Chapter 20
Silence´s Waltz
pt. 1
Silent Mane walked around his room in the new Ponyhood´s headquarters. He had to admit it: They were much better than the other one. He saw around the room which he had chosen in the big building. There had been a lot of free and spare rooms once they had finally moved in entirely, so Silent had decided that he wanted to farthest room from the rest. Not because he didn´t wanted to be around them, but more because he wanted to have time for himself and think.
His room was pretty big, giving him enough space to walk around comfortably. His bed was fancier than the other one he had back in Lower Canterlot. It was, in fact, the fanciest of the whole ponyhood. Nimble had brought it (How, Silent didn´t knew. He had been wondering about that for quite some time) and gave it to him as a present. She said that she had wanted to get rid of that ´old thing´ for some time now, and she saw that they needed beds, so she brought it. After some struggle he and Nimble had finally managed to move it to his room (which was on the fourth and last floor of the building, and also on the other side). Now Silent saw the bed and wondered why he had accepted such a gift; He wasn´t of those that accepted gifts, especially such expensive ones.
He walked towards a small balcony that overlooked the street. They had gotten a pretty fancy building for a very low prize, that Silent was pretty convinced. Yes, it needed some repairs, but by the prize they had gotten it… Totally worth it. He opened the doors outside and kneeled on the railing. He felt the sweet, night air brushing slightly his mane. He closed his eyes and sighed tiredly. The last few days had been pretty tiring.
First the move, then the repair if the building (which was still in process) and finally that mare… Serena Skye.
Silent opened his eyes slowly, remembering that orange mare. He remembered that sweet and welcoming smile, but he was not easily fooled, no, he was an expert with spies, and she didn´t looked at all truthful. Surprised, yes… but truthful… He shuddered slightly. That mare brought him bad memories. He remembered the last time a spy had infiltrated the ponyhood in which his parents belonged. Silent was a young foal at the time, but since then he had taught himself to know when a pony was saying the truth in a serious matter.
His thoughts wandered back to that night when the ponyhood where he had been born fell… It was not a strong one, but still it was hanging pretty well in Lower Canterlot. His parents were one of the most important ponies of it. For some reason, another ponyhood had sent a spy to check on their ponyhood. his father was found dead on his bed, along with a note saying that the ponyhood was over, obviously written by the spy. Silent had avenged his father, which in some ways was something he was not proud of, but still he didn´t thought much of those dark times of his life.
Not many days later, the ponyhood collapsed because of fear of any other spies, or of a lack of leadership. Her mother had taken Silent around Lower Canterlot, until they were finally installed in a house, hidden most of the time because if you don´t have a ponyhood in Lower Canterlot you are better dead. Silent had grown up hiding until her mother met Hightip. She sent Silent with him to the newly formed ponyhood, and after that her mother had disappeared. Silent had searched for her for many years, but she had just simply banished. He now had stopped searching, but still those memories made him feel weak for some seconds until he controlled himself again.
He shook his head, trying to throw those thoughts off his head. He stared at the moon for some minutes, finally getting rid of those memories. He then looked around the balcony. It had a farily easy jump into the next building, and a thought came to his mind.
He knew he didn´t liked much Upper Canterlot, but a run in the night was just what he needed; After all, it was night and he would be running in the rooftops.
He walked inside the room to get enough space to get the speed needed to make the jump. He turned to look at the balcony. After some seconds he broke into a gallop and jumped off the balcony. He really liked doing that, feeling the air around his body… He could think he was a Pegasus and was flying, but only for some seconds. He landed softly in the other side of the buildings he looked around and looked at the balcony. He smiled and turned the other way, braking into a run again. He ran through the rooftops with speed and swiftness unmatched in all of Equestria. He thought of himself as the best in what he did: Running
He passed beside a chimney, his coat brushing the stone that protruded the building, almost hitting it, but still he ran.
He reached a turn of the buildings, the edge of the buildings closing fast. He ran even faster, gaining speed…
He jumped forward into the air into what was probably the longest and highest jump he had ever done in his life as he jumped from one side of a pretty big street. He closed his eyes as the floor was left behind. It was something he still felt strange, to know that below him there was a free fall, high enough to injure him badly or even kill him.
Still, not even a slight sense of fear passed through his mind. He knew his job. He knew what he did, and what he did he loved it.
He landed in the other side after some seconds, don´t even stopping. He kept running, not thinking of a special place to go. He was running randomly, not thinking where he was going. He was going to try to jump another street when he noticed another pony nearby in the rooftops. He quickly stopped and hid behind a chimney. He peeked towards the unknown pony.
