//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7:...and Water 
// Story: A Fresh Start 
// by QuilliamPenn 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 7: ...and Water
 
Sketch awoke to the sound of rain practically pounding against his window. There was almost no light shining through his curtains, making the room rather dim. With a yawn he reached up and rubbed his eyes. 

He was on the floor, on the makeshift bedding Lyra had set up the night before. The fire had burnt out and all that remained were a few barely glowing embers amongst the grey ashes.                                                 

 He groggily stared at the blanket for a few moments before sitting up, trying to process his surroundings and what was going on.

He looked around, stretching out each of his wings individually, followed by a refreshing back-arch. He looked down at where Lyra had fallen asleep the previous night, smiling as he remembered what had happened, dinner, the fire and the kiss, that wonderful kiss.

He sighed happily as he remembered it, staring at the spot for a moment as if it were emanating some warm glow that he was to soak up; he decided he should probably talk to the mare who had given him the memory in the first place.

Wait, where was Lyra anyways?

“Lyra?” He said softly, both because he really didn’t want to be loud, and he was barely awake.

This was incredibly new to him. He had never, ever woken up in this sort of situation. Was he supposed to cook breakfast or something? That was what he saw ponies do in the movies, although in the movies cooking breakfast could mean a lot of different things that could go a lot of different ways, so he decided it best not to use that as an example.

Rubbing his eyes again, he looked over at the clock on his table. 9:30 am.

Where could she be?

Sketch stood and groggily trotted into the kitchen, hoping to eat something. However, when he opened the fridge, he discovered there to be nothing he could simply take out and eat, much to his dismay; so he closed the fridge and turned to raid his pantry.

Silently, he browsed for a few minutes, as if trying to trick himself into thinking he had more than a loaf of bread and some bagels. He hated not having much food. Simply because of his mother, He didn’t hate it because he would not have a well stocked fridge to show off to absolutely nopony, or because he wouldn’t have a lot to choose from. He hated it because his mother always made a huge deal about it, but then would turn around not a minute later and yell at him that they had plenty of food. Made it seem like it was something to be ashamed of, even though more often than not, her fridge was even worse than his was currently. It was one of those things he didn’t think he would ever understand about his mother.

After a moment he gave a defeated sigh and pulled a bag of bagels out of the pantry. The bagels were cheap, but they weren’t bad quality, unlike the usual cheap bagels, which were easily broken and crumbly disasters.

“FlimFlam Brand Onion Bagels.” He read the label aloud. “The great taste of onion, without the bad breath.”

Sketch opened the bag and took out a bagel, after putting it in the microwave, hoping to heat it up.

 He sealed the bag up and set it to the side without a second thought. With a sigh he walked over into the living room, past his table, it was bare except for a note. Wait, a note?

He trotted over to the table and stared at the note, it was face down and he couldn’t see who it was from. He froze solid and stared hard at the piece of paper like it were some Timberwolf. This was something he had always seen go wrong in the movies. The mare gets up early and leaves a note, and you never hear from her again, although sometimes it was the stallion that did this, but that wasn’t the point.

Could Lyra really have done that? Of course things hadn’t gone quite as…far…as Sketch had seen in all those movies, but nonetheless, did it work like that even if it was as innocent as what had happened? Surely not, right?

“Wait.” He thought. “This is Lyra we’re talking about here, the nicest thing on four hooves; no way it’s something like that.” He tried to comfort himself, convince himself.

He hadn’t even read the letter yet, so why was he getting so weird about it? For all he knew it could be a harmless note.
In the midst of his warring thoughts, Sketch forced himself to flip over the note and read it.

********
Will be back later, Please, don’t come looking for me.
-Lyra
********


“It’s raining.” he said aloud. “What the hell, it’s raining! What does she mean ‘be back later’?”

This was even worse than a long drawn out letter, a short one with almost no information that left the reader worrying constantly and leaving everything else up to guesswork. Where had she gone? Had he done something wrong? What if BonBon’s words about murder had gotten to Lyra, and she had gone to confront her? Or worse, what if Lyra had thought it over and somehow come to the conclusion that BonBon was in the right, and gone to apologize and ask BonBon to take her back in!?

