“You have a cousin that’s a thestral?” Scootaloo asked. It was the next day and the Cutie Mark Crusaders had just got out of school, “That’s awesome!” Scootaloo’s wings buzzed with excitement.
“A thestral?” Apple Bloom asked, echoing Scootaloo, though more in a skeptical tone, “How does that work? And why haven’t you ever talked about him?”
“The reason I haven’t talked about him is because it’s been so long since I’ve seen him last, I just haven’t thought about it,” Sweetie Belle explained, “As for our relation, it’s complicated. He’s my cousin by adoption by adoption.”
“By adoption by… Huh?” Scootaloo questioned, unable to figure out what was just said.
“My cousin was adopted by my mother’s sister,” Sweetie Belle began, “However, my aunt was also adopted. My cousin was adopted by somepony who was adopted.”
“Oh, now I get it,” Scootaloo said, unconvincingly attempting to hide her lack of understanding.
“So what yer sayin’ is that yer grandparents adopted yer aunt, and then yer aunt adopted yer cousin?” Apple Bloom explained, also noticing a light bulb go on in Scootaloo’s head.
“Yep!” Sweetie Belle confirmed, “My aunt is an earth pony. She married a pegasus. And they adopted a thestral.”
“Do you think your cousin would want to marry Rainbow Dash and then adopt me?!” Scootaloo asked excitedly, though there was a twinge of sadness was in her voice. A sadness that came from her experience involving rejection.
“Sorry, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle said, trying to sound as sympathetic as she could, “But I don’t think Rainbow Dash is his type.”
“It’s okay. I’m used to it,” Scootaloo said, though her tone of voice and physical stature betrayed her words, “After all, why would a pegasus or a thestral want to adopt a pegasus who’s my age and still can’t fly?”
“Scootaloo, don’t say-”
“It’s true!” Scootaloo snapped, “Ponies who want to adopt, want younger ponies. Nopony wants to adopt a pony who already has their cutie mark.”
“But that’s stupid!”
“It doesn’t make it not true!” Scootaloo snapped again, her frustration rising, “Ponies usually want to adopt ponies of the same race as them! Pegasi will pass me by because I’m disabled! So my best chance is with unicorns or earth ponies! But they also look for their own, not even taking a pegasus into consideration! Face it! I’m gonna be a grandma, and still be living in that orphanage!”
“But it doesn’t work like that!” Sweetie Belle’s own frustration was rising now.
“Doesn’t it though?! That’s exactly what I see whenever somepony comes to adopt a foal! Ponies going after their own race, and Pegasi passing me by for the sake of a younger pegasus, or simply because I’ll never be able to fly like them!”
“Have you ever considered that it’s your attitude that’s the reason nopony wants you?!” Sweetie Belle raged, tears in her eyes, “If I were adopting and saw a pony who was acting as much of a self-centered jerk like you are, I’d pass them up too!”
Sweetie’s outburst brought Scootaloo back to her senses, “Sweetie, I-”
“Just forget it!” Sweetie Belle cried before running away crying.
Scootaloo looked to Apple Bloom, who also had a stern look on her face, “I didn’t mean to-”
“Sweetie just got done talkin’ about how her cousin was adopted by to ponies, both bein’ different races than him,” Apple Bloom said in a calmer, but displeased tone, “I’ll go talk to Sweetie. But until you see her again, you should think about apologizin’.” With that said, Apple Bloom went after Sweetie Belle.
Scootaloo just sat there for a few moments before heading back to the orphanage. She’s been having these bursts of anger recently, and she didn’t know why. And they have been getting worse and worse. Now it’s at a point where she may have jeopardized her friendship with Sweetie Belle, and possibly even Apple Bloom. And the thought of losing them scared her. She didn’t even know why she was having these outbursts in the first place, just that her friend had become the target of her vented frustrations, “Sweetie Belle is probably right.”
“Thank you mister…”
“Davenport’s the name,” the owner of Quills and Sofas said to Nightshade as they finished the order, “I’ve always thought it’s good to treat customers as friends. It makes them feel welcome.”
A sly grin formed on the thestral’s face, “It also encourages repeat customers, doesn’t it?”
“Heh… Well, yeah…” Davenport admitted sheepishly, “But that’s just a bonus. I honestly do think it’s good to treat customers well. And the way I do it is by treating them as friends.”
