//------------------------------// // EXTRA: An Old Friend // Story: Number One // by Whirring Gears //------------------------------// This is an extra scene, taking place after the events of Number One. This scene has no ties or relevance to the rest of the story. ~~~~~ You walk in the door of your house, back from the latest Pinkie Pie party. You are wrapped in one of Dash's wings, within the soft feathers' warmth, as she trots beside you happily. "Say it," she says. "I already said it six times on the way back," you reply. "Don't care. You remember the agreement. Now say it again." You roll your eyes. "You're the most awesome, Dash." She gives a little giggle. "Again!" "You're the most awesome, Dash." "Again!" "I am never betting with you on 'Pin the Tail on the Donkey' again." "Okay," she replies before pushing you to the ground on your back. You look up at the blue pegasus standing over you with a confident smirk. She leans her head an inch away from yours. "But for now, say it." You snort and look away in defiance. She lays her body on top of you, her weight and body heat easily felt through your jacket. A sideways glance shows her features have softened, her smirk now a full smile with half-lidded eyes. "Say it." You couldn't resist that face. You sigh in defeat. "You're the most awesome, Dash." You feel her soft lips press against your neck. "Again," she says. You smile, suppressing a chuckle at the new show of affection. "You're the most awesome, Dash." This time, she kisses under your jawline. "Again." "You're the most awesome, Dash." She presses her lips against your cheek. She keeps them there for a while as you feel the warmth build on the spot. Eventually, she pulls away. "Again..." she breathes out in nearly a whisper. "You're the most awesome, Dash." She kisses right next to your mouth. You can feel the side of her lips brush against yours. She pulls away again and looks you right in the eyes with a look of soft compassion that has only been seen by very few. She doesn't say anything this time, but she doesn't have to at this point. "You're the most awesome, Dash," you say, returning her look. Heart beating faster in excitement, you both close your eyes as she lowers her lips down slowly for a deep, loving, passionate- CRASH You both jump at the loud noise. Thankfully, Dash is a pegasus and now hovering in the air instead of crashing down on top of you. You both look at each other and then in the direction of where the noise came from. Your bedroom. You get to your hooves and Dash lands softly beside you. "Stay here," you say. She looks at you with a cocked eyebrow. "You know I'm not going to," she says. "I know, but it felt like something I needed to say," you reply as the two of you walk toward your bedroom door, left ajar. You could hear something. Some rustling and some plinks of bits of metal hitting the floor. A little bit of incoherent mumbling could also be heard. You don't know who it is, but they are in your closet going through your stash of bits. Slamming a hoof into the door, you and Dash storm into the room as you bark out a loud, "HEY!" It is a light gray colt, white frazzled mane under a black ski hat. They have scars, dirt, and various other substances matted into their fur. It seems like there's a part of their body twitching at all times. They seem unfazed, like they don't even notice you. That is, until Dash flies over and tackles them to the ground. "What do you think you're doing, buddy!?" she screams into the intruders face. As you walk over, she looks ready to buck this guy out the door, which you would let her do in a heartbeat if you aren't dumbfounded by who it is. "Shakes!?" you ask, getting a good look at their face, confirming their identity. His eyes are shooting around in all directions as he continues his unintelligible muttering. A musty odor of sweat and burnt chemicals came off his body. Sure enough, it's the consistently strung out lunatic from your old hometown. Your eye twitches a bit. You remember all the problems he caused, all the little annoyances from being around him. And now, when you thought you were away from all of that mess once and for all, here he is. How dare he? How dare he come here? How did he even come here? It took you almost a full day by carriage. No. You don't even care. You just want him out of your house, preferably letting Dash inflict all manners of violence that she looked ready to carry out, and then maybe- "Uh... dude?" Dash suddenly asks. "W-What?" you stammer, snapping out of your thoughts. "You kind of zoned out for a minute," she says. "I asked what you wanted to do with this guy." You turn back to Shakes on your floor. With a little sigh, you decide he's nowhere near worth the time and energy. You want him out and you want him gone for good. He was from Clopton and you are past that now. Simple as that. "Just... get him out the door and make sure he goes the opposite direction of town," you say, bringing a hoof to rub your forehead. "He'll just wander back to Clopton somehow." "Really?" she asks. "Yeah. He used to go missing for a week or two. I didn't know he went out this far." You sigh again. "Just get him out of here. He's starting to make my place smell funny." "How about we call the police?" she asks. You give a little snort, trying to suppress a laugh. "And what'll they do? Shakes here has been arrested many times before." You shake your head slowly. "Most he's ever spent in a cell was maybe a couple days because of how loud he gets without a fix. They don't care." Shakes mumbles something from the floor. "And I absolutely do not want this guy here for any longer then it would take to kick him out right now and yoooou are about to say something to make me look like an idiot," you say, looking up at Dash's furrowed brow currently directed at you. "Things are different here," is all she says. "Oh!" you say, nodding your head with a mock smile. "Completely forgot! Things are different here! However..." you say, dropping the