Frostpony: Of Hounds & Horses

Never before had Rini’s job felt so liberating.

She’d informed Snapjaw on her way in that she had no plans of sticking around after dark this time, but she’d make up for it tomorrow.

Today however, she went in with a plan.

Rini channelled her inner gremlin and worked tirelessly, and eagerly on as many trucks as she could. There was no other feeling like it, to get a dastardly idea and then act upon it was bliss, joyful bliss.

She mixed labels around, unfastened a few bolts or made them brittle via her blowtorch. The scrapper even went so far as to “creatively re-organise” a few wiring systems, though made sure to not go too far.

Rini wasn’t a killer, she couldn’t bear the thought of rigging fuel tanks or messing with the brakes, but that only meant she had to be creative.

Could engineering be considered an art? If it could then this was her canvas, and she was inspired.

Seconds turned to minutes, then hours and before she knew it dusk had settled upon the town. Occasionally she’d been called to assist on the landship but she’d made sure not to spend too long within its bowls this time.

Yet the usual bells and whistles that’d signal an end to the shift didn’t sound.

Curious, and perhaps a little frightened, she put away her tools and made for the gate. “Maybe they just forgot? Or is Snapjaw having issues with the bell?”

Rini would get her answer but in the way she wanted, as when she caught sight of the situation, she was greeted to a crowd at the front gate. A line of armed soldiers barring it from opening, with Captain Caleb in the middle holding a megaphone.

“Work hours are not over yet, please resume with your shifts!”

A crowd of howling discontent and barking outrage replied to his statement. So much at once picking a single cry from the crown became near impossible. A protest in progress.

Rini quickly looked around and found no sign of Snapjaw. Not as part of the pack, nor among the guards.

“Okay, this is bad,” she thought, recalling their efforts to encourage longer hours. “Looks like they got tired of playing nice.”

She backed away and hid behind a stack of rusting autobodies, now noticing the new guard towers nested around the gate. Both were just about big enough to accommodate two mutts.

“Front gate’s a no go, need another way out.” Rini reached into her overalls and pulled out a pair of sharp pliers. While the towers were tall, and the weapons they wielded were worrisome. At the end of the day the only thing between any of them and the town was a chain link fence lined with barbed wire.

So with a little finesse, she slipped away into the depths of the Scrapyard, making mental notes along the way.

“Chances are Corn and the others will need a route to the vehicle bay, best make use of my time here.”

Plotting a safe (or at least quiet) route towards the fence wasn’t hard. It was the number of guards and workers they’d need to navigate around. All it’d take is one howl, a whistle or gunshot, and the entirety of the yard would descend upon them.

Rini could think of a few ideas on her way to Gale, and already she did have one idea, patting a coat pocket. She’d push that to the back of her mind however as she approached the fence, pliers in paw.

She went to work cutting a large section of fence, large enough to comfortably crawl through. As she did so her mind began to wander, specifically to Gale.

“If you're observant, you could piece it together yourself.” She mouthed the words, musing over them. “Way to be vague Gale, always did like your secrets.”

He had a bar of soap sitting in his chest, which could explain how he covered his own scent. There were so many other smells inside that room she couldn’t pick out a single one, and certainly not Gale’s. That led her to another question, one more pressing.

“Just where did he get all those magical doodads? Or a healing potion? I can see him paying for a few of them owning a business, but if mom’s taught me anything it’s that availability’s just as important.”

Like an itch needing to be scratched, she quickly began racking her brain for a possible explanation.

“Did he travel to another town? Or did some wandering merchant stop by and-”

A bright light was suddenly cast upon Rini’s form just as the cutout came loose, a voice roared over her.

“Freeze!”

Her blood went cold and her limbs locked up, lungs going still. “Oh crap,” She thought, “This is it.”

In a flash she imagined all manner of horrible things to proceed, assuming a gunshot didn’t wasn’t in the cards for her. A cold, dark cell where no light could be found. The door to Gale’s hideout being kicked in and a gallery of gunfire painting the walls rest.

Her mother crying her eyes out as she’s dragged away from her stolen home…

And her distant brother being none the wiser.

“Turn around, now!” Rini was ripped back to reality and she slowly complied. Raising her paws in the air as she turned to face the bright light, unable to see who was behind it.

“He’s by himself, maybe I could-no no, I got lucky with the church. This guy has a gun!”

The soldier approached her and grabbed her forearms, trying to restrain her. Rini tried to fidget in a token effort to resist the larger mutt, which led to him barking in her ear, his steel grip doing the rest.

At once she was plagued with equal parts anguish and anger at the injustice, yet she was held in place by fear, and primal instinct. “This isn’t right damn it!” She spat, “You can’t force us to work!”

