(pre: edit. 12/29/2017 7:28 am est)
"KADE!" A voice rang out over the crowd that I had not heard in years. It was of an old friend that at the time I had considered inseparable from at that. But fate being what it was, we had been driven apart throughout our hectic lives. I turned to find the pony who had produced its dulcet, although slightly slurred, tones. There, far off amidst a sea of ponies, he stood atop a light pole, waving with one wing as he took flight.
"Whose that?" Whistle asked. We had been waiting for her mother to show up and take her shopping when the forlorn buck had called out for me.
"That..." I started, taking note of how the buck came in for one of his overly flamboyant landings. "...is Skyler." He stood before us wearing his form fitting uniform from the Wonderbolts academy proudly.
"Kade! I haven't seen you in years!" He said, offering his hoof for a friendly bump.
"How'ya been Sky?" I replied, giving his hoof a sharp crack.
"High as the sky... You know me." He said laughing. Truth be told, I don't think he had ever even been high before. But he seemed fond of his ice breaker. "Whoa, what happened to your eye?" He said, pointing to my face.
"Oh! She beats me." I said jokingly. Whistles did not seem to share the humor.
"And who is this feisty filly you speak of?" He said, taking a step closer.
"Oh! Sorry... Skyler, meet Whistle. Whistle, this is Skyler or Sky as he likes to be called." I said, doing my best to calm the shaking mare.
"Pleasure to meet you. So you two know each other?" She began.
"Oh yeah... Me and Kade go WAY back. We meet when we were just colts back in kindergarden."
"Kade... I don't think I have heard you called that before." Whistle said, shooting me a sardonic look.
"Uh... Different life, different time... It's just a old nickname." I said rubbing my mane and staring as much shut up as I could to Sky.
"Pfff. Different life... Don't tell me that there are no arenas in Ponyville." Sky, you idiot...
"Arenas? Like, flight arenas?" Whistle said, now stepping forward.
"Not flight arenas. Fight arenas." Sky started, his eye growing wide in excitement. "Kade and I used to be one the same training team."
"Fighting? You used to Fight? Like, for sport?" Whistle said with a flat tone. Great, I knew I would not be able to keep that a secret forever, but I wanted to at least approach the idea a damn sight softer than how Sky had just blurted out. What would she think of me now!? She was already dealing with a abusive father, now her colt friend was an ex-kick boxer. This is sure to go over well.
"Again... A LONG time ago, in the past when I was young and I thought it was cool. I did used to spar a bit, but I have since found better ways to spend my time." I said, offering up my best 'please don't leave me' look.
"A bit!? You could have gone pro with that kick of yours! The fact that you are not now has to say something for how bad things must have gotten in Ponyville." Sky, if you don't shut up, I will kill you.
"H-hey! Who want's to hear about ancient history? Those were the old days." I said nervously. Whistles was now staring right at me with a very accusing look.
"Why do you look so guilty?" She said eyeing me quizzically.
"Ok... Whistles, I used to want to grow up to be a prize fighter. It was a stupid dream and I was a stupid buck, mad about losing his mother and the world was my punching bag. I used to be a real asshole back then because of it. When I moved to Ponyville, I gave up those dreams and that's when I started dealing with my depression." I said with just a touch of shame in my voice.
"So why would you not want me to know about that?" She said, taking a step closer.
"You know... I didn't want you to see me like that. I wanted you to see me for who I am, not who I used to be."
"Cas..." She growled. Ok, did not know she could do that... a little scary in fact. The mare who was nearly a nose shorter than me was now backing me into a corner. "...Why would you go and think that I would think any different of you for that? Do you think I would see my father in you or something!?" She barked.
"...Yes?" I meeked out. Her hoof struck the side of my head in frustration.
"Cas, I love you. Any version of you. When are you going to understand that fact?"
"I guess that I just didn't want to lose you. I don't want to take the chance!" I said rubbing my sore cheek... Why did she have to hit me on the side of my face that hit the table. That really hurts.
"I'm not going anywhere..." She said, now sitting and looking my wound over to see if she had opened it back up again.
"I... I don't know that."
"Look at me." She said, pulling my face away from the ground. "I know losing somepony hurts, I can't even begin to imagine what that must have been like for you. But you can't go on expecting everypony to just up and disappear one day, especially me!" She said, her eyes locked to mine. She was right, but a bigger part of me screamed that she couldn't be. Nopony knows when their time is going to come, and a pony like me with my luck would be doomed to see it happen. I had lost my mother, nothing was going to change that, no amount of begging would bring her back to me and my dad.
