Denounced

Inside the house on the outskirts of Ponyville stood two ponies who looked at the door. Both mother and son stood there with their saddlebags and stared at the exit. Neither of the two had used the door since their discovery the previous day. Now it almost seemed like a challenge to even step towards the wooden thing.

“Mom?” Button asked quietly.

“Yes, sweetie?”

“Why are we just standing here?” His mother didn’t take her eyes off of the door to look at her son. If not for the blinking of her eyes, she could easily have been mistaken for a statue.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “Because I’m afraid, I think.” A gentle nudge on her leg caught her attention, and she finally looked away from the door and down at her son. He was smiling gently at her, as if everything was quite normal.

“Don’t be scared,” he said. “You’ve got me.” His brave little words made his mother chuckle. She put her hoof on his back and rubbed it gently.

“You’re right.” Button’s mother took a deep breath and returned her gaze to the door. “Let’s go.”

The two of them began moving forward until they reached the door. Button’s mother reached out for the knob with her hoof, but stopped in mid-air. She stared intently at the knob, unable to move on. This time, however, Button took charge and put his own hoof on the knob. He quickly opened the door, revealing the outside world to them both.

A brief rush of panic struck his mother when the street outside their home became visible. In a fraction of a second, she imagined all of the terrible things waiting for them right outside the door. Yet there was nothing out there. It was just the good old street, devoid of ponies as it usually was. Button’s mother let out a breath she didn’t realize, she had been holding.

Button jumped out into the street in front of his mother, causing a warm smile to appear on her lips. A mother could not have asked for a better son. She had been dealt a good hand, and it was a hand she cherished more than anything else in this world. There were of course other good foals out there, but none quite like Button. None had his cheerful mind or determination.

“Come on or we’ll be late,” Button called out. The smile on his lips was pure and innocent, a smile simply calling out to his mother. Looking at him was like looking into the past. He was so very young, so very naïve.

Button’s mother exited the house and locked the door behind her. She deeply inhaled the brisk morning air and looked around the street. Not a single pony was to be seen, as was quite normal for their neighborhood. As a result of this lack of ponies, the walk to the junction was quite uneventful for the two.

“All right, I’ll see you after school,” Button’s mother said as she smiled at her son. “Have a good day, okay?”

The colt nodded furiously and chuckled. “Of course. See you later, mom.” He turned around and began walking towards the center of Ponyville, the opposite direction of where his mother was going. She watched him the entire way, however. An invisible force was compelling her to watch him take one small step at a time towards his destination. He was so very brave to walk that road.

The mother in the street sighed deeply and closed her eyes. A silent prayer left her lips as she imagined her son’s continued walking. Whether they would be heard, she knew not, but it was worth the try. Anything to keep the lives they had always lived.

She turned around and began her journey to the hospital. Yet another Monday had fallen upon the city of Ponyville, and that meant another day of work. Button’s mother could not have asked for a better job; taking care of foals was a joy in itself, and getting paid for it was simply the cherry on top. Their adorable little bodies and cute noises were payment enough to her.

No other ponies were around in these early hours of the morning. Most ponies either started work later in the day, or simply had nothing to do, and as such slept in. Their absence was replaced instead by the chirping of the birds in the air and buzzing noise of the center of town in the distance. Living away from all the hustle and stress was quite a relief, one that Button’s mother valued highly.

An additional source of joy came from living so close to her workplace. It took the mare no more than ten minutes worth of walking to arrive at her destination. Not enough to tire her, and just enough to clear her mind and prepare her body for the work to come. There were many joys in life, of course, such as having a foal of her own. It was the gift she could not be thankful enough for, but the little joys in life were quite the good additions as well.

She stepped inside the dull, gray building with a nervous smile on her face. It had been so many years since this building last unnerved her, and it had been for entirely different reasons. Starting on a new job always brought some semblance of fright with it, but today was just another day out of many. Yet this day out of many brought to Button’s mother shivers and a churning stomach.

The moment she breached the doors to the main hall of the hospital, the air around her changed. Instead of the briskness and rather refreshing air lingering outside, she was met with what felt like a heavy fog. It clung to every strand of hair on her body and seeped into her nostrils. Never before had the air itself felt so alien to the mother, and it made her entire body tremble.

Every single eye in the hall fell upon the slowly moving figure of Button’s mother. They watched her every move and, to her it seemed, every thought. Normally the hospital was quite the noisy place to be, but today was different. Like the air around her, the ponies seemed strange and even frightening. All of them sat in their chairs or stood on the floor, and they watched her.

