//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Veil of the City // by BlueyWaifu //------------------------------// The changeling trio was up early, already walking along the sidewalks of a cold morning Manehattan in their usual disguises: Faltic with his light blue coat and blonde mane, Restel donning a green coat with a gray mane, and Klaven in his garnet unicorn disguise with a black mane. The day started with fishing Restel out of his foam pit bed. Actually, they had to get him out earlier than this morning. Right after he had tasted the egregious fake jellybean, Faltic did give in and pulled Restel out to go wash his mouth out under the bathroom sink faucet. Either Restel was tired enough that he didn't care, or the foam pit was comfortable enough for him to settle back into it afterwards. It felt like a good day to Faltic. The sun was out, he'd somewhat taken better care of his disguised mane, and the happy little thoughts of getting to see Whimsy again today put an extra hop in his step that Restel mockingly fake gagged at, pointing his hoof down his mouth. Klaven seemed to be carried by the prospect of going to the cosplay party after the day was done. Faltic and Restel both knew he was more excited about it than them. Klaven practically had an itinerary for today to ensure they'd get there within a reasonable time. That, and he was the first one up and ready. Faltic was the one leading the three as they trotted side by side. They were headed for the heart of Manehattan, where all the tallest buildings were, but wouldn't be going too far in. Judging by distance, Faltic had a bit of a journey to make it to Whimsy's place once they were done here. "You know you still have to fix my bed before tonight," Restel spoke up. Klaven looked past Faltic at Restel. "Wasn't it more comfortable than your mattress?"  "No. My back hurts, and it cramped my wings." Faltic was more or less in his own mind for the walk. Though his ears picked up what Restel and Klaven were saying, Faltic paid more attention to thinking about where he and Whimsy would be later. But for now, physically, he was here. "Yo Faltic, how much further is it?" Restel's voice brought Faltic to attention, as he peered up the busy road. Many different marquee's of various businesses protruded overhead and along in the distance, obstructing the view. What stuck out as a solid waypoint, for Faltic, was the big arrow pointing down and towards the front door of something further up. "Just a bit further. Past that big arrow sign." Faltic gestured forwards to what he was talking about. "I don't think I've ever been this way," Klaven mentioned.  Restel looked across to him with a raised eyebrow. "Really? How?" Klaven shrugged. "Haven't exactly been around Manehattan as much as you two have. Plus, you know I stick by you two." "That's true," Restel agreed. Faltic also internally agreed. With how much Klaven had fit in with him and Restel, it was easy to forget Klaven hadn't been a scout for as long as they had. It was also refreshing to have a newer face in the scouting branch of changelings. There haven't been many active since the invasion. Thinking about that reminded Faltic of their night at the campground a little bit ago. "Hey-" Faltic began as he nudged Klaven's shoulder. "-Where'd you put all our stuff that we brought home from the campground?" Klaven seemed to perk up a little at that question. "Oh, I put them all in the bedside drawer." Faltic's brow scrunched slightly. "Didn't I look there last night when I put the box of jelly beans in there?" "Wrong drawer," Klaven simply responded. With just a second of thought, Faltic wondered if it were all three of their items, including his flower. "Even the flower?" Faltic asked. Klaven was stumped from his response for a second. "Even the... flower." Faltic didn't think about it at first, but maybe he could take Restel's mocking advice that he gave that night, and give it to Whimsy, had it not wilted yet by some miracle. "Let's get that out of there when we get back to the room." Faltic's ear twitched. "Right. I'll get it soon as we get back," Klaven nodded as he answered. "Hey, this is it isn't it?" Restel's voice brought the attention of both Faltic and Klaven. Faltic looked up and immediately recognized the massive logo above the revolving door. "Bate and Dusker's, yup," Faltic answered. Restel gestured a leg to allow Faltic to go first through the revolving door. Once Faltic started going through, Restel held out another leg to Klaven's chest, speaking quietly to