//------------------------------// // Chapter XV: A Shooting Star // Story: I Would Give to You // by Jet Howitzer //------------------------------// (Well, here you go.) You glided down to the ground as the mare on your back slowly eased her grip around your neck. She had relaxed as you flew through the skies, and at a few points she had been so caught up in the thrill of flight that she had loosened her grip nearly all the way. She had never let go of you, but she had come close a few times. As the ground rushed up to meet you, you spread your wings out to their fullest extent, killing your forward momentum, and easing you to the ground on a gentle cushion of air. As your hooves made contact with the hard packed earth once again the mare on your back quickly climbed from your back. As you were turning to face her she quickly gave you a kiss before she embraced you. The lavender mare held you tightly for a few moments before she backed up enough to allow you to breathe once again. She had a fearsome blush on her cheeks, and you suspected that you had something similar adorning your own cheeks, given the heat radiating off of them. The unicorn’s blush grew just a bit as she took your hoof in her own, and the two of you began heading towards the familiar café. You found yourself eager to talk about flight once again, since you were no longer the grounded pegasus of Ponyville. Twilight proved to be quite knowledgeable on the topic, despite her noticeable lack of wings. The trip to the café passed in a blur of shared knowledge, and before long you were deep in the details of wind currents, and how they could be used to drastically improve endurance training exercises. The two of you were quickly seated at the café, and before long the waitress came over to take your orders. Storm and Rainbow Dash happened upon the two of you as you ate, and they quickly decided to join you for lunch. The conversation carried on in the same field as before, except that it had far more bragging than it had when it was just you and Twilight. The waitress returned shortly after Storm and Dash had taken their seats, and after that the topic of conversation began to flit from topic to topic, each pony being able to contribute something to conversation. The food came, eventually, and was eaten more as a side note, rather than the main reason for coming to the café. After nearly an hour spent at the café, Storm and Rainbow Dash had to get going to set up the weather for the rain storm that would be taking place tomorrow morning. Before they left you asked to join the weather team, and they both agreed that if you were half as good as you claimed to be you’d make a great addition to the team. Rainbow Dash explained that you’d need to make sure it was okay with the mayor, but she didn’t see any reason why she’d say no. With their departure, you and Twilight dove back into conversation. As the two of you talked with each other, you eventually decided that you’d take the conversation on the road, so as to free up the table. You managed to surprise Twilight a few times with your wide variety of interests, and you simply enjoyed learning all the new things that the lavender unicorn had picked up through her intensive reading. Twilight, as you walked along, eventually came up with a suggestion for something to do, other than walk around swapping information. “How about we go pay a visit to Sweet Apple Acres? I don’t think you’ve been there very much, and Applejack is a good friend of mine.” “Well, I suppose it can’t hurt to go and see a part of town I haven’t been to yet. She won’t make us work, will she?” Twilight laughs at that, and the two of you set course for the apple farm. It doesn’t take long for the two of you to make it to the edge of town, and shortly afterwards you can make out the edge of their property, signified by both the fence, and the orderly apple trees. The gate is open, as usual, and the two of you begin walking down the road, heading for the farm house located near the center of the property. As the farm house came into view you spotted Big Mac having a fairly animated conversation with Storm. And by animated, you mean that Storm was doing nearly all of the talking and gesturing, while Big Mac simply nodded every so often. You weren’t close enough to make any of it out, but that didn’t bother you all that much. You’d managed to catch one word out of what was being said, and it had to do with Taupe, Applejack’s unofficial coltfriend. Both Storm and Big Mac offered casual waves as you passed by, and soon you were under the shelter of the porch’s ceiling. Twilight knocked on the door a few times, and moments later an elderly mare approached the door with a small frown on her face. “Banknote? We already took care of our debt to you!” The mare’s voice was full of anger, and you took a small step back at her outburst. “Storm gave you all the bits that we couldn’t and you greedily snatched it all up. So get off’a my property before I have Big Mac make you leave.” “Granny Smith, I’m afraid that you have me confused with another pony. I’ve never even heard of this Banknote pony.” The elderly mare opens the door slowly, and then she takes a close look at you before her frown fades and turns to a smile. “Too true! My apologies, stranger. I’ll just get back to my baking now. AJ’s upstairs, if you’re looking for her, Twilight.” The mare just walks back in, acting like she had never even accused you of anything, and you give your head a quick shake before you look at Twilight with a questioning expression on your face. She just offers a smile before she shakes her head. “She’s the oldest pony