Scarlet Sunrise

Chapter 3
The Mare Who Caught His Eye

The interior was just as well designed and ornate as the outside was. Most of the building was taken up by a large circular ballroom, as well as several other rooms off to the sides, most likely housing stairs leading up to sets of overlooking balconies, which protruded from the walls of the ballroom area. As I looked around, I noticed the mayor mare walk up to a large cork board, full of notes and pins. She then explained that this was the job offer board and that the jobs here were available to anypony who had the time.

I obviously had quite a lot of time, so I grabbed a few notes from the board at random, and put them into the fold of my wing. She then asked my next question for me. "Are you here alone, or have you made arrangements for a place to live in?" "Umm..." I mumbled in reply doing my best to cover my lack of a cutie mark, as well as trying to think of what to say next. After a few moments of awkward silence, she started to talk.
"Scarlet, we have a few properties currently up for rent, if you were planning on staying a while?" These words got to me. Not only has she not instantly rejected my help, but she is actually offering me residency in this town. Suddenly strange feelings overwhelmed me, as I realised that this pony was actually being genuinely nice to me.

Taken aback by the offer, I struggled to speak for a moment. She waited patiently. After taking a breath, I accepted her offer, which then moved the conversation to facts about different areas of ponyville, including distance to grocery shops, income rates and specific stores, most of which I zoned out for. She then told me there was a small cottage, on the outskirts of the town, not too far from the bridge I used to enter when I first approached the town. I accepted this offer, namely because it meant I was further away from the main street, where it was nice and quiet. "Since you are new here in Ponyville" She exclaimed, "I shall give you your first weeks rent for free, but then each week after that, it will cost you five bits. I agreed, realising she was not only extremely kind, but she was being extremely generous.

Do you have any questions? she asked, obviously attempting to close the conversation. I only had one, which was about getting directions to this new house. I did not notice any sort of real estate flags out the front of any of the houses, so I was not sure what was leased, and what was owned. She agreed, and she patted at the floor for a moment with her hoof, and looked around, obviously trying to think of something. She asked me to then stay put for a second while she quickly did something outside, and in a rush mentioned something sounding similar to the word bon-bon. Slightly confused, I patiently waited for the mayor pony's return, and soon enough, I saw her gray mane protrude from the door, followed by the mayor herself.

The mayor then said "Scarlet, This is Bon Bon. She is going to guide you to your new house, and show you around Ponyville. Most of her sentence was unheard by me, because the mare she had just introduced had completely captured my attention. She had a beautiful pale cream coat, and the most enthralling blue eyes, which I found myself lost in for a moment. She sported a voluminous navy blue mane with a centralised pink stripe. Staring down towards her rump and tail, I noticed her cutie mark consisted of three pieces of wrapped up candy, obviously pertaining to the fact her name was relative to her cutie mark, like most other ponies I had met. Her tail had been styled the same as her mane; starting straight at the roots, and protuberating from the tips of her hair were large curls.

"Scarlet?" I suddenly heard as the Mayor tried to grab my attention back. "Did you happen have any questions about this arrangement?" I hesitated on my response, trying my best to remember what she had said before i got distracted. I tried my best to answer with "Umm... You said that Bon Bon here was going to show me the way to my new house?" There was an awkward silence for a moment, but then Mayor replied "Oh good, you were indeed listening. It just looked like before you had zoned out a bit. Oh well, silly me. Though, just in case you missed it, I told you that Bon Bon had agreed to also show you around the town."

It was at that moment I was able to hear the voice of the one which I had been fixated to for the past few minutes. She said to me "Shall we go now, Scarlet? There are some things on today that I would like to show you, and there are ponies that I would also like you to meet." I agreed quickly, and as we were leaving, the mayor spoke again.

"If there is anything you need, anything at all, do not hesitate to come and find me. I'll usually be around this building, so it should not be too hard to track me down." "Thanks for all of your help, Miss Mayor. I honestly appreciate it" I replied back to her and gave her a quick smile. As I proceeded to follow Bon Bon out of the building, I heard the mayor's voice trail after us. "Have fun" she said, as Bon Bon and I walked out into the busy street, heading in what was the exact opposite direction I took when I had entered the town earlier that day.