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Seeing that this new mare was not an enemy, Pondah took a breath and approached Gale and the new mare. He still didn't trust her though and instead of engaging in conversation with her, Pondah instead chose to hide behind Gale and whisper softly to him, "Who's this new pony? Is she sane or crazy?" Unlike upon Pondah's first encounter in Canterlot, he was not trembling with fear. Around Gale and the guard he felt safe.

@@Addem Up, @@GaleFenrir, After a few moments of sensory deprivation, the worry and fear in Pondah's body was gone. 'Only when cut off from all stimuli can we find true peace.' Pondah thought as he left the side-room. Upon leaving, he saw a new mare in another room. Whilst peeking round the corner, he could see she was clearly injured. 'If only I was a doctor. I could help out right now...'

Pondah entered the side-room and closed the door behind him. The room was completely bare except for a soft carpet. With the door closed no light could enter the room, leaving it completely dark. Pondah found an especially soft piece carpet and sat on it, facing away from the door, to relax. He sat perfectly still, trying to completely blank his mind of all thought.

Now safely inside, Pondah breathed a sigh of relief. The home felt warm, welcoming and, perhaps most importantly, secure. Pondah walked up to the guard and asked, "Um... have you got a private room I can borrow to... calm down because you've seen what I was like outside and I wouldn't like to cause any trouble so I'd like to get that with out of me." Pondah scratched the back of his neck whilst talking to calm himself down a smidgen.

@@GaleFenrir, @@Addem Up, Pondah broke into a light gallop in order to keep up with Curious and the guard. 'Phew, nopony and nothing in sight. I'm safe for now.' Pondah thought. 'Come on, we must be off of the streets soon. I don't know how much longer I can last with all this fear.' Pondah temporarily sped up so he was alongside the others. "Yeah... um... I'm sorry about not trusting you all. I don't trust very easily and at this time with these current events I'm sure you can understand why I was on edge." Pondah said quietly.

All of the listed methods rely on some form of disguise or cover-up excuse. Try a distraction method. 1. Locate shop 2. On a different day, find the location of the pony aisle and tills. 3. On the day of purchase, create a distraction to lure people towards the distraction and away from the ponies and tills. Something like an explosion or a naked lunatic on a unicycle should do the trick. 4. Sneak through the shop to the aisle and grab the ponies. Make sure to remain undetected. If in doubt, smoke bomb. 5. Stealthily approach the tills and place an envelope containing enough money to cover the cost of the ponies entitled 'Cash for Ponies'. 6. Get out of the store, jump on a motorbike and escape! Mission Succesful. But seriously, don't care what other people think. An 'I don't care' attitude makes you impervious to any snide remarks.

@@GaleFenrir, Given a moment in which everyone else was occupied, Pondah began to think. 'Well, regardless of what I think of them, those two are my only two tickets out alive. It seems I'm going to have to partially trust them. I can't let my guard down though. Even though they act calm, I don't know what they have up their proverbial sleeves. Looks like I'm in a bind.'

As the wing touched Pondah's body, all his back muscles tensed and a frightened whimper escaped his mouth. His breathing rate increased for a moment but upon realising that the wing was not an attack upon him, it began to settle out and the sweating slowed. Doubt still raged in his mind and his heart rate increased sharply before he said, "Please don't hurt me..."

@@GaleFenrir, The shout of his name caused Pondah to flinch and a shiver to run through his body. 'Aw crap, he heard me. I need to learn to control myself.' [And not be such a wimp...] Beads of sweat began to form on Pondah's forehead as beinh caught voicing his thoughts, coupled with the worry of ambush, began to dominate his thoughts, erasing almost all rational thought.

Pondah's gaze was launching everywhere, scanning the surroundings for attackers. Whilst searching, Pondah thought aloud, "Please let there be nopony here. I can't do fighting with ponies, especially not mental ones. If we get attacked then I'll be the thing that gets us killed. Unless it's one of those two who attack and then I'll be dead and they'll be fine." ​Pondah gulped as the uncertainty of the situation began to leak unlikely possibilities into his mind.

WINNING DENIED!

Since people are made of atoms, people studying atoms are just a group of atoms studying themselves.

Pondah ran a hoof down his back to see if the soreness remained. "It...it...appears fine now. You can have the scarf back." Pondah removed the scarf and offered it back to Curious. The silence of the streets did little to settle Pondah's worried mind. ´It's too quiet, I might get ambushed and left behind so the rest can escape.´

@@Addem Up, @@GaleFenrir, Pondah stood up slowly and let out a deep sigh of relief. "Um... sorry about that but I've been awfully nervous today what with all the carnage, mayhem and stuff like that." Still shaking with fright, Pondah took a moment to analyse the situation. 'So... I can run from the two and die or go into their potential ambush and die. Seems like there's no way out of this without bodily injury. I best keep an eye out for strange things'

Pondah jumped out of his skin upon being addressed by the metal-plated guard. "Ahh!" he cried, placing his hooves on his head a laying down on his belly. "Please don't kill me, please don't kill me, please don't kill me." Pondah whispered. He closed his eyes in an attempt to drown out the chaos of reality around him. (OOC: Remember this Addem? Don't worry new guys, it's a special thing.) [back on the floor, right where you belong.]

@@GaleFenrir Pondah smirked at Curious' "hero speech". "Need a hand with that? I'm pretty good at hunting down information... just not from other ponies. This seems interesting enough to warrant getting involved." Pondah shook a leg to help remove some of the muscle tightness. "Am I the only pony who thinks this is seriously cliched? Evil force, princesses in danger, unlikely bunch tries to solve the problem. All we need now is a knight in shining armour and it'll be clichetastic."

@@GaleFenrir, Pondah staggered to his hooves, wincing slightly as he stood. "The name's Pondah." He paused for a moment, then said, "Well, first thing's... second, what in world is going on? This is my first time here. Is this normal? Is this meant to happen? In short, why is everypony crazy?"

@, Pondah was visible quivering as Curious walked towards him. As the scarf was wrapped around though, the shaking stopped and, in a stuttering voice, Pondah said, "You... you really were trying to help. I'm sorry for doubting you." The soothing effects of the scarf flowed through Pondah's body and he sighed as the pain from landing was relieved.

@@GaleFenrir, Pondah's heart and breathing rate shot through the roof. "B...b...back off! I'm not falling for a trap!" he stuttered. Pondah searched around for an escape path. Realising that the wall to the left from rough and bumpy, Pondah launched himself at it and begin to climb. After only a quarter of the wall, Pondah slipped from the wall and hit the ground on his back. "No..." he said softly. Pondah looked at the Pegasus with a gaze of pure fear and worry.

@@GaleFenrir, Pondah continued his evasive action until a turn took him to a bad place. "Is this a dead end?" he said with chattering teeth. "No, no, no! Damn it!" ​Pondah's feelings of fear became replaced with anger and self-preservation. "Grr!" He looked around frantically for an escape path. It was no use. Pondah got ready for what he believed to be an imminent battle.