Capitulo Diecisiete
The Strength of an Espada
Starrk was quick in finding the particular ponies that he had missed in his mail route due to their properties being demolished or because they weren't at their homes. Afterwards, he decided to check back at the post office to see if he was supposed to make anymore mail routes.
He trotted inside to see Crafty Crates making sure everything in his office stayed intact during Cerberus' attack on Ponyville. While Starrk didn't make a sound, Crafty Crate turned to the door and jumped when he noticed the former espada in the office "Oh, uh...Hey there, Starrk. I see you've finished super fast as always." He said with a satisfied smile.
Starrk nodded "I'm ready for another route if there's any mail left..."
Crafty held up a hoof "Look, Starrk, I'm glad you're willing to work and all, but I think we both know that Ponyville's suffering big time right now thanks to Cerberus. That's why we're holding off further deliveries for now until everything's patched up. I'm sure everypony in town thinks the same way since they're moving around and cleaning up."
Starrk hummed and scratched his mane. Normally, he would question the ethics of his superiors when it comes to working, but he was happy to know that he had time off on his first day as a mailpony. He looked outside and figured he would stick to his promise "In that case, I won't argue. I better go on out there and help with the cleaning, since I'm partially responsible for all this."
Crafty Crate smiled "Hey, maybe you were, but all in all, you came through for us, Starrk. You deserved that party!" His smile vanished "But...are you serious about your kid?"
Starrk turned to walk away and cast a sideways glance at his boss "Yeah, I'm serious. We're the same person." He said nonchalantly as he made his way out of the office.
Crafty Crate stared as the former espada left, then caressed his temple with a hoof, shaken over the truth about Starrk and Lilynette. His worried doubled over thinking about the former's power "Sheesh, I dunno whether this town's lucky or doomed..." He muttered anxiously to himself.
_____
Sparkler, Dinky, and Lilynette exited the wrecked house and wiped the sweat from their brows after their hard work in clearing out the interior wreckage. Dinky beamed at her two sisters "Isn't this great? Now all we have to do is repair the house and we'll move onto the next one!"
Sparkler sighed "Of course you realize we don't have the necessary supplies. We'll leave the repairs up to those who have them." She said flatly as she distanced herself from the two fillies.
Lilynette huffed "What's wrong with you? I'd figure you wouldn't mind cleaning up Ponyville. Are you that tired or something?" She asked in an antagonizing tone.
Sparkler held back on wanting to smack the red filly for her insolent remark, but turned to her with a forced smile "Not at all. I'm just downcast that we couldn't entirely fix up that house." She said in a leveled tone.
Dinky frowned "Yeah. If only we were like those construction ponies, then we wouldn't have so much trouble rebuilding the town. We could help everypony!" She said with a vigorous grin.
Sparkler wished to roll her eyes at Dinky's childish thought but decided to chuckle "We would, wouldn't we?"
Suddenly, the sound of booming static from behind Sparkler made her jump in the air with a yelp and fall on her stomach. Dinky looked up at pony behind her with a smile "Mr. Starrk, you're here!"
Starrk nodded "Yeah, I said I'd help you with all of this. Turns out I'm getting more time to myself because of all this destruction." He looked down at Sparkler getting up while grumbling to herself "Are you alright?"
Sparkler looked back at Starrk, giving him a dirty glare "As I'll ever be." She replied angrily "Do you always do this?"
Starrk stared apathetically at Sparkler as she rose "If you're talking about my Sonido, then yes, most of the time I use it." He easily ignored the intensified glare from his response.
Lilynette pointed a hoof at Starrk with a smirk "Glad you're here, Starrk. Maybe now we can clean up a whole lot faster." She looked around for another house, then spotted one in the distance that was buried in large chunks of rubble "Let's go over there next!"
At the mentioned house, three pegasi, all of which were mares, were busy with cleaning it. Two pegasi were nearly identical, having purple coats and white manes, though they were differently styled; one had a spiked mane while the other wore her's down. The last pegasus had a white coat and a pink mane with green lines through it.
Dinky smiled at Lilynette's choice "Good idea, sis. Maybe they could use our help." She said as she joined the red filly in trotting towards the next house.
Sparkler watched with a sigh "Children can be a hindrance sometimes..."
