Mum's Diner

by Golden Tassel

Possession

Starry and Anchor had joined Jade at the northern corner of the ruins. Their competition's caravan was rapidly approaching with a billowing cloud of dust trailing behind them, kicked up by the thunderous gallop of dozens of sets of hooves. The three of them stood out in the open, their heads held high as they waited. "As far as they know, we match them in numbers," Jade said. The disorganized clatter and clamor the foal team echoed through the ruins behind them. "Don't let them think otherwise."

Anchor was a large earth pony with a shaggy coat the color of rust. He carried a sledge hammer across his back that matched the hammer emblazoned on his flank—a talent for throwing his weight around as he described it. "What's the play, boss?" he asked.

"I do the talking. You stand there and look ready to crack some skulls. If they're fixing for a fight or call our bluff, you and me fall back to the machine shop. Starry, you'll round up the foals and get them back to the diner. Understood? Good." Jade watched the caravan drawing closer, and corner of her lips drew back in a smirk as she realized that what she lacked in numbers, she made up for in experience. "Starry, do you see what they're doing wrong?"

Starry squinted, unsure what Jade could possibly see from here. They were still too far out to even make out the individual ponies pulling the wagons, which she found almost surprising given how much ground they had already covered since she spotted them.

"Whoever's running the show out there is driving them too hard," Jade said. "In this heat their wagon teams are going to be falling over by the time they get here." Old as she was, Jade's mind was as sharp as ever and was already turning through plans to put this insight to use. True to the spirit of her tipped scales cutie mark, she always sought ways to shift the balance in her favor. "We'll play this one aggressive. This is our turf and they need to step off."

"Can we really pull that off with just the three of us?" Starry asked. "Surely some of them will be riding those carts and will be in fighting condition when they get here."

"Nopony wants to get into a scrap if they don't have to. If we show even the slightest sign of weakness, they'll kick us out immediately. But if we stand our ground and act like we can take them on, they might just think we're stronger than we look and back down." Jade looked over at Starry. "Officers in Precinct are used to having the upper hoof, are they?"

"We never went into a fight we didn't know we would win. But I see your point: If we give them doubt that they can win, we can at least delay a fight." Starry put a hoof over her pocket, feeling over the outline of her badge within while she considered something. She had mentioned her past in Precinct One-Seven-Three to Jade a few times over the years, but it was only since they had come to these ruins that Jade had shown any interest in it.

The approaching caravan became a roar of hooves, now having drawn close enough to make out individual ponies. They continued galloping at full speed as though intent to trample anyone in their path. Anchor pulled the hammer off his back and reared up on his hind legs, ready to swing, and the lead wagon team flinched. They dug their hooves in and skidded to a stop before they came too close. The two wagons behind had little time to react and turned away to either side, but too sharply. One wagon tipped over on its side, throwing a dozen ponies onto the ground while the other snapped an axle and ground to a halt. The remaining wagons in the rear had just enough time to brake steadily and rolled up alongside the lead carriage.

Anchor came back down onto all four hooves and set the heavy head of his hammer on the ground. Pleased with himself, he grinned triumphantly.

Dust swirled up around the caravan, blanketing the chaos of shouting that followed in the wreckage of their sudden stop. One voice rose above them all, accompanied by the orange glow of unicorn magic that shined through the cloud and the loud crack of the whip carried in his aura. All the other shouts fell silent, leaving only the muffled coughs of dozens of ponies scrambling their way out into the open air.

Rising above the cloud, Trowel stood atop the roof of his carriage. He looked down over the three ponies standing their ground between him and his prize. He cracked the whip and snarled. "You're in my way! Move!" His gaze turned to the team hitched to his caravan, now becoming visible as the dust settled. They were slumped down and doubled over gasping for breath. Again he snapped the whip, aimed just above their heads. The exhausted earth ponies recoiled from the loud boom in their ears. "On your feet!" Trowel barked.

"We're not going anywhere," Jade shouted. "This is our—"

Trowel stamped his hooves on the roof his carriage. "Be quiet, nag! I'll have you moved." He looked over his shoulder and whistled. "Get up front! There's a pile of trash blocking the road!"

