Landshark wasn't in any particular hurry to make it to the school, she'd just be arriving early. She had a normal person's aversion to being late, not a machine's internal chronometer, so she generally made sure to get on her way a little earlier than strictly required.
She meandered through town towards the school, exchanging pleasantries here and there. She'd made an honest effort to appear integrated into the community with the help of her friends. By now, a lot of ponies seemed to know that she still lived at Berry Punch's place. Fewer knew that Berry had resolved to quit drinking.
She'd been waiting outside for some five minutes when the school's bell rang and children swarmed outside to head home or wait to be picked up by an adult. Landshark exchanged happy waves with some of them before squatting down to receive charges from Ruby Pinch and Dinky Doo, who were curious about her bandages.
She grinned and exchanged fist/hoofbumps with the small fillies. "Agents Pincer and Double Down, that's need to know, and for your mothers to say if you need to know. Now let's have a sit-rep."
The fillies sat down and sketched sloppy forehoof salutes. Dinky spoke first. "We've met our objectives. Digging in now, waiting for evac by Whirlybird, ma'am."
Landshark ruffled the filly's mane, sure that her mother would be by to pick her up any moment now. "Carry on then, agent. What about you, Pincer?"
Ruby Pinch seemed less enthusiastic, but still gamely stuck to the theme. "Ma'am, civilians blew my cover and the local authorities are on my case." Pinchy looked dejected.
"Ma'am, OpFor had me cornered during recess and Pincer drew their attention so I could open up the distance again. It was my fault!" Now it was Dinky's turn to display drooping ears and shuffle awkwardly in place.
Landshark shook her head and stood up. She had a reasonable idea that there'd been an incident with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon again, because the fillies got along reasonably well with everyone else. "Probably not your fault, Double. You say hi to your mother from me while I go see the local authorities with agent Pincer here."
She headed into the school with Ruby Pinch to find Cherilee sitting at her desk. "Miss Cherilee, I'm taking Ruby Pinch to her mother. Can you tell me what happened so I can pass it along?"
Cherilee had been informed by Berry Punch that it was alright for Landshark to pick Pinchy up from school, so the mare just sighed. "Miss Shark, I'm afraid Ruby Pinch started a fight with two other students. We're lucky none of them got really hurt."
Landshark fixed the filly in question with her best lifeless construct stare. "In your own words please, Agent Pincer." She had used her best serious business voice, normally fit to strike sparks from metal, but sticking to the theme seemed to help the filly keep her composure. Cherilee watched with interest.
Pinchy stood to attention, swallowed once, then rattled off an explanation. "They cornered Dinky, I mean Agent Double-Down to make fun of her mother. They always do. She knows her mom is awesome but it still hurts her when the OpFor goes on about her eye and her being clumsy or slow. I yelled at them to get lost and they started making fun of mommy. I just wanted to shut them up!" Ruby Pinch sounded frustrated, perhaps on the verge of tears. "It wasn't true anyway!"
"Ruby Pinch. You know you're supposed to use your words or tell an adult when you're being bullied." Cherilee tried to be reasonable. She knew Dinky and Pinchy were vulnerable to bullying when other fillies made fun of their respective mothers.
"But that doesn't work!" Ruby Pinchy cried in frustration. "They're just better at words, okay? Better at hurting us and better at telling lies. It's not fair."
Landshark squatted down in front of Ruby Pinch. "Look, Pincer. What did I tell you about your mother? Let's hear it, agent."
Pinchy drew in a shuddering breath before clinging to the construct in a hug. "I know. Mommy's trying to be stronger for me, but if I lose my cool, ponies think mommy is a bad mother, and that hurts her."
Landshark stood back up with the filly slung over her good shoulder. "I'm sorry Miss Cherilee. Pinchy isn't stupid, she knows what ponies think about her mother. Berry Punch is trying to turn her life around, but it'll take time until others believe it." She sighed. "And it probably won't stop bullies from using it against Pinchy either." Ruby Pinch pouted.
Cherilee bit her lip. She certainly hadn't know that Berry was trying to turn over a new leaf. "Alright. I suppose this once I'll let her mother handle any punishment. If Mr. Rich contacts me about this, I'll tell him it's being handled."
Landshark nodded, then addressed Pinchy again. "Agent Pincer, give it to us straight. Did you lose your cool when you got mad, or did you want to get into a fight but didn't think about the consequences?"
Ruby Pinch didn't entirely know what to make of the question, but she was getting used to Landshark asking that sort of thing of her and Dinky. The construct expected them to keep track of why they did things. It was surprisingly difficult. "Well, I did get angry at them. But I think ... I think I knew there'd be trouble, but I really wanted to shut them up just the once." She took a deep breath. "I'm not very sorry. Dinky didn't deserve having to listen to them either. They're still big jerks. They were winning anyway."
