//------------------------------// // Fries with that? // Story: Lemons // by P-Berry //------------------------------// "Do you want fries with that?" It was one of the last questions she thought she would ask in her new job. She had pictured it in her mind - more than once. If, thanks to some unexpected coincidence, she would ever end up leaving her parents' farm and move to the city, the first place she would visit would be a recruitment center. Certainly, the possibilities for a young mare like her were nearly endless, and she couldn't deny that she was eager to give them all a try, but the military had always been the easiest place for her to picture herself in the future. It had something fascinating to it for her - she couldn't put her finger on it, but the idea of being a part of this well-organized system; of slowly building her career and making her way up the chain of command ... it made her skin creep - in a good way. So, when she had arrived in Manehatten about a month ago, she hadn't hesitated a second to head to the nearest recruitment office and enlist for a job in the Equestrian army. "Hey. Hey, did you get that!?" the irritated voice interrupted her thoughts, making her head shoot up and let out a surprised "Huh?" "I said," the plump unicorn mare at the other side of the counter drawled, "I wanted the Triple Hayburger Deluxe. Extra tomatoes, extra mayo, extra cheese, extra ketchup, extra mustard, no pickles. You got that now?" Limestone Pie let out a sigh, closing her eyes and scratching the side of her head. "Triple Deluxe. Alright." "Extra tomatoes, extra mayo, extra cheese, extra ketchup, extra mustard, no pickles." the mare added slightly annoyed, "I tell you, I'll check." "Yeah, yeah." she sighed as she numbly hacked the order into the cash register in front of her. Her look fell onto the small alarm clock on the counter next to the register - closing time was only ten minutes away. "Do you want fries with that?" "You already asked me that once!" now the mare seemed legitimately angry, "Yeah, I want fries with that. Super-size. And a small diet coke. A meal, as I told you before." "Sure." she muttered, barely listening to what the customer had to say, "That'll be six bits, please." "Aww naw." the mare replied, shaking her head; her double chin swung lightly, "Aww hell naw! I paid five bits yesterday. You got something wrong." As if moving in slow-motion, Limestone lifted her head, making eye-contact with the mare. With clenched teeth, she explained, "Six bits is the standard price for a meal. I got everything right." "Naw." Again, the mare shook her head, "Naw, that can't be right. I wanna speak with the manager!" "It is right." Limestone hissed, biting her lip, "What is your problem?" "Hey! Hey you!" the mare shouted, addressing somepony who had just stepped from behind the counter. The white stallion in the white button-up shirt, seeming to notice that something was wrong, turned towards the two and came trotting into their direction with a sweet, friendly smile on his face. "Oh you son of a..." Limestone growled, but fell silent as the stallion stopped next to her and, addressing the mare said, "Yes, what can I do for you?" "She's wrong." the mare replied curtly, nodding her head into the direction of Limestone. The stallion cocked his head to the side. "Excuse me?" "She's tryin' to rip me off." the mare elaborated, "Tryin' to charge me six bits for a burger with fries and a coke." The manager gave her a blunt look for a moment, before the smile returned to his face and he said, "Yes. And ... where is the problem?" "I paid five bucks yesterday for the same meal. Right here." "I ... I'm afraid that can't be possible, ma'am." the manager explained apologetically, "You see, six bits is the standard price for a regular meal - and has always been." "Aww hell naw! I swear to Celestia I was here yesterday, and I got..." Drowning out the two ponies' argument in her mind, Limestone rested her head on the counter, drifting off. She pictured herself in a boot camp - being pushed to her very limits, and impressing her commanders with what she was capable of - despite her inconspicuous exterior. She saw herself in training - learning how to fight; how to defend herself, her comrades, and her country. She imagined herself in a military parade; marching alongside hundreds of other ponies in perfect harmony. A smile crept onto her face. And then, occasionally, she would return home for a few days. What would Ma and Pa say? What about Marble? How would they react to seeing their daughter and sister turned into a soldier - lined by years of training and fighting. "Miss Pie. Miss Pie!" once again, her daydreams were brought to an abrupt end as her manager had placed