//------------------------------// // Chapter Fifteen: Casual // Story: CRISIS: Equestria - Divergence // by GanonFLCL //------------------------------// It was nearly lunchtime when Fluttershy arrived back at the apartment after another busy morning assisting Lockwood with paperwork and tenant visits. She'd gotten used to the procedures by now and was getting better and better about it every day. She didn't hide behind Lockwood anymore when they went to other apartments, she'd actually started introducing herself to some ponies, and once or twice she'd even had the confidence to say she was Lockwood's assistant. She found it odd that the tenants gave Lockwood odd looks following that last remark, but figured they just didn't know he had one and were surprised, that's all. He seemed like such a diligent pony that they probably all thought he did all the work himself still, as he had been for years. It felt nice, being able to help out around the complex. She just started thinking of it as the same thing as when she helped her animal friends back home, only instead of dealing with birds requesting aid building a nest, she was helping an elderly mare with a busted air filter in her window, or a small family with a leaky faucet in their restroom. Not actually performing the repairs, obviously, but at least putting them at ease over the issue. Normally, she and Lockwood would head out to lunch right about now, but he apparently had a lunch meeting with somepony else and couldn't bring her along. She didn't ask why—he had these sorts of meetings all the time, though usually around dinnertime—but she still felt bad that she couldn't join him. Not too bad—she didn't want to seem like she was clingy or anything—but still, now she knew it would be hours before she saw him again. She headed into the kitchen, opened up the refrigerator, and browsed the assortment of Dolor products kept therein. By now she and her friends had all decided on favorite flavors—at least as far as default ones were concerned—and she'd found hers to be the refrigerated Red. The strawberry taste, while not exactly strong, was still rather pleasant. Sometimes, when she didn't feel like making a full lunch, she'd just grab one of the tubes and eat the paste plain; it was perfectly normal to do, so she didn't feel weird or lazy doing it. Just as she was about to grab a packet, there came a knock at the window, which meant that Rainbow was home from practice; her first game was coming up soon, so she probably had been sent home to rest. She headed over to the window, removed the air filter, unlatched the window itself, and let… Pinkie in? "Oh… um, h-hello Pinkie?" Fluttershy said, gawking at her friend that had somehow just leapt through the window. She glanced outside, hoping to see how Pinkie had managed to leap up eighty-four floors, then backed away as Rainbow came in right after. "Oh, thank goodness. Hello Rainbow. How was practice?" "Hey Shy," Rainbow said as she headed straight to the fridge. "Practice was fine. I think we're getting this team into shape, as good as they can be anyway." "Hey, Fluttershy!" Pinkie said with a little wave. Since it was her day off, she was wearing her casual clothes, which is to say she was wearing her work clothes, just without the apron; it was as close to normal as Pinkie had and she liked it. "How are you? Long day?" "Oh, I'm fine, thank you. Are you enjoying your day off?" Fluttershy asked. "You betcha! Dashie and I went shopping, and boy, lemme tell ya, this city's not all that bad once you get used to it. They've got loads and loads of places to shop, y'know? Red told me about this place out in the Mid-East District, so Dashie and I dropped by on the way home." "Yeah, uh, speaking of which," Rainbow said, coming back over to Pinkie with a few bottles of water. "Shy, can, uh… can Pinkie and I get the place to ourselves for, like… an hour? No no, make it two. Two hours?" "Oh?" Fluttershy then noticed the little pink bag in Pinkie's grip, as well as a fairly oblong box that was poking out of it. The bag's label displayed the name of the establishment, The Luv Shack, which also included a stencil of a mare in a not-at-all-subtle position that indicated she was ready for something… well, intimate. Her face turned bright red in realization. "Oh! Oh, absolutely. Um… you two, yes… sh-should I go now? I can go now if you want." "I mean, unless you wanna watch?" Pinkie said, waggling her eyebrows. Rainbow, also red in the face, nudged her. "Pinkie!" Fluttershy, now even redder, hustled over to the door, grabbing her key on the way. "Okayhavefunbye!" She closed and locked the door behind her, then