Hearts and Hooves Day
Chapter 11: The E.V.A.N. Incident I: Eric Harper and Victor Edgington
Jerome took a deep breath as he began to tell his tale. "It all started when Eric..."
"Hold it!" I said outloud as I raised my right hand to stop Jerome from talking.
Dean groans in frustration. "Now what?!"
I placed my hand down. "Before you tell me, I need to get a bottle of water, a candy bar, a notepad, and a pencil."
The three Earth Brothers looked at one another in slight confusion.
"Uh...what?" Richard asked me with a blank face.
"I need to take down some notes." I continued. "Whatever you guys tell me about these four individuals can support me in reporting Daryl."
I got out of my chair and headed towards the middle of the store for the bookshelves, not before catching Dean facepalming real loud that the ponies in the store almost heard him. I care not to think why he did that nor do I even bother to ask. For the record, he needs to chill out!
Two minutes later, I purchased a composition book, a pencil, some water, and chocolate bar. I sat right back down in front of the guys while opening up the first page of the book, starting with the story of Eric. As I was occupied in buying my stuff, the three of them went back to Nova Bits and asked for their drinks to be refilled. It's going to be a long day but looking at my watch, it won't take forever as I have to meet up with Princess Cadance at Canterlot before sundown.
"Okay Jerome," I said. "Go right ahead."
Jerome cleared his throat. "As I was saying, the 1st lockdown happened four years ago when the 89th human came to Equestria..."
I grabbed my pencil and began to jot down in my composition book while listening carefully to Jerome. He told the story of Eric Harper, the 89th human of Equestria who originally came from Idaho. As the story goes, Eric was riding with his parents in a Saturn Aura on a road trip to Montana for a family reunion on I-84. Within 7 hours of their drive, they were approaching Bozeman, Mt at around dusk while at the same time, a truck driver left a bar at Helena, MT after consuming too many drinks and taking one more for the road.
43 minutes later, on I-90, both vehicles collided!
Eric was airlifted to a nearby hospital where doctors were able to save him from severe injuries. As Eric recovered, he asked his nurse about the whereabouts about his parents. Unfortunately, the nurse broke the news to him that Eric didn't expect. According to a police report, the same truck driver that left Helena traveled on US 287 and got on the ramp heading west to Manhattan, Mt with his blood alcohol at 0.25. As the semi truck got on the highway, the trucker passed out at the wheel, cross a median towards the opposite of traffic, and struck the Aura that Eric and his parents were in. The only survivors were only Eric – and the truck driver! His parents weren't very lucky as they died before medical personnel were able to arrive. As for the trucker, after waking up from the accident, tried to flee from the scene but was caught mere hours later at a rest area by police.
Five days, Eric had to bury his parents at his hometown in Idaho. His life would never be the same again.
In the meantime, Eric lived with his uncle in Bozeman, MT, which he later regret as his uncle, a part-time electrician, cared less about Eric or the fact that his sister, Eric's mother, was deceased in the crash. Worse, his uncle lived in very low budget apartment that had little to no A/C and roaches crawling almost everywhere. Eric couldn't find a job anywhere around Bozeman nor anyone around town could at least spare Eric money if he had done a few favors like mowing the lawn or raking leaves. The same can be said for Eric's uncle who refused to lend money as he used money to pay off rent and microwave dinners.
This was not going too well for the next two months for Eric as he decides to take his own life by leaping off the 5th floor balcony of his uncle's apartment. Without looking back, he takes a leap towards the sidewalk – until she appeared! In the nick of time before his final moments, Eric found himself in the Hall of Time where he met Princess Celestia. Celestia offered him a chance to live a second life in her world where he will be loved by her subjects and rebuild his life all over again. It didn't take long for Eric to make up his mind and accepted the invitation.
After three weeks of becoming the 89th human, Eric resided in Ponyville with the other human residents as he got a job as a construction work for a labor company in Canterlot. A month later, his supervisor informed him that he and his co-workers will be transported to Canterlot for a client that needs a 18-door garage built near his mansion for his collection of carriages. Apparently, their client happens to be one of the richest Earth ponies in Canterlot named Luxury Lure, who enjoys buying and collecting carriages and hot-air balloons. The rich stallion expects his garage to be built within next month, that being March, as he had placed an order via mail for three more carriages and that he will pay the construction workers 200 bits each if the work is completed. If the workers don't finish it before the carriages arrive, they won't get paid and labor company will probably suspend the workers, and Eric, for not meeting the appropriate deadline of completing their assignment.
