The Woman Who Lived Nextdoor

by Hazel Mee

1 - Big News

"Mainstay! Hey, Mainstay!"

My ears flicked and I glanced at the sky through a tangled curtain of black mane. A tangerine pegasus dove through my sloop's rigging, swept out over the harbour and banked hard, dipping her primaries in the gentle waves.

White banks of wild cloud drifted in from the sea and into the waiting hooves of the town's weather team. Sun Squall's mane and tail of sapphire blue and white whipped like banners as she swooped back my way.

"Did you hear?"

Her hooves clattered on my sloop's bow. She pranced and wiggled and fluffed her wings to settle the feathers against her slim barrel.

"Did you? Did you?"

Her wide-eyed mischievous glee irritated me more than what her hooves were doing to my beat-up old boat — just a few more scuffs and dents to add to the collection. I grunted and tucked the thick, curved needle I held between my lips into the ripped net of a lobster trap I'd been repairing. Might as well take a break until the little chatterbox had said her fill and blown away.

I grumbled, "Afternoon, Squall. Have I heard what?" I honestly couldn't give a tail flick about the latest gossip from town. Who was climbing on who's back and how pricey the latest trainload of mainland potatoes were. Pfeh.

I spat over the rail while Sun Squall vibrated in front of me, pent up with something she thought was cloud shattering.

"Are you going to tell me?"

She stared at me with pretty eyes of blue that matched her mane and grinned like a loon. "Okay, okay. I just want to remember this."

I grimaced. "Remember what?"

"How your face looks when I tell you that your cousin finally sold that crappy shack next to yours."

"Huh. Well, good for her, I guess." I scuffed a grey hoof on the deck and shrugged it off.

Sun Squall was trying to tease a reaction out of me but I wouldn't rise to her bait. There was no sense in getting wound up over painful news I'd seen coming for years. My useless lay-about cousin abandoned us to move inland years ago and either somepony would buy it or it'd fall down. Stars but I hoped my new neighbours weren't a band with little foals. I'd grown use to the peace and quiet.

Her grin somehow got even wider. "She sold it to a hhh-yoo-mahn!"

"What?!"

Sun Squall got the perfect sweet Celestia, tell me you're joking or strike me dead reaction she'd been waiting for! My ears snapped back, my jaw dropped, and my eyebrows would have shot off if they weren't so firmly anchored. The gentle rocking of my sloop suddenly felt like we'd plunged over a swell and been caught in a maelstrom.

"Yup! It's up there right now trying to figure out who dumped a stinky pile of old gill nets in its living room." She cocked her head to one side and tapped her chin. "Saaay, those are your nets, aren't they?"

"Muffin tops!"

Larch deck planks thundered beneath my hooves as I galloped ashore. Sun Squall's wings snapped at the air as she gave chase while laughing her fool tail off.

My sloop was moored at the pier's end and I ran past the berths of a pair of broad-beamed trawlers and an old crabbing cog. Those boats could bring up more in a day than I managed in a moon, but at least I owned my sloop! Manehattan Fisheries had arrived with the train tracks and snapped up the local fleet. They'd fired half the crews, scrapped the small family boats that had been fishing here for generations, and replaced them with these soulless trawlers.

They were more efficient and profitable — profit for bit-counters on the other side of the country, anyway.

Crewponies hauled boxes from their swollen holds and carried them across the cobbled pier to a long storage shed. Fish and crustaceans packed in ice so they could be shipped by train all over Equestria, growing more expensive with every mile.

I was the only traditional fisherpony left and I was proud that the local townsponies bought most of what I caught. It wasn't a big market, but you wouldn't live in a place like this if you didn't have a taste for seafood. I dried and smoked what was left and traded with foreign merchants who made port a few times a year.

Stiff Breeze, a tough old salt and captain of the cog, the Red Claw, shouted a curse as I dodged around her. I almost took a tumble as my hoof slid in a puddle of icy water.

