Mike Joyner slowly paced around the dozens, if not hundreds of wooden crates that had just been dropped off. Most were labeled for construction supplies but there were ten which bore the mark of Princess Luna. Mike watched Chris Vacca pull them into Town Hall while the construction Ponies began utilizing the contents of the other crates. Mike followed behind Chris trying to figure out what the ten marked by Luna were about.
Chris slowly set the crate down and examined it briefly, as if looking for cracks,
"Good, good..."
"Do I dare ask what is in those?" Mike asked in American English.
Chris looked up sharply,
"Oh hey Captain." Chris leaned on the crate and looked around absently, "Could you uh... could you get all the Officers in here please? These need to be demonstrated and distributed."
Mike groaned and shook his head,
"What's in the crates?"
Chris bit his lower lip,
"It's a gift from Luna to us. This first shipment is for the C.W.G. trust me, everybody is going to want to see these."
Mike grunted,
"Just tell me what they are."
Chris sighed,
"Fine, it's armor for us. Really specialized stuff. Now keep it to yourself and go get everybody please."
Mike smirked,
"See, that wasn't so hard." he turned and headed off.
Chris rolled his eyes,
"Oi, it's easier to keep secrets from Luna."
* * *
Artex held the door for Razor and Oriana then closed it behind himself,
"We're back." he yelled.
Twilight's voice echoed back from the loft,
"I'm studying up here and Spike is helping Rarity."
A scuffling sound from the kitchen alerted Artex to an incoming porcine missile. He spread his legs for stability, and bent his knees while Razor pulled a very puzzled looking Oriana out of the way. Suey rounded the corner of the kitchen and made a bee line straight for Artex. Her short, stumpy little legs pumped furiously as she spotted her father figure and best friend. While she was still two Fathoms away, she sprung into the air and collided with Artex' chest as he wrapped his arms around her. The impact was so powerful that Artex was thrown off his feet and back into the stout wooden door behind him.
"Aww, how's my big girl huh?" he asked playfully, "Did you miss me?"
Suey wiggled around in his arms, her little curly tail wagging like a dog as she vocalized her excitement with piggish grunts of joy. There was no doubt she had missed him terribly. She planted the flat of her snout against the hollow of Artex throat and sniffed him eagerly.
"I know, I know, I smell like other Humans. Don't worry, you're still my number one girl." he said as scratched her behind the ears.
Suey suddenly stopped wiggling and looked up, straight into Artex' eyes. She held his gaze briefly before turning her head toward Razor and Oriana, then back to him. Her expression almost looked puzzled.
Artex sighed,
"Yes, I have friends. I have very close friends and someday, maybe soon, I'm going to begin looking for some... somebody to have as more than a friend. Somebody maybe more than one, to have as a... wife." he paused and Suey kept her eyes locked on his as if she understood everything he was saying.
Razor Wit's soft intake of breath was missed by Artex as he continued talking to Suey,
"When I do decide to date somebody, I need you to promise me that you won't go chasing them off." Suey actually raised one of her eyebrows and Artex couldn't deny that she actually did understand him, "You're a big girl and you're going to get even bigger. You can be scary sometimes. I need you to promise me that you won't scare away anybody I decide to date."
Suey broke eye contact with Artex and wiggled in motions that he had learned meant she wanted to be put down. Artex set Suey down on the floor. She plopped her tush on the wood and stared up at him for several seconds, looking for all the world like she was deeply contemplating something. She blinked twice and hung her head briefly then perked back up. She rose to her hooves, turned and scampered away up the stairs.
Artex exchanged a confused glance with Razor before Oriana spoke up,
"Was that a Great Pig?"
Razor nodded,
"Good guess. Fluttershy, a friend of ours, gave her to Artex to protect him after he was almost killed by Timberwolves. She's super smart, super sweet, and REALLY cuddly." Razor giggled at the last sentence.
Oriana giggled too until the three of them heard a confused shout from a certain lavender Alicorn upstairs,
"Huh! Suey, what are you doing!? Stop that! What are you... let go of my tail!" Twilight's exclamation was followed briefly by what almost sounded like a scuffle.
There were bangs and clanks and thumps and gasps and grunts and then all of the sudden, silence filled the Library once more.
The sound of heavy hooves against wood echoed down from the loft in a gradual but steady gait. Artex, Razor, and Oriana all gazed in disbelief as Suey slowly descended the stairs, carrying Twilight on her back. The Alicorn's tail was gripped firmly in Suey's jaw and Twilight was lying on her back, head toward Suey's tail, as she carried the peeved Princess down the stairs.
