Where the Sunflowers Grow

by Bluespectre

Chapter Five - Ad Astra

CHAPTER FIVE

AD ASTRA

Rush sat reading the newspaper and chewed his sandwich thoughtfully. There was nothing quite like it: a cup of hot steaming tea in a warm room with something interesting to read - it was heavenly. Sitting at the breakfast table with her own breakfast, Celestia held a small hardback book in her hooves, occasionally turning a page in the glow from her magic while Rush rubbed his head and yawned; he still ached, but at least he was still in one piece. The Princess had left him in the infirmary for days after she’d visited him to allow him to recover fully before he moved back to the palace. Personally he believed it was more a case of ‘teaching him a lesson’, but he didn’t mind particularly. Celestia hadn’t said anything, but he knew she’d used her alicorn magic to heal him – that warmth and tingling sensation was something he’d never forget. He smiled; when he’d finally been discharged from the infirmary she’d sent Grove to collect him rather than come herself. He knew why: she didn’t want it to look as though he was being punished, but he wasn’t that naive. As for Grove, he’d been treated for his own bumps and bruises, but other than receiving a stern lecture from Mind, not another word had been said. Poor bugger, he’d privately confessed to Rush he’d been up all night half expecting a knock on the door from the royal police.

“Good book?” Rush asked, sipping his tea.

“Mmhmm” the Princess mumbled. Stretching her neck and shoulders, she peered up at Rush over her reading spectacles, “Anything interesting in the paper?”

“Um…” Rush raised an eyebrow, “Not really.” He stared at the picture; they were woodcut prints of events and ponies that held a surprising amount of detail. He’d never seen anything like them before, and to think that these were for sale in the market place for only a few bits was unbelievable! In his old village, only the wealthy could afford anything like this, albeit, he had to admit, the paper used was a lot thicker too and-

“Have you read this one yet?” Celestia asked, interrupting Rush’s train of thought.

“Huh?” He stared at the book, “No, not yet.” It was one of the ones from the library.

Celestia got up and walked over to the bed, effortlessly floating the book before her. Rush still had trouble understanding magic, but he’d developed the opinion that it ‘just was’, rather like birds could fly, like pegasi could fly, like fish could swim – in fact it was surprising what you could simply accept as the norm when you kept an open mind.

“What do think of this one?” Tia asked.

“I…er…” Rush stared at the open page. It was a picture of a pony, a colt he supposed, standing on his hind legs holding a large ball in his forehooves. “It’s a good picture” he said with a smile.

“Mmm.” Celestia raised an eyebrow, “It is, isn’t it.” She turned the page, “What about this one.”

The colt was kicking the ball.

“He’s kicking it.” Rush said.

Tia nodded, “And this one?”

“He’s running.”

Celestia sighed, “Rush…” she reached round and tapped the peculiar words at the bottom of the page, “I mean, can you tell me what it says?”

Rush blanched. The game was up, “No.”

“You can’t read, can you?” By the look on the Princess’s face, she knew the answer already.

Rush shook his head resignedly, “Not Equestrian, no.”

“When I saw you reading the newspaper…” Tia said, tailing off.

The brown stallion took his cup of tea and finished it off before putting it back on the night stand,

“I just look at the pictures.”

“I’d hoped” Celestia began, “the same way you can speak Equestrian, that somehow you could…” She looked away thoughtfully for a moment, and then turned back to him with a rather disturbing smile on her face. He didn’t like the look of this! “It can’t be helped I suppose” Tia said. Rush swallowed, suddenly feeling like he wanted to bolt from the room. Casually, Celestia trotted around to the other side of the bed, climbing up next to him. In a flurry of magic, his newspaper was whisked away, almost instantly replaced with the book. “No time like the present.” Tia smiled, tapping the first page, “Let’s begin.”

“Wait!” Rush raised a hoof in alarm, “Can’t you use magic? I mean, I can speak Equestrian can’t I? Why can’t…” A hoof on his muzzle stopped him mid sentence,

“Starswirl said it was an effect of portal magic. It can’t teach you how to read, Rush.”

