Introduction
I awoke, dazed and confused from the night before, a feeling that was beginning to get very familiar to me. “Another late night…” I told myself as I tossed over to view the clock mounted above the table in the corner, the great Princess Celestia would soon be bringing up the sun to greet another simplistic Equestrian day. Groaning I swivelled back around so the tip of my muzzle could say hello the softness of my pillow, it was much earlier than a stallion of my age should wake up and I decided that a little more rest was in order. I had just started to drift off again when a small filly burst into my room. “Paint, Paint, Paint!” I lifted up to face the pale brown filly who decided it would be the best idea to shout in her brother’s face, “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” she stated in her small squeaky voice. The look of excitement across her face was clearly difficult to hide.
Groaning lightly I spoke, “And just what is it you have got?” My voice deterring from its usual deep tone at the end to give a small squeak amused my sister. It looks like life was already putting its hoof up to me today.
She couldn’t contain the bubble of excitement in her head any longer. “I got my cutie mark!” She yelped. I immediately shot up in astonishment, the warm patchwork blankets tumbling down revealing my pale yellow coat. How did she get her cutie mark two years before the age I got mine? I smiled trying to look happy for her, I knew it was wrong to think that but clearly everypony would understand how unfair this was, wouldn’t they?
“Clow!, that is… amazing” I stuttered, watching as she tapped her hooves against the wooden floor of my room. “What is it?, when did you get it?, how did you get it?”
“It’s a book!, last night and…”
“And?”
“I was… secretly reading the whole of the new story you got me for my birthday.” Her ears fell and she looked guilty, and so she should, her birthday wasn’t until next week. She had been looking at her presents early. Looks like I will have to fit the role of somepony she never really had, her father. My father.
“You shouldn’t have done that” I started, giving her a hurt and painful look, I enjoyed making my sister feel guilty, it made me feel like I had total power over somepony...“Bu…” She began.
“But!” I interrupted “You have gotten your cutie mark… And I think that makes up for it” She beamed at me with her sky blue watery eyes, it was clear she was expecting more of a negative response from me, with me it normally is the negative response, after all it’s all my father gave me when I was her age... “Now… Get out of my room so I can get ready!” I commanded sternly. Clow yelped and clearly not wanting another one of our ‘family debates’ departed swiftly from my room.
Once again, I was submerged into blissful silence. I looked around the entirety of my bedroom then swivelled my head to meet my Celestia and Luna portrait… I looked up to it and spoke softly so I wouldn’t be heard “Please let today be a good day, not just for me but for Clow as well… She needs today to be a good day.” I sighed, maybe one day they would be able to hear me…
My hooves tapped against the floor as I slowly pushed myself out of the bed leaving the covers in a mess by the far wall… Lurching towards the window I pushed aside the curtains and embraced the warmth of the slowly ascending orb in the sky, Celestia had already begun her job of giving the ponies of Equestria their light. I turned towards the mirror seeing a pale stallion staring blankly back at me if he was appearing to say ‘oh you again’. His gaze lowered from my lengthy brown mane followed by the ruffled feathers from my wings to the mark imprinted onto my flank; four splodges of vibrant colours, red, green, yellow and blue. “How did she get her mark so quickly” I muttered under my breath. I felt cheated; she was two years younger than the age I got my mark...
Downstairs mum was awake and busy cooking food ready for our lunch at school, “Well well, Mr Splodge, did you fall out of bed?, or did you actually wake up for once?” She turned around from the large stove and smiled at me as I reached the bottom of the wooden staircase, I knew that most of the things my mother says are jokes and I enjoyed playing along, the aging mare always tried her best to keep me happy. I smiled back “Well Hazel, today I didn’t fall out of my bed” I never really fell out of bed, it was mainly just my mother’s way of annoying me in the mornings. She giggled once more “Don’t call me Hazel, you know I don’t like being called that”. I sat down at the table as my mother turned on her new radio…
We will be right back with some more music brought to you by the one and only DJ Bird Song after the Galapagos local news…
Clow came charging into the room. She sneezed and turned to our startled mother “I don’t feel so good” she complained “My head really hurts…” My mother frowned, “Yes your grandmother and I have been having the same problem… I’m sure taking a day off couldn’t harm anypony, could it?” I sighed and looked down at the table. Great, now she gets the day off too? This was really unfair…
And that is all for the early morning news today. Back to the breakfast show with your host! The one and only DJ Song Bird!
