After a brief and rather odd confrontation with the Mayor, Ascended exited the office in a huff slamming the door behind him to demonstrate his mood. “How one like yourself could become Mayor of this rustic township is beyond me.” he said under his breath, “Very well, since you have no records of Mr. Easthoof, I suppose I must do this the old fashioned way.” Decided it was best to make good time with the little daylight he had left, Ascended trotted to the local post office. Considering his current state and his investigation he could kill two birds with one stone. First he could search for postal records and Easthoof and he could make contact with his old friend Alana in Stalliongrad.
Opening the door leading into the post office, Ascended was greeted by the ringing of a bell and the faint scent of cardboard.
“Welcome to Ponyville Postal where we take your mail and send it an all direc...” From the back room a grey pegasus mare appeared. When she saw Ascended she stopped dead in her tracks. “Uh... Hi... I'm uh... I'm Der- I mean Ditzy Do...” She turned her head slightly, hiding one of her eyes from Ascended a slight blush on her face.
“Good evening ms. Do, can you by chance allow me access to the postal records I'm trying to find somepony.” Ascended seemed unfazed by the mares reaction and kept his composure.
“I... I don't think I'm allowed to let you look at them, but I could probably help you find the pony you're looking for if you tell me their name.”
“Easthoof, Flint Easthoof originally from Cloudsdale. Any information on the stallion?”
“Oh him? Yeah he lives right outside Ponyville, to the East to be precise about two miles out.” Ascended, for the first time in a while, had grown utterly bewildered. This mare had recalled all the details he needed in a matter of seconds without even going through the records.
'if only I'd come here sooner' he thought to himself. “Thank you kindly ms. Do, that's all I needed. Have a good rest of the day.”
“Wait!” Ditzy called out “Um... Mr... I never did get your name.”
“Ascended Wings, Captain of the Cloudsdale guard. Did you need something?”
“Well, not really no. I was just wondering. Would you by chance want to, I dunno... Meet me for dinner tonight?” She turned to face him doing her best to keep her lazy eye under control.
“Well...” Ascended paused and thought for a bit. “What did you have in mind?”
~
Sitting atop one of the few clouds in the sky, Rainbow Dash sat fuming. How could Flint deny her some cider? She was willing to pay, but just cause she wouldn't drink with him he refused to cooperate? Her thoughts added fuel to the fire as she neared her boiling point, she almost hadn't heard somepony call her name... Almost.
“Rainbow Dash!”
“What the flying feather do you want?!” She screamed over the edge of her cloud.
“Ya'll best knock that tone off right now before Ah knock you out mahself!”
“Applejack?” Rainbow stood atop the cloud and peered over it's edge. Just as she had guessed, Applejack stood below. “What's up?”
“Ya'll know Flint Easthoof right?”
“Yeah, I was just talkin' to his sorry flank like ten minutes ago. Can you believe he refused to sell me some hard cider?”
“Do ya'll remember where he lives? Ah need ta have a word with 'im.”
Rainbow leaped off the cloud and soared downward to meet her friend. “Yeah, I'll take you to him right now. What do you need to talk to him about anyway?”
“Oh you'll see here in a few.”
Taking it as her cue, Dash hovered above Applejack leading her to Flints abode. On the way there, Rainbow had told Applejack all about her attempt at a business deal and how it had gone sour. This merely instigated more raw emotion from the orange earth pony, who not only made it a personal mission for herself, but also for her friend, to give Flint what he had coming.
~
Flint figured Big Macintosh would start heading back now. He knew it would still be a while so he poured himself a shot and threw it back letting the liquid make it's way to his belly, burning the whole way down. After a few brief seconds, Flint opened his lapel once more and fished for the old photograph he always had with him.
There in the picture stood him and three other pegasi, his first love, a yellow mare with a fiery mane and orange eyes. His first friend, who he always competed with, light blue coat, dark blue mane and that cocky grin always plastered on his muzzle. Then there was him, the other blue colt almost identical to the other save for those ice blue eyes that seemed to bore into ones heart.
“Spitfire, Soarin and Ascended... I sure miss those days back at flight school. I wonder what ever happened to you?” Flint said to himself looking into the eyes of a young Ascended Wings. Did you ever join the guard? Or did you end up a lowlife like me?”
“He prolly made a life for himself an settled down, somethin' you shoulda done a while back as well.” Big Macintosh sat next to Flint, how he managed to sneak in their being bigger than a house was beyond Flints imagination.
“How in the hay can a big lug like you be so quiet?”
“Dunno, but did ya'll hear a lick of what Ah just said?” Mac reached for the half empty jug of cider and a shot glass.
“Yeah I heard ya. It ain't exactly easy to 'settle down' If I'm single you know.”
“If'n my gut's tellin' the truth, you ain't gonna have a choice in the matter here soon.”
“What do you mean?” Flint eyed Big Mac suspiciously.
“Word is ya done knocked up mah little sister, an from the sound of things, she ain't too happy.” Big Macintosh turned his head to match Flints gaze. “An if ya'll don't take responsibility for what ya did, Ah'll kill you...”