"What do you mean, you've 'never had any of this before?'"
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. The cover identity I had forged was fraught with poverty, hardship, and pain. Nothing else would explain the slip-ups I had made and would continue to make. I was not an expert Infiltrator, trained for over a decade in the arts of blending in.
No, I was a weapon forged for one purpose alone: war. I made do with what skills I had, hoping that I could cover up the cracks in the facade I wore everyday.
"I mean I've been to the moon and back," I snarked.
Search let out something between a sigh and a huff of frustration.
"I'll order for him," Bray offered.
Search cooked an eyebrow.
"I helped you choose when you arrive in Hooferville, remember?"
We were sitting in a booth by the window in a cheap breakfast Diner. If the decor was red plastic and shiny grey metal, it would have reminded me of an old Americana Diner. Instead, the materials were substituted for brown woods, soft but tough fabric seats, and some sort of magical jukebox that was playing what seemed like pop music. It was a Strange, surreal experience.
'I wonder how many parallels I can find between this world and Earth.'
Bray Call sat next to me, in the aisle seat. Across from me was Warm Dew by the window and Quick Search in the aisle seat. When I said I never tried any of this food, Dew gave me a confused look. Yet when I blew the Sergeant's question off, he seemed satisfied with my response.
'As if he wouldn't accept any other answer. Did he actually experience the poverty I am hinting at?'
"Cheap stuff isn't as good as family cooking, anyways."
'Or maybe he just despises fast food.'
"Nopony’s arguing otherwise Dew. But unless you are offering to whip up a large lunch for us all, this is free food. Is it alright if Bray chooses for you?"
I looked up from fiddling with my metal prosthetic. "Hmm? Oh. Sure."
Bray gave me a smile– which seemed as common as my bad luck at this point– and looked at the menu she held in her grip before her.
A waitress came over and the three ponies that spouted delicious emotions gave their orders. I paid little attention to them. I was checking how much the shiny prosthetic was pressing against my bandaged stump. If it was too tight then it would reopen the wound. So, I spent a minute adjusting the straps. My efforts were awarded with the exact same tightness.
"So Sky."
"So Search."
"I think this is a good time to introduce ourselves. I mean, actually introduce ourselves. I'll start. I'm Quick Search, I was born in Canterlot to a family of four. My parents and I disagreed over where I was headed. One thing led to another and I ended up here, in the Hooferville Guard. Made some friends who helped me out. One of them is Bray Call here, she joined the guard last year. I met Warm Dew last Hearth's Warming and he got assigned to my squad shortly after."
The waitress returned and set down four tall glasses of water at the end of the table. Bray picked them up and moved them over to each of us.
"My turn, then," she said. "I'm Bray Call, born and raised in Hooferville local. Family runs the smithy over on Main Street. Only filly amongst us five foals, I quickly learned how to throw a hoof. After this short stint in the Guards, I'm hoping to get into Manehattan Uni for a Business degree. Don't want to stay in the forge for the rest of my life, ya know? And it's not like any school's offering degrees in singing. So I'll get a boring business degree and just do my hobby on the side."
The ponies and I nodded. Search then looked over at Dew. After an eye roll, he set his glass of water down.
"Warm Dew. Grew up here in Hooferville. When I'm twenty three, I'm going to go for the Royal Guard, all the way in Canterlot."
"Thought you hated Canterlot and its nobles," I questioned.
"Celestia kicked those foppish fools out of the EUP just before the invasion. Now? They need all the hooves they can get, and I know I'm good enough for any of their tests."
"You know you've got my glowing endorsement," Search chuckled as he threw a hoof around Dew and brought him into a half hug.
"Thanks, Sir."
"Could we hear some of your story, Sky? With your explosive arrival to Hooferville, I'm sure you've got some stories to tell!"
'Oh boy, do I! Too bad I can't tell any of them. Hmmm... It's expected that I am to open up and share here. However, the further I weave my web of lies, the greater the chance that I'll get caught up in it. Still, if I am to dissuade any fears and earn these ponies' trust then I have to do just that.'
“I don’t want to ruin the mood.”
“If you don’t want to share, that’s okay. But I still want to hear it.”
“... It’s not that great of a story.”
“C’mon Sky! You’ll feel better afterwards, I promise!”
Bray could confuse me to no end sometimes. In that way, she reminds me of…
‘No, get a hold of yourself Phasma! Focus! They want a story, so give ‘em one!’
"I was more or less an only child, but I had tons of uncles, aunts, and cousins. You know how it is. My brothers and sisters, they had… er… left. It was just me, my mother, and my father. Then one day, things went south. My uncle– my favorite one, that is– stopped in to help. For a while, that worked. Then he… passed away. Things only started to get worse. I tried to stay to help my extended family, but it became untenable. Then I wandered Equestria for a while. That is, up until some overgrown Chihuahuas decided I looked like an excellent dinner. You know the rest."
