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// Harmony Days IX: Silver Belles (part 2) 
// Story: Sometimes They Call Me Super 
// by KorenCZ11 
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The next day went about as I expected it to. Sweetie wouldn’t talk to me and barely came out of her room for anything other than food. I attempted to get her to speak to me on several occasions throughout the day, but the most I ever got out of her was a ‘yeah, sure, whatever’ and the noises one makes when answering a question while distracted. My magic, and subsequently my powers, had restored themselves, so every now and again I would check in on her and more than once, I found her doing… unsavory things in front of the computer. 

On the one hoof, can I really blame her? She’s less social than I ever was and she certainly doesn’t have any of those passing friends like I did at her age, but on the other hoof, I know she spends hundreds of bits electronically on those games she plays with her friends. If she has all those games to play surely that’s something better to do than… her unfortunate hobby.

In the end, I never said anything and wrote it off as her being an angsty teen. It’s not like I’ve never had my own lonely night before, but I also had access to the real thing from time to time… on second thought, it’s probably better this way. I’d rather have her doing that than getting wasted and screwed at a party. Sometimes I wonder how I ever made it through high school like that. I suppose that once I was rid of my father, I pulled myself together and killed the party girl I used to be.

Today had me getting a few of those regular Saturday sales, ponies coming in, looking, pretending like they were going to buy, then leaving, and even the rare, but welcome, large order. It made things complicated now that I was going to have to fit an entire staff come Tuesday though. It seems like Tuesday is going to be a long one, considering I’m going to spend most of the day fitting ponies for suits and the rest of the day listening to my friends argue about that to do next. And then there’s that. A glass of cold, sparkling, white wine sounds rather tempting right now...

What do we do next though? It’s not as if it’s been quiet just because we killed one of those monsters. Supposedly, the guard lost a few members last night during a fight with another kaiju in the forest. A civilian happened to be making the trek through the northern forest on hoof as some kind of spiritual adventure and witnessed the fight. He said the monster they took down looked like some kind of pony-golem amalgamate that was just as horrifying in power as it was in visage. The article described the creature as some kind of diamond dog-esque biped with four hooves, metal scales all along its body, and a particularly shiny silvery part right at its center.

I can’t say that I wasn’t relieved to know that we didn’t end up having to fight that. The guard ended up using some kind of prototype tech to shoot what amounts to a big metal spear through the creature’s chest which pierced right through it’s body and ended it right then and there. The interviewee said that this is when he began to see the golem change, but he was hit on the head with something before the creature finished morphing. 

	Which makes sense, the guard would have likely knocked him out the moment they spotted him. If she won’t tell us anything, there’s no way Luna would allow the fact that these things were ponies once to get out into the public. It would cause hysteria.

	What would we have done, in that situation? It took an artillery class ship destroyer to take that thing down. Could Applejack, Goose, and Rainbow have managed that kind of power? I know I wouldn’t have been much help, and poor Pinkie. The mare can’t catch a break. First Fluttershy throws her through a roof, then she ends up costing Applejack half her tail, and now she’s in a high grade healing stasis because she was beaten up again. Twilight is concerned that she shouldn’t go out again until we have a better way for her to fight in these situations, but other than picking up a rifle and playing support with Fluttershy and I, what can she do?

	Rainbow Dash… I don’t know the mare all that well, but if nothing else, she, Applejack, and I are all fighting for similar reasons. At the same time, Applejack and Twilight are the only ones who really know how she works. The doctor I visited managed to flush the poison from my body, but it took hours and a good amount of painkillers and bits to have it done. If things ever become normal again, could we still use her for regular jobs? Then again, what is normal these days? 

	In the span of a month, it went from the odd job every now and again to... expecting a new monster to show up any moment from now on. It feels like the reports of somepony spotting the guard dealing with some monstrosity in the forest are becoming more numerous as time passes. How long will it last? This… fleeting sense of safety. When will the bottom fall out, and everything we’ve been trying to prevent wash over this city? How long can we keep it safe?

I let my thoughts run wild with all the things that could, and at this point, might go wrong while I found my hidden supply in the freezer. It’d been awhile since I’d had a drink, but right now, I needed it. I was pouring my glass when I heard her from behind me.

“Rarity?” Sweetie asked. 

I nearly dropped my champagne bottle for two reasons; she snuck up on me… somehow, and I didn’t expect her to start a conversation with me. “Oh for the love of the goddess!” I took a deep breath once I realized it was just her. “How you managed to be so quiet, I’ll never know. Yes darling?” I put the bottle down, making sure it wasn't in any position to fall. 

The stuff is expensive and had to get a hold of… for somepony considered under age anyways. I was tempted to freeze time just to make sure she didn’t know where I hid it. The last thing I want is to have her in the sauce as early as I was. Granted, that’s not possible since she’s already seventeen, but all the same.

