Chapter Eight:

Fair Feathered Friend

Sidus thought if he bit his lip any harder he would draw blood.

Ok Sidus, you can do this. You just gotta go up, and talk to her. Maybe a trial run will ease my nerves.

Sidus picked himself up, puffed out his chest and began to strut.

"Hello Ms. Fluttershy. I am Sidus, of the Night Guard."

He jumped to his left and spoke as feminine as he could. "Oh, hello Sir Sidus."

He jumped back to his right, and bellowed, much like his father would when he laughed, not that he ever did.

"Ha-ha-ha! No need to call me 'Sir' milady, it's just Sidus. I was wondering if perhaps you would like to accompany me to a social gathering amongst our peers?"

"I don't know. I've got things I need to do. Perhaps another time."

"May I inquire when a more appropriate time would be?"

"I just don't know. I'll call for you."

"But I'll only be here another additional day?"

"Then maybe you should not be gallivanting after a mare, when you should be doing your job."

"But I caught up from yesterday?"

"That's not good enough, remember what the princess said? Everything must be perfect."

Sidus ears folded down. "I guess you're right… me?"

He looked around him. I hope nopony saw that.

Suddenly a duck waddled in front of the pteronasus. He cocked his head to the side. The duck copied his movement. The duck opened its bill. Sidus' eyes opened in response. The duck closed its bill. Sidus breathed a sigh of relief. The duck abruptly sneezed. The pteronasus jumped back. He stood on one hoof and coiled the other three around his body in defense. He raised a hoof to his lips and shushed the duck. The duck ruffled its feathers and quacked softly.

"Hush duck." Sidus whispered.

In defiance, it quacked back.

"Hush duck." He whispered again, louder this time.

It quacked again. Sidus was getting peeved.

"Hush. Duck."

The duck quacked in hostility. They stared each other down. A silent contest was issued. The wind blew and the leaves scurried away. Sidus narrowed his eyes at the duck. It looked back at him. Silver eyes stared at black ones. Sidus blinked. The duck quacked.

"That's it!"

Sidus pounced at the duck. It unfurled its wings and fluttered out of danger. Sidus' face smashed into the dirt, but he quickly recomposed himself and unleashed his own leathery wings and soared above the small, feathered mammal. He dived down to catch the creature, but it once again evaded his catch. His four hooves hit the dirt with a thud. He looked around for the duck, but it was no longer in sight. He walked in a full circle. Nothing. He looked beneath himself. Nothing. He looked on his back, and there it was, picking at an insect in its feathers. It gulped the bug down and stared at Sidus. It quacked in his face, and then bit his nose with an audible 'honk'. Sidus cried out. The attack had not hurt; it just startled him. He began to shake his head back and forth to remove the waterfowl. The duck removed its grip on his nose and it went flying in the air. With grace, it floated to the ground. Sidus resumed a battle stance, but his eyes shrank at the sight that greeted him. Alongside the antagonistic duck, was a coven of chickens, ready to aid their feathered friend. Sidus gulped and raised a brow.

"Who's… first?"

It was a decisive strike; the words crush, thrash, and trounce came to Sidus' mind more then once. The duck lead the chickens into an all out brawl against the pteronasus. The sheer speed they shared was enough to catch him off guard. They climbed on top of him and drove him to the ground. They to pecked, scratched, and bit him. They tumbled along and kicked up so much dust they could not see where they were going, until a booming voice broke the chaos.

"Stop this fighting! Right now!"

When it did not break off, an immensely powerful feeling overwhelmed all involved. They instantly stopped and stood at attention. Sidus felt compelled to do the same. The dust settled and Sidus saw that the booming voice had come from the yellow pegasus. She was staring intently at all the chickens; they looked ashamed. She began to pace, much like his father would during a lineup. Her voice was unbelievably soft; especially compared to the authority she had shown a moment ago.

"Who started this?"

All in the lineup pointed to Sidus. He looked to all of them, offended. He noticed the duck was standing right next to him. He pointed to the creature with great emphasis. Fluttershy raised a brow at him. He sighed and pointed to himself. Not taking her eyes off him, she spoke to her chickens.

"You can all go to your coops now."

The chickens waddled away. The duck started to creep after them, but the yellow mare looked at him and it snapped back to attention.

"Not you…"

Sidus decided it may be best to cut his losses, and retreat. He also tried to escape as quietly as possible, but she called out to him.

"…Or you."

