Then You Saw Her

Chapters

Chapter 2: Party at Pinkie's
Chapter 4: What Happened Next
Chapter 5: A New Start
Chapter 6: A Night on the Town
Chapter 7: A Broad New Horizon
Chapter 8: Past, Present, Future
Chapter 9: The End to a New Beginning
Chapter 10: The Morning After
Chapter 11: Nightmare Night
Chapter 12: Hearth's Warming Eve
Chapter 13: Winter Wrap Up
Chapter 14: Speak of the Devil
Chapter 15: Denial
Chapter 1: New Life
Chapter 3: The Mailmare

Chapter 2: Party at Pinkie's

“HIYA! Are you new in town? My name is Pinkie Pie, I haven’t seen you before. And I should know, I know every single pony in Ponyville. And I am super-duper excited about meeting you,” she appeared to say in a single breath but proceeded to exclaim, “OHMYGOSH! I just remembered, I need to throw you a party! I throw all of the new arrivals to Ponyville a party. Parties are just SUPER! They make everyone feel so warm and happy inside. Well I better be off to go plan your party, I will send you the details later,” she exclaimed bouncing off into the distance.

“Um, thank you but how do you know where I live?” you called after her in vain.

Wingsley gives you a look of utter confusion, even though you have no idea what happened either.

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Somehow, the next day, that pink mare was able to find your house and deliver the details for your “EXTRA-SUPER-DUPER-WELCOME-PARTY” as Pinkie stated.

“So you planned a party for me and my brother only because we're new in town?” you asked in mild disbelief.

“Well, DUH! Of course I did! I love parties, they make everyone so happy!” she said radiating happiness from every fiber of her being.

It might have been the single nicest act anyone had done for you, for it left you with a big smile plastered on your face. Pinkie saw this, knowing she had made you happy, bounded off to work on the party.

“HEY WINGSLEY! GET READY FOR THE PARTY!” you shout to your brother. You had a feeling you would like it here in Ponyville.

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The party itself took place at Sugarcube Corner, a brisk walk from your place of residence. The party was heavily attended by ponies you met the previous day as well as ponies you have not had the chance to become acquainted with, all of which were clearly enjoying themselves and participating in various party activities. Clearly, Pinkie’s parties are no uncommon occurrence.

Pinkie sees you enter and bounds up to you with her constant cheerful expression. “Hiya, thank goodness you arrived when you did, I didn’t think you'd ever get here,” she giggles.

“Yeah... Sorry about that, still getting accustomed to Ponyville,” you say while admiring the decorations Pinkie placed. Wingsley is getting anxious, obviously wanting to dive head first into the party. With a nod of your head, you motion for him to join the party. He happily obliges as he charges straight for the sweets that were set on the table.
Pinkie begins to ramble about the science of parties and her theories and philosophies behind them, but you barely give them any mind as you observe a cute grey mare helping herself to the muffins set on the table. You can’t help but stare as she was one of the most attractive mares you have seen in awhile, doubled with the fact that she was a pegasus, helped you feel a little less homesick. There were few pegasi around Ponyville and you happened to feel better being around your own kind.

“-and that's why you have to have 2:1 ratio of streamers to confetti,” she continued to ramble.

“Who's that mare over there by the muffins?” you ask cutting Pinkie off.

“Oh, her? That’s Ditzy Doo, she's the mailmare around Ponyville,” Pinkie explained to you. “She always comes to my parties for the muffins I set out,” she giggles, “You know, I think she's the only pony that eats those muffins. That girl sure loves her muffins...”

She notices your expression and gives you an all knowing smile, she can see right through you. “You think she is cute, don’t you?”

Somewhat taken aback by how transparent you are, you manage to stammer out, “I... well... I guess... she... uh...” Realizing that your voice has abandoned you to fend for yourself, you know that there is no lying to Pinkie. You nod solemnly.

“Well then go talk to her, silly. You aren’t going to get to know her if you keep talking to me,” she tells you, she begins to push you towards the cute mare apparently named Ditzy.

As you get pushed closer to Ditzy, your brain decided that now was the best time to remind you of all of your troubles with mares in the past. All of the pickup lines, all of the one-liners, and all of the (terrible!, horrible!, embarrassing!) stunts you performed to woo mares in the past. The recollection of these memories causes you to cringe. Step one: Don’t make an ass out of yourself. Step two: Don’t admit immediately that you think she's attractive, big turn off...
You have barely anytime to regain composure before almost colliding with Ditzy.

Ditzy notices you, greeting you, “Hi, you must be the new arrival here in Ponyville. My name is Ditzy Doo, I'm the post master here in Ponyville.” She then stands at attention like a soldier, raising her hoof in a salute, “I have a duty to the mail, to make sure it gets delivered possibly... hopefully... on time,” giving a slight giggle.

Her eyes shift from a normal position, making it seem like she is staring at two places at once. If anything, you found this quirk endearing, but decided to say nothing since that could be a touchy subject.

Your mind was completely and utterly blank on what to say next, yet you were quite shocked to find your mouth speaking without consulting the advice from your brain. You state your name and go on to say, “Well Ditzy Doo, I noticed you're a pegasus, being from Cloudsdale I'm not used to seeing so few of our kind,” you say as if the words were magically transported to you. You are astonished that you have not blurted out one of the cheesy pick-up lines that you were infamous for in Cloudsdale. Well step one: check.

Ditzy carries on the conversation, “Yeah, there aren’t many pegasi around here but there are a few around that help with the weather,” you see an idea flash in her mind, “Hey, I think they are looking for a new weatherpony, Nimbus Nine quit a few weeks ago.”

“Honestly, I don’t know where I should work, but that's the best idea I have heard so far,” you admit. “So what about you? How long have you been a mailmare?” In an effort to keep the conversation going.

“Oh let’s see... I’ve been a mailmare since I first moved to Ponyville a few years back.”

“And did Pinkie throw you a party like this when you got here?”

“Yeah,” she giggled, “This is also where I learned about my love for muffins, I make sure to come to Pinkie's parties just to grab some of her muffins. They're really unique, so unlike any other kind of muffin I know, and I know all sorts of muffins: banana, pumpkin, oatmeal, chocolate, chocolate chip, raisin, etc,” she states with a air of knowledge.

“What's your favorite kind of muffin?” You can’t believe you haven’t made a fool of yourself yet, but decide to stay quiet about that, not wanting to jinx yourself.

“Oh, that’s a toughie...” Ditzy explains, “There are so many really good muffins that I could go on-and-on about, but I don’t think you want to hear me rant...”

Truthfully, you would be content to just let her talk for hours on end, as if every single word she said had its own important meaning and importance behind it, and you were hanging on each one.

Suddenly Pinkie gets onto a table and exclaims, “Come on all you party ponies, grab a partner and get to rockin’ the dance floor!” As a more up-beat dance song starts to play, presumably by DJ PON-3.

Your cheeks start to get warm as you squeak out, “Um, Ditzy? W-would you like to dance?”

She blushes, saying, “I would love to...”

Oh Sweet Celestia, here comes the “but”.

“...but I have to get back to delivering the mail. I really did enjoy talking to you,” she states.

You sigh, it was too good to be true. How could you expect a mare like that to go for a colt like you. Well back to square one, better start looking for a job, I have to find some way to make money.

However, you are surprised as Ditzy turns around back to you giving a cute smile, “I will take a rain-check on that dance however...” She paused, giving you a wink, “I expect to see you around Ponyville, don’t think you can go your whole life without mailing another letter.” As she turned to walk off out into Ponyville.

Letting out a sigh of relief you turn back to your party. Although you barely notice what is happening around you, as the only thing on your mind is that grey mare, Ditzy Doo. The rest of the night passes as a blur. You smile as you ponder a thought. Maybe this could be the start of something....

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Chapter 4: What Happened Next

A few weeks have passed since you and Ditzy last spoke after the altercation in the post office. And since then, you have moped around your house, sulking after your crush rejected you. You also were able to get Wingsley enrolled in school in the middle of the year. It took some time convincing of Cherrilee that made her finally concede and allow Wingsley to go to school. In exchange, you were responsible to get him caught up in school work, a tedious and mind-numbing but necessary task. Additionally, you somewhat grudgingly, took Ditzy’s advice and looked into the “Ponyville Weather Brigade” as they liked to be called. Thankfully they had not filled in the position that Nimbus Nine left, you interview again for the job in three days.

As the sun reached its peak and began its descent into the horizon, you left your house and began your approach on the school house. The red school house atop the knoll it was perched on gave off a peaceful surreal look from the air. You broke off from your flight path and began your descent to the ground.

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Meanwhile on the ground, Wingsley just finished his first day of school. Mentally exhausted, he relished in the thought of recess. The first school day was uneventful but the young pegasi found comfort in the fact that the ponies here had been nice to him. Not to mention, he made a new friend.

“Wings-LEY! Come on over here!” a filly’s voice calls out from a distance.

“Coming...” he calls back.
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You land close to the school house with the grace of a true native Cloudalian. Looking around the one-room school house, you try to spot Wingsley. You squint, trying to find your brother in the mix of colts and fillies wildly running around you, but to no avail. Calling out “Wingsley!” into the crowd grants you a few looks and snears from some of the children. It is obvious you look like a worried parent about to embarrass their child.

After a few minutes of calling you are greeted by a voice from behind you.

“Hey stop shouting, I’m here,” says a particularly annoyed colt. “You know you don’t have to pick me up right as school ends you know.”

“Well excuse me,” you roll your eyes taking the time to draw out the second word, “I guess I just wanted to know how your first day of school was.” There’s no doubt anymore, I sound exactly like a worried parent. Well I guess someone has to be, might as well be me. “But anyway, how was your day?” you say, eager to hear how your brother’s first day was in his new school in his new life.

“It was really great!” he said enthusiastically. “I even made a new friend, Dinky!” motioning to a small purple unicorn filly at his side.

The small purple unicorn jumps into the conversation, “Good afternoon mister, my name is Dinky Doo.”

Wait what? Surely she couldn’t possibly mean... What are the chances? What does this mean? Is her mother here? Will she not allow Dinky and Wingsley to be friends after that time in the post office?

Oh come on, pull yourself together! Why are you getting so worried? She made it clear she wanted nothing to do with you. Just cut it out, and get over yourself.

Thoughts were flying through your head at Mach 5. Your wings gave a small startled flap, but you were able to keep a calm expression saying cheerfully, “It is nice to meet you too, Dinky.”

Winglsey who was hopping in place out of excitement, interjected and asked, “Do we have to leave right now? I want to play with Dinky some more.”

“Fine,” you sigh, “We aren’t doing anything else today, go have fun.” With a wave of your hoof the two kids rush off to play on the playground.

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Maintaining an observant eye on them, you find a cool place in the shadow of a large tree to rest and wait while the children were off playing. Allowing yourself a smile, you inhaled the smell of recently cut grass and the fresh scent of apples which were the signature of Ponyville. Finally, Wingsley can live a normal life. Never before did he run around with his friends in Cloudsdale. That being said, he rarely left the house. Your thoughts travel back to your father, wondering whether he received your letter. Will he even respond? And if so, what will he say? Giving a small shake of your head you think, Who am I kidding? Of course he won’t accept, he is too busy wrapped up in his self pity. Being my father, its doubtful he will even respond. We will be lucky to get a letter for Heartswarming Eve. Exhaling deeply, you let your thoughts trail off while you watch the two children enjoying the day under Celestia’s sun.

“It looks like the kids are having fun,” said a familiar voice from behind you; not unfriendly, but not overly friendly either, more quiet and somber.

The voice shocks and unnerves you, as you jump and turn at the sound of the interruption. “Oh! Hello Ditzy,” you say, clearly in shock.

“Hey,” she answers back in that same voice. Motioning with her hoof to the spot next to you she asks, “Do you mind?”
“Not at all,” you say as you scoot over a few inches.

Taking a seat next to you, you both try hard to avoid eye contact. The awkward moment that you share seems to last for an eternity as the tension in the air becomes almost tangible. Suddenly breaking the silence, Ditzy said, “I’m sorry...”

“For what?” you say dumbly.

“You know exactly what,” she says accusingly, “and for what it’s worth, I didn’t mean it. The whole situation drove me over the edge.”

Looking out at the horizon, you nod silently. You ask, “Who was that stallion anyway?”

“Just a pony that likes to yell at me, there are a few more of them in Ponyville,” Ditzy explains.

“Why did he call you Derpy?” you ask, generally wondering about the answer.

“It’s just a nickname that some ponies around Ponyville have taken to calling me. But not all of them say it in a hurtful way, just as many ponies call me ‘Derpy’ as call me ‘Ditzy.’ Its fine, I really don’t care what ponies call me as long as they are not hurtful about it,” she states.

You both sit quietly, watching the children play. You exchange very few words as the day passes on and the two children wind-down after a long hard day of play.

______________________________________________________________________

“Mommy, Mommy!” Dinky says exuberantly.

“Hello my little muffin. How was your day?” Ditzy greeted her daughter giving her a small nuzzle.

“It was great! Well, the school part was kinda boring, but I made a new friend!” Dinky said with the same enthusiasm.

“I can see that,” Ditzy gave a small chuckle, “You have been playing for the past two hours. For all you know you have been keeping him from doing important chores,” Ditzy said, giving the classic mother guilt trip.

You chime in with a small laugh, “Oh no. It’s fine, we don’t have anything else planned for today. I’m just happy you were able to wear him down so he won’t run up the walls in the house,” you say attempting to make a joke.

“Well we need to head home, young lady. Your sister is probably worried sick about us. Say goodbye to your friend, you will see him tomorrow,” Ditzy told Dinky.

As the children say their goodbyes, you are able to talk to Ditzy on the side. “Well I guess we are going to be seeing a lot more of each other lately. So, tomorrow then?”

“Yeah, that sounds nice. We can get off to a fresh new start.”

“Agreed. See you later then,” you say with a wave goodbye of your hoof.

Ditzy turned to Dinky, “Come on my little muffin, hop onto my back and hold tight. I’ll show you again the mail route that mommy takes.” Dinky jumps onto her mother’s back and grips around her neck with her forehooves and locks her back legs against her mother’s side, careful not to interfere with her wings. They both give a last goodbye as Ditzy sprung up into the air in a seemingly cavalier and weightless manner and flew off into the distance.

“I take it you had a good day?” you turn to Wingsley.

He said simply, “The best.”

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Chapter 5: A New Start

RINGRINGRINGRINGRING

The first sound you heard when you woke up in the morning, always aggravating and obnoxious. Not to mention on numerous occasions it has almost given you a heart attack. This small, silver colored, mechanical torture device was the bane of your existence. Every morning you do battle with this machine, which ended with you trying to figure out how to deactivate the damn thing, getting frustrated, and punching it across the room; which always seemed to do the trick. Wingsley began to associate the sound of swearing and the thud of a heavy metal object hitting the wall as a sign that you were awake. Not to mention the wall did not enjoy things being thrown at it, as it was starting to give at the impact points.

Groggily, you squirm your way out of bed, trying to set a record for the smallest amount of energy used while waking up. Eventually your hooves find the ground. Trotting over to the crash point of the alarm clock, you pick it up in your mouth and move it back to your bed-stand, where it destined to be struck from its perch once again. A quick glance out the window tells you that it is not daybreak yet, and Wingsley has about an hour until class starts. You trot to the bathroom to wash up and wrestle with your uncooperative mane. A few minutes later, you make your way downstairs and find Wingsley up and ready to go, as always.

“So who won?” Wingsley said, trying to keep a straight face.

“The alarm...” you say in shushed tones, fatigue evident across your face.

You turn towards him, Wingsley couldn’t hold it in anymore, his slight giggling turned to laughter, and that laughter turned to hysterical laughter. As much as you didn’t want to admit it, his laughter was contagious, it always was, even when he was a tiny colt. Before long, you joined in on the laughter. Laughing for the sake of laughter. You couldn’t go a few seconds before looking at each other, and starting the process again. Anyone observing this odd exchange would most likely have deemed that both of you deserved to be institutionalized, but you didn’t care; you were with your brother and for the most part your new life was picture perfect.

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As the laughter died down, you realized how much you needed a laugh and this was the perfect start to your day. Pondering an idea you discuss it with Wingsley, “Hey, how about before we go down to Sugercube Corner before school and grab you a cupcake or muffin?”

“That sounds great!”, he exclaims then questioning your motives he asks, “But why? What’s the occasion?”

“Oh come on, I can’t decide to be nice to my little brother for once?” you laugh, “Don’t you remember the saying, ‘Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth?’” causing a chuckle from both of you at the political incorrectness and slight racism of the phrase you used to utter so often in Cloudsdale. Although, thinking about Cloudsdale brought a bitter taste in your mouth along with conflicting emotions of ‘home.’

“Anyway, lets get going,” giving a get-over-here motion with your hoof. Wingsley eagerly followed you out the door into the fresh, chilly, morning air.

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Carrying Wingsley on your back, you fly at a lazy pace toward Sugercube corner. Wingsley may have been afraid of heights but it was obvious that he trusted you enough to not break-down while flying. His tiny legs gripped you as he hung on for dear life. You could feel his heart beat fast through his chest, but not a heart-beat of a pony who feared for his life, but a heart-beat of a pony who feared for his life and enjoying every moment of it. Looking back over your shoulder, you smile at him, seeing him entranced by the beauty of the sky.

As it always does, seeing him happy makes you happy. It was something about his personality, something that made him endearing to everyone, something that caused him to allow everypony to feel exactly the way he was feeling.

Approaching Sugarcube corner, you descend, diving sharply and curving through the air until you became asymptotic to the ground, you raised your wings to slow your motion and land. Admittedly, you only did this to show off to your brother; there were numerous, easier ways to land. But, you couldn’t stop yourself. Helping him off your back, you push his wind-swept hair back to its usual form, getting only minor objections.

“Shall we?” you ask.

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“HIYA! You boys are sure up early, what can I do for ya’?” said an ever jubilant Pinkie Pie.

“Hi Pinkie,” Wingsley chimes in, “Oh, and thanks for the party you threw for us, it was really awesome!”

“Oh don’t mention it,” Pinkie says smiling, giving a dismissive gesture with her hoof. “I love throwing parties, and it was the least I can do to welcome you two to Ponyville.”

“How many parties do you throw?” Wingsley asked, generally curious.

“Well, I could get out my account of all the parties I have thrown since, well forever, but I don’t think you guys have time to wait for me to count out all of them.” Bringing her hoof up to her mouth in a thinking gesture, Pinkie speculated, “Let’s say around 5,100 parties.”

“Wow.” both you and Wingsley say in unison. Shocked at her diligence and overall kind-heartedness.

Changing the subject, you tell Pinkie, “Well Wingsley needs to get to school, but I told him that he could pick up something here first.”

“Okay! See anything you like?” Pinkie asked cheerfully.

“Hmm...” you see him thinking, “How about that cupcake right there?” he says pointing to a light blue cupcake.

“Oh, I love these kind of cupcakes. Good choice,” she says with a smile.

“Well I think we should head over to school now, you can eat the cupcake on the way,” you tell your brother.

While your brother heads outside, you approach the counter to pay the required bits. Suddenly an idea pops into your head, “Hey Pinkie, do you know anywhere I can get picnic supplies?”

“Hmm, well I think there is a shop a few blocks down, why?” she asks confused.

“Oh no reason...”

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After dropping Wingsley off and picking up a modest amount of picnic supplies you leave to find some way to entertain yourself until school finishes. Feeling somewhat nervous, you try to calm your nerves by doing some mindless reading. Picking up a book from the library, The Legends and Mythology of Dragons, an interesting enough book for the moment. Putting it in your saddlebag you carry it home and begin to read.

A few hours pass and you realize that Wingsley is almost out of school. You made sure that your day was freed up so that Wingsley could spend the entire day playing with his friends. It did involve moving a few things around, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to take care of the excess tasks. Nurse Redheart sure didn’t take too kindly to you reorganizing her appointment schedule for today. Ehh, could be worse.

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Flying back to the school area, you find the comfortable shaded area where you relaxed yesterday. Setting up your blanket and basket of picnic supplies you wait for school to finish. Upon hearing the dismissal bell you see the doors to the school fly open and a swarm of fillies and colts rush out, eager to stretch out after a long time of sitting down.

Searching from an elevated point you are able to pick out Wingsley in the crowd. Still seated, you raise your hoof in the air as a way of greeting and summoning him. His face lights up at the sight of you and rushes toward you. You soon realize that he has no plans of stopping and is about to charge straight through you, you stand up to prepare for the incoming assault. True to expectations, after running after you, Wingsley jumps, aided by his wings, tackles you in a large embrace. Falling to the ground, you cannot help but start laughing. Giving him a playful noggie, you ask, “So, how was your second day of school?”

In a single, uninterrupted breath he told you exuberantly, “Awesome! We learned about old ponies and how Equestria was founded and then Ruby fell out of her chair with a FFUMP! It was really funny but Cheerilee told us we shouldn’t laugh, but it was hard not to.” As he continued to talk about his day extensively and energetically down to the smallest detail, you could only look at him with a smile and a chuckle. How he was able to get so excited over the tiniest things was unknown to you, but you felt it was one of his endearing traits.

Seeing that Dinky was with him standing off to the side, you bring your attention to include both of them as you offer them some food from the picnic basket. “I have more than enough and you kids look hungry.” Eyes locked on the food, they each take a sandwich and run off to play in the bright, warm day.

Watching them play, you remember playing with your friends when you were his age. The time with both of your parents, a time that is long past. Sighing, you open the basket to see what you brought. Truthfully, you were throwing food in basket at the last minute not looking at the packaging, which is one of the reasons why you have a box of baking soda stashed in the basket. Go figure, I guess all I need is some vinegar and I can start a party, you think, laughing at your carelessness. From the edge of your awareness you hear a familiar friendly voice.

“Hey you,” Ditzy greets you, “You gonna eat all that food yourself?”

“I have more than enough if you want some.”

Sitting down next to you, Ditzy says with an amused smile, “Well it would be rude of me to not accept your generosity.” Reaching into the bag she pulls out a sandwich similar to the ones the children took earlier.

Sitting next to each other, you both observe as the two kids are hard at play. Contrary to the previous day, you are the one to break the silence. “We do get the news in Cloudsdale, and I know that Ponyville has been the center of a lot of apocalyptic situations in the past few months,” giving her a curious smile.

“Hey only two times, that shouldn’t count as a lot,” she says giggling, not able to keep a straight face.

“First Nightmare Moon, then Discord. What’s next, aliens?”

“I sure hope not, but hey, you never know what the future has planed.”

After a brief silence you ask, trying to get a better understanding of who the mare sitting next to really was, “So Dinky is your youngest?”

“Yeah, Sparker is my oldest. I don’t think you have met her, have you?”

“No. Does she normally come to pick up Dinky from school?”

“Well she used to, but now she has Higher Level Magic Training that takes up most of her time.” Giving a pause, Ditzy continues, “Sparkler is adopted, I adopted her when she was just a filly. I knew her parents before they... passed. Ever since that day, learning that she was all alone and being put up for adoption with no-pony that cared for her, I filled out the legal, bureaucratic paperwork and raised her as my own.”

“She must be really lucky to have a mom like you,” you say, giving a small smile.

“Thanks,” she says blushing, “But not everypony feels that way,” her voice trailed off.

“Why would they think differently, I just don’t understand?” you ask perplexed.

“It has to do with Dinky’s father,” she says sadly. “Let’s just say he was a well respected member of Ponyville. He had a lot of friends, friends that you could buy with the kind of money he had. He seemed like a nice guy for the first few months, he turned out to be a heartless bastard. His ‘friends’ didn’t like how I ran him out of town and kept custody of Dinky, thinking my condition was a disability. That’s the short version, I don’t really like to talk about it.”

“They can all go jump in a lake for all I care. I’ve seen you with Dinky and you’re a great mom. It’s not hard to see that you two are perfect together.”

“I should say the same with you and Wingsley,” Ditzy comments. “I mean he loves you more than anything, you should see the way he looks up to you.”

“Well I’m glad I’ve done something right, when our dad left I had to become a like a dad to fill the place,” looking forlorn you continue, “When the storm came, when we got the message that our mom was not coming back...” You had to pause for a second, as this brought back waves of heartache and pain, you did everything in your power to not let this overcome you, “When we heard, none of us really believed it. We didn’t believe it for the next few months either, we only understood when we saw the note and the money our dad left us before he left. We were alone, having to fend for ourselves. Wingsley never recovered and I don’t think I can forgive my dad for what he did to us,” as your voice trailed off you feel a comforting arm on your shoulder.

“You never know what life will throw at you, some days it will be easy, other days you will have trouble finding the strength to keep going, but you did it. You pushed through, and now Wingsley is happy because of you. Don’t ever forget that,” Ditzy tells you.

You continue to talk to Ditzy, but are less afraid at this point. Seeing that the sun is hanging just above the horizon, you turn back toward Ditzy, “I have to say that I was really nervous when I met you.”

“Oh really? And why is that?” she askes playfully.

