//------------------------------// // The Story of Wallflower Thy Heroine: Dungeon Saga // Story: The Wallflower Blush Experience // by King Genesis //------------------------------// Volume 1 - Chapter 2 - The Story of Wallflower Thy Heroine - Dungeon Saga 6:00 PM - Day X - Sugar Cube Corner Done. I put the white apron inside the kitchen and desperately put my face under that cold waterfall that comes out from the kitchen's sink. I slowly touch my face with my fingers, taking the drops out of my cheeks, and there are no towels or even a clean cloth to pass over my face, so I decide to leave with my frozen forehead and wet stupid hair. I don't even care, though. Once I open the kitchen door and get out of it, I find out that Coco has already left the store... damnit, I couldn't say goodbye to her this time. She always takes her apron off and leaves faster than me (maybe because I spend more than a minute looking at the kitchen sink while being lost in my thoughts), but every time she doesn't see me, she tells Pinkie Pie to say bye to me, from her. That's what I call special treatment. You understand why I appreciate her so much? Now that I've finished my daytime, I wave my hand in silence to both Cakes, who do the same with a pretty forced smile, and pass by Pinkie Pie, who says what I was waiting to hear: "Um... before leaving, Coco said bye to you." I make a small smile that I try to hide: "Appreciate it," I only reply. "Goodbye, Pinkie." She waves her hand with a big smile and even opens the entrance door for me, an action she always does despite telling her not to do it... and there are times when she only does this for me and no one else. I can't complain, though... lots of years blaming others for ignoring me, and now that I have that special treatment for me... ugh, but you know, you know I can do it on my own, right? It's just a door... "Pinkie..." I roll my eyes. "I know how to handle the door..." "I'm being polite!" she makes a kinder smile which doesn't look so creepy. I pass by the door in silence and only wave my hand to her before I walk out... and I always have the same feeling while getting out of the store. I want to run away. I want to run faster than no one ever could... like a beam breaking the wall of sound. That sudden shot of adrenaline that runs over my body strikes me for a second!!!! Until I realize that I have to come back tomorrow... and I don't even know if I'll hit the jackpot with Coco or not. I stay frozen for a second thinking about this for the eleventh time in the day (I think eleventh), and I slowly start walking again. A monotonous routine is what has been holding me for so long... so, so long that is also killing me, both on the outside and on the inside. I always beg for something different to happen... and turns out that somebody actually heard me when I turned around and looked at that weird guy sitting in the corner. He seems to be a normal man, just like everybody else, but there is something that weirds me out about him. I observe his face and his clothes and I note: MYSTERIOUS GUY Salt-and-pepper short hair Green bloodshot eyes A poorly shaved, dirty, ugly three-day beard Ripped, worn-out black jeans A dirty white shirt with stains of something (I don't want to find out where those stains came from) A golden? (Probably not actual gold) bracelet He's sitting on the sidewalk, holding a tentative cigarette with his lips and laying his back against one of the walls of Sugarcube. I realize he is sitting on a part of the sidewalk where no one behind the cashier can see him... did Pinkie see him today? Wait, wait... Why am I observing him for too long? Why am I suddenly thinking this guy is weird? Gosh, I read too many detective stories at night... he's not even looking at me. However, once I keep walking, heading to my house, I slowly think about that cigarette in his mouth... maybe, what if he has another one? No, wait... I have the patch. I've been holding that stupid patch on my arm for over twelve hours... oh, come on! Do I have to care about what my wealthy aunt gives me? A part of me suddenly turns around to look at him again, just for curiosity... and I find out he's gone... What? I stay frozen for a second, trying to come up with something that can explain that... am I going crazy right now? (Well, I am already but...) How long did that guy sit in there? And why did he suddenly disappear? I look at the other sidewalk and there are no signs of him. Who was him? Well, at first... I can't see him... maybe it was just a homeless dude. I start walking again, trying to leave this aside... do I need to worry about him, in the first place? Maybe he was just a random guy who got tired of something and came across my stupid self thinking these things... yes. Yeah, maybe I am still the problem