Chapter Twenty - We Prefer the Term 'Observing'
“Table for two? This way.” The host at the Haybale directed Cotton and Steadclaw toward a table on the west side of the restaurant, looking out over Pastern Boulevard. “Here you go.”
“Thank you,” Cotton and Steadclaw both responded before sitting down. They picked up their menus for a moment, then placed them back down and smiled at each other.
Steadclaw sighed. “Well, here we are.”
Cotton giggled. “Yeah… here we are. My first date.”
“Mine too,” Steadclaw replied.
“Seriously?” Cotton asked. “Almost three years at UCHS and you never asked anyone out?”
“Nah. Nobody really caught my eye.” Steadclaw rested his chin on his talons. “Then junior year, you walk through the doors.”
Cotton tried to hide a blush behind her menu. “So… did you hang out with Harmony, Flare, and Daisy before I came to school?”
“Honestly, no.” Steadclaw grimaced. “Only when you started hanging out with them. I knew I’d have to make a good impression on your friends if I was ever gonna have a shot with you. I’m just happy they’re actually pretty cool.”
Cotton smirked, then hit him on the shoulder with her menu. “You are so bad.” She glanced over her menu for a moment before asking him, “So what did you do for the first two years of high school?”
“Same thing everyone else that first integrated into Canterlot did—tried to stick with my own kind,” Steadclaw answered.
“But the first Canterlot integration was over a decade ago!” Cotton said.
“I know,” Steadclaw responded, “but after living in Griffonstone my whole life, socializing with other species felt kinda weird for me. Even with everything Aunt Pinkie did for us. She was the only pony I ever really felt comfortable with.”
“So what happened with the other griffons?” Cotton asked.
“They came to Canterlot from Griffonia during the initial integration, so they’d been here longer. I only came here a couple of years ago, just in time for my first year of high school,” Steadclaw replied, “and I’m the only one from Griffonstone. I learned pretty quickly that the other griffons are jerks to ‘newbies,’ and after my first encounter, I never went back to them… so I was basically a loner.”
“That…” Cotton placed her menu gently on the table. “That’s horrible! You spent your first two years at school as an outsider?”
“Basically, yeah,” Steadclaw replied. “That’s why my mom was so shocked when I brought you to meet her.”
“Oh, yeah,” Cotton said. “She did say I was the first friend you’d brought home, didn’t she?”
“Yeah.” Steadclaw looked at his menu for a moment. “Boy, am I glad they added selections for meat-eaters.”
“Still not used to the vegetarian diet, huh?” Cotton laughed.
“Not really, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it eventually,” Steadclaw responded. “Not every place around here is that accommodating.” Glancing up from his menu, he looked across the room to find two ponies sitting at a table in the corner, their menus covering their faces. Above them sat aura-summoned, capitalized letters spelling out ‘ASK ABOUT HER’. His eyes widened for a moment before he shook his head and asked Cotton, “So, what about you? What were you doing for two years before you came to Upper Canterlot? Still hangin’ in Central?”
“Kind of,” Cotton answered. “When I went to junior high, the district did this big changeover so that it basically split in two—West Central and East Central. I dunno how the district divided us up, but all my friends ended up in West Central, and I went to East. I asked my dad if he could get me over in West Central with my friends, but not even a princess can fight with a school board. So I had to make new friends. Given who showed up at my party, you can probably guess how well that turned out.”
Steadclaw frowned. “No luck?”
Cotton shook her head. “Nope. Back in elementary, I had an issue with a bully that got solved… uhhmm… permanently. So I didn’t have any trouble with bullies in junior high, but I think everyone was scared of me because of it, too.”
“What do you mean ‘permanently’? What happened?”
“Well, my dad kinda flipped out, and sorta crushed his house. Everyone else at school was probably afraid the same might happen to them, stupid as that sounds, so they all avoided me.”
“What the heck did he do to you to make your dad freak out like that?” Steadclaw asked.
“I… don’t really wanna talk about it. But yeah, so… everyone treated me like I had hoof-rot. It was like that all the way up through my sophomore year of high school. At that point, I finally had enough, and told my dad to either find a way to get me over to West Central with my friends, or move me to a new school where nobody knew what happened. He managed to get me transferred to UCHS.”
“Wow,” Steadclaw said. “No wonder you were so happy to see your old friends again. You were a loner, too.”
Cotton sighed, “Yeah. We never really got to hang out outside of school either. We wrote to each other, but my party was the first time I actually saw them in years.”
