The crowd was stunned. You heard some boos from the crowd as the faces slowly fell from shocked to angry. You stood in place, apathetic, scanning the park. You eyes rested on the table with the punch bowl as a few pieces of food were thrown in your direction.
Rainbow Dash had left. You turned around and walked off.
That was two days ago.
Now, you lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. You could not have screwed that up any more if you tried. You came here to get away from enemies, and now you're public enemy number one.
Your stomach growls, but you ignore it. If nopony would sell you anything after the first party, you doubt anypony would sell you anything now. Especially food. All you have are a couple cookies to get you by. The two apples were thrown away to keep you from being tempted to ingest whatever was in them.
Not a single knock came to your door. Even if the second party hadn’t happened, who would know to come to you with your fliers taken down? You close your eyes at the thought. Fliers. They were just fliers. Why did they make you act like that? Just because you thought, without any actual proof, that Rainbow Dash had...
Rainbow Dash. Thinking that name makes your insides feel twisted. You want to see her again. The shiver runs down your spine. You had nearly forgotten about that.
Her confidence. Her brash nature. There was something about it. Something in the back of your mind. You mentally grasp at it, trying to figure out what this mare has that just...
Your stomach growls again, interrupting the thought. You open your eyes and sigh. Rolling out of bed, you decide some fresh air may be a just the thing to help. Taking off the jacket you’ve been wearing the past couple of days, you get a quick shower before pulling on a fresh one. You open the door and squint at the harsh outside light, having spent the last couple of days inside. As your eyes adjust, you begin walking.
You quickly come to a crossroad. To the left led into Ponyville. To the right, you had no idea. You walk to the right without hesitation.
What was it with Rainbow Dash? You try to think while you walk. Was it something from back in Clopton? That’s a start. But what?
It swims in your head a bit as you walk. You feel it’s close. If only your stomach isn’t grumbling so often, you could hear yourself think. Of course, where are you ever going to find-
Apples. Loads of apples. Apple trees everywhere. The red fruit shining from the branches, you can feel your mouth watering. Is this where that farmer pony lived? You try to remember her name. Apple-something. That much you know.
Sure enough, you see a barn off in the distance. That’s probably where they put whatever it is in the apples. But maybe fresh off the tree, they would be...
You quickly push the thought out of your mind. You are already hated by everypony. Stealing would be just the thing to have them come after you. You pat your pockets, realizing that you left all of your bits at home. It’s probably not likely the owner would sell them to you anyway. You begin to turn around.
“What in tarnation are you doin’ here?” asks a voice from behind you. You turn to see the blonde mane orange earth pony. She looks very annoyed.
“Walking,” you reply.
“You have some nerve. I’ll buck ya’ straight into next week if you were even thinkin’ of stealin’ so much as a single apple from mah trees,” she says, approaching you. You can almost see the fire in her eyes.
You sit and raise your forelegs. “I took nothing. I was just leaving.”
She snorts. “I oughta’ buck ya’ anyway for what you said at that party we tried to throw ya’.”
“Ugh...” You bring a hoof to your forehead. “Look, I-” You are cut off by the massive rumble your stomach gave. You wrap your forelegs around your stomach because of the pain.
A moment of silence passes. “You... you been eatin’ at all?” the farmer asks, genuine concern taking place in her voice instead of anger.
“What do you care?” you ask.
“If yer hungry, then maybe...” She seems a little hesitant. “We could do a little business?”
“You’d really sell me apples?”
She sighs. “If you got bits, we’ll take them.” Her head hangs a bit. She speaks with the tone of a pony down on her luck.
You look at her, trying to find any source of joke or trickery. Is she actually going to sell you food? What’s with the change in attitude all of a sudden? Then you figure it out. The apples. Not only would she hook you on them, but then you would owe her a favor by being the only pony to sell you what you need to survive. Suddenly, you were needing more apples leading to owing more favors.
Best way to get rid of money problems, or any problems for that matter, is to pass them onto somepony else. She’d probably love to have you under her hoof, be it drugs or debt.
