Chapter 4

“I wish I didn’t believe it!” said a white earth pony with a curly yellow mane. Her yellow eyes focused on the table away from the pony who had told her the depressing news. Her voice went soft as she continued, “He was such a good colt. To be - gun downed…”

“Well, that’s what happens when ya take what ain’t yers,” said the pony, who had told the yellow mare, while unhooking the drink from her own shoe.

The white mare was appalled. “But…” she started to retort, but the shaggy grey pony wasn’t having any of it.

The grey mare stopped refilling the mug. She squinted her eyes and leaned towards the white earth pony, who shrunk back into the chair. Her red and white mane fell over her one eye, but it didn’t take away from the effect it was having on the other pony. “Butter, listen good now! Life ain’t fer the tenderhearted any mer. Ya need ta think of ‘em foals of yers. Ferget the rest of ta werld. Focus on ya en yer’s, else ya be like that youngin at the grocers.”

         “Ain’t nothing, from what I saw passing by the Mug,” said a dark red unicorn with a light blonde mane and tons of scars. He let the drinking glass float next to his mouth as he continued. “Damn patrol - gunned down a whole group of travellers heading up to the place. Same ponies that are paid to keep’em safe. Biggest bunch of pony plop that I had to witness.” He took a sip of the contents and shuddered. “Then again, I might have been part of that massacre had I not reconsidered going with’em.”

“Luck,” stated a green and white pegasi, manipulating a fork with his cloud gloves.

“Nah, just didn’t feel right,” replied the unicorn, as the glass danced about.

“Luck,” the pegasi repeated, his mouth full of hay.

“Call it what you will,” said the unicorn then pointed the glass to everypony in general. “Don’t change the fact that everything ‘round these parts going to Tartarus in a flaming basket.”

“Tell me about it,” said a yellow and black unicorn as she displayed her bandage. “If anypony is lucky, it’s me. Damn gangs took a shot at me for some fun about a day ago. Was almost done, but I’m not ready to leave this life just yet.” She gave a sly smile and quick wink of her one eye.

The red unicorn rolled his eyes.

“Maybe - I should take the children - and leave Haystersburg,” said Butter nervously. “There’s so much going wrong - I don’t think I can handle if - one of my children…”

Silence filled the lounge.

A dry smile cracked the grey mare's face. “Sugar cube, t’is the first sensible thing I’ve heard ya say in a long time. But, let’s take that train tergether, ya’ll. Say, ya get out of this place. Where ya gonna go? Whatcha gonna do? Ya takin’ any supplies? How be ‘em foals of yer’s?”

“Candy,” warned the dark red unicorn, his voice low, his eyes hard and stern.

The grey mare shot back the look in turn. “Nah Stone, she need ta figure it out! She ain’t gonna survive if she ain’t figuring - en I don’t want my ears hearin’ any ill ‘bout them foals of her’s.”

“She could go to the Empty Mug or Mug or whatever they’re calling it now,” said the pegasi as he toyed with the rest of his hay.

“That’s if she could get past’em patrols,” said Stone as he used his telekinesis  to point his drink at the pegasi.

“And the moment she does, her and her foals would be good, so I hear,” said the pegasi putting his hooves up. “Once they get past the patrols, of course.”

Stone nodded, happy to have the point conceded to, and lowered his drink.

“Why would anypony want to go to the Mug?” said the yellow and black mare. “It’s just a glorified trading post with a greedy owner. Place always gave me the creeps.”

“Not from what I hear,” said the pegasi.  Everypony’s attention focused on him. When he realized they were all waiting, he put the fork down and cleared his throat. “Well, the trading post part. I’ve heard and seen things passing by. That non-flyer cage of theirs for example and the riot carriages. That say’s something other than ‘trading post,’ that and the built up military power protecting everything on the inside.”

“Old Mug’s probably going into the private security business,” replied the yellow and black unicorn dismissing the concern with a wave of her hoof. “Makes sense since everything has been going that way, especially considering the gang problem round these parts. That, doesn’t mean of course that it’s the best place to go to.”

“Amen!” said Stone, slamming the glass into the table.

“‘Side, gott’a be some niche ta profit from as well, else Old Mug ain’t gonna roll,” said Candy, shaking her head in disgust at  the mess caused by Stone slamming the drink.

The yellow and black unicorn looked at Candy with a flat look. “How is having a security firm not profitable?”

“Not what I said,” replied Cherry as she rescued her drink from the rolling river claiming dividing the table. “He lookin’ fer that somethin’ - en it don’t need ta be coin.”

“Either way, my advice - stay away and try one of the big cities. Plenty of stable work,” said Stone then took a swig from the broken glass.

“So you say,” stated the yellow and black unicorn. “All of Equestria is suffering which means the cities are hurting just as much or worse and with more ponies!”

“Cloudsdale might not be such a bad idea…” the pegasi mumbled.

“Just like ah pegasi ta run en hide where none can get ta ya!” Candy said and immediately continued to dig into the pegasi.

Bickering filled the room.