No it couldn’t be that. Not after Lyra was a complete wreck after BonBon’s “visit” yesterday. Not as scared as she looked when she thought Twilight had been BonBon coming back for another round. Lyra had a reason, a good one. She would probably be back soon; maybe she was even on her way back right now! For all he knew, the rain could have picked up minutes before he woke up, and Lyra may have gotten caught in it.

“DING!”

Sketch yelped as the unexpected sound of the microwave rang. Alerting him his food was ready. With a heavy sigh he trotted back into the kitchen. He took a plate out and set it down, placing the bagels on it and taking them over to his small table.

Maybe he was overreacting, for all he knew Lyra could just have gone to the market or something…right?
He groaned and bit angrily down on the bagel. It was heated a bit too much, but he ate it anyway. At that point a slightly over-heated bagel was the least of his concerns.

He wasn’t angry that Lyra had left of course, as she said in her note she would be back. What got him was that she said not to come looking for her. What was that supposed to mean? Was Lyra doing something she knew she shouldn’t be? If she was, why even say not to come looking for her in the first place?

“Ugh.” He groaned again and set his head down on the table. All this was making him even more tired.

I just need to calm down, he thought. Lyra said she would be back; it is her business what she is doing. Not mine.
Or was it? She was living with him after all; they now had a relationship. Could it be called a relationship? No probably not. More like a “Thing” Or was that too trashy sounding? He wasn’t sure at all.

After a few moments, he forced himself to calm down. Maybe he was just overreacting. He should just wait and see if Lyra came back. After all, why wouldn’t she? Wait. Why shouldn’t she!

Uh oh…

What if Lyra had been offended by something he did last night? What if she didn’t like him…what if she was having second thoughts! Oh no…this was bad, really bad. Now he had to go find her. He had to make sure he hadn’t hurt her or anything.

No…I should wait a bit…see if she sticks to her note…

This back and forth with himself went on and on: on one hoof, if he went looking for Lyra and found her, and she really was doing something as simple as going to the market, she could get offended; on the other hoof, if he didn’t go look for her, she could be in trouble or something of that sort. Of course it was raining an ocean outside, why would Lyra be at the market?
Finally he came to a decision: he was going to look for Lyra; after all, better safe than sorry…right?

Trying not to think about it anymore, Sketch stood and stormed up to his door; the rain was bashing against it, rattling the entire doorframe as it poured. The already useless window was nothing but useless now, as if it hadn’t already been useless previously.

As he opened the door and went outside he was hit by a wall of rain. It was pouring; anypony in their right mind would be inside. Of course, he wasn’t in his right mind, now was he…?

“Oh Celestia…what am I doing?” He said, barely able to hear himself over the rain.

Without another word he began trekking down the road. Every step he took only splashed more water on him. Eventually it got to the point where he didn’t care anymore: he was already sopping wet, he might as well hurry and try to find Lyra. He decided to stop by Twilight’s first; maybe she had seen something.

After a few minutes of what felt like pushing his way through a swarm of itty-bitty wrecking balls, Sketch managed to find his way to the Library, or just a really big tree; he wasn’t sure at first due to the wall of rain.

He trotted up to the door and slammed on it.

Twilight, you had better be able to hear me… He thought.

After a few seconds there was no answer.

“Twilight!” He shouted, pounding on the door again.

Still, no response.

“TWILIGHT!” He yelled as loud as he could.

“WHAT!”

“Oh. Sorry.”

Twilight had already opened the door, and much to Sketch’s embarrassment he had just yelled in her face.

“Uhhh, have you seen Lyra?”

“WHAT! What do you mean have I seen Lyra? Sketch, you live like ten minutes from here. Why are you at my door in this rain?!”

“I need to know if you have seen Lyra!”

“Ugh, come inside, the rain is getting in my house. Last thing I need is my books swelling up.” Twilight stepped aside, allowing him in with a very disgruntled look on her face.

He stepped inside, dripping wet.

“Don’t move. You’ll ruin my books. I have a spell I can use…if I can juuuust…” Her horn glowed as she focused.

POOF!

All of a sudden Sketch was very warm, very dry, and his mane was standing on end, almost singed.

“Ow, that kind of burned.”

“Oh…sorry.”

“I-its fine, I just need to know if you have seen Lyra.” He said hurriedly, trying to restore his mane to a less wacky style.

Twilight sighed. “No, I haven’t; why are you so freaked out all of a sudden? Is she alright?”