“Fair enough. So how much for shipping?”
“I choose not to charge for shipping when someone is buying furniture while moving in,” Davenport noticed Nightshade let out a breath at that news, “Can I assume you’re on a tight budget?”
“Let’s just say that I still need to find a job here in Ponyville,” Nightshade said, scratching the back of his neck, “I mean, I do have graveyard shift with the weather team. But it just doesn’t pay enough. And I don’t start for another couple of weeks. Background checks and stuff.”
“Well…” Davenport paused with a thoughtful look, “I could use some assistance here. How would you like a part time job here a Quills and Sofas?”
“Would you?!” Nightshade exclaimed before backing off, “I mean, I appreciate the offer. It will be a big help. Thank you.”
“Good! Can you start tomorrow at noon to help me open up?”
“Sounds good. See you tomorrow then, boss.”
“Just keep in mind that outside of work, I’m not your boss, I’m Davenport.”
“Right. I’ll keep that in mind.” With that said, Nightshade left Quills and Sofas.
“Sweetie Belle is probably right,” After closing the door, Nightshade perked up at hearing the name of his little cousin. He looked towards the voice to see an orange pegasus filly down the street, “Me being a jerk is probably why I keep getting passed by.”
Nightshade questioned what was said, “That doesn’t sound like something little Sweetie would say,” Nightshade said to himself, “I mean, it has been a while, so I don’t know how much she may have changed. But still.”
Nightshade looked back up to see the filly walking towards what appeared to be a government owned building. The kind of building that Nightshade knows all too well.
The days passed by, and Nightshade had taken the time to travel around and learn the layout of the town, which wasn’t difficult considering its small size. Though he did have to avoid running into his cousins. And he had to convince a pink pony, who must’ve been the pony he was “warned” about, to wait on throwing a welcome party and keeping his being in town a secret until the end of the week. She did what she called a Pinkie promise. He’d heard stories of the Pinkie promise from the other guards and the princesses. Though the only thing you should be afraid of is breaking the promise, the stories say that the consequences are worse than your worst nightmare. He was sure that was an over exaggeration. But that pony’s lack of awareness for personal space, and how eccentric she was, did make him wonder.
During that time, Nightshade had gotten his new home mostly set up, and his job at Quills and Sofas was enough to get by on at least. It was a temp job after all. And it’d get tiring being part of the night shift weather team, holding a second job, and being Twilight’s personal guard. But as long as he could manage the night job and the guard duty, it should work out, considering that the guard job is won’t be much if he understood Twilight correctly.
There was still one more day before Rarity and Sweetie Belle expected him to arrive. And that’s why he was gonna go see them today. After visiting the party pony and explaining that the welcome party could be set for later that day, Nightshade headed towards Carousel Boutique.
Rather than knock on the door, which may be more likely to get Rarity’s attention, walking right in can give him the guise of a customer. Opening the door, he heard the bell ring He made sure to hide his features from obvious view, turning away from any open doors to the back.
“Welcome to Carousel Boutique!” came the sing-song voice of a pony coming out from the back room, “May I help you?”
Keeping his back to Rarity, he replied, “I’m here visiting family and was hoping to find something nice to wear.”
“Well you’ve come to the right place!” Rarity exclaimed, entering inspiration mode, “I’ll have to find a way to patch your eye color. But you look like you’d look good in midnight blue and…maroon…” She couldn’t place it, but there was something familiar about the pony she was talking to, “Have we met before?”
Nightshade then turned around and looked Rarity in the eyes with a cocky grin, “It’s possible we may have crossed paths in the past, Marshmallow.”
Rarity’s eyes went wide in shock before a childlike grin formed, “Nighty Night!” Rarity then wrapped her cousin in a tight hug, “I thought you weren’t coming until tomorrow!”
“That’s what I… That’s what…” Nightshade struggled to get out, “Rarity… Can’t breath…”
“Oh!” Rarity exclaimed, releasing the thestral, who was now gasping for air, “Sorry about that.”
After getting his breath back, Nightshade properly replied, “I intentionally let you think I was coming tomorrow so that I could surprise you by coming today,” Nightshade explained, “I’ve been here for nearly a week already, getting a home set up and learning my way around town.”
“A week?!” Rarity exclaimed, “How were you able to avoid Pinkie Pie for that long?”
