What Silence Hides

The following days proceeded much as they would any other day except for one small change. That unicorn colt that bought my entire supply of apples came by again. Only during my hours, spent several minutes talking to me, never to my sister and then walked off with Celestia knows how many apples. Around the fifth day I began to suspect he was stalking me. Rather curious, I decided to follow him around after our "talks."

It had been five full days since I first met him and I still did not even know his name, most of our chats were comprised of his lectures to me about his stay in other cities or his view of Canterlot upper class. The only thing I did get to say was a brief agreement about how much we hate Canterlot nobles. Normally I am very talkative but I barely can get a word in before he continues on. He is like Pinkie Pie except not insane, only very, very chatty. Still he has made good company compared to everyone else still talking about the colt that was attacked. I had decided to ignore that story.

It was on the sixth day that I planned to follow him. I would wait for him to show up, engage in his usual chat and then follow him to his house. I guess in this case, I would be the stalker, but it is in the name of personal security! I didn't know it at the time but I had still forgotten to deal with the sheep corpse in the farm shed. It is unlike me to forget things, especially something as hard to forget as an animal's passing but I had been pre-occupied recently.

I began that day with the same routine. Get up, shower, eat breakfast, apple-based of course, head out to the apple field, buck apples, fight with my sister, clean apples, have lunch, apple-based of course, and then head out to town. Things had been getting better at the shop recently. Ponies started had started purchasing again which was good for the farm. It's actually rather funny considering how more money was made over the period when only one pony was purchasing apples compared to when several do. I arrived at the stand and relieved AJ of her post.

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Unlike the previous five days, my new "friend" as he would call himself arrived about three hours early. I wasn't expecting him so soon and naturally was off guard.

"Hello there friend Macintosh! So good to see you again. I thought I would just drop by early to invite you out to dinner tonight. Nothing fancy really, just that restaurant near the library, what was it called? Ah yes! Sisko's I believe it was. I would be very happy if you would join me for dinner."

Again, off guard, I replied "Are ya sure ya want to have me out for dinner? Ah'm not exactly tha best at table manners."

"I wouldn't have it any other way" Responded mystery colt with a large grin. Clearly he doesn't know how manners at a farm and manners at a restaurant vary.

"Well, alright then." I said.

"Splendid! I'll see you there at seven thirty sharp! Don't be late or I'll have to hunt you down!" I was silenced by how quickly that had escalated.

"Oh what!? It's just a joke" continued the unicorn.

"Err... Alright, ah'll see ya later then."

Mystery colt, as I had become accustomed to calling him, walked off, this time without purchasing any apples. I can't blame him. He purchases hundreds every time he comes by. He must work out a lot to need to eat that much. I stood there for several minutes before realizing I was supposed to be following him. I ran down the street he had walked through and then looked in every direction. I had lost him somehow. It baffles me how one could possibly move that quickly. Rather disappointed, I returned to my apple stand.

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Being a simple farm pony, restaurant and proper attire is not my forte. Of course I had taken a shower but that's where my knowledge ends. Deciding that perhaps formal attire was required, I decided to go to the only clothing store in Ponyville: Carousel Boutique. Not many ponies wear clothes. It was about five thirty at night, I had closed the stand half an hour early on the account of my dinner date. Do colts even call it a dinner date?

I approached the boutique feeling uncertain about what to say and do. I had never gone clothes shopping before so I figured I would just let the store owner do all the thinking. The boutique was shaped like a over-sized, multi-story, poly-chromatic colored tent. It had a few windows and looked taller than it was wide. One look at it and I felt like I was descending into and area colts ought not go. I entered the boutique and heard a bell ring overhead.

Around the corner I heard what can only be a mares voice say in a sing song voice "Commmiiiinnnggg!"

The mare in question rounded the corner and visibly changed posture at the sight of myself. Seductive might be the proper term. Continuing in that same voice, she said "Oh Big Macintosh, so wonderful that you finally stopped by."

"Excuse me miss but how do ya know mah name? I'm pretty sure we've only just met."

"Rarity! Lady Rarity is my name and why wouldn't I know the name of a big, strong, handsome gentecolt like yourself? It would be unbecoming of a lady like myself to not learn the names of every pony in this town." Said Rarity "The handsome ones at least" She muttered that last sentence a little to loud to be considered private.

