Long Distance

by Ezn

Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"Alright Melvin, we're going to be opening the Hoofington shop a little earlier than I originally planned," White Noise said to the young, bespectacled blue dragon in front of him. "I hope you're prepared."

White Noise and his dragon friend were standing just outside of the boarded-up storefront that was soon to become the Hoofington branch of Dragonfire Delivery. Up until that date, the ponies of Hoofington had only been able to receive messages by dragonfire from Melvin, who sat at the post office all day and burped. Now they would be able to send messages via dragonfire as well.

"I'll be glad to move to a more peaceful working environment," Melvin huffed. "The ruffians at the post office are always making such a racket."

"Don't expect it to be too peaceful," replied White Noise. "That wouldn't be good for business!"

"I wouldn't count on Hoofington to keep the business afloat, sir. I'm not sure any of the ponies here have ever been more than a few miles out of town in their lives. Who would they even send letters too?"

White Noise sighed.

"Let's just get this shop open, shall we?"

***

In keeping with its name, the town of Hoofington was built in the shape of four hooves, or perhaps more accurately, four horseshoes. This gave the town four separate "squares", two of which were regularly used for markets and one of which was used as a park. The remaining square was occasionally used for town meetings.

It was a busy day for Hoofington's market squares. A fair number of the town's population were out spending their bits on all manner of fresh produce at the farmers' market, and even more ponies had shown up to see the wares of the fleet of caravan merchants that had set up shop in Hoofington's other market square the previous night.

Among the crowds milling around the latter market area were Sky Wave and Sibwashie, who were out taking a leisurely walk after breakfast.

"You there!" came a loud cry. "Mr Zebra, sir! I think you would be very interested in one of the items I have here today."

Sibwashie turned in the direction of the voice to see a dark blue earth pony with a thick black moustache and the eager and slightly slimy grin of an all-too-experienced salespony.

"For what purpose do you call for my attention, pony sir?
And what about my purchasing habits can you infer?" Sibwashie said slowly.

"You seem like a smart chap, Mister, very intelligent indeed," the salespony replied, his fast words betraying a working-class Manehattan accent. "Nope, you sure as anything ain't no fool. So I'm sure you're aware of just how important it is to be protected from curses! Only a fool would let themselves wander around all open to being cursed by anypony with the know-how!"

Before Sibwashie could give a retort, the salespony had pulled a number of bottles and jars of strange-coloured liquid out from under his table, all with hastily scrawled labels.

"I've got curse-blocking potions, curse-blocking body sprays and even some curse-ward bubble bath here," the fast-talking pony continued. "These are all one hundred percent effective, certified by not one, not two but three highly-re-spected zebra magic scholars from Manehattan, home of the great. No right-thinking indiv-idual can afford to go without these must-have items!"

Sibwashie dug his hoof into the ground, and a scowl formed on his face.

"I don't know what stories you have heard about zebra-kind
But I can see through the tricks you're playing on my mind," he retorted as he stomped off, leaving the vendor to curse under his breath.

Sky hurried to catch up with her companion, shooting the vendor a dirty look as she cantered off.

"I'm so sorry about that, Sibwashie," she said. "Some ponies are just... like that."

Sibwashie took a deep breath and seemed to calm down.

"Do not worry; I will not use him to judge all of you
That would be a most hypocritical thing to do."

"Ha, it would!" laughed Sky, smiling awkwardly.

The pegasus and zebra continued wandering through the marketplace, making a concerted effort to avoid any salesponies that looked even a little too eager to sell them things.

"Oh, my dear, what a lovely shade of pink your coat is! I've got a saddle here that was made for you."

"No thanks."

"In the market for a stronger plow, sir? This beautiful piece of farm engineering here is guaranteed to be the last plow you'll ever need to buy!"

"I do not have a farm, my friend
The tree you're barking up is a dead-end."

Eventually the two came to the end of the market, and were able to say with certainty that they had seen all of the stalls and found nothing of interest in any of them. A pretty necklace had caught Sky Wave's eye, but closer inspection revealed a heart around the name "ICY WIND" carved into the back of the pendant. As nice as it would have been to own a genuine piece of Eskimo pony jewellery, Sky decided that she wouldn't have felt right wearing it.

As Sibwashie and Sky Wave were walking through the town, a little yellow filly came barrelling out of the door of one of the small houses, laughing and shouting, presumably playing a game with some of her friends. The filly was having so much fun that she wasn't even looking where she was going and she ran right into Sibwashie.

"OOHF," she gasped as her little body slammed into Sibwashie's right foreleg and came to a standstill.

Sky gasped. "Are you okay, dear?"

Slightly dazed, the filly stumbled backwards and landed on her haunches. She blinked a few times and then smiled and nodded vigorously.