him. "Watch." Restel stepped up to the next gap between doors. Just as Faltic was about to exit on the other end, Restel grabbed the handlebar and pulled, halting the rotation, and causing Faltic to smash snout first into the glass. Faltic held a hoof to his nose, and whipped a look back at Restel and Klaven. Restel was looking away, Klaven was holding back from chuckling. Faltic proceeded slowly, exiting the door on the other end, and Restel and Klaven followed him in. Once on the other side, Faltic was staring down Restel. "I would actually chop you in the throat right now. You're lucky we're in public." His attempt at appearing tough was broken up by the notably restrained smile he wore. Restel and Klaven's grins didn't waver. "When have you cared about looking good in public?" Restel sarcastically shot back. "Whatever. Just be ready to lose at everything." Faltic huffed.  Faltic hadn't noticed it until now, but since entering, it was as if night time had taken over. The expansive room was dimly lit by actual overhead lights. The majority of lights came from the colorful flashing LED's of the arcade games. Klaven was no longer by Faltic's side, but wandering his way over to a kiosk. "If you say so. He's already diving in," Restel said, pointing Klaven out to Faltic. The space was filled with the ambience of overlapping arcade machine noises and the murmur of other ponies in the room. Unsurprisingly, there weren't many others, as it was still morning. The floor was carpeted black, making the lights of the machines give it their own ring of color around them. "Let's go see what we got," Restel said, nodding his head towards the room. Faltic followed beside him as they began to stroll the lanes of varying games. Just as they'd started to browse, Klaven hopped back alongside them, holding out a card. "Got our playcard." Restel took the card from Klaven's extended hoof, examining it. There was a picture of the arcade's logo, and two tall drinks of what looked to be cider. "Hm. Could go for a cider during this," Restel mumbled to himself. Restel looked up from the card he was holding, and was staring at a machine in front of him. "Well, if you two don't mind me going first." Restel looked at the other two, who both shook their heads. "Go ahead," Faltic assured him. The machine that Restel stood before was in the shape of a padlock with a circular screen in the center. There was only one button on a pedestal before the screen.  "I know this one," Restel said as he swiped the card through the reader. It beeped and flashed a check mark, and Restel laid his hoof over the top of the button. "What's this one?" Faltic leaned over and asked Klaven. Klaven didn't look away from Restel playing. "Pop the lock. There's a moving red bar, and you gotta stop it on the yellow dots that appear around it." "Uh huh..." Faltic watched with interest as the number kept ticking down with every successfully timed button press from Restel. The simplistic sound effects from the machine became faster as the numbers ticked smaller. 8 to go... ding. 7 to go... ding. 6 to go- The red line stopped just short of the intended yellow dot as the screen changed its color to red. Restel heaved a sigh and hit his hoof to the podium. "Uuugghh. "Hey, thirty tickets, not bad." Klaven pointed out. The screen was counting down from 30, as if it were dispensing tickets. Rather, it was transferring it to their play card. "As if thirty tickets is going to get us much," Restel stated, knowing that most prizes in the prize room were absurdly overpriced. "A sucker, for the sucker." Faltic chuckled, yielding the same reaction from Klaven. "Yeah right." Restel gave the card back to Klaven. "I already know what I'm doing." Klaven stepped not too far from the one Restel had just attempted, and stood at a smaller game. It was orange and red, and curved like the flame on a candle. "Flamin' hoof. Love this one." Klaven swiped the card beneath the screen. Faltic and Restel stood on either side of Restel, slightly behind him to watch. The screen revealed a trail of orange lights with a thin gap between them, hardly the size of the tip of one's hoof. Klaven didn't hesitate, and started tracing from the beginning. Faltic scanned the arcade around him for other games to play while Klaven was tracing. Just off in another row of games was a slim machine that he recognized. A sort of test of strength. At least, as much as one could muster in a swing. Restel felt his shoulder be nudged, and looked over to see Faltic gesture over to what he'd