By the time the skies became pitch black among Prince Artemis’ night, Elusive was carrying a fretful bite of his lip while treading along a long-forgotten path. He and Butterscotch were several miles from the nearest township, so the only illumination they had came from the moon and stars above. Even though Elusive had his horn lit in order to carry a lantern, that bulb of yellow light only lit up the few feet straight ahead of them. Fortunately for the unicorn, it seemed that the yellow pegasus knew exactly where he was going as they followed the faint tread in the grass that used to be a road.
After how hard he fought with Butterscotch to reach this point, Elusive knew better than to question his sense of direction. But considering how faint and overgrown the “road” they were on looked beneath their hooves, the unicorn couldn’t help sighing in unease before he asked, “So, Butterscotch… How well do you know this road?”
“Well, I used to work there part-time over the summer months,” answered Butterscotch as he kept a steady trot through the unkempt grass. Despite how dark and desolate the place was, the pegasus didn’t seem to show much fear with Elusive by his side. Of course, considering how often he traveled into the Everfree Forest for supplies or to find wounded animals, it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that his sheepishness wasn’t apparent now. But alas, Butterscotch still grew a somewhat nervous expression as he caught sight of some off-center structures shadowed against the moonlight ahead of them. “B-But, ummm… It has been a couple years since I last came by this region. I think Blitz was the only one to ever visit here.”
“And you’re sure he’s here?” asked Elusive worriedly. Despite not wanting to second-guess Butterscotch’s guess as to where their friend flew off to, it seemed like a gamble when the two were so far away from civilization. Plus, it didn’t help that when Butterscotch went to visit Rainbow Blitz, he found that the stunt-pony was nowhere in his home. “I mean,” added the unicorn hesitantly, “there are a lot of places he could’ve went off to. How do you know he’ll come out here?”
Butterscotch stopped and pointed his muzzle down to the ground as he sighed. “Elusive,” stated the meek stallion in a firm and unwavering tone, “whenever he’s like this, he always comes out here. Even if he went somewhere else first, he’d still come around here eventually.”
Noting that Butterscotch sounded sure of his claim, Elusive nodded before the two continued their trek towards their destination. “Well… alright then,” replied Elusive timidly, not wanting to push his friend’s insistence any further than he already had.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Elusive and Butterscotch walked through the last of a thick patch of grass before their hooves stepped on a slab of cracked concrete. Butterscotch didn’t seem to mind the change in footing, but Elusive paused for a moment and caught sight of what was in front of them. The unicorn could see that in the middle of this desolate field, a large portion of the grass was dug away and replaced with what looked to be an abandoned construction site. Among the vast stretches of decayed asphalt and exposed earth, several large slabs of concrete were laid down long ago to make way for foundations. In the distance, Elusive could see that several steel beams and wooden frames were built near the end of the region, seemingly left to rot and be reclaimed by nature over time.
It may have been immensely dark, but Elusive was still able to make out how large and detailed this place was. He could also see the apprehensive frown on Butterscotch’s face as he trotted around slowly, clearly unhappy with what this space had become. Elusive could tell that this place used to be a populated region, and that the road that lead here used to be used actively; but now, all that remained of this desolate area lost in time were the skeletal remains of the projects that were abandoned and left for nopony.
Nopony, except for the blue stallion that Elusive could just barely get the slightest glimpse of.
If it wasn’t for the light of the lantern in the distance, Elusive was sure he would’ve missed it quite easily. He and Butterscotch both stopped when they were less than a quarter-mile away from Blitz, whose back was turned away from them while seated on the ground. He was between two large structures that only had their metal framing finished, with dirtied tarps hanging from some of the beams and blowing with the wind like flags under Artemis’ moonlight. Neither of the two could hear him, or even see what he was doing, but it seemed like he was completely stoic beside his lantern.
Elusive looked over at Butterscotch silently, and heard him let out a soft sigh before saying, “Well… I guess this is it.”
When the pegasus glanced back at his friend, he saw that Elusive looked fairly worried when he asked, “But… are you sure it’s okay?”
Butterscotch paused for a long moment before his head slowly lowered. “Ummm… I don’t know…” Before Elusive could grow even more hesitant, Butterscotch huffed and added towards him, “But… I do think this is something you can do.”
After an apprehensive exhale, Elusive nodded feebly and handed Butterscotch his lantern. While the pegasus flew up and kept a keen eye, Elusive carefully walked across the desert of cracked concrete towards his friend. Even though he was able to see a little from the moonlight, the unicorn had to try his hardest not to accidentally step on any broken glass or rusty nails. Regardless of whether or not he wanted to help his friend, Elusive did not want to contract some atrocious disease or infection by coming out to such a dirtied place. However, the stallion was also able to make out more of Rainbow Blitz with each step he made, which helped to ease his anxiety a little.
Blitz was right on top of a raised concrete structure itself, which looked to be a much smaller foundation piece than the others around here. Rainbow may have been sitting on the ground, but he was cautious enough to bring a towel to put underneath himself. Elusive could also see a small cooler parked beside the blue pegasus, undoubtedly filled with drinks that would make him unfit to safely fly back home. By the time the unicorn was twenty feet away from Blitz, he saw him down the last of a glass bottle he was able to recognize as a really cheap brand of beer. After a gasped grunt, Rainbow chucked the bottle as far as he could with a hoof without getting up from his seated position; Blitz may have been tipsy, but it still took Elusive a few more steps before he heard the glass shatter faintly in the distance.
