Restless in Hoofington

Another night, another house, another meeting of a particular group. Tonight though, the last member to arrive is much larger than the usual ones. Gracefully, the form glides down onto the doorstep of the humble home, her talons clacking lightly on the pavement. A moment later, the griffon taps on the doorway with one, trying not to look suspicious.

After a moment, the door opens, the familiar zebra who owns the home standing in the doorway. He smiles and silently steps to the side to let her in, revealing the room behind himself. The inside is an unpainted wood, even the floor, with a few scrapes and scratches. Some odd trinkets, seemingly from a foreign land, are either hanging from the walls or placed carefully on shelves, which are also lined with coloured pots and jars labelled with long names in careful hoofwriting. Other, larger jars are on the floor on the back; nearby is a large cauldron, apparently having been haphazardly moved aside to allow for company. A curtain covers a nearby doorway that presumably leads to the bathroom and bedroom.

The rest of the group already sitting in the middle of the room in a rough circle, idly chatting with one another or entertaining themselves in other ways, such as Snap reading a book or Portal trying to bite his own tail.

She smiles at him and them, a fairly subtle gesture for one with a beak. “Sorry I’m late, guys. I got trapped in conversation with the new repairpony.”

Alloy smiles back. “That’s great! I’m glad it didn’t take long to find somepony who’d actually do the job.”

“He certainly grilled me for details, that’s for sure…” Snowdrift laughs lightly. “Took forever for him to let me leave, but he said he’d be over tomorrow for measurements, so things are already moving faster.”

“Good to hear.” The pegasus looks to the rest of the group, most of whom had already directed their attention to the new arrival. “Think we’re ready to start now.” She taps Snap on the shoulder to let him know the meeting is about to begin.

The only one of them still wearing clothes clears his throat, his face hidden out of force of habit more than anything else. “Alright, to recap on our last mission… it was a complete success.” His posture straightens proudly. “The window pony was brought in for questioning on all things that were found in his shop. While they did eventually clear him of the drug charges, it was plenty of time for everypony in town to see his shop, because it was a crime scene and could not be tampered with. Word spread fast and apparently not one pony wanted to have anything to do with his shop once he got back to it. Suffice to say, his shop is now up for sale and he is seeking new employment. He isn’t homeless, but he will be dealing with hardship for a while. Exactly the level of humility we needed to bring down on him. Excellent work everyone.”

Most of them nod or even clap while Alloy quickly translates for Snap. When they are done, Zesten speaks up. “And let us not forget to congratulate Miss Night; for her first real assignment, she did her part just right.”

“Yes, a wonderful job, Nightshade,” the leader agrees. “Our newest member has once again proven herself quite the asset.”

“I should have baked a cake,” Ornate muses.

Blushing from all the attention, Night smiles, her wings shuffling. “Aww… thanks you guys… I’m glad I made you proud.”

Alloy smiles, patting her on the shoulder. “Hope you didn’t have any trouble.”

The thestral looks up. “Nah, I had it covered. I knew it was important.”

“Speaking of important…” The hooded figure gains their attention again. “I actually had something I wished to bring up with all of you.”

They all look to him, except for Portal, who’s walked over to examine some of Zesten’s jars in the back, unnoticed by the others. Alloy tilts her head at their leader. “What is it, Reflect?”

He waves to all of them as he speaks. “Well, as you know, we operate on the principle of secrecy. Whether it is complete secrecy so we can secure something, or strategic secrecy so the police know we did something, but still not who we are. To that end, after our last excursion, I think it would be prudent of us to try and perhaps better our uniforms. If anyone gets close enough to us, they can still tell what tribe or species some of us are, which narrows it down. I would like to avoid that.”

Alloy blinks. “What do you suggest, then? Masks would hide our faces more, but wouldn’t really help with things like size.” She glances to Snowdrift. “And anything else that could help in that department would impede our movement.”

“You are right in those points. Plus, honestly, masks get annoying if it’s warm, and they can muffle words.” Shaking his head, Reflect continues. “I was thinking something a little more… arcane.”

