The night had gone more or less as usual so far. Luna had been in audience in the main throne room for several hours, seeing ponies who had opted to speak to her instead of Celestia; the fact that there WERE such ponies still surprised Wild Wings. He stood at the base of the throne, his wings tucked back and his silver breastplate shining in the light from the high chandeliers as the petitioners came forward, asking for everything from blessings on their crops to a spell to cure a specific illness to help mending a bridge; all thing that were surely within Luna’s power to grant either through her magic or through her status as Princess, but Wild remembered a time when nopony spoke to Luna unless they absolutely had to- a time when she was considered the harbinger of darkness and death. Looking up at her on that golden throne, her black crown glittering in the light, her eyes kind and her smile warm… it was hard to believe that he had once thought the same thing.
After several hours, the stream of pony petitioners ceased, and Wild Wings stood gratefully and stretched. “I still don’t know how you endure this every night, Princess,” he said, his voice straining slightly as he stretched his back and wing muscles. “I can barely sit here two or three nights a week without going a little crazy.”
Luna’s gentle laughter echoed around the large room as she stepped down from the throne. “I fear it is just something that comes with being a Princess, Wild Wings,” she said with a smile. “But I will admit it does get a little… difficult… to sit there for that long.” The Princess winced delicately as she stretched her own legs before turning her luminous eyes back to him, a smile again on her lips. “Why do you think I still prefer walking during the night, as opposed to sitting on that throne?”
Wild Wings nodded eagerly. “And that’s just one of the reasons I’m glad I work for you, Princess Luna.” He stepped back and allowed the blue alicorn to lead the way from the throne room and out into one of the many halls in Canterlot Castle. The hallway curved gently around the outside of the castle, and despite the autumn air holding a chill the large windows were still left open to the world outside; Wild had been told that as winter came on, the unicorns in the castle would use their magic to form beautiful crystal windows to keep this outer hall protected from the snow and ice. A gentle breeze danced through the hall as Wild and the Princess stepped into it, teasing Luna’s mane and sending it billowing behind her as if it weighed nothing at all. Wild took up his place by her side, and together they began to walk.
Down below, Canterlot was quiet; it was now well past midnight, and the city around the castle was always silent by then. The area immediately surrounding the castle was a very rich neighborhood, filled with aristocrats and the well-to-do, none of whom had been wholeheartedly supportive of Luna when she had first arrived home; they were all what had been dubbed “Celestians”, and were staunchly supportive of their Sun Princess… which had made BOTH Princesses laugh when they had found out. The maneuverings of the pony aristocracy always seemed to amuse Princess Celestia as they scrambled for favor that was freely and equally given, and it amused Luna to think that these ponies honestly believed there was any tension between the two sisters. At first, Wild Wings had been surprised by their reactions, but after seeing the two of them together (and watching them baffle a few thick-headed aristocrats in the process) he had begun to understand: the Princesses stood together, firm and fast, and nothing would change that.
However, that had not changed the attitudes of the nobles around the castle, and it remained dark and still below every night; but that was not the whole of the city, by any means. Wild found his eyes drawn to the outer parts of the city, where bright lights could still be seen; he knew that Morninglight was out there in one of the late-night districts of the city, where more night-friendly ponies gathered to have fun after the sun went down. That had been another thing to add to his list of surprises- the sheer number of “party ponies” that there suddenly were in Equestria, and how many of them just wanted to be out beneath Luna’s moon, having a good time. The very thought made Wild look to Luna and smile. She deserves that much, at least. Luna may not have the support of many of the pony nobility, but to the regular, everyday pony, the pony who worked during the day and played during the night… she was THEIR Princess, and they were more eager to believe that the two Celestial Sisters stood as one.
The Moon Princess walked to the windows and turned her eyes to the starry sky as Wild Wings came to stand next to her. He felt his heart lighten as he looked on her face in the moonlight; her teal eyes were bright in the light of the waxing moon, and a small, delicate smile played across her lips as she looked out onto the beautiful night. It’s good to see her smile again, he thought as he looked out into the sky. She spent too long angry at the world, and then too long fearful of what we might do to it…
Just thinking about what had happened still made his stomach clench, but somehow tonight, it was worse; as he stared out at the sky above them, he was thrown back to a night just over three months past… and night when he had looked up at the sky with a very different pony. He felt his chest tighten, and immediately brought his eyes back to the city, but it was too late to keep the memories from flooding back to him.
