//------------------------------// // The Rain Is Oddly Fitting // Story: A Beautiful Swallow // by Skijarama //------------------------------// Alright, so I covered how I met her. I'm not going to give you every single detail of every single day as this story would be thousands of pages if I did. I'm simply going to cover the events that I deem important enough to include. Now, I did catch a little bit of crap from my parents, but not enough to really cause a problem. I was only a few minutes late, and they were understanding that I was a little distracted because I was talking to somepony. I spent that night sleeping and dreaming about some pretty unusual things, as was my duty. One thing about me; my dreams make no bucking sense. I don't even remember them most of the time, and when I do, the first words to leave my mouth after waking up are usually, “Well, that was weird”. But whatever. The next few days were spent pretty normally. I spent a bit of extra time getting to know Swallow a bit better. I was rather happy that Waltz brought her into the group; her capacity for storytelling was incredible. It astonished me, really, how the words seemed to flow willingly from her quill onto the paper every time she wrote anything down. It was a simple, yet elegant form of writing that surprised me. She seemed to like talking to me a lot more than any of the other ponies I saw her with. She began to tell me stories about her dream world, as she liked to call it. It was, as she said, an ever evolving, changing, and advancing story in her mind. One dream would pick up where the last left off. It quite frankly amazed me how in-depth these dreams could become. The story was far beyond what I could come up with on my own. Not everyone thought as such, though. Allow me to elaborate. <^><^><^><^> School had finally gotten out for the week, which was good. It was on Sunday that we had agreed to meet up next; some stuff had come up for Waltz, making our normal day of Friday a bit impossible. She didn't really tell us what, but eh. Gave me more time to get my characters back story worked out in my mind. A noise caught my ear, however. It sounded like laughing. -Not fun, happy laughter- but cynical, mocking laughter that caused the hairs atop my head to stand on end. That's a thing; there are things that really anger me, but only if it directs itself in my direction. My hair prickling is almost like me becoming angry, without actually being angry. I don't feel angry, but I act much more like I am angry then otherwise. The reason my scalp was prickling here was pretty obvious to me. The laughter was coming from Diamond Tiara. Pardon the language, but that little bitch pissed me off. Still does, actually. I didn't know what she was laughing at, and I didn't care. I would have absolutely no part in it. I maintained that train of thought until they came into my line of sight. My breath caught. Swallow was pressing into the ground in defeat, her ears lowered. Diamond Tiara was facing her, snickering snidely, as though she found the sight to be the most wonderful thing around. I knew she was a spoiled brat, and liked to pick on others, and I normally wouldn’t care. But she was picking on my friend. Diamond tiara didn't have her cutie mark yet, but that didn't stop her being an intolerable jerk to everypony else she viewed as being inferior in some way. I didn't see Silver Spoon anywhere, so I figured she was off either bossing somepony else around, had a lot of homework, or was in some kind of trouble. I hoped it was the third. Either way, Diamond Tiara finished her irritating laughter to mock Swallow. “Really, you dream about that sort of stuff? Points for having an active imagination, but do you have these dreams simply because you've got no friends? So you dream them up?” My eye twitched. I'd never seen Diamond Tiara act this mean-spirited before, but I didn't really notice that at first. All that mattered to me was she had dared to pick on one of my friends. My first instinct was to charge Diamond Tiara and smash her face into the ground with enough force to break her snout so that she'd shut up. However, my logical side popped in, telling me that would cause more problems than it was worth. As I approached, I could hear Swallow reply, “N-no! I have friends!” Damn straight! I stepped up next to her crouching form and glared daggers at Tiara. Well, daggers was an understatement. Try Broadswords. “Diamond tiara,” I said as though in friendly greeting, though I kept my face in a scowl. “Stinging Nettle. We never really get to talk much, do we?” Diamond Tiara replied, looking over at me instead, that cruel smile still plastered on her face. “Why is that? I've actually kinda wanted to talk to you a few times, yet you’ve always walked away.” “Maybe that should be a hint,” I