Chapter 24
Retribution
Inn continues to not see much of her friends. The night continues for a little over a month when Inn gets her coat from Rarity. It's glamored with gems, because Rarity could not find a good way to make the fur look fabulous with just what she had. With the sun back though, it is no longer necessary to have such a warm coat.
Inn felt a little lonely when all the guest left. So, she went to see Fluttershy to ask for a favor. Inn found Fluttershy in her cottage, letting go some animals that needed the warmth to live through the long two month nigh.
“Flutter-”
“Eeh!” squeeked Fluttershy.
“Ah, Fluttershy? You okay?” asked Inn, looking down at Fluttershy who was now hiding her bunny angel.
“Oh... Inn, it's just you. How are you?” asked the shaking pegasus.
“Well... I-I think I-I'll go and see my p-parents again. Do y-you mind w-watching my inn?”
“Oh, Inn. It's good that you visit your parents when you can. Of course I will help out the inn while you're gone.”
Inn thought that would take longer, but was happy it didn't. Now she can rush to Trottingham.
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Closer to the farm than the forest, Inn decides to cut through the apple farm. Making her way through the farm, she finds a pony that makes her heart pound. Staying behind a tree, hoping to not be seen. She watches him and wonders if she should approach him.
She stood thinking, heart pounding, and watching the red stallion for almost five minutes. Eventually, she got the nerve to go and say something to him. She buffs out her chest, and stands up tall.
Inn got into the doorway of the barn. “H-high!” loudly squeaked Inn.
Big Mac set down the basket of apples he had and looked around confused, until his eyes found Inn. “Ah, howdy there?” he said, unsure of what was going on.
Inn blushed harder. “Oh, ah... yeah. I... I ah...” She began to look down and twirl her hoof on the straw covered floor, “I've seen you around... a-a few t-times. Ah, I've... wanted to um... talk to y-you for a while. I-I... I um...” She slouched her posture, took a half step back and looked back up at the big red stallion, “I find you cute.”
Big Mac blushed and backed away from the cart full of apples that he was checking. “Whoa now little miss, Ah uh, Ah don't evn' know yea.”
Inn looks down slightly. “Oh, ah, sorry. I'm ah.. I-I'm Inn, and ah.. I-I own Inn inn.” Inn shyly looks up at Big Mac. “Me and A-Applejack, and ah, Apple Bloom... are friends.”
“Yea know ma little sis's?” Something clicks in his mind, and his stance changes. “Oh, yea own t'at little place where AJ was staying at.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Well Ah'm sorry miss Inn, but I ain't ever seen yea before. Ah don't really have a clue as to what kinda pony yea is, honestly.”
“Oh, ah, okay then. I'm just g-glad I finally asked... and g-got a-an answer.” Inn smiled happily, the best she could that is.
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Inn makes her way into the forest, and when she sees the all metal structure resting against a hill, she stops... blankly stares at it, then moves on.
As she goes along the trail of blood that is only seen in her mind and memories, she thinks of a disguise to use this time around. Her playful nature keeps going back to a mixture of monsters... but that is just not going to work on a visit to family. She tries to not have monsters in her thoughts, with no result. She thinks; a tall pony with a lion head and dragon wings, a pony with only two legs a lizards tail a dragon shaped head and four heads, a gassy pony body with stars two times the normal size of a pony having dragon wings and tail.
She thought these ideas would work perfectly because they don't exist, and she is the only one that can make them look as if they did exist. If she didn't want to be attacked on sight though, she would need a more normal look. Seeing as how she could not come up with a new look that was not monster related, she just decided to use one she had before.
With all this back and forth on a look to go with, Inn found herself already at the border of town. She turns into a white and blue unicorn. She had to make sure to have her glasses on to complete the transformation.
Inn walked to the doors of the inn, but stops. Things look different. The inn is painted pink and blue. There is a new door, it does not have the same design as before at all. But, most notably of all, was a sign that read 'Soft Hay Inn.'
