Shattered

by Zeck

It's Not A Dinner Date

Sea Swirl stood in the kitchen, humming a tune and preparing dinner. She kept looking over her shoulder, hoping to see the yellow mare coming down the hallway, but so far there had been nothing. She looked again, but still all she saw was an empty hallway. She tried to push her anxiety away and went back to cooking.

The pot on the stove started to tremble as its contents reached a boil. She pulled it off of the burner and set it on a hotplate with her magic, then went back to cutting up vegetables. Once that was done, she tossed them into the pot. There. Nothing like a comfy vegetable soup to help somepony feel better.

Of course, the mare had to wake up first, but once she did, Sea Swirl was certain she would be starving. She hoped her guest enjoyed milk. She had never met a pony who didn’t, but she supposed it was possible. This was Canterlot after all. Ponies here were a bit more refined in their tastes than the ones back in Ponyville. Still, milk was a universal drink in her mind, and it was better than just plain old water.

Sea Swirl levitated a carrot to her mouth and absentmindedly took a bite from it as she began pulling out dishes and silverware. There were so many things she wanted to ask the mare, and again she found herself looking down the hallway as she chewed on another bite and began to pour the soup. The mare had been asleep in the bedroom for two hours now. What if she never woke up? Maybe Sea Swirl should have—

“Ouch!” she said as some of the hot soup she had been pouring splashed on her. She hissed in pain and tried to blow on herself as she grabbed a towel with her magic. She ran it under the sink and then pressed it against her chest. The pain dimmed instantly and she began to try and scrub the liquid out of her coat. She didn’t want to look like a slob when her guest finally woke up.

Sea Swirl set the towel down and resumed pouring the soup. She filled two bowls and levitated them over to the table, then filled two glasses with ice cold milk and set them on the table too. Finally, she took the pot and placed it in the middle of the table on its hotplate. There. Dinner was all ready. Now she just needed her company to make an appearance and things could get started.

Sea Swirl looked at her simple dining table and cocked her head. Something was missing. She needed to make this mare feel welcomed. After all, she had nearly been killed, and now she was going to be waking up in a strange place and be offered a meal by a complete stranger. For all Sea Swirl knew, the mare could wake up and run out of her house screaming that somepony was holding her against her will. That wouldn’t go over very well, so she needed to find some way to make the atmosphere more inviting.

Candles! Sea Swirl clicked her tongue in excitement as the idea jumped into her head. Everypony loved candles, or at least ponies in Canterlot did. All the big restaurants always had candles burning at their tables in the evening. That would surely help calm the mare’s nerves once she woke up.

The Unicorn walked into her living room and pulled two sea-scented candles from the closet and then walked back into her kitchen. She put both of them on the table and rummaged around for a match. She found one and lit the candles with it. She then turned down the other lights until only the table was fairly illuminated. There. It looked just like a high-end Canterlot restaurant, minus the fancy waiters, fancy food, and other ponies. Okay, so maybe it didn’t look exactly like that, but it was still a nice atmosphere she decided. No pressure for her guest to deal with.

Sea Swirl looked down the hallway again and cocked her head. She had already been in the bedroom countless times since bringing the mare home. At first, she had just sat in there, watching her sleep. Not in a creepy sort of way, of course, but just to make sure she was comfortable. When she didn’t wake up, Sea Swirl had tried to occupy herself, whether with cleaning, or taking tally of her inventory, or anything else, but everything she had tried hadn’t worked. She had always found herself wandering back into the bedroom and checking on the mare.

Finally, she had forced herself to go prepare dinner, knowing that she couldn’t conveniently find an excuse to leave and check on the pony while the stove was on. It had worked, but now dinner was ready. It was sitting right there on the table, in the candlelight. And it was getting cold. No pony wanted to eat cold soup. She should probably go see if her guest was awake yet. Yes, because she didn’t want the soup to get cold. That was all.

