Canterlot was a bustling city of high society ponies, enjoying their lives in their utopia of marble and gold as they loomed over the rest of Equestria from atop their mountainous throne. While the populace was primarily comprised of haughty unicorns, the kingdom's capitol still maintained a welcoming and hospitable air. It was rare to see the people coming and going through the decadent streets without smiles on their faces. Perhaps that could be attributed to the fact that it was also home to Princess Celestia, who was known for her comforting and motherly demeanor, allowing them to live happier, more complacent lives.
Whatever the case, the luxuries offered by the city, coupled with the guidance and care offered by the princesses, made Canterlot a desirable place to live. It had many gourmet restaurants, consistent fair weather thanks to its diligent team of weather pegasi, and ample lodging with its many spacious and sophisticated houses.
An ideal location indeed...
Unbeknownst to the complacent populace of Equestria's capitol, they were being observed vigilantly. A lone changeling lay upon a thin tree that sprouted from a crack in the side of the mountain that Canterlot was built upon, even further up the peak from where the city was situated. The spikes of his crimson mane swayed gently in the breeze, the wind at this altitude possessing a noticeable—and unfortunately familiar—chill, though he didn't let it bother him. With the characteristic neon green of changeling magic, he lifted the carcass of a dead rabbit he'd caught earlier to his mouth, absentmindedly tearing into it with his long, pointed fangs, ripping off a chunk of flesh and idly chewing as he continued to stealthily observe the city from his vantage point.
It had been several weeks since Guise left the Changeling Kingdom, and a lot had happened that threw some uncertainty into his perception of what he wanted. He'd spent the last two years of his life sealed away in the hive's dungeon for planning to usurp the throne. Then, he was recruited by Queen's Chrysalis's captain in order to kill the person responsible for him winding up there to begin with. And if that weren't backwards enough, not only did he wind up not killing his quarry, but helping him save his family and stop another potential usurper. Needless to say, Guise was conflicted by the recent events in his life.
All of this meant that Guise had some thinking to do. While it seemed that Chrysalis was grateful for the hoof he had in taking down her traitorous captain, enough that she didn't send him back to the dungeon, Guise knew he didn't want to stick around in the Changeling Kingdom any longer. The perpetual, chilling winds and lack of food made for a depressing lifestyle that he'd had to put up with for years before this, and he was sick of it.
Especially after seeing the life Shade had made for himself.
Guise had known Shade his whole life, but he never once thought of him as a friend—and that fact hadn't changed. He'd always viewed himself as being better than Shade; he was more cutthroat, more cunning, more devious, as a changeling should be. So why was it that a goody-goody like Shade had managed to make a comfortable life for himself within pony society, with friends, a home, food, and a family? It infuriated him.
What was worse, now Guise had to trust Shade. He'd made his intentions clear when they last left the Changeling Kingdom: Guise wanted to find a better life for himself, but it was only himself that he had in mind. He was still a changeling, and changelings were hardwired to deceive and manipulate for personal gain. Shade hadn't been too keen on the idea of Guise hiding within the homes of ponies, but Guise knew he couldn't cause any trouble or risk losing everything he'd worked towards. The two changelings had a deal: Guise helped Shade save his family, so he was willing to give Guise the benefit of the doubt as thanks, and would bail him out if something went wrong—so long as it wasn't a massive screw up. That meant that Guise had to behave himself. The red-maned changeling's expression soured as he thought about it, but he couldn't really argue. All things considered, he was lucky that Shade was willing to turn the other cheek on this. Besides, Shade had no idea where he'd gone, so it wasn't like his leash was on too terribly tight.
But, as mentioned, Guise was much more cunning than Shade, and he wasn't stupid or naïve. Guise wasn't going to infiltrate pony society half-cocked like Shade had when he first left the Changeling Kingdom. Guise had a plan, and he'd spent the better part of the last few weeks working on it.
The first step was actually finding a suitable place to live. Guise had traveled all over the Equestrian countryside to scout out its many towns and cities, and eventually settled on the capitol resting below him. Guise knew he was taking a huge risk by choosing this place, given that it was also home to Equestria's princesses, not to mention the populace was a little wary of changelings since the invasion. But that was two years ago, and Shade had done a good job of earning the ponies' trust, so they've likely lowered their guard a little since then. Guise also knew that Shade lived in that podunk town of Ponyville nearby—he could see the place in the distance from his elevated perch. The convenience of that was part of the reason he chose Canterlot, since Shade was supposed to be his contingency plan. But Guise smirked as he thought about the ingeniousness of his plan. He himself had once said to Shade that it would be stupid of a changeling to hide within the capitol, especially after the invasion, so who would expect one to do just that?
