//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Brokering an Uneasy Peace // Story: Finding Your Place With the Outcasts // by TikiBat //------------------------------// The two pegasi excitedly trotted alongside the lake, heading towards their newly acquired warehouse, a loud flurry of honks drowning out most of their conversation. Blue Spring flicked her ears a few times before turning towards Zipper, noticing that his ears were pivoting around in all directions while he looked around with a blank expression. She paused for a moment and stepped closer to him, “Hey, Zip, you holding up?” The gray pegasus shook his head for a moment and glanced back towards her, “Huh?” “You’re doing it again.” His face reddened for a moment, “Err— sorry, I guess I just keep getting distracted again.” Spring nodded, “You’re doing that a lot more than usual; you sure it’s not bugging you?” He shook his head, “It’s annoying, but I just need to get over it.” Zipper waved over towards one of the large geese, “I was trying to understand what he’s honking about now.” “Any luck?” Blue Spring asked with a raised eyebrow. Zipper shrugged, “I don’t know; guess I can try and ask him?” The pegasus trotted towards one of the larger geese, eyeing him with both curiosity and slight concern, “Heya Gustav how are you doing today? You sure are honking up a storm lately...” The goose replied with a simple Honk. “Still feeling a bit under the weather?” Honk “A...Alright, I guess I’ll have River Breeze take a look at you later if she’s not busy with the other animals at the clinic.” Gustav replied with a cheerful sounding honk. Blue Spring watched on in confusion, “I’m sorry but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this. It’s just so different.” Zipper nodded, “It’s… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get used to it either, trust me.” “You never know Zip, I’m sure you’ll get it all figured out in time.” The pegasus shrugged, “I hope you’re right, It’s just so hard to even hear myself think sometimes.” “Well if you ever need a nice relaxing place to get away to I might know a few, it’ll be hard to fully get away from any animal noise though.” Zipper smiled, “Maybe I’ll take you up on that offer sometime.” The two resumed their walk, passing the geese and heading towards a large building that sat near an inlet. Blue Spring fumbled with her saddlebag for a moment as Zipper walked towards the shore. The mare squinted as she glanced up towards the vacant warehouse, the sun’s light shining brightly in her eyes, “82 Lakeside Street, I think this is us.” Zipper nodded, “It’s perfect! We’re so close to the geese so if we set up a little area for them over there they won’t have to move too far at all!” He excitedly shouted, gesturing towards the inlet with a wing. “It’s not bad, it will need a little work if we actually want to set up the sanctuary here, but at least there’s not too many buildings around so we won’t have that to worry about.” “Mhmm, it’s a bit far from River Breeze’s too so that might be an issue… what was that whole thing about earlier by the way?” Blue Spring raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?” “Well you said you talked with her about this before.” Her face softened, “Oh, well I work with River on the weekends sometimes, it’s not like she’s super busy but she’s definitely in need of some upgrades. I kind of dealed her into this if you don’t mind, I figured it’d work out a lot better if we had an actual vet on our side, no offense to you or anything, but she’s the brains we need for our operation.” He walked up to the warehouse and pushed the door open, holding it open for Blue Spring, “I guess you have a point, I can’t keep them safe if I don’t even know how to properly do that. It’s probably the best option we have.” “River’s the only option we have,” She corrected. As they stepped through the door Zipper flipped on the lights, letting out a sneeze as he breathed in the dusty air, “Man, I can see why Patrick is letting us borrow this place, it must have been sitting here empty for a long time now.” Blue Spring nodded slowly, “Gee when we asked for an office I wasn’t expecting to get something so…” “Empty?” Zipper completed for her. “Yeah,” She shrugged back towards him, “I mean it’s nice and all, but we didn’t need this big empty space. What are we even going to do with all of it?” “Maybe River Breeze could find something to use it for?” Spring shrugged, “I don’t really see what she could do with it, we’d have to spend a ton just to get it set up for anything she’d do.” Zipper pointed up to the loft that overlooked the warehouse floor. “Well we’ve got an office up there it looks like.” “Alright, well that’s good at least. But still, what are we going to even do with the rest of it? It’s just us three right now, maybe we’ll get a few more sets of hooves helping out eventually, but even then I don’t think we’ll ever outgrow this anytime soon.” “Well… I guess we could try and find a good use for it in the meantime.” Blue Spring raised an eyebrow, “What kind of use?” Zipper shuffled his hooves around, “Well, the Oasis doesn’t have any good nightlife does it?” “Let me guess, you want to make something to