//------------------------------// // The harsh light of day // Story: School of Hard Knocks // by Hoopy McGee //------------------------------// Saturday morning sunlight flooded through the bedroom windows and stabbed directly into my eyes. I woke up in Plum’s bed, the filly’s hooves jammed into the middle of my back and my face stuck to my pillow. I muttered as I wiped the sand away from my eyes with a fetlock, my whole head feeling heavy with sleep. I grimaced as I ran my tongue over the back of my teeth. It felt like somepony had used my mouth as a garbage dump last night. The fillies were all still asleep, locked in their private dreamlands. A couple of them were snoring lightly. I decided that it was time for me to get up. After all, It was going to be a busy day. I moved silently through the room, removed my toothbrush from my bag and made my way into the bathroom. As I brushed my teeth, I couldn’t help but snort at the sight of my mane, jutting away from my head at a thirty-seven degree angle. The most epic case of bed mane I’d ever seen. I decided to leave it unbrushed, since my mom wasn’t around to raise a stink about it. I was just leaving the bathroom when Plum’s mom called up to let everypony know that breakfast was ready. Grumbling from Plum’s bedroom told me that the message had been received. I made my way downstairs and saw Mulberry, who smiled wanly at me. The dark circles under her eyes told me how well she’d slept after we’d talked. “Morning, Mrs. Pudding,” I said. “Good morning, Cinnamon. We have pancakes this morning. Go ahead and have a seat... and, did you know your mane is sticking out, dear?” “Yeah,” I said, picking a chair and sitting down. “I like it this way. I think I’ll make it my new style, it suits me.” The mare smiled and rolled her eyes at me. She trotted into the kitchen, returning a few seconds later with a plate of stacked pancakes. I took three of them, coated them with an insane amount of butter and flooded them with syrup. As I chewed the buttery, syrup-soaked pancake, I decided that there was one good thing about being a filly: I didn’t have to worry so much about my cholesterol. I heard noise like an avalanche behind me. I turned to see the fillies clustered together in an uncoordinated pack as they stumbled down the stairs. Looking at them, it was obvious that I wasn’t the only one whose mane had lost a fight with a pillow. The five of them mumbled variations of “Good morning” and got into their seats. Plum’s mom was kept busy bringing out batch after batch of fresh pancakes as the girls wolfed down a truly amazing amount of food. I’d thought I was being excessive with my three pancakes, but even little Lemon had me beat, scarfing down four of the golden brown cakes by the time I’d finished my three. As for Plum... My stomach did a slow roll as I watched in horrified fascination as she slathered each cake with butter, and then strawberry jam, peanut butter, blueberry sauce and maple syrup before digging into the resulting mess. The table was mostly quiet, broken only by the sound of fillies chewing. Everypony was too tired to do much in the way of conversation. I had just finished eating my cakes when Lemon let out a massive belch. Lilac tried to scold her for her rudeness, but the yellow filly just ignored her and went in for seconds. I shrugged and helped myself to a couple more cakes as well. I’d be stuffed, but what the hay? They were good. A knock at the door got everypony’s attention while I was still halfway through my second helping. “Who in Equestria is that so early in the morning?” Mulberry muttered as she went to answer the door. I was hardly paying attention, instead concentrating on eating. And then an icicle shot down my spine when I heard the voice at the door. “Hi, is Cinnamon up and ready to go?” My mother asked. Her voice was tense and urgent. My brow furrowed as I scowled down at my food, wondering why she was here so damned early. Couldn’t I even eat breakfast in peace? I caught Plum looking at me with concern and I shrugged. I had no more idea than she did. “Oh, um, yes,” Mulberry replied. “She’s eating breakfast right now with the other girls.” “Oh,” my mom said. “Well, I’m here to pick her up. I thought I’d just get her out of your mane. I know she can be a hoof-full.” “She’s been no problem,” Mulberry said. I could hear in her voice that she was confused. “She’s been on her very best behavior. I’m actually really impressed with her. She’s very mature for her age.” “Oh, good,” my mom said, sounding relieved. I ate my way mechanically through the ensuing awkward pause. “Do... do you want to come in?” “Oh! Um. Yes, if you don’t mind.” Hoofsteps in the hallway came closer as I