Within two weeks, after requiring the supplies and materials needed for building said garage and going over the blueprints as instructed, Eric and his co-workers seem to have everything under control to get the garage completed. However, that was the good part of the story. The other part turned out for the worst that caused the 1st lockdown to occur.
During construction of the garage, Eric had an encounter with the daughter of Luxury Lure, an Earth Pony by the name of Bumblesweet. The two first met when Eric needed a 30-minute break on his fifth day of work and sat on a park bench in the the courtyard of the mansion. Unfortunately, he had nothing to eat nor to drink since he had forgotten to pack lunch due to extensive hours of work the day before. As he rested on the bench, Bumblesweet happened to be strolling by and greeted herself to Eric. It is at this moment that Eric spent his 30 minutes getting to know about the client's daughter, which then sparked a friendship between them. Some of Eric's co-workers thought the two of them looked cute together, even Luxury Lure.
Except for one pony who thought otherwise.
When word spread among the co-workers that Bumblesweet and Eric Harper were seeing each other, Bumblesweet's older brother, Bounty Buck, was not too pleased with it. Reason being is that, even though he understands the population growth of mares around Equestria and that they are in the need of finding stallions and significant others; he thinks that humans being the solution to solve that problem is a horrible idea. He also believes that Bumblesweet should not be dating anypony or anyone who is either middle-class or has low income, including humans. If that happens, Bounty believes he and his family would be a major laughing stock among the rich ponies in Canterlot. With construction nearly complete, the jealous brother confronted his sister and tells her to not see Eric anymore. Bumblesweet, on the other hand, ignores her brother and continues to see Eric. A week after, Luxury Lure placed Bounty in charge of watching over the construction as he goes away to Manehatten . As that happened, Eric Harper arrives on a Wednesday morning to work but was soon fired by Bounty without an explanation.
Bumblesweet, upon hearing the news of Eric's firing, was irate at Bounty and threatened to leave the mansion to live with Eric. Bounty told his sister that the reason for the firing was "for her safety" but the mare does not buy it. Two days later, Bumblesweet brings back Eric to work on the garage with the rest of the construciton crew, which infuriated Bounty that he confronts Eric and ends up fighting him on the mansion grounds...unaware that Luxury Lure happened to arrive that day and saw the fight unfold. Bounty Buck try to play innocent and blame the fight on Eric but Bumblesweet ends up ratting out on Bounty saying it was his fault and the fact that he fired the human without approval. In the end, Lure gives Bounty Buck a final warning about firing workers without his final say since it happened in the past. As for Eric, Lure had no choice but tells him to find work somewhere else because if there's one thing that Lure does not like and that is seeing his only daughter getting involved in a fight between love and jealously. Therefore, Eric can no longer see Bumblesweet anymore and would have to stay out of the mansion grounds.
It gets worse.
Days go by and Eric was desperate to see Bumblesweet. So desperate that he did the unthinkable: one night, when the construction crew left the mansion grounds and the residence slept for the night, he somehow snuck back in when the gates closed. He carried a duffel bag that had a small mallet, a case of different size screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a nail gun. Eric put his plan into action by removing the screws off of the frontdoor with his screwdriver. Once inside, the human crept quietly, with bag in hand, to the 4th floor where Bumblesweet's room is located, hopefully not to disturbed anypony or anyone inside.
When he reached the room, he found Bumblesweet laying in her bed asleep. He drops the bag and quietly climbs into the bed next to the mare, which woke her of all sudden. She let out a blood, curdling scream that echoed throughout the mansion, thinking the home was being robbed by an intruder. Bounty Buck, upon hearing the scream, ran to his sister's room and found Eric trying to calm down Bumblesweet fright. Without hesitation, the irate brother attacked Eric and fought each other again the room, breaking two lamps, two flower pots, and a mirror. The ruckus was so loud that Lure woke up and ran to the room, only to catch a glimpse of Eric wielding a wrench. Eric swings the wrench, only for Bounty to duck out the way but his wrench did hit something – the sound of shattered bones. The father, the brother, and the human turned to see Bumblesweet on the floor, unconscious and bleeding out the mouth.
