Chapter 69
It was fairly late in the day when the train pulled into the station. Once again, it seemed like all his close friends in Ponyville had turned up to welcome Rick back home. He picked Derpy out of the bushes, then shook hooves with Big Mac, hoof bumped Spike and thanked them both for keeping an eye on things while he was gone. With all the preparations for the upcoming winter, he knew it couldn’t have been all that easy.
As soon as he finished with Mac and Spike, he was wrapped in a Crusader hug. The giggling mass was trying to talk over themselves about how excited they were that he had come home and all the adventures they had while he was gone. Rick couldn’t help but laugh.
He placed all three onto his back and started the short walk home along with the rest of the group, though there was a short detour to Rarity’s house to drop off her matching luggage, leaving only about seven other bags in the force field bowl. When they reached his house, they all filed inside. As soon as Pinkie entered, music started blasting out every opening the house had as well as confetti.
The Crusaders had leapt off his back and raced inside to join in the fun leaving Rick standing on his front porch, grinning from ear to ear. “Ahh, home again,” laughter and other sounds of good times poured out of the house, “it’s good to be home.”
There were the usual Pinkie Party sights, games, music, amazing treats, punch and even goodie bags filled with candies and toys for the fillies, thanks to the Cakes who also brought the twins much to Rick’s glee. There was even a banner that read ‘CONGRATS ON FINISHING YOUR TRAINING’. Sadly, like every party, this one had to come to an end.
Twilight walked home with Spike on her back and her bag in her magic. Both Applejack and Rarity did the same with their sisters. Rainbow Dash took Scootaloo back to her home and Pinkie went with the Cakes back to their house. This left just Rick and Fluttershy.
“Its pretty late, Flutters. Do you want me to walk you home? I mean, you’re welcome to stay if you like, it’s completely up to you.”
“Oh, yes please. I need to make sure all the animals are alright and they will need to be fed in the morning too.”
Rick smiled, he just couldn’t get over how sweet and caring this little pegasus is. He also could get over how unbelievably cute she was. Still, the hardest thing for him to believe, was that she wanted to be with him. Rick knew that, should she ever chose to, Fluttershy could get just about any stallion in Ponyville she wanted. For that matter, so could any of the girls. Whatever made him so special, he didn’t really want to question it, something about looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Instead, Rick scooped her up again in another hug, “you are just too sweet, you know that?”
Fluttershy didn’t quite know how to respond to that, “oh, um, thank you?” But she did know, she wasn’t about to struggle in his strong embrace.
Rick slowly released his hold and set her down again. “I’m sorry about that. I don’t know what came over me,” he apologized as they started walking toward her cabin.
“That’s okay, I don’t mind,” She informed him with a slight blush.
“Oh really? Then how about this?” Rick scooped her up again, but this time he laid her on his back which caused her to giggle after the tiniest squeal of surprise. Of course, her giggling warmed his heart even more than before. He trotted happily with his giggling passenger, and her bag, through Ponyville toward the edge of the woods.
As soon as they arrived at her home, Fluttershy hopped off her mount and went inside. Rick followed her in and sat on the couch. If Fluttershy had given him any instructions, he would have happily followed them to aid her, but, as always, Fluttershy was lost in her tasks and didn’t even think to ask. So, he simply sat and watched her tend to her little friends, the whole time thinking about how good she is to all of them. He couldn’t help his mind from thinking about how she would make for an excellent mother and how much Annie would have loved her.
“…Rick?”
“Hmm…. What’s that?”
“You weren’t answering, what were you thinking about?”
Rick looked directly into her aqua colored eyes, “you.”
Fluttershy blushed heavily, “me? But, why would anypony think about me?”
“Oh, there’s a few reasons. For one thing, there’s your voice.”
“My voice? What about my voice?”
“You mean other than it being like pure honey, both sweet and soothing. I could honestly listen to you all day.” This cheesy complement made Fluttershy blush and hide behind her mane while squeaking slightly, “and that right there has got to be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Rick climbed off the sofa and walked over to her. He brushed her mane out of her face then lifted her chin, “then there is the fact that you are the sweetest, kindest and most thoughtful pony in all of Equestria.” Rick leaned in and kissed her, “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I’m glad I did it. I love you so much.”
Rick leaned in to kiss her again and was a little surprised that she came up to meet him. He was even more surprised when she did it again, holding the kiss a little longer. Then, when they kissed again, he couldn’t believe he felt her tongue trying to gain entry to his lips, entry he gladly granted.
Fluttershy’s tongue gently explored his mouth. It was a complete polar opposite from how Rarity’s fought for dominance. Tenderly, Rick caressed her tongue, almost as if he would scare her away like a wild rabbit. The sweet floral smell mixed with the passion of this moment made Rick’s head swim, and he loved it… and he wanted more. Luckily for him, so did she… much more.
Chapter 70
Winter had come shortly after Rick returned to Ponyville. He had spent his days helping everyone he could, be they his girls or not. Since he only had to worry about Paul, who could pretty much take care of himself, his time was free. He would help Daisy with her flowers, Carrot Top with her… well... carrots or he would simply keep excessive snow from building up on rooftops within the city. He was all too happy to do it too.
Most often, he would help his closest friends. The Apples needed help monitoring the consumption of the food stores. The Cakes needed help with the twins, Pumpkin and Pound. Dash needed help with an audience sometimes during her practices. Fluttershy, with her animal monitoring, keeping them fed, safe and warm. Rarity needed a model for stallion winter-wear. And Twilight liked to have him check her figures and triple check her checklists.
