The Food Barn

The rain was still falling when Fry Cook decided to close early, seeing as how no pony would want to be out in this weather. After cleaning up the mess Puck and his accomplice Anansi made, the employees of Food Barn proceeded to head outside, with some rain jackets to cover them.

On the right side of the motel, there were a couple rooms reserved for the employees. One of the perks of working at the Barn was having your own place to call home near the restaurant. Jax had used this to his advantage, wasting no time in moving out from his previous house to his own dormitory in the motel. Of course, the more employees, the more they had to share rooms.

Jax had to share a room with Sparks, whom he was at first adverse, but grew to like the burnt crisp of pony sleeping on the opposite side of his room.

Coach had to share rooms with Icarus, while Frost, Serridge, and Fry had their own respective rooms. All of their doors opened up to a hallway that ended at a little lobby, close to the central lobby where customers could check in and out. It was Icarus's job to handle the motel.

"Anypony come in?" Fry asked as the group of soaking employees came through the door, dripping onto the rather expensive looking carpet. Fry never cared much about it though, much to the chagrin of Icarus.

"No, but the family that came in yesterday checked out. We're completely cleaned out now," replied Icarus, a Pegasus with a white coat and silky light blue hair. She wore pointed glasses as a little fashion statement, but anyone she was close to would say her eyes see just fine. Her feathers were the one thing that stood out against her. By herself, she looked fine, but compared to other Pegasi around her, and you'd see she had noticeably less feathers.

"Sigh, any problems they report?" Fry had learned a long time of running the motel that someone always will complain about every minute detail in one group. It's why he hated extended families staying over.

"Surprisingly not, I think the rooms we gave them are the best ones we have, so I'm keeping tabs on the keys now." Icarus adjusted her glasses onto her forehead, giving a curious look to some papers she held in her hoof.

"Good thinking. My nerves are already wrecked for today, I don't need any complaint reports to ruin them more," Fry sighed. The other employees had taken off their coats and were entering the staff lobby. Fry only walked up to the front desk. "Anything else?"

"Well, I talked to my fellow weather Pegasi, and they said the weather is going to be this way for the next two days. What happened at the barn?" Icarus asked, now putting down the glasses she wore on the desk.

"It's that unicorn Puck again, and that Pegasus he had with him when he put the curse on the tapwater. By the way, put on my work list that I need to fix that problem with this," Fry hoofed over a small talisman onto the desk, Icarus giving it a curious scowl before writing something a yellow sheet of paper. She grabbed the paper with her mouth and pulled out a small drawer, dropping it inside before closing the drawer.

"Done. Did you find out who that Pegasus was, by any chance?" Icarus asked.

"Jax said he heard the name 'Anansi' given to him. Do you know him?" Fry asked.

"Anansi, Anansi..., can't say I have Fry. Sorry. Though by what you said about his mane, it sounds like he's definitely from Cloudsdale."

"Mane?" Fry asked. "What do manes have to do with being from Cloudsdale?

"It has to do with Pegasi, actually. Most, if not all, Cloudsdale pegasi have strange manes, while those of different cities have what you would think as regular manes. Those pegasi are called ground-walkers, though the term is used as an insult in Cloudsdale these days. A Pegasus mane is symbolic. It shows others their ranking."

"But then, what about you? And the other pegasi?" Fry asked.

"Despite my brother, Serridge, I can't fly, as you know, because I don't have enough plumage to use like a bird. It's why our father named me  Icarus as a sick joke. You know the legend?"

"A unicorn builds a contraption that is supposed to make them fly, but instead his 'wings' burn up and he falls to his death?" Fry flinched at this thought. "I know it."

"Well, we ground-walkers decide not to cut and dye our hair, as we have no need. Why would we want to change ourselves for something we wouldn't or couldn't be a part of in the first place? So I wandered around after being ousted from my home in Cloudsdale, grew up from my teenage years in Manehatten, reunited with my brother, and set out to find a job and a home." Icarus sighed to herself as she grabbed a folder before exiting the front desk.

