Light as a feather

-Chapter Two-

A loud crash and a short scream, not of fear but of surprise, pulled Short Order from the kitchen into the dining room. He saw Amber apologizing furiously to a pretty young unicorn, her dazzling white coat and exceptionally styled mane dripping with the contents of the tray the clumsy colt had just spilled.

She looked displeased, a bit surprised, but not angry. She said as much as she tried to calm the distraught colt.

"It's quite alright really." The unicorn said levitating the tray from the floor to the table, as the earth pony went to do so with his mouth. The broken dishes and spilled contents were likewise lifted by the unicorn's magic and placed in a rather neat pile atop the tray.

"See no harm done." The unicorn reassured, her voice faltering a moment and her eyes widening, the hint of a whine seeped into her words as she gazed in horror at what looked to be a rather expensive scarf draped around her neck. "Well, except for my new scarf, of course..."

The article of clothing had been ruined, even as novice a fashion pony as Short Order could see that. The fabric had shrunk where the liquid had splashed, the vibrant dyes running together creating an absolute mess of colors.

"I...I suppose I'll just have to make a...another." The unicorn rambled to herself, a stutter evident as she voiced her displeasure, levitating the scarf to a nearby wastebasket. Amber could feel his composure slipping. He wasn't angry at the filly but at himself for being such a hopeless klutz.

"Balance a skill my flank!" Amber grumbled with a clenched jaw. The unicorns eyes widened in surprise at his use of the term. Short Order saw fit to step in.

~~

Short Order was a stocky stallion, larger than Amber gave him credit for, not in height but in girth. His size became evident as the two stood face to face in the back lot of the restaurant. Amber stared at the grass beneath his hooves, breathing deep and slow, as he worked to calm his temper.

"You look a mess more ways than I care to count." The cook pony said. The colt's normally disheveled mane was more a mess than usual, his eyes raw and bloodshot. He hadn't slept at all spending the remainder of the night pondering the mares offer. "What's eating you?"

Amber, unwilling to share, remained silent; doing everything he could to avoid the stallions gaze. "It was that Canterlot dame wasn't it?"

This caught the colt's attention. He looked up into the stallions eyes and an unsure smile replaced the frown. "She invited me to the palace... to show off... for the princess." He snorted disbelievingly.

"Show off for the princess?" Short Order mimicked his uproarious laugh startled the colt.

Amber ground his teeth together angrily. As much as he wanted to he knew better than to try and fight the stallion. Pound for pound Short Order outweighed him by nearly double, and Amber had never been in a real fight, not one he'd come out of conscious anyway.

"Why would the princess want anything to do with a clumsy half wit like you?" The burly stallion said taking a step toward the volatile pony. The disheveled colt quivered understanding what the stallion was trying to do. He had to fight it, the urge to destroy himself to satisfy the anger boiling up inside of him. Amber missed the smile that crossed the Short Order's face as he tried to derail the years of bitterness surging inside.

“You'll never be good enough for any pony?” The stallion continued prodding, his voice rising. “Is that what he told you?”

Amber quivered, trying very hard to keep his restraint intact. He couldn’t afford to lose this job. He had been run out or fired from every other job in town and word of his temper had spread to the rest scaring away several potential employers.

“Is that it?” The burly stallion spat. “Is that what you’re afraid of?!”

A vicious smile followed the stallion's biting words as he found the nerve he’d been searching for snapping the colt's fragile attempt at composure in two. His temper was taut already and the insult had quickly broken any reason he'd had left. Before he could fathom what course of action he had taken Amber was on his back, stars swimming behind his eyes, familiar feathers hooves on either side of his head.

"I won't make a fool of myself!" The young stallion cried his voice cracking as he refused to relinquish his anger.

"Is that what you think?" The stallion asked shrilly. Amber remembered only vaguely the stallion's claims of having once been a drill instructor for the Royal Guard. Had his head been clear he may have cared about that claim but as it was the thought was distracting and unwanted. "If you think you're not good enough then that's all you'll ever be, never mind that someone thinks you have potential."

"Why do you care?" Amber retorted his voice cracking for a second time. “You mean nothing to me!”

A long glare passed between them, the orange colt's anger ebbing in place of a steadily rising fear. His father's voice found him briefly, floating up from the deep dark well of his memory. The colt closed his eyes fighting back the phantom pain his remembering produced.

The stallion bit back his reply sensing the colt's distress. He released the young pony watching only long enough to see the colt roll to his feet, swaying unsteadily. Short Order made it to the rear entrance of the restaurant before glancing over his shoulder a menacing glare on his face, concealing the fact that inside his heart was breaking. "Get out of here son." The stallion said. "I don't need you anymore."

~~

Amber spent the rest of the afternoon into late evening wrestling his temper, before deciding it was time to head home. As night rose he watched the sky, saddened as another of Celestia’s stars fell.

