As we trot along, ponies smiled and waved to us.
“So, about that filliefriend of yours?”
‘Filliefriend, not marefriend. I need to remember that.’
“Filliefriend?” Search and Dew echoed.
‘Jedi business, go back to your drinks.’
“It’s private.”
Search poked a hole in that logic, “But you’re telling Bray about it?”
“It’s not as private as I wanted.”
“Hey, you were happy to share!”
I sighed, “Well then, what do you want to know?”
“The obvious; what’s her name? What does she look like? What is her Mark?”
“I’d prefer not to answer those.”
“Alright.”
Search chimed in, “I take it she lives in Vanhoover, huh?”
I rolled my eyes, “She’s real, and for some reason has taken an interest in me. Anything else?”
Bray tapped her chin, “Hmm…. How did you two meet?”
“Err…. It was a chance meeting, really. I was out playing one night and we more or less stumbled upon each other.”
Search stopped the group to chat up a pony behind a stall on the main street. The stall was filled with different metal cookware for sale.
“That sounds cute. Two foals, out playing at night, meeting by chance and spending the rest of their lives together!”
“Yeah. I really was lucky to meet her.”
“What did you two do together?”
“What?”
“Like, when you hung out, what did you two do together?”
“Oh… we… talked. She’s a bit older than me, and I never really was into toys, so we just chatted more than anything else.”
“For years, you just talked?”
“For as long as we knew each other. Our meetings were… scarce. There was lots to talk about.”
“This is soundling less like a filliefriend and more like a business associate.”
“Yeah well sorry to disappoint. What did you expect, premarital sex?”
Bray laughed. Dew shook his head but kept quiet. I had forgotten that he was listening in.
“Well, it’s just that you two knew each other for years and only met up at nights. So I figured that, you know, you were all romantic with each other and it was adorable.”
I snorted, “We’ve been too busy for that. Again, there was and is still lots to talk about. We make the absolute most out of every moment we have, given how hard it is for us to meet up. We’re taking things slow.”
“That sounds… disappointingly sensible.”
‘Damn this heat. I’m beginning to regret this job with each passing minute.’
“You three have any pony special?”
All three guards immediately began what seemed to be well-practiced excuses.
“I’ve been much too busy with–”
“No.”
“Do you know how hard it is to bring somepony over when–”
“–focus on my career as a guard so I have–”
“–full household. Now, my apartment is so small–”
“I get it! There’s no need to explain anything, trust me, I understand. I was never one for initiating any of that stuff anyways.”
“Your filliefriend approached you?” Bray asked.
“That’s right. She’s very… forward. Used to getting what she wants, I think. She has changed for the better, meanwhile I suppose I changed for the worse.”
Search looked surprised, “You changed? Something bad happen– nevermind, don’t answer that.”
“Amongst other things, I was not doing well even before the wolves. I told you that I was between jobs–”
“Guards!”
All four of us snapped to the direction of the yell. A distressed dark green earth pony stallion was hurrying towards us. Upon realizing that a simple yell could drag all of our attention into a single direction, I looked away from the stallion and did a slow three-sixty turn, checking the surroundings and the nearby ponies. Those that had noticed the yell were looking in its direction. The rest were going about their business.
“Guards!” The pony yelled again, but thankfully not at the top of his lungs.
“What is it, citizen?” Search asked.
The stallion skidded to a halt in front of us, arresting his momentum on the stone street.
“Easy Tap’s store!”
“What? What about Easy Tap’s store?”
“The ponies! They’ve gone mad!”
“What happened?”
“Princess Daybreaker’s new policy– everypony’s trying to stock up before it goes into effect! They’re going wild trying to get what they can before the shelves are empty! It’s a stampede!”
“Horseapples! Everypony with me, we need to stop whatever’s going on before it gets a chance to snowball!”
