We arrived in Sire's Hallow in the early afternoon. The town was focused mainly on shipping, much like Tadpole had been. This meant lots of warehouses all around. Unlike Tadpole the town had a large commercial district, with many hotels and businesses. There was a massive train station with multiple lines going in different directions, situated near all the warehouses. A enormous statue of Starlight Glimmer stood in the center of town looking down the road we had just come, and a large shrine to her stood near it. The last significant landmark was a large fortress on the edge of town, which I assumed to be the Lunar Guard garrison.
"We can get checked in a hotel quickly, and let Pearl and Mera get some sleep," Sunset announced. "Hot Sticks, you and I can see the sights while they are sleeping, but we don't need to worry about having to shop for every pony here. Because of the large population of Thestrals here businesses typically never actually close, they just change shifts."
As we looked at the town's ponies, there definitely were Thestrals among them, but Earth Ponies and Unicorns were the majority. Of course it was early afternoon also, which was to Thestrals what an hour or two past midnight was to other ponies. So most of the Thestrals were likely sleeping. None of the Unicorns or Earth Ponies spared us a second glance. The few Thestrals that were about didn't seem to pay much attention to Mera and Hot Sticks, but snuck glances at me and Sunset. Thankfully, sneaking glances was all they did. Luna had given them a nightmare that would keep them from doing any more than that.
Sunset seemed to know her way around, even though there were no looks of recognition among the town ponies. She likely had been disguised as something else last time she was here, and disguised better as well. She led us at a brisk walk through the streets. I gave the statue of Starlight a long look as we passed it by. It had her rearing on her hind legs, looking like she was getting ready to crush something beneath her hooves.
"Why is there a giant statue of Starlight here?" Mera asked Sunset, as she also stared at the sculpture.
"This is her birthplace," Sunset said as she glanced up at the thing. "The town actually started trying to commercialize on that fact before she ascended to Alicorn. She was a hero of note when she was a Unicorn, and Twilight's most devoted follower and student. I didn't know her well back then, we met a few times I am told, but the memory really isn't there."
"Who tells you about these things if every one of you has such poor memory from back that far?" Mera inquired further.
"Pinkie Pie does," Sunset replied back. "Pinkie Pie is the one Alicorn who never loses any memory. She can remember everything going back to when she was a filly herself. She might have to sit down and think about specific details sometimes, but she has it all still tucked away in her memory. The only Alicorns she couldn't tell you about the youth of are Celestia and Luna, who are both older than the rest of us."
"How much older?" I decided to ask.
"About eleven hundred years from my understanding," Sunset said as she kept walking. "It feels less significantly older when the have seen sixty centuries yourself. There are a few immortals older than them actually, though the ones who are tend to be ones you want to avoid at all costs."
"And who are they?" Mera kept questioning.
"Discord, Grogar, Tirek, Lavan, Hydia, and a few others" Sunset nearly spit out each name. "Each is extremely powerful, and the only one that isn't certain to try to kill you if you meet them is Discord..mainly because he thinks dead things are no fun."
Suddenly, there was a bright flash which brought us all to a halt. We were all temporarily blinded by the unexpected light and when we cleared our vision we found that everything had been halted. Ponies who had been trotting were frozen in mid air, birds were stationary in the sky. The world , aside from the four of us, was frozen in time.
"Sunset, I am so glad you are thinking of me. You mentioned my name multiple times today. My ears are burning," a unknown male voice crackled with laughter.
"Pony feathers," Sunset groaned. "Okay Discord, go ahead and show yourself. So they can actually see the Lord of Chaos.. in all his glory."
There was another quick flash, like that of a teleport. Standing before us now was..something hard to describe. It was tall, had a long serpentine body, brown furred, with a tail that looked reptilian. It had two wings, that did not match each other, and were both far too small for the body. Each of his legs was completely different from the others; one was with a cloven hoof, one looked like it belonged to a dragon, one looked like it might belong to a griffin, the last was a paw that belonged on some large cat. I didn't have a clue what his head belonged to. It was grey furred, had two mismatched horns--actually it looked like one antler and one large crystal horn. He had large yellow eyes with small red pupils, had a scraggly white beard, and a single large fang sticking out of his mouth. He was just a mess of mismatched parts.