“Ughhh…” Rainbow reached into the cooler and took out another bottle, with Elusive noticing the bitter scowl he carried on his face. While holding the beer in one hoof, the pegasus tried to use the edge of his other hoof to pop off the cap without a bottle opener. Even though it seemed like he did that sort of thing quite easily before, even the easiest tasks could be tricky after getting down to the last beer. After failing to kick off the cap on his third attempt, Rainbow groaned and looked like he was about to try using his teeth; fortunately, a quick flick of Elusive’s magic popped the cap off before Blitz’s dental hygiene could be in any danger.
“What the…” Upon seeing that brief aura of blue magic uncap his bottle, Blitz looked around confusedly before noticing the unicorn behind him. His eyes widened at the sight of Elusive, who was standing with a bit lip and a nervous expression. Even with the limited light from the lantern, the stallion could see that Blitz already had a few drinks from the bags under his eyes and the blush on his cheeks. It took Rainbow a couple blinks of his eyes before realizing Elusive was really there, but he quickly tilted his head while narrowing his sights on him. “Wha… What the buck are you doing here?!”
Elusive winced to himself fretfully, worried that Blitz was going to dismiss him before he even got a chance to talk. Instead of saying anything in response, the unicorn lit his horn before opening one of the flaps of his saddlebags. Since he knew that just talking wasn’t Blitz’s strongest suit, Elusive came prepared as he pulled out a six-pack of Vanhoover Craft Ale for him to see. The stallion also forced a meager smile while holding his offering up for Rainbow, hoping it would keep him from making him leave.
Fortunately, that gamble seemed to have worked when Blitz saw what his friend had. After a brief sigh, Rainbow looked away from Elusive and saw that his cooler was now empty. “Uhhh… if that’s for me, put it in there…”
Elusive nodded silently and floated the pack into the cooler full of half-melted ice. After Blitz nodded in faint thankfulness, Elusive came towards him and pulled out a plush pillow from the other side of his saddlebags. Before he could place the pillow on the ground beside Blitz, the stallion made sure to say before anything else, “Just so you know, this isn’t about the dance practice, alright? I didn’t come out here because of that.”
Blitz nodded his head again, but he didn’t look towards his friend as he carefully sat down beside him. Elusive then used his magic to float out one of the already chilled bottles he brought, not wanting Blitz to be the only one drinking. After uncapping the bottle and taking a swig of the rich, hoppy taste, Elusive heard Blitz say in a bitter grumble, “You know, you could at least answer my question, dude. How did you know I was here?”
Elusive’s ears pulled down as he started to look worried. Meanwhile, Blitz took several chugs from his own bottle while his friend stayed silent. After pulling his lips away from the glass lip, the pegasus breathed out sharply and turned to give Elusive a firm glare. “Did Butterscotch tell you?”
“O-Only about where you could be!” blurted Elusive in an instant, not wanting Butterscotch to get in any trouble with their friend. “I Bubble Berry Promise, he didn’t tell me anything else, I swear.”
Rainbow stared at the nervous unicorn for a few more seconds with his eyes narrowing on him. He then huffed through his nostrils, seeming like he believed his friend before looking away again. Meanwhile, Elusive held his own mostly-full bottle as he sat in awkward silence. By the time Blitz was finished with most of his last bottle, Elusive was just about to speak when he heard him say, “So, uhhh… Why are you here? You know, if it isn’t for the dance thing.”
Elusive didn’t want to make things difficult, but he still huffed before replying bluntly, “Why do you think, Rainbow? Did you really expect me to just sit idly by while you acted like this? I mean, you are my friend.”
After seeing how Blitz’s magenta (and slightly reddened) eyes were brooding back at him, the fur on Elusive’s back raised up instinctively in worry. Fortunately, the pegasus’ stare only lasted for a brief moment before he sighed and looked away again. “You know… whenever you get all sad about something, I usually leave you alone.”
Elusive could think of a few instances where that wasn’t the case at all, but he still shrugged indifferently and decided to stay silent about it. Instead, the unicorn took a breath before saying in response, “Well, I… I can’t say I’ve ever felt the way you have…”
A long bout of silence lingered between the two after that comment, which was only broken when Blitz tossed out his empty bottle haphazardly. It wasn’t nearly as hard as the first toss, so the sound of smashing glass was a lot louder among the blanket of darkness past the lamp light. Rainbow then reached over and grabbed one of the craft brews his friend brought. Elusive kept his muzzle shut to keep from saying too much, but he still removed the cap from that bottle with his magic to stay on Blitz’s good side. Meanwhile, Rainbow paused while holding the bottle, thinking over his friend’s statement. He finally breathed out and said before taking a swig, “Well, yeah. You haven’t...”
Blitz didn’t try to sound bitter with that last inflection, but it was hard to help it as he took a drink with a strong look of disdain on his face. When he finished his first generous sip, the stallion shrugged before adding in a kinder tone towards Elusive, “Eh… not bad, I guess. Good choice.”
“Th-Thanks…” Elusive wasn’t exactly focused on what kind of beer to bring him, but he was grateful he brought one that was worth swallowing. Alas, the unicorn had to take a moment to think things over while sitting beside his friend. From the growing silence that was brewing between them, it seemed that Blitz was aware that Elusive wanted to say something big. His brow was furrowing more with each passing second, not wanting to hear whatever bullcrap Elusive was going to spew out. However, by the time he heard the white stallion take a breath, Blitz just sighed annoyedly before hearing him say, “Rainbow, I… I know I’m going out of bounds just being here right now. And believe me, there is nothing I respect more than your privacy.”