Her breathing became ragged and her throat dry. Yet she didn’t let these nuisances stop her; she moved forward just as she had before, albeit slowly. Her mind did not wander, and no images flashed before her inner eye. What she feared, she knew was a fear caused by logic and reason. It was not a fear of the unknown, the alien. It was a fear of the truth.

“What are you doing here?” The male voice broke the silence in the room, but only the eyes of Button’s mother looked to the source of it. A pit of ice manifested itself within her stomach as she looked upon her boss, Doctor Helpinghoof.

“I’m… going to work,” Button’s mother replied quietly. The word felt odd in her mouth, sullied even. In her ears, they sounded like the words of a liar, despite the clear honesty behind them.

“No you’re not.” Doctor Helpinghoof slowly stepped forward, his eyes reeking of horrible intent. “You’re fired, effective immediately.”

“But, but I… Why?” Button’s mother gulped and panted. Her body was truly starting to shake and twitch underneath the increasing pressure brought forth by her surroundings. Even the simple task of keeping her eyes in one place was becoming difficult.

“Why?” Helpinghoof repeated. “You know damn well why. You think we’d ever let someone like you anywhere near infant foals, let alone work here?”

Looking at the pony addressing her became too much to handle. There was nothing good in his words or his gaze, and his mere presence stung like thorns in her side. Instead she looked at all the ponies around her, the ones she knew and the strangers. Every single one of them stared back at her, their eyes burning with either anger or sorrow.

Like knives their staring cut through the air and into her ribs. They made her body bleed invisible drops onto the clean hospital floor. Only her eyes managed to conjure quite visible fluids, and they kept going despite her best efforts. Her body felt so very barren and cold, and underneath it, her legs shook as if freezing coldness had overtaken her.

“Get out before I call the authorities.”

Doctor Helpinghoof’s words rung hollow in her ears. They settled within her mind, clawing their way deeper and deeper into her brain. There was nothing but his words within her head, repeating themselves over and over. A terrible, smashing headache soon followed. It felt as if the doctor himself had taken a mace and started smashing her skull into a thousand pieces.

Each of her hooves trembled as she began walking away from her former boss and friend. The world around her spun and twisted, causing sharp twinges of nausea to assault her stomach. Inside of it, she could feel the contents swirling around as if stirred like a soup. It rumbled and groaned with the ferocity of a manticore, threatening to burst free of its bodily prison.

Button’s mother wanted to leave quietly and peacefully, but neither of the two seemed at all possible to her. There were far too many voices inside her mind and knives stabbing her body to accomplish even such a simple task. More than anything, she wanted to throw herself to the ground and let the darkness consume her to rid herself of the pain.

Yet something deep inside compelled her to run, and run she did. The mother ran faster than a pony fleeing for their life, faster than pony trying to set an Equestrian record. Past the crowd of ponies she ran, out of the hospital and into the brisk morning air. Traces of the suffocating, foggy air from inside followed her outside, clogging her throat and nostrils.

It was no more than ten seconds after her escape that she let herself go. Her stomach exploded inside of her, sending a torrent of vileness through her throat and onto the ground. Burning pain followed in the aftermath, causing her cry out incoherently. Not a single pony was around to see her loss of control, and for that she was thankful.

Although the rebellion of her body left her drained, she did not stop. The world had become a dangerous place with evil lurking around every corner, and she could not afford to be caught alone. So she resumed running faster than any pony had ever run before; away from the hospital and everyone inside of it.

The tears obscured her vision greatly, but she needed not vision to go where she wanted. All she needed was to put one hoof in front of the other, and that is exactly what she did. Her mind was devoid of thoughts as she ran; all it contained were the still echoing words of Helpinghoof.

“Freak!” a female voice called out in front of her. Despite her blurred vision and numbed mind, Button’s mother could clearly make out the shape of a mare ahead. Whoever it was, she was raising her hoof into the air as if threatening the galloping mother. “You’re sick!”

Inside of her mind, the words took their place next to Helpinghoof’s. They danced with his, sending the mind of Button’s mother ablaze through their destructive art. She felt no sign of the tears stopping, not with the assault on her spirit continuing in such horrible fashion.

Button’s mother ran past the mare with blazing speed. There was only so little left to go, and she desperately wanted her journey to end. She wanted the familiar and safe, the place where her mind could roam free and her body rest. It was the only place her legs dared carry her now, for the world had turned dark and untrustworthy.

