//------------------------------// // A Hearts and Hooves Confession // Story: The Impact of Humans on Ponies // by the koopanater //------------------------------// Ever since the Flim Flam brothers paid up and left, things didn't go back to their normal state. In fact, most of the town became a bit more tense, and it was all thanks to the new merchant. It was hard to forget what he did, deceive everyone in town to pull a double agent on the brothers by sabotaging them and making them pay up through some intimidating methods. Those methods being his family name, and seeing as how three of the humans, two of which were hard to scare, were all terrified of his family name and status, everyone was a bit worried about him even if he went back to his happy self afterwards. Even after weeks and most of the town moving on from the incident, they still were a bit on edge when doing business with him. The heroes however saw another angle to the event, and that was the bigger mystery between him and Xavier. To them, normally Xavier's the first to not only question the logic and safety of reckless plans but also jump in whenever something bad is happening. But here, he was following Zenix like he was the boss, doing reckless things and staying back. The strangest part was that Xavier looked like he was used to these things, he didn't even react to Zenix's name. The questions only piled up with the two, but when approached by the topic, they shrugged it off by saying it was a hired gig. They didn't exactly know how to think about their avoidance, but what could they do? So they simply tried to wait for an opportunity while also keeping their friendship. As of right now however, all those thought were pushed to the side as a very important data came up for couples and crushers out there as Hearts and Hooves was coming up, but to the humans it was commonly known as Valentines. And when that comparison came up, a certain human's aloof mood suddenly came to a stop to make way for red-faced shock and nervousness. And with the day tomorrow, he was simply sitting on a park bench thinking. "...This sucks." He thought out loud, not aware or caring of who was around. "Why out of all holidays did this one have to be one as well?" "Are you talking about Hearts and Hooves?" "GIYAH!!!" Jumping in shock, Xavier managed to catch himself before he fell. When he turned next to him, he saw that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were looking at him. "G-Girls!? Don't scare people like that." "So, are you thinking of ways to ask Jasmine out?" Sweetie Belle asked, Xavier growing red again. "W-What!? W-W-What are you-" "Aw don't be like that." Scootaloo said with a smirk. "The entire town practically knows that you have a crush on her." "Other than Jasmine herself." Applebloom commented, though that didn't stop Xavier from groaning. "Well you're wrong, I'm not." The trio didn't believe him however as they all looked at him funny. "W-what?!" "you're not convincing, you know that?" "Y-You have no proof!!" "Why don't you confess tomorrow?" Applebloom suggested. "I'm sure she'd say yes." "Yeah, she's sure to say yes." The three looked at him hopeful, but all Xavier did was give an upset look. "It's more complicated than you think..." "Aw c'mon! Don't be like that-" "Please stop." Xavier said firmly. "I'm not going to ask her, so drop it." Xavier walked away, not giving them a chance to continue. What he didn't know however was that the crusaders were already plotting ways to get the two together. Later, Sunset As the sun set on the horizon, many ponies began to walk home, ready for their dates tomorrow. Jasmine was walking home as well, though she didn't have anyone ask her for a date. "I wonder what it's like to fall in love?" Jasmine wondered. "Although, I wonder if any of the others are interested in anyone..." "Miss Jasmine!" The call caused Jasmine to jump in shock, unprepared for the the crusaders as they ran up to her. "Oh, its only you three." Jasmine said as she took a deep breath. "What's up?" "We wanted to give you this!" Scootaloo said as she raised a glass bottle up to Jasmine who took it and looked it over. "We wanted to give you something to say thank you for all you've done for us." "Aww, thank you." "Why don't you ask someone to share tomorrow?" Sweetie Belle suggested, getting Jasmine thinking. "Hmm, well that is a nice idea, but who?" "How about Xavier?" Applebloom suggested. "Isn't he free tomorrow?" "He is, but are you sure he would say yes?" "Well he will if we ask as well." Scootaloo exclaimed with a hop. Hearing how sure the girls were, Jasmine gave a nod. "Alright, let's do it." Jasmine agreed with a fist pump. "It may be fun." "Yeah!" The Next Morning "So where are going girls?" "You'll see." As the morning sun rose above the horizon, the town began their days with their dates. Xavier was about to spend the day by himself, but before he could he was being dragged along by the crusaders after they knocked on his door. Now he was walking up a hill, clueless and a bit annoyed. "I sewar girls, if this is one of your elaborate