Chapter 4
I took a stroll on the old long walk
Hardcover yawned and directed his attention to the mares, that seemed to be as sleepy as he was “Hey what do you say if we call it a night? I don’t think it will be healthy to sleep on the floor so if you could point us to the nearest lodging site or hotel we could get on our way, maybe we could see each other lahummm ha later”
All the mares looked at him as if assessing if he was talking seriously “sugarcube there aren’t no hotels in this town”
“What? Say again” asked Soft Edge.
“Well dear…”
“You can call me Edge”
“Very well Edge you see, this town is a quiet little town out of the main roads and it is rare to have any visitors from outside, and those either build their homes to live here or stay with a relative living here”
“Still, you have many things here I still don’t see the reason to not have any lodging”
“W-well you see the Everfree forest is nearby, and no one wants to be nearby”
“Wait that Everfree forest? Cover you knew about it?”
“Well duh if you see in the maps you will see that the forest is nearest of the town”
“But who would be brave enough to go and live near it? Is it not supposed to be dangerous?” punctuated High Rise
“Hay yeah it is” interrupted Rainbow Dash “but you see good ol’ Fluttershy here” she said putting her hoof over her yellow friend “lives at the edge of the forest”
“What? Are you out of your mind? How is it possible to live there?”
“W-well you see the price of that house was real low”
“WHAT? ARE YOU INSANE?”
“Meep” Fluttershy dashed behind ‘oh the redundancy’ Rainbow Dash who just crossed her front legs and looked at High Rise disapprovingly.
“Hey sorry I snapped like that it it’s just that it seems like a dangerous place to live no matter how cheap it is, that’s all, I am kinda worried that you did such a thing”
“Why?”
“I am an architect my clients needs and safety are top priority”
“Eh thanks but I am quite all right”
“Nonsense I shall escort you home and asses what else does it needs to protect you from harm”
“But but that is not”
Cover got close to her “stop trying once he has his mind set on something he will not stop for anything, is the same for any ideas or points of view, right or wrong he stands by it and will not change his mind at all”
“Well... if you say so”
“Hey bro you know after you do all that I got an idea, we could do some sort of country house we could use to bring our parents and spend vacations here, hauum, but first let me get my tent so I could set myself outside of town”
Twilight opened her eyes widely “But you could sleep here if you want”
“How many beds do you have?”
“2, you could use…”
“One? Remember the Crusaders are in one of them, now if you excuse me I need to set myself”
“But you could”
“Sleep with you? For as much as I like the idea, the Crusaders will ask many embarrassing questions in the morning and don’t get me started on the floor, it will not be comfortable at all I’d rather sleep on a comfortable grass couch”
“You could sleep with anypony else, outside is chilly, you know winter will come soon”
“Well, we came here just to meet a pony that supposedly vanquished an ursa mayor I wasn’t exactly planning on staying in town”
“And why the tents sugarcube?” asked Applejack with a tone of annoyance.
“Is good to be prepared for anything” Cover answered without hesitation “I was not expecting to take this long for an interview but in case we did I thought we could always camp under the stars”
Applejack had to give credit were due, he was a good liar yet not that good, while he could certainly hold his ground, for her it was obvious he was holding something even so “Well you are mighty right sugarcube but still we can’t let a friend of Twilight here to sleep outside you are always welcomed at my farm”
Hardcover was feeling the pressure here, he could not say no to such offer now that they were like this he was literally feeling against a wall and one of his character ticks took over as he started mumbling a song “All in all it's just another brick…”
“In the wall”
The stallion paused and looked in the direction of the pink mare “Hey you know Pink Floyd?”
“That if I know them? I love them they are one of the greatest groups in history”
Hardcover decided then his new course of action “well you do know about of music, also I need to ask you about the cheesecake from earlier are you some kind of baker?”