“Oh… If you’re busy, we can just…” she shied away. I took the glass in my magic and draped a hoof around Sweetie as I lead us to the couch in my office.

“No, no, no, I’m the furthest thing from busy right now. Come, tell me what you need to say.” I sat in my office chair and she on the couch in front of my desk in my work room at the back of the shop. The building as a whole was round, but the actual business end was almost strictly the front half of the ground floor. The back was split into the kitchen, staircase, our little TV room, and my office. 

My office was not the largest thing in the world, probably about the size of a dorm room were I at Manehattan University or somewhere similar, but was the most private room in the building. Any time Sweetie and I had a serious discussion, it was usually in here. The fact that she wants to put off whatever it is means she’s finally ready to talk to me seriously about something, and considering our last conversation, it was probably about our powers, or my main source of income.

“Well, it’s all you.” After a sip of my bubbly, I turned on my computer and started some soft music. I had planned on sitting down to watch one of my shows anyways, so I might as well get in that mood. It was only eight PM after all, and what better way to spend your Saturday night? Alone… and with alcohol… come to think of it, maybe Sweetie had the right idea earlier…

“I, uh… well, I just… I’m sorry for freaking out on you yesterday.” 

I took another sip. I was tempted to go get the rest of the bottle. “Oh, don’t worry about it, that was justified anger if nothing else. I should have told you about this long ago anyways. Sweetie, do you know how long I’ve been bounty hunting?”

“Uh… not really? I think I knew of Diamond for maybe a year or so, but you haven’t been in any of the big super hero fights like Marevelous has, so I don’t hear about you as much, or at all, really.” 

	Gee, lay it on thick why don’t you. “Two years.” I finished my glass.

“Wait, really?” 

“Mmhmm.” I felt my thoughts drifting around. One glass wasn’t normally enough to get me buzzed, but I suppose I haven’t drank in a good while, and I did abandon sipping on entirely. I shouldn’t have any more today if this is all it takes… I might need to eat something.

“So, all that time, those ‘extra jobs’ were really you out there… doing hero stuff?” I shook my head.

“‘Hero stuff.’ Ha. Honestly, that’s what I wanted it to be at first, truly, but in the end, all I ever became was a glorified bounty hunter, and by your reaction, not all that glorified to begin with. I’m not even a hero for hire per say. 

“You were right the other day, I actually do work for the government. Did you know that I’m ranked as a captain? I could walk up to a subordinate member of the guard, go tell them to do something, and they would be legally obliged to do it. It’s funny, really. I’ve never used that power, but I hope I’ll never have to.” I was hoping she’d get to the heart of the matter before I did. Sweetie may be a little oblivious at times, but she’s a smart girl. 

She shook her head and leaned in.“What? Like, for real?” The way she asked was almost like there was a spark of… happiness in there maybe?

“That’s right. Commissioned by a…” I stopped as the dull searing on my tongue began to intensify. That’s right, you’re not allowed to say too much more than that. “Certain high ranking pony herself. I’m not quite allowed to say who though, top secret you know.” With my magic, I opened the lock on my desk’s bottom drawer and pulled out my official badge. I took a moment to inspect the little pair of silver bars before I set the leather patch in front of her. 

Twilight has told me that I can be promoted if I so desire, but if I do, then I have to take on additional responsibilities like actually coordinating with the royal guard of either princesses’ court, the police, and the military branches. I wonder if she intends for Applejack to move up within the service? She did receive a higher rank than the rest of us from the get go, and she seems like the type to do it. Of course, she’s far more suited to leading a team than I am. My life might not be the glamorous one that I’d hoped for when I was younger, but these days, I find myself happy with what I have.

“Holy shit… this is real…” I debated giving her a good pop for the curse word, but I figure she’s going to say things like that when I’m not around anyways. Besides, it’s not like she didn’t call me a ‘fucking hypocrite’ last night anyways, even if I deserved it.

“So, what is it you wanted to talk about, hm? Saying you're sorry is always your opening line when you want something from me,” That took her attention away from the little silver piece and she put it back on my desk. I threw the badge back in the drawer and settled my mane back to where it was supposed to be. 

She wouldn’t look me in the eye, just about hiding behind those curly violet and lavender locks of hers. “Well, I…” she attempted, but didn’t finish.

“Well, you what? Act like you’re at Junior Guard, you’re speaking to a Captain for goddess’ sake!” I did my best sergeant impression, and I suppose something must’ve clicked in that head of hers because she straightened up and looked me in the eyes.

“Yes ma’am! Um… You… you wouldn’t have told me anything if… you didn’t think something was gonna happen right?”

	There it is. “That is correct.”

“But… wha… why would you… do that? Or… what is going to happen? You… you don’t usually make guesses, and if you do, they’re almost always spot on. What’s going on? Is this about that monster? The kaiju from Thursday?” I shook my head.

“Unfortunately, no, this has been going on for longer than that actually. Since the beginning of August. There was an article published about the kaiju, which I assume you’ve read since you know the word, correct?” Sweetie nodded. 