I’m sorry… d-did I wake you up? I was trying to be quiet…
I… had a dream about… my Daddy.
…sometimes I’d go out there at night an’ sit in the garden an’ talk to Daddy up in the stars.
I hope my Daddy was as nice as you are, Mr. Wing…
Wild Wings sighed sharply and gave his head a shake, trying his best to chase the memories away… but they wouldn’t go. They were there, as they had been the last three months- waiting for the moment his mind wandered, when he dropped his guard for even a second. In spite of himself, he felt his eyes burn with unshed tears as he turned them back to the city below and forced himself to take a deep breath. Not now. Not in front of the Princess… But when he looked to Luna, he felt his heart drop into his hooves; her bright sea-green eyes were on him again, a small, knowing smile on her lips as she watched him in silence.
The gray Pegasus cleared his throat and turned back to the city, steeling himself for the questions he knew were coming; questions that he knew were the real reason that Luna had asked him to be her guard tonight. His mind rapidly went about forming the sometimes elaborate excuses he’d used on his friends in the past few days, all the while keeping his eyes away from the Princess. Maybe if I can just… not look at her… then I can get through this. And so he waited.
…And waited. His mind raced for a few minutes… and then it began to slow down.
And still he waited.
Time ticked by, and he found the fervor of his mind slowly morphing into confusion. She… hasn’t…what? His curiosity began to rise, mingling with the confusion, and almost against his will he turned his red eyes back to the Princess once more.
She was smiling out at the city again, as if nothing in the world was wrong; like she hadn’t seen anything at all. He blinked. Well… maybe she… didn’t? But he could still see the knowing in her eyes; that deep understanding that went beyond sight. And yet… she remained silent.
Wild Wings watched her for a long moment then turned his eyes back to the city, his cheeks flushed slightly. Well then. He sighed to himself and tried to regain his mental balance. If she’s not going to ask, that’s fine. I can deal with at least ONE pony not asking what’s wrong. He ruffled his wings, settling them into a more comfortable position as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. That’s just fine. Perfectly okay. But for some reason, the antsy feeling never left, even as the moment passed… and that disconcerted him even more than the look in Luna’s eyes.
After a few more minutes, the alicorn sighed and stepped back from the window. “Well, I think it is high time to get something to eat,” she said, smiling at Wild as she walked past him. “Would you care to join me?” Again her eyes met his, and AGAIN that same, knowing look appeared, and in spite of himself, Wild felt his ire rise; he had to fight to keep the tinges of his frustration from his voice.
“Of course, Your Highness.”
Luna’s smile broadened slightly, and she proceeded down the hallway. “Then by all means, let us not keep our food waiting,” she said cheerily over her shoulder. Wild watched Luna as she walk away from him, her mane bobbing merrily; instinctively he started after her, hoping that the anxiety he felt would melt away like morning dew now that the Princess seemed to have no interest in his problems… but to his surprise, that very thought seemed to burrow into his troubles and stir them up even more. He’d held his silence around Rainbow Dash, around Shooting Star and Morninglight, all ponies whom he should trust… all in the unconscious hope that the Princess he trusted more than anypony in the world would take pity on him and be able to find his hurts and mend them. But now… now she’s walking away..! The cool indifference that had laced her voice at the mention of dinner, completely contradicting the blatant knowing that had been in her eyes not moments before… it lanced into his heart like a shard of ice and began to expand, blasting the walls he’d placed there apart even as he tried to maintain them.
Suddenly, he halted in place, and all the frustration he’d felt, all the confusion that had invaded his mind and heart burst forth like water from a broken dam, and before he could even hope to stop himself he blurted, “So, that’s it?!”
Luna stopped and turned, her wings rustling once as she turned her eyes back to meet his. “Hmmm?” she said disarmingly, as if she had no idea what he was talking about… and that just fueled the flames in his mind.