“Were they any different than you remember them?”
Cotton laughed, “Nope. Still as immature as they always were. But having them meet you, Flare, and Harmony was cool. Past meets present, all that sappy stuff. I actually made new friends this time around.”
“Hey, yeah,” Steadclaw said. “How did you start hangin’ out with the girls? If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought you’d all known each other since elementary.”
Cotton shook her head. “Nah. I was working on a group assignment with Flare, Harmony, and Daisy in Science at the start of the year. I don’t remember exactly what the assignment was, but I accidentally blew the thing up,” she laughed. “I decided to joke that it scarred me, and we all got a good laugh out of it. I think they actually respected me because of it. But anyway, we’ve been friends ever since. I think that’s the only time I intentionally joked about my scars before… you gave me a new perspective.” She smiled and put her hoof up on the table.
As Steadclaw reached across the table to hold her hoof, he said, “Hey, if you hadn’t come to school and made friends with those three, I’d still be a loner. It took you coming to school for me to muster up the courage to talk to anyone. It’s a good thing the four of you aren’t like some of the others in school who still only want to socialize with their own kind. Now I’ve actually got friends… and much more.” He smiled and grasped Cotton’s hoof. Both of them blushed.
“A-hem.” The two of them looked up to find a waiter. “Uh, sorry for interrupting the moment, but can I take your order?”
Ж
At the corner table of the Haybale, Cadance seethed. “It was such a good moment! And he had to ruin it!” she said through clenched teeth. “I oughtta—”
“Calm thyself, Cadenza; there shall be many opportunities,” Luna whispered. “We already helped one progress forward. We are certain that this will, as the common folk say, 'go off with a hitch'.”
“What? The phrase is 'go off without a hitch.' Why would you want a hitch?”
“Why would one not want a hitch? Do we not wish them to be joined?”
“No, hitch means—”
The host came up to them and whispered, “Your Highnesses, may I—”
“SSSHHHHH!” Cadance and Luna shushed him, pointing to the fake mustaches they both wore.
“Um, excuse me. Gentlecolts, is there anything I can get you?”
“Yes, please,” Luna answered in a deep voice. “We would like one slice of thine apple pie.” When Cadance cocked a brow at her, Luna simply responded, “What? We ate brea—dinner before we left.”
“I’d like a cup of coffee,” Cadance said, “and I’d like that waiter fired.”
“Cadenza!” Luna whispered.
“Oh, fine,” Cadance huffed. “At least tell him not to interrupt any more romantic moments if they arise.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
“SSSHHHHH!”
Ж
“Pfft, these fillies remind me of Gem and Jewel. Minus the stepbrother and the coltfriend,” Cotton whispered, looking at the screen.
“Yeah, seriously,” Steadclaw replied.
The two of them sat in the theater, their forearms sitting on the armrests provided. The movie had barely started.
“Well, it’s a little off the subject of the Badlands, but uh, tolerance is always a good lesson!”
Cotton slumped a little in her seat. “Yeah, it is. Wish they’d taught it more…” she mumbled under her breath.
Steadclaw turned to her. “You okay, Cotton?” Cotton simply nodded her head. Suddenly, there was a small flash of light in his peripheral vision, and Steadclaw found a folded slip of paper in his claw. He unraveled the paper to find a note:
PUT YOUR ARM AROUND HER
Steadclaw looked around for a source, but found nothing. He decided to take the paper’s advice and put an arm around the top of Cotton’s seat. Noticing the gesture, Cotton smiled and slid back up, letting herself lean against Steadclaw’s arm. After a few more minutes, Steadclaw found another slip of paper in his claw.
PULL HER IN CLOSER
Given how well the last paper-given advice had worked, Steadclaw followed it. He slowly pulled Cotton in next to his shoulder close enough that he could feel her breath on his chest feathers. She let out a deep sigh, then leaned her head on his shoulder. Steadclaw smiled, letting out a sigh of his own as he glanced down at his companion, then back at the movie screen.
“…And could the suicide attempts please be postponed until the next period?!”
Cotton and Steadclaw both giggled at the silliness in front of them, and Steadclaw could feel the warmth emanating from Cotton’s body—the laughter, the enjoyment. Pinkie Pie had told him about this. In the midst of the wonderful feeling, he felt another paper appear in his claw.
LAY YOUR HEAD ON HERS
Hoping for a three-out-of-three, Steadclaw complied. He felt and heard Cotton hum underneath his cheek. He let out a sigh, closing his eyes as he let Cotton’s warmth flow through him.