leaned against the wall a moment to catch her breath and calm herself down. She realized her wings had flared up—that had hurt a little as she rushed out into the hall—and so she pushed them down with her hooves, for all the good that did. She then realized that she hadn't grabbed her tube of Dolor Red on the way out, and right on cue for her stomach to give a little grumble. With the apartment off-limits for the next two hours, that meant she had to go out to lunch, which while she was used to it by now, she was not used to going without Lockwood. She started to panic as the thought of going out alone into the city ran through her head. At least, it did, until she tried to remember the things that Lockwood and Flathoof often said to try and assuage her fears. She could go out for a nice walk through the streets—making sure to avoid alleyways so that she didn't get mugged—while she made her way to the restaurant—looking both ways before crossing the street so she didn't get hit by a bus—and then sit down and enjoy a good meal—hoping that she didn't catch food poisoning— No, this was doing the exact opposite of making her feel better. She was so used to following Lockwood's lead that she couldn't help but think of how she might mess it up if she tried to do everything herself. Until she remembered that she didn't have to be by herself at all. She didn't quite race down the stairs, but she did move at a quick pace. Ten flights these days was fairly easy, actually, and so she arrived at Gray's apartment in no time, and gave the door a little knock. Gray opened up after a few seconds. "Oh. Hey. 'Sup?" "Um… h-hi, Gray," Fluttershy said, her face still a little red and her anxiety still flaring up but for entirely different reasons. "H-how are you?" "Good. You?" "Oh, I'm fine, thank you. Um… I was wondering… w-would you like to have lunch? With me?" Gray paused for a moment, then shrugged. "Yeah, sure. Lockwood's got good taste in food." "Oh, um… Lockwood… won't be with us. He's at a meeting. So it's… just me." She gave a little smile, hoping she didn't sound too weird. Did she sound weird? Oh no, what if she did? "Ah. Yeah, alright. Where are we going?" Fluttershy was about to respond, when she realized that she hadn't brought any bits with her. "Oh… oh no," she said, eyes wide. "I forgot my bits back up in the room." "So? Go get 'em." "I, uh… I can't. Rainbow and Pinkie are up there." Gray arched an eyebrow. "Okay? They're your friends, right? What's the problem?" Fluttershy's face reddened again. "They're, um… using the apartment. Just the two of them. And they want privacy." Gray paused again, then nodded in understanding. "Ah. Gotcha." "Y-yeah…" "Hey, that's cool of you to let them have some time together." She leaned against the doorframe. "So what's the plan, then?" Fluttershy paused; she tried to speak, but no words came out, because she was at a total loss on what to do. She'd thought this was a great idea, but now she felt like an idiot coming down here without a plan and especially without any bits. Gray just rolled her eyes. "Ah, don't worry about it. I'll buy." "Oh, n-no, I couldn't—" Gray grabbed her key and shut and locked the door behind her. "Come on. I know a place." ***** The little hay fries diner was one of the few in the city that made real hay fries, and as such was extremely popular and thus extremely crowded, even if somepony just wanted to get something to go. A line stretched from the door of the establishment clear around the block, apparently at all hours of the day. Fluttershy and Gray had stood in line for about twenty minutes before they were able to get in, and waited another five minutes to find a table. Fluttershy held their seats while Gray went to place their order, then again when Gray went to collect it from the counter when their number was called. In both cases, she couldn't keep herself from letting her eyes wander a bit too much. Maybe it was knowing what Pinkie and Rainbow were up to, and being told so explicitly without being told so explicitly, that made Fluttershy so anxious that she was staring? She hadn't been this flustered around another pony since flight school. Whatever it was, it made her notice how opposite in physical stature Gray and Lockwood were, and yet so similar they were otherwise as well. Lockwood was, in a word, scrawny; Gray was chiseled to perfection. Gray's wings were rather big and she probably had a magnificent wingspan, but like Lockwood she never seemed to fly, at least that Fluttershy had seen, which was a lot like herself, actually. They were both certainly attractive ponies, in their own ways, and they both made for good