The dull yellow light of the store flickered, causing some small feeling of annoyance for Mignon Croix. With his lip curled back in a sneer, he stood back and tried to take in the dizzying amount of choices in canned vegetables before him Canned peas? he thought to himself. Well, there is canned corn too, he reminded himself.
This was the first winter since the collapse and Vanhoover was still struggling to recover. The grocery store was mostly empty. Mignon turned his head and looked around, surveying the vast quantities of nothing interspersed with the occasional something that held no interest for him.
At least there was plenty of dry goods, basic staples that would keep ponies from starving. Princess Twilight Sparkle and Prince Buckminster Bitters had seen to that, personally escorting a train up from Saddle Arabia.
A mare went sashaying past, her tail swinging, and he turned to watch her continue down the aisle. She paused near the canned beans and peered at the few cans on display.
“If you pay my price I’ll be happy to keep you warm this night,” the mare offered.
Whipping his head around, Mignon snorted and rolled his eyes. He stomped away, his hooves clomping on the tile floor of the grocery store, and he made an equine sound of disgust, nickering loudly.
“Oh come on, you look a little… blue from back here where I’m standing,” the mare teased in a coy voice. “I ain’t asking for much, just a few bits and a warm place to stay. I’ll thaw your icicle.”
Tucking his tail down, Mignon snorted again. He doubted that the mare was talking about his royal blue pelt. He turned the corner, avoiding an old mare and her cart as he did so, sidestepping skillfully away from the elder mare and her cart full of nothing.
He turned down the next aisle and looked around. Again, he saw nothing. He continued down the isle for quite some ways, looking around, his head going left and right, until he reached the cleaning supplies. Using his telekinesis, he lifted a bottle of dish soap into his saddlebags and then went along his way.
The scent of fish caught his nose and his muzzle contorted in disgust. Griffons shopped here, and there was a seafood section. Mignon found that he rather liked the griffons he knew, they were good sorts, but their food left a lot to be desired. Vanhoover was the great city that it was due in no small part because of the griffons and their fishing industry. Vanhoover made more pet food than any other city in Equestria, and fish byproducts were a major industry for the city along with maple syrup.
Sighing with disgust, Mignon Croix gave up and decided to check out.
The cold bit deeply into his nostrils, savaging his poor tender snoot as though it was a hungry beast. Prince Buckminster, the Lord of Winter, had made this winter especially cold at Princess Celestia’s request to heal the land. The cold air burned Mignon's lungs and made his eyes water, his tears freezing on his cheeks. He shivered under his heavy grey woollen cloak and the occasional gust of wind tried to lift the fabric away from his body.
Igniting his magic, Mignon Croix felt a little warmer. He made a weak bubble of pleasantly warm air around him that helped to block out some of the flesh numbing chill. He cast a simple cantrip on his hooves to keep him from slipping, and then he started his long journey home.
His steps were slow and steady, and his gait was not the dainty prance of his fellow unicorns. Mignon moved with the steady pacing of a long time wagon puller. He used what little bit of magic that he had to help him on his job, making wagons and their payload just a little lighter, allowing him to pull heavier loads longer and further.
A gust of wind ripped through his spell bubble and proceeded to slash through his flesh like a swarm of unseen razors. He winced, his face already becoming numb, and he used his magic to anchor his cloak around his body. He reactivated his spell bubble and tried to shield himself from the bone chilling cold.
Leaning forward into the storm, Mignon struggled against the wind, and tried to not get pushed backwards. Snowflakes swirled all around him, and Mignon felt as though he was living in some giant snowglobe. Some giant Tartarus frozen over snowglobe. Vanhoover had not seen a winter this bad for at least a generation or two, and many of the old timers had long pointless chats that perhaps, just maybe, the Lord of Winter had gone too far.
He stepped into a doorway to get out of the weather for just a moment. He stood there, shivering, trying to get up enough courage to step back out into the howling wind, swirling snow, and the chunks of ice which were now starting to fall. Mignon cursed to himself, it seemed a squall was coming in off of the ocean.
He heard a low cough and fell silent. He turned around, looking into the dark shadows of the doorway, saw a box, and peered inside. It was full of newspaper. He prodded it with his hoof and heard a fearful whimpering cry.
