• Published 1st Mar 2014
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Ostinato - bobthedalek



Ostinato was sure his life would change completely if he went to live in Colton-on-Sea. He certainly wasn't wrong there...

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The Flight of Tonnage

Following his incident at the opera house the previous week, Ostin had found himself confined to the house by Sandy. As much as he did find her sense of care for him a nice change from the attitude his uncle would have taken to the nasty bump on the nose he’d gained, he did feel like she was taking this a tad too far, especially since the only indication that he’d hurt himself was the tiniest of red marks on the end of his nuzzle.

Ostin gingerly made his way down the first flight of stairs from his bedroom. Dressed in his blue striped pyjamas, he’d taken extra care to tie the cord of the fluffy brown dressing gown he wore over the top of them, making sure that there was nothing that could trip or slip him up as he made his descent. Stepping off of the final step and onto the carpet that lined the hallway, he made his way towards the next flight of stairs at the back of the house.

There were two doors on his left along the corridor. The nearest one towards the front of the house was the modestly sized bathroom, a novelty sign attached to the door declaring so, accompanied with a cartoon illustration of a rubber duck. The other door, further along, Ostin had been told was the entrance to Sandy’s study, where she went when she was wished to be able to type away a few paragraphs at her typewriter in peace. A large metal sign was affixed to the door at head height. It read “Keep quiet, or you’ll end up in my novel!” Ostin could only guess that this was directed towards Tonnage.

Looking at the grandfather clock that stood at the end of the hallway, he could see the time as half past ten. Sandy was normally in her study by this time. He gently knocked on the door, to which a frustrated sigh came as an initial reply. Ostin knew what kind of mood Sandy was in. She usually wrote a small half page narrative for the local Sunday newspaper every week, though this particular week she seemed to be having a severe case of writer’s block, and how much stress the situation was having on her was becoming more and more apparent.

“Come in” Sandy called out, sounding almost as if she was saying it through gritted teeth.

Opening the door to the study, Ostin could see Sandy hunched over her desk, violently tearing a sheet of paper out from the roller of her typewriter and scrunching it up, throwing it into a pile of rejected ideas that were overflowing from her waste paper bin. The study was not that much bigger than the smallest of walk in wardrobes, with no windows to let in any natural light, all the light in the room being supplied by a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Shelves lined as much of the wall space as possible, crammed with as many books, magazines and papers as they could hold.

“Oh, it’s you Ostin” Sandy rubbed her eyes as she yawned, trying to hide the obvious dark patches that showed she hadn’t slept “What do you want dear?”
“Well…” Ostin seemed quite nervous; though this was mainly caused he’d seen how Sandy had reacted when Tonnage interrupted her two days previously “…I was just wondering whether it would be possible to go out into town today. There’s so much of Colton-on-Sea that I’ve yet to explore. And technically, this is my day off from the Opera House”
Sandy yawned again “I still think it’d be best if you gave that bump of yours at least one day to go down. There’s still a little bit of redness to it”
“It’s just that I’m…” Ostin paused as he tried to think of the best words to use “…I’m just a bit sick and tired of being cooped up indoors actually…”
“You’re sick and tired?!” Sandy’s voice rose sharply, though she quickly stopped herself as she saw Ostin’s ears fold back in fear. She sighed “I’m sorry Ostin, it’s just I’m a little stressed out from my work. Come here”

Ostin walked towards Sandy as she slid off of her office chair, outstretching her forehooves and untying the cord on Ostin’s dressing gown before pulling it off, revealing his blue striped pyjamas underneath.

“Forehooves up” she said, to which Ostin complied.

She pulled his pyjama top off in one go over his head.

“Tonnage!” sandy bellowed as she grabbed Ostin with her forehooves, cradling him as she used her magic to pull off his pyjama bottoms from his hind legs.

With a loud clatter of hooves, Tonnage appeared outside the doorway to the study. How quickly he appeared made it obvious he was trying to get back into Sandy’s good books for how he’d annoyed her the other day by interrupting her whilst she was trying to write. His imposing figure blocked out nearly all of the natural light shining in from the corridor into the tiny study.

“Here!” Sandy tossed Ostin with her magic towards Tonnage, who surprisingly caught him with his own forehooves and clung to Ostin rather tightly. Sandy continued, a forced smile indicating she was almost at her wits end “Now I’ve got far too much work to do, so you two will have to find some way to entertain yourselves for today. And if either one of you dares to disturb me…”

Sandy slammed the door to the study shut, the metal warning sign hanging on the front rattling slightly as it settled back into place.