company. But she stopped thinking about that when Gray brought back the food. Fluttershy took a bite of her own fries—she always preferred hers plain—and was immediately struck by the fact that they were legitimately tasty, like something she could get back in Ponyville. They were perfectly crispy and hot with a pleasantly soft middle, each of them of a reasonable size so that they could be eaten individually or in a little bunch, and could be dipped in sauces without getting one's hooves messy. The fact that the fries were real was the important part as far as Fluttershy was concerned. She knew there were restaurants in the city that served up real food that they imported from the southern continent, but that they were also prohibitively expensive most of the time. That much was definitely true in this case; a basket of plain fries like she had in front of her now cost as many bits as a dinner for two at one of the standard Dolor-based restaurants; a pony could buy enough Dolor paste to last them a week for nearly the same price. It was basically a treat for most ponies that lived in the city, something that they could only do once in a while, but it seemed to Fluttershy that that was enough to make a place like this insanely popular. "How are they?" Gray asked, taking a bite of her own fries—she'd ordered her with extra salt. Fluttershy smiled and nodded, taking another bite. "They're… very tasty. Just like back home, actually." Gray nodded back and took another bite of fries, but didn't say much else, and remained like that for a solid minute or so. Fluttershy typically enjoyed the quiet, but considering the crowd around them in this public place, she knew that that wasn't going to happen, and in situations like this she began feeling anxious again. Having somepony to talk to when she was nervous was always nice, so even though Gray seemed content with just eating her fries and not talking—she'd been the same at lunch yesterday, too—Fluttershy decided to engage. "So, um… how are you liking your new apartment?" she asked. "Is it much different from your old one?" Gray shrugged. "It's alright. It's not as big." "Is it a lot smaller? I hope it's not uncomfortable…" "Nah, it's fine. Technically my room's bigger now since I got the living room." Gray dipped her fries in some ketchup—that was real, too—and took another bite. "The couch isn't bad, either. Good cushions." Fluttershy smiled. "I'm glad you're finding it comfortable. I know my friends and I had some trouble adjusting at first, but we've got things arranged now so that it's a little bit better for everypony. They're all pooling money together so that we can get some new furniture later in the week." Gray just hummed and nodded. "Mhmm." "So, um… did you live with your sisters before you moved, too?" "Yeah." Fluttershy couldn't help but notice a bit of irritation in Gray's voice; maybe it was the questions, or maybe it was the answer? "Do you… like living with your sisters?" "I guess," Gray said with another shrug. "I like it better when they're out for the day." "Oh? Why's that?" "Red whines a lot about my 'no guys over' rule. She thinks it's not fair." Fluttershy tilted her head. "What's a… 'no guys over' rule?" "So, Red is a nymphomaniac. Sex is on her mind almost all of the time, y'know? Nothing else to distract her, I guess." "Oh?" "So, I'm not gonna let her just bring some dude over, especially not since I'm the one doing the laundry, if you catch my drift." Fluttershy's face reddened again, and her hay fries seemed incredibly interesting at the moment. "Oh." "Yeah, and Insipid's just noisy in general. I'll be honest, I've gotta give it to Rarity for putting up with it." "They seem like they've become pretty good friends," Fluttershy said, though she understood completely what Gray meant. On her few interactions with Insipid, she'd certainly noticed the other unicorn was perhaps a bit… well, she didn't have the kind of education that Twilight did, or the sort of quick wit that Rarity possessed. Fluttershy couldn't think of a nicer way to put it, and she wouldn't dream of insulting the other mare for any reason, especially not in front of Gray. "How about you?" Gray asked, taking another bite of her fries. "Do you like your living situation?" "Well, I'm sure I'll like it much better once we've livened up the place," Fluttershy said with complete honesty; she'd grown accustomed to the apartment enough that it's size didn't bother her anymore. "I'm still a bit, um… nervous, about being outside the building, I mean. To be honest, that's why I invited you to lunch. I… I didn't want to be alone." "Yeah, I get it. The city's not exactly