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RogerDodger
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2000–25000
In Bloom
Over in a corner of the yard, I tend the grass.
I don’t mind hot days, even though that doesn’t make as much sense. I can put on a coat in the winter, but on days like this, I can’t do much more than find some shade. And yet I much prefer sweating to shivering.
The garden hose is still coiled up by the rosebushes, like a big green snake about to… water the plants, I guess. I don’t know. As well as I can remember, I’ve never seen a snake.
I should have brought the hose over here so I wouldn’t have to get up for a drink of water. Whatever. I stand up, stretch, and yawn.
On my way over to the hose, I peek through the house’s windows and can see the newspaper lying out by the street. I’d go get it so I could see tomorrow’s forecast, but I don’t feel like trying to sneak through the house unnoticed. I’m not supposed to go in there today.
A quick twist of the hoof has the water going, and as long as I’m taking a drink, I might as well water these roses. The heat doesn’t have them wilting yet, but I haven’t watered them in a couple days now.
Over the nozzle’s spray, I can hear voices in the road, behind the house. Not unusual in the summer, of course, but why do ponies have to wander by here? But my ears prick toward the sound, and I can’t help imagining what they might be doing out there. If I have a failing, it’d be letting my curiosity get the better of me all the time.
So of course I drop the hose and trot over to the fence. It’s black, cast iron, and well taller than I am. Strong. Formidable. Without it, my yard wouldn’t be anything more than some extension of the street, some public square that’s mine in name only, with no way to shut out the rest of the world.
I pry apart a bit of the ivy that blankets the whole thing like green scales and peek out. To the left, a couple of groups of ponies stand around chatting, like they have nothing better to do. And to the right, around the corner where I can just see it, a ratty-looking ice cream cart sits, with a crowd of foals around it, and a few older ponies too. All laughing, playing, sitting idle.
Why would they do that out there? I hear them from time to time, of course, when somepony walks by, but just standing around? In the street? They’ll never learn that way. What makes them think they can just—?
There she is again. That earth pony, kinda pale yellow or beige, with streaked magenta mane and tail. I’ve seen her before. Quite often, actually. She must live nearby. Or really like ice cream.
She has a couple other mares with her, and they…
I…
I shake my head and pull the ivy back into place. I have chores, and it wouldn’t do to get caught staring. Besides, I—
I’ve left the hose running.
No, no, no, I can’t drown the rosebushes again!
Sure enough, another hot day. But something’s got me restless today. Instead of lounging in my usual shady spot, I keep finding myself pacing along the fence. I’ll be off in some daydream, and next thing I know, here I am trotting along the ivy.
Whispers, shouts, laughter—even more than usual, all floating over my fence and into my yard. Don’t these ponies have somewhere to go, jobs to do, yards to tend?
I grit my teeth, force a slow breath, and brace a hoof against the sturdy iron. It’s not worth getting worked up over. I can’t control what other ponies do, and if they want to make things worse for themselves, that’s their business.
Gotta keep my mind on something else. I glance over at the hose, but no—I watered the roses yesterday, and I’m lucky I didn’t hurt them. I made that mistake before. Once.
Maybe I’ll sprinkle the grass a bit later. I shouldn’t do it in the heat of the day, anyway. Some ice cream would taste good right about now, but not that stuff from out in the street. Seriously, how can they—?
And here I am again, shoving a couple of vines to the side so I can see out. I don’t remember that ice cream cart from last summer. Maybe I just forgot. I need to stop this. I’m going to get in trouble.
There she is. That mare again, a cone clutched in her hooves. She looks so… innocent. For the life of me, I can’t figure her out. She has time to waste, apparently, but I just can’t imagine that sweet face doing anything wrong. I bet she has huge flowerbeds at home, and she goes out each morning, shopping list in hoof, to get fresh supplies for it. And I just happen to catch her on the way out. That has to be it. Her mane, blending in with all manner of carnations, zinnias, impatiens… She’s even kinda pretty. Us earth ponies, we understand more than any other—
No, no! Now I will get in trouble. I can find other things to do in the yard instead of frittering away my morning on pointless—
She’s staring back.
Quickly, I hold my breath and shove the ivy back over the gap. Did she see? No. No way. Two little eyes looking through a whole fence of vines? No way she saw.
Careful not to tread on the still-muddy ground near the rosebushes, I trot along the fence until I reach the corner, then brush aside a bit of the foliage to look into the neighbor’s yard. Like clockwork, there’s old Juniper raking his lawn. He knows how to take care of his property. I have to respect somepony who pays attention to detail like that and keeps his yard orderly. I’ve never seen him out wasting his time in the streets. He doesn’t need to. The yard is better.
Wiping the sweat off my forehead, I settle down into the soft grass and roll under the low branches of the crabapple tree. The warm sun’s got me sleepy, and I wouldn’t mind a nap.
I’m not hungry, but I nibble at the grass anyway. A little here and there, of course—I can’t leave any bare patches. Sometimes, I think I take care of the lawn too well—a nice dandelion in the mix every so often would taste good, but I won’t have any weeds in my grass. I’d get in trouble, anyway.
And then there’s the voices. Those ponies have jabbered all morning. Are they trying to irritate me? I stalk over and force a few vines aside. Sure enough, over at the ice cream cart—
She’s there, too.
She’s…
Why would she do that? Out there? Ice cream is for inside. Everypony knows that. I can’t believe that somepony who looks so pleasant wouldn’t know any better. I mean, surely she’s not the kind of pony who would just wander around aimlessly. She must have a home. Maybe she just wants to eat it before it melts, but she could at least start heading somewhere—
She’s walking this way, with a funny little grin on her face. No, no, no, I’ll get in trouble! Letting the leaves spring back into place, I stagger a few steps and try to keep my heart from pounding. She didn’t see! She couldn’t have seen!
I hold my breath and prick my ears forward as hard as I can. No hoofsteps, no voice, no nothing. She walked past. She didn’t see anything, and she walked past.
“Hello? Who’s in there?”
I jump and let out a little yelp. Stupid, stupid, she heard!
“Hello? I saw you peeking out. My house is nearby, and I didn’t think anypony lived here.”
What do I do? I can’t speak to her, but if I don’t answer, she might raise her voice! After a quick glance toward the house, I decide I’d better give her a brusque reply, shoo her off. “I-I shouldn’t be talking to you.”
“Why not?”
Her—her voice is like silk: cool and soft, and it slides right over me. I want to hear it again, but I can’t—why won’t she leave?
The ivy rustles where she tries to get a hoof far enough through the fence to pry it apart. “My name’s Roseluck. What’s yours?”
Can’t talk. I can’t. I rush over to the hose and turn it on, in case the sound might drown out her voice. “I have to tend my roses. I can’t talk.”
“Why not?” she presses again.
Clouds. Yes, clouds. They’re blocking the sun anyway, so it won’t hurt to water the bushes again.
“Listen, I enjoy working with roses. You’d kinda have to, with a name like mine, huh?” She giggles, and if I could just wipe this stupid smile off my face and concentrate on my work… “Maybe we could talk shop? I’ll take any chance I can get to learn more about roses. What kinds do you grow?”
I turn the nozzle to a gentle spray and wet the ground underneath the bushes. Just the ground, not the leaves. Yeah, it’s not the best time of the day for this, but if the cloud cover keeps up, it won’t do any harm.
“Hello?” Her hooves shuffle in the dirt, and if only he could listen to that voice all day, but it has to stop. “Look, I’m sorry if I bothered you. If you’re busy, I’ll go—”
“Two,” my throat spits out before I have a chance to fight it. “My name is Two.” Why did I say that? I bite my lip until it hurts, in the hope that it’ll jerk me out of whatever my fogged-up head is doing to me. “But I have to tend my roses.”
My mind racing, I keep at my job, even turning the nozzle on high so I can reach the azaleas and rhododendrons against the house from here. When I’ve saturated just about every plant in this part of the yard, I finally shut off the water and coil the hose up, making sure to do it as slowly as possible. The more time it takes, the better.
She hasn’t said anything in a while, thank goodness, but now I don’t have an excuse to ignore her anymore. She might go away if I told her to, but I don’t want to be rude. I don’t want her to stay, I don’t want her to go, I…
I’d stomp as hard as I could, but she’d hear. Instead, I sneak partway down the fence and peer through the tangle of leaves there.
She left.
I rest my forehead against the fence, against the cool iron for a minute before heading over to cull the bruised crabapples off the tree.
“Two!”
My eyes shoot open, and I toss my head. Where am I? Oh, yeah… My shady spot under the tree. I thought I heard something, but a quick scan of the yard turns up nothing. A dream, then.
“Two! You in there?”
Before she can even finish those few words, I’ve already stumbled to my hooves and lurched over to the fence. “Hey!” I grunt through my scowl as I yank the vines aside and gather my breath to—
Green. Green eyes gaze back at me, less than a single pace away. Green, like the soft, sweet grass that grows on the far side of the yard, over by the pond. Over where I’m not allowed to go. Her smile grows, little by little, but it’s the green that’s snared me, held me locked down in the green depths of…
I shake my head. Hard. “Quiet!” I finally hiss back at her. “You’ll get me in trouble!”
