Chapter 16: It's the Little Things
Chapter 16: It's the Little Things
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A new day dawned in Ponyville. For most of the town's population, the day was nothing special. However, for one unicorn colt, it was a day very close to his heart. It was the date he was born, his birthday. And he was waking up with one single aim in his mind, a small request he'd made, more to himself than anything as he laid down to go to bed last night.
"I know they're very good friends, and I do want to get to know them better at some point, but in all honesty, I'm a little worn out with the crazy stuff that happens whenever I'm around them...I need a break."
Azure Courage was taking the day off from everything: work and friends, to have some needed alone time so he could do whatever he wanted without the others interrupting. The others all seemed to have their hooves full anyway, so he'd figured he wasn't going to miss a whole lot if he took the day away from them. Today would be the day where he did his usual routine without one of the others intertwined, somehow.
The unicorn decided to waste no time in spending his day alone. He decided to remain indoors, and conduct some very basic training with his martial arts, just to make sure his form was up to par. Hooves crashed against thin air, and eventually, a sand bag, as the cyan colt exerted himself through his activity. It felt great to be able to do this without somepony knocking on his door.
It wasn't that he didn't like spending time with his friends, but sometimes, the randomness they could get into was almost too much for him. There wasn't much in the way of noise except for the sounds of rapid, aggressive movement, and the "thwack" of hooves hitting a solid object. Azure continued to attack the training bag until he felt like his aggression had been dealt with, and his form had been suitably practiced.
It hadn't taken him more than an hour to physically train himself. Having made sure his martial arts were polished, Azure went to his bedroom, and sat up on the bed, a place he often went whenever he chose to meditate.
He shut his eyes, his horn dimly sparking to life as he found his "center", his senses slowly fading out as he focused quietly. It was a technique his cousins had taught him given Azure had been a bit on the weak side when it came to magic control, and so far, he'd managed to work it out perfectly. Sure, he still had issues with the teleport spell from time to time, but he was improving.
In his mind's eye, he could see the cyan glow that represented his magic pool. He reached out with his hooves in that mental space, and slowly began to hold it close to his chest, almost like he would a baby or a small infant. It was a mental, magical exercise he often did: by kindling the magic in this manner, usually, he wound up feeling a bit more "in-tune" with the force unicorns often manipulated.
It was a process he'd done ever since he'd started being able to focus in his meditation, and often, he'd go for at least an hour or two while undisturbed.
"Pinkie!" The colt unexpectedly snapped. "Don't you...ever...knock...?"
Called completely out of his meditation, Azure looked around his bedroom, fully expecting a pink earth pony to pop out of nowhere and greet him in her usual method. Yet, it was dead silence. He sat there, blinking, as he found himself rubbing at his mane, wondering what that outburst was all about. Eventually, it hit him.
Most of the time, when he had his meditation forcefully interrupted, Pinkie was the one barging in to recruit him for...something.
"Force of habit, I guess..." Azure thought aloud, trotting over to the window. He looked up to the tree outside, and sighed. "I'm so used to her interrupting me that when I finally manage to get a good deal of time in..."
He looked up toward the sky. How long had he been at it? Unwittingly, he looked up higher, into the branches of a tree just outside, and saw a bird's nest. The one thing that was off about it was the fact it was an empty nest. No sign of life--in fact, now that Azure focused on it, it looked like it hadn't been used in quite some time.
What happened to the birds there...? he wondered to himself, staring up at the defunct nest. Wait...I remember now...
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It wasn't long after the first incident with the Shadow Ghouls. Azure had more or less busted his hump trying to both work and train himself hard, and had capped off the evening with a little bit of Pinkie-free meditation. All seemed to go well, and indeed, he hadn't been disturbed. His magic control increased, Azure Courage prepared to go to bed early, given he was sore and not in the mood to do a whole lot else.
Cheep-cheep, cheep-cheep...
Azure gave a sharp grunt of annoyance, and tossed over in his bed, groaning as he tried to find a way to avoid the horridly disturbing sound of what sounded like birds chirping. However, no matter how often he'd shifted in his bed, he just could not escape that irritating noise.
"For crying out loud..." he moaned, getting out of his bed and trotting over to his window. "Why are the birds making so much noise this late...?"
He groggily opened the window and peeked out, going to where he could hear the noises of birds chirping. The colt rubbed at his eyes with one hoof, trying to get the slightly blurred vision to clear. He noticed the birds had built a nest in the tree outside the window. The unicorn groaned, but at least he knew why.
"They're nesting in that tree...?" Azure groaned, closing his window and rubbing at his ears. "Sweet Celestia, this is troublesome...I won't be able to make up all that time I missed at this rate..."
Azure wasn't a cruel pony. He had two very good reasons why he didn't take a brutish solution to it. One, he would never destroy another's home unless it was to everypony's benefit; two, Fluttershy would never forgive him if he did forcefully remove the nest. He was caught between a rock and a hard place when it came down to it, and the unicorn knew he'd just have to suck it up and try to sleep. He laid down in his bed, and completely went under his covers.
He closed his eyes, and once again tried to sleep.
Cheep-cheep, cheep-cheep...
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The night passed, and Azure had not slept well at all. He couldn't go more than an hour without fighting the urge to nod off. The colt was suffering sleep deprivation like no other, and had virtually no motivation to exert himself. Somehow or other, he'd made it through the day, though his boss inquired as to whether or not he'd suddenly developed narcolepsy.
Stupid birds... the colt thought to himself as he walked along, keeping me up at night...