Rush groaned. He knew something like this was coming, and despite his attempts to avoid it, it was probably going to be best just to play along. Sooner or later he would have had to have learned to read of course, especially after noticing how literate everypony else was around here. Ironically, on his old world he was quite a novelty – being able to read was something that had made him stand out from the rest of the villagers like a sore thumb. Here though… He looked up into the large purple eyes of the alabaster white alicorn. Despite his embarrassment, he couldn’t help but smile at the enthusiasm and joy in those deep magical orbs. She raised an eyebrow,

“Ready?”

Rush nodded.

***************************

“If you say a word, just one bloody word, I’ll nock that stupid looking smirk right off your face, smartarse.”

Grove’s grin looked like it would split his face in half, “I never said a word!”

“You didn’t have to!” Rush said with a groan, “Oh Gods! Why did I say anything?!” This was precisely why he didn’t say much to anyone back…’there’. The way he looked at it, the less people knew about you, the better. It was the intrusive nosiness, that incessant tittle-tattling that he hated so much about village life, and to his dismay, it looked as though Equestria was no different in that respect: everypony just loved to gossip here! He let out a sigh and tossed his mane, “Just…don’t tell anypony, alright?”

“Mum’s the word.” the orange stallion replied, closing his eyes and nodding emphatically.”

Rush nodded in reply.

Grove grinned, “That’s M…U…M…Mum.”

“You bloody…!”

“It’s just a joke! A joke!” Grove turned to give Rush an apologetic smile, “I’m sorry, mate,” he shrugged, “but you know you can’t just wave a hoof and know everything there is to know about the world, right?”

Rush rolled his eyes, “Changing the subject: what’s the plan for today?”

“I don’t have one.” Grove said with a shrug, “Let’s just see what the day holds for us, eh?”

The brown stallion frowned, “So long as it doesn’t involve alcohol or having the crap beaten out of me, I’m all for it.”

“Look,” Grove replied in exasperation, “I’ve already said sorry haven’t I? Are you going to hold that against me forever?”

Rush gave him a sly smile, “Until we have a rematch; perhaps.”

Grove snorted, “You’re on.” He paused, “Just… Don’t let ‘her’ know about it, okay? I don’t think being turned into ash would agree with me. Mind would kill me. Again.”

The two ponies trotted along the cobbled street towards the marketplace. There were quite a few people out today, mostly mares as usual, but then where he was from it was the females that looked after the home finances, so it didn’t seem that surprising. He knew very little about Equestrian customs, and this was yet another one that would require further investigation. Still, something was niggling at him though and he couldn’t quite put his hoof on it…

“…and swept down, like death on white wings, blasting the Legion into ash like it was…”

Grove was still going on about the war, and about Celestia. Good Gods, one minute the orange coated stallion didn’t want to talk about it and the next you couldn’t shut him up! One thing he’d discovered however, was that he was becoming heartily sick of hearing about his marefriend referred to as ‘her nibs’ or ‘sun butt’ as he’d heard the guards call her. He’d taken quite a shine to young Grove, but sometimes the furry chatterbox would just go on and on to the point where he felt he could quite happily throttle the bloody life out of him.

“…until Mind came in and…” The orange pony froze, “Damn it, get behind me.”

“Eh?” Rush stumbled on the cobbles, pulling up next to the guardspony, “What’s going on?”

“Shut up!” Grove pushed Rush into a side street and stealthily peeked round the corner, “Look!”

“At what?”

“Her!” Grove hissed, motioning with his hoof.

Rush followed the direction his friend was pointing in. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary particularly, in fact, it looked like any other sort of market day he could remember: stalls had been set up selling food, clothing and the usual knickknacks, while vendors and customers haggled over prices – in fact the only difference was the substitution of humans with colourful equines. Now that he thought about it, everything here felt so ‘normal’ to him now that he found himself wondering if he would someday forget the ‘other life’ he’d left behind completely. Grove was nudging him urgently now, and clearly trying to make him pay attention to…

“Oh!” So that was what he was looking at! Rush watched the pale lemon coated unicorn mare with the green and white striped mane and tail as she walked into the centre of the market. Not many of the ponies were paying her any attention, at least outwardly, but the closer he looked the more he began to pick up on the furtive glances, the jealous glowers, and…panting stallions…

Grove looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head.

