Picking Up the Pieces

by Evilhumour

Chapter Eight: Gentle Step

Chapter Eight

Gentle Step

Shaking her head from the latest teleportation she had done today, she could hear Memorizing grumbling next her. Looking up, Gentle could see him flash her an unamused look.

“I know you are quite proud of the fact you can teleport multiple ponies, but it is still polite to tell others that you are about to do it,” he tried to be stern about it but quickly ruined that with his smirk.

Gentle snorted and bumped into him. “You are a Captain, you should be able to handle such minor things as unexpected teleportation.”

“Yes, the only non Dum Soluti Captain,” he shot back as he turned his head to look down Bourbon Street. It was clearly out of place in the Upper; crowded, squat buildings that seemed run down and in need of repair but as it was more or less the Guards section of the city, few actually complained. Fewer understood that the appearances of Bourbon were actually a deception and were actually some of the more fortified areas of the city. “So where shall we go?”

“The Old Terminal Bar,” Gentle replied. “Despite the name, it does serve the best food here.”

“It does have your endorsement, if I am correct,” he said with Gentle rolling her eyes.

“You know you are correct,” she snapped back as they began to walk to the bar, with a few Guards giving them odd looks as they passed by. “You keep track of almost everything.”

“Very true, Gentle,” he said. “I and my Guards do my best to keep on top of everything that happens in Canterlot, Equestria and the world at large.”

Gentle didn’t have anything to say to that so she simply nodded her head as she pushed the door open, briefly wondering how or what she would be talking about with Memorizing. The Captain’s Meet was usually done so a new Captain General could get to know their Captains but she already knew Memorizing and how he worked and this was so id-

“Are you okay, Gentle? You seem nervous,” Memorizing inquired, looking at her with concern on his face.

“Yes,” she said, nodding her head slightly. “Can you not read my emotions?” she asked, raising an eyebrow with her hoof on the door.

“I make it a point never to read or feed off of yours or any of the Captain’s emotions, Gentle.” Memorizing said with a slight jerk of his head, telling her that she had inadvertently offended him.

“I am just asking, Memorizing,” she told him as they entered the bar. Almost every table inside was full of Guards from the Magi of Stars, Cadenza, Luna, Celestia and Royal divisions, all chattering to each other, with a few turning their heads to look at the newcomers. “As part of the Captain’s Meet, I am supposed to ask all sorts of questions.”

“True…” Memorizing said as the two of them stood by the podium in the front with a waitress coming to seat them. “Two plea-” he stopped as the mare’s eyes went wide before darting into the kitchen. Memorizing tilted his head before he looked down at his hooves and then facehooved. “I cannot believe I forgot my Grey Hoof disguise.”

“You do not need to hide yourself anymore, Memorizing,” Gentle hissed angrily at him. “You and your tribe have been forgiven, remember?”

“I haven’t forgotten, Gentle,” he hissed back before shaking his head. “Still, I am getting far too used to going around without it.”

Snorting, Gentle was about to lay into him when the waitress came out with the head chef, Broad Clearing.

“Excuse me, ma’am but I am afraid you and your…” he flicked his eyes at Memorizing before looking at her again. “Other are not welcome here. Please turn around and let us not start anything we would all regret.” He flicked his head to the Guards sitting down who were all staring at the scene unfolding, clearly thinking he had their support.

“If I am to understand you correctly, you are refusing service to my associate here due to the tribe he hails from,” Gentle said with a calm voice, doing her best to suppress her anger.

“We understand that the changelings have been pard-”

“Yes or no, not an excuse,” Gentle said as she narrowed her eyes.

The chef seemed slightly spooked by this but nodded his head. “Yes.”

“I see,” she replied as she walked past them and towards the wall that had a number of famous pictures and autographs and looked for one frame in particular.

“Excuse me, ma’am but you cannot be-”

“I am retrieving something I had given this place in the past,” she told the chef as she pulled off her own endorsement of the bar which all the Guards in the city took as the one place they should go for after hours drinks.

“You can’t take that; the Captain General herself gave it to us!” the chef yelled at her, trying to pull it out of her hooves.

