//------------------------------// // Consequence of a Mark // Story: Side A - The Guard // by daOtterGuy //------------------------------// Flash stepped into his house and closed the door behind him with a soft click. He leaned back against the solid wood and dropped down into a sitting position. With a few quick motions, he threw off his armour and breathed out a long exhausted sigh. It had been a long night. Who could have possibly guessed that an old mare’s tale, The Mare in the Moon no less, could have possibly been true? The day before had been fine, with nothing out of the ordinary. He had started his shift, ended his shift, and had gone to sleep with Cocoa. It wasn’t until the wee hours of the morning that Flash had been woken up by a panicked guard and had been told that he needed to come in for an emergency shift. At the time he’d been too asleep to notice, but the sun had yet to rise. The entire population of Canterlot was up in hooves at the palace demanding an explanation. Flash had spent the entire evening calming down ponies and explaining that the sun would be up soon despite the guard not knowing what was going on. Even after the sun had returned, there were reports and cleanup for the entirety of the day as everything was put back into working order. Flash hadn’t been relieved of duty until one guard noticed that he had been there for more than twenty-four hours and probably needed to sleep. Flash had thanked the guard and trotted back home. All he wanted to do now was see his favourite stallion, have his mandatory cuddles, then pass out in bed until tomorrow when he would have to report in for work again and deal with more of the aftermath. Flash swivelled his ears and listened to the tell tale flip of papers from the dining room. He grinned and, with a surprising amount of effort, got off the floor and pranced to where he knew Cocoa was waiting. Cocoa was sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the table and Flash grinned even wider as he took a seat opposite him. He felt his exhaustion begin to slip away as it was replaced by the ecstatic happiness that came from seeing his colt friend. It would explain why Flash hadn’t noticed anything else. “Evening, Cocoa,” Flash excitedly greeted, “Glad to see your beautiful face after the day I had.” Cocoa stayed silent. “Aw, not feeling like talking much?” Flash laughed, “It’s okay I can talk for both of us with that big mouth of mine you like so much.” A page was turned. Undeterred, Flash continued, “So you won’t believe what happened. You know that old story, The Mare in the Moon? Turns out she was this monster called Nightmare Moon, who was actually this alicorn named Luna that, get this, was Celestia’s sister all along!” Flash banged his hooves on the table in excitement, “Crazy right?” Another page turned. Flash wrinkled his brow in concern, “Cocoa, you aren’t usually this quiet. Is something wrong?” Cocoa looked up. Flash wished he hadn’t. It was important to understand that Cocoa didn’t show his emotions outwardly in an obvious way. It was always hidden behind the slight grinding of his teeth or tightening of his smile. There, but never obvious. This Cocoa was undoubtedly furious. Cocoa slammed his book on the table, “Why did you lie to me?” He said it in the tone he reserves for the dumbest of customers. The one that says that ‘no, he can't get you a hayburger, why would you even think that was sold here?’ Flash felt something cold begin to form in his gut and it made him feel nauseous. “I,” Flash stammered, “I-I don’t understand. What did I-” Cocoa slammed his hooves on the table and Flash jumped at the impact, “When you made me decline the catering position in Ponyville for the Summer Sun Celebration, you knew. You knew that Nightmare Moon would appear that day.” Flash felt that cold feeling get worse, “What? No! I didn’t know that Nightmare Moon would return.” “Then why did you tell me not to go?” Cocoa growled, “Why did you make me decline the offer?” “Because you made a deal with a noble pony,” Flash frantically replied, “You can’t trust them, you-” “STOP LYING!” Cocoa yelled. “I’M NOT!” Flash roared back, “I’m trying to explain. Cocoa, please listen-” “Get out.” Flash stopped. The cold had finally permitted his entire body and he hated that he couldn’t stop shivering. “... What?” Flash whispered. “Get out,” Cocoa stated coldly. Flash felt everything tilt slightly, off kilter and wrong. He fought back the tears that were threatening to fall and the horrible nauseous feeling was building in his stomach. “Wait, please,” Flash begged, “We can talk about this.” Cocoa gestured to a pile of objects in the corner that Flash belatedly realized were all his belongings, “Everything is there; I’m sure Shining