Foghorns bellowed throughout the city as the day’s work shifts came to an end.

Ponies began leaving their workplaces and flooding the city streets, performing their nightly rituals like any other day. In most cases, that meant grabbing some dinner and running some errands, maybe picking something up from a surplus store, or trying to enjoy what free time they had.

In spite of how hostile the climate had become as of late, ponies still found ways to make the best of it. One of the few positives in this less-than-ideal situation.

So why so many ponies were gathering around the Pipe & Hole was anypony’s guess, at least to Drill Bit.

A queue was forming out front and at first Drill dreaded a repeat of the Cookhouse. It was long, winding, and the bouncer out front was taking their time. Only the presence of an actual guard may have been keeping the line orderly as there were so many that Drill couldn’t see either’s face.

“Sweetie’s nightly shows are good, but they don’t normally do this. What's the occasion?”

He looked around as he joined the queue, scanning the rust ridden walls and iced up power cables, before resting his gaze on a brightly coloured poster just about visible on the Pub’s doors.

While he couldn’t describe details, it was enough to jog his memory.

“Oh right, there was a show, now I wish I’d taken a good look at that thing.” Drill thought.

It’s been a while since he’d gone to see a show or performance of some kind, another comfort he thought lost to the frost. But now he was curious as to what they could be offering, extra drinks? A pantomime? A special song written by Sweetie? Whatever the case it looked like he wouldn’t be in before midnight at this rate.

Or at least that’s what he thought before a sharp whistle whisked him back to reality.

Drill peeked out from the line and towards the direction it came from, it was from the bouncer and the moment he caught a proper look he realised why, It was Steel Beam!

It made sense, Steel towered over the others and the draft’s strength was visible even through all the thick clothing. He waved a hoof gesturing his approach and so Drill did, skipping the entire line and feeling the ire of the onlookers upon him

Drill kept his head down and hurried.

For his trouble he was at least greeted with a smile from Steel, his expression wordlessly asking a question that made Drill cringe thinking about it. Come to think of it, he had been absent for several days and knew it’d no doubt bothered Steel, so with a low voice he answered.

“Prison…”

Giving a silent nod he pointed towards the door, but regardless of how quiet Drill had spoken the guard casted a suspicious eye over him.

Just as he was about to move towards the entrance, a shout from the queue stopped him in his tracks.

“Hey, why does he get to skip the line?!” Somepony cried.

The guard then turned to Steel with similar zeal, “Yeah, why?”

Before the situation could escalate, the draft then padded down Drill’s pockets and somehow produced a small paper card. Emblazoned with white, purple and pink swirls it proudly displayed the card’s holder a Very Important Pony with a formal invitation.

A few scoffs and groans emerged from the crowd whilst the guard dropped all attention right then and there.

Steel gave him a wink before ushering Drill towards the door and he wasted little time, unwanting of the attention from outside.

Still, he had to fight to contain a smug grin. “I don’t know where you learned to do that Steel, but I’m thankful you did. That was probably his own pass he’d just given up, oh he knows I owe him now.”

The inside of the pub was packed with ponies, in fact it was a veritable sea of them with a few groups of kirins mixed in. A gramophone was playing some ambient orchestral music behind the sounds of chatter and clinking cups.

“At least their respectful enough not to smoke, how does Sweetie sing with so much of it around?”

Regardless, he knew trying to find Toy Chest in this mess would’ve been like plucking a needle from a haystack, so he made his way to the bar and managed to find a seat.

Berry would know, she saw hundreds of faces yet the mare had the remarkable ability to put names to each one. All Drill had to do was wait to be served.

It took a while, there were many other ponies waiting like him. When Drill finally caught sight of the mare his eyes went wide, but not because of Berry herself, rather it was the pony working beside Berryshine that caught his attention.

“Soda Stream?”

The cream white mare turned around and her face lit up. “Drill Bit!” She exclaimed, rushing over to him, “What happened to you?!”

Drill looked at her with new sets of rings around his eyes, his tone dropping likewise. “Remember that petition?” He asked, before giving an uncomfortably long pause. “Well I got arrested for it.”

“Arrested?” Soda squeaked, “So you’ve spent the past three days?...” Her face turned pale enough to embarrass a ghost and her ears drooped to her sides. Drill could see her heart sinking into her hooves as the revelation haunted the mare.

Not wanting to linger, he tried to change the subject. “I…see you finally got the job here.”

“Oh! Uh yeah! Berry needed some extra hooves for the event, hopefully she’ll let me stay! I needed to get away from that ore plant.”

Drill raised his chin up at that, a subtle smile spreading up his lips. “Speaking of which, how are things over there? Are the kids safe?”

“A-about that…you’ve uh…”

His prior smile completely vanished and Drill’s blood turned cold- “Please don’t say it.”

“You’ve been replaced.”

-and then immediately ignited, prompting him to slam a hoof on the counter. “Bucking Dammit!” He mentally scorned as he laid back face-hoofing.

“I’m so, so sorry Drill Bit, if it helps, the new Forepony is taking his job seriously and trying to keep the kids safe. Nopony’s been hurt since he started.”

It was a small comfort, but too little too late.