”Yuck!”
“Huh?” Cotton whispered. “Sorry, I think I dozed. What happened?”
“I dunno,” Steadclaw replied. “I was distracted.”
Cotton lifted her head and looked at him. “By what?”
Steadclaw leaned his forehead against hers, and simply answered, “You.”
The blush that took over Cotton’s cheeks held the same color as a sunset. No prompting was needed; the two of them reached out and locked lips. Cotton’s hooves moved from her lap to Steadclaw’s shoulders, while Steadclaw’s claw moved from Cotton’s shoulder to the back of her head. They stayed that way for a good minute before releasing each other.
After they watched each other blush for a moment, Steadclaw whispered, “Maybe this is why guys put up with filly flicks, huh?”
As Steadclaw caressed her cheek, Cotton giggled. “Maybe. I dunno.” Cotton smiled and leaned into his claw, closing her eyes. At that moment, another slip of paper took the opportunity to drop into his free claw. With Cotton’s eyes closed, Steadclaw took a look at another of what had so far been helping him along.
KISS HER AGAIN, BUT USE THY TONGUE
Steadclaw’s eyes widened for a moment, then he looked around the theater. Near the back, he laid eyes on two mustachioed ‘gentlecolts’ watching him and Cotton intently. When he stared back at them, the two shrunk down in their seats. He saw another glow of magic, felt something fall into his claw again, then watched as the two teleported out of the theater.
“What are you looking at?”
Steadclaw’s attention jumped back to Cotton. “Oh, I uh, thought I saw someone I knew in the back,” he whispered.
“Okay.” Holding his talons against her cheek, Cotton looked down at the armrest between them, then lifted it up and laid across his lap, resting her head on Steadclaw’s other armrest.
As Cotton closed her eyes for a moment, Steadclaw took the opportunity to look at the final slip of paper that was given to him, but instead of paper, he found a foil packet. “Woah! Too soon!” Steadclaw whispered a little too loudly, tossing the packet off to the far side of the theater.
“Hmm?” Cotton responded.
Steadclaw looked down at Cotton, her head leaning on his armrest, waiting. “I, uh, I hope this movie doesn’t end too soon,” he said, slipping his talons under her head and leaning forward.
“Me either,” Cotton said with a smile as she put a hoof on the back of Steadclaw’s head for the second duration. When they parted, Cotton smacked her lips. “Hmm… not what I expected from a griffon tongue, but I like it.”
Ж
“Ugh, and everything was working so well!” Cadance whined. “What did you write?”
“We simply suggested he kiss her again, but to employ his tongue,” Luna replied.
“Huh. I probably would have said that, too… Wait—what exactly did you write?”
Luna cleared her throat. “‘Kiss her again, but use thy tongue’.”
Cadance smacked her face with a hoof, which she slid down the end of her muzzle. “Aunt Luna! You’re the only pony in Equestria who would say something like ‘thy’. No wonder he figured us out! Oooh, and they were so far along, too,” she said, hanging her head.
“Well, We did slip him a rubber before our unexpected departure,” Luna offered.
Cadance’s head whipped up to look at her aunt. “Are you kidding? That’s… This is their first date!”
Luna frowned. “The first meeting is too early?”
“Yes!” Cadance cried. “True love waits until the fourth date,” she mumbled.
“What shall we do now?”
Cadance wiped a bit of sweat off her brow. “Now you erase any evidence and hope Steadclaw doesn’t give us away. Otherwise, Spike’ll flambé us,” she said gravely. “I have to get back to the Empire.”
“Very well, We shall. Good night, Cadenza,” Luna responded.
Cadance looked up. “Uh, good night, Aunt Luna,” she chuckled, pointing to the sky before teleporting away.
Luna cocked a brow, then looked up and gasped at the star-barren, still golden sky. “By the Creator’s holy name, We are late!”
Ж
“Where in Tartarus is she?” Celestia said to herself. “She knows the movement of our celestial bodies is—”
“Sister!” Luna cried as she teleported onto Celestia’s balcony, where they usually performed their twice-daily ritual. “Our sincerest apologies! We were… distracted.”
Celestia sighed with relief. “It’s alright, Sister. We’re not too far off, now that the warmer months are here. Come, before we are any later.”
Luna nodded. The sisters raised and finished lowering their respective celestial bodies, preventing any panic among the citizens. “Where were you?” Celestia asked Luna.