Although the world was crashing down all around her, she did retain some semblance of luck. Her journey was short and provided no further challenges along the road. Getting to the front door of her home was still tougher than expected, and when she finally found herself within reach of the good old fuchsia door, she collapsed.

On each side of the door used to stand two potted plants, but not any longer. Bits and pieces of the pots were scattered all over the place, and the plants themselves had been trampled flat. They laid there on the little step, a reminder of the type of place the world had come to be. Inside her mind, Button’s mother could hear the mocking words of the ponies as she envisioned them during the act. She could almost feel their hooves beating down on her instead of the plants.

Wanting not to sit in this dreaded place for one second longer, Button’s mother forced herself to her hooves. After a bit of fumbling due to her shaky body, she opened the door. The mare stumbled into her own home, her legs barely able to carry her. To anyone who might have seen her lying in the hall, she no doubt seemed hurt or even dying.

Button’s mother managed to close the door with her hind leg, and once it had fully sealed her inside, she let it all out. Every part of her body roared alongside the screams leaving her mouth. The screams did not end until her lungs begged for her to stop and leave it be. Even then she attempted to keep going, keep screaming until she fainted, but all she could produce were quiet whimpers.

A sudden rush of panic washed over her as something pressed itself against her body. While her mind had the capacity to enter that brief period of hyperactivity and quickness, her body did not. All of her muscles tensed up and she lazily turned her head to the side.

What met her eyes was something far worse than any of the events occurring that morning. Her son was tightly hugging the back of her neck, clinging on to her like a sailor clings to the mast of his sinking ship. All of his face was covered in bruises and spots of pure red blood. One of his eyes was swollen and had taken on shades of black and blue.

“Button!” His mother immediately turned around and wrapped her hooves around him. “Are you all right?! Sweetie, sweetie, talk to me. Who did this?”

“A-At school,” he stammered through his sobbing. “The c-colts.”

“Does it hurt? Is anything broken? Are you still bleeding?” his mother asked in quick succession while looking over every part of her son’s body. “Button, sweetie, are you okay?”

“Y-You said it w-was normal,” Button whimpered. His little voice almost drowned in the sea of fur on his mother’s neck. Yet those tiny, fragile words stung harder than anything a grown pony could ever say. They ripped the flesh of his mother’s heart away, crushing every little bit that came apart.

“Y-You lied. They all h-hate me.”

“I, I only wanted…” In her mind, she saw her bed. “I just…” Two ponies appeared on the soft, blank sheets. “I never…” Without a word, they began interacting in the lewdest of ways, some unknown to many ponies. “What have I done?”

Button’s mother tightened the hold on her son, bringing him near the point of physical discomfort. Hugs had been given a plenty throughout his growth, but now they seemed more important than ever. The desire to hold her son grew inside of her, until it paralleled a physical need like food or water.

“It’s s-so unfair,” Button whispered into his mother’s neck. “Life sucks.”

For minutes they sat there, embracing each other. The mother and son simply sat and hugged each other as they both emptied their eyes. Each of them felt the compelling need to sit there and do exactly that. It was as if the world outside their home had disappeared, for it was no longer important to them. All the two of them cared about were each other and the hug in which they shared their love.

“Come on, sweetie." Button's mother broke the silence, but quietly so. “Let’s go clean you up.”

Button moved his head from his mother’s neck and looked up at her with his one good eye. The mere sight of him made her heart splinter and ache inside her chest.

“Can… Can we sit here five more minutes? Please?”

It took all of her strength not to burst the bubble of held back tears as she looked upon him. Despite everything that had happened, he had somehow managed to turn his frown into a smile. His lips stood there defiantly on his face, smiling at the prospect of enjoying a simple hug with his mother. As he proudly displayed his emotions to his mother, all she could do was nod and hug her son once more.

Enjoying a home-made sundae can be difficult when one is an important maker of dresses and all things fashion. With such a job comes the stress, the deadlines, and more importantly, the customers. Rarity reluctantly moved away from her sweet and delicious treat as the knocking on the front door intensified. Judging from the strength and force laid into each knock, there was either a disaster going on, or a customer was extremely unhappy with their order.

When she opened the door however, Rarity had to do a double take in astonishment. The town seemed nice and quiet, just like it always had been. Furthermore, there was no angry customer, just an angry looking mare in front of her.

“Twilight? What’s the matter, dear?” Rarity asked in surprise.

