They looked at each other, unmoving. Luster reassessed the details along her least favorite alley of memory lane. This was a burger joint. The colt she met that day served her a burger. He had the same coat, mane color and style, and either he witnessed her act of nonchalant heroism and wanted early in on her career, or he recognized her too. He wasn’t even trying to hide his gawk, but neither was she. So, she told herself, I should probably say something. But she didn’t want to make her a fool of herself in case that first possibility was correct.
Mom always scolded her for her short memory. Of course, she never said it aloud, but Luster could read her face. Cozy would flare her nostrils, dramatically inhale, bite her tongue, look away—whenever Luster failed to remember the name of the third-last Pegasi leader prior to the founding of Equestria, or, as Cozy called it, “The Beginning of the End.”
Then Cozy would try to ‘lighten the mood’ by describing which old Pegasus leaders she’d date, which she’d delight in choking, and which of those first partners, post-marriage, would soon be found dead in their bedrooms (assassinated by the Griffons, obviously; through General Cozy will not be forfeiting an inch of airspace to the Alicorns, no matter how harsh the frost). Being forced to listen was unusual punishment.
Maybe ordering something will break the ice a bit, Luster thought. She walked sideways to where she remembered she saw a chair, eyes still glued to the menu signs. The head of one chair struck a flank. She rescued her stumble by leaning on the seat and blindly sat down. Why do they print the price tags so small? That’s scummy. Maybe I do need to tell Mom to get me an eye check… Eventually, she looked away at a nearby table to know what she was in for.
The closest burger had a top bun of a healthy hue and was served alongside a purple fizzy drink. A bite mark revealed a patty of golden hay flavored with pickled fine grass. Even sliced tomatoes outlined the plastic plate for pizzazz! At a table separate to that glaring stallion sat a mare. She wore a puffy blanket over her body as if the room was cold, and refused to peek her legs out of her cocoon; so she used her horn to levitate balls of basil from her dish which had a sprinkling of pasta. Tilting her head to see if she got the visual right, Luster found the source of a minty smell which plagued the room since she got here; but she hated to make a scene.
The food was not at all what Luster expected from the shattered windows. The customers were exactly what she expected. Anyhow, after she finished squeezing her eyes to decipher enough of the menu, she narrowed down what she could afford. Easier to do when a colt wasn't staring a pair of holes into your temple. After a bit of mental arithmetic, Luster options came down to a drinkless quarter-pound hayburger (not to be confused with a Hayburger); but she couldn’t afford much hay, so she’d have to settle for a patty of grass. And not the lush, fine grass the neighboring stallion was having, but the big weedy, garden-pest type that only grows in blotches. She’d have enough bits left over for a banana, but only the leaf. And not enough for a plate or cup, which costs extra. Maybe I should beg him again…
A pony walked up to Luster: not Fry, but a stallion who looked half-similar; “J. Fry Sr.” read his hat’s name tag. He was much older and big-boned than Fry colt, though slimmer than how she predicted a grown-up Fry would look. Sr. seemed to have nothing better to do than to visit tables at a fast-food restaurant. “Can I take your order,” he asked.
“Uhh,” Luster stalled. “Still thinking.”
“Fine,” he grunted, “but be quick.”
…Rude.
As Fry Sr. left, Fry Jr. arrived. Now Luster could get a good look at his flank. And we’ve got a cutie mark! It was of a burger—big shocker—but the patty was green, like what Luster considered ordering. Coincidence?
He spoke first. “Do I know you?”
Luster responded under a muffling spell and hoof, “Kludgetown?”
His eyes grew. “It is you!” He tried to ease the look of his father, leaning on the counter, by sending an awkward smile. “How did you get out? I never—I mean, that’s a nice jacket. Real leather?”
“Synthetic,” Luster said, hugging herself to feel the quality. “Why would you and Mom ask if it’s real? That’s a creepy question… Fry?”
“That’s my name,” Fry said. “And sorry. Guess there’s still a bit of that place left in me…”
So my memory was correct. Mom is such a drama queen!
Fry continued, “So, how did you get out? Of, you know…”
Luster chuckled once as she smirked and started rocking her chair. “Oh, I didn’t do anything special. Just escaped my captors, my own slavery, every bounty hunter in that Tartarushole, and made it all the way to Equestria by the very next day. Been training ever since—” She stretched her neck upwards and folded a swan with a table tissue. “—honing my magical powers, building my knowledge, expanding my mind, and other sorts of things.”
“Woah,” Fry uttered. “You unicorns sure get up to cool stuff. I’ve just been flipping burgers. I mean, it’s my mark, my talent, I love it, but here, it’s sort of… is what it is?”
