//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: Feathers 
// by Triscy 
//------------------------------//

	"So what does Punch do for a living around here anyway?" Asked the now well-rested Rainbow Dash.
"Uncle Punch is a bartender. He loves working with fruity flavors!"
The room that the three had spent their night in wasn't the most spacious they had ever slept in, but it worked well enough to offer them the sleep they needed. It hadn't taken more than a minute for the two pegasus ponies to get knocked out on the feathery pillows. Pinkie had stayed up a bit longer, catching up with her Uncle in the living room.
The early morning sun had broken through the window, only failing to wake Fluttershy. She lacked the endurance that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had, so the long travels took the most out of her. Her friends agreed to let her sleep in more.
"So Pinkie, do you have a more specific idea of where Gilda is?" Asked the pegasus, drinking a glass of water. Considering she still wanted to fly, the water was the only non-alcoholic beverage Uncle Punch had around the house at the time. It had been a few days since he'd gone shopping, on account of a low budget and slow business.
"Sorry, Dashie, but even I can't get that close. I know she's in the city, but we're going to have to do some sneaky detective work to find her!" Pinkie said, her excitement becoming obvious as she mentioned detectives later on in her response.
"Great. Well do you at least have an idea of where to start?"
"Dashie, I barely know Gilda. All I know is that she was a big meany pants who popped my balloons, crashed my hoof-powered minicopter, and acted like a big party-pooper at the party I threw for her in the first place after she managed to fall into all the pranks you had set up with nopony specific in mind. If anypony should have an idea of where to start, it'd be you and, as far as I'm aware, you don't come here often if not never having been here before." Pinkie explained.
"So that's a no?" Dash retorted, a little annoyed that she spent that much time explaining a simple answer that could have been stated in one word.
"No, that's not a no. I have a perfect idea of where to start!"
"Pinkie Pie, I have no time to play a drinking game with you..." Dash started.
"Drinking game? Dashie we're here to find Gilda, not drink! Which is a shame since Uncle Punch would love to make us some drinks. I didn't know you drank alcohol, though. Wasn't there something in that Junior Speedsters manual about Flying Under the Influence?"
"Nevermind! Just tell me your plan!" Rainbow grunted, placing her hoof to her face.
"Well, Gilda would need somewhere to work if she wanted to live in Fillydelphia. We could ask around some employment places and find out if anyone gave a griffon a job." Pinkie stated matter of factly.
"Did I hear somethin' 'bout employment offices?" came a voice from the door as Uncle Punch walked in. "You lookin' for a job or somethin? Hey, if you need a job, Pinkie, I could use yer help advertisin."
"Sorry, Uncle! No can do! We were talking about employment offices to try and find if anyone hired Gilda recently to see if we could find her!" Pinkie explained, a little less enthusiastic than she usually was.
"Ahh, alright. That offer's still open, but I don't mind. Hey, there's an employment office a few blocks away. Want some directions?" Punch offered, only to receive the excited nods of Pinkie Pie and her pegasus friend. "A'ight. When you get out of the alley, head left and turn at the corner. Walk about two blocks down and it'll be on yer left."
"Thanks, Uncle! We'll be off now!" Pinkie said, jumping towards the door.
"Hey, what 'bout yer other pegasus friend? Ain't you gonna take her with ya?"
"She needs sleep pretty bad. Let her rest a little longer." Replied the party pony, already out the door.
"A'ight. Be safe; this part of town ain't the nicest!" Punch called, hoping his niece heard him.