Starrk trotted past Sparkler "That may be, but at least they have spirit. Let's get moving." He said as he joined the fillies, unaware of the shady look in Sparkler's eyes as she followed him.
Sparkler's eyes squinted as they were locked on the former espada 'Just what lies beneath Ponyville's newest savior aside from his incredible speed? Unless he maneuvered around Cerberus to the point of exhausting him, then perhaps there's a way to stop Starrk in his tracks...' She smirked to herself as she tried coming up with a plan to stymy Starrk's speed while following him.
When the group reached the house being cleaned by the pegasus mares, they were noticed by them with smiles on their faces "Hey there, everypony. You here to help us out?" The white pegasus asked.
The spike-maned pegasus noticed Starrk in the group and gasped "Hey, it's Coyote Starrk!" She swooped down and landed in front of him "You here to help us with this?"
Starrk gave a curt nod "Yeah." He looked at the house behind her and studied the large chunks, one of them being carried by the other purple pegasus and set down towards a cart holding a small pile; a large bundle of rope was resting next to it "Where are you going to take the wreckage?"
The spike-maned pegasus looked back at the cart "Well, we take it over towards Town hall, where Mayor Mare and Twilight are directing other ponies to recycle whatever's brought over." She sighed "It's a bit of a chore, especially since we have so much stuff to carry."
Starrk stared at the wrecked building, then picked through his memory on the location of Town hall. When he remembered correctly, he wordlessly trotted towards the rubble, leaving the group of mares to watch him. As he stopped within reach, Starrk glanced at his hoof before he reached out and easily grabbed one of the largest chunks, astonishing everypony around him, save for Sparkler and Lilynette.
_____
At Town hall, Mayor Mare and Twilight Sparkle were busy overseeing the recycling process outside of the building. So far, it was a steady process while more of Ponyville's refuse had came and went thanks to Twilight's directions. She smiled as she observed another set of pulled carts roll towards the pile that had been growing and receding throughout the entire process "This is going along swimmingly. I'd say we're making good progress around this time."
Mayor Mare nodded "Oh, I agree. We could possibly finish recycling by tomorrow, or even tonight!" She proclaimed brightly.
One of the ponies approached Twilight and Mayor Mare "We've just finished cleaning the junk covering the joke shop. Anywhere else you want to place us?" He asked.
Twilight looked around and went to point out another area that needed cleaning, but stopped when she noticed what appeared to be Starrk blurring into existence while holding a large piece of rubble "Starrk?" She asked in surprise as she quickly approached the former espada.
Starrk noticed Twilight after he dropped his small load in the pile "Oh, hey. I heard you were busy around here."
Twilight nodded "Yes, me and Mayor Mare." She frowned at the former espada "Doesn't that hurt?" She asked in concern.
Starrk raised an eyebrow "What are you talking about?"
Twilight pointed at the piece of rubble "When you carried that rock, it must've taken so much out of you."
Starrk followed Twilight's hoof towards the rubble "It really wasn't that much of a hassle. I just wanted to drop it off here." He then turned to leave, facing away from Twilight "I better get back and grab some more..." Starrk said as he went to use his Sonido.
"Wait!" Twilight called out, grabbing Starrk's attention as he looked back at her "I know you didn't seem too interested back then, but I was wondering if you felt like visiting my library once you get the time. I wish to know how far your power actually goes through proper study." She said with curiousity looming in her voice. Twilight stared at Starrk with an expectant and hopeful glance.
Starrk stared at her for a moment before turning away "Maybe some other time. Not now." He said as he blurred out with his Sonido, not paying attention to the unicorn behind him puffing her cheeks in irritation.
_____
He earned the slackjawed expressions of the three mares he assisted when he arrived back at his earlier location. After a small glance at the ruined building, he huffed to himself "It'd be dumb to make several trips..." He stated lazily as he turned towards the spike-maned pegasus "You...What's your name?"
The spike-maned pegasus tried to form coherent words in the midst of her awe "C-...Cloudchaser..."
Starrk held up a hoof "You have any alternative for this thing? I'm not a fan of moving back and forth constantly, even if I do have a job as a mailpony."
Cloudchaser tried to shake off her awe and think of a more productive method for Starrk to act upon. Her eyes glimmered with inspiration "I got an idea!" She turned to her twin next to her "Flitter, can you get the rope beside the cart?"
