//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Spring // Story: A Gift from Celestia // by Admiral Biscuit //------------------------------// A Gift from Celestia Chapter 4: Spring Admiral Biscuit Ditzy waved cheerily to Cherry Berry and Golden Harvest before taking wing in front of Berry Punch's house. She circled once as she gained altitude, before heading off towards the lake on the outskirts of Ponyville. Instead of taking a straight path, she decided to follow the meandering streets of town and see what other ponies were up to. She gave a friendly wave as she passed over the mayor, who was carting a small wagon full of sprouts towards the town hall. Ditzy began humming a happy tune, banking slightly side to side to the beat of the chorus. She couldn't quite remember the lyrics, but she'd heard a cluster of pegasi singing it last night. A loud whistle interrupted the melody, and she bent her neck to see who it was. At first, she didn't spot anypony, but when she bent her head down, she saw a tan stallion on his hind legs on a stool, reaching up into a tree. Ditzy hovered next to him, finding her eyes wandering down his belly before he cleared his throat. "Hey—do you have a couple minutes to help me?" She grinned. "Yeah." "Each of these trees needs a couple nests in the crotch of the branches." "I thought the birds already came back." "They did. But the nest-making team got behind, and I had to help clear a field at Sweet Apple Acres, and it was supposed to have been done yesterday." Ditzy jerked her eyes back up to his face. "Sure. I'd love to help." "Great!" He stepped back on the wobbly stool, and Ditzy stuck a hoof on his withers to help steady him. "Whoo! Guess I should have made sure it was level. Thanks!" "No problem!" She let her hoof linger as she looked over at the wagon. "How many trees have got nests?" "Just this one," he said sheepishly. "Okay." She reluctantly broke contact and flew over to the wagon. She picked up a nest, cradling it in her forehooves, while he began moving his stool to the next tree. The pair worked in relative silence. Ditzy cautiously flew under each canopy, being careful to not get entangled in the branches, while the stallion continued using his stepstool. She kept glancing at him when he wasn't looking, running her eyes over the smooth curve of his belly and the tight muscles in his flanks. She began to feel a strange hunger growing in her belly, which was odd because she'd just eaten lunch. When they were both at the cart together, she had a sudden urge to lean over and sniff his mane, but she didn't—instead, she quickly flew to the farthest tree to catch her breath. I bet he smells good, she thought as she slipped the next into place, gently adjusting it with her hoof. Ditzy'd never thought of approaching a stallion before, but as she watched a pair of blue jays land in their new nest with appreciative chirps, the idea suddenly seemed very appealing. She was thinking how she might frame the question as she flew back to the center of the grove. To her dismay, he was already hitched back to the wagon. "Hey, thanks for the help!" DItzy's ears fell. "We're done?" "Yeah—now I've gotta go back to Sweet Apple Acres and help Mrs. Apple with her garden." "I could go, too," she said eagerly. "To help you." "Pegasi aren't so good at gardening," he reminded her. "But I bet there's still a bunch of nests than need to be put in trees. If you go over to Carousel Boutique—you know where that is, right?—there's a bunch of mares still working on 'em and they'd be happy for some help." First Cherry Berry and Golden Harvest won't let me plant at Berry's, and now a stallion's rejecting my help. It isn't fair. •        •        • “That's the last one,” Sea Swirl told her, as she put a check mark on her list. “Oh, thank Celestia.” Ditzy gave the unicorn a high-hoof. “I'm gonna head to the lake—get washed off, and then relax.” “Maybe I'll see you there.” Sea Swirl looked over her shoulder as she carefully backed her cart between a pair of tree trunks. “Coco got me a new diving mask for Hearth's Warming, and I can't wait to try it out. Even if the water is chilly.” She looked back, but the pegasus was already gone. She shrugged. It had been nice to have a winged helper—Caramel did his best, he really did, but every time she saw him on a stool she was afraid he was going to fall off. It was great that he'd recruited a new helper who could fly. •        •        • Ditzy landed on the beach and flexed her wings. They were aching, which she attributed to her long periods of flight yesterday. It still seemed odd, since she spent a lot of time in the air. Papa told me that if I want to be a good flier that I have to practice all the time—but my teacher told me that working clouds drew on a pegasus’ magic, so maybe that's why I'm so tired. She felt hot and achy, too. Maybe I'm coming down with feather flu. There were dozens of fillies and colts sunning themselves on the beach under the watchful eyes of their mothers, and a few brave souls splashed each other in the shallows. She wondered why there weren’t more ponies in the water—until she belly-flopped in herself. Too late, she remembered that the lake had been covered in ice until yesterday, and the water had hardly warmed above the freezing point. With a startled yelp, she jumped back out of the water, earning her a few chuckles from the