Then she noticed the large black-and-white striped pony she had run into. She looked up at the thick Mohawk that rose up from his head and her eyes widened in fear.

Before Sibwashie could say anything to calm the child, she cried out in fear and bolted back into the cottage she'd come out of.

Sky frowned and looked at Sibwashie, who merely shrugged. The pony and zebra were prepared to leave it at that when two other ponies – a mare and a stallion, some years older than themselves – came running up to them with anxious looks on their faces.

"Oh my..." Sky began, trailing off as she wondered how these ponies would mistreat her zebra friend.

***

"I've come up with my own personal dragonfire jar filing system, you know," Melvin sad, puffing out his chest in a proud manner. "It's quite ingenious, if I do say so myself. I've got all the dragonfire set out perfectly in the back room."

"I'm glad to hear that, Melvin," White Noise replied. "I always like it when my employees take initiative – finding new and better ways of doing things is the philosophy that I started Dragonfire Delivery on, and it continues to inform every new business decision I make."

The dragon had unlocked the door of the shop and led White Noise through it and into the storeroom. Taking a quick glance around the shop's main room as he passed through it, White noted that it had been cleaned recently – not a spot of dust could be seen, which was surprising for a place that saw so little use.

"Here we are," Melvin said, pointing at the shelves that covered the walls of the storeroom he and White Noise had just entered with a flourish of his clawed right hand. "Primary sort: geographical distance from Hoofington, with the closest places closest to the door. Secondary sort: date of manufacture, oldest in front, newest in back, avoiding the possibility of dragonfire sitting on the shelves forever."

"Very good, Melvin," replied White Noise, his eyes turning away from the dragon's precious shelves. "And what's that about?"

White gestured with a hoof to the only space of the wall unadorned by shelves. In their place, a glossy poster hung. It depicted a blue-coated mare with a white mane and a purple cloak and wizard hat. Large letters in circus-script proclaimed her

THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!
BRAVE HEROINE OF TROTTINGHAM

The poster went on to say that she had used her astounding magical powers to banish an Ursa Major that threatened to destroy the town, and that she would be performing for the ponies of Hoofington for one night only: a truly grand spectacle that was not to be missed.

"I enjoyed her show," Melvin replied indignantly. "It's not often that one sees very much magic here in this dinky little farming town full of earth ponies. Also, I got her autograph!"

Sure enough, an overdone cursive signature had been splattered across the bottom-right corner of the poster, with the words "to Mervin" written above it.

"Sure, she may have misspelt my name, but it's the thought that counts, isn't it?" Melvin defended when White Noise brought up the mistake in the message. "She's a busy lady, after all – all that travel and adventure, you know."

White Noise decided to change the subject: "Seeing as you've already got the storeroom organized perfectly, there's not much left to do now but open for business. Help me move some of these jars to the main room, and we'll get them arranged nicely on the shelves behind the desk for everypony to see what we're selling them."

Melvin grunted his consent and grabbed two jars from right near the door. White Noise levitated a few more in front of him as he stepped out of the storeroom. He decided that opening this branch would probably be fairly easy going, as Melvin was pretty well-organized, if a little snotty about Hoofington and the ponies living there.

***

"We're very sorry about our daughter," the parents began, their eyes filled with concern as they faced Sibwashie.

"I promise we raised her better than that, sir," implored the mother. "It's just... she's never seen a zebra before."

Sibwashie smiled and lifted a hoof in understanding. This wasn't the hostile reaction he had been expecting from the filly's parents, and that lifted his mood considerably.

"It is quite alright; I fully understand that your child is still young
Please do not reprimand her too harshly with your parental tongue."

"Oh don't worry, we won't," the filly's father said. "We'll just have a chat with her about respect for non-ponies – zebras in particular."

Sibwashie and the parent ponies parted on amicable terms, leaving a smile on the zebra's face. But just before they were out of earshot, the mare stopped in her tracks, apparently hit by a sudden idea.

"Hey, Mr Zebra sir," she called out excitedly, "would you like to have dinner with us this evening? Perhaps you could talk to our girl and show her first-hoof that she shouldn't be afraid of zebras. Oh, and what's your name?"

"I call myself Sibwashie
Student of the art of diploma-see," Sibwashie replied proudly, having recently devised that introduction couplet and just now found an opportunity to use it.

"I'm Garden Rose, and my husband's name is Placid Fields," the mare replied. "Our daughter is Daffodil, and we live in this cottage that she just ran into. Please do join us for dinner at sunset – and feel free bring to your lady-friend as well."

"Thank you kind earth ponies for your gracious invite
I shall see you here, on the cusp of Princess Luna's night."