Severing a bond like that... it was... brutal. Life has no mercy when it come to taking ponies you care about away. It will break them down before your very eyes, wearing them away moment by moment as they fight to be with you, but life always wins. Its cruel nature making you wish for their death out of mercy and still inflicting pain along after their gone with fond memories and loved ones left behind. I saw it nearly everyday in my father for that first year. He was shattered with out my mother to come home to and even now, I catch him staring at the empty spot at the dinner table.
My mother was just a ghost to me now, lingering in the shadows as though to remind me she would always be just close enough for me to remember, but too far away to be with. I guess that is why they call it passing on. You pass on the pain you were feeling to those you loved, even when you don't want to.
"CASKADE!" Whistles voice broke through my mind to pull me from my reverie. "Stop... You are doing that thing again."
"What thing!?" I shouted, angered by my interrupted thoughts.
"You are mentally beating the shit out of yourself again..." Sky said from my side.
"I was not." I said giving a snotty sniff.
"Ya were too." He said, putting a hoof on my shoulder.
"Did he do this a lot back when he lived here?" Whistle asked, still looking me over.
"Yeah..."
"Why does he-" Whistle started but was silenced by Sky shaking his head and holding up a hoof.
"Stop, both of you. I'm not a broken toaster! Just, let it go." Whistle looked on with her usual disappointed look as I stood. "Com'on. We have to go meet your mom." I said waiting.
"Oh, ok. Hey, if you have sometime today... Want to hang out, maybe grab some lunch?" Sky asked as Whistle trotted to my side.
"Sure I guess. Where?" I asked over my shoulder.
"I'll be... well, here. Hay and Oats." He said pointing to the sign above my head.
Whistle and I trotted quietly down the otherwise loud street. Great, meet an old friend, have a nervous breakdown in front of them and leave them for dead... I should start wearing black and writing edgy poetry. Despite Whistle staring a hole into the side my head, I was refusing to look at her. I was too conflicted to talk, thought of what could happen kept my brain busy with all the possibilities. But almost to the same beat, it was telling me that I was the one putting myself in that same place that I hated going to. I knew she was right, but my mind would not let me agree with her.
We soon came to the store front of the large mall we had agreed to meet her mother at. Things at her home were still not going well, as to be suspected I suppose. Whistle's mother had asked that her stay be extended until she could get her out of control father to calm down enough for her to return home. I also found out that he was less than pleased with my version of tackling by way of kicking him in the head. I guess those long nights sparing with my friends turned out for the better after all.
"Hey. Are you ok?" Whistle asked, putting a hoof to my side.
"No. But it's not your fault." I said, hoping that it would end there.
"Talk to me. Please. I don't like it when you get like this. It scares me." She said, trying harder to get my attention. Damn it... She always knows just what to say.
"I'm... Scared." I said shamefully.
"What are you scared of?" Normally asking something like that would come with the same tone of 'don't worry about it', four words that were a useful as having lead hoofs. But her's was more of concern, rather than dismissal.
"I'm scare that... one day, I will wake up and you won't be there." I said, feeling foolish to be talking about such a thing.
"Why? Why are you scared that I won't be there one day?" She asked, pulling herself closer.
"Because, I don't think I can go back to the way things were. Not now. Not after all of this. Everything I do now, is because you are here. You are like that one light I have left, I guess I am just waiting for the day that it gets turned off again. What scares me is that, I might be the one that turns it out." She sat for a long moment, trying to process all it was I was worried about. Finally after what felt like hours, she spoke.
"Cask, I know that you are expecting to hear me say that I will always be there and that I will never leave you. But I can't say that. I don't now what the future has planned for us. But I will say this..." She said, crawling into my lap. "There is almost nothing you could do, or have done, that would make me leave now."
"Why can't we have a normal day... just once?" I said laughing.
"I don't know, maybe we should just stay home next time and watch tv or something." She said as she relaxed on her comfy pillow that she had made of my stomach.
"So you don't care that I used to enjoy fighting?" I asked, trying to put the matter to rest.
"No... But it explains a lot of what happened at my house the other day."
"Yeah... about that." I started, shifting at the unease of the thought. "Do you think he saw that coming?"
"Not a chance in the world!" She laughed.
