Quintus woke Fluttershy the next morning. She opened her eyes and gave a startled squeak at the sight of his compound eyes, large and blue, two inches away from her own. He jerked backwards at the noise and promptly tumbled over of the edge of the bed and onto the floor.

“Oh my goodness!” she said, poking her head over to see him lying on his back blinking up at her. “Are you alright, sweetie?”

He looked around for a moment and then grabbed at something half hidden under the bed. It was his scarf. He pulled the blue fabric to him, bunching it up under his chin and smiled up at her, nodding in answer to her question.

She giggled at the sight and asked, “Are you ready for breakfast?”

Again he nodded, eagerly this time, so she pulled herself out of bed, put Quintus on his feet, and then opened the door and entered the main room of the suite. The rising sun, just visible above the horizon, shone through the glass doors leading to the balcony and she yawned when the light hit her. It had been well into the evening when they had arrived in Canterlot the night before and between everything that had happened and her time spent on the balcony she was still a little tired. But Quintus was up now, so she couldn’t go back to sleep.

Rainbow was a knot of appendages, colorful hair, and blanket on the couch and Fluttershy paused and watched as Quintus cantered over to her. His scarf was wrapped around his neck now and the ends swayed back and forth under him as he hurried over. He nosed his head under the blanket and after a few seconds one of Rainbow’s wings twitched and she groaned.

“Quint...” she said as she poked her head out and squinted in the bright light. “Aunt Dashie needs about five more hours of sleep, okay?”

With that she covered her face back up and rolled onto her back. Quintus stared at her for a second and then reached up and pulled the blanket down. He motioned with both hooves, bringing them to his open mouth and moving them away a little, repeating the motion a few times as she watched with one bleary eye.

“Quint, buddy, it’s way too early for me to be playing guessing games,” she said.

“I think he’s telling you it’s time to eat.” Fluttershy told her, mildly surprised at Rainbow’s callous statement. But, this was Rainbow Dash after all. She wasn’t a morning pony by any means.

“Food? This early? You’re both crazy,” she said before pulling the blanket over her head again.

“Will ‘Aunt Dashie’ not be wanting breakfast then?” Fluttershy asked her.

Rainbow groaned once more. “Alright. I’ll get up. But only once the food is here. Until then I’m not moving a wing.”

Speaking of food...Fluttershy looked around. There didn’t seem to be a kitchen. She went to the suite door and opened it, revealing two unfamiliar guards. She froze for a moment as both guards turned to look at her, uncertain which one to address. Finally she decided on the one on the right, a large unicorn mare.

“Um... ex-excuse me,” she said, “but is there any way that, if it’s not a problem of course, that we could have breakfast sent up?”

The unicorn nodded once and said, “Of course ma’am. We’ll have food for three sent up immediately.”

“Oh. Um...well, actually there are four of us.”

“Miss Sparkle left to see Princess Celestia an hour ago. She told us to tell you that she’d be at the archives after that and would probably be there all day.”

Fluttershy thanked the guard and closed the door. She turned around and had to suppress a laugh at the sight of Quintus rolled up in Rainbow’s tail like it was a giant, multicolored scarf that covered his whole body.

“Quintus! You stop bothering Rainbow Dash and come over here so we can change your bandages before breakfast,” she told him.

He looked at her and pushed his bottom lip out.

“Don’t you pout at me,” she said, forcing herself not to break into a smile at his cute face. “Now come on, let Aunt Fluttershy take a look at those bandages.”

Rainbow snorted from underneath the blanket. “Aunt Fluttershy huh? We keep this up and soon he’ll have more aunts than Applejack.”

Fluttershy giggled at the comment and trotted over to unravel Quintus from Rainbow’s tail, only to stop when the other pegasus peeked out from under the blanket and held a hoof to her mouth, signaling for Fluttershy to stay quiet. She slowly pulled the blanket down and leaned towards him. He was looking at Fluttershy and didn’t notice the pegasus bearing down on him until it was too late. As soon as he looked over Rainbow threw off the blanket and made a grab for the little changeling, yelling, “I’ll get him Fluttershy!”

He tried to leap from his spot in her tail but became tangled and Rainbow grabbed him before he made it further than the edge of the couch. Both fell to the floor where they rolled around in play.

“Thought you could get away, huh?” Rainbow said as she tickled him under one of his forelegs where his carapace was thinner. “Nopony escapes the great Rainbow Dash!”

