Of Moments and Melodies

by Church

Chapter II

The only time that Fluttershy and I could ever play with each other was when we were alone in our room. We made sure that Mum could not hear us, because if she did then we were surely in for it. At least I was. She continued to ignore Fluttershy, it was as if she didn’t even see she was there. Maybe my Mum was sick. Oh well, I could see Fluttershy, and she was secretly my best friend.

That’s how we got by.

It had been five days since we moved in. Mum was trying to find work nearby, ‘cuz she had quit her old job to move here. She would read the news in the mornings, looking for ads, which was nice ‘cuz she wouldn’t yell at me while she was doing it. Fluttershy and I would either sit and watch her mumble to herself from a distance, or we would talk in our room. It was nice, but we still had to be very quiet.

“Have you ever kissed a boy?” I asked her on that fifth day. We were lying on our backs, staring up at the ceiling of our room. We had grown close over the span of five days, and I felt like I could ask her more personal questions. That, and I thought it was funny whenever she blushed.

“Oh... um, I, uh...” she stuttered. She was silly, I liked her. “Do I have to answer?”

I chuckled. “Yes,” I told her. I stared into her ocean blue eyes with my own violet ones. I tilted my head to the side, awaiting her response. “Yes, you have to.”

She averted my stare. “Um... well, have you?”

“Ew! No way!” I whisper-yelled. “Colts are icky!” I sort of bonked her on the head, so that she would turn to look at me. “Answer the question.”

Her cheeks were bright red. It was all in good fun though. “Well... um, yes.”

I gasped. “No way!”

She turned away again, obviously embarrassed. “Well, I mean, kind of... yes, kind of.”

I was skeptical. “What do you mean, ‘kind of’?”

“Well, um... he kissed me.”

I smiled at her. She caught my funny looking grin and couldn’t help but do it herself. “It takes two to tango, sister,” I told her.

At that moment, we both lost our focus on the topic. The smallest pitter-patter of raindrops could be heard hitting the roof, which made us turn to each other, each wearing the same expression of ‘I don’t know if you’re thinking what I’m thinking...’.

Fluttershy and I scrambled into the hall, making our way out into the kitchen where Mum was still reading the paper. We tried to slip by her, and run out the back door to get outside. Fluttershy’s footsteps seemed to be much lighter than mine... she should teach me how to do that.

We were just about to exit the back door, but Mum caught us.

“Daisy,” my Mum piped up from the kitchen table, "Where are you going?" She had heard us trying to get out into the rain. I mouthed the word ‘shoot’ to Fluttershy as we turned to face Mum.

“Outside, Mum,” I said. I looked down at the floor.

Mum never looked up from her paper. I didn’t deserve her gaze. “It’s raining,” she told us.

If I was brave, I would have said something like, ‘duh, stupid.’ But I did not say that.

“I know, Mum,” I responded, my head turned away. I scraped my hoof back and forth on the wooden floorboard.

“You know, do you?” Mum said. “Then why are you going outside?”

I turned to Fluttershy, who was also not daring to look at Mum. It looked like she wasn’t going to speak up, either. It wasn’t her Mum, so I guess that she didn’t have to.

“I wanted to play in the rain,” I said to the floorboards. Mum took the opportunity to glare at me, and only me. Fluttershy was once again left by her lonesome.

“No. I don’t think so. You’ll get sopping wet and then the house will be a mess. I think that we both know who will have to clean that up.”

Fluttershy shrugged her shoulders at me. I nodded.

“Yes, Mum,” I said solemnly.

Fluttershy and I sluggishly trudged back to our room. At least Mum did not yell at us. She had picked up her paper and continued her reading, her search for a job. I trailed Fluttershy back into the room, where she flattened herself down onto the carpet while I shut the door behind us. She was watching the rain fall from outside of our only window, just like my Pop and I used to do when I was little...

Just like Pop...

Pop...

“I have something to show you,” I said to a lounging Fluttershy. She rolled over to face me, her eyes studying me.

I walked over to my dresser, which housed one of my most favorite pictures ever. It had been cracked in the move over here, Mum said that that was an accident. But the picture itself was still intact, and it still carried the same memory. I lifted it and waddled over to Fluttershy, where I layed down beside her.

“This is a picture of my Pop and me,” I said to her. I showed her the picture of my Pop, who was smiling and carrying me on his shoulders. Everything looked so happy... it made me want to be happy again.