"Azure, what's wrong?" Fluttershy asked him, though because he was so tired, he didn't bother to respond until he'd walked about five steps.
"Oh," He could not contain a yawn, his eyes clearly displaying a lack of sleep the night before. "hey, Fluttershy."
"Oh...your eyes..." she commented, looking a little down because of that.
"Yeah, I didn't sleep good last night..." Azure punctuated that admission with a yawn. "Plan to make up for it when I get home by taking a nice, long nap..."
If Fluttershy had said anything more to him, the cyan unicorn didn't hear it, his mind and psyche far too focused on getting the sleep he'd been deprived of the night before...
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Cheep-cheep, cheep-cheep...
Cheep-cheep, cheep-cheep...
Cheep-cheep, cheep-cheep...
"Ngh!" Azure grunted, tossing around in his bed. "Can't a colt get some sleep?! Why are the birds active this late in the day?"
The pony rose up, taking a desperate solution to his problem. He removed the pillow cases from his pillows, and jammed the cloth into his ears until the noise was all but muffled. For the most part, anyway. It was enough for the sleep-deprived colt to be able to ignore it. The colt slowly fell asleep, satisfied that he could finally get some shut-eye. At some point, the cloth loosened, but Azure didn't notice.
Knock, knock, knock.
Until there was a pony knocking at his door. Azure sharply growled, and his eyes, reddened with the utter lack of sleep he'd gotten the night before, shot open. He launched the blankets off of him, and yanked the blankets off, ready to verbally assault whoever it was that disrupted his sleep. He stormed to the door, his hooves making audible sounds as he approached the door. He sleepily used his magic to toss the door open, and gave a sharp inhale...
"Oh, I-I'm sorry, Azure, I didn't mean to wake you..."
And immediately froze as he realized he was about half a second away from screaming at Fluttershy.
"F-Flutter--" He was cut off midsentence by a pitiful yawn. The cyan colt growled and smacked himself across the face with a forehoof to keep himself awake. The sleep deprivation-induced vision impairment finally cleared, and he was able to see two birds perched on the mare's head.
"Um, I came by to check on you and I noticed these two birds in a nest outside your window..." She said. "I realized they must have been what kept you up last night...so I-I decided to convince them to move."
She looked up to the birds on her head. "Now, if you can tell him you're sorry for keeping him up all night, I'll help you move to a new nest where you won't disturb anypony..."
To this day, Azure Courage believed the part where the birds actually appeared to chirp a legitimate apology to him was just a moment of insomnia-induced dementia.
"T-thank you, Fluttershy..." The cyan colt nodded, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna take that nap..."
No sooner did he close the door and turn around to go back to bed did Azure collapse flat on his stomach and pass out asleep.
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Azure continued to stare at the empty nest, blinking.
"Even now, I don't get how she made them tell me they were sorry," he reiterated to himself. "Ugh, I shouldn't be in my house all day. One, that's more Twilight's thing; two, it causes a pony to think too much. I'm goin' for a nice, long walk..."
With that, the cyan colt turned and strode straight out of his home, making sure to lock the door in place before going on his walk.
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The cyan colt trotted all about the town in a random path, not really bothering to avoid his friends' places of residence or work. All the way, whether he passed Town Hall or assisted some random pony with a trivial task because he felt like he didn't have anything better to do, Azure Courage found he just could not shake a restless feeling the whole way. It wasn't like when he felt like he had to do something extremely active, but at the same time, he couldn't place it.
The colt stopped, rubbing at his mane a little as he contemplated why he felt the way he did.
"Hm...what time is it?" He glanced up to the sky to see Celestia's sun a bit high up, but starting to trail west. "Past noon...? How long was I in training?"
His gaze fell upon a building, and for some reason, he felt oddly transfixed. All of a sudden, his snout picked up the scent of something delicious, and cued by the odor, his stomach gave a loud growl and a very dull pain. He'd gone quite a long time without eating.
"Geez, I'm hungry..."
As soon as he said this, the colt's brown eyes widened, as a distant memory returned to him. This time, it was a friend's gesture to him while he was on the job, and had jumped the gun a bit in terms of preparing for the day.
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It hadn't been long since Azure had gotten back on the job. In fact, it was maybe eight days after Fluttershy had done him the kindness of moving those troublesome nocturnal chirpers. The colt had been in a bit of a rush that morning, but hadn't really given it much thought. He'd woken up a bit late on that day, and barely made it to the job site on time.
The colt had been tasked with repairing the building he was standing in front of in the present day. It hadn't been more than an hour in when an unexpected visitor arrived in a most unexpected of places.
"Hi, Azie!"
Azure gave a sharp grunt of surprise when Pinkie randomly popped out of one of the port-o-potties on site.
"P-Pinkie," No matter how much he tried to deny it, the pink mare almost always managed to surprise him with where she chose to show up. "what were you doing in there?"
"Well, when you've got to go, you've got to go!" Pinkie chirped, hopping around him. The unicorn felt the urge to both laugh and facehoof from the way she said it. And the fact she said it at all only added to the urge to chuckle uncomfortably.
"I see..." managed Azure, returning to his business.
"So what'cha doin'?" she asked, probably completely oblivious as to the fact she needed a hard-hat on a construction site.
"Well, we're working on some repairs," the colt responded. "Simple enough..."
"Say, have you ever sat on a beam and ate lunch with your work friends?" she asked. "I saw a picture like that somewhere!"