“Hello?” Mignon inquired, igniting his horn and peering into the box. He saw nothing but newspaper, and then the newspaper rustled.
“I’m so cold,” a weak low voice answered.
“It’s freezing out here… what are you doing in a box? Are you a foal?” Mignon questioned as he lowered his head. He lifted away the newspaper, rummaging down into the box, hearing whimpers as he lifted away once wet and now frozen wads of paper.
And then, Mignon felt the peculiar sensation of his heart stopping inside of his barrel. He felt a large lump come to life deep within his guts and start to crawl up his esophagus, pressing against his insides, pushing and shoving its way towards his skull, until it finally stopped in his throat and corked his airway. After a moment of not breathing, he strove to draw in one shuddering pained breath.
In the bottom of the box was foal curled into a fetal position. She was small, her ribs were showing, and she was covered in dozens of festering sores. Her ears were notched and it was as if something had been chewing on them. Even the edges of her nostrils showed signs of something gnawing on them. The foal was almost lilac in colour and her mane was a streaky shade of green that made Mignon wish for the springtime.
“We need to get you someplace warm,” Mignon announced. “I don’t know what you are doing out here, but you’re gonna die if you don’t get inside.” He lifted the foal in his magic, pulled up his cloak, and then made the worst mistake of his young life.
The foal was like ice against his damp pelt. She was cold, as cold as the winter night itself, and her body pressing up against his was painful. Mignon sucked in his breath and hissed, his eyes closing, and he pranced in place as every muscle in his body tensed up in agony. The foal was pressed up against his spine along his withers, and her icy cold snoot pressed into his neck, causing electric spikes of agony to go shooting up into the back of his skull and then explode just behind his eyes.
“Oh for the love of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s snatch that’s fecking COLD!” Mignon bellowed.
(Somewhere, far away, much further south, Princess Twilight Sparkle shivered, feeling some odd psychic twinge that only happens when an important pony’s name somehow becomes a swear word, and it caused her to drop her hot cocoa, much to her annoyance.)
He could feel the heat being leached out of his body by the frozen foal and he took a deep agonised breath of cold air, trying to regain full control of his senses. “Kid, you’re colder than a windigo's teat,” he muttered through teeth chattering so hard that Mignon actually worried that they might shatter.
Behind his head and along the base of his neck, he could both feel and hear the foal’s teeth chattering as well. Grinding his teeth together and pushing the nightmarish image of his teeth shattering like glass out of his mind, Mignon Croix stepped out of the doorway and took the first few difficult steps towards home.
The ice pellets fell from the sky with bruising intensity, and he heard a pained cry coming from under the cloak covering his back. He somehow managed to concentrate enough through the pain to summon a shield around his body, a weak shield that was intended to keep things like rain off of him. The ice chunks bounced from the olive green glow of his magic and crunched underhoof as he continued forward.
Visibility dropped and Mignon was forced to amplify the light from his horn. He was pushing what little bit of magic he had to the limits, and he could feel himself getting a hornache for his efforts. On top of being nearly frozen, now he had a splitting hornache that throbbed down into his brain and pounded just behind his eyes, making his vision fuzz over, further reducing visibility.
It was going to be difficult to make it home, and Mignon came to the painful realisation that going grocery shopping at night was a bad idea.
The stairs to his apartment were covered in sheets of treacherous ice. He planted a hoof down, glad for his magic, and then he began his climb up the stairs, grunting with each step, clouds of steam puffing from his nostrils into the whirling frozen air.
Thirty one steps. There were thirty one steps to climb. Each one felt more impossible than the last, and at the halfway point, he had to pause for a moment to catch his breath. It burned in his lungs and it was getting hard to see. The temperature had dropped with the wind, the squall coming in off of the ocean had plunged the air into the sub zero range. It hadn’t been this cold when he had left home earlier.
Each grunt, each snort, each heavy breath came out as a billowing cloud of steam that was immediately snatched away by the cruel demon wind. The ice chunks coming down were grape sized, maybe larger, and the storm continued to whip itself further into a frenzy.
Finally, he reached the door at the top of the stairs and let himself in. Getting the door open was easy, getting it shut was nearly impossible, and he had to throw himself bodily into the door several times before it closed.