glowered at my plate. A touch on my shoulder made me look up. Plum had worry and sympathy etched on her face, now. I grimaced and turned away. “Good morning, Cinnamon,” my mom said as she came into view. “Good morning, girls.” “Good morning,” Plum said quietly. “Good morning, ma’am,” said Lilac. “Heya,” Windy said. “‘Mornin’,” said Peachy. “Mrph,” was Lemon Squeeze’s contribution. The little filly didn’t notice the glare from her sister. She was too focused on forcing as much pancake down her gullet as she could fit. I had no idea where the tiny filly kept it all. “What did you do to your mane, young lady?” Mom asked. She sounded like she was right on the border between amused and annoyed. “I slept on it.” I bit the sentence off, then ate another forkful of pancakes. Another awkward silence. As the seconds crawled by, the fillies and Mulberry glanced between my mother and me, picking up on the tension. “Why are you here so early?” I finally asked her. I kept my voice level. Celestia burn me to ashes before I was willing to sound like I was whining. “I wanted to make sure you got home alright,” she said carefully. I snorted. In my head that translated to “I wanted to make sure you didn’t try running away to Ponyville again.” “I’ll be fine,” I said shortly. “I can come home after I eat.” Then I remembered all of the various things I wanted to do today. “Actually, I was thinking of hanging out with Plum today.” “You were?” Plum asked. She caught my look and amended herself. “I mean, yeah. We were going to go to the park and stuff today. Is that okay, mom?” “Uh, sure,” Mulberry said, glancing back and forth between me and my mom with a thoughtful frown on her muzzle. “It’s fine with me, if it’s alright with Mrs. Swirl.” “I don’t know...” Mom said. I felt my plans for the day teetering on the edge of a precipice. I wouldn’t put it past her to keep me locked up in the house all day. If she did, I’d have to wait until Monday to drop my letter off at the post office. Not to mention that that I had a mystery crate to check out. Every day that passed made it more likely that Figgy’s box would be inspected by customs. I wanted to get my hooves on it before anypony else did. “It’s just hanging out with friends,” I told her. I gave her a steady look. “It’s not like I’m planning on running away from home or anything.” I watched as she absorbed that, tapping a hoof on the side of her chin. “You promise that you’ll stay in town? No wandering off?” “Of course,” I said with a hoof-wave. I was trying to appear nonchalant. “I promise, I’ll stay in town today.” One thing my mother knew was that I was good for my word. It was the only way our Deal worked. If I said I’d do something, I’d stick to it. Even if it meant my humiliation. Even if it meant I wouldn’t get the cure. I watched as my mom stared at me with calculating eyes, hoping the sudden cold sweat on my brow wasn’t obvious. I tried a different approach. “Mom, really. I just don’t want to be cooped up in the house today. I promise, I’ll come home by lunch time.” I watched as the tension left her in a flood. “Alright, then. You can play with your little friends today.” She gave them what even I had to admit was a slightly creepy smile. The fillies grinned back, slightly uncomfortable. “I’m so glad she’s making friends. Thank you, girls.” “Uh, no problem.” Windy said. “She’s pretty cool.” The others nodded solemnly. My mother beamed at them. Then she turned back to me and tsk’ed in irritation. “At least let me fix up your mane,” she said, pulling a brush out of her saddlebags. I batted her hoof away. “I can do it,” I said. Her eyes welled up with tears. I sighed and turned away from her. “Fine.” I stared at my empty plate while my mom tugged a brush through my mane. She was humming happily, the only sound in the room as the fillies ate, pretending to ignore us. I don’t think any of them had any idea in Equestria what to make of this situation. Mulberry just shook her head and went back into the kitchen to start cleaning up. I grit my teeth and tried to ignore the humiliated anger welling up as my mother groomed me in front of a bunch of little fillies. Even with all the practice I’d had recently, it wasn’t easy to do. ~~*~~ “Wow, that was weird,” Plum said about an hour later. I grunted in reply. “So, anyway, where did you want to hang out? The park on Mane street? Or maybe the park on Cedar avenue? Or maybe go down to the lake?” “Post office,” I said. Plum blinked at me. “Sounds like... fun?” “I have a letter to write. Remember?” Her eyes got really big and a smile cracked wide over her features. “Oh yeah!” The house was much quieter now that we were the only two left. The others had all gone to their various