Chapter 18 - Dewdrop
After my little spat with Neighsay, things more or less quietened down. Twilight’s school took off and most ponies paid it no mind. There were no protests, no haranguing in the local press, and no weirdos sending me letters covered in anthrax. Neighsay’s threat about there being so many other ponies like him seemed to be a whole lot of hot air. In fact, the success turned into a big propaganda coup for Celestia and Twilight and quite the slap in the face of the EEA. In particular, a lot of schools had discovered that, by stopping following their guidelines, lessons became more engaging, attendance and results went up ,as did student satisfaction. The association itself made no comment, but it was clear that Equestria’s answer to the Freemasons had been made to look very stupid.
However, that wasn’t quite the end of it. My best friend decided t stick his nose in too. Now, a lot of ponies have asked me why I’m friends with Discord. I mean, let’s face it, he mooches off of me, occasionally crashes on my couch, and at times can be deeply irritating. And that’s if you ignore the borderline sociopathic plans he sometimes comes up with to ‘help’ ponies, such as that whole incident where Big Mac through his girlfriend was breaking up with him. In short, he’s not exactly what you’d call a good friend, or so it would seem. Discord may drive me nuts at times. However, I do know that he has his limits, and when the chips are down, he’ll back me up.
Take for example his jokes. He might poke fun at me, but he’s never uttered a peep about my days in the volunteers, nor has he told a single soul about it. Think of the chaos that he’d cause if he did. And while he may use his chaos magic to annoy me from time to time, he never does anything too serious, and always subtly undoes it when he leaves. And for every beer he pinches from my fridge, a couple of his own brand turn up to replace them not long after.
But above all else, if you cross me, he will turn on you like that, and he doesn’t hold back either. The only other time I’ve seen him like that is with Fluttershy. In addition to charging into the heart of the Changeling Kingdom to rescue her, he also spent a good while trying to track down Chrysalis, to the point where that Tree of Harmony thing apparently intervened to get him to stop.
Well, it turned out he didn’t much care for Neighsay insulting me or Celestia either. A week or so after I got Neighsay to back down, I came across a rather interesting article in the local rag. While I’d said nothing about Neighsay’s meeting with Celestia, plenty of other publication had run stories about the success of Twilight’s school and the supposed dead hand of the EEA, in particular, blasting Neighsay. In response, the EEA had held a press conference, during which, Neighsay found himself wearing a dunce cap, which came alive and loudly espoused on how he was a racist and xenophobe. The reporters ate it up.
It was fairly obvious who had done it. I can’t think of anyone else who could use their magic like that and get away with it. While it might not have been the best course of action, this was Discord’s way of showing he cared about me.
Setting down the paper, I looked across my desk see Discord, grinning at me like a Cheshire cat, pleased with his handiwork.
“Admit it,” he said. “You’d have loved to have been there.” I smiled back.
“True,” I replied. I gestured to the paper. “What happened afterwards?”
“I think you’d say he legged it,” Discord replied. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the mental image.
“Serious though, did you have to rile him up like that?”
“My dear boy, he insulted you. Nopony gets to insult my best friend but me! And he upset Fluttershy, so he should consider himself lucky that he’s still breathing.”
That last part carried a little more menace that I was comfortable with. But as I’ve said before, at least he’s moving in the right direction reformation wise.
It was nice to see him again too. Work had kept me more than a little busy of late, forcing me to bow out of the most recent Guys’ Night. Now that things had quietened down however, with Neighsay seen off and no major cases on the books for the time being, Celestia had given me a little bit of time off to make up for the extra hours I’d put in. After all, at one point, I did consider asking one of the maids to bring in a cot for the office, since I figured I was going to be here all night.
The time off gave me some time to catch up not only with my best friend, but my kids as well. In particular, I was rather hopeful to spend some time with Lizzie. Since my daughter moved in with her boyfriend, I hadn’t seen her as much. I suppose between my job at the castle and her job in the Weather Patrol, we didn’t really cross paths too often, unless I happened to spot her flying around Ponyville. Bones on the other hand, I could usually find in town on market day, helping Applejack or Big Mac run the stall, and Margaret would frequently ask me to grab a few things in Canterlot’s high end Waitrose type shops, and then grab a few things from town on my way home.
