Light seeped in from the shades. I woke up an hour or two ago, trying to get back to sleep with no success. I felt the bags beneath my eye, on top of my already forming black eye. Of course, it was hard to notice on my naturally black coat. I would definitely have to clean up some of the dried blood though.
I sighed, gathering all of my memories and thoughts together. Mainly about last night, and remembering who and where I was. My emotions were a strange mix of embarrassment and laziness. I just had the desire to stay in bed all day. Maybe Ferrosium could even give me some company. I looked over at the crack, she wasn't there.
Am I late? I thought. I looked over at the clock to settle myself down. But, all good things have to come to a close at some point, so I figured I might as well push myself out of bed now. I thought of a way I could kill some time.
I looked over at the stack of papers on my desk, and thought about writing my parents a letter. They didn't respond to my last one though, so I didn't want to seem too needy.
I guess I'll just go take a shower in the hobby room. I threw on my trademarked saddlebags, and walked down the hall. Peeking out the door, I saw a single pony in the distance. I doubt he'd notice me, so I crept over to the hobby room and opened the door, and headed into the shower room.
I was a mess. Looking at my self in the mirror. At the blood clotting to my mane and fur, and my eye swollen to oblivion. There was no way in hell that I was going to mask the eye somehow, but I could do something about the blood.
I combed a hoof through it, cracking it and loosening it up. Thin flakes fell on the floor and counter. I splashed water on my face and mane, sensing some of the blood slowly seeping off. I rinsed it out about five times until I heard hoof steps.
I trotted quickly into one of the showers, closing the door on my way. Pyro's humming could be heard easily. Hearing it was getting awkward, so I turned the shower on and freezing water hit me again. I'll never get used to that, but this time I didn't rush out and bash my forehead on the counter.
His humming stopped, so I assumed he was just a bit startled, but it continued again shortly.
"Hey, where were you yesterday?" He said just when I thought he wasn't going to speak.
"I was watching a show." I said, cutting a lot of the story out. "Then I got stuck there in the storm."
"Must've been boring." He claimed.
"Not really." I said with a smirk.
The rest of the red goop dripped into the drain, leaving my mane and fur clean. I then spread shampoo over my body, and rinsed it after a few.
I heard the door close, so I assumed that he left.
After rinsing, conditioning, and rinsing again, I got out. I looked like my plain old self, aside from my bruised eye. Work was starting soon, so I figured that I might as well get ready. I got my saddlebags on, and went outside through the hobby room.
Nobody noticed my swollen eye, or at least they didn't say anything about it. I was too far away from them for them to spot such a miniscule detail anyway.
After another few hours of exertion, Cloudy called us in. I guess Igneous was as embarrassed as I was. She went into the mess hall along with everyone else. Pinkie brushed by me again. Any other time, I'd be happy, but now I was just paranoid.
I was alone.
Without knowing what to do, I just gazed around the farm. Something caught my eye. Something in Cloudy and Igneous' cottage. Through the window, I saw a red outline of a chest. Then I remembered the key which I had in my saddlebag.
I looked to the left and to the right, nobody was to be seen. So I jumped up a few times in front of the window, each time seeing something new. But not Igneous. I repeated the process for every window. Igneous was gone.
My brain was telling me that this was a horrible idea (which it is), but my gut was telling me otherwise. I was going to risk it.
No... That's probably not even what this key goes to.
My gut won. I found myself opening the door to their home and creeping in. I gently shut the door and observed the room. There were three doors. One obviously leading to a tiny room behind a counter. I didn't know where the other rooms lead though.
I made my way over to the middle door, making sure to duck my head under the windows so I wasn't spotted. I softly opened the door, not even making a creek. I looked through the crack, and saw a bathroom.
I tried the next door stealthily, peeking through it, I saw the chest. It was sitting on a table. I dug into my bag, and pulled out the key in my mouth. I approached the chest, then realized that I might be here for a few minutes, so I got up and flipped the blinds down on the windows.
I put the key into the hole and turned it to the right, it failed, so I tried the left, and it cracked open. My eyes widened in shock that this was the key.
I shouldn't be doing this...
