Chapter 5
Slowly but Shirley
It shouldn't even be called a town. It was more of a collection of houses sporadically placed alongside the coast. The coast was actually a small beach that was under a small dropoff from the rest of the land, and a pier stretched pasted over the beach, and became a small ramp that led closer to the ocean. The pier had a couple of boats, none that were too big or too small. Each looked to be able to hold six ponies at the most, too. The houses themselves were lined up facing the ocean, letting ponies see the sun rise over the crystal clear water. They were separated rather sporadically, not being in a straight line but neither being a jumbled mess. There were roads and such that curved but they didn't go very far. Each house was wooden, and a simple spark could potentially destroy everypony's possessions. Considering the abundance of water, though, I doubted they had much to worry about.
I had taken on the disguise of an orange pegasus mare with a simple backpack cutie mark. I wish I had a pack of my own to complete the picture. I quickly created a character in my mind, and I was so glad that I had helped a friend with her acting class during my college years. I assumed the identity of... OK, maybe thinking up pony names was a lot different from human ones. Anyways, I assumed the identity of Lucky Charms, a traveler who left her hometown in order to seek out her fortune and to see the world. D4 assumed the identity of the brown earth pony stallion she used when she was pulling the cart.
We trotted down the road, and everything seemed completely unnatural without that seaside smell that I was so used to. I wondered if it was possible to drink this ocean's water if it contained no salt... In fact this may not have been an ocean at all, but an enormous lake that's so big you couldn't see the other side. The Great Lakes back on Earth were so big you couldn't see the other side, and I was fairly certain they were freshwater.
My musings were interrupted when we reached the edge of town, and a few ponies had come out to inspect the newcomers. From the bemused expressions, I could safely assume that strangers weren't a regular occurrence here in Minnow's Rest. Off to the side of the road there was a worn sign that showed years of age with the words 'Minnow's Rest' were written in a fancy font and flaky paint. Just below the name of the town was the number of the population written in a more fresh paint: 64.
Ok, that was a little too small of a town for me. I mean, we're talking about a town that was so small it didn't even get recognition on a map. But I was still thinking in terms of Earth population, for all I knew 64 ponies was overpopulation. I looked over to D4 and gave a little nod towards to other ponies. A brown head shook in response and then nodded towards the townsfolk. She wanted me to do the talking and introduction? What was with everyone and their mother trying to get me to talk to crowds?
With a stern glare from D4, I trotted forward to greet the newcomers. There were only four there, but I still felt nervous. My disguise didn't break into a cold sweat, but I certainly felt like I did as I spoke up, glad that I thought of a temporary alias on the way here, "Uhm, hey everypony. I'm Lucky Charms and this is..." uh oh, D4 forgot to tell me what alias she went with. Luckily, my creative imagination came up with the perfect name just in time. "And this is Bob. We got kinda lost after we went camping, and we need a place to stay for a few days while we get our bearings and recuperate."
The townsfolk just stared at me, and I felt my awkwardness shine through. I shuffled my feet and readjusted my wings, and I was unable to find any sort of position where I was comfortable. I shifted my eyes to stare at the ground in front of them. They suspected my story, I just knew it. I was so horrible at this and they knew it was a lie. Now we're going to be kicked out and we'll have to find some other way of getting into the town.
I looked up and saw the townsfolk all furrow their eyebrows and look to a rather elderly looking earth pony - their leader, I assumed. I looked straight into her eyes, while trying to find a way to just stand still. I ignored that the other ponies existed, if I focused on her, I might be able to drown out the shuffles of my wings and feet. If you thought being unable to find a comfortable way to stand was hard before, try imagining that uncomfortable feeling on your back at the same time.
Thankfully, nopony was watching me anymore, so I felt my confidence return in full force. I stood my ground and gave a stare of my own back at the elderly mare, and I watched every move of her auburn eyes. She moved a grey hoof forward, then pulled it back. After a moment, she started taking full strides towards me and D4.
"If you need a place to stay, then this humble village is far from the best. I would suggest you go to Manehattan, but seeing as you're weary and hungry, who am I to tell you no? Welcome to Minnow's Rest, travelers."
It worked? Oh, it worked. I felt my spirits lift as I let a grin stretch my face into one of gratitude and happiness. "Thank you... ah?"
