea of finishing the device wasn’t an obsession. No, it had surpassed that stage long ago. Fixing this machine was his life. He spent all of his time, his energy, on this device. Everything he had to give, it took. But it would be worth it. He knew it would. This device would fix everything.

One last gulp, one final moment of nervous indecision was all the colt allowed himself before activating the device.

Slowly, the machine began to hum. It started off as a low droning sound but climbed in pitch as the ruby cylinder inside the device began to glow. He set the device down on the grass in front of him as the gears within started to turn. The colt could only stare as the machine grew louder. There was a loud click as something inside the machine engaged. Then, the golden wing extending from the device started to move. It was flapping! Just like a real wing!

He had done it! He had been waiting for this moment forever. At this moment, all of his hopes and dreams lay within his grasp. That wing, that beautiful golden wing was working at full capacity. “Yes!” He jumped up and down, cheering for the mechanical limb. “Yes!”

“SNAP!!”

The colt’s eyes went wide. Something wasn’t right. The gears, once quiet and smooth, were now grinding and buzzing. Every few cycles, there was a loud pop, almost like the snapping of a twig. He lunged forward, braving the swinging metal of the false wing in an effort to deactivate the device before it damaged itself any further. As he struggled to get the door open, the sounds coming from the device shifted. Buzzing turned to scratching and his precious metal wing began to slow down. The door flung open, spewing several gears at the horrified colt. He stared as the wing stopped entirely, and the ruby’s glow flickered and died.

He didn’t move for several moments after that. He didn’t even notice that one of the gears had hit him in the face, scratching his forehead. “You…” His words trailed off; there were none he could say that would fix this. It had been two weeks since his last failure, two long, agonizing weeks. He had gone over the plans, made changes, and scrounged up the needed material, but it still didn’t work. He stood up and stomped around. He felt useless. Every time he found a way to fix the device, it broke again. Why couldn’t the thing just work?!

“Gah!” In his frustration, he gave the machine a swift kick, sending several loose pieces flying off into the grass. “No!” The colt dove after them. Tears welled in his eyes as he frantically scrambled to collect the small parts. “Why can’t I fix you?” He sat in the grass, cradling the pieces he recovered like a mother would cradle her young. “I- I just want to-” He looked at the bent and broken metal in his hooves. The delicate gears that once held his hopes were now twisted beyond any hope of salvage. They were unusable, utterly destroyed.

He stood up, letting the broken gears fall to the ground. He took a few deep breaths as he blinked away his tears. Another failure. Another waste of time. He took a few minutes to scour the area for parts, finding a pitifully small number that was still usable. He placed the undamaged parts in a small pouch before putting the pouch and perpetually broken device into his saddlebags.

He walked away. He didn’t know where he was heading, he just knew that he didn’t want to stay there.

After a short walk, he came across a stream. He set his saddlebags on a patch of open grass and walked over to the stream.

“I had it,” he thought as he plunged his head into the cool water, “I know I had it!” He lifted his head from the stream with a gasp. “I double checked everything.” He walked over and laid down near his saddlebags. He rested his head in his hooves.

“Every little piece was where it belonged, just like dad left it. So why won’t it work?”

The colt rolled over onto his back and looked up at the sky. “I need to find a town.” He didn’t want to, but he had no choice. As much as he preferred to be alone, he needed parts. His stomach let out a growl. He also needed food.

But he was just a colt. If he were to start wandering around town, ponies would start asking questions. In the cities, it was easy to avoid attention because nopony cared; but here, he was far away from any city. He only knew of one town in this area, a small farming community. It was nearby too, easily less than a day’s travel.

“It’ll be the sort of place where ponies care about each other.” A young colt wandering around would draw the wrong type of attention. He didn’t want to be dodging questions about why he wasn’t in school or where his parents were. He rolled over onto his side. Those questions left him on edge. He was always afraid that someday, somepony would see through the lies and set the police after him. To avoid this, he hid. He was good at it too. He could hide anywhere. If he had to hide in an alley or a dumpster, he would. He could even hide in plain sight if he needed to, after all, nopony paid attention to colt standing with a bunch of others in a school lunch-line. But in a small town, everypony knows everypony else. He would stick out like a sore hoof no matter what he did.

His stomach let out another growl. He would have to find food soon, but he couldn’t rush. First, he had to get a good look at the place, make sure it would be safe. That meant he had to wait until nightfall. His stomach let out another growl. He pulled his saddlebag towards him, clutching it to his chest and curling himself around it. He would just have to put up with the hunger.

Art in this chapter was done by: Metal Pony Fan

The colt lay spread out on his back in an open field. He stared at the open sky and sighed softly. It was a beautiful day, late spring, just heading into summer. Anypony else would have fallen asleep, taken a nice afternoon nap, but not him. He slowly reached a hoof towards the sky.

What is it like?

He closed one eye and lined up his hoof over one of the clouds in the sky. He folded his hoof around, almost as if was taking hold of the cloud. Being able to sleep without having to worry about what you see when you close your eyes.

He rolled onto his side. Looking at the sky was painful for him; until he fixed his device, it was just a reminder of the fact that he was incomplete. Even if he could sleep, it would only waste time.

He rolled over to his right side in order to get more comfortable. He knew that he looked silly just sprawled out on some grass near a stream, doing absolutely nothing, but he didn't care. In a swift motion, he brought up his right forehoof and slammed it down into the grass, hoping to vent his frustrations.

I need to fix this thing! I’ve tried everything, but I know it can’t be hopeless...maybe if I re-check those notes. His stomach let out a small growl all of a sudden. After I find food that is. He sighed, but even at rest he let his mind wander, thoughts kept circling around, his brain wouldn’t let him give in or give up on his one obsession.

He stared down the road, unwilling to put in the effort to resume his journey towards town. According to the map he borrowed, the town was named Ponyville. What kind of name is Ponyville? Of course, it’s going to be full of ponies!

As he stared lazily towards the horizon, a small figure started to take shape off in the distance. Is that-?

He squinted at the approaching form, trying to get a better look at it. Oh, great, it is. Two days without seeing another pony, and I run into one the moment I try to take a rest.

He let out a sigh as the figure came into focus. It was an alone filly with a coat and mane of wildly contrasting shades of orange and purple. Feather winced as he closed his eyes.

Maybe she won’t bother me if I ignore her.

He kept his eyes shut as long as he could, but a buzzing sound made him peek out at the approaching pony. Her wings were buzzing like a hummingbird’s, but she wasn’t flying. As she got closer, he realized that she wasn’t walking either. She was riding along on a little scooter, using her wings to propel her forward. What a waste of a perfectly good pair of wings. He let out another sigh as the filly noticed him and sped up, waving as she approached. He grunted and waited for the inevitable, for her to come and say what he knew she wanted to say, that dreaded word, hello. Great, just great!

She stopped just in front of his face, she looked down into his eyes just as he looked up into hers. For at least thirty seconds neither party felt like speaking. It was the longest thirty seconds of his young life, and for her, it just seemed awkward. She was busy studying him all over, but to her apparent disappointment, he wouldn't move.

Is she staring at me? Why isn't she with her parents? Oh, no! What if she is?! What if they’re following right behind her? I’ll be found! They were far too out of the way for most fillies and colts to be on their own, not that he was any different, but here she was by herself.

“Watch’a doin’?” The first word out of her mouth was not ‘hello’. This amused him slightly, but it’s not like it mattered anyway.

He glanced around. He was nervous, and more than a little angry. Your parents are gonna find me if you don’t leave!

“Not a talker, huh?”

He narrowed his eyes and tried his best to give her a menacing look, but it only succeeded in making her giggle. She stared into his copper-colored eyes while he glared back at hers. All he did was groan in annoyance.

I talk just fine! NOW LEAVE!

“Kind of funny running into another pony out here, it’s usually pretty empty. I use this field to practice my tricks, wanna see?” She stared at him with wide, hopeful eyes, apparently excited about having an audience. She was making it difficult for him to say that he did mind, not that he felt like talking.

The colt sighed. Not really, but do what you gotta do.

She tilted her head to the side, trying to see if anything was wrong with him. He looked healthy enough but seemed pretty rough around the edges. He was pretty dirty, too. You couldn’t tell from a distance, but it was clear from close up. The fedora-like hat nestled firmly between his ears was quite worn, but still in one piece. She also took note of his wings, or the one wing she could see; it was huge for his body size. She looked over at her wings to try and compare the two but then she heard a noise, a sort of rumbling. That sound was universal to every living creature, someone was hungry.

“Hungry?”

Great deduction skills. He sighed once more. She wasn’t that annoying, but why she was still around was beyond his problem-solving or social skills. She turned around, revealing a saddlebag that the colt hadn’t noticed. She started rummaging through it, sticking her tongue out in concentration. Now, what are you doing?!

After a little bit of digging, she stopped and glanced back at the colt. She looked back at her saddlebag with a sigh before removing a pair of apples. “Well, you seem pretty hungry, so here.” She dropped one of her apples down on the grass with a quiet thump. She looked away for a moment, towards the now setting sun. “Oh, shoot! I gotta go!”

She turned her scooter around and headed back the way she came, but he didn’t notice her leave. He was too busy looking at the apple sitting in front of him. The bright red skin shone in the setting sunlight and stood out against the green grass it was sitting in. Seeing it also reminded him how hungry he was, and his stomach let out a loud growl to attest to that. “Thank-” He lifted his head, but the filly was gone. “-you.”

He glanced back at the apple and poked it with a hoof. Why would she do that? His stomach growled again, this time accompanied by a none-too-subtle squeezing pain in his gut. It has been a while since I last ate. He spared one last look at the horizon to see if the filly would return, but there was no sign of her. She was gone, just as quickly as she had arrived.

He stood up and took a step towards the apple. Then he gave it a tentative sniff. It smells good. He let out a loud sigh and swallowed his pride. Then he ate the apple, barely taking the time to chew it before swallowing it in one gulp.

That was good. Really good.

He looked up. The sun was setting, it was time to leave, time to survey his new, if temporary, home. The first thing he would always do when entering alien territory was survey everything from a distance. He gathered up his saddlebag and made sure his device was tucked away so it couldn’t be noticed. He then started towards the town, following the path that the filly had taken. It took him a good twenty minutes to reach the edge of the settlement, raising the question as to just how fast that filly was. As the sun was setting, he noticed ponies leaving for their homes. Which was good, it meant his entry into the town would go mostly unnoticed against the crowds. Which was the great thing about small towns, very few ponies would stay out at night.

The first thing he came across was a large farm. If his map was accurate, the place was called Sweet Apple Acres, the town’s main feature. It was huge. Apple trees in every direction, they looked so inviting but he kept his distance. They weren’t wild, but there were far too many keep guards. He let out a sigh. He tried to avoid stealing, even if it was to feed himself, but that didn't change the fact that the act of theft was far more familiar to him than it had any business being.

Looking around, he found plenty of buildings just for this farm alone. A barn, it almost made him laugh, to him it just looked so out of place for a farm so large. If anything, there should be more than just one but it might prove useful if he needed a place to spend the night. That barn is pretty close to the house, should I risk it?

The house was big, with plenty of lights still on, it unnerved him. He quickly decided what he saw was enough and he should walk into town.

He followed the path into town. The sun had just set and the moon was now rising. Looking around, he noticed that the town was bigger than he originally gave it credit for. There were no ponies to be found. They must have turned in for the night. Around town, only a few houses still had lights on, the rest of them was pitch dark. “You’ve gotta appreciate a town that sticks to its bedtime.” It made him feel calm, knowing that there was nopony wandering about, other than himself. He could survey the town on his own time.

He looked ahead and decided to pick a building at random. In front of him, he spotted a building that looks like a tree.Tree-building? He read the sign for the library and just shrugged it off, everything in the town he was in was certainly more for the novelty of things. He figured this was a good enough start and slowly walked up to the front door of the library, frowning. Lights all over the place, it was like a trap, and whoever was inside clearly wasn’t asleep. It would probably be best to avoid this place for now.

His curiosity got the better of him, however, and he went around to the side of the building to find a window and peeked inside. Looking in he saw books, hundreds upon hundreds of books. No surprise there. A faint candle was lit, and the light was beaming from the second-story window. Looking up, he saw a glimpse of a lavender-colored unicorn. He couldn't see anything beyond that without drawing any attention, so he moved on. Looking around, he spotted a place called Sugarcube Corner.

A bakery?

He walked up to the front door and noticed two windows on either side, each laced with samples of confections and baked goods. Those look good, but it’s too risky to just up and buy anything tonight; plus it looks closed. He sighed and moved onto the next closest building.

Close to the bakery, he found a building with a sign out front dubbing the place Carousel Boutique. He normally did not mind anything looking too girly, but the entire structure screamed it. It was an elegantly styled building, but it was so overdone that it put the bakery to shame. He stole a glance inside and noticed the lights were off but dresses were sprawled out everywhere. It definitely seemed like a mess, but he shrugged it off. Seeing nothing of use, he sat down and began to ponder on his findings.

Shops, shops as far as his eye could see. He hated stores. “At least a bakery and a library are useful.” He looked over at one shop named, Quills and Sofas. That has got to be the most worthless shop I have ever come across! He looked over to another store that sold mechanical parts and hobby items. Well, that could be useful, I guess. But I would still need to deal with some adults. He grunted and moved on to the next one. This one sold party favors. Pointless, I can’t even find a grocery! But it wasn’t just what the stores were selling that put him on edge.

The very idea of a store would often force him to mess with his old foe, thievery. He had stolen things before, a lot of things. Every single item that was wrongfully taken would beat him down with more and more guilt. Every item he stole became easier to justify than the last. He was getting used to it over time, and that bothered him. Each pilfered trinket forced him to come to terms with the fact that he was a thief. He chose to leave the market district and hurry up and find the housing one.

He decided that the town he was in was at least slightly useful. The farm might have a use if he could find a way of sneaking into the barn unnoticed. The library would prove a good spot to continue research on his never-ending quest to finish his device. The bakery might be good for a sample, as small towns often give them out. It wasn’t usually considered a healthy food, but it was close enough, he decided. So far he concluded that this town was useful, but he would need to leave soon if he didn’t find some easy source of food.

He rounded a corner and stopped in his tracks as a door swung open on a nearby house. Without thinking, he darted into a nearby bush, hiding with ease due to his small size. Peeking out, he saw three ponies exiting the house. The first pony he saw was a tiny unicorn filly. The darkness made it difficult to discern any details, but she couldn’t be any older than he was. Her parents were both unicorns, again their details went unnoticed, but he could tell they were a family. He watched them as they chatted amongst themselves. They seem happy. One of the adults looked in the direction of his hiding place and he ducked down.

Did they spot me or something? He took another peek, and he sighed in relief to see that they were no longer looking his way. He still could not see much, but he did notice the largest one, the father he presumed, was walking into their yard to take care of a few issues. He remembered being younger and wanting to accompany his father all over the place, even the weirdest of places, and concluded that was probably what was going on. When the father returned, the filly surprised him by jumping up and giving him a long hug, nuzzling into his neck as she held onto it for support. The father returned it while the mother giggled.

Must feel nice. His mind raced as he watched the spectacle before him. Time seemed to slow but only for a moment. They seem like a happy family. Some light tears started to form in his eyes as he watched the two parents gently play with their daughter. No one seemed to mind that they were doing so in the doorway to their home.

He continued to stare, off in his own little world. He seemed to no longer care if he was caught or not, regardless of the consequences. You have no idea how lucky you are, filly. He found himself angry at the filly, angry at just how easy her life seemed to him. If I could just switch places, it would be simpler... He shuddered at the thought, and tried to push it out of his head. He couldn’t let himself get caught up in what could be, but he was never able to do a good job of that.

After what seemed like eons, the door slammed shut, leaving him alone with silence. He slowly walked out of the bush, looked around, and silently went off to explore the other houses. All of them looked to be quite average, and very out of place for the town. No novelty, no difference from one house to the next. Some had lights on while others were dark as the night, he was only vaguely aware of what he was searching for from the homes, his mind a tangled mess of emotions from that one family.

FOCUS! I need to find--

He stopped thinking as his eyes drifted to the one house that was different from the rest, a mansion. When his eyes locked onto the door, his brain kicked into overdrive. So much... He shook his head to clear his mind, he had to focus on his potential goal and not his desired one. Focus, don’t get greedy. It doesn't matter if they are rich, only steal when necessary. He closed his eyes as he thought this, desperately trying to keep to a personal code of his. But it still didn't stop him from snooping.

The mansion was three stories tall, it wasn’t the tallest building, but it spread out to cover an impressive amount of land. It was truly awe-inspiring, and for the second time that night, the child was wishing for a different life. He walked past an open gate and into the courtyard, carefully scanning around to make sure nopony was watching. He looked up to the topmost window and saw a light flicker, similar to the library, and he knew exactly what this meant. Another late-night reader, could complicate things.

He took one last look to make sure he would go unnoticed, and then rounded the corner of the house. Windows were always his ally in these endeavors, and he stole a glance into each and every one. Whoever owned this place was clearly loaded in his opinion, but he wasn’t looking at trinkets or treasures. No, he was looking for... The Pantry! He stared at it, trying to decide what was the best course of action to take.

"I’m sure I can last until tomorrow.” But he couldn't turn away, he just kept staring at it. “Maybe a little won’t hurt, just a little.” His final statement was said a bit more quickly than he would have liked, and he winced as the words left his mouth, but his mind was made up.

He quickly checked all the windows and found, to his disappointment, that none of them opened out, or would open at all.

That just leaves doors, if I can find any. He looked back at the pantry and craned his neck to try and get a better view inside. No doors that would lead outside, that just left... The front door. He grunted and sighed. Walking up to the front door, he couldn’t help but stop himself, much to the annoyance of his stomach. I mean, it's not like they’re gonna miss a little food, and just look at this place! He was still staring at the door, his breathing growing heavier, the promise of potential food fighting over his guilt.

He inspected the lock, trying to find the best way to pick it, not even bothering to take out his tools. Looking down at this saddle bag he sighed. I need food, just... He gritted his teeth and let out one big yawn. Am I that tired? Did somepony hear me?! He frantically looked around and then sighed in relief, then he decided to gently try and open the door. Have they never heard of a lock before?! Seriously, this is too easy. He then felt his blood run cold when he realized that he was enjoying his thieving job, but he shook those thoughts aside. He gently closed the door and took a look at his new surroundings. It was dark, but not enough that he couldn't navigate.

A nagging feeling kept tugging at the back of his mind the deeper he got into the mansion. You're trespassing, you're trespassing, you're trespassing! The front room alone was amazingly large, making a huge creaking sound when he both opened and shut it, not that he expected anything less from the elegant doorway he was forced to use. Almost woke everypony up with that stupid door! "Why does everything have to be so big?!" Looking around he spotted a table with an empty bowl laying on it, again even the simple table had a fancy design. Snobs with too much money. Somehow, though, insulting the ponies he intended to steal from made him feel lower than dirt.

He carefully walked past the table and into a hallway, using the windows that he was staring through before as a guide. The hallway leading to the kitchen seemed to last forever. Stop thinking about it! It's not that long, you're just acting paranoid! He shook his head as sweat began to slowly make its way down from his forehead, soaking into his hat. After what was only a minute, but seemed much longer, he found his way into the kitchen. He tensed up, looking around carefully. Okay, undetected so far, but do I really want to do this?! Somewhere deep down he felt like he was committing a crime; which, although technically true, he had always had more than enough reason to justify stealing. So why do I feel this way?! He gritted his teeth and moved towards the pantry, but froze when he heard the sound of hoofsteps. His ear twitched as he strained to listen.

Oh, no! Did I wake somepony?! They’re coming this way!

In a panic, he looked all over for anything to hide behind or in. His eyes landed on a cabinet and he ran over to it. He was surprised to find that it was empty and would fit him easily. He climbed in and shut the door, praying that whoever it was would not use that door. He peeked out for just a moment and saw a pink-colored filly. Through the darkness, he noticed she seemed to have a permanent scowl on her face, but he had to admit she looked okay for a filly. The hoofsteps stopped near the cupboard and his heart sank, his breathing stopped completely. There is nothing in here! The pantry is over there, oh please remember that this cupboard is empty! She slowly walked away and he heard the telltale sign of a pony rummaging through a pantry filled to the brim with food. He let out a very quiet sigh and began to breathe again. After the equivalent of five hours to his young mind, the filly left, leaving blissful silence.

He waited another five minutes just to be sure and left the safety of the cabinet. He took one long look at the hallway to make sure nopony else would want a midnight snack and sighed. The pantry was huge. Inside, every single snack he had ever heard of, eaten, or seen before was there, including a few that he had never heard of. Only what you need. He looked around and found a few basic snacks, some cracker boxes, and a few apples that were stored.

Each time he went to pick up an item he would wince, and the uneasy feeling that was hiding in the pit of his stomach would grow. It's just some stupid food! They won't miss it!” Deciding to get it over with, he grabbed everything he might need, including some cereal that seemed appealing, and shoved it all into his saddlebag. Each step he took back to the front door was that of anger, but he did his best to remain quiet. Just before he left, he turned his neck and noticed a family portrait hanging up on a nearby wall. He knew it was just a painting, but he didn't feel like looking into their eyes. Even though the three ponies were smiling, he couldn’t help but feel like they were watching him, judging him, criticizing him; and he couldn’t bring himself to meet their eyes. I’m sorry. The bitterness that this filly had so much and even a family was being entirely overshadowed by his guilt. He left the building in a hurry, hoping to find a place to stay that was at least warm.

I guess for now that barn will work. After all, I’ve already committed two crimes tonight. Might as well make it three.

For backwater farmers, these ponies sure use high-quality locks.

The young colt tried again and again to pick the lock, but nothing would work. He looked up at the windows, they were too far up to reach on his own. If I could just fly. The colt looked around to try and find anything to step up on to reach the windows, but they were at least two stories up. In a last-ditch effort, he tried the door one last time, but it still wouldn’t budge.

Okay Plan B: This farm’s huge, there’s gotta be a shack around here, or something. He took a quick glance at the main house and noticed they had all finally gone to bed.

At least you ponies have beds.

Looking around, he found a path leading straight into the orchard. He took one last glance back at their home and started following the trail out into the orchard. “Trees, trees everywhere. Gotta be a building somewhere.” The path eventually ended at the edge of some trees and bushes, and he noticed that only half of those trees were growing apples. He looked back to make sure that he hadn’t missed something, then he looked past the bushes and found another trail, that looked older and more worn.

After several minutes of traveling, he came across another set of apple trees. “There has- AH HA!” Finally, his journey had come to an end. He ran up to what he thought was a shack, when he neared it he knew something was wrong.

“Is that a treehouse?”

He looked up and, sure enough, the pastel-colored building was resting on top of a very large apple tree. Feather looked around to makes sure nopony was around and then ascended the ladder that led to its door.

“Correction, its a clubhouse.” There was something carved just above the door. “Cutie Mark Crusader HQ?”

He looked down at his flank with a sigh, he didn’t have a cutie mark of his own. What bothered him more was he didn’t even have the drive to try and find one. His one and only motivation in life had always been to fix his device and you can’t get a cutie mark in that.

Unless you can get one in building machines and fixing them?

Shaking off his annoyance, he opened the door and took a quick glance around. Judging by the pink curtains, he concluded it was probably a club for fillies. I guess I can’t be picky,

He sat down and took off his saddlebag, then took out his device and gently laid it down. “This will be fine for tonight, I can start fixing up this thing.” He took out several tools and a book filled to the brim with notes. The book was more like a journal with the pages shoved inside. Some of the pages stuck out, while others were neatly stacked. Wasting no time, he began to examine the damage.

The child took out several very worn pages. He knew them by heart; but just to be sure, he always had them ready. Glancing back and forth, he would look inside the device past the glass door and back to his notes. “Okay, I’m missing one ring gear, three spur gears, some screws went missing and... Ugh! The carrier shaft bent!”

He sighed again and began to think. I probably have enough bits to buy these, but then I have to go into that hardware shop. He stomped one of his hoofs on the floorboard in frustration. He noticed that his hoof left a smudge of dirt where he stomped it. Then he looked down at himself and noticed his body was looking less than clean.

I guess I need to go find a lake to clean up in. Adults want children looking presentable, after all. He checked his map and sure enough, there was a lake near the orchard. He made a mental note to take a quick bath before re-entering the town in the morning and packed away his stuff before settling in for the night.

He spent the night in the clubhouse. It was cold, but that was something that he had gotten used to a long time ago. He started his journey towards Ponyville early in the morning, he was careful to make sure that no one noticed him leaving. He didn't know much about farmers, but he was sure that waking up early was a common trait among them. He left for the outskirts of the farm. He assumed the ponies on the farm would wake up at this time, so he ran for the lake. Inspecting his left side, he found it to be the dirtiest, and his wing felt itchy and uncomfortable. He put aside his saddlebag and jumped into the lake without hesitation. The colt did his best to clean off any and all dirt. He then spent a few minutes straightening out the feathers on his wing. He needed it to be in good condition when he finished his device, after all.

Then he waded onto the shore and flopped down in the sun and took at least an hour to dry off. He wanted nothing more than to simply wait on the shore, but he had to start into town and pick up some parts. He took a few deep breaths and then slowly walked into town. He knew that he was already going to look a tad odd, being alone in the morning. “Oh, wait!” He stopped walking when suddenly he remembered something quite important. “ Is today a school day?” He quickly tried to remember the last time he saw a calendar. “That shop, three days ago, I think it was Wednesday. Or was it Thursday? Either way, it’s the weekend.”

He breathed a heavy sigh of relief that he did not walk into a school trap; an adult would spot a child out of school from a mile away. As he passed the orchard and neared the edge of town, he noticed some kids out playing, but the adults definitely outnumbered them.

Okay, where is that hardware shop?

He spotted the library, it was not exactly the most crowded looking place. Some things never change, no one likes to read. He followed the path to the bakery, it seemed far more crowded than he would have liked. He noticed some of the town’s residents were giving him odd glances. Purely out of instinct, he ducked his head to try and avoid suspicion.

Snap out of it! They can stare all they want, you’re just a normal colt, nothing to hide.

He tried his best to shake off his nervousness and act normal, but his eyes kept darting from left to right. After several uncomfortable minutes, he found the store he was looking for.

He gently opened the door, causing a bell to ring. He narrowed his eyes and glared up at it. Of course.

He was surprised to find nopony walking up to attend to his needs. He saw a pink pony, but she was too busy searching through a bin of supplies to notice him. I don’t think she runs the shop, she looks a little too poofy to run a mechanical parts store. Where's the owner?

He shrugged and then carefully walked past the brightly colored pony, hoping to just get his things and leave. However, just as he neared the corner of an aisle, he heard something odd.

“Twitchy, twitch.” He looked back out of instinct when he heard the voice, and saw that pink pony had stopped rummaging. She was also staring straight at him.

Why is she looking at me like that?

“It's you!” she exclaimed.

The colt gulped loudly as the candy-colored adult took a step towards him.

No it’s not! What do you mean it’s me?! Oh, sweet Celestia, what did I do wrong? Is she going to turn me in?! Does she know? And why is she smiling so much?!

He took another step back, then another, but soon bumped into a wall. Without thinking, he looked back at it, realizing that any hope of escape was pointless. He looked back to where the pink mare had been standing and blinked in confusion. There was no sign of her.

Whew!

Relief poured over him like an adrenaline rush. I haven’t had a close call like that since... Oh, last night. Still, I guess she had me mistaken for somepony else.

The colt was just about to resume his search for the shop’s owner when he felt his weight leave his hooves. His mind blanked as he felt pressure on his chest and realized he was being hugged. Then he heard a voice. “Aw, you look so sad. Whatever it is, it’ll be alright, I just know it!” He was set back on the ground and spun around to face the pink pony from earlier. “Oh my gosh, I never introduced myself!” She thrust her hoof towards him and he leaned away from it. “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie!”

The colt stared at her. She just smiled back. His brain had ground to a halt trying to process this pink pony’s actions. She didn’t look like any adult he had ever met, and if she wasn’t at least twice his height, he would have doubted that she even was older than him.

Pinkie hopped over to the parts bin and resumed her rummaging. "So, I was gonna throw you a party when you got into town yesterday." Her words were punctuated by flying mechanical components as she dug through the bin with reckless abandon. "It was a little too late though, the party would have been too short, and everypony your age would have had to go to bed way too soon to be able to enjoy it properly. Well," she added in a sheepish sing-song, "that and I had a slight mix-up with the party cannon. I used a little too much powder and damaged the gearing in the auto-loader, so I had to fix it. Oh, that took forever! I had most of the parts, but I still have to get a replacement for the mainspring and retool the hammer strut. I do the tooling myself. Gummy helps, of course, but I usually end up doing most of the work."

He blinked.

She took a deep breath and plunged her head into the bin with a splash of metal pieces. "As soon as I find the spring, it'll be done in a jiffy." Her voice was slightly muffled by the mechanical pieces covering her head. “What's your name anyway?"

Party?! Tooling?! Gummy?! What?!

He glanced at the parts strewn across the floor from the crazy adult's wild digging. For a moment, he considered trying to grab what he needed and hightailing it out of there, but that plan was cut short by the sound of a bell. Another pony entered the shop, a stallion with a brown coat and brown mane. The newcomer glanced at the mess and let out a heavy sigh before walking over to the counter and taking a seat behind it.

Great, the shop’s owner, just what I need. At least now I can buy what I need and getaway.

"Ah, ha!" Pinkie pulled her head from the bin. Balanced on the end of her nose was a polished steel spring. "This oughtta do it!"

Feather sighed and started looking through the scattered parts on the floor.

Maybe she'll leave now.

Suddenly, his vision was filled with pink and blue, Pinkie's upside-down face was right in front of his. "GYAH!" The colt stumbled backward in attempt to put space between him and the crazy pink pony.

She just smiled at him. "So? What's your name? I need a name to put on the banner for the party."

He sat there staring at her. His breathing was heavy as he contemplated giving her his name.

If I tell her, she might leave. She doesn't seem like the sort of pony who would check a name with the authorities, but should I take that chance?

"Soooooooo,” the pink pony blinked rapidly, “your name?"

He stood there, back against the wall frozen in fear. He knew the name, and he knew that by giving it out he would be at great risk.

But it might make her leave...

"Pinkie!" Both colt and mare turned their heads to face the shopkeeper. "Please stop scaring my customers." He shook his head and turned to the colt. "Sorry about that. She can be... unique at times. Are you ok?"

The colt nodded to the shopkeeper.

You call that unique? Are you from another planet?

He looked back at Pinkie. She was staring at him with an expectant smile.

She's waiting for me to tell her my name, isn't she?

He let out a sigh and cleared his throat. "My name's-" He paused for a moment as he realized something.

She doesn't need my full name! It's for a party decoration, so just my first name will work. He smiled and held out his hoof.

"Hi, Pinkie. My name's Feather."

Pinkie grabbed the hoof and shook vigorously. The colt's entire body shook from the motion. "Feather! I like it! Oki, doki, let me go get that banner ready, and I'll see you soon." She started hopping towards the door, pausing only once to yell at the shopkeeper. "Hey, Doc? If he needs anything, put it on my tab!"

As the pink pony left the shop, Feather let out a sigh of relief, a sigh that was quickly replaced by a gasp of shock. His saddlebag had fallen off, most likely from the constant shaking. His missing wing was now completely visible. He quickly pulled it over his back and looked over at the shopkeeper. If he had seen anything, he didn't give any indication of it; he was too busy gathering a broom and dustpan.

The shopkeeper chuckled as he started sweeping up the mess of parts. “She’s an odd one, but she means well. I hope you enjoy your party.”

Feather scanned the floor around him, quickly finding several of the parts he needed and picking them up. “I won’t be going.”

“Oh?” Feather was struggling to hold several small pieces and was quickly offered a little paper bag. “What makes you say that?”

Did I say that out loud?

Feather took the offered bag and put the gears and screws in it. Then he kept searching the floor. “I mean, I don’t think I’ll be able to, she never told me where it is.” He glanced back at the brown stallion to see if he bought the explanation.

“Ah, what delightful naiveté.” The shopkeeper resumed his sweeping with an amused smirk. “As I said, I hope you enjoy your party.”

“Um, ok.” Feather shook his head. Why do adults have to be so hard to understand sometimes? At least he hasn’t asked me any questions.

The colt inspected the contents of his paper shopping bag and decided to get some spare gears in case there was another incident. He gathered them up before the stallion could get them to the dustpan. He walked over to the counter and set the bag down on top of it. Then he cleared his throat. “Excuse me, sir? I’m ready to pay now.”

The shopkeeper walked around the counter and looked in the bag “Didn’t you hear the girl? She’s got you covered.” He gave the bag a small shake. “Is this all? She gets a discount for being my biggest customer, you know. Are you sure this is all you need?”

Feather thought about it for a moment. I could use a new carrier shaft, but that’s not really the sort of part a child would buy. But if I try to fix the one I have it might just keep bending. It’s an expensive part, but it’s free! I don’t have to steal it!

With a smirk, he looked up at the shopkeeper. “Do you have a ⅜ hex carrier shaft for a micro planetary gearing system?”

The shopkeeper tilted his head. “The sort used in magi-mechanical devices?”

Feather nodded. “But it has to be grade seven.”

The stallion let out a low whistle. “That’s a heavy-duty part. What are you up to with hardware like that?”

I blew it! What do I say?! The colt kept his smile in place as he stared up at the shopkeeper and tried to come up with an excuse. “It’s for something my dad made.”

“All right, I’ll check, but don’t get your hopes up.” The stallion got up and walked towards a curtained doorway near the back of the shop. “Rose,” he called out, “can you make sure I got all the parts picked up? Pinkie just paid us a visit.”

“Sure thing doc.” A cream-colored earth pony mare with a reddish mane walked out from behind the curtain.

“First Pinkie, now you,” said the shopkeeper, shaking his head, “is my name really that hard to remember?”

She gave him a smile as he headed off into the back of the shop. “Sorry, Time-Turner.” She walked over to the counter and looked down at feather. “Hi there, I’m Roseluck. What’s your name?”

The colt looked up at her. “Feather.”

“Feather? Interesting name for an earth pony.” She leaned over the counter to inspect him a little closer. “I like your hat. I haven’t seen you ‘round before, you new?”

Feather groaned inside. Unlike the shopkeeper, this pony was curious. He could tell she was the type that would ask questions until something stopped her. “Yeah, I’m new. Pinkie’s throwing a welcome to town party later.” He had to change the subject quickly, but to what?

“That’s nice.” Rose kicked her hooves around as she leaned against the counter. “I remember the party she threw when Time Turner came to town. I’ll say this, between the two of’ em there’s never a dull moment around here.”

“Yeah, I can imagine.” Feather looked around for something to talk about. He had to take control of the conversation and ask her a question before she could ask another one. He just had to find something to talk about. He found it hanging on a chain around Roseluck’s neck. “That’s a neat watch, is it silver?”

Rose looked down at the pocket watch around her neck. “I’m not sure.” She ran a hoof over it and nodded her head towards the back of the store. “It belongs to him, but most of the time he forgets it even exists, so I hold on to it for him.”

“Hold on to what?” The shopkeeper walked out from the curtain carrying a small part in his mouth.

“The watch,” said Rose.

He walked over to the counter and set the part down. He then looked at the watch around the mare’s neck. “Huh, nice watch.” He picked up the part again and held it out to Feather. “This is the only one I have. If you could use a grade five, I have a better selection.”

Feather stared at the part. It was a brand new carrier shaft, just like he needed, except for one thing. “The teeth aren’t cut.”

The shopkeeper sighed and set it on the counter. “Like I said, it’s the only one I have. Grade seven parts aren’t commonly needed around here, so most of the ones I carry have to be customized.”

Feather weighed his options. He could either try a grade five shaft or try to get this one customized. The old one was grade five, it might bend again, but customizing parts costs a lot. He looked up at the shopkeeper. “How much would it cost to get the teeth cut?”

The stallion shrugged and held up the part again. “For standard gearing, two bits, but I can’t help you with this. You see the color?” He turned it around, when the light hit the part just right, there was a faint sheen of blue. “Magically-aligned steel. You either need a unicorn that’s trained in magi-mechanical dynamics or highly specialized equipment that I just don’t have.”

This made the decision even harder for Feather. Magically aligned steel would increase the efficiency of energy transfer from the battery, but where would I find somepony to customize the part? Suddenly, he looked up and had to fight back the urge to face-hoof. Of course, I'll just ask.

He cleared his throat. “Do you know if anypony in town has the equipment or training?”

The shopkeeper pointed to the front door. “She just left.”

Feather turned towards the door with a groan. Pinkie? The one pony I most want to avoid right now is the one that I need?

“Oh, you know,” Rose piped up, “there’s also the local librarian. She’s a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle, I’m sure she could help too.”

Feather looked back at her. “The librarian?”

“Yeah,” she said, “bright girl, cutie mark for magic and everything. I bet she could have that part done up in a snap.”

I have twelve bits, I hope that’ll be enough to get the part made. Feather thought about it a little longer, even if the librarian didn’t make the part, he could always ask that crazy pink pony. “Ok,” he looked up at the shopkeeper, “I’ll take it!”

Feather left the store happier than he had been in a long while. He would be able to fix his device, and with the new carrier shaft, he wouldn’t have to worry about it breaking again. At least, not in the same way. There was always the chance that something else could go wrong. I’ll have to be extra careful in this town, that parts store alone is worth staying for a while. I have to be on my best behavior, no stealing, no getting caught in a lie and definitely staying out of sight on school days.

He looked around the town for something to do next and started to weigh his options. I could check out the library for a while, but I would look quite out of place. A colt wanting to read on a Saturday, by himself? But the only pony there would be the librarian, and she could make the part I need.

He shook his head and tried to think of something else to try, his eyes landed on the odd bakery. They might have free samples, but... His thoughts turned to that pink pony who promised him a party. He wasn’t sure where it was being held, and that was a big problem. He suddenly realized that he could find his party in any building and a bakery seems like a logical spot for one. This could be bad. But maybe she’s still setting up, and none of the guests have arrived. Maybe I could convince her to call it off? I could also see if she’ll make the part, but she might want to know what it’s for.

He stared at the door to Sugarcube Corner, something about the entire place seemed off from when he saw it in the night. The place seemed vacant yet somehow to him it still felt quite occupied. The party has got to be in there, so if I just steer clear, I’ll be good. Right?

He wanted to leave but the potential for free treats was overwhelming most of his common sense. Maybe it’s not in there? It couldn’t hurt to try and peek inside...

He was just about to peek into the window but he stopped himself and shook his head. No, it’s too obvious, it is exactly what an adult is expecting!

He turned around and headed in the direction of the library, figuring that there was no way in Tartarus that a party would ever be held at such a quiet place. “Who knows, maybe they’ll even have one of those little candy dishes at the checkout desk.”

He slowly found his way to the building filled with books, his confidence that he had given the pink pony the slip overshadowing his cautious behavior. Even if the librarian won’t make the part, I can get some research done there, and maybe some reading on flying. Well, the flying book might seem suspicious...

Feather shook his head and slowly found the front door, he took a quick glance at the sign to make sure it was the right building and then slowly opened the door. He didn't bat an eye at the darkness in the room or the light that he brought with opening the door. He slowly walked in and gently shut the door.

“Hello?” After the words were said, he heard the sound of dozens of living creatures inhaling in oxygen all at once. No. She didn’t. Time seemed to slow down, he heard every single living being hidden in the shadows taking in as much as oxygen as possible. How can I have been so dumb? This is a nightmare!

“SURPRISE!” The sound of dozens of pony voices yelling out the same word came crashing down on his ears all at once.

He just stood there, dumbstruck and unable to respond. How could he? Impossible, I was so careful. I let down my guard for one minute and...

The lights turned on at the same moment he heard surprise. His eyes scanned the crowd. The first pony he saw was Pinkie, her smile was infectious to everypony but Steel. Darting from left to right he saw ponies of all types, ages, and colors. Did she invite the whole dang town?! He felt embarrassed, shocked, scared and just a bit angry all at the same time, but still he said nothing.

Taking this as her cue, apparently, Pinkie spoke up.

"Oh my gosh were you surprised, well were ya? At first, I thought I’d hold the party at Sugarcube Corner, but then I realized, that was toooo obvious. So I moved it to here and had the banner finished just in time. So were you surprised?!”

“Yes.” He let out a sigh. I really shouldn’t have been. The only two ponies who know how to make magi-mechanical parts, of course, they would know each other. He looked up at the banner, it said: Welcome to Ponyville, Feather!

How did she manage to make that so quickly?

In a whirl of motion, Pinkie had grabbed one of his hoofs and plunged him forward into the party, before he knew what was going on, he was standing in front of a lavender-colored unicorn who was smirking at Pinkie. He took a fast motion glance back at the party and noticed that everypony had started the party in earnest, eating, drinking, and playing games. That's it? This is just an everyday thing? How many parties does she throw?!

His thoughts were broken apart by Pinkie’s voice. “Okay, so this is Twilight Sparkle. She’s the town librarian and one of my very best friends!” He blinked. “She’s the one who can make the part? I have to make a good impression.” He gave his best smile which she returned. Hesitantly he brought up his right hoof to shake hers.

“Hi there Feather, welcome to Ponyville. I trust you like it so far?” All he could think of was to nod.

Snap out of it! You’re acting like a child! Well, wait...I am one and that means they expect me to act like one... He turned around and noticed the pink pony was now gone, leaving him with his thoughts and Twilight. She’s not leaving. What do I do?! I can’t just ask her about the part in the middle of a party. Ponies had started the party moving around them, but Twilight and Steel stood in a single group.

She gave him a curious glance and cleared her throat. “So, where are you from?” she questioned in a cheerful voice.

He scratched the back of his head. Why does everypony have to ask so many questions? I can’t be rude to her, but what do I do if she asks something I can’t answer?

“I’m from Manehatten,” he replied, his mouth suddenly feeling quite dry. He was genuinely trying to sound as perky as her, but it wasn’t working.

“Oh, the big city?” Twilight nodded. “That must be fun, I’m from Canterlot myself, did you and your parents move here?”

There it is, the first question about my parents. How many of these am I going to have to answer tonight? His breathing increased just slightly but not enough for her to notice. He hoped. “My father’s here on business. But he’s kind of busy right now, and couldn’t make it.” He watched the librarian for any signs of suspicion. “Good, she's still smiling. That one works every time!

“Huh?”

He heard the voice of a young filly. He didn’t notice the group of them behind him, but one of them had noticed him. It was the orange filly from the day before. She slipped away from her group and watched Feather as he talked to Twilight, listening intently to what he was saying. Which made him feel awfully nervous.

Twilight used her magic to grab a bottle of some sort of drink from a nearby table. “So, Feather, has your dad enrolled you in school yet?” She inspected the label carefully before taking a sip.

Feather’s shoulders and head drooped slightly. “Yeah, he mailed in the paperwork yesterday.”

“Oh, good.” Twilight let her drink hover for a moment and waved to somepony in the crowd. “I want you to meet somepony, then.” A pink and purple earth pony made her way over to them. She walked up and stood next to Twilight, waiting to be introduced. “Feather, this is Cheerilee. Starting Monday, she’ll be your new teacher.”

Feather’s eye twitched. Crud. He held out a hoof. “Ni- nice to meet you, Ms. Cheerilee.”

She took the hoof and gave it a little shake. “Nice to meet you too, Feather. How do you like Ponyville so far?”

Until now, I liked it fine. But now I have to leave before Monday. He kept his fake smile in place. “I haven’t really seen much of it, but it seems nice.”

“That’s good,” Cheerilee said with a smile, “I just know you’ll love it here. Would you like to meet some of your classmates?” Before he could open his mouth to say no, Cheerilee was pushing him through the party towards two fillies about his age. His eyes widened in horror as he recognized one of them. “This is Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, they’ll be in the same class as you. Say hello.”

"H-hello?” Feather gulped loudly. The filly introduced as Diamond Tiara was the filly whose house he robbed to feed himself. How many kids are in this town, and she has to introduce me to her?! Typical! He started backing away. “You know what? I’m feeling a little thirsty, I’m going to go get something to drink. Be right back.” He bumped into somepony and spun around to see who it was. He was greeted by a face full of orange and purple. “It’s you! Uh, I mean,” he glanced back at the three ponies he was backing away from, “it’s nice to meet you, I bet you’re gonna be in my class too. Well, bye!” He turned and headed towards a table loaded with bottles. He barely noticed that there were now four ponies following him.

He found an unopened bottle near the edge of the table, a green bottle with an apple on it. That looks like what Twilight was drinking, I wonder if it’s any good? He started to reach for it, but then he noticed the x’s on the label. Oh, of course. What I wouldn’t give to be older right now.

As smoothly as he could, he reached past the bottle for one of several juice boxes farther in from the edge. He couldn’t reach them. Ok, the hard stuff’s easy to get to, but they make you work for the juice? This place is messed up. With a groan, he jumped up on his hind legs, resting his front hooves on the edge of the table. He was just about to reach for a juice box when he realized his mistake. He felt his saddlebag start to slip.

He tried to catch it, but he was too slow, the bag hit the floor and one of the pockets ripped open. Broken gears and mechanical parts spilled out across the floor. Worse than that, when he looked up, he found himself face to face with five shocked ponies. He locked in place as they stared at him, his bottom lip shook as he tried to say something, anything. “S-s- st-”

“Oh, my.” Cheerilee was the first to recover. She stepped towards the frozen Feather, picking his saddlebag up from the ground and placing it back on his back. “Are you okay, Feather?”

Unfortunately, Scootaloo was the next pony to speak. “What happened to your wing?!” She stared at his right side with wide eyes, focused on the spot where there should have been a wing. There was nothing but blue fur.

Twilight quickly stepped in front of the orange filly. “I’m sorry, Feather, she didn’t mean to-”

“Stop it.” He stared at the floor. “Just stop it.” He looked up at the ponies staring at him. “Stop staring at me like that! I’m not a cripple!” Everypony stepped back. He looked back at the floor, at the broken pieces around him. “So, I’m missing a wing.” A single tear fell to the floor near his hooves. He lifted his head and stomped his hoof down on a small gear, damaging it more than it already was. “Stop treating me like a broken part! I don’t want your pity!”

He stared at them a moment longer. Looking at them, he realized that he just lost all hope of going unnoticed in this town. The sounds of the party kept anypony else from hearing, but that didn’t really matter anymore. He walked away as quickly as he could and started looking for the door.

Twilight gave an exasperated sigh and turned to glare at the orange pegasus filly. “Scootaloo! Why would you do that?” She shook her head. “Stay here and help Cheerilee pick this up.” Scootaloo opened her mouth to reply, but Twilight stopped her. “The next words out of your mouth had better be, ‘yes, ma’am.’ That was an extremely rude and hurtful thing you did to Feather.”

Scootaloo lowered her head. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good.” Twilight’s horn lit up and an old pair of saddlebags drifted through the air towards Cheerilee. “Stick it all in there, I’m going to go see if I can find Feather.”

The teacher took hold of the bag as Twilight walked off in search of Feather. She and Scootaloo started picking up the little gears and metal pieces. After a few seconds, she felt something poke at her side.

She looked over to see Diamond Tiara looking up at her. “Ms. Cheerilee, we’ll help.”

Silver Spoon did a double-take and stared at her friend. “We will?” She looked back at Cheerilee with a nervous chuckle. “I mean, of course, we will.”

“Why, thank you, girls.” Cheerilee turned back to the task of gathering up the parts. “That will make this much easier.” She didn’t notice Diamond Tiara pick up a piece of paper from among the scattered pieces, fold it up, and stuff it behind her tiara.

Twilight waded through the sea of party guests, keeping an eye out for any sign of a blue colt. “Feather? Feather, are you there?” She didn’t find any sign of him, but she soon found plenty of pink near the snack table. “Pinkamena Diane Pie, what were you thinking?!” The party pony turned around as Twilight approached. “Or were you even thinking at all? Did you know about Feather’s wing?”

She swallowed the mouthful of treats she was chewing. “What about it? It’s a perfectly normal wing, a little large, but still normal. Or do you mean the missing one?”

Twilight blinked. “You knew?!”

Pinkie shrugged. “He seemed kind of sad earlier, so I gave him a hug. It’s kind of hard not to notice something like that.”

“What?” Twilight shook her head. “W-why didn’t you tell anypony?”

“Why would I?” Pinkie grabbed some more snacks off the table and proceeded to crunch into them noisily. “It’s not that big of a deal. He’s a bit different, so what?”

Twilight sighed and sat down. “I know, but, Pinkie, fillies and colts don’t always see it like that. Not to mention that it took everypony completely by surprise. Somepony said something to him, and it upset him.”

“Why would anypony do a mean thing like that?” Pinkie tilted her head to the side in innocent curiosity.

Twilight sighed. “It was Scootaloo, and she didn’t mean to, she just spoke without thinking. I mean, look at it from her perspective, she’s a pegasus, her wings are everything to her, and she just saw somepony who was missing one. She probably felt bad for him, but she might have also been afraid that it could happen to her too.”

Pinkie reached for another hoof full of snacks, but thought better of it and sat down instead. She put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Twilight, you’re taking this personally, why?”

Twilight shook her head in surprise. “Pinkie, sometimes, you are so random that I forget you are a pony like the rest of us. But, you’re right, I am taking this personally.” Twilight lifted a hoof and looked at it. “Pinkie, have you ever heard of Navicular Syndrome?”

Pinkie chewed her lip for a moment. “It’s that thing where your toe hurts and you have to wear special horseshoes, right?”

“It’s a lot worse than that Pinkie.” Twilight held up both hooves and tapped them together at the toe. “Every step feels like the hoof is cracked, and sometimes it hurts to walk at all.”

Realization dawned on the pink pony. “So, you-”

“Yeah,” Twilight put her hooves down, “I was that pony in the funny horseshoes. I don’t have any problems with it anymore, but when I was younger, sometimes, I just couldn’t walk and had to sit where I was until somepony came and got me. The other foals just thought I was just temperamental. Hey didn’t understand that I was, for the most part, lame.”

Pinkie pulled the unicorn into a hug. “That’s why you’re always sitting down in your old pictures. That’s so sad, I’m glad you’re all better.”

Twilight returned the hug. “Thanks, Pinkie, but I- Wait, what old pictures?”

“The ones in that big, old photo album under your bed.”

Twilight pulled back from the hug. “The one in a box labeled, ‘do not touch?’”

Pinkie nodded happily. “That’s the one!”

Twilight sighed and walked off in search of Feather. “Why am I surprised? I really shouldn’t be, but I am.”

Pinkie hopped off in the other direction, towards the drink table.

Neither of them saw Feather crawl out from under the snack table. He rubbed at his face to wipe the tears from his eyes and looked back at the saddlebag he wore. It does cause problems, doesn’t it? He adjusted it so it no longer hid his wing and started walking towards the drink table. I’ll get the parts I dropped, then come back for some food.

When he approached the drink table, he saw that there were no longer any scattered parts. He also saw that everypony but Twilight was still there, with the addition of Pinkie Pie. He sighed. There’s no avoiding this, is there? He walked up to them. “Um, where is everything?”

Cheerilee jumped at the sound of his voice. “Feather! Are you ok? Twilight went to look for you.”

He nodded. “I’m fine, could you tell her she doesn’t have to search for me? I’m ok.”