"Agent, you made the call, but you didn't figure the consequences all the way. First, taking on two earth ponies? Second, your decisions come back to your mother. She hates to see you hurt and it hurts her when ponies think she doesn't raise you right." Landshark paused, generally too detached from small-time disputes like this to feel strongly, but she knew it would affect Berry and Pinchy. "You're free to make choices, but actions have consequences, Pincer."
Pinchy just sighed. "No excuse, ma'am."
"We're heading straight to see your mother, Pincer. No stop at the Hayburger today," Landshark declared. "Sorry Miss Cherilee. We'll get out of your hair now."
"You have a nice day, Miss Shark, Pinchy." Cherlilee waved and returned to the work of grading assignments and preparing the next school day.
Landshark strode out of the school, Pinchy still on her shoulder. They waved when they saw Ditzy in the distance, carrying Dinky home. "I kind of feel sorry for Mr. Rich, Pincer."
Pinchy grimaced. "Why? All I ever hear about him is that he has sooo much money and is going to go after people who get into Diamond Tiara's way."
"Well," Landshark conceded. "I don't know him personally, but intel suggests that he's more or less a stand-up guy who got where he is by his own smarts, a bit of luck and sure, maybe a bit of low cunning to round out the hard work. And he probably loves his daughter very much."
"Yeah, so?" Pinchy couldn't quite bring herself to say it, but she wondered how good a father he could be considering the way his daughter acted.
"I'm pretty sure Diamond Tiara is a stone cold liar. She knows her dad thinks highly of her and she uses it. One day Mr. Rich is going to realize it and it'll be the worst feeling in the world. I wouldn't wish that on anyone." Landshark paused. "Now, bear with me – my kind don't have children. But I think a great many parents would be vulnerable to that. It's just that most children turn out too nice to abuse the love of their parents that way. So, I know DT mentions her father a lot, but I think you shouldn't be too angry at him. But you know, I don't know much about parenting."
"Wow." Pinchy was quiet. "Maybe Mr. Rich made some mistakes. But, uh ... she's growing up in the same town as the ponies that use the Elements of Harmony and such and she's still turning into a terrible pony. It can't all be on her dad, can it?"
Landshark was steadily moving towards her smithy, where Berry Punch would likely be sorting Landshark's financial affairs in a way that would make them easy to keep track off. "You know, Pincer, there's no fairness in the world. Not even a little bit. It's all unfair. It's just sometimes unfair for someone else and good for us. It's not fair that nice ponies have problems and mean ones don't. It's not fair that your mom has problems, or that Dinky's mom is poor. But it's also not fair that you have a mommy who loves you very much and some little foals don't have any parents, or bad parents."
"Uhuh" Pinchy nodded. "That's not my fault, though, right?"
"No, of course not. You can't make everything fair. Not the big stuff. But some ponies are like Diamond Tiara and kick others when they're down and the world is unfair to them. Maybe she knows the world is unfair, and figures she can be unfair too, since she got lucky being born to rich parents."
Landshark paused. She figured she might have lost Ruby Pinch's attention already. "Fairness comes from people, you know. It's your choice what to do with the world. Play along and take advantage whenever you can or square your shoulders, look the world in the eye and say 'No, this isn't fair. We have to do better.'"
"That sounds like an awfully big job," Pinchy glumly replied.
"It doesn't have to be, Pincer. No one put you in charge of making everything fair. You can't do everything. But you should do small things you can do. Share some food with someone who looks hungry. Smile more. Show your mother you love her. Show any sort of kindness to someone who's sad. Let it roll off your back when someone is mean to you – maybe they're just having a terrible day and didn't mean to hurt you." Landshark emitted a sigh. "The world can be a thing of suffering and horror, and we all fight our battles. And I mean battles like your mother against alcohol, or Dinky's mom against being poor, not shooting magic at monsters. You don't need to have an element of harmony to help people. It's not that big a job, Pinchy. You're already doing it for your mother, for me, or Dinky. And hopefully we're doing it for you."
Pinchy was silent for a while as Landshark walked. "Yeah," the filly eventually conceded. "Maybe I understand. Not everyone can be a hero, but everyone can decide to be nice. And when the world sends Diamond Tiara after us, we stick together and it doesn't hurt so much."
Landshark nodded. "Right. Sooner or later the world is gonna take its best shot at most of us, you know. Some are strong enough to stay standing and carry on. Some of us fall down and break apart, but our friends put us together again so we can dust ourselves off, stand up and go right on living our life, just to spite whoever put us down. 'Heh. Is that your best shot, world? What a joke.'"
"But what if someone doesn't have anyone to help put them back together again?"