Ting! Ting! Two sharp notes rang out from the ice shed's brass bell and a moment later there was an answering whistle from a steam engine up the cliff. One of the unicorn twins stuck his head out of their shed, grinned and called something to me. I didn't bother raising my ears and couldn't hear him over the pounding of my hooves. Did he know about the human? It wouldn't surprise me as those two were always eager to poke their muzzles into other ponies business.

I didn't have time to stop and chew the hay! Not while some alien was poking around in my gear!

The cargo platform, stacked four layers deep with boxes of iced fish, lurched into the air as I sprinted past. Jumping on board flashed through my mind, but that was insanely dangerous and I could beat it to the top on my own hooves.

Maybe.

The beach's round pebbles slithered underhoof, slowing me some, and I was gasping before I'd made it halfway up the switchback trail to our village. I hit the cobbled lane that ran through the heart of Smile Harbour at a less gossip-igniting canter. Two and three-story buildings on both sides leaned against one another like old friends who'd had too much grog. Made of locally mined stone and rough timber from Pine Hollow, their walls, doors, and shutters were painted a quilt of rainbow colours. Their heavy roofs of grey slate would shed the fiercest downpour and hold fast in a gale, though today they baked under a peaceful mid-summer sun. I ran past the little shops selling local crafts and antiques, our general store, the bed-and-breakfast for tourists, our Coast Guard headquarters, town hall, pub, and a hoofful of homes.

Tourists called it "picturesque" and "quaint", and liked to pose for photos in front of the writhing kraken painted on our pub's signboard.

I drew curious looks from everypony out on the lane or leaning from windows to hang banners of laundry. I must be an unusual sight with my spotty grey coat lathered with sweat as I puffed along like a steam engine. It didn't help that I had a bright orange pegasus with a serious case of the giggles tailing me.

They smiled and nodded and whispered behind their hooves. It was a sure thing everypony already knew about the human, where I was headed, and why.

The cobbles ran out and I lurched into a gallop again, taking the trail north to The Hump — a whale-size granite boulder perched atop the cliff. The trail narrowed and I slowed to a walk as I skirted the cliff edge, wary of the surf and jagged rocks far below. Sun Squall would probably catch me if I fell, but I'd rather not take the chance. She might not notice with all her giddy loops and rolls scaring squawking flocks of gulls, rock doves, and puffins off the cliff.

I skipped my usual pat-for-luck on The Hump's lichen-covered surface.

It was already a not-lucky day.

North of The Hump it was all hills and hillocks covered with thin earth, scrubby grass, low bushes, and a few wind-twisted pines. Smile Harbour's farms were on more sheltered land east and south of town, but I liked it here. It was home. The grass was delicious in late spring, there was a huge variety of flowers to admire and nibble, and come fall there'd be blueberries by the stone! A hoofful of houses were scattered randomly among the outcrops of rock, boarded up or leaning sideways, slumping down to their final rest. Home now only to families of birds who whitewashed them with guano.

My cousin's house was nearest to town and the cliff-side trail ran right past its front door. My home stood next to it — sagged next to it. Sun Squall could honestly call my place a shack.

She might put down my cousin's house but it was sturdy and had four times as many rooms. And half as much paint. Patches of grey wood showed through where the house's scabby whitewash had been blasted clean by salty wind. It looked worse than it was and I'd have bought the place if had the bits. Not that I needed the extra space since I couldn't even afford to date, let alone support a band of my own. Mares and foals were expensive!

There was a human on the porch.

I'd half-hoped Sun Squall was yanking my chain.

She swooped down to hover by me. "See! I didn't lie, did I?"

I snorted and panted, "Y-you never do." Exaggerate like a yak, sure, but she never lied. Not to me, anyway.

She zipped ahead and hovered next to the unnatural-looking long-limbed creature as I trotted the last length.

"Here he comes", Sun Squall told it, as if it didn't have eyes of its own to see me coming.

Those eyes were pretty small so maybe it was half-blind like a mole?

"Hello, there", it said in a distorted Canterlot accent as I arrived at the porch steps.

It was tall!

If it weren't standing on the porch, my ear tips would only be halfway up its chest. It stood upright on its hinds, like an Abyssinian, but without a tail for balance. Maybe those paddle-like paws made up for it? It was peach-pink and its pants ended mid-hind, exposing the most fur-less skin I'd ever seen! Its wavy brown mane, its most appealing feature, framed a face of bare skin with tiny eyes, a flat muzzle, and a beak-like little nose. It was a queer-looking creature, but I'd seen queerer things in foreign lands. The pub's communal newspaper from Los Pegasus often had photos of humans on the front page these days, so I was half-prepared for how alien it looked. Photos didn't do its height justice even though I'd seen how tall its kind were compared with the Princesses.

It raised its spindly pink fores, holding out a tangled mess of fine-woven net. "Squall said this is yours?"

The tone of its voice was dead and dull, like lead sheet.

I panted as lather trickled down my heaving sides. "It-", gasp, "-mine." Gasp. "Y-yeah." Wheeze.

"Where do you want it?"

Not thinking, I jabbed a hoof at my back. It stepped down off of my cousin's porch and leaned over me to drop the net on my back. How on Princess Celestia's green earth it managed to not topple over boggled the mind! How did it stay upright?

I shied back as it loomed and a rock turned under my hind hoof, almost sending me down the blintzing slope to the cliff edge!

It growled and hissed something and backed off while clutching my net to its chest.

Sun Squall laughed like a lunatic. Of course.

"Here, let me do that", she giggled while hovering next to the human, holding out her fores.

"Yeah, okay."

It frowned at me with its eyebrows low over green eyes as it gave the bundle to Sun Squall. I ran a casual hoof over my sweaty mane. Nopony wants to look like a fool, even in front of an alien thing from another world. I was well known in the village for keeping my cool in the teeth of a gale but this thing had me spooked. Why couldn't they just muffin-well stay on their own blintzing world?

Sun Squall landed next to me after draping the net on my back.

"Calm down, Mainstay, she won't bite you."

She? Why hadn't Sun Squall told me it was a mare? Probably just yanking my chain to make it… her, seem more frightening.

The human mare chuckled and said, "I really won't. Not unless you ask nicely." And then she grinned.

Fangs! It had fangs!

She had fangs.

She crouched down and held out a fore with all the pink claws squished together into a lump. "I'm pleased to meet you, Mainstay. I'm your new neighbour, αηοηλмιss."

Was that her name? Grunts and hums and sibilant whispers.

Sun Squall snickered and I glanced at her suspiciously before screwing up my courage to step forward and quickly bump the tip of my hoof against the clenched claws. It helped my nerves that she crouched, bringing her little head level with mine.

A great stance for pouncing!

Stars, she was showing her fangs again! It was going to kill and eat me!

I pranced back with my teeth bared, ears flat, and tail tucked hard against my rump.

Sun Squall snickered and the human rolled her eyes; a pony-like gesture that was strangely reassuring.

I felt stupid for reacting so foalishly.

The Princesses wouldn't let a murderer into Equestria, would they? No… She might be a predatory creature, but I haggled with griffin traders all the muffin time without behaving like a frightened yearling.

I swallowed and forced myself to stop trembling. "Ah, hello, Miss-", and I tried my best to pronounce her gibberish name.

It wasn't pretty.

Sun Squall's wing smacked my rump as she burst into howling laughter. I jumped and whirled around to glare at her. "What's so funny?"

The human snickered and covered her blunt muzzle with a paw of pink claws. I glanced back and forth between them and asked, "What? What's going on?"

"Hee hee hee. I knew you wouldn't get it."

I prodded Sun Squall with a hoof and demanded, "Wouldn't get what?"

"That's not really my name", said the human.

I snorted and angrily snapped my tail from side to side. "Then why say it was?"

She raised her claws in surrender, another pony-like gesture, and said, "Never mind. It ruins the joke if I have to explain it. Squall here's the only pony to get it since I left Canterlot."

