//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Lost In Her Dream // Story: The Life and Times of a Tea Pony // by FlutterChai //------------------------------// “What do you think?” My heart began to race as I saw the one pony in my life that could truly make me more happy than anypony else. It was hard to see exactly what he looked like in the dark, but I knew deep down that it was him. I tried to tell him how handsome he looked as he walked closer to me as I laid down on the couch in my cottage’s living room. “You... you look...” I stuttered out, though something in my voice sounded different. Was it one of his spells that he put on me? Or was I different mare entirely? I could feel my wings open up almost as if a reflex as he inched closer to the sofa. He chuckled at the reaction, making my cheeks feel hot as they reddened from the embarrassment. “There’s no need to be embarrassed you know,” he said in his sultry yet comforting tone. I felt his hoof touch mine as my heart began to pound even faster. “Maybe this was a bad idea.” He pulls away, looking off into the darkness from the dim light of the candles on the mantle of the fireplace. “N-no!” I shouted out, feeling the same way he did. I moved to reach out and wrap my forehooves around him before he could say another thing. “Don’t go.” I listened closer to my voice. It was most definitely different, not only in volume but the way it sounded. Even when I stuttered it wasn’t that loud or excitable, but rather an obvious shy and reserved tone, even when I was with my special somepony. My thoughts drifted as the scene continued. “Maybe you’d like to try?” the unicorn asked, having a certain glimmer in his eye. I felt my throat gulp at the idea of his magic being used on me but this wasn’t the first time that he has suggested it. “I-I-I don’t know. It sounds way too weird for me. I really like you like this though.” So why was I acting like this was the first time? My voice became clearer as I thought more on where I had heard it before. “Are you sure? I’ve done it with her plenty of times in the past.” Her? Who’s her? I thought he was my one and only special somepony? What’s going on here? “Oh, I think this will work out just fine.” I said, using my wings to fly over to the unicorn half shrouded in the darkness. I moved my hoof to his muzzle, lifting his chin up only to see that the golden-yellow coat was replaced with a strangely familiar cyan color. That’s where I had heard the voice before! It was... Before I could take control of the scene in question, my lips that I had just discovered were not my own had kissed him, locking the two ponies in a passionate embrace. As I closed my eyes to continue the scene, beyond my control, I screamed as I was pushed back into reality. --- Waking up in a new darkness of my Los Pegasus apartment, I could feel the sweat coming down from my forehead. All I could think about was that mare and him. And how it wasn’t me. My hoof instinctively went for the telephone on the nightstand of the bed, except as I picked up the receiver, I remembered that there wasn’t a phone in my cottage. I sighed and hung up the phone before lying back in bed, looking up to the ceiling. It had felt so real and yet, the warmth of being near him was taken away so quickly. I looked out of the window to see the Applewood sign still lit up in the night on the mountain. Unable to get back to sleep, I got up from the covers and walked over to the desk, turning on the light. There were a few opened envelopes on the table, each with their respective letter that had arrived earlier in the week. Sitting down at the desk, I pulled the closest one and began to read it under the light. “To my dear friend Fluttershy, I do hope that Los Pegasus is treating you well, darling. I have but the utmost support in your business and you can always count on Carousel Boutique to help out an entrepreneur pony with her business, especially with uniforms and the like! Your animals are doing fine according to Spike, although all of them are still sleeping for winter. Spring is right around the corner so I’ll be sure to tell Spikey-Wikey to check more regularly for you and make sure that they’re all fed and taken care of. Opalescence has been quite of an issue around the shop lately though. She keeps sniffing Spike’s scales and then scratching him with her claws and scowling and I haven’t the slightest clue why! Oh well, I’m sure it’s probably some new cologne that he has own from Canterlot or something. Also, I asked Spike to look into that ‘special somepony’ of yours in your cottage but he says that there’s not a single picture or anything of him in there at all. It’s nice to have your fantasy, darling, but you must actually try to find somepony before all the good ones are taken! You don’t want to have to settle one of Applejack’s many relatives, do you? Anyways, best wishes with your café, darling. Everypony is cheering you on back here in Ponyville and you must invite us all down for the grand opening! Your fabulous friend, always, Lady Rarity” Reading the well-crafted and perfume-scented letter out loud made me feel a bit better, knowing that Rarity really wants me to succeed at this. With such elegant stationary and the way she uses her quill to write out her script, it makes every letter she sends look like a fancy invitation to a Canterlot party. Holding the lavender scented letter close to my chest, I put it back down on the table and picked up the second letter, written on bright pink paper with what looked to be a very dark blue crayon in a much more messy script. “HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!! Fluttershy! You didn’t tell me that you had left to Los Pegasus! I had to find out from Rarity when I ambushed her on her way to the spa when I noticed that you weren’t with her! Oh my gosh! Are you trying to become a Wonderbolt just like Dashie? Please don’t forget about us! I miss having you around to play party games when everypony else is busy! Dashie is still working as her pega-pony self so things have been really boring here in Sugarcube Corner! Do you know how hard it is to teach a foal how to hold a controller for a racing game? All they want to do is suck on the buttons! Eww! Unicorn slobber! I miss you! Please come back soon so we can have fun! Or I can go over there! Where is Los Pegasus?! Do I need a tomato to get there? Can I go by train? Are the trains running still? Can Twilight fly me there? Oh wait, Twilight doesn’t have wings! Oh my gosh, I’m running out of room on the paper! Talk to later, Fluttershy! (Pinkie Pie)” I had to smile at Pinkie’s letter, especially since she spent so much time writing on it, all she could do to sign it was draw a pony with a poofy mane in the bottom right corner. Even if she didn’t make a whole lot of sense at times, I still knew that she cared about me and I did enjoy having the time off to play some games with her. Not to say that anypony else that didn’t send me a letter didn’t. I’m sure Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash are busy with something else is all. My thoughts drifted back to the dream and all that time mending my heart seemed to break away again. I tried to think back to a good morning with him, waking up to him making pancakes in the cottage with the sweet smell of syrup in the air. A comforting thought only to be popped away as the familiar blue mare started being served the delicious pancakes instead of me. The impulse to grab the quill on the table and start writing out every bad thing that I could think of him came quickly as my hoof already went through the motion. But right before the ink touched the paper, I stopped myself. I was getting worked up over a dream. Something that I don’t even know was real or not. But my heart ached all the same as a chilling wind blew through the lonely apartment, with nopony but myself around. Seeing the quill in my hoof, I figured I would at least write something. “To my special somepony, I haven’t received your letter yet but then again I don’t know if you even got it in the mail or not. I sent it to the cottage, but I don’t know if you have even gone lately. I have gotten letters from Rarity and Pinkie Pie but nopony else. Things haven’t exactly been going well over here. Everypony has been asking so much of me that I really haven’t had any time to myself. I miss my friends. I miss my critter friends. But most importantly, I miss you so much and I want to go home soon... Yours always and forever, FlutterChai” I wanted to write more but getting that out on paper was enough to settle my thoughts enough for the time of reality to catch up to me. After a quick yawn, I sealed up the letter written on some stationary that I found and made sure that the mailmare could see it in the morning. Crawling back under the covers, I still felt cold and alone compared to my nights back in the cottage but at least I knew my friends are supporting me through all of this. As I drifted back to sleep, my thoughts went back to the days in Ponyville where this dream began.