Moonlight Promenade

by Valorousspectre

Chapter 1

The world was always beautiful at this time. As the sun set over the Canterlot Horizon, the colours of the light as it reflected off the ozone always made him feel a little warmer in his chest. And that didn’t happen even nearly often enough. He sighed and kicked his feet, dangling off the fifth floor of the building top he sat upon. His brand new shoes, Converse in design, stared back at him as he looked at them. He’d been wearing them in all day, and now it was time to take them off.
With another sigh, Septimus stood up, stretching his back, grimacing as it popped a time or two and he bent down, unlacing them carefully. He loved Converse, and he’d splurged to buy those. He let his plain black backpack hit the floor, dropping from his shoulder. He unzipped it, leaving his socks on, and put the shoes in his pack, retrieving a beat up pair of sneakers from the same bag. He put those on instead. Then he took off his shirt. Nobody ever frequented the darkened streets of Canterlot, so he always took his shirt off. Less drag. He left the bag hidden between a vent and the small retaining wall at the edge of the ceiling and sighed, looking over the roof again.

Septimus was not an impressive looking stallion. Although tall, at six foot three, He was quite thin. As a musician, his life was stressful and full of bullshit, and he was not about to deny it. Earth Ponies are generally already at a disadvantage in the musical world, given the unicorn’s magical advantage, but he was even more so. Being manic depressive, Sep didn’t have the best motivation. In fact… the only thing that got his spirits back up…

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, then sprinted towards the edge of the roof, jumped to the retaining wall, then launched himself off the edge, arms out, wind blowing through his shortish off-white hair, blowing it out of his face. For a moment, he felt weightless, suspended in the air, then he was catching himself on the fire escape two floors down with his hands and feet, dipping for a moment before launching himself backwards, spinning in mid air to catch onto a window a floor down, his feet catching the wall, dropping down to the next window, then backflipped off the wall, falling through the air till, when his feet hit the opposite wall, the pushed forward, rolling to his feet and starting to run.

The sun fell as he ran, the wind whipping his face. He reached a set of handrails and leaped, landing on his feet, arms outstretched, then leaped again, landing on the arch of his foot, sliding down the railing to land on the cement, rolling again to his feet, running again. Spur of the moment, split second decisions such as that made his heart beat fast, and he liked that. He jumped again, flipping in the air, holding his knees to his chest before shooting his legs out to catch himself again.

He kept running, even once coming to a dead end and running up and flipping off the wall to run the other way in a spinning flip, but he stopped himself, leaning his weight back and taking a few extra short, swift steps to slow himself enough, once he hit the clearest view of the moon he’d seen in days. Breathing heavily, he walked slowly over to the railing, made of stone or marble or some such expensive material, and jumped up onto it, standing to face the moon. Wind hit his face as he sighed, closing his eyes gently.

The pale moonlight that now lit up the promenade always made him feel safe. For some reason, the gentle glow of the cooler celestial body always had a more warming effect on him than the sun. He liked it. Suddenly aware of his heart beating in his chest like a drum, he sat down atop the clean marble of the handrail and watched the moon, letting himself calm down.

"She’s beautiful, isn’t she?"

Septimus didn’t bother to turn around and face the sudden voice, he just grunted and nodded. The voice, distinctly feminine, giggled and he heard footsteps approaching him.

"I always have thought she was better than the burning sun. Not that I’d say it out loud of course."

Again, Septimus said nothing, but the pony now almost beside him, he could see her hands on the rail from the corner of his eyes, didn’t seem to mind at all.

"The sun is so hot all the time," she said sadly, "He always seems so angry, even if he’s not… But not like the moon. She’s cool, she’s calming, and she gives us her light in full. She’s beautiful."

Septimus was silent still, thinking on his visitor’s words. After a while, however, he sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, she’s beautiful alright," He said quietly. He heard his visitor shift to look at him, "She lets us hide things in her night. Things nobody else wants to see. She reminds us gently that not everything is going to be painful, and she cools our tempers when we’re angry. She’s… much better than the sun."

Another giggle, and this time he felt a hand on his leg. it was a gentle movement, but not alarming.

"I’m glad we agree," She said happily, "Pray tell, what is your name?"

"Septimus," He answered softly, "Don’t bother remembering it. Nobody else does."

There was silence for a moment, the only sound the gentle rasp of nails on Sep’s pants as his visitor gently scratched his leg. Then, the hand left and he heard her walking again. But this time, he felt arms around his midsection, the feeling of a face upon the middle of his back, and smallish breasts pressed against the small of his back and he started.