Pinkie hopped forward and saluted. “Oki, doki, loki, just leave it to me!” She disappeared in a pink blur.

Feather’s nose twitched as he watched her leave, but Cheerilee ignored it completely. She took a step towards him and softened her voice. “You ran off so suddenly, we were worried that-”

“Don’t, I’m fine.” He looked at the old saddlebag on the floor. “Is that my stuff?”

Cheerilee glanced back. “Yes, but-”

Feather rushed over to the bag and hoisted it onto his back atop his other bag. “All right, I’m gonna go get some food, anypony want anything?”

Cheerilee walked over to feather and put a hoof on his shoulder. “Are you sure you’re ok? You were quite upset earlier.”

He shrugged. “I’m a kid, kids bounce back. We’re tough like that.” His stomach let out a loud growl. “Heh, heh, well, food, got to go!” He turned and started for the snack table. That was good timing. He glanced back to see if anypony was following him. He saw two fillies, one pink, one orange, both watching him with narrowed eyes. As he watched, they glanced over at each other and exchanged mean looks before storming off in opposite directions.

Feather froze in place. That can’t have been good.

Feather made a mental note to avoid those two fillies as he resumed his course towards the food. It’s too bad she didn’t throw the party yesterday, I wouldn’t have had to steal any food. Well no sense crying about it now, and I’m not about to let this go to waste.

When he reached the table, his heart skipped a beat. Food, there was too much food. He thought there could never be enough food, but this proved him wrong. He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream in joy, but most important of all he wanted to take all of the desserts and drinks he could carry and keep them for later. And that is what made him cry on the inside.

Keeping all the food I can carry for later is too obvious. Even though it wouldn’t make a dent in the amount of food here, everypony would still wonder what I needed it for. This is a nightmare! He cursed in his head, for he knew that he could only keep some of the food and the rest was to go to waste.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Pinkie Pie gorging herself on an endless supply of cake, this eased his mind as to what he was about to try. Well, if she can do it, so can I!

He grabbed a plate of cake, some juice boxes, and a few other snacks and sat down in a corner, it all tasted too good. He wanted more, he wanted to live with that pony so he could use her just for the food alone. For a moment, he felt that all of his pain and sorrow was being drowned out, for that one moment he found that he wasn’t worried about being surrounded by other ponies. That moment had to stop, he had to come to his senses, he had to snap out of it. No, no matter how much they try and help, they are still adults. I’m still in trouble here and I still need a way out!

He let out a sigh and reached for one of the juice boxes he had set down next to him. He felt something fluffy instead. He looked down to see that it was somepony’s tail, a pink, puffy one that could only belong to one pony. Great, when did she get here? He looked up at the pony sitting beside him. “Hi, Pinkie.”

“Hi, Feather.” She held a bowl in her hooves and she held it out to the colt. “Have you tried these yet?”

He looked down at the thin, red, and white wafers in the bowl. In the middle of the bowl sat a smaller bowl filled with some sort of yellow-orange goop. “What is it?”

"Chips and dip!” She took a chip, used it to scoop up some goo, and stuffed it in her mouth. “It’s good,” she said between chews, “try it.”

“If you say so.” Hesitantly, Feather picked up a chip and dipped it.

“Hey, Feather,” Pinkie’s voice didn’t hold the same cheer it did earlier, “I’m sorry about what happened, I honestly didn’t expect it to be that big of a deal. I’m sorry if it ruined the party for you.”

By it, you mean my wing, don’t you?

He let out a low sigh and bit down on the chip he held. “MMH!” He chewed it quickly, savoring the contrasting crunch and cheesy gooeyness. “Don’t worry about it, the food’s too good for anything to ruin this party.” He reached for another chip Now if only I could find a way to save some of this for later.

"Feather, I have something else to ask.” Pinkie glanced around, avoiding eye contact. “I talked to Twilight, and she said you moved to town with your dad. Did he come into town with you? Or has he lived in Ponyville before?”

Feather chewed another chip as a sense of dread loomed over him. Those are very specific questions. Does she know something? He tried his best to act casually. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, no reason.” She looked at the nearby snack table. “Would you like to take some of the food with you? I’m pretty sure I made more than everypony can eat.”

Feather’s eyes lit up. “Yes! I mean, my dad will love it. Too bad he missed out on this.” He looked at the table. Now I can take as much as I can carry. But I have to make sure I get stuff that keeps well. And I can only take as much as I can easily move and store. He looked at the chip bowl again and took a chip. He ate it without dipping it. Ok, I’ve got to be sure to get plenty of these.

Pinkie smiled and set the bowl of chips down in front of him. Then she hopped away. She returned a few moments later with a foil bag in her mouth. She moved it to her hooves and held it up to show him. “Look what I found! You really seem to like those, so I checked and found this. Now you get to bring home a whole bag of chips!”

Feather stared at the foil pouch she held. “They come in a bag?” It was big, way too much for him to eat in a single sitting. Maybe this party wasn’t such a bad idea. By the time it’s over, I’ll have enough food to see me through the next few days. Now if I could just find a way to get around having to go to school, I won’t have to leave town so quickly. He was so absorbed in his planning that he didn’t notice Pinkie hop around to his side. As soon as he felt a tug on his saddlebag, he jumped. “No!” He spun to face Pinkie, who was still holding the bag of chips.

She looked like she had been struck. “I- I just wanted to -”

She was just trying to put the chips away. Feather gulped loudly.

“N-no, um, no need to do that? I can take care of it.” He reached out and took the bag of chips. “Thank you.” He tried to give a reassuring smile, but it came out as more of a wince. “I’m gonna go try the rest of the food you made. Bye.” He headed off for more snacks, but mostly away from any adults. The grown-ups here are CRAZY! They don’t act like they’re supposed to! As soon as I get my fill of the snack table, I’m out of here.

He sat down in front of the snack table and started grabbing each and every treat that caught his eye. He tried a little of everything, and when he found something that was dry enough to not go bad quickly, he stuffed a bit of it in his saddlebags. After a while, he saw Diamond Tiara walk past the snack table with a brown stallion in a tie.

Must be her father. Bags of bits for a cutie mark? Definitely her father.

A short while later, a yellow filly with a red bow and hair walked by with an orange mare with yellow hair. The mare had red ribbons in her mane and tail. Must be her mother, they’re dressed alike. Another filly and mare followed them. These two both had white bodies and purplish manes.

Another happy kid with her mother, do they all have to walk right by-- Oh shoot! He looked at the ponies walking by, they were all headed in the same direction, straight for the door. Each group contained at least one filly, and there were even two colts that he hadn’t noticed before. All the kids are headed home! They’re going to be suspicious if I stay! He grabbed a nearby plate of cookies and dumped them in his saddlebag before heading for the door.

He didn’t notice Twilight watching him. Another pony walked up to her. “Twilight?” She looked over to see Cheerilee with a look of concern on her face. “Is something wrong.”

Twilight sighed and looked back towards the door. “Yes? No? Maybe? I’m not really sure. Did you notice that Feather barely talked to anyone? I mean the whole reason Pinkie throws these things is to allow the new pony in town to make friends.”

“I’m sure he was just nervous, I’m sure he’ll make friends in time.” Cheerilee let out a sigh of her own. “The incident with the wing didn’t exactly help, but these things happen sometimes. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.” Cheerilee walked over to the snack table.

Twilight followed her. “I hope you’re right.”

“So do I.” The teacher looked around the table. “Wasn’t there a plate of cookies here a moment ago?”

The unicorn cast one last glance towards the door. “Yes, there was.”

Feather Steel had made it back to the clubhouse in record time. He gave a huge sigh of relief while he noticed the moon was just now coming up.

Everypony should be in bed soon, time to fix my device.

He was about to take out his belongings when he heard a faint sound outside. Curiosity got the better of him and he slowly made his way to the window. Sounds like wheels traveling on gravel or something?

He shook his head when he noticed that no one was around and turned around to grab his saddlebag. Just before he could take hold of it, the door swung open with a loud creak.

Shoot!

He slowly turned his head to see who it was that caught him in the act of trespassing. If he was lucky, it would be somebody he could talk out of calling the authorities. There, standing in the doorway, staring at him, was an orange filly with a purple mane. “Scootaloo?!”

Feather watched in shock as Scootaloo made her way to a nearby hammock and laid down in it. After a few moments, she turned to look at him. After staring for a moment, the orange filly looked away, idly examining a spot somewhere on the wall. “Sorry about earlier.”

The colt watched her carefully. He was still wary of the pegasus, even though the only thing she was doing was flapping her wings to lightly rock the hammock she occupied. “What do you mean, you’re sorry?” Though, as noncommittal as her apology sounded, she may as well have been commenting on the weather. He glanced back at the door, checking to see if there was anypony else nearby; there wasn’t. I shouldn’t complain, but what is she doing out here alone?

She glanced at him then rolled onto her back, shifting her gaze to the ceiling. “I shouldn’t have freaked out about your wing. I’m sorry.”

Feather reached towards his saddlebags and pulled them closer to him. What does she want? Should I run? She has both wings, I’d never get away if she flew after me. He looked towards the door, it was so close, but still too far. And beyond that, there was nothing but sprawling orchards. A sudden spark of curiosity made the colt ask a sudden, but obvious question. “What the hay are you doing here, anyway?”

She turned towards him and gave him a little smirk. Then she stuck her tongue out. It was not a look the colt liked having directed at him. “Duh, I’m doing the same thing you are.” The smirk faded and she sighed softly. An orange-furred hoof pointed at the ladder leading to the clubhouse’s second level. “There’s another hammock up in the tower, I can help you set it up. It’ll be nice to have some company for a change.”

“You’re staying here? But, why? Aren’t there-” Feather’s eyes went wide as he put everything together; why she was so far outside of town on her own yesterday, why she seemed to be alone at the party, and her presence here. “You’re an orphan too.”

Scootaloo gasped dramatically, pressing her hooves against her face. “Oh, no! I am? What gave it away, the lack of parents, or the fact that I’m sleeping in my best friend’s treehouse?”

The colt groaned. She’s just gotta be a comedian. He opened the old saddlebag that held his broken parts. At least I don’t have to worry about her turning me in. He sighed and looked out the window. Where he was expecting to see the moon, he saw the silhouette of a pony, a silhouette with a little princess crown atop its head. His lips pulled back in an expression of tired loathing as he dropped his head to his hooves. I hate this town.

The silhouette gasped and scrambled away from the window, creating a good deal of noise, and scaring a certain pegasus filly straight out of her cot. “What was that?!” Scootaloo crouched low to the ground, wings flared in aggression as she looked left and right for the source of the sound.

Feather just dug into the bag, looking for any parts he could repair, and forcing himself to ignore the ponies around him. “Diamond Tiara’s standing outside the window.” He frowned at the little bent gears as Scootaloo rushed out the door. It was going to take all his willpower, but he was going to focus on his repairs and try to get something done. Those two seem like they hate each other, if I just let them fight it out, they may leave me alone. I wonder if there’s somewhere in town where I can get a hammer and a good sturdy block?

A moment later, the door burst open and the two fillies rolled into the clubhouse, pulling and tugging at each other’s mane and tails. “It would be worth carrying the extra weight if I could find a dapping block and a jeweler’s hammer. I wonder if I’ll have enough bits left after getting the carrier shaft customized?” Feather dug around some more as the two fillies fought. “They sure are noisy.” He wasn’t used to being around other ponies, let alone working around them. The colt picked up a small metal coil, bit down on one end, and tugged on the other with his hooves. It stretched, then snapped in the middle, sending half of the coil skittering across the floorboards, and lashing the colt’s lip with the other half. “So, the springs are completely shot, but I can sell the copper ones as scrap. That’ll give me a few more bits to work with, but I have to test each one.” The colt rubbed at his stinging lip with a hoof. “Not looking forward to that.”

“Ha! Gotcha!” Feather looked up, expecting the earth pony filly to have overpowered the slightly smaller pegasus, but it turned out to be the other way around. Scootaloo had Tiara pinned and was sitting on her back, pulling on one of the earth pony’s legs. “The Scoots wins! Say it!”

Diamond Tiara wasn’t about to give up so easily. “Never!” She struggled against Scootaloo’s weight, letting out a small yelp when the pegasus pulled even harder on her leg. “I still won’t say it!”

Feather groaned as the two fought. “Are you two trying to get us caught?” They both stopped and looked at him. He sighed and went back to sorting through the parts. They were far enough from everything that it didn’t matter how much noise they made, but Feather wanted to focus on his repairs. He found some set screws that were dinged. “I have a tap and die, if I can find a way to clamp these down, I can fix them.” He looked up to see both fillies glaring at him. He gulped loudly. “What do they want?”

“I want to know,” they demanded in unison, “why is she here?”

“Is that all?” The colt breathed a sigh of relief. “One of you lives here, the other likes to snoop. I’m surprised you couldn’t figure that out for yourselves. Now if you don’t mind, I’m a little busy here.” He went back to looking for a way to make a vise. “I don’t think these two will turn me in, but I’m going to have to be careful that they don’t find out about-” His line of thought was derailed by Diamond Tiara stepping forward until she was standing snout to snout with him.

“So where’s the flying machine?” It was a demand, not a question, and it came in a tone that suggested that she was used to getting her way. “I want to see it.”

The colt’s heart nearly stopped beating. “What?! How did she know?!” He started stammering. “W-what makes you think I have a- a flying machine?” His sputtering words weren’t going to convince anypony of anything, but he was completely blindsided by the pink filly’s question.

“Hmph!” Diamond Tiara stepped away from him and pulled a folded piece of paper from behind her namesake headpiece. She unfolded it and started reading from it. “It is almost complete, the machine I have designed has consumed all I give it, but it will one day bring flight to those who seek it. It is so close.” She folded the paper back up. “If that’s not a flying machine, I don’t know what is.”

“Th-that paper.” Anger poured over Feather. She had part of his father’s journal. He stomped against the floor as rose to his hooves. “That’s mine! Give it back!”

He was about to advance on Tiara when she was tackled by an orange blur. Scootaloo pinned the earth pony, holding her down with her back against the floor. “I knew you were no good, but I didn’t expect you to stoop to theft.”

Tiara glared defiantly back up at the pegasus. “Double standard much? Or do you not know everything about your new colt-friend?”

Scootaloo pushed the earth pony harder into the floor. “Shut up! And he’s not my colt-friend.”

Diamond Tiara grunted as she struggled against the pegasus. “Then you really don’t know?” She freed a hoof and reached up to her tiara. She pulled a broken gear out from behind it.

Scootaloo scoffed at it. “What, you had to resort to stealing broken parts? You are low.”

“I didn’t steal it,” she shoved at the pegasus again, but failed to dislodge her. “He dropped it.”

“I was there,” Scootaloo scolded, “he dropped a lot of things, why didn’t you give it back?”

Tiara smirked at the pegasus. “Because he dropped this one in my kitchen sometime last night.” Scootaloo gasped, and Tiara took advantage of the pegasus’ surprise to kick her off. The earth pony stood up and dusted herself off. Then she tossed the gear towards Feather, who was sitting stock-still and staring at them. “I hope you enjoyed my Mallow-Puffs.”

“She knew?!” Feather looked down at the gear that landed in front of him, falling to his hooves like his plans. “What do I do? What can I say? What if they turn me in? How far can I run before I get caught?” He looked up at Scootaloo. “This has to be from the party, you saw everything that spilled, right?” It was a desperate lie, but it was all Feather had. “She’ll take my side, right? She’s an orphan too, she has to!”

The pegasus stared at him for several long seconds. It felt like forever before she opened her mouth to speak, and the words that came out shook him to the core. “Open your bag, Feather.”

A faint gasp escaped his lips. He didn’t know why he was surprised, even if they hated each other, Scootaloo had known Tiara for far longer than she knew him. “But, I-”

Scootaloo stomped her hoof. “Just do it!”

He stared into the purple eyes of his fellow orphan for a moment. She looked like she was about as ready to cry as he was. “Fine.” He undid the top of his oversized saddlebag and lifted it from the bottom. His device, his notes, twelve bits, and various food items fell out onto the floor. The last thing that fell out was a crushed box of Mallow-Puffs. “I’m a thief. I steal food if have to, sometimes I’ll steal maps, and sometimes medicine. I take what I need to live. I didn’t take anything else; these bits are mine, I earned them.” He almost laughed then. What was he so upset for? Nothing had changed, he was never welcome anywhere before, why should this be any different? He started stuffing everything back into the saddlebag, leaving the stolen food where it fell. “Go on then, go tell the guard, tell your parents. I’ll be long gone by the time they get here.”

Diamond Tiara stepped forward, and gave the crumpled cardboard box a light kick. It was completely empty. She smiled as she looked up at Feather. “I can get you more.”

Feather’s mind blanked. “What?” He was expecting anger, maybe even pity, but he wasn’t prepared for this, whatever this was.

Tiara pointed at the cereal box with a hoof. “I’m guessing you liked this, the box was nearly full yesterday. I can get you more of it.”

Feather didn’t respond, but Scootaloo did. “Why? Why would you, of all ponies, do that?”

“I want to see this flying machine.” Tiara crossed her hooves. “I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work right now, or you wouldn’t have blown up when Frail-Feathers here freaked out over your wing.” Scootaloo gasped and opened her mouth to say something, most likely over the insult, but the earth pony kept talking. “He said he doesn’t want pity, so he’s not gonna get any from me. What he will get is whatever he needs to get the flying machine working.” She picked up the piece of paper from where it had fallen during her fight with Scootaloo. “These pictures are blueprints of some kind, aren’t they? I don’t have a clue what they mean, but I’m willing to bet you do.” She held the paper out to him.

“Yes, but they aren’t finished.” He took the paper and looked at it. “I’ve been working on it for so long, but I don’t know how long it will take to finish. I also don’t know how you expect to help.”

She smirked. It struck Feather as something he didn’t really want to see very often. “I have three weeks worth of allowance saved up, a total of ninety bits. Plus, as much food as I can sneak away.”

“Ninety bits, and food?!” Feather didn’t like to think that he could be bought, but that was a very tempting price. That much money could go a long way, maybe even far enough to finish his repairs. He looked over at Scootaloo. “But you’re going to turn me in, aren’t you?”

“Oh, I doubt that,” said Tiara, “but I’ll let her explain. I have to get home before Daddy finds out I’m not in bed.” She turned and walked out out the door, pausing only once. “See you blank-flanks later.”

Feather looked over at Scootaloo. “What did she mean by that?” He noticed that she seemed upset. He couldn’t tell if she was angry or sad, so he just assumed she was both.

The orange filly took the paper from Feather. “Can your machine really help a pony fly?”

“But you have both your wings.” Feather picked up his saddlebag. “Why do you care?”

“Why do you think I ride around on a scooter? I can’t fly, my parents didn't get to teach me before-” She stopped suddenly and studied the blueprint over, as if trying to discern what it meant. She gave up after a few seconds and gave it handed it back to him with a sigh. “Well, I‘m basically living here, aren’t I? You can probably guess what happened.”

“Looks like you’re going to be disappointed, then.” He took his device out of the saddlebag. “This thing can’t just help anypony; it was designed specifically for me.”

Scootaloo stared at the metallic half-disc shape. She had just seen it when Feather dumped out his saddlebag, but she didn’t realize that it was the flying machine. She was also pretty sure that Diamond Tiara didn’t realize it either. “It seems a little small.” Feather extended his wing, blue feathers longer than Scootaloo’s wings, stretching out beside him. Then he pulled on the side of his device, extending the retractable metal wing contained within. Once the steel feathers locked in place, it made a perfect wing a little smaller than his real one. “Oh,” she breathed in wonder. “Will that even work?”

“I don’t know, but it’s all I have.” Feather folded the mechanical wing back up into the body of the device. He stuffed it back into his saddlebag and sat there, staring at the floor. He found himself calming down from the frantic emotions of a few moments ago, and also found himself wondering about the pegasus filly. “How do you do it? How do you let yourself get close to other ponies, knowing that any of them could turn you in at any time?”

“Um,” she tilted her head to the side, “what do you mean?”

“I mean how is it that nopony in this town has noticed your, um,” he gestured at the clubhouse around them, “status? I mean, this place is crazy, you saw how everypony acted at the party. I’ve never seen adults that curious. Hay, the way things went, I’m almost surprised that only two ponies found out my secret.”

“You and Diamond Tiara are the first ponies to find out mine." She looked towards the door that the earth pony left through. “Why she’s so interested in a flying machine is beyond me. Her dad would probably buy her a hot air balloon if she asked, but at least she’s not telling. It’s kind of funny that I caught you though...” She trailed off and started giggling.

“This is serious!” He stomped one of his hooves down to get her attention, it worked. “There is a town out there filled with adults who want nothing more than to,” he put his hooves up and made air quotes, “help us.” He put his hooves down and took a step towards her. “Do you know what happens when adults get too helpful?”

She gulped and slowly shook her head. True, she had some ideas, and while none of them seemed pleasant, none of the possibilities warranted Feather’s sudden anger.

“I’ll tell you what happens.” He took another step towards Scootaloo, and she stepped back. “The first thing they do is tell you that everything’s going to be all right, a bold, shameless lie! They want nothing more than to take you, rip away your freedom, and toss you in an orphanage. Game over! Now, I don’t know what kind of life that you’re living here, but judging from your happy little attitude, I’m going to go ahead and guess that you want to keep on living it?” She hesitantly nodded and he continued. “Good, cause you know what? I would very much like to continue living how I’m living now. I need to fix that damn device, and that’s not going to happen from the inside of an orphanage. I have a chance to fly, a chance to be whole again, and they’ll take that away. Then, they’ll try to help me cope. I’m not gonna let that happen, you got that?!”

Scootaloo backed away from him, confused and scared of both Feather and the possibility of being forced from life as she knew it.

The colt just stood there, breathing in angry huffs as the adrenaline-fueled outburst melted from his body. All of his recent failures, all his mistakes in town, and all the stress he had been building up had come pouring out, and they all landed on Scootaloo. “S-Scootaloo?”

She looked ready to cry.

He lowered his head and swallowed loudly. He didn’t mean to do that. He was just stressed, and now, his outburst probably cost him one of the only allies he had in this town. “I- I’m sorry, I-”

Scootaloo’s expression shifted to anger in a split-second. “You’re sorry?!” She advanced on him, making him back up. “Do you think you have the only sad story in this world? Do you think anypony else has anything less to lose than you do?! I’m terrified of what would happen if I got taken away from my friends, but you don’t see me yelling at you about it! No, I’m out there everyday, living like it’s the last time I’ll see the sun. I live here, this is my town! I don’t need some hot-headed colt to come in and mess it all up!” Feather’s flank bumped into the far wall and Scootaloo shoved a hoof into his chest. “You want my help? You want to use my clubhouse? You want to live in my town?”

He nodded slowly.

She leaned towards him and whispered, “Then you play by my rules.”

Feather gulped as Scootaloo walked away from him and sat down. “I know you have a lot to lose.” She looked back at him, but didn’t move from her spot. “I know because I’m the same, but I have so little left, that I’m that much closer to losing everything. I don’t have any friends to be taken away from, I don’t have a town to call home; everypony I meet is one more chance that I get turned in, everypony that learns my secret is one more chance that I’ll end up grounded for life.” He looked over at his saddlebag, at the gleaming metal poking out of it. “I am alone, and I have to stay that way.”

Scootaloo looked away from him. “You can’t.”

He let out a mocking laugh. “Why not?”

She turned to face him. “Because you’re not alone.” Feather turned his head to look back at her. “I’m here, aren’t I? And even Diamond Tiara. We both have our own reasons, but we both want to help you. Even though I’m having trouble believing her.”

Feather shook his head. “Why would you still want to help me?”

Scootaloo shrugged. “Somepony’s gotta keep an eye on you. If you keep stealing stuff, ponies’ll get edgy, and that could cause problems for me.”

He sighed. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but if you don’t steal, how do you eat?”

“Ah!” Scootaloo dove for a pile of junk in the corner of the clubhouse. Feather groaned as she dug around, tossing items back and forth. She shoved something big, causing a loud crash. “Stupid vacuum cleaner. Ew! Now I’m covered in tree sap!”

Feather shook his head in confusion as she resumed her rummaging. “Why do you have a vacuum cleaner, and why is it covered in-”

WHACK!! Something smacked feather in the snout. To his surprise, it stayed there. He reached up and tried to pull it off, but it ripped, leaving a good chunk of whatever it was, stuck to his nose.

Feather glared at the sticky item in his hoof. It was a newspaper, dated yesterday and covered in tree sap. He sighed and looked up at Scootaloo. “Please tell me you’re going somewhere with this.”

She smiled at him and hopped up on a nearby box, striking a pose. “You’re looking at the fastest paper delivery filly this town’s ever seen. With my scooter at hoof, Ponyville doesn’t have to wait more than five minutes for its morning paper!” She hopped down from her perch and took the paper from Feather, tearing it further. “It doesn't pay much, but it’s enough to get by. Plus, I sometimes get food for free, but that’s another story.” She tossed what was left of the paper back in the pile.

“So, you have a job?” He tried to remove the torn bits of paper from his hoof, but only succeeded in getting his hooves stuck together. “How did you manage that without parents?”

She glanced over at him before hopping into her hammock. “To be honest I’m not entirely sure, I have had suspicions though...”

“Suspicions? What kind of suspicions?!” He ran up to her, fearing the implications of her words, but she leaned back in the hammock and started rocking, keeping him from getting too close.

“Will you relax? Geeze!” She let the hammock slow to a stop and sighed. “I got this paper route from Apple Bloom. She had been bugging her folks, well, her brother and sister, for a job of her own, but she couldn’t handle most of the tasks around the farm, so they started selling subscriptions to the Canterlot Gazette. Apple Bloom would deliver them everyday before school, but as she started helping around the farm more, I started helping her. After a while, I ended up taking over full time, but the Apple family keeps buying the papers for me to deliver. I pay them out of the subscription fees I collect, but I don’t see why they haven’t stopped yet.”

Feather sat down near his bags, being careful not to get any sap on them. “You think they know?”

“Hmm.” She swung the hammock again, a little slower this time. “I’m not sure. Maybe they’re just being nice, but I’ve suspected a few ponies might know about me. That or they suspect,” she let out a yawn, “but they don’t know how to confirm their suspicions without just asking me. Like Pinkie, she’s never asked before but always acts odd around me.”

Feather groaned. “Define odd.”

“I dunno, just kind of, nice? I guess?” Scootaloo yawned. “She’s nice to everypony, but wow, can she cook.”

“I’ll have to avoid her, anypony else- Wait, cook?” There was no answer, and the colt looked up. “Scootaloo? What do you mean cook?” She still didn’t answer. He got up and walked over to the hammock. “If you’re ignoring me, I’ll-” As he got closer, he started to hear snoring, faint and quiet, but still there. “Really?” He sighed and went back to his saddlebags. As he sat down to get back to work, something caught his eye. There was a blanket in the junk pile. With a sigh, he got up, took it, and threw it over the sleeping pegasus. “Good night.” He turned to walk away, but his sap-covered hoof caught on the blanket, ripping off a large portion of cloth. “Oh, she’s gonna kill me.”

"SPROING!"

“Oh, come on!”

Scootaloo was woken from her rest just as the first glimpses of sunlight started to filter through the clubhouse window.

“Get in there!”

"SPROING!"

"Whack!"

Something hit her in the back of the head, knocking her off her cot. The blanket softened her impact with the floorboards to a soft, whump, and she sat up with a groan. “It’s too early for this.” She glanced out the window at the bright sunrise that- “SUNRISE?! I slept in! Applejack’s gonna be making her rounds any minute now!” She ran over to Feather and started stuffing all his things into his saddlebags. “Hurry up, get this stuff put away, or- Wait a minute, why are you up so early? No, never mind that, just pack it up, we’ve gotta go.”

Feather didn’t look up from his repairs. “Go where?” After a few seconds he got up and started looking for something on the floor.

“Somewhere, anywhere, just not here!” Scootaloo saw a spring on the floor near the cot. She ran over to it and grabbed it. “Is this what you’re looking for?” She tossed it to him. “Now pack it up and let’s go! Applejack will be by any moment now, and we have to be out of here before then.”

This got Feather moving. He did not want to get caught, so he started packing. “Why didn’t you tell me this last night? I would have woken you up sooner.” Once everything was packed, he headed for the door. “Do you have somewhere planned? We can’t just head into town.”

“Of course we can.” Scootaloo pushed past him and jumped from the treehouse, spreading her wings and gliding to the ground. She retrieved her scooter from the base of a nearby tree and brought it over to the front of the clubhouse as Feather climbed down. “we’re kids, and it’s the weekend, we’re supposed to hang out and goof off.” She let out a loud groan as Feather started running in the direction of town. She followed after him, accelerating quickly and pulling ahead. She then pulled to a stop directly in front of him.

He went around her without slowing down. ”What are you doing?” He glanced over his shoulder. “I thought you said we had to get out of here!”

With a groan, she kicked her scooter up, revealing the wheels on the bottom. She then tapped her hoof against the side of it.

“Oh!” Feather ran back towards Scootaloo as she set her scooter upright and got back on it. He came to a stop in front of her. “Uh, how is this gonna work?” He circled around the blue and white scooter. “Thing’s obviously built for one pony.”

“Well,” she looked around the edges of the scooter, “you could stand on the front and hold onto the handlebars.” She put a hoof up to his head, just beside his ears and brought it over in front of her face. “Just duck your head down a little so I can see.”

Feather stared at her for a moment before sprinting off towards Ponyville. She followed just as a large, red shape reached the top of the hill.

“Eeyup,” said the pony atop the hill, watching the two run off, “nice ta know Ah ain’t the only one up this early.”

Feather stopped running just at the outskirts of town. Scootaloo, who had been purposely trailing behind, started slowing down, and he looked up as she came to a stop right in front of him. In between heavy breaths he asked, “Do-, do you think, any-, hah, anypony saw us?”

Scootaloo looked over her shoulder, significantly less worn out thanks to her scooter and innate athletic skill. “Nah. I think we’re good. If Applejack saw us, she’d probably chase us to Canterlot and back, thinking we’re apple thieves or something.” She let out a gasp and looked over at Feather. “You didn’t, did you? Please tell me you didn’t.”

“Didn’t,” he took several deep breaths, “didn’t what?”

Scootaloo leaned close to him and whispered, “Steal any apples?” She glanced around, making sure nopony heard, even though they were completely alone.

“Of course not.” Feather started walking again, this time at a much slower pace. “I have enough food left from the party to last me at least a day or two.”

Scootaloo followed him, pushing her scooter along lazily. “Are you really gonna eat that stuff? Doesn’t it get all smushed up in your saddlebag?”

“A little,” Feather shrugged, “but it beats not having anything.”

“So, what have you got?” Scootaloo inched her scooter closer to the walking colt and leaned towards him, sniffing at the saddlebags. “I can smell the snickerdoodles, but what else did you take? Not all of that stuff’s gonna last.”

Feather glanced back,shifting away from her so she couldn’t touch the saddlebags if curiosity got the better of her. “It’s not like this is my first time storing food for later, I know what I’m doing. The cheese dip has to be eaten soon, so that’s probably breakfast, the cookies and stuff will last two or three days, so I’ll space those out, and the bag of chips will be backup, since it’s still sealed.”

“Wow, you have everything planned out, don’t you?” Scootaloo pulled ahead of him on the path.

“Yeah,” he snorted, “I’ve even started saving for college.”

The scooter came to an abrupt stop as its rider looked back. “Really?”

Feather gave the filly a questioning stare. “Do you not understand sarcasm or something?” She stuck her tongue out in response and started off again. Feather followed her. He didn’t know where she was leading him, but he didn’t particularly care; It wasn’t like he had anywhere to be right now.

They traveled in silence for a few minutes before Scootaloo broke it. “So, Whaddya want for breakfast?”

The colt sighed. “I just told you, I’m eating the cheese dip before it goes bad.”

Scootaloo came to a sudden stop, spinning her scooter at the same time. She lifted her right hoof from the handlebars and pointed it straight at Feather. “Not what I asked! I said, what do you want? Pick something, anything, even if you think it’s impossible. What do you want for breakfast?”

Feather rolled his eyes. “Fine, chocolate chip cookies. Happy?”

“Ha! That’s easy.” Scootaloo turned her scooter around and started pushing it along again. “Follow me.”

Feather followed her with some hesitation. “Follow you where?”

The filly kept rolling along. “To get breakfast, of course.”

He sped up so he was walking alongside her. “Where are we getting breakfast?”

She sped up as well, pulling ahead of him. “Where I usually get breakfast.”

He sped up again, almost breaking into a full gallop to catch up with the orange pegasus. “Quit stalling, and tell me where we’re going.”

Scootaloo looked over at the running colt with a sheepish smile. “We’re going to go see Pinkie.” She started flapping her wings, boosting her scooters speed dramatically.

Feather watched as the scooter pulled away from him with ease. In that moment, he was faced with a choice; Follow the filly to town and risk being seen, or let her go and lose his guide... and probably still get seen. At least with another pony, he would have an excuse for why wasn’t with family. He took off running after Scootaloo. More accurately, he started running after the rapidly fading cloud of dust that marked where Scootaloo was. “I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”

Feather caught up to Scootaloo just as she was parking her scooter outside Sugarcube corner. She leaned it up against the front of the building and headed for the door. Feather hurried over to her and stopped her with a hoof before she could make it inside. “Are you crazy? You’re just gonna leave your scooter there for anypony to walk off with?”

“Dude, calm down.” The filly pushed his hoof away, stifling a cry of pain as the sap-covered limb pulled away a clump of orange fur. “We’re kids,” she hissed through the pain, “any dead-beat who’d steal a kid’s scooter won’t make it far in this town.” She inspected her coat carefully, but the small amount of missing fur didn’t seem to make a difference. “Besides, the only other thief in this town got run out pretty quickly, some gryffon, I don’t know the whole story.”

Feather immediately started looking around. “Will that happen if anypony finds out about me?” The colt did have to admit that getting run out of town was much more appealing than jail time, or ending up in the custody of Foal Protective Services.

“Probably not.” Scootaloo was about to put a hoof to her chin, but remembered the tree sap just in time to prevent another painful, sticky mishap. “Tiara knows, so I guess that makes it ok in re- um, re- retrograde?”

Feather rolled his eyes. “Retrograde is when a relative motion makes something appear to go backwards compared to something else, you’re thinking of retrospect.”

Scootaloo stared at him coldly. “Remind me not to introduce you to Sweetie Belle.”

“Fine with me,” the colt scoffed, “the fewer ponies I meet in this town, the better. Why are we even here? I thought you told me to stay away from Pinkie?”

“It’ll be fine.” Scootaloo gestured towards the door, willing the colt to go in. “We aren’t going to be staying too long.”

Feather didn’t get the hint. “How long is too long?”

Scootaloo groaned. “Longer than we’re going to be staying! Look, we go in, we ask for food, we get out. Where’s the problem?”

“You said you had suspicions about her,” the colt pointed at the candy-themed building to illustrate his point, “knowing you’re really an orphan, and you,” he pointed at Scootaloo, “want to go and ask her for free food. Do you honestly not see the problem with that?”

“Look,” the filly tried to go around Feather, but the colt kept blocking her path, “occasionally, I show up, and she offers me cereal and such, ok?. What is the big deal?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “How often is occasionally?”
.

“Uhh, just on weekends,” she replied meekly while giving her best sheepish smile, “and tuesdays.”

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” He gasped and quickly glanced around town. Much to his surprise, if anypony had noticed their erratic behavior, they didn’t seem to care. Even so, he lowered his voice before continuing. “Scootaloo, do you know how reckless that is?”

“It’s not that reckless,” she stopped talking and smiled pleasantly as two ponies walked past the two young ponies and into the bakery, “everypony comes here for breakfast. Calm down, we’re kids. If you’re nervous, it’ll put the grown-ups on edge. Try to relax.”

Feather crossed his hooves and turned his head to the side. “I am relaxed,” he snorted, “why wouldn’t I be? I’m just trying to keep a secret from an entire town by hanging out with a pony who seems to like advertising the fact that she’s an orphan.”

Scootaloo started snickering. “Dude, I can’t believe you just did that.”

The colt’s eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. “Just did what?”

“Nothing,” the filly cleared her throat, “don’t touch anything, let me handle the talking, and we’ll be fine.”

“Fine.” Feather uncrossed his hooves quickly and had to choke back a cry of pain as his sticky, sappy hooves pulled a clump of the fur from his chest. Scootaloo started snickering as the colt checked to see if his mishap left a bald spot.

“Fine, let’s go.” He grumbled and stomped off with her out in front. They made it to Sugar Cube Corner in less than a minute. He noticed that the place was packed with all types of ponies sitting and eating at their tables as a teal and pink mare hurried about, waiting on them. He relaxed when he noticed certain tables had younger guests to themselves.

They made their way through a nearby door, into the kitchen, where an all-too-familiar pink pony was busy making Flapjacks and other dishes. Pots and pans clanged and clattered as she worked, mixing ingredients with reckless abandon, and filling the kitchen with noise. “Hey Pinkie!” Scootaloo yelled over the din, hoping to get her attention.

The busy pink pony looked over without breaking the rhythm of her work. “Hey, good morning, you two!” She grabbed a pan off the stove, and gave it a good flick, tossing the pancakes within high into the air. “I take it you’re here for some breakfast?” The pancakes landed in the pan with pinpoint precision.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo scratched at her mane, “I hope it’s okay if I brought Feather along, but he’s new and I thought I’d show him around town a bit.”

“No problem.” The pink pony went back to her cooking. “Just help yourselves!”

Feather turned to Scootaloo and whispered in her ear. “That’s it? She just lets you raid the pantry for free?”

“Yeah,” she whispered back, “she’s nice like that.” She led the colt to a small pantry away from the main part of the kitchen. “Sometimes, she even lets me try out new items before they go on the bakery menu.” Her nose wrinkled slightly as she opened the pantry. “It can be hit or miss sometimes, but it usually works out.”

The inside of the pantry held a wide variety of foodstuffs, everything from crackers and potato chips, to cereal. There were even bottles of salad dressing, and jars of salsa. Feather’s stomach started rumbling just from looking at it all. “Um, I’m not a cook, but why does a bakery have all this? This seems more like the sort sort of pantry somepony would have in their house.”

“Speaking from experience?”

Feather spun and jumped away from the voice behind him, crashing into the pantry and knocking several boxes and one heavy glass bottle on to his head. He yelped in pain and brought his hooves to his head, rubbing furiously. He glared at the pony who had snuck up on him. “Was that necessary?”

Diamond Tiara smirked at him. “Of course, it was. So, what’s up, blank flanks?”

Scootaloo glared at her as she started picking up the scattered food. “None of your business, your prissiness.” She inspected the glass bottle carefully, making sure it wasn’t cracked. “Sauerkraut? Blech, we’re lucky it didn’t bust open.” Once she was sure it wasn’t damaged, she placed it back in the pantry. She put back everything except for one box of cereal. Scootaloo glanced over at Diamond Tiara. “If you’re still here, why don’t you make yourself useful and grab some bowls? Or is that too much work for your delicate little hooves?”

Tiara chewed her lip for a moment. “Fine, I’ll get the bowls, but don’t even think about leaving while my back’s turned, ‘cause I’ll find you.” With that, she trotted off towards Pinkie.

Scootaloo groaned loudly as she left. “Of all ponies, why did she have to be here?” She picked up the box of cereal she left out and walked out of the kitchen.

“Wait, where are you going?” Feather followed the pegasus out, but kept a watchful eye on the two earth ponies in the kitchen. “Diamond Tiara’s not gonna be happy if we leave, and is Pinkie gonna be ok with us taking the whole box of cereal?”

Scootaloo gave a flippant snort. “We’re just getting a table,” she said around the box in her mouth, “chill out.”

“Oh.” Feather glanced around. There were a lot of ponies in the bakery, but most of them seemed to be lined up in front of the yellow stallion working the main counter. The tables were mostly empty,with a few small groups of ponies scattered here and there. He found the most secluded table, a booth in the corner, and pointed it out to Scootaloo. She gave a firm nod and walked over to it, but said nothing else as she set the cereal down and climbed into the booth.

Feather climbed into the opposite side of the booth and glanced back at the ponies idling about the bakery. Only his head was visible over the wall of the booth, so he slipped his saddlebags off and arranged them on the seat beside him. It was kind of a hassle to carry around two pairs of bags, but his machine wouldn’t fit in the bags Twilight gave him. “Hey, Scootaloo, is that librarian going to want her saddlebags back?”

The pegasus leaned against the table, looking towards the kitchen. “Did she tell you she wanted them back? If not, you’re probably ok.” She tapped on the cereal box, trying to be patient as she waited for the bowls that Diamond Tiara was supposed to bring. “Finally.” The pegasus gestured across the bakery. “Here she comes.”

Feather looked over as Diamond Tiara made her way through the crowd, balancing a stack of bowls and a bottle of milk on her head. She walked over to the corner booth and dumped the bowls on the table with a loud clang. Feather noticed two things; there were no spoons, and there were three bowls. Tiara climbed into the booth next to Scootaloo, shoving her over so she would fit.

“Hey!” Scootaloo shoved the earth pony back. “Why don’t you sit on the other side?”

“Because, it’s full.” Diamond Tiara gave the pegasus one last shove, then nodded towards Feather. “I’m not happy about this either, but he’s got the whole seat taken up with his bags.”

“Fine.” Scootaloo grabbed the top bowl and the milk. “What do you want anyway?” It was far more a demand than a question, but for some reason, Diamond Tiara kept on smiling. It wasn’t a mean smile, which just annoyed Scootaloo even more.

“I just want to help.” The earth pony filly took the next bowl. “Well, that, and I want to see his flying device work!” She slid the last bowl towards Feather.

Scootaloo wrenched the metal bottle top off of the milk with her hoof. “Why?” Another demand. She poured some milk into her bowl before setting the bottle down and scraping it across the table towards Diamond Tiara. “And, why are you eating breakfast with us?”

Both fillies narrowed their eyes. Feather watched carefully from across the table. He half expected both of them to start fighting and call attention to their table but to their credit, they kept their animosity contained.

“Look, I get bored, easily.” The earth pony filly poured some milk into her bowl before offering the bottle to Feather with a smile. “Helping out with this device gives me something to do. Besides, it seems, I dunno...exciting! Plus I could use a new pony to hang out with.” She finished by grabbing the cereal box and leaning back on her seat.

Scootaloo grabbed the box from her. “What about Silver Spoon?”

“What about Silver Spoon?” Tiara grabbed the box back from the pegasus. “Do we have to do everything together?” She slumped back against her seat and ripped the cereal box open. She then shoved a hoof into the box and grabbed a bunch of cereal.

Scootaloo’s eyes went wide as the normally snooty earth pony filly shoved a hoof full of cereal into her mouth. “Uh, did something happen between you and Silver Spoon?

Diamond Tiara caught herself before shoving her hoof back in the box for a second helping. “No, um,” she cleared her throat, “nothing important.” She set the box down on the table.

Feather picked up the cereal box and started pouring cereal into his bowl. He wasn’t about to complain about having food, but he had to wonder why Scootaloo made such a big deal out of him picking what he wanted for breakfast if she wasn’t going to deliver. It was then that he noticed that the cereal he was pouring into his bowl was made up of miniature chocolate chip cookies. He stared at his bowl and shook his head. “Seriously?”

Scootaloo looked over at him. “Yep, seriously. Now, quit hogging it.” She grabbed the cereal box and poured some into her bowl. She passed the box to Diamond Tiara, then grabbed the milk bottle and chugged the rest of its contents.

Tiara poured herself some cereal as the other two started eating their cereal, not hesitating to use their bowls as a trough in the absence of silverware. After watching them for a moment, she slowly leaned down to her bowl. She stuck out her tongue to lap up some of the milk and cereal, but suddenly pulled her head back, unable to bring herself to eat like that. “I’ll be right back.” She edged her way out of the booth and made her way back to the kitchen. She came back a few moments later with a single spoon. She sat down and started eating her cereal in silence. After a few moments, she spoke up. “Now then, we need to talk about Feather. Feather? Would you please leave for a second?”

The colt was one his last bite of cereal, and broke into a coughing fit at her words. He cleared his throat and then spoke up in a raspy voice. “Why?!”

Tiara smiled at him. “Feather,” she said in a syrupy-sweet voice, “you want us to help you, right?”

He nodded. “Uh, I guess.”

The earth pony filly pointed at the door. “Then wait outside!” Her voice this time was loud enough to draw stares from some of the other ponies in the bakery, and Feather quickly gathered up his saddle bags and left to avoid making a scene.

“This about him going to school?” Scootaloo asked in a nonchalant voice as she continued on her breakfast.

“Actually, yes.” Tiara stirred at her cereal. “How are we going to get him enrolled? Forge some documents?”

“Hmm.” Scootaloo lifted her bowl and drank the last of her milk. “That might work, but where do we get them?”

“City Hall, I was there with daddy the other day, and I saw where they keep them.” The earth pony pushed her bowl to the center of the table. “One of us will get the documents while the other shows him around.”

Scootaloo followed suit. “Don’t you think it will be just a bit suspicious if a child gets the documents?”

Diamond Tiara shook her head but Scootaloo spoke up again. “Look, you clearly know how to ‘sneak around your daddy’ as you put it, but other adults aren’t so easy. There is a reason why Feather acted the way he did at the party, he’s scared of adults and for good reason. Now he’s way more paranoid than he needs to be. I, for one, trust plenty of grownups, but asking for school enrollment papers without an excuse is just asking for trouble, don’t you think?”

She rubbed her forehead for a while and then sighed. “You’re right. How about this: Both of us enter City Hall and tell the receptionist that Ms. Cheerilee needs a new set of school enrollment forms and she sent us. Think they would buy that?”

“I think they would, yeah. But I wanted to show him around town first, just so he never gets lost.”

“Fine. I guess I’ll come with,” Diamond Tiara replied without thinking. Scootaloo coughed once but spoke up.

“Um, no offense, but you and I don’t exactly get along. Remember?”

“I’m willing to remain neutral around him.” She crossed her front hooves with a stoic expression.

“Won’t other ponies think that it’s weird that we are suddenly hanging out?”

“If you mean the other ‘adults’, I wouldn’t worry about it. We are all classmates to them. As for your bl- I mean friends, I’m sure you will think of something,” she finished with a smirk. Something past Scootaloo caught the earth pony’s eye, and she stood up in her seat to look out the window behind the pegasus. “Would you look at that?”

Scootaloo turned around. Through the window, she could see Feather cowering in the shadow of a large red stallion pulling a cart. “Look, I don’t trust you for a second, but let’s get going before he has a heart attack or something.”

Tiara nodded and hopped off the seat, rushing outside with Scootaloo close behind. The earth pony filly made it to feather first, and quickly greeted the stallion. “Good morning, Mr. Macintosh.”

“Eeyup, it sure is, miss.” The wheat stalk in his mouth moved from one side to the other as he chewed. “This colt here a friend a’ yers? Ah tried talkin’ to him, but he’s quieter ’n me.”

Before she could speak up, Scootaloo slammed into her side. “Oof, sorry about that.” She looked up at the red stallion towering over them. “Hey, Mac! I see you met Feather, he’s new in town, and kind of shy, so we’re showing him the sights.”

The tall farm pony watched passively as the pegasus filly started pushing the other two along from behind. “Make sure ya introduce him ta Fluttershy.”

Scootaloo looked back and nodded. “Will do, thanks!” She continued pushing the two until they finally got the hint and started walking on their own. Once they were a good distance away from Mac, she poked Feather in the side. “I can’t believe you froze up like that.”

“Did you see how big that guy was?” he questioned in a panicked tone. “Ponies aren’t supposed to get that big! Even gryffins don’t normally get that big.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “That’s Apple Bloom’s brother, he’s well known around here, and really friendly. If you ever need anything, you can usually ask him. I mentioned him when I told you about the paper route, right?”

Feather shook his head. “No.”

“Oh, well, now you know.” Scootaloo shrugged. “He buys the papers, and I deliver them. Well, enough about that, let’s go see the town!”

Feather shook his head and sat down. “Not until you tell me about everypony I’m gonna be running into around you. They may be used to you, but if I slip up around them, I’ll be in big trouble.” Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo exchanged glances, then started pushing him along. “Hey! Wait!” He tried to resist, but they still managed to push him along with ease. “Why do they both have to be stronger than me?”

Sorry if this chapter did not reveal much of anything else either. I promise real stuff happens next time and it will come in a week or two!

Diamond Tiara shook her head as she, Scootaloo, and Feather ran through town. “I can not believe you did that, Feather!” she hissed as they rounded a corner behind a shop and stopped in an alley. “Your name should be Feather-brain, you idiot!”

The colt ignored her insults as he checked around the corner to make sure they weren’t followed. “I only did what I had to do. I don’t see why you’re getting so worked up about it.”

Scootaloo pounced on Feather, forcing him to the ground. “You broke into the schoolhouse! Of course we’re going to get worked up about something like that!”

Feather struggled helplessly against the pegasus filly. “I had to learn the layout of the place! What if I have to escape on Monday?”

Tiara sat down in front of him and shoved her hoof in his face. “That doesn’t excuse picking the lock on Cheerilee's desk!”

Feather pulled his head away from the dusty pink hoof. “It worked out, didn’t it? You got that paper you needed, didn’t you?”

Diamond Tiara glared down at the colt. “You’re lucky about that much, at least.” The earth filly motioned for Scootaloo to let Feather up. “But, what if Cheerilee had been there? She prepares her lessons on the weekend, and I doubt she would take kindly to her newest student rummaging around without permission.”

Scootaloo sighed loudly, and shifted her weight off of the colt. “Hey, little prissy princess, you mind keeping an eye on him for a while?” She glanced back at her wing, and the folded piece of paper tucked between her feathers. “I wanna go fill out this form and stick it in a mailbox.”

“What?” Tiara stomped over to the pegasus. “First off, don’t call me that. Second, you’re not touching that paper without me. Your wings may be clean, but your hooves are all covered in sap. What if you mess something up?” The earth pony brushed at her shoulders and turned to Feather. “Hey, do you have something you can go do while we work on this?”

“Uh-uh.” Scootaloo shook her head wildly. “We are not leaving him alone, I don’t care how long. The way things have been going this morning, he’ll probably end up stealing the Elements of Harmony without even trying!”

Feather just shrugged. He hadn’t even bothered getting up. “Is there some sort of reason why I can’t be around while you fill out my entrance form?”

“All right Feather,” Tiara challenged. She walked over to him and lowered her head, bringing them snout to snout. “If you can answer three of my questions, you can help us.” She leaned back and cleared her throat. “Question one: why did your family move to Ponyville?”

Feather picked himself up and dusted himself off. “It’s just me and my dad, and he’s here because of work.”

Tiara nodded thoughtfully. “Is that so? What kind of work?”

Feather thought about that a little bit. “Construction and stuff. He’s an engineer.”

“Really?” The earth pony filly smiled a confident smile. “Where?”

“Shoot!” The colt brought a hoof to his face. “I didn’t even think about that. I’ve never stayed in a small town this long. In a city, if you mention construction, no one ever thinks twice about it, because there are too many construction companies to keep track of.”