“I don’t have any bits...” you say slowly, looking around for an excuse to get you out of this train of conversation. You didn’t trust yourself with your current hunger. Suddenly, you spot something in a small clearing between the apple trees. It looks like a wagon for loading buckets of harvested fruits, but the side is bashed in with one of the back wheels cracked.
“What happened over there?” you ask, pointing at the wagon.
She looks over and sighs again. “That was a little accident we had earlier today. Caramel tried turnin’ the empty cart too fast an’ smashed the side of it into one of the trees.” She shakes her head. “It’s why I’ve been in a bit of a bad mood today.”
An idea pops into your head. “You know... I think we might be able to help each other.”
She looks at you with a raised eyebrow. “How do ya’ figure?”
“I can fix your cart for you.” She looks at you skeptically. “I’m a repaircolt. Although business hasn’t been too...” You shrug as an end to the sentence.
“An’ you won’t just run off the moment I pay you or with the tools I give ya’ or anythin’?”
“I have my own tools and you can pay me when it’s done.” She looks you over, still unsure whether or not to trust you. “Okay, I’ve said some things before, and...” It was now your turn to sigh. You know what you have to do. “I’m sorry. Really.” Her features soften. “For as much as it’s worth, for what I am, I’m not a thief. Say the word and this wagon will be better than new.”
She looks at the wagon, pondering it over. “Yer own tools?”
“Just need some wood.”
“We got that in the barn. An’ I pay you when it’s done?”
“Not a moment sooner.”
“Better than new?”
“You won’t recognize it.”
She brings her hoof to her chin. “Well... you said you were sorry.” You nod. “And I can’t leave a pony starvin’.” She walks over to the nearest tree and gives it a light kick. A few apples fall from the branches with she gathers up and nudges towards you. “Here. Ah don’t want you workin’ hungry.”
You are still wary of the apples. However, your stomach was fighting your better judgement and they did just come off the tree. Could there be anything in them already?
“You get yer tools and Ah’ll have the wood ready for you,” she says, turning away.
“Right! Be back in a minute...” you say, trailing off as you look at the apples in front of you.
Maybe just a taste.
*crunch*
Oh my goodness, that’s delicious.
===
Finally, some familiar territory. You wonder how somepony could actually slam the side of this wagon into a tree, but nevertheless, you're happy they did. Once you fix this, that farmer might tell her friends. A couple of them have some broken things they bring by and afterwards they tell more friends. They tell more ponies and more and more and then you’ll have a steady flow of customers.
Glorious thing, word of mouth. And nopony, not even Rainbow Dash, could do anything to stop it.
You brought your toolbox and Apple-something (might have to ask for her name again later) had long planks of wood ready for you in a pile next to the broken wagon. You begin to look over the task at hoof.
“It’s a wonder it hadn’t broke sooner,” you say to yourself. The wood was old and rotten nearly everywhere. Thankfully the axles were in good enough shape or else it’d be your entire day sunk. You still had your work ahead of you and this wasn’t even including any secret compartments. Although this wagon would have been perfect for such add-ons, you figure since this is your first customer that you are depending on to spread the word you’ll just fix it up before slapping on things that racks up the cost. Maybe you’'' ask later. You won’t lie, you’d love to be able to have a little fun seeing what you could do. Brushing your hooves against each other, you take your measuring tape and pencil and begin work.
Taking a few measurements of the wagon, you mark off places on a fresh board of wood that you’d cut in a moment. Maybe you could do a double for reinforcement. However, that would make the cart heavier. You’ll try pulling it and see after the first is put on and the wheel is fixed. You hum to yourself as you lose yourself in the job. You feel the sides of your mouth lifting ever so slightly...
===
“Hey, you still workin’? It’s gettin’ near supper, so I- whoa!”
You snap out of your personal little world when you hear the voice approaching. You were just sanding down the corners of the wagon; a little touch to make it look nice. Of course it has to look nice, it’d be too easy to guess some piece of trash was smuggling something.
