Hammer Hoof was drawn to the sound of his wife's laughter, his hooffalls coming toward us from the hallway before he stopped and stuck his head around the corner to just peer in.
"What are the two of you up two?" he wondered, clearly confused at Celery's outburst.
"We're just talking about the trade that goes through this town here. There's a lot of traffic, especially to Trottingham and Griffonstone," I suggested, and Celery doubled up again as she caught my references.
"No there isn't?" Hammer Hoof replied with growing concern as the joke went right past him. "Most we get here are traders going between Baltimare and Canterlot."
His response was too precious and I had to giggle a bit myself as Celery's laughter was getting to me.
"Well, you were right; Celery is a lovely mare. I thought I had a lot on my plate, but she's shown me how to lick it," I added, trying to see how far I could take this.
Celery was now howling, sprawled out over the couch she had been sitting on.
Hammer just stared at the mess I had made of his poor wife, trying to piece together what happened in the brief period of time since we left the dining room.
"I swear you mares do weird things while I'm not around and I'm constantly having to catch up to the facts when I come back," he grumbled. "Although it's been a while since Celly has been laughing this much..."
"Well, she was worried about her warts, but I'm sure that will wash itself clean before we know it," I threw out as I was starting to lose it as well.
Celery's laughter stopped dead, a blank look on her face as she didn't immediately get what I meant, but then it hit her and she lost it again.
I couldn't keep from laughing with her now, trying my best to hold onto my guise throughout. As long as I could keep that up, anything else that happened was fine.
It was amazing to laugh like this, after so much had happened to me since coming to Equestria.
I had trouble breathing, my eyes were leaking, and I was in danger of slipping off the couch, but I was having the time of my life.
And my clutch sister just looked on from where she stood in the living room doorway, thoroughly confused at the pair of mares devolving into puddles of madness in front of her.
After a few breaths he just let out an exclamation and turned away from us.
"I need to finish with the dishes, but I'll make tea after that; you both will need something to drink after that laughing fit," he called out from the hallway.
The way he said it, with that undertone as if we had somehow stacked the deck against him for having fun amongst ourselves, made Celery Stalk and I just lose it again.
I had a few moments where I thought I could get myself back under control, but everytime the two of us would look at one another slowly drooping off our respective seats to the floor, our laughing fit would start right back up again.
Eventually I was just spent, and my laughter became nothing more than an odd hiccup.
Celery just went from roaring laughter to more contained laughter, to a giggle, and eventually a chuckle as she lay on the ground between the couches with me.
She smiled in my direction as she wiped at her eyes with her forehooves in an effort to dry them.
"I can't remember the last time I ended up laughing this much," she trusted to me. "How about you, Pearl?"
I shook my head, still trying to get myself back under control.
"No-oht for a lo-ohng while," I hiccuped.
"Well, you have a beautiful laughter, and a wonderful mind," she decided. "Those jokes were so bad I thought I'd choke on them."
"Oh, ple-ease don't," I told her, trying to get my hooves under me so I was at least resting in a more natural position rather than sprawled out in a useless heap.
"Bite gently on your cheek," Celery suggested. "If you have the hiccups, just put some pressure on a nerve; it's easiest with your cheek. Alternatively somepony else can bite gently at the nape of your neck."
"Wha-at?" I returned, incredulous. "That's the fi-irst time I've he-eard abo-out that. A-are you sure?"
"Works for me at least half of all of the times I've had hiccups. Sometimes it takes a bit to find the right spot, and you need to be careful not to bite down too hard, especially as the hiccups continue," the other mare replied.
She picked herself off the ground so she could get back onto the couch.
"Just keep the pressure on it until they stop, then count to twenty before letting go and you should be fine," she suggested further.
I didn't quite believe her, but sucked my right cheek in between my teeth and bit down on it regardless.
Now prevented from talking lest I want the hiccups to run their course and go away on their own, I just focused on also getting myself back on the couch I had fallen off of.
"Have you always had this penchant for humour, Pearl?" Celery wondered, and I gave her a confused glance. "Oh, just nod or shake your head. I'll try to keep my questions simple."
I shook my head at her as I settled on the couch opposite her again.
"Well, you should consider keeping it up, dear. You've certainly got me good just now. I'm not usually able to let go like that, especially with Margery knocking my door down to tell me about the latest news whenever she finds me home," she sighed.