after all... I turn around one more time... and he's still not there, at that corner. There is only a cigarette butt on the sidewalk. I've got to clean my mind. My home (actually an apartment in a big white building) is in Canterlot Plaza, maybe the wealthiest building apartment in the city. I hate Coco's boyfriend, Blueblood, for being such an elitist that has no idea about how living in an actual city with middle-class people and homeless wanderers feels... but at the same time, I live, eat and sleep on wealthy ground every single day. I can't say too many things about it. Once I enter the building, I walk through a stretchy, narrow white hall that heads to the elevators. Two of the four have been out of service for weeks (something strange for a wealthy building), so the waiting time is a little bit longer than usual. I'm still thinking about that weird man in the corner... but do I care about him right now? Honestly... no. Maybe, as I told myself before, he was a random guy... and I started making stories. I also have to seriously stop making those lists about somebody's appearance when I look at random people. My brain does it automatically after reading so many chapters of Daring Do the Knightess. I am not in that world, I know. I... know. One of the two elevators that are actually working gets opened in front of me, just in time when I arrive at them. However, there is somebody inside: an old man with green shorts, an orange t-shirt, and a brown cane. Sand Trap, the retired golfer. Once he looks at me, he forcibly smiles and slowly heads out of the elevator. "You..." he's about to say something, and I mentally roll my eyes. "You are Photo Finish's babysitter... right?" Oops. I've still got to keep the lie up, and that depends on me. "Yes, I am..." I sigh... It was the best excuse that came to my mind when I thought about it. "I am her dog's babysitter." He chuckles. "Photo Finish... gosh..." he says, in a low tone. "Firstly, those photos of her naked models over tomato sauce... and now a babysitter for her dog? That woman has been crazy since... I don't know, honestly." That made me laugh a bit because I agree with him. "Since forever," I say, getting in the elevator. "That's why she does what she's doing." He laughs while the doors automatically close and I press the number. What can I tell you about Sand Trap? He's just a retired golfer and it's just a numb, gentle old guy with a cane. At least he's not a greedy old man... but there's something from him that I desperately want. He has a beautiful vintage car which I instantly fell in love with when I saw it for the first time... A white Dodge 1500 that's been treated as garbage since he stopped driving due to his old age. That car is suffering. It's stuck, trapped in the subterranean garage, covered by several clothes and an ugly mantle, and getting dirtier and dirtier over time, losing its usefulness. It's unfair... that car cannot end like that, the motor's going to die with its lack of use. I tried to convince everyone to give me the car so I can use it: my aunt, the householder, even Sand Trap himself, but everybody said no. Why? There are no whys, all of them just don't want me to touch that car. Goddamnit. Do you know what is the thing I dream about the most? Day and night, every time? Getting out of this place, driving and driving on the highway with that car, looking at a full moon, smoking a cigarette, and listening to that song from my aunt's playlist I actually like. Oh, I found a dream... a dream I want to fulfill, honestly. That's what I want to do... get out of this shit. I'm home. I'm surprised (Sarcasm!) that my aunt is nowhere to be seen. She may be still working with her magical camera, so I need to do what I have to do to make everyone else believe I am a stupid pet babysitter and not Photo Finish's actual niece. I do a really bad job at pretending to be that, but no one knows or asks about me at this time. People are used to seeing me... I even remember when a guy on the second floor tried to sue my aunt because he thought I was a prostitute and she was a lesbian having relationships with minors... It was a really disturbing and uncomfortable moment, but looking back at how my aunt reacted to what he thought is music to my ears. Gosh, I will never forget her face. Now that I finally take off that dress and throw it on a chair to put on my dirty pajama t-shirt and stay in my underwear, I don't even remember what was using the guy in the corner anymore... I just know he was smoking a cigarette and had an ugly, badly-shaved beard... bruh, I don't care about it. I turn on my notebook and I lay in bed. I've got a job to do: yesterday, a new chapter of Daring Do the Knightess was released and I couldn't have time to read it. Now, that I am alone, with no one