Welcome to Pat's Burgeria
The store doors swung open as a white mare pushed through the doors. Her purple mane curled around her head, one curl dropping in front of her face. Many ponies knew this pony was Rarity, including the store owner. Rarity sniffed the air; it smelled just like the regular fast food restaurants in Ponyville, but better. It wasn't particularly busy today, only a few ponies populating the store, eating their cheeseburgers. Rarity sighed; it was a disgrace that a pony like her would have a fast food restaurant as a favorite restaurant, but she didn't care at that moment.
Rarity made her way to the front stand, avoiding a wet spot on the floor. She had a nice purse with her today, a purse with diamond studs forming a picture of a butterfly. It's beauty horribly contrasted with the dark atmosphere of the shop. Half the lights were in major need of fixing, only a few lights sending dim amounts of light. The ponies were old colts, staring at the young and beautiful mare that had been bestowed upon them. Rarity learned to not stare at them or make any form of contact. One time, a group of aging colts decided to confront her and "talk". A few punches to the face did the trick, but she still had to be careful to protect herself.
Rarity skipped looking at the fading sign overhead the stand displaying the menu choices; Rarity already knew what she wanted. The store owner, a brown earth pony with a black moustache and a messy mane that would suggest that he didn't comb his hair in the morning, was attending to a greasy grill, flipping hamburger patties and putting salt on fries. Rarity waited patiently for the worker to notice her. Perhaps it was the light, but it almost seemed like the pony had no idea that Rarity was there. The pony looked up, and smirked a little grin. Rarity mirrored the expression, though she felt a little afraid to look at him. The pony wiped his hoofs on his greasy shirt and attended to the stand.
"Hello, Missy. What can I get you for today?" The pony asked in an official tone.
"The usual combo number seven, Pat," Rarity ordered. Joe punched in a few numbers into his cash register.
"That'll be $7.50, ma'am," Pat announced. Rarity looked in through her purse and pulled out the necessary bits. She set them down on to the stand, to which Pat grabbed the bits.
"You can keep the change," Rarity said. Pat smirked the same smile at Rarity, and went to the grill. Rarity looked around her surroundings. The old colts were still staring at her. Rarity felt a little queasy inside; perhaps it wouldn't be a good idea to order something here. The lights started to flicker a little bit, the colts paying no attention as they ate slowly, not speaking to one another. Rarity knew that they were regular customers, as Joe put it, and Rarity tried not to be bothered by them. It was difficult to do so, however, as Rarity felt that she was always being watched. The clunk of food brought her back to her senses. Joe had brought the combo meal to the stand. Rarity nodded and grabbed the tray to an empty table.
Rarity unwrapped the burger. It didn't look like the best looking burger in Equestria, however Twilight always scolded not to judge a book by it's cover. The top bun was perfectly round with no noticeable cracks on it. The cheese beneath the bun melted quite nicely, mixing together with the red ketchup. The two patties were the slim sort of patties, but that was hardly a problem. The burger heated up Rarity's hooves to a nice warm and toasty feeling. Rarity stopped studying the burger and took her first bite into the sandwhich. The mixture of greasy juices and flavours pleased Rarity, as she continued taking another bite.
After the burger was finished, she switched to the large pack of thin golden, salty fries. Periodically, she would take a sip of her large fountain drink, the nice buzzing taste of Buzz Cola pleasing her taste buds. As she ate, she couldn't help but notice that the store was unusually empty inside, leaving only Rarity and Pat in the store. Rarity could hear the operations of sizzling burgers from the kitchen to the seats. Rarity didn't usually know what happened in a fast food environment, even though she worked as a pizza mare at a local pizzeria when she was a teenager. Even though she regretted ever applying at the store, she knew it taught her how to work hard on dresses.
Her meal finished, Rarity went to the trash bin and dumped the remaining garbage on her tray and set it on top of it. She turned around, only to see Pat right behind her, staring at her. Rarity yelped out in surprise, immediately grabbing the tray that she had and swung wildly to protect herself. Pat dodged the fury of attacks, nearly missing the harmful trays.
