Chapter 2 – A New Home
Part 3 – A Day Back To Normality!?
Groaning, he awoke. Stretching, with a long yawn, mouth opened wide. His eyelids were heavy like somepony had hung a thousand-kilo-heft at them.
Shifting, the stallion snuggled closer to the mare next to him and laid his fore hooves around her chest, pulling her in for a soft embrace and kissed her neck, cuddling with her. Today, she seemed to be much softer than ever before, but he just liked it and kissed her again.
Last night was a complete blur, filled with hundreds of new sensations and experiences. There had been love, romance and passion, bliss and pleasure…
And everywhere was her, her gorgeous beauty, her radiant sparkling eyes, her soft fur, her sweet fragrance of roses and violets…
It was the moment when he realized that he was missing the latter right now, though his nostrils were right next to the mare of his dreams.
Finally, Bleach managed to open his eyes and chuckled when he noticed that he was only hugging Twilight´s crimson pillow.
No wonder that she was so soft… He smirked. And the fact that her scent isn´t so intense anymore means she´s awake for quite some time…what´s the time anyway… Lazily, he turned his head to his nightstand clock. “Wow, half-past ten! And I´m still dozy…oh, I´d hate to have school today…” he mumbled and smirked. “Heh, buck you, poor Lucien…”
Stretching himself one last time, he rolled off the bed and managed to stumble into the bathroom. Another quarter of showering, teeth, mane and tail brushing later he felt way more awake than before. Looking him over in the mirror he tied his long black mane up with a small black scrunchie just the way he knew Twilight loved it.
Taking a little bit of his usual spearmint-perfume he finally left the bath and headed for the library´s main room, which seemed to be the living room at the same time.
Trotting down the stairs with a cheerful smile, he recognized the lavender mare sitting at a wooden table, sipping on a cup of fresh tea and an opened book in front of her.
“Good morning, sweetie!” he greeted her, descending the last few stairs. In one corner of the room, he noticed Spike still sleeping in his basked, snoring slightly. Seemed like the baby dragon was even more exhausted than he was, though he definitely hadn´t done the same activities like him.
Beaming, Twilight looked up from her lecture.
“Good morning, sweetheart.” she replied and stood up, trotting over to him and greeting him with a soft kiss. “You slept long.” she assessed.
He grinned in response. “I was…kinda exhausted.”
“I can imagine very well…” she snickered and nuzzled him. “But Spike seems exhausted as well.” She meant with a side-glance to the sleeping purple dragon.
“He is after all just a baby dragon. He needs his sleep and the journey yesterday surely was very exhausting for him.” Bleach explained.
Twilight only nodded and trotted back to the table with her lover in tow.
“Do you want some breakfast?” she asked. “I made rosehip tea and some sandwiches.”
“I´d love to!” he answered and took place opposite of her.
“So…” he began, taking an apple sandwich “…when did you awake?”
“Shortly before seven.” she answered grinning with a sip of her tea. “I had never been a slugabed, you know? Anyway, I came down here, made some breakfast and began reading. That is all what I had done since.”
He chuckled, making an expansive gesture. “Well, there are enough books around us for an entire lifetime, if you´d ask me.”
“Yeah…” she chuckled too “…but the book I´m reading isn´t from the library…” she meant and levitated the tomb to show its cover and the all too familiar golden signs on it.
Bleach only cooked an eyebrow. “So you defeated your fear to open the book.” he stated and she nodded.
“I had to, if we want to get this over with. I…” a sigh “…I just want to get back some…commonplace… I just want to study and read books again without fearing that there´s something that wants to kill me. Just like before my nightmare…” her head sunk a bit “…and before…before Silverleaf…” she shook her head “No, things won´t be normal ever again! Not without her…”
A small tear streamed down her cheek. She was a little bit surprised, thought she would finally had run dry of them. Suddenly, she felt a hoof beneath her chin, softly forcing her to look up and into the blue eyes that meant everything to her, maybe more than even her books.
“Hey! It may won´t ever be exactly the same like before, but…in front of us, after all this is over, there lies a new normality! New possibilities! New friends! And I think Silverleaf will never leave us as long as we keep her in our hearts. I know she´s gone only a few days ago and it´s still hard, for you and for me. After all, she was our best friend. But…she became immortal…” smiling he laid his hoof at her heart. “…right here, in our memories.”
Twilight only chuckle-sobbed and swept the small tear away, smiling at him. “You always got the knack to encourage me…though, I´m not sure if I ever want to make new friends…”
“Hey, chin up! Do you know what you need?”
She answered with an asking curious look.
“A good old-fashioned date. Only you and me, picnicking at the park.” he suggested. “And on our way there, we´ll ramble about the town a little bit, there´s much to explore after all. What do you think? Just one normal day without crazy shadows, murders and cursed books.”
“Bleach, we have no time for this! We are on a mission! The princess trusts us! We cannot waste our time like that!”
But her lover just smirked.
“Well, my mission is only to protect the princess´ faithful student. That also includes protecting you from suffering and overworking!”
Twilight rolled her eyes in her usual ‘You-are-impossible!’-way.
“And, in addition, who said you can´t take the book with you. I may allow you to read one or two sentences at our picnic…”
“UGH, okay…But you forgot something, sunshine…” she meant and pointed at the still snoring basket.
“Well, then it´s you and me plus one.” he meant.
“Yeah, a real threesome.” his lover giggled ambiguous.
Now it was time for Bleach´s ‘You-are-impossible!’-eye-rolling. “Don´t you filch my ambivalent jokes!”
“Only if you don´t filch my eye-rolling anymore!” she hit back.
“UUUUGH…”
“And my moaning!”