in Ponyville, and it sometimes shows through in the way she acts. But, despite her eccentricity, she’s one of the most loved ponies in town. Nopony around can bake an apple pie quite as well as Granny Smith.” As the unicorn finishes you find yourself at the top of the staircase heading towards the room at the end of the hall. You saw the markings on the door, and they stirred up memories of Applejack’s cutie mark. Twilight knocked on the door a few times as you reached the door, and you heard a quick bout of frantic scrambling, followed by the sound of a slamming drawer. The door flew open, revealing a flustered looking Applejack. She looked like she was about to say something less than polite, but when she noticed who was at the door her angered expression faded nearly instantly, instead being replaced with a happier expression. While you had heard her speak before, you still found her accent to be a pleasure to listen to. It was for that reason alone that you could understand how, and why, Taupe had fallen for her. “Well, hey there Twilight. What brings you by?” As she asked her question she opened the door all the way, allowing you and Twilight to enter her room. “Nothing really, AJ. I’m just showing our now air worthy pegasus here the farm, since he’s only been here once. And I figured that you’d be the perfect pony to give him that tour.” “Well, I suppose I can give him a brief run through the farm. I have a date with Taupe this evening, and I don’t want to get all dirty before we go.” The cowpony grabs her Stetson from the small hook it was on before she heads to the door. “Well, let’s get going. The farm isn’t going to tour itself.” The two mares head out the door, and just as you’re about to follow you notice something sticking out of a drawer. While normally you wouldn’t think of snooping, you feel overcome this one time, and so you give in to your momentary weakness. You pull the paper out of the drawer, and you just barely manage to keep yourself from laughing as you see that it is a picture of Taupe and Applejack standing in front of an almost overfilled cart of apples. What makes you want to laugh, though, is the lipstick smudge that was over Taupe’s face. It was clearly quite old, given that it had faded almost all the way, but the notion wasn’t lost on you. You quickly put the picture back where it was, and then you hurry after the mares. “… And that’s how we wound up saving the farm with Storm’s help. I still think we should pay him back for those four thousand bits, but he refuses to accept them, calling it an investment.” As Applejack finishes recounting the latest tale of the farm you turn back onto the dirt road that led from the gate to the farm house, having made a quick tour of most of the farm. You had listened attentively for the whole trip, finding the stories that came with many of the places on the farm to be quite amusing. As the farm house came into sight once again you spotted Storm taking off from in front of Big Mac, who turned to head back into the house, a small wooden board balanced on his back. When you reached the farm house once again, Applejack turned to face you and Twilight, a smile on her face. “And so, that’s the farm. There’s quite a bit more history here, but I’m certain that you’ll be back some other time, and I’ll be more than happy to share with you when the time comes.” “Thanks, AJ. It was quite an enjoyable experience, and I have to say that Storm is quite an interesting pony. I never thought him to be the type to just give up four thousand bits.” “Yeah, Storm’s quite the character. Full of surprises, and with a history that would make your head spin. But for now, I want to finish getting ready for my date, so if you’ll excuse me.” “Alright, AJ. You enjoy your date with Taupe, and we’ll talk to you more later.” Twilight and you both turned away from the door as it closed, and then you began the walk back into town. The trip was mostly quiet, and so you got to enjoy the blissful quietude of the small town. It still gave you pause to think that less than a week ago you were a flightless pegasus, stuck in Fillydelphia without anypony to share your life with. Twilight must have noticed your pensive outlook, and so she just leaned into you a bit, not forcing you out of your thoughts, but also reminding you that she was there. You slowly wrapped a wing around the mare, and that gesture was enough to shift your thoughts away from your old home, and back to your new home. With that small shift, you realized that this place was your new home. You didn’t feel a need, or a want, to head back to Fillydelphia, and somehow that brought a small frown to your face. You had been forced to go there because of your parents, and so you had abandoned your life in Cloudsdale for them. Then, you had joined the Wonderbolts training camp because your father wanted you to carry him into the spotlight, since he’d never been anything more than average. Following your enrollment in the program you’d been forced to avoid all measure of enjoyable activities at your fathers request. It was at that point that you’d started to rebel against his wishes, doing what you wanted to do for the sake of doing what you wanted to with your life. Granted, many of the decisions you made were stupid ones, but they were your choices. You didn’t regret any of them. Now, you reached the point in your life where things took a turn for the worse. You recalled the storm, and everything that followed it, and your frown intensified for a moment, before you reached the point in your history where you finally came back to Ponyville. A small revelation made itself known to