Shiny Brown
Rarity was almost in heaven. The decor and menu of La Licorne Affamée made her forget about her mundane worries. She liked the tasteful gold and green colors of the floors and tables. Even the wait staff was impeccable. Attentive but not too annoying. At your side in a flash, when needed. Well, there were just a few nitpicks, she couldn't go every day and the food, though very tasty, was also expensive. This place would be great for that special occasion or friend. At least it wasn't like that horrid Hayburger's.
She grimaced. Most of her friends agreed that place was just terrible. The stink of old oil and hay fries made her nose itch. There seemed to be a foal or foals crying somewhere even if she couldn't see any. She thanked her lucky stars only Twilight and Applejack liked the place. Well, Applejack tolerated it because the menu had mostly cheap items. Rainbow Dash just got things from the fly-through window. A few steps in was the closest she got to the place.
Princess Twilight Sparkle on the other hoof... She just loved the stuff. In fact, after a few bites of a hayburger or some fries, Fluttershy saw Twilight's pupils dilate. Then the worst thing happened. Food would just fly over the place. Poor Fluttershy, she ended up being showered by half chewed fries and other bits of food. Even thinking about Fluttershy's plight made a chill race down Rarity's back. Twilight was a darling friend, but Rarity was lucky she wasn't there. Even mentioning Hayburger's was enough to make Fluttershy's tail and ears droop.
"Um, Rarity?" Fluttershy said.
Rarity came out of her depressing thoughts. She thought that she shouldn't taint her almost perfect experience with thoughts about terrible places. "Sorry, I was thinking."
"That scruffy unicorn stallion is trying to get your attention," Fluttershy said looking sideways.
"Really? I thought he would've given up by now," Rarity said then sighed. For some reason, she looked down. Almost instantly, she regretted it. There next to their table was a large brown water bug with some sort of grayish-brown mottling on its back. Her eyes widened.
She had been taught from filly-hood to abhor and kill roaches. Both of her parents who were usually easy going folks would quickly terminate any roach that dared to enter their home. Rarity could hear her mother's voice...
They were sitting in the kitchen. It was a cloudy day and cool gray light came in through the windows.
"Rarity, don't forget. Roaches come from dirty ponies. You're not a dirty pony? Right?" Rarity's mother said.
Rarity nodded. "Yes, mother. I'm not a dirty pony."
Her mother smiled. "Good. Now I'm going to teach you a telekinetic spell that will kill those little horrors. You won't have to chase them around like other ponies. Why? Roaches are fast and they catch on almost instantly that you're trying to kill them. They can't outrun thought! Focus and make a telekinetic burst that will deal with those things."
For an hour, they practiced on a wet sponge since they didn't have live targets. It made the most disgusting squishy noise when Rarity hit it with her magic. After striking the sponge extra hard so it squirted some dirty soapy water on the floor, her mother stopped the training exercise.
She came back to reality to see a yellow hoof crush the waterbug. The creature died with an overloud Crack! Then a brownish stinking liquid oozed out of the carcass. At first, Rarity was surprised then sickened by the dank swampy stench.
"Ah, yes, that is an unfortunate aspect of the Everfreeus Waterbugious. It was a fine specimen. I had hoped to study it while it was alive. Did you know that the warm winter has allowed many of these creatures to survive in the Everfree forest? Also, they’ll eat almost anything. This poor town, what was its name again? Ah, Ponyville. I hear this town is inundated with many fine specimens," The scruffy beige unicorn said.
Rarity looked at Fluttershy and was surprised to see a look of cold hatred on her face while she looked at the dead insect. Then she looked at Rarity, her expression was one of chagrin. "Sorry."
Rarity made a note to ask Fluttershy about this. She could tell there was an interesting tale. A moment later, she turned to the scruffy unicorn, but he was gone. A waitress swept in, and the offending dead creature was cleaned up, and taken away in a flash. Some of the swampy smell remained.
"He's right. Those things are everywhere," Fluttershy said.
Rarity heard a cold edge of hatred seep into Fluttershy's voice. On one hoof, she was secretly glad that Fluttershy shared her disdain for the disgusting creatures, but on the other hoof, Fluttershy's hatred seemed too extreme. For a moment, Rarity's imagination conjured up a frightening image.