The little light of the night didn´t helped to see him better, which made him force his eyes. Still, he didn´t saw any feature that would tell him anything about that pony, except that he was wearing a cloak and was an earth pony, no Pegasus or unicorn. The pony looked around, probably noticing he was being followed. Silent took cover again completely behind the chimney. He waited several seconds until he looked again. The pony was already moving the other direction, not noticing Silent. Silent decided to follow the mysterious pony.
He followed him for some minutes, Silent´s curiosity about that pony growing with each second that passed. He even considered walking over to him and touch him, but Silent was just to cautious and thoughtful to ever do that, so he continued following.
He was beginning to grow impatient when the pony broke into a run, moving pretty swiftly through the rooftops, leaving Silent slightly surprised. He broke from the shock of seeing the pony run like that and he followed, running also.
The pony ran surprisingly well, its cloak fluttering with the wind as he ran. Silent kept up easily, but still he was slightly taken back by the swiftness of that pony. Silent was about to try to tackle the pony when they reached the edge of the rooftops, with a street blocking the path. Silent expected the pony to stop and run the other way, but still the pony instead of stopping ran even faster, moving its legs in a particular manner that Silent had devised himself to have a better control when making the jump, which was a technique only he and Nimble Hoof knew…
He now knew who that pony was.
He watched as the pony jumped, cloak fluttering on her back, and landed softly, stopping. Yes, on that Silent was the only one able to keep running easily after such a jump. Silent now didn´t cared anymore about his secrecy. He ran and jumped, surprising Nimble as he landed beside her.
“Nimble, what a surprise finding you here.” Silent said casually.
Nimble stared surprised at Silent. “How…?” She eyed him suspiciously. “Where you the one following me?” Silent laughed slightly.
“Yes, I didn’t know it was you and, well, somepony running like that is something difficult to see. Not many ponies are capable of doing it with that elegance…” Nimble blushed slightly.
“You could have just come to talk instead of running after me.” Nimble said.
Silent smiled. “You knew I was following you?”
Nimble rolled her eyes, trying to look bothered but the smile on her face betrayed her. “Yes, of course, do you think I like to run in the rooftops? I prefer to just walk. It is less tiring.”
Silent chuckled. “If you want to walk, the road is below us. Use the rooftops for action!” He said, jumping on top of a chimney. “You don´t come up here just to relax, but to get your mind distracted into something challenging!” He jumped to the edge of the building, walking without even looked where he was stepping. Nimble felt a little worried, but Silent kept looking at her challenging. “I taught you to move in here so that you could do what you did when I pursued you. Run!” He ran around, making Nimble laugh.
“You´re such a foal” she said.
Nimble stopped in front of her. “Well then, if being a foal is this fun, Yes…” he ran behind Nimble. “Yes, I am.” Nimble laughed.
“You know, we´ve been going to your fancy restaurants, haven´t we?” Silent said. “My turn to show you something different, not those expensive, rich-ponies full things.”
Nimble chuckled. “You´re the one that likes going to those. You know, I wasted with those rich-full dinners a lot.”
Silent smiled. “Well then, let´s not waste anymore of your precious bits, Miss Hoof.” He ran forward, stopping to look at Nimble. “You coming?”
Nimble rolled her eyes and followed him. Silent smiled and began to run, making Nimble follow him with difficulty. Silent led her through the rooftops towards a place he had seen while running. He jumped a small alley, Nimble doing the same. Silent looked around, trying to see any other challenge for her. He saw a place where the building where uneven. He smiled and ran towards them. He easily ran through them, and when he looked back he saw Nimble doing pretty well, even though she was obviously trying very hard not to make anything wrong, which would result into a rather painful crash. Silent stopped and waited Nimble.
Nimble arrived a minute later.
“You led me through there on purpose.” She said accusingly, but Silent caught a hint of joke in her voice.
“Yes, I did.” He ruend towards the edged of the buildings “Now, look down.”
Nimble did as he told her, seeing a park full of really told trees. Silent smiled. “How fast can you get down?”
Nimble looked at him confused. “What do you mean?”
Silent didn´t answered. He simply laughed as he jumped into free air. Nimble squealed in terror as she saw her friend fall towards the floor. Strangely, when she peeked to the ground, Silent wasn´t there. She thought sofr a seconds what could have happened. He had just jumped into free air towards the ground from a farily high building… Yet, he wasn´t anywhere to be seen. She looked again and she managed to she Silent getting down from one of the trees.
