Home Again

by drnkntst

Chapter 7

Chapter 17

After several minutes of wander and reflection, Rick found himself crossing a small bridge. He looked around and realized he was at Fluttershy’s cottage. He caught a glimpse of her floating by the window and wondered if she was one of the confessors. He shook his head deciding that was impossible. Fluttershy was far too bashful to ever do such a thing.
He was about to leave when something made him continue up the path to her door. He might as well try to get some advice while he was here. AJ wasn’t much help but Fluttershy would certainly never do anything to cause him trouble. Rick knocked on the door and couldn’t suppress the smile that came from hearing her cute little ‘eep.’
The door opened, “um, hello, oh, Rick. What brings you here? Do you need more medicine?”
For some reason, Rick was suddenly at ease. “No, Fluttershy, I don’t need medicine. Can I come in? I need to talk to you.”
“Of course, come in. Is something wrong?”
As he followed her inside, closing the door behind him, he noticed her cutie mark for the first time. Three identical butterflies with pink wings and teal bodies, they really did suit her perfectly. Add those to her long, flowing mane and tail and top that all off with those big, baby blue eyes. Rick couldn’t believe he never noticed just how cute she really is.
“Um, well, nothing’s wrong per se, but I do need some help with something.” He sat on a large, green couch and Fluttershy sat upon a matching chair. “Do you remember anything from last night?”
She placed a hoof on her chin in consideration, “no, nothing after we started drinking that cider. Why do you ask?”
“Well you see, someone, in fact two someone’s, confessed they love me last night but I can’t remember who.” He looked over at Fluttershy’s face to see her whole face had turned a light shade of red.
“A-and y-you don’t re-remember who?”
“No, I don’t and now I don’t know what to do. I mean, I care for each of you differently but equally. I’m afraid that this whole thing might cause, I don’t know, like a… rift to form and we won’t all be friends anymore. To be honest, this whole thing scares me a little.” Rick lowered his head. He was suddenly surprised when he felt the cushion next to him compress. He was even more surprised when he felt warm fur mix with his. Then, a hoof wrapped under his chin and pulled his head gently down. He found himself at peace when Fluttershy drew his head to the front of her barrel.
“Shh… hush now. You know none us would want to leave you. You said so yourself, we’re a family. Weather you decide to act on this information or not, I for one will support you, and I’m sure the others will too.”
“Thank you, Fluttershy, I really appreciate that.” Rick couldn’t help himself and closed his eyes and nuzzled her ever so slightly. “You have no idea how much this has been bothering me.”
“B-but, y-you’ve been i-in love before, right? Yo-you said you we-were married.”
Suddenly, the image of his beautiful wife flashed in his mind. In her t-shirt and jeans, then in her one-piece swimsuit, and then, his favorite’s. Hanna standing at the top of the stairs in her parent’s house wearing her blue prom dress with her hair in a tight bun that turned into a pony tail in the middle. Hanna walking one step at a time down the aisle in her flowing, white gown carrying her bouquet of white orchids, her favorite flower, her hair pulled back in a wide tail with a single white orchid above her left ear. His all-time favorite, the huge smile and tears of joy in her eyes when she told Rick the best news he had ever received, they were going to be parents. The look screamed love and happiness. Rick felt the tears start to form again.
Fluttershy held him closer when she felt his tears soak into her fur. “Please, Rick, don’t cry. I know you miss your wife and daughter, but you don’t need to ever feel lonely again. I promise to never leave you.”
Rick stayed there, resting his head against what would be the equivalent of Fluttershy’s chest, he could hear her heartbeat and feel her kindness radiating from it. After a short while, he drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 18

Rick was woken by a repeated thumping on his barrel. He opened his eyes to see an angry white rabbit stomping his foot on Rick’s ribs.
“What the… Angel? What the hell do you want?” he groaned.
“Oh, I’m sorry. You see, you fell asleep in Angel’s favorite spot. He can be very possessive.”
“Aha, so that’s what it is.” Rick was very tempted to tell this annoying little bunny just what parts of said bunny would taste the best when grilled with a little season salt, the hind legs. “Just let me get up and you can have the couch all to yourself.” The rabbit nodded and hopped down. As Rick stood, he realized that someone had placed a pillow under his head and a blanket across his body. It was of course no mystery. He folded that blanket with his magic and placed both the pillow and blanket on the chair. Fluttershy was in the kitchen and Rick joined her. “How long have I been out?”
“Oh, only about an hour. I was just getting the critters’ dinners ready.”
“I see. Do you need any help?”
“Oh no, I can do this myself. Thank you though.”
“Well, as long as you’re certain. Okay, then I guess I’ll just be heading home. Thank you for taking care of me.”
“Of course, any time you wish to visit, you are welcome to.”
“Count on it. I’ll see you later, Fluttershy.”
“Goodbye, Rick.”
Rick left the cottage and started his brisk walk through the fields back toward town. He was feeling a little better, but he was still conflicted. He was enjoying the breeze and the watching the clouds… not move at all? “That’s right; the weather here is controlled by pegasi here.” Then another thought occurred to him, “why is this shadow following me?” Just to test a theory, he casually walked over to a nearby tree and pretended to admire the bark of said tree. The shadow followed.
Rick lay down under the tree, folding his forelegs behind his head, and pretended to be napping. He very carefully opened one eye and peaked at the cloud that he suspected had been following him. Over the edge of the little cloud, he could just see a tiny rainbow peeking out. Rick knew that had to be none other than Equestria’s greatest flier. Now he could just call her out, but he needed a laugh.
Just under the cloud, two very large hands formed. In each hand, a giant force field symbol took shape. He barely suppressed his grin as the hands spread and then slammed together. The clatter was literally thunderous. The mischievous little pegasus screamed and fell off her cloud. She was startled that she forgot to flap her wings and Rick had to pluck her out of the air before she cratered into the field.
He brought under the same tree he was at. “Good afternoon, Dash. Are you enjoying your day?”
Once she caught her breath, she turned and glared at Rick. “What’s the big idea!”
“Well you see, I was being stalked by this mysterious cloud. So imagine my surprise, when I defend myself against said cloud, that my dear friend Rainbow Dash should be held captive by the puffy monster. I’m just glad I was able to save you.” He couldn’t help but laugh at the mare who blushed at being caught out.
“Well I… you… I just… Look, I saw you walking and you seemed upset, so I just wanted to see what was up with you.” The way she was kicking at the dirt made Rick feel a little guilty for scaring her.
“Alright, I’m sorry I scared you, but you could have simply asked me. We’re friends and you can always ask me anything. Also, I appreciate your concern but this is something I think I have to figure out for myself.”
“You sure I can’t help?” Dash asked with one hoof raised to his barrel.
“Thank you, but I don’t think so. I already asked AJ for help and that didn’t work. Then I asked Fluttershy and wound up just napping on her.” Rainbow seemed a little flustered at this revelation.
“You napped… ON Fluttershy?! Why did you do that?”
“It’s not like I planned on it, it just sort of happened. I was telling about something I remembered at the party and started to get upset, so Fluttershy did what she does best and comforted me. Then I started thinking about my wife and… look, it just happened, no big deal.”
“Un-huh,” she was eyeing him suspiciously. “Well look, if you need advice, then Twilight is the one to talk to. You should just go see her.”
“I guess you’re right. Thanks Dash, I’ll go see her right now.”
“Alright, but try not to nap on anymore ponies,” she teased as Rick made his way down the road toward the Golden Oaks Library.

