“KILL IT!!”
“IT’S NOTHING BUT EVIL!!”
“DESTROY IT!!”
“IT’S HORRIBLE!!”
“IT WILL EAT OUR CHILDREN!!”
“KILL THE BEAST!!”
I snap awake. And not a moment too soon. That nightmare was getting horrific. That’s what I get for getting hammered at two in the morning. Ugh, so hungover…Erp.
“Oh, this isn’t gonna be good!” I shout.
I jump off my bed and run into the bathroom. I kneel down, put my face into the toilet, and spend the next few minutes puking my entire stomach contents into the toilet.
“Ugh…I don’t remember eating cupcakes.”
I walk over to the sink and rinse my mouth out. I look into the mirror. Now, who’s that good looking yellow stallion in my mirror? And my, what a lovely videogame controller cutie mark he has! I stretch out my yellow bat wings and flap them lightly. I turn on the shower and step in. OW! OOOOW!! TOO HOT!! TOO HOT!!
After scalding myself, then nearly freezing myself, then get the water to a tolerable temperature and shower, I get ready for the day. I comb my mane to the short, unkempt style I grew up to enjoy. I dry off my long bushy tail and walk back to my room. I look around my room. I look at my P-box 360 and makeshift T.V. set. Can’t believe it’s been five years, and that old machine still works. I then look down at the floor pad with a bunch of buttons I custom made for pegasi and earth ponies to play videogames with. It must have taken years to perfect it. Heck, it’s taken years to play videogames. Unicorns have it so easy.
I walk downstairs.
“Morning, sunshine! How’s my bro doing?”
I am greeted by a light gray pegasus with a black mohawk and a short spiked tail. He has light green eyes and two swords clashing together as a cutie mark.
“Morning, Swift Strike…” I grumble.
“Sounds like somepony had a liiiiiiiiittle to much to drink last night.” He comments.
“Swift Strike. Quit picking on your brother.”
I turn to face my foster mother, Windstorm. The bright red Pegasus looks at Swift Strike with slight humor.
“I know mom, I just messin with him.” He replys, putting a hoof on my shoulder.
Swift Strike walks back to the table in the dining room with the rest of my foster family.
“You do need to be careful when you go out drinking…” my mother states, turning to me. “Forge and I know that you’re a grown stallion and you can take care of yourself, but please try to take it easy. We worry that one of these days you’re going to do something you’ll regret…or worse.”
“I know…It’s just…”
“I know…” She interrupts me, putting a hoof up to quiet me. “This is the eighth time we’ve had to move. You’re a fine stallion. But you know about all those bat-winged pegasi…”
I nod my head. It’s been a couple of months since many of the bat-winged pegasi that have been causing trouble in much of Equestria had been apprehended. Some still are out there, but most have been imprisoned.
“It hurts every time we have to move, but we’re willing to. You’ve done so much good for the people you help. But those pegasi have done any good for your reputation.” She continues.
I nod my head again.
“But here I am, talking my head off. You must be hungry. I’ve made you some jelly toast.” She says, smiling.
She walks back to the dining room, with me following behind.
“So, there I am, about to sell this guy a silver medallion, when BOOM! There’s this huge rainbow in the sky! And I mean huge! It went like in a massive circle!” A dark red pegasus stallion exclaims to a bright white pegasus mare.
“Sounds like you got to see a Sonic Rainboom. I heard that one of the pegasi around here does that…Rainbloom Crash or something.” A dark grey pegasus stallion replies to the dark red pegasus.
“Aww…I never get to see the cool stuff…” A young pale red pegasus colt whines.
“Morning everypony.” I interrupt.
“D-Pad!” The white pegasus exclaims, running over to me. She had a black bob cut mane with blue highlights and a short tail. She has light blue eyes and a drum as her cutie mark.
“I like what you did with your mane, Storm Drum.” I complement her.
I turn to the pale red pegasus. He has hazel eyes, a blonde fauxhawk and a short, spiny tail. He doesn’t have his cutie mark yet.
“And how are you doing, Bolt?
“Did you get to see the Sonic Rainboom!?” He asks.
“Yeah, and it was loud. I had to cover my ears.” I reply.
Bolt whines even louder.
“So, how goes the silver business, Quicksilver?” I ask the large dark red pegasus.
He turns to look at me. You know I still don’t know why a pegasus would shave his mane off. Well, whatever, he’s good at making silver trinkets and what not. I mean his cutie mark is a drop of liquid silver.
“Not bad at all!” He replies. “I’ve made quite a bit of a profit in this new town.”
I look at the large dark gray pegasus.
“Morning, Dad.” I greet him.
