//------------------------------// // An Unforseen Exposure // Story: Off the Path // by WhispersInTheDark //------------------------------// Pinkie swallowed nervously as she saw the rough-looking stallions pile into the diner, but she had a job to do. Unknown to her, Constable Jural came in right after the stallions came in, took a seat at the diner's bar, and watched. Determined to do her best on her first day, she squared her shoulders, put on a smile, and went to their table. "What can I get for you gentlecolts? Our special tonight is the fried mushroom--" but that's as far as she got. "Hey...you're a cute one!" leered the biggest of them. "Why don't you come sit on my lap and take my...real...order, babe?" The others with him guffawed and snorted laughter at her expression. Pinkie felt her face get hot, and her heart started racing, but she clamped down her anger and tried to remain professional. "I'm really sorry, sir, that's not allowed." She looked down at her pad and pencil. "Now then, I can get you all started on some drinks while you decide---" she stopped when her wrist was grabbed. "I guess you didn't hear me: I said, sit on my lap, bitch." He began pulling her onto his lap when she lost it. Her hidden horn suddenly glowed, and his hoof caught fire. He screamed and drew his hoof back, as he and his buddies all jumped to their hooves. Pinkie turned, grabbed a pitcher of water from a nearby table, and doused him with it. "What did you do?! HOW did you do that?!" he yelled as he held his injured leg. Pinkie remembered to look shocked. "I didn't do anything, sir! I don't know what happened!" She drew closer to him, trying to see his hoof. "Are you alright?" "Get away from me, FREAK!" he screamed, as he bolted for the door, his friends following after him. But they were stopped by the Constable as he blocked their path. "Now, boys? We don't allow that sort of behavior nor language against a female in our little town." He squared up against the biggest one and uttered one word: "Apologize." The big stallion looked around at his buddies, then leaned over the Constable. "And if we don't, Little. Old. Pony? What then?" he sneered. The Constable looked up at the younger stallion, who probably outweighed him by several kilos, definitely was at least twenty years younger, and had almost a third of a meter of height on him. It didn't make a bit of difference. Without taking his eyes off his opponent, he took off his hat, hoofed it over to a filly sitting at the table next to him with her parents, and said, "Hold this please, sweetheart." Then he grinned, and without warning, he grabbed the younger stallion by his uninjured hoof, flipped him over his back onto his stomach, then bent it at an unnatural angle, causing the brute to cry out in pain. "AHHH!!! Stop! Stop! Let me go!!" cried the stallion, but Jural just applied more pressure, while the stallion's friends stood frozen in fear. "Are you going to apologize?" asked the Constable in a calm voice, showing neither strain nor hurry. "Yes! Yes! I'm sorry! I'm SORRY!!" sobbed the youngster. "PLEASE! Let me go!!" "That's all I wanted to hear." He immediately released him, then stood back and retrieved his hat. "Thank you, baby," he said to the filly, as the stallion got to his hooves and stared balefully at him. "Now then, I think you boys have stayed long enough in our little town. I don't want to see any of you come morning." His face became dark as he looked around at them all. "Understood?" They all frantically nodded, then helped their friend up and scrambled out of the diner, never looking back. Jural took a moment to watch them leave, then turned and started for the back of the diner. Pinkie smiled up at him. "Oh, thank you, Constable! That was really--" but she stopped as he brushed past her with neither glance nor word. He spoke briefly to Emma as he made his way to the back room. "Bring her." Emma swallowed, then quickly walked up to Pinkie and threw a hoof over her shoulder, forcing her to follow her. When they came to the back of the diner, she pushed the pink mare in with the Constable and shut the door, keeping herself outside, as she went back and kept up the business of waiting on the customers, as if nothing untoward had happened. Pinkie looked back at Emma, who was doing her best to ignore her, then pushed the door open to the backroom and went inside. There, she found the Constable seated at a small table, with one unoccupied seat in front of him. He glanced up at her. "Sit down." She slowly approached the indicated seat and sat down, trying not to perspire too much. He took off his hat and placed it on the table, then sighed. The silence dragged on. After a few more moments, he spoke. "So...what are you? A Changeling?" "Pinkie's" eyes grew wide. "N...No! I'm not! Why would you---" he held up a hoof to cut her off. He raised his eyes to meet her's, and his look was far from friendly. "I saw what you did to that young asshole. From what I saw, he definitely deserved it, but that's not my problem right now." He leaned forward, and his gaze became more intense. "What I need to know is: are you a danger to anypony here? What are your intentions?" She leaned back, trying to put some distance between them. "P...Please, Constable, I assure you...I'm not a Changeling, and I don't wish anypony here harm!" Jural stared at her, tapping his hoof against the table. Then he said, "So, why are you here? You're not an Earth pony. No Earth pony does the sort of magic I just saw you do, and probably half the diner just saw." Pinkie gasped as he suddenly reached across the table and grabbed her hoof. "I want the truth from you, and I want it RIGHT NOW." Knowing she was finally trapped, she closed her eyes, sighed one last time, and began.