Do you want to know how I met Kindness? I shall tell you.
I'm Flaring Blur, but call me Flare. This is the first part of my whole story, here I narrate how I met Fluttershy.
I moved from Canterlot with my brother and now we both live in Ponyville, it wouldn't be long until I met a mare that threw a party for us, so that we would be "officially welcomed". That day I would meet Fluttershy; from that day on my life changed.
Gather round, I shall tell you how I met Kindness...
Please critique, comment, and rate properly! (Art by LEAXXX, USED WITH PERMISSION)
"Hey dad." "Yeah son?" "I was thinking. Well you always took care of us, even more than usual since she left, but, I think I could be better to move to another place." "…" "It’s been a year, you know I can take care of myself, I’m 18 already remember?" "Yes but that doesn’t mean you have to leave." "But I want to, it’s very soon, I know that. But I want to, maybe I can start a new life early, and enjoy it more even if it is for a few years; not that I don't like living here but..." "…" "That’s not everything; the truth is that I also talked to my brother about this, he doesn’t mind if you want him to stay here, but he liked the idea. Sorry I didn’t tell you before." "…" "And that we both didn’t come to you, as it should be." "…" "Well…" "Listen son, let’s talk about this on dinner, I need some time to think." "Oh, ok sure."
Dinner
"Well guys, we have to talk." "…" "…" "I kept thinking of your idea to leave home, and I have made a decision." "Ok." "What is it?" "Um well, I don’t think you are capable to live both on your own. You have 18 and 16 respectively, one of you may be legal, but that doesn’t mean that you can leave, you may need some more time to actually be capable to take care of yourselves." "…" "…" "However, if you really want to start again somewhere else, I can’t keep you here forever, you both are my sons, but I can’t control your fates. Do you at least know how to start in a new home?" "We have some good savings, and our jobs are sent home, we can update our directions so we keep getting the work to our new house." "Have you made a choice of your new house?" "Ponyville looks like a nice place: quiet, friendly. Canterlot here is rather noisy, we don't usually like so much noise. "Right, I suggested that place because a friend of mine knows it, she has parents there, I can take advantage of the village being quiet because I need concentration for my work." "Yeah yeah I know about that." "So…?" "So, I think there is no point to insist, after all I have to support your decisions." "Dad if you really don’t want us to do this it’s fine." "No, I know that, but there isn’t anything better in a father’s life than the happiness of his sons, so, if you really want, you have my full support." "Thanks dad, we will be fine, we promise." "Yeah, I know son, I know you will."
Flaring blur, that’s my name, an earth pony. And this is my story.
I lived in Ponyville for a month at this point, with my unicorn brother Plaid Studs.
I liked the place, quiet, and the ponies are friendly, I have made acquaintances with the neighbors and they were pretty nice.
I liked to take strolls through the village, since we had no TV in the house, I could do other things (I love watching television, sometimes I watched too much though). I was rather intrigued at how many mares were in here, I could rarely find a colt or stallion, well, it could be easy to find a partner I thought to myself.
If I wasn’t so shy at the time.
I could talk to anypony, that wasn’t a problem, but asking somepony out, it would take me a while (if not forever) to gather the courage. My brother didn’t have that problem, he didn't even try. He always said that he wouldn’t find anypony that would like him, but deep inside I think he rather wants to have his time alone, than to spend it with anypony else for life (or some months at least). I had marefriends before, but none of them lasted more than half-year (one didn’t even make it to one week). So I decided to have some time alone too; if I was destined to fail every relationship, better stay off that.
Wandering through the town, lost in thought with my life, love and past, I stumbled into somepony. Well, I actually crashed into that somepony.
Getting up I helped the other pony do the same.
"Sorry there, I was lost in thought, are you okay?"
"Oh yeah yeah I’m okay!" The pony said, a pink mare.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah I’m fine!" She looked at me a moment "I’ve never seen you before."
"Um, I’m Flaring Blur, I’m new here."
"Your name is… Flaring Blur?"
"Call me Flare, it’s too long otherwi..."
"AWESOME A NEW PONY!" I couldn’t believe the energy in this mare, even after crashing with me "I have to sing everypony new in town a song!"
"Uh what?" it was getting a little weird but she started to sing anyway:
“You told me and assured, your name is Flaring Blur; be my friend and don’t be shy, oh and my name is Pinkie Pie!”
I was surprised at the energy of this pony (again), there were some in my primary school, but none as active as this mare was (and she had to have an older age).
"Wow how did you do that?"
"Years of meeting new ponies and befriending them the next instant" She said with a big smile and almost no pause.
Well, she could be the first friend I would have in the town, and by the looks of it, it wouldn’t take long to make more since she said she did friends almost the same way for years.
"Ok sure, I’ll be your friend" I said almost laughing.
"Yay! I shall throw you a party!"
"A party?" the situation was getting weirder by the minute.
"Yeah! I throw parties for newcomers many times, that way you can make more friends right away and talk to them, and you can meet them again some other time and…"
"Okay okay I know about that!" I interrupted her, she had a too darn high-pitched voice.
"Oh OK, so come by around 6 PM, party starts then!"
"Um, where?" She pointed a hoof to a place that looked eatable at first sight.
