Celestia, in her 'Supple Branch' guise, walked behind Rawsthorne down a grubby, dark corridor. They had left the car some distance away at the only available parking lot nearby. Then they walked down the street, looking at numbers above the entrances. The mare was more and more doubtful that it was the right place. There were no signs and the building seemed positively decrepit.
The walls had once been white, but now there were stains in all shades of brown and yellow. The floor, tiles, didn't look as if it had been swept or washed in years. There were a few doors, but all of them were closed and many were scratched or battered.
"A-are you sure this is the right place?"
Her human shrugged, but kept walking. "It's the right address. It said 'last door on the left'. Let's just go and look."
She found herself creeping closer to Rawsthorne, until she was almost bumping his rump with her muzzle. Just in case, Celestia prepared a few emergency spells, to be cast a a moment's notice. She carefully stepped around paper bags and an occasional plastic cup on the floor.
Suddenly a very welcome sound entered her ears. She swiveled them around to hear better. "Ponies!" The mare breathed out the word with considerable relief. She saw that Rawsthorne, too, relaxed a little. Sounds of talking and occasional laughter led them, indeed, to the last door on the left. It was closed, but there was a piece of paper taped at perfect pony-height.
It read: "Pony meet up. All welcome."
The words were the most inviting thing Celestia had seen since they left the car, but her owner stood there, inspecting the door and apparently listening to the talk inside.
She bumped his thigh with her muzzle. "Go on. Let's go in."
Her voice betrayed her nerves and she cleared her throat. She repeated more firmly: "Let's go."
The human pushed at the door handle and the pony peeked around his legs. At the sound, the talking inside stopped and several pairs of eyes turned their way. They were all pony eyes and Celestia felt her heart skip a beat with nerves. She shouldn't be this worried about meeting her own subjects! It simply would not do, but her traitorous legs refused to obey her! She waited for Rawsthorne to enter first.
The group was a mixed one. Mostly earth ponies, with one pegasus and one unicorn. The latter had a ring on her horn, if it could even be called a ring. It was a blocky, misshapen affair that made Celestia shudder to even consider. She made a mental note to thank Rawsthorne again, later. She looked at the assembly while they studied her in detail. Aside from Silent Brook, whom she knew, and the pegasus and unicorn, there were three other earth ponies.
Two of them smiled immediately - a gray stallion sitting next to a white mare. Celestia decided that they were probably a couple when she saw them subconsciously draw nearer each other. The other earth stallion, with a pleasing chocolate-brown coat, stared at her in slight shock, before recovering and giving her a grin she could only call 'sultry'.
The unicorn kept her expression neutral, but the pegasus gave her a timid smile, which was somehow a lot warmer than the rest. The brown stallion was the first to react. He stepped forward, looked up at Rawsthorne and reached out a leg. "Welcome! Name's Heavy Hoof. Please, there are snacks for owners, if you'd care to step this way?"
Her owner looked down for her approval and Celestia nodded her head slightly. The human leaned a little closer, shook the offered hoof and followed the pony to a closed door.
The stallion knocked, then pushed it open. There were a few bored-looking humans in there, but Celestia only caught a glance before Rawsthorne entered and Heavy Hoof closed the door after him. The others came forward and one of them went to close to door where she had entered. If they weren't ponies, Celestia would have been quite worried by the way they circled her.
The couple came up right to her face and sniffed her. The mare was the first to speak. "Hi! What's your name?"
She had been expecting it and answered smoothly and confidently. "Supple Branch."
The alicorn could almost feel the eyes on her. "Fitting!" the mare said and introduced the rest: "I'm Lake Frond, this is my husband, Rock Lichen," she explained and pulled the pony closer, as if to show him off. "The pegasus is Glitter Dust, next to her is Glowbug - please don't ask her about the ring!"
The last sentence was whispered, but the unicorn still heard it and humphed angrily. The mare giggled and finished: "Finally, there's Silent Brook. And Heavy Hoof led your human away, of course."
It was a rush of names and faces, but Celestia had been practicing her memory for millenia. She quickly committed them all to memory.