"No, most of the crew buy their lunch...or bring their own..." Azure responded, once again being reminded of the fact he had neither a lunch or the means to buy one on him.
"Wait, Azie," Pinkie continued, "You didn't bring a lunch!"
"Yeah," The cyan unicorn turned away, adjusting his hard hat. "I'm not worried. I'll think I'll be fine..."
When Pinkie failed to respond to that, a surprise to him, Azure turned around, "Pinkie?"
She wasn't even there to hear his reassuring reply...
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Hours passed, and eventually, it was time for lunch. Though Azure played it off like it was no big deal, inside, he was suffering. He'd skipped breakfast, and the fact he hadn't had anything to eat all day was really getting to him now. Azure had his head down on a bench, and oh, sweet gentle Celestia, was he hungry. It was almost completely debilitating, how hungry he was.
"My stomach may as well be an Ursa Major's cave right now..." Azure moaned aloud, not caring if anypony heard him or not. At this moment, his nose immediately picked up the scent of something sweet. His stomach, in response to the absolutely amazing smell, gave a very loud, painful growl, and he patted his stomach with one forehoof. He turned to the source of the smell, fully expecting to see one of his coworkers taunting him.
"Hey, Azie," Pinkie greeted, her eyes and mouth communicating happiness, as she held out a basket. "I thought you'd need this to get'cha through the day..."
Azure floated the basket over onto the table, and weakly opened it. His eyes snapped open, and his mouth began to produce copious amounts of drool.
"O-oh...wow...!"
Inside the basket: a few small cakes, each appearing to have a different flavor than before. This was definitely going to fill his empty belly...and leave him with a severe need to see that dentist.
He crammed the first cake into his mouth before he even remembered it.
"Thanks, Pinkie," Azure remarked with his mouth full.
"Don't worry, Azie, this one's on me!" The earth pony remarked, "I knew you'd need lunch!"
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Back in the present day, Azure was enjoying hay fries at the local cafe, the waves of memory washing over him. Pinkie had gone out of her way to make sure he didn't starve to death all day because he'd overslept and forgotten to eat breakfast and pack lunch. The food he was eating was a far more fitting lunch than that. The cyan colt sighed.
That wasn't the first time a friend had showed up on the job, either... Azure thought, taking another bite of his food. Same week, different day...
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The colt had been tasked with repairing another building, a place not too far off from where he would eventually demonstrate Silver's ability to freegallop like he could. The colt was able to make quite a bit of progress, even with a solo job. The task was also difficult as well, partly because he didn't have a partner.
Azure was ready to go home and enjoy a little bit of meditation, when his ears picked up something outside the window. He turned his head, and his eyes shot wide open when a familiar rainbow trail crashed through one of the patches in the ceiling he'd had to make. A moment later, the streak made contact with the floor, and strangely came to an explosive stop, the force of the impact blasting Azure clean off his hooves.
When he got back to his feet, he stared in utter shock as he surveyed the room he was in. The whole place had basically been reduced back to the state it was in when he first arrived. The shock quickly gave way to anger when he saw the pegasus mare responsible for it: Rainbow Dash.
Trying to keep his rage under control, Azure spoke up, "Hey, Rainbow..."
"Oh, hi, Az..." Rainbow responded, apparently able to see the vein very clearly throbbing on the unicorn's face. The unicorn's very first instinct was to yell at the pegasus for crashing through and undoing a hard day's work of repairs. However, he fought for control over himself as he re-checked the damages. Sure enough, the day's work had been undone thanks to the pegasus's sudden crash. It had been a long, hard endeavor, but it was rendered null. Azure was back at square one and he was not pleased with that.
"This was probably the hardest job I've ever had to do, and I had to do it all on my own," The cyan colt said aloud, turning to Rainbow. His voice was quiet, but the suppressed anger in his tone was clear. "It took me all day to get this place fixed up, and you just destroyed it in a second..."
"Sorry, Az," The blue mare's response went from light-hearted to guilty-sounding over the course of her sentence as she surveyed the damage she'd actually done and the look on Azure's face. "I was practicin' a new stunt...and lost...control...um..."
"Well, I guess I'll just have a fun day tommorrow doing what I did today all over again...I need to go vent..." The unicorn huffed, using his magic to open the door. The instant he tried, the doorknob came off in his magical glow. He stared angrily at it. He shouldn't have needed to repair that...but now he did. On top of what he had to re-do...
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It had been one of the most aggressive times in Azure's life. He nearly busted the sandbag and had to fight to get to his mental center during his meditation due to the frustration he felt at the whole thing. Even when he went to bed, he'd had a little trouble getting to sleep, and he very nearly dreamt of the incident that shattered his progress. The colt awoke the next morning, knowing what he had to re-do.
"Alright...let's get this over with..." Azure put his hard hat on his head, and went back to the construction site that had been violated by his friend's failed stunt. It was a grim prospect, but somepony had to make sure everything was fixed. And if he had to re-do this job and finish it alone, that's what he'd have to do.
The path he walked to the site he was at wasn't an easy one, but when he got there, he saw something odd.
"Finally, you're here!"
Azure snapped to attention. Hovering impatiently in front of the building he was assigned to repair was Rainbow Dash in a hard hat much like his own.
"Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?" Azure questioned, most of his former anger replaced with confusion.
"What does it look like, Az?" responded the mare flippantly, "I felt bad about what happened yesterday night, so I'm gonna help you get this done!"