His hissing laughter fill the room as he tried squirm away and he finally managed to escape by grabbing Fluttershy’s leg and pulling himself to her. He smiled up at her from the floor, breathing hard on his back with two forelegs wrapped around her one, and she returned the expression. Abruptly, his smile faded. He rolled over, leaped to his feet, and stood there with a blank look on his face.

“Quintus? Are you alright?” she asked, her wings pressing themselves to her side in worry when he didn’t respond.

Rainbow got to her feet and came around to his front, looking from Quintus to Fluttershy. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“I-I don’t know. He just stood up and blanked out.”

She lay on the floor to get down to his height and Rainbow did the same. He looked from her to Rainbow and back several times, blinking in a quick, irregular pattern.

She reached out to touch him but stopped when he let out a sudden hiss and held a hoof to the top of his forehead where his horn was. She brought her hoof back and half a second later a green glow came from underneath his hoof.

Fluttershy’s eyes widened and the hoof she had reached out with suddenly found Rainbow’s and squeezed.

“What’s happen-” she started to say, but was cut off by a flash of green light that dazzled her. She shut her eyes and waited until the afterglow faded before she opened them again.

Quintus was staring at her with his head cocked to the side. She glanced to the side to see Rainbow blinking and looking at her.

“What the heck just happened?” Rainbow asked.

“I...I don’t know,” she replied before looking back to Quintus. “What did you do, sweetie?”

He shrugged and then wandered off into their bedroom like nothing had happened.

She looked back at Rainbow. “Should we be worried?”

Rainbow shrugged her wings. “Heck if I know, I’m not a changeling. Maybe he just had a little magical build up or something he needed to get out?”

“Maybe...” she said, looking towards the bedroom.

She rose and followed Quintus, wondering what had happened. Nothing in the suite was out of place, so he hadn’t levitated anything, and other than being blinded for a few seconds she didn’t feel any different. She entered the bedroom and found him staring into the full length mirror on the wall, holding a hoof up to his horn.

“Are you okay? Ohhh, you’re not hurt are you?” she asked.

He turned to her and motioned to his horn. She stepped closer and looked at it. The small nub had become much more prominent, extending about twice as far out as before and was noticeably pointed now. Not sharp, but it definitely wasn’t the gently rounded bump it had been before.

“Rainbow!” she cried. When Rainbow flew in she said, “Look at his horn.”

Rainbow fluttered close and Fluttershy had to avoid a flapping wing as the blue pegasus inspected him. “Huh. That wasn’t like that thirty seconds ago was it?”

“Not that I remember. Have you ever heard of anything like this happening to unicorns before?”

“Nope. Maybe we should go see Twilight after breakfast?”

“I think that would be a good idea.” Fluttershy said. When Quintus gave her a worried look she added, “Oh sweetie, I’m sure you’re just fine. We’ve just never had to raise any changelings before, so we aren’t sure what to expect from you. Don’t you worry about it, okay?”

He nodded and then picked at the bandage on his shoulder.

“Let’s get that old bandage off and a new one on,” she said.

She removed the bandage and for a moment just stared in shock at the wound underneath.

“Rainbow.”

“Yeah?”

“Look at his wound.”

Rainbow landed and crouched down to look at his shoulder. “Where? I don’t see anything.”

“Exactly. It’s completely healed,” she said.

His black carapace was smooth and shiny, with no trace of the ragged wound that had been there last night. There wasn’t even a scar. Fluttershy removed the other two bandages and the two mares looked at the flawless chitin in amazement. All three wounds were completely healed. A sudden thought caused Fluttershy’s heart to drop. Even healed, Quintus still wasn’t able to speak. She had to force herself not to tear up and vaguely heard Rainbow talking.

“That’s pretty awesome, Quint. I wish I had a horn I could use to heal myself.” A small amount of excitement crept into her voice as she said, “Oh man, I wouldn’t have had to stay in that boring hospital bed when I broke my wing! Heck, I wouldn’t have to worry about a broken wing ever again!”

He nodded and then went rigid with the same blank look on his face again.

“Uh oh...” Rainbow said.

Fluttershy took a step back as his horn glowed once more. Again she was blinded by a flash of green, only this time it didn’t go away immediately. It lingered for several seconds and when it finally faded she found herself lying on the floor with Rainbow beside her. Blinking, she stood and saw Quintus nearby. He looked up at her with an odd look on his face and she felt a sense of confusion from him.

She felt the confusion from him.

Her breath caught as she realized what was happening.

She could feel it. It was dull and watered down, but she could actually feel the confusion coming from him. Like there was some connection, a link between them that hadn’t existed before. And there was something else too. Something from somepony else in the room.

