Three : The Commission
“We can't see past our own sad stories and wonder what we're missing, we can't see past our own sad stories and forget how to listen” Patrick Park - Here We Are
Clout sat atop the fallen bell in the clouded evening dusk, observing the blue shard in his hoof. The last of the sun’s rays glistened off of the gem piece just as they had shown against his own hide. He turned it this way and that, observing the way it sparkled and wondered what it was about the stones that felt so familiar to him. He couldn’t place it precisely but he had a feeling that it was somehow important, not just to him but too… Well, he wasn’t sure.
He twitched an ear and hopped off the bell, the old floor beneath giving a creak. The stallion placed the shard back into the box on the end table before walking to the railing where he had left his boots and mask to dry. It had only been a half hour or so since he went to the nearby river to clean his gear and they weren’t nearly dry yet. It didn’t help that the cool night air and approaching rainstorm did nothing to help dry his clothes.
Leaving the items, Clout made his way down the rope ladder and trotted to the lower floors. As he exited the cathedral, he felt Thief climb up his back leg and make her way to his head.
“Hey Thief,” he said with a smile as he tried to look up at her, “I’m gunna go see if the apples are ripe yet. I’m sure they are with all the work it took to keep those pesky beetles away.”
The rodent twitched her whiskers at him as she sniffed the air.
He cantered down the slope of the mountain side and passed the empty buildings of his city. As the stallion moved around a vacant house, he was almost hit by a falling piece of pottery. Looking up, he saw three raccoons making their way into the cottage. Off in the distance he could hear cats yowling at each other and hissing. The songs of the wild dogs began to bellow low and long. Clout gave a thin smile. Though he hated the mongrels, he loved the music they made.
He heard another familiar sound, the noise of claws on stone. It was a bit off as the creature sounded like it was limping. He slowed his pace a bit as he rounded a corner to see what made the uneven gate. It was a black dog, big and wounded. It whined as it hobbled along. There were several fresh marks on its face and limbs, one eye was mauled so bad it was missing from the socket and half of its right ear was missing. The large wound on the back of its neck still bled some and dripped to the ground. This dog was the same one that had been attacked by the others earlier that morning.
The crystal pony folded his ears and moved closer to the building he was hiding behind. He watched as the dog wobbled before collapsing onto the ground, giving a yelp in pain. It shook and whined as it tried to lick its wounded leg but every movement sent a shockwave of new pain through its battered body.
He watched the beast for a moment more before looking around. There were no other dogs in the vicinity, no vultures and no other creatures waiting for the animal to die. The mutt was still struggling on the ground with its wounds as Clout slowly walked forward. This road was a bit narrower than he would have liked but he needed to use it to get to his destination. He tried to give the wounded animal a wide berth but when he stepped close, the dog looked up at him. It folded its ears and began to growl.
The pony stared down at the hound.
“Hang tight girl,” Clout whispered to his passenger.
The frightened animal lashed out at him. As the dog’s teeth came near, he lept passed, kicking it in the jaw with his hind hooves. The mutt yelped once more, tried to stand and stumbled back before falling again. Its cries of pain echoed through the darkened streets.
The crystal pony galloped away for a bit before slowing his pace and looking back. He knew that with the way it moved earlier, even adrenalyn wouldn’t be able to serve the animal enough for it to keep pace with the pony.
“Stupid dog.” he said with a harumph, “You okay girl?”
The rat atop his head pulled at some of his mane.
“Oow! Rude.” Clout’s ears folded.
She bit his ear.
“Hey, stop that! What is your problem?” he asked her as he shook his head a bit.
Thief moved to his back and looked behind him and to the dog.
Clout looked to his friend and back to the dog then back to her. “No, no way. Not going to happen.” he said folding his ears once again, “The only help I would give that stupid mutt would be an arrow but I left those in the tower.”
Thief ran back to the top of his head before running down to his withers once more.
“I said no, end of discussion.”
The thief trotted along, ignoring his companion’s silent complaints as he made his way to the edge of the town platform. Here were only bits and pieces of houses still clinging to their foundation. Sharp pieces of broken wood jutted out from the end of the missing floor. As he got close to the limit of the belvedere, the stones of the road beneath him cracked and let a few pebbles loose to fall down the mountain side.
Clout peered over the edge and looked along the craggy rock face. Among all the debris from the buildings and boulders was a lone tree. It was small but full of life with bright red apples hanging from its branches. The stallion cracked a smile.
“Alright Thief, you need to stay here. Don’t want you falling off and getting hurt. I’ll be right back. Looks like we’ve finally got some fresh food for once.” he said with a grin.
Thief jumped off her friend and watched him take a shoulder bag which had been left hanging on a lone wooden pole. He slipped the strap over his head and walked back to the edge. A wooden board creaked and gave way, breaking off of the rest of the platform and falling down to join the large pile of debris far below.
“I really need to figure out some way to fix the supports…” the crystal pony mumbled to himself, glad he only lost one footing instead of all four.
He grabbed a rope that was hanging on a stone fence and tied it around his waist and flank. The rope had been wrapped around a large rock jutting out of the platform farther up and the end of its length was dangling over the edge. The buck picked up the cordage that dangled over the side and tugged the slack out of the end tied to himself before he jumped down.
Holding onto the length and using the rock as a pulley system, Clout slowly made his way down the rough slope until he reached the tree. It had taken him many years to bring the little tree back to life but his hard work had finally paid off. There weren't many apples and they weren’t very big but they were ripe. He pulled every apple off the tree that was within reach and stuffed them into his bag before climbing back up. Once he was back on the platform he untied the rope.
Thief bounded up to her friend as he opened the satchel.
“It’s not much but at least it’s something, right?” Clout said to her as he showed the rat his harvest.
When she tried to get closer for a nibble he closed it.
“I know they smell good but you have to wait until we get home.” he told her.
The rodent wiggled her whiskers at him before hopping onto her ride.
Clout began trotting back to the cathedral, unable to stop the smile on his face at the thought of fresh food. When he knew he was coming close to the dog he slowed his pace and peered around the corner. It was still there, lying on the ground and breathing heavily. The crystal pony’s ears folded back as he crept out, the grin finally leaving his muzzle. He watched every movement the animal made as he slowly made his way passed. When the dog twitched an ear and let out a whine, the stallion flinched and took a step back.
After a few uneventful seconds of raspy breathing from the canine, he continued around the animal. When the dog made eye contact with him, his body tensed, ready to defend himself. The mongrel, however, cowered and tried to move away, shaking in fear. Clout stood up straighter and narrowed his eyes. It appeared he learned not to attack the pony.
The stallion gave a snort, turned and trotted off while his passenger looked back until it was out of site.
“I’m not helping it so don’t even start.” he told her.
The rat began chewing on the satchel strap.
