A New Home

by Shads

Ch. 03 - Muffin

The sun slowly rose its way into the sky, marking another bright morning for the ponies of Windshore. The early-risers, already leaving their homes, began their trek further into town. Many among them were merchants, looking to prepare their wares to sell to the new ponies in town that had sailed in since last night. In just a few short hours, the marketplace was likely to be a bustle of activity.

Whitemane had decided to follow these ponies in their morning rituals, remembering his quest to find somepony who would hire him for some work. He'd made sure to leave a note for Cherry and Blue detailing where he had gone, telling them that he would hopefully return with the ingredients for another great dinner. Self-bought, of course.

I'm glad that they decided to house me for little longer, but I can't just repay them by cooking for them. He glanced around at the rows of market stalls, trying to spy somepony who might've needed his assistance. So far, it was a no-show. He sighed. They won't be able to afford a third mouth to feed for very long, even I don't necessarily need it. "Rule 4: keep up appearances," he grumbled.

:=]|[=:

Two hours later, Or was it three... and there was still no luck for the disguised changeling. He'd gone up to nearly every stall to offer his help, and the answer was a resounding 'no'. While it was true that many of them likely didn't need it, it was also apparent in the looks they gave him that they weren't exactly willing to trust a stranger with their goods.

Well this is going absolutely nowhere, he grumbled to himself.

His ears swiveled as he heard a collection of noise slowly growing louder. He turned towards the source and noticed a collection of ponies, all lined up and leading into a building. Most of them looked annoyed and distraught that the line wasn't moving forward. Curious at what they were waiting for, Whitemane walked over to the end of the line. As he approached, he could start hearing them venting their frustrations.

"C'mon, Muffin, we're all hungry out here!"

"I don't got all day! I've gotta be at my stall in 10 minutes before rush hour!"

"Look, I've only got one pair o' hooves in here!" A voice cried out from inside. "I can only go so fast!"

Some of the stragglers near the end of the line decided to give up, leaving their spots in line. Whitemane approached some of the remaining ponies near the end. "Hey, what's everyone so frustrated about? Is something wrong?"

"It's just Muffin fallin' behind on his orders again," a stallion responded.

"And who's Muffin?"

The stallion turned back to the pegasus, giving him a once-over. "You ain't from around here, are ya?"

"No, I just arrived yesterday."

"Well, Muffin's our resident cook," the stallion responded. His stomach grumbled, causing him to wince. "Ever since White Bread up-and-left town last month, he's been the only food place open this early. Unfortunately," he pointed his hoof to one of the windows, "he's a bit understaffed."

Whitemane looked over to the window, seeing a 'Help Wanted! (Desperately!)' cardboard sign hanging from it. He stared at it for a few more moments before an idea popped into his head. He turned back to the stallions with a grin on his face.

"I think I have just the solution."

---

A middle-aged, orange earth pony stallion ran back and forth between his kitchen and the front counter, attempting to take orders and keep track of the food cooking in the back room. "Alright, so you wanted two scrambled eggs and a pancake, you wanted two blueberry muffins with a side of hash browns, and you wanted the--"

A white pegasus walked up to the counter with a piece of cardboard held underneath his wing. "Excuse me, are you Muffin?"

Muffin finished listing off the orders before quickly looking back at the pegasus. "Yea that's me," he hastily said, "but I'm kinda busy. If you're hungry please go to the back of the line."

"Actually, I'm here for a different reason." He raised the sign to show it to Muffin. "This sign says that you need some help, and I'm loo--"

"Are you good with a skillet?"

"Err, yes, and--"

"Do you know how to make muffins, pancakes, waffles, eggs, toast, and orange juice?"

"Yes, yup, yea, I do, of course, and.. wait, wha--"

"Good, you're hired! Welcome to the force! Now," Muffin shoved half of the order tickets into his Whitemane's face, "get cookin'!"

Whitemane saluted. "Aye, aye, sir!"

"And none of that sailor talk! I already hear enough of it as is!"

---

"Alright, honey, I'll see you back here at noon for lunch, just like always."

"Of course, dear." Blue responded, giving her a quick kiss on her cheek. "I'll be waiting for my princess."

Cherry giggled at him. "Oh, a princess now, am I? Well then, when I return I shall be expecting my knight in shining armor." She returned his kiss, before turning off and waving back at him. "Until then!"

Blue laughed to himself, waving back at her retreating form. "Until then."

He made his way down the now-busy marketplace, packed with newcomers and townsponies alike. It wasn't an uncommon sight to see so many ponies in a port-town like this one, but the past couple of weeks had been busier than normal. Ever since the Royal Wedding and the Battle of Canterlot, workers had been travelling to nearby trade towns to gather supplies for the city's repair.

Blue had heard that the city had suffered signifcant damage, moreso to the roads and civilians' homes rather than the castle and its grounds. He heard that most of the damage was caused by the changelings dive-bombing the city, not to mention their fights with the Royal Guard. He wasn't surprised that the princesses had called for any help they could get from across the land.

He spotted the normal line leading out of Muffin's shop, but all the ponies in the line seemed... happier? Strange. They're usually annoyed at the wait. He noticed that the line was moving far quicker than it normally did.

"Hey, Blue, you gotta see this!" A stallion in the line called.

"Why, what's going on?"

"Muffin's got a new guy with 'em, some pegasus fella! They're spittin' out food faster'n ever!"

Blue's eyebrows raised before looking into the shop's window, spying Whitemane rushing back and forth through the kitchen. Well I'll be, kid.

Author's Note:

Alright, this one took entirely too long. I had it mostly done for about two days, but I kept getting distracted. Not to mention that I have a pretty bad habit of wanting to completely rewrite something instead of just editing it. I'm still not completely satisfied, but I don't want to keep delaying it.