replied, venom dripping off every word. She looked taken aback by the way the words left my mouth, almost a growl. “You were avoiding me?” she asked. I nodded sharply. She narrowed her eyes. “So why are you here, then? If You have been avoiding me, what brings you to me now?” I didn't answer her right away. Instead, I knelt down to Swallow. “You alright?” I asked. Swallow nodded slowly. Tiara looked a little surprised. Now I answered Tiara's question. “Nothing brought me to you, specifically. You just happened to be right next to what I was drawn to.” Diamond Tiara gave me a deadpan glare. “Then what brought you over here?” she asked. I stood back up and made the effort to put on a threatening stance. “I was brought to the defense of one of my friends,” I replied, and my lip twitched upwards in a smirk as Tiara got a look of anger on her face. The anger on her features faded, replaced by a smug smile. “Oh? I always knew that you liked the crazy ones, but I thought you at least had some sense.” She sighed, as though disappointed. I knew she was just trying to draw a reaction from me, so I opted not to say anything. “What? No counter? So you admit to it, then?” My eye twitched. She must have seen the movement because she pressed on. “Is she a part of your silly little writing group?” My brain stalled for a second. How the flying heck did she know about that? My muscles were getting tensed up. I was about done with this. Diamond Tiara looked at me expectantly. When I made no reply, she lost her cool a little bit. Good, I was outlasting her. Her ears flattened back and her eyes narrowed. I was bigger than she was, and older by a couple of years, but she still knew how to push buttons. “You know, if you need to form a little committee about something none of you are really good at, then you should keep from poisoning the minds of those with real talent, like me!” “So we can get better,” Swallow said suddenly. I winced. She gave Tiara a reaction. The exact opposite of what I was wanting. I was hoping that through silence she would get bored and leave us alone. “Do you expect writing is going to be your special talent?” Diamond Tiara mocked. With the silence broken already, I now had the ability to speak my mind. I was pretty pissed right now. I just hoped Tiara took this next little bit to heart; it would be bad for everypony involved if I snapped. “Tiara, I will warn you now. back. off!” I snarled, taking a step forward. She took a step back, suddenly looking a lot less confident than she did a moment ago. “What, are you going to hit me?” Tiara asked. “If you don't back the hay off, I'll do more than hit you,” I snarled, taking another step forwards. She took two steps back. She was being cautious. “You'd hurt a lady?” she asked. That one sent me over the edge. “Lady? You think you're a lady!? Oh, you poor wretch. You want to see a lady? Go and look at Rarity! SHE is a lady! You? I don't even know. But you are NOT a lady, and with an attitude like that, you never will be!” I was practically shouting when I was done. I had closed the distance between us rather quickly, and was now looming over her. “Now, get out of my sight!” Tiara scooted away from me, scrambled to her hooves, and galloped away without another word. A moment later and I began to realize the attention our little squabble had drawn. There were a fair number of grown-ups here to guide their foals home who were staring at me with surprised looks. Normally I would not have cared. I didn't care actually. What I cared about was the individual I had been protecting had to see that. I slowly turned to look at Swallow. She was looking at me with wide, frightened eyes. My ears drooped of their own accord. I took a slow step in her direction. She backed away slightly. “Swallow...” I muttered, lifting a hoof in her direction. Damn. I had made a new friend, and now I was scaring her away. All because I had lost my temper trying to protect her. The extended hoof began to shake slightly. I had so few friends; I didn't want to lose a single one. I felt my chest tighten and lowered my hoof, as well as my head. I was shaking visibly, now. I slowly closed my eyes, and wrapped myself up in my thoughts. I hadn't had a good reason to shed a tear in years. I was hoping to keep it that way, but that thope got shattered as a tear rolled down my left cheek. I didn't hear her move. Somepony suddenly hugged me. Looking up Swallow wrap her forelegs around me. I froze. What was going on? “Thank you, Nettle. Just... try to keep calm next time, ok?” she whispered. I nodded silently. <^><^><^><^> Things were a little awkward after that. We started on our way towards our individual homes, but we stopped in a small park area to talk. I found myself sitting on a park bench, with Swallow beside me. Something had been