"Sugarcube Corner, every party is hosted there! Well, except some that are in the whole village or some special places, like this one time…"
"Tell me about that later, I have to go home to tell my brother about this and prepare."
"YOU HAVE A BROTHER?! I have to make a better party then!" And then she ran off, leaving a trail of smoke.
I went back home around 3 PM, still processing the acts happened the past few minutes, well a party will raise my mood up a bit I thought to myself.
When I arrived home and told my brother about the party, he went indifferent about the idea.
"You wanna come?"
"I don’t know, I don’t like party music and dancing." He said.
"So? Don’t dance, just chat with others."
"You also know I don’t start conversations."
"They will approach you and start, you won’t even be able to take the initiative, eventually one will talk to you, just don’t be too honest."
"But I can’t help being honest."
"You are TOO honest, just be honest in a normal amount."
"You know I can’t do that."
"*sigh* Okay fine, have it your way."
It was a pain in the flank to reason with my brother, anypony would think he is weird, he is, but he doesn’t care, he likes his life as it is. He befriends those who he thinks are worth, and those who he thinks are not, are potential enemies. I did some of my unfinished work, and prepared for the party.
It was 5 PM and I was already going to Sugarcube Corner, I saw that pink mare was preparing the place. Ballons, streamers, and some tables with pink cloth were at sight, and a banner on the floor that had writed “WELCOME FLARING BLUR AND …”
"Um, hello?"
"Oh hi Flare!" she said coming from the kitchen "I told you to be at 6, what are you doing here?"
"Well I thought I could help you a bit."
"That’s very kind of you but don’t worry, I’m almost done, I just have to place the streamers along the
place."
"Oh OK, I’ll stay here until the party starts then, you don’t mind?"
"Of course not!" she was as happy as when I met her a few hours ago, and she got out of the kitchen to place the streamers.
"Hey I don't know your name yet" I reminded her.
"Oh you do know my name silly, I said it during the song I made for you!" she told me.
"That's true but I can't remember it"
"Oh that's okay, if you want I can sing it again!" she suggested.
"That's fine but the name will suffice"
"Um okay, I'm Pinkie Pie" she finally said.
"Nice to meet you" She just smiled.
It was 5:30 PM and my brother arrived, when I introduced him to Pinkie she remembered the unfinished banner, and my brother told her his name.
"Plaid Studs? That’s a funny name." she said
"Go ahead make fun if you want, I’ll just leave" my brother replied dryly.
"Plaid! Knock it off would you?" I whispered to not make much noise and scare the mare.
"I didn't come here to be the laughingstock of the party! I thought Ponyville would be different than Canterlot, why did I listen to Patches advice?" he whispered angry
"She is your friend right? You don’t befriend anypony, so she is of your trust." I whispered him back.
"Oh come on even my friends make jokes about me every now and then!"
"Then why are they your friends if they do jokes on you?"
"Hey Plaid?" called Pinkie, she seemed a little worried.
"What?" he asked impatiently.
"When I said 'funny' I didn't mean as a joke, it is funny because it is strange, I never heard your name or your brother's before; it's just all a misunderstanding" Pinkie said. My brother didn't say a word.
"Oh I know what will cheer you up! A song!" the mare said happily.
"A song??"
"Trust me, she knows what she does" I told him smiling. The mare cleared her throat and started:
“You say your name is Plaid Studs, Plaid Studs is your name; I apologize for my mistake but please just be my friend!”
Yankee Doodle Dandy, I just realized that was the tune she used to sing those small out-of-nowhere songs.
My brother looked in awe, and was on the brink of a laugh for that little song and the bouncing that came with it.
"H-h-how do you…?"
"Years of training" I replied quickly
"Hey! He asked me!"
"Sorry, couldn’t resist."
"Well?" Pinkie started "Would you be my friend?"
"Of course!" Plaid laughed "You’re not so bad after all…" This sent to Pinkie something like a sudden wave of joy, because she then went bouncing with a big smile and a “WHHEEEEEE” expression:
"Two new friends in one day! It was years ago since I last did that!"
I looked at a clock, 20 minutes to start the party, and some ponies were already gathering outside Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie finished the banner and Plaid helped her hang it up. She then went to the kitchen and brought some food, drinks, and a device to play music. Now the party was ready to begin.
(You may skip this chapter, it's pretty much only dialogue with the Mane 6)
"Wow, many ponies showed up" I said to myself "Pinkie does have some renown."
The party started with Pinkie introducing us and giving us the opportunity to talk to the audience a little bit, then the party started. I looked at the food. Cupcakes, muffins, pies, cakes, pretty much everything that had a sweet flavor. The drinks where all punch of different tastes.
The music was good, and my brother enjoyed it pretty much, but he wasn’t into dancing, so he talked with anypony that approached to.
"Hey! Enjoying the party?" Pinkie said to me
"Oh yeah, you do this normally?" I asked her back
"Ohhhh a lot!" That characteristic smile of hers showed up again, it was comforting.
"Oh so you do know how to throw parties."
"Well duh, I do this since I was a little filly."
"No kidding? Cool!"
"Thanks!" She looked around and placed her eyes on a group "Come, let me introduce you my very best friends!"
