A Foal in Sane

by Adorned ungulate

Chapter Seven: Suntwin

Pound slides down on his elbow and knees, stopping when he gets to the lowest point on the half pipe, and stomps with frustration.

“Nice job, kid.”

“You don’t have to tease me about it!” He frowns almost comically.

“I’m not teasing, you did good.”

“But I fell.”

“Yeah, but we all fall. I still fall. Everypony falls now and then. Tartarus, Rainbow Dash still flies headlong into trees and she’s a Wonderbolt. But you landed right on your pads. You kept your joints loose, and didn’t get hurt. Good job, honestly.”

The kid tests his limbs for soreness. “I still don’t see what’s good about it.”

I go over and sit next to him. “Listen, Pound. The first step to being really good at something is to get really truly expert at sucking hard at it. If you’re putting all your energy into not falling you won’t be able to concentrate on doing awesome moves. If you fall over and over again you learn that it’s no big deal and won’t hurt too bad if you do it right. You lose all your fear of falling. Then you won’t be as worried about it. You won’t be so self-conscious and stiff and you’ll probably won’t fall as often. You understand?”

“I guess so. But I don’t understand how I can ever be happy about it.”

“Make it fun and okay to fall for a day. Nopony can make you feel bad if you laugh at yourself first. In fact I think I’ll make it your first lesson. Today we’re doing nothing but learning how to fall over and over again until you do it right every time.”

“You’re silly.” But he’s laughing and smiling at the idea. I think I’ve gotten through to him.

“Orders are orders, Squirt. You want me to teach you or not? Let’s get to it! Bet I can bite it better than you.”

I’m sure many ponies were confused at the sight of us the rest of that afternoon, a grown filly and little blank flank colt repeatedly sliding, rolling, and skidding down the side of the half pipe in every conceivable way possible, laughing, joking, and trash talking to each other the whole time.

Even with Miss Rarity’s professional demeanor and light touch it’s hard not to feel a tad uncomfortable at the intimate light touch of her measuring tape and tickle of her telekinesis around my barrel. Finally she writes down in the last set of numbers and takes off her spectacles. “Thank you, dear. I’m thinking tangerine and magenta with some kind of contrasting accent color would look good. I hope all those bruises fade before the big day. Now either I can make some mockup sketches or we can look over some designs if you’d like.”

I’m tired. Giving lessons to an eager little colt like Pound took more out of me that I thought. That plus landing the Quills & Sofas contract finally has really takes taken the fight out of me. I just want to go home and lay down on my bed. I’m trying to think of an answer but Helvetica beats me to it.

“Scottaloo, I’ve been looking through these idea books and think I’ve found some designs you may like.”

I can only shrug and mutter thanks. Miss Rarity and I sit down with her and whadda ya know, she found some dress designs that don’t suck. They aren’t too girly but not too butch for a wedding neither. I guess that’s part of her special talent or maybe a skill she picked up as a reporter, reading pony’s personalities and tastes. It’s really easy for her to get along with all sorts of people, which is kind of annoying sometimes when you look at it from the outside. Like if you’re a pony like me who had some trouble fitting in sometimes. But I guess she’s pretty cool. I never really thought much about her and it’s weird that she’s going to be a permanent part of my life. This is the first outing we’ve had as like almost stepmother and daughter without my dad present. I’m mulling this over on our walk home.

“That went pretty well, I think.” She interjects.

“Yeah. Thanks for helping out.”

“You looked like you’d rather be anywhere else so I thought it right to speed things along.”

“Eh. It’s your day. I don’t really care if you pick my dress out.”

“It is partially your day too, Scootaloo. I wouldn’t want you to be stuck wearing something you found unbearable. It was kind of fun doing something together. I don’t expect you to think of my as your mother at your age, especially when you have a perfectly good mom in your life. But I want you to feel like I can help you out every now and then, or if you just want some company.”

“Thanks, Helvetica.” I chew on my lip, no better time to bring this up than now. “You and dad going to move to Canterlot or what?”

“No! We have no plans to. You’re a business woman, Scootaloo. If we were going to move out of town land leave you homeless it wouldn’t be without months of notice.”

“How you gonna keep working for the Daily here in Ponyville?”

“I tell you what; I’ve been a reporter for a long time now. I’ve been all over Equestria. I’d really like to settle down for a while, maybe write a book or editorials form the comfort and safety of my armchair. I’m halfway hoping a senior position opens up at the Ponyville newspaper. I could whip up circulation in no time.” She gives me a wink.

“Okay, thanks. That’s kinda been on my mind lately.”

“Dear, we wouldn’t move away without including you in the conversation. I know how close you and your father were growing up and I’m not here to drive a wedge between the two of you. To be honest, you’ve been really important to your father and I don’t think he’s ready to have you move off either. You’re not just his daughter you’re likely his closest friend.”

“Heh, dad’s probably sick of me and my angst by now.”