Step two was a little more complicated. He needed a mask. Guise wasn't planning on living openly like Shade. Theoretically, he could, as Shade's presence had warmed the ponies up to the idea of friendly changelings, but he'd still prefer to keep any prying eyes off of him. And if word got out that he was in Canterlot, even if he was behaving himself, he'd no doubt have Shade breathing down his neck.
So his time spent scoping out other towns was also used to find a suitable disguise. It would be foolish to imitate a person who was actual from Canterlot, and kidnapping or killing somepony to take their place would probably fall under the category of "massive screw up," and Shade would certainly not back him up after something like that. So he had to pick somepony from out of town. The complicated part was cutie marks. Since those things were representative of a pony's special talent, he had to chose somepony that had a talent he could imitate, or, better yet, pick one that was vague and open to interpretation. Thankfully, he'd banked a sizable amount of potential faces to wear that met his criteria, so that wasn't really an issue anymore.
There was one significant hurdle he needed to overcome, however: his illiteracy. The ability to read and write was commonplace within Equestrian society, so Guise's lack of education would be a glaring hole in his facade. It was an issue he hadn't entirely worked out just yet, but he was taking the necessary steps. So far, he'd been able to get by and learn a thing or two based on context clues and asking the right questions while performing his undercover reconnaissance. He was confident that he knew enough to at least blend in, so long as he avoided extended interaction with people. It would be something that he'd have to continue working on over the course of his stay.
Guise glanced up at the sky, noting the position of the sun. He let out a reluctant sigh, rolling his eyes as he stood up on the thin tree he'd been laying on. He took one more bite of the rabbit carcass before tossing the rest down the cliff side. Guise wiped the blood from his muzzle, then flittered his translucent, tattered, insectoid wings to take off from his perch and fly down toward Canterlot.
The changeling touched down some distance away from the city limits so as not to be spotted by anypony, taking cover within the foliage that surrounded the outskirts of Canterlot. With a flash of his neon green magic, emerald flames surrounded his body. Where once stood a changeling, with smooth black chitin, bug-like wings, and legs filled with holes, was now a pony.
Guise had donned the appearance of a unicorn stallion—one of the many ponies he'd seen in passing during his travels. He had specifically chosen a unicorn due to seeing more convenience in being able to use his magic than he would from flight if he'd chosen a pegasus, and, for his needs, he saw no significant advantages to the natural, physical strength possessed by earth ponies. There was a little concern about somepony sussing him out via the color of his magical aura—the one aspect a changeling's disguise couldn't hide—but it wasn't like it was unheard of for a normal unicorn to have green magic.
The coat of his fabricated body was a bright crimson, while his mane and tail were a mixture of white, yellow, and light blue. While the colors of his hair were a little off-putting to him, the mane had a rather wild style to it, which suited his tastes fine. Additionally, the faint glow of his sky blue sclera was replaced by the standard white possessed by ponies, while the blood red of his irises were now golden in color, accompanied by rounded pupils as opposed to thin, predatory slits.
Most importantly was this stallion's cutie mark: a shining light bulb. Guise figured it would be difficult for somepony to discern its meaning at a glance, meaning that he could make up any crap to fool anypony who asked. In truth, Guise had no idea what this stallion's special talent was, nor did he care. He didn't even know the name of the guy whose face he would be wearing. Even if he did, he wasn't going to risk using it for himself as he ran the risk—however unlikely—that somepony might recognize him. Coming up with a fake name meant that, even if his disguise looked familiar to somepony, he could deny it and hope the person simply thought they were mistaken.
With his mask on, Guise began to saunter casually into the city as though he belonged there. He had a destination in mind. In fact, he had to be there at a certain time. Guise always liked to do things at his own pace, so being forced to schedule a portion of his day to these ponies' whims was a little irritating, but unfortunately necessary.
One of the most important things Guise had had to keep in mind when formulating this plan was how dependent these ponies were on money. They may have had food and shelter, but those comforts didn't come free. Honestly, Guise felt he could survive just fine on his own. Food was plentiful throughout the Equestrian countryside for a predator like him, much more so than back in the Changeling Kingdom, so food wasn't necessarily an issue. Even having a house wasn't really a problem; he'd been holing up in a cave in the mountain for the time he'd been in Canterlot.