Sea Swirl trotted down the hall and stopped at the bedroom door. She knocked quietly, then opened it a little. She poked her head in and whispered, “Hello?”

The Earth pony was still asleep on the bed. Sea Swirl had tucked her under the velvet covers and propped her head up on the down pillows. She looked perfectly normal, as if she was simply sleeping and hadn’t nearly died, but she had looked like that for hours now. Sea Swirl was starting to get worried that she might actually never wake up.

The Unicorn entered the room and carefully walked over to the bed. She reached out to gently shake the mare, but stopped before she touched her. The bruise on her face was going down, but it was still clearly visible. A dark purple spot on her yellow face. It almost matched the shade of her long wavy mane, a strand of which had fallen down into the pony’s face. Sea Swirl reached out and brushed it aside, and the pony stirred.

Sea Swirl jumped back and crashed into the chest of drawers she had in her room. She turned around and tried to steady it, but her tail whipped around and smacked the lamp she had sitting on the nightstand. She turned again and dove to catch, completely forgetting about her magic. It landed in her hooves as she slammed into the ground. She let out a breath and chuckled, then winced when she heard something fall off of her dresser. Then another, and another, and another. It wasn’t long before it was a constant sound of thump-thump-thump as the pearls rolled and fell onto the floor.

Sea Swirl cringed at each sound. It seemed to last forever and she felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment as the moment dragged on. She hoped the noise didn’t wake her guest. She didn’t want to startle her.

The falling pearls finally ceased and Sea Swirl stood. She placed the lamp back on its nightstand and looked down at her sleeping guest, grateful that the noise hadn’t woken her.

Except that it had. Sea Swirl found herself starring at a pair of blue eyes. And they didn’t look too happy, judging by how narrow they were.

“Um…sorry about that,” Sea Swirl laughed as she backed away from the bed. “I didn’t mean to, uh, wake you. I mean, I did, but not like that. I was just going to give you a little nudge and—”

“Who are you?” the Earth pony asked in a quiet and icy voice.

“Me? Oh, I’m Sea Swirl,” Sea Swirl replied as she tapped her chest. “Nice to meet you…um, what’s your name?”

The Earth pony blinked once, but didn’t take her eyes off of Sea Swirl.

“Uh…do you not remember it?” the Unicorn asked. “You did have a pretty—”

“Symphony,” the Earth pony replied curtly.

“Oh, sorry. I don’t have any music, but I can—”

“My name,” the Earth mare said. “It is Symphony.”

“Oh!” Sea Swirl blushed and then smiled. “Nice to meet you, Symphony.”

Symphony tore her eyes away from Sea Swirl for a brief moment and looked around the room, but quickly returned her gaze to the Unicorn. “Where am I?”

“My bed,” Sea Swirl said with a proud smile. Symphony just raised an eyebrow and drew the covers closer. “Oh! Oh, no, I don’t mean it like that. I would never! Er, I mean, you’re in my room, in my house in Canterlot. I thought it would be more comfortable that just dumping you on the couch.”

Symphony relaxed a little, but she still held the covers close. “The bed is rather nice,” she said. “How did I get here though?”

“I brought you here. Carried you all the way up from the bottom of the mountain.” Sea Swirl stuck her chest out a little as she spoke and smiled even more.

“Why?”

Sea Swirl’s chest instantly deflated and the smile fell from her face. “Um…because? I wasn’t about to just leave you to drown.”

Symphony hung her head and pulled the covers even tighter. Her ears drooped lower than Sea Swirl had ever seen on a pony. Sea Swirl wanted to reach out and hug her, but the way Symphony was acting caused her to stop.

“So…” Sea Swirl stood in the bedroom and gently kicked the floor. Symphony continued to look down at the covers, but her eyes occasionally glanced up at the Unicorn. When their gazes met, both of them quickly looked away, but they soon found themselves glancing at one another again.

“Thank you for saving me,” Symphony whispered finally.

