//------------------------------//
// Chapter III:  "In the Morning..." 
// Story: Faux Pas of the Heart 
// by Jet Howitzer 
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(Yes, comrades, another chapter of your adventures as -redacted- the changeling, also known as Quill.)

You finally spotted the alabaster unicorn as the town hall finally came into view.  True to what Ditzy had said, there were several ponies speaking to Rarity about whatever topic seemed to be predominant at the moment.  You only caught a few snippets of what was said, and of those snippets you only understood a tiny bit of it.  Truly, high fashion is not something that you’ll ever get into.  You walk about the area, never going far, but also not seeming like you’re spying on them.

Slowly, the festival began to wind down, and the group of ponies surrounding the alabaster unicorn finally began to thin out some.  While the ponies in the group had changed many times as the day had progressed, it had never grown small enough for you to feel confident approaching them.  With a small sigh, you turned to face the mare, who now had only one other pony for company, and you began approaching.

Just as you arrived the last pony gave Rarity a quick hug before they trotted off, ready to start their next activity.  The mare noticed your approach, and she gave you a warm smile.  “Good evening.  Is there something I can do for you?”

You smiled in return as you approached, and then you stopped as you stood in front of her.  “Yes, actually.  If you wouldn’t mind walking with me as we talked?”  The mare hesitated for just a moment before she nodded.  “Wonderful.  And I don’t think I’m being too presumptuous when I say that I think you’ll like what I have to say.”

The mare followed you closely, but she still kept a small distance between you and her.  It was understandable, given that she didn’t know who you were yet.  The town passed by as you strolled through it, and soon enough you had built up enough confidence to begin speaking.  “So, Miss Rarity, do you have any romantic interests, at present?”

You heard her let out a small giggle, and you slowed for a moment to allow her to catch up to you as you walked.  You quickly noticed a blush forming on her cheeks, and you felt one growing on your cheeks as well.  Changeling magic could work wonders when it came to keeping up disguises, and so you didn’t fear her seeing through it.  “Well, I wouldn’t call it a typical relationship, so to speak.  Why, are you interested?  Because if you are you’ll have to try a bit harder.”  This time you laughed, and she let out a laugh to accompany yours.

“No, I’ve already got a mare of my own.  Or, I will once I finally decide to ask her.  She and I have been communicating quite a bit with each other, and I’ve finally been given the chance to act on my feelings.”

“That sounds quite romantic.  Do you know how you’ll ask her out?  Or are you going to act as bluntly as Storm did when he finally asked me out?”

You raised an eyebrow, and the mare simply laughed.  “Don’t get me started on Storm.  He’s one of the most charming stallions I’ve ever had the chance to date, but he’s a bit too rough around the edges for me.  I’m certain that if you’re here for long you’ll get a chance to meet him.  And speak with him too.”

You turned around a corner as you continued walking, and the mare followed your turn, keeping pace with you.  “Well, I’m more interested in finally getting a chance with this mare.  See, I really want to impress her, since I’ve been alone for quite some time.”  As you continue you start dropping small allusions to letters that you’d written her.  “I want her to understand the depth of my feelings, not just what they are.”

“Well, perhaps you should try and set up a romantically inclined setting, so that you’ll have everything just right when you do ask her.  And I don’t think I ever got your name.”  Her voice trailed off at the end, and you do your best to deflect the question.

“I’ll tell you in a little bit.  You might recognize my name, and I don’t want to change the way this conversation goes if you know who I am.”

“A stallion of mystery, hmm?”  She shakes her head as she continue walking beside you.  “That only works when you’re either dressed in formal attire, a suit, for instance, or you’re in a poorly executed movie.  And neither of those conditions have been met.”

“True, but I’m standing by what I said.”  Rarity just rolled her eyes in response, but she didn’t leave, so you figured that she was interested enough to continue.  “Now, suppose that you were the mare in question.  What would you think of as a romantic way for a stallion to finally declare their love for you?”

The mare’s blush, which had diminished from earlier, returned in full force as you finished your question.  “Me?  Nopony has asked me out in nearly a year.”

“That’s awful!  I don’t see why not, considering how beautiful you are.”

“Oh, stop it you.  Sadly, though, that’s part of the problem.  Stallions look at me, and my beauty tends to keep them from asking me out.  They’re too intimidated by my looks to act on what they feel.”  You let out a laugh, and the mare chuckles a bit too.  You can both feel, and hear the sadness behind the laugh, and it pains you a bit.

“It’s a good thing I’m not easily intimidated by beauty, since the mare I’m asking out is one of the most beautiful ponies I’ve ever laid eyes upon.  In fact, it was pretty much love at first sight.  At least, it was on my part.  I never did ask her exactly how she felt about me.  After the first few letters we sent back and forth she started signing them ‘Love’ but I don’t know how much of that was courtesy, versus how much was actual love.”

