Fallout Equestria: Ravel Melody

(The preface hasn't been edited and is kind of a drag, but if you can just bear through it you will be able to understand the story better)

The Diamons we're due home that day.

Ravel scribbled a list and emerged from the kitchen with bowls of dandelions and put on a record of some prewar Music and made mental notes of far  more tasks than the day could possibly accommodate.

Max Diamon would have said that he looked like a small worried bird, with his need to even features, his dark black maine worn short  and tidy, his head tilted in deep thought. His eyes were his most intriguing point. Seventeen years slavery working for the diamond family had made them, by turns, sharp and was full and dreamy. Securing a live life with a family of five masters who never harmed him ( as long as he did what he was told) fulfilled one of those dreams.

And they were due home today. He decided on dandelion sandwiches and salad for dinner, in case they were late, redeemed buy a starter of hot soup because the Nevada desert had a chill to it this time of year. The family all loved his soups which was one of the many reasons they made him a house slave some years ago.

They were do about at six. The words sang in his head, like a blue jay after rain. It had been a long month in this great house without the five of them. I mean yeah sure, there were the other slaves and the guards that patrol the Manor/Plantation and gates but it wasn't the same without the family occupying the house.

Ravel thought he knew just how their return would be.

Jet diamon, conscious of the responsibility of being 18 and the eldest, would swag through the arched and pillared porch, having one of the slaves carry his mother's luxury suitcase and try not to let it bump the huge prewar doors. Once in the vast hall, he would take the suitcase from the slave and slide it over the chessboard marble floor, just for the hell of it. And then head off to his room to play some of his favorite music from sweetie Bell on his prewar record player.

Eight year old Granite diamond would gallop off whooping and flying into the back yard, ( where the slaves were keep far away from) and unintentionally smashing a path through his mother's flowers, then back to the house, in search of food, drink and anything else really.

14 year old, Daisy diamond, by contrast, would wander in and be given glances buy all the guards and slave staff as her hips sway back and forth. (much to her fathers disapproval) just for the fun of being noticed and then get some of the slaves to do whatever pointless tasks she would order. The three children had stayed with their parents during their trip to the Griffin slave company on the border of what was West Equestria to learn the trade of their parents.

Ravel suspected the children hadn't minded the long trip, preferring the freedom of the world to the confines of the mansion. Which was something he would never experience.

Next, 45 year old mom, Jewel diamond would trot in, mind set over some irritation that happened back at the slave company business meeting, and feeling Travel weary after the long train ride from the Griffin slave company near the ruins of, Filly Delphia to the slave town of, old Apple Loosa. where she probably complained the entire trip and criticize everything and everypony or Griffin there.

Finally, the real, moment would arrive and Max diamond would be home. He would stand in silhouette in the double door way, cases in his magic grip not letting the slaves (are as he called us workers) lift a single one which was one of the many reasons why Ravel respected him. His long shadow would fall halfway across the black and white marble floor and Ravel would greet him with a

"Hello master did you enjoy your trip". Not daring to make eye contact and he would respond by saying

"I enjoyed it greatly" and with one hoof he would move my head to meet his gaze and continue with " you may look me in the eye we are friends remember".

Which is how he treated us as friends, fellow ponies, equals which surprised and sicked some of the other slave owners in the town. but all the same it would make Ravels heart open up like a rose at the kindness.

He would smile and nod "Thank you Master Max". And everything would be perfect again.

So Ravel swept through his day, as happy as a child on hearts warming.

Only none of it happened the way he dreamed.

.....

Home was Diamond Manor with its hauntingly Victorian style, its pretentious tower over the porch, its multiplicity of Windows suggesting a maze of rooms and corridors. Through the sand and long dead trees and smaller barely matchable buildings in the town Diamond Manor would stand out as if Luna herself walked into a peasant town.

In the 11 years he had lived there, Ravel had grown to feel himself at one with the history, fastening possessively on to this family as background to fill the void in his own. He was only 5 or 8 when he was taken away by slavers from his home and had never really new, nor remembered his parents all he knew was that he came from somewhere around the ruins of Canterlot.

The Diamond family claimed to be the descendants of the original founders of Appaloosa and were once a part of some big family who helped found Equestria known as the Apple family.

But that void wasn't really there anymore, because he loved the house and his work in it.... Right?

But in any case or at the very least he was satisfied with his life. He had a home, a roof over his head, food in his gut, and not that strict masters. Oh and all the poetry and books he could ever read thanks to Master max for teaching him to read and giving him access to the Manors library.

So he had it pretty good. A lot better than most of the other slaves in Appaloosa.

And with his confidence in his situation restored, he awaited the families return.