Radiance

by flamevulture17

11. Bleed

[Bleed]

---

Stanley jogged to the edge of the porch. He scanned the area for Lucas, but was nowhere to be found. He jumped the steps to the dirt path, kicking up dust as he dragged his feet further afield. With a more open vantage point, only then did he spot his cousin to the side of the building, walking towards the small hill in the distance.

As soon as he found Lucas, he ran as fast as he could to catch up. His shoes sank into the muddy grass field like running on a long springless mattress, causing him to falter and trip a couple times. When he was about ten paces behind the captain, he slowed to a sulky stride with heavy breathing and fatigue hanging loose.

“Wait up,” he cried out of breath.

Lucas ignored the distraction behind him and began to hike up the slope of the hill. Even when Stanley was only a couple meters and closing in, he paid no mind to anything but his only objective of walking until he could walk no more.

Stanley finally brought his winded gasps under control as they walked and then sighed, breaching the cold silence that separated them.

“Don't listen to her, man. She was probably making it up. You know she wouldn't do that.” As much as Stanley wanted that to be true, their history and the odds told a different story. “I don't believe a word of what that pony said, and you shouldn't either. It was probably a coincidence.”

Lucas didn't respond. With the absence of howling coastal winds and the rustling of dry grass beneath their shoes, is was nearly impossible to drown out Stanley's rambling. He cared little for what his cousin had to say. Every sentence, every word, and every syllable that had been directed at him recently were either under temperament or overly stigmatized, so nothing mattered to him anymore. He had enough.

Despite Lucas' efforts to conceal his disposition, Stanley could read the disingenuous look on his face. His cheeks were radiating with agitation while his eyes stared straight ahead. They made it to the top of the hill, overlooking the elegant landscape that dipped into the sea. With the sun rising higher in the sky and not a cloud in sight, the view was breathtaking for anyone lucky enough to see it.

“Look man, if you're angry just tell me. I'll understand.”

“Understand?” Lucas stopped and turned to look at Stanley directly in the eye. “I've been thrown around like a rag doll, beaten to the ground, and punched in the face thanks to you. For years I had to deal with this type of crap from her before you showed up. I don't need you to spit on me like she did. I'm not mad. Just surprised.”

“Wait, you actually wanted her to fire you?”

“I didn't say that.”

“Then what are you saying?” Stanley was lost with his denial.

“I'm saying maybe it's for the best. You've seen it for yourself, she can't stand me. It's like you said, this can't go on forever. I'm as much as nuisance to her than you are to me.”

Stanley frowned. It was the first time he had actually heard him admit his aggravation about the only two people in his life. It was no surprise that Lucas thought of him as a burden, but the fact that his status of captain was threatened by the only person that can take it from him added to his plight that reflected in his current behavior. It was a sign that something was wrong.

“So you're just gonna throw all this away?” Stanley asked. “After how far you've come?”

Lucas chuckled. “I'm not throwing anything away. I'm making things right.”

“How is walking away from the problem gonna help anyone?”

“By taking me out of the picture, maybe your days will get brighter. I might as well since you haven't had a good day since I met you.”

“But what if Kate reconsiders on giving you another chance?”

“Do you honestly think she will? Even when she...” Lucas paused, reluctant to admit it. “...switched bodies with that pony demigod or whatever she is, she still looks at me like I'm the one to blame for everything. Even if she decides not to fire me and kick those ponies out and tell them to go back where they came from, we'd be right back to where we started. Nothing will change. Maybe it's about time I took the first step.”

“Maybe you have to look at this a different way. As much as I hate to believe that they really have magic powers, maybe we can learn from them. We just have to give them a chance.”

Lucas put one hand on his hip and the other to rub his broken nose—which began to hurt again—while a single drop of red trickled his nostril. He paced back and forth to wipe away the blood on a sleeve and compose his thoughts. For a second there, it seemed like Stanley had won the argument, but the fact that he had actually never won an argument with Lucas before, he was unsure of whether the outcome of the conversation was resolved in his favor.

