Chapters Miller
The ceiling tiles slowly came into focus. They didn’t look like any ceiling I should be staring at. Strange.
I sat up, quickly regretting the action. It hadn’t caused me any physical pain—far from it, I felt great—it’s just that sitting up revealed even more strangeness.
It was clearly a hospital room. There was a bed identical to mine a few feet away. A curtain that could be used to divide the room was presently bundled against the wall. A few pieces of equipment were present. It smelled like a hospital. Also, I had hooves instead of fingers.
I cut my eyes back and forth, looking at both of the appendages that I held in front of me. They weren’t cloven; they were the other kind, but I couldn’t remember the term. Equid?
My arms—er, front legs?—were coated with a layer of short grey hair. I touched the hooves together experimentally. There wasn’t much feeling in them.
On a chair beside the bed was a small pile of personal effects. Blue jeans, low-rise boots made of brown leather, belt, cell phone, wallet, and pocket knife. There was t-shirt with a familiar logo on it. They were my things, then.
If they were there, then apparently I was naked. I lifted the sheet to check. A tail of dark grey was spread out on the bed beneath me. On each side of my hips was a strange mark. It looked like a blueprint of a circular saw blade that faded into a detailed depiction of the silvery, toothed disk, sort of like a progression between a design and finished product.
I also discovered something at least as disturbing than having hooves—wings. The feathers were colored the same as the rest of me. I poked at them and the leading edges reflexively ruffled a little.
Considering the situation, I thought that I took waking up to the spectacle of incorrect and additional limbs fairly well. I had yet to see evidence that I wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating, so that probably helped reduce the anxiety a little.
It was just then that the door opened and a creature that had the same basic shape as me came in. I heard a little tune being hummed in a voice that sounded feminine. She had a pale green coat and yellow mane and tail, with a cap on her head decorated with a red cross. She had this pointy thing on her forehead—a unicorn? She didn't have wings.
“Good to see you’re awake, Mr. Miller,” she said. A tray of something was floating in midair next to her, and her horn seemed to be glowing. A little bit of apprehension began to work its way into my system at the sight. It wasn’t until her words registered that I got really nervous.
“How did you know my name?” I asked.
She smiled. “I didn’t, actually. It was the only thing that looked like a proper name that I could find, so I was just guessing.” She dug through my clothes and pulled out my driver’s license. Showing it to me, she indicated the line that read James Miller .
“Can’t say I’ve ever heard of a James before, but I’m not one to judge.” She laughed. “I’m Bottie.”
I laughed a little, although I was a little too worried about the situation to actually think it was humorous. “Is that short for something?”
“It’s short for ‘Phelbottie’. I have my parents to thank for that one, but at least it’s appropriate.” She turned and indicated her hip, where there was a splash of red. “My cutie mark indicates a special talent for phlebotomy.”
Cutie mark? So my special talent was...saws?
Bottie glanced at the picture on the license. “So is this your driver? Some kind of pet monkey?”
It took me a second to process what I was being asked. Apparently she had never seen a person before, and I didn't know how she would react to a sudden admission on my part. “Uh, yes. Drivers are…a little dangerous, so I had to get a license to have one.”
She placed the card back on top my clothes. “Interesting. Scientists are finding new animals in Equestria all the time. Pity they got your city wrong.”
“I’m sorry?”
“They spelled Baltimare wrong. The license says, ‘Baltimore’.”
I nodded. “I’ll get it fixed. So how did you find that card?”
“When somepony comes to the hospital unconscious, it’s standard procedure to check for identification. I see you aren’t carrying your Equestria-issued ID that tells us for sure which pony you are.”
Pony? Equestria? I sensed a long adjustment period for this. Luckily, I was saved from that thought process by the next thing out of the nurse’s mouth. “You seem fine. I think you’re free to go. So, how will you be paying for this?”
“I uh…what exactly are the charges?”
Bottie thought for a moment. “Well, I’m not from the billing office, but with the ambulance pickup, processing, doctor fees, tests, and room costs, I would guess about four thousand bits.”
I stared at her. “Is that a lot?”
“Depends on how you look at it.” She shrugged. “It’s about what I make in one month.”
I had a single question. It was a very important one. “Does the word ‘MasterCard’ mean anything to you?”
She frowned. “I think he works at the ID office.”
I flopped backwards on the bed. I tried to cover my face, but only succeeded in scratching my eyelids with my sharp forehooves. I wondered why the edges were so pointy. I hadn’t noticed any wear on the undersides, either. It’s like they had never been walked on. I suppose that made sense, as I had never been a pony before.
“Don’t worry, dear. You’ll find a way, I’m sure.” Bottie watched as I got out of bed. Standing still on four legs wasn’t too difficult, but the joints were not what I was used to. Luckily, crawling instincts from childhood kicked in and I was able to walk slowly without too much trouble.
“So you found me passed out?” I asked.
“Somepony did. You seem fine, no injuries.” She checked my legs and walked around. “Okay, spread your wings.”
I glanced towards my back with no idea which muscles to move. Reaching a hoof back and poking one wing gave me a feel for which part of my body I should at least be thinking about. Slowly, I got them to lift off my sides.
“Sorry,” I muttered. “Out of practice.”
Bottie laughed. “I understand. With a cutie mark like that, I didn’t figure you for a weather pony.”
Just one more thing to add to my growing list of questions. Bottie got me a sack to carry my things in. I was able to balance it on my back with some help from my wings. I wondered about my ability to fly. They didn’t look like they should be big enough to allow that.
We left the room. There were other ponies in the halls, most of them unicorns. I saw a few other ponies with wings, and some plain ones with nothing at all. A lot of them were naked like me, but some wore hats or jackets. Apparently, the only pair of pants in the whole building was in the bag I carried.
Bottie took me to the administration office to do checkout paperwork. They were not pleased that I had no permanent address. I would told that somepony would find me when the first payment came due.
With that unsettling information, I left the building. The clock in the hospital lobby said that it was midmorning. I checked the sun, deciding that it probably pointed which direction was east.
The hospital’s address on the paperwork I had been given listed the city as Canterlot. From what I could see, the city was situated just south of a steep mountain. A castle that looked like something out of a fairy tale was perched precariously on a cliff about halfway up the mountain, and I couldn’t figure out how it managed to stay anchored to the rock. I wondered who lived there.
I looked around the immediate vicinity. There were a few buildings that had more than three floors. Everything was brightly colored and seemed to use older construction styles.
Other than the species difference, everything seemed a lot like a normal city that I was used to. There were businesses, residences, and all the other necessary buildings. I started down the street, looking at all the places I passed.
There were a few pegasi around and I thought it looked like fun to join them in the sky, but didn’t trust myself to fly instead of die. I had always been a little bit afraid of heights.
Speaking of being afraid, a little bit of my wonder was wearing off and being replaced by cold realizations. I had no money for food or a place to stay. Worse, I was a pony , in Equestria . This was...well, I wasn’t really sure what it was, but it certainly couldn’t be considered good.
I took a few calming breaths and tried to remember how this happened to me. Somehow, I couldn’t. What I had been doing before finding myself in a hospital was a blank. I remembered waking up this morning next to my fiancé, but nothing after that.
I set my bag down and dug through it looking for my wallet. Jenna’s picture was inside. I gulped as I stared at it. I didn’t know how I was supposed to get home, or even how I should start . Since I had never heard of Equestria before, I somehow doubted that ponies had ever heard of my country.
I took stock of the contents of the bag while it was open. My hooves seemed slightly sticky, although I knew I hadn’t stepped in anything. It didn’t seem to matter what material I was touching, or how hard I pressed. Whatever was going on, it helped me grip things better than hooves had any right to.
My phone had no service. I couldn’t operate my pocket knife with hooves. The clothes looked like nothing any other pony was wearing. Boots would be useless. I sighed. My body was not my own. These were the only things that still indicated that I wasn’t supposed to be here, and I couldn’t use any of them.
After picking up my things again, I started walking. I didn’t have a direction in mind. The next couple of hours passed slowly, made all the worse by my building anxiety. I did manage to learn a lot about the city, however.
Canterlot was spread out in a rough semicircle around the base of the mountain. The hospital was pretty close to the center. Closer to the castle, the buildings and ponies got more wealthy-looking. I noticed that there were also more unicorns closer to the castle. I wondered about some kind of caste system, but dismissed the idea. Nopony I had seen appeared to be too much above or below any other.
Nopony? Apparently I was already starting to pick up the lingo. Not that I had a problem with the way I talked, but I had no idea that immersion in a new situation brought about such quick changes.
That afternoon, I happened across a library. I had yet to see any computers in Equestria, but went inside the building on the vague hope that I might find internet access. While electricity seemed to exist here, there were not nearly as many devices that used it here as there were back home.
I perused the shelves, looking for a book of maps. Their sorting system wasn’t something I had used before, but it was easy enough to learn it. A book about world geography looked promising, but turned out to be exactly what I needed to have a major-league mental breakdown.
I stared at the diagram on the first page. Either their planet was flat, or the mapmaker should have been fired. Neither option was reassuring.
I stood up and went looking for something related to astronomy. If the planet was flat, did it rotate? Consulting a book about star charts, I found no reference to their positions at certain dates and times. The view of the stars never changed, and so the planet’s position relative to them didn’t move.
I glanced out the window. Wait a minute, the sun was a star. How was it progressing across the sky? In the last few hours, I had seen the shadows change as it shifted to a different place.
I found the surprising answer in a book about the environment. Pegasi coordinate the weather with ground conditions set by earth ponies. Both groups coordinate with unicorns for general magic, while Princess Celestia’s sun provides energy to make the plants grow.
The topic of Princess Celestia—a resident of the castle on the mountain—led me to search for more about the Equestrian government. I kept at that until the librarian kicked me out of the library that night.
My head spun as I stood on the sidewalk outside. This place was so different from what I was used to. Perhaps the most important was that physical laws didn’t really mean anything here. They had magic.
I’d done a little reading about that, too. While unicorns could manipulate magic directly, the other two groups had their own variations. Earth ponies had a connection to the ground, and were generally suited to things of that nature, like growing plants. Magic also helped them to be physically stronger and tougher, even if they were not much different body-wise.
I’d paid special attention to pegasus magic. That generally covered manipulating clouds and air. Of the three, the earth ponies—without wings or horns—had the hardest kind of magic to wrap my head around.
The sun began to set, and I saw the moon rising in its place. I wondered about that. Was it in orbit around this crazy planet, or did Princess Celestia control that, too? The book I had opened didn’t really talk about it.
I sighed and looked around. There was still so much I didn’t know. Namely, where could I get a free meal? I hadn’t eaten anything all day. Walking by a closed restaurant, I stopped to check the menu in the window. Summer sampler platter-eight bits, fruit plate-five bits, veggie burger with hay fries-six bits.
Hay fries? It honestly hadn’t occurred to me to eat grass. There was a small park nearby that I walked over to. The lawn had been trimmed recently, but I was able to find some loose clippings scattered among the living grass.
I hadn’t seen anypony eating grass au naturale , and residual humanity made me embarrassed to be seen doing it anyway. Lucky it was dark and the park was empty.
I hoped there wasn’t some reason for not chomping raw grass. As I took my first bite, I prayed it wouldn’t kill me. The grass tasted just like you would expect. Now I realized why ponies didn’t eat it straight from the source. Still, I persevered until I didn’t feel quite so hungry.
The night was clear and fairly warm. The park was well landscaped, and I found some bushes to lie down near. I made a pillow out of my clothing but it wasn’t easy to get to sleep. Thoughts of Jenna, home, and real food occupied my mind. I eventually managed to drift off, though. Hopefully my luck would turn around the next day.
Author note: Pinkawne Pie , Brony Tom , conantheimp , The_Dash
The streets were fairly quiet without cars, so I think it was the sun shining on my eyelids that woke me. I felt comfortable, so for the moment I was content to lie there and stare at the blue sky.
Then I remembered why I was outside and realization fell on me like a ton of bricks. I sat up and looked around the park. At least my back didn’t ache from sleeping on the ground. I wondered if that was a benefit of having a brand-new body, along with the unscuffed hooves.
I was hungry again, but decided to get moving and maybe find something later. The lawn around me had pockmarks where I had chewed on it the previous night.
I debated going back to the library, but that wouldn’t really help me figure out a way to survive. I needed money—bits, I remembered. I had seen a few ponies paying for things with gold-colored coins.
I passed by a café. The smell of food that reached my nose was wonderful, even if the primary ingredient was probably hay. I stopped for a moment and stared. The place was called Oven’s. I wondered for a moment what would happen if I revealed my lack of funds only after eating. Would they put me to work washing dishes? Would they let me keep the job after I had paid off my bill?
If they just decided to prosecute and throw me in jail, at least I would have three meals a day. If prison was looking like a viable option, things must really be getting desperate. At least I wasn’t trying to use my bootlaces to hang myself, although the fact that it had crossed my mind was unsettling.
I faced away from the café and kept walking. Miraculously, my fortune did a complete turnaround within the space of one block. I heard the unmistakable sound of power tools and hammers banging. My nose took in the smell of sawdust and hot metal. I glanced up. The sign on the building read Canterlot Machining and Carpentry .
There was a large freight door that I ignored, choosing to open a smaller pony-sized door instead. As I turned the doorknob, I was again curious about how hooves could seem to grip things.
The inside of the building was remarkably familiar. While I had never seen it before, I recognized almost all of the equipment. It was a fabrication shop, a place where raw metal and wood became useful products according to the unique orders of individual customers. It was a place where mass production was rare, and all work was custom.
A bulky earth pony spotted me and came walking over. “What can I do for you?”
“I’m looking for a job.”
He squinted at me skeptically, although his expression grew interested as he glanced at my hind end. I wondered if job discrimination happened in Equestria based on cutie marks. Well, maybe ponies only applied for jobs based on what they already knew they were good at.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Jim Miller.”
“Gem Miller? Can’t say I’ve ever heard of doing that to precious stones before, but a name ain’t nothing but a name, right? Let’s see what you know.”
I followed him towards the back of the shop. Over his shoulder he said, “Name’s Ironbender, by the way. ‘Bender’ is too close to my cousin’s name, so most ponies just call me Bend.”
I nodded. He said, “Tell me about yourself.”
“I have an manufacturing engineering degree, and I’ve worked in fab shops before. I just got to town and figured I’d take a job doing something I know.”
Bend smirked. “You don’t have the job yet. So you say you’re a trained engineer? Fine, I’ll expect more of you.”
He launched into a quiz about pieces of equipment around the shop. Tubing mandrels, lathes, band saws, welders, torches, routers, and all sorts of other things. While some of the tools were shaped oddly to accommodate hooves, I knew them all. Bend seemed impressed.
“You didn’t ask me anything about metallurgy or material characteristics,” I said.
He stared at me and shook his head. “There is one reason why I don’t want to hire you.”
I gulped. “What’s that?”
“You might make me look dumb.” Bend held his expression for a moment and then laughed. I broke into a smile, which might have been my first one since arriving in Equestria.
“I hope you’ve got the passion to back up the brains,” he said. “We’ll give you some time off, but the shop is open seven to seven Monday through Friday and seven to three on Saturdays. We all work hard.”
Assuming Equestria operated on the forty hour work week, that was a lot of overtime. I had to remind myself that getting rich wasn’t the point of taking this job. I was just trying to survive.
I was given a pair of safety glasses and told to help out where I could until Bend found something specific for me to do. I got to know the other ponies working in the shop.
Steelie was a fairly svelte stallion who still managed to swing a metalworking hammer against an anvil harder than I thought possible. Earth pony magic, maybe. I had begun to write off more and more things to magic without a second thought. It was almost like cheating at life.
The primary carpenter was named Sawtooth. His deft hooves could fashion things from wood and also produce the tools necessary. His interest was a little more refined than the blunt-force approach the blacksmith took.
Bucket was the expert in fasteners. He put things together with bolts and screws. Working with small intricate parts was a good match to his focused unicorn magic. While his name related to his special talent, I couldn’t imagine why any parent would name their kid Bucket of Bolts . He didn’t even joke that Bolts was the name of his hometown.
Speaking of residence, I had decided to tell them I was from Baltimare and leave out the part about being human. I had found no reference to people or my planet in the library, so it wasn’t common knowledge. I wouldn’t be able to tell the ponies what kind of extraterrestrial I was and have them instantly understand. Not that it would help.
I didn’t want to be treated like a lunatic, and so sticking to the Baltimare story seemed like my best bet. I had looked up a few facts about the city, just in case. And yes, I had applied for a library card. It seemed like I would be spending a lot of hours there.
That was for my leisure time, though. At work, I had to be learning things of a different nature. I found out that my hoof-eye coordination was terrible. All this magic floating around, and I have to relearn how to walk the hard way. My fine motor control was thrown off.
I could weld, but not in a very straight line. I could use a hammer, but wouldn’t hit the nail every time. Generally, I looked like a clumsy fool. None of the others knew about thermodynamics or force diagrams, however, so there was something that I was good at.
Bend wasn’t kidding when he said that everypony worked hard. I hadn’t been there all day, but still felt tired at the end of it. Although to be fair, that may have been due to eating only one meal in the past two days.
At the end of the day, I found Bend to ask for an advance. He thought about it for a moment. “Well Miller, I suppose I’ll trust you with it.”
He gave me the equivalent of a couple days’ pay. I couldn’t thank him enough. My first stop was at the café called Oven’s, where I ate three veggie burgers and a couple orders of hay fries. It really wasn’t too bad.
I didn’t know how pony digestion would react to meat, but there wasn’t any of that on the menu anyway. I had seen a griffon in the city earlier, and thought that a creature made of eagle and lion parts probably ate animals. I wondered what the local food chain looked like and where I was on it. Also, I wondered if there were other mythological creatures.
My spirits were as high as they had been so far while I checked into a cheap hotel for the night. It was too late to go looking for a more permanent place to live. Thinking about that gave me pause. Just how long was I expecting to stay?
I still hadn’t managed to answer the question of how I had gotten to Equestria and become a pony. Since magic had become my all-purpose whipping boy, I blamed it on that. While I didn’t see any reason why something done with magic couldn’t be reversed, I had no idea where to begin.
I hadn’t found any evidence that ponies knew what men and women were. If that were the case, it seemed unlikely that they would know how to return me to my natural habitat. Worse, I had no idea how to find somepony who could help or how to breach the subject. So, hypothetical question, if I used to be an alien could you do something about it? That was depressing. I decided to have a shower and hopefully stop thinking about the subject for a while.
The bathroom looked about like something from a hotel room on earth, except proportioned differently. I paused for a moment to check my reflection. The unfamiliar face that stared at me looked young. I didn’t have a good idea how human years translated to ponies, but I thought I could blend in with some school ponies if I wanted. Perhaps that was another effect of having a brand new body.
My eyes were blue, not the same color they used to be. Going with the old “eyes are the windows to the soul” idea, I wondered what that meant for me. I felt the same, but was I?
Too much thinking. I turned on the shower water and let it pour on my head, running down my mane and trickling across my back with an unfamiliar sensation. Oh yeah, wings.
I lifted them a little, unsure what to do. Didn’t birds have some kind of special method of grooming? Wasn’t there some kind of natural oil involved? Ugh. I never liked thinking about glands.
I settled for a quick rinse. Some of the feathers seemed crooked, so I straightened them. Stepping out of the shower, I dried off with a towel. The feathers seemed to mostly dry themselves.
Going back out into the room, I tried a few slow, experimental flaps. To my surprise, the slight downward force actually made me feel light on my hooves. I didn’t think I weighed that little, but—handwave—magic!
Through trial and error, I managed to get the proper beat pattern going well enough to hover a few inches off the floor. Cautiously, I rose a little higher. This was surreal. I didn’t have a single human experience to relate it to.
I looked up, my gaze lingering on the window for a moment. Nah, I wasn’t ready to fly outside yet. I’d either kill myself or look like a fool. Besides, it was getting dark and I had to go to work in the morning.
After the alarm clock woke me, I spent a few minutes staring at Jenna’s photo. I usually took it with me, but found no way to justify carrying my wallet since everything inside it was useless.
After putting the picture down in a safe place I went to have breakfast. Oven’s was open for business, despite the early hour. Celestia hadn’t even raised the sun yet. I shook my head, still confounded by the strangeness that one sentence could contain.
A couple of other customers were in the café when I walked in. A few more came through the door behind me. I sat down on a stool at the bar and placed my order. At least they had eggs, so breakfast was remarkably similar to what I was used to. It was hard to believe that an omelet could make me so homesick.
A white unicorn dropped onto the stool beside me. She smiled, although most of her face was obscured by a spiky blue mane and giant purple sunglasses. “Sorry if I’m crowding your space. This place is packed.”
I nodded. I must have arrived at the right time, because now the café was getting full. I finished eating, paid the bill, and got up to go.
It had taken a few tries to grip the table knife between both hooves and cut the omelet and then use the same maneuver to raise the fork to my mouth. I had seen a few other ponies not bothering and just sticking their faces in the plate.
Outside, I paused for a moment, checking my reflection in the window. No need to show up to work with breakfast still on my face. I walked through the front door of Canterlot Machining and Carpentry a few minutes early.