“Okay,” Rainbow said as she rose to her feet. “We are definitely seeing Twilight after breakfast.”

She shook her head a few times and then noticed Fluttershy staring at her.

“What?” she asked.

“Um, Rainbow, do you feel...different, somehow?”

“Huh? What do you...” she started to say, but then her eyes widened and darted back and forth between Fluttershy and Quintus.

Fluttershy first felt surprise come from the pegasus. But that quickly turned to fear and then to mild panic as Rainbow tried to process what was happening to her.

“What-what is that?” Her breathing got rapid and Fluttershy felt the panic in her rise, becoming stronger as the seconds passed.

Something pressed against Fluttershy’s leg and she looked down to see Quintus staring up at Rainbow. The confusion within him had turned to mild panic as well. If he could feel their minds like they could feel his, then...

She looked between Quintus and Rainbow and realized they were caught. Rainbow’s sudden panic had caused Quintus to panic, which further increased her own fear, amplifying his in turn. They were stuck in a feedback loop that threatened to overwhelm them both.

Then she realized her own breathing was becoming quick and her wings were jammed into her sides. She was caught up in their emotions and it threatened to overcome her too if she let it. Taking a deep breath, she fought the panic and managed to push it back down for the moment. Rainbow, however, was not doing so well. She had backed into a corner and held her hooves to her temples, shaking her head back and forth repeatedly.

“Get it out, get it out!” she cried.

Fluttershy was amazed at how distraught Rainbow was. It wasn’t like her to lose her nerve so quickly. Quintus suddenly wrapped himself around Fluttershy’s leg and she felt his tiny body shaking as he watched, and probably felt, the overwhelmed pegasus in front of him.

“Rainbow!”she said. “Rainbow, you have to calm down!”

“I-I can’t! It’s too much!”

That surprised her. She could certainly feel the emotions of both Rainbow and Quintus, and Rainbow’s were definitely getting out of control, but neither felt quite ‘overwhelming’ to her.

“Just focus on breathing, Rainbow! Take a deep breath!”

To her credit, Rainbow managed to take in a shuddering breath.

“That’s good! Come on, take another!”

Rainbow was halfway through another breath when she lost it, shaking her head before she returned to her rapid breathing. Her hooves dropped from her head and her wings popped out, and Fluttershy knew she was about to take off.

For a moment Fluttershy was lost, unsure of what to do. She didn’t know what would happen if Rainbow flew off in this state. Panicked, she might fly into a wall or hurt somepony before she could calm down. And she didn’t know what this new link would do either. If it didn’t let up and Rainbow was unable to handle the connection...

“I-I can’t take this, I gotta get out of here!”

She suddenly crouched, readying to take off. With no time left Fluttershy did the first thing that came to mind. She scooped Quintus up in one foreleg and dashed forward to throw the other around Rainbow, clinging to her as she whispered in her ear.

“It’s okay, Rainbow Dash. Everything’s okay. Just breathe,” Fluttershy told her in a gentle voice.

Rainbow shook in her embrace, and for a moment Fluttershy was back in her henhouse holding a small black creature who was shaking so bad she could barely hold him.

“I-I-I can’t...It’s too much...”

“What’s it like? Tell me, let it out.”

“Like I’ve got three sets of wings but can only control one. The others are pulling me...I can’t fight it!”

An idea sparked to life in Fluttershy’s mind. If Rainbow couldn’t fight the emotions, maybe she should just give in to them.

“Rainbow, I want you to focus on me, okay? Just focus on my emotions, let them guide you.”

“But-”

“Rainbow, I know I’m not the pony most usually turn to when they need help, but I need you to trust me. Focus, feel what I feel.”

Rainbow squirmed in Fluttershy’s grip. “No no no, it’s driving me crazy! I-I gotta get away from it!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy cried, desperate now. She pulled her head back, met Rainbow’s red eyes, and stared as hard as she could into them. “You’re caught up in a storm you can’t control. You try to fight the wind but you can’t. Everything you do only makes it worse. What do you do?”

“What? I-”

“What. Do. You. Do?!” Fluttershy asked again, her voice as stern as she could make it.

“You-you just...you just stop fighting it. You stop flapping and let the wind carry you.”

“And why do you do that?”

“Because if you don’t you’ll only tire yourself out and fall to the ground.”

“And do you want to hit the ground?”

Rainbow shook her head. “No.”

“Then relax.”

