Hope's Refraction

"I put me in charge. Sorry you missed it- you were probably sleeping."

Scales growled, spreading her hooves and wings.
"Heck, if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even be off the train yet!"

"Yeah, right," she replied.

"Then how come everything I've said to do, you've said the opposite, huh? 'Hey, let's work with the bugponies', 'Hey, let's go after Starpony'. Seriously- what in the name of Tartarus is your problem? It's like you're waiting for me to say stuff just so you can disagree with me! If we're 'partners', then how come you haven't had my back since we got to this dumb place?"

"Right, sorry, me being the family freak must have been really hard on you. I can tell you lost a lot of sleep over it- maybe that's why you keep spacing out anytime trouble comes along, huh? How else did I mess up your life? Am I the reason you can't breath fire?"

She sneered, chipping a small piece of garnet off her bracelets. She swallowed it, and, a second later, spat out a burst of flame.
"Cuz that is kinda embarrassing, you know. I might have feathers, but even I can do that. Whoever heard of a dragon that couldn't breath fire? Oh, right, sorry. Should have checked your reflection"

For a second, Scales said nothing, her body going limp as Storm hugged her. She sniffed, and if Storm looked at her eyes, they might have been sparkling...

"I am co-operating," she said quietly. "It's just that none of you are co-operating with me"

Her wings flared up and out suddenly, forcefully; enough to let her slip out of Storms grasp, at least, and into some awkward form of flight.

"I got us into this mess, Storm. We're here cuz of that stupid letter, and because I wanted to know what ponies were like. I'm gonna get us out of this, and I don't care if that means leaving Starflank behind, or playing nice with bug ponies, or beating you up and dragging you behind me the rest of the way."

"...Okay," she finally said, quiet and... sullen? Not exactly, but she didn't sound thrilled about it either.

She avoided looking at Storm as she said it though, looking awkwardly back the way they came.

"Can we stop bickering about what we should bucking do and really do something?" The Spiderpone who masked itself as an Earth Pony asked really upset with all of this talking and just moving forward now, willing to just leave the rest of this group behind if need be after all she didn't feel the most welcomed in this group. "Yeah we lost somebody, and we should look for them, but that's more their problem for ditching us then our problem for being a mare down. I mean, unless ANYONE here has good tracking skills that we didn't know about. We're better off heading to that town or something then trying to find an ally, that got themselves lost in these wild & magical jungle, if we're lucky they'll find us later on."

"This is hardly a jungle, we left that behind us, remember? Regardless, I would appreciate you not saving such an emotional moment until we get to town. It's making me hungry, and I already decided against actively feeding off of you." Shadow shrugged indifferently, thinking a bit. They had time, and a couple of minutes wasn't too far out of her way. That said, if they didn't get to town soon, she wouldn't have much of a choice. They might be her only shot at getting home, but she wasn't about to starve herself on their behalf. "Still, it'll be up to you two to find her. I'm much better off in...urban environments when it comes to finding my quarry," she added after a moment.

Backtracking yields little reward as the group finds no trace of the errant member or any clues that could potentially lead them to her, thus it is with some reluctance that the group decides to head off without her.

After around another 45 minutes you come across what looks to be a small town, while not the one you where originally heading towards it is still large enough that you could probably find a place to eat and rest your tired hooves should you need to.


From what you can see of the town it is surrounded on all sides by large wooden walls from which the occasional figure walks by, Perhaps more interesting  to note are the two guards standing laxly by what looks to be the main entrance.

"Huh...Guarded, walls...This is the setup of somepony expecting trouble. Still, it doesn't look like they're on high alert Maybe we can just trot on in? Regardless, this complicates matters...We should ask around when we're inside, figure out what's going on, what the story is for this place...Might give us some insight on where we ended up." Shadow glanced at the walls again, walking towards the entrance. Something was off...This wasn't Equestria, she supposed...That meant she had to be careful about any infiltrating.

Scales remained silent during the search for Milky, absently scuffing her hooves along the dirt. Giving up and heading oneards had cheered her up a little- though only a little. While she wasn't dragging herself, she still remained quiet, almost petulant.

She seemed to snap out of it when Shadow spoke up. She glanced up at the walls and the ponies maning it and- for a second- it looked like she grimaced, and shuffled uncomfortably.

"Uh... Alright then, Shadowpony. How's about you go in there and check that stuff out, and uh... I'll wait out here with Storm. Don' want to freak people out with a full-size dragon, right?"