Twilight gasped and an angry look appeared on her face.

“You didn’t dare hurt her did you, I swear if you even laid a hoof on-”

“NO! No, no, no, no. Not at all Twilight, nothing like that…It’s just…she left a note this morning saying she would be back, but not to come looking for her. I’m really worried.”

“You….you did something, something to provoke this, I know you did.” Her anger had been replaced with uncertainty. “What did you do? Lyra doesn’t just do stuff like this for attention; she isn’t that sort of pony. She is extremely emotional about very few things in her life, one of which is BonBon, and I’m pretty sure you aren’t BonBon, so spit it out. What is it?”

By now Twilight had backed Sketch into a corner and was poking his chest with her hoof with a stare that could turn a cockatrice to stone. He wasn’t quite sure what to do; he didn’t want to lie because that would just make it worse, but Twilight had taken him quite by surprise with her rather unexpected emotional response.

“I…uhh….”

She simply stared harder at him.

“Ugh…Fine. Lyra and I…well, had gotten cozy, and one thing led to another-”

Twilight gasped.

“You idiot!”

She slapped him, maybe a bit too hard.

“OW! What the hell!”

“You know how bad this is, what…What if she gets pregnant or-“

“WHAT! Twilight! You didn’t even let me finish! We did nothing of the sort! Sweet Celestia that hurt.”

“What?!”

“We…kissed, and maybe there was a bit of cuddling after the fact, but that was it, completely innocent, I promise! Swe.” He said, rubbing his sore cheek.

“How do I know you aren’t lying to cover your flank?”

“Twilight! What reason would I have to lie to you about this?!”

“Hmmm, let’s see…Well you slept with Lyra, you may or may not have emotionally damaged her beyond repair, and you don’t even know where she is.”

“Twilight! You of all ponies, I would expect to believe me here! I need to find her! She could be hurt or-or upset, or-”

“Oh I’m sure she’s very upset, probably because of you!” She jabbed her hoof into his chest.

“Twilight, No! I want nothing but good things for Lyra; I think I may have even-” He stopped himself.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Twilight stared him hard in the eye

“Oh…”

“What…?”

“You…”

“WHAT!?”

“You’ve fallen in love, haven’t you?” Her eyes widened, and her jaw slackened a bit.

“Uhh…”

“You have, haven’t you? With Lyra!”

“Twilight! I can’t do this right now; I need to find Lyra! Please, have you seen her? Do you know where she might have gone?”

Twilight sighed softly, staring at Sketch for a moment before backing off a bit.

 “No I haven’t. But listen, I know Lyra, she is going through a lot right now, I’m sure she is fine physically, but emotionally she is probably a train wreck. Now I would go help you find her, but after hearing what happened last night…this is something you need to do alone.”

“But, Twilight, what if she’s at BonBon’s?!”

“She won’t be, that is the last place she would go, especially if she’s upset. Listen I can’t give you any tips as to where she might be, but I can tell you this, you need to find her and talk to her.”

“Alright…”

“Now go, shoo! Get out of here before you wake up Spike or something.”

“Twilight I-”

Before he could say another word, Twilight had practically shoved him out her door, not seeming to care he would get drenched again, as unavoidable as it was.

He sighed and rested his head against the door, despite the fact he was…well, getting utterly soaked. The rain actually felt nice; however, he could not take solace or comfort because he knew he had to deal with finding Lyra, and how to process what Twilight had said. So in an effort to do both, he turned and took off down the road.

For some reason he found himself in denial…sort of. He didn’t want to be in denial of course, but he was. He wanted to be able to love Lyra, he wanted to be able to care for her and be there, but at the same time his mother was nagging at the back of his head with her speech about falling in love, and how it was impossible for it to happen in such a short time, but then again, her love life was a complete train wreck. What did she know?

What if he did actually love her, but couldn’t provide and give her what she deserved? Lyra was special and she deserved the best; at least that’s what he thought. What if he couldn’t provide the best? What if all he could do was to keep himself afloat? Lyra deserved better than that.

Sketch looked around as he trotted, his mind running at full speed and his eyes scanning everywhere he could. He had been searching for easily half an hour and the rain showed no signs of letting up, if anything it had gotten worse.