will let you stay with him.” That was it. No chance to defend himself, no talking it out, and no benefit of a doubt. Flash just got shouted at, told to grab his stuff and get out. Flash felt numb. He felt stripped down and trampled on, leaving everything open and vulnerable. And, unfortunately for Cocoa, that only left the emotions Flash had kept buried. “...Fuck you,” Flash whispered as he felt the cold inside his body begin to melt. Cocoa narrowed his eyes, “Excuse me?” “FUCK YOU!” Flash slammed his hooves on the table and broke through the wood. Flash didn’t notice Cocoa widen his eyes and take a step back in surprise. He was mad. He was angry. He wanted to hurt. He hadn’t felt like this in years. He wasn’t going to stop. “You know what Cocoa?” Flash grinded his teeth, “You seem happy to point a hoof at my problems, but I put up with a lot of your shit-” “MY shit,” Cocoa interrupted, “This is not about what I-” “BULLSHIT,” Flash snarled, “You don’t talk to me about anything. You won’t tell me what it is about me that bothers you. Is it the wings? Am I repulsive? Am I too big for your tastes? Not enough? Am I not perfect enough for you?” Cocoa looked confused as he replied, “Flash, there is nothing wrong-” “AND NOW YOU’RE LYING,” Flash felt his body heat up with rage, “If there is nothing wrong, if there really is nothing wrong, then why won’t you let me kiss you? Why do you flinch whenever I try to be close to you? Why do you turn away when I try to be intimate with you?” Cocoa gave Flash a dumbfounded look, “You’re mad because I won’t have sex with you?” “I’m mad because you apparently don’t care enough about me to just tell me why you don’t want me! I’m mad because it hurts so fucking much when I want to get closer to you, but you just act all proper and shut me out.” Flash felt a shuddering sob rack through him, “Do you hate me?” Despite the rage, Flash felt the tears finally fall. They were big and messy and did nothing to soften the snarl on his face. He ignored it. He was watching Cocoa. He was watching as Cocoa looked pained, and shaken, and afraid, and unable to say anything. Flash liked it and he hated that. He hated that he was enjoying it. He hated that he wanted Cocoa to hurt. He hated that he wanted him to be afraid. He hated that he was acting just like- Flash took a deep shuddering breath. “It’s my mark,” Flash choked out. Cocoa wrinkled his brow in confusion, “I’m sorry, Flash. I didn’t hear you.” “It’s because of my mark,” Flash said louder, “I told you not to go to Ponyville because of my mark.” “I don’t understand, Flash,” Cocoa replied, “If it’s just your mark why didn’t you tell me?” “Because I don’t trust you,” Flash stated bluntly. Flash felt a few more hot tears trickle down his face as he watched Cocoa’s face twist into a hurt expression. It was only a moment before it went back to furious, but before he could say anything Flash continued. “I don’t trust Shining Armour either.” Cocoa stopped his retort and scrunched his muzzle in confusion. “Or Velvet, Or Night Light, or the other guards, or Captain Blue Charge,” Flash felt his voice sound hollow and detached, “Nopony.” “The only ones that know are myself, Princess Celestia, and-” Flash felt his throat seize up from having to say his name, “Iron Wall.” Cocoa bit his lip nervously and tentatively asked, “Who’s Iron Wall?” Flash felt his throat constrict as he pushed through to get the words out. It took time as his mouth refused to say the words. Those terrible dreaded words. “My dad.” It was quiet. Flash hated the quiet. It left out laughter and talking for thinking and Flash didn’t like dwelling on his thoughts. They tended to turn towards the worst. Finally, painfully, Cocoa asked, “Do you want to talk about it?” “No,” Flash said bitterly, “But I’d hate to lose you more.” “Flash-” “Shut up,” Flash interrupted, “Just give me a moment.” Cocoa stayed silent as Flash uncovered long buried memories. He reopened all of the the hurt and the tears and the hate and readied to lay it bare. He took a deep breath. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “I grew up in a crappy apartment on the outskirts of the Canterlot slums. Iron Wall had gotten dishonourably discharged after he goofed up my testimony and-.” “Your testimony? Why were you making a testimony?” “Iron Wall was grabby and really liked mares to the point that he may have not asked permission once. Or twice. Or, judging by the number of court appearances I made, seventeen. They needed a character witness for him and Iron Wall’s lawyer was a shady piece of shit that thought it was adorable that ‘Iron’s little foal would stand up for daddy’.” “I’m sorry, your father used you as a character witness in court? How old were you?” “Five. He wrote out and