“Later on toward the end of the month, shortly before Marevelous joined our group as you saw in the picture, we were requested by our… boss, to investigate a foundry that’s at the northern edge of Manehattan. Or I should say ‘was’ there. Upon investigating the foundry, we found something disturbing on top of a very powerful Power Pony, a true hero for hire, however I wouldn’t call her much of a ‘hero’ after that. This was the first time in a long time that I thought I might not make it back from a mission, and had Marevelous not been there, I likely wouldn't have. We reported our findings after that, then received another mission from our other boss shortly afterward. You remember how I was more or less limping around everywhere on Friday?”

Sweetie nodded again. “Saw it, but I wasn’t sure if I should ask. You didn’t look like you were in pain or anything, just not using your front left. You were fine by Sunday, so I didn’t think anything of it.” Blunt honesty.

“Well that was because my left foreleg was paralyzed by our attacker on that night during our fight. My actual wound had been sealed before I returned, but without medical attention there was a chance I would never use that leg again.” When Luna offered to treat me back then, I wasn’t sure how to take that. It was almost like she was only doing so to apologize, but whatever spell she used certainly wasn’t one that felt good. She couldn’t numb me for it because the whole point was to restore the nerves in my leg, but she also turned them all on at the same time.

It was like having fire shoot through a limb as it’s being stabbed and electrocuted with thousands of needles. Had she not woken me up by force, I likely wouldn’t have been conscious when Applejack and Pinkie returned from their mission. Two years of contact with the princess, and I still can’t read her. It’s almost like she enjoys being a horrible pony at the time of doing so, but then comes to feel awful about it later.

“And… you’re still doing all this because…? Like, I just don’t get it. If you get hurt so bad, because I know this probably isn’t the only time something like that has happened, and there were a few times where you were gone for whole weeks, why keep doing it? The boutique makes enough money to live on, and you own the store now, so… Why put yourself in danger if you don’t have to?” When I started this conversation, I didn’t expect my raison d’etre to be questioned, and that made me think. 

	Why am I still doing this? Sure, the boutique could stand on it’s own now that I’m not paying off loans… And I’ve ‘served’ for the minimum two years already, so technically, I could just quit if I wanted to, but… I didn’t start all this for money to begin with now did I?

“Sweetie, when you started your Junior Guard training, why did you do it? I know it’s bad form to answer a question with a question, but humor me for a moment.” Sweetie got into her thinking pose, putting one hoof under her shoulder and the other on her snout. The white coated young mare tapped at her face for a good three minutes before she finally came to a conclusion.

“I… guess just because I wanted to. Applebloom is the one who brought it up, but I still went and looked it up on my own, and it just looked like something I wanted to do. It helps that… well, I don’t know how to describe it, but it feels right. Like, maybe I was meant to be doing this, ya know?” I nodded.

“With a cutiemark like yours, I can’t say that surprises me. That feeling you get is the same one I get when I exercise my talents related to my cutiemark. It’s almost compulsory, in a way. At the same time though, one shouldn’t let their cutiemark limit what you can do with your life. My powers also had applications outside of just giving me extra time and I wanted to put them to use. It made me feel like I could do something nopony else could and that I might could even be a hero like those in this city before me. For a while there, I really did try to save ponies and I did well. However, If I ever ran into an opponent who I couldn’t incapacitate, it didn’t end well for me, and usually had me retreating.

“My entrance into the ‘military’ was really the aspirations of another pony who wanted to do good. It wasn’t nearly as militant as it is now when we started it, and it was just the two of us for the longest time. I did get hurt, but that didn’t affect my resolve. Even with all the things that have happened recently to make the world so much scarier, I still don’t think I’m going to stop. You see, I’ve made friends playing hero. I’ve helped ponies, and I really do feel like the city has become a better place since I started doing all this. 

“Sure, I’ll never be on center stage like Marevelous is and Red Hoof was, but you know? I’m okay with that. As much as I’ve always dreamed for the spotlight, age has taught me that it just doesn’t suit me to have it. I like seeing other ponies happy with the things I do more than anything else, and I think that’s how it was meant to be. If all I have to do is give my time and my abilities to help others, then, well, that’s all I need.” 

Sweetie raised a hoof, put it back down, raised it again, and then put it back down. Finally, she sighed. “So… that being said, no matter what happens, even if more monsters are going to show up, you’re not going to stop are you?”

I shook my head. “As much as I only play support, my powers are very important to my friends, and they’ll need my help when the next monster does come along, and to be sure, there will be more if my intuition serves me right.”

Sweetie nodded. “Okay then. I guess that tells me what I wanted to know. Can you help me? Get a hold of my powers, I mean. I spent a lot of time thinking about it yesterday, and I finally decided that I wanted to try and use my powers for something, but I couldn’t think of what other than joining the military. I’m still probably going to do that since I apparently have ‘such a good control’ over complex shields, but if it ever came down to it, I’d like to be able to fight back with what I can do. 

