"Go!"
"What? Go where?!"
Click didn't have time for idle banter. Looking at the door behind him, he knew that it was only a couple of seconds before the weak wood cracked and all hell broke loose. Did they know? How did they find out? Dropping the briefcase, he impulsively stamped a hoof on the ground in an effort to stabilize himself and then took off at a gallop. Minuette had no time to react, she received the front end of his head and the two of them launched through the window of the building with a loud crash. As he fell a jolt of despair and disappointment shot through his body as he realized that he had to leave behind the briefcase and his saddlebags. His eyes snapped shut as he braced for impact.
Minuette flailed her hooves, unable to think straight as the floor disappeared from beneath her. She looked at Click for a split second as they crashed through the glass, shards spraying everywhere as the door on the other side of the room splintered and snapped under the immense force, hoping that Click had some sort of plan. There was no plan. Both ponies immediately tumbled towards the ground in a cloud of shattered glass. Click's eyes stayed shut as they started to gain speed. When they shot open he found himself dizzily spinning, unable to focus on anything. His mind was a jumble, the ground was so far away.
Struggling to regain control of his body, Click forced his wings open against the pounding wind. It felt as if a strong gale had punched his wings as he left Minuette free falling while he decelerated abruptly. Adjusting his posture, direction, and velocity, Click came to almost a complete stop before shutting his wings closed and streamlining his body. The wind once again whipped through his mane and battered his face, but this time he was prepared. He remained sleek and compact, avoiding any spinning, with his eyes locked on to his target.
Accelerating at dangerous speeds, Click came closer and closer to Minuette, who continued to flail her hooves and make the surface area of her body larger. As the stories of the building left until the ground was reached dwindled down to the smaller digits, Click put in a couple of flaps for good measure, pushing himself even faster. He could see a small cone starting to form around him of condensed water, but the last thing he wanted was a sonic boom that would shatter all the windows in the building. There was still a chance they didn't know, that they could still salvage the situation, but shattering windows would ruin everything.
Adjusting his wings and form, he reluctantly kept his speed in check, approaching Minuette with each passing second. Doing quick mental calculations and a visual test, he figured that he would be able to reach her before they hit the ground with room to spare for a quick pull out, deceleration, and landing.
Click's heart dropped as he heard a pane of glass shatter. Had he accidentally broken the barrier?
He quickly checked behind him, looking to find any indicators of broken windows or the remnants of a sonic boom. There was nothing. The cone was still formed around him, the floors of the untouched building continued to zip by. He turned his head back around.
"What the hell."
Click's mind raced, unable to cope with the constantly changing surroundings. Minuette was no longer below him, all he saw was a straight view down to the ground. He frantically checked every direction, launching his wings out to full span to slow back down. The cone dissipated as he decelerated.
"Damnit!" he yelled. Shifting the momentum of his freefall into a slow turn upwards, he flapped his wings and changed his direction, bursting forward horizontally. His mane flattened against his neck as the wind lashed at his face. As he turned away from the building he noticed one of the windows a little farther below had been shattered.
"They just won't give up," he muttered, his words instantly carried off by the wind. Minuette, hanging on for dear life in the hooves of that pegasus, screamed as loud as she could, desperately clinging clinging to the pegasus' body with her front hooves and flailing her hind hooves in the empty air. Surging forward with powerful thrusts of his wings, Click easily made up ground on the weighed down pony. Not to insinuate that she was heavy or anything but... well.. forget it.
Click quickly caught up to the pegasus who was clearly struggling to deal with the burden of a flailing unicorn and his own weight. He pondered how to get Minuette from him. With careful maneuvering Click approached the pegasus from behind and swiftly flew beneath him, preventing him from simply dropping Minuette. The pegasus made sharp zig zags in attempts to throw Click off but holding onto Minuette hampered his dexterity. Realizing that Click was slowly ascending to steal Minuette from his hooves, the pegasus tossed her to the side, far enough for her to miss Click's back, and quickly looped back around towards the building.
Although he wanted to continue the chase and capture the pegasus, Click had no choice but to dive bomb for Minuette. This time, however, he was prepared for a nose dive. He looped around and added a small spin, wings spread out, before turning to face directly downwards and flapping for initial momentum. With his flapping, he easily caught up to Minuette in her free fall before she could even reach maximum speed. He carefully slid his hooves in between her hooves and body while maintaining speed to avoid any unnecessary pain. Using his wings as a makeshift parachute, he pulled with all his strength to keep Minuette with him. Still high up in the air, Click slowly carried the speechless and terrified unicorn back down to solid ground, which she promptly kissed and praised for being ground.
Click, not interested in how much Minuette "loved and would never leave the ground again," took a quick survey of his surroundings. The building was a long distance away now, and Clack and the Doctor were still stuck inside, unaware of the situation they had to deal with.
"The corporate world is a dirty and disgusting place," said Click. Minuette did not hear him, her mind too occupied with savoring the feeling of not being carried through the air or free-falling.
"Come on, we have to get back to the office," said Click, pointing towards the large building that just minutes ago they had crashed out of.
"Back? We have to go back? But what about Ditzy and Octavia, shouldn't we warn them first?"
