Roses are Red: Chapter 9
Lilo and Carbon lay staring up at the ceiling in Carbon’s bed. Trickles of morning sunlight shone through the string holes in the blinds, dousing the room in a faint glow of light, while the first sounds of a rousing Canterlot echoed their way through one of the open windows. The air around Lilo felt warm and thick, saturated from the love in the air, the heat from the sun, and the warm remnants of sweat and exhaustion radiating from both of their bodies. Lilo sighed and looked over at Carbon.
“What did you call that one thing that you did?” Carbon asked, facing Lilo. “The one with your tongue.”
“Oh, the, uh... The Monkey Eats the Mango?” Lilo asked, blushing.
“Yeah, that,” Carbon said, gazing back up at the ceiling. “Wait, is that really what it is called?”
Lilo hid her face under the covers. “No. I just made it up on the spot.”
Carbon chuckled. “You have quite the imagination, you know that?”
Lilo scooted closer to Carbon, wrapping her hooves around him and resting her head onto his chest. Carbon started, but when he felt Lilo’s head on his chest, he wrapped one of his hooves around the back of her neck and hugged her closer. Lilo heard the quiet beats of Carbon’s heart thumping inside of his chest, and she purred.
“You know, last night was one of the best nights I have ever experienced,” Carbon said.
Lilo looked up and nipped at Carbon’s chin. “Is there a night that could have been better?”
“Well, there was my college graduation party,” Carbon said, meeting Lilo’s nips with a kiss, “but I didn’t get to have kinky changeling sex that night so it wasn’t quite as good.”
Lilo giggled and tightened her grip around Carbon’s waist. “Can we just stay in bed all day?”
“I wish we could,” Carbon said, sighing, “but I need to go to work today. I’ve already used up three out of ten of my sick days this week.” Lilo nuzzled Carbon. “Lilo, I’ll be back home tonight before dinner. Don’t worry.”
“Can I come with you to work today?” Lilo asked.
Looking up at the ceiling and rolling his eyes, Carbon began to stroke Lilo between her wing joints. She shuddered from his touch, letting out a soft moan as he continued. Carbon chuckled.
“You know you’re not going to be able to follow me back into the research labs, right?” he asked.
“I know,” Lilo said, fluttering her wings. “I just want to play with the foals.”
Carbon stopped rubbing Lilo between her wings and looked down at her again. One of her ears twitched, and he smiled.
“Of course you can come to work with me,” he said.
~~~
Canterlot University rivaled Canterlot Castle in both size and grandeur. The university’s white walls glimmered from the sunlight, shining as a definite beacon from its location atop a hill in one of Canterlot’s wealthier districts. Domes of marble, gold, and lapis lazuli hovered over various sections of the castle and pierced into the blue sky, while various buildings around the castle literally floated above the building itself, perched on top of pieces of earth that had been ripped from the ground. There were no chains, ropes, or ladders connected to the floating buildings, allowing for them to stay aloft over the university.
Lilo’s mouth remained agape as she and Carbon stood at the bottom of the long staircase that led up to the front doors of the university itself. The university, aside from the castle, was one of the most innovative buildings in Equestria, displaying the pinnacle of creativity and complexity of Equestria’s leading architects, engineers, and arcane masters.
“It’s so beautiful,” Lilo said, swishing her pink and white “Rosebud” tail back and forth.
“It is quite a sight to see,” Carbon said, nodding his head and starting his ascent up the staircase. Lilo quickly began her climb with him. “Ponies from all over the world come to simply see the splendor of the castle and university.”
“How do unicorns and earth ponies get up to those floating buildings?” Lilo asked, looking at one large building in particular.
“About two years ago,” Carbon began, glancing in the direction Lilo was looking, “the unicorn research teams discovered a new arcane teleportation method that successfully teleported Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns great distances without the use of a continuous stream of magic.” He pointed to the massive tapestry draping over the front of the university. On it was a queer-looking arcane circle. “They look sort of like that. All you need to do to use it is step on it, and it will take you to the destination where its sister circle has been placed. I’ll show you after work today.”
