//------------------------------//
// Filly 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
//------------------------------//

She'd heard the news, they all had. She wasn't feeling like celebrating, and no one was going to celebrate by shopping at her place anyway. Wick Clip stared in silence at the floor, listening and waiting for a chime at the door she knew wouldn't come. Had Princess Twilight survived? Would she be back? Of that they hadn't heard yet. But she hoped she would be. She hoped she would be.
Maybe it was time to go out there. No one would come to her store, no one would notice she was missing for a while. Someone might see her leave or reenter though. Better to wait. Better to stay alone, on her own, managing a shop few ponies ever came to. Most of the times they did, they weren't there for what she would have liked them to be.
She thought back to the stallion who'd been her self-invited guest for a while. Had he made it to Ponyville? Was he okay? She wasn't sure she'd ever know. He'd come into her life and then he was gone. A blink, like kindle burning out. It hadn't started any fire for her though, just briefly warmed her day and lit her life. He was gone. Dead or merely elsewhere it made no difference, he would not return. She could feel it, she knew it was one of those run-ins that did not repeat themselves. He was gone from her life, and that was that.
She was gone from his too, just as well. But did she matter to him the way he had to her? She doubted as much. His life was not like hers, and if he'd needed her he would have stayed. She would have liked it if he had stayed. He had not. He'd left, and she couldn't follow him. She had a life, however much she didn't like the way it was, and abandoning it for nothing wasn't something she could do. Besides, she had already found something to occupy herself with. Not a traditional kind of occupation, but she did not mind.
Ponies out there were happy. Maybe she could put out a sign. Maybe she could offer a discount, and that would get her some attention. She didn't really want to. She had other plans for what to do. She had made her decision at that point, and there was no walking back on it anymore.
She considered closing early. Going home and pretending she was celebrating. Loneliness hit better on the couch than on the chair, and at least there she would have something to eat. She decided against that though. No reason in particular, but she liked the image of herself staying there. She looked out. Some ponies were walking down the street. Were they partying? Celebrating?
She looked at the floor. She stopped herself from doing something stupid, and her brain kept coming up with new ideas. Maybe not that night, maybe the one after. She was hitching to get something done. To be someone again.