"You do sure make a cute couple!" Whisp said from behind us. Oh crap. How much had she just heard?
"Hi mom!" Whistles shouted in shock as she jumped to her hooves.
"Calm down. I'm alone." She said as she trotted around the bench. "Honestly, you two would think that it was a crime what you were doing."
"Well..." I started.
"Quit it, you. Whistle, you ready hun?" She asked, motioning for them to leave.
"Coming." She said, passing by me, pausing to give me a peck on the cheek. "Meet us in an hour at the food court?"
"Y-yeah! Sure thing!"
"Oh, dear... hunny you are right. He does look cute when he is all red cheeked." Her mother said with a puppy eye'd grin.
"I know right!? Like a little colt every time I kiss him! I swear!" Whistle laughed.
"Gotta go!" I shouted as I took of like a bolt of lightning. Oh Celestia, why do mares do that!? That was so humiliating. It must be a sport to them to embarrass bucks like that. I flew as fast as my wings would carry me to the resturant Sky was waiting at, the whole time thinking the most masculine of thoughts in an effort to force the red from my cheeks.
I trotted through the door of the small dinner and glanced around for Sky. Sure enough, he had found his usual corner booth and taken purchase of it as he always did. Stained and ripped, most of the damage coming from years of him sitting there, the old stall was like a second home to the buck. Then again, his parents did own the place.
"Caskade! How are you sweetheart?" His mother shouted from behind the counter.
"Hi Mrs. Baker! I'm great! How is Mr. Baker?" I asked, trotting to the counter.
"Oh he's just as hateful as ever. You know..." She said leaning across the counter. "Hemorrhoids are flaring up again." She whispered loud enough for everypony to hear. Just then, the voice of a angry buck came from the kitchen.
"Here! Table three better not send it back again or they will get a plate filled with spit!" He shouted as he dropped the plate before his still laughing wife. "Well, well, well... I guess they will let anypony in here! Who runs this joint, I want to speak to a manager!" He shouted in his joking manner he often used.
"Hi Mr. Baker."
"Well didn't you shape up into a strapping young buck! I don't think I have seen you in..." He paused to think for a long moment. "...Dear? Who is this again? Where am I?" He said, feeling around the place as if he were blind.
"Oh!" She groaned as she began hitting him with a dirty rag. "Skyler is in his booth dear, would you like your favorite shake?"
"Do you even have to ask!?" I said beaming with joy.
"Good seeing you again kiddo!" He said as he turned for the kitchen.
"You too! Good luck with the Hemorrhoids!" Ms. Baker stuck her tongue out and winked at me in approval.
"Now damn it Sugar, are you going to tell every single pony that come in today about my butt-blisters!? Ponies are trying to eat!"
His words faded behind me as I trotted to Sky's table. He had been looking on the whole time with glee at his parent's display. Despite what some ponies might think, they worked great together as a family, valuing comedy over everything in their attempts to get the others goat in one way or another. Skyler liked to call it 'Hate Bucking'.
"I see you made an entrance. Everything ok?" He asked.
"Yeah, just dealing with stuff, that's all."
"Mom again, huh?" He asked, taking a long sip from his shake.
"Anypony ever tell you that you have a way of nuking your way into a conversation?"
"Yeah, but hey, why waste words. We are friends, you can talk to be about this kind of stuff."
"Yes. The mom thing."
"Look, I know that losing her basically destroyed you, but are you going to let this tear you up for the rest of your life?" He said, pointing his straw at me.
"How could it not!? She was there one second, gone the next! Whose to say that it would not happen to somepony else." I said, easing his hoof away from me.
"Ah... Casy is in LOVE." He said in a teasing tone.
"Shut up... But yeah... kinda."
"Kinda nothing... From what I saw, I would put 20 bits on you two being married before the end of the year."
"Oh, let me tell you..." I said rolling my eyes.
"Oh? Is there trouble in little Ponyville?"
"No, it's just that... things are going great, but her dad..."
"I take it that he doesn't like some buck smoothin' up on his daughter?"
"Hardly... Can you keep a secret? Like... A real secret?" I said leaning in.
"You know me!" He said leaning back to put a hoof on the table.
"Yeah, I do... Why do you think I'm asking you to actually keep this a secret?"
"Look, if this about that playing with yourself in the shower thing, that was just too good not to pick on you about."
"Damnit, Sky!" I said, pounding a hoof to the table. "No. Not that... But that was bullshit and you know it."