That lovely smile melts into a frown, and Roseluck cocks her head. “For what?”
“I’m not supposed to talk to anypony,” I say, craning my neck this way and that to make sure nopony else sees.
Her frown deepening, she wrinkles her forehead. “Why not?”
I just want that smile back. “’Cause I’m out here. You should know that. You’re the one in the street.”
“I… What? I’m sorry—I don’t understand…”
I let out a sigh and rub a hoof between my eyes. “If I hadn’t done something wrong, I wouldn’t be in the yard.” I draw my mouth into a taut line and finally tear my gaze away from the green. “I’m out here a lot. But even I’ve never done anything bad enough to get thrown out into the street. And I see you walking around out there nearly every day. What’d you do?”
“I-I don’t… Two, I’m out here because I want to be. Everypony is. You mean you’ve never left your property?”
“Oh, no, no! I’ve never misbehaved that badly!” I look back up and chuckle. Maybe I shouldn’t be making light of her situation, but she just raises an eyebrow.
“Then how… How do you go the the market, shop for new furniture, go to school, take out the garbage…?”
“Oh, I never said there weren’t reasons to leave,” I answer, waving a hoof at her. “But only when you have to. Besides, Mother handles those things.”
“She… does?” Her green eyes have gone wide—I guess her mother leaves all the dirty work for Roseluck to do.
I nod. “Of course. Then I don’t have to bother with any of that. I’m lucky, really.”
Now her frown has come back. I didn’t mean to make her feel bad…
A door slams inside the house, and I whip my head around at the sound. I dart for the vines and shove them back together. “You have to go!” I rasp.
“Two…”
“No! You have to go, now!” I lie down in the grass, squeeze my eyes shut, and roll onto my side. A moment later, I hear soft hoofsteps receding in the roadway.
For the first time in months, I woke up shivering. It’s gotten pretty late in the summer, but we do get these cold snaps occasionally. Rather than take my usual spot in the shade, I’ve moved out where I can get some sun and hopefully bake this frigid dew off my coat. I’d wipe it off, but I’d just pick up more from the grass. Might as well stand, I guess.
I trudge over to the fence and shove a couple vines out of the way. Seems like my little ritual lately. The ice cream cart hasn’t opened yet, all folded up, and there’s an old stallion down that way delivering newspapers.
Roseluck could come by today, I suppose… I hope. No, that’s not productive thinking, though I can’t rid myself of this pesky smile. In case it helps dislodge it, I stamp a hoof, and then—
“Two!”
I nearly bang my mouth on the fence when I whip my head around to the left. She never comes from that direction. Why would she be there?
She just grins, the loose ends of her scarf tossing about in the breeze as little puffs of steam float away from her nose with each breath. “I didn’t think anypony else got up this early! I was just out for a walk. Have yard work already?”
“No,” I answer, suppressing another shudder. “Just waking up.”
“Yeah, that cold morning air is bracing, huh?” For a moment, she pantomimes an exaggerated jogging-in-place motion. “Gets the blood flowing.”
I shrug. I never cared much for cold. Or blood, for that matter.
“So, what do you have on your agenda for the day?” She brushes a hoof through her forelock, though none of it looked out of place to me…
“Tend this here grass,” I answer, my voice dropping into a monotone when I get drawn into those green eyes again. “Same as always.”
“And your rosebushes?” Roseluck asks with a swish of her tail.
“Oh, I only take care of those when they need watering. I keep to my schedule whenever I can.” I hope she doesn’t look closely at those bushes—the bugs have been pretty bad this year.
She cocks her head to the side and folds her ears back. “So… it takes you all day long to do the lawn?”
“No!” I give an emphatic shake of my head. “I just… I dunno. Nap or think or something. If I’m inside, I read.”
“Well, if you’re not working, and it’s cold out…” She holds out her hoof like I’m supposed to take that from her. I-I don’t get… “Why aren’t you inside?” she finally concludes.
“Oh, I can’t, I can’t. I got in trouble.”
“I’m… I’m sorry.” Her face falls, and her ears somehow droop lower. “I hope it wasn’t on my account.”
“No!” I answer right away, wafting her words away with a hoof. “No, don’t worry. That happened before I met you.”
“That was… a couple days ago.” A bent foreleg held up in front of her, Roseluck stiffens. The playful lilt drains from that silken voice.
“I know.” What doesn’t she get? She’s the one out in the street.
“You haven’t gone inside in two days?” Now she’s just humoring me. She must think I’m bragging.
I shrug, which only makes her squint more intensely. “However long it takes.”
“For what?” She practically spits the words out. Fine. I’ll play this her way.
“Till I learn.” A gleam from inside catches my eye—Mother’s come downstairs for breakfast. “Oh, I have to go eat. I’ll… see you around?”
“But… I thought you couldn’t go in the house.” She’s tucked her tail, and that perked foreleg twitches once or twice. She puts on a good act, but now I know she’s kidding.
“For meals, sure. I’m not an animal. We eat inside. Not like that—” I jab a hoof toward the closed ice cream cart “—uncivilized stuff.” She looks like one of those stupid squirrels that’ll jump out in front of a wagon, then can’t decide which way to go. No way she’s actually confused. Right?
Anyway, she can’t get out what she wants to say, and I have to go, so I pull the ivy across the gap again and trot up to the back door.
I stick my head in and around the rosebushes, trying to avoid the thorns as I pluck off all the beetle-eaten leaves. I’ve never tried any before, and I hate to see anything green go to waste, but these taste rather bitter. I guess I’ll just throw them in the garbage can or work them into the mulch or something.
Through all the rustling, I start to notice a metallic tapping, and when I finally turn and prick my ears toward it, I hear a whisper: “Two? You there?”
I crane my neck over the windowsill to see inside—no hint of movement. Yesterday’s smile returning to my lips, I stroll over to the fence line and pull a few vines around a small wire hook I fashioned last night.
“That’s kinda neat,” Roseluck remarks with a half-smile of her own.
“Yeah, I just… took a scrap of wire I found and figured I could…” I scratch at my nose, even though it doesn’t itch.
“It’s almost like you expected me.” Without risking a look at those green eyes, I can still feel the laughter she’s holding back.
Of its own accord, my hoof scuffs at the grass. “Yeah, I guess… I guess I did, Roseluck. I don’t see any harm in it, but I still think I’m going to get in trouble for this.”
“Trouble? With your mother?” And just as quickly, the little amused chime in her voice evaporates. I shrug and nod. “What did you do?”
I shrug again. “If I knew, I’d be in less trouble. It’s the difference between a pony who knows he’s wrong and one who’s bad enough that he doesn’t even realize how he misbehaved. If I could tell what I needed to apologize for, I’d do it. Now, I have to wait until Mother thinks I’ve had enough time to reflect on it.”
I can’t take those green eyes right now, but out of the corner of my vision, I see her mouth working through several responses. “Look… I haven’t said anything yet, because I felt like it wasn’t my place, but… don’t you think she enforces… rather strict rules? Maybe?”
“No, no!” I spit back, shaking my head. “Look at all those ponies out in the streets. That could be me! I’ve actually got it pretty easy.”
“No,” she says, leaning forward to brace a hoof on the other side of the fence, “those ponies… We… I don’t go around out here as a punishment. We have things to do out here. We live our lives out here. How… how could you spend an entire lifetime shut up in your house?”
“No reason to go out.” My jaw clenched, I take a step back. This is why Mother warned me about talking to other ponies.
And there goes her mouth, back to forming words that her voice won’t give life. She stares at the dirt. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you angry. Just—hey, ‘Two’ is an unusual name. How did you get it? Is it short for something?”
Deft change of subject—do I let it go? She twitches her tail and hangs her head. I guess it’s okay. I let my shoulders relax as I exhale deeply. “I’m the younger one—the second.”
“You mean you have a sister? Or brother?” she asks, her eyes brightening.
“Yes. My older brother, One.” Roseluck flinches at that answer.
“Where… is he?”
I grit my teeth and sneer back, even though she isn’t looking. “He left. A few years ago. Thought he could just mouth off all the time,” I mutter. “So Mother put him out. He never came back. He’s probably dead.”
Her breath catching in her throat, she gapes and tries to unclog the bunched-up words, but she can only back away. Her lower lip quivers, and all that falls out is a rasping “I’m sorry.” She canters away and casts a single glance at me as she disappears around the corner.
Without a conscious thought, I take up my post by the fence, where I’ve hung that improvised hook. I draw a few leafy tendrils aside and watch the ice cream cart. Funny, I never used to care much for all those bad ponies out there before, but now I spend a few hours a day keeping an eye out, it seems. Keeping an eye out for—why? Why would I do that?
I don’t know why. And doing things I don’t even know are wrong is what gets me in the most trouble.
I shake off that thought and peer at the ice cream cart again. She—she’s there! Her familiar red mane, facing the other way right now, and she’s buying some ice cream. Before I know it, my pulse has quickened. I…
Yes, she’s pretty, but I… like to talk. I just like to talk. I’m going to get in trouble.