made me memorize the testimony every time. For the seventeenth case he got drunk and screwed up what he was supposed to write. The judge figured out that I was just reading off something I had memorized.” “Your father used his own foal as a character witness?” “Yes.” “... I don't think I like your father much.” “Join the club. Anyways, we lived in this rundown hole in the wall. There was only one room and a bathroom with no door on it. Iron Wall drank a lot. Thankfully he wasn’t physical but he was mouthy. Liked to talk shit about everypony. He was also a little… pent up. Honestly, it's why I look at Shining funny when he says the absolute worst thing that he’s ever seen was his parents having sex.” “That is one of the worse things you could possibly see.” “Why?” “Because they gave birth to you, it’s weird.” “And? They’re ponies, it’s not like they have foals and then suddenly lose their ability to have sex. Everypony needs intimacy.” “That… is a valid point.” “Thanks. Moving on, I used to sneak out and play in the back alley beside our apartment building. I got attached to this dog that lived there. He was the ugliest dog in Equestria with a half chewed ear, next to no fur, and a huge amount of scars all over his body. I loved him. Named him Scruff. I would play with him everyday and sneak food to him when I could. One day though, I was playing alone with Iron Wall passed out in a corner after doing another drinking binge and I felt this huge pain in my flanks. It was terrible. I had started screaming and crying and swearing-” “What like ‘fudge’ and ‘jellybeans’?” “No like ‘son of a bitch’ and ‘fucking whore’. What kind of beautiful stable living situation do you think I lived in?” … “Right, so I somehow managed to not wake up Iron Wall. Don’t know how, don’t really care. While I was thrashing around, I managed to hit my head on this low coffee table. That caused all of the pain to focus on my bruised head. It was enough that I finally heard my mark - Though of course I hadn’t known it was my mark at the time - yelling at me to go get Scruff and take him to the vet. So I ran out of the apartment and found Scruff lying in the alley. Some random ponies had beat him up and he was hurt real bad. I picked up Scruff and started running to the nearest vet. Problem is I’m a foal. Even then I was still bigger than the average pegasus my age, but its not like I was going to be able to reach a clinic while carrying a full grown dog. Long story short, I didn’t make it to the clinic before Scruff died. Tartarus, I didn’t even make it out of the alley. That’s when I first felt the kickback.” “The what?” “Kickback, the consequence when I don’t do what my mark tells me to.” “Consequence? Flash what in Tartarus does your mark do?” … “Flash?” … “Flash!” “... Later. The important part is I got back to the apartment and Iron Wall was waiting for me. He was staring at me as I was shivering in the living room and bawling my eyes out. I think I was blubbering about Scruff dying and everything just hurt. Iron Wall had that stupid glassy look on his face when he hit the bottle real hard and he just tilted his head and grinned. ‘Hey buck, you got your mark,’ he had said and I turned around and there it was: a shield with a lightning bolt through it. Iron Wall then started pestering me for what I did. I told him how I had felt a lot of pain in my flanks and then had been told to go save Scruff. Iron Wall, despite his massive appearance, is smart. Really smart. By the time I was finished he knew what my mark was and what it did and… and he knew how he could use it.” “Flash what do you mean?” … “Flash what did he do?” “You need to understand Cocoa. At the time, he was still my… dad and I was a foal. I didn’t know better. I thought at the very least I was safe with him, but I was wrong. If I’d known what he would do, I wouldn’t have told him. I probably would have lied and given him some weird explanation like how I flew fast or something, but I didn’t.” “I don’t really understand, how does your mark work exactly?” “You know how I loved that ugly dog?” “Yes.” “He was important to me.” “Yes, that’s rather-” “No Cocoa you don’t understand. He was important to me. I loved that dog. I cared for him. I played with him. He made me happy when Iron Wall was just drinking away the afternoon. He kept me company when I was lonely. That meant I wanted him to be safe. I wanted to protect him, I needed to protect him.” “... Your mark warns you of danger when you or something you care about is threatened.” “Yes and there’s a real important part of that sentence which is what I care about.” “I don't think I understand what you’re implying.” “Ponies aren’t the only things that ponies can care about. Ponies can care about relationships