The Last Pegasus

by Tealove

New Friends

It was hard to get to know a pony when they didn't really know anything about themselves but their name, but Pinwheel tried her hardest all the same. The hospital wanted to keep Skies for another night just to be safe, and Pinwheel stayed as long as she was allowed. Thunder Clap and Candy Pop stayed for awhile as well but it was Pinwheel who decided to devote her time to trying to dig something out of the mysterious pegasus mare with odd blue eyes. Skies watched Pinwheel as she cheerfully shared stories and facts about her own life and talked about things of Ponyville but she never offered anything more than a polite nod or an occasional muttering of acknowledgment. Every once in awhile Pinwheel would catch her looking at the bell necklace she wore and swore to herself she could practically feel a shift in Skies' demeanor.

"Do you like it?" Pinwheel finally asked at one point, glancing down to look at her necklace. "I found it on the beach just a little while before I found you."

Skies nodded and said nothing.

"Candy Pop, Thunder Clap and I have always found really neat stuff down there after a big storm, but you're the first pony we've found." Pinwheel sat beside the hospital bed and tilted her head curiously. "Can you remember anything before the storm?"

The minty green pegasus shook her head, her eyes halfway closed in either boredom or weariness, it was hard to tell which. Still Pinwheel stayed and talked with her for awhile longer until one of the nurses finally told her visiting hours were over and politely asked her to leave. From the hospital she went straight to the bookstore and up to Candy Pop's apartment. Thunder Clap was there as well and they both looked at Pinwheel expectantly.

"Did you find anything out?" Thunder Clap asked.

"No," said Pinwheel sadly. "She didn't say more than three words to me all day."

Thunder Clap frowned. "I think she's hiding something."

Rolling her eyes, Candy Pop shook her head. "Or she could be, oh I don't know, depressed because she has no idea who she is or where she came from, not to mention she's in a town she's never been to full of ponies she's never seen before in her life."

"Okay. That could be a possibility, too."

Candy looked at Pinwheel. "You tried, Pinwheel. There's nothing else you could have done."

"I'm worried about what happens tomorrow when they let her go." Pinwheel looked at her friends with a wrinkled brow. "She doesn't know where she's from so it's not like she can just fly home. Where will she have to go?"

"She's going to stay with me." Candy Pop nodded to a bed she'd made next to her own bed. It was nothing extravagant, just a simple cot with a pillow and some blankets, but it was close to the fire and looked cozy.

"Yeah, Candy Pop thinks it's a smart idea to have a stranger who hardly talks share her apartment with her."

Candy Pop gave Thunder Clap a look of exasperation. "You're just letting Bon Bon and Moonflower get to you. She's not dangerous, Clap, she's lost. And besides, only pegasai have gone missing. Out of any of us, I think I'm the safest here." She turned to Pinwheel. "I haven't asked Scribes yet if it's okay but I don't think she'll mind."

"Scribes is a pegasus," Thunder Clap pointed out. "What if she goes missing? What if she's already missing?!"

"We saw her this morning when we were leaving, remember, feather brain?"

"Oh...yeah."

Pinwheel smiled sadly. "Maybe you'll be able to get more out of her than I did. You're such a good pony, Candy Pop, for letting her stay with you."

The unicorn shrugged. "If you didn't have a housefull you'd have done the same thing." She looked at Clap. "Little Miss Suspicious and Cynical over here, though."

"I prefer Cautious and Misanthropic."

Candy Pop laughed. "Which are just flowery words for what I said. Do you girls want to spend the night and we can maybe take Skies out to breakfast in the morning?"

"I can't," lamented Pinwheel. "With all the craziness that happened today I completely ignored my chores. I really should get home and do them so I don't have to worry about them tomorrow."

"I have to cover half a shift tonight," added Thunder Clap. "But we can all still have breakfast in the morning."

"Yeah, that would be fun." Pinwheel bit her lip. "Should we invite Moonflower?'

The other two looked at her like she'd just spoken another language. "Why would we want to do that?" asked Thunder Clap.

"Well because she was there when Skies woke up and it would be another sort of familiar face. Plus, Moonflower seemed kind of nice to Skies. Maybe she's not as weird or snobby as everypony thinks."