The mare’s tone of voice changed just the tiniest bit as she continued speaking, and you were fairly certain that she’d picked up some of the hints you’d been dropping.  “I like to think that when a letter is signed with love it’s more than just a courtesy.  I like to think that when I sign a letter with love I mean it.  Things like love shouldn’t be bandied about so carelessly.”

As you rounded another corner you noted that you were heading towards the Carousel Boutique, and so you knew that if you wanted this to continue you’d have to either find a way to stall her into walking with you more, or you’d have to convince her to let you into her home.  Your mind began racing to think up a way to get into her home, while the rest of you continued the conversation.

“I agree with you.  Too often we use words like love when they aren’t appropriate, or they convey too strong a feeling.  I’ve always felt that when it comes to emotions, and the labels we apply to them, it is best to leave words out, and let actions speak.”

“I feel as if I know who you are, my mysterious stallion.  Tell me, do you come from a small town near Canterlot?”  Her eyes twinkled as she spoke, and you knew that she was almost certain about who you were.  You could even feel the emotions radiating off of her.  Love was certainly present, but it was buried beneath a still present veil of uncertainty.  You just reached the door to the Carousel Boutique as you answered.

“I do, in fact, come from a small village outside of Canterlot.  And if you’d invite me in, I’d be happy to tell you my name.”  The mare’s smile faded just a tiny bit, and then you continued.  “Miss Rarity, I assure you that my intentions are as pure as freshly fallen snow.  I do not mean to make any untoward advances.  I also promise that my name will be the eighth word I speak once I enter your home.”

The mare looks at you for what feels like an eternity before she finally nods.  You step back from the door for a moment, and then it opens moments later.  She steps in, and then she motions for you to follow her.  You do, and she quickly leads you through the showroom that acts as the actual store, and into the back where you find a nicely decorated kitchen, and a staircase.

She heads up the stairs, and you follow her until you eventually reach a small living room, where Rarity quickly sits down on a couch.  She sighs contently as the couch depresses just a bit under her weight and then she looks at you, her eyes sparkling in the light.  “Eight words.”

You nod, and quickly you recite the phrase you had constructed in your head, to make sure that it was the eighth word that would reveal to her who you were.  The pressure of the situation seemed far greater than it actually was, but your nerves still cried out their worry.  After taking a deep breath, you looked at the mare and spoke.

“My dearest Rarity, you can call me Ca…”  You stopped for a moment, and then you resumed, knowing that you couldn’t tell her that.  Not yet, and, sadly, perhaps never.  “Quill.”  You wanted to tell her your real name.  More than anything else in Equestria, you wanted her to know who you really were.  But you knew, at the same time, that telling her that would only cause more problems.

“Is it really you?  The stallion that has been sending those magnificent letters almost every week for the past year?  You’re that stallion?”  You just nodded, and the mare on the couch before you stood, and slowly approached you, the twinkling in her eyes having grown quite a bit.  “And in all of those letters, did you mean what you said?  Do you truly think I’m the most beautiful mare in all of Equestria?”

“I do.  While your physical beauty is what first attracted my attention, it was your personality that kept me interested in you.  Most mares with your level of beauty are content to let it carry them through life, allowing others to provide for them, in return for some fleeting level of interest.  But you’re different from the others.  You don’t string stallions along, or at least you didn’t string me along.”  You brought a hoof to her cheek, slowly, and she allowed you to place it there.  “Your beauty is the kind of beauty that only comes along once in a million mares.”

Her blush spoke volumes, and you felt her press into your hoof a bit.  “And I do have a bit of spontaneity to the way I live, and so I figured that I’d just ask you out now, and see what you say.”

“I’d love to.  Although I do hope you’re better at planning dates than you are at asking mares out on dates.”
You pull your hoof back and she lets you.  “I think I’ll manage something.”  You take a step back, and the mare’s eyes take on a mischievous sparkle.  Before you can react, she gives you a quick peck on the cheek, and then her horn flashes, and you find yourself standing outside of her home, your head spinning from the abrupt teleportation.

You hear something come from above you, and you look up to see Rarity leaning out of a small balcony on the second floor.  “Do come by tomorrow morning, I have need of your help with a small matter.  And perhaps I’ll see about giving you a tour around our quaint little town as well.”  You only manage a wave, as you’re still feeling disoriented from the spell.  She gives you a warm smile before you turn and head off towards where you think Storm’s home is, since he’s the one that Princess Celestia told you to find.

Sadly, it is a task easier said than done, and so you wander the town aimlessly for quite some time before you decide to take the initiative to ask somepony.  Lucky for you, the pony that you ask is quite helpful, and soon afterwards your heading across town, bound for Storm’s home.

You wish that you could head to your own home right away, but it did make sense that you speak with Storm first, since he did know some about what was going on, according to Princess Celestia, at least.  As you approached his home you couldn’t help but admire it some.  It was a pretty good looking place.  You trotted up to the door before knocking several times in rapid succession.  Silence answered you, at first, before the sound of hooves came through the door faintly.  After a moment the door opened, revealing a cyan pegasus, with a rainbow colored mane.