"Ta-da!" The patchwork creature shouted spreading his fore..limbs. "Be in awe of me. Have you ever seen such a wondrous creature?"
"Depends on how you define wondrous," Sunset said flatly.
Another quick flash happened, and a book now floated before the creature, clearly labeled Dictionary. He opened it up, and a pair of reading glasses appeared on his face.
"Wondrous, inspiring a feeling of wonder or delight; marvelous," the creature read.
"Definitely inspiring me to wonder," Sunset deadpanned. "Alright fillies and colt, meet Discord. Say hi Discord, we are all in wonder of you. You can go now."
"Sunset, Sunset," Discord chided. "You hurt me. We barely ever see each other, and now that we have a chance to catch up on old times you seem like you don't want to see me. Is this how friends are supposed to treat one another?"
Sunset just gave him a flat look. I really didn't know how to think about this, it didn't seem like Mera or Hot Sticks were doing much better.
"Okay Discord, you win," Sunset said in a long suffering voice. "Let me introduce to you Pearl Bottom, Chimera Wort, and Hot Sticks. All of you, this is the Spirit of Chaos, and master of making himself a nuisance, Discord. Is there something that you would like some help with Discord? Something we can do quickly."
"Aww, Pudgy Bottom, Has Worts, and Harry, so nice to meet you all," he said excitedly. "Such unfortunate names, but we can't all be perfect. Hmm, you the Worty one, something seems a bit off with you."
He stared at Mera for a moment, then a literal light bulb appeared over his head. He grabbed the lightbulb and smiled happily.
"Idea!" He shouted enthusiastically. Then snapped his fingers, which caused a brief flash again, though with no noticeable effect. "There we go. I know I think mismatched parts are great, but ponies don't like them that much for some reason. So I fixed you Worty!"
"I feel different," Mera said uncertainly as she looked herself over. "What did you do to me?"
"Well, you had all this stuff from those shiny, glittery ponies in you, and you didn't seem to really want it. So I did you a favor and took it away. One hundred percent of the more interesting bat pony now."
Mera's face lit up with happiness for just a moment, then suddenly switched to one of horror as the full implications of that sank in.
"Please, put it back!" She pleaded with panic. "I need that! I can't absorb Pearl's magic to keep me alive as long as her without it!"
"Oh, very well," he snapped his claws with annoyance, causing another flash of light. "I like you better this way anyway. But I was just trying to do you a favor. Don't come crying to me when you want it gone again. I did my best to help you, and this was a one time thing."
"I appreciate the attempt," Mera said apologetically, but still visibly flustered.. "But if I lose that then I won't be able to be immortal anymore."
"Immortality is overrated," Discord sighed. "You would think that creatures would be more interesting without the fear of death hanging over them, but no, they just get increasingly dull with the passage of time. Things don't really get better with age, except for me of course. But if that is what you want, then I'll be a nice guy and leave you with it. I think you might come to regret keeping your crystally powers though."
"Two of us are very tired right now Discord," Sunset said firmly. "Perhaps you could continue this later. We could all sit down for tea at some future date and you can tell my companions of your..exploits."
"I do like tea parties and talking about myself," his claw detached from his foreleg and stroked his beard. "Alright, have it your way. I want a well rested audience after all. Before I go though I think I have a present that you might like."
He snapped his claw again causing another flash to happen. After the flash cleared there was a small gift wrapped box, in green and red wrapping paper, floating in front of him. A note and bow was attached.
"Take this Harry," Discord said happily. "But don't open it until the present says to. Actually, it won't let you anyway if you try, so feel free to try."
He floated the gift over to Hot Sticks. Hot Sticks looked at the tag, and the rest of us looked on. The tag was actually counting down time, and the countdown was for fifteen years from now.