“See? You need to let Scooter-girl and me handle this, because we know the town.” She glanced out of the alley and started walking, forcing the other two to follow her. “And, while we’re busy concentrating, we need to find something productive for you to do.” The earth pony glanced over at the paper that Scootaloo carried. “Preferably, something supervised.”

“Like what?” The orange pegasus pulled up alongside her and scoffed. “I don’t want him anywhere near my friends, and he freaks out around adults.”

“Hmm... We’ll find something.” Diamond Tiara looked back at Feather. “Hey, what were you planning on doing today?”

The colt turned to Diamond Tiara with a serious and determined look on his face. “The same thing I do every day, Tiara; try to fix the machine.”

She nodded. “Makes sense. So why doesn't your thing work yet, anyway?”

Feather blinked. “Parts, mostly. Sometimes I need to replace parts that wear out over time from failed repairs, and other times I need something more specialized and… expensive to make modifications. Other than that, it’s probably just that I don’t understand everything that’s written in my dad’s journal. Not yet, anyway.”

Tiara looked at his bag as they walked. “Well, what do you need now?”

He sighed, stopped, and rummaged through his bag for a while until he found a rather simple metal piece, smooth and round. He showed it to them both, but they simply shrugged, looking clueless. “This is a carrier shaft. It’s responsible for the movement of all the other gears in my machine, but this one’s just a blank.” At their similarly blank looks, he explained, “It doesn’t have any teeth cut in it. As far as I know, there are only two ponies in town that can make this part. One of them is Pinkie Pie, but I had a run-in with her at the parts shop, and don’t want to take the chance that she’ll figure out what I’m doing. The other one is that unicorn librarian, I forgot her name, but-”

“Twilight Sparkle.” Scootaloo finished. She sighed loudly. “But she may be onto us, or rather, me.”

Tiara scratched the back of her head for bit. “Perfect! You said that she’s onto you, right, Scootaloo?” The pegasus filly nodded. “Then just send him. We can fill out the form, and he can get his part made.” Tiara smiled proudly. “It’s the perfect plan.”

Scootaloo gave the other filly an odd look, but said nothing.

Feather, on the other hoof, was a little more vocal with his disdain for the plan. “You want to send me in there with her, alone? Are you two crazy?!”

Scootaloo turned to him and grunted. “Leave me out of it, it’s her plan.” She glanced over at the pink filly and rolled her eyes, not liking what she was about to say. “But, she does have a point. Eventually, you're going to need Twilight or Pinkie to fix that machine of yours. If you ask Twilight to do it, then me being there would just complicate things.” She lifted her head and eyed her surroundings, spying a large tree among the town’s buildings. She nodded her head towards it. “Well, we aren’t that far from the library, let’s head there now.”

Diamond Tiara put a hoof on Feather’s shoulder as Scootaloo walked away. “Just remain calm, and say that your dad needs that part. If you say it with plenty of confidence, she’ll buy it. ‘Kay?”

He shifted nervously, but nodded in agreement. Without a word, they started following Scootaloo towards the library, stopping only when they stood before the library door.

“What if she wants to be paid?” Tiara asked bluntly. “How many bits will it cost?”

Feather looked over at her. “What are you asking me for? I don’t even know if she’ll do it.”

“Look who came prepared,” Diamond said snarkily, shoving a rather large bag filled to the brim with shiny bits in his face. “Here, thirty five bits. It’s all I have with me, so make sure it doesn’t cost more than that.” Feather gingerly took the bag, and Diamond Tiara threw a hoof around Scootaloo’s neck. “We’ll be back, just, um, stay calm like Scootaloo said.”

“Uh.” The pegasus pushed the other filly’s hoof away. “What are you doing?”

The earth pony filly leaned in close to the pegasus. “We need to go,” she whispered, “before Feather loses his nerve.”

Scootaloo leaned over. “And leave him with all the bits you have?” She sighed. “Have you forgotten, oh, I don’t know, all the stuff he already stole from you?”

Tiara leaned in a little closer. “Aren’t you getting a little hung up on mallow puffs and salt crackers?”

Scootaloo leaned in a bit more. “I don’t care if it was bobby pins and bottle caps.” The two filly’s butted their heads together. “It’s the principle of it.”

“The principle of what?”

Both fillies let out a shrill yelp, grabbing each other and jumping towards the library door in an effort to get away from the new voice behind them. They looked back to see a small purple dragon, a little smaller than they were, carrying a stack of books piled higher than his head, blocking his view of the world in front of him. Synchronous sighs escaped their lips, and they quickly shoved each other away.

“Nothing, Spike.” Scootaloo cleared her throat and to the Spike’s side, letting the dragon see her despite his wordy cargo. “We’re just dropping Feather off at the library.”

“Feather? He’s that new colt Pinkie threw the party for, right?” Spike started walking, slowly and carefully to keep the books balanced. “Cool, I fell asleep at the party, and didn’t get to meet him.”

Diamond Tiara moved out of Spike’s way as walked towards the library door. Feather, meanwhile, sat and stared while the dragon moved towards him. All he could see was a pair of purple legs propelling the books forwards. “What is that?!” he asked.

“Uh, it’s all the over-due library books from everypony in town. What’s it look like?” Spike leaned his head to peer past his cargo. “Are you Feather? Cool, good to meet ya.” He looked past the colt for a moment. “Um, could you get the door? My claws are kinda full.”

Feather just stared. He had never seen a dragon before, but he had heard of them, and he couldn’t think of anything else Spike could be. His reptilian appearance, scales, claws, and spines certainly matched every story the young colt had heard about dragons. There was just one thing that didn’t: his size.

Spike glanced back at Scootaloo as she slapped a hoof to her face. He then looked back at Feather. “Um, door’s unlocked, dude.”

“Huh?” Feather blinked, slowly coming back to his senses. “Oh, right!” He nearly tripped over himself to get to the door, silently admonishing himself for being taken so off guard. He opened the large wooden door and let Spike walk past him. He glanced back at the two fillies behind him. They smiled, waved, and ran off, leaving the colt alone on the library’s front step. With a heavy sigh, he walked through the still open door, following Spike as he deposited his books on a table in the center of the main room. The colt recognized the table from the party, though it seemed to have been moved since then. It wasn’t the only thing, either. As he looked around, Feather noticed a lot of things that had been rearranged from yesterday’s party.

Spike chuckled, picking up a piece of paper and a quill from a nearby shelf as he watched the colt’s head pivot around. “It looks different doesn’t it? Pinkie goes a little overboard with her parties, but that’s what makes ’em so great.” He nodded to himself, briefly reliving the festivities. “That, and the food.”

“Oh, um, yeah.” Feather winced. It didn’t seem like Twilight was there, and now he was stuck making small talk. He looked over at the creature standing by the table. “Um, it was Spike, right?”

Spike looked over. “Yep.” He started taking notes on the paper, referring to the books every so often. “That’s my name, don’t wear it out.”

“Ah.” Feather nodded awkwardly. If there was any one thing he was bad at, any one thing he hated, it would be small talk. He forced his mouth to say something, anything. “You’re a dragon, right?”

Yep. Reasons he hated small talk, exhibit A.

Spike didn’t look up from his notes, but a smirk definitely crossed his face. “Did the scales give it away?” He finished up his notes with a flourish and rolled up the paper. He looked over at Feather with a smile. “I’m just messin’ with ya, dude. You’ve never seen a dragon before, have you?”

Feather shook his head slowly. “No.” He wasn’t sure how dragons aged, but Spike seemed to be about his age, maybe a little younger. “So, what do you do here?”

“I’m Twilight’s assistant. She’s the librarian, but she’s usually too busy to actually do anything in the library.” He tied a deep blue ribbon around the note and held it up for Feather to see. “What do you think? We ran out of red, and the price went up, so I went with the blue. It still looks ok, right?”

“Uh, yeah.” Feather forced a smile. “It looks fine.” He had no clue why the dragon was asking him, and he had no idea why he even wrapped the scroll up like that in the first place. “I guess?”

The dragon’s shoulders slumped. “You don’t like it.” He closed an empty claw into a fist and hit his empty palm in frustration. “I knew I should have gone with gold.”

“What?! No!” Feather waved a hoof in front of him. “It’s not that!” He scratched at his mane. The dragon seemed a bit overly concerned about his ribbon choice. “It’s, uh, just that, um… Why did you roll it up like that anyway?”

Spike looked down at the paper and shrugged. “It makes it easier to send.”

Feather’s head tilted to the side. “Send? Wouldn’t an envelope be a better-”

Before the colt could finish, Spike took a deep breath and lifted the paper high above him. He blew out a small puff of green flame, incinerating the paper before Feather’s eyes. Spike watched as the ashes scattered in the air. “Twilight will tell me if blue’s ok.”

Feather’s mouth hung open as he stared at the dragon’s now empty claw. “Why did you just-”

A sound like thunder shook the library, rattling the windows and sending Feather darting under the table to hide. The sound was immediately followed by a harsh yell.

“SPIIIIIIIIIKE!”

From his hiding spot, Feather could see tendrils of dark smoke flowing from around one of the doors along a far wall.

The colt heard a whispered, “oops,” from the dragon, and the door burst open, revealing a purple unicorn covered in patches of soot. Spike lifted a claw in greeting. “Hey, Twilight! How’s it going?”

“It’s not!” The unicorn stomped over to the table. “It’s going exactly nowhere, because somepony decided to send a piece of paper, and a whole bunch of dragon magic, straight into the middle of a very delicate experiment.”

The young dragon scratched at his spines. “I thought that wasn’t scheduled until this afternoon.”

With a loud groan, Twilight smacked a hoof to her forehead. “I forgot to tell you, Rainbow Dash had to cancel the book club meeting to get ready for tomorrow.”

“Oh, so you moved the experiment to this morning, and I just ruined it.” Spike looked at the ground. “Sorry.”

Twilight shook her head. “No, Spike, I should be the one to apologize, for yelling at you, for my own mistake. But, what was that paper you sent me?”

Spike pointed at the books on the table. “It was a list of those, the over-due books from around town. Didn’t you read it?”

Twilight brought the books towards her with her magic. “No, it was vaporized, just like the rest of my experiment.” She studied the titles on the spines. “There seem to be a few missing. Unless I’m mistaken, the missing books are the ones Thunderlane borrowed.”

“Yeah.” Spike scratched at his neck. “I couldn’t find him, and I don’t know where he lives.”

“Hmm, I’ll have to ask the next weather pegasus I see about that.” Twilight floated the books over to the shelves, and started putting them away. “Was that it, Spike?”

“No, I wanted to ask you if the new ribbon color was ok.” Spike took the quill off the table and put it back on the shelf. “Oh, and Feather came by to visit.”

The last of the books fell to the ground as Twilight’s attention snapped to the dragon. “Feather? Really?” Her head swiveled back and forth, searching the library for any sign of the young colt. “Aw, I must have missed him. What did he want?”

Spike walked over to the fallen book and picked it up. “Ask him yourself, he’s under the table.” The dragon turned the book over in his claws, studying the cover. “A cookbook! Hey, that reminds me, It’s almost lunch and I haven’t cleaned up the mess from breakfast.” He stuffed the book on the nearest shelf and ran for the kitchen, looking back without slowing down. “It was nice meeting you, Feather. Drop by again when I have some free time, we can hang out!”

Feather watched him go from under the table. “Uh, sure,” he lied, “that sounds great.” The colt had no intention of ever coming back, but he wasn’t about to say so.

Twilight stared after Spike for a moment, then slowly craned her neck to look under the table. Much to her surprise, the young colt from the party was there, saddlebags and all. “Feather, what are you doing under there?”

The colt looked over at her with a serious expression on his face. “Maybe you forgot, but there was an explosion.”

“Oh, that.” Twilight laughed nervously, glancing back and forth as she scratched at her mane, knocking out loose clumps of soot. “You kind of get used to it after a while.”

Feather blinked. “I hope not.”

Twilight stopped scratching. “Anyway,” she said slowly, stepping away from the table, “why don’t you come on out and make yourself comfortable? I promise there won’t be any more...” She stopped for a moment, shook the soot off her coat, and walked over to a nearby couch. “There shouldn’t be any more explosions.” She sat on the couch and patted the cushion next to her. “Why don’t you tell me what brings you here?” Feather crawled out from under the table, but stayed beside it, making no move to act on Twilight’s gesture of sitting next to her. “I see,” she muttered quietly. She cleared her throat and straightened up on the couch, forcing a smile to her face. “You know, I never got a chance to say good night after the party. You just sort of disappeared.”

“Yeah, I tend to do that.” He chuckled nervously. Something about the librarian put him on edge, but he couldn’t quite place it. It was something more than the fact that she was a grown-up, and more than just the questions she was asking. Speaking of which, he had to steer the conversation away from himself. “I am pretty good at disappearing, maybe I should become a magician. But, I’m sure you know more about it than I do.”

“Well, uh…” She shrugged, then disappeared in a flash of green light. She materialized next to feather, just out of the colt’s sight. “I‘m pretty good at it as well.”

“Gaah!” Feather dove away from her voice, clutching his hat tightly to his head, almost as if was expecting a bomb to fall on his head. He didn’t hold on to his saddlebags, though, and inertia sent them flying farther than he went. Mechanical parts and party leftovers scattered across the floor, accompanied by a loud pop and several small crunches as something heavy flattened a bag of chips.

“Oh! Feather, I’m so sorry.” Twilight went to help the colt up. “I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”

He shrunk away from the unicorn’s touch, quickly jumping away from her. He didn’t say anything, he just stared at her, breathing heavily.

“Feather?” She took a step forward, and he stepped back without thinking. She stopped for a moment, seeing the fear in the young pony’s reaction. He was way too scared for it to be because of her. “Feather, are you ok?”

His breathing started to slow down, and his eye glanced around the room. “Y-yeah.” He stared blankly at the mess of salt, sugar, and steel that now covered the library floor. “Heh. I made a mess didn’t I?” He sheepishly looked up at Twilight. “I’ll just clean it up and get going.”

“You don’t have to.” The unicorn took a step towards the colt. Her hoof squished something that could have been either cake or cookies and cheese. She lifted her hoof to get a better look at it, eventually taking a tentative sniff. “Feather, are you sure you’re all right?”

“I’m sure.” Feather nodded. “Really, I’m...”

She held out her food-covered hoof to stop him. “Feather, this-” She stopped herself and pulled her hoof back. “Feather, why do you have all this?”

“The parts?” The colt fidgeted. “Uh, they’re my dad’s, he’s an engineer, and these are... um-“

“I meant the food.” Twilight wiped her hoof on the floor and walked over to Feather. “These are leftovers from the party. Why are you carrying them around?”

The colt unconsciously leaned away from her. Without looking at her, he muttered the best lie he could think of, “M- my dad’s not the best cook.”

Twilight nodded. “I see. Pinkie can be crazy sometimes, but she makes really good food.” She smiled and put a hoof on the colt’s shoulder. Her smile faded almost immediately. “Feather, you’re shaking. Have you eaten anything besides sweets since the party?”

“Maybe I should go.” Feather backed away from her, stepping on a spring. He looked down at the parts littering the floor. No matter how much he wanted to leave, he couldn’t. Not until he picked up his pieces.

Twilight saw his concern with the parts, and picked one up with her magic. It was a pitted bronze-colored gear with worn teeth. She examined it closely. “Feather, what does your dad do with these parts? Most of them are broken, and others aren’t going to last long.” She moved the gear over to him. “This one alone will probably snap if it’s put under any stress.”

“What?” Feather snatched it out of the air with his hoof. He sat down and started examining it, seemingly absorbed by that one piece. He turned it over in his hooves, examining it for cracks. Then, he held it up to his ear and tapped it, listening to the chime of the metal. “Are you sure? How can-“ He stopped and gulped. He looked over at Twilight.

“They’re yours, aren’t they?” Twilight sat down. “I don’t know why you thought you had to hide it. I think it’s great that a young pony like you has an interest in mechanical engineering. How did you get into it?”

Feather gulped again. He was trapped, completely and utterly trapped. “My dad really was- is an engineer. He, uh, lets me use the pieces he doesn’t need anymore.”

“Oh.” Twilight flipped over a piece on the floor in front of her. “Is that why they’re all broken?”

“No.” Feather started gathering the pieces closest to him into a pile. “A few of them were, but it’s mostly my fault that pieces keep breaking.” He stared at the pile for a moment. “How do you know that piece is going to break?”

“Magic,” she lied. The gear she looked at was pretty beat up, but as far as she could tell, it was still structurally sound. It was a lie she had used to draw information out of the colt. “There’s a stress fault in the metal’s crystalline structure. It may not break immediately, but one of these days it will.” She felt bad about tricking him, but he had lied first; and technically, it was true--the part would eventually fail. “So, have you made any friends yet?”

Feather slowly looked up. “Uh, sure. Two of ‘em in fact, Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara. Why?”

“Just curious, I know what it’s like to be the new pony in town and have to make friends.” She smiled at the memory. “It was this town in fact, and I wanted nothing more than to be left alone. But I made friends, even if it was against my will, and they changed my life.” She suddenly shook her head as what he said finally impacted her. “Wait, did you say Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara?”

Feather nodded slowly.

“I see.” Twilight scratched her ear. “Um, I heard those two don’t exactly like each other.”

Feather nodded slowly.

“Oh. Okay.” Twilight went silent for a moment, watching Feather pick at the parts. “Let me get that, Feather. I can clean it up faster with my magic.”

“Oh, um, thanks.” Feather stepped back from the pile. “I guess.”

A purple glow surrounded all the metal pieces on the ground and they lifted into the air and started arranging themselves into various groups, sorting by type of part. “I’ll get the food later. So, you mentioned Scootaloo, I’m guessing you two patched things up? I’m glad to see you aren’t upset at her for what she said at the party.”

Feather just sat there, watching his parts as they danced above him.

Twilight tilted her head to the side. This colt was confusing to say the least. “Feather?” There was no response, so Twilight tried being a bit louder. “Hello? Feather?”

The colt shook himself from whatever thoughts occupied his mind, and looked over.

“You have an interesting pair of friends.” Twilight set the parts on the ground in three neat piles, separating gears, screws, and springs. “How did you end up becoming friends with them? And how did you do it so quickly?”

Feather looked away and grimaced. He couldn’t exactly tell her the entire story, but if he lied, she might ask one of the two fillies, and he would be in a world of hurt if their stories didn’t match up. “I guess we all just, um, had something in common.”

“Oh?” Twilight grabbed Feather’s saddlebags in her magic and brought them over.

The colt cleared his throat. “Well, we’re all grounded. An earth pony, a pegasus that hasn’t learned to fly, and, well…” He extended his one wing and shrugged. He then saw that Twilight wasn’t paying attention to him at all. The unicorn was staring at the pair of saddlebags she held aloft. The look on her face scared Feather. It was one of curiosity.

Feather ran forward to snatch the bags away, but slipped on a patch of smeared frosting from one of the cupcakes scattered along the floor. With friction taking a short vacation, he slid and crashed into an end-table with a large statue on it.

“Feather!” Twilight dropped the bags and grabbed the statue in a cloud of purple light just as it fell. For a moment, neither pony moved. “Feather, are you ok?”

The colt stared up at the unicorn statue that was about to flatten him, and slowly inched away from it. He rushed over to his bags and picked them up. His machine had fallen out when it fell, and he shoved it back into the bag. He couldn’t tell if Twilight had seen it, but right now, he didn’t care. He was leaving.

Twilight moved the statue to a corner instead of putting it back where it was. “I’m sorry, Feather, I shouldn’t have something dangerous like that in the common areas.” She turned around, only to see Feather tossing mechanical parts into his bags as fast as his hooves could move. “Feather?”

“Huh?” He looked up for a second before returning to his task. “Oh, I, uh, I’ve gotta go. Nice meeting you and all that, but I stayed too long. I’m going to be late.”

“Oh, I hope I didn’t keep you too long.” Twilight used her magic to help the rest of the parts into the bag, and Feather shot for the door after a very quick nod of thanks. “Before you leave, what you said earlier, about Scootaloo not knowing how to fly, don’t her parents teach her?”

Feather slammed to a stop.

“I mean…” Twilight scratched at her mane. “I don’t know how it is for pegasi, but most unicorns first learn to use magic from their parents. Well, controlled magic, at least. This can be difficult if the parents aren’t unicorns.”

Feather turned back slowly.

“The point I’m getting at is, do you know if her parents are pegasi? Of all the young pegasi in town, I think she’s the only one who can’t fly.” Twilight walked over to him. “I should probably talk to them. I have plenty of books on flight and flight training. Do you know where she lives?”

Feather swallowed hard. “Uh, yeah, but I’m sure they’re doing fine.” Sweat started to drip from his forehead. This trip was not going well. “Scootaloo just doesn’t seem like the type of pony that listens to instructions.”

Twilight sighed. “You’re probably right.”

“Yeah.” On the outside, Feather smiled. On the inside, his heart was trying to break free from the colt’s ribcage. That was such a close call.

“Still…” Twilight retrieved Spike’s writing tools and started writing. “I should go talk to them later. I’m just going to make a note so I don’t forget.”

Feather wanted to cry. He was so close to getting out of there. “Actually, uh, I had something I needed to talk to you about.”

“Really?” Twilight set the pen and paper on the table. “I thought you were going to be late for something.”

“That?” The colt shrugged. Every word out of his mouth from this point on could unravel everything, and not just for him. His only hope was to get that paper and pray that the librarian’s memory was really as bad she suggested. “Nah, I just wanted to get to Time Turner’s shop before they closed.”

Twilight blinked. “Time Turner’s shop doesn’t close, ever.”

The colt did a double-take. “Huh?”

Twilight walked away from the table. “I know. It’s odd, but Time Turner lives in his shop. You could stop by there in the dead of the night, and he’d be there to help you.”

“Well,” the colt said with fake enthusiasm, “more time to talk to you then!” He ended his sentence with a nervous laugh.

“Uh, ok.” The colt’s sudden change in demeanor, worried her, but she tried not to focus on it. “What did you want to talk about?” She quietly watched him rummage around in his saddlebag. After a few moments, he pulled out a small piece of metal. Unlike the pieces that had scattered earlier, it was shiny and new, displaying no sign of wear. It also had an odd, blue sheen. “Is that magically-aligned steel?”

“Uh, yeah.” Feather looked at the part he held. Even though he knew what to look for, he could barely make out the blue tint. “Time Turner said you would know what to do with it. I guess he was right.”

Twilight lifted the part with her magic. “It would be better to say that I know how to work with it.” She turned it over several times, examining it closely. “Why did you bring it to me? I don’t have a clue what this is even supposed to be.”

While the librarian was distracted, Feather edged his way towards the table. “It’s part of a planetary gearing system.”

“Planetary gearing… is it… a carrier shaft?” Twilight ran her hoof over the part. “But it looks it’s just a regular shaft, I may not be an engineer, but isn’t it supposed to have some kind of point to hold it from?”

“That’s why my-” Feather caught himself mid-lie. “That’s why I brought it to you.” Twilight had already found out that the other parts were his, and he didn’t need the hassle of keeping any more lies straight. “I need teeth cut into it for something I’m working on.”

“Feather, a planetary gearing system is highly complicated. I would need detailed blueprints just to get started on this.” She tapped the part with a hoof. Examining it further, she caught sight of the series of lines on the endcap, marking the part’s strength, and her eyes widened slightly. “Also, doesn’t this part seem a little over-built? It shows here that it’s grade seven. That’s only used in high stress machinery.”

“Uh…” Feather lightly bounced from hoof to hoof, trying to think of a plausible explanation. After a few seconds, he realized that the truth, or at least a simplification of it, was the best answer. “I didn’t want it to break like the last one. I can pay you to make it if you want. I brought some bits with me.”

“I see.” Twilight set the part on the table and walked over to Feather. “Well, do you have any sort of plan or blueprint for whatever it is you’re making? I’ll need something to use as a model.”

“Oh, of course.” Feather wasn’t about to show her his father’s notebook. Besides, this was the chance he was waiting for. “Can I have some paper?”

“There’s some on the table, use as much as you need.” Twilight let out a soft sigh. She could only assume he was making up his plan as he went, in the bricoleur fashion of a talented amateur. She had learned the hard way that improvised experiments tend to fail, and it looked like Feather had yet to learn that lesson. Of course, there was always a chance for logic to prevail. “So, Feather, how much thought have you put into this project of yours?”

He picked up the quill. “A lot.” The colt looked over at Twilight. She turned around and walked towards the couch, leaving him to work. He immediately swiped her note from the stack of paper and stuffed it under his wing.

Twilight saw it, but didn’t say anything as she sat down on the couch. She had started to get the feeling that there was something wrong, but she couldn’t quite put a hoof on what it was. Feather’s actions now only served to confuse her further, but told her that Scootaloo was involved somehow. “So, what are you building?”

The colt hesitated as he reached for a blank piece of paper. “A new means of transportation.”

Twilight nodded thoughtfully. “Some sort of vehicle?”

Feather chuckled nervously as he set the quill to work. “Something like that.”

Twilight watched the colt work in silence. She couldn’t figure him out. Something was off, and she had to figure out what. She let him work for a few minutes before interrupting him. “Say, Feather, it’s getting close to lunch, would you care to stay and eat while you finish working?”

The colt glanced back for a moment. “That’s ok, I’m almost done.” He gave a pained look to the food scraps that still covered the floor. “I’ll just go eat at home.”

“Are you sure? It’s no trouble to cook for one extra pony.” Twilight got up and walked over to him. “Besides, it will give Spike a chance to show off his cooking skills.” She held a hoof up to the side of her mouth, and lowered her voice to a whisper. “And, between you and me, he loves to show off.”

“I’m sure.” Feather made a few last marks on the paper and dropped the quill. “Well, here’s what I need.”

“Let me see.” Twilight leaned over the table and inspected the colt’s work. What she saw was unexpected, and she felt her jaw drop. “Feather, this is… well, ‘impressive’ doesn’t quite cut it.” On the page were before and after views of the carrier shaft. There were several different perspectives, top-down, front-view, side-view, and even an axonometric view. The drawing was clean, no smudges or smears of ink. Each view was scaled the same, had a background grid, and had clearly marked units. “You must have a very practiced hoof, these diagrams are perfect.”

“Uh, thanks.” Feather looked at his diagram again. Was it really that good? This was the first time he’d ever received a compliment like that. This was the first time he’d ever had feedback of any kind. A part of him wanted to ask for more of an explanation, but most of him wanted to end the conversation and leave. “Do you think you can make this?”

The librarian scratched her head. “I should be able to, but…”

Feather looked up at her with a small groan. “How much is this going to cost?”

“No, no.” Twilight laughed. She put a hoof on the colt’s shoulder. “It’s not that. I’m not going to take your bits, Feather. You don’t have to pay me to do this.”

“You mean, you’ll do it for free?” He looked at the hoof on his shoulder. “Why would you do that?”

Twilight could feel the suspicion in the colt’s words. “Why wouldn’t I? I’m a librarian, it’s my job to promote learning, and to assist any Ponyville resident in their quest for knowledge.”

“Oh.” Feather looked down. “Can I go then?”

“Oh, not yet.” Twilight gestured to some of the numbers on the diagram. “I need you to change all the units to metric. Feel free to use as much paper as you want to do the math, but I can’t work with the plans in royal standard.”

With a quiet groan, Feather grabbed another sheet of paper and started his calculations.

Twilight stood over his shoulder and watched. “Sorry about this.”

Feather gave the quill a stunted wave. “Yeah, no problem.”

Twilight was impressed by how quickly he was working through the conversions, but with sheer number of measurements, even at the speed he was going, it should take him at least half an hour to finish. “Since you’re going to be here a while, do you think I could change your mind about lunch?”

Feather’s ear twitched. He paused for a moment, lifting his borrowed quill from the paper. It had been a while since breakfast, and he was starting to feel hungry. With a defeated sigh, he replied, “Sure.”

“Great!” Twilight clapped her hooves together. “What do you want?”

The colt looked over at the librarian. “Huh?”

“You heard me, pick anything.” The unicorn smiled proudly. “I bet you a bit Spike can make anything you can think of.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Feather looked down. “Pick a food, huh?”

Twilight nodded. “Yep.”

The colt sighed. It had been a while since he had a good meal, he was having trouble remembering foods that weren’t packaged. After several seconds of thought, he blurted out the last warm meal he had before coming to Ponyville. “Monte Cristo Sandwiches.”

“Really?” The unicorn winced. “Deep-fried cheese sandwiches, isn’t that a bit heavy for lunch?”

Feather waved a hoof in front of him. “I’m fine with anything, really. I just said the first thing that came to mind.”

“It’s just-” Twilight sighed. “I’ll go tell Spike, it shouldn’t be more than a few minutes.” She turned around and headed for the kitchen, muttering under her breath, “Rainbow’s going to kill me for going off my diet again...”

Spike was standing on a stool and drying off freshly washed dishes when the unicorn walked into the kitchen. “Hey, Twi.” The little dragon waved with a plate before setting it with its brethren. “What did Feather want?”

The librarian walked to the refrigerator. “Monte Cristo Sandwiches.”

Spike blinked. “Wait, what?”

“Feather wanted some help with a bit of magic, and I invited him to stay for lunch.” Twilight paused for a moment with her hoof on the fridge handle. “Spike, do you remember the first time we had Monte Cristo sandwiches?”

The dragon laughed as he climbed down from his stool. “How could I forget? That Gryphon ambassador was madder than a manticore when you teleported his food out the window.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “We’ve been through this. That was an accident, Spike. And I heard things got patched up pretty quickly after we left.”

“Ok.” Spike nodded and chuckled. “He was still pretty mad, though.”

The unicorn sighed. “Yes, yes he was.”

The dragon pushed his stool to a different part of the kitchen. “What are you getting at, Twi?”

Twilight pulled the fridge open and dug through it. “How many ponies do you know who know about Monte Cristo sandwiches, besides me?”

Spike tapped a claw against the leg of the stool. “Rainbow Dash?”

“Gilda.” Twilight pulled cheese and butter from the fridge and tossed them on the counter.

Spike climbed the stool and checked a breadbox on the counter. They had just under half a loaf of bread left. “Then, how about Fluttershy?”

Twilight set some eggs on the counter, in a much gentler manner than she handled the other ingredients. “Anypony else? And, don’t you dare say the royal chefs.”

The dragon sat down on the stool and poked at his chin. He would have spun around if the stool allowed it. “I’ve got nothin’.” He kicked his legs idly. “Why? Is this important?”

“I don’t know, Spike.” Twilight gathered a pan and various utensils. “I don’t think it is. At least, it shouldn’t be, but there’s a few things about Feather that don’t seem to add up like they should.”

One of the dragon’s eyebrows lifted skyward. “Do you think he’s a spy?”

Twilight nearly dropped the utensils she was carrying. “What? No!” She set them near the stove. “Why would you even say that, he’s just a colt.”

“Then what’s the big deal?” Spike hopped off his stool and pushed it towards the stove. “Last time you couldn’t understand somepony, you ended up stalking Pinkie Pie.”

Twilight pointed a hoof at Spike. “That wasn’t stalking,” she corrected. “It was research.“

“Ok, ok.” Spike climbed the stool and turned on the stove. “As long as I don’t have to send a letter to Princess Celestia that you were sta- sorry, researching a young colt.”

Twilight groaned. “Spike, this is serious. What if Feather’s in trouble?”

The dragon buttered the pan and picked up a spatula. “What kind of trouble?”

“I don’t know, Spike, that’s what I’m trying to figure out.” She moved the breadbox closer to the stove so Spike could reach it. “He’s nervous, and I’m pretty sure he’s been lying to me about something.” She paused. “A lot of somethings.”

The first slice of bread sizzled as Spike tossed it in the pan. “What are you going to do?”

“I should probably talk to his father.” The librarian sighed quietly. “You know, I think he’s better at math than I was at his age. Even though he’s a pegasus, he would be a shoe-in for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. I should probably-” The sound of a slamming door interrupted her. “Feather,” she called out, “was that you?”

There was no response.

“Feather?” She walked out to the library common area. There was no sign of the colt. On the table, the plans were marked with the conversions she had asked for, conversions she didn’t need and could have easily done in her head. She stared at the papers and shook her head. “What’s wrong, Feather?” she asked quietly, knowing he couldn’t hear her. “What are you hiding?”

Feather was panting hard as he leaned against the library door. He eventually realized that he was blocking the entrance to a few ponies, and he gave them a sheepish grin before taking off. “What was that?!”

He ran. He didn’t pay any attention to his surroundings, he just ran. He had to put distance between himself and the librarian.

“Hey, Feather! Watch where you're going!”

Feather skidded to a stop as he recognized the angry voice as Diamond Tiara. Turning around, he saw Tiara and Scootaloo standing by a large building with a clock tower on top. “There you are!” he said, trotting over to them. “What were you two thinking? Geez, I couldn’t get out of that library fast enough, and I can not go back there.” He shoved a hoof at Diamond Tiara. “You’ll have to go get the part when it’s done. Scootaloo and I have to stay as far away from that librarian as ponily possible.”

“Hold on!” Scootaloo inserted herself between the two other foals. “How about you tell us what happened before tossing out orders? Why do I have to stay away from the library?”

Feather hung his head. “I think she’s onto us.”

“Us?” Scootaloo advanced on Feather, forcing him to shrink back. She stared down at him with a gaze of pure ice. “What do you mean us?”

“It wasn’t my fault,” Feather whimpered, backing away from Scootaloo even more. “We were talking and it was mentioned that neither of us can fly. Then, that unicorn starts going on about how odd it is that your parents haven’t taught you to fly.”

Scootaloo sighed loudly. “This again?” She brushed her mane back. “It comes up every so often. I’ll just lay low for a bit, and let it pass.”

“She said she was going to talk to your parents.” Feather took the paper out from under his wing and dropped it in front of her. “She even wrote a note to remind herself.”

Scootaloo gasped and grabbed the paper. “Feather, tell me you didn’t…” She read the paper, and immediately slammed it to the ground. “You did!” She brought both hooves to her forehead and groaned in defeat. “Feather, Twilight is one of the smartest ponies in town. She helped me with my math homework one day, and she was able to do all sorts of crazy long division in her head. She doesn’t need things like notes.”

“No.” Feather shook his head. “Long division? But, she made me convert all the measurements for--”

“Feather!” Scootaloo scooped up the paper and punched him in the chest with it. “She played you like a pack of cards!”

Feather grabbed the paper as Scootaloo stormed away from him. He looked down at it.

“Feather, I don’t know why you don’t want to talk to me, but I’ll be here if you need anything. That goes for Scootaloo as well. Please don’t hesitate to talk to me. Whatever’s going on, I may be able to help.

Twilight Sparkle”

Feather shouted in frustration and crumpled the paper up. ”She tricked me! This is why you can’t trust adults!” He threw the wadded up note at the ground and stomped on it, accentuating every point with another stomp. “They say they want to help, but they lie, and they trick you, and they break every promise they make. And it’s all because ‘it’s just policy’ or ‘that’s just they way it is’, or some other garbage!”

Diamond Tiara rushed forward and snatched the paper away just as Feather was about to stomp on it again. “Mind letting me into the loop?” she asked sarcastically. She smoothed out the note and read it carefully. After a few moments, she let out a slow sigh. “Okay, I can work with this.” She turned to the other foals and started barking out orders. “Scootaloo, go hang out with your blank-flank friends. While she’s doing that, Feather, I want you to go to Sugarcube Corner and wait for me. I can’t stress this enough, but don’t do anything. If you have any bits left, you can get some food; but other than that, you sit there and be quiet.”

“Yes, of course! We will follow your orders at once, Your Highness!” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t drag you through the nearest mud puddle.”

Diamond Tiara narrowed her eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Scootaloo snorted and took a step forward. “Try me.”

Diamond backed up a bit. “If you do, I won’t help you,” she threatened. “I’m the only one who can go to the library now, so you need me for damage control.”

“Hold on!” Feather stuck himself between the two fillies. “If you want to fight, take it outside!”

The two fillies looked at him in bewilderment, shocked into silence at the absurdity of that statement. Before either could comment, Feather had already redirected the conversation. “Tiara, what do you mean ‘damage control’?”

She kept glaring at Scootaloo. “I mean, I can fix this. AlI I have to do is go back to the library, conveniently step on this piece of paper that must have fallen on the floor, and mention that a certain somepony skipped flying lessons to play with her friends.”

“Yeah, okay,” Scootaloo mumbled between her teeth, “that might work.”

Diamond Tiara smiled proudly. “I know it will.”

“It better.” Scootaloo turned to run off. “See you at the clubhouse, Feather.” With that, she was gone, running down the street in search of her friends, and leaving Feather alone with the other filly.

“So…” Feather pawed at the ground. “Are you sure this is going to work?”

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t, but I guess it’s always possible for something to go wrong.” She studied Feather’s worried expression for a moment, then whacked him on the shoulder. “Pony up! This is your mess, so you just better be grateful that I’m cleaning it up for you!”

Feather rubbed at his shoulder. “Yeah, sure. Thanks.”

“Whatever.” Tiara started walking towards the library. “You don’t have to sound so dead saying it.”

“Whatever,” Feather said mockingly. He turned and started heading for Sugarcube Corner via alleyways and quiet paths.

Alone for the first time that day, Feather started thinking. Things were starting to get riskier than he liked. He needed the part for his machine, but he could find it somewhere else; it just wouldn’t be of the same quality. And besides, he wasn’t even the one who paid for it in the first place, so it wouldn’t be much of a loss if he just up and left.

But... he still had the thirty bits Tiara gave him. He didn’t want to just run off with them. Even if she wouldn’t miss it, Feather didn’t feel like stealing anything else from her. He could just leave the bits with somepony, but there wasn’t anypony he could trust with them.

Before he knew it, Feather was standing on the front step of Sugarcube Corner. “Looks like I’m staying a little while longer.” With a sigh, he opened the the door, expecting to be greeted by either a suffocating crowd, or hyperactive pink pony.

Instead, a single blue mare was wiping down the empty tables left dirtied by the breakfast rush. Her pink mane was frazzled, and she seemed a bit worn-out. She looked over when she heard the door open. “I’m sorry, dear, the kitchen’s closed right now for pre-lunch cleaning. Come back in about an hour.” She dropped a rag into one of the two buckets near her hooves, and moved to the next table, dragging the buckets along with her.

“I don’t want any food.” Feather looked over at a clock on the wall. It was only eleven in the morning. “I was supposed to meet somepony here.”

The mare hesitated for a moment, but then relented. “As long as you try to stay out of the way.”

“Uh, thanks.” Feather made his way to the corner booth where he had had breakfast with Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara. It had yet to be cleaned. Bowls, a cereal box, and an empty milk bottle still littered the table. This didn’t bother Feather. He sat down in the next clean booth so he would stay out of the mare’s way and set his saddlebags next to him.

Silence filled the bakery, and Feather sat nearly motionless as the mare kept cleaning. After three tables, the mare finally spoke up. “You’re that new colt Pinkie was talking about, aren’t you? The one who just moved into town?”

Feather stared out the window, wondering how long Diamond Tiara was going to take at the library. “Yeah, that’s me.”

The mare dragged the buckets to another table. “So, you’re Feather? It’s nice to meet you. I’m Mrs. Cake.” She smiled as she started cleaning the table. “It’s funny, I was under the impression that you were a pegasus, what with your name and all.”

“I am.” Feather looked down at his wing. It was on the side facing the window, so she couldn’t see it from where she was, and it was covered by his saddlebags earlier. He spread it out wide to show her, then folded it and went back to looking out the window.

Mrs. Cake gasped and dropped her cleaning rag. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize...”

Feather waved his hoof to stop her. “Don’t bother feeling sorry for me.” He laid his head on the table and sighed. “I’ve heard it too many times for it to matter, and it’s not going to bring it back anyway.”

The mare left her table and sat down in the booth across from Feather. “Then, could I ask you something?”

Feather sighed again. Why did all the adults in this town want to talk to him? “Sure, why not?”

She fidgeted with her hooves a bit. “I realize this may be difficult for you, but what is it like, not being able to fly?” Her eyes went wide as tears appeared in Feather’s. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I’m sick of hearing about it!” He rubbed angrily at his eyes. “I get along just fine, okay? And I would get along even better if everypony would just stop asking!”

“I really am sorry.” Mrs. Cake reached across the table to rest a hoof on the crying colt’s shoulder. “It was selfish of me to ask you something like that for my own benefit.”

Feather looked at Mrs. Cake’s hoof as she rubbed his shoulder gently. He wanted to pull away from the touch, but couldn’t bring himself to do it.

She continued, “You see, my son’s a pegasus. And, though it’s a long way off, I won’t be the one who teaches him how to fly. I’m an earth pony, so I never really gave it much thought before, but how much of my son’s life am I going to miss out on because I can’t fly with him?” She pulled her hoof back. “I don’t have to worry about that with my daughter, but she’s a unicorn, so I’ll be missing out with her, too. Though, hopefully, not as much.”

“At least you’ll get to be there for some of it. I never knew my mother.” Feather sniffed and wiped at his eyes again. “My dad said she died when I was a few months old. She was a pegasus, and my dad was a unicorn, but I was never really either one. I just wish I could have known her, and had more time with--”

He stopped and looked up at the mare. He didn’t even know what his mother looked like. His father had gotten rid of all of her photos before he died. His colors didn’t come from his dad, so maybe she was red and blue like he was? Or, maybe a bit lighter, like Mrs. Cake’s pink and blue coloring?

Mrs. Cake noticed that Feather was staring at her, and that he wasn’t crying anymore. “Feather, are you all right? Feeling better?”

“Huh?” Feather shook his head, trying to clear away useless thoughts of the past. “Yeah, yeah, um, I’m fine.”

The mare smiled sadly. “That’s good.” She slowly climbed out of the booth. “Feather, would you like something to eat? My husband will start cooking soon.”

“No, thanks.” He still had all the bits Tiara had given him, and she did say he could get some food, but he didn’t want to use her money if he was just going to leave. He also didn’t want to use his own bits, because he would need them for traveling. “I kind of need to save my bits.”

“Oh, no.” Mrs. Cake laughed softly. “I wasn’t asking you to buy something; I was offering you some lunch to apologize for my question.”

“Oh.” That was a different matter entirely. Feather tapped his hooves against the table. “Um, I guess that would be okay.”

“Great. I’ll let him know as soon as he gets back.” She was just about to go back to cleaning when she looked back at him. “You know, Feather; if you need bits, I know a way you could earn some...”

When Diamond Tiara finally made it to Sugarcube Corner, she couldn’t even get in the door. There was already a line of ponies ahead of her, all trying to get into the bakery. She couldn’t help but pull a wry smile. “If he’s in there, he’s probably having an aneurysm right about now.” She sighed and resigned herself to waiting. She would just have to hope he found a corner to sit in, and maybe a paper bag to keep himself from hyperventilating.

After a few minutes, she heard a voice from the front of the line. “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner. Here’s a menu, please have your order ready when you get to the counter.”

Diamond Tiara shook her head as the voice repeated itself, getting closer and closer each time. “No… It can’t be.” When the source of the voice made it to her, she broke into giggles.

“Hi, Feather.” She put a hoof to her mouth, trying--and failing--to silence her snickers. “You look cute in that.”

“What?” Feather looked down at the apron he wore and then looked up with a glare. “It’s your fault!” He pulled it off and stuffed it under his wing, along with the stack of menus he was handing out. “I’ve been waiting here for hours!”

Diamond Tiara wiped a tear from her eye and cleared her throat. “It took longer than I thought it would to throw Ms. Sparkle off your trail. And no wonder. The library looked like a war zone! What did you do?”

“Nothing.” Feather gave a menu to the pony in line behind Tiara. “What makes you think that was my fault?”

Diamond broke into a fresh bout of giggles. “Sorry, Feather, I can still just picture you in that apron. C’mon, let’s go.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Feather looked back at the rest of the ponies in line. After Tiara, there were only a few more ponies, all adults. “Fine, just, give me a minute. I have to finish passing these out, and give the apron back to Mrs. Cake.”

“You are just too funny for words, Feather.” Tiara smirked at him. “Hurry it up, blank boy; I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

“Don’t call me that!” Feather ran down the line, handing out menus and repeating, “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner. Here’s a menu, please have your order ready when you get to the counter.”

He then ran into the bakery, emerging a short while later with his saddlebags and a small cardboard box. He walked over to Tiara. “So? Are we going? Or are you going to try to get in there? It’ll be about forty minutes from this far back in the line.”

She was only half out of the line when the other ponies shuffled forward to fill in the gap. Her face scrunched up as she was bumped out of the way. She turned back with an angry glare. “Why don’t you watch where you’re going? Dorks!” She stuck her nose in the air and started walking off. “C’mon, blank boy, we’re going.”

He chuckled at her treatment of the waiting ponies, then followed her reluctantly. “I told you not to call me that.”

She started walking a little faster. “I’ll call you whatever I want to.”

“Fine, then I’ll do the same.” He matched her pace, but with everything he was carrying, it was a bit harder on him than Diamond. “So, where are we headed, Dee?”

She stopped and spun around. “No. You do not call me that. Ever.”

Feather shrugged. “I think it sounds nice, don’t you? At least it’s better than ‘blank boy’.” Feather put a hoof to his chin. “Diamond begins and ends with ‘d,’ so maybe I should call you ‘Dee-Dee’?”

Her mouth fell open. “You wouldn’t dare.”

He just stared at her.

“Fine!” She groaned loudly. “I won’t call you ‘blank boy’ anymore. Is that good enough for you, Feather Brain?”

Feather glared at her. “What was that? I didn’t quite hear you.”

Diamond rolled her eyes. “I said, ‘I won’t call you names, Feather’.”

“Thank you, Diamond Tiara. That’s what I thought.” Feather gave an exaggerated smile.

With a cold gleam in her eye, she turned away and started walking again. “If you think you won, just wait until Monday.”

Something about her words gave Feather the chills. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He took off after her. “Hey, Tiara! Wait! What did you mean by that? And where are we going, anyway?”

She kept walking without answering. Eventually, he settled for following her in silence. She was very different from Scootaloo, and this was the first time he had any sort of extended interaction with her alone. Not that there was much interaction going on; she seemed mad at him.

He ended up following her to the park. She sat under a tree away from the the more populated parts of the park, glancing around every so often like she was looking for something.

Feather sat down nearby, arranging his saddlebags and cardboard box in front of him. “So, are you done talking for the day?”

Tiara answered with a loud, ”Hmph! Maybe I’m just done talking to you.”

Feather rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He opened the box from the bakery. Inside it, there were half a dozen cupcakes, two cartons of milk, and a small pouch of bits. He sighed. The bits reminded him that he had something to do.

He set the box down and started digging through his saddlebags, pulling the bag with Tiara’s thirty bits out when he found it. “Here.” He tossed it over to her. It landed in the grass with a metallic jingle. “I didn’t use any of it, so I thought you might want it back.”

Diamond didn’t pick it up. Instead, with her nose still raised in the air, she kicked it back towards Feather. “I said I was done talking to you.”

“Fine, I’ll just keep it.” Feather reached for the bag, but stopped short of picking it up. “You know, I don’t understand you.” He kicked the bag back towards Diamond Tiara. “At least Scootaloo has a reason to help me; we’ve got something in common. But you? You’re a spoiled brat. You’re mean to everyone, you act like you know everything, and are you seriously just going to throw away thirty bits on somepony you don’t even know?”

Tiara turned her back on Feather “So what if I am? It’s my money. If I want to waste it on a charity case like you, who’s gonna stop me?”

Something hit the back of her head with a loud splat, and Diamond's signature headpiece fell to the ground. She looked back at Feather with an angry growl. “What was that?”

Feather stuck his nose in the air, mocking her. “I thought you weren’t talking to me. Besides, I’m just a charity case.”

Diamond Tiara felt the back of her head with a hoof. Whatever hit her hadn’t hurt, so it wasn’t a rock. Not that she actually thought Feather would throw a rock at her, but he threw something. When she pulled her hoof away, it was covered in dark-brown fluff and colorful sprinkles. “Is this frosting?”

Feather answered by reaching into his box, pulling out a cupcake, and taking a big bite.

Tiara searched the ground for the cupcake that hit her. When she found it, she scooped it up and launched it at Feather’s face without hesitation. It didn’t hit Feather, but it did knock the cupcake out of his hoof. He quickly grabbed another cupcake and chucked it at her.

She ducked and it landed on her back, smearing vanilla frosting across her fur. She looked back at it. “That’s it!” She charged at Feather as he pulled another cupcake out of the box and tackled him to the ground before he got the chance to throw it.

Tiara pinned Feather beneath her and grabbed the cupcake he dropped. She smushed it in his face, taking extra care to spread it around a bit. “Ha! Take that! It’s not so funny when it happens to you, is it?”

“No, it’s not!” Feather struggled to push her off, but couldn’t make her budge. After several seconds, he gave up and just laid there. He looked away in defeat. “Can you get off me?”

Tiara slowly complied. “Sorry, Feather, I got a bit carried away.”

He got up and wiped at his face. “Yeah, so did I.”

Tiara ran her hoof through the grass, trying to wipe away the frosting from her attack on Feather. “Um, Feather? Don’t take this the wrong way, but… for a colt, you’re kind of a wimp.”

Feather raised an eyebrow. “Is there a wrong way to take that? ‘Cause it seems pretty straight forward to me.”

“You know what I mean.”

Feather sighed. “Yeah, I do. I’m not very strong.”

“That’s an understatement.” Tiara turned her attention to the pastry smeared across her back. “I’m a girl, and I’m a bit smaller than you, but I still wiped the floor with you.”

“And Scootaloo wiped the floor with you.”

“Only because she’s an overpowered sports freak.” She tasted a little bit of the frosting before clearing it off. “She could probably overpower a full-grown mare if she tried. What’s your excuse?”

Feather raised an eyebrow again. “I need an excuse?”

“Well, yeah. It’s not exactly normal.” Tiara finished scraping the frosting off her back and was about to scrape her it off her hoof when she stopped and gave the frosting another taste. “This is pretty good. It tastes a little different than it usually does.”

“I wouldn’t know.” Feather shrugged. “You can have one if you want. Mrs. Cake gave me enough to share.” He got up and started searching for the box of pastries. “Anyway, my health wasn’t so great when I was younger. I was sick a lot.”

“And that’s why you’re so weak now?” Tiara followed him. “It must have been pretty bad then.”

Feather spread his wing. “You think?” He shook his head as he folded his wing back up. How many times had he opened his wing in the last few days? He usually tried to avoid using it, or letting others see it. “Can we stop talking about this?”

Diamond nodded. “Okay...” When she realized he wasn’t looking at her, she added, “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Feather stood next to his saddlebags and tapped his hoof on the ground. “I don’t see the cupcakes anywhere.”

“I do.” Tiara waved her hoof, pulling his attention to the ground in front of her. A crumpled heap of cardboard, crumbs, and frosting sat in the grass. The milk cartons it once held were flattened as well, leaving the whole thing a soggy mess. “It must have happened when I tackled you. Sorry.”

Feather watched Diamond Tiara stare at the the box as if she could put it back together. “It’s okay, D.T.” Something off to his left caught his eye. “Look, one of them survived.”

With a smile, he walked over to the intact cupcake and picked it off the ground. He smiled as he held it up. That smile quickly faded as something occurred to him. “Um, I know I said you could have one of the cupcakes, but this is the last one, and I haven’t eaten yet. Do you mind if we split it?”

