//------------------------------// // Chapter Four- The Tumbleweed // Story: Manehattan Rose // by MLPxMaestro //------------------------------// Manehattan Rose: Chapter 4- The Tumbleweed: As I waved goodbye, leaving a tip as well for the pony cab driver, I then noticed that the place Roseluck seemed to enjoy so much was but a mere block and a half away. Hopefully she was not there yet, but as I approached closer and closer to the restaurant, she was in view, and still hadn’t seen me yet. That was then the first time I had ever lost to a pony in my own little personal competition of who was faster. “Darn, ponies one, humans zero,” I thought to myself, figuring I might as well reveal myself into view for her to see me. I was then a mere several meters away from her standing outside of the restaurant, when she finally turned the other way and noticed me. She gasped, as a smile then formed on her face. “You’re here! This is going to be so great!” she exclaimed happily hugging me, as I had to kneel down to get to her level to receive the hug. “What’s the name of this place?” “It’s called the Tumbleweed, but the name doesn’t mean that it is an uncouth place for everyone, or everypony in my case, to simply enjoy themselves,” Roseluck answers. “So it’s like a Logan’s Roadhouse, except the peanut shells everywhere on the floor and stuff are gone?” “What is Logan’s Roadhouse?” she wondered. “Oh, right…you aren’t fond of that stuff well enough yet,” I scratched my head looking off with my eyes to a different target than her face. “Well it was a popular western style restaurant that had amazing food, mainly for their steak dinners,” I added. “Steak? We never had steak in Equestria, though I believe some of the griffons were more into that meat thing than we were. The closest thing we ponies ever ate to meat was probably eggs or something along those lines,” said Roseluck. We carried on into our conversation with each other, until Roseluck froze and noticed her sister making her way across the street over to them. “Yoo-hoo!” she waved. “Sorry I’m late though, I could have been better on my time, but the traffic is just terrible,” Lily adds, until she finally noticed that I was with Roseluck. “Is this the guy you told me ab- oof!” I saw Lily get elbowed by her sister in the side for some reason, figuring that maybe it was just sisterly play stuff. “So, shall we all head inside? I insist, as I then open the door for both of them to head in first. “Never met a human like you, he’s got manners too Rosy,” Lily giggled, as she teasingly looked over to her sister, then back to me with a smile. “Do you always have to embarrass me like this Lily?” “No…but I get a kick out of messing with you sis,” she replied. As the three of us approached where the hostess was, I was again surprised to see a pony being the one to seat us from the looks of it. Goodness, has this formerly dominated city by human been diminished down to the ponies being the majority by chance? They had certainly flooded a large portion of the northeastern region of the country. As well they were flourishing on the west coast, and even the southern states. Most of the ponies however seemed to enjoy urban areas with a touch of rural, which was how Ponyville was. Not all ponies preferred that, but it’s just what I knew about some of theirs tastes and such. “Good evening y’all, how many of ya?” a cute sounding pony spoke up with a smile on her face. “Three, counting two of the ponies below me,” I replied with a little smile creeping onto my face from that adorable face of hers. “Oh, well I see then,” she said, as she panned further down on the waiting list, which from the looks of it would be a while before we were seated. “How about this…a little incentive perhaps? These two ponies with me don’t deserve this,” I said, as I then snuck a five-dollar bill from my wallet, and conservatively slid it towards her. She then quickly covers it up with her hoof, and put it into one of her uniform pockets. “Well then, looks like to me the wait will be just a few minutes from now,” she smiled back to me, as I noticed her scribble my party of three, counting me, close to the top of the waiting list. As we all took a seat, all the little western accents and small lights that dimly lit its entire interior intrigued me. I saw what appeared to be an animated neon sign from what appeared to be a tumbleweed, what a surprise, judging by this restaurant’s name. “So what do you think Matthew?” Roseluck asked me, as she seemed to keep deathly quiet until then. Her sister, Lily, was paying attention to some other pony that seemed to look familiar to her. “This place does remind me of some of the cool places to eat where I lived