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Pony Vale Excerpt - Arrival

By LobosNumber5
Created: 2021-09-20 01:20:21
Expiry: Never

  1. 1.
    > you clutch your gray overcoat closer to your breast, tickled bitterly by the crisp autumn wind
  2. 2.
    > pony vale was no place for a stallion, you had decided
  3. 3.
    > if someone had told you the place had been abandoned for decades, you'd have believed them
  4. 4.
    > there were none of the telltale signs of life often acquainted with a small pony village in the countryside
  5. 5.
    > on the contrary--this was definitely a place where happiness went to die
  6. 6.
    > chased by sinister shadows creeping slowly from behind fraying lattices, you continued your wary trek onward through the town
  7. 7.
    > it was probably a little after seven in the evening when you had arrived at jolly tracks, pony vale's only train station
  8. 8.
    > you found the name to be unpleasantly ironic
  9. 9.
    > nopony awaited you at the ticket counter, and you'd had the pleasure of unloading your luggage yourself
  10. 10.
    > no more than a second after you'd departed had the train run away from the miserable town, leaving you to be guided only by a single note that had led you there in the first place
  11. 11.
    > deciding it warranted enough to rest for a spell, you tested a nearby bench rotted through to its core and plopped your shivering flank atop it before fishing in your coat pocket
  12. 12.
    > you were called to pony vale by a peculiar advertisement clipped from your hometown's paper
  13. 13.
    > HELP WANTED: PONY VALE LATE-NIGHT BROADCASTER
  14. 14.
    > MUST HAVE ALL FOUR LIMBS
  15. 15.
    > NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY
  16. 16.
    > you weren't sure what struck you more odd: that this position which seemed to be of moderate prestige required no prior experience, or that applicants with three or fewer limbs were not to be hired
  17. 17.
    > your seat rattled below and you put an end to your brief rest, saddling up your luggage once more
  18. 18.
    > navigating through the town was easy enough--pony vale had evidently been planned so that a path permitting a large flow of traffic snaked through the center of the hamlet to the very steps of the town hall
  19. 19.
    > the notice had instructed you, through a puzzling series of contradictory directions, to head west past the town hall to a decrepit cube half-lit by an eerie interior glow
  20. 20.
    > at this point, you were sure you would be murdered if you were to set hoof in the building
  21. 21.
    > but what choice did you have?
  22. 22.
    >
  23. 23.
    "H-hello? I've come for the job--the one posted in Brightshire's running article."
  24. 24.
    > despite the bareness of what you could assume was the building's lobby, you had still called out to some imaginary secretary
  25. 25.
    > cobwebs almost decoratively lined the ceiling and a dusty receptionist's desk broke your line of sight to the left
  26. 26.
    > you briefly wondered what the point of a receptionist's desk was if a pony could not be seen from over it
  27. 27.
    > silence suffocated you for a spell before a grating squeal broke out from the next room over
  28. 28.
    > a pony likely thrice your age wheeled himself out from an open-yet-imperceptible dark, coughing bitterly into his hoof as he adroitly spun the spokes of his vehicle and rolled over to you
  29. 29.
    > "Was it you that called, boy?"
  30. 30.
    > startled by this handicapped fellow, you briefly forgot your manners
  31. 31.
    > the impatient clicking of his hoof against his foreleg-rests brought you back
  32. 32.
    "It was I, sir. You were looking for a broadcaster, yes?"
  33. 33.
    > "Have you got your four legs?"
  34. 34.
    > would it have been rude to look below and check your limbs in full view?
  35. 35.
    "I do, sir."
  36. 36.
    > "Then we'll have you."
  37. 37.
    > the aged fellow wheeled on into the dim haze and you followed at a pace lowered only when you threatened to overtake the stallion in your anxious rush
  38. 38.
    > "Any experience?"
  39. 39.
    "None, sir."
  40. 40.
    > the old pony chuckled; his tires squeaked unpleasantly on the gray linoleum as the two of you trekked onward uncertainly
  41. 41.
    > "Might be a good thing. The last five brought three years' experience in broadcasting. Didn't last. One lad lost a foreleg; the other were bludgeoned half to death."
  42. 42.
    > fear threatened to stiffen your legs but you hardly believed you might be able to find your way back to the entrance
  43. 43.
    "B-broadcasting, sir?"
  44. 44.
    > "Have you broadcasted before?"
  45. 45.
    > you stopped briefly at a crude elevator nestled into the brick at the end of the hall
  46. 46.
    > one could assume the purpose of the hall was to house the elevator, but never had something seemed so out of place
  47. 47.
    > could it lift even a single pony?
  48. 48.
    > like as you might have to test the cables yourself, the wheeled stallion nudged you onto its platform and rolled alongside you, pulling the metal bars to before throwing a switch
  49. 49.
    > "Try not to lock eyes with Quarter Mane--it'll do you good."
  50. 50.
    > you nodded acceptantly
  51. 51.
    > as the elevator crept uncertainly up the dusty brick shaft, no doubt to a place you could no longer escape from, you clutched your overcoat even closer to your breast
  52. 52.
    > "Welcome to Pony Vale, by the ways--we'll be glad to have you."

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