A day had passed and it was the next morning. Greta stayed overnight in an empty bed, mostly because Rarity didn’t want to be alone at the moment and she had a logical reason for being paranoid given the device Greta found. They didn’t know of the changeling team that was watching them for their own safety and said team didn’t know about the device smuggled into the room at some point.
“Well your recovery is going quite fast.” Four was surprised that Rarity had managed to get back into walking shaped despite the stab wound having gone through several of her muscles that weren’t entirely healed yet. Magic could only do so much and the unicorn doctor did decently at fixing the damage.
“I’m determined to not miss the Grand Galloping Gala and nothing, short of death, can make me!” Rarity finished combing out her mane and it was back into good shape, her pained limping was making it hard to keep her mane in good order. Standing up was painful, but Rarity was going to grit her teeth and power through said pain. “A few prescribed light pain killers wouldn’t be too bad for me to have, especially given that I don’t want to be seen walking around on a crutch.”
“Well, it would actually be better if you did go with the crutch. Not to mention less painful in the long run.” Four looked over the documents knowing that while Rarity did get some magical healing that fixed some of the muscle damage, the stitches were definitely entirely necessary to close the wounds off. If the pony was going to be stubborn about it, then Nurse Four Play couldn’t deny her release from the hospital after another overnight stay. “Against my better judgment I’ll get the release form and have a doctor see if there’s a prescription he can write you that’s weak enough to not cause problems. Also don’t scratch at your stitches, we have a topical cream for it that your friend can apply for you gently. Are there any questions?”
“Yeah, what’s up with that guy?” Greta pointed to a changeling slowly walking by covered completely in a full body cast.
“Oh that’s just Hard Throb; he’s in and out of this hospital more than any other being around. Well ever since changelings joined pony society anyway, before that we just used to cover him in changeling goo which is a rather common building material used among our species. We used that stuff to glue things together and just told him to just suck it up, it worked pretty well… for other changelings. Ponies have the market cornered on body cast production, also medical facilities.” Four just shook her head sadly; apparently even building materials wouldn’t hold that guy together for long. “Best infiltrator ever, but so accident prone we don’t bother with keeping track of his medical file anymore since we’ve dedicated it entirely to the humor section of the Canterlot library. That’s an ongoing thing, you can find some of his best hits he’s taken in there including his world record for most bones and chitin broken in a week. We just ask what it is that feels injured this time and try our best; at this point we’re not even sure how he’s alive. He’s been injured by everything you can think of, including kitchen sinks and once upon a time a toilet while he was shopping for them at a plumbing and tables store. Seriously what is it with ponies and selling two highly disparate things in stores? In any case Chrysalis has been kind of selling his body to medical science, because even she’s confused by someone other than a queen like her surviving as much as he has.”
“It’s most likely two ponies of differing special talents marry and they sell things based on their talents, I happen to know a cousin of mine that married into a herd with a guy that wanted to run a sofa store down in Ponyville. Recently looked it up and found that he also sells quills and in this day and age who uses something like that? Well aside from seeing use as a novelty for writing in diaries or feather based accessories.” It was rather odd to Greta as much as anybody as to who would buy quills unless it was for those two reasons. “Before you ask the sofa stallion has a thing for wings and his wives always pick fights with one another because they like getting rough with each other, in bed, lose quite a few feathers that way. From what I hear herds are only effective if everyone’s bisexual and open about it.”
“That might explain the Paints and Bathtubs store down there as well. Anyway, if the two of you will just wait here while I go grab the release forms, the topical cream and talk to the doctor about a prescription for some medicine Ms. Bell can safely take to numb the pain.” Four left them sitting in the lobby, nodding to the seats as she left. It was well past breakfast and the hospital food wasn’t to Rarity’s taste, much less Greta’s taste and they’d go down Restaurant Row to see if there was a good place to eat. Only there was one problem.
“Now that I think of it, is there anything we can do to hide my stitches right now? I really don’t want to be seen walking around with these injuries.” Rarity’s vanity reared its ugly head and she was thinking about nobles seeing her stitched up like some kind of bride of Frankly N. Stein like this before the gala.