Garden Rose giggled and nudged her husband before the two of them waved goodbye and disappeared around a corner.

"That was unexpected," said Sky flatly, speaking again after an extended silence. "In a good way though. Also: lady-friend?"

Sibwashie shrugged.

"Eh, whatever. I'm certainly not going to turn down the cooking of small-town earth ponies... mmm... I can taste the carrot soup already..."

***

White Noise levitated a "Sorry, We're Closed/Yay! We're Open" sign out of one of his saddlebags and placed it on the door of the newest branch of Dragonfire Delivery, with the latter side facing outward. The store interior had been cleaned, the dragonfire jars had been laid out appealingly on the shelves at the back, and all that remained was to help Dragonfire Delivery's first Hoofington customer.

"Okay Melvin, I'm going to help the first customer, and I want you to watch what I do very carefully," instructed White Noise, "because you will be helping our second customer."

Melvin nodded detachedly as he and White Noise took their places behind the counter and began to wait.

It wasn't long before the duo's first customer – an earth pony mare with a light orange coat – walked in. She had a pleasant smile that gave away just the slightest hint of puzzlement.

"Welcome to Dragonfire Delivery, ma'am," White Noise said enthusiastically, looking the mare in the eye. "How may we help you?"

"Uh... yes," she began, the confusion on her face growing. "I noticed this shop that wasn't here yesterday, and I was just wondering, uh, what is that you... do... exactly?"

White Noise smiled.

"Dragonfire Delivery is the future of long distance communication in Equestria, ma'am," he said proudly, levitating a jar labelled "FILLYDELPHIA" off the shelf behind him. "Using the magic of dragonfire, we can send messages across vast distances in the blink of an eye. And because you are our very first customer, we will now give you a first-hand demonstration. Melvin, take a note."

Upon producing a quill and a scroll of parchment, Melvin fixed his eyes over the paper, ready to take dictation. Dragonfire Delivery's first Hoofington customer smiled and looked intently at the jar of dragonfire sitting on the counter in front of her.

"For this demonstration, I will be sending a letter to my shopkeeper in Fillydelphia, a dragon called Turquois," White Noise began. "Melvin, write this: 'Hello Turquois. Please reply to this message as soon as you get it. Signed, White Noise'."

Once Melvin had written the message and rolled up the scroll, White Noise levitated it out of his grasp and held it over the dragonfire jar.

"Now I'm going to unscrew the lid and drop the message onto the green flame."

White Noise did as he said, and the mare watched in awe as the flame wrapped around the message and burnt it up, destroying itself in the process and leaving an empty jar.

"The message has been sent, and now we must just wait for a reply."

Soon enough, Melvin coughed and spat a message out onto the table, causing the mare to recoil a bit. Melvin was a young dragon, so he did not yet have complete mastery over his magic, but he had managed to tone message delivery down from a retch to a semi-polite cough. Turquois in Fillydelphia was the only dragon White Noise knew who could receive a message with a breath, something she was very proud of.

"Would you do the honours of unrolling the scroll, ma'am?" asked White Noise. "I assure you, it's quite safe to touch – that is how all dragonfire messages are sent, after all."

The mare smiled nervously and nosed open the scroll. It was a copy of that day's Fillydelphia Post, with the words "Here you go, boss. -Turq" scrawled across the top. White Noise made a mental note to congratulate his Fillydelphia assistant for devising such an ingenious method of proving the legitimacy of his system.

"Woah," said the mare, checking and double-checking the date on the newspaper. "I'll take two please: one for Trottingham and one for Ponyville."

"At a special, first-customer-only discount, of course," White replied with a charismatic smile, levitating the relevant jars off the shelf behind him. "Tell your friends!"

***

As their lack of a common name indicated, Garden Rose and Placid Fields were a very modern couple, and kept a neat little homestead without too many frilly decorations – although that could have been because one of the cottage's three occupants was a very energetic and curious little filly.

However, much to the delight of Sibwashie – and the even greater delight of Sky Wave – good cooking had clearly not gone out of fashion along with shared names.

The two had informed White Noise of the dinner and ensured him that he would be welcomed in true small-town earth pony fashion should he choose to join them, but he had instead elected to stay behind at Dragonfire Delivery and take care of all the administrative paperwork that goes with opening a new branch of one's business.

"What's it like where you come from, Sibwashie?" Garden Rose asked, after taking a polite sip of her expertly-prepared carrot soup. "Is Zebrica much different from Equestria?"

Sibwashie finished swallowing his mouthful of soup and thought for a moment before answering.