Then why the buck are you breaking it right now? Thought Blitz in a split-second bout of anger. Even though he was extremely tempted to just say that outright, the stallion chose to keep his muzzle shut at the last second. If there was anything he learned from his friends (especially Applejack), it was that there’s a fine line between being honest and being a dick. And considering how Elusive came all this way to find him, as well as give him some beers, Rainbow just bit his tongue while listening to his friend continue nervously. “B-But… I’ve seen how you’ve been acting, and I… I just wanted to try and help.”
Blitz then responded with a groan while raising his bottle. “Well, this helps a bit, so thanks.” He then took another swig, hoping that would end the discussion despite Elusive’s frustrated pout.
“That’s not what I meant!” chided the unicorn with his eyes narrowing on Blitz. “I know you’re probably going to say no, but I really do want us to talk about what happened!”
Oh, yeah bucking right, thought Blitz before finishing half of his bottle. After putting his bottle back down, Rainbow let out a small belch before he replied, “There’s nothing to talk about, Lucy. I pressed my luck and gloated at them when you told me not to, they got under my skin, and I overreacted. You were right! You win! Case closed.”
Elusive’s stare on Blitz became much sterner, not even needing to say anything to let his friend know that wasn’t the response he wanted. Although, the unicorn still said in addition to his glare, “Rainbow, we both know that’s not what I want to talk to you about.”
“Well, that’s all you’re gonna get,” stated Rainbow brashly before looking away from him. Of course, less than a second passed before his eyes widened a little at the realization of that not being an unspoken thought. While Elusive sat with his expression growing more peeved at him, Blitz closed his eyes and groaned silently as he tried to hide his cringe. Regardless, the pegasus took a second or two before huffing and turning back to add, “Okay, why the buck does it bother you so damn much?! Do you actually believe what those bitches said?!”
“No, I do not,” answered Elusive sternly, not giving any attention to Blitz’s language one bit. “But the fact that it made you react that strongly isn’t something I’m just willing to ignore! And despite what you might try to tell me, I highly doubt it’s very effective to try drinking your problems away like a common BUM!”
“Okay, what the buck are you trying to ask for, huh?! Do you just expect me to vent everything out here like I’m in a therapist’s office or something?!”
“I just want to try to understand, Rainbow! I really don’t think that’s too much to ask!”
“There’s nothing for you TO understand! This isn’t any of your bucking business!”
“And why NOT?! Don’t you think this is something to talk with your friends about?!”
“I don’t NEED to talk about anything! I’m fine!”
“FINE?!? Rainbow Blitz, you’ve been bedridden since Las Pegasus, you refused to talk to any of us since your breakdown, and now you’re drinking out in the middle of an abandoned construction site after dark! How is ANY of this even remotely fine?!”
Blitz didn’t say anything, and had his muzzle pointed to the concrete beneath them while brooding and holding his half-empty bottle. Elusive just sat on his pillow and waited for a reply, even though he knew that his friend pretty much had nothing that could be constituted as a decent answer. However, after a pregnant bout of silence between them, the unicorn closed his eyes and sighed before speaking in a less brash voice. “Look, I’m … I’m not asking for you to vent or anything, alright? I just wanted to do something to help you out. Because right now, I don’t think you’re going to find much solace with something like this.”
Elusive didn’t want to sound blunt at the end, but the fact that Rainbow’s head sunk down even lower made him worry he went too far. Blitz didn’t say anything for a long moment, letting his friend’s words sink in before he could make any sort of reply. But when he finally spoke, the pegasus didn’t lift his head from its slumped position while keeping his tone stoic and cold. “You know… I didn’t only come out here because of what those twins said.”
“I know,” said Elusive understandably, “but what they said did make you think about things enough to come back out here, didn’t they?”
Blitz didn’t make an immediate response, but that time spent silent gave the pegasus enough time to think over Elusive’s choice of words. Upon realizing what he actually said, Rainbow slowly glanced back at the cautious expression the unicorn had on his face. He narrowed his eyes on Elusive before saying, “You… you don’t know why I’m here.”
“Don’t I?” asked Elusive with a tilt of his head. “Honestly Rainbow, you should know by now that I have a very good notion when it comes to attention to detail.”
Blitz turned away from his friend’s stern response with a groan and roll of his eyes. Alas, Elusive still continued while staring at him knowingly. “I remember what you mentioned at my parents’ house,” he said while keeping his tone softer than before. “I remembered what you said about your Father’s business, and how it was overtaken by a real estate company that went under. And right now, you’re in a long-abandoned construction site. Now I might not be a detective, but I’m sure even Barb would make the connection if she was here.”
Elusive saw Blitz’s muzzle wrinkle a little, but the stallion refrained from looking up at him. The unicorn saw that as the chance to continue. “Blitz, I’m not judging you... and I’m not trying to make any unbiased assumptions about what happened. But I do want you to know that no matter what, I’ll always be there for you as a friend. And you also know that I’ll never look at you in a lesser light, right?”
Blitz’s lips tightened up for a second, like he was contemplating saying something to contradict Elusive’s claim. Seeing that involuntary response, Elusive tried to reach his hoof around the pegasus’ back to hold him in. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get past Blitz’s wings before his hoof was smacked away ungraciously. “Dude, NO!” barked Rainbow as he glared up at him. “Don’t do that!”
“Okay, I’m sorry!” Elusive put both his hooves up in sincerity, not wanting to press Blitz’s buttons too harshly right now. However, the unicorn then took a breath before he said in addition, “I’m just… I want you to know that I care about you, Rainbow. You’re one of my best friends! And the last thing I want is to see you get hurt. Or… to see you hurt yourself by doing things like this on your own…”
After staring at Elusive for a brief moment with his lips pursed shut, Blitz exhaled through his nostrils and looked back down at the ground between them. Elusive waited a few seconds to see if his friend would make a response, but nothing came out of that cyan muzzle. That was when the stallion sighed and said in a more sympathetic tone to Blitz, “Please, Rainbow. I… I don’t want to be shut out. After all we’ve done together, not just this month, I… I don’t want you to think I won’t be there for you.”
