The sun had almost set as I followed Duster down the street. He hadn’t said much, and neither did I. Any questions I kept to myself.
I heard the clock tower on the next block over begin to chime seven. It was the time that I would normally be getting off work. Speaking of, in just another few minutes, Duster led me straight to the shop.
Inside, only Bend waited for us. Sawtooth and Bucket must have already gone home. The door opened and a couple of ponies came in, one of them pulling a cart. There was something in it, wrapped up with a sheet. As I watched, the bundle was lifted out of the cart and unraveled to reveal Steelie with a gag in his mouth and ropes binding his legs. I gulped.
“I thought you might want to see him,” said Duster.
“After he tried to kill you and then didn’t have the nerve to show up to work the next day,” added Bend.
Duster nodded. “We tracked him down. Maybe you want to pay him back?”
The other ponies stepped away, leaving me standing beside the bound stallion. Several realizations exploded into my brain all at once. Apparently, it had been Steelie that attacked Octavia and I. Also, Duster, Bend, and the others wanted me to have revenge for that.
My stomach and jaw clenched painfully, and my throat didn’t want to swallow. I looked around anxiously. Bend said, “What are you waiting on? We can power up some machines to cover the noise, if you want.”
Duster asked, “Can I get you something? A hammer? A saw?”
They wanted me to kill him. I had another sudden flashback from crime dramas I’d seen, realizing that ending Steelie’s life would prove that I wasn’t with the police.
Could I say no? What would happen if I did? Would they murder Steelie anyway? I had no idea what the metalworking pony had against me, but I didn’t feel enough hatred to want him to be killed. I knew I didn’t have the guts to do it myself. If there some way out of this, I was struggling to see it.
“Well?” asked Duster.
I swallowed hard, a tiny inkling of a plan coming to me. “Untie him.”
The pony who had pulled the cart in actually took a step backwards in surprise. “What for?”
“It’s more sporting this way.” I looked around. Making up lies on the spot was not my strong suit. Both Duster and Bend had sharp tools within easy reach. Whether they meant them for Steelie or me, the two of them were prepared to take care of things if I couldn’t get the situation under control. The plan in my mind was still developing, and I prayed it would work.
Steelie got up, rubbing the places where the ropes had cut into his skin. The gag had been removed, but he looked too surprised and nervous to say anything. I was feeling that way, myself.
“You have a five second head start,” I said to him, barely managing to keep my voice level. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep up the charade. Only Steelie was staring directly into my eyes, and he was the only one who might see the hesitation that had to be written on my face. I began tapping a hoof on the floor. One Mississippi, two Mississippi…
Steelie bolted out the door, not stopping to close it behind him. I crouched, spreading my wings and still counting in my head. From the corner of my eye, I could see Bend and Duster watching me, looking somewhat puzzled.
On five I darted out of the building. After a moment’s pause to locate the sound of Steelie’s running hooves, I took off after him. Behind me there came the sound of more hooves following. I cursed to myself. My plan depended on getting Steelie alone.
From the air, I didn’t have to work very hard to catch up. Maybe I should have given a larger head start. I swooped down into the street, rapidly gaining on Steelie. I was going to try to make some kind of deal with him. Maybe I could get him to play dead and then leave Canterlot.
I didn’t have a solid plan, but I was desperate. As I drew even with Steelie, I opened my mouth to say something. Hi there, I don’t actually want to kill you…
…but never got the chance as he darted away down an alley. I pulled up hard, tracing a vertical half circle that put me high above the buildings but still in roughly the same area. I’m sure pilots had a name for the maneuver, but had no time to think about it as I banked in the direction Steelie had gone and dove after him again.
He looked back at me as he ran. I began bleeding off some speed so I could pull up beside him and not overshoot. Not paying attention to what was ahead of him, Steelie stumbled on the sidewalk at the alley’s end and tripped head over heels. He flew through a plate glass window of a shop that faced the mouth of the alley.
I hit the ground with so much residual speed that I almost tripped as well. Skidding to a halt in front of the broken window, my mouth dropped open at the sight of what lay beyond.
There were shards of glass everywhere. A disturbing number of them were stuck in Steelie’s body. He unsteadily rose off the floor, blood dripping from his face, neck, and chest. I heard hoofbeats as the crowd that followed me from the shop came running up. They gathered around my position in the street, following my stare to the wounded stallion.