“Why... that’s... Ah...” She was at a loss for words.
“Well, the wood was old all the way around, so I picked off all of that,” you begin. “The wheel wasn’t so much of a problem, a little glue should hold it fine.” You pat the side. “Two planks thick and added a little bit more support on the inside. This thing could crash into a hundred trees,” you say with a little pride showing. “Also...” You couldn’t help yourself and put in concealed storage in the back under the wagon bed. “This if you have anything that you might not want in plain sight.”
Her mouth is still open in amazement.
“And I greased the wheels a little so it pulls smooth as anything.” She simply walks up and hooks herself to it. She begins walking and, sure enough, the wagon glides along with ease.
“Wow... This is amazin’!” She said while the two of you walk back to the shed.
Her smile fades. Her eyes open just a bit wider, staring into space. The realization dawning on her that this piece of work she was admiring she now has to pay for.
“So, uh, what do I owe ya’?” she asks, chuckling nervously.
Here comes the fun part. And by fun part, you mean the part you dread.
“Well, it wasn’t exactly easy getting the old wood off...” you begin, exaggerating each task. “While you did provide supplies, there was the work going into the inside support and that extra little space in the back wasn’t exactly a picnic.”
You go through each and every detail making it sound harder than it really was. This was a normal tactic you use because, more often than not, your customers would try to haggle with you for a lower price. They would still try to convince you to let the job go for less, but this made the inflated estimate you give them seem actually justifiable. Then you’d allow yourself to lower the price to something somewhat reasonable.
You finish up your spiel. “All things considered, I think it’ll be about...” Suddenly, something catches your eye. You see a big basket of apples in the corner of the shed by the door. Remembering the tangy, sweet juices as they flowed over your tongue and lips after the first bite...
The farmer, who was looking worried while you talked, follows your gaze and suddenly looks back with a smirk.
“You want ‘em?” she asks.
“Well, I don’t normally take anything but money...” You eye the apples. The crisp, delicious, apples that tickled your taste buds with their juicy golden Damn it, you were hooked. “But in this case, it’ll do.”
You can almost see a wave of relief come over the orange pony. “Take ‘em. Honestly, that helps me out a bunch.” She looks to the ground. “Business hasn’t been goin’ too well these days. Bits are tight and I kind of owe somepony else at the moment.”
You shrug. Not your problem.
“Here, let me help you with these,” she says, picking up the basket. She loops it around in the strap of your saddlebag and, with a little work, you’re able to get a nice balance with your toolbox on the other side.
“Thanks again, mister,” she says. “You may not be the most... friendly of ponies.” You roll your eyes. “But you sure do a fine job of fixin’ things.”
“You can tell your friends that.”
“Ah will. See ya’ later!” she says with a wave as you walk back down the path.
You think over the situation as you walk back to your house. The ball for customers had started rolling. You may have just done a repair job in exchange for apples, but then again, you aren’t hurting for bits yet and food is what you need.
At that moment, your stomach decides to pipe up. While not the Dear-Celestia-I’m-Dying rumble, it's enough for you to merit taking an apple out of the basket on your side and munching as you trotted along.
Suddenly, you see up in the sky, a trail of rainbow cut through the wild blue. You remember what you were thinking about earlier today and are now considering whether or not you truly want to see Dash at that moment. It has been a good day and an encounter with the colorful pegasus can go in either direction. Not seeing any sign of her behind you anymore, you decide just to keep walking.
===
Sure enough, the next day comes with a knock on your door. A purple unicorn with mostly-violet mane stands there. She looks as skeptical as the farmer had.
You talk a little. Enough to say sorry for the two party incidents. She lightens up and pulls out a clock from her saddlebag for you to take a look at. It is a rather unusual design, but you had seen it enough to know how to fix it. It actually has everything, there is just one little piece out of place.
“I was looking at the design of this clock in a book, but I just didn’t understand why it wasn’t working.”
“Yeah, few books mention that those two cogs connect like that.”
“Well, thanks. How much will it be?”
