When Lightning Strikes...

by neighsmith

Chapter 5A: All It Takes Is A Spark...

Chapter 5A: All It Takes Is A Spark...

“Do you have anything planned for us to do today?” you ask Fuze hopefully while munching on some oat flakes.
He responds with a shrug and says, “Well I had a picnic and dinner planned for tonight, accompanied by a fire work show, but only if you want to go.”

You laugh and respond playfully, “A show and dinner outside? Why are you all romantic all of a sudden, Fuzey?” Fuze’s cheeks match the color of his mane and he hastily responds with a sheepish explanation,“Well, you are the one who asked about my job last time we had dinner, so I thought that you might want to experience my fireworks for yourself.”

“Awwww, you made them for me? How sweet.” You swoon up at him, his blush only flaring even more. Finally, to his great relief, you stop your teasing and punch him in the shoulder.

“Come on, you know I’m just messing. Yah I would like to see how awesome your mortars are. The one you ‘showed’ me earlier was definitely a blast!” you laugh at your gibe.

“Hey! I thought we promised never to mention that!” Fuze shot back, still recovering from the awkward situation you had put him in.


~~~~~~~

Fuze had yet to confess his feelings to you, and it made him feel dishonest. Being an Apple had its disadvantages. But he had made up his mind. Tonight is the night! At dinner, he will be so taken with everything, that he will have no choice but to love me back! Right? Although Fuze still heard the voice of doubt, his instinctual honesty was louder. Even if he doesn’t love me back, He cringed at the thought, but continued, He will still be my friend. And it’s just not right to lie to someone who has opened up to me like he has. Tonight will be the night.



~~~~~~~~

That rest of day passed slowly. Fuze left for work, and you decided to waste time by cleaning the house. After finishing, you start to prepare for the night. You were worried that you were going to be dressed too informal. Picnics aren’t formal, are they? But then again it is a dinner date, wait, date? Is that what this is? No, it can’t be, Fuze doesn’t like me back. Eventually, after debating with yourself on the finites of social outings in the manner of potential dates with regards to picnics, you settled on wearing an old grey and black shirt that you found earlier while cleaning. You take a long shower to occupy yourself until Fuze arrives home. After what feels like hours in the bathroom you find out, to your disappointment, it has only been twenty-five minutes. Sitting on Fuze’s couch, you wait. The minutes tick by slowly.

“Gah! I can’t wait any longer!” you scream out in exasperation.

“Is that what we are doing? I thought we were the ‘shhh!’ game.” Fuze asks from behind.

You jump up and yell, “Ahh! When did you get here?”

“I don’t know, maybe like an hour ago... Hey where did you get that shirt?”

“I um, got it from your closet,”

"It looks nice on you!" he says happily.

"Um, thank you?" you blush. “But that’s beside the point, how did you get here without me noticing? And why didn’t you tell me that you did?”

“Like I said, I thought we were playing the ‘shh!’ game! I’m the best at that game, you know,” he says, getting off of the couch, standing next to you and smiling.

You slowly count to three and take a deep breath.

“What’s the matter, Sparky?” the blue pony says.

“Nothing! Nothing at all, is it time to go to the park yet?” you respond, forcing all of your annoyance at him out, knowing that he can’t help being himself.

After a quick look at the clock, he smiles and nods. He grabs you by the hoof and drags you out the door, bouncing all the way. Although you aren’t normally the one to blush, you are taken aback by the way he pony handles you. You quickly force down the show of emotions, and simply let yourself be dragged along by this adorably energetic pony.

After arriving at the surprisingly packed park, he pulls you through the crowd up to a hill, where a blanket, two sets of eating utensils, and pillows for you both to sit on.

“After you, Sir Spark,” Fuze motions for you to sit down with a flourish of one hoof, the other bending in a courteous bow. After doing so, he continues, “Sparky?”

“Yes Fuze?” you respond.

“What is your last name? I don’t think I’ve ever heard you mention it before...” he says, partially puzzled.

