(Yes, a new chapter. And The Truth... Well, read on to find out about that.)
“And then Tumble just tossed the stallion off the train, grinning like an idiot. I never really spent all that much time in town, but the few times I did linger it was worth it, if only for the stories.” You and Rarity had long since finished your meals, and the alabaster unicorn had displayed a good deal of interest in your life back in the small village you used to call home. Despite your admirable attempts at deflecting her questions you had finally acquiesced, and told her about some of the things that had happened in your life.
Still, you couldn’t help the guilt that ran so freely within you. You were lying to her about so much you had trouble telling what was real and what wasn’t. It just wasn’t fair that you couldn’t share your true self with the one mare who you knew would be able to see past your exterior. Cadence had seen it, and you’d been the one to assault her and put her in the caverns beneath Canterlot. Surely the ponies of Ponyville could understand.
“So, Quill, how about we go and take a look at your new home? You did mention that you had your own place, didn’t you?” The words of the mare break your train of thought, but you are silently thankful for it. It was moments like the one you just experienced that had the greatest risk of letting your secret slip. A single thought turned vocalized could ruin it all.
“Sure. I’m not the best around when it comes to furnishing a home, so I’d gladly welcome your expert advice.” The mare blushed just a tiny bit at your compliment, and you felt the flow of emotion increase just a bit. To most that change wouldn’t be visible, save to experienced eyes, but for you it spoke volumes about what the mare thought of you. Were it not for the public location, and your own inhibitions, you might’ve spilled your greatest secret right then.
Instead, you simply got up from the table, the bill having been paid quite some time ago. The alabaster unicorn followed behind you, following you towards your new home. You only had a vague idea of where it was, and so you were understandably hesitant in following the mental directions you had constructed. Luckily, you found it without much of an issue, having only claimed that three occupied houses were yours before finding your own.
The door was unlocked, a situation which you knew you would have to remedy, and so the two of you entered. Much to your surprise there was already a good amount of furniture in the room, ranging from a worn down couch all the way to a full dining set in the dining room. Sadly that seemed to be an exception, since the entire upstairs was devoid of anything, save for a bathroom that would serve just as well as a public pool, given how large the tub was.
Rarity, while you explored, was already going on about the colors that would work in each room, and what patterns would and wouldn’t work for bedspreads. You were just glad to have your own home, and the colors couldn’t matter less to you. Although you didn’t say as much to the mare, knowing that this mattered to her. You trotted down the stairs, after finishing you preliminary exploration, to find the mare taking measurements of each window, a small scroll floating behind her, recording the measurements as she took them.
“Rarity.” The mare just continued her measuring as you called out to her, and so you repeated yourself, louder the second time. After failing to grab her attention once again, you opted for a less subtle approach. However, just before you could shout out her name a wicked grin formed on your face, and you quietly approached the mare. As you got up right next to her you felt your wicked grin slowly fade, and change into a goofy grin. Before the mare could move out of your reach, and before your confidence could fade, you placed a hoof on the mare’s cheek, turning her face towards you, and letting her look into your eyes. The slight surprise in her eyes quickly increased as you planted a swift kiss upon her lips.
You felt heat race to your cheeks as your lips brushed hers, and for just a moment you let the kiss linger before you pulled back, the heat in your cheeks nearly hot enough to cause spontaneous combustion. The mare’s own cheeks heated up as well, the blush nearly rivaling yours for intensity. Unable to continue looking at the mare, you turned away from her slightly, looking into the room, rather than at her.
“So, is that what you had in mind when you suggested alternative methods for garnering your attention when you let your mind drift?” Her question was innocent enough, but her tone spoke to you more than her words did. When you looked back at her, she batted her eyelashes a few times, prompting the blush on your cheeks to intensify. “Because I can most certainly do that, and more, if you like. And I don’t see why I would need to do that only if you get distracted. I enjoyed it, and despite how un-ladylike it is to do something like that on a spur of the moment… For you, I think I can make an exception.”
You, after failing to compose yourself for a few moments, finally manage to look the mare in the face. “Um, Miss Rarity-”
“Just Rarity, darling.” You loved the way she said ‘darling’. It nearly made your knees go weak.
“Rarity,” you started, “we should go and get my stuff from Storm’s place.”
“Actually, Quill, how about you go and get your things, and I’ll see about ordering some furniture for you. I mean, you weren’t expecting a lady like me to carry your bags, were you?” You put a hoof behind your head as the mare spoke, and you shifted your gaze towards the floor.
“Well, no. I suppose that makes sense. Just… Don’t spend too much on the furniture, okay? I don’t actually have all that much.” The mare raises an eyebrow at you before she speaks again, her tone curious.
“I thought you said that you were related to royalty. Surely you’d be able to afford to afford some quality furniture.”