The next day, the whole incident was reported to Princess Celestia, who at that time was dumbfounded as to why a human will do such harm. More so, she was very outrage that she had sent her guards to arrest Eric Harper. Not only did Celestia heard about the news, this incident then got a hold of the Royal Alicorn Society's attention that they immediately called upon a trial, ordering all ponies and humans to Canterlot's Convention Center to attend. At the trial, Eric pleaded not guilty for his actions and claimed that he was just stressed out after being banned from seeing Bumblesweet. The R.A.S, howevdr, do not agree on Eric's plea as they went over the Human/Equine Law in front of him and to the other humans attending. As the law states, before a human becomes a newcomer to Equestria, he must read and agree to the terms that are written and signed by Celestia and Luna and approved by Queen Faust from the R.A.S. If a human goes up against the law and/or ignores the rules, punishment will be decided on a verdict from the R.A.S and the Equestrian Royal Family.
Three hours later, Celestia, Luna, Queen Faust, and the rest of the R.A.S had a private meeting deciding on Eric's fate. As much as Celestia would so likely defend humans, only the ones that she considers are very important, the bringer of the sun had no feelings to back up Eric. He smashed a wrench on an innocent mare, which would've been accidental if Bounty Buck struck first and would be punished, but the human trespassed and destroyed private property; and stalked a mare! Is there anyway to disprove that or find a logical reason?
After the meeting, the R.A.S and the Royal Sisters of Equestria came out with a verdict: they found Eric Harper, the 89th human of Equestria, Guilty of Infringing the Human/Equine terms, Battery, and Destruction of Property. Everypony and everyone inside the convention center were shocked and whispering to each other in disbelief. Unexpectedly, Eric Harper broke down in tears at the trial and once again tries to claim that he's innocent and did not meant any harm. The Alicorns ignored Eric's cries and came to a decision: Queen Faust gave the human two options.
Choice A: Life in Equestria
Choice B: Return to Earth
Feeling as though nothing can be done to change their minds and hoping for forgiveness, he chose Life in Equestria.
"...And to this day," Jerome concludes. "Eric Harper is now working in the salt mines at Foal Mountain, near Hollow Shades, for the next 80 years. Sadly, he won't be released with bail and he is not allowed to come back to Canterlot, Ponyville, Filly Delphia; etc. He's going to be camping inside a tent while chewing on bread and sipping water from a canteen for the rest of his life."
"And this lead to the 1st lockdown?" I asked.
"Yup." Jerome nodded. "It lasted for about a week once Princess Celestia got approval from the R.A.S to bring more humans to Equestria."
I got finished writing down my notes and looked up to Jerome. "What about Bumblesweet?"
"She would live...but it took her five months for her jaw to be repaired and she's not interested in dating humans for the time being."
"I don't get it." I said while putting my pencil down. "It sounded like it was self defense agai..."
"He trespassed, stalked a mare, and a carried a duffel bag of tools!" Dean interrupted. "Didn't Jerome just tell you the whole details?! Did you even write it down in your book, Officer Cole Phelps?! Why would he carry that bag in the first place?! Why did he break the rules?! Why couldn't he just go up to the front door and say to the father, 'Hey, can I talk to Bumblesweet and tell you the truth about your idiot son?' The dude lost his mind and claimed that his emotions got the best of him! That wasn't self defense! That was just a dickless move on his part and he's working in the mines gathering salt! WHAT MORE CAN YOU ASK?!"
"Alright, alright!" I said waving my hands. "I get it! I get it! Eric screwed up! Le...let us just move on and tell me about Victor! What's his story?"
Richard cleared his throat. "Let me tell you about Victor, Frank. I hope you write down enough notes for this story."
"Yeah, enough for you to write a screenplay and send it to AppleWood!" Dean mocked.
I grabbed my pencil again and listened carefully to Richard as he told the story of Victor, while ignoring Dean in the progress.
Right after the 1st lockdown, things went back to normal around the land with humans and ponies getting along with each other. As that was happening, Princess Celestia made the announcement from her castle balcony of the arrival of a new human. His name was Victor Edgington, the 90th human from La Grande, Oregon. Victor came to Equestria after a sad breakup with his high school girlfriend of 3 years. What led to the breakup was the fact that Victor had a serious drinking problem, ever since he started drinking alcohol and beer for the 1st time during his Freshmen year in college. Before then, he never drank and wanted to be alcohol free until a group of "college friends" pressured him into doing it at a Freshmen Orientation Party. His girlfriend, named Jessie, warned him about what might happened if he did take sip of any type of any alcoholic beverage, even if he was forced to take one. Victor told her he won't do it and promised her that he will be focused on his school work.