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The unexpected help actually did more good than harm. It hadn't taken long before the combination of physical unicorn and fast pegasus had actually caught up with the workload. Sure enough, by the end of the day, the repairs had not only returned the process to where it was before Rainbow lost control and crashed, but they had actually managed to advance the repairs beyond the point Azure had reached the night before.
The progress was absolutely remarkable. Not only was the room he'd worked hard on done, but the other rooms in need of repairs were done too. By the end of the workday, by some force or another, the two ponies had managed to get it done.
Rainbow Dash had chosen to volunteer since she'd felt bad about failing the stunt and reversing virtually all of Azure's work. Not only did she put it back the way it was, she helped him basically finish the job he'd been assigned.
"I can't believe we got this done..." Azure said, removing his hard hat to run a hoof through the sweat that had practically pooled in his mane. "In one day."
"Guess the job wasn't that hard after all, huh?" Rainbow asked. "Either that, or I'm simply that good at constructing things instead of destroying things..."
"Say, Rainbow," Azure cut in, now feeling bad he'd gotten mad at her. "Sorry about almost losing it before...it was..."
"Uncool?" asked the rainbow-maned pony, with a smug smirk on her face.
"Yeah, pretty much..." responded the unicorn.
"No biggie, Az," replied the mare as she put a foreleg around him in a friendly gesture. "I'd probably have gotten mad if you'd done somethin' like that to me."
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Azure finished his meal, but the distant look refused to leave his face. Even though she'd had ambitions to join the Wonderbolts, her loyalty to her friends had always come first. Though sometimes that ego of hers seemed to really grate on his nerves...
The colt found himself wondering why only now he was thinking of these gestures, when he'd wanted a day off from the randomness today, on his birthday. Unconsciously, he rubbed at his mane, and gave a small grunt when he realized he'd loosened the knot in his headband.
With a sigh, he took the headband the rest of the way off, and began to fiddle with it. As he looked up with it in the light, ready to put it back on, he noticed something that he wouldn't have noticed under most light.
"When did this patch--?" he asked himself aloud, when yet another memory washed over him.
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It was a couple of days after he and Rainbow had played tag in the storm. He was out in a rocky area not too far from Ponyville to train with some offensive spells. The unicorn had always first practiced shooting fast lasers, then moved to charged shots. However, he was going to try something a little different. As a sort of experiment, he wanted to see exactly how much he could put into a laser at once. He'd never really tried it with no more than twenty seconds' charge, the only exception being when he'd freed Twilight from Nightmare Moon's "cage".
He shut his eyes in concentration, trying to charge up the laser. His horn sparked to life and began to glow brighter and brighter as he focused magic into the attack. He didn't notice it at the time, but his headband, which had been loosely knotted that day, start to shift a little on the back of his head as he charged his spell.
The laser fired, the recoil blowing Azure back. He dug his hooves into the ground, not fully expecting the kick out of the laser. The beam ripped forth from his horn, heading for a large boulder. The cyan light drilled into the rock, and wiped it out, shattering it into rubble. As soon as the shards of rock finished raining down, Azure Courage had only one thing to say.
"Wow..." He ran a hoof across his head. "Is that how much I--" His forehoof ran across the place where he'd expected his band to be, but he didn't see it there. "Where'd my band go...?"
The cyan colt looked around, "I just had it around my--"
His eyes widened when he finally caught sight of it. Seeing the parting gift in the state it was in after the laser had Azure on the end of his rope already. Though it was mostly alright, a sizable chunk of the middle of the band had been charred away, the edge charred black. The "Courage" stitching had been reduced to just "C----ge" due to the size of the cloth missing. The thing barely qualified as a band anymore.
"Oh, no, no, no..." he mumbled, picking it up, panicking like no other on the inside."What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?"
He stared at the damaged band, as though the answer would come screaming at him if he just stood there uselessly and did nothing. Eventually it hit him. He knew somepony that could help him.
He replaced the band, tying it as tightly as he could around his head without tearing it the rest of the way in half.
"Gotta go see Rarity," he breathed, already making tracks for her place of work. "She's gotta be able to help me..."
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"Rarity!" Azure yelled, forgoing knocking on the door and quite rudely barging into the Carousel Boutique as soon as he came within distance of the building. The building had nothing but the sound of silence filling its corners. No, wait, there was a soft, feminine humming, very distinct from that of Fluttershy. And an even softer, almost unnoticeable whir of machinery. Breathing a little hard from everything that had happened and the exertion of running near full-tilt there, Azure followed the sounds.
He arrived at the room to see the white unicorn hard at work. She was humming lightly to herself, positioned near a sewing machine, working her magic on what Azure assumed to be a dress. Of course, at the time, he didn't really care what she was doing.
"Rarity?" The cyan colt asked. The humming stopped, but she continued to work. Azure did not take the lack of response too well. He questioned her again, with a little more force: "Rarity??"
"I heard you the first time, Azure," said Rarity in response, not even taking her eyes from her work.
"Um..." The way she responded didn't leave the male unicorn with much hope that his friend was paying attention to his problem. "I came here because I needed something fixed."
"Is that so?" She didn't sound skeptical or even interested, deep into her work on the dresses.
"You see, I was out in the forest--" Azure attempted to explain.
"I do not need to know the details, darling..." Rarity was clearly paying a little more attention to him, but she still did not take her eyes from the machine.
"Uh...okay..." The way she was acting made Azure's head fill with doubt that his request was going to get done any time soon, even given what she embodied. "So...when do you think you can fix it?"
