Equestria Route Zero

Act Two, Scene Three – Bureau of Reclaimed Spaces

“Back so soon?”

Having made it back to the Bureau, I hadn't felt like we had been gone for a short time, maybe an hour at most. The receptionist just stood there waiting for us as we made our way over from the parked truck.

“Can we talk to Clerk Octavia Melody again?” I asked.

“I'm afraid she left. In a big hurry, actually. Something happen with your meeting?” She replied, her cheerful manner not faltering one bit.

“She seemed pretty interested in a gas station attendant.”

“I don't know who that is. But she did seem distressed.” She took a deep breath & clapped her hands together in front of her chest. “Well. Heading back to the interstate? I can process you whenever you're ready to go back. Just let me know.”

“Now would be best.” said Shining Armor. He handed over the doctor's card to the receptionist. “Can you tell us how to get to this address? We're looking for Doctor Whooves.”

“Of course, this is in a neighbourhood just outside of Bowling Green. Get on Sixty-five going southwest. Take a right just past the observatory, just before the river. If you continue north, you'll be there shortly. Happy to help.” There was that old catchphrase again.

We made our way back to the truck & got in, Winona patiently waiting in between the two front seats. Shining Armor took a deep breath before speaking.

“Maybe you should get some sleep. It's a bit of a drive ahead before we even get near to the observatory. Get some rest, & that leg could rest up a bit before we start walking again.” Winona appeared to agree with this as she moved from her central spot, & onto my lap, crawling up into a comfortable sleeping position.

“Fine. Wake me up when we get near the nighbourhood.”

Dreams are a weird thing. I remember when I was young, when my parents were still around, I would always tell them everyday that I was going to be something, whether it was a famous scientist or a huge rock star, I was always adamant that I would make it big & wouldn't end up working for their 'stuffy & boring shop', as I put it all those years ago.

Of course, their dream was to one day have us, Applejack & I, take over from them when they were too old to continue doing so. Applejack couldn't wait to finish school. She loved what our father did for work, she always found it fascinating. No surprise that she is the one in charge. Because I didn't take as big an interest as she did, I'm not too great on all the technical business terms & anything business like.

Like I say, dreams are weird. As a kid, you can do anything, or believe you can do anything. You can host a banquet in honour of an esteemed toy, or you could be off fighting dragons in your backyard. By the time I was in school, my aspirations soon started to falter. Any ideas I had were quickly thrown aside because it was never easy or it was more complicated than it first sounded. For example, the dream of being a rock star was thrashed because it soon came to pass that I had a lack of musical skills. I wasn't 'musically entwined' or something, as my music teacher once put it. As much as I love to listen to music, I couldn't create & keep my own rhythm.

Same could be same about my later school years, & perhaps why I became a drop out. As I've mentioned, I spent a lot of time doing odd jobs before I stuck with the family business. Those jobs never came to anything, because I was told I wasn't entirely suitable for the work or I did something wrong that stopped my working.

When I sleep, my dreams usually take me back before my parents died, where I could get a second chance to do it all again. I suppose everyone does dream that at one point in their lives, about what could have been different. I came to realise the only place for me was home, & the family business. Why change for something foreign if your destiny lies at home? Or something like that, I don't know.

Like I said, dreams are weird.

I was shook awake by Shining Armor. We had stopped moving. Looking out of the cabin, it was still night but other than that, I couldn't much else with blurred vision.

“There's nothing here, Mac.”

I sat up in the passenger seat, & rubbed my eyes. Looking around clearly now, there was no neighbourhood. The only thing standing in the area was a large building marked 'Museum of Dwellings', itself in various stages of construction. & although I had only just heard it, it was raining quite heavily.

“Maybe the people working there knows what happened here? We can only ask.” I said.

We left the cabin of the truck, & moved as quickly as we could, with my limp, under an umbrella & into the museum.