//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 Just A Little Chat // Story: Six Ways, Book 1: Unity // by the_bioXpony_guy //------------------------------// “That’ll be fourteen bits, ma’am!” said the clerk. A hospitable smile on her face, Twilight placed the money on the pony’s table and responded, “Here you go!” And with that, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Applebloom received their food. Upon making their way to their table, the three ponies found themselves sitting within a place of beautiful smells and friendly faces. Sitting before Twilight, Fluttershy, and Applebloom—respectably—was a bowl of flower salad, kettle soup, and a plate of carrot pancakes. Licking her lips in pure hunger, Applebloom cheered, “Well—let’s get eatin’!” “Yes,” Twilight agreed with a smile. “Let’s.” And with that, she activated her horn’s magic and telekinetically lifted her fork from the table. Using her magic, she gradually started consuming the salad before her. Witnessing as Fluttershy lapped up her soup, Twilight gave a twitch of her ears when she realized, “Oh yes—Fluttershy!” Soup dripping off her lips, the startled pegasus flinched before asking, “Yes?” A look of sympathy showing on her face, Twilight wondered, “How do you think people feel whenever you give them the stare?” Such words caused Fluttershy to lose her appetite completely. “Do you mean—?” “What kind of emotions do you inflict whenever you give somebody the stare?” explained Twilight. Fluttershy blinked in response to such a sudden question. The soup before her seemed to vanish when she snorted, “I know it’s not a good feeling—that’s for sure.” At that point, Applebloom was stuffing her face with the carrot pancakes. Sticky syrup mixed into the hyper horse’s bloodstream. A storm of great energy and hyperactivity was brewing right under their noses. Perhaps they should have given her something less sugary. They couldn’t blame her; she was tired of eating nothing but apples at home. Sometimes she regretted being part of the Apple heritage. Even as Applebloom engorged herself like the little filly she was, Fluttershy continued, “I need to confess something to you.” Raising an eyebrow, Twilight wondered, “Confess what?” Another pause drew between the two before Fluttershy continued. “I had a dream last night. A dream about Angel and Teridax. And in the middle of it, Angel gave me the stare.” “But it was just a dream,” Twilight stated. “Right?” “I want to believe it was just a dream,” Fluttershy sighed. “But it felt so real. I saw Angel look into my eyes and give me the stare.” Twilight listened with perked interest, pushing her nearly-finished salad aside. Go on, she seemed to say. “Anyway,” Fluttershy continued. “I just—I felt horrible. I felt like something was taking over me—like I had no control over my body. I'm sorry—I don't know how else to say it. I've never been a pony of many words." Those words ringing within her ears, Twilight noticed Applebloom had just finished eating her pancakes. “That was delicious!” she squealed, licking her syrup-covered lips clean. Taking a look up at Twilight, Applebloom continued, “How was your—oh—you’re still eating.” Giggling at Applebloom’s surprise, Twilight replied, “Yeah—Fluttershy and I were just talking.” “Oh.” Applebloom bit her bottom lip. “Oh yeah! I still gotta find your chicken!” Without hesitation, the enthusiastic filly pushed herself away from the table and plopped herself on her feet. “Well, I guess I better be headin’ off. Thanks for the pancakes, Twi!” And with that, Applebloom went trotting off into the distance. A smile on her face, Twilight shot a look toward Fluttershy—taking notice of the pegasus’ worried eyes. Ears flattening against her head, Twilight sighed, “Fluttershy—you don’t need to be afraid of Angel. And besides—the idea of a bunny giving you the stare and taking over you is just plain preposterous!" She sighed once more before continuing, “And in any case, why exactly did you think your Teridax rock was Angel?” “I didn’t think it was Angel!” growled Fluttershy. “I know what I saw. I decided to take Teridax with me instead of Angel because—well, you know why.” Through a wave of utter confusion, Twilight sneered, “I know why—what? How would I know why? And what do you mean you know what you saw?” In response to the perplexed unicorn’s questions, Fluttershy did something Twilight had never, ever seen her do: she started grinding her teeth. Such an action released hideous sounds—the likes of which caused Twilight to cover her ears in disgust. Through her covered ears, she heard as Fluttershy growled, “Isn’t it obvious, Twilight? Angel doesn’t love me anymore.” Within seconds, the grinding was replaced with sobbing. “He—he—n-never loved me!” Pushing her soup out of the way—nearly knocking it off the table as she did so—Fluttershy buried her face into her front legs, pulling her head down to the table all the while. Despite what the surrounding ponies may have thought of it, the distressed pegasus murmured between sobs, “He—he doesn’t care about me. He just wants to use me. He just sees me as somebody he can live off of!" In the midst of her weeping, she lifted her head from her legs—revealing her red, moist eyes. It was a horrid sight for Twilight to witness. Nobody—not even the cruelest of creatures—would want to see Fluttershy weep. As a result, Twilight couldn’t help but cringe upon witnessing the tears in her friend’s eyes. Hoping to simmer Fluttershy down, far from her dilemma, Twilight placed a hoof on the pegasus’ shoulder when she murmured, “Fluttershy—Angel loves you with all his heart.” “Then why doesn’t he act like it?” sniffled Fluttershy. Twilight—being the bookworm she was—wasn’t sure how to respond to her question. She’d read plenty of psychology books to understand emotions, but the most she could seem to squeeze out was, “He just doesn’t know how to express himself, Fluttershy.” Pointing to the rock as it sat beside her, the weeping pegasus explained, “And in my dream, Teridax spoke to me.” Wrinkling her nose, Twilight sneered, “Spoke to you?” ]Perhaps this whole supernatural thing is a reality after all. Nodding her head, Fluttershy