Predawn

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Title: The Racer And The Geek
Premise: Sunny Breeze is an exceedingly ordinary stallion who lives in Ponyville. One night, his quiet existence collides with the daredevil, Rainbow Dash. What’s more is that she wants him and won’t take no for an answer.
Intro: This is my first foray into Rainbow Dash and romance writing. This was done while more than slightly drunk on a weekday afternoon.
Warnings: You’re reading something that I wrote. Get the popcorn and eject your expectations.
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Why Does She Want Me?
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Sunny Breeze was a seemingly rather ordinary unicorn living in Ponyville. There wasn’t much that could be called extraordinary about him. He lived in an ordinary flat in an ordinary apartment block on an ordinary street in an ordinary town. His coat was a pale cream color and his mane was a boring charcoal. He had a job, didn’t cause trouble, and left no strong impressions on anypony. Such a ghost was surely doomed to live a nameless life.

Sunny Breeze had first arrived in Ponyville around six years ago. He had come from Baltimare, that decaying port city on the coast of Equestria. He had left because anything could be better than sitting in a decaying port thick with crime and thin with opportunity. Ponyville wasn’t his first choice of town- it wasn't even on his initial list of choices, but there was no point in complaining about the past, not that he could escape it.

He was alive, yet he did not have the sense of living. He did his work by day. It wasn’t worth mentioning. He spent his free hours buried in books. And as for friends, he didn’t think that he had any other than one of his coworkers. Sunny did have tabletop gaming buddies, but they weren’t the sort of ponies he’d count on. Well, there was Pinkie Pie, but she was Pinkie Pie, so she was just an implied given. He had met her literally the second he arrived in Ponyville. A pastel earth pony mare with a rowdy mane was standing on the train platform. He got off and heard a gasp. Next thing he knew, a violently pink lightning bolt had tackled him, sending him flying back into the carriage. Introductions were handled quickly, giving them just enough time to jump off before they got an unexpected trip to Canterlot. Needless to say, they had been friends ever since.

Unbeknownst to him, his monotonous life was about to be over. It happened suddenly one warm Friday night in the spring. He had spent the entire night working on his pet project of a constructed language. Sunny grabbed the bottle of whiskey beside him on the desk and took another swig. The stallion let it sit in his mouth for a bit. This was the best Percheron single malt rye whiskey the local shop carried, and he was going to enjoy every drop of it. He held it in his mouth until his tongue tingled, then he swallowed. The liquor washed down his throat, leaving a trail of fiery sensations and a warmth in his stomach. He would finish creating the verb conjugation scheme and then head off to bed. A large yawn welled up from within him. Perhaps Greshnik, his current conlang project, could wait until morning. It would have been prudent; alcohol and systematic reasoning seldom met amicably.

Ah well, it couldn’t hurt too much if he just built the lexicon; he could very easily rework that at any time. Half an hour later, however, he stopped. Sunny felt pathetic and depressed. This was his Friday night. How in the world did he end up making up languages with nothing but alcoholic beverages for company? Now he’d had too much to drink. Wonderful. Typical. He knew that this wasn’t healthy, but he always did it anyway. Granted, getting wasted drunk wasn’t his routine, but he almost invariable had a few drinks every day. What did anypony else care? He wasn’t doing anything illegal and it certainly didn’t involve them! He piled his materials on the desk and took one last small swig of whiskey.

Another pitiful conclusion to another pitiful night.

Suddenly, a crashing sound came from outside! Several seconds later, somepony knocked on the door. Couldn’t insanity wait until morning, or at least for him to sober up? Maybe they’d go away if he didn’t make a sound. No such luck. The knocking came again, louder and more insistent. A scary thought entered Sunny’s mind: perhaps there were robbers outside! He considered grabbing his FN FAL rifle just in case. It was leaning against the wall next to him, loaded and ready. All that needed to be down was swipe the safety off and pull the trigger. Then he remembered that this was Ponyville, one of the safest towns in Equestria. The worst that could happen would be a Pinkie Pie prank.

The knocking resumed for a third time. Groaning and grumbling, Sunny Breeze stumbled towards the door. Definitely too much booze. He ignored the FAL and took care to avoid hitting a picture on the wall of four young stallions. There were no peepholes, nor were there windows, which would have allowed him to get an idea as to who was outside. He opened the door.

To his great surprise, Sunny Breeze saw a technicolor pegasus pony wearing a skintight uniform. He gaped, looked away, smacked himself in the face with his hoof, and looked back again at the visitor. Still there. Not a robber. Not a hallucination. “What is this, I don’t even…,” he mumbled, staring directly at his guest. The body was slender and lithe, yet muscular. Two dull glints stood out atop the head. Perhaps they wore glasses? He couldn’t identify who it was in the weak, flickering glow of the dying incandescent porch light. The shape was androgynous. This made no sense. Why didn’t he run away? It would have been so easy to just shut the door and walk away. In the morning, he could laugh to himself that he had just been dreaming. This was not a dream. In his dreams, he would have already been swept up by now into bliss, or shot. In his dreams, he would not be thinking of shutting the door. In his dreams, he wouldn’t have been tempted to shut the door in their face. Nevermind; that was the booze. In his dreams, ponies never really spoke as his guest was doing. Wait- his guest was talking!

“-have plans.” It was definitely a mare’s voice. Sunny Breeze shook his head vigorously. The mare seemed downcast.

Sunny raised a hoof. She had seemed rather impatient, hurrying through all the niceties and ejecting the words from her lips as if they were burning hot and she could not wait to get them out of her lungs. “Sorry, what did you say? I didn’t hear you. Who-” He had been about to ask for a name when he finally remembered to turn on the vestibule light to get better illumination. His hoof flicked up the switch and he stopped dead for a second time in. On his doormat was standing a Wonderbolt! Even more astounding than this was the matter of the Wonderbolt’s identity. He felt heat rise in his cheeks.

Rainbow Dash stood before him. Yes, that Rainbow Dash. This was the exact same one who was the element of loyalty. This was the same one who had performed sonic rainbooms unlike anypony else in history. According to rumors, which were never confirmed or denied, this was the one who had been said to have eaten Soarin alive, spat him out, and then helped herself to Photo Finish, Spitfire, and Fleetfoot. This was the Rainbow Dash, who was said to leave behind a trail of devastated liquor stores, bars, and nightclubs, as well as scandalized wives and husbands wherever she went. Well, that was what rumor held, and rumor couldn’t be trusted. He had seen her around town numerous times, but had seldom spoken with her. He had seen her perform, but never up close. And now she was on his doorstep in full uniform, goggles on her eyes, and speaking with him. This didn’t happen, not even in his dreams. The blood rushed to his cheeks. The alcohol wasn’t helping.

“What, you don’t know who I am?” The barb hit Sunny Breeze. He didn’t bite back. Rainbow Dash made what would have been eye contact if Sunny Breeze could have seen through her aerobatics goggles. “Well, mister, my name’s Rainbow Dash- the one and only.” Her chest swelled.

This finally got through his disbelief. The spell was broken. The stallion was no longer starstruck. Even if this was the real Rainbow Dash on his doorstep, she didn’t have the right to ring him up at absurd hours of the early morning, nearly give him a coronary, and insult him. He was too drunk to just take it, but not drunk enough to be nasty. “Save it for Saturday,” he shot back, swinging his door shut.

“Wait!” A hoof pushed against his door. It was significantly stronger, so he yielded. The unexpected force made him stagger a bit. Rainbow Dash blurted, “I’m sorry, but this can’t wait. Besides, it’s Saturday right now!” He didn’t know much about Rainbow’s character, but he would never have put her as the dramatic or panicky type, especially with how Pinkie had described her as a great steadfast friend. There was probably a perfectly normal explanation for this turn of events. Sleep could be delayed. It couldn’t hurt to give his visitor just half a minute to say her piece.

Sunny cocked an eyebrow and looked up into her lenses. All he got was glare and his reflection. “What is it?” He was ready for anything. Maybe she couldn’t find one of her friends, or possible she was in need of something. It couldn’t be too far out of the ordinary. Sunny braced himself for whatever was to come next. That damnable blushing of his had not yet quit!

Rainbow got the message. Nevertheless, she was undeterred. “The Spring Equinox festival in honor of Princess Luna is today and I was wondering if you’d like to go with me, unless you have plans...” Again, Sunny Breeze froze in surprise. His mind stalled. This couldn’t be right. Rainbow Dash has just asked him out on a date and hadn’t been sarcastic. A mare had voluntarily come around to his apartment who was not either his mother, Pinkie Pie, or the landmare on rent day.

The pegasus looked expectantly at him. She raised a hoof and tapped him on the head. “Hello, anypony home?” Her ministrations were unsuccessful. She rallied again, calling, “Rainbow Dash to Sunny Breeze, Rainbow Dash to Sunny Breeze, do you copy? Words twice- do you copy, over?” No luck. “I think I broke him,” she said aloud deliberately, as if she were trying to dare the unicorn out of his shocked state. Impatiently, she shook him harder. He recoiled and stepped back sheepishly. His cheeks were luminescent red now. Rainbow Dash knew that there was no way that he hadn’t heard her, nor could he have mistaken her meaning, no matter how sleepy or drunk he was. She tried to make eye contact with him. He wouldn’t cooperate with her.

Rainbow almost advanced on him to prevent him from running away, but she stopped herself; forcing entry into somepony’s apartment uninvited was not her agenda. Besides, there wasn’t any time for such shenanigans. If she didn’t catch up with her teammates soon, then there’d be hell to pay. After all, she had supposedly gone to the library to return a Daring Do book. She facehoofed. This was not going as planned. The mare had expected the stallion to come running to the door at the prospect of company, and upon seeing the one and only Rainbow Dash, been completely overjoyed. She then would’ve gone for the kill, inviting him to attend the Spring Equinox festival with her. He would have been too excited to refuse the offer. He probably would accept anypony’s offer, seeing as she knew from Pinkie Pie that Sunny Breeze didn’t have many friends, was definitely single, and anxious to have any sort of chance with a mare. By rights, having a ravishingly gorgeous mare who flew in the Wonderbolts come to him requesting company ought to have been the easiest choice in the world for him to make. Instead, it had not gone smoothly and the awkward scene was only dragging on for longer and longer.

Sunny Breeze was not having a great time, either. In short, a rude somepony he scarcely knew was forcing her company on him and expecting him to be thrilled by the equivalent of having to make chocolate pudding at four in the morning because Princess Celestia and her court had suddenly decided to commandeer the whole apartment block before making him head chef, during which he was being given an Equestrian history test in Drakespeak and being humiliated for each mistake and hesitation. He had been dead tired and wanted to go to bed when Rainbow Dash arrived on the scene. He had opened his door for a complete stranger who hadn’t given him the courtesy of even identifying themselves. This had frightened him. Had he been thinking more clearly, he almsot certainly would have brought the FAL with him out of habit if nothing else. He opened the door and immediately got talked at by a strange pony standing uncomfortably close to him before he could even get his bearings. Next, he discovered that his visitor was none other than Rainbow Dash herself. While this wouldn’t have been too much to bear normally, sleep deprivation, having too much to drink, and the fact that it was some forsaken early hour of the morning had slowed his brain to a crawl. After that, his unexpected visitor behaved like a narcissistic mule and then went on a condescending, self-aggrandizing tangent before insulting his intelligence and then suddenly putting him on the spot with a date offer. Now she was manhandling his body while acting like he was inconveniencing her!

And now she had forced her way into his flat. His usual response would have been to grab his rifle, if he hadn’t started stuffing his mess out of sight. These were abnormal circumstances. His head was just so full of thoughts and emotions that he couldn’t think properly. The stallion blushed even harder than before. He had just been deliberately touched by a mare twice, and now she was in his apartment, giving him what must have been very intent stares from behind her goggles. It ought to have been simple, but it was complicated. On one hoof, he had just been handed an opportunity to spend time with an extremely attractive mare at a festival. On the other hoof, it seemed far too good to be true. And then his private space had been violated. That was a major concern, for Sunny was intensely private and liked to be asked before visitors entered. Lastly, he was in not fit state to make decisions. There seemed to be only one way out of this.

Rainbow Dash took a look around the foyer. She was backing Sunny Breeze against what was probably his closet door. She was anxious for a response, for she had to get moving without delay. He was now trapped between her hooves and the door. Dead end. No exit. At least he was now marginally calmer and more collected. Rainbow Dash noted how furiously he was blushing and tried to suppress a chuckle. It failed. “What’s so funny,” he squeaked. He was now trying to phase through the solid wood of the door, or at least get this possessed mare off of him before he either got a heart attack or died of embarrassment.

“Nothing,” lied Rainbow dash.

“You’re mocking me, aren’t you,” asked Sunny Breeze.

“No I’m not!”

“Then what are you doing?”

Rainbow heaved a massive sigh. How could she have botched this simple visit so badly? Train wreck was the word. She backed away from him. “Alright, look,” she began. “I’m on a tight schedule here. I gotta get back to practice, but let me explain.” Sunny gave her a look. “Can it! See, I’m single again and my friend, Pinkie Pie, told me all about you. She said you’d be perfect for me. You’re stable, sane, and you’re a nice stallion. Plus, wimpy guys like you are cute. I know it’s kinda last minute, but I was just passing by and thought it’d be worth giving you a shot as my date for the Spring Equinox festival.” Sunny Breeze’s pupils contracted at the mention of Pinkie Pie and he seemed to come back to his senses.

“This is a prank, isn’t it?” He stared up at Rainbow Dash without emotion. He was blushing slightly less furiously now that she was no longer pinning him bodily against the closet door.

Rainbow Dash shook her head vigorously. “No no no! It’s not a prank, honest. I mean it.” She was now the one caught off balance.

Sunny was still skeptical but processing everything. The stallion couldn’t quite believe what was happening to him; he didn’t trust his guest, or her story, or her motives to any degree whatsoever. That bit about being single was true; he had heard snippets on the radio that she had just gotten done with her second husband. They had separated just over a year ago, but the divorce had only been finalized recently. However, he couldn’t verify anything else about the situation. He answered her, “I understand. So, what do you want me to do exactly?”

Rainbow Dash groaned, “Just be at the entryway to the festival grounds at noon. I don’t have time to explain it all again.” There was a pause. “What’s it gonna be?”

“Sure, I’ll meet you at high noon. Just no tricks, got it?” Sunny Breeze tried to sound stern, but he just came off as silly and drunk.

“Good! See you there- bye!” Rainbow rocketed out of the foyer and up into the sky.

Sunny Breeze remained frozen for several moments. He was sweating and panting. His cheeks were flush and his pupils dilated. He weakly stumbled over to the open door, shut it, and closed the lock. He had no idea what had just transpired between him and Rainbow Dash. All he knew was that he had apparently just managed to swing a date with a sexy socialite.

Walking over the bedroom, he looked at the calendar on the wall. The still inebriated unicorn searched around for the date of Spring Equinox festival. It was on Saturday the fourteenth, which meant that he was due to meet Rainbow Dash in just seven hours! He had to be ready to take his chances with that notorious mare so well known to cause scandal in only a few hours. Madness! It really was too much to fathom at the moment. Sleep had temporarily halted his assault on him when Rainbow Dash had popped out of nowhere and practically browbeat him into accepting her offer. However, not even that pegasus was cool enough to prevent sleep from restarting its assault and redoubling its efforts. There were so many worries, though, which proved to be just as distracting to Sunny Breeze.

Why him? He knew not. Pinkie had supposedly given Rainbow Dash the idea that he was the perfect stallion for her. Rainbow Dash was not opposed to getting involved with mares. Sure, he had spoken with Pinkie Pie, and she had managed to supernaturally tease almost every little memory, secret, fear, and desire out of him. Well, not everything; there were many things that had to remain secrets, even from ponies like Pinkie Pie -- terrible memories that haunted him every hour of every day. Why did he trust Pinkie Pie to remain quiet about them? She knew that he had long nursed a soft spot for Rainbow Dash. Had she betrayed him? It was not likely. His crush on Rainbow Dash was a secret that she had made a pinkie promise to keep, and she said that losing a friend’s trust was the fastest way to lose a friend forever. There had to be more to story than what he was being told. Sunny Breeze looked at himself in the mirror above his bed. He wasn’t particularly attractive; more cute than handsome or sexy. His muscles were better developed than one might expect, though he appeared slightly hollow, as if he ate and drank far less than what was healthy for a long time. There was also a collection of noticeable scars on his body which gave a rough edge to his appearance in spite of his small frame.

For a long while, Sunny Breeze lay on his bed, gradually drifting off to sleep while his head was filled with a buzz of drunken activity. Why did Rainbow Dash choose him? What was going to happen tomorrow? Could he hope to satisfy such a mare? He hadn’t the foggiest clue as to why he had been selected out of all the mares and stallions in Equestria. With some luck, he wouldn’t be used as some sort of cult sacrifice tomorrow and Rainbow wouldn’t think him the lowliest loser to walk Equestria. Those things would happen later and sleep needed to happen now. Eventually, sleep came to Sunny, who shut his eyes with his lips curved into a true smile. His slumber was full of turbulent yet beautiful and terrible dreams. With luck, he could live out some of his own.

Midday

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Chapter 2: Midday

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Sunny Breeze awoke in a haze. His mouth was dry and his brain felt sluggish, with perhaps a hint of a headache. He opened his eyes and yelped in pain. Oh Celestia, what did he do last night? He lay in his bed for several minutes before rolling over to his side and looking at the clock. It read eleven in the morning. Some cogs were moving in his brain. It took a few seconds for him to remember whatever it was while a sinking feeling came over him. Now he remembered: he had to meet Rainbow Dash in an hour! Oh, that’s right- he had somehow gotten a date with her earlier that morning and now had to make good on his promise, assuming that he simply hadn’t imagined it. Otherwise, he’d just vegetate today.

His stomach made a small lurch as he sat up and got off the bed. Ugh, he really ought to not drink so much. A few mouthfuls of water from the tap later and he felt much better. Sunny didn’t eat breakfast. It always would take a few hours for his digestive system to get working. Until then, it would be futile for him to try forcing anything down his gullet. Ordinarily, he would have just lain there, but he had a date. He couldn’t remember the last time that was. The stallion debated internally whether or not to wear anything. Sunny looked in his closet, looking for something acceptable. All he found hanging were his work clothes and a few other pieces. Nothing was out of the ordinary; some trousers, a vest from Winter Wrap-up, and a few pieces of more formal attire. By far, the most prevalent styles of clothing were diverse sets of camouflage for a variety of environments. He had a BDU, DPM, Afgneighnka, and more. Ultimately, none of these were really appropriate, but he didn't feel like go out naked with his body. He chose to go with an inoffensive set of khaki pants with a button-down shirt.

Sunny grabbed a quick shower. Even he could smell the whiskey on himself. It was surprising that nobody had ever filed a small complaint on him. The warm water ran through his coat and mane. He washed himself with the small bit of soap that still remained. He’d get more later. His thoughts drifted off as he basked in the warmth of the water and the soothing sensation of being groomed. Sunny’s still dreamy mind momentarily imagined that it was a mare with him, soaping him up with attentive, deep strokes, maybe pressing herself against his- ENOUGH! He jerked out of the daydream and pressed his head against the tiles of the shower. They felt cool on his blistering cheeks. He quickly shampooed himself with the little he could squeeze from the bottle and got out before any other incidents could occur. Sunny toweled himself off and ducked briefly into the hallway to look at the clock. He calculated that he could spare a few more minutes before it was absolutely time to go. He tried to make his mane lie flat while looking into the mirror. That was both an exercise in futility and a momento mori.

On the way to the exit, he took a brief swig from the whiskey bottle. He’d probably need to go get more by the end of the week. Outside, he saw a hole in the ground which looked as if it had been executed when somepony crashed into it something fierce. How nice of Rainbow to etch a reminder into the Azaleas.

The weather was typical for midday in early spring. The air was a little bit warm, but seemed chillier on account of the constant winds. The dew had long since dried up after last night’s drizzle and flower buds were everywhere. True to form, the sun was shining unbearably brightly, as though it were happy to be retaking its majority stake in the cycle of light and darkness. Overhead flew some late arrivals returning home from the warm South. Several flights of birds and bees cut through the air, giving the impression of being in the midst of a frenzy of life. In reality, things were far less straightforward. If somepony in weather control was having a bad day, or their boss fancied a ski holiday, then a sudden cold snap could occur and blanket the world in snow. Winter still cast her frigid spell over the night. At a moment’s notice, this springtime scene could be made no more. Life was gambling here. It could wait for later and merely get by well enough, or it could risk a reversal of fortune in exchange for perhaps reaching its true zenith of glory.

Sunny Breeze presently found himself at the field upon which the celebration was being held. He sought Rainbow Dash as he walked through the crowd of ponies, most of whom he did not recognize. Of course, there were stalls, tents, and the like, for the festival was a sort of carnival that ate up the whole day. Sunny heard the excited clamor of adults and foals partaking in the games. The sweet, sour, and sticky smells of the various offerings of the food vendors filled his nostrils. They brought back nice memories of when he was a foal. Happier days, those were…

He’d peruse them after he had located his target, assuming that she hadn’t jumped ship. Sunny searched throughout the whole area, but was unable to find her. There was nothing unusual or unexpected about that. Perhaps he really had just been imagining the whole thing from last night? His story sounded almost exactly like the plot of a fantastical young adult romance novel. Still, the long hand on the clock had to complete its journey to the top. He’d wait a few minutes for Rainbow. He’d probably wait many more before going home to cheer himself with alcohol.

He stood around, not quite of what to do with himself. All around, ponies were laughing, eating and having fun. There wasn’t time to go do anything, but he’d still be loitering for an awkward amount of time.The conundrum was resolved for him when the great, ponderous tone of clocktower met his ears at the stroke of twelve. Sunny looked up for any sigh of Rainbow when suddenly, a garish thing streaked by only a few feet above his head!

Instinctively, he hit the dirt and yelled, “Take cover!” Nopony paid any attention. He looked up and saw that everypony else was too absorbed in the spectacle to notice. In a fraction of a second, the streak that had nearly decapitated him converged with several other streaks. They were about to collide above the big top when they suddenly pulled up and left a rising spiral in their wakes. Sunny stood back up. And then he saw a distinctive rainbow contrail descend from the heavens with blinding speed! It streaked directly into the eye of the spiral.

At that very moment, a thunderous bang and a disc of color exploded from the spiral! Without missing a beat, the other Wonderbolts fanned out into the rapidly expanding ring. They soared right through it, carving designs in the light! The open wounds healed themselves, the colors swirling like smoke. Two flyers streaked in a circle far from the epicenter, one trailing lightning and the other trailing a dazzling beam of brilliant light. As soon as the circle was formed, they joined up with the rainbow trail pegasus.

The flyers trailing thunderclouds followed their lead and formed a second triad, corkscrewing around itself and arcing higher into the sky. Their teammates cut rainbow, lightning, and sunburst streaks in the air, through which they blasted in close formation. They pulled up and formed a spinning wheel in the sky.

The rainbow’s disk slammed into the trails left by the Wonderbolts and shot vertically into the sky! Just then, the performers dove through the eye of the storm! They burst out the other end, forcibly blasting out part of the disk. Amazingly, the rainbow fragment held and the Wonderbolts overtook it on the way down! With a great crash, they alighted on the ground. Moments later, the fragment crashed into them. It detonated into vividly colored clouds of mist, sparkles, and smoke! The detritus came down onto the audience and shone with the light from the sonic rainboom, creating an otherworldly effect as ponies were enshrouded in the florid haze.

Sunny clapped along with the crowd. He did not cheer, but smiled and applauded as loudly as he could. Afterwards, he stood in stunned silence. A hoof tapped him on the shoulder. It was Rainbow Dash in full uniform. “Glad to see you enjoyed the show,” she laughed jovially. Her teammates called to her. “I’ll catch up in a sec!” And then she was gone.

The stallion sighed and walked off. Perhaps this whole thing had been just a setup for Rainbow to gain an ego boost? Regardless, he had come to the festival, so he ought to try enjoying himself. Again, Sunny browsed through the crowds and stalls. The familiar sensation of hunger gnawed at his stomach, making him aware that he hadn’t eaten anything since early the previous evening. He got in line for a hot noodles stand, directly behind a pair of ponies he recognized as being Derpy Hooves and Doctor Whooves.

He noted their manner. They seemed at ease around each other. Their speech was quick and animated just enough, making it apparent that they were excited instead of angry. Doctor stood just a tad too close to Derpy. While he wasn’t violating her personal space, he was certainly much closer than absolutely necessary. In turn, Derpy was leaning somewhat into him. Their shoulders were touching ever so slightly. They looked into each other’s’ eyes, occasionally stealing glances at other parts of the other pony. Sunny envied their ease with each other. It must have been so easy for them, as if fate had arranged their bond. He looked around. To his chagrin, most other ponies here were in groups of at least two, although numerous examples of relationships involving more than two ponies were plainly visible. Equestria had always boasted several times more mares than stallions. As a result, complex relationships with many mares and one stallion were highly common, and to some degree, the norm; strict monogamy was very rare. Of the couples, most of them were mares with stallions. Others were mares with mares. A few stallions stood together, yet scarce were lone individuals. Sunny’s heart sank. If Rainbow had been planning on pranking him or making him feel like a loner, then she could have hardly picked a more ideal opportunity with which to do so.

At last, Sunny was at the head of the line. He recognized the earth pony behind the stall, Haye Bailer, from work. “Hey, Sunny. How’s it going?”

“Alright. How’re you,” he asked in return.

The yellow stallion gave a shrug. “Fine. So, you got a date?” Depend upon Bailer to be painfully blunt.

“I’m not sure,” replied Sunny. “I’ve met up with her, but she’s talking with some friends from work.”

“You got a date for real? What’s her name?” He lit up somewhat like Pinkie Pie.

The cream stallion deflected him. “I’ll tell you later,” he stated flatly, leaving no room for debate.

Dejected, Haye got ready to take his order. “Okay then. So, what do you want?” Sunny gave the board another look. Everything looked tempting to him, especially considering that he had neglected to feed himself for more than a day. He spotted what looked like the biggest item on the menu. That would do.

“I’ll take the Buckwheat Hot Pot, Haye.” The other pony nodded, indicating his understanding of the order. His limbs became a frenzy of motion as he pulled the entree together.

“You still on for the graveyard shift tonight, Sunny?”

Sunny slapped the bits on the stall and gave his response. “Yeah, I’m still up for it. Don’t worry.”

Bailer slid a huge bowl full of broth and noodles towards him. “Here’s your soup, bro. Don’t forget that you’re starting an hour early today.”

“Thanks,” replied Sunny, levitating his meal away along with a spoon and some napkins. Steam lazily drifted up from the surface of the soup and into the tepid air. The day had turned out alright with regards to the weather. It didn’t turn into an early scorcher, nor did it decide to be cold, rainy, windy, and miserable. The rainbow fog had somehow managed to stick with them, making for a rather artistic touch to an already glorious day. Sunny rather quickly found himself an empty seat under the big top and immediately dug into his food. It was hot, but not so hot as to burn his tongue. It was rather good for cheap outdoor fast food. He would have been content to just sit there all alone when he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Hiya! What’cha doin’?” Sunny nearly jumped out of his seat! With one hoof by his hip and the other leg defending his head, He turned around to face the menace, but found it to already be gone.

“Pinkie, give me some warning before you do that next time! Or at least don’t sneak up on me.” His pleas went ignored. He turned forwards again to find the crazy pony sitting directly across from him. “I’m eating buckwheat noodles because I haven’t had anything to eat since yesterday evening.”

Pinkie Pie seemed to ignore this. “Hey, aren’t you supposed to be with Dashie right now?”

He opened his mouth to answer her as well as to give her a piece of his mind for suddenly deciding to set him up with her friends as well as reveal his secrets, unbidden. He stopped himself, cutting his reply to a curt “yes”.

“Then where is she? I don’t see her anywhere.” Pinkie began to dramatically look around and shift objects, not limited to Sunny, his soup, his table, and the big top itself. “Dashie, where are you? Are you here? Dashie? Come out!”

“What is it, Pinkie?” Rainbow Dash stood at the end of the table, looking expectantly at her friend.

“Oh, hi, Dashie,” Pinkie chirped back in her characteristic manner. “I’m just letting you know that I found your date. He’s right here.” The pink pony demonstrated by momentarily lifting up Sunny Breeze.

“I’m not blind, Pinkie,” laughed Rainbow. “Thanks for helping me find him. I’ll see you around. Later.”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie Pie bounced away like she always did. It must have been no more than a few seconds later when she cornered a hapless Twilight Sparkle over at one of the stands for magic games.