“You guessed, I live above the bakery Sugar Cube Corner”
“Hooooo boy you should not have told him that” added Soft Edge “he is one big sweet tooth”
“Really? That’s great do you want to stay with me? That way I could test so many recipes with you to see if they are any good”
“I sure as sugar will”
“Well then let’s go you dummy”
As they left thru the door Applejack was following them closely “hey wait up”
“Well I, I need to go so if you excuse me”
High Rise looked at the Yellow Pegasi and told her “Lead the way”
“Ok... if you really want that” and the yellow mare stepped out the Library while the green and light blue Pegasus followed her.
***************************** ************************** ********************************
Half way troughout the town the 3 pegasi that left the library earlier were discussing no topic in particular, the cyan pegasi that was scorting the her filly hood friend tried to remain calm, but she could barely contain herself at the thought that this stallions could be up to something.
“You really want to follow Fluttershy?”
“I need to see the kind of building she lives in; maybe I could get some ideas for my designs to present back to my dad and I can really use the experience”
“Then you have got to come see my house”
“Is it cloud made?”
“Hey how do you know?”
“You are hyperactive and most of the time you were floating or feet away from the floor my guess is that you have a cloud house which I saw when we entered town, and frankly I am not interested my dad and I studied them and I really took a liking to other kind of buildings, my main target now are organic designs and skyscrapers”
“Hey don’t look down on clouds, they are comfy and nice”
“Don’t misunderstand me they are great and all but it is too easy to design and shape them at your will, I like challenges and it really helps me to take care of fine details and to be absolutely careful, those cement sacks really hurt”
“Oh dear are… are you talking seriously?”
“Hehe yeah I do, I really get hurt thanks to my own distraction”
“You really have taken quite the build if you came out unhurt after making me crash”
“It was your fault”
“You know that’s it, I can’t hold it any longer”
High Rise lifted an eyebrow “What are you…”
“Rainbow… no”
“My friend Applejack says that you might be hiding something, and now that we are alone I am going to take the truth out of you pal” Rainbow said taking an offensive stance in front of High Rise.
“Rainbow please stop this”
“No way Fluttershy”
High Rise sat in the dirt floor and sighed “So you want to know what we are hiding”
“Ha I knew it, you are hiding something”
“You are?”
Rise just lowered his head and looked at the floor “I promised my brother that I would not tell anypony about the reason of our visit” he looked at the mares in their eyes “but let me assure you that by no means we mean any harm to you, I promised him that I will wait until he decides to tell you about our situation, I want you to believe in me, I don’t want to fight right now”
“Why not pal? Are you afraid to get hurt?”
“I will never hurt a pony without any good reason, and I know you and I are tired, this will only hurt us badly and I don’t think Fluttershy here will like that”
“Ha you are so not going to save yourself from this”
“Is there no other way?”
“No other way unless you tell me the… hey”
Fluttershy stepped in between the two and talked to the blue pegasi with a harsh tone in her voice “Rainbow Dash stop this at once”
“What, Fluttersy what do you think you are doing?”
“That is what I am asking you Dashie, you are not being rational”
“Me? How about you? He just admitted he was hiding something”
“He also told us that he means no harm to any of us, and while you are ready to leap at him he is there sitting ready to take your tackle head on, he is not planning to fight back”
“But”
“But nothing Rainbow Dash, I have decided to thrust him”
“What? Why? We don’t even know him”
“So? If you knew how to be patient you would have seen the truth in his eyes, he meant everything he said and I have decided to believe in him”
“But Fluttershy, I don’t get it how can you do that”
“Dashie, sometimes you just need to believe” and then she turned to the stallion “You said your name was High Rise right?”
“Rise for my friends”
“Well Rise you were escorting me home right?”
“Are you sure about it?”
“Of course I am”
“Well if you so much insist” and both mare and stallion floated in the direction of the mare’s home.
