Teamwork

by NoMoreNormalcy

4. Truant

Officer McCreedy wasn’t happy in the slightest that Breezefeather was going to be joining them at the police station to straighten things out. They all rode in the pony-less carriage in tense silence. Upon arriving, the tension was nearly palpable. Once all the doors were opened, everyone nearly scrambled to get out. The building itself was a simple one. Brown brick made up the exterior with white concrete steps leading up to glass double doors. “POLICE” was written in large font on a large, solid glass lamp in front of the station with the words “Amity Park Police Department” painted on the doors themselves, circling around a shield badge. Breezefeather was then led up the steps and through the doors.

Inside it was bustling. It was a two-story building with stairs going up to their right and in front was a large desk with an officer working at it. They typed away at the interactive screen, scarcely paying any attention to them at first, before performing a quick doubletake. “What’s she in for?”

“Gonna run her through the system and find out,” McCreedy said hopefully. It was the same sadistic hopeful, Breezefeather noticed, that often belonged with some folks who said they hoped somepony was flammable. Breezefeather frowned and suppressed a shudder. Looking to Knowles, the officer’s face was quite placid, but there was a slight fire in his eyes as he briefly glared at his partner. She hoped whatever got stuck in his craw, as some of the Apple family are wont to say, crawled right out and get the issue -whatever it is- resolved.

She tripped slightly on her feet as she was led down to a desk almost smack in the middle of the others. Knowles gently placed her a chair and motioned for her to sit as he sat at the desk. Officer McCreedy opted to sit on the desk, folding his arms and generally not looking impressed. Officer Knowles appeared to ignore him as he typed on a sleeker-looking set of interactive screen and typewriter keys. A few clicks and taps and whatever he needed was brought up as he turned back to Breezefeather.

“Okay, so, if you are telling the truth-,” Officer Knowles started.

“Bah, no if about it. She’s got to be lying about something,” Officer McCreedy interjected. He leaned forward slightly. “I bet she’s a druggie, just looking for her next hit.”

Breezefeather couldn’t help but snort, amused. “I’m sorry, a what? That name sounds ridiculous.”

McCreedy narrowed his eyes and glared into Breezefeather’s, “You think being a drug addict’s funny? I ought to toss you into Gen Lockup and laugh at you detoxing!”

Knowles apparently had enough and slammed his hands down onto the desk and bolted upright, grabbing his partner by the shoulder roughly and yanked him away from Breezefeather. “That’s it! I don’t know what the hell’s gotten into you, but you ought to cool it!”

“Or what? You’ll tattle on me to the big boss?”

“He doesn’t have to.”

Everyone stopped save for Officers McCreedy and Knowles, as they turned and faced a man in a nice brown three-piece suit with a black tie. He looked to be in top shape, as far as Breezefeather could tell, in spite of his graying hair. Got to be the big boss then. He’s like a captain of his division of Royal Guard! The boss strode up the desk and glared at McCreedy. “My office. Now.” He turned to Knowles, “Hand this off to someone else and meet us there.” Knowles’s mouth made a fine line, but he nodded and made a few more clicks with the keys. Both men stood up and one followed the boss to a corner office that said, “Commissioner Andrews” and the other walked to a nearby desk and whispered and explanation to the fellow officer. They nodded a response and beckoned Breezefeather over. “I wish I knew what to say,” she whispered.

And suddenly, she did.

---

“Really?! You all live off the grid?”

Breezefeather nodded, “Yeah, my folks didn’t see a need for all this fancy stuff, they just left it behind and came out to the woods to camp out. So, I could survive in the woods if I wanted to, but I just got so curious, my parents decided to let me explore on my own. I guess they wouldn’t be too happy that I got arrested.”

“So, you saying you graduated?”

“Oh, it was like saying, ‘Congratulations, you’re an adult now! Time to learn the hard stuff!’ So, I did.”

The officer nodded more and continued checking their screen. After a few more button presses, they declared, “Well, it’s official. The US government doesn’t think you exist for all intents and purposes.”

Breezefeather maintained a neutral face regardless of the mix of emotions -or was it because of?- that flooded through her. “But I’m right here.”

The officer smiled sadly, “I know, but sadly the government these days requires writing or digital documentation of a person to be able to do things like buy a house, own a credit card, get a car, open a bank account, things like that.”

“What if I rent?”

“You’ll need an ID and a bank account to rent, and to get a bank account, you’ll need an ID and to get an ID you need a birth certificate.”