“Maybe I’m not ready to fight a giant monster, but if it was just a regular creature, I bet I could hold my own if I could just figure out how to control the flames, ya know?” I figured this would happen eventually, and I don’t have anything to do Sunday but prepare for my investigation. 

	It would be interesting to see just how good she is in a fight… I smiled. “Very well then. How about you and I go a little ways out of town tomorrow and see if we can’t figure this thing out together, hmm?” She lit up with excitement… quite literally. A few flames appeared on her ears.

“Really?” she asked with those big eyes of hers. I reached over and put the flame on her ear out with my hoof. And nodded.

“Yes. You might want to go ahead and turn in though. It took a lot of effort and repeated use to get my powers to the point they’re at now and yours seem to turn on whenever they want to as it stands.” I shook my hoof of steam. And based on that, her emotions can trigger them. That's going to be the hard part.

“Okay, cool! When should I be up? Are we going early in the morning?” That’s probably a good idea. Considering the place I have in mind, we might want to spend all day there…

“Yes. Be ready to go by eight. You’ll need the rest, I promise.”

She gave me a stare, but shook it away and headed upstairs. “Okay then… goodnight Rarity!” 

	Goodnight indeed. Tomorrow should be fun...





When I woke up Monday morning, I nearly just shut my alarm off and pulled the covers back over my head. In our feeble attempt to get Sweetie some control over her powers, we ended up almost burning an entire field down. Sweetie is also a better fighter than I thought she was going to be, so on top of the fire, I was a little bruised and burned. It went too far and I ended up using my powers to put her out with repeated blows and then we went home. By the time that happened, it was already eight PM.

Somehow, Sweetie still found a way to enjoy all that and asked to do it again next weekend when I had time. Ah, to enjoy getting in fights, learning how to fight. To be a teenager with so little to care in the world. I finally removed myself from my bed and got across my room to the bathroom and took a look at the damage we’d done. Aside from the fact that my front hooves had a good amount of charring, the only noticeable thing that came out of yesterday was the hoof sized bruise on my right shoulder. Well, I certainly won’t be getting away with that without a question or two. I had debated on wearing an outfit to tour the Tower, and then to subsequently sneak around in, but it looked like I didn’t have much of a choice anymore.

An hour gone by and everything was ready for my trip to Tin. I’d taken the black three piece suit I made a little while back when I planned on looking to buy a storefront so many years ago and modified it to fit me in the current day. I wasn’t mad about letting out the hips, but I wasn’t happy about having to let out the shoulders. I shouldn’t have broader shoulders, I’m a mare for goddess’ sake! Applejack can look like a stallion with child birthing hips all she wants, but I’ll have no part of that!

I sighed. Ever since she joined, I find myself comparing myself to her. On some, base, instinctual level, I feel like I should try to out do her in some way. Like I need to strive to be better than she is, but at the same time, I know that I could never physically compare to her. She’s on a level that I could never reach, so I really need to give this whole strange rivalry thing up.

	Of course, there’s no reason I can’t try to better myself, but I don’t want to look like she does, do I? If it weren’t for her extremely feminine frame, chances are she’d get mistaken for a stallion as toned and muscle bound as she is. Ugh, she has a body of a goddess and the strength of a god. I sighed once more and resigned myself to go ahead to the train station. Dwelling on my own shortcomings is going to get me nowhere. I headed downstairs to grab my keys, and then exited the building, locking the door behind me.

As usual, the drive to the station was relatively normal. Packed to the brim with cars and ponies was the parking lot, making finding a spot to leave my car damn near impossible, and then trying to enter the place was like joining a school of fish in a strong current. I almost gave in and froze time just to get around all these ponies, but considering I don’t know how much I’m going to need it, I decided to save everything for later when I was in Argent Tower. 

Speaking of, that’s another thing I find myself concerned with these days. Even when I’m alone, I catch myself repeating our stupid phrase in my head like it’s a condition to activate my powers. I did it yesterday and subconsciously sent the message to Fluttershy while working with Sweetie. I was more embarrassed than anything else, and I went so far as to say it out loud later on. Needless to say, I need to get a hold of that before I start freezing things later.

While on the train, a thought crossed my mind, and I remembered what I was doing before Infiltrating the tower and who was getting me into it. That’s right, I have to deal with him today. I wonder if he’ll open up by shooting himself in the leg? A terrible conversationalist, that stallion. How he ever managed to get laid, I’ll never know. Perhaps it was the money… yes, I could see that. The harlot was just as much of a gold digger as she was a sex addict. Utter filth.

I decided to stop thinking about that because it would only make me not want to do this more. These feelings I keep bringing up are justified, aren’t they? They were the ones who betrayed us, right? It was their decision to leave each other, and it was his decision to start drinking to cope with it all. I have every right to despise them, yet… somehow, I feel like there’s a part of me that desperately wants to reconcile this deep seeded hate.