previously,” I replied. “This resembles an awful lot like a steakhouse of sorts,” I added. “Hopefully those steakhouses don’t eat us right?” Roseluck jokingly replied, as we both caught ourselves laughing along with each other at her comical remark. “No I mean I’m serious though, you humans don’t eat us, right?” I immediately straightened up, but still couldn’t believe she would ask such a thing to me though? “You’re kidding right? You actually think we’d do such an insane thing like that? Oh heck no, when we eat meat, we eat cow, chicken, fish, pork, and even goat sometimes,” I replied, assuring her no ponies would ever be harmed in the cooking of any steakhouse anywhere to be found. I then seemed to not catch myself as I said that, when I placed a hand on top of her mane, stroking it back, and then pulling away after knowing what I just did. I just pet a pony for the first time, holy crap it felt so soft! “Uh, what was that for?” she wondered, after placing a hoof on her mane wondering why I really did that. “I’m sorry, I just wondered what a pony’s mane felt like is all,” I answered, feeling awkward with saying such a thing. Ponies seemed to be more naturally happy and friendly in general, since they had such great families and friends that were within their lives in Equestria. That country of theirs was ten times better than this country, we were still in shambles economically, and I knew for a fact we wouldn’t recover from it. We owed too much money to other countries to even bother anymore to be honest. “Oh…well that’s okay then if that was all. I’ve actually never felt my mane be touched like that ever myself, so it was a first time for both of us I suppose. Good thing your hands weren’t like sandpaper or something,” she giggled back to me. “Heh, yeah, I don’t have the smoothest hands, but I’m thankful they’re not sandpaper hands,” I added onto her good sense of humor. Lily then butted in as we kept talking, and elbowed Rose to get her attention silently. “Psst, hey Rose, does that guy look familiar to you over there?” Lily asked her. When Roseluck was pointed over to a certain stallion in the corner, her eyes shot wide open, as she then immediately looked away. “Y-yeah…oh gosh…I thought he was still living in Equestria, that jerk,” Roseluck said, looking off with a face of disdain about the stallion. “Hey, what are you two mumbling about over here?” I wonder. “See that stallion over there?” Lily points to me. “Yeah? He’s got a hat over his face, like he’s taking a little power snooze or something?” “Yeah, that’s one of Roseluck’s former jerk friends,” she said. “Well then…do you think we need to get out of here then?” I asked Roseluck. “No, it’s fine, as long as he does not get near me I’ll be fine,” the way she spoke sounded like she had some pretty bad stuff happen to her from that guy, but it wasn’t really my business to talk about it with her anyway. The adorable hostess pony, having a bit of country twang in her accent then approaches us with a beaming smile. “Right this way the three of y’all!” - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - * * * - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - “Here are the three of you fine guests a menu, shall we start y’all off with something to drink?” The pony then brings out a pencil and paper. “I’ll just have a water, no lemon,” I reply. “I’ll have a water as well,” Roseluck added. “Eh…okay yeah, a water for me too,” Lily spoke up. “Sounds might fine to me! I’ll get’em right out to you fine folks here in just a second,” the earth pony with that adorable country accent then set off to get our drinks thereafter. Silence fell between the three of us, as we seemed surprisingly focused on what we were going to be eating that evening. Even when the waitress gave us our drinks, we merely smiled and said a ‘thank you’ back to her, and that was it. I decided to then break the silence with a curious question, as it would continue to eat away at me until I finally found out what the answer was. “So who was that pony exactly? What did he do to you, if you don’t mind me asking?” “He wanted to get inside of her let’s just say,” Lily replied in an awfully blunt way, making Rose feel pretty embarrassed now. “Lily! Why did you…couldn’t you have said it a different way?” Rose said back to her a little frustrated. “What? I’m sorry, it was the first thing that came to my head okay?” Lily then looked back towards me, but Roseluck herself then interrupted her sister. “He used me, and he figured fluffing me up, or making me feel good all the time would mean I would be going all the way with him. At first, we were…friends with benefits you could say,” Roseluck said, as she was feeling too awkward