“Hey!” he reared a few inches off the ground to get her attention, “Excuse me but, you know better than to chew on my equipment.”
The young rat twitched her whiskers at him again.
“I said no, you’re not changing my mind.”
She went back to the strap.
“And if you continue to chew on that you’re not getting any!” he scolded as he stomped a hoof on the cobblestones.
Thief jumped up to the top of his head.
“Thank you.” he said as he continued on his way, “What is your problem today anyway? Think I’ll leave you home if you keep up this attitude.”
Clout made his way through the cathedral and up to the second floor. Trotting passed the conglomerate of mattresses, he went to the kitchen, took a small knife out of a drawer and walked to one of the several wooden benches in the mess hall. He took the shoulder bag off and set it along with the knife on the table. Thief jumped off her ride while he went to grab a bowl. He turned back to the table to see a rat tail vanishing into the bag and two more rats jumping onto the table.
He sighed. “Hey, could you just wait a second? You’ll get some, just have some patience.” the buckskin said as he set the dish down and pulled Thief out of the sack along with an apple. After a brief game of tug-of-war, the fruit was released from the rodent’s grasp. “I have to cut them up first. There’s only seven apples and two dozen of you. And me. Not to mention they’re tiny apples.” He set Thief back down on the table.
Clout sat down at the bench, turned a knob on a large wooden box next to the table and began cutting the fruit.
The old radio crackled and struggled before coming to life with a soft melody. As it played, the stallion began to cut the apples, putting any seeds he found within into the bowl. He popped a square into his mouth and gave some pieces to his small friends.
“Doesn’t Star just have the sweetest voice?” Smile Cat’s voice came through the speaker, “She was definitely born to sing! Grateful her master saw her for the beautiful gem she is, that’s for sure!” there was a rustling of papers before he continued, “Me-ow we certainly have a lot of news tonight. Well, I suppose we’ll start off with the hoity-toity business of the upper class that none of us commoners care about so we can get it out of the way.”
Clout chuckled as he watched a younger rat, Pumpkin Pie, steal from her mother, Cherry, and then had her prize immediately stolen by her sister, Little Rascal.
“First up, the Blues are hosting a birthday party tonight for their youngest daughter who is turning three and none of you are invited! Wonderful, right? I honestly have no idea why they even wanted that in the news. Well baby Blue, I would just like to say I hope your cake is as sweet as your mommy is to my herd. Actually, no, I don’t. That’s not a very nice thing to say to a child. Sorry little one.” The host moved away from the microphone and mumbled something about frustrating attention-seeking no-good upscale unicorns.
“Next on my list we got something on Canterlot’s auctioneer as he was robbed today. It was a group of thieves between four and six ponies. How can it not be a set number you ask? Maybe some of the group decided to quit in the middle of the heist. That or none of the guards can agree on how many they saw. Not very good guards if you ask me. Two of the assailants were killed when they got into a fire fight with the guards. One guard was killed while three were injured due to the explosion of Count Markus’ electricity generator. Unfortunately for Mr. I’m-So-Important, whatever they went in to steal was not recovered in the battle. They refused to give a description so I don’t know what they want us to do about it. Oh, he does want us to keep an eye out for his missing slaves. Apparently in the chaos a couple got free and we just care so much about his financial losses, don’t we my herd?
“I may or may not have received descriptions of his lost slaves but there was a small fire incident at the studio here a bit ago. I cannot say whether or not any such description papers may or may not have been involved in such a terrible incident though. I can, however, say that I currently cannot locate any such papers with supposed slave descriptions on them so unfortunately I am unable to give any information on said missing slaves.”
Clout scoffed.
“In all honesty though,” Smile Cat continued with a chuckle, “I don’t think anyone really wants to make a trip to Canterlot anyways with the massive sewage back up. Found out rebels were involved in the matter as about a dozen of them were caught and arrested earlier today destroying and blocking sewage lines under the city. I have no idea what the purpose of stinking up the town is but, guys, I really hope you’ve thought ahead because that stuff has got to go somewhere and if it contaminates the mountain’s fresh water, Estuary Slums is pretty much doomed.”
Smile Cat took a moment to turn a page of his notes. “Okay, now on to something we might care a little more about. Beach Side Road between Fillydelphia and Baltimare has had an increase in toll price. King Sombra has not commented on this but Discord had said, ‘It’s for your own good.’ What that means… I have no idea! Your guess is as good as mine.”
A cream colored rat tipped the bowl of seeds over and began to grab as many as could fit in his mouth.
“Hey!” Clout scolded but as he reached for the rat, the fat ball of fluff quickly scurried away and jumped down off the table. “Damit Stormy, I needed those!” He glared at the rat as his tail vanished with the rest of him and the seeds into some mattress remains. The stallion sighed and put the remaining three back into the dish.
“Rumors have it that the ruler of San Palomino plans to speak with our kings soon and arrange to merge their lands into Equestrian territory. I don’t think that will benefit any of us but if the rumors are true and it does happen, stallions would probably finally be able to visit without immediately being put into chains. Would be interesting to see if their pyramid is solid gold like the rumors say and not just a giant sand dune like the maps show. All the privileged ladies over there might be knocked down a peg having males in charge. We’ll see what happens though.”
As the buck popped another square of fruit into his mouth he saw Thief go for the seeds. He put his hoof on top to cover it and gave her another piece of apple.
“Last one. We’re almost out and you can’t have the seeds.” he told her, “We want more trees to get more apples, right? Can’t grow more If we don’t have any seeds.”
The disk jockey took a moment for a drink, “I know that this is quite a lot my herd, but bear with me as there’s just two more stories to go and then it’s back to the normal broadcast.
“A couple of griffon doctors were arrested today and a mental facility was shut down by Discord on the island of Trottingham. Apparently they were experimenting on patients by trying a new procedure that they claim would calm more… unruly patients. I have no information on what this supposed medical procedure is, or, uh, was now. But if it had killed several patients and turned others into walking vegetables, I would be concerned too.
“And, last but not least, King Sombra is going to make an appearance in Los Pegasus next week. With the increase of the plague’s numbers he has ordered several new Soot Mills to be opened. Soon as he makes his final inspections in a few days, Los Pegasus will have their streets be a little cleaner with a new place to burn the bodies. Then again they’re just redistributing the bodies as ash and spreading it all over the city so, I guess it’s cleaner by removing the sickness but it certainly doesn’t remove the smell. Or the disgustingness because we’re all breathing in our dead loved ones. Hopefully some pegasus will figure out a way to freshen up our air a bit. Uh, sorry for the imagery. That was even grosser than the sewage problem.
“Anyway, we made it! That was quite a lot of talking so I’m going to turn to every foal’s favorite segment, Spades! Will Detective Shadow Spade finally catch the jewel thief? We’ll find out thanks to our favorite sponsors: 2B Pharmaceuticals, thanks for the tonic boys! We love ya!”