But there was one thing he wanted that made all of this necessary. It was the one thing that all changelings wanted, even above food and shelter. But if Guise wanted that without compromising himself, he'd need those things first. And in order to get those things, he needed money. And in order to get money, he needed one more thing:
A job.
Guise groaned silently, trying not to hang his head in disgust and draw attention to himself with a sour expression. He was not enthused in the least by the prospect of doing these ponies' chores for them. Changeling's were normally pretty self-sufficient, capable of taking care of themselves without needing anypony else's help. But with how complicated pony society was, they apparently needed to rely on each other just to get by in their day-to-day. Sure, some changelings chose to work in small groups, but that was mostly just to take advantage of their "companions" if an opportunity arose—Guise was well familiar with the idea.
Finding a job had been one of the hurdles that Guise was worried about the most, in part due to the previously mentioned notion of subservience. However, another issue was being lucky enough to find a job that he could actually do. As a changeling who hadn't spent much time within pony society, he wasn't yet intimately familiar with how this whole thing worked. Most ponies acquired jobs that suited their special talents, but that wasn't exactly on the table for Guise. What he had needed was a job that was easy, didn't require him to read or write, and, ideally, would keep him out of the public eye.
But Lady Luck had apparently smiled down upon Guise when he had first arrived in Canterlot. After asking around, he found out that a local restaurant was looking to hire a steward. He had no idea what that was at the time, but he actually did have some experience working at a restaurant when he posed as Shade once a couple of years ago. He couldn't speak for how well he performed at it, and it was only a few days, but he figured it couldn't hurt.
The disguised changeling arrived at Canterlot's restaurant district, a series of streets lined with all manner of dining establishments. Most of them looked pretty classy, the kinds of places where you had to know a guy who knows a guy to even get a reservation, but there were some smaller, more humble places to dine, likely to satisfy the runoff that didn't have the cash or connections to get into the more exclusive restaurants. Guise had to admit, though, that the aromas that wafted through the streets were definitely alluring. He hadn't really taken the time to indulge in pony food since he'd left the Changeling Kingdom, but that was mostly because he needed to save his bits for other stuff. Besides, he doubted that there were any places around the city that served meat.
Guise eventually arrived at his new place of work, a restaurant called "The Soup Spoon." It was one of the less fancy restaurants, but still managed to have an air of haughtiness. He honestly couldn't even remember what the actual dining area of the restaurant looked like, nor did he care. Aside from his first day, he always entered through the back, where the kitchen and his station were, to prepare for his shift.
As it turned out, "steward" was apparently just a fancy way to say "dishwasher," as that's pretty much what he did, in addition to taking out garbage and whatever other menial tasks the cooks had for him. In truth, the job was infuriating. It wasn't like it was difficult; scrubbing dishes and taking out trash was within Guise's limited skill set, and the ponies apparently even had machines that did most of the washing for him. It didn't even take long for him to learn to use it, and he'd only been there a week. Rather, what caused Guise to grit his teeth behind his lips was more so the notion of having to take orders from these ponies. His coworkers were a bunch of snooty chefs that traipsed around the kitchen with their noses so far up in the air he wondered how they could see where they were going. Every fiber of his being wanted to give these high and mighty food jockeys a good tongue lashing, but he restrained himself. Guise counted himself lucky that he could get a job at all, let alone one that met such specific criteria for his needs; he couldn't risk getting fired. As aggravating as it was, Guise was going to have to keep his mouth shut and his head down for a good while.
After a few hours of toiling away and having to listen to the cooks arguing across the kitchen at each other, Guise was finally given a chance to take a breather. His breaks were the only part of his day that he looked forward to, second only to actually clocking out. Still, two fifteen minute breaks and a single half-hour lunch break were little respite in comparison, but it was something.
Guise wasted no time hanging up his black apron and cap and stepping outside. Spending so much time washing dishes meant that his coat and mane were always a little damp, not to mention the sweat that accumulated in the kitchen with all the ovens going constantly. So it felt good to step outside and feel the fresh air against his fake fur, allowing the warmth of the midsummer sun to dry him at least partially until he inevitably had to get back to the slog.
Thankfully, there was quaint little café right next to the restaurant where he could sit and enjoy a light snack during his breaks. Guise ordered a bagel and a cup of coffee before taking a seat at one of the tables on the outdoor deck. He wasn't too keen about having to spend the bits he'd earned on food when there was a veritable buffet of good eats prancing around the lush, grassy plains of the green countryside, but fifteen minutes wasn't exactly a lot of time to do some hunting, and he didn't want to risk heading back to work with the smell of blood on his breath.