"I don't know." Candy Pop and Thunder Clap looked at one another, both coming to a silent agreement before Candy gave Pinwheel a tight smile. "Maybe another time. Three strangers is enough at once. If Skies seems to be settling in, maybe then we can talk about inviting Moonflower to join us for something."

"Oh. Okay." Clearly not agreeing with her friends, Pinwheel stood. "What time should we meet in the morning?"

"How about eight?"

"Works for me," said Clap.

"Me, too." Pinwheel took a breath in. "Okay then, see you in the morning!"

The two pegasus ponies headed downstairs together, leaving Candy Pop to spend the night by herself.

In the morning when Pinwheel and Thunder Clap returned they met a rather confused looking Candy Pop outside the bookstore. "What's up?" Clap asked.

"It's weird," said Candy Pop in a distracted tone, "but it's probably nothing?"

Pinwheel tilted her head. "What's probably nothing?"

"Well Scribes isn't in yet. She's usually here before seven unless she's decided to take a holiday or something, but there's no sign."

"Maybe she forgot," Pinwheel suggested, and Candy Pop nodded.

"It's possible. As sweet as she is, she can be a bit flighty. Still, you'd think she'd remember telling me she was closing down if it was for more than a few hours or something."

Thunder Clap lowered herself into a crouch and looked around. "Or maybe she was...ponynapped!"

"Give it a rest already." Candy Pop dismissed the red pegasus with a wave of her hoof. "Nopony is missing or taken, okay? Let's just go get Skies and have a nice breakfast. I'm sure by the time we get back she'll be here. Everypony has an off morning once in awhile."

Conversation fell onto easy topics as they headed for the hospital, each one of them expressing their hopes that Skies would be well enough to be released and even want to hang out with them. Candy Pop told the others that she was thinking about sending a letter to Canterlot in hopes of reaching Princess Celestia, but Clap reminded her that the princess had bigger problems to worry about than some random mare showing up in Ponyville.

"She's right," said Pinwheel. She lifted a hoof to hide a giggle, pointing to the sky. "Like missing pegasai." Scribes raced overhead, her tri-colored mane a mess and a panicked look on her face that said she knew how late she was. "See, Clap? Nothing to worry about."

"I still think it's all just a rumor that's been blown out of proportion." Candy Pop waved to her employer before she disappeared. "If there was really this weird outbreak of missing ponies, why wouldn't it have happened here?"

"You're probably right," Thunder Clap agreed. "Like one or two went missing for some random reason and then somepony heard it was three or four, somepony else heard six or seven, and it just grew from there."

Candy Pop nodded. "Unfortunately that's what happens when gossip gets spread like that."

Pinwheel cleared her throat and nodded subtly toward the front doors of the hospital. "Speak of the devil. Sort of."

Bon Bon was exiting the tall building with her head held high and a certain twinkle in her gaze that said she was well pleased with something. Seeing the three approaching ponies her lips twitched into a wide smile that was as smug as it was unnerving. "Good morning, girls."

"Hey, Bon Bon," said Pinwheel politely. "How are you?"

"Just fine, thank you. And yourself?" Before any of them had a chance to reply she continued. "I've just been in to see Sugarmint Skies. Poor thing, she doesn't know her up from down at the moment. It's lucky she ended up here in Ponyville instead of someplace like Manehattan of Trottingham. She'd just be another face in the crowd there. Here she can be taken care of and make some friends. Like me! I figured since she was a stranger here she would need a place to stay so I made up my guest room for her and she'll be staying with me until she can get back on her hooves."

The three of them just looked at her and Bon Bon, clearly satisfied with their stunned silences, nodded. "Anyway, I am off to get some things from the market. Can't have an empty icebox with company in the house." Without another word they rushed inside to see if this was true.

"Maybe we can change her mind," Pinwheel hoped.

Skies was out of bed when they got to her room, her back to the door and her eyes trained out the window. Upon hearing hooves approaching she turned with an expression that would have been blank if it weren't for the hints of sadness in her odd eyes.

"Good morning," said Pinwheel cheerfully. "How did you sleep?"

"I didn't."

The pale pegasus blinked. "Oh."

Thunder Clap and Candy Pop glanced at each other. "So we saw Bon Bon," Candy hedged. "She said you were staying with her?"

Skies tilted her head. "I am?"

"You didn't tell her you were?"

Shaking her head, Skies frowned slightly. "She told me I was. I never agreed or disagreed."