The radio show began to play with a short theme song followed by different actors voicing each character. Clout dismounted the bench and turned off the radio. He wiped the knife clean with a rag and put it away before taking the bowl in his teeth. Walking up to the third floor, he set the dish on the table by the window in hopes tomorrow’s sun would dry them out so he could plant them in the next few days.
Looking to the deep shades of purple and red along the horizon, he could see the looming, angry clouds of a thunderstorm quickly approaching in the distance thanks to the winds. The crystal pony could never tell if it was actual rain clouds or if one of the sky cities roamed around the land to try and wash away all the grime from the ponies below. From what Clout had seen, there was quite a lot of filth that could use a good cleaning in more than one sense of the word. With that, he finally decided it was time he should probably head out. The crystal pony made his way back up to his bell, put all of his still damp gear back on, put the mystery shards into his bags and descended down the stairs. As he passed the second floor, he felt the usual sensation of his passenger hitching a ride to join in on whatever mischievousness they were to have tonight.
When they were outside, the rat climbed around his neck to hide inside Clout’s hood. A low rumble above his head made him look up at the dark clouds that slowly began to release a thin, mist-like rain down upon them. He pulled his hood down farther over his face and trotted onward. As the stallion made his way through the near-empty city he watched any critters he passed scurry on home to protect themselves from the oncoming storm. When the two reached the basket elevator, they descended to the mountain town’s entrance, climbed the quarantine wall and made their way to The Everfree.
--
Almost two hours later they found themselves in the mercenary town. The booths in the bazaar were already closed and packed up for the night but the town was packed with people who didn’t mind the rain. Several small groups were having heated discussions with each other while a mare stood on top of a vacant shop stand yelling passerbys. Her crowd grew with each sentence she shouted. She was a green and sky blue painted earth pony and she seemed very angry.
“-And we’re just going to put up with it? I think not! I don’t care what the Eight have to say, they have no right! If the tom of bedlam really want to peek over our fence and see what we’re rooton’, I say we go pay them a visit and show them!” she squawked, throwing a hoof in the air.
“Fast Trick, get off of there before you hurt yourself.” another mare yelled back at her.
“No!” she whinnied with a look of insult on her face as some of the crowd laughed, “Stuff it Quick Step! You wouldn’t be so quick to ignore their forced office if you had your whole shipment made too!” She pointed a hoof at an orange unicorn with a red and black striped mane hauling an empty waggon cage. “And I’m not the only one they’ve ‘confiscated’ stuffing from!”
The passing unicorn gave Trick a flat look, “Bring me into another of your arguments again and I will give you a broken hoof for violating the code Trick.”
“Oh come on, the code isn’t really law, it’s more of a guideline. Besides, aren’t you pissed you had over a dozen good slaves made?” she responded over the noise of the crowd.
“Oh, I am.” he assured her, “But I’m going to keep my opinions to myself if the Eight tell us we can’t do anything about it.” He glared at her and snorted before trotting away.
The mare glared back in shock. “Friendly Fire, get back here, I’m not done yelling at you!” She took a throwing knife out of her satchel but was interrupted before she could throw it at him.
“Get off my booth!” a mare in the crowd yelled before tackling the painted pony.
The two of them fell to the ground while the crowd cheered them on. Whooping and hollering rose up while the two mares fought in the thickening mud. Some pony began to yell over the crowd about taking bets while others responded by raising money in the air and shouting back.
A slate blue stallion climbed atop the now vacant wooden structure. As Clout noticed a young colt slipping in and out of the distracted crowd to steal coin purses while his two friends hid behind another booth not too far away.
“The Eight have made their decision but do they really care what happens?” the blue stallion asked the crowd, “The only thing they care about, we all care about. Personal profit. They get a bigger score holding back. For us, the bigger score is to act. If we want the rebels to know how smart it is to deny us our plunder, we must show them!” His hoofstomp cracked the wooden counter.
Another voice rose up, “But the Eight’s words are law, we can’t just go against their commands.”
“The Eight’s plans have always profited everyone, not just themselves.” a griffon shouted.
“The code is law!”
“But they stole our yellow tin!”
“We have to give them a shoulder tap!”
“It is against the code!”
“We should give them the oaken towel!”
“The Eight have laid down the law, we can’t!”
As the crowd rose up in arguments again, the stallion on the makeshift stage stomped his hoof several times like a judge with a gavel. When the crowd settled some he continued, “If any creature among us wishes to retaliate, prepare yourselves and meet by the Northwestern entrance at seven clean hooves. They will learn what it means to follow the curbing law of the Rouge Rogues!”
Some of the crowd cheered while others continued to argue. Clout decided he had heard enough and moved on.
He continued along the old wooden path and passed a hoof full of ponies, griffons and minotaurs trotting away from the mass of creatures. Several went into a general store while half a dozen tried to squeeze themselves into a blacksmith at the same time. Others entered the taverns to make sure they weren’t sober going into battle and a couple pegasi were going into a large building called The Guild.
A mare shoved the two stallions out of the building roughly. “We ain’t tellin’ jokes ‘ere, go someways else!” she growled at them before slamming the door shut in their face.
The charcoal gray stallion looked to his cream colored companion. “Well that was rude, how are we going to find him now?” he asked as he looked to The Guild’s locked door.
As the crystal pony passed the building he made a left turn. Beyond the center row of wooden shops and houses, several tents were set up for those who didn’t have a house of their own. Lanterns were lit by many of the small shelters as they were preparing themselves for battle, bed or mischief.
At the end of the boardwalk was a strange looking structure made of hundreds of trees that had been bent, twisted and broken. With how tangled the mass was, it would be very difficult to tell which branches belonged to which tree as they all looked more like roots, growing down instead of up. The trunks of the trees all gathered together at the top of the structure to let their knot of leaves fight for the sunshine.
Looking at it from a distance, the miniature forest within a forest made the shape of a pony head. Somepony had put two lanterns half way up it to look like eyes and cut back part of the branches as a mouth. To keep the rain and cold outside there was a black sheet to cover the entrance that was dotted with beads. Just outside was a small faded sign that read ‘Merchant’s Merchandise’.
As Clout trotted closer he could hear two ponies arguing inside because, of course, there just wasn’t enough ponies bickering today. He put his hoof on the curtain and pushed it aside, the many multi-colored beads sparkling in the surrounding fire light. Before he was able to step hoof into the shop, a little filly popped her head out. She had a rainbow colored mane that was braided, her coat was red and she was glaring at the stranger who stood in front of the entryway.
“Piss off asshole!” the filly said angrily at the stallion for no particular reason.
Clout put his hoof down, stood in place and stared at her, unsure how to react to the foul mouthed child who looked about a year shy of getting her cutiemark. He finally decided to just walk around her.