The whole family loved Song Birds’ radio broadcast. The sweet mare at the other end of the radio had the smoothest calmest voice on the airwaves… Except for perhaps DJ PON-3, but she only played in the big cities like Manehattan and Fillydelphia. Song Bird was charismatic, funny and always touched on topics that everypony was interested in. “Okay Paint, you need to head off to school… I don’t want to see you told off again for not arriving on time”
“Okay…” I replied to my mother who had just finished putting my food into my saddlebags. Being the only Pegasus in the house I would normally have to walk to keep my sister safe but today I was able to spread my wings a little. I gazed back into the small kitchen as I trotted through the front door, “Stay safe and I will see you soon” I smiled as a waved my hoof back at my mother standing next to the sneezing brown filly, I wish I could stay home to…
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I landed close the school gates… I was not proud of being a Pegasus, after all I lived in an earth pony town and it was rare for Pegasus’ to leave the clouds before ‘maturity’. I trotted slowly past the school gates not wanting to attract any unwanted attention before my classes but it would seem that Celestia decided to shine upon me as most of the Ponies in my class hadn’t arrived at school yet. Smiling joyfully to myself I trotted through the school doors and began to head towards the stairwell,
*SPLOOSH*
I was sat for most of the morning in the bathroom stall, why would I want to leave here when I would just be laughed at out there. I stared down at the grimy floor that was slowly becoming stained with thick green dye, tears were forming in my eyes and they were starting to roll down the side of my now lime green muzzle, the other ponies did things like this most days. Most of the time I could just ignore what they did and carry on as if nothing happened but this… this was far too much. I sat
alone and weeping for another few minutes until I heard the restroom door open, two stallions trotted in…
“Glue and green dye?” one of them asked hardly containing his laughter. The other pony was laughing along with him, “Yeah, you should have seen the look on that featherbrains face!” I recognised the Stallions voice from a few days ago; he had been one of the ponies who had locked me in the art classroom at the end of the day.
“I never get tired of seeing that pony make an ass of himself”.
“That should take him a few hours to get that out of his mane and ‘precious’ feathers” the familiar voice commented. After a few more minutes of slandering me they trotted back out of the door, unaware that I heard the entire conversation. Wiping the tears from my muzzle I left the stall and turned on the rusted tap on the sink closest to the window, I stared into the cracked mirror at my green bloodshot eyes. I looked exactly how I felt at that moment in time; tired, humiliated and lonely. I dipped my hooves under the tap and started rubbing away at my green mane and coat, trying to restore it to its original yellow and brown, the water felt cool under my coat and I was soon enjoying getting all the small patches of green out. The door lurched open and one of the Stallions from before trotted slowly in, I looked away after recognising his face. It was Trigger, the blue maned pony stopped a few feet away from where I was cleaning myself. Sighing I turned my head to face him; his white coat was glowing from the light caste upon him. He could see that I had been crying and turned to see the green puddle on the floor in the stall...
“Um.. Paint?... D-Did you hear what we said?” He asked. Looking into his sea blue eyes I could see that he felt guilty. “Yes” I replied tears forming in my eyes, “I did…”. He took one step closer and looked down at the floor.