Feeling yourself turn as red as an apple from Sweet Apple Acres, you stammer out, “Well I-I-I guess it was b-because I thought you were cute.” Giving her the most painful embarrassed smile of all time you go on to ask, “You know how you said you would take a rain-check on the dance? Well how about dinner? You know, if you want to that is...”

“Sure.”

“Wait what?” turning your head sharply.

“Sure, it’ll be fun. I’d love to go out sometime,” Ditzy tells you, giving a warm smile.

Stunned, mouth agape, trying to keep your voice from breaking out into a cheer you ask her, “So how does Friday sound, around 7?”

“I’ll check my calendar, but sure, that sounds great!” Standing up, Ditzy excuses herself, “I’d love to stay longer, but I Dinky and I have to get home. I’ll stop by and tell you how my schedule is looking Friday. Bye!”

Trying to contain yourself, you can’t help as a broad smile grows over your face and threatens to cause you to start jumping up and down with glee.YES!

Chapter 6: A Night on the Town

“Come on Wingsley, let’s see it,” you call to your shuddering brother.

“No! I’m not doing it. Period,” he shouts back, uneasy.

“You said yourself that if I helped you with your bloody homework, you would go and practice flying.”

“Um... I take it back, you don’t have to help me with my homework ever again as long as you don’t make me fly.”

“Nope, no way you can worm your way out this time,” you chuckle. “Just flap your wings once or twice to get yourself off the ground.”

“But what if I fall?” Wingsley asks, concerned.

“If you fall, you have the enormous cloud I brought down to catch you.” Since most foals learn how to fly in Cloudsdale, they always have a city size safety net to catch them when they inevitably fall. Unfortunately, Wingsley never had that opportunity to learn how to fly there and you are starting to regret that you never forced him into trying to at least hover. And now his wings are abnormally small for a colt of his age since the muscles that operate the wings have atrophied, building up the muscles will be a chore. “Come on, flap! Flap like your life depends on it!”

Lines of strain appeared on his face as he furiously started flapping his wings like a mad-pony, praying for at least some amount of success. Unfortunately it was a prayer that would go unanswered. Thinking that he could achieve lift off by jumping straight up into the air on flimsy wings, Wingsley put all of his strength into his legs, he achieved one large jump. There was a chance that with a little more control he might have been able to slow down his ‘fall’ for a few feet back down to the cloud, sadly this was not the case. Somehow, Wingsley managed to do a flip in the air as he fell at a perplexing trajectory and accelerating his decent until he face-planted, with quite a strong amount of force, into the cloud.

Sighing, you fly up to the cloud. Pulling him out of the soft white matter and back onto his hooves, you scold him, “Now somehow you managed to almost injure yourself on the softest, safest material known to pegasi. Do you see now how much you need to practice? Your wings aren’t as strong as they need to be. You should have been practicing some flapping exercises for a long time before this.”

There has always been natural flow of flight training, almost culture if you will, of the teacher yelling at the student and then the student yelling at the teacher for teaching poorly while stalking off. This is then followed shortly by the teacher yelling obscenities at the student, and the student returns obscenities back at the teacher. The student will then mock the teacher, making a failed impersonation of their lectures causing an uproar in the teacher. Needless to say, your conversation with Wingsley roughly followed these same lines.

_____________________________________________________________________

As both of you went your separate ways, only now did you realize what time it was. It was about 4:30 and your date with Ditzy was at 7, you go through your mental checklist:

Dinner Reservations set for 8: check;

Shower: Would be okay if smelling like a manticore was fine, which it’s not, un-check;

Mane: Looks like I got into a fight with an ursa and lost, un-check;

Some formal attire: Still fits, check;

Sitter: Wingsley will be playing with Dinky, so no need to worry.

Satisfied that you were not missing anything, you run to take care of these last minute details. Being the stallion you are, you would normally take a few minutes to shower, comb, and make yourself presentable. But not today, today you are going out on the first date in about a year that was not because one party lost a bet. Tonight will be perfect, you think to yourself.

____________________________________________________________________

“Well fine, don’t get so saddle-sore! I’ll get out of here.” Rolling your eyes, you open the door letting Wingsley into the room while excusing yourself. Moving to your room, your check off the two other items on your checklist while looking for your formal clothes. Upon finding them, you struggle to put them on being careful to not rip them. A little snug, but hey whatever, I’ve pulled off worse, you think as your mind goes back to the Cloudsdale Senior Prom. I will arrive sharply at 7 o’clock and drop of Wingsley. Then we will have a pleasant dinner and she will see that I am a pony that is worth getting to know. We will then have a nice walk after dinner and I will walk her home. The thought is concluded by two words that leave your heart beating a little faster with worry: I hope...

_____________________________________________________________________

“Oi!” calling up to Wingsley, “You ready?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” he exhales, “I still can’t believe you are going out with my best friend’s mom. Do you know how weird that is?”

“I don’t seem to have the slightest idea,” giving a laugh while Wingsley follows behind you.

Locking the door, you and Wingsley begin the walk to Ditzy’s house a few blocks away; a short distance as the pegasus flies, but a little longer on hoof. Walking with your head held up high and a glowing confident smile on your face, causes Wingsley to roll his eyes at you, still uncomfortable with the situation. The short walk ended as you walked up the pathway to Ditzy’s house. Gently, you knock on the door and wait for a response. While still outside, you hear some commotion inside the house. You hear ponies shuffling around and talking in rush. Listening intently, you are able to make out some of the words.

“Is he here?”

“Yeah, I think that’s him.”

“Are you absolutely positive?”

“Who else could be knocking on our door this late?”

Another voice pops in, “Who is it Mommy?”

“It’s your friend, he’s coming over for a while.”

“And it’s her date,” some snickering is heard after this. While you and Wingsley stand patiently outside, you exchange glances while overhearing this conversation.

“Sparkler,” said presumably Ditzy in a warning tone, “I just need two minutes, TWO MINUTES! Keep him busy until I’m ready!”

The door opens and you are greeted by a purple unicorn, “Hi you must be my mom’s date,” she says suppressing a chuckle, “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Sparkler.”

“It’s nice to meet you too Sparkler, and I don’t know if you have met my brother yet,” bringing Wingsley into the conversation.

“Oh, you must be Wingsley, my sister talks about you all the time.”

“No I don’t!” a small voice interjects from a distance.

Sparkler suppresses a chuckle and adds, “My mom will be down in a little while.” Looking at Wingsley she asks him, “You want to come in? We have some snacks if you want some.”

“Sure, that sounds good,” Wingsley says as he walks into the house. Some time ago, you and Wingsley became good at looking at each other and understanding exactly what the other was thinking through facial expressions and body language. He looks at you, giving you a telepathic message emphasising the fact that he can’t believe you are going on a date with his friend’s mom.

You respond in turn sending him a message conveying that you were allowed to have friends as well. This just caused him to sigh and roll his eyes for the hundredth time today.

As he walked away, you turned to see Ditzy coming down the stairs, looking very pretty in her dress. Obviously she had taken this date very seriously, as it appeared that she had spent a good portion of the day getting ready. At this point you begin to feel that you may have needed to get dressed up more. It was a passing thought as Ditzy gave you a warm smile from where she stood. Not able to stop yourself, you respond with a warm smile in turn. This causes Sparkler to look at both of you with raised eyebrows.

“So, um Ditzy, should we head down to the restaurant?” you ask her shyly.

“That sounds great,” she said, then turning to Sparkler adds, “So you have the house all under control? You know where all the food is? You know who to call if there is trouble?”

“Yes Mom,” Sparkler says exasperated, “Now get out of here and have fun, everything’s going to be fine.”

“I love you honey,” Ditzy leaned over and kissed her eldest daughter on the head, “Don’t let the kids get in too much trouble.”

Ditzy finished her goodbyes and met you on the edge of the path where you both stopped and shared a quiet moment together. Concluding the moment, you blush telling Ditzy, “You look really pretty tonight.”

“Thanks,” she takes her turn at blushing, “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

After a moment of blushing and giggling, you ask Ditzy, trying to get to the restaurant before your reservation, “Should I call a cab?”

“Actually I’ve been stuck around the house all day, feel like flying?” rebutted Ditzy, surprising you.

“Sure,” was the only thing you could say.

_________________________________________________________________

A nice refreshing glide with Ditzy lifted your spirits even higher, a passing feeling caused you to regret that it had to end. In what seemed like the passing of seconds, you landed at the restaurant. Unruffling your feathers after the flight, you both make your way to the counter to confirm your reservation. Telling the pony behind the counter your name and the number of ponies in your party, he calls a waiter over to seat you.

At this establishment there are two areas of seating, inside and outside. Inside there is a live band, an open bar, seating enough for a wedding reception, and bright yellow lighting. As good as this sounded, you prefer a more open setting. In your opinion outside had something better, a full view of Luna’s night, candlelit tables, and a quiet romantic setting. Needless to say, you were able to reserve a table on the fringes to give enough privacy and a clear unobstructed view of the night sky. Pegasi, being from a culture that has a large affinity for the open sky have tended to feel more comfortable in open rather than confined spaces.

The waiter lead you across the stone patio to your table, delivered the menus, and glided off while you and Ditzy make your decisions. “Wow, you sure picked a great place for dinner,” Ditzy said as she looked around.

“Thanks, I thought you might like it here.”

“The night sky, the candlelight dinner, pretty romantic for a first date, don’t you think?” Ditzy says in her usual playful tone.

“Well...” you stammer, “I just wanted it to be nice, if you think I’m doing too much-”

“Don’t worry about it,” she interrupts you to alleviate your consciousness. “I really like it, to be honest,” giving you a wink and a smirk.

Okay, there is no way I’m mistaking it, she has to be flirting with me. Thankfully I still haven’t made an ass of myself yet today. Its kinda sad that I need to keep reminding myself of that. A question appears in your mind, Also, why is this mare even giving me a chance, whereas a few weeks ago she was screaming at me to leave her alone? What changed? Your mind reels as you think a horrifying thought, What if she is just letting me think that she likes me whereshe will then put me in the friend-zone. Oh Celestia, why am I so nervous?

Interrupting your train of thought and breaking you out of your self-destructive mindset as of current, Ditzy, with her classic cute, flirtatious smile she uses whenever she tries to make you squirm inside your own skin, asks you, “Since this is the first date, I think we should learn a little bit more about each other; that is, if we plan on doing something like this again.”

Not used to mares openly flirting with you, but not disliking the attention either, with a charming smile you tell her, “Ladies first, what would you like to know?”

“So, what’s it like living in Cloudsdale? I’ve never lived there, or any of the other cloud cities for that matter.”

“Well it’s a lot different from living on the ground, everywhere you go it’s like walking an enormous pillow. That’s one of the reasons some pegasi enjoy sleeping under the stars instead of in their own homes.”

“How do they sleep? It gets just above freezing at that altitude,” Ditzy interjects, curious.

“Well the cold is something you just get used to when you live there for your entire life. Although, you can always pick out the newcomers to Cloudsdale, between the visiting pegasi and the occasional unicorn cloud-walker.” Continuing on you sigh, “Well it’s good to have a change of scenery, let’s just say I have had my share of embarrassing moments, enough to last me a lifetime...”

“Oh?” Curious, Ditzy asks, “What kind of embarrassing moments?”

“Hey, only one question at a time,” you chuckle.

“Fine,” Ditzy says with an exhale. “Ask away.”

“So what about you? Why don’t you have stallions breaking down the doors after you?” you say, attempting to flirt back.

“Well I have you? Don’t I?” giving a cute giggle causing you to blush a deep shade of crimson. Not entirely sure how to respond, you reach back around and scratch the back of your head while looking at a non-existent point in the distance. Thankfully, the waiter decided to come around to take your order.

“Hmm,” Ditzy pondered for a few moments, “I’ll have the lotus soup.”

“A fine choice,” says the waiter.

Realizing that you haven’t actually looked at the menu yet, you scan it quickly for an item you are familiar with. After an almost uncomfortable amount of time and giving up, you quickly say, “I’ll have the special.”

The waiter left to deliver the orders to the chef, and almost immediately Ditzy picks the conversation back up, “So, about those embarrassing moments.”

With a very audible sigh, you explain, “Back in Cloudsdale, I wasn’t always the charming stalion that you see today. Let’s just say I was not a ladies-guy...” You go on to go into detail about comical stories of failed romance attempts in Cloudsdale, which incited a few laughs from Ditzy. The conversations after this point became more lighthearted as you began to share stories with each other of your past experiences, mostly funny, and more often than not about either Wingsley or Dinky.

________________________________________________________________________

“And then the boss-guy said to me and my assistant,” her voice shifts into a gruff mockery of a stallion, “Now I want you to unload everything from this truck, don’t break anything this time.” Her voice went back to normal, “First off, I’m just a little clumsy when it comes to handling packages, I blame these eyes. Second, why the buck to we have to unload mail while in the air? I mean it would be safer on the ground I always say, but no,” going back to the gruff impersonation, “Protocol is protocol.”

“Anyway,” she continues, “There were a lot of, well, unusual items in the truck.”

“Like what?” you ask, fascinated with the story.

“Unusual like: a flower pot; an anvil; a wagon, full of hay I might add; and to top it off, a piano. I mean seriously, who’s brilliant idea was it to store those things at the back of the truck anyway? But, I’m getting ahead of myself,” she pauses for a moment, “So as we started taking the items out one at a time, we realized that the bottom of the truck was greased and slanted at an angle towards the ground,” her voice trailed off.

“Uh-oh.”

“Mmhmm,” she says with a nod, “We reach in to grab the first item when we realize that they are just sliding right out of the truck,” she says with dramatic arm motions. “Whoosh, goes the flower pot. Whoosh, goes the anvil. Whoosh, goes the wagon. And last but not least, whoosh goes the piano!” Pausing again for dramatic effect, “And it all fell directly on to the head of Twilight Sparkle.”

You laugh a worried kind of laugh, worried for the pony in question, but laughing at the sheer unbelievable nature of the story. Opening your eyes wide you feel a need to ask, “Was she okay?”

“After a few minutes, yes she was; I still have no idea how she did it.” Chuckling a little, she adds, “It was kinda awkward to then turn around and look at the boss guy with a sheepish expression saying, ‘Whoops!’”

Now as Ditzy said this, it frightened the new waiter as he was carrying the hot soup for the table next to yours. You turn your head sharply and the world seems to go in slow motion. You saw the waiter, eyes wide, face stuck in a terrified expression as gravity and the floor embraced him. You saw the table next to you, staring at the airborne soup as it approached its highest peak. You saw Ditzy, both eyes focused on the falling soup and then on you, her hooves covered her mouth in shock as she let out an audible yelp. And then you saw the soup, hanging there as it eclipsed the moon, giving it an awe inspiring appeal to it. You then noticed that the bowl was becoming larger and larger with each passing moment and you realized that the trajectory of the bowl would have it land directly on your face. While most ponies minds would be screaming at them to move and scream, surprisingly, the only thing that passed through your mind was, Well buck...

The soup landed directly onto your face as well as splattering onto your clothes. Needless to say your face did not appreciate getting covered in scalding hot soup. You ripped the bowl from your face and began to furiously rubbing your face and eyes, only spreading the painful substance and harming yourself further. You whip your head around, somehow trying to end your blindness by thrashing about. You can hear ponies moving about, calling out to each other to try to get help, you hear Ditzy call for a wet towel. After what seemed to be an hour, you feel a hoof on your shoulder and a calming voice saying, “Don’t worry, just close your eyes and let me get the soup out.”

Slightly ashamed that Ditzy had to take care of you, but not complaining outright as the soup is starting to sting. After the soup was cleaned out of your eyes, Ditzy hands you the towel and you proceed to try to rub out some of the substance on your suit. Getting the majority of the soup off and hearing the waiter’s incessant apologies, you sigh as you think to yourself that the date couldn’t get any worse.

The date was quieter after that ordeal, and you were thankful when the waiter appeared with your meals. Although this did not stop you from watching the waiter intently, cautious to see if there would be a repeat incident. The waiter, unnerved at your steady unblinking sideways stare, matched your eyes and placed the food down before backing up. Feeling assured that food will not be finding its way on and about your face, you pick up your fork and begin eating. Enjoying your food, you exchange small talk with Ditzy.

“So what made you choose this place?” Ditzy asks in-between bites.

“Well, I saw this place when I first moved to Ponyville. I kinda liked the quiet setting, it reminded me of Cloudsdale.”

“Cloudsdale, quiet? That doesn’t really sound like the impression I got when I have to go there for deliveries.” Ditzy counters.

“Well, no. Not in the daylight though. When I lived there, I used to stay out until 3 o’clock most nights. That was my favorite time of the entire day. There were a few pegasi, but for the most part the city was asleep. I used to take the time to just walk on the edges of the town, on the linings of the clouds, through the side streets, and the small cottony bridges that connected the districts to each other. Watching the lazy, sleepy pegasi calmly drift through town. A few late-night shops were still open, a few illuminating points in an overall black night. Kinda like this place,” you say gesturing to the establishment around you.

“So wait, why did you go out late at night?” asks Ditzy, curious.

“After a few minutes of walking, I had a spot, a place that only I ever knew about, when there I would just sit down and look up at the sky. Late night is the best time to star-watch, there is no light pollution, and every single star is visible,” you lean back in your seat, reminiscing on the past.

“Wow, I never thought of doing that,” and giving you that same smile, she continues, “You seem to be quite the star-gazer maybe sometime you could-” getting cut off by a clearly intoxicated unicorn stallion with a violin loosely strapped to his back in the style of a traveling musician.

“Oh the happy couple,” the drunk slurs, “How is the night’s romance treating you this evening?” Not giving you a chance to respond, he gets his violin out with magic, plays a chord, letting you know of the upcoming musical number. He begins to sing as you look at him with wide eyes and mouth pursed tight, giving a clear expression saying, What the hell is happening? The song was in no sense a masterpiece, having rapid changes in tempo, and no clear rhythm.

Oh, look at the stars

See how they shine

in this lovely night sky of ours

*hiccup*

With this beautiful couple

and the beautiful mare *wink*

****

Okay, that was a suggestive glance...

****

Oh, I could sing for hours

I could sing for days

I could sing for ages

****

Please don't...

****

About the sun,

About the moon,

About all the creatures in the world.

Oh, I could sing for hours

I could sing for days

I could sing for ages

****

Oh Celestia, why?

****

About the trees,

About the birds,

About every-THIIIIIIIIING!

His voice trailed off as he collapsed onto the floor, unconscious. Neither you nor Ditzy moved for a while, faces both stuck in the expressions you have while staring at the unconscious pony’s prone form. As management dragged the sleeping drunk away, you both finish your meals in quiet. Paying the check, you leave the table and begin your approach back to Ditzy’s.

__________________________________________________________________________

Quietly walking through the winding side streets, only the sound of your hoofsteps are audible. This was not the way you envisioned this night to happen. You did not expect to be assaulted by flaming soup nor did you expect to be ambushed by a traveling drunk musician. This was the worst possible thing that could have happened, ever, of all time. Will there be a second date? Probably not... Minding your thoughts you hardly notice that you have arrived at Ditzy’s house.

With a sigh and head bowed, you say, “Well here we are, and I’m sorry for how the date turned out, I never meant for any of this to happen.

“Hey, it’s not your fault. It’s just the way life goes, some days you have good days, other days are well... interesting. And for the most part, I had a really good time, thanks.”

As she said this, she leaned over and gave you a solid kiss on the cheek. Not expecting this, you feel your body tense, heart rate increase, and your respiratory system kick into overdrive. But as for the second time this evening, time slowed, and you feel your body melt and relax into Ditzy’s kiss, enjoying every moment of it. Feeling her warm face against yours, and smelling fresh spring-time flowers, you close your eyes and focus on that one spot on your cheek. But inevitably it had to end, you feel her move away from you, giving you a cute, slightly embarrassed smile as she bit her lip and blushed. As she moved to the door she calls to you, “I never finished what I was going to say to you, I was going to ask if you could take me out star-gazing sometime. You know, some other time.”

Still recovering from shock, you smile stupidly and respond, “Sure, I’d love to do it sometime.”

Giggling and looking at a point further behind you causes her to laugh harder. Waving goodbye to you, she goes inside to get Wingsley. Only then do you realize that your wings are up and fully spread out, Oh... so that’s what she was giggling at. By the time Wingsley came outside you were standing in the same spot you were when Ditzy left. Walking up to you and taking a look at you, his eyebrow raised saying, Really?

With a sheepish smile and shrug, you laugh uncomfortably saying, “Whoops.”

_________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 7: A Broad New Horizon

20 minutes ‘till my shift. Still have some time left. Today is the first day of your new job, you were scheduled for the ‘zombie’ shift as some of the other pegasi call it. The ‘zombie’ shift was the mix of the early morning shift and the late morning shift which ranged from 5am until noon. It wasn’t your first choice, nor did you have a choice. Since you were the newbie you had to work the zombie shift for one week before you could start negotiating for a different shift, it was just how the ‘Weather Brigade’ worked. If it were up to you, you would still be asleep by the time your shift would end. It was a few days after your date with Ditzy, still every time you remembered her kiss on your cheek, it filled you with a bubbly glee.

Wingsley knew that you would be getting up too early to walk, you saw some disappointment on his face when you told him, but he assured you that he could manage. Going back to your mental list, you remembered to make Wingsley’s lunch, you have the spare key next to his bag, you have your lunch and the key in your saddlebags as well. Feeling contented, you jump into the air and ascend to the sky.

The weather station, in traditional pegasi fashion, was a large cloud structure located above the Whitetail Forest. The Whitetail Forest was the second forest bordering Ponyville. Not as awe-inspiring or dangerous as the Everfree, Whitetail is located in the space between Ponyville and Cloudsdale. Whether the location of the station in this regard was purposeful, you may never know. You had only seen the weather station on a few occasions, you never had the pleasure of going inside and exploring, as only official personnel were allowed.

Navigating the skies before dawn put undue stress on your eyes. Visibility was at an all time low, cautiousness and anxiety swirled in your head as you debated the most appropriate flight path. If I fly too low, I’ll be able to see the ground better but I run the risk of hitting a tree. If I fly too high, I might miss the station entirely. Dammit, damn this time, damn my eyes, damn this cold. AUUGH! Damn everything! In this constant debate, you find yourself transitioning above and below the cloud level, causing you narrowly avoid lone clouds on a regular basis.

Confound it all! You brake mid-air, hovering a high altitude above the Whitetail. Searching the horizon, you try to spot any sign of the elusive station. Slowly scanning the 120 degree field of vision in front of you, you are rewarded with a glint of white on a considerably larger structure. Squinting your eyes and slowly moving forward, the picture becomes clearer. Relief rushes through you, which is soon replaced by the lingering chill of the cold. Shivering, you suddenly become aware of the rest of your body and rush to the sanctuary of the station.

The station itself had the usual grandness of cloud architecture. The cloud foundation was easily one and a half times as large as the constructed building resting on top of it. The main section of the station was surrounded by the traditional pillars of the Pegasi Empire era, with an impossibly constructed facade adorning the surface of the structure. Located on the bottom section of the station, were a multitude of exhaust vents. The station as a whole was an oblong structure, shaped similarly to a boat, giving the impression of sailing across the sky. While the station did sway, it was kept in the same position by literally anchoring itself above a body of water using an evaporation/precipitation anchor which caused an almost invisible reaction that used a contained version of the rain cycle to fuel and hold the cloud in a single spot.

The entrance to the rest of the structure was located at the landing pad on the top of the primary building. You dive down, pulling up only slightly to prevent yourself from crashing. After landing, you moved to the door that said “Enter” and began the first day of your new job.

_________________________________________________________________

“Hi,” says a friendly voice, “You’re the new guy right?”

“Yeah, that’d be me,” you say affirmatively.

The pegasus nodded in acknowledgement, “Good to have you here, I’m Cloudkicker.”

“Nice to meet you Cloudkicker,” you reply. Short and to-the-point, pegasi jobs have tendency to be very militaristic, and small talk is regularly looked down upon.

“Locker-rooms are to the right, we’re airborne in ten minutes, understand?”

“Yes ma’am.”

_________________________________________________________________

Moving through the door labeled “Stallions,” you check around to see where your locker is so you can drop off your saddlebags. Peering through line after line of lockers, you search through quickly to find the locker that is entitled to you. Perking up when you see your name on a locker, you make a motion to deposit your bags. After closing the locker, you sit down on the bench behind you, taking in everything. After doing a series of calming breaths you are interrupted by loud hoofsteps as they echo through the empty space. Turning to look at the source of the sound, you see another male stallion, about your size and height. He had a dark brown windswept mane, with an off white coat. On his flank, you could see his cutie mark was a swirling of clouds. Surprise evident on his face, he greets you, “Hey, I haven’t seen you here before, you new in Ponyville?”

“Yeah, I came here from Cloudsdale. First day on the job,” you answer.