“Who said you could go in huh? You want me to kick your ass?” she asked angrily as she came out from behind the curtain. The thief backed up as she violated his personal bubble to poke a tiny hoof at his chest threateningly. The rest of her small frame was the same red as her face, including her tail. She had a lighter colored belly and tip of her fox-like tail. The strangest thing about her was her front hooves were not hooves but paws.
Clout was unamused, cold and wet. He gave a sigh, “Look, I just came to—“ he started but was quickly interrupted by the filly yet again.
“I said beat it!” she growled, “You want me to rip your balls off?” She took another bold step towards the stallion causing him to step back some more.
The crystal stallion rolled his eyes. This filly obviously wasn’t backing down so he decided to go around to the back entrance. He trotted off the deck and around to the back of the shop.
“Yeah, you better beat it!” the filly shouted at him, waving her little hoof in the air.
As he got closer to the back door, he could hear the voices clearer and decided to see what they were talking about before butting in on their conversation.
“--and I lost two good ponies! You owe me him!” one voice growled.
“I owe you nothing. Your venture was a non-contracted, personal visit to the neighbors. Any non-contracted rooton’ is not covered under Rogue code. There is nothing to reimburse.” a second voice said.
“Rose was long tongued about a calle’d pony with his description in the Muck and Buck when Snapdragon and Hoof Shine were in office, I know it was him!”
The second voice sighed. “Look Cracker Jack, you don’t have a smoking gun that he even did anything and if you did, I wouldn’t doubt it would be confect. Regardless, I still wouldn’t be able to enforce any type of pulling, cramp word or reimbursement. There is no clause in the code against someone getting a quota before you if it is not part of a contract. Personal ventures reap personal boredom and dropping of a score. This is your problem to solve, not mine.”
“Fine, I’ll get my stuffing out of his hide.” Cracker Jack growled.
“You know you can’t do that. Everyone within Rouge Rogue territory is protected, guild member or not. You go after him and there will be consequences.”
“Not if I mark him for a three legged mare!”
“Ugh, would you just go! I have bigger problems on my hooves to deal with than you thinking you’re above the code!” the second pony shouted.
“Oh, you mean like that mass of creatures heading out just now to click the rebels?” Clout asked as he walked in through the back door of the shop.
The shopkeeper turned around as Cracker Jack glared at the intruder.
Cracker Jack was a cream colored earth pony stallion with three dark colored socks and marking over his left eye like an eye patch. A large jagged scar marked his face over the same eye and he had a short red mane slicked back with grease. Like quite a few ponies who ran into the wrong end of the month of Chaos, his hind legs and tail were turned into that of a large cat, his thick tail swayed back and forth in anger. His ears were flat back as he glared at Clout with his emerald green eyes.
The second pony was light purple with a vibrant rainbow mane. He stared at the buckskin in surprise. Like the angry stallion behind him, his back end was that of a cat’s but his tail was shorter and more fluffy.
“Clout?” the shopkeeper said.
Cracker Jack leapt over the counter and tackled the crystal pony, both of them crashing into a wall of merchandise. Thief was thrown off of her ride in the battle and the two stallions struggled with each other, Clout trying to defend himself while Jack tried to pummel his enemy into the ground.
The little red filly ran over from the door to see what the new comotion was all about. “Hey! Knock it off!” she said as she ran to join in on the brawl.
“Guys, not in my shop!” the shopkeeper yelled as he bit down on the long tail of Cracker Jack and tugged him off of Clout.
The buck skinned stallion kicked his assailant with his rear hooves, sending him into the air. As soon as the cream pony fell off of him, the little red filly jumped on top of the thief and began to beat on him as hard as she could. Clout raised a leg in defense for a moment before shoving her away, standing back up and dusting himself off. The filly growled, gave a war cry and ran at him, ready to tear him apart with her teeth. He held a hoof out and caught her by her forehead, holding her at foreleg’s length. She struggled and yelled but was no match for the strength of the adult pony’s single leg.
“How dare you! He is mine to use up and you deny me of my right?!” Cracker Jack yelled at the shopkeeper as he stood up, the wreckage of a shelf and it’s contents falling off of him.
“It is not your right to do anything, especially not in my shop, Jack.” he scolded, “I told you the last time this happened, if Clout was the one who got to your stuffing before you did, he did nothing wrong. Maybe next time don’t have your goons flag wave jokingly or make sure your rooton’ is under contract!” He stomped a hoof in frustration. “Now get out, I’m no longer telling jokes for you!” he ordered, pointing a hoof at the exit.
The stallion grit his teeth and growled, the end of his tail twitching as he glared. “Fine. We’re not done with this though, mark my words we’re not done. I’m tired of this game crystal pony, you’d better watch your back.” Jack said to Clout before turning and walking out the shop exit.
The two watched him leave and the shopkeeper sighed. He turned to the thief, “Seriously Clout, why. I have enough trouble on my hooves and you do this, to him. Why him of all ponies.” He rubbed his brow with a hoof.
Clout gave a shrug. “He just makes it too easy I suppose. Not a very smart gang leader to let his ponies have such a long leash.” he said with a smirk.
The purple stallion gave him a flat look.
“What? Eventually he’ll smarten up.”
The shopkeeper’s ears dropped. “And in the meantime he complains to me about what you do to screw up his signals. The Eight aren’t foalsitters ya know.” he scolded, giving Clout a glare.
The crystal pony chuckled, “How else am I supposed to make your day more interesting when I’m not here?”
The purple buck’s expression softened and he gave a small grin, “It’s good to see you Clout.” He walked closer and put a hoof on the buckskin’s shoulder.
“Good to see you too Merchant.” Clout replied with a smile “So, uh, would you mind?” he asked as he looked down to the still struggling filly.
Merchant looked to the angry filly and smiled. “Crimson, you can stop now. This is daddy’s friend, we’re always telling a joke for him.”
The filly ignored him and continued her relentless attack on the intruder, growling curses at him for his defenses and trying to bite his leg.
The purple pony picked the filly up who whinnied in protest. “Come now, stop that. Clout, this is Crimson Kit. Crimson, this is Clout Upshot. He’s your big brother.”
The crystal pony gave his friend a flat look.
“Okay, not blood related but he is family.” Merchant amended.
The filly glared daggers at the buckskin, “You are trespassing on private property, you interrupted a business meeting, you’re dripping water everywhere, you are not welcome here! Get the fuck out!” she yelled.
“Well,” Clout nickered, “best help you have had for the shop in years.”
“Yeah, I know,” Merchant sighed, “No better than you were and look how you turned out.” He set the filly on the ground and she pouted up at her father.
“Don’t ignore me! He needs to leave!” she pointed a hoof at the thief.
“Enough of that silly filly.” he put a hoof on her head and ruffled her mane, “You run along now and play with your toys.”
Crimson glared at the two stallions before trotting away, her head held low in defeat.