Chapter 19

After a short stop at home to feed and walk Paul, Rick finished his journey to the library to see the local alicorn princess. He didn’t know what he was going to say. What questions does one ask when matters of the heart are at stake.
“Rick, what’s up?” the little dragon asked as he opened the door.
“Hey there, Spike. I need to see Twilight, is she in?” Rick stuck a hoof out and Spike promptly bumped it with his own fist.
“Yeah, she’s just studying in her room. Come on in, I’ll get her.”
Rick did as instructed and plopped himself down in near a book stack. A certain door caught his eye. He got up and walked over to his old bedroom. Rick was very surprised to see that the room had been kept just the way he left it more than six months ago. He climbed up on the old mattress and curled up; it was just marginally comfortable as he remembered.
“Rick! Are you in here?” he heard Twilight’s voice from the library’s main room.
“In here!” Rick called out.
A familiar purple head poked around the door. “What are you doing in here?”
“Reminiscing, I was just surprised you kept this room the same after all this time.”
Twilight climbed up on the bed and sat next to him. “I just didn’t see any reason to change it, but I don’t think this is why you came over. Spike said you needed my help with something.”
“Yeah, I need you to use your memory spell on me.”
“But, you said that would be a bad idea. You said there would things we wouldn’t want to remember.”
“I know, but there is something I need to remember. At the party, someone said they… they said something very important and I need to remember.”
“Well… if you’re certain… ” her horn started to glow and she leaned in to touch it to his forehead.
As her horn made contact, Rick felt what would be best described as a pleasant lightning. He could feel her reaching through his brain, searching his memory in order to find the correct one. Anyone else might have felt like an invasion, but he welcomed Twilight. She was one he trusted above all else in Equestria.
Suddenly, the previous night came clear. He saw the six mares about in his living room, each one seemed to be drunk, delightfully so in fact.

“I jesht wan say that I love yoou.” Came from a certain orange country mare.

“That sho saweet uh yoo. I luv you too.” He heard himself say.

“Whud bout me? You luv me don yuu?” Questioned a beautiful, white unicorn

“Uv coursh I doo. I love allya.” He reassured.

“Alluv ush? Evenn mee?” The pink haired pegasus asked.

“I shaid allya dint I?”

“Heyeyey, I shaw ‘im firsht.” A cute little alicorn claimed.

“Nuh-uh, I shaw him firsht. I even patched ‘im upan’ erythin.” The apple harvester pointed.

“An’ I saw him shecon!” The little pink energy monster reminded.

“Mmmhmm… love… ” The snoring Rainbow Dash added.

“Well then itsh shettled. We all love echother.” Rick concluded the conversation with a group hug that didn’t include the sleeping Dash out of courtesy.
The retracting spell left Rick feeling a little… lonely would be a good word for it. He now knew what happened last night but he was more confused than ever. Four of the closest friends he had ever had confessed their love for him, possibly even all six of them. He had only ever loved one woman. Hanna was his high school sweetheart and she had been ripped from his life.
He turned to Twilight, she had a slight blush but showed an otherwise calm composure. “Did-did that help at all?”
“Sort of, I now know what happened last night, but it didn’t help with my real problem. In fact, it might have made it worse. Thank you though, Twilight. I just need some time to think. I’ll see you later.” Rick climbed down off the bed and, head lowered, started to walk to clear his head.
If he had stayed, Twilight could have told him that the nature of the memory spell meant that she saw everything he did.

Comments

[Dragonfox]

Wow that was a good one! Are the girls going to share him? Or are they going to fite over him? I can't wait for the next chapter. Thank you for posting so quickly.

[Robobrony]

I hope, for his sake, this story takes place in an equestrian where a stallion can have more than one marefreind. That would certainly solve his problem.

[ultrasolarflare]

update must have update please lol

[damnaion]

7# Ooooo