"Ya know, I envy you griffons. Ya all got 'dem claw things. I ain't a pony, but I still only got hooves. What's it like actually bein' able to grab stuff?"
Gilda, by now, had started getting used to the routine at her newfound job. It took her about twenty full hours of being yelled at and a few after-work scuffles, but the repetition and demand of the warehouse had finally started to feel like it could be normal. More importantly, she started to feel like herself again, and could finally start forgetting what she'd left behind. Her attitude had returned and, with the help of a certain mule that refused to give up, she'd found someone to vent on.
"You ever used a glass, Mark?" She asked in response.
"Yea. Set it on 'da table an' lick it up. Normally contains a nice round of liquor for me." Replied the mule, unsure of where her remark was going.
"I don't need a table to drink it." Said the griffon.
"Oh 'cus you can lift it... OOOOH! Wow. I really envy you griffons." Mark seemed completely fascinated for a second by this rather simple revelation.
"Mark?"
"Yea?"
"Shut up and get back to work." Ordered the claw-handed one, grabbing another box to move.
"'ey, I'm workin'! Sheesh, yer just like da boss. Can't we has a conversation once in a while?"
"Conversations imply that I don't mind listening to your voice and want to talk with you."
"Don't be like 'dat! Yeesh, ya griffons are such a bummer. 's like you'd be perfectly happy spendin' the rest of yer life alone." Mark retorted, unaware of the button he'd just pressed.
Crack!
"Hey, whatcha doin'? Ya gone loco?"
Gilda stood in front of Mark, crouched against the wall holding a hoof up.
"Can't you understand what SHUT UP MEANS!?" The griffon cried, tossing another box at the mule.
"Woah, woah, woah! Quit breakin' da crates; we only got so many a 'dose!"
"Well maybe if they lose an employee they'll have enough in the budget to buy more!" Gilda's claws reached out to grip another crate, but found the box immobile when she tried to pull it.
"Woah, woah! Mark may be an annoying idiot, but that don't mean you gotta break his head in! Calm down, missy!"
Gilda turned, glaring at her manager. Her eyes reflected a strong desire to break his head in too, but her desire to keep the only source of income she had forced her to take a breath.
"That's better. Get back to work. Those crates are coming out of your next paycheck, and you're gonna be cleaning 'em up afterwards. Just 'cus you don't work at no store doesn't exempt you from 'you break it you buy it', miss griffon." Stated the manager.
"Whatever." Grumbled Gilda as she turned and started grabbing crates again, once again empty of malicious intent. Or, rather, no attempts to utilize her malice.
The griffon didn't mind paying for the crates in the end, as the whole ordeal had gotten Mark to silence himself as she'd wanted in the first place. The silence allowed her to focus on her work, but it seemed the lack of annoying chatter came as a catch as her thoughts drifted to her reason for being here in the first place.
The rest of the work day, the silent griffon couldn't remove a saddened frown from her beak.

"Sorry we couldn't find anything out, Dashie. We tried like, ten employment offices! I never would have guessed there'd be so many in such a teeny weeny area!"
The trip had been a failure, which didn't surprise Rainbow Dash. Only two employment offices actually told them whether or not they had a griffon come in for a job, while all the others refused on the grounds of privacy. The only thing the two learned from their venture was where NOT to go if they wanted to keep their information private when looking for a job.
"It's okay, Pinkie. It was a longshot anyway." Dash said, sighing to herself a little. "But now what do we do? I doubt going to any more employment places'll get us any more info than we've gotten."
"We could just ask around, Dashie!"
"Pinkie," Dash said, looking down at her friend, "I haven't even been here before and I already know that 'just asking around' will either get us nothing or in a fight before we get what we want. It's the same chance of you stopping a party if somebody just asks you with no reason."
"Well if they had no reason then they wouldn't ask!" Pinkie chuckled, finding Dash's comment humorous.
"Nevermind." 
"Dashie, if we don't ask anybody then we have no chance of finding her unless we just happen to see her, and this place is HUGE!"
Dash wasn't all too used to Pinkie making so many logical comments, but then again Pinkie was random as could be. Maybe she had logical mood swings?
"Oy. Where should we start then?" Asked the pegasus, turning only to see Pinkie already approaching a random stranger who happened to be passing by.
"Hiya! I'm Pinkie Pie! I was wondering if you could..."
"I'm not interested." Came the sharp reply as the older colt kept walking.
"But I'm not trying to..."
"Go bug some other pony."
Pinkie stopped hopping alongside the colt, frowning angrily.
"Well that wasn't very nice."
"They tend to be like that around here, Pinkie." Dash stated, floating nearby.
"Let's go find somepony else!" Pinkie said, bouncing away.

