A/N: There is some (I mean alot) language in this chapter( warning you in advance. (Able has some issues))
"And this little piggy went to the market, this one played in the mud." He cracked his eyes hoping that it wasn't his crazy landlady again, thinking he was some type of alien, and claiming that his toes would tell her the truth. Come to think of it he was glad he was moving out in a week.
"And this one cried wee wee wee all the way home." He mumbled tiredly, only to be met by a surprised yelp and a blur of movement behind the nearby armchair. He groggily rolled over, not realizing that he was already on the edge of the rather plush couch.
--
Harper took another sip of tea, the whole night Stormy was kicking and thrashing around in bed. He knew she was well rested since she seemed to literally spring out of bed just as he was finally starting to doze off. Sighing he took another long gulp of tea. As he put his cup down, he heard a loud thud come from his living room. as well as a tired moan.
"Looks like Able is awake." He looked at his kitchen, at best he maybe had a box of straw flakes he could offer him, as he thought about his food situation he looked to the entrance of the kitchen, where Able was shambling in like he was on autopilot."Good morning." he greeted the tired human.
All Able did was what he guessed was a good morning mixed with a tired grunt. As he opened the fridge he sat the for a second and mumbled. "No milk."
He tilted his head over to the cabinet and opened it producing both a bowl and the half empty box of straw flakes. Harper couldn't help but smile on the inside, after all if humans were supposed to be some mythical creature of destruction they certainly didn't handle waking up in the morning to well.
As he poured the cereal into the bowl he walked over to the sink and pulled out a spoon and turned on the faucet. Apparently still on autopilot he let some fill is bowl before taking a seat at the table, and taking a spoonful of the cereal and start eating it.
Harper caught himself staring at Able as he slowly and loudly chewed his cereal.Just then Able spit it out of his mouth loudly.
"Oh my god, what is that stuff?" he looked around and paused when his eyes landed on Harper. "What the hell are you?" Harper rolled his eyes.
"We've been through this Able."
"Did.. did you just talk? How the hell do you know my name?" Able pointed the spoon at him.
"Do you really not remember last night at all?" Harper snagged the spoon from Ables hand and dropped it back into the sink.
"I remember a lightning storm and....." His eyes widened as a sudden realization donned on him. "This is real isn't it? No that's crazy, horses don't talk," He looked at Harper. "I mean look at me I'm talking to a unicorn for gods sake. Thats it I high or something."
"Well to be frank Humans don't exist here, let alone talk and you thought you were high last night. " Harper pushed his tea cup to the side. " Which to the best of my knowledge, you weren't."
Able looked at Harper a mixture of shock an fear in his eyes. Harper glanced to the kitchens entrance where Stormy was shyly peaking in.
"I need to walk." Able pushed past the chair in between them and opened the backdoor. "I'll be back... eventually." and with that he closed it behind him. After a few moments Stormy trotted in.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" Stormy asked as she trotted up the kitchen window, and watched as Able bewilderingly walked into the treeline.
Harper looked at the partially eaten cereal and sighed."I don't know, I really don't know."
--
Able burst through another bush causing a few birds nearby to scatter. He couldn't believe this. Was Michelle really this much of a total bitch. He remembered some of the crazy shit she would put people through when they pissed her off, but this?
"Very funny Michelle. I don't know what I did to get on your shit list, But this is pretty fucking elaborate." He looked up at the sky, it was completely clear save for a few stray clouds that were drifting lazily in the wind.
Able got angry, why was the world all bright and happy when he was literally a mile deep in this shit. He thought of Michelle that heartless bitch sitting down somewhere and laughing her ass off.
"Had I known that something like this would have happened I would have pushed your ass in front of that bus." He saw a mostly rotted out tree and kicked it in half. "You bitch, when I see your ass it's going to be your last day on earth." He fumed angrily. "And fucking talking horses, are fucking you shitting me. Do I look like I'm five. Here the hell do you find these drugs."