Back at the table, an awkward silence reigned between Sunny Breeze and Rainbow Dash. Sunny went back to eating, looking at the cyan mare in between mouthfuls of food. For a long time, neither one of them dared to make a move. Thus they sat there. Sunny kept silent out of fear of embarrassing himself. The memories of the previous night still weighed heavily upon his mind. It was hard to overcome a first impression when it was all you had to go on. The odds didn't improve when one had been drunk, tired, and had the visit forced upon them. Rainbow kept silent because she did not feel like dominating the conversation. Her counterpart seemed to be holding up better for some reason. At least he was not blushing furiously and looking for any possible escape routes. Logically, she was the first one to break the silence.

“What are you eating?”

He looked at her hard for several seconds. He stuttered, “It’s s-some sort of a b-b-buckwheat noodle soup. It comes from Miền Sói.” It was really difficult to speak normally when cornered one on one by a gorgeous mare. The difficulty was compounded when one didn’t really know or trust the mare in question.

That she had not been expecting. “What’s Miền Sói?” Astonishingly, she got the pronunciation right!

“The W-wolf Kingdoms,” explained Sunny. He was doing vastly better now that he was sober, rested, and talking about something he knew. “They’re far to the n-north, but to the west of the Crystal Empire. It’s a cold, harsh, mountainous land.”

Rainbow Dash nodded her head, lithe body sensuously moving underneath her Wonderbolt uniform and her goggles glinting in the sunlight. “So not a good place to visit?”

“Indeed. Think of it as being somewhat like Afgneighistan, only worse. Officially, there’s a central government in Răng Nanh, but it’s ruled by a bloody tyrant. Out in the countryside, everything is under the control of local chiefs and warlords. Some of them are loyal to the government. Some are loyal to a rival, democratic government set up in the southwestern city of Chó Tru. They’re fighting a civil war, and the factions are also fighting amongst themselves for who gets to be the boss of their coalition. The whole place is a warzone.”

The mare looked impressed. “How did you know all that?”

“I read more than just the Foal Free Press. You should try being informed about world events; it’s really enlightening.” Sunny levitated out another spoon and offered it to her. “Want some?” This broke the ice. Rainbow grabbed it and didn’t look back. They were soon chatting comfortably. Sunny was pleasantly surprised that Rainbow wasn’t half so arrogant as she had been acting earlier. Rainbow was pleasantly surprised that Sunny wasn’t half so timid as he had been acting earlier. It was not long before they had cut through the small talk about the weather.

“What did you think of the show, Sunny,” asked Rainbow. The anxiety was plainly visible on her face.

“Excellent,” he admitted. I’ve never seen anything like that! If that was you at the beginning with the sonic rainboom, then that was amazing.”

“Aw, thanks,” she chuckled. “Don’t worry about that- it was nothing.” She swatted with her hoof. Her grin betrayed otherwise. “I’m really glad you liked it! Did you see me? I must’ve been so awesome!”

“Oh, you were, Rainbow Dash,” he replied. Truthfully, he couldn’t tell who was whom, let alone identify any of them while they were flying. He hardly knew anything about the Wonderbolts anyhow. “Anyway, that must have been really difficult to do. I bet you practice a lot.”

“Oh my gosh, it’s just so intense! You’ve got to deal with winds, pressure, what everypony else is doing, and you’ve got a lot to think about. There’s what comes next, how high you are, how fast you’re flying, and that kind of stuff. It’s not too much. After all, I am the fastest flyer in all Equestria.” Sunny let her talk. He wanted her to talk. He was afraid of what would happen if Rainbow ran out of things to say and started calling on him to carry his end of the conversation. He couldn’t possibly keep her entertained. He was just a unicorn living in Ponyville. She was a Wonderbolt. “So yeah, we practice this stuff all the time. The rainbow stuff is practiced late at night and early morning because it’s easier to see. There’s a lot of hard work involved in being a Wonderbolt. Get up before the sun, practice. Practice from sunrise to noon. Practice from afternoon to evening. Practice from sunset until late at night. We’re out almost every day, no matter the weather. That’s why we’re the best,” Rainbow Dash finished triumphantly, banging her hoof on the table. Silence returned.

This was bad. Rainbow had just told a huge yarn about her work and now she was looking at Sunny expectantly. The stallion didn’t want to talk about his work. How would she react to knowing what he did for a living? He had to think of a diversion quickly- anything to get her mind off of him and his life. “That’s amazing, Rainbow Dash.” He paused deliberately. “So, where do you come from?” For a brief moment, Summer Breeze could have sworn that Rainbow Dash had momentarily lost her smile. It was cast aside in the next moment, as she cheerfully went on to talk more about herself.

“I’m originally from Cloudsdale, see, but I’ve spent most of my life in Ponyville.”

“Why live in Ponyville?”

For a moment, she almost looked as if she might have been caught naked. Rainbow managed to save her composure with practiced eased. Nevertheless, her tone told the real story. “Cloudsdale just wasn’t my style. Besides, I got a better job offer in Ponyville than in Cloudsdale. Up there, everypony can do weather patrol. Down here, there aren’t too many pegasi, so they cut me a pretty sweet deal to come down here and run things. So, what about you?”

Sunny almost choked on his soup. He forced himself to remain calm while he delivered his answer. “I was born in Baltimare. I came here because the economy back home is pretty weak. Also, Ponyville is a much nicer town. I just sold everything back home, hopped on the train, and ultimately ended up here. I’ve been living here ever since.” May he need not say more.

“Isn’t Baltimare supposed to be a really bad place?”

Amused by Rainbow’s reaction, Sunny supplied, “It is. If you listen, you can hear gunfire at night.” He wasn’t joking.

“Well, I’d be just fine there. I’m not scared of a few wannabe toughponies.”

“I never said anything about you being scared, although I wouldn’t blame anypony for fearing that city.”
Sunny's teasing gamble paid off. “I wouldn’t be scared. Who do you think I am? Fluttershy?”

“No, you’re Rainbow Dash. You’re the pegasus who is supposedly unafraid of anything. You seem to be putting up an awfully big display for somepony who doesn’t know fear.”

The mare facehoofed. “Darn it!” They finished the soup. “C’mon, Sunny,” she exhorted, practically dragging him from his seat. He laughed jovially through the exchange. It hid the blush on his face. Rainbow dragged him from place to place like a boisterous foal tugging on its parent’s leg. Sunny smiled. He and Rainbow played game after game. Her competitive spirit drove her to prove herself and evaluate her opponent. He was perfectly content to humor her. She won most of the games anyway; he had never been much good at such things to begin with. However, Sunny saw his golden opportunity to give her a challenge when he spied a shooting gallery.

“Hey, Rainbow, I bet you can’t beat me at this.” Her eyes saw the stand and grew wide.

“Oh, you are so on!” She got the attention of the attendant, Berry Punch. “Hey! Set up a game for two, would ya?”

“Certainly,” responded Berry Punch. Would that be competitive or cooperative?”

“We’ll be facing off, so competitive. He’s Sunny Breeze. You already know who I am.”

The mare scowled. Sunny wondered if Rainbow made a habit of being an egotistical prat. “Alrighty, then. Just grab a rifle and say when.” Rainbow Dash wrapped herself around the pellet gun as if she had suddenly been magnetized. There was Sunny Breeze over to her right. How slowly he was moving! This would be easy.

Several seconds later, Sunny gave the call to begin. “Start whenever you’re ready.”

"Okay, sixty seconds, unlimited ammo, most targets hit wins. Aaannd go!”

Rainbow licked her lips. The music began playing and the targets started popping up. Ducks began to leisurely stroll across the gallery. Pigeons began to bob in and out of cover. She was just about to mark her first victim when a hiss came from her right and a quickly fleeing bunny was knocked down. HUH? She sped up and fired at a nearby duck. Miss! She fired again. It went down a half second later to a shot from a completely different trajectory. Rainbow gave up on precision aiming and just started to spam fire at any target she figured that she would hit. One by one, she started to hit targets. So what if her opponent had a better start? She was now blowing them down in quick succession- shooting like a boss.

Rainbow kept up the fire, jerking the trigger repeatedly. It seemed to be working. Sure, she lost some targets to her competitor, but she was hitting more than enough. There was no way he could have filled the air with as many shots as her. She knew for a fact that she was flipping down many more ducks than him. And as for the vastly more plentiful pigeons and rabbits, well, it’s not like anypony could actually hit those.

She lost track of time and count of her shots. All Rainbow Dash knew was that she was shooting a lot and knocking down many things. That was how these things were won. She couldn’t lose to Sunny; her pride wouldn’t allow it! He was just some cute, dorky guy that she had decided to date nearly on a whim. He wasn’t particularly clever, fast, or strong. There was no way he could beat her! Rainbow’s wings popped out, so deeply engrossed was the Wonderbolt in her task.

Hiss. Thunk. Hiss. Thunk. These sounds became the only things she was aware of, other than the motion of the rifle and the positions of the targets. In her peripheral vision, she saw Sunny blast down targets one by one, methodically dealing with them one at a time and taking the care to place each shot exactly where he wanted it to go. There was no way he could possibly win this. He seemed too relaxed and leisurely. Every time he missed one, he would remain calm while he took the opportunity to recalibrate himself and his aim. The second time he shot, his aim was always true. Sunny seldom missed the target on his first shot.

The thought occurred to Rainbow Dash that Sunny Breeze quite possibly knew what he was doing. She was so hunched over and tense, clamped around her pellet gun and spitting out torrents of fire as soon as she felt her aim to be close enough. He was so poised and relaxed, guiding his pellet gun and carefully releasing one round at a time to strike his target. Now that she considered it, he looked almost beatific. He made it look so easy. There even seemed to be the ghost of a smile forming on his lips. Maybe he was singing to himself a subtle song that calmed the mind and steadied the body.

The gallery went silent and still. “Time’s up!” Rainbow jumped as she came back to reality. Her last target had fallen just moments before. Now she’d see who had won. Sunny looked at her with an almost serene expression. They both silently awaited the verdict. One leaned forward. “Rainbow Dash,” began Berry Punch, “you scored twenty points. Not too shabby.”

“Yes! Beat that!” Sunny shrugged.

Berry Punch coughed intentionally. She turned to the stallion. “Sunny Breeze, you scored sixty points. That’s a new record!”

“What!” Rainbow Dash gasped and stared at her date. “How did you do that?”

Sunny Breeze gave a sort of blank look and responded, “I have a lot of practice at this sort of thing.” He feared what Rainbow would do, considering how firmly he had trounced her. He received his prize, a trinket, from Berry Punch and faced the winged mare. To his surprise, she was for the first time, smiling genuinely at him. “Aren’t you mad?”

“Me? Nah. You beat me fair and square; you got my respect.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” She came up to him for what he assumed was going to be a brohoof. To his surprise, she gave him a kind of friendly hug. He stiffened at the contact and weakly returned it. Rainbow got off him and looked at his face. “Do you always blush this much?”

“Y-yes.”

“You’re cute. I like that.” Sunny was speechless.

The next few hours proved to be quite enjoyable for the both of them. At last, the dying rays of light from the sunset were washing over them. The final rainbow wisps from earlier were fading into nothingness. The world was dyed a rosy orange. They were sitting together on a bench when Rainbow suddenly asked him, “Hey, Sunny, have you ever travelled?”

This was an odd question. “Obviously, I have.”

“I mean, have you ever traveled outside of Equestria?”

“I have. Would you like to know anything?”

She asked him, “What’s it like outside Equestria?” There was almost a hesitancy to her words.

Sunny gave a brief grunt. “Well, it all depends on where you go. Zebricy is not too far, so it’s somewhat like home. No matter where you go, you can almost always find somepony who knows Equestrian. Sie sprechen die gute Equstrianische.”

“Yeah, I’d figured,” said Rainbow. “Zecora doesn’t seem all that different from us. Say, is it normal for Zebras to always talk in rhymes?”

The stallion cocked his head. He didn't know who this Zecora was, although it wasn't an uncommon name. He'd have to investigate later. “No. You’re being trolled.” Anyway, now, if you go further, such as say, to the land of the Griffons- Griffiya, things get noticeably different. For one thing, everything is designed for much larger, winged, users. Also, guard yourself carefully, because Griffons can be pretty fierce and underhanded. It will help a lot if you can speak po-gressky.”

“I knew a Griffon in flight camp,” interjected Rainbow. Sunny patiently looked at her. “She started out with this cool accent, but eventually lost it.”

Sunny couldn’t resist the joke. “Deed shyi yevair takx laik deez?”

Rainbow laughed goodnaturedly. “Da, bratan, she did. So, tyell menya more.”

“Now, Miền Sói, the Wolf Kingdoms, are getting pretty far out there. You can say goodbye to warm, grassy fields. Of course, unless you can speak Lupine, you’re going to have problems. Last I’ve seen are the dragon realms. It’s like stepping into a fantasy novel. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you about it. And you’d better get Drakespeak, or else nobody is going to understand you. Supposedly, there’s a land beyond all these called Outpost. It’s where these strange, intelligent, hairless monkey things are supposed to live. They claim that their real homeland is a place beyond this reality. Does that answer your question?”

“Pretty much,” answered Rainbow Dash. “But how did you get to do all that?”

The stallion considered her briefly. “I’ve done a fair amount of adventuring in my days. You can go far with little if you don’t mind putting forth some effort and being flexible with your timetable. You won’t get a luxurious experience, but nothing comes close to it.”

“I see…” The mare looked off into the distance.

The stallion inquired, “Would you like to do it someday?”

“Definitely- there is no way I’m going to let you have all the fun.”

“Of course,” he said. “I’ll invite you the next time I go.”

I”ll be looking forward to it,” Rainbow shot back at him.

It was now that the bell tolled. To Summer Breeze, it marked the time when he would be forced to depart. He turned to Rainbow. “Uh, Rainbow?”

“What?”

His voice conveyed every bit of vulnerability and insecurity he felt at that moment. “I have some things I need to do now, so I have to go. It was um… really nice being with you and maybe I could see you again sometime, assuming that you don’t mind me too much…” He didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, he just turned and started to leave.

“Okay, I’ll see you later. Hey!” Sunny stopped and turned around. Rainbow advanced upon him. She saw his juvenile nervousness in his tremulous stance and faint blush. Did he ever stop blushing? Rainbow again hugged him, but more warmly this time. Being this touchy wasn’t like her, but it was admittedly funny to make him squirm a little bit. And oh Celestia, he was so cute when he got flustered! “I had a lot of fun, too, Sunny. Just tell me when you’re free; I’ll take care of the rest. Deal?”

“D-deal.” She let him go, but not before getting one last look at his red face and giggling. “Quit it, please!"

He quickly trotted off into the sunset, heading back towards town. There were few other ponies still at the festival. They’d mostly gone home for dinner, but would be back for the night portion. Rainbow sat alone on the bench, still wearing her Wonderbolt uniform. She’d find her other friends and spend the rest of the day with them. But now, she just wanted a few moments of quiet. Above the scene, a pure silver full moon shone brightly.

Sunny Breeze opened the door to his flat. It had been a long time since he had come home from anything feeling this good and this excited. He had a huge smile plastered on his face. His day had gotten off to a somewhat ignominious start, but it ultimately had turned out for the best. He had done the impossible in not only getting a date with Rainbow Dash, but in also doing well enough to get a second one! What was more is that he had discovered that talking to her was no harder than talking to any other pony. He’d have to spend an extra hour at work tonight because of the equinox, but that was hardly enough to dampen his spirits. Smiling, he quickly showered before shoveling supper down his throat. It was a stew of broccoli, peas, and carrots; simple and delicious. It was washed down with a small amount of rye whisky. Full and clean, Sunny went into his closet to grab his work uniform.
__________
To Be Continued…

Sundown

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Chapter 3: Sundown
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Sunny Breeze first put on his sleeveless, striped, white and green undershirt. After that, he put on the black uniform pants with minimal difficulty. His shortly-cropped tail gave him no problems. Next, Sunny stood in front of the mirror, gradually sliding the buttons on his uniform jacket into place. His brow furrowed as he went through the fiddly little things one by one, but left the top one undone. Lastly, he pulled on a balaclava. The stallion gathered the last few things he needed, including his FN FAL on a two point sling, before heading out the door. He didn’t take a drink; this was not the time for that. On his way down the hall, Sunny stopped, turned to face a picture of four young stallions, three zebras and a pony. He tapped it thrice with his hoof. “Ich lasse,” he sighed, turning away.

The back doors of the wagon slammed shut with a satisfying thunk. “Do you remember the plan?” asked a stallion standing on the freight elevator and carrying a Barrett REC7 attached to a three point sling.

Another stallion, who was wearing sunglasses, answered him, “Affirmative- we’ll use route Shire 2, do the job, and be back within ninety minutes.” He turned to face two armed ponies clad in black. One had part of a telnyashka visible on his withers. The other wore old style aviators’ goggles over his eyes. “Get in position; we’re headed out.” The stallion got onto the driver’s seat and instructed the two harnessed ponies to start walking. The armed ponies stood on running boards mounted to the wagon, a forelimb wrapped around a handle kept them from falling off. “All ready?”

“Ready all.” And they were off. They only moved at a moderate pace. This was to make it easier on the ponies riding on the running boards, and also to avoid crushing pedestrians.

The armed stallions astutely scanned the streets as they drove. One of them called out to the other, “Hey, Telny, do you think anypony will give us trouble at the bank?”

The other one quickly shot back, “Negative, Goggles.” He had so far seen nothing of interest; just the usual empty streets and illuminated windows to the left. Ponies on the street gave the odd group second looks. The streets were emptying out with the rising of the moon. “You’re paid to watch- not talk.”

“Sorry.”

The conversation died and the noises of hooves and wooden wheels filled their ears. They came to a crowded intersection still full of ponies. The crowd gave way unusually quickly. The one called Telny heard some fearful murmurs and clopping coming from the right side of the vehicle. He groaned, “What did I tell you about sweeping the crowd, Goggles?”

“Oops- sorry, Telny.”

Goggles brought his suppressed Sterling SMG down a very low ready position, which made its single point sling taut. The stallion’s pulse quickened and his eyes darted around the swarm of pedestrians. He kept it tilted to prevent the cartridges from falling out. Unfortunately, the sides continued to narrow as they pressed on into the eye of the maelstrom.

Telny maintained his composure and paid closer attention his surroundings. His pulse elevated a bit too, so he coped by singing softly to himself. It was a foreign song from a foreign land in a foreign tongue. Goggles didn’t have the faintest idea what it meant. It sounded simultaneously harsh and beautiful. So many consonants were jammed together in strange, impossible ways. However, the vowels were bold and strong. The tune was stirring and martial, filling the heart with passionate courage. Its richness was apparent, despite the harshness of Telny’s accent as he sang. What was it called? He thought its name was something like Zeldatikshy, but couldn't remember for sure.

The tension remained until they were clear of the midtown crowd and rolling along a roomy boulevard. The sun was now well below the horizon and the moon cast its pale glow over the land. This particular area of Ponyville most didn’t visit once the sun went down. To the van’s right was a lovely park, perfect for picnics, enjoying the sun, and meeting friends. To its left was a row of storefronts for things such as ice cream, fast food, barber shops, and the like. It was too chilly and dark for a stroll in the park and too late for business; Ponyville was a town that appreciated its shuteye.

Telny let his rifle droop by his side and slowed his scan, although he remained vigilant. He always liked this part of the trip. The park was always pretty and the long sightlines made it nigh impossible for somepony to suddenly ambush them. The same wasn’t quite so true for Goggles. He heard something metallic repeatedly hitting the far side of the van. “Goggles,” he yelled, “you’ve got to keep your guard up!”

“How did you know?” Shot back the other pony.

“Because I can hear your gun clanging on side of the van! Do keep in mind that your Sterling is an open bolt design; if you’re not careful with it, you can very easily slamfire the damn thing!”

The bespectacled pony replied, “sorry!”

“Y’know, you don’t have to take the graveyard shift. If you’d like, I’ll let you borrow my rifle.”

“No, it’s okay- really.” The other one snorted. Silence reigned for several minutes. Telny spied the occasional pony, but none of them ever came close. Rather, they stared. He was content to leave it that way; nopony ever approached armed strangers without reason. If they did approach, then it most certainly meant trouble. Besides, maintaining one’s anonymity was important, not only for security, but also for keeping the respect of one’s peers. Pony society actively shunned violence. It had no mercy for those whose livelihoods depended on it.

Presently, they reached their object, the Ponyville Royal Bank. They pulled into the back and set to work immediately. The driver signaled a stop and the guards leap to their feet. The driver unlocked the rear entrance and beckoned to Goggles, “Come on!”

“Affirmative, Shades,” he said, following his superior inside, leaving Telny all alone outside.

Once they were decidedly out of earshot, he let out a hoarse laugh. “Shades- what a callsign!” It got to him every time. It suddenly occurred to him that nopony knew any of the others by their real names or faces. They certainly wouldn’t believe who he was during his own personal time. Well, he and one guy knew each other.

Even in the dead of night, Telny did not lower his guard. This was important. Goggles and Shades trusted him to stand outside and watch their backs- the company trusted him to safeguard tens of thousands of bits almost unsupervised. Earning that trust hadn’t been easy, but it had been well worth it. They worked for the Paddock Monetary Express Company. It was the subsidiary of the nationalized Royal Banking Corporation which was tasked with protecting both shipments of money, as well as safeguarding the financial institutions themselves. Sure, the Ponyville outfit was small, but that only meant that the competition to prove oneself was tougher. There were never many threats, or at least credible ones, in Ponyville. Missing one or making a single mistake could tarnish your career for a long time. The menace of occasional attacks from beasts of the nearby Everfree hardly counted as a threat. At least they weren't in Hollow Shades.

Telny remembered the last time when there had been an incident was more than half a year ago. That day was just at the end of summer when a huge beast came bounding out of the Everfree Forest. It was some sort of Cerynitian Deer. It came bounding across the meadow in a matter of seconds for Celestia knows why. It smashed its antlers into the side of the wagon, which flipped it. Telny just raised his gun and fired away. The Cerynitian stag bolted, but it only managed to get maybe a couple hundred feet before it fell dead in the meadow over by Fluttershy’s house. He heard that she was really upset by it.

Telny stopped reminiscing. Something was moving in the direction of the Everfree! It wasn’t gargantuan, but he couldn’t determine its distance. It wasn’t yet worth pointing his gun at it, but he went into a low ready stance and got ready to put pressure on the trigger. It walked on four legs and was walking a course perpendicular to him. After several tense seconds, the shape stepped out into the open and was silhouetted against the moonlight. Telny was relieved to see that it was a pony. He slung his rifle onto his back. Some might have called his actions paranoid or excessive. Obviously, they had never found themselves in his place. A shift or two doing his line of work would change their outlook.

Presently, Shades and Goggles returned with a dolly loaded with money. The next fifteen minutes were punctuated by the sounds of them moving the hard currency into the back of the van. Once that was done, they would have to go deal with all the kiosks scattered around town. Thankfully, the traffic ought to have lessened by now. None of the banks or kiosks in Ponyville were guarded around the clock; they just didn’t have the staff or the need to do it. Besides, Pinkie Pie always found a way to make their most valiant attempts at hermetic security pointless, such as the time she threw a party in the interior of the bank’s new vault. Never mind that it had never been opened before then. The look on the manager's face when he opened the vault for the first time in front of the bank guards, the press, and other company ponies, only to find Pinkie Pie already inside it was priceless. It still brought humorous smiles to everypony's faces.

The door was soon sealed and they were soon on their way again. Telny bullied Goggles into swapping weapons by pulling rank. He was careful to active the rifle’s safety before giving the rifle to the rookie. At the first of three kiosks, they repeated their main bank arrangement. Telny remained outside while his coworkers headed indoors. While he waited, Telny spied Haye Bailer walking down the opposite sidewalk.

“Enjoying graveyard?” asked Haye.

“It puts oats on the table,” responded Telny. “Anyway, why do you ask, Keffiyeh?”

The other stallion snorted, “C’mon, Sunny, we’re friends; no need to use the ridiculous callsigns off duty.”

“Have it your way, Haye.”

“So, how’s the rookie?” Keffiyeh inquired. The groan emitted by Sunny Breeze told the whole story. The other stallion laughed. “Better you than me.”

Sunny said, “Could you see about getting him shunted to something like monitor duty? Goggles is an accident trying to happen. Yes, he’s really that bad.” The unicorn watched the kiosk for signs of the rookie; he and the other stallion would be coming along very soon.

The bay roan paused to contemplate for a moment. “I’ll see what I can do,” he replied.

“Thank you, sir,” replied the unicorn. “I’ll see you later then- good evening.”

“Later,” responded Haye. He kept on walking down the street. It was only a few minutes later that he was riding to the next kiosk.

The wonderful silence of the empty street was spoiled by Goggles opening his mouth. “Yo, Telny, who were you talking to?” Great! He just had to hear him speaking.

“A friend, Goggles,” snapped Sunny.

“What did you say to him, Telny?” Forget monitor duty; have this busybody reassigned to custodian!

“It was nothing important, Goggles.”

“Well, whatever you were saying, Telny, it sure didn’t sound like Equestrian.”

Why didn’t this pest just shut up and do his job? “That’s because, Goggles, it wasn’t Equestrian!” Sunny caught himself getting angrier than he should at a greenhorn who didn’t yet know the rules of engagement. All Goggles was trying to do was get to know his coworkers. Sunny couldn’t blame him. Now he felt bad about snubbing the poor guy. His whole demeanor changed. “Sorry, Goggles, but in this business, we don’t really like having to divulge more information than is necessary. You might know this already, but this isn’t the sort of job that you want ponies to know you have. He and I have already known each other for a long time. If I felt that you should have known, then I would have told you. Never ask for real names or any other sort of identifying information.” The journey carried on in awkward silence.

The second kiosk was a long affair. The same procedure was repeated again. Sunny expected this one to be the longest stop because it was located right by the main town marketplace. What they collected on their rounds were mostly profits made from fees and loans. These profits would be rounded up and shipped off to company headquarters in Canterlot. He wasn’t really sure how the system all worked. It was above his pay grade and it probably would make his brain blow a few fuses. None of it really mattered to him so long as he got paid.

The third kiosk was quite brief, being located in a residential area near the library. Based on the cacophony of lights and sounds, one massive party must have been going on down there. A wicked grin crossed Sunny’s face. It was a stupid prank, but it was just too damn funny to refuse. He was sorely tempted to knock on the door, announcing the hunt for a dangerous fugitive. Once inside, he would order all the occupants to help him search, by which he meant do ridiculous things on command. He would then grab some random pony- perhaps a mare, announce success, and steal off into the night. The festival was still going on, so his chances of even getting inside the party were minimal.

His thoughts turned to Rainbow Dash. Surely she was living it up right now instead of grinding through an extra-long shift at a crummy job. He hoped that she really did enjoy the time they had spent together and was being completely serious about wanting to see him later.

It was then that one of most bizarrely improbable events of Sunny’s entire life came to pass. Out of the library stumbled six pegasi who had obviously had way more than a few too many hard ciders. Sunny almost instantly recognized their Wonderbolt uniforms. “So they really do like to party hard…” He mumbled to himself. That didn’t matter. What did matter was that six intoxicated ponies were headed his way. Nevermind- now it was only four ponies, with two of them going off in some other direction. Drunken partiers and armed guards never met peacefully, especially when the guards were outnumbered.

He turned to present a larger silhouette and held out the gun in a way that made it obvious. They still kept coming. There was no way that they hadn’t seen him. They were now close enough to identify. To his horror, Rainbow Dash was present among them. He cursed his luck. “They just all had to be mares, didn’t they?” The familiar heat effused his face. He had always had a thing for pegasi, and having four stunning examples in front of him wearing those skintight jumpsuits wasn’t doing him any favors.

Sunny Breeze fell back on his training. It was best to not say anything at all; that's what they'd always told him at Grollen, and it had served him well. One of the mares in front of him whispered something to her friends. They giggled and looked at him. They were nearly close enough to touch him. He raised his gun a bit, but stopped short of point it at anything. He was technically within his rights to fire and get away with it. Perhaps he would have done so with any other group which would incite less fallout. Sunny opened his mouth and tried to speak, but couldn’t make the words come out. Why did somepony who'd recognize his voice have to be among them? Why did his weakness have to be so damn common?

Their leader, whom he knew was named Spitfire, must have noticed this and decided to tease him. “Hey, baby, you like what you see?” He nodded, hoping that they’d go away if he humored them. They didn’t.

Another one cut in. He didn’t recognize her. She had a black coat and a spiked green mane. “I didn’t know you liked brutes, Spitifire.”

“Shaddap, I do not! Leadheads are seriously uncool, Arrow! What you think, Lightning Dust?” She had a teal coat with a yellow and orange mane.

“It looks like another worthless foal killer if you ask me,” spat Lightning venomously, the rest all nodding. Ouch! That really hurt. “Think he’s any good in bed, Rainbow Dash?” His eyes dampened.

“Nah! I bet he’s a virgin.” Sunny’s ears drooped. “Watch,” she said, rubbing against him. “He’s totally spazzing out.” Goodbye, self-confidence. “And what’s with that stupid striped shirt? What else can you expect from a leadhead?”

