Patty the Pegasus
By Aussie Griffin
Chapter 2: Hope and hoofacures.
Long ago there was a salon owner in Cloudsdale who was showing her daughter how to run the salon. At her daughter’s suggestion she allowed her to arrange discount services for ponies that did the same. The “Proper Price Network” improved costs and reputations, earning its founder the cutie mark of one hoof pulling up another.
Cloudsdale's admiration ended with pregnancy and a fleeing stallion. Whispering and laughter behind hastily closed doors saw discounts become leaner, though some were reassured seeing the family caring for their new foal.
When a griffon bounty hunter tracked the deadbeat dad to Saddle Arabia the foal's mother, the under-appreciated foal, a network lawyer, and her father set-out to restore their reputations. Busy with a bridal party, the salon's owner had to see them off from the salon’s front door.
That day passed... and then a week. That week became a month... and then two with no contact until a tattoo-bearing griffon approached the salon, confirming her worst fears. What made it worse was that she had lost everyone she trusted enough to confide in, so night after night she wept alone.
Sad, bitter years later she still had her contract with the Wonderbolts. When they were invited to the griffon territories for the first time in living memory she dutifully and quietly cleaned them up and polished their appearances to match their promotional photographs, silently feeling worse every time they mentioned the word griffon... which was a lot.
Upon their return they told her a tale of glory and, strangely, a pegasus filly, including the phrase, “She looked like a filly version of you.” Pressing the pegasus that said it against the cloud wall of her salon, Maudlin subjected him to ten minutes of intense interrogation before flying to the nearest legal firm.
-_==========_-
Princess Luna’s early evening found Maudlin sobbing in the salon's office. Looking up, she forgot to bow, her face a mask of despair. She’d seen the newspaper when she’d taken in her mail, reading the headline: “Griffons prize prying ponies!” and instantly felt drained of all hope.
On cue Luna's assistant Ruby Dream gave her a shoulder to sob on before Luna noticed the rest of the letters on her desk. She rekindled hope in her heart when she noticed the weathered letter and spoke softly. “Looking at this, I think the Von Gryffons want to discuss what is best for your granddaughter. Their Merchant Guild permits private security guards... if you would allow me the honour?”
Planning the trip and having already closed for the night, Maudlin dared to sing as she swept up:
“Hearing stories here and there,
A happy family or just a pair,
I was stuck in my black night.
There's a glow I used to know,
It felt like heaven's light.
Never again would I know,
That warm and loving glow,
Imprisoned in plain sight.
No pony who had what I had,
Gets another ray of heaven's light.
But suddenly Fate smiled at me
Equal parts both hope and fright,
Can it be that she
Might be returned to me?
And as I close tonight,
My dark clouds become so bright!
I swear this is heaven's light!”
-_==========_-
Coming next: A tactical reunion.