"And a few weeks later, you guys ended here with me," Fry muttered.

"Oh please, Fry, it's not like I hate you or this place. The others are nice and we're all friends."

"What about your brother though? I know he's been irritated with his work."

"Eh, he's a Cloudsdale Pegasus, remember? Of course he's going to be jumpy."

"I'm worried for him you know. One of these days, he's going to find some girl that's going to promise him everything, and he'll leave you. He'll leave us. I never knew a stallion that could be a slut, you know," Fry muttered.

"That's why I'm here, Fry: to make sure he doesn't try anything stupid like that," Icarus chuckled.

"Is it possible the light air in Cloudsdale dents the Pegasus brain?" Fry asked. The two were now walking towards the lobby after Fry locked the front doors, closing the establishment. There was a ringer just in case any unlucky pony came by. The rain was now pounding at a more consistent pace, so the chances weren't high that was going to happen.

"There is a study going on, as far as I know, but it mysteriously keeps getting tampered. I wouldn't be surprised if it was true though." Both ponies shared a laugh, Fry's usual stern demeanor gone and a rare smile formed on his face as he and Icarus entered the staff lobby.

Inside was a pool table, a couch, a radio set near the couch, and some magazines on top of a table in the center of the room. Some beanbag chairs were in one corner of the room, though for the life of him, Fry never could find them comfy as much as his employees did. A small bar area stood in another corner of the lobby, filled with a couple glass cups and a small sink nearby to complete it. The walls had a wooden finish to them, making the lobby feel cozy and lively.

Coach was talking to Jax and Serridge on the couch, while Frost was reading a book sitting on one of the beanbags. Sparks was busy tinkering with some metallic object on the bar table.

"So I give him the water, and BOOM! The cup explodes in his hoof. He gets scared so he jumps back, and then it explodes again! Bigger this time!" Coach relayed the story of the water incident to Jax and Serridge. Jax missed it because he was inspecting something at the rest rooms on orders, while Serridge was busy with some mare at the motel.

"Remind me again how water is able to explode, let alone able to explode twice?" While Serridge had been in the Barn at the time when Puck had cursed the tap water, Jax had been hired a few days after. So he was skeptical of the incident, only knowing it was true because he had to clean up the evidence.

"Magic, my dear Jax! It is a blessing and a curse, given to us by some higher power lost to time, as a cruel prank!" Sparks exclaimed from the bar, using his magic to add some ball on top of the strange contraption he was making.

"Whatcha' working on there, Sparky?" Coach asked.

"I am not entirely sure, mi'lady, but it shall be built for some form of selfish desire, mainly to help me with small everyday chores. I hope."

"Mi'lady? Who are you talking to Sparks, Coach or Frost?" Jax exclaimed.

"Coach, of course! Why do you ask?" Sparks gave an inquisitive look to Jax, who looked confused before his eyes widened in realization.

"Wait, Coach...you're a girl?!" Jax yelled out loud. The whole lobby looked at Jax with a stern and curious gaze.

"Uh, yeah. Couldn't you tell from my voice and physique?" Coach asked.

"No! I thought you were just small and had been hit in the balls before I got here! And what mare has the name Coach!?"

"What pony is named Coach? That's just a moniker I use."

"But then, what's your real name?" Jax asked.

"To be honest, I've forgotten it. Haven't been using it in a long time, to be fair."

"But then where did you get the name Coach?" Jax asked. Serridge was now over at the beanbags looking through a magazine from the table.

"I used to volunteer at a rec center. The ponies there just started calling me Coach to the point that I wouldn't even hear my name anymore."

"In Fillydelphia, riiiiight?" Icarus had now sat down on the couch next to Coach, a sly smile on her face.

"I've told you before, Icarus, the rumour that Fillydelphian males are good-looking is not true," Coach sighed.

