Time heals all
“Ah, Derpy, Cherry, what can I get you girls today?”
Derpy smiled brightly at the ice cream pony. “I’ll have a double scoop boysenberry swirl in a waffle cone.”
Cherry opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Derpy.
“She’ll have cookies and cream, single scoop with a flake.”
“Sure thing, that’ll be five bits.”
Derpy placed the money on the counter and turned to see Cherry looking at her with raised eyebrows.
“What?”
“It just occurred to me that we’ve probably done this too many times,” she said, blandly, but there was a very definite trace of amusement in her voice.
Derpy shrugged. “Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
The two accepted their cones and began to wander off at a leisurely pace along their favourite walking track. There was a lake in the centre of Ponyvile that courting couples often frequented to make lovey eyes at each other, to snuggle, spoon and, sometimes, fork. It was into this atmosphere of laid back romance that the pair wandered with the idle, practised ease of those who had tried the empty log, the old tree house, the hollowed out space behind the fence and the nice thick bushes (bad idea; lots of thorns in awkward places,) and had found that they preferred to simply sit and watch the ducks.
“So,” said Derpy, licking daintily at her ice cream. “I saw you writing in that old book again this morning.” It sounded like an innocent enough observation but Cherry knew her fillyfriend well enough by now to see the tell-tale signs that Derpy was worried.
“Yea, I found it when I was cleaning out the attic. Were you spying on me?”
Despite her concern, Derpy managed a look of mock despair. “My love, my sweet, nay, my angel, would I spy on you? I am bound by the Derpy code of honourable conduct to never spy on anypony.”
Cherry smiled a big, genuine smile. “Unless, under clause A, you really want to.”
“Alright, fine, I was spying. You haven’t been acting yourself lately.” She nuzzled her fillyfriend affectionately. “I worry about you.”
Cherry turned her head slightly to catch Derpy’s lips in a gentle kiss, enjoying the slight taste of boysenberry swirl.
“I’m fine, really.” She sighed. “I just, I don’t know, I guess I wanted some kind of closure. Like this would mark the shift in my life.” Cherry shrugged. “The book, it wasn’t done, it needed a happy ending.”
Derpy reached out a hoof and draped it around Cherry’s shoulders. “I understand,” she said, simply. And the miracle was that she did. Cherry knew that she and Dash had never been this close. It felt good. She breathed in deeply, taking in the slight scent of muffins that always seemed to hang around Derpy. After what seemed to be both an eternity and only a few moments, Cherry pulled away.
The two sat for a while, watching as the ducks frolicked in the afternoon light. After a time, Derpy became aware of soft singing.
“Don’t remind me, that some days I’m a wind shield,
And other days I’m just a lucky bug,
As cold iron rails leave old mossy trails through the country side,
The crow and the bean field,
Are my best friends but boy I need a hug…”
Derpy wondered idly if this was an invitation on purpose or whether her fillyfriend had simply started singing and forgotten that this song was a duet. She smiled, either was fine with her.
“Boy I need a hug,” she sang, softly.
Cherry didn’t turn, seeming transfixed with the scene before her.
“‘Cause my heart stops without you,
There’s something about you,
That makes me feel alive,
If the green left the grass on the other side…”
Perhaps Cherry was paying attention, for this time, she left space for Derpy to chime in.
“I would make like a tree and leave.”
“But if I reached for your hoof would your eyes get wide?”
“Who knew the other side could be so green?”
Cherry fell silent, tapping a hoof with the beat, letting Derpy have her solo.
“Don’t remind me,
I’m a chickadee in love with the sky,
But clearly that’s not a lot to crow about,
‘Cause when the stars silhouette me,
I’m scared they’ll forget me,
And flicker out,
I taste honey but I haven’t seen the hive,
Yea, I didn’t look, I didn’t even try,
But still my heart stops without you,
‘Cause there’s something about you,
That makes me feel alive…”
Cherry turned and looked directly at Derpy, meeting her gaze as few would.
“If the green left the grass on the other side…”
“I would make like a tree and leave…”
“And if I reached for your hoof, would your eyes get wide?”
“Who knew the other side could be so green?”