Bend found me. “Hey Miller, I’m filling out the employee records. Do you have some kind of identification to prove your name?”
My heart sped up. “Uh, not with me.”
He looked at me for a few seconds. “Do you have an ID?”
I thought about my driver’s license, but the less said about that, the better. I could lie to him, but that would only buy me a little time. “I don’t have an ID.”
He considered it. “Well, I suppose we can work around that. From what I’ve seen, you’re a good worker.”
My breathing began to calm down as Bend walked away. I thought it was a little odd that he was willing to do that on only the second day after meeting me, but too relieved to care.
The door opened and a pony came in. Being the closest, I walked over to him. “Good morning. What can I do for you?”
“Nothin’ too hard,” he said. “I busted a board in my wagon. Just need a new one cut to size.”
“Bring it in and let’s have a look at it.” I pulled on the latch and slid the large door open. Sawtooth came over to have a look at the carpentry that would be involved. One of the planks in the side of the wagon needed to be replaced.
I took the measurements and calculated the cut before Sawtooth finished selecting a new board from stock. He seemed impressed, but said, “This needs to be a careful job to fit just right. I’d probably better do it.”
Nodding, I grabbed the other end of the board to hold it steady while he cut. I didn’t know if I would ever become more coordinated with my hooves, but until I figured out how to be more graceful I was happy with a supporting role.
While Sawtooth was attaching the new board to the wagon, Steelie came over. “Know anything about blueprint drafting?”
“I’ve done some of it,” I told him.
“I’ve got this idea in mind, but I’ve never been good at drawing,” he said. I wondered how he expected me to manage without fingers to hold a pencil.
“Make a sketch and I’ll see if I can improve on it.” That would give me an opportunity to see how a pony wrote so I could copy it. Steelie got a scrap of paper and picked up the pencil with his teeth. He drew a roughly circle-shaped figure.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s a wheel.”
I nodded. “Okay…”
“I had this idea,” he explained. “Trains use steel wheels, so why not adapt a lighter version to carriages? They would never break like wood spokes, and it would be easier to integrate center bearings. I figure we could sell them as replacement equipment.”
I nodded. “Makes sense, although I’m not sure if I could draw that. I do know quite a bit about strength-to-cross section and mass balancing, so if you make it, I can help fine-tune it.”
He laughed. “It’s a deal, thanks.”
Bucket called for me. I went to see what he wanted. He was working on a large framework that was going to be used as a flag stand for races at the coliseum. It was an elegant cantilevered design, but a real pain to assemble.
“Would you mind standing up there?” he asked. “It needs just a little pressure to get these last few bolts put in.”
The platform was above my head. I was just about to look around for a ladder when I remembered that I could fly. Well, theoretically. Bucket looked at me expectantly. I unfurled my wings and cautiously hovered up to where I needed to go.
Bucket looked a little impatient by the time I got there. He said, “A little more pressure.”
“Huh? I only weigh so much.”
“Stop floating.”
I had been standing up there gingerly. Even this relatively short platform was beginning to set off my fear of heights. I realized that I felt light on my hooves. Was it some kind of crazy magic reducing gravity’s effect on me? That would explain how pegasi could fly with wings that were disproportionately small.
I tried to imagine myself being pulled downwards, and my body began to feel closer to its normal weight. That seemed to satisfy Bucket, and he installed the bolts.
Another stallion came through the door and I saw him talking quietly to Bend. The newcomer wore a gold chain and sunglasses. I was too far away to pick up the conversation. I had just turned away to get down from the platform when Bend called to me. “Hey Miller!”
I trotted over, taking off my safety glasses. Bend introduced me. “This is Duster. He’s a regular customer.”
The stallion was a unicorn. His cutie mark was something that looked like a pile of fine yellow grains. Gold dust?
I said hello and Duster looked me up and down. To Bend he said, “Looks like we’ve got delivery capability to Cloudsdale now.”
I thought Bend looked annoyed. I couldn’t blame him. I had taken a dislike to Duster from the moment we met.
“I’d like to have that done by tomorrow,” the unicorn said, referencing something from his conversation with Bend that I hadn’t heard. He turned and went out the door.
I looked at my boss. Bend said, “Tomorrow we’ll have you fly the cart to Cloudsdale for a couple of jobs that are scheduled. One of them is dropping off a project we’ve been working on for Duster.”
Fly a cart? I wondered. The shop had a utility wagon, but it certainly didn’t have wings. I nodded and said nothing.
The rest of the day was spent on various projects. Bend paid me again, and I hoped that soon I would have enough saved so that I could get a scheduled paycheck like everypony else. Maybe I could find a bank to get a loan, but they would probably ask for ID.
I rushed to the library after work and pleaded with the librarian to let me grab a few books before the building closed for the night. I got one that I had spotted before but hadn’t read. The title was Pegasus Flight Mechanics . I also made sure to check out an atlas.
Back in my rented room, I pored over the material, discovering that Cloudsdale was a floating city, actually built in the sky to the northwest of Canterlot. It was where they made the weather. Magic was quickly becoming a swear word to me because of things like this.
So, I had one night to learn how to effectively fly, and only an old textbook for reference. The question was not if this would end bady, but how badly.
I went to Oven’s café a little earlier than I had the day before. I recognized a few of the customers. Maybe they were regulars. I hoped I would be back home before I could become one of them. There was still the problem of how to approach that problem. I could have grabbed some more reading material about magic from the library, but the book about flying had kept me up pretty late as it was.
The reading had been a little difficult to muddle through because the author assumed that the reader was a pony, and also probably some kind of brainiac doctor. Despite that, I managed to learn a few things.
The main component of pegasus magic was local gravity manipulation. By making themselves or the things around them effectively lighter, flight became easy. That also explained how a cart could fly. The effect was limited to touch, so I couldn’t levitate things like a unicorn, but it helped my hooves to pick things up.
There were other magical effects, but they was mostly limited to interacting with clouds and certain flight movements based on air manipulation. Since I was going to Cloudsdale, I figured it was good to know that I should be able to walk on nothing more than fluffy water vapor. I would believe it when I did it.
A white mare plunked down onto the stool next to me. I looked around. Once again, the café was nearly full.
“Oh, it’s you again,” she said. I could faintly make out her eyes through the sunglasses on her face.
I nodded. “Hello.”
“Do you live around here?” she asked.
“I’m looking for a place.”
She grinned. “It’s your lucky day, dude. Somepony just moved out of my building.”
“Really? Where is it? How much is the rent?”
Her eyebrows rose over the top of her sunglasses. “You don’t what to know what it’s like first?”
I shrugged. “I’m not picky.”
“You’ll totally love it, then.” She laughed. “It’s on the corner of Sixth and Grapevine.”
“I’ll come by when I can,” I promised. “I work late, though. How late is the office open?”
“The manager’s name is Paybooks. I’ll tell him to wait for you.” She extended a hoof. “I’m Vinyl Scratch, by the way.”
“Miller.” I copied her gesture, although wasn’t sure how we were supposed to shake without fingers to grasp.
Vinyl bumped my hoof with hers. Well, that was easy. “So what do you do, Miller?”
“I work at the fabrication shop down the block,” I said. She nodded, although I couldn’t tell whether she knew what a fab shop was.
“I’m a musician,” she explained. “Maybe you’ve heard of me? DJ-PON3?”
“Sorry,” I said. “I haven’t been living here very long.”
“Well hey, if you’re going to be my neighbor, I can invite you to a show.” She smiled like a maniac. Perhaps it would have looked less insane if I could see the added expression of her eyes.
I nodded. “Maybe.”
My breakfast arrived just then, and Vinyl was kind enough to leave me alone so I could eat it. I vacated my stool for another customer as soon as I was finished and went down the street to the shop.
I was early, and went to find the scale. It was an old, rough thing that was not very accurate, but could measure heavy objects. I was still getting used to the Equestrian system of units, and had no idea what the conversion of pounds or kilograms was.
With a little bit of concentration, I was able to get noticeable weight variations to show up on the scale as I stood on it. Interestingly, I was also able to make it show more than natural.
I went to get hooked up to the cart. It had two wheels and a yoke in the front for a pony to put around their body. While I had sort of figured out how to get myself to lighten up, it took several minutes of experimentation before I felt confident that I could do the same to the cart.
Bend walked in as I was practicing. He looked at me and asked, “Eager to get started? We still have to load that thing.”
“Yeah, sure,” I said. “I like to get to know an unfamiliar cart before I pull it.”
He nodded, accepting that explanation. There was a pallet of items on the floor beside the door. A couple of them looked like aluminum blanks for something. Perhaps there was a machine shop in Cloudsdale that would make them into something useful. The blanks were cylindrical pieces of metal, with flat ends.
There were a few other odds and ends loaded into the cart. I hoped it wouldn’t get too heavy for me. When the pallet was empty and the cart was full, Bend gave me a dispatch list of destinations.
Nervously, I trotted out the door and Bend closed it behind me. For some reason, I thought a running start might help. More ponies were appearing on the street, but I had a clear path ahead of me.
I leaned forward into a canter and flapped my wings hard. I had to actively will it to happen, but miraculously got the cart airborne with little trouble. After clearing the rooftops, I turned northwest towards Cloudsdale.
A couple of pegasi wearing golden armor hovered around the castle on the mountain. It was pretty clear they were security, and I gave them a wide berth. Concentrating on them made me forget that I was already a couple hundred feet in the air. When I remembered, I had a little panic attack and nearly fell out of the sky.
Don’t look down again! Okay, but then how will I get back from Cloudsdale? That’s a problem for later.
It was lucky that the trip was fairly quick, because I don’t think I could stand talking to myself for much longer. As I reached the Cloudsdale city limits, I slowly drifted down, imagining the clouds were as solid as soil.
They weren’t, but the mental image kept me and the cart from falling through. The clouds felt a little spongy underhoof, and I decided not to think about it too much. Overthinking was sometimes a problem for me.
I checked the streets and managed to find my way to the first delivery. I noticed a large chunk of ice embedded in the clouds out front of the building. I knew that it could easily get cold enough to freeze at higher altitudes, although I didn’t seem to be feeling it. More pegasus magic.
Based on scrape marks, it looked like the ice was a frequently used parking space. I stepped onto it and gingerly unhooked myself. The cart didn’t go tumbling to the ground and I sighed with relief.
Then I was faced with another challenge. How are you supposed to knock on a door made of clouds? Once again, I tried to just imagine it as something solid. My hoof struck it, but it only made a soft pompf sound.
“Hello?” I called. “Delivery.”
The door opened and a stallion stuck his head out. “Do you have my new carbide cutters?”
I nodded and pulled them out of the cart. Sawtooth was apparently well known for his tool making ability. The pony thanked me and went back inside. All the orders had been paid for already. I wasn’t sure if Bend didn’t trust me with money yet, or if every customer just preferred to pay in advance.
As I hooked up again, I saw a few young pegasi with bows and quivers loaded with arrows. They were following an older pony. I wondered if it was some kind of youth archery team.
I started on my way again, keeping an eye on the troop of them. They were flying a couple dozen feet above the street. One of them at the end of the line stopped for a moment and fiddled with his quiver. As I passed under, his friends yelled at him to hurry up.
“Yeah, sure,” he called, turning. The quiver slipped out of his grasp. I saw it start to fall. The arrows—sharp arrows—slid out and sped towards me.
I lunged forwards, tipping my head back to check on the points falling in my direction. It looked like the arrowheads were fashioned out of flint or something. All of the arrows and the quiver safely passed over my head and landed in the cart, striking sparks on the metal blanks.
I came to a halt, my heart hammering. The team leader dropped into the street in front of my. “Oh my gosh! Are you all right, mister?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I looked back. “Luckily, I don’t think anything fell through the clouds and caused a problem for anypony on the ground.”
“Thank Celestia. Maybe…maybe we should go back to using field tips. I just wanted that authentic Commander Hurricane feel, you know?”
I stared at him. I had no idea who Commander Hurricane was, but it sounded like a stupid reason to let children have dangerous weapons. He looked away. “Sorry again. No harm, no foul, yeah?”
He grabbed the arrows and quiver from the cart and flew away scolding the youngster. As my heartbeat began to slow down, I started walking again.
I delivered a set of fancy carved wooden bookends to an elderly mare. Luckily, they hadn’t been damaged in the arrow accident. Afterwards, I turned for the last destination. The signature on the receipt for the metal blanks read Gold Duster .
The building I trotted up to was fairly nondescript. I got somepony to help me unload the cart. There was an ice floor inside, so we had a safe place to put the blanks down. I didn’t see any machining equipment around, but maybe they were going to take them somewhere else.
Based on the appearance and weight, I guessed the blanks were aluminum. After transferring them to the building, I put the cart yoke back on and headed back towards Canterlot. It was easier than I guessed. All I really had to do was hold my wings steady and glide.
A thought struck me about halfway back. Aluminum didn’t spark. I should know-I’d machined enough of it. Therefore, whatever that metal was had to be something that responded to flint. Steel with a coating to resemble aluminum was the only thing I was able to come up with, but the blanks hadn’t been heavy enough. Perhaps they were hollow? I shook my head. Who said Equestria didn’t have some other, weird metal? Or, for that matter, some weird flint?
I was back at the shop before lunch. The rest of the day was helping Steelie with some work. He’d decided to pursue his metal wheels idea. I figured out a design for spokes to cut down on weight. I was impressed how he was able to manipulate metal, even to the point that it was hard to tell where there had been a seam.
I also had to act as weight for Bucket again. I felt undervalued, but I suppose I shouldn't complain about an easy job.
After work, I rushed to the apartment building at the address Vinyl had given me. True to her word, the manager was waiting. While the up-front price of the first month’s rent was steep compared to my available funds, it was cheaper than continuing to pay for a hotel. Since I had few possessions, I moved in right away.
The apartment was small, perhaps only twice the size of the hotel room. It had been cleaned thoroughly, but I saw that it was far from in perfect condition. Also, it wasn’t furnished.
I stretched out on the thin carpet and fashioned a pillow from my clothing. It seemed a shame that I had no other purpose for my possessions anymore. Well, actually the picture of Jenna was still very important to me.
I turned on my cell phone. The battery had about one-quarter charge left. The touchscreen didn’t respond to hooves. My nose covered too much area, so I had to carefully manipulate the screen with the tip of my tongue.
I glanced over the saved pictures. A few brought a sad smile to my face with memories. They reminded me that I had made exactly zero progress on getting home.
Whether I used the phone or not, eventually the battery would drain away. I decided to indulge myself a little with music. Just one song. It would be nice to hear something familiar. Seconds after the first verse started to play, there was a hammering on my door.
“Hey, what is that?” called a voice. “Who’s in there?”
I quickly hit the stop button, stuffed the phone in my clothes, and put them in the closet beside the door. I pulled back the bolt and opened the door to reveal Vinyl. Her sunglasses were off, magenta eyes widening with surprise as she saw me.
“Whoa, I didn’t expect you to get here so quickly.” She nodded down the hallway. “I live just next door.”
“Oh.” I nodded. “Yeah, I just moved in.”
She leaned to the side, looking over my shoulder into the room. “Hey, was that music you were playing? What kind of setup do you have?”
I stepped back, showing her the empty room. “You must be hearing things. I don’t have anything.”
Vinyl frowned. “I could have sworn there was music. It was nothing I had ever heard before.”
“Something about a yellow submarine?” I asked. “Yeah, I heard it too. Strange.”
She shrugged and then suddenly grinned. “Well anyway, do you want to go to breakfast tomorrow?”
“Do you want to meet there?” I joked.
“It’s a date.” She gave me a smile and walked away to her apartment. I stared after her, trying to figure out exactly what she meant by that.
When I woke up in the morning, I found a letter that had been slipped under my door. It was the hospital bill. Somehow they found me, just as promised. I sighed and put the envelope aside. There was no way I could pay it off immediately, although maybe in a few months.
I sought out Jenna’s picture. It had become a bit of a morning routine for me. It was an old photograph. I didn’t remember when I had started carrying it. It was nice to have something to remind me of her when we weren’t together. I wondered what she was doing, with me missing for a few days. What would she think? She had to know that I wasn’t gone because of any fault of my own. I trusted her to believe that I would have done everything I could not to disappear.
I gritted my teeth but managed to put the picture down gently. It was unbelievably frustrating to be a pony when you weren’t supposed to be. It may have been risky, but I resolved to work as hard as I could on the problem of going home. I decided that the first step was talking to Vinyl. For some reason, she struck me as being open-minded.
Down the hall, I knocked on her door. It took perhaps thirty seconds to get a reaction. She answered the door looking bleary-eyed. Behind her, the apartment was dark. I could make out vague shapes that appeared to be music equipment.
I was probably a little early, but Vinyl didn’t seem to mind. After retrieving her sunglasses, she joined me in the hallway. As we walked, I asked, “What do you know about magic?”
Vinyl’s expression was hard to read behind those purple lenses, but I guessed she was confused. She asked, “What do you know about flying?”
“Not much.”
“You just do it, right? Well, unless you come up with specific questions, I don’t know what to tell you about magic.” She shrugged. “Okay, so I’m a unicorn. Doesn’t mean I know how it works.”
“Nothing?” I said, disheartened.
“I never had to learn anything special about magic. I just do it when I need to.” Vinyl leaned her head to the side. “There are lots of ponies with music as their special talent, I just happen to be one of them with a horn. I guess maybe I shouldn’t take it for granted.”
I nodded. I would never take fingers and walking on two legs for granted ever again. Questioning further, I asked, “So what can you do with magic? I mean, do you have a lot of it? Is there some way to measure ability in that regard?”
Vinyl laughed. “Well, I’m no Twilight Sparkle, but I’ve never really encountered anything I couldn’t handle. Then again, all I do is spin records all day, so it doesn’t take much effort.”
“Do you record in your apartment?” I asked.
“Well, I don’t do lots of that because I’m a DJ, not a studio producer, but yeah, all my stuff is at home. I don’t have a separate place because while I’m pretty good at music, I’m not so awesome at making money.” She laughed. “Don’t worry, I put a sound-deadening spell on the walls.”
We exited the building and turned towards the café. It may have been prying, but I asked, “Wouldn’t it be cheaper to make your own breakfast every morning?”
“Well, I’m also not so good at cooking,” Vinyl admitted. “What about you?”
“I…can break eggs.”
She nodded.
“Sometimes I do it on purpose.”
We held our expressions for a moment before both of us cracked up laughing. Vinyl’s expression abruptly sobered as she spotted a grey mare coming towards us. The earth pony’s coat and mane had almost exactly the same coloring as my own. Her eyes were light purple, and she wore a white collar that supported a pink bow tie.
“Hi, Octavia,” said Vinyl.
“Ms. Scratch,” said the other mare, nodding. Her voice was well enunciated, and she sounded like a British person faking an American accent. “Nice weather we’re having, isn’t it? The end of the month is coming, however, so it should be changing soon.”
In reading a few books about Equestria, I’d discovered that autumn was scheduled to begin next month. That was the way it had been for years. The pegasi changed the weather, the earth ponies began to harvest the crops, and the unicorns assisted any way they could. It was kind of interesting how most ponies were happy to come together and cooperate. I didn’t know very many people who would do the same.
“Will the cooler weather be starting as planned?” Octavia asked, looking at me.
“Don’t mind the wings,” I said. “I spend most of my time on the ground. My name’s Miller.”
“Pleased to meet you,” she said. I offered a hoof and she touched it gently. Vinyl began to subtly edge forward on the sidewalk as if she was impatient.
“Sorry to run,” I said. “I have to eat breakfast and get to work.”
Octavia gave me a pleasant, if small, smile. “Goodbye.”
I went into the café with Vinyl. She said, “I don’t like her.”
“She seemed pretty friendly to me."
“Octavia’s my landlord. Our landlord, I guess. Paybooks is just the manager.”
Concerned, I asked, “Have you had problems in the past?”
“Did you hear her mention the end of the month? That’s when rent’s due.” Vinyl sighed.
I looked at her and lowered my voice. “Are you in trouble?”
“No, not really.” She smiled, although it looked forced. “Hey, did you see the special this morning?”
Our talk of music, Octavia, and rent had distracted me from the magic problem, and by the time I remembered we were in a crowd of breakfast patrons. I decided not to talk about such things in public.
When our food came, we ate quietly. Afterwards, I said goodbye to Vinyl and we went our separate ways.
I didn’t immediately see Bend when I got to the shop. He came in a few minutes after opening. I thought his eyes were a little bloodshot and he didn’t talk except in grunts. Then a customer came in and put my mind on other things.
I ended up spending all day working on his project. He didn’t know exactly the whole design of what he wanted, but after talking to him and (poorly) sketching, we worked out a design.
He needed a perfectly round table. Anything would do, as long as it was a circle. When I asked why, he said that it would be used at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.
“Oh really?” I said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”
“My name is Spangles,” he said. “I’m charge of magical supply procurement. This table will be used for basic spellwork. You build it, we’ll handle enchantments.”
I nodded. “I don’t really know much about the school. How complicated does the magic get?”
“Pretty complicated,” he said. “We’ve graduated lot of good unicorns.”