"Um, thank you," Hot Sticks said as he stuffed it into his life pack. "I'll try not to forget it."
"Oh, don't worry about it," Discord said with a dismissive gesture. "It won't let you do that either. I am sure you will like it, and that it will make you very happy when you see what it is. I so enjoy being helpful. I don't know what you ponies would do without my help. There is a particular individual who I can't wait to see the shock on his face when you open that up."
"I can only imagine," Sunset muttered under her breath.
"But it is time for me to let you go and rest, and I really should get the world moving again. Being frozen solid as a statue is just boring, believe me, I have experience. Ta-ta for now, remember we have a date coming up. I'll bring the cucumber sandwiches!" And with another snap of his claw he disappeared and the world started moving again. Leaving us trying to figure out what in bloody Tartarus had just happened exactly.
"Should I be concerned about whatever is in that package?" Hot Sticks asked. As he held the gift wrapped box in his magic, treating it like a snake.
"Yes," Sunset said, though her head shake indicated no. "Discord has a history of doing things like that. It likely will be very important at the time you open it, and that's the problem. He is giving you an out to a major problem, and gave us a countdown to when that problem will come to its most critical point. The very existence of that present indicates a problem of some sort. The fact he put a fifteen year timer on it at least means it isn't an immediate concern, but I will let Twilight know he is up to some sort of mischief. Don't lose whatever that is in that package in the meantime."
"Where did he come from? Has he been following us?" I asked with concern.
"He likely wasn't following us around, so don't worry about that," Sunset said dismissively. "Discord just appears where he wants to appear, and I really don't know where he is, or want to know, when he isn't around. He typically isn't malicious, and I didn't pick up anything about him this time that makes me think he is going to be now. Just expect him to show up at some inappropriate time asking for a tea party, because he likes to pull that crap."
"Did he really do what he said to me, each time? Change me and change me back?" Mera asked with worry. "I didn't even know that was possible. If it was I am sure Water Shadow would have done it to herself."
"Discord has unimaginable power, the power to do whatever he wants, but he only does things on impulse. You can't actually get him to do anything specific most of the time, so you were lucky he did change you back. He is a trickster and a jokester. Everything he does is for his personal amusement. Thankfully he isn't usually amused by anything that actually hurts any pony. Dead ponies are boring ponies to him." Sunset explained to us. "Let's just continue doing what we were doing, and pretend we didn't have the interruption by the Lord of Nuisance."
She started walking again and we followed. The town didn't show any signs that they were aware that anything had just occurred. It was frightening to think there were beings out there that could just bring reality to a halt, alter it however they wished, and not a single pony would be aware of it. I wondered what Discord did with his free time. Did he just use those abilities to run around doing practical jokes? Maybe every time you had a ridiculous turn of bad luck it was him messing with you.
We arrived at the hotel that Sunset wanted a moment later, it had a sigh hanging over its door labeling it the Sunrise-Sunset Inn. I could see the appeal of the name to her. The building was a two-story building with many balconies, with a red painted trimming on a cream colored stone. There were a few flower beds around the lower floor windows. It was rather plain looking overall, aside from the balconies, but it was did manage to look inviting.
Inside was a small lobby, but no common room. A middle aged purple Unicorn mare sat at the front desk reading as we entered. She looked up as we walked in and put a smile on her face.
"Welcome to the Sunrise-Sunset Inn, the best inn for travelers in Sire's Hallow. We have plenty of balcony rooms for our Thestral guests available right now, complimentary hot baths for all our rooms, and flexible check out times. How may I help you all?" She said with an upbeat tone to the four of us.
We all looked at Hot Sticks, while Hot Sticks looked at Sunset for direction. Sunset took the hint from him and stepped up to the desk.