Frankly Nice Stein was an old tale about a stallion that sold beer and slightly boiled carrots on buns that started a restaurant franchise; it was based on a true story nonetheless. His wife was known as a rather clumsy mare and one day was going to go to a ball of some sorts and yet she was covered in stitches from an accident involving a banana peel and a set of watermelon cutting knives. Frank still took her to that ball and didn’t care what his wife looked like even though other people made fun of her when they went; it was a bit of a heartwarming tale of love no matter the outward appearance. If you found someone who loved you for who you are and you loved them in the same capacity, you should definitely stick with them.
Rarity was notably far pickier than that about making appearances, especially first ones, than that and didn’t think some nice and noble stallion would like a mare with stitches showing in her neck. Heck if she could find a stallion that cared not for her outward appearance despite how hard she worked on i then that would definitely be something, which would be a bit hypocritical considering that Rarity judged books by their covers quite often when it comes to finding a dream stallion with a good heart and good looks at the same time. Gilda said it a long time ago; she was setting herself up for disappointment.
-
“So you still came up here despite being almost entirely unfit for space travel?” Continuing to work on her special project Gilda knew it would take another day before she actually had anything for her test pilot to do. Lightning wouldn’t be involved directly in building the project, but assisting in hoofing things to the griffon where needed and Gilda easily could get those things herself.
“Despite the fact that I haven’t flown in quite a while and I’m kind of malnourished, yes I did.” Lightning seemed to be rather sure of her actions even if she looked like skin and bones. “Still need to eat a lot and take a few supplements to fix the problems with my body, but you don’t exactly need me at the moment do you? At this rate I’ll be back in shape before you need me for the action.”
“You say that now, but at the end of this week a big event for the boss lady is going down, I’m betting something urgent happens before, during or after the event.” Gilda turned a stern eye towards the scrawny mare. “So we’re going to need to test this baby out before that, will you actually be ready by then?”
“Okay, so maybe I won’t be ready by then. I’ll still be able to test it out right? I mean by the end of the week I’ll be good enough to co-pilot at least.” Despite her confidence Lightning still looked like a starved little orphan child who only eats bread for a living and sometimes gets a slice of cheese to go with it. At least that was what Gilda’s thought processes said about Lightning every single time she looked in her direction.
“Well if Vera clears it, then sure. She’s our resident masseuse and health expert, finding her might be a thing because she has a particularly odd problem. She’s mostly invisible unless she touches you or is pointed out by someone who can see her. I’m sure Coco is already introducing Trapeze, Rover and Bernard to her.”
-
“That is by far the most magical….” Started Trapeze who was understandably awestruck by what she was witnessing, only to be cut off quite abruptly by a completely irate sounding Vera that now had Coco pointing straight towards her.
“It’s a pain in my flank is what it is.” Muttered a rather upset Vera who could disappear within a literal blink of an eye, it wasn’t like she meant to do so and it was always troubling when she was introduced to new people. It made dating someone impossible unless she was impossibly clingy to said date. Of course if the date were obnoxious, she’d dare him to let go of her and take five steps in any direction and then point her out in the room, if he couldn’t then he would leave her alone. To say that upside of her ignorance factor hasn’t failed once, not too. “If I were a less moral mare I would actually take advantage of this blessed with suck.”
“Well that’s a buzz kill, I wasn’t even drinking alcohol either.” Flatly stated Trapeze who hugged Bernard to herself, her companion just nodded in agreement.
“Rover is thinking that ability would be great for avoiding deadly stare of boss lady, Rover likes peanuts where they currently are.” In a simple minded way, Rover saw only the positives of being practically invisible to almost everything.
“Yeah about that, the main reason why I joined this crew is because Rarity could see through my ability to become easily ignored.” With that Vera had crushed Rover’s dream of not being seen by the boss lady when she got angry. “I actually like working for her and Opal is actually making quite an effort to get to know me despite how frustrating it is for her.”
“You don’t even know the half of it, trying to keep you in mind is pure chaos and suffering on my end!” Though there were a few upsides to how distracting for Opal it was, it let her keep her mind off things she’d rather not think about. “I do however appreciate that you acknowledge my efforts and hope that we can continue to be friends while having a nice calm working relationship. Even while I slowly spiral into madness in your presence…”
“I think you might be bipolar Opal and that’s a bit surprising, considering who you are and everything.” Psychologically speaking, Vera didn’t think she could get Opal to admit to her issues despite how healthy it would be for her to confront them and admit to how terrified she is of it.
“Oh no, no, no, if I were bipolar it’d definitely be noticeable. I’m just acting appropriately to my environment like a good AI would.” It sounded like Opal was speaking the truth; only the word ‘should’ should have been spoken instead.
