//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: The Jokes On Us // by Twisted Visions //------------------------------// Four days. Four days had passed since Vinyl died and everyone kept going. It was difficult, but it was clear Octavia was still taking it the worst. That fluid grace when she moved from building to building had a slight hitch in it. It was like she was just trying to get where she was going and nothing more. When they didn't have to sneak around, she just looked around, a dead glare in her eyes at all times. When they were resting, she always went and found another room to stay in. Silver had started joining her, leaving Quill and Sweetie Belle alone usually. This was one of those days. Sweetie Belle was curled up against Quill, and silence filled the room as it usually did. After seeing Vinyl die, Sweetie Belle seemed to have had an easier time getting over Rarity. She still apologized up and down to Quill about not helping him, but every time Quill just smiled at her and told her it was fine. Anyone would have froze in that kind of situation. Now they just curled up on a bed and laid there silently. Sweetie Belle was the one who broke the silence in the end. "So... Octavia and Silverwing have been spending a lot of time alone lately" She mentioned innocently. Quill just shrugged, never paying it much mind. "Don't you find it Kinda weird Quill? Like... Vinyl got infected yeah, but he was the one who actually killed her. Shouldn't Octavia hate him?" She asked him. Quill thought long and hard before he said anything. "Now this may not be why, but here is what I think. Octavia, despite everything knew that it was a lost cause. She knew Vinyl was gone but the pain of losing her was just too much for her to just turn around and accept. Octavia knew the right thing to do was to let Vinyl die peacefully but sometimes doing the right thing is the hardest thing anyone could ever do. Silverwing knew what had to be done, and knew Vinyl had to die as soon as possible so as to save the rest of us from possible infection. He could have just shot Vinyl and had it done with, but instead he acted as Octavias hand. He did what Octavia couldn't, exactly how Octavia wanted it to be done. To Octavia, he is a pillar of support that she can lean on and rely on for answers when she has none, and action when she can't take the right steps forward. In a way, killing Vinyl brought them closer. He killed a mare, and the one mare who was closest to her needs comfort. Who better to comfort her?" He said. Honestly, he was glad Sweetie was fast asleep when the real comforting started. Not much was private, even in another room so everyone was a whole lot closer than they thought. "Oh..." Sweetie Belle mumbled, pulling closer to Quill. They looked at all the stuff in the corner and sighed. Supplies were starting to get scarce, and Silverwing had to establish a ration system so that what they had lasted. Moral took a big blow because of this. Without running water, cleaning the clothes that they had was impossible and soon they started to become itchy and uncomfortable. Finding new clothes was incredibly hard as well. More and more houses were starting to be taken over by the infected, and what was left was usually ransacked already. Personal Hygiene was down the drain too. Silver allowed Octavia and Sweetie Belle enough water to clean the more sensitive parts of their bodies but that was just to maintain a level of "Combat Effectiveness" as he put it. They all knew that things could get really uncomfortable for them though, but Silver was probably trying to maintain a level of discreetness and respect. Quill and Silver would eventually have the same problems, but not quite as fast or as bad all things considered. Suddenly, the door burst open and a rather aggravated Octavia stormed into the room followed by a VERY confused Silverwing. The two on the bed stared at Silver with a similar look of confusion, but he just shrugged. Octavia seemed to be muttering to herself while she searched through the bags and finally slammed her fist down on the bag with clothing in it. "Uhm... Octavia. Would you mind telling us what's wrong?" Quill asked. He kinda regretted it when the words left his mouth, but there wasn't exactly much he could do now, "What's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong! I am done! I am tired of this and it ends now" She snapped standing up. Everyone took this seriously standing up and looking at the distressed mare. "I am tired of spending all my free time in this hell hole of a world feeling like I wanna tear my fucking skin off" She continued, quickly taking of her shirt. Now everyone was looking at her with a confused look. "I'm living in a world without my best friend, where I could die at any time, and I can't even be comfortable when we are doing nothing? I don't