February 22nd, 993 Domina Solaria

Rarity groans as she awakens, smacking her dry muzzle a few times. A hoof searches for a quilt, a blanket, or even a sheet to ward against the cold seeping in from the hard floor. She frowns when she can’t find anything. She rolls, trying to find the covers she must have kicked off in the night. Instead she finds a warm spot, eagerly sliding her body against it. There’s a bit of give, similar to the firmer pillows she generally eschews for the softer variety, and a slight rasp that tickles her neck with warm air.

The fashionista yawns as she opens her eyes. The barest hint of a frown spreads across her muzzle as she looks around. The windows outside are mostly dark, with more and more splotches of morning light breaking through as the spent storm clouds are cleared away. She hopes she managed to do something worthwhile during whatever frenzy had overtaken her at the Boutique. She giggles as she spots Doug behind her, laying with arms at his side, steadily breathing, still asleep. She can’t feel her heat, so perhaps her time was not completely wasted, after all.

She peels herself away, careful not to disturb him any more than necessary. He stirs, a hand briefly grasping at nothing before he settles back down, hunching over slightly. A quick trip to the store’s bathroom restores her mane as best she can with the limited resources available.

Rarity returns to find Doug sitting up, rubbing the sleepiness from his bleary eyes and mussing his short hair. “I’m sorry, darling. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“S’all good.” Doug looks outside as he stands up and stretches his arms behind his back. “Probably need to head back, anyway.”

“Of course. If you wanted to get breakfast, I’m afraid we’d have to go out. Sugarcube Corner is always a popular choice.” Rarity can’t help but stare at his erection, and Doug catches her gaze. A smirk crosses her muzzle. “Though if you require anything before we go…”

Doug twirls a finger through the air, grinning as Rarity turns around.

Several minutes later and the two exit the Boutique, Doug carrying his pack and Rarity’s small bitpurse. Pegasi swarm the partly cloudy skies, though the streets are mostly clear. It doesn’t take long for a chromatic blur to come to a stop in front of the two just outside Sugarcube, Rainbow Dash looking a bit frazzled.

“Good morning, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity greets cordially, Doug nodding.

Rainbow Dash waves a hoof, her exaggeratedly loud voice almost shouting, “Sup.” She takes a few steps closer, her voice raising even more. “I just wanted to let you know that there’s a town meeting happening soon, outside at the staging area. I already told Applejack!”

“Okay,” Doug says, a pinky digging at his ear. “Thanks?”

Rainbow Dash closes the remaining distance and sidles up to Rarity, glancing around nervously. She wraps a foreleg around Rarity in a hug, whispering, “Hey, um, you know that spell to see if a pony is, um, you know…”

“Yes,” Rarity returns with a bit of a pause, hugging back. “You want to do it here?”

Rainbow Dash tugs at her neck, then looks up at Sugarcube Corner. “Let’s do it inside.” She leads the way, finding a booth as far from the entrance as she possibly can. She hunkers down, trying to look inconspicuous despite nopony sitting anywhere close to her.

Doug admires the outside of the bakery for several seconds, debating if the decorations are actually gingerbread and frosting or just an extremely realistic substitute. He rushes forward when he realizes Rarity didn’t stop with him, getting more than a few odd looks. The ponies standing in line all turn to watch him, even the portly blue mare running the counter. He offers a hesitant smile, and soon enough hungry stomachs override their suspicions and the line begins moving again, giving Doug plenty of time to observe the store.

The main section of Sugarcube Corner has several counters filled with delectable treats: breakfast muffins and bagels, cakes and pies by the slice, and more than enough cupcakes to put down a rampaging dragon. The walls are decorated with pictures of candies and hearts, while the brown ceiling is covered in pink swirls that evoke images of cotton candy clouds, or perhaps the mane of the exuberant pink pony making her way down the line.

Pinkie Pie pronks up to Doug and Rarity, smiling widely. “Morning, you two lovebirds! Is this a date?” She looks over at Rainbow Dash, gasping lightly, which for her means she only rises into the air for a few seconds. “Is this a double date?!” She lightly elbows Doug, winking.

“Friends going out for breakfast,” Doug returns with a casual smile, though Pinkie Pie’s knowing smile doesn’t fade. “So, what do you have here?”

Rarity grimaces to herself as Pinkie Pie launches into a song and dance routine that includes jumping onto counters and pointing at the various objects. “We have cupcakes and coffee cakes and coffee with cream and cream filled donuts and donuts with frosting and frosted cakes and ice cream cakes and ice cream shakes and ‘shaken not stirred’ vod-”

“Do you have a menu?” Doug asks, barely able to keep track.

“Breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, drinks, or specials?” Pinkie Pie asks as she pulls six menus out of her mane and fans them out with a single hoof.

Doug finds nothing odd about this, though the red specials menu, unlike the other pink ones, catches his eye. “Yes?”

“Okie Dokie Lokie! Let me know when you’re ready!” Pinkie Pie tosses the menus to Doug, and despite them being nowhere near each other they all land neatly in a pile on his outstretched hand. She pronks to the next pony in line while Doug and Rarity head to Rainbow Dash’s booth.

“Specials?” Rarity asks with a slight frown as she stands at the table, Rainbow Dash on the opposite side. “I didn’t know they had a specials menu.” She glances at it as Doug takes a seat on the solitary bar stool in the corner. He quickly flips through the breakfast and lunch menus, mostly seeing bread and hay based items like toast, pancakes, waffles, and sandwiches with various grasses and flowers.