to give me any eye contact of any kind. “Hey, I’m listening to you here okay? It’s not like I’ll use this stuff against you or something?” I replied to her, letting her know I had her back. “Yeah, thanks I suppose…but he was sort of a user too,” she added. “Man, this guy was a jerk of a friend,” I said. “You don’t say? After I told you a little bit ago he was a jerk friend, I figured the word jerk would have sealed it right there,” said Lily. Roseluck then snapped back at her sister for being rude from her view. “Lily! He’s my friend here don’t be mean to him. He’s a sweet guy, and he’s my one and only well…human friend out there,” Roseluck stated firmly to her sister, causing Lily to back down as be laid back now. “I’m sorry, I’ll be normal now…and normal is no fun,” Lily pouted, making me chuckle a bit at the expression on her face. “What?” she looked back at me after chuckling at her for a moment then. “I’m sorry, but I just have to say you ponies are really something I say, hah!” “Well it’s not my fault Rose here wants me to be normal…normal is boring sis, come on now?” “There’s definitely a difference between normal and being a little on the blunt side,” Rose replied straightforward to her sister. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - * * * - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - After we placed our orders as the waitress came back with our drinks, we placed our orders with her, which was now about a good fifteen minutes ago or so. A unicorn levitating the hot dishes then accompanied the waitress, so it wouldn’t burn the earth pony’s back or head when she was balancing them towards us. “Okay now y’all, who had the tenderloin with mashed potatoes and green beans?” the earth pony waitress asked. All of the ponies at that table then immediately looked over to me, realizing I was the only meat eater between all five of us at that table. “Of course it’s you good lookin, my mistake!” She giggled a bit, before placing the mouth-watering dish in front of me. After the other two got theirs, she waitress then patiently waits next to me, asking me to cut open my steak, and check if it was just the way I wanted it to be. “Yeah, it looks perfect? Medium well, just how I like it, thank you!” I smiled back to her, eagerly awaiting the succulent beef, along with the mashed potatoes made to perfection. The green beans along with it were steamed in an excellent fashion, just how I liked them. “Well no need to thank me doll, it was our fine chefs we have in the back, who are human, so they obviously know way more about steak than we ponies do,” she giggled to me once more, making Roseluck wonder about her. “Hope y’all enjoy your meals now! We also have karaoke in just a few minutes up on that stage over yonder, but you just let me know if y’all need anything…or anything else,” she added, looking back at me just before she makes her way back to the front of the restaurant. “She’s one of those ponies,” said Rose. “What do you mean by that?” I wonder. “I’ve noticed some ponies seem to have a thing for humans. At the same time though I could see why, I mean they’re more flexible than we are, more useful, taller, faster in some cases, and other stuff too,” replied Rose, before she than takes a bit of her appetizing southwestern salad. “Yeah, I also heard they were better in bed though rumor has it,” Lily laughed. “Lily! He’s right here you know!” I was beginning to feel pretty warm just as she said that, and I apparently ended up blushing like an idiot too. “They can pleasure better, less animal like, which is a plus also. They’re also-” Lily was then interrupted by Rose. “Lily, I’m telling you to stop this okay? Please can you do that for me? “Of course I can Roseluck, I love you, but I mean he is in fact that same age as you, so he’s a big boy,” Lily replied. Roseluck then silently looked over at me after what she said just then. “Are you okay with stuff like this? I’m really sorry she’s beign like this. I guess it’s just because you’re the first human I’ve ever been friends with I guess,” said Rose looking off, and then elbowing her sister to shape up out of good faith for her. “Actually, that is exactly the reason Rose…you’re right, I’ll stop now…sorry Matthew,” Lily smiled, as she now realized she was only making herself look bad in front of the both of us, and even her own self. “Thank you Lily, that’s mature of you to do so,” I answer back to her, still managing to smile a bit back at her for some reason. I suppose it was just something in a pony’s nature that made me just felt happy inside. Just looking at them, how they acted, how they did things in different ways than we humans did, it has always seemed to interest me.