Crossing Anthology

The sun cascading through the balcony curtains of our hotel room woke me up, still in Fluttershy’s arms. I maneuvered myself out of her hold so that I wouldn’t wake her. I walked to the balcony and closed the curtains, so that the sunlight wouldn’t disturb the other’s sleeping. I decided to get some breakfast for myself; I chose to go to a donut shop across from the hotel.

I was still tired, I had only gotten about 6 hours of sleep during the previous night. Because I was so exhausted from my lack of sleep, on my way out the lobby to exit the hotel, I tripped over and fell face first into the concrete. I got up, and I could feel that my forehead scraped up some; it was covered in dirt to. I figured I’d simply wash it out once I got to the donut shop.

When I arrived at the donut shop, I headed directly to the restroom. I used the sink to wash my scrapes of all the dirt, and then I suddenly hear somepony shivering, I peeked on the other side of the restroom to see a very skinny stallion pony in the corner on the ground. He had wings and a unicorn horn; I believe Twilight once told me this race was called ‘Alicorn’. One thing he did lack however was one of those ‘cutie marks’ Rarity told me about the previous day. After I was done cleansing my wound, I approached him and asked,

“Excuse me, but are you okay?”

He looked back at me with bloodshot, gloomy eyes.

“I’ll be fine, I just need to use my umm… Medicine…”

“Oh okay, is it Parkinson’s?”

“What’s that?”

“Oh, never mind.”

Judging by his red eyes, slim appearance and slurred voice; I imagined he probably hadn’t had anything to eat in a while. From his paleness, and long, messy, dirty mane; I had the assumption he was homeless. So I offered,

“Would you like to get some lunch, it’s on me.”

“Yes, please, that would be nice.”

The Alicorn stood up slowly, every limb shaking and rattling. I could tell he must have many personal problems. We walked out of the bathroom and towards the counter to order. I had to wait for him to catch up with me, even my normal walking was too fast for him to follow. He finally caught up, the cashier trotted over to us and asked,

“Hello, welcome ‘Donuts, Bagels ‘n Biscuits’ may I take your order?”

I responded,

“Yes, I would like a large coffee and two cream filled donuts. Also I’d like a dozen chocolate glazed donuts to take with me. ”

The dozen being for the other six once I return to the hotel room. The cashier asked my new friend what he wanted, and he said,

“I will have three the croissants, and two jelly filled donuts.”

The cashier wrote up the order and said,

“Alight, wait one moment.”

There was silence between me and my new friend. I finally asked,

“So, what’s your name?”

“Pan, and yours?”

“Lemmour.”

Pan looked intrigued.

“I’ve never heard of that name.”

“It’s Atevian, so is all that food for you?”

“Yeah, I haven’t had anything to eat in a while.”

My concerned look became apparent to Pan. He quickly stated,

“Don’t worry I’m not homeless or anything, my friend Shards is however, and I’ve been giving more of my own food to her.”

“I understand.”

“It’s quite sad though, Shards is such a talented mare, and she’s a prodigy with her magic, I’ve never seen anything like her. She has so much potential, but things just didn’t turn out in her favor.”

“What happened?”

“Her and her older sister was living alone at one point, in poverty. About a year ago, the older sister went to Ponyville to perform her own magic show; it was her only source of gaining any money at the time. She was gaining money for her and Shards, to afford food, and comfortable living conditions. During her visit, she was completely outshined by another unicorn, and the older sister had to leave Ponyville, and she returned to Shards with little earnings. The older sister gave Shards what she had earned and told her to go on her own, and that she’d be better off. Just two weeks ago, I met Shards and we had become instant friends, and she began residing with me.”

That was such a sad story, I felt as though I shouldn’t have asked about her misfortune. The cashier came back to us and gave us our orders, I tried to pay her with U.S. currency, but then Pan stopped me and said,

“Hold on, I don’t think that money will be any good here, allow me to pay instead.”

“What, no you don’t have to this was on me, I’ll just simply ask her to take it back.”

“No, I need someone to talk to, and I need a bite to eat.”

Pan tossed up 10 golden checker-shaped objects. He levitated his own purchase and I carried my own, we sat down near the window and began breakfast. I then asked,

“So tell me about yourself, Pan.”

“Well, there’s not much to say, I lead a pretty solitary life, other than having Shards around. I’m just a very boring pony in general.”

“So, what brought you to this donut shop today?”

“Well I was actually here last night, I slept here.”

“Oh! How come?”

“Ah… I’ll… I’ll be honest; I have a lot of emotional problems, ever since some loved ones were… taken from me by the princess…”

I then remembered the name ‘Celestia… Celestia… Celestia…’ ringing in my head. I then asked,

“Princess Celestia?”

“…Yeah, for a long time, I’ve had a lot of untreatable sadness built up. I don’t like ponies I know personally, like Shards for example, seeing me in one of my moments. So last night I left my home on Foal Mountain, and I came here, far away to be alone with myself.”

I couldn’t eat; I was too distracted by these stories. I was afraid to ask him anything, I was afraid that anything at this point could only bombard him with memories of his past. He then asked me,

“So, Lemmour. Tell me about you.”

I didn’t hesitate to tell him everything; I told him of where I came from, my memory loss, my new pony friends, and my current mission with them. After I told him my story, he then said,

“Wow, memory loss huh? I envy you, friend.”

“Trust me, it’s a burden, always wondering what you were before, and the grasping thought of finding out that you weren’t even born in the same place as you think.”

“You told me you and your friends are looking for someone kidnapped, who is he?”

“His name is Spike; he’s a purple baby dragon. That’s all I know.”

Pan’s eyes jumped at the word ‘dragon’ he looked up at me and stated,

“A dragon? Well I can’t say I’ve ever seen any dragons before, only in story books and murals.”

“Oh okay.”

Pan wrapped up all his food; he got up and said,

“Sorry Lemmour, but I’m afraid I’m expected to be somewhere pretty soon, it was nice meeting you. Good luck finding your friend’s dragon.”

“Thanks, Pan. Good luck in your future endeavors.”

“Goodbye.”

Pan exited, and I continued my breakfast.