He snapped his head back to her, and stared into her eyes. They were like looking into black pools that told him to stay. He resumed his position next to the duck. Her stare receded in intensity, and Sidus looked into them even closer. They now reminded him of a perfect blue sky with no clouds. Her soft voice pierced his thoughts.

"Excuse me, you're Sidus, yes?"

Sidus quickly shook out the cobwebs in his mind and resumed a military stance. He raised a salute.

"Yes ma'am, Sidus ma'am, of the Night Guard… ma'am."

Fluttershy looked at the pteronasus with confusion. Sidus looked down at the duck, mostly for moral support. The duck raised a brow at him. Sidus narrow his eyes at the duck.

"Don't you look at me like that… duck."

The yellow mare stifled a chuckle. A thought came to Sidus. He turned to the duck, and winked. He then stood up on his hind legs, and put up his fore-hooves as if he was going to box the waterfowl.

"Come at me, duck!"

The duck cocked its head to the side and lightly quacked. Sidus looked at the duck with desperation. The duck looked to Fluttershy, then back to Sidus. It thought for a second. It then realized what its former adversary wanted. It made a sound that sounded like 'Oh'. It ruffled up its feathers, spread its wings, began to flap them vigorously, and ran at the pteronasus. It quacked with faux-ferocity. Normally, Sidus' primary instinct would be to face his attacker, but this situation required a more diplomatic approach. As the duck gained ground, Sidus turned a one-eighty and fled. His legs kicked up so much dust, that a trail followed behind him. Hither and thither, the duck chased after the Night-Guard. He chanced to hear the mare giggle, and stopped running. What Sidus failed to realize, was the duck had continued the chase, and it slammed into his flank with such force that the pteronasus flipped twice, head over hooves, and his head became implanted into the soil. He pulled his head out of the ground, and everything went fuzzy.

"Tee-dee…" He said as he outstretched his limbs and jazz-hooved.

He then fell on his back, out cold.

"Stop squirming!" Spite-Wing yelled. "This will be over quicker, if you stop resisting!"

He had begun the cocooning process on the blue pegasus, but she was proving to be difficult to slow down.

"I'll never stop, you freak! Let. Me. Go!" She shouted as she tried again to break free from the green goo that slowly enveloped her further.

Rainbow Dash had found herself in a tight spot. She had thought the stallion she met at Fluttershy's cottage was just that; but he was no stallion, he was a changeling.

"What do you want with me!" She shouted.

"Isn't it obvious?" he said with a grin.

His horn glowed and with a flash of green light Rainbow saw him, become her. The changeling cleared his throat and spoke in her voice.

"I hope this gets the point across."

Spite-Wing began to chuckle as Rainbow's eyes grew wide in terror. Fangs grew from the changeling's mouth and he approached the blue mare, chuckling as she cried out from the pain of his bite.

Sidus' eyes quivered open. He grasped his head with both his hooves.

First my back, and now my head. What else could hurt me in this town?

He looked at his surroundings.

Walls of wood, floors of wood, bed made of wood. Must be in a tree house.

He saw a grumpy looking white rabbit hop into the room. He folded his little arms and began to tap his foot.

"Yes?" Sidus questioned.

The bunny rolled his eyes and pointed out of the room.

"You want me to follow you?"

The bunny nodded, with obvious derision.

Sidus whispered to himself. "Alright… grumpy bunny."

As he exited the bed, a wayward carrot smacked him in the back of the head. He turned to see the bunny was gone, and in his place, the duck from earlier was munching on another carrot. It quacked at him and carrot spewed all over the floor.

"Way to go, duck. Who's going to clean up this mess?"

"Probably me." said a soft voice from the hall.

The yellow pegasus entered the room, and suddenly the room seemed brighter. Sidus sighed, and then involuntarily smiled at her. She did not seem notice, because she turned her attention away from him.

"Angel. Close that shade, you'll blind our poor guest."

Sidus turned to his left and saw the bunny had opened the window blind. The pteronasus blushed to himself as Fluttershy closed the blind. She turned back to him.

"Now Sir, I'd like you to get back into bed and lie still."

He did as he was told. He began to chew on his lip. She turned to leave, when he blurted out.

"Miss Fluttershy!"

"Yes?" She replied.

"Um… We haven't been properly introduced. I am Sidus, of the Night Guard." He saluted with gusto.

She giggled, "Hello Sidus. I'm Fluttershy, but you seem to already know that."

"Oh, right… Um… Ms. Sparkle… told me about you."

"Oh? Why did you ask Twilight about me?"