“I didn’t think any mare would ever let an old buck like yourself help them procreate.” Clout teased as he watched the filly walk behind the counter.
“Watch it, you.” Merchant said as he lightly hoofed the younger stallion on the head.
He chuckled, “So when did this happen anyways? I’ve only been gone a little over five months and she’s what, five years old?”
Merchant chuckled, “It’s not as if I haven’t been around some. Just the first mare to leave one on my doorstep.” he rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof, “You remember Tinder Box, right?”
Clout shuddered, “Stop, just, stop. How, with the scariest mare ever.” He saw Merchant give a smug grin, “Please don’t show and tell.” he quickly changed subjects, “So, when did you get the paws?” Clout gestured to his friend’s non-pony parts.
He looked back at himself. “Oh, these,” the purple stallion said, “couple months ago. Darn chaos bubbles were all over the place in Vanhoover when I had to attend an Eight nubbing ken.”
“Vanhoover? I thought all the Eight’s flag waving was held at The Guild?”
“Ah, well, official business. Sorry, can’t sing about it.” Merchant replied, waving a hoof in the air.
“Whatever,” Clout said, “So, what’s this about a game?”
“You got my message then, good.” he said as he walked behind the counter and to the fallen gun rack. The stallion picked up the broken pieces and began to fix the mess as he continued, “I have one and Flight has one for you. Through my hole in need of plugging I have been cackled to that there is a buck by the name of Ink Well. He’s got a fat mare’s rat on me and I’m needing anything he has to be smoothed out.”
“Why’s that so important, everyone here knows you’re an uncle.” the crystal stallion walked over to help.
“It’s not just that, he’s a reporter. He writes for the Weekly Gallop newspaper and that’s not good for business because almost everypony in Equestria reads it. I don’t know where he lives but I’ve heard he’s a zebra with wings or… something like that, so hopefully that’s enough peaches for you to find him. If everypony you and everyone else borrows from finds out who is switching their quota, things are really going to go sour for me.” he said as he put the last gun on the counter.
“You know, he’ll still have his word against yours.” Clout pointed out.
“Well, yes. But so long as he doesn’t have any proof, no pony will care. They have taller bucks to worry about than to storm into a mercenary town and break down my door for their lost fancy booze if they’re not even positive that I have it.” he looked to the entrance of his shop, “Uh, rip down my curtain.” he amended, “If they have proof, they will be more willing to hire pigs to protect them and force their way in but, without it…”
“Yeah, I got it.” Clout said. He looked around the shop for his tiny furry friend and saw her with Crimson, the filly playing a game of chase with the rodent. “By the way, I wasn’t kidding when I said there was a mob going after the Ponyville rebels.”
Merchant walked out to the other broken shelf. “Yeah, I just figured they would sort it out on their own. Half the ponies want to get their stuffing back, the other half follow the rules to a T so, it’ll even itself out.”
“You sure about that?” Clout asked, “Fast Trick started it and once she was kicked off her soap box Genesis finished getting them all riled up.”
“Fast Trick is a milch cow, she’s nothing to worry about.” he said as he gathered the artifacts, old tomes and other odds and ends before he set them neatly on the counter one by one, “Genesis on the other hoof…” He stopped cleaning for a moment and looked to his friend, “Maybe I should go give him some stripes. Maybe a day or two in the box will cool his head.” Merchant scratched the back of his head with a hoof and let out an exasperated sigh, “Then again I’m not that strong of a pony and he’s all muscle.”
“It’s up to you, boss. You’ll have ponies to help if you command it.” the younger buck said with a grin.
Merchant waved a hoof, “Even after all these years I can’t get used to being in charge.” he looked to the damaged shelf. “I’ll figure it out.” he said with another sigh, “Well, you’d best get to talking to Flight about the game he wants you to play before it gets too clean.”
Clout’s ears folded and he glared at the purple stallion. “No.” he said.
“Come on Clout, you can’t still be mad at him, it’s been more than twenty years!”
“I don’t see clients Merch and I certainly don’t see him of all ponies. You know this.” he retorted as he swished his tail.
“And you know he’s changed, he’s not gull enough to do it again and--”
“Betrayal is in his name!” the crystal pony interrupted, “Flight Risk. It is a boredom to work with him and I don’t do boredoms that big. I’m not doing it!” He stomped his hoof for emphasis.
“Stop being such a foal.” the older pony said, “If you would let me finish before starting your tantrums you would have had the fact that this game is to save some fillies from being sent to the workhouses.”
Clout held his glare firmly at his foster father.
“Look, if you won’t do it for me or the fillies, do it for the yellow tin. He’s paying well.”
The buckskin’s glare broke as he looked away. “Fine.” he said as he gave in, “But if something happens I’m going to give him a broken hoof. I don’t trust him and neither should you. He's not a cull!”
Merchant chuckled. “He’s my brother. It’s kind of difficult to not trust family.”
“Whatever.” Clout muttered.
“I think he’s over at Doc Maggot’s so when we’re done here, try and catch him before he leaves.”
The younger buck raised an eyebrow.
Merchant sighed, “I know but, Doctor Maggot doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with stringing up addicts. He’s my older brother and I can’t make his life choices for him.”
Clout rolled his eyes and changed the subject again, “Hey, I wanted to ask you about something I found.” he took the small box of gem shards out of his saddlebag and opened it to show his friend, “Do you have any clue what these are?”
The purple stallion looked curiously at the small stones. He picked one up and looked closely at it turning it this way and that. “I have no idea.” the buck finally said after a couple minutes of silence, “If you let me hold onto them I can ask around for you. Where did you find them?”
“In Count Markus’ slave barn. I liberated them from the future of being in Jack’s greasy hooves,” the thief said with a sly grin, “Just keep them under the rug, I’ll be wanting them back.”
Merchant rolled his eyes. “Alright, I’ll keep these in the safe in your room.”
“Oh you finally found it did you? Took you long enough, did you figure out the combination?”
“Yes. I’m not a box-buck but it was easy enough getting it to tell me a joke on the first one I tried. And, well, sometimes it’s frustratingly hard to find something when it’s in plain sight.” the older stallion said with a swish of his tail.
“Maybe your eyes are going with your age.” Clout teased.
“Watch it, second strike with the age.” Merchant playfully warned.
Clout chuckled as he turned away and walked towards a pile of cloaks, “You said my package was here?”
“Oh! I forgot about that.” Merchant said, “Wait right here, I’ll go get it while I put these away.” The buck trotted back behind the counter, lifted a hatch and trotted down a set of stairs.