Arrow cooed at him seductively, “Y’know, if you want some of this, all you have to do is ask… Say, why don’t you show me that face of yours?” The drunken mare moved to grab at his balaclava. He couldn’t let them happen- he couldn’t let them know his face! Sunny stepped back violently. His cheeks must have been on fire.

“Whuddamatta, skrrd” slurred Spitfire.

“Scared of mares?” The others taunted him.

Sunny lifted the Sterling with his support limb and pointed it squarely at Arrow, his other flying to the stock and the trigger plate within . Why couldn’t he talk properly? He opened his mouth, but all that came out was a strange, choking, yell; it was almost an infuriated sob. “STOI!”

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Cool it!” Rainbow Dash backed away and held her hooves over her head. “Geez, you don’t have to get violent- we’re just joking.” Not from Sunny’s perspective. This could have turned into a fight or a robbery at any point. Considering that they had approached, taunted, and goaded him before trying to either attack or expose him, they were practically asking for it.

Lightning Dust shot at her, “Foal killers like this one wouldn’t understand.” Sunny wanted to yell at her. Didn’t she realize just how much that hurt him? Did she understand what she was saying? Had she ever seen a dead foal? His hoof was tugging on the trigger. He turned the gun on her! It would be so easy to just slide the plate, pull the trigger, fire the gun, and kill her. He’d be well within protocol to do it. But he couldn’t do that. There was no point in murdering somepony over drunken words, no matter how callously cruel and hurtful they were. More importantly, if he shot the mare, then he would prove to all Equestria that gun users really were murderous psychopaths for hire. He had to be better than those who misused their tools to cause harm.

Sunny Breeze pointed down a street with the gun. He mustered up all his will to just say one word. “Leave.” Miraculously, they did. Good thing, because Goggles and Shades came back just seconds later.

“Hecklers, Telny?” inquired Shades, holding his gun ready. Sunny nodded and Shades let his Barret hang free. No more words were spoken. As soon as Sunny was alone on his platform, he slumped forwards. He needed a drink; something to drown the pain. They were back at the train station just a few minutes later. Sunny forced himself to feign indifference. It wasn’t difficult. Soon enough, the wagon was unloaded and that was the end of his shift. The stallion wasted no time in getting his FAL back and getting the hell out of there.

Alone, Sunny walked slowly down the street. He had had enough for one night and just wanted to go home, drink himself stupid, fall asleep, and forget that his encounter with the Wonderbolts had ever happened. That was what he wanted to do. What actually happened was that he heard the gentle sound of a pegasus attempting to stealthily alight on a cobblestone street directly behind him! In the near-total silence of the night, it seemed as noisy as a gunshot. Sunny turned on instinct, readying his rifle to face the potential ambusher. To his dismay, it was the one mare he did not want to see at all.

Rainbow Dash was out of her uniform- the first time he had seen her like this. She cautiously walked up to him. He slung his rifle across his back. What did she want? Before he could brush her off, she spoke. “I’m sorry about how we acted. I mean, we’ve all had a little too much to drink, but that was just not right. I’m really sorry about how Lightning Dust behaved. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” Sunny just started at her, dumfounded. So many emotions swirled around his head again. He wanted to hug her for what she was doing for him. He wanted to punch her for what she did to him. He wanted to thank her for the festival. He wanted to escape her for fear of how she would react once she realized who it was beneath the balaclava. “Can I buy you a drink?” she ventured. With the exception of clipping Lightning Dust’s wings, this was the course of action most agreeable to the stallion. He nodded. “C’mon, I know a place.” For some reason, it suddenly occurred to the mare that this nameless stallion might be fairly young.

They walked in awkward silence. Rainbow led the way, flying close to the ground. She tried to get closer to the stallion, but he swung at her with his hoof and flatly refused to say anything. She could live with that. She kind of wished that he were one of her friends or colleagues. Even Sunny would have been a better conversationalist than this almost mute stallion! Being silent was par for the course when it came to armed guards. It’d take a braver pony than her to risk making it known that this was their chosen profession.

The interior of the bar was nice and clean; it wasn’t seedy, glamorous, or even unique. The best part was that there were few ponies here other than themselves and the bartender. “Take a seat. This was my favorite place back when I was younger."The bartender was waiting for them by the time their bottoms had found stools. Sunny was somewhat surprised by who received them.

“Yo, Dash, wassup?” Vinyl Scratch called out to her friend before looking at Sunny. “Who’s this guy?”

“Just some random colt I met. He doesn’t talk much.”

Vinyl eyed his back and scowled. “You know the policy on leadheads in the bar. We don’t serve them.”

Rainbow leaned in closer and whispered, “Take it easy on the ribbing, okay? He just got off work and came off of a really nasty Lightning Dust bitch-out.” The white mare grumbled but assented. Rainbow knew that she owed her friend a huge favor.

“So, what can I do you for?” Vinyl took a stab in the dark. “Scotch?” Sunny nodded enthusiastically. “How much?” The stallion gestured for a huge glass. “Got it!” She set to work. “Not much of a talker, are you?” She received a blank stare. “Fine, forgive a mare for trying…” She turned to Rainbow Dash. “Just what exactly did she say to him?

Rainbow whispered, “Foal killer”. In the corner of her eye, the stallion seemed to wince a little.

The ears flattened a little bit. “That’s harsh. I mean, I’m no fan of leadheads, but that’s just awful.” Vinyl really meant it. It was the kind of insult that drove even the most gentle of ponies to blind rage. Not even the most irreverent comedians would dare use it in jest. “You’re telling me. For a moment, I thought he was gonna shoot her.”

“No…”

“Yeah, really. All he had to do was pull the trigger. But he didn’t.”

“Did he deck her?”

“No, not even that. Arrow tried to grab him, so he yelled something in a funny language and pointed his gun at her, and then pointed it at Dust.

The barmare leaned in closer, fascinated that a hired gun would display so much restraint. “And then what happened?”

Rainbow ruffled her own mane, as if she didn’t funny understand what had transpired either. “He just pointed down a street and told us to leave, so we did. There was no emotion, anger- nothing.” Sunny ordinarily would have been proud to hear this glowing review of his performance, but not now.

Vinyl handed a large glass full of whiskey to Sunny. All she could see of his face was his eyes. They were slightly red and damp. She replied after a moment’s thought, “For whatever reason he didn’t kill her, it means that he’s been through a lot, or he’s got unbelievable self-control.”

Rainbow said wistfully, “I just wish I knew…”

The bar went nearly quiet for perhaps ten minutes. The stallion managed to put away his liquor surprisingly quickly. At the end, Rainbow Dash kept her word and paid the tab. Sunny Breeze was certainly feeling much better. He even waved Vinyl Scratch farewell as he exited the bar with Rainbow. She didn’t acknowledge him. The booze was starting to affect him.

“So, are you feeling better?” Sunny nodded. He even surprised himself by hugging Dash thankfully. Oh well, it’s not like she would ever know that it was him. She could never know. After all, she had agreed with Lightning Dust when she had called him a foal killer. There was no way that she’d consider him dating material, knowing what he did. In a small way, she was justified. After all, in a land where even the royal guards were only armed with ancient spears, the display of such deadly modern arms was shocking. Given the fact that weapons were only ever present if lethal force were an immediate concern, then one could be forgiven for associating guns and their wielders with death. There hadn’t even been modern firearms at the time of Luna’s return ten years ago. A lot of things had happened since then. Equestria was changing, but the Equestrians could only be made to change so quickly. Ponies didn’t like living in a world where it seemed as if everything was turning harsh and deadly. Most ponies alive today still remembered the days when guns were strictly pulp science fiction stuff. Imagine a tiny piece of soft metal flying really quickly being able to kill anything in its path. The concept was implausible, but the carnage was horrifying.

Rainbow flew off, leaving Breeze alone again. He felt much better about both himself and about Rainbow. She wasn’t just a beautiful body with a brazen attitude. Underneath all of that was a very morally upright pony who would stick up for others. She would stand by ponies who needed a friend or a protector. Plus, she had good taste in drinking establishments. He’d need to find some way of thanking Rainbow later without tipping her off that he was the stallion from tonight. Sunny suppressed a yawn. It was time to go to bed.

The walk home seemed to be simultaneously brief and prolonged. On one hoof, it seemed to take a lot longer than he had expected. On the other hoof, he was so drunk that he hardly remembered much of it later. Upon regaining access to his apartment, he immediately stepped inside and deposited the FAL in the closet. Then, the stallion walked through the hallway and turned to the picture of the four young stallions, three zebra and one pony. He tapped it thrice with his left hoof and said, “Ich kehre.” He took several swigs from the whisky bottle before making a beeline to the bedroom. Once inside, he stumbled through disrobing himself of his uniform. He tossed it on the closet floor; he’d pick it up later, eventually. Tomorrow would definitely be better. In fact, the first thing Sunny decided that he was going to do was go and take a lovely nature hike. With that, he collapsed onto his bed and drifted off into an uneasy sleep plagued by nightmares filled with gunfire.
__________
To be continued.

The next chapter is much lighter than this one. Go ahead and see for yourself.

Sunrise

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Chapter 4: Sunrise
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Morning was not kind to Sunny Breeze, although not much worse than usual. Other than waking up before dawn, slightly tired due to the late night coupled with the terrible nightmares, he felt normal. At least he would be with Haye during part of his next shift and since today was Sunday, the bank was closed- no work, so he could do as he damn well please.

Nevertheless, it still hurt that he had been called a foal killer. Murdering innocent, defenseless foals… how could one do such a thing? The idea- the words couldn’t possibly match the terrible truth. He needed a drink. The whisky poured down his throat, creating a burning sensation in his stomach which dissolved into a comforting warmth. So what if he did it in the morning- it made him feel better! Sunny didn’t try to go back to sleep again. He knew from experience that it was all in vain. Instead, he decided to go for a hike. He pulled on his telnyashka before slipping into his plain brown afghneighnka and placing the accompanying Panama hat atop his head, and then he got on his four combat boots. It’s not like anypony, let alone Rainbow Dash, was going to see him. It wasn’t anypony else’s business. The stallion took a long chug from the bottle. His heart still hurt.

He then stumbled out the door. Something caught his eye: the flag on his mailbox had been turned up. Curiously, Sunny opened the mailbox and magically retrieved a plain white envelope from it, dimly surrounding the thing with a pale yellow glow. He took it inside before opening it. He was surprised by who it was from. The handwriting was dainty like a mare’s, but the letters were all blocky and without much flow to them. The unicorn conjured up a light from the tip of his horn so as to better see what he was attempting to read.

“Dear Sunny Breeze,

How have you been? You’ve been taking good care of yourself, right? I hope you’re not drinking too much. I’ll be coming to visit you this weekend. We really do need to see each other more often and catch up on things. You’re still living in that flat, right? Anyway, try to clean the place up, or at least remember that you’re supposed to be offering hospitality this time. I do hope that you’ve gotten a better job. You know how I feel about your line of work. And if we go out this time, wear something nice instead of one of those hideous uniforms of yours. Buy something if you have to! If you have a marefriend, you’d better be doing that for her. Remember, I love you and can’t wait to see you again.

With Love,

Your Mother”

Sunny put the letter down on the table. He took another quick drink of whisky. It wasn’t that his mother visiting him was inherently a bad thing. Honestly, the two of them got along just fine. Rather, it was that she and him never really saw eye to eye on a number of things, especially when it came to his work. He loved her. He liked her. He just simply didn’t like dealing with her barging into his life. This upcoming weekend was not going to be fun. And now he would have to explain about Rainbow Dash. His mother always meant well, but he couldn’t be sure of her reaction. She hadn’t given him any definitive dates or times. There was no room to manoeuver or dodge her visit.

The stallion stumbled out the door. The weather outside was pristine, not that Sunny cared. He simply wanted to get out of town and forget his problems. That wasn’t too hard, as the small town was on the edges of some truly lovely scenery. Ponyville was surrounded by leafy trees, green hills, subalpine meadows, limpid streams, and clear skies. The streets were clear of ponies, most of whom were sleeping peacefully in their beds. Sunny trotted somewhat drunkenly down the street. His hooves rhythmically clipped and clopped on the hard paving stones of the main street down the center of town.

It was still more dark than light. The stallion quickened his pace so as to better appreciate the new day dawning before him. He did a quick run around town in order to make sure that the banks, as well as the kiosks, were closed. This was because no banking activity could take place on Sunday under penalty of law. It was with some small satisfaction that Sunny Breeze found them all vacated and securely locked. He couldn’t help but feel that it was a good thing. In his experience, giving ponies a lot of stressful work to do, but no time off or other means to blow off steam and defuse their stress, always lead to disaster. There was more to life than just working for money. Life had to be enjoyed while it was possible, which was something that he understood better than most.

The clopping sound of his hooves on the cobblestone paved roads presently was replaced with a gritty crunching noise as he turned onto the side streets and tiny lanes of Ponyville. Most of the roads were simple dirt and occasionally gravel paths. There certainly wasn’t even a single cul-de-sac paved in the newfangled asphalt or concrete. Those luxurious things characterized places such as Manehattan, Fillydelphia, and Hoofston; all of them being wealthy unicorn cities. No, Ponyville was a simple earth pony backwater town. Its inhabitants were real salt of the earth types. To be elegant, they were peasants. They never got any fancier than simple stonework without mortar, but most of it was entirely unpaved altogether. Why did they need to pave anything in the first place? Weather control could work with the farmers, the only ponies who so intimately depended upon them, to arrange dates and times for rains, which meant that even the heavy farm carts laden with goods wouldn’t get bogged down in the mire of flooded dirt roads. Even when mishaps did occur, the stout earth ponies could just overcome them with brute strength and be no worse for the wear.

Sunny presently felt the terrain beginning to rise as he passed through the outskirts of Ponyville. He saw Sweet Apple Acres off in the distance with its windows darkened. Not even the remarkable industrious Apple family worked Sundays. Given the stereotype, they were most likely sleeping and would be going to Sunday prayers in a few hours. About their faith, or lack thereof, Sunny knew not. It was unimportant. Rainbow Dash’s cloud house was also dark. No odd rainbow trails streaked through the sapphire sky. Good.

The stallion began to accelerate his trot into a jog. It didn’t matter how much he had to drink, he still needed to keep in shape. The scenery mutated into indistinct blurs to his left and right. He was handling the considerable dose of alcohol rather well. Perhaps he could go a little bit more quickly? Sunny accelerated into a proper run. His hooves pounded furiously into the dirt track. There had to be a cloud of dust floating in his wake. The blood flowed around his tingling body. It was hot and gushing furiously, like the quickening tempo of the beat in his chest. It was the beat which told Sunny Breeze that he was alive. His lungs felt a searing heat start to fester in them. In his drunken state, he remained detached from this. Instead, he pushed harder against his body in a battle to prove that he was still its master. He would make it do the impossible. It would complain that it was too hard and he would refuse to surrender. A living being needed to discharge its strength and exert its will. Without power over his own body, he would have power over nothing. That was the essence of death. What he was doing at that very moment was the essence of life.

Again, Sunny sped up. He was galloping now. Daybreak was almost upon him. A mad desire suddenly seized him: the desire to greet the new day from a vantage point. It would be cool to watch Celestia’s sun wash its brilliance over the valley. It would remind him of days long passed. The mountain trail was unforgiving. Roots, rocks, fallen trunks, dips, and other obstacles made the going treacherous. The stallion pressed on. It was a miracle that he was both making great time and avoiding hazards, while drunk no less. He burst into a clearing charred by dragon fire. Sunbeams bathed him in the warmth of dawn. He looked over to the east. He was nearly out of time, but not out of contention. There had to be at most five minutes left on the clock. That was just one more than enough if he hurried. Sunny ignored the rebellion from his scorching lungs and aching limbs, willing himself to go faster.

He was almost to the top. Just a little more and he’d succeed! He did not look at the path. Instead, his gaze was drawn by what appeared to be two pegasi silhouetted black against the rising run. He tried to focus in on them in order to determine their identities, but he could not focus properly on them. Sunny extended his front legs. The left hoof made solid contact with the ground. The right hoof slid against some loose stones. This would have been only a minor nuisance if he had been sober and paying attention, but a combination of his distraction and considerable intoxication conspired against him. Sunny’s hoof slid across the unexpectedly slippery surface. He tried to continue onto the next stride with his rear legs, but with one side already significantly lower than the other, he merely tumbled like an apple from a countertop. Sunny twisted his body as he had learned to do so, quickly coming uninjured to an undignified halt. It wasn’t painless, as he could tell in spite of the alcohol, but nothing was actually damaged.

Sunny checked first checked his body. It was all fine, although it showed the usual telltales signs of hard exertion and taking a tumble on a dirt and gravel path. He then gave his afghneighnka an examination. The dirt wasn’t too terrible visible against the khaki brown fabric. It wasn’t torn, which was a testament to its tough construction. Even all the various emblems were okay. Sunny let out a visible sigh of relief.

He didn’t bother getting up again. Instead, he drunkenly lay where he fell and watched the sunrise anyway. He had been too late to see the first rays of light drive back the darkness, but he could still appreciate the visible brightening of the landscape. The dull blues, greys, and blacks of the night were replaced with the vibrant greens, yellows, and browns. Sunny’s heart lifted at last. It soared with the sun. A smile spread across his face as a warm zephyr blew through his mane. This had to be paradise. Even the aches and pains in his body seemed to agree, fading away rapidly from his awareness as the astoundingly idyllic natural spectacle of nature unfolded before him. He savored a deep breath. In a maudlin happiness, Sunny Breeze shut his eyes. The warmth of a pure day in a serene vista effused him. The stallion fell asleep.

No dreams troubled him in his nap. He did not know how long he lay slumbering in the meadow, but it was very restful. He awoke later that morning feeling better than he had in years. He thanked Celestia that his head was perfectly clear of spirits in that moment. This was exactly like many fond memories he had from his past. All that was missing was a certain possession of his.

He did not endeavor to move from his bed of grass. He was content. He lazily followed the sun through its celestial arc. He watched animals and plants interact. A bumblebee casually strolled across his muzzle before taking off. He took flowers and grasses into his hooves and played with them.

It was not until late in the morning that Sunny was roused from his reverie. He distinctly heard the sound of hooves on the trail. Even more importantly, they were coming down from higher up. The stallion didn’t feel like dealing with other ponies, but was in a far better frame of mind now than when he normally had to interact with them. He briefly considered hiding. There was no reason to do so. Even his clothing would be excused out here; there was nothing unusual about ponies wearing such outfits outdoors, especially if they spent the night camping outside, or were trying to observe animals. He sat up properly instead of reclining, but did not turn to look at the approaching ponies from the right.

As they grew closer, Sunny could discern more about them. They sounded like a pair of some difference in size. The larger one was surely an adult. The smaller one was certainly not a foal, but the more frequent hoofsteps and their lower volume meant that they likely were not a full adult either. That alone almost made it worth seeing, for ponies had only a very short adolescent phase that lasted perhaps a couple years at most. Adolescents were quite rare in Ponyville. Sunny’s own adolescence had occurred somewhat later than usual. Those were not fond memories.

The ponies seemed to be talking casually and walking abreast of each other. Perhaps they wouldn’t notice the solitary stallion in the brush. More likely was that they’d see him but either ignore him or leave him alone. They came closer, but their exchange could not be understood, although their voices marked them both as mares, one of whom sounded vaguely familiar. They were almost on him now. Hopefully, they’d just most along and forget all about that strange stallion they’d seen. But that was not to be.

Suddenly, they both stopped. Not good. Sunny just sat there. The songs of birds filled the silence. Maybe they wouldn’t bother him. Then one unmistakably began speaking to him. “Fancy meeting you here, Sunny.”

He sighed and snapped around. He blushed and fought to calm his racing heart. Why did she of all ponies have to happen upon him? “I didn’t know you came here, Rainbow Dash.” The stallion stood up. The mare was with an adolescent pegasus filly he had never seen before. Her mane was purple and her coat was orange. He couldn’t tell whether or not she yet had a cutie mark. She was fairly thin and spindly, though somewhat taller and longer than him with wings that seemed just a tad too large for her body. “What’s with the getup?” snickered Rainbow.

His cheeks turned red. “It’s not your concern.” Sunny Breeze turned his attention to the pony standing next to Rainbow. She seemed to be regarding the proceedings absentmindedly. “Who are you?”

“I’m Scootaloo- Rainbow Dash’s number one fan! How do you know Rainbow Dash? Are you another one of her conquests?” A cyan leg stopped the deluge.

“Yeeah… she can be a bit chatty,” explained Rainbow. “We’re on a way back to town, Sunny. Wanna tag along?”

Sunny did not hesitate. “Sure thing, Rainbow. Just give me a moment.” He yawned and stretched, momentarily forgetting that he was also giving his newfound companions an eyeful of the very visible distinctive green and white stripes of his telnyashka. A few seconds later, Sunny had joined the duo. He walked on the left side of the group, slightly behind the other two. Scootaloo was in the middle and Rainbow Dash was on the far side. He didn’t feel very talkative, but that was okay, as the other two seemed content to simply talk among themselves. It also meant that he wouldn’t have to answer quite so many awkward questions or give either of them too many opportunities to scrutinize his peculiar garb. Even more importantly, he had to think of why the filly was so devoted to Rainbow Dash and why she had asked if he were one of the mare’s conquests.

The stallion glanced back at Scootaloo’s flank. She definitely did not have her cutie mark yet. He had checked the other side when he fell in behind the group. That begged the question of her age. However, it was against his usual maxims to socialize while wearing a uniform. Sunny could tell from her voice and mannerisms that she had to be rather young. Mature ponies didn’t have that twinkle in their eyes; the one that fixed itself upon a mentor figure. To the owner of such eyes, that pony was perfect, omnipotent- infallible. Why would a filly fix her adoration upon one such as Rainbow Dash? The mare didn’t seem to be all that nurturing or motherly. Sunny’s own adolescence idol hadn’t exactly been tenderness personified, but had made sense given the circumstances.

Scootaloo suddenly turned on Sunny. “I didn’t quite catch your name. What’s it again?” She inquired.

“I’m Sunny Breeze. You’re Scootaloo, right?”

She nodded. “Totally.” She seemed slightly nervous. “I’m sorry for talking at you like that back there. I got a little carried away.”

Sunny smiled knowingly at her. “It’s okay. I remember what it was like to be a colt.”

“You still are a colt,” shot back Scootaloo. Sunny breeze was liking her more by the second.

“It wasn’t that long ago that you would’ve been right. Say, how old are you anyway?”

Scootaloo shuffled a bit uncomfortably and broke eye contact for a moment. “I’m twelve.”

Rainbow cut in and not very discretely whispered, “You’re supposed to say that a lady never reveals her age.”

“But you’re not a lady and you won’t say exactly what yours is,” teased Scootaloo in return. “Maybe you’re not as young as you want me to think.” They both giggled.

Sunny restarted the conversation. “Twelve isn’t too bad of an age to be. You’ve got a lot to look forward to over the next couple years.” Sunny caught himself wondering for what reason he was talking like those guidance counselors back in school.

“They say that nothing’s going to be more important than what we’re doing right now.”

Sunny Breeze gave Scootaloo a knowing look. “That’s what they say to everypony. The truth is that your age is not even remotely as critical a period as they say. It’s still important, seeing as you’ll be graduating before too long. From there, you can go on to higher education, get a job, and all that stuff. Don’t worry too much about it; you’ll know the right path as it opens to you.”

“Tell me about it,” huffed the filly. “I’m still the only one in my class who doesn’t have their cutie mark.”

“I know what that’s like.” Sunny saw Scootaloo’s eyes light up and her wings ruffle.

“Really?” They entered into a shady section where the leaves overhead created dappled patterns of light and shadow.

“Yes, really. I was the last in my class to get my cutie mark. Hell, I didn’t even get it until I started working. It-” Sunny stopped himself before he let something slip. They got the implications.

Rainbow Dash came back into the conversation. “By the way, Sunny, where exactly did you go to school?” The stallion was relieved. This question wasn’t dangerous.

“I went to Baltimare Public Central School. It wasn’t a Destrier Academy, but it did the job.”

Scootaloo inquired, “You’re from Baltimare?” Sunny knew already what she was thinking.

“Yeah, I’m a Baltimare stallion. Before you ask, no, I’m not a gangster. I left to get away from all that stuff.”

“Since you didn’t have your cutie mark when you left, did you graduate early?”

This was bad. Sunny had to steer away from dangerous subjects before things got really awkward. “Negative, Scootaloo.” He paused for a moment, looking around the hill they were walking down. “I graduated with my eighth grade class like everypony else. I was just both youngest and the smallest one in my class when I graduated; I was just thirteen at the time.” The other ponies exchanged looks.

“Anyway, Rainbow, where did you go to school?”

“Upper Cloudsdale,” she beamed with pride.

Scootaloo interjected, “I thought you went to school in Ponyville.”

“Nah, Squirt. I’m a Cloudsdale pegasus- born and raised. I didn’t come to Ponyville until I got out of weather school.” Sunny Breeze noted that Rainbow Dash was definitely some years older than him. It only cast doubt on her and him. Dating younger stallions did happen, but it wasn’t common, and they were invariably only younger by a year or two. Weather college took a solid six years to complete, but her wording had been peculiar…

Sunny turned the question on Scootaloo. “Where do you go to school, Scootaloo?”

“At Miss Cheerilee’s school house. It’s the only one in Ponyville.”

“Is there anything you’re thinking of doing once you graduate?”

“I want to be in the Wonderbolts!” That impossibly innocent twinkle returned to her eyes as she looked at Rainbow Dash. The mare frowned slightly. Sunny spared them from an awkward silence.

“It’s good to have dreams. They give you hope. However, do you have any backup plans?”

She scratched her head. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I think maybe I could be a mailmare.” Rainbow watched the conversation between Scootaloo and Sunny. He seemed to be assuming a sort of big brother mentor role for her. It really was as if he was older than her, but not so much older as to be incapable of relating to her. Two thoughts occurred to her simultaneously. Scootaloo was painfully ignorant about the truths of becoming a Wonderbolt. Sunny Breeze was very young. Presently, they reached the bottom of the hill and once more were at the outskirts of Ponyville. It was probably only midafternoon at the latest, but the conversations were growing short and awkward. It was at this point that Sunny tried to make one last saving throw.

“Can I offer either of you two lunch?”

Scootaloo turned him down immediately. “Sorry, but I have to study. We’ll hang out later, right?”

“Sure thing- I’ll see you around sometime.”

“Later,” said the pegasus to her fellows, suddenly launching into the sky and unleashing a startlingly massive wingspan. Her folded wings had seemed somewhat larger than what her body size ought to suggest, but Sunny was taken aback by the sheer volume of her outstretched span. They were big, long, and very feathery; they were absolutely certainly the largest set he had ever seen in person. They probably were great for soaring and raw power, but he didn’t fancy them being too terribly maneuverable or speedy. Sunny Breeze turned to Rainbow Dash. In her eyes were mixed emotions. One of them was unmistakably pride. The trouble was that he couldn’t precisely determine the identities of the others, or even accurately attempt to gauge their number. Her expression was unreadable. There was certainly some sadness to it. The stallion was familiar with that part from his own personal experiences. It had been one he’d seen too many times to count. What else was in that look? Was there longing? Was there envy? Was there contempt? Was there pity? Was there confusion? Was there uncertainly? Perhaps he read far too much into these things. Not every question should be answered. Rainbow Dash turned to him, catching him staring. He blushed furiously and turned away.

“Hahahaha! You’re so easily embarrassed, Sunny! The look on your face is priceless.”

He weakly tried to save face. “I aim to please.” They started walking into town. “So, what do you say?”

“I can’t- not today, Sunny.” He surprised himself with his reaction.

“Why not?” The look on his face said it all.

Rainbow didn’t get angry or back away from him. “I’ve got dinner with Lightning Dust.” Sunny gave an involuntary shudder and an almost audible growl. She seemed to sense his dissatisfaction. It was too extreme for his character when faced with a simple refusal. “But I’m good for lunch on Tuesday. How about you?”

“What time? I can do any time after I get off from work at two.”

“That actually… works pretty well for me. So I’ll see you at Percival’s at half past two. Deal?”

“Deal!” Sunny shot back with more enthusiasm than intended.

“You one hundred percent sure you’ll make it? First rule of dating me is always keep your promises.”

“I promise, Rainbow, that I’ll make it.”

“Good.”

His excitement waned as they continued walking together and they came upon another awkward silence. Rainbow Dash wanted to ask him something. That was the only logical explanation for why she was walking instead of flying. They weren’t too far from a certain shop, so Sunny figured that he could find one last thing to do with her and possibly encourage her to organically pop the question. He motioned for her to follow him.