“We are honey and the bee,
Backyard of butterflies surrounded me…”
Derpy’s voice very nearly hitched on the next line, but she managed to make it steady enough.
“I fell in love with you,
Like bees to honey…”
“So let's up and leave the weeping to the willow tree…”
“And pour our tears in the sea…”
The song rang, clear and bright as a bell, around the lake. Ponies turned to see where the sound was coming from, smiling gently when they saw who it was. It was no secret that Cherry was a bit of a music fanatic, most just assumed that Derpy only humoured her, and never really bothered to note that she, too, had quite a nice voice.
As the song died, the last line rang the clearest, weighted down with so much emotion that it was difficult to miss.
“And if I reached for your hoof for the rest of my life…”
“Who knew the other side could be so green?”
Fluttershy had not stopped staring at the wall since dropping the diary back in to the box. She was dimly aware that the radio was playing.
“Love; it will not betray you,
Dismay of enslave you, it will set you free
Be more like the mare you were made to be,
There is no design, an alignment, to cry
Of my heart to see,
The beauty of love, as it was made to be…”
It was roughly at that moment that Rainbow, having woken from her nap feeling quite refreshed, walked through the front door.
“Hey Shy, how are things in this room- Shy what happened? Are you ok?”
Fluttershy looked up then glanced guiltily back at the box.
Rainbow followed her gaze. She stepped forward, recognising the box instantly. Foolish, what had she been thinking just dumping it in with all the others that Fluttershy would be unpacking? Of course it would have this affect. Rainbow flopped down beside her fillyfriend and wrapped a wing around her shoulders. She reached forward with a hoof and withdrew the diary, seeing that the dust of years had been shaken loose. “You read this, didn’t you?” It wasn’t really a question but Fluttershy nodded. Rainbow thought hard about what to say next, making sure she used the right words. “Once, a very wise pony said to me, time heals all wounds, some take longer than others and some leave bigger scars, but they all heal.’ At the time I thought it was just nonsense but now I see she was right. Fluttershy,” now she reached across with a hoof and caught Fluttershy’s face, bringing it around so she could meet her eyes, gaze for gaze, “that’s just a memory. It hurt at the time but it’s still just a memory. It may have left scars but it’s still nothing more than a memory.”
“Then why did you keep the diary?”
Rainbow managed a small grin. “Those who forget their past are destined to relive it.” In a moment, all humour was gone from her eyes. “And I never want to relive that, especially with you.”
Fluttershy only stared back, trying to say with her eyes what she could never put words around.
Then the moment was over and the slightly devilish glint was back. “Now forget about all that, let’s go see if we can find a way of unwinding, it’s been an exhausting day.”
Regaining some of her earlier cheer, Fluttershy managed to poke Rainbow in the chest and say, teasingly, “For me maybe. Don’t think I didn’t notice you slip off for a nap.”
“Uh, yea…” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “Why don’t you go freshen up, I want to go check out our new town.”
Fluttershy sighed “Back in a minute.” She began to walk from the room, then turned and said over her shoulder, “Oh, and, Rainbow Dash?”
“Yea?”
“No more fortune cookies.”
As soon as Fluttershy had walked out of the room, Rainbow turned her attention back to the diary resting between her hooves. She gave a little sigh, sometimes the past needed to be the past.
Perhaps it was a relatively small thing compared to what happened to some fillies in school. Rainbow couldn’t help but think it was like playgrounds: when you’re young, a slide is twenty feet high, the sandboxes are several yards deep and filled with ancient treasure, the cloudy bank is as tall as a mountain and somewhere in your mind it always will be. You can go back when you’re twenty, when the slide is shoulder height, the mountain merely a small hillock, the sand a few yards across, less than a foot deep and smelling of cat piss, but part of you will always remember. Somewhere in your mind, it will always be the same as the very first time you laid eyes on it.
Breaking free of her musings, Rainbow tucked the diary back in to the box and carried it in to the storage room where she stowed it in a corner. Sometimes it’s better never to revisit that playground, lest you realise just how small it really is.
“Ready,” called Fluttershy from across the house. “Do you want to have a wash before we go out?”
