Chapter 1
Inn Cog Neato
In a small town, there was a small house, with a small filly. This filly was going down the steps from the second floor, making her way down to the kitchen for some food before school. She did not want go to school, but all previous attempts at not going had failed, and now she knew she was beaten. She sulked as she ate her food. She had been lectured on how bad it is to skip classes.
All the worries she had intensified as she looked backed at her house, a small white two story house made out of wood planks. The house was not the main focus of the property, merely a small dwelling for the owners of the larger structure, a temporary home for weary travelers, The Troton Inn.
As the short walk to the school came to a close, the little filly looked at her dad and said with hopeful eyes, “Do I really have to go?”
He gave a sigh and looked at his daughter, “I know that you are scared, you may not even trust us that the teasing will stop, but just give it a shot this year? Is that a fair enough deal?” Despite having no real confidence in the questions he asked, his deep voice gave him an air of authority.
The little filly just stood there shaking, and after a few seconds of thinking, she nodded her head in agreement. The father lefter her to enter the class, and after entering there was a large number of class mates looking at the filly. Over half of the class had cutie marks and it was common for fillies and colts to tease those that did not have one. This was one reason that the little filly was made fun of, but not the only one.
No, she was missing something more than a cutie mark... she had no main or tail.
A plain white pony, with only one thing that stood out, pink eyes.
This little white pony skulked to her desk, just like she did every day. She could never get over the starring or the whispering, but the name calling and pranks were even worse. She had just gotten to her desk when the door opened again.
“All right, all right, time for class kids,” the teacher said, nonchalantly. The teacher had a laid back look about her as she strolled to the desk, as if she were in no hurry to begin. “Ah, this will be a long class,” the blue haired teacher groaned, as she looked at her book and saw just what was going to be talked about today. This was bad new to the class, most of whom groaned in response. The teacher sulked to the board and started the lesson.
“We are going to talk about cutie marks, the first cutie marks.” The teacher gave a deep sigh and waited for the hooves, only to dismiss them. After all, we don't want to go into a long exposition scene do we? “This is not the same as lecture on how to get cutie marks, this is the origin of cutie marks. The first known cutie marks were scary to some ponies because they didn't know what they were. With the development of towns and...” the teacher ranted, trying to hasten the lesson.
“How do you think those with no mane and tail where looked at back then, Elegance?” a pony in the desk in front of the little white filly whispered to another filly.
“Should we ask Ms. Butter? She may know,” Elegance whispered to the filly on her left, the one that asked her the question.
The little white filly lowers her head, and hides it in a book.
The rather loud filly raised her hand and asked, “Ms. Butter, what would of been done if there was a weird looking pony?”
With a rather annoyed sigh, Ms. Butter turned from the board and answered. “Well, back then the ponies where barbaric and rude. To make this point clear, Earth, Unicorn, Pegasus, and Alicorn ponies where all segregated. Given that ponies back then could not stand the extensions like wings and horns... it is likely that if there was something else different that it would not be good,” rambled the teacher. She knew why the question was being asked, and was trying to make a point to put this little brat in her place, if only the filly were that smart that is.
“You hear that, Exquisite?” Elegance whispered to filly that asked the question.
“Yes, a group of bad ponies who thought having a cutie mark was bad, would think that the same as you two,” Ms. Butter said more bluntly.
The little fillies just snorted as they pointed their noses up, and did not say another word for the rest of the class. The teacher took this as a sign that she could hopefully leave early.
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The class did indeed come to an early end, few questions were asked after the attempted humiliation of the little white filly. The students where all leaving like an eager heard, wanting to go home or play. The only one that did not seem to be in any hurry was a little white filly. This sad looking filly just wanted to go and be normal, but this was a hopeless wish and she knew it.
The white pony made a hiding place, and could normally be found hiding there. The hiding place was a wooden box that was put against a wall, to compensate for the missing back. And it also had a small bolt of cloth, which could either be an old blanked or cape. The cloth just managed to let the bottom of the box show what was going on when she was lying down.
This was a place of solitude for her.
Every day she would hide here for hours, only coming out when her parents came and got her.
It was her dad who came for her today, finding her curled up in the box as usual. She would do the same thing at home, just lie down. It was all the filly could think to do.
She had been missing meals, and eating less. Her parents could not force her to eat, and it was making them worry. The filly was getting skinny, not that it was that noticeable to everypony, but her parents knew.
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Soon after dinner that night, there was a customer. She came in to the front desk and the father stood at attention. “What can I do for you ma’am?” he asked, looking at the pegasus. Her mane and tail where red, and her coat was blue. Looking around she responds with, “Oh I’ve been wandering and need a place to stay for a little while.”
The mom, who was also in the room, looked up at the mare. Traveling... what has she seen out there. “Well ma’am we the Neatos. I’m Spark and this is my wife Chrysanthemum.”
“Well I’m Feather Fury, nice to meet ya,” the pegasus said with a smile.
“That will be Seven bits a night, just let us know when you are ready to leave,” Spark informed as he penciled her in.
Chrysanthemum went behind the desk and looked under. “Inn, Honey, would you like to show our guest to her room?” asked Chrysanthemum, looking at the little white filly. The filly staggered to her hooves, and went to get the key for the room. Feather had a few seconds of shock at the appearance of the filly, but it soon faded to a smile.
The parents looked at each other and smiled, not many have given their daughter a smile other than them. But, Inn had been keeping her head down, trying to avoid the shock and/or fright in the eyes of this new pony. “C-c-... come with me... ma’am,” the horrified little filly barley said.
The red and blue mare just said, “Okay little pony, lead the the way.”
The way this mare spoke made Inn think of her mom. Her voice was soft and gentle, and not judgmental in the least. This made Inn feel less worried, but she didn't show it. After a long walk to the other building and the room, Inn finally stopped.
“He-he-here’s your room,” shook Inn.
Feather lowered herself and lifted Inn’s head, “Oh, you don’t have to be frightened of me.” Feather still had the big smile from before.
Just at that moment, more than the smile became apparent to Inn, the lush red mane. The mane was mostly straight, but curled at the ends, even in the front which was cut to about eye level. Inn did not know why she could not stop herself form looking at the mane, she had seen many manes before. Was it because Feather was so nice? Was it because she only looked at manes in fear, because others teased her for not having one of her own? Was it because this was a good mane? Or was it a combination?
“I, I really l-like your mane,” Inn muttered, still shaking.
Feather smiled at the compliment and said, “Hank you, now lets put a smile on that face.”
Inn attempted a weak smile, but the result looked more like a pained grimace. Feather sighed. “Oh well, see you in the morning little pony.”
With that the door was slowly shut. Inn could still picture the mane as if she were looking right at it. Staring at Ms. Feather’s head. The read mane shining in the moonlight.
Inn gave a slight whimper as she felt something touch her. She ducked, and it moved too. She tried to escape from whatever it was, but then she saw... red. Red dangling from her head. Little strands of it that had never been there before. What, where, why... all started to pour through Inn’s head. She rushed to the mirror at the end of the hall, and was shaken by what she saw.
A lush red mane. The mane was mostly strait, but curled at the ends, even in the front which was cut to about eye level. The read mane shining the moonlight. It was Feather’s mane.
Did she take it some how? Did this make here a bigger freak? Does it maker her more normal? Is Feather okay?
The little filly rushed home trying not to be seen by others on her way back.