“So, how do I get one of those? Birth certificates, I mean. After all, I’m already nineteen and a doctor hasn’t given my parents a piece of paper that says, ‘Congratulations, you gave birth!’”

The officer looked back at Breezefeather, confused before relenting, “I suppose it is a little like that.” They typed a bit more on the keys, “I am just finishing up an email to a friend in the government who can help get you legally into the system. That way, you won’t be a ‘nobody’ to them.” Breezefeather could hear the air quotes in the officer’s voice, which made her smile.

“Well, it sounds like things are going pretty well.” Breezefeather’s head snapped up and she saw Officer Knowles. She beamed. “Well, I get to have a bit of fun this week,” Knowles grimaced and turned to the officer at the desk, “You find her in the system?”

“Nope,” they replied, popping the p. “Turns out her folks have been off the grid quite some time. Enough time where I can’t find even them anywhere.”

“Grandparents?”

“Never knew ‘em.”

“Well, shoot.” He looked to Breezefeather, “Do you have a place to stay other than some random spot in the woods?”

“I might,” Breezefeather thought back to the kind family she encountered. “They were nice folks when I found them. They said they had a spare room, but it was pretty cluttered.”

Officer Knowles smiled a bit, “Okay, that’s a good start. Maybe if we ask nicely, you can stay with them until we get a few things straightened out.” His eyes gazed down to her wrists. “Is she still seriously wearing cuffs?”

“Whoops! Got so wrapped up, I forgot about that!” The officer remarked. From their belt, they took a small, simple key. Using the said key, they popped it into each keyhole and unlocked the cuffs to where Breezefeather could move her arms apart. Finally! She smiled, relieved to have them off and rubbed her wrists to remove the sensation of the cuffs that were on her for a good chunk of the day.

“Okay, so what first?” Breezefeather asked, still rubbing her wrists as she stood up.

“First,” Officer Knowles explained, “we find this family and see if they’ll take you in for a bit. And then-.” He trailed off.

“And then?”

“And then we see how good your homeschooling was.”

---

After a brief direction of where she flew from -explained away as walking-, they drove towards the small farmhouse. Breezefeather noticed that McCreedy was missing and she was offered the passenger seat. Eager to not be behind a set of bars. As they rode in a relaxed silence, Breezefeather’s mind went back to McCreedy. The grumpy, probably senior officer had certainly grated on her and his partner. Weren’t they supposed to work together, being a team? “So, I don’t mean to pry, but what happened to Officer McCreedy?”

Knowles grumbled something for a bit, eyes forward on the road, peering through his sunglasses, “He’s been suspended – benched, you could say. He’s out for the rest of today and tomorrow to cool off.”

“Ah,” she replied. Silence stretched for a few more minutes. The silence wasn’t tense, but it wasn’t entirely comfortable. “So, do you know why he’s such a meanie or is he just like that sometimes.”

He sighed, “No, I really don’t. Though I can’t help but wonder if ghosts are the ones to blame, this doesn’t seem like your usual run-of-the-mill ghost thing.”

“Why would it be ghosts?” Breezefeather asked gently.

“Well, I can’t think of any other reason at this time,” Knowles replied. He sighed again and brushed his left hand through his hair. “There’s just no reason for him to be acting like that. He’s never acted like that before. Or at least that I’ve noticed”

Breezefeather tried thinking of what might be causing the problem. It could be magic, she thought, but I don’t know much about it. Her thoughts went to home again. Princess Twilight would be able to think of something. “Sounds like a potential Friendship Problem,” she said almost automatically.

“What?” Officer Knowles glanced at her, even turning his head towards her for a second.

“Think about it,” Breezefeather said, suddenly gaining a glimpse of insight. “Everything he’s said has ticked you off while I was around either of you. It affected your ability to work together.” She thought for a moment, “Has he done anything to help your partnership in this past week or has he done or said something to go against it?”

“Against, always. He’s a bit racist, but he keeps it to himself mostly, until a week ago, anyhow. Off and on he’s been going off on ‘Mexican’s this’ and ‘Negro’s that.’” He darkened a shade, “Well, he said the slur, not negro, anyhow.”

“Slur? Is it bad enough to where you won’t repeat it?”