Many heads tilt to the side curiously. Portal speaks up loudly from the back. “But none of us are uni-” He gets cut off by a small clang, and when they turn to him, they see him standing inside the zebra’s cauldron, peering over the top at them. “-corns.”

“True, but I believe we can get what we need from another source.” Gesturing in the direction of the market district, he explains. “You all may or may not know of the very successful runemaster who runs her shop all by herself. I believe her enchanting is what we can use. Some sort of illusion to either disguise us completely, or simply blur us enough to where no details can be seen.”

As a few murmurs go around, the one batpony in the room has her eyes widening by the moment as she hopes they don’t mean a particular place she is thinking of. Alloy has a similar reaction, looking to her nervously before back to their leader. “Um...wh-what shop is this, sir?”

He tilts his hidden head at her. “It’s the only one like it in the city. You know, the one that sells basic enchantments, does custom orders, run by a single green mare?”

Night looks to her pink friend worriedly, who just looks back. Portal speaks up again from the cauldron. “So we’re gonna rob it?”

Reflect nods. “Yes, but only for this specific thing. We have no idea how much this would cost us for it to be done through proper channels, our identities would be revealed by doing so, and even if they weren’t directly, we have no idea how this mare feels about the Restless.”

Seeing the two fillies so tense, Ornate speaks up. “Something to say, you two?”

Alloy swallows nervously, glancing at Night before replying. “Um...maybe we shouldn’t?” Before she can be questioned further, she hastily continues. “I mean, a place that sells magic enchantments...she’d probably keep them protected pretty well, right? I, um, don’t think this would be like a food gathering assignment or something...”

“Very true,” their leader admits. “I do not expect one who creates enchantments to not do the same to her own shop. That is why I don’t really have a time limit for this mission, if you can even call it that at the moment. We don’t know what we are up against, merely that we need what is inside.” He spreads his forelegs wide. “I am open to suggestions.”

“Can we simply make a pass at the place to test the defenses without actually trying to get in?” Snowdrift offers.

Reflect shakes his head. “I don’t think so. She might just change it after she realizes they were tripped.”

“How about steal it while it’s open?” Portal suggests, rocking back and forth in the large pot. “Then she won’t have them active, right?”

“A fair suggestion,” the hooded one responds, “but we have no idea how long we would need to locate the spell, and maybe even some gems it’s casted on. Anyone who was trying to find it would need to be hidden the entire time, and I would rather try other options before we have that much risk.”

Alloy coughs a bit. “Um...maybe I could just try getting it on my own time?”

Quickly grabbing onto a solution to what was becoming a horrible train of thought, Night’s head nods rapidly. “I could help!”

Reflect looks to the two of them in surprise. “How do you plan on getting it yourselves when all of us together can’t think of a way yet?”

“We’ll...we’ll think of something?” the pegasus offers meekly. Her mind races to come up with a plan, or at the very least, a way to change the topic. She remembers something from a previous meeting and clings to it. “Besides, this way the rest of you can focus on Snap!”

Ornate’s ears perk up. “Oh? Is he ready to come forward with his problem?”

Alloy looks to the pony in question, who has all but dozed off, having stopped paying attention long ago to the meeting. “Well...he already told me, so I can just tell you myself.” She sighs. “For the past few months, Snap’s been renting a room from someone, since he can’t really live on his own safely. But even though he pays his rent on time, they’re kicking him out in the next couple of weeks.”

Everypony, including the usually distracted Portal, is suddenly all ears. Reflect leans forward, his voice gone from light and casual to deep and serious. “Do you have any more details?”

“Aside from the address, not really,” she admits. “Just that they don’t seem to have any actual reason for it. He didn’t tell me much, and he seems pretty tight-lipped about it.” She winces. “I-I mean...um...never mind.”

Reflect waves a hoof. “It’s fine, Alloy. We’ve heard worse choices of words… from Ornate.”

“Hey!” The crystal mare lightly swipes the side of her leader’s head. “You said you’d never bring it up again!”

Chuckling, he straightens his hood. “Just teasing. Back to the matter, though. Alloy, do you think you could get more details from Snap?”