As he waited, the crystal stallion looked around the shop. Along the walls were a few mismatched lanterns to brighten up the room. The air was warm with the scent of burning pine from a fireplace behind the counter that he and Cracker Jack were very lucky not to have crashed into. The walls were lined with shelves and bookcases filled with all assortments of ancient artifacts, rare books and magical scrolls. There were a couple of aisles in the middle of the room with boxes of arrows, bullets, rope, plastic tarps and several cases of hoof held weapons locked in glass boxes. Behind the counter on either side of the fireplace were gun racks filled with all assortments of firearms and bows, one of them shattered to pieces from the fight. Under the counter protected by more glass were several smaller guns and boxes of grenades.
The shop was set up as it always was. It was one of the few constants he knew of. No matter how long he was away, no matter how the country or its people changed, Merchant and his shop wouldn’t. It was something he could always count on.
He smiled at the thought. Clout’s eyes moved back to his companion. She was still with the young filly. Crimson was sitting behind the counter by the fireplace, Thief cuddled on her shoulder, with her blanket tied around the filly’s neck like a cape. She was pulling the heads off of some pony dolls and playing a game of Sacrifice-To-The-Volcano-God by throwing them into the fireplace one by one and cheering while they burned.
“Merchant has one morbid filly.” the stallion muttered to himself as she cheered once more in glee at the flaming dolls.
He continued to watch her as he heard the sound of hoof steps behind him. Turning around, he saw two pegasi stallions entering the shop. One was a cream color with white feathers and a burnt orange colored mane. He had a simple brown vest, tan saddle bags that covered his cutiemark and a red neckerchief. The second was charcoal with orange buckskin markings and mane. He had a white lace-up shirt, a messenger bag and a cutiemark of some sort of lizard skeleton with a brush over top it. They were the two stallions who were refused entry to The Guild almost an hour ago.
“--could have showed us where it was, would have taken a lot less time to find.” the cream stallion was saying to the other.
“Well,” the charcoal one started, “he does work here. Somewhere. Probably has somepony to see. These people here are quite easily upsetable and who knows what they would do to somepony who misses an appointment. Besides, we found it alright. After I asked for directions,” he nudged his friend with a wing. “They may be mercenaries but unless they’re paid, they won’t bite your head off for asking a question.”
Cream stopped and flattened his ears. “I’m sorry, last time I tried, I was charged a tax for loitering, making ‘mouth noises’,” he said wiggling the tips of his wing feathers in air quotes, “and breathing her air space. All I did was ask where the toilet was! It’s not like I wanted her life story or information on anypony!”
Gray stallion chuckled, “At least she didn’t take all your bits. You still have some left.”
“Yeah, sure, just enough to pay for a drink and that’s about it in this place.” he complained as he looked around the shop.
Clout’s attention turned back to the cloaks he was eyeing before and began to check each one for quality, length and weight. Since losing his last one to the dog, he needed a new one.
“What was her name?” Crimson Kit asked as she stood inches from the cream stallion, the rat no longer on her shoulder. She had finished burning all her toys and decided to torment the new customers. “I said, what was her name?” she demanded of them, “Tell me now asshole!” The tiny filly gave a withering glare at him.
The three stallions looked to the filly.
“What’s a foal doing here?” the lighter colored pegasus asked no one in particular.
“Sorry it took so long, I--” Merchant started to say as he trotted up the stairs with the string of Clout’s package in his mouth but stopped himself when he saw the two new ponies. “Oh, customers,” he said as he set the parcel on the counter.
Kit roughly grabbed the buck’s vest with both hooves. “What color was she?!” the foal loudly pressed the white feathered buck.
“Uh…” he said as he backed up a step.
“She was very determined to get our bits but I don’t remember what color she was, there’s so many ponies here.” the darker stallion replied for his friend.
Somehow, Crimson’s glare got more intense in response. She tightened her grip on his clothing and opened her mouth to no doubt give a very colorful reply but, Merchant rushed over and clamped her mouth shut with a hoof.
“Ahaha, so sorry about her,” the purple pony said, “My little helper likes to--” Before he could finish his sentence he felt teeth biting down hard on his fetlock. “Ow! Crimson, that’s not nice! You don’t bite daddy!” he scolded as he looked to his slightly bleeding hoof.
Ignoring her parent, the filly asked quickly, “Was she tall and orange with a short red mane with yellow stripes and pretty, pretty blue eyes?”
The two strangers looked at each other.
“Mamma!” the filly screeched, wide-eyed before bolting out the door. The four stallions could see her blanket-cape billowing in the wind of the increasing rain as the shop’s curtain was shoved aside for her escape.
“Crimson!” Merchant called after her, “Ah, I’m so sorry, I’ll be right back. Clout, watch the shop, will you?” He quickly said to them as he ran after his daughter.
“But I don’t--” the thief started but cut himself off with a groan. “Fine but I’m lifting a cloak!” he called out.
They could hear the purple stallion’s voice outside the shop yell, “No you’re not!”
Clout snorted. “Yeah, we’ll see about that.” he muttered to himself and went back to sifting through the pile of fabric before him.
After a short awkward silence, Gray pony spoke up, “Well, that was different. Didn’t think a mercenary town had children that weren’t slaves.”
Clout rolled his eyes before pulling a cloak out of the pile and tossing it over himself to try it on.It was a dark shade of green that was studded with dragon scales for extra protection. It was long enough to cover him completely and it was the perfect size to fit his small frame.
“Uh, are you supposed to be taking things? We all clearly heard him tell you no.” Cream stallion asked.
“If this is a ‘mercenary town,’ what do you care?” Clout spat back.
The pegasus glared and opened his mouth to respond but his friend opened one of his wings to block his view. “Anyway!” Gray stallion said as he took a step towards the thief, “We were hoping to find a couple of things and were told to come here. Can you help us?”
“That all depends on if you have the bits to pay.” Clout said adjusting the cloak.
Cream stallion shoved his friend’s wing away. “Is that all you thugs care about?”
“Information is a commodity like weapons or food. Knowing dirt on someone can mean life or death so yeah, we charge for that here.” the crystal pony replied with a glare.
Cream stallion continued to stare down at the cloaked buckskin while his friend sighed.
“Even if it’s the location of an item in the shop here? There is a lot of uh, stuff. Kind of reminds me of a rommage sale like they have in the shipyards of San Palomino.” Gray pegasus said, looking around the mass of junk. He continued in hopes he would be answered regardless of what Clout told them, “We’re looking for a dampening ring and were told we might be able to find one here. We’re also looking for a pony.” Gray pegasus stated.
Clout looked at them flatly, “Just because you ask a question doesn’t mean I’m going to tell you. I usually take payment up front, however, I’ll be a little long tongued for free because I’m nice. Dampening rings are very hard to come by and so are unicorn slaves. You want one, go find a stable that sells them and see if they’ll sell you a dampening ring.” He gestured to the entrance of the shop with a hoof. “I highly doubt they will, they are only given as many as they get unicorns to sell and I don’t think anypony wants a unicorn slave who can magic up their master.”
“But we were told--” Gray started but was cut off.
