A Stroll Around Town.

Swift got up one day and hopped out of bed. He went through his regular morning routine and placed on his guard uniform. He decided that he'd go through a stroll around town before heading to work. Not knowing many ponies as he tries to dedicate his days to his job, he wasn't sure how this was going to turn out. His real intention was to meet the other ponies. He headed out the door with his helmet in a little satchel that he keeps to his side. It didn't take Swift that long to get to the mains street as he can run at fairly high speeds. He looked around at the market stalls. He had never been shopping since his arrival yet, but he had some pocket change to spend.

He sat around viewing the shops a bit. He went through an assortment of shops that morning. Eventually he decided he would take a small break. He sat down at a restaurant on the main street and ordered a dish. He sat there looking around as he waited for his food, hoping to meet some new people.

There was a soft glow of white swaying through the market, her mane engulfing her horn and ears easily in their tangle. The tip of her horn stuck through the mass, a point of sea foam green with snowflakes stained in speckle patterns on her coat. Her green eyes caught on every shiny thing in the windows, but she wasn't here today for that. She had two casks tied to her saddlebags and she was making a delivery for her father. She was delivering two casks of beer to a local restaurant. She tried to make her steps softer to keep the beer from flattening.

Her dainty steps paid off as she made her way to the side entrance and handed over the casks to the manager. "Take care!" She nodded to the stallion and made her way to the street. She glanced over the people eating and wondered to herself if she should get something to eat before going home. She didn't have to rush home now that she had finished her last delivery. She could take her time and go shopping, or find something new to do around Canterlot, or...

Her stomach growled in hungry objection, and she knew her decision had been made. "Food..." She made her way to a table, her horn glowing a light sea foam color as a menu floated over to her. She could do some simple magic like levitating things that weren't too heavy, but she wasn't gifted in it. A pang happened in her heart at the thought. She wasn't gifted in anything. She focused her attention on her menu, trying to drown out her thoughts and feelings with the topic of food.

She muttered a few items to herself, glancing up briefly at the sound of a dog barking somewhere in the marketplace, but instead of a dog catching her eye, it was a stallion. He was a pure white, almost as glossy white as her mane. She took in his strong horn and the lovely cool shades of his mane and tail, but when she realized she was staring she shook herself and looked back down to her menu. He was handsome, but first food, then eye candy.

Elegance was tired.

Who could blame her? With her seemingly endless duties to work and to family and to society and to 'recreation' recommended by therapists, she felt drained of energy. In some respects, she looked worse than her brother, and that was speaking volumes.

Pale, and shaking, she slowly and carefully raised her cup to her lips, taking care not to spill a single drop. Tea was the ever-present saviour as she felt the miracle liquid seep into her bones and made an unbearable day bearable. Unfortunately, her mind lapsed as she dropped her cup, spilling the contents. She swore under her breath, trying to wipe away her mistake. It was both infuriating and embarrassing. She did not possess large amounts of magical strength, but she was at least graceful with the little she had!

She did not cry, no matter how tempting it was. She was far stronger than what the pain the world could, and did inflict on her. Controlling her breathing, she clutched her side, which was aching again. Remembering its cause, her expression hardened and her resolve repaired itself. As long as that monster still walked under Celestia's sun, as long as her brother was still incapacitated, she would carry the burden of two giants, until what is right became what is true.

She softly ordered another cup from the waiter that cleared up her accident, not caring who saw. For now, they weren't important.

Swift was sitting eating his meal. He saw the waiter was bringing someone a cup of tea. He quite did enjoy a cup of tea once and a while, maybe he would order one. He sniffed the air as the smell of the tea came towards him. He looked back to the waiter and saw the person who he was bringing the tea to. He noticed that the person who ordered the tea seemed to be shaking and looked pale; she looked like she was in worse shape then he had ever been. Not knowing if he should go over there and make some conversation, he looked back to his meal. Looking back at her occasionally, hoping that he wouldn't bring up to much attention. Swift watched as she brought the tea to her mouth. The cup was shaking a bit and it seemed like it could've spill. As he didn't know much about magic, he remained in his seat so he wouldn't make a fool of himself. To his surprise she spilled the tea. For a minute he thought that he could've prevented it; but that wasn't important right now.