But it wasn't as though he disliked pony food; in fact, it was the opposite. Pony food was delicious. It didn't quite give him the same satisfaction as tearing the meat off of a fresh kill, but the flavors were incredibly diverse and kind of addictive. Of course, he'd never admit that, even to himself, but his reluctance had more to do with money than personal preferences. The coffee was at least helpful, as it appeared to have some sort of magical property to restore his energy, which made trudging through the work day a little easier, even if the bitter flavor was a bit offensive to his tongue.
From his table, Guise glanced across the street as he took a bite of his buttered bagel. On the other side of the street from the café—and, by extension, The Soup Spoon—was an ice cream parlor. The sign above the entrance read "Rocky's Road" in rather childish-looking font. The name was simple enough for Guise to read with his limited knowledge of written word. But the ice cream parlor itself wasn't the reason Guise had his eye on the place. It was actually something inside that was on his mind.
Or rather, what was currently stepping outside.
The door to the building opened with the sound of a jingling bell, and out stepped a unicorn mare, who then began to make her way to the café where Guise was. Her coat was a minty green color, while her mane and tail were an off-white with many brown speckles and was long and thick, giving them the appearance of half-melted, cookie dough ice cream.
Guise discreetly observed her as she stepped up onto the deck of the café, placed an order of a chocolate chip muffin and a cup of coffee, and took her snack to a table near Guise.
She was his target. Guise wanted one thing from this endeavor. Food? There was plenty of that out in the wild. Shelter? Certainly desirable, and a house or apartment was definitely better than living in a cave, but Guise could live without it. But the one reason he was willing to put up with all of these ponies' nonsensical traditions, laws, and confusing economics was love.
Changelings didn't want love for the same reasons as ponies. For them, love was a source of power. Guise had gotten a taste of that power once a couple of years ago, and since then, he's wanted more. He had made a deal not to cause trouble, but what harm could it do just to indulge in a little love from time to time? As long as he didn't use that power, then Shade couldn't really persecute him.
And this mare was a prime candidate. While he had been scooping out a suitable job, he had also been keeping his eyes peeled for eligible mares. There was nothing particularly special about this mare, and she didn't really stand out from the crowd, but that's exactly why she caught Guise's attention. If he was going to pick a mare to be his "love bug" for the foreseeable future, he'd have to find one that not only didn't really seem to draw much attention to herself, but was also at least tolerable to spend time with; he was going to try and avoid brainwashing his target if he could help it. Based on his initial observations of this mare in the week he'd been working at The Soup Spoon, she seemed to meet those criteria well enough.
The minty green mare happened to glance in Guise's direction. She gave the disguised changeling a friendly grin. The two had seen each other pretty much everyday since Guise started working at The Soup Spoon, as they both happened to take their breaks at the same time and waited it out at the café. They'd never said anything to one another, but saw each another often enough to exchange silent pleasantries. Little did she know that Guise had been taking mental notes the whole time. He hadn't gleaned much about her personal life outside her work at the ice cream parlor, but her demeanor seemed to indicate that she was a little more down to earth than the hoity-toity socialites that were common in Canterlot. Guise figured that would likely make her a more suitable subject for his needs.
Now, all he needed to do was break the ice to set everything in motion.
Guise smiled back amicably—a practiced fabrication of course. He pretended to look thoughtful, as though hesitating as he mulled something over, making sure she could see the expression on his face. He then looked back at her more confidently, gesturing to the empty chair across from her at her table. "May I?"
There was a moment of contemplation from the mare, but her smile persisted through it as she answered. "Sure."
Guise took his coffee cup and half-eaten bagel over to her table, sitting across from her. So far so good. He knew now that he had her interest, so now it was time to put on the charm. "Hard to believe we've never actually introduced ourselves, huh?"
"I just figured after a week of saying nothing but 'Hi' to each other, anything else would just make things awkward. I thought we had a good thing going," she laughed jokingly.
Guise faked an amused chuckle. Now that he had actually heard a full sentence from her, he noticed her voice was a little lower than he'd expected; not deep, per se, but certainly not shrill. Guise held out his hoof with a grin. "I'm Crimson Neon," he lied.
The mare accepted his hoof and shook it. "Sweetmint Scoop," she said, her voice going a little higher as she put a little extra pep into her introduction. "But most people just call me Mint. So, do you prefer 'Crimson,' or 'Neon'? Or do have some kinda nickname you like to go by?" she asked with interest.
"Crimson's fine."
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Crimson," Sweetmint greeted with an affable smile.