She’s seen me now, and… why doesn’t she come over? She swallows hard, but she hasn’t even had a bite yet. A deep breath, and then she walks over as if dragging a fully laden wagon behind her. And that smile would blow off in a light breeze.
“Hi,” she says, at least the sound, if not the sentiment. She holds up her cone between the bars. “Want some?”
I shouldn’t. Every fiber of my conscience tells me so.
I wedge my nose through and take a taste. Creamy, yet tart, and… I’ve never had anything like it before. “What flavor?”
“Pineapple.” A touch of sincerity seeps into her grin.
“Pine… apple? Doesn’t taste like either.”
“No, pineapple, silly. You’ve seriously never heard of that?” Roseluck holds it up again, and I have another bite. “What else have you missed out on, all cooped up in—?”
My glare silences her, and the last shred of her smile crumbles. Her eyes darting around, she sits on her haunches and licks off a drip that’s running over her hoof. And for the first time, another flash of red catches my eye. Her mane and tail have plenty of it, but this sits smack in the middle of her coat. A… a rose? She sees me staring and blushes, then maneuvers her hindquarters away and averts her eyes to the dirt.
“What’s that?” I ask, jutting my chin toward her side. “Some kind of tattoo?” I guess I’ve seen them on a lot of those ponies out in the street, but I never took much notice of them. Maybe they’re common, but I can’t see much use in a tattoo.
Her blush fades, and she swings her rump around to give it a cursory once-over. “I-I’m sorry. I thought you were checking out my—did I get some dirt on me?” She brushes a hoof over her coat a few times. “No, just my cutie mark.”
She says that like I should know what it means. “Cutie mark?”
That gape again, like everything has to be some big drama for her. Yes, so I don’t know some street jargon. “Don’t tell me—you’ve never heard of that either?” I raise my eyebrows and give her a slow, exaggerated shrug. “I was one of the last in my class to get one, and that happened five years ago. You mean to say you’re still a blank flank?”
This is getting tiresome. “Blank…?” Why does she keep tossing out all these fancy words? Trying to show off?
“You look about my age,” she says as she cranes her neck to get a look at my side. “You should have gotten a cutie mark much younger—do you even know how old you are?”
“I…” Years, months, weeks… Two thousand three hundred sixty-seven days since he’d started counting—since it had first occurred to him to do so. Before that… who could tell?
“What makes you happy?” she presses. “What gives you pleasure, what fulfills your day?” She gazes up at the clouds, and at least her smile has returned.
“I read a lot, if I’m allowed inside. I tend the grass, nap, or…” Roseluck isn’t listening. Her mind has wandered off somewhere, and she stares at nothing.
“I need to give this some thought,” she finally says. “I-I’ll see you tomorrow. I want to help. I’m really going to try.” She turns to leave, but at the last moment pushes the rest of the ice cream cone between the bars. “Here.”
I-I juggle it for a moment to keep from dropping it, and it’s starting to drip on my hooves, so I wolf it down in three bites.
“Are you sure your mother is somepony worth obeying?” she says softly, already on her way. I probably wasn’t meant to hear that.
I chew, gulp down that wonderful treat, gone bitter now, bitter as those rose leaves. How dare she! I suck in a big breath to shout after her, but my head—it feels like my brain is at once freezing over and about to explode! Jaw clenched, I rub my temples until I can muster the resolve to speak, but… she’s nowhere in sight.
I yank the vines back into place, undo the small wire hook, fling it over the fence. Good riddance.
In the heat of the day, I lie down in the soft green grass. Green, like… like her eyes.
“Good morning, Two.”
I sneer toward the fence and don’t budge a muscle from my place in the grass, out in the warm sun.
“I-I didn’t mean to upset you. I hope you believe me when I say I only want to help.”
I’m not talking to her. I did her a favor by taking her mind off of whatever got her kicked out of her house, and she repaid me with insults. A short distance down the fence, the leaves rustle where she tries to push the ivy out of the way. In the wrong spot.
“You there?” Roseluck waits a minute, then her voice drops to a whisper. “I hope you got to go inside.”
Letting out a sigh, I walk to my usual spot and hold the foliage back. She steps over and peers back through with her green eyes. Green amid the green, both with life, but only one with vitality, there behind the black iron. I stare… and stare…
“…Do you think?”
I shake the fog out of my head and find my way out of the maze. Almost got lost in there… “Sorry, what?”
“I was asking if you thought reading might have something to do with your cutie mark. You said you enjoy it.” In her own little world, she nods on my behalf.
More of this cutie mark business? Why should I know how they work? “I dunno. Honestly, I spend more time taking care of the yard.”
“Well, it would have happened already, in that case. At least I think so. But you do have a talent for it. Maybe you just haven’t found the right thing.” She gives me a toothy grin and points over past the small pond at the other end of the yard. “I mean, look at those roses over there. You’ve tended them beautifully.”
Those roses? I open my mouth to speak, but—
“See, I can help you there. That’s part of why I came over. My friends Lily and Daisy and I are going in together on a florist shop. We’ve studied the business, raised the money to start up, found a vacant storefront we can afford—I can finally move out on my own! It’s got me so excited that I just wanted to tell you!” She stands there, rocking on the tips of her hooves, and I think I’m supposed to say something. So I—
“So you’ve talked so much about growing your roses that I thought you might have a knack for it. They’re my specialty, of course. Cutie mark and all, y’know,” she says, giggling and brushes her forelock out of her eyes.
This again? I blink hard and take a breath. “These?” I ask, pointing to the bushes near the back door. “I just water them. They pretty much take care of themselves.”
“Yeah, those are knockouts,” she replies with a wave of her hoof. “They won’t give you much hassle. But—” she angles her head toward the pond again “—what about those? They look great, too. Did you do that?”
A tingle runs through my chest. “No. We used to have more of those over here too, but I over-watered them once, and they got a fungus. Mother was furious. I’m not allowed to mess with them anymore. So—” I flinch “—she planted these… knockouts.”
Her jaw tightens, but she keeps a steady voice. She still can’t tear her gaze away from the nice roses. “You have tea roses there. They take a little more work, but I could show you. I’m not surprised they need extra attention in a climate this far north.”
Okay. I wait for her to continue. I guess I’m supposed to say something again…
“Well, go on over there,” Roseluck says with a shooing motion. “I’ll talk you through it. We’ll make you into a master gardener in no time.”
Doesn’t she get it? Is she trying to mock me?
I hold up my foreleg and waggle it, the chain’s clinking drawing her eyes. “Can’t reach that far. Not allowed, remember?”
She sucks in a shuddering breath and staggers backward. “I-I’m sorry,” she coughs up. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this. I have to tell somepony. I-I have to.”
Tell somepony? She’s going to tattle on me? Now she’s crying, and her head keeps twisting to the side like she’s having a seizure or something. Fine. Let her make fun of me. Like her chain is so much longer than mine. At least I get to stay in the yard.
“I have to,” she blubbers through her sob before galloping down the street.
B-banging. Against wood. I—I can’t…
My eyes jerk open, and I sit bolt upright. What was that?
I hold my breath, but I don’t hear anything else. The house is dark, the yard is all shadows. Stars overhead. Only a dream.
A big yawn, and then I roll onto my other side and huddle up against the night air. Only a dream… Only…
Another bang. And breaking glass. Somepony shouts inside, and lights come on all over the house. I take off at a gallop for the back door—Ow! Dammit! The chain… jerks me to a stop, nearly rips my foreleg out. I grab the chain with my other, I have to get free!
“Mother!” I shout. Furniture tumbles, the shouting gets louder. Are we being robbed? I strain as hard as I can against the manacle, and it digs into my flesh, but that only makes me tug harder. I have to get free! Mother will be angry that I got off the chain, but I have to do it for her! She’ll understand.
The back door crashes open, and a piercing light blinds me.
“It’s alright, kid. We’re here to help.”
I run for the hose—maybe I can swing the heavy metal nozzle around and keep him back.
“Whoa! It’s okay!” He shines the light on himself, and it glints off his badge. Police? Did they catch the robbers? “It’s okay, son. I’ve got you. Everything will be fine. Just step over here slowly.”
Loosening my bite, I let the hose drop to the ground. “M-Mother?” I back off a couple paces, but something about the officer is reassuring—at least if he lets me off this chain, I can help Mother.
He bends down and fiddles with the clasp before shouting toward the house. “Hey, Turnkey! Grab the bolt cutters out of the wagon and get out here!”
“M-Mother? Where’s Mother? Is she okay?” Nothing else matters. I have to help Mother.
“Don’t you worry about her, son. We’ll take care of everything.” Another uniformed pony emerges room the back door with what looks like an enormous pair of pruners. He holds the blade against a link if the chain, braces one handle on the ground, and leans into the other as hard as he can. With a metallic ring, it snaps, and I go charging inside, but the first officer blocks my path. “Come with me, kid. Let’s get you out of here.”
“I-I don’t want to go! Where’s Mother?” They don’t answer. They just corral me into the house, where a third and a fourth officer join them, hemming me in, pushing me toward the front door, toward… the street.