crowd on the beach. Ditzy flopped down on the sand, holding her wings out to dry, and settled on ponywatching. She was unsurprised to feel the eyes of the other ponies on her—there weren’t any other pegasi on the beach. In fact, it seemed an exclusive earth pony enclave. Seeing a couple of adults whispering to each other after her show, her ears reddened, but she didn’t let that stop her from preening. Let them gossip. They might as well get used to pegasi. I’m going to spend a lot of my free time at this beach. Finally, off to the side, she noticed a trio of unicorns come down to the beach. The mare looked kind of familiar—she was a bright lemon-yellow with three blue gems as a cutie mark. Ditzy was sure she’d seen her around town before. She was accompanied by two unicorn stallions, one walking right next to her, while the second—the one she’d been watching off and on for the last two days—trailed behind. He was a beautiful steel blue color. A gloriously curly grey and white mane flowed down his neck, like foam on a wave. She couldn’t help watching as he moved around the beach, the muscles in his rump and withers flexing as he walked. It was the closest she'd seen him, and she savored the view. The couple sat down on the beach side-by-side and began rubbing noses, while her unicorn paced around, trying to ignore the other two. He said something to the other stallion, and then slowly trudged off the beach, back in the direction of Ponyville. She watched him slowly walk away—and it was a sight worth seeing. She’d never really paid attention to how a stallion’s hindquarters swayed when he walked, with the tail swishing in a countermotion. She licked her lips. She was getting really hot on the beach and needed to find some shade, or something. She followed him towards town. Normally, she would have been admiring the newly-budding trees, or listening to the birds—spirit cousins to the pegasi. Not today. Ditzy found herself wondering where the unicorn lived, what he did, what his name was. He had an hourglass cutie mark, but what did that mean? Lost in her thoughts, she went around a bend in the road and discovered he had vanished. Frustrated, she took wing, searching for a sign of the stallion. There weren’t any houses around her, so where had he gone? •        •        • She finally found him standing beside a willow tree. Ditzy circled around before landing behind him. He tilted his muzzle up in the air as she approached, flicking an ear in her direction. When he turned and saw her up close, he looked quite interested. "Hi, my names Ditzy," she began, before all the things she'd planned on saying jumbled together in her head. "I, uh, saw you plowing a field a couple of days ago and then I saw you at the beach." She paused in thought, trying to come up with a good continuation. "I haven't seen too many unicorns plowing." Smooth, you're starting to sound like a fangirl who's never been outside Ponyville. He wrinkled his nose back, revealing his top teeth. When one of the older stallions had done that at a school competition, Raindrops had told her it meant that he liked the smell of one of the mares. At the time, it hadn't been important—she'd been more worried about her competitors than what a stallion might be thinking—but now it was useful to know. "Are you—" "I was heading into town," she said. "It was too hot at the beach, which is funny because it's hardly spring." She shifted around on her hooves. Her skin felt all tingly, like when she got too close to a cloud that had lightning in it. "You were there, too, but then you left and I found you here. What are you doing here?" “I—um—I came here to relax.” He looked at her flank curiously. She proudly wiggled it for him, showing off her relatively new cutie mark. It had appeared just before her last growth spurt. She’d come up with a clever explanation to her parents—which she’d since forgotten—but the truth was she had just been soaring around on thermals, feeling the gentle play of air currents around her, when she suddenly felt a warm sensation on her hips, and there it was. Too many ponies put too much faith in them anyways, thinking they were some kind of destiny or something. Who cared if she had bubbles on her butt, or something else? She was who she was, and no mark was going to change that. “Mmm, me too.” She moved closer to him. There was something about him that was almost magnetic. Maybe it was the way that his eyes kept running over her body. Nopony had ever looked at her with such—such interest before. “You’re cute.” Ditzy nuzzled his cheek, which earned a slight cough from him. He seemed tense. “You smell nice, too,” she added. He shifted away from her, moving a few steps back. “Don’t you think you’re being a little forward?” She swished her tail back and forth impatiently. “Nope, I don’t think so.” Celestia, it was hot. She was burning up. She wondered if she should fly back to the lake again to cool off. Still, she’d rather stay here. With him. He was sweating a little, too, she noticed. “Are you all right?” “I—maybe I should—I don’t know if now is a good time.” He was awkwardly backing away from her, which was not what she wanted. “It does seem hot,” Ditzy conceded, moving towards him. “But I like being here with you. I like it a lot.” “It’s just—I . . . ” his voice trailed off, and she noticed that he was blushing. “There’s nothing to be