Love In The Adjacent Corner

Chapter 3

Fluttershy woke up the next morning in an opposing position from where her sleep started. Her morning breath carried the odor of last nights sin. Lantana was already up, and was just about to start on her way to school when she saw her mother was awake.

"Mommy!" said the little filly. "You're awake!"

Fluttershy didn't feel like she was anymore rested even after a whole night's sleep. It took her a moment to reorient herself before she could address her filly. Her head ached. Fluttershy rubbed her eyes, then said to Lantana, "Yes, I am. Are you... getting ready for school?"

Lantana answered her mother. "Yep. I saved you an apple from last night. I had one for breakfast so now there's only one left."

Fluttershy thought the gesture was sweet, but still didn't want the memories that the apple were tainted with. "Well how about you take it for lunch, or an after school snack. I would much rather you eat it than me." Lantana nodded, and took the apple with her to school.

Fluttershy was surprised at how quickly the bag was of apples disappeared. Now she was in the same situation before, but she desperately hoped for less shameful results.

Even though Fluttershy had no money, or reason to hit up the Ponyville shops, she needed something to do, somewhere to be, and a place to think. She felt herself being lured into the local pastry shop. Its been over a full day since Fluttershy last ate, and the warm pastries on display made her mouth water, and her stomach growl. Fluttershy knew she couldn't afford anything, and has given up on trying to beg for it. She sat at a table in the far corner of the shop. She sat away from the window where she could bury her face into a newspaper. While acting like she was reading, all she could think about is how she planned to keep her daughter and herself alive.

She was only able to imagine two possible outcomes for the future. One was death, and the other was to embrace prostitution into a permanent way of life. Fluttershy hated both options. If it was just herself, a silent sufferable death wouldn't have sounded so bad, but it wasn't just herself. She hid her head behind the newspaper as she silently cried.

"Is something wrong?" A peculiar, charismatic voice came from the other side of the newspaper. Fluttershy set the paper down on the table to see who the pony was. To Fluttershy's surprise there were two male unicorns with nearly identical body features standing at Fluttershy's table. They looked like they could be identical twins. Their striped clothes looked like they may have had a sense of style many years ago, but here and now, they just looked odd. Both brothers had a creme colored coat, and if it wasn't for one of them having a mustache, they would be nearly impossible to tell apart from one another.

Fluttershy was nervous about what these ponies wanted. She found it hard to believe that ponies with such a grin would ask her whats wrong merely out of concern. Fluttershy answered shyly, "...I'm just going through a rough moment."

The two unicorn looked at each other, then back at Fluttershy. The unicorn with the mustache leaned in with sincerity in his words. "Its most unfortunate. Life can be cruel at times. Isn't that right Flim?"

The other brother answered, "That's right, most cruel indeed. Why don't you tell us about some of the problems you've been going through." Both unicorns turned their attention to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy hesitated. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to get into her life stories with two strangers she never met before—especially ponies as strange as the two brother unicorns. She asked herself, whats the worst that can happen? Eventually, she weepily told them everything. About being abandoned with a filly to feed, her house burning down, and even though she initially meant to not tell them about whoring herself out for apples, she ended up doing so anyway. Fluttershy felt a little better just by telling somepony about everything that happened, even if they were strangers.

The unicorns looked at each other and cocked an eyebrow at one another. Then Flam said smugly, "Sounds to me like most your problems could be resolved with a little extra money."

Fluttershy nodded. She could by no means find a way to disagree with that statement. "Of course it will, but no matter how hard I try to get a job to make money, I'm almost always rejected," she said.

"Well what would you say if I told you we can get you a little more money for your purse?" said Flim.

Fluttershy was skeptical, "I would say that I'm not going to whore myself out anymore."

Flam laughed, "Haha you're a sweet thing, but we have no such intention."

Fluttershy was unsure of what the unicorns were implying. "Am I suppose to believe that you're just going to give me money for doing nothing?"

Flim was ready to answer her question the moment she asked it. It was as if he rehearsed this conversation, and already knew what he was going to say. "Practically! I can get you some pretty good income for practically no work at all."

Flam interjected, "No job interview, and no skills required!"

Flim added, "Get paid big, and get paid on the spot!"

