The Barcolt

by ThePizzaDeliveryPony

Chapter 1

Nopony ever talks to the barcolt…

Nopony ever talks to me…

_-_-_

Alex Firewing. Apparently I had an ancestor who was a Pegasus; however, I am no such thing. I’m an average earth pony stallion.

With a black fur and a silver mane however, I appear a little strange. Somehow I continue to be ignored. I wasn’t going out of my way to talk to ponies… I guess I do seem a little unsociable.

I didn’t try to make friends, and I don’t plan to start. I need to leave Manehattan, so I guess it is easier when you have no friends. Manehattan has gotten out of control; I hated it here in the first place. Plus some other things are about to happen, and I am not going to be around when they do. I’m going to leave, but I have nowhere to go… oh well… I’ll figure it out later.

This is the first time moving, after moving out of my parent’s house at the young age of sixteen. I rented an apartment, and worked my flank off. I had to quit high school because I needed the money more than the education. I managed to get a job as a barcolt, and I am still working there now. At the age of 20, as of a few days ago, I think I might need a change.

I think I might head to Ponyville. It seems like a nice place for a pony to live, and I don’t think they have a bar. I have enough money saved, and connections, that I could start my own. It’s the only enjoyment in my life, everything else is depressing.

_-_-_

A week later and I am out of my house and on the train to Ponyville. I don’t know if I should be excited or not, I’m either going to hate life or love it. I heard ponies talking at the bar about it; it seems everyone is kind and it is the exact opposite of Manehattan in every way possible.

While I’m on the train, I might as well be productive.

I take out my notebook and begin writing the things I will need, to live in Ponyville and to work there. I will need a bar/house to convert, and a place to live in, preferably above the bar... I will need a place to work in the mean time... I will need some help building the bar...

As I write the last thought, I look out the window and notice Ponyville coming into view. I find it interesting how small it is compared to Manehattan, but I will leave those thoughts for later.

The train pulls into the station, and I am suddenly made aware of how hungry I am by my stomach growling. I get off the train and start to head into town. There is a large pink building with ponies sitting outside eating, so I enter and am welcomed by a blue mare with pink hair, who says “Hello dear, welcome to Sugarcube Corner. What can I help you with today?”

As I walk up to the register I look in the glass case and find they have some nice chocolate cupcakes that look appetizing. I ask for a few and she gives me six. I pay and thank her, thinking how cheap they were, and how lucky I was. I walked to the door and opened it to leave and there was a bouncing pink mare standing on the outside. I stop and move to let her through, however she gasps and starts talking faster than I can think.

“OHMYGOSH! Are you new here?! I don’t know you! I’ve never seen you before! You must be new here! And I haven’t thrown you a party yet! OHNO! This is bad! I have to get started on the party right away! You will come right?! Well it’s your party so of course you’ll come! I got to invite everypony! And it’s already lunch time! I better hurry! See you later Mr. Nodding Pony!”

And she was gone. All I could do while getting talked at was nod my head and hope that agreeing was the right thing to do.

I turned back to the store clerk, because I remembered I had a list of things to do. I walk back to the register to the mare that has a puzzled expression on her face. She looks at me and I ask, “Is there anywhere to work for a short while around this town, and I also need to talk to somepony about a house and a shop or store to buy.”

She becomes even more puzzled by this. “Aren’t you going to ask about Pinkie Pie? She just yelled at you and you are going to brush it off like it never happened?”

“No,” I say. “I am not really worried about it she seems nice, with a heart in the right place. I have had to deal with energetic ponies before, but they were a little more violent. I have to wonder what the party is about though.”

She smiles and looks at me approvingly. “She throws a party for everyone dear, don’t worry about it. I can help you with your other questions though. Town hall is where you should go for housing or any other building renting or buying. You should check with Applejack in sweet apple acres for a job. They could always use help on the farm, even if it is only for a while.”

“Thanks for all your help,” I tell her. I turn to leave and remember, “Is there a hotel I could stay in for a while here?” I turn around to look at her, and I see her face, wide eyed and looking at my flank, where my cutie mark is. She looks back up at my face and her smile has turned into a frown.

She says, “Sorry, but I don’t know of one in this town.” With that she turned and went back into the kitchen; and left me to make my own way outside.

This wasn’t the first time I have ever gotten that reaction. I used to get it in school a lot, and still come across somepony who thinks this way every so often. I just continue on my way through town like it didn’t happen. I think of where I need to go, and town hall is right across the road so I start to head there.

Because of my decent wage and few needs, I was able to accrue a fair sum of money. I also got a lot from my mom’s death. I didn’t know she had life insurance until I got the check in the mail… actually I didn’t even know she was dead. The inheritance is the best thing my parents ever gave me, other than my cutie mark… but I don’t like talking about that…

I walk through the door into town hall and see a mare behind a desk in the room by herself. As I walk in, she looks up and smiles. She says “Welcome to Ponyville town hall, I’m Mayor Mare and I hope I can help you with whatever you need.”

