//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 // Story: Halcyon Hearts // by TheMyth //------------------------------// Apple Bloom skipped on the path towards the clubhouse, with her eyes closed and humming a melody. She could hear the birds chirping away and the sound of the wind blowing against all the apple trees in the orchard. Once she heard the voices of her friends in the distance, she opened her eyes again to find all five of her friends outside the clubhouse talking. “Top o’ the mornin’ to ye, Apple Bloom!” Pip called out as he trotted towards her, giving her a brief hug. “So wha’s the agenda on today’s meeting?” The filly giggled as she blushed a little and smiled. “Wait until we’re all inside, it’s a surprise,” she answered Pip as she walked past him. “Righto.” Once all the foals were inside the clubhouse, which was still under construction as Apple Bloom stipulated, Apple Bloom came up to the podium and cleared her throat to gain everypony’s attention. “Everypony, ma sister Applejack wants to organize another camping trip soon and she said y’all are invited!” The foals cheered at this news, but the most vocal one was Pip. “Nice one! Ah haven’t been on a camping trip since... ever!” Scootaloo chuckled at his enthusiasm. “Well, you will enjoy it... just like how Sweetie, Apple Bloom and I enjoyed our fillies’ camping trip,” Spike leaned in on the conversation. “Wasn’t that the same one where you got nightmares of the Headless Horse thanks to some ghost stories by the campfire?” he asked sarcastically as he smirked at Scootaloo’s blush, that soon turned into a withering glare. Spike let out a ‘oof’ as Sweetie bumped him in the ribs, shaking her head as she furrowed her brow. Spike rubbed his head on the back as he chuckled nervously. “Sorry...” “You really had nightmares because of some ghost stories?” Light asked curiously as he arched his brow at Scootaloo. “To be blunt, yes...” Scootaloo replied deadpanned, but turned her head sharply as she heard Light suppress laughter. “Well, you would have nightmares too had it been told to you like my mom told her ghost stories!” Light only shook his head as he wiped the tears away from his eyes. “You haven’t seen Blaze tell his ghost stories, now that is something to die for...” Apple Bloom knocked on the podium to get everypony’s attention again, sighing in minor frustration at her friends. “There’s just one thing, y’all need to bring a parent with you on the camping trip...” “What?” Pip said. “Why?” “Applejack said somethin’ bout not bein’ able to handle six foals on her own. She’ll be comin’ fer me, an’ we already got Rarity an’ Rainbow Dash comin’. The rest of you need ta ask your parents.” “Aw, Mom hates the outdoors,” Spike grumbled. Then he thought a minute. “Unless there’s somethin’ out there to study...” “I bet Blaze would love it! He always promised to take me camping...” “...My parents won’t be able t’ come,” Pip said slowly. “Wha? Why?” “They hate camping,” he answered, a little too quickly. “‘Sides, I don’t need nopony holdin’ my hoof, I can take care of meself.” “Mah sister said you needed an adult, no exception.” “What! But...” “Don’t worry, Rainbow Dash said that she was gunna talk Fluttershy into commin’ if somepony couldn’t make it.” “No, I can’t!” Fluttershy said, panicking. “Come on, Fluttershy, it’s camping! You love animals!” “I love nice, cute animals like squirrels and chipmunks and rabbits. I don’t like big, mean animals! There are timberwolves and cockatrices out there! I just can’t handle big strong brutes.” At that point, the bear who had been sitting in the circle of animals, gave a loud roar. Fluttershy flew up to it. “No! No! If you want seconds, you point.” The bear tried roaring again, only for it to get bopped on the nose. “No. Point. Don’t raise your voice to me!” Sagging his shoulders, he pointed to a second helping, which Fluttershy easily got for him. “There now, see how much nicer that is?” Rainbow Dash furrowed her brow in frustration and flew up to her friend. “Please Fluttershy, all of Scoots’s friends are coming but Pip might not be able to...” Fluttershy bit her lower lip as she looked at her friend. “Why wouldn’t they?” she asked her meekly. “I don’t know,” Rainbow replied with a shrug. “But it’s good to have a backup plan! C’mon, Fluttershy! Can you do this one favour? If not for me, for that little colt?” Rainbow asked her friend again. Fluttershy looked to her animal friends, who all nodded at her. She sighed and turned back to Rainbow. “Ok, I’ll do it...” “Yes!” Rainbow shouted out as she hovered. “I’ll tell Scoots and