Cosmo, Illusionist

by Raster Dreams

One (1)

“Excuse me. Ah, is this seat taken?”

“Nope.”

Sage sighed in relief. She unceremoniously dumped her saddlebags in the snow beside the bench and planted herself on it. The smooth stone was already warm as if somepony had just recently left. That shouldn’t be surprising, Sage thought to herself. There were only a few days left before Hearth’s Warming and the peak of the holiday season. Ponies were out and about, wrapping up business and getting in their last minute shopping—just like Sage herself. Every year she would always tell herself that this time she would not put her to-do list off until the last minute. Fortunately for her, luck had always seemed to be on her side in the shopping frenzies and she always found what she needed or wanted. Trotston had been generous to her this way—

“It’s busier than normal today. Is something happening?”

“Huh?” Sage snapped to attention and looked up at the pony sharing the bench with her. She found herself staring into a stallion’s bright white flank. “Wha—” she looked up even higher. The stallion didn’t seem to notice or, at the least, care about her accidental ogling. She turned her line of sight away from him as fast as she could. It was rude for a mare to stare at a stallion not from her own herd. “What? I didn’t hear you, did you say something?”

“Is there something coming up? I don’t have a calendar.”

“Tomorrow’s Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

The stallion turned away from her to look down the pathway. The park they were in was a popular shortcut between Downtown Trotston and Hackley Square during the day, forming a straight path between the areas. During the night, ponies avoided it like the plague, completely unwilling to venture into the swath of darkness it became once the sun went down. Named Eisley Gardens, it had been made along with several other recreational parks to form an, “Emerald Necklace,” about the city. Trotston itself had always been fortunate when it came to avoiding the foreboding appearance of a city like Manehattan while still remaining large and full of opportunities.

“What’re you gonna do?” the stallion eventually asked. He turned his eyes to the partially frozen over stream following the path, but his ears remained attentive, angled at Sage. “For Hearth’s Warming?”

“I invited some friends over for dinner this year.” Rather, Merriweather had demanded that Sage would be the one to do her herd’s holiday cooking and nopony else. Which only really meant Merriweather wanted Sage to cook for the two of them, so they could eat something other than ready-made meals and a few sandwiches. The two of them were busy ponies. Far too busy to spend time cooking anything decent on a regular basis. Sage had her shop to mind and Merriweather could barely stumble through the door after her incredibly difficult day of cloud pushing. “Well...more like, just one friend.”

The stallion breathed out a small, “Awh…” and gave Sage a gentle pat on the withers. The metal of his horseshoe was cold to the touch.You at least have somepony. Me on the other hoof? I’ll just go hang out in an alleyway and eat some carrots.”

Sage, in the middle of her efforts to avoid any awkward eye contact, caught a glimpse of the sun beginning its descent into the horizon. “Oh!” She bounced off of the bench and grabbed the strap of her saddlebags with her teeth. “I haff to geth moofing!”

“Wait,” the stallion said. He slid from the bench to his hooves and covered his mouth with a hoof. Sage swore he could see a smile on his face. “Let me help.” A bright green aura enveloped Sage’s saddlebags and carried them to the stallion’s back. His size made the saddlebags look tiny and he was almost unable fasten the strap around his barrel. The gesture gave Sage a moment to watch him and she immediately noticed the prominent horn poking through his mane. She bit her lower lip and there was a moment of silence as she thought over whether or not she should be accepting of the stallion’s aid.

“Uuh...I don’t want to be in your way, ah, mister…”

“Cosmo.” The stallion put a hoof to his chest and Sage could barely make out small reliefs carved into the dark, well polished surface. “And it really isn’t a problem. I mean, I just want to be useful again.” There was a moment of silence. The delivery behind the Cosmo’s words made Sage feel very nearly guilty for her feeble attempt to turn him away. “So. Where now?”

“I just have one last stop, then I’m heading home.” Sage took one more look at Cosmo before leading him off. His simple presence proved its use the entire way. When met with crowds, he would take the lead and canter straight through. Anypony who failed to clear a path was forcefully shunted aside and immediately disarmed with passing glance. Cosmo was, in essence, a considerably large earth pony with the magical backup of a unicorn. He was easily twice Sage’s weight and took full advantage of the fact; nothing stood in his path. Nothing!

