//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 - "Thank You and Goodbye" // Story: My Little Caboose: Blue is Magic! // by DarkWing //------------------------------// Church laid awake in the guest room’s bed for hours after dawn. He slept for a couple hours, but he felt more awake than he ever has been in his entire life. He heard the door to Twilight’s room open and he smiled, getting out of the bed. He walked up to the door and opened it. "Twilight." Church nodded at her. "Hi, Church. You're up early. Did you have a good sleep?" Twilight asked. "To be honest, I had a great sleep." Twilight smiled at him and started making her way down the stairs with Church in tow. "That's nice." Twilight said, walking towards the bookshelf. "Listen, Twilight. I just wanted to say thank you." "For what?" Twilight asked, clearly confused. "For listening." Church replied simply. "Oh, that was no big deal." "It was for me." Church said, shaking his head slightly. "It was really gratifying to be able to get all that off of my chest." "Everyone can listen though. I can't see why what I did was so great." Twilight asked. "Everybody I have ever met claims to listen, but you were the first to actually HEAR what I had to say." Church said. "And it really helped me clear my head. I feel as if a great burden has been lifted off my shoulders." "Well, that's good." Church then walked up to her and hugged her. "Really. Thank you." Church said, smiling. "It's nice to have somebody that I feel I can actually trust, and not just some idiot." Twilight let out a soft gasp as her cheeks turned a subtle shade of red. "Oh, you're welcome Church." Twilight said as she returned the hug. Church let go of Twilight and let out a sigh. "So, what are we doing for the rest of the day?" "Well, I need to reorganize my bookshelves by publishing date, then I plan on going to see Rarity. She wanted me to see her most recent work." "Okay, I'll help." Church said. Twilight smiled at him. "You really don't have to help, I mean, it's pretty boring work." "Still. I need to do something around here." Church said, laughing. "I don't like just sitting around all the time. I've done too much of that in my life." "Well, grab some books and start organizing.” Church nodded and started to open the books to find the date of publication. Soon he found where they were and started to work. Church and Twilight worked in silence for hours, after all, what was there to talk about? Soon Twilight finished before Church and she helped him finish the other wall of books. "Thank you for the help." Twilight said. "No problem." Church said. Spike then came down the stairs and looked around. "You organized the shelves by yourself?" "No Spike, Church helped me." Spike looked at Church, squinting his eyes. Spike then shrugged. "That's cool I guess." "Now that that's all organized we're going to see Rarity. Want to come Spike?" "You know it Twilight!" Spike said, hopping on Twilight’s back. Church smiled, seeing the signs of love in Spike’s demeanor. In a few minutes, they found themselves in front of Carousel Boutique. Inside, Simmons was wearing the suit, frozen in place by Rarity’s spell. "And... done." Rarity said, taking the suit off of Simmons. "I must say, this suit looks fantastic on you." "Thanks. That spell worked wonders Rarity. I would have thought that standing for so long would hurt my legs." Simmons said. "And this time around, I didn't even feel nervous about the needle." Rarity smiled at Simmons and started walking towards the door, bringing the two pieces downstairs to put on display. "Simmons, I just want to apologize for how I treated you when we first met." Rarity said, frowning slightly. "I didn't know you would be such a help." "That's okay, I'm used to that sort of treatment." Simmons said. "And while we're being honest, I wasn't too thrilled about meeting a new woman, because the last few I have met were nutjobs." Rarity and Simmons both started laughing lightly as they made their way down the stairs. "We're terrible." Simmons stated flatly. "Yeah, we are." Rarity replied. Rarity then placed both the suit and the dress on display. "You're quite the gentlecolt you know that?" Rarity asked. "Please, don't be too nice. Sarge would rip my head off if he saw me getting compliments." Simmons said, laughing. "Well Sarge isn't here right now is he?" Rarity said. Rarity then walked up to Simmons and gave him a kiss on the cheek. At that moment, the door swung open and Twilight, Spike and Church walked in. "Hello Rarity." Twilight said. "We're not interrupting are we?" "Rarity?" Spike said somberly. Spike looked away from Rarity and started to glare at Simmons. Spike then jumped off of Twilight’s back and ran out the door. "What's with the dragon?" Simmons asked. "I don't know what came over him..." Twilight said. "I think I know what did." Church said. "Come on Simmons, we need to go talk to him." "Me? Why me?" Simmons asked. "Just don't argue, okay?" Church demanded. "Fine." Simmons said resignedly. Simmons and Church both walked out the door to find Spike. "So what is with the dragon?" Simmons asked. "His name is Spike. He’s Twilight’s assistant." Church said, then looked at Simmons. "I think he likes Rarity." "And?" Simmons said. "What made him storm off?" "He saw her kiss you on the cheek. How do you think that made him feel dumbass?" Church said. Simmons said nothing and just looked at the ground. Church looked around and saw Spike sitting on a fence. "There he is.” Spike heard Church and looked up, angry tears in his eyes. He jumped off the fence and started walking away. "We just want to talk." Church said, running after Spike. "I don't want to talk." Spike yelled. "Do you have any idea what I'm feeling?" Church caught up with Spike and put a hoof on his shoulder. "More than you will ever know." Church said sadly, which made Spike stop.