> Take What You Can Get > by Inspiration > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Not a kind place > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cold. Starving. Sad. These are what I would use to describe the poor, poor bastards who end up on the streets. Granted, of course, I was one of them before. It...was not my kind of place. Hell, it wasn't a kind place, period. But I managed. Day by day, pickpocketing the mares and stallions who had it made, building my little shacks everywhere. I could normally take street life. The day I met her, though, well, my life was flipped upside-down. It had been a colder-than-usual day. Tuesday, I think. I had been performing my usual routine of "steal this from them, steal that food from this house, et cetera" and sleeping. What else will a bum do? Anyways, I just stole...hmm...I think it was a loaf of bread and a stick of butter. Oh, and bits. Lots of bits. Usually blew them on something stupid, like booze or something. I was out of the target house and walking down the street, looking through the steal. Counting the ton of bits. I just looked up after counting about 270 bits, when I bumped into her, spilling whatever she'd been carrying everywhere. And me, being the courtious bum I was, began to pick things up and apologize. "Oh, oh my, um, sorry about that. I should've been looking where I was going." "Oh, no no no, it's my fault. I'm so, so sorry about running into you like that." "But, ma'am, I was the one who ran into you." "No, I think it was me who ran into you." She was soft-spoken, nice, apologetic, and even cute. I liked her already. We went back and forth on this for...15 minutes, maybe? Yeah, 15 minutes. When she, for Celestia knows what reason, invited me to her home. "Would you, um, maybe like to...to come to my house? You don't have to if you don't want to, I just want to know if you'd like to come home with me..." "Miss, I would love to come with you to your house. But why be as kind as you are to a stranger? A homeless stranger, might I add." "Because I love to show kindness." > But kindness is all it takes > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Her home was...well...I helped build it when I was a carpenter. We were all wondering how anypony would want to live in the place. But now, it was occupied by a mare, a (quite horrid, evil) bunny, and countless animals that the mare cares for. How could somepony do that and NOT go crazy? She didn't seem to have any problems doing everything that she did. Almost second nature. I helped her feed her animals, and while we worked, we talked. Small talk, of course. "So...I don't believe we every got each others names. I'm Frost Bite." "Oh, um, I'm...I'm Fluttershy." "Well, than, nice to meet you, Fluttershy." "Nice to meet you too..." And we carried on like that for a bit. Feeding animals, chatting. She's from Cloudsdale, I'm from Manehattan. She's an animal caretaker, I was a carpenter. She's the bearer of Kindness, the Element of Harmony, and I'm a courteous bum with a cold tolerance. It wasn't too bad, helping her, learning about her. She may be shy, but she's interesting. So, after we were done feeding the animals, we sat down and had some drinks (virgin Daiquiri for me, green tea for her). "So wait, your friend...what's-her-name, thought you snapped the bear's neck, when all you were doing was massaging it?" "Yeah, she did. Her name's Twilight. She ended up terrorizing three fillies later in the day." "Wow. And this was all over a letter?" "Yep." "I think Twilight might have problems, than." "Oh, nonononono. She's just...odd..." "'Odd.'" "Yes...but I think you would like her. She's pretty nice. I can take you to meet her tomorrow, if you'd like." "Miss Fluttershy, I would love to meet your friend Twilight. All of your friends, actually." > To make you get set > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- She let me crash at her home. Nicest thing anypony's done for me since I became homeless. She gave me food and drink, let me use her shower, and let me use her couch. She's the nicest pony I've ever met. I meant that. It was like she saw through the the skin and into the soul, or something of the sort. So, the next day, she took me to meet her friends. Twilight wasn't crazy, after all. Just socially awkward. Rainbow Dash was kind of...how should I put this...a bitch. Nice, but a bitch nonetheless. Applejack was nice enough. But very honest. A bit too honest. Pinkie Pie was the crazy one. How she could eat a cake that was four times the size and weight of her in one bite, I'll never know. And, finally, Rarity was generous. Even more so than Fluttershy. She, for whatever reason, gave me about 15 pounds of clothing, all of which were covered in gems that could buy out Canterlot. "Well, that was fun." "What did you...um...think of them?" "Overall? Pretty nice group of ponies. Individually? I'd rather not say." She smiled at that. Beautiful smile, she had. "Well, I could tell that they liked you. Rainbow, though, seemed to like you a bit too much." "You think? I couldn't tell. I didn't pay much attention to her." "I can...um...talk to her about it if y-" "It's all good, Fluttershy. If she wants to believe in something that'll never happen, let her." A laugh. Beautiful. So we walked and talked the whole way to her home. Laughed and told stories. It was fun. It may just be the greatest time I've had so far. When we got back to her cottage, I didn't exactly know where to put anything. And by "anything," I mean anything at all. Clothes, cupcakes, apple pies, tarts, cakes, books, books, and more books, et cetera. But, after what seemed like hours, we got everything put away. "Now, than. What shall we do now?" "If you don't mind...I'd just like to go to bed..." "Well, not to worry, Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie's party tired me out just as much as it would...anypony, really. If you want to go to bed, who