//------------------------------// // Old Friend // Story: The Recluse // by Live Light //------------------------------// As Light and Fluttershy walked around Ponyville, looking around, Light saw a film store. This was one of his obstacles in life. He'd never tried a film. If he was gonna be social, he had to have watched movies so he can talk about them. So he'd decided, "Fluttershy, any chance I could go around shopping for a bit? If I'm staying in your cottage, I'd like some recent belongings of my own, if that's okay." "O-oh, okay then. That's fine... I'll just go to the cottage... see you." "See ya, Fluttershy." Fluttershy nods, and walks off. Light walked into the shop. The shop looked like it could do with a bit of tuning up, despite the fact it's only recently been opened. He sees a few films that catch his eye... Doctor Whooves... is that the stallion I saw with the Hourglass Cutie Mark? ... No, that one's just a pony with a face like an actor's. It happens. What's this one... Ace Ventura, Pet Detective? ...Hm... Fluttershy might like this... I better ask her about it, though, not sure if she's tried that. And th- Agh. What he wasn't so happy to see was a film he'd seen every time he'd been to a film store. This wasn't the first time he tried it, he just didn't see anything worth buying those last three times, which was before hermitage. It was a film adaption of a film, and it was released a good 52 years ago. It was Psycho, starring Anthony Percolts. He never was one for thrillers. Although, nowadays, it seemed hardly anything fazed him. Might as well scare myself and become a pony with feelings again... He walked over to the counter. Nopony was at the counter. He had a bit of time to think about his decision. So, then, I'm gonna need to remember to watch this soon, or at least remember to place it somewhere I'll see it everyday. One of his problems was that he'd forget things that weren't significant in his mind. This means he only easily remembers big things happening, and sometimes forgets small things he wanted to do, or small things he HAD to do. By now, he'd gotten a bit bored of waiting. "HELLO!?" He yelled, "Anypony home!?" Then came the sound of hoofsteps. FINALLY. The shopkeeper was on his way. The lights weren't on from his part of the shop, which meant he was probably sleeping on the job, and forget to indicate so. When he came to the lit part of the store, Light looked at him for a while, slowly narrowing his right eye in confusion. "...Hm. Hi... Green Flare," Light said. "Long time, no see." "Hey, Light... it really has been a long time. And remember, I like the name Greg." He'd heard it in a movie, and thought it was a better name that his real name. Greg was one of Light's best friends. WAS. Until he fell out of contact with him. Greg was a green pony, as his birth name suggests, and he had a bright blonde mane and tail. He was wearing light blue overalls, green shades, and a... Fez... "Where've ya been, buddy?" He inquired. "Recovering..." replied Light. He was aware Greg would know what he was talking about. "Oh... right." "...So, how is she?" "Fine, apparently, as far as I heard." "That reminds me... why didn't you feel like going with her?" "Well... I made a lot of friends here. I know a lot of things about the town, and I wanted to go with them, but, well... Manehattan's a bit big. This is nice and small." Makes sens- wait a minute... did he say he knows a lot about the town? "If that's the case," Light begins, "You become aware of Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie yet?" "I even heard you didn't just like Pinkie for the parties too." He teasingly replied. "Really. Well, good thing it's a rumour." "Sure. Anyway, what can I do ya for?" Light holds up the box for Psycho. "Ah-hah... so you're finally giving that one a try. Cool. That's 100 bits." Light raised an eyebrow. Sure, he has enough bits to last him a few more years, but... 100? Seems a bit much for a film... "...I see your sense of humour's died." Greg said. "Can't be that funny if neither of us laughed." Light retorted. "Eh, good point. You're a good friend, Light, so I'm gonna let you off with this for free." Before Light can say anything, he asks, "Do you have a Television Screen or the equipment necessary to play this?" ...Err... nope. "... ... ... Okay, fine, you get them free as well, but the next time you're here, I'm tripling your prices." ...O...kaaaayyyy? "Wait..." Light realizes... "How am I gonna carry all that?" "Well, you're not, because..." Greg