I Hope We Can Become Friends Soon
"Well, hey there, stranger. How are you doing this evening? Mind if I take a seat?”
I jolted up, spilling my cocktail over the table. The bartender glared at me, as if it were my fault that this rude stallion startled me so much. I watched as the drink dribbled onto the floor, wasted.
Shoot, there goes the last of my bits.
And — just great — the weirdo decided to sit down across from me. Just my luck.
He laughed. “Sorry about that. Let me make it up to you. What were you having?” The stallion’s white-on-white coat and mane gave him a dang creepy ghost-like vibe. Only the piercing blue of his eyes felt like they belonged to a real, living pony.
“Err, I’m good. I think I had enough for tonight anyway.”
I stood up to leave, but he rested a hoof on my shoulder, holding me in place. His wide smile broadened as I halted, positively sweating underneath my coat. “No, I insist. It wouldn’t be very friendly of me to spill your drink and not buy you another one or two.” His hoof gently pressed down on my shoulder. I elected to comply and sat back down.
“Now, bartender, my friend here…” The stallion turned toward me. “What was your name again?”
“Ahh… Zephyr Breeze.”
“Zephyr Breeze.” He nodded, patting my shoulder. “My friend Zephyr here would like a Woodfoal Spire. I’ll have a Wild Pegasus, myself.”
The stallion leaned against the table, his grin compressing into a knowing smirk. Who even is this guy? “I don’t believe I caught your name.”
“Double Diamond. It’s nice to meet you, Zephyr.”
He pulled my hoof into a hoofshake. How very... friendly... of him…
I couldn’t help but notice the eyes of other ponies in the bar turning to watch this strange little interaction between Double Diamond and myself. I wilted beneath their gaze, my plastered-on smile faltering.
“So, err, why did you stop at my table? It’s not like there aren't a half-dozen or so free tables." I rolled my hoof. "Or the entire bar counter.”
He rested his face on a hoof. A barmaid finally came by and wiped off the table, setting down our new drinks. He took a long draw of his whiskey and shrugged. “I just saw a poor stallion down on his luck, drinking away his troubles, and had to lend a helping hoof. I couldn’t consider myself a proper friend if I didn’t.”
“Listen, I appreciate the concern and all, but I’m not ‘down on my luck’ or anything. I’m just on my way back to visit my parents in Cloudsdale and just stopped here for a couple drinks before I hit the road.”
Now that this city was a bust and I found myself flat broke.
Again.
“Love issues?”
“What? No! No, the ladies can’t keep their hooves off of me. I just give them the ol’ Zephyr charm and they practically melt in my hooves.” I struck a pose, prompting him to laugh. I blew a strand of hair out of my face, a smile tugging at my cheeks. “Rude.”
“So money issues?” My ears drew back. He smiled. “I understand that. Used to live as a vagabond myself a while back. Got to be pretty rough.”
Read like a book.
I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead, I elected to sip at the cocktail. The tang of lemon and cranberry danced on my tongue — a sweet bite to complement the burn of alcohol.
Hey, this WoodFoal Spire stuff wasn’t half bad.
Double Diamond, frustratingly, smirked while watching me lap at the drink. Oh, he thinks he knows it all. Just because he guessed a drink I’d like… and figured out I was having money trouble.
Well, two can play at that game.
“So, what’s somepony like yourself doing in a dive bar like this? Down on your luck, yourself?”
“Recruiting.”
“Recruiting?” Dear Celestia, was I being targeted by a Guard recruiter, of all ponies? “Listen, I’m sure guard work is fulfilling, or whatever it is you say to trick ponies into—” His peals of laughter cut me short.
“Relax, Zephyr; I’m not Guard. I’m just a regular ol’ pony out looking for ponies who need a place to go, where they can fit in. Our Town — we’re a new little settlement hoping to help ponies that need someplace to belong. A place where ponies can become friends.”
“And you think that I’m a good fit for… Our Town? Me?” I rubbed the back of my neck.
A new settlement? Hard pass — sounds like a lot of work. Now, how to get out of this one?
“Listen, I’m flattered and all that you offered a hoof to me, but I really am heading back to Cloudsdale. I’m not interested in checking out your village.”
He shrugged. “That’s fair. I’m not here to force your hoof. Not everypony is willing to take the risk in moving to such a new settlement.”
I blinked. I was expecting him to go on more about how great Our Town was. How I was missing out on becoming their friend. How I was passing up an opportunity of a lifetime.
