Has It already been 6 months? Dang. Well, I've got more long and short of it finally ready. · 8:21pm April 29th
>Something was very wrong.
>You, Anonymous, could feel it in your very bones.
>You aren’t sure /what/, considering everything seems to be going perfectly right now.
>Cut agreed to skip work, Pike agreed to go with the two of you, everything's coming up Anon!
>Yet, as the three of you traipse through the snow, you can’t help but feel there’s a certain electricity in the air.
>An electricity that’s only debatably real, seeing as Pike and Cut very obviously don’t feel it at all.
>They’re happily trotting along without a care in the world!
>Well, Pike at least has one care.
>She’s trying not to show it, but even with her jacket she’s obviously still feeling a little chilly.
>Ha! So much for superior Thestral genes, they pale in comparison to your Unicorn might!
>You don’t even have a jacket on and you feel as comfortable as if it was a crisp spring morning!
>It's things like this that you hadn’t properly appreciated when you first got turned into a horse.
>Starting at Pike shivering though, you start to wonder...
>Do Unicorns ever donate their coats to thermally deficient tribes?
>Like locks for love, but for warmth?
>You suppose you wouldn’t mind rockin a short cut if it helped Pike out.
>Or maybe there’s such a thing as warming spells?
>Either way, all you can do right now is give her something to focus on other than the cold.
“So, about this extended vacation you’re taking.”
>She perks up, but the uneasy look that passes over her is as plain as day.
>You’d bet your life that has something to do with her early rising.
“Did you have anything specific planned? Cuz Cut’s right, we probably can’t pull this kind of stunt /too/ many more times before Jargon gets genuinely pissed.”
>Pike quickly looks between the two of you, before sighing.
>”No, not really. I just—”
>She hesitates, her wings shuffling uncomfortably.
>”—wanted to do some /things/, you know?”
>You resist the urge to mirthfully roll your eyes.
>In your very unprofessional opinion: the time for being cagey about this stuff has passed.
“Things like...?”
>”Things like... the things I never really got to when I was a filly.”
>She looks out into the distance, a wistful smile tugging at the edges of her lips.
>”You know... domestic stuff. The arts, all those things I’ve been too scared to enjoy.”
>She spreads her wings wide, pantomiming some foreign motion for you with the claws on the ends.
>It almost reminds you of knitting?
>”And then I’d... just see where that takes me I guess.”
>It doesn’t take a genius to read between those lines: she doesn’t know.
>She’s flying blind as a bat, and in a way that has you more than a little worried.
>The concept of taking some time off of your career to find yourself isn’t foreign to you, it's just that in your experience that usually involves traveling or a similar major change.
>Not just sitting cooped up, alone in your apartment.
>Plus, just the very idea of Pike taking a sabbatical from being a guard honestly has you a little freaked out.
>It goes without saying that she loves being a guard. /Love/ loves it.
>You’d go so far as to call her a bit of a workaholic!
>So this idea of her taking an extended break to just... hang around the house and cook?
>VERY unlike her. Distressingly unlike her even.
>Even with your breakthrough moment yesterday, something is still eating her.
>You’d bet your horn on that.
>And you’re going to do everything in your power to soothe those anxieties God damn it!
>You’d already been planning to find some excuse to keep the three of you together, and ironically the breakfast debacle provided both that excuse and more evidence to its necessity.
>You're going to give Pike a nice, relaxing day out if it's the last thing you do.
>”Well this is uh... a little eerie.”
>You, Nocturnal Pike, had to agree.
>Honestly, your feelings on Canterlot’s main market have always been a little mixed.
>A labyrinth of stalls and shops, laid out in a way that had probably only made sense to ponies back during the unification era.
>When it got busy it could be a real cluster, and the constant calls to respond to incidents out there only reinforced that idea.
>But compared to now? You’d almost prefer it that way.
>The place was a ghost town.
>Every stall and shop was set up and ready to do business, but...
>”Where is everypony?” Cut finished the thought for you.
>”Did we get here too early?” Anon asked. “I thought places like this opened at the crack of dawn.”
>That thought brought a bit of a smile to your face.
>The universal Thestral experience is worrying about getting to a place before it /closes/, so you suppose getting to a place before it opens is a nice change of pace.