“We’re…. I… I’m sorry for what happened… I tried to stop them! I really did… But…” He was stuttering and I could genuinely see he looked sorry for me, the pony he not five minutes ago had slandered. “I just wanted you to know… that we… I… don’t mean any of it”. He continued to look down at the floor. Strangely I smiled at the suddenly apologetic stallion; this is something I would never have expected anypony in this school to say to a Pegasus. He looked up and saw my smile “It’s okay” I stated, I was still hurt but the apology had eased the pain. He looked up like he was going to say something and sighed. With that Trigger galloped out of the bathroom and left me to continue scrubbing myself.
It was lunchtime when I had finally finished getting all the dye off… Some of the places it had gotten were… well I don’t need to mention that. The lunch hall was a large open space that was populated by an assortment of tables and chairs; today however the room was strangely void of ponies. Normally the hall would be full of ponies collecting and eating different flowers and grass, turning to one of the teachers I asked “Where is everypony?”
“Most of them have gone home because of sickness” She replied, “I think the school is closing early because of it”. The mare trotted off and left me in the middle of the nearly empty hall. I was upset that school had finished early; our last two lessons were art and chemistry and they were the only lessons I found even remotely interesting as well as them being the only lessons I was good at. I faced towards the door and trotted towards it heading towards my locker in the hallway, at least we got to go home early today…
It wasn’t the first time today that I thought that Galapagos was devoid of life, Mane Street heavily reflected the atmosphere of the lunch hall, it was almost empty apart from the few ponies heading home from a morning shift at work. Most of the shops littering the sides of the streets were locked closed for the day, obviously something big had happened because the shops never normally closed this early. Perhaps the Princesses had come to visit out humble little town?
I glided down towards the Mane Street fountain where I usually visited at the weekends; school being closed gave me some time to go to some of the places I enjoyed before going home. I stared up and peered through the slender pine trees. It was late spring and the air was soothing and warm, it rustled the leaves of the bushes by the fountain lightly, the fine spray from it was dampening my saddlebags and my mane. I started looking around slowly hoping to see some other ponies enjoying the beautiful day Celestia had brought us, there were none.
It was starting to get dark by the time I had flown to the end of my street, the temperature was lowering quicker than the sun and I was starting to feel a chill descending down my spine towards my tail. Ruffling my feathers in mid-flight I slowed to a halt and hovered silently in front of the smallest house in view, I tapped my hooves against the mat lying by the cottage door and went inside expecting to see my Mother and Clow. Peering around the kitchen I spotted a note on the counter next to a small pile of tasty looking dandelions.
Had to take Clow to see Dr. Marrow, the wait will be a long time and I don’t want you waiting up for us all night like last time. I have left you a plate of dandelions for your dinner, after you have eaten those I want you to do your homework and head to bed. I’ve got a special surprise for you tomorrow,
Love you lots and will hopefully see you soon,
Mum.
I stared at the note a little while longer making sure to take in every word. Eat, homework, then bed. It really wasn’t an interesting night.
After finishing my homework I looked out the kitchen window to see that Luna had placed the moon already far higher in the sky than I had predicted. Quickly closing all the curtains I rushed upstairs and into my room, I looked into my sister’s room, a single pink balloon was centred in the room, I think mum brought it for her because of her cutie mark. Humph… If she knew how she got that mark I’m sure that balloon wouldn’t be there, I trotted into my room and took a look at my flank… “How did she get her mark so quickly?”.
Chapter One: Denial
“What happens now?”
Everypony was laughing; everywhere I looked all I saw was faces red from laughter, everypony pointing, looking, their voices thickening the air around me. I turned towards the darkness and more stepped forwards to fill the void. I was cornered. Paralysed with fear I curled up to the ground and closed my eyes tight and started singing the song my mother sung when I was little. Tears were tumbling down my muzzle uncontrollably. “STOP” I screamed “PLEASE, STOP, PLEASE!”. Silence drowned the voices but one. “I just wanted you to know… that we… I… don’t mean any of it”.