When Rainbow finally sighed and looked back at his friend, his expression had softened immensely from the scowl he had earlier. His mouth was still closed, but the look in his eyes made it seem like he wasn’t angry at Elusive anymore. Frustrated? Maybe. Worried? A little, yes. But angry, or upset? Not really apparent on the silent pegasus’ face.
Nevertheless, that look didn’t mean much when Blitz kept himself as silent as Applejack’s older sister at a social event. So after a few seconds, Elusive breathed out and added, “So, how about this? You don’t have to tell me anything upfront if you don’t want to, alright? How about for now, I just… ask questions? You can answer what you want to answer, and I won’t press you for anything deeper if it makes you uncomfortable. Is that okay?”
Rainbow closed his eyes and took a breath, finally reopening his mouth as he exhaled and gave an apprehensive nod. “F… Fine,” said Blitz softly. “I’ll agree to that.”
“Thank you.” Elusive wanted to reach in and hug Blitz for complying, but he remembered the hoof move to know it’d probably get him a punch in the gut. So instead, the unicorn looked around before asking cautiously, “So… this is the real estate place, right? The… the one that bought out Wingman’s?”
Even though Elusive wasn’t looking back at him, Blitz nodded silently before turning away himself. “Yeah,” he muttered while biting the inside of his cheek. “After construction stopped, this whole place just kinda… died out.”
Elusive nodded as he took note of how barren this region really was. In fact, he’d safely bet a few bits that Blitz was the only pony to actually come by this area in the past few years. He waited a second before looking back at Blitz and asking, “And… where was your parents’ restaurant?”
That question seemed to faintly hit a sore spot, but Blitz took a breath before motioning his head downward. “We’re on top of it.”
Elusive widened his eyes as he glanced down at the foundation structure he and Rainbow were seated on. Even though he originally thought it was part of the construction, the unicorn could now see that the concrete was much older and more dilapidated than the rest of this place. Of course, given how small the slab of concrete really looked, Elusive wouldn’t have been shocked if the place was more of a small diner than anything else. Alas, he tried to keep that opinion to himself as he looked at the size dimensions, unsure of where everything could actually go in the rectangle the two were on.
“That…” Upon hearing Blitz’s voice, Elusive turned back to see him pointing a hoof at the edge of the foundation about ten feet in front of them. The pegasus didn’t look back at him, and had his eyes focused on the region he was pointing to as he spoke from memory. “That used to be where the fryers were, and…” He slowly moved his hoof a little to the left. “... that was where the deep-freezer was…”
As his friend continued pointing around the empty space, seemingly able to list off every large detail about the restaurant’s layout by pure memory alone, Elusive just sat in slight astonishment that the pegasus was able to retain so much. He knew that Blitz wasn’t dumb by any means (except maybe when it comes to fashion), but he was still clearly impressed as he listened to Rainbow jotting off what every inch of this slab of concrete used to hold above it. By the time Blitz started listing where all the booth tables used to be, Elusive looked behind them and asked, “And… where exactly would we have been?”
Blitz paused momentarily and looked down, taking a second to note their position before shrugging. “Ummm… M-maybe the front entrance?”
“Wow.” Elusive huffed with a smirk as he looked around, trying to discern what this place may have looked like when it was still around. Even though Blitz’s descriptions didn’t give the unicorn much design-wise, Elusive was still able to get a good idea of what kind of place Wingman’s used to be. It may have not been his kind of location for a lavish meal, but it would definitely be somewhere for him and his friends to crash at in the middle of the night after drinking heavily. With that thought ringing in his mind, the stallion smirked a little and said faintly, “Well… it’s nice to know this place has some good memories for you.”
Despite his friend’s optimistic tone, Rainbow breathed out painfully as his expression turned more morose. By the time Elusive took notice of that response, Blitz was downing the rest of his beer before he chucked it angrily. He waited a few seconds while breathing heavily, not moving until he heard the bottle break in the distance before grabbing another. “Y-Yeah,” grunted Blitz as he popped the cap off with his hoof in one hard kick. “It used to...”
Upon hearing that inflection, Elusive’s ears dropped worriedly while watching the pegasus take a couple hearty chugs from the third bottle in the pack. He wanted to ask Blitz what was wrong, but decided to pause for a moment to avoid being too clingy. So, he took a couple meager sips of his own before Blitz finished half of his new bottle. When he pulled his lips away from the top, Rainbow breathed out in a grunt while his muzzle grew a bitter scowl. Fortunately for Elusive, that frown wasn’t pointed at him as Rainbow looked out at the construction site itself.
“You know…” Blitz paused to take another sip, not looking back at the worried face Elusive was giving him as he sat silently on his pillow. “... that road that came out here, it… it was as big as the one that goes to Canterlot when this place was still open. But… but now you can’t even see it when you’re on the ground…”
The unicorn hung his head lower as he grew a disheartened look back at his friend. “Blitz, I’m sorry,” he said with a sigh while shaking his head. “I can’t ima--”
“Dude,” snapped Rainbow before Elusive could even finish his reply. The unicorn barely had time to flinch before Blitz said with his muzzle pointed away from him, “Do not try to apologize for something you didn’t do. You’re not the reason the place is gone, and you have no idea why it is.”