“So that pink pony was Pinkie Pie?” Nightshade questioned, “I guess in hindsight, it makes sense. I’ve just never actually seen her personally.”
“That still doesn’t explain why she hasn’t thrown a party yet.”
“She agreed to postpone it as to not spoil this surprise. It’s actually scheduled for later today,” Nightshade explained, “So where is Little Sweetie? I was hoping to see her too.”
“She’s currently tutoring at Twilight’s school. She’s a graduate there.”
“A tutor?!” Nightshade gasped, “I knew it’s been awhile since I’ve seen you two! But I thought Sweetie Belle would still be in school! Unless she’s just that advanced!”
“Well, the diploma is honorary,” Rarity explained, “Though since it’s a school for friendship, you could say that the diploma is because she’s advanced, since she knows alot about friendship. Though the conditions for how that happened…let’s just say that Twilight is ashamed that she believed Sweetie and her friends would do something like that. It’s a long story. Though I guess I can sum it up in the twenty-two minutes before she comes home.”
22 Minutes Later
“…And then Starlight suggested that they be friendship tutors.”
“It sounds like that was quite the adventure for Little Sweetie,” Nightshade said.
“You’d be surprised how little that is in comparison,” Rarity said with a slight laugh.
“Something tells me we have a lot of catching up to do.”
Ding
“That must be Sweetie now,” Rarity said, hearing the jingle of the door.
“Hey, Rarity?” Sweetie Belle’s voice called, “Me and Crusaders are gonna go hang out at the clubhouse!”
Nightshade mouthed the word “Crusaders?” before Rarity motioned for him to stay here and be quiet.
“I understand how you and your friends like to hang out. But we currently have a guest,” Rarity said to Sweetie, “It’d be rude to go running out on a guest.”
“I guess,” Sweetie said, looking back to her friends, “But it’s not like today’s guest would be as good as who’s coming tomorrow.”
Choosing to take that as a cue, Nightshade walked into the main room, “As much as I hope you enjoy your guest tomorrow, I’m a little sad that you don’t seem happy to see me,” Nightshade fake pouted.
Sweetie’s eyes became as wide as saucers, and her smile nearly wide enough to tear her face in two, “NIGHTY NIGHT!!!” She squeaked before tackling the thestral in an earth-crushing hug. The tackle had knocked Nightshade to the floor.
“Uh, Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said, “Ah think you’re stranglin’ him.”
“Oh, uh, sorry,” Sweetie said, releasing the suffocating thestral from her vice grip.
After taking a few moments just coughing and getting air, Nightshade managed to regain his composure, “And I thought your sister has a strong grip,” he said with something between a laugh and a cough, “And you’re a lot heavier than I remember.”
“He just called you fat,” Scootaloo teased.
“He is not!” Sweetie Belle countered before turning to Nightshade with a look of uncertainty, “You’re not calling me fat, are you?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say fat,” Nightshade teased, “But chubby fillies are considered cute.”
“I am not chubby!”
“Of course not, Sweetie,” Rarity said before grinning herself, “At least not for an adult pony.”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were rolling on the floor laughing at Sweetie’s embarrassment, to Sweetie’s chagrin.
“What’s wrong about being chubby?” Nightshade asked, “Being chubby makes you soft and extra…huggable.” He struggled with that last word as he lifted Sweetie up for a hug. But it helped to make her feel better.
“Don’t worry, Sweetie,” Rarity added, “What he meant was that the last time he held you, you were a lot younger. You grew up, not out.”
“She’s right. As much as I’d love for you to jump into my hooves like that again, you are no longer Little Sweetie anymore,” Nightshade said.
“But then what would your nickname for me be?” Sweetie asked.
“Well, Big Sweetie doesn’t really sound that great, and you probably don’t want to be called Chubby Sweetie,” Nightshade listed through a couple ideas, “Rarity already has the nickname Marshmallow. Maybe Big Belle?”
“That sounds more like if my big brother an’ Sugar Belle had a filly,” Apple Bloom said.
“Can I just keep the nickname, Little Sweetie?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Well, I suppose old habits die hard,” Nightshade said, “Just promise me that you’ll always live up to that nickname.”
After Nightshade said that, he caught a glimpse of Scootaloo. And like the building she was heading towards the other day, the look on her face was one he also knew all too well. A look that was a contradiction. Lips that held a genuine smile, yet eyes that held sadness and longing.