Solar Sails: Adrift In Canterlot

by Bluecho

04 - A Derth Of Purpose

Ch. 4 - A Derth Of Purpose

---

“No, you absolutely cannot come in! Leave!”

The unicorn hair stylist pushed the modified soldier with his fore-hooves. Sarin Miles backed up, not exactly scared of physical harm so much as taken aback by the pony's conduct. She looked around, seeing a number of customers and staff ogling the scene with puzzled looks or slack jaws.

Sarin backed off again when the stylist started shoving. “Whoa hold on! What's your deal?” she asked, frowning.

“Don't think you can fool me,” said the stylist, brandishing brushes and scissors with is magic. “I know who you are.” He pointed a hoof in Sarin's face. “You're that...gaudy creature the royal guard hauled into the dungeons. Well I'll not have a dangerous...thing...in my boutique! So out with you! Shoo!”

“Okay fine!” Sarin yelled, retreating out the front door. She looked back to see the proprietor glaring at her. He slammed the door with a loud clatter, disturbing a number of pedestrians. If any of them had failed to notice the alien before, they certainly did now, looking from her to the door frantically. Sarin glared at them, causing most to return to their activities, fearfully pretending to ignore her. One pegasus mare with jewelry merely snorted and raised her nose, waltzing up to the door and entering.

Sarin heard the stylist welcome the pony more warmly, even from outside. “Fine,” said muttered Sarin, turning away. She stomped a few meters away, then slowed to a walk. Shoulders drooping, her grim frown turned into a disappointed one. “...fine...” She sighed, reaching up to stroke a lock of her off-white hair.

Guess I'm not going to get a haircut today, she thought, eyes threatening to water.

Thinking back, Sarin supposed such treatment was to be expected. Her stay in Canterlot as a former prisoner was bound to be more than just friendly meetings and free houses. In fact, getting so much positive treatment was more than she could have reasonably expected. Making her way down the street, Sarin further supposed, given her reputation as a rumor made real, the stylist was justified in wanting to protect his store and its customers.

Didn't stop Sarin from feeling hurt. She pouted.

The hair on her head grew down to her shoulders now. Normally Sarin would never permit it to get that far – long hair is ever a hassle and a risk for a fighter. But between being stranded on Equestria, the drama preceding it, the drama that followed after it, the efforts to survive and escape, and her extended incarceration, Sarin just hadn't the time to manage it. Taking a pair of scissors to her locks would certainly solve the problem.

Yet, in spite of herself, in spite of her upbringing and inclinations, Sarin had wanted to get the hair not just cut, but styled. Walking along, she scanned the crowds. Pretty pastel ponies with their pretty pastel perms. Or curls, or whatever. Sarin envied them, she realized. Envied the pretty mares...the pretty girls she saw back in the Empire.

Sarin rubbed the bridge of her nose. Why should I care to look pretty? Doesn't matter, a waste of time. It's not for me to look good, to have nice hair or makeup or beautiful clothes. I'm just a soldier.

Didn't change how insecure she felt.

---

Whole Heart slammed the door on the office building, fuming. Another onerous rejection.

Another devastating failure. Whole Heart growled. “What does a mare have to do to get a job in this town?” she screamed, stamping a hoof. After tense, angry moments, she allowed the foul mood to dissipate. When it had, she was only left with more profound disappointment.

She was fairly certain, given what she'd heard around town, that the one she just left was the last business she could apply to in the city. The last job she was qualified to do. There were no other opportunities, at least none she knew. Or maybe she was just projecting her poor luck onto Canterlot, and she was just giving up out of frustration. She didn't know, and was starting to not care. She was lost, running out of bits, and out of avenues to pursue.

Well, except for the one, she thought, sighing. Guess I can't put it off any longer.

Depressed, Whole Heart started down the path to Canterlot Castle.

---

Honestly, she didn't know why she hadn't done it in the first place.

Sarin sat on a high wall, overlooking the courtyard where guards ran drills. She stroked her newly shortened hair, cut to half its length at least. When professional styling proved impossible, Sarin returned to the castle and asked one of Celestia's personal beauty staff to give her a quick cut. They were more than happy to oblige, even going so far as to wash it for her and brush out the tangles. And they didn't even ask for payment.

That was another thing Sarin wished she'd realized earlier. Stylists asked for payment in their boutiques, and Sarin had not a bit to her name. Blunder narrowly avoided.

Thinking of money brought the Fatae back to the guards. They served for the glory and safety of their country, yet most certainly they were paid. Sarin received payment back in the Empire, though she hardly spent it. Imagining the money she wouldn't be able to use down in Equestria made Sarin cringe. Such a waste.

As was Sarin in that castle. Groaning, she stood up. In spite of all the errands completed and the inroads made, true purpose eluded her. With no enemies to fight, no orders to follow, the Fatae woman floundered. Not only was she out of her element when it came to society – a state she as a modified soldier accepted long before – but she also was out of her element when it came to her lifestyle. She maintained a body fit for combat, yet knew no applications for it. She had discipline maintained out of habit rather than need.

The common unpleasant persons in her life remained, if replaced with unpleasant ponies, yet she had no reason to put up with them as she had before. In the military, people were always yelling at her or each other for one reason or another. It was just the way of things. Sarin worked through it out of duty; it had to be done. On Equestria, no duty existed, no work needed doing that she could see. She just was, and it left her restless. She needed that structure. Needed some duty. Needed to find that purpose.

...needed to go back out to the streets and finish her errands for that day. If nothing else, she could accomplish the items on her to do list.