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I awoke suddenly in a choking fit, my eyes were sore from the tears I had been shedding in my sleep and my muzzle was cold and damp. After recovering from the violent coughs I wiped it dry with my foreleg and slid out of bed trying to forget the events of the night. With all four hooves planted firmly to the ground I slowly moved to my mirror, my dark mane had been messed up considerably during the nightmare and needed a good five minute tending to before I could even announce that I was awake. As I was correcting the abomination on my head I looked around the room, something seemed odd about it, the draws and cupboards were all in their usual places and the picture of my family was next to the smiling faces of Celestia and Luna. I gazed towards the curtains as realised why everything seemed different, the golden orb behind the sheets of purple was high in the slightly clouded Equestrian sky. I must have woken up late… I checked my clock, only 8:32am , I still had plenty of time before I had to be at school. After all, today was Friday and school didn’t start until 10 o’clock. I stumbled out of my door hitting the banister of the staircase with a thud, I was surprised that that didn’t wake anypony up… I didn’t even get the usual ‘are you okay?’ I just received an eerie silence. Making it successfully down the stairs I peered into the kitchen expecting to see my mother cooking the family lunch for the last day of the school week, instead I saw an empty room with all the pots and pans still in the places I found them last night. I was beginning to get worried and the pony in my head was calling for me to shout out to find out where they were... even the note my mother had wrote was still out on the side. Out of fear that I would wake somepony up, I restrained myself from shouting out her name, I trotted back up the stairs and moved down the upstairs hall to my mother’s door and lifted a hoof… Tap, Tap, Tap… No answer.
I tried again. Tap, Tap, Tap… Still no answer. Maybe a little harder I thought, it was a little quiet, maybe she didn’t hear? BANG, BANG, BANG… It was clearly loud enough for the entire house to hear but I was just left with an awkward silence. I lightly pushed the door ajar with my muzzle and took a peek inside the lavender room... I took a step in and my thoughts were confirmed, there was nopony inside. I grew frustrated, was this some sort of game? Was this the special surprise that she had given me? This was horrible. I whimpered a little and darted out of the room, my attention turned to my sister. “CLOW?” I called out. No answer. The Stallion in my head was now bucking my brain and commanding me to shout out for anypony, again I resisted the urge. I galloped down the upstairs hall knocking a picture of Grammy Splodge off of the wall and breaking it, I didn’t care, I wanted to find my family, and the picture could wait. I grinded to a halt outside the small filly’s bedroom door and tapped the door… Tap, Tap, Tap. This time I wasn’t waiting around. I burst through the door and was greeted by a pink room with a glowing purple curtain where the light was trying to creep in and disturb the darkness. My eyes darted back and forth in the room and fixed upon two lumpy figures in the bed. “MUM, CLOW!” I shouted with glee, “that was not funny!”
Still no answer. “Okay you silly mares. You can stop it now” I teased. No reply. “Urm… Mum?” I questioned “Clow?” I nervously moved towards the covers slowly moving one hoof at a time on the plush white carpeting. “Mum?” I called out again, I lifted my forelegs up onto the end of the bed and I could just see a fraction of my sisters blue mane mixed with the purpleness of my mother’s oozing out of the covers. I slowly drew the covers back from the bed revealing the mares chosen hiding position, I nosed my mother on the cheek, “Mum… I found you right?” I whispered, she must have been comforting Clow and fell to sleep. “Mum wake up. I’ve got to get to school”. The mare didn’t move. “Mum?” I uttered “Mum? Wake up? Please? Wake up?” I nosed her on her muzzle… She wasn’t breathing. Tears began to form in my eyes… “Mum?” I whimpered “A… Are you okay?” I nosed her softly on her foreleg. “Hazel?” I answered hoping for a reply, tears were streaming down my muzzle, “Clow?” I checked her muzzle. No breathing. No... I thought, no they are just sleeping, they have to be just sleeping, I was crying holding onto my sister’s hoof. “Please wake up now?” I nosed my sister and then my mother again, I looked around whimpering, what should I do? The pony in my head was sat in the corner deserting me; he too was unsure what to do and was weeping. I gently sat my mother up, I was finding it hard to picture what was happening and my mind was in turmoil. “See your all better now” I cried “See? Tell me you are all better?” The mare slumped back down onto the bed. She wasn’t better my mind told me, she was gone. Both of them were gone. The only people who had ever meant anything in my life were lying in a bed. Lifeless. Gone.