"Nice to meet you all. So, what do you do at these meetings?"
The mare, apparently the speaker for the group, shrugged. "No itinerary. Just meet and talk a little. Just so we don't forget there are other ponies out there. Oh, that reminds me! There's also Belle Hop, but she couldn't make it today. If you come next time, you'll probably meet her."
She paused and re-railed her train of thought. "Anyway, we just... talk. It's a hard world out there and sometimes what you really need is a sympathetic ear to make sense of it. We help each other, as we can."
Celestia nodded. It was about what she had expected. Then she spotted Brook behind the others. He wasn't as curious, having met her before, but the stallion was watching her warily.
"Hi! We met before, remember? In the park!"
It had been all of four days ago, but she said it anyway, if only to break the ice. The stallion nodded, half-heartedly. "Yeah. Glad you could make it."
She had a feeling he didn't relish the chance to speak with her. Probably due to all the uncomfortable questions. She decided firmly that she wouldn't push him anymore.
"So," she said to Lake Frond, "your owners aren't all bad if they let you come here, right?"
The mare sighed and looked away. "There's good days and bad days. You know how it is. How long have you been...?" she asked, but tactfully didn't say the word 'enslaved'.
Celestia told the truth: "About two weeks."
It caused a bit of laughter. "Ooh, so that's why we haven't seen you around," exclaimed Glitter Dust. Everyone laughed again and Celestia joined them, if a little uncertainly.
"Your owner seemed nice," the pegasus went on. "Is he treating you well?"
"Yeah, pretty much. I just have to work the house, he's away on job, most of the time."
Lake Frond patted her and was about to ask something, but she looked at Heavy Hoof, who was approaching Celestia from behind, and shut her mouth.
"Hello, beautiful," the stallion muttered, right in her ear. It was only through her rigid self-control that Celestia didn't jump. The voice, and the words, sent a faint thrill through her. She firmly suppressed it and didn't answer. His hot breath on her ear wasn't making it any easier to concentrate, but the mare managed.
"A calm and quiet one, eh?" the stallion asked, then chuckled a little. "I prefer 'em rowdy and wild, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt."
She didn't have to see it to know he winked. It caused her to swallow heavily. She tried for a diplomatic answer. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm not interested."
It was a very good lie. A fantastic one. For the life of her, Celestia couldn't tell how the stallion was able to spot it.
He laughed and the sound sent fresh shivers down her spine. "I doubt that, darling. What do you say we duck into the bathroom and get to know each other... personally?"
Luckily, Lake Frond came to her rescue. The mare rolled her eyes and batted Heavy Hoof lightly on the nose. "Quit it. It's her first time. You do want her to come again sometime, don't you? So push off!"
His sultry smile turned into a friendly one and the stallion nudged Celestia in the ribs and laughed pleasantly. His voice was suddenly a lot less husky, too. It made it easier to look at him.
"Sorry, miss!" he apologized and looked like he meant it. "I'm just easily excited. Don't take it the wrong way - just remember: the offer is always on the table, right?" He winked and walked over to a coffee table loaded with snacks. Celestia looked at them and guiltily remembered that she had given all her cookies and muffins away at Rawsthorne's office. She resolved to bake more for her next visit to the pony meet up.
The pegasus followed her gaze and gestured with a wing. "Come! Grab a bite to eat. We take turns cooking - it was Lake Frond's turn today!"
Just like that, Celestia saw, she was a part of the group. They clustered around the table and began talking again. For the most part, she just listened. There were stories of what they had done over the past few weeks. The mares, in particular, had to cook for their owners and they exchanged news of good prices for groceries. It seemed that they were given a strict budget by their humans and tried to stretch it as far as they could.
The reason for that became apparent when Rock Lichen explained that the owners usually let them buy treats for themselves with the leftover money. Then Glowbug had to explain the strict setting of no magic on her ring. Apparently, the unicorn was usually allowed at least a trickle, so she could perform basic levitation for her personal grooming and care. Unicorns in particular were bad at doing delicate things with their hooves, but now her magic was cut off completely.