“Ahh, the zombie shift. I remember those days, it’s alright, the first day is always the hardest,” nodding in sympathy he continues, “Speaking of which, did you have trouble finding the station?”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

Giving a laugh and a motion encompassing the building he explains, “Everypony has trouble finding this place in the dark, you get used to it after a while. I remember my first day, I wasn’t watching where I was going and as I turned to make sure I hadn’t missed it, I crashed head first into one of the pillars outside. The dent where I hit is still there.” You share a laugh with your new acquaintance, being thankful for a friendly face. You appreciate him trying to welcome you and sensing your uneasiness. But before you open your mouth, the mysterious stranger in front of you continues, “You know I don’t think I’ve introduced myself, I’m Prevailing Wind. What’s yours?” You introduce yourself and Wind gives you a slap on the side, “Well it’s good to have you here.”

“You too. It’s good to know at least one pony here.”

“Agreed. Although I don’t know anypony here either, except for Cloudkicker. I’m not usually part of this shift,” he sighed.

“So then, why are you here at this Celestia-damned hour?”

“I got in trouble with Rainbow Dash and she forced me into three zombie shifts this week,” Wind grimaced.

“Its better than seven days this week,” you retort, chuckling.

“Yeah,” the stallion chuckled in turn, “Let’s say I don’t envy you.”

“I don’t think anyone envies me,” your voice trailed off.

“Yeah, that’s the joy of the zombie shift. Speaking of which, what shifts are you transferring into?”

“Most likely the late morning shift and the first afternoon shift.”

“Hey that’s awesome, those are my shifts.”

A loud voice is heard from the entrance of the lockers, “Common’ ladies! Get off your wings, we got a job to do!”

Rolling his eyes, Prevailing Wind said in a sarcastic tone, “Yes mom! I’ll be there in a second!”

“Don’t push your luck Prevailing, or I’ll kick your flank too.”

You both moved toward the door and Prevailing Wind leans over and whispers, “Yeah, she totally wants me.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet,” you laugh.

__________________________________________________________________

“Stay in formation!” Cloudkicker shouted to us over the roar of the wind, barely audible. The entire crew for the early morning shift was flying in a V-formation over Ponyville, ready to break off at a moment’s notice to go to our assigned tasks. Since the early morning shift was unfortunate enough to be awake before the sun stretched over the horizon, the decreased visibility did not allow the team to set up the weather for the rest of the day. So the goal of the early morning crew was to prepare the skies for the later teams, this normally entailed removing stray clouds that went too low or too high. What the “Early Birds” do at this hour help the weather teams for the rest of the day, this clean up time is a huge time saver so that the later teams can focus solely on the weather.

“Prevailing, Newbie, break off! Get rid of those clouds in the north-north-east!” Cloudkicker shouted.

Simultaneously, you and Prevailing Wind bank off to your right and descend to the assigned targets. Giving two hard flaps, then tightening your wings to your body you fly like a missile straight to a group of clouds. Checking next to you, you see Prevailing Wind doing the same. Doing a calculation in your head, you estimate your time until impact with the cloud. 300........ 250.......... 200............150............... 100............... 50........ here we go. You turn your head to the side and brace yourself for the impact.

Clouds are notorious for being soft, fluffy, and dispels when hit with enough force. The polar water inside will hold the cloud together up to a certain point, but if it is struck by a pony, specifically a pegasus going approximately 50 feet per second, it will be blasted apart into tiny groupings of gaseous water, which will precipitate almost immediately.

You and Prevailing hit the clouds with-in moments of each other, removing all traces of the clouds from the sky. Slowing down, extending your wings and curving back around to observe your destruction, you see that the clouds in the region have been neutralized. You look up to Prevailing and give him an affirmative nod. Scanning for himself, he turns back to you, smiles, and returns the nod. With a motion of his head he tell you that it’s time to get back to the group. You acknowledge him by flying with him back to the flock. This day’s going to be pretty fun...

_______________________________________________________________

Your first day has almost come to a close. A call from your supervisor to take care of the last clouds was heard in the background. Might as well make this last one fun. You accelerate high into the sky and suddenly you stop flapping and start to fall. Repositioning yourself, you elbow-drop 100 feet directly onto your target, blasting straight through the cloud. Satisfied your work is done, turn yourself toward the station and begin the trip to get your saddlebags and head home.

You hear someone calling your name behind you as you turn to look. You see Prevailing Wind waving to you and coming to meet you. “Hey man, how was your first day?”

Waiting for him, you say, “It was pretty good, are they all this fun?”

“Looks like we got an overachiever over here,” Prevailing seems to say to unknown audience but continues, “In all seriousness, yeah, weather patrol is pretty fun.”

“So Prevailing, I don’t think I’ve seen you around Ponyville. Which is pretty surprising given Pinkie introduced me to almost everypony.”

“I normally don’t hang out on the ground very often, nothing to do really. I like to hang out near the outskirts of the Everfree, in the clouds that is. Pegasi are everywhere over Ponyville normally, we normally take up residence in the sky however, very few stay on the ground.”

“That would explain why I didn’t see many pegasi on my first few days,” you ponder to yourself.

“So what about you? How are you liking Ponyville?” Prevailing interjects.

“So far so good, a lot different from Cloudsdale.”

“Yeah, but its nice here, quiet town kinda feel to it,” quickly catching himself and adding, “When the world isn’t ending however.”

Sharing a laugh you continue onto the station, you notice a look in Prevailing eye as he asks, “So who’s your special some-pony?”

Startled by the comment, you retort, “What makes you think that I have a ‘special some-pony’?”

“You have that look about you, so come on, am I right?”

“Well,” you pause, “Kinda, I guess.”

“Knew it,” Prevailing said with an air of authority, “So what’s her name?”

“Ditzy Doo,” you tell him.

“You’re going out with Derpy?” said Prevailing, confused.

Raising your eyebrow you ask, “Yeah? What of it?”

“Nothing, she’s cute and all, I just didn’t expect it.”

“Fair enough,” you shrug.

“So have you guys,” he clears his throat, “you know?” His voice trailed off, the innuendo very much present.

Hearing this causes you to choke for a moment as your eyes enlarge and blush deeply, you stammer, “We? Us? No, of course not! I mean, well, not yet. I... I um-”

Cutting you off from your babbling, Prevailing laughed, “I’m kidding man. Its ok, I’m just messing with you.”

You fix him a serious glare that causes him to burst out laughing. You fly the rest of the way back to the station with casual small talk, not bringing up Ditzy for the rest of the way.

______________________________________________________________

First day done, I can get used to this. Although I would prefer to be able to drop Wingsley off at school first. Not to mention I really don’t want to get up at that damnable hour. You take a quick shower to wash off the sweat and dreariness of the day, letting the warm water fall over your muscles, instantly relieving you of all your tension. You spread out your wings allowing the water to strike your feathers and the sensitive skin beneath them. You have never been in a state of utter relaxation like this for some time, minding how long you have taken in the shower, you quickly turn off the water. Stepping outside, you shoot an apologetic glance to the other disgruntled pegasi waiting for a turn to shower.

Shaking yourself off, you go to your locker to pick up your saddlebags so you can leave for the day. A quick check of your belongings confirmed that everything was still there. Taking a sigh of relief, you put your saddlebags over your back and move toward the entrance to the lockers. Once outside you take a look around, curiously you see Prevailing Wind outright flirting with Cloudkicker and getting shot down in the process. This did not seem to be phasing Prevailing as he kept driving through the walls of rejection being put up around him.

“Has anypony said how beautiful you look today?”

Cloudkicker sighed, “Yes, you did, five times.”

“Really? I hardly noticed. But I think it is worth it to say again, you look very pretty today.”

Rolling her eyes, Cloudkicker finally noticed you. Doing a double take, she recognized an escape from her suitor. Exasperated Cloudkicker motioned to you, “Hey look, your boyfriend is here. Can you go pester him now? Please, just leave me alone.”

Submitting Prevailing concluded, “Fine, I’ll give you your space, but don’t act like you don’t enjoy the attention,” giving a knowledgeable smile.

Sighing, Cloudkicker walked off in the other direction of Prevailing. As you both turn to walk out, you ask, “What was the deal with that? How do you get shot down that many times and keep going?”

“Elementary my dear Watson,” he says taking on an accent, “It is obvious she is playing hard to get, all you need is just a little effort and the ladies will be all over you.”

“That’s not what my track record says,” you respond.

“Sorry to hear that, so that’s not the way it was with Derpy?”

“With Ditzy,” emphasising her actual name, you continue, “We had some... difficulties, yes, but it's resolved.” Hearing the name ‘Derpy’ brings you back to that time at the post office with that jerk of a pony and you have since promised yourself to never call her ‘Derpy.’ Ponies may call her Derpy as much as they do Ditzy, but in all honesty you felt that the name ‘Derpy’ isn’t feminine enough for a pony such as herself.

Flying back to the center of Ponyville with your new friend, you both decide to pick up some lunch. You find that downtown Ponyville was quite crowded at this time with ponies going to and fro across the street. Landing on the edge of the lunchtime rush, you move into the crowd in order to find a restaurant. Prevailing perked his head up to oversee the situation when he nudged you saying, “Hey I think I see your lady-friend over there.”

“Over where?” you ask, now scanning the crowd as well.

“Right there, next to the table.”

“Which table? There’s ten.”

“Far left, dammit man how do you not see your own girlfriend?”

“Hey, come on. There’s a small army in front of us, what do you want from me? I’m only equestrian.”

“Go over and talk to her, I’ll be fine here.”

Seeing you and your friend peeking over the crowd, Ditzy’s face lights up and she turns and waves, greeting you to the table. Prevailing gives you a small push toward her as he leaves.

“Hey!” you shout, turning your head toward Prevailing. But he’s already disappeared within the crowd, leaving you alone in a jumbled mess of ponies running and flying every which way. It takes you a moment to get your bearings, but you just make out the sight of Ditzy’s mane over the heads of the ponies walking by you. Without a second thought you jump into the air, wings spread wide, pumping them hard to quickly ascend over the crowd now gathered below you. As you float forward above the crowd your eyes meet Ditzy’s for a brief moment, causing you to lose focus a bit and stumble in your flight. You regain your balance and look back at her, noticing her giggle softly, a pink glow radiating from her cheeks. Smooth move champ, real smooth, you think to yourself.

By the time you reach the table and take a seat next to Ditzy, you notice there’s a yellow haired mare with an orange mane sitting across from you. “Hey Ditzy, who’s your friend here?” You ask.

“Hello there clumsy.” Ditzy giggles, “This is Carrot Top, she’s just a friend of mine I met back when I first moved into Ponyville.”

You’re unsure, but you think you catch Carrot Top send a weird look toward Ditzy. You ignore it and offer Carrot Top your hoof, “Hi, nice to meet you Carrot Top.”

Carrot Top offers her hoof in return, shaking yours gently up and down. “You must be new in town,” She says, “I haven't seen your face around here before.”

“Actually, “Ditzy answers, “He is new in town. He just moved in from Cloudsdale a few weeks ago.”

“So how did you two meet?” Carrot Top asks.

“We met at Pinkie’s welcoming party for me the day after I moved.”

“Oh, so this is the guy you were telling me about. Not bad Ditzy, not bad at all,” remarked Carrot Top causing you to chuckle a little nervously as Ditzy turned as red as an apple.

“Carrot Top...” Ditzy said quietly giving her a push on the shoulder, “We don’t talk about that stuff in front of him,” giving a quick head gesture to you.

Laughing, Carrot Top knew she had hit a nerve and was not about to stop. “You two went on a date recently, how did that go?” giving a bob with her eyebrows. Deadpan expression locked on her face, Ditzy focused both her eyes on Carrot Top, trying to burn a hole in the side of her head.

“Nothing like that happened, Carrot Top. I think its time for you to stop talking now...” Ditzy said in a warning tone.

“Now hang on, I want to hear it from the boyfriend,” turning toward you she asks, “So hot stuff, how did the date go?”

Stunned ever-so-slightly, you clear your throat and begin to detail what happened on the date; the soup, the drunk, and everything in between it, leaving out the kiss on the cheek at the end of the date as to not bring more teasing to Ditzy. Not to mention, you did kinda like that Carrot Top mentioned you as ‘The Boyfriend.’

Laughing, Carrot Top said, “Sounds like a fun date, so what happened afterwards? Anything you don’t want me to know, Ditzy?” she asked in a teasing voice. Why does everypony always ask that?

“Nothing happened, it was the first date, I’m not that kind of mare!” Ditzy said incredulously.

A smile full of malice was slowly growing across Carrot Top’s face when she said, “So what you are saying is that ‘it’ is still a possibility on later dates. Good news buddy,” she says to you, “Sounds like you are getting lucky soon.”

You blush and turn your head down with only a tiny smile on your face. Ditzy on the other hand looked like she was about to get violent. She was a bright vibrant red and had the expression of a pony that was about to summon demons from the deepest, darkest realms of Hell and woe to the poor soul that crossed her path. Her eyes beamed with a stare that you felt could rend the souls of mere mortals if eye contact was achieved, you were happy that this rage was not directed to you. “Carrot Top, I swear...” Ditzy spoke through gritted teeth.

“Well I better leave you two lovebirds to do your thing. Ditzy apparently doesn’t like me intruding.” Ditzy was still staring at her with murder when Carrot Top went right next to you and spoke softly so that only you could hear. “You break her heart and I break your face,” she said in her normal happy voice which left you with a single shiver down your spine.

Still glaring in her general direction, Ditzy tells you, “She gets me so angry sometimes. I swear, it’s like she feeds on this stuff.”

“So how do you two know each other?”

“Carrot Top was my first friend in Ponyville, I moved in next door to her. She also helps me with the kids sometimes.”

“Speaking of which, school is almost out. We should get going.” You two immediately jump from your seat, grab your lunch and leave for the school. Briskly walking trying to enjoy each other’s company despite the fact that other more pressing matters were at hoof.

______________________________________________________________

You arrive at the entrance of the school just as the dismissal bell rang, panting from the jog you just had you look at each other with a sigh of relief. Together you wait until you see both Wingsley and Dinky. As expected, Dinky and Wingsley were inseparable, once they saw you two they galloped toward you.

Ditzy holds up her hoof, her face lights up as Dinky approaches. She called out, “Hey Muffin, how was your day?”

“It was great, mommy!”

“That’s great Muffin,” giving her daughter a hug.

“How about you, man? How was your day?” you ask Wingsley in a way expected of brothers.

“I should ask you the same. And before you get all worried, the house is locked, I got my lunch, and everything else is done,” Wingsley told you. “But yeah, school was okay, a little boring.”

“That’s just because you didn’t understand the math,” Dinky butted in.

“I understood it,” Wingsley sulked, “she just explained it weird.”

Stopping the argument before it started, Ditzy asks everyone, “Hey you know what, we should head over to my house and you two can play there?”

Eyes wide, Wingsley asked you excitedly, “Can I? Can I?”

Shrugging you say, “I don’t see why not, but you have to promise you’ll be good.”

Rolling his eyes he sighs, “I promise.”

Chuckling you say to him, “Okay then, let’s get going, shall we?” The kids ran ahead talking in excited voices while you and Ditzy exchanged small smiles.

____________________________________________________________________

Sitting there in Ditzy’s backyard you realize that most of your time together is spent while watching your kids play. Curious as it might have been, you weren’t about to argue; any time spent with Ditzy was time well spent.

“So...” you draw out the ‘o’, “about Carrot Top...”

Turning a light shade of pink, Ditzy asks, “Which part?”

“Does she always try to get on your nerves?”

“A good amount of time, yes she does. She can’t resist teasing me when new stuff, like you, pop up in my life.”

“So,” you turn to her with those playful smiles she does so well, “I’m the ‘boyfriend?’” Referring to what Carrot Top had said previously.

Not amused and clearly still embarrassed by her friend, Ditzy gives you a bump on the side, “Don’t push it buddy.”

Wearing a mock pained expression you tell Ditzy, “Ouch, just twist the knife while you’re at it.”

Ditzy attempted to look displeased with you, but you found that some of the effect was negated by how cute she looked. Her brow was furrowed in minor annoyance, her mouth pouted in a way that caused your heart to melt. You did everything in your power to not burst out laughing, difficult as it was you were successful in pushing down that emotion. Instead of laughing, you simply asked while smiling bashfully, “Do you know how cute you look when you are trying to look angry?”

Raising her eyebrow and giving you a knowledgeable smile, she tells you matter-of-factly, “Very, I’m adorable of course.”

You haven’t scratched the surface, you think to yourself. “Well no objections over here,” giving her another smile which led to you just staring at each other, smiling. The moment is broken by Wingsley as he looks at you two with disgust and exclaims, “Ewww!” So much for that. You sigh and look at Ditzy, she just smiles and gives a shrug.

Almost in defiance of Wingsley’s attempt to break up the moment you suggest to Ditzy, “Hey how about we go out again tonight? Nothing fancy, just hitting a couple of nightclubs. How does that sound?”

Upon hearing this, Ditzy’s face lit up. “I would love to! I haven’t been clubbing for a while, it’ll be fun!”

Relief washed over you as Ditzy said these words. Happy that she actually wanted to spend time with you filled you with a happiness you had not felt for a long time. “Around 8? And I promise, no more drunks,” you pause as a wave of malice washed over you, remembering the first date, “or soup, will bother us.”

Ditzy chuckled as she covered her mouth with her hoof. “Bring Wingsley over and Sparkler will watch them.”

“I wonder if Sparkler is getting tired of babysitting,” you ponder.

“She owes me a few favors,” Ditzy said mysteriously. “And besides, she’s been wanting me to get out of the house more.”

“Well alright then, I can’t wait,” you admit.

The day passed by and after an hour you called, “Wingsley, we’re heading home. Don’t worry you’ll be coming back later.”

“Really?” he asked, confused.

“Yep, I just have to drop by the house to get a few things, and you need to do your homework you lazy bum.”

“Awww.”
____________________________________________________________

While you were back at your house, you managed to make yourself look a little more presentable for your second upcoming date with Ditzy. Combing your mane, brushing your teeth, taking a quick shower, you finish feeling fresh and ready for the date. Wingsley was downstairs at the time but you had a feeling he knew what the plan was. The last time you stayed in the bathroom for a long period of time, it was to go on a date with his best friend’s mom.

Finishing freshening up, you head downstairs and find Wingsley waiting on the couch waiting to confront you. You didn’t need to be a psychic to know what was on his mind. With a sigh, you ask, “Yes, what is it?”

“Ready for your date?”

“Yes I am, but really, why do you care so much?”

“It’s just... weird,” his voice trails off.

“Oh come on,” you rebut, “That can’t be the only reason.”

He sighed as the metaphoric dam walls broke and everything spilled out, “When we moved here, I thought it would be just you and me and no one else. It seems like you spend more time with Miss Doo than you do with me!” His voice grows quieter as he admits, “I don’t want to lose you too.”

Flashbacks to your first day in Ponyville flood your head as your heart drops, We are going to have so much fun here! Just you and me, together forever! I love you so much big brother. Echoing in your mind, you make your way to the couch where Wingsley was sitting to console your little brother. You say softly, “Hey don’t think like that. I’m never going to leave you, ever. You are my little brother, I love you Wingsley, I would do anything to make you happy.” You get closer and wrap him in a large embrace, letting him silently sob on your shoulder.

He looks up at you through a thin layer of tears and gives you a small smile, “Big Bro? Can we go somewhere, just you and me? No one else?”

“Of course we can, it’ll be a small vacation.”

The tears stopped soon after and quietly Wingsley said, “Big Bro?”

“Yeah?”

“I miss mom.”

“Yeah,” you took a deep breath, “Me too.”

_______________________________________________________________

You were able to get Wingsley to calm down as you got him excited to play with Dinky. And after enough talk he was more excited to go to Ditzy’s house than you were, the previous conversation pushed down into his consciousness.

Getting outside and locking the door, you begin the approach to Ditzy’s house for the second time today. Recollections from the first date start to come back to you, not the soup or the drunk however, but the feelings of joyful nervousness that you had throughout the date ending with Ditzy’s kiss on the cheek. Those same feelings were coming back to you as you were on your trek to Ditzy’s house.

When you finally got to her house, Ditzy and Dinky were waiting outside for you. You give her a broad smile and she returns it with a welcoming wave.

“Good to see you two,” Ditzy said.

“Hi Wingsley!” Dinky exclaimed. “Come on! Sparkler made popcorn!” clearly excited to get to what ever fun thing was planned for the night. In response, Wingsley ran with Dinky into the house.

Laughing, you say, “Kids, what are you gonna do with them?”

She returned the laugh, “I remember when I was that young. I was just like Dinky is now, all energy and no way to contain it.” Clearing her throat, she asked, “So should we get going?”

Responding you said, “Sure, I know a good club in Ponyville.”

Raising her eyebrows she asked, “Oh really? And when was the last time you went clubbing?”

“Well I... I know of a club,” you say admittedly. “But still come on let’s go,” taking her by the hoof and pulling her toward the town. She went with you without hesitation.

___________________________________________________________

The club itself was heavily populated at this point of night and you expected it to only get more crowded as the night went on. The club was painted a dark navy blue color, at least you thought it was blue, and the multi-colored vibrant lights made it feel as if the building was alive. The bass could be felt coursing through your body and the volume of the music caused you to need to yell to have Ditzy hear you and vice-versa. Calling to you over the sound of the music, you had to read her lips and listen closely for her voice as she yelled, “We should get some drinks!”

“What?”

“Drinks!” she called, making a motion of drinking out of a glass.

“Oh!” you respond, nodding your head.

You go with Ditzy, making your way through the crowd of ponies to get to the bar. After a dance of avoiding, side-stepping, and the occasional jump over a tripped pony, you find your way to the bartender. Ordering two drinks you and Ditzy sit at the bar and talk while your drinks are made. The area over by the bar was quieter than the entrance, since the speakers were not directly pointed at you, this allowed for more casual conversation.

“So I haven’t been clubbing for a while,” Ditzy admitted to you.

“Neither have I, actually I’m not sure I’ve done anything like this before.”

“Really? You haven’t been out dancing before?”

“Well maybe a few times, but that was a long time ago.”

Your drinks were ready and the bartender set them down in front of the two of you. You payed for them and each took a glass. In response to your previous statement, Ditzy sighed and called out, “Will I have to introduce you to everything? Come on, let’s dance!”

Ditzy dragged you to the dance floor as the next song started and Ditzy spoke directly into your ear in order for you to hear her, “Let’s show these ponies how its done!” You smiled as you started to dance with Ditzy. How did I ever get a girl like her?

________________________________________________________________

The night was going well so far, the DJ was putting good songs down and you and Ditzy were having the time of your lives. The song winded down and you realized that your legs were completely exhausted, you were dehydrated and needed to rest.

Sitting down as the next song picked up, Ditzy asked you, “Can’t dance anymore?”

“No,” you say exhaling hard, “and besides I can’t really dance.”

“Neither can I, but this is my song!” she said moving to a corner of the dance floor close to you. The chorus had immediately picked up so Ditzy began dancing at the end of the verse, waiting for it to repeat.

Lip syncing to the lyrics, while still dancing in a playful carefree way, you could see her turn directly towards you as if she was talking directly towards you.

Mouthing; “Can't you feel that love is in the air?” she swayed back and forth and looked up and gestured to the space around her.

Moving on to “Can't you see we're dancing everywhere?” she continued to sway back and forth while adding in some other dance moves, nothing fancy, but it looked like she was having a blast.

“Now I know why my heart is blue!” at this point she stood on her back two hooves and pointed dramatically to her ‘heart.’

“I feel fine fine fine for you!” moving her hips to the beat, but at the ‘for you’ she singles you out and points directly at you, causing you to blush.

At the two repeats for this line, Ditzy does the same thing, smiling all-the-while.

The beat shifted, and Ditzy changed her dance, she swung her head from side to side, to go along with the heavy bass beat. As the song progressed Ditzy’s dance also progressed, she did more complicated dance manuevers. For a pegasus that ponies thought of as clumsy, Ditzy was very graceful, well as graceful you could be for dancing to club music. Before long, ponies began to clear out room for Ditzy as kept up her dance, making you blush still as the focus of the club was on her, and her focus was on you. She kept at it until the chorus came in again.

“Can't you feel that love is in the air?” she did her dance corresponding to this line, but she moved in, closer to you.

“Can't you see we're dancing everywhere?” she continued to move closer to you, still dancing.

“Now I know why my heart is blue!” as she put her hooves to her chest.

“I feel fine fine fine for you!” she extended her hooves and reached out and lifted you out of your seat in an invitation to dance, which you accepted without any objections. Still staring directly at into your eyes, she brought you to the dance floor.

When it repeated again you mimicked Ditzy’s dance.

“Can't you feel that love is in the air?”
“Can't you see we're dancing everywhere?”
“Now I know why my heart is blue!”
“I feel fine fine fine for you!”

As the song came to a close, you were unaware of all the other ponies in the room. The only thing you could focus on was Ditzy. The song kept going for a little while longer until it was evident that song was winding down. As the last few notes of the song drifted into oblivion, you leaned in, closed your eyes, and you and Ditzy shared your first true kiss.

