As it turned out, Thorax appeared to have been doing more than getting groceries during the period of time Spike had been laying low, using that time to explore around the city. Spike first started to notice this as they headed to the first store they needed to stop at, when Thorax directed Spike through a shortcut he had found during the time he had been running for supplies, a route some minutes faster than the route Spike had been accustomed to traveling and a bit more direct. At first Spike didn’t think much of it but once at the grocery store in question, where they planned to obtain some canned goods for their travel stash and also some day-to-day goods to use while they continued to stay in Vanhoover, he got to wondering to how Thorax found the shortcut and what else he might had been up to while he and Thorax were discussing what brands with the best prices were be most ideal for them and their budget.
“See, this brand would be the cheapest of the bunch,” Thorax explained, hefting up one can before Spike as they stood in an aisle of canned soup. He then hefted up a can in his other hoof. “But this brand, while costing a little extra, would have the higher quality of soup, and looking at the expiration dates, would last just a little longer.” He looked at Spike with his disguised ice-blue eyes. “So the question is which do you think would be the better purchase? The one that has the better quality or the one that will save us a couple of bits?”
Spike, who had never needed to do price comparisons before becoming an outcast, wasn’t sure how to respond, and preferred to defer to someone who clearly seemed to know more about it than he did. “Well, which do you think would be best?” he asked the changeling.
“I don’t know, you’re the one who’s probably going to be eating this stuff, not me,” Thorax pointed out, glancing between the two cans in his hooves. “So whichever it is, I figure you should have the final say.”
Spike considered it for a moment. He knew the higher quality product would have the better taste…but he also knew the cheaper one would leave them with more bits leftover they could use elsewhere, a tempting prospect considering their paychecks only went so far. “I guess it’d better be that one, then,” he concluded, pointing at the cheaper one. “I’m sure it’ll do for our purposes. I mean, we can’t be too choosey about this, right? The higher quality’s really only worth it if you can afford it.”
Chuckling, Thorax put the cheaper can into Spike’s shopping basket and returned the higher quality one to its shelf. “A fair and wise point,” he admitted.
As they turned to move on down the aisle, Spike changed the subject. “So, Thornton,” he began, being careful to refer to the disguised changeling by his alias as they walked past another store patron. “That shortcut you lead us down to get here…it was pretty effective.”
“Well, it saves one’s hooves a bit of wear and tear at least,” Thorax admitted, stopping to look at a selection of boxed goods for anything they needed.
“But I just got to wondering how you might’ve discovered it,” Spike continued. He nudged his friend with an elbow. “Have you been taking the time to explore around without telling me?”
Thorax winced. “Yeah, okay, sorry, but I got curious,” he admitted.
“Hey, so long as you didn’t do anything that might give us away, I don’t really have a problem with it,” Spike quickly assured his friend. “I’m just wondering why you hadn’t mentioned it.”
Thorax shrugged sheepishly. “I guess I thought you wouldn’t approve,” he explained. “I mean, you’ve been so cautious about lying low, especially after the crystal guards turned up…”
“But I trust you,” Spike assured him. “I know you understand the seriousness of our situation if not better than I do, and I know you wouldn’t do anything foolish. Besides, just because we’re…” he glanced around to check if anyone was listening. “…keeping a low profile, doesn’t mean I want to keep you too restricted. Thorax, I followed you out into the Frozen North joining you in banishment because I wanted to support you in finding a better life than what you had. That obviously didn’t work out entirely like either of us planned, but that goal still hasn’t changed. I want you to be able to live as free a life to do your own thing as we can.”
This all heartened Thorax some. “Well, okay then,” he said. “Guess I’ll keep…exploring around then.” His grin grew. “There are a couple of other places I’ve been stopping at when it was me doing the errands.”
Spike tilted his head at him, grinning. “Now you’re making me curious as to what they are.”
“Maybe I can point out some of them on the way.”
“Please do!”