continued, “And Teridax—he told me that he would protect me from anything, including Angel!” Tears welled from the blue eyes once again before the yellow pony buried her face in her legs. At that point, Twilight was out of options. The only thing she could do was pat Fluttershy’s back whilst simultaneously murmuring, “There, there.” It was while calming her friend down when the unicorn heard a tiny “Psst!” ravage into her ear. Her ear tickling, Twilight turned her head toward the source, noticing one of the waitresses was standing right beside her. In the midst of Fluttershy’s agony, the waitress asked through a whisper, “Would you like me to take your food to go?” “Yes please,” sighed Twilight. It was at that moment when she noticed something peculiar about the waitress. She was an earth pony with a peach pelt and a cutie mark shaped like a vine of green grapes. Her hair was red like a red velvet cake. Before the pony had a chance to turn tail and find a box for the two customers, Twilight wondered, “Hey—have I seen you before?” “Oh, probably not,” the pony replied. “My name is Vineyin; I just moved into Ponyville from Canterlot.” “Really?” asked Twilight, raising an eyebrow. “Because I used to live in Canterlot—and I’ve never seen you there!” A bead of sweat rolled down Vineyin’s face when she stammered, “Oh—well, I—I like to move to other places is all.” Unconvinced by the pony’s words, Twilight shot a look into Vineyin’s eyes—only to find herself pulling away in mere seconds. It was as if staring at Vineyin had caused acid to leak from the corners of her eyes. What just happened? she wondered. Noticing Twilight’s sudden rebuttal, Vineyin scooted a little closer in when she asked, “What’s the matter Twilight?” Vineyin’s eyes—while pretty—held some kind of evil aura in them. Instead of being white like all other ponies’ eyes, Vineyin held a shade of blue and green covering the vast majority of her eyes. It would have seemed a gorgeous sight to most ponies—but not to Twilight, for some reason. That was when she realized another oddity to this pony. “How did you know my name?” The pony seemed to gasp at the hearing of those words. “I—I’m just good at remembering names! And besides—who hasn’t heard of you?” “What?” asked Twilight. Almost as if she hadn’t heard a single word of the conversation, Fluttershy poked Twilight’s shoulder when she wondered, “Can we start going to Canterlot, now?” Surprised by Fluttershy’s newfound desire to leave, Twilight blinked before responding, “Just a moment.” A scowl plastering over her face, Vineyin whispered, “Your friend over there seems a little rude, doesn’t she?” Nearly letting out a gasp, Twilight corrected, “No—not really. If anything, she’s the complete opposite of what I would call rude.” Vineyin shook her head and retorted, “She’s exactly would I would call rude. Think about it; she interrupted our conversation.” “Oh, give her a break!” Twilight snapped. “She’s been through a lot lately. Heck, I’m surprised she hasn’t been acting all that bad today.” Well, actually, Twilight corrected herself, she has been acting a little grouchy today. But I can kinda understand that. Breaking herself out of her thoughts, Twilight looked up at Vineyin and commanded, “Just please—get our boxes so we can leave.” Blowing the red hair out of her eyes, the waitress pony sighed, “Fine,” before leaving Twilight and Fluttershy to their business. “Are you feeling any better?” asked the concerned friend. Even as a nearby train blew its horn, Fluttershy found herself forced to respond, “A little.” She sighed before she took hearing of the train once again. It was the train they were to ride during their trip to Canterlot. Fluttershy witnessed as ponies of all cultures exited the train—bringing with them the many auras of their homelands. As the smells of Canterlot, Saddle Arabia, and many other origins flooded her nose, the pegasus nearly flinched when Twilight said, “Well—let’s get going!” Shaken by those words, Fluttershy hesitantly picked herself up on her feet and started following Twilight. Feeling the Teridax stone still sitting upon her rump, she wondered what all the other ponies must have thought of her. They probably think I’m a freak! After all, who in Equestria goes around carrying a dark rock with her? In the midst of her dreadful thoughts, the distressed pegasus gasped when a ghastly voice growled, Don’t you ever think—not for a single second—that the other ponies think of you any less than they think of themselves! You are a wonderful pony, Fluttershy. You are more beautiful than Rarity, more strong than Rainbow Dash, more smart than Twilight, more fun than Pinkie Pie, more austere than Applejack. They were sudden words, but enough to make Fluttershy's heart leap. Almost feeling the need to shed a tear in response to those words, Fluttershy replied, Thank you. “Fluttershy!” called Twilight’s voice. Startled, Fluttershy shot a look up—witnessing as her unicorn friend stood below the train’s entrance. “Yes, Twilight?” she asked through a murmur. "You're holding up the line!" Twilight explained. “I am?” It was at that moment when Fluttershy took a look behind her. Behind her spot stood a horde of ponies—shouting things like, “Get a move-on!” and “What’s the holdup?” Not an ounce of consideration seemed to show in anypony's eyes. Feeling as if she had just irritated everybody in Equestria, Fluttershy flattened her ears against her head. Her voice barely above a whisper, she apologized, “S-sorry!” Knowing that one word wasn’t anywhere near enough to make up for her foolishness, she made her way up to the train—following Twilight all the while. A nervous smile plastered over her face, Twilight let her friend sit down first; she followed immediately after. She watched as Fluttershy set her Teridax stone down on the table. As ponies from around the world boarded the train, the pegasus stared—tranquilized—at the stone before her. Without any idea of the thoughts running through her friend’s head, Twilight let out a sigh and thought, Oh Fluttershy—you’re a great friend, but you scare me sometimes! What unknown evils did this stone bring? What kind of terror did it impose on Equestria?