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Story 4

Chapter 3: The Tour

By: SleeplessScribe

Cobalt stepped down from the bench, not allowing me to release his hoof until I was down as well. As I’m sure you’ve guessed, there are some parts of the city not on your map, but we’ll be going there last, as we need to visit there anyway to get you settled in.”

I was led down the road I had initially come up, and as we approached the gates, the desire to speak overwhelmed me. “Cobalt? Um, thanks. It must’ve taken a lot for you to just pour out everything like that. You chose not to leave anything out, and I appreciate it.” Apologies and displays of appreciation were never my strong suit, but the colt seemed perfectly fine with my less than stellar thank you.

After a soft chuckle, he turned around and was smiling at me again. “Friends don’t keep things from each other, Gilda. If I want you to trust me enough to let me help you, I need to tell you everything you deserve to know.”

This guy was seriously messing with my head. The way he was acting now was still very nice and friendly, but it completely clashed with my first impression of him, and I found myself already starting to change my attitude about him. I wanted respond, but he didn’t give me a chance as he picked up my map from out of my bag. “I hate to sound so rushed, but I’d like to get all the formalities out of the way before we get into another deep talk. No offense, but I do still have a job to do as well.”

I have him a nod, not very appreciative of him just taking things out of my bag but knowing my place well enough not to say anything about it. “I understand.”

Cobalt opened the map for me and immediately began giving me the basics. Meadowbrook was divided into two halves, with the bottom half being the one on the map. It was divided into four districts, and the main roads that met in the center are what divided them. The one in the lower left was the Residential District, the lower right was the Crafting District, the upper right was the Market District, and the upper left was the Arts and Recreation District. We avoided the topics that we had been discussing earlier and instead focused on the city tour.

The captain began by leading me along the streets that made up the Residential District. These were the houses with well-kept lawns and the two-tone wood I had seen when I first came in. As we walked through, Cobalt put his hoof on my shoulder, keeping his eyes forward. “Now Gilda, I’m going to be honest with you. This is one area of the city you might want to avoid for a while. There are a few pegasi that have chosen to make their homes here, but most of them live in the houses up on the mountain itself. That being said, a lot of earth ponies and unicorns still aren’t too tolerant of griffins, so just expect some dirty looks if you ever have to come through here.”

Rolling my eyes, I shrugged his hoof off of me. “I’m used to it. As long as I’m not forced to live around here, where it’s likely everyone will make my life hell, I’ll be fine.”

He nodded, bringing me back to one of the main roads once we were through. I was impressed; there were maybe fifty or sixty houses, but considering the size of the city, that was actually quite a lot. “I’ll do what I can to help you get a place up there. Trust me, I sometimes wonder how tolerant these ponies are of pegasi.”

It was now time for him to take me through the crafting district. The air was filled with the scent of coal and oil, and the sounds of various hammering and sawing echoed through the area. Cobalt pointed out a few specific places, but for the most part it was a quick trip. This seemed to be the smallest district seeing as how it was just a few spread out shops. What I saw was mostly blacksmiths, woodworkers, and potters with a few cloth spinners here and there.

However, my guide did pull me over to one certain smithy. Behind the counter, I could see his rather large forge, and he had another room behind it that was probably for storage. After a whistle from Cobalt, a large, sandy-coated stallion walked out. His mane was short and stone grey, and he looked like he had just come out of a sauna.

Honestly, he sounded aged. His voice had a light rasp to it, but it was deeper than what I thought would be typical for a pony the same age that his appearance made me think he was. “Good day, Cobalt. Who’s your friend?”

Despite being an earth pony, I was met with a small smile when he looked at me. Cobalt put his foreleg around my shoulders, his eyes still on the smith. “Bellows, this is Gilda. She just arrived here a few hours ago, and I felt it’d be a good idea for her to meet the best blacksmith in all of Equestria.”

I did my best to put on a polite smile, holding my hand out. The fact that I would have to start changing my own attitude was something I had already accepted, but that didn’t make doing things I wasn’t used to any easier. “Hey. Nice to meet you.”

It took a moment, but he finally took my hand and gave it a light shake. “Pleasure to meet you. Don’t let Cobalt fool you, I’m nothing special, I just put a lot of care into my work. Speaking of, I hope you don’t mind if I get back to it.” Bellows didn’t even wait for an answer before doing so, returning to that room in the back.

My friend nudged me and continued onward, crossing into the Market District. “He’s not much of a talker, don’t let that get to you. You ought to get a medal just for making him smile.”

I gave a low, single chuckle as we made our way through. This district seemed to be the busiest, what with all the different stores. There were department stores, big grocery markets, hobby shops, and even a florist. One had to admit, this place was pretty organized. There weren’t many places that Cobalt actually pointed out here, but he made his excitement quite obvious as we made our way to the Arts and Entertainment district.