or how well they do something or, most important to Iron Wall, things. Like money.” “...I don’t know if I like where this is going.” “You won’t. I’m pretty sure Iron knew exactly what he wanted to do with my mark but he needed to test it out. A few days later, he gave me this new big brown teddy bear as a reward for earning my mark. It was super big and fluffy and comfortable and it was my bestest best friend. Don’t judge.” “I’m not. I had a stuffed bar of chocolate when I was younger.” “... That’s adorable.” “I know, but please continue.” “Oh, right. So I got attached to it. I took it on adventures and played with it and had it on me at all times. One day, when I had left my bear in bed to go grab snacks, Iron Wall trotted over to it. The pain immediately started up again in my flanks and my mark screamed at me to get back to my bear, but again, and I cannot stress this enough, I was a foal. Foals are not exactly known for their great strength and speed. I had started hobbling back to the bed gritting my teeth through the pain when Iron Wall took my bear and ripped its arm off. Ah, Tartarus Cocoa, it hurt. When Iron Wall confirmed that I had been affected, he stitched up the bear and gave it back to me with a pat on the head. The next week, Iron Wall picked me up on his back and said we were going on a trip. I was super excited because Iron never took me out. He hadn’t been drinking the past few days and he had played with me the entire time. He had acted like a dad for once and I was just so happy. So you know what cock fights are?” “The highly illegal practice of having live roosters fight each other to the death?” “Yeah those. So, Iron Wall had taken me to one of them. He set me down in front of the roosters and told me to play with them. I don't why but they were always super friendly to me. They were surprisingly gentle and I loved that I got to pet and coo at them while chasing them around in circles. Afterwards, Iron Wall told me to pick my favourite one. I didn’t really understand then, but what he was doing was having me pick the one that didn’t need protection. Part of my mark’s ‘rules’ is that I can physically choose what I protect. I didn’t like the pain I felt from my mark, so I would always pick my favourite rooster as the one that caused me no pain at all. Iron Wall would then put me on his back and watch the fight. I hadn’t known as a foal but he had then bet on the rooster I had picked. I’m honestly still stunned by how much my mark circumnavigates random chance. The roosters fought and the one I picked won. Iron Wall then quickly collected his bits and left. I found out fairly soon why.” … “Flash?” “Yeah?” “What’s next?” … “Flash...” “Did you know they kill the chickens after the fight?” … “They use these super sharp knives and cut off their heads so they can then sell the meat off to the Griffon market. It’s actually really efficient since then the authorities have no way to trace it back to the owners. Sucks for the roosters though. They have surprisingly durable skin and bones. The knife usually gets caught on the bone and then they have to hack at it to get through. It feels really nasty when it cuts through the sinew and the muscle and they start sawing-” “You said feel.” “Pardon?” “You said feel. As if you knew what it felt like.” “Oh? Did I? Huh, weird I should watch my wording more…” “Flash.” “... I mean somepony could get the wrong idea...” “Flash.” “... about things and make terrible presumptions-” “FLASH.” … “Your mark’s consequence. When you fail to protect… do you… does it...” … “Flash do you feel the pain of the thing you fail to protect?” … … … “I don’t get it. Causing pain to other things. Doesn’t matter if its a teddy bear, a rooster, or a pony. I cannot even put into words how much it hurts to have a leg ripped off or to be beaten to death by hooves or having your head sawed off. It doesn’t fucking matter what the target is it’s still wrong.” ... “... What happened after?” “Oh, I screamed for hours. Iron Wall dumped me in a corner of the apartment and drank for the rest of the day as congratulations for himself. It was well into evening when I had managed to stop and just curled into a ball with my teddy bear and sniffled into it. Afterwards, I went with Iron Wall to all sorts of places. Casinos, bars, race tracks, every place where any form of gambling happened. It took awhile for him to figure out how to use my mark for things like slot machines though. For the record, you get me attached to the coin and then go to the machine that hurts the least. This happened for… oh jeez, years? I don’t really remember anything during that time up until I was with the Princess, but that’s for later. After earning a stupid amount of bits, Iron Wall was of course