"I'd love for her to find a different outlet, but it is what it is. She's influential, so keeping her around as a friend is preferable to closing my door and potentially making an enemy of her," the older mare continued.
"You should consider not taking as snide a tone with her as you did when you arrived earlier today, Pearl," she warned.
I just bit on my cheek, but tilted my head at her as her words confused me.
"Her family owns a big catering business which prepares meals and banquets for the richer families in the area. Baltimare's colleges and location as a trade harbour on the shores of the Horseshoe Bay draw a lot of business ponies to the city, and they have rich tastes," Celery pointed out.
"These ponies all travel through Hoofton on the way from Canterlot to Baltimare, or from Baltimare to Canterlot and beyond," she continued. "Having a connection to a catering business can allow somepony like me entry to the parties they throw. Do you understand what I'm getting at Pearl?"
While I was sure Celery came at this from the prospect of potentially moving up in pony society since she happened to be living in Hoofton now, the things she had revealed to me before still rang fresh in my mind.
It was supposedly because of Oval that the pair of them now lived in Hoofton. It had not been Celery's first choice; she had said herself she would have been fine living in a cottage out in the woods or some such.
Oval had put them in this bustling trading town. Oval had frequent 'family and relations' come visit them, for which there was a guest room upstairs.
Oval was going back and forth from here to various hives across Equestria. To various pony towns and cities.
What did I truly know about my clutch sister other than that she was a changeling like me and that we were pretty good at infiltrating pony society thanks to our transformation magic?
Perhaps Celery was not far off the mark when she wondered if her husband was involved with something shady, like trafficking ponies.
My 'cousin' could very well be a masterful spymaster for all I know, all her oddities just a front like the disguise she and I wore while among ponies.
How much was I blindly trusting in the honesty of Burst? And could that extend to Blaze and Breeze as well?
After all, the three of them had played me like a fiddle back when they needed me to stop our Queen from doing something which could have done irreversible harm to us and the ponies both.
They had put me in a position where I had become reliant on them, had to trust them, was forced to see their side of things.
Only because they had taken me into their group, caring for me as my leg healed in the cast put upon it by Matron, had I come to trust them.
They had then used that trust to get me in front of our Queen in an effort to convince her, and...
No, I had to guard myself against going further down this train of thought, before I would start second-guessing the motives of every pony and changeling I had met since coming here to this world.
Surely most of them had been open and honest with me? Surely there was no dark conspiracy hiding underneath a thin layer of veneer, like in some of the books or movies I'd seen back on Earth?
And yet, for somepony who supposedly was fine living in a cottage in the woods, Celery was certainly aiming high by trying to keep an influential pony on her good side. If she didn't want to be put in that role, why was she aiming to rise up in pony society?
Celery studied me from the other couch, and I put my focus back on her. She looked at me as if she was expecting something from me, and I realised I had not answered her question.
I also realised I had not had a hiccup for a while now. Had it been twenty seconds yet? Probably more by now, so I let go of my cheek and licked around my mouth a moment.
"I think I understand what you're getting at, yes," I answered the earthpony sitting across from me. "So I should try to be nice to Margery Pie when I see her? Like when she visits here, or if I see her out on the streets. Even if she says, or does, something I disagree with, because you have been building up business relations which rely on her support?"
"In short; yes," Celery agreed. "And in return I won't ask you to do too much while you stay here."
"You're my husband's family, so you don't have to pay rent or anything, don't worry about that," she warded off. "Perhaps you could help out with the odd chore every so often if you feel like it, but I won't ask you to become our maid or anything..."
"I do expect you to keep out of trouble, but as long as you clean up after yourself I'm happy to have you as a guest," Celery chuckled.
"It's not like I don't manage well enough by myself while Hammer is on one of his business trips," she added with a wry smile. "But you're easy to talk with, and I'd imagine we could both use somepony to confide in from time to time."
"I guess that you're used to him going on trips? What do you normally do with yourself when he's away like that?" I asked with some empathy for her situation.
"There are a few clubs to go to, sports activities to partake in, or the occasional showpony out on the street doing magic from their cart to watch," Celery listed. "I'll have to show you in the coming days."
"And if I get really bored here, I take the train to Baltimare and see what's going on in town there," she chuckled. "The schoolgoing youth come up with new and inventive ways to pass the time. I'm sure you would find some friends among them if you'd like to visit there."