plans-" "I promise, you'll like it." Before long, the four of them were looking at a picnic blanket with a basket and two glasses all ready. "Girls, what is this-" "Hey Xavier." Tensing up a bit, Xavier looked up to see that Jasmine was walking up the other side of the hill. Seeing her, Xavier took the three girls and turned away in a huddle. "Girls, what is this?!" He asked in a irate whisper "Well Jasmine wanted to do something today when we gave her a present, so we suggested a picnic with you." Applebloom explained. "But WHY!? Are you planning something?" Xavier asked annoyed. "We just want you and Jasmine to have a happy day today, that's all." Scootaloo reasoned. "Why me though? Couldn't you have asked Cali since she's closer to her?" "Aw come on, where's the harm in having a nice picnic with a friend?" Sweetie Bell asked. "I- Well I- Gah!" "It would be nice to have a nice day together." Jasmine said as she walked up to them, all of them looking up at her. "It's not like we would be in a love-type date, it's would just be a day together." Jasmine's smiling face was ignorant to the looks on the other's faces, three were knowing and one was blushing. "Yeah, it would just be a day for two friends." The three girls and Jasmine's eyes all got to Xavier, as he sighed. "Fine, you win." "Yay!" The girls cheered as Xavier went over to the blanket, Jasmine joining as well. "We'll leave you two alone, Happy Hearts and Hooves day!" Applebloom explained before her and the other crusaders waved goodbye, walking down the hill out of sight. Once they did, Xavier sighed again as Jasmine took out the bottle and began to pour the contents out, letting the pinkish purple liquid fill each cup. "Erm, that's quite an interesting drink." Xavier commented with a raised eyebrow. "What kind of drink is that?" "Don't know, but the girls seem to think it's perfect to share." Jasmine admitted as she passed Xavier a cup, taking one for herself. "Oookay, I'll trust it then. It can't be as bad as Flim and Flam's 'drink'." Xavier sighed as he took his glass. "To be clear, this isn't a date between two lovers, it's just a get-together between friends, right." "Of course." Jasmine smiled, raising her glass. "Want to toast on that?" "You know what, sure." Xavier said as he raised his. Once they did, they both took a sip from the drink. When they did however, their entire world went numb. Afternoon, With the Other Humans As the day went on, the other humans decided to look around the town to see how different the day is celebrated compared to earth. As they did, they saw how lovey-dovey everypony was. "They really do show it much more." Cali commented as she looked at two ponies doing the classic 'drinking out of a milkshake' together. "Yeah, it's almost like we're in a TV show." Alex added. "The cheesy love episode, right?" Huston asked, getting a nod from the athlete. "Really makes you wish you stocked a few things to sell as gifts." Zenix pondered, getting looks from his friends. "By the way, do any of ye have a crush or somethin'?" Alex asked. "Or maybe even wantin' ta get a date?" "Nope. But I'm not opposed to the idea." Cali answered. "Maybe if I find the right person." Huston said as well, Cali nodding in agreement. "Well we can say that 'ye-know-who' has one." Alex mentioned, the two sighing. "That guy needs some guts." "I know that I made the mistake of thinking she was his girlfriend, but now I know better." "Well have any of you though of a reason why he hasn't?" Zenix asked, the three looking at him. "Well the only one I can is that he's much shyer than we think." Huston thought. "Maybe, but there is something." Cali thought. "A while ago before you three, I talked to him about this crush. When I did though, he seemed... hurt about the idea." Hearing it, Huston and Alex seemed concerned at the idea. "Well, let's not push him too hard. Maybe small taps." Alex suggested. As Huston and Cali agreed, Zenix noticed a small crowd surrounding a table. "Hm? What's going on over there?" Hearing him, the others also noticed the crowd and collectively agreed to investigate. When they did, what they saw as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Scootaloo with a saddlebag. And what they were looking at threw the humans for a loop as they saw Jasmine and Xavier sitting at a table, also doing the classic milkshake troupe with hearts in their longing eyes. "What the hell is this?!" Alex asked with a swing of his arms. "Oh my pretty little Jasy." "My lovely Xavi." The two flirted, leaving the humans uncomfortable. "I know we were just talking about this, but this is just uncomfortable." Cali commented. "Yeah..." Huston added as he looked at the crusaders. "Do you three know what's going on here?" "What!? N-no, we have no idea." Sweetie Belle answered with worry, though Huston didn't noticed. Zenix however managed to catch his eye on something as Cali and Alex walked up to the lovebirds. "Ay, Xavier?" Alex called once they got up to them. His friend didn't seem to notice or acknowledge him however which irritated him a bit. "Hello, earth ta Xavier? Ye in