Prisoner

by Hearts n Hooves

Committed

“Arc?”

Glory.

“I’m here for you.”

I know, I thought, but I can’t let you see me like this.

I was sitting before the mirror on the wall, watching myself tremble in the wake of my panic attack. I couldn’t stop shivering. Eventually I couldn’t handle seeing my own teary eyes in the reflection any longer, so I took to pacing around the room.

What the hay happened to me? I wondered. How could I have fallen apart so easily? I thought I was okay...

“I’ll wait... I’ll wait all night if I have to!”

Ponyfeathers!

I stepped out onto the balcony, where I could hear the ghostly sounds emanating from the forest. They were distracting, even calming, to me.

How did I come to be so weak and sensitive?

“Archaic Smile... I’m going to take care of you!”

I let out a weighty sigh, watching as my breath condensed before my eyes and drifted and dissipated into the night sky.

Is this really how I want to live?

Growing cold, I reached for my scarf with the intention to wrap it more snugly around my neck, but I quickly realized it wasn’t there. Oh, I thought. She has it. I decided to go back inside and resumed my earlier position in front of the mirror.

I can’t allow myself to be so fragile, I thought. First, I need to stop crying.

I dried my face, closed my eyes, and focused on calming myself. It took some time, but I was able to stop trembling and sniffling; still, my headache persisted.

Glory hasn’t said anything in a while, I noticed. I opened the door, and there she was, sound asleep at my hooves. Oh, Glory, I’m so sorry you got dragged into all of this...

I nudged her shoulder. “Glory. Wake up.” She mumbled something I couldn’t make out, and I was luckily able to urge her onto her hooves. “Come here,” I said, leading her to my bed. She didn’t hesitate to slip under the blankets.

“Good night, Spring Glory,” I whispered. “Sweet dreams.”

“I love you,” she whispered. “Goodnight, Arc.”

She closed her eyes and went out like a candle, breathing steadily. Shaken, I stared at her in a dumbfounded stupor. After a minute, I rushed out onto the balcony and inhaled a long, deep breath of the cool, crisp night air.

She loves me?

I glanced at Spring Glory through the large window-wall between my room and the balcony. Seeing another pony in my bed—in my house, for that matter—was vaguely disconcerting. Her softly-uttered words were endlessly echoing in my mind.

Do I love her? I wondered.

I watched the slight rise and fall of her body under the blankets as she breathed. Quietly, I crept back in the room and sat before the bed.

Do I love you, Glory?

I didn’t dare to answer myself. I felt doomed, caught between a clash of fear and desire. I slipped back out onto the balcony, feeling a tumultuous cave-in occur within my heart.

Oh, Celestia, what am I going to do with myself...

I let my head droop and watched the glistening descent of a teardrop. It silently splashed onto a wooden panel beneath my hooves, and in only a few seconds it seeped into the wood, vanishing without a trace.

-*-

When Spring Glory woke up, the sun had just risen above the horizon, and I was still on the balcony. I had spent the few remaining hours of the night thinking about everything that had happened in the last week, solemnly sitting as if I had become one of my own sculptures.

I heard her shuffle out of my bed and yawn. She soon noticed me through the window-wall and hesitantly stepped out onto the balcony to sit beside me. She shivered a little in the cold, thin morning fog.

“Good morning,” she said lightly.

“I’m sorry for everything that happened last night,” I mumbled.

“No, Arc, it’s not your fault,” she replied.

“B-but it is.”

“I convinced you to go to the party,” she countered.

“I don’t want to be alone anymore,” I said, feeling bitter towards my insecure nature. “That’s why I went. I’m trying to be... n-normal.”

“You can make yourself to be whatever you want to be,” Spring Glory said firmly. “But I think you’re lovely just how you are.”

“I have too many p-problems.”

“We can overcome them.”

“I don’t think so,” I muttered.

“You don’t know until you give it a shot,” she urged.

I said nothing, and instead watched the sun slowly climb into the sky.

“Give yourself a chance, Arc,” she murmured. “Do it for me, at least. I don’t want to be alone, either.”

“Okay,” I said after a while. “I’ll do it for y-you, Glory.”

“You’d better,” she said, playfully nudging me.

“I know we’ve only kn-known each other a short while, but...”

“But?”

"I can't keep hiding... You’ve s-shown me that what life has to offer is invaluable. You showed me joy... and l-love. I can't go back to knowing only fear. I need your help, Glory... Help me to live."

“Okay,” she said, wrapping her foreleg around mine. “I will.”

We sat there a while longer, arm-in-arm, while the glaring fog burnt away beneath the sun. It was invigorating and terrifying to be with another in my own home, and as the sky grew brighter I found myself feeling bolder than ever before.

“You know,” I said, “this isn’t at all how I’d imagined myself bringing a mare home.”

She laughed a little at my remark and nodded. “Oh, I bet,” she said. “But I think it’s gone very well so far.”

“Why don’t we go inside?” I suggested. “I can show you around.”

“I’d like that.”

“Well, this is my bedroom, obviously,” I said, leading her back inside. “Bed, closet, desk, couch... Not much else to it.”

“It’s cozy,” she commented.

I took her downstairs into the foyer, which was mostly empty but for a small table by the front door. “Over there is the kitchen,” I said, pointing towards the room with a table and chairs and counter-space, “and over here is where I do most of my work.” I walked into the large, open, well-lit workroom. “It’s not much, but it’s a good enough home for only one pony.”

“I think it’s very... dainty,” she said. “It suits you.”

“I suppose it does,” I said. Suddenly, I remembered the letter Derpy Hooves had dropped a couple days earlier. “Oh, I’d nearly forgotten, I have something of yours.”

“What is it?”

I found my saddlebag on the table in the kitchen and pulled the letter out of it. “This letter is for you. The mail-pegasus dropped it by my mailbox the other day,” I said, giving it to her. “Lucky coincidence, I guess.”

“It’s from my parents,” she murmured. “How long have you had this?”

“Two days,” I answered. “I meant to give it to you while returning that Heart’s Desire.”

She read the letter very carefully, and a knot grew in my stomach as I watched the brightness fade from her eyes. She visibly tensed up, and was holding her breath as if she’d seen a ghost.

“W-what is it?” I asked. “Is something wrong?”

“I need to go,” she said.

“What?” She trotted past me, towards the front door, and I followed. “Why?”

“I’m sorry, Arc, but this doesn’t involve you,” she answered.

“W-wait,” I said, hopping in between her and the front door. “Glory, I—”

“I’m leaving,” she said. She maneuvered around me and left me standing in the doorway. I watched her descend the hill, greatly taken aback, wondering what in Equestria could have provoked such an outburst in her.

Should I go after her? I wondered.

The answer was already apparent. “Glory!” I called. “Wait for me!” Steeling myself as best as I could, I took to the air in pursuit.

Author's Note:

I'm back!

Comments

[trondason]

[Hearts n Hooves]

3579390
You, my friend, have picked a fantastic theme song for my story! Kudos to you!

[trondason]

3579443 Thanks. And you have done a wonderful job on this story, found it today and read it all in one sitting.

[Hearts n Hooves]

3579472
Thank you, too! Really, I appreciate the support. It's been a long time since I last posted a new chapter, and I was beginning to worry I'd lost the inspiration for it. I'm glad to be back, and I'm glad my work has been received so well. So far, only good things have been said about my story, and it means the world to me.

[trondason]

Another song that fits.

[Hearts n Hooves]

3579548
That it is! Slightly dark, but very romantic.