It was of Fluttershy impaling waterbugs on pins and laughing while the poor creatures struggled to escape. Rarity refused to believe such thoughts. She knew Fluttershy. No way was her friend capable of torture. A quick and painless death was all the creatures deserved.
Another thought snuck into Rarity's mind. What if the telekinetic bursts didn't kill the creatures instantly? She had seen a few that waved their obscenely long antennae around even though their bodies were a brown paste. Rarity pushed the thought away and resolved to crush the head after the body was smashed.
"Rarity? We have to go soon. I have to check on the animals and do some more cleaning," Fluttershy said.
Rarity nodded and pulled her calculator from her saddlebags.
In a few moments, the bill was divvied up, paid for and goodbyes were said.
Rarity walked down the street and thought about how much work was left until closing. One dress needed some touch ups, and if there were no walk-ins, she had the rest of the day to work on more designs. New fashion designs didn't just come out of nowhere! Well, she did have some good ideas out of the blue, but maybe that was from some playing around she did earlier.
She opened the door to her home and got a surprise. Two of the foul creatures were in the hallway. Of course, they did that whole, "Let's pretend we're spots and she won't see us" roach trick. Rarity's eyes narrowed. She wasn't buying any of it. A quick blue flash lit up her horn and the first waterbug was smashed. A large puddle of brown water oozed from the dead creature. It was larger and it stunk worse than the one in the restaurant. Rarity wondered what these foul things ate.
The other waterbug realized that its friend was dead, skittered down the hallway, and took a left turn to the kitchen before Rarity could cast another telekinetic burst.
She had to admit, it had been a long time since any foul roach had the nerve to show its face in her home. This other one is going to regret visiting, Rarity thought as she raced around the corner to the kitchen.
There it was, standing in the sunlight. Its wing covers opened and Rarity snarled. "You won't escape me now!" A moment later, there was a crunch and a small puddle formed on her kitchen floor. The stench was impressive, but her rage kept her going...
An hour later, Rarity was going over some designs. The foul invaders were just a fading memory. Then somepony knocked on her door. Each of her friends had a different way of knocking. These knocks were hesitant which meant that Fluttershy was on the other side of the door.
Rarity walked to her door and opened it. Fluttershy stood there patiently. "Um, Rarity, can we talk? I promise to make it short."
Rarity smiled. "For you, Fluttershy, I have the rest of the day and evening. We may have to break for dinner."
Fluttershy smiled and walked in.
Rarity led her to the living room and into a tasteful comfy chair. "Would you like some tea or coffee?"
Again Fluttershy smiled. "Can I have some water?"
"Sparkling or plain?"
Fluttershy laughed. "Plain please, I don't want to burp."
Rarity laughed and got the water. She placed the tall glass on a white plastic coaster in front of Fluttershy.
She took a sip. "I want to apologize for how I acted earlier today. There's been something that I've been struggling with for years." Fluttershy gazed at the floor like her next words were written there.
Rarity began to worry that there was something on the floor. Maybe it was another one of those foul water bug things?
Fluttershy started. At first, the words came in chunks before the flow smoothed out. "I told you and our friends that I lived in Cloudsdale when I was young. That wasn't totally true. I was actually born in Trottingham. I don't remember my parents. Guess that they lived long enough to give me and my brother our names."
Rarity's eyes widened.
"Yes, Rarity, I had another brother. Zephyr was my adoptive brother. My blood brother’s name was Bright Pinion. He had an orange coat and a red mane and tail. His personality, well, it was kinda brash like Rainbow Dash but with more tact. He liked other ponies, and they liked him like Pinkie Pie, but he was calmer and less manic. Bright was definitely less slouchy than Zephyr."
Rarity nodded. "Bright sounds like a fine gentlestallion."
Fluttershy looked at Rarity.
Rarity thought she saw the glitter of tears in her friend's eyes.
"Yes, he had a kind word for everypony. That's why they loved him at the orphanage. He was one of the reasons why my time there wasn't totally sad." Fluttershy took a large breath and continued.
"We were in the orphanage because our parents died, and we had no relatives that could take care of us.
