Somehow, Faltic managed to fall asleep last night. Despite Restel's audible snoring, and despite growing worry, his body managed to catch some rest.
When he woke up, Klaven was already gone, as expected. Klaven did mention he worked today, so Faltic knew where he was. It was a good thing, as Klaven wouldn't be here in the room for a portion of the day. Especially during the part where Cyril would be invited over.
That only left Restel. As far as Faltic knew, Restel didn't have anything going on with his love subject, so he would just be killing time somehow. So long as he wasn't here, Faltic was satisfied. However, that brought up the other end of the bargain made last night. Klaven and Restel both had a point. Maybe not the strongest in Faltic's eyes, but a point nonetheless. This was the most time Faltic had ever got to spend with Cyril, and he'd done nothing but his best to show that his character had changed.
Did he want to show himself? No. Would he rather jump out the window? Yes.
Though, if this did continue, which it was, dropping the disguise was inevitable. With pressure amounting against Faltic to finally do it, maybe it was about time?
Faltic lied on his back in bed, staring blankly at the pages of his book. His eyes moved with the words, but his mind retained nothing, as these thoughts plagued his mind.
Restel was still in the room, and in the opposite demeanor of Faltic, was up and making his moves for the day.
"So when're you heading out today?" Restel asked, presumably to get a time estimate on when he would have to go.
Faltic closed the book, setting it aside and taking a mental note to restart a few pages prior. "Uhh. What time is it?"
Restel took a few steps over to the window and looked up towards the sky. "About noon-ish."
Faltic sat up, stretching his forelegs. "I guess now to account for the walk there."
Beyond the stretching, Faltic hardly moved. It wasn't until another moment of pensive thought that Restel's voice broke him out of it. "You good?"
Faltic shook his head, seeing Restel standing, looking right at him. "Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm good."
Restel clearly didn't buy it. "You look pretty nervous, dude." Restel was staring straight past Faltic's calm exterior, and Faltic knew he could see his worry. Faltic inhaled a deep breath, releasing it for a moment after. "Is it that obvious?" Faltic tried to smile afterwards.
"Uh, yeah. Look, it'll be fine," Restel began. Faltic hopped off the bed onto all fours, stretching once again.
"I highly doubt it'll be fine. I fully believe Cyril still hates my guts and will storm out of the place once she sees it's me." Faltic's head started to hang low as his self doubt increased.
Immediately, Faltic's head was lifted when Restel put both his forehooves on Faltic's shoulders. "Listen. Time has passed since then, you've grown, you've changed, Cyril will see that. You've gone through this much already, and this is where you make it happen." Restel had started to shake Faltic's shoulders towards the end of his motivational speech.
Faltic was smiling genuinely this time, shrugging Restel's grasp off of him. "Alright! I get it. I can hear you trying not to sound too emotional on me."
Restel came to rest on all fours again. "I'm trying not to be. You're rubbing off on me too much." Restel shook his body as if he were cold. "Euughh."
"If it helps, your pep talk helped. At least a little," Faltic reassured.
Restel held a hoof up, giving Faltic a quick hoofbump before backing up towards the door. "Don't worry about Klaven and I. We'll be out of the way. You do your thing." After which, Restel was swiftly enveloped in a swirl of green flames, and reemerged as his usual green earth pony self.
Faltic only watched as Restel took his leave. Before Restel fully vanished behind the door, he called out. "You got this dude!"
The door shut. The clicking sound that followed sounded like finality. No more did Faltic have the help of Restel or Klaven, he was on his own.
After a minute or two of mental and physical hyping, Faltic donned his light blue earth pony Enthrall disguise. It would possibly be the last time Cyril ever knew it was just Enthrall.
With much hesitancy, and wishing he could just curl into a ball under a blanket instead, Faltic forced himself out the door into the hallway. Immediately, he noticed a couple of stray boxes at the foot of the door to the adjacent room. Faltic only looked at it briefly before heading for the stairs.
Must've been taken.
It was a silent walk down several flights of stairs. Upon reaching the lobby, Faltic spotted a disguised Klaven behind the counter. A quick exchange of a wave later, and Faltic begrudgingly made his way across the carpeted floor for the door.
Faltic stepped outside into a cloudless, sunny Manehattan day. It was almost the warmest he'd felt the air in a while, but it was still chilly. As usual, dozens of other ponies flowed up and down the streets and sidewalks, and the familiar skyscrapers greeted his vision.
He paused for a moment. Where would Restel be going to kill time?
"Enthrall!"
An extremely familiar voice pierced through Manehattan's chill air and reached Faltic's ears. His head snapped towards the direction of the sound, and sure enough, Whimsy was bounding towards him. Before he could react, Faltic was wrapped up in a hug by Whimsy. In a way, it put him at ease for the moment, the warmth feeling comfortable on his chest.
Something was different about Whimsy this time. She still wore her usual black coat and toboggan, which, Faltic mentally steeled himself knowing why she wore it. However, she was wearing saddlebags on both sides of her body.