She turned around to glare at him harder. “And as the Captain General, I am revoking my personal endorsement of this establishment. I cannot in good conscience support any place that would refuse service to any of my Guards or Captains.”

As she expected, all of the Guards stood up at once and stared at the now squirming chef with disgust on their faces. A few, however, were looking at Memorizing. The drone paused for a moment before nodding his head, which was the signal for them to drop their disguises. The appearance of changelings in black armour caused a few Guards to pull back in surprise but pleasingly, the majority of them were completely accepting of the reveal that some of their fellow Guards and friends had been hiding the truth from them for some time.

The Guards of all six divisions then began to head for the door with the chef staring dumbstruck and the waitress running off again.

Both Gentle and Memorizing waited until every Guard was gone before turning around as a pony in a formal attire began to run towards them.

“Madam Captain General, please wai-” the manager shouted at them.

“No and goodbye,” she said as the two of them stepped out, with her slamming the door shut behind her. Memorizing looked at her, the Guards already spreading out and searching for new locations that they could claim as their own.

“Care to lead on?” he prompted her, with Gentle looking around for another place they could go to, head towards the more out of way bars and establishments. All the ones they passed by seemed overly generic and none of them caught her eyes until she spotted something that was different. Walking up to a bar that had salon doors with the name of The Blue Mountain, she opened to see it was run entirely by griffons. There were a few Guards in the bar but they seemed to be enjoyi-

“Hello there; a table for the couple?” a female valley griffon with grayish-red fur and very lightly-tinged green feathers asked, holding a pair of menus in her talons and smile on her face.

It took Gentle a second to realize what the griffoness said and felt her face flush with embarrassment. “We’re not together-I mean, we are eating together but we’re not da-dating or anything like that.” She began to shuffle on the spot with Memorizing and the griffoness staring at her in confusion.

“What my friend here,” Memorizing said, “is trying to say is that we’re here to have something of a get-to-know-your-new-employee meeting with one another, not as a couple.”

“Oh!” The griffoness blushed. “Terribly sorry about the misunderstanding. Though in my opinion, you two would make a totally cute couple.”

Memorizing’s face reddened. “Yes, well. We would like a table, please.”

“Right this way,” the griffoness said.

As she led them to their table, Gentle Step glanced at Memorizing, wondering what he was thinking.

When the two had settled in and the waitress left them alone so they could make their order, Gentle looked at the menu to avoid talking about the whole couple thing. “So…” she said awkwardly. “You see anything you would like? These meat nachos seem to be good, not that much spice in it.”

“Seems fine to me,” Memorizing said, nodding his head. “How about we split a pitcher of beer and we could then talk about the whole couple thing?”

Gentle could not help herself from flinching and actually ducked behind her menu. “Th-that sounds good to me,” she said, cursing her sudden shyness.

“Are you okay, Gents?” Memorizing asked her as he placed his hoof on hers, causing her to gasp a bit. “This isn’t like you at all; maybe we should postpone this and get you checked ou-”

“No, I’m fine,” she snapped, a bit harsher than she intended but it seemed to convince Memorizing that everything was normal.

“If you say so,” he said slowly, clearly not believing her completely. In a flash, he had hid his concerned face with his easy going smile as he flagged their waitress down.

“Hello there you two, ready to order?” she asked, a smile on her beak.

“Yes, but one question, how big is number seventeen?” he asked, tapping the picture.

“The nacho meat platter?” she said, tilting her head in that way only those wings seemed able to do. “Are you two planning to share it?”

“Yes,” Gentle said, nodding her head as she closed her menu. “I’ve got accustomed to the taste of meat in the past and it is not often that I can have some.”

“Well, if you two were on a date, I’d say you’d be very lucky as it normally does serve two,” she paused long enough for both Gentle and Memorizing to blush again, with Gentle aware that the griffon was doing this on purpose. “But as this is a business meeting, I would say it is a fairly economical saving choice.”

“Thank you, we will take that as well as a pitcher of beer,” Gentle said, handing her menu to the griffoness with Memorizing doing the same.

“We will have your food ready shortly,” she said as bowed her head and began to walk to the kitchen.

“So Gents, are we going to talk about the coup-” Memorizing began when a male voice called out.

