Stone walls. A single overhanging light. The simplest of wooden tables.
It was sparse, simple, and Steel couldn’t be happier with it. Wide open spaces were harder to defend and even harder to keep track of. In a wide open field, you could be surrounded easily on all sides by a large enough force that could be reinforced by more enemies at anytime. In a small room, you knew exactly your situation.
You could control it.
It was what this big shot, wet behind the ears foal was trying to do.
Key word trying.
The grey earth pony with a peaked silver mane had a neutral and professional expression on his face. A standard “Look at how serious I am” stance for interrogation in the guard.
It was the completely wrong form for this situation.
Steel wasn’t a stranger, he was well known in the guard. On top of that, the pony was half of Steel’s size. It was like a mouse trying to intimidate a manticore. The mouse could pull it off, but that would take experience and a lot of luck.
No, for this situation the interrogator should be friendly and open. Make the target comfortable and more willing to start a conversation. If you did it right, the target wouldn’t even feel like they were being pressed for information.
He could remember a pony that had a knack for it. Steel would always joke he should join the guard as an interrogator.
Steel wished he would have.
Then maybe, he wouldn’t have…
“So, um Sergeant-” Steel saw the inspector’s eyes bulge out of the socket at the name, “Steel Bastion. Sergeant Steel Bastion? No, no, wait,” The pony coughed into his hoof and forced his neutral expression back on his face, “Sergeant Steel, just to confirm you are the father of one pony, Cocoa Print?”
Steel suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, “Yes, we’ve established this multiple times already.”
The inspector nodded and wrote his response in a small notebook. Steel noted it was already almost full. Presumably from whatever Flash had talked about earlier.
“And you can confirm that Cocoa Print has always been a Changeling?” The inspector asked.
Steel’s response was to furrow his brow, scowl and give his patented drill-sergeant-scolding-dumb-recruits expression.
The inspector fidgeted with his pencil, “We need you to say it for the record,” Steel continued to glare, “Sir.”
“Yes, Cocoa has always been a Changeling,” Steel was going to stop, but his mouth got the better of him, “Twit.”
The inspector gulped and recorded Steel’s response in his notebook.
Steel eyed the door. It was simple, wooden and easily smashed.
He could make a run for it. Not deal with this stupidity. Tend to his son. His injured son. Flash was with him, but he wasn’t Cocoa’s father. Even if Cocoa was grown up and living on his own that didn’t mean Steel stopped being a dad.
Especially when…
Especially when he only had one father left.
“Sir,” The Inspector stated, “Are you alright?”
Steel gazed at the door a moment longer before turning back to the Inspector. Even though he wanted to go, leaving would look bad on Cocoa and Steel wouldn’t bring trouble to his son.
“Yes, carry on.”
“Alright, then next we’ll need an account of Cocoa’s foalhood,” The inspector stated.
“His foalhood?” Steel asked in confusion, “How much do you need to know?”
The Inspector looked askance, “All of it.”
“All of...” Steel growled, “You can’t be serious? Do you even know how much time that will take?”
“We need it for Cocoa’s trial,” The Inspector was visibly sweating, “To gather information and decide on the severity of his crimes and punish him accordingly. Whether that be deportation, arrest, or otherwise.”
The inspector flinched. Steel presumed it was because of whatever expression was on his face. If it matched his rage then he would flinch too.
He hadn’t even pretended to think that Cocoa was innocent. He would never side with that bitch queen. Removing the fact that Cocoa hated her with every fiber of his being, he would never betray his family.
Especially not…
Steel turned to the left wall.
From experience, he knew that the wall was actually a one way enchanted mirror that let the ponies on the mirror side listen in on the conversation taking place on the wall side. Unicorn spellcraft really was quite impressive.
The mirror was specifically used by high ranking military and Princess Celestia.
Considering who was involved, Steel would bet a large number of bits that she was definitely behind the wall. Listening.
He really didn’t want to talk about Cocoa’s foalhood. Not because of Cocoa. Cocoa was great. Raising him was the only fond memory Steel had of that time.
No, he didn’t want to because of the other pony involved.
The pony he didn’t want to remember.
He didn’t want to relive his life with the illness.
The thing that took his husband away from him.
Even Steel’s memory of him.
“Alright,” Steel took a deep breath, “If it helps my son, I’ll talk about his past. It started when I returned from a particularly long tour of the dragonlands...”
