//------------------------------// // Chapter 16 // Story: Set In Stone // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// “Sandow, I am so sorry if I hurt you.” Flickershine said. “Look, I know about everything. Everything. Every detail, every word, every recollection, every memory, I made them tell me. I know all about Bluebelle and Azalea. I know about Hawley and Honeysuckle. I know how you met your wives. I know what you’ve done. I’ve listened to all of the stories.” Sandow sat, staring into the liquid moonlight in the pool. He said nothing. “I want you to understand something Sandow…” Flickershine continued, “I am a very modern mare, even by modern standards. I am brazen and I am bold. And when I want something, I can be a bit selfish when I go after it. I apologise. I knew about everything and I still went rather recklessly forward trying to get your attention, never once thinking that it might have hurt you. I had three little fillies cheering me on and all of the rest of your grandfoals.” Sandow snorted and let out a surly knicker. “It started out with just a little crush, I saw you and I liked what I saw. But then Applejack and I talked. And then Big Mac joined us. And then the fillies and I talked. And I wanted to know more. I traded lessons for stories. And I started to like the colt I heard about in the stories. The colt in the stories started to sound a lot like the colts and stallions I used to read about in trashy old bridle buster romance novels. Somepony rough and tumble yet sweet and kind. I fell in love with the stories. And then I wanted to get to know you better, and I went about it in the worst way. All I ask is for your forgiveness, and then I promise, I will leave you alone.” “I forgive you.” Sandow said, looking at Flickershine briefly and then looking away. “Thank you Sandow.” Flickershine replied. “I guess I’ll be going.” She turned, and began to trot away into the darkness. The moon in the pool rippled, and Sandow saw Luna’s shadow for a moment. Something in his chest ached, throbbing dully. “Don’t go.” Sandow said. “We have all night.” “What?” Flickershine inquired, turning back and looking over her shoulder. “We have all night. To talk. Or whatever.” Sandow said, his voice raspy and low. Flickershine returned, sitting down next to the moonlit pond. “Very well.” She said, settling in. She looked at Sandow curiously. “So what do you want exactly.” Sandow said. “No beating around the bush. No prancing around the subject. I’d rather you just be blunt.” “I doubt you’d want me to be as blunt as I could be, but here goes…” Flickershine replied, taking a deep breath, and then speaking; “you. I want to get to know you. I have some romantic notion of us traveling on the road together, getting to know one another, and seeing what develops. It is a rather silly school-filly’s dream.” “That doesn’t sound so silly. And thank you for being honest.” Sandow said, nodding slightly. “There is a bit of a problem though.” “And that is?” Flickershine inquired. “You are a mare. You’re a fair bit older than I am. Now, that ain’t no big deal from my end, but I’ve learned a little bit about modern society. Enough to know there might be some, well, trouble.” Sandow said, gazing into the moonlit pool, watching a frog leap into the water and spread ripples. Flickershine burst out laughing and did so for several minutes. “What’s so funny?” Sandow asked, starting to frown slightly. “Ponies thinking I stole your innocence.” Flickershine said. “And you are so much older than I am. You’re robbing the cradle.” She laughed so hard that tears began to well in her eyes. “I am still so young and innocent my self, I should be worried about dirty old stallions like yourself.” Sandow, trying as hard as he could, failed to hold back a faint chuckle. “Wait.” He said. “You…” “No.” Flickershine said, interrupting. “No I haven’t. I haven’t found a pony worth getting to know. Colts and stallions around my age, well, they lack a sense of maturity that I desire. Plus, they never lived up to the same level of appeal as those rough and tumble sorts in the romance novels.” “Oh.” Sandow said, feeling himself blush. “Does it bother you that I am a widower? I mean, don’t you feel threatened by the memory of my two wives? Living their shadow?” “You married two ponies who both loved you. I think there could be room for one more. I’m not taking their place. I’m joining them. Well, that might be putting the cart in front of the pony... But if they can share you with each other, I am sure that they could share you with me. I want a part of what you had.” Flickershine said. “No,” she added, “still have.” Sandow found himself with nothing to say. “But Sandow, there is one more thing.” Flickershine said. “What’s that?” Sandow replied. “I am a selfish pony. I have no intentions of sharing you with anypony else. You get me? I want to get to know you, and then I want to keep you all to myself if I like what I’ve found.” Flickershine said. “Alright then.” Sandow agreed. “I don’t know anything about modern courtship. Or courtship at all really. Closest I’ve came was running away from trouble with Bluebelle and Azalea, and then living on the farm together. I don’t know what I am doing, what I should do, or how I should go about doing it.” “If I wanted modern courtship, I’d find a willing stallion who’d happily give me a roll in the hay and then forget all about me.” Flickershine said, causing Sandow to gasp. “ You, you don’t need to be anything but yourself. Your patient usual self, the sort of pony you were when your wives fell in love with you. I’d like to get to know that pony. What it is they saw in you. You did something to win them over. I might be a modern mare, but I don’t want any modern romance.” Sandow gulped. “I have always felt that love is like a dance. Something you start carefully, with slow careful steps, building pace over time, speeding up and slowing down, and then eventually working your way up to some big finish. Ponies now, most of don’t like dancing, the careful exchange, the slow steps, learning to step together, in time with one another, learning each other’s pace, finding a rhythm together, and then working up to something better.” Flickershine snorted. “Most ponies go right for the big finish and ignore the dance entirely.” She paused. “I want a dancing partner. I need to find somepony that will enjoy keeping pace with me while I build up to something grand, and not lose patience if I decide to keep the dancing slow as possible for a while to build up the anticipation and the tension. You have to put on a show. It is in all of the little steps, the careful building of the pace, that is where you find endurance. And a good dancer just keeps going for as long as the dance needs to last.” Sandow nodded. “You, you have footwork. You’ve taken those little steps. You have something I want. I intend to claim it if I can.” Flickershine said, scooting a little closer. “And there is something very appealing about the sort of pony that would pick a fight with an owlbear to save a foal. Mares love reckless bad colts and stallions. And you, you’re bad. You’ve done bad things. For all of the right reasons. I have to admit, that makes my tail twitch a bit.” Sandow began to blush tempestuously. “I told you I was brash.” Flickershine said. “Celestia said I was a cheeky filly.” The two fell silent, sitting under the stars, close to one another but not quite touching. The stars whirled overhead as the night went slowly on. There was no more need to talk as two partners began the dance.