You consider it. It was just a few flicks of your hoof. Perhaps you can get a couple easy bits off this, maybe one or two...
“How’s this?” she suddenly asks, pulling out four bits with her magic.
“Um... sure!”
She takes the clock and leaves happily. “I’ll be sure to tell my friends about you!” You simply nod, looking dumbfounded at the easiest four bits you’ve ever earned as she leaves.
The next few days brings even more customers. One with a blender, another with a camera, a couple more clocks, and more. The folding table somepony left and forgot about has turned into your work bench. Apologies are made to everypony that comes to your door and they all leave promising to tell their friends. Less enemies, more customers. Even the Cakes come by needing their oven repaired and they agree to sell you baked goods again. You did have to get another hug from Pinkie Pie who then goes off to throw you another party, this time at the bakery.
It was tonight. Perhaps you’ll finally get it right this time.
You only have one more customer. A white unicorn with a dark purple mane who brought in a sewing machine that was actually taken to you before by three fillies in red capes who you turned away for lack of funds. She is also the first to take you up on your offer to put in hidden compartments, although not in the way you expect.
“Oh, I could store my spare thread in it and it’ll save SO much space!”
“Yep...” you say, barely listening. You are just screwing in the final pieces after making sure it’ll run fine. Of course even with simple compartments, it has to work. First sign of something not working, some officer opens it up and “Well, well, what do we have here?”
“Now then, darling, what will this be costing me today?”
You think it over. The problem was that it had string caught in all of the parts, easily cleaned out. With the simple modifications, you’d estimate it to be about a seven bit job.
“Twelve bits.”
She floats out twelve bits with her magic. “Worth every one. And a little something extra for such an outstanding job,” she says, taking out a couple more bits and putting it on the table. Before you can object, she takes the sewing machine and begins out the door. “I shall be seeing you at the party tonight, yes?”
“I, um... yeah.”
“Marvelous. I’ll be sure to come back if there is anything else. Ta ta!”
She closes the door behind her as you look at the pile of bits she left. That was another thing about this town. The ponies don’t question the inflated prices you give them. They don’t haggle or complain. They just happily pay, even trying to give you more.
“What a flank-backwards town...” you mumble to yourself.
===
“SURPRISE!” everypony shouted, jumping out of their hiding places. That will never not give you a heart attack.
“You’re here! You’re here!” the ever excitable Pinkie Pie happily exclaims as she bounces to over to you by the snack table. You munch on a piece of cake as she jumps up and down. Suddenly, she stops and faces the crowd.
“Everypony! The guest of honor has something he’d like to say!”
You did not plan this. The population of the party turns toward you. Some customers of yours are smiling. Some have the look of doubt you’ve seen many times before. A few barely know what is going on. Still, in some manner, large or small, there is hope glimmering in their eyes and you know what they want to hear. You put down your cake and clear your throat.
“Well then. Third time’s the charm, huh?” you say, getting a couple laughs from the crowd. You take a deep breath.
“I’m sorry.”
Some start clapping and some start cheering.
“Yeah! Wooho-!”
“Shut up, I’m not done.” Surprisingly, this got a few more chuckles before they begin to quiet down. You start again.
“I’m sorry for yelling at you all. For telling you all off. And I’d like to thank you all for welcoming me to your town.”
Silence.
“I’m done.”
They begin clapping and cheering once more.
===
As the party officially starts, there are a bunch of ponies lined up to meet you. They start asking questions about where you were from. They seem a little off put at first hearing you are from Clopton. As you knew, the place has made quite the name for itself. Still, they ask more curious questions and you answer.
“Did you ever get into a knife fight?”
“I’ve been stabbed a couple times, and I’ve been in a couple hoof-fights, but I try to keep out of major conflict like that.”
“Have you ever done drugs?”
“No. There’s no faster way to lose bits.”
“Have you ever been arrested?”
“A couple times I’ve spent a night in the cell for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, but I haven’t done any real time.”
They quickly warm back up to you. You are actually having fun talking to them and learning a bit about everypony there. The music is pretty good and the snacks are incredible.