This was clearly a stallion I wanted to talk to at length. If he couldn’t help me with magic, maybe he knew somepony who could. “Do you have a business card or something I could use to contact you?”
Spangles gave me his card. I said that I would get back to him when the table was finished. Because I wanted that to be as soon as possible, I quickly set to work.
Steelie helped Bucket cut the material for the circular tabletop. The unicorn’s precise magic and the earth pony’s deft metal-working hooves were able to create something nearly perfect, even with a simple blowtorch. A computer controlled waterjet cutter was about the only thing that would have been better, but those didn’t exist in Equestria.
Bucket hadn’t gone to the Gifted Unicorn school, but he briefly explained how crafting tables worked. They were an aid to spells, their shape helping to contain magic and allow the caster to expand their capabilities.
I had heard of various kinds of magic using circles before. Not that I’d ever believed them, because magic hadn’t existed on Earth. At least I thought. The possibility that magic did exist, but was not openly practiced like it was in Equestria gave me pause. Perhaps it was something to be investigated when I got home. No, maybe not. I had grown to dislike magic.
I rolled the steel disk over to a work area and carefully ground the slag and burrs off the edges. I might still be a little clumsy with hooves, but this I could handle. The rough grinding wheel gave way to a finer one as I gradually smoothed the edges. A couple of times I stopped to roll the tabletop across the floor to check for irregularities in the edge.
When the circular shape was as perfect as I could make it, I used a chop saw to cut angle iron for legs. Spangles had said that these were not as important because they weren’t part of the crafting surface. We’d decided to go with six legs in a hexagonal pattern for extra stability.
Since nopony would care what the underside of the table looked like, and we didn’t need super strong attachment, I was able to handle the welding myself.
The basic arc welding procedure was simple—electricity melted metal together. There was usually a filler material to aid in the process. In the case of a shielded metal “stick” welder, a metal rod was slowly melted into the weld.
I preferred the faster process of MIG welding, which used a spool of wire instead of a rod, but that hadn’t been invented here. Equestria’s sophistication level was somewhat inconsistent. They had plastic bottles and some primitive computers, yet no diesel trains or ink pens. I guessed pony technology was overall approximately equivalent to early 1900s Earth.
I welded each of the legs on, being careful not to distort the surface of the table with too much power. As the welds cooled, I found a hammer and chipped the excess slag from them. I was careful to keep eye protection on. From previous experience, I knew fresh slag was not something I wanted in my face.
I saw Duster come through the door late in the afternoon. He talked with Bend for a while. Meanwhile, I wiped down the table with a degreasing cleaner and painted it with primer.
Duster gave Bend something. It looked like a small cloth bag. I supposed it could have been payment, but the shape of the bag didn’t look like it contained heavy coins. With the apparent illness Bend had showed that morning, I wondered if it could be medicine. Duster certainly didn’t look like a pharmacist.
I went home that evening with a plan for the next day. Spangles’ table should be ready to go by next morning. I would volunteer to deliver it and hopefully talk to him about sending me home. He was a complete stranger, but I couldn’t think of any other place that would be better than a school of magic to find a solution to my problem. I just wished I could tell somepony that I was a little better aquainted with the truth about myself. It would probably be easier speaking to a familiar face, but none of them seemed to know how to help me.
I stopped by a grocery store and got a few things to eat. I would have to stop going to the café if I wanted to save as much money as possible. Hopefully I would be on my way back to Earth sooner rather than later, but assuming that I was here for the long haul, eventually the hospital bill would have to be paid.
I prepared to make myself a lettuce and cheese sandwich. I had looked and looked, but there was no meat to be had in pony grocery stores. Just as well, I guess. Our digestive systems probably couldn’t handle it.
Our? Good Lord, I had to get out of this place before I assimilated completely.
Before making the sandwich, I paused. Vinyl had said she wasn’t very good at cooking. I hadn’t had much trouble putting together a sandwich, so I wondered if she would be interested.
Leaving my dinner sitting on a plate, I went down the hallway. There was no response to my first knock. “Hey Vinyl!” I called, tapping on the door again.
She yanked it open, a grin on her face. “Hey dude, I wasn’t expecting you.”
“I just got some groceries, and I was hoping you might be able to show me a few Canterlot recipes,” I said.
She laughed. “The only thing I’m capable of making is either burned or raw.”
Surely she couldn’t be that bad, but I went along with it. “Well, maybe I can show you a thing or two, then.”
Vinyl agreed and followed me back to my apartment. She looked at the things I had bought and shook her head. “Sandwiches? I guess I shouldn’t feel too bad about my lack of cooking skills.”
“We could have spaghetti,” I said. I had bought both a pot and some noodles. “It’s not that hard to boil water.”
“What about the sauce?” she asked.
I shrugged. “It’s not that hard to crush tomatoes, either.”
We began working together. Vinyl wasn’t quite as bad as she had claimed. I hummed a little as I worked, tending to the cooking spaghetti and the sauce preparations.
The unicorn cocked her head. “What is that song? I think it’s the same one I heard the other day. Yeah, I’m sure that’s it.”
“Huh?” It was then that I realized what I had been humming. We all live on a yellow submarine...
Vinyl looked at me, waiting on an answer.
“This is going to sound crazy,” I said.
Vinyl stared at me. “What, you’re a musical genius ?”
“I…wait, what?”
“Seriously, I would know if I’d heard that song before. Heck dude, I don’t think I’ve even heard that genre . What’s it called?”
Did I really want to explain rock and roll to her?
“I uh…” I swallowed. “I don’t remember.”
Her face fell. “I hoped it was something I could recreate. I’ve been looking for new material.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Vinyl smiled, although her expression didn’t hold its usual energy. She hummed a little, only managing to string together a few fragments of the song from what little she’d heard.
We ate dinner, neither of us saying much. When Vinyl was finished, she floated her plate over to the sink. Even after seeing it so much, unicorn magic freaked me out a little.
“Thanks for the spaghetti,” she said.
I nodded. “I’ll take care of the dishes.”
She said goodbye and went out the door. I realized that I had forgotten to make breakfast plans with her like I intended. That was all right, I could meet her in the morning.
As I was washing our plates, there was a knock on the door. Thinking, perhaps hoping, it was Vinyl, I went to answer.
Octavia stood there. “Good evening Mr. Miller. I stopped by to say hello and welcome you.”
“Hello. This is a surprise. I’ve never had a landlord who came to greet me personally.”
She laughed politely. “I’m still learning to take care of the building. I only inherited it two months ago. It’s still strange, the idea of being paid rent to live here instead of the other way around.”
“You have an apartment here?” I asked. It seemed a little strange that the owner of the building lived with the rest of us.
“It’s two doors down.” Octavia nodded in the direction opposite of Vinyl’s door. “My aunt put me where there was room. I never really realized that I was her favorite niece until she left me this place. I wish I could have properly shown my gratitude when she was still alive.”
I started to say something, but she cut me off, briefly straying from her usual impeccable politeness. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to start loading you with my life story.”
“It’s okay. I guess we all sometimes have to release things that were bottled up inside.” The irony hit me a moment after I said it.
Octavia gave me another smile. “It’s good to meet such a gentlecolt. Have a good evening.”
“You too.” I closed the door, glad to have gotten a better impression of Octavia. She was much more open and friendly than our previous encounter had led me to believe.
That night, I bedded down with my meager possessions. I was slowly learning how to best make a bed with my clothes. Everything else I had brought with me from Earth continued to be useless. I wondered if I could play a bit of music with my phone, but as I had found out last time, the soundproofing spell Vinyl had on her apartment only worked in one direction.
As I lay there, I heard the faint strains of a stringed instrument. It was deep, slow sound. A cello, perhaps, or maybe a tight-tuned bass. I’m not great at identifying members of the violin family.
Was it Octavia? The sound came from the direction she had indicated, and I remembered that her cutie mark was related to music. Regardless, it was a pleasant thing to fall asleep to.
I rolled over at some point in the night and found myself lying uncomfortably on top of a bag of bits. With no bank account, the payments I had been earning were just lying around. I hated to just leave them there in case somepony broke in, but there wasn’t much choice. Even if for some reason you didn’t need proper identification to open an account, you surely would to make a withdraw from it.
The thought of a fake ID crossed my mind. Where would I even get one? Even back on Earth I had no idea.
I sighed and sat up. Talking to Mr. Spangles about magic was the important goal on my mind, and if it worked out like I hoped I would be going home soon. Admittedly, it felt like a long shot, but a guy can dream, can’t he?
I knocked on Vinyl’s door. When she opened it, I asked, “Breakfast?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Back in my apartment, we started breaking eggs. Vinyl said, “I feel like I should be paying you or something.”
My first thought was Don’t worry about it, I wouldn’t invite you with the intention of shaking you down. Then I remembered my own debts. I said, “If you want.”
I turned back to the stove so it wouldn’t feel like I was staring at her and waiting on an answer.
After breakfast, I went to the shop. Steelie and Bend were there. It looked like they were having an unpleasant conversation, with Steelie on the receiving end of most of it. Bend turned to me as I walked through the door. “Just the pony I was looking for. We’re doing a little maintenance on the building today. I need you to reseal the skylight.”
I glanced upwards at the window in question and nodded. He gave me a caulk gun and I went outside and up to the roof. I tried to be as quick as possible, because I had other things to do that morning.
After returning, Bend wanted me to change a lightbulb. Okay, another job for the pony with wings. He had me do a few more things, and by the time I was able to deal with the magic table, it felt like half the day had ticked away. Really, it hadn’t been that long, but my mind was freaking out. Meeting with Spangles was a big step, and I was nervous. What if he couldn’t help me? What if he thought I was crazy?
I loaded the table into the cart and slipped my body into the yoke. The school was located on the castle grounds, and I made sure to take along the business card Spangles had given me. It seemed correct to assume that I would have to go through security, and they would want to know who I was seeing.
On my way to Cloudsdale, I had passed by the castle on the mountain. As I headed directly towards it today, I had more time to appreciate the place. It wasn’t drab stone like something from Earth’s medieval era. There were bright decorations, stripes and polka dots. Ornate rotundas graced several of the towers.
The place stuck impossibly to the slope, but everything else was basically recognizable as standard castle architecture. It even had a moat – because the castle was built in the middle of a waterfall that streamed down the mountain. Yeah, the perfect place for a school of magic.
I landed on the road that lead up to the drawbridge. Two guards wearing fancy armor were posted there. One of them asked, “What’s your business here?”
“I came to see Mr. Spangles of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.” I indicated the contents of the cart. “He ordered this table.”
One of the guards lifted a small, bugle-like horn and blew a short two note call. A third pony in armor stepped out from the heavy doors set in the castle walls and trotted across the bridge to meet us.
“I’ll take this from here,” he said, putting a hoof on the yoke of the cart.
“Now hang on, I need to see Spangles face-to-face,” I protested. “He gave me his card and everything.”
The three guards shared a glance. I wasn’t privy to its significance, but didn’t like how it looked.
“I’ll go talk to him,” said the stallion who had tried to take the cart. “If he wants to see you, he’ll come out.”
This time, I let him pull the table away. I waited there with the cold company of the other two guards. “So, is security always this tight?”
To my surprise, one of them actually answered. “It always is when Princess Celestia is traveling.”
“Huh? Where’d she go?”
He looked at me with a bored expression. “Don’t you read the newspaper? Autumn is coming, so it’s time for the Running of the Leaves down in Ponyville.”
Not wanting to look like an even bigger moron, I didn’t ask any more questions. Truthfully, I hadn’t learned any local news since arriving in Equestria. I had figured that my problem was a little more important than any I could read about.
I wasn’t counting, but maybe ten minutes passed before the guard came back with an empty cart. I prompted, “Well?”
He turned around and left again without a word. A little angry, I said to the other two, “I really need to see Spangles.”
“More than he needs to see you, evidently,” quipped one. I glanced back and forth between the pair for a moment before turning away.
Well, that didn’t go how I’d planned it at all. I kicked a few small rocks as I walked. It was a natural angry reaction. I remembered that I was supposed to be flying. Aww, but there was nothing to kick up there.
By the time I got back to the shop, my frustration had cooled but I was already hard at work thinking of a new plan. I still had the business card, so if all else failed I could just mail Spangles a letter. I didn’t know how fast the postal service was around here, but hopefully I wouldn’t have to wait a few days to get a reply. I had already been here long enough.
Steelie seemed to be sharing my mood, although probably for different reasons. I remembered the argument between he and Bend that I had interrupted that morning. I thought about asking, but decided I didn’t want to know.
I kept busy the rest of the day, but my mind was still going. Not that it helped. I didn’t manage to come up with any ideas besides continuing with my plan to pester Spangles. I wondered if the castle guard had even bothered to tell him that I was waiting.
I went home that evening and wondered what Vinyl and I were going to be eating this time. Wait, home ? No, that was wrong. The apartment might be my residence, but it was a long way from where my heart was.
I stepped out in the hallway to knock on Vinyl’s door, but a grey mare had beaten me to it. “Ms. Scratch?” she called. “It’s Octavia.”
There was no response. Octavia turned away, spotting me. “Good evening, Mr. Miller.”
“Hello. I was looking for Vinyl, too.”
“Oh?”
I shrugged. “She likes my cooking, and I don’t mind the conversation. We have a working cooperation.”
Octavia smiled. “I didn’t want to be so bold as to immediately assume she was your special somepony.”
“My special…oh! No, she definitely isn’t.”
“So you’re eating dinner all alone, then?” she said. “If I remember correctly, your resident application said that your previous residence was in Baltimare. I don’t suppose you have many friends around here.”
“That’s right,” I admitted.
“I’m going to be playing a short set at a jazz club just down the street tonight. I can vouch that the food is good, and the company is usually decent.”
I debated that for a moment. I had never been to a jazz club before, but in my mind I pictured a place with dim lights, quiet music, and calm crowds. It sounded like a good place to relax a little, and I sure needed it. “Alright, sounds fun.”
Octavia gave me one of her prim little smiles and went away to get her instrument. The large case pretty much dwarfed her, although she carried it with ease. I offered to help, but she declined.
The two of us stepped out onto the street. I looked up at the side of the building, counting windows. The lights were on in Vinyl’s apartment. I frowned. I had thought she wasn’t home.
A couple of blocks away, Octavia and I came to a building. Polsfuss was the name of the club. I didn’t try to pronounce it. Octavia led me through the door. A slick-looking stallion nodded to her. Octavia said, “He’s with me, Iridium.”
The pony nodded. I noticed he was leaning on a cash register, and realized Octavia had just gotten me in without a cover charge.
“Somepony should be around to take your order soon. I’m only going to be here about half an hour. Like I said, it’s a short set.” Octavia turned towards the stage.
“Hey,” I said. “Thanks.”
She gave me an uncharacteristic wink. “You’re welcome. Just pay your rent on time.”
I had a seat. It turned out to be a slow night, and Mr. Iridium was also the waiter. I asked him for whatever was good.
A few minutes later, the band had begun to play. Besides Octavia, there were three other ponies who played guitar, trumpet and oboe. I wished I knew something about jazz so I could tell if that was a normal arrangement or not.
My food came. It was flowers in some kind of sauce. “End of the season,” said Iridium. “Autumn begins tomorrow, so you won’t be seeing these for a while.” He placed a mug of apple cider on the table. “And here’s something for the upcoming season.”
I’d already managed to wrap my head around eating hay, so the jump to flowers wasn’t so bad. Really, the dish tasted kind of like a sweet salad. The cider, on the other hand, was ridiculously good, and I had to be careful not to finish it before I cleaned up the meal.
The band had been a nice background, and after putting my plate aside I set my full attention on them. I figured Octavia had practiced with the group before. None of the musicians were using sheet music, but they were still playing perfectly together. I sat there until the set was finished and applauded politely with the rest of the listeners.
I paid my bill, which was a little more than I wanted to spend, but not surprising. Octavia slung her instrument case on her back again, and we began walking back to the apartment building in the gathering darkness.
“I liked that,” I said. Truthfully, jazz wasn’t my thing, but I felt more relaxed than I had in days.
Octavia started to reply, but was suddenly cut off as a hooded pony jumped at us from a side street. I was closest, and spun in place, trying to keep my front to the attacker. The pony wove to the side, and I reacted like the untrained human I was – I punched at the face.
That was a terrible move for a person to make. The skull is thick and finger bones are small. Luckily, you can’t break what you don’t have, and my hoof collided solidly without causing me any pain. The pony stumbled back before turning tail and running.
“What in the world?” exclaimed Octavia. She started to pull me away. I let her, my heart still going a hundred miles an hour. She had been behind me with her line of sight blocked, and would probably be as panicked as I if she had seen the attacker drop a knife as they fled – like I had.
“You must be very well trained,” she said.
“Uh…where did you get that idea?”
“I took a self defense class once. He was clearly moving to stop a buck from you, and you changed it up with a forehoof strike.”
Lucky me. I said, “So it was a he?”
Octavia shrugged. “I’m guessing. It didn’t seem like a very mare thing to do.”
“Do you know of anypony that wants to hurt you?” I asked.
“I can’t think of any. What about you?”
“I haven’t been here long enough to make any enemies.” I hoped.
We kept talking on the way back. It would be very hard to file a police report, considering we hadn’t seen our assailant, no harm had been done to us, and I doubted I had done much to him. Also, I was still plagued with the problem that I had no legal identification.
While I didn’t tell Octavia that last bit, I managed to convince her that what had happened wasn’t important. We said goodbye and returned to our respective apartments.
When I woke up in the morning, my place was chilly. Oh yeah, autumn was here. I figured I needed a few blankets. While I was at it, I should get a pillow. I sighed. Or just get a bed and everything?
Vinyl answered her door only after I shouted for her. I asked where she had been the night before.
“Ah, I just went to sleep early.” She grinned.
I decided not to ask. I had no idea what I would ask about, but decided not to do it anyway. There was already so much strangeness going on that I didn’t need hers on top of mine. I didn’t tell her about the pony with the knife, either.
After breakfast, I headed down the street. There was a crispness in the air that took more than just a little sunshine to drive away. Yeah, the season had definitely changed. I noticed that the trees seemed to have lost their leaves, too.
I got to the shop early, arriving first. Bend, Sawtooth, and Bucket came in not long after.
I wondered where Steelie was.
Bend directed me to the cart, which was already filled with some kind of cargo. The items inside were covered with a tarp. “The load is ready to go to Cloudsdale.”
“This early in the morning?” I asked. “Where did this stuff come from?”
“Duster brought some of it by.”
I decided not to ask. I was getting good at that. I even skipped questioning Bend about where Steelie was this morning. He hadn’t said anything, so I figured it either wasn’t a big deal, or I wouldn’t get an answer anyway. I did wonder if that was because he didn’t know, or just wouldn’t say.
“Do we deliver to Cloudsdale a lot?” I asked while slipping into the cart yoke.
“Off and on,” said Bend. “That might pick up now that we’ve got you.”
I felt just a little pride in that. They needed me for something. That wasn’t quite enough to keep me here, though. I would still take the first opportunity I could to get out of Equestria.
I pulled the cart outside and took off for Cloudsdale. Flying by the castle reminded me to find a way to get in touch with Spangles. I had been unsuccessful so far.
On approach to Cloudsdale, I wondered what the term was for entering a floating city. Coming aboard? It wasn’t important enough for me to ask somepony.
I had a little better grasp on street names now, and was able to find my way back to the place where I had previously dropped off the metal blanks. Somepony was waiting there for me.
The stallion peeled back the tarp on the cart. “Guess they must trust you now.”
I shrugged, wondering what he meant. “I’m just that kind of guy.”
The pony grunted and lifted a bag out of the cart. “I’m okay with that. These are easier to carry than those stupid containers.”
So it had actually been hollow steel blanks instead of solid aluminum, like I thought. But why?
I picked up another bag from the cart and followed the stallion into the building. The contents shifted around in my grasp, as if it were a fine powder. There had only been four bags in the cart, so each of us made one more trip.
“Thanks for the help.” The pony set the bag he was holding down and pulled open the drawstrings. He dipped his nose in and sniffed. “Ah, just the same as always. This is another good thing. These are easier to open than the containers.”
As his face came out of the bag, I saw a spot of white powder on the tip of his nose. Such a thing coming from a machine shop could have been a couple of things. Aluminum oxide, or perhaps white pigment for powder coating. Neither of those were healthy to be snorting.
Screw being inconspicuous. I had to ask. “What is that?”
“I can’t pronounce the official name for it, but everypony just calls it smelling salts. Why, what did you think it was?” A little smile had slid across the pony’s face, and his eyes didn’t look like they were quite focused.
“Sorry, I sometimes get it confused with shop products.” I forced a laugh.
“S’all good. Want some?” He offered the bag.
“No, thanks, I have to fly back.”
The stallion waved a hoof as I went out the door. I leaned against the wall of the building, my heart thudding as if I’d just run a race. Oh God, I’m a drug mule. This wasn’t even funny despite the fact that there were actual mules living in Equestria.
This was no time to get distracted about the moral and ethical issues about the creation of sterile creatures because of species crossbreeding. Standing up straight, I pulled the tarp across the top of the cart again and slipped into the yoke.
