//------------------------------//
// 1- Loss is Overrated. 
// Story: Cout De Jumanji 
// by Flutters Is Shy 
//------------------------------//

She died later that year. My mom, that is. Some form of tuberous growth in her lungs. Dad was absolutely crushed by the whole set of events, and we ended up moving to Ponyville. Something about 'remembering where they met' or some bull manure. I was initially crushed as well, but that eventually gave way to a deep set numbness. Honestly, I wouldnt give this up for the world. Let others have their sorrow, their wailing and their damned tears. I was fine feeling nothing.

Ponyville had apparently changed since my parents youth, becoming more like manehatton than the peacefull little burg my dad says he remembered. 'Theres bigger buildings and more ponies' he'd often say. One of his favorite sayings. For me, it was just a reminder of what we left behind. The town had definitely gotten an overhaul from the few pictures my dad had shown me. Town hall was now a large, rectangular building, the largest in the city. Where once there were rows of personalized carts with thier venders selling their wares, there was now a flat wall of buildings, each store having its own little space. A place once known as "Sugarcube Corner" was now a booming buisiness with its own massive storefront. Dad took me there, got me a sweetroll. Nothing as good as I'd had from this little bakery in canterlot. Seems that with progress even food loses its taste.

A lot of the older buildings were in disrepair, simply abandoned due to costs or whatever. Why they simply didnt tear them down and build over them I didn't understand. I stood now outside of one such building, looking in and wondering at the mindset of the mare that used to run it. The Carousel Boutique. A clothing store, by what I could see through the shattered glass. My mom told me stories about who used to run it, before she died. The one whom I had gotten my namesake from, the bitch that had bailed on my mother and left her to die alone. I came here nearly every day to stew, and remember. A few ponies every once in a while asked me if I had any interest in fashion, to which I always responded with a definite no. Why the hell would I want anything to make me similar to her?

A deep 'thrub thrub thrub' of some sort of drum broke me out of my thoughts, and when I looked up at the sky it was almost dark. Dad was probably waiting for me with dinner on the table. It was one thing he still insisted on, that I always eat meals with him. I think he was more than just a little bit afraid of being alone. I didn't mind. It gave us time to talk, tell him how shitty my day was, ect. It usually centered around how they never replaced any of the tracks on any of the treadmills in the ponyville power plant, where I worked. They all had a bumpy texture to them, no matter which one I chose to run on. It was good honest work. Ponyville needed power to function at its peak, and somepony needed to provide it. There were about 150 runners, but I wasn't worried about losing my job, even though I was a unicorn. I got a little boost to my paycheck because I could turn a turbine and run at the same time. Thats one thing that apparently never really changed about Ponyville. The earth ponies outnumbered the other races 7 to 1.

The beat of the drum sounded again, and I could hear it coming from inside the boutique. Probably wannabe gangsters fooling around and using it as a hangout. Serves her right for abandoning us. I turned to leave, and the castle set in the middle of town caught my eye. Its crystal walls pitted with age and sapped of color, a deep crack running from the top of its crests all the way to the ground.

She was a bearer of Harmony. 

She didnt just abandon my family, she abandoned all of Equestria.

I turned my head, ignoring the hooligans shitty taste in music, and headed home.