Barrier groaned as the early morning light struck his eyes. After a few moments of tossing and turning, he finally managed to toss the blanket off of himself and blearily glanced around the room.
Strangely, despite sharing a room with Swiftsword, there was nearly no sign that the blue mare had ever been there. Her bed was perfectly made, and even the chocolates that the hotel provided were back in their proper spots on the pillows. The only thing to indicate that anypony else was there was the freshly brewed pot of coffee that was only partially full.
Concerned for his missing friend, Barrier slid out of the bed and lit his horn to grab the pot and a styrofoam cup. After several attempts that ended with coffee spilling on the rug, the unicorn smiled at successfully filling the cup with the dark drink.
The charcoal stallion took several big sips of the hot brew, careful not to burn his tongue as wakefulness slowly came back to him.
Feeling refreshed after the coffee and giving a few stretches, Barrier looked towards the hotel room door, where he spotted a wall-mounted clock; the hands showing it was a little past five thirty in the morning.
Recalling Rarity’s words about when their clothes would be ready, Barrier gave an annoyed groan before putting on his saddlebags and leaving the room.
Guess another thing Swift will have to learn about is what constitutes early morning for most ponies these days.
***
As Barrier trotted along through the early morning streets of Ponyville, he took in the serene quiet offered to him. This early in the morning, the only sounds he heard were the occasional chirp of a bird or the sounds of vendors setting up shop for the day.
Closing his eyes as he strolled through the street, two scents caught Barrier’s attention. The first was the fresh dew being applied to the grass by a small group of pegasi. The second scent, however was the familiar smell of smoke.
Eyes shooting open, Barrier felt a lump form in his throat as he saw the smoke coming from the ground level of Carousel Boutique.
The charcoal unicorn dashed towards the multi-tiered store, praying that he’d arrive before anypony would be hurt.
Drawing closer to the store from the side, Barrier dashed towards a window, his horn starting to glow as he ran.
With a flash, he teleported past the window, coming to a skidding halt next to some ponyquins.
“Rarity!” he bellowed out, “Swiftsword! Are you alright?!”
“Yes, Barrier,” an annoyed voice came from a back room. “Come on in. You’re not the first pony to come this early today.”
Tilting his head in confusion, Barrier came closer to the back room, where he entered Rarity’s rather purple kitchen.
“Is…” glancing about, Barrier could barely find anything amiss with the kitchen, save for the smokey scent which seemed to emanate throughout the room. His eyes soon fell upon the two mares sitting at a table. “Is everything alright?”
“Quite peachy,” Rarity said with a roll of her eyes. “Swiftsword simply thought that a quarter past five would be early enough to come here and pick up your gala clothes, interrupting my well deserved beauty sleep.” She let out a huff, causing her sleeping mask to fall back onto her snout.
“My apologies, Rarity,” Swiftsword replied sheepishly, nudging the plate before her, causing the black and smoldering lumps on it to roll. “I am simply far too used to waking early. Before the empire, we were trained to be fully awake and in our armor before the sun rose.”
“And these days?” Rarity’s horn lit and moved the mask away, showing her raised eyebrow.
“These days before sunrise, I stretch, brush my mane, and then go and jog a lap around Vanhoover before eventually coming in for breakfast, possibly after getting a coffee from Al’s Diner.”
“That I can kinda understand, but I smelled smoke and saw it coming from here.” Barrier came closer to the table, looking for any signs of a fire.
“Again, that was my fault.” Swiftsword looked down and fiddled with her forelegs. “I wanted to apologize to Rarity for my faux pas by making breakfast for her… but…” A light crimson danced across her blue cheeks.
“But it would seem her cooking skills are just ever so slightly better than my little sister’s.” Rarity’s horn shimmered as a charred slab was brought up to her eye. “At least I can tell this was meant to be toast.”
“As you may be able to tell, I don’t have much cooking experience.” Swiftsword looked away, trying to hide her growing blush. “I’m far too used to having my meals prepared by others, such as my family’s servants, Verdant, or somepony at a restaurant.”
Rarity sighed as she set the burnt food back on her plate, where it soon crumbled to ash. “I suppose I could simply pour myself a bowl of cereal.” She went to rise from her seat but stopped when she noticed an odd look from Barrier. “Is something wrong, dear? Is there something on my face?”
“No, and that’s part of the problem.” Barrier leaned closer to get a better look of her face. “Did Swiftsword burn off your eyelashes?”
Rarity firmly planted a hoof against her face and groaned.
***
After a hearty breakfast and getting herself ready for the morning, Rarity was ready to apply the finishing touches to Swiftsword and Barrier’s clothes.