"Likewise," Guise responded with a similar smile.
"So, Crimson, I'm guessing you're not from around here," Sweetmint assumed.
"Not exactly hard to suss that out when everypony else around here is so stuffy," Guise chuckled.
Sweetmint cast a insulted look across the table at him. Guise knew enough about faking emotions to tell it was obviously facetious. "A bold thing to say when I'm sitting right here."
The comment, that was clearly intended to fluster him, didn't faze Guise in the least. "You think I would have if I thought you were one of them? You're not like the people around here either, you know."
Sweetmint leaned back in her chair slightly, smirking a little. She seemed impressed by his deduction. "You're pretty perceptive."
Guise shrugged the compliment off modestly, but internally, he was patting himself on the back. He wouldn't be much of a changeling if he wasn't observant of his targets.
Sweetmint leaned forward on the table, taking a sip of her coffee. "So, where are you from?"
"Fillydelphia," Guise told her. That wasn't entirely untrue; the person whose visage he was using was some random guy he saw in Fillydelphia while he was doing reconnaissance in various towns and cities around Equestria. "I've only been here for a couple of weeks. What about you?"
"Manehattan, but I've been living here in Canterlot for a few years."
Guise quirked an eyebrow. He couldn't help but notice a slight look of exasperation on her face as she gently brushed a hoof over the side of her thick mane. While he wanted to get as much information about her as he could to make wooing her a little easier, he knew it was possible to overstep, so he decided to stick to the small talk rather than start to pry into her personal issues already.
Sweetmint smiled again. "So... The Soup Spoon, huh?"
Guise groaned quietly at the implied question. His own exasperation was an attempt to make himself more relatable for Sweetmint and help endear himself to her more easily. But that didn't mean his response wasn't still somewhat genuine. "Yeah... Not my ideal career choice, trust me, but it was pretty much all that was available."
"You don't like cooking?"
"I'm not a cook," Guise said with a grimace. "I wash dishes."
"Oh," was her reaction.
That worried Guise a little. He hadn't considered that his job might affect her opinion of him, but it wasn't like there was much he could do about that given his lack of applicable skills.
However, much to his relief, Sweetmint offered a sympathetic grin. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound judgmental. I guess I was just wondering what your cutie mark has to do with working at a restaurant."
Guise glanced down at the image of the shining light bulb on his flank. He smirked slightly. He figured the question would come up at some point. In fact, he'd been anticipating it. He was rather proud of the explanation he'd made up, and he planned on using it to segue into the next step of his plan. "Actually, it has nothing to do with it. I got my cutie mark because I have a lot of bright ideas. I fancy myself somewhat of a problem solver. It's part of the reason why I left home; I felt like I was running in place, you know? Like there was more I could do elsewhere."
Sweetmint giggled quietly. "I know that feeling. It was pretty much the same for me when I left Manehattan. But I would think a talent like that would make you better suited to a managerial position or something."
Guise shrugged. "Gotta start somewhere, right?"
"Fair enough."
Guise leaned forward slightly, faking a frustrated expression. It was time to get the gears turning. "But, you know, for as much as I like to help people with their problems, I have a problem that I just can't seem to find a solution for."
Sweetmint stared with curious interest. "And what's that?"
A cocksure grin spread across Guise's muzzle as he looked across at her. "I'm not doing anything tonight, and I just don't know what I'm gonna do with my time. I was hoping maybe you could help me out."
Sweetmint practically had to stifle a snort as she caught onto his play, but there was a clear hint of interest in her pale pink eyes. "Wow. Well, aren't you a smooth operator."
"Too cheesy?" Guise chuckled awkwardly with false embarrassment.
"Maybe, but you're just lucky I like cheese," Sweetmint laughed. "Alright, I think I can donate a little of my time to help you. Meet me here when you get off work?"
"Sounds good."
Sweetmint stood up from the table, taking the last bite of her muffin and downing the last of her coffee. "Well, break's over. I'll see you later, Crimson," she said with a playful wink as she headed back to the ice cream parlor.
Guise wore a self-satisfied smirk. That went even more smoothly than he'd anticipated. He pegged her as an agreeable and friendly individual, but still had expected to work at least a little harder to convince her to go on a date. Either way, he had his hoof in the door. Now, he just had to work on sealing the deal.
But before that, he had to endure the rest of his work day. Guise finished off his bagel and his own coffee, allowing the bitter mixture to energize him enough to fight back his reluctance and get his hooves moving back to The Soup Spoon, though not without a disdainful eye roll.
