//------------------------------// // Melts Like Butter // Story: Innavedr // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// "First of all, if you wanna last long down here, you'll wanna lose the satchel. Especially one that looks so super shiny." Kera smirked as she hopped over a pile of rusted, metal airship parts and trotted on down a steep alleyway. "It's a miracle that you haven't had that yanked from you yet. I mean, I totally would have tried myself, but that was before I knew that you were so cool. You are cool, right?" "Oh, m-most certainly," Bellesmith stammered, stumbling in her attempts to follow the filly on even hoofing. "You've been so kind to us, I've almost completely forgotten the... er... incident from when we first met, Miss... Kera Tin Mehjj..." "Please. Call me Kera. It's better than what the ponies around here call me." "And what do they call you?" "Usually just 'hey you.' Which is okay. It's a lot prettier than 'That ugly flankhole with our bread!'" "Er..." "Watch your step in this next part, or you'll fall and break your neck and become rat food! And believe me, rats don't use forks. They'll eat out of your belly like a mule to a trough." "Uhm... duly noted, Kera..." The three equines had walked the length of the maintenance corridor in the center of "Blue Belly." Reaching the far end, Kera unlocked the passage's exit with her horn, and the rest of the trip was spent skirting the edges of a landfill until the group trotted into the northwest slums. From there, it was a haphazard trek through rubble-strewn streets and shanty towns. Misery and decrepit filth surrounded them on all sides, but Kera never once lost the spring to her step. "So, you from the western provinces? Green Slope? Blue Valley? Wait... is there even a Blue Valley?" Kera's tattooed face twisted as she hopped over a cluttered mess of crumpled trash cans. "Maybe a West and East Blue Valley? Yeesh, you think the ponies here would get creative and start calling things 'Azure' or 'Cyan' or... or..." She blinked. "Can you make an adjective out of 'Sapphire?'" "Uhm..." "Oh well!" Kera bounded ahead. "If I had a house of my own, I'd name the valley around it 'Indigo!' Mmmm... Yeah! That sounds so cool. Indigo! 'I just had my life changed!' 'How's that, ma'am?' 'I saw the Indigo Pony with my very own eyes and I think I'm cured of cancer!'" "Wherever she's taking us, it'd better have good acoustics with a mouth like that," Phoenix grumbled. "Mr. Phoenix..." Belle sighed. The stallion shrugged. "Hope the smell doesn't bother you guys!" Kera said, glancing over her shoulder as they passed burning oil drums and shacks with aluminum rooftops. "It only means that you're alive! Yup. They say that when you die, the first thing to go is your nose. Then your spirit sort of just floats up through your nostrils to join with the Spark." "That wasn't in any religious tome I ever read," Belle said, stifling a smirk. "Pfft! That's 'cuz bibles should have more pictures!" "Kera, if you don't mind my asking," Belle uttered, "Where are you taking us?" "Duh. Where the smell and the safety is at its best... and worst. Either way, you'll have less ponies with sparkly sticks trying to impale you." "And..." Belle's chestnut eyes narrowed as she leaned forward to test the waters. "Your parents know where you are?" "The hay should I know? They're way the heck east of here." Belle gulped and muttered, "In Xona?" "Hmm?" Kera glanced back again. "Oh. Pffft. What the crap would I know about that place? Do I look and sound like a 'horrrrrrrrrible religioussssss savvvvvage' to you?" The filly ended her speech with a giggle. "Actually, I'd say you sound downright intelligent." Bellesmith smiled. "But, I thought you said that your parents—" "—are in some village far away. And, no, they didn't give birth to me." "Then, you are adopted?" Belle's golden brow furrowed. "Then, pray tell, what are you doing here?" "Jeesh, what's with all the questions? Am I being interviewed for something?" "Well, I'm simply curious as to why—" "Besides, don't you know?" Kera stopped in front of a grooved wall at the bottom of a looming skyscraper facing the slums. She pointed up at Belle. "You were brought here too!" Belle did a double-take. "Brought... here...?" "Yeah..." Kera's green eyes narrowed as she pointed harder. "Weren't you?" "I..." Belle slowly shook her head. "I-I don't understand..." "Miss