“Oh, right. Well, you see, they, my parents, wanted me to fend for myself, rather than just have everything given to me.” Your stumbled words do little, in your opinion, to quell the mare’s suspicions, but she seems to accept it, since she just smiles at you.
“I suppose that makes sense. Although you never did explain just who your parents were.” The mare floats the parchment on which her notes lie before she walks past you towards the door. “But we can cover that later. For now you need some new furniture, and I’d be happy to help you out with that. Go and get your things, and we’ll meet up here again before long.” As the door closed behind the mare you let out a massive sigh, slowly sinking onto your haunches.
You let your gaze wander aimlessly as you compose yourself, the brush with disaster having set your heart rate up quite a bit. When your heart finally reaches a point where you can distinguish the individual beats you stagger back up to your hooves, your breathing still coming in slightly labored gasps. You walk over to the door slowly, not wanting to rush anything at this point. When you reach the door you spot a slip of paper tacked onto it. You pull it down with your magic before you begin reading it.
Dear Quill,
We are pleased to have you in our small town of Ponyville. Please, at your earliest convenience, come by the Town Hall so that we can finalize the purchase of your home.
Once again, welcome to Ponyville.
Sincerely,
Mayor Mare
You slowly roll up the note before placing a hoof on the door. Hopefully things go smoothly at Town Hall. I’d hate to take longer than Rarity.
Your head thumps into the door of Storm’s home, your enthusiasm having long since been drained away by the bureaucracy of Ponyville’s small government. Sure, the Mayor had been cheerful enough, almost distressingly so, as she handed you one form after another to be signed. After the thirtieth signature you started to feel like they were messing with you, and so you actually began to read the forms she was giving you, and, sure enough, they were all legitimate, if not silly, forms. Much to your dismay quite a few were waivers for the antics of a certain pink pony. Namely that Ponyville could not be held responsible for anything done by Pinkie. Not that anypony ever wanted to report her.
The door slowly opens before you, causing you to take a stumbling step forward before you can catch yourself. Even still, you feel your horn poke the pony before you in the chest as you lean forward. You sigh once again as you open your mouth to speak.
“Please tell me that you aren’t Rainbow Dash.” You crack open one eye to see the cyan fur of the aforementioned pegasus, and a low groan comes from your throat, lasting for nearly thirty seconds before you stop to draw in another breath. “Well, since you do seem to be Rainbow Dash I’d just like you to know that I’m here for my luggage, not to argue with you over things that happened years ago.”
“Fine. Just grab your things and go. I’m only tolerating you because Storm seems to think that you deserve a second chance.” The mare pushed you back from her chest, and then she jabbed a hoof into your chest. “But if I even suspect that you might be doing something to Rarity, or anypony, you won’t know what hit you.” She kept her hoof on your chest for several long moments while her eyes bored into yours. “Now hurry up. I won’t let you stay here longer than necessary.”
You glare back at the mare for a moment, before you push past her, heading for the room where all your things had been left. As you enter the room, though, you feel as if you had been stabbed. A pain lances through you as you look at the chaos that has consumed the room. Your suitcases are scattered, and all of their contents are around the room, with not a thing left untouched. You look at everything, no words passing your lips. As you search the room you realize that there is one thing above all the others that you want to find.
“Dash! Rainbow Dash, come here!” There is no immediate response, much as you expected. Instead, you hear the sound of a door open, and then close. You call again after waiting for a moment, your second cry significantly more distressed. As she enters the room you turn to look at her, and her jaw drops as she looks at the room. Her response is energetic enough, if misguided.
“What the hell did you do?” She looks at you for a moment, her gaze as hard as iron. After a moment of looking at you, though, she seems to understand. “Sorry, what the hell happened? As far as I know You, Strom, and I are the only ones to have been in here.” She weakly kicks at a few pieces of cloth on the floor, her intent not to move it, but simply to do something to keep herself busy. “Um, is anything missing?”
“Yeah, my armor. One of the only things I had to remember who I am, and who I was. Not that I expect you to understand.” You try to bite back your temper, but it comes through anyway. “You must be pleased with this. I’m upset about something, and you get to see me at my weakest. After all, I’m just a monster, aren’t I? Something to be hated, and feared, right?”
“Quill?” The single word, one of the most important words, to you, shatters your anger, immediately replacing it with a sense of mind shattering fear. You look past the cyan pegasus towards the doorway, your eyes falling upon the one pony you didn’t want to see at that moment. Her azure eyes had tears in them, and that hurt more than the loss of any personal belonging. “Quill, what are you talking about?” Her frown grew wider, and her brow quickly furrowed. “What do you mean, you’re a monster? You’ve never been anything but a gentlestallion to me.”
