Of Moments and Melodies

by Church

Chapter VIII

When the lights go out
Will you take me with you
And carry all this broken bone
Through six years down in crowded rooms
And highways I call home?

The place that Fluttershy had described before? That place that was supposedly fairly similar to Ponyville? I was looking forward to getting there, ‘cuz I was so hungry and the town sounded nice. When I said that monsters might have lived there, I didn’t actually mean it... I was only being silly. But looking at this place, I was kind of, well, stunned. Because that little town with the neat little chimneys and the cozy little cottages?

This place wasn’t it.

“Fluttershy... I-I really think you should look at this...”

Fluttershy was busy keeping her head buried in her hooves. She was shaking all over the place, like she was trying to force herself to become hidden. “Oh, no, that’s okay. You can watch for me.”

I snapped out of my state of shock so that I could reach down and prod at Fluttershy, causing her to whimper in a funny way. She recoiled at my touch, as if my hooves were freezing cold. “Fluttershy...” I said in the softest tone I could manage, “There aren’t any monsters... it’s just... the town.”

Fluttershy dared to take a peek through her hooves, and she must have caught sight of the smoke. “Eep!” she squeaked out, immediately plugging the small peephole she had created. She tousled her mane so that it fully cloaked her face.

I nearly agreed with her, ‘cuz that’s what I wanted to do. But the truth was, I didn’t know how to react. This was a lot to take in. I did know one thing, though. This place was no longer a little village. It was a full on thriving, hustling, bustling city.

The little smokestacks on the houses had turned into humongous spires that rose into the sky and emitted thick, black steam that coated the air. The cottages themselves had transformed into spacious buildings that resembled warehouses, and they stretched on for miles and miles. Everything was brick piled upon brick. There were no longer any colors. The pavement and the roads were dreary and bleak, with the occasional light post that stood upright at every other street corner. Hundreds of ponies could be seen swarming the avenues, ponies of which I had never seen the likes of before. Their colors were drained from them, making them blend in perfectly to their surroundings. Wagons ferried those that weren’t walking around up the streets, and they looked as if they could hold at least six ponies per. I couldn’t see any diners at all, every building looked like it was built to manufacture blimps or harbor them even. All this could be seen from our small, insignificant, bright and sunny hillside.

“Yeah, I don’t know either...” I said to nopony in particular. I could feel Fluttershy’s tremors snaking through the dirt and up into my hooves. I tried to shake them off. “Welp. Time to go.”

I dropped my knapsack and squirt gun to the ground. Fluttershy yelped as I attempted to pull her to her hooves. She was very light, but she was also very slippery. I had to use both of my hooves to get a good grip on her, and I had to tug to get her up.

“B-b-b-but you saw the d-d-dragon s-smoke!” she said in exasperation as I continued to fight with her. “Why w-would you go in there!?”

I paused with a grimace on my face, my hooves still wrapped securely around Fluttershy’s body. I looked out at the towering pillars of smoke. “It isn’t dragon smoke. It’s coming from a factory or something.”

“A factory where they make d-dragons!?” Fluttershy cut in. She whipped opened her eyes, and they were narrowed in panic. She went stiff.

I sighed. “No, a factory where they make puppies.”

Fluttershy hung limp in my grasp. She had stopped squirming and just stared blankly out over cityscape. “Oh... really?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes. And they also make gummy bears and horses that have no name.”

“Horses?”

“Heck if I know.”

Fluttershy paused, and we shared a time of silence between the two of us. She then unbuckled my hooves from around her frame and took an uneasy step forward. She gulped and lifted her head high. “Okay... then let’s do it.”

Fluttershy began to trot away. I cocked my head to the side in confusion. “Fluttershy, I was being sarcas-”

Fluttershy turned back to look at me, her eyes pleading for more information.

“I mean, uh, let’s go!”

o----o

Fluttershy and I trotted down the hillside and into the city of St. Cloud. We were immediately swept away in the commotion of the ponies there, as they all swam through the crowd to wherever they were going, pushing and shoving each other, unlike anywhere else I’ve ever been. I kept a close watch on Fluttershy, as she was truly freaking out, and I had to pretty much hold her through the entire process. She stared down at the hooves of the denizens, apologizing to the pavement whenever she brushed up against somepony.

“Watch it!” One of them hollered, giving me a lasting stare before getting washed away in the crowd again. Me? What did I do? These ponies apparently had some nerve. Fluttershy only cringed as I held her. Everypony was giving me strange looks as I walked with Fluttershy up the street, clearing a way for her.

“Watch what!? You should be more specific!” I yelled back, very belated, which led to more strange looks. Shoot. I always come up with comebacks too late.