scared of.” She reached a wing out and gently bumped the tip of his nose. “I won’t hurt you.” “That’s not what . . . oh, to Tartarus with it.” He leaned forward and kissed her. Ditzy felt her face flush. She hadn’t kissed a stallion before, but it felt . . . really good. It felt like such a perfect thing to be doing, out here in the woods, where they were all alone. The touch of his lips sent an electric jolt through her. His scent was intoxicating, more powerful than all the drinks she'd had with lunch. Those had clouded her head, but now she was seeing everything with a new clarity. She knew what she wanted, and she wasn't going to leave until she got it. He took a step back when she broke the kiss, but she moved back close, turning slightly so she could brush a wigtip up his cheek and over his ear. "You're pretty strong for a unicorn. I saw you yesterday, hard at work with all the other ponies." "My mom wanted me to participate in an old-fashioned winter wrap-up." He shifted around on his hooves. "Before I go to University. She said it'd be good for me." "I know what else would be good for you." Ditzy ran a hoof down his side. "Come on—sit down. You've been working hard; you deserve a bit of a rest." "I'm not sure that I want to. I, um, might get my . . . coat dirty." You can lie on my back, she almost said, but stopped herself and began pacing, flicking her tail impatiently. "Well, let's go under that weeping willow. It's more . . . private." Without waiting for a response, she led the way, deliberately flagging her tail and putting an extra saunter in her walk. For a heart-stopping moment, Ditzy thought she'd gone too far and scared him off, but then she heard his hooffalls across the grass. She paused at the curtain of branches, turning and holding them wide, which gave her an ample opportunity to gauge his interest. As she'd suspected, while his mind might still be uncertain, his body wasn't. She brushed him with a wingtip as he walked past, letting it trail along his side and across his cutie mark. "It's like our own private nest," she whispered. "I thought the branches would be . . . more concealing," he mumbled. "Somepony could see us." "Nopony's gonna," she told him. Ditzy brushed her hoof against his side, slowly moving it back and under. She watched his face closely—she thought she could see a need there. He drew in a sharp breath when her hoof found its target, but he didn't move away and she knew she had him. Ditzy woke up long after sunset. The moon was high in the cloudless sky. There was a warm weight pressing up against her left side, and for a moment she wondered what—or who—it was, but it all came back to her in a flash. She bounded to her hooves, feeling more alive than ever before. Normally, she’d have been scared waking up after dark in an unfamiliar place, but this time everything seemed just perfect. She looked over at the sleeping stallion and smiled. There was something right about the scene. The mare in the moon looked serenely down upon the two lovers, casting everything in a gentle half-light. While the actual act hadn’t been what she’d imagined, this post-coital scene was so right, she couldn’t disturb it. Instead, she watched the slow rise and fall of his barrel as he slept. He was stretched out on the grass, a stray curl hanging over his closed eye. Ditzy brushed it back, and smiled as he reached out with his forehooves. She watched him for a while longer, and considered leaving him there, but it wouldn’t be polite. She prodded him with her nose, then kissted his poll before speaking. "Wake up, sleepyhead." He jerked awake and looked around guiltily. “Do you want me to walk you home? Do you live in Ponyville?” He shook his head. “I’m from Canterlot. I’m staying with my older brother for the week. My parents wanted . . . um, I can find my own way home. I’ll be—it’s less—I mean, I won’t, er, I’ll be fine on my own. Just fine.” “Ok,” she said cheerfully. “I’ll see you around maybe?” “Um, yeah. Sure, I’ll be around.” He half-heartedly waved a hoof at her, before walking back towards the path. Ditzy watched him leave, deep in thought. She wondered why he was acting so weird. Were all stallions like that after sex, or was it just unicorns? She should probably ask an older mare who knew stuff like that. Still, it didn’t spoil her earlier mood. She stretched her wings and looked up at the sky. She was going to have to get home and get cleaned up. At least both her parents were on night duty, so they’d never know when she got back home. She giggled. They’d never know what she’d been up to. •        •        • Ditzy held a hoof up to cover a yawn. While the post-coital nap had been nice, it was no substitute for a real night's sleep. She took one last breath before leaping into the air. She took her time flying home, hardly noticing the spread of stars above her head which looked so much colder than the soft glow of the lights in Ponyville. Night was weird; all the colors were wrong, and the moonshadows threw everything into a new light. But, she often thought she did her best thinking at night, whether it was relaxing on a cloud or just looking through the window in her bedroom.  If I kept a diary, I'd want to write down all the details to keep them fresh in my memory.  I could start one, but I don't know the right words to describe how it felt—how he felt. Unconsciously, she kept her altitude low as she flew over Ponyville.  