Chapter 8: Past, Present, Future

RINGRINGRINGRING -click-

Pulling your arm back from hitting the off switch on your alarm clock, you lie on your bed peacefully smiling. At this point in your life in Ponyville, you have never been so calm. Ditzy was officially your girlfriend, you have a job, and Wingsley is happy. Life is good.

With the small smile plastered on your face. You take in a deep breath and look at the light shining through your bedroom window. As far as you could tell it was about 9 in the morning. Before you forced yourself up onto the floor, you took a second to remember the kiss on that fateful night at the club less than a month ago.

_____________________________________________________________

...The kiss, after what seemed like years or seconds had passed, came to a close. Your lips moved away from each other as your other senses flooded back into your brain. Slowly, you became aware of the sounds and ponies around you. The bass, previously silent to your senses, slowly resonated through your body, slowly at first, then like a tidal wave, jarring you back to reality. It seems to have the same effect on Ditzy. Together you also start to notice the other ponies dancing around you, some even watching the spectacle. Both of you share a moment looking into each other’s eyes, if either of you wished to move, your minds would not send the messages to the muscles telling them to move.

There you both were, paralyzed by your first kiss, standing like fools on the dance floor. Ditzy made a motion to move but her front hooves accidentally slipped, a moment of panic was seen in her eyes as she sprawled out on the ground. She inclined her head at you with a pleading look and you couldn’t help but assist her. You pick her off of the floor and meekly she tells you in an embarrassed tone, “At least now I decide to show you how clumsy I normally am. I didn’t want to scare you off by dropping more soup on your face, or crashing into you, giving you a burning muffin, or like in Twilight’s case, dropping a piano on you.”

“There is no way you could scare me off. And besides, you would only seem cuter to me.”

Ditzy only blushed, leaned in, and gave you the second kiss of the evening.

____________________________________________________________________

You sigh again, feeling your heart fluctuate in your chest. I will never forget that.

Realizing you need to get out of bed, you take a deep breath one last time before hopping onto the floor. The hard floor comes as a shock to your body as the impact wakes you up. Yawning, you walk to the bathroom to fix your disheveled mane and brush your teeth. The morning was still young as you sleepily walked through the hallway and into the bathroom.

After about five minutes you leave the bathroom and head downstairs. Today is an off day for weather patrol, which means that you have the day all to yourself. Luckily, you were able to change your schedule so you work the same shifts as Prevailing Wind, your new best friend in Ponyville. Trotting downstairs, you see Wingsley enjoying breakfast on the table. As food still looked disgusting to you this early in the morning, you walked to the cabinet to make some coffee for yourself. Before doing that however, you say good morning to Wingsley with a medium strength brotherly noogie.

“Good morning, big guy,” you laugh as you noogie him.

“Hey stop that!” Wingsley complained.

You release his head soon after, and he looks at you with a disapproving glare. You give a cheerful laugh, mess up his mane with your hoof and begin to start making your coffee. But before you could start, you hear a knock at the door. Opening the door, you see Ditzy standing before you.

“I brought you a letter!” Ditzy says, holding an envelope in her mouth. She drops the letter, leans in and gives you a large kiss, blushing.

“Hey cutie!” you exclaim, calling her by your pet name.

“Hey Stud-muffin!” she responds in turn, giving her own pet name for you. Deep in your subconscious, you enjoy the name Stud-muffin over all of the possible names for you. You motion for her to come inside and she complies. She leans into the house and sees Wingsley sitting at the table, “Morning Wingsley!” and rushes over and gives Wingsley a big hug. In this past month Wingsley and Ditzy have become a lot closer as her house became his second home, metaphorically speaking.

“Morning Miss Doo!” Wingsley exclaims, reciprocating the hug. “How’s the mail today?”

“Oh same as always, good thing I’m not the only mail-pony. I made sure to deliver your mail first.” Ever since you became boyfriend and girlfriend, Ditzy has delivered your mail personally as a way for you to always see each other every day, you always looked forward to get a letter since it meant seeing Ditzy. “Actually, I had to rush to the post office today, I didn’t even get to have my breakfast blueberry muffin,” her voice trailed off.

Forgetting that you hated to look at food at this early hour you suggested, “How about we go out for breakfast; you, Dinky, Sparkler, Wingsley, and myself?”

Finishing his breakfast, Wingsley interjects, “Oi! You’re a little late!” gesturing to his empty plate.

“Oh come on, you eat like a manticore. Tell me you can’t eat another bite,” you counter.

“Well I guess I could eat more,” Wingsley admitted.

“Of course you could. So Ditzy, how does that sound?”

She lit up at you asking her, her face all smiles. “Sure! I’d love to! Let’s go!”

Before you left you pick up the mysterious letter Ditzy brought and put it in your saddlebags, to read later.

__________________________________________________________________

After picking up the remaining members of your party, you start walking to a breakfast restaurant. Everypony seemed to have an opinion on where to go, over the arguing and complaining, you decide to start walking and let fate decide where you should go. Ditzy rolling her eyes at the commotion behind you, seems content to follow your lead.

“Oh! Oh! We should go to Colt’s Confections!” Dinky exclaimed.

“Dinky, we are not going to a chocolate shop for breakfast,” Sparkler countered.

“It’s not just chocolates, you have lollipops, ice-cream, and a lot of other stuff,” Dinky whined.

“Dinky, no! We are not eating dessert for breakfast!”

“But Sparkler...” she continued to whine.

Wingsley butted in, “I want to go to Dagwood’s Daffodil Subs.”

“That’s lunch, Wingsley,” Dinky rolled her eyes.

“Well excuse me, I already ate breakfast.”

The complaining took place for a long time after, leaving you irritated. To alleviate your oncoming migraine, you start up a conversation with Ditzy. “So what’s it like being a mail-mare, other than accidentally dropping pianos on unicorns?” you say with a chuckle.

“Oh well, Saturday’s are always the hardest work days. It’s the end of the week, so everypony is expecting their mail to be delivered by today. Which means that I have to do extra work lifting packages and boxes of letters around my office, my hoovsies can get so sore sometimes. Not to mention what a workout it is for my back with those extra-heavy saddlebags.”

“Ouch, you don’t ever ask for help with that kinda stuff?”

“No not really, I mean everypony has their duty right? Besides, I’ve carried heavier things on my back before.” she said fixing a sultry glance at you that caused you to blush and your wings to flutter.

You try to avoid eye contact after that last comment, cautiously looking back at her from time-to-time with an uncomfortable smile. Your brain rushes into overdrive, Ok so she actually might want to take the relationship to the next level. Are we even ready for this? Am I ready for this? I can count the number of mares I’ve been with on my left hoof. Your thoughts then move back to the past and your “past experience.” Come to think of it, that’s kinda sad. But it was high school, who knew she had to be institutionalized? I mean she only waited outside my window and watched me sleep, then threatened to cut off my cutie mark. You shuttered, I would hate to have another crazy mare after me, but I don’t get the feeling Ditzy is unstable. Quirky, yes. Not to mention adorably cute, fun, and beautiful.

“How about Muffin Factory?” Ditzy asks, bringing you back from your journey to your past.

Smiling, you say, “Muffin Factory it is. Hear that kids? We’re going to muffin factory!”

An audible “Aww!” came up behind you, clearly disappointed. This caused you and Ditzy to start chuckling. You didn’t really care however, you were taking Ditzy out for breakfast, it was her choice. The Muffin Factory was about a block south of town square, practically in the center of town. Since Ditzy lived closer to the edge of town, it was sure to be quite a walk. You quietly wished that you could fly, that way the trip would take about a quarter of a minute, give or take a few seconds.

________________________________________________________

After a considerable amount of time, you arrive at the Muffin Factory. You roll your eyes at the kids behind you complaining about the amount of time you have spent walking.

The group of you walk in through the front door and are swiftly greeted by an overly energetic blue stallion. “Hiya! Howya doin’?” He questioned, eyes wide with excitement. Before you get the chance to answer he continues his questions. “How many of ya are there t’day? Five? Fantastic!”

The blue earth pony grabs a handful of menus, and continues to the nearest available table. The stallion hops enthusiastically by other groups in the restaurant, asking how everypony is doing and if they needed drinks. It seems as though most of the other customers are as disturbed as you are, this waiter is almost as energetic as Pinkie Pie. Perhaps they’re related in some way?

The stallion seats you all in a semicircular booth connected the wall of the restaurant, featuring a large window facing the main square of ponyville. Wingsley, Dinky, and Sparkler rush into the booth, sitting near the window to see who in ponyville they could spy on, allowing you and Ditzy to sit near the end of the booth together.

The waiter hands out menus and begins standard waiter operating procedure, “Welcome to the Muffin Factory everypony, I’ll be your host this morning. My name is Calvin Comet. Today’s specials are the Mousse Muffin, the Tarte De La Muffin, the Blue Bolt Muffin, the Mini Muffin Platter, the Mega-Muffin of Moist Marzipan, the Blue Poppy Muffin, the Volcano Muffin, and the Blueberry Muffin.”

You zone out about halfway through the list, you didn’t even recognize the names of most of the muffins listed. “Uhh Ditzy?” You ask under your breath, “What exactly is a ‘Blue Bolt Muffin’?”

Ditzy turns to you, mouth watering, eyes dilated. “OHHH!” She exclaims, “The Blue Bolt is one of my favorites! It’s like a combination of blueberry and raspberry, but the chef also adds some spices to give it that extra kick in the mouth. It’s usually covered in poppy seeds too, so it’s kinda crunchy. It’s basically like the Blue Poppy Muffin, but spicy.”

Your sense of confusion only grew as Ditzy tried to describe the muffin to you. “Um,” You stammer, “I guess I’ll have the Blue Bolt Muffin then.”

The waiter grins brightly, showing off his unnervingly perfect white teeth, “Excellent choice sir! Now Ditzy what will you be having this morning? The usual, or would you like something specially made from the kitchen?”

“Well,” Ditzy begins, placing a contemplative hoof under her chin, “Can you have Muffin Marvin make me something like the Tarte De La Muffin, but with extra poppy seeds? I don’t know why but those things are great at waking me up in the morning!”

“Of course Ditzy, “The waiter responds politely, “And what about the youngsters here?”

You and Ditzy turn to face Dinky, Wingsley, and Sparkler to see what they want. But, the three are too distracted from spying on the outside world to pay you or Ditzy and mind. “Just get them a muffin platter, I’m sure they can share it.” You tell the waiter. “Besides, Wingsley already had some breakfast this morning, so he won’t need much anyway.”

“Alrighty then everypony! I’ll return soon with your orders.” The waiter collects your menus and hops away, leaving you and Ditzy alone to chat while the three little ones distract themselves with the window.

“So...” You begin, giving Ditzy a raised eyebrow, “I take it you come here often?”

Ditzy broke out of her trance at the sound of your voice, “What’s that? OH! Yes, I come here all the time, they have the best Muffin selection in all of Equestria! And I just love muffins!”

“I can tell.” You chuckle, giving Ditzy a small smile. She returned your smile with a smile of her own, her cheeks wrinkling as her lips spread across her face. Her golden eyes illuminated, and the sun from the window reflected off her hair, giving the illusion of a halo around her head. She truly was an angel, and she was your angel.

It seemed almost seconds before Calvin returned with a platter stacked with three plates of muffins in varying size and color. Calvin first set a large artsy looking muffin in front of Ditzy. It had a velvety looking texture and was covered in a thin blanket of poppy seeds.

Next, the waiter placed a large plate with an assortment of about a dozen smaller muffins in front of the three kids. All of the muffins were nearly half the size of Ditzy’s, and all of them were different colors. Some even had what appeared to be glitter on top of them, giving them a colorful sparkle that looked strangely delicious.

Finally, Calvin dropped in front of you the most delightfully frightening thing you’d ever seen. Delightful because of the colors, the muffin itself was colored a deep blue color, and was covered in blueberries and raspberries. There was also a thick coat of poppy seeds tossed over the top part of the muffin. It looked delicious, the only problem was the size. It was at least three times larger than Ditzy’s muffin, about the size of your head, and it smelled like it had been dipped in the hottest peppers known to pony kind.

Ditzy and the kids happily began eating away, leaving you staring at your muffin in pure awe. It was quite possibly the scariest single piece of food you’d ever encountered in your life, and now you had to conquer it.

You’ve done this before, conquered other horrible smelling foods. Broccoli, carrots, brussel sprouts; all defeated. And now, today, this beast of a muffin. The best tactic would be to dive straight in and take a large bite, which is exactly what you did. The massive muffin was soft and moist, but had a small crunch from the poppy seeds. The berries popped under the pressure of your jaws, coating your tongue in the fresh juices. It was so sweet, so delicious. Then you got to the core of the muffin. Your teeth clamped together as you finished your bite near the middle of the muffin, which was filled with the hottest and spiciest liquid you’d ever felt. You cringe at the heat penetrating your tastebuds, but power through it and swallow the fiery bite.

After the first bite, the muffin isn’t so bad, you actually manage to enjoy it eventually. But alas, the mighty beast was too much and you’re unable to finish it.

Finishing breakfast and seeming content, Ditzy looks at you with a questioning glance. “Hey, did you open that letter you got yet?”

“No,” you admit. “I did bring it with me,” you tell, reaching into your saddlebags and pulling out the letter.

“Who is it from?” Ditzy asked. At this time the entire table was looking at you in expectation.

“Hmm, I don’t think I actually looked at that.” You drop the letter on the table as you read the return address, you blink. The time you spent staring at the letter caused the tension in the air to become palpable. You look up and turn to Wingsley, “It’s from Dad.”

________________________________________________________________

Later that night, you read the letter your dad had written.

Dear Son,
I’m sorry I couldn’t write you sooner, but I am glad to hear that Wingsley is doing well. What about yourself, how are you doing? Any cute mares over there? But to answer your question, no I will not be moving in with you, I wish I could but I just can’t.

With love,

Dad

That’s it? THAT’S IT? Months pass and he couldn’t mail me a decent letter. Who does he think he is? Four sentences? What the buck is he doing that’s so important? Oh that’s right, nothing! You thought bitterly, rage from the deepest parts of your buried subconscious begin to rise, Does he care? NO! Does he love Wingsley? NO! Does he love me? NO! WHY SHOULD I CARE? What has he done for us? NOTHING! No father leaves his kids to fend for themselves! No, he’s not my father, he never was, I raised myself. I reject him as a father.

“BUCK YOU!” you scream at the top of your lungs, and tear up the letter in in your hooves. In a clump of shredded papers you throw it into the fire. You collapse in front of the fireplace and proceed to try beat a hole into the floor.

You smash your hooves into the ground as hard as you possibly could, face contorted into a vicious mask of pure hatred. Eyes, bloodshot and wide. Every hit was accompanied by a grunt as you burned your energy and sapped the strength of your muscles. After some time your legs gave out. And you sit there, letting the warmth of the fire wash over your strained and weakened body. You were breathing heavily, it felt good to let out all that frustration that had built up inside you. You heard movement behind you.

“B-big Brother?” Wingsley stammered cautiously. “Is everything alright?”

Turning to look at him, you turn your watery eyes toward him and gesture for him to come to you. He slowly comes toward you and you embrace each other. For a while you sit there, staring into the fire, watching how it curls and cracks with its own energy.

“Why did you yell big bro?” Wingsley asks.

“I just got... frustrated.”

“With something on the letter?”

“Yeah,” you sigh, “With something on the letter.”

“Does Dad love us, big bro?”

“Of course he does,” you say with a knot in your stomach. A tear falls down your face as you hate yourself for lying to Wingsley like this. But no matter what is happening in your internal struggle, this statement relaxed him as he dozed off into his wonderland of dreams. You let him lie there on your side as you fold your wing over him. You stare off into the fire before your eyes become heavy and sleep takes you.

______________________________________________________________

The light shining into the window caused you to awaken from your slumber. It took you a moment to adjust to your surroundings. You remember the events that took place last night and felt the hollowness of abandonment that came with your realization. Turning your head to look at Wingsley, you see him curled up beside you underneath your wing, sleeping contentedly. Looking so peaceful, you couldn’t wake him up to allow you to move. Instead, you gently nudged him up onto your back and carried him to his room where you allowed him to wake up at his own accord.

8:17, wow we slept in late. Only a few more minutes until it’s time for me to go to work and to get Wingsley to Ditzy’s house for a playdate with Dinky. For the sake of nutrition, you down a simple breakfast, eager to get something solid into your stomach. Finishing your quick breakfast you wake up Wingsley and get him to Ditzy’s house.

“Bye Wingsley! I’ll see you after work.”

"Make sure to bring us sunny weather!"

“I’ll try,” you laugh.

Before you took off from the ground you noticed Prevailing Wind. It appeared he was in a heated discussion with a unicorn you hadn’t seen before. You quietly watch from a distance as to not intrude. The discussion escalated to the point where you heard Prevailing let out a sigh of exasperation and storm off in the other direction from his verbal assailant. The unicorn also looked irritated but stayed there watching Prevailing stalk away.

You keep your head down and make it look if you didn’t notice the entirety of the argument. If Prevailing knew you saw it, he didn’t seem to care. You walk in silence for a little while before you ask, “Who was that?”

“An old friend,” was his reply.

“You sure didn’t seem like friends,” you comment.

“It was somepony who wanted me to move back to Fillydalphia.”

“You were from Fillydalphia?” acknowledging this new information about your friend.

“Long time back,” he responds quickly.

It was obvious you weren’t going to get anymore information out of Prevailing so you stay quiet as you both fly toward the station.

____________________________________________________________

You went through both of your shifts in silence, Prevailing still apparently had his mind wrapped around earlier today. He did not say anything to you as you prepared the weather for the day. On your way back to the station you tried to start up a conversation about cloud architecture. The only response you got was minor head nodding to acknowledge you.

Setting down on the landing pad, you two walk to the locker rooms, the silence was deafening. He only broke his silence after you two had finished your day and retired back to the locker room. Unlocking your belongings from captivity and placing your flight gear back into your locker, you notice a smile peaking on his face in your periphery. Hearing him speak was a shock to your system, “So I hear things are getting more serious with that mare-friend of yours.”

Unsure how he knew, you say cautiously, “Yes, how’d you know?”

“We work together, I see you everyday,” he laughs, “Don’t think you can hide that from me.”

“Well yes, things are getting more serious. We’ve officially been going out for about a month now.”

Sitting back on the bench behind you, Prevailing, stretching his back gave you an expression you have come to know all too well. You responded in turn with a counter expression that told Prevailing, ‘Watch your mouth.’

With a shifty expression he asked, “So... did you, you know, eat her ‘muffin’ yet?” bobbing his eyebrows to emphasize a few words.

Catching you off-guard with that blunt statement, you swallow your spit down the wrong pipe and immediately began choking. After coughing you clear your throat and catch your breath, “No Prevailing, I have not done anything...” you struggle for the right word, “...intimate with her. Why do ponies always ask this?” Your cheeks were a deep shade of scarlet post-conversation.

“Oh come on, you can’t blame me for asking. And besides, it’s always good to see you get flustered.”

“That can be debated,” you counter.

_______________________________________________________________

Leaving the station, you took a small detour to Ditzy’s house, wanting to run a quick errand first. Gliding through the air, you were in no rush to go anywhere. The sun fell on your backside, warming you from your day. Deeply breathing in the high altitude air, you closed your eyes and allowed the air and wind to guide you in the general direction of Ponyville. You flew slow, but at a steady pace; faster than other ponies could sprint, but a leisurely pace for pegasi, only briefly flapping your wings to remain afloat.

Taking in a large breath through your nose into your lungs, you held it before releasing slowly. You repeated the cycle, fully oxygenating your blood, leaving you content and burdenless. You were taught this form of relaxation a long time ago when you were still a colt after the most traumatic moment of your childhood.

_______________________________________________________________

-Cloudsdale, many years ago

Today was the day of your mother’s funeral, the service had just ended. Most ponies left immediately afterwards, you watched as they left the hall, dressed in their mourning outfits, not waiting another moment to leave the dread infested place. Although a few stayed that knew your mother and wished to console each other.

Sitting there, eyes red and wet with tears, you sobbed quietly. Wingsley was next to you curled up in his blanket. He too was crying before and had since cried himself into a slumber. The corner you occupied was dark and secluded, away from all the prying eyes and empty remorse that so many had already offered you.

Stupid ponies, stupid ponies and their stupid expressions. ‘She’s in a better place,’ you recalled, mocking those ponies who offered you the heartless phrase. How can she be in a better place? She doesn’t have us. If she was in a better place, wouldn’t she take us with her? The thought of this brought on a new flood of tears. Noticing a stirring from your brother caused you to cry quieter to not subject him to the horrors around you.

Your quiet sobbing and sniffling are interrupted by an old looking pony you had never seen before. He sat down a respectful distance from you. Turning to him you scowl, “Don’t try cheering me up, it’s not going to work.”

“No. No, I won’t try to cheer you up. You need your time to grieve. If you were cheerful now, given your age, it would be unnatural for you to not to be sad.”

Wiping your eyes you ask, “Then why are you here?”

“I came because you need to vent. No-pony crams themselves into a corner unless they have something they are trying to hide.” He paused and took a breath, “If I were to guess, you are here because you don’t want ponies to know your grief, you don’t want to be coddled by their empty pity.”

It was shocking how right he was, “Y-yeah, how did ya know?”

He sighed and sat back, “I’ve seen this many times in my life. You cannot force happiness, telling somepony to cheer up won’t solve anything. Frankly, it does the opposite.”

You nod in agreement.

The odd pony confided, “Happiness must be found by the individual, I’m only here as a guide, to push you in the right direction. After that, you must look for yourself.” He paused again, “So what’s on your mind?”

“Why did she have to go?” you ask in almost hysterics.

“Hmm,” he sighed, “Death is the natural end to all things. She died because it was her time, nothing could change that. No-pony not even Celestia, knows why the these things occur. Everything happens for a reason, we simply cannot grasp the full nature of it. You will see her again someday, I promise. I’m sorry I cannot give a better answer.”

“But I want to see her NOW!”

“In time. Your mother, out of her love for you gave you your most precious gift, life. Don’t stay your life in solitude in grief, that is not living. Rather, honor her memory by using her gift to you, live freely. It won’t always be easy but you must do it for her.”

“Okay,” you say, stunned by what the pony told you.

“Take life one breath at a time. Close your eyes.” You close your eyes. “Take a deep breath and hold it inside you, think about nothing else.” You do as he says. “Let it out slowly and do it again and again, I trust you will find a way to move forward after this or any other hard time in your life in the future.”

Taking deep breaths, you began to relax and after a while you opened your eyes to thank the stranger. But when you did, he was gone, you never saw him again.

_______________________________________________________________

-Present

Ever since that moment, you had taken the stranger’s advice to heart. The memory of the old pony brought a few sad memories back with it, but it was the silver lining you needed at the time. Giving another thanks to the stranger, you bank sideways and descend into Ponyville.

Your destination was the Ponyville library. You needed to drop off your copy of The Legends and Mythology of Dragons that was horribly overdue, you hoped that Twilight Sparkle, the resident librarian, wouldn’t mind.

The library was just beneath you. Angling yourself slightly, you descend to ground level, giving a final flap of your wings before you touched down.

You open the door to the library and walk inside, scanning the room for any sign of the librarian. “Anypony here?” you call out, loud enough to get somepony’s attention but not loud enough to scare them.

Your call was met by a friendly voice, “Good afternoon, is there anything I can help you with?”

“Um, yes. I checked out a book some time ago and I forgot to return it,” you admit, holding the book in front of you.

“It’s quite alright,” the purple unicorn tells you. “This happens all the time.” She takes the book from you with magic and places it into a shelf to be organized later. Unexpectedly, she turns to you and asks, “Hang on, you are the pony going out with Ditzy, right?”

Second time today... “Yes I am, how did you know?”

“It’s a small town, word gets around fast,” she chuckles, “Pinkie also can’t stop talking about how she played matchmaker for you two.”

“Well, that does sound like Pinkie.”

A moment of silence comes between you two before Twilight interjects, “Be good to Ditzy, she really needs to have a good pony in her life. I’m sure you heard about her past, I wasn’t here for it but I heard the stories,” she looked to a point on the horizon, “If you care about her, really be there for her. I’m sorry, I must be rambling.” She turns away blushing.

“No, it’s fine. And yes, I do care. And I will,” you tell Twilight. You did have feelings for Ditzy, yet you were not sure what they were as of now. No matter what you thought, it felt good admitting it to some other pony. And in your opinion, it was freeing. You said goodbye to Twilight and exited the library to go to Ditzy’s house.

_______________________________________________________________

Arriving at Ditzy’s house after a quick couple of minutes travel, you approach the door, giving a quick knock before entering. It was always unlocked for you after you came home from work, allowing you to get Wingsley even if she wasn’t home. Gazing around the house, you look for any of the Doo’s or Wingsley. To your great happiness you saw Ditzy sitting at her table, apparently the feeling was mutual. She lit up and waved you over to have a seat. You obliged her request.