accept that!" She continued, undoing her jeans and puling them off. She reached behind her and unclipped her bra and let it fall to the floor. At this point Quill had to look away, blushing. Octavia finished undressing and looked at Quill, anger in her eyes growing when she saw he wasn't looking at her. She marched right up to him, grabbed him by the muzzle and forced his head painfully to look at her. "So you have a fucking problem? Can look at Vinyl laying on a bed naked but can't bear to look at me naked?" She snapped at him, letting his face go. Quill rubbed his muzzle and averted his gaze a little. "That was different..." He muttered. Octavia didn't seem to like that. She looked away from him, biting her lip and nodding before she slapped him with enough force to knock him off the bed. Silver had to step in at this point, grabbing Octavia in a full nelson hold and bringing her to the ground. At the same time Sweetie jumped off the bed and hurried to Quill who was working his jaw after the blow. "What the FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!" Octavia screamed at him. "Do dying mare hit the spot for you or something!" She spat at him. Now Quills blood was boiling. "Actually no! Dying mares DON'T get me off thank you very much! I just happened to be raised to know that looking at any lady while she was undressed was rude! I don't know about most guys but my mother taught me better than to just gawk at any girl who decided to walk around naked" He shouted back at her. Silverwing was forced to let go of Octavia, but stayed close just in case things got physical again. Sweetie Belle clung to Quills pant leg and stared at the two ponies glaring at each other. Octavia spat on the ground. "No offence Quill, but your Mother was an idiot! I was raised the same damn way and now that I look at it, what the fuck is the point of clothing?! We have fur! We have ALWAYS had Fur! Not Clothing, fur. I don't recall anyone being born wearing a nice suit or anything because guess what, we were born NAKED! I'm just wearing what whatever gods may be out there gave me when they put me on this Tirek forsaken planet, and I'm going to enjoy not having to wear stupid, fucking, clothes. " She snapped taking a step back and spreading her arms. "Look Quill! A naked girl! By the fucking GODESSES! Isn't it horrible? Almost like she was made to be naked and clothes were just an after thought!” She snapped. This was getting bad. Octavia was furious, and the situation wasn’t going to be helped anytime soon. that is at least until Silver stepped in. “You know what Octavia?” He asked, undoing the clips on his body armour. “Sure, clothing can be useful but why do we need it on right now? Why should we care? Nothing none of us probably haven’t seen before!” He said, removing his clothing. Now it was Sweetie Belles turn to blush but she didn’t advert her gaze, fearing similar treatment that Quill got. Quill was baffled as he looked at the two who were both now stripped. Wait a second... What the hell was this argument about? Quill shook his head “Ok, I’m sorry. I guess I can’t really tell you what to and not to wear. You are a grown mare after all. You too Silver. What you guys choose to do is up too you” He said. Octavia looked at him with a blink. “Thank you. I apologize for hitting you, I guess I didn’t see the merit you had to look at Vinyl. That doesn’t change my mind though. Those rags we call clothes are NOT something I am going to wear all the time and especially if we are inside and safe. I just refuse at that point. I wanna die comfortable if my death is on it’s way” She said finally, crossing her arms over her chest. Quill didn’t let his relief show at such an action. “Right! Ok! Octavia, I think it’s high time I take you back to your room! As much as you have a fair point, this is incredibly awkward for some of us” Silver said, turning her towards the door. He looked at the two with a weak smile and mouthed the word sorry. Quill just waved his hand in dismissal. It wasn’t really worth it, but it was probably good for Octavia to get some of that out even if it did hurt. “What just happened?” Sweetie Belle asked, looking up at Quill. Quill just shook his head and shrugged “Emotions I guess. Just like Vinyl said, when you're going to die, may as well die comfortable. Octavia may not be dying, but if it helps her then I guess I really shouldn’t care. Habits are hard to break though, so two part time Nudists may take me a little while to get used too, even if we hardly see them any more” He chuckled. “Come on, lets go get some rest” he finished, crawling back onto the bed. Sweetie Belle followed and nuzzled into him sweetly and laid there with her eyes closed. A few hours had passed since the whole argument over clothing, which was actually over Quill looking at Vinyl but not wanting to look at