“You… you aren’t even going to ask?!” he said, the words coming faster and faster as he spoke. “You know that I’m not okay, you KNOW that I’ve been having issues the last few days, the last few WEEKS, and now you have the chance to know, and you’re not going to ask?!” All thoughts of not having to tell at least one pony evaporated in the heat of his outburst; he shook his head, tossing his mane about wildly as Luna watched him. “You’re not going to sit there and look at me with those… those sun-forsaken all-knowing eyes of yours and peer into my soul and ask me, Oh, Wild Wings, why have you been so upset?” To his horror, he heard himself imitate her voice in a most unflattering way, but he was too far gone now to care. “You’re not going to listen to me spill my heart out about… about how much I…” He choked on the words as they tried to force themselves from his throat. The Pegasus raised his eyes to Luna, and she took a small step back towards him, her eyes completely innocent.
“I’m not sure what you mean, Wild Wings…” she said, her voice confused. “About how much you… what?”
He tried to contain it, tried to keep the words inside where they belonged, but the tide of his frustration carried them away before he could stop them. “…about how much I miss Thistledown and Honeysuckle… About how absolutely disgusting I feel about what I did to that poor mare… about how I let Honeysuckle down… about…” He felt his eyes burning, and turned away from Luna with a jerk. “About how much I miss them! That more than anything I just want to know… if I ever had a chance…” He sniffed and swiped angrily at his eyes with a hoof. “But you aren’t even going to ask me, are you… you’re just-,”
His eyes shot wide, and he straightened as the fire in his mind was suddenly quenched with a sudden rush of realization and embarrassment; behind him he could hear the gentle notes of Luna’s giggles rise and fall, and the flames once in his heart sprang to his cheeks. Hoooo boy, Wild… You stepped in THAT one with all four hooves… Wild swallowed with difficulty and slowly turned around, his cheeks burning as he faced his Princess.
Thankfully, Luna’s face showed no signs of her being offended; in fact, the only thing that he could see was mirth as she held a hoof to her mouth and giggled like a schoolfilly. Wild felt his blush deepen and he kicked at the stone beneath his hooves abashedly. Yup… all four hooves, he confirmed to himself. Finally, after several long moments, Luna’s giggles subsided, and she turned her eyes on him again, the innocence gone and replaced by that same calm knowing that had driven him to his outburst in the first place. “Wild Wings…” she said, her voice so soft and gentle that Wild felt the storm of his emotions calm as she walked back towards him. “…you, of all ponies, should know better than to bottle such emotions up,” she chided delicately.
The Pegasus sighed and turned his head, avoiding her gaze as embarrassment flooded his face again. “You’re… you’re right, Princess,” he answered.
“And of course I knew,” she continued. “But I also knew that to ask you directly would be to invite a story, and not the truth.” She stepped close to him, so close she could have touched him with her wing, and he could hear the smile in her voice. “After all, you are not the first stubborn pony that I have had to deal with, Wild Wings of Cloudsdale.”
Wild smiled slightly. “Oh is that so?” he asked quietly.
In response, the alicorn touched his shoulder with her hoof, and he turned to face her. “Oh yes,” she said, her smile becoming impish. “You were not around to grow up with Celestia; I assure you, she could win a staring contest with a rock if she put her mind to it.” That brought a chuckle to Wild Wings’ lips, because even not knowing the Sun Princess as well as Luna did, he could very easily see that situation arising with a younger, brasher Celestia. “I do wish that you had simply spoken to me about it before, Wild,” Luna continued gently. “That is one of the many blessings of having friends like Shooting Star, Morninglight or… myself.” The alicorn’s smile was small and sweet. “We are here to help you bear unbearable burdens… but we can only do so if you allow us to.”
Wild found himself looking into Luna’s sea-green eyes, and felt shame welling up in his heart. “I know, Your Highness… and…” He averted his eyes, but even before he could say anything else, Luna cut him off.
“No apologies, Wild Wings,” she said firmly. “I shall not have it.” He turned back to her with a frown, but the Moon Princess waved a hoof. “What’s done is done, and it was obviously the only way I was going to be able to speak to you on the matter; therefore, it was a necessary event, and shall not be looked upon with shame.”
