They poured into the tavern that doubled as the small community's eatery. The sound of ponies laughing and talking filled the air. Eyes turned as they came in, taking note of the two alicorns that joined them. It wasn't that they were alicorns precisely. It was hard to not recognize Celestia. They were ponies, after all. The noise dimmed a little in response as they approached the bar.

Luna clopped the top of the bar. "Food and drink and make it good!"

Trixie nodded softly. "Make my drink an apple martini. I'm in that mood."

"Of course, ma'ams. There's a free table over there if you're looking to sit?" He tossed his head at an available spot. "I'll bring it over when it's ready."

Celestia veered over to the indicated table with a soft smile. "Do pay the stallion."

"Of course." Luna extracted a few coins in her glimmering magic, paying for their order easily. "Let us take this opportunity to go over strategies and what went well, and poorly."

Trixie rolled her eyes at that. "Trixie is here to relax. You want to go over battle plans, you do that tomorrow."

Celestia set herself on a stool beside Trixie. "I find myself in agreement. I would like to think little of the battle right this moment, Sister."

Luna pointed across the table at Celestia's wounded bottom. "I would avoid future instances of that. This is for our own good."

Trixie held up a hoof. "Have you not heard of mental well being? Time to put some bandages on the inside. Now, I plan to drink and eat and enjoy our victory. Try it."

"I wasn't expecting t' see you lot." A heavy stallion suddenly sat down with them, across from Trixie, between Celestia and Luna. "Imagine my surprise."

Celestia's face lit into a smile. "Rockhoof! A pleasure. What brings you this way?"

He laughed, setting his shovel to lean against the table. "I was planning to smash a few diamond dogs across the face with me shovel, but it seems I was too slow." He suddenly swatted Luna on the shoulder. "Can't be too mad being beaten by three lovely mares eh?"

Luna quirked a soft smile. "I had not expected to see you here. 'Tis good to see a familiar face. Will you join us?"

Celestia set her hooves on the table, pressed to one another. "I had no idea you were a sell-shovel. Weren't you happy weaving tales of the past?"

Trixie glanced between her two companions. "Should I know him?"

Rockhoof laughed at that, slapping the top of the table. "The name's Rockhoof, one of the Pillars of Equestria, little mare. Good to meet you, and I'll gladly break bread with some old friends, and maybe one new one? Oh ho, here comes the food."

A bar-mare came trotting over with a tray balanced on her back. She dipped her head towards the group and turned, allowing it to slide right off onto the table as she began to carefully pour out beer for everyone there. "Your martini's on the way," she promised. "Can I... wait..." She counted the ponies. "They have one more," she called back towards the barkeep.

"Get him a drink," he barked back. "They're good."

She shrugged softly and resumed serving the table. "I'll be right back with yours." She nodded to Trixie and hurried away.

Trixie was the only one without a drink, so she reached for food instead, tearing off a chunk with her magic and setting it on her plate. "So, you use that shovel?" She inclined her head towards it.

Celestia gestured at it with a hoof. "His specialty. He could tell you stories."

"Since you asked..."

The human picked up two fruits, weighing them with soft hums of consideration.

Take one. It's what the sign said clearly.

He reached for a third and tested its heft as if unsure, but he was feeling fairly certain. Each fruit had a little plaque that said what fruit they were. He had his three he knew he wanted, but there were so many more... Why not... one more? He reached for a fourth but the floor suddenly began to give way as if whatever force had brought him there lost all ability to believe he was 'testing' four fruit at the same time.

He began to fall and grabbed blindly, barely knocking one fruit off the display before he sailed through the void, the four fruit falling with him. He would be getting no more fruit than that.

"--and that's how I saved the village," finished Rockhoof with a confident smile. "Now, ya gotta tell me, what has you two up here, doin' personal battle with these dogs?"

Luna rolled her eyes. "Do you think us incapable of it?"

"Clearly not, seeing as you just did it." He threw back a tankard of beer, his hoof through the handle and foreleg wrapped around it. "Doesn't explain the why of it, near I see."

Celestia cut her food with a knife held in her magic, her eyes on Rockhoof. "A fair question. We've retired from politics and pivoted into adventure as a way of relaxing."

"Relaxing?!" He barked a laugh at that. "Looks like you're taking a bit of a nick there from your relaxing vacation."

Luna snorted softly. "I would see that not repeated, but no, we are under no illusion that--"

"--here you are." The barmare returned, setting the martini in front of Trixie with a larger carafe set beside it. "With refills. Enjoy!"

"Thank you." Trixie hefted up her fine glass in her magic, grinning. "Finally." She sipped softly, letting out a happy sigh of apple-flavored contentment. "Not bad."

Rockhoof grabbed his shovel in his teeth and slapped it down on the table. "The way I see it, this can't stand."

Luna hiked a brow. "We've been standing fairly well."

"But I won't!" He put a hoof to his chest. "My friends going off and risking their necks? Not when I can help. Take me with you. I'll stand between you and what's trying to put holes in my friends. Really, don't those damned dogs have any scrap of propriety at all?"