"Uh yeah sure."
Five mares talking with each other, until Pinkie showed, then they looked at me.
"Everypony, meet Flare!"
"Hi there" I said a bit nervously, numerous groups of mares made me uncomfortable.
"Hello Flare, welcome to Ponyville!" Said a purple unicorn.
"Flare this is Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy" Pinkie said pointing each mare.
The first was the purple unicorn; Applejack was an earth pony, she tilted her hat to salute with a 'howdy'; Rarity was a fancy looking unicorn, she normally shook her head to correct her mane; Rainbow was a pegasus, athletic-looking; and Fluttershy another pegasus, she seemed to hide behind her mane, that caught my attention a bit.
"So what brings you to Ponyville?" asked Twilight.
"Well I had the desire to begin a life of my own and leave from my home to make one, Canterlot is not suited for me."
"Canterlot?!" Rarity exclaimed, which frightened me a little.
"Uh yeah? What's the big deal?"
"Why did you leave Canterlot dear? It is simply amazing!" said the unicorn.
"It may be amazing, but I like some things in my life to be simple, like my brother does, he picked Ponyville because it suited our lifeways."
"I understand you Flare; it happened to me when I made my friends here, and I told Princess Celestia to let me stay after she sent me here." said Twilight.
"Celestia… sent you?" I asked surprised.
"Yeah, I’m her student and her protégée, and she asked me to organize the Summer Sun Celebration that was being held here."
"So you must be great with magic, if you are her protégée." I assumed
"She is not great, she is AWESOME!" intervened the athletic pegasus, I just noticed her very rare rainbow colored mane "She saved Ponyville from an ursa major!"
"Rainbow, for starters it wasn’t an ursa major, it was a minor; and second please stop telling everypony about that!" the unicorn blushed in embarrassment.
"But Twilight he had to know!" the pegasus said.
"Knowing the fact of being the Princess’ protégée is enough for me to believe her prowess in magic, but it is interesting to know you handled an ursa minor on your own." I said looking at Twilight.
"Well thanks" she said with a smile.
"So tell us a bit more about you darling." Rarity said.
"Ah wanna know, whay do you have al’ yor body filled with scars? Ya' work hard or somethin'?" asked the orange earth pony with a southern accent
"Oh, well I don’t feel like talking about that right now, maybe later once I get to know you all better. By the way I know nothing about you all."
"He is right!" Pinkie yelled, I forgot she was still beside me "Well, you already know that Twilight saved Ponyville from that Ursa Minor."
"How about you Applejack, you’re a farmer right?" I asked the orange pony.
"Pretty much, yeah" she replied "I buck the trees in the farm to collect the apples to sell them in the market."
"Yeah I saw you a few times and bought some of your apples, they’re great!"
"Thanks sugarcube."
"So Rarity" I looked at the white unicorn "what do you do? I think that it has something to do with… fashion?"
"You are correct! I work in the Carousel Boutique designing the most fabulous dresses in all Ponyville, and why not, all Equestria!" Rarity answered.
"I walked past that boutique a few times, you do quite a nice job." I complimented
"Why thanks dear."
"However, you don’t do suits or clothes for stalllions, do you?"
"Oh sorry dear I don’t; but if you ask me I can do that upon request." she suggested
"Great thanks, I’m definitely going to do that."
"And I’m also a hairdresser, I got my boutique equipped for that." she added
"Oh good, I’ll come by sometime for a change." I said thinking about it.
"Anytime" she said with a smile.
"So Rainbow, what do you do?" I asked the pegasus
"I’m in charge of the weather here in Ponyville" she said
"I never understood about that, how do pegasi know when to make a sunny day or when make it rainy? Could you explain it to me?" I asked Rainbow
"Well, I’m the chief of the weather team in Ponyville, I get the schedule sent home every week for the next one, and I dispatch my team to bring clouds or make them disappear." she explained
"So you have more than one pegasus at your command." I assumed
"Exactly. I could do it myself but I have to be assigned to a team, my superiors say that it is the policy" one could simply see she was boasting her skills.
"How many ponies are in your team?"
"Oh, I don’t really know." she said laughing
"Ten pegasi." jumped in Twilight, much to my surprise but not for Rainbow's.
"How do you know?" asked the pegasus, a bit annoyed.
"I’m the All Team Organizer for wrapping up winter remember?"
"But in the weather team for Winter Wrap-up weren’t all pegasi, Pinkie was there too!"
"And with her and many others the team would be over twenty, I just counted the pegasi."
"Yeah that makes more sense" said Rainbow, pretty embarrassed.
"Winter Wrap-up? What is that?" I asked
"It’s the event in which we ponies of Ponyville pack up Winter, and leave room for the Spring to come," explained Rarity "how come you don't know of Winter Wrap-up?"
"Well the weather in Canterlot is changed with magic" I explained.
"Is that so? I didn’t know." apologized Rarity.
"Yeah and it’s very lame because it's not the same here" said an unknown voice behind me.
"Oh Spike where have you been?" asked Twilight to a small figure, a very small one.
"I was looking for something to eat" said the scaled figure approaching Twilight, I was having a hard time figuring out what that thing was.
"Umm, who’s that?" I finally asked curious.