“I don’t know...I tried asking him more after the other meeting, but he said that was all he could think we’d need to know. Maybe we could ask his landlord about this?” She shrugs a bit, looking sheepish.

“Yes…” Reflect rubs his chin in thought. “Inquiries will definitely be made… Ornate, do you think you could do a little investigating? Ponies will likely be more comfortable around you than the rest of us… well, aside from Portal, Night, and Alloy, but it would be difficult for a colt and teenagers to get straight answers.”

The mare nods slowly. “I’ll do it, but if I end up having to use feminine wiles I don’t want to hear it from any of you.” She points a hoof at each of the group. Zesten chuckles lightly.

Reflect claps to gain attention once more. “Okay, so a few of us now have some things to do. Everyone else, just go about your lives and we’ll meet again soon.”

Nodding, the group starts to disband. Snap has to be shaken a bit, but soon he is leaving as well. Portal manages to climb out of the cauldron, but ends up knocking it over loudly.

Calmer now, Night looks over to the colt. “What? Didn’t want to become part of a potion?”

He looks away, deliberately distracting himself with trying to push the cauldron back up, before Zesten comes over and fixes it himself. Sighing, the colt turns to go as well, still looking embarrassed.

Smiling, Night leans down and scoops him into a quick hug. “You’d probably make a cute potion.” He whines, curling up into a small ball. “Aww…” She nuzzles him too now.

“Niiiiiiiight...” Portal groans, like a child being fondled over by their mother. He wriggles around, trying to escape.

“Yes, mission buddy?” Her grip loosens slightly, but being the hugmaster she is, she still leaves it inescapable.

He squirms some more regardless. “I need to go home...”

“Okaaaay…” Her whine is similar to his earlier one as she nuzzles him once more before setting him down. “Be safe.”

Nodding, he heads off, only looking back once. As Zesten returns to fixing up his house from the visit, this leaves Night and Alloy as the only ones who have yet to head back home. The pegasus walks up to the thestral, a little worried.

“So...how are we gonna do this?” she asks.

The thestral thinks for a solid minute before she answers. “Ask and hope?” Her suggestion is more of a question.

“...that’s probably the best we’ll get.” Alloy sighs and starts walking. “Tomorrow, after school?”

“I guess there’s no reason to delay…” Night stretches her wings. “I think we might have a better chance if we ask Autumn though, not her mom.”

“Agreed. Plus, Autumn’s less likely to ask questions...I think...” Alloy shrugs. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

Suddenly sitting down, the batpony spreads her forelegs and looks at Alloy expectantly.

Rolling her eyes playfully, the pegasus walks over and hugs her, smiling. “There. Does that fill your quota for today?”

As her tail wags happily, Night muses. “Hmm… within acceptable margins. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, silly.” With a quick nuzzle, Alloy detaches from the hug. “Good night, then.”

“Good night!”

Throughout most of that week, despite their vow to get it done as early as possible, Alloy and Night find themselves backing out of every opportunity to ask Autumn for help. It isn’t until near the end of the week when they decide they need to get it done once and for all.

Thursday is one of two days during the week when Autumn has tennis practice, the other being Tuesday, and so she gets out of school about an hour or so later than the other students. She notices her friends waiting for her, and skips changing out of her outfit in order to meet up with them.

“Hey, girls!” she greets, approaching them. “You didn’t have to wait for me.”

Night smiles brightly, giggling. “Wouldn’t miss this for the world…”

Alloy rolls her eyes. “We’re here to ask her for help, not admire her. Calm your wings.”

The batpony looks back at her already half extended wings, blushing as she tries to reign them in. Still, her face tries to remain passive. “I can multitask.”

Autumn raises an eyebrow. “Ask me for help? What is it?”

Straightening herself back up, Night clears her throat and tries to be serious… failing within three seconds as she relaxes at the sight of her marefriend. “Well, umm… we need your help with some magic.”

The unicorn motions with her head for them to walk and talk, and starts doing so. “You know I can’t do much besides shields, right?”

“Didn’t your mom teach you the family trade?” the thestral asks, a little surprised.