"Hello, we will be in need of three rooms, all one bed each, two of those with balconies, the third can be ground floor. Guest names are Golden Sunset, Hot Sticks, and put the last room under Chimera Wort and one other," Sunset told her. I was a little curious as to why she didn't give my name over to the Unicorn. Maybe I was just being paranoid. Sunset passed some bits from her life pack to the Unicorn clerk and received a listing of rooms in exchange.
"Go ahead and get some sleep you two. I know you haven't slept well the last two days, and we are going to be pushing you again tomorrow during the day again. Though after tonight we want to start getting you back in a day schedule again, otherwise you are going to be having difficulties when we get to Crystal Heart. Honestly, I should have insisted on you keeping on a day schedule from the start," Sunset told me and Mera in a slightly lecturing tone. "I will be up early, two hours till dawn, and I want you, Mera, to be available for me to work with you on your empathic abilities for an hour. We have been slacking off on that, and we need to make that a priority."
Mera's ears drooped as she thought about how she hadn't made much on that. I decided that I would sit in with her as she trained, perhaps I could find ways of helping her with exercises if I knew what needed to be done.
Sunset gave us the room number and we made our way up the stairs and found the room we were assigned. Nothing was locked in the hotel, showing a fair amount of trust. Perhaps the threat of the Lunar Guard being so close kept ponies on good behavior. The room was simple again, with a straw mattress covered by plain white sheets, and small balcony. The big draw was that there was a large area with a shower with it's own drain and hot water facet, a rare luxury.
We washed together, happy to get off the dirt and grime from the road. We had taken baths that morning, but we had been walking for a few hours, which made us very dirty from the road. Plus a shower gave us the opportunity to shower together, which involved a lot of rubbing bodies together, which led to other things soon after. We had our fun for about half an hour and then cuddled up together for a nap on the bed.
***
We awoke shortly after midnight, well rested. We left by way of the balcony to see what Sire's Hallow had to offer for food at night. The town was actually fairly well lit with street lights, all lit by magic. There were now a large number of Thestrals about on the streets, and a smaller number of Unicorns and Earth Ponies moving about the streets. Thestral fillies and colts could be seen playing in both the streets and the air. It was the first time I had been around this many other Thestrals since leaving Hallow Shades.
We glided down to the streets and began looking around. I continued to get cautious looks from Thestrals as I went about, but Mera was occasionally greeted warmly by ponies passing by. I wasn't too upset about the reception, they weren't being hostile to me at least, and they seemed to accept Mera as just an unfamiliar face. Fillies and colts seemed to have no issue with me whatsoever, as one filly ran straight into me while playing. She gave a quick excited apology before getting right back to playing, but right after she left a grey coated Thestral mare with a red mane came hurrying over to me.
"I am very sorry, Honored One. She didn't mean to run into you. Please don't be angry with her," the mare actually seemed to be fearful, I could see her slightly trembling, and she looked like she was trying to hold back tears. I knew that Luna had terrified them with the consequences of treating ponies like me cruelly, but this was too much. This mare was terrified that my displeasure would bring Luna's wrath upon her daughter.
"It is alright, she was just being a rambunctious little filly. There was no harm done," I tried to placate the poor mother. She looked moderately relieved at my response, but still tense.
"I assure you, Honored One, she won't do that again," the mare assured me. She then continued to try to placate me more. "She just didn't have the vision from Holy Luna. She didn't understand."
"And what exactly did you get from that vision?" I asked, afraid to hear the answer.
"Is this a test, Honored One?" She asked as if she was being put on the spot. "I understand of course that Holy Luna would have us respect you, that to do wrong by you is punishable by death. The entire tribe owes penance to you."
"Luna said all that to you?" I asked incredulously. That was way beyond overboard. I didn't want these ponies terrified of doing the slightest offense to me. Something had to be off.
"The elders interpreted the dream for us," she said. "We all saw the punishment, and we all know it was for what the Cast Out One did to you."
Mera looked at me in confusion. She didn't know about the Thestral elders. Thestrals tended to take their devotion to Luna to extraordinary lengths, and the elders acted as priests espousing Luna's will. Alicorns were crazy, but we Thestrals had our own special brand of crazy too, in the form of a culture of religious zealotry. I needed to curb this as much as I could.