Seeing that she was trying to clean up what she spilled, he thought she could use some help. He stood up and walked over to the weak looking pony and said " Let me help you with that". With his magic he grabbed the cloak he had from his satchel and quickly helped dab away the tea before the waiter came with the new tea. The waiter arrived soon after with the the. Swift looked at her for a second and said " Hello, my names Swift". He stood there waiting for a response.

A noise caught Dapple's attention, and she turned her head to see a mare that had dropped her tea. The unicorn looked young, maybe her magic wasn't very strong yet? She knew how that was. Dapple herself had only gotten able to carry casks of beer and things a few years ago. Now she could probably pick up a whole apple cart if she had the need to. Of course she knew ponies that could lift much more, and even if she got the cart off the ground it would have only levitated about an inch.

The stallion she had been looking at before approached the mare's table, and Dapple was glad someone was nice enough to help. The two started talking, a waiter bringing the mare more tea. A growl interrupted her thoughts as Dapple looked back down to her menu. It was rude to stare, and even though she wasn't staring, the other ponies were more interesting to watch than the clouds or the birds. Even though she couldn't hear what they were saying.

A waiter came by to take her order and she settled for a fruit salad and water. The pony marched away with her order and she sat to wait, glancing first to the streets, then at the clouds, and then her emerald eyes flickering right back over to the other pony couple. What were they talking about? If somepony came over to her, what would she say? Would she get nervous? She always assumed she'd get nervous meeting people, but any time she got to meet someone new it made her a little bit happy inside.

Elegance did not like being seen as vulnerable. What she hated even more than that was actually being so.

"You shouldn't have troubled yourself," she said softly, looking at the guard with her usual critical, appraising stare, "It wasn't really that bad. As for what I am called. My title is Lady Elegance of the Design family. Thank you for your assistance, Guard Swift." He looked, well, to be blunt, both too pretty and too young to be a royal guard. A guard you would sooner see carved out of stone as a representation, rather in actuality.

She took another sip of tea. Noting that this pony would probably expect more conversation, she looked around for a source of such. Her gaze swept over the restaurant, taking into account the layout of the table and chairs, the ponies that sat on them and the meals they ate, before catching another unicorn, a blue-green mare, stealing glances in their direction. She cringed, being again reminded of how many ponies would have witnessed this moment of weakness.

"Have you been a guard for long? For you do look more youthful than the average royal guard and I haven't seen one like you around," she managed to say. It wasn't the most interesting of topics, but quite frankly, it wasn't worth trying to search for one. This smalltalk was suitable enough to mask her unease.

Swift responded to Elegance with " It's no trouble at all. Really", but then noticing the stare. He would listen to her go on about what her title is. He would respond with " you're welcome, Lady Elegance". While watching her take a sip of her tea, he'd notice the pony staring at them occasionally. While this didn't bother him, he would occasionally look over wondering why they were staring. Then Elegance went on about how he was more youthful then the other guards, liking the face that he got a compliment from someone, he responded with " Well, I actually just joined the guard, as well I just moved in from Ponyville. I live in a small hut at the edge of Canterlot". Not really liking Elegance's attitude, he decided to leave, he said " I better get going". He quickly went back to his table and put enough bits to cover the meal. He then walked through the restaurant area

However he wasn't planing on leaving the restaurant, first, he wanted to figure out more about the pony who was staring at him. He went to her table. Collected his thoughts for a moment and said " Hello, my names Swift". He went on to say " I noticed you were staring at us. Is there anything that I could help you with". He put on a small smile, waiting for the mares response.