Manteo is a town known for many things, and some of these many things I have already revealed to you, dear reader. But one area that I haven't really discussed here is food, and Manteo is well suited in that regard. As a tourist town, the settlement was well suited for service industries.
Besides, a lot of people need something to eat in the day, even at the start of the day, the middle, or at the end as they work their way home from seeing a lot of sights (mostly lighthouses). One of these establishments was the Avenue Waterfront Bar and Grille, located not far from the seafront and near the Roanoke Island Festival Park. The restaurant was famous locally for serving food and drink that was of high quality, but also for an affordable price. If it wasn't affordable, they would go to MacDonald's, and then be immediately sent back by a girl with silver hair who informed them of the slow service in a not entirely subtle way. The intense service of the holiday season was finally starting to return to the world, despite global events, and this kept the restaurants up and working well into the night, with many people working hard despite the difficult circumstances of work.
One such man was Jimmy's father, who despite his great age and incredible beard seemed to spend his days working three jobs at once (with a fourth at Christmas when the truth of his identity as Santa Claus was revealed). Jimmy, meanwhile, was currently in his home, engaged in a Skype call with his brother, David, who was currently in Chattanooga as an artist.
"It's oddly quiet where I am," David said, his mustached face on the other end of the monitor. "I suppose I have the edge that I can work remotely where I am, but a lot of people aren't so lucky."
"I know."
"Do you? You've never held a job." When Jimmy went to interrupt, David continued. "That one time you catsat in Montgomery doesn't count."
"OK, there's no need to split hairs," Jimmy replied, rather annoyed. His lack of employment or college education had led to a rather unfair reputation of him emerging as a lay about who leeched off other people. "Is the Tennessee Valley Railroad running?"
"I don't know. I haven't been down there for a while, so I couldn't tell you. I believe the Chattanooga Choo-Choo restaurant is currently running, so there's that. How's Manteo?"
"Dad's currently out at work, and my DeviantArt page continues to get plenty of traction. Hey, you know of Tom?"
"You may have mentioned him once or twice, and I think I joined him for a remote jam session once. Why?"
"He's planning a theme park trip for the UK. He's invited me, John the Welshman, and Caitlyn-"
"Who?"
"She's a girl he knows. It's going to be great fun. Would you like to come along?"
"I'll think about it. In the meantime, you look like you could use a walk. And a haircut."
"Hey!"
"You sported the lockdown haircut before it was even a thing."
Jimmy was, by this point, fuming, and decided to end the call. He went for his shoes, and then he pulled them on, and he went outwards of his door and into the street with determination.
Taking a moment to stop outside of his door and look around himself, to see what else was going on. There wasn't much to see at the moment. Mr. Fletcher had just put his bins out, and had walked indoors. Another person was putting up a Christmas tree despite it only being November. And finally, the people of the town were returning home as the sun began to set and the dinner rush began.
Jimmy went to put his own rubbish cans out to be picked up by the rubbish patrol (just to clarify; this was a patrol that collected rubbish, not a patrol that was rubbish). He wheeled them backwards to the road, and it was just then that he spotted something poking out of the top of the bin.
It was an ear ring, a ring that one puts in the ear. Wondering how on earth it ended up in his bin, Jimmy put it in his pocket and wiped his glasses again. Despite the time of year, it was still quite humid outside, and they had steamed up. He headed off into town, as he wanted to see his father at his restaurant, making sure to pack his face shield as he went along.
It was only as he got around the back of the Avenue Waterfront Bar and Grille that he realized that something was off. He suddenly came flying out of his shoes and behind a wall, face-planting into a bag filled with rubbish- rubbish that immediately spilled into his face as the bag burst.
It was apparently also acidic, as his glasses were melted into nothingness. Jimmy, however, was somewhat more concerned by the tearing sound he heard behind him. His feet (or rather, hooves) had reduced his socks to tatters, the shoes just sitting there in the middle of the sidewalk. His legs shifted and snapped about into new shapes, and a purple tail exploded out of his butt, starting to work of mangling his shorts that was finished by his legs fattening like tree trunks and his hips widening. Thankfully, the embarrassment of seeing his junk go was hidden, as his shorts held for long enough before ripping apart and falling all over the place.
Her shirt was pulled up her body as her spine was compressed to the length of a pony, and her chest and stomach swelled to create an equine shape. This had also affected her arms and legs, and her hands were seemingly melted into hooves attached to her former arms, now forelegs. Moments after that, her neck stretched upwards as the ears slid up her head, with the ear ring now in place. During this, her face extended into a muzzle while her eyes grew bigger. This was followed by a yellow headband- and an orange horn. Her former shirt now looked like something an Indian person would wear, an impression that was not dispelled when a red thing was tied around the collar. Her hair was also now a purple mess, and the tail was now held in place with an orange tailband as orange fur and purple eye washed over her like a tidal wave.
The cutie mark of a purple flower with red lines appeared on her flanks as the process ended, and for some reason she felt the desire to go into the kitchen door.
"Who let a horse in?" asked one of the chefs.
Saffron said something, but it seemed her response was unintelligible to the chef. It never occurred to her they spoke different languages.
Author's Note
As always... here's 6 sets of Saffron Masala Fan Art (the total number overall of course being the season number that she debuted in: Season 6 :3)
Enjoy! :D :3
Fun Fact: Saffron Masala's VA, aka Diana Kaarina, is in fact the same one that previously did the voice of Aria Blaze from My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks....
....then after Saffron Masala, she would voice Shimmy Shake in the only episode that she appeared in aka..... 2, 4, 6, Greaaat:
