AUTHOR NOTE: Seeing as musical numbers happen in both Hazbin Hotel and Friendship Is Magic, decided to include song lyrics in the story.

* The "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" used in this chapter is a medley of the songs "Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World", and was sung by the late Israel Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole, also called Bruddah Iz or IZ,.

"...No...no, please!...stop it! Don't! I'm begging you...! Please, leave them alone...! NO...!" Charlie jerked awake with that final cry of denial, drenched in an icy cold sweat and eyes huge as they frantically darted around everywhere. Gasping for breath, Charlie took a moment to compose herself and remember where she was."...Another one..." the Alicorn panted, her body shaking.

Couldn't the looming threat of the yearly Extermination purges to cull the overpopulation of Hell stop haunting her every waking and resting moment? So many souls...so many lives...so many people...

Her people.

Gone. Just gone. Right down to snuffing the souls out. She couldn't stand it. But what could she do, especially with her being stuck here? That thought alone was utter torture. Bad enough her idea of a rehabilitation project with the Happy Hotel had made her a laughingstock all across Hell, but now she couldn't even be there to try helping them before the next Cleanse happened!

"...What am I going to do...?" she asked as she curled inward as small as possible, tears on her face mingling with the sweat. As usual, when she woke from those terrors.

"...Somewhere over the rainbow way up high...There's a land that I heard of...once in a lullaby. Somewhere over the rainbow...skies are blue.
And the dreams that you dare to dream...really do come true..." Charlie said, starting to sing to herself to help her calm down.

"...Someday I'll wish upon a star...And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney top
That's where you'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
And the dream that you dare to,
Oh why, oh why can't I?

Well I see trees of green and red roses too,
I'll watch them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

Well I see skies of blue
And I see clouds of white
And the brightness of day
I like the dark
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people passing by
I see friends shaking hands
Singing, "How do you do?"
They really sing, "I...I love you"

I hear babies cry and I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than we'll know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world world

Someday I'll wish upon a star
Wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney top
That's where you'll find me

Oh, somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
And the dream that you dare to

Why, oh why can't I? I?"

By the time she finished, her trembling had at least stopped. The pain and fear that had plagued her slumber had dulled somewhat. Singing a positive, happy little song like that was something her mother had always done to help sooth her when she had been younger. It was part of why Charlie loved to sing so much...help push the bad stuff away, at least a bit.

Raising a forelimb, she wiped at her eyes and took a deep breath. There was still time. Year wasn't over yet. She could still find a way to get home and find a way to try and keep that horror from happening again.

"...Just need to stay positive until then. Still have time..." Charlie said in reminder. One more deep breath, then the princess of hell sighed and got out of her bed. She had things to do if she was going to stay here until she found a way back, after all. Glad to need to focus on that, she got out of bed and went into into the bathroom. Charlie went up to the vanity and looked at herself in the mirror. She wondered how Rarity had done all that levitation stuff (lifting and yanking Charlie herself around included) the other day. Recalling how the horn of the style queen had glowed when it happened, Charlie's gaze went up to the duo of dark-reddish horns protruding from her head, wondering if she could learn to do it too.

Until then, however...

"...I hate not having hands..." she sighed, then stood up on her hind legs, using the vanity as support, she leaned against it and took her toothbrush, grasping it as best she could between her front hooves. It was like trying to grip things with her fists closed, but she managed after a few tries. Ok...now, where was the toothpaste?

Lowering her head, she hooked the on the two keratin protrusions on the bottom edge of the mirror and pulled her head back, opening it. Seeing what she was after, she carefully stuck her head in and grasped the tube with her teeth and removed it.

Sighing with the tube still grasped within her teeth after realizing she still had yet another problem, Charlie knew she had to be very careful when applying her toothpaste, setting her toothbrush on the edge of her sink, she carefully while using her teeth to unscrew the cap.

Then she lightly bit on the end of the tube and slowly and carefully squeezed the toothpaste with her teeth on the top of her toothbrush.

After several attempt to hold the brush with her hooves, Charlie just about to loose her patience, so she just chomped the toothbrush and began to move it around her mouth with her tongue, making sure to give every tooth a proper scrubbing. It wasn't easy , but she wasn't going to shirk her personal hygiene. Doing so would just be plane gross.

After a while, she spat the toothbrush out, "Ugh... There has got to be a better way to do this..." Charlie groaned to herself as she pulled a plastic bag over her injured wing then turned the knob and jumped into the tub to take her morning bath, thankful the faucet had lever knobs as opposed to round ones. Made using them much easier to work with using hooves.