Autumn brightens up, smiling. “Oh, that’s what you meant! I know some runes, sure, if that’s what you needed. I could ask mom for help if I...” She trails off. “Wait...what do you need magic for?”

“A… project…” Unable to come up with something quick enough, she turns to Alloy, eyes pleading.

Fortunately, the pegasus has had enough time to think of an excuse. “We’ve been put into pairs and given a random topic to write a short essay about in language class. We got, um...illusion magic.”

Autumn slowly nods. “So...you need an illusion rune, or something? What kind? That’s kind of generic.”

Night tries to take up the ball again as they pass a few stores. “Like the kind that ponies would use to keep others from recognizing them. Like spies or something.”

The unicorn raises an eyebrow, and Alloy quickly jumps in to field for her. “That’s Night, always trying to make everything more dramatic.” She laughs nervously.

Sighing, Autumn shrugs. “I can try, though my mom might need to help out with that. I don’t know the rune myself, but she could probably...I don’t know, show it off to you and give a copy of the rune sketch.”

“That’d work great!” Night nods. “Thanks, Autty, this will really help!”

“No problem.” The unicorn nuzzles her gently as they pass by a familiar building. Pausing, Autumn looks inside a window. “Hey, isn’t this that window repair guy’s old place?”

Alloy looks over, noticing the building and looking inside as well. “Yeah, it is...” She squints, seeing a few ponies inside. “Guess they’re cleaning it up. Maybe somepony’s buying it or something.”

“Probably.” Autumn glances around. “They’ve got almost everything in this room, actually...all that’s left is the logo on the-” She cuts off abruptly, going quiet.

“Something wrong, Autty?” the thestral asks as they walk.

“...do either of you have any plans for after school?” she responds slowly.

“No, not really.” Night shrugs, one part of her getting excited at spending the afternoon with Autumn, but then curious as to what all three of them would do.

The unicorn turns to them both, a neutral expression on her face. “Good, because I have some questions for the two of you.” She continues walking, at a quicker pace now, forcing the other two to keep up.

With the new speed, they get to Autumn’s place in little time. The unicorn unlocks the door with her key and steps inside, looking back at the other two and waiting for them to step in as well. “Mom won’t be home for a bit, so we have time. My room, now.”

Night doesn’t know about her pink friend, but personally part of her is nervous and the other half curious at this new blunt tone. She even manages not to think dirty thoughts about Autumn’s words as she complies swiftly. Alloy follows along, but casts a worried glance back at their friend as she follows behind them.

When they get to her room, Autumn walks in last and shuts the door behind her. Now, she doesn’t bother to hide the angry expression on her face. “Now. Tell me all about your involvement with the Restless.”

Night immediately stiffens as her mouth clacks shut, not wanting to say anything. She knows she’s a terrible liar to her friends. Alloy looks back and forth between the two, panicking. “...what?”

Autumn growls. “Something’s been going on with you two. First, it’s pretty obvious you knew each other before I first met Nightshade.” She turns her attention directly to the batpony. “Then, you have a hoodie in your closet with the Restless logo on it. I recognized it when we looked into that building. And then the two of you come asking for, rather specifically, a rune to conceal identity.” She stomps a hoof. “I don’t know if you’re stupid, or you think I’m stupid, or what. But I can put two and two together. So tell me. What’s. Going. On.”

Letting out a whimper, Night falls to her stomach in a submissive posture. Her wings fold forward, trying to hide her from view as her tail tucks between her legs. Alloy looks guilty, but rather than trying to hide, she just kicks at the ground awkwardly.

After several seconds, Autumn takes a deep breath. “Night...Alloy...I’m sorry. But you’ve been keeping secrets behind my back for...for...I don’t even know how long for. The least you can do is tell me what’s going on before I help you.”

“... you don’t hate us?” The bat pony’s voice is quiet as she stays in her self-made shelter.

The unicorn kneels down in front of her, trying to be gentle. “I could never hate the two of you. I’m just mad that you’ve been going behind my back for so long. And furthermore, that you outright lied to me.” She puts a hoof on Night’s. “Tell me...please?”

Alloy just watches, staying quiet for the moment. She sits on the bed and waits for Night’s response.