Rainbow nodded and folder her wings back up before sitting down on her haunches. Fluttershy could feel her two companions sitting on the verge of hysteria. Her mind flashed back to that night when she had first found Quintus and how she had calmed him down.

So she started humming. A soft, slow song her mother had taught her when she was young, and one that she used every time she felt like she was losing control of herself. She closed her eyes and pressed the side of her head against Rainbow’s so the mare could feel it as well as hear it, smiling when she felt Quintus squeeze himself around her and put his head to her neck to listen too.

After a verse she started to sway back and forth a little, matching the motion with the slow rhythm of the song. She could feel it working. The panic within her had already died out and Rainbow and Quintus were calming down as well.

She continued humming, and for a minute or two she was a young filly back at Cloudsdale. Warm feathers embraced her and she felt safe and secure in her mother’s wings as the mare sung softly to her before putting her to bed. She let the memory fuel feelings of happiness and hoped that the link would spread those warm feelings. Then, without thinking, she unfurled her own wings and wrapped them around Rainbow and Quintus, taking them up in a gentle embrace. The three of them remained locked together for another minute and by the time Fluttershy was done with her song both of her friends felt calm.

“There, that’s better,” she said as she pulled in her wings and released Rainbow.

“Uh, thanks. Didn’t mean to freak out on you like that,” Rainbow said. She averted her gaze and rubbed one foreleg with the other in embarrassment. After a moment she turned back and said, “I’m surprised you knew that stuff about the wind.”

Fluttershy smiled and shifted Quintus to get a better grip.  “Well, I may not be Equestria’s greatest flyer but I did pay attention in flight camp. Um, as long as we weren’t flying at the time of course...”

“Yeah...uh, anyways, what happened?” Rainbow asked, her voice much calmer than before. “I can FEEL things from you two.”

“I don’t know. I think Quintus did something when his horn flashed. Are you okay?”

“I-I think so.” Rainbow tapped her head twice with a hoof. “If I don’t focus on it it isn’t as strong.”

Closing her eyes, Fluttershy focused on both of their ‘links’. Just as Rainbow had said, if she focused on either one they grew much stronger than if she just pushed them to the back of her mind and ignored them, like focusing on a single instrument in a band or a single voice in a noisy room. She guessed that Rainbow had focused intently on the link between herself and Quintus, catching the link at full strength before she even knew what it was.

“Do you think this is permanent?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, I don’t know. Do you know, sweetie?” Fluttershy asked Quintus. He was still wrapped around her neck and shook his head in response.

“Great...” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. “The little guy himself doesn’t even know.”

“I’m sure everything will be alright.” Fluttershy told her. “We all seem to be okay and I’m sure Twilight will be able to help. So let’s just stay calm, have some breakfast as soon as it arrives, and then go to the archives.”

“Yeah, okay...” Rainbow said.

Fluttershy felt a surge of worry come from her and put one foreleg on the other mare’s shoulder. “Please don’t worry, Rainbow. Your going to scare Quintus again.”

Rainbow looked from her to the changeling in her arms. She closed her eyes and took a single deep breath. “Okay. I’ll try.”

Opening her eyes Rainbow smiled and then rubbed Quintus’s head with her hoof a few times. “Sorry, Quint. You alright?”

He nodded, but held his forelegs out to her.

She looked surprised and hesitated a moment before taking him from Fluttershy. He wrapped both forelegs around her neck and squeezed. Rainbow smiled and returned the gesture, wrapping him up in her forelegs so tightly Fluttershy could barely see his body.

“Everything’s cool, Quint. Okay?” she said in a tone that was more soothing than anything Fluttershy had ever heard from her.

He nodded again and buried his head in her mane right where the green met the blue.

Fluttershy felt a surge of happiness from both Quintus and Rainbow as the other pegasus hugged the little black changeling and couldn’t help but smile. She wanted the moment to last, but breakfast was on its way up and they needed to see Twilight.

“Rainbow, why don’t you take a shower before breakfast gets here.”

“Yeah, I guess I do smell a bit thanks to last night's flight. Down you go Quint!” she put him down on the floor, gave him a hoof bump, and then trotted out.

Fluttershy sighed with relief as Rainbow walked out, glad to have defused the situation before it got out of control. She shoo’d Quintus into the main room just as there was a knock at the door. A servant pushing a cart laden with food entered when she opened it. He nodded and greeted her politely and then quickly set everything on the table. Pancakes, scrambled eggs, toast, and oatmeal was breakfast this morning and Fluttershy’s stomach growled when the smell hit her. She eyed the dishes and wondered if she could eat the massive amount of food before her. The servant finished and nodded politely before leaving. Fluttershy helped Quintus into a chair at the table where. He sat just tall enough for his head to stick over the edge and sniffed at his plate of strawberry pancakes.