Able kicked the other half of the rotting tree causing it to topple over in a dirty mess. Able unable to vent his rage any other way just shouted as he pulverized the piece of wood with his foot pretending it was Michelle's face.
--
Harper sighed looking at the last half of his daisy sandwich. Both he and Stormy had been shopping in the market for about two hours now, he decided to take a break and let her buy some stuff she wanted to get. Though all he could think about what would happen if anyone found Able, he looked out at the street, taking note of all the vendors, most of them ponies, with a few minotaurs and griffins scattered about both at the stalls and shopping.
"Harper," He looked up to see Stormy with several bulging burlap sacks draped on her sides. "I picked up, some onions and celery, for soup." She smiled as she trotted over to the small cart that held all the other groceries they had picked up and put the sacks inside. "You seem a little distant at the moment." She sat down across from him staring at him with her soft green eyes.
"Just thinking is all." He slid his sandwich over to her.
"Able?" Harper nodded.
"If, he is what you said he is then, we might have problem if somepony sees him, especially how he seems to freak out every time we talk around him." Harper rested his head on the table.
"Actually Harper, your the only one who talks to him." She took a small bite out of the daisy sandwich. "I'm personally to afraid to talk to him."
"But you can at least be around him, I'm just afraid of what other ponies will do if they find him, sweet Luna what would he do?" He looked up at the crowd all milling about minding their own business he wondered what a human in the mix would do. "The closest thing I can compare this to is that dragon Lyra says lives in Ponyville."
"And how did they respond?" Stormy nibbled a little more on her sandwich.
"Stormy its Ponyville so many disasters and weird things happen there its amazing the princesses haven't sealed it off from the rest of Equestria. I think they could afford to ignore a dragon walking around town."
" Good point but, you've seen how many minotuars live here?" Stormy waved her hoof to a small group of minotuars arm wrestling at a table. "I think he could blend in a little bit. you know because he's basically a smaller weirder looking one of them."
Harper rubbed his temples. "No he couldn't he doesn't look enough like them, and the only reason we have so many minotaurs here is because we're close to the border of Minos. Someones bond to ask questions about him." He pulled some bits out of his saddlebag and tossed them on the table. "We better get back and make sure Able doesn't hurt himself."
"Hey Harper," His ears perked at the familiar voice. He turned to see a dark green mare in a brown vest with the Equestrian rangers emblem on it, skid to a halt near his cart. It became clear she had been running for some time as she tiredly trotted the rest of the way trying to catch her breath.
" Oh, hey Holly." Stormy hopped up and gave her a friendly hoof bump which the green mare returned weakly.
"Me and Evergreen saw something in the woods close to your house," She panted for a moment before continuing. " Whatever it was it was loud and looked violent."
Harper felt his heart skip a beat. "What did it look like?" he asked hoping that Able hadn't been found out and maybe even caught.
"It kinda looked like a hairless chimp but taller, and with clothes or something like that on. It was shouting and kicking trees and throwing things everywhere." She looked up at Harper, " Me and Evergreen are going to close down the forest for a bit until whatever it is moves on or..." she gulped looking down at the ground in shame. "We may have to put it down."
Harpers mind ground to a halt at her last statement.He knew the Equestrian rangers were supposed to stop the occasional manitcore or chimera from getting into town and hurting somepony but all they would use were loud fireworks to scare them off, but killing something that seemed a little to far.
"I thought I should let you know since you live close to the forest." Holly said before turning tail and galloped off to town hall, most likely alert the mayor of the situation.
"Harper..." Stormy rested her hoof on his shoulder.
"Lets get back home, I have an idea."
--
Able sat in the clearing clearly he had lost it, hell he was probably being tossed into a padded cell after trying to bite somebodies ear off right now. He listened to the birds wondering if the calls were from his memories or were they just something he made up to give voice to something familiar to him since them being real was far fetched to say the least.
