It’s been 3 years since I ran away from home. I got good money from working at Galactic Studios, and invested it to make my safehouse look nicer. I no longer have just a mattress on the floor, I have a bed. I got rid of the cockroaches, bought a better TV, bought a new phone, re-modeled the kitchen, replaced the tears on the walls, everything. I still haven’t seen my dad or Autumn in a while, and I still talk to my mom. I got some new friends from working at Galactic Studios too to join our group: A Pegasus gray pony named Clay Cement, and an orange earth pony named Turnip Orch. Us, along with Angel and Annabelle were all hanging in my apartment. Angel was on the phone with his aunt.
“Yeah, I’ve been a good boy, you know me auntie! Yes I’ll get the music video done. I’ll send you some copies.” Angel said. “No, I don’t care about Lyra, listen, I gotta go. I love you too. Bye.” Angel hangs up.
“Miss your auntie, Angel?” Turnip teased.
“Shut up, Turnip.” Angel demanded.
“I gotta say, holms. Life has been going around better for you now. Look at the fantastic new life you got!” Annabelle said.
“I’ve had this new life for 3 years, Annabelle. It’s about time to call it old.” I teased.
“So how ‘bout we quit all this talking and play our game already?” Clay complained.
“For Luna’s sake, Clay, we’re playing, we’re playing!” Annabelle said as he put down his cards. “Four fours. Nothing to brag about.”
“Three sixes. Meh.” Turnip said as he laid down his cards.
“Is a full house of ones good?” Angel asked.
“I dunno. Hey, Herb? You ok, dude? You seem a little down.” Turnip asked.
“Now that you mention it, I’m not really feelin’ like myself lately.” I said.
“It’s about Flare, isn’t it? Forget about it, man. What’s done is done.” Angel said.
“Yes, but…. I dunno. My conscious has been actin’ up lately.” I said.
“Well that little cricket out of your head, and come back to the real world, man.” Clay teased.
“As much as I want to, I can’t.” I said. “I feel like these visions have been hauntin’ me for quite some time. My pop has been invadin’ my head too. I feel like I need to put a stop to this.”
“Herb, if you’re worried so much about something that happened in the past. Just go to his place and apologize.” Annabelle suggested.
“I don’t think he’ll accept it. What I did is unforgiveable.” I said.
“You’ll never know unless you try, man. Show ‘em who’s the good guy here.” Angel said.
“Yeah, bro, even if he doesn’t accept your apology, at least your conscious might be cleared. You can’t always get what you want, dude, but just do what you can, alright?” Turnip explained.
I nodded. “Alright. I got butterflies right now, but…. If I have something to say, I might as well just say it. Might need some help though.” All my friends just smirked at me, and before I knew it, I was getting dragged or carried all the way to the Gun’s place all the way in Hoofington Beach. When we got there, they placed me in front of the door. “Now, when I said I needed help, I didn’t mean carry me or drag me all the way over here.”
“It’s only necessary precautions, my brother.” Clay said.
“Yeah, so….. good luck!” Turnip said as they all ran off, but before they ran off, Annabelle rang the doorbell, and left me alone right in front of their apartment. After a few moments, Flare’s mom Bow Gun answered the door.
“Yes, can I help you, dear?” Bow asked.
“Yeah, hi, I’m lookin’ for Flare.” I said.
“Who you supposed to be?” Bow asked.
“Herb Leafhorn, I need to talk to your son. It’s very important.” I stated.
“Oh, you must be one of Flare’s old bullies. Well you really have some nerve showing your face around here, young colt.” Bow said angrily.
“Look, I really need to talk to your son. This has been a huge misunderstandin’. Please, Mrs. Gun, I can’t take this much more! I need to speak with him!” I begged.
“Yeaaaaaaaaaah- no.” Bow shook her head.
“Why not?” I asked.
“Look, you can’t see him. I wouldn’t even let you see him if he was here either.” Bow said.
“Look, please, I really- wait, if he’s not here where is he?” I asked.
“He moved out. He wants a life better than this, so he moved to Ponyville.” Bow said.
“A better life?” I asked.
“It was you bullied that made him leave in the first place! Now he wants to live on his dream of making trusted friends, build his career, and go to place where ponies accept him for who he is. Unlike this place. Why has this city gone so wrong? What’s with all the hate?” Bow asked.
“Ugh!” I groaned. “Look, Mrs. Gun, can I have some contact information? It’s in the upmost importantance that I talk to him.”
“Yyyeah, I’ll think about it. Gimmie a second.” Bow said as she slammed the door in my face. I waited there for a few minutes, but then I realized she was only being sarcastic and is not coming back, so I just walked away.