Rainbow Dash just looked at them as they disappeared from her view “I can’t believe it, first Twi now Fluttershy, I don’t get it” and she took flight in direction to her home “I just don’t get it”
********************************************* *************************************
Soft Edge was really nervous he would have preferred to sleep on the barn, hay even the open sky seemed better than following the white mare in front of him, damn her she must be moving like that on purpose, waving her tail from side to side ‘stop looking’ he told himself ‘no good can come from this’ he just wished Cover was more straight forward with his approach.
“Edge dear” Said the white coated mare interrupting his thoughts.
“Eh what?”
“Dear you are so distracted and you have hardly said a word since we left the library I take it you are not the type to talk a lot”
“Sorry it’s just that I have a lot in my mind”
“Is my flank that distracting?”
Soft Edge turned red instantly and babbled “Wa eh just, I didn’t, I’m sorry”
“Hahahahaha dear you are quite the tease, I have seen you, you have a lot in your mind and I know how intimidating I can be sometimes just don’t mind me now please let us hurry my boutique is nearby”
Soft Edge grumbled with annoyance.
“Oh and dear please come at my side, it is of poor education to walk behind a lady”
“If there is one in front of you” he replied in a barely audible voice.
“Did you say something?”
“I said wait for me”
“That’s better”
They walked and soon found themselves at the door of the flamboyant boutique and Edge broke the silence “This is your place?”
“And workshop as well darling, do you like it?”
“It…” he looked for the right words “is certainly unique, what is it called?”
Rarity disapproved the pausing doubt but decided to not make a scene out of it “welcome to Carousel Boutique where every garment is Chic, Unique and Magnifique”
“Nice motto”
“Why thank you, but the praises should be left for when you actually see what‘s inside” she opened the door for him “please come in and feel at home”
“Ladies first” he said bowing.
“Why thank you fine gentlecolt”
As she stepped inside her business home he wished for a last time that this farce will be over soon, and then he followed her inside the Boutique, Rarity turned on some candles and Edge looked at dresses in the ponyquins and stared at them with admiration.
“Like it Darling?”
“I must say I am impressed, now I wonder where do you think and draw of all of your designs”
“Well dear how are you so sure I don’t design them here?”
“Do you really want me to start pointing out the obvious?”
“If it is that obvious you should do it with ease”
He sighed and trotted to the center of the room “First thing you need is pencil, paper, rolls of fabric, sewing equipment and a few ponyquins to start designing and testing all of you creations, except for the ponyquins none of the above can be found here, beside rooms to think or draw things in are always found in a messy fashion lots of pencil remnants, erasers that are a tenth of their original size and shape are not strange to that kind of environment and you seem to care a lot about your appearance and your workplace that makes me think you care a lot for what your customers would say if they ever saw this place in ruins, thus I arrived to my conclusion”
Rarity clopped her hoofs in a manner of applause “Well dear you are quite right, your reasoning is perfect, it seems that you know a lot about the manners of a designer as you are an artist yourself”
Edge felt flattered, and blood started to make his way over his face “Thanks, I guess”
“My darling you are blushing a lot you know”
“S-sorry”
“Now why are you apologizing for?”
“It’s that, I don’t really get too much praise”
“Nor do you get to talk to mares very often” stated Rarity taking some steps swaying to the sides towards the stallion “am I right?”
Edge felt threatened and he stepped back as she stepped forward the blush in his cheeks had died out now he was getting pale “not really”
“But dear why is that, even if you are on the chubby side, with your talent in art you might have one follower or two” she kept getting closer to him.
It hurt Edge a little that remark but he was now against the wall of the boutique and she was insistent on getting closer to him “I like to keep my art for myself, I still need a lot to learn”
“Nonsense, you are good as as a professional, I am sure that if you want to you could get an exposition somewhere or at least sell your art to any particular” Rarity said as she was a few hoofs away from Soft Edge.
“L-like who?” he asked her and he gulped.
The mare got so close to the stallion that he could literally feel her breath, it felt nice almost as if she had brushed her teeth with mint and… was that chamomile? Edge looked up and he met her eyes, such beautiful azure eyes, and perfectly kept mane, amazing figure, if he could just move a little he could kiss her if he just could call on some courage he could… suddenly she got away from him.
