[Chapter 7: Good Company]

>You shoot up from the nothingness of unconsciousness in a cold sweat.
>Adjusting your eyes to see better in the dark and checking your surroundings, you find yourself in an oddly shaped wooden room with five walls and five beds up against each one, inactive oil lamps stationed on either side. You were occupying one of said beds.
>There were desks, chairs, bookshelves, and crates scattered haphazardly in groups around the perimeter. Various items lined the furniture such as quills, ink wells, paper, books, stampers, unlit lamps, rulers, protractors, cartography compasses, magnifying lenses, pencils, statuettes of numerous different creatures and ponies, even small crystals, and that was just what you saw at first glance. 
>The center of the room was taken up by a hole, through which a spiral staircase was running. The staircase was odd in the sense that each step was actually floating individually from each other, with no visible connection point at all. What's up with these people and fucking funky stairs and gravity?
>Exactly how tall the room was was hard to make out, since from about regular ceiling height all the way up to the top of the room were round, skewed wooden beams jutting out from one wall to the other at random points, yielding to the floating stairs alone.
>Regaining the rest of your senses, you taste an overwhelming flavor of iron.
>That was both a good sign and a bad one.
>Good because it was a sign that your body was recovering, particularly from internal damage.
>Bad because you had to have gotten the absolute shit beaten out of you for the taste to be so pungent.
>Glancing around once more, this time more carefully, you spot something odd.
>On a large beam above you was a figure. A small, grey figure.
>Fuck.

>You don’t know why she was there, but it couldn't be good. She did presumably beat you the fuck up after all.
>Not like you would actually know, you blacked out after getting your head fucking smashed in.
>Trying your best to be as silent as possible, you sit up from your spot at the head of the bed, near the pillow.
>Very slowly you take your first step. 
>Then your second. 
>You were in the middle of the bed now.
>You take one more step, but this time the smallest of creaks comes from the bed frame.
>You hear a shift in the air above you.
>You were preparing to make a quick jump off the bed, but she drops onto the bed in front of you too quickly, bouncing as she lands.
>You back up and prepare for anything, but only to be caught off guard by several things.
>Her hair and eyes weren't green as you remembered, but a deep, rich phthalo blue. Her fur also had become a very slightly lighter grey than before. She also had a bandage wrap covering a large portion of her chest. It was stained with small crimson streaks that spanned the whole of the bandage, indicating some kind of claw-like slashes in the area.
>”You're awake!” She seemed happily excited.
“Uh...yeah...what about it?”
>”What about it? I've been waiting here watching over you for two days now, that's what!”
>Two days? Fuck. No wonder your body was working so hard to get back into shape. Besides that though, at least her answer removes the possibility of her wanting to hurt you.
“Aaaannnnndd?”
>She smiles widely and steps close to you, forcing you to back into the headboard to avoid contact.
>”Aaaannnnddd that means I won't be alone for the next six hours!”
>She springs off of the bed and back onto the beam above you, then to the next, gracefully and silently, and so on, not taking long at all until she’s out of sight.
>Ooookaaaayyyyy then…

>You look at the staircase, which looked pleasing enough a route to go, but something stopped you from jumping to the floor.
>It was not physical force, but pure curiosity.
>You glance up into the clutter of beams, then back to the staircase, then back to the beams.
>Eh, fuck it. What's life without a little adventure? And this is a new life for you, so you should probably make the most of it.
>You effortlessly jump up to the first beam, though not with as much fluidity as her, stumbling and nearly falling off of the first one. 
>As you jump from beam to beam, you gradually gain the ability of judging your jumps more accurately as well as your balance improving. 
>You don't have to go far before you reach the beam you were looking for.
>On it was the filly, who was lying parallel to it on her back and care-freely humming a tune that you didn't know. She was playing with a small ball of blue light that was floating in the air above her, batting it around gently like a cat.
>You walk up to her slowly, careful to keep your balance. You were practically silent.
>She must have heard you though, since she lifts her head as you approach, the light ball fading out of existence simultaneously.
>She smiles when she sees you.
>”Hey, you caught up!”
>You smile a little back.
“Yeah, I guess I did.”
>You lay down facing towards her and she positions herself to do the same.
“So, what's your name?”
>”Oh, right. I forgot” She giggles. “My name’s Sephara. You can just call me Seph though.”
>Huh so…
“So wait, you WERE the pony I was fighting earlier, right?”
>She nods her head vigorously, flinging her shimmering hair around.
“Weren't you a different color when we fought?”
>She nods her head once more.
>”Mhm. It was just a disguise.”
>Her eyes seemed to glow in the darkness for a moment and a wave of color runs down her from head to hoof, making her resemble KK for a moment, before changing back in the same manner.