Elusive sat nervously, not wanting to say the wrong thing and end up getting yelled at again or worse. However, the stallion still breathed out apprehensively and responded in a somewhat-firm voice, “W-Well, I… I wouldn’t mind hearing why…”
Blitz turned back to stare at Elusive intensely, his reddened eyes seemingly peering into the unicorn’s very soul from how wide and brooding they looked. But despite how strong that glare got, even after Blitz narrowed his eyes on him, Elusive kept his ground after swallowing timidly. “I… I won’t judge,” he said assuredly with a soft tone. “... I promise I won’t. I just… I want to know as a friend…”
Blitz’s stare was unmoved for almost a full minute, like he was waiting for Elusive to crack or give up. However, the unicorn was just as unwavering as he sat and looked back at him with a pleading bite of his lips. Maybe it was the frustration of making this go on any further, or maybe he knew that Elusive wasn’t going to give up without a fight. But regardless, the pegasus eventually sighed and turned his head away with a strong grimace on his face. “... you’re a determined son of a bitch, you know that?”
Elusive’s lips tightened briefly before he replied with a huff, “Well, I didn’t become one of Equestria’s most successful fashion icons by staying stoic.”
After a brief shrug of his head, Rainbow exhaled softly as he looked outward at the dead structures before them. Elusive didn’t say anything more, and just waited patiently for his friend to open his muzzle once more. Even after a minute of silence swept past them, the unicorn kept his eyes on Blitz in wait. Eventually, it seemed that pegasus could feel his friend’s eyes crawling on him before he groaned angrily, “Urrrrghhhh… Okay, fine.”
Without looking back at Elusive, whose expression was unchanged despite being happy for getting to him, Rainbow leaned back on his forelegs as they braced him up against the hard ground. His gaze looked up to the stars above them, which were still able to shine brightly despite the thick aura of darkness past their faint lights. As he breathed out softly, the cyan stallion studied the night’s sky as his muzzle opened on its own to speak.
“Back when I was a colt, I… I was here almost every day to help out around the place. Sweeping the floors, wiping down tables, cleaning the windows… Heh. Honestly, I think it took me way too long to realize Dad just wanted some free help around the place. But, you know… when you’re somewhere that often with your parents, it doesn’t really feel like a job as much as it does, like… home.”
Elusive nodded faintly, but didn’t open his muzzle as he sat and listened to his friend. While he sat on the plush pillow and looked over at the pegasus, his bottom lip was bit while hearing Rainbow’s tone grow sadder.
“But then… Mom started going to the hospital a lot. I didn’t think much about it first. I mean… why would I? I was still a kid. But… I remember things were going bad when her coat was growing... whiter. I mean, she had the same color mane as me growing up, but her coat was always a little darker than mine. But… by the time it was starting to turn grey, I had to learn what was going on…”
Blitz’s muzzle slowly pointed down from the stars to look back down at his bottom hooves with a saddened face. “I was ten when leukemia took her. And… I remember it took me a while to process what was going on. Like… like maybe I was expecting her to come back after a week or so. But… Dad knew. And for the longest time, he was just… broken.”
Elusive wanted to reach in and give his friend a hug, but he kept himself still for the time being. He knew this wasn’t the full story, and he didn’t want to do anything until he absolutely needed to. Meanwhile, Blitz closed his eyes as he kept going. “Before she left, he was… he was perfect. I mean, he was… funny, and kind, and smart, and… he never wanted me to give up on my dreams…”
That was when Rainbow’s muzzle began to wrinkle a little, and his tone of voice deepened.
“But with her gone and only me around, he just… he changed. He was spending more and more time here, like some form of therapy or something. The more meals he made and the more seats he filled, the better he felt. Like… he was still a zombie as soon as the doors were locked, but… when he was here he seemed happy. Like some sort of drug or whatever…”
Now Elusive was starting to look unsure where this story was going. The last time Blitz mentioned his Dad he seemed to view him in a positive light. But now with each word that passed the stunt-pony’s lips, his tone seemed to darken to something more malicious and upsetting. Regardless, Blitz never looked back at his friend as he kept speaking about his Father.
“After a while, it was clear it was getting to him. Every time I went out and did a new sport or extracurricular activity, he treated it like it was… rebelling or something! ‘I need your help here, Blitz!’ ‘I can’t get a new hire as good as you!’ ‘This is the family business!’ And… and after a while it was just too much! Like… he used to encourage me to get as many trophies as I could, but then it ended up being the only thing keeping him off my back! Like, if I got a bronze in something, ‘Oh, maybe you should just come back here!’ And even if I got a silver, he’d try to pull me back to THIS bucking place like it was the only option I have! By the time I was in high school, I was just trying to get gold after gold to shut him the buck up!”
Blitz leaned forward and paused briefly to sink his head in against his hooves, taking a couple deep breaths. Elusive was leaned away from Rainbow halfway through that heated rant, not expecting to hear that kind of malice from a pony about their own parent. Even though he knew there were bad examples of parenting, seeing it from somepony so close to him felt more than a little jarring.
Nevertheless, Blitz then sighed sharply before continuing. “Of course… those medals and trophies didn’t mean shit by the time I reached Senior year. He kept on trying to talk to me about my ‘future,’ even though he didn’t care one bit about what I was planning to do. I was talking with coaches and talent scouts about scholarships, and he… he never came with me once. He used to be the first pony to want me to succeed and be a Wonderbolt, but as soon as I was the only one in his life he just kept going on about me ‘Keeping the business alive,’ and ‘Doing what would be best for us.’ Not me. Us…”
By the time Blitz’s tone was becoming more sour, he had to grit his teeth while stopping to breathe deeply. Even in the darkness around them, Elusive was able to see how angry Blitz was getting under the moonlight. Regardless, the unicorn stayed silent while his friend continued to vent in an increasingly enraged growl of a tone.