"They'll be fine, right now we have to go and get Turner and Clack, they have no idea what's going on right now. Ditzy and Octavia should be fine for the next few minutes, we can warn them later and get out of here."
"How long until... it... happens?"
"No way to tell for sure, but we definitely have at least an hour. We can still execute the operation if we hurry."
"Alright, but what about the files? Where's the briefcase?"
"We still need to intercept them, and the briefcase is still in the room we jumped out of. Don't worry, we'll find a way, but for now we have should get going." Click turned to begin the trek back to the building.
"Uh, Click..."
"What? What is it?" asked Click, quickly turning to face her.
"You're bleeding, in a lot of places."
Click looked down at his body and clothes. It was true, the glass had not been merciful. His body was cut up and the clothes were stained with blood.
"What about you? You should be cut up worse than I am, you hit the glass first," said Click.
"Don't remind me," snapped Minuette,"And I kinda cast a protection spell in the panic between getting headbutted by you and getting pushed into the window, so I came out without a scratch."
"And you didn't protect me?"
"It slipped my mind at the time."
Click groaned. "I can't go in there looking like this! It'll draw way too much attention."
"You could just wear my dress. It won't cover your wings but from the look of it your wings aren't even scratched. We can use your clothes to cover up the wounds."
"Right, one problem, I'm a stallion, I can't walk in there wearing a dress and not pick up attention."
"Then you won't be a stallion."
Click hesitantly took a step backwards as he contemplated the options. Minuette giggled as she took off he dress.
"What are you suggesting?"
"Come here, I'll make you look pretty." Minuette's horn glowed as she removed her false eyelashes.
"Oh no, this is not happening."
"Oh yes, this is so happening." With another flicker of magic, Click's mane was pulled apart and being restyled while he reluctantly attempted to fit himself into the small dress.
"I don't think this is going to fit," he said. "We should try something else."
"It's going to fit, do you want to pull this operation off or not? Now stop blinking so I can get these eyelashes on you. Oh, you make an adorable mare." Minuette took Click's mane and braided it, her focus already shifting to his disheveled tail.
"I hate you."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The doors swung open to the all-to-familiar smell and look of the lobby. Click gagged with disgust at the paintings and color scheme once again, even though he had seen it multiple times before. No matter how many times he saw it he would always be abhorred at the choice of color. But there was no time to complain about the color of the building. Minuette checked to make sure nopony suspicious was waiting inside the lobby or protecting it, and signaled Click to follow her in.
"It's itchy," whispered Click, hiding his head from the bystanders that waited in the lobby as he trod behind Minuette.
"Get over yourself," whispered Minuette, keeping her head faced forward and her mouth from moving as much as possible. They quickly navigated to the stairwell, the dreaded spiraling staircase that had cause many cramps and even more complaints.
The two ponies ascended almost silently, Click frequently stopping to adjust the dress and fix his mane now that it had a specific style to keep. As they climbed to the steps, another nonthreatening pony was coming in the opposite direction.
As she approached, Minuette silently gestured to Click to avoid speaking lest he wish to blow his cover. Putting on her best fake smile, Minuette gave the mare a nod as she passed by, the universal signal for acknowledgement with lack of sincerity.
"Oh my, that's a very pretty dress," said the mare, stopping mid-trot to take a look at Click's dress. Click stopped moving immediately, frozen by fear. He dared not talk. With a simple smile and a tilt of the head, he tried to think of ways to silently express gratitude.
"Oh but your mane," she said,"It's so short."
"Short manes are in this season," said Minuette.
The mare laughed. "Let this lovely lady speak for herself. Why'd you cut your mane so short, and did you dye it that hideous color?"
Hideous color? Click seethed with the fury of a thousand suns, his mane was the perfect compliment to his coat. The dress must have been distorting her perception of color. Minuette was essentially shunned from the conversation. His eyes flickering between Minuette and the mare, Click desperately sought a way out, but the stairwell was too tight a space to make any sort of excuse for escape and the last thing he needed was to draw attention to himself by pushing over this mare. Mustering up his best impression of Octavia, Click cleared his throat and prepared to throw away all his dignity. But just to make sure he achieved maximum dignity-losing status, he threw in a girlish giggle before he spoke for good measure.
"I think the short mane looks great on me, and the color just doesn't go well with this dress, I don't know what I was thinking."
"You should consider growing out your mane, I think it would look good."
"Oh, believe me, I've considered it, and I prefer the short mane."
"Hm, well to each their own I guess. Have a nice day." A wave and a smile later and the mare was out of sight.
When they were sure she was out of earshot, Minuette could barely keep in her giggling.
"What, what is it?" asked Click.
"Oh nothing, it's just that you make a very convincing girl," she said between muffled giggles. As she finished her sentence, she broke out into tearful laughter.
"I'll get you back someday." Click left Minuette lying on the steps, laughing so hard that should could barely breathe. Mumbling obscenities and insults under his breath, Click observed the passing doorways that lined the stairwell, meticulously counting and waiting to make sure that he didn't miss the floor that they had to be on.
"Here we are, floor twenty-three," declared Click. He looked behind him, Minuette still far behind as she recovered from her laughing fit.
As she approached Click and saw him in the dress once more she remitted and started to giggle again.