“Well it is, um...” you hesitate, but, being prompted by Fuze’s stare, you finish with, “My last name is Hour.”
Fuze gasps and says “As in one of the three dream-caste families, Hour? The Noble Unicorn family who Celestia personally imbued with power after Luna’s banishment? Does that mean your dad is Nightingale Hour? Because that would be so cool!” His enthusiasm is apparent.

You deflate and sigh, harshly asking, “Do you even know what dreams the Hour Family was tasked with making?”

Fuze pulls back slightly, traces of hurt on his face. “Well no, not really.”

You let out another sigh , then say apologetically. “Sorry I snapped. Yes my dad was Nightingale hour, he’s dead now.”

Your companions expression changed from hurt and indignation to one of sorrow and he bows his head, his ears falling flat. “Oh... I’m sorry Fuze.”

You wince at the word ‘sorry’. Trying to lift his spirits, you brush it off by saying, “Oh Fuze, it’s nothing to worry about, I never really liked him that much anyways.”

Although it doesn’t exactly help Fuze, he did seem to look less sad. An awkward silence settles like a fog. It becomes stifling, to the point where you thought you were going to die of suffocation, or go insane from the tune that Fuze was absent mindedly humming. Where is it from anyways? It seems so familiar… Just then a waitress comes to the rescue by asking sweetly,

“And what will you two fair gentle-colts be having today?”

You mentally thank her a million times and ask aloud, “Do you serve oat-flakes?”

“Do you mean like the breakfast cereal?” she asked puzzled.

“Yes, indeed.” You smile at her, unaware that this is an unusual order.

“Well, I suppose that we can get something to that effect, but-” she can't finish what she is saying because you cut her off with

“Great! Then we will have some oat flakes and,” you look questioningly at Fuze.

“Hay Fries!” he says ecstatically.

“Ok, I’ll get some hay fries and … oat flakes,” she says, shaking her head and trotting off.

“What’s with her?” you ask, mystified.

“Maybe she has her tie tied on to tight,” Fuze replied with a hoof under his chin. “I’ll be sure to ask her about it when she comes back.”

The dreaded silence returns, as so does your unease with the awkward situation.

Damn! Just when I thought we had fixed that… Trying to find something to talk about you notice a library filling up with colts and fillies.

“Hey Fuze, why are those foals going to that library at this hour?”

“I think they are having a lock in, part of their school or something he says.” He says, while obviously being distracted by something. You are about to speak when your train of thought is disrupted by the noise of an announcer. Over the loud speakers that are set up everywhere, comes a booming voice,

“ATTENTION ALL PONIES. THE SHOW WILL BE STARTING SOON, PLEASE SETTLE DOWN.”

“Ohh!” Fuze says. “This is going super-uber especially fantastic!” He manages to reposition himself and his pillow to allow a better view of the stage. Unbeknownst to you, he is actually getting positioned closer to you.
On the stage, you can see a few ponies putting the finishing touches on the rack of rockets that are going to be displayed tonight. A thought strikes you.

“Why aren’t you down there helping them set up?” you ask.

“Well I normally do,” a quick blush passes over his face, but then subsides. “But tonight I actually wanted to see my work for myself. You know, from the perspective of the audience. And I didn’t want to leave you all by your selvsies! Because then you would get all lonely-wonely!”

“Ok, I get it. I just hope they don’t mess anything up,” you say, concerned.

“Oh don’t worry, I have full confidence in my crew. I made them pinkie promise to do their best tonight,” Fuze says confidently.



~~~~~~~~




Bucker, the chief pyro pegasus, made one last check to make sure that everything was in place where it should be. Everything is perfect, he thought

“Good for go?” a fellow worker called out.

“Yah were good, go when ready,” he calls out and leaves.

While Bucker was good, he did not have the uncanny ability to identify a problem before it became one, an ability that only two ponies in all of Equestria have. One has a pink coat, and the other was the one in charge of working this station. Tonight however, that second pony wasn’t here. Instead he was out watching the stage from afar. Bucker had actually done a fair job considering the difficulty of the task, and only missed one thing. But one thing can turn the best of nights into the worst.

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Authors note: although this chapter was written better than previous chapters, I still owe a thanks to my editors. So thank you Mobius and Cosmic!