//------------------------------// // Chapter 02 - Pizza, Potatoes and Past Tensions // Story: A Pony Displaced: Homeward // by NoLongerSober //------------------------------// “Onward the gathering of six soldiers journeyed forth into the night!” Hat Trick narrated with a dramatic flare. “They would not be stopped on their quest! Their quest to find the mythical item their captain called pizza!” “Hat Trick,” Barrier began largely annoyed and disinterested. “Yes, Captain?” Hat Trick answered. “Shut up, it’s…” Barrier glanced around for a clock of some sort, until his eyes settled on a wall-clock in view of the window of a laundromat. “Almost nine o’clock. Ponies are likely trying to sleep.” “Yes, Captain,” Hat Trick dipped his head just slightly and sported a bashful grin. “Hopefully we shall find this place; this, ‘Delicious Dining Delights & Deli’ soon. I would rather enjoy returning to a regular sleep schedule.” Swiftsword yawned tiredly. “Pray tell, Captain, what is this ‘pizza’ we are after like?” Winter Gem inquired “Uh…” Barrier rubbed his chin as he tried to think of an adequate way to describe it. “Well at its base, it’s flatbread with a coating of tomato sauce and a layer of cheese baked in an oven.” “I… see,” Winter Gem responded. “Believe me, I know how it sounds, but it’s exceptional. You’ll see.” Almost as if on cue, the signage of the Delicious Dining Delights & Deli came into view. “Just trust me on this. Besides, the restaurant’s right there.” He lifted a hoof and pointed to the restaurant marked by the sign alight from its neon glow. “I shall get the door, Captain.” Iron Forge moved to the front of the group to nudge the door open. Suddenly like the crashing of a wave, the door opened, and the unicorn raised his head just as he came to crash into a snow-grey pegasus with a mane and tail whiter than even snow… and at the same time caused the pegasus in question to spill his drink all over him. The pegasus’s wings spread slightly as he instinctively backed away from the spilling drink. “I’m so sorry!” he quickly apologized to Iron Forge and snagged a napkin from a nearby dispenser. “Let me get you cleaned up…” the napkin was quickly applied to Iron Forge’s chest and shoulders. “I didn’t mean to cover you in Caneighda Dry…” he began until he pressed the napkin a little firmer into the unicorn’s fur and blushed just slightly when he realized that beneath the floof of Iron Forge’s fur was an impressive wall of muscle. “Tis quite alright. I should have been paying more attention,” Iron Forge quickly and modestly admitted. The cadets all watched the scene unfold with varying degrees of amusement. “Ah, right.” The pegasus pulled the napkin away. “Sorry again, Mr…” “Forge,” The stallion in question answered. “Iron Forge.” “Well Iron Forge, I’m Snow Sweeper. It’s nice to meet you. Would you like a soda or something? My way of apologizing.” “No, thank you though. I believe I shall let my Captain handle my order.” Snow tilted his head quizzically. “Captain?” He only just seemed to notice Barrier and the others. “Oh, are you guys a hockey team or something?” “Hockey?” It was Forge’s turn to tilt his head quizzically. “You’ve… never heard of hockey?” Barrier pressed a hoof to Forge’s shoulder drawing his attention momentarily. “We’ll move on ahead and order, Forge. It’ll take a while for our pizza to be ready. Why not learn what hockey is so you can explain it to the rest of us later?” “Yessir,” Forge replied with a reflexive salute, drawing a half-concealed giggle from Snow Sweeper. True to his word, Barrier continued past Snow Sweeper and made his way to the counter, where he was greeted by a plump, cream-colored pegasus mare that had been observing the scene. “Welcome to Delicious Dining Delights & Deli.” She pulled her gaze away from Forge and Snow, who were still conversing with one another. “How can I help you tonight?” “Well,” Barrier began. “My friends and I are new in town and we were wondering if we could get a few pizzas, I’d say about… three.” The red-maned mare smiled widely. “Of course! We have all sorts of foods here.” She turned towards the door leading into the back. “Honey! Throw together some pizza dough!” She grabbed a clear plastic jar of red sauce and a half-dozen smaller