I couldn’t help but laugh at myself, if only internally—not even home a day and already in the back room.
As I nosed the door shut, I glanced at the rear table. Blizzard was sitting quite patiently, while Blaze was still standing, shuffling her hooves as she stared back at me.
“So, how did you two meet, anyway?” I asked, one ear to the door.
“When you didn’t show up for the third night in a row, I started asking around,” Blaze replied. “Ran into somepony else who was left behind.”
I winced before nodding. Regardless of tact, she was right. By this point, my past was haunting more than just me. “Sorry.”
Blizzard let out a soft chuckle. “If nothing else, we each got to make a new friend. And trade a couple interesting stories.”
Satisfied that no one was eavesdropping, I trotted over to the table. I looked between my two friends, who said nothing more, which gave me a pretty good idea of just which stories they had been discussing.
“Not in public, I hope.”
“Course not.” Blaze shook her head before flashing me a grin. “I was taught better than that.”
“Right.” I mustered a smile of my own. “I guess I’ll get started, then.”
Once again, I tried to keep the gory details as limited as possible. My concern was chiefly Blizzard, though Blaze wasn’t exactly a hardened veteran, either. While Blaze and I had been in a few bloody battles together, battle prowess aside, she’d shown me just how hard the results can hit her. The fact that she wasn’t peppering me with questions was a clear indication of the latter kicking in.
As I neared the end of the warehouse segment, they both grew visibly tense. This only increased with each detail, but at least Blizzard seemed to have a limit. Blaze, on the other hoof, almost looked ready to fight. If a Cartel agent had come through the door right that moment, I’d bet she would have been on them faster than Rainbow Dash joining a race.
By the time I’d finished skimming over my blackout, Blaze was pawing at the ground. She looked at me, a fire in her eyes much like when we had first met—when she’d thought she was championing the safety of her hometown.
“I wished I’d been there,” she growled.
I shook my head. “No one saw it coming. If I had, I certainly wouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place.”
“Doesn’t mean we wouldn’t help.” Blizzard’s eyes flitted from Blaze to me. “But we’re glad you pulled through.”
I nodded. “Yeah. It wasn’t pretty, but it turns out that I had actually made it to the bar.”
Myrtail was surprisingly easy to sum up. Granted, when I really thought about it, leaving out the details of my love life and the nitty gritty of Noble Light’s antics all but guaranteed a short tale.
Blaze was a bit calmer now, chewing thoughtfully on her words as she spoke, “I’m glad you’re okay, but y’know, if anypony else told me they got stranded in a fancy resort for a month because they almost died, I don’t think I’d believe them.”
“Same here.” Blizzard shook her head. “It’s almost like something out of a super spy novel.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “If this were a super spy novel, I’d have taken down the bad guys and been home in time for dinner. I’m just a normal mare.”
When they both gave me funny looks, I added. “Okay, okay. I admit that I must be some kind of weirdness magnet, but I’m certainly no super spy.”
“Sadly.” Blizzard gave me an apologetic smile.
Blaze nodded a few times before snapping her head forward, eyes wide. “Hey! Hold on a sec. You said they used magical helmets, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And a Guard Captain was working to root them out?” She leaned forward. I could practically see the gears turning in her head.
“That’s right.”
Her face lit up. “Oh! It all makes sense now.”
“Something happen?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah! Over the last month, there were several surprise equipment inspections. Didn’t think much of it, since I ain’t got any of the real stuff yet,” Blaze said, a small frown creeping across her face, “but some of my friends were complaining about how picky the higher-ups were being.”
“Picky so that they had ample time with the helmets?”
“Probably. Course, they were looking at the whole suit, insisting it be spotless, sayin’ the Crystal Empire’s Princess might drop by, so I don’t think anyone suspected.”
“‘Might?’” I asked
Blaze shrugged. “Yeah. In case she had to run off and do princess-y things, I guess. She did show up, anyway. Didn’t get a look at her, myself, but it was the talk of the barracks for a few days.”
“Pretty sneaky.” I couldn’t help but smirk. It was seriously doubtful that Noble Light had the clout to call in a foreign princess, even if she was originally Equestrian, to help him deal with an internal affair. Which left only one other possibility—and an opportunity to confirm that something was done. “So, did anyone get outed?”
