The First Standoff

by bookhorse125

Chapter 3

At first, it didn’t seem like all it was cracked up to be. Sure, there were a lot of houses, but there wasn’t really anything special about them. There was a very big ocean, but the cloudy day made it look kind of pathetic. And there were actually very few ponies around.

Gusty frowned in disappointment. Her brother had made town seem like something a lot more exciting than this. She could sense Ocean plucking up the courage to say something and forced the negative thoughts from her mind. Her brother had unfairly kept everything from her, and she wasn’t about to just throw it all away.

She wandered about, trying to look like the nearly full grown pony that she was instead of a two-year-old filly. But it was very hard to restrain herself when she passed a small wooden shop with a huge picture of a peppermint stick that had the words Sweet Shoppe engraved on it, young foals rushing inside to pour their allowances on the wooden counter, the coins bouncing and rolling around and mixing with each other as the foals excitedly pointed to the crystal jars that lined the shelves. She had to look the other way when she spotted a small cart lined with spell books standing on the edge of the road, a few unicorns using their magic to flip through the pages, others negotiating prices with the pony behind the wagon, pointing out tears in the delicate pages and bends in the leather covers. When she passed a small brick building with a bell steeple on the top and spotted the rows of small tables - desks, Ocean Breeze had called them - inside, she knew instantly that this must be what was called a ‘school’, and she let a squeal slip.

A few ponies looked at her strangely, and one unicorn over by the book cart laughed. “I thought I was the only one who liked school that much,” she teased as she walked over. She had a neatly combed blue mane and tail that matched a clear sky, good-natured green eyes, and a strawberry red coat. Her cutie mark was a blue spiral notebook.

“Sorry,” Gusty whispered guiltily, twin patches of rosy red appearing on her cheeks.

“Hey, you!” the pegasus at the spell book cart called. “You’ve got to pay for my book, you know!”

The unicorn looked down at the book she still held in her leaf green magical aura in mock surprise. “Really?” she asked in disbelief. “I wasn’t sure you quite had the brains to figure that out.” She tossed him the book, and he fumbled with it with his wings before dropping it in a mud puddle.

“You need to pay for that,” the pegasus snarled.

“Do I?” Gusty’s new friend said arily, waving her hoof. “I wasn’t the one who dropped it.” She put her hoof around Gusty’s shoulders and led her away from the spluttering pegasus. “Come on, new pony, I know another place to get books - a better place.”

“Why is a pegasus pony selling magic books?” Gusty asked as they walked. “They don’t have any magic besides flying and walking on clouds.”

“And controlling the weather,” the unicorn reminded her. “So you can thank them when the only thing gloomier than outside is the swamp in the Everfree Forest.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m Maggie, by the way.”

“Gusty.” The two unicorns shook hooves. “So, Maggie,” Gusty said, trying out the name, “I’m guessing that you and Mr. Pay-For-That don’t have the friendliest of relationships?”

“He drives such a hard bargain,” Maggie moaned. “I could buy a house for cheaper than one of his books. And he’s a filthy cheater, too. Here’s a lesson for you: never trust a pegasus. They’re all filthy lying traitorous cheaters who only do what they need to do to save their own flanks.”

“That’s not true!” Gusty immediately contradicted. “My brother is a pegasus, and he never-” She stopped. “Well, actually, he did lie to me about something very important. But I’m sure not all pegasi are like that.”

Maggie gave her a strange look. “Sure. Okay. But I think I figured out why he’s selling unicorn spell books. He’s such an idiot that even his own tribe didn’t want him!” Maggie cracked up and nearly doubled over. Gusty forced a smile and gave a weak chuckle. Maggie resurfaced, wiping tears from her eyes, and added, “And given pegasi taste, that’s saying something.”

Gusty forced another smile, but her guilt was overflowing. Just less than an hour ago, she had been doing the same thing. But to hear somepony else say it…

“Oh, look, here we are,” Maggie said happily, pointing up ahead at another vendor selling books. The salespony was an elderly unicorn with a fluffy white mane and reading glasses. “She sells her stuff for less than half of what Mr. Pay-For-That, as you call him-” she nudged Gusty, who gave another small smile “-does. And she’s really nice.”

The words made a lightbulb go off in Gusty’s head. She looked around and spotted a tent across the street that sold furniture. The burly earth pony who must work there had a short blue beard and hardly any mane. He was packing up for lunch break, it looked like.

“Hey,” Gusty said excitedly, gesturing to Maggie to stop. “I think my brother worked there.”

“Oh,” Maggie said, looking semi excited. “Why don’t you go ask about him, and I’ll stay here and get my books. She walked up to the line stretching from the book vendor.

Gusty happily walked into the furniture tent. The big pony in the tent looked up and scowled at her cheerful face. “I’m closing up for lunch, kid,” he growled. “So beat it. I’ll be back in an hour.”

“Are you Rex?” Gusty asked good naturedly.

He grunted. She took that to mean “yes”. So she plowed on.

“Do you by any chance know a pony named Ocean Breeze? You see, I’m-

Rex stopped putting tools in a wooden box, and his expression darkened. “Oh. So you’re one of those ponies.”

Gusty blinked, confused. “W-what do you-”

“Listen up!” Rex snapped loudly. Maggie looked up from the book she was flipping through, her worry dancing in her green eyes.

“I’ve told you time and time again, I had nothing to do with it!” Rex continued, advancing on Gusty. “I don’t know why he did it, but it had nothing to do with me! So go tell whoever keeps sending you after me that you’ve gotten the only answer you’re ever going to get, so you can leave me alone! Understand? Now GET OUT!”

“I - sir! I-I was just looking for him, so I was wondering if you’d seen him in the past few days. I don’t think you had anything to do with… whatever ‘it’ is, if that helps. I just want to know where he is.”

“Oh.” Now Rex chuckled. “Going after that reward, eh, kid?”

“Reward? What are you-” Something strange clicked in Gusty’s brain. “Are you saying that-”

“To answer your request, no, I haven’t seen Ocean Breeze lately,” Rex said, ignoring her. “In fact, nopony’s seen him around here in over ten years, or else he’d be arrested on the spot, the little traitor.”

Author's Note:

Drama...! I'm here for it. Always like that kind of plot twist that sends everything spiraling out of control and is secretly essential to the plot... I said nothing.

Constructive criticism is appreciated. Thank you for reading!