homes, leaving behind a silence that was almost deafening compared to the loud noises of four excited fillies packing up their things after a sugary breakfast. I didn’t envy their parents when their hyped-up kids got home. Plum fished around in her desk and gave me a pen and a piece of paper to write on. I wrote my letter slowly, deliberately. My penmanship wasn’t the best to begin with, and I had to make certain I’d be understood. Plum offered various bits of advice she probably considered helpful as I wrote the letter. Once I was done, her mother gave us an envelope and I got ready to leave. “You don’t have to go with me,” I reminded her. “I can do this by myself.” She snorted. “Are you kidding? I want to be a part of this!” The corner of my mouth lifted in what could have been a smile. “Fine. But don’t blame me if you get bored.” She seemed almost offended by that suggestion. “I won’t get bored!” ~~*~~ The clock on the wall ticked off the dry seconds as we stood in line, surrounded on all sides by ponies that towered over us. “Ugh, I’m soooo boooored!” Plum whined. A few of the adult ponies in line turned to glare at her. I scowled back, and they went back to minding their own damned business. “You could wait outside,” I reminded her. She shook her head at the suggestion. One of the mailponies at the windows finished with a customer and called for the next one. The line moved forward a few steps. Plum sighed deeply. I ignored her for the moment. I was too busy running over the letter I’d written in my head. I was on edge about it. Nothing good had come out of involving myself with that crazy pink pony the first time. But she did owe me for what happened. Even though, technically, she wasn’t around when I actually ran through the poison joke. Would she remember me? She didn’t seem to be all that focused, the last time we talked. Would she actually help? She was supposed to be one of these world-saving heroes, the Element of Laughter or something like that. But would Pinkie Pie actually go out of her way to help out a pony she probably barely remembered? My whole plan hinged on the fact that she would. Another ten minutes passed. Another customer got done with their transaction. The line shuffled forward a few more inches. “Oh, come on!” Plum shouted, pulling at her mane. I sighed, rubbing at the point between my eyes with a hoof. This was going to be a long day. ~~*~~ In the end, express delivery to Ponyville with receipt confirmation cost me six bits. I parted with the bits regretfully. I didn’t have much money left, and it wasn’t like my mom was giving me an allowance. The letter was on its way, with the delivery confirmation and return address set to go to Plum’s house. The mailmare assured me that it would get there by Tuesday at the latest. Possibly even Monday, but I shouldn’t count on it. I was jittery and anxious. The clock had started, and now my life was a countdown. The only comfort was that, for now, it was out of my hooves, and all I could do was wait. But I wasn’t good at waiting. “Whoo, I’m so glad that’s out of the way!” Plum said, shaking her head and doing a little dance. “Want to go play?” “Actually, I had something I needed to do.” “Aww, come on!” she pouted at me. “I went with you to your post office thing, and that took forever!” My mane flowed as I shook my head. I’d managed to convince my mom to leave it unbraided. “I can join you in a little while,” I said. “There’s just something important I have to do, first.” “Okay, fine,” she grumbled. “Let’s go do your important thing.” I hesitated. There was no way I could explain to Plum what I was going to do. “No, I think you should go home and wait for me. We can meet up again after lunch.” She looked at me suspiciously. “Why?” I shook my head again. I hadn’t told her anything about the conversation between her mom and uncle. There was no way I was getting this filly involved in that mess. “Nothing you need to worry about,” I said. “But what is it?” “It’s a secret. Sorry. I may tell you later, but right now I have to do this myself.” I didn’t need Plum’s frown to let me know she’d be unhappy with this situation. She grumbled and argued, but eventually she gave in. I watched as she left, pouting the whole way. I turned on my back hoof and walked the opposite direction. Hoofington International Shipping was on the far edge of town, in the warehouse district. The houses faded away as I got closer to the town square, only to be replaced by shops and restaurants. I dodged between the legs of the shopping mares and stallions around me. It's not like I need a lot of reasons to hate being a filly, but one thing that really bothers the hell out of me is how the so-called "grown-ups" never