The sun shone brightly down upon the forested treeline, with only a few slivers of direct light poking their way through. The dirt path beneath both Neuro and myself kept it's tried texture that matched almost that of sand. It hadn't rained for nearly two weeks but the air pressure was stagnant in the air, giving hint that rain would arrive in the approaching days.
We walked beside one another. Neuro with his eyes trained directly down the narrow road, while my own observed the forested woods that encroached so closely onto the path, the branches were practically touching us. I turned to Neuro.
"I don't think I like this shortcut."
He raised an eyebrow. "I thought you hold a fondness for nature?"
"In most cases, yes. But the path is practically overgrown with trees. I can't imagine trying to take this way at night all by yourself. With the moonlight blocked out it'd be liked being in a cave."
"Then we'd bring a lantern to substantiate. I ensure you, there are no monsters in these woods."
Although I believed that it didn't put my mind every well at ease. Even in the afternoon light it was more difficult than it should have been to navigate this way. Mix that Neuro's mildly patronizing comment and I was even more alert of what may or may not happen.
And he seemed to sense this, adding with a bit more warmness to his voice than usual: "But I promise we won't take this way when we go back to the house. It still isn't safe to travel at night, monsters or no."
I shivered. "Why do we even have to take it now? The main road would still get us into to town."
"But the main road would take us at least another hour of walking. Since the post office closes at six we certainly wouldn't get there in time."
He had a point. One that I didn't like but had to agree with. I'd grown so used to the conveniences more populated towns brought I hadn't even considered that wouldn't be the case in a town like Sunset Grove, where miles instead of yards separated the next house. Granted, I still remember the conveniences of not having to worry about mail entirely, but that was a story for another day.
After a few more minutes of walking we finally arrived in what I presumed was considered the town square. By that it was a post office, three stores, a meeting hall, and the train station I'd arrived from just down the ways. The forest surrounded the patch of civilization, with a dirt clearing providing the wall between it and the wilderness.
Neuro turned to me. "This will only take a few minutes. I will return shortly."
He strolled into the post office, leaving me to stand absently out front. As you'd expect for a town like this, there wasn't much of notice going on from what I could tell. All I could hear was the brushing of wind through the trees, and all I could see was an elderly looking colt sleeping on the front porch of one of the stores.
What interested me was the vendor's cart that stood by where he sat. Taking the initiative to be social for a change, I walked towards him.
"Excuse me?" I said softly to get his attention. "Excuse me, sir?"
His eyes slowly cracked open and he regarded me with a dreamy look of half-consciousness. I gestured to the cart. "Is this your cart?"
He looked to me, to the cart, back to me, and back to the cart. "Yes..." he said after a short bit of thought. "Is there something you need?"
I gestured to the cart again. "I'd like to buy whatever you're selling."
I licked the edges of his lips and gingerly nodded. "Of course...let me just..." what followed was at least two minutes of the gray colt rising from the bench he was resting on. The entire time I was legitimately worried his bones were going to snap any moment.
But he managed to get to his hooves and stepped at a similar pace over to the cart. Unlocking a few of its drawers he said: "What do you want."
I shrugged. "What do you have?"
He had to think about this a moment while glancing through the wide selection he appeared to have. "Well...there's hay funnel cakes, grilled flowers with grass, fried oats, and popcorn."
"Popcorn," I answered immediately, my disdain for Equestrian 'cuisine' holding true for all these years.
With his shaky hooves, he served the popcorn into a small paper bag and handed it to me. I slid him three bits and began to eat my food.
"Thank you very much, lad," the ancient pony said while pocketing the exchange.. "Your the first customer I've had all this afternoon."
"Is business typically those slow?"
"Depends on what day it is. Most of my sales come from ponies just passing through on the train to the coast. Other than that it's only when the local folks come down to pick up supplies from Snake Oil's general store."
My brow furrowed. "Snake Oil?"
The old pony smiled. "Her name's the only part that's got bite. She's a very nice mare, very sweet. None her since we were just foals." His smiled deepened in distant reminiscence, until it gradually diminished to query. "Excuse me, but my ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Have I met you before? I don't recognize your voice very well."
"I don't believe we have. I'm from out of town, living with a friend for the time being." I paused at the next part. "My name's Alistair."
I was expecting immediate shock at his realization of talking to a creature such as myself. It had been a bit off that he didn't react all that strangely to our conversation, but I assumed just nearsighted. Could he actually be blind?
