//------------------------------// // The Painfully Obvious // Story: To Love A Non-Brony // by The Forgotten Host //------------------------------// “I had a wonderful time, TD.” I said to him as we trotted to Canterlot castle sometime around eight at night. Honestly, it only felt like minutes ago we met at Doughnut Joe’s for the date. This time, I was the one who showed him around Canterlot. First we went to the Wonderbolt Derby, and after that the Canterlot Art Gallery. The date would have been even better if it were not for Blueblood, who had apparently taken a liking to my Pegasus form and tried to court me. Honestly, if TD wasn’t there to put an end to him using his sarcasm and wit, I might have sent him to the moon. Either way, the day was over, the sun had set, and Luna had raised the moon. When we reached the castle gate, we said our farewells, but before we could part ways, I mustered up enough courage to fly up to him eye level and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. That left him emotionless for a few seconds, after which he half opened his eyes and smiled a goofy grin. It was adorable, to say the least. I flew back into the castle all the while excitedly giggling. After entering the castle, I reverted back to my alicorn form and trotted to my bed chambers all the while keeping a nostalgic smile plastered on my face. When I reached my bed chambers, I opened the door and let myself in. As amusing as the date was, tomorrow was another day and I had duties to perform. I closed the door and lied on my bed, yawned and closed my eyes to wait for the soft embrace of sleep. I was almost about to go to sleep, but was immediately awakened by the sound of light knocks on the door. “Who is it?” I called out with a slight hint of annoyance in my voice for being interrupted from my rest. “It is I, sister,” I heard Luna say in a concerned tone from the other side of the door. “We have a problem.” “Whatever it is, we can discuss it tomorrow. Right now, I would like to sleep, dear sister.” The bedroom doors opened revealing Luna who was levitating something on the other side of the door. “The matter is most urgent.” “How urgent, Luna?” The item she levitated inside the room was a scroll, and judging by the seal on it, I could immediately tell it was from my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. I opened the scroll and from it, a vial full of a red transparent liquid fell on my bed. I levitated the vial closer to my face to observe it. “What is this?” I inquired. “Read the contents of the letter,” Luna answered. She was sounding nervous for some reason, which was as a result, starting to make me feel unsettled. Something was off. I brought the letter closer to my face to read its contents. As I read it, my pupils began dilate from pure shock. Dear Princess Celestia, We are facing a very serious problem. I didn’t think it was a matter that would require your assistance, but we have run out of options. TD is in grave danger, and it’s my entire fault. It all started when Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo came to me with a bottle half full of love poison. They wanted my help to get rid of it, so I took the bottle from them and promised them I’d dispose of it. I was going to get rid of the bottle, I really was, but curiosity got the best of me. I just wanted to do some tests on the love poison and make some observations. I mixed it with some poison joke herb and added some water. The mixture took on a gaseous state and spread throughout the laboratory. Lucky for me, I wasn’t affected because I was wearing a hazmat suit, so at that time the only living thing that was affected was a pot of flowers I put on the shelf for another experiment, but wasn’t something to worry about at the time. Just then, TD arrived to get his laptop device back from me. I borrowed it for a few days to study it and I and he inhaled the chemicals. I don’t know why, but for some reason after inhaling it, he didn’t go into a love frenzy the second he saw me because I was the first pony he saw. He just calmly asked me to give his laptop back to him and I did. After that he went home without doing anything unusual. I didn’t think it was anything serious that time so I just thought the poison joke neutralized when it came into contact with the love poison, but I was wrong. The next day, TD disappeared without a trace. After doing some searching, I learned from Rarity that he went to Canterlot. After asking her why, she said he wanted to make something right. I don’t know what he meant by that, but I didn’t care because I thought I could ask him later. It’s been three days and we haven’t heard from him at all, and to make matters worse, the flowers that were affected by the love poison have withered into dust. After doing some analysis, I found out the love poison poisoning them on a cellular level. The love poison is now literally a poison and TD is either dying or he may be dead right now. I’m sorry, princess, but I am begging you to find him as soon as possible. I was able to make an antidote. It is in the vial that came with this letter. When you find him, give him the antidote, and hopefully that will cure him before the poison takes effect. I hope you succeed, princess, because you’re the only one that can help him. I know you and he don’t have the friendliest of relations, but this is a matter of life and death. I hope you make the right decision. Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle I stopped reading the letter. I gazed at the vial with the antidote in it. Than I turned my gaze towards Luna. Back to the vial, then back at Luna and just like that, the horrendous truth reality had to offer to me was revealed. At that moment, I felt truly helpless. But then I realised I was feeling something else. Anger. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. All the while, Luna stared at me with sympathy painted all over her face. “Tia?” “WHAT?!” I lashed out, startling her. She hesitated before continuing. “You know what must be done.” I didn’t speak. This anger inside of me just kept building up. What was I angry about? The next course of action was obvious, yet I was still so infuriated. And to make matters worse, I was lashing out at my sister. Years of meditation and restraint had taught me how to control my emotions so I wouldn’t lose control and break something or somepony. But this… This was NOT FAIR! “Leave…” I hissed. Luna raised an eyebrow. “Tia, I know these are not the best times for thee, but-” “LEAVE!” I cried. She stepped back, alarmed. Just then, I realised how I was treating my sister. She was not the reason this was happening to me. She was just the messenger. My cold rage melted into sorrow and tears began trickling down my face. I looked at my sister, her concerns growing. “Please, Luna,” I said in a trembling voice. “Please leave.” She opened her mouth and stepped forward to object, but stepped back and nodded in acceptance and walked out of my bed chambers. I walked to my bed, lied down on it, magically levitated a pillow my way, and proceeded to cry on it for the rest of the night.