A Healthy Friendship

by TheKing2001

Chapter I

I gave a yawn as I rolled out of bed, trailing my blankets behind me as I half trotted, half stumbled to the door as the gentle knocking continued. I didn’t really have many visitors and definitely not many at seven am.

“I’m coming!” I called out as I finally reached the door and opened it, stepping back nervously as Somnambula and Meadowbrook stood smiling in my doorway as I raised an eyebrow slightly. “Meadowbrook and Somnambula, what do I owe the pleasure?”

“We were in the neighborhood and decided to drop by. Want to go get coffee with us?” Somnambula asked as Meadowbrook coughed into a hoof. “Well coffee for me. She’s getting tea as usual.”

“It’s like seven am. Isn’t that a bit early?” I asked as I looked back into my small house. While I did travel a lot for my writing, I did like the edge of Hayseed Swamp a lot. My house was on a hill overlooking the swamp.

“Not for breakfast,” Meadowbrook smiled at me warmly as I sighed internally. These two were always the nicest to me out of all the Pillars. Rockhoof was more quiet and Flash Magnus always seemed kinda too amazing for me to ever compare to. Mistmane always seemed a bit unapproachable but I blame my self confidence for that one. And don’t even get me started on Starswirl.

“Yeah sure I’m in. I could use some breakfast,” I admitted as I rubbed the back of my head. “I haven’t really eaten recently.”

“How long is recently?” Somnambula asked as I grabbed my bag of bits.

“Four days.

The two gave me stunned looks and an angry one in Meadowbrook’s case as I joined them, closing the door behind me with a soft thud. I didn’t really explore much of the area yet at least. Always some new story to write down that gets my attention first unfortunately.

“Why?” Meadowbrook asked as I started a slow trot behind Somnambula. “Eating is important and healthy. You’ll get sick and potentially die if you don’t.”

“Busy. Got lot’s of writing and spell checking to do, letters to send. I haven’t really gotten out to explore the area unfortunately.”

The two nodded as I cracked my neck. I swear, I always wake up in the weirdest positions. I once woke up curled like a ball and my neck was screaming at me all day. Don’t even get me started on how my back hurt.

“We have a decent waffle business nearby,” Meadowbrook said as I glanced at her smiling slightly at me. “Do you still like waffles?”

I paused and gave her a startled look. I didn’t think any of them ever remembered my interests, let alone my favorite breakfast foods.

“How do you know that?” I asked as Meadowbrook maintened her slight smile.

“Whenever we all got breakfast together, you always got waffles and sat alone in the corner of the room unless I sat with you,” Meadowbrook answered as Somnambula looked away. “Plus you told me so one day.”

“Oh,” I answered slowly and the rest of the walk was silent as I admired the small town we had trotted into. “Where are we going again?”

“Right here. Frying Pans breakfast house,” Somnambula said as she waved a hoof and I grunted in response before examining the small looking building in front of me.

“Interesting name,” I mused as she nodded.

“Frying Pan is a nice stallion. Bit too excitable about pans, though,” Somnambula commented with a smirk as I held the door open for them. “Thank you.”

“Thank you Stygian,” Meadowbrook smiled at me as I nodded and paused as she patted me on the back.

I can’t remember if she was normally this touchy or not in the past. A thousand years can make some memories hard to remember.

“You’re welcome,” I muttered as I stared after them before following hastily. “So, uh, do I just sit down?”

“Yeah,” Somnambula answered and fluttered her wings as I sat across from Meadowbrook. “Fluttershy is quite fond of these “sit down restaurants” as she calls them. Equestria has come a long way since back then.”

“Agreed,” I admitted as a stallion trotted up to us and placed three menus down silently. “I thought Starlight said they pick a table for you, not us pick one.”

“They’re more lax here about that than the rest of Equestria,” Meadowbrook waved a hoof as she stretched. “It’s nice to be back here.”

I stayed quiet as I examined my menu curiously. I may have been out of limbo for months but modern Equestria still found new ways to amaze me. I was impressed by a tree once on Applejack’s farm that was half apples and pears. A tree of all things.