Six earth ponies, each rivaling Anchor in size and muscular bulk, climbed out of the rear wagons and obediently strode toward Jade's line. Anchor hefted his hammer once more and locked eyes with the closest one.

"Fall back!" called Jade. Her bluff hadn't been called so much as it had been completely ignored. She was already turning over a new strategy in her head as the three of them turned and ran.

They were nearly to the point where Starry was supposed to break off to go evacuate the foals when she glanced over at Jade and saw the determination etched in her wrinkled face. Suddenly the larger picture came into focus for her: why the sudden interest in her past at Precinct, why the priority focus on such heavy, cumbersome machines, why the fierce competition. Precinct was buying the machines. "Go on ahead," she said. "I can negotiate a deal."

Before Jade could say anything, Starry took off into the air and circled back toward the caravan, leaving her and Anchor skidding to a stop.

"I'll back her up," Anchor said.

Jade stopped him. "Dammit. No." Her head whipped around rapidly, looking back toward Starry and in the directions of the foals and the machine shop, reevaluating her risk assessments. "You get the foals back to camp. If the rest of us don't show up soon, leave without us." Anchor hesitated while she started off after Starry. She glanced back and shouted, "Go!"

He didn't always understand Jade's orders; he was her best fighter, so he should be the one charging back in. But he did understand that her orders always had a way of working out, so he shouldered his hammer and went looking for the foals.

Back at the caravan, Trowel impatiently tapped his hoof on the roof of his carriage while his earth pony workers hastily tried to get the wagons moving again. A shadow passed over him and he glanced up to see a pegasus mare gliding down in a circle toward him. The polished metal badge pinned to her vest glinted in the sunlight and briefly blinded him.

Starry hovered just over him with the sun at her back. "Your name, civilian," she said.

Trowel squinted as he looked up at her. "Who are—"

"I am Captain Starry Night, Precinct One-Seven-Three Expeditionary Force. Your name, civilian," she repeated.

Trowels eyes widened. "Captain. It's an honor." He brushed a hoof through his mane and stood up straight. "Please excuse my disarray, I—"

"I want your name for my report."

"Your report?"

"You have interfered with Precinct salvage operations being conducted with local civilians. I'm still waiting for your name."

"Wait! Wait! Captain, please. This is all a misunderstanding." He caught the officer's indignant stare. "Trowel. My name is Trowel. My apologies. I didn't know Precinct was operating directly this far inland. And well, you know the riffraff around here are nothing but brutish thugs; the only way to deal with them is with an iron hoof. If you could possibly overlook this small incident, this minor mistake. It's insignificant, really. No harm was done. Surely you can see that I bring with me so many workers. Huge amounts of ponypower, ready and able to move anything you need. Let's work together here."

"Be quiet," Starry said. She needed to get him to stay out of the way and quickly. She looked around at his so-called workers: those six enforcers aside, the rest were clearly malnourished and bore a myriad of bruises and scars evident of slavery. "It looks like your . . . workers are in need of rest. You've lost equipment in the dirt and you have a broken wagon."

"It's nothing. We're ready to—"

"Make camp here and wait. I will return this evening after I've finished my work for today, and we'll settle terms for your employment. Then maybe I'll reconsider how I will describe you in my report." Starry waited only long enough to get an affirmative out of Trowel and took off before he could start babbling again.

She found Jade not far away, observing from behind cover. Starry set down close-by and heaved a sigh of relief. "We have the rest of the day to load up what we can. Why didn't you tell me it's Precinct buying this stuff? I could have saved us the trouble."

Jade scowled. "Because you're not really from Precinct anymore and I didn't want to risk drawing their attention if I didn't have to. But it's done now. We have work to do. Go find Anchor and tell him to get back to the shop. You stay at camp on baby-sitting duty and don't run off with a plan of your own without running it past me again."

Starry pulled the badge off her vest and tucked it back into her pocket. "Yes, ma'am."