It's something, at least, she thought, drifting down to the exits. With renewed determination, Sarin Miles walked out of the castle gates.

---

It's over, she thought, meandering down to the exits. With dashed hopes, Whole Heart staggered out of the castle gates.

She'd gained access to the castle and asked around for the one in charge of hiring staff. Eventually she found him, a stuffy looking old stallion with a prodigious mustache. To him Whole Heart inquired about work.

To her despair, the stallion replied in no uncertain terms that they had altogether enough help. He politely disengaged, stating she had to see to Princess Celestia about a schedule. With that, the crystal pony was left to retreat, crestfallen.

So she trudged around Canterlot, dazed and depressed. Her hooves hurt. A lot. Days of running around the city, scaling stairs, standing in lines and poorly seated waiting rooms. Whole Heart was exhausted, further drained by the constant stream of rejection.

So is this how it ends? I give up my entire life in the Crystal Empire, my job, my home, my possessions. I uproot myself completely, travel to a country I've never been to before, a thousand years from when we were the most technologically advanced on the planet. Endured the unfamiliar, the strange, the alien. And walked more in one week than I have in the previous month.

And nothing? I just have to give up? I did all this for nothing?

Whole Heart's eyes filled with tears. She hung her head, struggling to put one painful foot in front of another.

“Excuse me miss.”

It would be so easy, just to curl into a ball.

“If we might have a moment of your time?”

Curl up, on the ground. Let it all go. Cry a river.

“Miss.”

Cry until all of Canterlot is drowned in her salty tears. Maybe if she looked pathetic enough, someone would offer her some of that precious pity. Offer her a job...

“Miss!”

Whole Heart looked up with a start. Teardrops fell down her cheek.

Two stallions stood in front of her, one a muscular earth pony, the other a lanky unicorn with a beard. They flashed bright smiles. The heavyset one was bright yellow, with a brown mane and a cutie mark like a coil of rope. The unicorn's coat was gray, topped with black hair. He bore a cutie mark like a gem-appraiser's eyepiece.

“Glad we got you attention, miss,” said the unicorn. “We've seen you running around town, and couldn't help but find out that you are currently looking for employment. Is this correct?”

Blinking, the crystal pony stammered, “Y-yes, I am.”

“And by your terrible state, may I assume you've had no luck?”

“...yes...” said Whole Heart, peering back down to her feet.

“So unfortunate,” said the unicorn, shaking his head. “Tut tut tut, that's just awful. Isn't it?” He looked up to his associate.

“Yep,” said the heavyset pony, frowning dramatically.

“Fortunately, we might be able to help you.”

Whole Heart's face shot up. Incredulously she stared at the two. “Really?” she choked.

“Indeed we can!” said the unicorn, seating himself on his haunches. “We represent the Safe Sounds Import Company, and we're currently looking for ponies with work ethic and lovely...facets of their personality.”

Frankly, she felt the crack about facets was horribly offensive. But the promise of a job excited her so much, she dismissed it as a well-meaning joke. “You'd really give me a job?” Eyes sparkling – more than usual – her face lit up with a tentative, hopeful smile.

“Absolutely!” said the unicorn, rising to a standing position. He gestured down a side street. “If you'd just follow me, we can talk all about it.”

---

“Thank you so much!” Sarin cheered, shutting the door of the small fabricator's shop.

A trip to the shop had been in order once Sarin woke up that morning and realized she had been wearing the same set of clothes for more than a month. A simple uniform and a set of undergarments were all she had on her when she crashed, and in all her business she'd neglected that fact like she neglected her hair.

When she stepped in, she asked the proprietor if a set of shirt, pants, and undergarments could be sewn together based on hers. The owner, a young mare with styled hair and heavy bags under her eyes, seemed receptive to the idea but hardly motivated. That was until Sarin let slip that Rarity – THE Rarity – was creating an entire ensemble for the alien.

Who knew there were so many down on their luck fashion students, with aspirations for greatness, to be found in broken down fabricator shops? Who knew many of them looked up to Rarity as a figure of fashion greatness?

Not Sarin, who betrayed an utter ignorance of the Element of Generosity's fame. “Is she really that big?” she had said.

“Big? She's the biggest rising star in the fashion world!” the proprietor had said, eyes lighting up, rubbing her hooves together excitedly. And just like that, the mare was promising to create replacements for Sarin's clothes by the next day. In exchange for dropping the mare's name to Rarity the next time they crossed paths, of course. Which was more than fair, Sarin supposed, given her otherwise lack of ability to pay.

As Sarin ruminated on her latest free acquisition – simultaneously wondering if she was a horrible person for taking advantage of so much generosity – she made her way back to the castle. She was no closer to finding her long term goal, but she had a new skip in her step.

Maybe if I keep going, she thought, my new mission will jump out and present itself.

Unlikely of course. Sarin began to whistle happily...

“Help! Someone please help me!”

Comments

[Dubious]

Now I wait for the next chapter, and it better come out at a reasonable time, I get bored easy.

[Hallucination]

RAPE! I knew it

[Bluecho]

3805016 Not quite, trust me when I say I'm not that cliche. But yes, nothing good will come of it.

[Kenshinryuu]

3805016
3805066

While it may be cliche, I've been expecting it from the moment those stallions appeared in the last chapter. Young mare in a strange town with exotic looks??? Either they're trying for forced sex or to get her as a paid mare with some shady deals. I can't wait to see the reaction to Sarin entering the scene.