The cyan pegasus quickly shifter her gaze between you and the alabaster unicorn in the doorway, a look of sadness on her face. “Rarity…”
“No, Dash. I need to explain. I’m not going to lie to her anymore.” What you were about to tell the mare was going to be incredibly hard, probably harder than anything else you could tell her, save for one thing: The Truth. “You see, Rarity, before I came here I was considered royalty, without actually being royalty. My family lived near Griffon territory, and we were the ruling family of a small settlement. I didn’t have any real power outside of town.
“A roving band of Griffons descended on our town one evening, wiping out quite a few of our number, based on some perceived slight.” You paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. “I managed to survive by fighting back, taking several of the griffons down with my magic, and use of my horn. Tales of what I did spread with the griffons, and from what I recall, Gilda was a member of the clan of griffons that descended upon us.” Your gaze flickered over to Dash for just a moment before you swallowed and continued. “Word spread of who I am, and what I was to them; A monster.”
“Quill…” The alabaster unicorn quickly approached you, and she wrapped her hooves around you, pulling you close. As she held you, the cyan pegasus glared at you, shaking her head slowly. The tears that ran down her face, left small trails of moisture in their wake. When she finally broke the embrace, you wiped away one of her tears with a hoof. “You could’ve told me, Quill. I would’ve understood. But to have kept all that hidden away? It must be tearing you up inside to keep something like that hidden. And for so long?”
You held the mare once again, her hooves running along your back in a slow motion. As she released the embrace, you turned to look at the mess of clothing and personal belongings scattered about the room. While just a moment ago the loss of your armor had stung worse than any wound you’d ever gotten, the lie you just told to Rarity beat out the loss of your armor. “You don’t have to help, Rarity. I can take care of this myself. You probably have other things that you need to take care of anyway.”
“No, Quill, I won’t just leave you to your grief. Especially not with Rainbow Dash for company.” She turned to look at the cyan pegasus as she continued. “I mean no offense, Rainbow, but you aren’t exactly the most comforting mare around. Your reaction to stress is… A bit uncouth.”
“Uncouth… Why you prissy…” The pegasus quickly stopped herself, knowing that she was doing exactly what Rarity had been expecting. “Fine. Just try to get things cleaned up soon. I don’t want Storm to find this place a mess.” As she finished, she walked out of the room, only glancing back at you as she exited. You looked around the room as Rarity began packing some things up, hoping that there would be something that could reveal something about the perpetrator.
With Rarity’s help it only took about fifteen minutes to get everything packed up again. Every so often the mare would glance at you, giving you encouraging smiles. You were glad for her support, but the fact that she was supporting you for the wrong reasons made you want to scream out your frustration. As the last bag was closed, you hefted one onto your back, taking a second one in your magical grasp. Rarity took the third with her own magic, and the two of you exited the now pristine guest room, passing Rainbow Dash on the way out.
“Hey, Rares, come by later. I… I need some help with a dress. Storm wanted me to dress up for dinner tonight. And my hair. He likes it when I put some curls into it.” Rarity pauses to look at the mare, and then she offers a small smile to the cyan pegasus reclined on the couch.
“I’ll come by around six thirty?”
“Yeah, that’s good. And be sure to bring the curling iron. You know I don’t have one.” Rarity just nodded at the mare, and then the two of you began making your way towards your house. Rarity glanced over at you occasionally as you walked along, probably trying to imagine you doing some of the things that you claimed to have done. It didn’t take that long to get to your home, and soon you saw that Rarity had been quite industrious while you had been at Town Hall.
All the windows had curtains, and the rooms all looked far better, small items having been added to make it seem like a much more comfortable place. Since most of your belongings went in the bedroom, you quickly brought everything upstairs to the master bedroom. Your eyes went wide as you saw the king sized bed in the master suite, the sheets matching the décor of the room perfectly.
You put your bags on the floor and you quickly began examining the pieces of furniture that Rarity had bought for you. She entered the room just a few moments after you, a wide smile on her face. “I take it you like it dear?” You nod in response, still too dumbstruck to speak. “Speechless?” Again you nod, before shaking your head quickly.
“How much was all of this? I can’t just accept all of this as a gift! It must’ve cost a small fortune!” As you look around the room once more you can’t help but admire the craftsmanship of the carved wood.
“Please, Quill. You’ve given me quite a bit, and I suspect that you will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, so consider this my welcome to Ponyville gift. As well as a thank you for all those letters. But now I must head back to the Boutique. You see, when it comes to Dash and fashion it is best to arrive fully prepared, with more than enough time to have everything ready.” Rarity gave you a quick peck on the cheek as she turned to leave, leaving behind a mixed pot of emotions.
You brought a hoof to your cheek, and you began to wonder if you really deserved what she was offering to you.
(Pfft. Like I was going to spill the beans on Quill that soon.)