around (like in the old times), I open the Internet. Hey, @wlblsux! You have 3 new Hoofbook notifications. I never use social media. I hate it. When I made my Hoofbook account in High School, no one sent me a friendship request, a message, anything. No one talked to me and I slowly left. Then I had a... phase where I started using it to stalk people in an obsessive, insane way, trying to know everything about them... because I just wanted to. Sometimes I even thought about stalking them to know about their recent events, and then following them to erase their memories using the stone because I felt inferior. I envied each one of them. I wanted revenge... Probably that's the lowest thing I've ever done in my life. And I've got a lot of low ones. What about those notifications? Uh, nothing.... they are just things about what I want to read now: Daring Do the Knightess. I type in equestrianmangas.com and look for the recent news: The Quest of Daring Do the Knightess: The Return of Ahuizotl - New Chapter Available on EquestrianMangas! Dungeon Saga - Part V. This is what I've been waiting for... Ten chapters waiting for Daring Do to confront the mysterious Caballero and finally one of Ahuizotl's most dangerous acolytes: The mysterious Dragon of the North, Tsarschuk. I open the link and I see the first pages... "Enemy Daring Do! I and my hounds have been waiting for your arrival since that battle at Monstrio Crooke... You dare to confront the Dragon of the Wind, the North itself, Tsarschuk, lord of the Ice?" "Your days of reign are absolutely finished and vanished from the realm! Now dare to fight as the leader you pretend to be!" "Warriors... foolish skeletons of mild creatures... all of them tried to make the lord shiver... but nobody is an opponent for the cold itself!" "No, no, wait! Do you know what happens in the third chapter?" "Nobody was. Nevertheless, that does not mean I will be defeated! Fight, Tsarschuk!" "Against you? A filthy creature with hooves? I do spit frozen fire! Ice flows in my veins!" "Everybody wondered about who in the hell was the Dragon of the West... You have Tsarschuk, the Dragon of the North. Ompreheier, the Dragon of the South... and then," "Coward!" "Dare to call me a coward again, you fool! Go, my hounds, go!" "Dungeon Saga, Part number V. Holy shit... another sign of who may be Caballero this time... Once we get to the sis' house I'm going to read it again!" Oh my God... who in the hell is talking so loudly at this time of the night? And about this? I slowly turn around and find out one of the windows of my room is actually open. Now I know why I was feeling a bit cold... maybe that asshole who is talking like that is outside? How can his voice reach my ears when I'm living on the third floor? I check out my phone with no contacts. Guess what time is it. 8:33 P.M. The Moon is already in the sky, along with the stars. My magical aunt-ie-hero, Photo Finish, hasn't arrived yet, and everything is dark except for the notebook's screen and the moonlight which comes from the window. Once I get up from my bed to close it, I can see who is speaking. From here I can see a sidewalk from Canterlot Plaza street. There are three dudes (although one of them kind of looks like a young girl, I think) slowly walking in the middle of it. The three of them have completely different appearances from each other. GUY #1 (HIPPIE) Very tall! Much taller than the other two and maybe taller than everyone at Sugarcube Corner. Plump. Not too fat but he isn't thin at all. Buff man? He may be older than the other two and makes me think he actually looks like he could lift big weights... I wouldn't like to mess with him. Light blue skin. He also has a big brown beard, a white bandana, and... sunglasses at night? (I don't know, he reminds me of a hippie) He is wearing black pants and... a camo jacket? What? Ok... I literally cringe every time I do this... but I think it's the best way of trying to describe these guys. GUY #2 (THE ASSHOLE WHO UNSTOPPABLY SPEAKS VERY LOUDLY!) Looks like he has the same age as me. Young kid with light green skin which is easily noticeable and visible from here. It sucks when you have that specific pale color. He also has a too-shiny orange short haircut which looks like it could be even seen in the dark. He is thin, and he is wearing a black sweater and... jeans, maybe? Fun fact: He is speaking about Dungeon Saga... GUY #3 The shortest. Guy #1 is like two number threes in one. Light blue skin and short blue hair. Is he wearing a black leather jacket? Yup, he's wearing all black. I've been so focused on their appearances that I forgot what were they talking about. "And I seriously can't wait for the next week for Part VI..." still says Guy 2. "I wanna know what happens with, you know, Caballero..." He's