Octavia... Quill didn’t even want to think about it anymore. He was actually shocked that even after that fiasco, and Silver bing with Octavia while they were both obviously naked, he hadn’t heard anything. He didn’t mean to creep, but he just couldn’t get good sleep anymore so he spent his free time keeping an ear out for anything or anyone that might walk into the house. Sweetie Belle Stirred a bit in his arms and he looked down at her. She was a nice girl to be fair. After everything that has happened to her you would think she would have a lot of trust issues but Sweetie Belle seemed to be fine. She smiled, laughed, she was like anyone else before all this. Quill respected her for it, it was a good thing to have in this world. He wasn’t alone for long though. “Why are you still up quill?” Sweetie Belle mumbled, looking up at him with groggy eyes. Quill just smiled, stroking her head. “You don’t worry about me” He said softly. Sweetie Belle didn’t accept that and sat up, still leaning on him. “Quill. Can I tell you something?” She asked. Quill just tilted his head. Sweetie Belle looked at him with a smile. “I like you, you know that right?” She said. Quill was confused, but smiled. “I like you too Sweetie Belle. I am glad I met such a good friend” He grinned at her. Sweetie Belle looked at him for a moment with an unimpressed look. “No... I mean I like you” She said again. Quill nodded, his face contorting with slight confusion. Sweetie Belle just sighed and laid her head on his chest, looking at little disappointed. Quill thought the conversation was over when he was suddenly muzzle to muzzle with the small mare. She kissed him... You could almost hear the gears in Quills head screech to a halt. Sweetie Belle broke the kiss and looked at him with the same unimpressed look. “I like you dumbass” She said, grinning slightly. “Oh...” Quill didn’t even know what to do. She was a kid! Well... No, she wasn’t a kid... BUT SHE LOOKED LIKE A KID! If he said he felt the same would that make him a pedophile? Wasn’t that what a Pedophile was? A person who liked kids in inappropriate ways? Quill didn’t know... “You... Like... Me?” He said slowly. Even he was trying to understand the words, even as he spoke them. Sweetie Belle just kept looking at him. Honestly she was used to this. She had a Colt Friend before, but they broke up because he felt awkward being with a “Kid”. “Please don’t say you don’t like me because of how I look” She said, her grin fading a bit. “Yeah, I look like I am ten, but even Silver said I was eighteen! I’m old enough to make decisions like this. What I look like has nothing to do with it” She said, getting up and crossing her arms. “No! No that’s not it at all! Your pretty hot actually but...” Quill stopped. Now it was both of their turns to be shocked. Quill just hung his head “Great... I’m a Pedo” He grumbled in defeat. Sweetie Belle couldn’t help but laugh, curling up and kissing him again. “As long as your only Pedo for me, I think we are okay” She teased. This got Quill to smile. She was right! She... She was actually incredibly sweet and kind. Just cause she had a birth defect didn’t mean he was a bad person. A Pedophile maybe, but sometimes definitions were too broad. “You know what Sweetie Belle? You’re actually right. Despite the fact that I told you I looked at you as an adult, I still saw you as a kid. Being in a relationship never actually crossed my mind. You have an obvious birth defect... Your smart, or at the very least smarter than me. You have that childish air about you, but I’ve met older who act way more childish than you. Oh my Celestia Sweetie I am so sorry” He finished. Sweetie belle just smiled and buried her face in his neck. So now he was in a Relationship. That shocked him actually, as he never really had a relationship before. Pathetic huh? What shocked him more though was how fast he came to the conclusion. Yeah, he thought about Sweetie Belle in a romantic way once or twice but he always envisioned her looking like a grown mare. Now that he realized she didn’t have to look like a grown mare to actually be one, he didn’t feel bad about this at all. Sweetie belle then got a devious idea. She got up, pushed Quill into the headboard and straddled him. Quill blushed as she leaned really close to him, pressing her chest into his and placing her muzzle against his ear. “Hey Quill...” She whispered softly. Quill, having gone beat red and felt in danger of his eyes popping out of his skull could only mumble a faint Mmm Hmm. Sweetie Belle bit his ear softly. “I want you to fuck me...” She said in the most seductive voice she could muster. Quill just froze up before falling to the side. He FAINTED! Sweetie Belle cackled in laughter, having expected an awkward no but she had stuck pay dirt with this! She curled up against Quill, having enjoyed her little joke.