“We only give them to non-ponies, or ponies who ask for them specifically,” Pinkie Pie says from behind Doug, despite there not being enough space for her to fit there or have gotten there unobserved. She’s wearing a waitress outfit despite being naked before, complete with hat and piece of paper sticking out of the band. She points at the red menu in his hand. “But if you want to get something special, all you have to do is ask!”

“Special like a burger?” Doug asks, having only seen a hayburger on the lunch menu.

“Yup!” Pinkie Pie grins enthusiastically. “We’ve got hay, veggie, chicken, beef, and pony! All the fixings are included, like ketchup, mustard, catsup, pickles, tomato sauce, onions, kê-tsiap, peppers, and hay fries with extra sauce.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Doug says, waving a hand as if to rewind her statement. “Pony?”

Pinkie Pie reaches across Doug to flip open the red menu, pointing at one of the burger selections. It reads ‘Phony’. The price is comparable to the other items on the breakfast and lunch menu, just five bits, while the beef and chicken burgers are three times that. “It’s really popular among griffons! We make it from bean curd and spices originally developed by Gustave le Grand and his associate Gerald. They say it tastes just like the real thing!”

Doug’s eye scrunches up even as Rainbow Dash nods along. “You’re telling me griffons love eating tofu? Do they realize what it is?” Pinkie Pie nods, her mane bobbing up and down. He peers again at the menu. “And how do they even know what pony tastes like?”

“How do you think?” Pinkie Pie says with far too much cheer for such a morbid topic.

“Can we please change the subject?” Rarity asks, coat tinged a sickly green, before she proceeds to do just that. “I would like a cucumber sandwich and buttered croissant with green tea.”

“Okay!” Pinkie Pie says, not bothering to write this down. She glances at Rainbow Dash, Doug still engrossed in the menu.

“Hay fries, loaded, and sweet cider,” Rainbow Dash says. She slides the lunch menu away, then pauses. “Actually, double that.”

“Eating for two?” Pinkie Pie teases, taking the menu.

Rainbow Dash blanches, stammering nervously.

“I’ll get strawberry yogurt, scrambled eggs with cheese, and a glass of milk,” Doug says, swapping between the breakfast and specials menus.

“Sure you don’t want the cow along with it?” Pinkie Pie asks, and it’s hard to tell if she’s joking.

“Um, no thanks,” Doug says, looking down at his hands. “Actually, add a cup of mixed nuts.”

“Sure thing! Back in a flash!” Pinkie Pie exclaims, disappearing somewhere.

“So,” Rainbow Dash says bluntly, “you were pretty interested in that specials menu.”

Doug ponders for a second on how best to explain this. “Yup,” he says firmly. “Humans have difficulty processing grasses and fruits into every protein we need, so we have to get it from things like dairy products, nuts, and meat.”

“Huh.” Rainbow Dash obviously expected a different answer, and glances at Rarity. “That’s, um, pretty cool, I guess. Some pegasi like fish.”

“Salmon’s my favorite,” Doug says, relaxing as Rainbow Dash perks up.

“Me, too! I’ve always like tuna, but it’s hard to get it this far inland. We’d always get it whenever Cloudsdale passed by Baltimare.” Rainbow Dash salivates at the thought, grinning as Pinkie Pie skates up with their food, somehow balancing six trays and four glasses on her back. She bucks; each item lands without spilling a drop.

“Enjoy!” Pinkie Pie proclaims, pronking off in her skates.

Rainbow Dash stares at the mass of food in front of her, gulping nervously. “Um, Rares? I don’t suppose you could, uh, check me out?”

“Certainly.” A soft blue aura surrounds Rainbow Dash’s hindquarters, revealing bright lines of rapidly revolving blue, the same as the blue of her cutie mark. Rarity peers close, along with Doug and Rainbow Dash, all coming to the same conclusion. “Well, I can’t see anything out of the ordinary.” She directs the beam onto herself, but it’s quite difficult to make anything out with the blue of her magic matching the blues spinning inside her. No other colors jump out, or even voids of missing color.

“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaims, digging into her meal with gusto. She glances up as Doug sighs, the human trying to hide his disappointment by taking bites of his eggs. She frowns, just slightly. “Heh, I guess I was just hungry from helping out the morning crew.”

Doug merely nods, testing the yogurt. So far, everything is quite tasty, if a little expensive compared to eating at the farm. At least the variety is better, and he won’t have to worry about proteins as much.

It’s obvious Rainbow Dash wishes that things could go back to the way they were as she pleads, “Hey, you want to go on a run after this? I’ll need to burn off a bunch of calories.”

Doug’s smile returns, if faintly. “I’d like that.” He glances at Rarity. “You’re going back to the shop?”

“I’ll make a stop at home first, but another day with the muzzle to the mill.” Rarity takes a sip from her tea. “We should stop at that town meeting, though. Especially,” she fixes Doug with a look that says ‘please don’t freak out’, “because I think it will, hmm, perhaps not concern you directly, but was certainly brought out because of your appearance.”

“Great,” Doug says, noisily thumping his now empty glass on the table. “More reminders I don’t belong.”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash exclaims, beating Rarity to it, “just because you aren’t a pony doesn’t mean you don’t belong.”

Doug smiles, especially as Rarity nods along. “Thanks.” He reaches over, mussing the chromatic mane and drawing a cheerful giggle from the pegasus that she immediately stifles. He takes the last bite of his eggs, stacking the empty plates. “Well, as long as they don’t run me out of town for being able to eat ponies, I think it’ll be okay.”

Next Chapter: Ch. 51 - Mind of the Council Estimated time remaining: 9 Hours, 6 Minutes