'There. Pretty much nothing new in that story that I haven't already lied about. Some details, enough to tide them over, but few in number. Some easy lies, too. Only child? Unfortunately, I did actually meet four of my siblings. Shame Chrysalis drilled their heads open and pulled them out, like spaghetti twirled around a fork. Oh that’s a good one, I gotta remember it for the next time I tell my story.'
"How'd you get your Mark?" Dew asked.
"What?"
"Your Cutie Mark, how'd you get it?"
I looked down at my flank. A single large gold star was painted permanently on and through my coat.
'Something magic related.'
"I had a– there was a fight."
"What happened?"
I stared out the window. Ponies were cheerfully going about their day. Even from behind the thick pane of glass, I could taste their happiness.
'Bastards.'
The food had arrived, and Bray dished it out too. No one ate.
"I stuck up for the little guy. Guess that made an impression on Harmony. I still lost the fight, though."
Bray put a hoof over my metal right one.
"Thank you for telling us, Far Sky. I’m sorry things were bad in your past, but they don’t have to be in your future."
My muzzle twitched.
"Things might have gone south for Fillietown when the changlings came, but for my family? It hardly could get any worse."
I fed off their sympathy like cutting a wedge of cheese against a grater. The shavings would be more than enough to tide me over. Enough to make up for the lost meal yesterday, even. I looked down at the food that they ordered for me. A tomato soup was steaming, sitting on the wooden table in front of me. Evidently, Bray thought I would like tomatoes.
I despised them.
"Anypony got crackers?" I asked around.
They were all staring at me with a painfully pitiful look.
‘Definitely gone overboard.’
It took a while for them to murder the awkward silence I had worked hard to facilitate.
The food was bad. Disguising my disgust was a lesson I had to learn on the spot. I don't think I did well. Bray and Search cracked a few jokes. I smiled at them. Their happy expressions grew strained. I lamented my poor Infiltrator experience. Beaten, bloody, and having lost pretty much every ling I cared about, I was fitting in with these ponies about as well as a bloodstained psychopath.
Meaning I really needed to tone down the doom and gloom. I had thought that having an edgy sob story past would be to my benefit, but in hindsight it was way too attention-catching.
'I just want to go to sleep. No, I want to see Luna again. Gonna give her a massive hug, cuddle around the fire, and tell stories to each other… maybe even hold hooves? Nah, that's way too lewd.'
"Did'ya visit anywhere cool during your travels?"
Search’s question brought my head back down front the clouds and I continued past Dew. He had held the door open for us as we left the restaurant. I gave Search's question a bit of thought.
"Uhhhh… I visited Canterlot for a day."
"Uh oh, I'm afraid to ask how it went, given my experience."
"The locals didn't like me and it was too costly to stay."
"That's far from the worst case scenario. Still, sorry you had to go through that. I never got along with the other locals, either, if that makes you feel any better."
"A little bit. Thanks."
"Did you at least see the viewing galleries?"
"The what?"
"Nuts! That's one of the best parts about Canterlot! The viewing galleries are a series of parks, balconies, and old fortifications at the Northwest corner of Canterlot. The view is quite stunning."
'The Northern portion of the Perimeter wall fell comparatively slowly, if I am recalling the reports correctly. Far harder to fight there than down in the area protecting the loading docks. I think the Throne preserved the fortifications up there for tourism purposes, whereas the docks' defenses had fallen into disarray.'
"Shame I missed it."
"I'll take you to see 'em one day. It's worth the trip, trust me."
"That's very kind of you, thank you."
Bray stretched on the sidewalk and asked, "Anywhere else?"
"Hmm. Nothing comes to mind."
The rest of the journey back to the Guard station was mostly in silence.
Once we arrived in the Sarge’s office, I sat down in the chair I occupied this morning, off to the right side of the room. I unstrapped the prosthetic and lay it on the ground next to the table, rolling my shoulder. A minute later, the other three entered the room. Strange, I didn’t notice that they hadn’t followed me in immediately. The other three ponies shared a look with each other before looking at me.
Their gaze made me uncomfortable.
Bray spoke up, “Sky… are you pretending to be happy?”
“What?”
“Listen,” Dew started, “it sounds like you’ve got a darn monopoly on pain. Outta the frying pan and into the wolf-infested fire, yea? Harmony dealt you a really bad hoof, and… We don’t want you to think it’s always going to be like that.”
Search sighed, “I am sorry if it feels like we’re prying into your history, Sky. But when I was told the snippets that the Doc learned, it… I don’t want anypony hurting under my command. I want to help you– we all do.”
“Yeah, what they said.”
‘Am I really that bad at pretending to be happy?’
“It’ll be fine. Just give me some time and I’ll work through it.”
“Horseapples.”
“Dew–”
“No. I don’t like you lying, Sky. Be honest with us. Please?”
‘Panar damn it. Can’t even fool three ponies, can I? Five if I include Gentle Hoof and Hoarse Throat. Why can’t they just move on? Why do these ponies just have to understand me on a deep level? What I would give for some Panar damned personal space... ’
I smiled, “I appreciate your concern, but I will be fine.”
“Yer not that good of a liar.”