Luster’s chair nearly fell backwards but she caught herself. She subtly looked back and whispered to Fry, “That mare’s smoking catnip…”
“...Yeah, so?”
“...Nothing.”
“Are you a cop or…?”
“What? No! I just don’t get why you’d smoke something you’re supposed to sniff. I mean, I wouldn’t know. Well, my friend knows, and she told me that’s not how it’s done.”
“...Are you gonna tell her off…?”
Luster slammed the table. “Of course not! Just making sure you were aware for legal reasons, duh! I mean, she’s smoking indoors, like, next to two foals, so there’s no point being in the dark. You know about your decisions…” She wiped her forehead with magic, then wiped her oily magic with a tissue, hoping the earth colt wouldn’t notice her sweating.
“Uh, take it easy on the napkins,” Fry asked.
Luster dropped her magic. “So, uh, what do you recommend on the menu? You’re the chef after all.”
“I guess I am… Uhm, a burger and fries, obviously. Heh,” Fry chuckled. “The fried bananas are pretty good. We’ve got a fresh batch today... Fresh-ish.”
“Right, those… cost bits… Do you have a tab or option to pay by installments?” Luster shyly smiled.
“No,” said Fry’s dad, who stormed in after Luster forgot to hold her muffling spell. “Did you splurge all your bits on that piece of fast fashion?”
Luster rolled her eyes. “So, do you, Fry Jr.?”
Fry felt uneasy by his father’s groans. “We don’t… but maybe we could trade our numbers and—”
“Trade numbers? Why?! I’ve never seen this filly before,” said Fry’s dad. “Are you trading for a tab or something worse? We don’t do that, creatures don’t pay!”
“We’re friends,” Luster said.
The stallion raised an eyebrow.
“Old friends,” Fry added. “Years old. We haven’t seen each other for at least a couple of years. We’re catching up but she’ll have to leave soon.” He winked.
“No, I don’t,” Luster said. “Teleportation is such an advanced magic and most mages can’t even travel a mile. Jumping all the way from the Unicorn Ranges to Canterlot as a filly is exhausting.”
“Filly… magic…” Fry’s dad muttered. “You’re that filly from the posters! The one that brought the bounty hunters to our business step and—you really came here to beg for a meal?”
Luster pretended to have forgotten. “Oh yeah~ Guess I’ve dealt with too many baddies to keep count.”
“‘Old friends.’” Fry’s father scoffed. “You probably still have a target on your head.”
“Look, dude,” Luster said, “I escaped Kludgetown even with all those bounty hunters. One shows themselves at the door and they’ll be sent back to their mommy’s in an urn.” Yeah, that’s a cool line.
Fry Sr. was not convinced.
“Come on Dad,” Fry said. “I’m sure…”
…Did he forget my name? It’s only been like five years. “Luster Dawn,” she said with a head bow.
Fry finished, “I’m sure Luster Dawn isn’t being followed.”
Fry’s dad whispered to his son, “But what if she’s part of some gang? We had Cozy Glow that day asking about her. She tossed you her wallet for her directions, remember? That was more money than her bounty... she could be a target.”
“Relax,” Luster said, horn dimly aglow from an eavesdrop spell. “Cozy Glow is nothing! No creature is ever going to—”
A pastel-blue pop! manifested itself to their sides at the center of the room. Two figures were brought. One was evidently a unicorn; the other, Luster wasn’t sure. Dark orange robes covered their bodies from head to hoof. Their tails were cloaked, but from the lack of any extrusion, they seemed to hang loose, emo-styled or depressed, or as if they were soaked; pony tails usually had a bit of puff and an arch. From the edge of their hoods hung a zigzag pattern of protruding squares, bordered an inch upwards by a yellow line. A reddish shade of brown outlined the flat bottom edge of the drapes. The unicorn’s horn poked out of the hole through a division in the center of the hood. And where you would wear a saddle was a symbol of a triangle below a circle, both equal in width. Luster said to herself they were obviously cultists.
Dread replaced Fry Sr.’s anger.
“Hi friends!” said the pony, mare, of ambiguous tribe, whose eyes glowed over the shadow of her hood as she turned to Luster. “New patron today? You shouldn’t hotbox her with catnip smoke. You know it’s an aphrodisiac for felines, right? We don’t know much about how it affects ponies.” The mare did a nod of the head to young Fry on her way to the stallion. “We’ve only got a few questions to get through. Shouldn’t take long.”
