//------------------------------//
// Watching And Waiting 
// Story: Innocence Lost 
// by Granite 
//------------------------------//

It was around dinnertime when Granite got to his new property. There wasn't a house here, at least not yet. That was on him. The stallion had concluded his meeting with Mayor Mare, and gained a uppity little follower in the process. The pink mare was throwing him a welcome party, which was very excessive to him, but the Mayor said that was part of her destiny. Kinda just what she does. She wasn't kidding when she said she was friends with everypony either. He knew that Pinkie Pie was also the Element of Laughter, and he was beginning to question why fate would place such a power in the hooves of such a carefree mare. The rest of his day was spent buying building materials from ponies in town. A pile of sawn logs was already delivered here, but he was still waiting on much more.

Before now he was homeless, although he chose to be. He was an archaeologist by trade, studying prehistoric remnants that predated Celestia's birth, and usually just pitched a tent close to a dig site. He heard there was a ruin of some old castle from Luna's banishment in the Everfree forest, and he wanted to see it. The castle was rumored to be obliterated by the explosion the Elements caused. Welding the very bones of existence wasn't a light undertaking. 

With the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle, Equestria was beginning to feel wary of the power their royalty could use. There was never a problem with laws or freedoms, but if you looked at it the right way, some of Celestia's decisions could be viewed as a selfish abuse of her position. Luna's banishment was something ponies were starting to look into more. Because of this, Granite's job was more important than ever. He was in a position to literally dig up evidence, which, technically wasn't in his job description, but there was coin in it for him, so he obeyed. What he'd found so far hadn't made any difference, but maybe the castle would fix that. 

The other part of his trade had to do with animals. Not your average bunny or mouse, more like extinct or endangered creatures that would happily shred a pony to pieces. Granite knew how to work with these, and the Everfree forest was where most of the remainders lived. Most of his quarry were nothing but fossils now, but there were still a few ancient species that were being hunted to near extinction because of their interference with livestock and general ponykind progression. He planned to save them, and keep them rounded up on his property. Or something like that. The Mayor was fully aware of his plans, and she seemed confident enough to his success. Ponyville might not like it at first, but with her voice backing him up, he could prove safe. 

Granite sat in the front of his land, near the road and a big rock to his right. He leaned against it, and the cool stone sent a small, soothing chill down his spine. He could spend time getting the lumber prepped, but he decided to put it off until morning. The space was generous enough. It was on the grassy outskirts of Ponville, quiet and peaceful, and in the low purple din of evening, it was beautiful. Aside from a few homes, and a clocktower, nature was everywhere, but seemed to center around a large pond a short distance from a cottage built into a low tree. He looked at it for a moment, and notices that it was swarming with birds of all different types. Songs of frogs and crickets hummed from the pond, and little lights of fireflies lazily danced in the dim light. The cottage wasn't terribly far from him, maybe a five minute walk, but the plains were spacious enough, and to be honest the property line probably extended closer to his own, and the building itself barely took it all. 

The lights were out, but he thought he could see a face in one of the upstairs windows, looking at him. He knew Fluttershy lived there, and also knew she was the Element of Kindness. Then again the Element thing wasn't exactly a secret, and mostly everypony knew who they were. They did save Equestria four times now. He looked at the ground, trying to play it off like he didn't know she was lurking. She ended up at Mayor Mare's house that morning, by coincidence, and didn't seem all that pleased about having a new neighbor. That didn't bother him all too much, Granite was a lone wolf anyways. Her face kept popping in and out from behind the curtains, and he was starting to feel edgy, so he got up, moving back to the edge of his property that extended into the forest. He stood there for a moment, feeling a chilly breeze brush his fur. It seemed to beckon to him, promising answers to age old questions. 

He turned away, putting it off. He noticed some lights had come on in the cottage, and the door was open. A cyan colored Pegasus with a rainbow colored mane was standing on the doorstep. Rainbow Dash didn't go inside, but seemed to be talking to Fluttershy. Granite thought for a moment. Rainbow Dash represented Loyalty, and seemed to be the only Element Granite didn't think was misplaced.

He knew Rainbow Dash a little back in flight camp, but hadn't spoken to her since. For that matter he had some classes with Fluttershy, with even less conversation. She had a whopping sixteen point five wingpower, could pull off a Sonic Rainboom, and somehow still hadn't managed to impress Spitfire. That wasn't much of a surprise to him, Spitfire was stubborn and cocky. Granite could pull a decent wingpower, but hadn't needed to in years. 

The doors to the cottage closed and Rainbow Dash started to walk towards him. She gave a smile that seemed a little forced as she approached. "Well well, when was the last time I saw you?" 

She held out her hoof and he bumped it in a brohoof. "Grade six flight camp was it?" 

Rainbow Dash smiled a bit more naturally now, seemingly relived that it wasn't as awkward to see and old classmate as they had both thought. "Something like that. You're grounded now?"

Granite didn't like that word. "Grounded" was a term hotshot Pegasai used to refer to somepony who preferred solid ground instead of clouds. Usually it was an insult, implying weakness, but Rainbow Dash didn't seem to mean it like that, so he let it slide. "Fossils and ruins aren't exactly plentiful in Cloudsdale."