I let the smile drop from my face.
‘No. Apparently not.’
“Why can’t you just leave me alone?”
“Because I can’t ignore a pony in need,” Search sighed. He walked around behind his desk and sat down in the chair behind it. “It’s actually one of the reasons I wanted you here. I knew you could help us with our short-staffing issue, and we could help you with your pain. Nopony survives an attack like that and is hunkey-dorey. In fact, if you were to act all happy and dandy, I would suspect you as one of those changeling infiltrators we’ve been warned about. Listen, I’m not asking you to suddenly open up to us, or suddenly get over your trauma. What I am asking is that you make an effort. Listen to us, try the activities we try to get you to do, and just talk to us. Could you please do that much?”
‘Me? Open up to ponies…?’
A memory flashed through my mind. It was the First Fang, hanging out and sharing jokes. Thorax, Lace, Coxa, myself, Oest, and Tarsus. We trusted each other. We enjoyed each other’s company. We unloaded our burdens onto each other’s shoulders. Then Tarsus threw that all away, as if he was lying the entire time.
‘Was all that camaraderie fake?’
I shivered as I remembered the pain of the duel. My chest being shattered. My foreleg spontaneously exploding. The Nightmare torturing me. The wolves ripping into my chitin.
‘Never again.’
“I can try,” I lied.
“That’s all we ask. Now, Private Dew and I have to go on patrol. Keep working with Bray on learning procedures and spells. You’re doing great, Sky.”
“Don’t patronize me.”
“I’m not– okay. I’ll try to watch the wording of my compliments in the future.”
“I will… think on what you said.”
Bray sat down in the seat across from me as the Sarge and Dew gathered their armor and left the office. After the door clicked closed, Bray shook her head.
“Most ponies wouldn’t survive all that. Even if they didn’t die to the wolves, they wouldn't have… survived. Their mind, that is. I first thought that your survival was something spectacular. But the more you share the more I realize that you were hardly alive beforehoof.”
“... Do all of you exposition your feelings and life’s story to each other?”
“To strangers? Not really. To friends and family? Of course. Princess Daybreaker said it herself, ‘no pony is an island.’ We have to have others in our lives. You will see in time that you do, too. And when you do, we’ll be here, waiting.”
‘I’ll be an edgy loner long after you’ve returned to dust, pony. Edgy and… pathetic.’
The idea of singing Linkin Park songs in the shower got me to chuckle.
“What’s so funny?”
I carefully considered my answer.
“Along my journey through Equestria, I met a mare. She… was very gothic. Into dark stuff, you know? Recently, she’s left that all behind. But now I’m the one bringing all the doom and gloom to our long distance relationship.”
“You’re in a long distance relationship?”
“Yes… it’s complicated.”
‘I just want to see her in person. As soon as Daybreaker is out of the picture, I think I will
“Can you tell me about her?”
“No.”
Bray looked dejected but thankfully dropped the subject.
“Alright… Did you know that Search lives with two cats and four dogs?”
“What?”
“It’s true. They aren’t the first pets he’s adopted, too. He’s got a problem with trying to fix everypony’s lives.”
“Are you saying that I am essentially a stray cat?”
“Yeah, pretty much. One that can do magic.”
I didn’t have a response to that, but I was very tempted to knock the lamp off the table.
The grey pegasus paid for his coffee and left the cheap diner. He sighed as he went back to his cheap motel room. It was hard stretching the bits he had earned over the past few months. True, he didn’t even need to sleep in a room and could instead go and sleep out in the woods. But, such a thing was… risky.
As he walked home through the street, he gave a smile and nodded to the ponies he passed. The action was returned on occasion, but… Before the attack on Canterlot, it was returned a lot more. Ponies have become a lot more scared nowadays.
‘Though, it could be Hooferville in particular. Far busier than what I’m used to, not as busy as what I lived in.’
He arrived home without fanfare and shut the door behind him, pushing closed the deadbolt and turning the lock. He let out a sad sigh as he walked towards the bathroom, thinking over what he overheard in the diner. It was uncomfortable to stalk Far Sky but he had to be sure. The story, as sad as it was, was a falsehood. Now that he knew Sky’s real identity and portions of his fabricated back story, getting a chance to talk to him would be much easier.
He passed the unmade bed, strewn with newspapers. Right on top of the pile was the one on the invaders’ leaders. The one pronouncing the death of the Dread Prince Phasmatoda.
‘Wrong. Thank the stars, wrong!’
He turned the lights on and an imbued gemstone flickered to life, lit up the bathroom in a white-yellow light. The grey pegasus reared up and put his two forelegs onto the bathroom counter, staring back at his reflection in the mirror.
He channeled energy into the Thread of Change and the pegasus before him was engulfed in green flames. The soft white fur and feathers of the pony were replaced with hard, lacquered chitin. The dark blue eyes were replaced with solid teal expanses.
“Hang in there Phas. You’ve made it this far somehow. I’m coming for you.”
Thorax smiled.
‘My prayers to Panar were answered! The First Fang is getting back together!’