That all changed one night at a college festival during the fall. Victor, Jessie, and five of their friends were at a table chatting until Jessie asked Vic to dance with her for awhile. A few minutes later, one of their friends bought a few beers and a cup of soda for Victor. When Victor and Jessie returned, all seven had a toast to new friends and for future graduates and took a drink for their beverages.
"...Now let me guess." I said after I took a pause from writing. "When Victor drank his soda, he somehow felt a bit awkward that the soda tasted funny that he took another sip and drank it all. Then, he starts vomiting, and wouldn't you know it, he starts drinking alcohol all because one of the friends poured something in his soda during their get together."
"WWWWOOOWWWW!" Dean said, acting all impressed. "You're such a psychic, Frank! YES! THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED!"
"Dean, what is wrong with you?" Richard said with narrow eyes.
Dean gets up from his chair and pushes it back to the table. "Look, guys! No offense but this whole retelling of the E.V.A.N Incident is boring me and I have to go see Sea Swirl. Her train might be approaching Ponyville any minute now and I haven't got the chance to tidy my place. Now, if you excuse me, I have to go!"
"But we haven't got to the 2nd lockdown, Adrian, and Nathan yet!" I protested.
"Richard can tell you. I'm out of here!"
Dean turns to his left to Barns and No Bell's front doors and exits. I caught a quick glimpse of him through the store window of seeing him going west of Ponyville. I shook my head and decide to forget about him since I only had Richard and Jerome to tell me the rest of the story.
"That guy is such a hothead." Jerome said, feeling a bit relieved that he doesn't have to deal with Dean's attitude.
"Tell me about it." I replied while grabbing my pencil and opened my book to the last page where I was at. "Okay, Dean spilled it by saying Vic got drugged so what happened next? Did his girlfriend found about it?"
Richard spoke. "Unfortunately, yes. It happened a week later during a dorm inspection at the end of the semester."
As Richard went on with Victor's story, he described that a Room Advisor found some illegal drinks underneath his bed, which led to school officials expelling Victor permanently. When Jessie found out and questioned him, she was indeed furious. The now ex-college student try to clear things by saying that someone must've poisoned him to do it but all that evidence and finding witnesses to said allegations never came to be.
When college ended, Victor Edgington tried to move back home to his parents but was not welcomed when they heard on what had happened. Like Jessie, they were both upset at him for drinking and threatened to call the authorities. With no home and no choice to connect with his family and friends, Victor fell into deep depression and thought that life is not worth it anymore. While traveling down N Spruce St at around 9pm in his Chevy Tahoe, he came to a dirt road that leads to the Grande Rhode River, runs Northeast of the state. Victor took that road to the river, where he came to a boat ramp. He parked his vehicle, released his emergency brake, and set his vehicle onto Neutral. He sat inside on the driver's seat and waited for his SUV to roll down the ramp to the icy, frigid waters below. He sat back in his seat and closed his eyes, waiting for his final moments to sink in.
And he waited.
And waited.
He didn't feel any cold water around but what he did felt were cold floors made out of marble and the environment around him felt different. Victor opened his eyes to see what just happened, only to find himself inside of a royal palace with two enchanted alicorns, one white and the other blue, wearing crowns. Of course, they were the royal sisters Princess Celestia and Luna. At first, Victor thought he was dead and ended up in a strange place other than heaven but a universe filled with talking ponies. This must've been a mistake!
Princess Celestia introduced herself to the confused human and informs him why he is in Equestria. It is the same exact explanation that was given to every other human and myself that was picked by her when we first encounter the alicorn. Not to mention, Celestia revealed to what will happen to Victor if he declines the offer: he would eventually drown in the river and that he will surely be missed. After witnessing his future unfold, Victor decided to stay in Equestria. Before he even had a chance to experience what's it like, the Royal Alicorn Society got a hold of him and had Victor sign a lot of paperwork and go over the terms of the Human/Equine Law. He was not the only one that had went through paperwork, nodding in agreements to the law, and leaving a lot of signatures because I too did the same when I first arrived. It was 3 hours of boredom and just saying "yes" and "no" to every word that Queen Faust and the other members point out when they read every word written.
Once the 3 hours of meeting the R.A.S, Princess Celestia announced the arrival of Victor Edgington, the 90th human of Equestria, to everypony and every human around the land. Like always, Ponyville's Party Planner Pinkie Pie threw a Welcome Party for Victor, as to welcome him to the new world like she does to every newcomer to Equestria (the same goes for the humans). Before Victor had a chance to celebrate, Luna made her presence known and had a private talk with him. The princess of the moon told Victor that Equestria does have wine and beer but for his safety and not to get into serious trouble like last time, he must vow not to drink in anyway, shape, or form. She asked him, like Jessie, if he promises not to do it and swear it under Celestia's name. Victor replied that he won't drink and wants to get his life straightened as he excuses himself to get back to the party.
Fast Forward to two months later, only five months remaining before Daryl's breakup with Jerome, Dean, and Richard; Victor Edgington began to like his new life in Equestria as he found a job in Canterlot at an ice cream shop ran by the two ice cream unicorn ponies Sweetie Swirl and Sweetcream Scoops. Not only that, he took up residence within the ice cream shop as it had a living quarters on the second floor with two bedrooms, a mini-kitchen, a storage, and two bathrooms for all that worked there. Victor loved working at the ice cream shop as he provided all ponies and humans with excellent service and even shows how much he's dedicated into his job. When little fillies and colts had birthday parties at the shop, Victor would be happy enough to serve them with treats and even dressed up as a clown to make the little children laugh and play games. At that time, everypony considered Victor to be one of the best humans in Equestria.
To make things better, one of the ice cream ponies, Sweetcream Scoops, began to take an interest into Victor. So much of an interest that after twenty successful filly and colt birthday parties and business booming off the charts, she gave him a promotion to be Asst. Manager for the store and a raise, too. What else? The two began dating for quite sometime before the upcoming fall season.
It sure was romantic...but their relationship didn't last long.
During the third week of September, the annual Running of the Leaves was about to take place at White Tail Woods, outside of Ponyville. As most ponies participate in this event every year, humans had the option to partake in it if they wished. According to Richard, Victor Edgington participated in the event to win the prize of 100,000 bits. Victor was determined to win the money in order to help Sweetcream Scoops and Sweetie Swirl build a new ice cream shop and a play place for the children. The race began with 10 ponies and 10 humans running through the woods, knocking down leaves from the trees, passing through beehives, jumping over tree stumps, and avoiding buckets of tree sap. Though, there's one problem with the race, and one reason why I never want to be part of it: it's every pony and human for themselves as each runner tried to outsmart the other for 1st place like pushing, tugging, and pulling each other off the trail. As much as I want to race with the ponies, I can't stand someone playing dirty to win when there are no rules. When that happens, to quote Sektor from Mortal Kombat 9, "I will show no mercy!"
Going back to Victor, after days of training for this race by doing early morning and late night jogs, he was in the lead and ahead of the pack. He thought nopony or no one was catching up behind him so he slowly reduced his speed as he ran while fantasizing himself being the winner and collecting the money. He pictured a wedding between him and Sweetcream inside Canterlot's royal palace with all ponies and humans invited and a honeymoon trip to Manehatten. He can hear the sound of wedding bells, ponies and humans applauding and cheering...and the sound of hooves galloping past him!
Victor snapped out of his dream and noticed that a yellow stallion, with a cutie mark of a dust firey dust cloud, was up ahead of him by 40 yards. Reaching down inside of whatever strength he had, the human ran with all of his might. He couldn't lose! Not with everything he had planned!
Within seconds, they were neck to neck! The finish line was nearly close! In one last effort, Victor leaped 10 ft. with his strecthed out, hoping to slide through and become victorious.
He crossed the line – in second place!
Victor could not believe it. He was that close to win but his dreams and fantasy had him distracted that he lost all focused and let a pony win the prize money. As he got up dusting himself off, he stood frozen in disbelif as the stallion, named Sudden Burst, was lifted up into the air by a bunch of cheering ponies and humans as he collects the money and a gold medal. He didn't notice the other racers behind him as another human won 3rd place, a stallion unicorn won 4th, and a mare pegasus won 5th. As for the other 15 racers, they weren't so lucky but at least they had a good run.