"Fine, I won't squeal." He said leaning in. "Now, serve up the juice."
"Whistle's dad... Her dad hits their mom and I think he has done the same to her. That's why I have the busted up face, he challenged me to 'tackling practice' in there damn living room. Worst of all, I think he did it, just to get to her. I think he did it to hurt her somehow through me." Skyler leaned back, his straw dangling from his lips. No doubt that he thought this was going to be something trivial, not THAT.
"You kick his ass, right?"
"You don't see a dead buck here, do you?"
"Good... Good... What are you going to do?"
"There's nothing I can. She already lives with me, her mom insisted on it." I looked up to Sky, who's expression was nothing short of shock. "She has been sleeping in my bed for the last few nights now. Dad seems cool with it, but I think it's either because he wants me to be happy, or because he doesn't notice, what with how much he's at work." Sky's eye started to twitch uncontrollably.
"W-wha?" He drooled.
"What?" I said in frustration.
"Wait... You mean to tell me that she LIVES with you? Like... Your dad is all cool with it and stuff? Her sleeping in your bed?"
"Yeah? What of it?"
"Are you a wizard!?" He shouted.
"Oh, shut up."
"No! You did it, didn't you."
"Did what?" I said, confused by the earlier comment still.
"You lost your V-card to this mare, didn't you?"
"Sky... Damn it..."
"Ooooh! Our little Caskade is all grown up!" He said, squeezing my cheeks.
"Could you not..." I said, trying to be angry but failing to my pride.
"Well, it sounds to me that you have things pretty well handled. She was in a bad place living at home by the sounds of it, now she lives with you. You were a depressed little turd, now look at you!" He said as his mother placed my favorite thing in the whole world before me! Two scoops of sweet cream, one of chocolate butter cream, all blended together with honey covered oats! Celestia take me to heaven! Comfort food does not even begin to describe it!
"What was that? What do you mean about now look at you?" I said through a mouth of orgasmic bliss. This was tied with whistles butt massage for best feeling in the world... Not quite sex or being preened, but damn close.
"You used to be depressed looking, always trotting around lost and staring at light poles. I saw how you look at her... It's like you see your future with her or something. Face it, you love the mare..." He said, again leaning back.
"That's just it. I do love her. That's what scares me. What if I screw this up, what if she leaves, what if her dad tries to kill me! There are so many what ifs that is boggles the mind!" I said, still drinking my shake.
"Quit over thinking things so much!" He said, smacking me in the forehead.
"Ow! What the hell..." What was this, beat the hell out of Cask day!?
"Sorry, worked for her..."
"Yeah well, her touch is better than your's." I said, cocking an eyebrow.
"Look, you always do this. Remember 'No-Knees Fleece?" back in school? You rebounded after your mom died and she was there for you. But you started over thinking things and ended up crying your eyes out just before you could seal the deal."
"She was a sweet mare! And I had a moment of weakness and she couldn't handle it!"
"She was a hoe, and you know it! Cask, me and the guys asked her to go out with you in hopes she would bang oyur mind straight again."
"Is that what that was!? A pitty buck!?" I asked in shock.
"Yes, damn it!" He said cracking a smile. As mad as I wanted to be, I couldn't help but laugh myself.
"I am hopeless, aren't I?" I said, pounding my head to the table.
"Like a rose in the desert, Cask. Like a rose in the damn desert." He said as the two of use laughed. I had nearly finished the amazing shake in one triumphant inhale before I noticed that nearly an hour had passed.
"Shit! I'm supposed to meet them at the food court!"
"You know what you have to do, right?"
"No... What's that?"
"Well... The Kade I know wouldn't let life make him it's bitch like this. I know you have been down and out for a while now, but you are going to have to grab life and kick it in the balls. Forget her dad, your depression and having to move away from your amazingly awesome best friend and move the hell on. More importantly, you need to stop this scared shit and show that mare who you really are. Be that buck she can't live without that she see's in you and quit being a little bitch."
He said with a firm hoof to the table. Was Sky... talking sense!? This was not like him at all.
"Your a good buck, an ass, but a good buck."
"You know it." He said with an evil grin.
"Wana come?"
"You know it!" He said as we scrambled for the door.
"HEY! YOU FORGOT TO PAY!" Ms.Baker shouted after us.