"If you look on the surface, many differences you'll see
But where it really matters, zebras and ponies are alike as can be

"In Zebrica the forests make way for great savannahs and deserts where wild animals roam
But much like ponies, zebras enjoy good foods, good friends and the comfort of a warm home

"Our magic is different from yours, as not one of us possesses a horn
But we don't believe in curses or other imaginings of which the foolish forewarn."

Placid Fields clapped his front hooves together appreciatively once Sibwashie had finished his poetic speech.

"I've always really liked the way you zebra folk talk," he said. "I remember seeing a play that a zebra acting troupe put on once, and they kept up that fantastic rhyming all the way through: in every piece of dialogue and all the narrations. They even thanked us for watching the play afterwards in poetry."

Daffodil, who had been sitting very quietly at one end of the table for the entire meal, suddenly became very animated. Her eyes lit up at her father's mention of the word "play" and she almost started hopping around in excitement.

"A play?" she asked, eyes bulging ever further out of their sockets. "Ooh, ooh, Daddy, Daddy! Can you please please please take me to see the zebra play? Please, oh please, oh please, oh please!"

Placid Fields smiled kindly at his daughter, feeling glad that she had seemingly got over her fear of zebras. "Of course, dear. Next time they come into town, I promise we'll go."

Sky Wave smiled to herself. She had noticed that the filly had yet to get her cutie mark, and something told her she already had a pretty good idea of what it would look like.

"Now, Sibwashie," began Placid, speaking quite gravely. "As a zebra in Equestria, it must be hard for you to... blend in, right? Ponies tend to, maybe, make judgements about you based on your... heritage?"

Sibwashie nodded, not sure where Placid was going with this sudden shift in tone.

"Have you experienced any of that kind of negativity here in Hoofington?"

Sibwashie put a hoof to his chin and thought for a moment, before telling the stallion about the incident in the marketplace. He also remembered that Petunia Hospitality had been abnormally excited to meet him because of his "heritage", but didn't mention it. That was hardly "negativity", he thought.

The stallion's expression turned sour, and he opened his mouth to make a serious proclamation: "That simply shall not do. We the people of Hoofington cannot tolerate that kind of insensitive behaviour. Luckily, I have some connections in the governance of this town, so I'll have a chat with some influential people to ensure that such an incident is not repeated within our borders – not even by any other non-Hoofingtonians."

Sibwashie nodded and expressed his gratitude, not really knowing what else to do. Once Placid Fields looked satisfied, the family and their guests continued to sip their carrot soup.

***

Sometime earlier, White Noise and Melvin received their second customer. White nudged the dragon with an elbow, reminding him that this customer was his.

The customer in question was a stout, older stallion with streaks of grey going through his black mane. A brown, slightly-fraying fedora sat atop his head, tilted at a jaunty angle. His pale yellow eyes bore a twinkle of good-naturedness.

"Good afternoon sir," Melvin said stiffly, apparently not even trying to imitate his boss's enthusiasm. "Welcome to Dragonfire Delivery. How may we help you?"

The stallion screwed up his eyes and made a strange expression with his mouth, as if he was thinking very hard about something.

"Errr... yis," he said at last, through a thick accent. "Ah wuz 'opin' that yew culd uuze yir fency dragone fyre to send this 'ere loaf of 'ome'ade bread ta mah boy in Appleloosa."

Now it was Melvin's turn to screw up his face in a confused expression. He was about to ask the stallion to repeat himself – at a slower pace this time – when a loaf of bread was thumped down on the counter in front of Melvin and he made the connection.

Sighing deeply, Melvin shot off a response: "I am sorry sir, but the dragonfire used by Dragonfire Delivery can only be used to send scrolls of parchment, not baked goods."

Even though this was the first customer Melvin had ever dealt with, he somehow managed to say this line through such a thick film of boredom and apathy that one could be forgiven for thinking that he had been suffering through a dead-end service industry job for his entire life – and perhaps even a little longer.

"Wut's that son?" asked the kindly old stallion. "Wha'ever dya mean?"

"Sir, I regret to inform you that Dragonfire Delivery physically cannot send your loaf of bread to Appleloosa," Melvin replied, rolling his eyes.

"Ah dun geddit."

"Dragonfire is to be used exclusively for the transfer of written correspondence."

"Speak plainly-like, boy!"

"Can't. Send. Bread. Sir."

"Why naut?"

"It. Won't. Burn."

"Ah think it'll burn jus' fine. Why, one time when Ah wuz jus' a li'l colt, Ah used bread to keep mah campfire goin'. Y'see, like e'ery yung'un, Ah ran away frum 'ome once and –"

"I'm sorry sir but your bread will not burn in special green dragonfire regardless of its flammability properties with respect to regular fire good DAY!"

Melvin forced the final word of his long sentence out with such force that, had it been a loaf of bread sent by dragonfire rather than just a word, it would have shot across the store and knocked the old stallion out cold.