Embarrased, Victor hunged his head and walked away from the crowd of happy ponies and humans, not caring for his medal nor half of the money he's getting. He was thinking, and hoping, that Sweetcream Scoops did not witness his attempt in the stands. On the contrary, she did...and when Scoops came to comfort Victor, she told him is was no big deal and that it was only a race. At least Victor gets a silver medal and 50,000 bits so it sounds okay.
To Victor Edgington, no it doesn't...and that's when things turned for the worse.
For the next three work days at the ice cream shop, Victor had a sudden change of heart when it comes to working. He went from an everyday, spirited happy person who would always make ponies of all kinds smile and joy to a careless, grumpy and moody schmuck. On one occasion, a filly pegasus had a birthday party this one time with all of her friends from her school and with Victor reprising his role as a clown. It was meant to be a great day for the little tyke but Victor made it worse by popping her balloons, calling her names, and dropping a chocolate cake that he made for her in a bowl of fruit punch. The filly's parents were so outraged that they filed a complaint and threatened to sue the shop if the human is still working there. As for the young guests who witnessed the whole ordeal, they were afraid of Victor and more so, did not like him.
When more complaints came in, Sweetcream and Sweetie had a private talk with Victor in the upstairs residence during closing time. Sweetcream asked Victor what his problem was and why the shop is losing money and customers. The human responded that he was strictly upset over his loss and that he wanted to impress her by investing the prize money he won to make the ice cream shop into a franchise. He explained that if had he won, he would've open up another shop in Ponyville to Manehatten to the Crystal Empire. Sweetcream told her boyfriend, once again, that she didn't care if he'd won or lost. Even with 50,000 bits, it was still good for business and that it was enough to build a playplace next to the shop. Sweetie then warned Victor if he does not change his attitude, he would be terminated! Sweetcream, however, objected the firing and insist that he would be suspended from work. Victor replied that he will and that he needed time to cool his head and left the residence. He went outside in the streets of Canterlot and headed towards a pub in the center of the city, where most of his human friends were hanging out. As he went in, he went to the counter to talk to the bartender, a human resident named Carlos Santos, a latino from the Dominican Republic that came in as #22. He told Carlos about what's been bugging him as of late: the race and the dwindling of regular customers. Like Sweetcream, Carlos insists that he just go back to being friendly again in order to gain the kid's trusts again and that he finds a way to apologize to the customers and parents for his attitude. Victor nods in agreement and asks Carlos for a non-alcholic beer. At that same time, a familiar face happened to show up at the wrong time – Sudden Burst!
When Victor caught eye of him, he got up and decided to leave the bar, not wanting to be anywhere near him. Sudden Burst, however, saw the human and wanted to have a conversation about the race. Victor replied no and wanted to walk out. The stallion then said if he would like to offer him a drink and quite possibly a friendship if he would just talk to him. Once again, Victor declined and headed towards the door. Then Sudden Burst insulted the human with this statement:
"You want to know how I really won that race? It's like how you humans say 'you're only the best at what you're at if you had the balls to do it!' That's how I won! I had balls because I am better than you! You, on the other hoof, need a sex change because you sure as hay don't have the balls to race against me next time!"
Victor stopped dead in tracks in front of the door before heading out. He turns his body around and looks at Sudden Burst. Suddenly, Victor ran at full speed with angered face and tackles the cocky pony to a nearby bar table that broke in pieces. The two fought each other, exchanging blows after blows until a few ponies and humans broke up the fight. However, Victor wasn't done yet! He grabbed the nearest glass bottle and threw it at Sudden Burst. The stallion dodges and bucks the outraged human with his back legs to the jaw, nearly dislocating it. Fearing that another brawl will emense, the guests at the bar separated the two and took them outside.
It doesn't end there! A journalist from Canterlot's local newspaper, Royal Times, wrote an article about the bar fight and how it turned out. The ice cream ponies read the story and were very displeased on Victor that Sweetcream suspended him for a week without pay. Realizing that he can't do anything to save himself or even come up with a logical explanation, the human decided to just stay upstairs and not speak with the ice cream ponies anymore.
