-Seizures and Censors-

        Coalback walked up to the edge of the water, his hoof-tips just entering the edge of one of the larger lakes around Ponyville. He clutched a bowl in his teeth, a candle burned in the center of it. The light played over the water in the darkness, stars slowly revealing themselves as the light of the sun was replaced by the moon.

        He lowered it to the water, and let it drift out into the lake. He lifted his head slowly, his face holding a dour mood.

        “All souls, whether in their lifetimes were considered good, or bad, deserve to be respected and honored. We send your bodies back to the earth so that your spirits may go on. I am by no means a priest, nor do I know your traditions. But I hope that my words will be enough to send you in peace. Requiescant in pace.” He ended his speech with some blessing in a tongue he used rarely.

        He looked to the sky, examining the stars as they revealed themselves in the waning night. He felt something soft and warm brush up against him, but he did not acknowledge it at first. He sighed, a wing wrapped around his shoulders.

        “It’s been a long time since I’ve had to do that.” He said, his voice quiet as he remembered some moment from his past. Rainbow Dash leaned into him, trying to comfort him as best as she could.

        “We should go, it’s getting late.” She said, pulling on him with her wing. He followed, giving little resistance as he tore himself away from the rite that he had insisted on performing. “Why did you do that for them? You didn’t even know them, you were the one who...”

        “They were victims, every one of them. That voice, whoever he was, he is the true villain here.” He said, trying to explain his feelings. “A child is not persecuted for being captured and released for ransom.”

        “Okay, but why did you do it? Why not ask someone else to do that?” She asked, steering him over a hill toward her house.

It had been strange watching Coalback. He had carefully wrapped the bodies in clean bandages, turning them into white mummies. He had then tied heavy rocks to them, and sunk them into the deep part of the lake. He did the same thing for all of them, the griffons, even the monster that had nearly torn his arm off. Then he had stacked up a pile of rocks, and lit that candle.

        “When you-...If I am to condemn another to death, then I must guide them in what comes after.” He said, pausing when his words didn’t quite come out the way he wanted. “It is my duty, I feel that I owe dues to those I send to death’s door. Whether or not it was their decision to fight, it was mine to kill.” He swallowed, his voice dropping as he said the final words.

        Rainbow Dash stopped, nodding as she accepted his answer. She looked at the ground, her gaze falling on their luggage that she had piled there.

        “You can carry your things up with you, I’ll show you the way in.” She said, disconnecting herself from his shoulder. Coalback looked around him, confusion covering his features.

        “I thought you said we were going to your house.” He said, looking everywhere but up above him.

        “I am, look up.” She nodded skyward, a large cloud blocking the stars from view.

        “All I see is a particularly low cloud.” He said, confusion still decorating his words like icing on a cake.

        “That’s it!” She said, trying to raise the mood by laughing lightly. “I built my house up there. Come on, I’ll show you.” She bent down and gripped her bag in her mouth, Coalback following suit as she took off at a slow pace.

        She led him up past the edge of the cloud, revealing her house entirely to him. The cloud had been sculpted to form tangible and seemingly solid walls and columns. The theme of it centered around the columns and the waterfalls of prismatic color that fell from it. Coalback gasped, nearly dropping his luggage as he did.

        Rainbow Dash laughed through the handle gripped in her teeth. She waved him over, a door carved from clouds was near her. Then she did something that made Coalback nearly fall from the sky in surprise.

        She dropped down onto the cloud, standing on it as if it were solid ground. She noticed his reaction and patted the cloud with a hoof.

        “Go ahead.” She said, indicating that he should land atop the cloud as well.

He hesitated, looking at what he knew was merely water vapor condensed into a form that could hang in the air. He felt his mind rebelling at the very idea of standing on something that was clearly not solid in any way, but he slowly approached for a landing. He hovered over it for a moment, taking a deep breath before closing his wings and falling.

He landed with a soft noise, like a pillow hitting a hard floor. The cloud felt...fluffy, soft even. But it was definitely solid under his hooves. Rainbow Dash laughed.

“You’re such a foal! You look like a little pegasus taking his first steps, it’s ridiculous!” She laughed again, letting it trail off as she caught her breath. “Pegasus magic let’s all pegasi walk on clouds, even fly. But with wings like yours, you probably need less than most!” She felt her face grow hot, realizing that yet again she had been fixated on his wings. She coughed lightly, and Coalback spoke.