"Oh this is Spike he is a dragon and my assistant." answered Twilight.
"Number one assistant!" said cheerfully the purple dragon, which gave a few giggles along the group "So you’re the new pony in town huh?" he said looking at me.
"Yes, I’m Flaring Blur."
"Call him Flare! It’s too long otherwise he told me!" again, I forgot Pinkie was at my side this whole time.
"Okay Pinkie!" said impatiently the dragon "Well, welcome to Ponyville, I’m sure you’ll find yourself comfortable here."
"Thanks Spike. So he is your assistant?" I looked at Twilight
"Yup, I wouldn’t change it for the world" said the unicorn, which made Spike blush a bit.
"But assistant of what?"
"Oh yeah I haven’t told you yet. Besides being the Princess' protégée I’m a librarian, he helps me putting the books on place and clean the house every now and then. He also sends my reports or letters to Celestia whenever I have to contact her immediately."
"Immediately? How does that work? A letter from here to Canterlot takes two days at least" I said.
"Spike can spit a special fire which instead of burning letters, it transports them to the Princess, pretty handy skill right?"
"Yeah, definitely." then and idea came to my head "You said you’re a librarian right?"
"Yea, why?"
"Well, I like books, I thought I could come by to your library and see what do you have in stock, is that alright?"
"Well yeah sure! I have all kinds of books, come by anytime and I’ll let you have a look" she said cheerfully.
"Awesome, thanks."
As I was about to talk to Fluttershy, one of my favorite songs came up from the music.
-Hey I love this song! Anypony want to dance with me?
-I will dear, I love this song too –said Rarity smiling while taking me to the centre of Sugarcube Corner.
When the song finished, I couldn’t help but (believe or not) bow to Rarity as a “thank you” gesture.
"Well well, it’s strange to find well-mannered ponies around here; I’m guessing you did have an important family in Canterlot." she said
"Actually my father was just in the army, but being chivalrous is one part of what my cutie mark represents" I said showing her my cutie mark: a one-hoofed sword.
"Well, I think you are very lucky to have more than one talent in one cutie mark darling" she looked back at her group "sorry my friends call me, it was a pleasure to dance with you."
"The pleasure was mine" I said in a fancy way, but joking a bit too; I could be chivalrous, but I wasn’t too fond of that.
I went to the table to have something to drink, and I saw that yellow pegasus from the group of before. She was drinking punch, so I approached and tapped her shoulder to talk a little. But when she saw it was me tapping her shoulder she choked and let the cup fall.
"Oh gosh sorry! I didn’t mean it!" I apologized
"That’s... alright!" she said in a wheeze
"Okay okay take it easy, calm down" I was beginning to stutter.
After a while the mare had regained her air.
"I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, seriously" I said a bit sad.
"Don’t worry, it happens to me all the time" she replied embarassed.
"I guess I’ll have to be even more careful then" I said jokingly, but she looked away instead, so I tried to think of something else "so, what was your name again?"
"Um, Flutter…shy" she said that last syllable in a whisper I didn’t hear. If I’d have hosted a contest to see who would have the lowest voice, she would win by unanimous decision.
"Oh yeah Fluttershy, sorry, I’m just not too good with names, I remember all but can’t recall them at some point or another." I explained her.
"Oh okay" I could think she wasn’t too much of a talker.
"Hey, I don’t know anything about you yet" I remembered "do you work?"
"Oh, well, I take care of animals in my cottage" she said.
"Ah you’re a vet, am I right?" I asked
"Um, not really; see, a veterinarian cures and heals pets. I take care of all kinds of animals, feed them, spend some time with them, and, when they need to, heal them if they’re hurt." she explained
"So you are a bit more of a foal-sitter for animals" I guessed.
"Yeah, pretty much; though many of the animals I take care of live in my cottage, so I don’t get paid for all except for a few pets that are sent to me."
"So yeah, a foal-sitter for animals" and then it hit me "wait, cottage?"
"Um, yeah?"
"You live here in Ponyville?"
"Um, yeah what about it?" she asked back.
"Oh nothing it's just that I thought you pegasi lived in Cloudsdale."
"Well I do live here in Ponyville, but when I was a filly I lived in Cloudsdale." she explained
"You don’t say? Then when did you move here to Ponyville?" I was getting interested in this mare.
"Uhh… about… a few years, I can’t really remember" she said a bit uncomfortable.
"Okay don’t worry; it’s not that important either!" I let out a silly laugh, it hurt me whenever I thought I was messing up with even the slightest thing.
I tried to think of something else to talk:
"By any chance does your cutie mark have anything to do about your work?" I was getting surprised at how nervous I was getting, to ask something that obvious.
"Well, my cutie mark resembles my ability to talk to animals."
"What?"
"Oh I mean my ability to communicate with animals." she corrected
"Communicate?" I didn't see much of a difference.
"Yes, I can communicate with animals in a higher level than most ponies, I can take care of them better because I understand them. Most ponies ask me to watch over their pets because they can’t find anypony better. Well, they say that; I don’t think I’m that good."
"If they choose you, then it means you ARE as good as they say" I complimented her.
"Maybe, but there aren’t many ponies who choose me."