“Your turn!” Silent said.
Nimble squealed again. “No! I can´t do that!” She said.
“Yes, you can. You just need to let your instincts take over. Trust yourself.” He said. Nimble looked below and for the first time felt a strange thing… She was high up a building, about to jump into free air and catch a tree before crashing down into the ground… Yes, she was fairly upset. Still, she didn’t knew what took over her. Before she realized it, she was falling. She closed her eyes, but quickly opened them. She needed to get hold of the tree. Even though they were fairly a few seconds of fall, they seemed like hours to Nimble. She caught the tree and landed softly in the ground beside Silent, who appeared surprised.
“You did it…” He looked up at the building, then back at Nimble. “Amazing!”
Nimble blushed. “Well…” She pushed him “I could have died thanks to you.”
Silent laughed. “You know I would never have told you to do something that you couldn´t do.” He looked at the park. “So you want to take a proper walk?” He said, teaing her. Nimble looked at the park, the trees covering it completely.
“I you want.” She said. Silent nodded and gestured her to go beside him. Nimble followed him inside.
They walked for some minutes in the park. The huge trees now covered the sky, making them both feel like if they were no longer in the city, but rather in a forest far from Canterlot. Nimble looked at the trees, wondering how old they were.
Silent felt slightly tense. Being in a dark place, with not many light to see made him nervous. Still, he walked beside Nimble. His ears stood completely up, alert. His eyes scanned around, looking for trouble.
Nimble noticed him.
“You know Silent, you should learn to stop being so alert, so… worried that something bad might happen.” She told him. “Look around you. We are in a park in Upper Canterlot, and it doesn´t even feels like Canterlot. It feels like… like a forest in the east! Imagine that, going out of Canterlot, visiting places where nopony lives…” She smiled. Silent nodded and tried to calm down.
It was difficult to try to stop a habit. He was used to being alert. His whole life was alert. He lived in Lower Canterlot, where his alertness had let him survive. He also ran thought the rooftops where his alertness had also saved him plenty of times from a fall or a painful crash. He closed his eyes and relaxed. Slowly his muscles relaxed and his ears stopped pointing up like arrows. He opened his eyes, feeling relaxed.
“You see, it´s not difficult.” Nimble said.
Silent nodded. “Yes, it wasn´t” He admitted. For some seconds no one spoke, each one looking at each other. Both realized they were staring each other in the eyes. The both looked to someplace else, blushing. Again, each said nothing, only trying to avoid each other´s gaze.
Silent looked up and was able to see a patch of the night sky. He looked at Nimble Hoof. He had never felt anything towards anypony. He wasn´t of those that felt attached to another pony. Still, he now felt something he had never felt before. He looked at Nimble Hoof, a mare whom he had not known for more than half a year. He had taught her all he knew, and he knew they were pretty close to each other. Still, he also felt close to Sun Seeker, but this was different. With Sunny it was more like a sister, but to Nimble… He didn´t knew how to describe that feeling.
Nimble saw that Silent was looking him. Silent blushed slightly, turning away. Nimble chuckled.
“I´m sure that if somepony looked at us this few minutes, he would have laughed a lot.” She said. Silent nodded, smiling.
“Yes, I would have.” He admitted. Both got closer to each other. Nimble closed her eyes as their lips touched. She had never felt such a feeling.
Nimble had once liked somepony… And that somepony resulted to be the most terrible criminal mind in Lower Canterlot. Even though she had felt something for that pony, she had not felt it as strong as she felt it now, with Silent Mane. She had not been as close to Day as she was with Silent. She stopped thinking about that pony but rather concentrated in the moment. She was for the first time with her special somepony. She had never thought she would have one ever, being just a simple journalist. Also, she was with a pony from Lower Canterlot… Still, she didn´t cared about that. She now knew it clearly.
After some seconds, seeming like minutes to each of the two, they separated. Silent looked at Nimble in the eyes, ad also Nimble did. The where no longer looking in the playful way, but neither where they serious. Each one was now staring at their special somepony. IN Nimble´s mind, it was something amazing, and in Silent´s something he never thought would happen. Still, none of them said anything, but kept staring at each other.
That´s when they heard the cry for help.
“HELP!!!” came a shout not far away. Bothe ponies snapped out of their trance-like state.
“What was that?” Nimble asked, her heartbeat increasing.
Silent was back to his serious, Lower Canterlot self. “I don´t know, but I think somepony needs help.” He looked at Nimble. Nimble nodded and both ran towards where the cry for help had come from…
The Kiss