“Dashie! Sunny!” Pinkie Pie exploded at the pair as they walked into Sugarcube Corner.

“Hi, Pinkie,” they replied simultaneously.

The pink pony was bouncing more animatedly than usual at the sight of two of her friends visiting her together. “What can I get you-”

Rainbow cut her off. “Two shakes. The usual for me and….” She turned to Sunny. “What do you want?”

“Anything; I’m not picky whatsoever.”

“And a Pink Fruity for him.” Sunny Breeze gaped like a fish. Rainbow Dash laughed.

“You troll, I’ll get you one of these days!” he finally breathed out as they sat down at a table.

“Gimme your best shot.” Silence reigned again. Pinkie brought out the drinks with her typical discretion and grace, causing Sunny to turn red again as she shouted out his name, what his drink was, and then made a big show of handing to him.

The pair sipped quietly for several minutes. The tension was getting unbearable for Sunny. Rainbow’s eyes never left him. She was hardly admiring his body, so there was something else she was scrutinizing. “So, dare I ask what’s on your mind?”

Rainbow Dash took a particularly long drag on her shake. “It’s that uniform.”

Sunny Breeze had a bad feeling about this. Nevertheless, he walked right into the trap. “What about it?”

There was no levity in Rainbow’s reply. “Second rule of dating me: always be honest. You can say that you don’t want to talk about it- and that’s cool, but never lie to me.” Her eyes narrowed. She looked at him expectantly, all the while continuing to drain her shake.

“Got it.” He was getting more anxious by the minute.

“Good. Where did you get it?” At least the mare was direct.

Sunny silently wondered how to respond. He could either tell Rainbow Dash the truth, or he could refuse to tell her. Refusal would be effectively tantamount to confession. He couldn’t get creative with the truth either. “I got it abroad.” There was no humor in her eyes, so he gave no more than necessary to satisfy.

“And what about that striped green shirt? Where’d you get it and what’s it called?”

He answered her truthfully, “I got it in Zebricy. It’s called a telnyashka.” This was tenuous footing. Rainbow might have been trying to sweat him, but Sunny was no stranger to much higher pressure situations. He could take her.

“Tell me, Sunny, what did you do to get it? Have you ever been in the army?”

The conundrum was pretty nasty; what he did wasn’t military work, but he doubted that she would get the difference or care. Discovering the truth would be even worse. He began, “I was gifted it by a Zebra I knew.” He stopped to consider his options. None were good. “I’m not saying any more.”

“One last thing: what do all those patches and stuff on your jacket mean?”

“I’m not giving you specifics.” Sunny first pointed to his upper left sleeve. “That’s the unit.” He pointed to the patch on his lower left sleeve. “That’s the group.” He pointed to his left breast. “That’s the blood type.” He pointed to his right breast. “That’s the national service.” He pointed to his lower right sleeve. “That’s the branch.” He pointed to his upper right sleeve. “That’s the insignia.” He pointed to his shoulders. “Those are the rank.” He pointed to his collar. “Those are the identification.”

The atmosphere tangibly lightened. Rainbow Dash merely said, “You really know your stuff, Sunny.” Her joking tone was back.

“It’s something I care about,” countered Sunny. That was unambiguously true enough. He caught his date eyeing him with a certain degree of suspicion. “Everypony needs a hobby. Besides, aren’t you Wonderbolts technically part of the Equestrian military?”

Rainbow looked a bit sheepish. “Yeah, technically we’re part of the air supremacy combat wing of the Royal Equestrian Flying Corps. However, we’re really not all that military. You don’t have to be in the service to join. We could supposedly be used just like any other fighter squadron, but that just ain’t happening.”

“Wasn’t there an incident some years ago where you guys got called upon to deal with a rampaging dragon?”

“That wasn’t me, but I get your point.” The pegasus finished her milkshake with several sharp sucks before banging it on the table triumphantly. “Aww yeah, first!”

Sunny’s eyes widened. “You mean to say that you just interrogated me because you wanted to beat me at a milkshake drinking contest?” He shook his head and looked down at his glass was half full. He started chugging.

“Hey, you gotta be quick to keep up with- ahh! Brain freeze!”

Just then, the unicorn finished his. He lectured in a mock posh voice, “That’s what you get for rapidly quaffing large quantities of frozen treats.” She was about to deliver a rebuttal when he too clasped his hoof to his forehead. “You’re impossible!” They laughed together. When they recovered enough to leave, they did. Sunny Breeze started walking to his place. He didn’t have anything left to do that day. To his surprise, Rainbow Dash followed him.

“Is there anything else you’d like to discuss with me?” She was looking at him oddly. He knew that there was a term for this, but didn’t have the foggiest clue what it was or what she was trying to imply to him. It did seem vaguely familiar on some level. He’d never seen this look applied to him before. Her eyes were partially lidded yet focused totally on him and contained no hint of tiredness. She seemed to be trying to adopt some sort of pose that showed off some of her most exquisite assets.

He was about to turn her down when a thought suddenly occurred to him. “How much do you know about language construction?” Rainbow facehoofed. Totally worth it.

“Nothing at all. It’s not my thing. I’ll see you later.”

“Later.” And with that, she was gone.

Sunny Breeze walked home in silence. He spent the rest of the day thinking about what he was going to do about his mother and about Rainbow Dash, particularly the latter. What did Scootaloo mean when she had referred to him as a conquest? Why was she so interested in him? Why was she on a date with Lightning Dust? His personal distaste for the teal mare aside, it seemed as if he were being played as part of some ineffable game. Even more importantly, why did he feel a sense of abandonment and betrayal when she had told him that? He was admittedly growing quite fond of Rainbow Dash, but just couldn’t possibly be feeling those sorts of emotions towards her. Why had she questioned him at Sugarcube Corner? Try as she did to pass it off as a ruse, Rainbow was still far too transparent for Sunny to be taken in. Did she know about what he did? Did she suspect anything? How would she react to learning the truth? How did she feel about him? What was the meaning behind her display just before she had left? Surely it couldn’t be what he suspected it was. Had she really just tried to seduce him?

These questions drove him to drink and surely enough, alcohol did quiet his brain’s demand for answers. The stallion did some more language creation work throughout the afternoon and early evening. He undressed and bathed himself before turning in early for the night. Overall, the day had been pretty good, but this was tempered by the knowledge that he would be back at work again tomorrow. With that done, Sunny Breeze fell asleep.

Noon

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Chapter 5: Noon
__________
Morning was kind to Sunny Breeze, although not much better than usual. It was not yet light when he rose to greet the new day, now in a better mood than usual, singing to himself.“Morgen, Mond! War letzte Nacht schöne? Morgen, Sonne! Würdest du nicht mir glänzen? Los bleiben lang heute. Sowieso, ist es gut sehen dich!” He showered. When he got out, he inspected himself in the mirror. Every part of his was good to go. His eyes were drawn down to his cutie mark- his shame. A rifle cartridge was emblazoned on his flank. It never let him forget who he was or what he did. It would forever stigmatize him to others.

He quickly got dressed and armed. On the way out, he took a few swigs from the whisky bottle before turning to the framed picture of the four stallions. He tapped it thrice and said “Ich lasse”, stepping out the door. He had to be quick and stealthy in order to get to the bank unnoticed. His shift technically didn’t start for a few hours, but there was no way he would dare walking down there in broad daylight. While the heckling normally might not have been quite as bad as it was on Saturday, it would still be bad, and aside from the face that he would have to deal with ponies trying to figure out where he lived. He’s to relocate if the secret got out.

The sneaking itself wasn’t all that difficult for the cream-coated stallion. Sure, he was a bit louder and clumsier than usual, but nopony was awake to observe him. He had just managed to slip into the bushes when suddenly , several shapes dove from the sky, streaking straight for him! Sunny remained motionless, not even daring to breathe. They suddenly pulled up and revealed rainbow, lightning, sunburst, and thundercloud contrails. They seemed to be either racing very intensely or trying to knock each other out of the sky. Even though Sunny had an idea what it might have been about, he decided to slip away before the commotion reached him.

The current phase of the journey was the most risky one. Thanks to fire and building codes, Sunny’s apartment complex was located on a knoll somewhat distant from the rest of the town. The only road leading to it a gravel path raised above the fields on both sides. There were somewhat more than a solid hundred meters of open ground to cover before he would be safe in the confines of Ponyville’s narrow back streets. There was no way to sneak across in blind daylight; anypony who wasn’t blind could see him as a black shape moving among amber waves of grain. The solid black of his uniform offered some concealment at night. He really ought to try learning a concealment spell, but his upbringing had not allowed for much in the way of magical education.

The first rays of light began to creep over the horizon as Sunny got into position along the darker slope of the embankment flanking the path. With practiced deliberateness and stealth, he crawled on his elbows and knees through the thick tall grasses at the bottom of the embankment. He strained his senses for any sign of motion or sound, dreading detection and the fallout that would come with it. It took him several minutes to make it across the field and then melt into the shadows of the streets.

The main road between the bank and the apartment complex was a relatively spacious boulevard with little that could be used as cover. Even worse was the fact that it primarily ran along an east-west course, which would mean that it would be flooded with sunlight before a pony could make the half hour walk to the bank on the far end of town. While being discovered here would probably not result in him being exposed, it still was not worth the trouble.

This was why Sunny Breeze had adopted a peculiar twist to his daily commute. The stallion approached a street corner before he paused to confirm that he was alone. Nothing moved on the ground. Sunny looked up. The skies were not clear. He observed patiently as Derpy made her rounds delivering the post. She waved to him and he waved back. The sky was clear of contrails and other fliers, so Sunny seized the opportunity to unsling the rifle from his back. He made a quick break across the street, aiming himself at one of the numerous storm drain entrances and dove for the opening, twisting his body to just exactly fit through the gap. Now that he was inside, he returned the FAL to its place and marched onwards towards his objective, singing the whole way.

The utility infrastructure was very familiar territory to Sunny, who let his eyes adjust to the darkness. The channel for water was in the middle of the tunnel, flanked by two narrow walkways underneath a low-hanging vaulted arch ceiling. While the storm drain tunnels themselves were particularly spacious, for even a stallion the size of Big Macintosh could traverse a significant proportion of the largest mains without trouble but a little claustrophobia, although many of the service tunnels, maintenance accesses, and secondary passages were too small for larger ponies. His destination could certainly be reached through the main tunnels, but the topography of Ponyville meant that his route would be very circuitous, as the town was primarily constructed upon three hills. The storm drains seldom mixed until they reached the river into which they emptied, which was some miles away. Rather than add hours to his journey, Sunny opted to cut through the warrens of tight subterranean auxiliary passages and the odd natural cave. These made him thankful for his small size and compact build. It was actually quicker for him to travel this way than on the surface. Nevertheless, they did bring him to his final destination.

When he arrived at the bank, it was a golden morning with not a cloud in the sky. With a final heave, Sunny Breeze hauled himself out of the storm drain and brushed himself off. “Guten Morgen. I was wondering when you’d show up, Telny,” a voice joked at him. “Just ten more minutes and I’d have started composing your eulogy.” He turned to face the speaker, who was holding a G3 rifle.

“Schlechten Morgen," replied Sunny, twisting the typical Zebrische greeting. I’m sure it would’ve been awful enough to return me from the Well of Souls, Keffiyeh.” They brohoofed and took their places flanking the one gap in the bank’s curtain wall of tall holly bushes. They both stood on their hind legs. This pose made them seem larger and therefore more intimidating, in addition to giving them a significant boost to the scope of their situational awareness. It was an acquired skill. “So, how was your weekend?”

The other stallion snorted. “The usual, except for filling in at my sister’s noodle stand.”

“How did that go?” The answer would have to wait, for the first of the employees began to arrive then. And so they stood as living statues- black vultures promising violence. As expected, the first one to arrive was the manager, a silvering calico mare with thick horn-rimmed glasses. She pulled out her identification card and displayed it to the guards. All was in order, so they saluted and let her pass. It took her a few seconds to unlock the door and take Haye “Keffiyeh” Bailer inside with her to open up the vault, leaving Sunny all alone. He stepped in front of the door.

A couple early birds soon arrived. Sunny recognized them as Caramel and Sassaflash, who always seemed to either arrive together or in close succession. They only knew him by a nickname. “Yo, Stripes!” called out Sassaflash, raising a hoof with her ID plainly visible.

“Morning, Sassaflash,” shot back Sunny, using a coarse Griffon accent to disguise his true voice. The mare stopped when she noticed that he was standing alone directly in front of the door and that the second guard was not present. Caramel, on the other hoof, trotted headlong into Sunny. He let out what sounded like a muffled apology before backing up several feet and presenting an ID card. “You know that I can’t let you in if it’s just me here, Caramel.” The guard tapped twice on his FAL deliberately and pawed at the dirt.

“Sorry, I forgot again,” answered Caramel, nervously kicking his front hoof in the air.

“I will not likely shoot you, but perhaps some other guard might, not knowing your forgetful ways and being a jumpy new colt… You understand me, no?

“Y-yeah.” Caramel gulped. Sassaflash brushed against his shoulder, stopping his trembling and restoring his smile. An awkward silence ensued for a few minutes until Haye returned and let the couple be on their way.

Haye picked up their conversation at almost the exact point where they had been interrupted. “Harder than you’d think. I mean, it’s harder than you’d think to run a noodle stand. Still, it wasn’t all that bad. I did get Honeycomb to help out with the evening shift.”

“She’s that fine one with the pink and blue mane from the Crystal Empire, right?”

“Yup, that’s her. I brought her back to my place afterwards.”

Sunny gave a bit of an exasperated sigh. “Just exactly how many mares are you seeing now? And don't you have a wife?” Haye chuckled and nodded as if amused and took a sudden interest in the rear rotary diopter sight setting on his G3 rifle.

“Yeah, I don’t have all that many, actually. Klee's my wife, I told you all about how we met in Neighdersachsen, Zebricy. Then I've got three regular fillyfriends and five bed friends. Honeycomb’s one of the former.” He saw the incredulous stare Sunny was giving him. “Ain’t gender imbalance great?”

To this, Sunny replied, “Not as great as you’d think if you could never enjoy it… I don’t get it. How do you get that much? How does one even handle that many mares?” Genders in Equestria had always been noticeably skewed in favor of females. Polyamory was a very widespread and accepted practice in a land where mares seemed to outnumber stallions no less than a dozen to one. Most colts had more than one filly at a time, even if their girls weren’t privy to each other’s’ identities. Some degree of infidelity was expected. It was the wholly monogamous couples like the Cakes that were considered the odd exceptions.

“You don’t give yourself enough credit, Telny,” said Haye. “I saw you with both Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash at the festival. Not bad, bro.” Sunny almost dropped his FAL.

“W-wait!? How did you know that? I-I-I mean, Pinkie just happened to show up. Rainbow Dash found us and we just hung out the rest of the day.”

“Chill, bro. You did good. Hell, in my personal opinion, Rainbow Dash is a good piece of ass.”

Sunny groaned, “But we aren’t together like that!” As if to punctuate his indignation, they heard a large pile of cans being dropped into a bin and a stallion with a country accent swearing something fierce over the ruckus.

Haye laughed, “Sure as hell looks like it.” Keffiyeh stopped for a moment, giving an exaggerated check of the area before whispering loudly. “I bet she’d do it with you.” The other stallion just stammered. “You totally need to get laid. C’mon, it’s time that you finally did something about being a cherry. You do want to, right?”

Sunny shrugged. “Are you ever going to come off it?”

“Nope- not until you’re a real stallion. I’ll make sure you do it, even if I have to drag out to the red light district myself.”

Sunny grimaced. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Remember Klopdahar?”

Keffiyeh stopped manically grinning. “I sure do. But hey, you’re older now and you’re not hiding from the sound of popcorn.”

The other stallion looked him dead in the eye and said without any trace of humor or levity, “Drop it or I’ll drop you.” He turned away. Keffiyeh knew that this was time to stop teasing his friend.

“Look, I’m sorry, bro,” apologized Keffiyeh. “It was right after you got back from Hill 20 and-” He just stopped.

“Yeah, I know- just trying to make conversation and all that.” Sunny sighed wearily. “You’re probably right as always. Just do me a favor, okay?”

“What is it?”

“No hookers, no obligations, and for the love of Celestia, let her be gentle.”

A mischievous glint shone in Haye’s eye. “I get it. You’ve got the hots for Fluttershy!” Sunny cracked a small grin.

This whole thing was like a game of theirs, a way of filling the long, dull hours on duty. At other times, they’d talk about other things. Naturally, mares were a frequent subject,; considering the notable surplus of females in Ponyville being one of the highest to scale of any city in Equestria, and also because they were both stallions in their prime. The next time they would be together, it’d be Sunny’s turn to try to make Haye squirm.

The rest of the morning passed them by with its customary slowness. The rest of the employees at the bank filtered in over the course of the next hour. Then they had to stand around for another agonizingly dull hour waiting for when the bank would open to customers. To pass the time, they talked, told dirty jokes, and would try to point out anything that might be good for a laugh. One of their favorite pastimes was to discretely mock anything and anypony that wandered across their field of vision. This exercise was not only fun, but also kept them sharp at searching for trouble and made them pay extra close attention to their surroundings. These things continued for hours, but they always returned to their stern aspect whenever other ponies drew near. Sunny found it difficult to concentrate on his shift, so filled was he with the prospect of meeting Rainbow Dash. This he did not confide in his friend, for he feared that he’d never hear the end of it.

At the midway point of their shift, the manager came out to speak with them. They gave the customary salute. Both of them had an idea as to what it was about before the words ever left her mouth.

“Gentlecolts,” began the mare. They both knew exactly what she was going to say. “Next weekend is when we will have the van to make the run down to Hollow Shades. As usual, the company requires that we send out one guard to ride with the van. This will be a routine trip. Escort the money down there and get everything back here safe and sound. If you’re interested, come to my office before this weekend and let me know.” She huffed a bit. “Don’t make me pick a victim.” Having said that, she stepped back inside the bank. The stallions looked at each other.

Haye spoke first. “You want me to do it, bro?”

“Nah. You did it last month. Besides, I don’t have anything else to do. Also, Keffiyeh, it’s not like there’s anypony else for the job. You already know what Goggles is like. I don’t know what to make of Shades, but he is most certainly not a pencil pusher. We could make him do it. He's been here for a while.

Haye rested his head on his hoof thoughtfully. “I agree. It’s just the four of us guys that make up the Ponyville outfit. Based on what you’ve told me, Goggles sounds completely inept. And as for Shades, well, I’m not officially supposed to tell you this, but he’s the kind of pony that legal department loves.” Sunny’s eyes dilated as he came to the realization that had eluded him for many months.

“So he's former guard or somethin? Eclipse?"

"Try Antumbra." Sunny snapped to attention. "Eclipse is just a legend." Sunny shrugged helplessly.

"That explains a lot. I’ve had a hard time figuring him out. He seemed too clean cut to be another contractor, but too slick to be just your average colt.” His tone did not match his contemplative words.

The other stallion nodded. “And he doesn’t drink.”

“Really? No way.” He seriously is one hundred percent temperate?” Haye nodded again. “Well, that makes me trust him even less. If a stallion never lets himself be tempted, then who knows what kind of schemes he’s trying to bring to fruition? I never met an honest stallion that didn’t drink.”

“That too,” replied Haye. Sunny yawned and stretched. He was feeling uncomfortably warm in his black uniform, especially now that the sun was beating down directly upon them and the somewhat sheltered guard post meant that the air was stiflingly still. The early spring also brought the curse of thick clouds of pollen. It didn’t affect Sunny, but never failed to make Haye miserable. He sniffled and sneezed.

"Well, in any case, I can't say that I know too much about how he is as a fighter. He uses an FN SCAR-L chambered in 5.56x45, or 223 Remmington for whatever that's worth. At least he's highly professional. They sure are paying him royally."

"That's what I'd figured, too. I've never seen him use his, although if what you're saying is true, then I bet he's here because of PR. After all, our outfit has a pretty bloodthirsy reputation." They grinned at each other.

"It's not an undeserved one. We've got a mercenary and a legionnaire in our outfit."

"That too. So, you gonna take this one, or is he doin' it?"

Sunny turned to Haye and answered, “Let's have him sign up for the trip then' we always get stuck doing it. You did the last one after all, and I don't need the money for anything important."

“Just for ammo and liquor.” They both laughed. Surely enough, when the shift had ended, Sunny waited around a few minutes for is replacement to arrive before calling it a day, much to his chagrin and aggitation. After a good fifteen minutes, Goggles finally showed up with his Sterling. He seemed to be in an unusually good mood.

Sunny decided to rib him. “Did Rarity need you for something?” He didn’t know if Rarity was involved, but given her popularity with stallions, it was always a fair guess. This particular guess hit the nail on the head.

“As a matter of fact, she did,” declared Goggles from behind his lenses.

“Well?” Keffiyeh demanded. “What for?”

“Repairing her sewing machine, thank you very much.” He obviously did not understand the game.

Telny put on his best campy voice. “So, um, did she pay you in lace or in makeup for fixing her gizmo?” This almost sent Keffiyeh to the ground in stitches. Goggles seemed to twitch a tiny amount at that last word.

Goggles was not taken aback. He continued to speak with his rather distinctive nasal twill. “Actually, miss Rarity repaid yours truly with fellatio.” His voice became almost flamboyantly overdramatic as he neared the end of the sentence.

“Good for you,” shot back Keffiyeh. He sent Telny a look which said ‘trust me -- take his word for it.’

Telny turned back to Goggles and spoke with him in a very matter of fact manner with just a hint of growl to it, “It’s just ribbing. Everypony gets it. Now, if your schedule tells you to be here at fourteen-hundred, you’d better be here at fourteen-hundred sharp; you’re a full twenty minutes late for relieving me of my post! Whether or not that thing with Rarity is actually true, that’s either one great reason to be late, or a gutsy excuse. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got an appointment which you’ve just made me late for. Keffiyeh’s the boss here. Consider yourself lucky that I’m giving you this talk myself instead of throwing you to him. Now good day, Goggles. I expect better in the future, or else…” And so Telny walked away into the bank. He found Shades at his post standing like a gargoyle and his short-barreled SCAR hanging completely undisturbed. Affixed to it were an Aimpoint reflex sight, a vertical foregrip, a laser pointer, and a Surefire weapon light. Unfazed by the gun porn, Sunny strode up to the pony, who rivaled Big Macintosh in size.

Shades must've seen his out the corner of his eye, for he pivoted his head with almsot mechanical precision and looked down at the smaller pony. "What is it, Telny?"

Telny straned his neck to look him in the eye. "We need a guard to go to Hollow Shades, and Keffiyeh wants you to go." He cricked his neck.

The other stallion nodded. "Copy that," he responded, tapping his hoof.

"Speak with the manager," added Sunny as he turned to leave.

Sunny Breeze hurried back to his apartment posthaste. He tore off his work uniform and threw on some inconspicuous business casual clothes. He then took a big stiff drink from the whiskey bottle and sprinted out the door. Luckily for him, Percival’s wasn’t too far away. It was a ten minute brisk walk to the west. Sunny arrived at the outdoor café not too late after their initially agreed-upon meeting time, although slightly drunk. Rainbow Dash was waiting for him at a table, scraping the ground with her hoof.

She waved him over. “You’re late. I was wondering when you’d get here.”

“A stallion is never late, nor is he early. He arrives exactly when he intends to.”

“Do what works for you, but this pony needs her food and she needs it now.” A few seconds later, they were interrupted by a waitress bringing a big plate full of garden salad.

Sunny looked at it. “I take it that you’re pretty hungry. Are you going to need help with that?”

“Nah,” replied Rainbow, seizing her utensils and digging in like a diamond dog.

The stallion turned to the waitress, who thankfully had stayed put. “Will you be having anything, sir?” He got a good look at her. She was cute unicorn mare with a peach coat and an aquamarine mane.

Sunny had been to Percival’s a few times, so he knew a few items off the top of his head. “I’ll have the falafel roll- what’s your name, please?”

“Faraday.”

“Alright then, Faraday, I’d like the falafel roll, please, would you kindly.”

Faraday smiled a bit and nodded. “Certainly, sir. Would you like anything to drink?”

“Just some Dunkelbier, than you,” answered Sunny. Rainbow snorted.

“Yes, sir. Will there be anything else?” Both the diners shook their heads, so off she went.

Sunny Breeze turned back to Rainbow Dash. “Sorry I’m late,” he said. “Work got in the way.”

Rainbow looked up at him with a mouthful of greens. “S’kay. ‘Appns me, too.” And then she returned to her meal with a vengeance. Sunny let her eat undisturbed. It didn’t even take a full minute for the beer to arrive. A great swig was immediately inhaled down his throat. The mare’s mouth was clear. “You drunk,” she teased, taking her coffee mug into her hooves and downing several piping hot mouthfuls. How did she not get burnt?

“Go home, Dashie, you are didactic.” The cream-coloured stallion proffered a hoof. “I’ll walk you home.”

A grin crossed the mare’s face. “Buy me a drink tonight and I’ll consider it.” Her demeanor changed, becoming huskier and more intimate. She put a hoof on his upper foreleg. “Of course, if you ask nicely, then maybe I’ll overlook the fact that it’s a little early…” He blushed. She laughed briefly, but when it stopped, she had a surprisingly predatory expression on her face. Sunny was saved from certain temptation by the return of Tom with the falafel roll. He made a mental note to give Faraday a big tip.

Sunny Breeze got started on trying to make slightly less perilous conversation with Rainbow Dash. “Anyway, what’s up with you, Rainbow? How was dinner with Lightning Dust?” He almost spat out the name like a venomous spider. She looked pleased to have a chance to discuss her favorite subject.

“Fine, thank you. The rest of the evening was pretty fun. Just the usual stuff. We’re training for the next show. It’s going to be in Fillydephia next month.”

“Sounds interesting. Tell me more.”

“We’re going to be welcoming dignitaries from Zebricy.”

Sunny snapped to attention. “Really?” Zebra dignitaries are visiting Fillydelphia?” His speech was just ever so slightly faster than normal. He could hear the telltale notes within it, but Rainbow Dash didn’t seem to notice them.

“Mmmhmmm,” hummed Rainbow. “It’s the first stop of a tour of Equestria. They’re going to stop in Ponyville to meet yours truly.”

He sounded panicky. “W-wait? They’re coming to Ponyville? Why Ponyville?” He then inhaled the remainder of his victuals before sucking down a full two thirds of his beer in the blink of an eye. Some of it spilled from his muzzle and spotted his shirt. He then looked around for Faraday. He caught her eye and called her over. “A big one, please- same type.” The waitsmare replied with her usual courtesy.

Rainbow answered his question. “Of course they’re coming here. We’re only THE living embodiments of the Elements of Harmony. Besides, it was Zecora’s idea. We were originally going to meet them when they arrived in Meymaneh. Faraday brought a full quart of beer to the stallion.

“Thanks a ton.” The perspiration on his body stuck to the cool glass. He drank deeply. “Who’s Zecora?” Sunny inquired, placing his glass back on the table. In his tremulous grip, it clinked slightly against the ceramic coaster.

“She’s this Zebra friend I have. She lives in the Everfree Forest. Sounds crazy, right?”

“Yeah,” breathed Sunny in a struggle to remain composed. “Completely and utterly cracked.” Sunny didn’t hear too much of what Rainbow Dash said next.

The mare went off on a tangent about how they had first met Zecora. He resisted the drunken impulse to blurt out that Zecora had most likely not been trying to communicate annoyance when she had been kneading the ground with her hooves. He heard something about somepony named “Flutterguy”, but thought better of it than to ask. Rainbow was delivering a monolog. There was no need to do naught but nod, hum, and listen. Ponies had always said that they appreciated how he could let them go on about whatever was on their minds, and he didn’t mind doing this. It was certainly easier and safer to do this than it was to carry on a conversation. He distinctly recalled Rainbow talking about the inside of Zecora’s hut with all of its strange sights and smells. This Zecora, he figured, was most likely some sort of shaman if Rainbow’s intel was to be believed. “Zebras don’t have cutie marks!” He blurted this out before he could stop himself.

Rainbow cocked an eyebrow. “Huh?”

It couldn’t hurt to interrupt her even more. “I said that zebras don’t get cutie marks. They get tribal tattoos sometimes on their flanks, but they don’t have anything like cutie marks. A lot of them have blank flanks throughout their entire lives.”

Rainbow Dash gave a rare contemplative look. Something shifted in her eyes. It was as if perhaps she had suddenly found a solution to a problem she had long given up on solving. “Thanks, Sunny. I didn’t know that.”

“You’re welcome. Say, what kind of tattoo does Zecora have?”

“It’s sorta like a sun… kinda.”

Sunny's eyes narrowed. “When did she arrive in town?” He demanded with a distinct steeliness in his voce.

“Several years ago. I think it was maybe like four or eight. I can’t remember; she travels a lot.” Rainbow looked up at him. “Why?”