Sitting on the same side of the table as her, you lean and give her a small kiss.

Blushing, Ditzy asks you, “How was your day?”

“Well it’s good now,” giving a slight chuckle, and giving another kiss. “I should ask you the same question.”

“Oh, it was just the usual. Packages, letters, the works. And, I didn’t drop anything today,” she beams proudly.

With a broad smile you exclaim, “You didn’t? That’s great news!” Ditzy had been working on her balance and coordination for some time now. She wanted to show everypony that she was not as klutzy as they thought, this was just the start.

“Yep,” she beamed. “I figured that if I focus really hard, I can uncross my eyes,” she explained while demonstrating on you. Truthfully, you didn’t care if her eyes were crossed or not, Ditzy was quite self conscious about her eyes, but if it made her feel better then you were going to support her every step of the way.

“You know what? This calls for a celebration,” you tell her. “I can get a cake from Sugercube Corner and then we can do whatever you want.”

“Cake does sound good, but I think I need to take you up on your offer to take me stargazing,” she suggests.

“I think I can do that,” you say with a grin. “What time?”

“Eleven, can you meet me outside my house? I need to get Sparkler and Dinky to bed first.”

“Sure, I can do that.” Of course you could, it would be you, Ditzy, some cake, under the romantic night sky all by yourselves. The only trouble would be getting Wingsley to bed.

______________________________________________________________

Taking deep long breaths to steady yourself, you begin your approach to the door. Wingsley is asleep but a single sound could awake him. You must pull this off flawlessly. Just one hoof in front of another, piece of cake. You facehoof, Dammit, the cake. You had left the cake on the table and now you had to go back for it, adding more time to your trip. The cake is quite heavy as you slowly move it off of the table and onto your back. Careful, careful... you think as you lift it. Suddenly, it slips from your hooves, Crapcrapcrap! No! Buck! Dammit! Sonofa... by a miracle you catch it before it hits the ground, causing a large sigh from you. Carefully, again, you go out the door, this time without incident. Locking the door behind you, you leave to meet with Ditzy.

_______________________________________________________________

As planned, she is outside her house waiting for you. Never before had you ever snuck out with a mare, so you had no idea how to act in this situation. Ditzy on the other hand, seemed to have an idea on what to do. Wasting no time with greetings, she kissed you quickly and led you onto a grassy knoll where you were isolated and had a clear view of the sky. She brought with her a blanket that she threw over the two of you, causing you to snuggle close together. For some reason, Ditzy was excited to go out tonight with you. As to why exactly, you were not sure but you were still going to enjoy every moment of it.

Some time later.

“...and if you look right up there-”

“By that bright star?”

“Yep that’s it. That’s Orion, the Hunter.”

“Wow, I never looked at the sky like this,” Ditzy said in awe.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it.”

“It really is.”

“Not as beautiful as you,” instantly realizing the corniness of your statement, and blushing accordingly. Ditzy gave a little chuckle at this and snuggled in closer. No matter how corny, Ditzy enjoyed the compliment. Taking this as an opportunity, you lean forward and kiss her; a long kiss that neither of you had any intention of breaking.

Trying to move forward with your kiss, as a way of asking Ditzy if she wanted to take this to the next level. As you attempted this, you were met with a firm resistance immediately, not wanting to push the limits anymore you relax and so does she. Content to enjoy the kiss, your heart fluttered and soon enough, just like in the club, the world fell away.

______________________________________________________________

A second, an hour, or an eternity had passed before the kiss ended. There you sat with her, embracing each other, keeping each other warm by the heat from your bodies. Ditzy nuzzled her head onto your neck, sighing deeply and relaxing. She seemed to want to get as close to you as she could, and you felt likewise.

Aside from the heat from Ditzy, you felt another kind of warmth building up inside your chest that radiated like tendrils spreading through your body. This odd warmth replaced another feeling; rather an absence of feeling, a void comparatively. The warmth, you believed, was comprised of happiness, joy, courage, compassion, and every positive emotion you could think of.

Bliss, you thought to yourself. Just being with Ditzy gave you this feeling, and like a drug was very addictive. Parting would certainly result in withdrawal. Mulling over the causes of this sensation you come to a shocking realization that you found hard to believe. Is it that I’m... No, how could it be? Do I just think that I am... I don’t know, I’ve never been experienced in these matters. What do I do? How do I react? Why can’t I think? Is this true? Is this what I really want? WHAT IS HAPPENING?

...Am I in love?

Chapter 9: The End to a New Beginning

“Okay class, put your hooves together for our next presenter, Wingsley’s brother,” Cherilee said as she stepped out of the way to give you center stage.

Career day, a tradition of the Ponyville Elementary School where all of the students must bring in their respective guardians to show off what they do. You were more than happy to speak to the class about what you do, Wingsley wasn’t as thrilled to have you talking to his classmates. He instantly associated you speaking with years of humiliation and embarrassment from his friends. However, you had no intention of embarrassing him that badly but you were more than happy to let Wingsley live in fear. When he saw you up there as you took the stage, despair flashed over his face and he sent you a message saying, “I know what you are trying to do, don’t do it. I don’t want you embarrassing me.”

You flashed him a mischievous smile in response asked him rhetorically, “Now, why would I do that?” After that, Wingsley buried his face in his hooves and waited for the experience to be over.

“Hello everypony, I’m Wingsley’s brother and I’m a weather officer...”

_______________________________________________________

You ended your short speech as the dismissal bell rang for school to end. Moving through the rushing crowds of fillies and colts, you make your way to Wingsley’s desk. He sighed, got out of his seat and followed you out the door.

“Thank you for coming in,” Cherilee called to you just before you left.

“No problem,” was your response. Once outside you saw Dinky with Ditzy, greeting each other after a long day of school. A ritual that you found adorable. “Hey Dinky, hey Ditzy,” you greet them cheerfully.

“Hi Wingsley’s brother,” Dinky responded, “I really liked the presentation, I never knew the weather was so cool!”

“Well thank you very much Dinky, I’m glad someponies liked what I had to say,” turning toward Wingsley with a raised eyebrow. He turned away sheepishly and gave a small shrug, slowly making his way away from you and toward Dinky. This just left you and Ditzy.

“So you gave a speech on weather patrol? How long have you been doing that, a month?” she asked, poking fun at your relative newness in Ponyville.

“Well good morning to you too, cutie,” leaning forward into a small kiss. Being with her still gave you that feeling of warmness, but until you found what that actually meant, you were keeping your mouth shut. It would kill you if you brought up the ‘L’ word too early in the relationship only to find that she didn’t feel the same, or worse, if you didn’t either. A conundrum that regularly kept you up at night. You hoped to Celestia, Luna, or any other force out there that you would soon find out the answer, because as of now, this questionable feeling was the single scariest feeling you have ever known. Right now, it was important not to show to Ditzy that deep down, you were terrified.

It didn’t seem that Ditzy noticed anything wrong with you, as she sighed lightly and broke the kiss. “Anyway, do you think that you could pick up Dinky after her magic tutoring class and bring her over to your place to play with Wingsley? I think Sparkler deserves a girls-day-out, since she has to help me with so much during the week,” she told you, giving a small questioning smile. There was no way you could say no to that face, not that you were however.

“Of course I can, it’s the least I can do. I think Sparkler will love to spend some quality time with you. What time does her class end?”

“Around 4:30, is that okay for you?”

“Yeah,” you reply, “I just need to take care of one thing with Wingsley before that, but other than that it works for me.”

“Oh, what are you doing with Wingsley?” Ditzy asked curiously.

“Today Wingsley is going to learn how to fly,” you say with an air of confidence.

____________________________________________________________

“Now see, that wasn’t so bad,” you tell Wingsley, giving a light push as you exited the school playground and made your way of the premises.

“Whatever,” he says rolling his eyes, “At least you didn’t bring up that I haven’t been able to fly my entire life.”

“Hey, don’t be talking like it will never happen. Have you been doing the exercises I’ve been telling you to do?”

“Yeah, I don’t think they’re gonna help though,” Wingsley sighed. “These things haven’t done anything my entire life, I’m a waste of a pegasus.”

You interject, “Hey, don’t say those things, there are plenty of fillies and colts that haven’t learned to fly. And now’s your chance to show them all up.” Wingsley watches you carefully.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean it’s time for you to get out there and start flying,” you tell him confidently.

“What!” He stops, “Are you sure? I don’t think I’m ready yet.”

Wrapping your arm around him to comfort him you say softly, “You are ready, don’t worry.”

“What if I’m not?” he says, sadness bursting through his face.

With a chuckle you say simply, “Then I’ll eat my hoof.”

________________________________________________________________

“Okay! Just like we did before!” you call up to him. “And don’t worry about falling, the cloud will catch you!”

“I thought you said that I was ready?” he called back.

“That doesn’t mean you won’t fall on your face!”

“Thanks for the words of encouragement!” he called out sarcastically.

“Any time! Now come on, let’s see it!”

Wingsley took two deep breaths, holding the air in his lungs for a while before letting it out, it was clear that he was nervous, even from where you were standing. With a final puff of air, Wingsley began to flap his wings as fast as he could. Red in the face, you see he is having trouble keeping the speed up. Flying is a lot more than flapping fast, you need to thinking about pushing yourself up with the air under your wings rather than flapping like a deranged chicken and praying for a miracle. This wasn’t something you could easily explain to a colt, he would have to figure it out on his own. From the unicorns you have conversed with, flying was a lot like magic in the novice levels. It is always difficult to start out with since you can’t really teach ingrained natural abilities; but as you grow in experience, you begin to teach yourself new things about your craft. That is also the reason you want Wingsley to take his first steps, or ‘flaps,’ today.

“-HNNGG!” Wingsley grunts as he struggles to try to gain altitude. In a final push, he leaps forward, sending himself into a spiral, landing on the support cloud. “Damn it!” he shouts, frustrated.

“Hey! None of that language,” you rebuke. “You were almost there, try again.” You pick him up and fly him onto the high cloud he was standing on before. He gets off of your back, peeved but ready to go again. He has similar mishaps in the next few attempts causing serious frustration. After calming him down you decide to attempt a different approach.

Flying and hovering a few feet above Wingsley you call down to him, “Okay Wingsley, if you can touch my hoof we won’t do anymore ‘flying’ today.” This idea was a gamble, there was no way for Wingsley to come close to touching you without using his wings, if he figured that out he might refuse to comply any further. On the other hoof, this was a test to see how Wingsley would react to a trial/reward system. There was a lot of incentive for Wingsley to want to participate, causing him to be more focused and motivated. You felt that this would actually work based on previous observations of Wingsley’s attempted flying. As noted before, flying is a lot more than flapping one’s wings, Wingsley was strong enough to fly, but he had no intended direction or purpose to his flapping. This last desperate attempt to make Wingsley airborne would finally give purpose to his wings. You held your breath and braced yourself for whatever happened.

“So if I touch your hoof I don’t have to do this anymore?” he asked cautiously.

“Of course,” and you meant it as well, if Wingsley flew, you were more than happy to let him take a break.

“No problem,” he said with an air of confidence, assuming he could merely jump and touch your hoof. He was mistaken in that regard, two attempts clarified his expectations. But before he was going to give up, you gave him one last piece of advice.

“You will have to flap a little to reach me. Remember, if you do this, no more practice,” you tell him, referring back to the analogy of dangling the metaphorical carrot in front of the metaphorical donkey (an analogy you have been scolded for using on multiple occasions for its racist undertones).

His eyes narrowed as he prepared himself for launch. His body readied itself to pounce. His wings started flapping at high speeds, it was obvious he was giving this one try 100. Urging him on in your mind, you tried to will his wings to bring him airborne. You tensed for the moment of truth.

Wingsley jumped and instead of immediately falling, he used his wings to propel himself even further off his starting point, launching him into the air. The strain on his face was evident, caused in part by the sheer determination to not have to this again. His tiny wings kept him going as he traveled up and up. Watching in awe as he ascended toward you, he achieved the minimum distance away from your hoof to make physical contact and threw his hoof toward yours. With a war cry, he hits your hoof, calling out in victory.

“Aww yeah! What now? What else you got? You didn’t think I could do it, I guess I’m just that awesome!” While Wingsley’s gloating usually drove you up the wall, but you were fine with it this time. A smile stretched across your face, causing Wingsley to look at you with confusion. “What are you smiling at? I just beat your challenge, now we don’t have to do this anymore. What are you smiling at?” he commanded surprisingly forcefully. To answer you simply pointed to his presently airborne state.

“What? What do you mean about-” he cut himself off, letting the realization sink in. With wide eyes he slowly looks at you, mouth in a state showing is utter surprise. “I’m flying! I’M FLYING! Ohmygosh, I’m really flying! This is so cool!” With a smile he looked at you and testing his operational wings, threw himself at you in a big embrace knocking you from your stationary state. “Thank you Big Bro! Thank you! You are the best big brother ever!”

Smiling gently, you look upon your baby brother with all the love you can muster. Your baby brother who you sacrificed your past life for; who you cared for the most; who you couldn’t live without. Your baby brother was now all grown up.

__________________________________________________________________

“Well you don’t have to keep going if you don’t want to,” you call to your ecstatic brother. Knowing full well his answer.

“No way, this is too awesome!”

“Why do you think I always tried to teach you?” you ask, laughing.

“You know what? I take it all back, flying is the best!” It was quite shocking how Wingsley was able to overcome his crippling fear of heights and flight so quickly, had Wingsley finally gotten over {your} mom’s death? This is what she would have wanted, I’m just glad I was here to see it. Looking up to the sky you think out loud in your mind. I know you are watching somewhere up there. It looks like like Wingsley is no longer afraid. If you were here, you would be so proud, you’d hug him as hard as you could, just like you did with me. You took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. I love you mom.

*****

“No, no, it’s okay... I can still...” Wingsley drifted off, snoring loudly.

You laughed to yourself, flying is always an exhausting task, especially when you just get started. Taking the still sleeping Wingsley, you lay him over your back to take him to your house for a proper nap. Jumping off the fluffy cloud, you extend your wings to slow the fall of your decent. You land softly onto the grassy knoll right underneath the safety cloud.

“Its okay... I’ll have the sauerkraut...” Wingsley mumbled, sleepily. Inciting a laugh from you.

“Come on, little buddy,” you whisper affectionately. “Let’s get you home.”

_________________________________________________________________

After the short trip back through Ponyville, catching the eye of many ponies with the sight of Wingsley on your back, you make it back home. Stepping through the door frame, you too want to collapse on the couch, unfortunately you have prior engagements.

Tucking him into bed, Wingsley rolls around in his sleep, trying to find a comfortable position. At long last he finds it, his arms go limp and flop to one side, his body relaxes into the plush, unconsciously he yawns before falling fast asleep.

Years of taking care of Wingsley, of tucking him into bed, you have noticed that his yawn has never changed. It was a pleasant immutable feature that no matter how old Wingsley got, deep down he was the same lovable colt you raised. Ever since he was just a foal and you had to fill the role of father/mother/brother simultaneously, you watched over him in his bed. A guardian angel, protecting him from the harshness of the outside world. A world that looked slightly dimmer, a world that left you wondering if there was a point anymore. But you always found a point, Wingsley, whom your entire world revolved around. But with Wingsley it always brought up the question of who you were, were you his brother, or father? That was the question you still didn’t have an answer for.

_________________________________________________________________

Wingsley was asleep and it was only 4:10, you had to pick up Dinky pretty soon. You leave a note telling him where you are to have him not to worry, as well as a celebratory sandwich. Locking the house, you take off flying just above the roofs of the Ponyville residents. Dinky was being tutored by Miss Sparkle, the resident librarian and Celestia’s personal student.

On foot, the trip would have consumed all of your time. But since you were gifted with a sturdy set of wings, the trip took almost no time at all. How did unicorns and earth ponies get along without wings? you wondered. You landed at the library with over 15 minutes to spare. No way were you waiting that long, so you decided to run a few errands first.

You stopped by Applejack’s apple cart to pick up a few apples. She inquired about you and Ditzy and you told her that you were both very happy, to which she responded, “Aww shucks, ah’ was always rootin’ for that girl to find a nice stallion. Glad ta’ see that she’s happy. Here ya go, have an apple on the house. I’m a sucker for sweet stories.” You thanked her and took off. Mmm... apples, this should hold me over for a little while. You decided to save one for Dinky when she finished her tutoring class, a nice ‘after school’ treat, well you guessed you could call it school.

“Hi Dinky,” you call to her.

“Hi, Wingsley’s Brother!”

“How was tutoring?”

“Really hard,” she complained, “I can’t do anything other than hold a book for more than a few seconds.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Twilight interjected. “Lot’s of fillies your age have trouble with magic, all it takes is a bit of practice and hard work. You’re going to be an amazing magician someday Dinky.”
“Thanks Twi.”

“Take care now, tell your mom that the muffins were delicious.”

“I will! Thank you!” Dinky called.

“Bye you two,” Twilight responded, waving her hoof in farewell. You raise your hoof as well to say goodbye to Twilight and begin to walk with Dinky back to your house. Dinky looked confused as she peered all around.

“Where’s Wingsley?” she asks.

“He’s at home taking a nap,” you paused. “He just learned how to fly today,” you tell Dinky, beaming, “We can wake him up when we get home.”

“Wingsley can fly now? That’s so cool!” Dinky exclaimed. After, Dinky paused for a moment, pondering a question, “Wingsley’s brother?” she asked, it should be noted she has never called you by your true name.

“Yes Dinky?”

“Why do you spend so much time with Mommy?” The straightforwardness of the question took you back slightly, but you were more than happy to answer, within certain bounds of course.

“Well,” you start to say, trying to find the words to explain your relationship to a filly. “Your mom and I are going out.”

“Going out?” Dinky replied, confused. “How do you ‘go out’ with her? She’s not even here and we’re already outside.”

Whoops, wrong choice of words. “We’re dating. We’re boyfriend and girlfriend,” you explain.

“Ooh, now I get it. So you like-like her?” she asks with a knowing smile. You laugh in response at the youthful vocabulary she used.

“Yes, yes I do,” you admitted, smiling. “I ‘like-like’ her very much.”

“Mommy talks about you all the time, especially with Auntie Carrot Top.”

“Oh?” you ask. “I hope it’s nothing bad,” you tell her giving her a smile.

“It’s never anything bad,” she responds. “It’s always about how nice you are, and how much better you are than this other stallion she mentions. She always gets really happy when she talks about you. You know, I think Mommy like-likes you too!”

“I sure hope so,” you chuckle. It made your day that Ditzy shared your enthusiasm for each other.

“Wingsley’s Brother?” Dinky asked, interrupting your thoughts. You look over to the young filly who is staring up at you. “Are you going to marry my mommy?”

“Well it’s a little early to tell now,” you reply. You are continually shocked by the straightforward questions this little filly is asking, although marrying Ditzy isn’t the worst idea. “Why do you ask?”

“Well then you’d be my daddy, I’d like you as a daddy.” Dinky immediately stopped moving and looked at the ground, dejected. “I never who knew who my daddy was, Mommy says we can’t talk about him.”

Dinky’s words touched your heart more than you thought possible. And with it came a wave of empathy for the filly. You went over to her and took a seat next to her. Putting a hoof on her shoulder you tell her softly, “Hey now, don’t be sad. Your mom loves you more than anything in the whole world. You are so lucky to have a mom like her.” She smiled a little at the last statement before you continued, “You know what? I barely knew my dad either. He ran off when we were still young. But I had Wingsley. That was the only thing I needed to keep going. Stick with the loving family you have, because you already have everything you need. But for the record, I don’t know why anypony wouldn’t want to be your dad. Now come on, let’s go wake Wingsley up.

“Okay,” Dinky said, smiling.

_________________________________________________________________

“Hey buddy,” you say as you nudge Wingsley awake.

“Bro?” he asked. “What’s goin’ on?”

“Dinky’s here,” you tell him directly.

“Really? Okay, I’m gettin’ up,” he said groggily.

Dinky lit up as she saw Wingsley, “Hi Wingsley!” she called. “I heard you learned how to fly! That’s so cool!” Wingsley began to talk very excitedly to Dinky, giving her all the detailed information. You chuckled to yourself as they talked, realizing how hungry you were. You walked to the fridge to grab some food, but before you could pillage the stock of food, the kids perk up.

“Hey Big Bro? You want to play with us?”

“You sure you want an old guy like me playin’ with you?”

“Yeah! Please? It’ll be fun.”

“Alright,” you sighed.

_________________________________________________________________

Hushed voices from two young foals were heard in the distance. Both brave, yet equally terrified.

“Anything to report corporal?” Lt. Steelwing (Wingsley) asked.

“Nothing as of yet, lieutenant,” stated Corporal Manafire (Dinky).

Lt. Steelwing sighed, “We have met the creature on the field many times today, each time resulting in retreat. The only chance we have is a surprise attack.”

“But sir, how will we get past him, he’s everywhere and nowhere at once. He’s too powerful!”

“Get ahold of yourself corporal! I will tolerate no insubordination!”

Corporal Manafire was right however, you skulked in the darkness, as a creature of the night you felt no fear, and soon you would strike against the brave warriors. A single thought passed through your dark mind, Damn, these kids take their war games to the next level. Why the hell didn’t I get to play like this when I was little?” You quickly dismissed the thought and proceeded with your dark plan. While sneaking, you nudge a desk; prompting a squeek.

“What was that?”

“ORBITAL STRIKE!” you shout as you jump into the air and began assaulting the two warriors with pillows.

“Ahh! Retreat!”

“There is no escape,” you laugh.

“Corporal, we have to use the Final Weapon!”

“We have no idea what it will do!”

“There’s no time, fire!” Corporal Manafire launches the ‘Final Weapon’ at you with magic. You throw yourself back as though you were struck by a heavy object. Falling to the ground, you are assaulted by the two warriors.

“Gah! My one weakness!” you cry out.

At that moment, Ditzy opens the door to see if you were home only to find you getting pummeled by two young foals wrapped in pillow armor, while the rest of the house looked like a warzone. Everypony involved immediately stopped and the room became quiet. Breaking the awkward silence you turn to Ditzy and ask, “What’s up?”

Ditzy couldn’t contain herself and her and Sparkler, who was also with her, burst out laughing. The sight of you beaten to a pulp with two plush pillows was the single funniest thing she had seen all day. Dusting yourself off, you stand to greet Ditzy. Calming down from her laughing fit, Ditzy manages to say, “So it looks like you guys had fun,” as she scanned the living room ‘battlefield.’

“It was... an interesting day,” you tell her, smiling.

“I’ll bet.”

“Hey, how about I take you out tomorrow? Nothing too fancy, just a little bit of fun.”

“I’d like that, but now I need to get these girls home. Night,” she said as she gave you a kiss goodnight. You return the kiss and wave farewell to her for the night.

_________________________________________________________________

Morning came swiftly, and while you were still half asleep, Wingsley burst into the room scarring you half to death. Before you could calm your heart rate, Wingsley spoke to you in an exuberant tone, “Can we go flying today? Please, please, please? I woke up early so I could get ready! So please can we go flying?”

“Sure, why not?” being terrified for his entire life of flying, you were more than happy to teach him after all these years. From your reclined position, you found yourself looking up at your baby brother who was lightly hopping in excitement. His eyes shined for a challenge and was eager to make up for lost time. His characteristic contagious smile would have made it impossible to say ‘no’ to him even if you were not physically or mentally able to teach him. With a sweep of your arm you embrace Wingsley into yourself, getting him into a headlock. “Just five more minutes, okay?” He struggled briefly before giving up the fight, realizing it was hopeless.

“Fine... But only five more minutes!” At this you chuckled slightly before drifting off again, feeling that your life was finally coming together with your job, your best friend, Wingsley, and Ditzy. An image of her followed you into your dreams as you tried to make the most of your five minutes of peace.

_________________________________________________________________

“Any reason you want to start practicing at this Celestia-damned hour?” you ask, irritated by lack of sleep.

“Well I couldn’t sleep at all last night, so I thought, ‘Why don’t I get my big brother to take me flying later?’ and then here we are,” he gestured to his surroundings.

“And why couldn’t you sleep like a normal pony?”

“Flying! I just can’t stop thinking about it! It’s all so, so... so new!”

“Yeah, flying does have that effect,” recalling your first experiences flying. “Anyway, let’s get started. So far you have only managed to hover, let’s try to take this up a notch. Start to hover, then I want you to fly to me. I’ll be down the street.”

With a smirk Wingsley said, “No problem.” Wingsley jumped into the air and started to flap his new, fully functional wings. Hovering, no longer a problem, Wingsley attempted to shift his body to guide his trip. He had the right idea and you applauded him for it. But as with all new fliers his success did not last long. Whatever goes up must come down, hard and violently in this case. Wingsley took a nosedive into the ground, a jarring impact that made you cringe.

After checking if he was alright, you suggested, “Maybe we should hold off on flying for a little while. And come on, let’s get you cleaned up and lets head over to Ditzy’s house.