“Captain General, is that you?” Turning her head, Gentle could see Even Hoof, Sweet Surprise’s second in command, walk over to them.

“Lieutenant Hoof, what brings you here?” she asked.

“It’s my wife and I’s anniversary,” the lieutenant replied. “She’s in the bathroom… what brings you here?”

“Captain’s Meet,” Memorizing spoke up, causing the stallion to raise an eyebrow. “I’m sure you’ve heard about them. Captain Memorizing Gaze,” he said, introducing himself.

“Of course.” Even Hoof nodded, shaking the other stallion’s hoof. “A pleasure to meet you, sir. Captain Surprise mentioned you a couple of days ago.”

“I see,” Memorizing said, looking a bit annoyed. “Being publicly known is still something I must get used to.”

“How is she, by the way?” Gentle asked, trying to turn the conversation around to something more positive.

“The Captain is quite fine,” Even spat, shaking his head. “Did you know she was married?”

“Only found out a few days ago,” Gentle said before tilting her head towards Memorizing. “He was always aware of the fact, apparently.”

“Oh really?” The pony raised an eyebrow. “It was quite the episode when the news broke; it was the day after the whole deal with the King and the six.”

“This sounds like a good story,” Gentle said, her eyes flickering over as the waitress was coming back with their food. She was glad for anything that could delay the whole awkward talk that Memorizing wanted to have.

---

Even Hoof was maintaining the front desk of the Guardhouse as he had drawn the short stick. Although it wasn’t that bad as Sweet Surprise had been surprisingly very work conscious for last few months. It was odd but still enjoyable… although the intensity was a bit concerning and few other Luna Guards had been coming to him to talk about it.

Shaking his head, he continued to fill out the next form when the doors opened and a tall earth pony with a dusty dark red coat and a black mane walked in. Most telling, he was wearing the dress uniform of the fireponies which was very odd as Captain Blazen Sun’s guards oversaw it.

Even Hoof opened his mouth to address the new arrival when the other stallion spoke up. “Excuse me, I am here to see Captain Sweet Surprise.”

“Do you have an appointment with the Captain, mister…” he trailed off pointendly.

“I am Hot Rod and no, I don’t but while I was sleeping with my wife Sound Mind last night, I really missed having Sweet in bed so I wanted to surprise her and ask what was going on,” the stallion said without so much as batting an eye.

Even Hoof had to put his pen down to fully absorb what he had heard, with a number of his fellow Guards staring slack jawed at his casual boosting of infidelity. Pushing himself out of his chair, Even finally settled his thoughts on the most obvious avenue. “I will be honest, I had expected this to happen a lot sooner, mister Rod,” he said as he ran a quick spell over the stallion to search for any weapons.

“Well I have been dragging my hooves on the matter, giving her her space and waiting for her to come to her senses and talk but I decided enough was enough and I had to get to the heart of the matter,” he replied with a serious look on his face with Even Hoof ready to give his Captain and this scum a piece of his mind.

“I see,” he said coldly, leading him and a trail of Luna Guards to the Captain’s quarters. It was a sectioned off area of the Guardhouse with tall oak doors greeting visitors as they approached from the hallway; the doors had been decorated with symbols dedicated to Her Grace Luna, including all the phases of the moon with a wide range of different constellations in a stylized pattern surrounding a very detailed image of the Goddess of the night. There were also a pair of Guards on guard to protect her if somepony managed to breach the Guardhouse and got through the Luna Guards. Of course, they would need to deal with the Captain after that which he would normally put in her favour… but depending on how this all turned out, he wasn’t sure if there would be so many jumping to defend her in the future.

Tilting his head to the Guards outside the Captain’s doors to step away, he stepped to the door and started to bang on it with his hoof. There was a loud noise inside, and then what sounded like muttered cursing before he heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching the door.

“Lieutenant Hoof,” Captain Surprise called out from the other side. “This better be good; I am very busy.”

“I have a pony wishing to meet with you,” Even Hoof replied in a steely tone as he pulled open the door and stepped through, with the other stallion following behind him. “He claims to know you personally.”

