//------------------------------// // Chapter Six: Rex // Story: The Pieces Lie Where They Fell // by Evilhumour //------------------------------// Chapter Six Rex Biting back a yawn, Rex shifted on his hindpaws as he awaited his turn to get into the warehouse with the rest of the clients that were preparing the Honour Festival various wares for the Equestrians. It was a nice enough time, he supposed as he took another step forwards, when the Equestrians more or less opened their borders to their capital city and had members of the Fifth and Sixth Tribes welcomed in opposed to be tolerated as equals at best and treated as oddities. That in conjunction with tourists being treated to discounts across the entirety of Canterlot made this the ideal time to venture out and place one’s trade on the table in the hope that one would be noticed and welcomed into the higher levels society. Of course, the sole exception would be the Fourth Tribe despite their constant claims of unity at such festivals and promises that the place for the supposed Changeling Monarch to take along the stage with the other five Tribes’ representatives would not result in any negative action against said changeling. Even the dullest of Diamond Dogs knew that it was a bold face lie, with the stories that changelings told his kind when they fled into the Under during this festival or to other locations opposed to underneath the labyrinthian ruins and caves of the sprawling city of Canterlot. Rex narrowed his eyes at the thought of his former home, the taste of garnite in his mouth as the negative memories came to the fore. As per norm, the Diamond Dog forced the ideas out of place and placed himself back onto the topic at paw. He had his merchandise to acquire from the warehouse, transport his craft over to stand and ensure all was ready for Magic Mixture and Secured Connection to take over for him. Breaking off his mild musings, Rex stepped forwards as the stallion in front of him had finished his business with the service pony behind the desk calling him forth without truly lifting her head from the magazine she was reading through. It was clearly evident as when Rex stood in front of the counter the mare did her best not to react to his species not being equine. “Hello there ma’am,” the doberman pinscher Diamond Dog smiled cheekily, taking a minute amount of pleasure at her scrambling to put forth a proper face for a client. “I would like to retrieve the contents of my locker, if you would be so kind.” “Of course,” she replied. “Do you have your key, sir?” “Yes,” he answered, holding out the key for four-fourteen-nineteen eighty four in his paw that he had retrieved from his vest side pocket. “If you would be so kind?” Bobbing her head as all was good as silver, she allowed him pass unimpeded and into the building, with her sneaking a glance at him as he left the service center and apparently forgetting that there was a mirror down the hallway at allowed Rex to see her actions. That action reminded Rex of how he disliked the mindset of the more aristocratic civilians of the Upper section of Canterlot, but he paid it no mind as hopefully tonight and the morrow would be the vein of gold that would be the catalyst for his next step of his plans. If it turned out to be pyrite instead...he always had his workshop in the center of Canterlot where he could try again to further his name and trade despite it being a sign of insanity of him trying the same procedure with no variants and expecting a different result. Passing by the the other renters of storage lockers with a polite excuse me or greeting, he reached his location in good time and found that the locker door was untouched since he was last here with the small little tell still in place. Pocketing his special spectacles and retrieving the key to this locker once more, Rex opened the door to see that the hand truck was where he had left it with the boxed crates already on the trolley, exactly as he had prepared it when he had deposited his work here. Pulling the trolley out of the storage room with a wag of his tail, he closed the door behind with a stretch of his arm and pushed the trolley down the hallway to the exit for items such as his. Breathing in the fresh mountain air, he could see the hints of the morning sun over the horizon as it began to make its journey around their world. Some had said it was the act of the goddess Celestia who was still seeing to her duties even beyond the grave while he, like a number of others, tended to go for a more scientific answer and ascribed that gravity was at charge. Of course it would be horribly impolite to voice these thoughts to those who believed in the goddesses and the fabled virtues as well as improper as they lacked the proper means to prove that the Equestrian mythology were just fables. Send providence to the luckless fool who made that discovery and would be the coal that set the church ablaze with new, indisputable facts. Shaking his head as his thoughts were running wild as a new cook melting his first batch of ores, Rex traveled on the path he taken earlier the day as he made his way back towards the inn he was lodging at where the Honour Festival was just a turn around the bend. It was a true stroke of luck that he had managed to find vacancy in an inn so close to the festival grounds. Although paying for it was easy as pebbles as all he needed to do was produce a number of emeralds to sway the innkeeper to allowing him to stay. He caught some commotion