>”I'm pretty good at stuff like that.” She says, pulling a strand of hair that was out of place back behind an ear.
>You notice at that moment that she was not only different in color from KK. Her hair was very slightly more unorganized, as if it was more real than KK’s always-straight hair.
>Coming back to the conversation though, that was really fucking awesome.
“That's cool! It must come in handy.”
>She seems to appreciate the compliment.
>”Yeah, sometimes. But It's not nearly as cool as that transformation thing you did when we were fighting! I mean, I thought I was actually gonna die at one point!”
>She giggles.
>You don't.
>You look at the wrap around her chest. 
>Claw marks.
>Your heart dropped as far as it fucking could've.
>Seph notices the change though.
>”Hey, are you okay?”
>You don’t pay attention to her question. You’re too busy dreading your own question.
>You point your hoof at her chest, being so close that you might as well have been touching the wound.
“Did I do that to you?”
>She nods neutrally.
>”Yeah, don't you remember? You tossed me around pretty hard.”
>You want to throw up.
>He’s hurt people before, but he’s never turned into a monster before...
>Now that you knew the cause of the wound, it hurt to look at it. Especially with that face above it.
>You push through your emotions to respond this time.
“No, I don't remember. I never remember.”
>You slump your head down and rest it on the beam.
>Seph mimics your movements so as to stay at eye level with you.
>You were nearly touching noses.
>You sigh through your nose, blowing some of her hair back.
>”I'm sorry to hear that, but if your getting depressed over hurting me then it's pointless. I knew what I was getting into.”

>You just sigh again.
>She sighs as well, blowing your hair back, then she giggles.
>”Well, hey, if it makes you feel any better, after you ruined my chest, I threw you into the ground so hard that it broke your spine and ruptured some of your major organs.”
“Heh. I guess that explains me being out for two days straight.”
>She titters.
>”Well that and you screwed both of us over by pulling a death spiral and plowing us mach two into the ground.”
>You chuckle. 
“Well, if that's true then I guess I got what I deserved.”
>She smiles and nods.
>”Mhm, we both did! I got a good fight, and a jerk got his butt handed to him.”
>You lift your head back up and grin. Your depressions were thrown out the window at that moment.
“Hold on, did you just call me a jerk? The pony that kicked me in the head before the fight thinks I'm a jerk?”
>She raises her head with a wide ass grin, her eyes glimmering in the dark.
>”It’s no thought of mine, it's a fact! I wouldn't have wanted to kick you so hard if you weren't a jerk.”
“Oh yeah? I'll show you who's the jerk!”
>You pounce at her from your lying position, but, as per fucking usual, she evades you by slipping casually off the side of the beam and landing down on the next one.
>”What was that Anon? I couldn't hear you over your jerkiness!” 
>You jump down at her, but fail to capture her once again.
>And so the erratic game of cat and mouse began.
>You'd jump, she'd move, tease you, then repeat.
>This continued for quite some time, during which you tried many ways to get her. Sneaking below and attacking from there. Jumping once then again right after to catch her in the air. Even pretending to have lost her then jumping off backwards to catch her off guard.
>In spite of all of your hard work, she wasn't shy of making it clear that she was truly a professional in her sport, slipping out of your grasp at the very last second every time.