As soon as she let go, Faltic was quick to question it. "Whimsy! What're you doing here? I was coming to see you."
Whimsy adjusted the strands of her light green mane that got in her face as she responded. "Hah, well, about that. I came to you today because I was just so excited for today." Whimsy's smile wore off on Faltic in almost the same way Restel's did. Her enthusiasm didn't go unnoticed to Faltic. It was almost worrisome.
Still, Faltic played it cool. "Oh yeah? What, we going hiking on a trail or something?"
Whimsy shook her head with a smile. "Noo. I did my hiking already today by coming here with all this stuff on my back."
It may have sounded uneasy, but Faltic gave a faint laugh. "Alright, so, what's it for? Spill the beans."
Whimsy chuckled almost maniacally. "Real quick, follow me-!"
Faltic had to whip his neck around to watch as Whimsy, for some reason, raced into the Pegasus Cloud Hotel. Faltic slowly, cautiously, re-entered the lobby, looking around for Whimsy.
It was empty in there. She wasn't in the corners where the chairs are. Looking behind the counter, Faltic saw a disguised Klaven peeking his head around the backroom, looking at something. Following his gaze, Faltic found Whimsy at the top of the stairs, waiting for him while trotting in place.
"Come onnn-" Whimsy urged Faltic to hurry up. Looking back at the garnet unicorn behind the counter, Klaven only flashed a fanged smile Faltic's way before disappearing into the backroom, leaving him alone.
Still confused, but with a little more haste, Faltic made his way to the stairs. Before he could reach the top of the first flight, Whimsy was already speeding up to the next one.
"Slow doowwn-" Faltic sarcastically said, followed by exaggerated panting.
"You move faster!" Whimsy responded, still going up steps quicker than Faltic could.
"Ememe you move faster ehmeheme" Faltic teased Whimsy while mimicking her voice. Though, he did speed up a little, managing to catch up slightly to Whimsy.
"Aha, floor eight." Whimsy pointed out, finally ceasing her immediate climb up the next set of stairs, now opting to dart down the paisley carpeted hall.
It didn't click in Faltic's mind until now, but they were on the eighth floor. His floor.
Whimsy had stopped just ahead. Right beside the boxes that Faltic had noticed on his way out earlier.
Faltic froze.
"Look! I'm moving in just next door!" Whimsy gestured to the boxes that sat beside the door, smiling towards Faltic and panting slightly from the hasty journey up the stairs.
"I- uh." Faltic fumbled over his words as much as his mind fumbled to make sense of it. He'd asked Klaven about this ages ago, or so it felt. He didn't expect it to actually come to fruition. Yes, the idea was for her to come up here, and now he was as thankful as ever to have convinced the other two to stay away, but this was a complete curveball.
"Your mouth is open," Whimsy said as she took a hoof to Faltic's chin, closing his mouth for him. He didn't even notice her approach.
Faltic shook his head, recollecting himself. "Sorry. I was just... surprised! This is a big deal."
"I know, I was surprised too when that hotel worker Klasp approached me with this, and a little overwhelmed. I can't believe you're doing this for me. So much better than that beat-up, shady looking motel from before. Klasp told me the move-in day was a surprise to you and... surprise!" Whimsy was rambling. However much Faltic retained was questionable.
Klasp... Klaven? Klaven did follow through with this. And... all what Whimsy... Cyril is saying right now, so badly Faltic wanted it to be genuine, but so badly did he know that her living right next to Restel is dooming himself.
Again, Faltic shook his head to keep his mind in the right space. "Huh. I knew I asked Klav-" Faltic turned his head to the side and coughed. "-Klasp to help me out. He never did tell me it was today."
Whimsy left Faltic's side and went back to the boxes at her door. "Well, here I am. I figure this could be our date today. Just kinda, hang out, you help me unpack, and then who knows." Whimsy shrugged, looking away from Faltic before catching his eyes again, appearing suggestive before him. Faltic swallowed his spit with nerves.
*****
The easy part was assisting Whimsy get all of her boxes into the room. While it didn't look like much on the outside, it was incredible how many items a girl could squeeze into a confined space.
Hair clips there, hair brush here, hair ties over there.
So many hair related things.
More than one black hoodie and toboggan. At least she stayed clean with that outfit she was always seen in.
Faltic found himself sweating from unloading a puny amount of boxes. Somehow. Most likely from Cyril siphoning his love.
This room was different from his, in the fact that there was only one bed. One very large bed, spacious enough for two with some extra leg room. The view was hardly a change from his next door as well, seeing over the exact same strip of road and being faced with the same buildings across the street.
Whimsy set her saddlebags on the floor at random, not worrying where they were for the moment, and was now sitting on the bed, idly fiddling with her hair as she scanned the room. The brief period of worrying where hair care items went staved off any wayward thoughts in Faltic's mind. Though with it being over, the first thought to whisper in his mind was dropping the Enthrall disguise.