seen. "What?" Restel asked. Faltic looked at him and sighed. "Aaagh!" Klaven's exclamation interrupted the two. "I was two dots short!" He turned around, relenting the play card to Faltic. "You go, you haven't played anything yet." "Alright. I've got something to show Restel." Faltic turned hoof and made a straight line for what he was trying to point Restel towards earlier. The three stood in front of a slim and tall machine, with a base at the bottom and a part of it jutted out overhead. Faltic swiped the card on the side, and out unfurled a round punching bag from the top. "I want to see what Klaven's got first." Faltic stepped aside, putting Klaven in the spotlight. Restel scoffed as he picked up what was happening. "Oh I see. Strong arm Faltic wants to show us up." "One rule." Faltic interjected, catching the attention of both the other changelings. Faltic briefly scanned the arcade around them. There weren't many other ponies, if any at all. They'd come here just after opening, and it was dark enough anyway. "Hit it with your actual arm." Faltic held up a foreleg, and shifted it back into a hole ridden changeling leg. "No cheating, adding muscle to it." Restel shared a look with Klaven, and spoke mockingly. "Noo cheeeattiinnng. Pfft."  Klaven chuckled, and agreed. "Whatever you say." Klaven stepped up to the punching bag hanging before him, shifting his right foreleg back to his normal changeling leg. Faltic and Restel stood aside together as they watched Klaven briefly hype himself up with a couple puffs of air. Klaven quickly elevated himself on his hind legs, and led with a short windup with his foreleg. Klaven slugged a punch as hard as he could muster, his body lurching after him as if he'd tried to launch his leg off of his body. Klaven stumbled upon landing, and flipped over to his back. He'd put far too much force in that swing, so much so that it made him fall over. Surely, with such a powerful swing, there's no way Faltic or Restel could beat whatever his score would be. Looking up from the ground, he saw the other two looking down at him, scoffing with laughter. "Damn that was a punch!" Restel said through his amusement. "Was it?" Klaven lifted his head up, eager to see his score. Instead, there was no score presented, and the bag still dangled in place. "You missed, dummy!" Restel spoke again, trudging his words through his continuous laughter. "Ugh." Klaven's head hit the floor again as he huffed, completely irritated that he'd miss the punching bag entirely. "C'mon now-" Restel stepped over, offering a hoof to help Klaven up, which he accepted as they locked legs for a moment, and Restel heaved Klaven up. "-Swing again, and actually hit it this time." Restel's unwavering smile contagiously suffused Klaven's own expression. Klaven swatted at Restel's shoulder. "Move over. I'm hitting it this time." Restel stepped aside, returning to his spot beside the still chuckling Faltic. They both watched again as Klaven stepped up, his leg still remaining as his natural changeling form. With a short rolling of the shoulders and crack of his neck, Klaven ascended to his hind legs once more, and pitched his hoof forward, albeit slightly slower and more controlled than before. Klaven made direct contact with the punching bag this attempt, and landed  solidly on all fours. "Congrats, you hit it this time,” Faltic chirped up. "Pfft. Shut up," Klaven spat back. All three pairs of eyes watched the triple digit number grow rapidly on the screen in the middle of the thin machine. It began to slow to a halt at the high six hundreds, and settled to a final score of six hundred eighty-four. "Not bad, actually," Faltic commended. "Yeah, a nice easy score to beat," Restel boasted with a smug grin. "Let's see it then," Klaven said, swiping the play card, making the punching bag lower once more. "Go for it." Klaven stepped out of Restel's way, standing beside Faltic, who nudged him on the shoulder. "You went through the same scout training we did. How're you going to let us oldies beat you?" Faltic joked. "Whatever. I'm not as brutish as you two." Klaven pointed out. Faltic blew a raspberry and smiled. "Brutish." Both Faltic and Klaven fell silent as they watched Restel step up to the punching bag, reverting his foreleg back into his normal changeling leg. Restel took much less time to get to the point. Immediately, he stood on his hind legs, and slugged his leg and weight forward, making direct contact with the bag, slamming it back into place. Restel landed a little uneasily, but there was hardly