“Well dear” ‘Rarity what are you thinking’ she recriminated herself “do you want something before I show you the guest room?” ‘Come on Rarity you have teased several colts and stallions like him before why are you so altered?’ it had gone like any other time except, he had looked at her in the eyes, he had balls that was new to her the others always tried to look away.
Edge was confused, he was sure she looked differently, was she flustered? “Actually I do want to see your workplace, where you get and draw your ideas”
“My, you really are ballsy”
“Eh? Pardon me but what do you mean?”
“Don’t fake ignorance, trying to get inside the private room of a mare you barely even know, how daring”
“W-wait I didn’t”
‘Now why am I pushing it further?’ Rarity was troubled by her own behavior what did she want? ‘Maybe I should stop before this gets out of… “Here I thought you did, ugh what a disappointment,I was hoping you were more… gutsy” she eyed looks at him with disappointment.
That was it. That was the drop that spilled the cup; Soft Edge could take it no more the next thing his angered mind processed is him being in front of the mare sharing his lips with hers in a deep kiss one that Rarity did not seemed to mind at all as she had her eyes closed.
‘I can bet he is new to kissing’ that was the thought that Rarity had going through her mind ‘or if not new he has only kissed once when he was a foal’ she realized he separated his lips from her and she opened her eyes to see the stallion shying away hiding his eyes with his hair and shrinking very much like her best friend does when she is scared (which is most of the time) she giggled a little and spoke to the stallion “Dear what are you doing down there?”
Soft Edge just looked in the opposite direction of the mare “I’m sorry, I know not what came over me, and I didn’t meant to be so-”
“So assertive?” interrupted Rarity.
Soft Edge just widened his eyes and stared directly at her and saw a tender smile as if she wanted it to happen needless to say, he was dumbfounded.
The mare approached and spoke to him “please I am the one that must apologize, my manners must have thrown you out of your wits and patience you must want to see my drawings come with me”
They both walked up the stairs of the boutique and passed a door “this is my sister’s room for the night you can sleep here while I fix the guest room” at the end of the hallway they approached other door to their left “this is my room and workplaces do please come in”
Soft Edge was amazed at the quantity of drawings and materials he entered after the mare and they spent the night at the room, drawing, designing and talking Edge felt welcomed even after his approach to her, she seemed genuinely happy to share some kind of company while talking about dresses ‘I really hope we can talk sincerely with all of them soon’ he thought.
* * * * * * * * * * *
To say that Applejack was annoyed would be an understatement, these 2 FOALS had been singing all the way from the library to Sugar Cube Corner now she did not mind Pinkie Pie ‘ah fine singer she is’ Applejack thought ‘but that damn stallion just can’t get the rhythm some times, he messes up most of the time’ finally the trio arrived at the pastry shop she sighed in relief and left them.
‘If somepony can take care of herself would be Pinkie, Ah hope’ she sighed heavily she could think Fluttershy using her stare against them, rainbow knocking them out, Twilight using her magic, the ones she was troubled with were Rarity and Pinkie, they had no real experience in fighting, now she was more scared to leave her friends alone ‘no they know how to handle them, Rarity asked for the shy painter because she was sure she could control him and Pinkie is Pinkie… she’ll do something if in trouble’ she trotted to her farm at the outskirts of town, Applejack needed to sleep and in the morning pick Applebloom from Twilight’s place.
* * * * * * * * *
Pinkie Pie could not be happier, ‘why am I happy again? Who cares he is cool maybe even 20% cooler than Dashie’ her grin could not be stranger and wider if she wanted it he saw the stallion breathing in until his lungs were filled with the scent of sugar, cake and glassing.
He liberated his breath with a sigh and smiled ‘boy is this place perfect’ he faced Pinkie Pie and smiled at her a warm smile she answered with one as well finally Cover spoke “so where do I sleep? Is it the kitchen? Tell me is the kitchen”
“Of course not you silly willy you will sleep in my room which is in the attic”
“Why would you have your room in the attic of your own bakery?”