_________________________________________________________________

Dropping Wingsley and Dinky off with the Cutie Mark Crusaders and letting Sparkler play with her friends, you and Ditzy head off to spend some quality time together. You both make your way through the town to the grassy knoll you snuck off in the middle of the night to. It was your spot, the spot where you first started to wonder about your true feelings for Ditzy and you felt it was the best spot to start to spend time together.

“Ah, this spot. It looks so different in the day. What made you decide to take this spot?”

“Well it was either here or the club,” referencing the two spots important to the advancement in your relationship. “What can I say, I’m a sentimental colt.”

She leaned in and kissed you, “Or was it because you wanted some place we were alone?” she asked playfully.

“Well maybe that had something to do with it,” you admitted. Ditzy giggled and kissed you again. It was a beautiful summer day, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping in the distance, and a cool breeze blew lightly through the air slightly rustling the trees. Despite the heat, you and Ditzy were scooted next to each other closely. For a while, you and Ditzy admired the Ponyville landscape together before Ditzy broke the silence.

“Hey, do you want to have a little fun?” she asked.

You shifted uncomfortably and your heart rate picked up a little. “What do you mean?”

She looked at you quizzingly, “What do you mean, ‘what do I mean?’ I asked if you wanted to-” A look of knowledge washed over her face and was immediately followed by a face with an expression that told you, ‘You have got to be kidding me.’ She slapped you softly but hard enough so you would get the point. “Get your mind out of the gutter,” she commanded. “I meant like cloud shaping. You’re lucky that you’re cute.”

Rubbing your cheek slightly, you chuckled nervously to relieve the tension, “Cloud shaping, sounds good.” Taking off, you both soar into the sky to begin crafting your sculptures. You believed yours would impress Ditzy, but only if you made it perfectly to scale. Forming the clouds into perfect circles was proving difficult because of the sheer size of the clouds. When at last you made all the circles you needed to, you arrived at the problem of arranging them and not allowing them to move separately. To deal with the problem, you used a trick you learned from Prevailing in weather patrol. Using an almost invisible section of cloud you weave it through the clouds forming a polar bond using the evaporated water molecules. Feeling satisfied that it wouldn’t move you went to the task of knocking out holes in the shapes. Making the holes and then shaping the holes turned out to be easier than expected. You finished right as Ditzy was putting the final touches on hers. Signaling to each other, you headed down to the ground level to admire each other’s work.

Ditzy said excitedly, “Oh, guess what mine is first!”

“Okay, um lets see... Two muffins? Wow, they really look detailed.”

“No, well yes, kinda. What type are they?”

Sheepishly you say with a nervous smile, “Cloud flavored?”

“No the first one is poppy seed, and the other is blueberry. I mean you can see it right there,” she said, slightly frustrated.

“I’m sorry,” you say softly giving her a slight kiss and a smile, “I’ll get it next time. Now come see mine.” Ditzy looked up at yours, mouth agape. She looked behind her and then up to your sculpture again and again.

“That’s... That’s a perfect recreation of my cutie mark!”

You beamed, “I know.”

“But how did you...” she waked up to you with a playfully questioning glance. “So how much time do you spend looking at my flank?”

No win question, crap. “Um...” you stammer but are quickly silenced by Ditzy’s hoof.

“It’s okay, I love it. And besides, you are the only stallion I let check out my flank,” which caused you to blush slightly.

“Hey look over there,” Ditzy said, pointing somewhere in the distance. Upon closer inspection you saw Carrot Top sitting by herself. “So how do you feel about pranks?”

_________________________________________________________________

Now the plan to prank Carrot Top was pretty mild by your standards. Growing up in Cloudsdale, you saw various pranks that could only be categorized as cruel. Ditzy’s pranks were more of jokes played in good fun.

“Okay, ready to push?”

“Yep!”

You brought dozens of clouds from all over ponyville to over the area where Carrot Top was sunbathing, and now was the final step of the plan. You blotted out the most sun you could with the clouds you acquired to force Carrot Top to wake up and assess the situation. Peering through the clouds, you see your plan working. Carrot Top stood up and looked up to the sky for an explanation as to the sudden gloomy weather, and the next thing she know, the sky fell. Clouds once stationary, were being flung through space towards her location. Carrot Top shouted as she ran for cover, dodging incoming clouds. One after another, they dispelled onto the ground. Once the barrage died down, Carrot Top looked up and saw you two laughing your wings off.

“Okay you two, get on down here!” Carrot Top commanded. Willingly you and Ditzy descended to meet Carrot Top. “What compelled you to do that?” Carrot Top asked, frustrated.

“Oh come on Carrot Top,” Ditzy said, “you do this stuff to me all the time, it’s about time you got what’s coming to you.”

“Well I could see this coming from you, not so much from the boyfriend. I can call him the boyfriend now, right?” Ditzy nodded in response. “Do you really let that adorable pegasus wrap you around your hoof?” she asked rhetorically.

“I would hardly say that I’m-” she cut you off.

“Look at her, she’s adorable. Of course she has you wrapped around her hoof, just fair to tell you the truth.” You look at Ditzy for confirmation, she only responds with a smile and a shrug. Carrot Top walks around you, judging you. “So this is your guy? Seems like a good choice. Good set of wings,” she gave your wings a poke. “You know, I dated a pegasus for a while, and it’s true what they say about big wings.” You blush a deep scarlet upon hearing this, you turn to Ditzy to find she is blushing as well. “Anyway, I’m glad to see you two are happy, but if you do this again I’m kicking your flanks back to Cloudsdale,” she warned.

Ditzy laughed, “Okay, fair enough.”

“Come on Ditzy, let’s go check on the kids.”

_________________________________________________________________

Sometime later.

“Please can we go? Please?” Dinky asked. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders want us to stay over!”

“Okay honey, be safe but have fun,” Ditzy said to Dinky.

“I will mom,” Dinky responded, giving her mom a big hug.

“Same goes for you little bro,” you tell Wingsley while giving him a gentle noogie.

“Yeah, yeah, I will,” he said laughing.

“Come on Wingsley, we’re going to be late!” Dinky called. Wingsley popped up and ran after his best friend. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had set up the slumber party as another way to try to find their special talents and they had invited their entire class to join in. Both Wingsley and Dinky were adamant about attending, and you felt that it would be good to be with other foals their own age.

“They grow up so fast,” Ditzy commented with a sigh.

“They really do,” you acknowledged, still reveling in Wingsley’s early achievement.

“So um, do you want to come over for dinner? I mean the kids are out and I don’t have any plans so...” her voice trailed off, she scratched the back of her head with her hoof while her eyes scanned the ground. Eventually, she looked up at you with her signature small, cute smile.

“Sure, I would love to,” you respond. You always enjoy the alone time you have together and would never turn it down. With a motion of her head, she signals you to walk with her back to her house.

___________________________________________________________________

Once at Ditzy’s house, you asked her if she wanted help with dinner. Ditzy said that it was alright, but you insisted. Without further objection she complied.

While making dinner, you started thinking back to the ‘early days’ of your relationship which was the time you called when you first met her, “Hey Ditzy?”

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“When we met, did you ever think we would become a couple?” you ask in a light-hearted way, to take a look back and see how far you both had come.

“Hmm,” she pondered. “Well you know I always found you cute, I mean how could I not? You might not thought I noticed, but it was really obvious you had a big crush on me. Not to mention you were the nicest stallion I had met in a long time. Then there came that time in the post office...” she paused a moment, “Right then, I would have said ‘no.’ But then I got to know you better and well, the rest is history,” giving you a small smile. “So what about you? Did you think we would be a couple?”

“Well I was going to make it happen one way or another,” you tell her, moving closer to her slowly. “If I knew how smart, how funny, how amazing you were,” you wrap your arms around her. “I may have kissed you on the spot.” She sighed lightly as you kissed her very romantically. You enjoyed the kiss until you thought you smelled something that was catching on fire. Ditzy’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh, no!” she broke the kiss to deal with dinner. You smile sheepishly and suppress a laugh. Doing that, in your opinion, was worth slightly burning dinner. Ditzy wanted this to be a nice dinner and as much as you felt you were helping by being awesome and super romantic, you knew you had to do your part. Well so much for that.

You continued helping Ditzy as much as you could, although that wasn’t saying much. You were never the most amazing cook, and Wingsley has described your dishes as ‘edible.’ With a little help from Ditzy, you both manage to complete dinner, not without noticing an occasional few side glances from Ditzy which caused her to immediately look away. This was curious, but you didn’t ask any questions.

Lighting a few candles on the table, you both sit down to a pleasant, romantic meal. Smiling, you gaze at her, her beautiful hair illuminated slightly by the candlelight. All of her features, even the more subtle ones, were brought to the surface. She looked beautiful.

“Thanks for dinner Ditzy.”

“Oh it’s nothing,” she said quietly, “And besides you did a lot of it.”

You laughed lightly, “I’d hardly say that, I mean I can barely cook to save my flank. You had to constantly fix what I did whenever I screwed up.”

“I guess you did make a few mistakes,” giving you a smile.

“Nonetheless, it tastes amazing. Thank you.” Your comment was only met with a light blush. Never before had Ditzy ever been shy, at least not with you. After dinner you were going to find out what was wrong. But right now, you were going to fully enjoy the delicious meal in front of you. Who knew Ditzy could cook so well?

________________________________________________________________

You finished dinner mostly in silence, by now you had a sneaking suspicion as to the cause of Ditzy’s odd behavior, although you weren’t sure. Acting like a perfect gentlecolt, you picked up the plates, brought them to the sink and cleaned up immediately. Ditzy insisted that she could take care of it later, but you told her that it was the least you could do for an amazing meal and you didn’t want her to think you were a slob.

You made your way to the sofa with Ditzy and snuggled up next to her in front of the fireplace. Ditzy had her head buried in your coat, trying to get as close to you as possible, although you doubted she could get much closer than she already was. You bent down and kissed her on top of her head. You wrapped your wing around her and pulled her body in closer. Reaching out with your arm, you embraced her, bringing her head closer to yours. Ditzy offered no resistance. Then began a long series of delicate kissing. With each passing minute your heart melted a little bit more, all the muscles in your body were relaxed, your mind was somewhere drifting off on cloud nine. That warm feeling you had felt before had evolved from its cozy state to an inferno of emotion, it enveloped your entire body and threatened to consume you completely. If being with this mare isn’t love, then love must be damn-well hard to come by. If these feelings are wrong, then nothing I have felt in my life was correct. I love Ditzy... You repeated it in your head to understand the full depth of what you admitted to yourself, I love Ditzy.

You smiled amidst the romance of the moment. “Ditzy,” you manage to say between kisses.

“Yes?”

“What was with you,” *kiss* “at dinner?”

“Hmm?”

“You were acting, strange,” you said softly.

Ditzy broke the kiss and smiled at you, “I was nervous.”

“Nervous about what?”

“Nervous about, maybe...” she whispered something into your ear that caused your eyes to widen with surprise. Ditzy chuckled at your situation, suddenly your roles were reversed. Ditzy showed none of the nervousness she felt previously and instead was brimming with confidence, while you on the other hoof were holed up inside yourself. You look at her for confirmation of what she just said. She chuckled to herself as she got off of the sofa. Grabbing you playfully by your tail, Ditzy pulled you off the couch, not that you were resisting. Still in a state of shock, you pick yourself up nervously and give a quick glance to Ditzy making sure you understand the full weight of the situation. Giving you a kiss on the lips, Ditzy led you by the hoof up the stairs, and into her bedroom.

To be Continued...

Chapter 10: The Morning After

The sun shone through the window nudging you from your slumber. I just had the best dream, you think quietly to yourself. Ditzy and I, we did the... yeah. I wonder... you open your eyes and see Ditzy resting in your arms snuggled as close as possible to you. You could feel her heart beating steadily in her chest and could hear her breath in and out. You laugh slightly, Oh good,it wasn’t a dream after all. You move your arm behind Ditzy and bring her closer to yourself, to which she accepted without resistance. Once you had brought Ditzy close to you, she moved her head underneath your neck and let out a delicate sigh. Kissing her on the top of her head, you smiled broadly as you relax with Ditzy. What this meant for your relationship you could only guess at, but it was a new direction you were more than happy to explore.

After a little while you see Ditzy slowly awaken from her slumber. Quietly and softly you moved a strand of her blond mane out from her eyes causing her to look to you with her slightly lopsided eyes and smiled. Taking a deep breath in, she yawned. A petite, adorable yawn that made your heart melt. Taking in another deep breath, she chuckled to herself, “Morning Stud-muffin,” she whispered to you, giving you a kiss.

“Morning Cutie,” you give her a nuzzle. “Sleep well?”

“Mmhmm,” she sighed. “I guess I have to thank you for that.”

“Anytime,” you told her, kissing her again. Locking both arms behind her, you both pushed into the kiss more forcefully. Both giggling slightly, you roll her onto her back and kiss her passionately. Drunk with passion, you stop perceiving the world around you. More than happy to go along with what you want, Ditzy shifts around on the bed. Both exuberant and blissful you look deeply into each others eyes, you almost didn’t notice the sound of keys being put into a lock, the tumblers shifting, and the vacuum created by a door being opened fast. Even if you didn’t hear the first part, you definately heard what happened next.

“Mommy I’m home!”

Your eyes opened simultaneously, if there was a sound effect to go along with it, it would be the cliched sound of shattering glass. Oh buck... You and Ditzy stare at each other in shock for a brief moment, and that’s where ‘everything went to hell’ as the phrase goes. You dive off of Ditzy and roll off the bed. Ditzy does the same and rolls off the other side. Then began the mad rush to remove all traces of your presence last night from the room.

As you help in a mad rush to deal with the cover up of your nightly encounter, Ditzy calls down, “I’ll be right there honey! Mommy just needs to deal with a few things!”

The room was a disaster, although that could not all be attributed to you. It was a sprint to the finish with you and Ditzy mouthing to each other, “Was this here?” “Is this yours?” “Did this get knocked over?” You think you have everything when you come to a shocking realization, “Where’s my saddlebags?” you exclaimed.

Ditzy’s eyes went wide as she thought back to last night. “Oh buck! It’s on the stairs, I’ll be right back!” She stealthily ran out the door and down the stairs, you only heard her yell ‘hello’ to Dinky as she came back up the stairs. “Okay here you go, they can’t see you leave. Go out the window.”

“Got it.” You ran over to Ditzy to grab your saddlebags. After throwing them over you, you sweep Ditzy off her hooves, dip her, and give her a deep kiss leaving her stunned before getting a running start and diving out the window. Very Daring Do worthy. You glide down and are finally able to breath a sigh of relief. Throwing a hoof through your disheveled mane you look to see if there were any witnesses. There were...

At the corner of your eye you saw Sparkler staring directly at you. You turn and face her, her face was contorted into an expression of utter perplexity, mouth slightly agape. You stared back, eyes wide with horror. Sparkler looked at you, then at the window, then back to you, then back at the window before she stopped and stared at you, expressionless. She wasn’t a dumb mare, she knew what happened and was at a loss for words. Years before, you were attacked many times for attempting to woo somepony’s sister, Sparkler was gifted in magic and you weren’t quite sure of the classic rules of engagement for this situation when dealing with somepony’s mom. To make sure something like that hopefully wouldn’t happen, you said calmly, “Morning Sparkler.”

And she replied just as calmly, “Morning.”

You turned around and began walking at a normal pace back to your house, not looking back the entire way. Although, you were listening for the tell-tale sound of large machinery hurdling through the air at you. Fortunately, there was not any. You walked all the way back to your house, assuming Wingsley had let himself inside.

“Wingsley? You home?” you call out, scanning the room.

“I’m home, where were you? I just got back a few minutes ago, did you run some errands or somethin’?

Crap, he can’t know I was out with Ditzy last night. Better think up a quick alibi. Okay, let’s think. Why would somepony not be home early in the morning?

Well, one part of your mind said, because you were up late last night making love to your brother’s best friend’s mom and then proceeding to make a quick getaway by diving out a window.

Oh, who asked you? you replied. I’d prefer to tell him something that isn’t mentally scarring. I need an innocent excuse. You pause for a moment, Oh and perfect, now I’m talking to myself.

“Um,” you mumble out loud, thinking as you spoke. “I was... At the store! Yes! I was at the store,” you conclude, feeling quite proud of yourself.

“Um, okay then,” Wingsley trails off, suspicious. “But then where are the groceries?”

“Groceries?” you trail off, confused. Well crap, didn’t think about that last part. Things were not going as planned. “Never mind that. Anyway, how was the sleepover?” you ask as you set your saddlebags down and motion to bring the conversation over to sofa, instead of standing awkwardly around the door entrance.

________________________________________________________________

You stay in the house for a good portion of the day, just you and Wingsley. Wingsley had some homework and you were fine with Wingsley not questioning you about your activities last night. When you heard a knock at the door, you were the first to rush to answer it, hoping it was Ditzy. Your hopes were answered and there stood Ditzy, looking nervous and anxious. She looks at you with a small smile, “Hey, everything okay over here?” referring to any suspicions Wingsley had.

“Everything’s fine. What’s wrong cutie?” you ask, worried.

“Can we talk? Outside?”

“Sure,” you respond, a sense of panic moving through you. After stepping outside, you ask, “What’s wrong?”

“I just need to talk to you, Sparkler knows what happened. I wanted to know if Wingsley also knew, he’s a smart colt.”

“He doesn’t know, well he hasn’t put the pieces together. But Ditzy,” she looked up, “I’ve been with you long enough to know that something else is wrong. Tell me, please.”

“It’s nothing wrong, really,” she took a deep breath before going on, “It’s just... It’s just I want to make sure that what happened last night really meant something. If it was just going to be a one-night stand, please tell me. I don’t want to get invested in a bad relationship. I don’t want to be hurt again.”

You were horrified Ditzy could imagine such a thing. “Ditzy,” you say bringing her close to you, “I really care about you. I really care about Dinky and Sparkler too, they’re like my second family. And, no, it wasn’t just a one night stand. Last night was the greatest night of my life, I couldn’t imagine spending it with any other mare. I want to take the next step with you, I can’t wait to see where this takes us.” Leaning down, you kiss her gently and she in turn returns the kiss. You believe you hear a sigh of relief coming from her. “Ditzy, I really care about you. I’m not going anywhere,” you tell her in a serious tone.

Ditzy unexpectedly hugged you after this, a tight hug with a grip of one that clings on to their lifeline. Her embrace was solid, she was not intent on letting you go, literally and metaphorically. How he must have hurt her, you think to yourself about Dinky’s biological dad. The hate for this stallion you had never met before burned inside you. Making this beautiful mare hurt the way she did, in your eyes this was an inexcusable crime. “Thank you,” she said simply, voice shaking. You could tell she was crying. You hugged her back, trying to comfort her. “I needed to hear that,” her voice still uneasy. In response to this, you kissed her to prove your feelings.

“Do you want to come in? I can make you up something.”

“No, it’s alright. Thanks though. I need to get back home before Dinky starts asking about the ‘birds and the bees,’” with that she shot you a disappointing look. “Try to be more careful next-time.”

“I’ll try,” you chuckle.

______________________________________________________________

The crisp morning air felt good under your wings, and helped relieve some of the stress brought on by recent events involving Sparkler. Your mind eased, and you tried living in the moment, just flying up in the clouds alone.

You felt a thud of a colt slamming into your flank, “Oh sorry bro.”

Well, almost alone. You and Wingsley flew side by side on your way to drop him off at school.

“Don’t worry about it, you’ll be flyin’ like a pro in no time!” You exclaimed enthusiastically. Wingsley’s newfound love for flying gave you a joyful warm feeling in your chest, it was so nice to see him so happy over something he had sulked over for so many years.

You and Wingsley continued the slow flight toward the school, you had made sure to leave a bit earlier to account for Wingsley’s slow flight speeds, but he hadn’t done as bad as you thought and you arrived at the school with plenty of time left.

“Hey Wingsley, do you think you could stay outside for a minute? I have to talk to Cheerilee about something.”

“Sure, what are ya gonna talk about though? She’s so boring!”

“Just some grown up talk, nothing you need to worry about.”

“Whatever you say.”

You gave Wingsley a smile and turned to go inside the schoolhouse. Hopefully it would be early enough that no other kids would be running around, you had to ask Cheerilee if there was any sort of ‘interesting’ conversations being exchanged between Sparkler and Wingsley. The last thing you wanted was for Sparkler to reveal what had happened ‘that night’ to Wingsley.

Walking through the front door you saw Cheerilee standing behind her desk, her back faced toward you. She looked like she was looking at something on the floor.

“Cheerilee? It’s me. I need to talk to you abo-” Your voice trailed away as Cheerilee turned toward you, an uncomfortable smile painted across her face. You could now see what it was she was looking at. Sparkler was standing next to Cheerilee, and at the sight of you her face suddenly took on a very guilty look, like she was just caught stealing something. Oh crap.

“Oh, uh... Hello there.” Cheerilee managed.

Sparkler looked down in guilt, and you stood at the back of the classroom, mouth agape in horror. Knowing Sparkler, she would have told Cheerilee everything, and Cheerilee clearly put the puzzle together in her head. You had to think fast, think smart.

“Oh hey Cheerilee, how are you?” You asked calmly, putting on your most innocent smile.

“I’m fine, uh, how are you? Sparkler and I were just talking about you actually.”

Sparkler looked even deeper into the floor below her in shame, you would need to talk to her later, but for now you had to clear this situation up with Cheerilee.

“Do you mind if we speak in private, Sparkler? Cheerilee and I need to clear some things up.”

Sparkler raised her head and gave you a silent nod as she began walking towards the door behind you. You could feel the guilt emanating off of the poor filly, and you felt bad. You would need to have a chat with her later.

As Sparkler closed the door behind her you approached Cheerilee. “So,” you began. “What has she told you so far, I imagine it probably wasn’t good from her perspective.”

“Well no it wa-” Cheerilee paused and gave you a strange look, “Did you really jump out of Ditzy’s window?”

You chuckled quietly to yourself, “Yeah I did, but trust me it was the best move at the time. Both of the little ones were coming inside, and Dinky was almost inside the room.”

“Oh,” Cheerilee responded, horrified. “Well, I see now. I guess that was the best thing to do at the time. But you should know that Sparkler is still very...” she struggled for the right word, “...concerned about your relationship.”

“Really? Why?”

“Well, you should understand that it is difficult for a filly of a single mother to accept somepony new into her life as it was only her and her mother before. It’s not her fault, this is a perfectly reasonable response from somepony her age.”

“So,” you continue, “What do you think of our um, ‘situation?’”

“I’m glad you have found a special somepony, but I urge you to keep the full extent of your relationship away from the children. I have known Sparkler for a long time and I consider her a great friend and I have never seen her this stressed before, not to mention you are now in an intimate relationship with the parent of another student in this class. I have seen this happen before and it doesn’t always work out for the young ones.”

“Thanks Cheerilee, I’ll keep that in mind.” You leave the classroom and find Sparkler and Wingsley talking together. Sparkler looks up at you and then immediately down at her hooves. Walking toward them you tell Wingsley, “Go ahead and head inside, have Cheerilee help you with your homework.” As he went inside, you had a talk with Sparkler.

“So, grocery shopping? That was your excuse?” Sparkler asked in a joking sort of way, to try to relieve the tension.

“Well it was better than the truth in this case.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She sighed before continuing, “I’m sorry I told Cheerilee, but I had to talk to somepony.”

“It’s fine, I understand. But what’s wrong? Is it something to do with me?”

“Besides the obvious?” You nodded. “I’m glad Mom’s happy, I really am. And you seem nice, she really likes you. It’s just...” she trailed off. “It’s just I’ve been wrong before.”

“What do you mean?” you ask, disturbed at the statement.

“I... I don’t want to talk about it. I need to go, sorry.” You let her go off, you weren’t going to make her tell you something she wasn’t ready to share yet. It made you sad that your relationship with Sparkler was hurt by the next level of your relationship with Ditzy. But the day wouldn’t stop to let you ponder Sparkler’s trust issues, you had to go to work.

________________________________________________________________

You walk into the weather station, cheerful despite your predicament. “Morning Cloudkicker, how’s your shift?”

Cloudkicker looked shocked to see you, “Well hey there, when did you start coming in on time?”

“I guess I’m just in a good mood, where’s Prevailing?” you asked.

“So what? You anxious to see your colt-crush?”

“Hey there is nothing wrong with a bromance!” you said defensively.

Cloudkicker laughed, “Well enjoy your day ‘cause I’m out.” Turning to you and walking backwards toward the door, she continued, “And please, tell Prevailing that he is not picking me up at nine.”

“Will do,” you called back to her.

Walking through the ornate building you come to the locker rooms. Going row by row you arrive at your locker and are greeted by Prevailing. “Hey how’s it going?” Prevailing said to you as you exchange a small hoofshake.

“Pretty good, although it doesn’t sound like you’re picking up Cloudkicker tonight.”