a flaw with his form. "Take notes you two. Watch this score." Restel pointed his hoof towards the rapidly rising number on the screen, puffing his chest out. It began to slow down as it surpassed Klaven's score, finally coming to a rest at seven hundred twenty-one. "Oh psh. Only like, forty more." Klaven dismissively waved his hoof at Restel, who was humbling himself with his smile. "I told you, take notes. Faltic too, bet he won't even pass seven hundred." Restel nudged Faltic's shoulder, holding the card out to him in the process. Faltic looked at the card, before meeting Restel's eyes, swiping the card from his extended hoof. Faltic stepped up and swiped the card, tossing it aside after. The bag once again descending to its spot. "And if I do?" Restel looked at Klaven for a second, who wore a countenance of smugness, before looking back at Faltic. "Name your terms." Faltic silently turned back to the hanging punching bag, and reverted his disguised leg to his normal changeling one. Klaven's shoulder was nudged as Restel slightly leaned in, hardly pointing his leg towards Faltic. "He thinks he's gonna show me up." Klaven only chuckled in response. With a much shorter windup than the other two, Faltic took up a sturdy posture on his hind legs, leaving one slightly ahead of the other. Heaving his right foreleg into the bag emitted an almost thunderous sound as it slammed back into place. Faltic steadily fell back to all fours, shifting his leg back to his normal disguised light blue color. The score swiftly surpassed both Klaven's and Restel's, but shortly after, began to slow to a halt. Eight hundred thirty-two. Faltic turned back to Restel, whose lips were pursed and foreleg hung in the air. "You sleep on the floor tonight." Faltic flicked the play card back at Restel, who caught it in his hoof. Faltic would like to see him feel the same morning regret and soreness that sleeping on the floor brought. Sure, Restel also did just sleep in a foam pit, but it would be funny to inflict two nights of discomfort. Klaven was nothing but giggles from that point on. For the next good few minutes, the three took turns sharing the card to play ticket winning games. Although there weren't many more tokens on the card, they'd racked up a decent amount of tickets, or so they thought. Faltic tried his hoof at a couple of games, opting for ones that didn't reward many tickets, but were just fun to play. Notably a baseball game that he'd had recurring sessions with for occasions when there was time to kill. Restel seemed to favor similar types of games, though more luck oriented. Restel had taken several drops on various plinko-style games, but never won more than forty tickets at a time. Klaven favored the ticket winners. The more Restel watched him try to win, the more banter Restel seemed to give him. Faltic and Restel both watched as Klaven had nearly won the jackpot from quick drop, missing the mark and coming up three balls short. "Fifty tickets isn't bad," Klaven defended. Restel scoffed for a second before spitting his response. "Yeah, if you were better at playing with balls you would've gotten more." To which Klaven promptly shoved Restel aside, passing by a chuckling Faltic. "Shut up Restel." The token count on the play card lowered as the trio gradually moved to the back of the arcade. "So, we've got about enough left for maybe... three more games?" Klaven stated with uncertainty. "What time is it?" Faltic asked. It had been what felt like hours since they'd come to this place. Assuming they had been here for a few hours, the afternoon was either here, or soon approaching. The last thing he'd want to do is keep Whimsy waiting. "Y'know, I dunno. I lost track of it. Haven't seen outside ever since we got here," Restel commented. "Here-" Klaven passed the card to Faltic. "-I'll go outside and check." With that, Klaven departed from the two, headed for the arcade's entrance. A slight wave of worry had begun a march through Faltic's body. Whimsy had slipped from his mind ever since they had entered this place. The guilt of potentially having to admit that he'd forgotten about her was unnerving, to say the least. "You'll make it to Whimsy in time, don't worry. There’s no way we've been here that long," Restel reassured. It was odd, coming from somepony who wasn't the most supportive about Whimsy. Though, Restel was most likely putting Faltic before Whimsy, opting to see Faltic be not so worried and afraid. "I hope so." Faltic sighed. Restel looked around the arcade as the two idly waited