After what seemed like an eternity I got back up and edged away from the bed. My eyes felt heavy from the excessive weeping, I moved my hoof over my muzzle wiping away loose tears and quietly moved out of the room. I reached the top of the stairs and peered back through the crack in the door, I needed to find somepony to help me. After making a rushed decent down the stairs I clambered to the wall telephone and dialled the emergency services. “Come on… Pick up the phone” I uttered. No answer. I tried again a minute later only to receive the same dreadful timed out tone. Looks like I would have to find somepony to help me. I swiftly grabbed my school saddlebag I quietly trotted out of the front door, making sure it was closed behind me. I looked around cautiously, the street was empty… I even flew up to check around but there was nopony anywhere. I landed on my neighbours porch and slammed my hooves against his door. “Please open up” I shouted “Something has happened, I need some help!”. I slammed once more; perhaps he did not hear me? SLAM, SLAM, SLAM. “Please! Somepony open the door! I need help! My mother and sister are dead!” I cried some more, even the next street would be able to hear the sound of that…
I proceeded around the back of next door’s house and saw that the back door was open wide. I knocked my hoof against the door to alert the owner of my presence and trotted in. “Hello?” I shouted “I knocked on your door but you didn’t answer, is anypony here?” I peered round into the kitchen; the architecture of the house is very similar to our slightly smaller cottage so it was very easy to navigate the rooms. It looked like nopony was downstairs so I quietly went upstairs. I shouted out again “Hello, anypony?” but still no answer. I was beginning to panic a little, technically I was trespassing in somepony’s house, surely if I found them I would be able to explain the situation and everything would be okay… I hope.
After reaching the top of the stairs I began to search all the rooms as quietly as I could. The house appeared to be empty and I was reaching the end of the corridor when a particular room caught my eye. Being in a house with the same layout as my own I instinctively knew this would be one of the three bedrooms, in my house this would be where my mother and sister now rest. I quietly trotted up to the door just as I had done before in my own house and knocked once. No answer. I pushed the door aside with my muzzle and entered slowly looking at the sheets on the bed next to the wall. I looked down to the floor and two tears fell from my eye, one for my mother and the other for my sister.
Now there was only one room left to check; the bathroom. I made my way across the landing and toward the door, the water was running and a small pool was forming on the carpet just outside the door. Immediately I panicked. “Hello?” I shouted “Is anypony there? The water is on. Hello?” I burst into the room and tripped over something large and squishy and fell into the bathtub that was overflowing with water. Something large and heavy had landed a perfect blow on the top of my head, making a small cut next to me ear. I immediately put my fore hoof to my head and drew it back looking at what was on it, blood. I passed out.
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Everypony was laughing; everywhere I looked all I saw was faces red from laughter, everypony pointing, looking, their voices thickening the air around me. I turned towards the darkness and more stepped forwards to fill the void. I was cornered. Paralysed with fear I curled up to the ground and closed my eyes tight and started singing the song my mother sung when I was little. Tears were tumbling down my muzzle uncontrollably. “STOP” I screamed “PLEASE, STOP, PLEASE!” Silence drowned the voices but one. “I just wanted you to know… that we… I… don’t mean any of it”.
I looked up at the Stallion my vision was blurred and I could not see much. I saw his mouth move “I just wanted you to know… that we… I… don’t mean any of it”. My vision was getting clearer but only slowly, I could only make out the whiteness of his coat. “I promise. I didn’t mean any of it”.