Artex blinked in disbelief,
"Wha...?"
Razor, on the other hand, burst out laughing and Oriana merely watched passively. Suey reached the bottom of the stairs and trotted right up to Artex. She lowered her front half to the floor and let go of Twilight's tail as she carefully set her on the floor. Twilight looked about half a second away from going ballistic. Suey turned her head and nudged Twilight's flank with the flat of her snout to get the Alicorn's attention. Twilight met Suey's eyes with an irate expression. Suey didn't seem to care though and pointed her snout toward Artex.
Artex was puzzled, Twilight was puzzled, Oriana looked curious, but Razor only laughed all the harder,
"I get it!"
Twilight shot Razor an unamused look,
"Well I don't. Care to enlighten us?"
Razor took a few moments to get her laughter under control,
"Ar... Artex was... talking he-he-he... about finding a *snort* wife... and... and Suey ha-ha-ha-ha-ha... brought YOU!" she dissolved into another fit of giggles, losing her balance and rolling around on the floor, legs flailing about in random directions.
Oriana's eyes widened and she raised a hoof to her muzzle, snickering behind it,
"Your *snicker* 'big girl' certainly has *snort* good taste in... mares. Bwahahahah!"
Artex and Twilight slowly looked at each other, then to Suey. The adolescent Great Pig wore the most pleased, self gratified expression imaginable. Twilight blushed deep purple and chuckled behind her own hoof, no longer upset. Artex blinked rapidly and bit his lower lip, trying to keep a straight face as he knelt down and patted his thigh.
"Come her Suey." he said softly.
Suey happily trotted over and nuzzled his leg as he scratched her ears again,
"That was a nice thought on your part Suey, but I'm afraid I'm not interested in Twilight like that." Suey looked up and blinked as she cocked her head to the side then turned and looked at Twilight before looking back at Artex, he understood her silent question,
"There's nothing wrong with Twilight. She is a wonderful friend, but that's all she is to me right now." Suey hung her head sadly, "Now, don't be like that Suey. Your heart was in the right place, but when I decide who I want, I need you to remember that it's my decision. I decide who I want. Twilight is a very nice Pony. She's sweet, kind, and caring, but I'm afraid I haven't even brought it up with her yet. I understand that you're trying to help and I appreciate that, but this is something that is for me to decide, not you sweetie." he pulled Suey into his arms and gave her a big, squeezing hug, "Besides, I think you owe Twilight an apology. It's not nice to *snort* grab a Pony by the tail and *snicker* carry them off without their permission." he tried to keep a straight face, but it was no use.
The laughter of two Ponies, a Zebra, and a Human echoed throughout the Library.
* * *
Every Officer of the C.W.G. looked on in silent awe as Chris finished up his demonstration of their new armor,
"Every one of us gets to keep these. Every one is made so that it aligns itself to your unique Magerium. It literally custom fits itself to you and it even has an enchantment that will allow it to grow or shrink it you gain or lose weight or muscle mass." he clapped his hands together, "There's one for everybody."
Nobody moved a muscle for a moment, then the moment ended and they rushed the crates. Chris laughed heartily as he stepped back and laced his fingers behind his back. Even though everybody was eager to receive their armors, they were polite and there was no shoving or pushing and nobody fought over any of the armors.
Kolo slowly strode up behind Chris,
"So what's with that big space off beyond the fields? It looks like they're moving in big stone blocks with letters carved in them."
Chris smiled even wider,
"The big clearing... well that's a secret, but let's just say, 'the future of New Humansville is very bright'."
Kolo shook his head,
"Man, I gotta say I'm not sure about the technology we're just giving the Ponies. Is it wise to be introducing them to new technology that they haven't learned for themselves?"
Chris shook his head,
"It should be pretty safe."
Kolo crossed his arms,
"And what about guns? There's no doubt THAT'S dangerous."
"Yeah it is, but we need them. The Unicorns aren't very comfortable with anybody except the Guard using magic for warfare. Heck, even Luna doesn't much like it even then. Speaking of which, I heard that Morris and Jason were ready with a prototype gun for a demonstration. Is that true?"
Kolo crossed his arms and nodded solemnly,
"Yeah you heard right. We were hoping you could take word to the Princesses about it so we can schedule the time for the demonstration."
