The Life and Times of Billy the Goat
I am in a place with lots and lots of trees.
The laughing creature put me here. He said something to my mom and dad. I think it was about being hurt. And then I was here.
These trees are dark. I do not like it.
“Hello?” I say. “Is anyone out there?” There are noises. But nobody says anything.
I am scared.
I eat some grass.
I am still scared.
Suddenly it is day. And then it is night again. How did that happen?
I am so so scared.
I do not know how long I have been here.
The laughing creature isn’t coming back. I do not like him.
There is a bright light. It is gone now.
I look where it was. I can’t stay in the tree place. It is scary.
I walk toward where the light was. Maybe there is something over there.
The light was far away, but it might be out of the tree place.
I am out of the tree place. I am happy.
There’s a path here. I decide to follow it. It is a dusty path.
There is a hill. It is also a house. I have never seen something like this. A lot of animals are around the hill house. It must be a nice place.
I walk to the door of the hill house. The animals see me. Some of them run away. They are silly.
I knock on the door of the hill house.
A bunny rabbit opens the door.
“Hello,” I say. “Do you live here?”
The bunny rabbit stares at me. Then it shakes its head yes.
“Can I come in?”
The bunny rabbit shakes its head no.
“Okay. Do you know where my mom and dad are?”
The bunny rabbit shakes its head no. It is mad. It shuts the door.
I look around. There are some flowers. I eat some. Then I remember I am not supposed to eat things mom and dad do not pay for.
I knock on the door.
The bunny opens it. He is still angry.
“I ate flowers. Can you find my mom and dad so they can pay for them?”
The bunny looks at the flowers. The bunny looks at me. The bunny throws a carrot at my head and shuts the door.
I feel sad.
I can’t find my mom and dad.
But this place is nice. Some of the animals are coming closer. I should stay here and see about the flowers. Maybe if somebody comes they can help me find my mom and dad.
I didn’t know bunnies had houses.
I am hungry again. So I eat the flowers. It isn’t right, but I am hungry.
A pony is coming to the hill house. She is yellow and pink. She stops when she sees me.
Maybe she knows the bunny?
I step out of her way. She is still looking at me. She looks at the flowers. She looks at me again.
The animals start to go to her.
“Um...” she says. “...Hello.”
“Hello,” I say.
She looks at me again.
“...Did you eat my flowers?”
I look at the flowers. I did eat them. But I thought they were the bunny’s flowers. “I ate these flowers,” I say.
“Why?”
“I was hungry.”
“But... you could buy food somewhere else.”
“I don’t have money.”
The pony looks surprised. “Oh. Do you have a job?”
“My dad has a job.” I look around. “I don’t know where they are.”
“Oh... I’m sorry to hear that.” The pony looks confused.
The animals around her start making noises. She listens. She looks back at me.
“...My name is Fluttershy.”
“My name is Billy,” I say. I notice she has wings.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, um, Billy. Did you come here from the Everfree forest?”
The what? I came from the tree place. Maybe she means the tree place? “The laughing creature put me in the tree place.”
“The laughing... you mean Discord?” I don’t know what she’s talking about. She sees I am confused. “Oh, I’m sorry. Long, brown with lots of colors, looks like a mishmash of everything.”
“Yes.” That sounds like the laughing creature.
“Don’t worry. My friends and I took care of him.” She smiles. “I just came back from Canterlot, princess Celestia had a big ceremony thrown for us.”
I nod. It is good to know the laughing creature is taken care of.
“...so you can go home now,” the pony explains.
“I don’t know where home is.”
“Do... do you know where you live?”
“With mom and dad.”
The pony smiles. “No, I mean... what city do you live in?”
I don’t know what she’s talking about. “I... live with mom and dad.”
She shakes her head. “Okay... do you know what your mom and dad’s names are?”
“Mom and Dad.” That one was easy.
The pony is sad. “You have no idea how to get home, do you Billy?”
I don’t.
I’m scared.
I start to cry.
The pony hugs me. “Don’t worry. You can stay with me, okay? You can stay with me until I find your mom and dad. Okay?”
This is a nice pony.
“Okay...”
“Good. Do you... do you know how old you are, Billy?”
I stop crying. I think about the question. “How old?”
“Um... Oh I know. How many candles were on your birthday cake?”
I shake my head. Candles? I remember candles on my birthday cake. But I don’t remember how many. “Lots.”
“More than... ten?”
I think. “Yes...”
The pony nods. “More than... fifteen?” She lets me go and starts looking at me.
“I think so.”
“....more than twenty?” She seems to be upset.
“Twenty is two tens?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
She looks at me. She is sad again. Why is she sad?
“...well. My house is your house.”
I am confused. “But your house is your house, not mine.”
She laughs. “No, what I meant was.... It means I’m letting you stay with me.” She opens the door. “Angel Bunny? I’m back!”
The bunny hops up It looks at me. It is angry.
“Angel Bunny, this is Billy the Goat. He’s going to be staying with us for a while.”
