Post by Lancewing on May 13, 2014 18:13:47 GMT -5
No Service (Dog)
Flare was sitting in the living room with Scout. Flare was watching a children's show, while Scout sat next to her. About halfway into the episode, Teddy walked in. "Hey Flare." Teddy greeted.
Flare jumped with a yelp before looking at her brother. Once she realized who it was, she said, “Hey Teddy.”
"Sorry I scared you..." Teddy apologized.
“It’s okay.”
Both ponies remained silent. Eventually, Teddy remembered, "Oh, Sweetheart called and asked me to ask you if you wanna go with her and her friends for lunch."
“Oh. Um… Well… Okay.”
"You can say 'no' if you don't want to...I just thought you might enjoy it."
“Well, they’ve been nothing but nice to me. I’d love to.”
"Okay, I'll go call Sweetheart back, she'll be really, truly-" Teddy caught himself, "She'll be happy you're going..." With that, Teddy headed back to his room and Flare returned to her TV show.
Later that afternoon, all eight girls and Scout were on their way to a restaurant. Said restaurant had been recommended to Bright Eyes by Lancer, but Bright Eyes had that gut feeling that something was going to go wrong.
"So what's this place called?" Bon Bon asked.
“The Golden Dragon I believe,” Bright Eyes answered.
"Ah...sounds fancy."
“That’s what I heard.”
"I really, truly hope we brought enough money." Sweetheart worried.
"Well, I asked Lancer how much it cost and I brought enough for me, Flare, tax, and some extra just in case."
“Okay.”
Soon, the girls made it to the restaurant. It was a very elaborate building, with several Chinese designs, and a huge, golden dragon hanging overhead. Flare saw the dragon, and began to feel a bit nervous.
Bright Eyes noticed this and said, “Don’t worry, the dragon’s not real; it’s just there for decoration.”
“Oh.”
The group had only taken a few steps into the restaurant when a pony stormed up to them and yelled, “Get out!”
Everyone, especially Flare, was startled by the outburst. Bright Eyes looked at the pony and said, “Excuse me?”
"You can't come in with that mutt here!"
Everyone looked at Scout, who tilted his head, before looking back at the pony. Bright Eyes protested, “Scout is a service dog, and he is required by law to be allowed into any public place.”
"I don't care what he is! Get out!"
Bright Eyes glared at him. “I want to see the manager.”
“I am the manager.”
Bright Eyes sighed, then turned to the girls. "Let's go everypony, someone OBVIOUSLY doesn't want our business."
The eight girls nodded, and headed outside. Once they were out, Melody looked to Bright Eyes, "That was illegal, right?"
“Yes, and I am going to report him later.”
"Hmm...okay...and I think I'm gonna do somethin', too..."
"What did you have in mind?" Bright Eyes asked.
"I'll tell ya later..."
“Okay. Should we meet you at Hayburger Queen?”
"Sure." With that, Melody galloped off.
"Is that okay with you, Flare?" Bright Eyes asked.
Flare nodded, "If they let Scout in."
“Okay.”
As the girls were halfway through eating their sandwiches, Melody burst into the restaurant. She looked for the girls for a few moments, and upon finding them, she ran over. “Hey girls.” She greeted.
“Hey Melody,” Bright Eyes greeted back.
“THERE you are! What took so long?” Patch asked.
“Well… Do you guys ever watch the news?”
“Why?” Bon Bon asked.
“Well...just watch channel ten tonight at seven… Trust me.”
“Um...okay… But can’t you give us a clue?”
“Nope.”
“Please…”
“Sorry, I just don’t wanna ruin the surprise.”
“Okay… Well on that weird note, what do you want to eat?”
“Oh, just a hayburger and a really big drink. I’ll go get it.” Melody got up and went over to the counter and began ordering her food.
Flare, meanwhile, looked at Scout with a worried expression. Bright Eyes noticed this and put a hoof on Flare’s shoulder. “Flare? Are you okay?”
Flare looked at Bright Eyes. “Yes, I’m fine,” she lied hoping not to worry the older girl.
Bright Eyes looked skeptical, “You don’t seem very fine.”
“Well… Has something like this happened before? Not letting in a service dog?”
Bright Eyes sighed, “Sadly, it happens every day.”
“Oh… I wish it didn’t...Scout’s such a good boy.”
“I know, but at some point, I will try to seek legal action.”
“You’re not gonna need legal action, Bright Eyes.” Melody said, placing her meal on the table, “Trust me.”
Bright Eyes raised an eyebrow. “Melody… What did you do?”
“You’ll see.”
“Melody, you better not have gone back to the restaurant and done… something.”
“Hey! I wouldn’t do anything like that...Patch might, though.”
“Hey!” Patch snapped back.
Flare was trying so hard not to laugh, but she couldn’t hold it any longer and burst into a joyous fit of giggles.