“Have you ever had pancakes before?” she asked.

He shook his head.

“Well, they’re really good and I think you’ll like them, so eat up,” she said as she sat down. To think that he had never had pancakes before... but, he was a changeling after all. She had no idea what they usually ate and up until a few days ago had thought they survived exclusively off of love.

The smell of breakfast was almost overpowering. She was famished. Lunch the previous day was the last time she had eaten and she spent a moment savoring the smell before following Quintus’s example and diving into her food.

While she ate she focused a bit on the link between her and Quintus. There was a happy, focused feeling coming from him as he ate, as if the only thing that mattered in his little mind was the plate of food in front of him. After thinking on it for a moment she realized it was probably typical of most young ponies his age. Without understanding the world at large, their minds were focused on what was right in front of them. Hesitantly she shifted to Rainbow’s link, but quickly pulled away when her nerves got the better of her. Rainbow probably wouldn’t like somepony just barging in on her mind, regardless of the circumstances. She pushed the link to the back of her mind and continued to eat. She was halfway through her food when Rainbow was done with the shower.

“Awesome, breakfast is here. I’m starving,” Rainbow said, hovering into the main room and over to the table where her still damp wings sprayed a few drops of water onto Fluttershy. Rainbow appeared not to notice and started eating the moment she had sat down and folded her wings.

Fluttershy paused eating and watched with amazement as Rainbow devoured her food, easily finishing her entire meal before both Fluttershy and Quintus. Fluttershy looked down at her plate; perhaps there wasn’t as much food as she’d thought. After all, Quintus, a tiny little changeling, could eat practically as much as she could. Mentally shrugging the thought away she watched as Rainbow rose from the table and trotted over to plop down on the couch. A few moments after she lay down there was a knock at the door.

“It’s open!” Rainbow yelled.

Fluttershy, chewing a mouthful of food, turned to see a large white pegasus with a maimed wing and a scar running down his side walk in. It was the sergeant from last night.

“Morning, ladies. I hope breakfast was good.”

Rainbow answered with a burp.

“I guess I’ll take that as a yes,” the sergeant said, grinning at her.

“Oh, it was excellent,” Fluttershy said after swallowing. “By the way, I don’t think we ever got your name.”

“You didn’t? Well, I reckon that’s my fault for not introducing myself yesterday. The name’s Cloudburst,” he said, approaching Fluttershy and reaching a hoof out. “But most ponies just call me Sarge or Sergeant.”

She shook it and said, “Nice to meet you, Cloudburst. Uh, again I guess.”

“Likewise,” he said, smiling down at her.

She hadn’t realized just how tall he was last night. He was at least a head above her and she had to suppress the urge to cower down. Nice as he had been so far, she barely knew him, and she couldn’t fully get over her shyness until she utterly trusted somepony. And even then she didn’t get over it completely; it still flared up during awkward moments or embarrassing situations far too often.

“Cloudburst, huh?” Rainbow asked as she rolled onto her back and put both forelegs behind her head to prop it up.

“Yep. My momma lived out east when she was a filly. Said there were these massive storms that would roll in, all thunder and lightning but without any rain. They’d just roll over, blacking out the sky for hours without raining a drop. Then, without warning, the rain would start coming down like nothin’ else, as if the clouds themselves had just burst open. So, Cloudburst.”

“So I guess you’re here to babysit us then?” Rainbow asked.

“I don’t think Miss Fluttershy here needs babysitting. Looks to me like she’s already got that taken care of with the boy there,” he winked at Quintus, who was chewing a mouthful of pancakes and had syrup smeared all over his muzzle. “But I reckon that just might describe what you need.”

Fluttershy grabbed a napkin and wiped the syrup off Quintus while the two talked.

“Yeah right, like I need somepony to babysit me,” Rainbow was saying. After he gave her a skeptical look she rolled her eyes and said, “I seem to remember saving your flank last night, Sarge,” she put emphasis on his nickname.

“Well, I suppose you did, and I’m mighty grateful too. I don’t think we could have held them off forever. My boys may be tough, but being outnumbered at least twenty to one ain’t good odds for anypony.”

Suddenly Fluttershy remembered the injured guard. “Um, is your friend okay? The one who was injured last night? Oh, I hope he didn’t... um...”

