Hi everyone, thank you so much for still reading, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Also, my boyfriend has written a story of his own called Fire and Brimstone, please do read it it is on my page. Thanks! -BlueHibiscus
Pinkie Pie had managed to throw together a huge party at the town square in a little over an hour. Almost half the town was either already there or arriving. Seb was actually impressed, though he didn’t dare admit it. He stayed toward the back of the party and sat on the edge of the fountain. Pinkie Pie had set up several balloon arches that encircled the party area and had also set up a long line of buffet tables where cake alongside other food items were displayed. Seb was munching on an apple as he watched the ponies talk, dance, and play various games. He smiled a little; no one had really even noticed him and the party had been set up to introduce him to the community. He liked being left alone.. Apple Bloom walked up to him followed by two young ponies around her age. One was a white unicorn with pink and purple hair and the other was an orange pegasus with a rockstar purple hair cut.
“See, I told ya.” Apple Bloom said, lifting her chin up. The two little ponies stared in awe. Seb lifted an eyebrow at them.
“He’s so...so...” The orange one began.
“Weird.” The white one finished.
“Alright kids what do you want?” Seb asked and took another bite of his apple.
“These are ma friends, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.” Apple Bloom explained. “I told em about yer cutie mark. Can we see it?”
“It isn’t a cutie mark, Apple Bloom.” Seb replied. He didn’t feel like taking off his shirt in the middle of the town anyway.
“Pleeeaaasssseeeeee” The gaggle of foals begged.
“Why?” He asked, taking another bite of the fruit.
“Well, ya see, we don’t have our cutie marks yet.” Apple Bloom explained
.
“And we want to get all the information we can on them.” Sweetie Belle added.
“How’d you get yours anyway?” Scootaloo asked.
“I paid for it.” Seb replied. He was starting to get annoyed, the line of questioning was irritating to say the least.
“You can pay for a cutie mark?” Sweetie Belle asked with a slight smile growing on her eager face.
“It isn’t a cutie mark!” Seb snapped.
They all stared at him, pleading with their eyes. It was almost guaranteed they weren’t going to go away unless he showed them his tattoo. He sighed and tossed the apple away, then began slipping his shirt off. They all gazed in amazement at the wings on his chest.
“Why do you have a pair of wings? You don’t even have wings on you, you can’t fly.” Scootaloo said. Seb groaned.
“For the tenth time, it isn’t a cutie mark. It’s a tattoo.” Seb explained, aggravation slipping subtly into his voice. The trio of fillies looked beyond confused. “Alright, what happens is, you go to a tattoo parlor, pay a guy and show him the artwork you want. He’ll set up a special machine with a bunch of little needles in it that move back and forth very quickly, dip them in ink, and pushes the needles in your skin and basically draws on you.” Seb explained. The girls looked horrified as he described the process.
“Doesn't that hurt?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Yes, it does.”
“Why would you do that?” Scootaloo inquired.
“It’s in remembrance.” Seb replied with solemness
.
“For what?” Sweetie Belle asked. It seemed the farther along the conversation went along the more annoyed Seb managed to get. His saving grace came in the form of a pink and yellow pony approaching.
“Alright girls, I think that’s enough.” Fluttershy said as she walked up to them. Seb sighed in relief. The three fillies muttered amongst themselves for a second before making their departure.
“You saved me.” Seb said quietly as Fluttershy sat beside him on the fountain.
“They would have been here for hours.” Fluttershy replied with a soft giggle.
Seb put his shirt back on and watched the ponies before him. Fluttershy seemed quite content in simply sitting beside him and being quite, which Seb appreciated very much, the silence allowed him to gather his thoughts. He felt a sense of calm around the pegasus. Maybe it was the fact that she didn’t pose a threat or maybe it was a case that she didn’t walk on eggshells around him. For the first time in a long while, he could actually feel himself relaxing.
“Um, may I, uh, ask you something, if that’s okay?” Fluttershy asked after a long period of silence between them.
“Sure.” Seb replied.
“Why are you so sick?” She asked. It was just a feeling but somehow he knew that was coming.
“It’s none of your business.” He shot back. He instantly regretted it. She hadn’t tried to force him to say anything, he didn’t have to snap like that.
“Oh...okay...” She said quietly, lowering her ears sadly.
“It’s not very interesting anyway.” Seb said, trying to recover the situation.
“Oh, no really, I don’t mind.” Fluttershy replied in her eternally soft spoken voice.
He huffed a fragile sigh.“I’ve been like this since I was a kid. It has something to do with my strength I think. Most of the time it’s only when I use my strength like that do I get terribly sick. Just as often i’ll do nothing at all and get sick though. I don’t know why I get sick really.” Seb explained. “I do know that I’m not long for the world though, mine or this one.”
“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked, the depressing mood of the conversation permeating her speech.
“I’m living on borrowed time Fluttershy,” Seb replied matter-of-factly. “I could go any day now and there’s nothing that can be done about it.” He spoke about it so easily, almost happily, and that gave him no small margin of fear.
Before Fluttershy could respond, Twilight walked over to the pair. Seb glared for a moment before turning his head to refuse her eye contact.
The unicorn let out a shallow breath. “Seb, I wanted to apologize for before... about calling you a murderer.” She said, with her ears hung back. ”I jumped to conclusions and I didn’t stop to think that maybe you just happened to be there.”
Seb let his silence hang in the air, an unspoken rebuttal.
“Can you please forgive me?” Twilight asked, hope beaming in her eyes. Fluttershy looked anxiously at Seb.
“You were right Twilight...” He said finally. Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other, fearing that maybe he had actually been a murderer, that he was still free at that moment. “I might as well have killed her. I should have been there... to protect her, to save her.”