A few seconds of silence elapsed as both Ostin and Tonnage were stunned into shock. Tonnage suddenly came to realise just how tightly he was cradling Ostin in his forehooves, so he let go, letting him drop into a heap on the floor with a thump. Ostin picked himself up off of the floor as Tonnage walked to the staircase and started to make his way downstairs. Quickly, he began to walk after Tonnage, trying to keep up with the strides that the giant Pegasus seemed to be taking.

Now at the bottom of the stairs, Tonnage picked up that morning’s post that had just come through the letter box with his teeth.

“So…” Ostin perched his flank on a step three quarters of the way down the staircase “…do you have any plans for today?”

Turning round, Tonnage just looked upwards towards the roof, then back down to towards him. Ostin gathered that this was a signal to go back upstairs, and even if it wasn’t, Sandy had taken his pyjamas, so he had to get dressed before the cold morning air started to get to him.


Squirming and wriggling, Ostin managed to squeeze his head through the collar of a dark red tank top before rolling up his white shirt sleeves so that they came to just above his elbows. Taking another look into the mirror in his room he swished his mane over to the left side of his head, realising that he’d probably need to have it trimmed soon. One mighty knock came from behind the door to his bedroom.

“Come in” Ostin called.

The door flung open, revealing Tonnage stood on the small landing outside the door. He strode into the room. A small, battered tweed flat cap sat atop of his head, small portions of the top of his scrappy brown mane poking out from underneath, and a satchel that was clearly far to small for him hung from its shoulder strap around his neck, the edges of a small cylindrical container being visible from underneath the canvas it was made out of. To Ostin, all of Tonnage’s imposing nature seemed to have disappeared with his different attire. He found it too comical to contain himself. He burst out laughing, clutching his stomach and wiping the tears from his eyes at how funny he looked. It was only when he regained his composure that he saw Tonnage climbing out of the skylight above his bed onto the roof of the house!

“Err…Tonnage?” Ostin called after him, slightly concerned the window frame would break under his weight.

Ostin jumped onto his bed and stood on his hind legs, placing his forehooves on the bottom edge of the window frame. He craned his neck to look backwards at Tonnage, who was now halfway climbing up the roof slates towards the top. Tonnage simply looked back at Ostin, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

“Tonnage? Where are you going?” Ostin struggled, but eventually pulled himself up and over the window framed and out onto the roof tiles.

He froze in fear. It was only now that he was actually out on the roof that he realised how close the edge he was. Beyond the black drainpipes that skirted the roof he could see the patio in the back garden two floors down. The more he looked down at it, the more it seemed to stretch and appear further away. He felt like he was going to be sick. Tonnage leaned in and grabbed the scuff of Ostin’s tank top collar with his teeth, pulling him backwards and throwing him up and over onto his back. Instinctively, Ostin threw his forehooves around Tonnage’s neck, holding on tightly. After a few deep breaths and focusing on the roof tiles beneath Tonnage’s hooves, he regained his composure.

“Tonnage? What are you doing?” he asked.

Tonnage said nothing, but continued climbing till he was stood with his hooves straddling the roof of the house. Tonnage’s wings shot out to their full extent on both sides as he tensed in muscles, he seemed fixated on the chimney pots that belonged to the house at the end of the terrace.

Ostin suddenly realised what was going to happen “Oh no..”

With a smirk Tonnage launched into a sprint along the rooftops to towards the end of the terrace; gaining speed with every hoof step on every roofing slate. Ostin was now clinging on for dear life, Tonnage’s running motion being enough to almost shake him off and throw him from the roof. The end of the terrace approached nearer and nearer. Ostin had never experienced flying before; given how he’d never had a head for heights, his heart began to race. He couldn’t watch. He closed his eyes tight, buried his face into the back of Tonnage’s mane and clung on for dear life, trying not to focus on the sound of Tonnage galloping on the roof slates.

And then there was silence. Save for the sound of the wind whistling gently past Ostin’s ears.

Ostin still clung onto Tonnages neck, not daring to open his eyes. After a few moments however, the silence seemed almost unbearable, he wanted to know why the normal sounds of the Colton-on-Sea had died away so quickly. He opened his eyes, then shut them just as quickly. From the small glimpse he had taken, he’d gathered that Tonnage must be flying at least two hundred feet high in the air.

“Um…Tonnage, there’s something I should tell you” Ostin gulped, his eyes still shut tight “It’s just… I-I-I never did have a head for heights!”

