Washed Away

by lyra_lover777

Shacks and Stacks

Decadent's eyes spun in her head as she tried to take in everything. A lettuce-wrap vendor, the cart painted the most vibrant pink. A stop sign, a untarnished red. An advertisement board, light blue and shocking yellow.

Decadent's nose was filled to the brim with new smells. Sweet-smelling cooked banana, a rosy smell emitting from a bush of roses. And a clean smell coming from a small robot cleaning the streets, a trail of light pink bubbles in its wake. A young filly, probably born here, pops a bubble, shouting in glee.

Decadent's ears were over-flowing with sounds. The light chirping of small song birds, a quartet on the street corner humming a light tune, and wind chimes placed randomly over the city chiming their own beautiful music.

Decadent's skin was overcome with sensations. The feeling of clean, crisp air softly blowing through her mane and across her coat. The feeling of amiable passerby rubbing against her softly as she waded through the crowd, right behind the unicorn leading them. The feeling as one of the pink bubbles from the robot bursts against her coat.

Decadent's tongue was soon on overload as the unicorn guide stopped at a street vendor, buying both of them lettuce wraps. Decadent could taste the tangy sauce over the crisp carrot, the sweet taste of the pineapple, and the crisp, refreshing yet bland flavor of the lettuce.

Decadent sighed as she swallowed her last bite of lettuce wrap. Storm Striker seemed to also be in a euphoric state, smiling a she stared up at the beautiful blue sky.

How did they get the sky so blue here if the sky was so gray in the Shanty? thought Decadent as she continued to soak in the city.

Suddenly the euphoric state fled from her mind as she was reminded of what had just happened.

Firetta and New, left behind. Her family, left behind. All without a goodbye. The only pony she knew here was Storm, and he barely qualified as an acquaintance.

Decadent sagged a bit as she followed the their guide through the sea of pastel colored ponies. They all seemed so happy, almost too happy...

Suddenly she was thrown from her mind when she bumped into Storm, who had stopped. The unicorn had also stopped, pointing excitedly at the building in front of them.

The slender silver building was a little over three stories, probably ten floors sandwiched between its walls. A small gold plaque on the side of the building, in front of a giant set of blue glass doors, read "Sparkle Building."

The pair followed the hyper unicorn into the inside of the "Sparkle Building."

The walls were painted a light lavender, which felt homey and comforting. Small pink starbursts covered the wall also. A pink chandelier, each glass candle holder a small star, hung from the ceiling, sparkling from the light seeping in through the windows and glass door.

The unicorn, who revealed her name to be Dusty Bolts, lead them up purple tiled steps. Decadent's hooves hit the tile with a click clack, click clack.

Dusty explained that they called these buildings Stacks, or apartments.

When they reached the fifth floor, Dusty lead them to a huge window. The view showed a small pool and a small lawn where fillies and colts cantered around, laughing and screaming in joy.

Behind the pool, a wall of buildings grew up to the sky. There was also many yards and pools behind the buildings next to them.

Dusty pointed out the names of the surrounding buildings. The Celestial Building, the AJ Building, the Flutters Building, the Lyra Building, the Lunar Building, and finally the Chrysalis Building. Many of those names sounded a bit familiar, as if she had heard them in a lecture or something in school.

Dusty lead them up another floor before dropping Storm off at Room 657, 6th Floor, Sparkle Building. At least that's what it said on the plaque outside his room.

After ten minutes, Dusty emerged from the room after showing Storm how to work the room. As she closed the door, Decadent could see Storm laying back on the bed, already sleeping.

They went up another floor. They trotted down a small hallway, lit by pink star scone lights. They stopped at Room 777. Dusty unlocked the door, her smile stretching her face like a giant sparkling white snake.

Decadent gasped as she trotted into her room. Storm's had been different then this.

Decadent collapsed on the bed, looking around at the beautiful room around her. Te bed was extra squishy, exactly the way she liked it.

The walls of the room were a light coral, Decadent's favorite color. Rows and rows of books lined the walls. One of her best kept secrets was that she loved to read, and even had found a few of the only remaining books outside in the streets of the Shanty. Most books had been destroyed or ripped apart long ago, but the small crate of books she had found had been read millions of times over. She had memorized half the sentences in every book, even though most of them were boring and about mining or lumber.