a fiscally responsible stallion and stored it in a bank...” “I don’t believe you for a second.” “Yeah, bad lie. He spent it on hookers and booze. The high quality ones too. You know the mares with all the jewelry and fancy scarves? They were actually really nice and I hope they all ended up finding happiness. After getting Iron Wall, uh, ‘spent’ they would come over and play with me for a while. They all thought I was just the most adorable thing One of them, Saffron Sash if I remember correctly, was a repeat that Iron Wall got attached to. I didn't understand it at the time why she kept coming back. Iron Wall was pretty big and muscular once, but by that point wasn’t exactly that great to look at. He had been out of the guard for a while and his waistline went with it, as well as his hygiene standards. He was like one of those high school dropouts with the beer guts and that hung around bars and talked about the ‘glory days’. Saffron had a soft spot for me and was coming back to make sure I was okay. She would come with toys and snacks and always spent the longest time with me, more than any of the others. The last night I saw her, she had come over and asked if I wanted to leave. By that point I was a little… let’s say ‘out of it’ and didn’t hesitate to agree. So Saffron started to wrap me up in her scarves to keep me hidden but then my mark started screaming at me again. I tried to warn her but she never saw that Iron Wall had been watching. He came over and he… he...” ... “...Do you want to skip this part?” “Yes. Yes I do. Anyways, my actual rescue happened at a bar during Iron Wall’s weekly poker night. I was barely coherent and was staring off into space. By that point, Iron Wall had forbidden the whores to talk to me and I was just numb from the constant pain. Probably why I actually have a lot problems knowing when I’m really hurt. As I was a foal that had somehow become jaded and uncaring, I wandered around. So here’s a side note, do you know what Celestia’s favourite drink is?” “Tequila sunrise?” “Moonshine actually. Though now that I know about Luna it makes a lot of sense. Anyways, through sheer dumb luck I ended up falling over and latching onto the leg of the Princess in disguise. I’m not going to tell you what that disguise is as I would like Celly, sorry, Celestia to be able to go out in public again. That mare deserves it. So I ended up talking to a mare I didn’t yet know was Celestia and ended up shaking off my numbness. The Princess by the way is amazing with foals. She always knows exactly what to say to cheer them up and she never talks down to them. To her, it doesn’t seem to matter to her who you are, she considers you an equal. So, we got laughing and talking and eventually she asked where Iron Wall was. At that point I had a good idea that I was being used and Iron Wall didn’t really care about me. I didn’t know that what Iron Wall did was… was… ch… child...” “You don’t have to-” “Please Cocoa, give me a second.” … “... Child abuse, but I was smart enough to figure out that I needed to not be with him anymore. If you hadn’t notice, I don’t exactly control my emotions well-” “I don’t believe that.” “Oh come on, Cocoa I laugh and goof around-” “Do you?” … “Do you really?” … “Anyways, I apparently set off all of the red flags for her when I started crying and then flinched as Iron Wall came up to the bar behind her. Iron Wall had started to say something about how he needed his lucky charm back and the mare stepped in front of him asking who he was. He said he was my dad. She asked for proof. He said to shove off. She said that wasn’t going to work. Iron Wall then started getting mad and said she was a few words that you shouldn’t ever call the Princess or any mare. She did not take that well. She said she would call the guard. Iron Wall then blew off any pretense and yelled at her that she had no right to take away his cash grab. Yeah, he really said that. Then the mare turned to me with this wide look on her face and then turned back to Iron Wall. You know, just as an aside, I think she already knew what my mark did and the situation at hoof. Celestia has been around a long time and she’s seen all kinds of troublesome and terrible marks in her live time. But, just between you and me, I also think part of her talent is similar to mine. She raises the sun, but the sun also watches. It’s always there. She never confirmed it when I asked but I think her mark tells her stuff like mine does. Instead of how to protect others, her mark gives her context to understand the situation so she can make the right decision. It would explain her ‘infinite wisdom’ that she always seems to possess. Back to the scene at hoof, I would like to stress how much you really don’t want to