“He… he started bringing up Mom. And… and asking me what I thought she would say… Because yeah! I’m sure SHE wouldn’t want me to go to bucking college on a scholarship, right?! And… and that was when the fights would start a lot more. He’d keep telling me to stay and help with the business, and I kept telling him to find someone else. And… and I just started ignoring him when I was looking into colleges. I figured that if I got accepted somewhere, he might… I don’t know… realize I’m able to do better than this bucking place…”
With the way Blitz was gripping the towel tightly underneath him, Elusive could see why this was such a hard subject for him to talk about. The stallion could tell there was more to this story, but he was getting worried how Rainbow might act by the time he was finished. But instead of trying to tell him to stop, Elusive stuck to his guns and sat patiently while his friend downed the rest of his bottle, But instead of tossing it out like the others, Blitz’s grip on the bottle tightened immensely within his hoof.
“After a while… I never heard back from anypony. No colleges… No scholarships… Just, nothing. And I just… I felt so bucking useless for months after graduation. All that effort and all that work, and it… it added up to jack shit for me…”
Elusive wanted to say something apologetic, but he remembered what Bitz said the last time he tried to say he was sorry. Of course, the unicorn couldn’t speak when he took notice of Rainbow’s hoof still tightening around that bottle. By the time the edges began to turn white, the pegasus was practically shaking with his muzzle sneering under the moonlight.
“He… he waited for me to come back. And… and I didn’t think anything of it. I thought that I just failed, and he… he bucking let me…”
Elusive’s eyes began to widen, realizing what his friend was trying to tell him. His mouth opened a little on its own, but the stallion covered it with a hoof to keep from gasping too audibly at the realization of what happened. Meanwhile, Rainbow’s muzzle was snarled in drunken rage as his hoof gripped the bottle tightly enough to make it shake.
“I was working here for seven bucking months before finding the acceptance letters in his room… All of them… saying that I was accepted FULL BUCKING RIDE!!!”
That was when Rainbow shot up from the ground and lunged out with the bottle, throwing it as hard as he could with a roar of pure fury. Elusive cowered a little as he stayed on the pillow, grateful that the bottle wasn’t aimed at his head (or Butterscotch’s, wherever he was). Blitz was standing at the edge of the foundation and panting through his nostrils like a bull while glaring out into the darkness, seemingly waiting to hear that bottle smash against the concrete. However, over a minute of silence passed before the stallion huffed bitterly, apparently having thrown the bottle past the construction regions completely. Of course, Blitz still stayed on his hooves while keeping his back turned from his silent friend.
“I… I seriously wanted to kill him,” admitted the pegasus in a low and shaky growl. “Like… as soon as I found those letters addressed to me and read them, it… it took everything in me to not grab a knife and slit his bucking throat…”
Elusive’s eyes widened even more, feeling even more nervous about where this story was heading. Despite what Butterscotch said, the unicorn was starting to worry if that Patricide comment had some level of validity to it. However, he could also hear Blitz’s breathing start to settle when he paused and caught his breath. By the time Elusive got up from his pillow to check on him, he only took a couple steps forward before catching a glimpse of the strained expression his friend was carrying from the light of the lamp.
“… I didn’t do it. I mean, I was mad, but I wasn’t that stupid. I was smart enough to go to college after all… But… I still wanted to hurt him… I wanted to make him feel as miserable as I did when he hurt me…”
Hearing the malice coming out of his friend’s mouth with each venomous word, Elusive could feel his own fur raising on end from feeling the ice-cold bitterness that was undoubtedly running through Rainbow Blitz’s veins. As the pegasus took a moment to look down at the slab of long-forgotten foundation still underneath his hooves, he huffed as a faint smirk began to grow across his still angry-looking expression. Seeing that look, Elusive took a step back while hearing him keep going.
“I waited. I mean, shit. He already screwed up my future, so what else was I supposed to do? So I waited… I kept working there, being as dedicated to the place as he was, just to get him to think I was on his side. But I wasn’t… That bastard was dead to me as soon as I learned what he did, but I kept it going as long as I could until...”
Elusive blinked a couple times with a bit lip, swallowing out of nervousness before asking meagerly, “Until… what, exactly?”
Rainbow tried to widen his smile, but his lips tightly pursed together after letting out a brief and pained huff. He shook his head a little while his muzzle wrinkled up, like he was trying his hardest to keep himself in check while telling what occurred. After breathing out shakily through his nostrils, his forced smirk was growing harder to upkeep with each word that came out of his mouth. “Until… he gave me the bucking keys. After almost a year of working at that place, he wanted me to take over as the new owner. And I… I can still remember how proud he looked when he said that. Like… like he was sure I would keep it up like he did for his Dad… He had no idea how much I hated him, and… and as soon as the deed was signed to me…”
That was when Rainbow glanced back out at the abandoned construction sight he and Elusive were standing in the middle of. He took a moment to look around the desolate and forgotten region in silence, leaving his friend to grow a wide-eyed expression as he began to put the pieces together himself. It wasn’t long before the unicorn looked back at Rainbow, his ears pulled down as he tried to ask, “You… mean that you…”
Blitz didn’t look back at his friend when he nodded his head, and just kept his sights on the dilapidated structures around them. “Yep. These guys, the ones who bought this place, they… they tried for years to buy the land from Dad. And he always refused, saying how he’d rather die than give them a bucking inch of it. And he expected me to do the same, even after crushing my dreams behind my bucking back…”
After taking a breath, Blitz looked away from the unfinished structures and finished his confession. “As soon as I got the place in my name, I went up and sold it underneath his bucking snout. For a price way higher than what my scholarship would’ve been, but a lot lower than what they offered Dad. But in the end, that didn’t matter to me… All that mattered was that I won…”
After hearing the uneasy tone Blitz made with that last statement, Elusive had a feeling that the pegasus may have not believed that line himself. Regardless, the unicorn stayed silent as he let all that information sink in, prompting him to look around at the abandoned mess that his friend created out of anger and vendetta. He could only imagine how bad the fallout must’ve been between Blitz and his Father, especially after learning how much animosity occurred between them. Elusive was afraid to ask for specifics, but he still meagerly looked back at his friend before opening his muzzle. “A-And… When did he find out?”