“Are you going to finish him?” asked Duster.
In shock, I still hadn’t managed to fully grasp the situation. I shook my head. “No.”
Steelie stared at us, a desperate look in his eyes. His heart was pumping furiously after the chase. The gash in his throat let blood flow freely. It ran in rivulets beneath him, the pool slowly spreading. Seconds passed, and his knees began to twitch. He shuddered and then fell, throwing up a little splash.
It seemed like I couldn’t breathe. My extremities felt numb. I blinked, and slowly turned my head away from the scene.
“Did you get any blood on you?” asked Duster. I shook my head, too shocked to speak.
“Good, nopony will know we were here. Let’s go.” I took hesitant steps, letting him lead me away. Our pace was a brisk walk, trying not to look too suspicious.
I noticed Bend wasn’t there, and figured that he’d stayed at the shop. The gold chains around Duster’s neck jangled a little as we trotted. I glanced at him. The look on his face was some mixture of surprise and mild astonishment. I didn’t know what he wanted with me now, but I took it as a good sign that he seemed pleased.
I swallowed and tried to think ahead, making only a little headway at getting Steelie’s battered body out of my mind. This was not at all the situation I wanted to be in, and it would take quite a bit more planning to get me out of it. I needed a little information, though. “Where are we going?”
“Ever heard of Magnifique?” Duster rolled his eyes as he pronounced the name. I was a little disturbed at how quickly he shrugged off death. “It’s a restaurant owned by some griffon. The food’s pretty good, although you have to be careful what you order.”
In a few minutes, we came to a place that looked fancy, even to my untrained eyes. Duster told his accomplices to wait outside and ushered me through the door.
A good portion of the crowd inside was composed of griffons. I had seen a few of their species around Canterlot before. Duster took me over to a large round table with eight chairs around it. There were two open, and we sat down.
Six griffons of various colors looked up from a quiet discussion they were having. Duster nodded in greeting and gestured to me. “This is the guy I was telling you about.”
“You work fast,” commented the one sitting in the chair next to mine. I got the unpleasant feeling that he knew what Duster had me doing before coming to the restaurant.
“That he does,” said Duster. He took a moment to introduce me to the griffons. He called them “associates for doing business outside Equestria.” That sounded nicer and friendlier than what they actually did.
“So were you all planning this meeting tonight?” I asked.
Tally, the griffon who sat next to me, shrugged. “We knew Duster was coming. He said he might bring a friend.”
It sounded like Duster had been unsure if I would be attending dinner. I wondered what would have been done with me if I had outright refused to hurt Steelie or Duster thought I let him escape. No, think happy thoughts instead.
“So tell me about yourself,” said Tally, who seemed to be the most talkative.
“Not much to talk about,” I said quietly.
He nodded as if that explained everything. He probably got that answer a lot. His eyes shifted to a spot over my shoulder. “Ah, lovely.”
A griffon waiter leaned between us and set a plate in front of Tally, and moved down the table distributing more food. The aroma was something I hadn’t smelled since arriving in Equestria.
I couldn’t help but ask, “Is that pork?”
Tally looked surprised. “It sure is. The chef around here does a good job with it.”
“I haven’t had any barbecue for a while.” Bad mouth! Stop speaking before I think!
The griffon wore an amused look. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a pony hungry for pig.”
Not wanting to put my foot—er, hoof—any deeper in my mouth, I nervously shrugged and said nothing.
“It’s really good at this restaurant,” said Tally, picking up a knife and fork with his talons and slicing off a little bit of his pork chop. He dropped it on a napkin in front of me.
I stared at the small piece of meat. I wasn’t sure if he was testing me to see if I was lying about eating meat, or just trying to be friendly by sharing. Either way, it did smell great, so I leaned forward and picked it up with my lips.
The flavor was excellent, and it was tender enough that my flat pony teeth had no trouble chewing it. I doubted that a small bite would mess with my digestion.
“It’s good,” I said after swallowing. “Tastes like oregano and red pepper. Maybe some garlic. It’s salted just right, too.”
“It almost sounds like you’re a connoisseur,” noted Tally.
I laughed. “Not really. I can usually be satisfied with a decent hamburger.”
“Hamburger?”
“You know, ground beef?”