“I didn’t expect Flare to forgive me even if he was there, and now he left town.” I said to myself. “I think it’s best that he left town. His mom was right, what happened here? I have to make stuff right. I gotta bring harmony into this town, but how?” Just then, I saw a weird looking black carriage in the parking lot. I saw the ponies in that carriage were staring at me. They looked like goons, probably one of my dad’s goons. So I ran away. I ran inside a night club and hid in there for a while, and once I got out, they were gone.
I went over to the other side of town to chat with my friends in an Applebees I love to go to, and I told them everything that happened while I attempted to go apologize to Flare.
“So, little Crimson decided to pack up and hit the road, huh?” Annabelle asked.
“Well, don’t say you didn’t try, Herb.” Turnip said.
“I can’t believe this! I did everything I could, I really wanted to make things right! I can’t do that now. Flare’s moved away and it’s all my fault.” I blamed myself.
“It wasn’t just you, man. What about that pig?” Angel asked.
“Who? Swinebutt?” I asked.
“Uh, yeah, what other pigs live around here, man?” Angel asked.
“You think I should ask for his help? I can’t bear to look at Swinebutt in the face. It’ll remind me too much of my mistake.” I said.
“Well, is there anything else we can do to help, brother?” Clay asked.
“Howdy, welcome to Applebees. My name is Applebees, can ah start with y’all with somethin’ to drink?” our waitress asked.
“I’ll take an iced tea.” I said.
“Same here.” Annabelle said.
“Water with lemon, man.” Angel said.
“Gimmie a Parasprite.” Turnip said.
“I’ll have two iced teas, an iced tea with lime, a water with lemon, a Parasprite, two apple ciders, one with grape, and a large gallon of Powerade.” Clay ordered.
“Man, if you drink too much, Clay. You’re going to be sitting on the toilet all night.” Angel teased.
“Comin’ right up!” Applebees said as she walked off to get our drinks.
“So as I was saying, if there was anything we can help you with, my brother, feel free to ask away.” Clay said.
“Well, thanks dudes, but I think this is my own personal matter. I need to be the one to fix this.” I said.
“We’re in this together, amigo! Do it yourself, you won’t stand a chance.” Annabelle said.
“I know, but you wouldn’t understand. Your family doesn’t have history with another family like I do.” I said.
“And how are you supposed to know that?” Turnip asked. “I mean the odds of you knowing are 5,965,497 to 1.”
“It’s just common sense, you never talk about it.” I said.
“So? You don’t us bragging about of what our family past has. The Orch family has some family history with a family called the Pies I think.” Turnip said. “Our family use to have the greatest turnip farm in Equestria, but then the Pie’s Rock Farm started getting a bigger profit than us, but you know what we did? We just forgot about the whole thing. We now sell the best pagers in the whole kingdom.”
“And what happened to the turnip farm?” Annabelle asked.
“Well…. sold it so my dad can buy that pager shop.” Turnip said.
“But…. nopony uses pagers anymore. We use cell phones now, man.” Clay corrected him.
“Oh….. dang!” Turnip yelled, slamming on the table. “No wonder we barely have any customers anymore!”
“Why not trade in your pagers for cell phones? Maybe you should open A T-Mobile.” Annabelle suggested.
“Man, T-Mobile’s for losers! Metro PCS is where it’s at.” Angel said.
“You’re all wrong, it’s AT&T that’s the best phone company.” Clay said.
“Just because it bought out Singular and Bellsouth, doesn’t make it better. Get Comcast.” I suggested.
“Does Comcast sell phones? I think they’re just cable and internet connection.” Clay said.
“When you said ‘sell phones’, do you mean ‘cell phones’ with the C, or ‘sell phones’ with the S? I got a little confused there.” Turnip asked.
“If I said ‘cell phones’ with the C, I would’ve said ‘sell cell phones’ with the S and the C.” Clay said.
“Yo, Herb? What are you looking at, man?” Angel asked. I saw a strange looking black carriage outside that looked like the same exact carriage as the one I saw when I got out of Flare’s apartment projects. “Yo, Herb!?” Angel yelled.
“What? What?” I asked.
“Are you a’right, man?” he asked.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. It’s just….” I stopped talking and stared right at the carriage again.
“It’s just what?” Turnip asked. I didn’t respond so he repeated himself. “It’s just what?!”
“Huh?! Oh, nothing, nothing. I feel like getting those mozzarella sticks appetizer, don’t you?” I asked. My friends looked at eachother, concerned of what’s been going out with me. Just then, Angel’s phone started ringing.
“Oh, hey, it’s my cousin!” Angel said excitedly as he answered the phone. “Yo, Lyra! What up? Huh? Really? Well… ok then if you say so. I’m doing fine, thanks! Bye.” He hangs up.
“What did she want?” Turnip asked.