“But… but I-,”
“Yes, I am well aware of what you said,” the Princess said with a nod. “And I am also aware that…” Her voice faltered, and she subtly scraped her crystal-clad hoof across the floor, her face falling into a mask of sudden self-doubt; an expression that Wild was not used to seeing on her face. “Well… I… don’t sound like that, do I?” she asked quietly.
Wild felt a stab of shame deep in his heart. “No, Luna… no, of course you don’t.” His wings drooped as he tried to speak. “I was angry… and I… say things sometimes when I’m angry that…” He sighed, and for the first time in his life he broke a direct order from his Princess. “I’m sorry, Your Highness.” Without hesitation he stepped before her and dropped to both of his front knees, bowing his head to the floor and spreading his wings out flat. “Please, Your Highness, forgive me- I had no call to talk to you like that.” He closed his eyes, unable to look at her as yet another wave of shame hit him. She was only trying to help… and I talked to her like she was nopony.
Silence reigned for a moment before he heard the light, tell-tale music of the Princess’s laughter. He opened his eyes and looked up at her to find her smiling benevolently down at him. “Wild Wings… of course I forgive you. But I hope that in the future you will be able to restrain your harsh words; not everypony will be as quick to forgive as I am.”
Wild bowed his head low again as the warmth of relief, warmth that he knew he did not deserve to feel, spread quickly through his body sending the chills of shame away. “Thank you, Your Highness… I swear to you that I will.”
“A vow not taken lightly, Wild Wings,” she said, and he felt a brush of feathers against his cheek. “Rise, my friend, and let us move past this.” The gray Pegasus rose to his hooves, and Luna smiled at him again. “Now that you have figured out for yourself what is wrong… what will you do about it?”
Wild watched her for a moment before sighing deeply. “That’s just it, Your Highness… I don’t know WHAT to do. What I said was the truth; I feel horrible for what happened with Thistledown, and I wish there was some way to make it up to her… but how can I? I can’t change the past, what was happening right then…” He shrugged his wings. “I’m… just at a loss, Princess.”
“You mentioned wanting to know if you ever had a chance, yes?” Wild nodded. “Hmm. Well, it seems to me that the only pony who could give you the satisfaction of an answer would be Thistledown herself.”
Wild’s eyes widened. “You mean… go talk to her?” he asked incredulously.
“No, I mean find a way to communicate psychically and pluck the information from her brain.” Luna giggled. “Of COURSE I mean go and talk to her. How else would you find out what she feels?”
She IS right, you know, a voice told him inside. But as right as she was, something was stopping him. “Princess… I just don’t know if I can do that,” he said finally, turning his eyes back to the floor. “When we were helping to rebuild Whinnyapolis… I tried to talk to her. I tried to find her, to explain what I felt, to ask if she… if she could give me a chance… but she avoided me like the plague.” He shook his head sadly, and felt the sting of those weeks return to him. “Even when I tried to find just Honeysuckle, to try and talk to her, Thistle was there, keeping me away from her. She… I’m afraid that she’s made her mind up, Your Highness… and I just don’t know what to do now.” His ears and wings drooped as he remembered the one occasion when Thistledown had met his gaze in those weeks; the blankness he’d seen there had been more scarring than any anger or betrayal could have been. She was a guarded mare, and she had once again raised the wall between herself and everypony else… and that made Wild hate himself.
Luna was silent as she watched him; it was a long while before she spoke, but when she did her voice was soft and firm. “Wild Wings… I cannot force your hoof, nor tell you what is right for you to do… but I can tell you, not as a Princess whom you serve, but as… as a mare who has loved… If you had done something like that to me, I would want a chance to reconcile my feelings for you- be it to rekindle them, or bury them forever.” She turned back towards the stars out the windows, and she sighed. “But, that is your decision. I can only advise you, Wild Wings; I cannot make this decision for you.” She turned back to him with another small smile, and Wild returned it.
“Thank you, Princess… I will think about it.”
“And that is all I can ask of you.” She rustled her wings, and her smile became impish again. “Now, if you are quite done with your personal problems? My royal stomach has been grumbling at me for several minutes, and it is most unpleasant,” she declared with more than a hint of jest.
Wild Wings laughed, bent his knee and gestured past him with a hoof. “By all means, Your Highness- I would be honored to accompany you.”
