//------------------------------// // Walk // Story: The Mirror // by SoloBrony //------------------------------// I woke up in a cozy bed – no, seriously, once I'd gotten up I saw it was actually themed after me, Cozy. My colors, my cutie mark, all of it. That weirdo caretaker sure went all-out. Whatever. I'm still not staying! Once I'd shaken off my fatigue enough to remember passing out, and vaguely remember being carried back and tucked in, I set back out. I was determined to understand this freaky future I'd found myself in and do something with it, and that meant finding ponies who didn't know who I was, that I could manipulate and spoke without shrugging for five whole apple-picking minutes! I was surprised to see the caretaker sitting in the foyer when I got there. He was sitting on a cushion and reading a book, puffing on a pipe. I was actually surprised to see him do anything that might be construed as 'fun', but there it was, I guess. I walked past him, and huffed at him as I passed. "I'm going down to Ponyville!" "Okay." Argh! Nothing I say or do gets any kind of reaction! This guy is more stoic than Tirek! I put him out of my mind as I trotted along. Once I got outside, I did my best to put on a friend-making face, and began my walk to Ponyville. It was a fairly short walk, and I saw ponies milling about. Perfect! Now, I just need to come up with some kind of story... That idea died as I got closer and started to get a better look at everything. This wasn't the hustle and bustle of a city like Manehattan; the ponies walked slowly, eyes downcast, expressions of apathy and sadness everywhere. I realized that several of those big buildings I'd seen from farther away were abandoned; boarded up and condemned, but even the boards and signs were rotting off. The city had just left them there, not even bothering to tear them down and renew the neighborhood. Seriously, who's in charge of this wreck?! This is completely unprofessional! I trotted up to the first pony I saw who didn't seem too down in the dumps; he was leaning against a wall, smoking a cigarette – I'd almost never seen one before, it took me a bit to realize what it even was – and was just staring out, looking bored. I'd intended to trot up to him with a classic filly-in-distress look, but I was so frazzled I just defaulted to cute-and-innocent. "Golly, mister, do you think you could tell me some stuff? I'm kinda lost, y'see, and—" "Piss off." I recoiled, my ears burning. I'd gotten negative reactions before, but never anything even close to that! "Err, sorry, but I just—" "Don't care. Piss off." "But sir, why would you turn away a little lost filly looking for directions?!" He shrugged. "Why should I care about your problems? You going to pay me for directions?" This wasn't going right at all! I was struggling to keep my temper under control, but something about his behavior was also really bothering me, throwing me off of my game. I grit my teeth. "I don't have any money, sir, but you've gotta help me! And it costs you nothing to tell me how to get around!" The stallion snorted and glared at me. Something about it seemed different from the usual kind of irritated-glare I'd seen before. This was more like... Chrysalis. It's like how she glares at ponies. But what does that mean? "I told you twice already, filly. Any more and you'll regret it." I stammered, taking a step back. I could see it; he was serious. He fully intended to hurt me if I bothered him any more. I just couldn't believe it; I was tongue-tied and twisted up trying to even comprehend it. Ultimately, I just quietly backed up a bit, and then flew off; I didn't want to stay in reach of him in case he decided twice was too much. I saw a pegasus mare sitting on a bench, and I flew over near here, hoping maybe being from the same tribe would help me win some sympathy. "Miss, could you help? There was this pony over there threatening me, and—" The mare sniffled, and I suddenly realized she had been crying. "I can't help you, filly. Just go away." I stiffened. What in Equestria was going on with these ponies? Why doesn't anypony... care? I looked around, and I realized ponies were walking right past the mare and not so much as sparing her a glance while she was weeping. I spent several more minutes trying to get somepony, anypony, to give me directions or help me understand what was going on. It just confirmed what I'd already started to figure out. Nopony cared. The closest I got was a pony who worked for a local used-carriage shop, who put on a fake smile without much energy and happily gave me directions – to the carriage shop. I asked him for more help, and he said it was their policy to always help out customers, but I could tell how much he hated me for bothering him, and before long he didn't even hide it, demanding I run off so he could focus on real customers. As I flew out of Ponyville, I paused to catch a conversation between that mare I'd spoken with and another one that sat with her. Apparently, her husband had divorced her and taken her foals and home, and her record made it impossible for her to do anything about it. The other mare pretended to care – I could spot fake concern, I was an expert at it after all – and found the first excuse to leave her now-penniless friend to her own devices. I flew back to the mansion in a daze. I found the caretaker inside a study – a book-lined room that would have had Twilight Sparkle jumping for joy – and walked up to him, half-expecting the same hostile response as other ponies until I remembered how he acted. After a minute or two, he glanced up from reading behind his desk, staring at me over the reading glasses on the end of his snout. "Do you need something, Cozy?" "What's... what's wrong with everypony? It seems like nopony at all cares about... anything!" The caretaker glanced aside in thought, his mouth twitching as he considered. "Well, they certainly care about themselves. Ponies put effort into survival, at least." "But they don't care about each other at all!" He shrugged at that. "Why should they?" I worked my jaw opened and closed, and growled slightly, getting a raised eyebrow out of him for that. "Uh, duuuhhhh, friendship is magic and happiness and rainbows or WHATEVER? Shouldn't all of the ponies out there be trying to make friends?" The caretaker snorted and went back to reading as he answered. "Why, so they can manipulate their friends for their own ends or stab them in the back?" "Uh, no, just because, like, friendship is a thing ponies do!" He sighed. "I guess they got over it. I realize this is all new to you, but ponies these days are smarter than that; they know everypony is just out for themselves, so they're not going to let down their guard that easily." I didn't have anything to say to that, and it just made me want to smash something anyway, so I just went back to my room and crawled into bed. How can I manipulate anypony if all of those other ponies are doing it first?! How am I supposed to win?! I rubbed my head to work down the growing headache, and decided to just leave it for tomorrow (presuming it was even 'night' right now). The last thing I thought as I fell to sleep was how lonely everything here felt.