No. No! They’re throwing me out! Just like my brother—forced to leave, never returned, probably dead. He got what he deserved. But I don’t want to go! What did I do wrong?
As I stumble down the front walk, the first officer points to a mare being shoved into the back of a paddy wagon. “There’s your mother, kid.”
“No! Mother!” It takes all four of them to hold me back.
“It’s okay, kid! Calm down! She can’t hurt you now.”
“No! You’ve got it wrong! She didn’t hurt me. She never hurt me!” Everything’s going numb, even my throbbing hoof. I-I can’t walk. Shaking, I sink to my haunches, and the policeponies let go of me. What’s happening?
I scan the crowd of unfamiliar faces: more police, ponies with cameras, scribbling in notepads. Flashbulbs going off, shouting, in the street, no fences, strangers everywhere. No, one face, over by the officer with the most stripes on his sleeve.
It’s—it’s Roseluck. She gives a shy smile and a muted wave. She did this. She did this!
I break into a full gallop, straight for her. “You smug bitch!” I hurl at her as I close the distance. I punch her as hard as I can, the chain’s loose end clinking over the crowd’s noise. She drops immediately, and then I’m on top of her, and I get two more good shots in before the nearest officers can pull me off.
“You don’t even know what you did! You had no right! You had no right!”
Blood trickles from her mouth, and some has spattered up on her nose. It matches her mane well.
I fling every horrible word I can think of at her. Surely, Mother can hear me, but she has to realize I’m doing this for her. Please don’t get angry, Mother!
Roseluck bursts into tears and cowers behind some other mare, probably her idiot mother. By then, the police are dragging me away and pushing me into another wagon. All those faces: ponies in uniform, Roseluck, old Juniper, ponies that have nothing better to do than stand around in the road.
Roseluck. I recognize that look, the same as One gave me when he left. Like he knew better. Like I deserved his pity. “I’ll get you for this!” I shriek as the wagon’s doors close.
Early evening, and I lie in bed while reading a book. Well, not right now. It hangs open over on the nightstand, and I haven’t touched it in an hour. Every time I try, I can’t get more than two pages before I lose my concentration and have to stop.
I’ve lived here for over a month now. I miss my old home, where somepony loved me. Nopony does here. I can tell, because they never punish me.
They want me to call them Mom and Dad, but I only do it to humor them. They’re no parents. Over a month, and they haven’t put me out in the yard once. At least I get to do more with the grass here than I used to. I even got one of those “cutie marks,” some kind of square of turf—a type of centipede grass, as I can tell from the shape of the leaves. The mare and stallion here have even taken to calling me Fescue, but I prefer Two, and I asked them to stop.
I tried clipping that cutie mark out of my coat, but it goes all the way down, even onto my skin. So I picked at it, scraped it with a pair of garden shears, even rubbed it with a hoof file. But once the scabs healed over, it came back the same as before. I guess it’s here to stay.
To be honest, I’d rather go out in the yard now, especially since I can’t read in this mood. Sure, it could get frustrating when Mother wouldn’t tell me what I’d done wrong, but at least I knew I’d done something and could try to figure it out. Not here. These ponies won’t even bother. They must think I’m too far gone to help. Why else would they neglect me like that?
I know for a fact that I need to be punished. The last few nights, I snuck out and wandered around town, trying to find where Roseluck lives. It took a while, but I finally found her yesterday, and spent over an hour watching her.
On a whim, I roll out of bed, clamber through the open window, and walk to the edge of the low roof over the wagon shelter. From there, it’s a quick hop onto the woodpile, then to the ground. Down the street to the lamppost, a left, three blocks, another left… I quickly find my way there and settle between a couple of japonica shrubs across the road.
Roseluck. She walks back and forth by the window of what I assume is the washroom—she’s brushing her teeth. Then her head bobs down and comes back up with a splash of water on it and a washcloth in hoof. The soft light bathes her and spills out into the night.
She’s wearing pajamas? Really? That’s kid stuff.
Part of her mane is still wet and darkened from washing her face, and it sticks against her neck like a streak of blood. I purse my lips and let out a sigh. Yes, I’m still angry, but in a different way than before. I’ve had time to think.
If she’ll just admit to the police that she was wrong, that she lied, then everything can go back to normal. Then I wouldn’t have to hit her. I might even be sorry I did the first time. It’s not like I want to see her bleed.
When my eyes come back into focus, she has her face pressed to the window, gazing out at me. That look again, like she had before, like she feels sorry for me. She mouths something over her shoulder, and soon enough, Lily and Daisy—I have to assume that’s who they are—come out screaming on the front porch.
A couple of the neighbors pop their heads out, but I’m gone, past all those awful open yards, dust kicking up behind me. Why would she treat me like this? I gave her a second chance…
I take the long way home. Gotta have time to think, and just in case anypony follows me… If I go around the edge of town, I can stop, take a breather in the park, get a drink from the stream.
Listen to me. Not that long ago, I didn’t have a clue about what was in this town or where.
A quick snack of sweet grass hits the spot when I pause, panting. Nice green grass, like her eyes…
I must have stood there for five minutes or so. Best to get home before somepony notices my absence. So I head back, but when I’m still three blocks away, I can already see trouble. Light shines from my room, and a police officer stands on the front porch.
I don’t even get much of what happens over the next hour. I nod a lot, and they tell me not to go over to Roseluck’s again. If they’d chained me in the yard, I couldn’t have gone there in the first place. And my “parents” still won’t do it. They don’t care enough.
When I ran away, I noticed that Roseluck had stopped smiling. Maybe she finally understands the seriousness of the situation.
I think I love her.
I can’t read anymore. I’m allowed, but I can’t sit still long enough. Good thing I get to take care of the back lawn, but even that doesn’t interest me as much these days.
I sent Roseluck a letter. If my “parents” won’t let me see her, I’ll find another way. In it, I told her exactly what she needed to do to make things right, but that also brought the police over, so I can’t write, either. For now.
The ponies who live here said they’d have to read any letters I want to mail, and if they approve, they’ll send it—if I write one calmly and rationally.
A lie. The doctor told them to say that. They’ll never mail anything. But I guess I can try it their way.
I take a sheet of paper and a quill to the desk, then poke it at the scar on my foreleg until it bleeds. No, I’m not going to write a letter in blood. That’d be ridiculous. Ink will do fine.
Dear Roseluck,
I forgive you for what you did. I realize now that you couldn’t have known the particular dynamics of my family life, given that you must have some strange customs that make it unfamiliar to you. You have to be careful to ensure that your actions do not have unintended consequences. You clearly had some sense of my well-being in mind, and for that I am grateful, but you never asked me what I thought, never confirmed that your suspicions had any merit. If you could just tell the police that you were mistaken, that you’d misinterpreted what you saw, then we could all go back to our normal lives. I don’t believe you’re deliberately keeping me from my home; I just think you let your imagination run away, and it’s easy for a town to rally around a frantic young mare.
I don’t hold that against you. Their fault is not yours, and I would not punish you for it. I would never hit you again. It was rash of me, and I realize that I should have exerted more self-control than that. I would not hit you and make you bleed or even put you out in the street because I love you and I would only keep you in the nice, pretty, quiet yard with a chain plenty long enough to reach the rosebushes, and no thorn shall ever prick you, no, only that mane will lay red against your pale coat.
Your protector,
Two
It’s my little patch of grass, between the fence and the building, and I can do whatever I want with it—everypony else had better stay away. I glance around at all the other guests milling about in the yard, off to whatever mundane things must occupy their minds. They have no business here, but I let them be. As long as they stay away from my corner, they don’t do any harm—it’s rare that I have to confront any of them, but it pays to remain watchful.
I’d prefer to stay out here all the time to keep an eye on my grass, but I have to go inside for most of the day and all night. That’s okay—I write my letters during inside time. The doctor actually encourages me to write my letters, but he won’t give me anything sharp like a pencil—just a charcoal stick. It tastes awful.
But I write my letters, about five a day, and the doctor says he might send them someday. He says that, but I know he won’t. He says that when he gives me my charcoal stick for the day after breakfast and locks me in my room.
This place has different rules, but at least it has rules, and I have time that I have to spend outside in the yard, and I get in trouble if I break the rules. A lot like home—my real home, not that fake one I went to for a few months.
I haven’t heard from Mother in over a year. Most days, I ask the doctor how she’s doing, but he says he doesn’t know. I think he’s lying.
I haven’t heard from Roseluck, either. The doctor says she doesn’t send me any mail, but he lies about that too. I do love her, but she hasn’t come to visit, and she still owes me an apology. I don’t want to hurt her, but sometimes we have to do distasteful things for a higher purpose.
In the night, I wake up. I hate it—it gives me nightmares, thinking about having to hit her, making her nose and mouth bleed again. I wake up shuddering and crying, but I love her enough to make myself do that for her. I love her, and I hate myself, and I don’t want her to bleed. Now, if I ever get out of here…
I pull a bit of ivy away from the black cast-iron fence and look through to the street to see if any green eyes are gazing back at me. But nothing again today, so far. I can wait.
