Early Morning in the Appleloosan Streets

[The-Jaded-Bug]

Gale couldn’t help but slip a smirk at the acknowledgement of their names, resisting the urge to lightly giggle at the monk’s hint of dry wit. Taking wind of the stallion’s related questions, Gale looked over at Plucky once more, who was dragging a her talons back and forth as the hen eyed spacily as nopony in particular; the perfect “I’m innocent” pose, not that she had much to do with the donkey being up so early. Making a subtle shrugging motion, she set her gaze back on Zephyr and Swift Breeze.

“Eh, not quite.” She answered Swift first, “She jus’ follows me around some. Plucky’s more of a pet than a farm animal, but speakin’ ah which,” The little jenny turned more towards Zephyr. “We - my brother an’ I - we moved jus’ this week, from our family’s farm I mean. But the house he got? It’s a little, well, beat up in places...” Gale scuffled a forehoof nervously at the understatement.”But m’ brother, Finch, he’s stardin’ up business as ah repair jack, so things aren’t too bad. Still, we’ve been fixin’ up the place since we got ‘ere! He lemme take a break from workin’ today, so that’s why’m up early.”

The warm desert air was slowly started to take the place of last night’s chill, but that seemed to be the last thing on the donkey’s mind. While she noticed the warmth creeping alongside the rising sun, such an instance didn’t particularly matter much in her mind. After all, Gale was anything but an indoor show horse, and while the sweltering heat could be bothersome while working on their new home, it was more of a tedious thing than an annoying setback.

[ZephyrBurst]

Zephyr stiffled a giggle when Swift Breeze fired off his joke. Cheesy and not something he was used to. Even with his current troubles, the monk could find a way to keep his spirits high. Something he reflected upon himself with his current situation, though he had found something to enjoy and look forward to for this job with the railroad.

Zephyr figured there would be no harm in giving more info about what he was doing in town, as a courtesy since Gale had told the two of them why she was in Appleoosa. Though he would leave out his past and certain details on why he was there.

"Hmm." He tapped a hoof to his chin lightly. "That's nice of you to help him fix up his shop like that." He spoke with a small and relaxed his features. "I'm here with Max to work on this big railroad project he has plans for. I don't know much about it, he's still explaining it all to me and my friend. She's the one sleeping still. We're heading off to Stalliongrad in a few days for some big, uh..." Zephyr stalled a moment, as he didn't remember what Max had called it. "I uh, I think he said conference."

Zephyr tried to brush off his ignorance on the subject by moving to the next topic. "It's a big thing though. I'm happy to be a part of it." Zephyr knew that was a lie, he didn't care for the project's success or failure. The only joy he found in the situation was talking with Silversword, who had shown him a different way of life.

[Parodius]

Nodding, Swift smiled at the two. "It's good to have something to do with oneself. Though, rest is important too. I wish you both luck in your endeavors." Another nod.

He scuffs at the ground with a hoof, then looks around, mind somewhat blank. Just what was it that he was supposed to do? Should he just go back to the temple? His talk so far had helped him to identify his troubles, at least. Perhaps that was enough for one day.

[The-Jaded-Bug]

The jenny grinned lightly at the acknowledgement, but something yet again didn’t quite sit right with the rest of what Zephyr had to say. He seemed like he had good intentions, but it was as though the dark green Pegasus was trying to condense the whole story. An eyebrow rose as Gale’s smile slowly yet surely faltered, trying to think of just why she was starting to suspect that something was up.

Then it dawned to her. He obviously didn’t think much of the little donkey. To him, she must have appeared to be some small, immature, weakling of a foal who barely had any understanding of what either of them had been saying. He was dumbing down his vocabulary for the sake of communicating to someone that had plenty more smarts than he was willing to acknowledge.

Resisting the urge to give him a dirty, full-blown glare, her blood began to boil. She wasn’t going to tolerate those flying horseapples, now, was she?

When the monk spoke up while giving them his best wishes, Gale finally managed a happier, more genuine expression. She didn’t have it in her to act mean towards the other, especially not when he was actually treating her like a person rather than as a size and age group. She tipped her head at him with friendly smile.

“Why thanks Swift,” She interjected politely. “Welp, if ya don’ mind me callin’ ya that!” Gale wasn’t sure if the light green stallion cared about being casual as far as names went, considering how polite the Pegasus himself could be. She then turned her head towards Zephyr, the donkey’s smile morphing into that of a smirk. An idea of how to deal with him had began to take form in her mind: Resorting to fistihooves was obviously out of the question, as he hadn’t directly invoked her...yet...and he was a full-grown adult, and who was seemingly working with a rather powerful stallion at that! In the meantime, she’d have to prove herself that she was anything but stupid. In fact, maybe she could outright convince him that she knew more about his whereabouts than she actually did.