"Maybe because there aren’t many ponies that have pets"
"Maybe. I guess you are right."
"So, what do you work of?" she asked.
"Me? Well, I’m a translator." I answered.
"Umm, I’m sorry, but what’s a translator?"
"Well, how to put it? A translator is a pony that receives some text in a language, and is asked to turn it to another one. Translate something (like a document) is my job."
"Ohh, so you know more than one language?"
"Two and a half" I said jokingly, knowing she would ask about that.
"Huh?"
"Yeah" I laughed "Actually I know three including English, but I use only two for translation." I explained her.
"What about the third one?"
"That was an extra language I was taught at school, I can use it to talk a little with others, but mostly understand what they say. So in short: I can understand it, but can’t talk it fluidly."
"What languages do you know?"
"Spanish and Portuguese; I use Spanish to translate from English."
"Wow you know a lot" she said happily. " Can you tell me something in Spanish?"
"Uhhh, ummm, maybe later?" I blushed; I was getting nervous out of nowhere.
"Okay" she accepted with a little smile.
The rest of the party went faster than usual, I stopped to chat to anypony that wanted to talk and meet me or welcome me to the village. It was true, ponies here were very friendly.
When the party finished at 10 PM, the group of Pinkie was the last one to leave; my brother left earlier because he was getting a bit bored.
"Well, thanks for coming girls, hope to see you again" I said to the group.
"Sure, see you later Flare!" waved Twilight along with the other four. I turned to Pinkie:
"Thanks for the party Pinkie, it was nice of you, even if I just met you like a few hours" like my brother, I was too honest sometimes too.
"You’re totally welcome; if another party comes up I’ll be sure to give you and your brother an invitation!" she chimed oblivious of what I said.
"Awesome, thanks again. See you later!"
I went to my house; it wasn’t too far from Sugarcube Corner, only a few blocks, if it was a little further I wouldn’t have left my brother to go home alone. There wasn’t any record of bandits or muggers in Ponyville ever, but it wasn’t a reason to not be careful at night.
When I got home my brother was already asleep, I was tired too so I just brushed my teeth and left myself fall in my bed. But I liked to think before I got to sleep: I thought of my moving here in Ponyville, the people I met, the party. Think was something I liked to do very much, it was something that helped me to sleep.
Specially after I kept thinking of that yellow coated pegasus.
"You know it wouldn’t surprise me if you are actually dating somepony; I would be surprised they get to like you if they know you still do that thing of yours."
"They get to like me because I don’t get to tell them about that!" I yelled
"So you’re telling me you told nopony about that?"
"Well actually I have told almost anypony about that."
"Including marefriends I assume" he said.
"Ex-marefriends, and yes."
"I-I-I don’t get it! How can anypony like you if they know that you swing around a stick as a sword?"
Even then, I would still swing a long stick around as a real sword. I use it as a self-training; I could use the weapons my father gave me, sure, but to train I have to use that old wood stick. And if I needed to put my training in practice, then I would use the weapons with caution to test what can go right and what can go wrong (that's why I have most of my scars in my body). Since my father was Captain of the royal guard (and trainer of new recruits), it wasn’t hard for me to ask him for some weapons I designed for myself (shorter than most standards), so that he would request them at the blacksmith. When he saw my interest about weapons, and my prowess with them, he asked me why I didn’t join the army already. I could only tell him that my skills with weapons weren’t specially the “power” type, so to speak. And in the army, everypony trained to be strong, which I wasn’t; everypony trained to have bigger muscles, which I barely had.
So instead, I designed my own way of swordplay (which could be tagged as "speed" style), using melee attacks to add variety. Of course I still had trained under my dad’s tutelage (in the "power" style of swordplay); despite not being fully-trained on their way (and not being in the army at all), he looked forward of making me the new Captain when he would retire. And I was happy to oblige, because that was another thing that interested me.
That was, until another colt entered the army, and showed my dad he was more promising.
Back to where we left off, my brother was bugging me about swinging around a stick as a sword.
"It doesn’t make sense! It’s something foalish for Celestia’s sake!" he kept saying
"Serve in the army is something foalish?" I asked him
"You’re not in the army."
"I was talking about the soldiers of Equestria."
"But it’s their duty and they use real swords. You on the other hand do it as something to enjoy. You do it because you like it, not because you have to."
"Listen, if you think of my hobby as foalish, suit yourself; but if you think that everypony has to think exactly like you, you’re going to have a bad time, because it won’t happen." I was getting angry.
"Somepony has to think like me." Plaid said.
"You are right, but not everypony, know the difference." I left the house, tired of arguing; luckily I had to buy some groceries, it would help me forget why I was even mad while shopping.
It was a cloudy day, but rain wasn’t expected, the sky was completely white. I liked to think that I was in some sort of limbo when the sky went like that. I went first to the apple stand; as I expected, Applejack was there, and a filly I usually saw her with.
"Hey Applejack how are things going?" I greeted her.
"Oh hey there Flare, I’m fine, how ‘bout you?" she asked back.
"I'm fine thanks, at least I don’t have to bear my brother when I’m out."
"You’re not too united aren’t ya?"
"It depends; we’re like fair weather friends sometimes, and the best brothers on others." I explained.