He looked up at the sky once more, it was partly cloudy and nice a lot like they day that bastard Trent came into his life, he really couldn't blame his mom after dad died.But Trent hated him, all because he reminded his mom of what she lost or so Trent claimed when he shipped him off to some boarding school in the ass end of nowhere Kansas. Naturally he did everything he could to get the hell back home and kick his ass.
He waited though for one Sunday dinner to do it. He brought up the fact that Ables dad had saved up a college fund under his name that would have easily paid for everything he could possibly think of with a full ride mixed with all the other scholarships he earned in that miserable boarding school. But Trent kept on insisting that he and his mom needed the money so they could help raise his half sister Leah. Trent demanded that he sign it over to him right there, the bastard even had the account transfer papers right there at the table.
He clenched his fists, regretting not punching out the smug bastard right then and there. But he remembered something his father told him. 'Smile, in the face of your enemies and no matter what they say or do you win.' He smiled at Trent and his mother, at this point the only one in this dysfunctional family who hadn't put him through hell was Leah and she was hardly a month old. He remembered what he said as if they were the first words off some epic monologue. "Trent, fuck you, if anyone in this family is getting that money it sure as hell wont be you, or her." He remembered the frightened gasp of his mother as well as Leah starting to cry. "If any one of you assholes is getting money in this house its going to be the one, who has yet to wrong me."
He remembered his mothers face, but more importantly what Trent did next. He kicked him out, nothing but the clothes on his back and his fathers umbrella, which he took as a final fuck you to his mother, she didn't deserve any of his things if she was just going to let Trent stomp all over it. it was in that cloudy and soon to be stormy afternoon when he met Michelle at the bus station.
He looked up from his hands and saw a rabbit curiously staring at him, he reached his hand out to it slowly. If this was real this rabbit should have scurried away to his family unless.
"Hey there little guy, are alone like me?" he stopped mere inches away from its head as it cautiously started to sniff his fingers, before rubbing its head in his palm. He couldn't believe how soft it was. He pulled his had away from it, and it looked back up at him curiously.
"So tell me something." He returned its curious gaze. "Can you talk too?" Able watched as the rabbit tilted its head at his question. "Okay then, are you real?" He swore he saw it nod slightly. "So I'm losing my mind and seeing talking horses." this time the rabbit shook its head.
Able face palmed ." So I made a complete ass of myself, walking away from the only one of them that not only saved my life, but was willing to put up with my shit." The thought that he was still talking to a sentient rabbit came to the fore front of his mind. He looked up to see the rabbit patting him on the leg. "Thanks... I think." He stood up and smiled down to the rabbit, he looked it in the eyes and for the briefest of second he could of sworn he saw something familiar in them. He started walking back to Harpers house to apologize.
--
"You want to do what." Stormy closed the cabinet door so she could make sure she heard Harper right.
"I'm going to go into the forest and sneak Able out. Simple." Harper called out from the living room.
"Then why do you need me?" Stormy trotted into the living room to see the stallion sorting through a bunch of old records.
"In case Evergreen or Holly decide to check in ," He pulled out a old record and blew the dust off it. "Say I'm playing a harp solo for you or something and if they try to get in, stop them."
"Thats just crazy Harper, its almost sunset and your going into the woods, where Celestia knows what is out there." She all but shouted at him. But Harper was busy putting the old record into the record player.
"Stormy, I have a better idea of what's out there then Able, and besides this is nothing compared to all those adventures Lyra dragged us around on when we were younger." He brought her in for a hug, which she wearily returned a blush starting to grow on her face. "It's a Heartstrings thing. Just trust me." He whispered.
"Just be safe out there okay, you know Lyra and I wouldn't forgive you if you got hurt." She let Harper out of the embrace.
"Come on, you two were always the reason I got hurt in the first place." He smiled as he went to the door. He turned around and flicked his left ear twice.
"Be back before midnight." Stormy said as she flicked her ear twice as well. With that Harper closed the door and headed off to the treeline.