"Do you know exactly what the pony who was punished did?" I asked her. She shook her head no in response. "He attacked me for being different, and he raped me. He was supposed to defend ponies, and he harmed me instead. He betrayed not only what it is to be a Thestral, but to be a pony."
"I did not know, Honored One," the mare said with bowed head. She was still being supplicant. "I will take your words to heart. I am glad that you find no offense in my daughter. I will tell the elders what you have said."
She was still terrified of offending me. She was also bowing and behaving like I was some religious figure. I didn't want this, but I had no idea how to stop it from happening. There were other Thestrals watching this exchange as well, likely also taking what I said as some holy decree. Why did I have to have such a superstitious tribe?
"Just be a good mother and pony," I said, unsure what else to do. "Do you happen to know a good restaurant to eat at? We are just looking for a meal right now."
"My sister, Willow Brier, runs the night shift at The Banana and Pig. She would be happy to have you eat there, Honored One," the mare said brightly. It seemed like we were going to get more of this silliness when we got there. Matters were made worse because if we went somewhere else our tribe would end up thinking we scorned the place and scorn it in turn. I knew how their minds worked. What kind of name was The Banana and Pig anyway?
We were directed by the mare to her sister's restaurant. The sign had no writing on it, just the picture of a pig hugging a banana, which looked as silly as the name sounded. When we walked in we were greeted by the place coming to a hush, just like Old Reed's Inn had done the other day. The entire clientele were Thestrals, Thestrals of all ages. Looking at the number of families seated I assumed this was a family oriented restaurant. Talk quickly picked up again after a moment, but again I was subject to ponies watching me from the corner of their eyes.
The pony behind the main bar, who could have been the mare we just dealt with's twin, quickly rushed out to greet us, shooing away the wait staff as she went. She came before us, and gave a too large smile, rubbing her wings together nervously.
"Hello, I am Willow Brier, and I will attend you personally for your visit. We are grateful for your patronage of our humble restaurant, Honored One. If you allow me I will escort you to our best table, and then get you some of our best cider," she said with nervous energy, figiting in place. I wanted to sigh, or roll my eyes at the behavior, but I was afraid of making the mare or any of her patrons think she offended me.
We were escorted to a table far too large for two ponies that was nestled away in a corner. Hopefully the fact it was a little more secluded meant we wouldn't have to worry about ponies hearing our meal conversation. We took our seats and were assured by Willow Brier that she would be back quickly with the cider, as she hurried away quickly.
"Am I going to have to walk on eggshells with every Thestral?" I whispered to Mera as low as I could. "I am afraid of the consequences to any of them if any pony thinks I am even slightly offended. They have gone from hateful to me to terrified of me."
"Do you think it would help if I did the talking for us?" Mera asked as she glanced towards the other patrons.
"Probably not," I sighed, hoping that some observer didn't misinterpret the action. "They would just start treating you the same way. They likely are already spreading word around trying to figure out who you are since you have been seen in my company. Thestrals might be generally isolated from other pony tribes, but they are extremely gossipy amongst themselves. I am sure that within a month what you order here will be discussed back in Hallow Shades."
"You don't think it will be that bad do you?" She said with a raised skeptical eyebrow.
"Mera, I was well known to every Thestral community, despite the fact I hadn't lived in more than one, and hadn't lived in that one for over a decade. Word gets around," I bemoaned our plight.
"We will just have to be extra nice to every Thestral until we figure something out, or they get used to the idea you aren't going to call judgement down on them for for the smallest thing," she said matter-of-factly. "After enough instances of you not taking retribution they have to figure out they don't need to be terrified of you."
"I suppose that is makes sense," I said looking around. "I just hope I don't say or do something to accidentally cause some pony misery."
Willow Brier arrived back then, with tray holding two mugs of cider on her back. She laid it carefully on the table and looked to us expectantly.
