//------------------------------//
// Mango Munchers 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

An old stone wall, crumbling from time and little upkeep, extended from a gate in the road. Broad, squat, and sturdy, it bore the look of something originally intended to be ornamental, before being abandoned and eventually repurposed as an actual wall. Its present crew consisted of three ponies, unarmored and unarmed, who were eating, bickering and snoring.

"Come on, now, Tarfeather," said one guard to the other. "No need to hog all the mangoes. We're all friends here, aren't we?"

Tarfeather, a scrawny black pegasus, reared away with a large stack of mangoes clutched tightly against his chest. "No!" he barked in a voice even whinier than Nimwick's, juice slathered over his muzzle. "Go get your own mangoes! Or eat this melon that nobody wants, or something!"

He kicked at a solitary melon, rolling it towards the first guard, a droopy earth pony with a perpetual frown. "Tarfeather, you know how much I like mangoes..."

"Sure do," Tarfeather answered, popping one of the fruits into his mouth and sucking until he spat away the pit. "Mmm-mm! Too bad you didn't care about protecting favorites when Valey was eating all my bananas, then, isn't it?" He pointed a shaking hoof at their third companion, a charcoal-black mare who lay on her back, loudly snoring, face covered by a black beret. The walltop around her was littered with banana peels. "The only thing I'm doing is returning the favor!"

The earth pony looked dubiously at Valey, eyeing the boxing glove emblazoned on her flank. "Yeah, somehow I don't think that would have worked out for me..." His eyes shifted sharply upwards. "Besides, I wasn't the one to wake her up, and she wasn't eating my mangoes!"

"Hmmph. Well, if Valey gets Tarfeather's bananas, then Tarfeather gets Mudhoof's mangoes. So there! Glorrrmph..." Tarfeather took as huge of a bite as he could manage, grazing at least three mangoes and spraying juices everywhere. Mudhoof winced, then groaned.

"Eeughh... Night watch duty stinks..." Mudhoof put his hooves on the rampart and leaned out, observing the forest floor close below. "Why'd we get dragged all the way out here when there's just as many jobs to do back at headquarters...? This isn't what I signed up to do..."

"So I can... mmrmff... eat all these delicious mangoes," Tarfeather said around a mouthful. "There's still that melon, if you're hungry. Unless you're saving it in case that pegasus comes back?"

Mudhoof's expression darkened. "He better not! It's that weasel's fault Valey woke up in the first place!" Careful to keep his voice down in case the mare showed signs of waking, he continued, "And we should probably save this in case she wants breakfast. Otherwise she'll steal my mangoes..."

"For real, though..." Tarfeather swallowed, munching. "This stinks. It's like they're taunting us, putting us on a squad with a mare... and making that mare be her. Scratch that, she's taunting us! Doesn't even feel right, using her as eye candy when she's sleeping. And I'd certainly rather this than she be awake..."

"If you don't want to wait here, go raid the Earth District again," Mudhoof said with a shrug. Glancing out over the forest around them, he added, "Get plenty of fruit for us both."

"Ohhh ho ho no!" Tarfeather chuckled dangerously, holding the remains of his mango pile as far away as he could. "You just want me to leave these so you can have them all to yourself, don't you?"





As the guards began a fresh round of bickering over their presumably-stolen fruit, Gerardo Guillaume eyed them from a shadowed patch in the roadway. He could hear every word they said with clarity, and had a good idea they could see him if they were actually looking for travelers... which clearly meant they weren't. To his side, deeper in the forest, he was passively aware of Shinespark, waiting and watching to see what would happen when he approached. It didn't seem like the guards would stop any time soon... so he shrugged, and stepped into the moonlight of pre-dawn.

"Hello, up there!" Gerardo called, pacing forward with his wings ruffled to make him seem bigger than he really was. "Is there any chance a weary, unarmed traveler could pass through this way?"

Both wakeful guards were at the railing in a flash, Tarfeather abandoning his mangoes. They squinted. "Is he...?" Tarfeather murmured, fearful.

"Nah." Mudhoof shook his head. "That's a griffon. Definitely not the birdbrain from earlier."