“Hello,” I say. “Why do you live in her house?”
“Oh, I share my house with a lot of animals. My special talent is taking care of animals, you see.” The nice pony walks in. She looks back and smiles at me.
I step in. The bunny is still mad, but it isn’t trying to hurt me anymore.
“...So, Billy! Um...” The pony looks around. “...this is my cottage.”
“I thought this was a house.”
“A cottage is a kind of house, Billy.”
“Oh.”
We don’t say anything.
The pony shakes her head. “Well... I, um, I need to check on all the animals here. And, um... well, they might not know how to react to a stranger. Can you sit on the couch while I go do that?”
“I guess.” I sit on the couch. “The animals are cute.”
She smiles. She walks away.
I look around.
This is better then the tree place.
The Life and Times of Billy the Goat
Miss Fluttershy is very nice to me.
She says I shouldn’t eat everything. “I need those things, Billy. Please don’t eat them.”
“But goats eat everything,” I say.
She sighs. “Goats... can eat anything, yes, but good goats only eat what they are told they can eat.”
I stop eating the birdhouse. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’ll just make a new one. You didn’t know you were doing anything wrong.”
I think. “Is this why mom and dad always pay for the food I eat?”
She smiles. “Yes. It tells other ponies that you can eat it.”
“But you give me food without paying for it.”
She laughs. “Oh, no, I pay for it. Then I bring it here, so I can put it away to eat later.”
This makes sense. Mom did that too. But mom always took me along. Why doesn’t miss Fluttershy take me along to get food?
I do not understand. Maybe miss Fluttershy is just different then mom. But not in a bad way.
“Oh... Billy...”
I turn to miss Fluttershy. “Yes?”
“I’m having some trouble finding your mom and dad. Don’t worry, I’m still trying! I just, you know...” She looks at me. “I needed help.”
“Okay,” I say.
“So, a friend of mine is going to come over. She’ll ask you some questions.”
“What kind of questions?”
Miss Fluttershy moves her shoulders. “I don’t know exactly. She... tends to ask a lot of questions when she gets excited about something.” She looks at me. “Are you okay with her asking you questions?”
I think about it. “Some questions are hard. But I will try to give the right answers.”
She laughs. “Oh Billy, this isn’t a test! We just want... something to go one, somewhere to start looking. And Twilight knows how to ask good questions... better questions then I ask, anyway.”
She looks sad. I do not want miss Fluttershy to be sad. She is a nice pony.
“You ask good questions,” I say.
She blinks. “Well... I guess. But Twilight knows how to ask questions... she knows how to research.” I know research is a big word for finding things out. Dad uses it all the time.
“Oh.”
Sometimes there are times where miss Fluttershy and I are quiet. We do that a lot.
“...I should make the new birdhouse.”
“What?” Miss Fluttershy looks confused.
“I ate the birdhouse. I should make the new one.”
“O-Oh! Um...” She smiles. “I... don’t think you’d be able to do it on your own. It’s a lot harder than it looks. But if you’d like to help me make one--”
I shake my head. “I should make the new birdhouse.”
Miss Fluttershy looks sad. “Oh. Okay.”
Did she want to make the new birdhouse? She must have.
“...But I think you should help me,” I say. “With measuring. I am not good at that.”
“I’ll do that.” She smiles, but it is not a big smile.
I made a mistake.
Miss Twilight is rubbing her head. She is hurt because I rammed her head. I do not understand.
“She has a horn.”
Miss Fluttershy looks at me. “Yes Billy. But unicorn horns aren’t like goat horns.”
“Dad always said to only ram people with horns,” I say.
She shakes her head. “I think what he meant was not everypony likes being rammed. Maybe you should ask them beforehoof?”
I don’t understand. But miss Fluttershy is giving me a sad look. It is the kind of sad look I get from mom when I do something wrong. I lower my head.
“I’m sorry...”
Miss Twilight stands. “No, it’s... it’s okay. I’ve had worse, just... don’t do it again. So! Billy. Where are you from?”
“Home,” I say.
“...Okay! Is there anything in the city you live in?”
I stare at here. “There is my home and stores and other buildings.”
Miss Twilight rubs her head. Maybe it is still hurting. “Look, Billy, I mean... something that someone from out of town would recognize. A famous landmark, a museum, maybe a restaurant.”
“Oh! There is the Golden Fries!” I smile.
She is not smiling. “That... isn’t actually very--”
“Billy, where does your dad work?” Miss Fluttershy asks.
“I don’t know. But I know he does research.” I nod. “The things he works on are sparky. I touched one once. It hurt.”
Miss Twilight smiles. “Electronics?” I nod, because that is what dad calls them. “Okay! A city with an electronic research center that employs goats. And Golden Fries has an outlet there. Do you know where your mother gets groceries?”
I nod. “The grocery store.”
“...does the grocery store have a name?” Twilight asks.
“I don’t know.”
Miss Twilight nods. She is not smiling. “I’ll see what I can do... Oh! What street do you live on?”