"Are you ready to place your order?" She asked us. She had no means of writing it down available. She must be intending to remember it. I wondered if it was the typical way she did this, or if she was just too flustered and forgot her notepad and pencil. We hadn't even looked at the menu, but I wasn't sure I wanted to stress her further with additional trips to our table to check.
"What would you suggest?" I asked trying to be friendly and show we cared about others opinions. It didn't work, she started sweating. I realized I just put her in a position where she had to decide my food and worry if she chose something I wouldn't like.
"Our unique house specialty perhaps," she almost squeaked when she spoke. "Pork chops with caramelized bananas, made exclusively here, it is my grandmare's special recipe."
Pony feathers, she didn't just work here as the night shift, this was her family business. Further it must cater to Thestrals in particular if the house specialty involved pork.
"That sounds interesting, we will each have that," I said with a smile that I hoped was pleasant. Mera nodded agreement to my order.
"Thank you, I will have that to you soon. It will be a few minutes wait while the cook prepares it," she quickly departed after speaking. She didn't pass along the order to whatever pony was in the kitchen, she rushed back to the kitchen herself. Likely intending on supervising the preparation to make sure it was perfect. If not cook it herself.
We sat in silence, just looking at around the restaurant. At one point when we were looking at a table with a Thestral stallion, mare, and two little colts one of their colts noticed us looking and waved enthusiastically. Mera went to wave back, but the colt's anxious parents had already stopped him. Mera's ears went limp with disappointment which caused the parents to become more anxious, fearing that they might have offended her, and by extension me. Maybe I could talk to them before we left, and try to fix it.
We also noticed a few other oddities. No pony was making any attempt to actually leave the restaurant, though several tables were clearly done eating. Any new guests that came in didn't end up placing any orders from what we could see either. The staff would seat them, bring them cider, but then would just go back to standing to the side of the room. The new patrons didn't seem to be upset that their orders weren't being taken either. It occurred to me after a few minutes they were waiting for our order to arrive and see if we approved.
Willow Brier returned escorting a Unicorn waiter to our table. The Unicorn stallion carried our plates in his magic, setting them down in front of us. He kept looking at Willow Brier. He was likely confused as to what the big deal was. He was the only member of the night shift we had seen who wasn't a Thestral.
"The house specialty," Willow Brier said with a hint of pride, despite her still nervous posture. "Please try it, and let us know if you like it."
We looked down at the food. It did look good. There was a large cut of pork for each of us, and it was covered in sliced up bananas which looked to have been baked along with the meat. The entire thing was covered in some sort of clear-yellowish sauce. We were going to get our hooves gooey trying to eat this with our hooves, but that wasn't a big problem. Bananas were considered a sweet delicacy, and I never ate pig before.
I took a bite out of one of the banana slices. Oh, that was good! It was so sweet and tasty, and it had gained a slight crunchiness in the baking process. I licked the yellow sauce off my hoof and couldn't place the taste exactly. Something with lemon and cinnamon maybe?
Mera took a different route with her food. She just lifted the whole pork chop up in her hooves and took a bite. If she was in her Crystal Pony form she wouldn't have been able to rip off a bite with her teeth, but with her Thestral ones it was easy for her. She chewed it making happy sounds as she did, clearly enjoying the pig flesh.
"This is really good!" She said happily after swallowing. "Where do you fish for pork fish? I have never heard of pork."
Willow Brier looked mortified, while her Unicorn staff member seemed to be trying to contain a laugh. I on the other hoof just facehoofed myself.
"What?" Mera said looking between us all with slightly downcast ears. "What did I say?"
"Mera, pork is a term for pig. It isn't fish, it is pig," I explained to her. Then I looked at the very upset Willow Brier. "Please forgive her ignorance she grew up around Crystal Ponies, and the only meats she has ever eaten are fish."
"Oh," Mera said looking down at her food. Seemingly unsure about the fact she was eating something that had once been hooved. Then she just shrugged to herself and took another bite, as we all watched her. She then smiled back at Willow Brier after she finished chewing and swallowing.