I opened up the top fully and looked inside. There were a few things that looked like books, and they had the leather structure of a wallet. I opened one up and it was a photo album. There was a picture of Cloudy and Igneous embracing and smiling. I've never seen Igneous like that. I flipped to the next photo, and I saw Pinkie playing with Marble. It was adorable.
Then I flipped to the next photo. It was a family portrait. With Cloudy, Igneous, Pinkie, Marble, Limestone, and.... I looked closer at it. It was a pony with light purple fur, but her face was ripped out of the page. I flipped to the next picture, same thing. I threw the album down to the bottom of the chest.
"What.. The.. Fuck..." I stared at it for a while, pissed and perplexed. Something else in the chest looked interesting, it looked like a receipt. I lifted in front of me, it was a note written in awful handwriting and spelling. It read-
Thank for seling her to us, i'll send my boy over to give you the 650 bits.
I stared at it, speechless, taking it all in. But my thinking was interrupted when I heard the front door open.
"Shit." I whispered, closing the door softly yet hastily.
I looked around the room, for a place to hide, and I saw the bed. I dove under it, miraculously fitting into the tight space.
I heard the door open loudly, hitting the wall, then closing. I saw the black hooves of Igneous, and heard his heavy breathing. My heart pounded out of my chest. My fur blended into the shadow of the bed, which was an advantage of being me.
I thought that he was just going to leave, but he didn't. Instead he turned off the lights, and plopped down on the bed.
Who goes to bed this early!?
There was no way in hell that I was going to leave until I was 100% sure he was asleep, or if he got up and left. I took the time to examine the note. It was written in blood and mud: Anything they could find, I guess. I flipped it over on the back to make sure I haven't missed anything, but there was just a hastily scribbled half-star. I payed no mind to it.
I last track of time after a few hours. I was so incredibly bored, but the constant fear kept me at pace. That is, until I heard a snore.
I'm free! Finally!
I stuck the note in my pack, and crawled out from the bed, I was careful not to hit my head on the edge. I didn't want to wake Igneous up on top of hurting my head... again....
I stood up and slowly opened the door. Halfway out the door, I turned around to get one last look at Igneous. His face was as limp and cold as ever. Then I closed the door almost the whole way, not making a creek.
Freezing air blasted into my face when I got up. I hadn't realized how hot it was in there until now. Wind rustled through my fur as I trotted over to my room. Pinkie confronted me before I got there.
"I've been looking for you for a while, where have you been?" She said, hiding a smile.
"Just... Doing some things..." I said. I took in a filling breath of air. "Are you cold?" I asked.
She looked down at herself, and she was slightly shivering, it was adorable.
"Wanna go inside then?" I asked, smiling at her, before I started heading into the housing building.
"Yes." She said, following me.
I made sure to hold the doors open for her each time. She smiled and thanked me each time. My natural reaction was to smile back at her. I hope I didn't look stupid.
"Remember this thing?" I said raising the lantern and lighting it.
She looked at it for a brief second and then said with a grin, "Of course, it got us through last night."
So we stood there for a fer minutes awkwardly, then out of the blue, she said, "It's hot."
I raised my eyebrow for a second. Really? I looked at the lantern's ball of fire. "I can blow it out if you want."
"T-That's not what I meant..." She said, her smile growing from cheek to cheek.
"W-Wh-" I said, before she tackled me onto the bed, forcing her tongue between my lips. I tried to murmur to her to grab me a piece of cloth, or board or something so I could block the crack in my room. "W-Whai-Wait." I said, gently pushing her off me. I got up to grab a cloth, and hastily pinned it up, covering the crack.
"Okay... Continue... Please." I said, bringing her in for an embrace, and then took her down to face me.
"Oh Ce-LESTIA! Get those off!" She said, reaching for my saddlebags.
"N-no-NO! D-Don't" I tried to say, with her tongue in my mouth. It was too late, though, they were off. She looked down at me wide-eyed in shock.
"Y-You're..." She said, trying to find her voice. "You're a.... A blank-flank?..."
I turned my head away from her. "Yes...." I said, with a long, "Y."
"I... I'm so sorry! I can leave if you want." She said, frightened.