He staggered down the hall, panting, stumbling towards his door. He fumbled out a key from his saddlebags using his telekinesis, unlocked the door, and then made his way inside of his small apartment, which was over a small hardware store. There were two apartments up here, and his was the smaller one-bedroom.
Stomping into his living room, he flung off his cloak and allowed it to fall to the floor near the door. He dropped his saddlebags, uncinching them with his magic. There was a clunk when they hit the floor. He made his way to his small sofa, leaned down, and gently shook the foal free from his back. She fell to the sofa, bouncing once, and then lay still, her eyes closed, and her barrel barely moving.
Leaving her on the sofa, he stumbled into the bathroom with an almost drunken stuttering step, tripped over the rug in front of the bathroom sink, and took a tumble down to the floor, striking his head on the toilet.
“You no good dirty meadow muffin muncher!” Mignon cursed as he lay sprawled out on the floor. He let out a groan, shook his throbbing head, and then carefully regained his hoofing.
Once up on all fours again, he ran a bath, making the water warm but not hot. He watched the tub fill, tapping his front left hoof upon the floor the whole time, and when the tub was halfway full, he turned off the water. As he exited the bathroom, he tripped over rug again, this time striking his head on the sink as he went down.
“Bitters damnit!”
(Far off in Ponyville, a supremely puzzled Buckminster Bitters raised his head, feeling a most curious sensation, and then went back to what he was doing, which happened to be Berry Punch at the moment.)
“What is your name?” Mignon asked, sitting down on the floor in front of the sofa.
The foal, laying limp and not moving, opened one eye and looked up at her rescuer. “I’m not supposed to talk with strangers,” she uttered in a barely audible whisper.
Looking over her body, he saw tiny wings and all of the curious little sores covering her skin. He leaned in closer and examined them in the light. “Are these bites?” he asked.
“The rats chew on me,” the foal replied.
A very large icicle lodged inside of Mignon’s heart and the lump in his throat returned, and this time it brought a friend. He wasn’t quite sure he believed the foal, but it certainly looked like she had been chewed on by something. He had trouble with the idea that a foal would be in a situation or a place where rats could chew on them. A sound of equine concern formed down deep in his throat and he wickered.
“I ran away from the orphanage. Foals are dying there,” the foal whispered in a trembling frightened voice. “Are there any rats here?”
“No, there are no rats here,” Mignon replied. “What is your name? My name is Mignon Croix.”
“My name is Magnolia Warbler,” the foal said in a raspy whisper.
“Well Magnolia Warbler, I am going to give you a bath, then I am going to clean up these wounds, and afterwards, I am going to fix you something hot to eat, but it probably won’t be anything special. I ain’t got much,” Mignon announced.
The foal coughed, a wet raspy cough, and Mignon felt a growing sense of concern. He gently lifted her in his magic and carried her to the bathroom. He snarled at the bathroom rug, which he had kicked out of the bathroom, and made his way into the bathroom without falling over.
“I gotta go pee,” Magnolia whispered.
“Okay, I can set you down in there and close the door,” Mignon replied.
“I don’t think I can sit up,” Magnolia whined. “And you’re a stranger.”
“I… well, nuts… I don’t know what to do,” Mignon stated, his ears perking forward.
“I gotta go,” Magnolia moaned.
Feeling rather awkward about the whole mess, Mignon lifted the toilet lid, set the foal down on the toilet seat, kept her tail out of the water which for some reason made him feel immensely proud, steadied her with his magic, and then turned around. “Now you can tinkle and I won’t be looking.”
“But you can hear me,” Magnolia whimpered.
“I’m sorry, what do I do?” Mignon asked.
“I dunno,” Magnolia squeaked in panic.
A second later, there was the sound of tinkle trickling down into the toilet followed by the sound of a tiny tummy gurgling. After that, there was a small satisfied sigh.
“I’m done,” Magnolia announced.
Slowly turning around, Mignon flushed the toilet, lifted the foal, noticed she dripped a little, heaved a resigned sigh, and then gently lowered the squirming pegasus foal into the bath.
A second later, he realised that she really couldn’t sit up on her own and he lifted her from beneath the water, the foal coughing and sputtering, and fighting desperately, trying to suck in air. He flipped her over and let the water pour out.