The other girls saw this and soon began to laugh right along with her. Eventually, everyone settled down. But when they had finished, they noticed that Sweetheart was gone. “That’s funny,” Clover thought aloud, “Where’d she go?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she went to the bathroom,” Bon Bon suggested.
“Maybe…”
"I'll go check on her," Starlight volunteered.
"Okay."
Starlight got up and started searching for Sweetheart.
Teddy just got off of the phone with Ace, but before he put the phone back, it rang again. Teddy glanced at the phone with a questioning expression on his face. He picked it up and greeted, "Hello?"
"Hey Teddy," Sweetheart greeted back.
“Oh, hey, Sweetheart. Are you doing okay? You’ve been gone a while.”
"Well, the first restaurant wouldn't let us in because of Scout."
Teddy frowned, “But Bright Eyes said service dogs were allowed in restaurants.”
"They really, truly are, so the restaurant pretty much broke the law by not allowing Scout."
Teddy sighed, “Please tell me Patch vandalized the place?”
“No… But Bright Eyes was really, truly angry, and Melody did...something. We don’t know what.”
“I hope she’s planning to TP the restaurant…”
“Teddy…” Sweetheart said in an irritated tone.
“Sorry...but that’s how I feel…”
"Anyway, we eventually started laughing and Flare really, truly laughed."
“Flare laughed?” Teddy almost dropped the receiver.
“Uh-huh...I thought you’d wanna know.”
“Yeah… Wow… Kinda makes me wish I was there just to hear it.”
“She has a beautiful laugh… Like her big brother.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say beautiful… Awesome would be better.”
Sweetheart giggled.
“That’s even more awesome.” Teddy grinned.
“Teddy…” Sweetheart was glad Teddy couldn’t see her burning cheeks. However…
“Sweetheart?” Starlight asked from behind.
This surprised Sweetheart. She went to Teddy, “Uh...I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay...see ya.” Teddy hung up.
Sweetheart turned to face Starlight. "Oh...hello Starlight."
"Who were you calling?"
"Oh. Um... Teddy."
"Oh... What did you tell him?"
"I just told him about what happened with Scout but I did tell him about Flare laughing when we were joking around."
"Oh... I guess he was pretty ticked about the other thing, huh?"
Sweetheart merely nodded. "But he cheered up when he heard that Flare laughed."
"That's good. So...I think we're about ready to go, are you ready?"
"I am. But I can walk Flare home, if that's okay."
"Um...we can talk to the others about it."
"We can."
Night had come over Ponyland, and all the girls, Lancer, Flare, Scout, and eddy were gathered around Clover’s television set. It was 6:59 and approximately one minute from...something on the news… No one but Melody knew...
While they were waiting, Bright Eyes filled Lancer in on everything that had happened. “Wow, and I recommended that place to you?"
“Yeah...but you didn’t know they’d kick specialty dogs out,” Bright Eyes pointed out.
"Well I do now, and I don't think they'll be making any more money off of me."
“That’s good.”
“Guys! It’s starting,” Melody called out.
Bright Eyes and Lancer rushed over to the TV and sat next to Bon Bon.
The television cut to Dazzle at the desk .She said through the television, "Our top story comes from the Golden Dragon, who has committed one of the biggest no-noes possible. It all started when a group of friends stopped by to get a bite to eat, but we're turned away because one of those friends had a service dog."
The television then cut to a very familiar scene. It showed the manager yelling at Bright Eyes to get out.
Almost everyone there looked at Melody. “How’d you get that?” Bright Eyes asked.
“Well, I had brought my video camera with me for a music video Resonance and I were gonna do, figured it’d be a good idea.”
Bright Eyes mouthed “Oh”, and went back to watching the report.
"This scene was caught on camera by one of the friends who was just as shocked as the rest of them." An image of Flare popped up. "If this girl looks familiar to you, she was the girl reported previously that had been missing for several years, and returned to her family two weeks ago.
She suffers from PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, which makes her eligible for a service dog, which is required by law to be allowed into all public places.”
The television cut back to Dazzle. "But the big question is this: does this pony still have a job. We spoke with the owner and he said that he was shocked to see the video. He said, 'We take any allegations of discrimination seriously, especially when it is against the disabled. Not only will additional training be required for all of the staff members, but the accused will be terminated.' In other news..."
Clover turned off the television set.
“Maybe I was a little hasty in saying they wouldn’t get my business.” Lancer thought aloud.
"Yeah, at least someone recognized his mistake," Bright Eyes noted.
“Well, I guess that’s that, huh?” Melody asked.
“Well...except Flare still has her PTSD.” Bright Eyes pointed out.
“Oh yeah, but still.”
Melody looked over at Teddy, “Well…”
Teddy sighed, “Alright, thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” Melody replied.