	I’ll never forget the good memories from my childhood, before everything went so terribly wrong. All those piano recitals before my cutiemark appeared, the family trips over the summer, learning board games with him, learning to sew with her. They made me who I am today, yet I never should’ve had to grow up so fast just to survive.

	Where does my hate stem from? Probably there, more than anything else. I was stripped of innocence at a young age, and I was denied a childhood any further afterward. Had we never left ponyville, had we never been intruded upon that day… would it all be different now? Sweetie is the one who likes all the sci-fi stuff, but the idea of the multiverse theory still intrigues me, or really makes me fantasize anyways. Somewhere, out in another world, there’s a me who had all her dreams come true. A me whose parents never gave up on each other, a me who never had these powers. Some days, I wish her life was mine.

	“Rarity? Have you boarded your train yet?” Twilight asked from the back of my mind.

I nodded to nopony in particular. “I have. I decided to take an earlier train because I wanted to get a look at the town before going in.”Of course, that’s not the real reason, but it is what I’m going to do while I figure out whether or not I’m up to dealing with him just yet. I’ll not follow their example and just never show up, but I’m still not prepared to be civil.

	“Oh, okay. That’s probably something we should’ve thought about now that I think about it. Good job for being on the ball, I guess. How long til you reach Tin?” She asked. 

I shrugged to the air. “I’d say I’m about halfway down the line. I should be arriving in about forty five minutes.” I always found it strange that we didn’t just use our phones to communicate in public. Telepathy is really only used by the military these days since radio waves started becoming easy to intercept, but I don’t even look like a militant to begin with. She could just call me and it not look like I was making gestures to nopony in particular on a train full of ponies and children who stare. She doesn’t seem to have a problem texting when it’s not important.

	“Okay, keep me posted. Let me know before you enter the Tower so I can get a lock on the device. Once I have that, we can start mapping the layout. I don’t expect you to go everywhere, but try to keep travel in time so that I don’t lose any data.”

	I rolled my eyes. “I will use my powers if and when I need to, and only then. You of all ponies should know better than to give me orders about how to do my job.”

	“Rarity, she is practically breathing down my neck right now. Please, just act like you’re under chain of command.” Twilight pleaded, much softer this time. 

	Oh for the love of all that is in sunlight, why is that wretched Princess awake right now? “Eh-hem, yes Princess,” I replied, like a soldier would.

	“Thank you. I will contact you again in an hour if you haven’t entered the tower.” And then the line was cut, almost like being hung up on. With something new to distract me, I spent the rest of the train ride thinking about the trio of royals I found myself in constant contact with.





When I arrived in Tin, it was noon on the dot, a quarter short of an hour before I was supposed to meet with him at the station. I set an alarm on my phone for twelve thirty to make sure I could get back to the station in time to see if the old bastard actually kept his promise, then went on my merry way exploring the small town in the shadow of the tower. I had come to visit this place once or twice when we first moved to Manehattan years ago, and it looked just as imposing as it used to.

The building itself doesn’t look ‘evil’ per say, it just looks entirely out of place and it’s more of an unsettled feeling that I get from looking at it. Like there are eyes in every window, staring down at me. A quote came to mind as I stared at the thing. ‘If you gaze long enough into the abyss, it gazes back into you.’ I shook the words from my head and somehow managed to tear my eyes away from the tower. 

It was much like the disruption crystals, or the alluring crystals. I feel… drawn to them somehow. At least I can’t do to that tower what I did to the alluring crystals. Shame, embarrassment, and sick for a few weeks because of some strange attraction. I’m so glad she had the sense to withhold that information a few weeks ago.

Quickly tossing that thought away, I started my investigation of Tin and found… nothing. It was very strange being here. My magic isn’t very strong or very sensitive, but at the same time, I felt like there was an odd pressure over the whole area, like something was bearing down on me, making it hard to use even levitation spells. In this kind of weird magic… less? No, magic suppressed zone, I doubt I could even cast a light, which is difficult enough for me to do to begin with.

Other than the strange feeling this place gave me, I also think I saw Rainbow Dash here. It was maybe for an instant, but the single wing and the rainbow mane she sports that I’ve heard about from Sweetie and Applejack are very difficult to miss. She disappeared around a corner and then I lost her. I was going to explore that alleyway more, but my alarm rang, and it was time to go see if the old stallion would show his face to me. I made a note to come back to this more out of the way part of Tin after my investigation of the main building was done, then headed to the train station.

I arrived at one thirty-five, and to my surprise, he was already at the station. There he was in his old tan suit that could’ve come out of the same color swatch as his chestnut brown mane, carrying a red gift bag and a bouquet of red and blue irises. I’m shocked. He remembers what my favorite flowers are. Color me impressed old man, you might just not shoot yourself yet. Then again, I haven’t given him the chance to open his mouth in front of me. We shall see. I figured that the best time to approach him would be from on the train I was supposed to arrive in, so this would be my first use of my powers today. I sat behind my corner in the pristine white stone covered station and watched him until the train arrived.