The shame-faced mare explained that she had thrown a fit over her owner not ordering her a book she had asked for. The punishment was a week with no magic. There were murmurs of sympathy, but it obviously wasn't the first time it had happened, as evidenced by a slight snicker from Lake Frond and Glitter Dust.
Once or twice Celestia spotted Heavy Hoof giving her an appraising look, with a very suggestive smile behind it. If she weren't already naked, the alicorn would have felt that the stallion was undressing her with his eyes. She did her best to ignore it, snapping her eyes firmly away. It didn't help that his grin grew wider and he winked when she tried to steal glances at him.
She wondered if he had acted the same way to the others. Obviously not the earth mare, if she was really married to Rock Lichen. But the unicorn and pegasus did look at the brown stallion from time to time. Celestia couldn't quite read their expressions, but her imagination supplied what her observation could not.
As pushy as he was, it wasn't a big leap to imagine him with either of the two. Or both! She had to wrench her thoughts back to the present when everyone looked at her. The Princess realized that Glowbug had asked her a question and quickly racked her memory for what it was.
They wanted to know if her contract was permanent, or a limited-time one. She decided to use the same lie as she had with Rawsthorne and Denis. "Twenty years. I went to get medicine for a friend."
Heavy Hoof whistled, quite impressed. "Kind and generous!"
It was Lake Frond who smiled the widest. "That's excellent, dear! We're all lifers - taken before there were any rules. Since there are no contracts, there's no way we're getting off, at least with the laws the way they are."
It reminded Celestia and she formulated her response carefully. "Before I went, I overheard the Canterlot Castle staff talking. It seems Princess Celestia is working on changing the human laws regarding ponies. Apparently she's in touch with a big law firm right here in the city. They'll try to get all ponies without contracts home!"
The group seemed wistful, but just for a moment. Then Rock Lichen gently took her hoof. "That'd be nice, but I wouldn't count on it. The humans don't like to let go of what they have."
Glowbug sighed. "I'll believe it when I see it," she said firmly.
Lake Frond kept her smile and placed her own hoof right beside her husband's, so they were both holding Celestia. "It's not that bad here, sweetie. I mean, sure, it's servitude, but we've made homes for ourselves. We have friends, even among the humans. Most of us get along with our owners just fine."
She glanced at Brook, who rolled his eyes and snorted, but there was no reply forthcoming, it seemed. Celestia almost brought it up, but stopped herself at the last moment.
"Well, that's what I heard. And I know the Princess cares for all of us."
There was a nervous shuffling and a half-hearted murmur of assent, before Glitter Dust changed the topic: "So, that hot dog guy at the corner of Fourth and Harrison now has vegetarian sausage. Has anypony tried it?"
Lake Frond made a face. "Ugh, still tastes like meat! I'm never gonna get used to it," she said, keeping her grimace.
Heavy Hoof was intrigued. "Hmm, I'll see if I can get Peter to take me someday. Harrison, you said?" He looked at the pegasus for her confirming nod, then back to Celestia. "Would you like to join me, beautiful? Do you live nearby?"
At least this much worked in her favor. The alicorn shook her head. "Sorry. Up in the hills. Gregory works near here. Well, not that near. In the area. I'm not even sure how often I'll be able to come."
Glitter Dust fiddled around for a piece of paper and a pen. Then she scribbled something and pushed the paper toward Celestia with a hoof. "Here! Add me on Skype and we'll stay in touch. I'll give you addresses for the others - those who have it."
"Skype?"
The pegasus explained some more. She was obviously quite excited about the stuff. "Skype? You haven't seen it yet? It's an app, on a computer. Your human does have a computer, doesn't he?"
Celestia remembered the things she had been meaning to ask Rawsthorne. "It's like a small TV? Rectangle with letters and numbers? By the way, what is Internet?"
Now Glitter Dust was grinning widely. It caused the other ponies to chuckle with delight. "You've done it now," Brook said, finally smiling. "Now you've got her started, you're in for quite a lesson!"