“Well someone was amused by you then. It’s not that uncommon for a cullability to be made.” the buckskin nickered.
“What?” Gray asked.
“They lied because you’re an idiot and you were swindled out of your coins.” Clout paraphrased.
“With that logic, how can we trust anypony’s word in this place? Furthermore, how can we trust your word?” Cream argued.
“Feel free to browse the shelves if you really don’t believe me. It’ll get you asshats to stop talking to me.” the crystal pony said, gesturing to the shelves in the shop. “Would be a lot quieter around here without your noise holes telling jokes.”
Cream scoffed, “Some help any of these thugs are. All they do is steal our coin and talk gibberish.”
Gray looked at his friend and back to Clout. “You know, if you’re going to take that cloak regardless of what the shopkeeper said, you might as well earn it by using your customer service skills.” he said with a grin, “I don’t think your friend would be very happy with you taking his stuff and not paying for it.”
“Technically,” the Clout began, “I have been helping you. Whether you want to believe me or not is at your discretion. If you actually take your bits out of your coin pouch and hoof the bill, I might be more inclined to provide such customer services you are requesting from this establishment. Otherwise, piss the hell off because I don’t cave to blackmail.”
The two stallions blinked at him before Gray took out a few bits and hoofed them over. The crystal pony inspected them before stuffing them in his saddlebag and cocking an eyebrow at them.
Clout rolled his eyes and sighed before chanting the greeting he was taught as a foal in the most monotone voice he could muster, “Welcome to Merchant’s Merchandise where we have everything from machetties to machineguns, moth-eaten mementos to mighty mail and munitions to magical manuscripts. If you’re looking for that matchless machine to maul your marks with, you’ve come to the right place because Merchant has the merchandise for you. My name is Clout, how can I make your mutilations more meaningful today.”
“You still remember it!” Merchant’s voice came from the back of the store bordering on child-like levels of excitement. He shook off as much water as he could at the entrance before trotting up to the group with a big grin on his face, the red filly following slowly behind him. She wore a scowl on her face and her cape was dripping water on the floor.
The crystal pony looked at the shopkeeper with a flat expression, “Of course I remember that stupid thing.”
“See honey?” the purple stallion said to his daughter, “If he got it when he was your age, you can get it too!”
“Fuck you!” Crimson growled back.
Merchant’s ears folded back some, “Kit, you be nice.”
She glared at her father and decided to change the subject, “The Fire God demands more sacrifices!”
“Did you burn all your dolls again? I don’t have any more right now, you’ll just have to wait.”
She put her paws in the air and shouted, “More sacrifices!!”
The stallion sighed, “Honey, daddy has customers, you’ll just have to wait.”
“Fine!” she shouted, “I’ll go find more on my own!” She ran towards the cellar and bolted down the stairs.
Merchant’s ears tilted back. “Kit, be careful! You might fall down the stairs like that! It’s not fun, trust me! And no burning any more artifacts, they’re not toys and they're expensive!” he called out to her before turning to his customers, “My apologies gentlecolts, I hope you didn’t wait long. Has Clout already helped you with what you were looking for?”
“Hardly.” Cream stallion said harshly with a glare in the crystal pony’s direction, “All he did was insult us, take our bits and tell us we should look somewhere else.”
Clout snorted at the accusation.
Merchant glanced at the younger stallion, “I’m sure he didn’t mean what he said and I know he’ll give you your bits back.”
The thief gave the purple buck a ‘what’ expression before rolling his eyes and hoofing over the bits he was given.
“Thank you.” the shopkeep said with a grin before he turned to the two stallions, “So what was it you needed?”
As Merchant tended to his customers, Clout walked behind the counter, grabbed his package, his rat who was cuddled up by the fire and trotted out the door. He knew he would be in some sort of trouble for taking the cloak but Merchant was too busy to pay attention to notice right away so the buck didn’t care.
He put both the hood of his vest and the hood of his new cloak up and put on his mask, concealing himself as much as possible for warmth from the cold and to hide his shinier than normal coat.
The hooded stallion trotted through the makeshift town towards a building made of rotting wood. The rain was indecisive tonight as it was only downpouring for a few minutes more before it settled to a light drizzle. His hoof steps made wet sloshes as he stepped along the boardwalk. The building he approached had hardened plaster, stained from time, that looked like it was oozing out of all the cracks and seams. The vast majority of the door was covered in old dried blood stains and above the door scrawled in large black ink were crudely drawn letters that spelled out ‘Doc Maggot’s Slice and Dice.’
‘So inviting.’ he thought. Clout’s ears folded and he shuddered at the thought of entering a doctor’s office but did so anyway at the prospect of his next paycheck.
He pushed open the door with a hoof. The old wood felt like it was about to fall apart at the slightest touch but by some strange miracle did not falter in the slightest. The walls inside were mostly caked in the dried blood of his patients that was never cleaned off. Patients that Clout thought of as Doc Maggot’s unfortunate victims. By the front door and to his right was a desk, not so bloodied but recently cleaned with a few folders stuffed with papers, a couple of pens and three patient charts. It was pretty obvious that nopony cared about confidentiality here unless it was something they could blackmail someone with. Straight ahead of Clout there was a small room that lacked a door with at least five gurneys stuffed into it, all but one had somepony resting on it. They seemed to all be either recovering from an injury or illness or perhaps slowly dying from it.
Behind the front desk with no curtain to hide it was another gurney. A small wheeled table that held many sharp and bloody surgical instruments and needles was between the left side of the bed and the desk. A couple of IV stands stood toward the front of the bed and several large machines that were set on keeping a pony alive during what the doctor here considered surgery had been stationed behind the head of the gurney and to its far side. Behind the farther machines on the bed’s right hoof side was a curtain divider, possibly hiding another ‘surgery room’ behind it. To the left of the operating section was a door, possibly leading to an office or consultation room. Or a room to discuss the terms of their blackmail. Clout hated hospitals.
The light blue nurse at the front desk gave a sweet smile and pushed away the part of her soft gold mane that had fallen into her eyes before speaking. “Why hello there sir,” she said in a sweet voice, “my name is Ocean Blues, welcome to Doctor Maggot’s clinic. How can we heal you today?”
Clout could imagine being strapped to one of the gurneys, powerless as the doctor and his assistants sliced him open and ripped out his internal organs. They would probably sell them to other ponies who were willing to put their lives in the hooves of somepony they didn’t know. The doctor and nurses could have very well been paid to let any of their patients expire by someone who wanted them dead or wanted fresh organs for the black market. It would have been the easiest thing on Equis to slit one’s throat while they were drugged and unawares.
He shuddered at the thought. “I am not here for me.” He said, putting an emphasis on ‘not,’ “I was told Flight Risk was here. I need to talk to him.”