“Just curious,” answered the stallion automatically.

She suddenly eyed him suspiciously. He evaded her gaze. “Say, you’re not a blank flank, are you?”

“N-no!”

“Are you sure? I’ve never seen your cutie mark… or you when you aren’t wearing clothes.” She winked.

“I assure you it’s there. It’s just that I work at the bank, so I have to wear a uniform.” Close enough. If Rainbow found out the whole truth and reacted poorly, then it would be future Sunny’s problem.

“Okay, I believe you. I’m kidding; don’t take me so seriously.” He took a small swig of beer and gasped, feeling the tension flood away from his limbs. He didn’t even realize that he had been clenching.

Sunny Breeze was drunk enough to try pushing his luck. It took a lot of courage, but he slid his hoof across the table towards his dates. She did not resist. He grasped hers. Success! He grinned. “So, is there anything else you’d like to ask the wisepony?”

“Wisepony? That’s a laugh! You’re not a colt, but just barely. I got years on you, kid.” The last word was punctuated with playful false outrage, but the rest of the sentence was undeniably serious. Dash tossed her beautiful mane back over her head in a rainbow cascade. She paused to think for a moment before speaking. “That reminds me- the craziest thing happened to me after the festival last weekend.” Did his luck ever get a streak? He polished off his beer and got ready to hear the worst- that she had seen through his disguise.

“Ready. Shoot.”

Rainbow began her story. “After the festival, I hooked up with my teammates, Lightning Dust, Spitfire, Arrow, Sun Beam, and Thunderhead. We partied at Twilight’s house until we got volunteered to go on a liquor run. Sun Beam and Thunderhead peeled off to go look for this special Cloudsdale brandy.” Sunny hummed disinterestedly, so Rainbow cut to the chase. The stallion steeled himself for what he knew was to come by ordering yet another beer. “We ran into this armed guardspony. We’d all been drinking so we thought it’d be funny to mess with him. Spitfire started it, but he didn’t really react so we kept pushing him.” Sunny’s cheeks burned with both shame and anguish. If Rainbow noticed anything, then he truly prayed that she thought it was the alcohol. “So we keep pushing him and pushing him. And then Lighting Dust, who can be a very mean drunk, calls him a foal killer.” She stopped. Sunny snorted and swished his mane around uneasily.

“What did he do?” Sunny had no need of reminders, but he wanted to know what Rainbow thought. After all, he had pointed a gun at her.

Her expression was unreadable. “Nothing. He just stood there and took it.” She shifted her gaze uneasily. The beer arrived and the stallion began to drink once more.

“Then what’s the problem?”

She wasn’t looking him in the eye anymore. She ruffled her mane. Sunny chugged through the beer in record time so that he could clasp his remaining hoof to Rainbow’s, a gesture which she accepted wholeheartedly. Sunny appreciated the bracing effect, too.

“I think we went too far. We didn’t stop. We kept pushing him and pushing him until Arrow tried to grab him. He suddenly made this strange sob, yelling something in this weird language before he snapped and pointed his gun at Arrow. We stopped, but then he swung his gun around and pointed it right at Lightning Dust.”

“Did he fire?”

Rainbow answered slowly, almost as if she couldn’t believe her own words. “That’s just the thing; he didn’t shoot her. I thought gunponies were supposed to be heartless killers. All he did was just point and tell us to go away. Nopony got hurt. It all turned out okay.”

“Then why are you acting like you’re trying to absolve yourself of some sin?” Sunny looked hard at her. It was taking a lot of discipline to avoid drunkenly spilling everything right now. It was taking a lot of discipline to just sit there and let the mare tell her story.

“Because I saw him later. He was almost in tears. I felt bad- okay!? I took him to a place and bought him a drink. I think I cheered him up and I let him go.”

Sunny Breeze didn’t know what Rainbow Dash was driving at. What in Equestria could possibly be the matter with her? He forced a shabby attempt at a reassuring smile. “Rainbow, you did the right thing; you made amends for something you did to somepony. Perhaps you discovered that gunponies aren’t as bad as you thought they were.”

Rainbow stopped him. “That’s just it. I felt bad for him and I helped him, even though he almost killed my friends.” Sunny felt an unpleasant knot form itself in his stomach. She failed to mention that the gun had passed over her.

“Maybe you don’t feel like you did enough to make nice, or you feel like you betrayed your friends by helping this stallion who threatened their lives.” Sunny was really sticking his neck out here. Rainbow was so close to disclosing something big. He just had to know what it was.

“Exactly!” Rainbow Dash suddenly became very serious. “I HATE gunponies! They don’t do anything but bring death, and they’ve almost killed my friends! So WHY the buck did I help this one?” She slammed her hooves on the table.

Sunny was stunned. His limbs went slack. Seeking to comfort himself, he picked up and sloppily attempted to get a few drops from an empty beer glass. He didn’t know what to say to the Wonderbolt. He had all the wrong experiences and information. All he could do was sit there feeling all the warmth flood out of his insides. There was a long silence. The gunpony tried to speak, but the words just would not come. They simply refused to yield. He opened his mouth again, only to be cut off by Rainbow Dash.

“Forget it,” she said, regaining her usual devil may care attitude. “I gotta fly, so I’ll see you sometime later.” There was a brittleness to her speech. Sunny couldn’t let her go. In his overwhelmed, intoxicated brain, only one idea surfaced.

She stood up. He called out to her, “Wait! Rainbow, would you like to go on a hike with me on Saturday?”

They looked into each other’s eyes, her fuchsia to his crimson. For several moments, Rainbow seemed to be reluctant to spend more time with him. It was worth one last saving throw. “We’ll set out from my place at noon, but feel free to come earlier.”

A hungry grin spread across Dash’s face. “Sure thing. Now really, I do have to go like right now. Spitfire’ll have my wings if I’m late to practice.”

“Glad to hear it,” responded Sunny Breeze. “So I’ll see you Saturday then.”

“Saturday- got it. Later!” The pegasus rocketed into the air with a rainbow contrail.

Sunny suddenly realized that he had just been saddled with the bill. It wasn’t too much, and it was the least he could do to repay her for footing the bill at Sugarcube Corner the other day. He left his bits on the table plus a big fat tip for Faraday. The mare really had been a lifesaver several times over during the past couple hours. He was sure that she appreciated the gesture. He waited in his seat for quite a while, head in his hooves, trying to both steady the spinning of the world and the spinning of his brain. The sun was pleasant. The day was lovely and he was a happy drunk. So why did he feel like crap? Sitting like this was bound to draw attention Surely enough, it did.

“Excuse me, sir?” Inquired a voice. Sunny did not react. “Sir?” The voice came again and a hoof gently pushed on his shoulder. Sunny looked up and to his right, only to be greeted by Faraday wearing a strange mixture of concern, annoyance, and pity on her face. “Are you all right?”

The stallion yawned and stretched clumsily. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why do you ask?” He was one of those guys who could keep his wits and tongue about him in the presence of strong drink.

Faraday hesitated a bit. “You seem troubled,” she said. There was a lot more meaning than just that.

What could it hurt to blab a little bit to her? She looked cute and harmless enough. He began, “Things with that mare are... complicated.” Understatement of the century. To his surprise, Faraday put her hoof back on his shoulder.

“I can’t really talk right now because I’m on the clock and ponies starting to stare, but I get off at six every day of the week. If you want to talk about it, sir come see me then.”

“Thanks,” replied Sunny thankfully.

The mare beamed at him before addressing him in a serous tone, “If you’d like me to call a cab, I can do that, but you can’t stay here and hog this table, sir. Besides, families with foals are going to start arriving soon.”

He answered, “Nah, don’t call a cab; I can manage. I’m just really tired; I didn’t sleep much last night and I got up before dawn.”

“Very well then. Good day, sir.” Sunny took a moment to compose himself before getting up and leaving. Sunny Breeze did not do much for the rest of the day. He felt too drunk to do anything and his head was full of confusion. The only other thing he did was go to the liquor store to get more whiskey before heading back to the apartment. Unfortunately, they did not have any more rye whiskey, so Sunny figured that he’d do something different for once and buy bourbon. Humorously, the bottle was labeled ‘Uncle Bourbon’ and used fake Cyrillic text with an illustration of a very tough-looking Stalliongrad soldier pony with the fur ushanka hat, a sabre in his right hoof, a whiskey bottle in his left, with a bolt action Mosin-Nagant rifle slung across his back. As Sunny walked home, he thought on what he had learnt. Rainbow Dash seemed to genuinely like him, but she would hate him if she knew the truth about who he was and what he did. Who exactly was this Zecora and where did she live? He had to know the whole truth for himself. And what was that business with Faraday all about? It was too much to deal with, so he took shots of whiskey until the room spun. Then he stumbled into bed and fell asleep. Little did he know that the winds of change were just starting to blow across his path. Soon, his life would take an unexpected new turn.

Morning

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Chapter 6: Morning
__________
The rest of the week passed in a kind of haze for Sunny Breeze. The only memorable highlight was seeing Faraday on Wednesday evening and making a date for the park on Wednesday afternoon. He had also tried to locate Zecora’s house in the Everfree Forest without success. All that had resulted in was muddy boots and the odd monster getting shot.

Sunny was taking a shower on Friday night to relax after work , as well as to freshen up in preparation for his mother’s visit the next day, in lieu of his normal battery of alcohol. He’d spent the afternoon cleaning up his place, knowing what she’d do if he left it untidy. He took special pains to hide away all the signs of his drinking. It was just for a day and then some, then he could go back. How hard could it be to keep sober for that little time? The stallion scrubbed his body diligently, trying to remove all dirt and sweat from his body. His hooves ran across a number of thin, hard lines in his fur. These lines- these scars were yet another sign upon his body of who he really was and why he was unworthy. The life of an armed guard was not an easy one. The evidence was literally carved into his flesh.

When he got out of the shower, he did his usual routine of standing in front of the mirror while he dried himself off. For some peculiar reason, his eyes were drawn to a particularly ugly, visible scar around his collarbone, and to one in the middle of his left foreleg. Most of his scars weren’t too quickly and easily visible at a glance, but this one and a few others on his body were. Each one told a story, all of them ones he’d rather forget. They were what he always hid underneath his clothes. Whatever happened, they could not ever be revealed to anypony else. The risks were just too great. Any mare would reject a damaged creature like him.

Sunny lay in his bed and tried to sleep. Without his usual dose of alcohol, he found that it did not come easily. Instead, he lay wide awake with his mind in overdrive. Terrible images kept flashing through it. Flashbacks to the past played in his head. He did everything he could to shut them out and find peace, but they would just hammer harder inside his brain. Why did the anniversary of Hill 20 have to be coming up soon? That always made it worse. Why couldn’t he just sleep and live like a normal pony?

Suddenly, afirecracker exploded! His leg broke out into tremors and he nearly went mad with panic. For a few seconds, he wasn’t in Ponyville. Instead, he was back in Afghneighnistan.

The hot, dusty, ground crunched under his hooves and he looked out over the sandbag perimeter. All clear. Wait- what was that? Did that thing just move? Never mind, it was just him being paranoid. He turned to his friend. “Yo, Traube. Hast du das ges-” BANG!

Sunny snapped back into reality, perspiring heavily and wild-eyed. He scanned thoroughly for any sign of a threat. His mind was on fire, going haywire with terror. The stallion clung to the sheets for a long time. Gradually, the terror subsided. He felt exhausted, but still couldn’t make himself sleep. He just didn’t feel safe. He comforted himself by going into his closet. He searched around the interior for his FAL. Instead, he stepped on something hard and wooden, based on the sound it made. He picked it up and make out the shape of his AK-74. It suddenly brought more unwanted memories to his mind.

This rifle itself was monument to his sin. Just seeing it was reminder that he had done terrible things and deserved everything he got. He’d rather that it lie altogether forgotten in a toxic place long lost to ponies, but he needed something to hold onto. This assault rifle, even though he had used it to perpetrate crimes, had always been there for him. It had gotten him through Grazny. It had gotten him through Hill 20. Any other, lesser, weapon would have gotten him killed. It had been with him in Zebricy and in Afghneighnistan. It had preserved his life, yes, but at the cost of many others while guys all around him breathed their last. He held it in his hooves and walked back to the bed. The magazine was still in it. He knew that it was loaded with thirty cartridges of 5.45x39, but that he had left the chamber empty and the safety on. Doubtlessly, it would still work. The bayonet was still attached to its mount, but had been sheathed. It had been that way when he arrived at Klopdahar all those years ago. They had needed to physically peel him off his gun before he would let it go. When he had left the company, he hadn’t given it up. Losing it would have been like losing another comrade; a blow he couldn’t take.

Holding the AK-74 made Sunny feel safe and calm. He tucked himself under the sheets and willed his body to sleep. His mind remained ablaze. The soft mattress and linens of the bed felt hot and stifling to him. He worked himself free and sat up on the floor with his back leaning against the bed and the rifle cradled in his arms. Funny how after all these years, this was still sometimes the only way he could get to sleep. It took a long time, but Sunny finally relaxed enough to drift off into a light, dreamy, sleep.

A group of eight equine stallions armed with various rifles sat atop an Armored Personnel Carrier. They watched out diligently for any threats as they rolled down the road, the third in a column of four, and each of them had a griffon or two atop them. A zebra wearing a black cap, with the letters “VZS” embroidered on it, turned to a helmeted pony in his mid-adolescence. “Hey, Sonnig – Sunny!”

The pony didn’t turn, but answered nevertheless, “What?”

“You think we’re finally going to see some action?”

“Most likely we shall.” He said this dryly, staring out into the deserted suburban neighborhood. Snow had fallen all around, coating everything in a layer of sugary white. The only nearby high ground was a clock tower that had been decapitated by artillery fire prior to the assault. His AK-74 was at a low ready position. “They did tell us that this was the big push. We’re going to storm Grazny. Our job is to sweep these outer neighborhoods and get around their defenses.

Another zebra, this one wearing a cerulean beret, cut in. “More like adopt since nobody seems to be here.

Sonnig replied, “Oh, there are guys here. They’re just hiding if they have any sense.” The conversation stopped. The column continued to roll along past block after block of deserted suburbia. Houses, streets, and all the other trappings of civilian life lay eerily abandoned, as if some invisible hand in the sky had suddenly snatched them all away. Not all was pristine, however, as many of the buildings had been shattered by artillery barrages. It was strange to see one building in ruins while all its neighbors were perfectly fine.

The four APC column soon reached a narrow bridge over Grazny’s river that forced the vehicles to drive in single file. These things always made everyone nervous. However, they had been told that reconnaissance and intelligence indicated a minimal enemy presence in this part of the city, due to them being distracted by the main assault on the north side, and the fact that much of this district had been bombarded pretty badly. Flight was forbidden as they could not risk being detected on their way to link up with elements of the Federal 19th Light Armored and attack from behind.

They were all glad to have griffon allies with them, whose superior senses of sight and hearing would not go amiss in the dark shadows and narrow hides of urban warfare. Separatisten- Separatists, weren’t fools. They pressed on, driving somewhat more quickly than normal.

All was silent but the deep water of the river engorged by the spring melt, and the engines. The stallions and griffons looked around anxiously and clutched at their weapons. Seconds felt like minutes to the mercenaries and foreign volunteers. The other side of the river appeared to have a large office block that was deserted but otherwise not ruined. It was fringed with a meadow and several shady spruce trees.

The lead APC was nearing the edge of the span. The griffons suddenly twitched and looked to the office building, and then to each other, wings poised as if about to take flight. Everybody exchanged glances and scanned feverishly for threats.

Something plummeted out of the air onto the first APC! A mighty blast lifted the multiton armored vehicle off the ground and shredded it like cabbage. The squad riding on top didn’t even have time to scream as they were blown into chunks and pieces. “PRIGAI!” shouted one of the griffons, leaping into the air and taking cover behind the iron trusses to return fire. But not all of them made it. A couple fell from the sky as they flew into rounds intentionally sent high. Everyone leapt from the vehicles and threw themselves at the ground, as if that would protect them from the torrents of lead raining down upon them.

The voice of the platoon sergeant shouted over the fracas, “AMBUSH! Targets! Left side- left side! SUPPRESSIVE FIRE!” The gunners in the APC’s answered back with a vengeance as their fifty and thirty caliber machine guns roared to life. They fired at whatever the griffons were aiming at; they were seldom wrong. Rockets hurtled at the column, some flying high, some crashing into the river, and some exploding against the bridge.

Sonnig and his squad mates flattened themselves against the deck and fired back at their attackers. His weapon had been in semiautomatic mode since the moment he'd gotten on the APC. He saw guys go down, struck by bullets or blown apart by explosions. Presently, the welcome roar of the squad's RPD sounded in his ear. Sonnig saw a stallion moving in the bushes some hundred meters away. He was a unicorn with a yellow brown coat and a very shaggy brown mane. Sonnig aimed his AK-74, tugged the trigger, and fired repeatedly. The first bullet hit a leg and tripped him up. The second bullet missed. He was trying to stand up when the third bullet impacted his shoulder. The fourth bullet struck the chest, finally stopping him for good. Suddenly, the comforting roar of the RPD ceased to sound in Sonnig's ear. Then something wet and sticky tapped him on the shoulder.

He looked to his right. A bloody hoof had brushed his shoulder. Attached to it was the pugnacious zebra from earlier, lying in a pool of red. The bloody zebra looked him in the eyes. “Sonnig- Sunny… they got me.” The zebra died. Not good. Sunny grabbed the fallen mercenary's RPD and took up laying down fire.

The belt ran dry. Sunny reached into the dead zebra's gear to find more ammo, and in looking to see what he was doing, he realized that he was now all alone in the middle of an ambush; his comrades were on the other side of the APC’s! The rear vehicle had been blown up, trapping them in a shooting gallery! He couldn't control his hooves. The shaking was too much; he couldn't make the fine motions needed to reload the RPD. Terrified, Sunny picked back up his 74, magicked the lever up into fully automatic mode as he had been taught to do, and returned fire with short, controlled, bursts, slaying a handful of fighters. The tracers started to draw near to him. He was frantically pleading, desperately trying to flatten his body even more against the bridge deck, but he couldn't!

He heard the voice of his squad leader shout out to him, "Get back here! We'll cover you!" He felt the blood and steadiness flow back into his limbs. He had orders- no time to worry about himself. He grabbed everything he could and reloaded the RPD. "GO!" Sunny shot up to his feet and sprinted for the safety of the APC's. If he could just reach the other side, just three meters -- eighty miles away, then he'd be safe. He'd never moved so fast in his life.

The stallion panted and calmed his tremors enough to reload the RPD. Then he placed it on top of the APC and opened fire. Suddenly, feathers brushed against him. He recognized the thickly accented voice calling enemy positions as belonging to one of the griffons, Berkut. "Meedl vindow -- saykind storrey!" He let of a burst. "One lowerr, durrrak!" He readjusted and fired again. "Otlichna! Fourth floor, far leyft! Proschaite, suki!" The griffon scanned for targets. "We are vinning! They could make it after all. Just a bit more and they'd be through...

But that was not to be. A talon suddenly clamped onto his shoulder. "Mortar team! On tam! Strilyai!" Sunny fired at the tiny moving specks, but it was too late. "Take cover!" Sunny ignored Berkut, so focused was he on killing his foe. He laughed raucously as he watched them stumble and sink. Claws seized his neck from behind and slammed him into the concrete. Before Sunny could comprehend what was happening, something smashed into the top of the APC and exploded!

The world fell. The blast blew him into the air. He felt many things pelt against his helmet and armored vest before he painfully slammed into the pavement and felt his teeth give way. He tasted blood and felt these horrible searing sensations in his forelegs. Sunny opened his eyes, looked down, and screamed.

Sunny awoke with a start, panting heavily and shivering. He was covered in a cold sweat. He touched his shoulder. He could still feel the bloody hoof brushing it, even after all these years. The urge to drink was huge. A drink, yes, that’s what he wanted, no, needed. One to calm him down. One for the flavor. One for the high. One for the pain. Then he remembered what he’d promised himself he’d do that day. Fitfully, he tried to fall asleep just as dawn was breaking. He succeeded, but only got a few hours. And so he contented himself to lie in bed and read, keeping the comforting Kalashnikov hugged to his chest.

The book contained the poems of James Thomas Clopham. These always comforted him, even though many of the words were archaic and he used a strange dialect. He lost track of time and the sun rose higher into the sky. He finally managed to calm down and even enjoy himself a little bit. Rustic scenes about northern equestrian moors and shires soothed the stallion’s frayed nerves. Then came a huge crash from the front door, followed quickly by the sound of somepony soundly bruised and bemused.

In a flash, Sunny grabbed the Kalashnikov and readied it, his body tensed like a spring. His hood was planted firmly in the trigger plate located in the stock, and squeezed. Even though he was a unicorn, he preferred to always handle arms with his hooves because it provided the best control.

He knew from experience exactly how much pressure he’d need to fire. Sunny tracked the hoofsteps in the hall as they gradually came closer. Their owner was being careless, showing no regard for stealth. If some moron was happy to practically beg to be shot, then he was overjoyed to oblige. Then the steps stopped. “Hey, Sunny, you home?” That was Rainbow Dash’s voice – and she was close! He didn’t reply. She knocked on his door. The knob wasn’t locked. Sunny looked around. He had to hide his gun and scars! She couldn’t find out! The knob started to turn. The stallion hurriedly stashed the assault rifle in his bed, hid his body under the covers, and magicked the book back in front of his face not even a second before the mare opened the door. “Ah! There you are,” she said.

“Morning,” greeted Sunny robotically with a slight growl. He kept firmly focused on his book in hopes of getting her to buzz off.

This didn’t seem to faze Rainbow Dash, who continued on blithely, all the while making her way over to his bed, shaking her hips slightly. “Soo, it’s just us here and we’ve got hours until we have to go.” She sat down on the side of the bed. He lowered the book and shifted his body over, putting his legs between Rainbow Dash and his gun.

“Would you please get out of here?”

“Why?” She got on all fours and started crawling towards him. His discomfort visibly increased as she approached.
“I’m not decent.”

She laughed, “We don’t normally wear clothes anyway.”

“And we don’t normally break into ponies’ places either,” he shot back.

“So? You told me to come whenever I felt like it, so I’m here. It’s not like it’s hurting anypony. Let’s have some fun.” Rainbow sat over Sunny’s legs. Her mouth twisted into a wolfish, predatory grin.

Oh not again- not now! Rainbow was very quickly going from sexy to scary. He could see her looking just like all those wolf soldiers he wished would stop haunting him. The stallion did his best to maintain his composure. “As nice as that sounds, Rainbow, I’ve got stuff to do.”

“That can wait, but this pony can’t. There’s no way that whatever boring stuff you’re talking about beats being with a Wonderbolt.”

Sunny’s face formed into a pale, emotionless mask. “I’m serious. Stop! I’ll do it, but not right now.” It was no use. The ravenous wolf fully manifested in his mind; he no longer saw Rainbow Dash. The scar on his
right shoulder twinged with remembered pain.

“I’m going to enjoy this…” The wolf darted down right for his throat, jaws opened wide! The world froze for a terrible second in the stallion’s mind. Then, he lost control and his training took over.

Sunny dodged his neck right, out of danger. He punched upwards with his hoof! “NEIN!” Impact. The illusion shattered.

“OWW!” Sunny saw Rainbow Dash go sprawling off of him, holding her head. Oh no! He had just lost control and hurt somepony, again. His heart sank like a stone. Without thinking, he bolted out of the covers and flew to the mare’s side. The mare had taken a tumble over the edge and was clutching at the left side of her face.

“Rainbow Dash, I’m so sorry. I-I-”

The mare opened an eye and seethed at him, “Fine, you’re not in the mood. Sorry I asked.”

“Did I hurt you?” His voice was thick with worry. She scanned his surprisingly trim upper body. The pegasus smirked, even as she hissed and stroked at her face.

“A little. You hit pretty good for a little guy, but I’m tough.” She winced subconsciously.
“I’m sorry,” pleaded Sunny. She grimaced.

“Don’t I look a little lonely?” Pouted Rainbow.

Sunny almost facehoofed. “Okay, I’ll hold you if that’s what you want. Just please, don’t hate me.” The mare seemed amused by this.

“That’s cool,” she replied, making her way over to him. Sunny twisted his body away from her to hide the scars. With luck, she hadn’t even seen them in the dark room. Pegasi tended to have bad night vision. She approached him somewhat more cautiously than earlier and then turned around to press her back into his front. He stiffened slightly. Rainbow Dash ordered, “Put your hooves around me.” Sunny wordlessly complied, eliciting a happier sound from Rainbow Dash, “Aww yeah, that’s the spot.” Sunny looked down at his limbs, suddenly understanding why Rainbow Dash seemed to be enjoying it so much.

One of his legs was wrapped around her chest. His other limb had snaked around her hips. She nestled her neck onto his unscarred left shoulder. He was blushing furiously. She giggled. He prayed that she didn’t feel his scars through her fur. If she did, then she gave no indication. He wasn’t having half as much fun as she was. As badly as Sunny needed the physical contact, he also shied shielded away from it, for it felt hot, uncomfortable and stifling. He did not trust this mare very much. Regardless, in that moment, he was relieved that she hadn’t gone ballistic at him.

And so they lay together for a long while, body to body. Over time, Sunny did relax and even started to enjoy Rainbow Dash’s body and company a little bit. She was soft, she was warm, and she smelled good. He grinned slightly as he realized just how much he was enjoying this. She put her hooves over his and breathed deeply in the morning warmth. Perhaps Rainbow Dash wasn’t the lecherous madmare he’d heard about on the radio. Sure, she was more a physical being than he was, but that didn’t make her a maniac. Perhaps he could come to trust her after all.

He looked down at her body. She was indeed quite sexy, with toned muscles everywhere, curves where they belonged, and all that poetic stuff. Her chest rose and sank regularly as she inhaled and exhaled. In that moment, Sunny realized that he was not alone. He felt at peace. Well, a certain part of him seemed determine to rebel. He hoped that Dash didn’t notice. “You’re not too bad at this, Sunny,” remarked Rainbow.

He startled. “Huh? Not too bad at what?”

“Cuddling.”

The stallion didn’t know how to take the compliment. He awkwardly replied, “Gee, thanks, I guess…”

“You’re welcome. Say, do you know what time it is?”

Sunny looked at the clock. “It’s just past eleven.”

“Time for breakfast,” remarked Rainbow. Sunny looked at her. “What?” She said defensively. “You’re not going to show your guest some hospitality?”

He yawned. “If you insist.” Dash opened her mouth to reply, but before she could utter a sound, they overheard many different hoofsteps and voices enter the apartment. “You gotta be kidding me,” groaned Sunny. “My refrigerator must emit a pulse of ultrasound that attracts all hungry ponies within a three mile radius of the epicenter.” Rainbow got out of bed wordlessly and went to investigate. He didn’t feel like bothering anymore. Instead, he took the opportunity to secret his rifle back in the closet.

He had just finished putting the gun away and was about to get dressed when suddenly, “HIYA! Howya doin’?” He jumped a foot in the air.

“P-Pinkie Pie! Don’t do that!” He frowned. “What’re you doing here anyway?” He turned to get dressed, hoping that she’d be too hyper to notice his scars.

“Ooh, I saw a new pony in town! I know she was a new pony in town because I know everypony in Ponyville, so I asked where she where she was going! And she said that that she was looking for a certain address, which just so happened to be your address, Sunny! So now we’re going to throw her a welcome party! She’ll be here any minute now, so get ready!” While she was doing this, Sunny perused his closet. He hadn’t done his laundry, so he didn’t have anything left over besides uniforms. He picked one he thought would look at least somewhat polished. It was a charcoal grey uniform of the mabuta design, distinct thanks to the pockets on the front of the thighs. He put it on with the usual telnyashka underneath the jacket. He really needed to get more clothes. Sunny braced himself and then stepped out into the hall. It was all for naught.

Gathered together in his hall were five mares! He immediately recognized Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Faraday. There were two he did not recognize. One was a yellow and pink pegasus whom he could swear to have seen before, who held her left wing strangely, as if she had almost been pinioned somehow. The other was a zebra. Perhaps she was the elusive Zecora? That was his one guess, although she did admittedly interest him the most. Everypony turned and stared as he entered the room.

He looked at Pinkie Pie. “Who are they?” He asked, pointing at the pegasus and the zebra. Cold, but it got the point across.

“That’s Fluttershy!” Chirped Pinkie, suddenly grabbing Sunny and the pegasus in her forelegs and mashing them together. “You two are going to be best friends! Sunny, meet Fluttershy. Fluttershy, meet Sunny.” Fluttershy seemed to dislike the excessive handling even more than Sunny. He tried to move and ended up accidentally touching her injured wing. He felt… scar tissue, of all things. And the scarring was more widespread on one side than on the other. There was also a discoloured patch on her left leg. They reminded the stallion uncomfortably of healed bullet wounds, which was something that he would definitely investigate later.

