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>>192392The short mare blinks. She has some idea of how large city blocks are, and makes a quick mental calculation as to whether it could be possible to get there and back with any time to spare, all within a single lunch break. The sandwich shop is sounding to sound like a more practical and delicious option.
For purposes of Baltimare City planning, let's say that blocks are rectangles that are wider east to west than north to south. Named streets are always north to south, while numbered streets are east to west, numbered starting at one next to the river, and increasing as you advance north.
>>192393It should be possible. The high school is also possible, albeit with less time there than if she were to go to the sandwich shop.
>>192394The speed and endurance of equinity compared to lesser races not possessing four hooved limbs wins out in the end. A smile breaks out over Amber's face as she thanks High Sewn and heads south at a fast pace, the hem of her skirt fluttering behind her.
>>192396I should have been clear. Yes, she goes directly to the high school.
>>192397>>192395Traveller South High School is, oddly, not on Traveller Street. Well actually a part of it is, but the secondary entrance faces Bucephalus, with the main entrance on seventh street. It's actually not that far away from the police station where Amber went a few nights ago...
The building is mostly blocky and rectangular, made of bricks with granite stones for the first five feet, square windows, at least three stories with windows visible from a basement, and big steps going up to the entrance.
>>192398Hopefully no police officers recognize her. Amber, wearing her dress, hair scarf, and her saddlebags (she did not bother to put her cloak back on) pauses at the formidable entrance. For a moment she wonders if it would be trespassing if she went in. Didn't Mustard mention it was a public school though? That must mean it's open to the public and anypony can enter.
She walks up the steep stone steps and pushes or pulls the door to get inside.
>>192399When Amber visited the police station, there were soldiers standing guard outside, an armored car in the public park, and she was searched for bombs as she entered the building.
But this building has no soldiers outside, no guards at the door. Not even a receptionist. Just an entry into a linoleum floored hall with white-washed walls. No pony is immediately visible, but the sounds of clopping and speaking tell her the building is far from empty
>>192400The figurative open door compared to the police station eases her anxiety somewhat. Nonetheless, a large unfamiliar building exudes a certain air of anticipation. Mustard doesn't even know she's coming, and she has no idea what the other ponies here are like. Despite her worries, she follows the signs of life.
>>192401Looking to the right, a white filly with grey mane and tail and a green sweater walks the hall. Behind her, Amber can hear the sound of ponies talking, presumably in a room further down.
>>192402Amber has some butterflies in her stomach, and she's not exactly sure why. Still, she doesn't want to waste all her time wandering blindly, and she turns to ask a question for the filly with a sweater.
"Pardon me. I didn't miss lunch, did I?" Amber guesses that this school probably has lunch at the same time as her job. It was the primary reason for her coming down now rather than after work.
>>192403She turns around and looks behind her, before turning back to Amber.
"No?" She says, and starts lazily moving forward, possibly past Amber
>>192404Part of Amber is disappointed and hoped for a friendly chat. Chiefly, however, she is relieved that she wasn't the target of sudden interest and can get on with her search. She just has to find wherever students tend to have lunch, which probably is the noisiest part of the building. No doubt it's where the filly is coming from, and Amber heads that direction.
>>192405Proceeding that way, Amber sees a pair of blue doors that are held white open. This leads into a wide space with many tables, and very many colts and fillies at these tables with trays in front of them. This is certainly a cafeteria in lunch hour. There is a cacophony of noise.
>>192406Amber tries not to stare and gawk, but it's hard. She's never seen so many colts and fillies all together like this! She glances over the crowd, curious as to how many wear clothes, and of those what kind of clothes they wear. Maybe High Sewn is rubbing off on her more than she thought….
Then a devious thought strikes her. She can't possibly have enough time to buy a sandwich at the shop, but she is hungry. Surely they won't mind if one more filly gets a tray of food? She tries to find an empty tray and discern how the little ponies get their lunches.
>>192407Probably something like half wear clothes. The thickest of jackets are not being worn, naturally, as the building seems to be heated, but a number wear shirts or skirts or at least scarves and bows.
On the opposite side of the hall is a set of rails and food, with a larger mare and a zebra mare at the station. She can see mashed potatoes, broccoli, carrots, and apples as options. And yes, there is a set of trays.
>>192408For many of the fillies in these halls, some of whom likely bring their own lunches, this selection probably is bland government slop. For hungry little Amber, it's practically a banquet. She has to dissuade herself from ordering some of everything, but very politely asks for broccoli, carrots and an apple from the serving mares. All the while, she looks to see if she can recognize Mustard in the crowd.
>>192409There's even
gravy!