Tonnage smirked, changing his angle of flight so that he nosedived downwards towards the roofs of the houses below. Ostin let out a scream of panic as they zoomed downwards, causing a couple of ponies in the street below to look up, though they were only just in time to see Tonnage levelling out and hovering in the air, along with Ostin’s scream subsiding. The reason why Tonnage had levelled out though was due to how tightly Ostin was now clinging to him. His forehooves that he had wrapped around Tonnage’s neck were constricting on his windpipe. Thankfully, stopping the dive meant that Ostin relaxed his tensed muscles.

“M-M-Maybe w-w-we could t-t-take things a l-little slower?” Although Ostin’s grip had slackened on Tonnage’s neck, he was clearly shaking with fear at the notion of being up in the air.

Tonnage swooped down lower, with a much gentler descent this time, turning back on himself to fly back down the street where he and Sandy lived. Gathering speed he whooshed through the tree lined street, the leaves rustling in the slip stream from his wings. He banked left sharply as they came to the end of the street, following the route of the tramway through the almost continuous streets of houses towards the town centre. Tonnage looked back over his shoulder, as much as he could tell he wouldn’t admit it, he could clearly see from the calm expression on Ostin’s face that he was starting to enjoy his first experience of flight.

Ostin’s eyes suddenly bulged in their sockets “TONNAGE, LOOK OUT!!!”

Tonnage looked back ahead of himself to see a double decker tramcar heading straight towards them. Taking evasive manoeuvres he quickly performed a barrel roll to the right, narrowly missing clipping his wing on the lower deck of the tramcar as he flew by, the angry ranting of the conductor on the back platform being quite audible as they went by. Tonnage looked back over his shoulder again at Ostin, who was now clinging tighter than ever to him, clearly terrified at their narrow escape, no matter how casually Tonnage was able to shrug it off.

Tonnage decided to gain more height, lifting him and Ostin out of the narrow streets and above the electricity cables that powered the trams. Most of Colton-on-Sea was visible below them now from way above the rooftops, from the bustling town centre outside the Opera House to the quiet, peaceful streets full of houses on the outskirts. Right up on the top of the hillside, overlooking the town, Ostin could just make out the shape of a large manor house, with many ornate towers and chimney pots sticking up from its vast roof in many places. The great, imposing, tall glass window of the central part of the house glistening in the sun.

Taking a right hand turn Tonnage started heading towards the promenade, following the tramlines that ran along the cobbled street lining the seafront. A wide variety of shops and stalls that were painted every colour of the rainbow passed by them on the left hand side, the majority of them were tourist shops selling novelty gifts and sticks of rock themed to Colton-on-Sea. On their opposite side, a beach of pure golden sand lead down to the deep blue sea that stretched off far into the horizon till it became one with the sky.

Coming closer towards them from the distance was the main pier that stretched out from the promenade into the sea. Two mighty pavilions stood atop its impressive structure of steel legs, one being used as the entrance to the pier, whilst the other was at the very end out at sea. An open walkway lined down the middle with benches connected the two. Gliding over the top of the pavilion out at sea both of them could just make out the light, cheery tones of organ music coming from inside the building.

With the sounds of the music quickly fading behind him, Ostin could now see the place Tonnage was heading to. Just a few yards down the coast next to the pier was another one, though this one had clearly been long abandoned in favour of the other one. Most of the pier itself had collapsed into the sea and been claimed as salvage, though the remains of the pavilion out at sea were still standing tall above the waves. The building itself was heavily boarded up, but the deck area around it was still accessible, though only to ponies with the ability of flight like Tonnage had.

Tonnage circled above the old pavilion to loose height before coming in to land. His hooves hitting the decking hard, he ran along to pier to gradually slow himself down. Ostin closed his eyes as he saw the unguarded end of the pier loom closer. He opened them as he felt Tonnage come to a halt to find that he’d stopped just inches from the end of the pier. Still slightly shaken from his first experience of flight, Ostin climbed down off of Tonnage’s back and practically hugged the floorboards beneath his hooves. He could have kissed them, but he felt that was going a little too far.

Taking a seat on the edge of the pier and letting his hind legs dangle over the edge, Tonnage took the satchel off from around neck and placed it down on the floor boards between him and Ostin, who was now taking up a position similar to his own. Using his giant wings he unclipped the cover flap of the bag and pulled it back, taking out a silver thermos flask contained within along with two large tin mugs. He unscrewed the lid of the flask, pouring its contents into the two mugs, the steam from the hot tea instantly rising into the cold morning sea air. Tonnage took his mug in his front hooves, staring out over the waves at the town back inland, not saying a word, but clearly deep in thought.