"Not now mom! Kade as a mare to embarrass!" Sky shouted behind us as we made wake through the sky. The two of us flew through the mall's doors, nearly blowing it off the hinges as we raced for the food court. The two of us were quickly grounded by the 'no flying sign' as we began to tip-trot past a very angry looking security guard before turning a corner and taking off again.
We lit just outside of the stable of tables, sneaking our way towards the center of the crowded sitting area. Whistle and her mother were sitting right ahead of us in one of the center tables. Even with everypony around us talking, I was just close enough to over hear them. I made eye contact with her mother, raising a hoof to my mouth to keep her from giving us away as I rolled my shoulders and began my stalk. Call it my uplifted mood, call it the wise words of a old friend who knew just how to remind me who I really was. But I was enjoying being playful for a change.
"...it's like every time I start to get close to him, he puts up a wall! I just don't know what to do.." Whistle said, her tone feeling hurt as it found my up turned ear.
"Hun, Cask has been through a lot, just like we have. When his mother passed, his father fell into a void, he blocked out almost everypony that had anything to do with Cardinal to keep from feeling the pain of losing her. Cask was just a colt when she died, but he was old enough to feel what it was like to lose somepony you care about. It stands to reason he would not want to talk about his feelings, he has probably been dealing with them alone for a long time now." Whisp said as I inched closer.
"But how do I get through to him? I don't think that he knows how I feel about him because he keeps worrying about losing me too! He is the only buck that I have ever felt... that spark with. Its like he knows exactly what to say when I'm sad to make me happy. Just being close to him makes me happy. He says that's how he feels too, but I just don't know."
"Nopony ever said love was easy dear. You have to take on their problems when you do. Sometimes, just being there is enough, but sometimes there is nothing you can do for them but to wait for them to come to you first. Cask is that kind of buck, I think." She said in a sweet tone, all the while trying not to laugh at the two stupid bucks who were sneaking up on her daughter. I heard every word of what she said, but my mood refused to come down even an inch.
"So what do I do?" Whistle asked.
"If you love him, you have to be willing to wait for him. Some ponies are worth it, like Cask... Others..." She said trailing off. "Is he?" Whistle was taking entirely too long to answer than question. My heart dropped as I waited just inches behind her, my ear twitching at every sound. Sky shot me a nervous look, surely thinking that if this went wrong now, it was going to be a long afternoon of sneaking off to steal from his parents liquor cupboard... again.
"He is... He so is..." Whistles said, her every word broken. "I know he is stubborn, but if I have to wait, I will." Sky was now putting a hoof to his mouth to keep from gagging.
"And why is that?" Whisp asked, now out of my view.
"Because... I think... I know he would wait for me." That's my cue. I reached up and gabbed the back of her chair, leaning it backwards to were I was looking down on her. She let out a scream at the sudden act, flailing and nearly knocking the table over. I pressed my lips to hers and gave her a real kiss, for the first time not being provoked by her, but being given from me.
"I would." I said as we finally parted. Whistle reached up to wrap her hooves around my neck. It was sweet, clumsy, we ended up falling to the floor atop the still hiding Sky just below me, but sweet nonetheless.
"Cask! How long-" She started as I lay atop her and Sky both.
"Every word."
"Oh... My..." She mumbled through her hooves.
"This is adorable and all... but could you wrap it up? I can't feel my legs. The two of us rolled off my poor friend and did our best to help him up to his shaky hooves.
"What did you bring him for?" Whistles asked, trying not to sound too indignant.
"Emotional support." Sky said as he trotted up to her mother. "Well HELLO mom." Sky said in possibly the most seductive and totally uncalled for tone I had ever heard.
"Well, hello yourself!" She said giggling.
"Now, what's a beautiful mare like you doing sitting all ALONE?" Sky said, shooting me a look. Ah... That was what he was on about. Best damn wing pony in all of Equestria.
"Let's take a walk, want to?" I asked as I offered a wing to her.
"Is that ok, mom?" Whistle asked as Skyler worked his 'magic'.
"Sure! But, please come back soon... Please." She said, looking at the faux smitten buck fearfully.
The two of us trotted down the halls of the mall, trying to find a place that was secluded enough for the two of us to have some alone time. Finally, of all places, we found refuge in the rafters of the main lobby. High above prying ears, the two of us shared the small catwalks together as we trotted around the atrium.
"So, you were snooping." Whistle said, giving me a bump with her side.
"Well, it wasn't planed but how could I pass it up."
