//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 (Explanations and reasoning) // Story: The Second Year; Gravidity // by TwilightsmyMare //------------------------------// It took me a good few minutes to fight my way out of the thicket even with Fluttershy guiding me from above, once I was free she went back to quickly gather up all the gifts her friends had left for her and we walked together back to her cottage. Angel bunny and the rest of her animal friends were waiting for us and mobbed her with hugs and cuddles as soon as she walked in. "Thank you... Thank you all..." She cried hugging them back with tears in her eyes. After she finished with them I knelt down to hug her tightly as well at the door. "Are you going to be ok?" "No... But maybe someday..." "Be strong, if you need me... Or Twilight, any of your friends you know..." "I know, thank you again." "Anytime Fluttershy." "What... What are you going to tell Twilight?" "The truth of course, she'll understand don't you worry." "She'll hate me..." She hung her head breaking my heart again with the sadness in her voice. I gave her another hug brushing her mane back from her eyes when she looked up at me. "Fluttershy. Your friends, good friends. You've been through a lot together and that counts for more then a tiny mistake..." "But..." "Oh she might be a bit mad but I think more at me then you." I stopped her before she could say but again. "Don't you worry, come tomorrow night when we all get together... Well no matter what they'll want to know what happened... Do you want me to ask Twi to keep it between the three of us...?" "The... Kiss?" "No! That is definitely between the three of us alone. I mean... Trixie...?" "Oh... I'll tell everyone... If you think... Do you think they'll understand?" "Without a doubt, you'll see." I bid her farewell heading back into town still worried for her. It was almost time for school to be let out so I detoured again to wait for my little Angel to get out. Soon enough the three of them came barrelling out stopping when they saw me waiting. "Dad!" She squealed soaring over to let me hug her tightly. "Hey Angel, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle. How was school today?" "Boring!" "Interesting!" "Great! We bin learning about agriculture in the old days!" I could see how Apple Bloom would find that especially exciting and Sweetie Belle was always interested in new... Well in this case old things and I could definitely see how Scootaloo would find it tedious to the extreme. I gave her a comforting squeeze. "Don't you worry I'm sure you'll be studying something you like eventually..." Her eyes lit up and she nodded enthusiastically. "Next week we’re going to be studying how they managed the weather in Ponyville in the old days!" From Sweetie Belle and Apple Blooms rolled eyes I figured they'd already had a bit of an education on this subject from her, well then they'd be all the better prepared. "That’s great, so what are you three up to? Can I ask a favour?" "What’s up Dad?" "Well, Fluttershy is down in the dumps and I thought a visit from you three might help her feel better. You could ask her about animal habits and care or maybe just help her out around the cottage. What do you say?" "Sure!" All three echoed. "Anything to help Fluttershy." Scootaloo nodded. "Why is she sad...?" Sweetie Belle asked looking nearly in tears herself at the thought of Fluttershy depressed. "Well... Its grownup stuff, just don't mention Trixie ok?" "Why?! Is she ok?!" "She is Apple Bloom. It's complicated, but it would hurt her feelings if you did ok?" "Ok!" They all agreed. I started to let Scootaloo down but she hung onto me for a moment sniffing at my breast pocket. She looked up at me with her big purple eyes and a little smile. "Please?" I chuckled kissing her on the forehead. "Of course Angel." I let her down digging out my last few candies and giving them each one. "See you later girls!" I called out as they took off; I hoped they could cheer Fluttershy up a bit... How could those three adorable fillies do anything but? I headed back home still a bit nervous about telling Twi exactly what happened... I made my way downstairs to find her stretched out on the cushions, since her belly had grown a bit she found it a bit harder to get comfortable. She must have been taking a break as she looked up as soon as I entered. "Your back, what happened? Is she ok?" I lay down beside her kissing her softly. "Bad news I'm afraid..." I told her what Fluttershy had told me and what she and I had talked about; she gasped in shock and shook her head sadly. "Um..." I cleared my throat nervously. "And then she kissed me..." I didn't give her a chance to react before breaking into apology. "She was just so depressed! Please don't be mad love, it’s my fault..." "I'm not mad." "Your not...?" "Rick... Fluttershy is such a scaredy pony and a sweetheart, a friend to me, to us all! Sometimes she’s