“All of this over a bucking petition…” He groaned, no less annoyed. “Seriously? No notice, no argument, just nope! You're out! Next time I see Ballpoint I’m gonna bucking strangle him.”

Taking a long sigh, he contemplated things, Soda looking somberly at her now former coworker.

“Is there…anything I can do?”

“Just let me talk to Berry real quick.”

Soda nodded and headed off whilst Drill calmed down, trying to keep his head clear and rational as the emotional fallout rained on him. It was taking a fair amount of mental effort to not just say ‘buck it’ and get hammered to try and quell things.

First would be the anger that he was experiencing now, then later would come the quiet depression, before finally leaving on acceptance and neutrality, he knew this much. But that would be for later as right now Berry had arrived.

Upon seeing the disgruntled stallion she paused for a moment, looking over him. “You’ve had it rough, haven’t you?”

“You don’t know the half it it, do you know where Toy Chest is?”

“Toy Chest? I think he went upstairs.”

Drill turned away and jumped off the stool, already trying to weave his way through the crowd when Berry raised her mechanical hoof.

“W-wait! Are you okay Drill?” She cried, already sensing something was wrong.

But the most he did was briefly turn to reply. “I’ll be back…”

And so he disappeared into the crowd as Berry quickly returned to her duties. Drill pushed his way through, trying to avoid bumping into others as best he could, swimming through a sea of seats and tables as he reached an open staircase that led upwards.

He found himself in a hallway, leading to a game room on the right and several private rooms on the left. Drill was about to try for the game room when he heard a door open and out strode a lavender-coated pegasus mare with an even deeper purple mane, her crimson red corset leaving little doubt to her role within the building.

She seemed thoroughly unamused however as she hastily retreated from whatever event had transpired behind the open door, sliding around Drill Bit and out of view.

“Drill Bit?”

He turned to see Toy poking his head out from the doorway, the two exchanging awkward looks as Drill registered what was going on.

“Toy Chest?”

At the utterance of his name, he smiled and Drill was thrown to the ground by the unicorn’s hug. Seeing a prostitute walk out of the same room as him was one thing, but to then be immediately embraced was another.

“You’re hugging me?” Drill said, still processing everything going on.

“Mhm!”

“You realise where we are, right?”

“Yeah, and? Hugs are nice!”

A long moment passed as Drill darted his eyes, nervous of anypony who’d stumble into them. But slowly he raised a hoof to return the gesture, “Oh Toy Chest, you’re too good for this world.”

After their embrace, they’d take a step back. “So who was that?” Drill asked.

“Oh! Some mare named Velvet Smooth, she asked if I wanted to have some fun so I showed her my action figure collection!”

A third dose of bewilderment racked Drill Bit as he stared at him, in part because he had a pretty good idea what fun the mare actually intended, but chose to focus on something less risque. “Y-You just…have that?”

“Yep!” As if to demonstrate, Toy rushed back into the room and left with a bag full to the brim with painted wooden models, which he deposited into a saddlebag.

Left a little scatterbrained, Drill violently shook his head and locked eyes with him. “Okay, look, Toy Chest? I need your help,” on cue the Unicorn’s smile widened, listening intently. “Remember that colt who lost his wing? Because of me? Well I wanna make it up to him by giving him a toy.”

Getting a little closer to Toy Chest, he looked him in the eye with as serious an expression as he could muster. "Do you think you can make him something?"

There was a moment of quiet, Toy’s smile slowly began to wane, bit by bit it died down into a more concerned frown as Toychest pushed his glasses back up his nose. "I-I dunno Drill, it depends, what kind of toy are we talking? Do you even know what he likes?"

"He likes flying."

"But he can't fly anymore can he?"

Drill paused for a moment before sighing, his voice low with regret. "No...no he can’t."

Thinking for a moment, Toy Chest dug around his saddlebags and pulled out a baseball cap before putting it on, which Drill raised an eyebrow at.

“What are you?...”

“It’s my thinking cap!”

There was an audible smack as Drill planted his hoof on his forehead, trying desperately to cover up his smile. Celestia above, he could only take so much before he started laughing at his friend’s antics.

However that moment of joy did help spark his mind, and he turned to Toy Chest with a grin. “Actually, I do have one idea.” He then leaned forward and whispered into Toy’s ear, who seemed to smile quite a bit.

“Okay, yeah! I can try something like that but as much as I want to Drill, I can’t just…make toys anymore.” The adult colt put away his hat before returning a look of sincerity. “I might be working with wood still but they don’t allow anypony to go home with the scraps, it all gets recycled.”

“Are you saying you can’t?” Drill knew it was a big ask given the circumstances, but part of him refused to believe Toy Chest would just leave it alone.

“I can try but…you’ll have to give me something to work with.”

“Like…cloth?” Drill shrugged.

“Uh no, something else, most ponies nowadays don’t operate on goodwill alone, shame as it is, and what you're asking isn’t cheap.”

Another deep, exaggerated sigh left Drill as he rubbed the back of his head. Of course, things were going to be complicated and of course, things weren’t going to be easy. But like any other problem, this one had a solution.

