"Are you feeling any better?" I asked.
Street Justice finished her fifth doughnut with a sigh. "A little..."
We were sitting at Doughnut Joe's doughnut shop, Canterlot's best kept secret. Street had barely talked since we got here.
"You know you shouldn't let that bitch get to you." I said firmly.
Street shot me a nasty look. "That "bitch" has saved more lives than I can count and is personally responsible for the protection of the pony that moves the Sun. Show some respect."
I narrowed my eyes. "And you haven't saved lives? How many years were you a cop?" If she was going to plunge herself into a rage I was at least going to make her be logical about it.
"It's not the same." Street continued, "I put lives in danger too."
I raised an eyebrow. "By getting sick?"
"Yes! I mean, no I..." She shook her head. "I was supposed to be protecting ponies and I was too messed up to do it."
"Yeah, but was that really your fault?" I pressed. "I mean, you were getting used to new medications and going through something really shitty. Shouldn't-"
Street held up a hoof. "I don't want to talk about it, okay? Sunny good, me bad, end of story. Now, where do we stand on our bounty for the gem smuggler?"
I sighed. Obviously it wasn't the end of the story, but even I could tell I wasn't going to get anywhere right now. "We did get the bounty processed... Two in a row this fast is actually kind of a lot."
Street snorted. "Not when you factor in travel expenses... And food... And medical attention when we inevitably get way more banged up than we already-"
I groaned. "Okay, seriously Street, that's enough! You are going to implode if you keep up like this. You need a break. Don't you ever do anything fun?"
#
I slid open the rough sheet metal door and looked around.
This place was... Better. Not perfect, but better.
I found the reason for that sleeping at the front desk... Apparently we had a front desk now.
I bent over and tapped the desk lightly. "Sweeper?"
The old stallion snorted awake. He shot me a terrified salute. "Ma'am! I'm sorry Ma'am. It won't-"
I held up a hoof. "Sweeper. It's going to happen again, and again, and again. But in time it's going to happen less and less. You are going to get better. It won't be fast or anything, but I can wait okay?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Ma'am?"
I put a hoof on his shoulder. "I love what you've done with the place. Want to show me what happened to my drawing table?"
After some shuffling of old furniture, I found the thing. It was sitting next to a bin full of ashes and a stack of blank paper, both of which I pulled out.
Swift was baffled. "Wait, you draw?"
I snorted. "More like plan." I picked up a pencil and got to work. I had hunks of walnut left over, but... "Hey Sweeper, do you know what happened to my steel ingots?"
The old guardsman blinked. "Uh... I think I saw some in the back, but they were too heavy to organize."
I nodded. "Gotcha, not an earth pony, that's okay. How about my lathe? Is it still in good shape?"
Swift got in front of me. "Okay, wait a minute, what are we doing here?"
I smirked. "Going to my happy place."
#
The next few hours were a flurry of working with my hooves, planning and measuring, carving and machining. My cutie mark sang to me as I worked the wood and steel like clay.
It was my gift, my horrible, comforting gift.
I double checked my barrel. It was fairly smooth off the lathe, but I'd need to do some filing. Everything else was measured out and ready for oiling and assembly.
"Hey Swift, can you-?"
I turned to seen my two favorite stallions asleep on the floor.
They were cuddling in their sleep. I had to repress an 'Aww'.
I looked outside. The light of early morning was starting to fade in. How long had I been working?
I looked back at the two stallions tuckered out on the floor. They had grease and wood shavings in their fur. How long had they been helping me?
Greedy. I couldn't help but think. I was sad because of something bad I did and then these two came in and helped me feel better. A screw up like me didn't deserve ponies like them...
But I still had them.
I picked myself up and scrounged out a blanket and some pillows off the cots in the office, making sure my intrepid assistants were comfortable.
Then I sat down at the table and got back to work.