So as Spike and Thorax finished in the grocery store and strolled back out into the streets of Vanhoover together, the streets filled with cheerful ponies going about their business as it was a pleasant day out, Thorax proceeded to do just that. Their next stop was to an outdoor sporting goods store to look at purchasing a tent to travel with; thus far all the tents they were interested in were outside their price range and they were still saving up the needed funds to get one, but Spike liked to check in regularly in case one of the desired tents ever went on sale into a price range they could afford. But part way Thorax suddenly stopped Spike and turned for a nearby shop they were passing.
“Let’s stop here for a second,” Thorax said, trotting up to the small store.
Spike glanced up at the store’s sign, which read Monterey Jack’s Cheese-Topia. “A cheese shop?” he repeated as he followed the changeling. “Why?”
“You’ll see,” Thorax responded as he pushed open the door.
The door dinged as they opened it, and the smells of the many varying kinds of cheeses lining the interior wafted into the noses of the two outcasts as they slipped inside. A cream-colored pony dressed in a white apron and matching chef’s hat stood behind the counter and display case, turning to grin brightly when he saw the disguised Thorax enter.
“’Ello Thornton!” the stallion declared brightly in an accent Spike reckoned hailed from the Trottingham area, or at least the Griffish Isles.
“Hello Mister Monterey,” Thorax greeted back as he walked up to the counter, already surveying the cheeses on display. Remembering Spike sheepishly standing beside him, he motioned to his dragon friend with one hoof. “This is my friend, Spark. He’s helping me run a few errands today, and I thought he’d like to try one of the samples you give out on weekends too.”
“Samples?” Spike repeated.
“That’s grand!” the stallion, named Monterey apparently, said and proceeded to open the display case. “Right then, wot’ll be yore selections t’day lads?”
Thorax hummed to himself, rubbing one of his masked grey hooves on his chin as he considered his options for a moment. Finally he tapped one hoof at the cheese he wanted. “Let’s try a bit of this colby jack cheese today.”
Monterey took a cheese knife and cut off a thin but still sizable slice of the large yellow and white cheese wheel in the case, stuck a toothpick in it, and handed it over to Thorax, who eagerly took it. Monterey then turned his attention to Spike. “And wot ‘bout you then, lad?” he asked.
Spike didn’t really know much of anything about the different types of cheeses, and was hesitant to select something at random, for fear he might end up with a cheese he wouldn’t like, but there were few cheeses in the display case he even recognized. “Uh…” he said with indecision. He tapped the case finally. “Some mozzarella, I guess?”
Monterey cut off a similar piece of the softer white cheese and handed it over to Spike like he had done with Thorax’s piece of cheese. He watched as the two sampled their respective bits of cheese, Thorax eagerly while Spike a bit more conservatively. “Meetin’ to yore satisfaction I trust, lads?” he asked with pride for his wares.
Spike found his mozzarella soft and chewy with a mild but noteworthy flavor he found he liked more than he expected. Surprised, he nodded his head. “It’s pretty good,” he agreed, taking another bite of his slice.
“Mmm,” Thorax hummed in content as he chewed on his colby jack with a pleased expression. “Makes me think of home,” he admitted.
Monterey laughed as he closed up the display case and turned his attention back to Thorax. “Y’know Thornton, one of these days I’m gunna get ya to buy a whole block of cheese,” he remarked teasingly.
“You know I’d love to Monterey, but unfortunately it’s not in the budget right now,” Thorax responded with an apologetic grin. “Maybe someday soon though. Besides, that gives me plenty of time to figure out just which one of your wonderful cheeses I like best.”
Monterey laughed again. “Well, can’t say no to that,” he conceded and nodded his head at the two turned to leave. “You lads take care now,” he said before turning to call to an assistant working in the back. “Oi! Where’s that Wensleydale I asked ya to bring up front? We’re practically out of it up here, lad!”
Back out in the street, Spike continued nibbling on his sample of cheese while also watching Thorax delicately chew at his, savoring the taste with a sort of reverence that both amused and surprised the dragon. “I never took you to be a cheese connoisseur,” he observed.
