//------------------------------// // The Manager // Story: L'Hotel des Animaux // by SwordTune //------------------------------// I dragged them. All of them. Not the dog and the cat, of course. Their city lives were long, pampered by inordinate attention and grotesque abundance. It’s not that they weren’t my friends. Well, the cat could have left me alone and I wouldn’t have minded. But they were, in some ways, my companions. The bat, the other cats, and the snake and fox, I dragged them by their richly-fed hides to the front door. Fattened by my plan. I always had one. Even for this eventuality, I had one. It wasn’t supposed to happen so soon, but it would happen. My assistant, Pree, came at once when I called for her. A little string on a bell inconspicuously hung in the far corner of my dining room was all she needed to hear. Our little secret. “Yes, Mister-” she stopped her words the very moment she entered. My guests were crumpled vestiges of their former selves, but she had seen much worse before. No, it was my eyes, the fixed ocular globes which saw through the pitch of the night. “I’m so sorry, sir! I heard the bell ring so I assumed you were ready.” Now that Winona and that shallow Opalescence had found out, the truth seemed a trifling concern. “Steel your eyes against this predator. I don’t want to hide myself any more.” She turned back, seeing me for the first time. The magpie’s beady marbles flicked around the feathers of my face, struggling to see as well as I could. I waved a wing, and the jewel I had in my talons responded. Light, its source well hidden behind granite walls, blazed through the quartz crystals set in the stone. My meticulous sanctum returned to clarity just as I returned to my identity. “Send a letter to Angel, tell him the kitchens will have a few new dishes to try tonight. But make no mention of Winona or Opalescence.” “I do believe you gave him the week off, sir,” Pree managed to continue, though I sensed a bit of unease in her voice. “He’ll be spending time at that cottage with his pony.” “That little bunny has it in for predators. He won’t mind the overtime when it’s the top of the food chain that he’s butchering.” For all my sins, even I shuddered at the thought of that rabbit’s buried desires. I wished he could stay away for a little longer. I wanted Winona to see the work I was doing from a gentler light first. Angel would complicate things.  Or maybe he’d make it too simple? I guess when it came down to the details, my plan really was just blood and talons. But if I let that reckless puffball have his way, it’d only be chaos.  Pree snapped my mind back to the present condition. “And your other guests?” I followed her eyes to Opalescence and Winona. “Tell the rats to take them back to their rooms. Knowing Winona, I think she’d find her space little more comforting than,” I gestured to my night-themed suite, “all of this.” Pree nodded, dutifully as ever. As she left to write the letter, I couldn’t help but ruffle my feathers. I likened regret to a second shadow that you could never see until it covered you wholly. As an owl, it felt doubly irritating. I should have trusted her years ago. I should’ve been trusting with everyone. Ahem. Perhaps not Opalescence. Slowly my door swung closed and I was left with my lonesome self. I opened my wings, catching in my talons the jewel that fell out of my feathers.  It shined with a knowing look like it was judging me for using its magic. “You’ll see,” I said out loud, perhaps to myself as much as the jewel “One day, you and I will be done.” +++++|+++++|+++++|+++++|+++++|+++++|+++++|+++++|+++++ I couldn’t reckon when I woke up, but I laid right there on that floor for a mighty long time before my heart kicked me in the chest like Big Mac on zap-apple season. The last thing I remember was eating dinner with a bat and a fox. It was almost like a dream. But once my brain caught up with my body, I remembered. Abacus Finch was no finch. He was Owlowiscious. Which didn’t make a lick of sense. Owlowiscious gave me the invitation in the first place. And I would’ve believed it was a dream if that very same owl wasn’t waiting for me across from my bed drinking tea. I wanted to stay calm. “Oh, sweet apples! Don’t eat me!” Reckon I tried my best. “Right, I suppose that’s warranted. But I won’t hurt you. I’m sure you don’t think I’m telling the truth, but I hope you’ll let me explain myself over a cup of tea.”  “Naw, don’t go an’ play coy with me,” I told him true. “Where’s Opalescence? Y’all eat her already?” He barely moved, sittin’ there with his spoon, stirrin’ the cup real slow while he watched me from his seat. I was half the room away, and for a moment reckoned I could make a jump for the door. But those eyes, I tell ya, they froze me right in my tracks. Owlowiscious ruffled a soft hoot. “Oh, if only. That pompous puss hasn’t been much use to my plans. Still, she’s a friend, of sorts.” “Right, an’ when y’all’ad her on yer dining table, that was just a joke, wasn’t it? You really think a farm dog like me’s gonna fall for that? Just ‘cause I ain’t ever lived in a library sortin’ books all night don’t make me a fool, y’hear!” “It wasn’t a joke,” he said, sounding like he was actually sorry. “You’re right, I was going to serve her instead of my usual plans. My anger escaped me when I found out she took you to dinner before the rats could escort you. I knew you weren’t ready for the Hotel’s methods, my methods, so I wanted to ease you into it myself.” “Wha- so you were gonna make me eat someone too? What in tarnation is wrong with y’all?” I flinched as Owlowiscious scratched the coffee table with his talons. Problem with birds was that their beaks didn’t flinch. I reckoned he was mad at me for cutting him off, but for some reason he couldn’t look me in the eye. “Let me explain. This place, this Hotel, has been my life’s dream. I even sought out Twilight and her library to make it happen.” He opened his wings and dropped a green jewel on the ground. I recognized it, the same darn jewel he used on all the animals in his suite. I didn’t even wanna ask what happened to the others.  “Her company was enjoyable, but to be honest, I was only  looking for a book about this little artifact.” He tapped on the jewel. “It’s similar to the stones in the Alicorn Amulet. I found it in the Everfree Forest, but had no idea how to use its enchantment. Even Twilight didn’t have the book I needed until Celestia sent a shipment of new books to the Castle.”  I would be lying if I said it didn’t look pretty. Even though it was green, the jewel sparkled clearer than a lake on a moonlit night. Wasn’t ‘bout to forgive him, though. He killed critters and ate them, but worse, he made deals with them so they wanted to die. A life can’t be bought. His piercin’ yellah eyes watched me, as if he were looking straight through my heart. “I know you don’t fancy yourself a city animal,” he hooted roughly, “but you’re far from wild, Winona. Judge me all you want, but the deepest parts of the Everfree has no laws. I know you might call me evil, but the Hotel of Animals is the only symbol of order to the predators.” “Is that so? Bet none of y’all heard that Fluttershy had her Sanctuary, now did you? Reckon there’s a lot more order there than here.” “And when predator or prey leave the Sanctuary, they leave behind the rules as well. What keeps the peace in wild? Who decides which prey gets eaten and which predator goes hungry?” “Yer talking about controlling lives? That don’t make you right, it makes you a dictator.”  “You don’t understand the lengths I had to go to just to reach this point.” Owlowiscious ruffled his feathers. He picked up the jewel and put it on the table, pointing with his wing at it. “This jewel put my dreams of order into motion. It gave me the power to make the rodents of the forest obey me. The beavers brought the wood, and the rats and mice gave their lives hour by hour so that the Hotel of Animals would be the most astounding home of decadence and debauchery.” Every word out of the owl’s mouth was like a nightmare. I called him friend, but all this time we were being lied to. He told me how the jewel gave him the magic to get respect from other predators. Its magic made fighting impossible. One spell and any creature would be down. And one by one, they listened to his offer. But it was the Hotel that would buy their loyalty. The strongest animals though it was their right to be served like kings. They ate. And ate. And by the time they realized the months had turned their bellies fat, it was too late. Hunting prey had fallen out of fashion. Like a raccoon in a trashcan after leftover night, snakes and bats and foxes all wanted their meals braised, seasoned, stewed, and roasted. But I reckoned the bubble baths and grooming helped bunches, too. “The animals I serve as dinner have been generously compensated,” he firmly said. “Instead of mercilessly dying in a hawk’s