Sergeant Search took off in the direction that the stallion had come from, with us three hot on his heels. Down one street. Two. Three. Rounding a final corner, we saw what had to be Easy Tap’s store– obviously a name for some liquor distribution center– at the centerpoint of what was looking to be a warzone. Ponies were rushing past each other, some parking wheeled carted outside, the rest with saddlebags. They went in empty-hooved and left laden with bottles of wine, beer, spirits, and everything else under the sun that the store sold. There was of course a great deal of yelling and panicking.
I knew from experience that ponies sure did love to panic.
They were pushing past each other, each trying to force their way into or out of the double doors that served as the store’s entrance.
“Right,” Search began, “Dew and I will clear up this congested traffic out here. Bray and Sky, go inside and make sure everyone is calm and orderly in there. We’ll stay as long as we’re needed– or until our shift is over, whichever is shorter.”
He stepped forward, put a hoof up to his lips– ‘Gross.’ – and whistled a long and sharp note. The ponies all stopped right where they were and stared at Search.
“Now, I understand the excitement,” Search nearly-yelled, “but we’re civilized ponies. I want everypony to form two lines; one at that left door for enterin’, one at that right door for exitin’. Am I clear?”
“But I gotta get some salt before they run out!” A random pony yelled from the crowd.
“You’ll wait your turn, or else there’ll be trouble. Am. I. Clear?”
“Yes sir,” the voice answered slowly.
The effect was immediate; the ponies started to back up from the doors and started forming a line. There was still some pushing and arguing, so Search and Dew moved forward to the line and started straightening things out and acting as intermediaries in the fights. Bray nudged me in the shoulder and made for the entrance.
Cutting to the front of the line, we entered the shop. Easy Tap’s Shop was a grocery store with one purpose in mind: the death of sobriety. Shelves and shelves of liquid courage filled the large space. Each shelf sat on a tiled floor, with plain white walls ringing the room. The ceiling was similar to the plaster subscieling I had seen at the hospital, only much higher, and the lights were long circular tubes that glowed a slightly blue white color.
At the far back wall, glass doors with exaggerated handles stored tilted shelves of cooled beer, kept in some sort of recessed cold room that had to be powered by magic. I half expected horrible pop music to blair from speakers above but we were spared from that torture. Easy Tap’s was a modern liquor store in all but electronics. Magic made up for more than that difference.
Many of the shelves were either empty or in the process of being emptied. The panic buyers were practically throwing hooves over the choice picks of alcohol in the store. Up here at the front end of the store, the cashiers were utterly overwhelmed as ponies came with carts filled to the brim with goods.
“Let’s sort out the fights breaking out in the store proper, then head back up here afterwards to keep order. Got it, Sky?”
“Got it, Bray.”
“Good. Stick with me at all times.”
With that, we plunged into alcohol-flavored Black Friday.
‘Fuck this hell, I’d rather be committing war crimes again. At least then I had the Praetorians when it came to disciplining overgrown nymphs!’
“Hey you! No carrying products you haven’t bought in your mouth! Use a cart, a hoof, a wing, or TK!”
‘So unsanitary.’
Two pegasi yelling at each other pulled my attention away from the plague-bearer.
“Break ‘em up gently, Sky,” Bray instructed.
I got up between them.
“Alright alright! Break it up!”
“I saw it first!”
“I got it first!”
The object of their innermost desire was a bottle of store brand wine. It was on sale for twenty bits. Truely, this was the highest stakes argument in the past century. I groaned and pointed a metal hoof at the other bottle.
“There’s another one on the shelf over there!”
“.... Oh.”
“I knew that….”
“So one of you gets this one... you. And you, go get that one.”
“Thank you, sir..." They muttered ashamedly. Which was good, since they should be ashamed of their childish behavior.
I shook my head as they both slunked off.
‘Literally nymphs, I swear. This is the kind of problem that would be solved on a children’s TV show!’
“A far cry from dealing with Dire Wolves, eh?”
“Is this really what you all do?”
