//------------------------------// // Another talk // Story: The Pink Haired Woman // by Seran //------------------------------// Fluttershy sat quietly on the couch as she watched John take inventory. He placed the gun under lock and key, and placed the metal case under the cushions later to be occupied by Fluttershy, as John ordered. On the table he placed several glasses, a liter of apple juice and a bottle of apple brandy labeled Applejack. John called them ‘the essentials.’ Fluttershy did not ask. He placed one glass in front of the patient woman and poured only the apple juice. In his glass he poured two-thirds apple juice and a third of Applejack. He took one large gulp and dropped down on the recliner, now positioned in front of the couch. After an alcohol induced hiss, he spoke. “So, where do you want to start?” he asked her. “My deadbeat father, my over-achieving brother, or my mother?” Intimidated by the sudden look of hatred in his eyes she curled herself up, hiding her face. “Ah… Your f- f- father.” She struggled to say. John looked at her cowering behind her legs. His head turned to the ground and, with a big sigh, he began the story. “My father met my mother in a border town in Mexico. He  was on a trip with his college buddies. She met him in the bar she worked in. She fell in love with him at first glance.” After taking a moment to fully recollect the story, he continued with an angry sigh. “He was just looking for thrills. So he seduced her and got her into bed, seeing as he was leaving the next day. He knocked her up and left her to fend for herself. Fortunately for her, he left his ID in the bar before they left. A few days later she tracked him down to a suburb in Beverly Hills. It took her a year to get a passport and finally find him.” “That… Sounds sweet.” Fluttershy commented. John looked at the ground with distaste as he took another sip. “It would have sounded like a romantic story, if it wasn’t for her finding out he didn’t want to see her or my new born brother. He rejected them and went on trying to live his womanizing life. So guess what she did. She took him to court. They ruled in favor of my mother. Their fathers heard of this and forced a marriage between them. “ He took another sip of his drink. “Grandpa was the only one with brains in that situation.” “But what happened afterwards?” “Hell broke loose,” he said with scorn to himself. “It took a year of the illusion of marriage to bring him to try to be happy with her. A year later I was born. My American grandfather was the only father figure I had. My father focused on Andrew for the next few years, seeing as he was the one who looked the most like him. My brother took his pale skin, brown hair, and height. I looked more like my mother, tan and short– just another Mexican to him. Grandpa died of a stroke when I was five and then my father went back to womanizing and abusing my mother.” Fluttershy gasped. “Abuse?” Her thoughts about his parents changed in an instant. She couldn’t  think of something that bad happening. “Not physical, at least not all the time. She fell into a depression as he told her he would go take care of Andrew, and she would take care of the other one.” John scoffed. “‘The other one’, can you believe that? His own son and he calls me the ‘other one.’ My mother couldn’t take it and went to live with her new friends. They took care of her.” Fluttershy could see John’s hands shaking as he continued to drink glass after glass. “My brother and I had different addresses.” John continued, “it was awkward going to the same school as we had to explain to our teachers we didn’t live together. I tried my hardest to do the best I could, to show my father I was good enough for him. But I could only get B’s while Andrew got A’s. I could never live up to him. I could only think of Andrew’s smug face as he learned that he was better than me in any and every way. After college, I joined the police force. There, I took pride with my combat abilities and passed with flying colors.” John sat still as he took another sip. Fluttershy felt as if John had fallen into a void of dark emotion. She tried to think of something to say, but with the stories he was telling she believed it wasn’t the best time for her to speak. She was frightened. John finally drew from his trance and continued. “I decided to call my brother to show off. He said he was accepted to a government job at the FBI. Always a one-up with him.” He slammed his glass down on the table. “All my life I wanted to be with him and he obviously thought I was too much of an uptight asshole to have my company. Now I know he is just better than me.” John teared up with an angry smile. “Not even surviving several shootouts and taking down the biggest drug den in the city was enough was enough for them, so I thought, ‘Fuck them, If you don’t appreciate me I will do my best with what I know, even If I have to kill people along the way.’” “K- kill?” Fluttershy stammered at the word. “You didn’t really kill ponies, did you?” “Ponies, no. Hardened criminals, yes.” He took a long sip this time. As he refilled his glass, he began to talk about his exploits in self-defense. “There was Enrique Ortega, a bank robber in 2005. He was armed to the teeth and shooting at all that came his way. It took a shot to the head to stop him. Received  a promotion afterwards.”  John took a deep breath and sighed as he continued to tell his story. “Then there was Andrew Craig, a white supremacist holding the immigration office hostage. One shot to the heart and he was stopped before detonating.” His expression dimmed as he went on. He was about to start on his next kill when a loud shriek came from the couch. “You monster! You monster,” Fluttershy cried in anger as she pounded her fists into the seat, “how could you take the life of another being. How could you…” Scream after scream, John continued to look unfazed at his drink. “You took the life of somepony who had dreams and aspirations, somepony who wanted to provide for their families and live long lives. And you boast about it! What kind of sick, depraved monster are you?” Fluttershy continued to berate him only stopping to take a breath. Her eyes were red with anger as she glared at him. John waited for a moment of silence to get his words in. “I wasn’t boasting.” He said with deep sadness in his heart. “I killed those people because they would have murdered more If they had the chance. I had to stop them. They weren’t in their right mind and were armed, I just wish I could have prevented more without having to kill. But that was impossible.” Tears began to fall from his eyes as he relived yet another kill. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ John ran down an alley to get to cover. As he called to his radio, he could hear gunshots coming closer to him. He crouched down, leaning onto a box when he heard some rustling behind him. He turned, expecting to see a cat but instead saw a mother with her two children cowering behind him. Signaling to them to stay quiet, he turned to see the barrel of a fully automatic rifle peering around the wall.  John acted quickly. He jumped out out of his cover he screamed at the top of his lungs as he got into a tussle with the criminal. John hoped to not get killed as he grabbed the barrel of the rifle tightly as it went off into the air and ground. As he heard the screams from the family, he took out his pistol and at blank range he fired a shot directly into the criminal’s skull. He fell to the ground and looked over to the family. One of the children lay on the ground in a pool of blood. The mother screamed to her child, crying for him to get back up. The screams cut deep into his mind as he watched the mother be pulled away from the child by the police. John’s partner took hold of of him and pulled him aside, however he could not hear them as ears rung and mind was occupied by the child in the alley. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “I, I just couldn’t save anyone,” John cried. “It was either him or me, no one else was supposed to get involved.” Fluttershy didn’t know how to respond. She was angry at him a minute ago, but now she felt great sympathy for him. She now realized he didn’t want to kill any one of them. From how he reacted, it didn’t seem like he had a choice. Her heart told her she had to console this man, to keep him from harming himself. She sat down next to the crying man, hesitantly embraced him, and softly placed his head hear her chest. She started to sing her song again as she rocked him back and forth like a child. John seemed to calm down a bit as he lifted his head straight. He looked into Fluttershy’s eyes, seeing the same blue eyes he fell in love with years ago. John had a few drinks in his mind as the voice in his head was drowned by thought telling him to move in. He followed through and leaned in with his eyes closed. With a successful kiss, he leaned back to see a shocked face. John sobered up quickly and fell into a state of embarrassment. As he tripped on his own words, his face reddened and ran off into his bedroom. He blocked the door with his body, heavily panting in shock. Slowly he slid to the ground with his hands gripped on his forehead Fluttershy sat in the living room shocked about what had just occurred. She looked at the hallway expecting to see John come back. He did not. She was left alone in the room with bottles of drink and a cloud of silent uneasiness.