“Who is that?” Rush asked quietly.

“A Goddess…” Grove burbled.

“She is?” Rush stared intently, hoping that the divine creature wouldn’t detect his inquisitive, and his friends more salacious, stares. She was certainly tall, quite slim, and had what he would consider to be perfect form. If she had been in the human world, she would have been a prize for any Lord. Interestingly, he couldn’t see any wings, so perhaps she wasn’t an alicorn? Tia was, but that didn’t mean there weren’t others, and some of the ponies quite literally worshipped her as a deity. Maybe this was another one? The drooling orange stallion obviously thought so, but maybe for reasons other that her divine properties. Rush bopped him on the side of the head.

“Ow! Hey, what was that for?” Grove squeaked, shooting Rush a hurt expression.

Rush shook his head, “Your tongue was dragging on the ground.”

“My what?!” Grove stuck his tongue out and rubbed it with a foreleg, “No it wasn’t…Hey!” He suddenly noticed Rush was walking out into the market place. “What the hell are you doing?!”

“Shopping, remember?”

Grove held up a hoof to forestall his friend, but it was too late, the brown stallion was already walking towards the apple stand, right…where…she…was…

“Oh…Oh Goddesses!” Grove hurried up to Rush and began tapping him furiously, all the while trying to duck behind him to hide himself from view of the lemon coated mare. The apple vendor watched the two stallions approach with an expression of mixed exasperation and dismay. Rush couldn’t blame her; he pointed towards the red apples nestling in a straw lined box,

“A dozen please.”

The mare expertly lifted them out into a paper bag, “Can I get you anything else today?” she asked politely.

“Erm…Yes, can I have a punnet of strawberries?” Rush produced the list Tia had given him. He recognised some of the words from the book, strongly suspecting it was no coincidence he’d been asked to buy these, but he had to admit it was good practice for him and-

“For the Goddesses sake Rush, hurry up!” Grove looked like he was going to pass out at any moment, “Oh, Shi-”

“Good Morning, Truckle, how are you today?” The elegantly feminine voice carried a level of grace and bearing that complemented her appearance perfectly.

“Very well, milady, thank you for asking.” The apple vendor bobbed her head politely.

“Ack!”

“Grove?” Rush placed the last of his purchases into his panniers and turned to find his friend looking wide eyed and distinctly pale, “Are you alright?”

The orange stallion continued to stare off into space, emanating nervousness like a signal fire. He opened his mouth to speak,

“Fff...”

Rush rolled his eyes and let out a sigh, “Come on, let’s go.” He turned to leave, eventually managing to nudge his friend into motion just as a pale lemon muzzle and a pair of honey coloured eyes appeared beside him,

“Hello, Grove. I didn’t expect to see you here today. Is this a friend of yours?”

Grove looked as if he was going to be sick, however, to his credit still managed to pull enough dignity and self control together to make a relatively coherent sentence:

“Ast…Astra! Um…Hi! Er…nice to see you!” He stared wildly up at Rush, “Yes! This erm, this is um…”

“Rush.” His friend offered.

“Its…eh? Oh! Yes, it’s Rush. He’s Rush I mean, yes, this…” Grove waved a hoof at the brown coated stallion, nodding furiously, “This is most definitely, Rush.” He took a breath and visibly tried to calm down.

The mare extended a hoof to the nervous stallion’s friend, “Hello, Rush, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” she said pleasantly, “My name is Astra.”

Rush returned the greeting, “Sorry about this.” he said apologetically, “Grove seems a little ‘out of sorts’ today.”