Inn goes inside, hoping that it is all just her parents trying to change up the place. The inside was more fancy than when Inn lived in here, but she could still see the places she would hide and shake so long ago. The desk was not changed much, just repainted to fit the design outside. The thing that stuck out the most, out of all the new decorations and paint, was a new pony standing at the desk.
“Greeting weary traveler! How may I be of assistance to you, today!” said the bubbly pony.
“Wow. What's up with the new look?” asked Vinyl.
“What? Oh I bought this place about two months ago. Maybe just under a week before that crazy long ‘moonlight’ thing-a-ma-stuffers happened. Did you come here before?” the orange curls seemed so hypnotic as they bounced when the earth pony talked.
Vinyl lowered her head slightly. “Oh, well do yea know where the old owners are? Oh, and I'll be crashing here for three days.”
“That will be an amazingly cheap fifteen bits! Hope you enjoy your stay,” said the pony, as she dramatically posed behind the desk for a few seconds. “Well, I don't know where the old owners are, but the mayor might. I had to go to her to pay for it.” The tan and orange pony ducked, and popped up with a log book. “So traveler, what is your whimsical name?”
“I'm Vinyl Scratch.”
“Vi-nyl Scr-a~-ch. Gotcha! If you need anything Vi, I'm normal;y here. Just call out 'Hay Bubble' and I'll be right there. Got it?”
“Can I call you Bubbles, or Bubbly?” laughed Vinyl as she reaches into her bag.
Hay Bubble laughed, “That sound good to me!”
Vinyl pulled out a gem, and gives it to Bubbles. “This should do yea. Give what change you can, and think of the rest as... payment for information. Thanks a lot there Bubbles.”
Bubbles face lit up, with both excitement and confusion. “Vi, this is far too much! Are you sure?”
“It's no brobs. I have tons of those, and I may ask for more information. So this should make us square.” With that Bubbles gave Vinyl one hundred bits, and Vinyl went to look for the mayor.
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Vinyl look for nearly two hours before she found a pony that told her where the mayor was. Inn went to the bakery and looked some more for the allusive mayor. Finding her eating a bowl of ice cream, Vinyl walked up to her side.
“Yo mayors, what's hapen'n?”
The mayor wasn't planning on being bothered, so this sudden blurt made her jump. “Oh, ah, hello my little pony. What brings you here?” her voice sounded so much older than the last time Inn heard it.
“I'm looking for someponies, can yea help me out?” asked Vinyl as she took the empty seat in front of the mayor.
“Oh my, I'll see what I can do. Why, who are you looking for, little one?” the mayor asked before taking another bite of ice cream.
Vinyl leaned in close. “I came here like four months, five months ago. I stayed at the inn, and liked the innkeepers. Do yea know where they are?”
The mayor was about to take another bite, but stopped. “Oh deary me. They are no longer here darling. They left this world about that long ago sadly. At least you got to see them be for the departed.”
Inn's heart sank. She was too late to see them one more time. It looked as if the eighty-something year old mayor was going to have a heart attack a the sight of a new pony forming right in front of her. “No... That... They... Why... How?” stammered Inn.
“Inn?!” gasped the mayor. The mayor just stared at the ghost from the past for a few seconds. “Heh, looks like you are as good as you said my dear,” she said, trying to keep hold of what little composure she had left. “Sadly yes, they are gone,” the mayor said, unable to keep that little composure for long and having a sorrowful frown. “They told me of your return, and how long you stayed. I did not believe everything they said though. It was around a week after you left, I think.”
She sees on Inn’s face that there may need to be some explaining. “For the past ten years, your dad was sick, nothing that bad, but it normally does lead to death after many years. Your mom was sick too, with something else, and it took her poor life more quickly. All I can say is, at least they got to see you and die together.”
Inn looked like she would break down. A tear fell down her face, while others seemed ready to do the same. She wiped her eyes and said, “W-well... how are other things?” Inn's composed herself, only a tear still showed on her face. “How is m-my old teacher Ms. B-butter? Are Elegance a-and E-exquisite doing w-well after all th-these years? Oh~, are you g-going to k-kick me out n-now you know I-I'm here?” shakily rambled Inn.