"You know, when we finish this you should consider going into modeling. I have plenty of other dresses you can wear to express you feminine side."
Click stared at the dress he was wearing and then back at her.
"I hate you so, so much."
"I know," she said, bouncing ahead through the door. Click rolled his eyes and followed her. It was too late to do anything about the dress at this point.
"Alright, let's get serious now," whispered Click, carefully eyeing every corner of the hallway, half-expecting somepony to pounce out of nowhere and attack them. It wouldn't be the first time.
Luckily, no such thing happened. The hallway was eerily quiet. Had they found out?
"Where do you think Clack and Doctor Turner are?" asked Minuette.
"If they followed the plan than they should be on their way to rendevous with Ditzy and Octavia pretty soon, which means they should be almost finished with preparing the extraction."
"And that means they are..."
"Down this hallway second room to the left, it should be an office. Hopefully everything is still going alright."
Without another word, the ponies made their way through the long hallway, their guard up the entire way. When they reached the crossroad at the end, Click stuck his head out just enough to look down the hall to make sure the area was clear.
It was, Ditzy and Octavia had done their job well. Minuette and Click turned the corner and quickly trotted down the hall, attempting to make their hoofsteps as light and soundless as possible.
When they reached the designated door, the stood on each side of it, staring at each other. Click mouthed directions to Minuette who nodded. They were to smash the door open on the count of three.
Click slowly mouthed "one", and then "two". He left a short paused in between two and three, his own nerves getting to him. But when he said it, both ponies turned inwards and rammed into the door. All that happened, however, was a loud creak and hurt sides.
Minuette, while rubbing her side to comfort it from the impact, used her magic to turn the doorknob and swing open the door. The element of surprise already gone, they rushed into the room without hesitation, yelling and screaming.
But it was empty. Flushed with anxiety Click made a quick mental list of all the places the other two could be.
There was no time to finish, however. From within a nearby closet a group of business ponies burst out, instantly galloping towards Minuette and Click. An instinctive shock flew from both of their brains into their legs and they were already out in the hallway. Click, tripping up from the dress, hapharzadly tugged and ripped the elegant dress off of his body, leaving it tattered on the floor next to the doorway. He thought he could hear Minuette whimper at the site. As he galloped down the hall, Click noticed two ponies trotting along. His heart stopped for a moment, was he trapped? Who where they? Click squinted to get a better look, and something visceral within his mind instantly recognized their backs.
Clack and Doctor Turner. Click tried to yell something at them but no coherent words came out. They didn't need words, however. The galloping and yelling was enough to cue them that something was wrong, and the angry business ponies clinched it. Glad to be reunited with his two friends, Click gave Clack a wry smile, a smile that was completely out of place but completely necessary. They were unsure of where they were going, but at this point anywhere else would be effective.
Mustering up the strength to force his vocal chords to function, Click turned towards Clack for a brief second.
"The files, tell me they have the files!"
Clack galloped for a couple more meters before stolidly responding.
"I don't know."
As they came to the end of the hallway, four sets of hooves pounding behind them in pursuit, they found windows waiting for them and another fork in the hallway. Click yelled for them to make a left turn, no pony left behind.
The turn rushed closer and closer, the window unveiling the scene down below at the front doors of the building.
"Now!" yelled Click. The ponies all shifted direction at once, turning to the right in order to throw off their pursuers. Click, digging his back hooves into the carpet struggled to make the turn while maintaining speed, utilizing wing power to propel him along.
Then he stopped. He smashed his front hooves into the ground, skidding him to a halt.
"No."
He stared out the window, his friends galloping away, their heads turning and their mouths yelling at him to keep going, but it was too late anyway.
Outside on the ground, Click watched as Ditzy and Octavia were being cuffed and led away by a group of police ponies. It was all over.
He didn't even feel the four ponies tackle him from behind and slam him to the ground. It was all over within a second, everything started to blur as sounds and sights were distorted. Memories were displaced. The police had captured Octavia and Ditzy and they were here. They knew.
The mission had failed.
Consciousness vanished, and Click laid on the floor, knowing that it was all over.
Author's Note
You are reading the story in the correct order, it's out of order on purpose.
I will revert back to my normal self soon, no worries. Just trying out new things.
"Hurry up!"
"Calm down, I'm coming."
"We don't have all day, we have to get there today to get set up."
"I know, I know. How about you help me out over here?"
"I'm supervising, besides you can handle it yourself. You're a big stallion."
A snicker, a snort, and a squeak of old wheels later and they were moving again. Slowly, but it was still progress.
"Come on, Click, we're not even half way there and you're already breaking a sweat."
"You think this is easy?" Click stopped pulling the cart for a moment. "Why don't you pull it for a few minutes Mr. Supervisor?"
"Nice try. Let's keep moving." The duo trudged forward, Click muttering some inaudible curses at his brother. The only reason he continued to pull was because the town's silhouette was visible in the distance, waiting for their arrival. A new life waited for them there, but more importantly buckets of profit were also waiting.
Normally talkative souls were silent on this voyage, both brothers too focuses on getting to the town to converse about anything. The rattle of loose bits in the cart and the creek of worn out wheels were the only sounds they could hear, with the ambiance of nature playing in the background.
