The Pink Haired Woman

by Seran

Crying Session

“Sorry for the trouble.” Sheriff Leiber unshackled John. “But I am going to give you a warning about the assault. I don’t want that to happen again.” His firm yet welcoming tone calmed John’s irritation.

“Well, I tried to defend my honor.” John jested in his returned freedom.

“Don’t push it, Trottle,” groaned the sheriff.

Laughing off Sven’s reaction, John glanced at the far desk. Fluttershy was sitting uncomfortably with her hands on her lap. The woman’s eyes locked on his smile. She gave a small wave, just a small flick of the wrist, and a soft smile. Slowly, John’s smile faded into a blank gaze of curiosity.

“It was her statement that cleared up the situation.” Sven smiled at him. “You must be lucky to have her.”

John’s heart stopped for a second. “I-It’s not like that,” he retorted. “She’s just a, um… a friend.” John still didn’t know how to explain their situation.

Sven’s eyes were drawn to John’s face inspecting every inch of it. The quivering cheek on the corner of his mouth showed signs of nervousness. His eyes shook from left to right, and the smile itself was off. Sven took all the facts into consideration before he made up his mind.

“You don’t have to lie to me, John.” Sven smiled, “I’m sure she’s a fine girl.”

“She’s not my-” John attempted to clarify but was rudely interrupted.

“-It’s about time you found a new girl, and a cute one too.”

John looked over to the woman, irritated by the remarks. He noticed the rookie officer talking to her with a hand behind his head, like a nervous school boy.

“What’s the rookie’s name?” John asked in curiosity, “I haven’t seen him before.” .

“Oh, that’s Officer Michael Bridges,” Sven clarified. “He was transferred here from Texas. He’s still new to this so we stuck him behind a desk.” He noticed the nervous clatter exiting Michaels mouth. “Are you worried he’s trying to steal your girl?”

“No,” John continued to protest. “I keep telling you, it’s not like that.”

“Then how is it?”

“It’s hard to explain,” John looked around. Several people were already staring at her. ‘I guess the pink hair is noticeable.’ John reminded himself. “I’ll tell you over more private terms.”

“Seems fair. How’s about a beer at your house?” Sven asked. “We can be over tonight.”

“‘We?’” John emphasized the word.

“I’m bringing the rookie.” Sven gave a sly grin as he pointed at the rookie, who was now walking over in defeat.

The rookie took notice of Sven’s smile. He knew nothing good came from that smile. “What’s going on?”

“How would you like to go out for beer tonight?” Sven invited Michael.

“Really?” He was elated. “No one has invited me for anything since I got here.”

“Well now you get a chance. Will you come?”

“Sure, I’ll go.” He glided with joy. He felt he was having the time of his life time.

“Why do you need him?” John asked.

“I may need a designated driver.” Sven explained. The rookie fell back to earth. “We’ll be over around seven.”

“You’ll bring your own beer, right?” John asked.

“Oh no, the wife won’t let me keep alcohol in the house,” he came closer, covering the right side of his mouth, “she’s got a new one coming in.” He whispered loudly.

John knew what he meant, but was still annoyed by the other fact. “I’ll pick up some on the way home,” he sighed. His discontent showed.

“None of that American lager crap. They taste too much like water.” Sven added playfully. His smile was irritating to John.

John had enough of the conversation. He made departed and headed over to Fluttershy, who was now frightened by the bustling noise.

“Flutt… Mary, you ready?” John asked. He refused to look at her. Sven’s idea of the her was still fresh in his mind.

“Oh, okay,” Fluttershy stood up with her hands cupped together like shy nun. She held the bags draping down from her hip, held by her thumb rather than her whole hand. She hid her joy under the timidness that blanketed her. However a smile snuck its way onto her face.

John didn’t smile back. He looked at her and took in the emotion she presented. He also took something more in, the beauty that was expressed by Sven. Noticing a timid blush, he caught himself scaring her. Shaking off the awestruck expression on his face, he shrugged to the right, facing the exit.

“Right, let’s get going.” He said expecting to get her mind out of that awkward spot.

As they exited the station and set out to the car, John had his mind busy with the conversation fresh in his mind. He couldn’t stop thinking about two things, one being what he was going to tell Sven. He had to tell him the truth about Fluttershy, but he didn’t know what the truth was. All he knew about her were the things from the previous night. She was from some commune named ‘Pony-Ville’ in the forest close by. Her name or alias was some animal-like thing, Fluttershy. Most importantly, she hated meat. This brought the most problems with him. His mind halted as a new thought shot into his head like a cannon ball.

‘What am I going to feed her?’ this was quickly followed by a second thought: ‘When will I get to eat meat again?’ He didn’t want another incident like the one the previous night.

The second thought had been implanted by Sven. ‘You must be lucky to have her.’ Ever since that statement was introduced, he couldn’t get it out of his head. It was rattling in his head like a loose bolt. He had never expected to find another woman to keep company with, let alone live with. The ghost in his closet, his old love, was haunting him constantly.

‘But why her?’ he asked himself, ‘we have nothing alike, why is she here with me?’ As the thoughts raced through his head, he continued to stare at the blank spot of his car windshield.

“Mr. John?” Fluttershy called out to him. “Are you okay?”

Hearing the voice of the woman startled the entranced man. John jolted, dropping his keys from hand. Turning to see Fluttershy looking at him with worry, he feigned a smile to avoid awkward questions.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” John explained, “just spaced out, I guess.” He slowly picked up his keys. His mind went back to his troubles.

John trailed his thoughts back to the beginning, wondering how he came to those thoughts in the first place. It led him to the Sven’s statement, ‘You must be lucky to have her.’

‘Why was I lucky?’ He thought to himself himself. ‘I was almost arrested for an assault charge, but I was released…’ John could have slapped his forehead from his sudden realization. ‘Her statement cleared up the situation.’ Sven’s words had burned a hole into his skull. ‘If it wasn’t for her…’ John thought to himself. Thinking of the possible consequences for an assault charge on his boss’ son made his head hurt. The amount of things that would go wrong was unbearably catastrophic. But he remembered it was all changed by the woman he had just met.

Waking out of his trance, he realized he was in his car sitting in the driver’s seat. The car wasn’t on, but Fluttershy held on tight, remembering the movement. Looking at her, he could sense something had to be done.

“Mary.” He hesitantly called to her.

The woman turned, seeing as she was the only other person in the vehicle.

“Thank you.” He said, putting on false grin.

“Oh,” the woman was confused. “You’re welcome. I-It was nothing.” Her eyes scanned John’s face, which was now going into a slight frown.

Looking away from her, John could only feel self-pity. “Really, thank you. You saved my ass back there.” He went on to explain. “I could have been as easily arrested and put in lock up for the night. I have no family or friends here that could pay my bail if I was in lock up. I would have been placed under house arrest, my gun would be confiscated.” The more he talked, the more agitated he became. “I could have lost the very little crap I had, just because it did something retarded.” Tears came rolling down his cheek. “I’m a twenty six year old Latino ex-cop with no friends who was accused of murdering his girlfriend. I would not do well if I went to fucking prison! I would be fucking stabbed on the first day! I’ve seen it happen way too often! I could have lost the very little I have!” He clenched the steering wheel with all his might, sobbing heavily.

Fluttershy was shocked, not only at the language, but by the fact she had learned something new from her newfound caretaker. He was lost in this world like her, but in a different sense. He had no one he can trust and he feared for his life every time he wakes up. She couldn’t stand to watch him cry to himself, it reminded her too much of herself. She took his hand away from his suffering grasp and began to pet it as she sang a calming tune.

"Celestia will bring a brand new day,

One which the children can go and play,

With all the critters of the land,

And have fun on grass and sand;

No harm will come to the foal,

As they pick up sticks or throw a ball,

And we will rest from our day of play,

‘Cause tomorrow will be a better day.”

The song gave John a puff of strength, which was enough to stop him from crying. As he wiped his tears away, he began to smile. The song reminded him of one his mother sang to him as a child. The soothing tone of her voice warmed his heart. Suddenly the worries came pouring out of him.

“Thank you,” John sniffled. “Again. I needed that.”

Fluttershy gazed upon the brittle man. She gave a small grin of assurance. “Please don’t say you don’t have friends.” She said. “The nice ponies I met today and yesterday seem to care about you. I’m sure they are your friends.”

John knew who she was talking about. “Yeah, but most of them I wronged in some way.” He was speaking about Martha. “And the Evans are only there as a job. Sven works most of the days, so we rarely get time to hang out.”

“What about me?” She held her hand over her mouth.

John turned to see her, her face red with curiosity. “You?,” He hesitantly responded, “I just met you and you only seem to be with me as a necessity. You would just leave me once you found a better place.”

There was a moment of silence after that last statement. Fluttershy felt he had something bad in his life. She sat back facing forward letting out a big sigh. “I… used to feel like you.” She slowly started. “I didn’t really have many friends when I was a filly. In fact, I was picked on the most for being the weakest.”

John started to pay attention.

“I thought I had no one to be by my side. But, that’s when she came. We didn’t know each other well back then, but we became the best of friends. Now I have six good friends and I’m sure they would do anything for me if I were to get into…” She stopped to wipe her tears. Thinking about her friends worrying for her made her eyes pour out a torrent of tears.

John had stopped crying long enough to notice the woman next to him had started herself. He instinctively felt the need to aid her.

With his hand on her back, John rubbed her in a slow circular motion. “Hey, come now,” he soothed her with a soft voice. “There’s no need to cry.” The fact that they were taking turns crying was awkward for him. John couldn’t stand to see a woman cry, but he felt weird with what he was about to say. “I’m still here for you, I’ll be your friend.” He felt a great burn of hypocrisy from the previous conversations.

The pink haired woman wiped her eyes, bringing forth a smile. “Okay,” she sniffled. “As long as you stop being so moody and be happy for all you have.” Her smile shrank as she gazed out the window towards the mountains.

‘She must be looking towards her home.’ John thought the obvious. He started to think of himself, ‘at least I’ve been here for years. He was different from her. ‘She obviously misses her friends, as if she was ripped from them somehow.’ His mind drew several straws at her situation. She may have much more to her than he thought.

“Mary…” he stopped himself, “I mean, Fluttershy.”

She turned to him. Her curiosity was piqued.

John looked into her blue eyes. He tried to get the right words out, trying not to sound like an idiot or get his words misinterpreted. “Listen. I just want to thank you for… helping me back there, and for calming me down. You have been really helpful today.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” She replied with surprise in her voice. “I’m here for you, I guess.”

“And I’m here for you,” He started sounding sappy. “Whatever you need.”

At that moment, John heard a small growling. Fluttershy’s face turned a light red color as she placed her hand on her abdomen. She gave a light chuckle shying away.

“We’ll be home soon.” John assured her. “We just need to pick up some beer and maybe a bag of some snacks.” John said as he turned on the car and left, heading to the next store.

“Umm… John?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes?”

“You really mean it… I mean, wanting me as a friend?”

“Sure, I could use a few more friends.” John gave her an assuring smile. “What have I got to lose?”

Author's Note:

This chapter made me cry a bit while writing it. Fluttershy's lullaby was inspired by the song my mother sang to me as an infant. I also brought a time in which I had believed to ruin my life.

Pretty personal, but I hope you enjoy it.

Comments

[spetsnaz pinkie pie]

Damn right I cried

[Ghosty Pony]

The feels from this.

[lilTurtle]

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