Calm and Storm

by Fiddlesticks

Moments in Between (Or, Blue on Blue, Two)

Strawberry sighed, wiping her brow as she scanned the clearing where her barn once stood. The wreckage of Cherry’s-- of the balloon was gone now, along with the collapsed walls of the former barn. An inventory concluded that much of her equipment had been destroyed or damaged, but it could always be replaced.

Unlike--

Strawberry felt sick and quickly shook her head. She stood, glancing up at the sun to try and determine how much more daylight she had.

As she turned to head back to the farmhouse, she froze at the sight of a pink blob heading towards her.

It had been a week since they’d fought, and Strawberry had managed to convince herself that Cherry wasn’t coming back. But there she was, face carefully neutral and a few bandages covering her body.

She stopped in front of Strawberry and neither of them spoke.

“H-hey,” Strawberry finally offered, her voice breaking a bit.

Cherry drew a deep breath before she finally locked eyes with Strawberry. “I’m sorry,” she finally muttered.

“I… I’m sorry too,” Strawberry replied. “I said some… rotten stuff that night. I really shouldn’t have.”

“Me too. It’s just… I don’t know what came over me,” Cherry replied, digging her hoof into the dirt.

Strawberry bit her hoof, rubbing the back of her neck. “I… I think maybe it was the small stuff. For me, anyways. I mean, there was a lot of stuff building up before that night. Where we were fighting over small, stupid things.”

“Yeah, like the dishes,” Cherry answered, chuckling softly. “We… we shouldn’t have just let them lay but… I dunno. I guess I was too scared to confront them. Like the coward I am.”

Strawberry glanced up. “You’re not a coward. I mean, you’re braver than most for doing all that stuff you do with your balloon.”

“Not that night,” Cherry muttered. “I was scared, especially when you came flying after me. I… Strawberry, we almost died.”

She looked around the empty clearing, remembering how the barn lay in a smoldering wreck when she had first started cleaning it up. “I… guess we’re lucky then,” Strawberry offered.

Cherry chuckled softly, and that made Strawberry feel a little bit better.

“You know… I care about you,” Strawberry continued. “I don’t know if I ever said it because I’m not great with words, but you mean a lot to me, Cherry. I’m sorry I hurt you like that.”

“Me too,” Cherry answered. “You didn’t deserve that. I was wrong.”

“Not as wrong as I was,” Strawberry countered.

“Agree to disagree?”

“Sure.”

They shared a quick hug before something occurred to Strawberry. “You know… you’re paying for that barn you broke.”

“...would a kiss cover it?”

Strawberry couldn’t help but laugh at that.

Comments

[Dashie04]

Very interesting idea for a story, a three-act structure that’s comprised of anthologies.

This is a pretty nice story, I enjoyed reading it.