I tried to calm myself down. I mean, who said “smelling salts” were illegal? Maybe we were only dealing with abuse of common chemicals, rather than illicit narcotics. That still didn’t answer a lot of questions, however. Why was a machine shop involved? How come the white powder was usually transported secretly in hollow containers? Just what did Duster do for a living?
I passed a Cloudsdale police officer as I headed for the edge of town. My instinct told me that being involved with the mysterious white powder would only lead to trouble. If I told somepony, though, I could possibly lose my job, or maybe even my freedom. Being put in jail would be even worse for me because I had no identification.
I couldn’t afford that. As much as I didn’t like the situation, I couldn’t get home from inside a cell. Thoughts like that occupied my mind so fully that my fear of heights didn’t even kick in when I left Cloudsdale.
Back at the shop, I walked through the door and began to unhitch from the cart. Bend came over, looking a little unwell like he had the other day. I now had a little better idea what might be wrong with him.
Steelie was still not present. Emboldened by my recent success with asking about smelling salts, I spoke to Bend about him.
“I figured it was only a matter of time until you brought that up,” he replied. “Why don’t you take the rest of the day off? Duster wanted to talk to you. He’ll be over at the Silver Service restaurant.”
My eyes widened with the unexpected news. “Okay.”
On a scale from one to “getting turned into a pony,” this ranked on the upper half of the surprise scale. Bend noticed my expression. “Don’t worry. He told me that he thinks you have potential.”
Now I was confused more than surprised. I said goodbye and walked out. The street was reasonably busy at midday, and I made my way down the sidewalk towards the restaurant. I had seen it before, but eating there cost more than I wanted to spend. It was a little more upscale than Oven’s.
I went into the restaurant. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the transition between the noon sun and the darkened interior of the building. A waitress approached, and I told her I was looking for Duster. She pointed me to the back.
The stallion had taken his sunglasses off. The gold jewelry he wore glinted in the dim light. He gestured at the chair across from him and I sat down.
“Miller, is it? Good to meet you.”
I nodded politely. “Mr. Duster.”
He seemed a little surprised that I was showing him a bit of courtesy. Anypony who I didn’t know and was possibly a criminal would have gotten the same from me, though. I am not rude, nor do I wish to antagonize lawbreakers.
“Are you hungry?” he asked. “The dandelion stew is good.”
“Uh, sure.”
Duster looked towards the other end of the room and drew the attention of a waitress. I got the impression that he came here a lot, and the staff knew him.
The waitress took my order and after she departed, Duster leaned forward. “I understand that you haven’t been in Canterlot very long. You’re from Baltimare?”
“That’s right.”
“Do you have any family around here?”
“No.” I wondered where he was going with this.
“Anypony who can verify that you name is actually Miller?”
If Bend had told him even a little about me, Duster probably already knew the answer. I told him that no, there wasn’t anypony.
“It’s pretty convenient that you came along when you did,” he said. Something about the way he was handling the conversation seemed familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. It wasn’t a question, though, so I waited for him to continue.
I looked up as the food arrived. That was fast. Duster stared at his meal for a moment before glancing up. “I’m interested in hiring you for a few things. Bend tells me you’re up to it, but I’d like to make sure.”
It suddenly hit me why the conversation seemed familiar. I had seen it in a crime movie. Duster had specifically asked about my history, trying to find out why there were no records of me. He believed my name was fake. It could have been because I was running from something, or…
Oh God, he thinks I’m an undercover cop.
“So what do you say? I can make it worth your while.”
I hesitated. The lure of money was there, but I had what I needed to at least get by. If he was implying what I thought he was, then I absolutely didn’t want to get involved.
“Sorry, I’m pretty busy as it is, and I don’t really need the bits. Thanks for the offer, though.”
Duster looked contemplative. I wondered if somepony from law enforcement would have taken the offer to try and get deeper into Duster’s activities. Then again, wouldn’t an actual criminal have taken it because he wanted more money? What if Duster realized that I wasn’t either of those? I hoped I wasn’t overthinking things, but could I afford not to consider every possibility?
As we finished eating, Duster put a small bag on the table. The way it clinked, I knew it must contain money. “Here. Maybe this will help change your mind. I’ll talk to you again later.”
“I don’t need this.”
“Just take it.” Duster also paid the bill for lunch.
I left the restaurant feeling very unsure about what to do. I felt like going back to work so I would have something to take my mind off the new developments, but didn’t feel like facing Bend now that I was sure he was collaborating with whatever it was Duster was doing. I still didn’t know what had happened to Steelie, but given that the topic is what brought me to Duster, I had a suspicion that it might not be good.
I decided to use my afternoon off work trying to track down Spangles. Only his contact information at the school was listed on his business card. Equestria did not have phones, and therefore no phone books to find his home address.
With no results, and the local stores getting near closing time, I decided to use the money Duster had given me to buy a few things. I got a couple of blankets, a pillow, and a camp cot. I couldn’t bring myself to buy a bed, even though there were enough bits in the bag. I wondered what I should do with the extra. Maybe pay the hospital bill. Again, I hoped to go home before it was due, but I did owe it.
I went back to my apartment much earlier than the time I usually got off work. The sun was still pretty high in the sky. I put down the blankets so I could open the closet door. As I was placing the folded cot inside, I heard a knocking on the next door over. Octavia’s voice called, “Ms. Scratch?”
The closet was located in an awkward position next to the front door, and I had to close it in order to gain access to the hallway. As I opened the door, I saw Octavia standing near Vinyl’s apartment with an unhappy look on her face.
She saw me looking, and after another glance at the closed door in front of her, began to walk my way. “Hello, Mr. Miller.”
I nodded in greeting. “Octavia.”
“Do you have any idea where I could find her?” she asked, gesturing to Vinyl’s quiet apartment.
“No, sorry. Have you been looking for very long?”
Octavia sighed and nodded. “There’s a bit of an issue.”
I wanted to ask. Like all the other times, I had to hold back. This time it wasn’t about me, though, it was about Vinyl’s privacy. I said, “I hope it gets resolved soon.”
She smiled, although rather grimly. “It will, one way or another.”
I felt like I really needed to talk to Vinyl, although I didn’t know how I would approach the subject of problems with her landlord. I said goodbye to Octavia and closed the door.
A few minutes later I was heating a pot of water. I was almost out of spaghetti, but decided to make it again. There was a knock on the door. I called, “It’s unlocked.”
I heard the latch open and then hooves on the floor. I turned to see Duster stepping in. He glanced around at the spartanly furnished apartment, noticing the blankets that didn’t have an associated bed.
“When you said that you would talk to me again later, I didn’t expect it to be quite so soon,” I commented. I also wondered how he’d found my place.
“I’ve got something to show you,” he said. “Come along.”
“I was just in the middle of making dinner.”
“It won’t take long. Steelie will be there.”
For some reason that reassured me a little, although at the time I didn’t know exactly what he meant by that. I shut off the stove and went with him. It turned out to be a very bad idea.
The sun had almost set as I followed Duster down the street. He hadn’t said much, and neither did I. Any questions I kept to myself.
I heard the clock tower on the next block over begin to chime seven. It was the time that I would normally be getting off work. Speaking of, in just another few minutes, Duster led me straight to the shop.
Inside, only Bend waited for us. Sawtooth and Bucket must have already gone home. The door opened and a couple of ponies came in, one of them pulling a cart. There was something in it, wrapped up with a sheet. As I watched, the bundle was lifted out of the cart and unraveled to reveal Steelie with a gag in his mouth and ropes binding his legs. I gulped.
“I thought you might want to see him,” said Duster.
“After he tried to kill you and then didn’t have the nerve to show up to work the next day,” added Bend.
Duster nodded. “We tracked him down. Maybe you want to pay him back?”
The other ponies stepped away, leaving me standing beside the bound stallion. Several realizations exploded into my brain all at once. Apparently, it had been Steelie that attacked Octavia and I. Also, Duster, Bend, and the others wanted me to have revenge for that.
My stomach and jaw clenched painfully, and my throat didn’t want to swallow. I looked around anxiously. Bend said, “What are you waiting on? We can power up some machines to cover the noise, if you want.”
Duster asked, “Can I get you something? A hammer? A saw?”
They wanted me to kill him. I had another sudden flashback from crime dramas I’d seen, realizing that ending Steelie’s life would prove that I wasn’t with the police.
Could I say no? What would happen if I did? Would they murder Steelie anyway? I had no idea what the metalworking pony had against me, but I didn’t feel enough hatred to want him to be killed. I knew I didn’t have the guts to do it myself. If there some way out of this, I was struggling to see it.
“Well?” asked Duster.
I swallowed hard, a tiny inkling of a plan coming to me. “Untie him.”
The pony who had pulled the cart in actually took a step backwards in surprise. “What for?”
“It’s more sporting this way.” I looked around. Making up lies on the spot was not my strong suit. Both Duster and Bend had sharp tools within easy reach. Whether they meant them for Steelie or me, the two of them were prepared to take care of things if I couldn’t get the situation under control. The plan in my mind was still developing, and I prayed it would work.
Steelie got up, rubbing the places where the ropes had cut into his skin. The gag had been removed, but he looked too surprised and nervous to say anything. I was feeling that way, myself.
“You have a five second head start,” I said to him, barely managing to keep my voice level. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep up the charade. Only Steelie was staring directly into my eyes, and he was the only one who might see the hesitation that had to be written on my face. I began tapping a hoof on the floor. One Mississippi, two Mississippi…
Steelie bolted out the door, not stopping to close it behind him. I crouched, spreading my wings and still counting in my head. From the corner of my eye, I could see Bend and Duster watching me, looking somewhat puzzled.
On five I darted out of the building. After a moment’s pause to locate the sound of Steelie’s running hooves, I took off after him. Behind me there came the sound of more hooves following. I cursed to myself. My plan depended on getting Steelie alone.
From the air, I didn’t have to work very hard to catch up. Maybe I should have given a larger head start. I swooped down into the street, rapidly gaining on Steelie. I was going to try to make some kind of deal with him. Maybe I could get him to play dead and then leave Canterlot.
I didn’t have a solid plan, but I was desperate. As I drew even with Steelie, I opened my mouth to say something. Hi there, I don’t actually want to kill you…
…but never got the chance as he darted away down an alley. I pulled up hard, tracing a vertical half circle that put me high above the buildings but still in roughly the same area. I’m sure pilots had a name for the maneuver, but had no time to think about it as I banked in the direction Steelie had gone and dove after him again.
He looked back at me as he ran. I began bleeding off some speed so I could pull up beside him and not overshoot. Not paying attention to what was ahead of him, Steelie stumbled on the sidewalk at the alley’s end and tripped head over heels. He flew through a plate glass window of a shop that faced the mouth of the alley.
I hit the ground with so much residual speed that I almost tripped as well. Skidding to a halt in front of the broken window, my mouth dropped open at the sight of what lay beyond.
There were shards of glass everywhere. A disturbing number of them were stuck in Steelie’s body. He unsteadily rose off the floor, blood dripping from his face, neck, and chest. I heard hoofbeats as the crowd that followed me from the shop came running up. They gathered around my position in the street, following my stare to the wounded stallion.
“Are you going to finish him?” asked Duster.
In shock, I still hadn’t managed to fully grasp the situation. I shook my head. “No.”
Steelie stared at us, a desperate look in his eyes. His heart was pumping furiously after the chase. The gash in his throat let blood flow freely. It ran in rivulets beneath him, the pool slowly spreading. Seconds passed, and his knees began to twitch. He shuddered and then fell, throwing up a little splash.
It seemed like I couldn’t breathe. My extremities felt numb. I blinked, and slowly turned my head away from the scene.
“Did you get any blood on you?” asked Duster. I shook my head, too shocked to speak.
“Good, nopony will know we were here. Let’s go.” I took hesitant steps, letting him lead me away. Our pace was a brisk walk, trying not to look too suspicious.
I noticed Bend wasn’t there, and figured that he’d stayed at the shop. The gold chains around Duster’s neck jangled a little as we trotted. I glanced at him. The look on his face was some mixture of surprise and mild astonishment. I didn’t know what he wanted with me now, but I took it as a good sign that he seemed pleased.
I swallowed and tried to think ahead, making only a little headway at getting Steelie’s battered body out of my mind. This was not at all the situation I wanted to be in, and it would take quite a bit more planning to get me out of it. I needed a little information, though. “Where are we going?”
“Ever heard of Magnifique?” Duster rolled his eyes as he pronounced the name. I was a little disturbed at how quickly he shrugged off death. “It’s a restaurant owned by some griffon. The food’s pretty good, although you have to be careful what you order.”
In a few minutes, we came to a place that looked fancy, even to my untrained eyes. Duster told his accomplices to wait outside and ushered me through the door.
A good portion of the crowd inside was composed of griffons. I had seen a few of their species around Canterlot before. Duster took me over to a large round table with eight chairs around it. There were two open, and we sat down.
Six griffons of various colors looked up from a quiet discussion they were having. Duster nodded in greeting and gestured to me. “This is the guy I was telling you about.”
“You work fast,” commented the one sitting in the chair next to mine. I got the unpleasant feeling that he knew what Duster had me doing before coming to the restaurant.
“That he does,” said Duster. He took a moment to introduce me to the griffons. He called them “associates for doing business outside Equestria.” That sounded nicer and friendlier than what they actually did.
“So were you all planning this meeting tonight?” I asked.
Tally, the griffon who sat next to me, shrugged. “We knew Duster was coming. He said he might bring a friend.”
It sounded like Duster had been unsure if I would be attending dinner. I wondered what would have been done with me if I had outright refused to hurt Steelie or Duster thought I let him escape. No, think happy thoughts instead.
“So tell me about yourself,” said Tally, who seemed to be the most talkative.
“Not much to talk about,” I said quietly.
He nodded as if that explained everything. He probably got that answer a lot. His eyes shifted to a spot over my shoulder. “Ah, lovely.”
A griffon waiter leaned between us and set a plate in front of Tally, and moved down the table distributing more food. The aroma was something I hadn’t smelled since arriving in Equestria.
I couldn’t help but ask, “Is that pork?”
Tally looked surprised. “It sure is. The chef around here does a good job with it.”
“I haven’t had any barbecue for a while.” Bad mouth! Stop speaking before I think!
The griffon wore an amused look. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a pony hungry for pig.”
Not wanting to put my foot—er, hoof—any deeper in my mouth, I nervously shrugged and said nothing.
“It’s really good at this restaurant,” said Tally, picking up a knife and fork with his talons and slicing off a little bit of his pork chop. He dropped it on a napkin in front of me.
I stared at the small piece of meat. I wasn’t sure if he was testing me to see if I was lying about eating meat, or just trying to be friendly by sharing. Either way, it did smell great, so I leaned forward and picked it up with my lips.
The flavor was excellent, and it was tender enough that my flat pony teeth had no trouble chewing it. I doubted that a small bite would mess with my digestion.
“It’s good,” I said after swallowing. “Tastes like oregano and red pepper. Maybe some garlic. It’s salted just right, too.”
“It almost sounds like you’re a connoisseur,” noted Tally.
I laughed. “Not really. I can usually be satisfied with a decent hamburger.”
“Hamburger?”
“You know, ground beef?”
All of the griffons looked surprised. Duster’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. It was then that I remembered something I read in a library book—in Equestria, cows were equal citizens. Dammit, mouth!
Before I could chuckle nervously and pass it off as a joke, one of the griffons did it for me. All of us relaxed a little. Duster got up from the table suddenly, seeming somewhat perturbed. “I’ll leave you gents to get acquainted.”
He glanced across my face without really looking at me and turned to go. Tally leaned over to my ear as Duster went out the door. “A word of advice, maybe don’t play pranks like that on your boss. It can be bad for business.”
I nodded. “I’ll try to remember that. Speaking of business, what sort of partnership do you have with Duster?”
“He handles things in Canterlot and a couple of surrounding towns, and we handle things over in Gryphos.”
I nodded, conversationally adding, “Maybe I’ll have to visit your country someday.”
“It’s a good place to do business,” said Tally. “Say, do you want to stay for dinner and talk about it?”
“I can’t, actually. I had other plans.” Despite the relatively friendly dialogue, the last thing I wanted to do was spend any more time with criminals, griffon or otherwise. I’d had more than enough of that tonight, thank you very much.
I got up. Tally said, “Don’t be a stranger. We’re having a card game this weekend.”
I nodded noncommittally and said goodbye. Outside the restaurant, I breathed a sigh of relief. It only helped me relax a little. I decided that a nice peaceful flight back to my place would help.
I had only glided a few blocks over the streets before I noticed a familiar stallion hurrying along below me. After pausing for a long moment, I dropped low to the roof beneath me and crouched there, watching.
Duster clearly had a destination in mind, and it was back in the direction I was going so I decided to follow him. I thought that maybe knowing a little more about his business might help me make plans. Much to my growing horror, I was becoming committed to this little enterprise. The only thing I could do to get out was keep my eyes open and grasp at any straws I could.
After several minutes Duster ended up back at the shop. I noticed that the lights were still on. He opened the door and went in.
I landed carefully on the roof near the skylight. Glancing down through it, I saw Duster talking to Bend. Carefully peeling away the caulk I had applied the other day, I lifted the pane of glass enough to hear what was going on below.
“Did you know that you hired a psychopath?” growled Duster.
Bend’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“Miller.”
“I take it he offed Steelie?” asked Bend.
“Yes he did, but—”
“It’s kind of a shame, really. It was Steelie that thought Miller wasn’t the right kind of pony. I told him to do something about it, then. When he screwed up the first attempt, I figured that maybe we could use him to find out where Miller stood. Sounds like it’s out with the old guy, in with the new.”
Duster shook his head. “After he gave Steelie a head start to be ‘sporting,’ he tossed him through a window and watched him bleed to death.”
Bend considered that. “Does he have any experience with that?”
“I have no idea. He seems…efficient.”
Bend chuckled. “Funny, that’s how I would describe his work around here, too. You still haven’t told me why he’s crazy.”
“He doesn’t want money,” Duster stated flatly. Bend’s ears pricked up.
“Well, that is strange,” observed the shop owner.
“He actually tried to refuse when I gave him some,” put in Duster. “I visited that little apartment of his, and it’s got nothing in it. He doesn’t even own a bed.”
“Maybe he’s ideological,” suggested Bend.
“I doubt it. He’s just plain creepy. His body language, especially in the ears, is strange. It’s like his emotions don’t show at all. That’s not the worst part, though. He eats meat just like a griffon. I watched him do it tonight when we met with Tally and his friends.”
Bend thought silently for several seconds before shrugging. “Well, just stay on his good side.”
Duster snorted in consternation and headed for the door. I quietly lowered the glass and took to the air. It was a little hard to concentrate on flying back to my apartment with so much new information on my mind.
I was suddenly shifted to other thoughts by running into Octavia as I landed on the sidewalk outside the apartment building.
“Sorry!” I quickly grasped her hoof and helped her up. “I didn’t expect you to open the door when you did.”
Her eyes were wide, and not from unexpectedly meeting me. She pulled me through the door. “Miller, I’m so glad to see you! You have to help me get Ms. Scratch to the hospital.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked the two of us headed for Vinyl’s apartment.
“I decided to open her door to check on things, and I found her passed out. There was white powder everywhere.”
“Well...” I started, trailing off. I tried to think of something appropriate to say, but how do you reply to something like that? I consoled myself that at least Vinyl was better off than somepony I knew.
The first nurse I had encountered in Equestria, Bottie, recognized me. She smiled brightly as she passed by, an expression I only halfway returned.
Octavia sat next to me in the hospital waiting room. Both of us impatiently watied to hear news about Vinyl. The DJ was at least breathing when we carried her into the hospital. I didn’t know if she had taken smelling salts or something else. The doctor hadn’t said as much, but he seemed to act like it wasn’t her first overdose.
I berated myself. With as much time as we’d spent together, why hadn’t I noticed her drug problem? Was it because the white powder blended in with her natural coloring? Had my mind simply been too preoccupied to care ?
What would Jenna think? She would want me to come home, obviously, but did that take precedence over helping to save somepony’s life?
And so I sat and waited. The sun had gone down and the clock in the waiting room advanced slowly into the night. Both Octavia and I had been quiet for most of the vigil. It was almost ten o’clock when I decided that I was going to fall asleep if we didn’t get a conversation started. “So, other than this, how was your day?”
She laughed politely. “I can honestly say we haven’t ruined a good day. It just went from bad to worse.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“Well, there were a few contributing factors.” Octavia sighed. “This morning I broke a cello string and the music shop closed early for some reason so I couldn’t get a replacement.”
I nodded, letting her continue.
“You probably think it’s silly.” Octavia looked at me.
“No, go on. If you talk, I’ll listen. It keeps me from thinking about my day.” And that was certainly a good thing.
Octavia smiled thinly. “This afternoon, I was visited by my former coltfriend. I suspect the reason he came looking for me was because he heard I now own a building.”
“Oh.”
“Yes, Alto was never a good pony for me, regardless of how good he was at se-sax .”
“Saxophone?” I clarified.
Her face flushed and she looked away. “Terribly sorry. I must be getting tired.”