just so silly you can't help but hug her! So no it doesn't bother me that in the depths of her despair she reached out to someone who cared for her even if it was you. I trust my friends and you silly." She smiled laying her head on my chest. "Oh... I see thanks... So... If Applejack kissed me you wouldn't be jealous?" "Not a bit." "Pinkie Pie?" "I'm pretty sure she has kissed you! And on the lips too!" She giggled. "She was just stealing the frosting stuck on the side of my lip!" "Sure, sure..." "Rainbow Dash...?" "Still no..." She sounded a bit less sure though. "Rarity...?" She sat up and glared at me a moment. "No..." "Lyra...?" She growled slightly rolling on top of me pinning my shoulders down with her forehooves. "Yes. Your mine, not hers or anyone else’s!" I'd been a bit of a dick and I knew it, I rolled her back onto the pile of pillows suddenly kissing her savagely. "So beautiful when your angry love, and aggressive too. I like it..." "Oh really...?" She raised her eyebrow smiling slyly. "Then here’s what you’re going to do..." Afterwards we lay snuggled together breathing heavily as our hearts calmed down. "Love you so much Twi, and I really am sorry... And for teasing you too." "Silly, if you can't tease your soul mate who can you? I love you so much even if you did... No. I don't want to think about it." I gently tilted her head up and kissed her. "Never happen love. Never. So what about Trixie...?" She sighed sadly. "It would be best if she stayed where she is... For now, I'll have to write the Princess and... Well I don't know, let her know Trixie won't be apprenticing here anymore..." "She really messed up this time..." "She did but... Well, I can understand what she was going through..." "Oh?" "Being Princess Celestia’s student is a rare honour, she only takes one at a time... I was quite young when I first became her student, she kept me well sheltered I went to classes with the other students at the junior Canterlot school of magic and attended private lessons with her when she could. Being unknown was nice but as I got older and more well known as 'Celestias student'... I also heard a lot of 'Celestias pet'..." She grimaced. I chuckled. "Sorry love, I can just picture a young filly you getting very disgruntled at hearing that." She smiled snuggling against me. "You'd be right about that, I went to the Princess about it but she just smiled. 'Don't you worry about what others think about you Twilight Sparkle, what really matters is what you think.' Good advice but at the time I certainly didn't think so... So I ignored the gossip and tried to lose myself in my studies but as I got older yet it got even harder to ignore them... Suddenly something changed, the teasing stopped and every pony wanted to be my friend! It was great at first even Princess Celestias nephew Prince Blueblood was paying attention to me! He was the most handsome and popular stallion at Canterlot high!" I hated him already. "He and his group of friends invited me to hang out with them all the time, mostly we just loitered talking about how great he was and by extension they were too and kind of making fun of other ponies... I... I never really joined in; it didn't seem right to me but..." I squeezed her gently. "But you were popular..." She nodded blushing slightly embarrassed. "Yes... It's funny to look back on it now. That was all that mattered. I was popular. Not that my 'friends' were kind of stuck up jerks, not that they rarely included me in anything and that they always used me to 'help them out' by doing their homework all the time... As time went on my grades began to slip a bit, the Princess was concerned but... I... I lied. Told her I had just been too busy studying other things... And she lightened my workload! I felt so guilty! I still do a bit..." I could see where she was coming from; I had seen plenty of 'cliques' and groups of friend whose sole connection was believing they were better then everyone else when I went to school. Not my thing, I was... I guess you could call me a geek, D&D, comic books, video games and all that. I never really got picked on though, could have been my disposition or the fact I had a few friends here and there in a lot of the groups from the jocks, nerds, geeks, 'head bangers' as they were called in my day even a few with the preps... Or maybe it was because at five foot ten and about two hundred pounds with the ability to leg press almost a thousand pounds I was a bit imposing... So while I hadn't experienced what she had I could understand it for sure. "But that wasn't enough for them was it?" She sighed. "No... It wasn't, I was still doing their homework and assignments but they found out as Princess Celestias student I was allowed in places others couldn't go... She had given me a set of keys that would let me get into almost any room in the school and even some in the palace! At first it was like a game, we'd sneak into the palace down