More to the point though, I hadn’t really gotten to know this Dewdrop character much. He was the newest pony on the patrol, a transplant from Las Pegasus. Lizzie had taken him under her wing during tornado duty a couple of years ago. The pegasi all work together to create a big tornado to suck water out of the local lakes and reservoirs and push it up to Cloudsdale to make rain clouds. I wish I could say that was the maddest thing to say about how Equestria’s weather works.
Anyway, they’d apparently gotten close during training, and after a close call with the tornado, Dewdrop took the plunge and asked her out, in front of me, the wife and Bones I might add. Since then, they’d grown closer, to the point where Lizzie had moved out of Fluttershy’s cottage and gone to live with him. They’d been getting along like a house on fire, and the memsahib and Rarity were already listening for the sound of wedding bells.
Now, just to be clear, while Bones might your stereotypical violently protective older brother, I was not so inclined. Don’t get me wrong, if somepony messed my little girl around I would quite happily rip his arms and legs off in a paternal rage, but unless he actually did something to provoke concern, I took no issue with who my daughter liked or went out with; that was her business. And Dewdrop did seem good for her. Okay, he was a little shy, but the two really seemed to get along. It actually reminded me of how me and Margaret met. After I moved to the mainland and got a job working at the Co-op as a van driver, a mate of mine dragged me to one of those mixers. Remember, this was before that Tinder thing existed. You wanted to meet someone, you had to actually meet them.
I was almost painfully shy around her. Later on, she told me that, at first, she thought I wasn’t even interested in her. Eventually though, I managed to open up and start talking. The only real obstacle was her mother, who was convinced her daughter could do better and I was looking to marry her for her money. That’s actually one of the big reasons both of us took a more passive role in our children's lives when it cam to relationships. Even if they did pick the wrong proverbial horse, there wasn’t much we could do to stop them.
Still, while I wasn’t about to employ a power of veto, I figured it would be nice to meet and get to know my potential son-in-law, and if nothing else spend some quality time with my daughter. So I suggested to Margaret when I got home that evening, that we might consider inviting the pair over for dinner.
“Sure, I don’t see why not,” she agreed as she worked on the ironing, a nearby phonograph playing some pop album Pinkie lent her.
“I figured,” I said, pausing as she started again with the iron, causing the contraption to let out a loud hiss of steam. “Since I’ve got Wednesday night off, we could have the two of them round for dinner.” Margaret nodded.
“I can do some of the quorn spaghetti bolognaise Lizzie likes,” she suggested. “Just promise me you won’t go intimidating the poor lad. Bones is bad enough.”
“Hey, I’ve always let our girl make her own decisions,” I replied defensively, holding up both hands.
“You never took to that Tom lad she brought back,” she countered. I rolled my eyes.
That was Lizzie’s first boyfriend, and he was a complete and utter tool. I think she felt sorry for him more than anything else; he was like a lost pup. But while Dewdrop’s slight shyness was endearing, he could still stand up for himself. Tom in contrast had been such a doormat to the point where Lizzie clearly wore the trousers. That, and his family was odd as hell; none of his family, not even his dad got his mum anything for her birthday, and they saw it as normal. Luckily, Lizzie saw the red flags without any encouragement from us and dumped his ass not too long before we ended up in Equestria.
“Hey, you can’t criticise me on that front. Me and Bones were right after all,” I argued.
“You both spent the whole evening glaring at him. I was surprised you didn’t just start growling like a couple of territorial dogs.” I tried to reassure her that this was a whole different kettle of fish.
“Dewdrop seems like a nice enough lad,” I said. “I just want to get to know him better and catch up with my little girl, that’s all.” Margaret thought for a moment.
“Well, alright then,” she said after a moment. “I’ll stop by their house tomorrow and see if they’re up for it.”