Sidus gulped. "I was… curious…" He trailed off, but quickly added. "About everypony!" He sheepishly laughed and blushed again.

Fluttershy giggled again. "You're silly. It's been awhile since I've laughed like that."

"I don't see why a mare as pretty as you wouldn't laugh more often?"

She suddenly lost her smile, folded her ears down, and looked away. His overconfidence had overshadowed his logic, which had caused his to speak his mind. He folded his own ears in shame.

"Apologies, ma'am. I did not mean to be so disrespectful."

"It isn't your fault Sidus, but… I recently lost somepony close and I…" Her voice trailed off as she held back a tear.

"No worries, Miss Fluttershy, I understand the feeling of losing somepony you love."

She raised her head to look at him. He could see it was taking all her strength to hold back her sadness.

"You do?"

"Yes…"

A single tear unexpectedly came to his own eye and rolled down his face. He was shocked silent by the sudden appearance of it. They sat is silence for several moments, until Angel hopped over to his owner and tugged on her hoof. She looked down at her pet as he offered her a chair. She smiled at Angel and took the chair and sat next to the pteronasus.

"So… Sidus, you have a very interesting name. How did your parents come by it?"

He finally wiped his tear away, and sat up.

"When I was born, there was an unusually bright star in the sky. My mother wanted to name me Starshine, but my father wanted me to have a more..." Sidus pondered an appropriate term, "Elegant and traditional name. So he named me Sidus; which means star, in the old pteronasus language. At least, that's the way my brother tells it."

"Your brother?"

"Yeah. Tenebris. Thick as thieves, we are… Or were. We have not spent as much time together as we used to."

"Why not?" She asked.

"Because he is usually off on assignment. He is always the first to volunteer, especially if it's going to be dangerous."

"And you? You don't volunteer?"

Sidus scratched the back of his neck. "To be honest, I don't leave the castle much. I like familiarity, and if I never go on a dangerous adventure, that'll be fine by me."

Fluttershy looked away from him. "That sounds wonderful, not having dangerous adventures, I mean. I've had one too many brushes with the pale horse to suit me."

Sidus chuckled to himself, "Really? You don't seem the type, if you mind me saying."

Fluttershy shook her head.

"I don't mind. I'm usually with my friends when all the danger happens, and we always end up okay."

"Regale me, if you don't mind."

"I don't know…"

"I may not care for actual adventure, but I love a good story."

"Alright, well, it all started when…"

Rainbow Dash hung upside down. The green goo was almost done covering her head. The changeling's poison had done its work; she was loosing consciousness. Just before she passed out she saw the changeling fly away, in her body, towards Ponyville.

Sidus sat in the bed, dumbfounded.

"Wow… Just… Wow…"

"You seem a bit, surprised." The yellow mare said.

"Can you blame me?" Sidus replied with excitement, "You have single hoofedly, taken on dragons, a cockatrice… and not to mention, you and your friends have saved Equestria more times then I can count. You are amazing!"

Fluttershy turned away from him and began to blush.

"Thank you Sidus. It's really my friends who do most of the work."

She began to turn away from him, but he quickly grabbed her foreleg with his hoof and turned her back to him. He looked her straight in the eyes and said,

"Don't you ever sell yourself short. You are brave. You've saved Equestria, and everypony here in Ponyville. In my book, that makes you a hero. And our heroes are always the best of us."

Sidus got out of his bed and stood as straight as he could.

"Miss Fluttershy. Would you like to be my companion at the Nightmare Night festivities tomorrow?"

Fluttershy stared at Sidus, unsure what to think. She turned to look at Angel. He looked at the pteronasus from head to hooves. He then turned to his owner and nodded with approval.

She back turned to Sidus and said with a smile, "Yes."

In the darkness of her room, Pinkie Pie lay on her bed, cuddling a teddy bear owned by Pound Cake. She had finally stopped crying, but she still felt that something was missing inside her, as if her free spirit was somehow gone. A knock came from her door.

"Go way." She weakly cried out.

"Pinkie dear…" It was Cup Cake. "…one of your friends is here to see you."

"I don't want to see anypony." She replied.

Her own voice felt foreign to her, which in turn made her even sadder. She stuffed her face into her pillow and hugged the teddy closer to her.

The door opened, and in walked Pinkie's visitor. She pulled her face up from the pillow. In the darkness of the room, she could just make out the silhouette of her friend.

"Dashie?"

"Yes Pinkie Pie…" She replied with a crooked grin. "It's me."