“Because it’s not my bakery I just rent the room upstairs, the owners are Mr. and Mrs. Cake”
His eyelids half-closed themselves “You don’t tell, you mind telling me why do you decided to live in a bakery?”
“Ooh its flash back time”
“Uh?”
“Shush the flashback is about to start”
“It will be easier if you just told me”
“Ugh ok but only if I get to see the flash back”
“Deal”
* * * * * * * * * * *
The Pie family was gathered outside their house in the rock farm they owned, there was the mother with two little fillies crying at her side, the patriarch of the family at her side facing a pink filly.
* * * * * * * * * *
“Wait a second, rock farm?”
“Shhh the good part is about to start”
* * * * * * * * * * *
“Pinkie is that what you really want?” asked papa Pie.
“Of course dad, I have been thinking about it and it’s something I must do”
There were 2 sobbing fillies at their mother side one barely managed to talk to her sister “but sis why can’t you stay?”
“Because there is only so little good I can do in this farm, the world needs me and I must not turn my back to it”
“Pinkie Please” asked her mother “I beg you stop this foolishness at once”
Filly Pinkie shook her head sideways “no momma, this is serious and even if it pains me it is something I must do”
“But you can’t” she never finished that sentence the right foreleg of her husband cut off her sentence.
“No matter what we tell her she won’t concede” he faced her daughter with a tear born of pain and pride slowly rolling down his cheek “you have my blessing now go… before I change my mind”
With that Pinkie Pie set herself on a quest to save Equestria from the treat of the mad sorcerer “Kefka”
* * * * * * * * * * *
“Eeewhat?”
“Did you liked the story?”
To say that Hardcover was confused was an understatement he remained silent for a good 10 seconds trying to process what Pinkie Pie told him “so… anyway, where do I sleep?”
“This way” both ponies headed up the set of stairs, Cover was impressed on how delicious the walls and decorations looked like there were; mint lamps, chocolate columns and cookie frames all the way to the room upstairs.
‘what tasty looking walls she have’ he thought as he followed the mare “and what a nice flank”
“Hehe thanks”
Hardcover’s face reddened “I said that out loud didn‘t I?”
“Of course you did no wonder Twilight called you bold you really speak your mind’s content sometimes why don’t you do it all the time? Because that would save you a lot of time and time is of the essence yet I don’t get who would have time as their essence because when you say essence it sounds so incredibly essential and important as time does and time is so important because you could run out of time even if you are sleeping but that sounds so silly that” Pinkie Pie paused to take a breath “what were we talking about?”
Cover measured his next words “About the bed I am going to occupy tonight”
“Oh right-o-right this way”
Cover sighed relieved ‘dodged that bullet, now I must put a safety on that gun’ he then entered the room of the mare and he thought there was something missing ‘ok there is a big window, wooden floor, nice carpet, one bed, a baby alligator (why does he have no teeth?), party like table, balloons, cupcakes, punch (she must be ready to party at any time), one bed… one bed’ “say there seems to be something missing”
“What? O no somepony must have come to steal something quickly help me count all my stuff” she seemed to warp from place to place looking over her stuff.
“That is NOT what I meant”
“Hey, don’t go scaring ponies like that”
‘Why did I decide to stay with her?’ Cover thought “I meant that there is only one bed”
“Of course there is only one silly, why would I need 2 beds if I’m the only one renting here?”
“Yeah that makes sense… but still I will need somewhere to sleep, how am I supposed to do so like this?”
“Easy like this” she pulled a cord that was hanging from the ceiling and 6 sleeping bags with the cutie marks of her best friends over a backdrop of their coat and mane colors Cover was more concerned on where did this sleeping bags came from “so would you like to pick one to sleep in?”
“Sure… just let me brush my teeth, you wouldn’t happen to have toothpaste, do you?”