Astra lifted her hoof and tittered demurely, “Oh you are sweet!” her eyes flashed in the sunlight beneath long lashes that were obviously having a profound effect upon a certain orange stallion, “Grovey has been like this ever since we went to school together. Honestly, I always thought he would become an accountant rather than a royal guard stallion, but I suppose that’s boys for you.” She looked Rush up and down curiously, “…’Rush’…I’ve heard your name somewhere recently, I’m sure.” She cocked her head on one side, fixing him with her deep alluring eyes, “Forgive me, but are you the one everypony is talking about? The Royal Consort?”

Rush felt his cheeks warming. To make matters worse, not only was the vendor staring at him, but now others were stopping to stare and move closer too. He closed his eyes and took a breath: there had to be a way out of this! If he made his excuses politely, he could extract them from this situation and get himself and the love struck orange idiot back to the palace and-

The mare suddenly looked up, announcing “Oh! Here comes my husband!”

Grove’s dreamy expression changed in an instant, “Rush, come on!” he hissed, “Let’s go!” He bobbed his head to the mare, “Astra, we have to…”

“YOU!”

The voice roared across the market place, drawing everyponies attention and making Rush’s blood go cold. Gritting his teeth, he turned to look across at the advancing form of the purple pegasus stallion with the long flowing snow white mane and scarlet eyes. The last time he’d seen him it had been just before the rat’s hooves had nearly broken his jaw. Seconds later the pegasus was standing tall before him, his eyes full of anger and indignation,

“Keep your filthy hooves away from my wife.”

Rush closed his eyes, allowing himself to feel a flood of calm flow through him. Part of him would have liked nothing better than to fight this stallion, but not here, and especially not when he knew how much it had upset Tia the last time. Still, a trip to the infirmary could have its advantages…

“And wipe that stupid smirk from your face!” Yule demanded imperiously, “I don’t know who you think you are, and I don’t care who you’re bedding either, but you keep away from my family or I’ll end you myself!”

Rush’s hooves twitched, his memory of the humiliating fight with this creature was still all too fresh in his mind. And then, he caught a glimpse of the look in Astra’s face: it was fear, and the way she was standing too, as though trying to protect herself. His eyes fell to her slightly swollen belly. He took a breath and shook his head sadly,

“Come on, Grove, let’s go.”

“Eh?” Suddenly shaken from his odd behaviour, the orange coated guardspony suddenly regained his composure, “Just a minute.”

“No! For Celestia’s sake, Grove, just bloody well leave it!” Rush shoved his friend aside.

“Didn’t you hear what he said? He…”

“-I heard him!” Rush snapped, “I’ll tell you later, just shut up and let’s go.”

Reluctantly, Grove turned to leave, following his friend. From the corner of his eye, he saw the shadow of regret passing across Astra’s face, and the look of sadness that made him want to run after her, to hold her, to protect her…Goddesses above, why didn’t he have the balls to just tell her? He snorted loudly, shaking his mane and stared angrily at the ground. Behind him he could hear the angry words of the pegasus, but he was no longer listening. He’d lost face back there. He should have bucked that damned feathered arse into next week and to hell with the consequences. It would have been worth it, if it hadn’t been for how much it would have hurt…Astra…

Their hooves clopped along the cobbled street, past the bakers, the flower shop, past the well where several older mares were gathered chatting and casting the two of them sidelong glances. Orange Grove didn’t care, not now, it was too late in any case. The past was the past and maybe it was just as well; you couldn’t change what had been, no matter how much you may wish for it. He shook his head; all those lost opportunities, the potential future that was imply never to be. He closed his eyes and felt the stinging sensation of tears welling up. Damn that blasted feathered freak! He…he stole her! He damned well stole the mare he…that he…

“Rush, head back on your own. I’m going for a walk.”

“What?” Rush stopped in his tracks, “What do you mean? Grove, you’re not going back there are you?”

“No.” The orange stallion stared up at the sky, a look of pain flashing across his face, “I…I just want to be alone for a while.”

