A New Friend, a New Way

by LovelyMuse

Chapter 3: Stories Told and Autumn Gale's Visit

"It's bigger than Lumiouse!" Eva exclaimed, her emerald-green eyes growing wide in wonder.

Lovely Muse turned to the former human with a curious expression. "Lumiouse? Is that the city you grew up in?"

Eva nodded. "I was born there, but my parents and I moved to another region when I was still pretty young. It was there where I went to school to become a Pokémon Ranger." The Absol looked off into the distance, remembering fond memories. "After I graduated, I was assigned to a base up north, where I eventually met Zero. He saved my life that day." She nuzzled said Dark-type sweetly, enjoying the feel of his soft fur.

Lovely Muse smiled warmly. She had always been a sucker for romantic stories, especially the ones Princess Cadence shared. Back before her mother retired when she and her parents lived together in Canterlot, The Princess of Love would foalsit young Lovely Muse while her parents were on duty. The alicorn was certainly wonderful to be around, Muse only hoped that Eva and Zero might have a chance to meet Cadence; she was certain they would get along wonderfully.

"Well, if this Lumiouse City of yours is anything like our Manehatten, it must be amazing," the pegasus stated.

Zero nodded. "It is." He looked to Eva before solemnly adding "I just wished we had gotten a chance to better see your birthhome."

This seemed to cause a shift in Eva's demeanor as her smile faded and her shoulders slumped. She sighed and nodded slowly, seeming to hold back tears as she placed a paw on her chest.

"I'm sorry," Muse apologized, quickly noticing Eva's change in behavior. "Did I prod into something I shouldn't have?"

Eva shook her head and looked back up at the mare, a sad smile on her face. "There's no need to apologize. It's just that the last time Zero and I were in Lumiouse…"

The newly transformed Absol told Lovely Muse the events of that fateful night, of the sacrifice she made to protect her love, and the permanent damage to her heart that forced her to retire the job that she loved so much. The entire time she was telling her story, Eva slowly began to let her emotions flow freely and by the time she was finished, she was trembling, tears streaking down her cheeks. Zero reached a paw out and pulled his mate close.

Lovely Muse was having a hard time herself, Eva's story truly heartbreaking. However, she managed to keep her composure as she took a deep breath and slowly released it. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Thank you for sharing it with me; I can only imagine how hard it must have been to do so."

Eva used the back of her paws to dry her tears before looking back at the mare and shaking her head. "There's no need to apologize. I feel that telling my story helps me come to terms with it. Besides; even if Zero and I weren't a couple at the time, I probably wouldn't have done anything different. He's my partner for life."

"And I would have done the same for you," Zero added, kissing his mate's cheek once more.

"Miss Muse!"

The pegasus turned around at the sound of her name, her eyes going beyond the cliff side to the open space. She found herself smiling when she saw a familiar red-brown pegasus mare come gliding towards her. She stepped back slightly to allow the pony to land in front of her, albeit clumsily. The new arrival didn't seem to be the slightest bit embarrassed though, and casually straightened herself as if she had landed perfectly.

"Hi, Miss Muse," the newcomer greeted with a giant grin, appearing to be completely oblivious to the two Absols standing at Muse's side.

The older mare chuckled as she shook her head. "I thought I told you that it's okay to just call me Muse, Autumn Gale? I'm only two years older."

"But you're still my senior," the red-roan pony insisted. "It's only polite for me to address you so, Miss Muse!"

The bright yellow pegasus sighed, knowing that it would be impossible to convince the younger mare otherwise. "Well then, what brings you way out here?"

Autumn Gale's smile grew even larger. "Check it out!" She turned her body slightly to reveal a gray messenger bag with a logo in the shape of an envelope with wings on it. "My cousin in Ponyville managed to pull a few strings and got me an internship with the postal service."

"That's great, Autumn," Muse congratulated. "How are you enjoying it so far?"