Hours seemed to melt into minutes. Each step was heavier and weaker, at least Click's were. Clack had no problem, and consistently broke the silent to offer some "motivational" prodding words. Click stayed quiet and did his job, not wishing to waste his energy in a pointless argument.
There wasn't much else to do but trot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Welcome to Ponyville. Yup, that's definitely what this sign says."
"Finally!"
Click dropped to the floor, panting and wiping sweat off his brow with a wing.
"We're finally here and now you want to rest? Get up, let's go find our building," said Clack. He forcibly stood Click back on all fours with a flicker of magic and then trotted into the town, following the cobblestone road that he had been told to follow. Click sighed and pulled himself forward with a flurry of his wings before resuming his mechanical stride. He could feel his knees begging to fall with each step, weak after hours of mindless trotting.
But there was hardly any time to pay attention to the intense pain he felt in his legs. Between keeping track of Clack and taking in the new surroundings, his mind was preoccupied. The ponies in this town were different from the ones back home.
They came in shades he had never seen before. Hell, there was even a pink one. The entire area was rural compared to the city, and the ponies acted much more rural. A measly hat was the only article of clothing Click could find within the crowd. Looking down at his apron, he felt misplaced among all the bright spirited, carefree ponies that, in their tightly knit community, seemed to be noticing and talking about the two brothers. Then again, they could have just been talking about their "golden" manes and nutmeg coats, colors that seemed to absent from these ponies that were completely normal back home.
Avoiding the piercing gazes of the curious residents, the brothers slowly made their way through the streets, Clack on the lookout for the building that they were supposed to arrive at. Their new shop.
"How much did this cost us again?" asked Click, struggling to catch up with his unburdened brother.
"Don't worry about the cost. We'll make so much money once the business takes off we won't have to worry about debt ever again." Clack stopped moving and turned to admire the nearby building. Their building. "Here she is."
"She?"
"Huh?"
"You just called the shop she. Why does it have to be female, I always fancied a male shop so that I could be "bros" with it, ya'know?"
"You're a damned idiot." Clack trotted into the building, signaling Click to follow him. Happily removing the harness that he had been wearing for the past few hours, he savored the feeling of letting his back feel the fresh air and be relieved from the extra weight. He took a quick survey of the building. It looked like it used to be some sort of general store, maybe a specialty store that had gone out of business. In front there was the round sign that they were promised, nice and empty and waiting for the logo that was sure to sweep the nation in a fluster of economic prosperity and fame. The windows were of decent size and allowed for a suitable display, at least for now. Click could already envision the setup, carefully crafted to attract the maximum number of customers.
Not wanting to keep lord impatience waiting, Click trotted into the building, quickly noting the bell that hung from the top of the doorway as he came in. Clack was already talking with another pony, discussing something about real estate, owning property, and starting a business. Uninterested in Clack's escapades with the legal aspects of starting the business, Click scanned the entire exterior of the shop and instantly bee-lined for the back room, where he would be spending his time. The shop was obviously no restaurant, even without any furniture are adornments it was obvious to tell.
A mental painting was already forming in Click's head, depicting the types, color, and location of all the furniture they planned to buy and the things they brought with them in the cart. There was a counter, just as they had been told there was, that separated the back rooms from the lobby, the separator of employee and customer. Click trotted right past it and into the an adjacent room, making quick note of the shelves on the opposite side of the counter. Pushing open the wooden door, Click found himself in a room that was almost completely empty, with only a cabinet and a couple counters taking up any space. Everything had been cleared out. Trotting quickly through the room, Click found another door which opened to the far end of the counter, creating an extended loop.
He trotted through the door and along the counter, stopping near the middle to blow a sheet of dust off of what looked to be relatively new wood. Everything seemed to have been already painted, the back room a light brown, the area behind the counter a nice beige and the area beyond it an oak brown. Dull colors that were spruced up by the light teal doors. The lobby would soon be filled with colorful tables and red stools nearby the counter. Click could already see the shop coming together. He could almost smell the-
"Click! Get over here and thank this nice mare!" yelled Clack.
Broken from his interior design fantasy, Click quickly trotted from the counter to greet the... was it light amber? Definitely light amber. He trotted up to the light amber mare and gave his most sincere smile. He couldn't help but notice her gray mane. It looked almost unnatural, as if it had been colored that way.
"Hello, Ms..."
She giggled. "You can call me Mayor Mare. I'd just like to welcome you to Ponyville and wish you good luck with your new business. I hear you've brought something that Ponyville has never seen before and am looking forward to watching your business grow with our community!"
Mayor Mare leaned in towards Click, lowering her voice as if other ponies were around. "And bring in lots of money for our little town here when tourists come to see your little discovery, if you get what I'm saying."
She pulled back from Click's ear and regained her normal, authoritative posture. "I have to be off now. The paperwork is all taken care of. The shop is yours. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Oh! I completely forgot. Your sign should be arriving shortly and should be installed sometimes tomorrow or later today. Shouldn't take much, it's essentially just a giant sticker." She let out a fake laugh.
"Oh yes, and there is a garden out back just like you needed. It's already been tilled and the soil is fertile so don't hesitate to plant anything you need. And the second floor of this building has two bedrooms for you two to stay in. I'll be going now so you two can get started. Oh! I almost forgot. I left a small piece of parchment with a list of addresses that should be the locations of everything you should be needing."