“I never even would have considered that a possibility. Are clouds made of something different here?” He asked, poking at a wispy piece of cloud that had drifted away from the porch area that they stood on.

“Made of water vapor, same as anywhere else.” She said.

“How strange...” He mumbled in response, watching as the cloud drifted apart as he pushed it.

“Let’s get inside, I really want to sleep in my bed tonight. I don’t even know how long we’ve been in Canterlot.” She said, pushing open the door as she did.

Inside the cloud house was almost as impressive as the outside, it being lit by the soft glow of the rainbow streams running through it.. The floor had been sculpted and polished, looking like an almost marble substance. The walls were mixes of fluffy walls and prismatic curtains. There were several doors in the one room, two of which actual wood. They led to a kitchen, some room full of only fluffy clouds with some sort of pedestal, a closet, and a restroom.

On the far end of the room, Coalback could see a staircase leading up to even more rooms. He felt like he was a child again, left to explore a fanciful castle.

Rainbow simply threw her bag into the closet nearby, opting to head toward the stairs.

“Follow me, I’ll show you where you can sleep.” She yawned, letting herself walk slowly along the cloud stairs. Coalback followed, feeling almost as energetic as a puppy.

She led him down a short hallway to two doors that were across from each other. One was a deep purple, with cloudy swirls in the fluffy door. The second door was plain white cloud, and he wondered for a second how she had gotten so many colors of clouds up into her house.

She opened the second of the doors, pointing to a wooden wardrobe that sat against the wall. “Put your things in there, I don’t want anything falling through the floor if we can help it. Bathroom and shower is down the hall, I’m in the room across from yours if you need anything else.” She yawned again. “G’night.” She turned and left, letting Coalback explore the room.

The bed was made of more sculpted clouds. He wandered to the wardrobe, depositing his bag inside. Then proceeding to remove the pieces of his armor, setting them gently inside the wardrobe. He pulled a tattered pair of sweats from his bag, the damage wasn’t bad, mostly just singing.

He pulled on the sweats, ripping a hole in the back as he did. His tail swung freely from the newly modified clothing. It did not take him long to decide that the room could await inspection until the light of the sun could illuminate it.

He fell asleep almost instantly, pausing only to savour the softness of the cloud bed.

---

        For once, Rainbow Dash was not woken by a nightmare. She felt herself gradually coming up from the depths of her slumber, becoming slowly more aware of her surroundings as she did. Her bed was warm, and the clouds were soft.

        She opened her eyes slightly, the clouds that made up the walls of her room coming into focus slowly. They had turned a lighter purple in the rising sun, but remained in the soothing hue. A stray ray of sunlight fell on the door, one of the clouds acting as a shutter had shifted in the night.

        She smacked her lips, attempting to rid her mouth of the morning taste. She yawned as she swung her legs out from under the cloudy blanket.

        She made her way out of her room, and would have turned to the bathroom. But the sound of choked gasping halted her, she turned toward the guest bedroom door. She pushed her hoof against it, swinging it open to reveal the room she had let Coalback use.

        Coalback lay gasping for air on his bed, the covers thrown to the floor. His eyes were open wide, but he was not seeing anything. They were contracted to a point where it almost seemed that he didn’t have pupils. And they were changing in color; flipping between green, golden yellow, and blood red as fast as one of Pinkie’s strobe light machines.

        She took a sharp breath at the sight, the clouds had been stained red with blood from his reopened wounds. It looked like he couldn’t breathe.

        She ran forward, he could be having some sort of seizure. She had to snap him out of it before something dangerous happened.

        “Coalback!” She yelled, grabbing onto his shoulders. “Snap out of it, Coalback! Tell me what’s wrong! Let me help you!” She pushed his head up, trying to get him to look at her. He took a longer gasp, and spat out a word.

        “WATER-” He gasped again, trying to pull in enough air to think and speak at the same time. “Lots of it!” He stopped trying to speak, the strobe light effect of his eyes becoming more intense as he tried to get more air.

        Rainbow jumped through the window, knocking a hole in the cloud structure as she went. She searched through the sky desperately, locating several fluffy clouds nearby. She flew to them quickly, gathering them into a cyclone as she pushed them into a smaller shape. The more dense clouds turning darker as she increased the pressure around them.