"Well a'right then," the stallion said, looking at the floor. "Yah dun need ta be so rude 'bout it. Gud day ta y'all 'swell."

The old stallion picked up his loaf of bread and turned to tail to leave the shop. Once he was out the door, Melvin let out a long breath of relief – only to suck it right back in again when he caught the edge of White Noise's disapproving glare.

"Did I do..."

"No, Melvin. You didn't do good. Not at all."

***

Sibwashie awoke the next day to another idyllic Hoofington morning. The caravan merchants from the previous day had long ago packed up their wares and left town, leaving a quiet early morning atmosphere and a desolate market square.

Desolate, that is, except for a group of three athletic young stallion earth ponies kicking around a white and black ball. Sibwashie's ears perked up when he recognized the game they were playing – it was the international sport of hoofball, and they were playing in the rather unfair teams of two versus one.

The stallions were all varying shades of brown, with short manes and tails that varied from pitch black to a light green. All three of them were lean and well-muscled, although none of them were quite as solidly-built as Sibwashie.

Sibwashie galloped up to the ponies excitedly and shouted an enthusiastic greeting and appeal to join their game.

"Good morning, sportsponies, I see you are playing hoofball, my very favourite sport
I'd very much like to join you, and then you would no longer be one player short."

The earth ponies exchanged glances, and then the one who had hitherto been on his own nodded eagerly and beckoned Sibwashie over, while the other two nodded and motioned with a little less eagerness.

"Okay, reset the score!" called Sibwashie's new team-mate, before turning to him. "We're scoring over there, and the other team's scoring over here. You're a pretty big guy – how about you defend, and I'll attack?"

Sibwashie nodded his agreement and in moments, the game was on.

Playing hoofball again reminded Sibwashie of long afternoons during his childhood, when he and the other young boys in his village would all get together and play a game or six. Sometimes he'd win, sometimes he'd lose, and sometimes no-one remembered to keep score.

Sibwashie had the ball. Head angled down, he wound his way between the two opposing team ponies, dribbling the ball in between his forelegs. The goal was in sight, but it was still a little far away. Sibwashie spun around, preparing to buck the ball for all he was worth...

...and one of the opposing ponies whisked it out from behind his hooves, leaving him to buck air.

Not losing a moment, Sibwashie smiled and regained his footing, tearing after the pony with the ball as soon as he laid eyes on him.

The pony was going for their goals. Out of the corner of his vision, Sibwashie saw that his teammate had moved in to mark the second pony on the opposing team, who was sliding up to a position near the goals.

The stallion with the ball looked around frantically for a few moments. Sibwashie was gaining on him from the one side, and to another side his teammate was being aggressively marked. Thinking quickly, he angled himself towards his teammate and set himself up for a pass.

Then, at the last minute, the pony whipped himself around and bucked the ball straight between the two trees that made up Sibwashie's team's goalposts.

It was a decisive shot, and the score was set to one-zero, in the opposing team's favour.

The game continued in that vein for some time. Sibwashie and his teammate scored a lucky goal, but the others managed to get a further two goals passed them. Sibwashie's teammate shot him an anxious look as the score changed from two-one to three-one.

The sun was inching ever higher in the sky, and the hoofball players were sweating from exertion when another pony stepped onto the field. This newcomer was an older stallion wearing a policepony's hat and presumably not intending to join the game.

The policepony beckoned the closest member of the opposing team over to him and whispered something in his ear. Whatever it was, it made the stallion nod profusely as his eyes widened. The policepony smiled and patted the stallion on the back with a hoof before moving out of the field of play.

"Carry on!" he bellowed.

***

White Noise ambled towards the entrance of his newest Dragonfire Delivery store, still blinking the sleep out of his eyes. After giving his assistant a long lecture about proper behaviour towards customers, and then leading him through an impromptu employee training session, he had to spend the rest of the previous night filling out forms and balancing his books. The moon was very low in the sky when he had finally finished and crawled back to the inn and into his bed.

It was nearly noon and the unicorn had only just woken up. White hoped that Melvin had taken at least some of what he'd said the previous day to heart and hadn't managed to make too many more ponies swear off Dragonfire Delivery.

White Noise entered the shop just as another pony was leaving. A quick glance at her face showed him that she was smiling and had probably – to his great surprise – received satisfactory service.

"Good afternoon, boss," Melvin said cheerfully, loudly placing a number of bits into the cashbox in front of him. "You'll be glad to know that we've been very busy today. The word must have spread since you asked that lady to tell her friends about us yesterday."

"Uh, yes," White replied tentatively, taken aback by Melvin's new, positive attitude. "I'm, uh, glad to see you were listening to the things I told you yesterday, Melvin."