All of the griffons looked surprised. Duster’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. It was then that I remembered something I read in a library book—in Equestria, cows were equal citizens. Dammit, mouth!
Before I could chuckle nervously and pass it off as a joke, one of the griffons did it for me. All of us relaxed a little. Duster got up from the table suddenly, seeming somewhat perturbed. “I’ll leave you gents to get acquainted.”
He glanced across my face without really looking at me and turned to go. Tally leaned over to my ear as Duster went out the door. “A word of advice, maybe don’t play pranks like that on your boss. It can be bad for business.”
I nodded. “I’ll try to remember that. Speaking of business, what sort of partnership do you have with Duster?”
“He handles things in Canterlot and a couple of surrounding towns, and we handle things over in Gryphos.”
I nodded, conversationally adding, “Maybe I’ll have to visit your country someday.”
“It’s a good place to do business,” said Tally. “Say, do you want to stay for dinner and talk about it?”
“I can’t, actually. I had other plans.” Despite the relatively friendly dialogue, the last thing I wanted to do was spend any more time with criminals, griffon or otherwise. I’d had more than enough of that tonight, thank you very much.
I got up. Tally said, “Don’t be a stranger. We’re having a card game this weekend.”
I nodded noncommittally and said goodbye. Outside the restaurant, I breathed a sigh of relief. It only helped me relax a little. I decided that a nice peaceful flight back to my place would help.
I had only glided a few blocks over the streets before I noticed a familiar stallion hurrying along below me. After pausing for a long moment, I dropped low to the roof beneath me and crouched there, watching.
Duster clearly had a destination in mind, and it was back in the direction I was going so I decided to follow him. I thought that maybe knowing a little more about his business might help me make plans. Much to my growing horror, I was becoming committed to this little enterprise. The only thing I could do to get out was keep my eyes open and grasp at any straws I could.
After several minutes Duster ended up back at the shop. I noticed that the lights were still on. He opened the door and went in.
I landed carefully on the roof near the skylight. Glancing down through it, I saw Duster talking to Bend. Carefully peeling away the caulk I had applied the other day, I lifted the pane of glass enough to hear what was going on below.
“Did you know that you hired a psychopath?” growled Duster.
Bend’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“Miller.”
“I take it he offed Steelie?” asked Bend.
“Yes he did, but—”
“It’s kind of a shame, really. It was Steelie that thought Miller wasn’t the right kind of pony. I told him to do something about it, then. When he screwed up the first attempt, I figured that maybe we could use him to find out where Miller stood. Sounds like it’s out with the old guy, in with the new.”
Duster shook his head. “After he gave Steelie a head start to be ‘sporting,’ he tossed him through a window and watched him bleed to death.”
Bend considered that. “Does he have any experience with that?”
“I have no idea. He seems…efficient.”
Bend chuckled. “Funny, that’s how I would describe his work around here, too. You still haven’t told me why he’s crazy.”
“He doesn’t want money,” Duster stated flatly. Bend’s ears pricked up.
“Well, that is strange,” observed the shop owner.
“He actually tried to refuse when I gave him some,” put in Duster. “I visited that little apartment of his, and it’s got nothing in it. He doesn’t even own a bed.”
“Maybe he’s ideological,” suggested Bend.
“I doubt it. He’s just plain creepy. His body language, especially in the ears, is strange. It’s like his emotions don’t show at all. That’s not the worst part, though. He eats meat just like a griffon. I watched him do it tonight when we met with Tally and his friends.”
Bend thought silently for several seconds before shrugging. “Well, just stay on his good side.”
Duster snorted in consternation and headed for the door. I quietly lowered the glass and took to the air. It was a little hard to concentrate on flying back to my apartment with so much new information on my mind.
I was suddenly shifted to other thoughts by running into Octavia as I landed on the sidewalk outside the apartment building.
“Sorry!” I quickly grasped her hoof and helped her up. “I didn’t expect you to open the door when you did.”
Her eyes were wide, and not from unexpectedly meeting me. She pulled me through the door. “Miller, I’m so glad to see you! You have to help me get Ms. Scratch to the hospital.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked the two of us headed for Vinyl’s apartment.
“I decided to open her door to check on things, and I found her passed out. There was white powder everywhere.”
“Well...” I started, trailing off. I tried to think of something appropriate to say, but how do you reply to something like that? I consoled myself that at least Vinyl was better off than somepony I knew.