Rarity turned to face him halfway, so it was likely she didn't see the damaged band at the time, though it was clear she was invested in her work. Her horn sparked to life and she continued to push the cloth under the sewing machine as she turned to him.
"I have a long list of dresses to complete by the end of the month," she said to him, as simply as she could. Given that he didn't know a thing about running a business, Azure wasn't really in a position to argue with what she continued: "If I do not meet the quota, I will lose a cilent." She turned back to her work flawlessly, and made a subtle motion with one hoof, "Please, place whatever it is on the counter over there and I will get to it when I am able."
Azure wasn't in a place to argue. He knew it. He obliged, putting the damaged band on the counter.
"Got it," the cyan colt said, starting to walk out. "Please, just be careful with it..."
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The unicorn did not remember falling asleep that night. It was his day off, but for some reason, Azure couldn't leave his bed. He wasn't sick, but he felt uneasy. Maybe it was the fact he was missing his band. It was a memento of his family back home, and now that he had it, he never felt right without it on or in plain sight.
He had to trust that Rarity would one day get to it. He knew she would; she was his friend, probably not the closest to him out of the six, but nevertheless he did identify her as one. When she barely knew him, she did give him a gift of her own-the red blanket that he'd used ever since moving in.
"I can't sit around moping all day. It isn't like me..." Azure mumbled to himself. Without his headband, for some odd reason, he felt more...vulnerable, if anything. When he'd handed it off to Fluttershy, he did so without a second thought because he knew she needed something to give her confidence and it was the only thing he could think of.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Hm?" The colt mumbled to himself, rising from his bed and trotting slowly to the door. "Who could that be this early?"
He reached up to the door, pulling it open with his magic for a change. When he saw who was there, he was moderately surprised.
"Good morning, Azure," said Rarity, levitating a small white box behind her in a blue glow. "I have something I believe you will appreciate."
The unicorn colt found himself blinking, but took the box in his own magic. He felt a weird case of deja vu, but there was no way she--
He opened the box to find a very familiar sight. It was his headband, perfectly repaired as though he hadn't burned it at all. Azure didn't even notice the patching job until a few days later when he'd had the reverse side of the band in the light, just right. Even now, he'd almost forgotten it had been damaged. The job was just that good.
"R-Rarity..." Azure's gaze was distant, yet clearly excited. "how? I thought you..."
"Indeed," Rarity responded, "I do have a long list of orders to fulfill. However, from the way you were acting, I could tell that this was important to you. So, I made sure to put it at the top of my list."
Azure did not waste any time securing the headband around his head while she explained away. "T-thank you!"
"I even made sure to stitch it by hoof," The white mare continued. "I'm happy to see you like my work. And, to be frank, darling, I can not imagine you without that headband for a long time. It suits you too well."
The colt immediately removed his treasure. Even the "Courage" stitching had been restored to, more or less, what it was before.
"Indeed, it does..." Azure mumbled.
"Though, do try to be more careful in the future," Rarity said. "I could tell at a glance a wild animal did not take hold of it..."
From that day forward, Azure always made sure his headband was on tight whenever he went out...
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Azure tapped a hoof on the table. Why couldn't he stop thinking about his friends? Sure, Rarity did fix his headband, and it did mean a lot to him, but on top of everything else, it just felt odd that on the one day he wanted to have to himself, now he couldn't stop thinking about his friends and the gestures they'd done for him.
Not to mention what happened the last time he and Applejack had spent a lot of time together in a day--
"I need to do something..." Azure mumbled to himself, paying for the meal and exiting the cafe. "I'm starting to lose it, and I don't know what to do..."
The cyan colt dragged a forehoof back and forth along the ground as he stood idly in the Ponyville streets. It was a bit irritating that nothing seemed like it was.
"I need to get to the library," The words were words that the cyan colt had spoken before, but the reason for his visits before were out of concern and a need to know. Now, it was purely selfish, and sketchy at best. "I think I'd better check out a book..."
Not even bothering to realize how unlikely that sentence was, Azure Courage immediately began running to the library. It was a fast run, one that almost made the unicorn look like a mad colt on a mission. Well, to be fair, he sort of was.
He reached the Golden Oaks library quickly, but found himself halting outside the door. Another recent memory returned to him, but it wasn't exactly a pleasant one...
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"Ooh...sweet...Celestia..."
Azure Courage had not ever been this sick since he was a small foal. However, he had to have gotten something. He felt incredibly hot, yet he felt more comfortable in his bed. If he tried to do much of anything, he would almost instantly feel sick. He could barely stand to drink cold water, and eating almost anything was out of the question.
"Drenched in sweat...can't drink...or eat...this...sucks..."
His assessment of his situation was pretty fair given his condition. The colt couldn't even hear a knock at the door. The second time, however, it completely registered, and he groaned as he forced himself out of bed.
In his condition, magic only seemed to make his head burn like no other, so he couldn't use it. While this wasn't too much of an issue for the physical-oriented colt, the fact he couldn't do much without almost having to drag himself back to bed afterward only made the task worse.
The pony somehow managed to make it to his door, and weakly pulled it open. Azure could see it was Twilight, who seemed concerned.
"Azure...?" She also sounded surprised to see him in the condition he was in. "Wow, you don't look so good..."
"That's..." Azure found himself on wobbly legs, the mere fact he'd gotten out of bed for as long as he did already taking a toll. "an understatement..."
"You really shouldn't be out of bed..." Twilight said. Azure found himself trying not to pass out again.
"I was in bed..." The colt said. "But somepony knocked..."