"Ah understand, so what do you need?"
"Oh yeah, six apples please" I asked her.
"Sure thing; Applebloom?" she looked at the filly. The latter already packed said quantity and put it in my saddlebag.
"Say, is this a relative of yours?" I asked Applejack
"Uh-huh, she is mah sister Applebloom" she responded "Applebloom this is Flare." she said to the filly.
"Nice to meet you Applebloom" I extended a hoof for her to shake, which she did rather vigorously "how nice of you to help your big sister with selling apples."
"Yeah, but ah don’t do it just to help her, I only want to get my cutie mark somehow; I’ve tried everything but nothing works." the filly said sadly
"You can’t achieve to ever try exactly everything. C’mon, there are billion things you sure haven’t tried." I cheered her up.
"But I don’t want to try those billion things just to get my cutie mark, I want it now!"
"If you want some advice, don’t try to reason with ‘er: you just CAIN’T." Applejack whispered to my ear
"Okay okay" I whispered back "I better get going then, see you around girls."
"Wait Flare" Applejack called "before you go, I wanted to apologize for asking about your scars out of nowhere, I didn’t think that…"
"Applejack don’t worry; these scars are just product of failed trainings, that’s all. It’s not a bad memory anyway." I told her.
"So, ye’r not offended?"
"Not in the least, but thanks for worrying" I told her smiling.
"Yer’ welcome" she replied, feeling better now.
I went back to my house and left the groceries in the fridge. I told my brother I would go out again, but he didn’t even care what I’d do. It was like talking to a wall. I remembered about the library, which Twilight ran, I could look a book to rent for a while, besides with the cloudy sky it was awesome as the light was perfect (not too bright, not too dark).
So I left the house with a bag, and headed to Golden Oaks Library.
I knocked the door of the library and waited, until the door opened, but I had to look down.
"Oh hey Flare" said Spike "what brings you here?"
"Hey Spike, I was just looking for a book, mind if I look the stock?"
"The… stock?" he seemed confused.
"What you got, what books you have."
"Oh yeah sure, come on in" he stepped aside allowing me to enter.
"By any chance, is Twilight here?" I asked
"Uh no, she went shopping, she will come any minute now if you want to wait for her" Spike answered.
"Oh ok thanks." I looked around the place; many kinds of books surrounded me. I repeated out loud all the categories as I went: Magic, biology, history. Mostly magic above all. Of course, being the student of Celestia would require her to study every now and then about everything magic. The door opened:
"Oh hey Flare, didn’t expect to see you so soon" said Twilight’s voice behind me.
"Hello Twili…" there was another pony coming with her.
"Hi Flare" said Fluttershy smiling.
"H-hi" I was getting nervous again.
"I’ll be with you in a minute, I need Fluttershy to check my pet" she said while going upstairs.
"S-sure thing Twilight" I said.
I wasn’t actually stuttering, but instead lacking of voice always happened to me in this kind of encounters. But I always thought to myself that maybe I wasn’t so shy, maybe it was just all in my head, but I couldn’t help it but just think of it that way.
I kept looking at the books when they were upstairs; more categories showed up: Adventure, romance, myths, novels, mystery. It was hard to find them because the library had almost half of the total books talking about magic.
"…so don’t worry, he’ll be fine in a few days, tomorrow at best." I heard Fluttershy say when the both of them were coming down."
"Thank you very much Fluttershy, good thing I found you at the market, you saved me the trip."
"No problem, give me a call if something happens" Fluttershy was about to leave.
"I will, thanks again" said Twilight, and the pegasus left "Sorry I kept you waiting." she said to me.
"It's okay" I replied.
"So, what brings you here?"
"I was just checking the books you have."
"Are you searching for something in particular?" asked the unicorn.
"Well, something of adventure or a novel, what would you recommend?"
"I have something that just came in." she went to the shelves and pulled a book "Somepony wrote a story about the Mare Do Well."
"I heard of her, a friend of my brother told me. Who was that mare?" I asked intrigued
"She was a hero that Ponyville once had, some months ago. She would come to save the lifes of those endangered; but she stopped appearing one time, and now she is barely even named." she looked worried.
"Do you know who she was?"
"Um, no, but I would have liked to" Twilight said quickly.
"Okay; what is this book, some kind of biography or something?" I asked
"Kind of, but the book tells only about her days as the Mare Do Well. It tells her doings, pretty well detailed; I think you can find it of your liking."
"Let me check it a bit" I passed some pages quickly, it seemed good "I’ll take it, how much time does the rent last?"
"A month, which are ten bits; if you want another month then come here before time is due and pay five more" she said.
"Fair enough" I grabbed ten bits of my bag and gave them to her "here you go." She wrote something on the inner cover (present date and expiration), gave me the book and then I left.
I went to the park and found a tree to repose, and started reading the book of this “Mare Do Well”. It described in detail about her: her feats, her doings, her skills; just like Twilight said. What confused me was her skills, because the book said she used magic and that she could fly. If I didn’t know better that the only alicorns that existed during this time were Celestia and Luna, I would have thought that the mare was one. There existed more than two alicorns, I know that; but the chances of another alicorn besides the princesses (at the same time) were very slim, though not impossible.