Celestia didn't understand. She looked from their smirks to the pegasus, who was so excited she couldn't keep her wings still. "Hold on a sec!" she said and went to the door with the owners' room. She knocked, ducked inside, and came back a minute later with what looked like a black folder. She held it by a strap in her mouth and took it to the coffee table.
"I'll show you. C'mere!" Glitter Dust said, grinning. Celestia saw that the others had made room and were back to talking softly between themselves.
The pegasus had meanwhile dragged a silver and black rectangle from the bag. It looked a little like a TV and a little like a picture frame - if you wanted to frame pure darkness. The alicorn shuffled closer to get a better look. Maybe if a pony explained, she would understand better. Rawsthorne had told her about 'electronic mail' and information and web-sites. She couldn't understand what the box on his desk had to do with spiders.
"Okay, lemme turn it on. You'll have to get your human to buy you a stylus or something, if you wanna use one of these. Or, if he has a laptop or a desktop, all you need it a small stick. It's good if it's soft, otherwise it's hell on your teeth."
Celestia didn't mention that she already had a stylus. Instead, she looked with deep curiosity at the small TV, where a bunch of colorful symbols and text had appeared.
"This here is what we call an 'eye pad', okay?" Glitter Dust began.
Celestia and Rawsthorne left together with the pegasus and her owner. The four of them were the last ones there, so Glitter Dust had to lock up. Her owner, a cheerful, middle-aged woman with short hair and a permanent smile, dropped the key into one of the mailboxes.
"Don't worry, the guy who lets us rent the place will come along later to get it," Glitter Dust explained. "He opens it for us, but doesn't usually wait up."
The ponies walked side by side with their owners following. The pegasus knew the way to the parking lot, even if Celestia couldn't immediately remember which way was the car. She glanced back to see if Rawsthorne would point out a direction, but he was having what appeared to be an animated conversation with Maggie, Glitter Dust's owner.
She had been introduced to all their humans, except for Silent Brook's.
"He doesn't come anymore," Lake Frond had explained when Celestia asked about it. Before she could follow up with the logical next question, the mare went on preemptively: "No, it's not quite legal, but people know Brook and they don't mind. Even the cops. He's been here the longest, I guess."
Suddenly, Glitter Dust chuckled softly. "Did you see how Peter had to drag Heavy Hoof away? He did not wanna leave first. I wonder why?"
She was giving the disguised alicorn a sly glance, but Celestia kept her face neutral, even if it did blush a little. Reminded of the 'eager' stallion, she blurted out the question which had been stuck in her mind throughout the evening. "Is he like that with every mare? I mean, did you you and him-"
Celestia fell silent when she saw Glitter Dust's expression. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-"
The pegasus interrupted her. "Yes. Not that it's any business of yours."
"Sorry."
"He does it with every mare. Heavy Hoof is... " Glitter Dust explained, but didn't know how to finish the sentence. "He has a unique situation. I won't say anything. You'll have to ask him yourself."
Now Celestia was extra curious. She thought back on her interactions with the stallion. The new insight brought a few additional observations from her memory. How Heavy Hoof had almost avoided talking to anypony else, for example.
Or how he hardly said two words to Rawsthorne, after his initial greeting. The pony also kept repeating how pretty Celestia was, despite the fact that 'Supple Branch' had been picked to be as unremarkable as possible. Something else occurred to her.
"Did he also... with Glowbug? And Lake Frond? And that pegasus - the one who wasn't there tonight?"
Glitter Dust refused to say more. "Ask them yourself!" she said irritably. But the way she spoke told Celestia that the answer was 'yes'.
Curious. She wanted to find out more. She had to talk with Heavy Hoof in private. Just talk! Of course she wouldn't use the opportunity to sneak a peek under his belly! She wasn't a needy teenager, after all!
A hand on her mane brought the alicorn from her reverie. "Come on, say goodbye now, Ce- Supple. We're going a different way here."
She obediently made her farewell with Glitter Dust, politely shook Maggie's hand and watched them walk away.
"You almost slipped up there."
Rawsthorne sighed. "Sorry. Not used to such duplicity."
She pierced him with a look and pointed out: "I thought you were a lawyer."