I couldn’t help myself and let a chuckle slip out. Octavia shot a glance at me, although her face softened as she saw that I didn’t mean to continue that line of conversation any further. She even managed a smile, laughing at herself.
The mood had become a little lighter when Bottie came to find us. “You can come in and see Ms. Scratch. She’s resting at the moment.”
Octavia and I got up. Down the hallway was Vinyl’s room. While she had always been pretty carefree, lying in bed she looked more peaceful than I had ever seen her. The doctors evidentially seemed to think she was stable, as no electronic monitors were hooked up. There was an IV that trickled some sort of clear fluid into the crook of her front leg.
“I’m afraid this might cost the both of us a fair sum of bits,” said Octavia. “I doubt she has much money if she spent it all on her, ah, habit.”
I again wanted to ask how far behind on rent Vinyl was. Speaking of paying back, I turned to the nurse. “Can I speak to you privately for a moment?”
The two of us stepped into the hallway. “Is this about your bill?” she asked.
“Partly. I was hoping I could get a copy of my medical record. My boss thinks he can get the workplace insurance to help pay it.” It was an outright lie, but if I told her that something had been bothering me about the apparent fainting spell that had landed me in the hospital, it would require more explanation. Not only would that take time, but I would have to invent new lies on the spot. Telling untruths under pressure is harder than it sounds.
Fortunately, Bottie smiled and said, “Sure, no problem.” I gave her a nod of thanks and she walked away as Octavia came out of the room.
“I suppose I should be going home,” said Octavia. “It’s late.”
“I feel kind of bad for leaving,” I said.
She nodded. “So do I, but waiting around for her to wake up certainly won’t gain us any rest.”
“True. I’ll check on her in the morning before I go to work.”
As we walked back towards the front door, Bottie intercepted us and gave me a folder. I thanked her and tucked it under one wing. Octavia looked curious, but said nothing.
I walked with her back to the building. She paused at her apartment door. “Mr. Miller, I want to thank you again for your help.”
She seemed rather intent on driving home her appreciation, and stared at me kindly. I shied away from the attention. “It just seemed like the decent thing to do.”
“You’re a good friend. Ms. Scratch is lucky to have someone like you. Me too.”
I nodded. “Thank you. Sleep well.”
She smiled and opened her door. I went down the hall. After going into my apartment, I picked up a letter that had been delivered and opened the hospital file, looking for the address where I had been discovered lying unconscious. Maybe it would help. I had made up my mind to write a letter to Spangles, and I wanted to be as detailed as possible.
There was a rapping sound from outside the apartment and a male voice called, “Hey Octy .” It was sort of loud for being almost eleven at night. Annoyed, I poked my head out the door.
A medium blue earth pony stood in front of Octavia’s door. He didn’t appear to be thinking about the other residents of the building as he carried on knocking on the door. His cutie mark was a saxophone.
Octavia opened the door just as I got there. The stallion started to step towards her, but stopped and looked over his shoulder as he saw the mare’s eyes glance towards me.
“I hope you could be just a little quieter this late at night,” I said. “I know there are a few families with schoolkids living in the building.”
His face looked as if he was about to say something nasty. Octavia evidently thought so, too. She quickly broke in. “Alto, can we talk again in the morning?”
“What’s wrong with right now?” he asked.
“It’s been a long day,” said Octavia. “I’ll feel better after a rest.”
“Need some help with that?” Alto asked, grinning. I snorted and turned to go.
“Hey, what was that for?” he said. I turned. Alto had taken a step in my direction.
I shook my head. “Nothing. I was just thinking about the horrible husband material you must be.”
Alto’s face showed shock. Good job, mouth. Now he isn’t sure whether I’m coming onto him, or just throwing insults on behalf of his girlfriend.
“Who do you think you are?” he demanded.
It was a rhetorical question, but Octavia attempted to defuse the situation. “Alto, he lives down the hall. This is Mr. Miller.”
Over the course of about two seconds, Alto’s sneering mouth opened to say something, but he had a sudden realization and closed it again. Seizing the opportunity, I turned and started walking once more. I heard Octavia’s door shut before I reached my own.
I paused before going into the apartment. Alto had retreated to the far end of the hallway. He was looking at me when I glanced up, but turned away quickly.
Well, that was weird. Was it my name? Why did he know it? I was too tired to care.
I went back to looking at my medical record. Luckily, it was nice and short and I got what I wanted. After that, I turned to the letter. It turned out to be an invitation to a poker game hosted by Tally.
I was slowly getting used to Equestria, and little things like having a card game with the same name had stopped seeming like such a strange coincidence. Assuming the rules were the same, I would be an average player. I usually managed to break even, no more, no less.
I didn’t really want to risk any of the money I had, though. If there weren’t two hospital bills looming, I might have considered it. Besides, I didn’t think I would like the company.
I didn't know if I would end up paying for Vinyl. If she didn't really have any money, then I would be kind of coldhearted if I didn't. It wasn't like I had a lot of other things to pay for, so money wasn't much of an issue. Still, I didn't want to go to the card game.
There wasn’t a return address on the letter, so I had no way to RSVP in the negative. Oh well, I had more than a day to figure it out.
By the time I finally made it to bed, I was too worn out for very much thinking. My first thought in the morning, however, was did I really have to set the alarm clock for so early?
Yes, yes I did. There was a lot to take care of before work. To speed things up, I stopped by Oven’s for a quick breakfast before setting off across the city.
There was an address listed for the area that my unconcious body had been discovered in. It took me a little while to find it. I rounded a corner and compared the numbers above the door of a nearby shop to those I’d memorized from the medical record. This was the place.
I turned around and my jaw dropped. Across the street was the bottom of a long staircase that ran up the mountain towards the castle.
I paused for a moment to consider the stairs. The smooth road that led up to the castle was long and winding in order to have a manageable grade. The stairs looked very old, as if they’d been there since before the road had been built. At the bottom, facing me from across the street, was the royal mailbox. I didn’t think a mailbox covered in gold leaf would be used for anything else.
I kind of wondered how the fancy box hadn’t been stolen. Granted, gold and other precious materials weren’t quite as precious here as they were on earth, but I would think it would at least be a target for graffiti.
At least I wouldn’t have to find a post office and buy a stamp now. I laid out a sheet of paper on the sidewalk and wrote a short letter to Spangles.
Hello,
My name is Miller. We met when you ordered a table from Canterlot Machining and Carpentry. I have a problem that I think is magical in nature, and I hope you or somepony from the school might be able to help me.
I’m not from this planet, and I’m trying to get home.
Please take me seriously. This might be the only hope I have.
I tried to write as carefully as possible, which is difficult to do when you’re using your mouth. Legibility would definitely make me seem less crazy. Concentrating on clarity also distracted me from the fact that this was the first time I had ever revealed who I really was to anypony.
After including the address where I could be found, I placed the letter in the mailbox and walked away. I felt nervous, but suppressed it. I had set things in motion, and now I needed to follow through.
My second stop was at the hospital. I was still wondering if I had done the right thing by contacting a pony I just barely knew, but managed to summon a smile for the nurse on duty. “I’d like to see Vinyl Scratch, please.”
“All right, but I think she’s still resting.” I was given permission to go to her room.
Not much had changed since the night before. I sat down in a chair next to the bed, deciding to spend the time I had saved by not needing a post office.
Vinyl breathed slowly and regularly. I took a moment to glance around the room. There were no cards or balloons left by friends. I wondered if she had many.
Her mane was not styled, and looked rather flat. A strand of it had fallen to her lips and it moved every time she breathed. I leaned forward to brush it away. It was a little challenging to do without actually touching her face.
“This would be easier with fingers,” I grumbled.
Her eyes popped open. “What are fingers?”
My surprised little shriek brought the nurses running.
Author's Note
I apologize for the roughness of this chapter. GoogleDocs wouldn't let my editor see it.
The nurses were happy to see Vinyl awake and I backed towards the door. “I’ll give you ladies some room. I have to go to work now. I’ll see you later, Vinyl.”
I slipped out into the hallway. With any luck, the groggy wakeup period would make Vinyl forget all about the fingers. In the meantime, I had a while to figure out a good excuse.
As I left the hospital, one of my ears began to itch. I hadn’t quite figured out the complex musculature to make them twitch. In fact, I didn’t even have most of the instinctive movements that real ponies had. Pausing to use the glass of a shop window as a mirror, I scratched.
The window unpleasantly reminded me of what had happened to Steelie. I tried to put it out of my mind by making a few faces at my reflection. It only helped a little, and reminded me of how much I still had to learn about subtle nuances of pony expressions.
As I turned away, I glanced at a white pegasus stallion who hadn’t been moving with the street traffic during the few minutes I was busy with the window. His chest and legs looked thicker than average, as if he worked out a lot.
I headed down the street and entered the shop. I looked for a moment at Steelie’s workstation and winced. Now he would never finish the idea he had for steel wheels.
Sawtooth and Bucket said little, and didn’t comment on why he was gone. I wondered if they knew, or just knew not to ask.
The cart once again had a load on it, and I walked over to have a look. Bend was there taking inventory. I asked, “Where is this going?”
“Across town to get repackaged and put on the train to Vanhoover,” he said.
“I could just take it there.”
“It’s a long way.”
I remembered seeing a map of Equestria. I figured a trip to Vanhoover would take just about one whole day. “Would it be cheaper to ship it or let me fly it?”
Bend considered that. “I suppose it would cost less to let you take it. We’re worried about security, though.”
I had been considering what I would do the next time I was anywhere near drugs. If I could somehow get free enough to visit the police, tell them I was working for the mafia, cut a deal and somehow get their protection, maybe things would be better for me. Then again, maybe I would wind up dead.
This was an opportunity, however. If I could prove my innocence before Spangles contacted me, maybe it would speed up the process of getting me home. It was dangerous, it was stupid, but I was going to try my best to become a narc. It was the best way out of this that I could see, although I wasn’t sure if my mother would be proud.
Bend shrugged. “Well, I guess I’ll send a message to Vanhoover and tell them to expect you.”
He gave me the address and helped hook up the cart. I trotted outside and took off. Vanhoover was in roughly the same direction as Cloudsdale, just a lot farther. Turning northwest, I settled in for a long flight.
I looked at the castle while passing by. I’d noticed a common appearance among the burly guards that surrounded the place. Their armor was uniform, and most had white coats. I wondered how they managed to find so many ponies colored that way.
Passing beneath Cloudsdale, I wove between the rainbow falls. They looked haphazard to me, but I’d heard that the weather factory was apparently very good at keeping unintentional spills to a minimum.
I kept going for a while. Based on the movement of the sun, I calculated that I had flown without a break for a couple of hours. Wings are structured much differently than legs, and it was surprising that I wasn’t worn out completely from the effort.
There was a forest below, and I spotted a small lake nestled within the trees. Noticing a piece of clear land large enough to park the cart, I circled down.
I wasn’t sure it was safe to drink the water, but I wanted to just rest for a moment rather than quenching a large thirst. As I unhooked from the cart, I heard wings. Four griffons circled overhead and came in for a landing. I hadn’t seen them approach, so perhaps they had been following me. I felt a little bad about being taken by surprise. What good is paranoia if you don’t even look over your shoulder now and then?
“Just out for a flight?” one of them asked.
I gestured to the cart. “Business trip.”
“What’s in the cart?” asked a second one.
“I don’t know, actually.” I had been planning to look as soon as I could, but now that I had company, that might be a while longer.
“Are you friends with Tally?” I asked.
All four of them sneered unpleasantly. “You might say that.”
The griffons began to walk towards me menacingly. I did the only sensible thing and attempted a hasty getaway.
Griffons have large, powerful wings. They aren’t as maneuverable as a pony, but have more in the way of pure thrust. I learned that in the book I had read about pegasus flight. It gave tips for racing against griffons and the natural abilities ponies could use to their advantage.
In level flight, the top speed of the two species was similar. Since the forest around the lake was blocking my way, I had to gain some altitude first.
My breakaway wasn’t nearly as large as I had hoped. Griffons are better at vertical climbs. I glanced back, realizing that leveling out into a flatter trajectory would only loose me more ground. I was stuck, but couldn’t just give up.
The five of us had probably passed five hundred feet when I felt the first grip of claws around my back legs. I managed to shake off the first attempt, but after that they were all over me. I saw talons slicing through the air towards my face and instinctively pulled away from them. Basically, I fell straight down.
The sudden reversal made me feel far heavier than normal, and the griffons dropped me. Remembering a little experiment I had conducted with a scale, I tried to increase my personal gravity. Tucking my wings and legs tight, I hurtled towards the ground so fast that I was forced to close my eyes to slits to protect them from the wind.
Ponies are smaller and more aerodynamic, and there was no way a griffon would catch me in a dive. All good things must come to an end, however, and the ground came rushing up to meet me.
I had no idea what kind of maximum performance my wings were capable of. I felt like I was going way too fast to pull up gently, but fear for your life makes you decide to do weird things. With a quick reversal of as much gravity as I could and spreading my feathers as wide as they would go, I tried to slow down.
There was so much force from the wind on my wings that I thought they would rip off at the joints. Gritting my teeth at the strain, I changed the angle slightly to convert some of my downward velocity into lateral motion. The trees were getting bigger and bigger as I began to actually fly instead of fall.
I zoomed through the forest canopy, still not level. I wasn’t going to slam into the ground with my head, but it would still be a pretty fast impact. The trees suddenly disappeared and the ground sloped down towards the lake, giving me another few feet to descend. I skipped off the top of the water once before my hooves penetrated the surface and I tumbled into the chilly depths. It was a sudden—but survivable—stop.
I halfway hoped the griffons would crash while trying to follow me down. No such luck. As I raised my head out of the lake, I saw them land on the shore and stand scowling at me.
I figured a creature that was half bird and half cat probably didn’t like water. Sure enough, it was only reluctantly that the four of them flew out to where I was treading water and began their attack.
Taking a gulp of air, I dove. Opening my eyes, I could see them waiting on me to surface. I could only hold my breath so long, but if I came up I would be at their mercy.
I wondered if I could try another steep climb. The only way it would work was if I could get some surprise by popping out of the water suddenly. It’s hard to gulp in fear of a desperate plan when you’re holding your breath, but when you’re scared enough anything is possible.
I was able to shoot out of the water fast enough to surprise the four griffons. I didn’t get nearly as high as last time, however, and they began to grapple with me again. I attempted the “drop like a rock” trick a second time, but all I succeeded in doing was pulling all of them into the lake.
It felt like I might have a slight buoyancy advantage. Not only was I lighter, but I had fewer feathers to become waterlogged. Before I could figure out a way to act on that, talons painfully raked my side. I aimed a kick in the direction the attack had come from and felt my hoof connect with something.
The griffons may have been taking turns breathing while keeping me underwater. All I could see was a swirl of bubbles and a confusing rush of body parts as I struggled. Something tinted the water red. Blood? Was it mine?
The first terrified scream was loud enough that I heard it even underwater. I was quickly released and struggled to the surface. A different voice cried out in horror. The griffon beside me was yanked out of the water roughly by a huge set of jaws. Not far away, an enormous creature with four heads had risen out of the water. I tried to remember it from mythology. A hydra?
Two of the monster’s heads were currently occupied with chewing on my attackers. The remaining pair of griffons and I turned to flee, our own clash forgotten. I glanced over my shoulder in fear. One of the escaping griffons was snapped out of the sky. The still-hungry fourth head turned towards me.
Once again, gravity was on my side and I managed to dodge out of the way, only losing a few hairs out of my tail. I shot into the trees, only slowing down once I saw the hydra hadn’t left the lake.
I spent a few minutes calming down. I wiped my forehead with a wing, although it didn’t seem to help much. Maybe if the rest of me wasn’t soaked.
Checking over my body, I found a few scratches in my side. With my wings folded, the injury was hidden. There was a little blood, but the cold water had helped stifle it.
Venturing back out of the woods, I saw that the hydra was gone and the surface of the late was still. Without taking my eyes off it, I carefully hooked back up to the cart and flew away. This time, I was very careful to check for any followers.
I was getting hungry by the time Vanhoover came into sight. I felt a little tired, but attributed it to the shock of fighting for my life. It was lucky that the place I was going was near the edge of the city, because I certainly didn’t want to fly any further than I had to.
There was a house that looked a little shabby. I compared the address on the mailbox to the one I had memorized, and walked up to the door. My knock was answered by a thin stallion who looked like he might be a little jittery.
He stared at my face for several seconds before nervously asking, “Who are you?”
“My name’s Miller.”
He nodded, still staring at me with wide eyes. “Oh, okay.”
The two of us went to the cart. It contained familiar-looking bags with powdery contents. As we carried them through the front door, I paused, looking at a mirror on the wall. There was dried blood all over my face. I lifted my wing, spotting a stain on the feathers that had transferred from my injury. Wiping my face had been a mistake.
“Can I use your restroom?” I asked.
The pony was quick to nod. “Anything you need.”
Well, since he was offering, I went ahead and took a quick shower. It was a little weird using a random pony’s bathroom, but not having clothes to worry about made it a little easier.
I opened the door The pony was standing there, still looking nervous. “I finished unloading the cart,” he said.
“Thank you.” I nodded. “Listen, I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
He nodded quickly and we stood there awkwardly for a moment. “Well,” I said, “I’ll be going, then.”
I went back outside and hitched to the cart again. My stomach was rumbling, and I decided to go find something to eat.
It was now early afternoon. It had taken a little longer to get to Vanhoover than I anticipated, although I certainly couldn’t be faulted for failing to plan on getting jumped by four griffons and a hydra.
I found a little restaurant and parked the cart. As I walked towards the door, two uniformed unicorns blocked my path. They were both fairly large, a good portion of it being in the width dimension.
“Mr. Miller, we’re with the Vanhoover Police. We’d like to ask you a few questions.”
I looked back and forth between the two of them. There was a lot of both to take in. Too many donuts, I figured. Unsure how to respond, I said the first thing that I thought. “But…I was just about to have lunch.”
This did not seem to phase them. My mind was racing, trying to figure out what the two overweight cops wanted with me. If it was about the drugs, why hadn’t they busted me with the evidence back at the house?
“Would you like to come downtown and answer a few questions?” asked one.
“No, not really. I’m tired after flying here from Canterlot. I’m hungry, and I still have to fly back today.”
“That wasn’t a question,” growled the other officer.
“Am I under arrest?”
The pair of them glanced at each other. Maybe they hadn’t expected me to be so difficult. Neither had I, but faced with some law abiding ponies for once, I was being a little pushy. It was only fair, though; they were pushing me. Luckily not physically, because they weighed a lot more than I did.
“You aren’t under arrest.”
“Then good day to you, gentlecolts.” I turned and went into the restaurant. I sat at a secluded corner table and picked up the menu. As I was reading, I heard two chairs slide out and two significant posteriors settle into them. I lowered the menu. The cops had joined me at the table.
“Do you know what this is?” asked one of them. He placed a small object that looked a little like a snow globe onto the table. The inside of the glass was completely frosted with white.
I shook my head. The cop said, “It’s a truth-teller. I’m sure you can guess what it does.”
“I have no idea.” I rolled my eyes.
The globe suddenly flashed red. Both police ponies smirked. “You’re lying.”
“I’m also wondering why you want to talk to me so badly.”
Without a pause, the police launched into questioning. “Mr. Miller, what do you do for a living?”
It was the second time they had called me by name. That worried me. For a pony who hadn’t been around that long and didn’t have an official ID, they sure had caught onto me fast.
Answering the question, I said, “I’m an employee at Canterlot Machining and Carpentry.”
“Why are you in Vanhoover?”
“I was making a delivery for work.”
“What was it?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t load the cart.” It was a truth, although not exactly the one they had asked for. The police may have noticed that I didn’t give a straight answer, but they didn’t follow up. Whew, just barely managed to avoid that one.
“Have you ever killed anyone?”
I almost had a heart attack. The answer was no, but I hesitated before saying so. I was not exactly innocent, but I wasn’t a murderer, either. The police seemed disappointed that the shock question hadn’t gotten me to break.
I faked an exasperated sigh. “Look, where I’m from this would be an illegal interrogation. I don’t really know how Equestrian laws work, but at the very least it’s unethical. Come back when you actually have something to charge me with.”
Ignoring my third sentence, the police kept asking questions. “So you’re not from Equestria?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Where are you from?”
I stared at them. “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”
Both cops looked at the globe. It remained white.
“Also, you’re both fat.”
Still white.
In a huff, both cops got up and left. I hurried through my lunch, worried that insulting a police officer might be illegal. I still wasn’t in cuffs by the time I finished, so got the cart and headed back towards Canterlot.
Maybe it was just the two cops that had talked to me, but I felt very uncomfortable going forward with my plans to snitch on the drug operation. I wondered if I would have been more forthcoming to nicer police officers. I realized that talking to Spangles was much different than communicating with law enforcement.
On the way back, I kept my guard up but wasn’t attacked again. I turned up the paranoia to maximum. Remember kids, it's justified when they really are out to get you.
All the effort I put into being hyperaware of my surroundings left me a nervous wreck by the time I got back to the shop. The falling night didn’t help, and it was fully dark by the time I got back.