Once Pinkie Pie released Sunny Breeze and Fluttershy from her clutches, she tried to wrangle Zecora, but somehow found herself foiled in her attempts to do so. Dejected, Pinkie backed off. The zebra spoke first. “Good morning to you. My name is Zecora. May I have yours too?”

“Sunny Breeze. Freut mich, Zecora. Pleased to meet you.” She heard the language and looked down at his chest. She seemed to consider him strangely for just a fraction of a second before brushing it aside and retuning his greeting.

“It pleases me much to make a new friend.” Her voice suddenly turned serious. “But there are wounds in your heart you must mend.” Before Sunny could ask her what she meant, however, the door opened.
An older unicorn mare bigger than most stallions stepped into the vestibule. She had a bright green coat and an electric yellow mane. She gave Sunny Breeze a hard, critical, look in the eye. It felt as if she were analyzing the very contents of his soul, frowning at every little speck of imperfection and dust.

“Mom,” he said, unsure. He really hadn’t been lying when he had said that he was the runt of the family, for his mother looked as if she had a lot of shire draft horse blood in her. She opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off when a party literally materialized right in front of her with a bang.

“Surprise!” everypony shouted. Sunny’s mother didn’t flinch, although she still was dragged along helplessly by Pinkie Pie, who insisted that she meet everypony. Sunny watched the proceedings with a grin etched onto his face as the stout, stalwart, matriarch was dragged around in a most undignified manner by a cartoonish pink pony who was clearly maybe only half her size on a good day.

Faraday was the first one to be introduced. “Hello, missus Breeze,” she said, shaking his mother’s hoof.

His mother laughed at the cute mare, “There’s no need to be so stiff. Just call me Ginny.” Faraday smiled and nodded. She opened her mouth to speak, but Ginny had already been effectively thrown at Zecora. The mare didn’t skip a beat. “Hi, Zecora.”

“I am indeed pleased to meet the mother of the stallion, Breeze.” Ginny smiled genuinely.

“Zecora, it is sublime how skillfully you rhyme.” Her eyes narrowed. “Tell me, did you meet him in-“ Sunny tensed.

But just before all Tartarus broke loose, Pinkie Pie cheered and wrangled Fluttershy. “She’s Fluttershy,” blabbed the oblivious pink pony. Ginny glared at her disapprovingly before turning a kinder gaze towards Fluttershy.

“Are you okay, Fluttershy?” The pegasus didn’t answer with anything audible.

Lastly, Pinkie Pie introduced herself. “And I’m Pinkie Pie!” She glomped Sunny’s mother, who let out an exasperated sigh. The group chattered for a while, and Sunny allowed them to do it. He couldn’t tell too much, although it seemed as if his mother was making her trademark quick work of sizing up all the mares. She didn’t scowl or yell, which was good. Ginny finally broke free several minutes later and approached Sunny with a hard look on her face.

He stood stock still, not daring to breathe. Everypony watched silently. They could easily read Sunny Breeze. His expressions were plain as day. They saw every bit of adoration, fear, love, uncertainty, fondness, and resentment written all over his face. She, on the other hoof, was much harder to read. Goiny stopped her deliberate approach just feet away from Sunny. They stared into each other’s eyes. Everypony leaned forwards. Pinkie Pie leaned too far forward and fell on her face with a comical shout. Silence. An emotional electrical storm was brewing in the small room housing the kitchen, dining area, and living space. The tension built to a breaking point. Neither pony broke a sweat. They circle strafed around each other. Fluttershy hid her face and squeaked. Zecora regarded the scene with studied interest. Faraday was thoroughly confused. Rainbow Dash seemed to understand exactly what was going on. She gave an encouraging wink and a nod to Sunny. He blinked deliberately and then stepped forwards.

Clop. The hoof hit the tile. In the blink of an eye, the two reared up lunged at each other! Fluttershy squeaked! They threw their arms around each other and embraced tightly. “Sunny! I’ve missed you.” Her musical, strident, contralto rang out.

“I’ve missed you too, mom,” he replied as tears of joy began to leak from her eyes. He patted the mare on the back, offering her comfort. Needless to say, she took it and rocked back and forth in her son’s arms.

She gave him a squeeze and asked, “When did you get this lovely harem? I’m impressed.”

He blushed. “Mamochka, not here.” He paused for a moment as he comprehended what she had just said. “They’re not my harem.”

“Not yet, but just you wait." She took note of his rigid demeanor. She thoughtfully paused for a moment before stating much more loudly than necessary. "You need to get laid."

Sunny groaned. "Did you have to say that, and in front of them, too?" Everypony, even Zecora, was starting fixedly at the pair. Their expressions ranged from barely restrained lust to wide-eyed surprise.

Ginny chucked. "I'm just letting you know what I think you should do. You've got plenty of choices and chances right here." Her voice suddenly dropped low again. "Also, I’m going to be staying in town for about a week or more.” His ears flattened.

“A week?” She nodded. He wanted to scream and find the nearest bar.

They broke apart. She whispered to him, “I’ll explain over brunch. By the way, congratulations on not being drunk, although it would be nice if you don’t wear your mercenary uniform.” A bad feeling formed in the pit of his stomach as she turned away to address the others, who were still reeling. “So, where can you get good grub in this town?”

“Ooh!” Pealed Pinkie Pie, hopping up and down. “I know just the place.” They were seated seconds later. Little did Sunny know it at the time, but it was at this moment that life changed course. Something big was stirring in the machinations of fate.

Teatime

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Chapter 7: Teatime

A wolf and a pony squared off on an almost barren, dusty hilltop. The stallion stood there, AK-74 at the ready with the bayonet mounted. His eyes were dull and his uniform was in disarray. The name tape read “Sunny Breeze”. The wolf’s fur gleamed and its eyes shone. The wolf soldier charged the stallion. The paws kicked up red dust as they dashed across the nearly barren hilltop outpost. Sunny crouched low, looking into the hungering eyes of death. Within seconds, the wolf closed the meters between them and leapt right for the throat! The stallion swung his weapon and ducked as he sidestepped his foe. THWUNK! Whimper. The corner of the rifle’s stock hit home just behind the eye, sending the wolf tumbling into the dust. It snapped back onto all fours, only to be flipped onto its back as Sunny rushed and caught it on the throat with his rifle’s magazine. Again it fell to the ground, but this time, the stallion lunged with his bayonet, piercing through the ribs. It howled as the blade twisted and jerked, shredding its vitals, releasing its life’s blood. Sunny stamped on the thrashing neck and silenced the snapping maw forever with a crunch. The stallion removed his blade and slumped forwards to pant with lidded eyes. Fresh bloods stained Sunny’s hooves, but he didn’t care; he alone still lived on the hilltop strewn with the bodies of griffons, ponies, zebras, and wolves. Suddenly, he heard movement! Sunny snapped to attention and saw a pack of six huge wolves easily double his size dashing right at him! Sunny raised his Kalashnikov to fire. CLICK. No more cartridges. He charged at the nearest wolf, determined not to be torn under the fangs of the pack. Suddenly, something heavy collided with his right side and teeth closed around his neck!

Sunny Breeze awoke drenched in sweat and panting hard. The light coming in from the windows meant that the day had already begun some hours ago. It took a great effort to calm his racing mind and stop the tremors in his muscles. Today was Sunday, so he didn’t have work. If only he could have a drink to soothe himself! He slid into the same uniform he’d worn yesterday and then stepped out of his bedroom only to find his mother waiting for him in the living room with two cups of tea. Her expression was unreadable. “We need to talk.”

Sunny and his mother sat across from each other in a pair of wicker arm chairs in his apartment. The mood was artificially amicable, as if a particularly loud noise might collapse it like a soufflé. Each of them politely sipped at their tea and smiled, but never took a big gulp or raised the corners of their mouth, nor did they recline or take their eyes off each other. Golden sunlight filtered in through the windows on that pleasant Sunday. They chatted about this and that noncommittally. Sunny was pleased to know that the cats were still alright. Ginny was pleased to know that Sunny was still employed. However, so soon as he had finished telling her about this, he noticed a wicked glint in her eye. That never preceded anything good. The stallion took a sudden interest in the weave of the furniture for several minutes until the mare forced the issue.

“When are you going to settle down?”

Sunny jolted. “What?” He leaned forward with raised ears.

His mother repeated loudly, “You heard me. When are you going to get a respectable career, find a mare, and settle down?”

“I don’t know. I’m not even thinking about marriage.”

Eve looked him in the eye. “Why not? You’re a stallion and you’ve had plenty of time to have your fun and sow your wild oats.” Sunny knew that his mother always talked about seeing him married off for one reason or another. It was her pet project. Unfortunately, it was getting harder and harder to worm out of courtship. He had, after been around for roughly two decades. It wasn’t uncommon for ponies to wed at about his age. It was actually embarrassing for a stallion to remain unattached as he grew older, for it indicated a lack of ability to find a mare or another stallion willing to put up with him.

He gave her a look. “I’m not that old, mom.”

“Nonsense! It’s been several years since you graduated school.”

“Yeah, when I was thirteen. I haven’t had all that much time because I’ve been busy. Hell, for the first four years, it was easier to count the days when I didn’t hear gunfire.” Bitterness came through. His mother’s eyes narrowed.

“Nobody forced you do go through that. You didn’t have to sign on with the company.”

He snorted disdainfully. “You know full well that I didn’t have a choice at the time. I was fresh out of school, didn’t have a cutie mark, and couldn’t find work.”

“Yes you could’ve; you just didn’t try hard enough.”

“What else was there, mom,” growled Sunny. “You know that I applied for every job I could, and they all turned me down.”

“You could have tried again.”

“What difference would that have made? They rejected me for lack of experience. I couldn’t get experience because I couldn’t get a job because I couldn’t get experience. Out of all the employers I tried, only the Grollen company accepted me. I had no choice.”

Ginny glared at Sunny and used an excessively patient tone, as if this was not the first time they had had this conversation. “Nopony forced you to take up that line of work.” She spat out the word “that” like it was a slimy parasite. He moved to open his mouth, but she cut him off. “You could have gone to college, volunteered for something, or helped your father’s bricklaying business. Don’t act like you’re a victim of circumstance.”

Sunny was forced to admit that she might have a valid argument, but why couldn’t she be less of a mule about it? “You and dad both told me to seek my fortune. Dad didn’t want me to spend my days doing manual labor; he wants me to go on to bigger and better things. And how would I have done college? You know that we just didn’t have the money, because you spent all of it my big brother. And what did he get? A mathematics degree!” His muscles clenched and his eyes narrowed.

“And look where he is now!” She puffed her chest with pride as she declared, “He’s successful. He’s a multimillionaire, has a ton of mares, and is living the Equestrian dream!”

“Yeah,” snarked Sunny. “Amazing what a difference being a lucky polymath can make. And I’m sure that him always being the favorite had absolutely nothing to do with it.”

Ginny brought down her teacup harder than intended, spilling some and clinking noisily against the porcelain saucer. “Don’t you disrespect Regent! He worked hard for everything he has. If you’d just apply yourself more, like him, who knows how far you could go?” He needed a drink. Sunny stood up. He couldn’t take any more of this; he felt trapped. He was sweating and shaking. He wanted to scream at her. Ginny was his mother – his own mother! And couldn’t she have some sympathy for him? He turned to walk away just as her expression softened. “Wait – Sunny, I’m sorry.” He froze and looked at her. She looked him in the eyes again and stated very simply, “I love you, Sunny. It’s just that I don’t know what to do with you. You’re this nice smart kid, but you’re also in a bad place. I want better for you. I know you can do better. You’ve suffered a lot, and deserve a lot more than what you’re getting. I want to help you, but I just don’t know what to do!” Her eyes became moist. “I know that I’m partially responsible for it, but I want to fix it. I just wish I knew how.”

He faced her and then sat back down. “So do I,” he agreed, shaking his head, taking care to avoid meeting her gaze. “I certainly understand. But out of all the ways to help me, why is getting me hitched number one?”

It was Ginny’s turn to scratch at her head uncomfortably. “I was… kinda hoping that maybe you’d sort yourself out if you got yourself a bride, or at least a mare.”

“And how is that supposed to make me any better?”

She laughed. “For one thing, sex.” He stared at her. “You need to get laid. You’d probably be a lot more relaxed if you got some every once in a while. You know I’m right.”

He laughed and shrugged. “Crazy conversations we have. I guess so; funny how it’s always about sex with you. Anyway, do you have any ideas or plans, or did you just come here to berate me endlessly?”

“I was thinking that I’d just give you some bits and send you down to Lotus and Aloe at the spa for a special massage.” Her son regarded her with a flat stare. “Alright, tell me what you think of the mares you had over yesterday.”

Sunny gathered himself as he considered them. He began with saying, “Faraday is a nice mare. She’s not too bad looking, either.” Ginny nodded. “Rainbow Dash is a wild one and rough around the edges, but I guess she means well.” He paused. “And Pinkie Pie’s a close friend of mine. I’ve known her since I first arrived here.”

“What about the others?” He cocked an eyebrow, unsure. “Zecora and Flutttershy – what do you make of them?”

He sipped thoughtfully on his tea. “Well, uh, I don’t really know. Zecora seems kinda interesting, I guess. But she’s also kinda scary and really perceptive. Not too bad looking; I could get used to her. However, she has a Chechneyan tattoo.” He stuck out his tongue and put his cup down. “Fluttershy… hmmm, I don’t really know what to think about her. She seems really nice, but something’s off about her…”

His mother facehoofed. “You’re not getting it, Sunny! I’m asking about how compatible you find them. How do you think you’d get along with each of them in a serious relationship?” His ears flattened again.

“I don’t know,” he answered. “Do you have any input on the matter? What do you think about them? It’s not like it’s easy for me to connect with other ponies, especially after all that’s happened to me.”

“I know what happened to you, Sunny. You broadcasted your nightmare again last night.” Broadcast wasn’t the perfect word, but it was the term vernacular for how unicorns could project experiences and sensations into the minds of others.

Sunny slouched over with a moan, rubbing his face. “Sorry. It wouldn’t be so bad if you just let me drink.” His jaw clenched suddenly. Ginny gripped the chair leg, bracing for what they both knew was to come. “It’s my place, my money, and my life! And here you are trying to get me to deal with complexities of running five relationships at once, as if you know what’s best for me! I’m sorry, mom, but did you ever think of things from my perspective?” He looked Ginny in the eyes. He yelled at her, even though he really didn’t want to and knew that it was hurting her. He just couldn’t stop himself! On the inside, he was screaming at himself to stop and beg her forgiveness. “I spend my childhood being kicked around by everypony bigger than me! Nothing I did mattered! When I left school, I couldn’t get any work, so I had to sign up for the company! I went to war, saw and did a lot of twisted stuff, and when I came home, nopony gave a damn! Not only that, I was now apparently a monster and an embarrassment, so you decided to kick me out before anypony got wind to any of Regent’s fans that his brother was a mercenary! You abandon me to my fate, except for whenever you come around trying to get me hitched because it’ll make Regent, or you, or dad, look good!” Just like that, Sunny’s anger cooled. Tears welled up in his eyes. “I’m sorry, mom. I’ll do it for you. I’m so sorry that I keep snapping at you, but... I just, I just can’t control it sometimes!” He prostrated himself before her. “I don’t meant to hurt you, I really don't. I-" Pausing, he shook his head, blinking back tears. "I'm sorry, Prosti menya…"

Ginny let him cry. She started to stand and timidly extend a hoof, but drew back to just sit and stare at the bawling colt. After a long while, she told him very calmly, “Go take a walk. Not for me, but for yourself.” He didn’t say anything back to her. He just got up and left.

Birdsong greeted him. His gaze remained downcast, although as he rambled into town, he began to sing. It wasn’t a happy song, and it certainly wasn’t in Equestrian. “Da, ya pomnu. Yes I remember the warmth of my home, and the poignant goodbyes. How we all said we’d be back before long.” His mind’s eye went wild, mixing images of present and past, real and imaginary, current and memory. He saw a cart drive up the long hill. Those colts, will they be ambushed? He saw the soldiers passing cigarettes and jokes. “But it’s been a long time, so here stops our column.” The cart halted. The sergeant leapt down to investigate something and rounds impacted him. “You won’t ever see the real war,” he sang, glancing into Sugarcube Coner to see gingerbread ponies being slid into an oven. Just like bodies at the crematorium. “How guys burn alive in APC’s” Pinkie Pie lit the gas. The gumdrop mouths screamed. “How ponies fall over, go quiet, and move no more.” A foal tripped. Bullets found a mare running for cover.

He crossed the street, hugging himself against a sudden cold gust. Projectiles pierced his body. “Do you see the holes in my armoured vest? How many foals are lying here; how many wasted years? Mama, mamochka, forgive me -- I couldn’t save myself! Bullets hitting me… there was no hope.” He passed the park, where Cheerilee was lecturing a class in front of a statue. Just like good recruits listening to the gospel of the instructors. “Look here, listen up, you fillies and you colts. These heroes stand here, their faces all in a row. And so we remember those who will be forever twenty, who last moments were in that horrible chaos.” Tears stained the sidewalk.

Sunny spotted Scootaloo In the distance, flying slowly with a large package directly underneath her body. She looks just like a Hind traversing the horizon… For whom is her payload intended? He looked up to see pegasi parting the clouds, letting sunlight flood into the park. It was like blood when they just didn’t stop bleeding... “My friend fell – moj drug upal. He did not survive; killed in the hour just before dawn. He fell onto the snow and stained it red. He died so far from home. Harsh land – blue sky, our beautiful, hated, Afghneighnistan.” He saw a foreman directing some workers. Yes, komandir. “Orders were simple: get up, go, and die.” He leaned against a lamp post and dried his eyes before continuing.

As he walked back down the street to go home, Sunny saw a mare holler something inside at his approach. Just like it was in Chechneya. “But why remember we these things?” He looked around and saw that he was alone, sending spikes of terror and paranoia jangling up and down his spine. First comes the quiet, then the ambush. “Because only we can.” He walked home while he cried quietly, no longer caring who saw him or what anypony thought.

When he returned, he was thinking clearly and feeling much better. He passed the bottle of whiskey on the way in and stretched out a hoof to take it. He thought better of it and withdrew the limb. To his immense relief, Ginny was still sitting in her chair, waiting for him. He sat down and said, “Let’s resume from where I interrupted you. What were you going to say about the mares?” The tension was gone. He sat impassively and awaited her guidance.

She smiled and answered, “I trust Rainbow Dash the least. She’s not a bad pony; she’s just thoughtless. She looks at you like a cut of meat. If you just want sex, then approach her or just don’t refuse her. Just don’t get hurt if she doesn’t attach any feelings to it.”

“I see. I didn’t believe it myself, but that sounds like her. She’s still a good piece of ass. I still think that Regent’d get her.” Ginny nodded.

“Pinkie Pie is your friend, and a true blue one at that. She’d probably be willing to sleep with you if you just asked. Good for friends with benefits. She loves you as a friend, but let’s face it, there’s no way you two are ending up filing a joint tax return.”

“Pinkie Pie really… I never knew…” Sunny took a small sip of the fresh, hot, tea that had been prepared while he was out. It was a delicate sencha green variety brewed just the way he liked it. He smiled. “Thank you, mom.”

“You’re welcome. Now Faraday is the filly next door. She’s sweet and nice, but honestly boring. She’d be a good wife but a bad lover.”

“Is that projection?”

“Take it from a psych major, no.”

“Pity. So, Fluttershy?”

Ginny Breeze shook her head. “I really don’t know what to tell you, kid. She’s easily the nicest mare I’ve ever met, but I can’t say much else. She holds her wing funny. She’s real timid. My advice: be careful.” She almost spoke again, but stopped herself.

Sunny Breeze looked at her curiously. “And Zecora?”

Ginny lit up immediately. “I’d go for her. She’s a Zebra and has some years on you, but it’s nothing too big. You need a soothing influence like her. Plus, she’s very pretty and definitely loves her body; you could learn a lot from her. She also has the most to gain from you. Trust me on this one: you and her really should get together.”

“Got it. So, what’s the plan? I already have lunch with Faraday on Wednesday. I suppose that I could see Zecora that evening. After work on Thursday, I could easily make time for Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy.”

“That’s good. Don’t worry about the meetings; I’ll take care of them. You just need to show up sober.”

He scowled. “Can’t I get at least a little bracer for these?”

She folded her legs. “Not if you want my help. You won’t heal until you stop using alcohol as a crutch.” She sharply inhaled, seeing the snarl form on his lips. But it was a phantom and he swallowed it.

“I’ll try, Mom” said he, finishing his tea. He didn’t sound at all thrilled or happy about the prospect of enforced sobriety.

“Good, Sunny. Now, let’s get this show on the road.” And with that, the mare magicked over some stationery and a quill.

Daytime

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Thanks to Sayer, MrSing, Nahmala, and La Barata for their help.

Chapter 8: Daytime

The wolf lunged for the throat of the pony soldier, jaws stretched wide. The pony stood there as his foe hurtled towards him. Then, just at the very last second, he ducked out of the way as he shot out his hoof and struck the wolf soldier in the throat. With a squeal of pain, the wolf was pinned to the dusty, rocky, ground, and the pony threw himself on top, clamping down on the airway and kicking the beast viciously in the ribs. Crack. The bones gave way and the wolf writhed, howling in agony, even as it was being strangled. Its gaping jaws stopped snapping for just a second. The pony seized the opportunity to draw his knife, pull back his arm, and stab. The wolf’s eyes widened when it saw the deadly steel. Impact! The blade sank through the tender flesh of the belly. Grunting with exertion, the pony jerked upwards, slitting open the entire abdomen, causing the wolf to almost scream, thrashing like a snake as its life’s blood spilled out onto the hilltop. Pulling out, the pony switched to a reverse grip and swung at the wolf’s throat! The blade went in. The pony pulled the blade outwards, ripping open the throat, unleashing a torrent of spurting red blood that got everywhere; on the ground, on the wolf, on the uniform, and on his face.

Sunny Breeze awoke with a shudder. He rubbed his face with his hooves, trying to physically scrub away the memories and sensations. He could feel the hot, wet, sticky blood on him still, even years after that battle on Hill 20. He felt all the sensations, still heard all the sounds, smelled the rancid odor of death mixed with burnt powder and sweat, tasted his dry, bleeding, cotton mouth, and saw the ghosts every day of his life. Groaning, he forced himself out of bed and looked out at an day. Yawning, he remembered that he had three dates today. The first was with Zecora. The second was with Fluttershy. He’d intended to also meet with Faraday, but she’d had to reschedule. He’d pretty much be meeting them all more or less one day at a time, and Zecora was today Zecora… something about her had seemed off at their meeting. There was something that just made him uneasy and stirred something in the faint reaches of his memory he did not find pleasant. At least Fluttershy wouldn’t be too hard to deal with, hopefully. And thinking of her, he recalled her mangled wing. It reminded him of some injured pegasi from the war, their eyes distant and glazed, knowing that they’d likely never fly well again. However, her eyes had somehow been different, but no less sad.

All that would have to wait until after work. Sunny put on his usual ensemble of Afghneighnka, balaclava, telnyashka, and FAL. The commute was the same as ever and he arrived just in time for the manager and Shades to turn up. Goggles was already there and Keffiyeh would take Telny’s place at the change.

The morning shift was long and boring. Goggles seemed to have learned his lessons from their earlier meetings. Well, he’d mostly gotten better, but at least he put on a good semblance of professionalism this time. Perhaps those extra shifts on monitor duty were doing some good after all. Goggles asked Sunny: “Telny, did you hear about the bank robbery in Clopham?”

Surprised, Sunny jumped and turned to face the other gunpony. “Negative, Goggles. Why? Is there something I ought to know?”

“Well, Clopham is not that far from here, and over the course of recent months, there have been significantly more bandit incidents than usual. Just thought you’d like to know…”

“Thanks for telling me, Goggles. I’ll take that under advisement in case if I see anything suspicious. And speaking of suspicious, those three ponies have been around the bank thrice today and they keep on eyeing us. They were also here last week. The pegasus took a long time to open a checking account, and another one inquired about getting a security job. She claimed to be ex Afghneighnistan Protectorate Army and qualified on the M16. The last one just sits on that park bench over there and stays there all day alternately reading and either writing or drawing.”

“About whom are you speaking?”

“Over by the chestnut tree in front of the fountain.” Sunny pointed with his hoof towards a trio of ponies. One was a pegasus. One was a unicorn. One was an earth pony. They were all easy to spot on account of being more heavily dressed than the weather required, wearing long clothes, sunglasses, and hats. “Have you yet informed Keffiyeh?”

Goggles blinked for a second. Then he understood. “Affirmative; I made the supervisor aware of the trend at my first opportunity.”

“Good. Do the same about this lot. My shift gets ends at midday; I’m going to try something then if they haven’t yet scarpered.”

“Do you mean confront, Telny?”

“Nah, Goggles. I’m just going to have some fun with them.”

“And you mean what, exactly?”

“Just wait and watch. We’ll see if they’re posers or predators.” Telny checked his chamber to ensure that a round was present. Goggles stopped talking. The other stallion could plainly see the slight unsteady nervousness in him, indicating that he was still untested by fire and was not yet properly prepared for his role.

At the appointed time, Keffiyeh arrived. They spoke briefly as Keffiyeh took over the shift from Telny. Now that he was free and not under company shift protocols, Sunny casually began to walk away. The ponies were still there. Smirking, Telny marched right up to them with his FAL already, as it was always whenever he went to work, set to semiautomatic fire with a live round loaded in a ready chamber.

The three ponies took notice of the masked figure dressed to kill rapidly approaching them with a battle rifle in its hooves. Sunny noticed that except for the pegasus, the other two were mares. The gunpony looked them in the eyes, put his gun in ready position, and reared up on his hind legs as he let loose a shout in his thickest Griffon accent. “Nu, scho zhe vy delaete?!”

“Ah beg ya pardon?” Asked the unicorn, slightly taken aback.

Sunny fixed her a cold glare. “I asked: Vat zie hell are you doing?”

“Nothing,” replied all three of them.

The gunpony intentionally motioned with his weapon. “Davaj, tovarisch durak. Then why don’t you go do nothing someplace else? Last week was loitering week, so ve let it go. But…” growled the stallion, “you are vearing theen on our patience, and if you want to avoid unpleasantness, then you leave now.” Their faces blanched. You are understanding us, no? Ponyatno? Da? Nyet?”

“G-Got it,” stuttered the earth pony.

Sunny suddenly became much quieter, growling, “Otlichno. Don’t try anything; I alvays watching you.” He shouting. “Why you still here. I sayed go. Prygaj -- SEJCHAS!” The ponies panicked and bolted. Sunny slung his FAL onto his back and promptly left the scene, struggling not to laugh. He disappeared behind the bank and then stealthed his way back home.

Sunny opened his closet doors and put on a button down shirt and a pair of slacks before capping it all off with his broad-brimmed panama hat. Since he was going into the Everfree, bringing a gun along certainly made sense, but it wasn’t worth the hassle it would doubtlessly draw. After brushing his teeth, he went into the kitchen for lunch. He stomach clenched a bit around emptiness. How long had it been since he’d eaten a proper meal? He couldn’t count the days, though it was more likely months or years. He just simply was never in the mood to eat; it all just tasted flat, dull, and uninteresting to him most of the time. He grabbed carrots and poured himself a glass of orange juice. It was over quickly and he did a quick cleaning of the crockery.

On his way out, he looked at the bottle of whiskey. He’d promised his mother that he wouldn’t drink, but all that went through his head was the thought of having to deal with ponies and winning over mares romantically. He took three large gulps of the fiery liquor and then turned to the picture of the zebra stallions. He saluted and sighed with moist eyes, “Ich lasse”. Then he slogged off, slamming the front door behind him.

Sunny looked up at the sun in the midmorning sky. He knew that he had to go to the east, to where he was told that Zecora’s hut was located. He’d heard about it from conversations with Pinkie Pie – that it was a really kooky but okay place. It would’ve been helpful last week if he’d been told that there was a dirt track leading to it so that he wouldn’t have spent several days stalking through the Everfree Forest.

The trek down to and through Ponyville was pleasant enough. His hooves clopped pleasantly against the dirt, gravel, and cobblestones which shone in the golden sunlight. A few ponies even waved greetings at him. Despite his good mood, he was too tense to speak, and so just gave an affirmative hummed hmm-hmh back and nodded as he trotted past. Birds sang in the tepid spring air, feathers ruffling comfortably in the frequent warm, pleasant, gusts of wind. In that moment, Sunny’s mouth tipped up and he gained an extra spring in his step with a tingling in his body and brain from the alcohol. The world was smiling at him, and for once, he was smiling back.