anger Celestia. She heard those words and immediately dropped the disguise and slammed Iron into the floor with her magic. No hesitation. She leaned in close to his ear, said some rather threatening words that I would rather not repeat as you should at least get to keep the pure image of her that you have in your head, and took me to the palace. This is also the perfect time to mention that I may or may not be semi-officially adopted by Princess Celestia. Not a huge deal though, promise. We don't see each other as much since you know Princess, but I check in every once in a while to catch up. Please don’t tell anypony. Just to wrap up, Iron Wall had a snowball's chance in Tartarus trying to take me back from the Princess and I ended up spending my time being raised in the palace. That is, until I ran away and lived on the streets because I felt bad for taking so much of the Princess’s time. Of course, then I just ended up on Shining Armor’s couch so I guess I’m kind of bad at not burdening myself on other ponies. But yeah. That’s everything.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Neither Cocoa or Flash spoke. Cocoa was staring at Flash with an expression that rapidly changed between fury, confusion, and pity. Flash was just numb from recounting his full story in its entirety. Flash was expecting a response. Anything really. As time ticked on and Cocoa said nothing, he took the hint. He trotted over to the pile of his belongings and then started throwing it all across his back. It was going to be annoying to carry it all, but at least the trip was downhill. “What are you doing?” Cocoa asked quietly. “Leaving,” Flash stated simply, “You told me to get out remember?” “I did,” Cocoa replied. Flash heard some remorse in Cocoa’s voice, but he wasn’t sure if he actually heard it or he just wanted to hear it. Regardless, Flash finished packing and trotted to the front door. Just before he could open the door, he heard heavy hoofsteps follow. “Wait.” Flash stopped and turned to Cocoa, “What?” “I don’t hate you,” Cocoa said with a guilty look. “You have a terrible way of showing it,” Flash said bitterly. “Is this how you really feel most of the time?” Cocoa asked tentatively. “How I-” Flash said incredulously, “Seriously?” Cocoa just looked at Flash. “Sometimes,” Flash said exasperated, “It’s not like I’m incapable of being mad or sad, I just hide it better than most. Why do you care?” “I’m your colt friend-” “Was,” Flash interrupted. Cocoa flinched, “That’s still up to debate.” “Kicking me out of your house usually doesn’t put that ‘up for debate’, Cocoa,” Flash glared. “I,” Cocoa bit his lip, “I’m sorry. I just have my own problems and I shouldn’t have jumped straight to blaming you. You need to understand what it looked like when I found out that you had apparently predicted the rise of Nightmare Moon.” “Like what Cocoa?” Flash snorted angrily, “Did it look like I was in league with a thousand year old monster? Does that not sound completely insane to you?” “I know, I just...” Cocoa took a deep breath, “I guess I don’t trust you much either.” There was another long pause. Cocoa hung his head miserably. Flash wanted to go and nuzzle him and say everything was alright, but, despite the numbness, he was still mad. Instead Flash said, “We’re not as good at this as we thought we were, are we?” “... No,” Cocoa stated morosely, “We’re not.” “So what is it that you can’t tell me?” “Flash...” “Cocoa,” Flash just looked at him. Cocoa looked nervous. He was twitchy - odd for him - and he looked like he wanted to run away to get as far as possible. It irked that even after Flash had told him everything, he still wouldn’t talk to him. “I don’t want to tell you,” Cocoa finally said. “I didn’t want to tell you about Iron Wall, but I did anyways,” Flash retorted. “Thought you told me so you could keep me?” Cocoa tentatively asked. “I told you because I thought that it would show you that I cared enough to not be bothered by what you’re keeping from me. Whatever that is,” Flash frowned, “Clearly, you don’t feel the same.” “You won’t care about me once you know.” “I won’t know until you tell me,“ Flash snorted, “I don’t usually tell ponies this, but I actually really hate it when others put their own opinions and words into my mouth. Despite how much of a foal I can be, I can still make my own damn decisions.” “Flash-” “Cocoa, look,” Flash sat down and stared at Cocoa, “I’m tired, I’m emotionally exhausted from having to tell you something I don’t like telling myself and I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that I’m going to be very alone soon.” Flash narrowed his eyes and stressed the next sentence with as much seriousness as he could muster, “Figure out what you want.” Another extended