“Is there one that leads to the medical wing?” Lilo asked hopefully.
“No,” Carbon replied, shaking his head, “although the arcane circles are completely safe to use, the risk of sending an injured or sick pony through the circle is still speculative. It could disrupt the magic field or harm the pony if there should happen to be a sudden magical surge when teleporting.”
“You seem to know a lot about these arcane circles,” Lilo said, bumping her flank against Carbon.
“I attended their unveiling two years ago. I had a paper to write so I used it as a source for my argument as a senior,” Carbon replied with a shrug.
They pushed their way through the massive front doors of the university and Carbon immediately took a right turn down a massive, spacious hallway. Enormous stain glass windows adorned the right side of the hallway, letting in a remarkable amount of light through the colorful pictures that had been shaped with the glass. The ceiling above was pointed in an arch, and chandeliers floated above the unattached to any chain or rope. To left of the hallway were various wooden doors and staircases that led to classrooms or offices.
After a few minutes of walking, and after Carbon spontaneously stopping in front of Lilo so that she could collide with his flank, earning him a tug on his tail that caused him to yelp, they reached a pair of double doors with a large sign plastered over them.
“Ah, here we are,” Carbon said, pushing one of the doors open. “The medical and research wing. The foal’s wing is just through those doors.”
Lilo followed Carbon’s hoof towards a set of double doors. The doors had a few childish decorations on them with various crude, colorful drawings strewn across the tops and bottoms. Carbon cantered over and pushed the doors open, allowing for a wave of gleeful shouts to pierce Lilo’s ears.
“Carbon!” a few of the foals shouted, dropping some of the toys or pencils and crayons they were using and galloping over to both Carbon and Lilo. Fillies and colts of all different colors and sizes were wildly skipping around or staring up at them both. Lilo’s eyes were wide.
“Hey, Teak!” Carbon said enthusiastically, kneeling down in front of a silver filly. Lilo noticed that the filly didn’t have any hair on her head.
“Carbon, I’ve missed you!” Teak said, nuzzling against Carbon’s cheek. “It’s been almost two weeks since I last saw you! Where have you been?”
“Sorry, Teak,” Carbon said, patting the filly’s head. “I’ve been busy with work and my new friend here.” He gestured at Lilo. “Would you like to meet her?”
Teak stared up at Lilo with large eyes. Her white tail was swishing back and forth. Lilo lay down in front of Teak with a pleasant smile on her face and she offered a hoof towards the little filly, who took the hoof gingerly.
“Hi, Teak,” Lilo said, tilting her head. “My name is Lilo.”
“Are you Carbon’s fillyfriend?” Teak asked.
Lilo blushed and looked at Carbon.
“Yes, yes you could say that I am,” she said, looking back at Teak.
“Have you gone on any dates yet?” Teak asked Carbon with a wide grin.
Carbon chuckled. “I’d love to stay and talk with you, Teak, but I have to go to work.”
“Awww,” Teak whined, looking at Carbon with big eyes.
“But you’ll have Lilo to play with you,” Carbon said, winking. He then rose to his hooves and turned to Lilo. “I’ll be off work in about six hours. I’ll see you then?”
Lilo nodded her head and—before Carbon could turn and walk out of the room—leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on his lips. Carbon smiled, and then departed the room, leaving Lilo alone with the foals. Teak was staring up at Lilo, and when Lilo looked around the room, she saw that several of the other foals were staring at her as well. Next to Teak was a piece of paper with some kind of drawing on it. Lilo tilted her head.
“What are you drawing, Teak?” Lilo asked. A few of the foals went back to playing with their toys or coloring.
Teak looked down at the piece of paper and stepped on it with her hoof, hiding it from Lilo’s view. Lilo raised an eyebrow and flicked her tail.