the others the good news!” she said as she flew out of the cottage’s window. The cream-coloured pegasus stood there shuffling her hooves in thought, until she beamed at a thought that came to her mind. “I’ll just ask his parents if they won’t rather come to their son’s camp!” she yelled out, in a whisper. She flew to Angel and lowered herself to his level. “Angel Bunny, could you please look after the house for me? I’ll just be at Twilight’s quick,” she whispered to her rabbit friend, who gave a simple salute. “Thank you.” with that, she was off. Angel grinned as he turned his head to the other animals, rubbing his paws in glee as he hopped towards the food storage, helping himself as the other animals looked at each other with concern. “So...” Blaze began as he finished packing books into a shelf for Twilight. “Anything else you need me to do?” Twilight looked up her list and smiled demurely at her coltfriend. “We can take a break now.” “We? What’s this ‘We’ stuff? I’m doing all the hard work...” Blaze said sarcastically as he grinned. “Well I’m just a weak little mare who only has her smarts to help her in the world today,” Twilight pouted playfully at him, blowing him a raspberry. Blaze chuckled as he walked up towards her, holding her close. “Well fine then, how about I give you a job-well-done kiss?” he asked her as he planted his lips to her, which she gladly accepted. Twilight closed her eyes slowing as she continued the kiss with Blaze and encircled her hooves around his neck. She felt herself being lifted from the ground, as her hind legs were no longer touching the floor. Once she and Blaze stopped to breath, she looked at him with half-hooded eyes and smiled softly at her stallion. Bam! The door to the library swung open, and Shining Armor was standing on the other side, looking annoyed. “Twiley, we need to tal....” He trailed off as he saw the position his little sister was in. Both ponies looked back at him, Twilight blushing and Blaze sweating nervously. “Um... we decided to come visit...” Cadance said from behind her husband, sounding equally awkward. Blaze could not have been off Twilight faster. “Yo, Captain Armor... Princess Cadance...” he said, hoping her marefriend’s brother was less creative about tortures than her mentor. “Twiley...” Shining Armor said through gritted teeth. “Can. I. Talk. To. You. Alone?” “...Sure,” Twilight said, not liking where this was going. Shining Armor followed his sister as closely as possible, turning back to give a death glare to Blaze, who gulped nervously. As the door slammed, the two remaining ponies looked at each other awkwardly. “Um... Princess,” Blaze said, finally remembering to bow. “Rise, please... you’re Twiley’s coltfriend, just call me Cadance.” “Um, yes ma’am... Cadance... I... I kept it above the waist, I swear!” “Shiny... look, I know he might not seem like an ideal coltfriend...” “He’s a felon!” Shining Armor shouted. Twilight thanked Celestia she had the foresight to cast a soundproofing spell over this room. “He was practically acquitted!” she argued. “And besides, he’s nice, and funny... and he has a foal of his own! He can help me take care of Spike!” “Twilight, he was all over you!” “Yeah, and I wanted him to be.” She blushed, not feeling comfortable talking about this, especially with her brother. “He gave me my first kiss... it felt good... I...” “Okay, stop, please!” Shining waved his hoof, flinching a little at the image of Twilight kissing. “Look, I’m just concerned about this whole thing, okay? I mean, I really think you’re making a mistake here...” Twilight stared at him deadpanned for a moment, scrunching her lips. “Even after all we’ve been through, you still don’t trust my decisions?” Shining bit his lower lip as he saw the look in his sister’s face. “Twilly, that’s not what I meant...” “Sure sounded that way to me.” Shining planted his hoof to his face. “Look, Twilight, all I’m saying is that you should be more careful at who you befriend, especially at who you love...” “Something you learned the hard way, right?” The white stallion did not answer, instead he drooped his ears and looked down on the floor in guilt. “How far do you really want to go with this?” “What kind of question is that?” Twilight asked him as her tone became annoyed. “I’m asking you if you really feel strongly attached to-” “I do.” “Do you even l-” “I do.” “So you love him?” Twilight slowly nodded her head and smiled softly. “I do...” she whispered and looked back at the door, where Blaze was waiting with Cadance. “And I’m sure he does too...” “I really do love her...” Cadance