Then the store suffered yet another major blow: financial debt! Ever since the loss of their customers and attitude problems from an Asst. Manager, the ice cream ponies were in desperate need of money. Sweetcream Scoops came up with a solution, one that she would regret and even Sweetie Swirl thought it was a bad idea if Victor Edgington found out about it at that time. Her idea: 1 bit for a free kiss!
On the last week of September, the plan went into motion and it was advertised through newspapers and magazines around Canterlot and Ponyville, without Victor noticing. Did it work? Somehow, it did! Every stallion, of all types, paying 1 bit at a time to get a kiss from the beautiful Sweetcream Scoops, even some went far by offering more than just 1 bit. Though, she only kisses them on the lips but not in a passionate way as she was still in a relationship. The mare only gives them a peck as she and Sweetie Swirl serves them their food. Best part, the money the mares got with this plan was enough to pay off their debt and save the shop.
As expected, Victor found out about it and confronted Sweetcream and Sweetie. He told them that this was a stupid idea and that it made them look like prostitutes. Sweetcream argued back in saying that it's not what he thinks and explained the whole situation to him, about their finances and saving the store. Even Sweetie Swirl was backing her up and told Victor that this problem wouldn't have happened if he he didn't had such a bad attitude to the customers and getting into a heap of trouble at the pub. Victor yells back at them by claiming that none of this is his fault and repeated the same old story again. The two mares and the human argued for another ten minutes until Sweetcream had enough and fires Vic permanently. Plus, she demaned her now ex-boyfriend to pack his things and leave the residence. Feeling betrayed, Victor stormed upstairs, grabbed his belongings, and walks out of the shop. Whatever money he had left, he went to the train station and bought a ticket to Ponyville.
As the 90th human ventured into town, he saw a flyer at a nearby lamppost about a room available at a wine shop, ran by Berry Punch. After meeting Berry, going over the rules of the shop, and agreeing on paying for rent, Victor was accepted and found a place to stay. When Berry Punch went to bed, Victor was all alone and looking around the shop to see the inventory. However, as he took a tour around the shop earlier, he happened to stumble upon a door that leads to the downstairs wine seller, where Berry Punch kept her antique wine bottles. Victor goes down the stairs and looks he found a gold mine as it was filled with over a 1,000 bottles. He also remembered that Princess Luna warned him not to drink anymore or he will suffer the consequences. Normally, Victor would've listened and continue to obey the rules but after going through so much stress, the breakup with his special somepony, his termination of his job, and a stallion who defeated him in competition, he takes out three glass bottles and drinks away, feeling no remorse on doing it.
Later around midnight, after the ice cream shop closed in Canterlot, Sweetcream was upstairs taking a shower while Sweetie Swirl was downstairs moping the floors and cleaning the lobby. When she was done, she headed towards the back to take out the trash. As she opened the door, she caught a sudden fright of an unexpected guest – Victor Edgington! The now drunken, raged human grabs a hold of Sweetie and drags her to the counter, as the mare kicked and scream for her life to be begged. Unfortunatly, Sweetcream was still upstairs and didn't hear her.
The 90th human pinned Sweeite Swirl to the ground and grabbed the nearest item from the counter: an xacto knife used to open boxes! Crying in fear, the unicorn mare screams louder and louder for somepony to hear her. Victor brings the knife to the one body part that is considered the most painful of all unicorn ponies: the horn. In an instant, he starts cutting away as the mare's cries for help broke the sound barrier.
Upstairs, Sweetcream stepped out of the shower but not until she heard her friend screaming. She gasped and ran towards the downstairs. When she got to the bottom, she thought she was living a nightmare but it was all too real. Standing right in front of her was a drunk Victor Edgington with Sweetie's Swirl's bloody horn and her hornless friend bleeding on the floor. Sweetcream ran to the back of the ice cream shop towards the backdoor with Victor running after her. Luckily, Sweetcream's cries for help caught the attention of three Royal Canterlot guards patrolling the streets. The guards ran to aid Sweetcream and saw Victor still holding the knife and the horn. The guards use their magic and subdued Victor to the ground. While one guard keeps the human down, the second guard goes inside the ice cream shop to aid Sweetie Swirl while the third goes off to find help. The commotion even woke up a lot of ponies and a few humans living on the street where the shop is at but only were they alarmed, Princess Luna and Celestia got word of it from another different guard and took action immediately.