Gerardo blinked up at them, pretending he hadn't just been listening for several minutes. "Well, bird or not, I would very much appreciate passage. Would that be all right with you?"

The guards looked at each other again, and Mudhoof shrugged. "Well, he doesn't look like a Sosan, so he's probably not a bandit. I say we let him through."

Tarfeather thought for a moment. "Yeah. You can pass... on one condition! Be quiet and don't wake up Valey! She'll eat all our fruit and is really annoying!"

Gerardo looked quizzically up at them. "Surely you're making far more noise than I am."

"Conditions?" Mudhoof hummed, ignoring the griffon and thinking as well. "Oh! We'll let you through..." He stared down at Gerardo, frown almost lifting into an eager grin. "If you go to the Earth District and bring me some mangoes! You've got wings, it'll be easy! How's that sound?"

"No!" Tarfeather kicked him. "Bananas! We'll only let you through if you bring us bananas!"

"Err..." Gerardo blinked harder. "I may be a self-styled wandering hero, but that doesn't mean I need to be offered fetch quests. Do you ask every pony you stop to fulfil pointless errands like this? Or do I really look that much like I'm inclined to agree?"

Tarfeather shrugged. "Well, you are only the second, and the first was definitely a bandit..."

Suddenly, there was a disturbance in the bushes at the side of the road... the side where Shinespark wasn't hiding. Gerardo instinctively fell into a defensive stance as a figure leapt out, landing squarely in front of him... but their attention seemed fixed on Mudhoof and Tarfeather.

"Ha-hah!" the pony crowed, flexing a pair of feathery wings. "I knew you were just a pair of ne'er-do-wells, blocking the road for fun and profit!" He jabbed a hoof as if making an accusation in court, then turned to Gerardo and bowed. "Sorry you had to get dragged into their schemes, citizen. But fear not, I'll have this rabble cleared in a jiffy!"

As Gerardo backpedaled, Mudhoof and Tarfeather stared down, faces pictures of dismay. "Not this again..." Tarfeather groaned. "Hurry up and do something before he wakes her up!"

The pegasus glared up at them, wearing a righteous smirk. "Okay, do-badders! It's time for round two! And you better know what that means..."

A silent spark of understanding passed between Tarfeather and Mudhoof. Shrugging, Tarfeather turned to his companion, and said absolutely nothing. Mudhoof was silent as well.

"Uh, hello?" The pegasus tipped his head, looking up at the gate.

Silence.

"Maybe if we ignore him, he'll go away," Tarfeather whispered, just loud enough to be heard on the ground.

"Oh ho!" the pegasus called back. "Sounds like you guys remember me! Well, I may have been polite and accepted your judgement before, but no longer! Not when there are bystanders on the line!"

Tarfeather bit down on a mango. "You think that griffon needs your help? You think he wants it? Who even are you, weirdo?"

"No no no," the pegasus replied, still smirking. "The great Howe doesn't tell his name to scoundrels. So how will we fight this duel for passage? Singing competition? Or dance-off?"

Gerardo steadily continued backing away, entirely unnerved by the display taking place. As he pondered the explanation that all of Ironridge was riddled with that much incompetence, Tarfeather hefted the melon, prompting Howe to squawk and cover his head. "Aack! Not the fruit! That took forever to get out of my mane! Fine, we can compromise and settle this with a rap battle if you need to be that way!"

As he retreated, a hiss from the bushes caught his attention. Shinespark poked her head out, beckoning, and he drew closer. "Is this..." he paused, searching for words. "Normal? Around here?"

Shinespark sighed. "The blockade is obviously a prank. Anyone could walk right past, but will just get distracted arguing with the guards... and that pegasus fell for it earlier tonight and probably wants revenge. Before you ask, there is someone in Ironridge who would set something like that up, and hopefully they won't wake up any time soon. But we can't afford to wait for him to get bored and leave, and if the pony behind it is who I think it is, we're going to need all the time we can get. I'm going back to bring in the cart and demand passage."

Following along behind her, Gerardo merely shook his head. "This is a very strange city..."