Stormy trotted up to the window and delicately reached a hoof up to her ear, of all the things Harper could have done or said he did that. She sat and waited until he disappeared into the woods. It was always Harper doing those weird things like that. Even when they were younger, of course back then he was probably the least social colt in the history of Equestria, he could blend in anywhere because nopony would notice him or even care, he was about as interesting as air.
It was actually kinda funny when she thought about it, before she knew Lyra she had no idea who Harper was, even though he sat right in front of her in school for the last three years. He really wasn't that approachable when he was younger either, always sitting alone at lunch drawing or reading sheet music. She always wondered why the only pony he talked to was Lyra, after all she was one of the more popular fillies at the school, and he would go out of his way and through her friends just to talk to her. She remembered hearing some of the rumors going around the playground that Lyra and Harper secretly had a crush on each other and were going to get married in the summer, and with her curiosity peaked she asked Harper himself.
It turned out they were cousins, something that Stormy found strangely relieving even to this day. But then Harper started going out of his way to talk to her. At first it was little things like 'Hey check out this bird I drew.' and 'Did I tell you my favorite color is green.' then he started talking about music like how he played the harp, and something about Belltrotters fourth melody. Stormy paused, almost forgetting Harper turned on the record player earlier, she wasn't much for music but the harp solo that was filling the air reminded her of the day Harper invited her to his recital just before Hearths Warming Eve.
Her parents said she should go, since Harper seemed like a nice colt albeit a bit shy, and the fact that he invited her himself meant something. When she got there she noticed Harpers ear flick twice and the filly in front of her do the same as he setup. When she tried to get a better look at who it was to her surprise it was Lyra, after some idle chat before Harper started, she had found out that Lyra had convinced Harper to invite her since she was his only friend who wasn't related to him. When she asked about the ear flicking all Lyra did was smile and say ' It's a Heartstrings thing.'
During the recital Harper played an amazing piece, all the ponies attending were entranced by it. But all Stormy could focus on was the near instantaneous flick of both Lyra and Harpers ears every once and a while when he was playing the more complicated crescendo and decrescendo of the song. When he finished and all the ponies started cheering Lyra being the loudest of all the audience, kept calling for an encore or another piece.
It wasn't until a little after the recital when most of the ponies cleared out that she congratulated Harper, who for some reason seemed a little down. When she asked him whats wrong he told her that he messed up the whole thing. Lyra came just in the nick of time and told him that he didn't mess up at all but rather put his own spin on it, Stormy for the most part told him it was perfect, but both Harper and Lyra's ears flicked at what she said that causing them to laugh.
--
"Harper, why do you let yourself get into these situations," He said as he picked his way through a couple spiny bushes. He had been heading straight this whole time, hoping that Able did something similar so he wouldn't have to be out all night looking for him.
"Psst, Harper."
He paused and looked around and saw no one there, he looked up half expecting Stormy to have followed him. But there was nothing save for the starry sky and a few tree branches. He heard some rustling to his right and saw what looked like a hoof poking out of a huge bush beckoning him closer.
"Over here, come on it's dangerous out here."
Cautiously trotting up to the large bush he looked it over. "How do I..." He watched as the bush began looming over him and then fall fall on top of him. To anyone who had no idea what was going on it looked like the bush just gobbled him up whole.
"Harper, didn't you hear what Holly said," Harper found himself eye to eye with possible the largest mare he has ever met, her horn the only thing providing some dim light in the leafy fortress.
"I thought she said tomorrow." Harper lied causing his ear to twitch, much to the green mares annoyance.
"Look Harper, we're doing our job here, if my big sister says we are closing the forest than you can bet your flank we mean right then." She glared at him in utter silence for a few moments before a distant snap made her turn around.
"What is-"
"Shhh, it's right over there." she pointed with her hoof in the distance. Squinting it quickly became clear that it was Able careful picking his way through the dark forest.
"Are you going to put him down?" Harper asked trying to hide his desire to tell Able to run or try and stop her from doing it.