Fluttershy studied the picture for a while. It looked like she was trying to claw at a distant memory of her own. She then looked up at me, scanning my features for some sort of emotion.

“What happened to him?” she asked me. Her cheeks suddenly turned red. “Oh, I mean, if you want to tell me. You don’t have to if you don’t want to...”

“No, it’s fine,” I assured her. I ran a hoof over the cracked picture frame in an attempt to feel my Pop's soft feathers again. It didn’t seem to work. I looked back at Fluttershy. “He died in an accident when I was five.”

“I’m so sorry,” Fluttershy said. Her voice sounded pure and sincere. Her voice was the perfect remedy to any heartbreak.

“Don’t be,” I told her, “It’s not your fault.”

Fluttershy and I spent the rest of the day just talking. Just talking about random stuff. I told her that I wanted to be the first earth pony that could fly. She told me that she wanted to be the first pegasus to keep her hooves on the ground as much as possible. We both laughed at our completely different outlooks on life. She was definitely a character. I liked her a lot. She reminded me of Pop, caring and optimistic, fun and keen. We kept talking for hours. We talked until the little amount of light from the day faded through our window.

It was time for bed before I knew it. Mum came by and gave us a lullaby I had grown accustomed to hearing throughout the years. She came by, knocked on my bedroom door, and said-

“Go the hell to sleep.”

Fluttershy and I eyed each other, grinning. The soft drops of rain hitting the roof could still be heard from outside, and its calming sensation would carry me through the night. Having a friend by my side would carry me through the night as well. My life had changed drastically since we moved, and I was enjoying it.

Fluttershy fluttered over to our bed and pulled back the covers. I walked to the door so that I could turn off the light. The lights went out as Fluttershy snuggled in our bed, the darkness of the night coming in through the window. I walked back to our bed and pounced on it, making Fluttershy squeal in surprise. I laughed.

“You scared me,” Fluttershy said, her heartbeat amped up a bit.

“Wasn’t me!” I replied as I tucked myself in alongside her. We both sat in the dark, staring at the ceiling. I could hear Fluttershy yawn.

“Well, I’m tired,” she said. “What are we going to do tomorrow?”

I shrugged in the dark. “Oh, the usual most likely. Mum won’t let us go anywhere.”

Fluttershy tossed in bed, facing the wall. Her light breaths blended in with the rain hitting the roof. “I’m looking forward to it,” she told me. She yawned again, a deep, very silent breath. “Good night, Daisy.”

I smiled a stupid, foalish smile as I gazed up at the darkened ceiling. I turned in the direction opposite my friend. “Good night, Fluttershy.”

Morning came, and the teardrops of the angels could still be heard gently hitting the roof. I woke up, wiping my eyes, adjusting to the brightness of the sun’s rays coming in through the window. I felt that something was missing. I turned to see a vacant spot to the left of me, and it was cold to the touch. Fluttershy wasn’t in the bed with me. Wow, she must be an early riser.

I threw the covers off and rolled out of bed, my hooves lightly touching the carpet. I trotted over to my door and whisked it open, peering out into the hallway, searching it for the pegasus with the soft pink mane. I saw that Mum was not yet up, her door was still closed.

“Fluttershy?” I whispered into the hallway. I couldn’t see her, so I gingerly tip-toed into the hall. "Fluttershy?"

I silently made my way around the house, looking for her. She wasn’t in the spare bedroom, and she wasn’t in the living room. There weren’t a lot of rooms in the house. Maybe she was hungry...

I trotted into the kitchen, where Fluttershy could be seen sitting at the table with her hooves folded in her lap. She heard me enter, and she turned to look at me.

“There you are,” I whispered. “Just hungry, or what?”

“You got two perfectly fine forelegs. Get your own damn breakfast,” my Mum said from behind me as she entered the kitchen. I went stiff, I can’t believe I didn’t hear her get up. I can’t believe she got up and got down here so fast. I hope that she didn’t hear the first part of my sentence.

She crossed around me as she went to the cupboards, probably to get her coffee. I looked at Fluttershy and shrugged my shoulders. Apparently she didn’t hear me.

“Yes, Mum,” I said. I walked over to the other cupboards that had the oats. I took them out and pulled up a chair next to Fluttershy.