for Klaven to return. Restel spotted something just a few feet down the room. "Hey-" Restel began, catching Faltic' attention. Restel poked his head in the direction of what he saw. "-Think we've got enough on there to play that?" Faltic peered down in the rough direction of what Restel was hinting at, and saw a large square table. Faltic looked back at Restel with a look of mock superiority. "Don't even act like you're going to win in air hockey." Restel smiled back at him. "Wouldn't be just the two of us. All three of us could play." Klaven had returned to the two after Restel's proposition. "Plenty of time. Enough for us to empty this card, get our prizes and go." The update on the time slightly assuaged Faltic's worries. There was time, though it seemed they needed to wrap things up here sooner rather than later. Restel was the one to pick up the conversation from Klaven. "See? We're fine. Klaven, you up for using the last bit of this card on air hockey? We can all play." "Sure! Last game of the day," Klaven excitedly agreed. Restel led the three to the air hockey table. Paddles were neatly stored on the corners of the table. Restel swiped the remaining credits away on the table as airflow began. Klaven setup opposite of Restel, with Faltic in the middle, on both Restel and Klaven's sides. The trio took their paddles with a hoof, holding them to the table, waiting for whoever had the puck to start. "Alright, I'll make this quick so Faltic can get out of here," Restel teased as the puck emerged from the cup beneath him. Klaven and Faltic shared a look, and Faltic faked a gag as Klaven shook his head, unseen by Restel, who was fishing the puck out. "You'll make it quick, as in losing as fast as you can," Faltic poked. Restel set the puck down in front of him. "Or-" The moment Restel started talking, he gave the puck a slap towards Klaven, where it slipped past his paddle, knocking a point off of him. "-We get the weakest link out." Restel cackled to himself as Klaven reached down for the puck. "Cheap shot!" Klaven spat across the table. Klaven set the puck down, and began their next point. "Gotta be ready!" Restel defended himself as the puck rallied off the walls and paddles of the three players. The next goal for the puck to slip into was Faltic's, who grunted. "I missed it!" "You both only have so many points you can lose," Restel stated to the other two. "How many can we lose before we're out?" Faltic asked, fishing the puck from beneath him, placing it back on the table. "You two will find out," Restel said with a hint of boastfulness to his voice. Faltic began their next point, immediately launching the puck for Restel's goal, where it was blocked with a swift flick of Restel's paddle. It didn't take long for Restel to attack Klaven's goal again, this time using the angle of the wall from the unoccupied side of the table to bounce one past Klaven. "I'm being attacked!" Klaven panicked as he'd been scored on again. "Oh look." Faltic reached over the table and pointed out a string of lights that lined up in three dots. "Only one is lit, and you've been scored on two times. You've got one life left." "See this?" Restel piped up from the opposite end of the table from Klaven. Restel was pointing at his fully lit row of three lights. "Untouched." Klaven narrowed his eyes towards Restel as he set the puck down, and launched it in a straight pitch for Restel's goal. It was swiftly returned to sender, and Restel hardly had to move his paddle to defend. Klaven was ready, and reared up an even stronger blow to the puck, sending it for Restel. At least, that's where he intended for it to go. Instead, the impact was strong enough to send the puck cascading beyond the boundaries of the hockey table and out into the arcade. All three pairs of eyes followed it as it bounced a few machines down the row. Two pairs of eyes returned to look at Klaven, who already knew what one of them was going to say. "I'll get it." Klaven sighed, stepping away from his spot to go retrieve the rogue puck. Faltic looked to Restel, who looked nothing but amused and smug as he caught Faltic's glare. "Damn, ruthless against the boy today,” Faltc started. Restel waved a hoof dismissively, and blew a raspberry towards Faltic. "It's all in good fun, c'mon. He knows it." Faltic sucked in air through his teeth. "Whatever you say." Klaven shortly after returned with the puck, and took up his side of the table again. "I'm not being eliminated while Restel still has three lives," Klaven said as he began the next point, giving