The Captain was facing away from him, heading back towards her desk which was, as usual, a disaster area. Along one wall of her office was a crude bookcase, filled with paperback books, while the opposite wall held a door he knew led to a closet that was strictly off-limits to anyone but the Captain herself. A second door led to the back room, which Even Hoof knew was mostly used for storage space and as a pathway to yet another room that held her private facilities. That space was, like her closet, off-limits to anypony but herself.

Stacked here and there on the floor were piles of papers, including one leaning against one side of her desk, and he knew from experience that she had even more stashed away in the back room. Crooked frames hung on the wall over the bookcase and a tall, fluted wooden pillar stood in one corner with a glass case on it, though Even couldn’t tell what was supposed to be inside it and she had told him never to open it without her assistance or approval. Her desk was also covered in papers, some marked with red ink, a couple of picture frames of a few ponies and a faded green blotter. It appeared she had been trying to organize and fill out some of the papers on it when he’d knocked.

As he looked around, Even Hoof was reminded how his captain had always claimed her office was a controlled disaster, and he was loathe to admit it but she had proven countless times that she could find whatever she need with ease.

Meanwhile, Captain Surprise had reached her desk and sat down, glaring at him. “Look, I am very busy-” the ghost-white mare snapped her head backwards in shock as she stared at the new arrival behind her lieutenant. “Hot Rod‽”

“Hello there Sweetie,” the towering stallion moved towards the Captain and placed a kiss on her shocked face which she seemed to instinctively turn to catch on her lips. “Missed you.”

“I-,” she stammered shaking her head as she backed up in confusion. “Why are you here Hot Rod‽”

“He told me that was tired of sleeping with his wife and wanted to go back to sleeping with you,” Even Hoof snapped with the two guilty ponies staring at him.

“Well, of course I do,” the stallion said with confusion on his face. “I love both my wives and if one them is acting odd, I am going to go to their office and ask her what is wrong.”

“Wait, wives?” Even tried to hold himself back from shouting but he was too surprised to do so. “You’re married‽”

“Wait a moment, Sweetie, you never told Even you’re married?” Hot Rod said, staring down the mare. “You never told him about us?”

“We’ve worked together for years and you never told me this‽” Even was still reeling from this revelation when something else clicked in his head. “Wait, when did you get married? Why weren’t I and the rest of the Luna Guards informed. Why weren’t we invited? Why-”

“Stop!” Sweet shouted, turning to face Even. “You’ve seen pictures of them, they’re on my desk, they’ve been there since I got married five years ago!”

Even was left shaking his head at this; she was right, he had seen pictures of Hot Rod, the Captain and another mare on her desk more than once but never thought to ask-

“And for you,” the Captain jabbed a hoof into her husband’s barrel. “I get you’re concerned and stuff and-” she paused to glare at Even. “Do you mind? This is a private matter.”

“Um, right, of course Captain,” he said, blushing as he backed up out of the room, shooing the stunned looking Luna Guards back as he closed the doors. Sweet Surprise let out a sigh, shaking her head before looking at her husband.

“Okay, why are you here, Hot Rod?” she asked as she moved to sit back down, rubbing the space between her eyes. “As you can see,” she gestured to her mountain of paperwork. “I am still very busy-”

“That’s a load of crap and we both know it,” he snapped at her, placing both of his hooves on the desk, standing directly in front of her.

“Hot, I do have a lot of work to get thro-” she cut off when he shoved everything off her desk, still glaring at her.

“Don’t lie to me; that was one of our wedding vows, that we would never lie to each other,” he said, pushing his head close to hers. “You’ve been busy in the past, yes, but you’ve always made time for us. All of that,” he pointed to the mess on the floor. “Was you trying to hide something from us.”

“Hot, you don’t understand-”

“What, are you bored of us?”

“Wha-NO!”

“Are you tired of us?”

“Of course I am not tired of you two!” she shouted back, shoving her head into his.

“Then why is it that for the last few months we haven’t seen you at all!” Hot slammed his hooves into her desk, causing indents in the reinforced desk.

