Walking down market street, making stuff up as I go along...

"Hmm-mmm-mmm."

The little filly in the maid's clothes walked elegantly down market street. Or as elegantly as one could whilst eating a tub of vanilla ice cream whilst humming a tune that she didn't really know.

When she was ordered to check up on the progress of the case, Nameless found that she had a lot more spare time to walk the streets of Manehattan. And with White Woods paying her to deliver those letters...

The filly would never admit to enjoying her free time, but here, and now, it was hard not to.

Deputy Shielder was doing what he normally did and on patrol. Most days were rather bland, but it was still satisfying to walk the beat and help out anypony he could no matter how small. As time went by his thoughts drifted to his demotion a week ago. Things were not looking good for him as he now was one of the officers who did 'crap jobs'. Almost half the time he spent on patrol was spent on tasks that he swore were created simply to punish him.

I never knew they ever sorted mugshots based on who smiled or had the most facial mane.

In his thoughts, Renaultar was starting to become a bit oblivious to whats around him. Something that usually got him into trouble when he should be patrolling for trouble.

It...was inevitable.

A oblivious guard pony going one way, a distracted maid filly going the other...

CRASH!

1st reaction: "Ahh!"

2nd reaction: "My ice cream, my vanilla ice cream!

3rd reaction: "Ah! Sorry, sir!"

4th reaction: "Deputy Shields, I'm so sorry!"

5th reaction: *Desperate Curtsy*

Renaultar tumbled over suddenly as he collided with something small. While training told him to duck and roll, he was not really in the state of mind to put that to use and instead just face planted. What did kick into his training though was to get up quickly and check his surrounding.

A quick scan showed him nothing was a threat but upon looking down he screeched as he saw a small little filly. "Oh dear! Are you alright?! Did i crush you? Tell me where it hurts? Is everything okay?"

Renaultar never wanted to hurt anyone he didn't have to, but to hurt a little filly really brought his mind to panic.

"No, I'm alright, sir," Nameless said, trying not to look at her spilt vanilla ice cream, and failing, "It was my fault. I should have looked where I was going."

Any physical pain was eclipsed by the fact that Nameless had lost her favourite treat in an uncharacteristic act of carelessness. She had no money of her own, and the only times she could get ice cream was when she had done an exemplary job, or if White Woods sneaked some back in the house. She tried to blink back the tears. Crying was not sophisticated or proper for a servant of her household!

Renaultar looked do the ice cream on the ground and to the little pony that he now recognised. A pony that was on the verge of crying.

Oh no....No no nononono. No crying! He quickly tore though his head thinking of a solution and just about smacked himself when it was pretty obvious. "Oh dear! Your ice cream! Uh...Ill get you another! A big one!" He said quickly. A crying filly would be the end of him.

"No, sir! That would be..."

Another look at the fallen ice cream. Traces of it were still on Nameless' lips. She trembled as two strong emotions clashed within her. Whilst other ponies may have a Nightmare Moon on one shoulder and a Princess Celestia on the other, Nameless had a Loyal Prudence and a White Woods. The Loyal was stressing her comittment to putting on a good image of the household, whilst the White was describing how tasty vanilla ice cream was. In the end, Woods won.

"I would like that very much sir," Nameless finally said, head down.

"I was hoping you would say yes. Its a Guardponies duty to take responsibility for what he may have done." Renaultar said, completely making that up, though he supposed there was something similar to it somewhere in the big ole book of laws and words. I need to stop doing that. Hopefully there isn't a lawyer around this time.

He looked down to the little filly. Something about her just made him want to brighten up her day. Her life as a servant didn't seem like it could offer too many opportunities to enjoy oneself. The ice cream stand was not exactly a simple distance. A ride along was at hand!

"Alright little Miss. Ill give you a nice comfy Guardpony express ride to the ice cream stand." He lowered himself down to let her hop up onto his back.

"I- Are you suggesting I cannot walk to the ice cream stand, sir?"

