Chapter 7
Summer must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew, she was being prodded awake by someone. Her eyes popped open and she discovered none other than Anastasia Hopely before her. 'Oh hey... how did it go?' Summer asked, letting out a yawn.
'Complete success', Hopely said with a smile. 'I've just signed my discharge papers'.
'Glad to hear it... how long was I out?' Summer asked with another yawn before rising to her hooves.
'Don't know, but I went back three hours ago', Hopely said with a shrug. 'Doctors say that I'm good to go'.
Summer smiled and gave Hopely a tight hug. 'Let's be thankful for modern medical science!' She said warmly.
'No kidding... can you imagine what would have happened had we lived a hundred years ago?' Hopely asked, shuttering at the thought.
'Yes', Summer said plainly. '“Allowing the abortion of unborn foals is not only morally incomprehensible, but all together unnecessary, even in the cases of rape and incest, because as everypony knows, such heinous crimes do not happen in Equestria, and allowing such a procedure is nothing short of encouraging young mares and stallions to be careless.” as decreed by Princess Celestia in Year 45 Before the Republic'.
'I'm surprised you know that...' Hopely said raising an eyebrow.
'I plan to major in history when I attend university after I finish my military service', Summer said with a shrug.
‘You’re in the military? Shite...’ Hopely said with a frown. ‘You’re in for some rough times then, aren’t you?’
Summer nodded her head in agreement. ‘Yeah, but what can you do? Besides, I’ve got plenty of time left before I have to be back at camp for deployment’, Summer added with a smile.
‘Let’s get out of here, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving!’ Hopely said, waving her hoof for Summer to follow.
...
Hungry Colts was an oddity in Equestrian Society. Considering the fact that on the surface, the restaurant served meat products, something of which the pony digestive system was unable to process, and even then eating meat was something that most of the world’s races would find abhorrent.
Hungry Colts, however, used that controversy to its’ advantage. People unfamiliar with the restaurant would often express their shock upon learning of it, and would track down one of its’ locations, just to see if such a place could really truly exist. What they would find, however, was that the restaurant had absolutely no meat products anywhere on its’ menu. The sandwiches they served were all made from soy beans and other various veggies and put together in a way that would imitate meat products one would find in Bundesrepublik Schäferhund, the Twin Gryphon Kingdoms, or the Empire of the Jaguar. Perfectly safe of the equine stomach and still pleasing to the world’s meat eating races. Summer and Hopely had been sitting on a park bench, looking up at the sky as the sun began to peak over the Canton Plateau, the start of a new day.
‘I’ll be needing to head back to Ponyville soon’, Hopely said as she took a sip of her drink and pulled up the clock on the MIP on her leg. Nearly five thirty. ‘I have to be at work at 0830’, Hopely said with a frown.
‘You’re not going to take a sick day after what you just went through?’ Summer asked, raising an eyebrow. ‘Don’t you think that maybe you should?’
‘Nope’, Hopely said simply, shaking her head. ‘I want to be a detective, and nothing will stand in the way of that. I don’t want anyone knowing that there was ever anything wrong, so I’ve got to go on business as usual. Besides, the doctors said I was fine’.
Summer sighed and shook her head. She didn’t know why she was surprised, from what she had learned about Anastasia Hopely, it was that she was a determined pony, and that nothing would slow her down. ‘I wish you good luck’, Summer said with a smile as she pat Hopely on the back.
‘Hey, the way I see it? You’re going to need it a lot more than I will’, Hopely said with a smirk. ‘You come back safe, you hear me? You’re too good to be lost to the world’.
‘Heh, I’ll certainly do my best’, Summer said with a chuckle.
Hopely did not reply, instead, she leaned over and planted a quick kiss on Summer’s cheek, turning the unicorn mare’s face a bright red. Hopely couldn’t help but smirk and rose to her hooves. ‘If you’re ever in Ponyville, look me up!’ she called back, waving Summer goodbye and crossing the street to pick up the next bus.
Summer waved back, watching as Hopely disappeared into the bus. A small smirk formed on her face. She had a lot to look forward to when she came back from fighting in the Emergency.
...
A couple hours after parting ways with Hopely, Summer finally found herself in the Fillydelphian suburb of Portside. This was her home, where she had grown up. The sun was well over the Canton Plateau at this point, and everything was well illuminated. Summer had taken something of a roundabout way of getting here, preferring to travel on hoof and take in the sights one last time before heading out. Not to mention that arriving too early would have been pointless, her parents and Aurora would have still been asleep.
Now, it was close to 0900, her parents and younger sister had to be up by now. It was Saturday morning, and her eight year old sister could hardly justify sleeping through the morning and wasting her day.
Summer turned down her street, and smiled warmly as her house came into view. Number four Lyra Drive, her childhood home, likely the last time she would see it for quite some time. She trotted up to the brick and mortar house, setting her things down on the front porch, and absentmindedly swiping her fetlock over the lock. Getting more than slightly annoyed when it didn’t open, her parents couldn’t have reconfigured the lock not to take access from her MIP... could they?
It was at that moment that Summer discovered that she was not actually wearing her Micro Information Processor. The leg mounted computers had not been allowed to be used while she was at training, and she had gotten too used to not wearing it. Using her telekinesis she unzipped her bag, and dug through piles of clothes and other miscellaneous essentials, before finally finding the device stuffed haphazardly into the bottom. She snapped open the device’s binding and placed it on her right fetlock, securing it tightly and then once more swiped it over the door’s lock.
The door opened with a click, and allowed her entry. Summer stepped inside and took a look around at her home. She was standing in the entrance hallway, in front of her was a set of stairs that went up to the second level. If she were to continue along the hallway, she would eventually enter the kitchen, and then the rest of the first level.
She wasn’t interested in the kitchen, however. Rather she was interested in what was upstairs. She could hear a faint noise coming from upstairs... music. Summer trotted upstairs, where she found the door to Aurora’s room open just a crack. Her younger sister was singing and dancing obnoxiously to the music, which Summer recognised as that one song by the schäferhund pop band that she had no idea how to pronounce the name of. Aurora’s favourite song.
‘Moskau, Moskau! Wirf die Gläser an die Wand! Kosakenland ist ein schönes land! Ho ho ho ho ho, hey! Moskau, Moskau! Deine seele ist so groß! Nachts da ist der Teufel los! Ha ha ha ha ha, hey!‘ Aurora sang happily as she danced, bouncing back and forth between her legs.
Summer quietly pushed open the door and headed inside, quietly observing her sister long enough to pick up the dance, and joined in.
‘Kosaken hey hey hey hebt die Gläser! hey hey! Natascha ha ha ha du bist schön! ha ha! Towarisch hey hey hey auf die Liebe! hey hey! Auf Dein Wohl Mädchen hey Mädchen ho! hey hey hey hey!’ Aurora continued to sing. Though it was about this time when she noticed that Summer had entered the room. ‘Summer!’ She cried out, and leapt at her older sister, throwing her forelegs around her in a tight hug.
‘Hey kid!’ Summer said with a bright smile as she returned the hug. Aurora’s horn began to glow as she used her telekinesis to turn off the music.
‘I can’t believe you’re here!’ Aurora cried out happily. ‘I thought you were at training?’
‘Training is over... I came back to visit you one last time before I’m deployed... you’ve heard about the Emergency, right?’ Summer asked.
Aurora nodded her head in affirmation.
‘I’m going to have to go fight in it... and since I don’t know how long I’m going to be gone... I’m going to spend all the time that I have left with you!’ Summer said with a bright smile.
Aurora let out a cheer of excitement. Shortfuse Skydancer had been right. This was what Summer needed now.