Her lip pulled back in disgust. “Are you seriously planning to eat that?”

Feather looked at the pastry, turning it over and examining it’s grass-specked form. He then looked back at Diamond Tiara. “Yeah, why?”

“It was on the ground.” She pointed at the cupcake. “Look. It’s all covered in grass.”

Feather shrugged. “So the food’s covered in food. Big deal.” He peeled off the paper wrapper. “I’m guessing you don’t want any?”

Diamond answered with a stare.

Feather broke the cupcake in two, between top and bottom. He held out the bottom half to Tiara. “Here, this part was in the wrapper, so it’s still clean.”

Tiara reached for it, but hesitated. “Do you really eat grass?”

“Not if I can help it.” Feather looked away from Tiara. “It may not be what everypony does, but it isn’t hard to get hungry enough not to care.”

Tiara’s eyes glued themselves to the ground. “I didn’t mean it like that, Feather.”

“Mean it like what? Eating grass is weird. I wouldn’t do it if I had a choice.” He gestured towards his saddlebags. “Why do you think I carry around all the food I can?”

“Feather…” Instead of saying anything else, Diamond Tiara grabbed the grass-covered top half of the cupcake from him. “Quit acting like you’re so tough!”

She closed her eyes and stuffed the treat down, fighting back the urge to spit out the dirty pastry as she chewed. She swallowed, a grimace on her face. “See? Anypony can do it.”

“Sheesh, the quiet you doesn’t stick around long, does it?” Feather took a bite of his half of the cupcake. “So, how was it?”

Tiara stuck her tongue out. “The grass made it taste funny.”

Feather chuckled. “Yeah, it’s not the best-tasting thing out there.” He sighed as he looked at the rest of his cupcake. “You know, I don’t get you.”

She gave him an odd look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know.” Feather chomped down on the rest of his pastry, finishing it in one bite. “The more I think about it, the less I understand you. I mean, why are you even helping me? You couldn’t be more different. You have a family, and friends. You’re an earth pony, so you have no reason to be interested in a device for pegasi. And you keep going on about how Scootaloo and I don’t have cutie marks. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that the two of you act like arch-enemies half the time.” He let out a long sigh. “Any way I look at it, I can’t think of a reason why you would be helping me.”

“Do I have to have a reason?”

“Yes. If I had to have an excuse, you have to have a reason.”

“Fine.” Tiara scratched at her neck. “I guess because it’s easy.”

Feather blinked. “Easy?” That wasn’t a word he would have used.

“Yeah.” She stood up and paced around in a circle. “When I do stuff with you, I’m only doing stuff with you. Same thing with Scootaloo, even if she can be a pain in the flank sometimes.”

Feather scratched his head. “Okay, you lost me.”

Diamond looked over at him. “You know about my friend, Silver Spoon?”

“Scootaloo mentioned her. Why?”

Tiara sat down. “I havent seen her in a few days. I think I messed up our friendship, but it had nothing to do with her.”

Feather shook his head. “Still not getting it.”

“I made her parents angry.”

“Oh.” Feather nodded. “How?”

Tiara groaned and lay back on the grass, looking up at the clouds. “I don’t know! I overheard them talking to Daddy, but I only heard part of it. They seemed pretty angry, though. They were yelling at him.” She rolled over, stood up, and started pacing again. “Daddy was mad, but he didn’t say anything. He just got all quiet, and asked them to leave. He didn’t say anything to me either.”

“Sounds complicated.” Feather watched her pace back and forth, his head keeping in time with her. “Um, you okay?”

“It’s so annoying!” Diamond shouted, making Feather jump. “Daddy’s little angel, that’s me! Everything I do lands back on him. I’m my own pony. I can do things without being told, but nopony sees it, especially not those stuffy ponies that are always hanging around Daddy’s businesses.” She stopped and flopped down onto the grass. “I’m so sick of it.”

Feather laid down as Diamond ripped up a hoof-full of grass and threw it at nothing. “So, you hang out with me because I don’t have family to get mad at you?”

“Kind of. There’s nopony to tell us that we can’t be friends.” Tiara dropped her head to the ground. “But that’s not the only reason.”

“It’s enough of one, I guess.” Feather got up and walked over to his saddlebags. “Friends, huh?” He usually tried to avoid becoming attached to places or ponies, and he was generally quite successful at it. As he dug out Tiara’s bag of bits, though, he realized that his own feelings were only part of it. It was easy not to become attached to a place that didn’t care if you existed. Throw two friends in the mix, and things got a lot more difficult.

Feather threw the bag at Tiara. It landed in front of her with quiet jingling noise. He had finally returned it like he wanted, but he couldn’t bring himself to say what he had planned. So, he opened his mouth to lie. Before he could, his stomach let out a loud rumble.

Tiara started giggling. “I guess half a cupcake wasn’t enough?”

“No, it wasn’t.” Feather rubbed his stomach. Tiara was smiling at him. He couldn’t tell her that he was leaving. Not now. Not if she really wanted to be his friend.

He returned a forced smile and picked up his saddlebags. “If we head back now, we should make it to Sugarcube Corner before they sell out.”

“Really?” Tiara jumped up. “Let’s go then.”

“Cool.” Feather walked over to her. “Oh, and since you destroyed the last batch, you’re buying.” He ran away laughing before Tiara could say anything.

By the time she was able to respond, he was already at the bottom of the hill. “Hey!” she yelled after him. “Don’t go deciding things on your own!”

She grabbed the coin pouch in her teeth and took off after him, muttering under her breath, “I am so going to get him for this.”

I would like to thank Bad Seed 72 for helping to edit this chapter.

Feather’s breath came in shallow huffs as he tried to catch up to Diamond Tiara. He should have known better than to pick a competition with her, or anypony for that matter. He wasn’t the most athletic pony, and he was carrying several pounds worth of metal parts. Then again, so was the filly he was competing against. She had insisted on carrying one of the saddlebags if they were going to race. In her words, she wanted to “grind him into the dust fairly.”

“What’s taking so long?" Tiara called back, clearly delighted at the distance between them. “Getting tired, slowpoke?”

With a loud groan, Feather came to a stop. “What do you think?!" He yelled between labored breaths. “I give up! You win! Whatever!" He slumped to the ground, muttering, “I need a break.”

Diamond Tiara stopped and walked back to Feather. “You need to exercise a bit more, Feather. We’re only two blocks away.”

Feather wearily pulled himself to his hooves. “I’ll be ok, but can we walk the rest of the way?”

Diamond Tiara looked up and away. “Well, if that’s all you can handle, I suppose we don’t have a choice.”

Feather was not amused. He was too tired to glare at Diamond but he managed a passable scowl. “Shut up.”

She giggled in response. “You shut up. I’m just glad to have someone I can actually beat when it comes to sports and stuff.”

Feather sighed with as much air as his strained lungs could spare and started walking again. “Well, I’m glad at least one of us is happy.”

“Come on, Feather." She started walking alongside him, bumping into his side. “Don’t be like that. You’ve got to have something you’re good at.”

Feather rolled his eyes. “It’s not running. That’s for sure.”

Tiara giggled again. “Definitely not. Hey, what about being a buscolt? That apron looked like it was made for-”

She was cut off by a loud crashing noise. It was accompanied by the shrieks and yells of panicked Ponyville residents. Among the chaotic shouts, they could hear one word being repeated several times. That word was fire.

“Where do you think it is?" Tiara asked.

“I don’t know,” Feather replied. He pointed a hoof off to their left. “It sounds like it could be coming from over there.”

“What should we do?”

Feather shrugged. “What can we do? It would be best if we just avoided that area.”

“I guess you’re right." Diamond Tiara watched nervously as billowing white smoke started rising into the cloud-filled sky. “The weather ponies are probably going to start a rain storm to put it out.”

“Can they do that?" Feather looked up and gulped. “It doesn’t seem like there are enough clouds.”

“Of course they can." The filly started getting antsy as several colorful specks appeared in the sky. As they approached the smoke, they became recognizable as pegasi. There were two light purplish ones, a rainbow-colored one leading the charge, a dark gray one, and a yellow one that was hesitantly following the rest. “The weather team here is full of showoffs, they make sure everypony else knows what they’re capable of. Let’s get out of here before we get soaked." She started walking again, away from the fire, but also away from Sugarcube Corner, their original destination. “This way!”

Feather was about to follow her when he heard another voice among the panic. “Okay guys, weather team’s almost here, but this is our mess. We’ve got to do our best to help.”

He turned and shouted at the rising smoke. “Of course you had something to do with this!”

Diamond Tiara stopped and looked back. “Who did?”

Another shout from far off. “Sweetie Belle, are you sure that’s the last of the water?”

The earth pony filly slapped a hoof to her face. “Oh, her." Before she could say anything else, Feather ran off towards the fire. “Wait!” She yelled after him. “Feather! Where are you going?”

“Guys, we’re gonna have to get out of here." Scootaloo paced back and forth in front of a line of flames, flapping her wings with all she had. She seemed to be slowing its progress, but no matter how much she flapped, the fire refused to die. If anything, it was getting stronger. “This isn’t working!”

She looked up from her frantic task when she didn’t hear any sort of response to her shouts. She could see Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom at a nearby house trying and failing to get water out of a rusty old spigot.

The small park-like square was almost completely on fire, but it was surrounded on three sides by wide stone roads. There wasn’t much to burn besides grass and a few small trees, and the fire wouldn’t be able to spread past the roads. But, the last side connected to the front yards of several houses. If the fire got past her, ponies could lose their homes. With so much on the line, Scootaloo couldn’t help but feel helpless as the fire slowly forced her back.

She yelped when she was grabbed from behind and whirled around. “What are you doing, you idiot?!”

“Feather?!”

Feather was running towards her with a reluctant Diamond Tiara on his heels. “Blank flank!" The pink filly shouted. “Behind you!”

“What?" Scootaloo looked back. Without her fanning, the fire was resuming its course, and it was spitting out sparks as dry grass burned in its wake. Several of the angry red specks had landed in Scootaloo’s tail, and Feather ran up to her and stomped them out.

He then shoved her away from the flames just as a nearby clump of leaves exploded into sparks. They splattered his coat and he slapped at them as he backed away from the flames.

Scootaloo went and stood next to Diamond Tiara as she surveyed the fire. “Any ideas, guys? It’s not going so well.”

Diamond Tiara looked over at Scootaloo as Feather joined them. “No kidding! How did this even happen?”

The pegasus filly pointed at some sort of large kettle or grill tipped over nearby. “Well, we were trying for roa-”

“Not important right now." Feather cut her off. “We need to get out of here!”

“But we can’t!" Came a voice behind Feather.

“Yeah!” said another. “If we leave now, without doin’ nothin’, ponies’re gonna lose their homes.”

Feather turned around. A white unicorn with a pink and purple mane, and a yellow earth pony with a red mane stood behind him. Both were fillies about his and Scootaloo’s age, both were carrying buckets, and both of them were wearing name tags. A quick glance at Scootaloo revealed that she was wearing one as well. “What can we do?" Feather asked them. “There are ponies on the way who know how to deal with this. We should just get out of here while we still can.”

The unicorn, Sweetie Belle by the name tag, dropped her bucket and looked down at it sadly. “Yeah, and we weren’t able to get any water to help put the fire out.”

The other one, Apple Bloom, headbutted her friend in the shoulder, dropping her own bucket in the process. “Don’t give up just ‘cause he is! Ah know it looks bad, but there’s gotta be somethin’ we can do." She looked over at Scootaloo who had been giving them orders. She saw the pagasus filly’s worried look, and her own resolve started to falter. “Right?" She asked hesitantly.

“I don’t know." Scootaloo glanced over at the fire. “I wasn’t able to put it out, and even if Feather helped, I don’t think we could push the fire back.”

“Of course not,” Feather shouted. “Fanning a flame makes it stronger.”

“But we don’t have any water." Sweetie Belle kicked her empty pail for emphasis. “What else can we use?”

Feather looked at the fillies around him. Out of the four of them, Diamond Tiara seemed to be the only one who wanted to leave as much as he did. With a loud groan Feather turned to Sweetie Belle. “We can use dirt to smother the flames. Use your magic, and throw as much dirt on the fire as you can. Focus on the flames that are spreading, and work back.”

Sweetie Belle nodded furiously. “I’ll try!" She looked at the ground below her and closed her eyes to focus. Her horn lit up first, then a patch ground. With a grunt of effort, Sweetie Belle pulled her head back, and dirt exploded up, catching Feather in the face. “Sorry!" The unicorn filly swatted at Feather's face, trying to dislodge the dirt that had stuck to him. “I can’t control my magic that well.”

“Sto- don’t-” Feather tried to fend off her well meaning hoof to no avail, eventually just having to shout at the unicorn filly. “Just stop!" While all four fillies stared at him in stunned silence, he spit out the dirt that had gotten in his mouth. “We tried. There’s no way we can move enough dirt to put the fire out without using magic. Let’s get out of here before we get hurt.”

The Scootaloo and her two friends all looked at each other, silently coming to a nodded agreement. The orange filly looked over at Feather, and was about to say something when Diamond Tiara spoke up. “What if we don’t put it out?”

All the other ponies looked at her. Apple Bloom stepped forward and pointed at Feather. “Ain’t that what he just said? And, why’re you here, anyway?”

The pink filly gave her fellow earth pony a look that was half sneer, half eye-roll. “Does it matter why I’m here? I am, and I’m about save you blank-flanks flank’s." She pointed at the hole in the ground left by Sweetie Belle’s failed magic attempt. “We do that." She ran away from the fire, stopping half-way between it and the houses it threatened. “Right here. Fire can’t burn dirt, so we make a trench and the fire can’t get past it.”

Feather was the first to move forward. “That might work, but we’ll have to hurry." He ran towards Diamond Tiara, and the others slowly followed his lead. There was then a bright flash, and Feather found himself hooves over head in midair. Diamond Tiara was above him, and the other three fillies were scattered around as well. They fell to the ground, tumbling and ending up splayed out in a brightly colored pile of foals.

“Ugh." Diamond Tiara had grabbed Feather by the neck when they fell, and was still hanging onto him. “What happened?”

“Why are you asking me?" Feather shook off the filly’s grip and stood up. The first thing he noticed was that they were pretty far away from the fire. They were in the front yard of a house, two houses down from the one they had been trying to save. The second thing he noticed was that the dragon from the library was walking up and down the front lawn of the first house, breathing flames and setting the grass aflame. Unlike the blaze the foals had been fighting, Spike’s green flames burned the grass away quickly and cleanly, without sparking or spreading.

In a matter of moments, the first house’s lawn was reduced to nothing but dirt. A few seconds later, he saw a pink sphere come out of the flames. The sphere quickly disappeared, leaving none other than Twilight in its place. She started talking to her scaled assistant, but Feather could only make out bits and pieces of their conversation.

“... don’t see anypony else.”

"...just them?”

“What were they…”

“Twi… focus on the fire?”

“Oh, right!”

The purple unicorn turned around. After a few seconds, she began casting spells. The watching foals figured it was to help reduce the flames, yet a few seconds of observation proved otherwise. Anything her magic touched burned much faster than everything around it. One small tree was reduced to ashes within seconds.

“That was my plan! They're getting rid of all the fuel so…” DIamond Tiara trailed off, her pupils slowly dilating in shock. It had begun to rain. She looked up. There wasn't much rain at the moment, but there were enough rainclouds to fuel a thunderstorm.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other and silently exchanged hoof pumps, not wanting to draw attention. Scootaloo soon joined in, but Feather was distracted by the two purple library dwellers headed their way.

Scootaloo looked over at Feather, unaware of Twilight and Spike's approach. “What’s wrong?”

Twilight stopped in front of the foals. As soon as she made sure they were all right, she was going to give them the lecture of their lives. But, she never even got a chance to open her mouth.

Feather snapped to attention and pointed off into the distance. “Scootaloo! She’s running off, she has my bag!” Feather then dashed off in the direction he pointed.

Far ahead of him, a pink filly could be seen running for all she was worth.

Scootaloo looked back and forth between Twilight and the fleeing Feather until the librarian sighed, rolled her eyes and nodded in his direction. The Pegasus then ran off after a hasty, "Thank you!"

Not content to be ignored, Twilight yelled after them. "I hope you realize how dangerous that was!"

The rain picked up speed, drenching the running foals, but did nothing to slow down the chase. Eventually they ended up in the housing district, with Scootaloo hot on Tiara’s tail. Feather trailed along behind them, but wasn't about to let either filly out of his sight.

Diamond Tiara ran through the front gate to the Rich family mansion without pause, leaving it swinging in her wake. She didn't notice that Feather's bag was slipping back, about to fall off, or that Scootaloo was just about ready to tackle her.

“Tiara wait up!” Feather yelled over the rain.

Both Scootaloo and Tiara glanced back. The pink filly was standing on the welcome mat, ringing the doorbell. Scootaloo, however, was still path to the door, and Feather's distraction made her slip. She slid in the mud until she slammed head first into Diamond Tiara, then both fillies crashed into the front door.

Feather stopped just in front of them to question if they were okay but before he could say anything the front door had swung open revealing a brown, very confused looking, stallion, who was now staring down at them. All three children let out a synchronized, very audible gulp.

Diamond Tiara lifted a hoof in a small, timid wave. “Hi daddy.”

Feather blinked, all other movements forgotten. Scootaloo slowly stood up, but did not bother to try and wipe any mud off.

“Sweetie,” he nodded to her but then turned his head over to Feather and then down to Scootaloo who also gave out a sheepish smile, not caring about her appearance in the slightest, “are these...Classmates of yours?"

Tiara looked back at Feather. He was the cleanest of the bunch, but he was staring at her father like he had seen a ghost. Scootaloo was acting normally at least, but she was caked in so much mud, you couldn't tell what color she was. Tiara gave a silent sigh. She slowly looked up at her father and broke out in a grin, talking in a tone that anypony but her father would call out as fake. “They sure are daddy! I wanted to invite them to a sleepover. I was going to ask you first, but it started raining, and Scootaloo can be kind of klutzy. She tripped, and I kind of got caught up in it. Can they come in so we can wash off?"

Her eyes were wide, her smile was gleaming, her voice was perky. Right now, she was the picture of a perfect of daughterly perfection. Scootaloo and Feather exchanged glances, and the same thought ran through both their heads. “There is no way in Tartarus that he is going to buy this.”

“Hmm, why certainly, no sense in letting your friends get so wet. Come in all of you,” he replied and waited for them to enter. He then gently shut the door.

Tiara turned to Scootaloo with the smile still plastered across her face. “The bathroom is upstairs and just to the left, why don’t you wipe some of that mud off while I speak with daddy, hmm?”

Scoots simply nodded and made a slow ascent up the staircase. She left a clear trail of hoofprints behind her, but the marble tile and stairway would clean easily enough.

Tiara's father winced as he watched the filly disappear into the bathroom. He then quietly looked down at Feather. "You seem to have stayed clean at least."

“Daddy,” breaking him out of his staring contest, he looked back to her daughter instantly switching from the glaring stallion to the smiling father, “I would like you to meet Feather.” She turned around giving him the same smile but she frantically moved her eyes back and forth from Feather to her father indicating for him to speak up and to speak up soon. "He's new in town."

“Oh, it’s a pleasure to meet you sir,” Feather said, extending his right hoof. Hesitantly the stallion responded with a shake, stoic expression throughout.

“Sweetie,” he said addressing his daughter.

“Yes, what is it daddy?” The same fake tone.

He looked back at Feather and then took a quick glance up the stairs, then he let out a very quiet sigh. “Have fun with your sleepover, I’ll have Quiet Step send up dinner for the three of you.” He was about to leave, when he hesitated and stopped. “On second thought, how about I help get you cleaned off. That way your friends aren't kept waiting.”

She was whisked away without protest, carried on her father's back, so as to not leave a trail in the carpeted room they had to cross. Feather figured he was simply supposed to wait in the front room and air dry, since there was no mud on him. ”I just hope he doesn’t check the bag she’s wearing…”

With a sigh, Feather examined his surroundings in more detail. The mansion was even more impressive when it was lit up, especially without the fear caused by trespassing. Everything was clean and polished, with the exception of recent events, and the rooms were well lit.

There were three rooms that Feather could see from where he was, four if you count a hallway as a room. The foyer, where he was now, was tiled with white marble, and there was a large rug underhoof. The rug didn't quite seem to match the rest of the decor, so Feather could only assume it was put down for situations like this, probably at the first sign of rain. A coat hanger stood nearby, holding hats and scarves for the mansion’s occupants.

Off to the left, he could see the kitchen, the one room he really remembered. Though, it was much more inviting in the daylight, even if it was rainy and overcast. The countertops were wood in some spots, dark green stone in others, and all sorts of wooden containers, bowls, and baskets were arranged neatly atop the counters. There was a large, double oven, and enough stove top to cook for a small army. There was even something cooking now, in a large stock pot. And that something smelled good enough to remind Feather that half a cupcake wasn't a decent lunch.

Off to the right, was a small sitting room. It was carpeted, except for the corner around the fireplace, that had dark slate tile. There were several chairs, and short bookshelves. The tops of the shelves were cluttered with stand-up picture frames. Half the pictures were of Tiara and her father. The other half were of seemingly random events in Ponyville, but each one had Diamond Tiara in it somewhere.

In front of him, the marble staircase, caked with pegasus prints, led to a hallway. He couldn't see much of it, but he could see more pictures hanging on the walls, and a bright, brass and crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

Feather laid down on the carpet with a slight shiver. He resisted the urge to shake the water off, and kept looking around. He had camped out in model homes once or twice before. Those fancy, spruced up examples of what somepony's house could look like, but never would. Most of them weren't as fancy as this, some were even fancier, but this house felt different. It wasn't as cold as the others.

He still felt cold, no doubt about that, but that was from his still damp fur. The house though, it was warm, inviting. It wasn't a wall of wealth, keeping others out. It was a crafted, polished piece of perfection, something that somepony worked to put together for somepony else, for somepony lucky to still have-

Feather yelped in response to a tug on his ear.“C’mon you," Tiara whispered, "we’re having a sleepover, and we have to make it good.”

“Tiara-”

“No talking until we reach my room, so shut it!”

Feather did just that. He didn't have much of a choice, being dragged by the ear wasn't exactly pleasant. Especially not when you're going up a flight of stairs. But he did notice that, despite being clean and dry, she still had his bag still on her back, so he sighed in relief.

He also noticed that the house was huge, much larger than he would have guessed from the few rooms he had seen. Then hallway at the top of the stairs seemed to stretch forever, and large oak doors stood like silent guards at regular intervals on either side.

He almost didn't realize that Diamond Tiara had let go of his ear and was now opening one of the doors. Tiara had to wave him over to break him away from the hallway's hypnosis. He followed her into the room, third door on the left, and his jaw hit the floor.

It was impossible to tell how big her room was. It could have been the largest room in the mansion, or the smallest. The only thing you could tell about it was that it was full. Toys. Dozens of toys. Hundreds. One or two thousand may not be off the mark. A young filly's life laid out in time wasters.

At least, that's how the average adult pony might see it. Another filly might see it as a collection to be envious of. A colt might see it as just a bit frilly for their tastes. Feather, he saw so much more.

He saw a life that he never knew. Toys of every variety, each one a choice made, or gift received. Each one a piece of a story, either for their owner, or somepony close. There were stuffed animals ranging from bears to ponies, and even a few dragons. Some of the ponies were even recognizable from around town.

He moved his head slowly to scan the rest of the toys. Each one he saw filled him longing. Not jealousy, but a sad desire to know more about what he saw. The young colt was given gifts, trinkets, and playthings when he was younger, but those things were distant memories. All he had now were his tools. What would it be like to just pick up a toy and play with it?

He shook his head, clearing it of those thoughts. It had been so long, he probably wouldn't know how to pick out a toy, let alone play with it. His eyes again scanned across her playthings. But, maybe he could just pick one up to study it?

Toy cars littered a corner nearby. They had obviously not been played with in some time, yet they still looked quite worn. One of those would be easy enough to pick up, maybe see if they were still mechanically sound.

Moving on, he found a bin containing sports equipment, balls, jump ropes, nets, and all manner of things all piled together. It brought to mind his recent athletic defeat at Tiara's hooves.

Eventually, his eyes moved to a stuffed, red-colored dragon, it looked nothing like the librarian's assistant, Spike, and was several times larger, but it was kind of cute. Still, it wasn’t the dragon that interested him most, it was what the dragon was holding.

The plush creature had two claws out in front of him, with a set of train tracks going up to, and over, the claws, then back down to the ground.

He followed the tracks. It eventually led him to the back of a bed that would be better suited to a palace, not a filly's bedroom. Big enough for a dozen ponies or more, and covered in soft, downy looking blankets and pillows, it gave feather the tough choice between following the tracks or cannonballing the bed then and there.

A few seconds of internal debate, and Feather chose the train tracks. Following them behind the bed, and through a few more toys and animals, he was eventually stopped by a mountain side. Further inspection revealed it to be a miniature model of a mountain, one he recognized. He had crossed it on his way to Ponyville.

The train came out the other side, and passed by several more recognizable landmarks. Each one was perfectly scaled, leading up to a miniaturized Ponyville with a real mini steam train slowly running along the tracks. A little conductor rag doll sat in the engine, and smaller plastic ponies filled the passenger cars being towed behind.

Diamond Tiara stood off to the side, watching. She was more interested in his reaction to her beloved trainset than the actual train. His eyes kept moving, but he focused the most on the winding-down engine of the train. The look in his eyes was one of curiosity, of wanting to know how something worked.

She closed the door and walked over to him. She was about to explain the little engine when there was a shout from the hallway. "Hey! I'm cleaned up! Where is everypony?"

The pink filly groaned, then yelled back. "Third door on the left! Its got my cutie mark on it."

The door opened much much more softly than Tiara was expecting, and Scootaloo strolled in. The freshly cleaned pegasus was still damp and steaming, and had a towel draped over her shoulders. "That has to be the biggest bathroom I've ever seen. It's even bigger than the one at Sweetie Belle's sister's place!" Scootaloo took one corner of her towel and rubbed it in her ear, getting water out. "And the hot water didn't seem like it was going to run out either. I just had to get out 'cause I got bored... Oh, hey, nice train set.”

Feather glared back at the other pegasus.

“What? What'd I do?” She asked in an innocent tone.

“Do you mind tell me what that fire was all about?”

“Oh, that." The orange filly switched to the other ear. "Apple Bloom insisted we try and get our cutie marks in cooking, but AJ wouldn't have it and kept us three out of the kitchen-”

“I don’t blame her,” came the reply of the pink filly.

Scootaloo chuckled, even though the remark was aimed at her. “Whatever, anyway we found that old grille and for a while everything was fine until Sweetie Belle decided to practice her magic. I mean, she’s been getting better, but I guess today was an off day. Then you two found us and here we are!” She finished with a sheepish smile. “Man, I hope they’re not too upset that we abandoned them back with Twilight.”

“Do you have any idea how reckless that was?!” Feather raged. “Can you at least pretend that you’re upset? Or that you even care if you get caught? Causing mayhem with a group of other foals is gonna get their parents involved, and that’s gonna get you stuck in an orphanage.”

“Hey! They are my friends, I don’t care if they’re a-”

“Liability?” He finished, causing a long glare but to his surprise she stopped it and sighed, suddenly finding the floor a lot more interesting.

“Look, I know what we do as friends is risky sometimes...Okay risky may not be strong enough.” She finished when she saw the deadpan looks from both. “But we don’t do anything too dangerous on purpose, it’s fun, and I dunno, makes you feel alive.”

“It also makes you noticed, by the wrong ponies,” Feather said.

“Well maybe I want to be noticed!” She stomped her hoof down as hard as she could without drawing attention from elsewhere in the house. Feather looked on shocked while Tiara choose to remain overly quiet, wanting to see what they were getting at.

"Excuse me?” Feather asked, voice low and slow. He couldn’t quite believe what he heard. “You want to get caught?”

“That’s not what I said.” she replied, just as quiet.

“That’s what it sounded like." He shook his head. “Okay, If you don’t want to get caught, what did you mean?”

“I’m not- Look." Scootaloo pointed at Diamond Tiara. “I’m not saying anything in front of her.”

Curiosity getting the better of her, the pink filly egged the other filly on. “Why not? Just for today, I’m not going to make fun of you. And I think it’s obvious that anything involving him has to be kept a secret.” Scootaloo was not convinced and continued to glare almost releasing a snarl in response. Tiara sighed and took in a deep breath. “Alright listen up, I know I give you and your bl- your friends a hard time, I’ll stop alright? Just say what you gotta say and I promise I will keep my mouth shut...Unless it’s really funny.” She added a chuckle after that last part, which actually calmed Scootaloo down a bit.

Feather turned back to the other pegasus and shrugged. “There, what else can you want?”

“Fine.” Scootaloo looked away from the other foals. “At first, I never wanted to form that stupid club. Well it’s not stupid, but at the time I thought it was. I mean, I wanted friends badly, desperately. Even so, I defended Apple Bloom when she needed it even though it got me ridiculed by the prissy pink princess here. And then, the idea of the Cutie Mark Crusaders got tossed in and I couldn't just say no. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were the only ponies that would talk to me after that.” She gagged. “I was so desperate to agree with them, that I would have shaved my mane if they asked. I think my exact words were,‘I’m Liking this idea!” The orange filly sighed. “At the time, I didn't know that we would be getting into so much trouble, and I started to regret it. I kept thinking that we would upset somepony that would demand to see our parents. But, we kept doing stuff, and it got harder to stop. I started having fun for once, and I stopped caring.”

“How is not caring the same as wanting to get caught?” Tiara asked.

“It’s not, but I’m getting there. Eventually though I noticed that some of the other adults would start noticing us. Some were just confused, others got mad if we disrupted things. But, so far nopony has gotten so far as to call on our parents. Not even when we ran off into the Everfree Forest and Fluttershy had to save us.” She laughed at the memory and looked down. “Yeah,” she muttered to herself, “that one was pretty stupid.”

“You think so?” Feather asked sarcastically. “It sounded like a stroke of absolute genius to me.”

Tiara gave Feather a solid smack on the shoulder. “Alright shut it, blank boy.” She rolled a hoof at Scootaloo. “Go on. I want to hear the rest.”

The orange filly’s head tilted in confusion. “Really?”

This prompted an eyeroll from Tiara. “Yes, really.”

Scootaloo pawed at the ground. “Well, you see…”

“She’s trying to get caught by somepony specific.” Feather blurted out.

“I am not!” She huffed angrily. She then looked away quickly. “Well, not anypony specific...”

Feather shook his head. He had never heard of something so crazy before. “I don’t even know what to say.”

“Then don’t say anything." Scootaloo advanced on him. “Maybe I want to get noticed so I can impress some adults, you ever think that? Huh?” She poked him in the chest. “You aren’t the only one who’s got it rough, and I’ve probably been doing this as long as you have. But all I have are my friends. I can’t leave ponyville, and I can’t stay here forever without somepony finding out. I can only hope that somepony notices and considers adopting me or something! It can happen!”

“It can also go wrong! Very wrong, like ending up in an orphanage where you’ll never see your friends again, wrong.” Feather’s brow furrowed, but the determined look on Scootaloo’s face made it clear that she was not going to give up on this plan. He looked over at Tiara. “She’s not gonna listen to me, can you tell her?”

“You think she’d listen to me?" The pink filly scoffed. “Until you came along, we were bitter enemies. Now, we’re still enemies, just less bitter." She looked over at Scootaloo. “But, how is anypony supposed to adopt you if none of them know you’re an orphan in the first place? I didn’t even know until recently.”

Scootaloo gave a hollow laugh and grabbed a nearby toy. It was a little wooden cart, full of little wooden apples, being pulled by a red wooden pony. “Did you carve these?”

Tiara and Feather exchanged weary glances before dropping their faces to their hooves. “She didn’t even think about that.”

“Why are we even surprised at this point?”

“Okay, cut it out, you two." Scootaloo picked up another toy, a softer one, some sort of plush animal she didn’t recognize. She chucked it at Feather and started to search for another to throw at Diamond Tiara. “I was planning to tell somepony once I was sure they’d adopt me.”

“Hey, careful!” Tiara shouted as the pegasus grabbed another plush, a blue-ish dragon this time. “I worked hard on those.”

The pegasus filly stopped and looked at the toy in her hoof. It looked like a store bought toy, cleanly stitched and perfectly fluffy. “You mean, you really did make these?”

“Yeah, in my spare time.” Tiara blushed. “I made quite a bit of this, and sometimes daddy helped...”

Feather and Scootaloo waded into the toys, examining everything they could find with newfound appreciation. They both gawked at the detail of each building, prop, and plaything while Tiara waited on the sidelines and smiled. Every so often, one of the pegasi would find something and ask about it.

Scootaloo found some artwork. Charcoal sketches of places and ponies around town. “Did you draw all these?”

Tiara nodded. “Sure did.”

The mechanically minded Feather was more interested in anything related to the train set. “What about these little bridges?

Another nod. “Every single one.”

Feather hit a button near one of the bridges, causing it to lift up with a mechanical whine. “It’s loud." He inspected it closer, looking specifically at the motor and gearing tucked away beneath it. “Are these stepper motors? That seems a little much for a model bridge.”

“Maybe." The pink filly walked over to the bridge and hit the button. “But, it’s direct drive, see?" She pointed at the motor as the bridge closed. “I don’t have to worry about reduction gearing this way, and I can control the timing better.”

Feather looked at another bridge and saw that it was set up in a similar fashion. “What about the controls? You would need a separate controller in order to get any sort of precision out of the stepper motors. Do you have something like that?”

Diamond Tiara’s face lit up. “You bet I do!" She grabbed Feather’s hoof and dragged him away.

At this point, Scootaloo decided to check out the rest of the room. She spotted a wide closet with the door slightly ajar, and curiosity got the best of her. Inside she found a lone painting. It was half finished, and depicted a sunset coming down over a mountain. “Hey,” the pegasus called from the closet, “did you paint this?”

Tiara stopped dragging Feather to look for the other filly. She didn’t see her, but there weren’t any paintings in here that weren’t hers. “Yes.”

“It’s really good...” came the reply.

Tiara gave a faint smile and shrugged. She then turned to continue guiding Feather to the control unit. Only, he wasn’t where she left him.

He was across the room, gently picking up what he a golden stringed instrument. He turned it over in his hooves and gave it an experimental pluck. Even though he knew nothing about music, he could tell it was horribly out of tune. “Hey, what is this?”

Tiara looked over and sighed. “That’s something I used to play, it’s a Lyre. I used to take lessons from somepony in town.” She started dragging Feather back to the train set before he could start asking about the other musical instruments that were near the Lyre.

Meanwhile, Scootaloo kept digging around in the closet. Under a messy pile of fancy dresses, she found a chest. There was no lock, so naturally, she opened it. “Hey! This is a movie camera!” Placed inside a chest that he rudely opened was a hoof held film camera, and it wasn’t a cheap little antique like the one Apple Bloom’s brother gave her to play with. “How do you have one of these?”

There was no immediate answer, so she kept exploring. She soon came across a filthy sheet covering a lumpy shape that was taller than she was. Whatever it was, she couldn’t leave it hidden. She carefully lifted the sheet, revealing a half-finished sculpture of Princess Luna in one-quarter scale. Her head tilted to the side as she stared at it. It was mostly well made, quite life-like.

Scootaloo shook her head and let the sheet fall back into place. There were a lot of things around here that were either unfinished or forgotten. Tiara must have gone through a crusade of her her own, and abandoned these things when she got her cutie mark. It was really too bad, a lot of these things were amazing, better than anything the Crusaders managed. So, why was Tiara’s cutie mark such a useless one? It could at least be one for being a craftspony, not that silly headpiece.

Scootaloo sighed. “I’d almost rather not get a cutie mark if it’s like that." She quickly shook her head. “Nah, mine’s gonna be awesome, and it’ll suit me perfectly, I know it will." She left the closet and started searching for the other two foals.

She found them, rather found their flanks, sticking out from under the bed. They were underneath the bed skirt, in an animated discussion regarding crystals, interference frequencies, and variable something or others. Feather’s bag was nearby, so they had to be talking about something of hers… something that just so happened to be under the bed.

With a snicker, Scootaloo parked herself behind them and started singing. “Tiara and Feather, sitting in a tree-”

“What?! No!" Diamond Tiara angrily scrambled out to face the orange pegasus. “Finish that, and you’ll be kissing my hoof.”

Scootaloo giggled. “What? Can’t you take a joke?”

Feather backed out from under the bed a moment later. “I don’t get you, Scootaloo. Why are you singing about trees all of a sudden?”

Scootaloo giggled harder, and Tiara even joined her. “He doesn’t get it.”

“He’s totally clueless.”

Feather sighed. “Whatever." He held up a small wooden box. Unlike the rest of the room’s contents, it was plain wood, without paint, and only bearing a light polish. It was also older than anything else in the room, and showed the scuffs and scratches that such age brings. “What’s this? I found it under the bed.”

“Oh, that.” Tiara’s expression changed when she saw the box. It was something Feather couldn’t quite place, kind of sad, but not really, more like longing. “It’s a music box, I was told it belonged to my mom. But it doesn't work anymore, can’t seem to fix it or anything.”

Looking at the little box in his hooves, Feather realized that Tiara had never mentioned her mother before, only her father. Come to think of it, there was no sign of her mother in the house either. He hadn’t seen much of it, but there were things missing. The coat hanger he saw only had two pony’s clothes on, a filly’s scarf, definitely Tiara’s, and a matching coal-grey hat and scarf, most likely her father’s.

“Feather! What are you doing?" Diamond Tiara’s panicked voice broke him away from his thoughts, and he realized that he had opened up the music box and had it partially disassembled.

“Uh, hold on!" Before she could say anything else, he set the box down carefully and ran across the room. He ran to his saddlebag and started rummaging around inside. He eventually found a few tools and ran back to the music box.

Seeing that he was trying to fix it, Diamond Tiara decided to let him work. She figured someone who had worked on a flying device for the last couple years of his life could at least handle a music box. Though, he never got the flying device to work. Slightly worried, the pink filly started toying around with the nearest part of the train set to distract herself. After a while, Scootaloo grew bored and began to play around with it too, joining her in a silent truce.

Feather continued working on the box, following the mechanisms and gears like lines on a map. He found the problem quickly, the main coil spring had broken off from its harness. It would be impossible to completely fix it without a new, but he could get it close. He bent the broken part of the thin sheet metal back over itself, then poke a hole in it with his screwdriver. He wound the thin coil spring back around and started reassembling the music box. It would play a little faster, and the spring would probably keep breaking, but it work for a while at least.

The last piece clicked into place and started turning. Seconds later, the soft chimes of some antique melody started to play.

Tiara ran over to Feather and grabbed the box. “You did it!" She looked it over, trying to see what she had missed. “The spring, I didn’t even notice. Wow! You really are good with little devices.” Tiara gave Feather a smile and set the music box in one of the open carriages on the train as it passed. The music box played as the train brought it around the room, filling the air with the soft melody.

The pink filly hummed along with it until it reached a certain. Then, she started singing. “You are my shunshine, my only sunshine. You keep me happy, when skies are grey." She stopped and smiled to herself. “My daddy used to sing that to me. Thanks, Feather. I tried to fix it, but couldn’t. So did Daddy. Even Quiet Step tried his hoof at it, but he stinks at putting things together.”

“A shortcoming for which I heartily apologize, madam Tiara.”

All three children screamed and whipped around to spot a brand new pony standing just inside the door. As the scare he gave them wore off, Scootaloo and Feather examined him carefully. He was an unicorn, grey coat and mane. His eyes were silver colored and he had a cutie mark of a hoof holding a tray, or a stick, it was kind of hard to tell.

“I thought I said to stop doing that!” Diamond Tiara practically screamed, causing a snicker from the other two foals.

The stallion raised an eyebrow. “I am still unsure what ‘that’ refers to, but I have brought your meals. A shared dish I believed would be simpler, amongst your guests. Enjoy.” He left in a hurry, not bothering to introduce himself. What he left in his place was a dish containing three soups, cut up sandwiches, and to their delight, a tiny cake that was cut into a bunch of tiny slices.

The butler left them to it and went back to the kitchen to gather up the next meal of the night. The one to be delivered to the master of the manor, Filthy Rich. It was a pleasant change of pace to see Tiara with other foals. She usually hung around with that one grey foal, but they were never quite so boisterous, preferring to read or draw most of the time.

After grabbing the meal, he carefully carried it up the flight of stairs, and two rooms past Diamond Tiara’s. It was the study, where Rich, as he preferred to be called, spent most of his time. He quietly walked in and found the stallion sitting in his armchair. He was holding something, and staring at it in the dark. A glint of gold reflected off rectangular shape as he ran his hoof along its edge.

The butler walked in and cleared his throat. “It is not good for the eyes to wallow in the dark like this."

“Yes, of course. Thank you, Quiet Step." Filthy Rich straightened up in the chair, but made no move to get up. “The candle went out, and I didn’t bother to relight it.”

“I see,” the butler replied. He set the meal on a nearby desk and relit the candle. “I do hope you can be bothered to eat. You have outdone yourself this time, and I am quite looking forward to a meal myself.”

“You don’t have to flatter me, Quiet Step. I only followed the recipe Old Lady Smith gave me." With a sigh, he walked over to the desk and set down the thing he had been holding. It was a picture frame. The photo inside showed him, from a much younger time, standing with a mare that looked like Diamond Tiara would in fifteen years or so. “She sounds just like her, doesn’t she?”

“I’ll take your word for it, sir." Quiet Step watched the stallion as he tasted the soup. He seemed tired. And, though he may have have tried to hide it, it was obvious that he had recently been crying. “I never had the pleasure of hearing the young misses sing. I must also confess that this is the first time I have ever heard Tiara sing, though she does so quite well.”

Filthy rich sighed again. “That she does, that she does." He shook his head and walked away from the desk. “I’m sorry, I don’t have much of an appetite right now. Would you mind putting away the leftovers? No sense wasting it.”

“Of course, sir." He picked up the tray and headed for the door. He stopped just short of leaving. “Will there be anything else?”

“No, that should be all." Filthy climbed back into his chair. “Oh, I almost forgot to thank you for fixing the music box. I’m sure Tiara is happy to finally hear it again.”

“Sir, I did not fix it. One of miss Tiara’s friends did, the young colt.”

Filthy blinked. “The colt? His name was Feather, if I recall correctly.”

Quiet Step nodded. “Yes, I believe so. He took it apart and reassembled it quite skillfully.”

Filthy scratched his chin with a hoof. “Quiet Step, about that colt...”

“Yes, sir?”

“My daughter said he was new in town. It’s nice to see her making new friends for a change. We should invite his family over one of these days. I would like to meet them, and it would give them a chance to play.”

“Excellent idea, sir. I will make arrangements as soon as your schedule opens up.”

Filthy leaned back in his chair. “Thank you, Quiet Step. And, good night.”

“Goodnight sir.” The butler left with a nod.

Back in Tiara’s room the three were arguing on their sleeping arrangements.

“I may have a truce with her but I’m not sleeping in the same bed!” Scootaloo glared back at Tiara who simply sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Suit yourself, but it is comfy. I can just give you some blankets and you can take the floor. What about you Feather?” He snapped out of the daze he was in.

“Uh, sure the floor is fine by me.”

Tiara nodded and left to go gather up a set of blankets and pillows from a nearby closest. Feather turned to Scootaloo who just shrugged and flopped down on the floor near some train tracks. She returned and gave each a set with a smile. The pink filly then climbed back into her bed and snuggled in with several of her many stuffed animals.

“Goodnight you two.” Her voice sounded genuine, no hint of smugness which bothered Scootaloo.

“Uhh, goodnight Diamond Tiara,” they both replied in union.

“Horseapples, I’m getting used to her.” Scootaloo thought bitterly and did her best to get to sleep.

Feather on the other hoof was not the least bit interested in sleeping. Too much going on in his mind and the unfamiliar circumstances just made it seem weirder. He glanced around to find something to help him with his nightly ritual.

“Hey, Tiara?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you have any books I could read, they uh, help me get to sleep.”

She stood up for a moment and pointed off near the closest.“Books are over there.”

He groaned. “Got any suggestions? I hate picking...”

She tilted her head to the side, trying to think of something Feather would find interesting. “How about the user manual for my train? It’s pretty detailed!” He considered that and walked over to the bookshelf, scanning the titles he eventually found the manual. A hardback covered book that looked quite thick, he scanned over some of the pages and broke into a grin.

“Thanks! Goodnight.”

“Night.”

Feather climbed into his covers and began to read through the pages, the room had enough light to just be able to read the lines. Scootaloo had already fallen asleep right next to some tracks, he noticed that she would toss and turn every once in awhile but shrugged it off as he continued his reading late into the night.

Several Years Ago

Feather looked down at his tattered map. It was probably the tenth time he had done so in the last three minutes, but he couldn’t help it. He knew it was pointless--he had memorized the map by now, and was as close to the city as possible without actually being in it--but still he checked it.

He could never actually pronounce the name, but most ponies knew it simply as The Gryphon City. He knew a place filled with gryphons was both dangerous and safe at the same time. They wouldn’t ask any unwanted questions because there was no pony authorities around, but that also meant they probably wouldn’t care much for his safety.

He had heard stories, some of terror and others simply relating to crime. He wondered when he started to care less about his physical safety and more about not getting found out. A few gryphons flew overhead, and a sense of jealousy crept over him. Then he sighed; it was probably the desire to fly that made him care less about safety.

”Just go on!” He mentally screamed at himself, but he still wouldn’t budge. He knew that going in at his age would be crazy; even full grown adult ponies hardly visited. “Feather? What are you doing here?” He asked himself out loud, trying to decide exactly why he had came here instead of his usual spots.

”They had become too risky,” he thought bitterly. Which was true; the cities of Manehattan and Trottingham had started to feel just as dangerous as this place. He started to feel it was best to lay low, even lower than he had been. A place filled with gryphons would do the trick, even if he would stick out like a sore hoof. Or, just stick out like a hoof.

It may be a tough city, but gryphons wouldn’t go out of their way to hurt him, right? He had no idea, and he sure didn’t want to find out. However, by going into the city it would increase the risk of finding out. His stomach grumbled, and he looked down at his map again.

Feather simply continued to stare at the entranceway, with ‘entrance’ being a bit of an understatement. The city had been built into a canyon between two treacherously tall mountain ranges. The plant life was rough, stringy and dry, all roots and brambles. Because of the high altitudes, it resembled what you would see in the desert. This was the perfect place for a city of flying creatures like gryphons. It looked almost majestic, and Feather silently vowed to come back when he was able to fly. The way the sun shone over it made it look almost as peaceful as it was awe-inspiring.

But it definitely did not look like it was meant to be traversed by hoof. For starters, he would have to climb down the hill he was on to reach the bottom of the mountain. From there, he would have had many options if he could fly, but there was only one trailhead. From there, he would have to climb up a rather steep path, then cross some rope bridges that did not look too sturdy. From there, it would be a bit more climbing and then… Well, he wasn’t exactly sure. The place was simply too big to see all of it from his vantage point. Once he reached the top of the next hill, he would have a better idea of what was going on.

Another growl from his stomach urged him to his hooves, and he quickly sat down again. He didn’t want to admit it, even to himself, but he was simply too scared. It wasn’t so much the gryphons, though; he was reasonably sure they wouldn’t eat him. It was those rope bridges. One wrong move--just one misplaced hoof--and it would all be over.

The gryphons that flew overhead didn’t seem to mind his presence, or even notice him. Every so often, he could see one or two land on the bridges to take a break. “Lucky them. They can just fly off if a rope snaps.” He considered trying to call up to one who was flew overhead from time to time. ”That could be stupid or dangerous, though…”

“But would it really be worse than the bridges?” he wondered.

He started a slow trot down the hill. He wasn’t sure if he was going to brave the rickety rope bridges just yet, but he at least wanted to get a closer look before giving up. A few times, he tripped over some scraggly roots and ended up tumbling a few meters, but he got up each time and pressed forward. After a few minutes, he had finally made it to the bottom, with a few new scrapes to show for his effort.

Next was the climb up towards the first bridge. It was worse than the downhill. It was a long hike, and by the time he was halfway through it, his body was screaming out in hunger and exhaustion. The sun, which had made the valley seem so peaceful a while ago, was no longer welcome as it beat down on his saddlebagged back. The heavy cargo he carried, his machine, parts, and the few tools he owned, only made the trek worse.

By the time he reached the top he was exhausted, and he flopped onto his stomach only to yelp in surprise and pain. The sparse grass and gravelly ground were boiling hot, apparently heated by the still rising sun.

Feather scrambled for the shade of a nearby scrub. It was still pretty early in the morning. If it was this bad now, he didn’t want to think about how hot it was going to get. He either had to press forward, or turn around; and he had to pick one fast.

He stared at the bridge. The closer he got to it, the longer it seemed; but he could see what lay beyond now. A bustling city, carved into rock, and lined by snow-capped mountains. Hunger, the uncomfortable heat, and even a bit of boredom nearly willed him across then and there. Surely, he would be able to scrounge a fair amount of food in a city this size. And the temperature would have to go down for all snow to stay frozen.

He crawled out from his shrubby hiding place and inspected the first bridge. It seemed to be intact, all of its wood plankings were there and looked new, and the rope holding it together looked okay. But that didn’t mean that it was like that all the way across. What if they just repaired this particular spot?

Feather sighed. There was a nagging feeling that had stayed with him this whole time, starting from when he had first seen the city in the distance. It was weird, almost like he knew he wouldn’t be able to turn back, like he knew he would come up with some reason to take at least one more step forward. He had felt it at the top of the last hill, and he followed that feeling down. Then it had pushed him up this one.

Well, he was sick of it. He was hungry, thirsty, and the heat was nearly unbearable. He marched forward onto the planks of the suspension bridge. He wasn’t going to inch forward anymore, nudged by uncertain feelings. He was putting his hoof down, and marching ahead firmly and resolutely. He wasn’t about to let a bridge stand in his way.

And, it didn’t. After a few minutes, the bridge decided it wasn’t going to stand at all. The thin boards that some lazy gryphon carpenter had veneered over the ones that were rotting couldn’t hold up to the weight of the colt and his cargo. They snapped, and Feather fell towards to the valley below.

Several Years Ago

Screaming only got him so far, but it was a natural instinct. He was panicking so profoundly that his mind essentially blanked and the only thing he could do was flail his hooves and scream. His life did not flash before his eyes though, at the very last moment he felt a tug. He yelped in pain and sighed the biggest he ever had in his life when he realized that someone had caught him. He felt himself breathing in and out in rapid succession and soon it slowed down to nothing, then his other senses came back. Something was wrapped around most of his body, something huge that ended with sharp claws.

“You alright?”

His head snapped up but the massive claw blocked his view, he assumed it was gryphon that had him. It took him a moment to respond. “Uh y-yeah…”

“Well, good! I’m just gonna set ya down now, hang tight!” He heard the mare’s voice command, at least he assumed it was a mares. He didn’t know much about gryphon’s. It took him another moment to realize that she wanted him to wrap his hooves around her claw.