"Wonderful," said Clack, nudging the mayor towards the door. "Thanks for all your help."
"My pleasure!"
With a final shove, Clack forcibly pushed the mayor out of the shop and closed the door, letting out a sigh of relief. "Thought she'd never leave."
"You think we should repaint these walls?" asked Click. Hoof up to his chin, he carefully examined the room, envisioning what it would look like with different shades and hues.
"Would you forget about the paint? Worrying about the color of the walls is the last thing on our list. Now start bringing in the items from the cart, we have work to do."
Clack looked around at the empty room. "A lot of work."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Move it to the left. No, to the left. My left, you dolt."
Clack carefully tilted his head to the right, moving the over-sized sticker ever so slightly.
"Perfect," said Click,"Now hold it there."
Click jumped and flapped his wings, allowing him to hover in front of the sticker and the sign. Using his hooves, he pushed the sticker into place, flattening out the air bubbles and forcing the unstuck flaps on either end down. When he was finished, he flew backwards to look at it from a distance. It was magnificent. Nodding in approval, he swooped down to land next to his brother.
"So we're going with Marebucks?" he asked.
"Well it's a bit too late to change the name now that the sign is up. How's the interior looking Mr. Architect?"
"First off, that's not what architects specialize in, second off, it's fine. The stools, tables, chairs, decorations, and adornments I asked you to order are coming, right?"
"Uh, well we're a little short on cash right now so I was only able to get the stools, chairs, and tables."
Click bowed his head. "It'll have to do."
The two ponies trotted behind the shop to check on their garden, where the special plants that would make them rich grew. Inside their cart they had brought large jars full of the beans they needed, but those would eventually run out, so the garden would supply a constant source.
Assured that Clack could handle watering the seeds, Click made his way to the front of the shop to wait for the delivery of the stools and tables and chairs. It had been only a day since they had first moved in, a day of minimal contact and preparation for the grand opening of the shop, which was now filled with the contents of the cart.
The furniture was supposedly on its way. Fast delivery was one thing both brothers were looking forward to in the small town. Click trotted into the shop. The entire thing had been cleaned and dusted, with one or two paintings hanging from the wall and a sign hanging directly behind the window with "closed" on one side and "open" on the other. The lobby still looked empty without the tables and chairs, and the counter seemed out of place without the stools in front of it. Most of the cart's contents had been relocated to the back room of the shop, the shelves behind the counter, and to the upstairs rooms where Click and Clack had to make their living quarters. Personal items, pillows, blankets, toiletries, and other standard living equipment found their way upstairs, while anything food or kitchen related made its way into the kitchen that would double as a personal and shop kitchen.
In the back kitchen there were pots, pans, bowls, cups, mugs, spoons, innumerable measuring and mashing equipment, and above all the crowning achievement of the two innovators. A machine powered by magic that turned Click's grounded up plant seeds into a delicious drink. After countless failed prototypes, the brothers devised the machine to do the work of creating and filtering the beverage, so that all they had to do was provide the ingredients. Surrounding the machine were all the extra ingredients, buckets of water from a nearby well that were to be replenished any time the supply was depleted, and a shelve consisting of ceramic mugs, all white in color, that would be used to serve what the brothers had decided to call "coffee", due to the first sip of their completed drink being so surprisingly poignant that Clack gagged and coughed on it. After that the name stuck, and the plant which provided the beans was dubbed a "coffee plant".
Yet on other shelves were other basic food items that were for personal meals, as the shop doubled as a house for the brothers. Of course, that wouldn't be for long, as they would be able to afford a house in the near future when their business picked up. Click's ears perked up. Something was arriving outside.
He galloped out of the shop to meet the delivery stallion, who, sure enough, had brought along three other stallions, all hauling some component of the furniture ensemble Click had planned for the coffee shop.
"Terrific, time for the fun to begin!" exclaimed Click, already assisting one of the stallions with moving tables into the shop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How does it look?"
"Good."
"Just good?"
"Yah, it looks good."
"Come on, give me your honest opinion."
"It's good, I told you."
"Do you like the colors?"
"I assure you I give no shit about the color." Clack shook his head and moved into the back room to check up on the preparations for the grand opening.
After hours of work, the tables and chairs had been organized throughout the lobby to create a spread out but space efficient setup. The tables were tinted a slight yellow-brown with dark brown chairs that matched the coffee when it was concentrated. The stools had beautiful crimson red cushions with shiny legs and lined the counter to seat those who wished to dine alone or alongside strangers. The tables on one side of the lobby had two chairs to seat the occasional couple or pair of friends wishing to have a discussion or quick chat, and on the other side two larger tables were surrounded by chairs and even one couch (which had come free with the massive purchase of chairs) for the larger and more social groups. There was plenty of area leftover for ponies to stand and drink their coffee, provided they were unicorns. A sign at the front of the lobby advised preferential seating to the earth ponies and pegasi as it would be difficult for them to drink any other way.
With the lobby practically set, but no where near as decorated as Click would have liked it, and the back room and counter stocked with all the materials need to brew and sell the coffee, complete with cash register on the far side of the counter where it met the wall, the shop was ready for its grand opening.
