“Diane! Train Wreck! You have visitors!” Surprise’s voice sang with excitement.
“‘Ey Dee, did you miss me yet?” a cocky blonde minotaur youth strolled into the room.
“Oh, Steady.” Diane swished her eyes before they went hard as steel. “You know I never miss!”
The two launched into each other in flurry of playful blows. “Not inside!” The scarified monster shouted in unison with the… gingerest minotaur Train wreck had ever seen.
“Yeah, you were human, right? I’m a ‘ginger’ ain’t I? Not even sure what that even means, but it’s some kind of human joke.” The bull grinned. ”I see ya dropping Diane off. Most anybody sees ya these days.”
“Ponies don’t want to see something like this,” Train Wreck ducked his head and sulked in a massive ball of scar tissue.
“Is that what you think? Look, I don’t know what what you see in the mirror, Mr. Pastel, but I know what Indigo Zap, and Glenda’s parents see.” the minotaur laid free hand over the Train Wreck’s withers. “And I know what Autumn Dusk’s parents see, I know what every pony in Decanter who was at that damned circus sees. We see hope.”
“Hey, Steady,” Diane suggested in the background, “Wanna see my room?”
“Door open! Z, look in at five to ten minute intervals, pancake watch!” Train wreck responded.
“There will be no ‘pancakes’ on Z-978’s watch!” Z replied faithfully.
“Heh,” the minotaur laughed, and then got serious, “I’m Rock Solid, Mr. Pastel, and I got sort of nominated to come look in on you. It’s no secret what the nobles are doing. They like to throw their weight around, and they don’t like change. Seeing them steamroll over you like this, it has an effect on the community. I mean if they can do this to you, the rest of us don’t even have a chance.”
“What do you want me to do? Charge in and bust ‘em up? Because except for that one time, that’s not really how I operate.” The tazzle-pony huffed in frustration. “Besides, this isn’t a problem I can break.”
“For starters, you and Diane should be out there where ponies can see you,” Rock Solid asserted, “You and her used to walk around the neighborhood all the time. Sure you scared the shenanigans out of a lot of ponies, just walking around smiling, but it was fun. Most of those same ponies would laugh themselves silly as soon as you rounded the corner. Ponies are easy to startle, sure, but if they really thought you were a monster, do you think they would have brought their foals to buy your cupcakes? Just Deserts was more than a bakery, it was… a legend really. When that place burned it burned out a part of community's soul with it. We all thought you had died saving little Autumn Dusk. Your funeral was… we were all there. Talking to Surprise, we suddenly realized how alone you really were.”
“I got better.” Train Wreck laughed at his own joke.
“The burning of the Just Deserts nearly killed this neighborhood.” The bull continued soberly. “It was like we all realized we had been given something magical, but we realized it too late. We had been given this magical place where a big friendly monster laughed and served cupcake to little school foals. And we let it burn down.”
“That wasn’t on you, not any of you.” Train Wreck lifted his head and spoke quietly.
“No, it is because we should have had your back.” Rock Steady pushed his case. “I’m the semi-self-appointed community spokes-bull. I should have been at the damned Lunar Guard-house telling the Captain to tell his little ponies to back off. You shouldn’t have had to stand alone. You shouldn’t have thought you were alone.”
“I- I’m not alone.” Train Wreck countered defensively, rising to his hooves. “I have Surprise! And I have Diane! And I have Z!”
Almost in answer, Z-978’s buzzy voiced echoed across the suite, “Hey, you two! NO PANCAKES!”
“Geez!” Diane complained from her room. “We’re just wrestling, Z!”
“Z-978 has her eyes on you missy! Both. Of. Them.” They could hear the older changeling asserting her authority. “There will be no pancakes!”
“Should we…” The bull raised an eyebrow.
“Z has it under control.” Train Wreck found himself laughing for the first time in days. “Look, Rock Solid right… wait a minute is your kid named Rock Steady?”
“Yes, and I have no idea why that’s funny to humans or what the clop it has to do with turtles,” the minotaur admitted, “This human down at The Belfry, ‘Jake’ I think his name was, tried to explain it to me, but now I’m just more confused. Why would turtles learn biped martial arts? And how would they learn it from a rat. I’m sorry, but your culture is weird.”
“Yeah, you got a point,” Train wreck admitted with a shrug, “But what is it you want from me? I mean, this was a really nice pep talk but it’s leading somewhere.”
“We're gonna have street carnival,” the ginger minotaur announced cheerfully,”We’re taking back our community, we’re gonna show that some twisted whatever-that-was at the circus can’t keep us down! The freaks are gonna be there, the goat’s even coming out of his hole.”
“And you want me to come out for it, like this?” Train wreck asked incredulously.
“You and Diane.” The minotaur nodded vigorously. “Look, all you gotta do is smile. All we want is to show the nobles there’s still something unbreakable in Decanter.”
“I- I’ll think about it.” Train Wreck sank back to the floor in sulky heap.
“Look, I get why you wanna hide. I’m not blind but I was at the circus. I was less drugged than most and I saw you,” Rock Solid spoke with conviction, “We were done. That thing had won, and then the princess marched in, with you looking like you had climbed fresh out of the fiery pits of tartarus. You marched right into the middle of that rape-storm and you faced down whatever it was that we couldn’t even see. And it damn near broke you. I can see that. But I’m hoping it’s just ‘damn near’. Because we need the unbreakable Train Wreck right now. We need you, we need your family. We need your smiles. This neighborhood has cried too much. It needs to laugh.”