definitely talking about Dungeon Saga. Daring Do, and I'm surprised. I never thought about someone else rather than me speaking about it... and not because I'm special or whatever, just... I felt nobody in my snow bubble actually did it. Now I'm looking at someone that went even further than me. He said he finished Part V. I stop thinking about that and turns out two of the three of them stop walking and look at each other. Guy #1 keeps walking until he finds out #2 and #3 are actually discussing. "Could you lower your voice a little bit?" shouts Guy #3 in a tough feminine voice. Maybe I was right? One of them is a girl after all? "I know that what I've read of that saga is awesome, but I don't understand how can you get so emotional with that scene, Thorax..." Thorax? The guy's name is Thorax...? "What do you mean, Ember?" he says, raising his shoulders and stretching his arms. "That scene of the Fire Sword against Tsarschuk it's awesome!" My back freezes and I gasp when I find out... wait, what? The Fire Sword? How could that happen? He actually spoiled me! Son of a bitch... I'm done. I spoiled myself because of this! "Yup, but tell me... how could the Fire Sword appear in that right moment against Tsarschuk?" "It happened... you know the Fire Sword appears at the right moment in the right place. It's an ancient weapon..." "But..." I'm still listening to the tough girl. Why in the hell am I doing this? Why am I not closing the window? "That doesn't make any sense. There has to be a logical explanation for the weapon to appear at that exact moment, or else there is a lazy plothole out there..." Well... I've got to admit she does have a point but... as the guy Thorax said, the Fire Sword has no explanation at all. "Maybe they will explain why did the sword appear right there... in later chapters." Basic response. "And what if they don't?" she lifts her shoulders. "What if the manga does not explain that? What are you going to do?" The big man finally speaks. "Lower your voices, damn it." His voice sounds like a car engine and a glass of cold beer. Unironically. "You're literally having a discussion over a fictional story with magicians and whatever. A story that has never happened and will never happen." Unlike the other two, he is not speaking aloud. I can barely hear what he's saying but I feel how his deep voice is rumbling over my wall. I don't know if I should consider myself lucky for actually being able to listen to him... or not. I'm not closing the window because of how surprised I am. "Besides, I want to finish this stupid argument by saying I agree with Ember... I have read dozens of realistic books and tales, and the sudden apparition of a weapon at the right moment, in the right place for the protagonist is a cheap kind of deus ex machina in literature." I squint my eyes after hearing that. Why would you think the fact that you read dozens of ✨woww! realistic books and tales!!!✨ has any value in this? You are not talking about realism, but a fantasy manga! Gosh... and then he gets in with that deus ex machina thing... "No!" The guy named Thorax raises a finger and shakes his head, looking like an animated emoji. "You are wrong, Thunderhooves!" The big guy's name is Thunderhooves. Well, that makes sense. "There is no deus ex..." he stutters. "...that at all, and let me tell you why... Right now we are talking about Chapter Five, Dungeon Saga Part V, but then... you have Dungeon Saga ZER0.5 which I read along with Ember and my big sis, where Zecora the Zebra Wizard explained that the Fire Sword would only appear in the right place, the right moment..." ... ZER0.5. Damn, he even read that boring short chapter I almost forgot... "Don't you see, dude? That's just lazy writing." Now I change my sight to the girl, Ember. She chuckles. "I prefer a little bit of background to this, for the sword itself, I mean... A.K. Yearling loves writing stupid backstories of secondary characters everybody does not care about except for you! Why wouldn't she, at least, tell us why the sword behaves like this?" She starts shaking her arms. "Tell me, do you care about Doctor Whooves' cousin's extra chapter? I think it's the worst thing you've ever given to me to read." Hey! I feel a bit affected right now... that chapter of Whooves' cousin isn't that bad. It's just... unnecessary, but it's good. "Hey!" She shouts one more time and I see that Thorax hasn't answered her yet. I look at him standing in the middle of the sidewalk, under the numb moonlight, and I think I... he... I'm realizing something. He's there, in silence, and I suddenly imagine and I don't know why... that his eyes have a certain spark or light that's making me feel nervous... I feel like... I'm being blinded by a spotlight. ... Is he looking at me? "PUNCH OF FIRE!" somebody