Not yet... soon.
Faltic took an exaggerated belly flop onto the bed beside Whimsy, face planting into the covers and laying flat.
Faltic's ears picked up Whimsy's voice. "Too much work for you?"
Faltic only nodded in response, practically just rubbing his face on the blankets. He tensed up slightly when he felt a hoof touch his mane, his disguise of a mane. He could feel Whimsy playing with his hair. Faltic exhaled deeply and relaxed again, keeping his face pressed to the mattress to allow Whimsy to stroke his mane.
She can have more of my love to feed on. This is worth it.
After a moment, Whimsy spoke again. "You know, there is something missing here, it feels like."
Turning his head, Faltic's cheek was now pressed to the bed as he looked up at Whimsy. "What's that?"
Whimsy had a hoof to her chin. "Hmm. Some decorations. There's about... none in here. At least something on the nightstand or on the window. What do you think?"
Faltic looked away, pondering the question. "I mean, maybe a little something. I agree."
A thought struck Faltic, and as soon as it did, he picked up his head from the bed. "Oh, I've got an idea!"
"Whatcha got?" Whimsy asked as Faltic climbed off from the bed.
"Wait here," Faltic said as he made his way towards the door. Whimsy giggled in response. "Not going anywhere."
Faltic scurried out the room, and quickly made his way back into his own. It was empty. Obviously, Klaven was still down in the lobby, but Restel was a loose cannon that, for some reason, made him worry.
It didn't take long for the idea in mind to be found: the flower Faltic had taken from the campground those few weeks ago. Thankfully, the green flower had stood strong all this time, despite some negligence at times. Swiftly, Faltic made his way back to Whimsy's room, carrying the small pot that bore one green flower.
Whimsy was still exactly where Faltic had left her not a moment ago. Faltic held up the flower pot slightly, closing the door behind him. "I've got this. Picked it a while ago from a campground not too far from here." Faltic was lying. Technically, Restel picked it, then gave it to him. Even past Restel finds ways to help present Faltic.
Whimsy sprang from the bed, approaching Faltic with her eyes on the flower the whole time. "Ooh, that's pretty. It's perfect."
Faltic swore he could see a glimmer in Whimsy's eyes as she took the pot from his hoof. Though, he had to remind himself again that this was Cyril, not Whimsy. He watched as she made her way to the window, drawing the half-open curtains fully apart, allowing full sunshine in. After which, she set the new decoration on the middle of the window sill. "Course, I'll get it some water. I imagine it's been well taken care of by its previous owner."
Faltic made his way over to Whimsy's side as he admired the flowers' new spot. It suited the room well, he thought. Though, he had stopped looking at the flower after only a second, opting to keep his eyes fixed on Whimsy. As soon as she turned around, Faltic was immediately wrapped in a hug from Whimsy.
That familiar feeling of his chest being warm returned. This time however, his breathing felt heavy, and so did Whimsy's. Being pressed up to her like this, Faltic could always feel the rhythm of her breathing. The same as his, Faltic felt the abnormal tempo of her chest as well.
She's breathing heavily also.
They still held each other as Whimsy pulled her head back from Faltic's shoulder.
Faltic's mind could not be anymore scrambled. The urge to want to say or do something was overwhelming, as potential actions and words formed in his mind, but were tossed aside upon the image his eyes were taking in.
This is Cyril.
And I'm Faltic. I know she still hates m-
A sudden force pulled Faltic's head forward, and before he knew anything, his lips were locked to Whimsy's.
For the moment, no thoughts passed through Faltic's mind, nor did any sound reach his ears. Nothing other than Whimsy's breathing.
As she was the one to initiate, Whimsy was the first to pull away. Faltic resisted the urge to lurch forward and keep it going.
Whimsy was giggling again, and shimmying free of their grasp. "You tensed up a lot. Hopefully that helped."
It was true, Faltic still stood, unmoving like a rock. Finally, his head turned, his lips forming a half smile. "Ah, yeah, I guess I did."
I kissed Cyril.
...No, you didn't. That was Whimsy. Plus, it's her trying to feed off more love from you. Changeling, remember?
You're wrong! It was genuine, and you know it.
"Hey, Enthrall!" Whimsy's voice sounded, breaking up the internal conflict and causing Faltic to look over. Whimsy was on the ground at the foot of the bed. Faltic shook his head, hoping his mind would start thinking straight again. "Yeah?"
"I asked Klasp to put this here before we got here. Fancy a board game?" Whimsy pulled out a large rectangular box from underneath the bed. 'Ponopoly' was written in big white and red text.
"Oh gosh, ponopoly? That game takes all day," Faltic sarcastically exclaimed.
Whimsy rolled her eyes, smiling at Faltic. "I mean, if you don't want to spend all day together-" She lingered on the last word, teasing Faltic.
Faltic shook his head, breaking free of his shock and darting over to Whimsy. "No no didn't say that!"
Whimsy giggled as she got settled on the bed with the box. "That's what I thought."