the puck a noticeably lighter hit. "Keep telling yourself that." During what was the longest rally of the game, Faltic had silently been waiting for a good opportunity. It finally came when the puck wearily slid towards him, allowing for a quick swipe to send it past Restel's paddle and into his goal, ticking a light off of his three lives and bringing it to two. "Agh, no!" Restel yelped. It sent both Faltic and Restel into a small fit of laughter. "Laugh it up." Restel began as he brought the puck back to the table. "I'm doing good." Restel's first shot of the next point was directed towards Faltic. Though, immediately after sending it Faltic's way, it was sent back faster than Restel could react, and sailed past him into the goal. Restel's shoulders went weak as he threw his head back. "Uuugggghhh!" Faltic and Klaven's laughing fit returned a little stronger. "That was good, but you're still not winning." Restel quickly began the next point, opting to send the puck in a random direction. Faltic still held his amused mood as the rally carried on, though it impeded his movements for a split second. The puck was gliding parallel past his goal. Faltic attempted to capitalize on that, letting the puck hit his paddle to slow down and give him a controlled shot. However, the puck bounced off the back of his paddle, and gingerly slipped into his own goal. The two lights ticked down to one on Faltic's side. Restel was in near hysterics, and Klaven couldn't help but chuckle. Faltic hit his forehead on the table with exaggerated shame. "Not what I meant to do." Faltic tried to defend himself, already setting up the next point. With all three participants down to one life left, the playstyles of each player noticeably changed. Restel was aggressively sending the puck for Klaven when he could. Both Faltic and Klaven held their paddles close to their goals on defense. Restel sent a wall shot towards Klaven. It wasn't the fastest, but it wasn't the slowest. Klaven thought he could get a swipe out of it, and left his defensive stance to reach for contact with the puck. However, he was just slow enough to where his paddle narrowly missed the puck, allowing it to sail freely into his goal, ticking off his last life. "I missed!" Klaven yelled as he was eliminated. A slim barricade walled off Klaven's goal. Restel, again, was laughing at Klaven's dismay of being the first one gone. "Hey, he wasn't kicked out while you had three lives. It's close," Faltic stated. "And-" Faltic took a step around the corner of the table, retrieving the puck that had been sent beneath Klaven's goal. Faltic stepped back to his own side and set the puck down, starting the last point of the game right off the bat. "-Someone's down to one." Truthfully, they both were. The next goal would determine the game. Klaven huffed as he returned his paddle to the corner of the table, out of the area of play, watching the last bit of the game unfold. Admittedly, it was awkward playing air hockey against a goal that's beside your own. That sense of awkwardness was shared between the last two players as they frequently missed the opposing goal, along with Restel making grunts of frustration when he missed. It wasn't until the puck lingered in the corner of the table where things changed. Faltic pressed his paddle to it and pulled it off the corner. In another attempt of a cheap shot, Restel reached a bit further away from his side of the table to try and knock the puck loose from Faltic's control. Both the puck and Faltic's paddle hardly budged, as it provoked the knee jerk reaction of Faltic's to flick the puck speedily to Restel's exposed goal, crashing into it, and ticking off Restel's last life. Faltic pointed his hoof firmly at Restel, and uttered a hearty laugh. "Do not try that on me!" Klaven joined in on Faltic's proud amusement as Restel acted dramatic, flicking his paddle across the table. "I almost had it! And almost won!" "I told you when we came in here, get used to losing!" Faltic teased. Restel rolled his shoulders, and stretched his legs. "Oh psh, whatever. Let's just get some prizes and go." Faltic led the three to the back corner of the arcade where he'd seen the bright illuminated lights of 'prize counter.' However, before reaching it, Klaven spoke up, sounding pretty excited. "Hey, look! Didn't even see that." Klaven pointed a leg directly at what he saw, catching the attention of the other two. The three looked at an inflatable base with two pedestals in the center, one red and one blue. There was an attendant