>You land on a beam and lay down, exhausted from all of your rapid attacking.
>Seph must have saw, because you heard her yell from somewhere above you.
>”What's wrong Anon, can't keep up?”
>You wave a hoof carelessly in the air, letting it drape off of the edge after.
>There was movement in the air above you.
>She drops onto the beam right in front of you.
>Well, you say “onto the beam”, but her hooves barely even got a chance to touch the thing before you sprang up from your spot and pinned her solidly to the wooden post.
>You were breathing heavily, and only were able to speak through panting.
“Ha...I…got...you…”
>You collapse onto her, not having the energy to care about holding yourself up at this point.
>You were worried that it might hurt her, but she didn't seem to be complaining, so fuck it, you weren’t either.
>Even though it was bandaged to all hell, her chest was still extremely soft. It seemed to be a trait of the females in this world, and a positive one at that.
>You laid there until you could stand again.
>When you did stand, you half expected Seph to be asleep with how quiet she was being, but nope, she was wide awake with a smile on her face.
>”Good job! You caught me and didn't pass out while trying!” 
>You wave it off.
“It was nothing…” 
>You were still semi panting your words.
>She giggles.
>She sure did like to giggle.
>Just as she stands up, a purple glow shines from above somewhere, slowly making its way down the staircase.
>As it gets lower, you’re able see a figure. And as it approaches your level, you can see the distinct blue and mint green hair.
>She had several purple wisp-like lights floating above her head, following her movements.
>”Renny!”
>You expect Seph to jump over to her, but are caught off guard when she pops out of existence with a very small amount of black smoke that fades quickly, and reappears at Serenity’s side with the same effect, hugging her.

>Why didn't you get any cool shit like that when you came here? You wanted cool shit too…
>Well, you did get wings...but you wanted cool shit that you could actually use right now…
>Whatever. Life was life. Nothing you could d–
>........
>...maybe you could...
>...you did have a few wishes…
>Hmmm…
>Now that was an idea…
>You save that in the back of your head and hop over to Serenity to join the company.

>The teal mare sees you approaching.
>“Oh, hi Anon! What are you doing here?”
>Seph butts in for you.
>”Yeah, I forgot to mention, he’s been resting up down here too. Also we were playing tackle tag.”
>”Tackle tag you say?” Ignoring the first part of the answer, Serenity turns to you with a smile. “Did ya catch her Anon?”
>You nod with the proudest smile you've ever bore.
“Yup! It took a while, but I got her in the end.”
>”Ooooohh! Sepha, you better watch out. I think you're starting to lose your game a little.”
>”Ha! Yeah right! I was going easy on him. He'd never catch me if I was actually trying!”
>You look at the filly indignantly.
“Nuh-uh! I caught you fair and square!”
>”Oh yeah? Ya wanna go again and see what I'm really made of?”
>Before anything can escalate past that, Serenity jumps in.
>”Now hold on for a second you two. There's plenty of time for that later, trust me. Right now though, I think you two could do with some rest. How about some tea Seph? It should help with your chest. And Anon, I'm sure I can come up with something for you too. C’mon, let's head upstairs.”
>And so you start the ascent, up through the jumble of beams.
>It takes a while, but eventually you reach the top of the staircase, and exit through a doorway to in the center of another room. This one looked familiar, with a walkway high above and pendulums swinging above it. Taking a look back, you exited from a pillar sticking out of the floor that, once you were all out, slowly lowered itself back into the smooth stone floor of the open room you were now in.

