//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3.1 (Filler) 
// Story: The Detective Turned Smuggler 
// by Lamasioux 
//------------------------------//

December 2nd, 1009

Flutter Watch and Caramel Shell were sitting atop one of the steel beams that would be the last of the floors to the forty-one-story skyscraping being built in Vanhoover. Most of the ponies were taking their lunch break at this time and had flown down to the city floor to find their favorite shops to purchase lunch. Expect for those two.

They were both earth ponies. Good for doing manual labor but bad at doing it 41 stories high in the sky. That’s why nearly every pony was a pegasus, winged and ready to fly. Except them.

With advances in science and the industrial sector though, earth ponies weren’t as required for such tasks anymore as heavy machinery such as cranes become commonplace, but for Flutter and Cam, they were out of luck.

They had both been out of luck in finding a job, the few ponies who probably were in such positions but even now, and construction still has areas where an earth pony could excel but most employers didn’t want to run the risk of dealing with that odd poor foul who took a fall and was unable to unfold their non-existent wings to save themselves. Thankfully the two had found a site that was willing to let them work as long as they took full responsibilities for themselves in the event of falling.

That was years ago. At least for Flutter. Cam had just joined a few months ago and was given the job of working on the new 41-story office building that was being constructed a few weeks ago after complaints of lack of speed.

Flutter had been working on the building since the beginning but quickly came into contact with Cam when they showed up. The two hit it off and spent their lunch breaks every day since just chatting, as once the building had grown too tall, the journey down to the streets would take too long.

So there they sat. Flutter munching on a recreation of one of Canterlots famous pies while Cam was going to the basics and eating some apples.

The two had been mostly quiet so far during their break until Flutter had enough of that.

“You think they’re going to lose?” Flutter asked?

“Us?” Cam seemed a bit confused at the question at first before adding, “Or the deer?”

“Wait? What do you mean us? You think they’ll invade? There’s no way the Changelings would dare invade Equestria. They have no reason to. Nothing for them to gain here besides open fields and all you can eat dessert.” Flutter said. He then laughed it off and shook his head, “I mean Olenia.”

There was a silence before Cam answered, “No way. I think Celestial will come around cave into the requests I hear Luna’s been bugging her about and send support in some way. We’ve been trading partners for years with them as well. At least for us here in Vanhoover and down to Las Pegasus. Plus with them having Queen Velvet the queen now, there’s all the more reason to keep united with them and diplomacy.”

“I would think that they would’ve considered all that before half of their country was taken. Like, what if Olenia does collapse and loses to the Changelings, how would the world look at us as the bastion of harmony when we let our neighbors be slaughtered like that?” Flutter stated.

“Now that’s the thing. I don’t know. But I think Celestial and Luna are coming up with something that’ll be big. Maybe we’ll join with the Crystal Empire and smack those bugs from the side as a warning to make them stop.” Cam said.

“Sounds a lot like starting a war. Not something I’m too keen on seeing happen.” Flutter said.

“But what else will we do then? It’s not like the diplomatic protest Celestial sent in the first month of it did anything, or mean anything. The Changelings don’t even speak Equestrian. I doubt they’re even smart enough to translate it.” Cam said.

Flutter sighed and thought on the question, “I don’t know. But we shouldn’t also go to war with them. It won’t solve any problem the world has anyways. We should just wait for Celestial to make a decision and then follow it. That’s why it’s her job. She’ll figure out what’s best to do and make it happen.”

Cam fiddled their hooves together after Flutter finished.  He looked out at the direction of Olenia before he said, “Did you hear that?”

Flutter looked over at Cam and tilted their head, “Hear what?”

The city was quiet. It was rare for it to be so quiet like that but as the two listened on while looking out at the horizon above the city, the noise happened again.

Flutter swallowed as he heard it.

Cam stared into the abyss of the horizon.

The faint sounds of the Olenian-Changeling front could be heard if searched for.

Then as what sounded like a single horn from below, the sound of the city resumed, overpowering any sounds of a distant war. Almost like magic.

“Well!” Flutter said as they stretched, balancing on the steel beam, “Lunch break seems to be over. I see some of the other workers flying up now.”

Cam looked over the edge of the beam. Nothing between them and a city street besides 41-stories of height. “Huh, guess we should.”