“A few ponies got pulled aside,” Blaze answered. “Come to think of it, I ain’t seen any of them since.”
Guess that settles that.
With a shake of her head, Blizzard let out a sigh. “This still sounds straight out of the loony bin. So what happens now?”
“Nothing, hopefully,” I answered, adding my reasoning as much for myself as for them. “This whole operation has been pretty catastrophic for the Cartel. To pursue things further, especially when their Canterlot network has been crippled, would be a huge risk. If they have any sense of self-preservation, they’ll cut their losses and back off.”
Blaze frowned deeply. “And that’s it? We sit back and let them go about their evil ways?”
“Well, yes. It’s not like we can storm their headquarters and take down their leader, which—even if we somehow could, might not even put an end to things. I’m not a super spy, remember? Whatever happens next is up to the Guard.”
She let out a heavy sigh. “Right.”
---
Terra stood in the shadows of the main road, staring down a side street, at a cottage two blocks away. It was a tiny, rundown thing with peeling paint and crooked shutters. Oddly enough, the lawn, which was cut in half by a gravel path, and the two shrubs flanking the door, were lush and green.
I sighed. “Terra?”
She kept staring ahead, eyes fixed firmly on the door.
“Terra!”
“Huh?” With a start, she turned to me, blinking a couple times, as though she’d forgotten I was even there.
“If you keep standing there, someone is going to mistake us for burglars and then things are going to get weird.”
“Oh, yeah. That would be bad.” She still didn’t move. “Maybe we should come back tomorrow.”
“Don’t make me drag you over there.”
“Like you could.” She waved a hoof.
“Fine, probably not, but you’re the one who wanted to get this figured out.”
“Yeah, but… but, what am I supposed to do? What if me me is too different from other me and it traumatizes her?!” Terra shifted from hoof to hoof.
“One, you’re still being considerate of her even now. Two, even after you got your ‘sexy’ back, you went back over that garden magazine fr—”
“Sexy stallion magazine!” she snapped, just a little too loud. I thought I heard the sound of a few shutters closing.
I sighed. “Okay, if you talked to her about that, then we might have more than one problem. But I know what you were doing, Terra. You barely saw more than the centerfold.”
“Hahaha, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Thankfully, that got her moving—and at a decent pace, no less. Of course, it turned out that the impulse to avoid admitting things to me was no match for the cottage’s door.
This left me with a bit of dilemma. I didn’t want to force Terra’s hoof, but standing out here arguing was liable to freak out pretty much everyone inside. So I did the only thing a good friend could do. Terra’s face contorted with increasing panic as each of my three knocks echoed out into the night.
“What did you do that for?!” she hissed.
“You’re welcome.”
The door swung open and there stood Aster, staring up at us with the severity of a treasury guard addressing a pack of hooligans. “What do you want?”
Terra’s demeanor immediately shifted. “Young filly, that is not how you address your elders.”
Aster scowled. “Well, maybe I wouldn’t have to if my elders didn’t break their promises.”
“And I’m very sorry for that,” Terra’s expression softened as she leaned forward. “Something came up.”
“Oh. Yeah. ‘Something’. Like I haven’t heard that one before.”
“It was my fault,” I interjected.
Aster peered up at me. “What?”
“I had an emergency—a private emergency and I really, really needed Terra’s help. She would have been here for you if she could have. So if you have to blame anyone, blame me.”
“I…” Aster continued to stare, as though concentrating hard enough would let her see into my brain and decide if I was being honest.
A stallion’s voice cut through the silence. It was muffled and tired, coming from well inside the cottage. “It is ten o’clock, Aster. Who are you shouting at?”
The floorboards creaked as heavy hoofsteps slowly, but steadily, approached. Aster’s attention had turned inward and after a few moments, she scooted to the side, letting a large, dark tan stallion step into view. He looked like he’d once been bulky, the last vestiges of toning apparent in odd places. A thick cloth girdle wrapped around his barrel, with a secondary belt wrapped around his neck. Between that and the way he carried himself, if I had to guess, I’d have said it was a back brace. A light grey pillar sat on his flank, though I wasn’t quite sure what it represented. His mane was a pale purple, as though the grey of his cutie mark had been tinted.