Lizzie and Dewdrop happily agreed. Like us, she missed the opportunity to just chat and catch up. Her job in the Weather Patrol after all isn’t exactly your usual nine to five gig. And she was rather keen to properly introduce us to Dewdrop. We’d met before of course, in fact I was there when, in what I can only assume was an adrenaline fuelled fervour, he’d first asked Lizzie out. I’ll give him credit, he’s certainly got stones. We all agreed to get together at our house for dinner the following evening, since I had the next day off, we could afford to stay up into the wee hours.
And so, that evening, Margaret was busy in the kitchen, and I was in the dining room setting everything out. While this was no formal dinner or anything, it was an excuse to use the good china. The last time we’d had the chance had been a couple of years ago when we threw a little bit of a house party. Margaret invited a few friends, as did I, including Celestia, albeit incognito, for some drinks, dinner and just a bit of fun. I was hopeful that tonight would be something similar.
At around seven, the doorbell went and I heard Lizzie rapping on the door with her signature knock. Margaret was just putting the finishing touches on the dinner and had broken out a bottle of Prench Calvados too. I meanwhile had just set the phonograph going with a nice little piano interlude.
“I’ll get it!” I called back to the kitchen as I walked through the living room and into the hall. Opening the deadbolt on the front door, I found Lizzie and Dewdrop on the doorstep.
“Hey there, you two,” I said with a smile, before stepping to one side. “Come on in, come on in. Margaret’s just putting the finishing touches on the dinner.” The two pegasi trotted inside. It was a little cool this evening now that we were getting into autumn. Luckily, the heating had been on for an hour or so, and combined with the heat from the kitchen, the house was pleasantly warm.
“Thanks, Dad,” Lizzie said, before getting up on her hind legs to properly hug me, using both her forelegs and her wings. Dewdrop kept a respectful distance.
“Yeah, thanks for inviting us, Mr. Owen,” he said with just a touch of meekness.
“Oh, pish posh, Dewdrop,” I said with a grin. “You’re dating my daughter, the least you can do is call me Roger.” I then decided to be a little cheeky. “Who knows, you may be calling me Dad before too long.”
Lizzie went absolutely beet red at that.
“Dad!” she exclaimed as she let herself down onto all fours again. I grinned at her.
“What? I’m just going by what I hear through the grapevine,” I replied. Ah, good old Rarity, Equestria’s best answer to the old matchmaker.
Luckily, before I could embarrass my daughter any further, or cause notions of marriage to crop up in Dewdrop’s mind, resulting in a brief thousand yard stare, Margaret came in.
“Roger!” she chided. “You promised you weren’t going to tease him.”
“I promised not to tease Dewdrop. You said nothing about Lizzie.” Margaret shook her head at my antics.
“See, Lizzie, this is why you shouldn’t marry a solicitor.”
“I’m happy enough with Dewdrop,” Lizzie replied, now moving to get her own back. “At least he’s actually emerged from puberty, unlike some people.” She cast a mock glare in my direction.
“Growing old is mandatory,” I replied. “Growing up, in contrast, is completely optional.”
“I swear,” Margaret said, now walking back into the living room. “He’s gotten worse since he became friends with Discord.” We all now followed her into the next room.
“My dad was just the same,” Dewdrop added. “He told me that you reach a certain age, you stop caring what anypony else thinks of you.”
“A wise stallion,” I agreed.
Margaret led us through the living room and into the dining room. We’d extended out the table for our guests to make it all a little nicer, with some nice place mats and a few candles to give the room a nice atmosphere. I’d set the table out, and she’d just brought out the dinner. In an effort to impress, she was going for that sort of buffet style of dinner, with several plates and bowls piled high with food for the taking. We all took our seats together. The only slight annoyance was that Lizzie and Dewdrop would have to use human chairs to reach the table top. The only other option when we’d bought the house was to do things Japanese style, and we didn’t really have enough guests. More to the point, my back can’t take it.
We all took our seat, with me sitting opposite Lizzie and Dewdrop sitting opposite Margaret. It just a touch adorable watching the four foot tall ponies haul themselves up into the chairs. It reminded me a bit of our dogs jumping up to look for food. Still, they managed to make themselves comfortable, even if it was a little odd for them to be effectively sitting on bar stools for dinner.