bothering me since the incident with Tiara. “Hey, Swallow?” I asked. She looked towards me curiously. “What was Tiara bullying you over?” She lowered her gaze ever so slightly. “It's... She used my dream world as a conduit to tease me,” Sshe explained. “Said that I had to dream up my friends.” I sighed. “That Diamond Tiara's going to elicit a violent reaction one of these days,” I muttered. My own reaction bubbled back to the forefront of my mind. I lost my temper big time. “I knew she was wrong, but it still hurt to hear her say that,” Swallow explained, and I nodded in response. A silence hung in the air for a moment. “Have I told you about the various characters in my dream world?” she asked. I shook my head. “No. You've mentioned them, but I'm pretty lost on who they are,” I replied. “Well, the one that Tiara heard about was Longbow. He's my best friend in the dreams. Kindest soul I've ever met, real or not,” she said. The next hour was spent with her just telling me about the various characters in her dreams. There were quite a few, and each of them was unique. Obviously there was Longbow. he was the heart and soul of her group, helping out everywhere he possibly could, and giving his friends sound advice. He was quite talented with a bow, and was also incredibly brave. I imagine this was exaggerated, but apparently he fended off a dragon for a couple of minutes. How he fended it off was left unclear, so maybe it was through negotiating. There was also a young filly named Summer Breeze. According to Swallow, she was like Longbow’s daughter, but was fully capable of handling herself. She was given some form of curse at birth which she was able to warp into more of a blessing, of sorts. I don’t know the specifics, but in the long run her abilities sounded nasty. The third of the most notable of them was a griffon named Harclaw. Harclaw was basically the group’s warrior, specializing in melee and close quarters combat as well as intimidation. Swallow didn’t stay on the topic of him for very long, and I was able to pick up from her tone that she and him didn’t get along so well. I stayed mostly silent, and just listened. Swallow eventually had to leave for her house, so we parted ways where we had the night before, with me remembering to say a proper farewell. <^><^><^><^> The following monday proved to be rather gloomy. The scheduled weather was much more miserable than I was expecting. It was so miserable that the lot of Students had to stay inside the school-house over the Midday-break. It was raining, and the sky crackled with lightning with the boom of thunder shorty after. I was busying myself with finishing up a math assignment. One of my natural habits was to constantly glance around myself. Nervous habit, more accurately. On one of these nervous glances, I saw Swallow. She was sitting in a corner, facing the room, head down. At first I thought maybe she was reading or something, but when I noticed a distinct lack of a book, a red flag went off in my head. Something was up. I slowly got up and made my way over to her. The closer I got, the slower and quieter I became. She was trembling. Something was definitely up. I slowed to a full stop in front of her. “Hey,” I said softly. She winced, as if startled, but made no further response. That was not good. “You alright?” I asked quietly, drawing closer. She shook her head. “What's wrong?” “It's...” She tried to say something, but the use of her voice caused it to crack, and she choked down a sob. Uh-oh. I sat down in front of her as the trembling began to get worse. She composed herself as best as I imagine she was able, and looked up at me. Her eyes were bloodshot, irritated, and had bags under them. She'd been crying. I noticed that her hair was in a mess instead of its usual well brushed self. “It's Longbow...” she managed with a whisper. “What about Longbow?” I asked. Something inside of swallow seemed to visibly snap. Tears began to flow freely down her cheeks. By now we were drawing attention again. And again, I didn't care in the least. Swallow was in pain, and I wasn't about to be distracted from helping her. “He's... Oh Celestia... He's dead.” She struggled with every word. Now I could see what was wrong. I'd come to understand that she could become very attached to things, even if they weren't real, and with something as involved as her dream world, It was easy for me to see how she could be grieving over this. Those dreams are pretty much her second life. “I... I'm sorry to hear that, Swallow.” I said quietly. She was trying to keep her sobs quiet, but with the small size of the current room, plenty of others could hear her. Thunder boomed outside. I hardly even noticed, and likely wouldn't have if it hadn't been so loud. The absurdly loud noise caused Swallow to shudder violently. I