______________________________________________________________________
Chatting about various things, they continued breakfasting. With time, a dozy groaning and yawning from Spike´s basket announced his awakening. Soon he joined the two lovers at the table and was added to their chatting.
When they finally cleared the table, it was nearly half past eleven. The idea of having a day off to picnic outside was just to the liking of the small purple dragon. Eagerly, he helped Twilight and Bleach with the preparations.
“Can I ask you something, Twi?” Bleach then questioned during their preparations.
“Sure. Fire away.”
“Well, you read in the book this morning.” he began. “I just wanted to ask if you have found out something interesting. About the alicorns and all…”
“Oh…”
Oh yeah, right, she hadn´t told him anything about the things she had found out, yet…
“I´m sorry I didn´t tell you. Though, you hadn´t asked, yet. And didn´t you say we wanted to forget the book for today? Anyhow, I didn´t find out very much. Only lots of history and how they were born and so on...”
“Well, that doesn´t sound that boring. Would you though mind to share the story with me?”
“If you insist…” she only answered and continued with her preparations, searching for a point to start.
“Once upon a time, every pony had been solitary. It was a simple time, without any technical progress or sociality. But the world around them had been wild and cruel, eat or been eaten was the basic rule of surviving. Soon they discovered the advantages of working together, and so, over the years and with breaking out of their primal lives, they began to form herds, settled down and began to build villages. And so, progress started.
Many years later the ancient pony folk colonized the whole planet and had developed a vague social system. Everything seemed peaceful, the fast progress was unstoppable and the cities boomed. But there was one malfunction in the world´s being, one thing missing, one thing the fast progress didn´t intend.
This one thing was harmony.
And so, the ancient ponies had been lost to their egoistic urges and needs. Without friends, without love, without care, all that was left was hostility and distrust. The ponies were solitary again, everypony fighting on its own.
And out of their cravings, out of all the dark energy that emitted from the ponies, six sins were born, manifested inside of the most devilish and powerful ponies of this time.
And these six ponies, these six sins, only led to one destination…”
Bleach and Spike listened keen-eared while they finished the last preparations. Twilight then took the picnic basket with her magic and looked firm into her lover´s and the dragon´s eyes for the last word:
“Destruction!”
Both gulped.
“But…that´s very long ago, right?” Spike asked timid. “That won´t happen again, won´t it? I mean…the six sins were captured inside this book and haven´t their full power…”
“Though, the threat is there, Spike. Somepony had tried to free them and to repeat the happenings of the past, that´s at least what it looks like…” the Auraknight explained. “And they may aren´t at their full power, but they are still strong, Twi and I can tell you.” He looked back at Twilight. “But now: What are these six sins? We only know three, after all…”
And Twilight began to count, reciting the book´s words:
“The first was lust, the untamed urge to mate.
The second was gluttony, pure debauchery.
The third was greed, the compulsion to own and control everything.
This trio found the basic sins and was perfected by two other sins:
The fourth was violence, the wish to eliminate every rival; every other pony that dared or may one day could dare to court the same things one possessed.
The fifth perfected the fourth. That was the blackest treachery and ambush. The plan to not only eliminate one´s rivals but also the own brother, sister, mother, father, foal, brother-in-arms and so on.
And they all gathered under the banner of the sixth, the one that would cover the world with fire and sear all life on it: pure unbridled bottomless and absolutely mortal hatred.”
There was a deep silence between the three until finally Spike broke it.
“That sounds…like the most awful nightmare one could ever have!”
Twilight only nodded. “It must have been a horrible time! The book is talking about blazing skies, thick black smoke everywhere, coming from burning cottages, burning forests and burning ponies. There were ruins and blood and dead bodies everywhere, the earth brown and dry where once had been luscious green grass…”
“It was hell…” her lover closed and prevented the purple mare from worsening the nightmare the young Spike would have definitely after that lecture.
The baby dragon only shuddered, imagining the scenario.
“Okay, enough of that! Can we please just leave for our picnic now? And please can you leave that cursed book here?”
Twilight sighed.
“Okay, I won´t take it along.” she calmed the dragon and looked at Bleach. “Can you hide it where nopony can find it?”
He only nodded, took the book from the table and took it upstairs to hide it in their bedroom.
And after he came back, Twilight placed her number one assistant on her back and together they left the library to explore the town…
______________________________________________________________________
“Serious now, sunshine: Was it truly necessary to wear your surcoat? Some are already starring at you!”
Bleach looked around. In fact some small groups of ponies watched him from the distance and whispered with one another. Well, when do you ever see a stallion with a long mane and a surcoat which in addition had an embroidered golden sign of Celestia´s sun-cutie mark at the height of the heart? And besides: They were new in this town. And it was by a long shot not as huge as Canterlot, so most of the ponies here surely knew each other.
Together the trio walked along the roads of Ponyville. It seemed like a peaceful place to live, the sun was shining down on them and the streets were busy but not too overcrowded like the Canterlot City Center on the weekend before Hearts Warming Eve. Everywhere along the town they saw different small shops like a strange ‘Quills and Sofas’-store, a shop that definitely would be going out of quills during Twilight´s stay…well, they still could sell sofas!
They also found a florist´s, which only remembered them at their gone florist-friend so they passed by and tried to ignore it.
“Are you jealous?” Bleach teased her then in response, noticing from the corner of his eye the three florists looking after him and whispering.
“Of course not!” Twilight huffed. “It´s just…What if somepony is recognizing you! What if that murder has an accomplice here in Ponyville…or followed us!”
“And you think a pony with a cutie mark of two daggers would attract less attention?” he hit back.
Twilight only huffed again. “At least you left your blades at the library!”
“Yeah…” he just meant, feeling the weight of the two holsters in his sleeves.