“No problem!” Sea Swirl replied, happy to finally have an excuse to talk again. “I bet you’re hungry, right?”

“I suppose…”

“Great! I made dinner. It’s in the kitchen. I’ll give you a few minutes to collect yourself and then we can eat.” Sea Swirl turned to leave, never taking her eyes off of Symphony, and thus didn’t look where she was going. She stepped right on the spilt pearls and lost her balance. She crashed into the chest of drawers again and then hit the floor, her head throbbing from the impact.

“Are you okay?” Symphony asked, with what Sea Swirl thought was genuine concern.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good,” the Unicorn said as she rubbed her head and carefully picked herself up. “Just give me a second to clean these up.” She used her magic to gather the white stones and placed them all back into the bowl, trying not to look at Symphony as she did. She feared she wasn’t making a very good first impression.

“Those are…very pretty,” Symphony said.

“Yeah…they look better when they’re not scattered all over the floor.” Sea Swirl walked out the door and turned around with a smile. “Well, dinner’s ready whenever you want. Better hurry though. The soup tastes better when it’s warm.” With that, she closed the door and practically skipped down the hallway to the kitchen.

Okay, so maybe not the best way in introduce myself, but she doesn’t seem to mind, she thought as she took her spot at the table. She suddenly wished she had chairs instead of just sitting on the floor, but she had never needed them. She hoped Symphony wouldn’t mind. Hopefully she wasn’t used to having a comfortable plush cushion under her while she ate.

Sea Swirl sat at the table and did her best not to stare down the hallway. The soup in front of her was starting to cool to just the right temperature and its aroma was making her stomach growl. She looked down at the bowl and licked her lips. Saving Symphony, carrying her, and making dinner had made her terribly hungry. She didn’t want to be rude and start eating without the Earth pony, but maybe she could have just a little bite while she waited.

Sea Swirl levitated a spoon full of soup to her mouth, blew on it once, and then put it in her mouth. The flavors flooded her mouth and she closed her eyes. The soup was delicious, and it was just warm enough to be tasty but not burn her tongue. She chewed a piece of carrot slowly, relishing each bite until she swallowed it and pulled the spoon from her mouth. Symphony was surely going to love it.

“Taste good?”

Sea Swirl’s raspberry-shaded eyes snapped open and she froze. Symphony was sitting at the other end of the table, her eyes locked on her without a hint of a smile on her face.

“Um…yeah,” Sea Swirl said, swallowing again and quickly putting the spoon back on the table. “So good that I couldn’t wait any more. Sorry about that. Why don’t you give it a try?”

Symphony eyed Sea Swirl and then glanced down at the bowl in front of her. She sniffed it once. “What is it?”

“Just vegetable soup,” Sea Swirl said. “Sorry if you’re used to eating fancier food. I…um, didn’t have anything else to make on such sort notice. But I promise it’s good!”

“Very well.” Symphony elegantly lifted the bowl with her front hooves. She brought it to her mouth and took a small sip, and then placed the bowl back on the table. She grabbed a napkin and wiped her lips and then placed it on her lap.

“Well? It’s good, right?” Sea Swirl asked as she leaned forward. She had suddenly forgotten all about how hungry she was. All she cared about was whether or not her guest liked her cooking.

“It is…different,” Symphony said after a moment of silence.

“Oh…” Sea Swirl replied. Her ears fell and she sat back down and stared at the bowl in front of her.

“I did not say it was bad,” Symphony replied. Sea Swirl looked up to see her raising the bowl to her lips again. She tilted it forward and drained the contents into her mouth. When she placed it back on the table, the bowl was half empty.

“Glad to hear it!” Sea Swirl said, the smile returning to her face. She reached out with her magic to grab her spoon again, but then she caught Symphony looking at her. She wasn’t certain, but she thought she saw some sort of hostility in the blue eyes.