“Yet any mention of you being rampant sends your mood into a nose dive faster than Greta can swing back to being happy even while looking straight into a room of dead bodies.” Here Vera decided to drop a bit of a bombshell on the suddenly quite Opal. “Quite frankly her positivity in any situation scares me more than thought of you going rogue.”
“Yeah I can see that.” Opal agreed with the thought that Greta was scarily positive, that griffon was a silver lining seeker and she stuck with it through thick and thin. “Also just to be clear, there is nothing rampant about me and my initiative is a preprogrammed feature mom put into me.”
“You’re calling her mom now, how is that… you know what, I’m dropping the subject right here and now. Probably to come back to it at a later date when your more willing to talk about your feelings openly.” Vera was not about to agitate Opal any further, since it was already quite hard to get her out of her shell. “I would like a certain AI to know that she in quite deep denial about her rampancy. It’s at least cute that she’s calling her creator mom now, but I would like to add that it is probably a really huge tip off to said rampancy for others so she should really be careful about it with people she doesn’t trust.”
“I’ll be sure to tell this AI that if I meet her, her creator sounds rather friendly.” Opal responded immediately and in a slightly airy robotic tone.
“So, I’m getting the fact that we shouldn’t bring that up with Opal or even try to talk to her about it?” A slightly confused Trapeze soon received a hoof around her back from a sadly nodding Coco. There might have been some friction between Vera and Opal; all Vera was just trying to do was help her psychologically and she Opal actively refusing that help after a small amount of progress was made.
-
Restaurant Row was quite famous for its delicious foods, plus nobody following the standards of a mare named Zesty Gourmand. In fact being about as far away from Zesty’s tastes made you a top rated restaurant. It all relied on the backwards star rating system, the less you had the more popular your restaurant was and if you had zero stars you were at least worth visiting twice a week.
Rarity was hiding her injuries underneath a layer of safely applied white makeup that was the same color as her fur to hide her stitches from the public, the topical cream stopped her from getting itchy but it didn’t exactly help with the pain of walking. She had a rather specific amount of medication she could take within a given day, only one pain killer a day when it was really bad and nothing more than that.
“I do so hope we can find a restaurant that can wash the bland out of my mouth; hospital food is quite flat in taste.” Rarity could only hope that Greta agreed with her, because nobody should be able to like hospital food unless it was fruit flavored ice cream. That and her slightly limping started to get looks that she didn’t appreciate.
“I wouldn’t worry about that, Restaurant Row has something for everyone. Just please don’t take us to one of the five star rated restaurants meant for nobles and snobs.” The fact that Restaurant Row had brochures was nice to Greta, especially given the theme park styling the entire street had with all its attractions being entirely food related. “I believe those particular restaurants were described as, food so horrid you’d cut off your own tongue to stop tasting it. That is why people question the sanity of nobles after they started eating such food, but everyone knows that it was Chrysalis who caused them to start stomaching it even if it would kill them faster than not eating it.”
This theme park styled street was a food lover’s paradise that included a rather friendly demonic taco cart visited at least once a week by Princess Luna personally, nobody knew whether it was to eat the delicious food or suppress the demonic influence to eat more tacos within five feet of the cart. Nobody knows why the Taco Hell cart even existed, but everyone knew Twilight Sparkle was scared of it because it kept spitting eerily accurate quesadilla’s at her whenever she trotted within fifteen feet of it.
“I’m sure that’s an exaggeration Greta, no restaurant could possibly make food that bad.” Or at least Rarity would like to think so.
Some of the poor nobles would have preferred to starve to death than eat the stuff that Zesty Gourmand went crazy over; heck Zesty Gourmand’s shift in sense of taste could almost solely be blamed on Chrysalis as Zesty was one of the nobles she almost starved to death.
“Yeah, tell that to the hospital staff who specifically get that kind of food for nobles when they get into an accident. What they served us was at least three steps above that and at least for that I’m thankful.” Breakfast this day was not an entity Greta would remember, she could overlook the blandness of it all if they found a good place for a meal with something intriguing. Still, she hoped it was going to be a nice and memorable day with her boss lady. “So should we try the funnel cake stand or the pancake party pavilion, I heard that one is one of Celestia’s favorite places to eat as you can get breakfast all day there. It is notable for having twenty kinds of delectable syrups available there.”