Swiftsword volunteered to try on her outfit first on account of it being the more complex of the two.
“Do you need in help in there, Swiftsword?” Rarity called out to the unicorn in the changing room.
“Nay, Rarity.” Swift replied from behind the door before it slowly creaked open. “Though I must say, you did a splendid job creating such a fine garment.” She trotted out and stepped in front of the mirror, taking in her appearance.
Swiftsword’s attire was a primarily a sturdy, midnight blue pleather bodysuit that ended in gray cuffs at her forelegs. Her hind legs had long, navy blue cuffed boots that stretched up to her thighs. Covering her chest was a cornflower blue silk vest with gold piping and tails that covered her rear. Lastly, on top was a cornflower blue cape that covered her from her back to her thighs, just above her boots.
“Do you like it?” Rarity inquired as Swiftsword moved and stretched in the clothes, practically standing on pins and needles.
“Most certainly!” Swift joyously hopped in place and turned to face the smaller mare. “Your work is simply splendid Rarity. You have my great thanks.”
“That’s wonderful to hear, Swiftsword.” Rarity looked past her happy customer to the charcoal unicorn behind her. “Barrier, would you please come on out?”
“Alright, I’m coming.” Barrier called out from the dressing room as he slowly pushed his way out.
Stepping up to the mirror, Barrier closely examined the reflection of his dress uniform. The jacket was now a deep blue while the cuffs were a fine silver. With the red sash on top, he gave a satisfied smile.
“Very nice, Rarity.” Barrier turned his head to try to get a reflection of the back. “You did pretty good in very little time.”
“Always good to have a satisfied customer.” A wide grin spread across the young mare’s face. “Now, to discuss your bill.”
“Not a problem, Rarity.” Swiftsword stepped forward while slowly disrobing. “I shall pay for both of our outfits.”
“You certain ‘bout that, Swift?” Barrier’s eyebrow rose as he started to take the uniform off. “You do recall what I said about my surplus of bits.”
“Of course, Captain.” Swift’s horn started to glow as she took a large sack out of her saddlebags. “However, my outfit no doubt was far more costly. Besides, I feel I owe this mare a great debt.” She levitated the sack across the room, gently laying it by Rarity’s hooves.
Giving the bag a light nudge with her hoof, Rarity gasped. “Swiftsword!” she exclaimed, “I can’t possibly accept this much! There’s got to be at least ten thousand bits in this bag!”
“Oh, of course!” Swiftsword gave herself a soft slap to the forehead. “What was I thinking?” Her horn then lit once more.
“Don’t worry, darling. My wages are…” Rarity was cut off as she heard a second sack of gold coins land at her hooves.
“There. I believe this should be most fair.” Swiftsword smiled happily while Rarity looked gobsmacked. Barrier choked back a laugh from the look on Rarity’s face.
“Swiftsword, I’m afraid you misunderstand,” Rarity replied as soon as she regained her composure, bringing the sacks up to the blue unicorn in her magic. “There’s no way I could accept such a grand amount of money for this.”
“Rarity...” Swiftsword drew closer to the white unicorn. “This amount is not simply to pay for our clothes. It’s also my way of apologizing for how I wronged you in the empire.” She gently pushed the levitating bags back towards Rarity.
“Darling, that’s water under a bridge that was crossed many miles ago.” Rarity nudged the bags back. “Besides, I know you didn’t really mean what you said in that ghastly sewer.”
“Oh I meant every word back then, Rarity. In my sleep deprived state, I honestly would have made good on my threat had Barrier not intervened.” Swift pushed the sacks once more as Rarity somehow became even paler looking.
“If I may make a suggestion, Rarity,” Barrier spoke up, starting to find their back and forth tedious. “I’d suggest you just take the money. Swiftsword is a very stubborn mare and I’d like to get back to Vanhoover some time today.”
After a moment of silence, Rarity let out a defeated sigh.
“Alright, Swiftsword. I’ll take your generous payment.” She placed the sacks on a small table as she drew closer. “But I swear the next time you ask me for a dress, it will be on the house.”
“Oh I sincerely doubt that,” Swiftsword said with a chortle. “While my current outfit may seem rather lacking, I do enjoy gold, jewels and the finer things in life just as much as the next noble.”
***
It was late afternoon when the two had finally arrived back in Vanhoover. By now the sun had begun to set in the western sky.
As the two strolled into the living room, they saw that Hat Trick, Winter Gem and Iron Forge were writing something on sheets of paper while Daring laid on the couch, recounting the tail end of one of her tales.
“-the Sapphire Stone away from Ahuizotl’s greedy mitts.” Looking up, she waved over to the unicorn pair. “Good to see you two are back.”