I studied the white-on-white pony. He was a lot calmer than I thought he would be, like he expected me to reject him.
“Aren’t you — you know — disappointed that I didn’t even hear you out?”
“Not really. Most ponies aren’t interested. It makes it a bit tough, recruiting, but I like doing it. It’s nice to meet new ponies — get to know them — even if they don’t become our friends.”
“You do this a lot?”
“Oh, you have no idea.” He leaned back into his chair. “Our founder, Starlight Glimmer, did the bulk of the legwork building the town up from the ground and recruiting the first batch of settlers. I, however, do most of the recruiting nowadays while she’s running things in town.” He traced a hoof around the rim of his glass. “How about you? What’s home like for Zephyr Breeze? What’s got you heading back home?”
“I’ve got an older sis living elsewhere, but my parents are still up in Cloudsdale.” I sighed, nursing my drink. “I’m between jobs right now. Out of bits, so I don’t have much of a choice of where to go.”
“Have to move back in with them?”
I nodded, the bitter taste of alcohol lingering on my tongue. “I don’t even know how many times this makes it.”
I slumped onto the table.
“Cutie marks can be such a curse sometimes, can’t they be?”
I looked up. That wide grin drew across his face again. “Cutie marks? What does that have to do with anything?”
“Do you happen to know what your cutie mark means?”
I looked down at my flank. A feather drifting in the breeze.
I didn’t want to think about it.
I knew exactly what he meant. I knew exactly what it meant.
A feather drifting in the breeze.
I was a late bloomer; I only got my cutie mark once I started working.
Only after quitting my first job, to be exact.
A talent in drifting. A pony doomed to never be able to settle down and take roots. Never being able to hold a steady job or make lifelong friends.
A pony damned to be dragged across Equestria like a feather trapped in a storm.
I sighed. “I know exactly what my cutie mark means.”
“So wouldn’t you agree? That they can be quite a burden?”
I nodded.
He smiled, looking around the bar. Leaning in, he whispered. “Wouldn’t you like to be free from that burden?”
My ears perked up. Free from… my cutie mark?
Would I be able to settle down then? Be able to live a normal life?
Could I perhaps be not such a disappointment to my family?
“I know a way to free you from the bindings your cutie mark has trapped you in.” He turned his flank to the side. A black equals sign. “After all, I’ve already forgone my cutie mark. I’ve freed myself from my destiny. You can be free too.”
I licked my lips. The din of the bar fell away as I plunged into the icy blue pools of his eyes.
My throat felt dry.
“How?”
“The founding principle in Our Town is friendship through equality. Differences drive a wedge between ponies and the crux of those differences are from cutie marks. Now, I’m not supposed to tell ponies outside of our friend group about it, since most ponies find the idea of giving up their own talent willingly abhorrent, but I feel you are special enough to make an exception.
“Everypony in Our Town abandons their cutie mark and, as a result, we all end up better off. We become closer. Only in abandoning your cutie mark can you truly become somepony else's equal. Only then can you truly become their friend. True friends, with nopony burdened by being anypony else's greater or lesser.” He drained the last of his whiskey. “Now, what I’m supposed to do is to tout up just how accepting we are and how you’ll have friends and family all of your own. Ponies who won’t judge you for who you were or what your talent was.
“But for you? I think what you’d be most interested in would be the removal of that curse you’ve been burdened to carry all your life.”
A life without my cutie mark?
I could almost picture it. A new Zephyr Breeze, confident and dependable. Him holding a steady job, visiting and laughing with friends after the workday. Him flying home to visit with his parents and maybe his sister — telling them about his great new life, how much he loves his job, and how many friends he now has.
A pony not doomed to a life as a drifter.
And all it takes is removing my cutie mark?
I saw that Zephyr Breeze, but in order to attain that happiness, he needed to cut away a vital part of himself. On his flank rested a black equals sign. He’d be happy, but would he still be Zephyr Breeze?
Would he still be me?
What would happen to me if I were to remove something so integral to who I am?
I bit my lip. Double Diamond smiled and hoofed over a slip of paper. “Directions to Our Town. Like I said, I’m not here to force your hoof, just to let you know that we are an option. Let you know that there are ponies out there waiting to be your friend.” He locked eyes with me for a moment before slipping some bits onto the table and walking away.
I didn’t dare open my mouth.
I didn’t trust what I might have said.
“Just think about it, alright?” The ghost-white stallion gave a parting wave. “Goodbye, Zephyr. I hope we can become friends soon.”