"Oh, where are my manners, I'm Sewn Summers. I guess I'm one of the important ponies of our quaint little town, but I'm just an old seamstress. The real leaders are Drop Shot, the head fisherman, and Junebug, our uh... well, I'm not entirely sure what she does. She goes out into the forest and looks real close at the trees, though." Her face stretched into a wide grin, creating a lot more wrinkles where there didn't need to be anymore.
My superpowers of deductive reasoning started to tingle. It was telling me that this 'Junebug' was a insect enthusiast, which could mean she knew about changelings and the threat we posed. We kinda are insects, just a really cool and much more threatening kind of insect. Then again, I shouldn't make fun of insects, there are a lot of dangerous insects from Earth. The Human Bot Fly is the perfect example for why insects are the scariest creatures in existence. Also, for the sake of your well-being and your ability to sleep well at night never ever look up what the Human Bot Fly is and just take my word for how scary it is.
I shook hooves with the few other ponies; there was Tender, a purple earth pony with a golden mane and a barrel cutie mark who ran the salt saloon; Jack Flash, a yellow-red pegasus with a flower that had it's stem in the shape of a lightning bolt who owned a flower shop/diner; and Saffron, the local unicorn healer and herbalist with a mortar and pestle cutie mark. The lime green herbalist had a small house near the sea and was kind enough to let us two stay in the apartment above her apothecary. It took a little encouraging on my part, but D4 decided to at least said the words "Hello," and "Thank you." I was starting to think I wasn't the only one who had social issues.
Summer returned to her abode to work on a gift, and that's all she told us before returning to a house that was near the edge of town. Jack Flash offered to have use taste test one of his new menu items, and I suspected this was just a ploy to get us to eat some leftover food. Paranoia aside, me and D4 both agreed to eat the mystery food. Tender needed to prepare the saloon for business, so he took the cart to store from D4's back to store it somewhere and bade his farewells with a wave of a purple hoof. This left Jack and Saffron to be our warm welcoming party. And since D4 had decided to take the backseat, I had to be the one to entertain the two locals.
"So, you like camping outdoors and getting lost often?" asked Jack, a chuckle incited from Saffron.
If I could still blush, I probably would have. "Me and Bob here are on a journey. We left our hometown and decided to see the world, which subsequently means we'll get lost from time to time. To be honest, I haven't even heard of Minnow's Rest before we arrived here."
"Not many people have, Lucky." replied Saffron. "We're one of the smallest communities this side of Equestria, and even then we hardly leave this place. We have food, water, and our trade comes in the form of a single caravan coming back and forth between here and Manehattan."
"Just how close are we to Manehattan, anyways?"
"Only a few days trot, it's where I get most of my herbs and spices from. Most of the plants I need doesn't grow in the forest naturally."
"Saffron, you must have one of every plant from around the world growing in that greenhouse of yours. What could you possibly need from the trade caravan?"
The lime mare scoffed at Jack. "I'll have you know that not every medicine can be grown willy-nilly. I need to buy some things that are much too difficult to obtain here; a timber wolf's claw for example. Without that key ingredient, you would still have those stomach pains and nightmares that you've had for weeks on end."
Jack Flash swallowed audibly at the thought, and I gave a small giggle. I called it there, she was definitely a witch doctor.
The small outburst turned the conversation back on us, "So how do you two know each other? Married?"
I said "brother," at the same time as D4 said "sister." Brilliant minds think alike, I thought to myself.
"Alright, where are you from?"
"Just a small town way to the southeast" I replied without hesitation. This wasn't in the practice, so I expected D4 to give me that look reserved only for the insane. I had already thought of this, thanks to the amount of time I spend relaxing on the back of the cart.
Saffron gave a curious look, and I thought I spotted a spark in those ruby eyes. "Really? What town?"
I recalled the map D4 had me look at before we left and I picked out one of the only familiar towns in that direction, "We're originally from Appleloosa. We've been gone for so long we dropped our accents, so it's hard to tell."
That spark died out as quickly as it came, "Ah, I had hoped... Nevermind, let's get you that food."
The rest of the trip was in glorious and peaceful silence. We reached a dingy old restaurant that sported numerous types of flower sandwiches for lunch, but Jack insisted that we test his new dinner dish. It turned out it was a salad mixed with different types of flowers, but there were a few spices thrown in there by our new friend Saffron.
It tasted like you would expect flowers to taste; which is to say, no taste at all. But the spices gave a little kick that made the meal a little more bearable that it would have been.