Chris grinned broadly,
"I'll tell them when Luna comes to pick me up for our tutoring sessions. It's weird, she's not what I expected. She's actually pretty fun once you get her to loosen up."
Kolo chuckled and ran his hands down his face,
"You need to rethink your words there man. I'd be careful how you talk about 'loosening her up'."
Chris gave a start and whipped his head toward his friend,
"What? No! No, no, no, no, no, no! It's nothing like that at all!"
Kolo suddenly stopped laughing and looked down at Chris curiously,
"No way... you... you got it for her?" he shook his head, "Wow man, that is crazy!"
Chris took a step back,
"What do you mean?"
"You man! You're normally the one being funny all the time, making jokes and everything. The second I made a crude joke about Luna though, you got serious. You got feelings for her!" Kolo exclaimed.
"Who does?" Brinsin floated down from above, "Who does he have feelings for?"
Kolo suddenly became serious,
"It's uh, it's personal man. I'll let Chris tell it of he wants." the hugely built man walked off as quickly as he could.
Brinsin watched him leave before looking back to Chris,
"You gonna tell me?"
Chris didn't hear the question though, his attention was lost, 'No, it's not like that... is it?' he pondered.
Brinsin nudged Chris in the arm with his shoulder,
"Yo, anybody home?"
Chris shook himself out of his stupor,
"Yeah, and no. It's private, like Kolo said. No offense bud."
Brinsin shrugged,
"Ain't nothing. Can't be any crazier than some of the couples I seen. Alana been hanging on Bobby like an octopus. I think they might be an item." he chuckled, "And God help them if the Ponies find out. They don't like the Changelings anyway."
The change in topic was something that Chris was quick to take advantage of,
"Speaking of which, have there been any other issues recently?"
Brinsin spread his arms wide,
"Issues!? Man this town got SUBSCRIPTIONS! Only thing that hasn't happened yet is normal crime. No thefts, no real ones anyway, no murders, no rapes, no vandalism, nothing. Only thing we had was one assault the first couple of days the Changelings were here. Some stallion threw some fruit at Alana. We didn't have to do anything but arrest him. His wives done chewed him out! I mean one would be bad enough, but five? Damn man, I almost feel sorry for him." Brinsin smirked, "His wives made him give a public apology for that one."
Chris nodded,
"How have the new arrivals been adapting so far? I know it's only been a day, but has anything cropped up?"
Brinsin nodded,
"Yeah, couple of things actually. One of them freaked out when they saw Hord's fox, Shadow. Tried to run it off like it was bad luck. Dude nearly got bit. Most of them get really freaked out when they see us or the Ponies use magic and we've had one argument. Couple of the dudes got into it, Eduardo sorted them out, but they were all pissed about the way Ponies have their families. You know, one guy to five girls and all that. According to Eduardo, they were pissed because it went against Catholic doctrine and most of these cats are Catholic. On the plus side, the ladies seem to be taking to the little ones, the foals, like they're moms themselves. You got to admit they sure are cute."
Chris chuckled,
"That they are. Any news about Andrew and Kaneesha?"
Brinsin nodded,
"Yeah, they're waiting until the church is finished to get married. They decided to try building a life together here." Brinsin lapsed into a pensive silence.
Chris looked at the shorter man concerned,
"What's wrong?"
R.J. shrugged,
"I don't know. I'm all confused man. Should I be doing what they're doing? You know, looking for somebody, getting married and all that? What if we find a way back? What if that happens tomorrow?"
Chris shifted his weight,
"Well, the question is, 'if you had the chance to go back, would you?' Would you go back to Earth or would you stay here?"
R.J. crossed his arms and lowered his chin to his chest,
"I... I don't know man. I mean it's beautiful here. There's fresh air, we have our own town, but there's just so much to learn. It's like a school lesson almost every day. But the freedom we have... ain't nothing like it back on Earth. Here you can use magic, heck I can FLY, you know? There's nothing that can beat what we have here."
Chris quirked half a smile,
"Sounds to me like you already have the answer."
R.J. sighed,
"Yeah maybe."
Chris reached out his left hand and placed it gently on R.J.'s shoulder,
"Look man, it's your choice, but if the Princesses don't know how it happened then chances are good that we may never know. Do you want to die here as an old man with no family to carry on your legacy?" Chris shrugged, "It can't hurt to look."
R.J. nodded,
"Yeah man." he admitted quietly.