"No, I love your company." I said, with a reassuring smile. I rested a hoof on her cheek and looked into her eyes.
"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" She asked.
"That was a question." I said with a chuckle, which she shared with me.
"Well, so you just never found what makes you special?" She asked.
"My parents tried to make me find it, but I was too busy lying around at home." I said.
After a pause, she asked. "Well... Maybe that's what makes you unique."
"Huh?" I asked.
"Well, I've never seen an adult with not cutie-mark. That's unique." She said"
I looked up at her. Thinking it through a bit, I said. "I-I've never thought about it that way..." Ever, I echoed in my mind. Suddenly, like a muscle spasm, I wrapped both of my forelegs around her and brought her close to me. She squealed when I did.
"Pinkie... I-I love you." I said, not looking her in the face.
"I love you too..." She said. She then pinned me onto the bed with her hooves, saying nothing but smiling at me. And after that, she gave me the best night of my life.
Dim. That's all I saw when I woke up. My room was barely visible, but something felt different. It felt like when you'd stay up late at night when you were young just to watch cartoons, or when you were staying at a hotel. I couldn't describe it. When I saw Pinkie sleeping beside me, an entire new set of emotions sprang into my head. I leaned down to kiss her forehead.
I got up gently, not to disturb Pinkie (Deja-vu.) And stretched, cracking my back and limbs. I let out a sigh, which was cut short when I saw the window. White puffy frost covered the window. I stepped closer to look at it. (Had winter really come this early?")
"Pinkie.... Wake up." I whispered, shaking her shoulder.
"Ugh... What?" She asked.
"It's snowing!" I said.
"I don't c- Really? " She asked, getting up. "Oh my.... It's so beautiful!"
"I know... It's the second beautifulest thing I'm seeing right now." I said with an evil grin. She smiled and kissed me on the cheek.
She realized how cold she was, and began to shiver. I noticed it easily. I opened the matchbox, but there were none left. Shit.
"Let's go back to bed." I said, holding up the covers for her. She gladly walked over and crawled in, right beside me. We lied there for the whole night, with only our bodies and the covers for warmth.
"What do you want for dinner?" I heard a familiar voice.
I was in my PonyVille home, sitting at my own dinner table, staring at the familiar green walls. It was my mom's voice, and it was getting closer to me.
"What do you want for dinner, hun?" She asked again.
When she came through the door, I saw her. But it wasn't her. It was Pinkie, smiling her beautiful smile at me. Her mane was puffy, and her voice was high pitched. She trotted over to me and nuzzled her nose up to mine. I noticed that she was wearing a golden band just above her hoof.
I responded with a kiss on her lips. Her body was warm, and her lips were moist.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"I want you to choose!" She said.
"Hmm... I guess I could go for some-" I said before getting interrupted by her.
"I want you to get a job!" She said in a deeper, yet still feminine voice.
"W-What? Pinkie?" I said.
"I want you to stop seeing Pinkie!" She(He) said. Her voice dead dry and old.
"Pinkie... Please stop." I begged.
Her fur was growing dark, and her mane black. She raised her hoof, and...
I woke up again. It was just a dream... This time, to my disappointment, Pinkie wasn't laying next to me. I wanted that feeling to last forever. She wasn't in the room either, so she must've gotten up before I did.
Frost covered the window, and the farm was buried in snow. I always had wondered why the Pegasi always tend to bring huge storms instead of light ones. The snow did bring joy to my heart, however. Especially after how I was still shaking from my dream.
I pulled my saddlebags over my blank-flank and stepped out into the hallway. The plant next to the window seemed to be struggling it's way to the window to get the sunlight. My mind was just playing tricks on me, obviously. But regardless, I decided to open the window and brush off the snow.
I opened the door, having to exert more force than usual. White fluff was all around me in its full beauty. I didn't see anybody, so I tried the closest building to me, the hobby room.
I opened the door, and looked inside, everybody was in there.
"Hi!" Everybody said.
"Hey..." I said, smiling."
Everybody except cloudy and Igneous was there.
"I would've woken you up, but work ended up getting cancelled." Pinkie said.