Ostin was quite surprised. Since he’d arrived in Colton-on-Sea he had quickly gotten the impression that Tonnage was a brute of a stallion who kept himself to himself, despite Sandy’s ramblings that he was just a big softie at heart. Here however, sat on the end of the ruined pier looking back towards land, he silently admitted that he had to agree with her. There was more to Tonnage than the impression he gave at first glance.

Ostin took the remaining mug and took a big slurp of the tea. Even though he’d only been drinking tea himself for a few months now, he was still able to taste the difference between tea that had been prepared in a cup and tea that had been prepared in a flask. Out of the two choices though, there was no doubt to Ostin that tea in a cup certainly had more taste to it. Rather than complaining though, he simply joined Tonnage in staring out from the pier back to land. The scene being totally silent, save for the sound of the waves crashing against metal pillars of the pier structure below.


Ostin yawned. He wasn’t exactly sure how much time had passed since he and Tonnage had initially sat down at the end of the pier, but he was able to gather that it must have been a good few hours. Normally, he would have been tired long ago by staring at the same scene for hour upon hour, but there was something different about this place. There was always something new to spot in the distance, and the scene was ever changing with the bustle of ponies walking up and down the promenade.

Looking down towards the metal mug in his hooves, Ostin took a final slurp of the little tea that remained at the bottom, spitting away the little leftover tea leaves that unfortunately came with it. Seeing that Tonnage had outstretched a hoof towards him, he handed the mug back to him so that it could go back into the satchel, which Tonnage then went to hang round his neck by the strap again.

Seeing this as a sign that it was time that they were going, Ostin rose to his feet, shaking his head in an attempt to clear it of all of the fresh sea air he’d inhaled over the past few hours. He climbed back up onto to Tonnage’s back, once again throwing his forehooves around his neck and burying his head in his mane so he didn’t have to watch the ground steadily getting further and further away during take off.

Although Tonnage had intended just to take off with a running jump as before, he decided to try something a little different this time. He took a very long walk off of the end of the short pier, flapping his wings to gain height just seconds before he was going to hit the water. Not for the first time today, Ostin’s screaming could be heard from quite a distance away.


Ostin climbed back down through the skylight back into his bedroom, Tonnage following shortly after, trying to be as quiet as possible so that Sandy wouldn’t know they’d both left the house. Looking in his full length mirror, Ostin could now see the wind rushing through his mane had made it rather puffy, as if he’d been using a hair dryer on it. He shook his head from side to side rapidly, resulting in his mane taking on its usual shape. Tonnage had taken off his flat cap and satchel, hanging them up on a coat hook behind the door of Ostin’s room. There was no doubt in his mind that if Sandy caught him wearing them she’d be able to put two and two together quite quickly.

Tonnage then grabbed Ostin with one of his wings, tucking him underneath it and carrying him down the stairs so that if any noise was made, it would only be one set of hoofsteps, not two. He put him down when reached the bottom of the stairs, walking over to the door of Sandy’s study. Curiously, Tonnage put one of his ears to the door, straining to hear if there was any sound of typing coming from behind it. Very quietly and gently, he took his ear away from the door and began to slowly turn the door handle open, pulling the door to the study open inch by inch.

And there was Sandy, fast asleep at her writing desk from fatigue, with her hoof still on her finished story that had clearly been thrust into the ‘out’ tray on her desk. Tonnage walked over to her, tapping her on the shoulder ever so lightly. Despite using hardly any force Sandy woke with a start, though she was still clearly groggy.

With a mighty yawn she stretched her forehooves out in front of herself “What time is it?”

Tonnage opened his mouth to speak, but Sandy answered her own question by picking up a small alarm clock in her hooves before he could speak. It was half past three.

Sandy leaned over in her chair to rest her tired head in Tonnage’s mane “So what have you two been up too whilst I’ve been cooped up in here?”

Tonnage said nothing. He just winked at Ostin.

Author's Note:

I had originally intended for this chapter to come along much later on, but I wanted something to help break up the whole 'Mixy meets Ostin' plot line, so it was brought forward. I'm also quite surprised I've managed to get away with Tonnage not uttering a single word yet!

And for those of you who are curious, yes the old abandoned pier is based on one in real life. It is based on the old West Pier in my old home town of Brighton, on the south coast of England. It resides practically next to the new East Pier, though nowadays it is a far worse condition than described above, mainly due to a fire a few years back that destroyed most of the decking and building work on it.