you, and your frown quickly shifted into a smile. Every decision that you’d made had led to happiness, while every decision that had been made for you had ultimately led to unhappiness. “Twilight, do you ever have moments of deep introspection where a whole lot of things suddenly make sense?” The mare beside you nods slightly before she answers. “Yeah, from time to time. Why?” “Well, I just realized something about my life. Something a bit interesting, in my opinion.” The mare looks at you as you continue walking, and you spot the library off in the distance. “Well, I realized that there have been tons of choices in my life, and a good number of them were made for me. And nearly every choice that was made for me led to unhappiness on my part. The choices that I made, though, have almost always led to happiness in the end. I know that it’s a long shot, but maybe I’ve got some weird ability to know what choices are the right ones.” As you finish you reach the door to the library, and Twilight uses her magic to open it as she responds. “Well, I’ve heard of things far more bizarre than that, so it could be possible.” She closes the door behind you as you walk in, and then she begins heading for the kitchen, you following just a few steps behind. As you enter the kitchen you see that Twilight is already gathering some materials for dinner, and so you follow her lead in preparing the meal. It’s nothing overly elaborate, but it’s a meal made with company, and so it is far more fun than you thought it would be. You find yourself laughing at the small jokes that you swap with the unicorn, and she finds your puns to be so bad they’re funny. She casually references a silly story she’d read about books and puns, but you only stay on a given joke for a couple minutes before one of you cracks the next one. As the meal is served you both stop with the jokes long enough to eat without worrying about choking on your meal. Once it is done, though, the jokes resume in full force, and much to your pleasure Twilight runs out of material far before you do. Despite the usual calmness and tranquility of Twilight’s study, it is filled with the sound of laughter as you regale Twilight with the last few jokes you know by heart. As the laughter finally dies down you glance at the clock in the room to see that it isn’t quite as late as you thought it was. Still, with the sun having set an hour ago, it was a good time to go to the balcony and watch the stars some. You climbed out of the chair you were in, and you moved over to the chair Twilight was in as she finally managed to calm down from her laughing fit. When she saw you standing before her she raised an eyebrow for a moment before you pulled her out of the chair and onto your back. She protested against the treatment for a moment, before you silenced her with a quick kiss. The blush seemed to keep her from speaking, and so you quickly made your way to the balcony Twilight had on the second floor. Once you got there you let Twilight off your back, and then you went back in for a moment to grab a blanket and some pillows. Once you had the blanket spread out on the floor you laid down atop it, resting your head on some pillows. Twilight chose to use you as her pillow, though, and so you began to run a hoof through her mane as the two of you enjoyed the tranquility of the night, and the beauty of the stars. A single streak flashed across the sky, and both you and Twilight let out a small gasp at the beauty of the shooting star. A half remembered memory bubbled to the surface of your mind and you decided to act upon it. “Make a wish, Twi. A shooting star is said to grant wishes.” You knew it was just a tale told to enrapture colts and fillies before they went to bed, but you couldn’t keep yourself from saying it. It was a cute little tradition, and so you saw no harm in it. “I’ve made my wish. Did you make yours?” You pause in running your hoof through the unicorn’s mane for a moment, as you think about what you would wish for if given the chance. It was at that moment that you realized that you wouldn’t wish for anything. “I haven’t actually. I can fly again, so I wouldn’t have to wish for that. I’m surrounded by ponies who care for me, so that’s another possibility gone.” You shift your position a bit, and soon you’re looking down on Twilight, a sparkle in your eye. “The only thing I could think to wish for is love, but I’ve already got that too.” You give Twilight a quick kiss, and she reaches her hooves up around your neck, pulling you deeper into the kiss. It doesn’t last long, but the passion behind the kiss was more than enough to make up for the brevity. The mare looks at you for several long minutes, no words passing between the two of you. Finally, after the time seems to drag into eternity, the mare gives you another kiss, this one fleeting. The moment feels so right, that you can’t stop yourself from speaking one last time that evening. “I love you, Twilight.” “And I, you, Aerial Ace.” The mare’s lips pressed against your own once more, and with a bright flash of light the two of you departed the balcony for the privacy of the bedroom. The mare beneath you smiled up at you as you kissed her once more. After several more kisses, and a healthy dose of cuddling you found yourself with your wings wrapped around the mare as she fell asleep. She let out a content sigh as you pulled her closer, and your own rest followed mere moments later, a big smile on your face. (Yes, this is the last chapter. All good things end. Now, this will be followed by an epilogue, or two, and then author's notes. Maybe this time I'll do a better job with them.)