When the Circus Came to Town

It was fourty-seven minutes before she came back. I stared at the clock while she was gone, occasionally peeking out of the curtain at their amazing aerial stunts with the assistance of suspended bars and rings that swung to and fro. She was the one that drew the most of my attention though. Her stunts were amazing, she flew through the air after releasing one bar, only to catch another and pick up one of her fellow performers on the way back, but I occasionally caught myself thinking of what was to come if I went home after tonight. So many things went through my mind.

What if he hit me again?
What should I care? pain is temporary.

What if he locked me away forever?
Good, I didn't have to see him again.

Not long after she walked in she took off her outfit. When the outfit was off I saw that she had wings that were tucked away under the suit.

After all the waiting I did, I wasn't nervous to talk to them anymore. what could they do that would be worse than what was going to happen when I went back to that house, if I went back to that house?
So I said: "You're a pegasus."
"Yes, yes I am."
"Then why did you put your wings under that suit and not leave them out of it like the pegasi here wear their wings out when they wear clothes?"
One of the clowns spoke up and said "Why does she need to have them out?"
to which I replied "Wouldn't you want them out if you fell from those heights?"

This time one of the actors spoke up as they were removing a crude suit comprised of different parts of different animals that stood upright on two hooves, or rather a hoof and a dragon leg.
"She wasn't going to fall"
"But I'm just saying, in the event that she did fall"

The acrobat mare started talking again.
"I wasn't going to fall from up there. I've been doing this for a while now"
"How long?"
"I've been doing this since I was about your age."
"How did you do all those things? you know, in the air and while you were on the ground?"
"I think I should be the one asking the questions here. why did you come under the side of the tent?"
I swallowed nervously.
"I... I-"

I tried to think of a reason why I would quickly duck under the side of a tent, breathing heavily, but none came.
"I... don't know"
"There must have been a reason, there's always a reason for everything."

I couldn't tell her the real reason, I just couldn't.
"I was.... playing a game! Yeah, that's it. Just a game."

She must've sensed the crack in my voice or seen it painted on my face, because she called me out on my lie immediately.
"A game? What kind of game would give you that enormous bruise on your muzzle?"

I couldn't lie. I was never a good liar.
"I... I can't say why in front of all these ponies. Can we talk somewhere more... private?"
"I guess so. Is it really that bad that you can't say it here?"
"I... I just can't say it here"
"Okay, we can talk in my carraige."

She left the tent through a side curtain and I followed, wary of my family. They might have still been near.
We walked to her carraige. The outside of it looked worn down, the once colorful paint chipped in places and slightly darkened by the rain. The inside was a little larger than my room. She had a moderately sized bed, a wardrobe full of clothes, a large sack full of oats for snacking on, and a peculiar smiling bronze mask hanging from the wall, which I assumed was decoration. I looked back to the sack and my stomach growled. It was then that I realized that I hadn't had anything to eat since my breakfast of grass and a dandelion from a field. She noticed my hunger and asked if I wanted something to eat, to which I hesitantly replied "yes, please". Before turning she said "Why don't you take a seat?" I looked and saw two stools near the wall. I moved one for her and one for me. While I did this, she took two bowls from a shelf above the sack and filled them both. She handed one to me and I soon found myself devouring the delicious meal. My bowl was empty long before she sat down. I apologized for my obvious barbarism in my eating method.

"Sorry I forgot my manners and thank you for the oats, they were delicious"
"It's okay, now I think you owe me an explanation."

She sat in the stool I placed for her.
"Of what?"
"Everything, why you came under the tent, why you have that bruise, why you ate so fast. Everything"
"I guess I do"

I reluctantly gathered my thoughts as to how to best explain my current situation.
"Where do you want me to start?"
"How about the beginning"

I took a deep breath
"Okay. I guess that means I'll start at why I ate that so fast then. I haven't had a meal aside from a small breakfast of grass and dandelions from a field today."
"Why not?"
"I didn't go home to eat breakfast"
Again she said: "Why not?"
"I guess I just didn't want to"
Another time: "Why not?"
"ummm... how do I put this?"

I thought for a second. She just sat there, waiting intently to hear what I had to say. Wait, he wasn't here, none of them were. Not my mother, not my sisters, not my father, no brothers, no anypony, only her and I. What could it hurt to be honest?
"My family hates me and my father and brothers physically abuse me."

