//------------------------------//
// Chapter 22 - Audience of One 
// Story: Never Be The Same 
// by Kickback 
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We ran like vampires from a thousand burning suns
But even then we should have stayed
But we ran away
Now all my friends are gone
Maybe we've outgrown all the things that we once loved.





So, umm...yeah, not what I expected.

Sitting in the cramped, log-based seats, I was taken aback. This play was a Hell of alot more in depth than I had thought. See, the fruit had never met a cupcake before but the cupcake had been taught to despise fruit. Confused by this, the fruit sought to befriend the cupcake but the cupcake remained stagnant in it's hateful ways. 

"Natural sugar is unnatural!" 

So, the cupcake threatens to declare war on the fruit and it's kin but the all the fruit wanted was peace among all those that were sweet, whether grown or baked. Enraged by the fruit's persistence in it's belief, the cupcake sends it's sugary army to slaughter the tree-sproutlings.

"May every apple lay coreless! Let every banana be peeled!" 

Cheerilee was a remarkably good actress. 

Anyway, the cupcake accidentally bites a piece of the fruitling that had wanted to be it's friend, not really of course, I can't imagine they actually convinced Rarity to use an actual plum or whatever in her designs. After finding that perhaps they weren't so different after all in terms of sweetness, she declared the war over, neither side had won but peace had. 

Then they break into a little bouncy song thingy. It was fun. 

Though I felt like I was slowly getting diabetes watching the thing. No one really seem to notice when I stood and made my way to the back of the stage. Didn't take long to find the little white sprig. She was utterly beaming with pride and joy. There was a mare standing next to her, the same teacher that I hold informed of Rarity's sudden disappearance. Never caught her name. I stood back, leaning against the wall and folding my arms, just watching her. The mare turned to look down at the small filly, just silently smiling. My heart was brimming with excitement. Rarity giggled lightly and barely a second later, there was a flash of white. I grinned wide as I spied three light blue diamonds now etched into the porcelain hue of her coat. 

That little gasp that came next was utterly adorable. 

Tears were brimming at the corners of her eyes as I walked up to her. She sat down on her haunches, staring at her flank, a hoof to her mouth. Muffled as she was, when I got up to her, I crouched down, I don't think she'd notice me yet nor had the teacher. Rarity cast her gaze back to the stage, watching the dancing filles and colts jim and jive about in her work. 

"This is who I am. This is what I'm meant to do, after all..." 

"See? What did I tell ya?" 

At the sound of my voice, she turned around, looking up at me, surprised. Tears were soon to be shed. She smiled at me, I went to stroke her mane but then I realized it was Rarity and stopped, almost breaking out into a chuckle. I reached out to her and gently scratched behind her ear. She seemed to like that. All ponies seem to, really. 

"Heh, just look atcha. Glowin' like a roarin' fire..." 

Rarity grinned slightly at that. "Thank you..." She sniffed. "I suppose I really did get to test the 'cut o' my sails'." She chuckled. 

"Heheh." 

"Kyle?" 

"Yeah, Rares?" 

"Could you umm..." Rarity stammered, a faint blush coming over her face. "Might I hug you?" 

...Yep, there it goes. There goes my heart. 

I didn't say a word as I held out my arms, she beamed wide and embraced me, wrapping her little hooves around my neck. Well, would you look at that, huh? Now little Rarity's got her cutie mark.

I was so proud of her. 

It wasn't too later afterwards where I stood back again, watching the little darling scamper on up to her parents, flaunting off her new ink. I took my leave by then. I didn't say goodbye. There was something about doing that that made me dread. It was odd but I shrugged it off. Still, kind of felt like a douche for just up and leaving. 

The cottage was quiet now. Walking into my bedroom, I eyed the warm, crackling green fire dancing around in it's alcove. I don't remember the last time I had spoken to Celestia. I reached for a scrap of paper, I always kept some around for this reason. The damn quill and ink thing was still annoying as fuck but one can adapt. Just as I took up my pen, I realized that I had nothing to say. Like...at all. So, in a blind moment of laziness and non-creativity, I simply wrote the first thing that came to mind. 

"Hey." 

Into the fire, it goes! Begone horrible, boring greeting! Let thy over-usage burn in the fiery pits of-

Poof. Out comes another piece of paper from Tia's magical mail fire...TM.

"Hello, Kyle." Aww, isn't that cute? There's a little picture of a sun next to it. 

POOF. A second..? 

"Heya!!" I just chuckled. Got to be from Cadence. That nut, putting that crazy crystal heart on her butt on the page and stuff. Bitch is nuts. 

I'm tired. It's been a Hell of a week.

So, we talked. Pretty much all night through the fire. I really did miss Tia and Cadence. Besides Lyra, they were really my first friends in this love-loving world of horses. We didn't even really talk about anything but I didn't think it mattered, reckon the three of us were just happy to spend time with eachother, no matter how indirect it was and really, given everything, it was nice to. 

Now, the morning that came next was less boring. I promise. 

Lyra had me being dragged around town. Again. Seriously, this filly, I've never met anyone else with so much...energy before. I didn't have work today, much to my confusion but MC said I didn't have to come in. So, with nothing better to do, Lyra immediately jumped at the chance to hang out. 

It was cute, really. Seeing her bounce up and down, yammering on about whatever came to her oddly gigantic head. Everypony that glanced at us just smiled or shook their heads. The two of us were becoming infamous, it seemed. Very rarely in town, there was one without the other. Now that Fluttershy's back home, bet she's just happy to see me. There was no way I was going to tell her everything that had happened while she was down here. No way. 

The sun was high in the sky when I saw her. We started passing the train station when the old locomotive came chugging up. Steam pouring out from the works as ponies started piling out of the cars. I suppose idle curiousity cause me to look over at the mass of ponies but I hadn't expected what I ended up seeing.

From the crowd, out came a filly. I stopped walking, Lyra looked up at me, confused. A set of small orange hooves pattering about the ground. I turned, my jaw hung. A mane as gold as the sun gently swaying in the late-morning breeze. I started walking again, towards her. A pair of brilliant emerald eyes looking about in wonder. I walked faster, I couldn't believe it. Her lips moved but I couldn't make out the words. 

"Applejack!" 

Her gaze snapped to me at my call. I was so close to her now, I could make out the tears starting to gather at the edges of her eyes. 

She spoke again and this time I heard. 

"Kyle?...Ah'm home!"