"Why of course I was, sir," Melvin replied indignantly. "I'd say I've certainly turned over a new leaf this morning. I'm fully prepared to give my all to these customers and start earning my salary."

And indeed he had. White watched in appreciation as customers would come in, one by one and be treated with dignity and respect. He would be patient with the old earth ponies who didn't entirely understand how the system worked, and he would be quick and efficient with the busy young unicorns who absolutely needed to send messages to every town in Equestria.

White Noise left Melvin to handle the store on his own a little later in the afternoon, after giving him a commendation and the promise of a bonus later on in the year.

***

"Another excellent goal, Sibwashie!" said Twitch, smiling with his mouth. "Let's call it day though – I'd say you two have us thoroughly beaten."

A round of hoofbumps and proper introductions later, Sibwashie parted ways from Twitch, Trailblazer and Jump. Final score: five-three to Sibwashie and Jump.

This triumphant turnaround didn't make Sibwashie as happy as he had thought it would. The game had been very different after the policepony's interruption. It seemed to move at a much slower pace, and Twitch stopped catching Sibwashie out with his signature jerky movements quite as much.

Sibwashie had scored three out of his team's five goals, and he had never even been very much of a shooter back home – he had pretty much always played goalkeeper. He was certain that the other ponies had been holding back and letting him do well at the game. But why would they do that? he thought. Surely they just got tired in the second half of the game, and I just had a bit of a lucky streak.

"Hey Sibwashie, how's it going?" called out Sky Wave, as she and White Noise turned a corner and came into the zebra's view. "White's just told me that the dragon in his shop here has proven himself capable of handling the place on his own, so we figured we'd get some lunch to celebrate that! Want to come with?"

"I am pleased to hear that your business is going well
And some lunch just about now sounds pretty swell," Sibwashie replied.

"There's a nice little eatery a few shops down from Dragonfire Delivery that'd probably be nice to try," White Noise suggested. "It's not as famous as the last place Sibwashie and I had lunch at, but I think it should do nicely all the same."

The two ponies and zebra made their way to the eatery, and true to White Noise's word, it was a pleasant, quaint little place. The three sat down on hay bale-seats around an outside table and ordered soups, salads, sandwiches and their lunch-appropriate ilk.

Everything was going swimmingly until Sibwashie lifted up a leaf of lettuce and found a worm crawling across its underside. A little shocked, Sibwashie put the leaf down on a sideplate and discretely pointed it out to White and Sky. The three companions shared amused smiles.

"Good thing it's a live worm," whispered Sky Wave. "That's how you can tell the salad's fresh."

No sooner had Sky finished her hushed sentence than the sound of thundering hooves filled the eatery's outdoor section as not one but two very flustered-looking waiters rushed over to their table and snatched up Sibwashie's salad, apologizing profusely all the while.

"Our humblest, humblest apologies, good sir," the first waiter said. "We are utterly ashamed about this terrible, terrible travesty and the bleak misfortune that cause it to be visited on you today."

A third waiter cantered over, balancing two salads on his back.

"Please, accept these two free salads as our apology to you," said the second waiter – a unicorn – as he levitated the salads onto the table in front of Sibwashie. "And if there's anything else you need, don't hesitate to ask. Please remember, we are in your debt."

Their melodramatic play over, the waiters disappeared into the eatery kitchen, leaving a very confused zebra and his very confused pony friends to stare at the two salads in silence.

"...Are you gonna eat that?" asked Sky Wave.

Without a word, Sibwashie nosed the plate over to her.

***

"They probably treat all their customers like that," White Noise hypothesised as he, Sky Wave and Sibwashie left the eatery. "These businesses have a small enough customer base that it's very important to leave everypony with a good impression. Everyzebra too."

"Haha!" laughed Sky, pointing a hoof at something in front of the group. "Look at that poor guy!"

Sibwashie and White Noise's eyes followed Sky's hoof and came to rest on a blue earth pony stallion who was desperately trying a to balance an enormous fruit-basket on his back. He tottered in one direction and then another as we walked along the path in front of them, looking like he was going to drop the basket at any second. The pony had obviously never worked as a waiter.

"Vhis vis veavy," came a muffled voice from above the blue pony's head.

A sharp thud drew his attention to his side, where Sky Wave was lying with her wings extended and her mouth over the handle of the giant fruit basket.

"Perhaps we could help you carry this basket to wherever it is that you're going, friend," said White. "No offense, but you're not really managing so well on your own."

The blue stallion only smiled nervously at White's offer, staring at some point beyond him and Sky. Sibwashie raised an eyebrow – he was getting more than a little weirded out by this new pony's staring.