Belle..." Phoenix leaned in. "She's pointing at your horn." Belle blinked at him. She brought a hoof up and felt the contours of her stub. "Uhm... I... I don't see how you could think that—" "Whatever." Kera shrugged. "You're way older than me, which means that if you had business with Nightshade, that's between you and her." "Wait, Madame Nightshade?" Belle leaned forward. "What do you know about her?" "Only that she's full of manure and smells worst than this place." "Uhhh..." "Only, she has a really good way of hiding it." "Kera, did Nightshade Industries have anything to do with—" "Do you like grasshoppers?!" Kera asked, her eyes twitching. Belle grimaced. "I... beg your pardon?" "I've heard stories of how ponies out west beyond the wastes eat meat and stuff. Same thing with Searonese metal mares. I'm not sure if grasshoppers count as 'meat,' but they can certainly fill you up, so long as you get past the crunchy noises and globs of puss rolling between your lips. Still, they're all over the slums when it rains, and it's a lot easier to get your fill with them than with bread. I've got a whole box in my place! Wanna give it a taste?" "I... er...." Bellesmith was at a lost for words. Phoenix leaned in. "Your help has been appreciated, little missy, but we lost the enforcers long ago. I think we should be on our way now." "Phoenix!" Belle hissed at him. "We can't just leave her?" "Why not?" Phoenix shrugged. "She seems to be handling herself well enough!" "You heard her! She knows something that we don't about Nightshade Industries! The ponies who own that building which the tome points to!" "Miss Bellesmith, we don't even know if she's telling us the truth..." "She's only been trying to help us! Can't you see that she's lonely and—?" "Must you forget that she robbed you the first chance she got? She's a street urchin, Miss Bellesmith. She'll say whatever is convenient in order to—" "Have you tried kissing?" Kera asked, suddenly within a breath's distance from the two. The adults jumped back, gawking at her. "Huh?" "I watch 'beloveds' all the time," Kera said, her green eyes darting back and forth curiously. "They get into arguments in the middle of the street, but all that it takes to stop the fight is a kiss. So why not get it over with so we can trot on?" "What?! I... We..." Belle tried to hold her lunch in. "Most certainly not!" "Girl, you've got the wrong idea..." Phoenix waved a calm hoof. "I would rather leap off a cliff then bring my muzzle anywhere near his!" Belle's voice cracked. "Yes, she has a point—" Phoenix gave her a double-take. "Whoah, now wait a second—" "Heeheehee... You're both silly." Kera stuck her tongue out. "Why'd you lose your manes anyway? Got tired of sharing fleas in bed?" "Ungh!" Belle turned, frowning towards the shadows. "We do not sleep together!" "Now you gone and done it," Phoenix sighed, gazing tiredly at the little foal. "You realize how long it takes for me to give this mare a pep-talk." Kera cocked her head aside, squinting. "So... you're not about to kick my teeth in or anything?" Phoenix's jaw fell. "Huh?" "Or slam me against the concrete or try to break my ribs?" Belle flashed her a shocked look. "Definitely not! What would give you that idea?" Kera shrugged. "Most ponies from these streets... they'd have tried smashing my horn into dust by now. But you guys haven't." She grinned wide. "So that's how I know your cool!" Holding her breath, she turned towards the wall and powered energy into her horn. The groove within the concrete surface of the building widened, allowing for ponies to slide into a thin niche that—just seconds ago—was only large enough to allow the filly to slide through. "Come on!" She motioned and trotted briskly into the corridor. "It's brighter than you think in this city at night! If you really wanna hide from those beret buzzards, you're better off inside this cubby hole with me! Hurry! Grasshoppers await!" Belle was still fuming, attempting to breathe evenly. "She certainly has a wild imagination." "Perhaps..." Phoenix smirked at her as he passed on. "But I'm actually starting to like her." She stood at the rear of the procession for a few seconds before tossing her hooves and trudging after them as the concrete wall panels slid shut behind her. "I'd give anything for Rainbow Dash to have memories of dealing with foals that didn't involve copious amounts of half-conscious bragging..."