The shop was closed, so I left the cart and a note for Bend. Maybe I would get a bit of overtime for being gone all day.
I trotted back to the apartment, giving my tired wings a rest. My scratched side ached just a little. I thought back on the day, trying to figure out what I might need to plan for. For example, what if Tally asked me if I had met up with some of his “friends”?
I knew for sure that three of the four griffons were dead. I felt lucky to have survived. As a matter of fact, that had been the biggest direct threat to my life that I had encountered in Equestria so far. That didn’t mean I could get lazy now. In my current situation, I’d be a fool to think there weren’t any more things or ponies out there that wanted me dead.
I went up to my apartment. Unlocking the door, I spotted a single white feather lying on the kitchen counter. There was also a letter that had been slipped under the door.
The envelope was unmarked. I put it down for a moment and looked at the feather. I couldn’t imagine why it was there. I also doubted it would have landed in that spot by accident. Whoever it belonged to had deliberately placed it there so I would notice. What was this? Somepony wanted me to know that they had been in my apartment. I quickly checked everything I owned, which didn't take long. Nothing was missing or out of pace.
Returning to the counter, I picked up the letter and was preparing to open it when there was a knock on the door frame. In my haste to check everything, I hadn’t closed the door yet. I turned and saw Vinyl standing there.
“I see that the hospital let you go,” I said.
She nodded. “Everypony was so nice. I feel like I was a little unworthy. Heck, I’m lucky that I’m not in prison right now.”
“For what?” I asked.
“I stopped by and talked to Octavia earlier. She said that she told you what I was doing.”
I glanced away. “Sorry. I didn’t want to say anything.”
I realized Vinyl was having a hard time meeting my eyes as well. She said, “I just feel that it’s easier now that you know. I hated to have to hide things.”
I paused and took a deep breath. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something like that. I have something to show you. Something I haven't shown anypony.”
I invited her to sit. She watched with curiosity as I stuck my head into the closet and found my cell phone. I placed the device down in front of her. I pressed the button on the side. Nothing happened. The battery was dead.
“What is it?” she asked, looking at the shiny dark screen. “Some kind of little black mirror?”
“I…um…yeah. That’s right.”
You should go ahead and tell her. What are you afraid of, Miller?
Shut up, subconscious! I don’t see you fighting hydras!
“Have you had dinner yet?” asked Vinyl.
“No, it’s been kind of a long day.” Not only had I flown all the way to Vanhoover and back, but slipping through the clutches of griffons, a hydra, and overweight police had really taken it out of me.
“I’ll help you cook something. I really owe you for everything you’ve done for me.” Vinyl looked away. “I just wish I’d made better choices. Smelling salts…well, I should have considered what it would do to my life. I ignored all those anti-drug campaigns in school. And now, I’ve got basically nothing left. I don’t know where to go from here.”
“Well, why don’t we start with dinner,” I suggested.
“I’d really like to talk about it. If you’ll listen.” She took off her sunglasses to look at me directly.
I swallowed. Nobody enjoys listening to the sadness of someone coming to terms with their mistakes. The fact that I had played more than a small part in drug distribution put me even further in the emotional hole.
“I guess it started out with the little stuff. Just a puff of buckweed here and there at parties. But then…well, you’ve probably heard stories about how things escalate.”
I nodded.
“The hospital psychologist helped me see what I was doing.” Vinyl wasn’t crying, but she did seem to be sniffing a lot. “I started making sacrifices. Everything that was supposed to be important to me just wasn’t anymore. All I had went to getting high. I’m two months behind on rent, and there isn’t much left to sell.”
Her attitude abruptly changed, and for the better. With a different look in her eyes, Vinyl said, “I’m going to try my hardest not to go back to what I was doing, but I’m worried that I don’t have that kind of willpower by myself. I don’t know if I could do it without you. You’re a good friend. It really means a lot to me.”
I struggled with a response. Vinyl looked like she expected one. I finally managed, “I’ll do what I can.”
Something began to creep into her expression. I wasn’t sure if it was doubt or disappointment. I knew my tone hadn’t been rock-solid supportive, something that Vinyl desperately needed. I gulped and tried again. “We’ve all done things we aren’t proud of.”
She looked unconvinced. I debated saying more, unsure if it would help or just look like I was grasping at straws. I turned to the stove to adjust the temperature.
“What have you done?” Vinyl asked quietly.
I paused with my back to her. She went on. “You’re a really great guy. What could you possibly not be proud of?”
I closed my eyes and said a quick prayer before turning. “Should I start at the beginning, or just give you the highlights?”
If I stopped talking for any reason I might realize what I was doing and get scared. Without waiting for her to answer, I plowed ahead. “Earlier today, I was in a fight.”
I raised my wing, showing off the scabbed talon scratches. Vinyl’s eyes went big, and I explained, “Four griffons and a hydra, if you can believe that. It was a little detour on my way to a delivery. I was taking a cartload of smelling salts to Vanhoover.”
Vinyl wore an expression like a kid who had just been told that Santa Claus wasn’t real. “You…you’re…”
I couldn’t wait for her to put together a whole sentence or my storytelling momentum might be lost. “That’s on top of the other terrible things I’ve had to do since I got here. Not just the fighting, but doing business with criminals from both inside and outside Equestria, transporting drugs everywhere, and just the other day, they wanted me to murder one this stallion—”
Vinyl held up her hooves, looking like somepony in fear for her life. The tears she’d held back earlier began to break free. “I didn’t want to believe it. When I last talked to my dealer, he said there was somepony new in town. I just couldn’t believe it was the same pony I knew. How could you be Miller the Killer?”
She was already bolting for the door by the time her last sentence was finished. She slammed it open and charged down the hallway. Her racing steps didn’t stop at the next door apartment, and I couldn’t blame her. I wouldn’t want to live near somepony who had a such a ghastly epithet, either.
Miller the Killer . Really? Who came up with that? I shook my head. Just what kind of reputation had I built? It was surely undeserved and absolutely paper-thin. As soon as I failed to live up to such a name, I was toast. Duster, or any pony he associated with, was brutal enough to actually deserve a moniker like that, not me. I was the wrong guy. Wrong place, time, body, wrong everything .
There was something I could do right, however. I felt like I had to. Quickly turning off the stove, I went out the door and after Vinyl. She had said that I was a good friend. Well, it was time to prove that I deserved that reputation.
She had left her sunglasses, and I slipped them on for safekeeping. To my surprise, they actually made it easier to see at night. Some sort of enchantment, I supposed. That made it doubly simple to track her down.
It was basically impossible for a running pony to outpace a pegasus. I didn’t want to just swoop in or Vinyl might get the wrong idea. I decided to just wait and watch for a while. Maybe I could approach her when her emotions began to calm and she slowed down.
About five minutes and many blocks later, Vinyl slowed to a trot. Her sides were heaving, and not just from exertion. Trying to be as gentle as possible, I landed on the corner ahead of her. She saw me and came to a halt.
“I’m sorry!” That seemed like a good way to begin. Continuing, I said, “I didn’t mean to get caught up in all this. I couldn’t help it. Things just got out of hand, and I couldn’t get myself out of the situation. I’ve been dead on my feet trying to fix things, and…I need your help.”
Seconds passed. Vinyl seemed less fearful than before, but I could still see mistrust in her eyes. She opened her mouth. “What do you mean by—”
And then I was slammed to the pavement by a very angry griffon.
“Thought you could get away?” he roared in my ear. “I don’t care if there was a hydra, I’m not going back to the boss with nothing to show!”
Well, I now knew what had happened to the fourth griffon from earlier in the day. I kind of wish I didn’t, though. I could have gone my whole life without seeing him again.
“Hey!” shouted Vinyl. She shot a burst of magic at the griffon, which didn’t seem to hurt him too much, but loosened his grip enough that I struggled free. I leaped into the air and he followed. That was good, I certainly wouldn’t have wanted him to focus on Vinyl.
I shot upwards, making it to the rooftops without being caught. The city was a much better place to duck and weave than the open air, letting me use my advantage of maneuverability. Along with Vinyl’s sunglasses making everything look nearly as bright as day, I actually felt confident in my ability to escape. Well, that was certainly a welcome change.
I reached the opposite side of the roof and twisted into a corkscrew, rolling over and following the wall of the building towards the sidewalk. There was an alley directly across the way, and I shot down it just a few feet off the ground. Turning my head, I caught a glimpse of the griffon working hard to catch me.
Glancing upwards revealed a rooftop water tower on the next building over. It sat on a short structure made of metal beams. I made a small miscalculation in executing my climb and the griffon came uncomfortably close. For an instant I tucked my wings and legs close, whipping through the framework of the tower like a bullet. Forced to go around, the griffon lost some distance.
Diving down into a courtyard between two sides of an apartment complex, I barely avoided some laundry lines and just missed the spray from a fountain on the ground. After another steep climb, I began setting up for further evasive maneuvers.
Glancing back showed no pursuit. Nervously, I checked all around. The griffon was nowhere to be seen. There were no clouds to hide behind, and I was far enough over the buildings to have a good view.
Cautiously circling, I tried to figure out where he might have gone. It was hard to believe that he’d simply given up. Had he abandoned me for Vinyl? I began to backtrack the route I had taken.
I found his body hanging limply in the clothes lines. His neck was wrapped tightly, and it was hard to tell if it had been broken or he’d merely suffocated. I pushed the sunglasses back. Without their help, the grisly scene only a few feet in front of me was nearly hidden from view in the darkness. I’d effectively lured the griffon into a trap that neither of us saw coming.
For the second time, I thought about how I could have gone my whole life without seeing this griffon again, but I meant it more this time. I turned away and hurridly headed back to where I’d seen Vinyl last. I wanted to make sure she was okay, and it seemed only fair that I thank her for the help even if purple sunglasses weren’t really my style.
She was not far from where I’d been attacked. I saw a look go across her face when she realized how unworried I was about the possibility of ever meeting the same griffon again.
I gave her back the sunglasses. “Thanks. I always wondered why you wear your sunglasses at night.”
She grinned, although it looked very forced forced, as if she was trying to get over the awkward Miller-just-killed-a-guy thing just as much as I was. “Well, doing the DJ thing usually involves clubs with dim lights. I have to be able to see what I’m doing.”
I nodded. “Makes sense.”
Several seconds of awkwardness passed. We stood several feet apart, more distant than two friends would normally have a conversation. I cleared my throat. “I also wanted to thank you for the help in getting that griffon off me.”
“I...I just reacted.” Vinyl sighed. “I guess I still don’t know how to feel about all this, but I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“Thank you.” I felt the ice beginning to break. It would take awhile to re-earn her trust, but the process was started.
I started walking, and she fell in step beside me, although still not at a friendly distance. The two of us took up the whole sidewalk, both wanting to give the other space. Vinyl decided that talking would be okay, however. I was willing to listen.
“Earlier, just before that griffon came, you said something weird.”
“I’m afraid whatever it was slipped my mind in the last few minutes,” I admitted.
“You said something about things getting out of hand and being dead on your feet. I think I understand the meaning, but I’ve never heard those expressions before.”
Well, it had already been a weird night. What the heck. “There’s a very good reason for that. I used to have hands and feet. I’m not supposed to be a pony, Vinyl.”
On top of everything else that had happened, it was good to know that I could still surprise her. Her baffled, astonished, creeped-out face made me want to laugh. I held back, however, because now was certainly not the time.
Glancing up as we passed a café, I said “Hey look, Oven’s is open late. Are you still hungry?”
The café was mostly empty at that time of night. Two younger ponies sat the counter having some pie. A white pegasus came in a few minutes after Vinyl and I and sat against the wall. The cook seemed to be tired, and didn’t talk much.
It was quiet at the table near the back. As Vinyl and I waited on our order, she stared at me curiously. I was coming off the high of my previous confession and trying to figure out how to keep going. It was a little easier now that the subject was out in the open, but I wanted to at least sound cool.
“I’m not from this planet.” At least that made me sound like some kind of space traveler, rather than just a confused guy from Baltimore.
Vinyl nodded, showing surprising calm. I suppose once she made her mind up to accept what she was learning, it got easier. I went through something of the same thing when I first got to Equestria.
“And you aren’t a pony?” she asked.
“That’s right. I’m a person. A human being, homo sapien is the scientific species name if I remember correctly.”
“Are you…some kind of shapeshifter, or do you just normally look like a pony?”
“No, I don’t look anything like a pony,” I laughed. I tried to think of some way to describe a person to Vinyl. “I guess…picture a bald monkey.”
She leaned across the table and whispered, “Can I see?”
I jerked backwards. “No, you misunderstood. I didn’t mean to become a pony. It just happened and I can’t do anything about it.”
“What happened?” she asked. “Some kind of spell?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. I woke up in a hospital bed. The nurse said they found me unconscious in the street. The whole idea of magic is new to me. Where I come from, it’s just a legend or something. People also don’t have wings.”
“So no flying and no magic,” Vinyl mused. “What can people do?”
I struggled with that for a moment. “We build things.”
“So it’s basically like your special talent, but all of you do it?” she asked, gesturing to my cutie mark.
“Well, maybe. We don’t really have special talents that are specific to the individual. No cutie marks, either.”
Vinyl considered that. She was about to ask another question but our food arrived. Inspired, she asked, “What did you eat?”
There were a lot of ways to answer that. I picked a rather benign one that didn’t make me look like a cannibal. “Basically everything you have here, although with fewer varieties of flowers and grass.”
After chewing a bite and swallowing, Vinyl said, “So you’re not some researcher that came here to study us?”
“No.”
“You aren’t some monster that’s going to kill us all one by one?”
I hesitated for the shortest instant. “That’s not what I want to do. I’m just some guy in a bad situation, okay?”
Vinyl concentrated on her food for a moment. “At least you can get away and go home.”
“I wish that were true. I have no idea how.” I suddenly remembered the letter I had left back in my apartment. I prayed that it was from Spangles and contained a solution.
Viny looked up apologetically. “I don’t know why I assumed that you could just go if you wanted to. I’m sorry, dude.”
“I’ve been working on it. Maybe something will happen soon.” I went back to eating.
After a few minutes, Vinyl had finished. She looked thoughtful. “So what kind of music do you have?”
“Well, I’m not a musician and don’t really feel qualified to reproduce any, but I think you’ve heard some of it.” I smiled.
“You’re a freaking alien and you don’t have crazy stuff I can turn into techno?” Vinyl demanded playfully.
“Or dubstep,” I laughed. “Come by tomorrow. I’ll see what I can do.”
I paid the bill and we walked back to the building. Vinyl gave me a smile like I hadn’t seen for days and disappeared into her apartment.
I sighed contentedly. Telling her my secret hadn’t been as difficult as I thought. There was a tap on my shoulder and I turned to face the white pegasus from the café. Now that I looked at him, I thought it might have been the same guy I’d seen on the street earlier in the day. It was hard to forget somepony who looked so serious and well-muscled.
“Mr. Miller, my name is Detective Ice. I’m with the Canterlot Police Department. I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
I was somewhat more wary of him than I had been of the fat cops. He gave off an aura that made me not want to mess with him. Also, there were no spectators around and we were alone in the hallway.
“Would you like to step inside?” I asked, gesturing to my apartment.
He quickly shook his head. “Here is fine.”
Hmm, was he nervous about being alone with me ?
“What would you like to talk about?” I asked.
“I communicted with some associates of mine in Vanhoover,” he said. “You were there today. I’d like to know why.”
“I was making a delivery.”
“Of what?”
“I don’t know for sure, I just delivered it.”
Ice stared at me in annoyance. I wasn’t sure if he thought I was being difficult or just stupid. Trying a different tactic, he asked, “Where are you from?”
“Are you just asking me the same questions the Vanhoover police did and expecting me to answer differently? Didn’t they tell you I already passed a truth-teller test?”
“The truth-teller is a useful tool, but not faultless,” said Ice calmly.
“It agreed with me when I accused the two cops of being overweight.”
Ice either didn’t have a sense of humor or possessed a very good poker face. I saw his eyes tick downwards to my side. He pointed. “Mr. Miller, what’s that on your wing?”
I glanced over my shoulder, wondering what he was referring to. When my head was turned, Ice quickly pulled up my other wing—the one that was concealing my scratched side. It was a dirty trick.
“Hey, watch it!” I pulled my wing back. What was with these pushy Equestrian cops?
Ice stared at me. “Those look like talon marks. As it happens, we found a dead griffon today, strung up like a tetherball. Maybe he got in a lucky shot.”
“Are you kidding? Yeah, okay, I got hurt today, but see how the scabs are already closed and the blood washed away? This happened hours ago.”
Ice smiled thinly. “I never said when we found him.”
I took a deep breath and tried to focus through my rising panic. “So are you saying that he died recently? Good, that corroborates my story. You’ve been following me since the café. You know that I didn’t have any time to clean up a wound like this."
For the first time, Ice appeared to lose his cool. He glared at me. I’d managed to somehow wriggle out of all his questions, albeit barely, and we both knew it. Still, he hadn’t been as much of a dick about it as the other two cops, so I didn’t go out of my way to bug him. Something had been bothering me, though.
“Was that your feather in my apartment?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Breaking and entering a citizen’s residence without cause would be illegal, although you might be a little more careful of what you do if you thought somepony could easily get in.”
“I am well aware that the lock on my door is not very effective."
Ice gave me a last look and turned to go, his hooves stomping a little harder than necessary.
“Hey, wait!” I took a few steps after him.
Ice paused. He still looked pissed, but clearly hadn’t expected me to call him back.
I took a breath. “I don’t want you to hate me. This must be frustrating for you because I know what kind of bad ponies you have to deal with. It’s pretty clear that you suspect me for some reason, but if you had enough evidence to do something about it you wouldn’t be waiting around. That must be frustrating, too. I’m sorry for putting us both in this situation.”
Ice stared at me for several seconds. It looked as if nopony had ever said anything like that to him before. He shook his head. “What kind of nutcase are you?”
I looked away meekly. “Sorry again.”
He gave me one final look and turned around. His steps were not as angry as before. That seemed like a good sign, despite his last comment. I went into my apartment.
It was very late. I pulled out the cot and blankets. I found my wallet and opened it as I lay back in bed.
I would give quite literally anything I had to go home to Earth. Days like this didn’t happen to me there. I didn’t feel like the bottom of the food chain. Jenna would be with me.
I stared at her smiling face framed in the photo pocket of my wallet until I fell asleep.
The night did not pass all that pleasantly. I had some bad dreams. Maybe it was caused by eating so close to bedtime. Maybe it was the stress of the past few days.
I wasn’t really rested when I woke up, despite the fact that I had forgotten to set my alarm clock the night before and was late. With a curse I jumped up and tried to get ready as quickly as possible.
My eyes fell on the letter I had received and I stopped everything. It had sat there forgotten all night. Despite my rush, I picked it up and opened it. I was just sliding a piece of folded paper out of it when I heard something loudly crash from down the hall.
For perhaps three seconds I hesitated, listening to two loud voices shouting in the wake of the smashing sound. Then, I bolted for the door.
It was not difficult to locate the source of the disturbance. Octavia’s door was open, and I recognized Alto’s angry voice. I entered the apartment, stopping short as I saw the two of them squaring off. The remains of a china plate was scattered over the floor. Octavia held up another, glaring angrily at Alto who had his back to me.
She glanced up when I came in. “Miller! What are you doing here?”
Alto spun around. Somehow, his face went white, despite being covered in hair just like the rest of us. “I thought you were at work!”
I opened my mouth to reply, but Octavia smashed her cello, case and all, over his head. The next few seconds were silence. I was actually glad how things worked out. It was the least bloody fight I had seen since coming to Equestria.
Alto was breathing, but out cold. Octavia blew out a breath and gave me a faint smile that was part apology and part embarrassment. “I hoped Alto wouldn’t come back.”
“I’m sorry for just bursting in like this,” I said, stepping backwards towards the door. I felt awkward for walking into the middle of a broken-up couple fighting.
“It’s fine,” said Octavia. Her expression had dropped a little, and I thought perhaps it was because she’d wasted her good china on her loser ex. She was still looking at me, though. “We were actually just discussing you, Miller.”
“Oh.”
Her smile had now inverted. “Also, the police came by yesterday to ask me a few questions about you.”
I gulped. It had not been easy, but I managed to get Vinyl to believe that my problems were all caused because I wasn’t a pony. Could I convince the more down to earth and non-drug-using Octavia of the same?
“I’d like to talk to you about that,” I said.
Octavia’s expression changed quickly as if she’d suddenly realized that she was standing in her apartment with nopony except her unconscious ex coltfriend and a suspected murderer.
“If you’d like, we can go for coffee or something,” I put in quickly.
Octavia visibly relaxed. “All right.”
She glanced downward. “What are we going to do with Alto?”
Octavia met me at the front door of Oven’s. I had been waiting on her for a few minutes. We went inside and got a table out of the way. The cook gave me a dirty look. Apparently, seeing me last night with Vinyl and this morning with Octavia was suspicious – two mares inside twelve hours.
“Alto was saying some very unkind things about you.” Octavia took a sip of her beverage and put it down, looking at me expectantly.