“It’s, uh, nothing,” Teak said, flushing. “I’m not drawing anything.”
“Are you sure?” Lilo asked, lying back down so she was eye level with the filly. “I thought I saw some colors on that piece of paper.”
Teak kicked one of her hooves against the floor and looked down. Lilo frowned, and leaned her head forward so she could nuzzle the filly.
“What’s wrong?” Lilo asked.
“The other foals make fun of me for my drawings,” Teak said. “They say I’m weird for drawing them and sometimes throw them in the trash.”
“Well, that’s very mean of them,” Lilo said, glancing at the other foals in the room. A few met her gaze and quickly looked away, returning to occupying themselves with their toys or drawings.
“I get their point, though,” Teak continued. “What I draw probably isn’t normal for other foals to draw. My mother tells me otherwise, but I think she is just trying to cheer me up.”
“Can you show me your drawing?” Lilo asked, giving Teak a hopeful smile.
Teak nodded and removed her hooves from the paper before picking it up and showing Lilo. On the paper was a crude drawing of a changeling. Lilo’s breath caught in her throat, and she looked past the piece of paper at Teak.
“You draw pictures of changelings?” Lilo asked.
“Yeah,” Teak said, dropping the paper on the floor. “Ponies keep telling me that changelings are bad because they attacked Canterlot. A lot of buildings were damaged and a lot of ponies were hurt when they attacked and stuff. I still see a lot of buildings that still need to be repaired by the city.
“I don’t think changelings are bad ponies, though.” Teak shook her head and sat down. “They may have attacked the city and hurt ponies, but everypony has to have a reason for why they do something. A pony wouldn’t just outright hurt some other pony unless they have a reason. I mean, maybe some ponies have bad intentions for why they hurt somepony, but I don’t think the changelings had bad intentions.”
Lilo stared in awe at the filly in front of her. Teak took a deep breath before continuing.
“You see, sometimes when I go home from the hospitals after my check ups, I see changelings being hauled through the streets towards the castle. I’m able to see them up close as my mom makes us step out of the way for the carts, and I can each one of their faces. They don’t look like nasty, evil ponies who would eat a pony if they got the chance. Instead they look scared and horrified. I don’t think some of the mean things the ponies on the street say to the changelings help.”
Lilo looked down at the piece of paper Teak had dropped, and asked, “So you draw changelings because you think they deserve a chance like everypony else?”
“Kind of,” Teak replied, scooting the piece of paper closer to Lilo. “I think we should get to know some pony before we judge them. From what I hear, the changelings were led by a queen who defeated Princess Celestia. The changelings were probably just working for her. The queen must have had her reasons for attacking, too.
“So, drawing is just my way of trying to get to know a changeling better. It might not help much since I can’t talk to any of my drawings, but I think it is better than not trying to get to know a changeling at all because you are afraid.”
Lilo smiled and scooped the filly up into a tight hug. She felt Teak wrapping her own arms around Lilo, and she kissed the filly on the cheek.
“You know, you are one of the smartest fillies I have ever met,” Lilo said, letting go of Teak. “You want to get to know everypony rather than make assumptions, even if the pony is vastly different than you.”
Teak beamed up at Lilo and pushed the changeling drawing towards Lilo.
“You can have it if you want,” Teak said.
Lilo smiled. “Thank you so much, Teak. I’ll be sure to show Carbon when he comes back.”
“So, how did you meet Carbon?” the filly asked, twisting her body slightly and lifting her eyebrows.
Lilo laughed. “Well, after the changelings attacked...”
~~~
Carbon was practically skipping through Canterlot University as he was returning to the medical wing. The sun was approaching the tree canopy of the Everfree Forest from the sky, gently dulling the bright light it had shone across Equestria. Shadows were longer, and the stained glass of the university’s windows had become darker and more pronounced.