Rick couldn’t help but notice how often AJ, Rarity, Twilight and even Fluttershy needed him well after sundown. He also couldn’t help but notice how often they felt he needed to stay the night, for his safety of course. He also never argued.
The relationship between him and his four loves kept strengthening. He had even met Fluttershy’s parent’s, who were surprisingly outgoing, and seemed to think the world of him and hoped he would help their daughter come out of her shell a little. He had had dinner with Rarity’s parents and sister, who still enjoyed thinking of him as her big brother. He didn’t meet Applejack’s parents and since the Apples never talked about them, he thought it was probably something he shouldn’t bring up.
One day, about half way through winter, Twilight had said she wanted to have dinner with him at her place and it was important he be on time. Rick was happy to dine with her, just as he was happy to dine with any of them. He just wasn’t certain why it was so important he be on time. Of course, one doesn’t argue with a princess.
Rick was at Fluttershy’s cabin when he realized he had better head on or risk the wrath of Princess Twilight for being late. He happily trotted along through the snow, being kept warm by a rather handsome coat Rarity had made for him. Soon, he came to the Ponyville train station. Oddly enough, there only seemed to be two passengers getting off, a blue unicorn stallion with darker blue mane and tail, and a pale gray unicorn mare with light purple and white striped mane and tail. They seemed to be heading in the same direction, so he just fell into step behind them.
“Come on, Night, we’re going to be late, and you know how much she hates that.”
“I know, Velvet, I know. You know, I’m surprised it took her this long to arrange this.”
“She probably just thinks you’ll embarrass her,” ‘Velvet’ teased ‘Night’ as she nudged him and giggled. The giggle seemed somehow familiar to Rick, even though he knew he had never met either of these ponies before.
“Har har,” was the sarcastic reply, “I just don’t think this guy is good enough for our little princess.”
“Oh, Dear, you don’t think anypony is good enough for her.”
“And I’m right,” Rick was starting to feel bad for whoever these two were going to meet, “besides, it’s every father’s right to be judgmental of their daughter’s suitors.”
“I suppose, just don’t go overboard.”
“Oh c’mon, you know me better than that.”
“I do, that’s why I’m saying don’t go overboard,” another giggle.
Rick couldn’t see it, but he could practically hear ‘Night’s’ eyes rolling in his head, “fine, besides, I only want to the fear of Nightmare Moon into him a little.”
“Mmhmm,” obvious disbelief on the part of ‘Velvet’, “from what I hear, he doesn’t exactly scare that easy.”
“We’ll see.”
The Golden Oaks Library was quickly approaching and much to Rick’s surprise, the two unicorns he was following didn’t change course. Not even when they reached the front door. ‘Night’ reached up and wrapped on the door, “I can’t be any worse than your dad when I met your parents.”
“Yes, and you handled that splendidly,” ‘Velvet’ nuzzled ‘Night’.
The door opened, revealing a slightly nervous looking Twilight, “oh, good, you guys made it, I was starting to get worried… oh good, Rick, you’re here too.” Twilight was apparently relieved.
The two she addressed first turned around to see who she was talking to. They looked up, then up again to see rick glaring down at them. In an unusually deep voice, he addressed them, “so, you gonna put the fear of Nightmare Moon inta me are ya,” Rick lowered his head so he was eye level with ‘Night’, “HUH! You think ya got what it takes do ya? You think you can take me old man? I would love ta see you try.”
‘Night’ was now drenched in sweat and had darted behind Twilight to hide. Twilight seemed upset at his actions. ‘Velvet’ on the other hoof, was laughing her head off with Rick. “Serves you right, Nightlight. Now c’mon, it’s cold and it’s been a long train ride from Canterlot, I would like to go inside.”
The mare, who confirmed her name was Twilight Velvet lead Rick inside the library. There, Rick was officially introduced to Twilight’s father, Nightlight, and he was introduced to them. Rick had even apologized to Nightlight for his teasing. He told him that it was all in good fun. It wasn’t long before karma caught up with Rick.
“Dinner is served.”
“Thanks, Spike. Now, Rick, tell us, what do you do for a living?”
“Well, Velvet, it might sound odd, but I’ve been appointed by Celestia to protect your daughter and the rest of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony.”
“Really, that fantastic. I can tell you take your job very seriously.”
“Oh yes ma’am. In fact, I just finished a month of training with Shining Armor. After fighting Chrysalis, I decided I needed to improve what little skills I had.”
Nightlight spoke up, “wait, that was you that took on Chrysalis? I thought that was Twilight and her friends who took her down.”
“No, no, you heard correct. It was indeed them, all I did was keep her busy ‘til they finished her off.”
“Rick, don’t sell yourself short. You put up one serious fight and really held your own against her. Besides, if you hadn’t seen through her disguise, she could split up my friends and made the Elements of Harmony useless. You really did save the day.”
“Yeah, and nearly lost everything for it.”
“Oh my, that would have been terrible. My Twilight has already lost one friend like that and I don’t think she could have handled that again so soon,” Velvet told him sympathetically.
Rick guessed Twilight hadn’t told her parents that he was that friend from almost a year ago. “I heard about him, he seemed like he was a real good stallion.”
Twilight looked at Rick and grinned a little, “he really, really was.”
Nightlight cleared his throat, “so, Rick, when are you gonna marry my daughter?”