Not long after we passed by the fountain again, my jaw dropped and my eyes widened. There were restaurants, playhouses, art galleries, various music schools, and even an opera house. Everywhere you looked there was either a huge canvas painting or a well-crafted statue, and everybody there, including the many unicorns, gave me kind hellos and warm smiles.

Seeing all this, my guide gave me a grin. “This is probably the most crowded district late in the evening. It’s also by far the friendliest district, and Gilda, I don’t care what you think of me or what you think of the city right now, you have to let me take you to one of the many plays put on here before you leave and or die.”

Feathers were even worse than fur when it came to hiding changes in skin color, especially white ones like mine. I know he didn’t mean it that way but I still had to ask just to help myself calm down. “You didn’t just ask me out on a date, right?”

He let out a quick laugh, brushing my face with his tail briefly. “I don’t know, maybe.” The colt walked off before I even got a chance to respond, leaving me slightly flustered as I caught up to him.

“That’s not funny.”

His grin was way too smug for my liking. “Why, do you not want that to be a joke?” Cobalt laughed again, closing one eye as he looked at me. “Come on, we need to take care of the papers now.”

* * *

The area we came to by following the north road brought us to what Cobalt called the Federal District. You came to a set of gates that were basically a smaller version of the city entrance, and once you came in you were greeted by a large brick square. The thing sported a big double door with four windows on each side and an arch over the door.

My friend looked at me before looking to the building. “This is the city hall. Inside is Meadowbrook’s courtroom, the mayor’s office, and the council meeting room. I won’t bore you with details, but I know you’re more than smart enough to know this place is important.”

If it weren’t for his tone, I would have sworn he was just being sarcastic. He was right though, I didn’t care at all for the politics of Meadowbrook. My goal was to find a house, find some kind of job, and get a new life away from my past. The road was a curved fork with two ways to take, and Cobalt first took me to the left of the city hall. After a little bit of walking, we were greeted by a massive stone fortress. Just from the front, it looked to be composed of three parts: a medium-sized tower with two city hall-sized sections on either side. In the circular courtyard, a red flag bearing the same symbol that was on Cobalt’s armor was raised high on a flagpole.

“This here is the guard headquarters. It’s got an indoor and outdoor training grounds, two armories, living quarters, several offices for… officers, and a prison. If you’d like, I can show you around once you’re all situated?”

I gave him a shrug, not really caring one way or the other. “Not like I have anything better to do yet.”

Before I knew it, both his forelegs were around me, and while I was tempted to just push him away, I couldn’t. Hugs normally weren’t my thing, but it just didn’t feel right not to let him do it. “What exactly was that for?”

He simply shrugged, backtracking along the road. “I felt like it. That’s what friends do, and I’m not going to give up on forging a friendship with you.”

That was the last thing I wanted to think about right now. Cobalt had thrown my mind in all kinds of directions, but all of them were oddly positive. In the short time we had been together, he’d almost gotten me to laugh, gave me a deep admiration for him that I would never let him find out about, and earned my respect with a simple history lesson. I still had my doubts about putting trust in him, but contemplating a friendship was something I didn’t want to do until I at least knew where I was going to be laying my head.

“So, where’s the next stop?”

“I call it the Paper Palace. It’s the last of the major buildings actually on the ground, and it’s there that we have the post office. It’s divided into a few separate stations, and one of them is the citizenship office. We’ll get you applied for official citizenship, and they can see if there are any houses you can pick up.”

There wasn’t really anything I could say in response. He had answered my question completely without leaving any more questions. The building I was taken to was a whole lot less impressive than the previous two, but it was still pretty decent in size. I wasn’t left with much time to look around as Cobalt led me down a hallway lined with doors. When we finally stopped, he knocked on the door directly in front of us, and a sweet, feminine voice responded. “Come in.”

Cobalt made a move for the doorknob, but I took it instead just for fun, opening it myself. The room itself wasn’t much; a simple desk with two chairs in front of it and a bunch of filing cabinets behind it was all there was. Sitting behind the desk was a light brown mare similar in color to my friend, though her mane was a much lighter blonde, almost to the point where it was white. Cobalt himself raised a brow at her, standing in the door after I had gone through. “Well, isn’t this something? I had intended to introduce you to my sisters after we got through all of this, but it looks like I can do that now. Gilda, meet my oldest sister Cyan. She’s the manager of this place, so I have no idea what she’s doing here.”

Cyan gave us both a sweet smile, motioning with her hoof for the both of us to sit. “Standing in for a sick employee. Poor thing’s come down with quite the fever.” The pegasus looked at me for a long moment before turning to her brother. “I didn’t know you had a girlfriend, Cobalt. And a griffin, no less, you dog!”