pony standing by it, with a standing sign beside him. "Is that one of those gladiator things?" Restel asked. Klaven nodded. "Yeah, I've seen them before, never had the opportunity to do them. What say you?" Faltic looked at Klaven skeptically. "I don't know. I'm sort of ready to get out of here." "It doesn't take long to do. Just one round?" Klaven continued. "Yeah-" Restel joined in. "-One round shouldn't take long at all." Though still skeptical, Faltic softly sighed. "Fine, but the card has no more credits on it." "Oh, that's fine. It costs bits anyway. You can go pick out some prizes if you want." Klaven passed off the play card to Faltic. "Alright, go on then." Faltic hesitantly allowed, watching both Restel and Klaven trot off in the direction of the inflatable platform. Turning towards the prizes, it was more of a prize room. Faltic stepped up to it, a whole corner of the arcade dedicated to trinkets and toys. Walls were lined with various items, and in the middle was a table with numerous different candies to pick from. Though, first he needed to know how many tickets they had. Conveniently, on the wall was another swipe for the card. Despite all the others attached to games eating the credits, this one would display how many tickets a card held. Faltic gave it a quick swipe, and the screen flashed how many tickets the three had accumulated. Four hundred twenty-six. Not many, but it could rack up some assorted sweets. Faltic picked out a few candy bars. One that he knew Restel liked, and one that he knew Klaven liked. With how much the bars were, there were somewhere around three hundred tickets left for the spending. Faltic quickly spotted something that would fill those three hundred tickets, and would be something all three of them would have. Faltic left the prize area with a small bag, quickly trotting towards the inflatable gladiator arena, spotting Restel and Klaven in the process. They were both strapping on foam headgear at the foot of their respective platforms. The two were exchanging words, but they were too far away for Faltic to hear. Faltic arrived at the edge of the inflatable platform, now close enough to converse with the two. "You still haven't gone yet?" Klaven turned towards the source of the question, seeing Faltic standing nearby. Restel was busy struggling with the strap on his chin briefly. "Someone else went before us. We're still only doing one round," Klaven answered. Faltic blew a heavier breath through his nose, growing a touch antsy. He would hate to have Whimsy wait any amount of time on him. Restel and Klaven took their spots on their pedestals, both equipped with a long foam pole that strapped to their front hooves. It forced the two to stand on their hind legs, which, already being unsteady for ponies, the wobbling pedestals did not help. The attendant pony stood in the middle of them, preventing any early starts. After confirming with the two that they were ready, he waved his leg between them, and backed up to the wall. Immediately, Restel looked as if he were out for blood, swinging his jousting pole left and right against Klaven, who responded by doing his best to deflect them. All of the random swinging challenged Restel's balance, causing him to cease his attacks and focus on adjusting himself. For the brief moment Restel lowered his guard, Klaven still stood, and took a long wind up with his foam pole. Faltic swore he could see a maniacal look in Klaven's face as he wound up. Klaven unleashed a direct hit with the brunt of his foam pole, striking Restel firmly on the side of his head, sending him tumbling off of his pedestal, crashing with a few rolls onto the inflatable ground. Faltic almost choked on the air as the immediate reaction of laughing tried to come out, sending him coughing and laughing at the same time. "YES!" Faltic heard Klaven shout out. Klaven tossed his jousting pole towards Restel's laid out body, where it thumped against him, and came to rest near him. Klaven stepped off his pedestal on all fours again, wearing the most proud expression Faltic had ever seen him with. Overcoming his fit of coughing, Faltic trotted to the other end of the platform where Restel was laid out. Still, with laughter and a tear in his eye, Faltic tried to speak to Restel. "You good?" Restel was wordless as he raised only his head to look around. His eyes were swirling, and his headgear was knocked around, only halfway on his head. The look he gave sent Faltic back into his fit of amusement. Klaven stepped up to Restel, a bounce in his