Melancholy

Melancholy
Section1: Chapter 1: Greed

A concept I thought of while editing 'Moonlight Sonata'.
Also, this is dedicated, and I mean the whole story - not just this chapter, to a friend in need: Lynked, who I'm editing for. Give his page some views, because he needs some support and this is the least I could do for him!

She walked down the path, the snow crunching beneath her hooves. She smiled to herself, though she knew that it was no laughing matter. She had screwed up. Big time. She could feel a bulge in her throat, as though she was being strangled by her own skin.

She was sucking in her stomach too, for it felt wrong to leave it out. She was angry at herself, yet she smiled.

She had a really bad feeling: is this guilt? Is this what it feels like to have too much, but not have anything to do about it? She kept walking. On and on. She was walking out into the forest. She didn't know which, but she did know that she couldn't get lost if she didn't stray from the path. Just take every right.

She kept going, never stopping, her hoofsteps always in time. Never one off the beat. She counted them, as she went.
One, two, three four, one, two, three, four, never stopping. She went on, turning right on a crossroads. She didn't know where she was, but she knew the way back.

Her hoof still ached. It began to get worse. One, two... three-four, one, two... three-four. Never stopping.

She thought back, far back, to the first time she saw the other ponies. She pulled away from that thought. It stung. No need to elaborate, she didn't think about it.

One, two... three-four, her hoofsteps slowed down, and bit by bit, she began to register her surroundings. Manehattan? Had she really gone all the way to Manehattan? That's like saying that she had... well, she couldn't think of anything that it was like.

She stopped, finally.

She began to wonder about what she would do, but then she noticed something else: everypony was looking at her kind of... strange. Did they recognise her? Had she been doing something... wrong? No, she couldn't have. She had just went out for a stroll. A very, very long, tiring stroll.

She turned around, starting up again, but this time faster: she had just remembered something important.

One-two-three-four-one-two-three-four.

She didn't stop. Her mane was a mess, but for once, she didn't care. Her tail had mud in it, probably from a carriage that had passed by her on her way. No matter. Nothing was important anymore except for that. Nothing.
~~~

She arrived back in Ponyville three hours later, kicking herself for going out so far. Her limp was gone, too. It wasn't because it wasn't there anymore; her muscles just ached equally all round.

"Well, it looks like it's time to fix things up," sighed Rarity. "or maybe after a nap. A long nap..."

She knew she couldn't stay at her house, she had to avoid 'that'. Hmm. 'That' would be a problem.

"Well, off I trot, then..."

She had nowhere to stay... no-where except for one place. She would have to pull one really weak string.

Once she got there, she gave a triplet of knocks on the door, hoping that it would open.

It did.

The door cracked open a bit. A small "Oh, uh, hi Rarity, uh, what is it...?" came from behind it.

"Um, hi... listen; I need a place to stay, and I'm sorry, so... can I come in here? Please?"

"Um, ok, I, uh, I guess..." said Fluttershy.