Fluttershy had her eyes shut tight again. I think the only thing that was getting her through the crowd was me being by her side, like I was giving her something to cling on to... both literally and mentally. I continued to weave my way through, just following wherever the crowd took me, ‘cuz I was much too weak to shove back.

“We need to find someplace to go,” I said to Fluttershy as we turned a corner, onto another street that looked about as same as the last. I tried to poke my head out over the much taller ponies of St. Cloud to no avail. “Be on the lookout for a diner... er... something.”

Fluttershy still had her eyes closed, but I at least gave her the proximity she needed. Everypony trotting up the street gave us weird looks as we went, sometimes trying to circle around us or making some room for us. I think that’s because they weren’t used to seeing foals around. Speaking of which, I didn’t even see any foals out. Nopony in this town looked as if they were even carrying any family with them, they were all just... alone.

As we turned another corner, things started to look more promising. There were a few signs up on some much smaller buildings, evidently belonging to stores and shops and maybe even restaurants. As we started to near one of the signs, I grabbed Fluttershy and flung her closer to me, if possible, and I darted toward it.

“Hold on!” I said as I carried her along. She squeaked out something that I couldn’t quite make out as I jubilantly hopped toward the sign, getting disturbed looks and unruly gestures from everypony as I crossed their path. In some instances, I was almost thrown to the ground by some of the ponies in a real hurry. But I never fell. We eventually made it over to a sign that said “The Dash’n Dine” without too much of a fuss, not for what I was expecting however.

“Okay...” I said, catching my breath, “Look, we’re here! Let’s get something to eat, I’m starved!”

Fluttershy dared to open her eyes to find that we were out of the main stream of traffic, and next to a brick wall that had the diner sign displayed on it. The front doors were a couple of yards to our left. I was growing eager, ‘cuz it was well past breakfast time, well into lunch by now, really. My tummy rumbled just for extra measure.

“Let’s go, c’mon!” I put a bright smile onto my face.

Fluttershy realized that she didn’t have much of a choice. Get trampled underhoof by the flock of unobservant ponies, or follow me into the “Dash’n Dine”. I turned around and waved my hoof forward, and she quickly decided to go with option two.

Fluttershy and I pushed our way through the double doors and into the diner. We were greeted by something not unlike the outside world, the inside was cold, unimpressive, and a bit of an eye-sore. Only difference here was, and this was strange, it was darker than it was outside. The lighting was so dim I could barely make out anypony sitting in the place. Fluttershy just blinked as she tried to adjust to the lighting... and the sudden shift in the beauty that we had seen just the night before.

A waitress in a dark grey coat (that I wasn’t so sure of, everything looked a dark grey) walked over to us, smiling a smile that looked as though it could dissipate at any given moment. She stopped in front of us and grabbed what looked like a menu.

“Just yourself today?” The waitress asked me, looking at me with hint of disdain.

“And my friend here,” I replied, putting my foreleg around Fluttershy’s neck. The waitress only took a slight glance at Fluttershy before she smiled awkwardly and turned around, grabbing another menu as she spun. It was apparent that we should follow.

She led us to a small booth at the other side of the diner and sat us down, placing the menu’s before us. I thanked her as she spun back around and mosied off. Fluttershy and I were left alone to talk.

“Alright... so, uh... what happened?” I asked, splaying my hooves out onto the counter as if the gesture was a question in itself.

Fluttershy slunk back into her seat, pressing herself into the rather obtrusive fabric material that the booth was composed of. She let out a seemingly hollow breath of air. “I, um, don’t know. Nothing here is like it used to be.”

I took a quick look at my surroundings. “That’s for sure.”

Fluttershy fidgeted in her seat some, like she just wasn’t comfortable with anything at all. She began to play with her mane. “This place used to be full of wonderful little cottages and cute little bunnies and even smiling ponies,” she told me. She looked around at everypony, taking in their similarities in appearance. She noticed that somepony else had caught her eye, and she immediately turned away and whimpered almost inaudibly. “Oh, it is so different now.”

I reflected back on what I had seen. All of those suspicious looking warehouses... I wonder what they were used for. What could they be making that produced so much smoke? The ponies around here were obviously big worker ponies. They seemed to consist of the entire population. How had this town become such a way from what it once was?

I then became lost in my thoughts. I felt like I was missing something. This city was so huge, I couldn’t see the end of it from when we had been at the top of the hill. Oh, shoot.

Well, there goes my knapsack...

But there was something else as well. I had to think all the way back to the cottage, back to the rain. I thought about that moment, that moment that would last forever. I thought about Mum reading the paper, looking for jobs. I thought about Mum... suddenly, I had wondered why Mum didn’t try to come here for a job.