“Splinterhoof.”
“Okay.” She glances at Fluttershy. “Those are... all the questions about where you live, at least for now... Do you mind if I ask you other questions?”
I shake my head no. What could be wrong with questions?
Miss Twilight pulls out a notepad.
Oh. Those kind of questions.
Miss Twilight is silent. She looks at me. It is the kind of look I know where she has to be choosing something.
“...Fluttershy, can I talk to you outside?”
Miss Fluttershy blinks. She shakes her head yes, and follows Miss Twilight out the door. I know this part, this happens a lot.
I wait.
Miss Fluttershy and Miss Twilight come back in. I can see their faces. Miss Twilight has an embarrassed face, which is good. The testers with sad faces always make me feel bad.
Miss Fluttershy is sad, but not too sad. She is more thinking.
“...Well! I guess, um, I’ll see you for Nightmare Night?”
Miss Fluttershy shakes her head no. “I don’t open my doors for Nightmare Night. It’s... well, it’s scary.”
Miss Twilight shakes her head yes. She is trying to get out without looking like she needs to. “I guess that makes sense...”
Miss Twilight is a very silly pony.
Miss Fluttershy looks at me.
Miss Twilight is gone.
“...She’s a good friend, when she’s not obsessing.” Miss Fluttershy smiles. “She did this thing with a doll recently... got the town all up in a tizzy. The princess had to come down and fix it herself.”
“Oh.”
Miss Fluttershy wants to say something. But she is trying to figure out how to say it to not hurt my feelings. She is a nice pony.
“...Billy?”
“Yes?”
“...I just.... Let’s work on that birdhouse.”
“Okay.”
We walk outside to the workbench. Sh is looking at me but not wanting me to know. She wants to tell me, but she thinks it would be bad. But I already know.
Mentally Retarded. Very big words, but I know what they mean. They mean I can’t learn like other goats or ponies or cows or donkeys or sheep....
It is a sad thing. That is what dad says, I think. He talks with big words and long talks and confusing things, but that is what he means. He does not hate me.
Mom says it is a problem that I can work around. She argues with dad when she thinks I can’t hear. I think they both want to help, but they don’t know how.
Miss Fluttershy wants to help too. But she doesn’t know how either.
“What is Nightmare Night?” I say. “Mom and dad just say it is scary and to stay inside.”
Miss Fluttershy is scared, but she looks up from her couch. “W-well... Um, little foals dress up as monsters and go around houses asking for candy.”
I look at her. “And... that is scary?”
She shivers. “No, not that... the monsters. The whispers. They try to laugh, but... there’s something deeper, something the foals don’t know about. There’s... fear.” She shivers again. “That’s what Nightmare Night is about. The great... fear.”
I do not understand. “What is the great fear?”
Miss Fluttershy hides under the blanket. “The dark, dragons, fire... those are only normal fears. Spiders, shadows, ghosts... not the great fear. The great fear is in all beings. Every animal, every pony, every goat.... on this night it always wakes up. I can feel it. Even the earth is afraid.”
She shivers.
“...I am not afraid,” I say. I think I hear claws at the door.
“R-really?”
I... I shake my head no. “I am... not. No.”
She giggles. “Oh, of course not Billy.”
“I am not!”
There is a knock at the door.
“GO AWAY! NO CANDY HERE!” Miss Fluttershy sits up and stares at the door. “VISTORS NOT WELCOME ON NIGHTMARE NIGHT!”
She is scared.
“Fluttershy, it’s me! Twilight!”
Miss Fluttershy breathes in, walking to the door. She opens it. “It is you. Oh, and Nightmare Moon.”
Nightmare Moon? Who is Nightmare Moon?
“NIGHTMARE MOON?!” Fluttershy shuts the door and gets under the couch.
Miss Twilight steps in right after. “Fluttershy, get out here! Billy, help me get her out.”
“Why are you dressed like Old Holly Hooves?” I say.
She gives me a look of anger, but it is a soft anger. She’s trying to pull Miss Fluttershy out from under the couch.
“Don’t do this to me Twilight! It’s Nightmare Moon!!”
“It isn’t and -unf- you know it! GET-- OUT-- HERE!” Miss Twilight pulls Miss Fluttershy from under the couch.
“Billy! Save yourself!”
“Fluttershy, it’s only Luna!”
I do not understand. They walk out the door.
I tilt my head.
”Twilight Sparkle hath spoken of the sweetness of thy voice. We ask, thou teachest to us to speak as thou speakest.”
Fluttershy tries to run back in. Twilight pulls her out again.
I run up the stairs. The voice.... it is too loud. I put my head under the pillow.
Miss Fluttershy comes up, eventually. “I... I’m okay, Billy.”
I pull my head out. “What... who was that loud voice?”
She shakes her head. “That was... just, somepony trying to not be scary. Don’t, don’t worry about it.” She smiles, but I know she is still scared.
“Okay.”
We just look at each other, quietly.
There is... really nothing else to do.
I miss mom and dad...