Over in a corner of the yard, I tend the grass.
I don’t mind hot days, even though that doesn’t make as much sense. I can put on a coat in the winter, but on days like this, I can’t do much more than find some shade. And yet I much prefer sweating to shivering.
The garden hose is still coiled up by the rosebushes, like a big green snake about to… water the plants, I guess. I don’t know. As well as I can remember, I’ve never seen a snake.
I should have brought the hose over here so I wouldn’t have to get up for a drink of water. Whatever. I stand up, stretch, and yawn.
On my way over to the hose, I peek through the house’s windows and can see the newspaper lying out by the street. I’d go get it so I could see tomorrow’s forecast, but I don’t feel like trying to sneak through the house unnoticed. I’m not supposed to go in there today.
A quick twist of the hoof has the water going, and as long as I’m taking a drink, I might as well water these roses. The heat doesn’t have them wilting yet, but I haven’t watered them in a couple days now.
Over the nozzle’s spray, I can hear voices in the road, behind the house. Not unusual in the summer, of course, but why do ponies have to wander by here? But my ears prick toward the sound, and I can’t help imagining what they might be doing out there. If I have a failing, it’d be letting my curiosity get the better of me all the time.
So of course I drop the hose and trot over to the fence. It’s black, cast iron, and well taller than I am. Strong. Formidable. Without it, my yard wouldn’t be anything more than some extension of the street, some public square that’s mine in name only, with no way to shut out the rest of the world.
I pry apart a bit of the ivy that blankets the whole thing like green scales and peek out. To the left, a couple of groups of ponies stand around chatting, like they have nothing better to do. And to the right, around the corner where I can just see it, a ratty-looking ice cream cart sits, with a crowd of foals around it, and a few older ponies too. All laughing, playing, sitting idle.
Why would they do that out there? I hear them from time to time, of course, when somepony walks by, but just standing around? In the street? They’ll never learn that way. What makes them think they can just—?
There she is again. That earth pony, kinda pale yellow or beige, with streaked magenta mane and tail. I’ve seen her before. Quite often, actually. She must live nearby. Or really like ice cream.
She has a couple other mares with her, and they…
I…
I shake my head and pull the ivy back into place. I have chores, and it wouldn’t do to get caught staring. Besides, I—
I’ve left the hose running.
No, no, no, I can’t drown the rosebushes again!
Sure enough, another hot day. But something’s got me restless today. Instead of lounging in my usual shady spot, I keep finding myself pacing along the fence. I’ll be off in some daydream, and next thing I know, here I am trotting along the ivy.
Whispers, shouts, laughter—even more than usual, all floating over my fence and into my yard. Don’t these ponies have somewhere to go, jobs to do, yards to tend?
I grit my teeth, force a slow breath, and brace a hoof against the sturdy iron. It’s not worth getting worked up over. I can’t control what other ponies do, and if they want to make things worse for themselves, that’s their business.
Gotta keep my mind on something else. I glance over at the hose, but no—I watered the roses yesterday, and I’m lucky I didn’t hurt them. I made that mistake before. Once.
Maybe I’ll sprinkle the grass a bit later. I shouldn’t do it in the heat of the day, anyway. Some ice cream would taste good right about now, but not that stuff from out in the street. Seriously, how can they—?
And here I am again, shoving a couple of vines to the side so I can see out. I don’t remember that ice cream cart from last summer. Maybe I just forgot. I need to stop this. I’m going to get in trouble.
There she is. That mare again, a cone clutched in her hooves. She looks so… innocent. For the life of me, I can’t figure her out. She has time to waste, apparently, but I just can’t imagine that sweet face doing anything wrong. I bet she has huge flowerbeds at home, and she goes out each morning, shopping list in hoof, to get fresh supplies for it. And I just happen to catch her on the way out. That has to be it. Her mane, blending in with all manner of carnations, zinnias, impatiens… She’s even kinda pretty. Us earth ponies, we understand more than any other—
No, no! Now I will get in trouble. I can find other things to do in the yard instead of frittering away my morning on pointless—
She’s staring back.
Quickly, I hold my breath and shove the ivy back over the gap. Did she see? No. No way. Two little eyes looking through a whole fence of vines? No way she saw.
Careful not to tread on the still-muddy ground near the rosebushes, I trot along the fence until I reach the corner, then brush aside a bit of the foliage to look into the neighbor’s yard. Like clockwork, there’s old Juniper raking his lawn. He knows how to take care of his property. I have to respect somepony who pays attention to detail like that and keeps his yard orderly. I’ve never seen him out wasting his time in the streets. He doesn’t need to. The yard is better.
Wiping the sweat off my forehead, I settle down into the soft grass and roll under the low branches of the crabapple tree. The warm sun’s got me sleepy, and I wouldn’t mind a nap.
I’m not hungry, but I nibble at the grass anyway. A little here and there, of course—I can’t leave any bare patches. Sometimes, I think I take care of the lawn too well—a nice dandelion in the mix every so often would taste good, but I won’t have any weeds in my grass. I’d get in trouble, anyway.
And then there’s the voices. Those ponies have jabbered all morning. Are they trying to irritate me? I stalk over and force a few vines aside. Sure enough, over at the ice cream cart—
She’s there, too.
She’s…
Why would she do that? Out there? Ice cream is for inside. Everypony knows that. I can’t believe that somepony who looks so pleasant wouldn’t know any better. I mean, surely she’s not the kind of pony who would just wander around aimlessly. She must have a home. Maybe she just wants to eat it before it melts, but she could at least start heading somewhere—
She’s walking this way, with a funny little grin on her face. No, no, no, I’ll get in trouble! Letting the leaves spring back into place, I stagger a few steps and try to keep my heart from pounding. She didn’t see! She couldn’t have seen!
I hold my breath and prick my ears forward as hard as I can. No hoofsteps, no voice, no nothing. She walked past. She didn’t see anything, and she walked past.
“Hello? Who’s in there?”
I jump and let out a little yelp. Stupid, stupid, she heard!
“Hello? I saw you peeking out. My house is nearby, and I didn’t think anypony lived here.”
What do I do? I can’t speak to her, but if I don’t answer, she might raise her voice! After a quick glance toward the house, I decide I’d better give her a brusque reply, shoo her off. “I-I shouldn’t be talking to you.”
“Why not?”
Her—her voice is like silk: cool and soft, and it slides right over me. I want to hear it again, but I can’t—why won’t she leave?
The ivy rustles where she tries to get a hoof far enough through the fence to pry it apart. “My name’s Roseluck. What’s yours?”
Can’t talk. I can’t. I rush over to the hose and turn it on, in case the sound might drown out her voice. “I have to tend my roses. I can’t talk.”
“Why not?” she presses again.
Clouds. Yes, clouds. They’re blocking the sun anyway, so it won’t hurt to water the bushes again.
“Listen, I enjoy working with roses. You’d kinda have to, with a name like mine, huh?” She giggles, and if I could just wipe this stupid smile off my face and concentrate on my work… “Maybe we could talk shop? I’ll take any chance I can get to learn more about roses. What kinds do you grow?”
I turn the nozzle to a gentle spray and wet the ground underneath the bushes. Just the ground, not the leaves. Yeah, it’s not the best time of the day for this, but if the cloud cover keeps up, it won’t do any harm.
“Hello?” Her hooves shuffle in the dirt, and if only he could listen to that voice all day, but it has to stop. “Look, I’m sorry if I bothered you. If you’re busy, I’ll go—”
“Two,” my throat spits out before I have a chance to fight it. “My name is Two.” Why did I say that? I bite my lip until it hurts, in the hope that it’ll jerk me out of whatever my fogged-up head is doing to me. “But I have to tend my roses.”
My mind racing, I keep at my job, even turning the nozzle on high so I can reach the azaleas and rhododendrons against the house from here. When I’ve saturated just about every plant in this part of the yard, I finally shut off the water and coil the hose up, making sure to do it as slowly as possible. The more time it takes, the better.
She hasn’t said anything in a while, thank goodness, but now I don’t have an excuse to ignore her anymore. She might go away if I told her to, but I don’t want to be rude. I don’t want her to stay, I don’t want her to go, I…
I’d stomp as hard as I could, but she’d hear. Instead, I sneak partway down the fence and peer through the tangle of leaves there.
She left.
I rest my forehead against the fence, against the cool iron for a minute before heading over to cull the bruised crabapples off the tree.
“Two!”
My eyes shoot open, and I toss my head. Where am I? Oh, yeah… My shady spot under the tree. I thought I heard something, but a quick scan of the yard turns up nothing. A dream, then.
“Two! You in there?”
Before she can even finish those few words, I’ve already stumbled to my hooves and lurched over to the fence. “Hey!” I grunt through my scowl as I yank the vines aside and gather my breath to—
Green. Green eyes gaze back at me, less than a single pace away. Green, like the soft, sweet grass that grows on the far side of the yard, over by the pond. Over where I’m not allowed to go. Her smile grows, little by little, but it’s the green that’s snared me, held me locked down in the green depths of…
I shake my head. Hard. “Quiet!” I finally hiss back at her. “You’ll get me in trouble!”