He had checked Twilight’s, he had checked Sugarcube Corner, he had checked the park, and he had checked the pizza place. He had checked everywhere he could think of, hell he had even gone and spied on BonBon’s house for a bit. 
However there seemed to be nopony home; no lights were on inside the house or anything. He had been there for a bit over five minutes in the pouring rain and not a peep had come from inside.

This only made him worry more; BonBon obviously wasn’t home, so where would she be in rain like this?

“Oh, what am I doing?” He said in despair. He had been searching for almost an hour by then, going every place he could think of and looking for her. What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t just give up. He had to find Lyra. However what if she was back at home, what if he really had overreacted and gone on a goose chase. As if that weren’t enough, all that had come of his search was that Twilight now knew about him and Lyra. What if Lyra wanted to keep that quiet?

Sketch sat on a bench in the rain with his head hung, not really sure what he was doing. He never would have thought that after barely living in Ponyville a week he would be doing anything like this. Despite the cool rainfall running down his back and through his mane, he felt very sad and for some reason disappointed in himself. If Lyra was in trouble he hadn’t been able to find her, and if she wasn’t he was going to go home and have to be disappointed in himself for not trusting her. Either way he thought he was a fool.

Sketch looked up at the sky as the cacophony of emotion raced through his mind. He chuckled at how ridiculous he looked, sitting in the rain staring into the sky like something out of a drama. He closed his eyes and tried to take peace in the rain. He had always liked rain no matter how hard or light it fell. Even as a colt he would sneak out into the rain some nights, he would always get caught though when his mother either found him asleep outside on a small cloud, or she would find the soppy patches of carpet he had made when he returned inside to dry off.

Just then an idea hit him, one more place to look, a place that seemed almost too poetic to even think to check. A smile dawned on him as he looked up into the rain, and after a short moment, he stood from the bench and trotted off in the direction of his destination.


************************


The trot had taken a few minutes, granted but eventually he had made his way back to his house, and back to where his adventures had essentially begun.

The hill where he first met Lyra.

Maybe she had gone there simply at random, or maybe she had used that spot for thinking or solitude in the past. Or maybe she had chosen it simply because it was so poetic. He didn’t care though, he was just glad he had found her, sitting up on top of the hill beneath a smallish tree he hadn’t noticed the first time.

He couldn’t tell if she had been crying or not, due to the rain. He nearly called out to her before stopping himself. What was he supposed to say? How was he supposed to comfort her? Hell, he didn’t even know what she was upset about! Maybe it was because he was an idiot. Yeah, probably that. At least that’s what he told himself as he sat there beating himself up over it.

Eventually he decided now was not the time to argue with himself, now was the time to go talk to Lyra, listen to what she had to say, help, comfort. Now was the time he needed to be there for her.

Slowly he trotted up to her. She was as motionless as stone as she sat under the tree, its leaves doing little to shield her from the rain; she was as soaked as he was.

“Hi.” was all he managed to say, as he sat down next to her.

Lyra wasn’t surprised or startled, if she was she didn’t show it. She slowly lifted her head up and stared at him for a moment, she had taken off her eye patch, and her eye looked almost completely healed. She stared into his eyes for a moment before turning her head back and looking back at the ground, all without uttering a word.

There was a silence; nothing could be heard except the rain pattering against the ground and leaves of the tree.
“I…” He tried to find words, yet none came.

“Are you alright?” He said eventually, instantly hating himself for asking such a stupid question.

Lyra huffed a bit.

“Lyra, you…I need to know what’s wrong, I want to help. Was it BonBon or….or me? Did I do something; I need to know so I can fix it, and so I can make it right.”

Still no response.

Sketch sighed, he was trying. He really was. He wanted to help Lyra, although he was beginning to think she didn’t want his help.

“Just…all you have to do is say the word and I will leave you alone. I mean, if that’s what you want. I don’t know if I said something or if maybe…I hurt or offended you last night I just-“

“You are so stupid!” She said suddenly, she turned and looked him deep in his eyes; her eyes were sad and tired looking even in the rain.

“Wha-What?”

“You think you can just…just…do what you did last night? And not think I wouldn’t react? I mean do you not listen at all? To anything I say?”

“Lyra…wha-”

“I mean, I tell you how I had that…thing…with her, and then the same day, hell, not even ten hours later, you do that? How the hell am I supposed to react?”

