//------------------------------// // Guile // Story: The Stallion in the Library // by leonidas701 //------------------------------//         You know how annoying it is to fall asleep in a bed that isn’t yours? I don’t know about you but it bothers the crap out of me, I just notice every single difference between my bed and the other one. Like this one for example, my normal bed, which technically isn’t my bed it’s Ami’s guest bed, but I’m usually the one who sleeps in it and I’ve put the most work into decorating the bedroom and I’ve gone off on a tangent. Sorry, I do that sometimes when I’m tired.         Anyways, back to the bed. There are all these little things that annoy me, the pillow’s a little too soft, the mattress is a bit too hard, the blanket’s made of some weird material, but those aren’t the things that bother me the most. No, for some reason the thing that kept me from falling asleep for a really long time was that the bed was just in a really weird place. My bed is pressed up against the side of my room, but this one is right smack dab in the center. It feels so weird. And it’s only with beds that this problem comes up, I can fall asleep anywhere else no problem and usually quite comfortably too. In chairs, sofas, up against the wall, no problem. That is until someone tries to wake me up.         See, I’m the type of person whose body takes a long time to acknowledge that I’m awake. A fact that Silver, my big brother, is well aware of. Silver can wake up all at once, his eyes open and he’s ready to go. I got my sleeping pattern from Shade, my other brother. Well technically he’s not my brother, but he might as well be- right, right, rambling, rambling. Where was I?         Oh yeah, waking up. Well, it so happened that when Silver rushed me onto the boat we were taking out of Oka to this place, I wasn’t fully awake, and really how could he expect me to be it was only 10:30, so I quickly fell asleep in my seat. I slept for the entire time until we crossed over Equestria’s borders. The instant we were in Equestrian waters, Silver teleported us to this town. Now being a unicorn, teleporting usually doesn’t bother me very much, especially teleports as smooth as Silver’s, but being teleported when sleeping has roughly the same effect as getting shaken awake while simultaneously having a bucket of ice water tossed on your head.         “Oh good, you are up,” Silver said nonchalantly as I jerked awake. “How are you feeling?”         I glared at him. “You couldn’t have woken me up first?”         “I could have.”         For someone who’s job revolves around being polite my brother can be a real asshole. I glared at him for a little while longer, but it wasn’t bothering him so I gave it up. “Where are we?” I asked, noticing that we were on a path right next to a dense forest. “I thought we were supposed to be in a city?”         “I decided that I should put away our luggage first, and I can not teleport any closer to the manor. If you want, you can go explore around town.”         “Okay.” Wandering around towns while I waited for something to do was nothing new to me.         “Are you sure you will be warm enough in that?” he gestured at my black hoodie.         I nodded yes, my hoodie has gotten me through much worse then a few centimeters of snow. Anyways he wasn’t one to talk, he wasn’t wearing anything. I turned to leave, but he stopped me.         Here,” he tossed me a small bag that jingled when I caught it.         “What’s in this?” I asked as I slipped it into my pocket.         “Bits.” I had forgotten that I didn’t have any Equestrian money. “Town is that way. Go, have fun. Just meet me here at sundown.”         He levitated our luggage off the ground and headed off into the forest. I saw that the sun was on its way down, so I figured that I only had a few hours of time to kill. While I was wondering exactly how I should commence the grisly murder of a few innocent hours, my stomach made itself known.         *Growl* it said. Fortunately, the many languages I speak include Stomach, so I was able to translate that into, “I’m running on empty so if you wouldn’t mind moving in the general direction of food, I would be most grateful.”         A very efficient language, Stomach is.         Well, after an argument as persuasive as that I decided that maybe I should actually start heading towards the town while I thought.         Speaking of thoughts, the first that I had upon entering the city, actually thinking about it now I can’t really call it a city it’s barely big enough to qualify as a village but back to the point. The first thing I thought when I entered was how tall everything was. The last time I was in a purely Equestrian city was when I was eight and sure, thinking back everything was tall back then but I chalked that up to me being so small at the time. When I say tall, I mean the doors were a good two feet bigger than I was used to, and the windows were all a bit higher up as well.         I guess it makes sense. I spend most my time in the Okan Empire, the kingdom of wolves, and as such I’m used to the way wolf houses are built. On average ponies are about a foot taller than wolves, so I guess everything was built to accommodate but it still threw me off.         I wandered around the village, trying to go in a straight line and failing horribly, until suddenly I detected the scent of baked goods.         