***** ***** *****
Guise sat in waiting on the deck of the café, tapping his hoof on the table impatiently. After a long and weary day enduring shouting matches between the cooks while he had to idly scrub dirty dishes, he was just relieved to get his apron off and escape that culinary prison. It was particularly nice to know that he had the next two days off. Guise was starting to feel like Queen Chrysalis's stories about the ponies being oppressive had some merit if his job was any indication. But thankfully, as disagreeable as his superiors were, they at least had enough consideration to give their employees some time off every now and then.
Guise found himself wondering if all of this was really worth the effort. He could easily survive in the wild on his own wits, rather than have to subject himself to being these ponies' errand boy for the sake of something as asinine as currency. Sure, the luxuries of pony society were alluring, but ultimately unnecessary.
But he just had to keep reminding himself that he was doing this for love. Even if he couldn't use the power that love would grant him due to the stipulations of his deal with Shade, he still wanted the sensation that it gave him. He had gotten a taste for it, and he wanted more. The euphoric feeling that flowed through his body when he'd fed off of Shade's pony partner was incomparable. He may have had to put up with working a menial and demeaning job, but if he managed to make this connection with Sweetmint, he'd have a battery he could go to to recharge after a long day. If a cup of coffee gave him enough energy to get through one day of work, a little love was like a hundred cups of coffee, but without giving him the jitters. In his mind, that was more than worth the effort. And besides, even if he promised not to cause trouble, once he'd gotten enough power, who was going to be able to stop him if he had the mind to go against his word?
But that was a bridge he'd cross when he came to it. Guise had some work to do before he could consider possible uses for the power love would grant him. Shade's girlfriend was already in love when Guise had taken his place, so he didn't really have to do anything. But he had to actually put the work in to make Sweetmint Scoop fall in love with him. Thankfully it seemed like it was going well so far based on the whopping fifteen minutes he'd spent talking with her. He didn't suspect it would be too difficult to win her over. Sweetmint seemed like a perfectly nice and agreeable person; the ideal person for someone like him to take advantage of.
Unfortunately, punctuality didn't appear to be among her desirable qualities.
Despite the fact that Sweetmint had been the one to suggest they meet at the café again once they were both finished work, she had yet to show up. Guise knew based on his observations from his first week of work that he and Sweetmint finished work around the same time, yet his shift ended half an hour ago and here he was, waiting around for her. Given that working a job was enough of a slog for him to deal with, he valued what little time he had outside of work, so he wasn't exactly keen on having that time wasted. That would have been a strike against Sweetmint, but Guise could see that it wasn't entirely her fault.
From his vantage point, Guise could see into the large windows of Rocky's Road. The last customers had left some time ago, but he could see Sweetmint still running around and cleaning up, alongside her two coworkers. However, it appeared to be Sweetmint doing most of the cleaning up. One of her coworkers—another unicorn mare, but with a creamy white coat—was too busy adjusting her long, strawberry pink mane in the reflection of the windows, and the other—a light brown unicorn stallion with a greasy-looking, dark blue mane, the ends of the strands tipped with white—was standing in the middle of the ice cream parlor with a broom, but wasn't doing anything except staring rather awkwardly at the mare fixing her mane.
After waiting another fifteen minutes, Sweetmint and her coworkers were finally able to punch out. The other two went on their way to their respective homes, while Sweetmint locked up. She dropped the key in the black satchel slung over her shoulder, then stood there at the entrance for a few seconds, eyes closed and taking a few long, deep breaths. She finally looked across the street to find Guise staring in her direction. She hurried over, her expression a mixture of embarrassment, apology, and exasperation.
"Sorry, I'm late," Sweetmint said with a sigh as she sat down, dropping her satchel on the deck with a complete lack of care. "Guess we're off to a bad start, huh?"
Guise responded with a dismissive shrug. Given his goal here, he couldn't really afford to put her down on anything that bugged him, like keeping him waiting. He was going to have to play the role of "supportive boyfriend" quite fervently if he wanted this to work. "Don't worry about it. It's not like it was your fault."
Sweetmint leaned against her hoof, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, it's not like the sign on the door has our hours on it or anything," she pointed out sarcastically. "It clearly says we close at five, so of course this couple has to show up at four fifty-nine and request a flavor that we're out of. And we can't turn 'em away because 'the customer's always right,' so Rocky's got us mixing a new batch of butterscotch pecan for these two while he gets to clock out and leave us behind to clean up." She paused, taking another deep breath. Her frustration died down a bit when she looked across at Guise. "Sorry, just... a little on edge right now. I'd understand if you wanted to head home."