“And what would you like?” The same stallion asked as I jumped. I didn’t even know he had returned.

“Waffles for him with vanilla coffee,” Meadowbrook answered for me. One of these days I’ll get over my damn shyness. One thing I learned recently, modern Equestrians could be quite colorful with their curse words, especially Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

“Thank you,” I bowed my head respectfully as he took our menus in a faint yellow glow of magic. “Somehow, I have a feeling you two asked me here for more than just breakfast.”

The two exchanged looks as Somnambula sighed.

“You’re right,” Somnambula admitted as she shifted her wings. “We weren’t in the neighborhood, we came to see you. Both of us did, we had similar ideas it seems.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as they stared at me.

“We’re sorry,” the two said in unison as I felt my eyes widen.

“We treated you badly back when we cast you out, and for that we’re incredibly sorry,” Somnambula commented as she patted my hoof. “The other Pillars and I have admittedly been arguing amongst ourselves about it. Stupid arguments about who’s fault it really was to cast you and, well, most blame Starswirl and Flash Magnus. Especially with the books you’ve wrote detailing your side.”

“And you want me to recall them?” I guessed as they both shook their heads and Meadowbrook grabbed my spare hoof.

“No. We want you to get your side out there because all everypony knows is what we wrote down in our journals afterwards. We read your books, and…everything you said concerned me the most.”

“And me,” Somnambula interjected as her ears flicked. “The three stallions of the group were a bit more reserved about how they felt. Typical males. No offense, of course.”

“None taken,” I laughed quietly. “Starswirl always did keep things hidden inside.”

“Yeah he did,” Meadowbrook admitted as she squeezed my hoof and I faintly felt warm in the face. “If you’ll let us, we were interested in spending more time with you. You and I live in the same area and have talked a little since what happened.”

I paused and examined their faces. They did seem to be genuine but at the same time, the last time I tried to get close to anypony, I became an ugly creature of shadows and was put in limbo with the others for a thousand years.

“Yes,” I answered and nodded as they both gave relieved sighs. “So, what now?”

“Well, I’m hungry so breakfast and then we can go on a nature walk. Meadowbrook said you liked them after all,” Somnambula smirked at us both as Meadowbrook turned red.

“Who doesn’t like nature walks?” Meadowbrook pointed out as I found myself nodding in agreement.

The same stallion with a frying pan cutie mark returned and set down plates in front of us as I sniffed the waffles. I had forgotten what waffles that weren’t cooked in a toaster smelled like.

Somnambula smirked at us again as I forgot Meadowbrook was still holding my hoof.

Comments

[A Man Undercover]

It’s only the first chapter in, and already I’m entranced by this story and enjoying what it’s providing. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

[MatTheBook]

Why is there an EQG tag?

[Sunny Scriber]

Not only why is there an EQG tag like MatTheBook pointed out, but why was this story submitted into the Sunset Shimmer story group?
Don't get me wrong, this story looks wonderful and I'm curious to see where it goes, but...

[TheDerpyLover]

11851050
Probably hinting at Sunset appearing?

[Sunny Scriber]

11851082
I don't see why though.. Why go to Sunset for romance help when the Princess of Love is right there in Equestria? Being the pillars and Starlight being Twilights student it wouldn't be all that hard to set something up with Candance.
Besides that, the Sunset Shimmer story group are ment for stories where she's the main character, which in this story she clearly is not.

[A Man Undercover]

11851010
11851050
11851082
I’ve asked the author similar questions quite a while ago. You’ll all just have to wait and see.

[Sunny Scriber]

11851503
Fair and valid point. At least for the Equestria Girls tag. But putting it in the Sunset Shimmer group is pushing it too far. Even if she does make a cameo, it doesn't belong in the Sunset story group. A cameo, even if it's an extended one, is not enough. Only stories where our little bacon hair is a central focus or heavily involved are the ones that belong in that specific group. I already talked about that with one of the groups mods. Rules are rules, I don't make them but we gotta follow them.

That being said, this is still a wonderful start to a story and I can't wait for the next chapter!