“Oh, what a day,” said a white unicorn mare to herself. This pony was gorgeous: her mane and tail were a fine violet colour, and elegantly curled, with gleaming azure eyes, and three diamonds on her flank to complete the set. She was also wearing a set of sky blue saddlebags and a scarf to block away the cold wind and air. Going over the day, she said, to nopony in particular, “let’s see: I’ve completed seven orders today, and have been flooded with twelve more to finish within the week.”
Looking around her, she knew she was a few minutes walk from her home and shop. “No,” thought she, “that simply won’t do; I must get home as quickly as possible.” She looked at a few buildings and noticed an alleyway. “Perfect,” thought she as she ran at full gallop into the back alley, “this will cut my travel time in half, at least.” She was weaving through the semi-dark alley towards her home, but was stopped by a voice behind her.
“Stop where you are,” demanded a gritty, rough voice from behind the white mare. She turned face and came almost snout-to-snout with a dark golden Earth Stallion wearing a tattered, stained tan vest. His messy, dark blue mane wasn’t too long, but it wasn’t very short, either, and his eyes were a dark, faded green colour.
“Umm, hello,” nervously greeted the mare, who tried to back away.
“I said stop!” barked the stallion. The mare felt a quick poke to her chest, and looked down to see that the stallion was holding a medium-sized knife toward her. She gasped, and then the stallion spoke. “Now, look,” said he, “I want you to give me all of your money and everything in your saddlebags.” He then looked at the mare’s shocked face and continued, stuttering a bit and lightly trembling, “I don’t want to hurt you, and I certainly don’t want to kill you, but I won’t think twice about it if you try anything funny.” The stallion’s green eyes bore a look of dead seriousness, but the mare could tell that he had no intention of hurting her.
Willingly, the mare slid off her saddlebags and set them down between herself and the stallion. “Here,” said she nonchalantly, “have my things. But,” added she, “do tell me, why must such a handsome stallion like yourself live like this?” Her azure eyes contrasted greatly with the stallion’s, bearing an expression of genuine concern.
“What?” asked the stallion, sounding almost insulted, “what are you talking about?”
“What I’m talking about,” informed the mare, “is why someone such a handsome stallion as yourself must resort to petty theft and muggings.” She tilted her head in curiosity as she spoke.
“What in Celestia’s name are you talking about, ‘handsome?’” questioned the mugger authoritatively.
The mare simply brushed the bottom of the mugger’s jaw with her hoof and replied, “exactly what I said: handsome.”
The stallion shook his head violently for a second. “No,” said he to himself, “this is a trick; a dirty mare’s trick to confuse me. SHUT UP!” barked he to the mare.
“Shhh, calm down,” said the mare softly, putting her hoof on the stallion’s shoulder to comfort him.
“Don’t touch me!” demanded the stallion, jerking his leg away, almost cutting the mare with his knife. He then readied his knife and held it to the mare’s chest.
The mare took a deep breath and used her hoof to push his knife hoof away, and then embraced the stallion tightly. His body was cold, but the mare didn't pay the fact much thought. She closed her eyes, for she didn’t know what would happen next.
Many moments passed, and neither pony did anything. After what seemed like hours, the mare let go and stood back. Then, the stallion growled loudly and reared up his knife. The mare closed her eyes and took a deep breath in anticipation. She waited for anything: a sharp pain, a loss of feeling, anything. She felt nothing. Instead, she heard a clanging sound. She opened her eyes and saw that the stallion’s knife was gone. She then turned to see his knife, laying on the ground not far away. Looking back, she saw that the stallion’s eyes were closed, and he was holding back tears.
After another few seconds of silence, the stallion spoke, much more softly than before. “Two weeks ago,” informed he, “I was evicted from my home in Bittsburgh. The rent in that city’s so expensive, I couldn’t afford a place to live there. I managed to scour up enough to get a train ticket to Ponyville, but they kicked me off in Fillydelphia when they found out I was broke. I’ve had to mug ponies there to get enough to afford a ticket to the next city. Then, I repeated the process. After a few cities and towns, I got here.”
By this point, the stallion was sitting on his haunches on the cold concrete. Without thinking twice, the mare joined him, and held her right foreleg around him. “Where is it you’re aiming to go, Darling?” asked she tenderly.
The stallion shrugged. “No idea,” replied he, “just somewhere I can live.”
The mare thought for a few seconds, and finally said, “you know, I have a cousin, who’s a musician. She tours all around Equestria, and could certainly use some extra hooves.” She then looked to the stallion and asked, “would you be interested?”
“Hmm,” pondered the stallion. “I’m more of a chemist, myself. But, I’ll take whatever I can get by this point.”
The mare nodded. “Right, then,” said she, “I’ll send her a letter, and, you could stay at my home in the meantime.” She then stood up and held her hoof to the gold stallion.
“That would be nice,” remarked the stallion, his eyes slowly starting to close.
“My word,” said the mare at the sight. “Are you alright, Dear?”
The stallion shook his head to awaken himself. “Yeah,” replied he dizzily, “I’ll be fine; I just need to rest a minute.” He then trailed off as he added, “if you don’t mind, Miss, umm...”
“Rarity, Darling,” answered the white mare, “and I don’t mind at all.” She then sat back down next to him, and allowed him to rest his head on her.
Several minutes passed, and Rarity began to doze. waking herself up, she tapped on the stallion’s shoulder to wake him, but he didn’t move. She repeated the action, and he still didn’t respond. Worried, the mare asked to him, “Sir, are you okay?” but to no avail. As it dawned on her, tears began to well up in her eyes, and she put her ear to his chest. She heard nothing.
Rarity wiped the tears from her face, and then picked up her saddlebags. “So long, Friend,” said she to the stallion before her. As she exited the alley, she saw a few ponies going about their business as usual.
“Excuse me, Nurse Redheart?”