"Well, this might be the first pig I have ever eaten, but it is really good," she affirmed again. "My compliments to the chef, this might be my new favorite food."
I took the opportunity to try the pork then. It was really good as my wife said. Not something I could commonly get, but definitely something I wouldn't mind eating again.
"She is right, this is really good. Take my compliments as well, and thank you for suggesting this," I told our hostess.
Willow Brier seemed to finally relax then, letting out a breath I wasn't sure any pony knew she was holding.
"Thank you very much," she said with a truly honest smile now. Her first honest smile since we had arrived. "It is a family recipe. A few generations ago we signed a contract that required us to buy regular amounts of bananas and pigs from two different suppliers. It was a condition on the loan from them that was used to open this restaurant. We started using both as much as we could though, even though they don't normally go together. The town Thestrals like it, but we have some trouble interesting visiting Thestrals to try unfamiliar food. Your enjoying it means a lot to all of us here."
"Well, they should definitely try it," I confirmed after taking another bite. I knew I was likely earning her customers strictly through my endorsement, but at least I was doing something positive with the situation. Having ponies honestly grateful for what I did was better than ponies quaking in terror.
"Forgive me for asking, ma'am," Willow Brier spoke to Mera after having gained more confidence. "Is there a Thestral settlement in the far north I am not aware of? The Honored One said you were raised around Crystal Ponies is the only reason I ask. Most Thestral settlements are very close to the Foal Mountains, or at least within an hour or two flight of them."
"Um, no. None that I know of," Mera said hesitantly, hoping she didn't blunder and say something that would raise more questions. "I was just raised by Crystal Ponies, they were always good to me, but my education as a Thestral is kind of limited as a result."
"An orphan? Likely from one of those Klugian rebellions wasn't it?" Willow Brier asked, seeming to forget her earlier fear. "My father died in one of those. My mother was never the same afterwards."
"I lost my mother and my aunt to those as well, and I never knew my father," I said darkly. "I try not to hate any creature, but I have to admit I if I ever found the Klugian who killed either one I would rip his or her throat out."
Willow looked at me, and then gave a brief nod of agreement. When it came to those who hurt our loved ones and other ponies we were a bloodthirsty tribe. Willow and I shared that desire for vengeance on those who killed those close to us. Perhaps it wasn't the best thing to have a bond over, but it was something I could bond over with this pony. Making bonds meant I was less scary, and less strange.
"I will leave you two to eat in peace. I have taken enough of your time," Willow said with a small bow. "If you need anything feel free to signal any of our staff and they will do everything they can to accommodate you."
As she walked away, with a renewed confidence to her gait, the staff of the restaurant seemed to relax and start caring about the other guests again. Ponies that had long since finished their meals happily called for their bills. It felt all around as if a shadow had been lifted, and with it passing every pony was now in exceptionally good spirits. This felt much better, in fact it felt about as relaxed an atmosphere I have ever shared with my own tribe.
We ate our meal in peace. Occasionally one of the wait staff would come near us to ask if we wished any refills to our cider, or if there was anything else we needed. The requests were no more frequent than I would expect at a restaurant normally though. I was happy and they were happy as a result.
When we asked for out bill the staff seemed flabbergasted. They were very insistent that they couldn't charge The Honored One, but it felt like I was taking advantage of these ponies if I didn't pay. Mera came to my rescue though, she was the one with the political mind after all.
"If you won't charge us we won't refuse your generosity," she told them with a smile. "But we must insist you accept our gratuity to all the staff here."
I took her hint and piled a hefty sum of bits on the table in thanks. I was giving far more than I expected the meal would have cost, or even ten like it. However, we did have a considerable amount in the bank, and I had not spent much of my own bits in the last month. I had already been letting other ponies cover my expenses far more often than I should, and I needed to make sure I didn't make it a habit to expect others to.
The staff accepted the gratuity, and we left with a final wave to the staff and remaining patrons.