“Because no one was taking me fucking seriously!” she shouted back at him, throwing her helmet at his general direction. It clear his head by a wide margin and got wedged into the door. “Ever since that fucking skimmer disaster, every fucking Guard has been laughing at me, mocking me, even questioning my competency! That’s why I have been busting my fucking ass all this damn time, alright‽” She shouted at him as she turned to stalk towards the far wall.

Hot Rod was quiet for a moment before he walked over to her, shaking his head. “I don’t believe you,” he said, causing her to snap her head back at him, fury building in her eyes. “You were never one to care about how others thought of you; for Luna’s sake, you tried to pick up me and Sound at the same time we all first met and the only reason we are together today is because you wouldn’t make up your mind in who you wanted to date! There’s more to this, there has to be,” he ignored her squirming as he pulled her into a hug, nuzzling her face gently as she began to cry. “Please, tell us what’s wrong. Tell me.”

“It’s you guys, okay?” she said through her tears, rubbing against his neck. “Fuck what anyone thinks of me, my record is solid but you guys… If people learned of us then they could think you don’t care about being a proper firepony or Sound is loose with all her client details. I couldn’t put you guys through that and I had to show others that I earned my position instead of…” she trailed off as she buried her face into his side, with Hot Rod knowing exactly what other ponies thought Sweet did to earn her position.

Shaking his head with bemusement as he rubbed her back through her armour, he gently tilted her head back so he could place a kiss on her forehead. “Silly little filly, why didn’t you tell us that you were this worried? We would have helped you day one instead of being worried as you continued to crash on the couch downstairs and be gone all the time. Didn’t we vow to take care of each other in good times and bad times?” he asked her as he ran his hoof along her face, smiling at her growing blush.

She was pouting, of course, at how much drama she could have prevented if she had just spoken to her partners. She leaned into his muscular side and muttered, “Not a little filly.”

“Of course you’re not, my silly little unicorn,” he chuckled as he ruffled her mane, earning him a glare from his wife. “Now come on, time for us to go.”

“Go whe- eeep!” she squeaked as Hot Rod shoved himself under her without any warning.

“Go home,” Hot Rod said with a smile. “We all need to get some rest. Especially you. Firepony’s orders.”

Sweet smiled back. “Firepony’s orders, huh? Are those like doctor’s orders?”

“Only sexier,” Hot Rod said with a smirk.

Sweet’s laughter could be heard clear down the hall, and Even, who was back at his desk by that time, could only roll his eyes in amusement. Shaking her head, Sweet used her magic to gather her helmet and placed it back on her head.

“Okay, I get it, now let me down before somepony sees me,” she said, moving around on his back.

“You could always stay there and be boastful of snagging a stallion like me,” Hot Rod said as he walked towards the door, appealing to his wife’s playful side and ego.

“It would drive several of them completely nuts,” she mused, rubbing her chin. “Very well, I approve,” she said in a semi dignified tone while patting his head as he stepped outside her office and into a crowd of her Guards. “Behold my ponies, my husband Hot Rod. There are many fireponies like him but this one is mine, all mine!” She cackled, throwing back her head in laughter at the sheer jealousy looks some of her Guards were giving her.

“Excuse me, all yours?” Hot Rod said midway down the stairs. “What about Sound, little lady?”

“Oh right, yes,” she said, coughing and blushing. “He’s fifty percent all mine, you hear me? He’s fifty percent all mine!”

Chuckling to himself, Hot Rod stopped in front of Even Hoof’s desk. “Hello again, sir,” he said, dipping his head slightly. “I would shake your hoof but I don’t want to risk dislodging the mare on my back.”

“Oh Hot Rod, you know that it takes a lot more than a simple hoof shake to knock me off of you,” Sweet Surprise cooed with a giggle.

“As I was trying to say,” Hot Rod said after hitching his back a bit, causing Sweet Surprise to lurch forwards slightly but true to her word, she kept on with ease. “I am taking Sweet Surprise home with me. I hope that it is not an issue?”

“Go ahead,” he waved his hoof at them, “Enjoy yourselves.”

Hot Rod nodded with a smile. “And a good afternoon to you too, sir.”

When he and Sweet were no longer in sight, Even Hoof turned back to his paperwork, only to hear a pony clearing their throat, and looked up to see a light blue pegasus mare with a white mane. “Can I help you miss...”