“Hell yeah! It’s enough to get you beat up. Only thing is you could probably get away with it due to your ethnicity.” Breezefeather blinked, a blank look on her face. “Eh, or maybe just to be safe, you hear a word that starts with ‘N’ and isn’t ‘negro’ or doesn’t sound nice, it’s probably for the best that you don’t repeat it and punch whoever said it.” He looked left and right before turning down another road. This one happened to be a final stretch, however, farmhouse finally coming into view. “Here we are.”

Once pulled up and parked, Breezefeather decided to stretch her legs. Right as she opened the door, however, she was practically pulled out by two small children. James and Crystal chatted excitedly over each other, only Breezefeather’s good hearing picking out the sentences they said.

“You got to ride in a cop car! Was it fun?”

“Did you get arrested?”

“What did you get arrested for?”

“They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

“Were they mean or nice?”

“Do you have a criminal record now?”

“Easy, easy, one of you at a time!” Breezefeather tried to call to order. It didn’t work. The children just talked faster and over each other more to where not even she could discern what was being said. Breezefeather just laughed.

Jed walked up to the officer and Loraine to the children to usher them to the house. Jed spoke up first, “I am sorry if she caused any trouble. We only met her yesterday and she didn’t seem too into how things worked.”

“Well, she knew enough of it to avoid actual trouble,” Knowles acknowledged, chuckling slightly. He held out a hand, “Officer Knowles, sir, and you are?”

Jed took Knowles’s hand and shook, “Jedediah Smith, Officer. Pleasure tah meet ya.”

“Might I come in?” Knowles asked, ending the shake, “I have a few things I would like to discuss if that’s alright?”

“Quite, quite. Come in,” Jed said, motioning to the front door. He looked at Breezefeather, “You too, young missy. I’m sure you’re the reason fer the fuss.” Breezefeather smiled shyly and walked through the door.

Once inside, everyone headed towards the kitchen table, which was covered in paper and children’s drawings and what looked to be homework. Pencils were skewed everywhere as well as crayons. Loraine looked up from the table, helping James with a problem before nodding to Jed. She then finished helping and then grabbed his homework and Crystal’s and ushered the children to their rooms down the hallway and up a set of stairs. Breezefeather suspected they wouldn’t stay up there long. The remaining four sat at the table.

“Well, I’ll cut right to the chase,” Officer Knowles started, taking off his sunglasses, “Breezefeather here needs a spot to stay while we contact a rep with the government to get Breeze here into the system. Since she’s made an acquaintance with you folks, I was hoping she’d have a stable place to be and not rely on the over-crowded homeless shelter.”

Breezefeather was hopeful, but she wasn’t sure. They could reasonably say ‘no,’ after all. I mean, I just met them, and they probably don’t know what to do with a pegasus pony that’s disguised as a human.

Jed and Loraine looked at each other, a bit startled at the request. She wished she knew what they were thinking. They then whispered to each other in a hushed tone. She tried her best to not listen in by humming the Smile song her friend Pinkie Pie would sing sometimes. After a moment, they seemed to come to an agreement and Breezefeather stopped humming.

“Well, Jed and I have been thinking about hiring a new hand on the ranch,” Loraine started.

“And we could always use ah minder fer tah kids,” Jed continued.

“So, we don’t see why she shouldn’t.” Loraine finished.

“Well, that’s great to hear!” Officer Knowles said.

Breezefeather couldn’t help but agree. “That’s awesome!” She curled her fingers before clicking her knuckles together, “I won’t be a burden! I promise!”

Officer Knowles stood up and pulled a card out of his breast pocket and handed it to the couple, “Here’s my number if you ever need to reach me as well as the direct number to the station if I can’t be reached. Just in case.” He smirked and glanced in Breezefeather’s direction, “Although I don’t think you’ll really need it, though you never know.”

“Gee, thanks,” Breezefeather smirked back.

He took out his sunglasses and perched them on his head, “Your welcome,” he snarked back. “By the way, we’ll keep in touch and let you know when the rep is here. Number’s in the phonebook, right Jedediah?”

“Yessir, though let me get ya ah paper and write down our personal numbers, in case ya need tah reach our cells,” Jed replied, getting up as well and looking for a clean paper. Once one was found, he wrote down a nine-digit number and handed it to the kind officer before they shook hands. Once Knowles left, Jed turned to Breezefeather. “Alrighty, missy. I believe it’s time fer yah tah earn yer keep startin’ now,” he said.

“And that would be?”

“We need tah clear out the spare bedroom,” Jed said with a small smile.