//------------------------------//
// 6 - Lucky Jack's Fine Sea Food 
// Story: Izzy's Thief 
// by David Silver 
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Remi walked in alongside Zipp. Though the outside had some scent to it, inside was absent of it. It smelled nothing but delicious! Zipp had reached the pony standing near the door first. "Party for Pipp?"

"Right this way." He turned smoothly in place without stepping forward, only moving once he was pointed the right way. "She's waiting for you just here." He led the short way past a few other tables of ponies merrily chatting, drinking, and eating. "Please enjoy yourself."

There was Pipp, waving eagerly. "Glad you both made it! Hope you brought your appetites."

Remi hopped up across from Pipp, nodding at Zipp as she slid down between them. "I really did." She was feeling extra ready to eat! "Where's the menu?" In the far future, those were usually floating LED displays she could see. No such displays were around.

Zipp snorted out an aborted laugh. "Sorry, that's rude, but right there." She pointed to the folded paper right in front of Remi. "Miss it?"

Remi blinked at the paper. "Right!" She unfolded it to reveal the menu of options. So many options... Too many of them. "Hm... Any... suggestions?"

Pipp reached for the menu, drawing it down to slap at it. "Can't go too wrong with the linguini and clams. Pasta's nice and safe, with a nice taste of the sea added."

"Sure!" Going with the suggestion felt a lot safer than flailing in ignorance. "Let's do it."

Zipp leaned on a supporting hoof. "That's your entree. No starters?"

Pipp bobbed with Zipp. "I'm covering. Get a whole meal!"

Oh no. Remi flipped back to the section labeled 'starters'. "Okay..." Ah ha, she knew what that was. "How about the salad. Crab and Avacado." She'd had both, simulated, but she knew what they were basically about. "Looks great."

Pipp clapped with a great smile. "Lovely! We'll pick desserts afterwards." She slapped down her menu, clearly ready. "Mommykins says she can stop by tomorrow." She grinned at Zipp beside her. "By the way, she's coming, to meet Remi here!"

Zipp tensed at this news. "Really? Great..." She glanced away a moment. "Why?"

"Duh." Pipp waved a hoof at Remi. "She wants to meet the new tribe of ponies officially.  And then I can support Remi properly."

Zipp laughed awkwardly. "I don't mean to... throw doubt on our new friend, but we don't even know what a 'kitsune pony' even is. And we've only seen one." She pointed at Remi, that one. "We have no proof, at all, that she's a spokespony for other kitsune ponies."

Remi sat up straight and stiff. "Oh."

Pipp wasn't as tense as the other two. "Relax! Why don't you tell us more about your ponies, Remi? We'd love to hear about it."

Zipp nodded with that. "Yeah, I'm really curious."

Fortunately for Remi, the waiter arrived and began taking orders, putting off the conversation. "Anything to drink for the table?"

Pipp thrust up a hoof. "One bottle of your best white and a glass for each of us, thank you."

Remi offered a more timid hoof. "Water's good?"

Zipp just nodded, not adding to the drink order. The waiter hurried away to make it happen as Zipp focused on Remi. "Please, go on."

Remi's helpful ear voice spoke, "You started this."

Remi flashed a bright, if awkward, smile. "Alright, you got me." Zipp looked pleased. Pipp, on the other hoof, aghast. "I'm the only kitsune pony I represent. I can tell you about me, but I don't speak for others."

Pipp slumped forward onto the table. "But I already told mom!"

Zipp patted the top of her deflated sister. "You should calm down a little. Well, if you're one of a kind, that may be worth her coming by anyway. So tell us about you, Remi."

Remi's ordered salad was slid in front of her, and her gloom evaporated at the sniffing of it. "Mmm." She grabbed a fork and gave it a try. Oh... Yes... Real food, it couldn't be competed with. Her tail swished left and right as she savored that first morsel with slow bites.

Zipp laughed at the sight. "Wow, really digging that? You look--" She paused as her own starter arrived. "Time for me to at least enjoy mine half as much." It wasn't even a fair competition. She was a spoiled princess, in the end. Good food was much more standard for her. "When you're ready, do go on."

Pipp forced herself up to get her plate into position. "And no more lies! Friends don't lie to friends." She snorted softly. "So who is this mysterious pony we're sharing dinner with?"

The wine arrived, the pony making a showing of popping the cork free, sniffing it discerningly, then pouring out a glass for each of them. They left the bottle there at the table to be used. "Enjoy."

Did she dare? She dared. Remi sipped from the light wine and chomped her crabby salad together. "Mmm..." Yep, they worked together nicely. "Thank you, Pipp. This is fantastic."

Pipp put a hoof to her chest, a smug smile on her face. "I know where to get a quality nibble. "

Zipp poked at their guest. "Go on. You're just teasing now."

"Alright, so...truth time!" Remi set her fork down next to her plate. "I'm not a pony."

Zipp raised a brow high at that. "Sorry? You... look like a pony."

"Because I wanted to." Remi curled her foxy tail upwards. "That's the most honest part of me.  The ears too." She did have foxy ears to go with that tail.

Pipp put her phone where it could capture the table and those sitting at it. "Well! Now I'm curious, and I'm sure the Pippsqueaks are too! So, gonna share what you really look like?"