His good mood remained unbroken as he reached the edge of the woods. For the first leg of the journey, he gradually slowed from a jaunty trot to a purposeful stride in which he was keenly aware of all his surroundings. The forest was a dangerous environment, and as such, it was no different from any other unsafe place. Sunny’s body was a bit more unsteady than desirable, and his brain felt wrapped in a fuzzy haze. Despite his intoxication, he slipped into vigilance mode without incident, for it was so practiced as to be his default way of being.

The sunlight bled through the forest canopy in golden, ethereal shafts. The path was smooth and unobtrusively colored compared to its surroundings, and also being fairly clear of rocks, roots, moss, and undergrowth, which meant that it had to be a fairly recent development and not too heavily frequented. It was almost intimate; a private way used almost exclusively by very few.

Sunny continued to walk for a while. As he pressed deeper into the darkness of the forest, the darkness of the forest pressed deeper into him. The familiar tightness in his chest returned as he thought about Zecora. Their encounter in his apartment had been their first and only meeting. Sure, she had seemed nice enough there with everypony watching, but how would she behave once they were alone together without witnesses? Zebras weren’t inherently untrustworthy, and Sunny knew that from direct experience. After all, many of his comrades and friends had been zebras. The natives of Zebricy hadn’t been stupid, cruel, or backwards – just different from him in some respects. Klee, Haye’s wife, was a Zebra and one of the few individuals Sunny really trusted. Of course, she was a Flachland Zebra from the cosmopolitan plains of the Bundesland. Zecora seemed odd, in a way that reminded him of the Gebergszug Zebras of Chechneya, a mountainous tribal region, whom had often made numerous attempts on his life, and killed many of his friends. If she was a Chechneyan, then he’d just have to adapt as the situation evolved. He could take her in a fight without question.

As the stallion advanced, the smells of charcoal, mulch, and flowers met his nostrils. There was only one explanation, and it looked like an unusually wide shaft of light; easily big enough to mark a clearing in the thick woods. Sunny approached it cautiously and surveyed the scene while taking cover behind a shrub. Surely enough, it was a clearing with a house in the middle, if one could call it a house. It was more like what would happen if a tree tried to disguise itself as a domicile. There was a stoop, some front steps, a door left ajar, and some windows, two of which were lit with a yellow glow, making them look uncannily like hungry eyes framing a mouth. The thing looked unusually bulbous and gnarly, like a poor carving of an octopus.

Sunny stepped into the clearing, squinting slightly in the bright light. In this moment, he was glad for the alcohol keeping his nerves down. He paused at the threshold, about to knock on the door, though he could have simply squeezed through easily enough. Zebricans generally didn’t mind company just wandering in when they left their doors open; they had a remarkable openness about them and did not believe in habitually closing and locking doors, only doing so for serious reasons. He could definitely hear activity coming from the interior. Second thoughts swirled around his mind. He then remembered that he had a date and was loathe to renege on his promise. Besides, it wasn’t as if he was asking around for wanted insurgents in Grazny. Clop clop. Sunny knocked twice on the door and stood on the unopened side just in case. It was something he had learned to do in Afghneighnistan, and the habit was so deeeply ingrained that he had to make conscious efforts to not do it.

Seconds passed with only the sound of quickened activity. A musical voice came from somewhere inside the dwelling. “Greetings, guest -- good day. Come inside my home, you may.” Sunny opened the door just a little bit and complied. His senses were immediately hit with a distinct sense of otherness. His eyes perceived a welcoming, if provincial, main room with a steaming black cauldron in the middle and tribal decorations, such as a dream catcher, weavings, and two masks, adorning the single round wall. He instantly smelled that indescribable yet infuriatingly familiar musty, primal, calming, scent endemic to such places. He felt modest but not stifling warmth in the humid air, which carried the ghost of some nameless flavours. He heard the crackle and bubble of the cauldron fire and its contents, the metallic soprano jingling of the door and wind chimes, and the sound of something heavy being put on a shelf out of sight followed by approaching hoofsteps.

Zecora appeared around a corner, wearing only the same rings and ornaments as she had at their last meeting. Her mane was still done up in that distinctive mohawk style as before. “Hello,” said Sunny.

The mare looked him up and down as she answered, “It is a good day for me, and good day to you, Sunny.” Conversing with her wasn’t half bad, or hard at all. He could do this!

“Good to hear that Zecora. What are you doing?”

“I am going into that garden of mine to harvest blossoms of columbine.”

Sunny blurted out, “For a potion, right?”

Zecora nodded, approaching him with two small baskets. “Indeed, for I have a client in need.” They stepped out the front door and the zebra led the pony into the garden. It was surprisingly large, sprawling over at least two acres. And it wasn’t just filled with decorative and medicinal plants either; much of it was filled with vegetables and fruits.

The stallion’s eyes widened as he took it all in. “Your garden is quite impressive,” he said. “I had no idea that the forest had clearings this big, let alone any gardens. I thought that you gathered wild things out in the Everfree.”

At this, Zecora stopped, turned to lock eyes with Sunny, put a basket on the ground, and smiled. “Your flattery is sweet, but please help me this task complete. It will be done sooner with two instead of one, and though my plants are many, please do not eat any.” Sunny blushed as he magically levitated the basket and followed along behind her. He blushed a deeper pink as he got an eyeful of her voluptuous plot and shapely legs walking and bouncing with a slight rhythmic, almost deliberate, sashay previously absent.

Seeking to distract himself, Sunny looked elsewhere in the garden. Their narrow path was flanked by roses on the left and sunflowers on the right. The way twisted and turned at the corners of the beds, which were all arranged in a grid pattern. “Say, Zecora?” inquired Sunny.

“Yes?”

“Who did the surveying and planning for you? I mean, this is seriously good work.”

“All this work was done alone; a lady’s garden is her own.” Zecora’s tail twitched. “Thank you, Sunny, but did you come for my garden or for me.” She pronounced the last five words with just a faint hint of annoyance. Sunny’s ears drooped. Damn his inebriated loquacity!

“Sorry. I got a bit carried away.”

“I can understand, being surrounded by the unfamiliar plants of a foreign land.”

“It’s all quite impressive, really.”

“Please keep your wits about you.” Zecora stopped, turned ninety degrees to the right, and sat down. “We now have work to do.” Sunny did the same, but kept his distance. He watched the mare use her hooves to smartly twist and separate the mature and wilted blooms from the stalks before gently laying them in the basket. She left the buds, immature flowers, stems, and leaves untouched.

Sunny did his best to keep up with Zecora, but he very rapidly fell behind. She collected three blossoms in the time it took him to get one. He almost watched spellbound as she worked so quickly and efficiently, never missing a beat, never making a mistake, and never seeming to give the task anything more than minimal effort while his own motions were so clunky and uncoordinated.

In a bid to make conversation, he asked, “What do you do?”

“You might not have guessed this, but I am an herbalist. From plants, I collect natural remedies and use them to make healthy bodies.”

“So you’re pretty much a doctor,” said he, twisting off a red and white blossom from its stem.

“No, I am not a doctor trained in sciences and reasons. I am a shaman steeped in the wisdom of many seasons. I know the ways of my ancestors to heal the sick. Our methods are ancient and heuristic. Magic is not something I do. I wish to know about you.” Sunny sighed as he placed a blue and lilac flower on his modest pile. “If you do not want me to know, then you can just say so. However, do not attempt to deceive, for through it I always perceive. I shall not forgive that so long as I live. You trust that I make no dishonest claim, and I expect you do the same.” Crap, he’d forgotten just how seriously Zebricans took dishonesty, though it wasn’t entirely unforgivable. At least they didn’t believe in lie by omission. He had to pick his words with utmost care.

“I work at the bank. That’s all I’m willing to say.” He looked over at her flank and saw the tattoo on it. It was a stylized sun drawn as a spiral with triangles surrounding it. Sunny froze. A dreadful question was forming in his mind and threatening to jump from his tongue. That tense feeling he had, had returned fully. Alcohol; he wanted alcohol to silence his brain and stop the flow of memories. He was trying to suppress it all when Zecora caught him staring at her.

“Are you alright? You seem to have quite a fright.”

He nodded exaggeratedly. “Uh, yeah, I- I’m fine. Just a little spaced out is all.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “Are you sure? If you have a problem, I’ll give you a cure. But do not lie; I will know it, so don’t even try. Why is your face so white? Do I offend your sight?”

Sunny was trapped in an impossible situation with no good solution. He couldn’t lie his way out without losing her forever. If he told her the truth, then she’d almost certainly hate him for who he was and what he did. If he said nothing, or just ran away, then she’d never stop asking, and think that he was really weird, if not a racist. He swallowed and braced himself. “Zecora, please do not take offense, but are you from Chechneya?”

“I am Chechneyan, ‘tis true. But of what concern is it to you?”

Sunny almost physically recoiled. His mind felt like it had hurtled over a cliff. “I…” Words failed. “I don’t want to talk about it.” He looked away and resumed picking flowers with more force than necessary.

“Very well; I shall not force you to tell.”

Heaving a massive sigh relief, Sunny, in an effort to keep the conversation going, replied, “By the way, I’m from Baltimare.”

“Baltimare you say -- that port city of decay?

He laughed nervously, scratching his scalp with his hoof. “Yeah, that one. It wasn’t all that bad. It’s surprisingly easy to get used to armed robberies, gang clashes, and the odd bullet sailing through your living rom.” Zecora gave him a skeptical look. “I was being sarcastic.” She relaxed and cracked a smile, not hearing him quietly mutter, “But not that sarcastic.” He did his best to regain composure. “So, what about you?”

“I am from a small village, Kamyshev, by name -- a place beholden to much fame.”

Sunny was finding it difficult to talk. In truth, he wanted to run away and drink. He had to get away from here, from this place, this zebra, and this conversation that was dragging so many memories to the surface that he didn’t want to recall. But still, he could not simply abandon his task. He swallowed. “Can you tell me more about Kamyshev, Zecora?” He mentally had to clamp down on his body to stay in control.

“Certainly I will tell you an ode about my youthful abode.” Her eyes lit up slightly. “Kamyshev is an old place among the Zebra race. The old ways are still alive, and along the alpine waters we thrive. We have a great river, and between it and the lake, no water is clearer. Kamyshev is almost an island in the lake, connected by a stone bridge of ancient make. For three thousand years, our race has inhabited that place.”

Curiosity distracted the pony. “Wait, really? It was already old when the diarchs were young?”

Zecora paused briefly to look into Sunny’s dilated eyes. “It is true; I do not deceive you. In fact, some of our legends spoke of the arrival of you pony folk.” She turned back to work, but moved more slowly than before.

“May I hear one, please?” Sunny asked.

The zebra mare nodded and hummed. “Alright. Thank you for being more polite. But now this work is done, so come with me, little one.” Sunny swore that he saw the faintest hint of a smile tug at the corners of her mouth, even though he inwardly groaned when she called him little one. At least so long as they were moving and talking, he’d have other things to focus on than being in close proximity to a Chechneyan in a high pressure social situation which required a firm grasp of nuance; things which didn’t do his condition any favors. He saw that her basket was positively overflowing.

“May I help you with that? I can levitate both of ours and hold them steady no problem.

“Thank you, Breeze. Your kindness doth me please.” They stood up, with him levitating both of their baskets with magic, careful to avoid spilling any of the beautiful multicolored columbine flowers. It was not until the walk back to her hut that Sunny noticed that his body and steps were neither tremulous nor drunkenly sloppy. Zecora’s own strides had just a little bit more of that delicious sashay to them than before; too much to be accidental, but not enough to be clearly advertising anything, assuming that Sunny’s memory about zebra mares was accurate.

Zecora was significantly, although not massively bigger than Sunny, being roughly average size for zebras, which were typically larger than ponies. Klee dwarfed Haye, who was a fairly big pony himself. She was just massive; maybe even bigger than Big Macintosh. The walk back to Zecora’s home was pleasant, with her humming a jaunty tune as they went along. Even the birds and winds seemed as if they conspired to make the situation as comfortable as possible, which did help to calm Sunny’s mind. Unfortunately, it was over all too quickly, and they found themselves back in the house. The zebra motioned for the pony to take a seat while she fetched her mortar and pestle to grind up the blossoms. The mare first began to pulverize the columbine before she spoke, even though as she recited the tale, which was more like a rap or chant than either speech or a song, her hooves beat against the ground in a rhythmic, tribal beat similar to the manner in which Canterlot bards of antiquity would clop their hooves and play their lutes as they sang their lays. Sunny sat spellbound and absorbed every word.

“The elders spoke of a lime long ago when there were no pony folk. They say that yes, there was a foal named Kves. Kves was colt, who though a true striped zebra born, had wings and a horn, and his mane was long, straight, and did shine as if the hairs were crystalline. The shaman prophesied that he would herald the arrival of a strange breed from a far off land unknown to the band. After he became a stallion mature, the land was gripped in a strange winter. Starvation seemed near, and the village was gripped with fear. Kves swore to appease the spirits offended so that the freeze would be ended. After a long journey across the land, atop the holy black mountain he did stand. He was told that windigos were responsible for the snows, and to scatter the clouds above, he had to fill a heart with love.”

Zecora stopped her grinding and placed the mortar and pestle down next to her. Drawing a deep breath, she continued, “His love would have no stripes, and have colors of two different types. And so off Kves went, to find this mare for whom he was meant. He searched high and low, far and close, but in vain, until he found her on a frozen plain. They courted and an end in the snow was reported. A messenger was sent to find where Kves went. He came back alone and his offer of return denied, for Kves planned to make the stranger his bride. He inquired of her what must be done before they could become one. She, named Atriy, asked for a gem sublime to represent their love for all of time. Deep in a cave beneath a lonely lake, Kves found a massive drake. The two did fight, for two hundred days and one more night. With a might final blow, through the dragon did his blade go. And thus to bring back the gen he swore, he cut out the dragon’s core. It was a sight scant seen, a heart of flawless aquamarine.”

Zecora stopped again to catch her breath. Sunny was completely silent and fixed on her, even smiling slightly. She continued, “When he showed it to her, she said that this perfect crystal heart meant they would never be apart. The glow of their love appeased the spirits above. That warmth melted the tundra snow and allowed Atriy’s folk to grow. She and he soon created a family, with two fillies given astral names, with large bodies, horns, wings, and gossamer manes. So you see, that is how you pony folk came to be.” She concluded her tale by crossing her forelegs.

“Impressive and fascinating – thank you,” said Sunny. “Unfortunately, I have no such stories I care to tell. Just one question: does the term, Equestria, come from a portmanteau of Kves and Atriy?”

“Fear not of offending me. I merely recounted our history. I do not know if Kves and his mate are the origin of the Equestrian state.” They conversed some more after this, but the sun was getting low in the sky and Sunny knew that he would soon need to meet Fluttershy.

He yawned and stretched. “Thank you for the hospitality, Zecora. It’s lovely getting to know yo, but now I must go. It’s getting late and I have things to do.”

She nodded. “Sunny, I must say that you made this a good day. In the future, feel free to come see me. Unless it’s the middle of night, it’ll be alright.”

“Got it,” said he. “I’ll be off then. Auf Wiedersehen,” he said as he stood up.

“Wait.” That wasn’t a request; it was an order. He stood still and looked at the mare as she approached him. That damned anxiety came back with a vengeance. “My friend, I would say that we are closer than auf Wiedersehen. Tchuss is much better for our use then.” Zecora was close now. Sunny didn’t know what to do. He tensed. Suddenly, the Chechneyan reared up and he flinched, awaiting the blows that would inevitably come. To his surprise, something warm curled around his shoulders and neck. He felt the tickle of warm breath on his ear. “Relax,” half soothed and half chucked Zecora to the stallion. “With me, you never have to fear attacks. I have never for violence wished; I am a pacifist.” The stallion made a face for a moment before he let out a long whistling sigh and snaked his legs around the mare. “Well, take care. You are needed elsewhere.” She released him and he walked out the front door, thanking her once more.

Sunny trudged alongthe forest path, singing Soldatushki to raise his spirits like he had done on the wagon after the Spring Equinox Festival, for meeting Zecora had taken a lot out of him. His voice was raucous and coarse, as if a few rocks had gotten into it. “Soldatushki, bravy rebyatushki, gde zhe vasha slava? Soldiers, brave guys, where is your honor?” This chorus repeated after he sang a new verse, some learned, and some of his own invention. The leaves crunched pleasantly underneath his hooves and Sunny presently found himself trotting up the hill to Fluttershy’s house at the edge of town.

His first impressions of her cottage were nostalgically rustic, as if it belonged to a simpler time of days past, made all the more endearing by the fading light of the sunset silhouetting it against the dark forest on one side and the amber plains on the other. Sunny drew himself up and knocked solidly on the door. Clop clop. After several minutes, the door opened just a tiny crack.

Sunny could just barely make out Fluttershy, but from what he could see, her mane was slightly disheveled and her eyes looked anywhere but at him. “Hello?”

“Um… hi, Sunny…” The words were so soft that for a moment, he didn’t realize that they’d been spoken. Sunny’s smile faltered. He kicked out nervously with his front hoof.

“Sorry, is this a bad time?”

Fluttershy coughed. “No… it’s just that… I don’t feel well today.” She rasped every word and then shook her head. “Could you come back later if it’s okay with you?” The pegasus began to withdraw and turn. Sunny glimpsed an ice pack on her bad wing. His ears drooped slightly.

Sunny nodded. “Of course. Just focus on healing. See you then.” He turned and walked away. He could have sworn that he heard a squeak that sounded suspiciously like thanks just before the door.

It was dark when he got home. His mother was idly flipping through a handicrafts magazine in the living room. Without delay, she turned to him and asked, “How did you make out?”

Taking a seat on the couch, Sunny answered, “Work was fine. Zecora threw me for a loop. It turns out that she’s Chechneyan, which is not going to be easy to ignore. Fluttershy was a waste of time, though she is getting more interesting every time I see her, especially that wing of hers.”

“Just focus on Zecora for now. Did you like her?” Sunny nodded. Ginny continued, “That’s all I asked. Did you get a second date?”

Sunny blushed a little. “Well, sorta. She told me that I could come over pretty much anytime.” He then proceeded to fill her in on a rough outline of what had happened. She listened to the whole story, nodding her head and making occasional mm’s and hmm’s.

“That’s nice. Now, can you at least try to get over the past?”

The stallion froze. The gears in his head whirred madly like little buzzing bees. His voice didn’t sound confident at all. “I don’t know. I really just do not know if I can. You’re asking me to drag up to the past while putting myself in really high pressure social situations.” He paused, took a deep breath, and asked her, “So, how was your day?”

“Nothing special,” replied she. “Though you did wake me up when you slammed the door this morning.”

“Sorry.”

“Remember that you’re not the only pony living here. So, I went down to the spa and got pampered. I ran into Rainbow Dash, and she’s looking forward to seeing you again.” Sunny startled at the name, suddenly sitting bolt upright. His mother’s eyes took it in, but she made no comment. “Anyway, she doesn’t like ponies touching her hooves, although she loves having the space between her wings rubbed.” Ginny winked. Sunny was completely unfazed by her comments now that the conversation was in private. She had always made raunchy comments, and so had he before the war. The two of them spoke for a while until Sunny yawned. “Tired, Sunny?”

“Yeah, mom. It’s been a tough day. I should probably go to bed; I have work in the morning.”

“Well, goodnight.”

“Gute Nacht, Mutter.” Sunny stalked off to his room and locked himself inside. He slowly took off his clothes and threw them on the floor. He grabbed his AK-74 from the closet and held it close to his body as if it were a teddy bear. After the first good day in quite a while, Sunny Breeze fell asleep quickly and easily without a drop of alcohol in his system.

Bank

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Chapter 9: Bank

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The pony soldier struck his opponent one last time. The wolf squealed as a hoof slammed down on its throat, crushing the trachea. The stallion left it there to die as it thrashed unable to breathe. Exhausted, he slumped into a kneeling position to catch his breath, but only for a few moments. He stood back up, unsteadily and wearily. Everything about him was askew and disheveled from the past three brutal days of fighting; he looked like hell. He walked over to a fallen wolf which had an AK-74 stuck into its belly by the bayonet. It was with great difficulty that he pulled it out. Next, the soldier began to walk across the desolate desert hilltop, thick with dead bodies and the dust stained red with blood, picking up ammunition as he went. He made his way into a dugout area surrounded by sandbags and covered in a tarp. Inside, he walked over to a desk with a radio on it and kicked the dead communications officer off the chair. The stallion put on the headphones and hailed command, only keeping calm with great difficulty, hoping to get reinforcements and evacuation.

“Zentral-Kommando, dies ist Berg Zwanzig. Wir haben übergelebt, aber wir haben vielen Verlusten aufgenommen. Wir bitten Evakuierun um sich schicken Verstärken sofort – ist est einen Metzgerei. Hören Sie uns?”

Confused, command responded, “Was war das, Berg zwanzig? Was passiert? Das Signal ist zu schwach, um zu verstehen. Beantworte, bitte.” Static began to seep into the transmission, and the soldier swore that the sky suddenly started to darken.

The pony lost patience and shouted into the growing static, “It’s over; der Kampf ist fertig! We’ve won, but at a very high price. Vielen Soldaten haben gestorben. Evakuieren Sie uns – get us out of here and send reinforcements! Jeztz- Sejchas- Now!”

“Verstanden, Zwanzig, aber wir nicht dürfen weil-” The signal went dead and static exploded into the headset, causing the startled pony to fall backwards. He looked up and saw that the sky really had grown much darker in the past minute. Help was not coming. He was all alone. A sense of dread was filling him and he heard deep, slow drumbeats loud as thunderclaps echo from the darkening sky. DOOM… BOOM… DOOM…. BOOM… DOOM…. BOOM…

Sunny Breeze awoke in a cold sweat, hugging his AK-74 tightly against his chest. He lay in bed for several long minutes, forcing himself to calm down. His hyper vigillance and anxiety were cranked sky high; he was so on edge that hearing a single footstep in the hall outside would make him dive for cover and empty his magazine at the noise. He needed a drink more than ever now. Things hadn’t been so bad in almost a year. Damn Hill Twenty! For how long would it and its nightmares haunt him? It was years ago, but still here he was, almost as freaked out as the day those memories were violently scarred into his mind forever.

Afghneighnistan, Zebricy, and Chechneya… why did they still haunt him so? Of course, the upcoming anniversaries of both Hill 20 and Grazny weren’t helping. Learning that Zecora was Chechneyan made him tremble and sweat with remembered anxiety. If only he could make it through the next couple of weeks, then the anniversaries, and a certain share of the nightmares, would be behind him again, and he could go back to pretending that everything was fine – that he was just an ordinary unicorn stallion living in Ponyville.

Sunny got up and stealthily walked into the living room. He sought his bottle of whiskey and its blessed ability to quiet his mind. His mother would not approve, but he could not care anymore. Surely she could understand how in his situation, it would be inhumane to deny him his only pleasure? Several chugs went down his throat; he didn’t even bother with glasses or trying to estimate how much he drank. He only knew that he wanted a lot. He put down the bottle and looked over at the picture of the four zebra stallions. Oh how lucky there were that they didn’t have to go through this. How lucky they were that they never had to see their comrade so pathetic. Okay, perhaps that was not exactly the right way to think about it, but Sunny was not in the mood for contemplation as he returned to bed. He’d need to be at work in four hours. Maybe it wasn’t such a hot idea to get drunk at two in the morning!

The alcohol came into his system, seemingly all at once with a sort of falling sensation. He felt calmer – good. Unfortunately, aside from the warm fuzzy feeling in his chest and buzzing in his head, he felt awful. The pain in his heart didn’t go away. In fact, it got worse the more alcohol flooded his system. He’d read somewhere that alcohol made the highs higher and the lows lower, and he was having quite a low when he’d gone on the binge. The world started to spin and he felt nauseous. In search of relief, he staggered over to the bathroom, turned the lights on, and began to take a bath, for he was too drunk to stand in the slippery tub.

Sunny tried to bathe himself, but found the soap to be too slippery for him to grip with his hooves. It took a few awkward attempts to get it off the little shelf, and he almost immediately lost it when he tried to scrub his foreleg. The stallion noisily sloshed about in the tub, trying to find it. He touched it a few times, but never could get a grip on it. The churning motions and hot bath did little to help settle his stomach, and he felt himself fighting the urge to puke. At least it was easier to apply liquid shampoo, so he clumsily adapted it as makeshift body wash. It wasn’t like anypony could tell the difference between that and soap.

Sunny stomach gave him no peace, nor did his heart. He completely submerged himself under the water in a vain effort to distract himself, and because it was easier than remaining upright. He played noisily with the water, splashing about like an overgrown foal. Regardless, he still felt like crap. He couldn’t remember why, because the alcohol clouded that particular part of his mind and left him with only enough clarity to focus on his misery. Still, there was some comfort in that it felt less real, so he could pretend that it really wasn’t happening to him. It could all be a bad dream that’d go away when he finally woke up. However, the nausea was definitely all too real -- too much booze. His stomach clenched. He felt the sickness in his throat. Sunny held perfectly still, hoping that it’d go away. He retched and heaved dryly.

Sunny drunkenly slid himself over to the toilet bowl and grabbed the seat. He tried to stand up and cross the gap between tub and toilet, only to fall between them and bang his head on the side. He heaved again, his jaws involuntarily spread open. With a final effort, he yanked himself into position and shut his eyes. He heaved thrice more, emptying out the vile-tasting content of his empty stomach, releasing only a few tears and some disgusting fluids in an attempt to rid itself of the alcohol coursing through his blood. It stopped and Sunny spat, trying to get the horrid taste off his tongue. At last spent, he slipped off the seat and landed on his side. There he stayed, too spent and miserable to move as a few tears slid down his face.

Footsteps sounded in the apartment. They rapidly approached the impassive stallion. The door to the bathroom opened and Sunny saw his mother at the edge of his vision. He couldn’t see her face, but heard every word she said. “Drunk again?” Her voice was thick with disappointment. In that moment, Sunny wished he could disappear. “You have work in a couple hours. Is this any way for a grown stallion to act?” Now that she had reprimanded him, she could just leave him there. “You don’t have to say anything. Just think about it.” The mare approached him and huffed at the stench. He heard the toilet flushing. Sunny shut his eyes. He heard the sound of running water. “Let’s get you cleaned up.” Gentle, careful strokes with a wet washcloth rubbed his fur. Ginny wasn’t too soft, as some strokes were uncomfortably hard, but she wasn’t harsh or rough. Sunny relaxed, almost enjoying this. He felt affection for his mother. For all of her nagging and brusqueness, Ginny was still his mom and she still cared enough to look out for him, in spite of everything he’d done and all the ways he’d let her down. After a few minutes, the impromptu rubdown was done. He heard the sound of running water again, but not the sound of it hitting the ceramic sink. He was beginning to sober up a little, but still properly couldn’t grasp what it meant.

Splash! A big ball of cold water hit him in the face. “Blyad’!” Sunny cried out in shock.

“Come on, Sunny. Get up and go to bed.” He stood up shakily. Ginny helped him balance and walked him to his room.

He collapsed onto his bed. “Thanks, Mom,” he said.

“You’re welcome, Sunny. We’ll talk about this later. You’ve got a couple hours before work, so try to rest.” And with that, she left and closed the door. Sunny was unable to sleep. He was sleep-deprived, sobering up, hungry, and still miserable. However, he felt better than before because for the first time, he realized that somepony really did care about him. That feeling of connection had been absent from him for so many years, he’d even forgotten its very existence. It didn’t change anything or how he felt, but it made everything just that teensy bit more bearable, because he knew that he didn’t have to face his problems alone.

Sunny got up for work as usual, but this time grabbed his AK-74. When he left, he did his usual salute to the picture of the four zebra stallions just a bit more gravely and with more dignity than usual. “Ich lasse…” The stallion still felt the effects of alcohol in his system. One of them was a horrible thirst. Fortunately, he didn’t have a hangover, although he was more tired than usual. Of course, like any good soldier, he ignored his problems and focused on the task at hand. He couldn’t suppress a wry smile. Golden sunlight lit them warmly and songbirds provided a pleasant background melody. The glorious morning would have made anypony feel better. To his surprise, he got to the bank first. It took a good quarter of an hour before Keffiyeh arrived with his G3. He waved hello to his friend. “You’re late,” joked Sunny.

“You’re drunk,” shot back Haye. “You look like hell. Rough night?”

“Y-yeah,” replied Sunny, glad that his friend could not see his ashamed blush though his balaclava.

“Is something the matter?” They both stood on their hind legs, holding their guns in front of them and looked out past the hedges.

“Just the usual, Keffiyeh -- woke up early and too much booze. It’s that time of year; the anniversary of Hill 20 is coming up…” Sunny tightened his grip on the rifle.

Haye gave him a concerned look. “Are you having nightmares?”