coming from the inn, an ear flicking as he heard some carefree singing coming from the inn which was odd as it was currently full of male griffons as far as he recalled. Of course, it seemed he was eating pyrite as he did not take care to stay away from the doorway as someone barreled into him, knocking everything to the ground. “Ooo, that wasn’t smart,” the other muttered, female by the tone of the voice. “You okay-wow, you’re a diamond dog!” Brushing off his jacket, Rex glared up at the minotaur. “You’re quite astute, madam, in describing species,” he huffed, noticing that the hand truck was going down the hill to hit the sidewalk and that his crates were laying on the ground, although they seemed undamaged. “Heh, I guess so,” the minotaur said while scratching her head and looking around helplessly. “Do you need a hand with this?” she offered while Rex was already trying to figure out how to get everything back onto the trolley. Rolling his eyes, he mouthed off “Only if you can lift one of those crates by yourself, madam, otherwise…” he trailed off the retort as she picked up both crates without any effort. “Hmm,” he chuckled. “Well I suppose I ate the charcoal there.” He turned to cross the street to gather his hand truck, coming back to her and saying, “Thank you, you can place them down on the hand truck if you do not mind.” “Nah,” she shook her head, making a dismissing sound. “I’m good double d; so where do you need this stuff?” Rex paused and looked at her, musing the word Double D before the nuget dropped. “Ah, I see, how very cute. My name is Rex, madam…” “Ah, I’m Vix-Lei,” she smirked at him, walking along side him. “I’d give paw and shake, but I’m kinda got my own full at the moment.” He shot her a dirty look, seeing that this minotaur was one of those people.“Charmed, miss Lei,” he said as curtly as he could. She seemed to miss his tone, chuckling as she reintroduced herself and clarified her name as all one thing. Carelessly shuffling his property around, she continued to say, “So what’s in these boxes, bones?” Yes, this minotaur was definitely one of those bigoted sorts. Giving her a more pointed look and shaking his head in the negative, he replied “Nothing as unimportant as bones, Vix-Lei. These are my associates’ and my merchandise, which are a touch on the fragile side of things so please do your best not to jostle them around.” “Ah, sorry,” she apologized weakly. “So what’s in these boxes?” Feeling no need to tell her what he had, he simply said, “Special merchandise, Vix-Lei, that is quite fragile,” while placing emphasis on the word fragile to get it through her head. He then let out a sigh, realizing he was acting too harsh. He turned to explain to her, in the most simplest of terms, “They contain blank slates for our product that will act as the conduct for the Reclaimed love identification spell between the two individuals in question.” “Okay…” she muttered in a tone that informed him that he was not simplistic enough. Pulling out his identification card for the festival to the guards, she asked him, “So how do you fit in all this; I mean…” she then elbowed him rather harshly, continuing to belittle him with a typical diamond dog speech pattern by saying , “You is diamond dog, not unicorn. I mean, are you some sort of hired help?” Bristling at her continued insults, he narrowed his eyes at her and told her plainly, “No, miss Lei, I am not hired help. As I have previously stated, I am a third party member to my associates’ business and I am actually the main provider of the formulae for the spell.” “Oh wow, I didn’t know that diamond dogs knew how to use magic,” she said, still condescendingly towards him as if he did not know his own species’ limitations. “Diamond dogs do not have access to the arcane, miss Lei, so I need to use other means to achieve my craft,” he barked at the minotaur, squeezing the handles of his trolley too tightly with his diamond dog’s strength deforming the metal. Seeing he was in front of his stand, he forced himself to remain the bigger dog and told her, “Here we are; If you would be so kind as to place the merchandise down, everything will be fine as diamonds.” “‘Kay,” she said, placing down his crates onto the counter with Rex racing around to the other side to open and check the contents. He started to unpack the necklaces, making sure to get out the stands in a place where they would attract the most attention on when she asked rather bluntly, “Soooooo, you’re on the approved list of stuff, right?” “We will be once Lord Blade gives us his stamp of approval; why do you ask?” he turned to face her, with some of his potions in his pocket moving around. He made a mental note to make sure they were all secure once this Vix-Lei character was gone. “Well, I know that the Honour Festival for the ponies’ dead heroes and gods is tomorrow, and if you can get your hoof in the door, you’ll be able to do all sorts of stuff and-” Ah, so that was her goal all along. Snorting at her, he responded by saying, “And you wish for me to place my name and my associate on the edge for sometaur that has a very questionable sense of comedy with a respected Noble house?” Shaking his head at her foolishness, he turned to face her. “I may be a diamond dog but that does not mean I am an imbecile.” He then slammed his paws onto a crate so he could stare directly into her face. “Now if you are quite done with your racist commentary, I would appreciate it if you would leave me be so I can finish my