"So you heard, everything then." She said, lowing her head in shame. I put a hoof to her chest and guided her to sit next to me to look out the window together.
"Now, don't go doing the every thing that you were saying that I do all the time."
"What?" She said, pulling away from me.
"Whistle... I haven't been completely honest with you. I mean I have told the truth the whole time we have been together, but I feel like I have been keeping stuff from you." I said, staring out the window. Despite having the energy to talk about this, I still could not bare to look at her. It was going to be something I would have to work on I guess.
"Ok... then why don't you tell me now? I'm right here." I looked down to those big blue eyes, shimmering like two pools of hope that this was finally going to be the time I opened up to her. Well, here goes nothing...
"When I was little, after mom passed, I spent an entire month in my room alone. I kept asking why it was that she had to be the one to go. I would spend my days staring out the window and my nights crying myself to sleep. I love my mom, but the world just... took her. There was no reason behind it, she wasn't old, she just got sick. When she passed, it was like it tore this hole in my heart, like when she left us it took something from me that I could never replace."
"Cask..." She started but I put a hoof up to stop her. I had to get this out now or it was going to hurt us in the long run.
"I know... I know... It was a long time ago, I should be over it by now and for the most part I am. But I don't think I could be without you. That part of me that was torn out as a little colt, you somehow found a way to fill. It was like... when I first met you, you started to... fix me. Everyday we were together, every note we passed, every time we kissed... every second together... that pain I had held onto for so long, started to fade." Whistle stood staring at me as I looked off into space. I still couldn't look at her, I knew what I would see and it would kill me.
"All that time, I carried it with me. It was my last reminder of her, the one thing that kept her memory close to me. I didn't want to let it go. Even now, I feel it slipping away from me the longer I'm with you. I hate it! It hurts like losing her all over again... But the more I see of you, the less I hurt. Not just being with you, but seeing how much you care for me, how you look at me even. I still nearly kills me every time it happens, but it's worth it to be with you. Because every day that pain fades away a little more when I am with you. It wasn't until I heard what you said, about being worth the wait, that I knew."
"Knew... what..." I couldn't see her face, but her words told the story, coming to my ears in a near squeak.
"I knew that you were the one. You could be the one that filled that hole, give me back what I lost, the one that I could trust. I don't know what's going to happen next for us... but as long as we have each other, we will make it work." I looked down to the catwalk, there was small puddle of tear drops between us that had taken shape. This time, not just mine. I watched as the two of them flowed together into a sad little pool at our hoofs, almost symbolically linking us together.
That wasn't so bad... but now had to come the hard part. I had to look at her after saying all of the things I had never told anypony. I slowly turned my head to meet her gaze. The all too familiar look filled my vision. Her blue eyes glistening with tears and grown wide as she looked right back at me. I saw everything in those eyes. Fear, love, pain, wanting, passion and worry. All of them seemed to meld together as she tried to talk, but no words came out. I waited quietly, just taking in the shape of her face as she processed everything.
I had become so lost in those shimmering pools that I jumped when she threw her hoofs around me. She buried her head into my wing as I cradled her, holding her close to me as she cried. She was shaking. I was feeling that all too familiar pain that I had for so long as I let the last of her memory fade away. I kept reminding myself that this was good, but how could it be good if it hurt this bad?
I felt Whistle pull me in close to her as she pressed her lips against mine. And just like that, the pain washed away. This was good, but it never could be without her. She was the one pony who could find that part of me that was hurting and bring it back to life again. Nopony had ever done than for me, I had never felt anything like it before. It was... Happiness.
"Next time we stay home and watch tv... ok?" Whistle said, trying to clean her face with a wing.
The two of us finally consoled one another enough to clean up and go back to the food court. We had only been gone a moment, but I felt like we had flown a hundred miles. I was emotionally broken, physically exhausted and... hungry? Why was that a thing!? It's like all emotional break throughs call for food, ice cream at that!
The two of us rounded the corner to find that Sky was nowhere to be found. Instead of the proud buck in his uniform, a new buck had taken his place. Rain.
"Let's... Let's get out of here... I don't like this!" Whistle said, shying away. I watched on as the short buck yelled and screamed to his wife from across the court. He came here, he actually came here and he is screaming at her in public! What was he doing here anyway, the weather team was scheduled to be in the Harmony Valley today. Last I had heard it was all hooves on deck to clear the blizzard clouds from the place before it hit Ponyville.