jars containing seasonings and the like. “We’ve got everything from Neighponese dishes like kushikatsu to Griffin Kingdom cuisine like roast chicken.” Iron Forge bristled slightly from where he sat with Snow Sweeper. “Griffin food…” The distaste in his tone was clear. Verdant turned and stared at Forge with a half-cocked eyebrow. “Really? This coming from the one who spoke regularly about their love of roast boar on the island?” “And the rabbit stew.” Swiftsword pointed out. “And the quail,” Hat Trick added. Iron Forge looked down and grumbled. “...fair point.” “Well,” the pegasus mare cut in. “We’re fresh out of rabbit and quail, but if you want some meat on your pizza, I’d recommend some pepperoni.” It was then that Winter Gem asked the question her comrades had been preparing to ask. “What is pepperoni exactly?” “It’s a kind of spiced pork sausage,” the counter mare explained as she pulled a thin sheet of wax paper before them and carefully laid upon it the item in question. “You slice it into thin coins and then place them on top of the pizza.” Barrier rubbed his chin in thought for a moment or two before finally nodding. “Very well. I believe we’ll go with one pepperoni pizza and two cheese pizzas, Ms…” “Mrs. Drumstick.” The mare smiled warmly. “Any other toppings you’d like to try? We just got in a fresh batch of Zebrican vegetables this morning.” “No, thank you though. I wouldn’t want to overwhelm my cadets just yet,” Barrier said before he craned his neck around to his saddlebags as Drumstick began to ring up their bill. Drumstick nodded understandingly then checked the bill. “Comes out to a total of… forty-five bits.” Snow Sweeper and Iron Forge approached the group. “Well, let me at least pay for…” he fell silent as he returned from his saddlebags with another slight blush. “Uh... a pizza and a half?” Barrier chuckled and shook his head as he sat his own bit-bag on the counter. “I appreciate the thought, Mr. Sweeper, but it’s okay,” he fished out a fifty-bit coin and slid it across the counter. “Your pizzas will be ready in about fifteen minutes,” Mrs. Drumstick said gleefully. “Ah, I almost forgot.” Barrier thought back to his conversation with Fleetfeather after Daring had asked him to ask her what she wanted to eat. “Do you have any form of seasoned potatoes? And cheesy garlic bread. The mares will skin me if I come back empty-hooved.” “Tell me about it!” a voice called from the back. “Oh, hush you!” Drumstick called back with a giggle. “If you’re looking for seasoned potatoes, you may enjoy our seasoned potato wedges. I could have the wedges ready for you even before your pizzas, but the bread will take just about as long as the pizzas.” “That’s fine. We’re in no particular hurry.” Barrier fished another fifty-bit piece from his bag and slid it across the counter. “Alrighty.” Drumstick quickly tallied the additions up then dropped both coins into the cash register. “Forty-five bits for the pizza, twelve bits for the bread and wedges…” she mumbled to herself, “Forty-three bits is your change. Is this for here or to go?” Barrier scooped his change into his bit bag. “To go, please.” Verdant frowned and turned to Swiftsword. “This price seems rather… high, for a single meal, even when one considers how many it is meant to feed, does it not?” “Perhaps pizza is a difficult dish to make?” Swiftsword guessed. “Or mayhaps it uses some rare ingredients. The Captain doesn’t seem too bothered by it, so it must be normal, right?” The pair fell silent as Drumstick turned away from the register. “Alrighty dears, your orders will be ready in around fifteen minutes.” A medium-brown unicorn stallion stepped out of the back, floating three pizza crusts within his magic. “Here ya go, love.” He sat them down neatly on the white counter across from the register where Drumstick quickly set about applying tomato sauce. Stepping out from behind the counter, he made his way to a table further in the back, a thin slip of paper floating within his magical glow. After a few moments of silence between the cadets, minus Iron Forge and Snow Sweeper who seemed to be quite taken with one another, chatting amicably one of the benches near the entrance. The others simply sat back and observed Snow Sweeper as he began to