Lucas stopped pacing and continued to stare at the ground for a moment.

“Do you want to know why I left you behind on the boat?” he said, looking up at Stanley. “I was so close to snapping. I didn't want to deal with her anymore. I was actually kinda glad she hit her head, because if she didn't, I wouldn't be standing here talking to you right now. Up to that point I realized how bad things got between us. I wished things would get better when you came along, but I was wrong.”

“So why leave me with her?”

“I was testing your ability to handle the problem, even when it was a real emergency. I wanted see who you cared for the most, me or her.”

“So... all that was a test?”

Lucas nodded. “And you passed.”

“How would I have failed?”

“You would have left her there and came after me.”

Stanley contorted his face in confusion.

“How is that a bad thing?”

“Because I'm not worth coming after. I should be the least of your concerns. The fact that we are cousins doesn't change anything. We're hardly friends. Relatives or not, it's who you care for the most that matters. Kate is more valuable than me. She has business to run, and brother to support, and a reputation to live up to. I don't. If I'm treated like an empty shell all the time, then I might as well not exist. I'm probably better off somewhere else. If you can't accept that, nobody will. The bottom line is, you don't know me.” Lucas paused. He summoned a white piece of paper from his pants pocket and held it up close to Stanley's face. “You'll never understand.”

Lucas then threw the white form on the grass next to Stanley's feet and walked away. The man wasted no more of his time waiting for a counter response from his younger cousin and descended down the hill without another word. Stanley failed to construct any coherent thoughts that would help repair what was left of his associate's value. He was left staring off into the horizon where Lucas once stood. He blinked as if he was hit by a tidal wave of guilt that yanked at every fiber of his being.

Stanley slowly twirled his head in the direction of the station within the valley to his left, then over to his right where Lucas continued to hike down the hill. After letting it all sink in, one word at a time, he began to weigh his options on who to follow. Go back to the station and tell Kate how far gone Lucas was? Or join his cousin. As for the magic ponies, they could wait.

He took one good look at the blanket of water that blissfully hugged the earth bellow the cliff a few meters in front of him. The endless expanse of ocean reminded him of how the beauty of the world made him feel. If only he could be like the wind coastal, fluttering peacefully—yet chaotically—without a care in the world, maintained only by time that allowed it to dance for as long as the earth spun. That would be the day he would truly be free of fear, free of hurt, and free of the misery that brought souls to their knees.

Stanley let his head drop, looking down at the wrinkled paper Lucas left for him. Taking a deep breath, he slowly picked it up and unfolded it.

After reading what was inscribed on the paper, he looked up, devoid of the bitter expression he wore while confronting Lucas. His vision began to fog up, but he fluttered his eyes just in time before the condensation could form into a tear. He hadn't even noticed his mouth quivering along with the dread that washed over him.

Coming to a decision, he turned and walked down the path that—after giving it some reasonable thought—meant more to him than anything.

---

Kate remained motionless. She had lost the will to care about her own ego at that particular moment as she thought more about what just happened. It was a mortifying thought that she was responsible for destroying Lucas' life—and potentially his spine—with a small misunderstanding. That small misunderstanding made a big difference. From the moment she first argued with him months following his employment six years earlier to magically hurling him several feet in the air ten minutes ago, it had to fall apart like this.

She rested her head on her forelegs and leaned against the knees of her human counterpart. Cadence tried calming her down by carefully brushing her mane with her hands. It was a soothing sensation, but not enough to make up for her mistake. She knew nothing of complex human customs or appropriate social behaviors that defined their species as a collective society. She managed to intrude upon their lives and break apart their relationship without even knowing it. All she could do now was comfort Kate—and herself, technically speaking.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash kept their distance from the distressed human. They could tell that the way Kate tried to defend herself had no effect on the injured human that walked out the door. The moment Lucas found out that his employment would be terminated, they have never felt so bad in all their lives—except maybe for when Twilight discovered that Nightmare Moon was Princess Celestia's sister, Princess Luna.