Sea Swirl suddenly felt very silly. Symphony was an Earth pony. She probably wasn’t very good at using silverware, and watching Sea Swirl use her magic was probably making her feel uncomfortable. So Sea Swirl reached out with her hooves and lifted her bowl to her mouth. She drank the soup the same way Symphony had, allowing the broth and vegetables to fall into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed, and then put her bowl back on the table.

“There’s plenty more if you want,” she said nervously. She hoped she hadn’t offended her guest.

“Yes please,” Symphony said. “It is rather delicious.”

“You got it!” Sea Swirl grabbed the soup pot with her magic and levitated it over to the Earth pony. She pulled the lid off and poured more of the soup into the bowl, and then returned the pot to its hotplate in the middle of the table. Then she realized that she wanted seconds as well and quickly refilled her own bowl.

The two ponies ate in relative silence for a while. Symphony would occasionally take small sips from her bowl, no longer lifting it to her mouth, while Sea Swirl tried her best not to stare at her. Finally, she could take it no longer. She took a long drink from her milk and then looked the Earth pony straight in the eye.

So who tried to kill you?

“So…you like music?” Sea Swirl wanted to smack herself in the face for asking such a stupid question.

“Why do you ask?” Symphony asked as she too took a small sip from her glass of milk. Sea Swirl smiled slightly when she saw the mare’s expression soften at the taste.

“Your cutie mark,” she said. “It’s some sort of music note, isn’t it?”

“It is a quaver.”

“Um…a what?”

Symphony sighed and rolled her eyes once. “An eighth note.”

“Oh,” Sea Swirl said. “Sorry, I don’t know much about music. But I like to listen to it. Do you play anything?”

“No.”

“Oh.” Sea Swirl wanted to ask why Symphony had a cutie mark for music if she didn’t play anything, but the way the mare had answered the question implied she didn’t want to talk about it.

“Do you like animals?” Symphony asked after a moment of uncomfortable silence.

“Yeah,” Sea Swirl replied. “I mean, I don’t have a pet or anything, but I don’t mind them.”

“Oh. I thought, with your cutie mark…”

Sea Swirl looked at the two dolphins on her flank. “This? Naw. I got this because of how much time I spend in the water. I swear, sometimes I think I have some Sea pony blood in my veins.”

“Have you ever been to the ocean?” Symphony’s eyes glistened with the question and for the first time, Sea Swirl felt comfortable talking to her.

“Yeah, lots of times,” she said. “I love going to the ocean. Nothing but water as far as the eye can see. And the water is so clear too! It’s not like the lakes in Equestria, where it can get kind of muddy and murky. And the coral reefs are unlike anything you’ve ever seen. It’s really amazing.” Sea Swirl sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

“I have never been to the ocean,” Symphony replied quietly.

“I was thinking of going this weekend actually,” Sea Swirl said as she looked down from the ceiling. “Do you want to come along? It can be just the two of us.”

“Excuse me?” Symphony raised an eyebrow as she stared across the table.

“Um, I didn’t mean it like that,” Sea Swirl said, waving her hooves and shaking her head frantically. “I meant that it’s really nice, and there are places where there wouldn’t be a single other pony around. It’s nice and peaceful, just sitting and listening to the waves slowly lapping on the shore. I think you’d like it.”

“No thank you,” Symphony said. “I…can’t swim.”

“I can teach you,” Sea Swirl said. “I mean, if you want to learn. If you don’t, you don’t have to go swimming. It’s fun just to walk along the shore and chase the waves. Plus, I’ll be right there beside you, so you wouldn’t have anything to worry about.”

“I see,” Symphony said. In the dim candlelight, Sea Swirl couldn’t tell if the mare was sad or angry, but she got the sense that she had said something wrong. Again.

The two mares finished their dinner in silence. Sea Swirl struggled for something to say that wasn’t impolite, but all she could think of now were questions that she doubted Symphony wanted to answer. In fact, she got the feeling that Symphony didn’t want to talk at all, judging by the way she kept avoiding eye contact and refusing to smile.