“Oh, hello, Miss Terrabona.” He glanced at Aster. “Aster, why didn’t you say Miss Terrabona was here?”
Aster grumbled something incomprehensible. The stallion didn’t seem to mind. He simply smiled at Terra and I; it was a practiced smile, the sort of tired grin that both hides and gives away the troubles beneath. If nothing else, I couldn’t fault him for trying to be pleasant.
Terra smiled wide. “Hi, Stalwart. Sorry to bother you. I just need to have a quick chat with Aster.”
“And who’s your friend?” His gaze lingered a bit before he glanced at me.
“Oh! Yes, um, Dusky, this is Stalwart Stone. Stalwart, Dusky Down.”
“Nice to meet you, Miss Down.”
“Likewise.” I smiled.
“Well, then, come right in. Sorry about the mess.”
“No, no” Terra waved a hoof. “We should be apologizing for showing up unannounced.”
Stalwart Stone stepped aside so Aster could hold the door for Terra and I. As soon as we were inside, Terra was practically on top of Aster, demanding the details of their month apart. All theory of her mothering being a side effect of Star’s spell died right there.
My own attention turned to the interior of the house itself. There was only one room, its floor and walls about as beaten and scuffed as the outside. Across from the door, a fire danced in the hearth; beside it was an empty pot, the faint scent of potatoes wafting out of it.
A couple of small beds were tucked into the far corner, neither of which had been made. While I was used to sleeping in a single size bed, there was just something about these ones that felt especially lonely. Perhaps it was more the fault of the room than anything. Aside from a rickety table and a couple old wooden shelves, the place was just plain sparse.
As I scanned the shelves, something at the top caught my eye. While most of the contents were about as drab and mundane as the shelves themselves, these were colourful binders; I couldn’t quite make out the patterns, but the choice of palette was gaudy enough that it wouldn’t seem out of place in Canterlot.
“Binders got your eye?”
“Yeah.” I looked at Stalwart Stone, who still had that same polite smile on his face. “They’re rather vibrant.”
“Everypony says something to that effect.” He chuckled, although, much like his smile, there was a certain tired weight to it. “They’re just mementos from a time long past.”
I nodded, not quite sure if he was volunteering more information or giving me just enough to ward me away from the topic. At this point, erring on the side of the latter was probably the better idea.
“So, what do you do for a living?” Try as I might, I couldn’t quite keep my eyes off his back brace. If we hadn’t found Aster wandering around so often, I might have guessed that he was out of the work force entirely. Which, I suppose, only served to make me more curious.
“I work for the Canterlot Independent Masons. Pushing paper.” The second sentence carried a tinge of bitterness. Given his cutie mark, I didn’t have to think too hard about why.
My familiarity with those particular masons, or even masons in general, was pretty limited. My dad had mentioned them in passing a couple times, but they just weren’t the type of customer he dealt with too often. All I knew was that they were a small-time organization who took smaller contracts. I wracked my brain for something that would be inoffensive, yet not painfully generic.
“Canterlot? So you commute there and back every day?”
He nodded. “Not because I want to, mind. Housing just ain’t cheap up there.”
“You can say that again.”
Stalwart Stone’s attention had turned to Aster and Terra and for just a moment, his smile dropped.
“I’d rather spend it with her. She deserves so much better than this.” He shook his head. “I guess what I mean to say is, I’m glad she found someone who can help her. An old stallion like me can only get so many notes from the teacher before he starts worrying.”
Terra wore a warm smile and a motherly gaze as she addressed Aster. “I can still help you spruce up the yard if you’d like.”
“I already fixed it.” Aster grumped, crossing her forehooves.
“Fixed it, yes. But what about those flowers you wanted?”
“They… they were too...” Aster mumbled, her voice dropping to inaudible levels.
Terra wrapped her in a tight hug. “Don’t worry about that. I’m sure I’ve got something lying around the shop.”
Aster frowned, but the rest of her body visibly relaxed. “Fine, but you’d better not break your promise this time.”
A smile crept up my face as I turned to Stalwart Stone. “Me too.”