For several minutes, the lounge was quiet. Not a peep or chirp was uttered, only the sound of ringing silence, muffled hoofsteps, and the faint high-pitched sound that a horn makes when a unicorn's horn glows with magic.

Even thought Twilight felt horrible for her transgression, she used the silence to her advantage. Fulfilling her promise, she began to formulate an incantation by weaving the cognition spell that would return them back to their original bodies. The first stage was to make sure she had enough magic to preform such a spell. However, without a extensive book of spells to ease the process along and guide her through the process, she'd have to no choice but to construct it from scratch. It was a common misconception among ponies that spells required a written version with fancy words, random rhyming, and clever verses, but magic was more complicated than that. Even with the lessons she had learned from her friends in Ponyville, mere words were not enough to quantify the meaning of friendship.

Twilight centered her focus into the backbone of the spell, using the minimum amount of magic required. She needed to save her energy for when she would actually cast the spell. With all the drama that had taken place after discovering the humans, she had almost forgotten about the initial mystery of how and why they teleported above the ocean upon arriving in this new world. If Equestria truly didn't exist in this world, than neither did magic.

Strange, she thought to herself, then how am I able to use magic if it should defy the physics of this reality?

As much as her questions begged for answers, they would have to wait. Returning Cadence back to her own body and Kate to hers was far more important.

“What do we do now?” Rainbow asked, breaking the unicorn's concentration.

“Huh?” Twilight blinked. Even though her magic flow was interrupted, the incomplete proto-spell remained intact.

“I'm bored out of my mind. Isn't there some way to pass the time that won't make me tear my eyes out?”

“Be patient, Rainbow. We must approach this carefully. We don't want to create a greater mess we've already have.”

“But this isn't out problem.”

“No, Rainbow, that's exactly what this is.” Twilight professed. “This whole ordeal would not have happened if it weren't for us.”

“No.”

Both mares snapped their heads as a familiar voice spoke. Kate finally rose from her grievous state after having came to her senses. Cadence helped her sit up into a more comfortable position.

“It would have happened anyways,” she continued. “It was just a matter of time.”

“But you couldn't have known this would happen,” Twilight argued.

“No, I couldn't. But it doesn't matter. I knew I had to tell him sometime. Now that he knows, I don't think I can go through with it now seeing how he reacted.”

“I'm sorry,” murmured Cadence. “I didn't know.”

Kate rolled over and tried to stand up again. Her legs wobbled in place a few times until she found her bearings. She shook off any excess discomfort and stretched her legs.

“Just... watch what you say next time.”

“I will.” Cadence promised with a smile.

Kate took a few steps to get the feeling of how walking was like for any other four-legged animal. It was far from normal for her, but it wouldn't take long to adapt to the awkward posture of a pony.

“This must be weird for you, huh?” Rainbow quipped.

“I don't know what to think,” Kate replied with more cunning movements of her oddly shaped figure. “To think something like this would happen to me.”

“Do you feel any different?” Cadence asked, leaning her human back against the sofa.

Kate rolled her eyes. “You tell me. You're in my body.”

Cadence looked down at her slender feminine hands that just felt so free, like she could intricately control anything and everything with the five dexterous digits on each hand.

“What she means is, can you feel your wings?” Twilight clarified.

“I have wings?” Kate twirled around like a dog chasing its tail. Her efforts were pointless when her equine neck allowed her head to twist further than that of a human. Of course, she didn't know that. She was unaware of pretty much all qualities of an equine's physiology—assuming these ponies were anything like that of a normal pony on Earth.

Rainbow Dash took the liberty of jumping in the air and flying over to assist. She landed next to Kate and stopped her from making a bigger fool of herself than she already has. The pegasus began inspecting the pink feathers of her left wing that dangled lifeless from Kate's back. Her initial contact with her hooves had elicited no response in return or any sort of reflex whatsoever.