"Is everything set back there?" yelled Click. He heard a shuffle of hoofsteps.
Clack emerged from the door, now appropriately labeled "staff only", holding one of the previously monochromatic mugs in his mouth.
"What do you think?" he asked, levitating the mug and rotating it in front of Click's face.
Imprinted on the front of the mug was the logo of the shop, a green circle with a picture of Celestia in the middle, the word "Marebucks" in the top half of the doughnut circle and the word "Coffee" on the bottom, with two suns in between them and the empty space between Celestia and the circle filled by solid black.
"How did you get the logo onto the cup?" asked Click.
"Magic," said Clack.
"No, seriously."
"I was being serious."
"Right... unicorn." Click looked over at the counter. Hanging on the wall behind it was the menu. It listed off all the different types of coffee the brothers knew how to make, with extra room left at the bottom in case they discovered any new ways they could make the coffee. For now, they had three options. Regular, strong, and weak, along with cream and sugar to go with the coffee. After testing countless other ingredients they could add to the coffee to make it taste better, those two were the only ones that were consistently could at the job.
The shop was more or less ready to be opened. Taking a deep breath, Clack trotted over to the closed sign and looked over at Click, their eyes locking as they shared the mutual feeling of embarking on the journey that led to their dreams. With a deep breath, Clack flipped the sign over and flung the door open, causing the bell to ring for a short bit. They braced themselves for whatever happened next, their dreams were about to begin.
And they began with silence. The store stood empty, with not even a pony trotting outside to take notice of it. With a sigh, Clack trotted into the back room and Click took a place behind the counter, eagerly awaiting any customers at all. None came.
In fact, although they had been seeing ponies passing by all day, the road seemed to be completely deserted. Pangs of fear overtook Click as he started to contemplate what would happen if the business totally failed. They would have come all this way for nothing and wasted the last of their money. He nervously poked at the cash register and the contents of the shelves, reorganizing the different buckets of beans and packets of sugar and the little piece of paper-
Wait, little piece of paper? Click grabbed the paper in his mouth and put it on the counter, trying to figure out what it was. A list of addresses was on the front. Right, Mayor Mare had given it to him. He flipped it over, revealing a message he did not remember getting. The hoofwriting was much different from that of the mayor's, and it was written with much more color than the black ink that the mayor used. Click read the message aloud.
"You are invited to Twilight's library for a brief meeting at 4:30."
Click furrowed his brow, trying to decipher what "Twilight's library" was and what the purpose of a brief meeting could be. He flipped the paper back over to the side with the addresses. Sure enough, written at the bottom was the address of the local library.
"Clack, come over here," called Click.
After a few minutes of idle discussion, the brothers decided it would be best to go to the meeting while business was slow. As they closed the door of the shop, a pair of idle eyes watched them leave and trot down the street toward the library, just as planned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"This is the place," said Click, reviewing the address marked on the small piece of paper. He looked up at the tree.
"Well, it's a tree. This place uses a tree as its library," said Clack, "I've officially seen it all."
"Come on, we don't want to be late for this meeting, whatever it is."
"I still think this is some sort of prank somepony is pulling on us because we're new."
"It's worth a shot anyway," said Click. He trotted up to the wooden door, knocking gently on it with his hoof before taking a step back and waiting.
After a few seconds with no response, Click gave a worried look at Clack, who waved a hoof to signal him to try again. Click sighed, and knocked once more. There was still silence. Clack pushed Click out of the way, his horn lighting up and causing the doorknob to turn. The door swung open, revealing...
Complete darkness. Click peeked his head over the border of the door, unable to see anything but darkness and maybe the outline of a bookcase or two. Unmoved and headstrong, Clack barged into the room with Click in tow, calling out into the darkness.
"Anypony home? Is this where the meeting is?"
The room remained silent. Clack turned to leave, but was suddenly attacked by millions of light photons, with only a split second to cover his eyes at the sound of a dull click.
Click jumped with fright as an entire room full of ponies pounced out of their hiding spots to yell "Surprise" and make way too much unnecessary noise. Clack, still blinded by the sudden light, flinched at the loud noise, but was more surprised when he opened his eyes to see a mass of ponies smiling at him from all directions in all parts of the library. He looked at Click, unsure of what to do. From the crowd, a pink pony trotted, or rather, bounced, towards them. Click had never seen a pony that had such a vibrant coat and mane, especially not one with a mane that seemed to defy the laws of physics.
"Hellllllooooooo," she said, her grin widening to unreal proportions.
"Uhhhh..." Click took a hesitant step backwards. "What's going on here?"
"Well," started the eccentric pony,"I saw you coming into Ponyville and I thought 'Who is that!', and that's when I realized that I hadn't seen you before which must mean that you're NEW, because I know everybody in Ponyville. And if you're new that must mean you don't know everybody in Ponyville so I decided that I'd throw you both a big party to welcome you! These are all my friends, Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack." five ponies off to the side did their own version of a greeting, one of them curtsying, one of them nodding, one of them waving, one of them simply smiling, and one of them that turned away as she was being introduced.