"No... This has to stop." I said taking a step forward.
"Please! Let's leave!" Whistle said, pulling at my wing.
"This is just going to keep happening. You two will never be happy until he is gone." I said, staring him down.
"Cask, no! He's not worth it!"
"Your right... He's not." I said as I felt Whistle pull away for us to leave. "But you are. Stay here."
Even with Whistle begging me to stay, I couldn't. Not after everything that had just happened. She was the one thing in my life I had and this was the buck that was going to try and take it away. Life took my mother and there was nothing I could do about it. But this buck, this asshole was here, right in front of me and unlike life, I can touch him. The little buck in my head stood in aw at my stupidity, threw up his hooves and trotted right out of the control room. Looks like it was just going to be me doing something stupid.
"HEY! ASSHOLE!" I shouted across the food court. Everypony within a half a mile spun to see the stupid buck who had just shouted at the top of his lungs. "Who're you looking for?" I said as I started to circle the table. Rain looked up to me in shock, something I had not planed on.
"Who am I looking for? Who are you looking for?" He said, his every word dripping with false bravado.
"Oh I found him, he's right here old man."
"Oh really now... Well, go on then, say hello." This had to be the stupidest fight in history.
"Please, ladies first, I insist." Everypony in the food court was now looking on at their free show they were being given. The two of us circled the table that Whisp was still sitting at. Even with her yelling to the two of us, neither of us could hear.
"Am I a lady now?"
"Half to be... No BUCK would talk to his wife like that." I fired back at him.
"What are you saying, I think you need to elaborate." He said as he squared his stance against mine. Our eyes dug into one another, teeth gritting in the calm that was to prelude the storm. I cocked my lip up into a snark.
"Pussy." At the mere mention of the word, his hoofs skittered to life as he raged towards me.
Fighting with anger can only go one of two ways. You can use it as fuel to push you through the hardest moments of fighting, pushing through pain you should never be able to handle. The there is the approach Rain took. Barreling head on into the fight swinging wild, trying to end things quickly.
I, on the other hoof found a third, more interesting avenue of attack. Piss him off just enough to see red, and step out of the way as he charged head on into a railing behind me. Rain's head hit the rail with a loud clang as I danced in place, trying not to fall over. I spun to see him clambering back to his hooves with fire in his eyes. Obviously this was the same trick I had pulled back in his home, chances of it working twice? Slim, but hey, it worked.
He pushed off the railing, flying right for me. I braced for the impact, waiting for him to get just close enough for me to take a chance at round two. Right as he got near me, he reared up to block me flying above him and knocking him to the ground as I done the last time we 'tackled'. Perfect!
Right as his hooves came crashing down, I stepped forward, reached for his neck and used his momentum to send him over my head... sending his into the tile floor behind me. My back popped at the strange position I was asking of it as I lifted his mass and sent it driving towards the ground behind me. I had not tried that in years and my body was quick to remind me that if you don't use it, you lose it.
In spite of the pain, I rolled to my hoofs and backed away for his next attack. But nothing came of it. Before Rain could find his way to his hooves, mall security had rushed in to stop us. I stood perfectly still, doing my best to look like I was just another school kid, while Rain did his best to see through the blood coating his vision to beat up the security guards.
"What's going on here!?" One of the guards shouted.
"He attacked me!" Rain yelled out.
"Did not, I asked why you were screaming the word 'whore' at your wife in the food court, then you attacked me!" I shouted back, fanning the flames.
"What!? I did no such thing!"
"Enough out of you!"
"Sir, can I go now? My dad sent me to get school supplies and he will be mad if I don't make it home for dinner."
"Wait a second... How old are you, son?" The guard holding Rain back asked.
"S-sixteen." I fake a meek voice and looked down to the floor.
"Great Luna! You were fighting a minor!?" The guard said in shock. Heh... I bet he never saw that coming. And I doubt that anypony is going to say anything after the way he spoke to Whisp in front of them.
"He's not a kid! He's a sniveling little shit of my daughter's coltfriend!"
"That's enough! We will the let the Guard decide that."
"Sir's? Can I go now, I live in Ponyville and it's a long way home." I said giving my best puppy dog eyes.
"Unless you want to stay and give your side of the story. You are free to go." Shit... ok, hadn't planned on that.