>Cut’s brow knits, “I... don’t think it's a holiday today? Hearth’s Warming isn’t for another few weeks at least.”
>Anon paces in a small circle, searching all around the market instead of actually looking at either of you. “Could be one of those random national holidays. We had those all the time back home, like /President’s day/.”
>You chuckle, remembering the conversation when Anon had attempted to explain the finer points of his “democracy” to Cut and yourself.
>A holiday for something as ephemeral as a president? Ludicrous!
>Pony national holidays are reserved for the eternal, divine princesses.
>Something WORTH celebrating.
>That’s also not being celebrated today. You’re a public employee, you’ve had those dates memorized for years!
>Today’s just another day like any other.
>Or at least, that’s what you thought until the first shopkeeper showed up.
>She moved with the trudging steps of somepony who desperately didn’t want to be there, and her eyes were sunken in like she’d borne witness to countless horrors.
>She looked like somepony walking to her own grave.
>”Uh, Pike?” Cut asked, while fearfully eyeing the mare. “I-Is there something we should know about?”
>With the appearance of the first mare quickly came a dozen more, the whole market rapidly filling up with employees.
>All of them looked equally haggard, but what was most peculiar were the hoofful of them that had dressed up.
>Head to hoof, they’d taped pillows and other protective things all over their body.
>It almost reminded you of...
“...makeshift riot gear?” you finished out loud.
>You, Anon, and Cut all share a disquieted look.
>”We should go,” the three of you say simultaneously.
>But it was too late.
>Your only warning as you turned was a low rumble, and then, like a lightning strike, they were upon you.
>The stampede.
“A-Anon? P-P-Pike?” you, Cut N. Paste, try to call out.
>But the effort is wasted.
>All the noise your feeble voice makes is drowned out by the ocean of stallions that now surrounds you.
>You honestly don’t even know how it happened.
>One minute you were standing beside your herd, the next you were being /literally/ swept away by a tide of ponies.
>Now, you’re well and truly lost in the crowd.
>All around you, what feels like every stallion in the city has descended into an unrelenting shopping spree.
>Every public aisle is flying room only, and despite wishing for them every birthday since you were six, you don’t have wings.
>It makes you miss the creepy empty market, you didn’t know how good you had it.
>It's like a scene out of your nightmares...
>...or it would have been, a year ago.
>Sure, the noise is still a little—
>”I CANNOT believe she said that to you!”
>”By jove! And here I thought those fillystines destroyed all of these for being a ‘public health hazard’!”
>”Excuse me, but does this come in mauve?”
>—overwhelming, but you know yourself well.
>This has the hallmark of all the things that /should/ be giving you the mother of all panic attacks.
>Suddenly being trapped in a crowd of strange stallions, surrounded on all sides, even occasionally physically being pressed into...
>The familiar tightness in your chest is there, but it feels more distant than it would have before.
>More manageable.
>Almost like you can do this.
>You... you can do this.
>Holy buck you can do this!
>This time when you speak, your voice cuts through the crowd.
“Anon? Pike? Where are you?”
>And before you know it, your hooves are moving.
>Now you’re cantering through the market as ponies move out of the way for /you/.
>You don’t need to dodge through the crowd, constantly excusing yourself to an ocean that doesn’t even know you exist.
>No. These ponies are seeing you, acknowledging you, and moving aside because you’ve got somewhere to be.
>If anything, they’re asking /you/ to be excused.
>A massive, goofy grin blooms on your face. This feels great!
>Moving through here would normally have taken hours, but you’ve already managed to pass through two whole aisles.
>Hopefully Anon and Pike weren’t in either of them, because you were /definitely/ so caught up in the moment that you weren’t actually looking for them.
>Coming to the dead center of the market’s square, you stop and take stock.
>You should be able to see Anon’s head above the crowds, and Pike’s probably taken flight out of sheer annoyance at this point.
>But even standing on the tips of your hooves, you can’t see them.
>You were about to call out and continue searching, but then you spotted somepony unexpected.
>Somepony you wouldn’t have noticed, if not for the many years you spent learning to watch out for her when you were young.
>Slipping in between the crowds, ducking and diving between the stallions, was your sister: Cloak N. Dagger.
“Cloak...” you growl, your mood turning on a dime.