My stomach made itself known again and repeated its request, this time emphasizing it with a small blast of mild discomfort that totally did not make me cringe. I heeded it once more, and went off in the direction of the smell. I eventually came across a building with a roof made to look like gingerbread, a violent contrast, though not an unwelcome one, to the brown-yellow thach of every other roof I had seen.         When I got closer I saw that it was a bakery and went inside. I placed my order, a lava fudge cake, and decided to take a seat at one of the small tables while I ate to avoid going back out into the snow. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who had that idea as most of the tables were full. I saw that there was one with an empty seat, but there was already someone sitting at it. A gray earth filly, with blue glasses, who looked to be around my age.         Well I’m nothing if not sociable, so I walked up and asked if she would mind if I sat across from her.         “Huh? Oh, sure.”         She seemed a little preoccupied, and kept on spinning her spoon around in her hoof. My cake had yet to arrive, and I really hate awkward silences, so I decided to make an attempt at small talk.         “My name’s Guile. What’s your’s?”         She jerked a little, like she had forgotten that I was there. Still she managed to respond.         “Silver Spoon.”         Now it was my turn to be taken aback. “You’re kidding.”         “Uhh… No?” She raised her eyebrow and gave me a funny look. “Is there something wrong with my name?”         “Oh, no, not at all, it’s just that my brother’s name is Silver too.” Whenever I get flustered, I do this thing where I kinda wave my front hooves really quickly. I only bring it up because that’s what I did when I was saying that and she apparently found it funny, so now she was giggling at me. This did nothing to make me any less flustered.         You know, I really hate the color I turn when I blush. It’s this really ugly, sick-looking, orangish-brownish thing that I have yet to see anywhere else but on my face.         Anyways, I was saved from my embarrassment by the arrival of a waiter who put my cake in front of me and a slice of pie in front of Silver Spoon. I quickly dug in to distract myself. Looking back though, yeah, that was a mistake. It was a really good cake, I should have savored it.         Eventually, I could feel that my blush had subsided enough that I could look up again and I decided to restart the conversation.         “So, what is there to do around here?”         “Honestly, not much. There’s a bowling alley, which I like but I pretty much have to because there is nothing else.” She sounded really exasperated.         “Really?”         “Yeah. Why did you even come to this nowhere town?”         “My brother dragged me along. One of his friends is throwing this really big new year’s party and I had to come. Don’t see why, it’s not like there’ll be anyone my age there.”         “At least you’re going to a party. My parents are going out of town to a party one of my dad’s co-workers is throwing, and they won’t bring me.”         “That sucks. None of your friends are throwing parties?”         “My best friend is off with her parents on a cruise. They won’t back until school starts.”         “That really sucks.”         “No duh.” She sighed and her head fell. It was only for a fraction of a second though, before she decided it was her turn to ask a question.         “So, if you’re not from Ponyville, where are you from?”         “All over the place really. My brother moves around a lot for his job, so I have to go with him. But right now I spend most of my time in Terasubarre.”         “Terrasu…, what? I’ve never heard of that place.”         “Makes sense. It’s the capital of Oka, the Wolf Empire.”         She looked taken aback. “Wow, really? You live with wolves? What’s that like?”         I shrugged. “Normal, I guess. I don’t spend a lot of time in Equestria honestly. But you know, there is one big difference I noticed.”         “What?”         “The smell. Wolves can smell really well, so everything in their cities has to smell good. Not just that, but every shop and restaurant tries to smell distinct, so that people get curious enough to walk in.”         “And what, Ponyville smells bad?” She looked like she trying to act insulted, but it was ruined by her small smirk. Still, I felt the need to alleviate her concerns nevertheless.         “Not bad, it just doesn’t smell. It’s kinda weird honestly, in Oka you can navigate some of the busier districts by smell alone.”         “Wow,” her eyes were wide, “I can’t even imagine what that’s like. I’ll have to visit someday.”         “Just make sure you learn the language. Some of those wolves are really stuck up, and refuse to speak in any language other than Okan.”         “I’ll be sure to do that.”         By now we were both done eating and I got up to leave.         “Leaving?” she asked, a little note of disappointment tainting her words.         “Yeah. I was wondering if you could show me where that bowling alley is.”         In the span of about a second she sat up in her chair, got a full smile on her face, teeth and everything, brightened considerably, became shocked and embarrassed, I assume due to the sudden realization of what she just did, and leaned back in her chair and tried to play it cool, inspecting her hoof as she told me that it’s not like she had anything else to do.         