As the pegasus worked her way up the feathered appendage, the more she became concerned with the potential long term effects of the alicorn's injuries. She made it to axillary nerve of the wing where the shoulder joint connected the humerus to the spinal chord—Rainbow Dash knew this from her many trips to the hospital. For once, that information became useful. As soon as she applied pressure to the nerve, Kate winced and jolted forward.

“Ow! Watch it!” she shrieked.

“So you do feel that?”

“Yes! It hurts.”

Rainbow took more care in tending her Kate's wings. When she lifted them from her sides, Kate said nothing, having not felt as if anything touched her. But when she applied pressure to her joints, Kate winced and her wings stiffened. It was a familiar sensation of lactic acid burning beneath her skin from experience of working out, but in an unfamiliar in being in the wrong place.

“Your wings are in pretty bad shape,” Rainbow concluded. “You won't be able to fly with them for a while. They'll take a few days, if not more, to heal up.”

“Fly?” Kate raised an eyebrow. Rainbow smirked at the nervous comment and finished her rudimentary diagnosis. She manually folder the wings to fit snug on Kate's sides.

“I'm sorry Cadence, but you worked your wings to their limit. I suggest you stay grounded for a while or else you'll damage them permanently. I, on the other hoof, am strong enough to keep on flying.” The athlete pegasus couldn't help but throw in a gloat of her superior qualities that gave her an advantage over other pegasi, and essentially alicorns in general. However, she was so wrapped up in her own ego that she neglected to account for one crucial detail.

“I carried Twilight the entire time,” Cadence pointed out, which as is turned out, she had a finger to do so. “I'm not fit for flying for long distances for that amount of time. I'm surprised I made it that far. Getting Twilight to safety was my top priority.”

“I'm actually impressed with your endurance, Cadence,” said Twilight. “Some say that alicorns such as yourself and the Princesses are able to channel their unicorn magic into their wings to improve performance.”

“What they say is true, Twilight. I wouldn't have made it without my magic. It's strange though, I felt a significant depletion in my magic.”

Twilight walked up to Cadence to give her another hug. At least she wasn't the only one experiencing weird blips in magic. Most of the time, it was normal, but something occasionally interfered with the mana-space—which registered with significantly weaker connections than in Equestria.

“What are you talking about?” said Kate with a confused look.

“Oh,” Cadence chimed. “We were discussing our rather unpleasant journey over the ocean to get here. Right, Twilight?”

“Well, we sorta fell short before reaching the coast, but we made it nonetheless.”

“Where did you all come from?” Kate asked. “There aren't any talking ponies anywhere in the world and I don't think you came from space. You shouldn't exist as far as I'm concerned. I don't pretend to know how you're real. Well, not anymore.”

“What do you call yourselves, in terms of race?” Cadence insisted.

“Um, human.”

“Interesting,” Cadence mumbled, thinking to herself. “Our nation and our neighbors consist of many different races from all walks of life, but I have never heard of humans before. With intelligence such as yours, according to the primitive nature of your interior design and architecture of your establishment, certainly Equestria would have made contact with your species by now.”

Cadence curiously scanned the room, admiring the polished wooden interior of the building through the lens of her own eyes. Although, her unsubstantiated assessment had little to say for the reality of other accomplishments by humans that she was completely unaware of.

“Primitive?” Kate objected, having heard this description before. “This building is over eighty years old. My family built this place with their bare hands and all the money they had when they immigrated back in the 20's, and they did a damn good job too for lasting this long. The world is different now. We've advanced so much since then, even when this is probably the most rural as you can get in today's world. I wouldn't dare call this primitive by any means.”

Cadence and Twilight exchanged a series of confused and somber looks. Somehow, inadvertently insulting the human brought a new wave of information that hinted to something larger than they could imagine.

