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[Canterlot] The Scenic Route (Open to all!)


Thrylos

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As Dusk Sky smiled at how kindly the waitress was taking the crowd, but was suddenly drawn away by the gray stallion that stood by. He too seemed to notice something before trotting of. Shaking herself away as well, she came over to Stormsong.

"Really, I can help. Care for me to take some orders?" For some reason, the earth pony just really needed to solidify her suspicions about that pony...

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Gearly's head dipped once in a polite nod, smiling as he helped his friend Stormsong. "It's not a problem at all Stormsong... Back on the farm, if not everyone helped, nothing got done." Gearly glanced to the table, making a note of the table's position before dashing back towards the kitchen to facilitate the cooks' and waiters' jobs. He clearly knew that the way in which he was helping was not of the utmost importance, but the job took time, and with the staff on hoof, there simply wasn't enough time to go around; so Gear donated his own time, merely glad to help.

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"Oh, I couldn't ask you to help... I don't even really know who you are, and besides... well, I'm sure we've got everything under control now... " Stormsong was attempting to explain to her customer why she couldn't bring herself to ask a customer help do her job, when the doors to the restaurant opened and another three families stepped in. Nopony else was paying attention, busy as they were with taking orders, so she took the opportunity to dash off and greet them, leaving the other mare to do as she pleased. She couldn't stop somepony from pitching in if they really wanted to, after all, but she wasn't going to use that as an excuse to solicit for help from ponies she had just met.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dusk smiled a bit and leaped on the job. Walking around, she warmly greeted customers and went of to get their orders complete. Walking down towards another table, she looked closer at Gearly and held back a soft squee. I can talk when we're done. With that, Dusk went to work...

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Gearly continued to scurry about, taking orders to and fro, helping as best he could as his mind wandered from the dull and menial task. He began to wonder if there were a better way to accomplish the task he'd be caring to for what seemed quite some time. As he contemplated the process of transporting the material of the order versus the information contained upon, he continued to work. After what seemed mere moments, the lunch crowd had gone and passed, leaving a significantly lighter workload for the, albeit temporary, relatively large work force now running the restaurant.

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No matter where Stormsong turned, it seemed as though there were always more and more orders to take, until finally she looked around and noticed that they had cleared the rush. She took a chair at an empty table and sat herself down, panting from the exertion of moving around the restaurant so quickly, as well as from her nerves acting up, interacting with so many unfamiliar ponies. It felt like the rush had only lasted maybe five minutes, but looking at the clock, she had spent nearly an hour working, and worse, having her friend and guest work for her. She would have to repay him, as well as the mare that had volunteered to help her, once she caught her breath and found the two of them again.

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The work got hard and frustrating, not that Dusk Sky had tired. It was the nicey-nice attitude to even the bossiest ponies that was required that drove the earth pony insane. Turning this way and that, Dusk had just barely escaped a fight with one of the costumers. Thinking it would never end, Dusk prepared for it to go on until closing...but turned to see the crowds filtering out. Grabbing the random entering pony, it was pretty much empty. Smiling a little, Dusk Sky felt the navy stripe in her hair, and combed it down to its silky norm. Then, sitting herself down next to Stormsong, Dusk sighed, and offered Stormsong a sunset yellow hoof to shake.

"Sorry for pulling a rush in. Let me introduce myself." Dusk Sky began. "I'm Dusk Sky, captain of the airship, Star Wing."

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Still pondering the mechanics of improving the delivery of orders, food, and beverages, Gearly sat down, lightly huffing quietly as he attempted to catch his breath. He was no stranger to work, though the work he was accustomed to had often been slow and plodding; there was always so much to do on the farm, but the farm had been relatively large and it took more than a few hours to plow the field. This system of work, though, was alien to Gearly; rushing to and fro as quickly as possible, carrying nothing more than bits of information. All the effort seemed to be a waste of potential, but no grand and elegant contraptions that would alleviate the problem sprang to mind.

Resting at one of the now deserted tables, lost in one of his nearly constant day dreams, Gearly was roused from his near-sleeping state by, and reminded of the presence of, the golden-yellow mare who had so eagerly chipped in to help. Something about the stranger seemed to tickle the back of his brain, though he couldn't put his hoof on it. Perhaps she was someone who he saw in town on one of his many trips, though that didn't seem like the right answer. Losing focus once again, Gearly scrutinized the pegasus carefully, looking for any sort of clue as to where he knew her from.

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Stormsong took note that the mare from earlier had sat down next to her, but she chose to hold off a proper introduction until she finished catching her breath. It wasn't very often that Storm was required to run around so frantically for so long, and she already wasn't very fit to begin with, so the exertion had taken quite a toll on her. As she began recovering enough to form a coherent sentence without pausing for breath, she responded to the other mare "Pleasure to meet you, Captain; I'm Stormsong, current owner of and composer for this restaurant. And don't worry too much about the rush, thanks to the help from you and Gearly, we managed to pull through without a hitch. Is there any way I can repay you?

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As Gearly sat, pondering the mysterious Captain Dusk Sky, something deep within the whirring cogs and gears of his mind clicked; something about the odd pegasus was reminiscent of his mother. Such would definitely explain why the stranger seemed so unfamiliar, and yet tickled at the memories lost in the far-flung reaches of his mind. Still, Gearly was unsure if his hunch was right, and did not wish to risk embarrassment. Cautiously, Gearly slipped to the table which had seated the the hard-working mares, glancing carefully to the captain.