        She compressed them into something slightly bigger than a pony, and began moving it toward her house. She pushed it through the window, hovering it over Coalback’s head.

        “Here goes nothing!” She said, pulling up to stomp down on the cloud.

        Her hooves hit, setting off thunder in the cloud as water fell out of it in waves. She kept stomping, pushing all the water out into the room below. When she finished, every cloud in the room was a shade darker, and the one below her was barely a whisp of collected water.

        Her breathing was ragged as she darted around it to look at Coalback. He had stopped gasping, and was breathing deeply with his eyes closed tight.

        “Coalback?” Rainbow called, trying to see if the impromptu shower had helped at all.

        “I’m okay, thank you.” He let out a long breath, returning his breathing to normal. “Sorry, this never happens, I swear.”

        “What happened to you, Coalback? It looked like you were having a seizure!” She landed on top of the bed, Coalback sat up to meet her gaze.

        “You remember what I told you, about those voices?” He asked, drawing a nod from Rainbow Dash. “We were having an argument.”

        “What do you mean? What was the argument about?” She asked, why an internal argument would cause a seizure like that was beyond her.

        “They caught me by surprise this time. When they work against me at the same time, it can get pretty bad. They were arguing about me...being here, in Equestria that is.” He said, trying to explain the experience to her. “But, thank you. It would have been hard to stop it without that shock.”

        “So, the voices wanted you to leave?” She asked in a hurt tone.

        “No, mostly about what I should be doing here. Hunting, studying, running, learning. It get’s pretty abstract when they get going though.” He got up, his sweatpants thoroughly soaked through and dripping. “I guess I don’t need a shower now, though.” He joked, trying to lift the mood away from the topic.

        But Rainbow intercepted his retreat, hovering in front of his face. “Are there any other sort of things that are gonna happen, like that?” She asked, an accusatory tone laid out in her words like a minefield.

        “Other than losing control of myself to them, no.” He said, his voice carefully measured. He didn’t want to anger the mare that was giving him a roof to sleep under.

        “Good,” She landed back on her hooves. “Get ready to go out, We’re going to go meet up with a few of my friends in a little bit.” She turned to leave, heading for the bathroom at the end of the hall.

        After a few minutes to brush her teeth, and quick check to see if her wings needed a preen, she came back out. She came down the stairs to find Coalback in the living area.

        He was sitting on one of the couches, dressed in a pair of shorts and a ripped t-shirt. The pants had a ragged hole in the back that he had threaded his tail through, his wings poking out of similar tears in the shirt. He was playing with a puff of cloud as he sat.

        “I think we’ll stop by Rarity’s, first.” She said as she descended the stairs, this drew Coalback up from his tuft of cloud.

        “Okay.” He consented, hopping up from the piece of cloud furniture. He followed her out the door, looking back in for a moment in thought before leaving.

        “Just follow me, if you can keep up that is.” She joked.

        “Is that a challenge, Rainbow Dash?” He asked, a smirk decorating his face.

        She didn’t reply, but instead took off from the platform that made up her front porch. Coalback followed soon after, his large wings ripping through the air as he tried to keep pace with her.

        It was during that chase that he got his first real look at Ponyville. The thatched roofs spread out before him, and he could honestly say that he was happily surprised. The surface of everything was covered in a light dusting of snow, just enough to call it powder. The town was beautiful to him in his own mind however, it represented a new beginning to him. He just couldn’t let himself mess it up.

        Rainbow Dash banked, pulling to the left over the town. She landed a moment later in front of a finely decorated building with spirals and statues.

        Coalback landed a second later, or tried to that is.

        He scraped by, his hooves throwing up slush and dirt, digging lines into the snow as he tried to stop. His hoof hit a rock, and he flipped over onto his back. His breath was knocked from his lungs.

        Rainbow Dash laughed, soon joined by Coalback as he tried to get air in his lungs.

        “Still rough on the landings, I see.” She said, pulling him to his hooves.

        “Just a little bit.” He said, trying to brush the snow and dirt off his shirt.

        “Oh my goodness!”

        They turned toward the building, eying the white unicorn that stood there. Rarity stood in the door of the finely decorated building, her hoof was held up to her mouth to mask the gasp on her mouth.