“In the bathroom, here follow me” in the bathroom of the Mare there was a spent tube of pink toothpaste “I forgot to change it, and I haven’t made any more of it so I will have to use another flavor” Pinkie Pie turned to her guest “you don’t mind the flavor of the toothpaste right? The Cakes always tell me that my teeth will rot if I keep using cotton candy flavored toothpaste, can you believe that?”
“You are telling me you make you make your own toothpaste flavors?”
Pinkie nodded “yep sure I do”
Cover sighed in resignation, trying to figure this mare out was tiring yet it was somewhat amusing he could not help but smile a little “what flavors do you have?”
“Here I have… cookies and cream, vanilla, banana split, chocolate…”
“CHOCOLATE GIMME”
Pinkie giggled “Okey Dokey Lokey here, it’s your favorite I recon”
Cover acted terrified and backed off a little and gasped “what gave me away?” he smiled and corrected himself, both of them giggled a little and brushed their teeth.
“I have to ask, why do you keep this sleeping bags modeled after you and your friends?”
“It is something for when I would like my friends to come here and stay for an after party, I asked Rarity to make this after Gummy’s birthday party”
“Gummy?”
“My pet alligator over there”
“I was wondering what a baby alligator was doing here, well good night” cover dumped himself over the sleeping bag meant for Rainbow Dash and tried to accommodate himself.
“Why aren’t you getting inside the bag?”
“No need, I use my body heat spell every night and I have even managed to keep it activated passively all night long” he said as a matter of fact “if you want to you can sleep over me for heat” now he was just joking but the mare took it as an offer and he felt her crashing down over him taking the air out of him “Agh for Luna’s sake you could have just posed yourself over me not jump and fall with your whole weight”
“But there is no fun in that” she realized something “hey, how come you said Princess Luna’s name and not Princess Celestia’s one?”
“Is that important?” ‘Shit I let it slip’
“Of course it is, Applejack told us earlier that if you do or say something strange we must make you give us all the information you have and that statement clearly contradicts your testimony”
“… testimony?”
“Of course it is suspicious, everypony would swear to Princess Celestia”
“Surely there must be somepony swearing to Luna”
“AHA another contradiction, you are calling her Luna and not by her title, if anypony refers to the royal princesses they do as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, you do not do that, care to explain why?”
Cover was trying to think of a way to get out of that situation ‘my options are limited; if I lie she will see it and I don’t really want to do something rash’ he sighed ‘she got me there’ finally he decided to tell her, he took something from his saddlebag, a parchment with Princess Luna’s seal attached to a cord that kept it sealed “Pinkie Pie what I am about to tell you is secret, can you promise me you won’t tell anypony?”
Pinkie Pie started a series of charades as she chanted a catchy rhyme “Cross my Heart and Hope to fly, Stick a Cupcake in my eye”
Cover was once again dumbfounded “is that supposed to be… hay I don’t know what it was supposed to be”
“It was my Pinkie oath”
“Eh…”
“It means that I won’t, under any circumstance tell anypony what I have sworn to hide, even if Princess Celestia herself were to ask me”
“I…” he smiled in resignation ‘she is being honest… and cute in a crazy and hyperactive kind of way’ “very well I believe you: this here” he showed her the parchment with Princess Luna’s symbol over it “is my official title as Princess Luna’s own student”
Pinkie’s eyes widened to an impossible size “no way”
“Yeah way”
“You have got to tell Twilight, forget Twilight you got to tell me how did you managed to be her student you must have like a ton of stories, or a ton of candy from Nightmare Night…” Pinkie was cut short from her monologue.
“I can’t tell you why I am here, and you promised to not talk about it but I promise you that one day I will tell you and only you how I became her student”
“Awwwww why only me?”
“Because my teacher only allowed me to tell 3 ponies that story and needless to say my brother and best friend where on that list”
“So… why me? You have just met me”
“Because… you seem trustable enough and I don’t think you will destroy that trust”
“Of course I won’t silly everypony knows that losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend FOREVER!” she said putting a lot of emphasis on that last word.