He was his usual self as far as I could tell, the impatient bounce of his left hind leg and the nervous stroking of his neatly trimmed mustache all while he read a real newspaper. How he got a hold of one of those, I’ll never know. They’ve been outdated since the last ten years, and Manehattan stopped printing them entirely last year. All the news media has moved online where everypony is these days. Interesting that Tin still prints a paper. Old habits die hard, I suppose. The train finally came in and the moment the doors opened enough that I could get in, I used my powers.

	Toki wo tomare!

	Za Warudo!

	Oh, blast it all, I did it again. One day, I’ll figure out how to not whisper this to myself while the others aren’t around. I went inside the train and took a seat as quickly as I could, then released time. A blast of color, followed by a slight shift in motion as the train came to a complete halt and the doors slid all the way open. Nopony in this car was paying any attention to anything other than the door and their phones, so I didn’t get any weird looks. I mentally prepared myself to face the old stallion and then followed the small crowd out the train car. He saw me immediately and calmly started toward me with his gifts floating in his light green magic.

“Rarity, it’s so good to see you, darling!” He approached me for a hug. I held out a hoof and stopped that dead in it’s tracks though.

“I don’t think so. You might be here on time, and you might not smell of anything but clean linens, but you are still not in my good graces yet, darling.” Geez, that was a little much don’t you think? Hmm… no, not really. The pair of my own voices argued in my head. At the moment, the balding stallion looked like both sides of my father as I remembered him. The nice stallion who treated me like a daughter, and the old bastard who treated me like a slave. I hadn’t yet decided how to treat him in return, so for now, he was a stranger to me. In the two years that have passed since I last saw him, he could be a completely different pony as far as I know. 

Understandably disappointed, the old stallion lost his smile and replaced it with a more pathetic, sad frown, only to let that fade into business sales casual when he went to speak again. He was Argent’s chief of sales, after all. “Ah... yes, I suppose that’s entirely fair. I-in any case, I picked these up for you on my way here. I remember irises to be your favorite, so I figured why not have a souvenir to take home with you? I also found something a while back that I figured you would appreciate but never had a chance to give it to you so… consider this a birthday present that’s a few months late.” He levitated the two objects to me. For a moment there, I struggled to get a hold of the bag with my magic, almost like it was slipping off somehow. I gave up on trying to encase the whole thing in my field and simply took the handles in it instead.

“Hmm. To be completely honest, I’m surprised you remembered I liked these. For that, you earn a point. Thank you. Now then, I suppose this restaurant is close by if you expect me to carry all of this?” The business smile fell flat as he realized that he’d given me a pair of gifts that I had nowhere to store.

“Oh, my apologies, I didn’t think to… Let me just take those for you as we head to the place. It’s just a few minutes trot from here on the sunnier part of town. The uh, tower’s position happens to cast a shadow on everything at some point in the day or other, but this place is just in the right spot to miss the shadow until much later in the day.” He took the objects he’d given me back in his field and began to motion for me to join him as he headed out of the station’s chrome covered archway and glass doors.

We lazily made our way to the restaurant as he gave me a run down on every single thing we passed on the way to our destination. Surprisingly enough, most of these buildings are stores. The Argent tower actually has apartments within its massive walls, and while some of the employees that do sanitation work typically live inside the tower, other ponies live there just because it’s convenient. He offered to take me to visit some of these stores and maybe pick out a new outfit, but I reminded him that this was just lunch and he still needed to tour the tower with me before he had to return to work. It was a Monday afternoon after all. 

The restaurant he wanted to take me to was oddly familiar to me as we approached the outside, but I couldn’t figure out why. Every building in Tin had the same whitewall and cinderblock composition, as did this one, but none of the others looked so familiar to me. The shape of the building was completely different than the others, having a high peaking roof easily being two floors on the inside and an almost… home like appearance to it.

“Well, here we are. Does it uh… remind you of anything?” It was right on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t place it until the smell hit me. The aroma of tomato sauce, the wafting air of mushrooms frying on a skillet, the smell of a good wine alight in a pan. I had been somewhere like this before. Back when we were a family, before we ever left Ponyville, there was a Cavallian restaurant that we would always go to when they were home. It was owned by a couple whose children Sweetie and I were friends with, but I couldn’t recall the names of any of them.

“It does… What is this place called?” I asked. He’d formed a smile again, this time a true, genuine one, not the one he puts on for work.

“This is Bisque’s.” That’s right, I remember it now! The Bisque family, Tomato, Uva, Formaggio, and Fragola! They were the ones that ran the old restaurant! We spent so much time with them, how could I forget? We lost contact after the move, but… I remember Formaggio telling me he’d come back to marry me one day. Hehe… Wouldn’t it be interesting to see him again? I wonder what he’s been doing after all these years?