seem to watch where they're going. I had to step lively to avoid being trampled on more than one occasion. One shame-faced stallion got an ear-full when he stepped on my tail. Judging from the look on his face, I'm pretty sure he didn't know what half of the things I called him even were. As irritated as I was by the ponies, the buildings themselves were extremely comforting. I’ll say one thing about Hoofington: It does architecture right. After all the craziness of living in Ponyville it was good on my eyes to be back home, surrounded by buildings that actually looked like buildings, instead of some demented gingerbread house or a jester’s hat. Where Ponyville had wood shops with thatched roofs, Hoofington was built out of brick and slate. There was a solidity to this town that I’d missed while I was away. I kept walking, my hooves hitting the flagstone of the street. The center of town was paved, though some of the older roads leading away were rough cobblestone. Another change from Ponyville and its dirt roads. I slid my hooves a little as I walked, enjoying the roughness of the stone. My mom would have a fit when she saw my hooves, chipped and roughed up around the edges from the abuse, and slid my feet a little harder. I hesitated briefly as I passed through the market square, eying a certain shop and thinking of my rapidly-dwindling cash supply. Finally, I shrugged and went into the candy store. I hadn't been in one of these in a non-official capacity in years. The last time I'd set hoof into a candy store had involved a jar of jawbreakers, five pounds of taffy, a bag of malted milk chocolate balls, and three very ashamed looking colts who'd tried to stuff it all into a saddlebag without the shopkeeper noticing. "Hello, little miss!" the unicorn stallion behind the counter said happily as I walked in. I gave him a tight smile and then ignored him. He didn't seem upset by that. I figure he was probably used to kids treating candy like it was Serious Business. After a few minutes, I settled on a large bar of chocolate with toffee chips, a small bag of gumballs, another of lemon drops and some jelly beans. I figured it would take at least some of that for Plum get over me leaving her behind. I felt bad about bribing her with sweets, but girls like presents, don't they? I nabbed a strawberry lollipop on the way to the counter for myself and set my selections in front of the gently smiling clerk. "All of this is for you?" he asked as he began ringing it up. "You'll get a tummy ache." "Sharing it with a friend," I said shortly as I rummaged in my saddlebag for what was left of my bits. "Shared candy tastes better," the unicorn said approvingly. "That'll be three bits and five pennies, my dear." I slapped four bits on the counter, collected my change and stuffed most of the candy into my saddlebag. I unwrapped the strawberry sucker and stuck in my mouth before I even left the store. "Thanks," I said as I left. "Have a good day, miss!" the clerk said jauntily. It didn't even bug me being called "miss". Well, not much. I was too busy thinking of the look on Plum's face when I dropped all of this candy in her lap. If that much sugar didn't make a decent apology for a young filly, I didn't know what would. My shopping completed, I continued on my way. The strawberry candy on the end of my sucker lasted maybe a block before I crunched it between my teeth. I never really had the patience for that kind of candy. I kept the stick, though, chewing steadily on it as I made my way down the road. It wasn't long before I reached the outskirts of Hoofington's warehouse district. I could already see the signs in the changing architecture. The shops were becoming scarcer and the buildings were getting larger and uglier. More functional and less decorative. Nopony came out this way to shop, and very few lived in this section of town. These buildings weren’t pretty, but they were big and solid. They had a purpose, and didn’t bother with looking nice. Fewer ponies were walking around now, but there were a lot more carts and wagons. I kept to the side of the road, as close as I could get to the buildings. Cart drivers didn’t always look carefully where they went. The last thing I needed was for somepony to not see me and flatten me under a wagon wheel. Mulberry’s place of employment was a grim-looking old warehouse, massive and grey. Four smaller buildings were set near it in the large courtyard, probably administrative offices and the like. The whole compound was surrounded by a chain link fence easily three times the height of a grown stallion. I looked around for an unobtrusive place to stand so I could scope out the place. I finally settled into a niche under the