He suddenly froze, just as still as Rini had.

Quiet permeated the air for a moment as she wondered what was going on. The sounds of distant protest and the occasional creak of metal meeting her ears.

The soldier brought a paw up to his head and a moment later, she heard his voice, devoid of ill-will.

“Rini?”

It was then it clicked in her head, she’d heard that voice somewhere before and she slowly turned towards him. Finding the familiar face of a half blind sheepdog, her memory foggy from adrenaline.

“Alpine?!” She gasped before pointing at his face. “You seriously need to get that cut!”

He stood up and softened his eyes, hesitating. “S-Sorry, grows back faster than you think.”

“So what now? Gonna bring me in?”

“No actually,” Alpine stowed his pipe-like gun and moved to her side, “You’ve got a point.”

Rini breathed a sigh of relief, yet still the fire within her burned. “What about them? You could’ve just ignored me.”

He opened his mouth but caught himself, glancing away before going back to her. “I didn’t know what I was looking at, for all I knew you could’ve been trying to break in.”

She only hardened her glare.

“As for them,” He turned to look away, in the direction of their camp. “I ain’t doped up like the rest of em, but I can’t just turn my back on my buddies. I made an oath, to queen and country.”

“And what country goes around foalnapping whole towns? Or forcing its workers into overtime?” Rini pointed to her cheek, still slightly swollen but no longer angry. “See this? I got this from a couple of your “buddies” for trying to help a friend of mine. The worst he’d ever done is forget to pay me back five bits.”

Alpine groaned and looked back at her. “R-Rini they’re-”

“No!” She stood up, unable to reach his eye level but casting a vicious gaze all the same. “Remember what you said? That they’re here to help us? Look around you, think this is something you’d do if you had the common dog’s interests at heart?”

Alpine took a step back, letting his fur down and frowning. Contemplating her words as best a dog in his position could. Rini could see the cogs twist in his head, neither certain about the other.

“I’ll think about it, okay?” He hesitantly answered, rubbing his shoulder. “Maybe I’ll try sticking around after they leave, try to keep the town out of trouble. But you’re asking a lot of me Rini.”

Rini scowled and held back a low growl, unsatisfied with his answer. “I…I shouldn’t push it, having somedog back here might be for the better.”

Cooling her head for a moment she tried to form a new plan.

“Then again, what’s he gonna do when everydog runs out of meds? Organise a support group?”

Rini mused over the idea. It was unlikely one war mutt could make a significant difference if the town descended into chaos, but even if he could save one dog, one family, that might just be enough for her.

Sometimes, one good soul was all it took. He was letting her go afterall, and she was helping plan an exodus.

With a slow, relaxed sigh she returned to the present. “Thank you. It’s probably all I can ask at this point but thank you.”

Alpine smiled a little, nodding in return. “You’re welcome, now get going, before anyone else catches you.”

Without another word she nodded and scrambled through the hole and away from the fence. Out into the town with her head pounding just as much as her heart.

“I need to keep an eye on him, we’ll need all the help we can get.”

Putting Alpine in the back of her mind for a moment, she shifted back to the more pressing matter. Namely the incident at the scrapyard.

“The soldiers are getting impatient, we might need to leave earlier than expected.”

The trip back to the hideout was a mercifully short one, and while Rini had to fumble around trying to find the entrance again, she at least remembered vaguely where it was.

From this side of the door she could already hear an increased level of noise, akin to the quiet mumbling of a crowd. A wave of hot, humid air rushed past her as she was let through the steel door and into a world of noise and colour.

Everywhere she looked, Rini saw more, and more, and more ponies. So many packed into one place that a photograph could’ve been mistaken for abstract art. The visual alone was enough to cause some sensory overload, and that was before accounting for all the new smells.

Some were flying around, serving food, taking care of their kids or sorting through luggage. Such was their number that large shelves had to be installed onto the walls just to provide that little extra space. A few pegasi even created some clouds to serve as beds to make use of some of the free space.

It was because of all this visual chaos that the forms of her friends and family almost went unnoticed, lost to the artist’s pallet. Flashes of them could be seen gathered around the table, like Gale and Riley. More were present but she needed a closer look.

Rini pushed her way forward and through the crowds, with some more nervous than others at her presence. A friendly smile helped disarm them but it felt somewhat akin to wading through a room full of powder kegs.

If one went off, they all did.

“Just keep moving Rini, just keep moving.” Between her encounter with Caleb, and this, she was really starting to dislike crowds. “By the sky this doesn’t get any easier.”

Eventually she reached the table, which was covered in small representative objects and notes.

None of that held her interest however.

It was who she was facing across the other side.

“Brambles?!”