Luna couldn’t think of any good and truthful explanations; she determined her only two options were either embarrassment, or her sister reading her the riot act. She decided she would suffer through the former. “We… became distracted by Our old tomes.”
Celestia put a hoof to her forehead. “Really, Luna? You were reading centuries-old erotica?”
“They are not erotica!” Luna said, stomping a hoof. “They are instructional tomes on how to satisfy—”
“I don’t need to hear any more,” Celestia sighed, putting up a hoof. “Just… try not to get distracted again, would you?”
“Of… of course, Sister. We shall keep the tomes hidden away so as not to do so again,” Luna responded.
“Don’t hide my books again, Luna,” Celestia said with a scowl. “Not that I’m using them, but still. Anyway, Spike, Twilight, and I haven’t eaten dinner yet; why don’t you come join us?”
“Certainly! We shall be there momentarily,” Luna answered. Once Celestia walked out of sight, Luna spoke aloud to herself, “Was that excuse truly believable? Perhaps We should use it more often… Nay, they would—bah, We shouldn’t quarrel with Ourselves. We are hungry!” Luna turned and headed quickly out of the room, then down the stairs to the dining room.
Ж
Promptly at nine-thirty, Spike stood in the main hall, slowly pacing.
One of the guards spoke up. “Uh, Spike? If you don’t mind my saying, you did give them until ten. Don’t you think it’s a bit early?”
“Not at all,” Spike responded. “I originally gave them until now, then I extended the time until ten. They could be here at any moment!”
“I… guess that’s fair,” one of the other guards said. “Soooooooo… what, are you just going to stare him down and make sure he leaves after he drops Miss Cotton off?”
Spike shrugged. “Possibly. He just needs to know that the night is over after Cotton walks through these doors.”
“But Spike, there’s at least another eight hours until sunrise,” one of the guards said.
Spike, along with the other guards, smacked their faces. At least there’s only one tonight. At least there’s only one…
About twenty minutes later, Spike heard the sound of hooves and talons on the front walk outside. When he heard some muffled speaking he stopped his pacing and settled himself on his haunches squarely in the center of the main hall. When the speaking ended, there was a long moment of silence. Spike’s eyes narrowed. Have they moved on to Prench kissing already? Spike was about to make his way to the entrance, but the sound of a hoof on one of the massive double-doors brought him to full attention as Cotton heaved one of them open.
“Why am I not surprised?” Cotton giggled. “Ten minutes early and we’ve still got a welcoming committee.”
“Well, your dad doesn’t have a shotgun; that’s a good sign, right?” Steadclaw asked, sweat beading on the back of his neck.
Spike’s firm expression faded as he smirked. “I don’t need a shotgun, I have dragon breath, but you don’t need to worry, because you’re not technically late.” Steadclaw nodded, smiling. “Technically,” Spike added. Steadclaw gulped. “Don’t worry, the castle premises are still open to you,” Spike said with a wink. Steadclaw just nodded again.
Cotton snorted, rolling her eyes. “I see you two get along just fine.”
“We better, for his sake,” Spike said, narrowing one eye again and smiling. The smile did little more than show off Spike’s many sharp teeth.
“I’ll take that as my cue to leave,” Steadclaw said, turning on his paw.
Cotton groaned at her father, then grabbed Steadclaw, said, “C’mere,” and pulled him into a tight lip-lock.
When they parted, Steadclaw stood there, stunned. Spike held a rictus grin, trying not to let his emotions show, and failing. Steadclaw looked at Cotton and smiled. When he got a look at Spike’s expression, he said, “Oooookay. I’ll take that as my cue to leave.” As he turned for the door, he added a quick, “Good night!” He then made his way out the door and soared off into the night. Cotton could hear a short “Woohoo!” as she closed the door.
Staring at her father with daggers in her eyes, Cotton said, “You had to be waiting at the door. Have you been there since nine-thirty? Daddy, you said we could stay out until ten!” Cotton pouted.
“No, I gave you some leeway until ten,” Spike corrected. “Steadclaw made the right decision bringing you back when he did. Like you said, we get along fine, and he’d be wise to keep it that way.”
Cotton sighed. “Well, whatever. We had a good night, so I’m not gonna let you spoil it. Before you ask, dinner was good, the movie was funny. It was a good night. That being said, good night!” With that, Cotton darted up the staircase to her room.