"I'm not even going to remind you how dangerous this is. You have a plan, right?"

Remi casually ignored the voice. "Hello... Pippsqueaks?" She waved at the phone, imagining the others watching her. "You've caught a special broadcast. I am not, as we suggested before, a pony. I'm actually--" She was not a changeling, so there was no rush of fire. She changed, flesh flowing like hot wax as she lost her equine features and was able to sit up properly as the biped she was born as. She was no pony. She as a fox person, a kitsune. "Ta da!"

Pipp glanced at the flood of surprised emoji and question marks filling her screen. The Pippsqueaks were interested! That she was chatting with an alien creature rated lower on her list of things to be worried about. "Fascinating! Hello. So you're... just a kitsune then, slash the pony?" She sliced the air with a hoof.

Remi pointed at Pipp with her restored fingers. "Exactly. Also, this is really good." She took a fresh nibble with an appreciative noise. "Did you tell your Pippsqueaks to try it?"

Pipp jumped in place. She had failed to do that. "We're at Lucky Jack's Fine Sea Food. Don't come rushing in here and filling the place. The cozy atmosphere is a part of it. I love you all--" She blew a kiss at the phone. "--but let's not make too much noise, hm?"

Zipp chuckled at her sister. "You tell 'em. Now, Remi... That is your name, right?"

"Technically, Remington is the whole thing." She spread her hands with that proper reveal. "But Remi is what I use most of the time, so it's really fine. I come in peace!" She fired a peace sign at the phone. "Maretime Bay has been nothing but so great to me so far."

Zipp clapped slowly. "Hey! Wait..." She lowered her hooves. "If this is you..." She waved over Remi's biped form. "I only won because you were not being you. I demand a do-over! That wasn't even a win if you were busy pretending to be a pony when we were doing it."

Pipp leaned in towards her sister with a big grin. "You have to explain this, sis. Tell me and the Pippsqueaks what you 'didn't win'."

Remi took a fresh chomp. "We were racing across the roofs." She pointed up. "It was a great race, but I made a few bad moves and lost. Technically! I owe Zipp a dinner, but I didn't have any money."

Zipp rolled her eyes at that. "I'm not going to ask for what you don't have, but the next one, you wager something you can actually give up if you lose. And there is a next time, because I'm challenging you. I want to race you at your best!"

Remi steepled her fingers. "Alright, but be ready. If you're challenging me at my foxy best, I will pull out all the stops. We kitsune have tricks..."

"Bring it on." Zipp clopped her forehooves. "I'll keep the wings bound. Hardly a parkour race if I just sail over it all. Oh, that goes for you too. If you have any foxy flying tricks or something, none of that. We have to climb and run, or it isn't really parkour, is it? All about the smooth climb."

Pipp applauded the both of them. "Now that sounds exciting! Tell me where the finish line is so I can capture the winner." And share it with her fans. She didn't say that, but did it really need to be said? "Now, Pippsqueaks, gonna end this stream, because I see a pony coming with the main course. Love you all, later!" She pressed the end button on the phone just in time for plates of food to arrive.

The waiter tried to claim Remi's salad, but she put a hand over it. "Still working on that." Give up on that? No! "But, please, let's see the rest." So her available options to chew on expanded. "Aw yeah..."

Zipp laughed as she attacked her primarily pasta dish, no sea food in sight in her main course. "This is ritzier than I had originally planned... But it's alright."

"Thanks for the approval." Pipp smirked at Zipp's words. "Now, really. I want to know when and where. I'll cheer you both on, promise."

Zipp waved at Remi. "Fine fine, but you're not even going to ask about... this? Look at you, being all... not pony..."

Remi slurped up some of her fettechini, chewing on the more solid fishy bit. "Um... Yeah, not a pony." She had no pony parts left to her. "In my defense, I didn't have a brand of destiny and you didn't notice."

Zipp cocked up a brow. "A what of whonow?"

Pipp grinned. "Could be wrong, but I think Remi's talking about a cutie mark, though that's a really odd way to think about them."

Zipp looked back at her own mark. "It's not a brand... You have to put a brand on something. Mine came to me without any help." Still, it did click. "And you had no cutie mark." She clopped a hoof to her head. "Way to not see the clues! Still... adult blanks do happen, sometimes... rarely..."

Pipp inclined her head towards Zipp. "In our defense, maybe this 'kitsune' tribe handled cutie marks different. How would we know? Well, without asking." She sipped from her wine gently. "Which is why we're here, asking and learning! The power of friendship is thick in the air. Poor Sunny, missing out."

Remi perked an ear. "Why not invite Sunny? Not the first time you mentioned her."

"Maybe next time," sang out Pipp. "This evening, you belong to us, sorry! Also mom's still coming, and I have something." She clopped her hooves. "Not a tribe, but a whole new kind of creature. That still counts! You do want to meet some royalty, hm?"

Remi considered Pipp's hopeful face. "Um... Sure yeah."

"There we go," came the voice in Remi's ear. "You're coming close. Something about this must be related. Keep an eye out on them, and their mother. Maybe something happens..."

Remi rolled her eyes at the vauge advice. "I'd be delighted. For now, food?"

Food! They got to chomping.