And then she shows up.
“Hey,” Rainbow Dash says.
“Hey.”
You both stand there. Awkward silence rolls in like fog. Not really knowing what else to say, you ask the first thing that comes to mind.
“Did you take down my fliers?”
She looks down. “Yeah...” She back looks up and shrugs. “Clopton, huh?”
“Yep.”
She nods. “That explains a lot.”
You shrug as well and she laughs.
===
You had planned to leave early like last time to avoid the inevitable violence that breaks out at every other gathering you have attended. However, you are so busy chatting with Dash and the occasional fellow party goer, when you ask where everypony went you hear that the festivities are over. You are surprised that you didn’t hear anything from the police at all during the night.
After finally leaving, Dash had joins you in walking back to your house. She was telling you about more adventures she had gone on with her friends like that day before the second party.
“So let me get this straight...” you say. “Sleeping dragon was going to cover your town in smoke for a hundred years.”
“Uh huh!”
“Big thing. Claws bigger than a pony.”
“Yep!”
“And you kick it in the face?” you say, failing to contain laughter.
“Hey, we tried everything else. Reason, flattery, and... Pinkie Pie. What else was there?”
You shake your head chuckling. “You wouldn’t last two minutes in Clopton, Dash.”
“I could make it in Clopton, I bet.”
“Trust me, you don’t even want to try.”
“Why not?”
“Because I came from there.”
“You’re not so bad,” she says, ruffling your mane with a hoof. She pauses and then adds, “Eventually.”
You straighten your mane as you open the door to your house. Expectedly, Rainbow Dash follows you inside. Going to the kitchen, you pick up an apple from the basket Apple-something (dang it, you knew there was something you meant to do at that party) gave you.
“Whoa, where’d you get the apples?” Dash asks.
“Fixed farmer pony’s wagon for them.”
“Oh, Applejack’s?” That was her name. “She told me about that. How you apologized and did a great repair job.”
You nod in recollection.
“Then I mentioned it to Twilight when her clock broke. And Rarity. Really, everypony when they’d talk about something that was busted.”
You nod again for a couple seconds before the realization causes your brain to come to a complete stop as you nearly choke on your apple.
“You spread the word about my business? Why? I thought you took down my fliers to keep me from getting customers.”
She reaches a hoof around to the back of her head. “Well... I kind of felt a little bad for that.” She looks at you. “But, we’re cool now, right?”
This bugs you. Why? She hated you before and that was that. When somepony hates you in Clopton, they don't pull strings or do favors for you behind your back. Well, maybe they did ‘favors,’ but not like this.
While you sit blankly, you realize that she’s probably waiting for an answer.
“Yeah. We’re cool.” She smiles. The shiver ran down your spine.
“Well, I’d better get home. I have to get up early for morning cloud clearing,” Dash says as she walks out the door. “See you tomorrow?”
“Yeah. See you tomorrow.” She turns and leaves. You can ask her about everything in the morning.
You finish your apple and throw it away. Yawning, you decide that it’d be a good idea to get some sleep as well. You take off your jacket and throw it into your room, getting comfortable. That thing itches sometimes when you have to wear for extended periods. Then you begin to the bathroom to brush your teeth. Suddenly, you hear the front door open again.
“Hey, there was something I forgot to mention-”
And she sees you. Naked. Scars on display.
You don’t like ponies to see your scars. To anypony looking, it would make you seem dangerous. Being dangerous was dangerous. Other ponies would think they need to attack first before you can do anything to them. They would do horrible things to try and keep you down or in fear. They’d strike you when and where you least expect. They’d take away whatever they could.
You try to cover yourself with your forelegs, but she comes towards you, a look of wonder on her face.
You back away into your bedroom, but Dash still walks towards you. You feel yourself back up against a wall. You simply sit there, waiting for whatever she’s going to say or do. She brings a hoof to one of the scars on your forelegs you’re holding up. Slowly, she rubs down the length of it.
“Cool...” you hear her mumble. Her face is beginning to smile.