“He’s an introvert and likes to keep to himself but I think he’d be at wits end if he didn’t have you to fret over.”

“I’ll try to be more of a problem, maybe.” We chuckled over that a bit.

Uuggh! What time is it? 3:47 AM! That’s what I get for going to sleep so early. My brain’s little timer goes off (ding!) and conspires with my bladder to wake me up. What to do with myself now? I could lie here and stew. I could bum around the apartment but I’d risk waking dad and Helvetica up, they don’t get much snuggle time together as it is.

Heh, my room still looks like a little filly’s room. I should take down a few of these pictures of Dash, maybe. Bet I’ve got the only surviving Mare-Do-Well poster in town. Getting a little more adult up in here wouldn’t hurt. Ahhh, what to do; what to do? I really want to go down to the old clubhouse, get behind my drum set, work on a nice driving rhythm. That would work off a little frustration. Play and play until my mane is all pasted down and sweat stings my eyes. But then I’d have a workday of deliveries ahead of me and I’d be so beat by the end of the day that I’d go to sleep early and repeat this all over again. Might as well go pee, get breakfast, and work this out as a go.

Not too long before my apartment spits me out and I’m taking walk through town under the stars. I like the coolness of the air and the quiet. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are likely both fast asleep still. Who’s going to be awake at this hour? Bonbon and the Cakes are probably getting stuff ready. Such is the burden of ponies whose special talents lie in preparing perishable goods. Dunno if they would appreciate me getting in their way. Wait a second. I think I know somepony who is probably an insomniac.

Ha! Right on. There’s a light on at Amethyst Star’s place. A few thrown pebbles should do the trick. It isn’t too long before a translucent head appears in the windowframe.

“Scootaloo?” Jacinth seems genuinely surprised. “What are you doing? It’s like Five in the morning!”

“Couldn’t sleep either, eh? Isn’t it a bummer?” He gives me the deadpan treatment so I come out with it. “You wanna take a walk in the park? Watch the sun rise with me?”

“I don’t know…”

“If you’ve got better company in there already I understand. But you’ve got a friend out here alone in the street, in the dark, wanting to spend time with you.” I flash him a smile.

He sighs. “Okay, just be quiet and don’t wake my boss up.” Yes!

He takes a pretty damn long time to get ready for a stallion but soon enough we’re taking an early morning stroll through empty cobblestone streets. The moonlight shines in his mane just like I was hoping. After we get to the park he decides to show a little initiative for once and cuts through the small talk. “Alright let’s have it out. Why did you really want to get me out here?”

Precipice time again. Geronimo! “My dad’s getting married in a few weeks, small but fancy affair up in Canterlot. I’d like you to go with me, as another date.”

“Scootaloo, I-“

“We aren’t going to work out as a couple, I know. I’d like you to be my date anyway.”

He looks taken aback but not stung. “Okay I know what I was going to say but why did you say that?”

“I’m not enough of a romantic to believe in that opposites attract stuff. I imagine if we both wrote down our ideas of what an ideal weekend spent together they would be very, very different experiences.”

“Good point. But then why ask me?”

I grimace in a way that I hope is charming. “You’re really cute. And I like to look at you. If I have to go to one of these things and see all my relatives and family friends I’d rather be hanging off the arm of a cute colt than go stag.”

He laughs and looks down at the dew damp grass. “Okay, I’ll go; just because I admire your honesty. I’ve been meaning to get up to see the capitol anyway.”

I give him a hug. “Thanks Jace! Just because I don’t think we should date doesn’t mean I don’t think we should be friends. I think we can be good for each other.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Want to swing by the Corner after sunrise and grab some coffee?”

“I think I’d like that, Scootaloo.”

In the East the sky slowly brightened full of orange and fuchsia tones, shots of magenta and eventually brilliant yellows. The cool, pressing, intimate night air felt Celestia’s Suns’ heat ever so gradually. Stars got shy. The birds have been busy talking to each other for a while but now they start going about their day. Behind us ponies are probably waking up or at least stirring around in their warm comfortable beds emerging from dreams and rest and getting ready to contribute to whatever business or pleasures they put off yesterday. It’s not quiet anymore like the nighttime was but sunrise has its own special charm I guess.

“Um, Scootaloo?”

“Yeah?”

“I thought you didn’t want to date.”

“Yeah. I don’t.”

“Then why do you have your head on my shoulder?”

“Fillies are contradictory and fickle. If you haven’t learned that by now I’ve got a lot to teach you.”

“Oh-kay.”

But after a while he leaned back.

Author's Note:

Let me know what you think of Jacinth, I'm curious.

This track off the A Foal in Sane Mix tape (tape 1, side B, track 1) "Suntwin" is available as always on the Blacksquares Bandcamp page and is probably
my favorite.

Comments

[wolfstorm56]

He seems pretty interesting! It's cool that they're mutually not really into really dating each other.