“Well, I’m sure that almost all of them were exaggerated.”
“I haven’t said what he was accusing you of.”
I nodded. “I have a good idea, though.”
Octavia considered that. “You know, you could have just denied everything, and with your word against Alto’s, I probably would have believed you.”
“Well…yeah, that would have been simpler.”
We were silent for a moment. I cleared my throat. “It’s true that I’ve been accused of bad things. Before I talk about that, though, you should know that I’m an alien.”
Octavia put down her cup, which she had been raising to take another sip. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I.” I took a deep breath. “A couple of days before I moved in, I woke up in the hospital, suddenly as a pony. I’m not supposed to be in Equestria, and until I got here I didn’t even know the place existed. I thought unicorns and pegasi were just myths. There was a lot I had to adjust to. When I finally realized that I might be staying here for a while with no way home, I got a job that spiraled into working for organized crime because they think I’m some sort of insane overpowered murderer.”
Octavia stared at me. “I’m not sure I believe this.”
“The part about coming from another planet, or getting involved with criminals?”
Octavia looked like she was searching for something to say. “This is not what I expected at all.”
“Think of how I feel.”
Chastised, she sat back in her chair. She still looked skeptical, but said, “If what you told me is true, then I suppose this must be very hard for you.”
I had spent a lot of my effort trying not to feel sorry for myself. The touch of sympathy in Octavia’s voice was welcome, although I fought it.
“I’m getting by,” I said. “I just wish I had stumbled into more honest employment. I would quit, but it’s pretty clear that they can find me easily.”
“So why aren’t you at work right now?” she asked.
I had a minor panic attack. “Good point. I should probably get going and tell them I overslept.”
I started to get up, but she put her hoof on mine. “Miller…I’m worried. You said you woke up in the hospital. Are you sure you’re okay?”
The thought that I might be crazy had crossed my mind before. I refused to consider that, however, mostly because it would mean admitting that my real life, my home, and Jenna weren’t real. What would I do without the motivation to return to them?
I looked at Octavia’s concerned expression. “I’m okay.”
She let me go, but had a last question. “Just what have you been doing for the group Alto told me about?”
“I haven’t murdered anypony.” Killed unintentionally or in self-defense, perhaps. I managed to suppress a shudder at that thought.
“That doesn’t tell me what you did do,” she pointed out.
I sighed. “Would it be easier if you didn’t know? I don’t want my problems to become your problems.”
Octavia considered that for a moment. “Mr. Miller, I think you have a good heart, but I’m not sure what to do with the rest of you. I think it would be best for all concerned parties if you began looking for a new residence.”
I was surprised, but I couldn’t blame Octavia for wanting to distance herself from any and all ponies the police were interested in. I nodded. “I’ll leave.”
She wouldn’t allow me to pay her café bill in addition to my own. I went out on the street feeling down. Fear, I’d almost gotten bored of in the last few days. The feeling that I might have lost a friend was somehow worse.
I put those thoughts aside and hurried to the shop. Bend did not look particularly displeased that I was late.
“I’m sorry. I overslept and then received an eviction notice.”
“Do you need some time to look for a new place?” he asked.
“Wha-really? I didn’t think…”
Bend shrugged. “You’ve been working hard. Take some time.”
I suppose I had been working pretty hard, both at the shop and elsewhere. The idea that I could take some time off being a criminal was almost hilarious.
Outside the shop I paused, thinking of where I should go first. I shouldn’t have dawdled. Ice descended from the sky and landed beside me. I looked at him, a little surprised that we met again so quickly.
“Ms. Octavia showed up this morning to report her coltfriend for assault,” he said.
Octavia had turned in Alto and then met me at Oven’s. Her earth pony build made her stronger than she looked, like I had observed when she transported her cello. Alto had been carried to the police station on her back, tied with cello string. I had helped with the knots.
Ice went on. “He said you threatened him.”
“It was Octavia who hit him over the head with a cello,” I pointed out.
Ignoring my comment, Ice went on. “He also said a lot more about you. Sounds like he doesn’t like you very much, accusing you of murder and a dozen other things.”
His tone was not conversational, and his stare was as cold as his name. I felt like I was going to be slapped in cuffs if I said one wrong word.
“I think he might have a criminal record,” I said. “Does that affect his credibility?”
“It does. That doesn’t mean he can’t prove what he’s saying, however. We’re working on that now.”
I wasn’t sure if Ice was confident that I would eventually be arrested, or just trying to squeeze me again. I tried a joke. “So should I keep my schedule free?”
“I think you should.” He turned away.
“I have the rest of the day off to look for a new apartment. I’m going to a card game tonight.” I figured that if he wanted to follow me and see how innocent I was, I should make it as easy as possible. Then I remembered who else would be at the card game.
Ice glanced at me and then departed.
I turned towards the apartment building. It was not the most high-class place to live—I thought that Octavia actually seemed too classy to be the owner—but I didn’t really want to move out. Still, I should probably get started on that.
I didn’t own much, and was considering just collecting it all and leaving. I could carry it around with me while apartment hunting. I decided not to, though. Octavia hadn’t said I should be gone immediately, and all that stuff would slow me down if I had to make a quick getaway.
Ugh, what had my life become if I was planning to be attacked?
I stopped by my apartment anyway. I figured I should have some bits for a deposit. When I walked into the hallway, a pale red, almost pink, stallion was tapping on Vinyl’s door.
He kept on knocking as I approached, occasionally calling her name. While I wasn’t for sure that she was home, I didn’t know of anywhere else she might be. I figured the stallion was not somepony she wanted to talk to.
“Hey, I heard you were in the hospital,” said the pony to the closed door, still knocking. I slowed down as I worked the key in my lock, waiting to hear if he would say more.
Vinyl’s door opened. “Raz, what are you doing here?”
“I just came to see if you’re all right. Wouldn’t want somepony I know to die.”
I had gotten my door unlocked and stepped into the apartment but remained just inside the frame, listening. I heard Vinyl’s reply. “I appreciate the concern, but you can’t be here.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“You are the reason I almost died.”
Well then, this must be her dealer. It was encouraging that she wasn’t happy to see him, and I knew she was basically out of money to buy anything else, but what if he gave free samples?
“It’s safe if you take it how I tell you,” said Raz. “Here, do you need a demo?”
There was a moment of silence. Worried that Vinyl hadn’t immediately said no, I went out into the hallway, stepping carefully. The threadbare carpet dampened my hooves into silence. By the time I reached a point behind the stallion, Vinyl still hadn’t answered his question. I gave her a pointed look.
With her eyes hidden behind sunglasses, Vinyl gave no indication to Raz that she had seen me. She swallowed hard as I stared at her, and said, “Actually Raz, I want you to leave me alone.”
The stallion’s entire demeanor changed. Even standing behind him, I saw the difference in his body language. “What? What do you mean?”
“I’m not going to buy anything from you again.” I wondered if Vinyl would have said that had I not been standing there. Well, she had asked me to help her.
Raz took a step forward. “Oh yeah? You never seemed to have a problem with me or my product before.”
I suddenly had an idea. If this was her dealer, then he knew me. He’d heard the stories. I pointed at myself and winked to get Vinyl’s attention. I hoped my acting skills were good enough.
Vinyl got the hint. “There’s something you should know. Miller, the guy you told me about? He’s my neighbor.”
“Hi,” I said.
Raz jumped—I mean his hooves literally left the floor. His mane stood on end and he turned around so fast I thought I heard some of his vertebrae crack. He flattened himself against the wall beside the door, trying to put as much distance between the two of us as possible.
It was a good thing I was so surprised, otherwise I don’t think I could have kept a smile of amusement off my face. I looked at Vinyl. “Who’s this?”
“This is Raspberry,” she said. “Raz, this is Miller.”
I tried to stare directly into his eyes, because if I’d been reminded of how ridiculous the rest of him looked, I think I would have lost my serious demeanor. “Raz, I understand that you’re a drug dealer.”
His mouth moved, but no sound came out. I shrugged. “While I would be a hypocrite to criticize you for that, I still don’t like you. Vinyl, can I borrow your apartment and kitchen knife set?”
She made a face. “I only just got the blood from last time cleaned up. Besides, Raz isn’t a really bad pony.”
I swung my gaze back to the frightened stallion. “Tell your friends that Ms. Scratch or any other pony in this building is off limits. I like peace and quiet, and don’t want my neighbors on drugs. After that, go find a new job. Try for something honest, because you sure aren’t any good at crime. Now get out of here.”
Raz sprinted away like he was starting a race. He ran so fast, in fact, that he couldn’t slow in time for the stairs and fell down them. I heard the stallion pick himself up at the bottom and keep going.
Vinyl began giggling, which soon progressed into a full-on guffaw. It was contagious, and soon I was laughing with her. It worried me a little bit that throwing my reputation around was entertaining. I reminded myself to be careful.
“Wow,” said Vinyl. “Just wow. Thanks for that.”
I didn’t know if she meant getting rid of her dealer or letting her in on a good joke. I smiled. “Don’t mention it. Oh, and while I’m here, I said I would give you some music.”
“Yeah…I don’t really have anything to record it with.” She smiled, a little sadly. “Thanks. I appreciate it anyway.”
I nodded. “I suppose that’s all right. The battery in my phone is dead, anyway.”
“Phone?” she asked.
“It’s a multipurpose device usually used for communication, but I have some music on it as well. I showed it to you once.”
Vinyl nodded. “So if the battery is dead, how is it charged?”
“It has a cable that plugs into a wall socket. I don’t know if the Equestrian electrical grid is compatible, but I don’t have the cable anyway.”
“I might be able to work something out,” said Vinyl, her voice giddy. “I repaired and modified a lot of my equipment.”
It wasn’t like she could make the phone any more useless than it already was. I nodded. “It goes through a converter into a USB cable, which if I remember correctly is five volts.”
“Sounds easy! Let’s make this happen!”
Getting swept up with her enthusiasm, the two of us went over to my apartment. I showed her the phone’s tiny power port. Vinyl said it would be difficult to mate wires to such delicate electrodes, but as a unicorn she was much better equipped for the task.
I saw the letter lying where I had dropped it. While Vinyl analyzed the phone, I snatched it up. Unfolding the paper, I was finally able to read it. “What the—?”
Vinyl looked up. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. You’ll have to deal with that thing yourself. I have to go somewhere.”
Unperturbed, she shrugged and carried the phone back over to her place. I read the letter again. It was an address, and nothing more.
I continued to stare at the paper. I turned it over and inspected the envelope. Come to think of it, how did I know this was actually from Spangles?
I frowned. How did I know it wasn’t ? Did the School for Gifted Unicorns have official stationery he could have written on? Why didn’t he at least write a little note of encouragement? Sorry for the delay, we’re working on your problem now, human.
I sighed and tucked the paper under my wing. I didn’t want to jump into a situation without knowing anything about it, but I had no better ideas.
It took me a while to find the place. It was an apothecary close to the center of town. Judging by the architecture, it might have been as old as the castle itself. Despite being right in the middle of the bustling central district, the shop did not appear to receive many customers.
It was dim inside, and stuff was everywhere. I would describe the stuff in more detail except I had no idea what any of it was. I only knew it was an apothecary because of a sign out front. Some of the strange items seemed vaguely like herbals or primitive medical materials.
A middle-aged mare was behind the counter. She looked bored, and I wasn’t surprised. The place looked like it hadn’t had a customer in a hundred years. It seemed ancient and quaint, even by Equestrian standards.
“What can I do for you?” she asked.
I placed the letter in front of her. “I hope you can tell me who sent this and why.”
She smiled, although it was more out of polite greeting than pleasure. “You must be Miller.”
“That’s me.”
“I have some questions for you.” She placed what appeared to be a globular little truth-teller on the counter.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I’d rather talk about you,” she said. “Your letter said that you aren’t from this planet, is that correct?”
“Yes.” The truth-teller confirmed this.
“How did you get here?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t know how to go home.”
The pony considered that for a moment. “What have you been doing since you got here?”
“I work for a machine shop.” The truth-teller glowed yellow.
She noticed. “What’s the rest of the story?”
Okay, so apparently she had an upgraded model of the truth-teller. I sighed. “I didn’t know what I was getting into and the shop turned out to be a front for a drug ring. I haven’t figured out a way to extricate myself yet.”
I was rewarded with a steady white color from the little globe. The mare looked interested. “So what have you tried so far?”
“Uh…they think I’m crazy for various reasons, and I can sort of use that to my advantage. I said that I liked meat. I haven’t figured out how to express my emotions like a normal pony. Also, they think I’ve killed on several occasions.”
“How many have you killed?”
“None.” The truth-teller glowed yellow. I quickly added, “On purpose.”
The mare nodded, seemingly unfazed by my last comment. “What are you going to do next?”
“I don’t really know. Maybe I’ll try to get all the members of organized crime arrested or something.”
“Good luck, then.” She sat back in his chair, bringing the conversation to a close.
I blinked in surprise. “Wait, you haven’t told me what I wanted to know. Who are you? I want to talk to Spangles.”
The pony shrugged and said nothing. After a moment of stunned silence, I turned slowly and exited the shop. I could barely walk I was so confused. What the heck had just happened?
I walked for a little while, trying to figure out my next course of action. What had that strange pony wanted from me? Just to gauge my intentions? Was she connected to Spangles through the school, or had she not recognized his name when I said it?
I walked for a while, unable to make heads or tails of what had had occurred in the little shop. It was getting towards dinner time and I found myself near Oven’s. After eating, I would be heading to the poker game. That gave me something else to think about.
When I was finished with my meal, I asked the waitress to borrow a pen. After thinking over my problem, I decided there was nothing I could do on my own. I needed some help. It might be a silly, and it had the potential to cause even more trouble, but I felt that I had to do something. There was a pony I needed to contact.
After writing a quick note of my own beneath the address on the paper, I crumpled it into a ball and tucked it under my wing. After paying the bill, I headed towards the game.
I found my way back to the Magnifique easily enough. I had been told that we would be playing in a back room of the restaurant. I could have eaten dinner there, but it was more expensive and I really didn’t want to be around its kind of customers any longer than I had to.
The bits I had originally intended for apartment hunting would do well for buy-in. I wasn’t planning to spend them all. In fact, I wanted to show up and say hello so they wouldn’t think I had brushed off the invitation, and then bow out and leave as soon as possible.
I did want to talk to Tally, though, and learn more about him. The idea I had had, maybe I’ll try to get the members of organized crime all arrested or something, still carried some weight in my mind, even if it got less credible the more I thought about it. Heck, if I could get Duster and Tally to fight, maybe they would take each other out. I could only hope.
I paused outside the front door of the restaurant, letting the ball of paper slip out and fall quietly to the ground. If Detective Ice was following me like I hoped, he would find it.
I pushed open the door and headed inside. After asking the hostess about Tally, I was shown to a room behind closed doors.
A couple of griffons, a couple of ponies, and some creature that resembled a large canine were seated around a table. Duster and Tally were present.
I noticed that none of them seemed particularly happy to see me. Not even Tally was as jovial as I remembered. Huh, maybe cards were serious business.
An older pony I hadn’t seen before nodded in my direction. “Buy-in is fifty.”
That was a little steep, but I reasoned that I didn’t have to play for long. I put my money down. The dog—I guess that’s what it was—caught Duster’s eye and said, “So this is Miller?”
Duster nodded. The dog turned to me. “Name’s Muggo.”
I nodded politely. The first cards went out and I swept them up. Not even going to think how that was possible with hooves. I had a four and a seven. More cards went out. My hand didn’t look good.
There was a question—did they call it a poker hand here? My thinking was interrupted by Muggo speaking. “Tell me a little about you, Miller.”
I shrugged and kept my eyes on the cards. “I keep to myself a lot.”
“I heard you kicked a dealer out of your apartment today,” put in Duster.
I nodded. “Got to maintain some standards.” Duster did not reply.
I realized that other players were folding rapidly. I glanced around. One more bet was called for. I was the only one still holding cards.
While I hadn’t intended to win a bluff so easily, I figured it was beginner’s luck and decided to play until I lost enough to break even. The cards were dealt again.
“Miller, I’ve been told that the police are interested in you,” said Tally. “Especially that griffon they found hung the other day.”
“What’s this?” asked Muggo.
“The body they found was part of a group of four griffons that attacked me while I was on the way to Vanhoover the other day. He was the only one that survived—the first attack, anyway.” I was beginning to experiment a little with this dangerous roleplaying. As long as I concentrated on the cards in front of me, I was able to keep the nervousness out of my voice and off my face.
“I didn’t hear about this,” said Duster with concern.
“Your delivery got where it was supposed to be on time, so it didn’t seem important to tell you the details,” I replied.
“If something is out to get you, I’d like to know about it!” Duster threw a look at Tally. “Did you know about any of them?”
The griffon shrugged with a sense of finality. Gradually, we all turned our attention back to the game.
I was only average at playing poker. I looked around a little, trying to read the faces of the other players. Griffons had wide birdlike eyes that didn’t blink much or have eyebrows. Their movements tended to be quick and abrupt, however, and any small tic they made was noticeable.
Pony faces were fairly expressive, and the ears and tails were other sources of body language. Plus, I had had more experience with them.
Muggo seemed to be some variant of a bulldog, and had heavy brows and jowls. A slight change of position in either was noticeable, not to mention his ears.
As the game progressed, I won enough to stay in. It was kind of entertaining to win, even if I really didn’t want to associate with any of the players. I began to mentally compare my own body language to that of other ponies. I didn’t move nearly so much, especially in the ears. As a human, I didn’t have the instinct to do so.
Discovering that I had a natural poker face almost made me smile and ruin it. Carefully, I began to cautiously bet more out of my small amount of winnings. Within only a few hands, it had grown larger.
I kept playing longer than I had intended. When the money I’d planned for my deposit had almost tripled, I decided that was enough. More than enough, actually. “I think I’m done for the night.”
It was a hard decision to make. I was doing well, but reminded myself that I didn’t need the money. I also didn’t need any of them to think less of me than they probably already did. A couple of the players had lost considerable amounts of bits.
“One more hand,” directed Muggo, already setting up for the next deal. He had been the most talkative player the whole night, and I sensed the others might be subservient to him. Did that make him some kind of boss? A dog father, if you will?
I was about halfway out of my chair when Muggo called for another round, but hesitated. Yeah, okay, I guess one more wouldn’t hurt.
Sitting back down, I picked up my cards. I had had some pretty strong bluffs through the game. When I could help it, I hadn’t been revealing my cards, either. The way I saw it, the more I could add to my air of mystery, the better. Not letting them know whether my final hands were actually good or merely a façade was part of that. Some players enjoyed showing off how they had bluffed. In this game, I was not one of them.
As the cards were passed, Muggo said, “Duster tells me that you eat meat.”
I nodded. “Everypony seems to make a big deal out of that. Honestly, I never thought too much about it.”
He chuckled. “I sure enjoy a good bite now and again.”
I looked up thoughtfully. “I don’t think I’ve ever had dog. Never went to the right restaurant, I suppose. Or rather, the wrong one.”
Muggo’s paws froze for a brief instant as he handled his cards. It was only a slight twitch, but I knew that my comment had rattled him. Good.
He seemed determined not to let it hold him back, though. I saw him glance at my pile of bits. He had one of a similar size. One round of betting went through. Most of the table was still in. Muggo grinned and shoved his money forward. “All in.”
Several players dropped out immediately, unwilling to bet such a figure. I considered it. It was silly, and I was effectively turning one single hand into a double-or-nothing draw. Those are never good odds.
I matched the bet. Muggo and I were the only ones still in the hand. He stared at me over the enormous pile of bits on the table. I returned the look, doing my best to keep any expression off my face. He’d already gone all in, and folding wouldn’t save him any money. I wasn’t going to bluff my way out of this.
“Show me your cards.” Muggo laid his down. He had three eights.
My eyes went wide. It was an obvious giveaway, but every player at the table was looking at my cards, not my face. I put down the cards: a king-high flush. I won.
There were some surprised exclamations from around the table. I managed to keep myself from uttering a few as well. Quietly, I scraped the money off the table and into a pouch that struggled to contain it all. Most bit bags, I had learned, were enchanted to stretch and some (for richer ponies) had more powerful magic to make them bigger on the inside. This was not one of the latter, and I had to carefully tie the bag to keep everything contained. It weighed a lot.
Most of the other players looked sour. Muggo, despite having lost the most, seemed least perturbed. I looked at Duster and Tally. “Think you can find out who might want me out of the picture? Assassins don’t just drop out of the sky for no reason.”
Duster looked worried. Tally appeared more concerned with the results of the game than with my problem. I nodded to all of them sitting around the table and left.
Canterlot was a pretty nice city overall, and I wasn’t expecting to get robbed on the way back to the building. Money in general seemed to be a smaller issue in Equestria anyway.
It was late by the time I got to the apartment. I paused before unlocking my door, and then went one apartment over. Vinyl answered her door.
“I think I have enough here to pay your hospital bill and what you owe Octavia.” I showed her the bulging bag. Truthfully, it was probably a little more than was necessary.
Her eyes went wide. “Where did you get that?”
“A poker game, if you can believe it. Apparently I’m better than I thought.”