“I can hardly sleep without reliving things,” Sunny growled, suddenly angry without even knowing why. “If it’s not Hill Twenty, then it’s Grazny. If it’s not Grazny, then it’s Chechneya. If it’s not Chechneya, then it’s Zebricy. If it’s not Zebricy, then it’s Afghneighnistan. Even single time I close my eyes, I’m back there all over again! Sometimes, I don’t even have to be dreaming for it to happen. I mean, I’m here. Then I blink and suddenly, I’m in Klopdagar!” He stamped his hoof angrilyf.

“Chill, dude.” Haye looked at Sunny. The stallion had always been small, even when they’d first met as teenage colts. However, Sunny had always been more muscular than one would expect for ponies of his size. However, since the war ended, he seemed to shrink as if wasting away. Haye now realized that Sunny’s uniform was looking too large on him. “Sunny, have you been eating well? You look a bit too thin.”

Sunny turned and looked at him. “I guess…” He absentmindedly pawed the ground. “I don’t eat very much because I don’t really feel hungry all that often. I’m not anorexic, okay!?”

Haye resisted the urge to laugh it off and pretend it was a joke, but realized that given his friend’s state of mind, it was a bad idea. Instead, he coolly replied, “Never said you were, bro.” Sunny relaxed slightly. They went through the usual procedures as the manager and employees arrived. They greeted Goggles as he came through with his Sterling. They resumed their conversation afterwards.

“Haye, I’m sorry I snapped at you,” said Sunny.

Haye batted his hoof playfully. “It’s okay.”

“I didn’t mean to; I just felt really angry for some reason and lashed out without thinking.”

“Don’t sweat it, really. It’s cool.” They were silent for several minutes. “Anyway, I was thinking that since we don’t really see each other all that much outside of work, that maybe you’d like to come by my house tomorrow for dinner.”

“Is it alright with Klee? I mean, I don’t want to impose or make her cook extra.”

“My wife’s fine with it,” he lied. He felt guilty about dragging her into it with no warning. “Besides, we enjoy your company.”

Sunny’s eyes dilated and his ears perked up. “Really?”

“Yeah,” reassured Haye, nodding vigorously. That much was true.

“Are you sure that it’s not too much trouble to have me over?”

“It’s okay. We’ve got food to spare. Besides, I hate leftovers and she loves to cook.”

“Wish I could get a mare to cook for me…”

“Isn’t your mom in town?”

“Heh. You know what I mean.”

“Still counts.”

“I still wish I could get a mare, period.”

“It’ll happen one day.”

Sunny sighed. “It’d be nice to get an E.T.A. of some sort on that ‘one day’. It’s lonely being a single stallion.”

“I know what you mean, Sunny.” His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “You know, my first time was at a brothel in Zebricy. It’s cool if you buy a mare. I’ll even help you with that.”

The younger stallion smirked. “Is Klee still in the business?” Sunny joked.

His friend chuckled slightly. “Not really,” Haye said. “She’s never really retired, but she doesn’t do it very much anymore. She makes a bit of money by doing odd jobs like sewing, cooking, cleaning, tutoring, gardening, babysitting, massaging, and escorting, even though that’s maybe only once in a blue moon. She’ll buy a small ad in the local paper every once in a while. She takes on clients who ask, even when it’s been a long time since she last advertised.”

Sunny watched and listened, not fully believing what his friend was telling him. “You mean that you let your wife do that kind of stuff, and you even advertise it?” Equestrian society was far from prudish or puritanical. Liberal sexual mores were the norm, and to some extent, it was close to anything goes. Polygyny, where many mares shared one stallion, was the rule. However, polyandry, where many stallions shared one mare, was far less common and somewhat contentious. After all, such things made perfect sense in a world where a nine to one female to male ratio was considered completely normal. Not that that stopped there from being a not insignificant number of notable moralists and crusaders who fought promiscuity, homosexuality, and the sex industry in the name of protecting the family and decency, and these enjoyed a fair amount of popularity and support in a noticeable minority of the population. Still, Sunny was still naïve and uninitiated to the realities of adult relationships.

Haye shook his head. “Nah, I don’t talk about it much. Klee likes you and probably would do it for free.”

“You can’t be serious -- I wasn’t serious! You’re honestly telling me that it’s okay if I sleep with your wife?”

“Not sleep with, but yeah, I am.”

“I see…”

“Funny how you’re so calm about all this. Last time we discussed this stuff, you wouldn’t stop blushing.”

“Wasn’t being serious then, Haye.”

“I could tell. So, you want to know more about where to go and who to see?”

Sunny nodded. “Sure, why not?”

Keffiyeh began to lay out a list of leads for Sunny. “Rarity’s a drama queen, but she’s also generous, easy, and always repays ponies who help her.” Sunny remembered what Goggles had said about Rarity paying him back with fellatio for fixing her sewing machine. “Pinkie Pie loves a bit of fun and making her friends happy. Rainbow Dash is a good piece of ass. Exie is up for anything if you can either keep her entertained or make it worth her while, but careful; she’s really fast to fall in love and her relationships last as long as lit firecrackers. Cloud Kicker is always up for a one night stand. Berry Punch puts out easy if you buy her a few drinks. Vinyl Scratch likes to party and experiment. Aloe and Lotus run a spa and do massages. The word is that they’ll offer special services to big tippers, faithful regulars, and nice ponies. The Ponyville Almanac has ads on the back pages. Sweet Nights has mares on call. The Heart Hotel on the edge of town is a nice little bordello. Any mare in heat is a sure thing if she’s not taken – just don’t knock her up. Lastly, keep in mind that the mares here outnumber us by like twenty to one. They shouldn’t need much convincing to go with any stallion.” He finished.

“Damn, that’s a lot. How’d you even know all that stuff?”

“I’m a popular stallion and I keep an ear out for things. You should try guarding the interior more. You wouldn’t believe all the stuff that ponies let slip, forgetting that we can hear everything they say.”

Sunny only nodded slightly and responded, “I can only imagine. Thanks for all that, Haye.”

His friend smiled. “Don’t mention it. We’re old war buddies. Of course we help each other out.”

“Absolutely.” No more words were needed. They were silent for a long time. “So, about those ponies who’ve been snooping around, what do you make of them?”

“Hell if I know. Part of me would like to think that they’re just loiterers, but part of me feels that they might be trouble.”

Sunny took a deep breath. “Do you think they’re like take us on and storm the building trouble?”

“I don’t think so, Telnyashka. They’re not all that brave.” Keffiyeh paused. “They didn’t take well to you getting in their faces yesterday.”

Telny laughed, “They nearly pissed themselves when I did that, Keffiyeh.” Keffiyeh chuckled. “They haven’t been back today. Besides, if they were really that bad, then they would probably not even bother with little old Ponyville. It is not as if this town is a very rich target. And with four gunponies, two of whom are experienced combat veterans, a third who is a decorated Aphelion soldier, and a fourth who is Private Pyle, we definitely are not a soft target. It would be suicidal to attempt to take us on.”

“Mm-hmm. Most city banks have fewer gunponies. Of course, they also have ready reinforcements, royal guards, and local police. Most of those guys fall closer to Goggles in terms of skill level.”

Sunny interrupted. “Except in Baltimare. I remember riots when I was growing up. Nopony even dared to look at the banks funny. Some colts tried to loot some stores right next to the bank near where I lived. The guards shot them. On both sides of that sidewalk, nothing even got so much as a broken window. Anyway, as you were saying.”

Haye sighed exasperatedly. “You’re right about how if those guys were really the kind who’d take on armed guards, then they would’ve already done it instead of sitting around all this time. So they aren’t much more than hooligans. They might try something at a kiosk and maybe mug somepony, but they aren’t much more than timid petty thieves, if even that.”

“You think they have anything to do with the increase in b-” Sunny yawned. “Bandit activity?”

“Nah,” replied Haye, making small circle with his shoulders. “There’s no way that they’re in league with bandits. They’d get chewed up and spitted out.”

Sunny raised an eyebrow slightly. “Perhaps they’re more than they appear. I mean, by looking at you, there’s no way that somepony could just automatically tell that you’re a badass veteran.”

“But somepony could definitely know an in instant just by looking at you.”

“Oh, how? Ich verstehe nicht.”

Haye seemed to pause for a moment and he rubbed his chin with his hoof. “You’ve got something about you, Telny, that screams warrior to ponies who know what to look for.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve got a cold, slightly vicious look in your eyes. It’s also a little sad-looking and you seem a bit haunted. You always look disciplined and tough. You’re unflappable. There’s this aura around you that gives ponies the feeling that you’ve seen and done things. You also talk like a soldier; you don’t really do casual talk.”

Sunny seemed rather pleased with himself. “Thank you. I’ll take that under advisement.”

“Exactly! Just that right there.” Haye pointed at him.

Sunny grinned. “Fair enough. So back to our earlier topic: my concerns about the loiterers. I’m not concerned about them being the threat. I’m wondering if they’re just doing recon for some real tough guys.” Haye did have to admit that Sunny always had been the one with the better instincts and deductive reasoning. He could take little bits of information from different events, piece them together, and reach very sound logical conclusions. Therefore, if Sunny said that something seemed fishy, or if there was something to take into account, then it was usually prudent to pay heed to him.

“Go on.”

“They seemed to operate in a group and they kept on coming to the same spot day after day, rain or shine, and stayed all day long. If they were residents, then they’d be preoccupied with other things. If they were tourists, then they wouldn’t be behaving like that. If they were punks, then they had really strange habits. Also, one of them tried to apply for a job as a security guard, claiming to have been in Afghneighnistan and being able to prove it. I don’t know if he really has those credentials, but he definitely has the accent. Anyway, military service isn’t something you lie about, especially to a potential employer, especially if you are offering to give proof of it. Maybe they’re just weird. Maybe I’m being paranoid. Maybe there is something going on. I hope that it’s just me.”

“Now you’ve told me those things, Sunny, I’m not so sure that they’re all that harmless. However, we can’t just go and grab ponies on the suspicion that they might be shady and possibly working to supply information to bandits who may or may not exist, and who might or might not even be targeting Ponyville.”

“Is it worth doing some things to improve security, such as practice emergency drills, run patrols, or organize a tactical clinic?

“Sunny,” Haye began. “I’m the Ponyville outfit’s captain. I don’t set training schedules for the pencil pushers. You know that I don’t do patrols for two reasons. Firstly because we only have four guys, and second, because command would never allow us in the Everfree. As much as I’d love to arrange a training session, remember that Ponyville is a backwater hick town and there aren’t any facilities for shooting, let alone anything tactical. You can’t buy anything gun-related here because nopony sells anything gun-related. Also, being in a backwater, we hardly get any money or equipment allocated to us. They only give us barely enough ammo and targets for yearly qualifications. Besides, while we’re gone, who’s going to cover for us?

Sunny grinned mischievously. “I understand, but can’t we just shoot them, just in case?”

“No, we can’t just shoot them to be on the safe side, either.” Sunny’s shoulders drooped. Haye gave him a deadly serious look. “Sunny, you know if you keep saying things like that, one of these days, somepony’s going to hear and think you’re serious. You’ll be in deep trouble then, and it’ll be the word of a respectable citizen of Ponyville versus the word of a mercenary turned reclusive alcoholic gunpony. You’ll be exposed and forced to relocate with a big black star next to your name. Now imagine that there is an incident and you’re involved. There’ll be an investigation. Even if it’s a completely open and shut case and you’re totally in the right, it’s still going to come out that you regularly expressed violent, if not homicidal sentiments over a long period of time, which his going to cast a lot of doubt on you. Sure, you may keep your job, but everypony’s going to be watching you like a hawk, and nopony’s going to be willing to trust you, let alone promote or recommend you. They might just get rid of you to appease the lawyers. If an incident happens and it’s ambiguous, or it looks bad, then it’s not going to do you any favors. If it goes poorly enough, then you might find yourself facing murder charges.”

“Okay okay, I got it. No more joking about stuff like that.”

“I’m serious, Sunny. I’m keeping my mouth shut about this stuff because I’m your friend and I know you. Have Shades or Goggles ever heard anything from you, or seen you do anything unprofessional?”

“Negative, Haye. However, they both heard me tell off drunken ponies on the night of the Spring Equinox Festival. I raised my weapon then, but I did not fire and neither of them saw me with my weapon raised. I did not inform them about that and no incident report was filed. Also, yesterday, Goggles saw me approach and tell off the loiterers.”

Haye heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank Celestia you have at least some discretion.” The conversation died. There were too many hours still left to go.

Sunny asked, “Keffiyeh, what do you think about Goggles?”

“In terms of what?”

“In terms of how prepared and skilled he is as a fighter.”

Haye didn’t even hesitate. “Goggles’ mediocre. He’s gotten better since the equinox, but he’s got a long way to go.”

“I noticed that he definitely improved somewhat after you put him on monitor duty for a while. It seems like maybe he’s taking it seriously. Perhaps he’s practicing?”

“Doubt it; he isn’t confident about his ability to win in a shootout.”

Sunny scratched and itch. “Ja, und?”

“He passed all his qualifications, always setting the curve on marksmanship. However, he folds under pressure, especially in dynamic situations.”

“So he’s not very good, tactically speaking?”

“Exactly,” spat Haye.

“Can we do anything to train him?” He stopped Haye from cutting him off. “I know we can’t do a proper class, but is there anything against teaching him ourselves.”

“So long as we use our own personal funds for voluntary off-duty training, it’s allowed.”

Sunny furrowed his brow thoughtfully. “So, would you mind if I gave him some training?”

“Not at all. Just don’t go too far.”

“Konechno – of course!” Sunny and Haye laughed. They had only been half joking. Silence came.

In a bid to restart the conversion, Haye asked, “Sunny, why’d you bring your AK today?”

Sunny answered, “You want the reason you tell your boss, or the real reason?” The stallion shifted slightly uncomfortably and twiddled with his mane.

“What do you think?”

His friend smiled. “Haye, you know that I never think.” They both grinned and chuckled at the joke. “I kinda accidentally brought my AK-74 instead of my FN FAL. I just grabbed one and went out the door without paying attention. I brought the Kalashnikov because I have a hell of a lot more combat experience with the avtomat than I do with the fusil. I trust myself to perform better with the Kalash than with the FAL, and even though I have the upmost confidence in both weapons, I have more in the AK than I do in the FN. Also, the 74 is a fair bit lighter than the FAL, which is definitely a major advantage when you’re standing around holding the damn thing for hours on end. Does that answer your question?”

“Totally.”

“Good. Now figure out which answer is for the boss and which answer is the real one.”

Haye puzzled over this for a long while. “Is the second one your real answer?”

Sunny smirked. “I can neither confirm nor deny that. I’ll just let you worry over it; it’s more fun that way.”

“You parasprite,” joked Haye.

“Takes one to know one,” laughed Sunny jovially. “So, may I inquire why I only ever see you use your G3?”

“There’s no mystery, Sunny. It’s just that I have only one rifle.”

“Really, you only have one rifle? That sounds boring. Is it your only gun?”

“Ja, es ist.”

“How do you deal with only having one weapon? I mean, you can do far worse than 7.62x51 battle rifle, especially the G3, but why only have one weapon?”

“Because of economics, familiarity, and not being a firearms-obsessed nut, to name a few…”

“Guilty as charged. But seriously, come on, comrade. You’re using a full length 308 at close range in a densely populated area. I earnestly need to take you gun shopping the next time I go to Canterlot.”

“Celestia have mercy on us all!”

“Because nopony else would.” They chattered more for a while as they did their guard duty. The loiterers did not show up, much to their delight. Sunny stayed until Shades came with his SCAR-L to relieve him. After one last quick exchange in Zebrische with Keffiyeh, Sunny left for his apartment to get ready for his date with Faraday.

He returned without incident. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to do fill in the hours until then. Back at the apartment, Sunny stripped himself down to camo pants and telnyashka. He tried to drink, but the smell of alcohol made him feel queasy. The taste didn’t help that and he almost retched on reflex. Irritably, he slammed the bottle of bourbon back onto its resting place, swearing under his breath. Damn, his one real pleasure was now beyond him. Sunny was bored. He hadn’t felt this way since the night when Rainbow Dash had first knocked on his door and stirred up his life. He had been conlanging at that time and – wait! That’s it! He’d construct a language while waiting for Faraday to get off work.

Sunny sat down at his desk and set to work on a new language. His previous attempt, Greshnik, had been too complex and ambitious in terms of its differences from his native Equestrian. The word order had been different, the writing system was too complex, the grammar was a mess, and the morphology meant that his words were turning into vowel and consonants pileups. For example, Sauueniuol was his word for crow, and Nagrtsekivdzr was his word for to build.

With a new sheet of paper, he started on a fresh project, determined to avoid the pitfalls of the previous. To begin with, he created some basic rules concerning syntax, phonology, and morphology. He then chose a brief snippet of text to translate. As per his custom, he used the preamble of the Equestrian Civil Rights Declaration, which stated, “All ponies are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of friendship.”

Before he translated it or came up with the words, Sunny Breeze rearranged it so that the only thing remaining would be to do a relexification of the words, now that they were aligned and set as they would be in the final product. Hyphens indicated connected affixes, and parentheses indicated a verb root. The result read, “All-ponies are-(born)-free and equal in-dignity-and-rights. They are-(endowed) with-reason-and-conscience and should-(act) towards-one-another in-a-spirit-of-friendship.”

Sunny considered the grammar and the words behind his designs. He then carefully created the new sentence. It now read, “All-ponies Iz-aone are-(born)-free vy-(koln)-aib and seb equal iro in-dignity-and-rights u-iwelyx-ono-eprefsh. They Chto are-(endowed) vy-(thamg) with-reason-and-conscience a-ohlubak-ono-umvrezh and seb should-(act) ju-brok towards-one-another i-uk-ne in-a-spirit-of-friendship u-b-eg-mi-deyalo.”

He looked over it, checking for the consistency required to build a systematic language. Then, satisfied with the results, Sunny wrote it again, this time without the equestrian original and without the demarkations. “Izaone vykolnaib seb iro uiwelyxonoeprefsh. Chto vythamg aohlubakonoumvrezh seb jubrok iukne ubegmideyalo.” There would be time to edit and change things later. It occurred to him that he really ought to try getting his hooves on a radical new invention called a computer. Supposedly, it would make this a snap and take up much less physical space than all the paper he was using.

Sunny looked at the clock. He had another half hour remaining before he needed to leave. And so, he decided to transliterate it into the Chechneyan script just for fun. It was an alphabet, just like that used for Equestrian. However, its wider range of symbols would be helpful for him to express the exact sounds he envisioned. This was the final product: “იზაონე ვჲქოლნაიბ სებ ირო უიჳელჲჴონოეფრეჶშ. ჭტო ვჲწამგ აოჰლუბაქონოუმვრეჟ სებ ჯუბროქ იუქნე უბეგმიდეჲალო.”

The time was now late enough for Sunny to worry about meeting Faraday. He changed into more normal attire and then headed out the door to meet her at Sugarcube Corner. He was tense on the way there. As much as he liked her, dating was stressful and did nothing to alleviate his other issues. It was ironic how he could calmly engage the enemy during a firefight, but meeting a mare in a café made him worry. He had never been great socially, but ever since the war, meeting and dealing with ponies had always put him on edge. And it had all started from that one time in Klopdagar that a pony he considered a friend attempted to murder him. He’d never liked meeting unfamiliar ponies either alone or in groups since then. He wished he could get a drink, but thanks to his own stupidity, he’d just throw it all up if he had more than a few sips. And just in time for the worst part of the year.

Sugarcube Corner was slightly packed, which did him no good again. At least Faraday had already gotten a table. “Hey, Sunny, over here!” The apricot-coated mare waved at him, smiling good-naturedly. He came over to her.

“Sorry I’m late; I got stuck with work.”

“You’re not late; I’m just early, is all.” She pointed her eyes at the clock. Indeed, he was perfectly on time down to the minute.

“Wie gehst – what’s up?” He forced himself to remain calm, but in his state, he subconsciously switched languages.

“Oh, nothing much,” said Faraday. “Just the usual at work, y’know. It’s kinda boring.”

Work – not a good topic. But how to get away from it without seeming avoidant? “I can imagine. I mean, it’s not like a turbulent work environment is a good thing, nor is a stable one a bad thing. But just a little change is good.”

“Totally,” replied Faraday. At that moment, Pinkie Pie appeared.

“Did someponies order milkshakes?” Pinkie chirped, pulling a tray with two glasses on tray out of nowhere.

Sunny gave Faraday a look, but she just took them blithely. “We did. Thanks, Pinkie.”

“No problem!” Sunny looked at his surroundings but for a second, but when he looked back, Pinkie was already behind the counter. He looked at Faraday.

“Faraday, you want me to pay you back any for the cost of the shakes?”

She shook her head. “Nah. I got here first and it’s cool. You can treat me next time if you really want to, not that I don’t appreciate you offering, I mean…” The mare trailed off, blushing slightly. Equestrian dating customs were somewhat fluid regarding who dealt with the bill. Generally, each only paid their own way if they were meeting only as friends. For romantic outings, either the mare of the stallion could pay. It was wholly acceptable for the mare to pay the whole bill. The high ratio of females to males meant that on some level, they did have to prove their worth over rivals. On the other hoof, a stallion taking the bill showed that he was a worthy provider and was chivalrous enough to think of the mare. It was still taken as good manners for the stallion to at least offer to do so. Ginny had taught Sunny to be a gentlecolt, and it plainly showed.

“It’s alright. Thanks for doing it.”

“You’re welcome.”

Sunny looked down at his milkshake. He took a sip through his straw. Vanilla. He stopped drinking. “How’d you know to get vanilla?”

Faraday shot him a grin. “I didn’t,” she whispered. “I told Pinkie Pie you’d be along and she did the rest.

He chuckled. “That’s Pinkie Pie. What flavor did you get?”

“I ordered chestnut.”

“Never did like nuts very much besides peanuts and almonds, especially when they’re salted.”

“I know, right. Salted almonds are like the best thing since those yellow apples. Y’know the ones?”

“They’re called Golden Delicious. Always where a bit dry in my opinion. I prefer Granny Smith apples.”

“Thanks. Granny Smiths are sour and I don’t like sour.”

“I didn’t used to either,” replied Sunny enthusiastically. Speaking with Faraday was easier than he’d been dreading. “Back when I was a colt, I didn’t really like them. I’ve always loved pears though.” He took another draught of his milkshake.

“Pears are delicious,” responded Faraday. “You wouldn’t believe the craziest thing that Derpy told me.” Faraday’s eyes shone as she got wrapped up in the talk about ponies, food, and other things.

Sunny couldn’t exactly remember her perfectly; he had issues connecting names with appearances and particulars. “Isn’t Derpy the wonky-eyed pegasus who’s Doctor Whooves’s marefriend?”

His date nodded. “He hates pears, and only Lyra and Derpy call him that – you know them?”

“Negative. I just thought that was his name. I’ve never really spoken much with any of them the few times we’re seen each other.”

“Lyra started calling him that first, claiming that he looked like some character from this hypothetical human show. She claims that she’s seen a few snippets of it on her radio picture box thing.”

“A television,” Sunny corrected her. He’d seen a number of them during his time as a gunpony. Audio and video technologies weren’t unheard of in Equestria, having been around for several decades for the latter and easily more than a century for the former. It was simply uncommon for motion pictures to be had anywhere outside of cinemas. Radio was mostly a military and corporate technology employed to get around the limitations of unicorns and thought broadcasting and receiving magic spells, some of which Sunny knew. Nopony had really made big inroads in terms of commercial or civilian broadcasting for radio or television. The same went for landline telephones, electronic communications in general, and for the few wireless mobile telephones and radios. In the minds of most ponies, distance communications seemed a pitiful substitute for communicating face to face, and writing letters offered the advantages of applying a personalized touch to communication in addition to the benefit of tangible evidence of exchange. Sunny knew of computers, but those were only just starting to become personal devices, and their social capabilities as well as user bases were very limited. He had only ever seen one in his entire life.

“Thanks – slipped my mind.”

“No problem. So, what’s up with Lyra and humans. I mean, I hear a good amount of talk about it, but does it have any sort of basis in truth?”

Faraday took a long suck on her straw, making softly muted grunting noises and bobbing her head up and down slightly. Her periwinkle blue mane shook slightly. She released the straw, gasped, and licked her lips. “Lyra…” Faraday began. “Lyra has always liked old ponies’ tales a little too much. When she’s not doing anything else, she searches for them.”

Sunny thoughtfully stroked his chin. “It sounds like she has a harmless quirk. I say let her be.”

“She insists that some things were invented by humans.”

The stallion cocked an eyebrow. “Such as?” He was halfway done with his shake and resumed sipping away at it slowly while he waited for her answers.

“She says that like our modern stuff is taken from human things. Like, yesterday, she tried telling me that the guns the army uses really come from human designs, just changed a bit for ponies, which kinda makes sense, because how else did we go from just having muskets for hundreds of years to having machine guns?”

Sunny resisted the urge to correct her and give a more comprehensive explanation of the history of firearms, but it would not have been prudent. “It’s crazy, I know. But which explanation makes more sense: Equestria has the sharpest minds on the cutting edge of technology, or highly intelligent cryptids with the sort of violent society that would facilitate the development of such weapons and technology, would just give away all that stuff for free instead of just taking all this over?” Faraday nodded.

“I guess that makes more sense.”

“Where are you from, Faraday?”

“Ponyville. And you?”

“Baltimare.”

“You have the accent. So, do you feel better?”

“What do you mean?”

“The first time I saw you, you were having lunch with Rainbow Dash. You were drinking and seemed pretty down. Are you feeling better?” She looked kindly into his eyes, fortunately not seeing Sunny’s embarrassment.

He had to think for a moment before responding. “Oh yeah, that. Thanks for asking. I’m feeling better now,” Sunny lied. The opposite had been true.

She smiled. “Happy to hear that, Sunny. You seemed kinda overwhelmed when Pinkie threw that welcome party for your mom at your place.” She finished off her milkshake with a few strong slurps with a touch of noticeable sensuality.

He stroked his mane nervously. “Yeah, that was crazy and took me by surprise. I’m not really a big fan of suddenly finding a half dozen ponies in my apartment, especially without any invitation.” Her ears drooped.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

Faraday leaned her muzzle very close to Sunny and whispered, “I saw Rainbow Dash come out before you did. Did something happen between you two?”

Sunny blushed furiously. “N-no – nothing happened. We’re just friends.” The stallion kicked back the rest of his shake, hoping to cool himself down. Faraday gave him a knowing smile and brushed his cheek.

“Well,” she teased. “if you need help with your feelings, you know who to talk to.”

Sunny was speechless. “S-Sure. Thanks f-for that, Faraday.” She giggled.

“You’re so cute…” With that, the mare pecked him on the cheek and then walked off, her plot swaying more than necessary and a new spring in her step. The stallion confusedly rubbed at his cheek a few times, blushing profusely. The next step was to leave, but he first had to set up a date with Pinkie Pie. He approached her at the counter.

“Hey, Sunny, how ya’ doin’?”

“Just fine,” said he nervously.

He opened his mouth to speak again, but Pinkie Pie went into full chatterbox mode. “That’s super, because I’m happy when my friends are happy! Ooh, did you like your milkshake? And how was Faraday? What did you two talk about?”

Sunny sighed. “It’s all good, Pinkie. Listen, would you like to hang out tomorrow morning?”

“I’d totally love to! But where?”

“In the park at ten. I’ll be by the fountain.”

“I’d love to, Sunny! I can’t wait to see you, but I am seeing you right now, but I won’t be seeing you soon, but then I will see you again at the park-” The stallion brought his hoof down on the countertop. “Sorry.” She smiled nervously. He laughed, feeling her infectious good mood tugging at him.

“Seeya, Pinkie.” He left Sugarcube Corner soon thereafter.

Sunny was lost in thought as he walked back to his apartment. He’d had a bit of time with Faraday. While it had gone well, he didn’t learn all that much about the mare, but he got a good feeling about her and had enjoyed her company. He wished that the ending had been less confusing. He hadn’t gotten as much time with her as he had with Zecora, and he didn’t get the chance to learn as much about her. Granted, he didn’t know much about Zecora either, but that was due to his crap conversational skills as much as their task-oriented meeting. That didn’t have to mean much. There was still plenty of time for him to get to know the two of them, as well as the rest of the mares. Tomorrow was Pinkie Pie. The one potential snag with her was in having to deal with getting rid of her in time for his afternoon work shift, but that was not his problem at the moment.

Sunny arrived back at his apartment to find it unoccupied. There was a note on the table in his mother’s handwriting. Levitating it to his face by magic, he read it aloud. “Sunny, I’m off to Appaloosa to watch the All-Equestria Championship Rodeo. Be back in a week. Love, Mom.” He smirked and replaced the note. Bored but not yet tired, Sunny did some more work on his conlang before ultimately turning in early to bed. Sleep did not find him easily and he lay wake long into the night, worrying about what would betide him in the future. At least it would doubtlessly be interesting.