“Oh, yes. He’s here.” The Ocean informed, “He’s speaking with the doctor right now, they should be out shortly. They’ve been in there a while now.” When he turned away from her, the mare went back to her paperwork and began to hum a tune.
There were no chairs or waiting room so he moved out of the way of the building’s entrance and sat down to wait. Just a few minutes later, the door to the consultation room opened and two stallions walked out. The first was a sandy buckskin unicorn with light gray markings and a lavender colored mane. His mane was pulled back and tied in a sloppy bun, probably for surgery purposes, and he wore a doctor’s coat that had dried blood stains on it that made him match the unnecessarily bloodied decor of his office.
The other stallion was tan colored with an almost neon rainbow arrangement of color in his mane. The wings at his side had the same tint of turquoise blue from his mane for their feathers. His front legs had hooves and his back legs had paws. His tail was long and skinny with a tuft of purple fur at the end, a mutation mostly only seen in unicorns so a pegasus having one was stranger than his back paws. He had a dark brown lace-up shirt and a black vest on. A gun sat comfortably in his leg holster while a sword filled the sheath on the opposite side on his belt. On the same side as the firearm he also had a coin purse attached to his waistband. This stallion had a small sack in his mouth that he proudly carried toward the door. He stopped mid trot when he saw Clout.
“Clout!” The tan stallion greeted after taking the bag out of his mouth, “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Clout snorted, “Looks like you’ve been making a deal to me.”
“Well, that's just because I was tired of waiting.” Flight Risk stated as he tied the medicine bag to his waist, “Why don’t we go find a stop hole abbey. Away from eavesdropping ears.” He glanced at the office assistant as she gave him a flirty smile. He waved at her with a hoof and returned her smile with a goofy grin. “Actually, maybe we can flag wave here.”
The crystal pony rolled his eyes, grabbed Flight Risk by his shirt and dragged him out of the building.
After a short walk, they ended up at the Crippled Cragadile Inn. More famous for its wide variety of booze than either of its two rooms for rent. The overly large sign above the door was decorated with a weather worn cartoon painting of a cragadile and to the right side of the entrance was a large window. Clout gave the pouting stallion behind him a glance to make sure he was following. Satisfied the pony he hated most in this world was keeping up, he opened the door and entered.
Normally full beyond capacity and the noisiest place in the city, today the Cripple Cragadile was almost empty with only a couple of drunks at the bar and the bartender. The large chandelier overhead brightened up the room with its two dozen candles but it didn’t make the place feel any less forlorn with so many empty seats. The decor on the walls consisted of old broken nets, spears, large pieces of saw blades and cragadile skulls on placards. There was a large painting on the far wall of a massive ancient Cragidile that only had three legs. Under it was a small copper placard that read the beast’s name: Cross Joynt. The bar took up an entire wall of the building with a set of stairs going to the cellar that contained most of the wide variety of beverages people could order to drink. Behind the bar were racks filled with different distilled spirits while on either side were three massive beer barrels laid sideways with a spicket to fill the drinks with.
The bartender looked to the two ponies and cocked an eyebrow.Everyone knew her name, Hydroplane. She was a tough blue mare with an orange mane. The feathers on her right wing were mostly torn out and her left eye was blackened and slightly swollen from a bar fight she broke up earlier that day. She looked at Clout hidden under his cloak and mask then to the pony he brought in.
“He ain’t allowed ta get clear.” she told them pointing to Flight Risk.
Clout turned his head to glare at the tan stallion while he gave her a self-conscious grin.
“Oh, uh, we just need a smooth ken for a few minutes to do some flag waving.” Flight Risk told the mare.
Hydroplane glared at him, “Seventy bits.”
“For just a couple minutes?” the pegasus stallion exclaimed in shock.
“For startin’ a brawl, replacement of two of my bar stools, ta pay off yer tab ya binged out on and an extra charge for generally bein’ a jackass. I may be a beggar maker but I can’t be equipt enough ta run a business if I let every figure dancer an’ jack in a box take a hike without givin’ me what I’m due. Now cough it up afore I dress ya up and let ya have tea with the pigs.”
“Aww come on Hydry, I’ll pay for that later.” Flight whined.
“Just pay her.” Clout growled.
Flight Risk rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said as he took out his coin bag.
Hydroplane quickly grabbed it out of his hooves and dumped the bits on the counter.
“Hey!” the pegasus stallion complained.
“Shut it.” she commanded, “Ya only have eighteen bits. I want the rest of my fifty-two pieces ‘a tin Flight Risk.”
The stallion flinched at the anger in her voice and looked to Clout. “Could you, uh… I’ll pay you back.” He gave an uneasy smile as he ruffled his wings.
The crystal thief glared daggers at him.
“Uh, hehheh…” he nervously chuckled as he looked back to Hydroplane.
“Fine,” she said, “Any longer than five minutes an’ I’m charging ya double.” She took the bits off the counter and made some marks in her ledger, waving the two stallions on with a wing.
Clout started up the stairs, Flight Risk following close behind to get away from the mare’s angry glare.
The second floor of the building was a short hallway that had two doors on the left and a balcony with a broken railing on the right. A small coffee table with two chairs sat in between the doors.
The two walked to the closest room and opened the door. It was a small space, just enough for a bed, a desk and a shelf. There was one window that was positioned above the bed that only showed the darkened, damp world they retreated indoors from. The rain outside looked like it had stopped for a brief moment. The room was covered in a fine layer of dust that the keeper of the bar hadn’t had time to address and the floor had three bullet holes in it where smoke from the bar below seeped up into the room. It wasn’t the best of accommodations, but at least it was private enough for their conversation.
Flight Risk closed the door. “So, about the game. I need you to get me a document. The last will and testament of Lady Chrysanthemum Blue, an aristocrat who pannys up in Baltimare.”
Clout raised an eyebrow.
“A friend of mine had a chat with her and she went legit. I’ve been cackled to that it was all peaceful-like in her bed chambers, not that that actually matters any. Not many folk have heard the song about it yet so there’s still time for me to do my job. I need to make a confect version of her will to keep her fillies out of the workhouse.”
“Why.” Clout said flatly, “No one cares what happens to foals after their parents die.”
“Apparently somepony does. They’ve put up one hell of a fat mare’s yellow tin to put them in somepony else’s hooves once the rest of the fancy ponies hear her song. Really I should have changed the documents before the hit buck made his move but I was having too much fun bowsing with the rounders yesterday.” Flight said with a chuckle as he looked to the door.
The thief rolled his eyes. “I heard on the radio she’s having a birthday party for one of her foals tonight.” he said.
“Oh, yeah so her ken shouldn’t be too hard to find with all the commotion but it might get boring with so many ponies around so just make sure it’s smooth.” the pegasus said as he folded his ears.
Clout snorted and started for the door. “When have you ever cared what happens to me.” he growled.
Flight Risk called out to Clout as he slammed the door behind him and went on his way.