[Ponyville] That Feeling of Being Followed - Right Turn [Closed]

[Chonico]

Ponyville’s Winter Wrap Up had been a success thanks to the organization and collaboration of everypony involved. Sure, there had been some setbacks and a few things didn’t go as planned. But the whole event had been carried out to the best of everypony’s ability. What more could be asked for?

“A sandwich would be nice… Hmm, maybe some hay fries too.”

Klondike had done his part to help out with cleaning winter and making room for spring, even though the prior night he had not slept due to trying to finish a repair order. Pushing a plow had not been easy either, especially one that had been attached to a cart for carrying the snow away. It had worked though. Him and his assigned co-worker, Inky, had done an excellent job of finishing up their task.

“Yes, definitely a daisy sandwich, hay fries, and a hay smoothie…”

Well, even if he was tired, sleep could wait. Or, so the rumbling in his stomach commanded him as such.

Klondike simply kept walking further into Ponyville, stopping every now and then to look to his left, and then to his right. His right ear had been twitching for a while now, almost none stop. That usually meant something, although the what or why of his twitching right ear always seemed beyond his grasp.

It seemed to always happen though when his focus was too caught up on something else. But this time, it was different. This time he felt something odd along with the tugged twitching of his ear.

He felt like somepony was watching him, staring at him.

Not the usual confused or irritated stares he felt from his customers, which usually took a while for him to notice anyways, but it was more of a feeling of just plain being observed. It hadn’t let up since he left Sweet Apple Acres.

Klondike stopped again and looked left and right. A triumphant smile suddenly adorned his face as his eyes finally set on the culprit and stared back at it.

A blue bird was sitting on bush, returning Klondike’s stare.

Klondike’s right ear suddenly went limp and fell to the side of his head, while his left remained aimed at the bird. It only lasted a second though, and his right ear immediately swiveled and began twitching again in the opposite direction, away from the bird.

The bird’s stare was as intense as Klondike’s own. Well, as intense as it could get for a bird anyway. A minute passed rather quickly though, and the bird lost interest and flew away.

Klondike continued walking towards his destination, his right ear still twitching furiously.

[NeonVictorian]

It felt nice to be done with work. It wasn't surprisingly hard work, yet it still felt nice to have it accomplished. Though something was still on her mind.

What was with Klondike's ear? It wasn't much of a complaint as it was a curiosity to her. It had been her source of entertainment, a distraction even, throughout the day.

She could not get it out of her mind for anything, she had to figure it out! With that she turned around and chased after Klondike. It took a bit of time, but she had caught back up to him and was quickly distracted as soon as she noticed him. The right ear still twitched wildly as he walked into Ponyville. She was originally subtle about it but that quickly faded as she mindlessly followed the ear, staring at it and hardly even watching where she was going.

Suddenly he stopped, and the ear had pointed straight at her as if the ear itself had noticed her. Klondike however stared in the opposite direction, eyes locked on something else. She couldn't tell what it was, at least not until it flew away. Maybe the bird was interested in the ear as well!

She shook her head then continued to follow the ear, the whole while trotting with an amused smile on her face.

[Chonico]

Klondike kept on walking, an expression of being deep in thought plastered across his features. Whatever those thoughts were though, it was obvious that these thoughts had him going around in circles… literally. He had just finished his third walk-around the same building.

“Maybe just some hay would hit the spot… but that would seem strange. A hay sandwich with hay fries and a hay smoothie… No, too much hay.”

He paused for a second as he was about to start his now fifth walk-around, and brought up a hoof to scratch at his twitching right ear. It had been relentless and it had finally gotten to the point that it actually registered with him. Admittedly though, the ear had lost some of its vigor, but it was still noticeable. And so were the ponies looking at him.

There were two or four ponies gathered around looking at him oddly. For how long though, Klondike could only guess. It was seldom that he caught off guard like that, buried in his own thoughts. Well, it didn’t happen as often as it did before… Well, it mostly happened when he was inside his repair shop working. Or at least that’s what he liked to think.

With a sheepish grin and a wave of his hoof, Klondike simply excused himself from the area and began trotting towards his destination as if nothing had happened. His ear though refused to accept this “lack” of events and still continued to twitch furiously at something behind him.

Finally, after walking a past a few buildings from where he almost wore a hole into the ground by walking in circles, Klondike’s right ear went limp and just lay flat on his head.

Oddly enough, Klondike chose this exact moment to turn around and look behind him.

