Tugging at Her Heartstrings 2 – Chapter 5
-neutralmilk
“Sweet Celestia, are you alright?” She starts to step from behind the flower cart but stops short of actually helping you up. Roseluck’s green eyes slowly trace your body before they finally meeting yours. Her face is filled with concern, a tight frown on her lips. “You look crazy…” she mutters under her breath – but still loud enough for you to hear.
You’re so overwhelmed with excitement that you ignore her comment and rush at her, dropping on to your knees so you were at eye level with the cream-coloured mare causing her to instinctively recoil. A wide Cheshire grin crosses your face. You wipe sweat and dirt from your brow before leaning in towards her, your nose practically touching hers.
You briefly entertain the idea that you probably do look insane at the moment – a sweaty, dirt covered maniac let loose on Ponyville – but push it from your thoughts. You have much bigger priorities than your public appearance. After all, the solution to your problem is staring you straight in the eyes!
“Roseluck…” you start, your voice practically oozing with exhilaration. The mare is gaping at you, her face betraying a look of sudden apprehension. She doesn’t move a muscle – waiting for you to act first. This reticence catches you off guard. How can she not be excited too?! “Rose!” you suddenly shout, accidentally sending small bits of spittle on her face.
She jumps, emitting a surprised squeak as she does so. “Uh-uhm… yeah?” She timidly responds. “Is everyth-”
Your arms wrap around the mare’s neck and pull her into a hug. A laugh escapes your throat. “Yeah!” your voice is still several notches above normal. Excitedly, you rock Roseluck back and forth in your embrace, feeling joyous tears well up in your eyes. “Yeah, Rose. Everything’s ok now.”
The surprise hug lasts longer than it probably should have, and before you know it you’ve calmed down enough to realize this. Feeling your overzealous joy subside, you slowly release Roseluck and fall back. You can see her eyes are wide and unblinking; they stare straight at the marketplace yet seeing nothing. Tucked above her small yet unmistakable smile you think you make out spots of pink on her cheeks but brush it aside as a trick of the light.
You stand up and attempt (and fail) to casually brush your pants clear of debris in a desperate attempt to look less like a maniac. By this point you’ve finally calmed down enough to properly speak to Roseluck who, for some reason, is still standing in a daze. You clear your throat loudly, attempting to break the overlong awkward silence – one of what would surely be many to come considering the circumstance.
“Uhm, hey….” you start, continuing to fix your appearance. You run a hand through your hair and drag out a surprising amount of dust considering your head was nowhere near the ground earlier. “You alright?”
It took a few seconds for Roseluck to comprehend you had spoken and shook herself back to reality. She scowled and furrowed her brow. “What the hay are you asking me for?!” Roseluck took to flailing her forelegs wildly in the air. “You’re the one who came at me and… uh…” the intensity in her voice immediately vanished as she looked at her hooves. “Well… you know. Hugged… me…” Those last words were practically inaudible.
“Heh, yeah, I, uh, I guess you’re right.” You admit, trying to mask your embarrassment. “Listen, Rose…” your voice trails off as you desperately try to find a way to explain the bizarre favor you hoped to ask her. “I’m sorry about earlier. It’s just that, well, I was excited to see you.”
Her ears perk up, and her emerald eyes suddenly become fixed on your own once more. You notice that she is getting somewhat restless, her front hooves lightly tap the dirt creating tiny marks. “…Yeah?” her voice seems suddenly eager.
“I’ve got something I gotta ask you. But before I do…” You sigh loudly and choose a spot in the dirt to sit down on, once again dirtying your pants. The pants, however, were the least of your worries – despite Rarity’s failed attempts to master making clothing for entirely new human anatomy. Your mind drifted over the past few days and the sudden revelation of Lyra with… Showstopper. The very thought of the name twists your stomach and you feel physically ill. “Ok,” you admit. “I honestly have no idea how to start.”
While you attempt to find a suitable way to broach the subject with your closest non-Lyra friend, you watch Roseluck obliviously continue her subtle dance. Once again an awkward silence fills the air in the surprisingly empty marketplace. After what seems like (and totally was) five minutes, you finally push past the bile rising in your stomach and relay your sorry tale.
Roseluck’s eyes widen, shocked at the story of Lyra disappearing for months every Thursday without a word. She frowned at the mention of the failed flower gift. She shook her head solemnly at the mention of the “confrontation” you had just the night prior. She gasped with disbelief at the fact that Lyra hadn’t even been spending time with Bon-Bon – her closest friend for years. And as soon as the story had started, it was finished. Roseluck refused to meet your eyes – instead looking at the dirt and the many spots she had made in her previous excitement.
“H-hey. I’m really sorry.” She offered quietly, clearly unsure of how to approach the situation. You’re stuck on the ground, unmoving. It hurt thinking about it – but surprisingly, talking about it made it hurt even more. The pain was different though. You didn’t feel as alone in it now that Roseluck was in the know. The painkiller of silence had worn off, but now you could treat the root cause with someone at hand.