In the face of such a display, I gathered up all of my strength, called upon the years of mental and physical training my brothers had put me through, summoned all my self control, and I managed not to laugh!         What’s so funny?         Oh, uh, sorry, don’t know how I got up on your table, uh.         A-hem. Anyways.         We left the bakery behind and we made some idle chit-chat while we walked. I learned that the reason she looked like she was my age was because she was my age. Also her parents were apparently well-off, but they decided that the one of the bigger cities was no place to raise a child so they moved to this village to give her a quieter upbringing, a fact about which she was greatly annoyed. Overall she struck me as one of those noble’s kids I always run into whenever my brother takes me to court, regardless of what country it is. Kinda stuck-up, a little egotistical, and convinced that things were better everywhere that she wasn’t. Still not really bad, just kinda self-important. I dunno, I liked her. No not like that.         So naturally we made our way to the bowling alley without incident right? Just a simple trip across town? Ha. I’m never that lucky.         We were walking along what I think was supposed to be the main street but it was still so small I couldn’t tell, when we walked in front of an alleyway where I could see what looked like the start of a mugging. I stopped in my tracks.         “So the waterballoon- Huh? Why’d you stop?” Silver Spoon said. She looked down the alleyway and saw the action. She bit her lip briefly, then said, “Come on, let’s go,” in a really quiet voice.         As I looked, I could make out that it was three ponies, two pegasi and an earth pony, who looked about sixteen or so picking on a little orange earth pony who looked about my age. It was so obviously unfair.         “Guile? Come on,” she gently tugged my hoodie.         To make matters worse the foal wasn’t just standing there mewling and whimpering, so I couldn’t just turn my nose up and walk away in disgust. She was actually fighting back, standing her ground and responding to their insults with a few of her own.         This didn’t involve me. I had no reason to step in. It wasn’t my problem.         “What’s wrong?” Silver Spoon asked, looking really nervous.         I sighed. I tried to keep on moving, really I did, but…         “Nothing, it’s just…,” I sighed again and pulled up my hood. “I really hate my brother.”         She said something to that, but I couldn’t hear her because I was already heading towards the bullies.         “Excuse me gents,” I said.         One of the pegasi, he seemed to be the leader of the bunch turned to face me. “What do you want?”         “I want to know what you’re doing.”         “None of your beeswax. Scram,” he started to turn around to go back to harassing the filly.         “I’m making it my business,” I let a little bit of edge into my voice, made easier by the fact that nothing bothers me more than those who try and swap words with other words that only sound similar so now I had a reason to hate him.         He became defensive, motioning for his friends to come back him up. “What do you care? What are you, her colt friend?”         I shot him Shade’s patented look number 3, I can’t do it anywhere near as well as he can, of course, but it got the job done, he and his friends looked unnerved. “As a matter of fact, yes. Yes I am,” I said. I radiated a small bit of bloodlust, and that did the trick.         He and his friends immediately started apologizing and tripped over themselves as they tried not to run out of the alley. I glared at them until they were gone, and then I immediately turned around and started apologizing to the filly.         “I’m really, really sorry that I called myself your colt friend, I know it was rude of me but I couldn’t think of anything else that would make them leave as quickly. Sorry,” I said with a bow.         “I could have dealt with that all on my own!” she said as she marched up to and got in my face. Now that she was closer, I could see why the bullies were picking on her. She wasn’t an earth pony, she was a pegasus. Her wings were just so small, that I couldn’t see them.         “Sorry, sorry.” I kept on apologizing, but not bowing because if I had bowed I would’ve headbutted her, until Silver Spoon spoke up.         “What are you apologizing for?” She walked into the alleyway, glaring at the filly before addressing her, “He just helped you out of a bad spot, you should be thanking him!”         “I had it all under control!”         “Yeah, clearly,” Silver Spoon rolled her eyes, “So, what part did you have under control? The part where they were all bigger than you, or the part where you couldn’t get away?”         “I wasn’t trying to leave!” the filly- Okay look, later I learned her name was Scootaloo so I’m just going to call her that, it’s getting really annoying calling her ‘the filly’- so Scootaloo said that and moved to get all up in Silver Spoon’s face. “You ruined everything!”         I put up my hoofs, trying to separate the two fillies. “Wait, wait. What did I ruin?”         “They took my scooter!” she pointed up to a building, and I saw a small, wooden scooter on the roof. I guess one of the pegasi flew it up there. “I was trying to get it back! Now what am I going to do!?”         