Luna gave him a fond smile and preceded him down the hall, and for the first time that night, Wild felt at ease… but he couldn’t help but wonder how long such a feeling could last if he didn’t take his Princess’s advice.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The rest of the night moved quickly, and before he knew it he was standing on the balcony in Luna’s personal chambers again, watching his Princess descend from the brightening sky as a new day dawned in the east. He stepped back and allowed her to land gracefully.
“Another night is done,” she said with a smile. “And if I may say, it has been a most enlightening night for the both of us.”
Wild nodded and felt a small amount of heat blossom in his cheeks yet again. “I would have to agree, Your Highness,” he said.
Princess Luna nodded and raised a hoof towards him. “You are dismissed from your duties for the day, Wild Wings,” she said ceremonially. “The Sun shall watch the land until night falls again and your heart is needed.”
Wild lowered his snout and kissed the crystal-clad hoof before responding, “And when darkness returns, I shall stand ready.” He straightened and gave Luna a small smile. “And Princess… thank you,” he said simply. “I’ll keep your advice close to my heart, and… I’ll let you know when I make a decision.”
“Please do,” the Princess said. “And if you need a few days relieved from your duties, well, I’m certain that your comrades would be most accommodating.”
Wild’s red eyes widened. “Days off? But Princess-,”
Luna cut him off with a raised hoof and a smile. “Just know that the option is there, Wild Wings,” she said. “I am not suspending you from duty or any such thing; just know that if you need it, the time is there.”
The Pegasus opened and closed his mouth for a moment before nodding. “Th-thank you, Your Highness,” he said, giving her a small bow again.
“Now, off with you!” Luna said with a giggle. “I saw Shooting Star returning to the castle below, no doubt reporting to my sister about the readiness of her troops, and I expect that Morninglight shall return promptly, as well.” Her eyes met his again, and the message she was sending to him was as obvious as if she had simply said it aloud: They are your friends and they care about you; talk to them.
He sighed lightly and nodded. “I hope the night went well for the two of them,” he said nonchalantly, but he gave Luna a smile. I’ll try my best, Your Highness. With another small bow, Wild turned and left the room, intent on returning his armor to its rightful place in the armory before he left the castle.
~*~*~*~*~
“So.” Shooting Star’s voice was carefully neutral. “How was your night?”
Wild Wings set his armor on one of the shelves in the small room set aside for the Generals and their equipment, shaking his mane out with a sigh before answering. “It was fine,” he said simply. “What about yours?” he asked, hoping to divert his friend’s attention. “How did the Pegasi on night guard duty shape up against your rigorous inspection, O Glorious One?”
The blue Pegasus sighed, causing Wild to grin. He really hated that name. “They were about as prepared as I’d expected,” Shooter responded. “Which is to say not at all; I found one of them asleep in a corner when I showed up, and the rest of them seemed content to ignore my questions.” He shrugged, his massive wings bobbing slightly. “I had very little choice but to report my findings to Princess Celestia, and she seemed most unhappy with them. I’d hate to be in their armor right about now.”
“Yeah… as nice as Celestia can be, I somehow get the feeling that she won’t take that kind of thing lightly.” Wild nodded and turned towards the hallway, but behind him Shooting Star cleared his throat.
“Wild,” he said, and his tone of voice was enough to stop the gray pony in his tracks. Shooting Star walked up next to him, his eyes straight ahead as he spoke. “Listen… I can tell that something’s been bothering you, and I… think I have a pretty good idea what that is.”
Wild felt irritation well up inside him. “Well… aren’t you just-,”
But this time, Shooter turned to face him and cut him off abruptly. “When are we going to drop this, Wild Wings?” he asked, his voice as sharp as any of the blades in the armory. “When are you going to stop hiding from me? From Morning? From yourself?” He rustled his wings in irritation, but when he spoke again his voice was calmer, and his eyes were almost sad. “Look… I can understand if you don’t want to talk to me about it, but for Luna’s sake, both figuratively and literally, take care of it, okay? We all rely on you to be your best, and lately, you haven’t been. You’ve been distracted, out-of-sorts, with your eyes and ears turned inward for some reason; and to be quite frank, I’m worried about you, Wild.” Shooter sighed, and his ears drooped. “I really, really wish you’d let me in… let me help you…”
Wild Wings sighed. “Listen, Shooter…” But Shooting Star wasn’t about to be stopped.