“I’m so sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking!” Mignon cried. After speaking, he started to chew on his lip from nervousness. He had nearly drowned the foal when he had released her from his magic. His heart thudded painfully in his chest.
“Ack!” Magnolia coughed.
“I’m so stupid!” Mignon muttered as he gently set the foal down in the warm water, this time making sure that he held her up. Each cough, each sputter, each laboured breath made him ache with guilt, each sound she made caused him to wince in pain.
Leaning over the tub, he realised that using a scrubbing brush was a bad idea with all of the weeping sores. The warm water had caused them to open, and pus was dribbling out of some of them. Not quite sure what to do, Mignon sat down beside the bath to think about the problem.
The little pegasus flapped her tiny wings in the tub, a feeble flailing movement, and her head rolled around limply on her neck. Mignon flexed his magic and did more to hold her up, careful to not apply too much pressure. His head was still thudding from too much magic use and nearly cracking it open not once, but twice in the bathroom.
“I feel warm again,” Magnolia whispered in a wet wheezy voice. “It hurts all over.”
“I’m sorry,” Mignon said in a low voice. “So you ran away from the orphanage?”
The foal squirmed feebly in his magical grasp and tilted her head to look at her caretaker. “The orphanage is awful. There are too many orphans, not enough food, and every night, rats kill more foals,” she whispered. “You gotta believe me.”
“I do… look, I am going to lay you back a little bit so you can soak and we can clean these wounds, but I promise I won’t dunk you and nearly kill you again, okay?” Mignon said, announcing his intentions.
“Okay,” Magnolia breathed, closing her eyes. “I need to ask you something.”
“What’s that kiddo?” Mignon replied.
“I need some help cleaning my bottom. It burns and hurts so much back there, and it’s itchy. I haven’t had a bath in a long time,” Magnolia whimpered in a barely audible voice. “Please don’t hurt me… I’ve heard stories and I’m so scared. I want to believe that you are a good pony.”
“I’ve never given a filly or even a foal a bath before, I don’t know what I’m doing,” Mignon said, his voice cracking with emotion. “Is there something special I need to do? I mean, I don’t have one of those and I have no idea how you clean it.”
“Very carefully,” Magnolia replied. “I’ll talk you through it.”
Is it bad I cackled when I read theses parts?
5170749
The subject matter felt really heavy... I went back and added those moments as a sort of breather. I have no idea if they were a good idea or not. I'm really worried about them.
I povoted because you wrote it. And you're awesome.
5170755 I have to say they did their duty, they didn't take away from the overall feeling and I (as said previously) found them quite funny and refreshing actually.
It's a pretty good story so far. You have given us a strong main character, a helpless victim (which I already feel a mite attached to), as well as an allusion to the fact that Mignon is isn't as much of a snob as his kin, also I couldn't stop laughing when twilight snatch was used in vain causing her to drop her coco
Yes. "Escorting." That's certainly one way to put it.
In any case, I'm curious to see where you go here, especially given the blog that lead up to this story.
(Also, I appreciate the data provided about after the Griffon Diplomacy arc via the wonder that is the profane psychic twinge.)
Looking forward to more.
Mignon's lungs
I see where you're going with this. You just wrote a blog post about this type of scenario.
Enjoying this a lot!
Random comments.
coat? Fur?
Though I can see ponies using skin too.
Perhaps 'through his damp coat' ?
is there a reason not to use hail?
one-bedroom
magic. There
then lay - perhaps lose all the 'she/her' from this sentence?
Off-topc - has anyone had issues where simply pressing 'i' or 'b' will start italic or bold?
Mignon has gained my interest. I shall read this, follow it, and enjoy it.
I loved those parts. Very amusing. Can't wait for chapter 2.
So she has blackmail/porn of her friends?
In all seriousness, I think you've done a very good job with this start. Being male myself, I don't understand the prejudice that you mentioned in your previous journal. That said, I do have to deal with it myself as I spend part of my off time dealing with kids between 12 and 18 years of age, some of which are female. Personally, I don't think you need to worry about it in this so far... especially as you've seemingly (to my mind) subverted it with his reaction to bathing Maggie.