Striking a match, I lit the candles in the centre of the table, giving the whole room a soft glow. Margaret meanwhile, took Lizzie’s plate and spooned a good portion onto it, before doing the same with mine and Dewdrop’s. The pasta might have been store bought, but the bolognaise was all home made, using quorn mince instead of the usual beef. We’ve found that ponies have no problem with quorn, despite how similar it is to meat. They also don’t seem to mind fish, particularly pegasi. But the only pony I know who can stand even the smell of meat without gagging is Fluttershy, who actually uses and prepares meat to feed to some of her carnivorous animal friends.
All that Lizzie will say on that front is to, at all times, stay out of Fluttershy’s shed. She apparently went in there once and got scared stiff by the deer carcasses.
Anyway, with dinner served, we all tucked in, idly chatting about this and that. Like I said, I was keen to catch up on what had been happening in my daughter’s life.
“So how’s things been at work?” I asked the two of them.
“Not too bad,” Lizzie replied. “Dash has been away a fair bit because of Bolt stuff and the odd friendship quest. Flight and I have been splitting her job while she’s away. We’ve kind of got a system that works now, more or less.”
Flight was Thunderlane, the patrol’s flight sergeant and second in command. A bit of a hothead like Dash, I’d run into him a few times here and there. He was a nice enough guy.
“And how are Flitter and Cloudchaser?” Margaret asked.
“Oh, they’re doing pretty good,” Dewdrop replied. “I think Flitter’s just glad she’s no longer the new pony in the team. Actually, Dash was saying that we might be getting a few more ponies to help out. The Everfree Forest has been causing some real problems lately.”
“Who knows, maybe that’ll mean a few promotions before too long,” I suggested. Lizzie nodded.
“Dash said I might be able to get my senior patrol stripes this fall,” she said. “Then Dewdrop will have to call me ma’am.”
That got Dewdrop to blush a little, and caused my wife to let out her famous, deeply unsettling mad cackle of laughter.
I honestly cannot describe how unsettling it is. In a desperate bid to divert the conversation and move on from the harrowing noise of my wife’s laughter, I turned to Dewdrop.
“How about you, Dewdrop?” I asked, trying to hide both my embarrassment and desperation. “How life in the Weather Patrol been for you?”
“It’s definitely been a tough year,” he admitted. “But Lizzie has really helped me build my confidence up and improved my flying. I’ve certainly come a long way from the nervous pony who could barely fly straight when we first met.”
That was true. Dewdrop first met Lizzie during Tornado week, when all the pegasi in town help out to create a tornado to push water up to Cloudsdale. Lizzie had flown with him through the tornado, with him actually saving her hide at one point. Since then, he’d joined up in the patrol and become quite experienced when it came to weather work. Now though, Lizzie decided to tease him a bit.
“As I remember it,” she said. “Our first day practising formation flying, you accidentally crashed into me from behind. You should have seen his face, he was blushing so much and just stammering out apologies.” Lizzie did her best to avoid laughing at her boyfriend.
“Ah, don’t let her tease you, Dewdrop,” I replied. “If she ever pushes you too far, you can always ask her about the Disneyland Incident.” Now it was Lizzie’s turn to go beet red.
“No, no, no, we don’t need to revisit that again!” she blurted out.
“I recall a certain little girl,” I went on, enjoying teasing her a bit. “Absolutely petrified by the Mickey Mouse mascot character. You hid behind Mum all day long.” I really need to check to see if we have any photos of that, it was so adorable.
We all ended up having a laugh in the end. Everyone has embarrassing stories about themselves, and it makes for a good way to break the ice. Before too long though, the conversation turned the other way, with Lizzie catching up on what had been happening with me and Margaret.
“Well things at school have been a lot more quieter,” she was saying. “With Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon becoming friends with the Crusaders, there’s far less real bullying going on, apart from the odd bit of, if you’ll excuse the pun, horseplay. And the Crusaders themselves have really been branching out. Did you hear about their camp that they’ve set up to help foals find their cutie marks? Their little business of cutie mark consulting has done so well that they can actually open a camp for it. And apart from a bit of unpleasantness with Rumble, it’s been really successful. It really does amaze me how much those three fillies have done in their short little lives.”