period of silence. Flash was starting to think he would never be able to be quiet again at this rate which would be bad for his job. When Cocoa continued to just hang his head and do nothing, Flash decided he was done. He stood back up and grabbed the door. Before he could open it, a sound that could only be described as a fwoosh happened in the direction of Cocoa. Flash looked back and blinked. Where Cocoa had been was what Flash would best describe as a bug moose. It was a large pony-like creature that was roughly Cocoa’s size but trimmed of all the fat. It was covered in a hard, black, glossy… fur? Its face was angular with two large horns that spiked back from behind its light brown eyes. Tufts of blonde fur jetted out from the top of its head and down its back. If Flash was honest, he liked the look. “And?” Flash said. The thing that Flash assumed was Cocoa blinked, “...And what?” “What’s the problem?” Cocoa blinked again. Flash tilted his head in confusion. He didn’t understand what was so confusing about what he had said. “...Seriously?” Cocoa finally asked. “Seriously what?” Flash said, clueless. “No reaction? No screaming? No crying? Nothing?” Cocoa asked incredulously. “Well, you look pretty hot like that. Love the black armour look… thing,” Flash noticed Cocoa twitch long thin membrane wings by his side, “Though I’m kind of annoyed that you could have gone flying with me anytime but chose not too.” “I reveal that I’m not who I say I am, and that I’m a completely different species from you that you have never met, and the worse thing that you have to say is that you’re annoyed I wouldn’t go flying with you?” “Yeah,” Flash shrugged, “You shouldn’t have left your colt friend hanging, even if you are a bug moose in disguise.” Cocoa mouthed ‘bug moose’ under his breath with distaste then latched onto the key word in Flash’s sentence, “We’re still colt friends?” “Yeah, you came clean,” Flash then narrowed his eyes, “Sort of.” “That’s it?” Cocoa stared at Flash with incredulity, “We lie to each other for years, bring out all our deep dark secrets and then you are completely willing to just let bygones be bygones?” “Yeah, pretty much,” Flash shrugged again, “Don’t know why you’re making this so complicated.” Cocoa sat down. He looked thunderstruck. He stared at Flash like he was actually the bug moose in the room. Really, it was kind of rude. It was fine, though, because it let Flash eye his favourite nuzzling spot and wonder what it would feel like nuzzling a bug moose. “Why?” Cocoa finally asked. “Have you been Cocoa the entire time you’ve known me?” Flash asked. “Yes,” Cocoa replied, “I made my earth pony disguise with my parents when I was a colt.” “So you’re the Cocoa that I met the day I had a concussion? You were the Cocoa I went on a date with and royally screwed up? You were the Cocoa that I’ve been sleeping with the entire time? You were the Cocoa that, on my most loneliest and miserable days in Dodge City, came on the first train up to make sure I was alright?” “Yes,” Cocoa replied with no hesitation, “I couldn’t stand the thought of you being so miserable.” “Then it means whether you’re a bug moose or an earth pony you’re still the Cocoa I love.” They stared at each other, neither moving. Flash, being impatient and way too tired for this shit, dropped his stuff on the floor, trotted next to Cocoa, and nuzzled him in Flash’s favourite spot: just under Cocoa’s muzzle. “It’s actually really comfortable,” Flash noted as he rubbed his muzzle along the hard surface and ignored Cocoa’s flinch, “like I’m getting head scratches for my muzzle.” Cocoa snorted, “Only you would enjoy that.” “Yep,” Flash grinned, “So you’ll promise not to tell anypony about my mark?” “Yes, as long as you promise not to talk about my…‘bug moose’ form,” Cocoa said with disgust, “For the record, the proper term is Changeling.” “Okay,” Flash smiled as he continued to nuzzle his colt friend. “And you’ll tell me when you’re unhappy or mad instead of just grinning through it?” Cocoa asked quietly. Flash stopped nuzzling Cocoa for a moment, “...I’ll try.” “It’s all I ask,” Cocoa leaned into Flash and rested his head on top of Flash’s. They stayed close for awhile, but inevitably Flash yawned. He had been up for more than 24 hours by that point, he was thoroughly physically and emotionally exhausted, and he needed to wake up soon for his next shift which was happening much sooner than he would ever have liked. “Can we go to bed now, Bugaboo?” Flash asked tiredly. “Yes,” Cocoa frowned, “But please don’t use that as your pet name for me.” “Too late, I like it,” Flash nuzzled his bug again, “I have a hard time letting go of things I like.” As Flash cuddled in closer, Cocoa smiled down and whispered, “I noticed.”