"Good," said Clap, "because she's the worst. You should stay with Candy Pop. She lives above the bookstore in a big apartment by herself. Bon Bon lives with her friend Lyra who is actually kind of awesome but that earth pony..."

"Is the worst?" parroted Skies. Her lips twitched in what might have been a smile but didn't quite make it. She looked at Candy Pop. "If you really don't mind."

"Not at all." The unicorn smiled warmly. "It would be nice to have another pony around."

Thunder Clap flapped her wings to hover just a few feet off the floor. "I'm going to enjoy breaking the news to Bon Bon. Meet you guys at the cafe!"

Before anyone could say anything else the dark red pegasus was gone. "Cafe?" asked Skies.

"We thought we could all go out for breakfast," enthused Pinwheel. "That is, if you're allowed to leave."

"Breakfast sounds good. What about the other unicorn who was with you?"

Pinwheel had to bite down on a smirk as she looked at Candy Pop. The unicorn gave an embarrassed chuckle. "Moonflower usually works during the day. We thought it would be nice if it was just us three. I hope that's okay."

"Of course." This time Skies managed a small smile. "I'm sorry, I don't think I got your names yesterday."

"I'm Pinwheel and this is Candy Pop. Thunder Clap is the pegasus who just left."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm sorry about yesterday."

"Please don't apologize!" Pinwheel moved to stand before Skies. "Really, there's nothing to worry about."

Candy Pop nodded in agreement. "I can't imagine what it must be like to not remember anything about yourself. We just want to help by giving you a place to stay until you start to remember."

"And new friends," added Pinwheel with a smile. It made Skies smile in return.

"That would be very nice."

"Come on then," prompted Candy. "Let's go get some breakfast."

At the cafe, Clap was more than happy to regale her thrilling jaunt into town to find Bon Bon and not-so-gently breaking the news to her that Skies would be staying with Candy. Apparently Clap had never seen a pony blow smoke from their ears before, and she was laughing about it again as she munched on her hashbrowns.

"She can't really be that bad," said Skies, looking at the three friends.

"She's horrible!" Clap exclaimed. "If things are too quiet around here she makes up stuff to say."

"I haven't heard her do that," countered Pinwheel kindly. "She can be a hooffull but everypony has their moments. I think Bon Bon just talks a lot because she wants to feel important and like she has a lot of friends. Sometimes I feel really bad for her."

"Don't," said Clap. "She brings it on herself."

As the three began telling Skies about Ponyville and other ponies she should meet or avoid, her gaze wandered and her attention drifted from thing to thing. She took in the thatched roof of the cafe, the stallion behind the counter, the mailmare with different angled eyes, the cream colored earth pony with orange curls at a table just down a ways from them. Skies took in the expression the mare wore, one of concern as she spoke in hushed tones with an almost white colored unicorn with pink hair. The others had stopped talking when they noticed Skies wasn't paying attention. Now their gazes followed hers, though they at least had the decency to try and be subtle about it.

"I don't know, Twinkleshine," said the earth pony. "It's been three days. I know Medley was upset but to just disappear like that?"

"Medley's missing?" Thunder Clap didn't have any reservations about dropping into the conversation, especially once she recognized the name of one of her pegasus friends.

Twinkleshine and Golden Harvest looked at the pegasus and Golden Harvest nodded. "A few days ago she was bothered about somepony who said something to her. I don't even know what. When I asked her if she wanted to talk about it she said she just wanted to go home and be alone so she left and that was the last I saw of her. I thought about asking somepony to go check on her-"

Clap cut her off with a shake of her head. "No, now that you mention it I haven't seen her for a few days either. In fact that was why I had half a shift last night, because she didn't show up."

Golden Harvest's brow wrinkled. "I didn't want to say anything because of all the rumors going around. But it's been three days."

"I think we should tell the mayor," said Twinkleshine.

"So do I," Clap agreed.

"I'll go now," said the earth pony. "I can't eat anyway."

As the two left, Thunder Clap looked at her two friends and Skies. "Medley's not a flake. She wouldn't bail for three days just because her feelings were hurt."

Candy Pop pursed her lips. "Clap, you don't really think-"

"I don't know." The pegasus glanced at Skies. "I don't know. I just know I'm not very hungry anymore. Come on, let's get out of here."

Comments

[Deathpony]

cant wait for the next chapter