sat on a pillow having a cup of tea with Blaze, smiling broadly at the honesty and love the stallion was displaying. “She is an amazing pony,” Cadance told him as she took a sip of her tea. “I was her foal sitter after all.” Blaze laughed nervously as he too took a sip. “She talks about you all the time...” She giggled. “She should... I was her sister even before I married Shiny... she was so sweet and adorable, I just loved sitting for her.” As Blaze took another sip, he spoke. “So... you’re okay with me and Twilight...” She was quiet for a minute. “Honestly... before the wedding I might have had my doubts. But Twilight saved me, and Equestria... I trust her judgement.” “Well... Shining Armor doesn’t seem to like me too much.” Cadance giggled. “Blaze, you could be a world-class philanthropist and gentlecolt, and Shining Armor would still be trying to protect his sister. He’ll warm up, you’ll see.” “I hope so... Princess Celestia didn’t like me much, either...” “Oh, she’s fine with it,” Cadance waved it off. At Blaze’s surprise, she giggled. “You’re the first pony to date Twiley because any colt that wanted to try got the same threat. Auntie does it to drive off the social climbers. You’ll be fine as long as you really love her.” “So... I’m not the only stallion to get the Sun Run threat?” Cadance shook her head. “But hopefully you’re the last. Twiley deserves a nice stallion, and Spike needs a father...” The library bell chiming alerted the two ponies to a new presence. “Oh, um... hello Princess, Blaze...” “Hey Fluttershy!” Cadance said warmly. “Nice to see you again.” “Um, likewise. I just came by because I need to check the town records... to look up something...” Blaze placed his cup on the saucer and hovered towards Fluttershy. “What exactly are you looking for in the town records?” Fluttershy fiddled with her hooves looking down on them. “I need to look up the name ‘Willheart’.” The red stallion cocked his eyebrow at the name, until the name clicked in his head. “Oh! You mean Pip?” “Um, yes...” Blaze went over the town records cabinet and looked up the name in the ‘W’ section. “What are you looking for exactly Fluttershy?” Fluttershy gulped as she looked up nervously. “I want to know where he and his parents live... because I...” “Yeah?” “I want to ask them if they wouldn’t rather go to the camp with him...” Blaze blinked at the mare before cracking a smile and chuckling. “So you’re going to ask them to go instead of you looking after him?” “... yes...” “Well ok,” Blaze replied, rolling his eyes at the nervous mare. His eyebrow arched in confusion as he leaned his muzzle closer to the cabinet. “That’s odd...” Cadance, who had been listening to the two, went over to where Blaze was. “What is it?” she asked curiously at Blaze’s confusion. “There’s no ‘Willheart’ anywhere in the folder...” Cadance and Fluttershy looked at each other before looking at Blaze, each of them looking at him with concern. “What does that mean?” At that moment, Twilight and Shining came walking out of the other room and saw the three concerned ponies at the town records cabinet. “Did we miss anything?” Twilight asked as she walked up to the others, with Shining in tow. “There’s no ‘Willheart’ in the ‘W’ folder...” Blaze repeated to his marefriend, looking over to see the withering glare of Shining. Twilight gulped and rushed off to the folder and went through it fast. She looked up at Blaze with her eyes widening every second. “Isn’t ‘Willheart’ Pip’s last name?” “Yeah...” “...My records are incomplete...” she said, stunned. “Oh no,” Shining Armor moaned, which Cadance quickly went up to her sister-in-law. “Twilight, don’t worry, it’s not that big of a deal...” “Not that big of a deal? Cadance, those are official records! I could have lost something important like tax records or medical histories! It’s not just a little problem!” “So, write the Canterlot Archives and have them send a copy over to you,” Shining Armor said calmly. “That’s why the records are duplicated there.” “Yeah... but the last transfer was a year ago... I must have lost something...” “Um, well... maybe it’s not your fault...” The assembled party looked at Fluttershy. “What do you mean?” “Well, have you ever met Pip’s parents?” Twilight shook her head. “But... Fluttershy, do you think Pip’s living alone? That’s crazy!” “Not really. Scootaloo managed to live alone without anypony noticing, and nopony’s met her parents. You’ve met all of Spike’s friend’s parents except his...” Twilight thought a minute. “Now that you mention it, I didn’t hear about a family moving into town... Pip just