The first of which he realised was sitting in his coat pocket.

“Should I really do this? A hundred bits is a lot for a toy, I could refit my apartment for half that amount!”

His mind quickly flashed to the cold and angry look of Comet in the hospital and the dream he had with Copper.

“Then again, it was a gift in the first place, and I made a promise…”

Drill reached into his pocket and pulled out the paper bill, inscribed with New Canterlot’s insignia in gold foil. The sight had Toy Chest cartoonishly widen his eyes and lean back, how his centre of balance didn’t prompt him to fall? Drill wasn’t about to ask.

“Think this is enough?” He plainly asked.

“I…uh? You know much that is, right?”

“mhm.”

“I mean, thanks! But it is a lil’ overkill.”

“Well it’s not like I can tear it half, can I?”

“Heh, well actually…” He trailed off.

Drill stared at him for several seconds before looking at the paper bill. Toy Chest closed the distance and pointed towards the bill’s midsection.

“See the dotted line in the middle? Gold has a feature that Silver and Copper don’t.” Toy then enveloped the bill within his magical scarlet grasp and lifted it into the air, holding it up clear as day for Drill Bit.

True to his word, there was a marked tear line going down the bill’s middle, it was subtle and there wasn’t any other markings or words, but it was there.

“Now if your reeeaaaal careful, you..can…”

With tiny amounts of pressure, a tear began to form across its middle, following the dotted tear line. Drill felt his heart cringe as he ground his teeth together, over two decades of trust was put to the test as he resisted the urge to stop him right then and there.

Amazingly enough however, Toy had managed to make a perfect line and upon doing so revealed something else: The bill had an internal cavity lined with silver foil.

In one fell swoop Toy turned the two halves inside out, creating two smaller, silver-grade bills.

“Why in Equestria does it have this feature?!” Drill exclaimed.

To which Toy replied with a smug grin. “Because most ponies don’t typically have the change?”

“How do you know this?”

“Who do you think keeps the surplus store stocked with chess sets? Bits can grease a lot of gears.”

Drill narrowed his eyes at the younger unicorn, his expression a mix of absurd bewilderment and amazement. He slowly plucked his half of the bill from the air and pocketed the paper, not once taking his eyes off the smug toymaker.

“You know I never took you for the bribery type.”

“Not many do, and that’s why I’m still here. Anyway, this should be more than enough! I’ll get back to you in a couple days and see if you like it.”

“Thanks, Toy Chest, I hope it goes well.”

Toy gave Drill a quick one-armed hug and a smile.

“No probs, c’mon! I think the show is about to start!” With that, the overly eager unicorn pranced past Drill Bit. The stallion himself if not sharing his energy, at least his smile.

But in his haste, Toy neglected to take care approaching the staircase, leading to a very unfortunate step on a loose beer bottle.

Said misstep sent Toy Chest tumbling through the air-

“Gah whoputthatthere?!”

-before crashing onto the stairs.

“Gak!-Ack!-Doe-Dak!-Ahh!”

Toy splayed himself out at the foot of the staircase with his eyes swirling around, his head likewise with a ring of floating beer bottles circling him.

Drill rushed to the head of the stairs and called out from above.

“Toy Chest! Are you okay?!”

“Appleloosa!?”

Drill happily rolled his eyes and made his way down to help his friend back to his hooves, brushing off bits of dust and dirt from the fall. “Come on you clutz, let’s go find a seat.”

Once able to stand correctly, Toy nodded and the two made off into the Pub.

Finding a table wasn’t easy with so many already occupied, but a little persistence paid off and not a moment too soon.

The lights began to dim and the noise of countless conversations with it, ponies had taken off some of their garments to adjust to the heat with many others enjoying a drink.

Stagelights flicked on and a tan earth pony with a red vest walked out of the curtains towards the microphone, gently blowing to test it.

“Everypony, put your hooves together for a special performance from our star singer, the Snowflake of New Canterlot herself, Sweetie Belle!”

Drill snickered to himself as hundreds of hooves began clapping in unison. “A bit pretentious, she sings every other day at the Pub. Then again there’s few ponies with a voice like hers.”

As the stagepony left the applause only exploded as the mare to take his place appeared from the curtains. Clad in glamour with a purple and white dress to accent her mane, she stepped forward with the grace of a ballerina and towards the microphone.

The applause died down and the curtains drew to reveal a full band behind her. All with a variety of instruments they’d no doubt fanatically practised with.

And so with the building all to herself, the band began playing and she held up the mic.

“Round and round, like a carousel!...”

As the song spun on, Drill felt the warm joy of nostalgia wash over him. Good music, pleasant smiles, plenty of company and not a single breeze of cold air. Merely the atmosphere of a night’s entertainment.

Just for a moment, a single blissful moment, he could ignore the world outside and smile. Forget about work and rations, prisons and snow, forget about the horrors outside and the monsters within, and just be happy.

Happy not for the world he now lives in, but for the world he still has.

Author's Note

"Come attend a special show live at the Pipe & Hole! Written and sung by the jewel of New Canterlot herself, Sweetie Belle! Extra drinks and snack foods are available. No creatures under 18 or otherwise racially mature age."