"My name is Pinkie Pie! What are YOUR names?" asked Pinkie Pie, who was practically standing on two hooves about to fall over and out of breath from her barrage of words.
Click was speechless, his eyes darting between the crowd of ponies staring at him in wait of an answer and the pink word spewer that wouldn't stop smiling.
"Our names of Click and Clack, we're brothers. Well, twins actually," said Clack, his nerves finally settled after the initial startling.
A collective "Hi Click and Clack," erupted from the crowd, and Pinkie Pie squealed with joy.
"Welcome Click and Clack! Welcome to Ponyville!" she exclaimed. The ponies let out a cheer. Click and Clack nervously joined in the merriment and accepted a cup of soda from Pinkie Pie to celebrate. After waving at the ponies and letting the initial shock filter out of their bodies, the welcoming excitement died down to normal party chit chat as the ponies conversed among friends. Click and Clack stood at the center, accepting all the welcomes from the ponies. Some gave a quick hello and welcome, others wished to talk for a few minutes to learn about the brothers. Others were a bit more intrusive and wanted to know everything about them, specifically the pink one.
Click nervously made small talk with all the strangers, darting out of the conversation as soon as possible. Each one had a different name, a different story, and a different offer of charity for him and his brother. Clack stood with one hoof eased on a table impressing a group of mares with stories of his adventures in the city. Click couldn't really hear much of the banter, but at one point he was almost sure he heard Clack say something about "beating up a thug".
Among all the mares, Click desperately looked for a stallion or two to comfortably share a conversation with. There were none in sight except for Clack, and if there were any at the party than they were drowning in the see of mares, unable to be seen by the naked eye. Click felt somepony bump him from behind. With a sigh, he put on the fake smile he had been wearing all night and turned to face the next of the local ponies who wanted to say hello.
"Click! Isn't this awesome, they threw us a party."
The smile instantly flipped. "Yah it's nice, the ponies here are welcoming."
"Okay." Clack leaned in closer and hushed his voice. "Look to your left, about eight o' clock."
"What am I supposed to be looking at?" asked Click, reluctantly turning his head.
"Her, the white unicorn," said Clack.
"Purple mane?"
"Yah, check that out man, she is hot!"
The mare stood not too far off, conversing with a group of ponies that included the crazy pink one. Her mane was elegantly curled and swung to one side while her tail spiraled as it gracefully arched and then fell to the ground. Click admired the brilliance of the manes color and style and its contrast with the simplicity of her white coat.
"I hope all the ponies in this town look like that," said Clack, nudging Click playfully.
"I don't think that's possible," said Click. He wasn't one for oogling over mares but she had a sort of luster to her.
"Well, I hope she comes by the shop often! Here, hold my drink I'm going to go talk to her."
Click rolled his eyes and spread out a wing for Clack to place the cup in. Folding it just right, Click held the cup within his wing, watching Clack trot over to the group of mares with his normal, confident stride. He introduced himself, or rather announced his presence, and instantly overtook the conversation that the group was previously having. Not wanting anything to do with his brothers attempt to court whichever mare he fancied at the given moment in time, Click trotted off into the hordes of ponies, looking for somepony to talk to. Most of the mares simply looked at him and complimented his on his orange mane and its style. He held back the desire to tell them that it was actually a rustier shade of gold with an orange tint that managed to gleam in the light and simply thanked them on their keen observance. Over the years he had learned that correcting minor technicalities isn't the best way to make friends or a good first impression.
The party progressed as most do, the general chatter of the attendants slowly dying out as pony after pony decided that it was their time for departure. And after the first one left, the others began to funnel out, realizing that they would be the last ones to leave if they didn't. Most of the guests passed by to say one last welcome to the two brothers, forcing them to stand by the doorway accepting all the well-wishers and compliments.
Twenty minutes later and the tree library was empty except for Click, Clack, and six other ponies. The brothers said their goodbyes, thanking the host and her pink friend for the exquisite party. They gave them each a small hug, Clack giving the white unicorn a much longer and closer hug than the rest, and trotted out the door while leaving cordial invitations for the six of them to come down to the shop for a drink, maybe to be their first customers. The ponies tried to decline due to other obligations (and they were real obligations, not fake cop-outs), but before they could the two brothers were halfway down the street, eager to open the shop for the rest of the day's waning hours. Of course, drinking coffee at this time of the day seemed a bit odd, but the ponies didn't know any better, they didn't even know what coffee was.
As they trotted through the unfamiliar streets, Clack related his night to his brother, explaining in explicit detail how well it had gone.
"Her name is Rarity," he said, a wry smile coming onto his face as he remembered her,"She's a designer, works at her own store not too far away from ours. It's called the Carousel Bootik or something, I don't remember."
"I think it's 'boutique'," said Click.
"Yah, that. Anyways, she said she'd definitely come by the shop some time. I'm starting to like this town already."
"Remember what we came for, Clack. We came to start a business, not a family."
"Oh come on, I'm not going to marry the mare. Nothing wrong with being friends, though, right."
"Key word 'friends'. Just try to keep your romance adventures down until we get the business started. The last thing we need is another Starlight incident."
"It was just that one time! But I get it, I won't go chasing mares around, promise."
Click pushed open the door, the bell jingling as the brothers trotted in.