“I heard from Thunderlane about Rumble,” Lizzie said with a nod, polishing off her dinner. “He said his little brother was having a bit of a hard time with his cutie mark. Said he started up this little group that rejected the whole idea. Kinda reminded me of Starlight back before she became Twilight’s student.”
“Yeah, I was a bit worried for a while,” Margaret agreed with a nod. “But he’s come around now.”
“As has Starlight,” I added. “I remember not so long ago, I was lobbying to have her thrown in jail or the nut house, or both. She’s certainly come a long way these past couple years. I still can’t believe Twilight made her the counsellor at her school though. She’s not exactly the most stable of ponies, and with her past, it’s like putting a shark in charge of a swimming pool. Still, the place seems to be doing well enough though.”
“Has much happened up in Canterlot?” Dewdrop enquired. “It must be exciting to work so closely with Princess Celestia herself.”
You know, sometimes I forget just how important Tia is. I’ve gotten so used to treating her as a friend rather than a princess, that I forget that she’s the ruler of the whole blooming realm, never mind the fact that, compared to me, she’s all but a goddess in terms of magical power. Most ponies are lucky if they see her in person once in their whole lives. Meanwhile, I see her every day, have lunch with her most days, and even play board games with her and her little sister. Don’t get me wrong, she prefers it that way, but it does mean it can be quite jarring when ponies remind me of just how lucky I am to be in my current lofty position.
“Oh it certainly is,” I replied. “And an honour too. I certainly never thought when our paths first crossed that I’d end up working for her, never mind being one of her closest confidants outside of Princess Luna. As for what’s been going on...well, aside from the whole business with the school and the EEA, I suppose there’s been a couple interesting matters she’s consulted me on in court.”
So I spun a few yarns. All were matters of public record, naturally. I wasn’t about to go nattering on about ongoing cases or petitions that I was advising the princess on. Day Court deals with plenty of weird and wonderful petitioners every day. To be honest, sometimes I’m amazed Celestia has kept her cool all these years and not turned into that Daybreaker persona from Starlight’s nightmare. I told them about the crazy stallion who was convinced a nearby wind farm was beaming sonic rays into his house, and consequently wanted them all taken down and banned forever. Then there was the a couple of interesting trademark and intellectual property cases, and of course, my best anecdote for guaranteed laughs.
“So, everypony was absolutely dreading what would happen if we let Blueblood out amongst the crowd in the convention,” I was saying. “But there was no way we could let him not attend, what with him being the representative for Canterlot and all. So we had to find a way to stop him from being his usual self. It took a lot of work, but we eventually managed to get him to stick to just two phrases for the entire evening.”
“Which were?” Margaret asked, already struggling to hold in her laughter, since she knew the ending.
“’Yes’ and ‘That would be a constitutional matter’. That’s what I always say when I have no idea what somepony in court is on about.”
“Did it work?” Lizzie asked in bewilderment.
“Amazingly, yes,” I replied with a nod. “I had to chaperone him of course, but with a bit of help, he got through it. It was just so damn funny though. You’d have thought somepony would have figured out what was going on with him only saying two things.”
“I guess that’s politicians for you though,” Dewdrop replied. “I’m pretty sure they all have a series of pre-set responses.”
“A bit like psychologists then,” Margaret added. “I still think every year they all get together and collaborate on what psychobabble they’re all going to use this year.”
As dinner wore on, we moved onto the desert. Margaret had broken out her famous home made treacle sponge and custard, with a bit of strawberry jam and cream on the side. Well, I say jam, Dewdrop was insistent that it was jelly. I pointed out that even that weird pony who is quite simply obsessed with the stuff, calls my wife’s home made stuff jam. No idea why, he just does. I’m just glad he keeps his distance.
One of these days I wager he’ll end up in Day Court, and the first episode of Criminal Minds: Equestria will air shortly afterwards.
