//------------------------------// // Feeling Special // Story: Fall in Autumn // by Fall //------------------------------// Fall was lost in wonderment as she and the boys finished up their meals at the Golden Oat. Pint offered to clean up Fall’s napkins while her attention was fixated on the doll she had found at the bottom of the pink box. It was a little Breezie with bright, blue eyes, like hers, a gorgeous dress, and big wings in which made her think of what it must be like to fly. Bucky walked alongside Fall. “Ready for some ice cream?” he asked as he fluttered his wings in a gesture for her to climb onto his back. Pint stood alongside the chair Fall was in to make sure she wouldn’t accidentally crash to the floor. “Go ahead,” he encouraged. “We’ve got you.” “Okay,” said Fall in a far more audible tone than she had all day. She placed the Breezie doll in her mouth and carefully climbed atop Bucky’s back. “Hold on,” said Bucky as he made his way for the exit. Pint ran ahead and opened the door. “After you guys,” he said proudly. *** Fall’s eyes shined like the purest of deep sea waters upon entering and being sat in a chair within the Flip and Scoop. Her nose was stimulated by the scent of so many sweets. She couldn’t believe such a place existed. She also couldn’t believe all the fillies and colts with their parents who were sitting at the other tables enjoying foods she had never seen before in her life. “Here you go, Fall,” offered Pint as he raised an ice cream cone with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of it to her. Fall giggled as she gave her Breezie doll a hug and sat it alongside her at the table. “For me?” she asked cautiously. “Yep!” exclaimed Bucky. “It’s delicious!” Fall reached for the cone and brought the vanilla ice cream to her nose. She brought it so closely that a little of it touched upon her brown muzzle. It was cold but smelled great. “Give it a lick,” said Pint. Fall looked at the treat before her. This time she didn’t look around the room before enjoying herself. Instead she took a small lick at the vanilla ice cream, smiled, and then began taking progressively larger licks upon the frozen treat. Pint smiled as he watched Fall enjoy the ice cream he had purchased for her. SPLAT “Oh!” gasped Pint as his ice cream cone had already begun to melt and a chunk of it landed on his hoof. Bucky, who had a triple-scoop, rainbow cone laughed as he proclaimed, “Ice cream abuse!” Fall let out a sheepish laugh. She was beginning to feel a sort of connection with the boys. Like she had known them all her life. They made her feel safe and that was a feeling she often only felt when she was alone in the yard. To feel such a feeling with other ponies was certainly an experience in which was new to her. And she liked how it felt. *** The Flip and Scoop had a small arcade attached to it. Inside was a variety of pinball, skee-ball, and foosball machines along with a jukebox and two Ping-Pong tables. Fall was lost for words at all her senses were taking in. Very happy music was playing loudly from the jukebox as fillies and colts chattered and scurried between the various activities and tossing bits into little slots that made the various machines make all sorts of fun sounding noises. “What do you want to do first?” Pint asked Fall. Fall hugged her Breezie doll and smiled as she tilted her head. “I…,” she said. “Don’t know.” “How about some skee-ball?” suggested Bucky. “Uh,” Fall said while having no clue what that was. “Okay.” RUMBLE-TUMBLE-RUMBLE Pint put a bit into the coin slot in which caused the machine to launch five heavy, little balls down a small ramp. “It’s easy,” stated Bucky as he took a ball and rolled it up the ramp. KA-THUMP BA-DUMP “Ha!” teased Pint as he watched Bucky’s ball land in the ten point slot. “Watch a master!” KA-THUMP THUMP BA-DUMP “Lucky shot!” proclaimed Bucky as Pint’s ball landed in the thirty point slot. Pint handed a ball to Fall who was surprised at how heavy such a tiny ball could be. “Give it a try,” encouraged Pint. Fall looked to Pint and held the Breezie doll in front of him. “I can hold her for you,” said Fall upon taking good care in holding the toy. Fall looked