obnoxious happy tone in your voice. "There's one thing that is very much the same." "What's that?" she asks, clearly unimpressed by your sarcastic display. "Back in my apartment in Clopton, I still very much wanted Shakes out as soon as possible if he was ever there." "I meant the police, you jerk!" Dash exclaims. "The police are different here. They'll keep Shakes off the streets and then-" "He'll start screaming and they kick him out," you interrupt. "I've seen it before." "And then," she carries on, not happy with your behavior. "They'll help him get better." You actually stop, forgetting for a moment about the crazy muttering pony in the room that you wanted out of your house more than anything. "...Better?" you ask. "Yeah," Dash says, a little relief in her voice that she might be getting through to you. "Rehab and stuff. They'll get him off... whatever it is he's on, and he'll be normal." "Normal...?" you ask, disbelievingly. "But... he's Shakes." Another round of mumbling on the floor confirms your statement. "And he can get better," Dash repeats as if talking to a small child. All you can do is look down at the colt who probably has no idea what is going on. There are a few constants in this world that you knew of. Birds chirp, oranges are orange, the sky is blue, and Shakes is Shakes. Trying to change any of these, at least in your mind, would be like trying to stop the princess from raising the sun. "Listen," Dash says, breaking you from your thoughts again. "I'll go and get the cops. Can you keep him here?" You look down to the twitching gray colt. He seems like he's just coming down from something at the moment, so probably not that dangerous. You nod your head. "Okay." She gets off Shakes with a flap of her wings and flies to the door. "I'll be right back!" she calls out behind her. You close your bedroom door and lean against it. Shakes has gotten back onto his hooves, albeit after a couple tries. He is now trying to rummage through your bit stash again. You don't care. You could easily get those bits off of him when the cops took him away. A moment of silence, apart from Shakes' muttering, passes with you guarding the door. Your mind drifts into thinking about what Dash said. Shakes... better? Normal? You still couldn't believe it. He was always a little trouble maker and everypony just assumed he always would be. It's a wonder that he survived in a town like Clopton for as long as he did. And now... well, I guess he wouldn't be going back to Clopton anymore. You imagine that the town would thank Rainbow Dash for such an act, but then you remember where you are thinking of. Even if he is trouble, Shakes belonged to Clopton, and Clopton would go after anypony that took something of its. "So... Shakes," you begin, not really knowing what to say. "How's Clopton been?" As you expect, incoherent mumbles is all he replies with. "Anypony there miss me?" you ask with a chuckle as he tries to open the window. Thankfully, he couldn't figure out the latch keeping it in place so he went back to meandering around the room, dropping the golden coins as he went. You don't know why you are talking to him. Probably because this might be the last conversation you'll ever have with Shakes. Well, you knew that a minute ago when you wanted to throw him out, but now, if Dash is right, the Shakes in front of you would no longer exist. Now you felt an urge to talk to him, but what about? Are there any loose ends you needed to tie up with him before he changed? And what about afterwards? Would you suddenly be friends with him? Would he be grateful that you pulled him out of that hole of a city? Would he suddenly be friendlier to those around him? Would he be happier, just like... ...you are? The realization hit you like a ton of bricks. It's like you are watching yourself when you first came to Ponyville. Just bumbling around, only wanting to take other ponies' money and have nothing to do with them. Were you like this? Well, you weren't strung out on drugs, but was this how others had seen you? He tries to walk over and push past you to the door, but a simple shove causes him to fall over and drop nearly all the bits he was carrying. After that, he just continues to circle around the room. And now... Dash is going to fix him. Make him better. Just like you. You hear a knock on the front door. "Police," you hear voices say. "It's open," you call out. You open the bedroom door as they enter. You see two officers in blue uniform, one orange with a mustache, the other a darker blue, with Dash trailing behind them. "He's in here," you say, waving them over with a hoof. You move out of the way, walking over next to Dash as you see the two go in and then come out with the intruder. "I assume the bits he was carrying were yours, son?" asks the orange, mustached officer. You nod. "Sorry about the mess in there. We tried to clean it up a little." "Right," is all you say as you watch them take Shakes away. He gave surprisingly little resistance apart from his normal shaking. They take him out of your house and close the door behind them. "I'm going to have to let that room air out," you say, nonchalantly. You turn to Dash. "He'll be better, huh?" "Yeah," she replies. "They have these programs to help ponies like him. We don't really see a lot of them in Ponyville, but I'm sure they'll help him," she says with her usual confidence. So that's it. He'll be better. No more obnoxious Shakes. Just like you. All thanks to the colorful pegasus. You bring a hoof up and wrap it around Dash's shoulder and pull her close, her familiar warmth from earlier returning. "Sorry," she says with an awkward chuckle, bringing her own hoof up to push yours away. "That guy was... kind of a mood-killer." You don't listen. You just keep your hoof on her shoulder and hold her close. You close your eyes and just enjoy the little embrace. "...You okay?" Dash asks with a little concern. "Yeah," you say with a little nod. "I'm okay." As long as you have Dash, you would be.