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I gasped only to realise it wasn’t air I was inhaling. It was the contents of the overflowing bathtub. My eyes widened as I tried to cough up the water I brought into my lungs; I only brought in more. I struggled in pain trying to bring myself back out of the water. Something was pinning me down. Once again I panicked, I was going to drown before I even found help for my parents all because I tripped and fell into the bathtub. I then rembered, something had hit me. I turned around in the water to see who was holding me down to discover that the shower curtain pole had fallen and had become jammed against the tap and the wall. At this point I was mentally facehoofing and kicked the pole off of me breaking the tap faucet. I immediately pulled myself up and emptied the contents of my lungs and stomach into the bath. I looked up from the pool of water and sick and wished I didn’t. On the floor lay what I had tripped over; the body of my neighbour.
I sat outside the house on the lawn for hours waiting for somepony to walk by, nothing. Not even a bird was flying in the equestrian sun. I looked up into the sky my eyes still stinging from the tears that had been shed. I got up and trotted angrily over towards the post-box slamming my hooves against it, “WHERE THE FUCK IS EVERYPONY!” I shook the mailbox venting my frustration, “WHY WONT ANYPONY TALK!” I slumped back down onto the lawn and started crying again; the unresponsive mailbox even looked as if it was mocking me. I looked back up at it, the mail hadn’t arrived yet. It hadn’t arrived yet… Had the same thing happened to the mailmare?
Turning to face the house I peered through the window at my neighbour’s clock; 10:35am… Sighing I got to my hooves and stretched out my wings and proceeded to lift myself off of the ground. I daren’t try any of the other houses I didn’t want to discover another pony suffering the same fate as the first three ponies I had met during the first half of the day. Whimpering I flew to the end of the street and looked back to the littlest house’s front bedroom window, sniffled and continued on.
It was nearing 11am when I arrived at the main gates of the school; I had taken the long route around the outskirts of Galapagos for fear of being spotted by anypony wondering why I wasn’t at school. On the way I had spotted a large barn fire, the flames from the hay were reaching out towards the sky and I could hear their mighty roar from a few hundred feet away. But I flew on, sure that somepony would have noticed and called for the stallions at the firehouse. As I walked through the main gates I began to think of what I would tell my teacher, “Oh I’m sorry Mrs Pear, my family has died.” or “Sorry! I was busy raiding my neighbour’s house and found him dead!” I pushed my hoof against the door and it opened like usual and I walked inside preparing myself for the day. Looks like nopony was at the reception, they must be answering a call or something I thought to myself. I moved through the next glass door into the main foyer. I could see only see one set of hoof prints on the carpeting, the cleaners have probably cleaned up and another student was late today, I’m glad I wasn’t the only one.
Passing though the corridor I kept my head down avoiding any eyes that may be peering through the classroom doors, I finally arrived at my destination the last door on the right and peered inside, I braced myself expecting the inevitable…. Nothing. There was nopony in the classroom. It looked almost completely untouched. There were no books laid out or writing on the chalkboard. I became worried and then it hit me…. I wake up to see my family dead, nopony picking up the phone, my next door neighbour dead and nopony anywhere. I was… Alone?