Azure suddenly found himself being lifted clear off his feet. Unlike before, when Twilight--he had to double check to make sure he was still alive and in the surprisingly gentle magenta glow--had yanked him out of the path of the Ursa Minor, she was nearly cradling him back to his bed.
"Now we know why you weren't outside all day yesterday..." Twilight said, "I'd guess you might have gotten sick from the storm or the river, and your active lifestyle probably aggravated your condition..."
"I figured that much out myself," Azure responded, being placed back into his bed. "I have not been this sick in a long, long time..." He found himself at a loss with how the studious pony was treating him. Sure, they were friends, but she was usually at odds with him. The only time she hadn't been was right after the Ursa Minor had been forced out of town.
The mare moved slowly, reaching cautiously out to him with a forehoof. She placed it right at the base of his horn, right between his eyes. She winced a few moments later and pulled her hoof back.
"You are burning up..." she observed. Azure could only stare, blinking, at what the pony was doing. As he saw the concern reflected in her lavender eyes, the unicorn could only wonder if the fever was bringing about a hallucination. "Are you in pain?"
"M-mostly just soreness," the colt replied after some silence, "but it really hurts to swallow. I'm sure it's just a cold..."
Lung-rattling coughs raked through him, and aching took over as he did. He turned away from Twilight as he hacked up what felt like part of his lungs.
"You wish it was just a cold..." the purple mare said again, and a few moments later, Azure was lifted off the bed. The blankets moved underneath his floating body, and the colt found himself bundled up in the blankets, in a cocoon of warmth.
"I'm already burning up...what's the point of this?" the sick pony asked.
"You need to sweat out that fever or else it won't go away..." said Twilight, sounding a little distant. Confused, Azure rolled over to look for her, and discovered that she wasn't there at all. For a few moments, the cyan colt wondered if it was just a dream and he was still home alone, when he heard the sound of rushing water.
A couple of minutes later, the mare returned, carrying with her a large bowl of ice water and a large rag. She soaked the rag, wrung most of the moisture out, and placed the rag around the base of his horn. After being warm for so long, the sick colt could only shiver in response to the stimulus, but eventually, the sensation faded and the cold compress actually helped.
"Now," Twilight continued, also holding a glass of water, "I know it hurts to swallow, but you need to drink something..."
Azure hesitated a little, to which Twilight said, "Come on, you're going to be sweating a lot; you should know you need to stay hydrated."
Eventually, the cyan colt relented and took the cup in his hooves. The chill of the water going down his throat did little to ease the pain of swallowing, but eventually he managed to finish the water.
"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Twilight smiled, taking the cup back. All the while, Azure could only think of one thing.
What in Equestria is going on today...? She's being really nice to me...sickness nonwithstanding...
"Now, I'm going to go get some stuff to help you get over this. Where do you keep your house key?"
Azure was so taken aback that he fumbled for an answer. Whoever this pony was, it couldn't have been the same mare he found himself at odds with most of the time. Eventually, he was able to break his silence.
"Over there...should be close to the front door..."
Twilight turned, and after some searching, she found the key in question.
"Azure, try to go back to sleep. I won't be gone long..."
Azure listened to Twilight leave, staring after the mare's general path. He blinked, not knowing what was happening. Even if he was as sick as he was, that didn't change the fact that it almost felt like there was a rift between them due to their clashing ideals. It was hard for him to believe that she was so willing to...
The colt's eyelids grew heavy. The fact he'd finally gotten some water in his system, as well as the cold compress around the base of his horn, was allowing him to relax without even realizing it. He was out before the end of three minutes.
-------------------------------------------
The sound of the door closing woke Azure. He felt agitated, paranoid. How long was he out? Who got in while he was asleep? Questions surged through his feverish mind faster than he could answer them, and he began moving around restlessly under the covers.
Something cool seized his overheated hoof and pulled on it.
"Ssh..." The voice was abnormally gentle, and for a moment, Azure thought it had been Fluttershy that had entered. When he actually took notice of what happened, he noticed Twilight had her hoof on his. "It's just me, Azure."
His reaction to the stimulus embarrassed him more than anything else, but it was obviously his fever acting up. Azure took a few calming breaths, then went back to staring at the ceiling.
"S-sorry..." he said, his voice still sounding a little scratchy due to his current condition.
"It's alright...I should have knocked first," Twilight responded. Her voice sounded...off, again, but Azure was too sick to comment on it or think about it at the time. She applied a new cold compress to his forehead before putting a bottle next to him. "I took a little longer than I thought. I was able to find a book on your condition, and I managed to find a simple natural remedy...it should lower your fever and help out that sore throat."
The sound of a small bottle popping open filled Azure's ears.
"I had to go into the Everfree Forest to get one of the ingredients..." she noted aloud, suddenly sounding like she needed to plug her nose. The colt turned to her.
She went that far...for me? Azure thought to himself, The colt that annoys her nine times out of--
"Not to sound ungrateful..." Azure was too weak to reach up for his nose, and instead he had to fight not to smell it. "but is that the reason why the remedy smells like that...?"
"I don't know..." Twilight said. "But the book said this is how you know you've mixed it right. Now, this will not taste very good..."
Azure swallowed. His throat felt even drier than it had the past couple of days. "Let's get it over with."
The spoon met his lips, followed by a thick, foul-tasting liquid. If you had told Azure he'd just eaten regurgitated stomach contents, he'd have fully believed you. The colt was determined not to gag as he forced down the spoonful of medicine.