"I think I've done enough traveling for a while; the train ride from home to here was long enough, thank you," I warded off.
"The city's less than an hour away," Celery rebutted. "If you reconsider, I'm going there the day after tomorrow again to return a book about painting styles which I borrowed from the college library."
"That wouldn't be the... what did the mare on the train say again, some art school?" I tried to recall.
"The Mareland Institute of Art?" the other earthpony suggested.
"Yeah, that's it," I remembered.
"Why do you ask, Pearl?" Celery wondered. "Were you considering attending it?"
"No, a filly on the train drew me a portrait which some students claimed was some high quality special drawing style or something. I'd like to know more about it," I explained.
"A portrait? Can I see it?" she inquired, seemingly genuinely interested.
"Uh, yeah, let me grab it from upstairs," I agreed.
I pushed up from the couch and walked out of the living room only to find Hammer Hoof coming the other way.
He had a small tray with a few cups balanced on his back and I pressed myself to the side against the wall to my right to let him pass by.
"I'm glad you seem to be getting along well with Celery, but please watch yourself," Oval whispered to me in passing. "Be careful not to let your guise slip while you're laughing your head off."
"You worry too much," I whispered back. "Focus on the tea, I'll be right back down again."
"Hey now, this is my house you know? You can't speak to me like that," she grumbled. "The tea has to steep for a bit, so you have some time before it's done."
"I'm just grabbing my portrait from upstairs since Celery wants to see it," I spoke a bit louder as I turned for the staircase.
"What? Why?" Hammer called after me, but I was already halfway up the stairs and didn't want to shout my reply back down.
I found the rolled up piece of paper where I had left it before that damned note got the better of me; tucked in one of the drawers of the dresser, beside some folded up clothes.
I carefully took the paper between my lips, the ends of the red hairband tied around it hanging down past my chin, and turned back toward the doorway.
I could see through the window on that side of the room that the light outside was quickly fading and I walked on over to it to close it first.
If I was going to return here later tonight after the sun had set, this room would cool down from the night air and be too cold for me to find rest in, even with the blankets provided to me.
I carefully placed the rolled up portrait down beside me before turning for the hook holding the window ajar, but paused as I noticed somepony on the other side of the street staring up toward me.
Was it just my imagination or were they looking straight at me as I stood in front of the window? Was it just because I was a stranger in their town or were they in some way related to that note?
I let my eyes wander from left to right over the street view outside; fewer and fewer ponies were out at this hour of the day, but those I could see were clearly in a hurry to get places before the sun had fully set.
The pony opposite the street was just staring up at me as they disappeared in the falling shadow of the night, not a care in the world that they would soon be the only one left outside if they did not hurry home themselves.
It honestly made me feel uncomfortable to think they might have something to do with the note. It meant that they knew who I was, what I was, and had already found out where it was that I would be staying for the foreseeable future.
The room felt a lot less safe with that pony looking into it like that, so I quickly undid the hook which held the window open, closed and locked it, and then drew the curtains in front of it to shut those prying eyes out.
Even if it had just been a coincidence, even if that pony across the street had a different reason for just standing there staring at me, they were now unable to see whether I was still in the room.
They would just have to find somewhere else to go, find something else to do with their time, or go bother somepony else.
I debated with myself for a moment whether I should tell Burst about it.
How would that conversation go? Especially with Celery right there with us?
I wouldn't be able to say anything about the note, just that I saw somepony out on the street looking in my direction.
Even if this was a massive tradehub through which many ponies traveled, there would always be one or two ponies who kept their eyes on new arrivals.
It could probably be reasoned away like that; just somepony with an inquisitive mind and keen eye noticing that the guest room was now in use again.
They were just being good neighbours by checking that I was not a burglar, obviously.
Celery might laugh at it, Oval might get far too worried over it, and I would just feel like I had made a fool of myself.
No, best wait and see if that pony would return tomorrow, whether they would look in the direction of the house again, or if it was a one-off deal.
As suggested by my clutchsister earlier; I should leave it up to her to set the pace at which we were going to tackle this note and whatever came from it.
For now, there was tea and good company waiting for me downstairs, and I needed that after the ordeal we had suffered through in Canterlot.
I took the rolled up portrait between my lips again and moved out of the room to rejoin the pair of ponies downstairs again.
I was looking forward to see what Celery thought of the drawing.