The university was still bustling with ponies at this hour. Many of the students were either roaming the halls to find their classmates to study or delivering some message to a professor or a superior. Carbon wound his way through the thin throngs, quickly approaching two large doors that marked his destination. A few ponies greeted him as he trotted by, and he quickly replied with a hello back before he continued on his way.
He pushed the medical wing doors open, and after throwing a greeting towards the receptionist at the front desk, he made straight for the decorated doors that marked the foal’s wing. He stopped at the doors and took a look at himself as best he could in the thin, tinted window, straightening his hair a bit with his hoof before pushing the doors open and striding in.
Carbon was met with an empty room with no foals to be seen. He scratched his head and walked further into the room, letting the door behind him swing shut. On top of the foals and Lilo missing, the floor of the room was very clean; not even a scrap of paper or a small toy had been left out. Carbon looked towards the edges of the room, noticing that pillows had been built up around the walls in a ring around the center of the room, and piles of toys had been stacked behind the pillows. He cringed, and turned back for the door.
“Get him!”
Before he had a chance to bolt, fillies and colts of all colors and size swarmed Carbon and began latching themselves onto his legs and around his neck. He yelped when one little filly jumped and hung onto his tail, and he fell over onto the floor when some of the larger foals hopped onto his back. He lay on the floor with more and more foals piling onto him until it seemed as if every foal in the room had tackled him. He squirmed and chuckled as Teak jumped onto his muzzle.
“We got you now, Carbon!” Teak exclaimed. “Queen Lilo, we have taken down the enemy! It’s safe to come out!”
Lilo popped her head out from behind one of the pillows and smiled at Carbon. She had a large paper crown on her head, although her pink bow was still slightly visible from the top of the crown.
“You put them up to this?” Carbon asked, putting on a fake snarl.
“I had to think of some way to punish you,” Lilo said, slowly walking over to Carbon. “You are twenty minutes late, you know.”
Carbon smiled sheepishly. “Hey, we made a breakthrough with one of our experiments, I just had to stay and watch.”
Lilo lowered her head and nuzzled Carbon against the back of one of his ears.
“It’s okay,” she said. “You can release him now, everypony.”
The foals immediately started rolling off of Carbon and formed a circle around both him and Lilo. Carbon unsteadily rose to his hooves and looked around. Lilo looked around, too, and blushed.
“How did you manage to get all of these foals to work together like that in less than six hours? Carbon asked, finally turning back to Lilo.
“Well, Teak wanted to know how we met,” Lilo said, hiding one of her eyes behind her mane. “Once I started the story, many of the other fillies and colts were soon sitting around me and listening intently. Pretty soon, after the story, I started getting the foals together to play games like charades and duck duck goose. They had a ton of fun.”
“Did they?” Carbon asked, raising an eyebrow. Many of the foals nodded their heads. “Well then, I’m glad you all had a great time, but I’m sad to announce the Lilo and I really need to get going.”
“We do?” Lilo asked, cocking her head.
“Well, yeah, I made us a reservation for dinner tonight,” Carbon said, scratching the back of his head.
“When did you make this?” Lilo asked, sitting on her haunches and crossing her forelegs.
“Uh, during work,” Carbon said.
“Shouldn’t you, I don’t know, be working?”
“Technically I should,” Carbon said with a wink.
Lilo rolled her eyes and leaned forward to give Carbon a peck on the lips. The foals around them whooped and hollered, causing Lilo’s eyes to widen and look around.
“Is that what you all were waiting for?” Carbon asked, chuckling. “Well, let’s get going, Lilo. If we hurry, we can still get to the place before it is too late.”
After saying goodbye to all of the foals, Lilo and Carbon quickly departed Canterlot University and began their trek through the streets of the city. Lilo lay her head on Carbon’s neck as they passed over a bridge that had a small creek running underneath it.
“Carbon?”
“Yes, Lilo?”
“Can I come to work with you again soon?”
Carbon smiled and wrapped one of his wings around Lilo’s back.
“Of course you can.”