“Oh! Uh… sorry.” He awkwardly positioned himself so he wouldn’t fall and then wrapped his front hooves around the base of one of her claws and held on tightly.

“Right! Hang on!” She flapped her wings and he soon felt wind rise up all around him, it came so quickly that he couldn’t even tell which way she was going. He tried to keep his eyes open, but eventually gave up on that and simply held on for dear life. Then as quickly as it started, the wind died down with a single gush that washed all around his feathers and fur. He felt tears in his eyes; but was still hanging on. “You can let go now…”

He didn’t open his eyes and barely moved, until she nudged him which caused the colt to jump up in surprise and land on his back. The gryphon looked down to the colt in concern. “You alright?”

Feather coughed a few times and quickly got to his hooves. “Yeah… yeah, uh, thanks.” Then he blinked and looked to the top of his head, feeling around. “My hat!” He sighed and closed his eyes, trying not to mourn the loss of something which to others may seem silly.

The gryphon simply shrugged. “Sorry darling, I didn’t find anything else.” She almost chuckled then realized that she was dealing with a child. “You should thank your flank that I spotted you at all! No one takes those bridges anymore!”

Feather backed away from her, not being used to getting yelled at. He almost felt angry at her, how else was he supposed to get in?! He simply decided to look away and hoped that she gave up on lecturing him.

The gryphon then started to realize a few more things, things that were very wrong about the situation. “Why exactly are you here? Did you get separated from your nest-- well, from your family or something? We don’t usually get tourists from ponies…”

Feather would ordinarily lie in this situation, it was simply second nature. However, he would usually end up in a pony settlement. Things were different, he didn’t know too much about gryphons he had to admit to himself. He did know that gryphon’s and ponies usually did not get along much. Which meant he was most likely free to say what he wished, instead of keeping everything inside. That didn't mean he was gonna though.

“Uh, no, was just here with my dad. He’s here on business, so I thought I would explore.” He laughed a bit, though it was forced. “I guess bridges are out.”

“Yeah… no joke there.” The gryphon tapped her claw a few times on the floor, and tilted her head up to think. “So, you’re on your own right now?”

His eyes widened in fear, but only for a moment before he calmed himself. “Just until my dad gets back…”

The gryphon nodded. “Of course. Alright…but you’re still on your own. In this city, no offense but your father must be pretty… neglectful.”

Feather wasn’t sure how to feel or say to that. She had insulted him, but at the same time she hadn’t. His father was no more, which meant he had been talking about an imaginary stallion, which is who she had called neglectful and not his actual father, sort of. Not that she knew that. He simply shrugged then looked behind her to an approaching gryphon. The mare looked confused but then turned around and looked up. It was a larger gryphon than herself, with black and white feathers mixed in all over. There really was no pattern to the colors, it almost looked like a mess from a glance. What stood out though was the hat he wore, his hat.

“He has my hat!” Feather complained as the gryphon passed him by. The lady gryphon simply snorted, flapped her wings high into the air and flew past Feather in the span of about four seconds. She didn’t seem to move awfully fast or gracefully, but it was the actual sight of what was hidden that made Feather gasp. On the underside of her feathers were different shades of pink and red, intertwined into odd shapes that simply seemed far more beautiful than the actual gryphon, not that he would ever tell her.

“You come back here! That’s not yours!”

He heard the mares voice scream out in rage, but couldn’t see her as the two of them had flown down over the cliffs below. It was then that he realized something, the lady gryphon was an older gryphon. He wasn’t quite sure if he was right, he knew he was assuming things, but she did seem much older. Almost like an old lady, though he wasn’t sure how that was supposed to show on a bird. Feathers didn’t sag or grey out, they were just feathers.

“Fine, take it you crazy old hag!” Was what he heard after a single minute, and then she flew back with a smile plastered on her face.

Without warning she landed and gently placed his hat back on his head. The gryphon blinked and then nodded. “Wow, that looks much better. It suits you uh...”

“Oh… I’m… Feather,” He reluctantly said. He figured if she had gotten her hat back, then he could at least be polite.

“Hmm, nice to meet you, Feather. My name is Galion.” They shook hooves and claws and soon both were smiling.

The gryphon turned around and started walking away from him. “So, would you like to stay at our place for dinner? We’re having fresh salads… mostly.” She said the last part a bit quiet, but he heard her.

“Uh, I think I’ll just wait around for my father, thanks!” He hastily replied.

“Your father, of course!” She laughed a bit. “Suit yourself, sonny.”

He watched her walk away, not fly but walk. It was odd and he couldn’t help but notice how she chuckled. Hesitantly he looked behind himself to find nothing, nopony waiting and no way back. He stood up and started to follow her.

So, we apologize for the lack of regular chapters. They are coming, but I figured this was better than nothing. Technically these bonus chapters can essentially go in any order (except maybe the later ones that we may or may not do).

“WHOOOT!!”

“WHOOOT!!”

Scootaloo rolled over. “Wha’sat noise?”

“WHOOOT!!” The same noise continued, waking her.

“It sounds like a train.” She yawned. “Why would there be a train- Oh, right, Tiara owns one. She opened her eyes and saw a bright light. She quickly shut her eyes. “Why is it so bright?” She peeked out of one eye, but she still saw nothing but light. Not only that, but it had gotten brighter. “What is that? I’m trying to sleep.”

“WHOOOT!!”

“Oh.” The filly’s mind caught up to the situation a bit too late for her to do anything but yell as the train smacked into her face. “GYAAHH!!” She rolled over and away, clutching her face, as the train de-railed and clattered to the floor.

“Scootaloo?!” Feather’s voice approached from behind her. “Are you ok? What happened?” She sat up and looked towards him, still clutching her face. She rubbed at it for a moment before putting her hoof down. “Oh...” The colt grimaced. “That’s not good.”

“Huh?” A loud yawn sounded from the bed. “What’s not?” A big, fluffy blanket was tossed from the bed, landing on top of an unprepared Feather. The pink filly on the bed sat up and rubbed at her eyes. “Did the alarm go off yet?” She opened her eyes and looked over at Scootaloo. “Oh, my gosh! Feather! Did you hit her?!”

“NO!” The colt dug his way out from under the blanket. “She was already like that! I swear!”

“Young ponies shouldn’t swear.” Feather screamed as he he jumped away from the voice of the butler behind him. “A youthful colt such as yourself should strive to conduct himself in a courteous and respectful manner at all times, let alone in the presence of of two young mares.” Quiet Step magically lifted a lidded tray from his back and guided it towards Scootaloo. “I was preparing breakfast when I overheard the commotion. Knowing the layout of the young miss’ alarm, it was not hard to guess what happened.”

Scootaloo blinked at the unicorn. “Uh, thanks, I guess.” She reached out and took the tray in her hooves and the magic glow around it faded. Then she noticed her reflection in the domed silver top. Specifically, she noticed the black eye in the reflection. “Oh, wow.” She turned her head in various angles to inspect her reflection more closely. “That’s a pretty good shiner.”

“Quite.” The butler nodded politely to each of the three young ponies. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I will return to the kitchen.” He turned and walked towards the door. “Breakfast will be ready soon enough that you will get the chance to eat before leaving for school.”

“School?!” Scootaloo went pale and brought her hooves to her forehead. “Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, I can’t go to school like this! What’ll I tell Ms. Cheerilee?”

Diamond Tiara just yawned and rolled over on the bed. She laid on her back and glanced back at Scootaloo. “Why don’t you just tell her the truth? You got hurt breaking one of my toys.”

“Ha-ha-ha,” Scootaloo said mockingly, “too bad you’ve got your cutie mark already, you’d make a great comedian.”

“Pfft. Jealous?” The pink filly rolled over to the edge of the bed, not wanting to leave the soft, comfy surface. After a few moments of hesitation, she groaned and jumped down to the floor. Then she yawned and headed for the door. “Bathroom’s mine, so I’ll go first. I’m feeling generous, so I’ll try to leave some hot water.” A few seconds after her striped tail disappeared down the hall, her voice rang out. “No promises though!”

“Wouldn’t expect any.” Scootaloo turned her attention down the hall as Quiet Step returned with a tray. “So, Feather, what do you suppose this is?”

Feather looked up from where he was examining the derailed train. “Are you talking to me?”

“No,” the filly rolled her eyes, “I’m talking to the stuffed dragon.”

The colt glanced at the mentioned plush toy before returning to his examination of the busted train. “I’m not even gonna ask why.”

Quiet Step placed the tray just inside the room, and bowed his head as he left. “I have matters to attend to now, I wish you a pleasant day.”

The orange filly awkwardly smiled back as the butler left. “Uh, thanks. You too?” She looked down at the tray. “That was fast, do you think this is breakfast?” Scootaloo lifted the lid and sure enough there were piles of pancakes big enough for several ponies. “Hope Diamond doesn’t expect any to be left when she gets back.. or should I say Dee?” She asked playfully.

Feather chuckled and headed over as Scootaloo started slamming pancakes down. “I don’t think she would like that.” He grabbed a pancake and tried it. “Ohh, this is good…” Feather chewed slowly, savoring every last buttery bite.

Scootaloo laughed at him like he was crazy, but given his circumstances she understood his overexaggerated actions a little. But, he was drooling like Rarity over a Prince. If he did that for every hot meal he got his hooves on... “When we get to school, find somepony else to eat lunch with.”

Feather stuck his tongue out at her, then used it to lick some syrup off his hoof. “I rarely get a good meal to eat, so sue me.”

Suddenly the bathroom door was knocked open, steam rising up through the air. Diamond Tiara stepped out looking just as she did when she got up, only soggier in appearance. “Ah, long hot showers are the best.” She turned to Scootaloo. “Your turn Blank Flank.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and walked off to the bathroom. Feather looked at Diamond Tiara and wondered why she still had a towel draped around her midsection but shrugged it off.

“Mother of Celestia that’s cold!” Scootaloo screamed.

They both looked at the door in shock and then shrugged it off. After two minutes, the door burst open revealing a shivering Scootaloo. She looked around frantically until she spotted Diamond TIara and ran up. “Let me have that towel, I’m freezing!” She tried to yank at it but Diamond fought her off.

“Let go!” The filly yelled. She fought Scootaloo off, ending the scuffle by bucking the pegasus in the flank and knocking her over. Diamond scowled and ran out of the room, towel still draped around her body.

Scootaloo looked at Feather in confusion. “I just wanted a towel, what I do wrong?”

“Hmm, no idea.” Scootaloo stood up and walked back to the bathroom, then she gently shook off all the water. Feather noticed she was still shivering though. “Shouldn't you be used to cold water?”

“Bite me.”

“I’m good. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” He pushed his way past Scootaloo and into the bathroom. He slammed the door shut, leaving the pegasus cold and wet in the hall.

His shower was over in minutes, and he came out relatively dry. He made his way back to Tiara’s room, where Scootaloo was playing with some toys, staging a mock battle between a plush Luna and a plastic dragon. “Hey, Scootaloo?” He asked, hoping to get her attention. “Tiara back yet?”

“Is Tiara back yet?” Scootaloo responded in a mocking tone. She didn’t look up from the toys. “You sure seem preoccupied with her lately. But, no, she’s taking forever. I think we’re gonna be late for school. And,” she pointed out, “I can’t exactly tell my friends why.”

“Why not?” He walked over to the dragon and poked it.

Scootaloo put the toys down. “How am I supposed to explain that I stayed at the house of our greatest enemy? And, Sweetie Belle will probably give me guff about there being a colt at the sleepover.”

“You really don’t like Diamond Tiara, huh?”

Scootaloo fidgeted with her hooves a bit. “I don’t hate her, but for some reason her and Silver Spoon seem to hate us. I’d gladly be her friend if she was nicer or something…”

“Hmm, she seems nice enough.”

She grunted. “Of course you think she’s nice! She’s been nothing but nice to you!”

“Ahem,” the butler cleared his throat at the door. “Miss Tiara is waiting for you downstairs. You had best hurry, I believe school begins rather soon.”

Feather groaned, and Scootaloo shrugged, but both of them began gathering their things. The butler watched silently, and within a minute, the two foals were headed for the stairs.

They found Diamond Tiara sitting downstairs by the open front door. Her father had been standing next to her, but he walked off as Feather and Scootaloo approached.

Tiara was fidgeting nervously, and glared at the other foals. “Are you blank flanks ready yet? We’re going to be late!”

Scootaloo scoffed and walked right past her. “We weren’t the ones that took too much time in the shower.”

The pink filly snorted, but didn’t bother with a comeback. Instead, she walked over to Feather. “Come on, let’s get moving. You don’t want to be late for your first day.”

From up ahead, Scootaloo yelled back, “Don’t worry, we won’t be!”

Scootaloo pointed to the schoolhouse clock as she stepped off her scooter. "See, guys? Told ya we’d make it.”

It was a nice morning, cool and windy. It was the sort of morning that was wasted being indoors. The parents of the school-aged foals were taking advantage of that fact by loitering outside, just past the school’s white picket fence. They chatted with the other parents and generally wasted time enjoying the weather while their kids were unable to.

Diamond Tiara and Feather stayed on the scooter, stiff as nails, and as pale as the whitewash on the schoolhouse walls. The pink filly was clamped on to the colt with all the trembling strength she could muster and wasn’t ready to let go yet.

“Whatever. Bell rings in five." Scootaloo rolled her eyes and started off towards the door. "Wimps.”

“A-are we s-still in one p-p-piece?” Feather stammered out.

“I think so,” Diamond Tiara mumbled back. "I can’t tell, I can’t feel my face.”

“I can’t either. Next time we walk." The colt breathed a shaky sigh and tried to will away the leftover adrenaline. "I don’t think I can survive doing this everyday.”

“Me neither,” Tiara agreed, nudging towards the schoolhouse door. "Plus, I don’t want to be seen around Scootaloo more than I have to.”

Feather took the hint and started towards the door. As long as he was enrolled, he might as well be on time. "Why not? You two worked together to get me enrolled, somepony must have seen you then.”

Diamond Tiara raised an eyebrow. "The whole point of that was to get you enrolled secretly. If somepony saw us, we would have failed." She pulled ahead of him, scanning for the other students as she walked. "You know, it might be a good idea if we went in separately.” She looked back at him. "What do you think?”

“I think your Tiara’s crooked." Feather caught up to her and poked the headpiece, straightening it from where the ride had knocked it askew. “There.”

She looked up at the ornament, then back at Feather. "You have OCD, don’t you, Feather?”

Before he could answer, there was a snickering from the schoolhouse door. A pair of foals Feather didn’t recognize were watching them, and not doing a good job of hiding it.

Tiara rolled her eyes when she saw them, one short and stout, the other skinny and tall, and both unicorns. ”Oh, come on, not these bozos.”

“Wait.” Feather automatically retreated a step when the two ran out of the schoolhouse. "What bozos? Who are they? Are they-”

The short one made it to Feather first. He was a dull greenish color, almost like bread mold, and had a mane that could pass for a bread crust. "I’ve never seen you around here.”

The tall one, dandelion orangish-yellow with pastel green mane, was only a few steps behind. "Uh, nope, I haven’t either. Are you new in town?”

“Uh, yeah?" Feather backed away carefully, looking to Diamond Tiara for a rescue from these overly friendly newcomers. The filly provided no aid or rescue to the trapped colt, and was inside before Feather could call out to her, leaving him no choice but to interact with other colts his age. “I just moved here.”

“Really? Cool!" That was the short one speaking. "How’d you get Diamond Tiara to talk to you? She doesn’t talk to anypony else, except Silver Spoon, of course.”

“Um, well…” Feather scratched his neck, trying to come up with an answer. “I guess-”

“BBRRRIIINNNGGGG!!!!!” The bell rang out noisily.

The school bell stopped Feather in his tracks, and made him jump like any unexpected loud noise would. He only barely kept himself from shouting in surprise. The other two colts showed none of the same surprise, instead looking up at the clock in a sedate, laid back manner.

“Uh, Snips, aren’t we supposed to be in class?”

Snips started nodding. "Yeah, I think we’re late, Snails.”

Snails started nodding. "Yeah, I think we’re late too, Snips.”

The two colts looked at each other and shrugged before starting towards the schoolhouse. They weren’t in much of a hurry. After a few seconds, Snails looked back over his shoulder and called out to Feather, “You might want to hurry, dude. Miss Cheerilee doesn’t like it when we’re late.”

“What?!" Feather resisted the urge to tear his hat off in frustration. "Tell me that before we’re late!" He ran past them, and into the schoolhouse, not noticing the pink-purple mare just inside, waiting to greet him. He ran past her without slowing down, searching for the two fillies that could tell him where he was supposed to be.

“Ahem,” Cheerilee cleared her throat loudly, aiming to get the blue colt’s attention. And when he froze in his tracks, that was good enough for her. "I see we have another student that likes to live by his own schedule.”

Feather pulled his head to his shoulders and slowly looked back. To his surprise, the mare looking down at him wasn’t angry. At least, not visibly. Instead, she was smiling, sort of like Mrs. Cake was before forcing him into that apron. That reminded him! If he ended up with detention from being late, he would end up being late getting to Sugarcube Corner, he promised he would be there after school. He mustered up a weak smile for this new pony and let out a nervous chuckle. "Um, hi. Sorry about being late?”

She laughed happily in response. "Oh, don’t worry about that, dear. Snips and Snails are never on time, so I set the bell a few minutes early. You won’t be late for at least another four minutes." She held out a hoof. "My name is Cheerilee, we met briefly at your welcoming party.”

“We did?" Feather looked at the offered hoof. It took him a moment to realize he was supposed to shake it. "Oh, um, yeah! We did. Sorry, it’s taking me a while to get used to all the new faces." He ended the hoofshake as quickly as he could. "Uh, so, where do I sit?”

“Well, not in here." The teacher scanned the small gymnasium they were in. The polished wooden floors were due for a cleaning, but other than that, everything was cleaned up and put away until colder weather. She pointed out a small door near a collapsing set of bleachers. "The classroom is right over here.”

She started over, and Feather followed, sparing the shortest of glances back out the open gymnasium door. "What about them?”

Cheerilee opened the door to the classroom before looking outside. Snips and Snails were currently distracted by something too small to see from inside. But, whatever it was, it held their attention like glue. She shrugged. "They have three minutes to get to their chairs, or they get detention again. I should probably make a bigger deal of it, but their grades are good, and they always turn in their homework on time.”

Feather made sure to remember that. If good grades and homework kept her from prying, he would definitely make sure he had them.

Cheerilee waited for Feather to walk up to the door, and when he stopped, she pulled him inside. This left them both standing in front of a class full of foals about Feather’s age. She patted him on the back and introduced him, “Class? I’d like you to meet Feather. He’s new in town, and I want you all to give him a nice, warm Ponyville welcome!”

The hoof on his back was the only thing keeping Feather from running out the door as nearly dozen foals yelled, “Welcome to Ponyville!” at him.

Cheerilee noticed his discomfort, and looked down at him. "Oh, dear,” she kept her voice quiet, “are you hyperventilating? I know this may be a bit nerve-wracking, but try to calm down. Everypony here is really nice, for the most part. I’m sure you’ll make plenty of friends.”

“Yeah,” whispered nervously, under the gaze of dozens of curious eyes, “plenty of ‘em.”

The teacher nodded happily. "Good. Go ahead, take any open seat, and I’ll make sure nopony gives you any hassle over your name.”

Feather blinked. "My name?" He looked up at Cheerilee. "What about my name?”

The grown up mare chuckled. "Well, it is a slightly amusing name, and I’m sure there will be a joke or two thrown your way, but I won’t tolerate anypony teasing you over your last name being Flank.”

As if on cue, the class burst out in giggles, especially two little fillies in orange and pink.

Of course. Feather brought a hoof to his face. Of course. How did he expect anything different? Tiara didn’t even know his real last name. Come to think of, did Scootaloo?

“Now, children,” Cheerilee warned sternly, “what did I just say? One more outburst like that and I might find a pop quiz in my desk drawer.”

The class went real silent, real quick. The only exception was the pair of colts that ran in, scrambling for chairs at the back of the classroom.

Cheerilee smirked at the rushed display. They still had a full minute to spare. "Snips, Snails, good of you to join us. You two already met Feather outside, so I won’t go through the introductions again. Anypony have questions?" She looked around for a moment. She could see the curiosity burning in her student’s eyes, but none of them raised their hooves. They would probably wait and talk to Feather on their own later. At least they had the tact not to blurt out something about his wing. Then again, most of them probably didn’t know. "No? Very well then." She gave Feather a little nudge towards the last empty desk. It was on the end, right next to a certain pink earth pony. "I’m sorry, but you might be sitting next to Diamond Tiara for a while, at least until we get another desk. Have you met her yet?”

Feather nodded. "That’s ok, she’s the one of the only ponies here I know.”

It was Cheerilee’s turn to blink in surprised. "You know her? And you’re ok with sitting next to her?”

The filly in question snapped her head around when she heard that, and Feather couldn’t help but snicker. "Yeah, it’s fine.”

“Take your seat then." Cheerilee walked over to her desk. Behind it, the dark green chalk board was covered in drawings of clouds, rain, and snowflakes. "As some of you may know, Silver Spoon is out for the week, visiting family in Canterlot. In the meantime, Feather will be using her desk. Unfortunately, she brought her textbooks with her so she could keep up with her studies. Is anypony here willing to share theirs? It will only be for a few-”

Diamond Tiara’s hoof shot up.

Cheerilee raised an eyebrow. "Really?”

The pink filly scrunched her eyebrows together. "What do you mean, ‘really?’ I’m sitting right next to him, isn’t obvious that I share my books with him? Who else is he gonna share with, the wall?”

Cheerilee’s smile twitched for a moment. Leave it to that filly to be snickety about an act of kindness. But, she was being uncharacteristically generous by offering to share, so it could slide. But just this once. "The only thing left is for Feather to remove his hat, and we can get started on our lessons.”

Feather stopped cold, just short of crawling into his chair. "What? Why?" He looked around. Half the other students were wearing clothing of some kind, and at least three were some variation of hat. "Other students are wearing hats.”

“They aren’t pegasi,” Cheerilee pointed out. "Pegasi foals are not permitted to wear clothing items during school hours. It’s a safety issue. I know your circumstances are a bit special, but the rules should apply to everypony. Inexperienced fliers shouldn’t be dealing with loose clothing articles to get tangled up in and drop on others.”

“Well, that’s stupid,” Tiara said flatly. She leaned over and shoved Feather’s saddlebags of his back, prompting gasps from most of the class. "He can’t even fly. Doesn’t that technically make him an earth pony?”

The teacher brought a hoof to her face as the entire class started talking in hushed whispers. Leave it to that pink brat to start something. she thought bitterly. She cleared her throat to get the student’s attention, but to no avail. Upping the game, and the noise level, she grabbed a ruler from a drawer and whacked it against the desk a few times. "That’s an interesting point, Miss Tiara, we can discuss it during study hall." She looked at each student individually. "Anypony care to keep her company?”

The class was was silent, except for Feather, who muttered, “jerks,’ under his breath.

Unfortunately, his new teacher’s ears were better than those of his classmates. "Looks like Feather does,” Cheerilee said with a sigh. "Anypony else?”

The silent students all shook their heads.

“Good." Cheerilee turned her attention to the newcomer as he pulled himself into his chair with all the enthusiasm of a wounded turtle. "Now, Feather, how did your last school handle clothing items?”

He shrugged. "I could get my dad to sign something? I think that’s what we did before.”

Cheerilee nodded slowly. "Have that to me in the morning, and I will make an exception for today." She sighed heavily. "Now, if our little morning drama is out of the way, the learning can begin.”

She picked up a pointer stick and indicated the pictures on the chalkboard. "I’m sure all of you can tell me what these are, but can anypony tell me how they are made?”

“Ooh! Ooh!" Scootaloo, sitting in the middle of the class, next to her friends, shot her hoof up. She waved it wildy, saying, “Pick me! Pick me!” with her gestures as she whispered it aloud.

Cheerilee smiled at the enthusiasm, holding back a chuckle. She already knew what the pegasus filly was going to say, but she called on her anyway. "Yes, Scootaloo?”

“Rainbow Dash makes them!" Scootaloo leaned back in her chair, crossing her hooves proudly. "She’s head of Ponyville’s weather team.”

It was the perfect lead in. "That’s right, Scootaloo. She, and other ponies like her, work together to make sure the rest of us get to enjoy the full spectrum of weather here in Equestria. Today, we will be getting an inside look at our weather, and the delicate magic that goes into making it, day in and day out." She pointed up. "Please welcome our special guest, weather expert, and teacher for a day, Rainbow Dash.”

Every student in the class looked up, some faster than others. One faster than any of them. All they saw was a cloud, drifting near the ceiling. It certainly wasn’t the most normal place for a cloud, but there was no sign of anypony.

Cheerilee cleared her throat. "Rainbow Dash?" She was supposed to be waiting up there. Did she leave? "Excuse me," she raised her voice a little, "Rainbow Dash?"

The cloud shifted a little, and a little bit of sky blue poked over the sides, the hooves of a sleepy Pegasus rolling around in bed. "Five more minutes," came the soft, muttered reply.

Several students started snickering.

"Rainbow Dash," Cheerilee repeated, "class is starting."

The cyan hooves lazily pulled back behind the cloud, and a wash of spectrum-hued tail flicked over the other side. "Aw, I don't wanna go to school, daddy. I want to go flying."

Cheerilee sighed. "Class? Would any of you like to wake her?" There were no volunteers, so she started looking for a student to call on. Of the pegasi, Rumble was the only one that could fly well enough to fly inside safely. Of course, there were a few unicorns that could nudge her awake. Dinky in particular was showing great promise. Sweetie Belle, on the other hoof, would probably launch her through a window.

She was about to call on Rumble to fly up and wake the sleeping guest when she noticed that Apple Bloom was furiously working to fold a piece of paper. After a few folds, the page took a roughly triangular shape.

Seeing the filly's plan, Cheerilee decided to just let the young earth pony continue. After a few more folds, it was starting to look more and more like a paper plane. The filly kept on folding until the nose and wings were squared off, then threw it straight in front of her.

The plane flew in a wide loop, up and over the students, to disappear behind the cloud.

"Snrk!" The sleeping Pegasus, sat up with a start when the plane hit her snout. "Huh, what? Who threw that?" As the weather pony remembered where she was, she looked over the edge of the cloud and down at Cheerilee. "Oh, hey. When does class start?"

"Several minutes ago," the teacher answered with a smirk. "If you were a student, you'd be joining Tiara and Feather for study hall."

Rainbow pointed at her. "But I’m not, so we're cool, right?"

Cheerilee raised an eyebrow.

"Right?" Rainbow asked again, slowly.

"If you’ll lead the students out to the grounds after I explain today's lesson, I'll consider it." Cheerilee looked back down at her class. "Today is the start of weather week. There will be hooves on demonstrations, group activities, and science projects to look forward to. Today, our entire class will be held outside, so gather your things and follow Miss Dash. There will be lots of fun, learning, and cold lemonade to look forward to."

Rainbow hopped off her cloud and slowly descended to the floor. "Alright, kiddos, who's ready to see how awesome weather can be?"

"Me!" Scootaloo shouted, jumping out of her chair before anypony else.

The rainbow Pegasus tussled the filly's mane when she reached her. "Yeah, I thought you might be. But, this isn't gonna all fun and games, you know. I’m supposed to actually teach you foals something."

"That's ok!" Scootaloo looked back at her classmates as they gathered their bags and school supplies and stood up from their desks. "Get a move on guys!"

Feather groaned as he got up. He could have just stayed standing, instead of going through the hassle of taking his bags off, sitting down, and putting them on again. The other students were happily chatting away as they headed out, but Feather just sighed as he followed the crowd. His first day of school wasn’t turning out the greatest. Public embarrassment first, then tack on detention. The only positive was that he would have somepony he knew nearby, instead of being alone with the teacher.

As the students walked through the gym, Feather felt something brush along his saddlebags. He looked over to see Diamond Tiara walking next to him. He looked away with a muttered, “hmph.”

“Oh, come on." Tiara bumped into him. "Everypony gets detention sometimes.”

“It’s not that,” he started.

“This is about the name,” she finished. With a shrug, she added, “You should have told us your last name, then we wouldn’t have had to make one up.”

“You could have used something other than Flank.”

Tiara blinked as they exited the gym, letting her eyes adjust to the sunlight. "It works, doesn’t it? Besides, it sounds good, alliteration or something, it was in last weeks lessons.”

Feather rolled his eyes. She would label somepony with a silly name like, ‘flank,’ just to show off how smart she was. "My real last name is Steel.”

“Feather Steel?" Tiara snickered. "Wish I would have known, that’s way cooler.”

They remained silent the rest of the way out to the playground, their conversation dying out as Feather fumed. As they neared things like sandboxes and other playground staples, they noticed a few things out of place. There were clouds floating next to the jungle gym, tethered by a sparkly purple thread. Jars of rainbow striped liquid sat on a picnic table. And most surprising, there were wooden crates of perfectly pristine snowflakes sitting under the shade of a nearby tree. Each crate had glowing blue symbols written on the corners, apparently some sort of magic markings that let the contents ignore the current temperature.

Rainbow led the class to gather in a large group in the center of the materials. As the guest teacher checked on her gathered supplies, Feather looked around for Tiara and Scootaloo. He didn’t see either of them. In the bustle, he must have lost track of them.

There was a poke on the right side of his saddlebags, and Feather looked over, expecting either an orange or pink filly. Instead, there was a brown colt in a garishly bright beanie. "Hey, those look heavy,” the colt said with a snicker and another poke. "How many points of strong back perk do you need to haul those everywhere?”

Feather moved so he was facing the other colt, moving his saddlebags out of poking range. "Uh, what?" He didn’t understand any of that past the word heavy.

Before the other colt could say anything to clarify, Rainbow Dash called out to the students, “Hey, kids!" Her voice cracked on the last word, but it got everypony’s attention. She brought her hoof up to her mouth and cleared her throat with a sheepish smile. "Sorry,” she muttered, before speaking up again, “Welcome to weather week!" Confident that her voice would hold up, she started explaining her lesson plan. "This week, You will be learning about weather, duh." She smiled at the students’ collective snickers. "This will include the types of weather, how weather is made, and how it is controlled.”

She pointed up at the sky. Two lightly colored, color-matched pegasi were pushing a large cloud along. "Those two are part of the weather team. Right now, they are gathering and dispersing clouds for some light rain we have scheduled for tonight.”

Feather stared up at them as they worked.m The weren’t in any great rush, instead just lazily pushing the cloud along as they talked between each other. A chunk of cloud broke off, and one of the weather ponies broke off into a wide loop to go around and retrieve it. To any other pegasus, it wouldn’t have been very impressive, just the most efficient way to go back for something, but to Feather, it was like watching his dream fly by out of reach.

“Some day…” he muttered quietly, thinking no one could hear him.

There was one pony that did, though. Standing just behind him after making her way through the crowd of students, Scootaloo stopped in her tracks. She nodded to herself when she heard his muttering, and silently confirmed, “Yeah, someday.”

“Attention students!" Rainbow yelled over the students. The momentary lack of activity and group setting were starting to cause conversations and distracted foals, so she had to keep things interesting. "Today, we are going to study lightning and thunder!”

Cheerilee cleared her throat it wasn’t exactly loud, but it seemed to carry well enough that it stopped Rainbow in her tracks.

“Uh, I mean, today, we are going to be studying the things that make lightning and thunder. Heh, gotta start small, I guess." Rainbow looked over at the teacher for confirmation, receiving a silent nod. Taking that to mean continue, she started walking towards the jungle gym. "Everypony, come meet a cloud.”

Rainbow reached the jungle gym and flew up to the tethered cloud. She pushed it groundward and started splitting pieces off. Cheerilee walked up to the cloud and faced the students. "Pegasus students, When I call your name, please step forward." She reached up and tried to grab one of the cloud pieces Rainbow was separating. It stayed intact for a moment, but soon wicked into her fur and became nothing but water droplets. "As you can see, We will need your help handling the clouds for your fellow students.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed, but held a hoof up in counterpoint. "But, go slow. Pegasus magic lets us handle clouds, but use too much force and you’ll cause anything from rain to, um… Vapor, uh, let’s just say the clouds will break apart.”

“Loss of Vapor Cohesion?" A voice asked from the back of the student crowd. Feather groaned and tried make himself disappear into the crowd as a familiar purple unicorn trotted up with a wagon full of crates. Each cloud held a fluffy white replica of Rainbow's cloud, and the librarian parked the wagon close to the weather pony. "There, I think I brought enough for everypony. How's class going?"

"We've barely even started, Twi," Rainbow answered. "But, thanks, I thought I was going to have to split up the only cloud I brought."

Cheerilee cleared her throat. "I hope I'm not interrupting, but we have a class to teach.” Jumping straight back into things, Cheerilee waved forward one of the younger pegasi. "Aileron, would you please come take a piece of cloud from Ms. Sparkle? You will be grouped with Apple Bloom and Bottlebrush."

Feather watched as a white pegasus walked up to Twilight. She reached into a crate and pulled out a chunk of fluff the same color as him. "I'm using a spell to let me handle clouds," she explained as she offered the confused colt his cloud. "Rainbow will explain more about it later."

"Next," Cheerilee called, "we have Feather. You will be partnered with Button and Dinky. I'll point them out for you after we get through here."

Feather groaned. He just had to get stuck with foals he didn't know. He grudgingly walked up to Twilight and held his hoof out for a cloud.

The unicorn smiled warmly as she pulled his clump of cumulous from her crate. "How are you doing Feather? Enjoying your first day of school?"

"Yeah," he mumbled, in a manner far from convincing, "it's great."

Before Twilight could pry any further, Cheerilee called the next student. "Rumble? Your group will be Diamond Tiara and Sweetie Belle."

Feather grabbed his cloud and moved out of the way as a grey pegasus colt flew out of the crowd. He was slow, but precise, as he hovered to the crates and swirled the last of the cloud in the first crate around his hoof like cotton candy on a stick.

"Showoff," Rainbow chuckled.

Rumble landed near Feather as Cheerilee called another student. "Hi," he said, sitting down, "you're Feather, right? I'm Rumble. Want to see something cool? My brother taught me a neat trick you can do with clouds."

Feather looked around. All the grownups were occupied handing out the remaining clouds, and the other students were focused on them. "Sure, why not."

Rumble grinned and slipped his other hoof inside the cloud, tight against the first. He started rubbing his hooves together furiously, like you would rub a hoof on carpet to build up static.

Feather started to get a little worried as the cloud turned grey, light at first, then darker and meaner. "Um..." His fur started stand on end, tingling from the buildup of energy. "Are you sure you-"

A sudden thunderclap caused several students to cover their ears. Cheerilee and the two guest teachers looked around for the source, checking to sure the students were ok as well. Everything seemed alright, except, Twilight noticed, for two colts away from the main group. Rumble's cloud was gone, and Feather was letting his drift away.

She started over to them, and overheard Rumble apologizing for something. "I'm sorry, it wasn't supposed to do that," he said, "are you ok?"

Twilight knew the answer to that before Feather lied to the other colt with a, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just surprised." Young as he was, Feather couldn't hide the pain in his voice. It was just the equal youth of the colt he was talking to that let him get away with it. He was shaking, and his legs were tense, tightening like he was fighting the urge to curl into a ball.

Twilight made it over to Feather as he started walking away, hiding a limp. She placed herself in front of him. "Feather, what happened?"

"Nothing." Feather kept his eyes on the ground as he tried to walk around her, but his saddlebag bumped into her side.

Twilight felt nothing but a slight tap, but Feather recoiled from the touch, tripping and falling over with a strangled cry of pain. "Feather!" Now she was worried. Feather seemed like a tough colt, the kind that didn't like to share what troubled him, but how much pain does a colt have to be in to collapse?

She kneeled beside him as Cheerilee came running up. "Twilight, what happened?"

"I don't know." She ran a hoof along Feather's mane. "What happened, Feather? Let me help you."

Feather clamped his eyes shut. He didn't want her help, didn't want her prying into his life, but... "It hurts," he squeaked out. He squirmed under Twilight's hoof. "It hurts a lot."

Twilight pulled her hoof away, slowly starting to piece it together. A thunderclap could only be caused by lightning, and lightning, near Feather? She brought her hoof to his saddlebags. Finding a dark spot along the edge, maybe a scorch mark, she carefully started pulling.

Feather whimpered as the cloth stuck to the burnt flesh and fur underneath. From what Twilight could see, it wasn't a large burn, but it was a nasty one. She stopped pulling at the bag. She didn't want to make things any worse for the colt. "Cheerilee," Twilight whispered, "I'm going to take him to the hospital."

The teacher nodded. "That's probably for the best. I'll stay here and try to keep the students calm." She composed herself, and turned around to face her students with a smile. Surprisingly, Rainbow Dash had managed to keep most of the attention focused on her with tricks involving pieces of cloud, but there were a few students whose gazes were wandering in Feather's direction. "Everypony, please follow me to the picnic tables. We'll take a break, set down our things, then get back to learning."

As she led the students away, Cheerilee glanced back. Twilight was emptying the crates from her wagon, and laying down a padding of cloud. A tap at her leg brought her attention back forward.

Rumble was looking up at her. "Is Feather going to be ok?"

"He'll be fine, Rumble," she reassured the colt, watching Twilight haul the other student away. This had to be the worst first day of school she had ever witnessed, and she was not looking forward to the inevitable meeting with an angry father that would surely follow. "He'll be just fine."

Don't forget to comment! Criticism, thoughts, ideas or anything else are all welcome. (anything else being stuff relating to this story)

Feather took a deep breath and tried to steady himself. "Um, Ms. Twilight? You don't need to take me to the hospital, it's not that bad. Can't we just get some burn cream from somewhere, then go back to school?"

Twilight stopped the wagon and looked back. "Feather, you aren't a very good liar. You're shaking so much that your teeth are practically chattering right now."

I'm a better liar than you think, he thought, managing a weak smile through the pain. "I'll be fine in a few minutes, promise."

Twilight hooked a hoof over the edge of the wagon. "Feather, is there some reason why you don't want to go to the hospital?"

Feather looked up just as she leaned over him, bright eyes wide with concern. It was like looking at the face of a puppy or kitten, and the colt found himself having to look away before he could lie to her, "It's just, I- my dad, he doesn't have a lot of money, and the bits for the hospital bill..." The colt trailed off and risked glancing up.

Twilight closed her eyes and shook her head. "Feather," she opened her eyes and moved her hoof to his face, stroking his cheek before resting it on his neck, "that's so sweet of you to think about your family like that. But, I'm sure your dad would want you to get better. And, so do I. I can take care of the hospital bill, the important thing is getting you treated."

“But… but…" Feather’s ears folded back. He couldn’t think of anything to refute the purple unicorn’s point. He looked down. "Please don’t take me to the hospital.”

Twilight looked down at him, and something clicked. Her expression changed slightly. The colt didn’t notice it, but it was there. "Ok, Feather." Twilight backed away from him. "I’ll respect your wishes, but you have to tell me the reason why, the real reason." She turned around, and started walking in a different direction, pulling the wagon along.

Feather let out a quiet whine, both from the pain caused by the wagon’s sudden movement, and from the realization that he just made things worse. It seemed that every time this particular grown up got involved, he came a little bit closer to being exposed. At the very least though, he had bought himself some time. Visiting the hospital would have been game over, but he could still try to come up with some lie to tell Twilight.

By the time they reached the library, Feather had yet to come up with a suitable fabrication. He could only wonder why, what with the burning pain in his side. But, the colt reluctantly admitted to himself, that wasn’t the only reason. He didn’t really want to lie to the librarian. By no means was he going to spill his true story to her, but maybe he could just stall instead of outright lying.

Was this ever a problem before? Feather watched the purple mare as she opened the library door. He wouldn’t hesitate to lie to anypony, or so he thought. What made her different? Was it because she tried to help him when he was hurt? Or was it because he felt he owed her for avoiding the hospital like he asked?

Twilight pulled the wagon into the library. "SPIKE!!" She yelled out before closing the door. "Are you here?”

The only other soul in the library looked over his shoulder. An oversized red earth pony, who would loom over either colt or librarian under normal stances, was trying to get a book off the top shelf of one of dozens of bookcases. He was supporting himself against the shelves, balancing himself on his hind legs, and making him that much taller than them. "Uh, Nnope,” he offered in response to Twilight’s question, just before his book, loosened by his efforts, fell from its resting place. It bounced off his head before falling to the ground, and he calmly looked up at the now empty spot on the shelf.

Failing to suppress a giggle, Twilight pulled the wagon to the center of the room, near the sofa. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to distract you. Have you seen Spike?”

“Eeyup,” the red pony nodded, “He was headed ta help Rar’s with somethin’." He nodded again, this time in Feather’s direction. "He alright?”

Before Twilight could answer, he pushed away from the bookshelf, wood creaking from the suddenly relieved stress. He was balanced upright for just a moment, then his front hooves came crashing down. At least, that’s how it seemed. He just fell back to a normal standing position, but the solid, heavy sound his hooves made on the floor made both smaller ponies jump. Unfortunately, that involuntary movement, small as it was, was enough to rub the rough cloth of Feather’s saddlebags against his wound, and he hissed in pain.

“He’s hurt,” Mac said simply, walking over to them, “what happened?”

“He has a burn,” Twilight explained. "One of the other pegasi at school turned a piece of cloud into a thundercloud, and Feather had a bunch of metal parts in his bag. Then he begged me not to take him to the hospital, so I brought him here. Wait here, I’m going to go get some ice.”

“Nnope." Mac shook his head. "Ice can hurt ‘im worse. Fetch me tub a’ cool water, and some clean cloths." Twilight went to fill his request, and the big pony looked down at the colt. First things first. "Ah need ta get yer bag off, Little Fella. Can ya be brave for me?”

Feather nodded, relieved that this new pony wasn’t asking why he wasn’t headed to a hospital. Then, he braced himself for the pain of having the bag torn away from his wound.

“Ah’m Big Mac, by the way." Mac pushed lightly down on the bag, not enough to really hurt, but enough for Feather to feel the pressure. "Ah didn’t know if ya remembered it." When he carefully rolled the bag off of the colt’s side, there was barely any pain, just the sensation of weight being lifted. "Ya seemed mighty nervous when Ah tried ta talk ta ya earlier, so Ah didn’t know if ya heard any of it." The pony paused for a moment. "Ah guess Ah can be a bit intimidatin’.”

“Um, a little.” He tried to recall their earlier meeting, but all he could conjure was the memory of shadow as he looked up at a towering stallion framed by blinding sunlight. Forget intimidating, it was downright terrifying. Ponies just aren’t meant to get that big. Still, the farmer was a little less awe-inspiring in the even light of the library. Still impressively large, but much less threatening. Though, offering aid to an injured foal helped his image more than the lighting did.

Feather winced as Mac started to inspect around the wound, moving the fur around to check the skin underneath. Feather was amazed by how light the touch around his wound was, given the pony’s size. If this pony tried, he could probably be a top level pickpocket.

Mac’s touch became even lighter when he noticed the colt’s discomfort. "Sorry, Ah didn’t mean ta hurt ya. Yer real lucky, though. There’s only a little blisterin’, and the burn isn’t too spread out.”

As Mac kept poking and prodding around the colt’s side, Feather started to watch. It was just glances at first, each one a second or two longer than the last, but soon enough, he was watching intently, trying to see what the big pony was looking for. "How do you know so much about burns?”

Mac paused for a moment, and leaned down to the side, dropping the harness from his shoulders beside the wagon. He then leaned the other way, so Feather could clearly see the side of his neck. "Ah don’t know if ya can see it, but ya can’t make a livin’ off a’ zap apples without getting bit by lightnin’ once ‘r twice.”

He looked closely, but the only thing Feather could see, aside from the hay in the red pony’s mane, was a ripple in the fur along his neck. With some hesitation, he reached out and felt that spot. There was a little ridge on the skin underneath, and it made the fur above grow just a little differently from the rest. "Is this a scar?”

“Eeyup." Mac stood still, letting the colt trace along the hidden, gnarled line. The colt was opening up to him. "Ah got it when Ah was about yer age.”

“How?" Curiosity had taken over for Feather. He wasn’t thinking up lies or excuses, wasn’t planning his next meal or shelter, or forcing himself to act older than he was. For this moment, he was just a foal asking questions, an inquiring young mind, with no worries other than what question to ask next.

Twilight walked in just as Mac started his story about a young colt’s first Zap-apple harvest. The two didn’t notice her, so she stayed quiet. Feather was actually talking to somepony, and she didn’t want to interrupt.

Every so often, Feather would interrupt with a question, seeking clarification or extra detail. "What’s a timberwolf? Why were you the only one in the field?”

“It’s a big mean monster, made a’ stumps and logs. Mah sisters were too young ta-" Mac caught some color out of the corner of his eye, and looked over. "Miss Sparkle, sorry, Ah was tryin’ ta-”

The unicorn held up her hoof. "No, no, it’s ok. I just didn’t want to interrupt." She looked down at the tub beside her. She had set it down, along with a pile of neatly folded towels, at some point while listening to Mac’s story. "Um, water’s here, and a few towels, oh, and some bandages. I can go find more if you need them.”

“That there’s plenty." Mac got up and walked over to the pile of towels. He bent down to take the largest one, but it was under several others. He was just about to pull his head away when they lifted up and away from his target, bathed in purple energy. He picked up the towel, but only lifted his head part way, leaving him eye-level with a helpful purple unicorn. "Thanks,” he said around the towel.

“Oh, you’re welcome,” Twilight said with a sheepish smile. She scratched her neck. "I didn’t know where you wanted them so…”

The stallion laid his towel over the nearby sofa. "Here, if that’s all right by you. It’s yer place after all." He scratched his neck. "Um, could ya bring the water over? Ah wouldn’t want ta risk spillin’.”

“Oh, good idea." Twilight picked up the tub with magic, careful floating it beside her as she walked towards the couch.

“Then climb up on the couch, would ya?" Mac moved back to the wagon where Feather lay watching. "Ok, little guy, Ah gotta move ya, ready?”

“Uh, wait,” Twilight shook her head, certain she had misheard, “you want me up on the couch?”

Mac looked back. "Eh, eeyup? Somepony’s gotta hold ‘im, and somepony’s gotta clean the wound. Ah just think ya might be the better choice fer a mother’s touch.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothin’,” Mac replied quickly. "Ah just meant, ya might be softer ’n Ah am.”

Her eyebrows fell flat. "And, what is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothin’,” Mac responded again. "Ah’m just sayin, Ah’m the best choice to clean his burn, ‘cause Ah know what Ah’m doin’, and yer the best choice ta hold him, ‘cause yer the only other pony here.”

“I’m just teasing,” Twilight snickered, “You don’t have to get all defensive.”

He grunted. “Ah ain’t, Ah’m just explainin’.”

The librarian nodded. "Sure you are." She hopped up on the couch, turning in place like a puppy before laying down next to the laid out towel. "Well, here I am, let’s get Feather over here and get him cleaned up.”

“Ah’ll do it,” Mac said before Twilight could pick the colt up in her magic. "Ya ready, little guy?”

Feather looked up at him. The big stallion towered over him like he did before, outside the bakery, but it was different. The colt felt no fear, or unease. If anything, he felt reassured. This strong stallion was on his side, wanting to help.

Feather nodded.

Mac looked over at Twilight. "Brave little guy, ain’t he?”

“Little guy?" Feather bit his lip to keep from smiling. What a funny nickname, this farmer could call anypony that. "Do you give nicknames to everypony you meet?”

“Eenope." Mac nudged his nose under Feather, lifting him easily and avoiding his burn. "Only fer ponies Ah like.”

Feather liked this grown up. He didn’t ask questions like the others, but he didn’t mind answering them. As Mac set him down in Twilight’s waiting hooves, Feather asked, “Why Little guy?”

Mac shrugged as he straightened up. "Ya sort a’ remind me a’ mahself." He reached for one of the clean towels, sweeping it up in a hoof and dipping it in the water. "When Ah was little, even younger than ya are now, mah pa used ta call me little guy. Ah just thought it fit ya.”

Feather blanched at the mention of Mac’s father. He looked away to hide the jealousy he felt, the jealousy he felt every time somepony talked about their parents. He had to pretend, and convince everypony, especially Twilight, that his father was still alive.

Mac sighed and looked down at the cloth as he wrung it out. "He died ‘fore Ah started gettin’ big. Ah always wondered what he’d say if he could see me now. I bet Ah’m just as big as he was.”

The colt looked up in surprise. He knew it was terrible, but hearing that kind of made him happy. This pony was like him. He might be able to understand his situation. His conversation with Scootaloo the other day flashed in his mind. Was he seriously considering telling a grown up about himself? No, he couldn’t, but, maybe, if the truth ever got out…

Feather shook his head, trying to clear away that train of thought. He didn’t need to be mimicking Scootaloo’s recklessness. "Um, what happened?”

“Hey now,” Twilight interrupted, “we need to get you cleaned up, Feather. Let’s focus on that. Right, Mac?”

The big pony nodded. "Eeyup.”

He went to work with his cloth, cleaning Feather’s wound with a steady hoof. First, he softly wiped down the surrounding fur, removing dirt, dust, and a little bit of ash. Then, he switched to another cloth, wet it down, and starting cleaning the wound itself. The cool water soothed, but still stung as it cleaned, and Feather bit his lip, trying not to cry out.

“There, there, it’s ok.” Twilight rubbed the back of the colt’s neck as Mac readied another cloth. "Here, let’s get that hat off of you.”

“No!” He grabbed it, squishing it to his head, protecting it from any wayward hooves or magic.

Twilight didn’t try to force it off, but she did give it a gentle tug, quietly urging the colt to loosen his grip. “Feather, wouldn’t you be more comfortable without it? Even Applejack takes her hat off every now and then.”

“My dad gave it to me,” Feather protested. “I don’t want to take it off.”

Mac shook his head in silent disapproval. Disapproval for what, only he knew. “Twi, Ah know yer tryin’ ta help, but let him keep it on.” He glanced back at the yoke he left on the floor. “When their hurtin’, a colt likes to hold on ta what their pa gave ’em.” He sighed quietly, and lifted the clean cloth he had readied. Then, he told the librarian, in an almost whisper, “this is where ya have ta hold ‘im.”

“FFfffff-” Feather bit his lip when the cloth touched his wound, digging in harder than before. Every muscle tensed, but he fought the urge to squirm or move away.

“It’s ok, Feather, it’s ok,” Twilight whispered as the colt squeezed against her hoof. “Mac! Do you have to be that rough with him?”

“It’s gotta get clean,” he answered without looking up from his work. He was scrubbing out the wound, removing burnt hairs and other debris. It was going to hurt however he did it, so it was best not to drag it out. “He can take it, right, little guy? Can ya be brave, fer me?”

Feather pulled tighter against Twilight, pressing his face into the fur of her leg. He nodded, eyes scrunched up as the stinging sensation spreading in his side stole his voice away. “I can,” he sobbed, quietly. He wanted to scream. Instead, he just cried into Twilight’s hoof.

“Oh, Feather,” Twilight brushed at the colt’s mane, sticking out from under his hat, but left the weathered panama in place. “Mac, can you hurry?”

The farmer kept a steady pace. “Ah don’t want it ta get infected.”

“Can’t you see that he’s in pain?”