Because our parents were poor, we were sent to an orphanage in a section called Totterdark. The buildings were old and didn't rise from the ground in a straight line. No, they were crooked and gnarled like starving ponies huddling together sharing body heat during a frigid winter. A lot of the alleys were either dark or very dim during the daytime and lit fitfully during the night.
Luckily for us, we never had to go outside at nighttime. Say what you will about Ponyville, at least the poorest parts got as much sun as the richest parts.
Our orphanage was called Minimare Refuge. It was run by an earth pony mare called Bare Minimum and her earth pony husband, Handy Hooves. Just like her name, most of the time, we got the bare minimum. Sometimes we got a bit more. Food and water we got a bit more than the minimum. Love, well, that sometimes varied from the minimum to a bit more.
Rarity, you would cry if you saw our rooms. Bare plaster walls and old wooden cots. They were old, but not so badly maintained they were splintery. Like I said, it was bad but they never let it get worse. We, the children, quickly learned how to take care of each other. My brother worked hard to keep morale up. We did go to school. I won't talk too much about that, it was just school."
Fluttershy stopped and sighed. "There were things that were good about my time at the orphanage. We had a library down the block. Bright found it first and then told me. It did take me several weeks before I finally checked it out. A good book can be a wonderful refuge during sad times.
Another thing was the park. I don't remember its name. Unlike the buildings, it was in an area that got some sunshine. We would play in the golden warmth until the sun got blocked by buildings and the area went back to being dim and cold. The park wasn't empty, a bunch of ponies who lived in the area sat there and then there were the poor fillies and foals who went to the other orphanage.
The other orphanage, I forgot its name was run by bit pinching ponies.Oh yeah, it was called 'Sheltering Hooves' They didn't have a lot of food or even water. Don't even ask about love. Some ponies from our orphanage saved their food to give to the ones from the Sheltering Hooves. I learned that no matter how you think things are bad, there are others who have it worse."
Rarity's eyes stung, she managed to blink back the tears. Her poor friend had such a terrible foal-hood.
Fluttershy gazed at Rarity. "Please, don't feel sorry for me. This was in the past and things are much better now. Anyway, I said that Bright had an, um, bright side. He also had a contemplative side too. We used to play a game called, 'The Hundred Silences,' it was his idea.
"Flutters, do you know that the world talks to us in many voices?" Bright said.
"No," I said.
"Let's play The Hundred Silences. Basically, you count what happens between periods of silence."
"Um, wait. How did you come up with this cool idea?" I said.
He just smiled.
We would go to one of the unused rooms and just listen. At first, I would hear what was in the room. Sounds of breathing and movement. Then as I listened, I would hear what was going on in the building. Then I would hear more from the buildings around our building. A feeling of expectation grew in my heart. Something wonderful was going to be revealed. I started to get scared. What if whatever I heard was something terrible? Fear would grow and grow until I gave up listening.
I didn't play for a while until a strange thing happened. And then more strange things happened," Fluttershy said then faced the floor again.
Rarity waited for a few moments. "Fluttershy, if this is too much, you can deal with this later."
Fluttershy looked back at Rarity. "I have to do it. You know what they say, a sorrow shared is a burden halved.”
"We were playing in the park and then Bright tapped me.”
"Do you see that unicorn stallion over there? Wait, don't look at him directly."
I took a quick peek at him and looked at something else. The strange pony was larger than normal ponies. His white coat was unkempt and his faded red mane and tail didn't look any better. Something about his red eyes gave me a chill. For some reason, he had a waterbug cutie mark. All of this was making me nervous. "Bright, let's go back to Minimare.”
Bright shook his head. "He makes me feel funny, but let's not be so obvious. Let's play and slowly head back to Handy. Then we’ll tell him and this will get sorted out."
The trip back to Handy felt like hours, but we made it. Handy wasn't the most affectionate pony, but he did care enough that we were somewhat comfortable.
"Mr. Handy, that white coated unicorn is looking at us funny," Bright whispered.
"Now you notice? I've got my eye on that colt cuddler for several weeks. His red peepers are on you, Bright. He ignores the other fillies and just watches you. Be ready to take the others back in case he has friends, although I doubt it. I'm gonna sort 'im out," Handy said then his eyes narrowed. We watched as the brown earth pony with the black mane and tail crossed the park.
