Chapter 2: A tour
The three Eternal Knights stirred in their sleep, awaking with yawns.
“Good morning.” Wolf smiled at her friends.
“Morning, Wolf.” The colts returned it as they all climbed out of the bed.
The Pegasus stretched herself like a dog or cat would, earning a confused look by Midnight. “What are you, a dog?”
“Woof,” Wolf replied playfully before they went into the kitchen for breakfast, Fray took notice of the pictures on the wall and furniture in general.
“Looks very comfortable, don’t you think?”
“Yes.” Midnight replied, making himself some oatmeal. “Makes me wonder though what happened to his family.”
“We can ask him later,” Wolf suggested, Fray and Midnight nodded.
After having breakfast, they looked after Jens, gently opening the door, seeing he was still asleep.
“What about making him breakfast? It’s the least we can do as repayment for his hospitality.” The unicorn suggested.
“Sounds good to me.” The filly liked this idea.
“Fine by me.” The bat pony shrugged.
Meier awoke as a delicious smell entered his nose and the door opened. “Good morning!” The green colt greeted as he carried a breakfast board, a toast and a glass of juice, his friends next to him.
“Thank you.” Meier smiled, appreciating the generous action.
After breakfasted and getting dressed, he asked, “What have you planned for today?”
“Trying to figure out what went wrong.” Midnight replied, wanting to continue.
“And stay the entire day in here? With that warm weather? I’d suggest I show you the town, taking some fresh air could help you with your research, getting the mind free. Plus, you make sure to get enough Vitamin D.” Jens countered.
The grey colt gave a slight grin. “Fair point. But how should we stay unobtrusively? I mean, talking foals are not common here.”
Fray raised his hoof. “If I may make a suggestion Midnight, do you remember what I did when I was in a human town the last time? It worked perfectly, despite being a grown pony, so why shouldn’t work it there?”
“And I suppose it was pretending your pony appearance being a costume? Because that was my idea.” Meier replied, getting a nod from the unicorn as response.
“It’s worth a try,” Wolf commented in a neutral tone.
“Well, first try for everything I guess.” Midnight mumbled as the young man grabbed his keys and went out with them.
As he showed the Eternal Knights the town, he took notice that Fletcher seemed to be interested the most in it, looking at the buildings in awe. While barely showing it, Meier could see that the three ponies were a bit nervous, slightly trembling when other peoples passed by, afraid the trick might not work.
However, everyone who saw them just smiled and commented on how cute their “costumes” were putting their fear at ease.
The three ponies seemed to enjoy the tour, that was what Meier suspected, as their expressions were neutral most of the time.
After going home, Wolf wiped the sweat off her forehead. “It’s really hot today. And it’s spring.”
“Yes. How about some water ice?” Jens suggested.
“Good idea.”
In the basement where the freezer was, Fletcher took Woodruff, Wolf peach and Midnight Cola, the cooling was really a bliss for them.
“That’s much better!” Fray exclaimed in glee. “Nice place you have here. If I may ask, what happened to your family?”
The man then stared emotionless for what seemed like hours as the memories came back.
It was a warm summer day, his son was walking ahead, laughing as he enjoyed the sun.
Coming to marketplace, angry yells echoed as they came closer, seeing a protest of neo-Nazis, watched by officers of the Bereitschaftspolizei and members of the Harmonious Guard.
“We should go home before it’s gets out of control.” His son said with fear, knowing that such people were unpredictable.
“Yes.”
In the moment they had spoken, the protest escalated into a street battle, the protesters throwing stones and bottles at the police officers and mercenaries, who defended themselves with batons and riot shields.
“Watch out!” Jens’ wife yelled as one protester threw what seemed to be an improvised explosive device looking like a pipe bomb towards the police and PMC forces.
His aim was bad as the bomb flew towards the family, without hesitation, the young man clenched his wife and son protectively as the explosion came and his vision blacked out.
Slowly, he came to, hearing a beeping sound, his eyes struggling to open.
As his vision cleared, he found himself in a room of the local hospital.
A doctor walked in. “Ah, you’re woken up. How are you feeling?”
“My body aches a bit but otherwise, I’m good. Where are my wife and son?” Jens asked as he couldn’t see them anywhere.
The doctor took a deep breath. “I’m sorry to say this, but we couldn't do anything else for them.”
Meier couldn’t believe what he just heard, heartbeat getting faster, staring. “No. This can’t be happening.”
“I wish I had other news for you, Mr. Meier. But this is sadly the truth, they haven’t survived.”
After the doctor left, Jens stared at the ceiling, trying to process the information.
It seemed like minutes before he started to cry.
“I’m sorry if it woke bad memories.” Fletcher’s voice tore him out, seeing that the colt had his head lowered in guilt.
With a weak smile, Jens replied, “It’s alright, It’s in the past and I learned to get over it.”
“The one who did this...they caught him, right?” Wolf asked, sounding a bit angry.
“He was, I can assure you that.”
“I’m also sorry to hear what happened to you. Though you go me curious, what is your job?” Midnight asked.
“Me? I’m a mercenary of a PMC.” And with that, he told the three ponies about it and the fandom, which seemed not to surprise them, much to his own surprise.
“Well, that does sound very interesting.” Midnight admitted.
“And this doesn’t surprise you?” Meier asked in return.
Fray stepped in front of his friends. “That is because I was on Earth before, twice actually. On my first visit, I learned about the show and on my second visit, I was in this town before. It’s kinda fascinating that despite the changes, that you can still see the old town behind them.”
It took a few moments for Jens to process everything. “I see. How about potatoes for dinner?” He asked as it was getting late.
“Sounds good to me.” The unicorn smiled.
“Me,too.” Wolf added.
“Good idea.” Midnight replied.
The three eat with manners, enjoying their meal, then went ready for bed as the tour had quite taken some energy. “Don’t you sleep normally upside down?” The blue filly asked her bat pony friend.
“Just because I’m a bat pony doesn’t mean I sleep in a bed from time to time.”
“Goodnight.” Jens interrupted them as he went ready for bed himself.
“Night.” The three foals replied in unison.
As the young man climbed into his own bed, one thought wandered through his mind.
How do I make sure this won’t conflict with my job?