“Besides,” Kate continued. “There have never been talking unicorns or flying horses in the history of the forever, as far as we know. They are just myth and fantasy, symbols man has created for epic stories and legends, or just used to entertain young people.” Kate looked down at herself. “I look like I was pulled straight from a kids coloring book...” She smiled. “...no offense.”

For a second time, Cadence glanced at Twilight. The hint was not so subtle with the words 'fantasy', 'myth', and several others. Cadence caught onto the implications right away.

“Twilight?” she began. “Is there something your not telling me?”

“Oh! I'm so sorry for not mentioning it sooner,” the unicorn confessed. “W-we may not be on our own planet anymore.”

Cadence's human eyes went wide. Like the human who inhabited her own body, she tried to stand in the way she was most accustomed to her whole life. Using her hands and knees, she crawled over the window. When she saw that the environment that was no different to that of most Equestrian landscapes, a sigh escaped her lips.

“Where are we then?” she asked without turning around.

“Well, to be accurate, we're on the eastern coast of North Island, New Zealand,” said Kate. “I thought you had my memories? Did you not already know that?”

“I don't have all your memories,” Cadence corrected. “Just a few. Apparently, some more significant that others.” She realized what she was implying, so she quickly thought of something to deviate from that topic. “Do you keep a map of your local region or country perhaps? That would help a great deal in visualizing our relative location to the rest of the world.”

Twilight facehoofed. How could she have forgotten to ask for a map? It would have made much more sense to know what Lucas was talking about when asked where they were.

“Uh yeah, I actually have a modern atlas. It's that big book over there on the stand.” Kate pointed a hoof to the corner of the room near the lobby door where a large brown book was on display on top of a wooden podium.

Twilight immediately levitated it with her magic. Kate jumped as if a poltergeist had possessed her expensive book, flawlessly floating in her direction. She quickly backed away, running into the sky-blue pegasus that had been standing beside her studying her wings the whole time.

“Easy there,” Rainbow croaked. “Chill out. It's just magic.”

Kate was a little shaken up as the fragile book hovered a few inches off the floor before being gently lowered onto the carpet in front of Twilight. It reminded her of her brutal assault on Lucas once more. She desperately to rid herself of that memory. The fact that the explanation was 'just magic' did not suit her well.

Cadence crawled over to Twilight as she started flipping through the pages. Neither mare could take their eyes off of the slick illustrations of the world's continents, high resolution photographs of famous sites, and strange—yet similar—names of cities, countries, and geographical features.

“This is amazing!” Twilight nearly shouted.

Cadence shared the unicorn's enthusiasm. She then looked at Kate while her lavender friend indulged in every shred of information the book had to offer.

“I must say, we have much to learn from each other.”

Kate smiled with a light chuckle.

“Oh you have no idea,” she said rolling her eyes.

---

Lucas thought about what he said over and over again. He wondered if he was too harsh on his cousin for putting him through such a test with Katherine. Stanley was twenty-five, but he still acted like a child. He needed to learn to be more mature. His actions the night before shed some light on how bad the kid's attitude could get if his anger was pushed to its limits, having already suffered the consequences from the end of a fist. He wonder why Stanley was so angry in the first place. Was it the fact that he abandoned him on the boat? Was it because the man was unstable? Did it have something to do with the weird ponies? Or was there something in his shoddy past that motivated him to snap?

Either way, Lucas was starting to regret leaving Stanley on the crest of the hill alone like that.

With the fishing boat in plain sight and no coast guard or other rescue units on the scene, he continued walking along the beach. Each step seemed to carry more weight with every thought that flickered in his mind. The weather was near perfect for a Saturday in October. Even the sun—the giver and taker of life—was one of the few reason that kept him fighting on.

The heavenly aroma of marine life evaporating from the edge of the beach while the ocean eroded the sand bit by bit helped Lucas to subdue his apparent depression. It reminded him of how he thought of the world. The sea—as lavish and restless as ever—acted like time itself, withering away at the grains one wave at a time; and after a while, the grains break apart and disappear, paving the way for a new generation to suffer the same fate.