        “Your clothes look absolutely dreadful! Come inside this instant!” She grabbed him with her magic and pulled him inside, surprising him with her sudden assertiveness. “Take off those rags, I simply cannot allow a stallion like yourself to walk around in these tatters.”

        “I am not going to undress in front of...mares.” He said, Rarity stopped.

        “Oh please, Coalback. It will be fine, besides how will I get proper measurements with those on?” She lifted a roll of measuring tape, floating it in front of her. Coalback eyed her, judging her seriousness.

        “I’m keeping the pants on.” He said, narrowing his eyes.

        “That’s fine, Coalback.” She said, waiting for him to take off his shirt before starting to take measurements. “May I ask why it is that you are so...concerned...about that?”

        “Where I’m from, it is a crime to be in public naked.” He said.

        “Really?” She asked, continuing her measurements as she talked.

        “That fact is so ingrained into our society, many are uncomfortable without clothes.”

        “Oh, I can’t even imagine an entire city in clothes. Oh it must be fabulous! What sort of fashions were popular there?”

        “I don’t really know, I didn’t really have the time for that sort of thing.”

        “Oh, well. I suppose you can’t keep track of everything, especially in a big city. What brings you all the way out here, by the way?” She asked, moving away for a moment.

        “I had questions, but they could not be answered there.” He said.

        “Questions about what?” She asked, pulling out several reams of colored fabric.

        “Mostly about...who I am.” He said, looking back at her as she compared the fabrics to his exposed coat. She mumbled to herself as she looked between the colors.

        “Quite the crusade, I hope you find what you’re looking for. Hmmm...I’m thinking something dark, maybe blue? That would bring out your eyes wonderfully. However, we’re going to have to do something about your mane, it’s a dreadful mess.” She reached up and ran her hoof through his messy mane.

        “What do you mean?” He asked, pulling away slightly from her hoof as he did.

        “I know just the thing! Fluttershy is stopping by in a moment, I’ll ask her to take you to the Spa! While you’re there, I’ll work on your clothes!” She said, her voice ecstatic.

        “You think Fluttershy can handle that, ‘cuz I’m not going.” Rainbow Dash said, finally finding something to comment on.

        “If you introduce them to each other, I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Rarity said, moving toward the door.

        She opened the door, revealing a patiently waiting Fluttershy at the door. “You really should knock louder, Fluttershy. I don’t mind, really.” She said, apparently her hearing was better than Coalback had thought.

        “I’m sorry, Rarity. Are we still going to the Spa today?” She asked quietly.

        “Something has come up, darling. I’ve been struck by inspiration! But don’t worry, I’ve found you a replacement!” She turned from Fluttershy, and waved toward Coalback.

        “Oh no, Rarity. I couldn’t do that...” She said, hiding under her mane.

        “Don’t worry,” She started, pulling Coalback forward with her magic. “I’m sure Coalback will be a perfect gentlecolt.” She pushed Coalback up to her, and she squeaked.

        “It’s okay, Fluttershy. I’ll come with you guys, at least ‘till the door.” Rainbow said, walking up to them.

        “Good, now get out!” Rarity said, practically spitting the words as she pushed them out and closed the door. They stood for a moment awkwardly on her porch.

        Rainbow cleared her throat. “Welp...no time like the present.” She said, walking out toward the town.

---

        Fluttershy and Coalback entered the Spa, Coalback just behind her. The light blue earth pony with a pink mane looked up from her desk, and her eyes opened wide. Then she smiled.

        “Hello, Meess Fluttershy!” She said, her voice having some accent that Coalback doubted he could have placed. “The usual for you today, or did you have sometheeng special planned?” Her voice sounded like it was trying to suggest something, and while Coalback didn’t understand, Fluttershy blushed heavily.

        “Oh-oh no, I...I wasn’t- I mean...just the regular for me, but I don’t know if-uhm-if that’s what...” She trailed off into incoherent mumbles, but Coalback picked up after it. He could practically feel her distress in the air.

        “I’m just getting a trim, ma’am. Fluttershy was showing me around the town with a few of her friends.” He said. And while he didn’t hear it well, Fluttershy sighed in relief.