“You still have your surrogate daggers with you, right?” she read his thoughts.
“He…you´ve got me…”
“UGH! Aren´t you a little bit overprotective?”
“Over…What? You know there´s still a murder out there chasing us, do you? And I am on duty after all!”
“I am with Bleach!” Spike suddenly interposed from Twilight´s back. “I feel safer this way. And…” he grinned and held up one of his claws into Bleach´s direction “…we guys have to keep together, right?”
“Right!” the stallion grinned and high-hoofed with the baby dragon.
Twilight only moaned one more time and remained silent.
They kept walking along the street, past a small school from which at the moment a small amount of fillies and colts bolted out. Smiling the pair watched the foals heading for their homes and was remembered at their own school days as little foals.
After a few more meters, the road suddenly opened in a wide square. Everywhere, ponies were busily doing their shopping, buying fruits and vegetables and sundry other stuff. Right next to the town square was the big town hall.
But instead of the impressive architecture of the building, the scent of all the different treats caught the attention of the trio´s male parts and a low rumbling emitted from their stomachs.
“Mmmh…Time for some lunch, if you ask me…” Spike meant.
“Yeah…Maybe some apple fritters…” Bleach agreed.
Twilight only rolled her eyes and stepped next to him. “Hey, don´t forget our picnic!” she meant and tapped the basket on his back. “You should watch your dietary habits. You´re getting fat!” and gave him a slight slap on his tummy to emphasize her words.
“I´m not getting fat! I´m just…well-built!”
“Whatever you say, roly-poly…” she quipped sassy.
“Okay, that makes a twenty-four-hours-kiss-prohibition!”
“Hey, that´s not fair…” the mare complained whilst Spike couldn´t help himself but roll his eyes about the duo´s lovey-dovey.
“You brought it all on yourself, naughty filly!”
The small dragon in the meantime got off of Twilight´s back and stole himself away with two of her bits to the nearest booth, filled with lots of baked goods made of apples. An orange mare with a blonde mane and tail, tied up with two red ribbons, and a stepson on her head appeared to be its owner. Three apples as her cutie mark surely proved that.
“Hello!” he greeted her and looked over her goods.
“Howdy lil´ fella!” she greeted back with a smile and a strong accent. “What can Ah do fer you?”
“One caramel apple, please!” he ordered.
“A caramel apple, at once…makes two bits.”
Spike took the apple she gave him and handed her the two bits.
“Y´all new in town, right? Ah nev´r saw you an´ your…love birdies ov´r there before…” she stated pointing at the duo still lost in its lovey-dovey and tried to start a conversation with the purple dragon.
He nodded. “Yeah, we moved here last night and are exploring the town at the moment. Oh, my name is Spike, by the way.” he introduced himself and took a first bite of his apple.
“Nice ta meet ya, Spike. Ah´m Applejack.” she tipped her hat. “So…what brought ya to Ponyville an´ where´re ya coming from?” the mare wanted to know.
“Oh, we moved here from Canterlot. We´re living at the Library as long as we stay here.” he swallowed. “Wow, that tastes good!” he meant and took another big bite, almost taking the whole apple in his mouth.
Applejack chuckled. “Thanks! We on Sweet Apple Acres´re producing the best apples´f all Equestria an´-“
“Spi-hike!” Twilight suddenly called for the baby dragon and trotted over to him with Bleach in tow. “Hello, I hope he didn´t bother you…” she then greeted the orange mare.
“Oh no, we´re just chattin´ while you´d been…busy.” Applejack stated politely. “So y´all comin´ from Cant´rlot, huh?”
“Yes, we are.” Twilight nodded smiling. “I am Twilight Sparkle and this is Bleach.”
“Nice to meet you!” he took a short bow. “Mmh, your goods smell quite excellent…”
“Thank ya!” the mare smiled and tipped her hat again. “The name´s Applejack! Glad ta make your acquaintance! We on Sweet Apple Acres produce the best apples´f all Equestria an´re always glad ta welcome new friends ta our family! If y´all need somethin´ made´f apples, just visit our farm!”
“Thank you for this nice offer!” Twilight beamed. “Well…actually we really need something made of apples right now: One portion of your apple fritters and one apple turnover, please!”
______________________________________________________________________
On the other side of the marketplace, the scenes in front of Applejack´s booth didn´t stay unrecognized. Two ponies were standing in the crowd, the eyes of one of them curious fixated at the strange trio.
The other seemed bored.
“Okay, we´re watching them for five minutes now! Can we go?” the pony complained.
“Of course not, silly!” the other snickered. “Do you even know who these ponies are?”
“Uhm…Strangers?” the first pony meant unimpressed.
“Exactly!” its companion meant with narrowed eyes and a sinister grin. “That means they hadn´t been here before! And you know what that means!”
“Oh no, please-“
“TO THE LIBRARY!”
And with a surprised yelp the other pony was dragged along with the excited one…
______________________________________________________________________
Their tummies refilled, the trio continued its way through the city´s streets. They chatted about various things, laughed and simply enjoyed the day together. It was somehow like Bleach had told Twilight
It was just a day back to normality.
But still she mentally just wanted to head back to the library and read the book…
On their way they surprisingly met their old classmate Lyra and her friend Bon-Bon.
She greeted them friendly and they chatted about the time when they were back at school and what had happened since the mint green mare had left Celestia´s School to study playing the lyre at Canterlot´s School for Philharmonics and how she had come to Ponyville and met her roommate Bon-Bon during a small gig at a local restaurant and so on. She also meant with a giggle, that it wasn´t a surprise to her to see Twilight and Bleach together.
They just chuckled and confirmed her thoughts with a short kiss.
After a sweet “Dawww!” she welcomed them in Ponyville, they said their goodbyes and Lyra left with the cream-colored mare.