"I'm afraid they lack that." Celestia sipped from her floating beer mug. "Still, I have no objection. You are a talented warrior by most measures."

Luna inclined her head. "As my sister would say, it balances things. A physical warrior is just what this 'party' lacked."

Trixie sipped from her angled glass. "Mmm, well, if you want to stand between Trixie and trouble, who is she to complain? Wait, does this mean he gets a share?" She frowned suddenly. "I'm not sure I like that part."

Rockhoof shrugged softly. "I'm not here to strike it rich. I'm more interested in keeping busy and being useful. I'll take a half-share."

Celestia twisted an ear between Rockhoof and Trixie, considering the two. "That's very generous of you. Very well, if there are no further objections?"

Trixie reached for one of the serving plates. "I suppose I can work with that. A half-share."

Luna softly huffed. "I motion he have priority for any trinkets we happen upon that may be of help to him."

Trixie shrugged. "Isn't that assumed?"

Celestia looked to Trixie with a raised brow. "I'm surprised to hear you say that, but yes. It would be best to divide things to those who would use them best, if they have practical purpose. What use would I have for an enchanted shovel, if ever we happened on one?"

Trixie lifted her shoulders. "And wing guards are of very little use to Trixie, yes. It would be equally silly to give him anything that rests on a horn."

Luna looked satisfied, popping a morsel into her mouth. "Good, just making certain. Now, eat and be merry. Tomorrow we move out of Equestria proper."

Rockhoof sat up at that. "We are?"

Celestia inclined her head towards the bar. "It's uncomfortable having everyone recognize you, but not as you are but rather as you were. We are no longer acting princesses. It would be nice to move beyond its borders. It was my thought to see who was heading beyond and accompany them."

Trixie grinned widely. "It was I that found the perfect caravan in need of guardians, and now they get four instead of three. Perhaps they will pay more, seeing as another famous pony has joined us."

Celestia inclined her head. "They may, and may not."

"We'll ask come the morrow." Luna speared a colorful morsel on a fork held in her magic. "For now, relax. Unless you have changed your mind about discussing battle strategies?"

"I would hear your tactics," agreed Rockhoof to Luna's clear surprise. "How do you fight?"

Luna began to describe the battle they had survived and won, explaining each thing she did in great detail, much to his whooping delight. "With three points pinning him to the ground, his life and ambitions both expired as one."

"I should imagine that would do it, aye." He tapped at his shovel. "Can't promise to do anything as graceful as that. I bash things or throw things more often than not. I would have caved that damn dog's head in. I look forward to when we get to fight shoulder to shoulder."

Trixie snorted suddenly. "You promised to be ahead of Trixie, so she expects little of this 'shoulder to shoulder' business."

"Aye, but Luna is not you."

"That I am not." Luna smiled gently at Rockhoof. "It will be a pleasure to vanquish evil at your side."

They talked and made merry, their group looking better than it had started the day as.

He ran from bush to bush, tail twitching behind him. There were no humans in Equestria, that would have been silly. It seemed obvious what the first fruit would be and he wore its blessing, wolf ears perked towards the sound of a village up ahead. It wasn't the first he had visited by far, but he wanted supplies and pony towns were the place to do it in.

He reared up onto two legs with a few snaps and pops, assuming a bipedal stance with a soft huff. With a rolling of new shoulders, he began to walk forward into the town, just another strange creature from beyond Equestria, hardly as confusing as a human would have been.

That didn't mean he didn't create upset. He absolutely towered over the four-legged ponies of the town and they watched him with naked caution and curiosity. Any pony on his side of the street tried to be subtle about fleeing across the street. It wasn't very subtle.

That was fine by him. Let them be scared. It avoided awkward questions. So long as he didn't cause trouble, it wouldn't raise above avoidance. Ponies were herbivorous and herd animals, and it showed. They cowered together and avoided conflict when it was an option.

He saw a lit window, the sounds of revelry coming from inside. A tavern, just the place to get some supplies." He reached for a bag that hung around his hips, checking the heft of coins within, but there weren't a lot in there. He had to get another odd job somewhere, and soon...

With a weary sigh, he turned for the tavern anyway. He had enough to get a meal for the night and maybe a comfortable place to sleep. That would be enough for the moment. In the morning, he promised himself, he could search out a little gainful employment from the scared ponies.

He threw open the swinging doors and stepped inside.

All eyes were on him, the towering wolf-person in the doorway.

"Do you think he's from Kludgetown?" asked a blue mare at a table with two alicorns and a large earth pony. "He looks like it."

The lighter colored alicorn with a bandage around her left hind leg raised a hoof. "It's impolite to muse outloud about a creature within earshot. See, now he's looking at us. You've offended him."

"What? I've performed there." Trixie buffed her chest softly. "I've been to many places as the Great and Worldly Trixie."

Author's Note

Our party is gathering! Soon they can set off to adventure. Next update: Tomorrow, so not long to wait this time. What fruit would you have reached for?

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