"Not if I can help it," Evergreen hefted a crossbow into her hooves the bolt however looked like a large syringe. "We got a shipment of tranquilizers last month. It gets to go beddy bye and then we relocate it away from town. Nopony gets hurt, and we wont have to hurt him." She started lining up the shot, now prone she lay perfectly still as she steadied her aim and finally released the bolt.
From what Harper could tell it was a little to far forward causing it to embed itself into the tree just in front of Able. Harper quietly thanked Celestia for Evergreens missed shot but now she was scrambling to her hooves trying to reload, before Able could start running away.
"Harper get that bag and toss me another bolt." She cocked the crossbow again, though she already had another bolt in there it quickly became clear that she was trying to keep shooting until she hit him. She stood up on her hindlegs belly deep in a thorny bush getting ready to fire
As she lined up the second shot Harper saw Able look directly at them and start running to his house now using the trees for cover.. Seeing his chance to let Able get away Harper pulled a bolt the bag and quickly stuck it in the mares flank, she had fired the shot off before she limply feel to the ground snoring lightly, just as Able ducked behind another pine tree the bolt narrowly missing him.
"Able! Wait," He looked back at the unconscious mare. "Dang it." He knew he couldn't leave her out here like this.
--
Able saw Harpers house from his hiding spot in the tree line, he peaked around cautiously after all he was almost shot a couple minutes ago, but it didn't sound like whoever did it was following him that didn't mean however that they didn't have friends looking for him to.
He looked around the clearing that separated him from safety, the only movement he saw was the flicker of a few fireflies further down the treeline. He decided to go for it, keeping low he ran across the clearing to the backdoor and knocked on it. He heard what sounded like someone drop some silverware.
"Harper is that you?" the door creaked open slightly.
"No its Able." All he heard then was a frightened squeak as the door lazily opened. Not wasting any time he slipped in and closed the door and let out a sigh. "Oh thank god that's over with."
"I..is Harper with you?" Able turned his head to see Stormy cowering behind one of the dining room chairs.
"No, I thought he was here." Able looked around the kitchen, apparently Stormy was making some soup since three bowls were siting next to a slightly bubbling pot of what smelled faintly like onion.
"He went out there looking for you," Stormy emerged from behind the chair a hint of urgency starting to rise in her words. "Somepony, said they saw you earlier shouting and throwing things in the forest. Then they closed down the forest saying you might hurt somepony." Able was a little surprised that someone saw him lose it, but more surprised that Harper risked getting into a trouble for him.
Able looked outside at the treeline, and back at Stormy. "I'll head back out there and try and to find him." He started for the door.
"Wait, I should go, I could find him faster from the sky then you can." Able sighed she had a good point but she missed one important thing.
"Stormy what if another pony drops by?" Almost on queue there was a knock at the front door. Able looked at the mare and smiled, "Trust me, if a human opened that door it would be a disaster."
Able watched as Stormy trotted numbly to the front door, he understood why she was upset she was forced to wait here hopping that her friend would come back in one piece completely powerless if something happened to him. he quickly stepped up to her,and knelled down so that he didn't tower over her.
"Harper is okay, after all he did face down a human and live to tell the tale." He rested his hand on her shoulder. " That and he has someone to come back to." He looked up as the the knocking on the door soon became a loud pounding. Able stood up and ducked beside the fridge as Stormy opened the door.
"Harper!" Able relaxed a little knowing he could walk out from his hiding spot.
"Hey there Stormy, I saw Able ,but well..." He trailed off as Able walked into the living room.
"Hey there," Able smiled though Harper for the most part looked like he ran a marathon with one leg.
"Able, oh thank Celestia your okay. You didn't get hit did you." Harper gently pushed past Stormy , his horn lighting up as he trotted closer to him. Able felt a firm slap on his face from a rolled up newspaper. "That was for making us worry about you," He then stood on his hind legs and gave Able a hug. "And this is for being okay."
"Hey, hate to break up the reunion here but well," Stormy pointed to the snoring heap that was Evergreen. "What do we do with her?"