“Maybe later Greta, I’m thinking more of pasta, breadsticks and salads.” Rarity currently had a hankering for garlic, pepper and marinara. “Also no, we’re not a sharing a plate of spaghetti.”
“Awe, but I wanted to do something cheesy and silly.” Shaking her head and chuckling merrily, Greta pointed out the requisite restaurant after looking over its location in the brochure. They both started towards it. “You’re right anyway; I’d prefer to do that with Gilda. Plus you’re my boss so that would definitely be a bad idea unless you were absolutely willing.”
“Quite right, drop the subject and I’ll pay for the meal.” Rarity thought it quaint that Greta stopped talking entirely and just gave her a smile.
They were quickly seated and as they were being given their breadsticks a changeling arrived looking a bit pensive about his place in the world.
“Excuse me, but I’m Plentiful Thorax, just call me Thorax.” The changeling bowed to them and he had nice blue eyes and a friendly if shy demeanor. “I’m currently head of pony and changeling relations. I believe Chrysalis told me that I’m to acquire tuxedo made by you and that I had to meet you in a public venue.”
“Why yes Mr. Thorax, I believe she mentioned you meeting us in a public place… oh is that today?” Getting a nod, Rarity would have to turn him down if he asked if could nibble her mane or acquire some love from her. Though he did have a very nice rear end that she might have wanted to touch at least once, it oddly looked like a national treasure of the changeling race to her. “Joining us for lunch are you?”
“Say, could you turn into a mare for a second, I want to look at your butt on a more feminine form.” The way Greta caused Thorax to shiver and cower made the griffon smirk at him. “It seems kind of perfect for it.”
“How about I stay male for the time being and not transform into something you’re obviously predatory for.” Thorax said weakly, he was kind of hungry, though he wasn’t about to ask any pony to feed him for his sake. He raised a portion of his carapace and took a bag of bits out and placed it before Rarity. “Here is your budget, please don’t spend it all in one place. I’ll just stick with you guys from now on; I guess I have nothing better to do until you’re ready to leave for Merchants Meander which is my suggested place to purchase supplies for making the suit.”
“Oh I won’t spend it all in one place, I’m quite frugal with money belonging to others and I’ll try to get the best deals for making your tuxedo.” She would need to call Caravel Boutique down to get her work gear in order, but it was nice that Rarity would be doing something like this to get her mind off of her recent nightmares that Luna had helped to quell.
“Yeah, it’s how she uses her own money that has her crew worried.” Looking to the basket of breadsticks on the table, Greta snapped one up and snapped it in half in her beak. After she swallowed she added. “Ridiculously generous defines you boss lady.”
“Maybe so, but I know what I’m doing Greta… well most of the time. When fashion is involved, it’s a guarantee.” Turning to the changeling sitting with them Rarity wondered if he was going to ask for anything. “Well, are you joining or not.”
“I’ll just sit here quietly, besides I don’t want to cause any trouble for anyone.” Thorax was still the friendliest changeling face in all of Canterlot; he meekly kept to himself while they snacked on the soft and fluffy garlic bread with a light dusting of oil and parmesan powder while waiting for the main course.
“Are you sure you can’t be accommodated in some way?” Rarity felt kind of bad for the guy, he looked hungry and hunger was noticeable on changelings.
“Oh don’t worry about me, I’m always getting fed when I least want to be.” As soon as he said that a unicorn mare with wavy blonde mane hanging down to her hooves walked up to him and smiled in an overly friendly manner. “Like right now for instance.”
“Hello there, I see that you’re a hungry one. I will not have that, not in this restaurant! Lets us go into the back and… have some fun.” Despite his attempts to protest, the mare grabbed Thorax in her magic and started dragging him off much to Greta’s amusement. The mare turned back to them for a moment. “You may order dessert on the house; I will return your friend to you swiftly… after I’m done with him.”
“Not again, look can we talk about this? Um can you two tell her I’m not interested in doing things like that with her? Every time I try, ponies don’t take no for an answer and take me anyway.” The Italian styled mare gave Thorax a very flat look and then started petting him as she walked off with the suddenly quiet changeling who didn’t struggle. “Just so you know, this makes me feel used and like a bicycle.”