The mayor looked in awe at the mild shift in how Inn's emotions, and topics. “Oh my, the only reason I'd have to kick you out is if you were to repeat in any way what you did nearly four decades ago. I am shocked at how you changed tone so fast though my dear little pony. What is going through your mind?”
Inn looks down at the table and melting ice cream. “I... I-I’ve had some h-hard times. I got friends now, but I-I've still had p-problems that I d-don't want to sh-share with them. It p-pains me to hide things from t-them, but I'm t-trying to l-look at things in a-a slightly d-different way.”
“Oh my, sorry to hear that my dear. Well I'm sorry to say, but after all these years, Butter has gone too. Nopony knows why, but some, like me, think she may have overworked herself.”
Inn laughed. “Oh, no. Ms. Butter w-would not h-have died from o-overworking. Trust m-me, I had her as a t-teacher.”
The mayor looked shocked. “Oh, okay then. If you say so I guess. Well, both Elegance and Exquisite have become shut-ins. They come out so rarely that, a week ago, a pony found that Exquisite could not handle the cold. She too, is gone.”
Inn’s gaze on the ice cream shifted up slightly. “Oh. Ah, would you m-mind helping me with s-something?”
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Knocking at a door got the attention of a shaking old pony in a dark room. She gets to her brittle looking hoofs, and walks to the securely locked door.
Looking through the peephole, she asks, “Wh-who's there?”
The mayor replied with, “It's just me darling.”
“W-what did you t-tell me and Exquisite a-after Inn left?”
“That Inn seemed to be honest in what she was saying. That you two had nothing left to fear. To cheer up.”
One lock after another could be heard being unlocked after the mayor gave her answer. With the door open, Elegance says, “Oh, c-c-come on in.” To her surprise though, there was two mayors, enveloped in light and having lit horns.
“I have good and bad news my dear. First you should sit down, look as if you will topple over any second now.” said the two mayors, gesturing and speaking in perfect unison.
“N-no. No! It c-c-can't be!”
“Just sit darling, you don't look so good. The news may be a bit hard to take, and with you in such a state, well... it would be best for you to sit.” They waited for Elegance to sit down, and then they too took a seat. “Let's start with the bad news, Inn is back in town.” Elegance whimpered and shook violently. “The good new is she is not here to do any harm. For the moment though she is playing a little game. Can you guess which is her and which is me my dear little pony?”
“H-h-ha-how can I-I t-t-trust you?”
“I know it's hard dear. All it is is just one little game of 'which pony is which.' If you did not know, several months ago Inn was here a for a few months. She truly does not wish to harm you anymore.”
The shaking pony looking back and forth between the two mayors. She let out a little squeak as she moved to the floor and curled up into a ball. “Ah, ah... t-t-t-the one...?”
The mayors went to the floor, using alternate hoofs, they rested one on each of Elegance's shoulders. “Calm down now little one. It's just a simple hoof point, and it's all done. If you wish, Inn will leave you alone.”
Elegance continues shaking for a few minutes, but then she thinks of something. She sits up, still laying on the floor. She then extends both her hooves to the horns of the mayors. The right mayors horn was not really there. She points at the left mayor, “You... and ah... h-hows the f-forest?”
The left mayor turns into Inn, and the horn of the right mayor disappears. “Good work E-elegance!”
“Oh dear, that was an odd feeling. My Inn, you are good at magic to perform such a spell!”
“I mixed t-three spells a-and transformed. It was h-hard but f-fun.” Inn turned her attention back back to Elegance. “Oh, and by t-the way... if you c-can handle yourself, the forest is not that b-bad. I h-have a hut made out o-of monster hide. It h-has a dragon outer shell. It's strong.”
The two old ponies looked at Inn with gaping mouths. “My word Inn, did you make such a thing by slaying-” started the mayor.
The mayor was interrupted by series of booms and crashes that were followed by screams that seemed to echo across the entire town.