>Speaking of the room, it was quite familiar, with steps spiraling along the wall and a walkway high above the ground.
>”Over here Anon.” Serenity called.
>You were too busy looking at the massive room to have noticed that the others had walk a little ways off.
>You quickly catch up.
“Sorry, this place is just so big.” 
>It never really set in before, since you were busy not dying and all, but from below it was quite the sight.
>”Yeah, it is.” Sighs Serenity, proud of her work. “That being said, it's quite a long journey to the top, so I'll save us some travel time.”
>Stomping on the ground, she summons a portal that appeared to lead straight to the top room that you remember.
>You all step through, relieved to not have to walk those steps, you especially.
>The room was just as you remembered it, plenty of gears lining the walls and runes leading to the front of the room on the floor.
>Serenity walks in front of you and gestures to the walls on either side of the room.
>”Well Anon, pick one. They'll take you to different places. The outcome of all of them will be random, and anypony new who uses them will incite a whole unique array of places, so I'm sure you'll pick something different.”
>You half expect to hear complaining for Seph that she couldn't pick, but she actually looked more excited that you would get to pick. Hm, must be special or something.
>You walk up to the right wall, to the first gear that you see, one perfectly at your height. Not knowing what else to do, you touch the gear in front of you.
>It begins to spin up to an incredible speed, as the other one had when you were last here, and slowly revealed a sight you never thought you'd imagine.
>Without hesitation you jump through the portal and the other two quickly do the same, curious as to what you’ve unearthed.

>On the other side was a semi-forested area with a small pond in a clearing and a few well-sized rocks scattered about.
>It was obvious that you were on the summit of a very large hill. There were valleys in every directions for as far as one could see until they were cut off in the distance by mountainous vistas, breaking the clouds above.
>The trees in the surrounding area were not regular sized trees, but Redwoods if your identification was correct, which it was. 
>It had to be. It's what you knew from the beginning.
>And here, from when you first stepped out of the portal, it was only the living things you could focus on. 
>Forgetting about your company that had come through with you, you decide to get up close with the diverse flora and fauna.

>You walk out of the portal just behind Serenity.
>And true enough, just as promised, it was unlike any other place you've went to through the portals before.
>Taking a moment to enjoy the view, you look for Anon, though with no success at seeing him.
>Hearing-wise, though, you could make out generally where he was.
>An unordinary shaking of a bush, breaking twig, or disturbance in the trees. 
>”What a lovely area. Well, I'm going to go prepare the tea. In the meantime you can try to get him under control.” Said Serenity, gesturing towards the forest.
>As she steps back through the portal, you focus back on the forest.
>There were the same sounds as before, and with some extreme attention dedicated to the task, you saw faint glimpses of him out of your peripheral vision. But it seemed, for the longer you watched, the less sounds you heard and the less movement you saw.
>Not hearing anything for a while, you walk slowly to the treeline to take a look around.
>There were countless creatures of varying varieties among the trees, rocks and logs on just the edge of the forest, let alone deeper in.
>You don’t even understand why he'd want to run around in an area of the sort.
>Seeing something rather large move in the trees, you teleport to the branch you saw it at, but he had already disappeared from the perch.
>The good thing though, was that you could see a lot more from your new position.
>You, in fact, could actually see him from here. He was sort of prowling towards a decaying log in front of him.
>You silently teleport behind him and mimic his movements, only stepping when he steps, as not to disturb his focus.
>He seemed to be eying up a vivacious and metallic, rainbow colored beetle of some sort.
>Before you can ask what he is doing to try to scare him, he takes the opportunity to pounce on the insect while it’s cleaning its wings. 

>He manages to directly grab it with his mouth swallowing the thing whole before quickly leaping into the cover of the underbrush once more.
>Alright.
>You’ve seen a lot in your days.
>That…
>That was not like any of it.
>You would just like to leave that right where it is and not think about it any more, but you’ve been assigned a mission to get him back and you’re gonna complete it.
>Alright time to get to it.
>You teleport off into the underbrush where you saw Anon run to, leaving the clearing silently.