The next two days, another trial occurred with the Royal Alicorn Society bringing in everypony and human to the convention center. During said trial, Victor recounted the whole story of what he did, what caused it, and admits to disobeying Luna's words of not drinking. He then pleaded guilty for his actions without parole. Pleading guilty is one thing but, since Victor broke Human/Equine Law, he was given the same two choices like Eric Harper: Life in Equestria or Return to Earth. The 90th human decided to go back to Earth instead of living in Equestria because he believed that he caused enough trouble as of late and found living here to be complicated. Queen Faust then said to Victor that once he goes back to Earth, there's no way to return to Equestria. He will remain in his world for the rest of his life...or so he thinks.
Victor nods and awaits for the Alicorns to do their magic. The ponies and the humans attending witness Queen Faust's horn glew red and shot a powerful magical beam to the human. Engulfed in a sphere of light, Victor Edgington, the 90th human of Equestria, disappeared. Everyone thought he went back to Earth but in reality, it's different. He did go back to Earth which is one thing but the other half is that he went back to the day that he was supposed to drown in the river!
"...Wait a minute!" I interrupted Richard before he concluded the story. "He went back to the day when Celestia is supposed to save him but ended up dieing?!"
"Yup!" Richard replied. "That's what happened. Has Princess Celestia ever shown you a vision on what will happen to you if you declined her invitation to come to Equestria?"
"Uh...yeah." I confessed as I remembered that day of me watching myself committing suicide and Sarah not caring.
"Well, you see," He continued. "When a human chooses the option to return to Earth, Queen Faust doesn't send them back to continue their lives as they were before. She sends them back to the day where they were meant to kill themselves and Princess Celestia does not show up to save them. Also, the human has no memory of either going to Equestia or even meeting any ponies or humans. All he remembers is why he wants to hurt himself and that nothing is going to stop him for doing so. It's more like the R.A.S and the Royal Family does not want to break the space time continium when they send a human back to their world or otherwise the timeline will alter."
"So Victor drowns and justice is served." I said as I put the pieces together. "So in other words, going back to Earth, when you commit a horrible crime that infrindges the law, is an execution! Worse than the chair and lethal ejection; you go back to Earth just to kill yourself."
"Exactly." Jerome agreed.
"So how long was the 2nd lockdown after Victor went back?"
"It lasted about a month." Richard replied. "I'm not sure if it was a month or two but it was a long lockdown."
"What about Sweetie Swirl? What happened to her?"
"To this day," Richard said. "Sweetie Swirl and Sweetcream Scoops are still running the shop. Sweetie is now wearing a prostetic horn but she can no longer user her magic. Reason being is that when a unicorn loses her horn in anyway, the magic disipates and there's no way that the magic back can come back. Anypony that went through that will have to live the rest of his or her life as an Earth Pony but in real life, they weren't born as Earth Ponies."
I shook my head while feeling bad for Sweetie Swirl. "That sucks. And what about Sudden Burst?"
"Sudden Burst went into hiding," Jerome answered my question. "The last thing he did is that he donated half of the money that he had won to the ice cream ponies to actually keep their business and establishment afloat for the next two years and he even paid for Sweetie Swirl's medical bills. After that, nopony nor any human has heard from him ever again. Some say he's living in a secluded area where he can't be bothered and wanted to have a name change cause of all the publicity that was going on when Victor got in trouble."
I checked my watch and realized that I have about 2.5 hours remaining before I meet up with Princess Cadance.
"Well, guys," I said to both of them. "I want to wrap this up real quick but I want to know about Adrian and Nathan's story. Is there anyway you can tell me real quick?"
"You better ask Dean about that." Jerome told me. "He knows more about Adrian and Nathan more than we do."
"Where can I find Dean?" I asked.
"Here," Richard said extending, "Give me your composition book. I'll write the address down for you."
I gave him my book and my pencil. Richard took the pencil and wrote down the address on a blank page. He gave it right back to me as I read the address.
"Good luck, Frank." Richard said as he got up from his chair and pushed it in.
"See us if you need anything." Jerome added as he too got up and pushed his chair in.
The two Earth Brothers left the coffee shop and exited out of Barns & No Bell, leaving me behind. In a second, I got up and left as well. When I was outside, I followed the directions to Dean's home that was written by Richard. Hopefully, Dean will go easy on me and just tell the last two stories that I want to know.