there?" "You too, Jas. Are you okay?" "I have a boyfriend." Jasmine said dreamily, not even taking her eyes off of Xavier. "I have a girlfriend." Xavier parroted, his voice also dreamy and never taking his eyes off of Jasmine. "That's great, but how did this happen?" Alex asked irritated, getting sick of the two's lovey-dovey act. "Yeah, yesterday you two were only friends yesterday and now y'all are actin' like you've been datin' for years." Even after Cali's question, neither Jasmine or Xavier answered again, leaving the two to walk away. "Those two aren't cooperatin'. It's like they're hypnotized by each other." Alex groaned. "Y-yeah. They've been like this all day." Applebloom said, though she seemed nervous. They all looked at the two continuing to sip their shake, concerned and confused. "Well what do we do? They're practically dreaming." Huston wondered. "I don't know, maybe-" "Yoink." Turning at the sudden declaration, everyone saw that Zenix was holding a book. The humans were confused, but the Crusaders began to panic as they looked to see that Scoot's bag was empty. "Hey! Give that back!" Scootaloo yelled as she hopped to try and grab it to little success. "Hmm, a book about Hearts and Hooves day." Zenix read the cover while dodging the fillies, opening it to skim through. "C'mon Zenix, really?" "Aw come on, you can't blame me for my susp-" Zenix was speaking when he came across something inside and paused. "A love potion?" Hearing that, the group froze. At least until the other humans all looked at the crusaders with annoyance and disappointment. "You three didn't." "W-we wanted to help Xavier get together with Jasmine, that's all." Scootaloo explained. "That doesn't excuse what you did. You should let others work out their feelings while giving little pushes at most." Huston scolded. "I think they gave more than a push." Zenix commented with a concerned look on his face as he read the book, everyone looking at him confused. "You three, did you read anything more than the recipe?" "No, why?" "Well if you did you would see that the thing is more akin to a 'love poison'." Zenix explained, concerning everyone. "A poison!?" "Not in the traditional sense." Zenix reassured waving his hand. "It's not something that'll kill them, but it looks like when it was given to a princess from the brewer, a prince, they couldn't stop looking into each other's eyes. Nothing was able to get them to separate themselves from getting lost in each other's eyes which lead to both the princess and the prince's kingdoms to fall due to them being unable to do their royal duties." Hearing this, everyone's concern grew considerable. "This is bad, really bad." Huston mentioned, worried for his friends. "You three've really done it now!" Cali scolded. "A-at least those two don't have a big responsibilities, right?" Scootaloo reasoned, though it didn't help them much. "Well not now but you do realize that Xavier is important if Equestria is in trouble, right?" Cali asked, knowing how much of a difference he made with Discord and hearing stories about him when he first arrived. "Grr, well what's the plan then?" Alex questioned, wanting his friend back and to get the two to stop acting so weird. "W-well maybe there's a antidote?" Applebloom asked, everyone turning to Zenix. "Oh, right! Umm... Ah ha!" Zenix skimmed through the book for a bit before stopping. "The cure is... Ooh." "What?!" "It says here that to stop the effects of the potion-poison stuff, those who've drank it must not look into the eyes of their 'lover' for one hour." "Seriously? That's it?" Cali asked. "That sounds pretty easy." Alex added. "Uhh..." Huston simply pointed to the problem, and everyone realized the issue. "Oh, right." "So how do we go about this, ey?" Alex asked. "Ay would suggest holdin' them down, buuut..." Looking at Jasmine, his gaze landed onto her staff, knowing that trying anything too reckless would be harmful to their health. "What if we try and convince them to separate for a while?" Scootaloo suggested. "How? They're practically glued to each other." Applebloom reminded. This however sparked an idea in Zenix's head, though it wasn't something he was confident with. "So... I may have had a stupid idea." Zenix said, getting everyone's attention. "Well what is it?" "So, going off of orange's idea..." Zenix began, shrugging over to Scootaloo and beginning to lower his voice. "Well, what if we were to suggest that the two got married?" Predictable, everyone went wide-eyed, but before they could yell out in questioning, Zenix shut them up. "Hey, Shuhuhu! Do you want them to hear you?" "Well why would you even suggest that?!" Alex asked. "Well think about it, both sides would need to get ready, and you know how there is a saying for the groom to not see the bride's dress before the wedding." After hearing Zenix's idea, the humans had a realization. "Wait, you want them to prepare today?" "Yep, but if we do we'll need help from the others. And we only have one shot at this, if they meet back up there is no chance." The group thought it over, as the risks were very