“And what was that with your twenty-four-hours-kiss-prohibition?” Spike then cooked his brow at Bleach.
“Well…I think I´ll connive it this one time. I declare the prohibition official as nullified!” he meant smiling and sealed it with a quick peck on Twilight´s cheek.
“Indulgent and gentlecoltly as ever!” Twilight chuckled.
Her lover beamed, chin up and chest out. “Typical chivalrous behavior of an Auraknight! We are sort of traditionalists after all! It comes all with the package!”
Twilight´s answer was a mischievous grin and narrowed eyes. “Aren´t you getting there a little bit arroga-“
“STOOOOOOOOP!”
Both suddenly froze in their tracks.
In front of them was a yellow pegasus-mare with a long waving pink mane and tail kneeling down to Twilight´s hooves.
“It´s okay. She won´t do you any harm…” she then meant and they noticed a small ant crawling from under Twilight´s hoof, heading for a small meadow on the street´s other side. “Good little ant! Go back to your family! They´re surely missing you…” the pegasus meant with a sweet soft voice and watched the ant vanishing in the meadow.
“Phew, I´m glad you saw that! I nearly had squashed that poor little ant.”
The mare with the three butterflies on her flank startled by Twilight´s words and suddenly recognized that they were still there and covered one of her eyes shyly with her mane.
A somehow awkward silence remained.
“Sooo…You like animals?” Twilight tried to start a conversation but the mare just pawed the ground and gave a nearly inaudible “U-hu…”
“Well, my name is Twilight and this is Bleach.” she introduced herself and her lover, changing her tactic. “What is your name?”
“Uhm…Uh…My name is Fl…er…y…” she muttered.
“I´m sorry, what was it? I didn´t catch it.” Bleach asked friendly.
“Uhm…I said my name is Fluttershy…” she repeated even more inaudible than before.
Twilight looked at her lover with an asking look but he shook only his head. “I´m sorry, but we didn´t quite get it. What was your name?”
The following answer was just some incomprehensible squeak.
After another awkward silence, the duo decided to leave the mare since she seemed too intimidated by their presence.
“Well, it was nice to meet you. Maybe we meet again some time. Soo…Goodbye!”
And so, they trotted past the shy pegasus.
“Gesh, can we get to the park now? I feel tired!” Spike then meant from Twilight´s back.
“You are sitting on my back since we left the library and you tell me YOU are TIRED?” the purple mare hit back.
He already wanted to counter that statement with a sassy comment, but in that moment, like a switch in her head had been clicked, the yellow mare became big shining eyes and with an excited gasp she turned from introverted to extroverted in a split second.
“Ou, a BABY DRAGON!”
Surprised by this outburst, Twilight turned around to the mare but was kicked aside by her in the next moment. With a complaining groan she landed on the ground whilst the yellow pegasus caught Spike mid-air. With a stifled chuckle, Bleach helped his love back to her hooves. That mare seemed to be stronger than she looked like.
“I´ve never seen a baby dragon before! Ou, he´s sooo cute!” she meant with big sparkling eyes. “And he talks! I didn't know dragons could talk. That's just so incredibly wonderful I…I just don't even know what to say!”
“Yeah…” the duo just meant, unsure what to say to the sudden change in behavior while Spike visibly enjoyed the mare´s attention.
“What is your name, little dragon.” she asked.
“I am Spike.”
“Hi Spike, I am Fluttershy and-“
In that moment, a magenta veil surrounded the young dragon and positioned him back on Twilight´s back.
“I am truly sorry, but we want to get to the park for our picnic and we won´t come too late, so we have to get going…” Twilight excused them, turned around and started trotting away, Bleach simply joining and trotting next to her.
But Fluttershy followed right behind her. “Wait! I want to know so much about him!” she stated and looked at the dragon on Twilight´s back.
“What do you want to know?” he asked.
“Absolutely everything!”
Twilight only sighed.
“Hey!” a voice meant next to her and she looked up at Bleach. “Grant him that little bit of attention!”
“It´s not because of him!” Twilight huffed whilst Spike was lost in his life story on her back. “We are losing time! I should´ve already finished half of the book and I´m still stuck at its first chapter because of your picnic-idea!”
“Would you please stop thinking about that damned book? This day is destined for normalcy! Just easing down the happenings and revelations of the last week. Even your brain needs a break from that! The alicorns are sealed inside the book and won´t escape and I hid it where nopony would find it at one go, okay?”
“But…But…”
“Promise me! No more mentions of the book for the rest of the day! Today, we are just lazy and enjoy the town, its ponies and our picnic!”
She sighed resigning. “Okay…”
“Deal?” he probed.
Rolling her eyes, she leaned over and kissed him.
“Deal!”
And so they trotted on, Spike telling his story to Fluttershy all the way to the park…
______________________________________________________________________
“Okay…dead end. They locked the door, what a surprise! Enough, I´m outta here!”
The two ponies stood in front of the closed library-tree with no hint how to get in, much to the satisfaction of one of the duo. Spinning on its hooves, it already wanted to go.
“Hey, wait! Our mission isn´t over yet!” the other meant and grabbed its companion at its shoulders, pulling it back.
“What now?” it asked impatient.
“Now? Now it´s time for my super-duper-infiltrate-like-James-Colt-skills!
“Your what-now?” the other pony furrowed confused and cocked one of its eyebrows.
“Just stay there and wait!”
Rolling its eyes, it did so, leaning against the closed door and watching its companion surrounding the tree, searching for a gap or something to get in. One time…two times…it yawned…
…and in that moment, the door opened and with a surprised yelp, it fell inside, landing on its tummy and looking up with a groan to its wide smiling fellow. “See?”