the nicest place, even here," Gray said with a shrug. "Is that why you always hang out with Lockwood? Because you don't like being alone?" "Well, no, there's a bit more to it than that," Fluttershy admitted. "He's just been so kind and generous with me and my friends that… I want to help him. I don't feel right taking everything he's given us and not giving anything back in return." Her face reddened again when she added, "And… he's got pretty eyes…" "Seems like a nice guy. You're sure he's on the level?" "Oh, yes, absolutely. I can usually tell when somepony is genuinely nice and when they… when they're just faking it." Fluttershy smiled a little. "Like you. I know you like to act like you don't care, but I can tell you're genuine. About everything." Gray arched an eyebrow. "Huh?" "You kind of remind me of Rainbow, actually. I've known her for years, and… for as long as I've known her, she's been the kind of pony that acts like they don't care about certain things because she thinks that's what 'cool' ponies are supposed to do. But I know that even when she acts like she doesn't care, she cares a lot." "And you think I'm like that?" Fluttershy nodded. "I do. You just do a better job at hiding it. But I can tell that even though you complain about your sisters, deep down… you love them. You just don't like expressing it, that's all, so you conceal it with the way you act so… aloof." Gray stared at her fries for a long moment, then grunted and took another bite. "If that's the way you want to think, sure, whatever." Fluttershy could tell from the look on Gray's face that she was embarrassed by the conversation now, and so she wisely decided to just drop it there and enjoy her fries and the quiet between herself and her new friend. That was the nicest thought of all, actually: that Gray Skies was her new friend. Fluttershy didn't have many friends outside of Twilight and the others, and had always had trouble making new ones. Between Lockwood and Gray, Fluttershy was beginning to think perhaps she'd judged this world too harshly at first. Not to mention that both of them just made her feel so… safe. Certainly this city was still scary to her and made her anxious when she was alone outside of her apartment—even in her apartment—but when she was with either of them, she felt that she didn't need to have a worry in the world. It was… nice. ***** Today's shift for Twilight was a little shorter than usual. She found it odd how the CDH operated on different hours on the weekends that the rest of the week—Ponyville's library was technically open as long as Twilight was home and awake—but then there were still quite a few things about this world that she didn't understand, like how those strange "buses" moved about on their own, or why pegasi had to limit themselves to skylanes above the streets and buildings. Because Twilight had gotten off work about an hour earlier than usual, Winter had invited her out for coffee before they headed back home for dinner. Twilight had been surprised to learn that there were plenty of legitimate coffee shops in the city, ones that served real coffee like the kind that Lockwood stocked at home. She'd gladly accepted the offer, not just because of the anticipation for a good cup of coffee after work, but because she enjoyed spending time with her new friend. The coffee shop Winter had chosen, Café Estrella, was located several blocks away from the CDH in the opposite direction from Southeast Point, and was a quaint little shop tucked into the side of a larger office building right on the street. At the moment there was a decent-sized crowd inside, but not large enough to prevent Twilight and Winter from finding seats after they ordered and collected their drinks. This wasn't Twilight's first rodeo as far as coffee shops were concerned, but it had been a long time since she'd seen one with such a wide selection of roasts available. The shop in Ponyville was limited mostly to local flavors, which were all good, certainly, but lacked the sort of punch and taste that she was used to from Canterlot. Granted, she couldn't rightly judge the blends here by any metric—they were all named for regions she didn't know—so she'd relied on Winter's advice and chosen a blend from a southern city called Seaside. As she brought her cup to her and Winter's table, she took a moment to breathe in the coffee's aroma, which was pleasantly chocolate-like. As always, she took it black and didn't add a single thing to it before bringing it to the table and taking a sip. When the coffee passed her lips, Twilight felt her heart stop for a brief moment as the wonderfully piquant taste of really