began... "A, You have nowhere to put it besides your back, and it'll fall off still. B, We don't actually have them yet, this is just newly opened..." "......Why are you selling films if we can't watch them!?" "Well, we had a few, but they got stolen on the first day, and we were hoping everyone would have their own film players by then..." "...Fine. How soon can I get the thingy?" "Just until morning, we filled out the forms for getting more a couple of days ago." ...Yay. "Well, I think I'll be off then. See ya tomorrow morning." Said Light. "Yeah... err, I get a free day off tomorrow, somepony else is doing the shift. If you want, I can write something down to remind the other guy." "You do that." Light concluded, and went to walk off... "Hey, before ya go..." Light turned around again, "Huh?" "Where ya living? Still your usual house?" "Nope. I live with Fluttershy, the Cutie Mark Demonspawn are to blame." "Oh, really..." Greg said, in a curious tone. "Yeah, they wanted to decorate the house for their Cutie Mark, so they argued over who gets to p-" "Nononono, not about that. You're living with Fluttershy?" "Yeah. Why?" "...No reason." ... ... ... "Sure." Light concluded. "Okay, bye," And with that, he left. So, I'll have to wait before getting to experience this film... I should still ask Fluttershy about that Ace Ventura movie though, that looks good. ----- As he arrived at the cottage, he saw Fluttershy in the garden tending to all the animals there. She saw him, and gave him a timid wave. Light waved back, then proceeded to go to in the cottage. Now that I think of it, I've got more time to work on the nove- WHAT. There was a rabbit looking through his bag. He narrowed one eye in confusion. What do rabbits want to do with works in progress? He walked over to it, and tried speaking with it. "Hey... mutual acquaintance... Could you stop looking through my bag?" The rabbit looked back at him as if it understood. In fact, it sorta stubbornly glared at him, and ran over to the kitchen... which... he's not noticed before. ...Huh. It ran back, holding a recipe book. It was pointing at blah, blah, blah, carrot, blah blah... He was never much for cooking/baking/making food in general. He decided the best way to stop it bothering him... and scaring him with its apparent plethora of IQ points... was to get Fluttershy to help. He went to the window, and opened it, he could see her just about finishing up with the animals outside and landing kinda... gracefully... *Ahem* Anyway, he called out to her. "Fluttershy? A rabbit here wants a carrot... thing and he's kinda stubborn!" Fluttershy looks back at Light, and instantly knows what he's talking about. "Oh, that'll be Angel Bunny... I'll be right in." When she gets in the house, she goes over to the kitchen, saying hello to Angel Bunny, and starts making his carrot meal. Light takes the time to look at his bag and the contents to see if they're damaged... which they're not. He decides to look at the picture he'd drawn of the protagonist, while sitting down on the couch. His protagonist was a jet-black Unicorn, wearing a red and black bodysuit, with mechanical wings attached. The tail looked razor sharp, almost metal, coloured red and black, with the mane, in the same style of Light's, only entirely black. He was wearing a utility belt, and what looked like protective chest wear. From the looks of things, he was some sort of costumed superhero. Light began thinking of what would happen next in the novel. "Hi, Light." Fluttershy's sudden appearance behind him startled him. Considering he was engrossed in his own work, he yelped, and fell off the couch he was sitting on. "Ow." "O-oh, I-I'm sorry... I didn't mean to do that..." Fluttershy apologized fearfully. Light got up. "No problem, Fluttershy. Anyway, I see you've seen the protagonist for my novel." Fluttershy nodded. "Yes... his appearance, um, sort of reminds me... of Mare-Do-Well. "Wasn't she the one who upstaged some hot-headed hero I heard about?" "That was Rainbow Dash being upstaged... and I was Mare-Do-Well." ... ... ... ... "Wait, what?" Light was just confused. Fluttershy didn't seem like the lying type. "W-well... technically, it wasn't just me... it was me, and the other girls." "...Really? ...Do tell." Fluttershy explained about how Rainbow Dash had gained a reputation as a hero momentarily, only to let the popularity go to her head. Eventually, the other girls had decided to teach her a lesson about heroism. Rarity designed the costumes, and