        The mare at the counter smiled again, this time recognition covered her features. “Now I recognize you! You were that stallion at the station yesterday! You saved my seester and I a lot of trouble, you know. I’d be happy to halp you, I’ll even throw een a free massage.” She said, stepping around the counter as she did.

        “That’s not ne-” Coalback was interrupted suddenly as the mare pushed him from behind.

        She pushed him toward an arch where curtains hid the other room. His hooves dragged across the well polished floor, letting off a small constant squeaking as he went. She kept pushing, past a bath house, the large tubs drawing his gaze for the brief moment he could see them. She pushed him through another arch, this one leading to a small room that vaguely resembled a barber shop he had gone to when he was young, although a bit more...girly.

        “Aloe weell take care of you, Miss Fluttershy. She should be out in just a moment.” She called out to the other room.

        “Thank you, Lotus.” He barely heard Fluttershy’s response, his attention then captured again by the blue earth pony.

        She sat him down next to a large mirror with a low countertop below it, not saying a word as she gathered several things from around the room. She stopped in front of him, and lifted one of his hooves in her own before talking.

        “My, my, we have a lot of work to do weeth you, Meester...um...?” She stopped, gesturing for him to introduce himself.

        “Coalback, just Coalback, ma’am.” He said, trying to ascertain what she meant by her previous statement.

        “We’ll start weeth a hooficure. Then while you’re soaking, we can start on your mane and tail. After that I can geet you that massage, and once you’ve relaxed a bit we can preen your wings.” She said, and he wanted to ask a few questions, but was stopped as she pulled him over toward a large cushion.

        She sat him on the cushion, his hooves facing out toward her. She brought out a large pair of clippers first, using them to round out and shorten his hooves. She employed them by grasping one handle in her mouth, the other worked with her hoof. She clipped his hooves, letting the pieces fall to the floor around the cushion. The proceeded to round them down with a large file, working quickly and efficiently as she did.

        She then stood him back up, leading him to a basin on the floor. It was already filled with a slightly bubbling, cloudy water. She instructed him to stand in the basin, completely immersing his hooves in the liquid. They felt wierd, like his hooves were itching all of the sudden. He almost stepped out, but Lotus stopped him.

        “I know that eet feels strange, but thees bath will make your hooves feel fantasteec aftarwards. Just stay there for a moment, I’ll geet you a seat and we’ll start on your mane.” She said, pushing him back into the basin.

        She returned a moment later with a wide bench that stretched across the basin, allowing him to sit with his hooves in the water. His tail draped over the side, the bench stopping it from entering the water.

        The haircut took longer than he thought it would, and without a clock or window nearby, he had no idea how long it really took. But when she was done, he no longer had a messy mop of hair hanging from his head and flank.

She had neatly trimmed them. His tail cut in a way that would hang above his hooves as he walked, even if he lowered his tail as far as he could. His mane was cropped short, the hair barely an inch long above his head. It gave him a rather militarian look, but he was not unfamiliar with that.

        It was then that Lotus let him out of the itching basin, and she had been right about his hooves. He felt like he was walking on the clouds again, and had to check to be sure he hadn’t stepped off onto one. Then she led him over to a cushioned table.

        “Eef you take off those clothes, we can start on the massage.” She said, but Coalback merely backed away from her. “Oh, I see. Shy are we? Well here.” She grasped onto a towel on a nearby rack with her hoof and gave it to him. “You can go behind that screen and put thees on instead, I understand if you don’t want to be naked.” She gestured for him to go.

        Coalback was surprised, most of the ponies he had met were put off by his uneasiness with nudity. But Lotus seemed perfectly fine with his nervousness, perhaps she had seen it before.

        He proceeded to go behind the screen, wrapping the towel around his naked flank to hide himself. He was starting to feel more and more at ease around these ponies, even if he had his doubts about their reaction to his ... show. He hadn’t exactly been subtle about dealing with the terrorists.

        He came back out, finding Lotus right where he had left her. He climbed up onto the table, laying flat so that she could reach his entire back and shoulders. He pulled back slightly when she touched him, but quickly relaxed under her massaging hooves.

        “You are so tense, eet ees like all of your muscles are made of knots.” She said, digging into his sore back as she worked.

        “Tell me about it...” Coalback mumbled, his voice drifting off as she worked out a stiff muscle in his lower back.

        She continued methodically, letting Coalback relax into the message.