good coffee raced over her tongue. It was hot and packed with a flavor that Twilight could only compare to blends from the tropical southern regions of her own Equestria, where the sun was nearly always shining and the days were generally hot and long. "Well?" Winter asked with a knowing smile. "How is it?" Twilight stared wide-eyed at Winter. "This… is the best cup of coffee I've had in years." She took another sip and shuddered as the warmth just flowed out into her body, making her feel like she'd been wrapped in a toasty blanket on a particularly cold day. "By Celestia that's good…" Winter laughed. "Well, I'm glad ya like it. Knew ya wouldn't regret takin' a break and comin' here, eh? I don't know if it's the best coffee house in the city, but I'd fight anypony that says otherwise if ya catch my drift." Winter took a sip of her own coffee, a drink Twilight had heard of before called "carajillo", a delicacy of sorts that mixed three parts coffee with one part rum—Winter couldn't help herself, apparently—that had been fairly popular in some Canterlot circles. Twilight had never tried it before, mainly because she'd been too young to drink at the time, but truly because just the thought of adding anything to her coffee made her uncomfortable. "This is really nice, Winter," Twilight said as they sat and sipped their coffees together. "I appreciate you bringing me here. The brand that Lockwood likes is really good, but this… this is fantastic. Sorry, I know I don't normally gush about anything, but—" "Don't worry about it, mate, I get it. I really do. I'm not the same way about coffee, mind, but I know what it's like to really find somethin' ya enjoy and get a chance to sit down and bloody well enjoy it." "What's yours?" Twilight asked. "What's your 'thing' that you really enjoy?" "I mean, it's gonna sound obvious when I say it, but I like a good beer," Winter said with a shrug. "There aren't a lot of good pubs in the city, but I know they've got a few top-notch ones down in Hope's Point that ship some of their brands up here. Expensive shit, yeah, but crikey, it's totally worth it." Twilight scrunched up her nose. "I wouldn't know anything about that. I've never really had much alcohol before. I mean, the most I've had was a sip of champagne at my brother's wedding, and once I tried a sip of wine at a Hearth's Warming party, but that's about it. Heck, I only ever buy the non-alcoholic cider when Applejack puts it on the market." "Have ya ever wanted to try more than a sip?" "I mean, maybe? I guess? I've kind of opened myself up to new experiences ever since I moved to Ponyville and made new friends, but I just never really wanted to go out drinking. I've just heard too many stories about the kind of bad things that can happen, y'know? I don't know my limit or what makes for a safe bar or even what kind of things are good to try!" Winter smirked and lifted her cup to tap against Twilight's. "Tell ya what, Twilight: when we figure out how to contact this Warden and we've got things settled so that I can get ya home, I think you and I are gonna celebrate with a few drinks, eh? Not out in a pub or anythin' like that, though. Just you, me, and a few cold ones at my apartment. Er, Lockwood's apartment." Twilight tapped her chin, then shrugged and smiled. "Sure, why not? Drinking at home with you sounds a lot more responsible than going out drinking, that's for sure. And hey, this gives us something to look forward to! Y'know, besides the whole 'sending me and my friends home so our world isn't destroyed' thing." "Strewth." "So hey, speaking of which, how is it living with Lockwood? From what I've seen, he's got a pretty nice place. It's pretty big for something meant just for one pony." "Yeah, it's a swell little piece of real estate, I'll give it that. Lots of space, the bed is comfortable, the bathroom's roomy; generally just a really nice place." "Is he a good roommate? Like, is he clean? Does he snore? Is he loud? These are just things I remember other ponies back at school looking for in their roommates, so I don't know what else to ask, really." Winter shrugged. "Yeah, he's fine. Pretty damn clean, actually, and he's quiet as a bloody mouse when awake, but he snores a little bit. Not enough to bother me in a separate room, but hey, you asked." "And do you trust him enough not to put magical charms all over your door anymore?" Twilight asked with a little grin. Winter rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I do. Turns out he's not a bad guy after all, eh? Same with Flathoof, same with Dawn, same with your friends' other new friends and such. They all seem genuinely decent, at