//------------------------------// // Memory Mouse // Story: Greeds Mr. Good Guy // by cimche //------------------------------// With a bag of gold in his hand, fortune placed it on the table in the living room, and with a rolled up paper in his other hand placed it next to it. Only after did he leave through the door, making sure to be quiet as he did. He didn't get far from the house before he tripped on his robe, softening the fall with his arms. "Oh karma, why do you hate me so." He said as he picked himself up. Dusting himself off he continued to walk towards his destination, keeping his somewhat promise to meet up with Fruit cup. Making his way through the town and going through some alleyways to avoid crowds he soon made it back to the simply named food mart. Walking in he was immediately greeted by the mare at the counter. "Oh, hello again. I'm guessing you here for are little meet up? Well of course you are. Well, my breaks in an hour so can you wait until then? I would tell you were it is, but its pretty far from here, don't want you getting lost." Fruit cup said cheerfully. Fortune answered her question with a nod of his head. "Umm may you happen to have any candy here?" "No, but there's a place close to here that sells some, not far from the path, just take a left going out. Its a very colored building, cant miss it." "Ok, thanks. Be right back." He waved to her goodbye as he walked out the building, taking the way she told him. He soon made it to a building representing an upside down lollipop with the stick broken. He walked in and once he set eyes inside they opened in surprise as his eyes looked everywhere. To the bins of candy, to the Giant gummy bears and lollipops sculpted to perfection on the countertops and the high array of colors they all shone. The surprise on his face only grew more as he looked around, barely noticing the stallion when he presented himself. "Hello, welcome to the lollipop lounge, how may I help you." The stallion said, but was somewhat ignored as Fortune just stared around some more. "Ummm, sir, miss? Sir!" He said as he tried getting fortunes attention. Soon as he said that Fortune turned his way, surprise still etched on his face. The stallion gave a nervous smile as he was stared down by the mouse. Then suddenly the sounds of coins rapidly hitting the ground came from Fortunes way as bits pored up from under his robe. The stallion looked down and back up in the quick recession, mouth agape as they both stared at each other with surprise. Fruit Cup shuffles her hooves on the counter as she waits for Fortune. An hour has already passed and he still hadn't returned. With a sigh she put her head atop her, worried he may not show. Looking out the door however showed her to be wrong as she saw what she belived to be him, his back from the side was what she saw as he slowly came to full view, and he happened to be carrying a big bag, bigger than himself. Eyebrow raised she watched as he opened the door using his back, struggling to drag the bag inside. Once he made it to the counter, he fell on his hindquarters in exhaustion. Fruit cup looked down to the bag, being almost as big as her, then to fortune, who raised his face to look at her. In his mouth he had two lollipops, sticks stuck out goofily. "Dang, how much did you buy?!" She asked, pushing herself off the counter. "The cashier said I had bought one-forth of the stores product, though I think he was joking." Fruit cup stared back at the bag. "I don't think he was joking." Fortune got up from where he sat, taking the two sticks from his mouth now missing of candy. "Well anyways, ready to go?" "What about you bag?" she pointed out with her hoof. "Do you plan to carry it around? Because we can deliver it to wherever you want. Well, wherever is close." "Hmm... Yeah, that seems better." Fruit Cup pulled out some paperwork for him to fill out, her pointing out what to write and where to write it. Once he was done she took it from him, looking through it. Fortune caught the surprise the mare had when reading the paper, and was worried of what had done so. She put the paper under the desk and clopped her hooves together. "Ready to go?" Answering with a nod of his head and after Fruit cup notifying someone in the back, both walked out of the market. The ambient sounds of birds chirping and busy streets were vibrant as they took there little stroll. Fortune was occupied shoving more and more candy down his gullet as Fruit cup tried her best at small talk, him replying if not his mouth full of candy. "Oh yeah, I never really quite got your name, what is it if I can ask." Fruit cup said. Fortune nearly chocked on the candy from the realization, coughing out a gummy worm in the process. "Are you ok?" She asked concerned "Yeah, and my names fortune." "Fortune. Hmm... Neat name." Fortune didn't notice how she presented his name as he busied himself with the candy, savoring them one by one.   "Do you eat candy like this often?" Fruit cup asked. Mouth to busy enjoying the candy, he answered with a nod of his head. "Aren't you like, worried for your health?" Shaking his head, he popped another piece of candy in his mouth. "Well, at least you're not hyped on the stuff." Gulping down the remnants of the candy, he smiled to the mare. "Hey, you know what they say. If you give a mouse a cookie." It took a second for her to understand, a big smile springing on her face when it registered. "It asks for a glass of milk. When you give a mouse a glass of milk." "It'll want a pot of gold." Fruit Cup gave him a confused look. "That's not how the story goes." Fortune shrugged his shoulders. "Wanted to be creative." "Well, I guess it does compare to your name. Fortune, like a pot of gold." "Yeah, I guess it does." The conversation slowly died down as they continued to walk to the library, the sounds of Fruit Cups hooves reverberate through the path. "Welp, this is the place." Fruit cup said. She pointed a hoof to a brick-build building. It had a shader roof at the entrance, along with a placement of chairs a tables to the side. The name of the building was Well Water Library, with a picture of a well and books flying from the well. Walking through the front door they saw that few ponies were there, only a few groups and lone readers. At the counter was a sign that said silence would be appreciate. A staircase goes to an upper floor were a porch resides, tables and shelves filled with books viewable from the lower floor. They walked past a green librarian mare with glasses behind a counter, her giving a curious look to Fortune's hooded form. "Excuse me, may you be new to the library?" The librarian asked. They both turned her way, unaware who she was asking. When Fortune saw that she was referring to him he raised his hood for her to get a better view, not wanting to be to much of a stranger. "Yes, I'm new to this place." He said. With only a raise of her eyebrow she continued. "Well, I must tell you a few rules of this library before you may continue." She adjusted herself, adjusting her glasses and resting her hooves on the counter. "You may not be able to check out books, only read them here unless you fill out a forum." She said, Pointing to a stack of paper. "Once you fill one out and bring it back you will gain approval in the mail. We ask of you to not destroy, tamper, or take books out of the town border or you will be fined otherwise. Any questions you may need answering can be answered by me or anyone else attending the desk." "I have a question." Fortune said raising his hand. "Do you have any books on anatomy? Dragon specifically." "You should be able to find it upstairs. The genres are labeled so you shouldn't have a hard time finding it. Would be under science." "Ok, thanks." With a nod of his head he went his way up the stairs, Fruit cup following his tail, which she did not see. "Hey fortune, were's your tail? You do have one right?" She said as a whisper. "It's in my robe, it's well hidden." Fortune answered. Making it to the top floor, Fortune started looking around the labels placed upon shelves for science. "Can I see it?" He didn't try showing it, but he felt a little flustered from her asking that question. Turning to her, he tried his best to not seem embarrassed. "Umm, s-sure." He pulled an arm into his robe, leaving the sleeve loose as he arched his back to grab something, and with the clipping sound of something opening came the reveal of his tail slowly exiting from the robe. He twirled the rodent tail around, letting Fruit cup get a good view of it. The tail Surpassed his own body, and slightly slouched when he relaxed it. "Whoa, is it supposed to be that big? Its bigger than you." Fruit cup said. Fortune let out an embarrassed cough at the question. "Ummm... No, i don't think so." He took the tail between his clawed hands, one gripping it while the other caressed the end between his fingers. "Though I am quite different from your ordinary mouse." "Yeah, i'll say." Fruit cup took a seat at the table, getting a confused look from fortune. "Aren't you gonna get a book?" Fortune asked. "Nah. like I said, this place is usually used for hanging out. I wanted to talk with you, but you can get a book if you like." "Ok, what do you you have in mind?" He said as he took a seat across from her. It took a couple of seconds, but fruit cup eventually blurted out her question. "Who are you exactly?" She asked. "What do you mean?" "Like, where do you come from? What's your past? Who do you know, and why are you here now?" Fortune uncomfortably shuffled in his seat, unexpected of the question. "Don't you think that's a little bit of a personal question for someone you just met?" "You don't have to tell me everything, not even all you can tell today. We can even make it into a thing. I'll tell you something of me if you tell me something of yourself. If what you say is bad l, i'll   tell you something of my past that's bad, same said for other things. Deal?" She finished with a hoof out to shake.   Fortune hummed questioningly, but then shook the hoof with his own clawed hand. "Deal." "Ok, so what of your past would you like to say first?" Gripping his hands together, he shuffled in his seat. "Remember when I said that I wasn't really born? Well, it was more like I was created." "How so?" "Well it could just be me, but I don't remember anything of my youth, or in my sense, a past of my existence. It just feels like I begun, like the start of a story. No achievements, no education, nothing but my name and my partner seemed to make me who I was from the start." "Really? Who's your partner?" "Well... I don't want to get into details but her name is Charity. I'll tell you another day. Your turn." "Well..." She rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. "I don't really know what to compare that to." "Just say a day that started off too weird." They sat in silence as Fruit cup thought it over in her mind, eventually starting her story. "Well I remember one time that I woke up to a bright light shining over me. At first I though it was  just the morning sunshine, but the light seemed to shift around, casting shadows around my room, making me think someone was in there with me. When I looked up though what I saw was