A sniff comes from beneath the emerald wings as a grey hoof grips a blue one. “Okay… I’m really sorry for lying to you, Autty… this was the only thing I ever lied about, I swear.” Wings open to reveal a single slightly teary eye. “We… aren’t involved with the Restless… we’re part of the Restless. We’re members.”

Autumn nods slowly, not pulling away. “I had a feeling...but why? What does the Restless do, exactly? And why are you in it?”

“To help… to belong… to equal…” Night’s wings open up to allow both eyes to be seen. “Not everypony is like your family, Autty…”

“I know...” The unicorn nods again. “So, let me guess...the Restless work towards equality? Regardless of, you know...” She gestures to the thestral. “Race, or...” She motions to Alloy. “Condition?”

“That’s the basic idea,” Alloy finally chimes in. “All the members have had to deal with discrimination for one reason or another, or are just working to help improve the lives of those who have.”

Autumn raises an eyebrow. “So, wait...the window repair pony...that was you two?”

“Well, not us two specifically, but we were involved,” the pegasus admits. “One of our members, a griffon, hired him to repair her windows, but not only did he charge way more than he should have, he never got around to the work. When we discovered he’d been doing that to others, we made sure the rest of the city knew it as well.”

The unicorn sighs. “I’d call what you did ‘underhooved’, but really, he didn’t do much better...” She looks back to Night, smirking a bit. “Let me guess. You were behind the produce shop robbery too.”

“That was a coincidence.” The thestral’s wings fold back fully, but she stays on the ground, ears pinned back. “Some of us were low on food. That guy wasn’t a bad pony, so we only took what we needed…”

“And yet just about all the fruit he had on display was gone the next morning.” Autumn boops her marefriend’s nose. “Now who could’ve done that?”

A small giggle escapes the mare. “Some of us were hungry…”

Autumn giggles as well. “I could tell.” She looks between the two of them, her smile fading. “Look...I want to help, but I don’t really know if I can...mom would want to know what the rune is for, and I really don’t think I can lie to her.”

“Yeah…” Night sits up, still holding Autumn’s hoof. “Hard to lie to those you care about…” Her other hoof wipes her eyes.

The unicorn pulls her into a hug. “I’m sorry for yelling, Night...I really am...” Glancing at Alloy, she motions for her to join as well. With a smile, the pegasus hops off the bed and embraces them both.

“I’m sorry for hiding stuff from you…” Night mumbles into her friends’ withers. “I don’t like ponies upset at me…” Her lips meet Autumn’s cheek as she squeezes all of them tightly.

Autumn smiles, kissing the thestral’s cheek in return. “I’m not upset anymore. It’s alright.” She’s quiet for several seconds before speaking again. “...can I meet them?”

“Huh?” Night blinks, not sure what she means.

“The other members of the Restless.” Autumn pulls back from the hug to look her in the eye. “I want to meet them.”

“Well… I… I don’t know… I’m kind of the newbie of the group…” She looks to Alloy.

The pegasus sighs. “I’d have to ask the boss first...if you’re willing to at least try and help us, though, he’ll probably go for it...”

Autumn nods. “I’ll do my best.”

“Then...well, we’ll see.” Alloy nods. “I’ll ask him.”

They hug in silence for a moment before Night speaks up. “I’m more scared of Rune finding out this secret than the first one…”

Autumn pauses, then speaks up again. “...I can try to keep it a secret from her...it’s not really lying if I just don’t talk about it, right?”

“I think so…” Taking a deep breath, the lunar pegasus relaxes a bit more. “This afternoon got very stressful… can I go back to ogling Autty in her uniform? It’s a lot easier on my mind.”

The others laugh a bit, and Autumn nuzzles her. “I’d say yes, but I still need to shower and get it washed from practice. Maybe later, okay?”

“I can be a good filly and wait.” She nuzzles both of them. “Though Alloy has to be my cuddle buddy until you get back.”

Alloy chuckles and hugs her. “I’m fine with that.”

Autumn nods, giggling as she detaches from the two. “I’ll be as quick as I can.” She opens the door and heads off to start her cleaning.