As she looked you over, her eyes quickly narrowed, and then she took a small step back, almost involuntarily.  “Oh.  It’s you.”  Her actions spoke volumes, and the fact that she didn’t even invite you in stung just a tiny bit.  She called for Storm over her shoulder, without letting you out of her sight.  Several awkward moments passed before you heard the sound of hooves once again, and this time you saw a grey pegasus making his way towards you, his expression no more welcoming than the cyan peagsus’.

“Quill, I presume?”  You just nod at the pegasus, and he motions for you to enter.  The cyan pegasus glares at you for a moment longer before she allows you to enter.  Storm took a seat on one of the couches in the living room, and you just walked over and stood in front of him, not sure what you could, and could not do in his house.  He motioned to one of the other couches, and you took a seat.  The cyan pegasus moved over to the couch next to Storm, and then she took a seat as well.  You squirmed just a bit under their collective scrutiny, and just when you were feeling the pressure, Storm finally spoke.  “Welcome to Ponyville, Quill.  Dash and I both know who, and what, you are, so you’re secret is out when it comes to us.  The rest of the town, save for a few discreet ponies, is blissfully ignorant about your identity.”

“How much did the Princess tell you about me?”  You spoke before you realized it, and the grey pegasus adopted a small, sad, smile.

“Enough to know what you’ve been through.”  He paused for a moment, and then he shifted in his seat, getting himself into a more comfortable position.  “Now, in order for you to blend into the town you’ll need a solid alibi, which, thankfully, is already taken care of.  But an alibi isn’t enough, and so you’ll have to integrate yourself into life here in Ponyville.  As a unicorn there’s a wide array of options available to you, and so I trust that you’ll be able to find a job suitable to your skills.”

You responded in a forced lighthearted manner, “Oh, you mean my skills at deception and murder?”

“Well, no.  No, that’s not quite what I meant.”  Storm frowned at you, and then he was about to respond when the cyan pegasus cut in.

“Storm, why are we letting him stay here?  You weren’t there for the invasion, and so you don’t know what they’re capable of doing.  They nearly took over Canterlot, and their queen beat Princess Celestia!”

“And our Princesses found and killed nearly every Changeling alive after they discovered a second plot to attempt to seize a small settlement.  Out of the entire race of Changelings, two were spared.  And we see one of those two before us right now.  And the one that we don’t see before us died shortly after the massacre.”

“She starved.”  The talk about that period of time sparked memories that you had hoped you had forgotten, but they came back in waves of sadness.  “She and I were spared by Celestia, since she claimed that she had a measure of mercy, even though we had threatened her little ponies.  She and I had nearly made it to a small town where we had hoped to blend in to garner some emotion, but she didn’t have the strength left to make it.”  Both pegasi sitting across from you were watching you, Storm with a look of sympathy on his face, and Rainbow Dash with an unreadable mask.

“I’m sorry, Quill, but we don’t have that much time on our hooves for bemoaning the past.  I don’t mean to come across as rude, but we do have quite a bit to take care of, and nopony knows when these mysterious aggressors will strike next.  Twilight spoke to Celestia about some small changes she noted in her new coltfriend.  I’m not sure, but I think that it’s something that could do with a bit of investigation.  If you’re going to start somewhere, I’d suggest starting with him, and then moving to Taupe.”  The pegasus leans back into the couch, and then he gives you a small smile.  “And so you know, Rarity doesn’t like roses that much.  She much prefers white alstroemeria, so you know.”

You allow a smile to flit across your features before you bring back your impassive visage.  Storm stands slowly, and the cyan pegasus follows suit.  “Now, let’s get some rest.  You’ve got a busy day ahead of you, Quill, and you’ll need to get your stuff moved into your new home soon, too.  The guest room is off of the kitchen.  It’s already made up for you, so you don’t have to do anything in that regard.”  You stand after a moment, and then Storm gives you a bigger smile.  “Cheer up, Quill.  You’re in a new town, with new friends.  I’m sure everything will be just fine.  And, to make it better, in the morning, I’m making waffles!”

You allow a small smile to come to your face, and Storm lets out a satisfied huff.  “Better, but still not good enough.  Ah, well.  The waffles tomorrow morning will change your tune.”

He and Dash then head up the stairs, and you can make out some of what they are saying, and it is mostly about you.  With a shake of your head you walk through the kitchen, and into the guest room.  It’s surprisingly nice for a guest room, and you quickly set about making yourself comfortable.  Your bags are already in the room, and you are grateful for that.  You won’t have to search for them.

The bed sags gently under your weight, and soon enough the relaxing hold of sleep comes to pull you away from the waking world.  Your last thoughts are of the home you’ve lost, and the home you hope to build here.

(Well, some unpleasant memories were stirred up.  But, on the bright side, you've got a date with Rarity for tomorrow, so things aren't all bad.  And there'll be waffles in the morning!)