Steel took a deep breath. His lungs filled with the burning sensation of smoke and toxic fumes. Above him the sky was a burnt smokey orange from the thick smog of black soot that covered the sky everyday in what many described as the city Celestia tries to forget.
Steel smirked as a Pegasus came crashing down and gulped down large lungfuls of air as he desperately tried to snuff out the burning feathers on his right wing. Another Pegasus that thought the rules were optional and everypony was over-exaggerating the danger of the smog.
It always brightened up Steel’s day when he saw such instant repercussions for a stupid pony’s actions.
He trotted down the cobblestone streets of Dodge City with his head held high and a strut that oozed confidence. He had been born and raised in Dodge City and he was damn proud of what he’d accomplished as a poor colt from the downtown slums of Dodge.
Steel had just returned from his most recent tour of the Dragonlands. This time, at last, he had encountered an ornery dragon that had decided his squadron had been in its territory and they needed to compensate as a late day snack.
By the time Steel had been done with him, it was begging him to take his treasure trove in exchange for keeping its life. He had let the dragon keep its hoard.
But he had asked for a souvenir.
Due to his obnoxious amount of self confidence, nopony dared to come near him. They pointedly crossed the street to stay out of his path and eyed him with respect.
That he was a huge earth pony, carrying a battleaxe of the same size, and a dragon claw that was even bigger than him also probably had something to do with that.
Steel Bastion observed his surroundings. He was searching for a familiar building.
The street he had found himself was wide, but felt narrow due to the imposing red brick buildings on either side that towered overhead and were covered in a thick layer of black smog. At ground level were bright glass windows that glowed orange from the interior lights and gave glimpses into the buildings purpose as either a residential home, a store or, more likely, pub.
Not a bar. Not a tavern. A pub. The drinking hole for stallions.
Laughter and music merrily rolled out open doors and windows as per Dodge City’s tradition of being as loud and obnoxious as possible.
These were not the places he was looking for.
What he was looking for was the building at the far end of the street, just before the street turned into another, where one building stood that was different from the rest.
It was spotless. Not a single speck of black smog marred its rough brick exterior. The windows glowed in cheery yellow light and green ivy crawled heavily along the walls giving the appearance of a house made of green. He knew they wouldn’t be in bloom for another few months, but Steel looked forward to when the ivy would sprout pink blossoms.
Steel Bastion smiled.
He was home.
He trotted up to the door and wiped his hooves across the front door mat. He wouldn’t ruin the efforts of the occupant to keep everything clean.
Or take the inevitable scolding that would follow doing so.
He reached into the ivy just to the right of the door and pulled out a mirror to do a quick inspection of his appearance. Always good to have mirrors handy to make sure you’re looking your best.
Blonde mane cut short and sweeped back into a glistening shine? Check.
Dark brown fur groomed and well cared for? Check.
Bomber jacket ironed and bares no creases? Check.
A dashing grin showing off pearly whites? Check.
Satisfied, Steel Bastion placed the mirror back into its hiding spot. He was groomed, sexy and hopefully distracting enough that the pony he was going into see wouldn’t notice the horrific scars crisscrossing his muzzle from where the dragon had dragged in its claws.
Knowing his husband Floral Print, there was a snowball’s chance in Tartarus for that.
He took the front door key from his front jacket pocket and opened the door. Once inside, Steel dropped both his battleaxe and souvenir in the lobby.
He swept his gaze across the room. Everything was like how he remembered.
High vaulted ceilings with open access to the second floor and beyond. The walls and floor were polished, and the wallpaper still that horrible fleur-de-lis design from Prance. The furniture was stupidly expensive, but well lived in. And, of course, there plants growing in, on, and around every available surface.
Everything was upscale, and not even close to his income bracket on only a guard salary.
It did pay to be married to a famous painter.
At the moment, he could care less about bits. What he really cared about was the sexy flanks those bits belonged to.
He gave a tentative sniff to the air and relished in the clean air and telltale scent of baking orange ginger cookies.
Steel grinned. They were his favourites.
“Flo, I’m home!” Steel called out.
“Steely!” A high pitched voice squeaked in surprise, followed a clang and a yip of pain.
Steel rushed to the kitchen. He did a quick look and noticed everything was spotless, high end and immaculate as always. In the center of the room was a mint green pegasus with white spots dressed in a tweed jacket with matching bowtie and a mane tied up into a messy white bun.
