//------------------------------// // Surprise // Story: A Cold World // by Ice //------------------------------// Chapter four "Fish isn't a meat." "If it isn't a meat why can't we eat it?" "I didn't do biology, I just know the basics." "I'm telling you, it's a meat." "Isn't. "Is." "Isn't." "Is." "Isn't....shorty." ".....Is......um......." "Got nothing shorty?" "..." "I thought so," chuckled Bolt as he and his younger brother continued one of their many strange, odd and unimportant arguments. The two brothers continued to walk through the streets towards their home from the school, occasionally bumping into one of Bolt's numerous friends or one of the small blue colt's friends. "So, what's your history with the filly?" asked Bolt as the duo turned and started to walk through an alleyway. "Who?" "That...ugh....Sh...Shortas....Shortile.....Short-stop...yeah that sounds right, what's your history with her?" he asked while coming up with several nicknames for the young filly as they turned out off the ally heading down and waited as a carriage went by to cross the road. "Well she picked me up with magic and then dropped me." replied the colt using his hoof to illustrate going up and being thrown down. "..That's it?" asked Bolt as they quickly crossed the road, barely dodging an oncoming carriage. "..Yeah...is that weird?" "Huh, I guess she only knew Sparky then." "Sparky...that's a dog name," thought the young colt. The two were rather quiet for the rest of the walk home except for the occasional comment from the colt about how he'd been right about the whole "Fish is not a meat thing" and Bolt throwing a random name at him in return. "Anyways, we're home." said Bolt nodding towards the door, turning towards as he heard a mare behind him. "Ohhh, you've gotten so much bigger since I last saw you," chirped a chirpy voice. (1) "Oh, hey Aunt Shimmer," said Bolt trying to hide a look of disappointment that was slowly forming. "And look at you Bolt, you've gotten so..... much......." mumbled Shimmer Stone trying to think of something to say. "It's alright, I'm just plain old me," he chuckled. "And that's the way to stay," she said looking down at the blue colt as Bolt mouthed, "What the hay?" to his mother getting, "I'll tell you later," mouthed in return. "Hey Mom," said the blue colt happily as he bounced up to her. "Hello, how was school today?" she said smiling as she unlocked the front door to the house. "Well.... it was alright," mumbled the colt. "Why, what happened?" she asked worriedly looking at Bolt who mouthed back,"I'll tell you later," in return. "So tea?" asked Silver. * * * "I must say Silver, I do love what you've done with the place, the green looks much better than those bland white walls you used to have." commented Shimmer as she took a sip of her tea. "Yes, well we had to go to something other than white because somebody kept marking it with their hooves," said Silver glancing at the blue colt. "... What.... seriously what?" said the colt confused at the look his mother was giving him. "So, Bolt, whatever you been doing with yourself since you left school?" asked Shimmer. "Well, I've managed to get a part time job at the local gym, you know simple things like sending overdue payments notices and writing up the overall income of the gym, simple things." "They gave a part time worker that kind of responsibility?" said Shimmer shocked. "Well, it's less of a part time job and more of a temporary position as a financier." "Ah, I always thought you hated things like that." "Well as dad always says, "Whatever puts a bit in the pocket," chuckled Bolt impersonating his father to the best of his abilities. "Well, I suppose it's an admiral idea," commented Shimmer. "And what do you mean by that?" growled Silver. "Oh nothing, it just seems a little... bland." "Yeah, well not all of us decided to marry off to some rich stallion and divorce him for his money." "... You might want to your room right now," whispered Bolt to the blue colt. "Bu-" "Now." "Okay," whimpered the colt as he exited the living room. * * * Three minutes later "HOW DARE YOU!" screamed Silver as the blue colt sat on his bed, a pillow over his head, as he tried to block out the screaming of the two mares. "Hey champ," whispered a voice as his bedroom door opened, the colt looked up to his father slowly closing the door, trying to make as little noise as possible. "Dad... shouldn't you be down the-" "I'd only make it worse, granted it'd be over quickly but your mother wouldn't want that," chuckled Force as he sat down beside the colt pulling a slip of paper out of his saddlebag. "What's that?" asked the colt curiously. "This, is a permission slip your teacher gave to me outside to allow the school to take you to Ponyville on Friday and bring you back on Saturday. "..Why?" "Well, since most of you are reaching the age were you'd normally be getting your "Cutie Marks" your school decided it'd be a good idea since there's a large range of things to do there compared to here in the city," explained Force. "Okay, but what's so special about Ponyville?" "Well, there's a farm, animal shelter, a library, a weather center, a bakery and a boutique plus they're all a lot smaller than anything out here so it's easier to keep an eye on everypony and for the ponies there to interact with the students." "Ah." "And... well, the elements of harmony are the ones taking the students on there." "... WHAT!" (1) Yup, that was seriously just said.