That lovely smile melts into a frown, and Roseluck cocks her head. “For what?”
“I’m not supposed to talk to anypony,” I say, craning my neck this way and that to make sure nopony else sees.
Her frown deepening, she wrinkles her forehead. “Why not?”
I just want that smile back. “’Cause I’m out here. You should know that. You’re the one in the street.”
“I… What? I’m sorry—I don’t understand…”
I let out a sigh and rub a hoof between my eyes. “If I hadn’t done something wrong, I wouldn’t be in the yard.” I draw my mouth into a taut line and finally tear my gaze away from the green. “I’m out here a lot. But even I’ve never done anything bad enough to get thrown out into the street. And I see you walking around out there nearly every day. What’d you do?”
“I-I don’t… Two, I’m out here because I want to be. Everypony is. You mean you’ve never left your property?”
“Oh, no, no! I’ve never misbehaved that badly!” I look back up and chuckle. Maybe I shouldn’t be making light of her situation, but she just raises an eyebrow.
“Then how… How do you go the the market, shop for new furniture, go to school, take out the garbage…?”
“Oh, I never said there weren’t reasons to leave,” I answer, waving a hoof at her. “But only when you have to. Besides, Mother handles those things.”
“She… does?” Her green eyes have gone wide—I guess her mother leaves all the dirty work for Roseluck to do.
I nod. “Of course. Then I don’t have to bother with any of that. I’m lucky, really.”
Now her frown has come back. I didn’t mean to make her feel bad…
A door slams inside the house, and I whip my head around at the sound. I dart for the vines and shove them back together. “You have to go!” I rasp.
“Two…”
“No! You have to go, now!” I lie down in the grass, squeeze my eyes shut, and roll onto my side. A moment later, I hear soft hoofsteps receding in the roadway.
For the first time in months, I woke up shivering. It’s gotten pretty late in the summer, but we do get these cold snaps occasionally. Rather than take my usual spot in the shade, I’ve moved out where I can get some sun and hopefully bake this frigid dew off my coat. I’d wipe it off, but I’d just pick up more from the grass. Might as well stand, I guess.
I trudge over to the fence and shove a couple vines out of the way. Seems like my little ritual lately. The ice cream cart hasn’t opened yet, all folded up, and there’s an old stallion down that way delivering newspapers.
Roseluck could come by today, I suppose… I hope. No, that’s not productive thinking, though I can’t rid myself of this pesky smile. In case it helps dislodge it, I stamp a hoof, and then—
“Two!”
I nearly bang my mouth on the fence when I whip my head around to the left. She never comes from that direction. Why would she be there?
She just grins, the loose ends of her scarf tossing about in the breeze as little puffs of steam float away from her nose with each breath. “I didn’t think anypony else got up this early! I was just out for a walk. Have yard work already?”
“No,” I answer, suppressing another shudder. “Just waking up.”
“Yeah, that cold morning air is bracing, huh?” For a moment, she pantomimes an exaggerated jogging-in-place motion. “Gets the blood flowing.”
I shrug. I never cared much for cold. Or blood, for that matter.
“So, what do you have on your agenda for the day?” She brushes a hoof through her forelock, though none of it looked out of place to me…
“Tend this here grass,” I answer, my voice dropping into a monotone when I get drawn into those green eyes again. “Same as always.”
“And your rosebushes?” Roseluck asks with a swish of her tail.
“Oh, I only take care of those when they need watering. I keep to my schedule whenever I can.” I hope she doesn’t look closely at those bushes—the bugs have been pretty bad this year.
She cocks her head to the side and folds her ears back. “So… it takes you all day long to do the lawn?”
“No!” I give an emphatic shake of my head. “I just… I dunno. Nap or think or something. If I’m inside, I read.”
“Well, if you’re not working, and it’s cold out…” She holds out her hoof like I’m supposed to take that from her. I-I don’t get… “Why aren’t you inside?” she finally concludes.
“Oh, I can’t, I can’t. I got in trouble.”
“I’m… I’m sorry.” Her face falls, and her ears somehow droop lower. “I hope it wasn’t on my account.”
“No!” I answer right away, wafting her words away with a hoof. “No, don’t worry. That happened before I met you.”
“That was… a couple days ago.” A bent foreleg held up in front of her, Roseluck stiffens. The playful lilt drains from that silken voice.
“I know.” What doesn’t she get? She’s the one out in the street.
“You haven’t gone inside in two days?” Now she’s just humoring me. She must think I’m bragging.
I shrug, which only makes her squint more intensely. “However long it takes.”
“For what?” She practically spits the words out. Fine. I’ll play this her way.
“Till I learn.” A gleam from inside catches my eye—Mother’s come downstairs for breakfast. “Oh, I have to go eat. I’ll… see you around?”
“But… I thought you couldn’t go in the house.” She’s tucked her tail, and that perked foreleg twitches once or twice. She puts on a good act, but now I know she’s kidding.
“For meals, sure. I’m not an animal. We eat inside. Not like that—” I jab a hoof toward the closed ice cream cart “—uncivilized stuff.” She looks like one of those stupid squirrels that’ll jump out in front of a wagon, then can’t decide which way to go. No way she’s actually confused. Right?
Anyway, she can’t get out what she wants to say, and I have to go, so I pull the ivy across the gap again and trot up to the back door.
I stick my head in and around the rosebushes, trying to avoid the thorns as I pluck off all the beetle-eaten leaves. I’ve never tried any before, and I hate to see anything green go to waste, but these taste rather bitter. I guess I’ll just throw them in the garbage can or work them into the mulch or something.
Through all the rustling, I start to notice a metallic tapping, and when I finally turn and prick my ears toward it, I hear a whisper: “Two? You there?”
I crane my neck over the windowsill to see inside—no hint of movement. Yesterday’s smile returning to my lips, I stroll over to the fence line and pull a few vines around a small wire hook I fashioned last night.
“That’s kinda neat,” Roseluck remarks with a half-smile of her own.
“Yeah, I just… took a scrap of wire I found and figured I could…” I scratch at my nose, even though it doesn’t itch.
“It’s almost like you expected me.” Without risking a look at those green eyes, I can still feel the laughter she’s holding back.
Of its own accord, my hoof scuffs at the grass. “Yeah, I guess… I guess I did, Roseluck. I don’t see any harm in it, but I still think I’m going to get in trouble for this.”
“Trouble? With your mother?” And just as quickly, the little amused chime in her voice evaporates. I shrug and nod. “What did you do?”
I shrug again. “If I knew, I’d be in less trouble. It’s the difference between a pony who knows he’s wrong and one who’s bad enough that he doesn’t even realize how he misbehaved. If I could tell what I needed to apologize for, I’d do it. Now, I have to wait until Mother thinks I’ve had enough time to reflect on it.”
I can’t take those green eyes right now, but out of the corner of my vision, I see her mouth working through several responses. “Look… I haven’t said anything yet, because I felt like it wasn’t my place, but… don’t you think she enforces… rather strict rules? Maybe?”
“No, no!” I spit back, shaking my head. “Look at all those ponies out in the streets. That could be me! I’ve actually got it pretty easy.”
“No,” she says, leaning forward to brace a hoof on the other side of the fence, “those ponies… We… I don’t go around out here as a punishment. We have things to do out here. We live our lives out here. How… how could you spend an entire lifetime shut up in your house?”
“No reason to go out.” My jaw clenched, I take a step back. This is why Mother warned me about talking to other ponies.
And there goes her mouth, back to forming words that her voice won’t give life. She stares at the dirt. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you angry. Just—hey, ‘Two’ is an unusual name. How did you get it? Is it short for something?”
Deft change of subject—do I let it go? She twitches her tail and hangs her head. I guess it’s okay. I let my shoulders relax as I exhale deeply. “I’m the younger one—the second.”
“You mean you have a sister? Or brother?” she asks, her eyes brightening.
“Yes. My older brother, One.” Roseluck flinches at that answer.
“Where… is he?”
I grit my teeth and sneer back, even though she isn’t looking. “He left. A few years ago. Thought he could just mouth off all the time,” I mutter. “So Mother put him out. He never came back. He’s probably dead.”
Her breath catching in her throat, she gapes and tries to unclog the bunched-up words, but she can only back away. Her lower lip quivers, and all that falls out is a rasping “I’m sorry.” She canters away and casts a single glance at me as she disappears around the corner.
Without a conscious thought, I take up my post by the fence, where I’ve hung that improvised hook. I draw a few leafy tendrils aside and watch the ice cream cart. Funny, I never used to care much for all those bad ponies out there before, but now I spend a few hours a day keeping an eye out, it seems. Keeping an eye out for—why? Why would I do that?
I don’t know why. And doing things I don’t even know are wrong is what gets me in the most trouble.
I shake off that thought and peer at the ice cream cart again. She—she’s there! Her familiar red mane, facing the other way right now, and she’s buying some ice cream. Before I know it, my pulse has quickened. I…
Yes, she’s pretty, but I… like to talk. I just like to talk. I’m going to get in trouble.