“What’s the matter?! Rarity, I thought we agreed not to do anything yet!” Twilight fumed at her friend. The nostrils on her purple nose were flared and her brows were furrowed.

“Do anything? I’m sorry, Twilight, but I’m not sure what you’re talking about,”

“The whole town’s talking about that mare you walked in on!”

The final piece of the puzzle finally fell into place, and Rarity nodded to herself. “Well, of course they are. It is such a horrible thing, after all.”

Twilight ground her teeth together for a moment and quickly counted to ten. Neither of the acts seemed to help one bit in extinguishing the fire within her. In fact, the sound of her teeth grinding together only served to annoy her further. Ultimately, she wasn’t able to restrain herself in the slightest.

“We agreed not to do anything!” Twilight roared. She could already feel the magical tingling in her body, informing her of her dangerous proximity to excessive levels of anger.

“And I didn’t do anything,” Rarity scoffed. “I’ve been going about just as I always do.”

“Then how come the entire town knows about this?” Twilight pointed out.

“Because I talked it over with some of my clients, of course. And news do travel fast.” In the back of her mind, Rarity’s sundae was calling out to her. It would probably be halfway melted by now, and she so dearly wanted to get back and enjoy it while it lasted.

“Exactly!” Every muscle in Twilight’s body was tense, and it brought her to speak much louder than she would have liked. “Why would you do that?!”

Rarity raised an eyebrow as she looked at her fuming friend. “Why wouldn’t I? All I did was talk about it, Twilight. I haven’t been anywhere near that mare or her son. Talking about it is quite a natural thing to do.”

“Did you know that ‘just talking about it’ got her fired from her job this morning?!” The tingling in Twilight’s body was becoming more and more apparent. The unicorn was quite visibly trembling in her spot, and it took all of her willpower not to lash out at her friend.

“In all honesty, who would want a pony doing those… things, working for them?” Rarity countered. She would have been a liar if she had said the news didn’t bring just a twinge of guilt, but she knew what had happened was the right thing.

“Rarity, you…” Twilight looked to the ground and groaned loudly. “You’re unbelievable! I’m going back to reading!” She turned 180 degrees and began stomping away. “Maybe I can still help somehow!”

Rarity watched her friend slowly walk away from her boutique with a raised eyebrow. It wasn’t like Twilight to get this upset over such unimportant matters. Granted, losing one’s job was terrible, but knowing who that mare really was made it seem fair. It wasn’t like bad ponies wouldn’t get punished for what they did. Even Twilight knew that.

Instead of dwelling further on the matter, Rarity shrugged and closed the door. With the image of her delicious sundae still in mind, she rushed back to the kitchen. It was sitting on the table in exactly the same spot as before, and it hadn’t even melted, which brought a smile to Rarity’s lips.

Without further delay, she sat down at the table and grabbed the spoon in her telekinetic grip. Normally she ate her meals quite slowly, as was expected of a lady, but ice cream had this strange power over her. She quite simply couldn’t control herself, causing her to immediately dig up a large scoop of sweet goodness.

Rarity nearly giggled in anticipation of the splendid taste about to assault her mouth. She shoved the spoon into her mouth and made sure to get every bit of ice cream off of it. However, once she started moving the dessert around in order to fully enjoy its texture and taste, there was nothing. There most certainly was perfect ice cream within her mouth, yet it had no taste.

Shrugging off the strange experience, Rarity swallowed her mouthful of tasteless dessert. Rather than speculate too much about the cause of this oddity, she decided to simply eat another spoonful. Perhaps her taste buds were merely sleeping for the first round, for the ice cream most certainly had been fantastic when she first began eating it.

The second time the spoon entered her mouth, she noticed right away. Just as before, no taste was present. No matter how much she moved it about or licked it, it remained the same. All it served to do was freeze the inside of her mouth to the point of prickling pain. If she didn’t know better, Rarity wouldn’t have thought this to be ice cream at all.

She swallowed all of the odd ice cream and sighed heavily. It had been so magnificent before, and now it was nothing more than a bowl of wasted food. Her eyes lingered on the pure, white vanilla ice cream and brown chocolate sauce. It had somehow managed to make itself look unappealing to her as well. Looking at it now, she wasn’t sure what brought her to even make it in the first place. It just sat there, useless and boring as it was.

After letting out another sigh, Rarity levitated the bowl to the trashcan and flipped it upside down. All of the contents fell neatly into the container of other discarded food products with a sloppy sound.

“Stupid sundae.”