in the unused dungeons to snoop around, smoke and drink alcohol stolen from their parents... I almost threw up the first time they convinced me to try to smoke! I didn't try again and tried to avoid drinking but the kept pushing me and pushing me until I did, I spit it put as soon as I could though eeyuch... Not like getting together with some real friends and a bottle of wine. They liked to break things too vandalizing just for the thrill of it, it was always cleaned up whenever we came back though and no guards to try to catch the culprits either... I didn't understand it at the time but now I see we were keeping Alizarin busy... Remind me to apologise to him will you?" I smiled squeezing her again and kissing her neck. "I will love." "But even that wasn't enough for them; they wanted to see parts of the school and castle that no one else was allowed in. Parts I hadn't even been in! But I had the keys for... I tried to resist, convince them how wrong it was! But they didn't listen, called me a little foal, teachers pet... I tried to resist I really did! But Blueblood tried a different tactic, stared calling me his 'special little mare'... I cracked..." Now I really hated him. "I led them to the archives, no not the ones we're familiar with that Alizarin oversees these are higher in the castle containing information on every pony in Canterlot! Maybe even all of Equestria! They all had minor embarrassments on their records they wanted to expunge... We snuck in easily enough it wasn't considered a high security area so there was rarely even a patrol that passed by. We entered shutting the door behind us my heart was racing a mile a minute as I numbly followed in their hoofsteps then the all spread out to find their own individual files. I just stood there frozen and watching until Blueblood sauntered up perusing his file and dropped another before me. 'Found yours babe, take a look.' He went over to compare notes with his friends as I stared at the file before me; I opened it slowly my guilt overcome by my curiosity. It was written in the Princesses neat script first outlining my family and how I came to her attention and became her student then going on to praise my academic achievements and some she thought I was ready to begin... I... As I read further she went on to write how I was her most promising and favourite student! I burst out in tears lost in my own guilt and sadness not even hearing a routine guard enter and my 'friends' all sneak away without a word to me... And that’s how the guard found me, sitting on the floor alone crying over my file. He clearly didn’t know what to do so he took me to the one pony that would... "Princess Celestia..." I whispered stroking her mane trying to comfort her. "Yes... I think I resisted all of a minute before bursting out in tears again and confessing to everything! I thought for certain she would expel me not only as her student but from regular school as well! She didn't of course... She sat me down as I cried and sniffed holding me tightly as she told me a story... About how she and her younger sister went to the very same school I did, as the older sister and heir to the throne naturally many sought to befriend her and for a time she too fell into the same trap I had, popularity, peer pressure... But her sister... She was an outcast, not as 'important' as her sister and too different for other ponies to approach her... She didn't fit into any of the groups and as time passed she grew more and more depressed. Princess Celestia told me she woke up the moment she caught her sister behind the school cutting herself 'just so she could feel something'... That was her moment of clarity, realizing she was hurting the one who loved her the most. Leaving her alone while she enjoyed the fame and adoration of others... A mistake she made more then once she whispered sadly. I didn't understand it at the time but now I know. That was my moment; I wasn't only hurting myself but Princess Celestia who had put her faith in me! My parents, my brother... She never punished me though nor any of the others but she must have said something to them or maybe their parents because from that day on I was an outcast, teaches pet, bookworm... I didn't care, I'd had my fill of 'friends', the Princess sent Spike to be my assistant though maybe now I think just so I wouldn't be alone... Eventually she sent me to Ponyville and I resisted but finally I found out what true friends were and the rest as they say is history... "Leading up to this day and I'm so glad she did." I smiled holding her tight. "Mmm..." She nuzzled against me. "I do feel bad for not warning Rarity about Blueblood but I knew she had to find out for herself, I hoped maybe he had changed over the years but it appears not... So I know how Trixie might have felt... I just hope this was her moment and someday, maybe... Someday she'll be able to make it up to Fluttershy..." "I hope so too..."