Dealing with the soap and conditioner, however, was as much of a hassle as using a toothbrush. She kept slipping as she tried having to balance on her hind legs only, and trying to scrub her hair...mane...whichever, using hooves was no simple task either. Still, she found a way to manage.

"I gotta get used to this pony thing..." Charlie groaned, turning the water off and exiting her shower. Drying off, she left the bathroom and sighed, glad that ordeal was over.

She would have gotten breakfast, but she needed to be able to buy some food, first. Which brought her to her main issue at the moment, "Now...where to find some work?" she asked herself. Exiting her cottage, she blinked at seeing a package on her doorstep with a note attached to it.

Hm? Pulling it inside by clamping onto it with her teeth, she looked at the note and began reading.

" 'Dear Charlie. I hope you don't mind this being delivered by package, but I had a lot to do and as much as I wished it, I could not come myself. I do hope you enjoy.

—Rarity'"

Blinking, Charlie used her horns like a box cutter and pulled the flaps back with her teeth and she stared.

Not only was it the Zoot Suit from the other day, but the others she'd tried on as well.

"...Ok, regardless of these being gifts for how things were yesterday, I'm finding a way to pay you back when I can find a way that I can, Rarity." Charlie said to herself, resolved to the action.

The small act of generosity and kindness perking her up and putting her in good spirits, the displaced royal of Hell smiled as she went outside. As she did, Charlie stopped a moment and took a deep breath, simply enjoying the warm sunshine and the sheer brightness of the world she found herself in. Finally, she looked up and once again beheld that beautiful, clear blue sky.

Beaming, Charlie felt herself relax. The brightness, the colors, the warmth, the softness, the sounds...it was all so wonderful! She was going to like it here! Even the smallest, everyday things in this place made her worries seem to melt away. It was a counterbalance she needed, given her concerns about the time limit she was on as far as finding a way home...

At the direction her thoughts were going, she shook her head. Had other things that demanded her focus.

"Gotta find some work." she reminded herself.

As Charlie walked around the town, trying to find where these ponies had job applications, she stopped at a statue in the center of town that she noticed was of a winged unicorn, Charlie frowned at it, puzzled. Wait...was it an "Alicorn"? Like her? Zecora had said she'd seen others, and if they were ponies with both wings and horns, Charlie could see why her current body would have her classified as one among these ponies.

As she studied it, she suddenly heard somepony shout to her, "Look out!"

The next thing Charlie knew, she was tackled by a grey blur who just saved her from getting hit on the head by a package that looked and sounded like it was filled with (now broken) glass as it hit the ground.

"Are you alright? I'm so sorry! I just don't know what went wrong." the pony said.

The pony was a female pegasus with eyes colored gradient from pale, light grayish apple green to moderate gamboge, her mane and tail were pale, light grayish apple green and her coat was light sapphire bluish gray on her flank was a mark in the form of seven bubbles on her flank. She was wearing a brown mail carrier suit, with white sleeves and a collar, on her back was a small saddle bag with the symbol of the post office, and sitting on top of her head was a brown colored hat with a yellow circle with a white circle with a picture of a red arrow with white wings.

However, Charlie looked at the pegasus' eyes and saw that they were wall eyed giving her a unique look compared to the other ponies.

"Thanks for helping me. Would have been bad if that hit me, ummm..." Charlie said, realizing she didn't know the pony's name.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't tell you my name. I'm Derpy Hooves, but you can call me Muffins or Ditzy Doo." the pony said with a smile on her face.

"Ditzy? You hardly seem ditzy to me, Derpy. If you were, you wouldn't have been able to save me from needing to get glass pulled out of my head." Charlie said, "Thanks for that again."

Derpy's eyes widened when she heard Charlie say that, nopony was so nice to her like that before or even thanked her! Most saw her as a clutz at best, a nusance at worst! Her eyes started to water, "That... That's the nicest thing anypony has ever said to me!" Derpy suddenly started to cry tears of joy as she just couldn't help but feel happy.

Charlie stared, nobody was that nice to her before? That was horrible! But why? It was
obvious Derpy was a nice individual...Without needing to think about it, she hugged the
bubble marked pony, offering comfort to the one who helped her.

Derpy returned the hug as she was calming herself down and when she was fully calmed down, Derpy then looked at Charlie, "I'm sorry, But I still don't know your..." Derpy said before she saw Charlie's horns and wings, making her gasp and quickly bowed before Charlie as she apologized for touching a royal Alicorn, and she also begged Charlie not to throw her into a dungeon.

"Uh...why are you doing that?" Charlie asked, confused. Why was Derpy bowing like that and acting like she did something wrong by simply touching her? All she did was help keep Charlie from getting hurt.