"Oh...sweet...Celestia..." Azure mumbled, taking a few deep breaths to try and take his mind off the foul-tasting medicine. "I'm going to have to take that again, aren't I?"
"Only twice a day for a few days...I put all the medicine you'd need in this bottle." Twilight put the cork back in the bottle and set the now dirty spoon aside. "But you should feel better in no time..."
-------------------------------------------
Twilight had been right. As Azure continued to take the medicine and the unicorn mare's advice, his conditions gradually improved. All the while, the purple mare came by to check on him and make sure he was taking his medicine. Soon enough, the colt's fever broke and his throat stopped hurting. By the end of the third day, Azure was able to move around and take care of himself.
"Looks like you don't need me any more..." Twilight noted, removing her hoof from Azure's forehead. "Your temperature's back to normal."
"Hey, I'd probably still be lying around if you hadn't shown up when you did," Azure replied. Twilight giggled and nodded, but the colt couldn't help but notice she was in a hurry to leave, if only because she seemed to be walking a little fast. "Say, Twilight..."
The mare stopped at the door, and turned, "What is it, Azure?"
"Why'd you go so far out of your way to make sure I got well again?"
Twilight gave a smile, "Because you're my friend, of course..."
-------------------------------------------
Azure rubbed at his mane again as the memory faded. The memories that had washed over him served to trigger thoughts in his mind, ones that he hadn't even considered until now.
It's true, I didn't come to Ponyville looking for friends... Azure thought to himself. And Twilight didn't want them when she'd first come here. We were here for the exact same reason, more or less. But the two of us came to appreciate not only each other...well, for the most part...but the other five we had already met, more as time passed on. I'd proven time and again I was willing to put it all on the line for them; and they'd been willing to help me when I was in need in return.
The unicorn sighed.
I thought I'd wanted my birthday to myself...
The cyan colt looked up to the door, and mumbled to himself. "Maybe I was wrong..."
Magically, he reached out, opening the door...and taking note of how dark it was in the library. He stepped over the threshold and closed the door behind him.
Why is it so dark in here?
"SURPRISE!!"
Azure's trained reactions went off, but not to the same extreme as they had before; he merely jumped a little in place. By now, he came to understand that a darkened room usually meant one of two things in Ponyville: the lights were out to be out, or there was going to be a Pinkie Pie surprise party. Although the crowd was confined to only nine others total; six mares, a colt, a filly, and a baby dragon, there were still seven more ponies than Azure expected to see.
"Happy Birthday, Azure Courage!!"
The colt stood there, blinking, for what felt like the longest time. He'd made an effort to try and avoid them today, and all this time, they were working on this...specifically for him.
"You all..." Azure mumbled. "How did you know?"
"You told me," Twilight stepped forward. "While you were getting better that time you got sick."
The cyan colt realized the subject must have come up while he was still partially bedridden.
"She told me what we needed to do!" Pinkie chimed in, a party favor hanging halfway out of her mouth.
"Okay..." The unicorn stepped forward. "But why here?"
"It was the last place we'd expect you to come," The studious unicorn said again. "Of course, we also didn't expect you to come this way on your own..."
Azure found himself completely unable to resist a smile. Through thick and thin, these mares were definitely his friends. He didn't come looking for any, far too distracted with a much bigger problem, but once he got them, it was hard to get them to go away.
And the colt knew he wouldn't have it any other way.
"Well, let's get this party started then..."
-------------------------------------------
It was probably the best birthday party Azure had ever had to date. Some of the games that Pinkie had brought up were a little on the foalish side, but it didn't really matter. He knew now that it was the fact he was spending time with his friends that made the day all the more memorable, particularly when he'd come to realize that through memories of his friends.
Of course, every now and again, one of the six mares he was closest to would take him aside to show him a gift they'd gotten him.
Rainbow Dash was the first to pull him aside, gifting him with a pair of goggles that matched his color scheme. While he didn't fly, the goggles still could come in handy if he ever tried to run in a storm again or whatever.
Rarity was next, granting him a horn polishing kit she'd bought from the spa. He was aware she went there once a week with Fluttershy due to the events of a few days ago, but he wasn't sure if he'd ever actually use it. Despite his background, he could only be so formal. Nonetheless, he did express gratitude for the gift anyway.
As time passed, it seemed that the other mares he'd befriended didn't have a gift for him, but Azure was fine with that. The fact they all pitched in to help make this was enough for him. A party game erupted towards the center of the library, and Azure was currently taking a break from the fesitivities to have some time to think to himself.
"Hey, Az," This was Applejack, now away from the others. She seemed only slightly sheepish, but compared to other times, it didn't show so much. "come over here for a sec..."
Azure turned to see her with a gift box on her back. It was rather tall, not at all like the boxes that contained his headband. He walked with her, realizing all too quickly he felt something he didn't quite feel when Rainbow and Rarity had each given him their presents. He also realized, what with all the memories returning to him, that he hadn't thought of Applejack today.
"I wanted to give ya this," Applejack said, grabbing the present in her mouth. Azure felt an all too familiar feeling of skittishness and hesitation manifest in him, along with a certain feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Y-you didn't have to..." Azure mumbled in response, taking the gift carefully from her mouth so she could speak.
"But I wanted to," Now she sounded hurt, and the cyan colt felt the urge to backpedal on what he said again. "After what ya'll did, it's the least I could do."
Something clicked in the colt's head.
That's right... the unicorn thought to himself, I didn't need to remember a moment with her...I had one just recently, and...I remember it when I'm completely unoccupied...