“But…How did you…Where…What…Ugh, never mind…”
______________________________________________________________________
“Phew, I can´t believe we finally got rid of her!” Twilight meant after Fluttershy had left them to get back to her cottage and feed the animals she told she took care of.
Spike and also Bleach frowned at her while they lay down on the big red-white picnic rug.
“Twilight, since when are you so rude?” her lover asked slightly shocked about her rough words.
Her answer was a sigh. “I´m sorry. It´s just…She reminded me a bit of…you know…”
Bleach nodded understanding. He had felt it for himself, her kindness and innocent acting. But that Fluttershy was way too, well, shy. Silverleaf on the contrary had been a ball of energy, always vigorous and filled with life. The resemblance of the two was faint.
Faint enough for Twilight, though.
“So what do you think about this place so far?” he kindly changed the topic and looked around.
They were in the middle of a park near the town´s edge. Flower-bedecked meadows sprawled between the hoofways and a gazebo invited young couples to spend some romantic hours alone in the dusk. The stallion took an inner note to do that with his love if time permits.
All around them, he could watch other ponies having a walk or picnicking or just resting on a bench. It was just like the Canterlot City Park, but way calmer with its blue brooklet and small bridges that led over it.
It was the perfect place for them to relax, get back their strengths and to ease down things.
“It´s nice, but it isn´t our park.” Twilight stated while Spike unpacked the treats they had prepared for their picnic, including some lazurites for the small dragon.
“It isn´t as big, that´s right.”
“That´s not what I meant. It´s…quieter.”
“And that is so bad?” Spike intervened questioning. “Regarding that your favorite occupation is reading books, this should be perfect for you!”
She sighs. “It´s also lacking an affinity to me. It´s just…it´s not the same park where we always had so much fun, where we had forged our plans and pranks…or where I had kissed your cheek the first time.” She looked deep into her lover´s eyes. “And the same holds true for this whole city.”
Bleach smiled soft in response. “Finally we get the gist of why you didn´t want to explore the town. It has no meaning for you, because we are only here for a temporary period. It´s just a job you want to get over with. And you don´t want anything to remind you at that, because everything is connected to one unpleasant memory - her demise. It´s the only affinity you have to this town: You were sent here because somepony killed our friend.”
She looked to the ground and bit her lower lip. He was right.
All this only happened because of Silverleaf´s murder. Every thought about the town and its citizen soon or later led her back to her deceased friend. She was caught in a circle, a circle of nostalgia and grief.
“How? How do you manage it?” she gulped back her sob.
“What?”
“HER DEATH!” she snapped and Spike recoiled at its suddenness. Some ponies turned around to them with surprised and curious looks. “How can you talk about it so easily? How can you say her name with no effort and without struggling to hold back your tears? I have to struggle to not lose myself in my nostalgic memories every five minutes and you just live your life as if nothing had happened! Did she mean so little to you that you can do so?”
That hurt.
It pierced his heart, made it bleed.
And Twilight regretted her words as soon as the first tears appeared in her love´s eyes and he covered them with his mane.
“Oh my…Bleach, I…I´m sorry, I…I-“
He stomped with his fore hoof and cut her short.
“How DARE you!” he sobbed more then he shouted it. “All the time, I try to encourage you, to lift your spirits, to not let you lose yourself in a lake of depression! To protect you from a mistake I made years ago! And THAT is your way to give thanks to me? THAT´S your way to show me your love? Aspersions and prejudicing?”
“I…I…”
“Do you really think her death means nothing to me? The death of one of my best friends? Do really think I wouldn´t miss her too? It is as painful for me to think about her as for you, but…I learned to cope with it! Years ago, you remember? You are oh-so well-read and still you are so myopic…” he fixated his angry eyes on her. “I am deeply disappointed with you!”
Twilight couldn´t hold his gaze. It was the first time in her life she saw her friend like this.
The first time his dark blue eyes denied her access to his soul.
“I…I am sorry, Bleach…” she whispered. “I am just so stressed lastly… I didn´t realize what I was saying. It…it just burst out of me! I think you were right. This all is just too much for me…I am truly, deeply sorry…”
He only huffed, but his anger was already ebbing away. “You know, I once before lost a pony that was very close to me…”
“Yeah, I remember…”
“Back then, I had been a wreck, you sure remember too. It was very hard for me to cope with her death…after I first couldn´t cope with it at all. It took me one year, one attempted suicide and the help of all my friends to realize something: If you´re caught in a circle of old painful memories, you have to break free and look forward! You have to accept that you can´t change your past! But you can change your future. You can fill it with happy memories, memories you can look at without starting to cry. And soon, you realize that these new memories work like a catalyst. You may think back at the horrible things of your past sometimes, but your mind will always lead you to the happy events that followed after. You just have to find this catalyst.”
His voice got calmer with time. He took deep breaths to work himself off. Twilight was in a difficult situation, coping with her very first death of a loved pony. He shouldn´t have gone wild like this, though it was quite reasonable.
“And…what are these ‘catalysts’ of yours?” Twilight then asked hesitant after a short silence.
Now, her lover chuckled and wiped away the remains of his tears and sent his mane back in its usual place with a flick of his head.
“Well, they are both very similar. They both involve one and the same pony and one and the same activity.” he hinted.
“Now I am really curious!” Twilight meant whilst Spike, who had watched the duo´s sudden explosive outbursts silently from behind their picnic basket, took a deep breath of relief that the storm was gone.
“Well…the first contains an unwrapped Hearts Warming Eve gift, a certain young purple filly hugging me tight and a sprig of mistletoe…”
Named purple ‘filly’ smiled and a hint of red spread across her cheeks. Yes, she remembered that special indeed Hearts Warming Eve.