"Not all lawyers are liars," the human countered.
"Touché."
He laughed, then ruffled her mane and looked around. "This way. I think there's a good pizzeria a few blocks down."
Celestia instantly forgave the slip-up. She hadn't had human pizza yet and she was eager to try. "You're paying."
They both chuckled at her obvious statement. Then her owner began walking and she followed.
Celestia groaned as Rawsthorne's car hit what seemed like an endless series of bumps. Her hooves were on her belly, resting as lightly as she could make them.
"Urk! Holes are not an appropriate material for roads, Rawsthorne!"
Even her owner's obvious pity for her condition couldn't stop the man from chuckling. "Not my fault you ordered a large. And ate what was left of mine. And had dessert. And ice cream on the way to the car!"
Celestia whimpered a little as she was reminded. "Having a stand open at this time of night was pure evil! Not to mention, it's winter!"
"Now there, Celestia, don't you assign blame on anyone except yourself," the human admonished. He even raised a finger. It wasn't a pony gesture, but the alicorn had learned what it meant from Mr. Plain and his staff at the Auction.
"Did I really have your pizza too?"
"Yup."
"But- but it had meat on it!" The alicorn knew she was a little green in the face as she remembered. Good thing her owner couldn't see, or he'd laugh some more.
"Just salami. You took it off, remember?"
"Huh." The taste hadn't been entirely bad, now that she thought about it. Well, not the taste so much as the aroma. It was mostly salt, in either case. Perhaps, the mare decided tentatively, it would bear further experimentation.
Celestia felt another pang in her belly and quickly thought: another time, another time! She had to stop remembering food. Or else Rawsthorne's car would have a problem. One which she would have to clean up.
"So, how were the pony owners tonight?"
The human gave the question due consideration. "Didn't seem bad. Just regular people, mostly. We didn't have too much to talk about, really."
There were two humans Celestia was particularly interested in. "Maggie seemed nice."
She felt, more than saw, Rawsthorne shrug. "I guess. She manages a hardware store. I might need a few things before the winter. How'd you feel about visiting with her pony. What was it again?"
"Glitter Dust. And what's a 'hard-wear shop'? It isn't to do with clothes, is it?"
The man laughed. Celestia decided he was mocking her ignorance, so she took her revenge by sticking out her tongue. That would show him!
"It's a specialized store for tools and machines."
"Ah. Anyway, you like Maggie?"
Rawsthorne shrugged again. "She's alright. Why?"
"Married?"
"No, not... exactly," he answered and his voice trailed off at the end. Celestia suppressed a smile.
The pony had a plan. She still had to take her revenge on the man for curtailing her bath and steam privileges. An idea had formed when she saw the two humans talking earlier. Maybe the Princess could play a matchmaker? She had done it before, after all.
"No reason. What about Peter?"
Her owner was blank. "Remind me, which one was Peter?"
"Heavy Hoof's owner. Brown stallion."
"Oh. I didn't talk with him much. Why?"
Celestia sighed. The mystery would need more work, it seemed. "Just making conversation. Hey, do you have a Skype?"
The human glanced at her. "I suppose I could install it. Would you like it to stay in touch with your new friends?"
"Yes please. Glitter Dust showed me. You never said the Internet could do that! You just went on and on about spiders."
Rawsthorne looked strangely at the mare. "Spiders?! I never mentioned spiders!"
"The 'Web'?"
Again her owner laughed at her misunderstanding. He got another raspberry from the mare.
"That has nothing to do with spiders, Celestia."
She chose to ignore the correction. "Do you have an 'eye pad'?"
Rawsthorne snapped his fingers. "I do, as a matter of fact! Denis got me one for my birthday last year, but I never even unpacked it!"
The news made Celestia stare in disbelief. "Master Rawsthorne, you really need to get a life! I've been on Earth for all of five minutes and I already want an 'eye pad'. You've got one and you're not even interested enough to unpack it!"
"Well, you can have mine," the human said. It made Celestia sigh and roll her eyes theatrically.
"It's a good thing you got me, Rawsthorne. I just hope I'm not too late."