"I saw EVERYTHING!" I looked up to see the most beautiful looking buck in all of Equestria..." That buck is a real asshole! Fighting a teenager like that." Rain might have been able to talk his way out of cuffs without me there... But not if a buck who is in the Wonderbolts training camp AND my best friend...
The mass of ponies took Rain kicking and screaming from the food court as Sky and I shared a look. Just like old times.
"Sorry to dine an dash love, but I am needed else where..." Skyler said to Whisp as he did his best to curtsy in his awkward uniform. I turned to look at her in shame, she was going to be pissed for sure, but please Celestia don't let her have that 'disappointing' look on her face that all mom... Crap.
"What were you thinking!?" She nearly yelled at me as the two of us trotted to the main hallway where Whistles was still hiding behind a trashcan. "You could have been killed!"
"Sorry..."
"You know he will be pissed when he gets out, why would you do that." She said, not asked to me as we passed Whistles, who quickly joined our trotting lecture.
"Sorry..."
"And to think, I thought you were as smart as your mother!"
"Sorry..." Whistles looked on with a small smirk as her mother tore me a new one all the way to the front doors of the mall.
"You had better not do something that stupid again!"
"I won't... Also, sorry..."
"Now... I have to head home. I'm sure rain will be thrilled to see me when he gets there." She said as she untucked her wings to take off.
"Wait. The offer stands, you can come and stay with us." I said, more begging than offering.
"No, no... I'm sure he will have a chance to sleep it off in lock up. If I'm no there, he will just come looking for you two." She said as she began to hover. Whistles and I did the same but before we could take off, Whisp called out for us.
"Wait..." She said as she came closer to us. She reached out and hugged Whistles goodbye and gave me a peck on the cheek, making sure to make it as mom like as possible to gross me out.
"EWWWWW..." I shouted as I pawed at the spot she kissed. Whistles nearly fell out of the sky laughing at my disgust.
"Thank you... Don't let it go to your head and don't make a habit of it but... thank you." She said before she flew away from us. I looked back to Whistles who was now dealing with a serious case of the laughs and gawked at her.
"What!?" I shouted to her.
"I... I..."
"Well spit it out already..."
"I think she likes you more than Skyler!" She said as she rolled on the ground laughing.
"Well... rightfully so. I am better looking." I said as Whistles finally found the energy to get back to her wings.
"Speaking of..." She started as she leaned in close to me. "What are the chances of you getting your hooves on that suit of his..." She said with WAY more sexual innuendos that I thought possible hung on every word.
"Don't tell me you were checking him out..." I said, putting a hoof to my forehead.
"No, no... But I saw him in uniform... I could help but wonder what you would look like too..." She said biting her lip.
"Are you serious right now!? Are we doing this after I beat up your dad!? Now!?" I said in awe. How was it that she could come from an abusive home and still manage to be turned on by this kind of stuff!?
"Just go with it... But can you? Not looking for judgement, just a yes or a no." She said tapping her hooves together.
"Have you any clue how awkward that conversation is going to be!? Hey, Sky, Can I borrow your flight suit? My mare friends wants to bang me in it!" I said throwing my hooves wide. Whistle started biting her lip, never giving up hope on me saying yes... Damn it... I'm going to have to do this, aren't I?
"Sure... just wash it before you bring it back..." Skyler said below us. I looked down in horror to see him climbing out of his suit right there on the sidewalk.
"Seriously!?" I shouted my voice cracking in disbelief.
"Hey... Anything for a friend." He said, as he passed the still warm suit to me. Whistle's eyes grew wide as she reached out to hug Sky, seeming to have given her the best pre Hearts Warming present ever. I think she actually let out a squee. "You two better get going, I heard them say that they were going to release Rain into his wife's custody soon."
"Thanks again... for everything." I said as I tucked the suit into my bags.
"Don't mention it. Just... Wash it... in fact, wash it before you put it on. Also, stop being such a damn stranger... It was good seeing you, both of you." He said as he flew off into town. What a great buck... I wish we could hang out more. I finished tucking the suite away and looked up to Whistle's wide eye'd grin.
"What?" I said, trying to break her trance. "What is it girl?" Again silence. "Are you hungry?" More silence and more grinning. "Did little Timmy fall down the well again!?" Nothing... Then I dawned on me... I hung my head. "You are going to make me wear the suit as soon as we get home... aren't you?" I looked up to see a smiling, nodding frantically mare who looked like she had just won the lottery.
"Come on... Dad's working late." I said with an evil grin.