“Morning, son. Did you have a good time last night?” He asks.
“Yep. I met a couple of the ponies from here, too.” I reply.
“Goodness! Look at the time!” Windstorm interrupts us. “D-Pad! You better hurry up, if you want to get to the town before everypony floods the market.”
I quickly munch my jelly toast.
“Mom, I need help.” I say to Windstorm.
She nods. She grabs some rope and ties my wings to my sides. I then put on my full body jacket, and run out the door. Outside, I pick up my sandwich board, and put it on my back. I look out towards Ponyville. It will take some time to get there, but I’ll manage.
“PONY FOR HIRE!!” I shout, heading out to Ponyville.
“Darn it, Vinyl…” Octavia grumbled.
Octavia had never planned to go to the Ponyville market today. She planned to finally straighten up her basement with her roommate, Vinyl Scratch. Maybe even listen to some Beethoven on her record player. But her roommate thought it would be nice to take that record and see if she could mix techno with classical. And as luck would have it, her roommate broke her record. And by broke, she had somehow managed to split the record into two perfect halves.
“Now where is that record store again?” She asked herself.
Many of the ponies had started coming out of their homes. Some had started setting up their shops, while others were patiently waiting for the shops to be open.
“Ah, here we are…Oh, of all the…
Octavia approached the record store, only to find that the owner was on holiday, and the store was closed until he came back.
Disgruntled, she decided to check around the market to see if any of the vendors had a Beethoven record.
After about a half an hour of searching, she finally called it quits. None of the vendors had even one Beethoven record.
“Wonderful, just wonderful.” She grumbled sarcastically.
She started walking back to her home. She wasn’t exactly excited to go back and clean out the basement. Even with Vinyl, it would take about half the day to clean it out. At least some good classical music would have made it more bearable.
“Well, cheer up Octavia. Something good will happen to you. I’m sure of it! I mean it just has to!” She thought to herself.
“PONY FOR HIRE!!!”
“PONY FOR HIRE!!!” I shout out again.
I ring my bell a couple of times. Next to me sits my sandwich board with the words “Pony for Hire” written in red marker. I drop my bell.
“PONY FOR HI-”
I find myself shouting in a gray mare’s face.
“Oh my goodness, I-I-I am so sorry!” I apologize.
She looks at me with shock. I don’t blame her, considering I just shouted in her face.
She takes a moment to adjust herself.
“Ahem, yes…well, no harm done. You were saying you’re a pony for hire?” She asks me.
“Yes, ma’am. D-Pad: Pony for Hire at your service!” I reply enthusiastically.
“What exactly do you do?” She asks.
“Everything ma’am. Moving, unboxing, boxing, labor, painting, building…pretty much anything that an earth pony can do!” I reply.
“How much does it take to hire you?” She asks.
“Depends on what the job is, and how long it takes.” I reply.
She thinks for a moment. You know, she looks very pretty. That grey coat, the long, dark gray hair, the treble clef cutie mark…
“When can you start?” She asks.
I form the biggest grin that I can.
“As soon as possible!” I reply, happily.
“Very well then, would you be willing to help me and my roommate clean out our basement?” She asks, lightening up.
“WOULD I!?!” I shout.
She looks at me in shock again. Nice one D-Pad. Mister Smooth.
“Right.” She says, clearing her throat. “Follow me.”
I walk behind her. We walk for a bit.
“Hey, by the way, I didn’t get your name.” I state.
“My name is Octavia.” She replies without turning to face me.
“Epic! That’s an awesome name!” I complement.
“You think my name is “awesome”?” She asks, bewildered.
“Yeah! It has this awesome ring to it. Octavia…Yep, still cool.”
She turns to face me.
“Thank you for that.” She says, finally smiling. “To be honest, I wasn’t feeling to excited about coming to the market today. I was originally looking for a new Beethoven record…”
“OH! That’s awesome. I like classical music! Beethoven is a great composer! I love his 5th Symphony! You know, duh duh duh daaaaaaa…” I say, mimicking the song.
“Really!?” She says, brightly grinning. “What else do you like?”
“I like rock, pop, techno, electronica, dance, dubstep, and all the others. Except rap…seriously, who thought rhyming about cheap mares, money and drugs was a good idea?” I joke.
She slightly giggles.
“Oh, here we are!” She says, stopping.
We come to a two story house. White wood siding, shingles, windows…yep…It’s a house. I hear loud thumping music coming from inside.
“Oh dear…it sounds like my roommate is awake.” She states.
“It’s no problem, why is so bad that she’s awake?” I ask, opening the front door.
To which I am greeted with the loudest dubstep I have ever heard.
“VINYL!!” Octavia shouted over the blaring music.