>You hadn’t seen your sister since the party.
>The party she spent looting your herd’s underwear drawer for a piece of sex wear to drag out in front of everypony.
>Your coworkers, Pike’s coworkers...
>It nearly gave poor Pike a panic attack; it would’ve /ruined/ her reputation!
>It probably would’ve ruined your and Anon’s reputations too, if you’d had reputations to ruin.
>And now she’s here, stalking the market?
>Most ponies would have assumed that was just a coincidence, but you know better.
>You know Cloak.
“CLOAK.”
>She practically leaps into the air upon being called out.
>Her wide eyes meet your narrowed ones, and for a moment you think she’s about to split.
>But she doesn’t. She waits there patiently until you’ve finished stomping up to her.
>All the while shrinking back with every step you take.
>”Hey... sis,” she says.
>Your anger explodes.
“DON’T you ‘Hey sis’ ME! WHAT were you—”
>You stop, suddenly remembering where you are.
>If there was a metaphorical heart of Canterlot’s gossip scene: this would be it.
>A scant few stallions have /already/ stopped dead in their tracks to watch you like hawks.
>Screaming your sister’s head off here would just ensure everypony in the city knows Pike’s business by the end of the day.
>You’d be no better than her at that point, buuuut you don’t want to let her off the hook either.
>It seems a compromise is in order.
>Mirroring your mother from days long gone, you leap at Cloak, biting down on her ear.
>Cloak is caught utterly off guard, and shrieks as you start dragging her away.
>She doesn’t even fight back, allowing you to lead her through the overstuffed corridors of the market until you find the perfect place.
>An alley behind two of the shops at the market’s edge.
>Pulling her in you finally let her go.
>”What the buck was that for!?” she immediately cries, bitten ear flicking in annoyance.
“What was tha— you know what that was for!” you harshly whisper, still not wanting to take any chances.
>Cloak swallows, suddenly looking as sheepish as when you’d just walked up.
>This could easily be the maddest she’s ever seen you.
>She opens her mouth, but when nothing immediately comes out, you press on.
“YOU were the one who told everypony to come to our apartment, weren’t you? And then that stunt you pulled. Were you trying to humiliate me? Humiliate Anon? Humiliate PIKE? Huh!?”
>For the first time in your life, you think you see actual hurt on Cloak’s face.
>”What? N-No! Sis of course not! I just... I wanted you to make some more friends. It was just meant to be a joke to break the ice.”
>Your blood boils.
“A joke? You thought pulling out our /sex wear/ in front of Pike’s whole squad AND my coworkers would be FUNNY?”
>She rubs one of her forelegs, unable to meet your eyes.
>”Well, yeah... We joke and brag about what we do with stallions all the time at work, and we both know the kind of mares Aunt Jargon hires. I... I didn’t think it would be any different. I thought she’d like showing that off...”
>Oh.
>Your anger, once burning white hot, flicks off like a light.
>She’d misread the situation, missed the important social context.
>Something you’ve done countless times before.
>What she did was still unacceptable of course, but suddenly you’re the one finding it much harder to maintain eye contact.
>”But now nopony’s seen or heard from Sarge since, and suddenly they announce she’s taking a sabbatical? I-I’m really worried I screwed something up sis. Learning everything about everypony was supposed to stop this from...”
>You can see it plain as day on her face, that familiar spiraling sensation.
>That feeling when you finally thought you all had it figured, but now it's tumbling away.
>”...that’s why I’m here. I followed your herd, I /need/ to know what’s going on.”
>She couldn’t know that would happen, any rational pony would have assumed that the lingerie was Anon’s.
>Heck, you’d had your suspicions, but even /you’d/ always assumed that apron was meant for Anon too. Until yesterday, at least.
>All that was just her trying to look out for you, like when you were foals.
>In her own horrifically stupid way.
>”Do you know anything about what’s going on?” She asks with the ghost of a tear in her eye. “Please, I need to know.”
>Before she can say anything else, you leap in to hug her.
>At first she tries to jerk away, but when that fails against your Earth pony grip, she stays.
“Oh Cloak...” you say, all traces of anger gone.
>It is weird to say, but you’ve never felt a closer sisterly bond to the mare than at this moment.