"Zebra from a foreign land, we have brought you a selection of Hoofington's finest produce
Please enjoy this complementary fruit basket – and remember, you can ask for more-juice," said the pony at last, sweating profusely all the while.

Sibwashie stared blankly at the pony while White Noise cringed at the rhyme. Gears were turning in the zebra's head, and he decided he had had quite enough of this bizarre preferential treatment.

He told the stallion to keep his over-sized fruit-basket and stormed off, with White Noise and Sky Wave cantering behind him. Sky cast a sorrowful glance at the fruit basket before remembering that she had just had lunch and really didn't need any more food.

***

"That basket of fruit made to feed a village was the final straw
I'm sorting this weirdness out with the an officer of the law.

"The policepony I saw at the game earlier on today
Will tell me why everything's going my way," said Sibwashie determinedly, after filling White Noise and Sky Wave in on his day.

The zebra and his two pony friends soon arrived at Hoofington's small police-department – a cottage that had been painted deep blue and given a sign with a gold badge drawn on it. Upon entering the building, Sibwashie immediately set eyes on the stout policepony he thought responsible for his preferential treatment.

"Uh, hello zebra visitor from a faraway land –"

Sibwashie cleared his throat and started to speak before the policepony had finished; likely saving the latter party from perpetrating a crime against language with an awfully contrived rhyme.

"Mister policepony, I saw you earlier today at my game of hoofball
You helped me turn it around and win when I had my back to the wall.

"Sadly, you were not playing, so the help was not fair
Why did you do as you did: why did you care?"

The policepony swallowed. His eyes turned from the accusing stare of Sibwashie to the merely puzzled stares of Sky and White, and he breathed out, as if releasing a load from his chest.

"It's the mayor's orders, sir," said the policepony meekly. "She got us policeponies together this morning because she wanted to make you feel welcome in Hoofington and make sure nopony was short with you. We can't have discrimination or hate in the friendliest town in Equestria, now can we?"

"Where can we find this mayor?" asked White Noise.

"She should be in her office at the town hall, signing papers and doing mayor-stuff."

***

Sibwashie and co. burst into the mayor's office to find a surprised-looking tan earth pony mare with a curly brown mane. Getting as far as the office had proven no trouble for Sibwashie, given his new status in the town – the trickiest part had been convincing the staff not to have him carried up to the office on a recliner.

"Before you start rhyming and asking how you can make his day better," began White Noise, making fierce eye-contact with the mare. "My zebra friend has some questions for you."

Nodding to White, Sibwashie began:
"Ms Mayor, please tell me why you have thought it fitting
To single me out for favours and gifts unremitting.

"I am little more than a humble traveller, moving through your town
There is no need to accommodate me by turning it upside-down."

The mayor pushed her glasses up on her nose and stared blankly at Sibwashie, the gears slowly turning in her head as she tried to figure out how to reply.

"I'm sorry, Mr Sibwashie," she said at last. "I was approached this morning by my good friend Placid Fields, who told me that we had a zebra staying in our town, and it was of utmost importance that he be treated right, in accordance with our creed of friendship."

"Friendship is one thing, ma'am," interrupted Sky Wave. "But you had the whole town going mad trying to keep a smile on Sibwashie's muzzle. Isn't that a little excessive?"

The mayor put a hoof to her chin and nodded slowly. "I suppose it is, when you put it that way. But we have a good reason for our behaviour."

"This reason I would very much like you to tell
And I'm sure my friends are interested as well."

***

"It's largely to do with someone we knew as foals," began Placid Fields, speaking clearly and slowly into the eager ears of Sibwashie and his friends.

The mayor had summoned Placid, his wife Garden Rose, and the chief of police (the stout policepony Sibwashie had met earlier). The group sat in a circle, listening to Placid Fields tell them the story – a story which the Hoofingtonians in the group knew all too well.

"Nearly thirty years ago, a zebra lady named Maseni lived in Hoofington," Placid continued. "She was a kind old lady who would always gather us children around and tell us fantastic stories about her homeland and about her many travels throughout the world. She had had a lot of adventures in her long life and had seen so many wonderful things. The adults were all scared of her, but we kids knew better. Maseni was like a second mother to us."

"I remember one time, I had a cold," interjected Garden Rose. "It was quite dreadful and it absolutely wouldn't go away. I would sneeze and sneeze, and I'm sure I kept all of Hoofington awake at night with the racket my nose made. Anyway, it was on the second day of my illness that I woke up to find a steaming bowl of soup on my window pane, with a note attached. I couldn't read the note, but I recognized Maseni's beautiful Zebrican signature at the bottom. The point is, the soup was delicious and made me better within a day."

Sibwashie smiled, remembering his mother's soups and how they would chase out any ailment he was feeling with warmth and flavour.

