Nothing Personal, It's Just Rule 63

Inside a terraced house, there was a staircase. The staircase led to a door. Opening the door would show a red Pegasus mare sleeping happily in her bed, and a beige and brown dog laying on the end of the bed and seemingly in the same condition as the mare whose legs it was resting on.

Rahleigh Blythe awoke and stretched her arms as she produced a yawn to symbolize that she'd had a peaceful night's sleep.

"Good morning, Cupcake," she said to her faithful companion, who got up to nuzzle her owner.

Now that she was awake, she needed to think of a way to spend her day.

She looked outside at the window. The day seemed reasonably sunny, and the Pegasi that flew above the roads and sidewalks seemed rather content.

"C'mon, Cupcake," said Rahleigh, as she got up and headed towards the door. Cupcake followed the Pegasus downstairs.

~~~

Rahleigh knocked on the door of her family's house. It was opened by a pink stallion with a brown and white mane.

"Big sis!" exclaimed a magenta filly, rushing over to Rahleigh and clinging around her leg.

The older mare laughed. "Yes, Reecia, it's me," she said with a smile. "Anyway... I was just wondering, could you guys take care of Cupcake? I have quite a day ahead of me."

'Though I'm not sure what exactly it's going to ensue...'

"Sure," said her father. Cupcake walked into the house.

"How have you been, Cupcake? Eh?" said Reecia as she petted the dog affectionately.

Rahleigh smiled at the display. "Thanks," she said. "Later!"

And with that, she spread her wings and flew up to the sky. After meshing some clouds together to make a wide mattress for herself, she lay down on it, and took one final gaze at the city below her before closing her eyes again.

~~~

A white stallion with a disheveled dark grey mane and a baseball cap the same colour as his coat entered the coffe shop and perched on a seat. "A black coffee, please," he said to the mare behind the counter, who grabbed the things to prepare the order.

When his coffee was placed in front of him, Aidan Elderberry picked it up and looked aimlessly out of the window.

The small bells rang to indicate another customer entering the store. Aidan didn't think much of it at first, but everything seemed to get a little quieter just as it happened, and he noticed the pony sitting next to him looking at the new arrival.

Aidan turned around to see a unicorn stallion. His horn was broken off, and his cutie mark was that of a broken heart. Part of his ear was missing too, but that was nothing compared to the damage done to the Unicorn-exclusive appendage on his head.

'Geez, neither of those things can have a good backstory. Whether you leave them alone, or put them together...'

Much as he wanted to go over and ask the stallion what had happened, he decided against it. He knew he'd absolutely hate it if he had a glaring injury which ponies kept cropping up here and there to get more information about.

He simply raised his coffee to his mouth and took a bigger-than-usual sip...

He slammed it down. "Hot!" he exclaimed quietly. He must not have fully woken up yet.

A few moments after, a new pony pulled up beside him. It was the same hornless unicorn stallion.

"You okay?" asked the unicorn, holding out a napkin. 'Guess he forgot how hot coffee can be!'

"Sure, I'm fine," said Aidan, accepting the napkin. Having been friends with Rahleigh for many years, he was used to the random, frequent bouts of kindness she treated both friends and strangers with, but it was pretty obvious that the lights were on but nopony was home. With other strangers, it seemed unusual.

Given that the stallion had chosen to be curious about him, Aidan decided to do the same. "What happened to your horn?'

The stallion frowned, which made Aidan wish he hadn't asked.

"Nothing much," said the stallion. "A group of unicorns attacked me and my father when I was still a colt. He was a Zebra who took me in off the streets and taught me Zebra magic."

Aidan's interest peaked higher and higher as he continued listening in to the stallion's story.

"They told us it was 'impure' for us to use Zebra magic, and that's when one huge mare, about the size of three stallions, broke my horn off."

Aidan felt a subtle pain in his forehead where his horn would be if he were a Unicorn.

The stallion went on. "She told me, 'You wanna use Zebra magic? Won't be needing this then!'."

In contrast to the pitch-black tale he had told, a smirk appeared on his face, which would make a foal cry instead of laugh. "And boy, was she right..."

Aidan knew that couldn't have been a good sign. Well, for the gang of ruffians, at least.

"So... what happened?" he asked.

The hornless stallion grinned. "Let's just say those bullies won't be bothering anypony else ever again."