Vinyl Scratch was bobbing her head to the loud music.
“VINYL!!”
“YO, TAVI! YOU LIKE MY MORNING WAKE UP!!” Vinyl yelled over the music.
“NO! NOW TURN THAT MUSIC DOWN! YOU DON’T WANT TO DRIVE AWAY OUR-”
D-Pad was bobbing his head to the music and dancing.
“THIS PARTY CAN’T EVEN HANDLE ME!!!” D-Pad shouted.
Vinyl shut off the DJ booth.
Wait…what happened to the awesome music!? I hope I didn’t break anything.
The white unicorn approaches me. She has a blue and cyan striped mane. She has bright crimson eyes and a bridged eighth note cutie mark.
“Sup.” She greets me.
“Morning! My names D-Pad. Octavia says you two have a basement that needs to be cleaned.” I say, shaking her hoof.
“Aw Tavi, do we have to do it today? I wanted to work on my latest song.” Vinyl whines.
“You said the same thing yesterday, and all you did was nap all day.” Octavia comments.
Vinyl grumbles and walks into their dining room.
“You’ll have to forgive her. She’s very nice, she just likes to procrastinate.” Octavia explains.
“Oh, no problem. At least she is going to help us.” I say.
We walk into their dining room. Decent décor, I will admit. It looks nicer than my house’s dining room…wait, is that a freaking speaker on the washing machine!?! What!?! That’s the coolest thing ever!
“And here’s the basement.” Octavia says, pointing to an open door.
We walk down a flight of stairs. Wow. Boxes upon boxes of stuff. Vinyl is opening a box labeled “Rave stuff”.
“So that’s where those white glow sticks have been. I’ve looked everywhere for them.” She cheerfully stated.
“So, what do you want me to do, and where do you want me to start?” I ask.
“Well, we would like to get some of these boxes unpacked and some of the boxes put away more neatly. Could you help us take some of the boxes upstairs?” Octavia asks.
I nod compliantly.
“You can start by taking these boxes upstairs.” Vinyl says, putting a couple of boxes on my back.
…
“Well, that’s almost all of the boxes upstairs!” I shout up towards Octavia.
“How many are left?!” She shouts in reply.
“Four boxes.” Vinyl states.
“Four boxes!” I shout up the stairs.
Vinyl and I pick up the boxes downstairs. I notice a box that isn’t labeled.
“Vinyl, what’s in that one?” I ask.
“I’m not sure. Might as well bring it up as well.” She replies.
She levitates the box onto the two other boxes on my back. We walk up the stairs. The dining room is now filled with boxes. Some have been opened.
“Thanks, that saves us a couple of hours.” Octavia thanks me. “Now, how much do I owe you?”
“Well, It took about four hours, and it was a transport job…I’d say about 20 bits.” I calculate.
“Oh dear…seems I only have 13…” Octavia says worriedly.
“I can take that. In fact if you would like, I could help you unpack or pack for a little longer, free of charge.” I offer.
“That’s…very kind of you. Are you sure it won’t be a problem?” She asks.
“Ma’am, you are one of the nicest ponies I’ve met in a long time. It been years since anyone has been so kind to me. You’ve talked to me, laughed at my jokes I’ve made today, even if some weren’t that funny, and even gave me some lemonade. It would dishonorable to not help such a good pony.” I complement Octavia.
She stands there, blushing.
“Wow…thank you…” She thanks me.
I set the boxes down.
“What did you mean “it’s been years since someone has been so kind to me”?” She asks.
I swallow hard.
“I can’t tell you…” I sigh.
“Don’t be silly. Why do you think you can’t you tell me?” She asks.
I sit on the ground.
“Because everyone who I thought would understand didn’t.” I reply.
She sits down in front of me.
“It’s okay…tell me what’s wrong.” She says.
I sigh and just sit there for a while. After a few minutes I take off my jacket. She sees my bat wings tied with ropes. She gasps.
“Please, don’t scream or anything. Yes, I am one of those bat-winged pegasi, but I swear I would never do anything that those other pegasi. I have been raised by a group of pegasi who have taught me not to behave like the bat-wing pegasi. I can’t show my true self in front of ponies, as they tend to think of me as a…monstrosity. Please don’t tell anyone…I don’t want to move again…” I beg
…
“You know, I think it make you look unique.” She comments
I smile.
“Hey Tavi! I thought you were coming up stairs to…”
Vinyl comes back into the dining room. She stops and just stares at my wings.
“Oh…my…” Vinyl gasps, backing up.
I get up.
“Now, Miss Scratch please don’t…” I say taking a step toward her.
“GET AWAY FROM ME YOU CREEP!!” She shouts at me.