“…and the second, the one for Silverleaf, contains a guest room at the palace, the same purple ‘filly’ and her amazing beauty.” He grinned. “And what the named activity was, you surely can guess…”
Her answer was very simple. She instantly leaned forward, closed her eyes and pressed her lips on his with a wide smile.
“Phew…Does that mean we can finally start to eat now?” their small purple watcher asked impatiently and nonchalant during the couple´s kissing.
Twilight and Bleach parted their lips, ending up in a tender hug and looking deeply into their eyes. There it finally was again, the spark in his eyes, the reflection of his soul!
“If you want, you can start to eat, Spike…” Twilight then meant. “…and if you don´t mind, Bleachie…”
“I´ll never get rid of this name, huh?”
“…Nope! And if you don´t mind, I would like to fill my brain with some happy memories at this day!”
“That´s the right way!” he meant smiling. “And what do you have in mind?”
“Well, I was thinking about a small game…” she hinted.
“And which game? Chess?” he guessed frivolous.
“Not quite…” she replied with a smirk and pecked his lips. “Tag! You´re it!”
And so, they chased each other laughing across the meadow, mostly not so hard trying to not get tagged.
Gesh, this love-thing and its mood changes are really starting to creep me out… were the final thoughts of a certain small dragon…
______________________________________________________________________
“Look! That cloud looks like a star!”
“That one looks like a big bowl filled with thousands of the finest diamonds!”
“And this one looks like a book!”
“Uhm, sweetheart, that´s a rectangle…”
“No, it´s a book! ‘The Academic Study of Amniomorphic Spells’, to be excact!”
“Yeah, sure! Only thinking about this stupid tome gives me headaches…primary because you once connected it so smoothly with my head!”
“Hihi, I remember. We played chess and I told Silv that it´s a game of intelligence and you, bold as you are, said that that may was lacking me because I couldn´t win against you one single time. And the book was my revenge!”
“And today, I´m losing every match. That book caused a permanent damage and I didn´t arraign it. I am a true friend!”
“Yeah, permanent damage, sure! I believe every single word!”
Snickering, the trio lay on the rug and continued telling tales from their past adventures together, from how they met first, how they had played in the park together every day possible to their fights against Shadow Star, their former class mate, obsessed with the idea of winning Twilight´s heart by trying to sweep Bleach out of his way.
Spike just listened keen-eared to the tales written while he was raised in Celestia´s custody, of course often visited by a much smaller Twilight during her personal lessons. With time, she became like a big sister to him and when she finally got her own chamber at the school, he additionally became her official personal assistant.
“You know…” Twilight then started whilst rising back to her hooves and starting to pack up their picnic-things, shortly followed by her love and the purple dragon. “…in the end, I think he was truly in love with me.”
“What makes you believe that? I mean, where do you know that he wasn´t just after your lips and nothing else.” the white stallion asked curious.
“I could feel it…when he confessed it to me.”
Bleach cooked his left eyebrow. “He confessed his love to you?”
Twilight nodded, levitated their picnic basket onto her lover´s and Spike onto her back and slowly began to trot out of the park, heading home for the library. “I never told a pony about it. It happened at our first Hearts and Hooves Day at the school, a few days after you received your cutie mark and became an Auraknight-trainee. You and Silverleaf had left the town with your parents to visit your grandparents whilst I was left alone. I was out at the park to spend the time, but without my friends it wasn´t very funny.
Then Shadow appeared.
He cheered me up and we spent the afternoon together, going for an ice cream and took a small walk through the streets and the park, chatting. I really enjoyed that afternoon and had very much fun.
We ended up at a beautiful clearing near by the cliffs watching the sunset.
And then, all of a sudden, he looked deep into my eyes, told me that he loved me and asked if I wanted to be his special somepony.
First I was shocked, less because of the confession itself than its suddenness. I mean, I never had something to do with him before. He was just a class mate. And then, he suddenly told me he would love me! Of course, we had spent a beautiful day together, but…”
“…you rebuffed him?”
She sighed sadly. “I broke his heart.
He treated me like a queen that day and what did I do? I told him I´d feel flattered, but I would already love another pony: you. And after I couldn´t tell him, why exactly I loved you, I could see the profound disappointment in his eyes. I couldn´t see it, but I know he was crying when he left after that.
I felt really bad the next week every time I saw him at school.
I rejected him and crushed his heart just because I didn´t know him! But everything seemed just so complicated! On the one hoof, there had been the feelings I had for you since our first day together, feelings I didn´t even know if they were mutual! Hay, I even wasn´t sure if what I was feeling was really love! And on the other hoof, there had been Shadow with his tender care for me! I…I just followed my heart and that chose you…”
It wasn´t the whole truth, but it contained the majority of important details. Bleach didn´t have to know everything, least of all about the fact that Shadow simply had pulled her into a kiss she never had wanted. There was no use in making Bleach jealous about a dead pony...
“And that was the right thing, Twily! And I don´t say it because it chose me, but I believe in such situations, you always have to hear at your heart. It shows you the right way, even if it means to disappoint somepony. And after all, you had just been a little filly back then! You had been confused and everything was new for you. You had to make a decision. And that decision may was a wrong one, but you learned from it! Nopony can blame you for that! If I had been in your place I wouldn´t have known what to do, too.”
But Twilight barely heard his words.
Her head sunk and her ears flipped down, a dejected look on her face. “I think he never forgave me...I feel so guilty for what happened to him…what he became…He may never would´ve become evil when I just had been more intelligent…if I would have given him a chance…”
They walked in silence for a few moments, Bleach not exactly knowing what to say. He never knew that the young mare he loved was filled with so much remorse. She truly believed that everything that happened to Shadow was her fault…
“But remember what happened the day I got my cutie mark! That dark mare that possessed your brother! That was before Hearts and Hooves Day, which means he already was possessed by these dark creatures, so maybe everything was just simulated!”