"By any chance, Miss Sky, and please pardon my curiosity, but do you happen to travel abroad? There seems to be an air of familiarity to you, but... I haven't spent much time beyond the farm my family owns..." Gearly continued for a moment or two, dropping the name of his family casually when naming the farm. Hopefully, if the pony was who he thought she might be, there was a chance she would pick up on the hint, or person she'd already figured it out. Gearly hadn't any way of knowing.

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Stormsong simply nodded in response to Dusk Sky's statement and quickly summoned over three glasses of water with her telekinesis, two of which she then passed to her impromptu helpers. Even if they didn't want repaid for helping out around the restaurant, she would find ways, small things she could do to make it up to them. She certainly wasn't the kind of mare to just let other ponies help her without giving something in return, likely as a result of having managed the store for so long. She was used to repaying the ponies that helped her with business in the form of bits, so she expected everypony else to accept payment for their work as well, even if they didn't necessarily require it.

When Gearly came over to the table and drew the captain's attention away from her, Stormsong took the opportunity to check in with her employees back in the kitchen. She knew they were frequently forgotten about in the aftermath of a rush like this, and probably still needed a little help in the way of catching up, even if it was just an extra set of hooves to let them all get a drink.

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  • 3 weeks later...

'I'll see you tomorrow then dad!'

Curiosity smiled at his father as the older stallion turned back to his work. Sparing a quick glance at the neat script creeping across the clean page he felt a sense of pride that Equestrian history was being preserved so diligently before turning to leave himself. He nodded to a unicorn gently levitating another dried and cracking scroll as he trotted from the work room and back into the library proper then began making his way through the shelves toward the exit.

The main library was busy today and he had to avoid a group of five pegasi who were blocking one of the weather aisles, although seeing an excited filly trying to keep her voice down as she told her mother all about Daring-Do raised a smile. It looked as if the librarian checking out the book was torn between asking the little one to quieten down or just leave her be as she was on the way out. It seemed that she was given the leeway though and Curiosity held the door open for the pair, the filly happily explaining how important a 'sapphire statue' was.

Curiosity trotted down the street, thinking about what he would be doing next. He had a good amount of time before he had to decide whether to stay in education or attempt to gain some sort of apprenticeship with energy generation. It all still seemed so final, there were still so many options. What if he committed to working on a wind farm but missed out on some new and exciting magics? What if he entered college and missed a place at the Ponyville hydro dam? Sighing, he stopped to watch a construction team doing renovations. A pegasus pony was hovering above the building and guiding a unicorn who fine tuned one end of a facade. Below them three Earth ponies seemed to be discussing the layout for the rest of the pieces. They looked competent and orderly, confident in their work as a team. Finding your cutie mark was supposed to make things clearer but he was more confused now than ever.

Getting something to eat would probably help clear his head, at the very least he could listen in to some conversations while he ate. He turned away from the site and headed down the street again looking for a cafe or similar. He hadn't travelled far before he spotted a group of ponies moving with a purpose and overhearing one of them mention a restaurant, he decided to follow at a little distance. As the group travelled, Curiosity heard snatches of conversation drift backwards; something about an airship, a joke about the food in Manehatten, how ponies passed the time by the sea... He smiled as he paused along the street from 'LaFleur Canterlot' anticipating some interesting stories and even some new friends. A few minutes after the last of the group had entered he approached the door himself, taking a deep breath before passing through. He looked around the now bustling restaurant at the groups settling in and then dithered by the doorway, trying to decide if he should seat himself or wait....

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  • 2 weeks later...

Having finished with her checkup in the kitchens, Stormsong emerged a little more sweaty than she had been before, but immensely pleased that she'd been able to bring up the morale of her cooking staff. The musician glanced around, looking for anypony in need of service, and almost immediately spotted a greyish-blue unicorn by the doorway, who seemed rather indecisive about whether or not he wanted to stay and eat. Putting on her best smile, the blue mare approached him from across the store, taking note of available tables along the way, just in case he actually did want to eat.

"Welcome to LaFleur Canterlot!" She began near the end of her approach, fighting back her ever-present nerves and attempting to remember her rehearsed welcomes. "Would you like to be seated now, or are you waiting on more for your party today?" she figured would be the best question to ask, considering that on closer inspection, he seemed unsure of whether he should be seated or not. All the while, the musician kept her practiced smile on, hoping that her self-control wasn't as thinly worn as she felt it was.

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As he watched the blue mare approaching Curiosity took a moment to glance around the restaurant, swiftly trying to work out where would be a good place to listen to the airship crew. They had spread out well it seemed so it probably wouldn't matter too much.

"Welcome to LaFleur Canterlot! Would you like to be seated now, or are you waiting on more for your party today?"

"Thank you." He replied, "I'm only getting something quickly and I'm on my own so just squeeze me where you can. Maybe there or over there perhaps?" He nodded to a single table near what looked like a group of the crew then did the same thing toward the back of the open room. Thinking that the dishevelled mare looked a little nervous Curiosity realised he probably looked somewhat stern, so tilting his head he gave a small smile and continued, "Anywhere is fine though really! It really doesn't matter. Oh, and may I have a pot of tea please, it doesn't matter what I end up eating, I'll definitely have tea!"

He blushed suddenly as he realised he was talking quite quickly and stopped. He looked up to the ceiling and bobbed his head slightly as he mentally went over the exchange before smiling again and saying "I'd like to be seated please."

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