Luster caught only a glimpse of the other pony, who looked back at her. They, a unicorn, had a very wide smile, one that smudged their cheeks against their bottom eyelids. And their eyes reflected light in a crystalline way, like Hope’s. Everything else was concealed by their attire. The duo went to the back room and Fry’s father led the way but as if he was held at hornpoint. Fry’s name was not called. The smoking blanketed customer kept smoking. The other stallion finished his burger and seemed to be waiting for the cultists to leave before leaving himself, perhaps to not attract attention.
“...You want to go somewhere else to eat?” Fry asked, already leaning towards the front door.
“What? You sure?” Luster replied.
He grimaced. That suggested to Luster that his idea was for his own sake and not hers. So, she followed the colt into the alleyway. The wall outside blocked sunlight and channeled a breeze. This had to be one of the most rundown areas of Alicorn capital. A misty drizzle came from clothes being hung out of the windows and rusted balconies, forming a few puddles. But still, even the most neglected alleyway here was better than where the two foals were from. There were also a lot of cats: the critter type, as opposed to the upright ‘creature’ type; and rodents: critter type also.
“You sure you want to leave your restaurant alone without anycreature at the counter?” Luster asked. “What if a customer shows up?”
“I doubt we’ll get any more.”
“...Oh. Not even on a Friday?” Luster asked.
Fry sighed.
“...So, what’s up with those two weirdos?” Luster asked.
Fry’s eyes darted over the bins, windows, and sky. “What do you mean? She likes to smoke and the other’s going through a tough few things in his life.”
“I meant the robe wearing ones. They look sort of… mysterious? You know, if they’re causing you problems, you really should—”
“I know, I know,” Fry said, “go to the royal police or guard.”
“I was gonna say you should ask me to deal with it,” Luster said.
Fry, still walking, looked at Luster. She was a filly around his height, with a horn that seemed to have never been ironed down, a stubble of whiskers, clumpy hoof-combed hair, and a jacket with its ‘arms’ rolled up to avoid kissing the floor.
“What?” Luster asked.
“Oh, nothing, but how would you deal with those two?”
Luster hopped a hoof close to Fry and flicked her fringe over her horn. He seemed put off by the physical response to a question about dealing with dangerous creatures, wondering if he should specify, “Don’t use me as an example.” As he stepped away, he met an amber wall, and magical matter swam up his legs, as if petrifying him. He inhaled to speak but failed to get a word before they disappeared in a flash and popped back out at the center of his district.
That happened to be at a fountain entrance to a half-busy park.
Luster’s eyes felt harassed by the Sun’s rays. Fry held puke in his mouth, then he puked into the fountain, a very popular one. A statue of Twilight and her Friends, one of many statues, had been erected at the center of this centerpiece. And Fry vomited right into the water as if he had no shame, and in front of parents, pets, and other foals, no less!
“Ew!” Luster expressed, a sentiment shared by two families now speed-walking away. “There’s a bin over there and a drain right here! And a bunch of potted trees. Why would you use a fountain?”
Fry wiped off his sick. “Why would you just teleport… me without a heads-up?” He rubbed his eyes, hardly able to see Luster under the blobs of light in his vision. “Ugh… Your teleporting was so bright.”
“What, you don’t know how to close your eyes?” Luster said. “I never had that problem with my first teleport. I don’t even look when I’m casting.”
“I can tell…” Fry said bitterly. “Not even sure I want lunch anymore.” He slid down to the floor. “It’s not as if you have a lot of bits anyways.”
“I’m not broke, okay,” Luster said, denying Fry the Sun’s warmth by conjuring an umbrella. “Bits aren’t even a problem for my family. My mom’s just stingy, Canterlot is so insanely expensive, and she refuses to pay me a reasonable amount for the chores I do, and she says I can’t have a job because I’m not ready. I can’t win!”
Fry rolled over. His stomach squished the cold ground. A zephyr brushed his back. He just let it happen. Who cares anymore?
“You look dead,” Luster said.
An acute eye shot at her.
Luster entered a state of self-reflection and looked deep into her heart to find her next few words: “Uhm, sorry.”
“So what are we doing about lunch,” asked Fry, muffled by the floor.
Luster paced around the fountain to help herself conjure a few ideas. On her second round, she spotted a road that led to a path that led to a view facing south. And part of that panorama was a certain school. The School of Friendship. Mom had bits… Lightbulb! Luster disappeared.
Fry sat up straight and stared at nothing until the filly returned. Pop! There she is again. But Fry’s expression tightened as he saw how much worse Luster looked. She had lines of smoke rising from grayed strands of her tail and crown. And she was also drenched. Her lips puckered and her lungs pushed against her ribs as she breathed in and out wearing wide eyes ready to snap.
“Are you okay?” Fry asked.