Grove trotted off, leaving his friend standing in the road leading up to the palace. Rush shrugged; he knew when a person, or pony rather, needed space. The Gods knew he had, which was why he’d built his home where he had. This proximity to other ponies, this apparent ‘need’ for company, as alien as it was to him, was perhaps not quite as all pervasive as he’d originally thought. As his friend disappeared across the field towards the wood, he wondered if there really was that much of a difference between the two species: perhaps this was why he’d fitted into his new life so readily. He shook his head and trotted back up to the main gate, the guards nodding to him in greeting as he passed by. Some he thought he could recognise, but in the magically infused armour it was hard to tell them apart, though he still nodded and smiled in reply. Unicorns and earth ponies alike acknowledged him now, but the pegasi? No, and knew why too.

Inside Celestia’s chambers, Rush took off his panniers and deposited the apples and strawberries in the fruit bowl. Lying next to it, rather thoughtfully, another ‘learning is fun!’ book had been left out for him with a note:

Love, Tia. XXX.

He lifted it up and sniffed it; it smelled of her. Rush felt a sudden surge of emotion burning through him, along with the scent of Tia’s favourite soap: lavender. Carefully, he wiped his mouth, gently lifted the paper and slipped it into his overcoat pocket. He’d keep that safe. Where was she today anyway? Dealing with more of those jackass dignitaries? Rush chuckled at the memory of what he’d overheard the guards say whilst they discussed the Llamalian’s who had arrived earlier. He didn’t know what a Llamalian was, but he knew what a jackass was alright. He picked up a strawberry and popped the ripe fruit into his mouth; he could just picture the Princess talking to a group of braying, long eared creatures with their dopey expressions and sleepy eyes. Rush chuckled to himself and savoured the fresh sweetness of the fruit.

There was a knock at the door. It was Mind,

“Rush? Have you seen Grove?”

The brown stallion wiped the juice away from the corner of his mouth. “Mmm” he nodded, swallowing the last of the strawberry, “He’s gone for a walk to clear his head.”

The pink coated mare narrowed her eyes, “What do you mean?”

Rush stopped what he was doing and focussed on her, “I mean he’s gone for a walk. Is something the matter?”

Mind sat on her haunches and sighed while leaning her forehead on her hoof,

“I heard from one of the girls that you’d bumped into Yule in town and I thought…”

“We’d had another fight?” Rush snorted, “Not likely. Grove’s not that stupid.”

“Oh, Goddesses, Rush, he is that stupid!” Mind shook her head, “You don’t know him the way I do!”

“I understand that.” Rush replied, “But Mind, as the Gods are my witnesses, he just walked off into the woods saying he was going for a walk. Do you think he would have doubled back just to have a fight with that pegasus?” He shook his head, “Yule was out shopping with his wife, and-”

“-His wife?” Mind cut in, “You mean Astra?”

Rush nodded, carrying the apples over to the wash basin to give them a clean. Behind him Mind groaned,

“I can’t believe you left him alone like that.” She shook her head sadly, “But, well, I suppose I can’t blame you really, it’s probably just some stallion thing.”

Putting the apples down, Rush looked back over his shoulder at the pink mare, “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, “Some ‘stallion thing?”

“I mean it’s not good to leave somepony alone when they’re upset like that!” Mind said in exasperation, “Goddesses above, are you all so numb to one another’s feelings?”

“I…” Rush paused. Was he ‘numb’ to the feelings of others? Surely not to Tia, but…he remembered his wife and daughter, and how he’d felt when he’d lost them, how empty he’d felt inside when he’d lost his niece and so many of his friends and family. Had he become so completely desensitised that he was becoming cold towards those who cared for him? He looked down at the apple, sitting there on the cupboard and looked up at his reflection in the mirror. The image stared back at him with those large piercing blue eyes, his brown coat and cream mane looking the same as they had in his dreams from so long ago. He lifted a hoof, staring at his mane…his mother’s mane, his father’s eyes…and there, in the corner of his eyes, a shiny glistening tear. Rush dabbed it away with his hoof and stared at its damp remnants intently – had he become more, or something less than he had been? Had he lost his humanity completely? Or had he gained something more? He closed his eyes, the images of his mother coming back to him and how she’d always been so strangely distant and cold with him, and yet there had been times…times when she had silently held him and just…cried. He’d never understood why, and in his childish mind he’d thought that he were at fault, especially after his human father had died. Looking at himself in the mirror now, it almost like looking at her. Maybe, when she’d looked at him, even as alien as he must have looked to her in that world, maybe she saw the life and love she’d left behind.