"You didn't get yours already? You better not be comin' for seconds" the zebra mare says. She's noticably smaller and younger than the red pony mare.
"Let the little filly eat. She's starving." The mare says, smiling.
Amber does
not see Mustard. Or at least, from this angle, which does not allow her to see everypony in the crowd. It doesn't help that "yellow earth pony" is the single most common color and racial combination in the school, and probably in all of Equestria.
>>192410I have to resist the urge to look through all FiM background ponies to see if yellow earth ponies are the most common. I could swear blue beats it."Thank you Miss!" Amber replies. She can hardly believe she got away with it, though it really shouldn't be surprising. It would be wise for this "heist" to not go to her head.
Despite her hunger she won't let up on her singular reason to be there. Delicately holding the tray in her mouth, she continues searching the lunch hall for her coltfriend.
>>192411 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq0I-bcBWmA&pp=ygUcbW9zdCBhbmQgbGVhc3QgY29tbW9uIHBvbmllcw%3D%3D The mare smiles at her. Maybe she knows that Amber isn't actually a student, and maybe she sees so many students that she couldn't possibly know. Hard to say. Either way, it's quite a difference from the officers, who see a cute little filly, and seem to believe in the back of their minds that Amber was there to bomb them, or shoot them.
Is that him? No. Is that him? No. Wait, it's him! No... No it isn't. What about him? No. That one? That one is actually a girl.
Oh! There he is! Amber spots Mustard Trim sitting down at a table next to a set of colts who are talking to each other, one of them laughing. She can see his tail over the side of the bench, and he's leaning forward, knees on the table. He isn't eating, and he isn't talking either. His mouth is closed. He is wearing his black jacket inside, and this jacket is partly how Amber identified him. Interestingly, there is an empty spot directly to his right. Most spaces are not empty. He seems to be at the end of whatever little group is gathered, and his head is pointing to the left. His expression is vaguely melancholic, perhaps tired, or perhaps expressing little at all, with closed lips that point down at the edges.
>>192412Poor Mustard…
Dodging the moving ponies all about, Amber moseys over to the empty spot at the table. She gently sets the tray down and asks,
"Mind if I sit here?" to both Mustard and to his wider group.
>>192413Mustard's eyes move over to the right, then back to the left, then firmly to the right, and he jumps back, with wide eyes and fur standing up, completely silent. It were as if Amber had caught him doing something he shouldn't be doing. Not all of the colts at the table take notice of Amber over the noice, but at least one does, a grey pegasus colt with a black mane, who raises an eye brow and says,
"Hello. I haven't seen you here before."
Mustard Trim takes his hoof and moves a pair of glasses, away from Amber and closer towards himself. He also moves his tray further to the left. Mustard has eaten all of the potatoes, but not all of the greens.
>>192414Amber tries to play down Mustard's surprise, waving a hoof and looking off to the side. In reality, she's trying to come up with an excuse for who she realizes to be his friends.
"Oh, I, uh, usually eat someplace else," she replies.
"And I'm new around here too." She looks cautiously over to the colts as she dips down to chew on some carrots.
>>192415"Amber?" Mustard finally manages. "What are you doing here?"
The grey colt asks,
"You know her?"
Mustard does not instantly respond
>>192416Amber smiles a little as she chews on some vegetables. After she swallows, she responds simply,
"We do." She makes no mention as to how well they know each other.
"Are you Mustard's friend, too?" she asks the grey colt.
>>192417"I'm in his class." He answers. Tilting his head to the side, but keeping his purple eyes on her, the grey colt asks
"So you your name is Amber? Where did you come from?"
Amber can feel a hoof, certainly Mustard's right forehoof, reach out and touch her hind leg. It's under the table and not likely visible.
>>192417The vegetables have been boiled for too long
>>192412Ok but the line between yellow and orange is vague. Aren't Amber and Mustard more orange-y?>>192419Alas! She will have to get her own groceries to be able to actually taste them. At least she managed to prove that there is indeed such a thing as a free lunch.
>>192418"Do you also do woodworking? Sorry, let me introduce myself. Yeah, and, uh, I'm from around." She idly flaps her hoof again.
"The countryside."Upon being touched, Amber blushes, and Mustard can feel her leg twitch underneath the table. She swishes her tail around underneath her dress, and hopes the other colts just think she's shy.
>>192420The grey colt pulls his lips together, and then smiles.
"Wood working? No, I don't do any of that. I'm a flier." He partly expands, and then flexes his wings, though the table won't allow for a full expansion.