step, but offering his foreleg to help him up. Restel wearily took it and stood up, unbalanced, but standing. "You got decimated!" Klaven said as he helped Restel up. Restel, being humbled, and completely dazed, patted Klaven on the shoulder with his hoof. "You done good." ***** Faltic was the leader of the pack as he hurried the other two along back to the hotel, carrying the prize bag along the way. Noon was here, and after making the quick drop off of their prizes, he already had a route to beeline for Whimsy's place. Once up the stairs on the floor their room was in, there was a pretty obvious scene happening adjacent to their door. Their next door neighbor, an orange pegasus with a mohawk mane that shared the same colors as fire, was standing outside with several luggages. Though neither Faltic or Restel were interested, Klaven decided to start a conversation with her as they all stood in front of their door. "Going out of town, Tinder?" Klaven asked. He'd seen her before. Of course, working the front counter meant he'd seen a lot of the residents here before. Her somewhat raspy voice sounded frustrated, but chilled at the same time. "Nah, getting kicked out." Klaven hadn't heard about that one. Must have happened when he wasn't working. "Kicked out? What for?" "Playing with fire in the room too much,” She said nonchalantly. Faltic and Restel shared a look with each other before returning their gaze to the fire-y maned pegasus. "Oh yeah? How'd you get caught?" Klaven pressed. "Housekeeping found my pillows and bed stuff either burnt, or in ashes. I was being safe! I'm great at controlling fires,” Tinder huffed. Klaven chuckled. "So I've heard. Shame you're going though. Good luck, wherever you go." The orange pegasus produced a lighter, and held it within the feathery grasp of her gray wings. "Yeah, thanks. Don't diss how cool lighters can be." Tinder flicked the lighter, and the thin pillar of flame stretched almost the whole length of her head as she trotted off with her luggage. "Interesting character," Restel noted. Klaven nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she likes fire." Faltic had zoned out, lost in a moment of thought after the orange pegasus had trotted away. Suddenly, Faltic's head perked up, attracting the curiosity of Klaven and Restel. "The room's vacant now, right?" Faltic hastily asked, looking right at Klaven. "Uh, I guess so? She's gone, so there's nopony occupying it now." Faltic was smiling almost ear to ear as he asked his next question. "If you can get Whimsy in here, can you get her in that room? It’s adjacent to us." Restel sighed, rolling his eyes. It was ignored by Faltic. Klaven only quickly flicked his eyes to him, then back at Faltic. "I mean, sure. If I can get somepony in here, I can assign them to a room," Klaven said. "So eager to expose changelings," Restel mumbled, garnering a brief stern look from Faltic, before he looked back at Klaven with a happier expression. "So, could you?" Faltic asked. "Magic word?" Klaven said. Faltic knew right then that it could happen, and that he had many thanks to give Klaven once it happened.  "Please?" Faltic said swiftly. Restel regretted not having the key card to get in the room with him. What did he do to deserve having to listen to this? "I'll do my best," Klaven nodded. Faltic felt like he could run for miles with the excitement he was concealing. With the thought of running, the idea of getting to Whimsy as quickly as he could came to mind. "Oh! I gotta get moving! Whimsy!" Faltic grabbed a couple of items from the prize bag he'd carried on the way back, and passed the bag off to Klaven. "I'll see you two at the convention center!" Faltic said as he picked up steam, making a quick dash for the stairs. "Y'know we could've brought these here! You didn't have to come!" Restel shouted after him, but it was too late. Faltic had vanished around the corner for the stairs. With just a moment of silence between them, Restel poked the bag. "Hey, what did Faltic pick out?" Klaven reached in, and pulled out a couple of different candy bars. "Huh." "Oh, I love that one." Restel took the blue wrapped bar from Klaven. Klaven was left holding a different candy bar, one he was familiar with. "He picked out some stuff for us, how nice." "I'll say." Restel's speech was muffled, as he'd already tore into his candy bar. Klaven reached into the bag again, and withdrew two sets of fake teeth, both with long fangs on them. Both of the changelings looked at the teeth, then at each other. "He's joking, right?"