Hoof To Dust.

Hoof To Dust.

I look out the train window, 3 days I have been on this train wondering how much longer. I remember being 16 when I left the small town of Hofferton. A small and vibrate town, but blink and you’ll miss it. I don’t really want to be going back right now, I want to be at home studding with Lyra. Well I would be studding, Lyra would be watching a movie on her Hay phone but stick it into a book so it looked like she was studding. But I’m the smart one and I know Lyra puts off all her work to the last minute, and even then only copies off me. But the day the school councillor came into maths and handed me a letter with my family’s red wax horse shoe, seal on the front, I instantly knew something was up. At first I feared for my younger brother. He was born a sick foal but he somehow managed to keep going. I can picture Hay Seed trying to keep up with me on his thin little legs calling out” Bon Bon wait up!” I wasn’t going really fast but he was so little that when we walked together, he sometimes had to run. Back then my name was Blossom Valley but I had it changed to match my cutie mark when I left. I read the letter, it was that droughts were affecting the little town of Hofferton and Mother and father knew I wouldn’t go just because of that, not after the feud, so on the end they added” P.s Hay Seed wants to see you.” So here I am wondering why to even bother. I’ll hurt them all over again when I leave, and it’s not like I can’t still here my father’s words as I walked out the gate.” Oh come on Blossom Valley, you know you won’t achieve anything but be a farm mare, your cutie mark was destiny’s mistake!” I don’t see how these three bows can be a mistake. My special talent is making bon bon’s and wrapping them in little bows. Lyra said I was the only smart one in my family, apart from Hay Seed. But something caught my eye distracting me from my thoughts. A river. Well maybe river is too big a word. More like thin stream running down a huge rocky ditch. Guess were getting close. As if the train conductor could read my mind he announced “Next stop…. Hofferton. We will be arriving in 45 minutes.” Great another 45 minutes of sheer HELL. I’m stuck between an old mare and a board young foal. He keeps poking me and asking how to get a cutie mark.

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A good 40 minutes later, I start to see sites I remember. A river I used to swim in as a filly. Well it was a river, it’s a rocky ditch now. The village pharmacy and the doctor’s clinic right next to the dairy and library. The town hall stands tall and a little run down since I last saw it. And the school has seen better days too. We roll up to the train station and I race of the train away from that annoying foal. I’m confused on what to do next. Do I walk home or ask for a lift? “Blossom Valley” This name make’s me freeze. It was my name before I changed it to Bon Bon. “Is it really you?” I turn around and pull up short. It’s the same lavender earth pony I grew up with, my best friend from my child hood. “Uhhhh Sweet song, your still living in Hofferton.” She meant everything to me before I left. But to be honest, she’s part of the reason I left. “EEEEEEEEK!!!! Blossom Valley it’s been for like… FOREVER!!!” Sweet Song generally likes ponies, It’s like she has the amazing ability to see past all the bad things that ponies do, and tap into the what she call “The niceness that every pony has inside” “uhhhh yeah, but I go by Bon Bon now” She has the same long pink, flowing mane and three pink music notes on her flank that represent her special talent. Singing. Her parents are proud of her talent, unlike mine. “What kind of name is Bon Bon” But then she immediately try’s to take it back, she’s very polite. “Oh I’m sorry, let’s please not fight again, I thought I was the reason you left. But your mother told me what your father said. Oh Blo… I mean Bon Bon, their incredibly sorry they miss you a whole lot, oh and so dose Hay Seed. Oh little Hay Seed. When you left we started to spend a lot of time together. You know what he told me” I shake my head in answer and can’t help noticing that she’s still as wordy as ever. “He said he wants to be just like you Blo... Bon Bon” I guess the new name’s going to take some a while to get used to.

“Oh my goodness I just can’t believe your back Hay Seed will be so delighted, oh and so will Corn Tune, Wow you were quite popular everypony always liked you.” I wasn’t sure what to say next. “Um Bon Bon, are you ok?” Oh I did it again left a huge long awkward silence in between sentences. “Oh yeah, just wondering if you could give me a ride home?” This offer seemed to delight her. “Oh of course, I can’t wait to see little Hay Seeds reaction, he will be so excited. We talk about you most days.” This makes me blush. The fact that ponies I hardly ever think about talk about me almost every day. “Ha ha, so can we get going I have a lot of luggage” I say as I pull my big suit case off the luggage collection. “Wow you do.” To ponies from Ponyville this isn’t enough luggage, but ponies from places like Appaloosa or Hofferton, it’s quite a lot. “I just got to go see Butter Milk. You should come to, I’m sure she will remember you.”

“Well ok” I say not quite sure. But I remember Butter Milk, She runs the dairy. A slight, Mellow Yellow Mare with a slab of butter and a jug of milk as her cutie mark. We trot on in through the open door past the bread and fruit and approach the counter, where a tired looking Butter Milk sits on a stool. “Hey Butter Milk, got all the stuff on list for the bakery?” Sweet Song asked. “Why hello dear. Of course here you go darling, and who is this wee beautiful mare your with here, is she your cousin?” She didn’t remember me. Butter Milk foal sat me when I was little. She told me I was going to be a little star and when I came to see her before I left she promised she would always remember me. She really kept that promise.