Flapping her way into the kitchen, Rainbow was greeted by the unfathomably adorable sight of her fillyfriend with a wet, tussled mane and mussed up coat. “Nah, I’m good.”
Fluttershy wrinkled her nose. “You smell like moving boxes, dust and,” she sniffed a few times, then, without warning, she was kissing Rainbow full on the lips, open mouth and all. When she pulled away, she was caught halfway between a smile of pleasure and a frown of disapproval. “Cookies and cream? You had ice cream without me?”
Just a touch dazed, Rainbow managed to stutter. “Uh, yea, sorry about that. It was just— I was sitting up there and I could see this little ice cream stall and— I would have brought you one but it would have melted…” she trailed off in various shades of guilt.
The stroll through Ponyvile was quiet enough, Fluttershy couldn’t help but think of what she had read. Rainbow seemed off in her own thoughts as well, staring into the middle distance, presumably at something only she could see. The two had been a couple for what seemed like forever and it was always a shock to Fluttershy when she realised her fillyfriend still kept part of her past hidden.
Despite what had just happened, the silence was companionable. Maybe she was telling the truth, perhaps time really has healed this wound. She wouldn’t be this relaxed if she really was still upset about it… would she?
Fluttershy was pulled from her thoughts by Rainbow exclaiming, “Over there, that’s where I got the best cookies and cream I’ve had since we got to Ponyvile.”
“We only got to Ponyvile this morning,” said Fluttershy, reasonably.
“Even so…”
Fluttershy was just about to ask ‘Even so what?’ when she was interrupted by a cheerful, male voice. “Can I get you ladies something?”
Rainbow stepped forward, as though forgetting the conversation she had been having. “Yea, I’ll have a—”
“—Cookies and cream, double scoop.” He finished for her. “I remember every ice cream I’ve ever sold, Miss Dash. It just so happens that the cookies and cream vat, who’s deliciousness is eyes in your cone, gave another scoop… just one other. It is curious that you should be destined for this ice cream, when its brother’s owner broke your heart in high school.”
“Um… I… wow… I was going to say chocolate chip but yea, cookies and cream is good too.”
The stallion turned to Fluttershy. “And what’ll it be for you miss?”
“Uh, vanilla?”
The stallion snorted. “Figures, that’s five bits, but for you lovely galls, I’ll make it seven.”
“What?” Rainbow asked incredulously.
“Think about it, I’m giving you the chance to better support local businesses.”
“You’re an ice cream vender,” said Rainbow, flatly.
The stallion turned his flank so they could see his cutie mark. It was a picture of an ice cream scoop. “Cutie mark like this, what was I supposed to do? Become a professional torturer? I could do that. Care to volunteer to my new career choice?"
Rainbow shrugged and tossed him five bits. The stallion grinned. “Absolut pleasure doing business with the new lovebirds in town. If you two are looking for a romantic evening, you might consider a walk around the lake. If you’re real lucky, you might see some ducks or a turtle.”
Fluttershy smiled and thanked him. Just as she was leaving, Rainbow turned to the stallion. “Just out of curiosity, what makes you think we're lovebirds?”
He coughed. “If you wanted to be more discrete, you might try untangling your tails.”
The walk around the lake was beautiful. Fluttershy, of course, was charmed by the local wildlife that instantly flocked around her, vying for her attention. Rainbow amused herself with watching shapes in the clouds as they drifted through a sky turned amber by the setting sun. All was going so well, that was, until they heard the song.
“And if I reached for your hoof for the rest of my life…”
“Who knew the other side could be so green?”
That voice was eerily familiar. Rainbow stood and, half in a daze, began to walk towards where the song had come from. After a minute or two, she froze. So many emotions were flashing through her head. There was anger, joy, disbelief, sadness and a strange twinge in her stomach that she would not even try to define. As she stood there gaping, only two words came to her mouth.
“Hey Cherry.”
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nice end. Heres hoping Rainbow takes it well...
I thought the icecream pony knwing they were lovebirds by the tails was cool
Let me know when you get somewhere on the next chapter and I'll see what I can do to continue to help out
2600365 Will do.