I returned back through the corridor now looking into every classroom, all of them were empty, every single one. Empty… I made my way to the cafeteria hoping to find something to eat but everything was closed and the school looked untouched from the day before. “Hello?” I called out hoping for one thing but expecting the other. Nopony answered. I trotted back to the entrance foyer and found another two sets of hoof tracks heading in different directions. The first I had seen earlier, the second must have been my own. And the third… that came from the same direction as the first and continued out of the front entrance. I had barely been in the school for 20 minutes; maybe I wasn’t alone after all…
“ANYPONY? IT’S OKAY!!! WHERE ARE YOU??” I bellowed for the tenth time, panting I landed. If there was anypony out there they would have heard that. After catching my breath I trotted outside the school gates. The smoke from the barn fire was lurching over the buildings trying to take full dominance and was tainting the sky a murky brown. Sighing I retrieved my saddlebags and flew over to the bakery across the street. The door was already opened and I trotted in helping myself to a cold cinnamon bun lying in the display case. I put two bits on the counter and trotted out not wanting to ‘steal’ anything after all. The bun was beginning to turn hard and must have been from closing time yesterday, I took a bite pleased with the sweet taste but disappointed with its slightly solid texture. After finishing my bun I tried shouting out again and received the exact thing I was expecting… No answer. My attention then turned to the bakery door, why was it open? Perhaps somepony had been in there before me? I moved quickly forwards to the front of the bakery and went inside; I flew over the counter and went into the supply room around the back. I edged round the lines of shelves layered with flour and other cooking ingredients and found the freezer room door left ever so slightly ajar and a cool breeze still leaking out of it. I crept closer to the door… What would I find inside? I pressed my hoof against the cold metal door trying not to make any noise that could startle what I was sure was somepony inside and slowly opened the door. With the door open I peered inside and gazed around… I placed my saddle bags down and shuffled into the freezer room making sure to leave the door open so I could get back out. I moved towards the middle of the large box room and softly announced my presence… “Hello?” I uttered… “Is anypony…?” I stopped and my ears rose… I heard what sounded like sobbing coming from the far corner of the freezer room. “Urm… Hello?” I asked once more. The sobbing stopped and a white coloured stallion came out from around the corner concealed by shelving, he had a short navy blue mane and tail… “Trigger?”
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Everypony was laughing; everywhere I looked all I saw was faces red from laughter, everypony pointing, looking, their voices thickening the air around me. I turned towards the darkness and more stepped forwards to fill the void. I was cornered. Paralysed with fear I curled up to the ground and closed my eyes tight and started singing the song my mother sung when I was little. Tears were tumbling down my muzzle uncontrollably. “STOP” I screamed “PLEASE, STOP, PLEASE!” Silence drowned the voices but one. “I just wanted you to know… that we… I… don’t mean any of it”.
I looked up at the Stallion my vision was blurred and I could not see much. I saw his mouth move “I just wanted you to know… that we… I… don’t mean any of it”. My vision was getting clearer but only slowly, I could only make out the whiteness of his coat. “I promise. I didn’t mean any of it”.
My vision cleared and I saw a stallion with a short navy blue mane and tail towering over me… “Trigger?” I asked, no sound emerged from my mouth… “I don’t mean any of it” he repeated. I began to cry again. “What’s the matter Paint? Why won’t you talk?” He muttered, “TRIGGER!” I screamed… Again no noise came from my muzzle. “Wake up Paint… Just… Wake up.”
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“So you pretty much did exactly what I did?” Trigger asked. “Yeah” I slowly replied giving the stallion and pathetic grin. “So why did you go into the bakery?”
“I don’t really know, I was walking down the street and heard somepony shouting towards the school… I panicked and moved to the bakery, they key was under the doormat my sister…” Tears began to form in his eyes “Used… to work there” He looked down at the ground and stood still in the middle of Mane Street. We had been trotting along for most of the day recalling to each other the day’s events and the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon. I extended a hoof towards my new found friend “It’s going to be okay” I said. “We need to find somewhere to sleep for the night, have any suggestions?”
“Yeah, what about there?” Trigger lifted his hoof and pointed at a small bed shop next to the Mane Street Saloon. I facehoofed “Why didn’t I think of that?” I commented pulling a funny face at him. He trotted up to the door and pushed against it. “Damn… It’s locked” He announced disappointingly. “Do you think the back door will be open?” He asked me.
“I don’t know but it’s worth a try.”
“Okay. You go try the back door” The white stallion suggested “I will go get us some food”.
“Sure! And trigger?”
“Yeah?”
“Back here in 15 minutes.” I smiled “I’m already begging to feel alone again”.