big. At the end though, Alex sighed and glared. "Alright, we have no other ideas so let's go with it." Alex said, taking the role of leader. "Scootaloo, I need ya an' Huston ta spread the word 'round ta the others, most notably Rarity. Tell them ta split up an' help buy time between the jewelry an' Rarity's place. That's where the two of them'll be." Huston and Scootaloo nodded, running off to do their jobs. "Cali, ye an' Belle'll take Jasmine ta Rarity's. Make sure that ye tell her the situation. Zenix, ye and Bloom are with me an' Xavier. You're crucial Zenix, as ye'll be the one ta shoot down any rings Xavier or the jeweler suggests. Me an' Applebloom are the backup as we've got the brawn ta hold 'em." Everyone nodded at their jobs. "Alright, let's do this." Alex broke up the huddle and went over to Jasmine and Xavier who were still staring at each other lovingly. "Hey there ye two, are ye doin' well?" "I have a boyfriend." "I have a girlfriend." "Yeah, that's great." Alex side-eyed, though he stopped when he saw his friends. "Y'know, at this rate ye'll be so in love that ye'll get married." "Married?!" This actually managed to get a reaction out of them, but before a moment passed for everyone to think they broke the spell already- "Married..." The two went right back to lovingly staring, this time dreaming about marriage. "Eugh." Many of their spectating friends gagged, but Alex kept a straight face. "'Course, if yer gonna be gettin' married, you'll need the best ring out there ta propose ta... Yer lovey-puppy." Alex couldn't help but gag at the nickname. "Ring? OH, Diamonds!" Xavier beamed, hopping out of his chair shocking Alex and Jasmine. "Yep, why don't ye follow Zenix, I'm sure that he'll be able ta get the best deal on the best ring. And as fer you..." Alex then turned to Jasmine, who was looking at them blankly. "Ye should follow Cali an' Sweetie Belle ta Rarity's ta get a dress. Ye'll want ta look yer best fer yer... Smoopy-pie." "Dress? Dress!" Jasmine followed Xavier's suite and shot up, ready to find a dress. At least before Cali grabbed her and Alex grabbed Xavier, in which case they began to struggle a bit. "Now don't worry, once y'all are done, you can see each other again." Cali said as she struggled to hold her friend. Hearing this, the two lovebirds recognized this and suddenly breaking free of their captors... Only to run of in different direction. Xavier even managed to grab Zenix before anyone realized it. "Crap, get moving!" Rarity's Thankfully, both sides had people who had the skills to grab the runaway lovers, allowing for time to be bought by power walking instead of a full sprint. On Cali's side, her, Sweetie and Jasmine were moving to Carousel Boutique. "I hope that Rarity's got enough dresses." Cali hoped as she carried Jasmine on her shoulder, the mage tied up in her whip. "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure that Rarity was working on a lot of dresses for today as a clothing line." "For ponies. If you don't remember, Jasmine isn't a pony." A little bit later, the three saw the boutique, and Rarity was outside. "Good, you've arrived." Rarity said with relief and a smile. "I have a wide selection of dresses for you to try on, Jasmine." Walking inside, Cali took no time to untie her and toss her into the changing room. "Why don't you take a look at all of them, pick the right one for you?" Rarity said with customer service as her sister pushed multiple racks of dresses into the room. "Please, take your time." Once all the racks were inside, Rarity used her magic to push multiple heavy objects in front of the room, blocking her inside. Once she did, she dropped her smile and turned to her sister. "Sweetie, can you please explain to me why you thought that giving miss Jasmine and Xavier a love potion?" "W-well, I just wanted to help them get to gather, you know?" Sweetie admitted. "You can see that Xavier has feelings for Jasmine, right?" "*sigh* Yes, we all can..." Rarity admitted with a face hoof. "But that doesn't mean you can play cupid. Especially with potions. It takes time for one side to admit their feelings, and what happens if you tried only for the other side to reject them?" "I- we never thought about that..." "Plus, there's the possibility that one side has a reason not to confess." Cali joined. "They may think that asking would ruin their friendship or something like in books." "Yep. Please promise me to not try and get anyone else together again, alright?" "O-okay." "Now that we've got that out of the way, now all we do is keep her inside and hope everything goes to plan." Meanwhile, at the Jewelry Shop "Too big." "Too small." "Too fancy." "Not fancy enough." Like Alex planned, Zenix was shooting down every ring that was shown by the jeweler despite Xavier's excited nods. Although, Zenix seemed a bit worried as time went on. "You guys know how long- Too shiny- we have left? I'm not only- not shiny enough- running out of critics, but we're running out of rings." "Erm, twenty five." Alex responded, looking at a stopwatch Zenix gave him. "C'mon, you can do it, Zenix." Applebloom