To be honest, I was usually a pony that had an open mind. Even the most unlikely of myths had it's pinch of real for me. Even if it wasn't plain real, just some kind of reference or hint.
I looked at the covers, to see if the name of the author was written, but nothing said about it, it just said “Anonymous”. Now it made a little more sense; maybe the writer was the Mare Do Well herself, or somepony close to her.
I stopped focusing on the book for a moment and I saw Fluttershy a couple meters away walking around a little worried; I actually saw her when I arrived at the park, but didn’t greet her to not bother.
I put the book inside my bag and walked towards the pegasus:
"Hi again" I greeted a bit nervous.
"Oh Flare hello, didn’t see you there." she said
"I didn’t want to bother; you seem worried, is everything alright?"
"Well... I lost one of my animals, a squirrel, he should be at my house by now and I’m worried."
"But your animals don't live in your house all the time?" I asked
"No, they get out every now and then when they need to do something outside, but they come back in a few hours"
"Well maybe he got late or… something." I suggested
"Maybe, but, I’m just scared if something happened to him" she looked more worried now.
"Okay try not to think of that. Let’s see, why don’t you go back to your cottage and see if he returned now? I’ll help you looking around here." I proposed.
"Oh I can’t ask you to do that for me" she replied.
"It’s no big deal, I love to help" I told her with a smile. She thanked me and left for her house, meanwhile I would look for that squirrel.
She came back in a few minutes, with no new info of the rodent. Then she helped me find the squirrel. Everytime I found one I called the pegasus to check if it was the one we were looking for. After several attempts we finally found it in a bush:
"Fluttershy, is this the one?" I called her.
"Let me see" she said coming from above "oh gosh there he is! Thank you!" the rodent ran to Fluttershy as she lowered her hooves to grab the little animal.
"No problem, I told you not to worry." I told her again.
"Sorry, it’s just that I care too much for the animals." she said.
"I can see that, well everything turned okay in the end."
"Thank you very much Flare, I would have lost him if it weren’t for you" the mare kept saying.
"Stop thanking me, it was nothing" I blushed, not being able to contain a smile.
"Is there some way I can repay you?"
"Seeing you are happy is enough repayment" my mouth slipped those words.
Fluttershy looked at me, oblivious of those last words.
"Oh gosh I can’t believe I actually said that" I said. I bit off my lip, if I haven't said anything more she wouldn't have suspected anything.
"What are you talking about?" Fluttershy asked.
"Ugh, I guess I have to say it now" I took a deep breath "it’s nothing really, but I think you are really pretty Fluttershy." The pegasus looked at me steadily:
"You think?"
"Yeah, I do; you are too pretty" She blushed.
"Thanks but; you know? I am not a very sociable pony, I don’t think you would like me anymore after some time."
"Well, if it makes you feel better, I don’t talk much too; I always feel nervous when talking to a new friend, because I don’t know if I’m being sociable or I’m being a nuisance." I tried to explain.
"You aren’t a nuisance for me, I like seeing you around, like in the library." I couldn't respond, so instead I stuttered something I didn't even understand. She giggled, and I couldn’t help but join her too, then she said:
"Well I better take Squirrelie home, we talk later?" and she pointed her head to the squirrel that still was on her hoof.
"Oh yeah sure, I’ll see you later." She then walked away, I resisted the impulse to ask her something else, which it was getting harder to deal with.
I couldn’t help it anymore so I took the chance, as hasty as it could be:
"Fluttershy!" I called her while running. With my heart beating so hard, it made me lose my breath faster than normal.
"What’s wrong now?" she asked.
"I want to know if you…" Pause.
"I want to know if you" I took a deep breath and let it all out at once "wouldgonadatewithme!"
"Um, what?" she looked confused.
"Uh, I want to know" I repeated, now embarrassed "if you would go on a date with me?" Now she looked shocked, trying not to make eye contact with me (or even visual contact at all) stuttering some things I didn’t understand. Until I snapped of total embarrassment:
"Oh gosh, sorry sorry SORRY!" I ran out like hell, feeling that my heart would bail out of my ribcage any moment now.
I didn’t know why I was even sorry for, it just came from my mouth; after all I already told her what I thought, but I used to make hasty decisions, which I always regretted.
I kept running without course, until I stopped; good thing I found myself in front of Sugarcube Corner, it was still open and I could see Pinkie bouncing as usual.
I turned my way to go home, now calmer than before.
When I entered my house, my brother was taking a nap; I went to the bathroom to look at myself a while; then I noticed something coming from my eye, and it finally came off after a blink.
I have to say that I'm a mentally sensitive pony: anything I watched or read that had something to do with sadness or absolute joy, it would make me cry. Some years ago it wasn’t like that, it’s something I started to develop and embrace once I had become of legal age, which happened only a few months, I still lived in Canterlot then. There were times in which I thought if I was being too girly if I cried about nothing; even just thinking something too beautiful or something too sad would begin to well up tears in me, even if I didn’t get to cry at all, the tears would still be in my eyes.
I couldn’t believe I was crying, yet it made a bit of sense, I was making all of this turn into a big deal for no reason. I washed my face to calm me a bit, and went to my bed to rest. Then I started crying, because deep inside, I knew I was still some kind of foal. I may be a young colt now, but my mind says otherwise. The truth is, I am like this because I am stuck on fantasy, wishing for the real life to be as I picture it.