[NeonVictorian]

Inkie was now, yet again, completely distracted by the ear. She followed, staring at it while at the same time paying no attention to where she was going or even to her surroundings.

It didn't even occur to her that she had traveled around the same building multiple times until about her fourth time around it. Even then- she didn't put much thought into it, as all of her thoughts were overshadowed as she looked at the ear.

Not much later however, he had stopped walking. There was a small crowd of ponies staring, she wasn't quite sure if they were staring at her for chasing the ear or if they were looking at him as well. Maybe they were also interested in the ear? Yes- That seemed like a good explanation. Anything that entertaining must have drawn a crowd, right?

While she was lost in thought about the crowd, Klondike had already began walking again. She looked back and quickly galloped over to catch up with him. This time the ear twitched in her direction, as the needle of a compass would to a magnet. She continued on until directly behind Klondike,and then, she let her curiosity get the best of her.

Inkie had reached a hoof up to touch the ear. Right before her hoof made contact, the ear had went limp, and dropped flat on his head. With that, she remained frozen in place as the pony had turned around facing her. Her hoof also remained frozen and now in front of his face.

She stared at him with a blank gaze on her face, having no idea how to react.

"U..uhhhh....."

[Chonico]

"U..uhhhh....."

Klondike was a little confused to say the least. It was not often, or at least for him anyways, to find himself faced with such an odd sight. As if on cue though, his right ear recovered some of its vigor and rose from the dead to swivel and aim itself to the area in front of him, giving off two slight twitches.

“Interesting, I don’t recall a dark gray object being behind me.”

So close was Inky’s hoof to his face, that it obscured most of his vision and made him cross eyed as he tried to focus on the object. He couldn’t make out what it was as he slightly moved his head this way and that.

“Hmm, maybe this is the first sign that I’m going blind…”

Klondike blinked a few times to see if the object cleared from his view but it still remained there. And, as he tried to look at it and examine it, he moved his head a bit and bumped his nose on it. It was solid, so…

“Oh good, not going blind. Kind of hard to fix things when I can’t see’em.”

He raised a hoof to try and grasp it and as he did, he brought it down to look at it without going cross eyed. Holding it one hoof, he began to poke it with the other this way and that. It was definitely solid, slightly warm, and covered with a gray coat. And, while still holding it in his hooves, he kept looking at it and eventually followed it up to the pony attached to it.

“Yep, definitely a hoof and its attached to a pony…”

Klondike kept holding the hoof as he looked at the pony on the other end of it. She looked familiar. He’d seen her before and his right ear seemed to twitch as if in agreement with the current path of his thoughts.

As he looked at her closer, narrowing his eyes a bit, he immediately smiled and began to shake her hoof vigorously.

“Hello Ms. Inky, didn’t expect to run into you here… And right behind me too!”

Klondike seemed to be somewhat clueless to the implications of his comment, or for that matter, completely oblivious as to why she was behind him. None the less, he continued to smile at Inky and shake her hoof.

[NeonVictorian]

Inkie remained still and quiet as her hoof was being inspected. Maybe because of her shock of what had just happened, but also a bit of her just absolutely not knowing how to react. Eventually the 'inspection' became a hoofshake, and a vigorous one at that.

“Hello Ms. Inky, didn’t expect to run into you here… And right behind me too!”

She blinked in a confused manner. He seemed so calm about it; oblivious even. She decided it would be best go along with it- shaking the hoof timidly and smiling awkwardly.

"Oh... well.. It''s uh..."

She cleared her throat and shook her head once.

"It's.. nice.. to see you here Klondike?"

[Chonico]

“Well I sure hope so. It’s always nice to see myself here too. Although I suppose that if I weren’t here I’d be somewhere else. Maybe over there…”

Klondike retreated momentarily into his thoughts as he tried to answer the self-imposed semi-philosophical question brought on by Inky’s reply that was worded like a question. He had yet to let go of her hoof as he continued to shake it absentmindedly and his right ear resumed its twitching towards Inky.

“Oh! Right, right!” He suddenly snapped back to reality. “Well, it’s nice to see you here too Miss Inky, no matter where I see myself. Although, I thought you might have return to your farm by now. Did you decide to stick around Ponyville for a while longer?”

He gave her a goofy smile as he still continued to shake her hoof.

“Still, can’t believe I walked right by you OW!” His twitching right ear suddenly lost its patience, seeing as Klondike was undoubtedly oblivious to the fact she had beef following him, and twitched so hard it slapped Klondike on the forehead. “That must have been one huge bug…” He finally stopped shaking hooves with Inky as he brought one up to rub his forehead and his right ear resumed its twitching towards Inky. If it had eyes, the ear would definitely be staring at her.