She’s seen me now, and… why doesn’t she come over? She swallows hard, but she hasn’t even had a bite yet. A deep breath, and then she walks over as if dragging a fully laden wagon behind her. And that smile would blow off in a light breeze.
“Hi,” she says, at least the sound, if not the sentiment. She holds up her cone between the bars. “Want some?”
I shouldn’t. Every fiber of my conscience tells me so.
I wedge my nose through and take a taste. Creamy, yet tart, and… I’ve never had anything like it before. “What flavor?”
“Pineapple.” A touch of sincerity seeps into her grin.
“Pine… apple? Doesn’t taste like either.”
“No, pineapple, silly. You’ve seriously never heard of that?” Roseluck holds it up again, and I have another bite. “What else have you missed out on, all cooped up in—?”
My glare silences her, and the last shred of her smile crumbles. Her eyes darting around, she sits on her haunches and licks off a drip that’s running over her hoof. And for the first time, another flash of red catches my eye. Her mane and tail have plenty of it, but this sits smack in the middle of her coat. A… a rose? She sees me staring and blushes, then maneuvers her hindquarters away and averts her eyes to the dirt.
“What’s that?” I ask, jutting my chin toward her side. “Some kind of tattoo?” I guess I’ve seen them on a lot of those ponies out in the street, but I never took much notice of them. Maybe they’re common, but I can’t see much use in a tattoo.
Her blush fades, and she swings her rump around to give it a cursory once-over. “I-I’m sorry. I thought you were checking out my—did I get some dirt on me?” She brushes a hoof over her coat a few times. “No, just my cutie mark.”
She says that like I should know what it means. “Cutie mark?”
That gape again, like everything has to be some big drama for her. Yes, so I don’t know some street jargon. “Don’t tell me—you’ve never heard of that either?” I raise my eyebrows and give her a slow, exaggerated shrug. “I was one of the last in my class to get one, and that happened five years ago. You mean to say you’re still a blank flank?”
This is getting tiresome. “Blank…?” Why does she keep tossing out all these fancy words? Trying to show off?
“You look about my age,” she says as she cranes her neck to get a look at my side. “You should have gotten a cutie mark much younger—do you even know how old you are?”
“I…” Years, months, weeks… Two thousand three hundred sixty-seven days since he’d started counting—since it had first occurred to him to do so. Before that… who could tell?
“What makes you happy?” she presses. “What gives you pleasure, what fulfills your day?” She gazes up at the clouds, and at least her smile has returned.
“I read a lot, if I’m allowed inside. I tend the grass, nap, or…” Roseluck isn’t listening. Her mind has wandered off somewhere, and she stares at nothing.
“I need to give this some thought,” she finally says. “I-I’ll see you tomorrow. I want to help. I’m really going to try.” She turns to leave, but at the last moment pushes the rest of the ice cream cone between the bars. “Here.”
I-I juggle it for a moment to keep from dropping it, and it’s starting to drip on my hooves, so I wolf it down in three bites.
“Are you sure your mother is somepony worth obeying?” she says softly, already on her way. I probably wasn’t meant to hear that.
I chew, gulp down that wonderful treat, gone bitter now, bitter as those rose leaves. How dare she! I suck in a big breath to shout after her, but my head—it feels like my brain is at once freezing over and about to explode! Jaw clenched, I rub my temples until I can muster the resolve to speak, but… she’s nowhere in sight.
I yank the vines back into place, undo the small wire hook, fling it over the fence. Good riddance.
In the heat of the day, I lie down in the soft green grass. Green, like… like her eyes.
“Good morning, Two.”
I sneer toward the fence and don’t budge a muscle from my place in the grass, out in the warm sun.
“I-I didn’t mean to upset you. I hope you believe me when I say I only want to help.”
I’m not talking to her. I did her a favor by taking her mind off of whatever got her kicked out of her house, and she repaid me with insults. A short distance down the fence, the leaves rustle where she tries to push the ivy out of the way. In the wrong spot.
“You there?” Roseluck waits a minute, then her voice drops to a whisper. “I hope you got to go inside.”
Letting out a sigh, I walk to my usual spot and hold the foliage back. She steps over and peers back through with her green eyes. Green amid the green, both with life, but only one with vitality, there behind the black iron. I stare… and stare…
“…Do you think?”
I shake the fog out of my head and find my way out of the maze. Almost got lost in there… “Sorry, what?”
“I was asking if you thought reading might have something to do with your cutie mark. You said you enjoy it.” In her own little world, she nods on my behalf.
More of this cutie mark business? Why should I know how they work? “I dunno. Honestly, I spend more time taking care of the yard.”
“Well, it would have happened already, in that case. At least I think so. But you do have a talent for it. Maybe you just haven’t found the right thing.” She gives me a toothy grin and points over past the small pond at the other end of the yard. “I mean, look at those roses over there. You’ve tended them beautifully.”
Those roses? I open my mouth to speak, but—
“See, I can help you there. That’s part of why I came over. My friends Lily and Daisy and I are going in together on a florist shop. We’ve studied the business, raised the money to start up, found a vacant storefront we can afford—I can finally move out on my own! It’s got me so excited that I just wanted to tell you!” She stands there, rocking on the tips of her hooves, and I think I’m supposed to say something. So I—
“So you’ve talked so much about growing your roses that I thought you might have a knack for it. They’re my specialty, of course. Cutie mark and all, y’know,” she says, giggling and brushes her forelock out of her eyes.
This again? I blink hard and take a breath. “These?” I ask, pointing to the bushes near the back door. “I just water them. They pretty much take care of themselves.”
“Yeah, those are knockouts,” she replies with a wave of her hoof. “They won’t give you much hassle. But—” she angles her head toward the pond again “—what about those? They look great, too. Did you do that?”
A tingle runs through my chest. “No. We used to have more of those over here too, but I over-watered them once, and they got a fungus. Mother was furious. I’m not allowed to mess with them anymore. So—” I flinch “—she planted these… knockouts.”
Her jaw tightens, but she keeps a steady voice. She still can’t tear her gaze away from the nice roses. “You have tea roses there. They take a little more work, but I could show you. I’m not surprised they need extra attention in a climate this far north.”
Okay. I wait for her to continue. I guess I’m supposed to say something again…
“Well, go on over there,” Roseluck says with a shooing motion. “I’ll talk you through it. We’ll make you into a master gardener in no time.”
Doesn’t she get it? Is she trying to mock me?
I hold up my foreleg and waggle it, the chain’s clinking drawing her eyes. “Can’t reach that far. Not allowed, remember?”
She sucks in a shuddering breath and staggers backward. “I-I’m sorry,” she coughs up. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this. I have to tell somepony. I-I have to.”
Tell somepony? She’s going to tattle on me? Now she’s crying, and her head keeps twisting to the side like she’s having a seizure or something. Fine. Let her make fun of me. Like her chain is so much longer than mine. At least I get to stay in the yard.
“I have to,” she blubbers through her sob before galloping down the street.
B-banging. Against wood. I—I can’t…
My eyes jerk open, and I sit bolt upright. What was that?
I hold my breath, but I don’t hear anything else. The house is dark, the yard is all shadows. Stars overhead. Only a dream.
A big yawn, and then I roll onto my other side and huddle up against the night air. Only a dream… Only…
Another bang. And breaking glass. Somepony shouts inside, and lights come on all over the house. I take off at a gallop for the back door—Ow! Dammit! The chain… jerks me to a stop, nearly rips my foreleg out. I grab the chain with my other, I have to get free!
“Mother!” I shout. Furniture tumbles, the shouting gets louder. Are we being robbed? I strain as hard as I can against the manacle, and it digs into my flesh, but that only makes me tug harder. I have to get free! Mother will be angry that I got off the chain, but I have to do it for her! She’ll understand.
The back door crashes open, and a piercing light blinds me.
“It’s alright, kid. We’re here to help.”
I run for the hose—maybe I can swing the heavy metal nozzle around and keep him back.
“Whoa! It’s okay!” He shines the light on himself, and it glints off his badge. Police? Did they catch the robbers? “It’s okay, son. I’ve got you. Everything will be fine. Just step over here slowly.”
Loosening my bite, I let the hose drop to the ground. “M-Mother?” I back off a couple paces, but something about the officer is reassuring—at least if he lets me off this chain, I can help Mother.
He bends down and fiddles with the clasp before shouting toward the house. “Hey, Turnkey! Grab the bolt cutters out of the wagon and get out here!”
“M-Mother? Where’s Mother? Is she okay?” Nothing else matters. I have to help Mother.
“Don’t you worry about her, son. We’ll take care of everything.” Another uniformed pony emerges room the back door with what looks like an enormous pair of pruners. He holds the blade against a link if the chain, braces one handle on the ground, and leans into the other as hard as he can. With a metallic ring, it snaps, and I go charging inside, but the first officer blocks my path. “Come with me, kid. Let’s get you out of here.”
“I-I don’t want to go! Where’s Mother?” They don’t answer. They just corral me into the house, where a third and a fourth officer join them, hemming me in, pushing me toward the front door, toward… the street.