“You’re my best friend, Wild,” the blue Pegasus said. “And it kills me inside knowing that whatever’s going on, whatever… personal battle you’re waging in that head of yours, you still, after everything we learned… three months ago… you still won’t let us in. Let ME in.” He sighed again, and Wild Wings was surprised by the amount of hurt he saw in his friend’s eyes. “As Luna as my witness, Wild… I just want to help… but until you let me, I can’t.”
The smaller Pegasus looked into Shooting Star’s eyes and suddenly felt completely wretched again; almost as bad as he had felt after his outburst with Princess Luna. Shooter just wanted to help… and Wild was treating him like he didn’t matter. “Shooting Star, I…”
But his friend simply shook his head and turned away, his shoulders slumped slightly in defeat. “Just… take care of yourself, all right. I know you’ll figure it out.” And with that, Shooter started to walk away.
Wild watched him go; in fact, Shooter made it almost four whole pony-lengths away before Princess Luna’s unspoken words came crashing back into his mind: They are your friends, and they care about you; talk to them.
“It’s about Thistledown,” Wild Wings blurted. Shooter’s blue form stopped and slowly turned back, his blue eyes carefully hopeful.
“Thistledown?” he asked cautiously, and Wild couldn’t blame him; in fact, had the circumstances been any different, Wild probably WOULD have been trying to mess with him. “I thought you’d buried that hatchet in Whinnyapolis.”
Wild shook his head. “No, I didn’t; not by a long shot.”
Shooting Star made his way back to where he stood, his eyes searching Wild for any sign that he might be lying, might be just telling a tale, spinning a yarn, flapping in the breeze; but Wild knew that for once, his face was nothing but open and honest… because finally, he was being just that.
“That’s what’s been bugging you?” Shooter asked quietly.
“Yeah… it has.”
“But…why?” Shooter shook his head. “I mean, I knew that her daughter had poked holes in the armor around your heart… but I honestly had no idea…”
Wild sighed. “Well, I don’t think you were the only one who had no idea,” he said quietly.
Now Shooting Star’s eyes went wide. “You mean… you never TOLD her?!” His voice rose quickly at the end, and several other guard Pegasi turned their eyes on the two Generals; Wild hissed at him sharply and gave such a dark glance at the onlookers that they turned away quickly and left the room soon after. Shooting Star looked abashed, but his voice lost none of its disbelief. “You never told her how you felt?” he asked again, and Wild shook his head. Shooting Star’s right hoof impacted his forehead with a gentle thok. “Wild… I thought you DID! When we were in Whinnyapolis!”
“How could I?” Wild asked, his ears drooping in an uncharacteristic display of vulnerability. “She… she didn’t want anything to do with me. I figured that after a while, my feelings would go away… but they haven’t.” He started to pace in the confined space, his hooves clopping loudly on the cool gray stone of the floor. “In fact, this is doing nothing but getting worse. I can’t seem to stop thinking about her and Honeysuckle… about how, more than anything… I wish I’d told her how I felt.”
Shooter frowned. “Well… then what’s stopping you from just flying there and telling her yourself?”
Wild sighed. “That’s what Luna said… but by the Moon, Shooter, how can I just waltz back into her life like that? Just, show up at her doorstep in Whinnyapolis, big grin on my face and say,” He turned to Shooting Star and put on his cockiest, most roguish grin and said, “‘Hey, by the way, I know we got off on kind of a rocky start and that you’ve probably moved on but I just thought you should know that I dig you’. Yeah… it’ll be FANTASTIC.” He sighed. “She’s probably moved on, Shooter. It was a horrible experience, and she’s most likely moved on and healed those wounds.” The Pegasus winced. “And… me showing up like that would be like driving a knife into a freshly-healed scar.”
“Then why are you even thinking about doing this?” There it was, that calm, infuriating voice again; but this time, Wild managed to take a deep breath before answering… with the truth, this time.