Guise shook his head with a small smile. "Nah. Like I said, I'm not doing anything tonight anyway."
Sweetmint smiled back gratefully. "You must be a pretty patient guy."
Guise chuckled inwardly. Waiting forty-five minutes for a date was nothing compared to two years of being locked in a dungeon.
Sweetmint shook her head to clear away the aggravating thoughts. "Alright, I'm not gonna talk about work. How about we just pick up where we left off earlier? Getting to know each other a little better would make for a pretty good first date, don't you think?"
"Exactly what I was thinking," Guise agreed.
"So, you said you've only been here a few weeks. You got family here? A house?"
Guise practically burst out laughing. "Ha! A house, that's a good one. You think I can afford a house in this place just washing dishes?"
"Hey, I don't know your life," Sweetmint retaliated defensively. "You could be loaded for all I know and just wanted to come here for a change of pace."
"Yeah, no. I came here to get away and do things at my own pace, nothing else really," Guise told her with slight disgust. He wasn't lying.
"I can empathize," Sweetmint responded with a quiet sigh. "I figured coming here would be good for me, too, but here I am, three years later, and still dealing with a bunch of—" She paused, stopping herself short with no lack of visible restraint. "Sorry. I said I wasn't going to talk about work." She managed a smile again as she got back on track. "So, where are you staying then?"
"Marble Heights," Guise answered, tilting his head in the general direction.
Sweetmint raised an eyebrow. "Really? I always thought that place was kinda swanky. You just implied you don't have a lot of money."
Guise knew that was true, but the same could be said about any of the apartment complexes he'd scoped out. Obviously he wasn't actually staying there, since he'd made a temporary home for himself in a cave further up the mountain. Truth be told, he had never actually set hoof in the building, he just picked one and went with it. He simply gave Sweetmint a dismissive shrug. "It's not like they don't have cheap rooms. I just found one that I could afford on my limited budget."
"I guess. I've never actually been there myself. My apartment building looks pretty fancy, too, but my place is nothing to write home about. Especially after I moved in. Guess they're all about drawing you in with their elegant exterior, but once you see the inside, they're nothing special."
Guise couldn't help but notice her eyes drift back to the ice cream parlor with a rather disdainful look on her face. She insisted that she wasn't going to talk about work, but it seemed like it was the only thing on her mind. Guise was hoping to get some more information about this mare for his mission, but she seemed too distracted to give him the answers he was looking for. So he may as well get what he could.
"Do you not like working at that place?"
Sweetmint looked back at him suddenly, her grimace quickly disappearing as though she hadn't realized where her mind had gone. "Hm? Oh, uh..." She sighed again, a distinct look of disappointment on her face. She was obviously reluctant to talk about it on the first date considering it was clearly a sore spot, but Guise's understanding expression seemed to loosen her up a bit. "Well, it started out fine. I love making ice cream—I mean, my cutie mark is pretty self-explanatory."
Guise nodded along. Her cutie mark was a scoop of chocolate ice cream in a shallow, plastic cup. While he had deduced that it had something to do with ice cream, there was one puzzling quality to it: there was an odd string protruding from the top of the scoop. It must have been something about ponies he hadn't quite grasped yet, so, in an effort to not seem ignorant, he just played along and pretended he understood.
"My goal in coming here was to work at a place like Rocky's for a little while and eventually open my own ice cream shop. I know my ice cream's good enough to draw in customers, but..."
Guise just stared at her. He wasn't exactly sure how this story of hers was going to help him, but it was better to feign interest just in case. "But what?"
Sweetmint discreetly looked around at the other patrons of the café, leaning in over the table and whispering to Guise. "Don't tell anypony I said this, but working at Rocky's is a nightmare."
Guise groaned internally. He hadn't planned on being an ear for this girl to vent her problems into, but now he was kind of cornered and forced to sit here and listen to her prattle on. He knew that being a good listener was going to be imperative to earning her affection, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
"So why are you still working there?" Guise inquired, trying to force himself to engage in this mundane conversation. "Aren't there any other ice cream places you could work at?"
"None that are hiring. Rocky's was only recently opened when I moved here, so it was pretty easy to land a position." Sweetmint groaned rather loudly, running a hoof down her face. "But everypony there is insufferable."
Guise's ears perked up. That actually sounded like something he could relate to.
"They're absolutely useless. They have no business working there at all."
"Yeah, I kinda noticed," Guise said as he glanced toward the empty ice cream parlor.