I wondered if Handy would be able to deal with the larger unicorn. Well, Handy stuck his muzzle in the strange pony's face. Words were exchanged and the unicorn left. It would've been a sweet victory, but then he faced us. For a moment, his eyes blazed redly then he turned away."
Rarity faced Fluttershy. "I must say, I don't trust that unicorn."
Fluttershy just nodded and smiled sadly. "The next few weeks were normal. Then on Monday, I awoke from a nightmare about swarming water bugs biting me with a squeal. I looked across the dark bedroom filled with the fitful snores of the other children at my brother's bed. It was empty. No problem, maybe he went to the bathroom? An aching void in my heart felt otherwise. I didn't want to think that I would never see my brother again.
To get my mind off of my fears, I thought about the dream. Roaches were no big deal here. Bare did the minimum to keep them in check. We tried to keep things clean, but there was alway something crawling on the walls somewhere. Sometimes roaches got into our food too. Too often. We just got used to them and just ate."
Rarity's stomach churned at the idea of eating filthy disgusting roaches. Then she thought about how lucky she was.
Fluttershy continued. "I kept a vigil from my bed watching my brother's. He didn't come back. When it was time to get up, there were a lot of questions. None of them were good. We all knew he didn't get adopted. Visitors were rare and when they came by, it was like being visited by the Princesses. Lots of to do and bother. Of course, any visitor could see what type of place this was. No, he didn't get adopted.
Then they wondered if he ran away. Bright seemed happy. But he wouldn't just leave me here. I wondered what would happen to us without his kind and uplifting words.
When we trooped down to the dining room, there was more bad news. Handy had fallen during the night and broken both of his forelegs. That meant that nothing would get fixed and food and water was going to be reduced to pay hospital bills. I began to worry. The disappearance of my brother, Handy's accident, and the strange dream felt like they were related. How so? I didn't know.
Bare told me she was going to talk to the city guard. She did say that I shouldn't get my hopes up. Well, they were pretty low. Bright had told me stories about how bad the guard was. I tried hard to push my sadness down, but it just drained the light out of the day.
Somehow, Bare took us to the park, she wheezed until she got to sit down. Again, another worry hit me. Would she go to the park tomorrow? The other ponies tried to play, but it was halfheartedly. Bright would be everywhere, giving suggestions and making games big or small better. Then I saw him, the scruffy white unicorn with the red eyes.
I didn't know what to say or do, but I trotted toward him. He didn't even look at me. Then I heard the voice.
"So, he's here. On the world with the sentient mini horses. Come others, let's get him before he gets away again."
I looked around, there was no ponies or other creatures near me or the white coated unicorn. He was staring at some other colt. I lost my nerve. Maybe I didn't hear the voice. Maybe I'm going nuts. I went back to Bare. After a while, the unicorn left. The rest of the day and night was an unrelenting ache as I wished for my brother to return. The rest of the children missed him too, and they were quiet as they also dealt with his loss.
Morning came and I faced it with red eyes and tear stained fur. All that crying and I still hurt. After breakfast, I went upstairs to do something. While I sat there in the dusty room, my mind brought up the game. He had made it, maybe I should play one more time to celebrate his memory. I started to listen.
Again, I heard the voice from the park. Maybe I was listening to stuff there? This time, I could feel more.
"Others! We must work together and we can get this monster! How many children from other species must suffer and die before we stop him?" I felt that this one was used to command.
A tired voice answered. "I'm sorry that you died and failed. You have no right to drag us out of our rest to this world."
Several other voices said things, but I couldn't understand them.
The imperious voice replied. "I'm not capable of awakening the ones truly at peace. You're here because of anger. All of them that are here are angry and want revenge."
"Hmm. You have a good point. How are we going to do this when we are nothing but voices barely heard? We have no bodies," The tired voice said.
"We pool our powers and we can do miracles," The imperious voice said.
I didn't know why I decided to enter the conversation. "What are you talking about?"
Silence.
I listened and after a while, I stopped. After that, I never played the game again.