eave of a building across the street from the only obvious gateway into the compound. I chewed on the stick in my mouth and took note of everything I could see. It was a pretty standard security setup. The gate was bracketed on either end by a small wooden hut. Yellow wooden bars on posts blocked the wagons from going past until the guards checked them in. There were two guards, one in each booth and both of them earth ponies. One was reading a paper and the other was resting a hoof on his muzzle and staring at out into space, a glazed look on his face. I frowned as I looked at the setup. The road was wide open, with no cover. I couldn’t see any blind spots on the approach. The guards weren’t paying much attention, but they’d only have to glance up to notice a bright pink filly walking up the road. I watched as a wagon came rumbling up, pulled by two earth ponies. Another pony was sitting on the driver’s bench. I wondered vaguely if he was the boss, or if the three of them took turns pulling and driving. The one guard snapped out of whatever daze he’d been in and checked them in. I watched the whole process. The guards may have been negligent before, but their procedures were good. Getting in by hiding in a wagon would be possible but risky. “Excuse me, little filly,” a nearby voice said, making me jump halfway out of my skin. “Are you lost, sweetheart?” The owner of the voice was a burly grey stallion with a handlebar mustache. The earth pony was wearing a vest with the name “Earl” stitched on the front. I judged by the tool belt around his middle that he worked somewhere in the area. “I’m fine,” I said, coughing a little. I'd nearly swallowed the stick I'd been chewing on. Bastard had scared me half to death. My heart felt like it was going to break its way out of my chest. “You sure?” Earl asked me, obviously concerned. “Does your mommy know where you are?” With any luck, me grinding my teeth together looked enough like a smile to avoid raising any more suspicion. “You’re right,” I said. “I’d better go find her.” I trotted away from my observation point and walked to the fence, casting an eye behind me to see if Earl was going to follow me. After I got across the street he shrugged and walked the other way. Being on reconnaissance as a filly had its good and bad points. The good: I was small and it would be easy for me to hide. The bad: Anypony who saw me in this area would probably pay close attention to the "lost little filly". That, and I was bright pink. I kind of stand out. I couldn’t do anything about being little. But maybe I could do something about the pink. It was worth thinking about. As I walked the perimeter of the fence, I kept an eye on the compound and the activity within. The yard was busy, ponies and wagons rushing everywhere in a kind of organized chaos. They even had one of those fancy new loading machines that the factories in Detrot had started churning out, piloted by a heavyset earth pony in a bright yellow hardhat. It wasn’t until I got around the back that things got interesting. There was an offshoot from the railway station, the tracks going through another, larger gate. I guessed that the bulk of incoming freight came from here. The back gate had large, sliding chain-link sections that could close, but at the moment it was left wide open. There was another pair of guards here, looking even more bored than the two up front. I mentally labeled this entrance as Plan B. This approach was even more wide open than the last one, and it would be harder to sneak onto a train than it would be into a wagon. I guess I’d been staring for a while, because the guards noticed me. I hurried on my way, keeping well clear of the gate. One of the guards, an elderly gray stallion with a white mane, looked at me and smiled as I walked past. “Careful on the tracks, sweetie,” he cautioned me. I scowled at him. He chuckled back. I hate looking so harmless. I found what I was looking for on the east side of the compound. Something, probably a wagon, had run into and damaged the fence here. The chain was bulged up, pulled away from the frame on the ground. The gap this created was barely big enough for a large dog to get through. A large dog, or a small filly. I plotted out a course as I looked through the fence. There were empty crates back here, as well as the back of one of the smaller buildings in the yard. There was also a side door leading into the warehouse itself. This would be perfect. I looked around, memorizing the landmarks. I had to be sure I could find this place again once the sun went down. As I finished up, I heard the town’s clock tower tolling off in the distance. Eleven o’clock. Time to head home. I had promises to keep.