>Two hours.
>Two horrible hours chasing that jerk down and you STILL haven’t even come close to catching him.
>He’s been ignoring your attempts to call him back so you’ve resulted to playing another big game of tackle tag.
>The first few tries were very close attempts, you were able to effectively get practically on top of him. But after that, it all went downhill.
>Every attempt put you at a further disadvantage.
>It’s not like he’s that good at the game.
>It almost seemed like he’s somehow been adapting to you or to the forest or something...
>You’re just really frustrated at the whole thing at the moment. 
>You let out a loud sigh and lay your head on the bark below you.
>”Hey, what’s wrong Seph?”
>The voice is almost enough to scare you straight off of the branch you’ve made yourself comfortable on.
>Looking around, you find Anon on a close branch, immediately above you. 
>You panic for a second, but upon seeing his eyes and their normality you calm down, using them as a judge of his behavior.
>He’s clinging to the underside of the branch using a set of sharp claws extruding from paws that replaced his hooves. 
>His mane hangs straight down, allowing you to see the curious expression he had on his face to its fullest extent.
>Y’know, the way his hair is hanging makes him look kinda cu-
>Nope. Not now. She’ll get angry and plus you yourself we’re pretty unhappy at this point. 
>You stand to turn and glare at him.
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong is that I’ve been chasing you for the last two hours to get you to come back so we can have tea!”

>He looks at you, confused.
>He climbs his way to the body of the tree and down to your branch. Once he is securely on his legs again, his paws morph back into the usual hooves of a pony.
>”Sorry, I didn’t notice you. I was busy trying to get as many samples as possible while I had the chance. I mean, just look at all the cool stuff out here! There’s tons of insects, arthropods, avians, rep-“
>You cut him off by pressing a hoof up to his mouth.
“Hold on. You didn’t notice me?”
>He slowly shakes his head and pushes your hoof down.
“HOW!? I was trying to catch you the entire time and calling out to you! How did you not notice!?”
>He shrugs. 
>”I dunno. I guess I was really focused on what I was doing.”
>You want to interrogate him further, but you also want tea for your aching chest.
“Alright, whatever. You owe me for making me chase you around though. So carry me back, my chest hurts and I’m tired.”
>You teleport overtop of him and fall onto his back.
>You expected at least one objection, but to your surprise, he silently hops from the branch to the forest floor, carefully landing as not to knock you off of his back.
>As he begins sauntering along back towards the clearing, the rhythmic sound and movements of his steps sends a wave lethargy over you.
>You weren’t actually tired before, but now, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to lay your head down for just a moment…
>For the first time in a long time, you sleep…

>As you make your way back out of the forest, you feel Seph’s head fall to the side of your neck and her breathing slow.
>You were just preoccupied with all of the new data that you never would have been able to gather back on Tetra, but another, more interesting matter presses against your mind.
>Her energy. 
>You’ve never felt Seph’s energy.
>You were in contact with her many times, but never once did thinking to feel for a chance to drain some cross your mind.
>It’s a rather strange thing to think about.
>There is a short moment in which you think of reaching out for just a peek, but it swiftly passes. 
>There’s no need for that. 
>Much like Serenity, she’s clearly of no harm to you. At least not any more. 
>No, you won’t do it.
>You want to say it is because of her passivity alone, but you know there is something else. 
>There is something else driving you. Something foreign.
>All of your knowledge of physiology and psychology, yet there was no word for it.
>It bothered you.
>You set your thoughts to the side for later, now stepping through the dense underbrush into the clearing.
>Seeing no Serenity around, you assume she is still preparing the tea...somehow…
>Either way, no reason to stand around.
>Finding a nice-looking spot by the pond, you lie down in the soft grass and look out across the pond and into the distant mountains, wondering what else this world has to offer you.