shouts. It's she. Ember punches him. Maybe unintentionally. That hurt... punched him straight in his face and she gets shocked at that moment. "OH!" But, wait... oh no... oh no... was he? was he looking at me this whole time? Shit, fuck, oh no... I've gotta close the window. I had to close the window before, goddamnit. I fastly get out of the window frame and disappear into the darkness. My arms start shaking as if I was some kind of marionette. Then, I begin to wonder why did I have such a brief reaction. I felt like a match on fire for two seconds, all because some guy I have no idea about was (or maybe not, probably not) looking at me? Was he really looking at me? Gosh, I never thought I would feel this again. The feeling of... being observed. Even I, Wallflower Blush, the cafeteria employee which has lots of clients every day, don't feel like this while working. This is... kind of strange. What the hell is going on? I tell myself, like a psychiatrist to somebody else, that if he looked at me, this means... I had a spot. I wasn't left aside this time? That's... what I wanted to say after all? "I'm so sorry!" I still hear voices from outside. It's she again, Ember. "I thought you were going to catch the fist like you always do, you stupid!" Then I hear his voice. He's still speaking loudly but his voice feels hurt, logically. "You're a dumbass, Ember." And another voice starts rumbling all over the wall I am laying against. It's the big poppa. "You deserved it, though. Stop talking so loudly, as if you were on a baseball field." I slowly approach the window, but I don't want to show my face to the world this time (duh, Captain Obvious). I can't see them while crouching under it but I feel the voices nearer. Are they going to get in... call me? No! Don't panic! DON'T PANIC! "What happened?" she asks. I think they're still on the sidewalk. "You looked like you went offline. A mental fart?" "No, no..." A pause. "I saw someone in..." I'm feeling goosebumps. "that window." ... my window? Are they talking about my window? My arms start shaking again. Gosh, I love myself. "That open window?" the big Thunderhooves appears one more time, to the rescue. "There's no one there." "Of course, you dude," replies Thorax. "There's no one there right now because she's gone. Ember must have scared her with that stupid punch." He said she. I move my neck asking myself how many shes may be still awake and looking at them from their open window at this time. Maybe no one? Or maybe another lady I don't know from the fourth floor... or just me? "She?" asks Thunderhooves. "I'm telling you, man," he replies. "It was definitely a she." I chuckle... well, at least, if it was me, I was not mistaken for a guy. "Gosh, Thorax, you are a creep." Ember sighs after saying that. "Don't say you looked at her because she was in bra." That thing she said felt like a thunderstrike of lava hitting me on my whole body. I may be exaggerating, but I felt so many things in that one second that I almost lost my mind... and thank god I was wearing my dirty pajama t-shirt while playing live from the window frame. "NO!" that shout was almost deafening. "No, no, I'm not that kind of creepy dude, Ember." "Then," Thunderhooves speaks again. I'm hearing while driving myself mad with my own thoughts. "Why were you looking at her?" Thorax doesn't answer for... how long? Two, or three seconds? I'm telling you those were the longest seconds of my life, and I repeat... I repeat! And I spent three years of my life waiting for someone in High School to speak to me. "Well..." he pauses. "If you want me to be honest, Thunderhooves... she was kinda cute." ... (pretends to calm down) Gosh, this has to be a fucking joke. Am I dreaming? Is this a dream? "You and your dream girls..." I hear while putting my hands over my face. I don't even know who did say that last thing because right now I want to rip my skin off. Calm down, Wallflower Blush, and stop laughing in your inside like a maniac. I slowly move my head to look at the sidewalk while I imagine I'm almost invisible right now... pretend I didn't say invisible. "... Let's go," it's the only thing I can barely hear right now. They have turned around... they are walking to the other side. I can see the three of them walking, and going far, far away... ... Then, the mysterious Thorax turns his back one more time and I hide under the window again. "Come on, Thorax!" I can hear. Ember, I think it was Ember. This has to be a dream. This... has to be a dream... shall I repeat it again? I wait ten seconds (maybe ten) and I fastly move my head again to look outside. No one is there... I stand up and I observe the empty sidewalk like a statue looking at the roof. ... What happened? What the hell has just happened? Suddenly I forgot about the Fire Sword.