“Well there goes my plans for the evening,” Prevailing complains. Putting away your saddlebags and grabbing your flight goggles, Prevailing asks, “So what’s new?”

“Well for one, Wingsley learned how to fly.”

“That’s great! I knew the little guy had it in him.” He looked at you, searching for that one thing you were omitting. “Say, there’s something else, isn’t there?”

With a devilish smile you remark, “Yes there is.”

“Well? Spit it out!”

“Hmm, you know, I’m not quite feeling it. Maybe I’ll tell you after work.”

“Oh come on, you can’t do this to me.”

“It’s fun to watch you squirm for once,” you laughed. “Also, why don’t you tell me what’s going on with you? You never tell me anything.”

“Well I knew things probably weren’t going to work out with Cloudkicker, so late last night I met a mare named Carrot Top.”

_________________________________________________________________

The weather was scheduled for sunny with a hoof-full of clouds, a beautiful day. You and Prevailing loved these days. It was an extremely easy day at work and allowed you two to goof off for the rest of the day. You were scolded by Rainbow Dash a few times for this, even though she did the exact same thing. From his cloud next to you, Prevailing sighed, “Wow, this is the most relaxed I’ve been all month. If only every day was like this.”

“Well you better enjoy it,” you responded. “Fall is coming soon and bad weather is coming as well. Rain, wind, clouds, everything. Summer can’t last forever.”

“Speaking of which, your first Winter Wrap-Up is coming up.”

“Winter Wrap-Up?”

“Yeah, we all get together and bring in the new season. It’s hard work, but its all easy flying after that.”

“That’s a lot different than how we did it in Cloudsdale.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet. And after that comes, you’d have been in Ponyville for almost a year, right?”

A year, it’s been that long? How time has flown. So much has happened I never thought would; Wingsley flew and I found love. It’s all so hard to believe.

Prevailing sat up on his cloud to look over at you. “Hey!” he called, interrupting your thoughts. “Are you ever going to tell me what’s up with you?”

“Well maybe if you beat me in a game of bumper clouds.” Bumper clouds was one of your favorite pastimes. It required very few materials: a cloud and a pair of wings. Although in the case of earth ponies and unicorns, additional materials were needed; a cloud-walking spell, a directional propulsion device, and a flare gun. Given the danger of this game without wings made it almost exclusive to pegasi. The rules were simple, you could not leave your cloud while destroying your opponent’s cloud without taking too much damage yourself. Getting into your respective clouds, Prevailing and you separated as you assumed your starting positions.

You faced Prevailing Wind from about thirty meters away in an old Dodge Junction type standoff, but this one was airborne. Your cloud rested gently beneath you, but you kept a firm grasp on it to ensure maximum stability through the air. This wasn’t your first match of bumper clouds, and you certainly weren’t a novice. The same went for Prevailing though, making this a match neither of you would forget for some time.

Your eyes remained locked on Prevailing through the transparent clouds, waiting for him to make the first move. A large grey cloud glided across your vision for just a moment, but it was enough for Prevailing to attack. In the blink of an eye he was approaching steadfast on your right, just visible in your periphery. You were barely able to evade by dipping beneath him, and quickly went into hot pursuit chasing him through the sky. The clouds whipped by in blurs as you flew as quickly as your wings could take you without dismembering the cloud you were rested upon. The wind caused your eyes to water, and your vision began to fog, making it difficult to spot Prevailing Wind, as you couldn’t tell a difference from a cloud and a pony anymore. After a few seconds of chase, you noticed a flicked in the corner of your vision, and before you could react Prevailing came in from up above your right-hoof side and slammed his cloud into yours, causing bits of the soft layer to disintegrate right from under you.

Righting yourself and accepting defeat with a laugh, you have a seat on Prevailing’s cloud, “So there, I won. You feel like telling me what’s going on?”

“Fine,” you laugh. “So a couple of nights ago, Ditzy and I...” you let your voice trail off while giving Prevailing a smirk.

“No,” he replied, drawing out the ‘o.’ “No way, I didn’t think you had it in you,” and give you a friendly punch on the shoulder. He laughed and you laughed with him.

__________________________________________________________________

You quickly changed and rushed to pick up Wingsley, and decided that you would shower when you got home. Descending as the school bell rang and watched as Wingsley burst through the front doors. Hovering about a dozen feet in the air, you waved to him and he waved back. Jumping and flying toward you, he gave you a flying hug. “Hey buddy, how was school?”

“Exhausting! We only did writing and math today! It was sooo boring!”

“Oh come on, writing is easy.”

“For you!”

“Well I hope you aren’t too tired to fly home.”

With a cocky smirk he replied, “Never.”

“So say goodbye to Dinky and then we’ll get home, alright?”

Wingsley nodded and went to find Dinky. While he was busy finding his friend, you were busy finding Ditzy. She wasn’t hard to find, although you felt you could pick her out in a crowd of a hundred ponies. She saw you and called you over. The way you saw her just standing there, so cute, so sexy without even trying. The sun was radiating off of her perfect golden hair, giving her something of a halo. Although you have long thought she looked like an angel, it never ceases to amaze you how this mare affects you in such a way. “Hey cutie.”

“Hey stud-muffin,” she replied, kissing you deeper than you normally do in public. You could smell her intoxicating muffin aroma. You had to stop yourself from blurting out ‘I love you’ on the spot.

“Sorry I can’t stay for very long, I have to get Wingsley home. But I’m going for a short flight later if you want to join me.”

“That sounds great but there’s some stuff I have to do at the post office. Hey, how about you come by for dinner?”

“Alone, or with Wingsley?”

“With Wingsley, we need to clear things up with Sparkler and the foals.”

“Okay, well I got to go lo... l-later,” you squeak out, trying to pass up the accidental slip of the tongue as a cough. Blushing, you quickly find Wingsley and fly home. Stupid, stupid, stupid. How can I be so careless? I’ve got to watch what I say more closely now.

_______________________________________________________________________

After getting home, you took a long shower. While there, you thought and thought about what your relationship meant, how you feel, what Ditzy means to you, what Wingsley means to you, as well as countless other things. Letting your wings expand, you feel the water as it beat on your feathers. Given the sensitivity of pegasus wings, your mind moved from the worries of your daily life to the feeling of water rushing over you. You sighed as the water absorbed the tension in your body. Sweet Celestia, this feels great.

_______________________________________________________________________

Going out for a nice relaxing flight. You came across Prevailing and Carrot Top snickering. When they saw you, they started laughing even harder. This fully peaked your curiosity. Walking over to them, Carrot Top greeted you, grinning, “Hey there Lover-colt.”

No... He didn’t...

“So that explains what I heard a few nights ago,” Carrot Top pondered.

He did... You flashed Prevailing an angry look, to which he responded with a half-assed shrug.

“So spit it out! I want details,” demanded Carrot Top.

“I really don’t think that it would be polite of me to say,” you trail off.

“Oh come on, ‘lover-colt.’ Tell us something,” Prevailing interjected.

“No! I won’t!” You fly away from them, angry. You flew back to your house to cool off and get ready for dinner with Ditzy. Celestia damnit, Prevailing. I thought I could trust you. What the buck do you think you're doing telling Carrot Top. Angry tears were in your eyes. You felt betrayed, your best friend went behind your back and told your secret. True it wouldn't have been a secret for much longer, but it was still taking advantage of your trust. You would probably forgive him later once you had calmed down slightly, but now you needed to be alone. Hopefully the dinner with Ditzy would help you cool down.

___________________________________________________________________

Knocking on the door, you are greeted by Ditzy and are welcomed into the house. You greet each other as you prepare for dinner. As you all sit down, Ditzy brings over dinner and sets it down. Giving your compliments to the chef, you help serve everyone as they get their fair share of dinner. But you knew that this wasn’t a normal dinner. This was a way to transition into telling the kids what has changed and what will change.

Sitting around the table, Ditzy moves to speak. You know what she’s going to say but you have no idea how it will affect Sparkler, Dinky, and Wingsley. She puts both front hooves on the table and you extend one of yours to hold her hoof in yours while she gives the speech. You are just as nervous as she is and you start to breath heavily. Looking out at the table you see the expressions on everypony’s face, Wingsley’s and Dinky’s were in a state of perplexity while Sparkler was visibly grinding her teeth behind her lips.

“So everypony,” she pauses and takes a breath, “As you know, we have been going out for a few months now. And we have both decided that we are going to take our relationship to the next level, we will be seeing more of each other on a regular occasion. Sparkler, Dinky,” she addressed her fillies by name, “They are going to be sleeping over here with us more and more, and we will too be sleeping over at their house as well. Nothing will change other than the fact that we are adding two more ponies to our family.”

“Really?” Dinky exclaimed. “Wingsley did you hear that? You’re gonna be here a lot more! Isn’t that awesome?” Turning to you, Dinky said, “It’s going to be great having you around. Isn’t that right Sparkler?” She turned to her sister and waited for a response.

Sparkler just sat there, motionless and staring at you. Suddenly she just stood up in a fury, knocking over her chair. “So you screw my mom and so you feel like you can waltz right in and join our family?" she screamed at you, voice breaking a little as tears welled up in her eyes. "Is that right? Well I think you can go buck yourself!”

Ditzy, upon hearing that language tried to interject, “Sparkler! What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m saying what everypony thinks! He just came into our lives and now you want us to accept him?" she spat. Her face was contorted in anger, making her slightly terrifying given her usual positive nature. "Dinky wasn’t even old enough to understand the last time this happened, and it’s my job to protect her from this!” With tears in her eyes she concluded, “GAH! Why do you always do this Mom?” After her tirade, she stormed off, locking herself in her room.

Ditzy was pale, her face held a mix of shock and anguish. “I- I should probably talk to her,” she concluded.

“No,” you stopped her, “She has a problem with me, I have to be the one to sort this out.”

“She just threw a tantrum, what makes you think she’s going to talk to you?”

“I don’t know, but it’s going to need to get done sooner or later.” With that, you briskly walked to the Sparkler’s room where you hoped to be granted an audience. Knocking at the door you ask, “Sparker? Are you in there?”

Recoiling slightly as Sparkler threw something heavy at the door, you heard her scream, “Go away! I don’t want to talk to you!”

“Sparkler, we’re going to need to do this sometime. Please, tell me what’s wrong.”

You heard her growl from your side of the locked door. “You don’t get it, you’re just like every other stallion out there. You come into my mom’s life, you make her happy, and you make me happy seeing her happy. Just like the time on your first date, Mom was so excited and you seemed like a nice enough stallion, so I was fine with picking up some of the slack in the house. But I never should have let my guard down, not again.”

“What do you mean?” you asked, not sure which part you were confused with the most.

“You aren’t the first stallion that had interest in my mom, and I’m not talking about Dinky’s dad. It’s the same cycle that happens, they act all nice and lovey-dovey and sweet and they gain my mom’s trust. And then...” she trailed off. “And then they break her heart. They see her as wall-eyed mare, vulnerable and disposable. Do you know what happens after they break her heart?”

“No, what?” you asked, audibly distressed.

“I’m stuck picking up the pieces. After the last one it took years for her to recover. Then you came along. Tell me why should I should trust you? Why are you different?”

“Because,” you begin, “I love your mother.” Did you just say that? What the buck? I thought we were trying to keep that under wraps? But the words kept coming. Sparkler sat behind the door quietly, you could hear her breathing softly. She was waiting for what you were about to say. “After we huddled together under the stars, just talking and being with each other, I felt something. I didn’t understand it, when I came to the conclusion it was love I was scared. I was terrified. I had no idea if it really was love or not. But a couple of nights ago, I realized my true feelings were. I felt so happy. I felt that the world was finally going my way, for the first time in my entire life, I’m finally happy. It’s all just building up inside of me, I feel like I’m going to burst. Now, all I’m worried about is that she doesn’t love me back.” You stand up to leave, but before you depart you leave Sparkler with one last sentence, “I’m not going anywhere, Sparkler.”

Walking down the stairs you find Ditzy sitting alone, looking out the window. As you sit down next to Ditzy, both thinking about how your relationship affects Sparkler and the kids, you hear the start of the song you shared your first kiss to on the radio. To lighten the mood a little you wait until the first chorus before you say to Ditzy, slightly going along with the harmony, “Can't you feel that love is in the air?”

Ditzy picked up on this, chuckled a little and replied, “Can’t you see they’re dancing everywhere?”

Touching your chest you continue, “Now I know why my heart is blue.”

Snuggling against you, she concluded, “I feel fine, fine, fine for you.”

Lifting her head up, softly you whisper to her, “I really do feel ‘fine, fine, fine’ for you.” Before kissing her lightly on the lips in the receding warmth of the setting sun. Just so that she knew, whatever happened next, you would be there to face it with her.

__________________________________________________________________

When you got back home you saw a letter in your mailbox. Picking it up you see it is from your dad. Putting aside the urge to throw it out, you open it up carefully.

Dear son,
I’m sorry I haven’t written in a while and I know that the last letter I sent you was terrible. I am so sorry. I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you two at all. I’m sorry for all the trouble I gave to you. I’m sorry for not being a dad. I know you might hate me and never want to hear from me again, if you do I don’t hold it against you. But if you could find it in your heart to forgive me one more time, I would be greatful. Please, tell me how Wingsley and you are doing, I want to hear it all. I want to know that my two colts are doing better than I ever dreamed. Just going out there and caring for your little brother, you are a greater stallion than I. I’m so proud of you, I really am. I cannot leave Cloudsdale, there are certain barriers in my way that prevent me from coming to live with you. If I could, I would move down there in a second, believe me. I love you both so much.

Please write back,
Dad

A small smile escapes your lips as you pick up your pen and begin to write.

Dear Dad,
I got your letter, and I think I have it in me to forgive you one more time. You would not believe the days I’ve been having...

Chapter 11: Nightmare Night

“Hmm,” you sigh, shifting around in the bed. As you try to move, you feel a familiar presence next to you. You open your eyes up to see Ditzy laying there next to you, arms wrapped around you and sporting an interesting case of bedmane; the perfect way to start your day. Smiling a little, you reach out and kiss her on the forehead and she responded with a little moan of contentment as she snuggled back up next to you. You turn around and take a peek at the time on the alarm clock. Ten o’clock, it’s gettin’ late, you think to yourself. Eh, who cares?

Turning back towards Ditzy, you wrap your arm around her and pull her in tighter. You take a deep breath of contentment, trying to relax with your lover right next to you, attempting to get a few more minutes of sleep in before you are forcibly woken up by outside factors. Closing your eyes, you picture a serene beach, trying to get caught up in the view inside your mind and let your consciousness lull itself back into blissful slumber. But as you try to do this, other nagging thoughts foil your zen-like state, dragging your mind up closer to the surface with each passing second. As the nagging brought about anxiety, you determine that going back to sleep is useless. The time had come to start your day. Buck you too, brain, you thought with malice.

Moving a little, you gently gave Ditzy another kiss, so as to not to wake her. “Good morning Cutie,” you whisper to her. Using flexibility you never knew you had, you move yourself with painstaking slowness out from beside Ditzy. Now that you were outside her arms, the second part of the challenge began: how to get off the bed without Ditzy noticing the shift in weight. Taking one hoof off the bed, you carefully set it down on the ground. As you slide yourself further toward the edge, you shift more weight onto the floor. Hearing a sigh, you whip your head around to see if you had woken Ditzy. But as soon as she appeared to rise, she fell again, arms searching unconsciously for you. Now in the final steps, you inch off the bed, letting up the weight in a slow manner. After a while, you manage to get yourself all the way off the bed. Tiphoofing out the door, you cast one last look at Ditzy and give a little smile as the light shining through the windows seems to capture a moment of peaceful joy and happiness. This really is the perfect way to start any day.

You head downstairs to make yourself a slight breakfast before conquering the day. Feeling good about yourself, you march into the kitchen and open the pantry. Muffins, more muffins, a pear, assorted vegetables, yet more muffins, and some grapes. You sigh. The mare sure loves her muffins, too bad nothing looks tasty in the morning.

“Helping yourself to our food?” a voice asked.

“Hmm? Oh, morning Sparkler. Didn’t hear you walk in.”

“Yeah, I’m good like that. Happy Nightmare Night by the way.”

Arghh, that’s it! That’s what I was forgetting! you scold yourself. You knew something was nagging on your mind. “Wow,” you say softly, rubbing your eyes. “I forgot all about that. But Happy Nightmare Night to you, too.”

“Thanks.” Suddenly, she had the look of a pony that just remembered something important. “Oh, by the way, this letter came for you yesterday. Sorry I forgot.”

You took a look at the letter and saw it was from your father. You turn to Sparkler. “It’s fine, thanks anyway,” you tell her. You open it up, set it on the table and read over it quickly.

Dear Son,

I got your letter, you have no idea how much it means to hear from my colts again. Thank you again for forgiving me. Some ponies say it is easier for ask for forgiveness than ask for permission, but when you have been begging for forgiveness as long as I have, it becomes unbearable. I never told you that I was going away. I never told you that you would have to raise yourselves. I never told you I would abandon you. I want you to know that I regret every minute of it, but I’m too far gone for it to make any difference now.

I hope this letter reaches you by Nightmare Night, it was always my favorite holiday and I recall it was yours as well. Believe me, I still have the pictures of you wearing all your costumes. You might not like to be reminded of them, but I thought you looked adorable in them. Make sure you have fun on Nightmare Night, especially with that mare-friend of yours. From what you’ve told me, she sounds great.

Sincerely,
Dad

P.S. Make sure Wingsley doesn’t eat too much candy.

After finishing the letter, Sparkler spoke up. “Hey, um, sorry about that whole deal of me freaking out at you. I know it was some time ago, and I’d like to say that I guess I was wrong thinking of you like that.”

“Sparkler, it’s fine. It’s in the past,” you reassure her.

“Yeah, well...” She shrugged. “Did you know Wingsley snores?” You and Wingsley had both spent the night at Ditzy’s house. It was an occasional thing that happened from time to time. Dinky and Wingsley wanted to sleep in the same room as Sparker last night, much to the dismay of Sparkler it seems.

“I’ve lived in a house with him all my life, so yeah, I know. I think he gets it from my dad. He’s surprisingly loud for a little guy.”

“No kidding,” Sparkler laughed.

“Yeah, I think he might be part dragon,” you continue, also laughing. Sparkler shared in this laugh as well. It was good that she was opening up to you, given her mistrust for you a month prior. She may not feel the same way she did before, but she can’t trust you completely because of her ingrained personality traits caused from years of betrayal.

“So do you really love my mom?” Sparkler asked in hushed tones, looking around like she didn’t want to get caught uttering those words.

“Of course I-” You get cut off when you hear hoofsteps coming down the stairs, causing your heart to jump into your throat and your breathing to escalate. You feel like you aged a few years in that moment.

“Ya~awn!” Ditzy came slowly down the stairs, sleep around her eyes. “Morning everypony, did I miss anything?”

“No, mom,” Sparkler answered. “Sleep well?” Ditzy gave her a kiss on the forehead and responded with an affirmative grunt. Walking over to you, Ditzy looked at you carefully.

“You alright? You look like you had a panic attack,” she asked you in a kind-hearted voice. Behind her, Sparkler rolled her eyes and suppressed a laugh.

“I’m fine,” you laugh, trying to clear the tension. “By the way, Happy Nightmare Night!”

“Thank you,” she said sweetly, giving you a kiss on the cheek. “Are Dinky and Wingsley up?”

“No,” Sparkler answered. “They’re still out cold.”

Ditzy sighed. “I’ll go wake them. You two play nice, alright?” She gave a smile back towards both of you.

“Fine, mom,” Sparkler said in mock sarcasm, giving you a smile.

Upon realizing it was Nightmare Night, Dinky and Wingsley rushed downstairs as if doing so would make the fun of Nightmare Night come sooner. Reaching the bottom of the staircase, they raced around, excited as can be. Wingsley rushed over to you and gave you a quick hug, while Dinky went and gave a hug to her bigger sister. “Sleep well, Wingsley?” you ask your brother.

“Yeah! We got our sleeping bags and went into Sparkler’s room, it was great!”

“I’m pretty sure I could hear you across the house because of how loud you snore. I can only imagine how it was for her.”

“Hey!” Wingsely interjected. “I do not snore!”

“Sure you don’t,” you laugh. “But I take it you kids are ready for Nightmare Night, right?”

“Yeah!” they shouted in unison. “Can we put on our costumes?”

“No, not yet,” you answer. “Once it’s time for trick-or-treating you can.”

“Alright,” said Wingsley, downtrodden.

From behind you, you hear a knock on the door. Still being early, you weren’t sure who it could be. Turning, you trot to the door and answer it. Standing outside was Prevailing Wind, who looked at your disheveled appearance and asked simply with a playful smile, “Rough night?” Taking a look around to make sure none of the kids heard him, you give him a scowl and motion for him to come in.

“Hey, nothing happened! The kids were home,” you say defensively. Prevailing Wind became friends with Ditzy after you came around. Since then, as a group, yourself, Ditzy, Prevailing, and Carrot Top started to hang out more. And Ditzy invited both Carrot Top and Prevailing to her house for Nightmare Night. It was nice that your girlfriend, your best friend, and her best friend could all be one big group of friends.

“Hey big guy, how are you doin’?” Prevailing asked Wingsley. In the past few months, Prevailing had been dropping by your house to hang out more often, and over time, Wingsley started to like Prevailing. Even though you wished Prevailing didn’t tell so many adult jokes to him.

“Hey Prevailing!” Wingsley exclaimed. “Are you going with us tonight for trick-or-treating?”

“You know it,” Prevailing answered, giving him a little rub on the head.

“Hi, Prevailing!” Dinky also said, rushing over.

“Hey, Dinky,” he laughed, finding it amusing how both the foals were all over him. “Have you two been having fun?”

“Only the best time ever!” Wingsley answered enthusiastically.

“That’s good to hear,” Prevailing said. As the kids go off to play by themselves, some game that only they knew the rules to, you trot over to Prevailing.

“I had no idea you were good with kids,” you tell him.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” Prevailing said with a grin as you both trotted over to the table to have a seat.

“Yeah, and a lot of stuff that I wish I didn’t know,” you respond with a laugh.

“Hey, I only told you about that night in Canterlot ‘cause I needed to get it off my chest,” he stated defensively.

Knowing some of Prevailing’s, dare say, intimate secrets gave you leverage over him at times, by always reminding him about those careless moments. Since times like this didn’t come around very often, and as his best friend you were going to make sure to give him hell.

“Yeah, so apparently that was some party, lots of nice mares around, right? Little bit to drink, it seems. So how did you, with your cunning eye for detail, not realize the ‘big surprise’ that ‘mare’ had for you?” Your mouth creeps into a dastardly grin, knowing that you could drive this knife in and twist it.

“It’s not like I go and check for myself.” He turned his head to the side, blushing.

“Not to mention that you didn’t realize it until the morning after,” you let your voice trail off, allowing the power of your words to take effect.

“I had a little bit to drink that night. It could have happened to anypony.”

“Sure it could,” you whisper to him with a slight chuckle. “I imagine that was an awkward wake-up call. How fast did you run out the door?”

“I jumped out the window,” he corrected you flatly. “You are never going to let me forget this, are you?”

“Not on your life.” You burst out laughing. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Ditzy walk around the corner from the hallway, smiling seeing both of you there.

“Hiya, Prevailing!” Ditzy said enthusiastically. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Yeah, I just came in few minutes ago. You have no idea how happy I am to see you, saving me from your demon of a boyfriend.” Giving a gesture your way, you put your hoof dramatically to your heart as if you were wounded.

Ditzy stared at you, giving you a mock unapproving look. “Play nice now,” she told you and you couldn’t help but smile. Prevailing rolled his eyes. Ditzy continued and turned her attention to Prevailing. “So what’s new?”

“Well, just keeping this guy in line at work,” he said as he gestured towards you. “Other than that, I can’t say anything is new. Oh, is Carrot Top coming today?” This prompts an eyebrow raise from Ditzy.

“Yes she will be, why?”

“No reason,” Prevailing tried to say with a straight face. You give Ditzy a knowledgeable look and she responded in turn with one of her own. As much as Prevailing tried to cover up his intentions, you could see right through him.

Closer to nightfall, you motion to Prevailing to help you bring in the pumpkins you had stored for Nightmare Night for carving. After a few trips back and forth, the pumpkins are set up on the table ready to be distributed and carved.

“Alright everypony!” you exclaim, “Come and get your hooves on one of these pumpkins. Hurry before Prevailing and I steal all of them!”

You hear little hooves rushing toward you from the next room, and within moments Wingsley and Dinky stumble in through the doorway and fall on the floor in front of the pumpkins.

“Alright!” Wingsley proclaimed, pointing towards the largest pumpkin “This one’s mine, I call dibs!”

“Awww,” Dinky cried, “I wanted that one.”

“Oh,” Wingsley said. “Well, you could have it if you want. I’d rather you have it anyway, I don’t need a pumpkin this big anyway.”