“Hey!” Spike said, pushing his serpentine head and neck over the railing, blocking Cotton’s path. “Forgetting something?” Cotton stuck her tongue out at him briefly before giving him a kiss on the cheek. Spike let her pass. “There’s my girl. I’m glad you had fun tonight. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“See ya in the morning, Dad,” Cotton responded as she walked down the upper hallway.
Ж
A knock at the door brought Princess Luna out of her dreamwalking trance. “Who wouldst be knocking at Our door while We are performing Our nightly duties?” She called out, “Who goes there?!”
“It’s me, Aunt Luna,” Cotton called from the other side of the door.
“Oh! Cotton!” With a quick flick of her horn, her door swung open. “How was thy date?”
Cotton blushed. “It was… Well, dinner was good, but let’s just say we didn’t watch much of the movie.”
Luna smirked. “Ah, ye were too enamored by each other’s eyes?”
Cotton’s head turned away, but her eyes stayed transfixed on her aunt. “Ummmm… more like our mouths.”
“Oh, splendid! Perhaps thy father was correct in giving thee the lecture about avians and apiarists!” Luna exclaimed.
Cotton held back a laugh. Close enough. “That’s… actually why I’m here, Aunt Luna. We may not be ready for a while, but… when we are…” Cotton shuffled on her hooves. “Um, can I just… look through those magazines?”
Yeah, I kind of went full rom-com with this chapter. The rest of the story won't stay that way. And Hopeful_Ink_Hoof, you totally called Cadance and Luna's use of fake mustaches—you were just incorrect as to who spotted them. Does that mean I'm predictable, or that I'm good at using canon show logic?
Anyway, I hope that second-to-last scene was enough to cover the 'father threatens prospective boyfriend' that a bunch of you were asking for, because that's what was written before the requests/suggestions came in a while ago (Shah gave me a hand with that, as well as some of the lines between Cadance and Luna). He may not have threatened Steadclaw directly, but I think Spike's expressions paired with his features speak for themselves.
Oh, and props if you know what the movie quotes (with some slight alterations) are from, but it should be pretty obvious, given the parodied movie title mentioned in the previous chapter.
Addition 2/9/17!
Thanks to SpokenMind93 (the wonderful artist currently putting Past Sins into comic form), we now know what Spike didn't hear from behind the doors:
Please consider donating to her Patreon.
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Oh, Luna...
Oh god... Celestia help us all
This image... It amuses me.
orig01.deviantart.net/34fe/f/2014/030/7/f/bo2_princess_luna_mustache_disguise_emblem_by_thatbronyluminous-d74gkmv.png
Sneerrkkkk... I hope Celestia had the good sense to do the same for her. Otherwise...
pbs.twimg.com/media/CRwM_fJWEAAotOJ.jpg
As for Spike... Well...
cdn.meme.am/instances/41526425.jpg
To summarise:
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/07/e8/06/07e80666f6649f96778d428dfc5b66db.jpg
I probably should have used this last chapter, but oh well.
Oh yeah btw Luna hand me out thos magazines xD
This looks really good! I'll check it out.
Just what happened to the pony in the cover art?
7655967 Thanks for clearing that up i swore i was reading into this entire thing wrong.....so how did that happen
7655803
She's a burn victim. It's explained at the very beginning of the Prologue.
7655985
How Rainbow Dash and Applejack became a couple is a whole other story. One that even I don't know—it was Crystal Moose's idea.
7656025 AWESOME
Hahaha that's something enjoyable
Awesome chapter. Cadance and luna cracked me up something fierce XD
7655625
BAHAHAHA! That has actually been one of my favourite songs, ever since becoming a dad. I think I even made that joke with 7656025 at one point.
7655985 I can't tell you how it started, but I can tell you…
7657063
You know, I had wanted to continue with those side stories. I had actually fixed that one up a bit (just some mechanical corrections, IIRC), but I don't think I'll have the time. Nice to see you're still sharing that one.
That was funny chapter.
Nice stuff. I just wonder if Stead is going to still take the Princesses sticking their nones in his dates or give them out somehow. Cooperating with them would be optimal but it's wishing dor the best...
The Like button is still broken...I can't like this more than once. pinkie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/rsz/mlfw1154_medium.png
The whole overprotective dad thing bugs me I get why Spike is like that but still.... (love this story so much)
Love the picture. Keep it up, cause I would like to know more visual representation.
Cotton is really pretty 🙂
Great date with amusing "stalkers"!
I could have done with less overprotective father, but Spike'll be Spike.
SO MUCH CUTE