She tosses a plate from one of the boxes at me, to which I duck under it. She then levitates Octavia over to her.
“Please, Vinyl just let me…”
The second plate hits my forehead. A third plate hits me in the face. I fall over and put my hooves on my face. She keeps tossing plates at me…
“Take that, you monster!” Vinyl shouts.
“VINYL!!”
Vinyl put down the plate she was about to toss. She looked over at Octavia. She had never seen her so angry. She had never raised her voice like that.
“Tavi…”
Octavia walked over to D-Pad. She moves his hooves away from his face. His face is nicked in a few places. He is bleeding slightly.
“Are you going to be okay?” She asks him.
He stands up. He looks like he’s been crying. He nods.
Octavia grabs a rag and gets it wet. She then wipes off D-Pad’s face, cleaning some of the blood off his face.
“Tavi?” Vinyl whispers.
Octavia glares at Vinyl.
“How dare you!” She growls at Vinyl. “He did all these nice things for us! He was going to take less money than he was going to charge us, and was going to help us even more, free of charge! He’s only reaching out for somepony to be his friend!”
“But, he’s one of those…” Vinyl began.
“SAY IT! CALL HIM A MONSTER!!”
Vinyl backed away.
“JUST LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID TO HIM!!!”
Vinyl stood there, unable to utter a sound for a while.
“O-Octavia…”
“JUST…just go back to your room…” Octavia growled.
“…Eight times?” Octavia asks me.
“I’ve been a bunch of places. Manehatten, Fillydelphia, Maneyapolis, Chicoltgo, Detrot…and I’ve been kicked out of all of them.” I reply, still holding the wet rag to my face.
“Dear Celestia…how do you keep going?” She asks.
“My family helps. But the real thing I strive for is this simple idea…One day, I will be able to walk outside, stretch my wings, and fly into the sky without anyone judging me. That’s why I keep going. I hope one day, I’ll be part of the reason that I can live this dream.” I reply.
I hear a creak from the stairs. I assume Vinyl came downstairs. I look toward the stairs.
“Hey…I…I’m really sorry for throwing all those plates at you…And for messin up your face…and for calling you a monster.” She whimpers.
“Well…It’s not the worst thing that’s happened to me.” I joke.
She averts her eyes from looking at me.
“Hey. It’s okay. I’m not mad at you.” I reassure her.
Vinyl looks at me in bewilderment.
“You’re not?” She asks, puzzled.
“Vinyl, if I had a bit for the number of times I was pelted with stuff, I wouldn’t need to be working.” I joke.
She chuckles.
“Well, now that were all back together again, how about we finish up this clean up.” Vinyl says, happily.
Octavia and I both smile.
“NO WAY!” Vinyl exclaims.
“Yep! I built my own floor pad to play videogames. Let me tell you, I am phenomenal at Pony Fighter III.” I reply.
“I have got to see you play videogames. To think, unicorns aren’t the only ones to be able to play them.” Vinyl commented.
“Hey, Octavia! What’s in this unlabeled box?!” I shout upstairs to her bedroom.
“Go ahead and look, I’ll be down in a sec.” She shouted in reply.
I open up the box. Inside is a bunch of white packing peanuts. There’s something under all of them. I reach in…
…And pull out a dark gray saddle. It has Octavia’s name stitched on it.
“Well…Err…This is awkward.” I state, taken back.
“What…Oh my Celestia!” Vinyl laughs, inspecting the saddle with me.
“What are you two…”
Octavia stops dead in her tracks.
“Th-that’s not mine!!” She gasps.
“It has your name on it.” Vinyl comments.
Octavia turns a bright red.
“I didn’t think you were into that kinky stuff, Tavi.” Vinyl comments.
“I-I-I’m not!” She replies, turning an even brighter red.
“Wait, wait there’s got to be a matching pair of socks…Aha!” Vinyl says, pulling out two pairs of dark gray socks.
Octavia face turns the brightest red I’ve ever seen a pony’s face turn.
I started busting a gut laughing.
“Thank you so much for doing all this stuff for us today.” Octavia thanks me.
“No problem, and thanks for not judging me because of what I am.” I reply.
“Well, it’s getting late. You should head home.” Octavia says.
I put my jacket back on and head towards the door.
“Hey, Octavia.” I say turning around.
She looks back at me.
“Are you doing anything tomorrow night?” I ask.
She smiles.
“Not that I know of.” She replies.
“Would you like to go out and have dinner with me?” I ask.
She walks me to her door.
“Tomorrow at 6:30?” She asks.
“I’ll be here to pick you up.” I reply.
I walk out. She shuts the door behind me.
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!