Since it was technically my fault that she couldn’t get it down, don’t ask me how but I’m sure it was, I decided that I needed to be the one to bring it back to her and I told her so.         “Oh, what are you gonna do? Levitate it down?” she said sarcastically, and I didn’t blame her. I wasn’t nearly old enough to have the type of magical power or training to lift something that big from that high up, and she knew that. Good thing I didn’t need it.         It wasn’t a very wide alley, only around seven or eight feet, and the two buildings on either side were only about two stories high and pretty old. Lots of things jutting out from the side once you got high enough off of the ground.         I ran up the wall of the house opposite the one with the scooter, and when I felt I couldn’t run up any farther, I jumped across and turned around to grab a part of the house on the other side of the alley. Once I had the hoofhold, It was easy as pie to climb up the roof and retrieve the scooter. I carefully lowered it down to ground, my magic is strong enough to do something like that once I touched the thing and held as far down off the roof as I could, and then jumped down after it, making sure to roll when I hit the ground. When I got up from my roll I noticed, after brushing some snow off my hoodie, two faces looking at me with a mixture of shock and awe.         “What?” I asked.         “That was sooo cool!” Scootaloo said as she ran up in my face again, “How did you do that?!”         The fact that she was literally about an inch from my face made me a little uncomfortable, so I was really relieved when Silver Spoon shook her shock off and pulled Scootaloo away.         “There, he got you your dumb scooter back, now are you going to thank him or what?”         “Thanks!” Scootaloo picked her scooter back up and started checking it over for damage.         Silver Spoon looked like she wanted a little more, but I nudged her.         “Come on, let’s get going,” I said.         Silver Spoon sent a last glare at Scootaloo, now standing on her scooter and giving it a few test rolls, and then started leading the way to the bowling alley again.         For a couple of minutes we walked in an awkward silence. I would’ve broken it, but I had no idea what to say. Fortunately, Silver Spoon did.         “You shouldn’t have done that.” She had a weird look on her face.         “Done what?”         “You shouldn’t have helped Scootaloo.” This was when I learned her name by the way.         “Why not?” Personally I could think of a few reasons, but I was curious which one she choose.         “Because they’ll come back, again and again. You helped her once, but in the long run it makes no difference.”         That… was actually a very good point. In fact, it was a good point that I had heard many, many times, every time my brothers argue. Which meant I knew exactly what to say in response.         “It made a difference that time.”         Silver Spoon mulled this over for about twenty steps or so. “Yeah. I guess you’re right,” she paused for a little bit, before looking at me out of the corner of her eye and saying, “You know,” her voice had changed to be this weird tone of playful, I don’t know what it’s called but mares and stallions seem to use it around Shade a lot. “You looked pretty cool saving her.”         My blush was back, and I started stammering, “Oh, uh, you really think so?” Yeah, I don’t take compliments well.         “Mm-hm,” she had this little smile and slowly nodded. “Especially when the big one tried to stare you down.”         “R-really.”         “And then those tricks you did to get up to the roof. How did you learn how to do that?” she moved a little bit closer to me, a fact I was very aware of.         “Oh, uhm funny story actually. You see, one of the ways my brothers like to hide things from me is to put them up in really high places, and over the years I got really good at reaching those high places.” It wasn’t the whole story, but it was enough.         “Interesting. We’re here.” She suddenly stopped and I noticed that were outside a building with a big sign that had bowling balls and pins on it. “Come on in.”         Inside we rented our balls, got a lane and played a few rounds. She was really good at it too, almost every frame she had was either a strike or a spare. I fared much worse, bowling not being one of my strong suits. I’m good at throwing things, but I’m a lot worse rolling them. She tried to help me out, which helped a little bit but it was terrible for my self esteem. You see, every time she positioned a part of me, she would touch it for a little longer than I thought was necessary, and it me feel like she thought she needed to make extra sure I didn’t mess it up.         Still, I had a lot of fun. Silver Spoon was very good company, and I didn’t notice the time passing at all until I looked out a window and saw that the sun was about to set.         I told her I had to go, and she looked a little sad. I decided I wanted to see her again, so I invited her to the New Year’s party. She said yes, and we arranged that I would get her at nine o’clock on New Year’s eve at the bakery where I found her.         With all of that settled, I made my way back to the edge of the forest. Silver was there waiting for me he led me into the forest and to the Manor. That’s all that happened until Dinner. Can I get back to my dream now?