But anyway, we all chatted amicably as we enjoyed the desert. Before too long though, it was time to start winding the evening down. It was getting on for quarter to eleven. I might have had the next day off, as did Margaret, but Lizzie and Dewdrop had the dawn patrol tomorrow, and we were scheduled to have some early autumn rain storms blow in from the north. We’d had our fill of the summer, and it was time to slowly start preparing the ground for winter. I was actually considering, talking of autumn, of taking part in the Running of the Leaves this year. While I can’t keep up with a pony’s gallop, I can still set a fair pace, and Margaret has been pushing me to keep myself in shape. All those nice lunches in Canterlot have seen me put on a few pounds.
But anyway, the evening had gone pretty well. I’d done as I’d been asked and been nice to Dewdrop. He did certainly seem like a nice enough lad, and Lizzie was clearly fond of him, and he of her. I certainly didn’t see any of the red flags I’d seen with her last beau. And while I’ve already freely admitted that I have no say in who my daughter chooses to spend her life with, I would be more than happy to walk her down the aisle and ‘give her away’, if you’ll excuse the outdated social custom, to Dewdrop.
Still, before the evening was over, I wanted a chance to talk with him man to stallion. Not to threaten him or leave him with some ominous warning about what would happen if he broke Lizzie’s heart. I think Bones has already made that abundantly clear, just as Big Mac had done for him when he started going out with Applejack. In contrast, I just wanted to have a chat with him. So while Lizzie and Margaret were doing the washing up and bonding, the two of us headed outside into the cool night air.
It was a clear night tonight. The full moon gave us more than enough light to see by. You could probably turn off all the lamps in town and have no trouble finding your way. A slight night breeze was blowing, but it was still perfectly comfortable. I had no doubt that, right about now, Bones would be outside too, stargazing, maybe with Apple Bloom or Applejack.
Dewdrop had followed me outside when I asked. He’d been a touch nervous at the request, but had followed easily enough when he saw my relaxed body language and reassuring smile. Like I said, Bones had covered that ground, and from what I’d seen tonight, I had nothing to worry about. Like I said before, it wasn’t really any of my business.
Walking along the little garden path, I opened the small wooden gate and stepped out into the empty street. Dewdrop followed and stood next to me.
“Beautiful night out, isn’t it,” I commented. Dewdrop nodded.
“Sure,” he replied. “Certainly nice to be able to see the stars out here. I grew up with nothing but light pollution back in Las Pegasus.” A let a little silence prevail for a few moments.
“Just so you know,” I said in a quiet voice. “This isn’t me threatening you about what’ll happen if you lay a hoof on my daughter. I think Bones has made my view on the matter clear enough to not warrant a repeat. And I’d not about to go down that road of the overprotective father.”
“So what did you want?” Dewdrop asked, more than a little curious.
“I just wanted to talk, man to stallion. That’s all,” I replied. Again, I paused for a minute, taking a breath.
“Dewdrop,” I said, looking up at the full moon that hung high in the sky. “What I’m about to tell you is for your ears only. I ask that you not repeat this to anypony, no matter what.”
“Okay,” Dewdrop said with a nod.
“Pinkie Promise for me.” I’m a lawyer, so if I can’t get it in writing, I make so that, if the contract’s broken, a very angry Pinkie chases you down and makes you apologise. Dewdrop did as he was asked, doing the motions along with it. After he did so, I waited one moment longer before speaking my piece.
“Once, a long time ago, I was a soldier,” I said in a sad tone. “There was a war. And in that war, I did terrible things. I’m responsible for the deaths of twelve men. I’ve set bombs that have killed a little over fifty. And I’ve destroyed homes and livelihoods over a period of almost ten years. I have no doubt, that when I die, I will go to Hell, and I deserve it.
“Now, obviously, I got out of that life. I changed, I reformed. Call it what you will. But what matters is that you know what I once was. But more importantly, you need to know, is what happened after I met my wife and raised my two children.” I felt my eyes staring to well up a bit, and did my best to blink back the tears.
“The two of them, Lizzie in particular, made me a better man. My family gave me a reason to change, to move on, to forgive myself for what I had, and strive to be better because of it. I spent all her life looking after Lizzie. I cared for her, protected her, taught her right from wrong. And now, I’ve done all that I can. It’s time for her to set out on her own.”