cheered. "I hope." "Guys!" Suddenly, the door to the jewelry shop opened, revealing Scootaloo, Rainbow, Applejack, and Twilight at the door. "Oh thank god, yer here!" Alex thanked as him and the others went over to them. "How much time do we have?" Rainbow asked, clearly concerned. "We've got twenty five minutes left 'til the two are free from this curse." Alex explained. "All we have to do is stall, but I'm running out of ways to deny rings." Zenix explained. "Well we'll just have to think of another way." Twilight delcaired, confident that they could- "Wait, where did Xavier go?" Applejack's observation stopped them all as they looked at the counter to see that the only one there was the jeweler. "Oi! Where'd Xavier go?!" "Oh yes, he just purchased the ring and said something about meeting with his..." The Jeweler cleared his throat before saying "His smoochy pie..." "Damn it!" Everyone ran out of the store in search of Xavier. "Rainbow! Get ta Rarity's! If he makes inside it's over!" "On it!" Rainbow yelled as she zoomed off. Fortunately, everyone found Xavier skipping with a ring box in his hand. "AJ!" "Already on it." Applejack said as she took a rope out of Zenix's hands, tying a lasso out of it. And with a mighty throw, Applejack managed to catch... A wrench as it fell to the ground, leaving Xavier to continue on. "Wh-what happened?!" Scootaloo questioned as Zenix handed Applejack another rope to throw. When she did, they caught that Xavier pulled out a metal pipe from... somewhere and tossed it perfectly into the lasso, keeping him safe. "Oh what the hell?!" "I got this!" Twilight said as she charged her magic, letting it envelope him in the attempt to pick him up. The key word is attempt though as for some reason Xavier was not only able to continue, but he was somehow able to drag Twilight along at the same pace as before. "Twilight!?" "How... Is he... this strong?!" Twilight questioned as she strained to hold him. The others grabbed Twilight and began to pull in hopes to slow him down, but he didn't even slow. "W-what the hell is this guy's strength!? He was never this strong!" "I think his 'love' for Jasmine is doing this!" Zenix tried to reason. "Twilight, don't you have a paralysis spell or somethin'?" Applejack asked. "Good idea." Twilight then shot a blast of magic forward, aiming for Xavier. Unfortunately, he managed to pull a screwdriver and lobbed it behind him, intercepting the blast and leaving a screwdriver in the ground upright like a stick. "Oh come on!" Meanwhile at Rarity's Back at Rarity's, everyone was still biding their time, this time Huston, Pinkie and Fluttershy joined them with worry. "S-so how long do we have left to wait?" Fluttershy asked, looking at the changing room as Cali took out a stopwatch. "Erm... only five left." "It's actually going to happen!" Pinkie cheered as she hopped around a bit. "Girls!" Suddenly, Rainbow burst through the doors, startling everyone. "He's on his way here!" "What?!" "You heard me!" "Well what do we do!?" Huston questioned. Everyone began to hastily look around for an idea. When they saw nothing good, they ran outside. When they did, Sweetie Belle noticed a bunch of shovels leaning on the side of the boutique. "There!" She pointed out, everyone looking at them and know where she was going. As they worked, the others weren't having any luck slowing Xavier down as he dragged them along. They got desperate and even grabbed him to little effect. "This guy is impossible!" Applejack yelled. "Come on! We have to hold him off!" As they kept trying to slow him down, their blood went cold when they saw that the boutique was in view, so they began to try harder. At least before Rainbow and Huston ran closer to them. "Let him go!" Huston called, confusing everyone. "Why!? He's too close!" Alex yelled out. "Just do it!" At Rainbow's command, everyone released Xavier, letting him free to skip forward... "Shmoopy-doo— Whoa!" Right onto a piece of green fabric that was covering a hole, sending him crashing into a deep pit. "It's a good thing you found those shovels Sweetie." Cali commented as they rejoined the others. "Yep." Alex then looked at the stopwatch, sighing in relief. "We've got one minute ta go-" "Shmoopy-doo!" Suddenly Xavier leapt up, his head barely clearing the hole while screaming out. Everyone looked at the hole's contents, but their eyes went wide soon. "Sweetums?!" They all heard Jasmine call from the boutique, and as they all looked back, they saw what looked like a storm being formed inside before a massive blast of black cloud burst out. Once the dust settled they all looked in panic at Jasmine standing outside with a wedding veil on her head, her eyes practically thirty for Xavier's. "SHITE! Stop her!" Everyone then got in her way, hopping to block her off. Unfortunately, most of the group were either hit by a tornado or a blast of wind. Soon no one was stopping Jasmine as she leapt forward into the hole, Xavier jumping up just in time to meet her before she slammed right into his face. Everyone ran over to the hole, hoping that Jasmine was