“Thank you for the meal,” the Earth pony said after a while. She stood and turned to leave the kitchen. “It was quite acceptable.”

“Um, thanks,” Sea Swirl said. She too stood and followed Symphony out into the living room. “W-Where are you going?”

Symphony stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Home. It is rather late.”

“Oh,” Sea Swirl said. “I…I thought…I mean, are you sure?”

Symphony turned around and now Sea Swirl was certain she had said something wrong. The mare had a scowl on her face so fierce that the Unicorn took a half step back.

“Why would I not be sure?” she demanded. “Did you think I was going to stay here? With you?”

“No!” Sea Swirl said. “I-I mean, you’re welcome to, b-but I wouldn’t force you.”

“Then I shall take my leave.” Symphony turned to the door and moved to open it.

“Can I at least walk you home?” Sea Swirl pleaded. “I wouldn’t want you to get hurt or something.”

Symphony again turned around and her scowl had worsened. “What? You think that just because I’m a Earth pony that I can’t take care of myself? That I need some Unicorn to look after me?”

“N-No, I don’t—”

“Well, I’ll have you know that I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you. I’ve done just fine without a Unicorn’s help my entire life.”

“But what if they come after you again?” Sea Swirl blurted out without thinking. She instantly covered her mouth with her hoof, but it was too late.

Symphony froze and blinked slowly. “What are you talking about?”

“The…the ponies that attacked you,” Sea Swirl said quietly. “The ones that gave you that bruise. And threw you off of the cliff. I thought you could stay here until—”

Symphony grinned, but there was no humor in the expression. It was ice cold, a look that Sea Swirl believed she probably practiced. It was so chilling that the Unicorn instantly stopped talking and swallowed the rest of her words.

“So now the truth comes out,” Symphony said darkly. “Is that what you thought would happen? That just because you saved my life that I’d…sleep with you?”

“No, I—”

“Please,” Symphony sneered. “The signs were obvious. Putting me in your bed. The candlelight dinner. Not wanting me to leave. Offering to walk me home. Being nice to me. I mean, how desperate are you? It’s actually rather pathetic. As if I’d ever sleep with a pony like you. I have plenty of stallions begging to sleep with me. Why would I ever choose you? You’re just a no-name Unicorn. You know, I was wondering why you took me to your home instead of, you know, a hospital. I thought maybe you were just stupid, but it turns out you’re something much worse.”

With that, Symphony turned and stormed out the door without so much as a look back. Sea Swirl stood in the doorway and watched her go, too shocked and hurt to say anything. It wasn’t until she realized that tears were falling from her eyes that she found the will to move, and by then Symphony had long since vanished into the night.

Sea Swirl turned and slowly closed the door. She locked it and then went to the kitchen. She took one look at the dishes that were still on the table, but she didn’t have any desire to touch them. She blew out the candles—Why did I think those were a good idea?—and then made her way to her bedroom. She climbed into the bed, painfully aware of the lingering warmth, and curled up into a ball.

“I was just trying to be nice,” she whispered as she clutched her tail between her forelegs and allowed the tears to fall from her eyes.

* * *

Symphony tried to stay mad, tried to keep her stomping pace through Canterlot, but she only made it to the end of the block. There, she stopped and looked over her shoulder.

Sea Swirl’s home was located in one of the nicest areas of Canterlot. The bed Symphony had woken up in was the nicest she had slept in in years. The soup, while clearly not fit to be served in fancy restaurants, had been delicious nonetheless. And the Unicorn had even gone out of her way to eat it the same way as her.

Symphony wanted to go back. Sea Swirl had seemed genuinely nice, even if she was a Unicorn. No, especially for a Unicorn. She had gone out of her way to not only take care of Symphony, but had also saved her life.

“Tch. Too bad all she wanted was to…” Symphony let the sentence trail off before she even finished. She knew what she had said wasn’t true. She wasn’t even sure anymore why she had said it. She had just been so mad at the time, and so scared. She had been certain that Sea Swirl was plotting something, and waiting for the trap to spring had been torture for the Earth pony.