I don't know why, but I decided to go to the park with the other ponies and Bare. She wheezed less this time, or I didn't pay attention. I sat on the cold metal bench until I saw the unicorn again.
This time I wasn't going to stop, I was going to ask him what he did to my brother. How did I know he was responsible? I didn't. All I had was a nightmare about waterbugs. I got off my bench and made my way toward the unicorn.
"So you can hear me, us," The imperious voice said.
I nodded.
"You can call me Fx'a. That's not my full name, but you can't pronounce it anyway. I was an enforcer of laws on my world. This beast, this monster that you're approaching slowly was responsible for the disappearance of several children. I tried to destroy the dimensional gateway when the fiend tried to escape, but I was killed. The Beast escaped. I don't know why I'm here with others who have tried to stop this thing and failed."
I paused my slow trot. "How many are there?"
"Too many, at least by the ones that still want to stop the beast. Who knows how many gave up?" Fx'a said.
For a moment, I was overwhelmed. This white unicorn was some alien creature on a rampage through worlds. Why didn't anyone stop him before? "Fx'a, why didn't anyone stop him before?"
Fx'a sighed, or it was something that felt like a sigh.
How could something that was just a voice sigh? You need a body for that. Maybe?
"Many have tried, but they failed because Waterbug is lucky or has help. Please, little one, please help us," Fx'a said.
I shook my head. No way I could help them against a creature that has been traveling from world to world ruining children and their parent's lives. They needed a hero. I'm just a filly who lost her brother.
A sly self-confident voice spoke up. It was the type of voice a villain could have. "Tis not a job for a hero. Heros have tried and failed."
"So have thieves," Fx'a said.
The sly voice continued. "True but maybe the pole up the rear righteous ones needed some help. The one thing that we all agree on is our shared desire to see this Waterbug or whatever this thing is pay. There are others here that are darker than me. Anyway, little one, Waterbug has your brother. You can faff about or you can rescue him."
My heart leaped up in joy. I could see my brother again! A smile covered my face.
"Hyrixx is right, but time is short," Fx'a said.
I nodded. "I'll help you if you help me."
"Okay, now you should find a place to watch Waterbug until he leaves. We don't know where he lives exactly, but if you keep to the shadows you can follow him home without him knowing it," Hyrixx said.
I walked back to the bench and watched the other ponies play. For some reason, the adventure was making me feel excited. I should’ve been full of fear, but the prospect of seeing my brother again raised my spirits.
Finally, after a few hours, the sun left the park. By then, I was starting to get fearful again.
"Time to work my magic. Listen to me carefully, little one. If you box this up, you won't see your brother again," Hyrixx said.
Waterbug trotted off to the darker part of town, and I slunk in the shadows after him.
I didn't like it in the dark areas. Besides furtive ponies, there were other things. Cold and dark they were, but somehow the Dark Others that were with me kept us safe."
Rarity peered at Fluttershy. "Us?"
"Um, yeah, I was quite sure the voices were from real creatures. I sensed that the Dark Others hated me, but they hated Waterbug even more. So we slipped in and out of darkness to avoid Waterbug's red gaze. The sun had set for an hour before we finally were outside his home.
The crooked building was a looming dark shadow among other shadows. I began to worry that maybe I was too late, and Bright was no more but I pushed that thought back. We hid around the corner until Waterbug went inside. Then we waited some more until Hyrixx said it was safe.
I looked at the locked door. How was I supposed to open that?
"Don't worry, ain't no lock made that I can't open," Hyrixx said.
Then a sharp pain drove through my head.
"Wait! We need to bypass the security spells or we’ll be undone!" Fx'a said.
"Why the pain? Can't you say something?" I said. Then I saw the three floating red disks of magic above the lock. I didn't like what I saw, it seemed like there were wiggling letters in red. Like maggots in blood. After a few moments, the disks faded away.
"The wards have been bypassed. Now Hyrixx can pick the lock," Fx'a said.
A moment later, the lock clicked and I grabbed the door with my fore hooves and pulled. The door opened. I slipped in and closed it slowly and quietly.
Of course, if I had been smarter, I would've stopped. Should've stopped.
But I wanted to see my brother again.
It's amazing how one's wishes can be granted, but not in the way you expect."