nest, they dine on the finest meat and berries in Equestria. Their families are under my protection, and I can even arrange for their offspring to be moved to some faraway city or farm with no predators and ample food.” The more he talked, the more it felt like he was proud of what he did. Couldn’t say how many times, but I felt my teeth grate ‘gainst themselves more than once. Downright made me mad that he had a rationale for butcherin’ folk. “Most importantly, predators willingly wait to eat what I tell them to eat. No more hunting, no more killing. All that’s left to do are the necessary sacrifices.” “So what do I hafta do with all’ve it?” I snarled at him, I wanted him to know that I didn’t agree. “Just needed a few days off from the farm, and you offered me this? Thought you were my friend, but even that invitation was a lie!” He waggled his wing feathers. “Not entirely. On paper, Mr. Finch has frequently sent Owlowiscious invitations to the Hotel. It’s how I keep the other pets from wondering where I spend my time.” “It was a lie!” “I am well aware, Winona!” he screeched back. “But I am done. Whether I like it or not, you’ve set in motion the next step in my plans, and I want my friends by my side for it.” I rolled out the bed, not even caring if he’d snap at me for leavin’. “Don’t make me part of your schemes. I ain’t a conniving villain with a master plan, ya hear? I’m just a farm dog who wants to forget all this even happened. “My richest clients are dead. I’ll be paying every songbird in the forest to sing about how their final supper was so extravagant that they couldn’t live with the fact that they’d never eat something so good again.” I did my best to ignore him, grabbing my suitcase from the closet and heading for the door, fast as I could. But Owlowiscious was faster. A blinding light stopped me, and when I could see again, he was at the door with the jewel in his talons. “With them gone, I will have new clients trying to climb to the top. New mouths to feed, but inexperienced mouths. The wave of VIPs will be less greedy, meaning I will have to sacrifice far less than before.” Owlowiscious stretched his wings out, and it made me flinch back when he tried to hug me. His face twisted and he looked sad, more than anything else. “I can’t make you stay. I only ask that you don’t hate what I have had to do. Lying to you all was never part of my plan. But even as I paid others to sacrifice themselves, I started to hate the savage predators who demanded more. I couldn’t dine with them happily, and I could never call them my friends.” “But you still gave in to them.” His wings were still stretched out in a hug, and I saw what was under his mask. Finch was Owlowiscious’s mask, but Owlowiscious was another mask for the owl inside. Reckon that little bird didn’t have a name, ‘cause he didn’t have any friends to use it.  I stepped into his wings, gripping the jewel in his talons. Owls couldn’t move their eyes, but I still saw a world of feelings in his glaring marbles. “So you’ll agree with it, then,” he said slowly. “I can’t manage it all on my own. A few friends to ease the burden would be welcomed. Pree hasn’t taken a day off in years.” “Once the lie about the VIPs goes out, it can never stop, Owlowiscious.” The jewel was warm, glowing like it was reacting to something. Feelings, maybe. Heard Applejack reciting her lectures once, about how magic and feelings were tied together. I wondered if he could see how I really felt. He looked at me like his eyes could see right into my soul, but I wondered if he even knew what a soul was. After all the things he did, there was a chance his soul was broken beyond repair, if it was ever there. “I have full confidence you won’t have to tell the lie to anyone,” he said. “That's what the jays are for. They never stop singing.” I thought about what I was about to do with Owlowiscious, and I wondered if I had soul too. The reasons made sense, after listening to what he had to say. But justifying bad things didn’t make them right. If his beak could smile, I reckon he would’ve. Owlowiscious looked at my paw, clutching the jewel in his talon. “We’re stronger together,” he said, “maybe strong enough to never need this thing again.” He let go, then looked back at me. “What do you say, ol’ pal? Partners?” I held that jewel and stared. Reckon the guilt was what made me hesitate so much. But I eventually just opened my mouth and barked out the only answer I could give to that.