explain the more in-depth aspects of hockey to Forge.Though none of them said it, all of them were thinking it. Forge may’ve found something he desperately needed: a new friend and a modern pony to help ease him into the new world. Barrier, who observed silently the two converse, was quickly roused from his observations  as a wing entered his peripheral. Turning, he took in the pair of griffins heading towards the door and cleared his throat to draw the attention of his cadets. “Hold yourselves. Remember, we’re at peace. They’re just like us. Having a nice meal at a nice restaurant. Nothing more, and nothing less.” He couldn’t help but emphasise the last line of his statement, as if to drive home a point that the age they now lived in was not their own, and that they had no enemies. The entire group, even Forge, tensed slightly but otherwise stayed silent as ordered. It wasn’t until Swiftsword caught the male of the group staring at her that she broke the silence. “Can I help thou?” she asked with a slight edge in her tone. The tiercel was slim and black from the neck down, barring his golden talons. “Sorry, just a little nervous, it’s not often that you see a sword brought into a restaurant.” He tilted his greyish-brown head towards Swiftsword in seeming apology. “A Falchion goes nowhere unarmed,” Swiftsword recited her family mantra with a practiced ease. “Uh...huh.” The griffin and his companion carefully passed by the group, waiting until they were at the door to mutter to the hen next to him. “Crazy cosplayers… seems like they come earlier every year.” “Actually they’re late by a millennium, but who’s counting!” the hen replied before she and her companion departed. “Uh…” Snow Sweeper broke the silence that had settled over the group. “Not to be nosy, but do you guys not like griffins or…?” Forge was the one to answer. “That… is a very long story. Suffice to say that that the feelings are not unfounded.” Verdant was the second of the group to speak. “I am…” he seemed to struggle for the words momentarily. “I think we will adapt. Become more used to them in time, but… not yet.” “The wounds are still too fresh,” Swiftsword stated simply. “I won’t ask for perfection,” The charcoal unicorn sighed out. “All I ask is for honest effort.” Drumstick, having missed the entire scene due to her cooking, rejoined the conversation. “Your orders are ready, dears!” *** “I hope to see you again soon, Snow Sweeper,” Iron Forge said to his new friend who had joined them on their walk back, as his own trip took him right past the hotel. “This game you spoke of has greatly garnered my interest.” “For sure!” Snow Sweeper smiled and waved to the ponies as they made their way into the lobby of the hotel and then the stairwell, and finally the large room Barrier was sharing with Daring Do. “Alright!” Daring thrust a hoof into the air excitedly as the party entered. “Delivery, and I don’t even have to tip.” “I never thought I’d see you happy to take a bath,” Fleetfeather’s voice drifted out from the bathroom. Wind Whistler let out a small, contented groan was the only response. “Hey Fleets and tyke, food’s here!” Daring called to the bathroom before she cleared off a nearby table that how inexplicably become much vastly cluttered in the brief time they had been gone, and helped the cadets offload the food. “Fleets?” Barrier asked the tan pegasus. “Turns out we get along,” Daring said with a shrug as she took a slice of pizza, that she had surprisingly had not already torn to shreds, judging from the last time they had pizza. Fleetfeather snorted as she strode out of the bathroom with a damp filly striding alongside her. “I still do not trust her completely, but I will give her a chance. Be careful however, Barrier. I do not believe for a moment her claims of a pill that prevents pregnancy. It sounds simply ludicrous to me.” Barrier let out a sound that was a mixture between a cough and a laugh. After he’d recovered, he turned to his cadets. “Right. Dig in you five, and then get some sleep.” As they all bit into a piece of pizza almost simultaneously, he knew two things for certain: how he’d looked after his own first pizza and that there wouldn’t be any leftovers after an hour. There would be stomach aches all around.