"Yo...You're an Alicorn... I have to show you respect, your majesty." Derpy said timidly while still bowing and her eyes still closed shut, as if even looking at Charlie without her say-so would be considered a sin.

Well, that answered Charlie's question about the statue and the way her body had her classified, at least.

"You kept me from getting hurt, now you're acting like you did something wrong by helping me, though. So what if I'm an Alicorn? I needed help, you helped me. You're not in any trouble for that. Why would you be?" Charlie said. Ok...this was weird. What did being an Alicorn have to do with why the pegasus was acting this way? And "your majesty"? How did Derpy know Charlie was from Hell's royal family?

Derpy cautiously stood up and looked at Charlie, "Well... If you're okay with this... then I am, too. I hope we can become good friends, um... excuse me, your majesty, but if it isn't insolent of me...what was your name?" Derpy asked as she remembered she never got Charlie's name.

"I'm Charlie, Derpy. And I'd like if we could end up being friends." she said, smiling. "But please, no formalities, titles, bowing, or anything like that, ok? I'd much rather you treat me no different than anyone else."

The pegasus' jaw dropped. An alicorn that wanted...? Seemed pretty disrespectful, but...the way she was smiling at her was proof it was all right. Derpy let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"Say, Derpy...could you help me? I'm looking for a place to work to get some bits." Charlie asked.

"Well...I hear Mr and Mrs Cake at the Sugarcube Corner bakery might need some extra hooves. I go there all the time to get muffins, so I can show you where it is, your m—Charlie." Derpy said, catching herself before she used a formal title again, not wanting to risk upsetting the Alicorn.

Charlie blinked, then smiled, "That sounds like it could be promising. Could you please show me?"

Derpy nodded. She'd wanted to get some fresh muffins, anyways. "Ok. I can do that real quick. Just gotta clean up the dropped package, first." the mailmare said.

"Let me help, least I can do to thank you." Charlie smiled.

Going over to the broken remains, the pair frowned. How to do this while being careful of the shattered pieces?

However, seeing who the package had been addressed to, Derpy paled. No wonder nopony else had wanted to deliver this crystal chandelier!

Spoiled Rich.

Now Derpy would have to tell her the order was ruined! She was doomed!

As Derpy started to internally panic, Charlie perked up and got an idea as she saw a wastebasket that somepony set outside. Going over, she clamped her teeth on it and brought it over by the shattered package. Setting the wastebasket on its side, Charlie nodded as she held it steady. "Try sweeping it up into this." she said.

Seeing so many shards of crystal on the ground, Derpy then suddenly had an idea before she turned around and she shocked Charlie by using her own tail to sweep up the shards of the chandelier into the basket.

Charlie took a moment to fully understand what she was seeing as she never thought that her new tail would work like that. Charlie then looked at her own whip-like, spaded tail and gave it a few experimental sweeps as she attempted imitate what Derpy was doing with her tail.

Once Derpy finished sweeping, she gave Charlie a smile as the latter put the wastebasket back. "Thanks." the pegasus said, then the two went off with the mailmare leading the way to Sugarcube Corner.

Seeing the town's bakery once, Charlie's mouth dropped.

The building's roof was designed to look like the roof of a gingerbread house with swirls of icing about the eaves; pepperment cane pillars stood aside the front door; and the third floor turret spire was built like a pink, frosted cupcake. And there were tables immediately outside of the bakery for use by patrons.

"...My sweet tooth is overjoyed, and the rest of my teeth hurt just looking at this place..." Charlie muttered, causing Derpy to giggle. Not that the clumsy mare could blame the princess.

"Well...hope things work out. I'd like to stay and help more, but on the clock for my job. Goodbye and good luck, Charlie!" Derpy said before flying into the air again.

Charlie smiled. Another name for the list along with Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack...

Taking a deep breath, the daughter of Lucifer smiled, "Ok, let's do this.", then pushed the door open and entered the shop.

At the bell chimed with the opening of the door, she was greeted by the sight of two Earth ponies behind the counter. The first being a tall, but skinny male pony who had moderate pistachio colored eyes, his mane and tail were colored a light brilliant orange, his coat was a light brilliant amber with light brilliant colored orange freckles on his upper muzzle. On his flank was a tattoo of three cut carrot cakes.

The female Earth Pony next to him looked pleasantly plump and had brilliant rose colored eyes, her mane and tail were light crimson color with light grayish crimson strips and her coat was a very light cerulean. And on her flank was a tattoo of just three cupcakes.

A Mr. And a Mrs., both with types of cake on their flanks. Yep, these must be the ones Derpy mentioned.