He'd remembered when he went over to her house, and had his concerns unmasked by the farmer mare. He remembered the hug she'd given him as he left. More importantly, he remembered that strange, warm feeling that he'd had while she was in his forelegs...
"Oh..." Azure said, trying to break free of his thoughts before he started to blush again, "Thank you..." He gave a smile as he pulled the package closer to him so he could open it manually. Applejack returned the smile, but she suddenly looked away for a few moments.
When she looked back to him, she said, "Well, are ya gonna stare at it all day?"
Azure was careful in unwrapping the box and opening it. He pulled out something that was quite a surprise. While he was no expert in hats, the style of it was very similar to Applejack's. It might have been a different kind, but it still screamed "southwestern" all the same. The biggest difference was the charcoal black sash wound around it.
The colt was no expert on how things worked either, but he knew enough to see it was made manually, no magic or machines involved in the process. Given her reaction, it really looked like Applejack herself had made it. Azure could respect the fact she'd done so, unlike a certain green unicorn who he was related to.
"Thanks, Applejack," the unicorn colt said, spinning the hat around slowly in his magic so he could get a good look at all the angles of the hat. "It's perfect."
"Don't just look at it," Applejack responded with a smile, "Try it on, partner..."
Azure obliged, gently lowering the hat onto his head, minding his horn so he wouldn't puncture it. The hat was soft, and fit his head quite snugly at the angle he put it on. He wasn't quite sure if he had it on right, but that was what friends were for.
"How do I look?" he asked of the farmer mare. The mare didn't respond right away, taking a good, long look at him. Eventually, her green eyes flashed.
"Ya look perfect," she finally responded. The orange earth pony quickly blinked, and became skittish again, though she didn't lose her voice. "I-I mean, the hat looks perfect..." Again, blinking, backpedaling, "o-on you, sugarcube..."
Again, there was that weird inflection with her usual name for ponies.
"Hey, are you okay?" Azure asked, concerned with his friend's sudden change in behavior. The fact she stepped back and her face started to turn red didn't help matters...
"I'm fine," Applejack's face distorted physically, and her eyes immediately went elsewhere, "I just need somethin' to drink is all..." She took a few uneasy steps back. "Happy birthday again, Azure," The mare immediately trotted, fast-paced, away from him, back towards the party.
Azure rubbed at his mane, carefully adjusting his hat to do so.
"But..." he turned to the refreshments table on his left. "the refreshments are right here..." he thought aloud.
"My, my, my, what a development..."
A sudden surge of self-consciousness blasted through Azure, and he turned to see Rarity, with a little bit of a smile on her face.
"W-what do you mean, Rarity?" he asked, turning to the white unicorn.
"Oh, please, don't be so coy, darling," Rarity responded. "I saw the look in your eyes, as well as the look in her own when you were having your conversation." There was a strange look in the blue eyes of the mare, one that Azure had never seen in anypony. They appeared to be staring through him.
"What do you mean, 'look'?" The cyan colt wasn't aware of it, but he was getting defensive. He took a step back. Having this Rarity invading his personal space almost made him wish that the flirtatious mare he'd met on day one had come back to play. Almost.
"When you two were talking, you two were gazing into one other's eyes..." The white unicorn trailed off. "Well, when you weren't trying to avoid each other's gazes..."
Oh, she saw all that, didn't she?
"Oh, that," Azure knew he could play this off if he explained the situation, "Well, we were just talking about this hat she made me..."
The sparkle in the white unicorn's eye, for some reason, sent a chill down the colt's spine.
What did I say?
"I see," she finally said, "So, she made a gift for you with her own two hooves?" Rarity took a few steps forward, and Azure felt the urge to take a step back again. "That makes it much more meaningful, does it not?"
Azure blinked, "Um...I guess so..." He was about two words short of mentioning the weird feeling he got when she gave the package to him, but apparently Rarity had caught it.
"I must ask, as a matter of curiosity..." The white unicorn said, looking straight into his eyes. "Do you have a crush on Applejack?"
"No," Azure said.
"Then why is it you're blushing, darling?" Rarity asked.
"I'm not...!"
"...Well, now you are..." Now she was being just a little smug.
"What?" Azure realized now his face was heating up.
"Please, darling, do not worry," Rarity said, "Your secret's safe with me. However, I must say...you don't have any idea what you are getting yourself into, do you?"
Have I been here before? The unicorn colt was feeling a sense of deja vu creep up on him again.
"If you want, I could help clear things up for you..."
Azure blinked. Was she offering him advice...? He didn't know anything about it, that was true, but even then, he wasn't sure what it was he was dealing with. A crush? No...this didn't feel anything quite like that...but then again, his stomach did do gymnastics on some occasions when he thought about Applejack...
"I...don't think I'm ready yet," Azure said. "I've got a lot on my mind right now..."
"Oh," Rarity seemed to understand, "I see. Well, I'll leave it alone for now. But make no mistake, Azure Courage, if you should ever find yourself...overwhelmed, I'll always be willing to listen."
With that, she trotted back to the party, leaving the colt alone with his thoughts.
Isn't this what Silver was talking about...? Azure thought to himself. A pony's actions and words can say a lot to a mare...if so...
He took off his hat, and began to fiddle with it, unsure with himself more than ever. What else have I done through my words and actions? Is Applejack the only one?
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Well now. It's time to ask yourself this. Do I have feelings for AJ? And if so go after her! God some ponys are so hopeless! Er!
3077101 personally I like rainbow and courage (forgive if I spell wrong)