Now this was unheard of. A maid was not supposed to be carried around by others! Despite the time White Woods got a little tipsy that one time and Loyal had to carry her to bed. But this was different!

Despite that, the filly climbed up onto his back.

"I'm only doing this as not to embarass you, sir."

That wasn't a lie. Okay, maybe it was. Not a big one.

Renaultar felt a little pang of sympathy for this filly. Was she really raised so that she sounded all proper like some high class....No no. That train of thought should be put away. This was a time to enjoy.

Renaultar beamed when she got on board and made sure to give her a comfortable ride. "Oh don't worry little Miss. I have had my fair share of embarrassing moments. This is hardly one of those times. If anything it brightens my day. By the way, you can call me Renny."

Nameless tried not to show the fact that she was enjoying the ride.

"You remind me of White Woods, sir," she started, "She also calls others in af-fec-tion-ate terms, as well." She paused, "Well, everypony apart from Mr Herald and Mrs Admirer."

"But I can't do that, sir. I am only a filly, whilst you are an officer of the law. I have to show respect to you and your position. Loyal Prudence worries that White Woods' manner would get her in trouble some day. Sometimes, I worry a bit too."

Realising that she had talked far too much, Nameless fell silent.

Renaultar blushed a little at the mention of it being 'affectionate'. He certainly didnt see it to be THAT special. "Ill grant that little Miss. But there is something to be had for informalities as much as formalities. I know i have to go through it everyday. Im more than happy to be on a first name basis with the ponies i help protect. Its....rewarding." He smiled as memories of such ponies came to mind. They were fewer than he would like, but they put a smile on him. "I must say though, Miss Woods did seem to have all the symptoms of a hiding party pony."

He approached the ice cream vendor and waved. "Hey Sam. Could i get an ice cream for little Miss Something here? What kind would you like little one?" He already put down his payment to the ice cream pony.

Nameless gave a small smile to the ice cream vendor, and wordlessly pointed toward the vanilla ice cream. He was the pony she knew most from outside the household, and though he gave Nameless a questioning look, was happy to serve another tub.

"Surprised you got her to agree to a favour, Shields," the vendor said, "This little one doesn't really like accepting favours."

It was then Nameless' turn to look perplexed as she asked, "You know Mr Brainfreeze?" After a pause. "Sir?"

Renaultar chuckled. "Of course i do. I sometimes have a little ice cream myself. Sam and I see each other pretty often. Being on the streets so much, you kind of have to get to know every pony, both good and bad. Sam here has helped me out when i have gotten stuck on some cases, and i helped him on some unruly punks." He smiled at that, proud to be of service. Those punks really did not want to pay for their ice cream.

"You must have met so many other ponies..." Nameless commented, a bit wistful.

But she wasn't jealous. Not at all. Definitely not. She knew plenty of ponies herself! Aside from Mr Brainfreeze there was Mr Herald, Mrs Admirer, Loyal Prudence, White Woods...

Uh...

Deputy Shields...

...

She was a bit jealous.

"Okay, Mr...Renny. I thank you very much for the ice cream and ride, but I have to do my alloted task now. Is there any progress on the robbery?"

Renaultar couldn't resist a smile at hearing her call him by his nickname. Another happy pony.

When she mentioned the case he gritted his teeth nervously. "Oh...Well...The suspects that transported the snowflakes have been taken in for questioning. Nothing was turned up unfortunately but there were some inconsistencies in their standard procedure where somepony could have slipped in and did their work. This also means investigating that location. More are looking about at third parties that could have been involved but i haven't heard back from them yet." What he wasn't telling her was that he was pulling a lot of favors to know this information. After leaving their home a week ago he was immediately removed from the case. That didn't stop him from trying though. He had to do his own digging as well.

"...Oh," Nameless didn't fully understand all of it, but she figured it wasn't very good news.

Well, now what? She wasn't expected back in the house until much later, for she hadn't expected to run into Renny so quickly. She was making it up as she went along, as she rode on Renny's back, eating her ice cream in silence.