“...They have… an anti-teleport system… and I couldn’t get in… and it redirected me to the moat…” Luster’s eyes snapped to Fry. “You have any suggestions?”
Fry stroked his chin. “I know a—”
“It’s such a stupid thing to add!” Luster stomped on the floor. “It’s not as if it’ll keep any supervillains out, anyways! …Alight, continue.”
“...I know a place that throws out their donuts.”
“...That’s your idea?”
“What? You’re so judgy.” Fry got up “Not everycreature can be adopted by some, what, noble mage?”
“Pegasus pony. They move so quickly. I can’t get an hour of sleep in the morning.”
“...I feel bad for her.” Fry walked away.
“Hey!” Luster caught up but now Fry made sure to keep a distance. “Fine, fine. I’ll try out these donuts. And I was in a bad place too, you know. Probably worse than yours. Did you have to work until your hooves crack?”
“I still do.”
“Yeah, but—okay, that’s a bad faith, false equivalence. Canterlot has parks and playgrounds. Your job isn’t a sweatshop factory, and your cutie mark doesn’t lie. You enjoy cooking, so it’s not even that bad.”
Their bickering continued until they passed Canterlot’s square, where, up from an elevated path, they spotted a base of crystal, guards, and yellow tape.
“What do you think happened over there?” Fry asked.
Luster smirked. “I happened. Stopped a robbery by myself. Look at those guards, way too late. Bested by a filly.”
“Captain Gallus is there,” Fry said.
Indeed he was. He and a few other guards, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. As Apple Bloom recounted the event, Scootaloo noticed Luster, because she, though lacking flight, still had a pair of sharp eyes. She tapped Sweetie Belle on the shoulder. Sweetie Belle squinted and noticed Luster too, especially based on the jacket. Luster slowed for a moment and waved. They waved back. When the filly looked back to the side, Gallus and his squad were gone.
Seemed she wouldn’t be getting any more praise today. Fry took Luster to a two-lane corridor of houses with traditional shops and glass displays along the sides. Many alleyways branched out from here, but none of them seemed too dreary. Seemed Fry’s family business was cosmically unlucky.
They got to the donut shop after an endless number of steps. Luster couldn’t have guessed it would be so far. This was almost as tiring as the times when Cozy would wake her up to go hiking. She’d get cross at her for teleporting, and Luster would say, “You use wings for every other step.” She’d fire back, “At least that’s physical exercise, Lustie.”
The donut shop alleyway had one-and-a-half donuts left. The rest had been nibbled on by pigeons. Luster groaned and made sure Fry could hear. She stomped around in a circle before slicing the treat into six-fourths—by casting a laser. Luckily the donuts were in a paper box on the bin because the bin itself was given a vertical incision of molten plastic.
“Woah…” Fry uttered.
“Please cool, huh?” Luster hovered Fry his half of the donut as she took a bite out of hers. She stopped chewing. “These are stale.”
“Well, what do you expect?” Fry ate his share without complaint. “I know another donut shop.”
Luster was nibbling on a disposed bouquet of roses, preferable to the donut. “Fine. I’m still too tired to teleport back home.”
They left and walked down the streets. Fry said he should get back to his dad soon. This was to be a quick jolt to the second café and hopefully, if he felt safe; and Luster, reinvigorated, she could teleport them both to his family business. Nothing should distract the two.
Hours later and both foals were still glued to a local arcade. The place also sold comic books and general nerdy pop-culture merchandise: mugs, shirts, trading cards, a tin for bits in the form of a retro console. And the walls and rug were dark: perfect habitat for a vampire like Luster (Cozy’s words), Dawn being when she goes to bed. Fry won the jackpot from a bit pusher and needed to dig a plastic from the bin just to use as a pouch. Luster got half of his winnings as she was the initial investor, funding his attempts to prove how rigged the machine was. She didn’t mind losing. Fry bemoaned something about unicorns, nobles, and the system; but Luster had already moved to claim a claw machine. Ultimately, she wasted a Princess’ allowance trying to get a plushie of Mom in her mad filly form, which was so cheaply made, and fittingly, looked to be melting. She hadn’t won the prize yet, but she will. Quitting now would be a waste after all the sunken costs. Fry couldn’t even be mad watching her lose and lose—and a digit of the claw went through a hole in the bow of the plush. Then it slipped again—she lost another bit.
“...That’s the trick,” Luster said to Fry, pointing. “Just need to try a few more times.” He was just disappointed. Somehow that devolved into an argument where Luster said, “Fine. I’ll text my mom right now. Prepare to get humbled because her cutie mark isn’t even food-related.” She pulled out her phone from her jacket pocket. “Huh. Mom tried to call me earlier... It’s four?!”