It was a simple dish, and Jack insisted that it was a new item on the menu, but after examining some of the exquisite items - like a pasta with daisies and roses mixed with parmesan cheese - I started to once again suspect that we were fed the leftovers. Which I didn't mind at all, it was a fine brunch. The hunger was still there, yes, but it was quelled for now.
We left Flash to continue his business, and eventually found our way to Saffron's apothecary. Now, it was odd seeing an apothecary, it was like looking at a scientist's lab that wasn't about science at all. When we first walked in, the first thing I noticed was the sheer amount of plants. There were plants in pots everywhere, on the counter, on the floor, and there were a few on the walls. The ceiling above us was made of glass, and the sunlight gave the whole place a cheery feeling.
There was a counter off to the side, and a glass case that demonstrated a few of the medicines that Saffron provided. There was a gel that you rubbed on the skin to cure small rashes, a drinkable solution to headaches and stomach pains, and there was even a bottle of custom made perfume made to smell like roses. I was fairly sure that Saffron was like Walgreens for small town ponies.
Then I noticed the books. There were more books here than I've ever read in my life, and they all comprised on one side of the wall, stretching from end to end and floor to ceiling. I could only imagine what secrets they held, and I went to examine them more closely.
Upon inspection, I discovered that they were all written in a sort of curvy almost hieroglyphic language that I had no clue how to decipher. I was at a rather loss for words, I wasn't entirely sure how to handle it. I knew I could learn it, yet I still had a mini freak out about not being able to read. I sucked in a quick bout of air and held it, containing all of my frustration into that small bit of oxygen and let it all out with a sigh.
"...that's how you can synthesize plants into a nice compound that can help fight infections and heal the wound." Saffron looked up from examining the huge plant. "Oh, I seemed to have gone of on a tangent again. Sorry, my mind likes to wander when talking about my work." She led us into a room that was more homely, there was a small fireplace that currently held fresh ashes, and there were two sofas facing each other with a small table in between them, a vase with flowers and some coasters were it's only occupants.
"That's fine, I can relate." I smiled, "So tell me about yourself, how'd you come to a town like Minnow's Rest? With your knowledge you could be working in bigger cities and get more recognition for your work."
Saffron frowned, "That's exactly what I don't want. I hate ponies treating me as if I were just a solution to their problem. I've tried opening a shop in Manehattan once, and no pony ever remembered my name. They only remembered my work, nopony ever wanted to help me learn or help advance the study of medicine. Here, I have friends who help me cultivate new formulas and advance my knowledge, not just about medicine, but of the world." She made her way across the room to where the floorboards turned into tile, and started to pull out a few cups and plates. "You saw how I added some of my spices to the salad you ate, right? Those were originally herbs that I only used in making laxatives, but when I was talking to Flash not too long ago we found that the spices also gave a kick on a few dishes."
I hesitated for a second before asking the most important question of all, "Laxatives?"
Saffron frowned, then gave a short bark of laughter. "Oh, no, that's only when it's mixed in with the seeds of the Lotus plant. You'll have nothing to fear." I let a breath go that I didn't realize I was holding. Saffron giggled before going back to her work, putting a few scones on plates and filling a kettle with water.
Now that I got a pretty good look at her, she was kinda pretty. Despite her youth, I could spot the telltale wrinkles of someone who's enjoyed laughing all her life. Her crimson mane hide her face partially as she grabbed the kettle and hung it over the fireplace. She cleaned out the ashes and grabbed some wood with her telekinesis and placed them neatly in a pile. After she started the fire going, she indicated to both of us to take a place on the couch, to which we generously accepted. I took a tentative bite of the scone, and found it to be quite flavorful. In a few quick bites, the scone was gone. D4 was still sniffing the scone, as if she were afraid it was going to bite her or something.
"Now I've talked a bit about myself, why not talk about you?" asked Saffron. I gulped down the last of the scone and looked to D4, who took a nibble out of the treat and found that it wasn't poisonous. She took a bigger bite and seemed to like it.
"Well, we come from Appleloosa, but we wanted to see more of the world. We left the town and went our own way, and went on a journey to see everything there is to see." D4 nodded her agreement.
"Tell me, have you ever met or heard of an unusual chef with a mohawk on your travels? Or a travelling merchant mare with a pet hawk?" That spark in her red eyes came back more fiercely than ever, and something tells me she was desperate for information about the two. Perhaps they were ponies that also left town but she never heard from them again?
I started to carefully watch my mouth and picked my words carefully. "No, I don't believe we have." I replied.
She looked at the floor, ears folded on her head. "Oh. Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed you did."