“This town has some nice shops,” Cosmo said, once Sage had finished her last stop. “They’re all very small and personal. The clerks all seem like decent ponies, too.” Cosmo took a few glances at the several storefronts in his vicinity, one of his cheeks puffed out by what Sage figured was his tongue. “I just wish it were more open air, like back in...where I used to live.”

“You’re not from around here?” Sage asked. Not as though she hadn’t considered the possibility. This Cosmo fellow seemed far too humble to be the typical, unchecked city unicorn. He was likely just a big pony from a small town.

“Eh, no.” Cosmo looked at Sage for a moment and tensed just slightly. “I’m from south. West. Southwest, across the sea.” He drew his lips inward and glanced over his shoulder. In a quick display of spritely agility, he faced forward and began to trot with a pop in his first step. “Well, we should get going, hm Sage?”

“Yeah.” Sage spoke with hardly a thought to the word. Sage had noticed a pattern emerging in Cosmo’s behavior during her short time with him. On their way to the last shop, she had asked him a few questions and, without fail, every time his origins came up, his composure would falter. It was fairly suspect, but after having several inquiries concerning his lineage openly deflected, she assumed he was in some form of exile. Unicorns were always fretting about their social standing in ways earth ponies and pegasi never could understand and Sage was no exception among the latter two.

Even more prominent in Sage’s mind was that Cosmo, at least outwardly, appeared to be a lone stallion. Her herb shop saw few, if any, male customers and the need to maintain her greenhouse kept her from social venues. Her friend, Merriweather had been pushing for the two of them to start a herd for several months now. The two of them had, for their past few attempts, had poor luck when it came to their fairly limited choices. Despite his flaws and possible dangers, Cosmo was quite the catch, especially when placed next to the last stallion Merriweather had taken out on a date. Sage was not willing to allow the opportunity to slip through her grasp.

“Uh, Cosmo. Where do you live?”

Cosmo took the question in stride. In fact, he even seemed to be expecting Sage to ask; his face positively lit up and he opened his mouth as if to speak. Then he let it close and began to frown. “Well, I used to have a cart,” he said uncertainly. His horn glowed briefly as he tussled a bit of his mane to distract himself. “It was a nice one, too.” His eyes briefly shifted about, looking at various passing objects: lamp posts, particularly interesting cobblestones, hanging flower pots. “The other night, the parking brake failed and it may have smashed against a brick wall.” Sage’s eyes widened slightly at the implication. “I’m still picking splinters out of my mane, I think.” Cosmo barked out a short laugh. “So, I don’t really live anywhere. Just between you and me, I haven’t slept since.”

Sage felt unmeasurably gullible. Surely, there was no way a stallion of Cosmo’s calibre had been living out of a cart or had spent almost a whole day sleepless and out on the street and come out of it with the appearance to suggest he groomed twice an hour. Even so, it would be unbecoming to not offer a homeless pony any sort of assistance. It was clearly an excuse to get into her home, but she had been backed into a corner over the course of the past couple hours. This Cosmo pony had spent a long time getting to know Sage and she had done the same with him. In a few minutes, he would know exactly where Sage lived and even if she were to turn him away, if he had the desire, Cosmo would use his magic to simply let himself in. Magic-proof locks were expensive in a city not populated by unicorns.

Still, she reasoned with herself, Cosmo was either a genuine pony or plotting her inevitable demise and at this point, it no longer mattered. Her next question had been answered before she even asked it.

“Cosmo, would you like to stay with me until you can get back on your hooves?”

“Thank you for your hospitality.”

Comments

[Aster Viridian]

It's decent. You did a fairly good job of introducing the stallion character, though I find some of your sentence structure a little confusing. Also, in the third to last sentence it says she reasoned with herself, and then it reads plotting her inevitable demise. It feels like I'm not in her thoughts anymore. But it's a good story, and you caught my attention! Keep writing!

[Raster Dreams]

3155466
Suffice to say, this is the end of my attempts to find errors at three in the morning. I guess I'll consider actually sleeping before I do my day after reading, so thanks for the input.