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Chapter I1,337 words
Chapter II2,775 words
Chapter III1,659 words
Chapter IV1,479 words
Chapter V1,967 words
Chapter VI2,519 words
Chapter VII1,813 words
Chapter VIII2,755 words
Chapter IX1,938 words
Chapter X1,392 words
Chapter XI1,962 words
Chapter XII1,495 words
Chapter XIII1,659 words

Chapter IX

Up on melancholy hill
There’s a plastic tree
Are you here with me?
Just looking out on the day
Of another dream

The elderly colt struggled to lift himself before he fully sat down next to me. He had a musty odor about him, a familiar old pony smell that had only grown accustomed to my senses through frequent visits to nana’s house. I turned away at the sudden overpowering stench. I just wasn’t used to it anymore, ‘cuz I hadn’t been to nana’s house in so long.

‘Cuz Mum never bothered to tell me that she had passed, and I had to figure it out for myself.

He peered through scrawny eyes out over the countertop. It looked as though he couldn’t see a thing, his pupils were endless pits of nothingness. It was like staring into a starless sky, an never-ending black hole. Personally, I felt he could make a decent scarecrow. I kept that thought to myself.

“So, fillies,” the elderly colt wheezed, “do you live here?”

I raised an eyebrow. “No. I’d think you’d know if you had two mares living in your own restaurant,” I said dryly. What a silly question. I wanted to bonk him on the head.

The manager let out a hearty chuckle. “No, no.” He whammed a hoof down into the table. “What I meant was, do you live in St. Cloud somewhere?” He folded his hooves in his lap, then shrugged his shoulders, awaiting my response.

I started to foalishly fiddle with my hooves. I stared at them like I didn’t have any interest in whatever stinky over there was talking about (‘cuz I kinda didn’t anyway). “No. We’re just visiting.”

The manager frowned. “Hm. Well, where are your guardians, if I may ask?” he asked. I didn’t really understand. He asked before he asked if he could ask. Ow. My brain.

“Guardians?” I replied. “What do you mean, guardians? Like angels?”

The manager snorted. He coughed heavily twice, holding a hoof to his face. “No,” he said, the episode over, “like parental figures. Who do you live with?”

I decided to look at him and give him a smile. “My friend here!” I emphatically answered, gesturing to the other side of the table.

“Mhm. But do you have anypony else?”

“No, not really.”

“So you’re alone here in St. Cloud?”

“I’m not alone!”

The manager sighed. He rested his head on one of his hooves and leaned into the table. “So you and your ‘friend’ here are all alone?”

I didn’t really like the way he said ‘friend’. “Yup. I guess so.”

Just then, Violet came back with three waters filled to the point of spilling over on a carrying tray. She set the tray down on the table, drops of water sent over the edges, and the manager drearily distributed them to himself, Fluttershy, and myself in respect. After handing them out, he whispered something into Violet’s ear, and then he thanked her out loud. I couldn’t make out what he had said. Violet shrugged, spun, and left.

“What’s your friend’s name?” the now visibly less joyous colt asked, jumping right back into the conversation.

I responded swiftly and clearly. “Fluttershy.”

Upon hearing the name, the scarecrow suddenly seemed to lose all emotion. He stared blankly at his glass of water. I felt things suddenly get darker. If any more colors from the room could have been drained, they would have been coming from him. I thought he had just died for a moment. I wanted to poke him, just to be sure he was still alive, but decided otherwise. Then, he showed signs of life, thank goodness. His forehead scrunched like he had encountered a strange memory. His lips quivered. He looked cold.

The manager swung his gaze to where Fluttershy was sitting. “F-Fluttershy?” he murmured.

“One and only!” I responded. I directed my gaze to his ornamented vest. “Hey! Cool button!” I proclaimed, pointing to one of the many pins attached to his apparel.

The scarecrow looked straight down, gesturing to the pin of my admiration. He said nothing, he only pointed at it, as if mutely asking ‘this one?’.

“Wher’d ya get it?” I asked, now feeling a bit more bubbly, willing to talk to somepony. I smiled again.

The manager fumbled for words. “I, uh...” He cleared his throat. “I got it from someone very special to me.”

I cheesed. “Aw! Like a marefriend?” I asked.

I wasn’t so sure, but I thought I could see a drop of water that had spilled out onto his cheek. Must have been from his glass. “You could say that,” was all he replied.

o----o

After about twenty more minutes, we had haycakes. They were scrumptious, I devoured every morsel with a vigor that I didn’t even realize I had. I must have been really hungry. Fluttershy, on the other hoof, did not seem tempted to try them. She must have been a picky eater, and she also must have had a very strong stomach. I would have eaten the bark off of a tree if I had to go another day.

“How are they?” the manager asked, watching me mindlessly throw the food down my throat without so much as a single chewing motion.

With a mouthful, I loudly chomped “Grayff!”