Twilight would save the day at moments where magic was needed, Applejack appeared once to stop a train using her hard-earned strength gained from the farm, Pinkie Pie used her Pinkie Sense to save anyone in unforeseeable peril, and Fluttershy's wings allowed her to do things Rainbow Dash could do. The conversation shifted onto how she isn't usually a good flier, prompting a question from Light, "So if that's the case, how could you be as effective, if not more effective, at flying than Rainbow? "Well... I thought to myself... if Mare-Do-Well could be anypony, I could be anypony too... so... I was able to gather my courage with this thought." Hrm... It's... not that bad... Light was starting to get a bit interested in Fluttershy, and he asked her a few things about her, like where she got her Cutie Mark, any special advantages she had, etc, etc. Fluttershy told him of how she was knocked off a cloud, and was saved by a cloud of butterflies (Probably made of dark matter, methinks), then calming the animals when a Rainbow Explosion (Caused by Dash) scared them away. She then shared that she has a special ability called the Stare, which apparently terrifies anypony. Light asked if she could demonstrate on him, but she refused, as she didn't wish for him to suffer nightmares. More talking ensued. Light shared info about his novel, Fluttershy thought it was fine, but was curious as to why the protagonist was dressed like a superhero. His character was basically a unicorn who lived further back in the past. Thanks to his brother, who had dragged him with him to a sort of demonic method of immortality, the two became cursed by demons posing as ancestral souls, and they both follow their belief. The protagonist, named John, wishes to rid the world of any and all crime, and as a result, must now contribute to this happening until it happens, or else he will not ever die. Fluttershy was kind of shocked at this, but Light says that's what happens when ponies make mistakes. Because superheroes were the modern style of protectors at the present day, which John had eventually reached, he had to make himself look like a superhero. Their speech session eventually went through until night-time. They both yawned. "What time is it...?" Fluttershy asked. Light checked his watch. "Just around... 9:15..." "Oh... well, in that case, I'll be going to sleep then." She replied. "Okay, me too." He walked over to the long couch, and lied down on it. Fluttershy spoke again. "Um... you know... you don't have to take the couch... you can take the bed tonight." "I wouldn't be a very good guest if I did, Fluttershy." He replied. "...Oh, well, I... I don't mind." "That's kind of you, but again, I'll take the couch. You deserve to sleep in your own bed." "...Well... o-okay then..." She gave a sweet smile that Light found really cute. "Have a good night." "You too." Fluttershy nodded, then walked upstairs. Light watched, as if to make sure she wouldn't trip. He only just notices... ...She kinda has a nice plot. *POMF* ...Did I- Yes. I did. He'd not gotten a wingboner in a long time. And this wasn't the best of times. Now all the animals who were leaving were staring at him. They seemed rather disturbed. Angel was just blinking. Then he just looked away, and pointed at the door, basically signalling all the other animals to leave. As they did, he just ran somewhere to sleep where he wouldn't see Light. He had a rather shocked look on his face, his cheeks burning red. ...WHY DID I DO THAT. He got off the couch, and thought about what he did. Today, he met Fluttershy's friends, met an old friend of his who not only found out about a crush he had for Pinkie for a while of going here, but he mentioned Fluttershy at the weirdest of times... whatever just happened... what that what he meant? That the kindest, shyest of all ponies is most possibly the most attractive and beautiful? ...No wonder, that always happens. And they both had a really, really long chat, and Light never got bored of it. ... ... .. ... Do I... have a crush on her or something? ...This is not gonna work out well... AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been waiting to use that joke for a long time. Thought it would be funny. If you object to what's gonna happen in future chapters, you should've noticed the Romance Tag. If you don't object, then good. You've gone to the right place. Hopefully, this chapter goes well without any screw-ups like the previous chapters... anyway, it is time for me to shut my mouth. See ya'll.