Great, a pony with an even more flustering sense of humor than Cobalt. I guess jokes like that just ran in the family. After clearing his throat and getting the blush off of his face, my friend turned to me. “Cyan, this is my friend Gilda. We kind of met when she trapped a thief for me, and this was one of the last stops on our tour of the city. I was hoping to get her settled in, and unless a new law was instated without me know, my seal of approval is still instant citizenship, correct?”

“Indeed it is.” Cyan giggled a little at seeing my confused expression, opening a drawer and pulling out a few papers. “Being the captain of the guard, Cobalt can stamp citizenship papers with a special seal. His approval grants the applicant instant citizenship once it reaches the council, which is normally in a few hours.”

Cobalt himself grinned, closing one of his eyes again. “It’s not a power I use very often. In fact, I think this is the first time I myself have used it.”

I raised my brow as Cyan handed me the papers and a quill that had already been dipped in ink. “Why would you do that just for me?”

All he did was shrug, his eyes still closed as he watched me. “I’ll tell you later, alright? I promise I will.”

With a scoff, I turned my attention to the papers. “Whatever.” It was all basic stuff like my name, birthday, height, weight, stuff like that. Once I was done, I handed them back to Cyan, and her brother pressed a stamp onto it, revealing a red symbol that was basically a mirror of the broken X on his armor.

The mare took them and set them aside, shifting her gaze between the two of us. “Now… I’m afraid the matter of a house is not going to be so easy. Knowing Cobalt, he doesn’t want you having a home in the regular district, but unfortunately that’s the only area where there are vacancies. Construction on more houses both there and in the Sky Quarry, but there are no houses there currently.”

My brow was still raised. “Sky Quarry?”

Cyan opened her mouth, but her brother beat her to it. “The area of the city that’s built into the mountains. All of that area is houses with steps carved into the mountain, and it’s where most pegasi live. We’ve had griffins come to sightsee and visit, and that’s where they stay as well.” He then looked at her sister, both of his eyes now open. “You know, sis, our guest room is still open, isn’t it?”

The smile returned to her face as she gave a nod. “Indeed it is. Gilda, do you mind sharing a house with us while we wait for more houses to finish?”

I looked at the both of them, my mouth open and shaking a little. There were no words that came to mind, and the best thing I could think of was throwing my arms around Cobalt. “Why the hell are you doing this for me? Cobalt, you don’t even know me!”

Everything about him made me want to stay around him, but at the same time I was angry at him. Already he had told me his life story, shown me around the city, made me a somebody without question, and was now offering his home to me, all without known a thing about me. Not only that, but he sounded completely fine with the fact that I had just cursed at him as he patted my back.

“I promised I’d tell you later. I have one more place to show you, and I’m sure you’ll want to spend some time there. After that, I’ll show you our home, and I’ll tell you there, okay?”

I looked him right in the eyes as I released him from my embrace. “Where, exactly?”

There he went closing one eyes again. “Let’s just say… you’re gonna love it. See ya, sis!”

The sweet mare waved to both of us. “See you both later! And Cobalt, behave yourself around such a pretty girl.”

He didn’t really blush this time, but he did turn to his sister with a fake glare, putting his hoof in front of his eyes and switching it between her and himself. Another laugh came out of him as we left the “Paper Palace”. “See? I told you that you were pretty.”

I’m pretty sure my face stayed red all the way until we came to part of the city wall close to the Art and Entertainment District. I was in desperate need of a distraction, so I decided to mess with the feathers on my head, since they were actually getting in my eyes a bit. “Cobalt, can you stop that? I mean, I’m not used to compliments, and it feels nice and all… but since I’m not used to it I keep losing my cool!”

Cobalt flashed me a grin, holding his hoof out to show me the much smaller gate in this wall. “Let me ask you something: Griffins are omnivorous, right?”

That fact that he knew that actually surprised me; I thought most ponies thought we only ate meat. “Yeah, Gildas can eat both-“

He snickered, nudging my shoulder. “Gildas can eat?”

I snapped at his arm, growling at him in more of a flustered defense rather than actual anger. “Griffins can eat both meat and plants. How did you know?”

“I looked at your mouth. You don’t have a full set of sharp teeth, just two extra canines. Your beak, however, it’s rather sharp, making you able to cut meat off of prey and chop it up once it’s in your mouth, and it also allows you to cut up thick plants and grind them up with your flat teeth.”

My eyes widened a bit after he was done. “Huh, you know your foreign anatomy. So what’s behind the gate?”

With a smile, he opened it to reveal a thick forest beyond the wall. I felt myself start to drool when told me what it was. “Gilda, welcome to the hunting grounds, fresh meat and rare plants for both medicine and food.”