Upvote for being willing to tackle a subject/content that many people may be uncomfortable with, damned to those who get the willies. Upvote also for how you are handling the subject so far. This is going on the watch list, but not yet the fave as I want to see where it goes.
I am intrigued, I just have two questions
1: wat was twilight doing with Coco?
And 2:does Rarity kno?
5170942
A friend in need is a friend indeed, a friend will be there to help you breed...
5170948
Twi is experimenting with all the possible abilities of her horn(iness), eh?
Twi: Hrm... I wonder if my horn can perform the same duties as a stallion. Don't want to try it on Rainbow.... Hey Coco, come here and let me try something!
Oh great you decided to write it anyway! And... oh wow things are awful. Oh wow things are really really awful.
Yeah... trying to break up the horrible despondency with some levity, especially when the scene isn't supposed to be too intense is good.
But... oh no the other orphans.
There might not even be the resources to care for them, even if others were motivated to help.
... But y'know what, at least rats are solvable with some elbow grease and pummeling, even if food and warmth might be more difficult.
5170985
5170963
Sentinel will actually be making an appearance in this story. Along with Sunset Shimmer.
5170963
Rats are also solveable by lunar pegasi. Get a few lunar guards there ASAP!
I upvoted because I like the story so far. I read your reason why you are worried by this story and I suppose you are right to be. However, you can't let such concerns stop you. There is nothing wrong with being nice to small pony. Lol
Upvote ´cause i´m a stalker.
...errrrrrrrr, i meant, ´cause it´s interesting to have a different view from everything that is happening in Equestria, different from our favorite herd. How the common pony is enduring during all this.
Nope, not creeper at all !
I strangely found this part very cute XD like a father's first time with their first baby girl.
5170994
It solves both the food AND the pest problem.
Well... solves the food problem for some.
5170869
You a Yooper, too?
5170755
Appears to me that your readers are liking this story, but then a lot of us are creepy guys who eat this stuff for breakfast, lunch, and dinner when you put it out.
5171131
Damn. Have fun this winter.
I live in Iron County and just out of curiosity, how was your summer? We didn't even have one this year.
5171150
It was like spring up here for six months, didn't get much above 70 the whole time. There were a couple of days where it almost got to 90. but it never did and this past week it's been cloudy and cold. Winter's gonna be a bitch again.
up vote. needs a dark tag, also the best description you have written in a wile. i love your stuff but some times i am slow to read because your descriptions drive me away you were on chapter 80+ before i started the chase
5171247
Description?
Seems like this will be an interesting one.
Upvoted, because it still holds the same level of quality that the rest of your work does. Waiting to see where this goes.
I want more. If you where to provide more at your leisure then that would be awesome.
Why is it that I want to find the matron of the orphanage and smack that mare with a brick..........must be the overprotective papa in me
*howls to the winter moon *
That first part's pretty smart, telling us this guy isn't that into sex n' stuff.
So, chase-verse, using the name of a... Popular pony In a curse gives them some feeling.
Short story? Bullpoop to that!
You worry too much about how a story like this will be received, I think. If you have a story to tell, a story you need to share, then do it and let those of us that greatly enjoy The Chase decide. Personally, this is a fantastic start to a heart-wrenching, and hopefully heartwarming, story.
Methinks you were worrying too much. This was a good story.
5171252
description the thing that you see before you read the story after the title but before the chapters. :)
Kudzu the Chase isn't something that you should write to please your fans anymore. (You really don't have to worry about this anymore anyway.) The Chase is now a story that has so many different sides that all need to be told even if they might turn some people away from it. When you have a story idea from now on I think you should do like you did with this one, pitch it to your fans so they can give you input on it, and just is general help you write it like with the Chase. If you have a story idea at least put it out there for those of us who want more of the slice-of-life of the Chase-verse.
This is gonna be a bittersweet story isn't it? Fave and a like from me, keep up the good work :D you're one of the few authors on this site that regularly send out anything deep like this, and yet you're worried the quality will be bad when your "bad" is better than most people's best.
On a separate note... I'm gonna troll Luna starting... now. LUNA LUNA LUNA LUNA LUNA LUNA LUNA LUNA OH FOR CELESTIA'S IMPOSSIBLE HAIR'S SAKE LUNA LUNA BUCKY LUNA DAMN IT MANE SIX... let's see them spaz to that long list of vain usage of their name. Hee hee. I just hope Pinkie doesn't break the fourth wall and come take revenge on me though...