"Welc...uh...uhh...uhhh...ummmm..." Mr. Cake started to greet, only to trail off, dumbstruck as he saw it was an Alicorn who entered into their shop! Mr. And Mrs. Cake then nearly banged their heads on the counter in their haste to bow to her.

The transformed demon princess stared. Ok...this was getting weird. Why were they bowing like that to her? First Derpy, now these two? What was up? It was starting to make Charlie feel uncomfortable...

"Uh...please, don't bow..." she said, feeling awkward. "No formalities either, please. Just relax and be casual."

At the permission, the pair rose, letting out held breaths at that. Looking as they got up, they saw the princess smiling warmly at them, "Hi. I'm Charlie, nice to meet you." she greeted.

Huh? Charlie?! What kind of name was that for a princess?!

"Well...my full name is actually Charlotte Magne, but I prefer Charlie, easier to remember and say, and sounds more casual." she admitted.

"Oh! Umm...Charlie's very...very nice..." Mr. Cake sputtered, sweating bullets at that.

"Please calm down." Charlie winced, "you didn't know. I explained. End of story. No need to panic."

"...Sorry..." the male pony said, feeling his heart rate return to normal.

"You new in town?" Mrs. Cake asked, looking her over and seeing the differentiations in her appearance to Princess Celestia.

Charlie smiled as she nodded, "Uh-huh. Just arrived yesterday, actually."

The trio jumped at a sudden, loud crash as if something had been dropped or knocked over, accompanied by a long gasp before a pink blur shot out of the bakery, nearly too fast to see.

Charlie looked at the bakers, clearly confused. "Huh?" she blinked, "what was that?"

The mare sighed, "...Oh boy...missed a party..." the cupcake marked pony shook her head before looking at Charlie sympathetically, "You might have your hooves full when you get home, dear..." she said, somewhat amused.

"What do you mean by that?" Charlie asked, very confused about what Mrs. Cake just said, who missed a party?

"Pinkie pie...she always throws welcome parties for the new ponies who come to Ponyville from time to time, you must've somehow slipped under her radar yesterday." Mrs. Cakes said.

Charlie's confusion grew at what she was told. While she DID find the idea of giving welcoming parties to newcomers absolutely wonderful, it also sounded like a lot of work. Especially for everyone you see just walking into town.

Charlie shook those thoughts out of her head as she recalled why she was here, "Anyways, umm...I heard there might be a job opening here. Pony named Derpy told me about it."

"Ah. Derpy's a bit klutzy, but she always means well and she's one of our regulars." Mrs. Cake nodded.

Hearing that, Charlie nodded with a smile. Well, that made sense on how Derpy knew there was a job opening here, then.

"She was right. Been looking into hiring somepony to be our backup delivery pony." Mr. Cake nodded.

"I'll do it!"

Mr. Cake looked at his latest customer, a bit shocked at the offer, "Really?"

Charlie beamed, "Sure!", not only would it solve her need for work, but it would let her get to go around Ponyville, interact and make friends with who she met on deliveries, and she'd get to deal with sweet treats...

In short, Charlie found it perfect.

The pair looked at her. She'd admitted to being in town a day at most...how could she do a job like this? They liked that she was so eager to work and help them, but she needed to know her way around town. Still...how to phrase that to her? Especially since she was an Alicorn? Who would want to offend a royal? And if they did, how much trouble would they be in? The pair suspected was why no pony was reacting to the new, strange-looking Alicorn. Who wanted to run that risk?

"Oh...my needing to learn who lives where is an issue?" Charlie realized, wincing. Damn...there she went again, acting before thinking. It was just the idea sounded so good to her in her head...

Wincing themselves, the Cakes nodded. Then again...with the Summer Sun Festival coming up, they would need the help and would have their hooves tied too much to find anypony else to do the job on such short notice with how busy they would be...so did they have a choice?

"...I see..." she sighed. Damn! "Gotta fix that first. Sorry..."

"Well...I suppose it's nothing a map couldn't help fixing until you get use to figuring out town on your own. how about a trial period to help with that, at least?" Mrs. Cake said, "If it works out, then we can hire you. Job's eleven bits an hour. Nine hour shifts. Five days a week. By-weekly pay. Sound fair?"

"Cool beans." Charlie nodded, then smiled, "I won't let you down or have you regret this, I promise!"

The Cakes smiled, a little uneasy. They hoped this turned out well...

"In that case, off to get my bearings!" Charlie smiled, then left the bakery, out to make sure to get enough of the place memorized so she could find her way around town on her own without trouble. She would get this right!