Why wouldn’t she come here for a job?

Oh... SHOOT!

I went bug-eyed as I stared at Fluttershy, causing her to arch an eyebrow in concern. She leaned forward into the table some. “Is there something wrong?” she asked me.

“Mum,” I muttered in my sudden realization, “Mum! If she was looking for jobs, why wouldn’t she just come here?”

Fluttershy didn’t seem to quite get it. “Um, well, yes. I suppose that would be the brightest way to go about it. This place does seem to have quite a lot of important business ponies...”

I shot a quirked look her way. I flung my hooves up in the air in an attempt to make her “get it” without me having to spell it out in flamboyant, shiny blue letters.

Then, I saw the light bulb click on in her head. As soon as it lit up, it exploded, sending shards of glass shooting across the room to everyone’s ignorance. “Oh.”

“We should get outta here.” I shoved the menu away from me for absolutely no reason. I was prepared to forget about breakfast or lunch or whatever, just so that I could get as far away from home as possible. It was now that I realized that’s what we should have been doing the whole time.

Before we could get up to go, the waitress that had seated us came back, this time with and elderly colt who appeared to be the manager. He was wearing an aged smile as he meagerly shuffled over to us, bumping the head of the table where we were just about to make our escape. He wore a vest festooned with numerous, flashy buttons, and he set his hoof down on the table as if he couldn’t stand without support. I suddenly had a sinking feeling in my gut, and unfortunately, it wasn’t haycakes going down my tummy.

“How are ya, missy? What brings ya to this ‘ol diner here?” the manager asked me. The color of his eyes had faded through the years, and his mouth continued to gyrate whenever he finished talking.

I didn’t respond to him. I looked at Fluttershy, trying to find the answer displayed on her face. It wasn’t there.

“Hm. It’s okay to talk to me. I won’t hurt ya,” he continued. “I’m the manager of this here establishment, family owned for a hundred years. I just wanted to stop by and have a little chat,” he said. The waitress then nudged him in the side. The manager grunted, taking the effort to twist his head to face his employee. The waitress gave a curt nod at Fluttershy, grimacing slightly. The manager turned to Fluttershy, squinting. “Oh, yes, and your friend here.”

I stayed silent. I tried to make out all of the scribbles and cracks in the darkened ceiling.

The manager stirred, bringing both of his hooves up to the countertop. He sighed. “Is your father here, someone we can talk to?”

Suddenly, I found the courage to glare at him. “We don’t have a Pop,” I deadpanned, making sure he knew just where he was going with this.

“Ah,” he replied. He put a hoof to his face. “How ‘bout your mother then?”

I sourly turned away, pretending I had a window to stare out of. “We don’t have a mother neither,” I lied. Something about my tone of voice scared even me.

“Hm.” The elder pony looked at Fluttershy, admiring her, scanning her. It was like he was trying to find something out about her just by looking at her. He then turned back to me. “Violet, could you fetch us some waters and some haycakes?” he asked, obviously regarding his waitress. The way he said “haycakes” made me shiver.

The waitress looked confused for a moment before the light bulb clicked on inside her head. She reversed herself and left us.

The manager huffed a deep breath, perhaps worn out from having to walk out from wherever he had come from. It must be sad, being old. “Do you gals mind if I take a seat?” he asked us. His body emitted moans from his bones as they once again complied to perform the task at hoof. “It looks like you could use the company.”

o----o

Song: Summertime

By: My Chemical Romance

Comments

[Church]

The story was originally supposed to be only fifteen chapters long. Now it's going to be, like, more.

[Chill Mists(Chilly)]

Yay! More chapters is always good. Also, this diner situation doesn't look good... one could say it looks fishy even.

[bookplayer]

More is good! I like more!

I would comment more, but there's a theme with your stories: They always leave me with more questions I want answered, which I know you'll answer as we go along. So there's no point in asking them, and all I can do is tell you grate job.

Great job!

[Church]

912756

Trixie shall keep a watchful eye on the situation.

912774 Cool! So you totally forgive me for thinking that your avatar was a pigeon when I first met you on the site?

[bookplayer]

912806
Totally forgiven. It was rough at first, every time I saw you around here I was like- "That's the guy who thought my avatar was a pigeon!" But over time you wrote stuff and I enjoyed it, and now I can sincerely offer you my forgiveness. Go and mistake no more avatars.

[Church]

922820 TRIXIE INDEED!

and thanks as always for the read!

[bigchibz110]

Not sure if worried for her safety or if she found someone to help her... :

[Church]

927063 shrug shrug wink wink nudge nudge-

destroy... swag.