“She just told me she hated Cheesecake Factory and it was the worst place ever and nopony would want to go.” Angel said. “Man, that mare’s trippin’! She even sounded a bit different!”
After we had our dinner, I decided to go out and look for Swinebutt. I went over to the junkyard to see him, but his trailer was gone. I guess I should’ve known that he wouldn’t be there anymore. The only other place I’d think he would be is the Magic World theme park. I know his family invested in that place. That’s probably where he’s held up right now.
I went over to the park and walked over to the ticket booth to ask where Swinebutt is. “You’re looking for Swinebutt, huh? Well here’s in the park.” The ticket dude said.
“Ah, good! Can I go see him?” I asked.
“Sure, 30 bits.” The ticket pony said.
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked.
“30 bits.” He repeated.
“I’m not here to go on any rides, I just wanna see Porker Swinebutt.” I repeated.
“Well, sorr-ry, but I don’t make the rules, I just follow them. Nopony that doesn’t work here walks inside the park without buying a ticket.” He said.
“Then I’d like a job.” I said. Before I knew it, I was a merchant selling balloons near Future Land.
I saw one of my co-workers from Galactic Studios in the park, he walked up to me and asked in a non-caring tone, “Yo, Herb Lore? Decided to betray Galactic Studios for this dump?”
“I’m here for undercover business, Lou.” I said.
“Yeah, sure, that’s what they all say.” Lou said sarcastically. “What made you move here? Payment better?”
“Just get outta here, man!” I requested.
“No, I won’t get outta here.” He said.
“Why not?” I asked.
“I wanna buy a balloon.” He said.
I groaned. “Ok, 4 bits.” I said.
He paid up and said, “Working here might be a breeze for you, but visiting here is a nightmare.”
I gave him a balloon and responded, “Yeah, well, sometimes ya gotta make a livin’, even if it means raisin’ the prices.”
“Hey, Herb? Aren’t you forgetting something?” Lou asked.
“Oh, you’re right! What am I doin’? I have to see Swinebutt. Later!” I said as I ran off to go look for him.
“I meant, where’s my change?” Lou complained. “I paid you a 5-bit coin, and I expect 1 bit back.”
So I asked around to see where Swinebutt is, but nopony knew. I was too afraid to ask one of his robots guarding the park where he is, I had the strange feeling they were watchin’ me. As I was lookin’ around, I saw a few ponies up ahead wearing tuxedos and sunglasses looking straight at me. I had the feeling those were the ponies in the suspicious black carriage I saw earlier. I kinda know because I saw the carriage parked outside before I came in. Those ponies trotted closer and closer to me, and I started to back away slowly, but just then, the two ponies took out some guns and aimed them right at my direction. I was about to run, but one of Swinebutt’s robots guarding the park picked me up and took me with it.
“HEY, HEY!” I yelled. “Did I do somethin’ wrong? If you’re takin’ me somewhere, I can go myself, I don’t need to be carried!” The robot didn’t listen, and instead, it took me to the back lot, and into one of the buildings back there. We went down an elevator to the underground area, and the robot threw me into Swinebutt’s lab.
“Well, well, well! What do we have here?” Swinebutt said mischievously, looking down at me, and I tried to get back up. “Herb Leafhorn, Jr. What brings you here?” he asked and snorted.
“I came to see you." I said. “Hey what’s with the mechanical horn?”
“I installed it shortly after I got this scar.” Swinebutt said. “It works just like a normal unicorn horn! Wanna see it at work?”
"No thanks; there’s somethin’ I wanna talk to you about.” I said.
“Of course, my dear boy, of course! You’re always welcome here. You’re the one that helped me gain my reputation around here. I owe you debt of gratitude.” Swinebutt said happily.
“Well that’s awesome to hear. I need to talk to you about Flare.” I said.
“Yeah I know, he moved to away. Well, wherever he’s going, I’m sure it won’t be any different than here.” Swinebutt said as he took a sip of some hot cocoa.
“Well, I kinda feel bad about what we did to him. We ruined his life.” I said.
Swinebutt spat out his cocoa in shock. He then started laughing. “Are you saying what we did is wrong?”
“Uhh, yes actually.” I said.
Swinebutt continued to laugh. “You crack me up, Leafhorn! Crimson’s not a good pony. You know what his family did to you, and we saw him destroy my old lab.”
“I know he destroyed your lab, but I think it was just an accident.” I said.
“An accident?” Swinebutt asked. “Herb, there are no accidents in science. There’s only success and failure. What Crimson did was a complete failure.”
“We made him angry, and not just that, it wasn’t the Gun’s fault. It was Weed Leafhorn the Great that started the battle between the two families. Surely, you could understand that.” I explained.