late as she lay on Xavier's legs. Once Xavier got over the daze of being hit in the face and looked down, everyone began to sweat bullets as... "G-GIAH!?" Xavier squirmed out from underneath her. "J-Jasmine!?" "We did it!" Everyone cheered, startling Xavier and Jasmine enough to realize the situation they were in. "What in the- Guys? Why is Jasmine and I in the bottom of a hole?" "A-and why does it look like I'm going to get married in said hole?" Jasmine asked as she pulled the veil off her head and looked at it. "You three tell them what you did." Cali glared at the crusaders, who all looked at her with betrayal. "What?!" "Hey, we were just helpin' ye ta get our friends back. It all boils down ta your faults." "What happened?" The crusaders all fidgeted nervously. "We may have given you the teeny-tiniest bit of love potion... that may have turned out to actually be a love poison, and you may have gone just a teeny-tiniest bit nutty." Sweetie Belle started. "But we only did it because we thought you and Jasmine would be really happy if you could be each others very special someponies on Hearts and Hooves Day." Applebloom continued. "Our hearts and hooves were in the right place." And as Scootaloo finished, everyone looked at the two in anticipation, the two stood there motionless. At least until Xavier's eye twitched, at which case Zenix panicked and ran back a bit. "Oh crap-" "GIIIIIIRRRRRRLLLLLLLSSSSS!!!!!!" Everyone backed up in shock as Xavier jumped out of the hole with rage in his eyes, looking at the crusaders. "I can't believe you! I thought it was clear that I didn't want any help!" "B-but-" "No buts! My feelings are my feelings! You don't go around giving love potions to people just because they have a crush on someone!" "U-um-" "It's my decision not to tell Jasmine about my feelings, so stay out of my personal-" "Y-you have feelings for me?" Xavier stopped. His blood went cold and his eyes widened as he slowly turned around to see Jasmine crawling out of the hole, confusion and bewilderment on her face. Xavier backed away slowly, his eyes portraying multiple emotions, but suddenly he turned and ran off. "Xavier!" Jasmine then squirmed the rest of the way out of the hole and ran off to chase him. "Jasmine!" Before anyone else could pursue, the arm of Zenix stopped them. "Don't." Zenix said, his face serious. "Leave her to talk it over with him." "B-but-" "This problem is between those two, and you getting in the way would only complicate things for him. So leave it." "You talk about this like ye've known him fer years!" Zenix paused to look at everyone, before turning in the direction the two ran off in. "I can't say..." Jasmine kept running in the direction that Xavier went, hopeful to find him for answers. She didn’t want to pressure him though as he was going through a lot. She kept looking when she lost track, asking the ponies around town if they saw him. After some time, she did track him down, him sitting by a lake under a tree. As she walked up, she saw that he was twirling something in his hand, but it was so fast that she couldn’t get a good look at what it was. “U-um?” Jasmine sounded to get his attention. She was surprised to see that she did, but was more surprised when he turned to her. Two things stood out to her, one was the look of broken sadness on Xavier’s face, and the other was the shiny steel balisong that he was holding. “H-hey.” “You want to know why I ran, right?” Xavier simply asked, his voice devoid of emotion as he turned back to his balisong, flipping it closed. “I-I mean-” “That’s the reason, right.” “*sigh* Yeah, but y-you don’t have to if-” “I at least owe it to you…” Xavier said as he patted next to him, Jasmine coming closer and sitting down next to him. When she did, Xavier used his off-hand to reach into his hoodie, pulling out the photo he kept for so long and passed it to Jasmine. Upholding it, Jasmine saw that Xavier was in it along with what appeared to be a married middle-aged couple and two girls, one older and one younger than her. “W-who are they?” “They were my family.” My family was a simple one. Not much going on behind the scenes of the simple metal shop we ran. My father dealt with the majority of the work, and he was quite skilled at his craft. My mother handled the sales and stuff like that up front. My older sister was my father’s assistant, helping out around the shop and even making some things. My younger sister also helped, though she was mostly helping my mom. Then there was me. I wasn’t able to help out much in the shop because I wasn’t as strong as my father or older sister nor was I as social as my mom and younger sister. Sure, I did help out where I could, but it wasn’t as much as I would like, fiddling with random scrap that was lying around the shop. My family wasn’t upset at me though, they loved me all the same. “I can’t say that my life was perfect…” As Xavier took a breath to pause, Jasmine tilted her head. “So, what happened between you all?” “It’s complicated…” Xavier sighed, memories flooding back to him. “I couldn’t tell you why, but one day I became