“Excuse me Mr. Glaze!” The reception pony said loudly as she noticed Amber enter the lobby. “Mr. Dart wishes to speak with you.”

The somber colt raised his head and looked to where she indicated a wooden door with a frosted glass window to the left of the stairway leading up to his, and many other, apartments. Bold black letters read:

-Barn Dart: Manager-

Amber stood there staring until the receptionist pony, a petite mare with a slip of parchment and quill for a cutie mark coughed audibly. “He’s waiting.”

The colt knocked before entering. He’d been in the office only once before, when he’d signed the lease. It was smaller than he’d remembered. A large bookcase was on the wall to his right overflowing with books and files. Across from it was a display case, housing trophies from Barn Dart’s days as a competitive dart player.

Amber admired the trophies until the aged unicorn brought his attention around. He looked to find a vaguely familiar face glaring back at him. The pony may have been getting on in years but he was still sharp as a whip.

“Amber Glaze apartment 3c, third floor.” The older stallion said, calling out Amber's apartment from memory. It wasn't so incredible a feat considering there were only twenty apartments in the building and many of the ponies had been living there for several years.

“Yes sir.” Amber answered not sure if it was rhetorical or not.

“You pay 300 bits a month am I correct?” The pony asked. Amber nodded. The umber stallion's eyebrows had grown to an intimidating length through the years shadowing his sunken pale blue eyes. It looked as if he were scowling even when he smiled, which he only did when the money from each months dues came in.

“You owe a substantial amount son,” The stallion said. Amber frowned at the use of ‘son’ by the older stallion, who either didn't notice or didn't care. “1200 bits by my count, not including the recent damages.”

Amber was able to catch a glimpse of the pony’s cutie mark as he moved out from behind a large mahogany desk; a target stuck with a blue dart. Turning his eyes up to the stallions face, the orange colt struggled to hold them there, so as not to look as if he were trying to evade any blame for either charge.

“I can get the money. It’s just… I’m having a bit of trouble at work right now…” Amber faltered. He couldn’t tell the old stallion he had been fired. He’d get kicked out immediately. Where would he go? He had no family to take him in, not on such short notice…

“I’m running a business here.” The unicorn remarked calmly. “We all fall on hard times now and then, I’ve been there myself so I understand, but I can’t go lenient every time some pony lapses or I’d be out on the street myself. I've given you more than your fair share of warnings.”

Amber thought back to the numerous letters he'd received with a frown. They were all piled together, unopened but for the first, in a wire basket sitting beside the couch.

“I’m sorry.” The manager muttered sincerely. “I’ll give you a few more days but if you cannot come up with the money I’ll have no choice. You understand don’t you?”

Amber nodded meekly. He did understand. He had known all along it would come to this, he just hadn’t been expecting it so soon. He’d only had the apartment six months, fallen behind after two. It wasn’t as if his rent was expensive, only that his wages were low, to low to afford even the most meager of residences.

Amber willed his legs to move but he remained frozen, rooted to the thin carpet. After what felt an eternity the elderly unicorn spoke. "I like you kid, I do. You remind me of myself at a younger age."

"Sir?" Amber questioned noticing a glazed look had come to the aged ponies blue eyes. A smile worked its way to the stallion’s lips and he gave a defeated sigh. "I'll make you a deal. If you get me the money you owe up to this point here, plus the added damages, by next month I'll scratch the remaining lease dues. If not I'll have to charge you the full 2700 bits"

The naive colt gave a weak smile. He opened his mouth to question the old stallion before deciding it would be best not to look a gift pony in the mouth. "I understand sir. Thank you."

~~

Amber wasn't sure he would make it up the three flights of stairs to the third floor, and when he did he wasn't sure he would be able to make it down the hallway to his apartment, his legs were shaking so bad. Amber leaned wearily against the wall just inside his apartment as the realization of all that had happened finally sunk in.

1- He had been fired.
2- He had been evicted. (Though given Mr. Darts willingness to cut him a break he couldn't count this one as all bad, assuming of course he was able to fulfill the requirements...)

He had several days to pack and get out but that wouldn't be hard considering he had nothing to pack. The couch, the table, the mattress, nothing in the apartment belonged to him. They had been there when he moved in.

Had I been wrong to turn her down? He wondered thinking back to the offer the mysterious mare had proposed. Who in their right mind cared about a bunch of colts and fillies that waited tables, much less dedicate an entire expose to it? The more he thought about it the more it sounded like a load of horse apples.

His gaze was drawn out of the large picture window as he lay on the couch admiring Princess Celestia's night sky. The moon was visible only a moment before it was quickly swallowed by a cloud, allowing the light from the spattering of stars to shine through. He'd often admired Princess Celestia's nights as a way of escaping his turbulent foalhood but as the unicorn’s words found him again he wondered what it would be like to see one of Luna’s nights. Amber quickly fell into a dream in which he and Princess Luna flew together and hung the stars.