It was Landshark's turn to be quiet before finally answering. She briefly wondered about Bon Bon. "That sucks. Sometimes they manage by themselves, but that hurts very badly, and maybe they don't get it right. It can make someone hard and unkind." Landshark snapped her jaws noisily. "And then when a sweet filly like you comes along to make them smile, they get angry instead, because they think they're ok now and anyway why weren't you there when they were really hurt? It's very sad, because it's so hard to be happy again after that. But sometimes someone gets lucky and when they're hurt they can think back to when a little filly they didn't even know smiled at them and they decide they can't be too mad at the world as long as there's some kindness left in it."
"Hmm." Pinchy appeared to think. "I guess ... I guess I hope Mr. Rich has someone around to put him back together when he finds out what a horrible daughter he has." She paused and giggled. "Or when you find out that you don't get paid by the word!"
"Oh snap," Landshark pretended to gasp. "You wound me, Agent Pincer. I thought we were having a moment!" She lowered the filly back to the ground and walked beside her. "For serious though, thanks for listening to me drone on and on. You kids and your mothers and people like them are all I got."
"It's okay. Maybe it's a little too wordy for me, but ... I guess some of it I felt already, a little bit. That the world isn't fair, but that nice people still make it a pretty okay place to live." Ruby Pinch kicked a pebble. "I'm not stupid, you know. I knew my mommy and Dinky's have problems that other families don't have."
They were almost at the smithy. Landshark stopped. "Wait a second." When Pinchy stopped, Landshark squatted down again. "Look, when we had a spot of trouble last night, Bon Bon was a huge help. Could you maybe do something nice for her as a thank you? Draw a picture or something? Use your best judgement."
"Yes ma'am! Agent Pincer is on the case." Pinchy attempted another salute.
"Now, don't salute the superior officer out in the field, that just tells OpFor who has all the good ideas on the team." Landshark twitched her jaw. "Hey, and if your mother decides to ground you, I just gave you something to fill your time with!"
Pinchy groaned but started walking again. They arrived at Landshark's property, which would have held a sizable house and garden, but had been affordable due to its proximity to the Everfree forest. When not otherwise occupied, the construct generally worked on piling up a barrier of earth facing the forest. In its current form it wouldn't deter a wild animal, but at least it provided a background for practice targets that wouldn't let projectiles just fly off into the wilderness.
They'd found Berry Punch in the little front office area they had set up to keep their paperwork and greet future customers in, reading another self-help book. She hadn't been a fan of any of them so far, but had kept reading because, according to her, "they're not a complete waste of time either." The mare still looked a little battered from the previous night, but seemed in good spirits.
"Hey Berry, hear anything about our anvil?"
Berry put her book down. "Not yet, Shark. Ditzy'll let us know when it's ready for pick-up at the post office. Her boss isn't going to let her fly across town with an anvil in tow." She frowned. "I got your paperwork into some semblance of order, Shark. How do you expect to keep track of your finances if you don't keep order in the office, hmm?" She got up from the desk and trotted over to her daughter. "So how was school today, Ruby?"
"Well, I guess I'll have to make sure to keep it in the order you introduced. Remember, I wasn't meant for this, it's all new to me." Landshark sounded vaguely amused. "But let's not make this about me. Agent Pincer has a report to make."
Ruby Pinchy didn't look enthusiastic but recounted what had happened during recess and after school in Cherilee's office.
Berry Punch didn't look happy, but considering she had struck the first blow the previous night, she couldn't be too upset with her daughter, even though she felt a seedy bar was a more appropiate setting to pick a fight in.
"First of all, nice move sticking up for Dinky. I'm proud of that. But it's really not right to try and hurt ponies even when they hurt you with words. I sometimes forget that too, but we really should learn better. We'll learn better, won't we?"
Pinchy clung to her mother and sniffled a little. "Yes mommy. I'll try to do better and keep cool. But how did you get hurt?"
Berry stroked her daughter's mane. "Well, it turns out your mother isn't so good at using her words either. I had a little fight with some rude ponies, but Shark and the gang helped me out." She sighed. "Seems hardly fair to punish her for sticking up for a friend," she mused to herself.
A small sigh of relief escaped Pinchy, but as she looked up, she felt Landshark's unreadable gaze drop on her like a lead weight. She squared her shoulders. "Mommy. I'm not sorry for the bullies, but I ... I broke the rules and people blame you when I do."
"Oh Pinchy ..." Berry Punch smiled a little sadly. "I'm proud of you, but you're right. How about, hmm, after we have lunch you stay in and we clean the whole house? It's overdue anyway. Maybe you've got a little unicorn magic to help your mother, right?"
Landshark had produced some awfully sloppy salutes in the last few years, partially just to seem more relatable to her comrades, partially to childishly needle superiors. She resented being thought of as a mere machine, but she had some of a machine's virtues as well. The salute she offered Ruby Pinch now could not possibly have been more precisely done. "Stoutly done, Agent Pincer. You do your people proud." The praise seemed to offer a small measure of comfort to a filly faced with an afternoon of doing chores.