It would appear I now have two stalkers. "Um, Lady Rarity, ah need somethin' formal for a dinner between another pony an' ah. What do ah wear for a restaurant?"

Rarity seemed to visibly brighten when she heard I was looking for clothes. She dragged me into another room and sat me in front of a mirror. Rarity pulled out a measuring tape and took quite a long amount of time to measure every square inch of my body that wasn't personal. Finally rolling up her tape, she turned to me and said "One moment dear while I go get some clothes for you to try on."

Lady Rarity returned after about a minute with several black and white articles of clothing. I may be a simple farm pony but even I can tell those were parts to a suit. I should know from my childhood obsession with Manes Bond (I tried =/).

"Dear, why don't you try these on, all of them." She said that last part with a bit of glee.

"Alright, be right back then" I said as I headed for the dressing rooms.

"Where are you going Mr.Macintosh?"

"To the changing rooms Miss. Isn't that what they're for?" I asked.

"Well you dont need to do that when no one else is in the store. Just come here and put on those clothes." She said with force.

"Um, alright." I said slightly confused and perturbed.

I tried on pair after pair of clothing, each one feeling the same as the last. I would have gone with the first one but Lady Rarity insisted I try them all on. I finally reached the last pair and successfully fitted myself with it.

"Miss Rarity, Ah think tha-AUGH!" I yelled as I tripped over Rarity. I hadn't noticed but she had moved right next to me.

"What where ya stand miss! I coulda crushed you!" I yelled.

"Oh Big Macintosh, your so handsome when your clumsy." That was not the answer I was expecting.

I shot up and bolted for the door, leaving the appropriate amount of bits behind. I vowed never to return to that shop as long as I could.

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Since I was already dressed and myster colt and I were having dinner in less than ten minutes, I proceeded to the restaurant. As soon as I arrived, I realized I had made a big mistake. Traditional to Ponyville style, no clothes. Sure enough, mystery pony was already at a table waiting for me.

"Ah Mister Macintosh, Im glad you could make it. Why the suit though? You do realize this is just a casual restaurant?"

"Really? Ah just assumed fancy clothes were the usual."

"Not at all! Only really fancy restaurants like the ones in Canterlot require you to wear suits."

Excited to get this itchy thing off me I shouted "Yeehaw!" and tore off the suit. Everyone in the restaurant turned to me.

"However, one normally doesn't strip themselves in a dinner environment." Said Mystery Pony.

"Oops, sorry." I said.

Dinner was actually rather enjoyable. For the first time ever, I got to talk just as much as my companion did. The food was nice, apple-based of course and I did enjoy not having to wear the dang suit. Too bad I ruined it though. Towards the end of the night, I decided to ask Mysteyr Pony about his name.

"So sad really about that colt that was hospitalized. The doctors did as much as they could but for some reason, none of their treatments were working. Eventually the colt just died from whatever it was that was afflicting him. The doctors think it was some kind of snake bite. The weird part though is that after they pronounced him dead, he just disappeared the next day. Gone without a trace" Said my unnamed friend.

"Wow" I said. "Do ya think someone stole the body?" I asked.

"Whoever did has a sick desire to steal things." Replied Mystery Colt.

It was silent between us for a few seconds before I spoke up. "So up until now, ah had to call you by Mystery Pony but ya never told be yer name. It would be much easier if I could know."

"Oh forgive me mister Macintosh, where are my manners. I am Black Stone."

"Well Ah'm pleased to meet you Mister Stone. Finally, ah have a real name from you."

"Say, Big Macintosh. How would you like to come over to my house after dinner." Something was up, it seemed like more of a demand than a request from his tone of voice.

"Ah don't think I can, Stone. Ah got to buck some apples tomorrow and it's already much later than I normally go to bed." I said.

He stared at me, straight into my eyes "Oh I think you should though..." he said with more force than before. I felt compelled to consider his request for some reason. I was about to say "alright" when the waiter walked over and handed us the check. We broke eye contact and instantly I didn't want to go to his house. Something was definitely wrong and I decided that I needed to get out of there as soon as possible. "Goodnight, I said to Black Stone as I proceeded to the door, making sure not to make eye contact with him. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but something told me that going to his house would have been putting myself in pure danger.