fill that void?” The gray pegasus shrugged, “Maybe not permanently, but it could certainly be a good way of bringing in some extra revenue, and driving up interest, you know?” Spring let out a laugh, “So what is it? A nightclub? Bar?” “An arcade.” “An arcade…” she shook her head, “Zipper we don’t have hands, and there’s like a dozen humans here against what, three times as many ponies?” He nodded his head and looked away, “Yeah okay, good point, but think about it. Classic arcade cabinets use buttons and joysticks right? Stuff that’s big enough to work well with hooves— and it’d give us all something that we haven’t been able to do in years.” “Okay… but where do we start with this? I mean we’ll need someone to help get us the cabinets, make some designs, a sign or two? You know the big stuff that the two of us can’t do.” Zipper smiled, “Hang on, I have an idea, I might know a guy that can help us out… at least with the design part.” “Design part?” “Well we’ll need signs and stuff right? Something flashy to bring people here.” “Yeah… Where are you going with this?” “Well Silver hung up some ads in the town center, one of them was for a graphic designer he knew.” “And you’re just going to trust some random pony from an ad?” She asked with a furrowed brow. Zipper nodded, “Silver did. And you know how he gets with other ponies.” Blue Spring nodded, “Alright, I guess I’ll let you lead the way on this one… this should be interesting.” Zipper held up his gauntlet, “NAVI call Stardust Designs” Calling Stardust Designs… warning, user has specified quiet hours, would you like to continue anyways?” “Yep! It’s important.” Zipper responded with a gleeful nod. The comm began to dial for a few minutes before the pony on the end answered with a long yawn an annoyed sigh, “Go for Stardust… can I help you?” “Hey Stardust… it’s Zipper, from the Oasis. I kinda needed help with something and Silver still had your ad hanging up around here so…” “Uh huh, Zipper…. zipper, I uhh… sorry I can’t place a face to the name. I’ve only been out there twice, you’ll have to forgive me.” The pegasus looked towards Blue Spring before turning back towards his gauntlet, “You know. I’m like one of Silver’s best friends, I was the weather captain too.” “One of Silver’s best friends… right,” Stardust paused for a moment, “Okay, well uhh… Zipper was it?” “Yeah.” “Right, well Zipper what did you need exactly?” “Okay so uhh, well we’re making an arcade and I kinda needed a logo… and some signs ... and I’ll need tokens too!” Zipper excitedly answered. “Okay okay just slow down for a second. So I can do most of that, but you need to keep in mind that I’m an entire state away from you right now so I’m going to have to make a trip down with my team and that’s going to drive the price up a bit. If that’s okay with you then we’re in business. So with that in mind, what kind of signs did you need, and do you have an actual idea for the logo?” Zipper looked towards Blue Spring and then grimmaced. “I honestly don’t really know yet… Is that going to be a problem?” “Well it kind of is. You’re not really giving me much to work with here.” Zipper froze for a second, “I.. okay, I guess you’re right.” The pegasus wracked his brain before Blue Spring gave her own suggestion. “What about the Starcade?” She offered. “Yeah! That could work!” Zipper cheered. “Okay then. Any fonts or layouts you want?” Zipper shook his head. “Not really… I guess I’m not very creative with this kind of stuff.” The line sat quiet for a few moments until finally Stardust spoke up, “Okay, so normally this would be one of my least favorite kinds of orders to get just because I have to try and figure out what you want, but seeing as how a lot of people around me don’t like dealing with night ponies, I’m open to helping you with this. What kind of feeling are you going for with it? It’s an arcade so something modern, something futuristic, maybe something retro—“ “—Yeah! Something retro would be awesome!” Zippier excitedly shouted into the Comm. Stardust let out a small laugh, “Okay retro it is, now what kind of sign did you have in mind for it?” “Well I was thinking of a neon sign maybe, and probably some posters and banners… how much do you think that’ll be?” “Right. That’s gonna be a little more pricey but it’d also look cool too. I guess we’ll figure out the finer detail once you have an idea for the name. Banners and posters shouldn’t be too terribly expensive though, and I even know a guy that can do them in house so that’ll keep it a bit lower.” “How much is a bit lower?” The stallion paused while the sounds of a keyboard carried through the line. “I wouldn’t know until we get the actual details worked out.” “I guess that makes sense,” Zipper excitedly shouted back, earning another annoyed sigh from the tired night pony. “Uh-huh… soooo… was there anything else you needed?” Zipper blinked a few times. “Oh uhh, not really. So I guess I’ll just give you a call later and we can talk the designs over?..” “I have a better idea,” The stallion replied. “Weird question but do you know when you’ll probably be asleep next?” “Uhh… tonight? Maybe around nine-ish?” “Okay cool. I’ll stop by your dream and show off a few design