"Then you know what I'm talking about!" Sweetmint's voice rose in volume as she got increasingly aggravated by the thought. "Tapioca's a complete airhead, more concerned about keeping her obviously fake eyelashes straight than she is about actually doing her freaking job. She's some Daddy's girl who has no idea how the world actually works. I'm willing to bet that the only reason Rocky hired her is because she flirted with him during her application.
Sweetmint leaned more firmly onto the table with a smirk on her face, though her eyes displayed a distinct look of disdain. "And don't get me started on Frosted Chips. I know for a fact that he has absolutely no right to be there. He's Rocky's little brother, and the only reason he's there is because their mom made Rocky hire him." She couldn't help but chuckle at the ridiculousness of it, but it was a dark and spiteful laugh. "He's such a weirdo. He just stands around doing nothing except staring at Tapioca's ass. I sincerely hope he doesn't stare at me that way when I'm not looking. He creeps me out with how quiet and awkward he is—I'm not even sure I've ever heard the guy speak."
"Hey, it could be worse. They're not constantly bickering the whole time, like my coworkers," Guise chimed in to try and one-up her. "Do you know how hard it is to not just punch somepony in the face when they won't shut up about stupid, little things? I'm not exactly somepony who likes to sit by and let incessant people like them irritate me to no end."
"At least your coworkers are actually good at their jobs. Those two slackers get paid while I'm doing most of the work. I'm convinced that my ice cream is the only reason that place is still in business, yet I get paid peanuts and can barely afford my rent."
"And at least you're doing a job you enjoy," Guise retaliated. "You think I wanted to be a dish jockey when I moved here? It's humiliating. It's demeaning. I hate everything about it. But it's all that was available because nopony else is desperate enough to do it."
Despite how heated the two of them were getting over their grievances, they both had smirks on their faces. Sweetmint let out a surprisingly satisfied sigh. "Sounds like we're both a couple of losers down on their luck, huh?"
"I'm no loser," Guise corrected with a cocksure grin. "I'm just waiting for my moment of glory. Trust me when I say, if you want something, you've gotta have patience. The real losers are the people who sit around and act complacent. I've got places I wanna go and things I want to accomplish."
Sweetmint grinned at him with admiration. "Man, I wish I had that kinda drive. I envy you, Crimson. Must be hard to be positive when life keeps throwing lemons at you and you don't have a juicer."
Guise shrugged. "Just gotta grin and bear it. If you want something, you have to just take it when the opportunity shows itself."
"Sounds like stealing," Sweetmint said with an amused titter.
While he knew she was making a joke, Guise didn't dispute it. "Not if you earned it."
Sweetmint leaned back in her seat, staring at the confidence in Guise's eyes. She smirked mockingly. "Geez, you almost sound kind of sinister when you say it like that."
Guise's grin fell. He hadn't realized exactly how genuine he was being with his words. While she wasn't looking at him with any suspicion, he figured it might be best to tone it down a bit. He laughed with a touch of embarrassment—not entirely forced. "Sorry, I can get pretty passionate about this stuff."
"It's okay. It's hard not to admire it," Sweetmint told him understandingly. She stared rather sheepishly. "And I should apologize. I can't say this has been a very orthodox date so far."
Guise laughed off her apology. "Hey, personally, I think ragging on coworkers is a perfectly acceptable activity for a first date. Feels good to vent, you know?"
Sweetmint sighed. "I know. I feel like I needed this honestly."
Guise couldn't help but notice how the smile had left her face, her exasperation seemingly doubling back on her.
But her smile managed its way back as she gazed gratefully across the table. "Thanks for letting me get that off my chest, Crimson. It's nice to meet somepony around here that I can just chat openly with about all that crap."
Guise was silent. It definitely seemed like things were progressing faster than he'd anticipated. His plan to be attentive and supportive was paying off already. The odd part was that he wasn't expecting to be as into the conversation as he was. It certainly boded well for his plan since he'd have to spend a prolonged amount of time with this mare if things worked out. So far, she was the most tolerable person he'd met in Canterlot—maybe the most tolerable person he'd met period.
Sweetmint straightened up in her seat, her expression becoming much more chipper. "Tell you what: I'll make it up to you. You working tomorrow?"
Guise shook his head. "Nope. Got the weekend off."
"Me, too. Wanna hang out again tomorrow then? Maybe try and have a proper date?"
Guise smiled back at her, a victorious feeling of self-satisfaction in the back of his mind. "Sure, sounds like fun."