There, I said it. It felt so good to finally get it off my chest. It was as if a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. But that feeling faded into nervousness when she didn't respond to my statement. She just sat there, a look of deep thought on her face. It felt like ages until she said her next statement:

"Is that how you got that bruise?"
"Yes. I saw your band of ponies coming in and I stood, staring down the path you were on, wondering what it was when he called for me. He said there was work to be done. I didn't move. He yelled again, I still didn't move. Then he came to me, screaming in my face "SQUIRT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! WHEN I CALL FOR YOU, YOU COME!". I told him to shut up, so he punched me, giving me this bruise." I pointed at my face with a hoof. "It knocked me down to the ground and when I refused to reply to him, he punched me again, here" I pointed to my side. "I was dripping blood from my mouth by that time, and it made a small spot on the ground" She just looked in an expression of surprise that she tried to hold back while I explained what happened earlier that day, including the dragging, to which I showed her my chest with all the splinters (the skin around which was turning slightly red now), how he locked me in my room, how I escaped, (I showed her the cuts from the glass on my legs), my bath in the creek, all of the events leading up to my ducking under the tent.

"And that's how I got here."
She had an expression on her face that I couldn't read, it seemed like a mix of horror, disgust, and empathic sadness.
"I'm sorry if I said something I shouldn't have"

She didn't say a word. She got up from the chair she was sitting in and hugged me. I never knew a touch more caring than hers.

*************************************

For most of the night she patched up my injuries, taking out the splinters, applying bandages and ointment where it was needed. I counted each of the splinters that were pulled out of me. There was a total of 47 individual pieces of wood in my body, each one taken out with the utmost care to make sure I was hurt as little as possible. The sun came up in the morning, neither of us had a bit of sleep, yet we were both wide awake. Then she finally broke the long hours of silence.
"What's your name?"

"Squirt Ironhoof. I know it isn't a good name, my mother gave it to me because I'm the smallest of my siblings. I'm the only stallion in this town that can't pull a plow more than 5 steps."

"So your mother gave you your name to spite the fact that you were the smallest of your siblings?"
"Yes."
"That's just awful. I could never do such a thing to my daughter."
"So what's your name?"
"Lily, Lily Blossom."
"That's lovely."
"Thank you."
"So how did you do all those acrobatic stunts during the show last night?"
"I could tell you, or better yet I could show you." A wide smile carved a path across her face. I lit up.

"Yes! Please!" I raised my voice a little from excitement. Watching her do her tricks the night prior was one of the only things that kept me from going insane from the thoughts of what my father would do when... no, if I returned.

"Come on, then" She was trotting toward the door of her carraige and she gestured with her hoof for me to follow.
We walked outside, or rather I walked outside. She did cartwheels over to an open area not far from her wagon. I looked on in awe. When she finally stopped, she had a smile on her face and her mane was a little frazzled up. I had a smile just as big as hers. I hadn't smiled like that since last night before I saw... them.

Lily broke the short silence first.
"It's easy. Come on, try it!"
"But I don't even know where to start."
"Take your hooves and go like this."
She made an "X" shape with her body.
"And then lean to one side."
She began to tip to her right.
"And once you get to this point"
She was standing on her right hoof, still moving to the side.
"Push yourself along."
She did one complete rotation of her body and came to a stop on her two back hooves.
"Tada!"

So I tried it myself. I made the "X" shape and leaned to the side. Once I tipped halfway so that I was on my right back leg and my right front, I chickened out and tumbled into a heap on the ground. We both laughed.
"Don't worry, you'll get-"

"There you are, honey! I was so worried when you didn't come home last night!"

The voice of my mother cut Lily off. Never had I been so horrified to hear someone's voice than at that moment. I froze where I was laying. Lily fell silent as well.
"Who's she?" said my mother, pointing a hoof at Lily.

I remained silent. Frozen from a sense of horror that not even the worst of my father's beatings could possibly invoke. The horror was from the thought that I would have to leave Lily.

"Well fine then, dont tell me" she said with an obviously fake playful voice. "We should really get you home." I shuddered at the thought of going back there. A million scenarios played out in my head. What if I stayed with the circus? What if I just got up and ran? So many ways that I could have never went home, yet I was too afraid to do anything.

"Are you coming, Squirt?" That name ground my very soul to dust. My label, what I was called every day by everypony was a mockery of myself. I remained frozen, not saying a single word to her, not budging an inch.
"Come on, Squirt!" Her words had no effect on me. I remained paralyzed in fear.

"Do I have to get your father?" That word was the only thing that drove me to move myself toward her and away from the best thing that had ever happened to me, Father. As I trotted toward my mother I thought of the meaning of that word. Was a father the pony who concieved you? Was being a father something that required love and affection? Or was it a title that was earned by giving you half of your DNA?

I looked back to Lily one last time, I saw a face of fear, not only from the stress of the situation, but from what she probably thought was going to happen next. I turned my head back toward my mother and lowered it near the ground as I walked back toward the house that had my so called "family."