Canterlot Five-O

by Supahsnail

The Visitor

Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton sat across from each other at their dinner table. They had finished eating almost an hour ago. Now, they waited for him to come.

“Maybe he won't come,” Mrs. Hamilton said hopefully. Her name was Scarlett. She was a blue unicorn with dark blue hair and eyes. She had grown accustomed to having other ponies call her ‘pretty,’ but that hadn’t happened as much recently. Ponies no longer seemed to notice her beauty. Even her husband, Jordan, hadn’t said it in quite some time. That was understandable, considering the things they now had to deal with. “Maybe he forgot about us,” she continued, “He can’t possibly keep track of everypony who’s late on Jade’s payments, can he?”

Jordan took in a deep, nervous breath. “I suppose that’s possible,” he said, though he knew it wasn’t. Nopony had ever gotten away with skipping one of Jade’s payments. Jordan was a unicorn, just like his wife. He had a light brown coat and light grey hair. He looked much older than he actually was, and was often teased for it.

Scarlett shivered a little and said, “Do you think he’s going to hurt us? Are we going to end up like the other ponies who didn’t pay Jade?”

Jordan reached across the small table and touched Scarlett’s hoofs gently. “I’m not going to let him hurt you!” he said firmly.

Scarlett smiled. She was still scared, but she took comfort in his words.

After a few more moments of waiting, the room filled with the eery sound of a knocking on the front door. There were three well-timed knocks: knock, knock, knock.

Jordan stood up and said, “I’d better go and check the door.” Scarlett nodded and watched him walk out into the adjacent living room. Jordan cautiously put one hoof on the living room door. He turned the knob and slowly creaked the door open. The visitor stood across from him on the other side of the door.

The visitor was a short pony, perhaps a few inches shorter than Jordan, who wasn’t very tall himself. What he lacked in size, he made up for in bulk. He was muscular, almost unnaturally so, like one of the weight lifters who would spend every waking minute at the local gym. He was an earth pony, he had a dark blue coat with light green eyes. His mane was black and unkept. Jordan didn’t say a word until the visitor spoke. “You gonna let me in?” the visitor asked, “You gonna show me a little hospitality?”

Jordan hesitated, then stepped out of the visitor’s way and gestured to the living room.

The visitor walked inside and said, “It’s a nice place you got here. It really is.”

Scarlett walked into the living room after Jordan closed the front door. She gestured to the couch and asked, “Would you like to take a seat?”

The visitor smiled. “No ma’am,” he said pleasantly, “I don’t think I’ll be that long.” He turned to Jordan, who was still standing at the front door. “You two make a cute couple. You really do. And there isn’t a bone in my body that doesn’t want to see you two happy.”

“Then why can’t you leave us alone?” Jordan asked, “We don’t owe Jade anything! We never borrowed any money! We don’t owe her a cent!”

The visitor looked Joran in the eyes and said, “But you do. You see, every pony in this town needs to pay Jade once a month for protection. Canterlot is a dangerous town, Mr. Hamilton. Can I call you Jordan?”

Jordan said nothing.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” the visitor continued. “Without Jade's protection, who knows what could happen to you, Jordan! You’re two weeks late on last month’s payment. Protocol would dictate that I beat you and your girl until the money comes out, but I like you; so I think I can cut you a deal. I want last month’s payment by the end of the week, with interest, and I want this month’s payment, too. That should add up to about... two-thousand bitts, and that’s being generous.”

“What if we can’t pay?” asked Jordan.

The visitor grinned, “Then I guess you don’t need Jade’s protection any more. Who knows what could happen to you without Jade's protection. Somepony might decide to burn your whole house down.”

Jordan dropped to his knees. “Two-thousand bitts?” he repeated. “That’s over twenty silver! We don’t have that kind of money to spare!”

The visitor shook his head. “I’ve seen poorer families than your’s make their payments on time,” he said. “You’ve got a week.” He walked to the door and swung it open. “And no guards,” he added. “If I see any Royal Guards, you’re dead. Both of you.” He walked outside and kicked the door closed behind him.

Scarlett sat next to Jordan. Neither of them said anything; they didn’t need to talk. They couldn’t afford to keep paying Jade every month; but then again, they couldn’t afford not to pay her either.

Comments

[Chill Mists(Chilly)]

I noticed a couple of errors but nothing important, this is interesting and I would like to read on.