"As I was saying," continued Placid Fields. "The adults were all afraid of Maseni, and they'd always tell us to stop visiting her and tell us horror stories about curses and tasty pony stews. Not that we listened. Eventually though, they found a reason to kick her out of the town: some contrived thing about a health hazard posed by her exotic garden – I was too young at the time to really understand what was going on."

"Our elders were really horrible about the whole business," added the mayor. "They jeered at Maseni as she left town with the few belongings she could carry in an old set of saddlebags and then had a huge party to celebrate her departure."

"Thankfully the old coots have been calmed down by the wisdom that comes with age," the police chief said. "And now that our generation holds most of the power here in Hoofington, we've dedicated ourselves to making this town a place of friendship and acceptance."

For a time afterwards, Sibwashie was silent. He had become quite angry with the town's treatment of him: as if he was a poor, lost foreigner who needed all the kindness the ponies could possibly give him to wipe away the blemish of one insult by one pony. As if the town of Hoofington were afraid he would judge them unfairly because of some slight unpleasantness experienced within their borders.

Now the zebra saw that their pandering was an honest mistake; the result of an over-correction of a past injustice that the ponies still felt some lingering sense of guilt about. Sibwashie had seen his share of bigotry and misunderstanding and moreover, he understood what it was to want to redeem the actions of one's forebears.

"I thank you good citizens for the work of your best intentions
And I understand their cause, as you and I are similar in some dimensions."

***

Melvin watched White Noise and his companions head out of Hoofington through one of the shop windows. He'd heard they'd caused some stir at the mayor's office the previous day, but he also heard, later on, that everything had worked out alright, so he hadn't bothered to investigate further.

Once the travellers had disappeared around a bend in the E7, Melvin turned his attention back to the shop's entrance. A unicorn mare entered and asked him for an Appleloosa jar of dragonfire, which he swiftly retrieved from the shelves behind him.

"That'll be thirty bits please," he said.

"Here you go," replied the customer, levitating the necessary currency into Melvin's waiting claws.

Melvin smiled to himself once the customer had left the store. He remembered how White had always told him and the other dragon that "distance doesn't matter to dragonfire". According to the learned unicorn, that was the crux of his whole business.

White Noise is an academic, not a businesspony, thought Melvin. The customers don't know how dragonfire works, and therefore they have no idea whether or not distance is a factor. Any shrewd businessperson would figure out how to take advantage of that.

Officially, jars of dragonfire were to be sold for twenty bits each, regardless of destination. Melvin had happened upon the idea of charging extra bits for deliveries to further away places while sorting the shop's jars of dragonfire according to geographical proximity. He figured he'd be able to spin a story about magic intensity or flame size if he ever needed to back himself up and seeing as he was dragon, ponies would have to believe him.

Melvin's boss would never approve of such a business practice, for a variety of reasons the dragon hadn't paid attention to during his employee orientation, and that was why Melvin smiled extra wide as he slipped ten of the bits he'd just received into a bag under the counter.

Comments

[Distant Horizon]

Tut tut, Melvin.

[TheLunarArmy]

Uh oh Melvin is defying boss' orders. He must be put down

[Blik]

That unspeakable cad!

[Themaskedferret]

That wretch I doso hopes he gets some well deserved comeuppance. Though I worry that Hoofington may end up having the same problem Ponyville did with Spike.

I liked the story with Maseni and their behaviours. I also gotta say I loved Twitch and his jerky movements, hope we see him again.

[Briefvoice]

So I'm reading through this for the first time and obviously there are a lot of chapters left to go, but I'm wondering where White Noise found these dragons to man his shops. Aren't dragons incredibly rare to the point where ponies know almost nothing about them? To the point where hatching a dragon's egg is an "impossible test" given at the gifted unicorn academy? (I get the impression that Twilight was the first pony to ever succeed.)

Also, Melvin has probably correctly judged that he's a key component of the operation and can get away with quite a bit of misbehavior. It's not like White Noise can go hire another dragon off the street. It's either put up with Melvin or close the shop.

[Ezn]

654745
Part of the issue with writing such a long story over such an extended period of time for an ongoing show is... this. Chapter 3 is from before "Luna Eclipsed" and long before "Dragon Quest". Not sure how much I hinted at it in the story (or where specifically), but basically most of the dragons are from Celestia's academy, where using dragonfire for messaging is a relatively new internal system, so there are a few dragons hanging around. White's 3-5 dragon employees are all from there.

The impossibility of the test is open to interpretation, I guess, but I like to think it'd been done a few times before. Perhaps not to the point of every student hatching a dragon egg, but a few times before.

Melvin is a shrewd little bugger.