“Leafhorn, I could care less about your family traditions.” Swinebutt said and snorted. “All I care about is making Swinebutt Industries the best it could be. The company will be a huge success. My supply of inventions will be a grand sensation to all of Equestria. The only reason I helped you with your problem with the Guns is to make sure I can make that reputation I need.” Swinebutt took a sip of his hot cocoa.
“Well, I’m glad I could help you, but I hope Flare has that better life he deserves in Ponyville “ I said.
Swinebutt spat out his coffee and yelled. “WHAT?! He’s in Ponyville!? No, no, that’s not good. That’s not good at all.”
“Why?” I asked.
Swinebutt calmed down quickly, took a deep breath and smiled. “Oh nothing, Leafhorn. Say, can you do me one last favor?”
“No. I have the reason you’re goin’ to cause more harm to Flare.” I said.
“No, no, I won’t, I promise. I just need you to get something for me.” Swinebutt said.
“Ok, but no funny business, Porker.” I warned him.
“No funny business, my dear boy. I just need you to run over to the Hardware Store, and go pick up a few things for me.” Swinebutt requested.
“What would you like me to pick up?” I asked.
“Just give this note to the stallion at the front desk. Don’t read it, just give it to him, get the supplies, and give me a call.” Swinebutt said giving me a note. “I’ll pay you for this.”
“Well…. I do need the money.” I thought. “Alright, Swinebutt, you got a deal.”
“Excellent! Can’t wait for your return!” Swinebutt said as he turned around and went to work on a blue robotic unicorn that looked like some sort of cheap magician. I went out of the building and exited the park so I can go get the supplies that Swinebutt needs. I went over to the Hardware Store over at Hoof Point, but I keep getting followed by this black carriage. Seriously, at this point I just think my pop’s trying to hunt me down. When I got to the hardware store, I just decided to lock the door behind me so they don’t come in.
“Any reason you locked my door?” the stallion at the front desk asked.
“Sorry, but I believe I’m being followed.” I said.
“And you decided to hide out in my store because of it? This is a store, buddy, not a safehouse.” He said.
“I know, I know. I just need to pick up some supplies.” I said.
“What do you need? Got a sweet deal on 6’7 feet of lumber. Perfect for making that treehouse club for your foals.” The cashier offered.
“No, thanks, these are different type of supplies. Dr. Swinebutt sent me.” I said as I gave the cashier the note. The cashier read the note and nodded.
“No problem. Wait here.” The cashier asked as he went to the back room to get the supplies. I just stood there waiting, but I saw my pop’s goons waiting outside for me. I hid behind the side of the front desk so they don’t spot me, but I believe they already know I’m here. “Is there a problem, man?” the cashier asked, I jumped in excitement because I didn’t expect him to be behind me already with the stuff. “Sorry to spook you. You running from the law or something?”
“No, I’m hidin’ from those dudes outside. I think they wanna jump me.” I said.
“Well, you better exit the back door then. Give these supplies to Swinebutt right away.” The cashier said. “Don’t look at anything back there, don’t touch anything, just walk out the door.”
“Ok.” I said awkwardly as I walked out the back door, passing by the cashier’s weird collection of pictures hanging on the wall. I snuck around the back alley, climbed over walls, and ran over to pick up a cab. Luckily for me, I didn’t see the black carriage anywhere in sight. I had the feeling I lost them, it was pretty quiet from here back to the Magic World back lot. Just then, my phone started to ring; it was an unknown caller, but I answered it anyway. “Yo.”
“Herb Leafhorn.” a voice said on the other line.
“Who is this?” I asked.
“A friend. Listen to me closely: Whatever you do, do not give those supplies to that pig!” the voice said.
“Why not?” I asked.
“You seen what he’s capable of. You seen by the look of his eye. He’s not usin’ those supplies for good.” The voice said.
“What makes ya think that?” I asked.
“We know a lot more than that. Come meet us outside, find a black carriage.” The voice said.
“Sorry, mama says don’t listen to strangers. Find somepony else to rob. Goodbye.” I said.
“Herb, you’re making a huge-“ before he could finish, I hung up. This was getting trippy. I had the feeling that the dude talking to me on the phone was part of pop’s mob. He sounded Italian, couldn’t trust him, but yet again, I dunno if I could trust Swinebutt either, but he said he owes me a debt of gratitude, and he promised he wouldn’t do any harm. I took the boxes, and I walked over to the building Swinebutt was in. I had the strange feeling I was being followed again, but when I turned around there was nopony there. I didn’t know what was going on. I continued to walk, although I was on the alert. Somepony else was here, and I couldn’t let me guard down. I walked all the way over to Swinebutt’s building, and I had the feeling I was in the clear, but as I touched the door, I got electrocuted and I fell onto the ground, seeing nothing but blur.
“It’s for your own good, buddy.” One of those mobster ponies said while standing over me. I then started to pass out.