"It's fine." I said.
Pyro looked at Ferossium and whispered something to her. I'm guessing he was just curious to why she of all people said that. I took a seat between Pinkie and Ferossium (Sitting closer to Pinkie of course.)
"We were talking about going over to PonyVille for the day." Pyro said.
"That sounds fun."
So we all walked over to Ponyville. It was fun having a group to go along with. But today specifically, I cringed every time I saw somebody's cutie mark.
We all voted on a place to go eat. Most of us voted for The Hay Burger. So we went there. We all payed for our own meals, so I didn't have to feel bad about my huge appetite. I ordered a burger with two layers of hay, dandelions, cucumbers, and oats. I was stuffed when we left, and I could tell everybody else was, too.
"Are all of you ready to go to see the movie?" Pyro asked.
Everybody said that they were, but I said. "You go ahead, I'll meet you in a few minutes."
"Don't be long." Pinkie whispered in my ear.
Smiling at her, I backed away, and then trotted away. I came up to a building that was all too familiar to me. The sugarcube corner. Opening that door, the bell rang over my head.
"One minute!" Mrs Cake said. She smiled once she saw me. "Hey!!! What did you want this time?" She asked.
I walked up to the counter and smiled. "I'll take a dozen cupcakes with vanilla frosting and cake." I said.
"I'll have it right out!" She said.
A few seconds later, she brought them out. Because I was in a hurry, I gave her 30 bits. "Thank you, keep the change." I said, as I picked up the box and began to carry it out the door.
I raced over to a few houses down and knocked furiously. The door creaked open and a mare with grey fur and a blonde mane was revealed. I could never forget those cross-eyes that she has.
"Derpy! You got a job at EPS, right?" I asked. She nodded forcefully. Her eyes boggled just like googly eyes.
"Wonderful, do you know the Rock Farm over the mountain?" I asked. Once again, she nodded.
"Great, can you swing this by the Rock Farm, in the cabin that is labled, 'RESIDENCE,' and bring it to the last room on the right?" I begged.
She smiled at me, I took that for a yes. "Thank you Derpy." I said, giving her 10 bits. I watched as she flew over to the mountain, holding the box of cupcakes.
I sprinted to the movie theater. A few weeks ago, I would've been winded easily, but now I'm stronger. All that work moving rocks around has been keeping me in shape; much better shape than I was in.
I bought a ticket and trotted quickly into the movie room. I looked up, and saw the group in one of the back rows. They saved me a seat between Limestone and Pinkie. I rushed over to it, said hi to everyone, and sat down. I made it before the movie started, and the previews were almost over.
We all walked out, laughing and talking. "I know, it was amazing." Said a voice. We saw a movie about a pony in a post-war world, where she lives in a town protected from the war. The society is divided up into groups, which is determined by a test, and the mare ends up getting an unexpected result.
"Did you like it?" I asked Pinkie.
Once she realized I was talking to her, she looked at me and said, "Yeah, did you."
"Yeah." I said.
The sun was starting to fall, so we decided to go back to the Rock Farm.
When we got there, we all went to our separate places. I hope to Celestia that Derpy brought the cupcakes... I raced into the housing building and into my room. I saw the pink box sitting on my bed. I let out a sigh of relief. I raced back outside to catch up with Pinkie.
"Hey, Pinkie, I have a surprise for you." I said.
"You do?!" She said.
"Yeah, follow me." I said.
I brought her into my room, and she saw the box of cupcakes.
"Help yourself." I said, kissing her on the cheek.
She dug into the box, bringing out more on her than in her, but I didn't care. I was just happy that she was happy. Ever since I started talking to her, I felt a responsibility towards her. Maybe it's the care that she deserves, and not what she had.
I moved the box over to my desk. I looked over at my stack of papers, still waiting for my parents to respond. I sighed, then dropped the box on the table. A cupcake would cheer me up, so I took one out and bit into it. It was fantastic as always.
I looked over at Pinkie and she was sleeping on my bed. I wasn't going to disturb her, so I ran over to the bathrooms and brushed my teeth, took a shower, and slipped into bed with her.
Today was a good day.