down the ramp the ball was to go up. She then quickly turned to see that Pint was still beside her holding her Breezie. She did this a few more times. “Are you okay?” asked Bucky. “…yeah,” she said before rolling the ball up the ramp. FWOOM SKIP TIP-TICK THUMP-BA-DUMP “Wow!” awed Pint and Bucky as they watched Fall’s very gentle roll make it all the way to the fifty point slot. “Did I…” asked Fall while facing the boys. “Did I do good?” “You did great!” announced Bucky as he offered Fall another ball. “Let’s see that again!” Fall took the ball, smiled, gave a little laugh, checked to see that her Breezie was still in Pint’s hooves, and put a little more effort into her roll. This time landing in the twenty point slot. “Not bad,” said Bucky as he grabbed a ball. “But now it’s my turn.” *** The three spent over an hour in the arcade. During this time, Fall continued to open up and let her guard down as the boys introduced her to all the other games and even helped her pick a song out on the jukebox. *** After the arcade, Pint and Bucky took Fall to Putt-Putt Paradise. Fall was so excited when she got to pick her own ball and putter. She was even more excited to see, like everywhere else she went, other fillies and colts having a wonderful time with their friends as she had fun with hers. *** Pint noticed that Fall had become a lot more enthusiastic and cheerful as they taught her how to play miniature golf while sharing laughs at each other’s expense for bad hits or getting tripped up by one of the fun obstacles. The teasing was all between Pint and Bucky but Fall had her fair share of laughs at the boy’s expense. She also had no trouble in trusting Pint and even Bucky to hold her Breezie while she took her turns. *** The last stop in town they made was to the toy store. This was a place Fall never believed could exist. Dolls, games, and other objects of fun were everywhere! There were also many happy fillies and colts begging their parents to buy them things. Some giving in while others using kind words to tell them, “No.”. “See anything you like?” asked Pint. Fall clutched her Breezie toy in one hoof against her chest as she pointed towards a large, brightly colored faerie-like plush on the wall that had wings that looked like a big heart, the head of a pony, and the body of a caterpillar. “That’s Faerequine,” stated Bucky as he proudly admired the toy. “It’s one of the most awesome creatures you can play with in Backyard Brawlers.” “Backyard Brawlers?” asked Fall. The boys seemed surprised by the question but Bucky was more than happy to answer the question. “Backyard Brawlers,” he said. “Are magical creatures colts and fillies find and train to do tricks and compete against each other.” “Wow…” Fall thought aloud as she snuggled her Breezie doll and admired the plush Faerequine. “I wish I could play.” Bucky put his hoof around Fall’s back and proudly stated, “Stick with me, Fall, and you’ll be able to beat Pint just as I do on a daily basis in Backyard Brawlers.” Seeing how much the large, plush Faerequine meant to Fall made Pint want to buy it for her. Unfortunately he was about twenty bits short. “I’ll get that for you, Fall,” he said. “I just need to save up the bits.” “You’d?” she asked. “For me?” “Of course,” said Pint. “What are friends for?” Fall grew an ear-to-ear smile as she said, “Friends.” “Yep!” proclaimed Bucky. “Welcome to team awesome!” Fall felt tears well up in her eyes. But these weren’t tears of sorrow. They were tears of joy. “Are you okay?” asked Pint as he noticed a tear stream down her face. “I’m just…” she struggled to say. “So happy.” Pint felt his heart begin to beat faster as he heard Fall say this. The day may have cost him nearly every bit he had saved for months but it was all worth it. “Oh, man,” pouted Bucky. “The sun’s going down.” Pint and Fall both sighed as they knew what this meant. “I guess we should get you back,” he said. Bucky laid himself down on the floor so Fall could climb aboard. She did so only after having Pint hold her Breezie toy. She then eagerly took the doll back upon successfully boarding the yellow Pegasus. “Let’s go,” said Bucky. “Boy, oh, boy was this an awesome day.”