But to see this library, as her own,. made her squeal in delight.

She learned from Dusty that each pony's room was designed to match their needs and wants. It was specialized, and the the second a pony stepped into a new room such as this one, it reformed to their personality and likes.

As Decadent leaned back into the pillows, looking at the stainless-steel kitchen in one corner of the apartment, Dusty told her something.

"I will be back in an hour to pick you up for some basic tests, nothing crazy. Bye!" Dusty then proceeded to slam the door shut. The image of her crazy smile was plastered behind Decadent's eyes as she picked up a book from the shelf on orchard-growing.

There was no reason to worry. After all, it was just some simple tests, right?

===

Firetta flapped slowly over to the shack, beads of sweat forming on her brow. New was crouched behind a bush several feet away, a slingshot he had thrown together clenched between his teeth, loaded with a small rock.

Firetta reached the door and tapped her hoof against the door softly, cringing at the sound. They were desperate, hungry and lost, and this was the only possible way they would live through the night. Sure, they had lost the Society ponies, but they could hear timberwolves starting to howl at the moon.

The door slowly creaked open. Firetta bit her bottom lip, scared of what lurked inside.

So she was relieved when an old, brown stallion answered the door, a kind smile plastered to his face.

He kindly invited them both in, his last few strands of mane bobbing up and down as he nodded to their question of food and shelter.

New and Firetta sighed as they thanked him. They both curled up beside a fireplace where a small fire was burning. The heat hit their coats, warming them quite nicely.

The old stallion sat down in a rickety rocking chair. He introduced himself to be Bubbly Wine, hence his cutie mark of and overflowing bottle of wine.

He came back, his rusted black glasses shining in the firelight as he handed them daisy sandwiches while he cracked open a bottle of wine, taking a large gulp.

Just like my mother, having a cutie mark of alcohol and always drinking thought Firetta. But she couldn't critise, he had just probably saved them from being timberwolf meat.

Firetta and New had heavy eyes, and were soon curled up next to each other, falling asleep.

That feeling of her heart beating faster returned as she looked at New, who had fallen asleep and was snoozing softly, a small smile on his muzzle.

She just wanted nothing more than to smash her lips against his.

This time, though, the feeling did not flutter away after a minute or so. This time it stuck. Firetta curled up tighter, snuggling into New's side, fully enjoying the moment.

Author's Note:

Sorry that this took so long, just very busy. Hope you enjoyed this!

Comments

[Flapjaw]

Hmm… I think I'll give my review as a PM. My thoughts on this are complicated, and there's no reason to make them public.

[Robipony]

Sorry that I haven't reviewed this chapter yet. Things have been busy. I will try to do a review for you soon.

[Robipony]

Washed Away review
Chapter 04 Shacks and Stacks
WARNING! THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!
Grammar: 9/10
I only noticed two grammar issues in your story. I will try to send you a message showing them so you may address them quietly.
Pros:
1. I like that when creating the buildings you only used a few members of the Mane Six and reframed from doing all of them. Just because that idea has been used way too much in other stories. It is also interesting that you picked Chrysalis to have her own building.
2. The world you have made within the Society has some great details. Smells, tastes and great imagery for the reader to think about. You also elaborated on Decadent’s character making her more interesting. Before this I thought of her being an awful lot like Rarity and now I can’t be sure whither to stick with that notion or if she is also like Twilight (perhaps it will be revealed that either Rarity or Twilight were one of her ancestors).
3. The scene with Firetta and New is also very well done. The atmosphere of them being outside is established pretty well and you actually worry about what they may find inside the shack.
Cons:
1. I think there could have been more details on Storm. So far it has been very lacking in information on him. We know he is a male pony that is pretty much it. We still don’t know his back story or what his desires are and I think this could have been a great time to do it.
2. I am a little puzzled as to why the pony New and Firetta met is a drinker. The only reason I have an issue with this is that it sounds like this area outside of the Shanty is very dangerous, so drinking could be a liability. Of course you could end up proving me wrong in a later chapter.
3. Personally I think the part of the story when New and Firetta inside the shack could have been a bit better. I am certain you could have provided a few more details inside the shack or given a reason for the lack of details, like perhaps the shack is still a little dark inside despite there being firelight.
Personal thoughts:
I am actually going to have to send you a PM on my personal thoughts because they may contain spoiler subject matter.