I turned and look down at Dewdrop. The stallion was rooted to the spot in surprise at what I’d just imparted to him.
“Just promise me you’ll look after her, Dewdrop. That’s all I ask.”
He stared up at me a moment longer, obviously not expecting even half of what he’d just heard. He now knew something about me that neither Margaret, or either of the kids, knew. He didn’t say anything. I didn’t expect him to. I turned back to look up at the starry sky.
“You know,” I said. “There’s something my grandfather said to me when I was little. The four truths of life he called it. He told me people were basically good. That honour and virtue meant everything, and money and power, meant nothing. Ho told me that good would always triumph over evil. And that true love...true love never dies.
“Now, I may not be Princess Cadence. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen any two ponies more in love than you two. While you should know you’d never need it, you have my blessing.”
Dewdrop smiled at that.
A moment later, the two of us were caught off guard by the sound of excited barking as Charlie bounded down the garden path to join us. He and I have always been close. He’d probably my best guy friend after Discord. He’d been quiet most of the evening, keeping his distance from Dewdrop. Although I have no doubt that not so long ago, he’d have been stuffing himself with all the love radiating off of him.
As he drew up to us, he inserted himself between the pair of us, looking up at the two of us, and with his tongue lolling out of his mouth. Smiling, I made a fuss of him.
Now, I’ve always been a firm believer in the idea that dogs are an excellent judge of character; far better than humans. Like changelings, they can sense emotion to a degree more than we can. So when Charlie jumped up at Dewdrop, his tail wagging, for a fuss, I knew that I wasn’t going to have any problems. I said as much to Dewdrop.
“Ah, looks like Charlie approves of you too,” I commented. “This guy’s gotta be one of the smartest dogs I’ve ever met. Anyway, it’s getting a bit chilly out here. How about we head inside?”
An hour or so later and Lizzie and Dewdrop had left. She and Margaret had got most of the washing up done, and we were just down finishing putting everything away. It had been a nice little evening, and Margaret had already suggested doing something similar with Bones and Applejack.
Still, as pleasant as the evening had been, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness now that it was over. Both my kids are pretty much grown up. And having left home, with jobs and everything, it’s been getting harder and harder to see them much, except in passing from time to time. But that all comes with being a parent I suppose. Eventually, you have to let the youngster fly the nest. And of course, while it might be hard to arrange getting together for an evening meal, it wasn’t really that hard to just see them. Margaret in particular often dropped in on Lizzie or Bones when she had time on the weekends.
But as I said, it was a shame the enjoyable evening had come to an end. However, I was glad to see how well things were going for Lizzie. I mean, let’s face it, randomly ending up in some other world puts quite a dent in your life plans. In the grand scheme of things, we haven’t really been in Equestria that long. But since arriving here, we’ve all managed to settle in and build new lives.
I’m just glad I’ve still got the kids around. Celestia only knows what I’d be like if I ended up here alone.
After finishing up, Margaret and I headed up to bed, turning the lights off and leaving Charlie to settle down to sleep in his basket. It had been a relaxing evening. Tomorrow in contrast, was going to be quite busy indeed as my new foe once again found himself in court.
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I heard this on Secondhand Lions
Very nicely done!
Simply heartwarming. Thank you.
If Roger hadnt had the wife and kids, or even worse, lost them, he couldve easily ended up with any of the Dark Crew, and all hell likely broken loose.
It was nice to see Lizzie and Dewdrop again.
9857524 That movie is so underrated. If nothing else, Michael Caine trying to do a Texan accent is reason enough to watch it. I certainly wouldn't mind getting my version of that talk.
I'm not really feeling it. Another chapter saying Discord is a great guy, and then going into how Lizzie is perfectly happy with Dewdrop. Sure it all "worked out" for them, but it still feels tainted to me. Lizzie, Discord, Mind Control, false Cutie Mark, stealing people's ability to choose for themselves, everybody knowing but nobody caring, you know the drill by now. *shrugs* I can't help but feel its all built on a lie.
Edited.