‘Well that went well enough, I will have to tell Rise and Edge what I did though’ he stretched a little “ok Pinkie let me lay down and my offer still stands just try not to jump over me please”
“Okie Dokie Lokie”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Fluttershy and High Rise had just gotten to the first one’s cottage; it was just outside the dreaded Everfree forest on the outskirts of Ponyville, the first thing that High Rise noticed was that Fluttershy was living not in a constructed Cottage but rather in a remodeled tree stump, which in its own way was quite impressive, after a little reconnaissance both mare and stallion entered the house.
“Well umm….”
“I told you, you can call me Rise”
“Yeah sorry eh would you like to…”
“Did you do this?”
“Excuse me?”
“The interior I mean digging out the insides of the tree thump fixing it to be able to put your furniture and the animal houses this is well designed; though maybe you could use some more room that way you could take care of more animals, a sorry you were saying?”
“I was offering you a drink… if you want… but well you want an answer right? Well you see this cottage has always been like this even the furniture is from the previous owner no pony knows since when this place has been here at all’
“Interesting, well I don’t think I want anything at all but if you want something I can keep you company”
“Oh no not really I don’t want anything”
Rise just looked at her disapprovingly “You want something, you just said no because I said no”
“No really I just want to go to sleep” ‘how did he know?” Fluttershy thought ‘I did wanted something to drink but I didn’t want to force him to stay awake while I drink it and now he is mad at me because of it, oh dear Celestia what do I do?’ she shrunk a little out of fear of his stare and tried to hide herself from him with her wing “meep”
‘How cute can she be? That little meep and that shyness is so’ he sighed while smiling ‘it would be rude to force her, but it would be even more rude to make her go to bed thirsty just because I’m sleepy’ “Fluttershy look, I know it might be impertyinent of me but I just don’t like people not doing what they want because of others it really ticks me off as unnecessary and insulting so if you want I can keep you company even have a drink with you if you want”
“Thanks… I think”
“Come on be more assertive, now do tell what do you have to drink?”
“I well have some orange juice boxes in the fridge”
“Orange juice? Is it sour?”
“Why yes it is whole orange juice”
“Yes! Finally something other than sweet punch or apple juice” Rise said as he lifted his forelegs up in the air in a victorious way.
“Don’t you like sweets?”
“Not that much, my brother is the one who is crazy about sweets, especially chocolates but how about you? Don’t you have like that apple farming friend? What was she called?”
“She is Applejack she is one of my best friends but I never really liked apples and sweets that much, that is why I always tried to get orange juice for myself, but please don’t tell her I said that”
“No need to worry, now” he offered her a foreleg to help her get up “come on let’s get something to drink”
Fluttershy took the hoof of her guest and they made their way to her kitchen where she ruffled some items in the fridge and got out 2 juice boxes and he offered one to Rise, soon they were both enjoying the sour flavor of the juice boxes and Rise took notice of the cute way of drinking the mare had ‘Oh she can be even cuter than I thought’ he glanced at her and she took notice of the event and blushed a little.
‘Is he looking at me? Oh Celestia he IS looking at me, why? Is it how I drink? Or is it something in my face? Or is it? No it couldn’t be could he? Does he? Does he find me attractive? Dear Princess Celestia what do I do?’ she did not notice that her juice box was already empty and she was making an incredibly annoying sound Rise did so but was adamant of telling her outright so he chose to put down his drink and smiled at her, Fluttershy noticed this action and stopped absorbing air from the now empty box and put it down in a rush and blushed at the idea of being caught doing such a mistake “I.. I…” she squealed a little.
“He don’t sweat it I understand that my presence and looks are overwhelming you but be a little more confident, you saved me and I own you a great deal, you can even ask me to draw you a sketch for an upgrade on your cottage free of charge, actually I will do just that” Rise said with a confident tone and a grin in his mouth as he crossed his forelegs.