“Oh, and I think I know what yer talkin’ 'bout there, Zeph. ‘It’s s’posed to be the...Trans Equestrian Railroad! Right?” She queried in fake naivety, but she really was glad that the name of the project came to mind. It was something she had heard of since their arrival, considering the hubbub over it. “Ya mus’ be workin’ for a pretty powerful guy there. Hearda th’ Rockefilly legacy few, ‘t’s funny seeing ‘im turning a new leaf ‘ere!” In truth, she wasn’t too sure about the rich stallion’s motives for the project. Part of her had her suspicions, but she knew that her brother and the vast majority of Appleloosans were especially happy about the towns potential prospects, if everything were to go as planned.

Gale put a hoof by her muzzle in thought. She didn’t know too much about who else was investing in the project that was working closely with Max, though there were rumors abound that he apparently brought along two bodyguards - one being an actual guard in their own right, and the other being some criminal of sorts. A part of her doubted that it was true, since she didn’t know anypony who would have the right mind to trust the latter in protecting such an influential figure...but her eyes suddenly flickered, the unlikely happening giving her another idea to follow through.

“Though, I’ve gotta ask ya - y’all know anypony else workin’ on th’ whole thing? ‘Cause somepony said some days ago there was ah, say, odd duo workin’ with Max, correct?” She shuffled her hooves casually as she peered her head over at Zephyr. “Somethin’ about ah guardsmare an’ a convict duking it out at one point. Y’ don’ happen to know ‘em, right? And wha’d of yer friend? Would she know of ‘em?” A devious smirk formed as the jenny began to circle around him. Of course, she honestly wouldn’t have know whether or not Zephyr Burst had any part of that, let alone if that was the truth, and Gale had only heard that the guard in particular was a mare, though she couldn’t be too sure about that either. She honestly didn’t believe the whole situation to be true, but it was at least worth attempting to rile him up in retaliation.

[ZephyrBurst]

"I wish you both luck in your endeavors."

When Zephyr heard this, he was slightly worried that meant Swift would leave. Luckily, that wasn't the case. There was nothing keeping him out here other than the interesting green pegasus. The donkey was decent company he supposed, but that all changed when she began to ask rather odd questions. Questions spoken in a way that seemed as if Gale was accusing Zephyr of lying. Zephyr didn't care if all of Appleoosa knew how he ended up employed by Max. He didn't care much for this small town and he would be rid of it in a few days anyway. Despite that, he wasn't going to give Gale the satisfaction of having her questions directly answered. He didn't like the way she said 'convict'. Luckily, she did not speak ill of Silver.

His ears pinned back at first, as Gale's words were upsetting, but Zephyr suddenly got an idea. His ears shifted back to their neutral stance and a slight grin came to Zephyr's muzzle.

"Yes, she would know of them, quite well actually. She's pretty sharp." Zephyr hadn't realized his bad pun when referring to Silver in that way, not that his audience would understand. "I know of them as well." He rubbed his chin with his left forehoof casually, unintentionally showcasing the bracelet on his leg for everyone to see. "I don't suppose you know of what he did to get here? Or should I say it as, why he's a convict under Max now?"

He began to walk toward Gale, circling around her as he spoke. "I hear he got into a fight with the Royal Canterlot Guards. From what I heard, it took an entire squad of them to take him down. I think that might be a SLIGHT exaggeration, but I did hear from VERY good sources that he fought off and injured about 3 of them before the rest brought him down." Zephyr walked a full circle around Gale at this point, then stopped in front of her. His side facing Gale with his head turned to her.

"Those Royal Canterlot Guards are very well trained from what I've heard, so ponies can only imagine how tough this 'convict' must be." Zephyr had to try his best to keep his grin quelled. "He's not the kind of pony you'd want to upset. Especially not a little donkey like yourself." He put a bit of emphasis on his words when speaking directly about Gale.

If Gale wanted to fight with words, Zephyr... wasn't sure what he was going to do. He didn't mind exaggerating a little about the situation though, it was quite fun in some weird way. "As for the fight between the two ponies you mentioned. It did happen, but I hear it was a draw. The two are very skilled fighters. Perfect ponies for protecting Max, if the need arises." Zephyr was satisfied with this explanation, and he hoped the donkey would back off from any further questioning and hoof pointing.