She rolled her eyes a bit. "Oh yeah, you do that." He nodded, and gestures to his cutie mark, which depicted a fossil claw. "Do I really have a choice?"

She frowned a bit. "I didn't mean it like that." He just stared at her like he was angry, and she started to back away, visually feeling bad. "Well Pinkie Pie told me to come find you...for a welcoming party. You down?"

Granite smirks. He wasn't really planning on going to that, but it seemed he wasn't going to weasel out of it either. He smiled when she cracked under his harsh looking stare. It was fun messing with her. "Where is it?" 

"Sugarcube Corner..." A pause when he didn't show signs of recognition. "A bakery towards the center of town, not far from the Town Hall" 

"Ah okay then. Wanna race there?"

She raised an eyebrow and laughed "Good luck"

With that Rainbow Dash streaks away, her mane and tail blurring with the night sky. Granite took after her, he wasn't as fast as her, nopony was, but he did attend six years of flight camp after all, and he did pack a eleven point one wingpower. Granite used the time to think. He wasn't all that social, but maybe meeting some resident's wouldn't be all that bad.


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Fluttershy went directly home after returning the rooster to it's owner. She stitched up her hoof like she should have done that morning and for the rest of the day wallowed in her insecurity. She was naturally shy, but with stallions she was a disaster. She recognized Granite from flight camp. They were in the same class and all, but they had never spoken or anything. She did remember a few things about him, and those things only made her more nervous. There wasn't anything bad, but she'd seen him being picked on, and he tended to keep to himself, even though Rainbow Dash sometimes broke that barrier. Other than that she didn't know much else, she wasn't really the most chatty filly either. 

She turned on the TV around six o'clock. The cut had sapped some of her energy for the day, and she was starting to feel tired earlier than usual. Fluttershy actually tended to be a night owl, even though one would never know that because she stayed indoors. Most of her free time during the day was nonexistent, so whatever she wanted to do by herself, she'd taken to doing at night. She curled up in her bedroom with a cup of citrus tea, the pale blue reflection of the TV giving of the faintest of glows. 

She tried to shut out her problems, but she couldn't seem to shake the though of something else. She sat upright in her bed. It was like he was staining her brain cells. She got up and makes her way to a window. Slowly she peeked out from behind the curtains. Granite was sitting on the ground, leaning against a big rock in what was was now his property. She watched him for a moment, and she felt a small, tingling feeling inside her chest that was unfamiliar to her. Looking at him now, she thought he looks rather handsome... 

She started to daydream a bit, and he looked up, catching her spying. She darted back behind the curtains along with a miniature panic attack and a squeal. She stayed away from the window until Angel hopped up the last step of the stairs, making himself look cute as he scrambles over what, to him, was a really big wall. He breathed heavily for a few exaggerated minutes, making sure Fluttershy saw him. She talked in her usual, sweet voice. "Oh Angel...I'm sorry...I was just..."

Without warning Angel hopped up on her back, on top of her head and slapped Fluttershy, all with rabbit speed that he didn't use all that often. Fluttershy blinked a few times, confused and hurt, more at the gesture than the action. He didn't hit her hard. "Wh..why would you?"

Angel facepaws, and after a few moments of a stunned silence Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Oh...y..you know what I'm thinking don't you?"

Angel tapped his foot irately, giving Fluttershy an impression of jealousy. She looked at Angel, then again out the window at her new neighbor, then repeated, double taking a few times, as if trying to make a decision. Angel stopped tapping when she did that, and he put on a impressive display of crocodile tears. She sighed and broke under his watering eyes. "No...not to worry Angel...I'm just being overly hopeful is all" 

Angel didn't seem convinced, but a knock on her door saved her from the situation. She made her way downstairs, carrying Angel on her back. She flipped a few lights on before answering. Rainbow Dash was there, seemingly edgy or in a hurry. "Hey Fluttershy, have you seen a brown stallion around here? Pinkie Pie told me to find him, he's late to the party. You are too by the way."

Fluttershy is silent for a little, then she piped up. "Yes, he bought land over there." She flicks her head to the left. "I think his name is Granite. He used to go to flight training with us."

Rainbow Dash took longer than she should have to remember. "Oh...wait...you mean the history guy?"

Fluttershy didn't know that part. "Umm...I'm not sure.....I've never..."

She was interrupted by her friend, who was looking in his direction and not paying attention to her. "Yeah that him alright. Geez it's been years since I've talked to him." Rainbow starts to walk off "Welp, better not keep Pinkie waiting much longer. See you at Sugarcube Corner?"

Fluttershy nodded meekly, but by then Rainbow had already left her doorstep. Pinkie had invited her to the party, and she pinkie promised to be there, but it had completely skipped her mind until now. With some reassurance and a little white lie to Angel she headed out. She ducked with haste as Rainbow bolted full speed above her, followed later by Granite, who coasted at a leisurely pace. She watched them both go. Tonight was gonna be rough.