Suddenly without warning, his stomach let out a loud rumble and Klondike looked at himself before looking back at Inky with a slight bashful smile.

“Guess all the winter cleaning got me hungry. Say, you want to join me for a hay smoothie? Least I could do for walking right by you and ignoring you like th-OW!” His right ear twitched again and slapped his forehead harder.

“Wow, that bug really has it out for me.” He commented as he continue to rub his forehead again.

[NeonVictorian]

The ear had began twitching again. It was still on to her- not only that but it was trying to warn Klondike! Maybe she was in luck though, he didn't seem to speak ear. She found herself distracted in between trying to listen to him and staring at the ear.

"...Although, I thought you might have return to your farm by now. Did you decide to stick around Ponyville for a while longer?”

"Well.. I.. guess I did, I don't have.. anything to do today and I guess my attention is... um.. elsewhere?"

She shook her head awkwardly, unsure of what to say and yet again distracted by the ear. She heard a faint noise but was too distracted by the ear to listen fully. That is until that noise was a loud and sudden "OW!”

She stared at the ear more intently in a bit of a panic, it was aimed directly at her, and attacking his head to warn him! "Nooo! Don't do that!"

Inkie bit her lower lip, now worried about the silliness of the ear. She finally snapped out of it as Klondike had stopped shaking her hoof.

“Guess all the winter cleaning got me hungry. Say, you want to join me for a hay smoothie? Least I could do for walking right by you and ignoring you like th-OW!”

She nodded softly. Maybe if she joined him the ear would stop trying to tell on her? It seemed like a good idea, and fun anyways. "Well sure, I'd like that."

Inkie laughed awkwardly at his last comment, then, tried her best to mumble in agreement, "Heheh, yeah...b-bug.."

[Chonico]

If anypony asked one of Klondike’s regular customers, they’d say that he was a rather odd pony. An odd pony that was as sharp as a tack when it came to fixing things, but quick to lose focus about the things around him. All except for his right, twitchy ear, which sometimes seemed to be more aware of the things that were happening around him than its actual owner. Just how much the ear told its owner of what it saw, err, heard, was a mystery in and of itself.

A mystery which was currently aimed at Inkie and twitched every few seconds, as if scrutinizing her like only an ear could.

He hadn’t been walking long since he found Inkie behind him, but the twitching ear had made it obvious it was on to her. Now whether Klondike himself was aware of it yet, that she had been following him, it was anypony’s guess. But the ear had stopped attacking him.

“So Miss Inkie, how do you like Ponyville?”

As he asked this, his right ear suddenly twitched away from Inkie and Klondike turned a corner. It seemed he was heading in the opposite direction of what would be considered the ‘restaurant’ district of Ponyville. He didn’t deviate far though, and quickly came to a stop in front of a shop.

The sign outside read “The Jingling Satchel Repair Shop”.

“Oh, this is my repair shop. I guess I must have forgotten something… One minute while I figure it out.”

He sat down in front of his door and looked at himself. He had his tool satchel still with him, but what else did he need?

“Oh right! Left my bit pouch upstairs!” He said as he turned to Inkie. “Getting something to eat was kind a spur of the moment so I didn’t bring it with me to the Winter Wrap Up down at Sweet Apple Acres. You can come in if you like, or wait outside. I’m just going to go get it and be right back.”

He opened the door and began to step inside. His right ear though suddenly swiveled at an odd angle and aimed itself at her.

[NeonVictorian]

"Ponyville? Oh.. I.. like it... it's nice here.."

Inkie nodded softly, pausing momentarily every so often to check on the ear. It seemed to have calmed down a little... but it still was onto her. She had to keep an eye out, because that's certainly what is was doing. Well... as much as an ear could keep an eye out.... maybe it was the other way around? No, now she was just confusing herself.

“Oh, this is my repair shop. I guess I must have forgotten something… One minute while I figure it out.”

"How, do you kno--"

The ear! That had to be it. The ear was that much of a genius that it told him he was forgetting something! And if it was that serious, maybe it'd tell on her! As her obsession and curiosity grew more intense, she now seemed to be visibly worried, if only in the slightest.

"...You can come in if you like, or wait outside. I’m just going to go get it and be right back.”

"Oh I'll just wait here..."

She stood right at the door, but did lean her head in to curiously look around. That is at least until she noticed the ear pointing right at her. She took that as a sign, and slowly leaned back out.