“Die?” Cloudburst asked. Fluttershy nodded and he added, “Nah, thanks to Miss Sparkle we got him to a doctor in time. He’s got a splitting headache and needs a few weeks to fully recover, but it looks like he’ll be fine.”

“But not everyone will,” Rainbow spoke up from the couch. She was sitting up and held a hoof to her cheek, looking worried. “That mare in the street, the one that hit me with a rock, she was holding a stallion. He was bleeding. I-I don’t think he made it.”

Fluttershy felt a twinge of sadness come from her and said, “How do you know? Maybe he wasn’t hurt as bad as you thought.”

“Maybe.” Rainbow shrugged before lying back down. “It’s...just a feeling, you know?”

“The only thing I know,” Cloudburst said as he scratched Quintus on the head with a hoof, “Is that worrying about it ain’t gonna do you any good. Like your friend here said, you don’t know what happened. So look on the bright side and tell yourself he made it. Okay?”

“Is that what you tell yourself?”

“No. I don’t have that luxury.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He shook his head. “Oh, nothin’. Now, what’s the plan for today?”

Fluttershy met Rainbow’s eyes and said, “Um, plan? Should we have one?”

Cloudburst shrugged. “Unless you want to spend all day lounging about here in the suite, then I’d say so.”

“Usually I’d definitely be down for more sleep,” Rainbow said. “But we need to see Twilight.”

“Oh, yes, we need to talk to her about, um...” Fluttershy looked to Rainbow, unsure of whether to tell the sergeant about the connection between them.

“Stuff,” Rainbow said.

“Stuff?” Cloudburst asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, stuff,” Fluttershy said.

“Alright then. Well, whenever you three are ready to go see Miss Sparkle about this ‘stuff’ you let me know. I’ll be right outside.” With that he left and Fluttershy turned to the task of getting herself and Quintus presentable.

“Rainbow, could you help me with Quintus?” she asked.

He had finally finished his breakfast and was, as Fluttershy was quickly finding out, a very messy eater. He squirmed a little as she wiped the syrup and butter off his face.

Rainbow hopped up off the couch and trotted over to the table where they were. “Uh, sure. What are we doing?”

“Giving him a bath,” Fluttershy said with a slight cringe.

Quintus, as Rainbow found out, did NOT like water.

“Is he always like this around water?” Rainbow asked Fluttershy.

They had ran a bath and had been trying to convince Quintus to get in the water for several minutes now. Nothing seemed to work, however, and Fluttershy was unsure of what to do.

“Um, I don’t think so. He doesn’t resist when I wash him down with a cloth, but I haven’t been able to give him a proper bath since I found him.”

Rainbow looked down to where Quintus was wrapped around Fluttershy’s leg and asked, “Well...what do we do now?”

Fluttershy shrugged and then patted him on the head, saying, “It’s okay, Quintus. It’s just a bath. We have to get you cleaned up before we go see Twilight. Won’t you get in? Please?” He shook his head and tightened his grip around Fluttershy’s leg.

“Are you afraid of the water, Quint?” Rainbow asked.

He nodded at her.

“Quint, buddy, it’s just water. See?” She dipped a hoof in and then pulled it out to show him.

“That’s right,” Fluttershy said. “It’s just water, what are you afraid of?”

He looked down for a second before raising his head to meet her eyes. His expression changed from fear to concentration and after a moment his horn glowed. Fluttershy held her breath but no flash came. The green glow was weak and didn’t build up like last time. Suddenly her vision changed. Overlayed on top of her view of the bathroom was...something else. It was indistinct and she couldn’t make anything out but a large pool of water surrounded by darkness. After a few seconds she heard Quintus huff and the view faded away. He shook his head and the glow left his horn.

“Fluttershy? You okay?” Rainbow asked.

“I-I think so.”

“What happened? You kind of spaced out there for a second or two.”

“I think Quintus tried to show me something.”

“What?”

“I don’t really know. I couldn't make anything out except a big pool of water.”

“Oh man, this day just gets weirder and weirder. We really need to go see Twilight.”

“Yeah...” Fluttershy said.

She was shaken a little from the experience. What she hadn’t told Rainbow was that she had felt a profound sense of fear from Quintus. But it wasn’t from the water, it was from something else. A large figure that stood in the shallows. It was dark and she hadn’t been able to make out any details, but she definitely felt the terror in that...that memory. That’s what it had been, she realized. A memory.

She agreed with Rainbow. They really needed to go see Twilight. Next Chapter: Chapter Four Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 11 Minutes