“Yes,” the mare said. “I’m here to see your Captain about some very urgent matters.”

Even Hoof eyed her carefully, the pegasus somewhat familiar. “You know, you’re the second pony to say that to me today,” he said as he thought for a moment. Then it hit him - he had seen this mare before, just a few minutes ago. “Is your name Sound Mind, by any chance?”

“Why, yes. Yes, it is.” Sound Mind looked at him quizzically. “How did you know?”

“If you will give me a moment,” Even Hoof told her as he reached for his own helmet and activated its built in communicating spell and contacted the Captain.

“Even, wha-this better be good,” his Captain hissed in his ear. “Hot Rod just prom-”

“You two need to come back this instant, highest of emergencies, Captain!” he shouted, causing the pegasus to blink in surprise and then jump backwards as both the Earth pony stallion and the unicorn mare from before teleported into the room.

“Okay, Even what is-Sound!” the Captain of the South more or less glomped the pegasus, who caught her into tight embrace. They shared a quick kiss before pulling apart. “What are you doing here?”

“Apparently the same thing Hot Rod was here for,” she said, glancing up at the Earth pony who moved in to kiss the pegasus who returned it. “You already spoke to her about how we do not like her working all the time?”

“Yup,” he said as he actually patted the unicorn on the head. “Turns out she was worried about how her actions would reflect on us.”

“Hot,” Sweet squirmed and blushed, turning her head to the side.

“Oh you silly mare,” Sound tsked as she held the Captain’s head in her hooves, making her face her. “We knew what we were getting into when we married you. And I know I married a completely silly mare who would spend a lot of time trying to lick some ice cream off her nose instead of wiping it clean, not some fussy serious pony. Who would get me and Hot Rod back for tickling her silly with her own tickle attacks, who would use her special talent of shape changing to swim in duck ponds as a pegasus. Who would-”

“Sound, stop,” Sweet was laughing and blushing, holding her hooves over the mare’s mouth. “You’re wrecking my reputation here; Even here probably doesn’t think I’m still a tough mare.”

“Yes, of course, when I think of you, tough is the first thing on my mind,” Even Hoof snarked, causing the Captain to stick her tongue out at him.

“As good as it is to see you back to your old self, you’re still under firepony’s orders, little lady,” Hot Rod said as he nuzzled the mare before turning his head to nuzzle the pegasus.

“Firepony’s orders?” Sound Mind drawled out, arching an eyebrow at the stallion. “Are they anything like doctor’s orders?”

“He claims they are the same, only sexier,” Sweet Surprise said as she climbed onto Hot Rod’s back; the stallion had lowered himself so she could do so. “Care to join us, Sound?”

“It would be my pleasure,” she said as she flapped her wings and landed on Hot Rod’s back right behind Sweet, causing the unicorn to be sandwiched between her partners. Sound then lightly slapped Hot’s flanks with her wings. “To home, our gallant steed.”

“As you wish, my ladies,” he said in a playful tone as he stood up and started to walk down the steps with no sign of discomfort at holding both them plus the Captain’s armour.

Even Hoof watched the three walk away and stood in the doorway just in case any other pony was to show up looking for the Captain. After a few minutes had passed, he judged it was safe to go back to his paperwork-

He frowned as he saw a new note on his table and it was the Captain’s penmanship.

Lieutenant Even Hoof,

Hot Rod knocked everything off my desk in my office, please fix it up to my standards and preferred manner.

Captain Sweet Surprise

PS: Yes, this is because you laughed.

Sighing, Even rubbed his face and knew that the rest of the Guards would face worse if he did not do his best to make sure the knowledge the Captain was married was kept quiet. Which meant he had to do another of his damage control runs after the Captain did something unpredictable.

---

“I wish I can say that I don’t believe that, but I fear that I know Sweet well enough for her to do exactly that,” Gentle groaned into her hoof, shaking her head. Tilting her head as she raised her glass of beer to her lips, she flicked her eyes to the drone at the table. “Memorizing?”

The drone sitting right next to her, with Even Hoof opposite her and his wife to her left, lifted his head with a chip half eaten. Raising a hoof to signal her to wait a moment, he finished eating, swallowed and replied with a sly smirk on his face, “Yes Gentle?”

