Rose Shy Once Bitten

That was just great he thought. Not only is it cold down here, but I'm stuck at work until I get Derpy's mess cleaned up. It was always something with that pegasus he thought. Although a part of him did think she was cute, aside from her wall eyes of course. No matter what happened to her, she kept trucking as the saying goes. That and he couldn't hold too much against her, she did have her daughter to look out for. He had once overheard a conversation with another co-worker that Dinky's father had only married Derpy out of pity. One day he just up and left her and their daughter.

"Some day if I see that bastard I'll knock him on his flank for doing that to her." he thought to himself. When he thought about it, he really didn't hold much against the mare. Derpy was one of the top fliers when she was a filly. After a tragic accident her eyes were never the same. If it weren't for that she'd still be participating in the races with Rainbow Dash.

That mare was something else. Rainbows proclivities at that time weren't exactly secret. She had walked up to Lightning Dust once and slapped her flank with a wing when they were younger. Dust wasn't the best at expressing her feelings and slapped Rainbow. It wasn't after she was kicked out of the Wonderbolts that the mare realized how she really felt about other mares.

There had been a few rumors that Spitfire was seeing her when she wasn't at work. There were also rumors that Rainbow had met up with her a few times and cornered her. Mare on mare stories were the type that would make most ponies blush a deep crimson. That and Rainbow Dash apparently could suck off most unicorn mares in under ten seconds. Her oral skills were beyond exceptional.

"Its too bad," he thought to himself," I'd really love to pound Rainbow's flank right now. That mare may be athletic, but her flank is just round enough to catch any pony's attention." And of course as Bit was thinking this, a Rainbow colored streak flew over head. He slapped himself with a wing and hoped she didn't hear what he had just thought out loud. After she disappeared he let out a sigh of relief before continuing home. As he rounded the corner he thought back to that conversation about Derpy. That still made him mad that something like that had happened to her.

What a dolt he thought, what kind of stallion just abandons somepony like that. It wasn't his place to dwell on it anymore since he snapped himself back to reality and started to clean up the mess on the floor. He couldn't wait to get home when he was done here. Of course, this was nothing like where he used to live.

Great, another late night stuck working the mail room, not too bad really, Bit thought to himself. It wasn't like he wasn't used to it by now. Ponyville was nothing like Baltimare or Canterlot. The population had grown a bit, but nothing like that of a big city. There weren't that many traffic jams here, not like the city, or in the middle of the day, only just lightly paved roads running through the middle of town where the Golden Oaks Library once stood. He and about every other pony in town had born partial witness to Princess Twilight's battle with Lord Tirek. He was surprised though that they didn't just rebuild it.

Instead, she got her own castle. The outside always struck him as a bit too pastel for his taste. Then again he wasn't the Princess of Friendship so what did it really matter to him. But a part of him did feel sorry for the Princess. That Library had been her home for almost five years, and now it had been reduced to nothing but ash and rubble. He would have loved to of seen the whole fight if he had the bravery to watch all of it. It was never his place to judge events like that, he was just a bystander after all. If he had tried to intervene or help he'd of just gotten in the way.

"Time to get home,", he told himself. The weather started to remind him more of home now more than it used to. As the wind picked up slightly, so did the chill in the air. He finally admitted it to himself as he kept walking. What was it about the weather here that still reminded him of Balitmare? He was brought out of that frame of mind by a sudden gust of wind. That and it was getting cold out. Damn cold for a night like tonight he thought. It was the damnedst thing too.

Damn its cold out, Bit thought to himself. He wasn't the kind of pony that was used to cold night in Ponyville, he grew up in Baltimare, which to him was a bit more tolerable. He had moved here after getting a job offer to work at the local Post office. He was pretty good at managing others, and money. His cutie mark were three gold bits after all. He was on his way home when he heard somepony screaming from somewhere around the corner. ;

He peeked around the edge to catch three other stallions dragging some poor mare into one of the alleys nearby. He wasn't the type to just let somepony get assaulted and allow himself to just look away, he had to do something to help her out. When he rounded the corner of the alley to put a stop to what was going on, he caught notice of the fact that she was a Bat Pony, and a beautiful one at that.

One of the stallions standing over her turned around to see Bit staring at them.

"Get lost kid, there's nothing to see,", He spat at Bit, hoping that he'd be dumb enough to listen and just turn around. He didn't, and that only infuriated the other two more.

"You deaf?", one of the muggers said as he walked over and tapped Bit in the back of the head, like a bully did to foals at a school yard.

"No, But you should watch where you stand," before the mugger knew it, Bit had his left hoof balled up and connecting to the stallion's jaw, knocking him off balance and right onto his flank. His companions looked at their friend before trying to tackle Bit to the ground. Bit did a 180 and bucked his back hooves right into the lead mugger's chest, sending him crashing into a waste basket before turning to the other one and slamming his right hoof into the stallions' neck, rendering him unconscious.

He turned to the mare on the ground and asked if she was alright. She simply ran out screaming, bolting past him with a speed that only came second to famed Rainbow Dash. He could understand if she was in a panic, but he meant her no real harm. He had to let her know that.

As he walked back out of the alley, he found her standing in front of him, her eyes crying still.

"I wasn't going to hurt you,", he wanted her to know that he wasn't the kind of pony to take advantage of another when they were down. His parents had taught him better than that when he was a colt.

"I know that now,", she replied. She had panicked when she saw him, thinking that he was going to rape her himself rather than let those three thugs have a chance at it first. But when she stopped to catch her breath, she realized that he had heard her screaming, and thus he must have just come to investigate.

As an act of good faith he escorted her to the local police department, so she could file a report. In the mean time, he found something to bind the muggers with until a police pony could show up and arrest them.