“I can’t believe it! They moved all the way out to Tin? How long has this been here?” I asked, maybe a little more excited than I wanted to sound.

“About six months ago. Formaggio runs the place these days, that kid always did have a better head on his shoulders than his father. Tomato runs the kitchen and Fragola goes to school in Manehattan.” We walked into the restaurant and just as I remembered them, the smells of all the dishes I used to eat came flooding into me like a torrent.

The pasta I made out of a box with canned sauce the other day was blown out of the water by what Mr. Bisque could cook. Mrs. Bisque was from Cavally, and she had a talent for growing plants on top of being a good cook. She would make the pasta by hoof with a press and everything, while Mr. Bisque prepared all the food. They were a fantastic team, bring in fresh ingredients and having a new special every week for us to try. Formaggio and Fragola would occasionally work as servers or entertain guests since she was a talented violinist at her age and he was a pony pleaser.

“Buon pomeriggio signore Bronze, and hello bella signora. How may I serve you two this fine day?” the host said. The words sounded familiar to me, but I couldn’t place them. I took Chevallian in high school, so I was sure he was saying something like good afternoon since buon and bonne were about universal across Chevallian, Caballish, and Cavallian, but Equestrian was only half based on Equuis, the other half Rossian, and even then it was kind of it’s own thing. However, it didn’t seem that the bright red stallion recognized me, and he just called me pretty.

“My, my, bella signora? Who ever thought Formaggio Bisque would call me pretty.” I said as I stared him in those green eyes of his. The green and yellow headed earth pony tilted his head at me, and then I could almost see the light bulb go off.

“R-rarity? For real? Is that you?” he asked, dropping the accent entirely. His mother was just about naturalized by the time we met and she didn’t have much of an accent left. He only ever used his accent when he was mixing Cavallian words in his speech, which he did rather frequently.

“That is correct. It seems I’ve become different since I last saw you. You however look like the same kid I used to know.” Formaggio ran around his podium to give me a hug, and I easily returned it.

“Oh mia Dia, it’s been so long! What is it, ten years now? Geez, you’re so… wow, I mean. You know? Why don’t I get you two seated and we can talk after It dies down a little. We’re pretty popular here, Dad and I. Scusi, camereri, come take care of my friends will you? Take them upstairs to ventitré.” 

Quickly following his call, a pink coated mare in what looked like a bartender’s outfit came and grabbed a few menus from behind Formaggio’s podium. “Please follow me.” 

The building was laid out just like the old one was on the ground floor, but upstairs was a much nicer and a more ‘high class’ arrangement of seating complete with a bar, a balcony, and a giant wall of windows to let light into the dim white, cream, and violet covered restaurant. We were lead to a booth which just so happened to have a vase with the exact same flowers my father was carrying with him.

“Well now, I feel is if everypony knows what kind of flowers I like. Or did you arrange for this?” 

The old stallion nodded his head. “I might’ve mentioned that my guest happened to like these. I’m good friends with Tomato and Formaggio after all. I eat here pretty often, and I tend to steer meetings to be catered by this place. It’s good to have friends when you can scratch each other’s backs.” 

We were seated and the waitress passed us large spiral bound menus with plenty of options. “Please take your time to look through the menu. Is there anything you’d like to drink? We-” the waitress began, but he cut her off.

“Just water will do for now. I’d like to look through the menu some more. And for you darling?” I narrowed my eyes at him. I know exactly what kind of place Mr. Bisque ran back at home.

“You have a wine menu don’t you? What was it you were going to say?” I asked the waitress.

“Oh, of course. We recently obtained a new sparkling wine that pairs phenomenally with our halibut sulla capellini. A lightly crisped fish fillet over fresh made pasta with a butter and lemon sauce topped on both. All our dishes are served with fresh baked bread from the Tin Bakery here in town.” The gold eyed mare explained with as much energy as I imagined she could contain. She seemed to really like her job as far as I could tell.

“I think I’ll have that, but bring me a Lemonade instead of the wine, thank you,” I said. The pale green headed unicorn took a little pad out of her pocket in her field of pink magic and scribbled down my order.

“And you’re sure you don’t want your usual mister Belle?”

He sighed and nodded. “I suppose I’ll take that. But swap the drink for water, please.”

“Of course. I’ll go get the order to mister Bisque and tell him you’re here.” She tossed her notepad back in her black outfit and walked away.

“Oh? Showing restraint are we? A sparkling wine sounds right up your alley right about now. How often hmm? And how much while we’re at it.” I heard the venom slowly starting to work its way into my voice.

“Once a week, two glasses at most, and only here. Rarity, I do not get hammered anymore, I swear. Is it so wrong that I like the taste?”