"A shame." Mustard says, and picks up and drinks from a glass, evidently of water. Mustard adds, "I met her outside of school, she's new to the city." Mustard rubs her leg under the table
>>192421Amber would be relieved that Mustard was telling the truth if he wasn't touching her all of a sudden. Her leg twitches again. Is Mustard challenging her to touch him back? There is no way, they are out in public! Her reddened face scrunches at him, but the other colt might mistake the expression as being directed at himself, as she replies,
"Flying ain't got anything to do with it. If you got hooves and a mouth, you can do woodworking." >>192422"What?" Mustard says, turning his face to Amber.
"Riiiight" the pegasus pony says. "I suppose, country girl, if you don't have wings, you may as well put your hooves and mouth to work."
>>192423Amber lowers her own hoof and very gently lifts Mustard's grasp up and away from her thigh. Her countenance becomes more serene as she turns to the pegasus.
"I suppose that to you your wings are your greatest gift and fill you with romantic musings of blue skies. Yet, ain't they terribly limited? To fly is no longer a gift of birth but something that has become available to all thanks to technology. Meanwhile, only technique and practice limit the possibilities afforded to those who 'put hooves and mouth to work,' as you say. With them a pony can sculpt grand statues, engineer new machines that change lives, or play flowing concertos on any number of instruments. These are the things that bring hope to all our lives and shape the course of the world. Couldn't it be said that wings are merely inflexible appendages meant for weatherponies?"Amber turns back to her food and continues to eat before it gets cold.
>>192424Mustard pulls his hoof away.
The grey pony says,
"Oh, you're a philosopher, too?"
Mustard says, "No one expects you to be, Storm."
He raises both hooves up "And with such small hooves."
>>192425Amber giggles into her own hoof, amused by the comment. She had never seen Mustard make fun of another pony to his face before. This unexpected boldness catches her by surprise but is appealing.
>>192426For the moment, the grey Pegasus is silent.
Mustard turns to Amber and says in a comparatively hushed voice.
“But really, what are you doing here?”
Then leaning in across the table one down from the grey Pegasus, opposite a deep purple earth pony, is a big, black unicorn. He says to Amber,
“So you’re a wood worker?”
>>192427Amber smiles coyly at Mustard.
"I'm having lunch with you," she replies.
She's a little surprised by the unicorn. Her ears turn to face him before her head does.
"No, actually. I'm a musician…well, trying to be one, right now." >>192430"Um, the mandolin." Poor Mustard must remain confused for now as Amber tries to finish her meal.
>>192431“What’s a mandolin?” The deep purple earth pony answers, looking over. Interestingly, it’s a filly. She has a tied-back, pink mane. She is on the same side of the table as Amber, immediately on the other side of Mustard. Mustard Trim starts to eat his greens, leaning in to do so. This makes it harder to see her, at least over the table.
>>192432"Oh, it's like a lute," Amber answers, as if the filly would know what a lute is.
"Are you two friends of Mustard…like me…or just his classmates?" she asks, casting an annoyed glance at the less-than-friendly Storm.
>>192433She smiles.
“Sure.” She answers.
“So like a lute. You use your
hooves and mouth for that?”
>>192434Amber smiles back. Maybe Mustard isn't surrounded by awful ponies after all.
"Just my hooves. Come to think of it, I don't know of a stringed instrument which you play with your mouth. I'm sure there's one I could learn to play…maybe." She becomes a little lost in thought.
>>192435“I’m sure you can.” She moves her head to look over Mustard Trim, rather than past him. She continues smiling, and her eyes partly close. I’m sure you can. What is it that brings you here, exactly?” Raising one eye brow, still with a smile.
>>192436Amber pulls her head up and widens her eyes. Partially this is because she was thinking of musical instruments, and partially it's because of anxiety.
"Oh, um, it's a good school. It has…good teachers, and good students. The food is…bland. What do you think?" >>192437She laughs briefly
“No one
wants to be in school. Unless…”
Mustard Trim raises his head back up, once again blocking line of sight. He turns his head - not far from where the mare’s head would have been if Amber was maintaining eye contact - towards Amber, and tilts it, flopping an ear down.
“Really?” Mustard says, squinting one eye.
>>192438Hmmmmmmm
>>192439"Well, the other option would be to work, like in a store…or something. Heh, heh…." She laughs awkwardly a little.
Then realization strikes her, and she perks up.
"A mouth harp!">>192438I wanted purple….
>>192440Mustard squints, curling the lips back on one hand of his mouth, showing teeth in that mouth.
“Oh…” he answers, still seeming perplexed, but having evidently received an answer.
“A what now?” The black unicorn asks.
>>192441"A mouth harp! It makes the queerest sound, you have to hear it in person to know what it is. Now that I think of it, is it actually a string instrument or just another reed instrument?" She bites into the apple, lost in thought.