“No, Bleach.” Twilight argued firm. “Even if he truly was already possessed by these dark creatures that day, what I saw in the end, was his true unadulterated nature! I saw it in his eyes, the sadness and the disappointment…maybe if had agreed in being his special somepony, the darkness inside him would´ve vanished…”
“We will never know…” her lover concluded finally with a comforting nuzzle.
And while they were walking silently along the streets of Ponyville after that, they suddenly heard a loud, earsplitting shriek…
______________________________________________________________________
“What the hay was THAT!” the trio asked itself, perking up their ears and looking around.
There it was again, a scream as if somepony had been set afire and suffering torments of hell!
“Over there!” Bleach shouted and pointed at a round impressive building that stood out of the other houses of Ponyville with its, well, unique style, the blue-white walls the orange curtains and purple-pink-checkered roofs.
At a rapid gallop they approached the building and burst open the door, searching for the source of the agonized screams. The first thing they saw were the countless clothes hangers with lots of colorful dresses from flouncy and diamonded to gracious and elegant to plain and simple but still dainty.
And in the middle of all, there was the screams´ source - a white-coated unicorn mare with a graceful curling purple mane and tail.
“WHY ME-HE-HE! WHY, WHY!” she sobbed. “Of all the worst things that could happen this is THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!” Her horn aglow, she levitated over a red sofa and lay down on it, crying overdramatically.
“Uhm…What happened to you?” Twilight asked a little bit awkwardly. They had expected a pony suffering the worst pain in the world. She even expected for a moment to find the murder here!
“Oh, its sooo awful horrible! I was just working at a new creation for a highly respected customer from Canterlot High Society and not meant any harm, when I suddenly noticed I totally forgot to order the fabric for the hat! Now I may will be tardy and have to allow her discount and…and…” She suddenly stopped crying and noticed her three customers, looking them over with curious eyes. “Who are you?”
They just exchanged a confused glance because of the mare´s strange behavior. In that moment, they realized that there had never been a real thread, only an enormous drama queen of a pony.
“Uhm…well, these are Bleach, Spike-”
“Hello…” the purple dragon greeted her with a suddenly very dreamy voice to which Twilight only cooked an eyebrow.
“-and I am Twilight. We moved here from Canterlot last night and thought you were going to d-"
“CANTERLOT?” the white mare with the three diamonds at her flank suddenly gasped excited. “Ou, I am envious! The glamour, the sophistication! I have always dreamed of living there! I am Rarity and let me guess…” she inspected the two dumbfounded ponies in front of her over with a short professional look and then pointed at Twilight “…you are searching for a new outfit and you…” her hoof wandered to Bleach “…want to give that old shabby surcoat a makeover!”
“Uh…”
“Ou, of course! And a clip! Really, darling, I know that long black mane become you, but a handsome gentlecolt like you shouldn´t wear his mane longer than to his shoulders! But don´t worry, Rarity will fix this!”
“WHAT?” the Auraknight gasped and took two steps back, hiding his mane behind his back as effectively as possible. There was no way he would let that crazy mare cut his hairs! They are a memorial to his mother!
“Uhm, hello? Excuse me please, but-“ Twilight spoke up annoyed but was interrupted by Rarity in the next moment.
“Oh, I know what you´re thinking but please don´t mind my diction, darling! There´s no need for jealousy! You have to be no professional to see that you two are a couple, a very lovely one indeed!” she meant with a charming smile. “So…shall we begin? You can inspect my dresses while I will make your handsome sweetheart even more handsome. And after that, I´ll revamp that surcoat. And don´t worry, because you are new customers I´ll allow you a bounteous discount!”
“Well…” Twilight then thought “…that doesn´t sound so bad.”
“Wait, WHAT!?” Bleach shouted, shocked about his love´s decision. “I will NEVER divest myself of my hairs! Nononononono, they are a commemoration to my mother!”
But Twilight only narrowed her eyes. “Didn´t you say you have to move on from your past? It´s time for you to adhere to your own words!”
“No! Have your way with me, dye my coat bilious green, gouge my eyes out, neuter me but don´t do my mane a mischief!” he panicked.
“Bleach, you are ridiculous! You act like a young foal!”
“Then I am a young foal! If it keeps my mane safe…”
“UGH…” she shook her head and sat down in front of him, locking his eyes with hers. Spike and Rarity in the meantime only watched the somehow awkward scene in front of them with strange curiosity.
“…listen to me. And listen carefully:
If you´re caught in a circle of old painful memories, you have to break free from them and look forward! You have to accept that you can´t change your past! But you can change your future!
Do you remember these words? You told them to me only a few hours ago.”
“And what do they have to do with the fact that you want to destroy my memorial to my mother?” he asked stubborn.
“Very much, don´t you see it? You may did break out of your depression and you may found a catalyst to make the memories at your mother less painful. But you still didn´t break free from your memories! You still can´t accept that you can´t change your past!”
“Hey, that´s a cruel lie! I accepted my past and I broke free from my old memories! My mane has nothing to do with that!” he meant annoyed…and face-hoofed himself mentally when he saw Twilight´s sly smirk. “Uh-oh…”
“Gotcha!”
“But…But…Grr, okay! You won…” he groaned and got back to his hooves, trotting reluctant towards Rarity.
“Okay, I´ll do it…” he then announced.
“Then please follow me.” the fashionista commanded politely. “And don´t you worry, Miss Twilight. You´ll get him back in a minute!”
And with that, she led the stallion through the room to a backdoor and left the purple mare and dragon alone.
