Nyctophobia

by Valorousspectre

The Perfect Gifts

Chapter 2: The perfect gifts

“MAAAAAAIIIIIILLL!!!”

Skeleton almost fell straight through the floor of the cloud house, before recovering and looking up in alarm just to see a well wrapped scroll thwack her in the face. A flurry of wings later and the mailmare was gone. Grin frowned and looked at it, then caught her breath as her heart raced.

It has one of his feathers on it!

She carefully removed the feather and admired it. Palest blue, pristinely neat... Everything she ever expected. It was... it was...

Beautiful

The only word she could think of to describe it and it felt woefully inadequate. She carefully took off the royal blue ribbon, tying it to her hoof so as not to lose it. Opening the scroll, she gasped and grabbed his second gift.

A lock of his mane.

Could it be... it is! Oh my... He sent me some of his mane!

She brought in to her nose and smelled it, and practically melted.

Oh yes... So good...

Suddenly feeling guilty, Skeleton Grin looked around to make sure nopony had caught her, then smelled it again. All caring for the letter had vanished at that moment.

She might as well have been in heaven.

After almost twenty minutes of just cuddling this piece of his mane, she remembered the letter and snatched it up, ribbon on her wrist, hair clutched tightly in one hoof. She giggled a little as she read the part concerning potentially sending her pie.

That’s such a Soarin-esque gift!

Her eyes widened under her hat as she finished reading it.

He wants to know my name... Soarin WANTS to know my name!

She almost cried out in delight right there, but a worried frown creased her face after a moment.

Oh Celestia, I can’t give him my name... what if he comes to see me?

Sure, she moved around a lot, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t find her. He is a Wonderbolt after all. She looked at the parchment again, and fully unrolled it, then started and stared.

He’s signed it! Soarin the Wonderbolt has signed it! With his signature!

There was no doubt now that Soarin had wrote this. She just about dropped the letter, another sheaf of paper floating down. Curious, she picked it up.

Another letter... from who?

She began to read.

“To Soarins’ admirer.

It’s good to see him getting mail again and accepting it. I don’t know what you wrote miss, but it worked.

I’d hazard a guess that you’re another big fan? Soarin used to have many, then he started simply throwing the letters out.
Please step carefully, Soarin just went through a break up and it wouldn’t be wise to aggravate the matter.

Oh, and fly hard and fast!
Spitfire”

Grin blinked a few times, before casually tossing the letter over her shoulder. Getting a letter from Spitfire was nice and all, but Soarins’ letter was what was important to her. She cuddled the feather, scroll and lock of his mane adoringly to her chest, content to simply revel that he’d replied so quickly and with such thoughtful gifts.

~*~

“Soarin! Get your head in the game!”

He barely registered what was said before snapping back to reality, swerving to avoid a cloud pillar he was seconds from hitting. Cursing himself, he pulled a tight hairpin turn and stopped in front of Echo Fleetfoot, who didn’t look impressed, even through her goggles.

“Soarin, you need to focus! Stop daydreaming. I don’t know what’s gotten into you today.”

Soarin nodded and forced a smile.

“Sorry Echo, I guess I was thinking too hard.”

The slight mare shook her head and set off on the course again. Soarin looked around nervously, then resumed the training session. The part of his admirers’ letter concerning her watching his training got him thinking that she must be nearby, and had been considering various places around the track that she could have been hiding. He had to right himself before he ran into Spitfire a moment later, who looked at him and gave a knowing smile.

At least she won’t tell anypony just yet.

When he’d gone to mail the letter earlier that morning, he’d been told that Firestreak had sent it for him. It was easier that way. Especially since that’s who the mailmare had given the previous letter to. He’d accepted that graciously, still a little disappointed. But it was true, it was easier for Derpy, as he’d come to understand was the mailmares’ name, to find the sender if the recipient gave the letter to her.

“LOOKOUT!”

Soarin snapped back to reality in time to just narrowly avoid crashing into Firestreak, who was laughing too hard to listen to Soarins’ hasty apologies. Spitfire was trying to hide a smile, and the other team mates simply looked at him in confusion.

~*~

Skeleton Grin caught her breath as she watched Soarin narrowly avoid crashing, breathing a sigh of relief as he dodged it.

Stop tempting fate so much my Soarin... you’re going to hurt yourself.

She glanced over at the sheafs of parchment on the decrepit old table. She’d been considering writing a return letter and sending it that day, but she honestly had no clue what to write about. Or how to repay him for his gifts.

His wonderful, thoughtful gifts!

She looked back up at the stadium to see the Wonderbolts leaving, going into the locker rooms for their showers and such. A stroke of inspiration struck her and she rushed over to the parchment and started writing. At the conclusion of the letter, she took a sharp pair of scissors, one of her few possessions, and snipped off a lock of her own mane, rolling it up within the scroll. Once more, it was pristinely tied with a ribbon, looking just perfect.

Alright Grin, you do this, you do it now, before you lose your nerve.

With that, she opened her owl-like silent wings, and flew towards the stadium.

~*~

They were leaving. But that’s precisely what she wanted. She watched as one by one the team left, and she named them in her head.

Spitfire, Firestreak, Echo, Fleetfoot, Misty, Rapidfire, Lightning Streak, High Winds, IceWind... No Soarin? Perfect!

Before the door to the locker rooms could close, Skeleton Grin slipped inside, her scroll in her mouth. She could hear the shower going, and she resisted the urge to peek. Trotting along, she counted the lockers, stopping at a very specific one.