In the end, everything that ever was or ever will be comes and goes. The worst part is never being able to watch it happen in a single lifetime.

“Hey wait up!”

Lucas was pulled from his reverie and slowed to a stop. He swiveled his head around to find Stanley running behind him, eager to catch up. As his younger cousin slowed and walked up beside him, he fidgeted his hands together nervously.

Before the navigator could speak, Lucas returned to face the boat several paces down the beach and started walking again. Stanley followed.

“Look, I'm sorry,” he finally said. “I-I didn't know.”

Lucas sighed. For once, he felt relieved when he revealed his most closely kept secret at Stanley's feet. He knew he couldn't hide it forever and that very conversation was the perfect opportunity to tell him the truth. Now that Stanley knew of the number one source of his problems, he was afraid he would tell Kate.

“No one does. I want to keep it that way.”

“Why don't you want anyone to know? This is serious.”

“Yeah, but there's nothing I can do about it.”

“Another reason why we should tell someone. It can't be that bad.”

“If you're trying to make me feel better, it's not working.”

“I just want to help,” Stanley implored.

“Help?” Lucas stopped, arguing yet again about Stanley's inability to mind his own business. “Ten minutes ago you thought I was just some guy who has issues with people and hates the world. Yesterday you thought I was crazy when I saw a purple pony at the front door. Like I said, I'm nothing more than a walking disaster and anyone following me is just asking for trouble.

“Besides,” Lucas took a deep breath. “ALS is a death sentence. You should know that.”

Lucas ended it there and continued walking towards the boat with Stanley in tow. When they finally reached the bow of the ship, he inspected the underside of the hull to see if there were any breaches or cracks. Other than a few barnacles and seaweed attached to the sleek surface, the hull was free of external damage. He approach the rope latter than dangled from the starboard side of the boat. He had left it there the day before. He grabbed hold of the soggy rope and started to climb to the top.

“Where are you going?” Stanley called.

“To getting my stuff.” Lucas hollered back. “It won't take long. I don't have much anyway.”

The captain then disappeared over the edge and out of sight without giving the navigator a chance to respond. Stanley grumbled to himself, debating whether following him was a good idea. He scanned the boat for himself and the surrounding area where the vessel had landed. Considering the violent storm they were caught in before running aground could explain how the sizable fishing boat was able to settle this far onto shore. Normal waves were far too small to carry the ten ton behemoth onto the beach.

When he heard nothing from Lucas, he sighed and decided to check up on him. Stanley jumped up to the latter and climbed. Clearing the top of the handrail, he pulled himself all the way up and set his feet on the deck of the ship. Disregarding the dangers of the soaked wood beneath his shoes, he slipped on his first step.

Fortunately, Stanley regained his balance before he fell completely. Scanning the main deck, everything from the stern to the forward compartment was intact. The windows of the bridge suffered some minor cracks, but other than that, the boat was fine.

Using the guardrails as support, he cautiously made his way to the stairwell and down in the cabin. He left the door unlocked for when he'd return, but his cousin beat him to it. Upon entering the inner realm of the boat, he found the same mess as he left it. Disorderly and disturbing. He could barely see Lucas through the half-opened door at the far end rummaging around his own bunk.

There must be something wrong with the ship's generator, Stanley thought. Other than the brief sounds of drawers opening and closing by his noisy captain, it was quiet and dark. The engine and internal power generator probably suffered some damage or other malfunctions, most likely due to the destructive typhoon-like storm that ravaged the night away. Come to think of it, storms never showed mercy to sailors. Once caught in its grasp, it did everything in its power to make a living hell out of everyone's day. It declared victorious once again.