Butter looked around to anypony, trying to get a word in where she could, but the fast paced aggression of words kept her from finding the moment. Then a space of sudden silence appeared and she took it. “So - should I go to Old Mug for….” When she spotted the very gruff and angry looking pony in the doorway, she understood the moment was not for her, but for him.

Summer sat in her normal corner of the guides lounge and had been observing the last of her ponies. That was until Burning Bells entrance had ended everything. She watched  the brownish-grey earth pony walk over to her and take a seat.

Everypony’s attention was on him, until he looked directly at the small group with a harsh glare that even Summer, with all the training from Obsidian, couldn’t pull off. They immediately refocused on their conversation.

“How we looking?’” she asked, as he bent over supporting his head on his hooves, which conveniently covered his mouth.

“The mines ain’t going to be delivering tonight,” he said, his voice low and deep.

Summer made a gesture with her hoof and shook her head. “Nothing new there,” she said.

Burning nodded slightly. “That’s not the bad part.”

Summer cocked a questioning eye.

“Or any night,” he continued.

When she realized her body was tilting over the chair, she caught herself and played it off by grabbing whatever was in her trajectory and toyed with the item.

“Now, I didn’t hear this as I’m saying it, but the implication from the boss did imply what was being said between the lines and we both know how good that mule is with his hunches.” Burning glanced back to the group of ponies then looked straight into her eyes. “Everfree Mining is gonna fold. The method isn’t important. The fact that no more ore is going to be coming our way is.”

So that was it, Summer thought to herself. The closing curtain on this night. If it could get any worse, she was up to the hopelessness, since the only other woes for her were straight up and simple at this point.

“Can we continue with the merchants that we have?” she asked, but the strained look answered her question before the pony’s words did.

“What merchants! We had three -  just three peddlers,” stated Burning, as he grinded his teeth. He shook his head. “Old Thunder Thighs sent them packing.”

“So…” Summer tried to grasp at something.

“So slips will be heading down any time now. That and some reorganization from my understanding. He seems determined to keep this branch going, but I don’t think there’s any saving it.” The gruff pony leaned back, his face stern. “Might be time to look elsewhere.”

Summer  returned the look with a flat stare of her own. “You know I can’t do that, Burning.”

Burning leaned forward ready for the fight. “Summer, you gotta let it go! Even if he is alive, he ain’t coming back. You can’t live out there forever as the prairie queen!”

“I am quite capable Burning,” she said putting the item back. “I can handle myself.”

He jabbed his hoof towards her. “Stubborn mule! One day those gangs are going to come for you again and…”

“I said - I can handle myself,” she said with a heavier tone and a glare that could cut glass.

“Damn it girl!” Burning threw up his hooves. “Your father wouldn’t have wanted you rotting away in that tomb! Nor your mother! You need to leave Haystersburg and not look back!”

Summer rolled her eyes. “And do what - forget -”

“Yes!” The gruff pony said quickly. “You need to forget this place. Move on with your life. Start fresh, before this place takes you as well.”

Why wouldn’t this topic just go away, Summer thought to herself. “I can’t leave my mother. Who’ll clean her marker? Who’ll tend the garden? Who -”

“Who will tend to all that - when you’re dead?” Burning said heatedly pointing his hoof at her again. “Heck, who tend to you?”

“I - can’t - leave!” Summer shot back.

“You can leave, you just don’t want to!” Burning roared. “It’s scary out there, but it’s better than riding the days out here waiting to die! I have no doubt, your mother is turning in her grave every time you clean that marker!”

When she realized it, the room was completely silent and all the attention was on her, well, on her reaching for Burning with ill intent.

She pulled back both her hoof and her blind rage.

This conversation was over. “Is there any other news you have?” she asked, her tone stiff, as she turned away.

The older pony took a deep breath and snorted it out. “No,” he said, then stood and left, slamming the door on his way out.

The group continued on in conversation, but Summer sat in silence. The rage that burned within kept itself contained for the moment as she let her mind drift in emptiness.

When the pink slips arrived, everypony was quiet, watching her as she took the envelope from the unicorn.

Opening it, there was four pink slips, no names. The names had stopped a while back. It didn’t make it any easier. If anything, it made the situation worse. Of course, nothing could beat the first time she had to tell her ponies that they had lost their jobs. Some experiences just lingered.

She closed her eyes and sighed. There was no point in holding off the inevitable.

Summer walked over to the five ponies and placed the slips on the table. “It’s the same song and dance folks. I’ll give you all some time,” she said. “Any pony that I don’t see when I come back - thank you for hanging in there with the rest of us.”

Closing the door behind her, she stood on the walkway, and looked over the railing. The facility that she now gazed upon wasn’t doing any better. The few ponies that spotted from the other sections, were packing and leaving in small spurts. It might as well have been a mass exodus considering, yet here she was.

Here - she - was.

Two caravans down. One left. She shook her head. How was Thunder Thighs going to make this place work with only one caravan, especially if he was turning the peddlers away. Her mind tried to rationalize the impossible, but the truth kept staring her in  the face and she refused to see.

Perhaps taking walk would do her good, she mused.