Soarins’ locker!

She smiled, then shook her head.

No, not quite personal enough.

Instead, she slipped silently over to the showers and dropped the letter outside the door, then picked it up again and put it on the nearby sink. As an afterthought, she plucked out a feather of her own, soft as it was, and slipped it into the knot the same way Soarin had. As she was walking past the shower door, she couldn’t help herself.

Oh... what’s one little peek..? Can’t hurt, right?

With that she peeked into the shower, blushing furiously soon after and rushing out of the locker room.

~*~

In the shower, Soarin was humming softly. He enjoyed long showers, always had. It felt better when he was with somepony else, but that was okay. His mane, normally spiking down his neck, lay flat, plastered across his pale blue coat. His tail didn’t fare much better, hanging heavily on the floor. His feathers, oiled as they were, merely let the water slide off them, leaving small dewdrops of water clinging to them. Couple that with the lighting, which was dim, He wasn’t hard to looks at. Some would go so far to say he was hard NOT to look at.

As he sat, he reminisced upon the days’ events. The several crashes he’d almost gotten into, the thoughts about returning to getting pie every now and then.

I love me some good pie...

He hadn’t thought of buying pie since He started going steady with his ex. She liked him fit and thin.

Lithe...

The thought flitted through his head with a dejected tone to it. He’s had some good time with that mare. He smiled softly at another thought.

But I have a new somepony to chase now, and I’ll catch her if I can.

He frowned.

Hold up, who said I was going to chase her?

Shaking his head, he chuckled to himself softly.

You always were a sucker for romantics. Your Book collection shows that.

With that thought, he turned his shower off, shook himself a bit, the get rid of most of the moisture, then trotted out. What he saw surprised him.

His towel was gone. It had been replaced with an old, dark blue one that radiated high class. The stitching, the designs on it, the gold edging.

Holy wow... That’s a towel!

He took it, and noted the way the design was a gold embossed ‘S’.

Guess it’s for me.

Out of a whim, he sniffed at it, to see if it was shop bought. What he smelled almost staggered him.

Woah, this was hoof woven! And the scent... delicious!

The scent of strawberries and cream was not one Soarin took lightly, in fact it was probably the only one that he took more seriously than Apple Cinnamon, and he wrapped the towel around his waist with care, wiping his hooves on the matt to dry them, he walked his way over to the sink, where a scroll with an ash grey feather awaited him. The feather was soft to the touch and almost... fluffy.

I guess she got my message huh?

Taking the feather out of the knot, he pulled at the knot gently, letting it undo itself. The first thing he noticed was the lock of hair. Ash grey, like the feather, but with a black running through it as well. Looking around to make doubly sure he was alone, Soarin brought the lock up to his nose and inhaled deeply. The scent of Strawberries and cream was much stronger in this piece of his admirers’ mane than it was on the towel. He smiled and put the hair next to the feather which, now that he looked at it, had a black tip. He then started to read the letter.

“My dearest Soarin

It brings my heart great joy that you replied so quickly, and that you loved my present. I was overwhelmed when you sent me a message so quickly, and with such wonderful gifts. I had no way of repaying you for them, so I did the best I could under the circumstances. I do hope you like the towel, it took me years to make and I used it a few times, but not for anything except the occasional drying, I do hope it doesn’t smell, I had it washed before I brought it in...

On the topic of my name, I’m afraid that I cannot tell you. Please understand, it’s nothing personal and I really, Really wish I could... but I’m too afraid of what might happen.

I delivered this letter personally; I really hope you don’t mind. I had to sneak into the locker room to do so, so none of the other Wonderbolts would have a chance to read this.

Please thank Spitfire for her message, and request that she doesn’t send me any more. Again, it’s nothing personal, but if I start receiving two letters per delivery, I’m not sure what ponies will think. In fact, I’ve come up with a solution.

If you would be so kind as to leave your replies on the doorstep of your Locker room each night, I can pick them up without trouble.

Thank you so much.

All my love.”

Once more, instead of a name was the strange smile again. Soarin felt a stab of disappointment, followed by his heart soaring.

She was here, in the locker room!

It was an interesting predicament really, but he smiled and, taking the gifts with him a well as he note, he made his way to his locker, rummaging through it to find a small jewellery box his ex had given him. The one gift she’d paid for. He tossed the cheap jewellery that was in it over his shoulder nonchalantly and carefully tied the lock of her mane in a knot to prevent it spreading too much and put both it and the feather into the padded box, closing the lid and latching it afterwards. He took a spare piece of parchment out of his locker, a quill and some ink and began to write his reply, trying to imagine what the Pegasus mare talking to him through such mysterious terms looked like.

Comments

[Tome Turner]

This really hasn't got as much attention as it should be getting.
This is a odd but good read so far.

[swiftstriker21]

This is a great love story, it is set up for a situation of either great tragedy or great triumph.

[statoose]

How does this story not have more attention than it's gotten? Seriously, this is one of the most original and gripping concepts I've ever seen in pony fan-fiction.

[ParchmentPen]

This is magnificent so far! Skeleton Grin is so mysterious. Maybe she's afraid of what he'll think of her name and what would happen if word got out that the superstar was sending letters to 'some creepy mare'. I love it!

[WannaBeDark]

Loving it just SSSOOOOOO much! Quite a nice build to the climax (or anti-climax, will see).