Thorax nodded his head. “One of the few things I miss from the hive is some good changeling cheese,” he admitted with a soft sigh. “I know I won’t find any of it in Equestria, but I guess I keep secretly hoping every time I pass Monterey’s shop that I’ll manage find a real close equivalent to it.” He took another bite of his sample of cheese. “This colby jack comes close, but it’s perhaps a bit too sharp in favor, and the texture isn’t quite right for what I’m looking for…”
“I didn’t even know changelings made cheese,” Spike admitted as he bit the last piece of cheese off his toothpick, knowing that changelings didn’t typically eat much solid food, favoring emotions instead. “Where do you get the milk to make it with?”
Thorax snorted a laugh. “Where do you think?” he asked glancing at his friend, thinking it obvious. When he saw Spike’s blank look though, realization hit him. “Oh right, I suppose you wouldn’t know.” He swallowed his bite of cheese before continuing, leaning in closer so to explain in a whisper, avoiding being overheard by passerbys. “Look, I know to Equestrians we appear very insect-like, and we do lay eggs and all…but we are still mammalian you know.”
He then straightened and trotted onwards, returning to his sample of cheese, while Spike emptily blinked, then blinked again, working at processing the full implications of Thorax’s statement. The dragon then shook his head and cleared his mind of the thought, deciding he didn’t want to think too hard about the subject, and was glad he had already finished his cheese before learning this little detail—he wasn’t sure he would’ve wanted to eat anymore after that.
Their trip to the outdoor goods store proved to be unproductive; the type of tents they wished to obtain were still out of their price range, but Spike at least took heart in noting that they were getting much closer to having enough bits to buy it. He estimated they would have secured the desired tent before the next moon rolled around, and by then they would likely have all the things they planned to have obtained and be ready to move on to their next destination. So with that positive note in mind, they proceeded on to their next and final destination, a discount thrift store where they hoped to find a good backpack for Spike after having realized they had neglected to get one despite having planned on it from the beginning before now.
Both Spike and Thorax had visited it before; Spike once when he got the curtains for the window in their room, and Thorax twice, once when he was scouting about Vanhoover when they had first arrived, and again while Spike was laying low from the crystal guards in town to get a cloak for Spike as well. Spike knew a route to get there from the outdoor goods store, but again, Thorax happened to have figured out a faster way since the dragon had last visited the store and led the way through a more worn-looking part of town. As Thorax’s last shortcut had proven to be quite effective without problem, Spike trusted the same from this one as well. But as Thorax started to lead the way through a narrow street, he observed they were approaching a gathering of rough-looking teenage ponies hanging under the archway of a walkway cutting across the street. And they were eying the approaching disguised outcasts closely.
“Uh Thorax…” Spike said, pointing a claw at the group which he feared might be one of the small but troublesome local gangs he had heard Fly Leaf make mention of in the past and was growing increasingly worried as Thorax continued to lead them right toward them.
“I see them,” Thorax assured his friend calmly. He leaned closer. “Don’t worry; just let me do the talking.”
Spike frowned, wanting to ask why but was cut short when they had finally drew close enough that one of the lanky teens called out to them. “Hey Thorny!” he shouted at Thorax in a sort of teasing manner, which drew chuckles from his cohorts.
Spike realized Thorax had encountered the group before as Thorax calmly returned the greeting. “Good afternoon, gentlecolts.”
This drew more laughter from the gang, amused by the idea that Thorax would call a rebellious group like them gentlecolts. Nonetheless, as Spike and Thorax grew close enough to start to pass under the archway, the gang moved to block their path.
“Who’s the lizard?” the teen that had spoken first, the apparent leader, remarked as he stepped closer to the pair, jabbing a hoof at the nervous Spike.
“This is Spark,” Thorax replied, placing a hoof on Spike’s shoulder as the dragon uneasily fiddled with the quilted weave of his navy sweater vest. “He’s with me.”
“You hang with a lizard Thorny?” the leader noted with an amazed laugh. “Celestia, the hits just keep on coming! You’re certainly an odd one, Thorny.”