She continues feeling around your forelegs. She closely inspects every inch, running her hoof over it again and again to see if they were real. She reaches up to your chest and inspects the area. You see her mouth out ‘Wow...’ as she looks. You let your forelegs fall to your sides as she rubs around your body, eventually leading up to the scar on your neck. She keeps a hoof on your chest as she looks closely. You can feel her breath blowing across the scar.
“That’s deep...” you hear her say. “What happened?”
You look at her. She has the biggest smile you’ve seen all night.
“Did you get in a big fight with some tough ponies? Was it a big job gone wrong? Were police involved?” She only seems to get more and more excited, seemingly oblivious to the questions she's asking.
The scar on your neck starts to burn. You instinctively bring your hoof up to rub it, but it meets with Dash’s. She doesn’t pull away. You rub her hoof as you would your scar if she wasn’t holding it. You are silent. Dash’s smile begins to fade. You both sit there for a while.
“I don’t like to talk about it...” you eventually say. She doesn’t seem to like that answer.
“Oh, come on!” she says, looking at you no less than a hair width away from your face. “I won’t tell if it’s something illegal.”
You remain silent. Her expression begins to turn into one of worry.
“Did you...” she begins, barely above a whisper. “Did you kill a pony?”
“Wha- no!” you exclaim. “It was...” You look deep into Dash’s magenta eyes. You can almost see yourself in them. How vulnerable you must look.
“... a friend.”
Dash let’s go and leans back, giving you space. “What?” she asks.
“It was... I...” You feel them coming. Tears. You remember the last time you cried, as much as you try to block the memory out. You shut your eyes tightly.
“It was just... he...” You try to organize your thoughts.
“What did he do?” she asks angrily. It was the tone of one looking for justification to track down a pony and inflict violence upon them. “What’s their name? Where are they?” she snarls.
“Gone,” you say. “Simply gone. So now it’s nothing.”
Dash stares at you before putting her forelegs around you. She pulls you close, pressing her chest against yours and leaning her head on your shoulder. You can feel her heartbeat. Like a blanket, she gives you warmth and comfort in her embrace. For a moment, you let her sit there before bringing your own forelegs up to wrap around her. When you do, she sighs deeply.
“It’s not nothing, is it?” she asks.
“What do you care?” you quietly retort. You really don’t want to talk about this. About him.
Letting go with one foreleg, she softly smacks the side of your head with her hoof. “I care.” She turns her head and you look into each other’s eyes. “How can you have been here that long and not realize that ponies can care about more than themselves? How Applejack would sell you apples? How Pinkie would throw you yet another party?”
She just hit you. She did that to anypony else from Clopton, she would have been left bleeding.
“He’s gone. Why should it matter?” you ask.
“Because it’s bugging you,” she says. You see her eyes slowly go wide in surprise. She brings her hoof up to your face, slowly passing under your eye, wiping away something small but wet. She brings her head up and looks at you, face to face, as close as you were before.
“I know how things with friends can bug you.”
You feel her breath wash over you as she speaks. There was just a lot of things you want at the moment. You want to stop talking about this. You want your jacket. You want Rainbow Dash to leave, but at the same time you want her to stay. You want to ask her what she means.
You slowly push her away. Enough so that you can get up. You walk over to where you tossed your jacket and put it back on, thankful to cover your scars again without a word from Dash. You decide the least painful course of action would be to get Dash out of here and sleep this off.
“I’ll tell you later,” you say. She is not happy about the response, but accepts this is the best she’ll get for now. “You came back for something?” you ask, remembering what she originally barged in on you for.
“Oh. Yeah.” She’s silent for a bit before walking towards the door. “I wanted to say thanks. For the party.”
She leaves the room. “Remember, I’ll see you tomorrow,” you call out behind her. You hear the front door open and close, then the faint sound of flapping wings.
You let out a deep sigh and simply flop yourself down on the bed as you are. Your body felt numb. You close your eyes and simply lay there until sleep comes to claim you.
Tonight, you dream...