Blissful Days

by AlphaDidAlotOfThings

Chapter 2, A New Life. (Part 2, Blake)

Blake turned his attention back to the clipboard in his wings. He might not have hands anymore but wings worked as a good substitute.

Now, let's see… Who'll be going on that trip?

Bliss and Alex will obviously be going, for obvious reasons. So he could just cross them out. Hmm… How about Johnathan? He might just be a unicorn but he had the strength of an earth pony for heaven's sake. There's a reason why Joseph always calls him an "oaf."

Speaking of, how about Joseph? He's smart, good with computers, he's just good for this kinda stuff in general really. So Joseph…

Next, Moriah. There's no specific reason why Blake chose her really. She worked well with Joseph, so why not?

And finally, Madeline. She's strong, even if that damned earth pony magic was helping her out a bit. If anything happened she could protect the others with ease. "There we go…"

Now that just leaves himself, Cloudy Skies, Adrian, and Oliver. Hmm… He would be better off staying here, but they could all come if they wanted to.

He couldn't force them to stay home. All this really was a "suggestion" list of sorts for Alex and Bliss. Nothing more, nothing less.

Well that's out of the way now. Still, Blake felt like he was forgetting something… Oh, right. Dinner… Can't miss that…

Thankfully, the pavilion was just a quick gallop away. Ugh… He still couldn't get used to running like that…

He didn't seem to be all that late since Adrian and Sky got here before him. Blake handed Bliss his clipboard with a slight "Thank you." from her and sat down.

There was a decent amount of space for a couple of ponies here, but Blake made sure to find an empty seat far far away from everyone else.

Not because he wasn't good with people or anything. But because he just didn't want to. No deep reason, plain and simple.

He didn't care about interacting with any of these "idiots." Okay, maybe that was a little harsh, but still….

Nor did he care about Blisses excitement over the most menial things in existence. Seriously, what were they doing?!

"So mhm good…!" Bliss said with her mouth full of something… Did she never learn proper table manners or something?

Good thing the most mature person ever was here to teach her a lesson "Now, now, you shouldn't talk with your mouth full like that." Except Johnathan was by far the least immature person in both Alexandria and Mimiris, right next to Bliss.

Ok but, bacon! Bliss had no idea what Oliver and Alyssa did, or whatever the hell was in those cookbooks but this was good! Probably the best burger she had in a while, oh how she missed this taste… And most of all, bacon!!! Or, whatever it was supposed to be… Hay Strips? Eh, who cares.

But of course Joseph just HAD to say something, big dumb dumb he is! "What are you, her mother?"

Johnathan just repaid Joseph's half-assed attempt to get a rise out of him in a similar fashion. "Maybe I am." Gotta look out for the "kid" after all.

Alex intervened with a quick Ahem. "Will you two ever cut it out?" That got them to be quiet. But geez, could they just not for a moment?
They were BOTH getting really annoying now.

And here comes the other weirdo. Oliver, the weirdest person here second to only Johnathan, that's how Blake thought about him at least. And no, Bliss and Sky don't count, they're on their own tier. "You better enjoy it while it lasts then, I only made enough for everyone here, so no seconds."

Did he say that to try to tease Bliss, or was he just letting her know? Who knows… But really, you try making food for eleven ponies, it's not exactly easy. Especially when you don't have a lot of help.

Bliss took that as well as you'd expect her to and looked at Oliver with puppy dog eyes, like she was on the verge of crying. She obviously wasn't. "What?! That's not fair…."

But she wanted moreeeee…. Thankfully, she had the second best cook in the world (right next to Sky and Oliver himself) to save her! Alyssa! She slightly laughed at the whole thing. "Don't listen to him, I can always make more if you want."

Yay…. "Thank you, you're my hero…." Instead of tears of sadness, Bliss was now crying tears of joy as she clung onto Alyssa.

But anyways… "So, how's the water coming along?" Alex asked.

Johnathan tipped his cap slightly up… Oh god…. Here we go again…

And dramatically stood up, complete with flourish like there was some kind of invisible spotlight on him. "Excellent, I dare say. In fact, I'll have it done in no time!" He spoke like he was making a national declaration of some kind.

Much to everyone's very visible dismay. But, it was indeed the truth! Johnathan was a jack of all trades, master of all (none)! If there was anything they ever needed done, he could do it without a problem!

And oh, how nice it was for such a lovely mare to take notice of him once more! "You really like doing that, don't you?"

Moriah might've been one of the most beautiful mares here, but there she was nothing compared to Madeline. Who was just laughing at Jonathan's goofy behavior. "Well, I think it's 'endearing.'"

Wow, what a dork… Right next to Joseph.

"Heard back from any survivors yet-?" Blah blah blah. Moriah asked, he thought. Blake stopped listening and caring after that.

Of course they wouldn't hear back from anyone yet. They probably weren't the only ones out there anymore. But, most ponies definitely didn't have a network or signal as good as theirs. Even if they did they definitely didn't have as many people as them, nor were they as "skilled" as them either. If that's the right word to use…

But (un)luckily for Blake, Alyssa took notice of his "odd" behavior and decided to try and keep him company. Maybe she felt just as "out of place" and "left out" as him, who knows? "Hey…."

Blake just looked at her with the same apathetic look he always had. "What do you want?"

Well, that's definitely a way to start a conversation. Geez… She was just trying to be nice. "I just wanted to talk to you, that's all."

"Mhm." Spare him the pity, especially to someone like him. Blake ignored Alyssa whenever she tried to strike up a conversation and finished off the rest of his food so he could get out of here.

Hm. Not bad, maybe he'd tell Oliver that later…

That would've been the end of that, but on his way out Blake got stopped by the same mare as before. Alyssa… "Wait, Blake!"

What did she want-? No, he knew that face. That was the "what the hell was wrong with you" face. Stop, stop it… Stop looking at me like that… He didn't want to be seen like this, especially not around her.

"Are you okay…?" A simple question anybody should be able to answer. But all it did was make things worse. Stop it, JUST STOP IT!

To make things even worse Alyssa took notice of "something" and tried to reach towards Blake's wings…

"Don't touch me!"

Both of them jolted back and stared at each other, as if to process what happened for a moment.

Alyssa's face was one of concern, but to Blake that was the worst way someone could look at him.

But if he didn't want her worrying about him, then fine… She just wanted to see what those wounds were, that's all.

"Are you okay…?" Alyssa may have sounded like a broken record. But it wouldn't hurt to ask again, right? Just one last time…

As if directly mimicking a certain someone's actions before, Blake looked down and went silent for a moment. But instead of a smile, he looked at Alyssa with the same old apathetic face. "I'm fine."

Why…? Why, now…? He needed to… He had to… He knew what he had to do.