preparations.” “All right, geez, you just had to say no,” she glared as if he were the unreasonable one, muttering things to herself before finally leaving him in peace. Straightening the collar of his vest, Rex continued to unload and prepare his stand for tonight. It was close to two hours later until Rex finally caught word that Lord Blade was making his rounds and would be inspecting stalls at random, if his neighbour behind was anything to go by. He was not sure if he should retire before the nox pony arrived or maintain the fort, but the choice was taken from him as two young adults arrived, one being a yellow coated unicorn mare and the other being the nox pony of the hour if the signet ring on his wing was any indication. “Here Page, this is what I wanted to show you,” the stallion told the mare, surprising Rex. As far as he was aware the young Blade wasn’t seeing anyone. “Forever Find True Love,” the mare read with a hint of amusement in her voice. “Oh Night,” she cooed, snickering to herself and lightly swatting the stallion’s side. “I have done some research into this Reclaimed spell and…" Night trailed off as he noticed Rex’s appearance. “Hello good sir,” the stallion bowed his head politely before stepping forwards. “I presume you are a partner of this kiosk.” “Indeed,” Rex bowed his head forwards too, moving forwards a pamphlet that explained his entire work to the couple. “I myself provided the foundations of this Reclaimed spell by researching old mythology of the Changelings and-” “Found notations that long stationed harvesters had ways of finding their target based on the love that had flown between the two individuals?” the mare asked, holding the pamphlet to her face. “Yes, exactly,” Rex blinked in awe and confusion. “How did you know this?” “I am a ward of the Great Library and I have had time to pursue a wide range of topics,” her answer was perfectly rational and yet something dug at the back of his head. Nodding his head, the young Blade turned to face Rex again. “And you claim to have a recreation of the spell?” “In a manner of speaking, yes,” Rex said as he flipped a page of the pamphlet to show how he had done his work. “With these specially crafted glasses, I am able to see the magic aether and with my alchemic knowledge, I was able to recreate the spell to work in my modified fashion. My colleagues, both unicorns, can do the procedure as originally intended and will do so tonight and tomorrow,” Rex explained with Night and his marefriend nodding in understanding that few would believe a diamond dog could have such a thing. Of course, he had to prove himself first. Placing his glasses on his nose and pulling out his inverted iron tongs, he look at the two. “If I may prove my worth?” Both of the equines shared a look before nodding at him. “What do we need to do?” Night asked him. “I just need you both to think of the other while extending your magical aethers,” Rex informed the two, with both of them closing their eyes and concentrating on the task. Using his tongs to extract the auras, he placed the aethers in a necklace’s segments, watching how the aethers were struggling to join each other. In his research, this had happened for those truly in love with the other and he felt a sense a joy that these two had each other. Pulling the necklace apart in its two pieces, Rex presented the necklaces to his first customers who placed it around their necks. “Now to activate it, all you need to do to say, ‘Find my love,’ and your special somepony’s name.” Blade looked at Page and said, “Find my love, Page Turner.” As Rex knew it would happen, the necklace began to move towards the mare-not her necklace but the source of the connected aether. “By the Virtues, it actually works,” the mare gasped before repeating the action by saying his name. “This is simply marvelous,” Night Blade said, wrapping a wing around Page Turner. “You are a part of the Academy, correct?” “Not yet, but I do hope to gain their eye after the Festival with my work getting my tail in the door and become part of their alchemic division at the very least,” he admitted freely, feeling himself blush as he told these two strangers of his goals. “Well I can talk to my brother Deep Blade about getting you an interview with the Dean, providing your craft actually works, of course.” Night Blade said reasonably enough, clearly not wishing to risk his own name on an unknown element. “Thank you very much, sir,” Rex said, holding out his paw to shake the hoof of the young lord who returned the gesture. He then noticed a pair of approaching unicorns. “Ah, my associates are here. I wish you two a great time and a good Festival.” He moved his way to the front of the stall and bobbed his head towards the couple. Before he could leave, the mare stepped in front of him and held out several silver Luna in her green aura. “Here,” Page Turner said with a smile. “Take.” “Oh ma’am, you are far too kind,” Rex blushed, holding out his paw out in protest. “I can’t take this.” “I inist,” Page said, pushing the coins into his paw. “If anypony could help prove how Nighty loves me more, it’s the least I could do.” “Nighty?” Night Blade asked in a bemused tone, with the mare nuzzling his cheek and whispering into his ear. Rex smiled to himself as the young couple were lost to each other, going to talk to Magic Mixture and Secured Connection about final preparations tonight. Tomorrow, if everything went as planned, it would be just rubies for him for the rest of his life.