Tears welled in your eyes, betrayal and rage tore at your heart preventing you from doing much else but feel your body seemingly break down. Never in your wildest dreams did you imagine you’d find love with a pony. Never in your wildest nightmares did you expect it to end in the way it was now.
Your inner turmoil must have been obvious as suddenly you felt a hoof on your shoulder, startling you from your thoughts. You look up and blink away the forming tears to see Roseluck with a weak smile on her face. Strands of her red-violet mane hung over one of her eyes. The mare took her hoof off your shoulder only to brush back her mane before returning it, firmer than before.
“You know I’m here for you, right?” Her voice was soft, comforting. Hearing this, you nod in response. Though your chest was still tight with panic and despair at your situation, you found it was time to get off your emotional rollercoaster. “I’m happy you felt comfortable enough to tell me all of this.”
You sigh and drop your head for a minute before finally rising from the ground for one of the far too many times in the past few days. “Yeah…” you mutter. “So, yeah. I think Lyra’s cheating on me.”
Roseluck frowns and nods in response.
Silence again fills the air while Roseluck kicks at the ground gently. Her movements are far less enthusiastic than her “dance” from when you hugged her in excitement.
Seriously, this is cringeworthy… you think, before finally forcing yourself to speak. “Rose…” you start.
Her kicking stops, and she looks up at you, waiting for you to continue.
One of your hands finds its way to the back of your head as the words slowly come out of your mouth. “All this crap going on with Lyra is… well… hard. It hurts too much right now.”
Roseluck’s eyes begin to widen.
“It’s been tearing me up now for a couple of days. I know it doesn’t sound like a long time but it’s seriously…. Just, you know, been a nightmare.”
The excited stepping she had been doing earlier starts again, slowly.
“And walking through town like this – like a total lunatic has been terrifying! Lyra, well, she’s messed my mind up. Honestly, I’m happy I found you. I-I trust you. I know we’re always goofing around but, real talk, I know you care about me.” You make direct eye contact with the mare in front of you. “I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for caring.”
Her cheeks seem to glow a light pink, offsetting her pale-yellow coat.
“So, I guess, I gotta ask you a really weird question.”
You can see she’s fighting back the urge to smile.
“Seriously, it’s weird.” You say, cautiously. “I mean, if you want to say ‘no’ I don’t blame you. I mean, I’m a human and you’re a pony so I get that it doesn’t exactly follow what one might call the ‘laws of nature’” you do air quotes to further your point, “but Pinkles- I mean Pinkie – defies them daily so, you know, I don’t know. I mean, how the heck does she teleport around Ponyville like that?!”
The point you were originally trying to make seems to have become derailed, so you make a concerted effort to right the ship. “Regardless, what I’m trying to say is I don’t want to pressure you into this position. I’m a loyal customer of your flower stand and don’t want to strain any-”
“Will you get on with it?!” Roseluck’s voice, loud and impatient breaks your pointless ramblings. You look, confused by her outburst, and notice she was practically jumping up and down in her spot, her mane bouncing just slightly off-beat with her hoof movements. Confused by this reaction, you chalk up the jumping around to her needing to use the restroom.
You sigh. You had wasted enough of Roseluck’s time. It was now or never. You had to ask her to join in on Bon-Bon’s master plan of making Lyra jealous. It would be awkward, but she seemed to genuinely want to help you…
“Roseluck, I-I had this idea about you and me…. what I mean to say is, I want, no, I need you to-”
“I accept!” Roseluck practically shrieked. She did a quick spin in her spot, a huge grin on her face before calming down seemingly immediately. “I totally know what you’re going to say, and I think it’s a good idea.” Her voice was now flat, normal. As if the favor you were asking of her was nothing special.
“Are you sure?”
She nods. “I want to help you.”
You don’t know what to say. The dread weighing you down became dramatically lighter with this – possibly the most uncomfortable conversation you’ve ever held – over with, and with exactly the result you hoped for. You had an urge to rush at Roseluck once more and hug her, but fought it back, instead choosing to smile a large, toothy grin. “Thank you, Rose.”
She returns the smile, her eyes positively radiant. “No, thank you!” she chirps.
“I guess I’ll be in touch then about what we’re going to do, huh?”
“I look forward to it.”
Success at last! You fist pump half-heartedly and turn to walk back to your apartment to tell Bon-Bon the good news. Now that you had a co-conspirator, you had to come up with a genius plan to make Lyra jealous! And, hopefully, something that wouldn’t bore you and Roseluck to tears.
I can’t believe how excited she seemed about Bon-Bon’s plan! You think to yourself. She’s way too nice, helping me out like this… Maybe it’s because I’m her only customer?
As you walk home, lost in your thoughts, you remain oblivious to Roseluck, now full-on dancing in place with a large, elated smile from ear to ear. “I can’t believe it… we’re actually dating!”