Blitz lowered his head and closed his eyes, tightening his lips as he thought back to what he did. He looked hurt, but he also huffed as a weak smile crept at the corners of his muzzle. “Well, I was definitely prepared when I did it,” said the cyan stallion with an involuntary jerk of his head. “As soon as that check cleared and the place was signed off, I took that bastard to the nicest restaurant in Cloudsdale to celebrate. And he had no idea why I was doing it. Like… I think he just thought it was a thank-you present or something…
“I… I can still remember how that place smelled while we were sitting in one of the booths, with me just watching that son of a bitch eating a plate that was worth more than what he paid me in a month. And I… I remember I waited until the desserts came out to give him a little ‘gift,’ just to get the ball rolling. I was all cheerful and smiley when I gave him that wrapped frame, but as soon as he unwrapped the paper… that smile never came back for him…”
Elusive just stood beside his friend while listening, his expression growing more stunned and speechless by the second. He could tell that Rainbow wasn’t lying about what he did for a second, and the unicorn stayed completely silent as he took in each strained word coming from Blitz’s mouth.
“In that frame… I put in the acceptance letter I got from Cloudsdale U’s scholarship program, and I remember his face just turned white. Like… the instant he saw I had that, and that I knew what he did, it made him bucking terrified. I just started talking as soon as he unwrapped it. He tried to speak up to defend himself, but I shut him up each time he tried. And… I could just remember him sitting there, completely freaked out while I told him what I knew, and… I never raised my voice when I began telling him off. I said how much I hated him, and how many times I thought of killing him for taking my future away from me. Even when I started saying every nasty thing a kid could say to their Dad, I didn’t yell at him once in that bucking restaurant…
“Honestly, I’m pretty sure I would’ve looked like a psycho if anypony overheard us, but I didn’t care. After all that he did to me, all I wanted to do was keep talking and hurt him as badly as I could. At first he tried to speak up, but… but the more things I said, the less he was able to say before he just sat in silence. I think after a while, he… he realized how much he bucked up. He saw how much I had to say, and… how much I meant every word that came out of my mouth. Even when he started to cry, I didn’t let up. I just kept going, venting everything I could and telling him off in the most professional tone possible.
“After I finished, I… I grabbed my second framed present for him to open. In that one was a copy of the contract I signed with the realty company, including how much I sold it for. And I swear… I swear I could’ve heard his heart break when he realized what I did to him…”
Of all the things Elusive expected to hear Rainbow Blitz tell him that night, learning of his machiavellian efforts to destroy his family legacy was not on that list at all. Even though Blitz was fairly creative when it came to pranking ponies, that level of payback for having a scholarship hidden seemed like the kind of revenge that’d get written for an opera. But instead of saying anything in response to what he was hearing, Elusive just stood in shock and heard Rainbow’s voice grow more strained.
“I… I saw how much that hurt him. Like… by the time I told him exactly what I did in detail, he just started sobbing. Like, that was when ponies at other tables started to notice, but I couldn’t have given any less of a shit if I tried. By that point I had no remorse, you know? After what he did, I couldn’t feel bad for what I did to him. I… I knew he tried to say sorry while crying, but I didn’t want to hear it. I just tossed some bits on the table before leaving, and said that he was completely dead to me…”
Rainbow took as deep of a breath as he could while his throat grew shakier by the second. As his eyes stayed tightly shut, the pegasus couldn’t look back at his friend as he finished in a hoarse and remorseful voice. “And… and by the time I actually went to college in the fall, I… I f-found out a week later that he really was…”
By the time Blitz finished, keeping his gaze to the cold ground to avoid looking back at his friend, Elusive just stood in utter awe as he realized how bad things had gotten between the pegasus and his Father. He wanted to question how Rainbow could go through with such a thing, but he also couldn’t blame him in the slightest for doing so much in such a vengeful rage. As he thought everything over, one of the first things that sprang into the unicorn’s mind was what he said on that morning after Blitz’s hospital visit; after he apologized to his friend for almost punching him, Elusive could recall what he said when he thought he couldn’t compete due to Toffee’s injury:
It’s just really disheartening to get that kind of opportunity, only to see it get taken away in an instant.
As that response rang through his head, Elusive realized why Blitz sprang into action so quickly after it was said in his home. Blitz really knew how much it hurt to lose a chance that big, since he dealt with that same kind of pain in such a profound way. He couldn’t approve of how Blitz handled that kind of betrayal, but he also couldn’t say it was something he couldn’t understand his friend doing.
Elusive breathed out deeply as he raised a hoof towards Blitz, carefully placing it on his shoulder as a sign of solace. The pegasus flinched a little, but his friend’s hoof didn’t part from his cyan fur. Of course, it was still hard for Elusive to catch Blitz’s reaction due to the stallion’s face being pointed away from him. Not seeing how strained and painful Rainbow’s expression was becoming with his eyes tightly shut, Elusive leaned in even more and gave him a comforting hug from the side.