“Oh my, thanks that is generous of you but I couldn’t ask that much”
“Nonsense, I said that I will do it and I mean it” he now wore a serious face and patted his right foreleg on the left side of his chest right were the heart was signaling her that he was decided to do so despite her protests.
Fluttershy is surprised to say the least ‘wow, he is so much like Dashie; he is rash, brave, hoof headed, loyal, he speaks his mind out, yet he seems so sweet, caring and aware of everypony, he even tries to give me some sort of courage much like Dashie but so different at the same time’ she couldn’t suppress a giggle at the thought of him being like her filly hood friend.
“…? Why did you giggle?”
“Sorry is just that you remind me so much of Rainbow Dash”
“Rainbow Dash? Why would I remind you of her?”
“You both are so much alike”
“Now you are just insulting me I am nothing like that hot headed, fool hardy, rash, over her head mare, no way, no how”
Now Fluttershy was laughing shamelessly at his face “what? Does it hurt to look at your own reflection?”
Rise narrowed his eyes at her in a expression of madness “why you little”
‘He even gets mad at foolish things, yes so much like her’ “ok ok I’m sorry *giggle* so would you like to go to sleep?”
“*Grumble* yes, so where do I sleep?”
“My room is upstairs but it would be awkward to sleep together”
“At best”
“So that is why the couch transforms in to a bed let me just go for some blankets for you, be right back” she floated to the second floor to look for some blankets for her guest “so much like Rainbow Dash” she stopped as memories assaulted her mind, memories of a time where she developed feelings for her filly hood friend ‘I always looked up to you Dashie, you were there at the times I was at my weakest, and when I thought no pony was there for me, you got me out of that darkness that filled my heart, and I always admired your way of thinking you were the best of the best always trying to best anypony that stood in your way, the way your eyes lighted up when you defeated a pony in a race it was the same light that shone in your eyes every time you spoke of the Wonderbolts being part of them has always been your lifelong dream, and then when you were laid out of flight school along with me you decided to move here to Ponyville with me, even though you could have stayed at Cloudsdale and make up a life of your own’ a tear rolled down her eye and she sniffled ‘why could you not be a stallion? Why could I never get myself to like mares like you do? Why did you never really helped me to overcome my fears? Why did you gave up on me as soon as we arrived here? Was I that lost of a cause? Why had to be Twilight the one that would join us together as friends once again?' her tears started to flow like a river down her cheeks and she did not notice her own scream leaving her throat “WHY ARE THERE SO MANY WHY’S AND SO LITTLE ANSWERS?” she broke down then and there she could not bear the pain any longer, her own heart betrayed her and she fell to her knees as a flood of emotions overwhelmed her.
Slowly the Pegasus stallion embraced her from behind in a warm and loving hug, like the one a mother would give her frightened child after waking up from a nightmare and he recited a song his father used to recite them to help calm her.
Close your eyes
Have no fear
The monster's gone
He's on the run and your daddy's here
Before you go to sleep
Say a little prayer
Every day in every way
It's getting better and better
Out on the ocean sailing away
I can hardly wait
To see you come of age
But I guess we'll both just have to be patient
'Cause it's a long way to go
A hard row to hoe
Yes it's a long way to go
But in the meantime
Before you cross the street
Take my hoof
Life is what happens to you
While you're busy making other plans
Before you go to sleep
Say a little prayer
Every day in every way
It's getting better and better
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful
Beautiful foal
Darling, darling, darling
Darling Fluttershy
The yellow mare calmed a little and turned to the green stallion that was trying to calm her, she looked squarely at his eyes his big dark green concerned eyes, he did not have to say anything, and she just started crying the rest of her pain over his shoulder, he picked her up and drove her to sleep in her bed though he never stopped hugging her somehow he knew she needed that hug more than he could ever imagine.
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That night as everypony was asleep a foul wind could be felt over the little town.