I shook my head. “Not at all. The problem I had with it is that you would nearly down an entire bottle in one sitting and become violent at the drop of a pin! The reason that I feel the slow burn of rage welling inside me is because I thought you had quit entirely based on what you said to me Saturday! So why didn’t you just say that?” I already knew the answer I was going to get, but I wanted to hear it from him.

“Because I knew you wouldn’t even speak to me if I said anything about it! I know I made a mistake back then, and I will never make that mistake twice. You two are all I have left to care about and… and I would never forgive myself if I never tried to repair the damage I did. You know… she died, last year…” 

She? Is he talking about her? “She who?” I asked.

“Oh, for Goddess’s sake Rarity, your own mother!” He buried his face in his hooves. 

Something went off in my head, but I couldn’t figure out what the feeling was. “So what? It’s not like she ever bothered to try and make up with any of us, and I haven’t seen the mare in nearly six years, why should I care after she just abandoned us like that?” I didn’t even hesitate to say all that. The feeling that I couldn’t place was growing stronger, but I had yet to come up with what it was. 

My father simply looked at me in amazement. “So, you feel nothing at all? Even the years she spent raising you, all that time we were together, it just means… nothing now?”

I shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure. Maybe the reality hasn’t set in, and maybe I really don’t care. The fact of the matter is, I saw her last on bad terms, and if that’s the last memory I’ll ever have of her, then good riddance. Really, Feather Duster was more of a mother to me than she ever was, and I still talk to her these days. I suppose I can at least relay the fact to Sweetie, but I doubt she feels any different about is since she spent even less time with her.” 

He merely let out a deep sorrowful breath and shook his head. “I… I guess I can’t really blame you for your feelings. We didn’t do a good job. The most important job that we had and we botched it. I just… well, at the very least you know now. I… I don’t want to end up like that. I don’t want to suddenly die and have the two of you just remember me as some awful father.” 

Gently, he took hold of my hoof on the table with both of his and stared me in the eyes. “Look, I will do whatever it takes, but I want to be apart of your lives again.” Those greens of his now more sincere than I’ve ever seen them. They reminded me that Sweetie has his eyes, and… I can’t place this feeling, I just… do I feel conflicted right now? Is it confusion? Gah, you infuriating old fool, why…?

	I shook my head and pulled my hoof away. “Well, I’m here right now, so make an effort to give me the best day you can and we’ll talk again. I… I really never did think I would see her again, but now that I know I just… I don’t know what to feel. I mean, it’s not like I wanted everything to go as wrong as it did. I…” I shook my head. “Let’s just talk about something else for now shall we? How are Uva and Fragola? I haven’t seen either of them yet. I would think Uva would have shown up by now…” 

I searched the restaurant but didn't see the violet mare anywhere. The upper floor was almost like a loft, probably over the kitchen. From where we were, I could see just about the whole restaurant, but when I looked about, something was missing. It was like, those little things that Uva did for the place weren’t there anymore. The restaurant was pretty, but it didn’t have the green touch that Uva brought with her. I took a look back at his face and it was all clear. “I see… Is that why they moved?”

“It is. She fell to a terminal disease she caught about a year and a half ago. Fragola is the only reason Tomato still runs a business, but I think it’s helping him get over it. Formaggio picked out the location and they sold everything off. They buried her under her garden. I went to the funeral back then, the kids played her favorite piece and some of her family from across the ocean came to pay their respects. I uh… tried to call you but you never answered.” We fell silent, and the soft mandolin music playing in the background went unbroken until Tomato arrived with our food. The older earth pony sported a thin dark green beard and a dull red coat almost like an aged version of the fruit of his namesake.

“Hey there Bronze, and miss bella signora. Your usual linguine e vongole and the halibut sulla capellini for the young miss. Don’t I know you? No wait! You’re little Diamante aren’t you?” I nodded.

“It’s good to see you too Mister Bisque. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that name…” I trailed off. Little Diamante. Uva is the one who gave me that name so long ago… 

“Hey, Keylime, will you take over for Formaggio and tell him to get up here? Let Stainless know that I’m gonna take a break for a little bit,” he asked the mare as she brought us our drinks and a basket of warm bread.

“Of course sir. I hope you enjoy your meal.” She then disappeared down the staircase, only for Formaggio to return in her place. He and Tomato sat with us while we ate and we all had a good time talking about the past. Somewhere deep down, I could feel sadness taking root in my heart and I hated it. It wasn’t just memories of Uva that were coming back to me, but memories of her too. Pearl Belle, the name alone is enough to make my skin crawl normally, but now I wasn’t feeling that. 

That violet maned pink unicorn mare was… not somepony that I had an unyielding hatred for anymore. She was my mother, my real mother, and now, with all these childhood memories in my mind, I couldn’t remember the bad things. I couldn’t remember all the reasons I should have to hate her, all I could see was somepony I used to care for, and now she’s not been on this Earth for almost a year and I didn’t even care to know…

	How could I be so… horrible… I’m just as bad as they were…