I look at her with a hopeful smile and say, “I’m new in town; first day actually. My name is Alex Firewing. I am moving here from Manehattan and I was a barcolt there. I was hoping to open the first, and only bar here. I came to you to hopefully buy a shop with an apartment above it. Could you help with that? Oh, and also I need the residency forms for Ponyville while I’m here.” I continue to smile as she turns to look at a map hanging on the wall.

She starts to talk while looking at the map. “Oh, I’m glad you chose to move here. We don’t have a bar, but I think it would be a good thing to have. It will hopefully boost our economy, and maybe make the other residence a little happier. I will have to work with you on the specifics, such as rules, operating hours, and crime control. As for a building I think I have the perfect one. It is for sale though, and not rent, and some renovations will be needed to suit your purposes. But, before we get into that, let’s go take a look shall we?”

“Yes of course” is all I say as we head out the door. As we walk down the street she talks about Ponyville and the ponies that live there. We arrive in front of a building that sits low into the ground. There are stairs down to the front entrance and as we clime down I realize that the building has two floors. When I point this out she tells me the second is an apartment for the owner of the shop, as most shops are in Ponyville.

We enter the building after she opens it using a key she brought with her. It is huge inside, three times bigger than any normal bar. I immediately imagine the possibilities and what I could do with the place. We take a walk up to the second floor and it has several rooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen all in great condition. The shop needs work but it will do. As we walk back to the town hall it is my turn to talk.

I however start asking questions. “What does it cost to live here and for power and water and everything?”

“Oh that’s near nothing, and I would not worry about it. However I do need to tell you the store will cost a bit. It is around one hundred and fifty thousand bits.”

I turned to her with a surprised look on my face. She looks at me and asks, “is it too much, I’m willing to work with you if you can’t afford it right now.”

I look at her with a stunned look. “No it isn’t too expensive; it’s cheaper than I thought it would be. In Manehattan it would have cost twice that. I have twice that saved, so I should be able to have some to get me on my feet. I thought I would be spending it all on the building and then working somewhere to get it into operation.”

She looked at me with a look of surprise on her face but I just ignore it.

When we got back to the town hall I start signing all the paperwork I need to sign to be a resident and to get the store... now my store. She tells me that I can’t move in right away and I will need to wait a day to process the paperwork and finalize it. She says to come back tomorrow to get the key and then it will be all mine, and she would talk to me later about the operation of the bar it’s self.

With that done I ask about a hotel and she points just down the street. She tells me it is the only one in town. Trying to be the nice pony, I don’t mention the mare in Sugarcube Corner, and leave that alone.

I leave town hall and the sun is just beginning to recede into the ground. I enter the hotel and notice the mare form Sugarcube Corner standing at the counter talking to a mare I had never met before; a brown mare, nothing special. The one from Sugarcube Corner drops her gaze as I trot in and seems in a hurry to leave. I let her go and walk up to the counter. I look at the mare that has a disgusted look on her face and ask her for a room. She simply continues to stare.

“Can I please rent a room for the night?” I ask a little more forcefully.

She shakes her head and says in a disgusted tone, “Sorry but there is no rooms open, they have all been rented. There is a nice dumpster out back, though. I could book you for … one hundred bits a night, sounds about right.”

I look at her, now pissed. I reach into my saddle bag and pull out the bag of bits, sit down right in front of the counter. I then began pulling out bits and placing them on the ground. I count out loud a hundred bits and look up to her leaning over the counter, now with a stunned look on her face.

I look back down at the pile of bits on the floor and say to her, in a very plane tone, “the service doesn’t seem too good, I think I’ll leave the dumpster for you to sleep in.” I then begin putting them back into the bag, which is then placed into my pack, and I leave the hotel.

I don’t mind when ponies dislike me because of the mark on my flank, but I HATE it when they are cruel about it. I guess I can understand it; the ponies from Ponyville don’t want an alcoholic moving to their town, but I wish they wouldn’t judge me so soon.

And I wish it didn’t look like it was going to rain…

Now I have nowhere to stay for the night… I wonder if there is a nice tree around here to sleep under.

As I walk through the town I see a large tree to the side, and as I get closer it turns into some kind of building. All the lights are off, but I don’t care. I am not going in, and I don’t think they will care if I’m outside. So I move to the side of the tree, where I am hidden from the view of Ponyville, and also not near any windows.

I lie down and pull off my bag. I pull out a jacket to use as a blanket, and lay my head down on the sack to use like a pillow. I am no stranger to sleeping outside, I have done it before. That doesn’t mean that I like it. As I shut my eyes, rain begins to fall all around me but the tree keeps me covered.

It’s been a long time since I slept outside like this, and all I can think of is how bad an ending this is to such a good day.
_-_-_