“Lyra!”

“No Sketch, no. I mean, my life is a literal shitstorm right now. Last thing I need is to get in another damn relationship, or something like that, where I end up getting hurt…or…or getting my friends hurt, or just causing more problems! BonBon literally is insane; I have no idea what to do with any of this. I just don’t need to be hurt more than I already have been. I don’t need to hurt anypony else either, especially not you, not by pulling you into this and dragging you along for the ride. I can’t just-”

“Lyra! No, I never EVER had any intention of ever hurting you. I never even thought of it like that. If anything all I have wanted for you are good things; I offered you my home, I helped you with BonBon, and I’m still trying to! I’ve been looking for you for almost an hour, Lyra! I was worried sick about if maybe you had been hurt, or maybe BonBon had done something. Lyra, I had never even thought about last night like that, ever. What happened last night was amazing! I can only hope you felt that way too, because I want nothing more that for it to happen again. I never mean to hurt you, I promise. However you shouldn’t blame me; you made the move Lyra, you took me by surprise with that kiss, so don’t say I made you come out here and sit in this damn rain like this.”

Lyra stood and shoved him a bit; she was angry now and fierce,tears were visibly streaming from her eyes.

“Lyra!” he said, stumbling a bit.

“You don’t just get to come out here and tell me off, talk to me like I am a filly and you’re trying to help me; I can take care of myself! I don’t need you or anypony else! I can deal with this on my own; I don’t NEED help! You don’t have feelings for me, you just think I’m pretty like BonBon does, you want to use me, you want me to be your own damn property and it will NOT happen Sketch. I won’t let it.”

Sketch softened his look; he was beginning to understand why Lyra was upset, even though maybe she herself did not fully understand. He closed the distance Lyra had made between them with her shove.

“Lyra, I would never use you! I care so much for you and I think it’s horrid the way BonBon treats you! Nopony should have to live like that. I understand what you’re going through here, alright? I know what it’s like to wake up every morning, and wonder if it’s even worth getting out of bed. What it’s like to know that you will have to deal with all the shitty ponies in this world, live through the bad times and have the bad stuff become such a huge part of life, you begin to wonder if there even is any good left to enjoy. I understand what you are feeling, Lyra; the not knowing who really cares for you, the feeling of being used and feeling like you are nothing more than somepony else’s property, but Lyra, you have to understand I’m not like that. I want to be there for you, to help you and care for you when you really do need it; I want to be that ray of good in the midst of all the bad! I want to be there for you Lyra, because…I love you.”

Lyra’s face changed from one of anger to disbelief, uncertainty and a mix of so many others.

“Wh-What?”

“I said I love you Lyra, and I intend to stand by you as long as you want me too. No matter what. I really do mean it.”

Lyra sat there, tears streaming from her face, staring back at Sketch, the two sat and stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity, no sound but that of the rain around them could be heard. Nopony moved, until Lyra suddenly as embracing Sketch, and he embraced her back.

“I…I love you too...” She said, nuzzling his neck as she hugged him.

“I’m so sorry…” She said after a moment.

“You have nothing to be sorry about.”
“No but…I do.” She said as she pulled away. “I’m sorry for saying what I did…for leaving and-”

Sketch pulled her in and kissed her softly, the rain dripping through the leaves along with the sound of the rain itself only made it more perfect, as if it really were something out of a storybook. After a moment he pulled away and put a gentle hoof to Lyra’s cheek.

“I understand.”

Lyra smiled at him and leaned into his hoof, holding it in place with her own. She held it tight and closed her eyes, taking comfort in it. After a moment she opened up her eyes and stared at him.

“You can trust me, Lyra. I would never hurt you, ever. I promise.”

“I trust you…and I really mean that.” She said as she hugged him again, this time holding the embrace longer.

Sketch could feel her chest move as she sighed into him, a sigh of relief. In that moment, despite the rain, he felt the happiest he had been in a very long time. Happier than the previous night, happier than he had been since he had been to Ponyville, he was happy that he had comforted Lyra, that he had been able to open up, that she hadn’t mocked his feelings or ridiculed him for having them. He was happy he loved her, and that she loved him back.

But at that moment, standing in the shadows a ways away, a certain mare, fueled with rage at what she had just witnessed, was planning to do all she could to end his happiness.