There was an unusually large number of ponies gathered in the streets, and in the patios and outside the tavern, celebrating the return of spring.  I wonder if Cherry Berry is back from the hospital yet.  Probably.  I could go visit her, but her house is on the other end of town and I'd hafta use her shower and she'd ask why . . .  and maybe she isn’t home. . . . Ditzy wavered before she changed course back to her house. She circled cautiously, making certain that no lights were on that shouldn't be. If it came down to it, she could probably come up with an excuse which would be good enough for Papa, but Mother was a different story. She'd never get past the overbearing mare; she'd probably fold under the weight of her mother's rant against all the mudponies who were filling her head with wrong ideas. The home was deserted; as soon as she pushed the front door shut, she leaned against the wall to collect her wits. Ditzy hadn't realized how tense she'd gotten as she closed in on her home. But she was free and clear, now. Even Mother wouldn't bother her when she was in the shower, and once she was out, the powerful scent of the lye soap would cover up her indiscretions. But first, she had to stop in the kitchen.  She’d been distracted, and forgotten to eat any dinner—her stallion had taken priority.  Now her stomach was grumbling at her, and she hoped there would be something edible in the pantry.  She smiled when a note in her father’s sloppy mouthwriting caught her eye.  I remember my first Winter Wrap-Up, it said, and I bet tha forgot to eat.  I got sommat from the bakery. It took her no time at all to find the plate in the icebox.  She eagerly pulled the parchment paper off the top and bolted down the buttered sourdough bread without even tasting it.  She thought about making herself a salad, but she couldn’t afford to wait too long.  Her parents could be home any time, now. Ditzy practically galloped up the stairs, bucking the showercloud into action as soon as she was in the bathroom. She impatiently tapped her hoof on the floor while the water warmed, jumping into the cubicle as soon as the first wisps of steam began coming out.  She let the water sluice across her back as she fiddled with the temperature, trying to get it right where she liked it. Within a minute, she'd lathered most of her body, paying particular attention to her back, where the stallion had left a parting gift when he’d slipped out before he was all the way done. The most difficult part of the shower was cleaning under her tail—not only did the soap cause the usual painful twinges, but everything felt hypersensitive, which caused nearly uncontrollable twitches as she scrubbed herself clean. She sucked a breath through her teeth and contemplated her predicament.  There was no chance to fly back to Ponyville and get a gentler soap—even if she had the bits to spare, the market was closed, and she didn’t have time, either.  I’m stuck with this stuff, and try as I might I can still smell him just a little bit.  She looked around the bathroom, hoping to find a solution. Her salvation came in the form of a bottle of mane and tail conditioner.   That’ll work.  She squeezed some onto her dock, and worked it in with a hoof.  Mother’s leaving for work early all next week, so I can just stay in my room until she’s in the shower.  And Papa won’t wonder about it at all.  He keeps his tail short, anyway. Once she was satisfied with her cleanliness, she stopped the flow from the cloud and shook herself off in the stall, before rubbing herself down. She left it wrapped around her mane, in the hopes that the soggy terry towel would soak up more of the water before she climbed into bed, but any benefit which it was providing was probably purely psychological. I wonder what it would be like to share the shower with him? She licked her lips, an image of running the bar of soap over his body forming in her mind.  We’d have to do it at his house.  He couldn’t get up here—what do their showers look like?  I don’t think I’ve ever seen one.  Would they fit two ponies?  Cloudhouses usually had spacious rooms, since pegasi hated feeling confined, but a lot of the homes on the ground had small rooms.  Cherry’s house was tiny, and even Berry’s was pretty crowded. Don't think about him, think about how you have to go to work tomorrow. She glanced in the mirror, trying to imagine how she'd looked to him. It didn’t work like she'd planned; her coat color was boring and her forelock was plastered against her head.   Even when her eyes weren’t being weird, they were a mundane color.  Plus, everypony said she had her father’s face, which didn’t seem like a good thing. Pushing those thoughts aside, she adjusted her towel and walked down the hall to her bedroom. As she shoved the door open, for a moment she imagined that her mother was waiting on the other side, but her bedroom was completely lacking in the 'other pony' department. Ditzy climbed into bed, lying on her side with her hooves around an extra pillow. She felt another wave of heat pass through her body as she imagined that it was her stallion, before she closed her eyes.  She didn’t think she’d be able to fall asleep at all—her mind kept replaying the scene under the willow tree—yet within five minutes of getting into bed, she was sound asleep, a serene smile on her face.