“I’m gonna have to head into town anyway today,” Mum continued. “You’re gonna have to stay here on your own for a few hours, fend for yourself.” She paused so she could fixate her eyes directly on my soul. “So if I find out you’ve done anything but sit here, you will be sorry.”

I turned my head down to the table, faking my somber expression. What I was really thinking was, ‘wha? We get a whole day to ourselves?!’

I looked at Fluttershy, and I winked. “Yes, Mum.”

Mum turned back around and occupied herself with her coffee. Me? I wasn’t so hungry anymore. I’m not sure if Fluttershy was either, but this was too important.

“Follow me,” I whispered to her as I got out of my chair.

I started to trot out of the kitchen, leaving the oats behind. Fluttershy obeyed and trotted after me. She followed me back to our room, where I shut the door behind us, and I turned to my friend and grinned a devious grin.

“What is it?” Fluttershy asked me, looking puzzled.

I looked outside. The day looked dreary and rainy. Perfect.

“Let’s go outside!” I told her, nearly jumping out of my horseshoes. I put my hoof over my mouth, ‘cuz I was being too loud.

Fluttershy looked out the window. “It’s raining. Your mother said that you shouldn’t go out...”

“She won’t know!” I told her, “When she leaves, we can go out, and when we come back in, we can dry off! It never happened.” I tossed my curly, milk white mane out of my face. My smile was pleading now and I gave her puppy dog eyes. “Pwweeeease?”

Fluttershy gave me an innocent smile. “Okay. I mean... um... because you want to.”

Maybe a little under an hour passed. We waited anxiously for Mum to leave. I sat in my room, brimming with excitement. How long did it take Mum to drink coffee? I don’t know, never hung around to find out. Alls I knew was, she was taking TOO LONG!

Suddenly, we heard the front door open from downstairs, and a voice said-

“Daisy! I’m leaving! You left the damn oats out on the table! Put those away!”

The door slammed shut after that. Fluttershy and I looked at each other, smiling.

"Let's do it," I said, wearing a smug grin. We instantly darted out of the bedroom door.

“C’mon! I’ll race you to the door!” I hollered. I felt free. I felt alive. I felt like I could do whatever I wanted, and I hadn’t felt that way in three years.

I rumbled rambunctiously down the steps, Fluttershy in tow. She wasn’t putting up much of a fight. I turned the corner, out toward the door. It might have been more fair if I had a hoof tied behind my back. Fluttershy was content to follow me, sort of, well, lolligagging.

She was not much of a racer, I guess. I beat her to the door with ease. She wasn’t even trying. I burst out into the rain, the drizzle instantly giving me a giddy feeling.

“I win!” I hollered. I looked up into the overcast sky, the rain soaking my turquoise-blue feathers. The cool water was a feeling of triumph.

“Good job,” Fluttershy said as she stepped out into the rain with me. “You are very fast.”

I sat down on the grass. I closed my eyes, my head still tilted to the sky. The rain was coming down hard, I was going to get drenched. I was going to be shaking water out of my feathers like a fountain, and my mane was going to get all slicked back. I smiled at the thought. I haven’t had such a feeling in three years.

Fluttershy walked over to me, her mane still perfect. She must have used some strong shampoo. She bit her lower lip, trying to stop a grin from coming forward.

“What?” I asked.

Suddenly, Fluttershy stuck her hooves into my mane, and she started to stick it up like a mohawk. I giggled, fighting her, trying to reach her mane too. We fell onto the grass in a heap, giggling like silly foals. It was already the most fun I had had in three years.

It was the happiest I had felt in three years.

I... I had almost forgotten what 'happy' meant.

Another hour, and I was soaked through. My feathers stuck to the muddied soil. I needed to go back in and take a shower before Mum came back, but I was hesitant to get up. This was just too much fun! I wanted to stay out here forever! But, If Mum got back early... I would never get up. So before we went back inside, I asked Fluttershy a random question.

“Fluttershy...” I spoke up, “what... what if we could do this every day?”

Fluttershy’s blue eyes turned to me. They were gleaming as the raindrops passed between our view of one another. Her eyes were so pretty, I wish I had her eyes.

“Um... I’d say that every day would be a successful one, then,” she told me, smiling.

I smiled back. I didn’t know what else to do but stay there next to her, getting even more sodden as the rain poured. I did know one thing, however...

This moment was going to last forever.

Song: Rebellion (Lies)

By: Arcade Fire