"Wake up Casanova." My head hurt as I got up, my brother was next to me with a letter he was levitating.
"What’s that?" I asked.
"A letter knucklehead, what else can it be?" he sighed "I don’t know when it arrived, but a bird was holding it."
"A what?"
"Yep, you heard it; it was waiting yesterday for one of us to take it; I’m guessing he wanted to be sure that we would read the letter." I grabbed the letter, it was written in simple letters:
Sugarcube Corner 2 PM tomorrow Fluttershy
Reading the name made me jump out of bed, and asked my brother quickly:
"What time is it?"
"4 PM, you overslept yesterday, why?" Without thinking twice, I ran to the bathroom to correct my mane and wash my face, and left the house.
It was late, I was sure of that, but at least I could try to catch her if I found her around. When I arrived at Sugarcube Corner she was nowhere to be seen, so I ran inside the place, to see if Pinkie knew something.
"Yes she was here, but left a while ago now" the pink pony told me "is there something wrong?"
"Uh it’s just that nothing I do goes well, I asked Fluttershy to go on a date with me, but I chickened and ran before she could say something."
"You asked her out?!" she was surprised, but seemed happy.
"I overslept my nap yesterday and I just woke up, I was too sad because I can’t be BRAVE ENOUGH!" Pinkie flinched after my scream, and the whole place looked at me. This was a great opportunity for fate to make you explode for no reason.
"Sorry." I apologized
"Don’t worry Flare, in the end everything will work out just fine, trust me." she said cheering me up.
"Thanks. You do know how to cheer up a pony."
"That’s my special talent silly!" she said with her most cheerful smile.
Five days passed, and no sign of Fluttershy was at sight.
“It’s better that way" I told myself "she probably hates me, since I haven’t come in time to meet her after I ran from her the last time." I was broken inside, too much to even think of her, but I couldn’t help it. I only think of her as pretty, I barely know anything about her; but why I was making it a big deal in the first place?
I always expected the worse from everything, it was something normal for me; it didn’t hurt me with most of the things though. But love (or relationships in general) was what moved and hurt me the most.
Many questions surrounded my head, and all would have to keep unanswered for now.
"What a coward" I said out loud.
"You were saying something?" my brother asked, busy with his work.
"Nevermind. Hey I’m going out again, I need to clear my thoughts."
"It’s raining jackflank." I looked at the window; it was indeed raining, but it was calm.
"See if I care; I can’t stay here anyway." I said
"Suit yourself."
Good thing there wasn’t anypony out, I needed time completely alone, so I went through almost all of Ponyville, and I eventually got at the park. I sat down at the same tree were I read the book of Mare Do Well. Some raindrops still made it through the leaves, so I wasn’t completely protected of the rain.
I looked at Ponyville, then at the horizon, then at the empty park:
"I really needed to be alone" I said, stretching a bit and leaned better to the tree "this is nice."
"Indeed right?" a voice from up the tree said. I screamed, I really didn’t expect to find somepony else in the same tree, not even this one.
"Sorry! Did I scare you?" asked Fluttershy worried.
"What are you doing there?" I asked back.
"Looking the rain, what, am I bothering you?"
"Well, uh, you know lighting is attracted to trees right? What if it hits you?" I was looking for a good excuse.
"Rainbow told me there won’t be lightning in this rain" she said "besides, if trees attract lighting you shouldn’t be here either" she looked at me with a frown. I left myself fall on my haunches, what a way to make things worse.
"At this point I don’t really care what happens to me, I don’t know if being alive does even make a difference in other ponies’ lives." She leapt from the tree flapping her wings, and she sat in front of me.
"Everypony makes a difference, no exceptions."
"How do you know?" I asked
"Well, if you didn’t some to talk to me that day in the party, I wouldn’t be here." she said I looked at her.
"I don't know you very much though, but I had the feeling you’d be here."
"What?" I was becoming confused.
"I didn’t come here because I wanted to" she said "I had the feeling you’d be coming here, taking advantage of the rain, and that nopony would be around to bother you." Uncomfortable silence.
"Why are you so nice to me? After I left you waiting in Sugarcube Corner; after I ran from you." I reminded her.
"I’m sure you didn’t mean that" she said putting one hoof over mine. I paused, then I asked her again:
"Why are you so kind? I don’t deserve it." She looked at me with those sea-colored eyes.
"Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness" she said, smiling.
I wanted to keep asking many things, but I banished them from my thoughts, so instead I just asked:
"Is the date still up?" She looked away a moment, which made me expect that I asked too much; then she responded:
"Tomorrow, same time, same place" she blushed, and added "but don’t be late."
"I won’t" I smiled.
"You promise?"
"I promise."
"Pinkie Pie promise?"
"Uh what?" She laughed.
She then taught me the so-called “Pinkie Pie Promise”, and we waited for the rain to stop so that we could part off for the day.
I arrived home even happier than after the party Pinkie threw for us.
"Let me guess" Plaid started "new marefriend, it wouldn’t surprise me; you would be able to get one during a funeral."