"If you don't mind me asking, who are they?" The question perked both my companion and Saffron's interest, their ears swiveling towards me. Ah, body language, how I missed thee.
Saffron looked up at me from her position on the couch. "They're my uncle and aunt, respectively. I only know of them from a few stories my parents used to tell and the pictures they had. My father wasn't a lenient pony, and he didn't want me to run off and have dangerous adventures like his siblings had. At the time I didn't really care, I was more interested in learning about medicine. But ever since my father died last year, I've been wondering if they're all right, and maybe I can finally get to know more about them. They didn't even attend the funeral, I'm not sure if they didn't care or just don't know about his fate...
From what little I know, my uncle went to join the military, while my aunt went to buy her own caravan and left. My father wouldn't tell me why, and he hadn't even bothered to tell me their names. I've been worried sick about these two ponies I've never met, and I can't help but think maybe they're injured or worse... Silly, I know." She blinked her eyes and seemed surprised as a few droplets fell onto the floor.
I gave a small smile, "Silly? Not even close. They're your family, and with the loss of your father you feel as if you can know more about them now that you don't have somepony telling you not to worry about it. Plus it sounds like those two really could be in trouble, there's nothing wrong with worrying about those you care about."
She smiled again, a bit more comfortable now that she removed what was weighing on her chest. "Thank you, Lucky."
The silence that followed was interrupted with the ringing of the door as somepony entered the apothecary. Saffron got up from her spot on the chair and and left the room, "Go up the stairs over there to your rooms. If you want to explore the town some just tell me, I have to get back to my work."
Both of us looked at each other and tried not to rush up the stairs. When we got there we were in a small hallway with five doors, four led into a small room with a bed, a window, and a desk while the last one at the end of the hall led into a rather large bathroom with a bath and a sink, and that was it. Each room was big enough to only hold four ponies at the most, but we didn't mind. I jumped onto one of the beds and sank into a fluffy and comfortable state. I let my disguise go before I forgot so I didn't have any horrible pains.
"What was that, 'Lucky?'" said D4 as she stood over me.
"What? I tried to help the poor girl, she was worried sick about her family."
"Why are you being so friendly to these ponies? Did you forget that we're supposed to make them angry to feed? How can we make them angry if you get all chummy with them?"
"Simple," I replied behind closed eyes, "we get to know them, then we use our changeling powers of awesome to disguise as someone they know and use the knowledge we've gained to create a small fight. How have you not thought of that?"
D4 looks a bit stumped for words, so I helped her out by providing my own, "But what I'm wondering is where are all the other ponies? So far we've only seen around ten ponies total. I'm thinking they're all either super scared of strangers, or maybe it's fishing season. I don't know, but it certainly makes a few strangers in town not as big as it could be with so few ponies. We can blend in a lot easier after spending some time here, maybe Lucky and Bob will leave after a couple of days and then we can come back disguised as one of the townsfolk. A simple solution for getting to know our targets, so why hasn't the all-knowing Hivemind thought of this?"
My question threw D4 off, her bug wings gave a soft but angry buzz as she flew back a couple of steps. "The Hivemind prefers to send scouts in to spy on the village before infiltrating it. After the scouts have spied enough, they report back to the hive and then they send in a few drones to blend in with the reports the scouts have retrieved. Surely you must have noticed that we aren't scouts, at least?"
"That would explain things, it's an unusual situation you have found yourself trapped in and your hive has no idea of how to operate differently from what the Hivemind dictates as the proper order of business. At least your leader knows how to ignore the overwhelming amount of voices in his head in order to protect the hive."
I hopped out of the bed and started to examine the view outside the window. We had a perfect view of the sea and a few ponies who were in the middle of a beachball game, tossing the inflated object back and forth, trying to keep it in the air as long as possible. "We should talk to all the other ponies as Lucky and Bob, then find out what can make them tick, and then we have the perfect opportunity to annoy them enough to start feeding the hive." I didn't want to cause any fights between friends if I had to, breaking pony's apart would tear me up inside - of course I kept that little tidbit to myself.
"This should work just fine, and soon you and the hive will have enough food that you can begin anew, and they you won't need my help any further and I can get out of your mane. Then you won't ever have to hear about the strange changeling ever again." A pony jumped too late, and the beach ball fell out of her reach and bounce away on the sand. I turned back to D4, a curious look dominating her face. I gave her a wide and mischievous grin.
"And don't call me Shirley."