Berry Punch shook her head, her smile a little happier now. "So what's with the nicknames, you goofballs?"
The change of topic instantly brightened Ruby Pinch's mood. "Landshark was playing monster catchers with Dinky and me and she told us that she knew most of her old friends only by code-names. We needed code-names too!"
Landshark nodded in agreement. "Being undercover monster hunters isn't precisely legal. Field agents like us certainly weren't cleared to know anyone's real identity. It's just another precaution." She didn't explain that some people also became known by less flattering nicknames in cases where their chosen name was unpopular with their comrades.
"Uhuh," Pinchy nodded. "So I'm Pincer, Dinky is Double Down, because her mom can fly she's Whirlybird, and, uh, we're just calling Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon the OpFor because then people don't know who we're complaining about."
"Yes. They enjoy having a bit of lingo just between themselves and me. Although," Landshark conceded, "it's fine to shorten longer code-names when you're not being formal. So it's cool to call Dinky just Double, but when we're being serious, she's Agent Double Down."
Berry grinned. "Well, I just call you Shark too, most times. So I suppose that's a code-name too, then?" She looked back down at Pinchy, amusement evident. "And have you been cooking up nicknames for the rest of us so you can talk about us without other people knowing?"
"Nah," Landshark waved the question off, but she sounded serious. "When I think of myself, I'm Landshark. Never had a civilian identity, and who I was created to be, I left two worlds behind. It's regular folk that helped me recreate my Self. And that person is Landshark. Names are just sounds, but that one fits my Self better, and that's immutable, thanks to people like you."
"Besides," Pinchy reasoned, "If we really have to talk about you we can just talk about our boss." She addressed her mother again. "Well, it's hard to come up with good names. Shark has been helping us because she's got experience with it."
"I guess I've been thinking about it a little bit," Landshark allowed. She didn't sleep much, there was plenty of time for idle and amusing thoughts. "Remember, though, these are only for us to know. It's no good when you tell just anyone." She looked at Berry. "Normally people pick their own names, but since this is just a game here, I guess I'll assign the adults names for your daughters to use."
Berry smiled broadly. "Hey, I'm game for it if you are. So let's hear it, Shark." Pinchy nodded along with her mother.
Landshark steepled her fingers idly in front of her. "Well, I was just going to call Bon Bon 'Enigma'. She fits into a crowd so well, no one is going to associate her with a word of mystery like that." She held up her good hand. "I thought of just calling Lyra 'Thumbs' but since she's literally the only pony with an interest in hands, it's not much of a code. I'm just going with 'Whimlark'."
Pinchy grinned and nodded with enthusiasm. "I guess they'll be the whimlark enigma!" She grandly waved a hoof before getting a thoughtful look. "Ponies might actually ask what that means."
Landshark laughed briefly. "Hey, if for someone asks about it, just tell them I invented it. It's practically true and will get them off your back. As for Berry, you get to be Weighty Brass."
Berry mock-glowered. "Weighty? This better be good, girl."
Landshark snapped her jaws and emitted a chuckle. "Well it just sounded funny to me, but it works on multiple levels! Pincer here can just refer to you as the brass, which is a way to talk about authority a good bit above you in the chain, and since you're her mother, you're topping the list anyway. The way you throw a punch, and the way I nearly broke my fingers trying the same thing, made me think I really need some brass knuckles."
She wasn't generally sure it really counted as throwing a punch when a pony did it, but she also wasn't often motivated to adjust her use of language. "That's like a set of heavy rings welded together and to a grip, so if I punch someone, the force is concentrated in the metal and hurts more, while at the same time holding it by a grip makes it less dangerous for my own hand. Anyway, and lastly, once you been working here for a while, you're going to be able to put real weight behind your punches."
She paused, momentarily confused. "Or if you handle the hammer with your mouth, you'll headbutt real hard? Anyway, Weighty Brass. If you polish brass enough it's real pretty, almost like gold. And you ponies are heavier than you look. Sorry, but it's true."
"Helps beat up people and cleans up real nice? Sold! Come on Pinchy, we're getting lunch and then we'll have a busy day. And don't think I'll forget to ask about homework. Shark, we won't make it over later, so I guess I'll see you when you get home."
The filly groaned but put on a brave face as she waved goodbye to Landshark. "Seeya later, Shark!"
Landshark waved, then went to sit down behind her desk, examining her paperwork. There wasn't much of it at this point, but she didn't see the need to change anything about the preliminary order Berry Punch had introduced. After all, her friend had experience operating her own business. The construct expected that it would end up being very useful to have Berry around.