>Stepping through your portal once more, tea table in tow, you arrange your setup in a particularly soft area of grass. Tea, kettle, cups…
>And that’s it really.
>Hmmm… You’ve never thought about how little it takes to have a relaxing experience anywhere you go.
>Anyways, now to find the two troublemakers.
>And you didn’t have to look very far.
>A short ways away they were both lying down in the grass by the lake.
>Sepha seemed to be resting on Anon’s back.
>That wasn’t strange, given that Sepha naturally knows no personal space and Anon’s very nature is to be around biological things, but is Sepha...
>Is she sleeping?
>...
>You crack a smile.
>Just when you think you know everything about him, Anon always seems to surprise.
>Maybe they may not be the two troublemakers.
>Perhaps they are more like the two lovebirds.
>That being said you’d hate to disturb them, but Sepha needs her medicine.
>So, you casually make your way over to break up their little play date.

>You nearly fall asleep in the soft grass yourself, before you feel a familiar energy approaching from behind you, both through the links in the grass and her radiating nature.
>”I thought you weren’t one for close contact Anon.”
>She whispers to you, not wanting to wake Seph.
“She said she was tired and that her chest hurt.”
>You whisper just as quiet as Serenity for the same reason as her.
>”Mhmm, a likely story.” She mumbles under her breath.
“What did you say?”
>She plops down onto the ground next to you.
>”Nothing. Don’t worry about it. The important thing is that you’ve done something selfless today. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than a nice cup of tea.”
>And so, without any further questions, you both carefully stand and make you way to the nearby table set up in the grass.

>As you reach the fairly carven slab of ebony. It was a perfect height as to allow you to lie down next to it and still see over it with ease.
>You lazily fall down on the ground without a care.
>It’s only when you actually hit the ground with a relatively loud thump that you realize that Seph was still on you back.
>You quickly, slightly worriedly, look to see if she had awoken from the jarring action.
>You can’t tell why you might’ve felt slightly bad for waking her, but it doesn’t really matter since there is no longer anyone on your back anymore.
>The missing filly…did you know that word before? “Filly”? Maybe… Anyways, she was now calmly lying next to you, still in the everlasting trance of her sleep.
>You look toward the teal time-goddess inquisitively, only for her to give you a subtle wink as she moves to the opposite side of the table.
>As she joins you in lying on her side, she nods at Seph, whos head was daintily relaxed on the soft, verdant grass.
>”She’s not going to wake herself up you know…”
>You nod in understanding and push Seph’s shoulder gently.
>She doesn’t even move.
>You shake her slightly harder.
“Hey, Seph, wake up.”
>She rolls over slightly onto her back, making you think you’ve succeeded, until you are smacked directly in the forehead by the lazy hoof that followed her in her movement.
>Your original reaction was to get angry, but you quickly calmed yourself, realizing that that probably wouldn’t better the situation at all.
>You lay a hoof on her side and, careful not to directly touch her energy, send a small pulse of your energy to her. One that was barely a whisper of a “hello”.
>As soon as you do, she shoots up from her slumber, twisting back over into her stomach and, in the process, hitting you in the jaw with the same hoof as before, which really fucking hurt.
>But you’re no fucking pussy. You can take it.
>Manning up, you wipe away the tears that have started to form at the corners of your eyes and sit up to meet the awakening figure.

>”Huh? What’s going on?”
>Serenity jumps in on the subject first. 
>”You fell asleep on Anon’s back, so he brought you back here so we could have some tea.”
>Seph stops for a very subtle moment, staring into the distant vistas of the area, but very quickly resumes her normal behavior. 
>”Then he did what he was supposed to.”
>...her nonchalant answer pissed you off a little…
“What, no thank you?”
>Unbeknownst to you, you had been unbeknownst to her up until now.
>At your words she lets out a high pitched yelp and, throwing both of her hooves towards you, blasts you backwards with an absurdly powerful blast of air. 
>You’re shot away from the table with so much force that you fly past the distant treelike and directly into the base of a tree.
>Your breath is knocked out of you as the back of your head smashes into the hard redwood.
>You see spots and darkness clouds your vision.
>As you start to fade away, you feel a prominent change in your tail and wings.
>