“Blitz…” Hoping his friend wouldn’t refuse his hug, Elusive rested his head against his other shoulder as he whispered in as comforting of a tone as he could, “Blitz, I’m not judging you… It wasn’t your fault.”
The unicorn closed his eyes as he leaned in even closer against Blitz, and closed his eyes tightly as he let the silence speak for itself. However, Elusive’s ears twitched when he heard the slightest sniffle among the night winds rishing past them. He also felt Rainbow’s body shake a little against his own, prompting him to reopen his eyes to see how low Blitz’s head had dropped. The stallion’s muzzle was pointed right to the ground, with his eyes tightly clenched shut to keep the beads of tears at the corners from dropping out. His breathing turned faint and more rapid with each sniffled pant, and his muzzle began to wrinkle before uttering in the faintest creak Elusive could’ve heard:
“Y… yes it was…”
The unicorn’s heart dropped as soon as he heard that reply, and he quickly went around to hug Blitz directly. “No! No it wasn’t!” He could feel how hard Blitz was struggling not to cry, which prompted him to pull the pegasus’ head in tightly against his chest. While his hooves were wrapped around Rainbow’s back, Elusive rested his chin on top of his friend’s technicolor mane and added with the utmost sincerity, “Rainbow, I’m telling you that it was NOT your fault! Your Father hurt you! You can’t blame yourself for him dying!”
“HE DID IT BECAUSE OF ME!”
Elusive froze after hearing that outburst, but his hooves still stayed tightly locked around Blitz to keep him close to his chest. The cyan pegasus was clinging to Elusive just as tightly, and less than a second after his yell he could feel the floodgates opening up. His face pressed in hard against his friend’s chest as his own body convulsed from his hiccuping lungs, causing him to finally start crying hard within Elusive’s pristine fur. His hooves hugged around the unicorn for dear life while he bawled out painfully, forcing his muzzle in tightly against Elusive’s chest fur to muffle the deafening cries escaping his mouth.
“He… he tried to write to me!” sobbed Blitz between the brief breaths he was able to take away from Elusive’s fur. “A-After I moved out and lived in a motel, he kept trying to write me letters! H-H-He kept trying to apologize, and I… I never read a single one! A-After a while it stopped, b-but… but after I moved to a dorm, he… he put a note on my door… Not in the mailbox, but… but r-right on my door…”
The weight of the pegasus’ body leaning in against his own caused Elusive to fall over, landing straight on his rump against the concrete and pulling Blitz down with him. But despite the slight pain of that fall, neither of the stallions let go as Blitz sobbed painfully into his friend’s chest. While Elusive just clinged to his friend and listened to his devastating cries, he was starting to tear up himself as he heard how hurt Blitz’s voice was sounding.
“A-As soon as I saw it, it just… it brought back every nasty feeling I had about him, and I… I just t-tore it up and threw it away. I… I didn’t even read it…”
Somewhere during Blitz’s breakdown, Butterscotch seemed to have noticed what was happening while hovering far away in the skies. As soon as the two fell over, the yellow stallion tried to fly down as quickly as he could. By the time Butterscotch landed and ran up to them, Elusive was crying alongside Blitz while cradling him in his chest. With his chin resting firmly atop the cyan pegasus’ head, Elusive was whimpering by the time his friend came close to the end of his story.
“The… the next morning, the police were at my door… They… Th-They told me that they found him… H-H-He… H-He took a bunch of pills, and…”
Rainbow felt Butterscotch hugging him tightly from behind as well, but he barely registered it while tears were practically pouring down his face and matting his fur. He could also feel several hot tears from above getting into his mane.
“... and that letter… th-that letter was for me… It… It was supposed to be his last words…”
That was the last statement to come out of Rainbow Blitz’s mouth that night. For the rest of the time spent in that abandoned construction site, the stunt-pony just cried helplessly while being held by two of his closest friends. For Butterscotch, he already knew about how much Blitz had to go through, and how much time he spent helping to console him through the years. But despite that, the yellow stallion was still crying just as much as their friend who just learned the truth that night.
Elusive held onto Rainbow as tightly as he could as he cried alongside him and Butterscotch, feeling absolutely mortified at how much pain and remorse was running through Blitz because of his past. The unicorn’s mind was reeling as he hugged Blitz and tried to console him, each passing thought giving him conflicting feelings and urges that made him tear up even more. He wanted to help Rainbow gain true solace for what occurred, and be there just as much as Butterscotch had been for him. He wanted to find Shim and Sham and beat them to a pulp in their jail cell, just for reopening that wound so painfully to leave his best friend in such a hurt state. He wanted to hold Blitz for as long as he could in his forelegs, just to let him know that he wasn’t ever going to be alone.
Elusive wasn’t sure how long he kept Rainbow Blitz tightly in his embrace, or how long he and Butterscotch waited until pulling him away from the wretched place. All that the unicorn could remember was by the time he and his friend got Blitz in a cart, the stallion was passed out cold from the alcohol and emotions that swept across his body like a sucker-punch. Elusive also remembered how long he and Butterscotch talked about things afterward, and how he swore to try and help as much as the pegasus had. He could remember having a few of the remaining beers he brought on their way back, just to help ease the heartache he was feeling for his friend. But after that, the stallion couldn’t recall much by the time they got back to his boutique and put Blitz to bed.
All that Elusive knew was the instant he fell asleep on the couch, his dreams were plagued with the same warmth he felt when he was holding Blitz so tightly that night.