>Pulling back, you wipe away a single actual tear as you look at her.
“Pike’s... going through something right now. Best you can do is just give her some space.”
>”But—”
>You shush her.
“She’ll tell you when /she’s/ ready. Trust me, digging into it will not help.”
>In fact, that’d probably just make it worse again.
>But, you don’t say that part out loud.
You give her a surprisingly, genuinely confident smile. “Just leave it to me, alright?”
>Cloak smiles, and for the first time in years it doesn’t look freaky.
>”Alright, little sis,” she says quietly. Then, abruptly chuckling, she continues, “Feels like this is usually the other way—”
>”I knew I recognized that voice! I had to search all over the market but I’ve FOUND you!”
>The sudden voice shocks you and Cloak alike.
>It's a stallion, but not Anon.
>You mind reels, reaching for what other stallion could possibly have been looking all over for you.
>You thought you recognized the voice, but it couldn’t possibly be...
>...Blueblood.
>He’s there, standing at the entrance to the alley, some weird device strapped to his foreleg.
>Grinning like a lunatic, his horn lights up, “I hope you’re prepared...”
>You feel the wind completely drop out from under your wings.
>The rapid shifts in mood have taken their toll, and you find yourself in a familiar state.
>Completely and utterly unable to process the social scene before you.
“Uhh, hey. We were uh, kind of having a moment here.”
>Turning away from the mad stallion, you intend to beseech your sister for help...
>...only to realize she’s vanished.
>You’d be lying if that didn’t peeve you a little bit, but that’s exactly what you should have expected from Cloak.
>Besides, that’s the closest thing you’ve gotten to an apology from her in /years/, so you’re willing to give her some grace.
>Blueblood smiles like a lunatic, “Well, it seems the moment has passed.”
>You blink, your mind still struggling to play catch up.
“What did you want again exactly?”
>He barely waits for you to finish before shouting, ”A rematch of course!”
>He follows up by tossing a box your way, “And don't even THINK about trying to use the excuse that you're unarmed! I've been carrying an exact replica of your deck for this exact occasion!”
>Deciding not to ponder the implications of that comment, you gingerly pull the box from the snow.
>Joy. The only deck he's seen you play with was that awful new expansion, so it’s probably—
>Your heart stops as you open the box.
>This is one of your /favorite/ decks.
>So much so that you didn't want to bring it to that tournament for fear of damaging it.
>You look back to Blueblood, wide eyed.
>His grin has somehow stretched even wider, and the thing on his leg has begun unfolding into some disk like dueling device.
>How the heck did he...?
>”Are you ready?” he asks.
>You take one more look at the cards in your hoof.
>Steeling your resolve, you turn to him and say:
“Nope. Absolutely not.”
>And take off in the other direction.
>”Hey WAIT!”
>You charge out the other end of the alley like your life depended on it, hoping to put as much distance between yourself and the mad stallion as possible.
>”Get back here!” He shouts as his voice begins to fade. “What about your honor!? What about...”
>And just like that, you slip into the crowd. Cloak would be proud.
>Now, on to a much more important matter: finding your herd.
Thank you, SQA. You baked this chapter up real good. 👍
5778667
You are so very welcome! I'm glad you like 🙏
Heck, I'm proud.
And not just for her improved sneak skill, or her increased ability to navigate crowds of ponies (stallions, no less), or the boosted confidence from that, or the righteous fury she feels in defense of her loving herd, or the resulting tuftiness to berate her guardsmare sister into submission, or her level-headed vigilance against threats to her alpha, or her managing to keep her humility and empathy through it all...
It's everything.
She's an A-tier support, a worthy beta to her alpha and herd.
The mere suggestion of using a duel disk for Magic is heretical hilarity. Lovely to see an update, and nice to see a bit of how the squad is doing.
5778695
And to think, I walked into this having no idea what to do with Cut for this segment originally lmao
5778848
Happy to provide
Dear SQA,
Thank you for all the work and dedication that you put into each and every chapter!
I just finally caught up with the story and have loved every single moment of it.
Just wanted to let you know that I appreciated you and Bobbles a ton!
i.postimg.cc/sfWSWxcB/bat-pony-batpon.gif
Sincerely
Xowatle
Took a bit to get to this, but nice to see the update!