Flitter nodded "Got it." She glided towards the cart and brought the rope as requested, hovering while holding it with her hooves "What's the plan?"
Cloudchaser smiled "If we play our cards right, I think we'll get this job done lickety split." She turned to Starrk "Can you grab some of the rubble and place it in a small pile, please?"
Starrk shrugged and made his way towards the rubble, hovering into the air as he went. Instead of one hoof, he grabbed two more chunks with both of his forehooves, gliding towards the mares with relative ease and placing the gathered pieces in front of them. He repeated this process two more times until he had six large pieces sitting next to each other "Okay, now what?"
Cloudchaser pointed a hoof at Flitter "Alright, Flitter, tie up the pieces nice and tight. Don't be afraid of double-knotting if it means keeping them together."
Flitter nodded and readied the rope "Roger." With the help of Cloudchaser holding one end, Flitter guided her end around the pile a couple of times until she tied it together and tightened the hold. After she made a knot, she turned to Cloudchaser with a raised eyebrow "What are you up to, Cloudchaser?"
"I think I follow what she's planning..." Starrk said knowingly, albeit lazily as he approached the pile and easily lifted it up with his forehooves in front of the pegasus mares; He didn't pay attention to their awe before, but it had grown tenfold from his display of strength. Without another word, he blurred out with his Sonido while holding the accumulated pile.
Dinky had stars practically dancing in her eyes "Wow...Mr. Starrk is so strong..." She whispered in amazement.
Lilynette smirked boastfully "Well, what else would you expect from the Primera Espada? Coyote has plenty of strength to go around. This is just a small demonstration!" She explained to her sister with her chest puffed out.
Sparkler stared at where Starrk once stood with an indifferent glance 'Feh, it's a small amount of brute strength and nothing more. I've witnessed similar feats from Celestia's guards. What has been demonstrated is naught but a trifle to my standards...' She perked up when Starrk had returned, but with more rope than expected.
Starrk dropped the rope next to Cloudchaser and regarded her with his bored gaze "I borrowed some more rope from Town hall. Can you and your friends tie up more piles while I gather them?"
Cloudchaser nodded "Sure." She turned to the others "Flitter, Blossomforth, are you two ready?"
Blossomforth nodded "Yes. We can do this." She said with a smile as she grabbed a length of rope while she waited patiently for Starrk to bring about more piles to tie up.
So far, there had been three piles that have taken up the many lengths of rope. Much to the confusion of the others, Starrk stacked the piles on top of each other, flying into the air while holding each pile. Blossomforth winced "Erm, Coyote? Are you going to do what I think you're doing?"
Starrk didn't reply. Instead, he easily lifted up the three stacked piles onto his back using his head as if they were balloons. Cloudchaser, Flitter, and Blossomforth all felt their wingspans flare out in surprise as they beheld the spectacle with widened pupils; This feat had earned Sparkler's dumbfounded expression as well 'This isn't possible! Is he THAT strong!?'
The former espada blurred out with his Sonido once again, leaving the others behind. Lilynette looked over at the ruined building and noticed that through Starrk's efforts, the exterior was rid of over half its wreckage. She grinned 'That's Coyote for you. He can be lazy at times, but he knows how to get the job done!' She thought to herself.
_____
Mayor Mare and Twilight stared with their mouths agape at the sight in front of them. They thought their eyes were playing tricks on them, but they were bearing witness to what appeared to be an average looking pegasus stallion haul copious amounts of junk on his back as if he were packing for a camping trip. They remained froze while he tossed the junk from his back onto the pile, untying the rope that held the piles together.
"M-M-Mr. Starrk?" Mayor Mare asked hesitantly "Don't you think that's a bit too much? Clearly you must be tired after bringing all of that over here. The last pile we received was overwhelming enough."
Starrk turned to Mayor Mare, his expression unchanged "Yeah, I'm tired. But not from working. I'll be back with more junk to pile up." He said as he quickly blurred out without another word.
Mayor Mare stood before she fainted onto the ground, the thought of a herculean stallion sending her into a coma.
Twilight, however, stood with burning determination that was only outweighed by her fascination with Starrk's capabilities. It would be an ordeal, but somehow she would find a way to get a better look at Starrk, even if it meant either persuasion or extortion.
...That is, if friendly conversation wouldn't work.
To be continued...