"H-hey! What are you doing?" He asked, slightly alarmed. The girl let out a rich laugh and only hugged him tighter.

"Oh Septimus," She said through her good humored laughter, "The night won’t let you go forgotten, so why should I?"

"I…" He began before falling silent. She giggled softly again, like what he said, or didn’t say, was funny.

"You’ve got a beautiful coat," She said gently, stroking one of her hands against his back. He gulped, remembering only now he had taken his shirt off and stashed it in his bag. In consequence, his peach coloured coat was showing on more than just his face, "Such a pretty colour… and so velvety. Do you wash it often?"

"Well," Septimus, "I have to. It’s a little sweaty right now, so…"

"That’s alright~" She replied, "It’s nice, to have somepony to talk to more like you."

"More… like me?" He asked, confused. His visitor nodded against his back and let him go, but didn’t come into sight range.

"Yeah. See, where I live, everything’s all stuffy and eugh. I mean, I love my sister and everything, but sometimes you’ve got to get out and enjoy the outside world and all the delightful ponies in it."

"That… that’s true for some ponies I guess," He answered carefully. Septimus wasn’t very social. In fact, he liked to think of himself as anti social, just so other ponies would leave him alone mostly, "A lot of ponies like crowds but… I’m not good in them. I’m not good with other ponies full stop."

The mare behind him giggled and he felt a hand on his leg again as she moved beside him. He didn’t bother to look at her. He’d expected such a move anyhow.

"You’re doing okay with me~" She teased and he smiled ruefully.

"Yeah, well, you’re one mare," He said with a negligent wave of his hand to the moon, "Any more than one though and I’m liable to fall apart."

"You don’t like crowds?"

"No. I hate crowds. Crowds make me nervous. Then they make my heart beat erratically and I hyperventilate. I have to find a space away from them."

There was a silence for a long time. Finally, his visitor made the first move. Her hand snaked over his leg to around his waist and he felt her snuggle her head under his arm. He didn’t complain, but he still didn’t look at her. He was starting to feel something familiar. A dull weight in his heart. Manic Depression coming back, telling him he wasn’t good enough and that she shouldn’t be wasting her time with him. But he managed to hold it at bay.

"I know what you mean," She said quietly, the hand at his waist just brushing the faint trace of his abdominal muscles, "Sister always tells me I need to get out of my room more, meet with ponies."

"But you don’t want to," He said, his voice taking on an edge that wasn’t there before, "Because together, in groups, ponies are stupid, foolish creatures, and it makes me wonder how they ever even survived."

His arm around his visitor’s shoulders tensed, and he felt her fingers trace over his hand.

"Racist views, and sexism," He continued, unabated, "Stupidity that precedes even modern day society. The inability to look after themselves, they need somepony else to do it for them, their complete lack of faith in others,"

He ranted on, and his visitor listened, drawing minute circles around his hand, and gently brushing her fingers across his abdomen as he continued to speak, talking about society, the flaws in their race, and eventually slowly turning into self destructive speech. Alarms went off in the mare’s head and she turned to look at him sharply.

"Can’t even keep a decent job for pity’s sake, how the hell am I even still alive?" He finally paused, breathing heavily. He felt his visitor move slightly, but she didn’t remove herself from where she was.

"Chemical imbalances in the brain," He said softly, "Talent that leaves me in a bind because the music industry hates me, and a family that tried to turn me into a zombie with meds… I don’t know why I’m even still here."

He heard the rustle of feathers and a feathery warmth draped over his shoulder. He did look at those. Deep blue, and beautiful.

"You’re here because the universe decided it was so," She said firmly, "You’re here because there are ponies out there that can learn so much from you. You are here," She continued much more gently, taking her hand from his and letting it drift across his chest muscles, making him blush, "Because you are here, and what you decide to make of it is up to you."

The hand around his waist drifted downwards and he shivered as it almost slipped under the threshold of his pants as it was leaving entirely.

"I have to go," She said softly. he felt and saw her wing leave his shoulder, "Meet me here tomorrow night, same time, okay? I want to hear all about your day."

"I don’t even know your name!" He said, alarmed, turning to face his visitor but there was nobody there. Just empty shadows drenched in pale moonlight. He sighed, looking up to the moon once more.

"I don’t even know your name…"

Author's Note:

I don't know exactly where I'm going with this one, but it'll be updated as I finish piece by piece.

Comments

[BloodyDitzy]

Dayum dis is real good!
Check out my story: Revenge (Kind of need ideas and what better than viewers)
Once again Dayum!
keep up the good work

[Ponynator]

Who made that picture?

[Valorousspectre]

3775939 Source is linked in teh image