a blue orb of light. Even though it was just and orb, it felt familiar somehow, as if it was someone close to me." She sat back in her chair. "Scared me half to death when the thing rushed right through me, or in me is what I thought, and still do. Barely got any sleep that day, and couldn't stop worrying the next, Or the day after that... Or a year later. A lot of random stuff happened after that, but I'll save it for another time. I'm going to get a book" Fruit cup got up from her seat and made her way to one of the many shelves. Looking up and down the section labeled fantasy. Fortune did the same as he scanned a the science section, pulling out a book named Dragon Anatomy: Facts and Theory. Placing it on the table be began to flip through it before stopping at a page titled Neck and Torso. The section explained mostly the anatomy of the listed parts with diagrams of the inside outer structure, how dragons breathe fire and how they were believed to do so, and how different it was from types or age of dragons. He stopped at a picture of a dragon with his mouth open, showing his many sharp teeth, and a maw ready to devour any who show themselves to it. He stared it down for a while, unaware he was doing so until Fruit cup Dropped a book on the table, him quickly closing the book in shock. "You must've really been into that book." She put a hoof to the side of her mouth."Or perhaps you found something naughty." Winking his way, he caught on to what she was saying, leaving him flustered. "Oh, no, nothing like that." He said waving his hands back and forth. "Sure it isn't." She said sarcastically. She flipped through her book and began to read her book of choice, Leaving Fortune puzzled. They read their books, occasionally Fruit Cup talking about a good part in her book or just small talk. After some time Fruit Cup placed her book down and got up. "I got to go, see you later." Fruit cup said. And with that she walked down the stairs after waving farewell. Fortune continued to read after she left, occasionally getting up to pick up a different book while leaving the other open on an important page. Minutes turned to hours, and soon enough the sun was setting. With a few books scattered across the table he thought it would be high time to call it a day with his research, beginning to mark the pages with a fold of their Corners. Shelving them he began to make his departure, walking out into the orange sunlit path. He continued to walk, being slightly lost from the unfamiliar atmosphere, but soon found his way back to his temporary residence. Knocking, he was greeted by Missing Charm, who didn't look to pleased. "Where have you been?" She asked as if to a late child. "Wait, never mind. Come in." He followed her in, closing the door behind him. From the entrance he could se that there was a small table half his size set up in the living room, pillows on all four sides, and a table cloth covering the entire thing. Sat at the far ends where Burmese and Drake. Drake waving uncomfortable to Fortune as he walked in, while Burmese just ignored him. Fortune could hear the sound of boiling in the room across, Missing Charm making her way over there. "I'm making dinner, it'll be done soon." She said as she entered the kitchen. He saw the slight flash and flow of her magic as she ran the cooking, making his statement from before true. Staring back at the table he saw that Burmese was staring at him with his hooves crossed. Fortune tried to ignore it as he took a seat on one of the pillows as best he could, but just couldn't find a comfortable position to sit in, so he settled with sitting on the ground. Soon enough she was done cooking, plates and utensils flying in from the kitchen onto the table, and following them was her with a pot to her side. She began to scoop what was inside onto each plate, what its contents where was boiled vegetables. Corn, green beans, broccoli, carrots, all these mixed together to make a colorful little meal. "Thank you for the meal!" The two colts said. "Thank you." Fortune said. She nodded her head, putting the pot in the middle before taking her seat. Nodding again she began to eat, using her magic on a spoon to scoop the food in her mouth. The colts just used their mouth, not fully developed in their magic quite yet. Picking up a fork Fortune began to eat, skewering the veggies onto his fork. He usually looked up from his food to see at least one pair of eyes on him, occasionally being Missing charm. They all mostly ate in silence, the atmosphere being of a stale dinner, though Fortune thought the food was good. Once they all finished eating, Missing Charm took everyone's plates and told the little ones to clean up, which was also an offering for Fortune to get clean as well. Soon enough Everyone was ready for bed. Goodnights where exchanged between mother and sons while Fortune made his way to the living room. Getting comfortable on the couch he got ready to go to sleep. "Goodnight." Fortune heard from the living room entryway. He turned to see Missing Charm in the entry, seeming to be passing by. "Goodnight." Fortune said. With a nod she walked out of sight, a door being closed soon after. Laying back Fortune took in the day, and the knowledge he took from the books. He made a new friend, learned a thing or two, and bought a ton of candy. "Wait... What happened to my candy?" Missing Charm lay in her bed, magic grasping into a bag to pull out a wrapped piece of candy. Pulling it in front of her she unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth. She savored the flavor of it, wondering where all of it may have come from.