"Then who is this 'Razorshine' you were talking about in your sleep?" Icarus retorted, with an even bigger smile. At that, a small blush appeared on Coach's cheeks.

"He... he's nobody..." Coach muttered.

"Really now? 'Oh Razor, even though you're 17, I still love you with my heart!'" Icarus dramatized Coach's voice, letting out a fake snore to add to the fact that Coach was actively sleeping when she uttered the sentence. "How old were you when you met Razor?"

"I was 21. And I didn't know him outside of his time when he helped me coach some kiss~KIDS!" Coach stammered, becoming more flustered each second as the conversation went on. Icarus only smiled more.

"And then who's Latchkey? And Wildfire? And then interestingly, who's Flower?" Now Coach was beet red, and extremely flustered, not even able to complete a single word and just uttering incoherent sounds. Jax and Serridge couldn't help but start laughing hard, while Sparks still focused on his project.

"Duh..erk...why are you even here?! I thought you went to your room!" Coach finally exclaimed.

"I needed your brush. I can't find mine," Icarus stated, after she and the others calmed down from laughing.

"How come? You usually put it in your day pack from when you were hired," Coach asked. Her regular color was slowly returning to her face, but her cheeks still felt warm.

"I left it somewhere, and now I can't find it."

Right on cue, a small blast resonated in the room, and everypony turned their heads to the source to see Sparks with a layer of soot encompassing his muzzle, and his eyes shut.

"Drat, I must have set the wrong enchantment frecuency..." Sparks muttered to himself.

"You okay there, Sparks?" Icarus asked.

"Oh, it's nothing terrible really. Science is built of failures, mind you," Sparks coughed.

"Science? What does science have to do with you?" Jax asked.

"I studied in the school of Configuration. That means I enchant and build machines. I hope one day I can create a machine that will allow non-magic users to experiance the joys that we unicorns have!"

"I thought that most unicorns only wanted magic to themselves," Jax stated.

"Bah! Stubborn ones they are! They don't see that magic and science can work together!" Sparks exclaimed, throwing his hooves in the air and knocking over his contraption onto the floor. "Ah well. I suppose I'll work on it tomarrow, seeing as it is my day off."

"Along with everypony else," Fry stated, walking from the hallway that led to everypony's rooms.

"How come, boss?" Serridge asked.

"Icarus told me that the rain is going to stay for the next few days. The Barn is not opening tomarrow."

"I'm going in, Icarus.  I'll see you guys later," Coach said as she rose from the coach and started walking to her room that she shared with Icarus.

"Yawn. I guess I'll turn in too. You staying , Sparks?" Jax asked.

"Well I can't let little miss Frost here to clean up my mess, can I?" Sparks replied, glancing in Frost's direction. There she was now sleeping in a spread-eagled state on the beanbags, the book she was reading on top of her snoring muzzle.

"Aww, she looks precious!" Icarus whispered as she leaned in to get a closer look at Frost.

"Pssst. Frost? Wake up," Fry walked over and tapped the book on her muzzle, eliciting a short snort from Frost before she half-opened her eyes.

"Wha..." Frost looked at Fry half-liddedly.

"C'mon, go to your room to sleep. You remember what happened last time."

"Merp... I don't wanna..." Frost turned her back to Fry, snuggling into the beanbag. A small snore from her told him that she started sleeping again. Carefully, Fry slid his head under Frost's body, having her now hanging sideways on his back. He walked quietly as he went into the hallway with the limp Frost, Icarus silently giggling at the sight.

"Jax, I'll be heading to Ponyville tomarrow, to see if I can get a camera. That was perfect!" Icarus squeed. Jax could only roll his eyes as he, Icarus, and later Sparks and Serridge went into their rooms, and slept into the pitter-patter of the soft rain now falling on the three buildings in the middle of nowhere, at the intersection that connected Equestria.