As she walked about the facility, her mind played with any illusion of salvation that would save her home. Each elaborate design only further strengthened the delusion she held on to. At the same time, it was as though her lie had been built upon a house of glass, surrounded by truth.

When her mind finally came back to reality, she was in an unfamiliar area of the facility.

It was so quiet. Nothing in this stillness seemed to breath life. Where was she?

Looking around the dust filled space, she spotted a sign and brushed the obstruction from its surface with her tail. “Loading Bay Twelve Holding Area,” it read. That was a good bit from where she had started. Had she really been daydreaming that long?

Random noises in the distance shattered the silent stillness of her renewed surrounding and became the death cries of the once thriving company.

She couldn’t help but compare the recent events to the shadows of the old sections. The truth stood before her. This branch of the ETA had been dying for a long time and now the light was about to be extinguished. Sadness and despair hit her hard, overwhelming her defenses, as she again tried to look away. The truth pushed through and slammed into her view refusing to yield, no matter how she tried to look away. No amount of struggling this time could return her to the delusion of her own design. Her eyes were open now, and there, they would stay.

When her emotions cooled, she had only anger and pity for herself.

“He’s right - isn’t he?” she said to the silence.

“My position is known,” replied Obsidian, though nowhere to be found.

“Not what I asked?” She looked around for him as the silence continued. “Sid!”

“Only if you believe it to be so,” he answered.

Summer sighed, then laughed. It wasn’t the happy type that could be heard at a birthday party. This was the laugh of the broken. “No matter how much I’m confronted with it - even now that I can’t look away, I can’t leave. I just can’t.” She pressed her hooves to her face. “I’m gonna die - ‘cause I can’t let go. What kind of fool am I!”

A hoof pressed over her heart. It was Obsidians. “Loyalty,” he said. “The fact that your mother is dead and that your father is in question, doesn’t change that you are still loyal, not just to them, but to their memory and all that is attached. If you are a fool, you are the fool ponies would have in their corner.”

It was hard. The words pushed up from her stomach, navigating out of her mouth. “I should leave shouldn’t I? she asked as he lowered his hoof.

Obsidian remained silent as he backed away and vanished.

Right, she thought. Dumb question. She wiped whatever tears remained and headed back to whoever was left before he or she though their boss had left as well.

When she got back to the lounge, only Candy was sitting at the table. The pony’s expression was gloomy.

“Didn’t think ya, be coming back, Ms. Stars,” said the shaggy looking pony.

Well - maybe with the two of them, just maybe, everything would work out, she told herself. Maybe it could all turn around... “I guess it’s just the two of us,” Summer said pulling back the chair.

“Nah, Ms. Stars. T’is just ya.”  Summer stopped as Candy stood. “Everypony decided ta leave. Nah point to stay on ah sinkin’ ship.”  Summer watched in dismay as the pony came around and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Since I didn’t take the pinkie, I figured I’d stay ta tell ya when ya got back.”

The statement hit Summer hard. There was no going back. This was the reality and she still was trying to avoiding it. She was more than a fool. The only thing she could say was, “Thank you.”

“Ya could leave as well. Not that hard,” Candy said sympathetically.

Summer opened her mouth then closed it and looked at the floor.

Candy patted Summers should. “Just don’t let the place take ya with it,” she said then headed for the door. Before Candy closed the door, she said, “Evening, Ms. Stars. Been a ride,” then left for good.

Summer slumped into the seat. It was over. She was the last.

But, it could still turn around…

No, it’s done. There’s no going back.

But, it could still turn around…

No! Don’t you get it! There’s no going back!

But…

“Tartarus! Damn, fu…”

Her emotions swirled and in swift moment she was poised to flip the table, but she didn’t. Instead, she let it drop and let herself fall back into the chair.

She was so tired.

All the effort, the strife, making the illusion work, for what?

What a fool. A tired - desperate fool.

Summer groaned. She could hear Obsidian in her mind saying something like, “nothing can stand against the tides of time, not forever,” or along those lines. She couldn’t figure which was worse, admitting to the truth or having to tell Sid he was right. She sighed. Both.

There was nothing more here for her. This place, like everything about Haystersburg, was a dead rotting corpse and she had been festering like all the others fighting against what naturally would come next. It was time to move onward. She would still cherish the memory that she had been fighting so hard to maintain, but it would have to be only a memory.

It was time to go.

When she rose to leave, Obsidian stood by the door. How long he had been there didn’t matter. The fact that he was there was what was important. She went over to him and leaned into his shoulder.

Gently, he wrapped his forehooves around her. He held on to her until the tears had finally dried up and his comfort was n o longer needed.

“I got to do one more thing and we can go home,” she said, her voice worn and tired. “Meet me by the gate this time. I doubt anypony is still around to care but....”

He didn’t say anything, only nodded and again vanished.

She looked around the lounge for the last time. The memories this place had, these too she would carry. As she left, closing the door on this chapter of her life, she felt naked, exposed to the waiting new world, like a young foal.

As she made her way, the facility seemed quite like the dead. No pony was around.

Standing before Thunder Thighs office, the new world awaited. As she cracked the door open to the next chapter of her life, she told herself what had had been needing for the longest time, “I forgive you.”