least enough that I'm willin' to relax a bit around them. I've still got my eyes open, though. Never can be too careful." "And I'm glad you do," Twilight said. "I don't know if I've said this enough, but thank you for everything you're doing. I know it's your job and all that, but you're handling it a lot better than I'm sure somepony else might have. This job of yours seems awfully stressful." "Stressful, yeah," Winter laughed, finishing off her coffee. "Y'know, it's not all bad, of course. Yeah, sure, I've got to globetrot my ass all around the world to take care of Void tears all the time, I don't often get a lot of time to myself, and I don't get to spend time with anypony. But every now and then, when there's a lull in the work, at least I can take a moment to look out upon this world and marvel at how beautiful and terrible it is at the same time." Twilight frowned. "Sounds lonely. You don't have any friends outside of other Chronomancers?" "Nah, not really. Closest thing I've got to a friend in this world is this bloke named Pewter who lives out woop woop— er, out in the Wastelands. He runs a checkpoint buildin' out there that helps folks cross the wastes on hoof by given' them a place to sleep and some food to eat, plus medicine and such. Nice guy." "But he's not your friend?" "We're just acquaintances, really. I see him maybe once or twice a year, and we don't talk much." Winter shrugged. "I dunno, he seems nice and all, but I tend to prefer gettin' my Wasteland trips done quick and not spend any time out there." "Well, I'm sure he'd be your friend if you asked him," Twilight said with a smile. "Not really interested, to be honest. Apart from you, I don't really think I have any real friends, and I don't have the patience to make more; I mean, your other friends are okay, but I consider them more 'acquaintances' too. No offense." Twilight nodded, though she didn't quite understand it. She'd come to realize that some ponies had different qualifications for what counted as a friend, and she was glad to hear that Winter considered her one, but she felt kind of bad that her other friends didn't meet Winter's criteria. Maybe if she got to know them better, things would be different? She wouldn't force it, of course, but she was going to be hopeful for the best. "Did you have any other friends?" she asked quietly. "Not really, no. Just one filly back when I was in early training by the name of Hourglass. But then I got picked up for an apprenticeship, and I haven't seen her since. It happens. She's probably workin' her own gig by now, it's been about fourteen years, roundin' down." "So, if you don't have a lot of friends, what about family?" Twilight asked, trying to change the subject. "I know that until I started making other friends, the only friend I ever thought I had was my brother, my BBBFF. I don't know a lot about my other friends' families, to be honest, but maybe I can learn about yours?" Winter paused, then leaned back in her seat. "I don't have a family." Twilight frowned, immediately regretting the change in topic. "I'm sorry to hear that. What happened?" "You know how I said that if I didn't get you and your friends back to your world, eventually the Void would consume it?" "Yeah?" "That's what happened to my world." Twilight gasped. "Oh no, that's… that's horrible. But… how did you escape? I mean, it's obvious now that this world isn't your original one." "Chronomancer HQ sometimes finds worlds like mine, ones that are in danger of collapsing into the Void and that don't have Chronomancers of their own. By the time these worlds are found, it's already too late to save everypony…" Winter sighed. "They save who they can. I was one of the lucky few who got picked." Twilight was astounded. "I… I can't even imagine how that must feel. I'm sorry for bringing it up, I didn't—" "It's alright, Twilight," Winter said, patting Twilight's hoof. "To be honest with you, I was so young when it happened that I don't even remember my family. I don't remember what my parents looked like. I don't remember if I had any brothers or sisters, or if I'd even made any friends at that age. And it doesn't matter if I did; they're all gone anyway." "Winter…" "Don't worry about it. It happened a very, very long time ago, and none of that is important to me. What's important is the here and the now, and the future that lies ahead. There's no sense in living in the past. Okay?" Twilight paused, then nodded and gave Winter a small smile. "Okay. Just know that… if you ever want to talk to anypony about it, I'm here for you." Winter smiled back. "Thanks, Twilight. I appreciate that." "What are friends for?"