"It's super awesome! I get to meet all different kinds of ponies and-" The mare stopped when all of a sudden, her bag began to move, followed by what sounded like a child's crying. "Oops, I almost forgot the real reason I came up here." She opened her bag and pulled out, to everyone's surprise, a duck-like creature of two different shades of blue.

"It's a Ducklett," Eva stated, surprised.

"And a young one at that," Zero added.

Autumn Gale finally took notice of the additional bodies, but instead of freaking out, she seemed to get really excited. "Cool! There's strange creatures even here! And they can talk, too!"

"Wait; you mean there's more Pokémon in Manehatten?" Muse inquired.

"So that's what they're called; neat." The younger pegasus looked down at the Water Bird Pokémon. "But yeah; I was doing my rounds when I found this little guy in a bush, seeming real upset. I figured since he looks so young he may have gotten separated from his parents, but I wanted to get you and your mom's opinion on what I should do."

Eva smiled sympathetically and stepped forward, trying her best not to frighten the little bird any more than he already was. "You're safe here, little one," she said in a soft, soothing tone.

The Water-type stopped trembling and looked up at Eva, tears in his eyes. "I-I miss my Mommy and Daddy," he whimpered, though the ponies only heard "D-Duck, Ducklett, Duck."

"I know, sweetie. I promise that we'll help you find them," Eva said, lifting her paw.

The Ducklett flapped his wings and jumped onto the former human's paw before wiping the tears from his eyes. "T-Thank you."

Eva nodded.

Zero stepped forward and looked down at the little bird, seeming surprised by something. "Eva, look at his wingtips."

She did so, her emerald-green eyes growing wide as well. "No way." Her mind began to race when she saw that the Ducklett's wingtips were a darker shade of blue. They're just like my mom's Swanna's, she thought to herself.

Zero chuckled. "I was wondering when Braviary was gonna make a move."

Eva shook her head to clear it and looked to her partner, shocked. "Wait; you don't mean my dad's Braviary, do you? Then that would mean that he and my mom's Swanna…" Her eyes fell back down to the Water/Flying type, everything suddenly clicking into place.

The young Pokémon seemed to realize what the two Absols were talking about and smiled, his eyes gleaming. "Do you know my mommy and daddy!?"

Before either of them could respond, Muse stepped into the conversation. "Sorry to interrupt like this, but is everything alright? Autumn Gale and I can't understand him."

Zero turned his eyes to the two pegasi and nodded. "It's fine. We just figured out that this Ducklett's parents are Eva's parents' Pokémon." To Autumn Gale he added "It's a strong possibility that they aren't far from where you found him."

The red-roan pegasus nodded eagerly. "Now that you mention it, the bush I found Ducklett in wasn't too far from a large pond in Central Park. I remember seeing a lot of bird-like creatures hanging around there as well." Looking up and putting a hoof to her chin she added "I also remember seeing a couple of ponies screaming and running away from that area and what looked like a bipedal black and red fox thing snickering before disappearing into the shadows."

Muse looked at her companion in confusion, but shook her head and decided to delve further into that at a later time. "Then let's start looking there. Let me just tell my mom; she'll probably want to come as well and assess the situation."

Author's Note:

I'm soooooooooo sorry. I know I haven't done an update in almost a year, but writer's block, work, school, and almost losing the will to continue this really got me in a rut. Anyway, yeah, a new chapter, hopefully the next one by the end of the week, plus I did a cover art, which I think came out beautifully, considering I'd never drawn an Absol before (I did a mega-form but that was a lot easier, go figure )

I used generalzoi's pony creator on deviantART to make a reference of what Autumn Gale looks like which can be found here as well as a pegasus version of Lovely Feathers here

If you read the earlier chapter The Story Before the Story, you know what I'm talking about with the different colored feathers Ducklett and Swanna have, which I will soon have references of as well. More madness to come. Also, if there's anyone who would be willing to proofread my chapters before I post them, I'd greatly appreciate it.