“Is it true?” she swatted at him for being silly.

“Well now, you know that unless some serious issues come up, I’m not obligated to tell you or any other individual if Sweet Surprise actually let herself be paraded around by her hunk of a husband.”

Scented Meadows, who had arrived during the story, chuckled and shook her head as she reached for her and her husband’s platter of vegetarian nachos. “That sounds like Captain Sweet Surprise; if what Eveny here has said is anything to go by.”

“Agreed,” Gentle said with a giggle, leaning into Memorizing before shaking her head. She reached into her platter only to find that Memorizing had taken the last one. Frowning at him, she waved down their waitress.

“Excuse me, Gwawr,” she said as griffoness came over. “Can I please speak with your manager? And no, this is nothing against the quality of your service tonight.”

“Um, yes ma’am,” she said nervously before going into the backroom to bring out another valley griffon out; he was finely dressed although worried looking.

“Hello, I am Gawath, the owner,” he said as he examined the table before settling his eyes on Gentle. “Can I help you?”

“Yes, I would like to present you my written endorsement for your fine restaurant,” she said as she penned the official writing, finishing with her name before presenting it to him.

He quickly examined it with his eyes widening as he realized the full extent of what he had been given. “I am honoured, ma’am, that you think so highly of my Blue Mountain but, and perhaps I am jinxing myself here but doesn’t The Old Terminal Bar have your endorsement?”

“They had it until they refused service to my friend here,” she gestured a bit widely towards the drone.

“Captain Memorizing Gaze,” he introduced himself, flicking his eyes at her.

“Well their loss is our gain; we never saw an issue with changelings back home, to be honest,” he said as he tilted his head around to see where he could place the paper. Gentle flashed her horn and created a frame for it, with the griffon blinking in surprise. “Mighty appreciated.”

“It was my pleasure,” she said as she hiccuped. Blushing, she placed a hoof over her lips and apologized, only to hiccup again. “My, this isn’t like myself.”

“And that’s our cue to leave,” Memorizing said as he tried to fish out some coin to pay for their meal. Gentle tried to dole out the money herself but seemed to have trouble. “I’ve got this, Gentle, let us get you out of here,” he said, scooping her extra coinage back into her coin purse.

“It was a joy to meet you,” she giggled again as she bade the couple goodnight, leaning on Memorizing as he walked them outside in the cool Canterlot rain. It felt so refreshing and cool, she was tempted to sing or dance or-

“Okay, Gentle, what is going on?” Memorizing asked her, looking down at her with the rain flowing off his face.

Or that. She could do that.

“Gentle, are you ok-” he didn’t get further than that as she leaned up to kiss him on the lips, her heart racing at her very first kiss.

She pulled away from him, seeing her friend look confused at her and a small part of her was wondering if she had done something wrong, if she had completely botched everything.

Memorizing then pushed her against the ally wall and began to kiss her back, his hooves holding her body against the bricks. He kept the kiss longer than she had and she could feel his tongue pushing at her mouth for entrance. She began to shudder at these simple motions, her mind beginning to overturn as he-

“Hey, is everything okay out there‽” A pony shouted from a doorway, causing them to pull apart in surprise.

Gentle focused her magic on instinct, teleporting herself and Memorizing back to her home.

And then there was just her, and him, together.

Comments

[Mr cold ghost]

You have a good story here. Shame it doesn't have more views. I've already upvoted it so I will now track it.

[Evilhumour]

8413406

Thank you and I know; it is because I don't have a picture...

[Copper Springs]

Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! This chapter is so cute! The date between Gentle and Memorizing. The story of Sweet Surprise and her spouses. It was just adorable and I love it! Also it seems to me that the ones need reeducation get are the ponies, not the changelings.

[Asolem2]

And then there was just her, and him, together.

[Asolem2]

“Well, if you two were on a date, I’d say you’d be very lucky as it normally does serve two,” she paused long enough for both Gentle and Memorizing to blush again, with Gentle aware that the griffon was doing this on purpose . “But as this is a business meeting, I would say it is a fairly economical saving choice.”

I like her