“Good to be back, Daring.” Barrier strolled up and gave the lounging pegasus a quick nuzzle. “So, what’s been going on while we were out?”
“Fleet’s taking Wind Whistler to look at the pier and these three are working on getting some resumes made.” Daring slid off the couch before giving a stretch. “As for Verdant, I think he said he’d be getting his gala clothes from Suits of Utter Perfection before getting ready to cook up some dinner for us.”
A small growl came from Winter Gem’s belly as the gathered ponies heard the door creaking open once more before Verdant’s voiced called out: “I’m home!”
“Well, well, well.” Barrier smirked as he strolled up to Daring’s side. “Looks like the kitchen will survive another day.” He gave the yellow mare a nudge with his elbow, causing her eyes to roll.
“I’ve made plenty of meals in the wild and survived on rations, Barrier.” Daring strolled past Barrier and into the kitchen, where Verdant was placing a pot in the sink. “I just prefer to have something a bit tastier.”
“Verdant, my friend!” Swiftsword called out as she came up to the table. “How did your suit search go?”
“Pretty well, Swift,” he replied without taking his eyes from the sink, filling the pot with water. “I found a very snazzy suit and bowtie combo. How ‘bout you?”
“Wonderfully. Rarity’s a grand seamstress who crafted a wonderful outfit for me.” Swiftsword smiled as her horn lit up, lifting her saddlebags into the air. “I’m about to head upstairs. Would you like me to take your bags up to your room?”
“Thanks for the offer, Swift; but I can do that in a bit.” Verdant looked over his shoulder as he turned off the water. “How about you, sir?” he asked before lifting the pot out with his forelegs and hobbling over to the stove.
“Rarity did a good job,” Barrier retorted as Swiftsword departed for the stairs. “At least now it fits and doesn’t clash with my coat.”
“Splendid, sir.” The green stallion turned the dial on the stove before cantering over to the table. “Anything else going on?”
Barrier took a seat before giving his chin a rub. “Now that you mention it, the others are working on resumes. How about you?”
“I got that taken care of yesterday.” Verdant smiled before reaching into his bag, pulling out a piece of paper. “Next I’ll see if Color Splash would be willing to copy this fairly cheaply.” He then slid the sheet over, where Barrier took it in his magic.
“Hmm… not bad,” he muttered as he read over the sheet, his eyebrow raising at something odd at the end. “Do you really think mentioning that poison joke shrinks you is something you need to mention?”
“I figure it would be a good idea to mention it, kinda like if I was allergic to something. Especially since I want a job related to flowers.” Verdant gave a shrug before hopping out his seat and going back to the stove. “Besides, you never know if somepony could find a use for a pony who can shrink down to pea-size.”
“Fair enough, I guess.” Barrier set the paper back on the table as Forge and the others from the living room came into the kitchen. As the trio approached, Barrier noticed something seemed off about one of them. “Did you do something with your mane, Hat Trick?”
“I did, actually,” the purple stallion happily answered as he turned his head to the side, revealing the back of his mane, that once freely fell by his shoulders, was now done up in a short ponytail.
Barrier gave a nod as Swiftsword came back down stairs. “So I take it you all plan on doing some job hunting soon?”
“Sure do.” Verdant looked over his shoulder before grabbing a jar of dry pasta and setting it next to the stove. “Things are pretty nice, but I feel like I should probably do something other than just cook our meals and whatnot, y’know?.”
“Yeah, and I figure job hunting’s more productive than hobby hunting,” Winter Gem added from her seat across from the blue mare. “How about you, Swiftsword? Any career plans?”
The question had caught Swift off guard. After an instant of surprise and careful contemplation of her words, she replied, “Hmm… I am uncertain if I am acclimated enough to properly serve the guard of this era.”
“Maybe you could try to apply for a part time job?” Forge climbed out of his chair before trotting over to a cupboard. “A career that has you interact with the common folk may help you be a better guard.”
“A good idea, Forge.” Swiftsword and the stallion shared a brief smile. “I shall attempt to make a resume after dinner.”
“Speaking of dinner,” Winter Gem looked over her shoulder to Verdant. “When’s it gonna be ready?”
“After the burners are hot enough to get the water boiling,” Verdant replied with a slight hint of annoyance. “And even then, I still have to cook the pasta, the shrimp, and prepare the sauce for this.”
“I’m sure it will be great once it’s ready, Verdant,” Forge said as he returned to the table with a glass of water which he raised into the air. “Here’s to a hopefully successful job hunt.”
“Hear hear!” the younger ponies said at once before starting various conversations amongst themselves. Leaving Barrier alone with his thoughts.
I should probably try to find a job as well… Question is though… what will it be?