A pan with the crumbled remains of their previous baked goods was on the floor and Floral, the pegasus, was sucking on his bright red hoof while whimpering.
Clearly Steel had startled him when he was checking on the cookies and he accidentally grabbed onto the hot pan.
Even from here Steel knew it was a minor burn and would go away in a matter of minutes. Floral was a wimp when it came to pain.
But he was Steel’s wimp.
And he was hurt.
Steel rushed over to Floral and gently touched him on the shoulder.
“Are you alright, Flo?” He asked with concern.
“I’m fine, Steely,” Floral grinned sheepishly, “You startled me and I grabbed something I shouldn’t have. This should heal up in a jiffy.”
“Oh thank Celestia,” Steel nuzzled Floral who giggled form the contact, “I’m just glad it was minor.”
“I would be afraid what you would do if it wasn’t,” Floral looked up at Steel, “I remember the last time-”
He noticed his new scars.
“What happened to your face?!” Floral shouted with wide eyes.
Steel flinched, “It looks worse than it is, honest.”
Which was the truth. The scarring had long since healed over and the doctor had noted that it was mostly superficial.
It only hurt a little if he brushed his teeth too hard.
Steel grinned sleazily, “Oh, just handsome? I think you mean sexiest-”
That comment earned him a light smack from Floral. Steel felt pain flare up in his muzzle and he held back the urge to whimper. No point letting Floral know he might have actually hurt him.
“Don’t even try and ‘sexy’ your way out of this one mister,” Floral puffed out his cheeks in that adorable way he does when he’s mad, “I told you to be more careful.”
“Oh come on, Flo,” Steel whined, “How could I pass up a perfectly good chance to fight a dragon.”
“You fought a dragon?!” Steel cursed himself for letting that information slip, “What were you thinking? You could have gotten yourself killed!”
“Nah, I could handle it,” Steel gave his winning roguish grin, “I’m the unbeatable Steel Bastion, slayer of monsters. I’ve taken on manticores, hydras, and bugbears. How’s a dragon compared to that?”
Flo’s deadpan look was answer enough to what he thought of Steel’s self proclaimed title, “Uh huh, well, Mr. Monster Slayer, you don’t get any cookies. They’re all going to our foal instead.”
“Aw, come on, Flo,” Steel pouted, “Those are my favourite and you know-”
Steel stopped and his eyes went wide as he registered what Floral had said. The love of his life in response was grinning like an idiot.
“Our foal?” Steel said.
“Yes,” Floral answered sweetly, “Our foal.”
There was a pause.
“How could you cheat on me, Flo?” Steel whimpered.
Floral’s eyes went wide in panic, “What? No! I didn’t cheat on you!”
“Who made you pregnant,” Steel accused.
“Steel, I’m a stallion,” Floral deadpanned, “I can’t get pregnant.”
“Well, then who did you impregnate?” Steel angrily retorted, “It was that flower mare down the road isn’t it? I always knew she was trying to sell her honeysuckle to you.”
“Not the flower seller again, Steel!” Floral threw his hooves in the air in exasperation, “I just found him in the marsh.”
“Swamp,” Steel automatically corrected, “You mean you ‘found’ him in some other… other… floozy’s honey trap!”
Floral smacked his head with a hoof, “For buck’s sake, Steel. You more than anypony would know I am unabashedly gay.”
“Well, tastes can change,” Steel crossed his hooves in front of himself.
“We’ve been together for years!” Floral shouted.
“Doesn’t mean you couldn’t like mares,” Steel replied petulantly.
“We’ve been married for over five years.”
“A cover.”
Floral growled, “Oh, for the love of-”
“Um, are the cookies ready yet?” A tiny voice called out from the adjoining dining room.
Steel turned towards the source of the voice and backed up into the kitchen counter. It was a… foal, for lack of a better term, with black armor-like skin, two large horns, big bug-like hazel eyes, and small fluttering wings at its sides.
It was the sort of thing Steel got called in to kill on the border of the Everfree Forest.
Floral smiled at… it and trotted over to it. He pulled the thing into a - shiver - hug.
“Steel, I’d like you to meet our new foal, Cocoa,” Floral grinned brightly.
The thing waved shyly at him.
“YOU DIDN’T EVEN CHEAT ON ME WITH THE SAME SPECIES?!”