Symphony took a half step back toward Sea Swirl’s house, but she stopped. “She probably hates me now,” she whispered as she hung her head. Of course Sea Swirl hated her now. Anypony would hate her after she repaid such kindness the way she had. Sea Swirl was just another name on an already long list now.

“Well, fine,” Symphony said as she stomped her hoof and turned away from the Unicorn’s nice house. “Like I care if she hates me. I don’t need her. I don’t care what she thinks about me. She’s just like all those other Unicorns.”

Symphony walked through the quiet streets of Canterlot, grumbling about how unfair her life was. She tried not to notice as the streets became slightly less glamorous and buildings didn’t shine quite as brightly. She knew she was entering the lesser section of Canterlot. She didn’t need the reminders.

Symphony reached her apartment complex and walked to her door. She saw a note attached to it, but she didn’t bother reading it. She pulled it down with her teeth and walked inside, tossing the paper on top of the other notices.

“Sea Swirl could probably pay for all of those easily,” she sneered, but then her expression softened. Sea Swirl could probably not only pay, but she probably would too, without a second thought.

Symphony briefly thought about it, but she shoved the idea aside. She didn’t need that Unicorn’s sympathy. She had made it this far in Canterlot by herself. No hoofouts, no charity cases, no connections, and no friends. She hadn’t even gotten help from her parents, not that they would have offered it. She wasn’t about to put herself in the debt of somepony, especially some rich, snooty Unicorn.

Symphony walked into her small bedroom and collapsed on her bed. It wasn’t as comfortable as Sea Swirl’s. In fact, it wasn’t comfortable at all. The mattress was old and worn and the covers and blankets were made of cheap material. She tried to rest her head on her pillow, but the thing was so lumpy.

Frustrated, she slammed her face down on the pillow in an attempt to flatten it out and winced. She gently put her hoof to her face and touched the bruise there. Sea Swirl had thought that some pony had attacked her and thrown her off the cliff, but the Unicorn had only been half right. That stupid marefriend of Fiddlesticks had punched her, yes, but no pony had thrown her off of the cliff.

“Stupid Sea Swirl,” Symphony mumbled as she drifted off to a restless sleep. “I didn’t ask her to save me…”

Author's Note:

Symphony appears for literally one second (maybe less) in 'Sweet and Elite' next to Octavia and the others playing at the Garden party. As for why she is the way she is, and why she despises Unicorns, it will make sense in time. At least I hope it will.

As for poor Sea Swirl, don't worry about her. She's learned to bounce back quick, but it doesn't mean that it didn't hurt.

Comments

[Sphinx_Herald]

Too bad I can only give one like.

Also, I noticed a small error.

It thought it would be more comfotable than just dumping you on the couch.

I belive you were going for "I"
Until next time,
-Sphinx

ps, It is horribly slow to write a comment like this on X-box.

[Zeck]

4708655
Fixed! And I got a new like this time around, so that makes up for it I guess.

[Chromesthesia]

Ouch, poor Sea Swirl. She needs a hug or two.

The first chapter felt sort of incomplete to me, like I mentioned before, but this chapter definitely provided what was missing. Still not so fond of Symphony, buuuuuuut... she's growing on me. I'm finding the pair intriguing enough to want to see more of them, especially now that they've actually met. The contrast between Sea Swirl's and Symphony's lifestyles was great, and I thought Symphony's assumptions were pretty believable (Sea Swirl being rich and successful, candlelit dinner, etc). Hurtful, but believable.

Can't say that I'm not really looking forward to Symphony apologizing, though.

[Zeck]

4778196
Yay! Glad you liked the second part. I'm also pleased to hear that Symphony is growing on you, but that you don't like her just yet. That's the idea. She's a complicated pony with some serious problems as we'll find out, but that can only excuse her attitude so much.

Needless to say, that apology isn't going to be simple...