Heart Of The Pit (A Hearth's Warming Tale)

December 24

Pony View

The bus hit another pothole and the blizzard wouldn't stop shaking the windows and the seats... but that was the least of my problems.

"Hey chicken wings, does Pony Claus never give you any presents? He don't want no pegasi who can't fly to get any presents." Fatisha reminded me.

"Ha! Mr. Liner didn't even defend you, he just said wait 'till you're older like every older pony says. They don't get any presents." Rilly laughed.

I was used to this by now... but I just had to open my fat mouth. The more I thought about it though, the more I needed to just escape from this entire city... from my own world. I would travel north and fly with one of Santa Claus' reindeer and I could have my new family and have more than enough presents. My mom even said she wants to escape the world... I love my mom.

"Lucky shit. It's your stop." Fatisha jabbed close to my face.

"Not if he can't get off." Den Noir grabbed my neck and held me up in the air. "Real pegasi could break through this hold with just their awesome, high-flying, glorious, wings you don't have. They ca-"

"Hey." The bus driver turned around and shot Den Noir cockatrice levels of intense staring. His face was an ugly wrinkled pug face covered in warts and hairs... but he was the nicest pony I knew, he kept the bullying level down.

Den Noir dropped me, I ran to grab my bag, and I sprinted off the bus to my neighborhood. The street was full of the biggest and grayest buildings ever now hidden behind the fog from the blizzard. I imagined myself being one of those awesome weather pegasi who make it rain and snow and shoot lighting as I trudged through the gray snow on the side of the street. My biggest dream was being one of the Wonderbolts... but for now, I had to settle for smaller dreams.

"Hey Scootaloo." The lobby attendant cheered.

"Hey." I mumbled.

I slammed the button to my home floor and the plain elevator lumbered upwards... it was the best I could get to flying. I stepped onto my floor and ran down the hall to my apartment all the way at the end. I opened the door to find my mother lying on the saggy couch covered in blankets... she was sleeping and shaking. Unusual.

"Hey kid, get away from your mother." My dad boomed from the kitchen on the other side of the wall.

"Hey dad." I slowly walked into the kitchen to check out the scene. Dad was doing adult stuff like he always says. He was reading something on one of those new screen things the richer ponies kept calling laptops.

"Beer please."

I knew what I had to do to get presents. It was simple. Be nice... I was always nice to my parents and so I reached inside the fridge to grab one of those brown bottles and set it down on the rickety wooden table next to him. I opened up a door connecting to the kitchen to my very own bedroom. I threw my bag in the crack in between my bed and the wall. I stared at the Wonderbolts poster hanging on the ceiling over my bed when at night it would give me the best dreams. I hoped to fly in that poster.

It was the only Hearts Warming present I ever got... it wasn't from Pony Claus. A bizarre old stallion pushing a cart around Manehattan gave me the poster two years ago on Hearts Warming Day. He said good luck... that was it.

A yawn came from the living room.

"Finally awake, are we?" Dad boomed from the kitchen, I ran out of my room, through the little kitchen and hugged mom still lying on the couch.

"Scootaloo. How was school? I'm so glad to see you... you got home so early."

I didn't want to say it... but I did, "We had a sub who talked about Pony Claus the whole time... well, we were let out after... after..."

"What is it?" My mom sounded worried.

"I shouldn't told the class that Pony Claus because they bullied me on the way back."

"Why do you think Pony Claus hates you?" Mommy looked sad.

"He never comes to our apartment and gives us presents... the other ponies... they said Pony Claus hates pegasi who can't fly."

Mommy looked really sad now.

"You know mommy doesn't like to talk about those things, it makes her really sad." She started to cry silently. I've never seen an adult pony cry before, it made me sad too.

My dad boomed from the kitchen, "Haven't I told you over and over again not to ask about Pony Clause, kid. It's not because you can't fly-"

Mom looked angry and sad now, "But we all know why she can't fly. Scootaloo, go to mommy and daddy's room and close the door."

I did so without objecting, I had to do this whenever my parents had adult fights. I couldn't hear words, only screaming and yelling.

Omnicorn View

"Babe, you know what happens when you talk about the kid's wings... and make it my fault!"

"Her name is Scootaloo and it's all your fault." The mother said softly with hidden rage.

"I can make you shut up about it... and nopony will ever hear about the kid's wings... you know I can."

"What if I don't care any more?" The mother spoke through her tough, ivory prison. Her dull honey eyes glanced over at a bottle of vinegar in the open pantry. The father saw this.

"Oh, don't you dare."

"If you really loved me, you'd be worried that I'd die from my own hooves."

The father switched to a sarcastic tone, "Well if I really loved you, I would also buy you some jewelry, a Folks-Wagon car, your very own laptop, some designer clothes, and a trip to Canterlot... but I don't love you. You know that."

"This is my life on the line, not just that fancy shit, you flankhole." The mother yelled.

"I don't care if you kill yourself."

"Oh yes you would, you'd miss your little slave dog doing you all those little favors and shit. We all know how Scootaloo was born too, don't we?"

"Go ahead then, try it. You're not strong enough to kill yourself... I bet you'll just vomit it up again." The father laughed but he shoved the mother away from the kitchen when she bolted towards the bottle. The mother smacked him and he shrugged and left the kitchen now shaking as he watched his wife.

The mare uncapped the vinegar bottle and threw it over her head letting the liquid flow into her body at high speeds. Her eyes made it look like it burned... and it did... but she eventually drank the entire bottle. The father stood and did nothing devoid of any facial expression. That is until the mare started to slam herself into the kitchen sink causing gigantic bruises. The father successfully restrained her and grabbed the telephone, another new invention.

"Ambulance... yes... ...my wife just drank vinegar... ...no she thought it was water" -the wife kept screaming- "Of course she's in pain, that's why she's screaming... ...Now!" The father slammed the phone down on the hook and the mother passed out.

Pony View

The screaming stopped.

I guess it was okay to go outside.

My father had a strange look on his face, kinda like when he gets mad a lot, but worse. "Your mother is very sick, I called the helping ponies." My dad was the best.

Minutes past. The wall clock was very interesting... the clock hooves actually moved, I've never seen it before. But then I though of something.

"How did mom get sick after yelling really loud?"

"I don't know."

"But you-"

The helping ponies blew our door down. "There!" The stallion pointed at my parents, seized my mother and put her on one of those beds that they carry. My dad and I didn't say a single word and soon the helping ponies bolted down the wall. Fillies and colts opened their doors and said: Pony Claus, is that you?

They were disappointed and scared. The ponies blew down the spiral stairs like monkeys leaving my sight. We made it down to the lobby and ran outside where mom was already in the ambulance. We all got in and sat next to mom and a tough-looking doctor. The sirens blasted and we tore down our apartment street towards the hospital in the middle of the night. Dad's glowing watch read nine o'clock... it was past my bed time.

"Hello, you must be the husband, am I correct?"

"No, I'm not married, I just have a family without all the formalities so to speak."

"I see," but the doctor looked confused making his spiky grey mane, mustache, and beard look wilting, "My name is Dr. Revelum. It appears that the vinegar poison is currently being applied with antidote. However, she has also drowned from the sheer amount of vinegar and surgery has to be performed in order to remove the offense. She is going to live."

"Good." Dad said angrily.

This had to be the worst Hearts Warming Eve yet.