She stared at the bag. “I don’t know if I trust myself with this.”
I frowned, not having considered that. “If you’d rather, I can leave it with Octavia.”
“I think that would be best.” She smiled, although I detected some underlying displeasure with herself. “I can’t thank you enough. Oh! I’ve almost got your thing working!”
She pulled me through the door and proudly showed off her work. I squinted at the tiny plug she’d fashioned, its cord connected to a series of resistors, transformers, and other gear that would hopefully convert the normal electric service into something that wouldn’t melt the phone.
“I have just a little more soldering to do,” she said. “It should definitely be finished by morning.”
“Just remember to sleep,” I laughed. “See you then.”
I went down the hall and knocked on Octavia’s door. I explained about the poker game and my plans for the money. “This should cover Vinyl’s late rent. If you would be so kind, I’d like you to use the rest to handle her medical bill for her.”
Octavia nodded in understanding. “I’ll do that. What if there’s anything left after that?”
“Uh…” I suppose take care of my own bill? “I’ll think of something.”
Octavia said good night and closed the door. I walked back down the hallway to my place. After unlocking the door, I stepped inside and fumbled for the light.
Several large somethings knocked me over and began grabbing at my wings and legs. I hit the floor as I began to struggle, and felt an appendage with talons cover my mouth when I attempted to shout. There was a sharp prick on the side of my neck.
Whatever it was I had been injected with took effect almost immediately. Seconds passed, gradually taking away my ability to move or even think very well. I felt my limp body being dragged across the floor and heard the window open. I was lifted and pulled outside. There was the sound of wings and then nothing.
Author's Note
Pinkawne Pie skipped Christmas just so he could get this edited for you. That's bah humbug on a whole new level.
And aren't we glad.
I felt a little movement. Someone was nearby. I was lying on my face with a hard concrete floor underneath me.
My head was jerked roughly. I managed a gasp of pain, and my eyes slid open. I was in some kind of open space, like an empty room. There was one dim light overhead. As my eyes came into focus, I saw Tally tying a rope around my neck.
I tried to move. My wings were bound and each pair of legs were tied together. Whatever drug I’d been given still made me feel weak.
“Why…” I was able to croak.
“You’re just too good at what you do to go on living,” answered Tally. He put a little tension on the rope around my neck. It ran through a pulley mounted somewhere above me. “I didn’t believe Duster when he first talked about you. Four dead griffons later and, well, I guess I do.”
He was the one who had sent them? Why?
“It’s not true.” Would admitting that I wasn’t actually that much of a badass help? I didn’t know, but desperation gives you weird ideas.
“I don’t care. Anyway, I’m taking care of the hard problem first. Duster’s next.” Tally hauled on the rope and I was yanked off the floor by my neck. I struggled like a worm on a fishing line. I was restricted from flying, and was in just as much of a bind as if I was still human.
Well, I did have one advantage. I concentrated as hard as I could on making myself lighter. It helped, and I managed to wiggle into an orientation that allowed the rope to cross under my chin instead of across my throat. Still, I could just barely breathe and the effort of simply holding myself in that position was exhausting. The alternative, however, was strangulation.
I hadn’t realized that Tally was the kind of guy who would go for the poetic justice thing. While I hadn’t meant to leave that one griffon hanging for all to see, it had turned out to be a powerful image. Killing me wasn’t business for Tally, it was revenge.
He tied off the rope and stood watching me. I could only manage tiny breaths of air, and tried to keep it covert so it wasn’t obvious. Hopefully pegasus lungs that were used to high altitude would help me handle low oxygen levels.
A short while passed, perhaps a minute or two. It felt like eternity, and Tally looked impatient. The door opened and Bend walked in. He stopped short in surprise. “What are you doing?”
Tally glared at him. “What does it look like?”
Bend wore an expression as if he was slowly realizing the situation he might have just walked into. He stared at me warily for a moment before turning to Tally. “Duster told me to hang out with you and help because he didn’t want any trouble.”
“I’m taking care of the source of the trouble,” said Tally. “Don’t you agree that it’s probably better for us all if Miller dies? What if he decided to work against us instead?”
Bend hesitated. Come on! I thought. Help me out, here! I was only late to work once!
The stallion cleared his throat. “Well, if you want him dead, that isn’t going to work. You can’t hang a pegasus, moron.”
Tally stared at him contemptuously. “So you just show up and insult me, thinking you know better?”
Bend shrugged. “Duster told me to help, so I am.”
“He’s going to kill Duster next,” I managed to squeak. Bend might have hung me out to dry, but at the very least I could give him something to think about.
“Are you going to believe anything he says?” asked Tally. The griffon glared at me, apparently livid that I wasn’t dead yet.
Bend looked between me and Tally. It was clear that he mistrusted both of us, but maybe me just a little bit less, as strange as that sounded. Appearing to reach some kind of decision, he started to move but the griffon was faster. The two of them tumbled to the floor, Tally on top. Between the two of them, the battle sounded like a combination of a rodeo and a catfight. Bend got in a few good hits, but the griffon’s talons and sharp beak quickly gave Tally the advantage.
I tried to just keep breathing, my eyes avoiding the fight. There was nothing I could do to stop it, so I needed to concentrate on what might come next. A minute or two passed. Bend stopped struggling. Tally got up slowly, covered in blood. Most of it wasn’t his. He turned to me, still angry that I continued to hang on. He was just beginning to move in my direction when the door flew off its hinges with a crash.
A dozen black-armored stallions swarmed into the room. Tally turned quickly, but the pony SWAT team had him down on the ground and restrained almost instantly. I saw a flash of white, and Ice was there beside me. He yanked on the rope, which hurt, but managed to get me released. I fell hard on the ground, which also hurt.
Ice rolled me over and considered for a moment the rope that bound my hooves and wings. He gave me a hard look and slapped some hoofcuffs on top of all that. “You’re under arrest.”
“Bite me.”
It was pretty clear he hadn’t ever heard that phrase, and before I was done with him he would probably be hearing a lot more creative figures of speech. After what I had been through, he could have been at least a little nicer, even if I was still a suspect.
Being unable to move in any significant way, I was hauled outside and thrown in a paddy wagon. I thanked my lucky stars I wasn’t sharing it with Tally. The vehicle sat there for a long time while the scene was cleared. I looked through the window. It looked like the sun might be coming up soon. Just how long had I been knocked out?
The wagon moved off eventually. I spent the next few minutes trying to figure out what had happened. I understood that Ice was displeased, but now his mood seemed even more irate than normal. I would have thought he would be pleased to finally be throwing me in the can. Speaking of, where had he dug up enough evidence to do so?
After the paddy wagon stopped, I was pulled out by a couple of officers who carried me into the police station and deposited me on a chair in a small room. I figured it was an interrogation chamber.
The walls were plain and uninteresting. After the ordeal I had been through, I felt tired and began to drift off where I sat I had been sitting for what might have been an hour when Ice suddenly threw open the door and stormed in, jerking me fully awake.
“Do you mind telling me what kind of joke you were trying to pull?” he asked, tossing down a wrinkled piece of paper in front of me. It was the note I had left for him.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “Did you figure out who that mare at the apothecary was?”
“There was no apothecary,” he snarled. “There wasn’t anything . You sent me to an abandoned lot between two buildings.”
“That’s not possible! I was there earlier!”
He seemed slightly taken aback. He’d never seen me raise my voice before or show so much emotion of any kind. Adopting a different tone of voice, he added, “And if you hadn’t sent me on a wild goose chase I probably could have stopped you from getting strung up. Darn lucky we got a tip about the location.”
“Well, at least you can charge Tally with murder,” I pointed out. “I’m sure he was a well known suspect already.”
Ice considered that. He seemed calmer than his initial outburst. “I suppose you’re right. We could never quite catch him before.”
“Speaking of, what am I being charged with?”
He grinned at me and touched the crumpled note. “Littering.”
I stared at him. “Seriously? That isn’t like a monetary fine or something?”
“It’s usually enforced as such because it’s easier for both the perpetrator and the cop, but the law states that I can confine you up to one week if I so choose.”
I thought for a moment and then shrugged, attempting to put on a carefree smile. “Well, my landlord wanted me to find a new place anyway. My boss just died, so I don’t have a job to go back to. In there, I get a free bed and three meals a day.”
Ice rolled his eyes. He got up and opened the door. Another officer helped out of the chair. Instead of carrying me, he let me hop down the hallway to a waiting area. I was told to sit still and be good. Soon I would be processed and taken to prison.
I sighed. I guess I could wait a week, and jail might actually be safer than outside. This wasn’t going to be fun, though, and I hoped I would be able to track down Spangles when I eventually got out so he could assist me. Unless the mysterious pony at the apothecary would be more helpful. I still didn’t know where she stood in all this, and the disappearing shop only added about a dozen more layers to the confusion.
As I sat there, the door opened and Octavia came in. My eyes went wide and I leaned forward to speak to her. She was so focused on the front desk, however, that she walked right past me without noticing.
Stepping up to the police officer on duty, she announced, “I’d like to report a kidnapping.”
“You’re a little late,” I said.
Octavia spun, staring at me in surprise. “Miller! What are you doing here?”
“The police rescued me, and then promptly arrested me for littering.”
“Rescued you? From who?”
I frowned in confusion. “You don’t know?”
A burst of realization hit Octavia. She looked at me intently. “Miller, Ms. Scratch has been kidnapped.”
“What! When did that happen?”
“Not very long ago. I heard an awful din and when I went to investigate a dog was dragging her away. I followed them and they went to that shop where you work.”
“Pardon me, miss,” said the cop behind the desk, “but I’ll need all of this in writing.”
Struggling to stand, I said, “We don’t have time for this. We need to go get her.”
“Sit back down!” ordered the officer.
“Get Detective Ice!” I said. “We know where they’re keeping her, and I have a pretty good idea who the dog is.”
The cop didn’t comply, but Ice heard my shout from down the hall and appeared. “Shut up and sit down, Miller.”
“Have you ever heard of a dog named Muggo?” I asked. From Ice’s raised eyebrows he had. I added, “He kidnapped my neighbor.”
Ice swung his gaze to Octavia. “Who are you?”
She introduced herself. “I own the building where Miller and Vinyl Scratch live.”
I wondered briefly about why she still claimed me as a tenant. I suppose it was true that I hadn’t relocated yet. I broke in. “We need to go. Get me out of these restraints.”
“You aren’t going anywhere.” Ice shoved me back in the seat.
“I can help! They still think I’m with them!”
Ice ignored me and turned back to Octavia. “Tell me everything you know.”
“After she was taken, I followed them to Canterlot Machining and Carpentry. There was at least one pony outside, but I don’t know how many within the building.” Octavia showed him something. “Ms. Scratch dropped this as they were taking her away.”
I looked up. “That’s mine!”
Ice glanced between me and the phone. “What is it?”
I hesitated a moment. There were a couple of ways to play this. I chose the one that I hoped would get us on the path to rescue Vinyl the quickest, other consequences be damned. Turning to Octavia, I held out a hoof and she gave me the phone. “Thank you. Remember how I told you that I’m not from this planet? This is something I brought with me. It’s a weapon.”
“What?” demanded Ice.
“If I’d told you that I was an alien before, would you have believed me?”
“No, and I still don’t.” He moved closer, probably trying to take the phone away.
I pressed the power button and the screen lit up. I whimsically wondered if perhaps I had some missed calls or texts while the phone was dead that would have explained everything about why I was in Equestria. Glancing briefly at the screen, I saw that there was still no service.
Octavia and Ice gasped as I showed them the glowing device. The cop behind the desk struggled to see what they were looking at. I flipped through the icons and picked a picture album. I knew I had a photo of a horse saved somewhere and found it quickly. “Look, I can trap anypony inside this.”
I pulled the phone away before either of them could look at it really closely. Ice looked absolutely dumbfounded, Octavia only slightly less so.
“I don’t want to threaten you Detective, so why don’t you just let me go and I’ll handle this.”
Ice had a tough decision to make. Several seconds passed while he wrestled with it, but eventually decided to go with my plan. He and Octavia got me untied and took away the hoofcuffs. I stretched my wings and headed for the door. Ice shouted at more police to follow. He gave me a look of mistrust, although that really wasn’t much different than the way had had been looking at me since we first met.
Outside, I got off the ground but Octavia called to me. “I want to go.”
“You could get hurt,” I said.
“You could get hurt.”
After a moment to figure out how to lift Octavia, I hooked my front legs with hers and lifted her gently into the air. There wasn’t any time to lose, however, and I had to fly faster than she might be comfortable. Ice followed us off into the dawn sky.
“I should go in first,” I said. “They may not like me, but some of them won’t attack right away.”
I flipped over and with a neat little aerial maneuver, passed Octavia to Ice, also giving her the phone. She didn’t seem all that pleased, but it was her idea to come.
Ice landed on a rooftop, keeping to the shadows. I spiraled down and dropped to the sidewalk outside the front door of the shop. Duster was there. He looked surprised to see me. “What happened? I heard Tally killed Bend and then the cops showed up.”
I wondered how he had learned that. Were there leaks in the police force? In fact, I had noticed other times when his information had been suspiciously good.
“Tally wanted to take care of me before moving on to you. Bend tried to stop him. I got away, and Tally is in custody for murder.” I indicated the band of ruffled hair that encircled my neck. “It was a little unpleasant there for a while.”
Duster grimaced. “I thought he might be trying to bump me off. He wanted to take over everything under Muggo.”
Interesting. So he was the dogfather. The card game had been my first meeting with him. How strange was it that I had accidentally risen so far in the criminal organization to be introduced to the boss?
“So why are you at the shop?” asked Duster.
“I heard Vinyl Scratch was brought here.”
“How did you hear that?” His eyes had gone wide.
“I have my sources, same as you. Let me see her.”
“Muggo’s in there,” said Duster. “You’re close with Vinyl, right? Why would he take her? Did you do something to him?”
“Out of my way,” I growled, moving to push him aside.
Duster jumped backwards in fear and reflexively fired a bolt of magic at me. I got hit straight in the face and it felt like my body shut down for a second. I crumpled to the ground involuntarily.
I started to get up. Duster looked surprised that he had been able to put me on the ground, even if only temporarily. He took a cautious step forward and kicked at my face. The spell had knocked me down, but that’s all. I was still plenty aware and jerked my head just in time to take away most of the force. His hoof slid across my temple and brow, not doing very much.
I popped up, intending to charge him. Fighting was not what I had expected, but flight seemed like a risky proposition. No way would I expose my fleeing back to somepony with magic who didn’t like me.
Duster zapped me again, just in time to avoid being smashed against the building by my rush. I hit the ground again, skidding to a halt in a pile of pegasus at his hooves. I rolled my eyes back as I started to move again. He stood over me, his lips twisting into a grin. “Not so tough now, are you?”
I couldn’t lunge from my current orientation on the ground. His face seemed like a long distance away and difficult to strike at. I wasn’t in position to knock his legs out from under his body.
So I bit him.
Given my reputation, Duster probably thought I was trying to rip his throat out. Truthfully, I would have settled for that. He jerked backwards with a shriek. My teeth weren’t very sharp and didn’t have a grip on much of anything besides skin, but he didn’t know that. It was impossible for him to bend his head to see exactly how I was gripping his neck, and as an added bonus, he wasn’t able to point his horn at me, either.
I pushed him back against the wall, using my wings for extra thrust. Letting go of his neck, I used my forehooves to pound his head against the building. Bang, bang, bang. I kept going until he stopped moving.
I took a step back to draw a breath. Ice and Octavia were suddenly there. I reached for the door, but Ice stopped me. “More police are on the way.”
I gave him a look. “We’ve already lost surprise. There’s no time.”
I threw open the door. Muggo was front and center. Vinyl was bound and blindfolded. I had heard that most unicorns couldn’t perform magic on things they couldn’t see. A couple of griffons and ponies were around, notably Sawtooth and Bucket.
Muggo was surprised, angry, and incredulous all at once. He opened his mouth, but I cut him off. “Let her go.”
He looked side to side at Ice and Octavia. Not hearing sirens or other ponies approaching, he grinned at the three of us. “Maybe not.”
“I’m a police officer,” said Ice forcefully. “I have backup on the way.”
That gave Muggo pause, but only a little. He threw a paw out, to give a “seize them,”-type order. Behind him, I saw Sawtooth and Bucket trade a glance. As one, they knocked Muggo in the back of the head with blunt objects from the workbench that were close at hand.
And then we finally got reinforcements. Police poured into the building. There was nowhere to go, and every suspicious-looking character was apprehended before they could escape.
Octavia and I ran over to the restrained unicorn. She blinked in the light when the blindfold was removed. Sitting up, Vinyl looked around. “Jeeze Miller, what did you do this time?”
I laughed. We got her untied and back on her hooves. Leaving her with Octavia, I walked over to where Ice was talking to Sawtooth and Bucket. They were cuffed, but not with extreme prejudice.
“We didn’t hear that Bend was dead,” explained Bucket.
“So when we showed up this morning to work, we got roped into this crazy hostage situation,” added Sawtooth.
I believed them, and said as much to Ice. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were more innocent than I was. I didn’t tell him that.
Somepony tapped on my shoulder and I turned. It was the mare from the vanishing shop. “What are you doing here?” I exclaimed.
“I came as soon as I heard. You’ve been busy, Mr. Miller.”
Ice looked up. “You heard? I don’t recognize you. Are you some kind of Fed?”
She smiled, partially polite, partially amused. “I have a position with the government, yes.”
I looked around, seeing nothing left to do that commanded immediate action on my part. The cops were taking care of things, and there was nopony else that need to either be rescued or beat up. I turned back to her. “So what can I do for you?”
“I’d like to help you go back to your planet.”
Ice’s ears shot up and he whirled around. It was even funnier because he couldn’t come up with anything to say in reply other than, “Whaaa?”
I nodded to the mare. “I’d like that very much. How did you find out?”
“Spangles passed me your note. I’ve been following you closely since then. You may have noticed a few pieces of good luck coming your way.”
My mouth opened and closed. It was a little lackluster to know that I’d had surreptitious help, but heartening to know that somepony cared. Perhaps it had been her that tipped off Ice about the place where Tally was holding me. “Thank you.”
Ice was still looking at us. The mare steered me away, glancing back at him. “I’ll handle things from here, Detective.”
We walked away. Once out of earshot of interested parties, I asked, “So how am I getting home?”
“I’ll handle that. I have duties to attend to now, but tonight after the sun is down I’ll be free. I’m sure you want to return as soon as possible, but I’m also sure there are a few goodbyes you’d like to say.”
I nodded. She gave me a rather radient smile and departed. I realized I hadn’t caught her name. Oh well, I could ask later when the sun was down.
I walked over to the two musicians. They seemed to be on better terms with each other than before. Octavia still had my phone. She seemed disapproving of Vinyl trying to manipulate it. “I think it’s dangerous.”
“Well, not really, but I guess there might be an app for that.” I ducked my head. “Sorry for saying it was a weapon. Probably the strangest lie I’ve ever told.”
“I was skeptical from the start,” said Ice. I quickly swung the phone up and snapped his picture. He winced, but recovered quickly, glaring at me. I showed him the image and he snorted.
“Once again, I’m really sorry for all of this. I tried to make the best of getting dropped here, but I really ended up in the wrong line of work.” The four of us began moving towards the door. Duster and Muggo were cuffed and guarded outside. I glanced at them
Vinyl laughed. “Dude, you got the top criminal in Canterlot and one of his most powerful underlings arrested.”
Ice sighed and rolled his eyes. He didn’t disagree, however. “Make that two. We have Tally in custody.”
“Well, now that all of that is done with, I think we all could use a good rest,” said Octavia. She looked up at the morning sun. “Perhaps breakfast.”
“No kidding,” I said. “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”
Duster flinched. I tried to keep a grin off my face. We kept walking, leaving the shop behind.
Ice gave me a look. “Miller, if you really are an alien, I hope you make your way home. And don’t come back.”
“Thanks, I guess. While I don’t really like you either, I can tell you’re good at what you do. Thank you for helping me get things sorted out.”
Ice actually cracked a smile, but it was gone as soon as it had come. He turned and walked away.
“So I suppose this is goodbye,” said Octavia.
“Not quite. I talked to somepony earlier who can help. I have until sundown.”
Vinyl squealed. “Come on! Let’s go to Oven’s for a quick bite to eat, and then I want to hear some of your music.”
Octavia nodded in agreement. “I would be interested to hear it, too.”
“I’d love to hang out with you two and just relax for a while,” I said. “I’m glad this is all over.”
“I don't think it's particularly right to celebrate some ponies getting arrested, but I think we all agree that it couldn't have happened to better candidates," said Octavia.
Vinyl grinned. "That's one thing to celebrate. Plus, we have to do something to give you a good send-off, Miller. Might as well make it a party.”
I grinned. “I guess that’s one way to make an alien feel at home.”
Author's Note
A big commendation to Pinkawne Pie for editing duties on this story, as well as Brony Tom and AndersW for consistantly supplying ideas. There are a bunch of other names that have contributed one-liners and small ideas.
Thanks for reading.
How about a sequel ?