“...How long have we been in here,” Fry asked, taking another bite into the bouquet.
“Well, we did walk for a while. I’m sure the pigeons had gotten ahold of all those leftovers by now.”
Mechanical dancing noises of the claw machine said ‘Womp womp.’ “Did you say something?” Luster asked, pulling away from the stupid rigged scam to go check the others for neglected change. And, bingo!—she found a bit in the coin catcher of a gumball machine and plopped it into the claw machine. One more try; this’ll be the one!
“Hey Fry,” Luster asked as she worked her magic, “why do you live in Canterlot? From what I’ve heard, unless you’re a ‘really big and busy pony,’ you should defect to a quiet place like… Fry?” And down the machine’s pillars went a show of red light, two disappointed sound effects played, and the bit slot and action button on the front panel blinked, begging for another go. To the entrance side of the room, she spotted Fry. He had nothing in his hooves and stood upright before approaching her.
He asked, “Should we go?” in a voice slighter higher than normal.
Luster wasn’t a quitter; so, glaring at herself in the glass of the machine, she promised, “I’ll be back here tomorrow. Yeah, let’s leave.”
The colt took the lead out of the arcade. Right as Luster stepped on the pavement, the Sun set; as it did, the street lamps illuminated. “Already?” Luster said. She shielded her eyes as a breeze picked up, though soon it suffused.
She seemed to have lost Fry, but as a carriage passed through the road, he whistled his whereabouts: an alleyway entrance. “It’s around four o’clock,” he said. “And it’s still winter, Lustie. You should leave your room more often.”
“…Don’t call me Lustie,” Luster said.
Fry replied nothing; his legs slowly backed into further darkness with the rhythms of a spider.
“Another dark corner?” Luster asked, framing the question as a tease. “You’re familiar with this place, right…?
“Of course.” Fry’s body was shrouded by shadows except for his emerald eyes. “I’ve been here many times.” He turned towards where he was walking to and disappeared from Luster’s sights. She switched on a flashlight spell in her horn.
Fry had hopped twenty meters further up despite Luster thinking they were going at the same speed. Well, it was dark, and with temperatures dropping, why wouldn’t he move in a hurry?
He stopped. The dead of the night emphasized itself with silence. Then Luster made out soft choking noises, and Fry’s head seemed to bob back and forth. “Are you okay?” she asked. A pile of trash on the wall rustled upon hearing her voice.
Fry let out a particularly violent cough before turning to Luster with a phone in his mouth. “I’m fine. I just need to make a brief phone call. Please don’t retire to the road. It should only take a minute. I need to check a few things.”
Luster’s pupils bounced from the side of the floor back at the colt. “Okay.” But as Fry walked further up Luster brought her attention back to the pile. Her horn still faced Fry, but only so he wouldn’t notice her realizing something was odd.
She used her hoof to part a trash bag on the floor with a roof of unstapled newspapers from a metal bin. The peripheral light of her horn reflected off of the wall. There was a crack, and the crack widened downwards, till it looked to form a crevice, and the scene was too familiar. Luster gasped, but despite how softly she did so, something in the crevice, with the force of a baby’s kick, jerked. She felt unsafe. Luster flashed her horn to her back, to check herself, and as an excuse to move at all. Continuing her head motion, she poked the edge of her spotlight over the edge of the crevice. A green, slimy substance reflected her ember hue. That gave her the courage to face the crack directly.
There lay a colt’s body, dulled by the color of the slime, eyes closed, packed in a fetus position. If his hair wasn’t enough, his cutie mark confirmed Luster’s fear.
Ostensible Fry was still talking. Luster checked the entrance of the alleyway again. They seemed to be in a quieter part of the city. She walked over to ‘Fry,’ unsure whether to be sneaky or make herself known. He noticed her, shifted his phone to his other ear, and turned his head to face a wall. An eye now periodically shifted from empty space to her. Casting a flicking eavesdropping spell which blended into her torchlight, Luster made out a snippet of ‘Fry’s’ conversation:
“She’s been praying to see you, literally. The others, not as enthusiastic. But as much as her mind’s an art piece—your art piece, maybe you should—” “...Should I tell her that? And should I add anything—” “I will! And can I just be sure what you want me to do? Though now it’s too late to…” “Got it! Will do. See you tomorrow! Hopefully I won’t meet a Twilightian lecture.” “Okay.” He hung up and looked back ahead.
“...Hey,” Luster said. She heard a swallow, and the creature in Fry’s body faced her. With an offense, defense, and get-away spell on stand-by, she proceeded to question the changeling.