As you head towards the gate, the guards sort of straighten up a little, one of them giving you a friendly little wave, while the other lets out a small yawn before turning away and grumbling sleepily.
The more active guard smiles at you as you approach, who now that your closer, you can see is a light blue Pegasus while the image of a crystal shield for a cutie mark.“You all looking for a place to rest on your way to canterlot?” he says as he grabs some sheets of paper from his saddlebag, before becoming you all towards a small table off to the sides.

At first glance the papers looks to be some sort of registry papers, the kind that the more travelled of you would recognise as being similar to ones you would normally sign when staying at an inn at an unfamiliar town. It contains all the usual stuff like your name, sub-species and mane and coat colour,  though there is a section called destiny though you are able to quickly figure out its referring to your cutie mark.
However there are several questions that seem out of place, one such being a question asking if you belong to a noble house or not while the list of race’s actually include changelings, right underneath however there seems to be a speciality section there asking for their licence rank and ID number. As a final note there is a section titled destiny upon exit.

“I know it’s a pain to have to fill these out, but you know orders” he shrugs “if you want I could give you directions to the local inn, my shifts almost over and I was planning on heading there anyway,”

"...Thanks," Scales mumbled as soon as the others were out of earshot, lying on the ground and turning it over with her hoof.

Her hoof.
She stared at it.

She hated it. She always meant what she said, that she was a dragon, no matter what she looked like... but then she looked at her feet, and instead of claws to hold things with, or hold treasure, or dig for gems, there were those four stupid, clumsy hooves. She spread her wings, and instead of scales rippling silently, there was a flutter of feathers, rustling against one another.

It was bad enough being surrounded by dragons when she didn't look like one... but it had been worse in Canterlot, surrounded by other ponies. Despite herself, she found herself noticing things; the way they walked, the way they held themselves, the way they spoke. It all contributed to make her feel very, very self- aware of something; that even though she didn't blend in back home, she stood out among ponies like a sore thumb.
...or a sore hoof.

Spoiler:

"Thank you, sir, we'll have these filled out before you know it, and I would appreciate directions to the inn, that's very kind of you." Shadow smiled, taking the forms and floating them to the teams, stepping back a moment while she filled her copy out.  "Hey, even if you two don't feel like coming in, might wanna fill them out. They might get...Antsy about a couple of unknowns lingering around," she said to Storm and Scales, before returning her attention to the documents. There was some weird stuff here...Licenses for changelings? And Destiny Upon Exit? Clearly cutie marks were more malleable here...Still, being she literally hadn't existed here until recently, it was pretty obvious she'd be an unlicensed changeling...Unauthorized? Whatever. So, it was time to do what changelings did best, and lie like a rug. She filled out her paperwork, glancing over it afterwards to make sure she was in good shape...

Name: Shadow Dancer
Species: Unicorn
Coat Color: Black/Grey
Mane Color: Blue
Noble House: None
Destiny: Performance (Illusions)
Destiny Upon Exit:

...She wasn't sure she'd filled it out properly, but hopefully it would pass a casual inspection in the twilight.

"Don't feel bad, some of this is new to me as well," Shadow whispered, thinking. "Judging from what this is about...Well, the changeling stuff doesn't apply to you unless you have a daaaaaark seeeecreeeet...We're probably not nobles, the destiny thing is probably that mark that appeared on your flank...Destiny on exit, though, that one's stumping me unless fate-changing spells are common here." She tried to explain it as best she could, glancing over the forms.

Scales smiled at Storm,bleating into him. She looked over them as Shadow spoke, her forehead creasing with concentration, as if willing it hard enough could make it any easier. She was in much the same situation as Storm on the 'literacy' front- less willing to admit it, but still...

"... I think I have less of an idea what these meant than I did before you started talking, Shadowpony."

"Really? So what's that, then?" Shadow didn't miss a beat, indicating Storm's new cutie mark, before taking a breath. "Okay, let's try this again...The name section's pretty obvious, just put your name there. Species is for...Well, what you are. Or rather, what they see when they look at you. Mane and coat color's another obvious one, I guess Storm, put your scale colors there. Most of the rest of it doesn't really matter for us...We're not nobles, you know? Uhm...Sorry, I don't know how to explain it any more clearly."

"...How about spelling," Scales finally grumbled, a thick blush making her cheeks turn orange. She looked away awkwardly, glancing at the guards of the city for a moment before picking up the pencil... albeit in the most awkward way possible, balancing it between her fore hooves and writing, clumsily.

It... well. She got most things in the right boxes at least...

Name: Soeft Skaels
Species: Berdpo Pegassis Pegasus
Coat color: Yellow
Mane Color: Greay
Noble House: None
Destiny: Fhire
Destiny upon exit: