Chapters A life worth living, is hard to come by in today's twisted world. The same would go for my life, as it would for any of my friends... er... Acquaintances. It was a living hell.
My name is Tony, and all this world could offer me, is a dead-end job as a laptop worker. I would help others find employment options for their future careers. It was an annoying job, because I, for the most part, would have to deal with inexperienced "young adults" (I'm twenty-four). To top it all off, I did this for about eleven hours straight, every day. It payed enough for me to keep my small condo in the Wistrayser development, even though I hated the living space.
My mother had passed away years ago, and when she died, so did all of her memorabilia. My father buried paintings, pictures, and items that had been given to her among the years with her. After her death, my father fell apart mentally. He would drink, and yell at me, saying that I was the worst child he would ever have known, and he'd cry for hours at night, until he fell asleep. I was only twelve then. Eventually, with all the grieving and pain, my father killed himself (a bit rash, but being assisted by alcohol, what could I expect).
I heard him screaming so, I rushed into what was once my mother's room, to find that my father had hung himself from the ceiling fan. I was too late. There was a note with badly scrawled handwriting underneath his hanging corpse. The note read: You are a disgrace. I'm glad that I'll never have to look at you again, worst regards, Henry.
Immediately after I read the note, I called 911, as I didn't know what else to do in that situation. I told them what happened over the phone, and in less than fifteen minutes, arrangements were made, for me to be whisked away to my uncle's house.
It was a couple months after that, and one of my three friends began to feel bad for me. He recommended a kids show called My Little Pony. I was offended at first, but after a few episodes I was fully immersed. The color palette was so vibrant, the characters so carefree, the faces of the ponies in the show so warming. I fell in love with it. Within days, I had watched the first season. I had taken a special liking to the pegasus called fluttershy. The show helped me get through the years of middle/high school. Sometimes, I wished I could live in the loving world of Equestria. A dream like that was too far fetched to ever come true, but one could hope.
When the time came for me to move out of the house, I had already picked out a cheap living space. It gave me a sense of self worth at the time, but the feeling faded. I lived in a condo with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, an office, and a small area that was supposedly a living room. The papers made it out to be almost seven hundred square feet, although it only felt like two hundred
Collage was a thing that seemed unnecessary to attend, so i never went. Back then, I was still low in terms of authority for my job, but I learned the ropes, and climbed the ladder of economics.
Here I stand, with no promising opportunities ahead of me. All I have is a cheap house and a deadbeat job to ensure my future.
Hooray! I just finished tonight's paperwork. What an accomplishment. Now I might as well just sit around, being worthless as a sack of potatoes.
Or maybe, since my laptop is still on, I could search up My Little Pony fan fictions.
"Well, I feel like shit, so why not push myself further into the mood eh?"
I was talking to myself. This thought made me feel stupid. After I brought up Google, I searched up: Sad Fluttershy fanfic. She was still my favorite. I clicked a link, and started reading a grotesque story about changelings going around Equestria, mauling everypony in sight. It made me very angry, but depressed at the same time to think that someone would write something like this. At the end of the story, Fluttershy made a final stand to save Cloudsdale. It was a close battle, but finding it to be a grimdark, all was for naught. Fluttershy was killed brutally, and Cloudsdale was destroyed. Now, I felt like going to the corner of the room and crying my eyes out, but I didn't. Instead, I went out to the garage, picked up my bike, and contemplated on where to go.
As an alternative for getting a car, which seemed way to expensive at the time, I had bought a dark green and silver bike for about thirty well spent dollars at a second hand shop. It was a fairly decent bike, that was my size. The only problem with it, was that the brakes were stuck. When I bought it, I had to go home, grab my tool kit, (nothing but a few screwdrivers of various sizes, an adjustable wrench, a few random sized bolts and screws, a brand-less hammer, rusty nails, and a blowtorch) and take the brakes off. I didn't think I'd use them, much anyways. Perhaps when I saved up some more, I would get a nicer bike with some fancy brakes and whatnot.
My destination was undecided, but I knew of a few forgotten mountain biking trails, just a mile away. Most were overgrown by so much crap, that the trail was indifferent from the rest of the tangled mess of shrubs. I mentally selected one of the few paths that didn't involve bringing a pair of hedge trimmers. As I opened the garage door, I realized that it was dark out. I didn't feel like going back in, so I assumed that it was about seven or eight at night. Screw it. I left the house, and zoomed along the cracked sidewalk. What a nice breeze.
While I rode, I took note of how quiet all of the surrounding houses were. The lights were off in all but two. One of the lit houses had six cars parked outside, and inside played loud pop music. I assumed that it contained a party full of drunks. Soon, the scenery changed, and trees started to engulf my vision. The quiet residential area had now been left behind. I was entering the even quieter, and much darker part of town. Near the outskirts stood a small forested zone. It was peaceful, until my bike started emitting a loud metallic clanking sound. I hadn't changed the gears on the bike, nor had I felt any sort of bumping come from the tires. Until I reached some sort of space large enough for me to see what went wrong, I would have to ignore it.
When I got to the start of the concealed trail, after going right past it many times, I saw that it had been overrun by shrubs and small seedlings. I assumed that this particular trail would be a clear dirt path, but now it was clear that Mother Nature would not let me have my way. I would have to carry on cautiously. "Nobody would miss me at this hour", I thought to myself. Then, I began the journey down the pathway, further into the forest that kept it's secret so well hidden. The clanking of my bike stupid bike grew louder and louder, until it was almost unbearable. After about two and a half miles of heavy breathing, and a relentless assault on my ears later, I came upon an open meadow. Standing in the middle of it was a lone oak tree. All around, were flowers that I could not recognize at this state of darkness.
Feeling as tired as I was, you would have taken the same course of action as me. I got off of the bike, and headed to the tree to lean up against it. A feeling of paranoia somehow creeped it's way into my mind.
Being in a large open space at what I estimated as nine, wasn't what I had imagined coming out here. Due to the distance of the ride, I had never been close to the meadow. I had no idea that it was here. The only way I knew that this was even a trail, was because I had ridden past it at an earlier date. Somehow, I found myself wandering my way through about ten minutes worth of trail. The rough bark of the tree made me uncomfortable. The paranoid feeling was still there, but it wasn't as strong as it was a few minutes ago. Feeling even more tired than I had when I arrived here, I laid on my back with my hands behind my head. For the first time tonight, I glanced upwards towards the stars. The beauty of the constellations captured my interest, and I just stared. Only now, did I feel true peace of mind.
What had escaped my mind for about twenty minutes of me just sitting there mesmerized, was the constant clank clank clank noise, my old mountain bike made as I had ridden it down here. I immediately jolted up, from my half asleep state. I needed to fix the horrible sound. It nearly drove me insane, while I was riding down here. My ears would give, if I were to hear that noise one more time within the next ten minutes. Eyes squinted, I searched the chromed metal. If I didn't find anything, I would feel like sitting there for the next hour, letting loose poorly shaped profanities directed towards my bike, in disbelief that I would have to hear it all the way back. Just as a second effort, I let my hands feel around the cold metal. This went on for about thirty more grueling seconds, but then finally, "Ahh," I muttered, weakly suppressing a disappointed why did I not see this before face. My hands had just stumbled across a rock wedged in between the gears, and the spindles in the back wheel. Every time a spindle would pass it, it would collide with the small rock, making the most annoying noise in the world. I removed the earthy object, and threw it into the trees to my right as hard as I could served it right.
Well, now I could actually relax away from all of the town's lights. Out here, I could clearly see every star, and the moon would light up most of my surroundings. "Oh, Luna" I thought to myself. By now though, I started to get bored. Normally, my hands would be full of things that needed to be done. Work was normally a main priority, but I would rarely ever have a break from it. I would only get by on what I earned, with a little extra spending money here and there... Okay, okay, I admit it. I actually overwork myself quite a bit. I really only should be doing about seven hours of it a day, although I would go eleven hours a day just because I have nothing better to do. And the little extra spending money I mentioned, is actually building up. I now had over ten thousand extra bucks waiting for me at the bank. I probably wouldn't be doing anything with it anytime soon though.
Now that my mind was no longer occupied, the feeling of paranoia was starting to creep up on me. My mind now emphasized every small chirp from the birds, or breeze rustling the leaves of plants, and even the sound of my own breathing. I tried my best to ignore it, and put thoughts in my head, that could only spare me seconds. Each one of them were things like: "What should I have for lunch tomorrow", or "what if there are people that are waiting on me to pick up the phone". They even turned into things that would only happen in parallel universes, such as: "What if there is someone robbing me", then they started morphing situations that involved me right now. "What if I'm being watched." "Is there a killer stalking me right now?" I tried to dismiss the ideas, but the harder I tried the worse they got. "There! I just heard footsteps! "I looked over to see moving shadows only five feet from me. Jumping up, I realized that it was just the tree to my far right, dancing around in the warm winds of spring. It was starting to affect my vision now too. I saw trees glaring at me, and leaves flying towards me like bullets. It was like some sort of insane wine effect.
I got up and walked over to my bike, that was leaning against the oak tree. "I'll come back another time". I was just about to shove off in the direction of the path I came from, when I saw the bush just ahead of me, but partially concealed by the trees next to it, shake violently. I nearly lost my head, although I did lose control of my bike. It sent me flying for a good five feet from my it. After getting up, all I could think to do was run and hide, and hope that whatever was in the bush didn't spot me. I sprinted back towards the oak tree. It seemed like the most solid solution. The tree was wider across than I was. I could easily hide there comfortably for over an hour, if it came to that. Now that I had reached the cover, and nothing had shot, lunged, or screamed at me, I became a bit curious. I was not going to let a sliver of curiosity take a sliver out of my heart.
Sacrificing a peek, I felt my whole body almost crumble. I had caught sight of the "intruder" but it wasn't what I expected to see. Instead of seeing a mask or snout, I had seen a vibrant flash of a light yellowish sort of color combined with bright pink. "Damn paranoia induced hallucinations. If I were not mistaken, I had seen my favorite pony from My Little Pony, Fluttershy. I stepped out from behind the tree. Of course, the pony wasn't there. It was just air. I should have known better. Pegasus don't exist. Bending down to pick up my undamaged mountain bike, I heard a whimper. I looked up, only to see the small pink and yellow pegasus pony. For a glimpse at closure, I walked over to the foreign creature. Instead of disappearing though, Fluttershy gasped and ran. Without thinking, I called out to her
"Wait!"
She disappeared through the trees, and my mind and brain had an argument over weather I should chase her or forget it. Clearly though, my wit was settled. I took off after the pegasus.
As I ran, I saw flashes of bright colors through the trees. "I won't hurt you!" I liked fluttershy so much in the show, that apparently I would chase after her through the woods, at eleven 'o' clock at night if I were to see her in real life. Right then, she felt like my only link to happiness. "It's okay!" I wouldn't have believed myself either if I were her. I knew I wouldn't hurt her, but after hearing myself yell that, I would have thought that I wanted to strangle her with her own entrails (too harsh?). Just then, an alien-like sound echoed through the forest. It sounded like a cross between a banshee, and a small child being thrown into a river together in a garbage sack (ok, I'll stop with the absurd, yet morbid metaphors and such...happy?). If that was something to come off as a warning from Fluttershy, it wouldn't work on me.
She sounded like she was hurt or something. Following my ears, I came upon a small clearing with three trees in the middle of it. It was nowhere near as big as the meadow I just left, but it was still larger enough to park a family motorhome in. In between the three trees, was Fluttershy, caught up in a load of the branches. She was struggling, in a final attempt to escape me. The limbs of the dead trees, held her in place, even though they took a toll of splintering many small branches. If I were to take normal steps from where I was standing, it would have taken about ten. One step. "I'm not going to hurt you," I said in a soothing voice. Another step "It's okay," I tried to use a tone that I heard oh, so often when my mother was around. Third step. As I got closer to her, I could hear her chanting softly to herself.
"Save me, dear princess Celestia! Save me!" All of the sudden, a wave of regret washed over me. Why did Fluttershy have to endure this. All of the events that had happened would be so traumatic in her mind.
"H-hello?" I said in a hushed voice.
"G-g-g-go a-a-away!" She sounded like she was certain that I would eat her alive.
"Um...I um...kinda wanted...to help you?" I wish I could say that I had sounded more sure of myself, but I would be lying if I did. It came out as more of a question then what it was intended to be.
"P-p-please."
"I-I just want to er... Help you."
"I-I d-don't want-t any h-help-p" She obviously thought that I would do something terrible to her. It was utterly unthinkable that I would do anything to hurt her. In her eyes though... That's it! If there was one thing I could choose to remember from the show at that moment, this was what I would have chosen.
"Pinkie promise!"
"U-u-um w-what-t?" She didn't know how to respond to that, but at least she stopped trembling.
"I won't hurt you. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" I said this really quickly, as I thought this would break the barrier between us.
"Y-you can't-t break a p-p-pinkie p-promise!" From the show, it seemed like that was the golden rule: Don't break a pinkie promise... EVER.
"I don't intend to," my eyes locked with hers for a split second. It felt like we genuinely understood each other for that small amount of time. Fluttershy then nodded her head in agreement. I walked over to her, and she flinched ever so slightly, with every step I took. I felt like I was flying over to her. When I finally closed the gap, I reached up to grab one of the branches that she was entangled in. Fluttershy gasped, but nothing more. I started to pull on the tree limb until it splintered. Something that you couldn't really call, a gasp, escaped her mouth. It wasn't human, but it was close. I kept pulling, and the branch finally came off.
"Are you okay?" I knew I didn't scrape or stab her or anything, but I knew that she felt more than the pain of the tree branches. I could tell that she was overwhelmed, and in a sense, I was too. I had just met my favorite cartoon character, whereas she had just met the demon of her nightmares. Potato patato.
"I-I-I'm f-fine," after her brisk response, I reached up to grab another dead tree branch. SNAP! I pulled it off, and then THUD! Fluttershy had just landed on the ground. Her back hit the soil hard.
"OH MY GOD! ARE YOU OKAY!?" She got up shakily, and even when she stood up she still wobbled a bit.
"I-I think-k?" She was hiding her embarrassment behind her long pink mane. She looked beautiful and majestic, even after her hair had been tangled by the tree limbs.
"I'm sorry about that," I said, embarrassed. "So, what's your name?" I tried to leave the tumble she just took behind, and ignore all the cliches in other fanfictions where the protagonist would have to ask her name, even though they already knew it.
"It's-it's Flutters*mumbling*"
"I-I'm sorry what was that" I tried to brush it off.
"Fluttersh*mumbling*"
"C-can you just run that by me...one more time?"
"It's Fluttershy"
"Well, that's a beautiful name, Fluttershy!" She looked a bit taken aback by this small remark.
"Oh, um th-thanks. W-what's your n-name?" She hid behind her mane once more.
"Tony."
"Th-that's a n-nice name," she tried to hide her shyness as best as she could.
"Look, um Fluttershy, I'm going to go back to my house to get some rest. Do um, do you want to come?" I hoped against anything that she would say yes.
"Y-yeah. It's d-dark and s-scary out-t here." I smiled, trying to bottle my joyous feelings, bursting in what felt like fireworks inside me.
"Just follow me okay?"
"O-okay," I didn't see much alternative for her though. If she stayed here, she would get lost, and probably end up in trouble somehow. It was dark and scary, I had to admit.
I led Fluttershy back to the meadow where I left my bike. We didn't talk while we walked over to it. Neither of us wanted to.
"W-what's that-t?"
"What, that?" I pointed to my bike.
"Yes."
"It's what I used to get here. It's actually quite a long ways back to my house."
"Oh...um o-ok"
"I think you'll have to walk. Do you want me to walk with you, instead of riding the bike?"
"Um, if you d-don't mind, I would like that-t"
"Sure thing," I wasn't the happiest with her choice, but I knew it would be hard for her to walk back with me to help her. "The trail is just over this way," I waved over at the direction it was in. She nodded, and I led the way back towards the small city.
Fluttershy seemed eager to see the little town I lived in. She was leading the way throughout the walk home. The only words that were exchanged included.
"Um, a-are we there y-yet? I would always answer with a simple no. To my surprise, she didn't have trouble continuing on, halfway through the walk. She stood strong all the way through. Her swift strides were always even. As we neared the first street lamp, Fluttershy actually stopped hiding behind her mane. She would take a bath when we got back to the condo. She really needed one. Her mane was tangled and filled with dirt, and her coat had a few mud stains in it.
"T-this is pretty," Fluttershy murmured, snapping me out of my thinking state. I never realized it before, but when you look back from the trail, and down onto the town at this time of night, it was breathtaking. The path started atop a hill, which served as a good vantage point for us. She was able to see over half of the lights that shone up from all the houses. Most everyone was asleep in them now though. I doubt that anyone would see her this late at night. I would have to think of a way to hide her in public soon, but now it was stealth mode. We walked through the residential part of town to get to the condo, but then we realized that practically a third of the people still had their lights on. In some house windows I could see people nonchalantly watching tv in their family room. One of them looked out the window... He then spat his wine out. I guess not everybody would believe it if they saw a filthy yellow and pink pony.
At last, we arrived at my house. Another close call on the way, involved a late night jogger and a stoplight. They should have been watching where they were going. Not staring at someone else's once technicolor pegasus.
"Well, here we are," I started to rummage around in my pockets for my keys. Oh no, I left them inside. What do I tell Fluttershy?
"Um...Fluttershy, I need to go around back and open the other door, ok? Stay here, and...uh...just stay." I ran around to the back of the house. If anybody else saw me, they'd think that I was trying to rob the house. Luckily, I was lazy enough to leave the back sliding door unlocked. I threw the door open, and ran inside. Closing the door behind me, I jolted around to the front door, and unlocked it from the inside.
"Fluttershy, come on in," I said as I opened the door. No answer. "Fluttershy?"
Still no noises came through the bleakness of the night. "Fluttershy, that's not funny," I stepped outside. "Hey, come on out already, I'm not laughing," just then, I heard a whinny from around the corner of the house. Glancing around at the other houses to make sure I hadn't disturbed anyone in my fit, I quietly stepped around to the side of the house I heard the whinny from.
"EEEEEEHH!" Fluttershy squealed and started to gallop around to the back of the house, then she realized who had just startled her.
"S-s-sorry."
"It's okay, but why were you over here? I told you to wait out front."
"I-I-I-I was, b-but then, I-I saw a b-big orange m-monster. I-it had t-two g-glowing eyes, a-and it was going r-really f-fast! I g-got scared and r-ran over h-here and hid!"
"Um, Fluttershy? I think the monster you were seeing was a...er...car."
"A what?"
"A car. People drive around in them everywhere, so they don't have to walk as far."
"C-can we g-go back inside n-now?"
"Of course," I say as I lead her back into the safe haven that is my condo. "Um, Fluttershy I think you need to take a bath."
"Okay," she replied I showed her to the bathroom. She seemed to know what to do, so I left her alone to bathe. Meanwhile, I was going to make her some sort of food. I didn't know how long she had been out in the forest, so it was the least I could do. Lets see, if I were a pony, what would I eat? I picked up a cereal box. I had had some of the cereal just this morning. Raisins and oats. I knew it tasted terrible, but what else was I supposed to give her? After all, she wouldn't eat meat. Raisins and oats it shall be. I poured out the cereal into a larger bowl than something I would normally use. I wished I had apples for her, but I couldn't stand the taste of them. What else would I do with an apple, if not eat it? I'd probably go out to the store tomorrow to get her some fresh ones. Such journeys would wait.
"Fluttershy?" I heard the water across the hallway, being shutoff. Apparently she'd had her fill. "Come in the kitchen when you're done in there." A muffled answer, hardly perceivable as a yes, came from the bathroom. For some reason, my mind drifted towards the questionable fact that I would be able to hide her from my neighbors. Why was I thinking about this now? It wasn't how my mindset worked. It was supposed to happen first, then I would worry about it. "Fluttershy is a link to sanity, that's been granted to me by the gods of unknown reason, probably because the gods were bored with what they were seeing." I nearly missed myself mumbling. I hate it when I did that.
"U-um h-hello?"
"EEUUH!" I let out a startled sound, that would now haunt me.
"I-I was w-wondering what y-y-you wanted me in h-here f-for?"
"Ah well, I uh made you some... Cereal? It's over there on the table." Fluttershy waddled over to where I pointed, and peered into the large bowl of oats.
"Do you think that you'd like that at all? I was going to swing by the store later to grab some apples for you.
"R-really?"
"Yeah that's all for you."
"T-thanks, er I-I guess"
"If you don't want it, you don't have to eat it."
"No no no, I can't be so rude!" And with that, she started eating cereal in the politest way possible, if you ask me. I could envision her, holding her pinkie out as she ate. What a nice house guest. After I was done marveling at her exquisiteness, I got ready for bed. I threw a simple t-shirt on, and shorts. That would be tonight's attire. Fluttershy still needed a place to sleep. I remembered the small guest bedroom, just down the hallway. It had a bed, a window, a writing desk, and a tv. I bet she cold survive in there. I walked back out into the kitchen.
"Fluttershy, I have a guest bedroom if you want to sleep there."
"I-I don't d-deserve th-that, do I?"
"Fluttershy, after what you've been through tonight, it's the least I could do. You've more than earned it."
"Really!" What came next surprised me for sure. Fluttershy sprung up from the uncomfortable seat she was sitting in, and nearly tackled me in a hug. I could only accept it. I guess the element of kindness would grow on me. After what felt like five minutes, the embrace was relieved. I just had a near death experience. I don't know if it was the fact that she was squeezing so hard, or the fact that my heart almost exploded from the hug. It was so overwhelming.
"Fluttershy...thanks...it's been forever since I have felt something like that...I needed it"
"S-sorry" she was red faced, and trying to hide behind her now reflectively clean mane.
"Don't be embarrassed. We should probably go to bed anyways...right?"
"Y-yes please." I showed her around the guest bedroom. There wasn't much to see, but she seemed interested anyways. She might have just been trying to make up for what she did earlier. I did like the hug, but I've been feeling so empty since my mother died. I didn't know what to think. She hopped up into the bed, while I tucked her up. It felt natural, tucking her up like this. I felt like reading her a story or something. For once, I could actually feel something besides anger and sadness towards the world. Fluttershy was so good at loosening someone up. After she went to sleep, I went back to my own bed. All I could do is lay there I couldn't stop thinking about Fluttershy. What would happen next? What if somebody found her out? What would happen if I left her alone to go to the store? Too many questions and not enough answers.
"H-hey Toby?" I didn't know how long I had been laying there. It felt like years, but it was probably only an hour or two.
"I-I-I-I..." Her voice trailed off.
"You what?"
"I-I miss um..." Part of me already knew what was coming, but the other half wanted it not to be. She was homesick.
"Do you miss your friends?"
"Um...yes. I didn't want to bug you about it, b-but I-I-I..." She was almost in tears as she was trying to tell me what had happened.
"Look, Fluttershy it's okay. I'll be here for you. I bet your friends are missing you just as much, but all we can do for now is wait. They'll try to find a way to contact you. Until then, stand strong...ok?"
"Um o-ok" I knew I was horrible at speeches, but that was just terrible. It were enough for her though, so I started to feel a little bit better about myself.
"Lets go back to bed." I tried to reassure her. We left my room, and once again I tucked her up again, and headed back to my room. Was I turning into a father?
The morning lights cascaded down from the poorly drawn shades that hung in front of the warm glass. Dust particles could be seen floating about. The red digital display of an old themed alarm clock boasted nine eighteen. The entire room looked as if someone had thrown a vintage filter over a photograph.
I rose up quickly in my bed. It's almost noon, according to the window. I took a chance, and let my curious eyes wander over to my alarm clock. Bad idea. The sight of it made me shoot out of my bed, to grab a set of clothes I had laid out for myself off of my rustic dresser. I went to go change, and do the morning rituals, then immediately found out that attempting to brush your teeth while pulling a shirt on is not the best combination.
Rubbing a toothpaste stained shirt with a damp washcloth from the bathroom, I raced out into the kitchen to prepare a bowl of raisin bran cereal. Hastily, I stuffed spoonfuls of the tasteless mixture into my dry mouth. Just because I got to bed late doesn't mean I can sleep away my mornings. The clients would be furious. I usually get up at around seven to preform my morning routines. If not that, then earlier, it seemed that everyone wanted first dibs with my calls, because I'm good at what I do.
Enraged at myself, I stomped back into my bedroom, holding a cheap laptop meant for business purposes. Eventually, I got situated at my desk. I rarely used it because of its poor condition, but today I couldn't be bothered. The familiar clacking sound of the keyboard faltered my frustration. When I worked, a mindless version of me would take over to send checks, report open spots for potential careers, and file outrageous amounts of profile statistics.
Just as I began to place my fingers correctly on the keyboard, the phone rang out its cry for attention. I swiveled the desk chair around, to face my rival. Tenderly, I stretched my hand out to the ringing receiver, and picked up the handheld.
"Hello?"
"Tony I need your help!" The speaker blared into my unsuspecting ear. I could recognize that voice anywhere. It belonged to one of my oldest business partners, now gone to work for an advertising company. He was also one of my most frequent clients. His name was Grant.
"What happened this time?"
"My boss is waiting for me in his office. He called me in so I could talk to him about the current campaign for the MixMarking company. The sales for their current product seem to be decreasing by the dozen every time our ad airs."
"The blender company?" I was next to lost at this point. He slurred his words together in his panic.
"Yes! Of course! He says we need to start a new campaign, but he's too stubborn to consider the cost. This could take everyone's pay grade down to about four an hour! I can't afford to take a hit that hard in my current state! I'd have to file for bankruptcy!"
"Look, just drop this campaign and try a new one." I knew that it would be expensive to carry out the whole mess. In the long run though, I knew that it would turn out to be more than profitable.
"Why are you taking his side on this? Look. I estimate about twenty grand at least. If a new marketing stunt costs the company that much, you are gonna have quite the run for your money."
"If you can show me the commercial by next month, I might be able to help you out. I know your limits. We've been acquainted from the very beginning. You could pull this off, and then some."
"Okay, okay. I'm trusting you on this. I'd like to tell you something though. If this gets me out of the job, I'm holding you personally responsible. Got it?"
"Don't worry. If you throw me a screwball with this commercial, it can't be that hard to catch. I've got your back."
"You had better be right about this." I heard the familiar click of the receiver on the other end finally being released from the normally sweaty hands of the customer that gripped it. I held onto my end for a bit longer though. What if I was wrong, and the whole ordeal would ultimately destroy my high reputation for a considerably long period of time? What if I had just ruined Grant's career as an envied publicity manager? What if I... What if... I can't think about that, I reminded myself. If my mindset were centered around negativity, my future would be balanced on a razor's edge. 'Think of this as an opportunity. Not a ball and chain.' I tried telling myself. It was hardly enough to keep my conscience clear.
Enough time was spent pondering the outcome of my hasty decisions. I needed to get my morning fuel. If I had actually cooperated with my schedule, I would have handled that phone call almost five times as smoothly. With my work a bit more up to date, I held my head high, as my feet carried me to my coffee maker. The glass pitcher was soon filled with the dark concoction. I poured a generous amount of it into one of my bland coffee mugs, and stored the rest in the cheap refrigerator. As soon as the scorching liquid reached it's destination, my insides experienced some form of jump start. This was going to be a long day.
Reluctantly, I made my way back to the faint glow of the laptop. I felt as though I were missing something. The thought was dismissed just as easily as it found it's way into my head. I got that feeling on a daily basis. It was nothing out of the ordinary. I scanned company's website with my eyes, and my fingers switched over to autopilot mode. A low hum of the fan inside the machine accompanied by the pecking sounds of the keys soothed me. It had a strange sense of irony to it, being the source of the problems and all. The clock in my head told me that I had been sitting there for over a month. The clock hanging above my door begged to differ. In reality, I had been sitting there for just over two hours. It was all spent on simple things, like browsing for recent job openings and scrutinizing 'employee only' sites, for a few statistics on some future plans in other corporations and businesses.
A quiet whisper coming from the doorway awakened me from my state of deep thought.
"Um...hello?" The small disturbance made my soul jump out of my skin for a few seconds. Everything from last night came rushing back to me. The only visible ailment in my body language was a single twitch of my right arm. I knew I should have listened to the nagging voice in the back of my mind, yelling at me for forgetting something.
"hello." She flinched a bit, as of she didn't expect an answer.
"U-um, I-I was...wondering...if I c-could have...breakfast," She stated her needs, as if she were a child delivering some news to her mother. Terrible news that would surely disappoint the adult. It was adorable when she stuttered like that. My authoritative tone faltered, as I answered her back.
"Of course. How could I forget?" To me, it was apparent that I could forget in a mere two hours. Together, we strode our way back into the kitchen. "What do you want to eat? I still haven't gone out to get anything more... Never mind."
"Oh, anything is fine. I d-don't want be picky."
"No, no. You're my guest. You can choose anything you want from in here."
"Are you sure?" I saw the eager twinkle in her eyes. She couldn't be denied with that kind of voice.
"What's mine is yours." I gave a welcoming gesture with my arms to reinforce my words.
"C-can I just l-look for a bit, and s-see what there I-is?"
"Take all the time you need," and with that, I left the room. I gave her a while to poke around the kitchen, and see what suits her needs. If she found something she liked, maybe I could purchase more of it while I go off shopping. As loathing as it seemed, I had to go back to my work. I tried my best to block out all distractions for the best marathon working conditions. Of course, I would have to deal with Fluttershy's choice of breakfast food. I stalled a bit, as to wait for her indecisive stance. She was like a kid in a candy store.
"Tony, can you come in here?"
"Sure. I'll be there in a minute," if she had finally made her verdict, I would be happy to oblige, but if it were for some other sort of mundane task, she would probably be better off doing it herself. I sauntered back into the kitchen for the screw-keeping-track-of-times, and found Fluttershy in front of the now open refrigerator, trying her darnedest to reach up onto the back of the top shelf. The only object I kept up there, were the eggs.
"Oh, um...hi," she looked embarrassed when she realized I was there watching her. She seemed very self conscious. "I was trying to get down the...eggs from up there. C-can you help me? I mean if-if that's okay," she quickly added. Her confidence in the words she spoke faded too quickly. If her sentence were longer, her voice would be reduced to nothing more than an inaudible mumble. It seemed that asking permission for everything was just a side effect of this.
"Sure. It's fine, just scooch over a little bit," Fluttershy took her front hooves out of the first refrigerator pocket, and took a few steps to the right. I took that as my cue, and easily scooped the carton of eggs off of the top shelf. "What are you going to use them for?" My curiosity bested me.
"I, um...saw the e-eggbeater, a-and I thought of...P-Pinkie Pie." Her eyes made a transition from fake confidence to brimmed with tears. It would probably be best not to mention any of her friends to her.
"Look, do you remember what I told you last night? They're looking for you. Don't worry," I knew that if it had been a day already, they had to be getting close.
"D-do you r-really th-think so?
"I know so. Now what were you going to use an eggbeater for?"
"I-I wanted to m-make...pancakes? Her voice grew shrill as she released those words.
"I, uh, think you better let me do this. Just go wait in the guest room or something."
"Oh... um... ok," she walked out with her head down. I didn't mean to hurt her feelings.
"Hey, wait. Do you want to help?" She jumped around to meet me with a beaming face. She had quite a way of getting what she wanted. "Can you go grab the flour from the pantry? Fluttershy complied happily.
About ten or fifteen minutes later, Fluttershy and I sat down at the small dining room table, to enjoy a plate of at least ten small pancakes. It tasted surprisingly good for my first time attempting to bake the delicious 'treat'. Not a single ward was exchanged during that small time period. Our mouths were stuffed with overcooked batter. At least mine was anyway. She still hadn't dropped the fancy dining etiquette.
"Um... You can... Leave if you w-want to." She must've looked up from her plate to examine my face. If that were so, then she may have seen my face turn a bit red. I was spacing off, staring at the window just across from us.
"Oh, yeah I need to get back to work." Fluttershy seemed disappointed with my decision, then quickly realized that she had given me the option. I was just as mournful, and then some. Working for me was a pastime that helped pay bills. I have no idea where I would be without it. Probably on the streets, trying my hand at a cheap harmonica or something. The only problem is, is that without her, I could work freely with no regrets whatsoever. With her in need of my attention, I couldn't feel worse about it. Work is work though even if I wanted to oblige or not.
For today, I would only allow myself to commit three hours to my hard earned job. I had too much to worry about. In reality, I was only required to slave over the keyboard for about forty hours a week. I would wake up, do my assigned duties, then mill about for the next few hours. I fitted my hours so that I could stop at six like everyone else, and take Saturday and Sunday off. Just like everyone else.
I needed to focus on Fluttershy's needs. I wanted her to feel as welcome as possible. It was currently lunch time, so I needed to run by the local store to pick up some bread, lettuce, carrots, pancake mix, and of course apples. I felt like I should throw in a dessert as well. Almost half of the foods in Equestria (mentioned be the show) were sweets. In conclusion, I decided on some sort of cake mix.
Now that I had finally turned all power consumers in the house off, I would need to make sure that Fluttershy would stay hidden. There wasn't a room in the house that was completely void of windows, except for the one small bathroom. I wasn't going to have her hole up in there though. I guess she could stay in the guest bedroom, so long as I covered the windows.
"Fluttershy."
"Yes?" A soft whisper carried through the empty space, almost lost through the door frames.
"You need to stay in your bedroom until I get home. Understand?" I was taking my time in reaching the open door to where she lay.
"Um...why?" She probably didn't know what was going on.
"I'm going to go out for a bit. You need to stay in your room. I don't think my neighbors will take too kindly to a yellow pegasus."
"Oh...ok." She sounded slightly offended. I don't know why she would take offense to that though. I stepped through the doorway. As I expected, Fluttershy was peacefully sitting on the cushioned bed.
"Sorry, but I'll need to cover the window."
"Um... Why?
"If the neighbors saw you, things could happen." A puzzled expression broke out onto her face. "Bad things," I added for clarity.
"Uh... What kind of bad things?"
"Let's just rerun this topic later okay?" She nodded with a contempt look in her eyes. She's a master at masking her body language, or maybe it's the fact that she is a pony. I'll never know.
The shopping endeavors were mildly uneventful. The only thing notable about it, was the look on the cashiers face when she saw me bring in my selected items. She smiled mockingly at a thought of some sort of diet. It was too easy to scoff that assumption though. Who would start a diet consisting of large quantities cake, eggs, apples, peanut butter, jelly, white bread, and pancakes? It would likely be years before some last resort attempt at halting my small sweet tooth cravings would become this desperate.
I slowly wandered over to the spot my bike was sitting, on the rusted bike rack. I was lost in a world of thought. How would this whole thing work out? Would Fluttershy's friends come back to Earth in some sort of dramatized fashion, like the infamous reunion in a personally heart wrenching story, My Little Dashie? Would she still be at the house by the time I got back? The last thought made me quicken my pace. Concern seeped into my mind. What if she had hurt herself somehow? What if someone else saw her? What if... 'Stop it!'. Why was I worrying about this? She wasn't one to break rules. Rainbow Dash on the other hand... Lets just say that I would rather have three Fluttershy's than a single Rainbow Dash.
If I could have played music on the way back, I would have blasted it into my ears. Anything to keep me from being the little worrywart under stress, I normally am. I pulled up onto the rarely used driveway, and opened the garage using the remote. I would put it in my pocket every time I left to go somewhere. I rushed inside with even more implied haste. This was one of the only exceptions to closing the door on my way inside. It was normally a habit, and a habit worth keeping at that. I threw the recently purchased items on the ground, and flew over to the room Fluttershy had been staying in. My sudden appearance at the doorway must have startled her, because her initial reaction was to flee to safety under the bed. My senses flooded back to me in a brief realization of my 'overprotective' attitude. I've lost too many things in the past. I noticed the tv remote she dropped on her descent. It wasn't on, so her attempts on working the device must have been fruitless.
"It's okay, I'm back," I said half panting. She popped her head out of the small opening. It was a marvel on how she managed to cram her way into the little nook under the bed.
"Oh...ok sorry. I didn't realize."
"No no, it was me who startled you. I have lunch though. Just stay here and I'll bring it to you." I left her alone before she could find a reason to keep me from going back out. Hurriedly, I grabbed two slices of white bread from one of the three bags I had gotten. My next destination turned out to be the back patio, if you could even call it a patio. I thrust the sliding door open, and grabbed handfuls of grass from the lawn. She may not like the type of bread or plant I was using, so in my head this seemed to be a long shot. How wrong that statement turned out to be. I brought the catastrophic confection back to the guest bedroom, on a plate from the cupboard. Her face lit up.
"Ooh! A hay sandwich!" Her overexcited attitude quickly changed back to the polite posture she usually attained. "Th-thank you, Tony." She calmly took the plate out of my hands, and set it down in front of herself.
"No problem. Just a little taste of home." I quickly realized my mistake, when her eyes turned sour. She pushed the plate aside, and leaned against the headboard. "Sorry. They'll find us sooner or later... Right?" I wanted confirmation from her, so she could feel a bit better herself.
"Um, I guess."
"Look, don't feel bad. I think lunch will make you feel a bit better." Behind my sincere eyes, I was dwindling all of my will power away. My friends had left me, but they never came drifting back. I knew that I was on the verge of tears. All I could do, was reassure her with false hope.