No. No! They’re throwing me out! Just like my brother—forced to leave, never returned, probably dead. He got what he deserved. But I don’t want to go! What did I do wrong?
As I stumble down the front walk, the first officer points to a mare being shoved into the back of a paddy wagon. “There’s your mother, kid.”
“No! Mother!” It takes all four of them to hold me back.
“It’s okay, kid! Calm down! She can’t hurt you now.”
“No! You’ve got it wrong! She didn’t hurt me. She never hurt me!” Everything’s going numb, even my throbbing hoof. I-I can’t walk. Shaking, I sink to my haunches, and the policeponies let go of me. What’s happening?
I scan the crowd of unfamiliar faces: more police, ponies with cameras, scribbling in notepads. Flashbulbs going off, shouting, in the street, no fences, strangers everywhere. No, one face, over by the officer with the most stripes on his sleeve.
It’s—it’s Roseluck. She gives a shy smile and a muted wave. She did this. She did this!
I break into a full gallop, straight for her. “You smug bitch!” I hurl at her as I close the distance. I punch her as hard as I can, the chain’s loose end clinking over the crowd’s noise. She drops immediately, and then I’m on top of her, and I get two more good shots in before the nearest officers can pull me off.
“You don’t even know what you did! You had no right! You had no right!”
Blood trickles from her mouth, and some has spattered up on her nose. It matches her mane well.
I fling every horrible word I can think of at her. Surely, Mother can hear me, but she has to realize I’m doing this for her. Please don’t get angry, Mother!
Roseluck bursts into tears and cowers behind some other mare, probably her idiot mother. By then, the police are dragging me away and pushing me into another wagon. All those faces: ponies in uniform, Roseluck, old Juniper, ponies that have nothing better to do than stand around in the road.
Roseluck. I recognize that look, the same as One gave me when he left. Like he knew better. Like I deserved his pity. “I’ll get you for this!” I shriek as the wagon’s doors close.
Early evening, and I lie in bed while reading a book. Well, not right now. It hangs open over on the nightstand, and I haven’t touched it in an hour. Every time I try, I can’t get more than two pages before I lose my concentration and have to stop.
I’ve lived here for over a month now. I miss my old home, where somepony loved me. Nopony does here. I can tell, because they never punish me.
They want me to call them Mom and Dad, but I only do it to humor them. They’re no parents. Over a month, and they haven’t put me out in the yard once. At least I get to do more with the grass here than I used to. I even got one of those “cutie marks,” some kind of square of turf—a type of centipede grass, as I can tell from the shape of the leaves. The mare and stallion here have even taken to calling me Fescue, but I prefer Two, and I asked them to stop.
I tried clipping that cutie mark out of my coat, but it goes all the way down, even onto my skin. So I picked at it, scraped it with a pair of garden shears, even rubbed it with a hoof file. But once the scabs healed over, it came back the same as before. I guess it’s here to stay.
To be honest, I’d rather go out in the yard now, especially since I can’t read in this mood. Sure, it could get frustrating when Mother wouldn’t tell me what I’d done wrong, but at least I knew I’d done something and could try to figure it out. Not here. These ponies won’t even bother. They must think I’m too far gone to help. Why else would they neglect me like that?
I know for a fact that I need to be punished. The last few nights, I snuck out and wandered around town, trying to find where Roseluck lives. It took a while, but I finally found her yesterday, and spent over an hour watching her.
On a whim, I roll out of bed, clamber through the open window, and walk to the edge of the low roof over the wagon shelter. From there, it’s a quick hop onto the woodpile, then to the ground. Down the street to the lamppost, a left, three blocks, another left… I quickly find my way there and settle between a couple of japonica shrubs across the road.
Roseluck. She walks back and forth by the window of what I assume is the washroom—she’s brushing her teeth. Then her head bobs down and comes back up with a splash of water on it and a washcloth in hoof. The soft light bathes her and spills out into the night.
She’s wearing pajamas? Really? That’s kid stuff.
Part of her mane is still wet and darkened from washing her face, and it sticks against her neck like a streak of blood. I purse my lips and let out a sigh. Yes, I’m still angry, but in a different way than before. I’ve had time to think.
If she’ll just admit to the police that she was wrong, that she lied, then everything can go back to normal. Then I wouldn’t have to hit her. I might even be sorry I did the first time. It’s not like I want to see her bleed.
When my eyes come back into focus, she has her face pressed to the window, gazing out at me. That look again, like she had before, like she feels sorry for me. She mouths something over her shoulder, and soon enough, Lily and Daisy—I have to assume that’s who they are—come out screaming on the front porch.
A couple of the neighbors pop their heads out, but I’m gone, past all those awful open yards, dust kicking up behind me. Why would she treat me like this? I gave her a second chance…
I take the long way home. Gotta have time to think, and just in case anypony follows me… If I go around the edge of town, I can stop, take a breather in the park, get a drink from the stream.
Listen to me. Not that long ago, I didn’t have a clue about what was in this town or where.
A quick snack of sweet grass hits the spot when I pause, panting. Nice green grass, like her eyes…
I must have stood there for five minutes or so. Best to get home before somepony notices my absence. So I head back, but when I’m still three blocks away, I can already see trouble. Light shines from my room, and a police officer stands on the front porch.
I don’t even get much of what happens over the next hour. I nod a lot, and they tell me not to go over to Roseluck’s again. If they’d chained me in the yard, I couldn’t have gone there in the first place. And my “parents” still won’t do it. They don’t care enough.
When I ran away, I noticed that Roseluck had stopped smiling. Maybe she finally understands the seriousness of the situation.
I think I love her.
I can’t read anymore. I’m allowed, but I can’t sit still long enough. Good thing I get to take care of the back lawn, but even that doesn’t interest me as much these days.
I sent Roseluck a letter. If my “parents” won’t let me see her, I’ll find another way. In it, I told her exactly what she needed to do to make things right, but that also brought the police over, so I can’t write, either. For now.
The ponies who live here said they’d have to read any letters I want to mail, and if they approve, they’ll send it—if I write one calmly and rationally.
A lie. The doctor told them to say that. They’ll never mail anything. But I guess I can try it their way.
I take a sheet of paper and a quill to the desk, then poke it at the scar on my foreleg until it bleeds. No, I’m not going to write a letter in blood. That’d be ridiculous. Ink will do fine.
Dear Roseluck,
I forgive you for what you did. I realize now that you couldn’t have known the particular dynamics of my family life, given that you must have some strange customs that make it unfamiliar to you. You have to be careful to ensure that your actions do not have unintended consequences. You clearly had some sense of my well-being in mind, and for that I am grateful, but you never asked me what I thought, never confirmed that your suspicions had any merit. If you could just tell the police that you were mistaken, that you’d misinterpreted what you saw, then we could all go back to our normal lives. I don’t believe you’re deliberately keeping me from my home; I just think you let your imagination run away, and it’s easy for a town to rally around a frantic young mare.
I don’t hold that against you. Their fault is not yours, and I would not punish you for it. I would never hit you again. It was rash of me, and I realize that I should have exerted more self-control than that. I would not hit you and make you bleed or even put you out in the street because I love you and I would only keep you in the nice, pretty, quiet yard with a chain plenty long enough to reach the rosebushes, and no thorn shall ever prick you, no, only that mane will lay red against your pale coat.
Your protector,
Two
It’s my little patch of grass, between the fence and the building, and I can do whatever I want with it—everypony else had better stay away. I glance around at all the other guests milling about in the yard, off to whatever mundane things must occupy their minds. They have no business here, but I let them be. As long as they stay away from my corner, they don’t do any harm—it’s rare that I have to confront any of them, but it pays to remain watchful.
I’d prefer to stay out here all the time to keep an eye on my grass, but I have to go inside for most of the day and all night. That’s okay—I write my letters during inside time. The doctor actually encourages me to write my letters, but he won’t give me anything sharp like a pencil—just a charcoal stick. It tastes awful.
But I write my letters, about five a day, and the doctor says he might send them someday. He says that, but I know he won’t. He says that when he gives me my charcoal stick for the day after breakfast and locks me in my room.
This place has different rules, but at least it has rules, and I have time that I have to spend outside in the yard, and I get in trouble if I break the rules. A lot like home—my real home, not that fake one I went to for a few months.
I haven’t heard from Mother in over a year. Most days, I ask the doctor how she’s doing, but he says he doesn’t know. I think he’s lying.
I haven’t heard from Roseluck, either. The doctor says she doesn’t send me any mail, but he lies about that too. I do love her, but she hasn’t come to visit, and she still owes me an apology. I don’t want to hurt her, but sometimes we have to do distasteful things for a higher purpose.
In the night, I wake up. I hate it—it gives me nightmares, thinking about having to hit her, making her nose and mouth bleed again. I wake up shuddering and crying, but I love her enough to make myself do that for her. I love her, and I hate myself, and I don’t want her to bleed. Now, if I ever get out of here…
I pull a bit of ivy away from the black cast-iron fence and look through to the street to see if any green eyes are gazing back at me. But nothing again today, so far. I can wait.
Over in a corner of the yard, I tend the grass.