Innavedr

by Imploding Colon


Streets and Urchins

"And on top of that, there's news from Overseer Fatch!" Sir Ordo exclaimed, immediately receiving a bevy of cheers. "It would look like Fatch's leg of operations in the Industrial Sector have been running at one hundred and thirty-three percent efficiency! Thanks to him, Nightshade Industries will have at least another dozen zeppelins constructed by the end of this coming quarter! This should also increase trade with Gray Smoke and the lands beyond! It is nice to know that, in spite of all that the continuing war has cost us, Fatch is still intent on carrying forth the legacy of Nightshade's faithful brother, Novus."

The courtyard around Bellesmith and Phoenix filled with wild praise.

The stallion atop the balcony continued, "So, at last, this brings us to a letter written by Prime Enforcer Seclorum himself. These are his words written to his very own troops, and they might inspire the same unwavering confidence in us. Ahem. 'My beloved stallions in arms and mares of the nursing field, you have been forced to endure hardship after hardship. It may not seem so beyond the fog of war, but there is a candle burning at the end of this dimly-lit toll. More for the Queen's guile and more for our beloved's blessings must we persist in the face of great adversity. Now, more than ever, does our Confederacy stand to transform this continent into something that is once again mighty and pure...'"

Phoenix leaned in and muttered into Belle's ear. "I dunno about you, but I'm ready to leave this vomit fest..."

"Just a moment," Belle whispered back.

"Ms. Belle, there's no way we're getting inside that building from the front!" he retorted in a hoarse voice. "Even if there weren't so many damn onlookers around! If you think the security is tight out here, imagine it on the inside!"

"But that's the one place we have to go..." Belle bit her lip, gazing up, up, up at the looming skyscraper. "I just know it..."

"We... I dunno... we should leave and go strategize or something," Phoenix said, mumbling aloud. "I know you want very badly to infiltrate this place, but we have to go about it reasonably."

Belle sighed. "I know. Someway... somehow... things were a lot easier to accomplish when we had a flying, flank-kicking pegasus on our sides."

"Heh... I'll take your word for it. Now let's make like the wind—"

While they were speaking, they—as well as every other pony in that place—were blind to a panicked figure darting through the very rear of the crowd. Kera froze along the edge of the courtyard, glancing around breathlessly for a place to hide. Hooves clopped angrily behind her, followed by the angry voices of the other street foals. She cursed under her breath, clinging her hood tighter as she looked and looked and looked—

At last, she saw salvation: the one spot in open view where she could hide. Gritting her teeth, she scampered forward, darted between a dozen ponies' legs, and scurried her way directly beneath the folds of Bellesmith's brown cloak.

Belle gasped, jolting forward. She flung a glance down. "What on earth—"

"Shhh!" Phoenix looked over his shoulder. "Where did that come from?"

"Uh... Hello?" Belle parted the robe slightly and glanced down.

Kera looked up at her, shivering. Belle caught a glance of her shadowed face, of the little horn glowing at the tip. A breathy murmur escaped the timid filly, but otherwise she was still as stone, frightened out of her wits.

Belle was silent. Hear ears flicked on either side of her shaved mane. She heard the clamor of young foals scampering up from the sideline...

"Where is she?!"

"Let's murder her!"

"Rip her horn off and shove it in her eye socket!"

Belle glanced over her shoulder. After a few seconds, she leaned down and whispered, "Shhhhh..." Just like that, she closed her cloak and glanced straight ahead, pretending to be invested in the continuing oration of Sir Ordo.

Phoenix was slightly less convincing in his nonchalance. He shivered with a nervous tinge, trying not to look as the dirtied foals rushing up within a spit's distance from the two, looking around furiously for their target. The little ponies glanced at the crowd, their gaze wafting past the two "Mintians" standing in their midst. With a grumbling tone, they ran towards the far end of the courtyard, disappearing into the thin alleyways beyond.

After a few seconds, Phoenix glanced over his shoulder. He exhaled heavily through his nostrils and muttered, "Hmmm... What a quaint town, huh?"

"Are they still—?" Belle began.

Phoenix shook his head.

"Alright..." Quietly, with her voice ringing beneath the speech from the balcony, she parted her robe, looked down, and gave a soft smile. "It's okay," she said. "They're gone. You're safe—"

Without saying anything, Kera dashed straight for the opposite end of the courtyard. She fumbled once or twice to adjust the folds of her own cloak, but was swiftly out of sight, threading her way into the thin streets lying in the shadow of the skyscrapers above.

Belle blinked. "You're... welcome?"

"She didn't say a single word, did she?" Phoenix asked.

Bellesmith shook her head, her chestnut eyes fixated on the far end of the courtyard. "No. I guess she must be really traumatized." She gulped. "Or illiterate."

Phoenix glanced at Belle's cloaked figure. "Or maybe something else..."

Belle looked at him. "Huh?"

Phoenix chewed the end of his lip before eventually murmuring, "Ms. Belle, that was awfully nice what you just did for the street urchin and all, but maybe you should check your bag..."

"What?!" Bellesmith cracked an awkward smile. "Phoenix, I just saved that poor little foal's skin!"

"Still, my experiences with Ledomaritan outposts were never that pleasant..."

"Ungh, will you get over it already?!" Belle frowned as she fidgeted beneath her cloak. "I know that this place isn't Franzington, but that doesn't mean you have to condemn the entire continent north of your home as—" She froze in place, her eyes wide. "By the Spark!" She parted the folds of her cloak and gawked at Luna's Saddlebag. Both satchels were hanging wide open, large enough for a large hoof to fit into, much less two tiny ones. "She pickpocketed me!"

"I knew it..." Phoenix grumbled. "What did you lose—?"

"Guhh!" Belle hissed, her hooves dancing anxiously as she shifted left and right. "No no o no no no no!"

"What?"

"She got the books!"

"Wait, what books?!"

"Both books!" Belle sneered. "The one important to me and the one important to Rainbow—"

"Shhh!" Phoenix exclaimed. He caught sight of several neaby ponies glancing suspiciously their way. "Okay, yeah, that sucks. But let's be calm. Where'd she run off to?"

"Nnngh! I can't believe how stupid I—"

"Ms. Belle, let's work together on this."

"Uhm..." The mare shivered, turning to point. "Over there..."

"Okay, let's go. Quietly." Phoenix ushered her along through the crowd. "Together..."

Bellesmith breathed nervously. Moisture welled up in her eyes as a lump of mixed confusion and pity formed in her throat.