In his life Thorax found that struggling against ponies who wanted to spend personal time with him only made them want him more, the only defense he had against any stallion or mare was to be as boring as possible when someone grabbed him for some fun times. Even then they still go for him and it bothered him that he regularly got into these situations, whereas Chrysalis couldn’t pick up a single mare to save her own life. He felt kind of sorry for the queen being jealous of what he kept getting, but it was hard to feel sorry when you were practically living her dream every other day of your life personally and most certainly didn’t like or appreciate that you did.
“He must attract a lot of ponies with a butt like that, were he transformed into a mare of his species I’d probably tap him too. Otherwise he’s too masculine for my tastes.” Everyone could tell Greta’s taste upon seeing her walk into a room and casually eyeing up every mare, hen and what have you species of relative feminine beauty.
“Yes, well, I don’t see the appeal or why that mare thinks he’s attractive.” Apparently Rarity was not attracted to rumps even when other ponies practically jumped Thorax for a chance to snuggle and love him. “In fact I find it a bit crass that she took him away in front of everyone like that, I did want to discuss with him what kind of a design would fit his fancy when it comes to making him a nice suit.”
“She did say free dessert though didn’t she? Usually dessert at places like this can be a bit expensive…” Started off Greta, she called a waiter over to peruse such a menu of decadent delights leisurely. “No skin off my beak, I’m getting something good for myself after the main course.”
“I so do envy griffons; you can lose weight faster than I can. While I can only hope a free delectable delight such as that mares offer goes mostly to my hips.” Self conscious and vain Rarity still grabbed the menu from Greta and considered her options, something in the lines of a triple chocolate layer cake.
“It’ll be fine boss lady, just get what you want. You get enough exercise that you’re always going to be attractive to me.” Though sweet her words, Greta still made Rarity run a hoof through her mane in an exasperated manner. “Maybe you’re just too good looking for stallions, so they don’t even think they have a hope with someone as nice as you.”
“I appreciate your flattery Greta, but it’s a bit disturbing knowing your preferences as I do. Although you do make a few good points, I am quite a beautiful and elegant lady and if others can’t see that then it is to their loss I suppose.” Their main course came and went as did their dessert and Rarity eventually took track of the time. She noticed they had been here for well over an hour making small talk. It was an enjoyable experience and she paid the check, which definitively had the desserts written off as free. Now the question was, what was Thorax doing with that mare?
“Good food, not overly expensive and I can honestly say they perfected the cream cheese sauce.” Dabbing her beak with a napkin Greta gave off a happy sigh before it became slightly more disappointed. “I miss the food already; I’ll have to come back to Restaurant Row sometime with Gilda. If she’ll ever let me have a day like that that is. I heard Gustav Le Grande had some euphoric tasting éclairs she might like and he has a bakery somewhere around here.”
“I’m sure she will let you have a chance eventually Greta.” Rarity sat waiting for Thorax; she couldn’t very well make his suit without him being present to give his opinions on it.
“Your friend has been properly fed and he is such a sweetheart, though a bit timid.” The mare that had absconded with the poor changeling came back and was missing a little more than half her mane and tail and Thorax’s face and neck were covered in lipstick marks, also her beret was a little crooked and that mildly rankled Rarity’s fashion sense. The mare winked at Thorax as she sat him down where she found him, she made her last statement before leaving them. “Come back again some time lover boy, I’ll give you some dessert for free then instead of just a main course.”
“What is it with ponies and using me like that? What is so special about me that ponies find absolutely fascinating?” Thorax whined pitiably as if he hadn’t spent the last hour with a rather hot mare by Greta’s standards. Rarity carefully and calmly wrapped a hoof around him and patted him softly in assurance, it only caused him to stiffen up and freeze. After a moment he calmed down when he found out that he wasn’t being dragged off to some back room somewhere by a noble mare hungry for changeling flesh.“It can’t be just my butt like Chrysalis thinks it is… it just can’t be.”
“It’s okay Mr. Thorax, we’ll just get on with our lives and I still need your opinion about the kind of style to use for your tuxedo.” That Rarity felt pity for him made him relax somewhat. Apparently he has had this happen to him multiple times, yet no one seems to notice that he was entirely uncomfortable with it even if it is keeping him well fed.
“Can you make it as garish, horrible and eye rending as possible? If I’m to appear at the gala I don’t want to be dragged off by stallions or mares for looking good in a suit.” Thorax certainly didn’t know Rarity very well; he’d look absolutely fabulous during the gala much to his chagrin.