“Ah can.” Mac didn’t stop, slow down, or let up at all. “Ah know what he’s goin’ through, and Ah know what he’ll go through if this don’t get cared for. It ain’t pretty.” He worked in silence for a moment, then spoke up. “Asides, Ah think he’s passed out.”

“What?!” Twilight looked down at Feather in alarm, touching his face with a hoof. The colt was quiet, breathing in a slow, peaceful rhythm, no longer gritting himself against the pain. “Mac! How could you? He’s just a colt!”

“And he’s a tough one.” Mac finished up the cleaning, and moved on to the bandages. “It may sound cold a’ me, but that colt shoulda been screaming. Ah know ya didn’t like ta see him in pain, but a clean wound heals better. Just ya wait, when he wakes up, Ah bet ya won’t be able ta tell he was ever hurt.”

“Maybe,” Twilight frowned. “I think I should have brought him to the hospital. They could have given him something for the pain.”

Mac shook his head. “Ya made the right choice, trust me. Just make sure the wrappin’ stays clean, and change ‘em out everyday.” The farm pony started bundling up the cloths he used, cleaning up what little mess he made. “And do me a favor, don’t press ‘im about why he didn’t want ta go. When a colt gets scared, it’s hard ta talk about it. If he’s gonna tell ya, he’s gotta do it on his own, not under pressure.”

“Is that from personal experience?” Twilight asked.

Mac sighed, lost in thought for a moment, then looked up at her. “Eeyup.”

“Ah!” Feather jumped upright on the couch, waking with a startled shout. His head pounded, and despite his sudden action, he felt heavy and sluggish. His muscles ached like he had been running for miles, most likely from how tense he was while the big pony was working on his burn.

He rubbed his head and looked around. He was still in the library, still on the couch, and had a towel thrown over him like a blanket. All he could assume was that he passed out during his treatment. Great, he thought, rolling his eyes.

He shook his way free of makeshift blanket and checked his side. The burn was neatly bandaged, and taped up in a way that it would be easy to hide. If he didn’t know better, he would almost say it was intentional; but he would be the only one worried about something like that. Next, he checked for his hat--surprisingly, it was still on his head. Next he looked for his saddlebags, and he found them leaning against the couch. Finally, his other side. Much to his surprise, the small burn he sustained during the lawn fire was cleaned and covered with a small stick on bandage, one covered in little happy faced suns and moons.

Feather fidgeted in his seat. He never told anypony about that burn, not even Scootaloo, and had almost forgotten about it himself because of just how small it was. Had Twilight found it? Or was it that red ogre-pony? In the short time he knew the purple librarian, she had somehow appointed herself his protector, to the point of trying to pry into his home life. Did he now have a self-appointed crimson nurse?

A door slammed, and Feather jumped, shifting the cushion loose and tumbling to the floor with it landing on top of him.

“Hey, dude! Are you ok?!”

“I was,” Feather mumbled as he kicked the cushion off of himself so he could see who it was. “Oh,” he said once he saw a small dragon running upstairs to meet him, “it’s you.” He flipped himself over, kicking the cushion even farther away from him. “Uh… How you doing, um...”

The dragon raised an eyebrow. “The name’s Spike,” he said, catching the reason for the colt’s hesitation, “we met yesterday. Are you ok? Why’d you start shouting like that?”

Feather coughed into his hoof.

Spike raised his other eyebrow and shrugged. “Whatever.” He walked past the colt, picked up the couch cushion, and put it back where it belonged before hopping up to sit on it. “So, what was with that fire, from before?”

Feather’s cheeks blushed and he looked away. “That’s, heh, a good question. I wasn’t there when it started so… yeah,” he awkwardly trailed off.

The drake nodded. “Yeah, but you’ve been hanging out with the three that were, right? The cutie mark crusaders were doing something amazing again, I bet.”

Feather saw the dragon’s odd smile, expectant, waiting, as if he was searching for something. “Oh.” He wanted gossip. The colt backed up. “Yeah, it was an accident, I think. That’s all.”

“Aw, that’s boring.” Spike tapped his claws on his knee a few times. “But that’s normal around here; for me, anyway.”

“Yeah?” Feather stopped fidgeting and leaned in. “Why?”

The dragon shrugged, then leaned his head back and read a few titles of some books. “Sometimes it just gets that way. My job is to help Twi’ in anyway I can, but the library has been pretty clean lately, and I’m not really allowed to go on the really dangerous adventures, so I don’t have much to do.”

“Oh…” Feather did not know what to say to that, so he remained quiet and looked away. Looking right next to his seat, he looked over toward his bag, and started checking if everything was still inside.

Spike’s eyes widened when he saw what Feather was going for. The colt was getting ready to leave! Making sure Feather was there when she got back was the first thing Twilight had asked him to do all week. In a panic, he looked all over the library for something he could use to make the colt stay. Weather Charts? No. Miniature statue of Starswirl the Bearded? Double No. Coil of rope? Effective, but still no. “Uh, uh…” Wait! There, on the filing cabinet! “Hey! Wanna play some chess?”

Feather let his eyes wander back to Spike for a moment and found the dragon staring up at him like the cats he sometimes shared alleys with when they wanted some food. Was he that bored? “Uh, okay… sure.”

“Great!” Spike jumped up in the air and landed on the floor. “I’ll go get the board, just stay there!” Then he dashed off quicker than he had ever seen the dragon move.

Before he had time to blink, the dragon was back and practically slammed the chessboard down. He had two little pouches in either claw which he held up. “Black or white?”

“Black… I guess.” Feather didn’t actually know that much about the game, but he did know how most of the pieces moved… at least, he hoped so.

“Hmm, alright. Here.” Spike emptied the pouch of black pieces out on the colt’s side of the board and started to quickly build up his set from the other pouch. “Oh, uh… you sure you want to play, right? I didn’t mean to push you or anything.” Spike rubbed the back of his head, feeling slightly embarrassed.

Feather squinted his eyes and saw the drake blushing of all things. “Are you… that bored?” he blurted out.

He shrugged again. “Well, yeah. Once I’m done with my chores, I try to hang out with Twi’s friends; but she said I should try and make new ones. I just brought out chess because it’s the first thing I thought of.”

...Wut? Feather’s mind blanked upon the realization that a dragon, of all things, wanted to befriend him. “So you want to be my friend?”

Spike bobbed his head side to side a bit. “Well, yeah.”

“Oh.” Feather looked down at the board and started arranging his pieces. Chess wasn’t really his thing, though, and he ended up mostly copying Spike’s layout. He snuck glances past the board every so often at his scaly opponent. His scales were pretty smooth, and they all kind of blended together, but they were definitely there, and when he yawned, you could see pointy mini fangs hiding alongside a forked tongue. Having a dragon as a friend might actually be neat, especially if he gets bigger one day. I wonder if he’ll grow wings like other dragons? I wonder if it would be rude to ask…

“Um,” Spike leaned forward and switched Feather’s King and Queen so they were on the proper spaces. “So, how about it?”

“How about what?” Feather asked absent-mindedly as he tried to figure out why the dragon had moved those two pieces. The layouts weren’t the same now.

“Do you want to be friends?” Spike asked slowly, trying to figure out what was confusing the colt.

“Oh, that, sure.” Feather coughed lightly. He got so caught up thinking about it earlier, he forgot to answer. “So,” he pointed to the board, “why did you move those pieces?”

Spike started pointing at the various pieces. “Pawns go up front. Rooks, the castles, protect the borders. Monks, or bishops, travel the countryside. The knights stay away from royalty’s side. And the Queen always gets her own color, the King gets what’s left.” He looked up at Feather, and could tell that the colt didn’t absorb any of that. “You know, how about we try something else?”

“Um, yeah. That sounds good.” Feather scratched under his chin. “Hey, can I ask you something first? How does your fire work? I saw you burning grass yesterday, but Scootaloo told me you can send ponies letters. How does that work?”

Spike’s eyes lit up. “Oh right, I guess I can teach ya. Heck, I can even send you letters, but there’s just one thing I gotta do first.”

“Really? What?”

“It’s nothing big, but there’s this ancient ritual, passed down from generation to generation of dragon.” Spike brought a claw to his lower lip. “You know, if I show you, that would make you one of only three ponies in the world to have ever seen the ritual.”

Feather blinked. “Really?”

Spike shrugged. “Well, I’m pretty sure Starswirl the bearded saw it too, but that was like a thousand years ago.” The dragon started picking up the chess pieces. “Ok, I need a flat surface, something to draw with, and some salt or chalk dust. Flower petals will work too.”

“What type of ritual is it?” Feather asked, leaning in as Spike flipped the chessboard over. “I’ve never seen dragon magic before.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll show you. So, first, I have to trace the pattern of the spell in accordance with sacred geometry. This part can get a bit tricky, but I haven’t messed up yet. Then, after that...” Spike looked up. Feather was watching so intently, leaning so far forward, he looked like he was about to tip over. Spike reached over and flicked him in the snout. “There, done.”

Feather jumped, clutching at his nose as a warm sensation appeared, then faded just as quickly. “What was that? What did you do?”

Gotcha!” Spike laughed. “Oh, you should have seen the look on your face. You actually bought that bit about sacred geometry! Dude, dragon magic isn’t as fancy as that. Ask Twilight if you want see how crazy Formancy can get. But what I did… I'm not exactly sure how it works, Twi tried to explain once. I kind of synced up my magical fire to you, like I memorized a target. Now, I can send you letters even if you were in another city! No matter where you are, I send you a letter, and poof, it’ll appear just in front of your nose.”

“Uh… would you know where I was or something?” Feather questioned, a hint of fear rising.

“No, no! Don’t be silly, that would be creepy!” Spike chuckled, and Feather joined him weakly with relief. “Here, let me show ya.” Spike hopped up and ran behind him, quickly finding a blank parchment and a bit of ink. “It can’t be regular paper or it gets all charred and nasty,” he explained, not bothering to look up as he wrote. “And done!”

“What?” Before he could inquire further, Spike lit the parchment on fire. Quickly it came flying forward, nearly smacking Feather in the face, but instead it gently landed on the floor beneath his hooves.

He picked it up and unscrolled it.

Hey it’s me, Spike! Later~

Feather chuckled a bit. Who else would it be? “Okay, that’s pretty useful.”

“Hey yeah! So…” Spike looked around. “So, now what?”

Feather didn’t know, he also didn’t know why Spike thought he would. Feather simply shrugged, shaking his head.

“Hmm…Well, we could go out, but I think Twilight wanted you here.”

He scowled. “I noticed…”

“Oh I know!” Spike jumped out of his seat and ran back upstairs. “Just wait right there, this is gonna be awesome!”

Spike came running back down, then slammed a stack of thin looking books in front of him.

“Comic books?” Feather asked.

“Yeah, I haven't done this in a while, but me and the Crusaders used to just talk about all the comic book guys. They didn’t read any, so I explained everything and sort of got one of them addicted to them,” he said sheepishly.

“Well I don’t really read comics… but what are they about?” Feather said, feeling bored; the comics did seem intriguing enough to offer some relief.

Spike smiled. “Well…”

“So the Power Ponies are just super heroes, right?”

Spike nodded. “Of course!”

“You could have just said that from the beginning, you know,” Feather pointed out.

Spike blushed. “Maybe I got a little carried away…”

“A little?” Feather grabbed his head as if nursing a headache. “I now have information that my brain doesn’t need,” he complained. “Lots of information.”

Spike threw a pillow at Feather’s face from the couch. “Shut up.”

“Just saying.” Feather raised his hooves, batting away the pillow.

“Well, I like them,” Spike firmly declared. He crossed his arms and looked away.

“Eh, they seem pretty neat. So, me too.”

Spike glanced back and smiled, until the door slammed open, and both jumped as a shrill voice cut through the air.

“Gah! Where is he…” They turned to see Diamond Tiara standing in the doorway, muttering to herself. “There you are!” She stomped up to them and looked at Feather straight in the eye. “Why did you have to get shocked?! Cheerilee made Rainbow Dash pack up all the weather activities, and turned the whole morning into the most boring safety lecture ever!”

Feather snorted. “Well, excuse me. Next time, I’ll try to get hurt a little more conveniently for you. ”

Diamond snorted back and jumped onto the couch with them, squeezing herself in between the dragon and Feather. Then she slumped back into a pillow and let out an exasperated sigh. “Yeah, well, don’t let it happen again! We had to sit the whole time and listen to safety and clouds.” She crossed her hooves and then turned to the dragon, speaking in a rather calm manner as if she was just noticing him for the first time. “What’s up?”

“Uh, comic books?” The dragon offered, holding a few out.

“Power Ponies? Meh…” Then she dug into her school bag and slammed a stack of papers onto Feather’s lap. “There’s your homework. Cheerilee gave you extra because you had to leave.”

He looked down at it and frowned. “You seem happy about that…”

She shrugged. “Well, I was excused from class to give you it. Anything that gets me out of class would make me happy,” she replied with a smile, but then remembered she had to get back soon. “Lunch is almost starting, it’s near twelve. I’ll see ya later, Blank Boy.”

They watched her leave and Spike rolled his eyes. “Weird filly.”

Feather wasn’t sure if her home comment was meant to be a crack at him or not; but he could agree at least that she was odd. Too bad the library door opened before he got the chance to voice it. Twilight was returning from somewhere, levitating a rather large bag behind her. “Okay, Spike, I need-- Oh! Feather! I’m so glad you’re awake.” She cantered over to them with a soft smile. “How are you feeling?”

He looked down at his bandages then shrugged. “Great. Really. It was just an accident.”

She quirked a brow at this. “No pain at all?” I guess Big Mac was right.

“Just a little sore. It’s fine.”

She nodded. “Alright. Well, I have a note written out for your father.” She levitated up a note to his saddlebags.”Make sure he gets it. It’s important that your bandages are changed daily.” She wanted to press him on his fear of the hospital, and wanted to at least write an extra note regarding said fear, but she kept quiet. A part of her simply wondered if it was just how some colts were.

“Uh, okay. I’ll make sure he gets it. Though I think I know how to change a bandage.”

She blushed. “Oh. Well, still. I’d feel better if he got the note. In other news… I thought I could also be a tutor for your other subjects!”

He tilted his head. “Uh, what other subjects?”

She smiled. “Well, when visiting a new school, it can be difficult to fit in and keep up with schooling. Every school has different curriculums, so I wanted to see which subjects you know best and which may need improvement.”

He furrowed his brow. “Uh… oh.” Who freakin’ cares about school?! I just wanted my part made!

Her smile never wavered, though it did shift to a sort of smirk. “It’s important, Feather. You know, I may be able to teach you a thing or two about engineering while we're at it,” she said with a wink.

“But--”

She raised a hoof to silence him. He didn’t like the feeling he got when she did it. It felt like she was looking down on him. Still, he shut his mouth. “I can help you learn what you want to learn, but if your father finds out I was using up time you could be using for studying, then he would probably be furious with me, and so would Cheerilee. We won’t have to do much, just enough to make sure you don’t fall behind while you focus on other studies.”

His face fell. It wasn’t something she was asking; she was informing him that this was how things were going to be. She was going to teach him. If he said no, what would she say? She didn’t seem like the type to just forget it, and worse, she might try to contact his father. So he simply nodded, though he did a lousy job of hiding his emotions, frowning the whole time

She chuckled a bit. “It’ll be fine. Now, let’s start with some history lessons.” She tapped her chin a few times. “Ah, let’s start with Star Swirl the Bearded, his influence may not be in anything mechanical, but he was very influen-- yes, Feather?” She watched him raise a hoof.

“Uh, who’s he?”

“You don’t…” Twilight almost sighed. It wasn’t unheard of for a student to not hear about him; in fact, she very much doubted most schools taught anything relating to the stallion. “Okay, how about Clover the Clever?”

He shook his head and frowned.

Twilight bit her lip. “Gnox the Creator?”

His eyes lit up. “He’s the guy that invented clocks! Well… mechanical clocks, yeah. I’ve heard of him.”

“Interesting… what about Tor--”

“Toryx, his brother?! Sure! He invented the steam engine!”

Twilight’s smile came back and she started to think. She questioned him a bit more and, to her disappointment, found he didn’t seem to know too much about general history. He did seem to know about everypony that had anything to do with mechanical inventions or industrial history. He even knew quite a bit about griffons and their contributions, but that wasn’t exactly what she wanted him to learn. Well, he does know more about my later lessons, probably same with the school curriculum. At least that saves up some time for later. “Alright, so the bad news is you are a tad behind in history. The reason I asked about Star Swirl and Clover is because some of next week’s lessons will be dealing with them specifically, as well as touching on other info about the old pony tribes. It shouldn’t take too long to catch you up, but we will have to start now.”

Not much I can do. Just listen. “Alright…”

She took a deep breath and started to speak.

To most, it would have felt like hours; but to Feather, it felt like days had passed before Twilight Sparkle had finished even a single lecture. When all four lectures were over, both ponies felt very much out of their element. Feather had not been used to actually listening to an adult, not to mention them actually teaching him something he found useful. For Twilight, she wasn’t used to lecturing to somepony that was actually interested in what she had to say... not that Feather was interested in everything she had to teach, but he did pay careful attention when it came to math, physics and, oddly enough, magic theory. On the other hand, history, social theory and geography? She had seen parasprites with longer attention spans.

She was faltering through summarizing Ponyville’s local history when she glanced up at the clock. It read three twenty seven. She smirked. “Works for me.” She promptly slammed the book shut, starling the colt from his inspection on her coffee table. School is out in a few weeks anyway. They probably won’t cover anything on local history during that time which would give him the whole summer to catch up for next school year.

He’d probably be able to learn more about Ponyville history from somepony more suited for the job than her. Somepony who’s lived here a long time, and could tell stories that would keep the colt interested. Granny Smith would be a good choice, and that would give her a chance to talk to Big Mac. She shook her head clear of those thoughts, then started packing her things away. “Make sure you read up on the modern history of Equestria. You’re a bright colt, which is why I would hate to see your potential squandered.” She paused when he gave her a sort of dirty look, and she clarified. “I just want to make sure you’re keeping up in your classes, all of them. It will do you a world of good, I’m sure, to be good at more than just math.”

“Alright…” he mumbled.

“We’ll get started on engineering during your next session!” She paused before putting his homework in the saddle bag, flipping through the the pages to double-check. Why were there two copies of each assignment? “See ya tomorro--”

“Wait!” He interrupted, catching her attention. “Uh, how often are we gonna be doing this…?”

“Hmm, I’d say a couple times a week? Just right after class should--”

“I kind of have a job, at Sugarcube Corner. It’s after class,” he pointed out.

Her ears perked up at this and she nodded. “Oh! I hadn’t realized. That’s certainly very responsible of you,” she added thoughtfully. Although she was also adding another item on her mental list about the colt. She still had suspicions of him, however, it wasn’t everyday you saw a young colt working a job. “How long do you work for?”

“I’m not sure, I guess it just depends on how busy they get.”

She considered what to do, but only for a moment. “How about you show up after work, if it’s not too late. I’ll get the hint if it’s past five or so. If you miss a day or two, no big deal. And, like I said before, I should be able to teach you a thing or two about engineering while I fix up that part you wanted.”

His ears perked up with the engineering remark, and she smiled. She knew it was manipulative, but tossing in the promise of more teachings, especially the things he wanted to learn, would encourage him to come back on his own instead of simply making it seem like he had to. “I’ll even let you watch. Does that sound a little more interesting, at least?” she asked.

“Yeah…” he had to rein in his enthusiasm and remind himself that he didn’t want to spend any extra time around this pony. “Okay. I guess that works.”

“Excellent! Well, you can run along now. Just make sure your father gets that note. I’ll see ya tomorrow!”

Again, he didn’t like just how much she was worming her way into his life. But he did need her and it didn’t seem like she would be that bad. Feather thought she had just mentioned it to get him interested, but it seemed like she had been serious about it. He grunted and shoved the history books into his bag and ran out before she could say another word. He was panting against the door, holding it closed with his front hooves.

“I better get to work. At least I might get some bits that way.” He then paused to think it over. “Or more problems,” he amended.

Upon arriving at Sugarcube Corner, he was instantly greeted by Pinkie, who swept him up with her hooves. “Oh my gosh, are you okay?! My tail twitched, but that happens all the time, but then my eye did too, which usually never happens! I think it meant a friend of mine just got zapped! Big time! Was it you?!” she roared while shaking him left and right.

“Y-y-ye-yes… pl-lease stop!”

She blinked her eyes, then instantly put him down. “Oh, sorry! I should… probably.. yeah,” she said, feeling embarrassed. He would have glared up at her, but he was having trouble standing. “So, uh, anyway, you should probably get your outfit on. Unless… oh!” She looked down to his bandages and her eyes light up. “Is this a new game?!”

“What?”

She narrowed her eyes on him and nodded. “I… got ya. Weird outfit, but don’t worry, Pinkie knows how to be creative. I’ll just slip this on ya…” She promptly and swiftly dressed him in his outfit from before, while setting his bags behind the counter. She then cleared her throat and brought out a parchment with a list written on it. “Okay, we need the tables cleaned, the napkin holders refilled, then the menus placed out. After ponies begin to arrive, you should wait tables, I’ll walk you through that when the time comes. Got all that?”

He blinked and nodded, figuring the game thing she had spoken of was just her being weird again. “Yeah, I’ll just get--”

“Hurry! The faster you clean things, the more points you’ll earn!” She shoved him toward the middle of the store and dropped a large towel on his back. “Now, clean! Clean like the wind!”

He almost considered dropping the towel right there and walking out, but the prospect of earning more bits stopped him. He could always use more bits. He started by cleaning off the tables bit by bit, making sure they shined well enough that he could see his reflection in the surface. Once that was finished, he set out menus on each table, then neatly wrapped napkins surrounding silverware. Then the customers starting rolling in.

“I was wondering if-- oh! Are you a waiter here?” an earth pony mare asked. With grey streaks in her ivy green mane, she looked a bit older than Mrs. Cake, who was the oldest earth pony he had seen in town so far. “So young…” she muttered to herself, keeping her smile up. “Do you enjoy working here?”

“Uh, yes. Welcome to Sugarcube Corner. Would you like to look over a menu?” he asked with the sweetest voice he could muster. Something about her made him uneasy, and he got the feeling it would be best to keep their interaction as short as possible. “Just let Pinkie know when you’re ready to order.”

She hesitated before nodding. The menu was promptly placed in her grasp, and Feather ran off to help the next customer. Many others followed. Pretty soon, he and Pinkie were juggling well over a dozen hungry ponies. It was fast paced, frantic work; but in a few minutes, all were seated and happily munching away on whatever sweet or treat they had ordered.

Feather walked behind the counter, out of sight, and sat down next to his bags. That was exhausting. When was the last time he had had to deal with that many ponies? Pinkie, on the other hoof, didn’t even seem fazed. She was standing with her front hooves on the counter, shifting her weight back and forth like a boxer in the ring.

“Round one, clear!” she said to herself. “Preparing for the next wave.”

Feather looked over in horror. “That’s gonna happen again?”

“Yep.” Pinkie looked over. “At least three more times.”

Feather’s jaw dropped and he couldn’t help letting out a tiny whimper as he looked at the doors with new found terror. What had he gotten himself into?

Comments are always welcome. It keeps us going!

I'm sorry for such a long wait; hopefully this will tide you all over until we can finish chapter ten.

Several Years Ago

Feather sat quietly at the gryphon’s head table. If he was being honest with himself, this was a first in a very long time. Eating quietly in a dignified home? Madness, the colt thought inwardly. There was even a roaring fire in a stone hearth, keeping the room nice and warm even on such a cold mountain night.

The dinner room was a cavernous oval shape that allowed the seating of many more spaces than were currently being occupied. Rough, heavy beams held up the ceiling, arrayed evenly around the flickering lamplit room, connected by smaller beams of the same rough oak which also served as shelves. Looking around, the colt was astounded at how many knickknacks lined those shelves, from small gryphon statues to an odd looking clock that was ticking quietly, and appeared to have a door on it of some kind.

To take his mind off how awkward the whole situation seemed, Feather decided to focus on some of the pictures on the walls around them. Oddly enough, he was able to pick his hosts out of group pictures, even the black and white ones. Seeing them next to other gryphons, Feather noticed that they were both a little on the stout side, even back then.

While the two talked with one another, Galion always appeared to be smiling and laughing. It was almost like watching a massive child who’s grown old, but hasn’t grown up. After the two had talked it out, she turned to Feather and the nudging of his fork promptly stopped.

“Something wrong with the food? I know Givvon here doesn’t make the best salads, we can make you something else…” She playfully teased him, hoping to get a response.

“No, it’s fine. Um, I guess I’ve never been in a gryphon’s home before. It just feels weird.”

Givvon, who had a smaller body than his wife, responded in an oddly thick accent that Feather couldn’t quite place. “Hey, if it makes you feel any better, we’ve never had the company of a pony here before, either,” the male said it in such a blunt manner that Feather almost felt unwelcome. His wife shot him a glare, and he quickly added, “Not that you aren’t welcome, of course!”

Feather nodded and munched a bit on his meal. “So, what do you two… um, do?”

His question caused both to remain silent for a few moments. Givvon coughed and replied first, “Well, before and I suppose during the war, I was a mechanical engineer for weaponry and other devices. No one likes to talk about it… eh, except Galion.” He shot his wife a smirk, and she only shook her head and rolled her eyes.

Feather frowned, then promptly asked aloud, without thinking. “What war?”

The stallion gryphon snorted and then slammed one of his claws on the table, then shot his wife a glare that only seemed to last for a bit. Feather jumped a bit, but was a bit too frightened to say anything. “I told you! I told you they wouldn’t teach ponies about our war! They barely got involved in it!”

She ignored him and looked to Feather, who seemed to be having a mini panic attack; his eyes were cast wide and unmoving. ”Nice going,” she said, and he blushed and coughed again. She turned back to Feather and smiled. “Relax, Givvy here is just upset over nothing. Around twenty years ago, us gryphons had a war with with another large clan.” She saw his confusion and quickly elaborated. “You can kind of think of them as a small country, with different laws and beliefs.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Eventually, the situation escalated until a small unit of troops sent by your princesses helped us end it.”

He quirked a brow to that. “Help you? Why not them?”

“It’s complicated,” they both replied in unison.

Givvon was the first to explain. “Probably because we were closest to the border on their country. I think she tried to reason with the so called Gryphon King, but in the end he was dethroned by her. Heh, not that he ever had a real throne to begin with.” He chuckled and went back to his meal.

After a few minutes of silent chewing, Feather cleared his throat. “Did you work on things that aren’t weapons?” The two gave him a curious glance. “Um, it’s just… I heard gryphons are good at making mechanical devices and all…” He trailed off, not really sure how to phrase his question without letting too much out at once. He didn’t want to rush or overload them.

Interesting… Galion pondered numerous different reasons for just why the colt was here, but she knew now at least one of them had to do with him wanting something made, or fixed. She decided to escalate things, she liked taking risks. She looked pointedly at Givvon. “Maybe you should show him your workshop? Hmm?”

“Sweetie…” he warned, hoping she would get the hint.

However, her smile never wavered. “Come now, you’re always so proud when you show me… let him see,” she urged.

“No, that is for our eyes only, there’s stuff in there I’m not even allowed to show you!”

“Can I see it?” Feather’s eyes widened in what he hoped was a cute enough look to bribe the gryphon entry into his ‘inner sanctum’.

He turned to the little one, eyes wide. “I- But I just- You! Ugh…” He sighed and shot his wife a dirty look, though she just kept smirking. He finally conceded defeat. “Fine, after dinner. Just don’t touch anything!” he warned, and he quietly grumbled to himself as he kept eating.

His wife giggled. “Oh Givvy... quit blushing and eat your food! Time's a wastin’!” Again she had this hearty laugh about her, an accent that screamed both power and playfulness.

Feather soon found himself in a dark room with tons and tons of tarp-covered inventions, what he assumed were weapons and unfinished projects. He heard a loud crackling noise coming from the ceiling and shot his head up, which caused him to look directly into a sudden, blinding white light. He stumbled backwards, blinking furiously. Wow… It wasn’t as if Equestria didn’t have light bulbs, because they did; however, they tended to use magic for such things. Seeing electricity used in such a manner was rare. He smiled, then turned around to face a less-than-happy gryphon.

The bird rummaged around in a few bins. “Let me see if I can find something you would enjoy…” Feather already seemed bored, but the gryphon kept at it. “Ah, not the most exciting thing, but this will do.” Feather tried to see what he was looking at, but the particularly large head of the bird blocked his view. “Come over here, sonny.”

Eager to obey, Feather ran over and promptly his face fell. “Uh, what’s that?” Feather pointed to a peculiar box constructed of metal. On each side were decorations of flowers and a tiny rotating switch on the right wall.

“It’s a music box, broken for the moment. We’re going to repair it,” the gryphon answered.

“Uh… okay.” He grudgingly followed the gryphon to what he assumed was a workbench. Though workbench was a very strong word for it; the thing looked more beat up than a dying tree. Still, it had tools laid out on it. The box was laid down in a dark section.

“Do me a favor and flip that switch there.” His feathers pointed to a switch right next to Feather. He could easily reach it, but figured the colt would get a kick out of it.

Feather rolled his eyes, but used his right hoof to push in the big red button on the wall. Two streams of lights shined down on them, illuminating the table entirely. Feather looked to the box and practically scowled. This isn’t what I meant! Feather anxiously glanced at his bag, but remained silent.

“Where are my tools?” Feather quickly spotted a tiny red metal box seated at the back of the table and pointed. “Oh, thank you.”

“Yeah…”

Givvon took note of the colt’s response and frowned. “Bored already, huh?”

Feather shot out of his stupor and quickly shook his head. “No, I was.. just thinking is all. Sorry.” The colt inwardly cursed. I still need his help, gotta pay attention! Feather scrambled onto the table, using his hooves to make himself seem more attentive and looked down at the box.

The giant bird chuckled. “Alright, first things first, you should get that hair out of yer eyes. You seem like you need a manecut, sonny.”

Feather blushed and complied. “Heh, yeah, it’s been awhile.” Feather brushed the hair strands away from his eyes. More like a long while… Feather shifted uncomfortably, causing the contents of his bag to shift slightly.

“What do we have here?” Feather’s eyes shot down to his bag in shock, confirming his suspicions. A golden wing had slipped out of the bag and was revealed for all to see.

“Uh… that’s… err…”

Before Feather could even think of a coherent response, the gryphon had swiftly opened his bag and examined what was inside. “My word… it’s beautiful.” Feather looked down and could only nod in response. Givvon looked to him and paused for a moment, fully taking in the colt for the first time. He was dirty, he looked tired, and simply seemed uncomfortable. “Feather, is it?”

He nodded.

“Is this why you’re here?”

It was a simple question, but simple was good. “Y-yeah, I figured gryphons were good at building things. And… maybe I could learn about it? How it works, you know?”

Givvon sighed and nodded. “Alright, son, if you’re gonna learn about that,” Givvon paused and pointed at quite possibly the most artistically finely crafted machine he had seen in all of his years, “then you’re gonna need to fix a lot of music boxes.” Feather quirked a brow at this. “But first, how about a manecut? Oh, and a bath.”

“Uh…” Feather felt weird for nodding, in another life he would have hated accepting a bath. Why bathe when you would simply play more? That life seemed so long ago. Right now, he wanted to feel clean. “Alright!”

Feather sat in a rather large wooden chair, practically soaking it with his coat. Galion hovered over to him and smiled. “Oh you ponies, such marvelous creatures. You’ve managed to stay away from war and conflict… unlike us gryphons.” She hummed and traced her beak along his wing, causing him to blush, but the feeling wasn’t unwelcome. It felt nice. “How do you ponies do it? Ugh, I’m just so sick of all this fighting.”

Feather shrugged. “I never really thought about it, I guess…”

She chuckled again, something that was becoming quite infectious as Feather followed. “And I’m sure your Princess Celestia never thinks much on it either; not anymore, anyway. All getting along, no war. Must be nice.”

Feather nodded. “I don’t see any war here, though,” the colt pointed out.

“Ah, not now, of course. But war always breaks out here. It’s practically inevitable. Funnily enough, there are very few casualties anymore. Last few were the dolt-heads who started it!” She cackled and then quieted down almost immediately. “But enough of that, how would you like your mane?”

Feather wasn’t sure how to respond to a joke about war, or to her question, so he just shrugged. “...Shorter?”

She smiled wickedly. “If you say so…”

So sorry for the loooooooong delay. We've all been busy and Metal Pony Fan has especially been stuck doing tons of work and it's a miracle he even got this chapter out (he wrote most of it). Let us all know what you think. I know the story has been slowing down (both in terms of overall conflict and regular updates), but rest assured it will be picking up in time. Anyway, enjoy!

"Welcome to Sugarcube corner." Feather didn't even look at the newest customer. He was busy trying to scrub butter-maple-scotch-something-or-other from his last menu so he could hand it over. Luckily, the paper menus were laminated, but they still required maintenance. The rag stuck, and Feather tried to shake it free, flinging the menu behind him. "Can I get you something?" he asked with a sigh.

"Eeyup."

A shadow fell over the colt, and he looked up. He knew this customer. "Oh, um, hi."

"Hello." Mac lazily dropped himself to the ground, ignoring the fact that other ponies were walking around them as he laid eye-level with the colt. He was also ignoring the fact that his belly was picking up a fair bit of dust and dirt. "Ya doin' alright?"

"Yeah," Feather answered quickly, "just fine."

"Yer a tough little fella, ain't ya? Gettin' up and goin' ta work hurt like ya are is beyond most colts yer age." Mac looked to see if the bandages were still where he secured them. "Beyond some grown-ups, too."

"Well, it was just a little burn, right?" The colt sighed. Why did he have to show up? First Twilight, he thought gloomily, now this giant. How long would it be before another adult took too much interest in him?

"Feather?" Mrs. Cake called from the counter, her voice reaching them even outside and reminding Feather that there was already another adult overly worried about him. "Are you almost finished with the menus? I have one more thing for you to do."

"What is with this town?" he muttered, before turning around and shouting back, "Almost, I'll be right there!" At least he had an excuse. Looking back at his visitor, he shrugged pleasantly. "Sorry, gotta go."

Big Mac nodded his understanding as the colt ran off.

Feather didn't look back until he was inside Sugarcube corner, and even then, it was just a peek. He was careful to stay out of sight while he checked to see if Mac had left, just in case the oversized grown-up decided to hang around. He groaned when he saw that the stallion was just now starting to stand up. "He sure likes to take his time about things."

"You're one to talk, silly-head!" Pinkie shouted from right behind the colt, scaring him straight into the air. She grabbed him before he could land, spun him around, and set him down facing the front counter. "At least Big Mac gets his work done. Mrs. Cake is waiting for you. Toodle-oo!" She scratched her chin. "Or is it, 'toodle-lou?' I can never remember. Anyway, get going!"

She gave Feather a tiny shove, and headed off to help customers. The shaken colt glanced back before heading for the counter, swallowing as Pinkie surprised a group of ponies by popping up from the window side of their booth to take their order. For a second there, he had forgotten all about her. Add one to the list of grown-ups.

He shook his head as he stood in line, waiting for the two ponies ahead of him to place their orders with Mrs. Cake so he could find out what she wanted him for.

It didn't take long for her to notice him and wave for him to come around the counter. "Go hang up your apron, would you?" And she was back to discussing pastries with the customers before Feather even made it past them.

Feather sighed and walked to the storage room in the back. Among the sacks of flour, and shelf after shelf of other dry goods, there was a coat rack full of aprons. He stood next to it and undid the strap on his own apron. Then, taking the hem in his mouth, flicked the neck loop up towards the hook. It took a few tries, but he eventually got the apron to catch and stay where it belonged. His saddlebags were nearby, leaning against a wall, and he retrieved them before heading back out to the counter. His shift was probably over, and he didn't feel like making a second trip for them.

When he made it back to the counter, the customers were gone, and Mrs. Cake was busy folding something up in brown paper. "Oh, Feather." She glanced back as she fastened the paper with a piece of tape. "Good work today." She took the package and stuck it in an open pouch of Feather's saddlebags. "You worked hard today," she said, ruffling the mane sticking out from the back of his hat, "better than some of our older hires. If you want to keep working here, I'll be paying you once a week, every Saturday at ten A.M. Be here at the same time during the week, and early on the weekends, like you were going to school, or even earlier. But, I'll be sure not to work you too hard. We just need an extra hoof during the busy hours, two or three hours a day."

"Um..." Feather squirmed away from the mare's touch. Why was everypony in this town so touchy-feely? "That kind of sounds like a lot."

"Okay," she nodded, "it doesn't seem like much to me, but that might be because I spend most of my time here whether I'm working or not. To a young colt with school, friends, and other stuff going on, three hours must seem like a lot to give up,” she said rather thoughtfully, then began to scratch under her chin, deep in thought. “How about, you just show up when you want?"

"Wait, really?" Feather blinked and looked up. "I don't think jobs work like that."

"Not usually, no," Mrs. Cake admitted as she returned to the counter. "But I'm not going to impose a strict schedule and eight hour shifts on a foal looking for some spending money. Just keep in mind that you only get pay and free meals if you come and work."

Feather's ears perked up at that. "Meals? I get food for working here too?"

The mare giggled. "Of course, dearie. I don't think any restaurant in ponyville doesn't at least feed their own employees. In fact, I packed a little snack in with your bits for today, a few slices of some banana bread I baked this morning. Let me know how you like it."

Before Feather could respond, a customer caught her attention, and she was off to help. With a sigh, Feather got up and headed for the exit. He originally came here just to get a few bits, but a steady source of food would be nice too. Otherwise, he would have to scrounge or spend bits to fill his stomach.

He reached the door and stepped out into the sun, but it wasn't long before a shadow fell over him. With a groan, he looked up. "Hello, Big Mac."

"Hello, Feather," the big pony answered. "Ya busy?"

"Um, yes?" Feather smiled awkwardly. With everything that happened today, he was too worn out to think up a good excuse. "Well, see ya."

Feather turned and started walking away. After several steps, it became clear that he wasn't leaving the stallion's shadow. He looked back. Mac was there, a step to the right, and one or two back, blocking out the evening sun.

"Ya look tired" the farmer observed, pulling ahead by several steps. "Follow me. Ah've got a good spot fer restin' after work."

Feather rolled his eyes. Didn't he just say he was busy? This pony expected him to just drop everything and follow him to who knows where? The colt stayed where he was as the big pony walked off, heading around the corner of a nearby building.

Feather smiled, thinking he was free and clear; but that smile disappeared pretty quickly when Mac came back around the corner pulling a wagon full of empty barrels behind him. He walked back to Feather and flicked his head back. "Climb in. There's plenty o' room, seein' as Ah got mah deliveries done."

Feather groaned quietly. "Do I have a choice?"

Feather sighed as he stretched out in the back of the wagon. As much as he hated to admit it, this beat walking. Hidden below the walls of the wagon, he got to kick back and relax for the first time all day. His saddlebags made a decent pillow, and the rhythmic bump and rattle was actually pretty soothing. He could have probably fallen asleep in there if the trip was long enough.

The colt scratched his head, realizing he didn't know how long the trip was going to be. Where were they even headed? They could be headed across town for all he knew. Hay, they could be heading to the next town for all he knew. Big Mac hadn't said more than two words to him since he climbed in the wagon.

Actually, he had said exactly two words. "All set?" That was it. As soon as Feather answered yes, he was off and walking, moving through town at a pace more fitting an unladen pony than one pulling a big wagon.

By now, they were outside of the town proper, following a worn but well-maintained dirt road. Feather hung his front hooves over the side of the wagon now, rest forgotten as he tried to puzzle out their destination. Wait… He recognized this road! It was the one that led to Scootaloo's clubhouse.

Feather leaned forward, glancing over the wagon's boards to look down at the pony pulling him along. For the first time, he noticed the apple that made up the big pony's cutie mark. That, combined with the few apples rolling around inside the wagon, gave Feather a pretty good idea where they were headed.

"Hook that on the strap there," Mac told Feather, pointing to the top of the barrel. "Then ya pull."

Feather tossed the little grappling hook up, catching it on the edge of the barrel on his first try. Luckily, it was just like trying to hang the apron up at Sugarcube corner. Then, he gave himself some room on the rope, and started pulling. It was a bit of a struggle, but after a few seconds, he managed to dump the empty barrel over onto a waiting mesh of chains.

"Yer doin' good," Mac said with a nod. He waved Feather over. "Now, the block an' tackle."

Feather carefully stepped over the chains to reach the back of the wagon. Once he got there, Mac scooped him up and set him down on the floor of the barn. The big pony pointed up towards the ceiling, showing Feather the complicated series of wheels, ropes, and beams that connected to the chains he laid down in the wagon.

"We pull on the rope here, an' the chains'll wrap themselves 'round the barrel and lift it. Then we can swing it round the boom arm, and set it on the ground." He grabbed one of two ropes hanging nearby and offered it to Feather. "Go on, pull this back."

"You're kidding, right?" Feather looked up at the farmer. "I could barely dump the thing over, how am I supposed to lift it?"

Mac offered the rope again. "Just try."

"Fine," Feather grumbled. He grabbed the rope and gave it a tug, meeting surprisingly little resistance. He pulled some more, eventually having to stand up and walk back with the rope. After several steps, and no apparent result, he held the rope with a hoof to free up his mouth. "How much do I have to pull? It's not doing anything."

"That's how a block and tackle works." Mac jumped up, grabbing a mouthful of rope closer to the pulleys. With his landing, which the colt felt through the ground under his hooves, enough rope was pulled that the chains were pulled taught around the barrel. "Ya pull more rope," he said around the one he held, "in exchange fer pullin' less weight." He walked over to Feather, hoisting the barrel off the wagon. He stepped on the rope to anchor the barrel in place, and nodded to Feather. "Go on, give it a tug."

"That barrel weighs more than I do," the colt reminded Mac. Still, he grabbed the rope in his hooves, bracing himself for a fruitless bout of struggling. Instead, as soon as he pulled the rope, the barrel lifted higher. Not much higher, but it did move.

Mac chuckled at the surprised colt and pointed back at the pulleys. "Twi told me ya enjoyed machines and such, so Ah thought ya'd like this. Ya put pulleys at the weight and up above, and run the rope through 'em. Ya can have as many pulleys as ya want, and each one cuts the weight ya pull in half, but ya have ta pull twice as much rope fer each one." He pointed to a larger set of pulleys stored nearby. "That one has five pulleys in it, and I bet ya could lift a full barrel on yer own with it."

Feather looked over to see two oak blocks nearly as large as he was, with pulleys the size of his head and massive forged steel hooks. "Please tell me we aren't going to test that."

"Not today," the stallion said with a deep, rumbling laugh that did nothing to reassure the colt. "Ah promised ya some rest, and Ah'm gonna deliver. Now, grab that other rope and pull it round to the left."

Feather looked up first, trying to see where the other rope connected. He saw where it was tied to a large eye hook at one end of a steel-clad beam. In the middle of the beam, there was a welded bolt, connecting the beam to the ceiling like a swivel. On the other end of the beam hung the block and tackle holding up the barrel.

"Oh!" Feather ran to get the rope. "I get it." The second rope was a little harder to pull, not having the benefit of a pulley system to mitigate the beam's weight, but was still within the colt's abilities. A few seconds of straining, and the barrel was moved away from the wagon.

Mac walked forward, relieving enough rope to lower the barrel down next to the pile that he unloaded by hoof. "What do ya think?"

Feather was still staring up at the beam, which was swinging free without any weight on it. "There should be a counterweight," the colt said, honestly answering the stallion's question. "The beam is only balanced if there's nothing hanging on it. And a chain drive would give you more control over positioning than this rope. You could run it over to that pole, then a shaft down so you can reach it."

Mac looked up, trying to envision what the colt was seeing. It might work, but the gears needed would be large, and expensive. Then again, it wasn't a piece of precision machinery; an old piece of train gearing from a junkyard might do the trick. "Tell ya what," he told the colt, "draw it up, and Ah might let ya help build it."

Feather froze with the horrible feeling that he just volunteered himself for something. He looked over at Mac trying to determine if the stallion was serious about that. It was hard to tell, because he was over by a stack of old toolboxes, digging something out. "Please don't tell me we're doing it now."

Feather started over, ready to come up with an excuse for why he couldn't remodel the barn tonight, when Mac pulled a stick out of the toolbox. Correction, two sticks. One blue, one red, both with faded stripes of gold paint. There was a simple loop near one end of the stick, and a wooden spool of string near the other end. "What are those?" the colt blurted out.

"Ya never seen a cane pole?" Mac glanced back. "Yer missin' out." He reached back into the tool chest, grabbed a small box, and started walking out of the barn with the box and two sticks hooked on his yoke.

"Where are you going?" Feather tagged along, slightly annoyed at the big pony's lack of explanation. "And what are we doing with the poles?"

The stallion stayed quiet until they were behind the barn, walking through a patch of corn. "Grab an ear," he directed the colt, "an' make sure it's a good one."

"An ear of corn?" Feather looked up at the stalks surrounding them. "How am I supposed to know what's good or not? They all look the same."

"Just grab a big one," Mac answered.

Feather shrugged and grabbed the nearest ear he could find. So, now they had two sticks, a box, and an ear of corn, and somehow this was supposed to be relaxing. ‘Confusing’ was more like it. And where were they going?

Feather followed Mac silently for a few minutes. They left the corn patch behind pretty quickly, and most of the walking was through the hills of the orchard. At one point, he even saw the clubhouse in the distance.

"Um..." Feather wanted to break the silence, but wasn't sure what to say. He could just ask where the stallion was going, or even why, but that brought the colt to another question: Why was he following? Sure, the farmer told him to follow; but why should he listen to him?

Mac's ear twitched. He heard the colt start to say something, but it seemed he changed his mind. Glancing back, he saw the little pegasus lost in thought, staring at the ground as he tagged along a ways back. "How d'ya like Ponyville so far?" Mac broke the silence. "Seems like yer makin' friends easy enough."

"Yeah," Feather muttered, keeping his voice low so the stallion wouldn't hear him. "A little too easy."

"Eeyup." Mac chuckled, hearing the the words he wasn't supposed to. "In a small town like this, everypony goes out of their way to be nice. Yer stuck with yer neighbors, after all; it's easier ta be friends, too."

The colt rolled his eyes. "What if I don't want friends?"

"Let me tell ya, kid," the stallion looked back for the first time in the conversation, shaking his head, "nopony's gonna ask." He stepped on to a sturdy wooden platform and motioned with his head for the colt to join him. "Sometimes ya just want ta be alone, but that don't happen in this town. When Ah feel that way, Ah come here."

Feather walked over, realizing that that he had been staring at the ground for most of the walk. The scenery got boring after the third hill or so, and the hill they were on was no different. He sighed again, and started the trudge to where Mac sat down a short ways up.

Mac watched the colt climb the hill, suppressing his smile until Feather made it up. He lost it when the colt finally reached the top, and his little mouth fell open in confusion. With a deep laugh, he asked, "D'ya like it?"

Feather didn't answer right away. He was too stunned at the sudden change in the landscape. The hillside he just climbed was plain and boring in every way, but this side just sort of fell away into a small, sparkling lake. The sun was still high enough to dance on every splash and ripple, but low enough that the display wasn't harsh on the eyes.

Feather stepped onto the dock with Mac. Even with the top of the hill, the platform held the two ponies only a hoof or two above the water. Looking down, he could see his reflection on the calm, smooth surface. Minnows darted beneath, and water striders skidded above, and past both of them, he could see straight to the mud and pebble bottom of the lake.

"This here is mah quiet place." Mac moved the poles and his box to the end of the dock, setting the poles through a pair of rings bolted to the posts at the very end. "Pa and Ah built this before..." Mac stared at the two rings. On was set at the right height for him, and the other would be about right for Feather. Even the two cane poles were perfectly sized. One for a colt, the other for an oversized stallion. "Before I got too big to go fishin' with him."

"Fishing? That's what we're doing?" Feather groaned quietly. He had seen gryphons fishing before, but they always used nets, or poles with string and hooks. How do you fish with sticks? "How big do you have to be to stop fishing?"

Mac ran his hoof along the smaller and more worn of the two rings, flaking some of the old paint off. The other, larger ring was in perfect condition. No rust, no scratches in the paint, no years of use wearing character into it. "Not big enough," Mac answered quietly. With a shake of his head, he moved over to that side of the dock, sitting beside the taller ring and fishing pole. This left his usual pole and holder open for Feather, and the tackle box in between them. "Bring the corn over here, and let's get our lines in the water."

The colt took up a position opposite Mac and dropped the ear of corn next to the box. "We don't have to eat what we catch, do we?"

Mac's eyebrows pulled together for a moment, before he remembered. "Oh, yeah, Ah forgot... Pegasi eat fish, don't they?"

"They do?" Feather cleared his throat. "They do, but, um, I'm not really hungry right now." He quickly added, "and I never really liked fish anyway."

"Really?" Mac chuckled in relief. "Good thing. 'Cause Ah didn't even bring hooks."

"Wait, what?" Feather opened the tackle box. Inside were two small spools of string, a larger spool, a small knife, and about two dozen safety pins. "How do we fish without hooks?"

Mac took one of the small spools of string from the tackle box. The loose end was tied to one of the safety pins, and Mac pulled his cane pole down enough to thread the string through the loop at the end. "Ya put the corn on the safety pin," Mac said like it was the most obvious thing in Equestria. Feather had to admit, an open safety pin might make a pretty good hook. But Mac continued, " then ya close it up, toss it in, and wait for fish ta bite."

A closed safety pin? Feather looked down at the ear of corn he had carried over the hills and fields of sweet apple acres, then back up at the stallion that made him to do it. "So, we're just feeding the fish then?"

Scratching his neck, Mac shrugged. "Kinda... But we're gonna see who gets to feed the biggest fish." He kicked the ear towards Feather and tapped the knife. "Open that. Ah'll cut it up and get it on yer line."

With a sigh, Feather stepped on the ear of corn, and chomped down on the outer leaves. The sooner they fed the fish the sooner he could get back to... whatever he was supposed to be doing. He pulled the first few leaves back. After everything that happened today, he had forgotten what it was he wanted to get done.

He pulled a few more leaves off. Between his first day of school, getting hurt, tutoring, and his first day of work, he had been at the mercy of random ponies all day. At least Mac didn't seem to be planning out all the things he wanted Feather to do over the next few days. And it was unlikely he would assign homework. All in all, he was the least annoying of the adults so far.

Feather tore the last leaf off the ear of corn, then picked it up to give to Mac. Held tight in his teeth, the ear of corn did something unexpected.

It wriggled.

Something moved against his tongue, and it wasn't a corn kernel.

He dunked his head towards the dock, spitting the corn out against the weathered wood. It hit with a thud, and the caterpillar clinging to it moved around in protest. "Gyah!" Feather shrieked in disgust and scrambled back, kicking the ear of corn away from him. "What is that?!"

"Wait, the corn!" Mac dove for it as it sailed over weather wood and off into the water. The hunk of grain hit the surface with a small plop, floating to a stop just beyond hoof's reach. "Ah, shoot." Mac saw the little wriggler that caused the current situation and sighed. "Yeah, Ah don't like 'em caterpillars either."

Spitting and sputtering, Feather moved to the edge of the dock with Mac. "Sorry about that... I guess." Little minnows were already schooling around the corn, a brave few inching past the others to peck lightly at it. "At least the fish are happy."