ideas and we can go from there, it’s honestly the easiest option given how far away we are…” Stardust paused for a moment, “Have you ever had anyone dreamwalk to you before?” “Uhhh no, not really? You can do that?” Zipper paused for a moment, “Wait, won’t you be awake by then?” “Probably, but Silver’s been teaching us all about waking dreams… it’s kind of amazing, the dude’s on vacation and still won’t take a break from his work. Trust me though, it’s a lot of boring night pony stuff that you wouldn’t understand so don’t worry about it. Just don’t be confused when you’re suddenly aware you’re in a dream, it’ll make the design process a lot easier for both of us, okay?” Zipper nodded towards the Comm, “I guess I’ll take your word for it… can’t wait to see what you come up with!” “Mhmm. Just give me a call if you need anything else I guess, see you in your dreams.” He finished as the Comm went silent. Zipper looked up towards Blue Spring and smiled, “I think this means we’re one step closer to getting there.” She nodded, “And what about the games? Do you have anything in mind for that? Because it’s probably not going to be easy or cheap for us to do on our own.” Zipper paused for a moment, “I uhh…” “Didn’t think of that. That’s what I figured,” Blue Spring said, finishing his sentence. She sat in hesitation for a moment before perking up, “What about that night pony that’s been trying to get some more nightlife off the ground too? Wasn’t she the one that got a few old cabinets into the rec center? Maybe she’d know where to start.” “You mean Sine Wave? I’ve barely said two words to her, I don’t think she likes me very much.” The blue pegasus let out a laugh, “Well Zip you kind of crashed through her wall when you tried out that goofy spiral maneuver again while she was asleep, you ever see a tired night pony? How about one that you just scared awake. I think anyone would be more than annoyed if they got woken up and had to deal with repairing that kind of damage.” Zipper’s face reddened in embarrassment, “Okay maybe that’s a good point,” he looked back towards her, “but do you think she’d really be onboard to help us with this?” Blue Spring shrugged, “Well we won’t really know until we ask. So how about it? You want to go stop by her place later and see if she wants to talk about it over some drinks or something?” He nodded, “Sure, I guess if she’s our only bet then we might as well give it a go…” he paused for a moment, clearly unsure of whether it was a good idea or not. “Still afraid she’s mad at you? You shouldn’t be. Don’t you remember how much Silver emphasized how important it is to forgive? Most of the night ponies here look up to him, including her. She’ll probably be more than happy to help out once you explain the whole idea.” “What is that bird brain doing here?! I thought I told you to stay away!” The dark purple night pony hissed as she bared her fangs at Zipper, ignoring the small salad she had prepared for herself. The gray pegasus shrunk back in fear at the aggressive display, letting out a scared whimper as Blue Spring pushed her way past him, walking towards the other end of the table, “Hey now, calm down Sine! We’re here because we wanted to ask you something.” The night pony shook her head, idly picking away at her meal, “I don’t want anything to do with him. He knows what he did and he better know that what I said I’d do wasn’t a threat… it was a promise.” Blue Spring rolled her eyes, “Okay look, remember what Silver said about forgiveness? Because I think if he was here right now he’d have some choice words to say to you.” Sine slowly nodded her head, letting out an annoyed sigh, “Yes, well Silver isn’t here. But fine, what do you want then?” “What I want is for you to listen to something that we think you might be interested in, and hopefully we can end whatever drama’s going on between you two. So how about you put this behind you for a little while and we can deal you in on what we’re working on, because I think you’re the only pony in the entire Oasis who can really help us with the hardest part.” “Look, I know what Silver said, but I don’t care. I’m not going to forget about this until the bird brain apologizes for ruining my garden.” Blue Spring nodded, “And he will. Isn’t that right Zipper?” She asked as she turned towards him, flashing a stern glare. The gray pegasus meekly nodded, “I… Yes.” “Okay then, let’s hear it.” Sine responded with a smirk. “I… I uhm, I’m sorry.” Zipper quickly replied back. “That’s it?!” The pegasus recoiled in fear again, “I…” He let out a deep sigh, “Look, Sine, I’m sorry. I’m bad at this kind of stuff but I’m really sorry I ruined your garden. I promise I’ll make it up to you sometime.” “Oh you will now? So you’ll help me replant all my flowers then?” Zipper shuffled his hooves around, “I… I will.” “Wonderful. And you’ll pay for all of it then? Including the broken wall that you crashed into that’s still broken?” Zipper’s eyes widened, but before he could protest Blue Spring chimed in, “Yes he will. Isn’t that right Zipper?” Zipper flashed his friend an annoyed look, but didn’t protest further. With an annoyed sigh he turned towards Sine, “Yes. I’ll pay for all of it. How