kind of showed up one day...” “Did you get a record of them?” Blaze asked. She shook her head. “The mayor didn’t give me the records until after the NightMare Night when Princess Luna visited.” “Well, then, I really want to know what’s going on.” “Maybe you could ask Miss Cheerilee,” Twilight suggested. “I can go by the mayor’s office and ask her about it.” “Um, thank you.” “It might be a good idea to keep this from the foals, at least for now,” Twilight added. “No need to scare them over what could be nothing.” Blaze nodded his head as he looked to Twilight. “Good point... half of them have enough stress already...” “Exactly, Fluttershy...” she called to her friend who gave a slight yelp. “You mind going with Blaze to Cheerilee quickly?” “N-not at all...” “Thank you, Cadance...” she turned to her sister-in-law. “Will you come with me to the Mayor’s office?” “Certainly.” “Hey! What about me?!” Shining protested as an annoyed scowl covered his face. “Shining...” Twilight started, closing her eyes and drawing in a long breath before looking at her brother again. “Please stay here and watch the library for me, okay?” “I-I-” “Thank you!” with that; Twilight and the others were out of the door, leaving a stuttering Shining Armor all alone. His jaw was agape for a moment before he pursed his lips, growling at his sister. “Twilight...” Twilight sighed as she and Cadance were trotting down the path towards the Mayor’s office. She turned to Cadance’s stomach that had become more dilated over the weeks since she last saw her. Twilight smiled inwardly closing her eyes, happy at the thought of becoming an aunt soon. Her bright mood turned sour when she remembered how Shining reacted to her and Blaze being together, along with his so-called ‘advice’. “Twilight?” The lavender mare’s head turned to Cadance as they had stopped walking and she was met Cadance’s concerned half-hooded eyes. “What’s wrong, Twilight?” Twilight merely shook her head, blinking before looking to Cadance. “I’m just... I’m surprised by Shiny’s reaction to me finally having a coltfriend of my own! He was the one who told me I needed to get out more!” She giggled. “Oh, Twiley, big brothers can be like that. He’s just looking out for you. Give him some time, and things will be alright.” She sighed. “I hope so...” “Cheer up, you know Shiny, he’s your BBBFF, remember?” Twilight couldn’t help but grin at the foalhood term. “Yeah...” “Besides, look at it from his perspective. You’re dating somepony that doesn’t have the best reputation. He wouldn’t be doing his job if he wasn’t at least a little worried about you, right?” Twilight sighed, then, smiled. “I guess you’re right. Okay, I’ll have a better talk with him when we get back. Oh, maybe we could all have dinner tonight? The four of us, plus Spike and Light. It’ll be great!” “How is Spike, anyway?” With that, Twilight grinned. “You’ll never guess what happened...” Blaze and Fluttershy walked away from the schoolhouse with no more information than when they went in. “Okay, this is starting to seem suspicious to me,” the stallion said. “Miss Cheerilee was completely clueless.” “What do we do now?” “Maybe you should go talk to Pip about this,” Blaze told Fluttershy as they were trotting onwards. “Um, that might be a good idea. Oh, what do you think will happen if he really doesn’t have a home? What should I say to him?” “I don’t know,” Blaze sighed. “Why ask me?” “Well, you and Twilight are parents... don’t you know how to handle foals?” “We haven’t exactly run into anything like this...” Fluttershy bit her lower lip as she looked down to the ground, thinking of what to do. “I-I think maybe I should ask him tomorrow... Pip that is...” Blaze shrugged at this. “I think that is the best move,” he said, his ears flickered for a second and turning to his side. He narrowed his eyes to bush that was moving suspiciously, but decided to turn to Fluttershy. “You know Twilight’s brother?” “Shining Armor?” “Yeah,” Blaze responded, picking up a pebble from the ground. “I got the funny feeling he doesn’t want me around her...” Fluttershy gasped as she widened her eyes to the statement. “B-but that’s crazy! He would never...” With that, Blaze threw the pebble to the bush hard. What followed next was a yelp and out came Shining, holding his forehead tightly with his hooves as he clenched his teeth and eyes were shut. He rubbed the forehead and gave a venomous look at Blaze, huffing before rushing off to the library. As she saw what was happening, Fluttershy merely shook her head to the elder brother of Twilight. “Of course... I could be wrong...”