"Woah, woah! Calm down! Nothing's wrong!" Pat yelled out. Rarity stopped swinging the tray and started to breathe a little easier. Rarity returned the tray on top of the garbage can and fumed at Pat.
"You know that you shouldn't sneak up on ponies all the time. It just scares away customers," Rarity scolded.
"I'm sorry, miss. But I just wanted to say, you must really enjoy this restaurant a lot. I mean, you come in here every other day, and you always order the same combo over and over. I thought a mare like you would go to some fancy restaurant down the street," Pat said.
"Well, yes. I mean, I don't usually go to those restaurants, anyways." Rarity thought for a moment. "You know, whenever I come in here, you always get the same customers, including me," Rarity said.
"Sure. Your point?"
"Well, maybe we can get this restaurant a lot more profitable, just like those restaurants down the street." Pat laughed in return of the statement.
"Ma'am, I hate to break it to you, but I will never be able to get to the same level as those rich-head colts down there. My restaurant is not like that."
"Yes, but we can give it a better reputation if we just fix it up a little. Fix the lights, maybe get some advertising, a little redesign wouldn't hurt, and this restaurant will be soaring in no time flat!" Pat's mouth gaped open in surprise at the knowledge that the mare had.
"Man, you're really keen on getting this joint into shape. Why?"
"Because I want others to feel the same kind of feeling that I get whenever I come here." Pat blushed a little, trying to hide the fact that he was.
"Alright. Then you are officially my business partner, Miss, erm..." Pat started to say before being interrupted by Rarity.
"It's Rarity, pleased to be your partner," Rarity said.
Rarity entered the resaurant the next day. Pat was cleaning off the tables before he glanced at Rarity. Rarity smiled, Pat returning the gesture.
"Glad you could make it," Pat said.
"Well, I'm very keen on getting this restaurant popular, so we might as well start now."
"Alright, but before we start, we should get you started on the restaurant itself and how it functions. Pat led Rarity to behind the stand. Rarity noticed that nopony was here today, even though it was around the time of lunch. Rarity shrugged the thought out of the way and went behind the stand.
Rarity was introduced her suit (Pat explaining that nopony else wore it), and after a quick dress-up, she was shown the ins and outs of the restaurant. She was shown how to properly use the grill, the technique that Pat uses to flip his burgers, and shown how to properly form the hamburger meat. As Rarity rolled and squished the meat, a question leaped into Rarity's mind.
"Say, I always wondered. Where do you get the meat from?" Pat flinched, then smiled.
"Oh, it's a family recipe that's been in the family for generations."
"Oh, so you make your own meat. However, that doesn't answer my original question. Where do you usually get it from?"
Pat waved his hoof for Rarity to follow him. Rarity stopped rolling the meat and followed Pat. Pat got his ring of keys from off of the hook and trotted to the freezer. He put the key through the slot hole and opened it. A stream of smoke flowed through the kitchen coming from the freezer. Rarity looked through the freezer; It was dark and cold inside. Rarity allowed her eyes to adjust to the darkness, a silhouette of a shape slowly forming. As Rarity's eyes started to adjust to the darkness, the shape began to become more clearer. Rarity gaped her mouth in horror at the sight of what she was seeing.
The silhouette turned to be a mare carcass hanging from a hook, the hook piercing through it's skin. Her coat was showered with blood, hiding her original blue skin. Her ruffled mane drooped to the floor, the slight breeze of the freezer moving it slightly. Rarity's lip quivered in fright as she noticed more silhouettes surfacing from her eyes. The terrified eyes, the disembodied heads, the tails hanging from nails. It was all too much for Rarity to handle. She turned around to run away, but the freezer door shut, Pat inside the freezer, a butcher knife in his hoof.
"You know, I was wondering when I was going to get the next shipment of meat."
Rarity screamed in complete agony as the knife sinked into her skin.
Author's Note
So, yeah. I'm sorry if this offended or scared or scarred or made you cry in your sleep. But, ya know. Shit happens.
"Give me a stick; don't be a dick," Riffmaster