“Isn´t she simply wonderful?” Spike next to Twilight then meant with the same dreamy tone as before and she snickered.
“Spike, is it may possible that you´ve fallen in love?”
“What?” he asked visibly shocked. Did he really fell for a thing he thought he would be immune to? “Never! I mean, no! Or yes, maybe…Ugh, I don´t know…”
______________________________________________________________________
“Now, please sit down over there…”
Rarity had guided the nervous Auraknight into some kind of dressing room. There were a few dresses on mannequins, a screen, a hair-dryer, a door which surely led to a small bathroom with a shower and a dresser with a mirror. The latter was exactly where she wanted him to sit down in front of.
He did so and looked himself over in the mirror, inspected his long hairs which actually reached down to the lower end of the midsection of his tummy, just as his mother had worn them. Then he focused his shoulders, the point where they are going to be shortened to.
Nervously he watched the mare levitating several things like scissors, a comb, a brush and a spray bottle out of the dresser.
“Okay…And now just trust me and relax…” she soothed him while she sprinkled his mane with water from the bottle to keep his mane straight and to improve its combability. It felt a little bit cold, but not unpleasant. He still felt a little bit unsure about the whole thing when she brushed his mane straight, took the comb and the scissors and started cutting his mane. He winced mentally when he noticed the first few parts of his mane soaring down on the ground beneath, though she was only trimming at the moment.
“So…” Rarity then tried to start a little small talk “…what is it with you and your mane? You seem to cling tight on to it.”
“Yes…” he sighed. “…I do. It always was some kind of memorial to my mother. She…She deceased about ten years ago because of a double pneumonia and always wore her mane like I am wearing it today.”
“You must´ve loved her very much.” the fashionista stated while she systematically trimmed his mane, making it shorter with every scissors´ cut.
“I did. When she died, my whole world did. I even attempted to kill myself, but luckily my friends had rescued me in time and helped me to get out of my depression.”
“And your sweetheart? Was she one of your friends back then?”
“Yes. She was the pony that pulled me out of my depression. Without her help and the help of another good friend, I surely would have tried to kill myself until I would have succeeded. Twilight and I met at our first day at school. And we both loved each other from the very beginning.”
“Oh, love at first sight! That´s so romantic!” Rarity meant with another cut, the sound of the scissors and the small talk soothing the stallion´s mind and distracting him from the fact that his mane was now only long enough to reach down to the midsection of his chest.
“Yeah…”Bleach chuckled “…though we needed a very long time to become a real couple.”
“How long?”
“Last Saturday. Nearly twelve years after we first met.”
“Oh my, that must be real love if you both could keep up your feelings for such a long time! Others would have given up. I don´t know if I would have been that patient; surely not. But how goes the idiom? Good things come to those who wait.”
Bleach just gave a nod between two cuts and then, the only sounds in the room were the scissors and the breaths of the two ponies for a short while.
“I am wondering all the time…” Rarity then began but seemed unsure to continue while she was occupied with the final cuts on the outline of Bleach´s now shoulder-length mane.
“What?” he asked her to continue.
“Well, I´m wondering what brings an Auraknight on duty and his love to a town like Ponyville.”
He arched both of his brows to that. “You know what I am?” he asked more curious than shocked.
“Of course! These surcoats like yours are only worn by the highest elite of the Royal Guards - the personal life guards of Celestia. As a fashion designer, I get about a lot, especially with the Canterlot High Society. And the Auraknights there always have the reputation of being the most elegant, handsome and chivalrous stallions, or mares as the case may be, of all ponies. Though, most of these ponies never get to know one like I am right now.”
“That´s may because the snootiness of these snobs and our tolerance, chivalry and down-to-earthness don´t fit each other very much…” he meant.
“You´re might right there. Anyway, it´s a great honor to have one of you as my guest, though you may don´t really fall in the public definition…”
“I´m just staying true to myself.” he stated while she was finishing the last cut.
“Okay, done! What do you think about it?” Rarity wanted to know, levitating another mirror behind him to show him the fine, lightly curved and perfectly cut outline of his mane between his shoulders.
“It…looks better than I thought…” he had to admit with a slight smile. “I…like it.”
“I am very glad to hear that!” Rarity beamed and brushed one last time through his mane, searching for the last hairs that may had escaped the scissors. “Though, we aren´t finished yet.
“Not?” Bleach cooked his brow.
“No. I simply can´t let you go like that! Your mane now may has the right length, but now your tail doesn´t fit. I also have to shorten it a few inches...” she meant, silently asking her customer for allowance.
The stallion in front of the mirror took a deep breath and then announced with a beam:
“Do as you think best!”
______________________________________________________________________
It took one and half an hour until the door finally opened again and the sun was setting outside.
And out of the door trotted a wide smiling Bleach, his neatly brushed mane now flowing freely straight till the upper parts of his shoulders and his tail also shortened a few inches to match it to his mane, now only reaching to the middle of his hooves instead of reaching down to nearly touch the floor.
His surcoat was like new! The golden sign of Celestia at the height of his heart shone brighter than ever and added to the golden sign in the middle of the sun´s center was now a sign of his cutie mark, the cross-daggers and the rose. The edges of the surcoat were now also embroidered with the golden yarn.
After so many years, I finally got back the Bleach he once was! Twilight thought happily, greeting him back with a tender hug and a kiss.
“You look pretty! Like the Bleach I got to know twelve years ago.” she beamed and then turned to Rarity which followed the scene with a satisfied look. “Thank you very much!”
“No need to thank me, darling. Did you find something you like?”
“I found quite a few things, but…I think I´ll remit it to later, if you don´t mind.”
“Of course! You´re always welcome.”
“Thank you. What do we owe you?”
“Nothing.” was the smiled answer…