The Runaway Bodyguard

by scifipony

Chapter 12 — Ponyville Way

I popped the rest of the donut in my mouth and looked into a furniture shop that had an awning. Swallowing the lump of bread in my throat proved difficult as my heart raced. I glanced at my flank, thrashing my tail in annoyance.

The yellow diamond cutie mark had survived the crowded restaurant intact.

A pegasus stallion, brown and blond-maned, alighted in the middle of the street, causing a carriage driver to trot to the right. The fellow had amber eyes. I recognized Fire Feather and his red flaming-feather cutie mark.

The part-time postmaster of Sire's Hollow messengered packages to and from the manor. He'd seen me many times. Last Hearth's Warming, he'd delivered a package of chocolate cherries for Hearth's Warming to my hoof as I exited my carriage.

My shade of lavender he'd recognize. My saddlebags... had he ever seen them? Hoof ponies carried my stuff. I felt eyes on me. I lifted my head, swished my tail hard enough to touch my flank, tactically below my cutie mark, and trotted back up Alicorn Way in control of my nerves despite my racing heart.

I heard horseshoes accelerate on cobblestones, then suddenly clatter to a halt as if he were distracted, followed by hesitant steps my direction. As I put more distance between us, I heard sounds as if he were stepping forward then back indecisively, as if he didn't want to leave his post. Soon they faded between a passing carriage and approaching hoof traffic.

Was he still there? Looking? I kept my ears from swiveling back guiltily. I felt like he hadn't jumped into the sky. The corner sandwich shop got closer and closer.

Wait for it. Don't bolt.

I forced myself to look at the sandwich-board at the doorway. Yeah, they made a pun of sandwiches on a board in flowery pastel chalk. I shook my head and trotted right at the corner.

I took out my map so I had a reason to have a spell prepped. It wasn't as if Fire Feather could lift me! Unless he had others with him, I could roll up the guide and swat at him to dissuade him. I'd never hear the end of it from Proper Step, but I was trying to avoid ever seeing my guardian again.

Don't borrow trouble, I told myself, fully expecting him at any second to slam down in front of me like a princess-wannabe.

It isn't about you.

Right, he could have been couriering something and noticed a lavender mare. Had I seen postal saddlebags? I couldn't remember.

After two blocks, I turned toward the castle and focused on the tiny words on the brightly colored cartoonish map. Seeking Lily had called it the Ponyville Incline...

I stood four blocks north of Donut Joe's. Ponyville Way curved right as it meandered through a series of switchbacks down the mountain. I saw a steep downward grade and red interlocked brick pavers. Despite the grade, a stream of earth ponies, sometimes a team of eight or ten, pulled up large vans and tankers.

I hadn't been followed, and the darkening sky was devoid of flying ponies. I turned back to Donut Joe's. I enjoyed a raspberry jelly donut and a peanut butter stuffed powdered beneigh. So good with hot tea!

Halfway down the incline, I found a rest stop. It boasted a two-copper private shower and various tent feedbag joints. Sleeping on the grass wasn't so bad. I slept in my cozy soft flannel shirt wrapped in my light tarp. The only drawback was a cold nose. The shadowy crags of Canterlot Mountain to either side of the highway-cut framed the twinkling stars and Milky Way. I fell asleep with shooting stars on my mind.

The sound of horseshoes and wagon wheels woke me as the morning twilight brightened. I saw deep blue sky with yellow at the horizon. The mostly stallion teams checked tack; that accounted for the jingling and clunking. Dew had condensed on my hooves and mane, but hadn't soaked me. I still lay on my saddlebags. Everything intact, I packed and hustled to where the drovers gathered near a fire. A copper bought me a portion of a quarter-bale and a ladle of hot oat milk, and a warm feeling in my tummy as I trotted again downhill.

I reflected on sleeping outside. My flank did hurt a bit; the grass hadn't been level. None of my morning responsibilities asserted themselves, nopony waited to dress me, and I didn't have to suffer Proper Step droning about this matter or that, or things I was expected to decide, plan, or learn. Freedom from scheduling was replaced with the sounds of steel shod hooves and wheels on the road, occasional nickers, and laughing conversation. Most of it proved mundane and boring, about family or what this pony said about a buckball game, or that pony said about who was nice. Once out of the mountains, the road leveled out onto the Ponyville plain. I read my spell book as I walked. The twenty miles straight into town did leave me a bit tired, but not so tired that I did not notice the wide old oak tree that had been transformed into a living library. If my life was going to be an adventure, what a better place to start than at a living library. The town clock stood just past eight, so I trotted up to the round door and tried the knob.

