Frostpony: Of Hounds & Horses

Of all the buildings within Cherrywood, Riley’s trading post was probably one of the oldest still standing. Mercifully spared the worst of the Great Storm.

In a sea of stone and brickwork, her cosy log cabin stood out as a pillar of the community.

At first she’d sold pelts, cured meat and other animal products, but over time she’d had to diversify. Now she had a little of everything sitting on those shelves.

Jackets and sewing kits, kid’s toys and snack foods, spare parts and spark batteries. No two weeks were the same within that building and today the shelves sat full and fresh.

Yet there was such a thing as too much stock, and many of those shelves had sat at capacity for days.

The ageing Diamidian leaned back in her chair bored out of her mind. Twiddling her thumbs as she watched the clock.

“One o’ clock and still not a single soul. I get it, you all wanna save for food but like, would it hurt to browse? At least give me something to keep me busy.”

It’d been a troublesome time for every-creature. Most were getting concerned where their next meals were coming from, or if the damage done could even be repaired. But for a generalist like Riley, it all sounded like city folk yapping because they hadn’t learned how to live without a convenience store down the street.

“I could walk out right now, start over, perhaps try for that forest a few miles away? Sure it’s a little cold but how bad could it really get?”

Thinking that, she turned to look at a thermometer and her eyes widened.

“Okay, fair enough, minus twenty three sucks. I’m going to have to bundle up something fierce for that hunting trip.”

She sat up and began to mindlessly stare off into the wall. Playing around with a mental checklist of things to bring to said trip.

It wasn’t long before she was interrupted however, as for the first time since opening that day, the bell above the door rang and caught her eye.

A group of mutts in big, brown coats with scarfs and caps walked inside. They began wondering about browsing her wares and picking out what they liked. A smile grew across her face, not so much at the prospect of earning something, but to have a little interaction.

The moment she saw their collars however, that smile quickly waned.

They all wore the same kind of collar. Black with purple accents and mixture of deep purple and grassy green gemstones. Such a thing wasn’t typical of the common dog and she set herself straight as they approached.

All kinds of things were placed upon her counter, lots of very expensive things to boot. Near perfect condition spare parts, extra heating equipment and fuel, insulative fabric and even what little hard liquor she had on offer.

By all accounts, it was worth more than what she was selling it for, given how much she’d dropped prices.

Granted, very few items had actual price tags on them. She liked being flexible in case some-creature in need walked in. But for a group of war dogs?

No chance.

“That’ll be ninety seven bits. You boys got the scratch for all this?” She stated, watching them all.

There was something off about them, something that set her on edge. She didn’t see any weapons, but the way their paws or ears twitched, their eyes were hidden behind snow goggles and they couldn’t quite sit still. Or they did but sat perfectly still, enough to make her question if they were breathing.

“Oh don’t worry miss, the crown will compensate you plenty for your service.”

He then pulled out a blank cheque and vigorously wrote into it. Rounding it out to a hundred before passing it over and grabbing all the items.

Before they left though Riley spoke out. “You realise you’re not supposed to pay with cheques right?!”

The group halted and turned around, eyelessly staring into her. One of them already had a chew toy in their mouth complete with the price tag still attached.

“And this is Diamidian currency, we pay with Equestrian bits around here!”

“That won’t be a problem for long, miss,” The head dog answered, “The town will be switching currency soon, and you can swap it out at your local bank if it’s an issue.”

Riley stared at them wide eyed as they left. The last comment hitting her like a train as her earlier fears slowly reared. Now a hundred jewels richer, but feeling no better for it.

She looked down at the piece of paper. Shock turned to fear as the implications felt more real than ever. Were they alone? Or had a whole army just walked in to strongarm the place?

From that, her fear turned to frustration as she clenched her fist, putting the check down before she damaged it.

“Just who do they think they are?”

Dusk had settled upon the town as Rini’s shift finally came to a close. And it’d certainly been eventful if nothing else.

She’d managed to familiarise herself with the Rustbucket and helped move the military trucks outside into the Scrapyard. Eventually even shaking off her nerves from earlier, getting right back into the scrapper’s mindset and repairing what she could.

“But oh, there was so much to repair.”

The Rustbucket was easily the biggest piece of equipment she’ll ever work on. Granted she was no slouch, she’s done her fair share of auto-body work, but the Rustbucket was Diamidian engineering at its finest.

Quick to break, quick to fix.

But almost everything was breaking.

So many times had she performed an assessment of something only to find that it had in some way, somehow broken. The gear clutch for the driver had rusted stiff and needed a hammer, the internal ventilation was on the verge of giving up, most of the instruments were giving incorrect readings or had just broken, not even the break room fridges were spared!

Seems the nickname Rustbucket was quite appropriate, as this thing was basically held together by stubbornness and prayers.

Try as she might this wasn’t going to be a one-dog job, and assessing the vehicles outside showed little difference. Many had engine problems, flat tires or faulty transmissions.

She’d spent most of her day going around making laundry lists of issues each one had. It’d finally got her to practise her writing skills, but by the end of it, her digits were sore.

It was almost a relief then when she heard the end of the shift alarm. She stowed her tools and finally took a breather, having long since gotten used to the smell of burn and brass.

But as she walked towards the front gate, a not so friendly face was standing there waiting for her.

An orange and white, pudgy mutt with the chops of a bulldog in an overcoat two sizes too big for him. A vain attempt to make himself look broader than he actually was turned towards her with a cigarette in his mouth.

“Something the matter Snapjaw?” Rini asked, half hating herself for prompting the Foremutt.

“Me? Oh no no no! I’m thrilled in fact. I ain’t never seen so much business come in.”

“Right…”

Rini kept walking, almost to the gate when Snapjaw continued.

“But, I did have something I wanna ask you.”

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she stopped and turned to face him.

“First, ya pay,” The bulldog produced a small bag of bits and tossed them to her. Gabbing them and holding on, she soon put them away within her coat. “And second…Well, ya see, these army guys are paying nicely, real nicely. So being the nice mutt I am, I wanted to ask what you’d say to doing overtime?”

“Yep there it is. Butter up and fry.”

“I’ll think about it Snap, but I don’t really need the extra money right now.”

Even as she spoke those words she could hear Snapjaw’s paws and jaw tightening at her refusal.

“Well! It never hurts to save up, maybe you could get your own place after winter? Must get crappy living in that cottage for the same twenty-four years.”

Rini paused at that, turning to him with an indignant eye and as much professionalism as she could muster.

“With all due respect sir, No.”

Not wishing to linger, she stormed away past him with a power walk. Her mace-like tail bouncing to and fro from agitation.

“Uh, hey! Brambles has already said yes!” Snap called out.

“Oh of course he would, you probably tricked him with another topic first.”

Rini didn’t slow down, if anything she sped up. Any faster and she’d be jogging as she gained distance from her boss.

Street lights flicked on as she traversed through the evening hours. Work hours ending and people emerging to go home and rest. But for her, she had to do one more thing.

“I gotta check on Gale, I need to make sure he’s alright.”