“Rush?”

He took a deep breath and rubbed his face with a foreleg, “Come on, Mind, let’s go find him.”

The two ponies trotted out into the fields beyond the palace in silence. What Mind had said had unexpectedly struck a nerve with Rush, and now his mind was subconsciously taking him on a course all of its own; one completely separate to his physical self. Long buried memories of his home in the bamboo forest, of his wife, his daughter and his niece, bubbled to the surface… but why now? Why after all this time were they coming back to haunt him now? He’d grieved for them, he’d even buried them with his own hands, feeling every grain of soil as he covered their last mortal remains from the sun above. And yet in some ways, here in Equestria, Tia was the sun, the light of the world personified. Perhaps in his own personal world, his life, she was the light of hope and warmth that he’d always needed, that he’d secretly longed for all those years. Was he being selfish? Did he deserve to be with her after leaving his world and everything he’d ever known behind? He didn’t know, but whatever the answer there was nothing he could do about it now anyway. Rush sighed; by the Gods he felt old…

Mind’s silence continued as they walked, her short deep blue mane bobbing along while her tail swished side to side to the rhythm of her hooves. Rush had always found the way horses walked fascinating, and strangely therapeutic. There was something mesmerising in the effortless coordination of four legs, the rhythmic clopping of hooves and the pendulum like swinging of the tail. Of course as a human he’d never truly realised just how much effort that really took, but now, here he was just walking along doing exactly the same thing as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Come to think of it, Tia was right – he never used to think about how to walk in the human world, so why wouldn’t that same logic apply here? He sighed; why was he thinking about all this? Rush took a deep breath and shook his mane, scenting the deeper, woody smell of the trees before them.

“Is this where he went?” Mind asked suddenly.

Rush blinked in surprise. His mind had been wandering so much he hadn’t realised his hooves had lead him here almost automatically. What could he tell her? That he hadn’t really been paying attention?

“I’m not sure,” he said honestly, “but Grove was heading this direction when I last saw him.”

The pastel pink mare closed her eyes sadly and then, without another word, headed into the woods followed closely by Rush. Inside, shafts of dappled sunlight filtered through the leaves adding an air of mystery to their lush green surroundings. It was cooler in here, quiet, and gave an almost palpable sense of calm and peace; perhaps this was why Grove had come here. Inwardly, Rush berated himself for letting his friend walk off on his own, and began to wonder how he would have felt himself in his position. As much as his ‘pony self’ hated to admit it, he probably would have preferred to have been left to deal with his problems by himself. Was that still the ‘real’ Rush thinking like that? He wasn’t sure any more.

They found Grove lying in a small clearing beside a large rock that was covered in patches of moss. In the broken sunlight, the orange pony looked as though he were asleep, his face turned away from them. Rush opened his mouth to speak but Mind lifted a hoof forestalling him,

“Rush…” she whispered, “Wait here, please.”

The mare walked over to the orange stallion and sat down beside him: not too close to be uncomfortable, and not so far as to be out of reach. Rush watched as the two simply lay on the ground in complete silence. Oddly, he had expected some tension in the air, but here, there was nothing, only the occasional shudder from Grove. Birds sang high above in the canopy, their song muted down here amongst the dense trees. Rush closed his eyes and waited, turning his attention from the two guardsponies to a nearby plant he recognised from the pictures in the book he’d borrowed from the doctor. When Grove was ready, he would be here for him.

Nearby, in the shade of the rock, the heart of the woods, the orange stallion stirred, his voice a quiet whisper on the breeze,

“I’m sorry…”

Mind closed her eyes and nodded slowly, “It’s alright now, Grovey. I’m here.”

Grove’s voice was heavy with despair, “It’s not fair, Mind…none of it.”

“I know.” She replied softly.