Well, that made sense at least since Sun Squall was gaga over Earth. She spent her free time reading about the place and bent everyponys ears about how amazing it was.

Sun Squall bumped my shoulder with hers. "It's a play on words in εηgℓιsн — that's her language. Before the Gate opened, humans wrote silly stories about one of them ending up in Equestria. αηοηλмιss isn't a real name, it's a mix of, uh, 'not-having-a-name' and 'miss'."

"Miss Not-having-a-name?" I grimaced sourly. "Hilarious."

The crouching human smiled, mercifully not showing her teeth, and said, "My name's actually мαяλ."

"Maaay-ruhee?" It sounded weird on my lips. Like a sheep bleating.

"No. мαяλ."

"Mayree?"

She sighed and stood up. "Close enough. Maybe I should just take a pony name, huh?" She hooked a claw at the open door to my cousin's house and asked, "What should I do with the rest of your junk?"

I didn't pout. Stallions don't pout. I studly said, "I'll take care of it", and went to go inside.

I could probably shove them under the… No, I had the extra net floats there. Maybe I could hang them… No, I had the excess dried fish hanging from the rafters, out of the weather but stinking the place up. Well, muffins! I'd find somewhere to stow them!

Mayree's fur-less pink hind swung between me and the door. I looked up at her, balancing on a single hind like a gigantic, fleshy stork, and felt a shiver run down my spine.

So unnatural… but kind of impressive.

"Uh uh uh. Didn't you forget something?" she asked.

Okay, now I did pout while furrowing my brow. "I don't think so."

She furrowed her brows right back at me. Squeezing together the fuzzy brown caterpillars above her tiny green glaring eyes. "I'll give you a hint. It's my house now."

Oh. Muffin.

I coughed and politely asked, "May I enter?"

Her bone-y hind moved out of my way. "Be my guest."

"I'll help", chirped Sun Squall and barged in behind me.

Mayree didn't make her beg for permission first. I grunted at the usual fillies-before-willies attitude that seemed to cross species and even worlds.

She must have just arrived on the morning train because the interior of my cousin's… of her house, looked exactly the same as when I'd been in last week: dusty and cobwebbed, with peeling paint and wall paper. At least it didn't stink of mold and fish guts like my leaky shack. The slate roof was sound and all the windows were intact, just crusted with dirt and salt. My cousin paid me a few bits every month to look after the place — guess I could kiss that goodbye.

In front of the cold fireplace, a pile of my nets and an eel trap sat on our old sheet-covered couch. I used to bounce on it when I was a little colt.

I sighed, dragged a folded net off of the couch and expertly flipped it on my back.

Sun Squall helped load the others onto me, and I soon looked like a pack mule. It was bulky, but not heavy, and I was grateful to my earth pony ancestors for my broad back and an innate talent for balancing loads.

Mayree followed us inside. She carried a heavy-looking sack in either claw and had strapped a huge sack to her own back. I was amazed that she didn't break or topple over! Our old wobbly dining table, that didn't even come up to her waist, creaked under the heavy sacks. She shrugged out of the back-sack and bent to set it on the floor.

I'd never admit it, but I was impressed by how gracefully she moved, and her sense of balance was awe inspiring. I could only stumble around on my hinds for a few moments before falling on my flank.

Sun Squall snatched up the trap and whispered in my ear, "I think she likes you."

"Hah!"

I shrugged under the itchy nets and walked out the door for the last time.

Author's Note:

Hi!

I'll be posting new chapters on Sundays and Wednesdays and there are eighteen chapters, which are all completed.

If you spot any typos, please PM me. Thank you.

Comments

[Goodluckfox]

Shades of Admiral Biscuit. I like. :)

[rikithemonk]

Good start, I would like to see where your going with this.

The Monk
“Sadly, she was attempting to throw money at a store that had closed for the evening.” -The Whiskey Spirit

[Venerable Ro]

Something new! Fascinating.

[destinedjagold]

Huh... This is new. I like it, to be honest.