“I try, Ragg,” Thorax responded with a small grin, calling the teen by what Spike assumed was his name. Spike was more just amazed Thorax was keeping so calm and confident about it; Spike didn’t like the look of their situation at all, and though Ragg came across as cheery, he didn’t miss the hidden and underlying challenging tone Ragg was giving.
“So what you doing walking through my street, Thorny?”
“Just passing through, as usual.”
“Well, you know I can’t just let you pass without a little something-something in return.”
Spike gulped and started to back away, but Thorax gently stopped him. “The usual?” he asked, lighting his camouflaged horn suddenly.
“You know it, Thorny,” Ragg said with a nod.
Thorax nodded back. Then he abruptly darted to the left, leaving Spike’s side with a suddenness that surprised the dragon, and raced to the leftmost support of the archway they stood under. His horn still lit with magic but not appearing to be forming any spells, Thorax then surprised Spike again as the disguised changeling, without slowing, proceeded to gallop on up the side of the archway, scaling it in a way only a changeling could. He ran across the length of the curving arch above their heads as Ragg’s gang called out shouts of impressed joy before Thorax galloped back down the rightmost support of the archway and onto the ground again, the whole feat taking only a matter of seconds. Ragg and his accompaniment burst out into a series of cheers while Thorax returned to the side of the baffled Spike, nodding his head under the praise, letting his horn go dark again without having ever once cast any spell that Spike visibly saw.
“That magic trick of yours never gets old, Thorny!” Ragg declared as the gang suddenly parted, permitting the two to continue down the street without further challenge. “You keep chill, y’hear?”
“And a good day to all of you too, gentlecolts,” Thorax responded with a polite grin as he urged Spike forward again.
They walked off, leaving the gang behind them, for several moments in silence. Finally, somewhat shell-shocked, Spike finally found his voice. “What just happened?” he asked.
“I did a trick for some acquaintances,” Thorax answered simply. “And they gave us their best wishes.”
Spike gave the changeling look, his head still reeling. “And just how did you come to make the acquaintance of that lot?”
“Same way we did today; I was looking to take a shortcut heading into this part of town, and stumbled across them in the process,” Thorax explained. “Of course, I didn’t realize they would be there or that this street is apparently their territory for some reason. I felt I was pretty civil with them when they stopped me and I explained why I was there and what I was doing to Ragg, their leader.”
“Speaking of, is that really his name?”
“I’m no expert on common Equestrian names, but I think it’s actually a nickname. Anyway, thinking my explanation would settle the matter, I started to step around them but then one of them abruptly moved to block my path. He startled me though, and for a fleeting second I actually thought he meant to harm me.” Spike didn’t mention how likely he thought that was really the intention. “So I panicked, instinctively acted to avoid them, and ran up and down the arch like you saw me do just now. And that impressed them enough that they decided I was all right, and let me through without further trouble.” Thorax shrugged. “That’s how it’s worked ever since I come through here. I run up and down the arch to amuse them and they let me through. Apparently it’s a sort of “move” they can only wish to do themselves, but they often do a series of motions that are similar…they call it “parkour”…?”
“They know parkour?” Spike declared, apprehension vanishing under his envy as he looked back in the direction of the gang they had passed by. “I always wanted to learn how to do that! A stallion came through Ponyville once giving classes on how to do it, but Twilight wouldn’t let me join, thought it was too dangerous…”
“Whatever the case, they see my running up and down the arch as the ultimate parkour trick,” Thorax continued to explain. He leaned in closer. “Secretly, I think they’re jealous, but don’t tell them I said that.”
Spike pondered all of this for a moment. “Why did you light your horn for the trick, then?” he asked, pointing at Thorax’s horn he still bore while disguised as a unicorn. “You and I both know you didn’t need it to do that trick.”