a hoof on her shoulder and had started shaking her. "Hmm...?" she muttered as she opened her eyes and reality overtook her again - accompanied by the all too familiar scent of sweat, grease and frying fat. She cringed and lowered her head, looking to the ground. "Look Miss Pie..." the white stallion began, giving her an encouraging, albeit slightly forced smile, "I have no doubt that you're trying your best, but your behavior towards our customers does leave a lot to be desired." Limestone left that uncommented. It wasn't her fault that she always got the most annoying customers! "Remember," the stallion started another attempt after a moment, "What is our number one goal here at Jolly Burgers?" She looked up at him, giving him a look that made it clear to what dimensions of hell she wanted to send him to right now. "Come on, Miss Pie, I'm sure you can do it!" he said encouragingly, "Show me your enthusiasm!" "...Bring our customers happiness and joy." she muttered under her breath, lowering her head again. "Louder, please!" he probed, bowing down to look her in the eyes, "You can't bring anyone joy like this!" She closed her eyes, letting out a growl. What idiot of a pony had invented this idiotic motto? This was just ridiculous! "I'm waiting, Miss Pie!" the stallion said with a grin, "Come on, show me that you're proud to be a member of the Jolly family!" She bit her lip, fighting with herself, but then let out a defeated sigh. There was no point in endangering her employment over something this petty. So she slowly raised her head again. Putting on the biggest, broadest and most ridiculous smile she could muster, she looked at her boss and said, "Here at Jolly Burgers our number one goal is to bring our customers happiness and joy." In an instant, the smile vanished from her face, and she was back to her old self again. "There." she said, taking off the wedge cap-like paper hat she had to wear during her shift, "I'm off duty now. Have a nice evening." she said, sarcastically, over her shoulder as she walked past the counter and out of the restaurant. The way home wasn't much more diverse, interesting or exciting than the way there had been - the same gray buildings, the same gray ponies, the same gray world. Whatever had driven her to ever find her family's rock farm monotonous or boring had now clearly been disabused. Sure, walking the ever-busy streets of Manehatten had been indescribably exciting for her when she had first gotten here. She had barely ever left the rock farm, and had never been in any city bigger than Ponyville, so seeing Manehatten with her own eyes for the first time had literally made her jaw drop. However, the bustling life in the city that never sleeps had quickly lost its allure to her. Not that she didn't enjoy other ponies' company -she did, really!- but having ponies around her, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; seeing them wherever she looked, hearing them, smelling them, feeling them wherever she went, and sharing literally every aspect of her life with them was something she had gotten fed up with rather quickly. Not to mention that her new job as a clerk at Jolly Burgers -one of the cheapest and, to put it nicely, most unambitious restaurants in all of Equestria- brought her into contact with some of the most, say, interesting figures the streets of Manehatten had brought out. By any and all means, she didn't regret her decision to leave her parents' farm and move to Manehatten -and even if she did, she would never admit it to herself- but sometimes, especially in moments like these, she caught herself thinking back to her home on the rock farm - of her room, her bed, and most importantly, her family. She let out a sigh as she stopped on the doorstep of the big apartment building. The facade had seen better times; the entrance door had several scratches and holes in it, and most of the mailboxes had been oversprayed with graffiti or demolished entirely - not like she was expecting any mail anyway. Shaking her head, she unlocked the door and stepped inside - the unpleasant smell of decaying trash and old urine made her cringe and suddenly miss the calm, quiet and above all pleasant-smelling rock farm all the more. Slowly, she made her way up the set of old wooden stairs, doing her best to ignore how her hooves stuck to the filthy ground, until she stopped in front of the single door on the third floor. When she had first moved in, seeing her name written on the nameplate next to the door had filled her with unreasonable amounts of pride - knowing that this was her place; her own realm, so to speak, filled her with a joy she hadn't known before. The thought of having a place to herself had filled her mind with new ideas - she could do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and nobody was going to complain. Leave the bathroom door open while taking a bath? Why not? Not do the dishes after every meal? Sure! Make herself some chocolate pudding at 4am? Who was going to stop her? A smile crept onto her face as she opened the door and stepped into her apartment. Yes, having a place all to herself sure was a nice thing. "Limey! Welcome back, girl!" That is, it would have been a nice thing. The smile fell from her face as her eyes met those of the light blue unicorn buck that came walking into the hallway from a door to Limestone's right. "Hey, Bright Bulb." she replied curtly, walking right past him and towards the door opposite to the entrance that would lead her to the kitchen. "Wazzuuup Limey, why you ignoring me?" the buck asked with a grin as he walked up to her and flung a hoof around her neck - much to Limestone's dislike. "I had a tough day." she informed him briefly and freed herself from his grip, shoving him away without turning her head, "And don't touch me." she hissed, "You know I hate that." "Wow..." he whistled as Limestone started walking again, "Why so cold-hearted, Limey? Don't you love me anymore?" She stopped dead in her tracks; her head shot around, shooting him a death-stare. "Don't. Call me. Limey." she said threateningly, "That's Limestone to you, and will always be." "Sure thing, Limey. Just let me know if you-" Bright Bulb wanted to say, but was cut short by a growl of anger coming from his roommate. "What. Did I tell you!?" Limestone, who had opened the kitchen door and stepped inside, now spun around, facing the buck with eyes wide in fury. "Oh that?" he said with an apologetic grin and walked up to her, stepping into the mess that had once been their apartment's shared kitchen. The countertops were covered in used dishes and leftovers; trash was spread out across the floor, and the sink -buried underneath a pile of even more used plates, cups and bowls- was barely visible. "Yeah, uh ... well..." "I told you to clean that up!" Limestone shouted, her wariness forgotten for the moment, "You're the one who caused it!" "Yeah, well," he said, cocking his head to the side in a reflective stance, "You know, I wanted to clean that up, but ... y'know, I didn't really feel like it. You dig?" "You didn't feel like it!?" Limestone raged; her face was starting to turn red, "For Pete's sake, you've been home all day, what in the world were you doing!?" Her roommate, unaffected by her anger, shrugged casually. "You know, chilling, playing some Call of Cutie, reading some books. Pretty exhausting day." Limestone just stared at him; eyes wide, muscles tensed, teeth clenched together. Words could not express her anger. "You ... you..." she growled, puffing up her cheeks, but then sighed. As much as she despised him sometimes, she couldn't live without him - quite literally, actually, seeing how he paid half the rent for their shared apartment, and Limestone knew she could consider herself lucky to have found a place this close to her workplace. With a defeated growl, Limestone shook her head, then fixed him with a stare that simply wouldn't allow any backtalk. "Get that cleaned up. Right. Now. I'll be in my room." "Aye aye, sir!" Bright Bulb replied, obeyingly, but slightly amused, and raised his hoof to the side of his head in a mock salute. Limestone couldn't hide the slightest flinch at the sight of the military greeting. Seeing this, knowing that she would never be a part of it, made her legitimately hurt. "Cut that out, asshole." she said coldly before turning around and walking back into the hallway, this time heading for the door that would lead to her room. "Aye aye." he replied with a light giggle, but Limestone just rolled her eyes. "By the way, before I forget..." he spoke up again, but Limestone didn't react, stopping in front of her door and unlocking it. "The mailmare brought a letter for you earlier this day." This made her hesitate; her ears perked up and she looked over her shoulder. "What?" "Eeyup." Bright Bulb said with a grin as his horn flared up and his magic picked up a white envelope from a counter in the kitchen. "Guess it might be from your family, looking at that beautiful handwriting." Feeling her heart sink, Limestone grabbed the envelope with her mouth and looked at it. Indeed, the handwriting looked like it was from her sister Marble. "Oh..." Limestone sighed, frowning "No..." "It is from your family, isn't it?" her roommate asked with a knowing grin. "I knew it." he paused for a moment, then added, "Hey," making Limestone look up at him and raise an eyebrow. "You never introduced me to your cute little sister." he said with a wink, "Is she hot?"