reached out and pulled her into a hug. I wasn't usually the initiator of hugs, but this was different. She was suffering emotionally, and needed some comfort. I heard hoof steps approaching, but paid them no heed. Turns out it was Miss Cherilee. “What's going on over here?” she asked with a hint of concern in her voice. I patted Swallows back as she buried her face into my neck. “Swallow’s going through something very difficult right now,” was my reply. Cherilee sat down next to us, ears lowering slightly. “I'll be fine,” Swallow said quietly, though it wasn't very convincing. There were no doubts in my mind that she'd get over it, but she needed a bit of time. “Give her a few days, and I'm sure she'll be in a good mood again,” I said, giving Swallow another pat on the back. “Do you need to head home? Relax a bit?” Cherilee suggested. I looked at Swallow’s expression as she lifted her face. It was tired looking. She sighed. “I don't see the harm in it...” She muttered. She slowly stood, disengaging from my hug, before walking past me. I followed her movements. They were slow, sluggish, and easily identifiable as distracted. If she went out at that pace in this weather, she could very easily catch a cold. It wasn't raining when we showed up this morning, but I always brought may favorite coat with me. I always anticipated bad weather. It was a few moments later that Swallow was out the door. “Uh, Miss Cherilee?” I asked hesitantly. “Yes?” “Can I go with her? I'll come back and pick up whatever I missed, but I don't want her to catch a cold. I don't think she brought a coat or umbrella, both of which I have in my saddlebags. At the rate she's going, she'll catch a cold, which will only make her feel worse,” I explained and requested at the same time. Cherilee looked at me thoughtfully for a moment. “Alright, go with her. I'm holding you to your word.” I nodded my thanks, and trotted out the door into the rain after Swallow. She was almost out of the school yard when I spotted her, still trudging along. “Hey, Swallow!” I called. She hesitated but turned to face me. I found my saddlebags and flipped open the left pouch, digging around for my coat and umbrella. My umbrella was a simple one, and could be extended and compacted. Further, it can also be mounted on a saddlebag for ponies without magic. I quickly retrieved my coat and began to put it on. It was a simple dark blue coat. I may be green, but my favorite color is dark blue. I then retrieved my umbrella and approached Swallow. “Here, take it.” I said, setting the umbrella down in front of her. She looked at me, a confused expression on her face. “What are you-?” she began to ask. “I'm not about to let a friend of mine walk out in the rain, not at your speed, and especially not without cover. Your also depressed, and I don't want you alone out here.” I explained. Her eyes lit up ever so slightly. This would be the first time I'd see her use magic. Her horns grooves filled with ocean blue light, which quickly expanded and enveloped her whole horn. It was a dim glow, but all the same it was there. I saw the magic wrap itself around the handle of the umbrella, and open it. She smiled weakly at me. “Thank you...” She said. I nodded, pulling my hood up. “Not a problem. Come on... Let's get you home.” <^><^><^><^> We walked in silence almost the entire way. I tried to stay under the umbrella while giving Swallow her space. She wasn't in a talking mood, so I chose to not speak at all. We eventually passed the street I lived on and continued. Eventually, we hit another street. It was somewhat better off than where my house was. And by that, I simply mean that the houses were somewhat bigger, and more fancy. Not to an extreme, not by a long shot, but it was noticeable. She eventually lead me to one house in particular and stopped in front of it. She turned her eyes to me, and slowly drifted the umbrella over to me. “Here,” she said. “I'm home. Thank you.” “You're welcome, Swallow.” I replied, taking the umbrella under my foreleg as it drifted over. “Just take it easy for a few days, okay?” “Yeah.” There were no further words between us. She simply stood there, looking at me, and I at her. It only lasted a few moments before she turned and headed up the cobblestone stairs to her door. She paused in front of them, and looked over her shoulder at me one last time. Something was in her eyes that I couldn't identify. She didn't give me enough time to properly take it in through the rain as she turned away, opened the door, and stepped through it. I stood there in silence for a minute, with the only noise being that of the rain battering everything around me. I eventually turned away myself, put away my umbrella, made sure my coat was zipped up all the way, and then began the semi-short trek back to the schoolhouse.