am I to object?" Smooth. So she went up, and I fell onto the couch. It was a great day. I think I'm liking Fluttershy. > To take what you can get > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Knocking woke me up. It was short but loud. And the voice of a Twilight Sparkle followed the knocking. "Frost Bite, can I talk to you?" Why she needed to talk to me, I had no idea. But I got up, groomed real fast, and got to the door. "Well, good morning, Miss Sparkle. Do you need something?" "Please don't call me that, Mister Frost. And yes, I need to speak to you." "Private? Personal? What?" "Follow me, please. We should talk at the library." I remembered that she lived at the library. Kind of weird, but not for her. So we got to the library after about 10 minutes, and I was about to sit down when she started up. It was such a barrage of questions that flowed from one subject to another that is was disorienting. "What's your special talent? Are you trying to seduce Fluttershy? If you were a bum, why are you so nice? What happened to make..." I could follow none of that. But one question stuck out. "Why is Fluttershy being so open now that she met you?" I had no answer to any of her questions, as that one filled my brain. "Twilight...I think that Fluttershy is just...opening up for whatever reason. I don't think I have anything to do with it." "Well, and I know she's normally nice, but, why is she being so nice to you?" That was just rude. And she saw it. "Miss Twilight, I think I should go." "But, I need answer-" "No." And I left. I thought of her questions that I managed to catch. "When you were homeless, why did you take up theft?" And answer was simple. I had to take what I could get. > Though signs can be misread > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight's questions about me and Fluttershy ran through my head. Why did she seem to think that there was something between us? As far as I could tell, nothing was there, and nothing would ever be there. So, I decided to drop it. No point in dwelling. So, I went back to Fluttershy's cottage and made breakfast. Milk, eggs, hay bacon, the works. It was all on the table when Fluttershy came down. "Oh, what's this?" "I just made some breakfast, is all." "Breakfast for two?" "Why else would I bother to make four eggs and two glasses of milk?" "Touche..." So we ate, talking about whatever. It was nice. We talked of our pasts, about how she got into the animal business, about what I helped build as a construction worker. But then she brought up what happened this morning. "Frost, did Twilight come over today? I saw you and her leaving from upstairs." "She needed to 'talk' to me." "'Talk?'" "Ask me questions about my personal life and about you and me." "...About you...and me?" "She was very insensitive. My respect for her has gone way down." And with that, she got mad. She left the cottage and, I'm assuming, directly to Twilight's library home. I chose not to follow her. I had the feeling something was about to go down. So, after about...I don't know, half an hour or so, Fluttershy came back. Bruised. She looked like she got into a fight with a bear. I should know, as I've seen her give Barry massages. Anyways, she was trying to say something, but her jaw was swollen so much, she couldn't speak. She got her first aid kit and bandaged herself up, and used a potion from a friend named Zecora, whoever that was, to bring down the swelling. It took a while for that to take effects, but it eventually did. And, as per my curiosity, I had to asks what happened. "Fluttershy...what did you do?" "I had a little 'chat with Twilight about her questions." "...Did you beat her up?" "No, I tickled her to death." I had a sarcasm talent that was displayed when I met her friends. I think it rubbed off on her. "...Next time, I want to join in." > And the nights will fill with dread > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The day went by in a blur. So, before I knew it, the silver orb that is the moon was hovering in the sky. Fluttershy was up in her room, and I was on her couch. I was just replaying what I could remember from the day in my mind, trying to lull myself to sleep. It worked. The dream was...weird, to say the least. I couldn't tell you what happened, though. It's long since exited my memory stables. But, in the middle of my REM sleep, I was woken up by...something. Five somethings, to be exact. And I got the feeling that is was a group of mares, all of whom I've met, and two of whom I did not hold in high honors. "Are you sure he'll want to talk?" "Yes, Rainbow, Ah'm positive he'll want to talk." "How can you be so sure of this, Applejack?" "B'cause, Rarity, Ah just got tha feelin' that he'll wanna talk." "Girls, can we just get in the house?" "Not yet, Twilight! I still have to practice my suprise song!" So, I walked up to the door, opened it slightly, and told them to leave. And by that, I mean I broke the door off it's hinges and screamed, "I'M TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!" They scattered. Except for Pinkie. She wasn't horrible, so I invited her in for some drinks. "So, Frost, how have you been? I've been great, although my Pinkie Sense has been acting up really really badly, like my shoulder has been getting really really achy and my ears have been flopping nonstop for the last few days and I really wond-" "Pinkie, listen. I know that you're just being...Pinkie...but I need you to do me a favor or two, and 1) Lower your voice, or 2) Slow down." She did just that. So, we sat there for a while, chatting it up. Telling stories. The usual kind of thing. And, eventually, we both got, as she would put it, "super-duper extra tired," and just fell asleep on the couch. She was nice enough that I couldn't just ask her to leave, especially because it was dark out. So we were on the couch in Fluttershy's cottage for the night. I didn't want to say it, but Pinkie's grown on me.