Tears began to form in his eyes. He had shared too much and the emotions were beginning to come out. He cursed himself for letting all this information be known and stood up to leave. That is, until Pinkie Pie dashed between them and put a party hat on Twilight and Fluttershy.
“Come on party poopers!” She exclaimed in her usual Pinkie Pie manner, but the thief was having none of it. Seb looked at her for a brief moment then left, walking slowly towards the river nearby. “Doesn’t he like party hats?” Pinkie asked, watching him leave.
Seb sat on the river bank next to the stone bridge that lead out of Ponyville proper. He let his feet dangle in the slow moving waters, the current drifting them slightly as he thought. He barely noticed as Twilight walking up and took a seat next to him and waited for him to acknowledge her.
“What do you want now?” Seb inquired with overall sadness and depression taking wake in his voice, like the currents sweeping over his feet.
“Nothing.” Twilight replied in a tone barely happier than his. They sat in silence for what seemed to be an eternity, neither truly willing to commit on starting the conversation.
Seb finally gave in. “I forgive you.” Twilight merely nodded in acceptance and another eternity passed as the sounds of the water occupied the gap left by the absence of the two voices.
Twilight kicked a stray rock into the water and sighed as she watched her reflection ripple. She could see Seb’s reflection as well, especially his bright green eyes. She hadn’t noticed them before but now, now their bright green color shimmered with tears in his eyes. They glistened like perfectly cut emeralds set into his face like portals set to see into his saddened soul. Rarity would have fallen in love if she had seen. Twilight couldn’t only see the tragedy behind them and could almost see the memories playing out in Seb’s mind. A sudden splash of red in the water made Twilight jump. She looked up and saw blood dripping from Seb’s lips. His eyes had dulled and he had gone pale without her even noticing.
“Seb?” She stood up but he didn’t answer. His eyes closed on instinct, his body sliding partially into the cool waters as unconsciousness greeted him with open arms.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seb opened his eyes to find himself in a bed. He looked around and saw Twilight, her magic enveloping a feather duster to clean the shelves around them. He let out a soft groan as he tried to sit up and Twilight turned around.
“Good morning. You gave us quite a scare yesterday.” Twilight said cheerfully, levitating a glass of water towards him as he fully sat up. He took the glass in his hand before taking small and easy sips.
He pulled the drink from his lips. “Yesterday?”He croaked, his voice was hoarse once more.
“You passed out on the river bank and managed to sleep through the whole night.” Twilight explained, turning away. He nodded, slowly remembering what had occurred the day before. He vaguely recalled Twilight calling for help and the others dragging his wet body out of the water. After that, everything was a dark shadow.
“I was just wondering, who was Trisha?” Twilight asked in her ever curious nature.
The sound of glass creaking and straining made Twilight turn around suddenly. Seb’s glass was starting to crack as small fractures covered the front of the glass before shattering along the lines. Water and broken glass splashed all over Seb’s pants. Twilight gasped before realizing the question she had just asked. She walked slowly over to his side once more.
“I shouldn’t have said anything, I’m sorry.” She said before picking up the various shards of glass that had found their way onto the floor and onto Seb himself.
“I’ll get it.” He muttered in a small voice.
“I don’t mind.” Twilight replied.
“I said I’ll fucking get it!” Seb snapped angrily. His fist clenching tightly, pushing the glass shards in his hand deep into the skin.
Twilight gasped and jumped back. She let Seb slide out of the bed and start cleaning up the glass. She watched him as his legs shook, fighting to hold up his body though they were weak. She thought about pleading with him to lay back down but he seemed too angry to even attempt that sort of feat.
“... She was my Fiance.” Seb said with finality, dumping the last of the glass into a trash can close to the bed. Twilight listened with considerate silence. “I was stealing some jewels from a family that lived down the street from Trisha. I was hopping fences when I got one of my attacks. I crashed into her backyard while she was watering her Irises.” He gave a traitorous sigh. “They were her favorite flowers. She could have called the cops on me, I would have personally... but she didn’t.”
He took a desperate glance at the unicorn’s face before continuing. “She took me inside her home and gave me a place to sleep. She fed me and took care of me until I was better. By that time, I was completely taken by her. She was beautiful, gentle, and far too kind for her own good. She had fallen for my charm as well and I began going to her house almost every day. Her father hated it but she didn’t care in the least. I went to her house one day and she told me she was pregnant. The idea of settling down and becoming a father seemed like a distant dream but the possibility was in my grasp.” He felt a hoof rest itself on him but he didn’t truthfully care to acknowledge it much.
“After a few months I had stolen enough money to buy a ring and ask her to marry me. She said yes and told me we were going to have a boy. We use to have little fights over what to name him. She would just take the moment aside, shake her head and smile. She would kiss me and tell me that we had time and would think of a name later.” He let out a wavering breath as tears began swelling in his eyes.
“ It was after that, when I went to her house while her dad was away that I found someone who shouldn’t have been there. I didn’t even have time to even say a word before the bastard shot Trisha. I tried to fight him, to bring any small justice to his crimes but he shot at me too. The bullet grazed my side but the wound was enough. He escaped and all I could do was hold the love of my life’s dead body in my hands. Even my unborn child couldn’t be saved.” Seb choked back tears as he finished his story.
Twilight was fighting a desperate battle to keep the tears in her eyes from spilling out but it was ultimately in vain, her face was already stained with tears. Seb finished cleaning off the bed and sat back down on it. Between his story and his weak legs he couldn’t stay up any longer than he had already managed to. He couldn’t understand why he had told Twilight all of that, he only knew if he hadn’t she’d have kept asking about it.
Twilight left the subject alone for the rest of the day and allowed Seb to relax in peace while she finished cleaning.