“I…I thought she…” Grove shuddered again, gritting his teeth against the heartache that cut through him. The pink mare reached out to him and took his unresisting head in her forelegs and cradled him as he wept,

“Shhh, it’s alright now…it’s alright…”

The two lay together; Mind gently rocking the stallion back and forth, all the while softly stroking Grove’s mane and speaking to him in a surprisingly soft voice for such a large mare. Rush tried to push it from his thoughts, concentrating instead on continuing his study of the wide variety of plant life around him. One he recognised straight away was lavender, its fragrance instantly recognisable, particularly from his rather unpleasant experience in Tia’s bathroom. He still shuddered at the memory of that time and the sheer embarrassment of it all. At least now though he was able to control his body a lot more naturally than he had at first. Stairs were still a problem of course, but he’d conquer them – some day.

“Rush?” It was Mind, “Come on, let’s go home.”

Rush nodded, glancing across at his friend who was standing quietly beside the pink mare. Grove’s eyes looked empty and distant, as though he were staring into a past only he could see. Rush had seen that look before, and far too often for his liking too. Physical damage was one thing: it could be seen, it could be treated, but damage to the mind? That was a different story, and one that affected it’s victims in ways that could often never be seen. The orange stallion blinked and looked up at him, a sad smile on his face,

“Sorry, mate.”

Rush shrugged, “Eh? You just went off for a walk didn’t you?” Grove furrowed his brow at his friend’s words, but Rush just chuckled, “I can’t believe you got lost in here, you of all ponies!” he clopped him on the shoulder, “Come on now you bloody nuisance, lets get back and grab some food before you get into bother with the boss.”

Mind shot him a stern look, but Grove looked back at him in surprise and then lifted an eyebrow,

“Yeah, I’m starving.” He suddenly stopped and gave himself a shake, “Race yer!”

“Hey!” Mind shouted, but it was too late. With a resounding whoop Grove leaped forward and broke into a gallop, closely followed by the brown stallion and, quickly bringing up the rear, a very flustered pink mare.

Running full tilt, the three burst from the woods and headed across the fields, arrowing straight towards the palace gates. Rush’s chest was heaving, his hooves thundering; there was something incredibly liberating and, he had to admit, exhilarating, in the act of running. He felt…alive, free, as though nothing could catch him, nothing could harm him, and all the worries he had in the world simply melted away in the passing wind. He laughed aloud as he ran; he was Rush, the stallion, the earth pony stallion! He caught up to his friend and saw the same light and energy in his eyes as he had when he’d first met him,

“You call that a run?” Rush shouted, “Come on you old mule, you’re too slow to catch a cold!”

Grove snorted loudly, “You…!”

In a burst of speed, Rush surged ahead, letting the air flow over him, cooling his body and allowing him to run even faster. By the Gods, it was like nothing on earth…but he wasn’t on earth was he? He was on Equestrian soil, he was home…HOME! Throwing caution to the wind, Rush hurtled through the palace gates, nearly knocking the guards aside who shouted after him angrily. All he could do was laugh, laugh and smile at the tears of joy streaming down his cheeks as the dream he’d had so often in the dark nights in his cabin in the forest became the unimaginable reality. Rush burst through the open doors of the palace and hurtled into the entry hall.

“Rush! RUSH STOP!”

He barely heard Grove’s warning shout. The brown stallion, his cream mane flowing out behind him was lost in a heady surge of sheer bliss that made him feel as though he was flying, FLYING! Good Gods, who needed wings?! With a howl of released tension, Rush ran on, past the elegant tapestries, past the paintings, past the palace staff who deftly jumped out of the way with wide eyed stares and shouts of alarm, until, horrifyingly, he realised he was running out of corridor and that hooves really didn’t work too well on freshly waxed floors. Rush desperately tried to back peddle, but it was far too late.

“ARGH!”

The orange unicorn maid carrying a tray of crystal glasses and matching decanter, froze, staring in horror at the approaching brown and cream blur.

Lilly screamed.

Comments

[Mother3Forever]

Poor Grove... Hell, Poor Astra being married to such a Prick.