much do I owe you?” Sine paused in consideration for a moment, “How about we work on everything and I’ll give you the bill when we’re done, k?” The gray pegasus slowly nodded, “Alright. It’s a deal.” “Wonderful! I forgive you.” The night pony cheerfully replied, “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, what’s your big crazy idea?” “Well, Zipper, River, and I are trying to build an animal sanctuary. Zipper here had the bright idea of making an arcade to get some side cash to fund some of the annoying permits that we’ll have to get.” “And it’ll give the Oasis something fun to do at night! Plus we can get a lot of positive attention that way!” Zipper excitedly chimed in. “An arcade…” A smile slowly began to spread across her face, “Well to tell you the truth I thought this was going to be some really dumb idea, but I think I can actually get behind you on this one, bird brain.” “Sine! He said he’d promise to pay you back, what happened to forgiving him?” Blue Spring protested. The night pony smirked, “Well I forgave him, but that doesn’t mean he’s not still a bird brain," She turned towards Zipper, taking a few bites of her salad, "So tell me bird brain, what’s the plan? And please tell me you haven’t gotten any cabinets yet.” Zipper picked away at his own plate for a few moments, taking a small nibble before nodding, “Right. So we haven’t gotten any cabinets yet, but we do have an idea in mind for some of the design aspects.” “I hope that doesn’t mean you have a layout planned out? Because I’ve got a rad idea in mind that I’ve been itching to execute if you catch my drift.” “Is that a yes then? You’ll help us?” “Well, what about it? Would you be okay with me calling the shots on our design then?” “Well, as long as it isn’t the signage then I think we’re good.” Sine Wave smiled and dug into her salad, “Well then bird brain, and friend, I think that makes us business partners.” “So I’m going to go ahead and assume that answers our unasked question, about whether you’d be able to get us some arcade cabinets?” Blue Spring asked in between her own bites. The mare nodded, “Yep. It won’t be hard at all, trust me.” “Perfect, so uhh, I hope this isn’t part of what I’m paying you back for… is it?” Zipper asked with a twinge of concern. The mare let out a chuckle, “Don’t worry bird brain, it’s all taken care of. I know a guy down in Phoenix that’s been trying to offload a bunch of surplus cabinets. No one’s buying them right now, go figure, so I kind of scooped up as many as I could… not like I’m really spending that much on anything else.” “So you already have the cabinets?!” Zipper excitedly asked. Sine nodded, “Kinda. Kal has them in storage, said he could hold them for me for the month but if I didn’t pick them up then he’d wind up selling them off to some guy out in California. I take it you two have a space to house all these?” Blue Spring nodded, “Yep! Pat had an old warehouse down by the lake, said we could use it as long as we needed it.” “Ah, the one down by the inlet?” Zipper nodded, “That’s the one!” “Perfect,” she glanced at the clock on her wall and turned back towards the pair, “I need to make a call or two, mind if I stop by in the morning? I should know everything I need to know by then.” “Sure. Thanks again for the dinner, Sine.” The night pony nodded, “Breakfast, but I guess it’s dinner for you two. Thanks again for promising to fix my garden, bird brain. I’ll be sure to get a whole list of things I need you to do all made up in the meantime.” Zipper slowly nodded, “It’s… alright. See you in the morning.” She smiled, “Nice seeing you too Spring, thanks for teaching bird brain some manners.” “Any time.” The two walked out of the night pony’s house and started on the short walk back to Blue Spring’s home. Zipper couldn’t help but listen to the distant animal sounds, his sensitive ears picking up on every call and chirp. Before long the two were nearing Spring’s small home, and as Zipper walked Spring up to her door he turned and smiled, “I just want to say thanks again for everything Spring, I really appreciate all the help. It means more to me than I think you realize.” The blue pegasus smiled, “Of course. It’s something this place needed, and I can’t wait to see what happens from here on out.” Zipper raised an eyebrow, “The arcade or the sanctuary?” “Both,” She answered as she opened her door, waving towards the entrance with a wing, “You staying over tonight or flying back home?” “I think I’ll head home, I need to get some chores done.” “Sure you don’t want to sit down and watch another movie?” Zipper shook his head, “Nah, I’d love to but I also need to go clean up Gordon’s cage. He’s been driving me crazy.” “You can hear more than just him squawking?” The pegasus nodded, “Yeah. It’s like he’s talking to me and actually talking to me. It’s hard to explain but yeah you already know that.” Blue Spring smiled, “Good luck with that Zip. See you in the morning?” “Same time, same place.” She smiled, “Great, see you then.” “See you when I see you, have a nice night Spring.” With a final hug goodbye, Zipper took off towards his own home, excitement carrying through him as he saw his dreams finally becoming a reality.