Fluttershy was now more confused than ever. "What's the catch? What do I have to do?"

Flim pulled out a sealed box from his saddlebag, and placed it on the table. "There is no catch. All you got to do is deliver this box."

Flam added, "It doesn't need to go far, just to this address. Shouldn't take more than twenty minutes."

Flim pulled out a crumpled piece of paper with the address and set it on top of the box on the table. "Lets not forget, bring the money back to us, and we will give you a generous cut."

Fluttershy felt like the two ponies were trying to scam her. Whatever their business was, she knew it was too good to be ethical. "What's in the box?" she asked.

Flam answered, "Pick it up, give it a shake. It's too light to be a bomb, does anything beyond that really matter? You see the pony folk want certain goods delivered with a hassle-free, no questions asked service, that the postal service can't offer."

Fluttershy was beginning to understand their proposal. Whatever was in the box, it must have been some sort of illegal substance. Fluttershy shook her head side-to-side. "I don't want to take part in a crime that makes other ponies lives worse."

Flim leaned in closer to Fluttershy, and explained, "It's all supply and demand. Ponies want it, we can get it. It would be great if everypony could make a living through honest intentions, but that's not how the economy works. You of all ponies should know that. We're just providing a wanted service. The difference between prostituting yourself and this is: when you prostitute yourself, you hurt yourself to serve the clients demands. By delivering these goods, the clients choose to hurt themselves to meet their demands. As far as I'm concerned, if they want to hurt themselves with these products, that's their business. My business isn't to judge one based on their life choices. I profit because of it, and both parties walk away happy. As long as everypony's happy, there is no victim."

Fluttershy was trying hard to see things from his perspective. It reminded her of a pony trying to sell her a time share. He made such a bad thing sound like a wonderful service to the world. Fluttershy contemplated the pros and cons in her head, and didn't even notice that Flam left the table a while ago.

A blueberry muffin was on the table—directly in front of Fluttershy. "I heard your stomach growling," said Flam, "You know we use to be a lot like you—unable to feed ourselves. Being proud isn't a bad thing, but being stubbornly proud is only going to cause yourself harm when life starts to get tough. Just drop off one box, and you can afford to feed yourself for a week. No one will ever suspect a cute pony like you."

Fluttershy was hesitant, but she couldn't turn down his offer. After all, it meant her worries could finally be behind her, and she wouldn't have to repeat what she did the previous night. It felt wrong for Fluttershy to do something that was against the law, but the law never put food on her table. She placed the box in her saddlebag, along with the muffin, and headed out the door. Flim and Flam both said in unison, "See you later!"

They were certainly odd ponies. Fluttershy thought to herself, For ugly faces they sure seemed friendly. She felt nervous just from carrying the box in her saddlebag. Fluttershy followed the road until she came across the address that she was supposed to deliver the box to. Sweat began to drip from her hairline.

It was an old house that lacked in curb-appeal. Fluttershy took the box out of her saddlebag, and rang the doorbell. A pony called out from inside the house, "Just a minute!"

The door opened and a gray pegasus opened the door. The gray pegasus saw the box right away, and was expecting the delivery. Fluttershy was afraid to make eye contact, but managed to mutter out the words, "I'm suppose to bring this to you." The gray pegasus took the box and left Fluttershy with a filled coin purse. That wasn't so hard, Fluttershy thought.

She returned to the pastry shop to see if Flim, and Flam were still there. Sure enough they were sitting at the same table as before. Fluttershy entered the shop and approached the two brothers.

"I told you it wouldn't take more than twenty minutes," said Flam.

"You didn't even think she was going to come back," said Flim.

Fluttershy was still nervous, "Well... I did what you told me to do, I brought the payment back." Fluttershy set the coin purse on the table, for the two brothers to see.

"Excellent," said Flam.

Flim said, "The fact that you came back proved that we can trust you. We can use a trustworthy pony. Keep the money—all of it, and if you're willing to see your earnings triple, I have another delivery that can use a trustworthy pony like yourself."

Fluttershy couldn't remember a time she had as much money as she got from the one delivery, but that didn't mean she didn't need anymore. After all, her house just burned down. She was homeless. Fluttershy had to accept the offer.