//------------------------------// // chapter 3. Mr. Mccluskey // Story: Becoming Fluttershy // by Hope //------------------------------// Out of the five tickets I received, the first one who had asked for a morning appointment was a man named Nilo Mccluskey. His home happened to be in Truckee California. We take the appropriate exit before taking the small streets up to a hill where larger houses seem to preside, looking over the Truckee river below, and the majority of the city. We stop in front of one of the nicer homes. Two stories with a double garage and a shed that is about the size of my entire apartment. The driveway has strips of tile running across it, and the front doors are a pair of oak things with stained glass and a digital keypad style lock in addition to a deadbolt. All of that gives the impression of excess, and opulence. I'm normally pretty good at hiding my gripes with the rich, but my newfound reluctance to be seen by them is harder to overcome. "You know..." I point out the box we are going to need, but hesitate as he opens it to reveal a motherboard in it's shiny antistatic packaging. "You could probably fix it, I'm sure. That's just..." He sighs and shakes his head. "A motherboard. But just because I know what it is, doesn't mean I know how to replace one. You have to go in with me." My ears actually droop, and I pout in a futile attempt to get some amount of mercy from him, but it only takes a moment for him to take hold of my fluffy pink tail and give it a gentle tug. I hop out of the car and limply follow him. "Fine..." We walk up to the massive door and Julien raps his knuckles on it. I take to hovering a few feet off the ground so that I am eye level with the average person. The door opens and I put on my best customer service smile. “Hello Mr. Mccluskey, my name is Erica, I’m here to fix your computer.” The man looks at us with the ghost of a sneer, before closing the door. I descend to the ground, already feeling a bit sick. Julien knocks again, harder. A minute later a woman opens the door. Julien doesn't bother with a smile. “Hello, we are here to fix a computer," he states simply. The woman, who I assume is the customers wife, looks me over for a few moments before speaking. “Is that... what is that?” She asks curiously. “I’m a pony. Well, I am right now. I woke up as a pony, specifically a pegasus, this morning. But I still want to fix your computer! If that's okay.” I'm not meeting her eyes, and I'm still nervous, but after a bit she seems to have a revelation of some sort. “Oh! like on the news!” She says, a bit more collected. I immediately meet her gaze, ears tipped forward to catch every word. “What?” I ask breathlessly. “On the news, they were talking about some people becoming animals, but they were still able to talk and whatnot. Started a few days ago. Come on in!” She leaves the door open and turns to walk inside. I turn to my smirking roommate. Julien doesn't seem to even be sorry for keeping me in the dark, just amused. “We... We are going to have words.” I vaguely threaten him as he snickers, leading me into the house. I touch down once inside, landing on a plush carpet, and trot after him. As we head for the computer, Julien looks back at me with a smile. “Whatever you say, Fluttershy.” Once we reach the richly appointed office, I hover next to Julien's shoulder while directing him to turn the computer on, make sure that it really is a Motherboard failure, and then unplug everything. He has to clear piles of paper from the desk in order to have enough room to lay the computer out. Once he takes off the side it's just a matter of safely removing components. “So. Take out the RAM first. lay all the sticks over here. Then the video card and LAN card. Put them over here.” I explain. “Do I really have to put them where you usually put them? Its not like they will get lost.” As he puts the parts to the side I have to restrain myself from putting them back where I would normally place them, along the top of the desk near the monitor. But since the parts aren't touching and are still on the antistatic mat, I suppose it's not so critical. Just not really tidy. That part of my order of operations is something I've developed from years of computer repair. “I... but.... I suppose," I sigh. After a half hour of taking apart the computer and reassembling it, the computer turns on and gets right into windows without any problems. Thankfully, packing up my tools is a lot simpler and I'm able to help scoop them into the case as I hear someone approaching the office. “What is that thing doing in my house?” I turn around quickly, clutching my tools to my chest as though they could offer some protection, to see Mr. McCluskey pointing at me as he faces Julien, seeming to avoid looking at me at all. Normally I think I would be offended, but I can't even feel angry, just recoiling from him in fear. “She is the computer repair tech," Julien insists. "If you’d just watch the news, ordinary people have been starting to turn into Ponies." “Ordinary people, huh? I heard a bit of a different story.” The man moves threateningly towards us. “Sinners and those punished by god are the ones being changed, I’d say she probably deserves it. No better than an animal now.” He points to the door. “Get out. I’ll be calling the computer people about this, you can be sure.” Julien looks like he is about to shove a screwdriver through the man's head, but I just press my hooves against his back and we both stumble outside, just as the tears start to spill over my cheeks. I can hear the door behind me slam shut, and I try to scrub the tears away, but I'm not quick enough to prevent my cheeks from being matted wet. I collapse. I haven't cried like this since my first love left me. I’ve bottled up all this emotion, pain, and confusion for so long that I didn’t know what it felt like anymore, or how to deal with it. I cry for what seems like forever, Julien patting me on the head and I’m sure wondering what to do. All he has to do is be here. A friend in time of need. I cry until my breathing becomes ragged gasps and my eyes don’t have any more tears. Julien doesn’t tell me that it will all be ok, he doesn’t throw words at me to stop the flow of tears. I need this. I need to let out the bottled up pain and for that release I will grow. I grow every second of every day, each time I open my eyes I learn how wrong I was just a moment ago. I see the world in a new light and a new darkness. But in this moment of pain, too blinded by tears to be reflective or level headed, I feel as though I was all wrong. From here, the wrong side of that burning emotion, it's all I can see in the world. Humanity is not fueled by Misery. Mr. Mccluskey will angrily call the company I work for. His anger will get him free things and get him what he wants, making others suffer to make himself feel better. In a moment of darkness it feels like humanity must be fueled by Hate. How glad I am to not be one of them any longer.