"Even without my horn, I could still use Zebra magic, thanks to all that my father taught me. I grew up with it." He paused as a server deposited a basket containing two coffees and a pair of apple danishes. "About that time was when I met my new employer. She was rather impressed with my... skills..."

~~~

Sakuyi had the room to himself, now that everypony else had fled in shock and horror. It was true that snapping off the mare's horn hadn't regenerated his own, or brought his adoptive father back, but it made him feel a helluvalot better.

"Hey," came a female voice. He turned around to see a blue Earth Pony mare, who cantered over to him.

"That was an impressive performance," she said. "I could do with a man like that around the company."

Sakuyi tilted his head.

"Oh, my apologies, we're not quite acquainted yet, are we?" said the mare. She held out her hoof. "Xenna."

Sakuyi stood there for a few seconds before extending his own hoof. "Sakuyi," he said as they shook hooves.

"Well, what I'm saying is..." said the mare, whom Sakuyi now knew as Xenna. "Want a job at my organization?"

Sakuyi leaned in closer. "Please, do go on..."

~~~

"Well, any employer would have to have an IQ in single digits not to hire you. Zebra magic seems pretty darn amazing!" said Aidan. True, this story did seem like something the stallion had pulled out of his plot (not that Aidan would say it to him), but he had the broken horn to back it up.

He decided that they had better get acquainted. He planned on conversing with this stallion for a while longer. "Aidan Elderberry," he said, gesturing to himself. "And you are?"

The stallion gave a light chuckle. "Sakuyi," he said. "It's a Zebra name. My dad gave it to me when he took me in." Sakuyi took another long sip from his coffee. 'I wonder if coffee has magical powers too. How else could it be so helpful when waking up?' he joked to himself.

He grabbed one of the danishes and offered it to Aidan. "Here," he said. "Xenna won't care. Probably doesn't even remember asking for them! She had a pretty bad hangover this morning..." 'I'll just tell her I forgot.'

"Gee, thanks," said Aidan. He took the pastry and bit into it.

'Hmm... apples.'

"So, this Xenna gal," he said. "I'm guessing she's this boss of yours?"

Sakuyi nodded as he took a large bite of his own danish. "Yup. Big businesspony here in the city. I'm her..." He flipped through his mental terminology. "Executive Assistant. It pays the bills, and has its benefits." A further bite of the danish. "And yourself?"

"I'm an archer. Had the bow and arrows ever since I was a colt," he said, and shifted his flank to show Sakuyi his cutie mark. "Sorry for the self-promotion, but..." He placed a business card in front of Sakuyi. "You know, since I'm an Earth Pony, I had to practice for a while before I could stand on my rear legs to hold the equipment."

"Archer, huh?" restated Sakuyi, picking up the card. "Never met one before. Sounds interesting."

He glanced over to the clock mounted on the wall. "I'd better head out," he decided, getting up. He looked back to his new friend. "Wanna join me? It's a decent walk across town."

Aidan nodded. "Sure, it's not like I had much else to do today." She was plenty interested in this pony, and the same appeared true in reverse. How convenient. "Lead the way."

After getting a bag for the danishes and tossing out the coffees that had gone cold, Sakuyi was now walking down the street, Aidan close beside him. "So..." he said. "Do you just teach regular ponies, or have any other interesting clients?"

"It's usually just your run-of-the-mill, everyday ponies who show up," responded Aidan. "But I do occasionally get some more well-known faces. If the client mentions that they're from Canterlot, I get hesitant about tutoring them. See, in my opinion, Canterlot is filled to the brim with snooty ponies who think that they're better than everypony else simply because they're wealthier."

"I did go to Canterlot once..."

~~~

Aidan sat at the table, waiting for his meal.

A waiter went over to him. "Sir, may I please request you to remove your hat?" he said.

Not happy about taking his hat off, Aidan turned around and shot back, "May I please ask you to kiss my flank?"

About a quarter of a minute later, the waiter came back into the restaurant smiling, as if he hadn't just picked the abrasive customer up like he was the lightest thing in the world and tossed him out the doors.

~~~

Sakuyi frowned after Aidan recounted his tale. "Well, that certainly hasn't helped my opinion on Canterlot ponies," he said. "Xenna goes there from time to time, mostly for business deals and whatnot. I've never accompanied her on those trips."

He paused, allowing a mare to pass from the other direction. He then resumed his conversation with Aidan, eyeing his cutie mark.

"If somepony tried pulling that on me, I'd give them a 'private archery lesson', if you catch my drift."

Aidan blinked. "...I do catch your drift," he said. "And it seems waaaaay over the top."

Sakuyi laughed. "So it does."

He looked up, for they were now approaching a large, square tower, with ocean-blue glass for walls. He gestured towards the entrance, where two security ponies in black uniforms stood beside each other on the ready.

"And here it is," he said. "Why don't you come on up? We've got a great view of the waterfront, and you can tell me more about this archery of yours."

'I might just take him up on a lesson,' he mused. 'That should give me a chance to one-up that cocky Maraud!"

"Sounds like a plan!" said Aidan. He was surprised at how quickly things had gone, so quoted some fitting words in his head:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FONN-0uoTHI7