I rose up from the ground once again spreading my wings and glided out my companion’s line of sight. I turned around to see his flank slowly moving into the saloon, “crosshairs?” I muttered. I looked at him a little longer and sighed, one phrase was passing through my head over and over like a broken record ‘I just wanted you to know… that we… I… don’t mean any of it’.
I landed next to the back door of the bed store and tried it, the door slowly creaked open casting a shadow down the darkened corridor. Hesitantly I trotted in feeling for the light switch, there wasn’t one? It must be in the employee office. Swiftly I trotted down the corridor towards the door on the left; I pushed my muzzle against the door opening it and reached for the light switch. Click! The first light flickered and then cast a continuous beam into the room dimly illuminating it. I noticed a hoof extended out onto the table, who the hoof was attached to was a mystery, now for the second switch, Click! The second light acted the same as the first and flickered as it turned on however it did not produce the same continuous beam and just left a disorientating flicker. The hoof was attached to the body of a light blue mare with a purple and orange streaked mane; her eyes were still open and were staring into me like piercing daggers. I sighed and looked down at the floor while edging closer to the mare, she appeared to be the manager and looked no older than 25; the key to the front door was on the desk in front of her. Grabbing it, I turned and swiftly departed turning the lights off to let the darkness hide what shouldn’t be seen. Or was it me making sure she couldn’t see me?
I unlocked the front door and Trigger waltzed in unaware that tonight we would be sharing the store with another pony. I decided it would be best not to dampen his mood and just told him not to go round back. “Okay” he smiled back.
“So what did you get us then?” I asked.
“Nothing much, just a few potatoes and some cider.”
“Cider?” I questioned
“Yeah, I thought we could use some to ya’ know… Liven up the mood a little.” He replied.
Now that is something I didn’t question, we both needed cheering up, after all the events of today were enough to scare a filly for a lifetime. I turned to face him “So… What happens now?”
“I don’t know” he replied hastily. “Why has all this happened… to us?” I had also been pondering the same question to the point that it was starting to hurt my head. “I don’t know either” I replied “but at least we have found each other and are not alone.”
“Yeah! Now how about I give you these potato snacks and we can get a little bit of food in us?”
“Yeah… That sounds good”
The moon was now high in the star lit sky and we had consumed most of the cider and the snacks Trigger had ‘acquired’ for the night. “So you didn’t go to the school? I queried, I was extremely confused right now. “Nope…” He answered “I didn’t set a single hoof inside the school all day… Why did you ask?” I simply replied with four words “We are not alone.”
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Everypony was laughing; everywhere I looked all I saw was faces red from laughter, everypony pointing, looking, their voices thickening the air around me. I turned towards the darkness and more stepped forwards to fill the void. I was cornered. Paralysed with fear I curled up to the ground and closed my eyes tight and started singing the song my mother sung when I was little. Tears were tumbling down my muzzle uncontrollably. “STOP” I screamed “PLEASE, STOP, PLEASE!” Silence drowned the voices but one. “I just wanted you to know… that we… I… don’t mean any of it”.
I looked up at the Stallion my vision was blurred and I could not see much. I saw his mouth move “I just wanted you to know… that we… I… don’t mean any of it”. My vision was getting clearer but only slowly, I could only make out the whiteness of his coat. “I promise. I didn’t mean any of it”.
My vision cleared and I saw a stallion with a short navy blue mane and tail towering over me… “Trigger?” I asked, no sound emerged from my mouth… “I don’t mean any of it” he repeated. I began to cry again. “What’s the matter Paint? Why won’t you talk?” He muttered, “TRIGGER!” I screamed… Again no noise came from my muzzle. “Wake up Paint… Just… Wake up.”
What did he mean, wake up? I was awake? Wasn’t I? “Paint, it’s easy, all you have to do is open your eyes and… Wake up.” The slow droning of white noise filled the dark room, Ponies started to fade away until only three remained, The white stallion with the navy mane, The dark blue mare with the purple mane, and the small brown filly with a book as a cutie mark…
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