“Yes. We didn’t bring you onboard to wrangle rowdy ponies, though that is a large part of our job. We need you for… I’m not going to jinx it. Let’s just say that Dire Wolves were only one of our troubles.”
“Oh, right, right. I recall Search saying something about the forest.”
“Yeah. It’s considered bad luck to talk about its activity, or lack thereof.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Let’s keep moving.”
Bray looked around the store and called out from next to me, “I see you over there, stuffing saddlebags! Stop that!” She cantered over to deal with the potential shoplifter. I was about to join them when I heard a whisper.
“Moozart never died.”
I froze. There was a grey pegasus standing to my side, hiding behind a shelf. Whoever they were, they had been watching me.
‘A changeling? Here? How did they know I am one? What?!’
“He simply became music,” I whispered back. Bray was up ahead, not paying attention.
“It’s so good to see you again.”
“I didn’t expect to see a Lodge member– or any other of us– this far north, nor this soon.”
“Hehehe, you don’t recognize me?”
Looking around, I double checked that there were no ponies nearby. Not close enough to hear us talk.
“Can’t say I do.”
“Are you sure, Phas?”
“Ph– no. There’s no…”
The pegasus smiled.
“No way…”
“Long time no see, huh? It’s been months since we last talked.”
“Th… Thorax?” I whispered over the Weave.
“Last I checked.”
“How?”
“Your Weave. It’s impossible to ignore. I was in the area and felt your presence. I decided that I should check in on my best friend. Oh, the name’s Nimble Wing, by the way.”
“I…”
“Don’t worry, I heard some of your story. I should be able to come up with–”
I had stepped forward and pulled him into a hug using my metal leg.
“Th– Nimble. You… you’re really here?”
“Yeah, I’m here Sky. Ergh! Sky, you’re heavy!”
I realized I was leaning into him so I sat down.
“Shit. I didn’t expect to see you… Nimble. I can’t believe you’re actually here.”
“You look like you went through a grinder Sky. I saw your story in the newspaper– it made it all the way to Manehattan. Though in that paper you were only on the third page. Lots of other stuff were considered more important than a pony fending off a couple of dire wolves alone. Something about a war… would you know anything about that?”
“Sky?” A voice called out from the back of the store. It was Bray, searching for me.
I looked over my shoulder and let go of Thorax.
“We need to talk again. Not here. I’ll…. I think I know of a way where we can talk without anyone listening. Just look out for other changelings, okay? If you found me, others will. If Mother finds out I’m still alive…”
“She’ll come to rescue you! Good idea–”
“No. She will come to finish the job. There’s a lot we have to talk about. None of it good.”
“Oh Sky, there you are!”
Bray was walking up to where we were.
“Hey Bray.”
“You were told to stick to me. What happened, get your hooves welded to the ground?”
I looked back but Thorax was gone.
'Wow, he really picked up his skills during his time away from the Hive. If he had shown this potential during the class, I doubt that he would have been filtered out!'
“No, I saw a pony causing trouble. Needed to deal with them before they got away.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“You already ran away. I had to… Nevermind. I’m sorry, I should have stuck with you regardless.”
Bray squinted her eyes. “No… If you felt like you had to do something, then I’m glad you didn’t sit around or shirk your duty. What was it that needed your attention?”
“I saw… a pony trying to open a bottle and drinking from it.”
“Good catch. Wait, why are you sitting down then?"
"I lost you, so I decided to give my right shoulder a break. I think I may have tightened the straps too much."
"You're always fiddling with that thing. You'll get comfortable with it, I'm sure. Let’s head back up to the front now.”
“Alright.”
Corporal Bray led the way back up to the front end of the store. I let her guide me as I once again zoned out in thought.
‘There is one way I can talk to Thorax. One way, and I don’t even know if it is possible. Only one person in the entire world would know if it is possible. They are also the only person who can show me how. Luna, I’m going to need a favor from you.’