It didn't open.

I tried rapping on the door with the edge of a hoof.

"That's not goin' ta work, dearie."

I looked to the road. Walking by was a lime green mare with her white mane and tail both tied into a bun, not unlike mine. She pulled an oversized load of what looked like Granny Smith apples. She glistened with her effort, despite the spring chill. No doubt her pie cutie mark was an apple pie, a conclusion supported by the apples on the bandana she wore.

"The nice colt runnin' that thar lye-berry is off ta school about this time."

Colt? I thought. The mare had blown by middle age years ago. She had few wrinkles, but she looked to be developing rheumatoid arthritis in her knobby knees. Regardless, like a typical earth pony, she had her strength and pulled strongly. Proper Step would seem a foal to a pony like her, let alone a colt. I laughed and trotted along side her.

"He has a mane tha same color as my grandson. Big Mac says he always has his nose in a book."

"Seems natural for a librarian."

"Even when talking to ya!"

We shared a laugh, though I sometimes resembled that comment.

"Ya come on back 'round this afternoon and the lye-berry will likely be open."

I looked away as I said, "I won't be here by then."

"Izzatso? Been lotsa young'ns your age been moving into Ponyville last few years. Ta me, ya look like you're setting yourself up to be independent, like 'em."

"That's pretty right on."

"I won't pry into your family situation..."

Not biting! "A mare's got to do what a mare has to do."

"Fillies, too, seems. Two of 'em arrived but a coupla years ago, they did, with plenty of growth left in thar legs. Talented tho. One's befriended my Applejack and she's become tha weather captain! More where that came from. Friends galore if'in you were to stay. So... where ya goin'?"

"Trying to sell me on Ponyville?"

"We all are her ambassadors." She touched her chest and walked three legged. "We moved here ourselves back when the Everfree still stretched all the way to the Canterlot Hills. Pioneers we wuz."

It explained her accent. Young ponies moving here and working—and not going to school as a result. "You started a, uh, homestead here?"

"My Ma and Pa did. They hit tha road not much older than you, dearie, but it wasn't so friendly. Bad weather, badder monsters, nothin' conducive to stay'n employed as farmhooves. Was a wee gal when Ma and Pa found themselves in Canterlot and met the princess, back when tha world was all sepia-toned, wuz it."

I shook my head and she chuckled.

"She granted us lands over in that thar direction, she did. So nice."

"In tha—" Catchy accent. "In the middle of the Everfree? Nice princess." I snorted.

"Oh, there wuz plenty of meadows and Pa taught me to chop wood with a mighty fine axe. Earth ponies don't shy away from work, timberwolves or no. We found them zap apples, too."

She winked at me. A glint or morning sun showed she had amber eyes. "You stay a week and it's zap apple jammin' time. Worth bein here, I'm telling ye!"

"Zap, what?"

"The lightning comes right out of the sky to pollenate them apples and you get a cracklin' good apple that tastes like a sweet rainbow ought and looks like one, too! It makes the best jam! Other than cider season, we make the most bits from it—ponies love it so much. Canna get it nowheres else."

She was giving me the hard sell. I wondered what it was about me that made ponies think the best of me. I hid my past and that I had run away and that I had assaulted another pony. Worst, the last thing I needed were friends that would pry—friends that might discover my secret and let that get back to Proper Step.

Ms. Maple had mentioned emancipation papers. No doubt in my mind was that meant official papers that let an underage pony live her life as she pleased. Tartarus would freeze over before Proper Step or Princess Celestia granted something that would let me get out of the plans they'd made for my life.

The old mare said, "You've made up your mind to take a trot down a dangerous road. I can tell, 'spite a good lye-berry run by a fine colt and zap apples com'in into season. I gave it a good try."

"Yes, you did."

"Well, luck to you, dearie."

I didn't realize how badly I'd need it.

Author's Note:

If you guessed Sunburst was the librarian, you guessed right.

Comments

[dystopia8]

I never considered who might've originally run the library, and I suppose it does make sense Sunburst wouldn't be in the crystal empire for quite a few years yet. Poor Starlight, she was so close and had no idea...