The manager chuckled. He seemed to be constantly checking the front door, as if in a fit of paranoia. Violet could be seen standing near the doorway, checking a hoofwatch she had on.

“Eat your fill,” he said, turning back to me. “This one’s on me.”

I suddenly felt like a foal. How could I have been so stupid. “Oh. Well that’s good. ‘Cuz I don’t have any bits,” I said somberly.

The manager gave a half-smile. “I know.”

I set my silverware back down on the table, suddenly losing my appetite. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” the old colt replied. “Eat up. Please, eat up.”

As the colt once again glanced out at the door, I could see that he now kept his gaze fixated there for a longer period of time. I followed his line of sight to the doorway to see two surly colts in black suits and black fedoras, chatting it up with Violet as she nervously continued to talk. I had a weird feeling suddenly, and I couldn’t place it.

In a flash, and faster than I even thought the manager could even move, he turned to me and took my hoof. I blinked, thoroughly surprised, yet I willed it to happen. The manager struggled with his vest, tugging at the pin of my fancy from earlier, apparently trying to yank it off. Upon several failed attempts, he succeeded at last, and he stuck the pin firmly in my hooves.

I stared at it. I didn’t know what to do.

“Take this,” the manager said to me, looking dead on into my eyes. “Take this, and never let it go.”

“B-but... your pin?” I stuttered.

“No,” he replied. “I want you to have it.” He looked across the table again. “And Fluttershy as well.”

Fluttershy stared into the eyes of the colt, like a fond memory was being played out in both of their heads. I had no idea what in the hoof was going on.

“This her?”

I looked up. Suddenly, two surly looking colts in black vests and black fedoras were standing at the head of the table. They were scary looking. I felt like they could be the bad guys in one of those black and white movies.

“This is her,” the manager replied. “I ask that you keep her safe.”

“Mr. Manager?” I asked hesitantly, feeling a pit deep in my stomach. “What’s going on?”

The scarecrow turned to me, looking into my eyes again. “See these friendly colts here?” he asked, gesturing to the not so friendly looking colts. I nodded. “These guys are here to take you to someplace where you can make new friends and live a normal life,” he said. “Someplace where you don’t have to worry about bits.”

I looked at the colts and waved a timid hoof. They forced a smile and waved back robotically.

“They are going to take you to your new home,” the manager added.

The manager leapt out of his seat, surprisingly agile for somepony his age. The end of the booth was replaced by one of the bigger colts with open hooves.

I frowned. “What if I don’t wanna go?” I asked foalishly, my voice squeaking.

The manager shook his head back and forth. “You have to go, sweetie,” he told me. “You have to.”

I didn’t like this. I didn’t like this one bit.

I pressed myself back into the corner. “No... no, I don’t wanna go!” I shouted. All eyes and ears in the restaurant were suddenly turned our direction. I ignored them.

“Please don’t make us do this the hard way, miss,” one of the burly, muscle ripped colts said. “We won’t hurt ya. We’re here to help you.”

“And your friend, too,” the other one added.

I looked over at Fluttershy. She was staring at the table. She was frozen solid.

“No!” I hollered.

“Hard way it is,” the colt said. He deftly reached into the booth seat and grabbed for me.

I flailed. I hit him. I thrashed as he easily lifted me up into his grasp. I struggled as he slung me over his shoulder. I squirmed as everypony watched me scream and kick and buck as hard as I possibly could. Nothing worked. I was too weak. He was way too strong.

Mum must have been behind this.

“Fluttershy!” I waved my forelegs at her. She looked at me, her eyes shimmering and desolate. “Help! Follow us!”

I didn’t know what would happen at first. Fluttershy looked lost. But, being the friend she is, she abruptly whirred past everypony, and she swiftly trotted to our side. I wasn’t sure why the other one wasn’t carrying her as well. Probably ‘cuz they knew she’d follow.

Thank you, I mimed with my mouth. I felt water form in my eyes. It was a familiar sensation that I should have mastered in holding back in the past few years, but I hadn't yet. No. I began to cry. I cried into the shoulder of this stranger, my tears staining his greyish coat. I hit him one last time.

He probably deserved it.

Then I went limp. I felt something jostle around in my grasp at that instant. I clutched it tighter and I brought it up to my face. It was the pin. It was the pin the manager gave me before he sent me away. I stared at it, wondering why he wanted me to have it so bad. It was so special to him, why let me have it?

The pin was glossy and shiny. The pin had a tear drip onto it. I gazed at it. I marveled it. I twirled it around in my hooves, the image blurry in my teary eyes.

But I could certainly make out possibly the coolest design I had ever seen. A cloud with a lightning bolt shooting out of it, striped with three different colors: red, yellow, and blue. They were the only three colors in the entire world right now.

o----o

Song: On Melancholy Hill

By: Gorrillaz

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