Feather leaned a little closer. The caterpillar was still latched to the top of the ear of corn, safe and dry, out of the minnows reach. It waved furiously, reared up like an angry snake, making itself larger. With an angry snort, Feather stuck his tongue out at it.

"Eeyup." Mac chuckled. "It's good ta look at the bright side a' things, but now we ain't gonna see any a' the bigger fish. They won't come this close to the surface." Mac looked at the post next to him before grabbing it in his hoof. An experimental shake showed it to be solid, so he looked back at the corn floating just out of reach. "Ya know... Ah might be able ta reach it."

"You sure?" Feather asked quietly as the Mac started to lean over the water. The farm pony was supporting his weight on post that was thinner than his leg. Every little squeak made Feather wince, awaiting the snap and splash that would surely follow. "Be careful."

"Don't, ugh, worry," the stallion grunted. His hoof was hairs shy of his yellow quarry, and he stretched his shoulders as far as he could to try and reach it. Failing that, he paddled lightly at the water in front of the corn, scaring the minnows away and trying to create a current for the ear to follow. "Almost... Got it..."

A shadow from deep within the lake darted through the water. Mac watched as it zipped under him, and Feather ran to the other side of the dock as it looped beneath the sun-greyed boards.

"What is that?!" The colt asked as he spied the shadow from the gaps between boards. "It's huge."

Mac let out a low, hushed, "Um..."

The shadow shot out from under the dock, zipping straight to the center of the lake. And there, it turned around. Skimming the surface of the water, scales flashed bronze in the sunlight as a wake formed around them. The wake charged for Mac, dipping below the surface less than a meter away from his outstretched hoof.

For a moment...

Silence...

Feather moved to the edge of the dock, next to Mac. In the clear water, it should have been impossible for something so large to hide. Where is it?

In an instant, that question was answered. A large, speckled trout, half again as long as Feather was tall, twisted in midair, ear of corn in his mouth. Mac and Feather stared as the second stretched on. Glittering scales fought sparkling water droplets for the sun's favor as the fish twined a graceful arc. A hundred black spots, maybe more dotted the creature's side, breaking up the gentle transition from bronze back to silver belly.

But, as long as the moment lasted, it had to end. And the fish ended it in spectacular fashion, slapping the water with all its strength and drenching both ponies to the core. Mac suffered the worst of it, perched out over the water as he was; but Feather only fared slightly better.

The colt groaned and pulled his thoroughly soaked mane out of his eyes, grateful that his hat kept the water out of his ears. "Well, we saw the fish."

Mac didn't move. He sat there, suspended over the water, letting his mane cover his face like a wet rag dropped on his head. After a few seconds, he took a deep breath, readying a sigh, but blew upwards at the last moment, forcing air towards his soggy forelock with a huff. The unruly hairs lifted away, but slapped back down like seaweed once the puff of air was exhausted. With a sigh, the stallion let his head droop, and uttered a single, solitary word of defeat.

"Eeyup."

“So, how was your day?”

Feather looked over to find Scootaloo glancing up at him with a raised eyebrow.

“History… Clover… May I take your order…ugh,” were some of the words he got out while looking at her with a pained expression.

“You poor, poor pony.” She feigned concern and shook her head. Then she smirked. “Do you wanna go do something?”

“No, not really.” He instantly turned around from her and started to trot away.

Before he even got ten steps away, she was in his face. “Aw, c’mon! Why not?”

He huffed and pushed her face away. “One, I’m tired and I just want to go eat something, then… uh… well, I dunno.”

She frowned and nodded. “Oookay, you can eat on the way.” She then pinched his side and grabbed onto him. “Now get going!”

“Hey! Stop shoving! I got burned, you know!” Feather protested.

“Yeah, we all saw. I’m sure you’ll be fine. I’m the one that had to sit through that horrid lecture. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Rainbow Dash seem so uncool! So, stop burning yourself! ‘Kay?” She asked half seriously, while smirking.

He stared at her with a dull glare. “Uh huh. I’ll try to keep that in mind. Note to self: Burning myself makes Rainbow Dash ‘uncool’. Can I go eat now?” he asked impatiently.

She walked alongside him and rolled her eyes. “You could be less rude. And how do you know what I’m about to show you doesn’t involve food?”

Without skipping a beat he continued on then called back to her. “Because you don’t have any on ya,” he said swiftly. Behind him he could fear the filly practically growling, like a lone predator.

“Fine! Be… stupid!” With that outburst, she stormed off in the other direction.

He watched her go and sighed. Maybe I struck a nerve? Probably not good... he thought wearily.

Looking around, he noticed just how out in the open he now was; the town had no real places to hide being so openly constructed with wide and inviting paths. He figured that he would be fine for a little while, but not when the sun set and ponies spotted a lone colt wandering in the dark. Maybe I better get back to… His train of thought derailed upon noticing three familiar fillies off in the distance. They were all heading toward Sweet Apple Acres and he could have sworn Scootaloo looked back with a disgusted look. Or maybe not. He wasn’t exactly sure just how much her friends knew about her current situation and he doubted she wanted him there right now.

“Well, I’ve been in worse situations,” he said to nopony in particular. “Just gotta find an easy spot for the night.”

He went to walk away, but his thoughts wandered to Scootaloo and her friends; for some reason, the thought of her shoving him aside for her friends made him feel jealous. I would have followed her if she just wasn’t so… obnoxious! he thought bitterly. He sighed, feeling his resentment fade away to the harshness of his current situation. Like a switch, he felt as if he were in any other town, just getting by like he always had; a lone colt like always. He started to pick up the pace when he noticed younger ponies had started to disappear from the streets; it seemed to be getting close to dinner time.

“So… you just gonna wander around until you get caught?”

His head whipped around and there stood Diamond Tiara. She smiled smugly back at him then quickly walked by. “I mean it won't take them long to notice if you don’t have somewhere to be,” she said cooly.

“I know that!” he snapped. He started following her, but kept his eyes on the road. “Weren’t you going home?”

“No. I lied. I do that. By the way, I think you ticked off Scootaloo. Nice job!”

Sighing he glanced back at her. “Did anypony ever tell you that your smile looks fake?”

Slowly her beaming smile faded and quickly morphed to a menacing glare. “Whatever. So, where does a blank flank go when they need to hide for the night?” Her question revealed just a bit more excitement than she wanted to let on, but she kept her cool.

“Uh, not really used to… this,” he stated, surveying his surroundings yet again.

She walked in front of him, which caused him to skid to a halt. “To what? I mean you have been in other towns before, right?”

He snorted to her and side stepped the annoying filly. “Of course I have, just not like this. I like to survey things, sneak around, all that stuff. It’s different when everypony knows that you live there. I wasn’t expecting all of this and that party and… ugh.” He slapped his forehoof to his head and grunted. “This could be bad.” He paused then quickly looked to Diamond with a pleading expression. ”Can’t I just stay at your place again? It would only be for another night...”

She nearly broke out in laughter, and would have if it weren’t for his anxious look. “Uh, not gonna happen. Daddy nearly had a fit from surprise guests. I mean it wasn’t that bad, but I doubt he wants to see you or Miss Blank anytime soon,” she said cooly.

He narrowed his eyes on her and he could have sworn she swallowed, as if she were hiding something. “Okay. Well.. c’mon, we have to get out of sight, now.”

She snickered and followed along. “Well, technically, you have to. But I’ll play along.”

He said nothing and did his best to remember every last detail of the town. Ignoring the ponies who were casually cantering toward their homes, he focused on the homes themselves. Plenty were clearly occupied, and for the few closed doors, there were lit candles in the windows. “Don’t they use lights? What’s with all the candles?”

She snorted in response. “This is an earth pony town, so no. Of course, my house has enchanted lights, but not even our librarian uses those. Then again, I think she can just make light; lucky unicorns…” she muttered the last part bitterly. Feather nearly snickered, imagining Diamond with a horn a horn of her own.

“Oh.” He kept looking around trying to come up with somewhere he could sneak to, and that’s when he saw it. “What’s that building for?” he asked, pointing to a rather large circular platform that rose up to several stories.

“Town meeting center. It’s only uses for events and stuff.” She narrowed her eyes, looking at him suspiciously. “Why?”

He said nothing and looked back at it. One could argue, aside from Twilight’s home, it was pretty much the town’s main feature. A wonderfully crafted building with fine wood, clean windows, and a second story balcony to overlook the town. It looked big enough to house a good portion of the town’s occupants during any event. Feather walked up to it and peered inside, and just as he’d suspected, the place was empty. He looked over and found a large lock that was tied to a chain which encased the front doors.

“Feather, it’s locked.”

“Yes, and vacant,” he stressed. “Uh, you ever break a window before?”

Her eyes widened in shock and she backed up a bit from him. What’s wrong with him?! she thought in a panic. For a second, she saw, not the kind and goofy colt that she had started to become familiar with, but a thief and a criminal. A bad colt.

But then she remembered the first thing she had caught him doing, breaking and entering and stealing from her home. It made sense. “Uh, well, I--”

But Diamond didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence when a mare’s voice called out to them. “Hey, uh, you two!”

Feather had heard an adult’s voice take that tone enough times to know that they were in trouble. However, running away would only make them look more suspicious on the off chance that they hadn’t just been caught. Hesitantly, he turned around to face the mare.

“Uh, Feather, right?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking him over. He nodded. “Look, I’m sorry about earlier. I should have been paying more attention to things and, well, warning you foals about your bags and stuff…” she trailed off awkwardly and gave the two hopeful smiles, while still hovering in the air.

He blinked, having completely forgotten that she had been the teacher on duty. Well, we’re not in trouble, she is. Feeling he was now in a very unfamiliar situation, he nodded nervously. “That’s okay. I’m fine now. I--”

“Are you sure?!” She flew closer, looking at him over.

“Yeah, yeah! Really, it’s fine, uh, Rainbow, right?”

“Yeah. Well, if you say so, kid. You’re tougher than you look!” she exclaimed then landed. The mare swiftly smacked him on the back, making sure she did it on the side away from his injuries.”Eh, anyway I just wanted to say that. I just hope you don’t blame me or anything…”

“Oh no, I had the stupid bag on. It’s not like you put it on me,” he said gruffly.

The entire time Diamond had remained silent, watching the two. The only gripe she had with Rainbow was the boring lecture she was forced to deliver after the incident. It wasn’t anything she needed to make a stink about, even if she really wanted to.

Rainbow quickly turned to the filly and nodded. Can’t quite remember her name. Rich Filly something… she thought bluntly. “Well, I’ll just leave you both be now.” She then flashed a grin and quickly spread her wings before flying off. “Stay awesome!” she called out, and soon she was gone.

Feather sighed in relief, leaning against the locked door. “Am I an adult magnet or something?”

Diamond rolled her eyes, then started shoving him away from the door. “It’s probably a dumb idea to just stick around.”

He started walking and followed her away. “No kidding. We need to find me a place to just hide for the night.” He looked around, frowning at the numerous ponies that were still out and about. “Follow me.”

“Where are we going?”

He didn’t answer immediately and chose to wait until they were in an open park. A few foals could be seen running around, but no grownups. It was more of a traditional park with not but a single bench to laze on. “Somewhere I can hide until it’s dark. Uh, do you have any of that puff stuff?”

She gave him an odd look, but nodded. “Yeah, in my bag. I’ll get it out when we stop, uh, but I’ll have to go home soon… you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Yeah. Not the first time I’ve done this. Isn’t there a forest around here? It’s usually easier to hide around trees. My coat color doesn’t blend well, but it’s better than just sitting around town.”

She nodded. “The Whitetail Woods should work. Hey, how long have you been on your own?” she suddenly asked.

Again he chose not to answer right away, but this time it was because he actually had never thought about it before. He at least knew it was more than two years, but had no exact number. “A few years, why?”

A small portion of Diamond’s sympathy for other ponies surfaced, but like most times, she swallowed it. “Huh, you must be pretty good at hiding. Not that I’d ever have a chance like you.”

They continued walking until eventually the sight of a sprawling forest greeted them. It had a path for ponies to walk on, though, nopony was currently occupying it. Both of them quickly walked onto the path, but Feather only took a few steps before ducking into the thick of the trees. He called back. “What do you mean?”

She snorted. “I wouldn’t get five hooves out of this town before Daddy would have some guards go searching for me. He’s pretty well known in places and with other businesses. They don’t know me, but if word got out that his daughter was missing… I’d be found in days at the most.”

“Why would you want to leave that place, though?”

She didn’t answer for a little bit, when she did, she sounded tired. “I guess I wouldn’t. I just wish things could be different sometimes.”

“You’re following around a one winged pegasus with a magical flying machine. Welcome to Weirdo Town,” he quipped.

She sighed then shoved him forward through the bushes. “Not what I meant.”

They continued to canter in silence, with Diamond Tiara occasionally snorting in annoyance. All she could see was more trees and bushes, so what was he looking for? Eventually he stopped in the middle of a clearing. He took a seat and sighed, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to rest in a forest.

She looked around confused. For a few moments nothing was said between either of them, and then she broke the silence in a near scream, “This is it? This is your grand plan for the night?”

He shrugged. “I’ve stayed outside before. It bites, but it’s just for the night. Not like I had much time to survey things, what with… everything. Can I have that food now?”

She gawked at him. “You sleep outside?! This is normal?!”

Feather nodded calmly. “Well… yeah. It’s not that bad and--”

She slapped him in the back of the head then promptly stood up. “C’mon, doofus. We’re finding you someplace warm to sleep for the night,” she said in an annoyed tone.

He stood up, watching her leave. “Wait, this is fine! Why are you doing this? At least leave the food!”

She marched back up to him, promptly grabbed his side, then pushed him back through the trees. “Because I said so! And the food can wait, tubby.”

“Tubby?!” instinctively he looked down to his chest; wondering if there was any merit to her insult, or if it was simply a jab at his hunger. I’m not fat, good.

Feather then scowled, but followed her without complaint. She appeared to be walking toward another forest: The Everfree. “Where are we going?” he said wearily.

“Just trust me. It should be through here,” she shot back.

“Whatever.”

They traveled for several minutes in total silence. Occasionally they heard a cricket or the hooting of an owl, but otherwise they walked on undisturbed. When they emerged from the small forest, they were met with the sight of a cottage off in the distance. Feather recognized it immediately as it was nearby the day he had first seen Scootaloo.

“I overheard Daddy talk about a mare who recently left her cottage to go on some soul searching journey or something. It didn’t take me long to put together who it was; Fluttershy’s the only one in Ponyville with a cottage.”

Feather looked at her doubtfully. “So, it’s empty?”

She nodded. “Should be. Word can travel fast in Ponyville.”

He took a seat and nodded. “What kind of mare is Fluttershy?”

“Uh, she’s obsessed with animals, she’s a pegasus, really shy and quiet. It should be easy to see if it’s actually empty because her animals will be gone, I bet.”

He tapped his hooves repeatedly on the ground, debating inwardly if he should check or not. Finally, he sighed and turned to her. “Could you go check if it’s empty?”

Diamond moaned and looked back toward Ponyville. “Fine, but I need to make this fast. Be right back.”

She ran off toward the cottage and didn’t waste anytime in searching all over. From where Feather sat, the place looked abandoned; at least for now. However, one could never be too careful. While she searched, though, his mind began to wander.

Staring at a house for close to twenty minutes was not healthy. If there was anything to call attention to oneself, it had to be staring at things. Perhaps an older stallion could get away with his eyes unfocused and his mind wandering; any other pony may think he’s just thinking or maybe he’s sad. But a young colt, like himself, could barely get away with being by themselves without others pointing hooves and asking guards if he needs help. All caution to the wind, Feather had been sitting out in the open, staring at an seemingly empty building for close to twenty minutes.

“I could just check in the window, nopony would ever know,” he muttered under his breath despite the lack of anypony around.

He took a few cautious steps towards the place, but stopped rather abruptly. He glanced around at the other buildings, homes, and couldn’t help but feel a pang of nervousness. What if the other places were watching him? What if, despite the dead of night, they had ponies in them that were watching him at this very moment? His breathing quickened and for a split moment he considered dashing out of there and abandoning his new, risky plan all together.

When he thought about the whole thing was going beyond risky, it was downright stupid. He could easily find a nice, quiet alley to stay at. Or even find an actual abandoned building, one that was run down, dirty and cold, to hide in for the night. Those were much simpler and safer plans. So why did he want this place so badly? What made him linger here for so long, exposed to the elements and, potentially, other ponies? He didn’t know, only that a small, warm feeling kept popping up whenever he glanced toward the homes. Like they were familiar and part of a long lost memory and time in his life.

“There might be food,” he reminded himself and took more steps toward it. “Or there could be trouble,” he reminded himself, causing his hooves to lock up.

All of a sudden he charged, as if it were his very right to rest under that roof. It may not be his home, but he was going to make it his for the night. A simple gimmy of a window and he would be inside, comforted and warm. He nearly hesitated again, but a surge of adrenaline forced him to jam the front window open and he jumped over the divider. He landed with a soft thud onto a hard, cold wood floor. I did it.

For a single, solitary moment he truly felt like he had won that night. Nopony had seen him slip in and he now had an entire house to himself. It was, of course, temporary, but it was enough to fill his body with a happiness he had not felt in a long while. He strolled through a dimly lit hallway and froze in his tracks.

There, hanging up high above him, was a lit candle. The candle was so dim that one would never see it from the outside window. Time to go, he thought in a panic. Upon turning around, he slammed head first directly into another pony, who toppled over with a loud yelp.

There was no hiding from this, he had been caught no matter who had he ran into. The next words which came from the new pony’s mouth confirmed this, “Daddy! Daddy! A thief!” the apparently young filly screamed out.

Feather didn't bother to look back at her, however. He simply decided to run for it. The angry, enormous stallion and his screams would haunt him for months and years to come.

“Hey, Fluttershy! Are you in there?” Diamond screamed, waking him from his daze.

What the hay is wrong with her?! he thought angrily. For a second he almost considered bolting then and there, until she ran back.

“Alright, she’s not in there. Plus, I checked the door and it’s open. So… yeah,” she said intelligently. Diamond then took out his cereal and passed it to him.

“What were you planning on doing if somepony had been in there?”

She shrugged. “I’d’ve thought of something.” She then glanced back toward the cottage uncertainly. “Will this do?”

He nodded slowly. “Uh, yeah, I guess. Thanks, Diamond.”

“Sure. Don’t mention it, blank boy. See ya!”

He watched her dart off in a hurry towards town. When she was out of sight and hearing range, he finally started walking toward the cottage. “She’s crazy.”

Turning toward the cottage he saw, not a warm and welcoming environment like from his last daydream. No, he saw a cold and sterile cottage; one that seemed to have been abandoned long ago. To him it almost didn’t seem worth all the trouble and he would have loved to just forget the whole thing so he could find a nice, quiet bush in the forest. At least a forest, in his opinion, was up front about being uninviting and creepy to boot. With this cottage, he couldn’t quite decipher if he should be scared or not. Was it even considering breaking and entering if the previous occupant of said house no longer occupied it?

Reluctantly he creeked the door open then took a few tentative steps inside. Feather felt a light breeze blow through the cottage, indicating that this Fluttershy had inexplicably left her windows open. However, upon closer examination he saw that where glass would ordinarily appear, there was none. “If she didn’t want windows… why window bars?” he said to himself irritably. It was so cold in the place that it almost wasn’t worth breaking in; surely any of the nearby forests would be just as uncomfortable. Still, he couldn’t deny that furniture was much better than cold dirt.

Sighing, he set his bag aside and plopped onto the empty sofa. For the first time since the first night in Ponyville, he was alone. No Scootaloo or Diamond Tiara to pester him, or keep in company. After several moments of utter boredom, he glanced over at his device. His hoof wiped off a few scuffs on the edge of the wing. “Not much else to do,” he surmised. While it was true that he had homework to do, somehow he just couldn’t make himself care.

He had spent the last few years of his life surviving on his own and doing his best to learn everything there was to know about mechanics, his device and science in general. So long as that science pertained to mechanics. A part of him wanted to to do the homework though; to feel normal for once. Like an old memory that wanted desperately to surface, from his old life. Still, if he weighed how he felt, he concluded that his device, the focus of his whole life, was not going to be ignored for trivial school activities. A very familiar feeling of focus and obsessing washed over him and soon he had forgotten all about which school assignments he had.

He dug the device out and cleared off Fluttershy’s table to lay it on. Digging into his bag, he brought out a few tools and his notes. While he didn’t have his part made yet, he still had things to work on. For one several of the gears inside had either chipped or worse, bent from overuse. Or rather, from misuse on his part. Sticking his tongue out in concentration, Feather grabbed the nearest screwdriver and jammed it behind the largest gear. It was usually the easiest to get out, but before he even bothered, something else caught his eye. Next to the smaller gears was a very tiny switch. This particular switch hadn’t ever gone unnoticed by the colt, but it wasn’t as if he ever had a reason to use it before. He, of course, didn’t know everything about his device and he figured making more notes couldn’t hurt.

“I swear if this breaks something, I’m gonna scream,” he said with a sigh. But he knew it was inevitable. He had to make his device work by any means necessary. Feather had often used blind experimentation to discover new features on the flying device’s engine, but it usually meant a whole host of headaches followed by a full week of fixing things. Taking a deep breath, Feather took the end of the screwdriver and pushed it onto the switch. To his astonishment, nothing broke, instead the mechanism holding the gears appeared to sink lower inside the device with a satisfying click, revealing a hidden chamber.

“What the…?” he muttered.

A circular shaped, golden colored door had been hidden behind. This came as a surprise to him, having never flicked the switch before. Feather summarized that perhaps it was only accessible when the maintenance door to the entire device was open. “Here goes nothing,” he said then firmly jammed his left forehoof into the second door. A satisfying click was heard and the door gently reared open. A dull sparkle of dust had been left inside. Behind it was a wall with a purposely placed hole that lead to only Celestia knew what. Feather placed his hoof into the powder and felt around.

“What is this stuff?” he said to nopony in particular. A bit had come off onto his hoof, but all it seemed to be was crushed powder. Feather shook his head then closed the door and flicked the switch, causing the gears to retract.

The colt laid on the sofa, in the growing darkness, with the only hint of light coming off his hooves from the strange, flickering dust. Had anypony been home, or been lurking outside, they would have heard the scratching of a quill on parchment late into the night.

Scootaloo gripped the handlebars of her scooter tighter than she ever remembered doing before. At one point, she had to loosen it up, as she could feel the bar shaking a bit. Countless ponies, buildings, signposts, fences and other random objects whizzed by as her wings buzzed furiously. Upon nearing a round building shaped like some kind of mutant cake from Pinkie Pie’s imagination, she ceased her buzzing and forced herself to a stop by digging her hooves into the dirt. Her scooter skidded to a sudden halt, forcing a trail of dust to fly up and land on the building’s front door with a sudden whoosh.

“Oops…”

The door swung up, revealing Rarity who glared at her. “What have you done to my house? Dirt!” Rarity’s eyes had bulged out of her sockets. She wasted no time in summoning up a bit of magic and wiping away the dust like it were nothing. The mare gave a firm nod, smirking at the cleanness.

“Uh, sorry, Rarity,” Scootaloo said, her hoof rubbing the back of her head.

She scoffed and shook her head. “And just what was the hurry, dear?”

Scootaloo shrugged while looking away. “I dunno…”

“Are you alright?”

“Yep! Totally fine!” Scootaloo exclaimed with as much sincerity as she could muster. “Is Sweetie Belle home?” she asked suddenly.

“You know darling, frowning too much will give one wrinkles.”

The filly blanched. “What makes you think I’ve been frowning?”

“Sweetheart, it’s written all over your darling little face,” she said, much to the pegasus’ annoyance. “Come now, what’s the matter? You can tell Rarity.”

“Nothing! Just that stupid Feather, he’s a featherbrain!” she exclaimed, stomping her front hoof on the ground. “I don’t wanna talk about it, okay?” she said, grumbling.

Rarity clicked her teeth and shook her head. “I don’t know the colt, so I can’t say to his… intelligence. But if he’s on your mind then perhaps it’s time you talk with him face to face about what this is really about,” she said with a wink.

Scootaloo tilted her head. “Huh?”

“Come now, young Scootaloo. Surely you fancy him and--”

“No.”

“Yes, but--”

“No.” Scootaloo shook her head, while smiling. “Nope.”

Rarity scoffed again. “You’re no fun. Very well, if you’re simply here to see my sister and not to seek my invaluable advice on dating colts, then by all means…” she trailed off and waved Scootaloo into her home.

“Thanks!” Scootaloo whizzed past her and up the stairs, coming to a halt in front of her friend’s door. She knocked on it quietly and waited.

“Coming!” The door was gently pulled open, revealing a smiling Sweetie Belle on the other side. She grinned upon finding Scootaloo. “Hey, Scoots! I… oh,” Sweetie paused to squint her eyes at her. “Have you been frowning?”

“Maybe. Hey, do you want to come to the clubhouse for a while? I’m kind of bored,” she said sourly.

Sweetie Belle giggled and rolled her eyes. “Getting tired of your coltfriend?”

Scootaloo’s felt her cheeks warm up. “He is not my coltfriend; he’s too much of a featherbrain anyway!” she said rather forcefully.

Sweetie Belle shrugged. “I dunno, he seemed fine, plus he did try and help us put that…” Sweetie trailed off and looked around for any telltale signs of other ponies. When she began speaking again, it was in a harsh whisper, “thing out.”

Scootaloo scratched her head. “Why are you whispering? You didn’t even say the word fire so--”

Before she could finish speaking, Sweetie’s hooves had been hastily jammed into the pegasus’ mouth. “Shh! She’ll hear you…” Sweetie squeaked out.

Scootaloo shoved her hooves aside and nodded. “Okay, okay. So… wanna go do something?”

Sweetie tapped her horn with her hoof with a long sigh. “As long as it doesn’t involve magic. I can’t believe we got off with just a quick lecture from Twilight on the dangers of getting near fires; I was sure she, of all ponies, would of figured it all out,” she said, whispering again.

“So that’s what happened? Huh. Well I’m glad it worked out. Why don’t we just, I dunno, go do some crusading without magic?”

Sweetie smiled and started dragging her friend along out of her room. “Works for me, let’s go find Apple Bloom and get going.”

It didn’t take them long to locate Apple Bloom, hitch up the wagon to Scootaloo’s scooter and get back to the clubhouse.

“You sure you don’t wanna try any magic?” Apple Bloom asked, turning to Sweetie Belle.

The filly swiftly shook her head. “No way. We’re inside a wooden clubhouse; do you really want it to light it on fire?”

“Well, we gotta do something! You got any cutie mark ideas, Scoots?”

Scootaloo, who had been laying on her back idly playing with her wings, scoffed. “Nah. Not unless you all wanna get a mark in featherbrain hunting.” She craned her head around to face them, staring at the two upside down with a smirk. “I think that’d be fun! Heh, that’d show him.”

Apple Bloom glanced to Sweetie Belle with a frown. “Uh, sure? Look, we get he’s your coltfriend and all, but we have to ask you--”

“He’s not my coltfriend!”

Apple Bloom giggled. “Sorry, it’s just you kept spending time with him and all…”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “So? He doesn’t have a cutie mark either, so what if he’s a stupid colt?”

Sweetie Belle walked up to Scootaloo then forced her head to make eye contact, glaring at her. “Scootaloo, no colts. Don’t you remember Cutie Mark Crusader clause number seven? No colts allowed.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said, nodding. “Colts always make fun of us, like Snips or Snails. Or they try and get us in trouble or something.”

Scootaloo scratched her head in thought. I don’t remember us making that clause a thing… “What about Pipsqueak? he didn’t do anything like that,” she pointed out. “And he doesn’t have his mark yet.”

Apple Bloom thought about it, tapping her hoof to her chin, then promptly shrugged. “Yes, but he was pretty boring, Scoots.”

Sweetie Belle reluctantly nodded.

“Fine! Whatever, no colts in our club. But I can hang out with anypony I want to,” Scootaloo said, crossing her hooves with a profound pout.

Sweetie Belle glanced back to Apple Bloom, who gave a quick, encouraging nod. “Uh, even Diamond Tiara? That’s a bit weird, Scoots… especially because Cutie Mark Crusader clause nine clearly states no Diamond Tiara…”

She scoffed. “I don’t know! She keeps following him around; it’s not like I want her there.”

“Okay, okay, fine. We were just worried,” Sweetie said, frowning a bit. “How about we do some Crusadin’ and forget about this?”

“Works for me. Besides, it’ll be dark soon, so let’s think of something already.”

“Well, at least we avoided tree sap this time,” Scootaloo noted to the frowning pair. The three glanced at their newly crafted sheet of potential talents, each now neatly crossed out, and they collectively sighed.

“We’ll get it, Crusaders!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed with a hoof cheer. “Just…” she trailed off, letting go a quiet yawn. “Just after some sleep.”

Scootaloo had to agree with a silent nod and a quick yawn of her own. She gripped the handlebars on her scooter, only a tad looser and smiled. “I’ll see you both tomorrow at school. I, uh, hereby decree this the end of our Crusaders session,” she quickly added, while pretending to bang a gavel.

“Good night, Scoots!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, waving and cantering off toward Sweet Apple Acres.

“Night, Scoots!” Sweetie Belle repeated, walking off in a vague direction of her home.

Scootaloo waved to the two and lazily kicked her scooter into motion, waiting for the two to disappear from sight. C’mon, Apple Bloom, just get on home, she thought, watching her friend walk at the slowest pace imaginable. Every few steps Scootaloo would push her scooter forward, but only slightly. Easy does it…

After several moments of this, Scootaloo finally decided to balance her scooter against a tree and simply wait. She tapped her hooves on the ground over and over. Her head tilted to the side while she felt her eyelids getting heavier. “Grr, stupid sleep,” she muttered and rubbed her eyelids. “How long’s it been? Five minutes? Better be enough time,” she muttered again and finally started to move her scooter again.

A gust of wind suddenly picked up, causing her to shiver. She sighed and tried to quicken her pace just a bit; the constant darkness prevented her from moving too quickly for fear of tripping and making too much noise. She quickly turned into the apple orchard just as an owl hooted off in the distance. Her skin crawled. Almost there. It’s just the stupid dark, relax, she thought, her mind running frantic with movie horror fantasies.

Around halfway through her journey, she caught a quick glimpse of Apple Bloom’s home, still dimly lit from candlelight. She slowed to a halt to stare at the house. A nagging feeling in the back of her head urged her to move on to the clubhouse so she could sleep, but still she kept on staring. “It’s not fair,” she muttered. She grabbed the scooter and started pushing again, her eyes occasionally lingering back.

By the time she had reached the clubhouse, she was shivering. It’s just stupid dark. You’ve done this a hundred times before, she told herself. Still the distant sound of a hooting owl and the dozens of crickets against the disquieting silence made her shiver again. She took a deep breath, smelling the scents of fresh apples and dew on grass and felt a tad calmer. Scootaloo did this every step up the clubhouse until she was finally inside, free to set her scooter down.

“Finally. The clubhouse just had to be built way out here,” she said irritably. “Wish it was summer; nice, warm nights, no school, more jobs to do, sleepovers…” She walked over to a wooden plank which had been slightly protruding upwards and pried it open with one of her wings. “Ow, ow, ow,” she said, nursing it with her muzzle. “Ugh, I really need to get a crowbar.”

Shaking her head, she took out one of the hammocks and quickly set it up. She also grabbed a fresh candle and a holder, a match, and a few other items. She took the match in both her hooves, awkwardly positioned it to the floor and flicked it hard. Immediately the looming darkness was banished to the warm, inviting light of the flame. She lit the candle, placed it in the holder, and sighed. “That’s better.”

She clambered up into her hammock, draped a blanket over her body and laid back. For a while, her eyes lingered to the dancing candlelight and the open window. She gazed at the stars in a daze, her mind feeling uneasy from last week’s events. Why do I even care about him? He’s just a stupid colt, she reminded herself.

Grumbling a bit, she turned over to face the wall. The candlelight danced around a picture frame off to the side, illuminating it. She glanced at it and smiled. It depicted Scootaloo blowing a raspberry to the camera while Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stood behind her with sincere smiles. Underneath the picture, just on the frame the words Cutie Mark Crusaders had been hastily carved into the wood. Scootaloo smiled peacefully and fell asleep.

Scootaloo grumbled and cracked her eyes open as her ears rang from crow of a rooster. She attempted to keep her eyes firmly shut, but the rooster wasn’t having it. After the fifth crow, she sighed and rolled over. “How does Apple Bloom live here? Stupid rooster.”

Her stomach grumbled the second she sprang up, but she ignored it stood up to stretch. She sniffed the air and shrugged. “Eh, I’ll shower tonight,” she said. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, yawned and took a deep breath from the morning air. “So many apples....” she muttered and hastily packed away her hammock, picture frame and the burnt away candle and holder. She looked up at Celestia’s rising sun and sighed. “So little time.” The warmth slowly washed over her fur, causing her to slacken a bit and relax; the previous night’s stress a far away memory.

“Right,” she said, and went to gather her scooter and carefully carried it down. She grunted, pushing her friend’s wagon over and latched it on then dropped her school bag inside. The rooster crowed again, causing her ears to twitch. “Gotta beat Applejack,” she said and her wings buzzed into high gear, causing the scooter and wagon to lurch forward. She turned away from the treehouse and aimed for Applejack’s barn. A few leaves rustled by, one narrowly missing her head and another her eyes. I really need to save up for goggles, she thought while the barn got closer and closer. She felt her wings slow down and stuck her right back hoof into the dirt, skidding to a full stop. “Made it,” she said, wiping her head.

“Made wut?” Applejack asked from around the corner. Scootaloo jumped and turned around, finding the mare walking over with a stack of papers in her mouth. She spit them out onto Scootaloo’s scooter, crashing down with a loud thump.

“Oh, uh, made it on time. Gotta get those papers out there!” Scootaloo said enthusiastically.

Applejack chuckled and nodded. “Uh, sure.” Scootaloo went to leave, but Applejack stopped her, placing her front hoof on her scooter. “You sure you wanna keep deliverin’ them papers? Ah’m sure your ma and pa wouldn’t mind if ya quit.”

Scootaloo shook her head. “It’s not so bad. I get lots of extra spending money. Heh, plus my dad appreciates my work ethic, or he said something like that.”

Applejack chuckled a bit. “Or something, huh?” she quickly removed her hoof. “Well, far be it from me to get in in the way of a father's wishes.”

Scootaloo nodded and smiled, ready to push off again, before Applejack cleared her throat. “Uh, he does know you’re working this early, right?” she asked, her eyes narrowed on the filly.

I hate that stare of hers, Scootaloo thought. “Of course! He was, uh, the one that wanted me to get the job in the first place, Miss Applejack. But I really should get going so…”

“Right. Vamoose,” the mare replied, tipping her hat. “Was just checking,” she called back and walked off toward the farm.

With Applejack out of sight, Scootaloo sighed in relief. “Well, at least she didn’t ask where he’s been,” she said and her wings buzzed to life. I got fifty homes to go before class, let’s ride!

“Forty nine,” Scootaloo mumbled to herself tiredly. She hastily dropped a rolled up newspaper on the seemingly random house’s doorstep and lazily pushed her scooter along to the final home. “F- fifty,” she said and collapsed on said door stop for a rest.

She heaved for breath for close to three minutes and almost gave into falling asleep. Her eyes lazily glanced over to a piece of tarp which had been sewn over her Crusading Cape. She glared at it as the thing read “Fastest Delivery Filly, get your paper before you know it!”

“Stupid,” she muttered while gasping for more breath, “logo. What was I thinking?” she asked and rubbed her temple in tiny circles. After a few more minutes, her breathing felt steady enough for her to stand. Scootaloo grabbed her cape and carefully rolled it up and placed it in her saddlebag. She then dug around and for a towel she had packed and began to wipe away all the excess sweat from her route. “Yuck,” she said with a gag and packed it away in a plastic bag.

“Right, gotta get to class,” she muttered and gathered up a snack. It was a wrapped pastry with a note on the side.

Thanks for the news, Scoots!

The exclamation point had been dotted with a tiny pink heart. “Oh Pinkie,” she said and started to roll her scooter toward the schoolhouse. “Time for some fast food!” She started to roll off while balancing the delicious looking cupcake on her free hoof, until it nearly toppled over upon rolling into a rock. “Ah!” she screamed and quickly stopped to steady the precious treat. “Maybe not that fast…”

Despite all of this, she found the time to stop and practically shoveled the whole thing down her throat. Scootaloo neared the school, feeling both exhausted and like she wouldn’t need to eat for hours. She spotted several foals being dropped off by their respective guardians, including Applejack.

“You work hard now, ya hear?”

Apple Bloom nodded while smiling up at her. “Ah always do, big sis!”

“Ah, here’s your friend. Those papers wore you out yet?”

“No ma’am!” Scootaloo exclaimed with as much enthusiasm as she could muster at the moment.

She chuckled and began to stroll off. She called back to her nonchalantly, “Could'a fooled me.”

Scootaloo scowled slightly and promptly collapsed on the grass, her scooter falling over. “Fine… it’s hard!” she whined back at her as the mare chuckled in the distance.

Apple Bloom shook her head and began to drag Scootaloo by her feathers. “C’mon, lazy bum. We got class!”

Scootaloo’s hooves felt out helplessly toward the passing mare. “Help me!” she said in an over exaggerated manner. Apple Bloom shook her head and promptly shoved her into the classroom, just as the bell had rung. Eventually, the pegasus filly stood up, sighed, and slumped over to her desk. She gave a sideways glance over toward Feather, snorted at the sight of him, and then leaned into her hooves tiredly.

Miss Cheerilee began to rummage around in her desk while the students talked with among themselves. Scootaloo flinched upon feeling a tap on her shoulder, knowing full well where it came from: one feather brain of a colt. She got another tap from the same direction and nudged it off with a loud growl. A few more taps later and she whipped her head around, gave Feather a silent raspberry, then forced herself to look away. She heard a grunt from the colt and smiled to herself.

“Okay, today I’ve decided to invite our own local librarian, Twilight Sparkle, to come teach about the various figures and ponies throughout Equestria’s mighty history!” Miss Cheerilee announced like an overexcited filly. The response, as expected, wasn’t overly enthusiastic; with only a few students silently clapping. “Heh, right, students, please give a warm welcome to Twilight,” she said in a more authoritative tone.

The mare in question bounded into the room with a massive smile and a small blush from the forced cheer of the students. Levitating in her telekinetic field was an assortment of various notes and quite a few books. She gave Feather a quick wave, and he soon found himself the focus of the other student’s attention as he blushed while biting his teeth.

“I had a long discussion with your teacher, and we decided that it would not only be prudent to brush up some of the more particulars on pony history, as well as help every student keep up with with their studies. I’m aware history isn’t as exciting or engaging as, say, Rainbow’s weather projects, but if you all listen to my prepared lesson, I promise history can be just as intriguing!”

Expecting the coming silence, Twilight concentrated and soon a bright flash of light had shot out from her horn. Everypony shielded their eyes for a moment, then collectively gasped. Hovering just above her head was a glowing, translucent, three dimensional looking display of a very old looking pony with a beard and very attractive hat. His smug smile, combined with his over abundance of clothing told the class one thing: this pony was either very intelligent, or just plain silly.

“This,” she said with a proud smile, “is Starswirl the Bearded. He was responsible for the invention of many of the spells we use today; including many illusion spells like I’m using now.”

Scootaloo tried concentrating, but between forcing herself to stay awake and alert and the dull sounding lecture, it was difficult. As the class drew on, and her ire over the featherbrain died off, she continued to glance over at him occasionally. She began to idly tap her hooves on her desk and eventually a stray thought made its way into her consciousness. I guess he’s not that stupid. Should probably give him another chance, she thought and turned back to him for a quick nod. He smiled goofily back at her and she rolled her eyes. Still a featherbrain though.

“And this finally brings me to my next… p- point,” Twilight stuttered as her eyes suddenly widened to the size of saucers.

“Hi Twilight!”

Every single head flipped around in unison and everypony gasped. Standing in the doorway was a very cheery looking, waving alicorn. But not just any alicorn, no; this was Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.

“Um, Princess Cadance! What a, uh, pleasant surprise,” Twilight said, using her magic to stack her notes a few times as she wondered what to do.

She’s so… tall, Feather thought as the pink mare walked by his desk. Too tall.

“Oh don’t be so shy; you’re one of the smartest ponies I know and I’m sure your little presentation here will go smoothly,” she said causing Twilight to blush quite profoundly. Despite her not meaning to, she certainly sounded like she’d been talking down to Twilight like a young foal. A few of the colts even chuckled a bit.”I’ll just take a seat in the corner and let you finish,” she said quietly and leaned down to sit on the floor next to Feather’s desk. He glanced at her feathers as they folded in and she turned to face him.

Nopony should ever be that tall, he thought, and she smiled at him.

“Righhhht, okay then. Please everypony, make sure Princess Cadance feels welcome,” Twilight said and they all clapped while Cadance blushed. “Right, uh, Starswirl also seemed to go by many nicknames in his line of work; this has lead to some speculating, although unfounded, that he wasn’t a single stallion at all, but different ponies who all worked on individual projects and spells.”

“Oh! Like that stallion with the silly hat! Classic Starswirl,” Cadance interrupted.

“Oh, yes,” Twilight replied to the chuckling foals. “He certainly loved his hats.”

Twilight flipped through a few notes and coughed. “Moving on, we can focus on just how influential some of his inventions and spells were. I showed off a bit of his own illusion magic, but that’s only scratching the surface on just how powerful his magic came to be. And this was all from studying ancient books and tomes. Why, any one of you could follow in his hoofsteps if you simply applied your studies in magic.”

Diamond snorted causing Twilight and even Princess Cadance to glance at her. “Yeah, but only if you were a unicorn,” she said in shrill sort of tone.

Twilight frowned for but a moment then shook her head. “While it’s true Starswirl and many wizards like him were, in fact, unicorns, many earth ponies and plenty of pegasi have all contributed to further our understanding of spells. Both magical and passive; such as controlling our weather or helping us all grow crops.”

A blue colored colt in the back raised his hoof wildly and spoke before Twilight could even blink. “Ohh, ohh! Does that, um, mean that she’d be really good at magic?” he asked rather bluntly while pointing off to the blushing Princess Cadance. “Or no?”

Twilight’s smile didn’t waver, though a few students could tell that the gears in her head were churning quite fast. After a few moments of quiet contemplation, she tilted her head to the princess and eyed her rather expectantly.

Cadence blinked and then began to giggle a bit, causing the other students to look up in confusion. “Sorry, I didn’t catch that cue. Um,” she said and stood up while Twilight walked off to the side. She then faced the classroom and gave everypony a sweeping smile. “While I don’t have the same level of magical fidelity that, say, Princess Celestia or Luna do; I can safely say that I’ve been well gifted in the art and magic of love. Though,” she started, her voice sounding a bit strained, “er, possessing both wings, a horn and the strength of a mighty earth pony doesn’t always balance out those magics equally. I don’t really possess strength on par with most earth ponies for example; so a sort of… half magic has taken hold through me. I can fly exceptionally well and I’m quite good at magic, however,” she stated rather proudly.

“Half… magic?” the colt asked, tilting his head.

Twilight cleared her throat and took over before Cadance could even so much as blink. “Half magic is a common term among those that study magic, such as the professors over at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. It basically means that anypony, be they alicorn or no, can retain magical qualities from other races in their blood. Though, of course, in Princess Cadance’s case, the definition would be quite literal,” she announced with only one or two students nodding.

“Yes, kind of hard not to notice levitating a cup of tea while flying through the air,” the princess said while a few students giggled again.

Twilight shot a stern glare at the princess, who immediately quieted down like a student who’d been caught passing notes. But the other children continued to laugh until Twilight glanced in their direction with a small smile.

“Ahem, yes. I think we should get back on topic, though,” she said and they all nodded.

As Twilight continued to speak, Scootaloo started to ignore her. Instead finding her desk exceptionally far more interesting. She glanced back at her wings and fluttered them a bit, and then examined her forehooves. Half magic… she thought rather gloomily. She snapped out of her thoughts, though, when the bell rang and Twilight was forced to stop her speech.

“Oh, I suppose that’s brea-” she stopped as every foal in the vicinity, including Princess Cadance, rushed out before she finished her words. “Break,” she muttered and stared on at her former foalsitter with shock and awe.

“Yay! Swing set time!” the princess announced and giggled with the other students.

Twilight scratched her head and shook it in confusion. “No wonder she was so good with me as a filly; she never grew up herself.”

Let me all know what you think; writers always, always appreciate comments and constructive criticism.

Sorry for the long wait. I'm also worried that this chapter is far too comedic for its own good, perhaps skewing too far off from that SAD tag that the story is supposed to have.

Several Years Ago

“I’d like to apologize to you, Feather.” The gryphoness sheepishly held the scissors back to her chest. “I, erm… well, you’re okay, right?”

The colt glared at Galion and held one of his hooves firmly atop his head; against what precious little of his mane that remained. “That. Really. Hurt,” he seethed through gritted teeth.

She sighed. “I really am sorry, I hadn’t realized just how… sensitive pony scalps are… or how easily the mane would cut. Erm, I’m quite used to treating Givvon’s head, and it is as rough as his table manners. Would you like me to try and even it out?”

He silently shook his head, as she looked guiltily at the clump of red hair on the bathroom floor. “Maybe later, lots later,” he sighed. Placing his trusty hat back on his head, and giving it a little pat, he said,”I think I’ll just keep this on my head from now on.”

She smiled and nodded. “That may be for the best.”

She scooped up the discarded piece of mane and left to dispose of it, leaving the colt alone. Feather sighed, tilting his hat back to survey the damages in the mirror, but his ears perked up when Givvon called out to him.

“Are the two a’ you are done in there?” Called his rough voice. “If so, get in here, youngin’.” He gestured over to his workbench when feather poked his head out. He sat there in front of the broken music box, “we’ve got work to do.”

He nodded and scrambled back over to the bench. Feather gave a quick examination of the box and poked it a few times; a tiny spring shot out of it causing him to flinch, but the griffon simply chuckled.

“Yeah, it’s pretty banged up, isn’t it? Found it in an ol’ junk yard.” The gryphon pulled over a large wooden box, giving it a shake with a confident smirk on his face. Metal parts clinked together, some shining, some dull under the light. “But, I believe we’ve got just the right amount of junk over here to fix ‘er up.”

“Some of these look really… rusty,” Feather noted upon picking up a few gears right his hoof.

“They should do fine, heh, doing a lot better than the few inside the box,” he noted, pointing to the biggest gear which had a few chips on its sides and missing teeth. It would likely never work as a gear again. “Yeah, we need to get rid of that rotten gear first, but you see that here,” he said, using one of his wings to point to a series of very short prongs sticking out of rotating cylinder. He made it move and it was then Feather saw the damage.

“It’s missing, um… whatever those things are,” he said, pointing to the only smooth surface in the box. The only surface in there that shouldn’t be smooth.

“I don’t know what the heck they’re called either,” the gryphon confided, “but those little dots that aren’t there right now rub against the comb here determine which tine gets plucked. Which makes a specific tone. Thankfully, the comb is fine, we just need to do some repairs on the drum here, and make some new bumps.” he said and started rummaging around in the box.

“And replace the gear?” Feather asked.

“Yep, definitely. Though to even get going, we’ve gotta get a few screws out.”

The colt squinted his eyes and could just barely make out a few sets of the tiniest screws he’d ever seen holding something together; they, like the gear, looked severely rusted up.

“Right, grab that screwdriver and try to get those out. You may have to really push, though, so be careful not to damage the box.”

Feather nodded and spent the next five minutes of his life trying to pry out the rustiest screws in existence, and he nearly ended up snapping pieces off the box, twice.

“Careful!”

“S-sorry,” Feather stammered nervously.

The griffon smiled and took a deep breath. “It’s fine, just take it easy.”

Feather nodded.

The griffon watched the young colt work, his eyes never blinking and his intense focus never once wavering. He removed the final screw, then placed them in a neat pile.

“Good, now comes the really tricky part: assessing the damage. Kind of difficult to do if you don’t know how they work,” he, noted and the colt had to agree for he’d never seen the insides of one.

“Uh, what’s that?” he asked, pointing to a long thin line of what seemed to be a tiny mesh of metal, almost shaped like a comb. “Oh, it’s the comb you were talking about earlier.”

“That’s the comb,” Givvon agreed with a nod, “it brushes along side the cylinder here and there’s supposed to be teeth that do this.” He carefully plucked a tine with the very tip of his claw, and a slightly buzzy sound rang out. “Sounds like this may be loose. Hmm, at least it isn’t damaged. Those combs are made out of spring steel, and can be hard to make.” He took the screwdriver from Feather and gently removed the comb. “Well, look at this.”

Feather leaned in, seeing a new bit of damage and slowly nodded. “That doesn’t look good.”

“Exactly. That’s a soundboard. It’s a stiff piece of hard wood or metal that vibrates along with the tines, making them a little louder. That crack is making it buzz, but thankfully, we have a solution for that.” he said and gave a few old looking boxes along the back of the bench gentle pats.

“What are those?”

He pried open one, revealing an ugly mesh of metal and gears. “Other music boxes, far more broken than the one we’re trying to repair. I salvage parts from them when I need to. This one’s already given up its comb, but it still has a nice mahogany soundboard.”

“Oh… okay. Um, is anything else wrong with it?”

“Yes, but one step at a time, now.. “ he muttered. Keeping the box with soundboard for himself, he took three of the other boxes and placed them in front the colt. “Start pryin’,” he commanded with a chuckle, “we need drums.”

Several days and several dozen music boxes and gizmos later, the colt soon found himself a small break down in the workshop.

“Where’d he get off to… ah! Oh…” the griffon muttered quietly, having just noticed that Feather had fallen asleep at his desk. “Hmm…” He glanced over at a stack of old moving blankets, and quickly draped one over the slightly shivering pegasus. Then he turned and stopped in his tracks. Sticking just out of his saddlebag was the colt’s rather strange device. He took a nervous glance at Feather and, making sure he was still asleep, he shrugged and carefully laid his bag, and the device, on a nearby workbench. “What is… oh sheesh,” he said as the colt’s felt strap alongside his bag tore off. “I’ll have to fix that before I do anything else,” he said with a nod.

It took him quite a while, as sewing was different work than he was used to. The softness of fabric just made things so hard sometimes compared to wood or metal. But, eventually he made a tight job of stitching it back on. With that out of the way, he was able to pick up the colt’s device and set it down to take a look. “Now… what’s wrong with you,” he muttered.

Years of engineering experience told him that something like it was going to be deceptively simple; easy looking on the outside, but near impossible to decipher on the inside without a lot of study.

The first thing he tried was lifting the wings, which did fully extend, but some of the synthetic-based metallic feathers were loose or out of place. He grabbed a screwdriver to tighten a few of them, then used a small hammer to gently get some to be straighter while making sure they stayed firmly in place once they were fully extended, or put back in the right order once the wing was retracted. “Right, seems loose, but tight enough… heh, but that was the easy part. Time for the guts,” he announced and pried open the main door to take a peek inside. His eyes widened. “Oh, boy…” he murmured.