"'ey, Gilda! Whadya do after work every day, anyway?" asked a stubborn work mule, unwilling to drop the idea of talking to the griffon even after their earlier ordeal.
"Why should I tell you? You can't seem to grasp how NOT to talk!" The griffon stated this half-heartedly, somewhat missing his chatter clogging up her thoughts.
"Hey, quit puttin' a mule down, eh? It ain't criminal to talk to a co-worker in the line o' work we got. Just answer the question!" Pestered Mark, shoving a crate into the loading bay.
"Why do they always have us on the same job anyway?" Gilda groaned, still refusing the answer.
"Come on, just answer 'da question griffy!"
"I go home and sleep. Ya happy now?" Stated the griffon through gritted teeth as she pulled a crate out into the loading bay.
"That's it? Yer a real borin' lot, Gilda. You don't seem to do nuttin' interestin' other'n try an' kill me with boxes."
"If you found it so interesting, would you like me to do it again?" hissed Gilda, once again liking the idea.
"Simmer down, missy. I'm just sayin you're missin' out on this here city. Heck, from the sound of it you ain't never had a sip o' wine."
"Wine? Pfft, no. I like being able to fly." Gilda retorted.
"Ha! You sound like a lightweight, Gildy. Can't take a pint o' beer?" Mark challeneged, chuckling to himself as he pushed along another crate.
"Never said I couldn't take it, mule." Growled Gilda, not liking the taunt.
"Can ya prove it? You still sound like a lightweight to me!"
Sometimes Gilda hated pride. The last two things she wanted to do were to hang out with Mark and to back down from a challenge. Sadly, she couldn't avoid one without the other biting her in the rear. But she had a plan.
"Hey, I'll prove it. But let's make it a bet; if I can fly home after, you gotta stop talkin' to me." Posed Gilda.
"That bet implies that if ya can't, I can yap all I please. If so, issa bet!"
"Sure. You pick the bar, pal."
The work shift went on from there, but it only took another hour to finish up. This was the first day that Gilda didn't fly straight home after her shift was done.

"Well that didn't work at all." Grumble a rather disheartened pegasus as she flew into an empty bar. She and Pinkie had spent the greater part of four hours trying to ask people for information, but of the small percentage that actually stopped to answer them, none of them had any clue.
Pinkie hopped in, smiling at her friend despite their failure. The party pony wasn't going to let their days venture dishearten her, as after all she was quite the optimist.
"Dashie, we'll just have to try again tomorrow! Nothing ever said we needed to find her immediately!" Pinkie replied, hopping on a bar stool and sending it spinning.
"We can't stay here forever, Pinkie. Your Uncle can only host us so long, and we're gonna run out of money eventually. Besides, our friends back in Ponyville are probably worried sick about us. We've been gone for a long time."
"So I gather you've had a bad day, eh?"
Dash looked up at Pinkie's uncle, a look of sorrow upon her face.
"I'll take that as a yes." Punch said, cleaning out a wine glass with a towel. Being a pony, it was a little harder than it should have been.
"We'll find her, Uncle! Anyway, how was business today?" Pinkie asked, trying to get a cheerier conversation going.
"Slow. Got a few customers, though. Right before I closed up, a regular of mine walked in with a pal. Apparently they came in for some bet, and the girl didn't seem all too happy 'til she had a few." Punch replied.
"Ooh! A bet! Who won? Who won?" Pinkie asked, excited about the idea. She wasn't the betting type, but she always wanted to know who won them.
"I'd say the griffon won the whole ordeal, on account of how she could still fly after." Punch said matter-of-factly. "The bet was whether or not she could..."
"Griffon!?"
Punch barely managed to avoid dropping the glass as Dash flew up to him, looking him square in the eyes.
"There was a griffon here? What did she look like?"
"She was a griffon; what else is there to tell? Other'n the odd eye shadow that looked like it'd been near wiped clean by the end of the whole ordeal."
"That's GILDA! Why didn't you try and keep her here? Why didn't you send Fluttershy to get us?"
"Hey, whatcha yellin' at me for? You never told me you were lookin' for a griffon, so I had no reason to keep her around." Punch replied, not liking how the pegasus approached him.
"Oy, Pinkie! Why didn't you tell him who we were looking for? If you had we could be done with everything at this point!"
"I didn't think I'd need to! I'm sorry, Dashy. It slipped my mind when I was catching up with Punch anyway." Pinkie replied, a hint of regret in her voice.
"Oy. Do you know where she lives? Or where she might be now?" Dash asked, turning back to the uncle.
"After how much she had she'd better be home asleep. But I don't know where that is. Her companion was one of my few regulars, though. A mule named Mark. He'll probably be back tomorrow" Punch replied, hoping that the information would help get her away from his face.
"If he comes again, could you ask him about her for us?" Pinkie questioned, a look of hope on her face.
"Of course, Pinkie! Why wouldn't I? After all, you're all out here for her sake anyway." Punch replied, smiling. The smile looked a little more sincere as Rainbow Dash backed away.
"Great! Then we'll wait!" Dash said, before remembering a detail she'd forgotten. "Oh, how's Fluttershy?"
"Surprisingly still asleep. You weren't kidding when you said she was tired; she hasn't budged at all." Punch replied, finishing up the glass before placing it away.
"At least one of us can relax." Dash replied, yawning herself. "If she wakes up sometime soon, would you fill her in?"
"If I'm awake, sure."
The pegasus smiled. Pinkie's uncle wasn't such a bad guy.
Now to wait for the morning.