5171096 Which raises the question - can ponies (ordinary ones) eat meat - even well-cooked in stews say - and get any nutrition from it.
I rather like how this is playing out. Once again, you illustrate how the world isn't all happy and well, Kudz.
Also, the tidbits about Twi and Bucky are probably one of the funniest things I've read from you. ((Drunk Bucky is still funniest Bucky ))
5171764
that list didn't read as list of swears so much as that one scene in Family Guy where Stewie keeps saying variations on "mom".
If you want to get Luna's attention you have to shout something actually relevant to Luna's character or body. I.E. "By Luna's great eclipsing plot...."
FInding a cold, hungry, and/or jobless griffon to help out at the orphanage could help with the foals eaten by rats problem.
5172351
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5172351 I just wanted the most iterations of her name used in vain as possible. What causes the feeling isn't swearing, it's using the name in vain.
5171155
Instigate harder.
5172634
Okay.
**goes off to write more stories**
5172367
I'd be worried about A) how hungry the Griffin/Gryphon is, and B) if it would view eating the foals as a mercy or morally wrong.
5172351
5172382
Here are a few choice ones for Luna....
By Luna's Silken Midnight teats!
By Luna's velvety folds!
By Luna's unexplored rear entrance!
By Luna's full moon!
(And for us fans of 'To Dance in Shadow')
Luna taking a Fudge Turnover that was fun!
Thank you and goodnight
*Drops mic and walks toward the set*
Fluffer!
5172701
obviously bringing in a griffon is a temporary solution at this point.
Eventually the gryphon will either successfully kill all of the rats, or the prescence of a predator will encourage them to leave. But it would still probably reduce the immediate and rather horrific problem of orphan foals being eaten and/or killed by rats.
On another note, assuming the griffin does not actively kill the foals, there would still likely be a period of time where foals are dying and the griffon could potentially eat the dead foal. This raises yet more questions about whether the dead child should be buried or if the orphanage should allow the corpse to be used to help feed the griffon.
Issues like trauma for the already cold, starving, and terrified foals knowing that if one of them dies by rat bite, starvation, or from the cold, that griffin over there that is supposed to be protecting them from being eaten by rats may eat them instead. Or if the live-in griffin situation becomes long-term employment after the harsh winter, there would still be the issue of the foals knowing that that griffin over there ate the roommate you used to play with after he/she died. That's not easy to forget.
5172783
Going with the thought that Equestria at the moment is fairly close to Victorian period England I could see the griffin/gryphon eating the dead foals and the caregivers not really giving a, and pardon the terrible phase that doubles as a terrible pun, rat's ass about it.
If Charles Dickens writing is anything to go off of, when thinking about the orphanages in Equestria, then we've got to consider the fact that the caregivers themselves are overworked, underpaid, and expected to to care for more orphans than their buildings could realistically handle.
With this being the case the mortality rate of the foals in the care of these orphanages are going to be high. I would estimate somewhere in the area of four to five out of every ten, and that's being generous. Most ponies, Bucky and Twilight included, aren't thinking about this because they're not seeing it first hand. Still, that's the just the orphanages/group homes. That's not including worse things or situations.
I'm fairly certain there are ponies out there so desperate that they have, or would, sell their children into slavery. The world, even Equestria, is the way it is. All of the glitter, sunshine, and rainbows coming out of everyponies' bottom will only go so far. Under it all there is a world of corruption, and that corruption is always going to exist.
There will always be a black market, there will always be organized crime, and there will always be shady deals that end up with someone getting fucked pretty hard. Sad as it is. I see this in the world Kudzuhaiku has created. A world that looks beautiful on the outside, but once you get past the pretty Pony Princesses, and the friendship is magic, you find the undertow that exists.
Bucky could get rid of quite a bit of the corruption, but not all of it, and if he did it would only leave that section he didn't get rid of to fester and grow. The same goes for Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight. The best thing they can do is let a few different groups of these organizations exist to balance each other out...
Wow... I got way off topic! Sorry!
But yeah I could see both benefits and cons of having a griffin/gryphon working there.