"Alistair," he tested the word. "Are you that young man I've seen in the paper before? The one who lived with--"
"Yes," I cut in before he could finish. "I am. I'm sorry for not introducing myself sooner."
"No, no, it's fine. I understand. It's hard talking with the new ponies. Especially when you...look the way you do. Who's the friend you're staying with? I may know them."
"Professor Paraprax, the psychologist. I'm working for him."
Something crossed into the old colt's glassy eyes. Distrust? Annoyance? Anger? It was hard to tell behind all those wrinkles but it didn't look like anything positive.
"The professor...interesting. That stallion always struck me as an odd sort of fellow. Odd that he'd have a young man like yourself staying with him..."
"We've met each other before," I responded quickly. "It's been awhile since we last saw each other so I thought I'd pay him a visit."
The colt didn't look very convinced. "I don't know. I'm not quite sure what to make of him. If I were you, I'd watch myself around that pony. He's a strange one, especially with him deciding to live in--"
"Alistair!" Neuro called from outside the post office. "Let's get going. It's almost nightfall."
"Coming!" I shouted back and began towards him.
"Remember what I said," the old colt whispered just enough for me to hear. "Watch yourself."
----------
5 minutes earlier...
I entered the post office without another glance to Alistair. I knew he'd be able to look after himself without any shenanigans. He was quite mature for however old he was and didn't need me looking over his shoulder every minute of the day.
Still, it occurred to me just as the door closed behind that perhaps he could have taken that the wrong way. Not making sure he was still there with a simple glance made me seem much more inconsiderate to his plight, like I simply didn't care about whatever happened to him. Perhaps it was just paranoid reasoning but I sighed at the missed opportunity to show him that I was on his side.
The office was as it always was. Not another soul in sight except for the friendly looking yellow mare behind the counter, her courier's cap placed loosely atop her cream colored mare. Her appearance reminded me of my secretary back at the University, Honey Dew, minus the solid Manehattan accent that stung the ears.
"Hello, Professor Paraprax," she greeted with a chipper smile as I approached the counter. "Do you need something today."
I simply nodded my head at her greeting and unfurled my list from my saddlebag. "I'm here to pick up a few items, Ms. Ray." I slid the list across the counter and into her kiosk. "I believe you'll find everything in proper order."
She took the list and scanned over the contents. She looked up at me with moderate surprise. "This is certainly different from your usual orders from Canterlot."
"Important research," I said dryly.
Undeterred, she slid me a signing sheet which I scribbled my signature down onto while she went around back to where my things were being stored. When she came back, I handed her the sheet while she organized the several sealed envelopes and boxes into a bag. Unfortunately for me, she tried to make conversation.
"Any big projects your working on? Any new discoveries?"
"I haven't been visiting the University has frequently as I would in the Fall or Winter. My work as of recent mostly deals in literary reports and editing other such works. Nothing quite groundbreaking."
"Then is there anything happening in Canterlot? You still do visit from time to time, right?"
I regarded her calmly with a raised eyebrow. "I believe you can read about this in the newspaper."
She smiled further. "Yes, but not from an insider such as yourself. You've actually been there which is much more than the newspaper can cover. The stories always shift around so much, they never focus on what I really want to know."
I sighed. "Things are still under construction. The important municipal buildings are nearing completion but the residential areas still need a sizable amount of work. The University sustained only minor damages to the property. We were back in action in under a week."
She finished packing my things. "Here you are," she chirped sweetly. "Shipped from the express train just this morning. It must have cost a pretty penny to get it here so lickety split."
"It's a cost I'm willing to pay. Now, if you'd excuse me Ms. Ray, I must be on my way."
I ducked out of the office and back into the approaching dusk of outside. I was relieved to be out of that confining office with that talkative pony. She always was so pushy with conversation and I never quite knew how to respond to it. In the end, I'd survived another round, with only my next trip inside presenting my biggest struggle of the week.
Speaking of struggles, where was Alistair? I'd been inside for only a few minutes. Just where had he--
There, by that store, talking with some ancient pony. One of the grizzled locals in this hamlet and by the looks of the glance he cast me, was the kind that didn't like me living here. And he was speaking with the boy...
"Alistair!" I yelled to him. "Let's get going. It's almost nightfall."
The two exchanged a few more words until he came sprinting back over to me, an odd expression on his face.