sick of the life I had. I don’t know if it was my life up to then, my family in general, or something else, but I just… snapped. It was almost like… a voice told me to. But that’s what I did, I yelled at them like they were the problem before running out of the shop, not caring about what I knocked over. After a while of walking, I finally felt guilty about what I said, so I decided to try and make things up. I went out to buy some food for dinner and I got a gift for my youngest. I know how sensitive she was, so I got her this bandana that she always wanted.” Xavier said clutching said bandana that was always on him. “Once I had everything, I began my walk back, but…” Xavier paused in sorrow, remembering what happened. “W-what happened?” “W-when I did, something caught my eye in the night sky near the shop. It was a bit difficult to tell what it was, but once I did see it my blood went cold, as I saw a pillar of black smoke rising up. When I saw it and where it was originating, I dropped the bag of food and ran to the shop. When I made it… the shop was on fire.” Xavier stopped for a moment, letting the information sink in. “O-oh my.” “The firefighters were doing their best, but the fire was intense. A-and, even they couldn’t get in with the intensity. T-the worst part, m-my family didn’t…” Xavier stopped talking, not able to continue as tears clouded his vision. Jasmine saw this and simply leaned in close, giving him a hug to allow him to cry. After some time, Xavier pushed her off gently. “T-thank you, Jasmine.” “Are you able to continue?” “Y-yes.” Xavier said with a sigh. “A-after the accident, it was confirmed that the source of the fire was an oil container that I tipped over, the only thing that survived was this balisong that my older sister made in her free time. After the hearing, I-I was then taken in by Zenix’s family as his and my fathers were childhood friends, but I wasn't able recover no. H-hell, I'm still not over it even though I've tried to let it go here in Equestria. But I can't get over the feeling that this whole thing was my fault.” Jasmine looked at him, seeing how much this affected him. And yet, she somehow knew the words to say. “I’m sorry that happened to you.” She began. “I can only imagine the pain you feel. But you don’t have to be alone in your pain.” Releasing him, she held his shoulders with a serious expression on her. “You’re one of the first to show me kindness, and was always there when I or anyone needed your help. I thought that this was just you, but please, you can’t just bottle up your problems and hide away! If you do, you’ll never be happy!” “B-but-” “No buts! Everyone is worried about you!” Jasmine released him and stood up. “Do you remember the meteor shower that happened a while ago? Well we all wanted to help you, but since we barely know you we couldn’t! It hurts to know that you can’t help the person who helped you so much!” Xavier looked up at Jasmine, seeing how sad she was. “I-I’m sorry.” Realizing how angry she was, Jasmine took a deep breath to calm herself. “It’s okay. But please, you need to talk to us. We want to share your burden, that’s what friends are for.” “Y-yeah.” Xavier and Jasmine sat in silence for a moment. After some time passed, Xavier looked up to her. “Hey Jasmine?” “Yeah?” “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’m ready to tell everyone. I’ll tell them eventually, but I’m not ready yet.” “That’s fine, just promise me that when the time comes, you’ll ask me to help you tell them.” “I will.” “That’s good.” Jasmine then sat back down, her face holding a caring expression on her. "But do you just want to sit here for a while?" "...Yeah." Sundown, With the Others After Xavier and Jasmine ran off, the others were left in a predicament as Zenix was stopping all of them. In the end, they decided to wait around Rarity's for a while until they got back by Zenix's suggestion. The wait however was unsettling, as they were all worried and curious about the two. Nothing was said, nothing was done, just waiting until the door opened to the two. "Xavier!" Huston, Alex and Rainbow called as they jumped up and ran to him, the others running over as well. "Hey everyone." Xavier greeted, his voice a bit down. "Are you okay?" Twilight asked. "Yeah, I-I'll be fine." Everyone nodded, not willing to talk more. "However, there is something I need to address. Girls." Xavier then looked at the crusaders, all three of them tensing up and sweating bullets as he walked over. "You three really did it now." "We know." "Look, I get it." Xavier said as he leaned down towards them. "You just wanted me to be happy, but-" "But no matter how good our intentions might have been, we shoulda never meddled in your relationship." Applebloom began again. "Nopony can force two ponies to be together." Scootaloo added. "It's up to everypony to choose that very special somepony for themselves." Sweetie Belle concluded. "We're sorry." Xavier looked at the trio for a bit, at least before sighing. "Well I'll leave your punishments up to your guardians. Today had been exhausting." "You said it." Jasmine said as she gave a weak smile. "But I think there is one more thing to talk about." Everyone looked at her curiously." "And what is that?