“Because Shooter… I… I DO care about her… even now. And I just want to know… if I ever had a chance. If I didn’t, I’d leave her alone forever, but…” He closed his eyes and turned his head. “But by the Moon, Shooter, if I did… If I even stood one little, miniscule chance…”
There was a moment of silence as Wild felt the feelings in his heart surge to the surface, feelings that he’d hidden from his friend for far too long. The confusion, the frustration and uncertainty, all of it bubbled forth and seemed to radiate from his coat as he waited for Shooting Star to tell him off for being such a selfish jerk.
But such admonishments never came.
Instead, he heard his friend sigh. “So you want to know if you ever had a chance with her, but you don’t want to talk to her directly because you don’t want to hurt her unnecessarily,” he said quietly. “Is that what I’m hearing?”
Wild brought his eyes back to Shooter. “Well… yeah,” he said, slightly irritated. “SURE, it sounds simple when you say it like THAT…”
To his surprise, Shooting Star laughed lightly. “Well, it IS fairly simple, Wild,” he said. “I mean… the only thing you have to do is find another pony who knows her well enough to tell you if she did or not. Or, barring that, at least somepony who was close to her at the time when all of this came to pass.”
“…what?” Wild Wings stared at his friend, and for the first time in weeks felt a surge of something other than guilt in his chest; something warm and amazing that washed over him from hoof to nose and made him smile. “You mean… we can talk to somepony else? Yeah! That’s a great idea!!” He began to pace excitedly. “So, all we have to do is think of somepony who was in close contact with her during our stay there, and talk to THEM, and then we’ll have our answer! By Luna, Shooter, when did you become a genius!”
Shooting Star frowned slightly. “Hey…”
“But who was around her then?” Wild pressed on, plowing over Shooter’s feeble protests in his new rush of excitement. “I mean, I could always talk to Honeysuckle, but that might do more harm than good, especially if the answer from Thistle is no… but who else was around her then, except…” Suddenly, the excitement that Wild had felt mere moments before came flopping down around him like the rapidly deflating sides of a poorly-constructed tent. His ears drooped, and his eyes widened as he froze in place, his tail falling to rest firmly between his legs. “Oh by the light of the Moon,” he whispered. “There’s only one pony who was around her then…”
“Who?” Shooter persisted.
Wild swallowed audibly. “A-Applejack,” he said.
The blue Pegasus sighed. “Wild, you know that Applejack forgave us both, and said that we were welcome to visit Sweet Apple Acres whenever we liked. She’s a good sort, and she’ll certainly tell you what you want to know. That’s the best idea you’ve had all day!”
Wild Wings shook his head. “No, no it’s not… and it’s not Applejack I’m worried about running into on that farm…”
“Then who… Ooooooooh…” Shooting Star winced. “Oh yeah… I guess I forgot about that.”
“Easy for you to say,” Wild said, his voice cracking slightly. “You didn’t get kicked through a barn…”
“Well, I mean… what other choice do you have?” Shooter asked.
He was right, of course; after three months of worrying, thinking, worrying, fretting, thinking and then worrying some more, finally a solution had presented itself to Wild, a way to find out once and for all if he was simply chasing a fleeting hope of what might have been or if he legitimately had a chance at something with the purple mare named Thistledown… but even so, the prospect made his knees quiver slightly. “I don’t have any other choice,” he said. He swallowed again, and forced his head erect, even if his ears refused to leave the sides of his head. “I have to go back there, Shooter… I have to go talk to Applejack.”
Shooting Star nodded and gave him an encouraging smile. “I think that’s a fantastic idea, Wild. Why don’t we go now? I want to get back to Ponyville to be with Pinkie anyway; I’ll fly with you.” Wild nodded, and slowly the two Pegasi made their way out of the armory. “And who knows?” Shooter added as they stepped out into the hall, “Maybe Big Macintosh won’t be around..?”
Wild’s tail did its best to lodge itself firmly between his back legs. “Shut up,” he mumbled, and to his chagrin, Shooter laughed lightly at his discomfort.
“Awkward being on the other end of it, isn’t it?”
“Yeah…payback’s are not fun, you know.”
“No, they really, really aren’t, are they, Wild.”
“…shut up.”