"Easier said than done."
Clack quickly turned the closed sign around and lit the lanterns that hung from the roof. The shop was officially open once again, and now that the citizens of Ponyville were aware of its existence thanks to the party, they were assured customers. And even if ponies came by just to say hi, Click and Clack would make sure they'd leave customers.
As the two stallions tidied up the shop and prepared the back room, they heard the jingle of the bell. Instantaneously, Click was behind the counter smiling and Clack powered up the coffee machine for the first time since they had gotten to Ponyville. In through the door came a mare and a stallion, laughing and carrying on a conversation as they trotted slowly up to the counter while Click awkwardly waited for them, completely silent. His eyes darted away from them, trying to pretend that he was uninterested in their arrival.
When they were close enough to the counter, Click welcomed them to the shop, but they ignored him, finishing off their conversation. They laughed one last time before turning toward Click and giving warm smiles.
"Hello!" exclaimed the mare, "We were at Twilight's party and wanted to come down to say hello to our new neighbors!"
"Neighbors?" asked Clack, emerging from the kitchen,"Where do you two live?"
"Well I don't live there," said the mare,"But he does."
The stallion smiled and nodded his head. "Indeed, I live not too far down the street from this place, so we're technically not neighbors, but we can say we are."
"Well it's a pleasure to meet you miss..." Clack held out a hoof to the mare, who giggled and extended her own hoof.
Click, quiet in his observation, was awed by these ponies. He had never seen two ponies with essentially the same cutie mark. He wondered what the hourglasses meant. The mare was covered in different shades of blue, her mane and coat dull, dark shades. The stallion was also almost monochromatic, with two shades of amber for a coat and a mane. His eyes, a brilliant shade of blue, added a much needed flare to his look, along with the gold of his hourglass cutie mark, but that was just Click's personal opinion.
"You can call me Minuette," said the mare, shaking Clack's hoof.
"And you must be Mister..."
Minuette and the mystery stallion looked at each other and laughed.
"Oh no, no, we're not married," said the stallion, "We're just good friends."
"Oh, man, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to imply anything, I just thought-"
"It's fine, we get it all the time," he said.
Clack smiled. "Well I'm glad I'm not the only one. Anyways, do you have a name or what?"
"Oh yes, my name is Time Turner but you can call me Doctor Turner, or my less formal name, Doctor Whooves."
"Doctor Whooves, where'd that come from?"
"It's a long story, but to put it shortly my middle name is Whooves and a lot of ponies have taken a liking to the name Doctor Whooves."
"Very well, Doctor, if I can call you that, what brings you to our shop?"
"What does your cutie marks mean?" asked Click. His sudden interjection cut through Clack's conversation, stopping all its momentum. All eyes were on Click, but he was busy staring at the matching cutie marks on Minuette and Doctor Turner.
"Oh, these?" said Minuette, turning to show off her flank, "I'm a watchmaker and he's a clockmaker."
"Well, actually, we're both clockmakers and watchmakers, but Minuette does most of the making," said Doctor Turner.
"Don't be modest, Turner, you come up with the designs and blueprints, you practically do all the work!"
"So you two make clocks?" said Click, still unable to detach his eyes from the cutie marks.
"Precisely," said the Doctor, "I own the shop down the street where we sell and make clocks and watches, it's a time-consuming art."
The ponies couldn't help but giggle.
"So you two are coworkers," said Clack, leaning on the counter and cocking his head to the side.
"Yes, Turner designs the clocks and gathers the parts, and then I use my unicorn magic to precisely to put everything together," said Minuette.
"Well, we'll have to visit your shop one of these days," said Clack, "But for now, what do you say you be the first ponies to try a cup of coffee?"
"Coffee?" inquired Doctor Turner.
"Just try it, trust us," said Click. Clack had already gone into the kitchen to prepare two cups of coffee.
"How much for two cups?" asked Minuette, who scanned the menu trying to figure out what the foreign words meant.
"For being our first customers, only one bit!" said Click.
Minuette smiled. "I guess I can spare one bit." She motioned that she would be back and trotted out of the shop, leaving the Doctor and Click silently avoiding eye contact and waiting for anything to break the silence. Within no time at all, Minuette was back carrying one bit in her mouth.
"There," she said, tossing the bit onto the counter,"One bit."
"It's a good thing you live so close by," said Click.
"It's a good thing you moved in so close by," retorted Minuette. Click laughed, but he was detached. The art of watchmaking seemed so intricate to him. He was dying to get a look at the process and design of the little devices.
Clack barged through the kitchen doors, two mugs full of coffee in his magical grasp, both of them almost overflowing as they bounced around.
"Coffee is served!"
Gently placing the cups of coffee down, Minnuette eyed the substance with suspicion, making sure to avoid the steam coming out of it, while the Doctor simply leaned close and sniffed it, trying to identify the smell based on the ingredients that could be in it.
"GAH!" yelled Minnuette. All four ponies jumped at the sound of a loud bang near the front of the shop. It sounded as if something had crashed right into the wall. Regaining her posture, Minuette looked toward the door in anticipation of it opening and revealing her close friend.
"What was that?" asked Click.
"Probably Ditzy," responded Minuette.
Author's Note
What am I doing?