Stanley carefully stepped further inside the cabin, making his way down the uneven floor that slanted to the right a few degrees. In addition to all the fishing manifests and silverware that were thrown all over the place, water had soaked the floor rugs when the room started to flood the entire compartment in light of their landing. Fortunately, Stanley managed to block the excess rainwater from entering the cabin with the cabin door that was properly fitted with a rubber seal to keep the moisture on the outside. He was glad he kicked the door closed or nature would have claimed the inside with mold and corrosion.

Stanley looked towards the room he and Lucas shared.

“What are you doing?” he called.

The noises stopped and the door was pulled open, revealing another room in a state of disarray. Lucas was shuffling through the mess, collecting a select few of clothes and books laid out at the foot of his bed.

“Packing.”

Stanley wanted to argue again, but now that he knew the reasons for Lucas' behavior and beliefs, he decided to roll with it. Changing the man's mind was next to impossible.

“What about your stuff at the station?” he added.

“Eh,” Lucas shrugged, “I'll get that later. Right now I need make sure I'm prepared.”

Stanley glanced around nervously, taking a series of conscious breaths. He silently vowed to help Lucas through with his decision and comfort him if need be, even when he loathed the idea of losing his only living cousin to the likes of Kate. Although, there were some things that Lucas hadn't considered.

“Ya know,” Stanley cleared his throat. “You're do have a life here, albeit not a perfect one or even a great one at that, but a life nonetheless. I didn't believe for a second that that Cadence princess or whatever was able to read Kate's mind and so happened to spill out her thoughts which turned out to be a personal secret. If you want to quit now, think about who else you'll be affecting instead of yourself.”

Lucas paused what he was doing and looked up at his cousin leaning against the doorway. He said nothing with a conceded expression on his face that fell between guilt and indifference.

“I admit I'm not the best guy in the world to be around and you proved to me I can how much of an ass I can be, but that doesn't mean I'm not trying,” Stanley explained. He took paused to breath more slowly. “If you leave, where does that leave me? I tried hard to escape the past to start over. My father didn't like me and I paid the price for standing up to him. I came out here to find something that was worth living for, and you know what, I found it.”

“What are you trying to say?” Lucas curiously asked with a hint of empathy in his voice.

“Don't go. You are the reason I'm here. If I haven't found out we were related by blood, I wouldn't have cared so much about this job and wouldn't be here right now, same as you. I know we don't get along very well, but we can fix that. It's just that things are different now even when things got a little crazy back there.”

As if Stanley had meticulously planned his monologue for days before this very moment, he looked down and off to the side, then sighed.

“The point is, I need you. I don't know what to do with myself if you left.”

“Are you asking me to stay?”

“I'm asking you to consider what you're doing and whether it's what you really want. You say you're not worth anything to anyone, but that's where you're wrong. Forget about Kate right now and forget our fights. Not a day goes by without me hoping that the longer we spend together, the more we'll understand each other. I'll trust you more and I'll even go so far as to say we're friends. So yeah, I am asking you to stay.”

By now, the silence between the two men had never been so reassuring.

Comments

[Jack Kellar]

And just when I think things couldn't get any more serious...

[AnormalUnicornPony]

Hmmm.... I should really stop using that so many 'hmms' and trailing dots... Nice going so far. I hope that this is the beginning of a beautiful magical revolution! Or not... Dang it... I really need to figure out how to stop doing that...

[dashdlkashd]

Heh... 'primitive', that's cute.

[flamevulture17]

2813644
I'm not sure they can

2813658
Magic will play big role soon, but not quite that big.

[Jack Kellar]

2845280 We find out Lucas's got the lethal litle thing we know as sclerosis and severe confidence issues. Kate's going to be in Cadence's body for what seems like a good time, and her two male companions are about to toss her company permanently. And to make it worse for everybody's sanity, them bloody ponies that can't keep their coloured snouts out of people's private businesses! [/sniper]

Only way this can get worse is if Lucas starts geting bouts of loss of control. Then it's gonna be dandy.