“Well, the first time I did it accidentally,” Thorax admitted. “I had it lit in case I needed to defend myself with magic, because remember, I thought I was being threatened. But then Ragg and the rest, seeing it, thought it meant magic was what I was using to make the trick possible, and have never questioned that assumption. So I just kept repeating it afterwards to keep up appearances, and so I could avoid having to explain how a seemingly ordinary unicorn can apparently walk up walls with ease without any apparent aides.”
Spike winced. “Yeah, that probably wouldn’t end well with that gang,” he admitted.
“Aw, well, they aren’t all that bad, really,” Thorax said in the defense of the group. “They’re actually pretty friendly when you get to know them. I think they just get together for some fun and games, like play tag.”
Spike’s eyebrows went up at this, having a hard time picturing the gang of teens playing something as innocent as tag. “Tag? Really?”
“Oh yeah, the last time I went through here, they mentioned they were leaving to visit a deli restaurant about a block up from here and go tagging.”
Despite everything, Spike couldn’t help but snicker a little at this. “Uh, actually Thorax, they aren’t referring to the game when they say tagging.” He gave the changeling a quick explanation of what he knew of the graffiting practice.
By the end of the explanation, Thorax was frowning and gazing back in the direction of the gang, even though they were long out of sight by now. “Huh,” he remarked. “But they seem like such a nice group…”
Spike rolled his eyes. “I’m sure they do,” he remarked so to humor the changeling. “But just as long as you remain on friendly terms with them, that’s all I care about at this point.”
“Well, that shouldn’t be a problem then.”
Spike merely smirked again and didn’t comment further.
The trip to the thrift store proved to be successful, and the two were able to secure a used, but reliable and durable backpack still in decent shape for Spike that wasn’t too expensive considering their limited funds. Thorax suspected the previous owner of the backpack was a unicorn, because he also detected that the backpack had at some point been cast with a “homebrewed” (as Thorax put it) spell that made it waterproof, an added bonus. Thus, satisfied with what they were able to accomplish today and successful in obtaining largely everything they set out to get, the two called it a day and proceeded to head back to Fly Leaf’s shop. Along the way, Thorax again suggested a different route to get back, this time more of a scenic route skirting along the edges of the city park rather than a shortcut, but it gave them both a chance to admire lush growth inhabiting the park as they passed it.
Gazing at it as they casually strolled past, Spike reflected back on their day today and all the little deviations off the beaten path Thorax had led him off of today, and found he couldn’t help but grin a little. “Hey Thorax?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for all of your leading as the guide today. It’s made the day more…interesting.”
“Oh, well, thank you.” Thorax shrugged his shoulders. “All I did was suggest we take paths I knew were slightly faster.”
“Except for the cheese shop.” Spike motioned to the park they were walking past. “Or this little detour past the park.”
“Oh, well, those are just because I thought they were interesting, and that you might enjoy them too.”
“And I have. That’s sort of what I’m getting at here.” Spike rubbed at the green spines on the back of his head, adjusting the fedora he wore on his head for a moment. “You’ve taken the time to go and explore Vanhoover and enjoy some of the things it has to offer while we’re here, and I haven’t really.”
“You have good reason not to, given our predicament.”
“True. And I had thought it wouldn’t be worth the risk personally. But…seeing you went and did it and nothing awry happened…it’s got me wondering if I should…loosen up just a little and…join you some in the exploring. I mean, we’re probably going to be in Vanhoover for a little while longer still…might as well take the time to see what it all has to offer while we’ve got the chance, right?” Spike shrugged himself. “Maybe we’ll find something that’ll be of help to us in the long run…and if not, maybe it’ll make life feel a bit more…” Spike grinned to himself, “…normal. And maybe that’s more important anyway. Trying to live a normal life despite our…less than ideal circumstances.”
Thorax shared in the grin with the dragon. “I certainly can’t say no to that,” he agreed warmly, gazing at his friend and liking the idea of helping him to be able to live some semblance of what would have been normal life for him were it not for him joining him in banishment.
“Then it’s settled,” Spike agreed as they pressed on for Fly Leaf’s shop. “When we go out, let’s make it a point to see what else we can find of interest in this city, big or small.”