A Cozy Tale

by Leondude

Chapter 13 - Cranapple Juice

Buff Brass, mob enforcer guilty of aggravated assault and being an accomplice to money laundering and illegal cage fights. But one thing he's not guilty of is being terrible to foals, especially that young filly that changed his life around. Before rescuing that filly, he had nothing. All he had to live for was money to pay off his gambling debts. He also learned the hard way that it was not a wise idea to bet on his own fights, as he lost an eye to the Claw gang when they found out about it. They were nasty little dragons, as he could easily attest but they're not the ones he will be ratting out today. He sat at a wooden table with a few police officers and even a royal guard in attendance, barely paying attention to the mare that read out what he had to do while wearing a wire.

"The defendant shall participate in undercover activity while wearing a recording device known as a wire," the mare read the piece of paper within her hooves "The defendant must not commit or attempt to commit any further crimes."

"Alright, I get it," Brass mumbled, "Can I sign the thing already?"

The mare said nothing as she hoofed the paper over to Brass.

"If you could sign right here, please," the mare said.

Brass picked up a pen and signed where the mare was pointing. Never in a million years did he ever think he would wear a wire and snitch on his fellow gang members. But if it kept that filly safe, he was willing to do anything. And he knew his boss would stop at nothing to finish the job if he ever found out there were any survivors of the massacre so the sooner his boss is behind bars, the better.

---

Within a cheap dry-cleaner on the outskirts of Manehatten, Facade was busy arguing with the owners, a pair of yaks that Facade could barely understand because of their thick Yakyakistani accents. In spite of both he and the female yak shouting at the top of their lungs to the point that coherency is out the window, he managed to catch onto one word.

"Bleached?!" Facade asked furiously "Are you trying to say I should have it bleached?!"

"Da!" the yak replied, "What is wrong with bleach?"

"Two things," Facade said in a more affable but still very annoyed tone, "One, you cannot bleach this kind of fabric. Out of the question. Two, these are very expensive and irreplaceable sheets and I really need them cleaned as quickly as possible."

The yak started speaking in an odd mix of Ponish and whatever language the yaks spoke. Clearly, she didn't pay attention to her Ponish classes, which irritated Facade to no end.

"If you don't shut your bucking mouth," Facade said calmly "I will kill you."

The yak gasped in response before shouting in her native language.

"Listen," Facade continued "I need these sheets cleaned by this afternoon and I cannot understand you when YOU'RE SHOUTING IN A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE! UNDERSTAND?!"

The bell on the door rang as a mare entered the building.

"Shining?" the mare asked.

Facade turned around and looked at the mare. While he never bothered to learn the mare's name, he could tell by the Prench hat and curly chestnut brown mane that she was one of his neighbours. She looked slightly older than him and was a bit portly. A pity since Facade would have liked something different instead of waking up next to his wife every night. Not that Brocade wasn't pretty but, since she's a bit of a nag, Facade thought of her as tiresome.

"Hi," the mare said, "I thought that was you."

"Hello," Facade said politely.

"It's ridiculous coming up all the way up here but they really are the best, aren't they?" the mare said.

"Then why can't they get these stains out?" Facade asked as he pulled his linen sheets from one of the yaks' hooves "Can you talk to these guys? I'm not getting a word in edgewise."

"Okay," the mare said, "What's on them?"
"Cranberry juice," Facade replied, "But if you could talk to them, I would really appreciate it because I'm running a bit late for a suit fitting."

"A suit fitting for what?" the mare asked.

"Oh, just the Grand Galloping Gala," Facade replied, "I wasn't able to go last time because I had to take my wife to the hospital."

The mare gasped "What happened?"

"She fell down the stairs," Facade replied "But I suppose it was for the best. I heard a group of mares turned the night into a disaster. Anyway, thank you for your help, Lily."

"It's Lotus," Lily corrected him.

"Lotus," Facade continued, "And I'll see you when I see you."

---

Brocade sat near the barely nine-months-old Cozy Glow as she read her a bedtime story. It was difficult to find an appropriate bedtime story since most of them had evil overlords and wicked witches. Maybe one day she might tell Cozy Glow one of those stories but for now, she focused on making sure Cozy had the best night's sleep she could possibly give her. Unfortunately, her attempts were cut short when she spontaneously floated in the air and was hurled into the door. Cozy Glow screamed and cried as the door broke into pieces with a loud crack. Brocade tried to get up but was ruthlessly throttled by her husband, who had both of his hooves planted firmly onto her throat.

"I gave you a good home and this is how you repay me?!" Facade seethed with anger.

Brocade struggled to breathe as Facade's grip on her throat grew tighter. He dragged her along the floor before flinging her down the stairs. Her ears rang and her vision was blurred by the time she got to the bottom. But in spite of her impaired senses, he could still make out her extremely livid husband.

"Listen," Facade grabbed Brocade by her mane "If you ever spend my money like that again, I will do so much worse to you."

Author's Note:

FYI, Buff Brass is the stallion from the story within a story in Chapter 10. Thought I'd say that now in case you didn't notice.

Comments

[Artist]

Very good.