The very first layer of the tiny gears and systems seemed leaps and bounds ahead of anything he’d ever worked on. Possibly beyond anything in the gryphon territories. Behind it laid bare several integrated magically laced circuits, along with a strange chamber that did only the Creator knew what and plenty of other wires, more gears and some sort of shifting system usually only seen on complex steam engines or airships. Frankly, the whole thing scared him to the bone.

He studied the insides for the next twenty minutes, writing down notes and making tiny drawings of his own, before finally taking a small break. “If I didn’t know any better, I swear this thing was actually meant to make that youngin’ over there fly… but that would be… how would he even control the wing? I… it doesn’t make any-” he stopped talking when his claw idly brushed alongside something on the very bottom. A spring-loaded door shot open, revealing several tiny spike-shaped objects began to extend out of the side, opposite of the wing. When they were finished, they shined dully in the electric light while he stared at them, bewildered. What could their function be?.

“Hmm…” he scratched a few times under his chin, deep in thought. After examining the first spike under a microscope, he could spy tiny networks of red ruby rock all linked together in an odd spiral shape which ended back in the machine. “What are you…” Givvon slumped back into his seat and sighed, shaking his head. His eyes caught sight of something in the bag and he began to rummage around. “Hmm, looks like a notebook.” It was, and it was lined with the same fine felt of Feather’s bag. He noticed that it certainly seemed important enough to keep around. He flipped through it several times until his eyes landed on a page in the back which seemed brand new and unhindered by any wear and tear. It explained in great detail what the spikes were for, their function, purpose and just why they had to look so dang menacing. As he read, his eyes widened in shock and horror. When he was finished reading, he glanced back over to Feather, who was now beginning to mutter something in his sleep. “This is… simply remarkable,” he said, his eyes widening for perhaps the sixth time in the last ten minutes.

Sighing, he set the journal down near Feather and stood up with a quiet grunt. Taking one last glance back at Feather, he shook his head and waddled out, leaving him to sleep.

Feather’s eyes suddenly shot open as he let out a silent scream of agony. He darted his head all about until he finally realized whatever had just been happening to him had all been a horrible dream. “Stupid nightmare…” he muttered. He blinked and looked over the desk with a quirked brow. “I didn’t take this out…” A horrifying thought occurred to him. “Did he…?” he tried to ask, but then heard a few voices in the other room.

He heard Galion sigh and saw her vaguely shake her head from a distance. “It’s still his; did you see his wing? Or lack thereof! This wing of his may be his only hope to fly!”

“Tough. Even if I had all my old buddies back with me and a hundred years I doubt I could understand that thing out there, whatever it is. It’s beautiful, amazing and a work of modern art. But it is beyond me, Galion.”

Feather sighed, slumping against the door as he heard the griffon basically give up. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he figured they wouldn’t be able to fix it here as he doubted very much they would understand something so unique. Still, to hear it uttered out loud was pretty disappointing. At least he did teach me something, he thought with an inward sigh.

“Where did he even come by such a device?”

“It’s a good question,” Givvon responded with a disgruntled grunt. “Makes ya wonder just where the little guy came from.”

Feather’s eyes widened in shock as he clutched his bag protectively to his chest. His breathing became erratic while they talked on and on, oblivious to his presence.

“Well, we could set him up here. I don’t think his, uh, father is coming along to get him… if there ever was one.”

The conversation had wound down with the two seeming to agree on one thing: Feather was staying. “Oh, it would be awkward, but nice to have him around. I’m sure Feather would appreciate it,” she responded in kind, pointing out that Feather was clearly some kind of stray on his own, if that hadn’t been clear enough from the start.

Feather hesitated for a brief moment, considering all that was said and their final conclusion to his fate. A place to stay…? he thought, nearly smiling. He tentatively took a step forward, when he suddenly remembered something.

But it is beyond me, Galion... he thought in Givvon’s voice, a ton of bricks crashing down on his parade.

He shook his head, figuring a permanent place to stay wasn’t the worst thing in the world and it would give him plenty of time to study his device. I’m sure he could figure it out, eventually… he thought, remembering all he had taught him so far.

“Are you certain you have no clue how his device might be fixed? Givvon, you’re amazing with mechanics, I don’t-”

Givvon raised a claw to stop her as he shook his head. “It’s pony technology. The magical steel and circuits inside have nothing to do with my devices. They’re practically a night and day difference,” he said with a sad chuckle. “Like I said, not in a hundred years. Heh, not unless I’d been born a pony,” he said as they both joined in a laugh.

With a sigh, Givvon’s voice turned dark. “Still, I’m a little worried. Even in perfect working condition, that device would need constant maintenance. Anything that stores magical energy has the potential to discharge it. Not to mention the device’s intended purpose, Gallion! Flight! Could you imagine trusting one of my mish-mashed, cobbled together music boxes to keep you in the air? Because that is exactly what that colt would be doing.” There was a thump, as Givvon threw his claws on the table. “I want the boy to be happy, and fixing his device would do that, but he doesn’t understand the risk.”

“Maybe he will as he grows older,” Gallion reassured him, taking his claw in hers. “And I’m sure he would test the device thoroughly before using it. You would see to that.”

Givvon shook his head. “I’m not so sure it’s worth it.”

Feather gulped and slowly backed away from the scene, surprised when they didn’t turn around from his noise. He shook his head and jumped up to a window while cracking it open. “I’m sorry,” he whispered into the room, almost considering leaving his apology on paper to be found, “you two, you were nice, but you’re wrong. I will fix it. I need to fix it.”

He leapt Thankfully, the jump down wasn’t far, and he landed with a quiet thump. Shaking his head and sighing, Feather slunk off into the night.

“Gallion, dear, I haven’t even told you about the spikes yet. Oh creator, those spikes. I truly hope I am wrong about them, about what they are meant to do.”

While recess was time for the other foals to go off to play, scream or to generally be up to no good, Feather found himself slowly nodding off several times. He didn’t actually want to sleep, but he didn’t particularly feel up to doing much of anything but resting. His thoughts continued to wander back to Big Mac, how he’d taken him fishing. It’d been a strange event for sure, but most things happening in Ponyville were quite a bit more exciting than what he was used to on the road.

As he pondered this on one side of the playground, Scootaloo was off playing with her friends, though she didn’t feel quite up to the task at hoof herself.

A red ball landed square in the pegasus’ face, causing her to shake her head in exasperation and sigh.

“Oops, sorry, Scoots,” Sweetie Belle exclaimed with a blush. “Uh, something wrong?” she asked with a raised brow.

Scootaloo shook her head while straightening out her nose. “No, just wasn’t paying attention,” she said, almost muttering her answer. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle glanced at one another and shrugged.

“Uh, so, what do you all wanna do after class?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I was thinking of cupcakes at Sugarcube Corner, then more cutie mark crusading!”

Both fillies blinked at their unicorn friend in confusion before replying. “Uh, didn’t we do that already?”

Sweetie frowned and thought back to the previous day before slowly shaking her head. “We didn’t actually get cupcakes, though…” she pointed out, pouting.

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, but Scootaloo was looking at Feather, on the other side of the playground. Who was attempting not to look in her direction. Sighing to herself, she nodded slightly. “Uh, actually girls, I have to sort of do something at home after class. Sorry,” she said.

“Aww,” they both moaned in unison, pouting.

“Wow, look at her go,” Sweetie mentioned while glancing over to Princess Cadance, who rocketed back and forth on the swing set which had been apparently both large enough and sturdy enough to support her weight. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle went to join her, though Scootaloo shuffled off, walking over toward Feather.

The colt in question was sitting alone, now watching Cadence with a bemused expression.

“What ya doin’, Feather Brain?”

Gasping and turning around, he blushed upon noticing her but said nothing else.

“Okay then...” she said with a chuckle and took a seat next to him. “So, where’d you stay last-?”

“Nowhere!” he blurted out suddenly. “Wasn’t in a strange cottage, nope…”

“Uh… good? Good…” she said, trailing off in confusion. “Um, listen, sorry for storming off, but you were acting like a jerk,” she said without skipping a beat.

“...I was hungry. Sorry,” he muttered.

“So you turn into a jerk when you’re starving? Got it,” she replied with a giggle. “Listen, I need to go do a job after class, once a week kind of thing. But when I’m done I wanna show you something, okay?”

“Uh, what job?” he questioned, his voice sounding a bit stressed.

She rolled her eyes and gave him a dismissive wave with her hoof.“Relax, it’s nothing big.”

“It’s just... if more adults see you doing so many--”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. But this job isn’t that hard to do. I help the mailmare sort her packages on Thursdays. She gets a heavy load, but not all of it gets sent to where she flies today,” Scootaloo said with a shrug.

“Uh, can’t she sort it?”

Again she shrugged. “Yes, but I’m much faster at it and she usually pays me a decent amount to help her out,” she said, though she noted the colt merely nodded in boredom. “She also usually gives me treats when I help her out…”

“Really?!”

“Colts…” she shook her head and sighed. “Yes, really.” He nodded with an actual smile and she couldn’t help but crack one herself. They were left in a pleasant silence for a few moments while they watched the Princess of Love playing like a young foal. They blinked in confusion on how somepony so old could act so young; it simply didn’t make sense.

Not that anything really makes sense in Ponyville… Feather thought with a silent snort to himself.

“So, wanna join me after class, while I do my thing?” she asked, interrupting his thoughts.

“Um…” he trailed off and thought about before shaking his head. “I’ll only be free for maybe half an hour, Pinkie needs me to work a shift today, though Twilight did at least say I don’t have to study with her every day.”

Scootaloo merely blinked in confusion.

“Oh, yeah. Twilight is helping me ‘catch up’ in school… I guess,” he said while blushing at his lack of elementary school knowledge.

“Oh, uh, how’s that been?” she asked awkwardly.

“...Please don’t make me relive those horrors,” he muttered out loud.

Rolling her eyes, she merely patted his back and sighed with him. “Hey, we’ve all been there. Twilight’s just talking about something casually, next thing you know you’re getting lectured nine ways from Sunday.”

He shuddered again so Scootaloo decided to just drop the subject. “Anyway, after school, you wanna stick around for a bit while I do my thing?”

He shrugged and nodded. “For a little bit, anyway.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the playground, Twilight had quickly joined the princess’ side and, reluctantly, joined her on the swing set. “So, how long will you be in Ponyville?”

The constant swinging motions from the pony princess seemed to waver only slightly. “Oh, um, maybe a few days. I’m sort of supposed to… maybebeattendingtoofficialroyaldutiesanddecidedtoslackoffbyhangingoutwithyou! So how about this swing, huh?”

Twilight blinked and nodded. “Um, that’s good. Is being a princess that demanding?”

With a solemn glance at her friend, Cadance could only give a quiet nod. Twilight gave her a sad smile and continued to mimic the slower swinging of the pony princess for a good two minutes.

“I miss watching over children, Twilight. Teaching them about the world and helping them grow just makes me smile. It’s why I loved foalsitting you so much.”

Twilight blushed a bit and nodded. The lavender unicorn swiveled her head over toward Feather who seemed to be casually talking with Scootaloo. A small smile escaped her lips as a quick idea formed.

“How would you like to join me tomorrow for one of Feather’s lessons?”

“Who?”

“Oh he’s a new student in Miss Cheerilee’s class, you’ve sort of met him. He’s over there with the hat,” she said, gesturing over toward him.

“Oh, him! Heh, it’s funny because I think my height kind of freaked the little guy out,” Cadance proclaimed with a quiet giggle.

Twilight smirked and nodded. “To be fair, I think Ponyville has made him go through a lot in a short amount of time. But he’s behind in a few subjects, so his father agreed to let me tutor him up to speed. Though he does have a job, also, working for Pinkie Pie. It’s possible he might not show up at all.”

Quirking a princess-styled brow at her, Cadance shook her head. “He has a job? Shouldn’t he be more focused on his education if he’s falling behind?”

Twilight considered her for a moment, taking a few more loops on her swing and then replied, “It’s… complicated. Honestly? I haven’t met his father yet and I’m starting to suspect something may be wrong with his home life…” she trailed off upon noticing the stern glare of her old foalsitter. “Oh, but I’m sure it’s nothing! He’s probably just a busy stallion with lots of work to do,” Twilight added hastily. “I did sort of have to strike a deal with him, though…” she muttered with a blush.

“Like what? Cupcakes and toys?” Cadance guessed though Twilight glanced at her strangely. “What? It worked on you as my cute little filly.”

Blushing more she merely shook her head. “Erm, more like engineering tips and fulfilling a complex enchanting order.”

“Engineering tips? He’s quite the little hobbyist then?”

Again Twilight hesitated and seemed to do a half nod motion. “Erm, well I haven’t actually conf--”

“I’m sure he has a few projects he’s working on? Goals he’s constantly striving for?”

“Well he showed me a blueprint of something. I’m still not quite sure what it is, but he seems pretty focused on getting it to work. Um, I think.”

The swinging motion of both ponies ceased as Princess Cadance went to stare at her friend again. “You think? If you’ve been hanging around this colt and tutoring him, surely you would know more about his goals, his interests, even his dreams? Why it only took me a day of foalsitting you to find out you wanted to be the world’s greatest--” Cadance tried to speak, but for the life of her she couldn’t since Twilight’s forehoof was now firmly placed squarely in her mouth.

“You promised you would never repeat that out loud,” Twilight said, punctuating each and every word with a harsh and ultimately unnecessary pause. “You promised.”

Blushing, she nodded. “Right, right… I keep my promises. Sorry. Though, to be fair, the very idea was just adorable and I think—” A stern glare and menacing magical spark from Twilight’s horn was all the Princess needed to shut her trap on the subject for good.

“Anyway,” Twilight said, “I may not know everything about Feather and, okay, he’s a bit guarded, but I’m getting there. I’m hoping to earn his trust and hopefully he’ll tell me just what’s been bothering him… or why he keeps lying to me.”

Cadance sighed as she took a long glance at the strange colt known as Feather. “Twilight, oh Twilight.”

“What?”

“Remember when you accidently turned Spike’s scales pink? And you tried to lie to me and claimed a bucket of paint fell on his head?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“How would that even work? I mean, no matter what kind of paint it was, there’s no way in Tartarus it would perfectly cure to his skin in such a magical way. It was clearly a falsehood and--”

“I get it,” Twilight interrupted. “It was dumb.”

“No, it was silly, but I got the truth from you in an hour. But you’re telling me Twilight Sparkle, one of the six heroes of Equestria can’t pry the truth from that little colt? I’m shocked, appalled, even,” she said, sounding suspiciously like a certain Prince would speak.

“Cadance…”

“Give me an hour with Feather and I’ll have him singing like a bird. Just one hour,” she said with a wink.

“I’m pretty sure this isn’t going to end well, Cadance. Feather is very guarded, and I think he’s a lot more sensitive than he lets on. I’m worried about him, sure, but I don’t want to push him too hard.”

“I’m good with foals! Just one hour… you were going to invite me over for one of his lessons anyway,” Cadance pointed out.

Twilight groaned and glanced over to the foals as they were all being called back in from recess. Sighing, she shook her head and followed them too. “I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”

Cheerilee rang the bell for the students to come back inside for school to continue.

“Honestly, Twilight. Have a little faith.”

After school was over, Feather started to leave with the other children. For a moment, Princess Cadance almost seemed to call to him as he looked back. Though when he looked carefully, Twilight was busy talking with her, smiling nervously. Feather shook his head and continued on his way down the path, wondering if Scootaloo was coming, or chit-chatting with her filly friends.

On the schoolhouse steps, Cadance was glaring at Twilight who immediately spoke up. “Not yet. Like I said, he’s quite guarded. Wait for him to come to his studies first.”

Cadance merely shook her head and sighed. “Oh Twilight…”

Feather, wandering slowly down the path towards town, was startled when Scootaloo virtually materialized next to him. She grabbed his hoof and, without warning, yanked him onto her scooter. “C’mon, I’m late!” she said as they sped off, causing the colt to yelp in surprise. He held onto Scoots and his hat while muttering to himself about crazy fillies.

After a solid two minutes—almost on the other side of town—Scootaloo suddenly skidded to an abrupt stop, causing Feather’s face to shudder as he was forced to hold onto Scootaloo even tighter.

“We’re here!”

“Oh, hey, Scoots! There you are!” Feather heard a mare call out to her. He looked around and, sure enough, a flying pegasus dressed like a mailmare was lazily hovering just above them. Her bag had been discarded on the ground, apparently expecting Scootaloo to be here as the filly had already eagerly started to dig into it.

Feather scratched his head and stared in awe as Scootaloo carefully laid out various letters, small packages and other awkwardly shaped tall yet slim boxes into neat piles. After that she sorted each category by address and tied them into a neat little pile using her teeth to finish off the tiny knot. They were then carefully placed in the mare’s bag along with the remaining packages in as organized a manner as possible. Feather couldn’t help but wonder how Scootaloo had gotten so quick at doing this. The mare smiled down at her with an awkward wink and reached into her bag, digging around.

“Great job, Scoots! Uh, let’s see here… I know it’s around here somewhere,” she said, muttering to herself.

“Thanks!”

The mare smiled before dumping a small sack of coins at their hooves and flying off to go deliver her nicely organized letters.

“Well… beats my job,” Feather noted with a shrug.

“Yeah, at least I don’t have to wear that frilly apron,” she noted with a chuckle and he rolled his eyes at that. “When do you need to be there?”

Feather looked at the non-existent watch on his wrist. “I should get going pretty soon, actually. Might take me awhile to get there.”

“I’ll give you a ride.”

“Cool, thanks.”

“So listen. After your job, can you meet me in front of town hall?”

“Sure.”

As the sun began to set on Ponyville, an impatient little colt was pacing back and forth in front of town hall.

“What’s taking that crazy filly so long?”

Finally Scootaloo buzzed her way up to Feather and stopped in front of him.

“What took you so long?” Feather asked.

“Um, sorry. Heh. Lost track of time, I guess?”

He grunted and shook his head in annoyance. “Crusading with your friends again?”

She simply shook her head. “Hmm, I didn’t really feel like hanging out with them right now.”

He quirked a brow at her quizzically. “Why?”

Scootaloo grunted in annoyance. “Look, I just didn’t feel up to Crusading today.”

“Uh, okay. To the clubhouse then?”

She merely shook her head at that.

“Not right now, Applejack’s been working in the fields late on certain days and it’s kind of tough to pin down when it’ll be clear or not,” she said before packing everything away and settling onto her scooter again.

“Wonderful,” he said with a sigh.

She shrugged. “Just hop on. I got another place we can go to, it’s usually free, well, when it’s not summertime at least.”

Feather paused at that and gulped upon thinking about what she’d just said. “Uh… y- you know I have a bad time breaking and entering into other ponies’ places. Why do you think I picked out the clubhouse when I first got here?”

“Ah, relax, will ya? Trust me, this place is free right now,” she said rather confidently, but Feather wouldn't budge. He struck a sitting pose and began to put his hooves at his sides.

Sighing, she merely shook her head. “Feather! Trust me, okay? It’s a big empty place that’s on the outskirts of town. It’s a summer home. As in it’s not summer right now, alright?”

Grudgingly he nodded and figured that it was a damn sight better than sleeping outside.

“Now quit being such a foal and get on already!”

Resigning himself to this craziness, he secured his bag and got on, and they were off in a flash. Feather noted, as they went, Scootaloo would wave to random ponies and smile in their direction, as if she knew them. The more he hung around the town, the friendlier it seemed to him, though plenty of the ponies she would wave to were definitely far more adult than their age, something he certainly took note of and would talk to her about later.

Eventually, the thatched roof houses and quaint shops of Ponyville vanished as they seemed to leave the town entirely on a dirt path which lead far away from Fluttershy’s cottage in the other direction. They traveled for a good four minutes of “Scootaloo Speed” until, finally, the silhouette of a lone building appeared off in the distance.

“Is that it?” Feather yelled over the near deafening wind rushing by and constant buzzing of her tiny wings.

“Huh? Oh yeah, that’s it alright!” she yelled before finally skidding to a stop.

Under what little sunlight remained, Feather could see that the place was a large building, not quite the size of Diamond Tiara’s mansion, but it certainly had an aura of wealth about it, with neat, finely laid out bricks and a roof that wasn’t made of straw or hay. It would certainly serve their purpose for the night.

“Cool. So how do we get in?”

“Around back, it’s not hard,” she noted and began carefully cantering around the back. She wheeled her scooter with her. “It’s right over here,” she said while pointing to a vague square shape. “Just wait in the front and I’ll let you in,” she said.

Around front, he could hear Scootaloo making odd noises and cursing to herself as she seemed to trip on something. In that very moment, Feather’s breath caught in his throat with his eyes turning to pinpricks, though the moment passed without incident. No sudden lights turned on with no angry ponies demanding they leave; the place was truly unoccupied.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the door swung open and the hallway light had been turned on. “Come on in, Feather Brain!”

“Don’t call me that,” he said, practically seething as he strolled by her. He glanced around. “Wow, this place looks nice… how did you find it?”

She didn’t answer at first and instead strolled by him to find more lights to turn on. “Well, I heard ponies talk about this summer home a year back and realized it was really just a vacation home a family uses, well, during the summer. Kind of stupid to just leave a perfectly good house all by itself and all, but eh. That’s rich ponies for ya,” she said while rolling her eyes.

He laughed a bit and shook his head. “Sure seems like a waste,” he noted.

“Oh, you haven’t seen the best part, come with me!”

They began walking upstairs, the wood flooring creaking with every step. Nervously Feather would look around, wondering when the jig would be up and they’d be run out of town or worse, yet nothing came. They entered an ordinary door as Scootaloo turned on another light and his jaw dropped. In its full glory was a massive stone tile bathtub featuring jacuzzi jets and numerous faucets to fill the thing. Beyond it was a fittingly large picture window framing the view of the night landscape lit only by the soft light of Luna’s moon. It was simply stunning.

“Yeah, that was my reaction first time around,” she said while giggling. Feather stared ahead in silence, his mouth agape.

The bath had more in common with a swimming pool, Feather thought. As he got closer, he could see that the tiles were accented with gemstones and lined with a trimming of gold, which made spirals and various shapes. The moonlight made the gems, gold, and tile sparkle and shimmer.

Feather nearly jumped out of his skin when the thing suddenly turned on, dozens of open tubes blasting the tub with water, filling it up. He looked around and spotted Scootaloo’s hoof messing with some knobs over to the side.

“Been a while, but I think this one makes it hot…” she said quietly, mumbling to herself.

While a nice warm bath in an oversized royal jacuzzi sounded heavenly to Feather, he couldn't quite shake that unnerving feeling like they were being watched, though with nothing apparent to give them away. He couldn't hear anypony around over the water and it was far too dark out for anypony to have followed them, but still the feeling remained.

“Well, you going in or what?” Scootaloo asked impatiently. The bath had finally finished filling as the two awkwardly stared at it.

Hot steam wafted through the room as the Jacuzzi jets continued to flow in an endless loop, the water bubbling and simmering. Practically begging the two to get in.

He sighed. “Um, I guess. But are you sure this place is safe?”

He just never lets his guard down, does he? she thought in a daze. “Look, I get you’ve been on your own for a while, but so have I. Almost nopony even knows this place exists in Ponyville, I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever seen ponies near it.”

“Except in the summer?”

“Well, it’s not summer. Now get going,” she commanded and then, not waiting for him to reply, she jumped in.

Feather grunted as a small splash of hot water hit his hooves. She gave him a cheeky smile then dove under the water.

“Fine.” Reluctantly, he took his saddlebag off and gently set it aside before gingerly getting in. The colt couldn’t help himself as he let loose a quiet moan of pleasure with his face morphing into a goofy grin. The moment of pure silence and relaxation was quickly cut short when the filly suddenly re-surfaced with a loud, shattering breath.

“Phew, that feels good!”

“Heh, yeah, I guess it does.”

She nodded then flapped her wings gently through the water. The high temperature relaxed their muscles, relieving all tension in the room.

Does feel nice, but I still don’t like this… he thought, stubborn as ever. While it would have been nice to fully relax for once, being cautious even at the best of times is what had always kept him safe.

Both ponies eventually settled into seats on opposite ends of the tub, feeling the multitude of jets sloshing around and pressing against their backs. Scootaloo smiled dreamily down into the tub, watching Luna’s light shine through the various colored gems. Had Spike been around, there’d be no doubt they would soon go missing.

It seemed a disquieting metamorphosis had taken place in the room. Nothing seemed to matter outside the room, out there in the rest of the world. Outside that window seemed a place now covered in shadow. In fact, everything seemed peaceful. Sublime. And it was strange to them. Alien, somehow.

Both ponies looked at one another, both sensing the same change in the air. Feather took off his hat, and set it on the side of the bath.

“I wondered why you wear that thing,” Scootaloo commented, her voice devoid of sarcasm and of judgement.

“You won’t tell anypony,” Feather said, not asked as a question, or told as a demand, just a comment, that seemed to be more of a statement of the obvious.

She shook her head ‘no’ just slightly.

Rolling his eyes and grumbling to himself, he took a quick dip under the water and sighed pleasantly. It took Feather much longer to resurface, and when he did he let out a huge gasp for air before sighing again. “Wow, that felt great.”

“Eeyup,” she said lazily.

The steam almost lulled them to sleep, but seemed to simply relax them just enough to stay awake. An awkward silence soon took over the room as they simply stared into the bath at seemingly nothing, yet it seemed that there should be some kind of conversation. Until she spoke.

“So, how long you been tinkering with that thing?”

He blinked in astonishment and tried to recall a concrete number, something that made sense before simply shrugging. “I guess a few years…”

She nodded, looking to be deep in thought. “Has it ever… you know, worked?”

He gave her a deadpan stare of astonishment as if to say really?!.

Rolling her eyes, she elaborated, “I mean, has the wing ever moved like it was working? You know, like,” she lifted one wing out of the water and slowly flapped it up and down.

“Sort of,” he said while looking back at it. “I’ve definitely gotten it to move before, just like my wing, but not for very long before it just, you know, breaks,” he exclaimed with a heavy sigh.

“That sucks.”

“Yeah, it sure does.”

“Do ponies ever… you know, make fun of you for not being able to fly?”

“Not… really. I think they just feel sorry for me. But not like that’s any better…”

“Oh. Yeah I saw some of that at your party, that doesn’t sound fun.”

“Eenope.” He resisted the urge to sigh again and instead looked away. “How about you? I take it Diamond Tiara probably wasn’t the first bully you ever had?”

“That’s an understatement. Back at my old place, the other ponies weren’t exactly kind about my wings. Eventually I got sick of it and just up and left; not like anypony wanted to adopt a flightless pegasus filly anyway…”

“Your old place?”

“An... orphanage for ‘lost foals.’”

“Oh. How long ago was that?”

“A few years. I roamed about from town to town, but no place really felt like home. Until I found Ponyville. I still don’t understand how Pinkie just throws a party for everypony, cause she certainly didn’t know me or anything, but it was the best day I could remember in so long. I was gonna leave right after-”

“I would have,” he said, interrupting her. “I take it everypony in town was invited? Right?” she nodded. “It’s already suspicious to be at a huge party by yourself, at our age. I mean, think about it.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I thought about that back then, but I didn’t really have a chance to leave before a storm kicked in overnight. Stupid weather ponies. So I stayed and I remember applying for school with Sweetie Belle’s help, well, mainly her big sister’s help. All I said was my folks were too busy and before I knew it, I was in the same class. It took a while, but I had a home, even if it didn’t always feel like one.”

He nodded.

Silence again as the two fought the urge to either get out or just sleep in the water, which was obviously a bad idea, they might get all pruney.

“Are you… do you mind if I ask you about your parents?”

Feather sighed. It hurt to remember, but the warmth of the bathwater seemed to dull the pain… at least a little. “My mother… I never got to know her. She… died. A long time ago. And my dad…” he paused to rub a tear from his eye.

“I’m sorry.”

“I just… I try not to think about it, you know?”

Scootaloo nodded and looked down at her wet coat. “Um, remember that half magic stuff Twilight was talking about in school today?”

“Hmm, yeah,” he mumbled.

“Well, I’m pretty sure my parents were both earth ponies. I kind of… maybe think that’s why I can’t fly,” she admitted hastily.

He stood up and leaned. “...Pretty sure?”

“Well, I was pretty young when they kicked the bucket. I don’t really remember a whole a lot about them,” said with a shrug.

“I’m… sorry. Is that why you seemed kind of grumpy at recess? And why you didn’t go ‘crusading’ with your friends today?”

“...Yes. I just went off to think, but that just made me feel worse,” she said and looked behind herself to examine her wings, flexing them a few times. “They just look so scrawny. I mean, even if I had my parents, I doubt they’d even want a filly with wings like these.”

“Then buck parents. If they don’t want you, then who cares about them? And who cares if your wings aren’t strong enough to lift you? Make them stronger. Hay, I’m missing a whole wing, but I know I’ll find a way to fly someday. I bet you can too,” he said more confidently.

She blinked and nodded in thought before quickly getting out. “That’s probably the cheesiest thing I’ve ever heard,” she said, much to his annoyance, but she still smiled. “But thanks, I think? I needed it.”

“Um, you’re welcome?” Fillies are weird… he thought.

She went to find a towel and showed him where he could locate one. “When you’re dry, you can find me in the room at the end of the hall. There are two beds there. You gonna stay up and work on that thing?”

“Probably,” he said without even thinking about it. She rolled her eyes before trotting off, almost looking happy.

After drying off and grabbing his hat, he went to look at his device while biting his lip, wondering if it was even worth working on that night. He slumped to the floor, silently blaming the warm bath for making him too sleepy to work. “Eh, maybe not tonight,” he muttered.

He grabbed his backpack and hat and walked off to go find the nice comfy bed, feeling more relaxed than he’d been in ages.

I have no good excuses for how long this took to finish, in the future hopefully I'll have much quicker updates.

Feather groaned and glanced around, trying to dispel the weariness from his body. He shifted slowly, and craned his neck around, hearing a rather satisfying crack. Outside, he could hear the birds chirping and making their music.

It felt surreal to him. He had stepped into a parallel universe where mornings weren't filled with urgency and worries, and the feeling was new, hard to grasp. There was even warm, welcoming sunlight that bathed their room in a tranquil way that felt calming.

The old habits were still there, the fleeting thought that he had to hurry and get out of there, but then his memories caught up with him. Nopony was home, he had nowhere to be and he had no reason to leave. The initial anxiety spike that would normally come after sleep, and his usual morning routine, was no longer a spike, but an easily ignored bump. For once, he felt calm. How odd.

Next to him, he heard a very quiet yawn. Scootaloo started mumbling to herself and smacking her lips as she slowly woke up, more peacefully than even Feather had. Feather let himself smile, though he quickly hid it away when he saw Scootaloo roll over and lock eyes with him.

Scootaloo tilted her head. “What?”

“I dunno,” he admitted. “I, uh, feel weird I guess.”

She cracked her neck like he had and slowly stood up to stretch. “Good weird or bad weird?”

He blinked and shrugged. “Is there a difference?”

“Duh. Just ask Pinkie, usually, with her, it’s a good weird.”

He nodded and almost felt silly for agreeing since he seemed to know what she meant. “I guess it's a ‘good’ kind of weird? A lazy kind of weird?”

“Lazy? Dude, whatever,” she waved her hoof, brushing off the comment. “I want breakfast. We can hunt some down, and-- wait! What time is it?!”

The spike of adrenaline and anxiety rushed back. “We’re gonna be late for school! Let’s-! Oh…” He straightened up, taking a breath to calm himself again, bringing a hoof to his chest. “Wait, why do I even care if I’m late? It’s not like-”

She interrupted him by slapping his hoof back to the ground. “I care and if you get in trouble then adults will notice, stupid. Now,” she paused and quickly donned her helmet,” let’s get going!”

Rolling his eyes, he started searching for his bag. “I guess it’s not a breakfast day?”

She sighed and righted her scooter. “Do you have a watch?”

“Yes.” He found his bag and started rummaging around inside it. “Though I’m not one hundred percent sure if the thing is set right.”

He glanced behind him and saw Scootaloo glance out at the rising sun. “Well, we can always guess. If you’re lucky, we’ll have time to grab some grub from a food stand or something.”

“Please be on time…” he mumbled and kept rummaging. Finally, his hoof felt a cold metallic piece that dangled off of a bronze chain. He fumbled with it a few times and quickly got the watch open. “I think we have time, it’s still seven-thirty, if this is set right.”

“Fine, we’ll grab food quickly and get to school.” She waited for him as he carefully placed his bag back on. “If you’re wrong and we’re late, I’m blaming you,” she stated.

“Food first, blame later,” he mumbled, hunger growing with his annoyance. He could feel the insides of his stomach going mad.

He hopped onto the back of her scooter and stood behind her while hanging onto her torso and she scooted away from the strange mansion. Out of curiosity, Feather glanced back, wondering if anypony was really watching them, but he sensed nothing. The further they went, the better off he felt about the whole situation. He almost wished he could feel that good all the time. No looking over my shoulder, no worries. It feels so… nice. He wanted to smile but grimaced instead. But he knew, deep down, that it just wasn’t possible.

Still, he glanced back at Scootaloo, it was something to admire, that she didn’t have much more going for her than he did, but she always seemed to stay happy. He wished he could stay in Ponyville, but it would never work out, not in a million years. I’ll have to hit the road eventually. It’s already getting really weird with Twilight and she’s basically onto me.

The scooter came to an abrupt stop at what seemed to be a food stand in an outdoor market. Blinking, he saw a new pony that he didn’t recognize, a mare with an orange coat and a dark red mane, and several delicious looking pies. He could smell the pies too, all warm and fresh. “How early did you get up to make all these?”

“Got anything for breakfast?” Scootaloo interrupted, surprised that Feather would just ask a casual question while they were in a rush. “We’re in a hurry.”

“Warm turnovers! Pastries with filling, just perfect for breakfast.” came the cheerful rehearsed line. “One per bit for a bite! Or, well, for a whole pastry… One bit per turnover, I don’t charge per bite, that would be- I’m still workshopping it. They’re one bit each!”

The two foals stared for a moment, and the mare withered under what she felt was the judgemental gaze of two ponies who could do better in their sleep. Instead, the confusion of two young children led her to the brash reaction of shouting, “Oh, get out of here, I’m working on it!” and throwing the nearest item, the pastries in question.

Feather and Scootaloo barely had time to catch them, but they did, and quickly retreated from the stand, shouting in unison, “Works for us!”

Leaving the scooter leaning against a tree in the market, they continued their journey on hoof, walking as fast as they could while eating their dubiously procured breakfast.

“That’s not technically stealing, right?” Scootaloo asked, sniffing at her turnover.

“Haven’t we both done actual stealing?” Feather reminded her before taking a bite of his. Apple, not surprising, it seemed to be in everything around here. “What flavor did you get?”

Scootaloo took a bite. “Strawberry,” she answered with her mouth full.

“Lucky.”

They finished their breakfast well before making it to the schoolhouse. But they started seeing the other foals, many with their guardians, headed the same direction at a relaxed pace, and happily kept the same. At some point, Scootaloo caught sight of her friends and met Sweetie Belle’s eyes. The unicorn filly waved then met eyes with Feather and shook her head. Sighing, Scootaloo shoved past Feather and joined her friend, and the pompous looking white unicorn mare accompanying her.

Feather continued the walk on his own, finding it odd that he eventually caught up to somepony else walking alone, Diamond Tiara. Without hesitation, he walked over, smiling, though he didn’t realize it. “So, you’re walking alone too?”

“Sup?” She asked, ignoring his question.

“Uh, not much.” Feather may not have noticed when he started to smile, but he noticed as it went away. “Scootallo and I just got breakfast.””

“I can see that, half of it’s still on your face.”

He wiped his face, dislodging crumbs and flakes of pastry. “It was good though, this pie stall mare threw some turnovers at us, maybe you should try them, come with us tomorrow?”

“Pfft! Pie for breakfast? Sounds like a good way to get fat.”

Feather stood there in shock. Was she annoyed with him? And, who in Celestia’s name would refuse something as important as food? “Uhhh, what?”

“C’mon, fat feathers, school’s a-waitin’.”

“What did I do?” He grumbled quietly, then spoke up. “I thought we were done with the nicknames.”

She glanced back with a frown and sighed. “...Sorry,” she mumbled and cantered up ahead without looking back.

He rushed up alongside, but kept his mouth shut. It didn’t seem like she was upset with him, but he still didn’t like it. He felt a little weird that he even cared, he certainly wouldn’t have cared before, but maybe he could try and cheer her up? He wanted to cheer her up. He looked over, offering a small smile as they walked.

Diamond saw, and shook her head. “Weirdo.”

School seemed rather uneventful for once, it had barely been a week and Feather could already feel that it was routine. A vague memory of what it once felt like to regularly attend class resurfaced and he recalled enjoying it, but not always having a great time. Still, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world, he figured. That was until recess hit.

As the foals started scrambling out of their seats for the freedom of the great outdoors, he was stopped by the teacher. “Feather, wait a moment,” Miss Cheerilee called.

The colt froze in his tracks, glancing towards the door, watching everypony else escaping into the sunlight, and calculating his chances of making it out if he ran. He caught the eye of one of the other colts, who silently mouthed, “it was nice knowing you,” before ducking out with the other foals.

Feather couldn’t remember ever interacting with him before, but before he could contemplate it long, Miss Cheerilee was standing over him.

“Twilight stopped by early this morning and dropped this off for you.” The teacher dropped a small, neatly rolled parchment on his desk. “Now, you have a fun recess, your friends are waiting.”

“My friends?” Feather looked over, Scootaloo, Diamond Tiara, and the colt from a moment ago were peeking back through the door, at least, until Scootalo shoved the colt away, then it was just her and Diamond Tiara. But, even they ducked back outside when they saw Cheerilee look over. “Ah.”

Feather got up, chuckling nervously. “Better not keep them waiting then?” He headed for the door, only to stop, head back and grab his saddlebags, head for the door, then repeat the process for the note, and hurry out again. Once he was out the door, before he could even blink away the harsh change in light, he felt himself being grabbed and carried away.

“I’m sorry!” He panic-screamed, as he was dumped to the ground at the base of the playground tree. “I didn’t mean to steal the pastry!”

Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara — his apparent captors — exchanged glances, and Scootaloo put her hooves up. “We didn’t steal anything, she threw them at us of her own free will.”

“Whatever,” Diamond crossed her hooves, “Just, spill, what’s in the letter?”

He glanced down at the parchment scroll he had clutched to his chest, realizing he was flat out in the dirt. “You do realize that I haven’t even read this yet, right?”

Diamond swiped the note, ignoring his shouts and scrambling to get up as she unrolled it.

“That’s stealing,” Scootaloo pointed out.

“That’s rich, coming from you,” Diamond pointed out.

Scootaloo shrugged, and looked over at Feather. “She’s got us there.”

Feather snorted angrily as he tried to dust himself off, getting especially annoyed at a dead leaf that just kept sticking. “I don’t care, that’s mine, give it back.”

“Fine, Mr. Cereal Thief, here you go,” She rolled the parchment back up and hoofed it over. “It was nice knowing you.”

“What are you talking about…” Feather trailed off as he unrolled the letter.

Feather,

I hope this letter finds you well. I wanted to invite you over for a very special lesson this evening after your job is done. If you can, I’d love for you to bring your father over, if he’s not too busy. A very special guest will be joining us as well. A royal guest.

Twilight Sparkle

“Dude, that’s a trap,” Scootaloo said, reading over his shoulder. She snatched it up, reading it again to see if she had missed anything, even flipping it over to check the back before offering it back to Feather. “It was nice knowing you.”

“Everypony stop staying that!” Feather rolled the letter up tightly, working it in his hooves and grumbling. “What are we going to do about this?”

“I could tell her you died,” Diamond suggested, “she’s pretty trusting, I bet she’d believe me.”

“Yeah, but, then what? I just keep avoiding her or something. Forever?” I need her to help me with my machine!

“So, not dead, but maybe hurt?” Scootaloo suggested, “In the hospital and can’t make it tonight?”

“Are you crazy? she would go to the hospital and check!” Feather crossed his hooves, leaving all three of them sitting under the tree, hooves crossed, and thinking way too hard about lying to the local librarian. “It needs to be something she can’t check.”

“Or something she can check,” Diamond offered.

“Like getting hurt for real,” Scootaloo mused.

“No.” Feather groaned. “Why is it so much work to think up a good excuse?”

“That’s it!” Scotaloo shouted, making the other two jump. “Just say you had tons of extra work at your job.”

Feather chewed the inside of his lip and thought about it. “That could work. But what about that part about the guest? You don’t think she means P- Princess Celestia, do you?”

Scootaloo and Diamond both burst out laughing. Feather shot them a rather dirty look and waited for their giggle fit to die down.

“Dude, Princess Cadance is still in town. She probably meant her. Why in the heck would Princess Celestia want to visit some bookworm like Twilight? Get real.”

“One princess already knows her,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, but she used to be her foalsitter I think… plus, I mean, she’s not really a princess. Last I checked, she doesn’t raise the sun or moon.”

He sighed and nodded. “This is probably a trap--”

“Yep!” Scootaloo interrupted.

“I really shouldn’t go,” he mumbled mainly to himself.

“That’s the plan,” Diamond reminded.

Feather groaned and glanced back to his saddlebag. “But I have to.”

“Well, if you think-- Come again?”

Ignoring her raised eyebrow, Feather pulled his bag close to him, rubbing some dirt off of it. “Twilight may have a way to help me fix this thing and she’s making me a special part. I can’t just ignore her until I get those things. To me, it’s worth the risk.”

Scootaloo smacked her hoof into her face and slowly brought it down. “It’s your funeral, just leave me out of it, please.”

“I will. Erm, she’s the one that married that Gleaming Armor guy, right?”

“It’s Shining Armor, but yes. Why?”

“With the changeling invasion?”

Scootaloo slowly nodded and quirked a brow at him. “Yeahh….”

“Everypony knows that,” Diamond pointed out, “right?”

Feather smacked one hoof down into the other as it clicked. “Then, I have a plan. This should be easy.” He got up and pulled his saddlebag on with renewed determination. “See ya!”

Scootaloo slowly shook her head as he trotted off. “Weirdo.”

Diamond shook her head along. “Where is he even going? This is just recess, we still have class after this.”

Feather had been halfway to the bakery before realizing he left way too early, and had to rush back to school. Luckily, Miss Cheerilee seemed more amused than upset by the circumstances. Still, the stunt had earned him some extra homework.

Even more luckily, it was easy work, and Feather quietly finished it at school before class let out for real. And, now that he was at the bakery, work was going just as easily. He had quite nearly finished his work and gave a slight smile as he mopped the last of the floor tiles to a shine. He felt a tad silly, but seeing Mrs. Cake’s bakery looking spotless from top to bottom instilled in him a sense of pride. He couldn’t do much to help with whatever was keeping the bakers busier than usual in the kitchen. But he’d done most of the cleaning work with zero help because of that, and felt that it was a great deal of effort.

Then he glanced over to his saddlebag, sitting in the corner, with his device safely within. He looked back to the bakery’s cleaning supplies and frowned and shook his head.

“Dearie?”

Feather whirled around at the voice, forgetting the wet floor he slipped, but Mrs. Cake caught the colt easily. “Oh, careful, dear. Didn't mean to make you jump, but I was just gonna say you’re finished for the day. We got so busy, we kind of forgot you were still out here mopping away! Thank you so much for helping out.” she hoofed him some bits for his trouble.

Feather beamed and pocketed them in his bag. “Sure. Thanks for the bits!”

“Of course. I even left you a few extra for making sure the place was extra spotless.” She winked at him.

Feather blushed and thanked her again. It felt strangely pleasant to do a good job. He donned his device bag, as he liked to call it, and darted out to go see Twilight.

He considered just bailing and waiting for the princess to leave town, but then sighed and shook his head. “She’ll just think it’s even more suspicious, besides, I’ve got a plan.” He nodded, trying to reassure himself. “I’ve got this. Better get it over with, now.”

He glanced toward Twilight’s library and tapped his hoof on the ground over and over. Looking up through one of the library’s windows he spotted Twilight’s shadow seated across from a familiar-looking alicorn mare. He stepped inside and put on his best smile.

“Feather! Come in, come in! We were both just talking about you,” Twilight exclaimed and motioned for him to take a seat on a nearby cushion.

He nodded and quietly took a seat in between them.

Princess Cadance smiled down at him and he smiled back with his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide.

Before either could say anything, Feather spoke. “You’re so tall!”

Cadance broke out giggling. “Is that why you were staring in class? Of course I’m tall, it comes with the territory of being royalty,” she exclaimed while using a free hoof to fluff her bangs.

Feather leaned back in his cushion and smirked. “And being an Alicorn?”

Princess Cadance blinked and nodded. “That’s what I said.”

“Riiiight.” Twilight coughed to garner their attention. “Anyway, we were just discussing your progress in--”

Feather leaned down toward Cadance's hooves and, without warning, rubbed her shiny looking hoof regalia. Their golden shine reflected his face back at him. “Do they ever get annoying to wear? They look heavy.”

She examined them on her hooves and nodded with a slight smirk. “Oh, they do. Trust me, nothing feels better than ending the day, tossing these off, and taking a long shower.”

Twilight sighed. “As I was saying, we wanted to discuss your home life and your progress in school. Princess Cadance was interested in you as she takes pride in seeing foals of Equestria excel in their studies.”

Feather glanced between the two and slowly nodded. “So, she wants to know about me? About my personal life?”

Twilight cleared her throat. “Well… I didn’t--”

Princess Candance, without thinking, nodded. “Yes, that’s exactly what she meant. We wanted to question you not just on your studies, but about your home life--”

For perhaps the fifth time, somepony was interrupted. “Did your horn grow larger when you became an Alicorn?”

The princess blanched.

“Wait, were you born one? Was your horn always that big? Like, did Baby Princess Candance pop out of her mother’s womb with that gargantuan horn? What about your husband? He’s got a normal-sized horn. Do you ever think it’s too small?”

“Feather! That is not--” Twilight tried to interrupt.

“What’s he like, anyway, Shining Armor? Are you glad you married him?”

Princess Cadance moved her mouth as if to say something, but in that moment she couldn’t really think of anything coherent.

“I mean, you don’t have foals yet so I was wondering, is all.”

Twilight stood up and stamped her hoof on the wood floor, hard. “Enough! Feather, those are very personal things to ask…”

Feather nodded and shrugged. “I bet. They sure sounded personal.” He finished with his head resting on one of his hooves while smiling at Twilight.

Twilight stood frozen while Princess Cadance chuckled, bringing a hoof to her mouth to hide a grin. “I like this one. But, how about we just discuss classes and schoolwork for now. Is that okay?”

Feather smiled and gently put down his saddlebags before digging out one of his history books. “Sure!”

The remainder of the evening was spent going over boring homework and some extracurricular activities which Twilight was more than eager to bring up. A few involved social studies and lessons on friendship which caused him to roll his eyes several times. But one of the topics was on engineering.

Twilight smiled and nodded while hoofing over a canvas bound book with a golden etched title.

“The Principles of Reciprocating Engines?”

“Yes, it’s a brand new book that has recently been submitted to the Canterlot Publishing House. It’s not even in circulation yet and I was provided an advanced copy. It’s very advanced stuff and I thought you might find it intriguing.”

Feather flipped through the book and saw intricate drawings of advanced machinery that he’d never seen before. Some detailing pistons for what seemed to be steam engines only smaller. “You want me to have it?” he asked, his mouth hanging down while his eyes widened in amazement.

“Yes. Not to keep, mind you, but I trust you, Feather, and I’ll let you borrow it.” Twilight leaned in. “Just be sure not to show anypony else but us for the time being as it's still under review from the Royal Unicorn Society, and this copy may need to go back with some notes before it gets a full printing.”

Feather slowly nodded and felt a warm feeling envelop his core. He smiled back at Twilight and then beamed down at the book.

Princess Cadance stood up and yawned. “Goodness. I should probably get back to Shining before he worries. Twilight, it’s been fun and same to you, Feather.” The princess walked to the door, stepped outside and stretched. “Until next time.”

Feather waved as the princess took flight, and couldn’t help but feel amazed at how quickly, how effortlessly, she took to the skies. It really wasn’t fair. How easy it looked, shouldn’t he be able to do that much? He glanced down to his missing wing and scowled.

Why was he the only one that was broken?

“Right, well, it is getting late and I’m sure your father would want-” Twilight stopped after looking down at Feather. The colt was frozen in place, staring at where the princess had taken off. “He’d want you home at a decent hour, right?”

Twilight moved a little closer, and repeated herself, “Right?

Feather snapped out of it, and looked up. “Huh?”

Twilight froze for a moment. “Hey,” she said softly, “it’s ok.” Not knowing what else to do, she gently wiped away the tear running down the colt’s face. “You did good today, Feather.”

Feather jerked back from the touch, bringing his own hoof up to rub at his face.

Am I crying?! He sniffed loudly, cleared his throat, and blinked several times, surprised by the sting it caused. “Oh, right. Erm, thanks.” Feather gathered up his things in a hurry, and quickly packed everything into his saddlebags, making extra sure to include his newly acquired book.

Twilight took a step towards him to help, but he stepped away just as quickly, nearly tripping over himself, and bumping into an end-table. She would have asked if he was alright, but by the time she thought of it, he was halfway to the door at a full sprint. “Have a nice night,” she said as he opened the door. She jumped as he slammed it shut. “Feather.”

“Thanks, you too!” Came the overly cheerful, not convincing reply from the other side of the door, followed by hoofbeats as the colt ran off.

“What just happened?” Twilight asked herself. She couldn’t think of anything she might have said to upset the colt, but something was clearly wrong. Why did he suddenly run off?

Twilight checked to see if the colt left anything behind that would give her an excuse to check back in with Cheerilee, or maybe even drop by Feather’s home to return it. She quickly found a book, over by the end table, likely fallen out of the colt’s saddlebags when he bumped into it.

Picking it up, she realized that it wasn’t a schoolbook. It took her a moment to realize it was leather bound. She narrowed her magic, using as little as possible to hold it. She had seen leather bound books before, she was a librarian, after all. But, still, ew. And why would Feather have something like this?

She stared at it for a moment, and in that moment, her concern and curiosity wrestled with her queasiness and respect for Feather’s privacy. But, the image of the young colt crying flashed in her mind and her concern won out. She opened it to the first page, to find writing instead of print. “Is this… a journal?

Meanwhile, Feather, unaware of what he had left behind, had managed to pull himself together. It wasn’t like him to get upset like that. He needed to keep it together, keep it cool. And to not be suspicious.

He was headed for the clubhouse, eager to dive into the engineering text Twilight had given him, when he noticed a tall mare with gray streaks in her ivy-green mane standing on the path he needed to take. An Earth Pony mare who was staring right at him. She seemed kind of familiar, but he was having trouble remembering exactly.

None of that mattered right now. The only thing down this path was the clubhouse, what was this mare doing here?

She waved. Feather’s eyes widened and he awkwardly waved back, then backed up a tad before hastily making a retreat.

The clubhouse was compromised.

Now what?

I would like to give special thanks to theRedBrony for helping to edit this chapter (and for finally motivating me to finish it), and to Metal Pony Fan for changing the chapter to have more showing and concise wording.