Renaultar didn't have many demanding things to do today...Aside from patrolling but he just walked a general route about town. He wasn't sure if this filly needed to be home yet.

"So Nameless, unless you need to be somewhere, your welcome to keep riding. I will eventually pass your house on my route." He knew he was well within the book with that one. Citizens were allowed to 'ride along' with Guardponies, but on second though he wasn't sure about the age limit on that.

"Thank you," Nameless mumbled.

Looking about at the other ponies on the street, there was something bothering Nameless. Well, it had been bothering her for a while. She didn't want to ask Loyal, who would dismiss it as silly talk, and when she asked White Woods, she was uncharacteristically uneasy. Deputy Shields would have met a lot of ponies, so he would know, right?

"Um, Renny, I've been wondering about this for a while, but, where are the other colts and fillies? Why aren't they accompanying their parents or masters at this point in time? Am I the only one lucky enough to both have a house to live in and be able to walk the streets?"

The filly stared at her ice cream. Suddenly, it wasn't so sweet.

Renaultar winced a little at hearing that. She wasn't much for simple matters was she?

"Well, at this hour, most little colts and fillies are in school." He hesitated on how to proceed. Nameless here was obviously not in school at this moment and it would not be his place to assume that she wasnt home schooled either. Then again, she was in a fine home and there had to be some expected education.

"Have you been to school before Nameless?" He asked knowing he was treading on thin ice.

"School's where you learn to be what you become, right?"

Ah! That would make sense! They would be working alongside the ponies that work in the places they would end up to be! But hang on... why didn't Mr Brainfreeze have a little ice cream vendor helping him?

"But isn't school everywhere you go? Isn't everywhere where a pony learns?"

Renaultar winced again. This was getting a bit touchy.

"Well...School itself is a place. Lots of young ponies go there for most the day to learn about...Well...lots of things. Like history, literature, math, arts and all that. Once they grow up and are out of school they...choose what they wish to be." He remembered he was hardly an example student, but he worried where Nameless fit into all this. Sure he did not know how her life as a servant worked but she must have had some kind of education and choice in the matter. No family would just give someone up to that.

Just when he thought it couldn't get any more difficult, he saw the rundown school that was on his route come into view. Oh, how convenient.

Nameless frowned. "But everypony is going to do different things!" she exclaimed, "Why would you teach the same thing to everypony? Like li-te-rat-cher? Is that books?"

Nameless only saw books in Mr Herald's library/study, but she was never really interested in them. White Woods tried to take one and read a 'story' to her, but Nameless just stared at her strangely until storytime made way for a strange alternative:

"Child, do you really want me to read this to you? It doesn't seem like the sort of thing a filly would be interested in."

"Oh, please, Loyal Prudence, I was looking forward to the next bit!"

*Sigh* "Okay, then. The book of household regulations, chapter fifteen: What to do in case of fire..."

Despite this, "Nopony ever taught me how to read, though. I think Loyal tried..."

Her eyes followed Shields' gaze to the old building. "Is that one of those places?"

"Well..." Renaultar was hesitant on how to explain some of this. [i]Has she really not been told any of this? Poor thing."

"No pony knows what they will do. And even if they do, it doesn't hurt to give them the knowledge about how other things work. Maybe they will want to try something different. Or maybe they just will want to expand their horizons."

He felt even more pity for her when she couldn't read. Renaultar would have to ask her about her 'job' sooner than later. "Well...Reading is...a nice thing to have. A tutor to teach it might be better...Well i like to read too. Perhaps i could show you someday." He did not know if he would regret those words but he wasn't one to not keep his word.

"And yes. That is one of the schools here. Loads of colts and fillies inside right now i bet."

Nameless tried to see inside the building to get a glimpse of the elusive other fillies and colts. When he heard Shields' offer, she became uneasy.

"You don't have to, Renny. You're a guardpony. I'm not going to be a guard. I only need to know how to cook, clean, and serve others. Reading doesn't really come into that."

"I don't know what it must feel like, not to know what you are going to do..." she said, looking at the schoolhouse with pity.