-" Xavier asked as he looked over to her, only to realize she was face to face with him. "About the 'crush' you have." Jasmine smiled innocently, but the aura surrounding her... it didn't feel innocent as everyone looked at each other with nervous looks. Xavier didn't look nervous, however, he didn't even look flustered. Instead, he had a look that was both disappointed and calm at the same time. "I get it. If you don't reciprocate those emotions, I'll accept it. Even after-" He was cut off. In a way that get the entire room to look with wide eyes and dropped jaws. For Jasmine leaned in and gave a peck onto his forehead. "Let's give it a try, alright?" Jasmine smiled. Xavier sat there frozen, as he was processing what happened. When he did, his face lit up bright red and puffs of steam blasted out his ears. Right before his eyes went white and he collapsed, unconscienced. "Oh no!" "It's like you didn't see the signs." Cali sighed. "We all did." Everyone began to give a light chuckle as Jasmine tried to wake Xavier up. Even though things got stressful, at least things were looking up for the future. Later, At Night After dragging Xavier back home, everyone decided to turn in for the night. And after dinner everyone decided to go to bed. Everyone but Jasmine, as she was thinking about the events of the day while rubbing Storm’s head on the couch. “You know, Storm? I’m not against dating Xavier, but I still have questions about him.” Jasmine thought, the bat looking up at her. “Mostly about why he never wanted to tell me about these feelings. And why he thought anyone would understand where he was coming from…” “Well maybe I can answer those questions.” Jasmine and Storm jumped in surprise, only to see that it was Zenix standing in low light. “Oh, it’s only you, Zenix.” Jasmine sighed, but she looked up at him in concern. “But what are you talking about?” “He told you about his past, right?” Zenix asked, getting a nod from her. “Well you also heard that he lived with me and my family after the accident, right?” “W-where are you going with this?” “Well there is another side to the problem.” Zenix said as he sat in a chair. “You see, he’s felt that this whole thing is his fault.” Zenix began, getting a worried expression from Jasmine. “When he moved into my family’s estate, we could tell he was broken. We tried to help him at least mourn for them, but… he couldn't even think about them without breaking into tears. That wasn’t the only thing, however, he was unable to make any more connections.” “Connections?” “As in, he wasn’t able to make any more friends.” Zenix said with a sigh. “Not from a lack of trying, but from fear about the same thing happening again. He knows that bonds as close as family are the most painful when they are severed, so he refrained from getting close to anyone.” “B-but he’s been so k-kind to us?” “Kind, yes. But notice that this is the first time he’s actually opened up to anyone.” Zenix explained. “He just wants to keep anyone from feeling the pain he felt as well, but he keeps himself from that situation as well. But…” Looking at a photo with Xavier and his friends on the coffee table, he sighed. “This is the first time in a long time that I’ve seen him actually have a connection. The only other time was back on earth, and that was… well let’s say she was a piece of work.” Zenix paused to stand up and walk towards the basement. “My point is, make sure you don’t leave him like his family, okay. Not just for his sake, but mine. It’s been so long since I’ve seen him smile.” “...I will.” Meanwhile Up on the rooftops of the town, moonlight hit each and every one of them kindly. Something else was hit however, a figure on the rooftops looking down on the human household with glowing eyes. Hmhmhm. Destiny is a strange thing. As they was looking down, noises could be heard by the figure. Suddenly, another cloaked being rose and floated onto to the roof softly and landed, a mechanical whir and a trail of smoke following them. I will say, you do a very good job at setting fires off. I just didn't know you could make it look like an accident. Y0u s4y th4t l1ke we h4vn't be3n fr1ends 5ince f0r3ver a60. The newbie said, their voice sounding crushed and robotic, small creaks being heard as they moved closer, the only thing seen was a bright yellow rectangle in their hood that glowed like a flashlight. Fir3s are my s9ecial7y, ou7sid3 wh4t I've 8een b0rn with. Oh I know. I just though you would get rusty after a while. Th4t's no7 a go0d jok3, 'caus3 if 1 did I w0uld be d3- Yeah yeah yeah. For now though, we've planted the seed into them. All we have to do is wait. It'5 alre4dy 5prou7ed, y0u can tell. I know, but we have to see if it'll flourish or if it will wither like all the others. I 6et i7. Le7's ho9e it 6rows 8ig enou6h befor3 th3y f4ce the king. The sentence was the last as the new one flew upwards like a rocket and the first blinked away, like they were never there.