“Really?” Dinky gasped. “Oh my gosh Wingsley, you’re so nice!” At that, Dinky grabbed Wingsley and gave him a huge hug.

Wingsley’s cheeks went bright red when Dinky grasped him in her arms. “Oh, uh...” he started. “Don’t mention it Dinky, you deserve it.”

You can’t help but allow yourself to smile widely, these two are so adorable. It makes your heart warm to know that your brother and Ditzy’s little filly get along so well together.

Just as Dinky and Wingsley began to settle down with their pumpkins, Ditzy walked in with Sparkler close behind.

“Okay then, it looks like everypony is here. Let’s start carving.”

Prevailing walked up next to Wingsley with a carving tool. “Hey Wingsley, let’s see what we can do with this pumpkin of yours.”

“Cool! I want it to look like a scary pony, with a tooth missing! And an eye patch! No, wait. I want it to have big spooky eyes! Erm, I don’t know, what do you think is spookier Prevailing?”

“Haha, well an eye patch sure is scary. Maybe we can give it a mean lookin’ smile, that’ll scare anypony!”

“Okay! That sounds great, now how do I use this thingy?”

Prevailing began helping Wingsley carve his pumpkin as you took a seat beside Dinky and Sparkler to help them with theirs. Ditzy stood right above you to help her little fillies enjoy their pumpkin carving to the fullest.

“So you two, what do you want on your pumpkins?” you ask, “Something spooky? Or maybe a silly face? What do ya say?”

“I wanna make one like Wingsley! His is super scary,” Dinky exclaimed, pointing a hoof toward Prevailing and Wingsley, who had already somehow created one of the most terrifying jack-o-lanterns you had ever seen. The eyes stared angrily at you, almost as if the carved pumpkin could look into your soul and bring out all your fears. The mouth featured a pointy-toothed grin, and they had somehow used the inside of the pumpkin in a way to make it look like the jack-o-lantern was consuming something orange and disgusting.

“Uhh,” you started, “are you sure you wouldn’t rather carve out a flower? Or maybe a star?”

“No!” Dinky shouted, “I want something really scary, can you help me mommy?”

“Of course my little muffin, we’ll make an even scarier jack-o-lantern than Wingsley by a long shot.”

Ditzy moved in close next to Dinky with another carving tool, a determined look on her face. So, it’s a contest then eh? Alright, I’ll play. You think to yourself.

“Okay Sparkler, do you want a scary face too? I bet we can make an even better one than everypony else in here.”

“Umm, no,” she stated flatly.

“Oh, okay then. What would you like?”

Sparkler leaned in close to your ear to whisper something that nopony else in the room could hear.

“Really?” you ask. “Are you sure we can do something like that?”

Sparkler simply nods her head yes, grabed the carving tool from your hoof, and began working on the pumpkin to create her masterpiece. All you can do is watch intently as she worked her will on the orange surface, gently cutting her way through layers of the pumpkin to create the illusion of shadows on the image. She worked intently on her own as you watch in awe; she has the gentle touch of a filly, but the creativity of any old pony philosopher. After a few minutes of hard work, she finally backs away from the pumpkin, a satisfied grin on her face.

“There,” she said, “that’s it.”

“Sparkler...”

Words could not describe the creation Sparkler had put onto the surface of the pumpkin. In short, she had created a beautifully detailed half-moon that faded into the darkness of the other half. On one side, an asteroid was crashing into the moon, and bits of rock were strewn about in the space she had created. If that weren’t enough, she had carved in little stars all around the pumpkin’s surface, all at varying depths in the skin so that when a candle was lit and put inside, rays of light shone through at different levels all around the jack-o-lantern.

At this point, every pony in the room was staring in awe at Sparkler’s creation.

“Um, did I do something wrong?” Sparkler asked. “Was it supposed to be scary? I’m sorry, I can restart.”

“NO!!” everypony in the room shouted in unison.

“Sparkler,” Ditzy started, “this is amazing. It’s a piece of art.”

Sparkler’s cheeks turned a bright red at the compliment. “Well thanks mommy, I just tried my hardest. But I think you and Dinky did a good job too, and Wingsley’s is super scary as well.”

Suddenly there came a knock on the door, and a voice from beyond it shouting, “Hey, open up! The party is here!”

Carrot Top, fantastic... you think sarcastically, but manage to keep your emotions to yourself. Carrot Top might be Ditzy’s best friend, but one can only take so many snide remarks before they get fed up. “Evening Carrot Top,” you say politely.

“Evening Carrot Top, glad you could make it,” Ditzy said sincerely as she went over and gave her friend a tight hug.

“Evening Ditzy,” she replies. As the hug ended, she turns her attention towards you. “Morning ‘Stud-Muffin,’ she greets you, mocking the pet-name Ditzy had for you. Ditzy gave her a disapproving glare. “Have a restful night?” she asked with a glimmer of mischievousness.

“Hey!” you both say simultaneously. “Nothing happened last night!”

“Aww, that’s too bad,” she said. mock pouting. “Is something going on between you two?”

“No,” you state defensively, “For the last time, the kids were home.”

“I don’t see why that’s a big deal. Didn’t Sparkler walk in on you two the first time?”

“Carrot Top, please,” Ditzy pleaded with her, trying to get her to quiet down. “Do you want the kids to hear you?”

“Fine, fine. It’s just fun messing with you two.”

“I’ve noticed,” you say flatly. The night was approaching and it would only be a matter of time before Wingsley and Dinky would be clamoring around you, trying to get you to begin trick-or-treating. In order to avoid that sudden outburst of energy, you decide that it would be smart to get preparations underway. “Hey guys, do you think we should get our costumes on? I think the kids are gettin’ antsy.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Ditzy agrees. “I have your costume upstairs; we should leave these two lovebirds alone for a while.” You give a wink back to Prevailing.

“I still can’t believe you talked me into wearing this,” you complain.

“I thought we went over this. All I have to do is just give you this look,” she proceeded to demonstrate by giving a tiny pout and stared back up and to the right of you with her big eyes, watering slightly. She continued, “And after that, you just fall to pieces.”

“So true,” you sigh. “But why a duffle bag?”

“Because I’m going as paper bags. And I needed somepony who’s willing to have a matching costume.”

“So in essence, you needed somepony like me?”

“Yep. But don’t worry, you pull off the look,” she commented with a little giggle.

“Well, not as well as you do, you look downright adorable.”

She gazed at herself in the mirror and agreed, “Yeah, I really do.” While she was looking away, you take the opportunity to grab her in an embrace and throw her down on the bed behind her. Taken her by surprise, Ditzy let out an ‘Eep!’ and a giggle as you both landed on the bed. Laughing like a couple of school foals, you take turns kissing each other delicately. As you kiss her on her neck, Ditzy whispers to you, “We can’t do this now, you know we can’t.”

You whisper back, “I know, that won’t stop me from doing this.” You wrap your arms around her and bring her in for a deep, passionate kiss. Closing your eyes, you hold her and let the kiss connect you and her together as one. Rubbing her soft cheek, the kiss continues on and on as you try to express how you truly feel about her through this physical interaction; all of the passion, all the love you feel for her, broken down into a few short minutes. “You know,” she said, smiling in between kisses, “I never thought I would be seduced by a stallion wearing a duffle bag.”

“What can I tell you?” You kiss her again. “I’m not your average pony.”

“No, you really aren’t.” She smiles back up at you. “You’re something better.” Kissing you again, you take the compliment to heart. She continues, “When you learned that I had two daughters, most ponies would have run and never looked back. Yet you stayed, why?”

“Because I care about you, and your daughters mean the world to you, therefore they mean the world to me as well. Your children were a part of who you were. I saw how happy you and Dinky were together, and that made me...” you stop yourself from going any further with your sentence.

“That made you...?” She made a motion with her hoof for you to finish your sentence, almost as if she was fishing for a certain response. You aren’t ready to tell her how you feel, how you actually feel about her. The blind, hopeless, head-over-hooves, heart-stopping love you have for her that grows with each passing day. To try to get her mind off of that, you roll on top of her and give her the biggest kiss of the early evening. Finishing the kiss soon enough to leave her wanting more, you bring your head up and she tries to follow you, extending the kiss. But before long the contact breaks and you stare at each other. Pity that the moment had to end.

“We should get going before Carrot Top gets any ideas,” you sigh, audibly sad that you both have to get up.

“I suppose you are right,” Ditzy sighed.

You walk downstairs with Ditzy, making a few small adjustments to your costume. Still on the stairs, you spy Prevailing shamelessly flirting with Carrot Top. You see that they had put on their costumes; Prevailing was wearing a full body medieval knight outfit; and Carrot Top was in a distracting devil outfit, although you couldn’t say that the choice didn’t suit her. Ditzy was following behind you in an outfit of paper bags in conjunction with your duffle bag. Dinky was wearing a cute firefighter outfit and Wingsley was shuffling around in a griffon costume way too big for him.

“Come on kids, ready to go out for Nightmare Night?” you call behind you, causing Wingsley and Dinky to perk their heads up. Seeing their eyes go wide, they run up to you.

“Do you have your candy bags?” Ditzy asked, making sure that they didn’t forget anything.

“Yep,” Dinky answered. “Come on let’s go!”

“Hey Mom, you know I’m going out with my friends tonight, right?” Sparkler asked.

“I remember, give me a kiss and I’ll let you go.”

“Thanks Mom.” Sparkler rushed over to her mother, gave her a kiss on the cheek and ran off.

“Have fun and be safe!” Ditzy called out to her daughter. Turning back to Dinky and Wingsley she asked, “Alright kids, you lead the way. Where do you want to go first?” Both Wingsley and Dinky ran into the night ahead of you, waving you along to follow. Giving a nod to the group, as one you all march towards them. You walk alongside Ditzy, the two of you staring into each others’ eyes as you both enjoy the bracingly cool air. Busy enjoying the thrill of Nightmare Night, you are thankful she doesn’t notice the sneers and cruel-spirited laughs she gets as she walks along.

How many of them are there? Have they always been doing that? you wonder as you continue to walk, disturbed. This is the first you have seen of ponies that were intentionally cruel to Ditzy since that eventful day in the post office. You try to turn your attention away from them to hopefully not make Ditzy aware of the ponies around her. Yet even as you try to pull away, your thoughts keep going back to them and how they were laughing at Ditzy for no reason. How they look down upon her, feel superior to her for no reason. You can tell how they judge her without truly knowing her, like she was one big joke. They had a false image of her, ‘the dumb mare Derpy Hooves.’ The mere thought of how they saw of her is intolerable.

“Hey there,” Ditzy said, bringing you back to reality. “You alright? You zoned out there for a second.” She turned her head to look over at you, generally concerned.

Turning to her, you give her a big smile. “I’m fine knowing you’re here.” With that, you give her a delicate kiss on the lips. Let them look, you smile to yourself. If only they knew how jealous they should be right now.

The first few houses you went to were generally nice, the ponies inside commented on the children’s costumes and gave a sufficient amount of candy to each. “Thank you,” they both said in unison, smiling up at the ponies with their adorable childlike smiles.

“You’re welcome,” they said. “Enjoy your Nightmare Night.”

Walking to the next few houses, you turn to Wingsley and ask, “So, few houses done, how much candy do you have?” He opens his bag to reveal it is about a quarter filled. “Wow, that’s a lot for how long we’ve been out here. You’re gonna have a lot of loot by the end of the night. Do you think you’re gonna need another bag?” you ask him.

“Already got another right here,” Wingsley commented, gesturing with his head to another bag he had in his possession. “I’m ready for anything!”

“Atta’ boy,” you respond with a chuckle. “Now get up there and see what else you can get.” You point to the house directly ahead of you. Wingsley and Dinky both run up to the door and knock, while you stand behind them some distance away next to Ditzy. She smiles up at you and rests her head on your neck while you both watch your foals enjoy their first Nightmare Night together. Amidst the overall chaos of the night, these moments had a peace to them. Children bubbling with energy, waiting after they rung the doorbell to get their treats for the night.

The door opened and there stood a mare at the door frame. “Nightmare Night. What a fright, give us something sweet to bite!” Wingsley and Dinky shouted. The mare looked at the kids and then up to you. Staring at you for a few seconds, her eyes squinted into a scowl and just as she opened the door, she slammed it shut. Wingsley and Dinky looked at each other in shock, completely stunned at what just happened. You knew what had happened all too well; it was unfortunate that Wingsley would be subjected to it as well. Being in her presence, you feel Ditzy shift her hooves. A shiver goes through your body. “Um, big bro? What happened?” Wingsley asked uncertainly.

“Don’t worry about it, probably somepony who is just angry on Nightmare Night,” you lie through your teeth. “Let’s head on to the next few houses.”

Prevailing and Carrot Top both tried to comfort Ditzy in their own ways. You gave them credit for being supportive, yet it didn’t really seem to help her. That one incident was not the only incident that night, just one of the more subtle ones. As you walk along, a pony from alongside comments, “Hey featherbrain, did you misplace your costume with your lunch?” Trying to not devolve into physical violence like last time, you attempt to ignore him and silently comfort Ditzy. Carrot Top, on the other hoof, is vocal in her rebuttal.

“Hey buddy! How about you come back here and say that again and I’ll beat your flank six ways to Tuesday!” The stallion didn’t respond, and after awhile, you all continue on.

“Ditzy, you okay?” you ask her quietly. She only shakes her head. It was going to be a rough night.

Walking from house to house wasn’t doing anything to help the general mood of the evening, even to the kids. Thankfully, Prevailing spoke up. “Hey you know what guys, let’s head to the festivities, little bit of apple bobbing, dancing,” he bent down to whisper to Wingsley and Dinky, “and most likely a lot of candy.”

“I’m in,” Wingsley said flatly. “That sounds good to me.”

“I like the sound of that,” Carrot Top added.

“What do you say, Ditzy? Sound good?”

She nodded and wiped her eye, “Yeah, I’d like that.”

“I guess that settles that,” Prevailing victoriously stated. “Come on everypony, let’s go!” You follow Prevailing into the center of the town, keeping your gaze and attention forward and on Ditzy. “Now come on guys, we’ve got to have a little fun tonight, it’s Nightmare Night!”

“Yeah,” Carrot Top agreed. “We can go apple bobbing, I know how much you love doing that.” Carrot Top stood next to Ditzy in her quest to make her feel better. While it was true that Carrot Top really got under your skin, it was an undoubtable fact that she was a good friend.

You met Twilight Sparkle close to the heart of the festival. Stopping, you exchange pleasantries with her. “Hey Twilight, happy Nightmare Night.”

“Happy Nightmare Night to you as well. I hope you two are enjoying your night,” she commented kindly, not knowing what happened previously.

“It’s been,” you pause, “interesting.” You believe Twilight can see the slight hurt in your faces because directly after she gave you a sad-looking smile.

“Well I hope you two have fun,” she sighed.

“We will,” Ditzy responded. Twilight waved goodbye to both of you and ran off into the crowd.

You all keep walking into town square and there were festivities galore. Everywhere you looked, there was a different activity to do. Bobbing for apples, dancing, arcade games and so on. While there, you spot Pinkie Pie, who was dressed up in a ridiculous chicken costume and taking the role quite seriously. Pinkie with enough candy to kill a mortal pony, this can only end well, you chuckle to yourself. “Hey Pinkie, how’s it going?”

“It’s just going SUPER!” she exclaimed in her usual happy voice. “I’m leading these little fillies and colts on a quest to get as much candy as we possibly can.”

“Isn’t it a little dangerous to have a bunch of kids running around eating way too much candy?” you ask her.

“Of course not, silly,” she laughed a little at your statement. “There’s no such thing as too much candy.”

Upon hearing this, Dinky and Wingsley both jumped onto the ‘Pinkie Bandwagon.’ “Hey big brother?” Wingsley asked. “Do you think we could go with Pinkie? Ya’ know, to get a little bit more candy.” That was an understatement. “I mean, Dinky and I will be together and we’ll be right here in town so we’ll be safe.”

You look at Ditzy, who responds with a smile that reflected a light-hearted happiness she hadn’t been showing so far that night. You turn back toward them. “I guess it’s alright with me if it’s alright with Pinkie, just don’t eat too much candy,” you warn.

“It’s fine with me,” Pinkie spoke up.

“And don’t worry, we won’t!” they called as they ran with Pinkie.

As you and Ditzy watched them run off into the distance, Ditzy tapped you on the shoulder and spoke up. “You know that they’re gonna eat a lot of candy, right?”

“Oh without a doubt,” you respond.

“Hey Ditzy,” Prevailing interrupted. “Mind if I steal your boyfriend away for a little while?”

“Go ahead,” Ditzy said with a chuckle. “It’s fine, you can go and hang out. I’ll stay here with Carrot Top.”

“Thanks. Don’t worry we’ll be back-” Prevailing was cut off by a sudden crack of thunder. The wind picked up and the sky darkened. Out of nowhere, a single carriage shot out of the sky. At the sight of it, you were struck by a sudden fear. From the ground, you can’t make out who it is, but you know it is powerful.

‘It’ was wearing a brown cloak to conceal its face. Turning your gaze, you see who was pulling the carriage: a pair of dark grey stallions, each with piercing orange eyes that were comparable to dragon eyes. They were pegasi; well, they looked like pegasi, sort of. Their wings were not normal wings. Rather, they had bat-like wings, frail-looking, yet terrifying. The pony in the carriage turned its head, throwing the hood of its cowl down. Underneath, you can now see that it is Princess Luna. You are stunned, what was a princess doing here? Your legs lock beneath you as you see her cloak transform into a cloud of bats and fly away. Right next to you, Prevailing put a hoof on your shoulder and put weight on it, forcing you to the ground. You look at him questioningly, but with his eyes he communicates that you should bow in respect. Realizing how clueless you are, you drop to the ground, partly in fear, partly because royalty is in front of you.

The lunar princess spoke in a voice that rattled your brain and eardrums, “Citizens of Ponyville! We have graced your tiny village with our presence, so that you might behold the real princess of the night! A creature of nightmares no longer, but instead a pony who desires your love and admiration! Together, we shall change this dreadful celebration into a bright and glorious feast!”

My ears! Are they bleeding? Am I deaf? Thoughts race around in your brain as you try to recover from the booming voice of the princess. The ringing in your ears quiets down, allowing you to hear what Pinkie said next.

“Did you hear that, everypony? Nightmare Moon says she's gonna feast on us all!”

Dammit Pinkie, do you want to start a riot? On cue, ponies all around screamed and ran in fear. Panic ran rampant. Hmph, I guess she does. You think that you hear the princess say something else, but can’t really make it out since you are still somewhat recovering. Looking to Prevailing, you see that he is in a similar state. The crippling sonic attack appears to have left most ponies close to you debilitated. There was a fifty percent chance that Prevailing could hear you if you tried to converse with him; maybe that helmet of his protected him a little. As it turned out, he could hear, at least enough to communicate.

“HEY LET’S GET OUT OF HERE!” he shouted.

“SURE!” you respond. “WHERE’S DITZY?”

“SHE’S SAFE OVER THERE!” he pointed. Sure enough she was safe, and with the princess leaving, you were sure the situation would calm down.

You and Prevailing make your way away from the main festivities and decide to walk along the roads, enjoying the decorations. “HEY PREVAILING, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE DEAL IS WITH THE PRINCESS?”

Cringing slightly, Prevailing said in an even tone, “I think that the princess isn’t that good on making entrances, and I also think that my hearing has finally cleared, how about you? That is, unless you want another chance to hurt my ears.”

“Whoops,” you say.

“But anyway, come on, let’s just relax and hang out. It’s Nightmare Night, we’re supposed to do this.”

“But you do this every night,” you comment.

“Details, details,” he responded.

You walk with Prevailing around the town for a while. According to him, you need to loosen up a little; and according to you, he needs to stop leering at anything that moved. The two of you exchange lighthearted blows to each other and your egos. It was a good time, a time for you two to just relax.

“Hey, I know you!” Some stallion stops you.

“What do you mean? I don’t-” you stop short. You did know him, somewhat, unfortunately.

“Yeah, I remember you. How could I not, since you tried to protect that featherbrain.”

It’s him from all those months ago. That time I lost my temper, I can’t believe I’d ever see him again. This might be a small town, but it’s surprising how little you see of someponies.

“So you screwin’ that featherbrain now, are ya’?” he asked in a condescending tone.

“Hey buddy, get lost,” Prevailing cut in.

“Yeah? Whatcha’ gonna do about it? I’ve got to pay this guy back for something he did to me.”

“And what exactly did he do?” Prevailing asked threateningly.

“Prevailing, let’s just get out of here,” you urge him.

“Knocked me out when I wasn’t lookin,’ cheeky bastard.”

“I’m sure he had a good reason for it,” Prevailing commented, “so how about you back off?”

“Oh, so you fight Derpy’s battles as well. Why you’d even waste your time with anypony like that, I have no idea.”

“Why do you have to constantly talk down to her?” you ask him just short of shouting.

“I don’t need to explain to you, besides you aren’t any different. It’s not that hard to take advantage of a retarded mare,” he laughed.

“Why you little...” you growl as you approach him, only to be held back by Prevailing. “You talk about her like you’re better than she is, and yet all I see of you is a pathetic stallion! You talk a lot, but you don’t back it up! Yeah, I might have hit you but I don’t regret doing it! Somepony needed to put you in your place!”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve talking to me like that.” He stepped forward, only to be stopped by Prevailing. He looked at Prevailing and then back to you. “This isn’t the last I’ve seen of you,” he warned before stalking off.

“The things I want to do to him,” you growl between clenched teeth.

“You shouldn’t say stuff like that, just like he shouldn’t say stuff about Ditzy. He probably has a family and friends as well. He might be an arrogant asshole, but he’s still a pony. Try not to think about it, it’s bad to keep that mindset.”

“I suppose you’re right,” you grumble.

“You know, when I was younger, I had a really good friend,” Prevailing said.

“Like that ‘mare’ back in Canterlot kind of friend?” you respond with a smirk.

“No, no.” Prevailing shook his head, his tone becoming serious. “I knew a guy, one of the smartest I’ve ever met. He would always know what to say in these kinds of situations, and some of it kinda rubbed off on me. If he was here, he’d probably say something like: Life is not a fair experience, no matter where you go. Some ponies will always lord over others like they feel entitled somehow. How somepony is viewed is not directly related to who they are as a pony. Just like Ditzy, you know who she really is even though she is viewed so negatively. You love her for who she is, not for what she is viewed as.”

“Wait, when did I say I loved her?” you ask nervously.

“It’s written all over you, I noticed it a long time ago, but that’s not important right now.”

“It’s not?”

“No, I can read you like a book, it’s not news.” He continued, “For all the injustices in the world, all it takes is one pony to step up and stand against it. Others are going to criticize you, others will berate you. All you have to do is stand up against the crowd and expose the truth for what it is.”

After a moment of silent thought, you comment, “That was awfully philosophical of you, Prevailing. I think I’d like to meet this pony you talk about, who can make you less snide on occasion.”

“I don’t think you’d want to meet him really. It was a lifetime ago since I last spoke to him.” He stared off into space, sighing deeply before returning to the conversation. “Anyway, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t be with Ditzy. No-pony should be allowed to tell you how to live your life.”

“But what if it just isn’t meant to be? What if she finds somepony else? What if-” Prevailing cut you off.

“Good thing I don’t believe in fate, and neither should you. Now it’s not my place to say, but I’m pretty sure she likes you a ‘whole lot’ too, so you shouldn’t worry about that.”

“You think she feels the same way?” you ask him.

“I’m going to let you find out that one on your own.”

“Prevailing?” you say after a considerable silence.

“Yeah?” he replied.

“I really needed to hear that, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Hey, shouldn’t we be getting back soon?”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Don’t want her to think Nightmare Moon gobbled us up,” you laugh.

After tucking Wingsley into bed, which was no easy task, you too decide it is time to crash for the night. Looking over at the clock, you see it reads one AM; the only problem is you aren’t tired. Lying awake staring at your ceiling, you decide that you might as well get something done. You rub your eyes, rolling out of bed and walking to your desk. Getting out your quill you begin to draft a letter to your father.

Dear Dad,

I got your letter on Nightmare Night, how lucky is that? I can’t say I remember some of my earlier costumes for Nightmare Night, but the past is the past. Speaking of the past, something from a few months back came back to bite me. Let’s just say it was a crazy night...

Chapter 12: Hearth's Warming Eve

“That will be fifteen bits, please,” the shopkeeper said.

“Here you go,” you say as you give him the bits.

“Happy holidays,” he calls as you leave.

“Thanks, happy holidays to you too,” you respond. You had just bought a muffin tray for Ditzy, you remembered her talking about that, hinting to you, and who were you to not get her exactly what she wanted? You got her a few gifts, but you still hadn’t found ‘the best present ever’ for her. Whether it even existed, you weren’t sure. Needless to say, you were going to try your hardest to find it. Wingsley was outside waiting for you.

“Took you long enough,” he said with a chuckle. “Find the ‘perfect gift’ yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“Does that mean we’re going to keep looking?”

“Yes,” you say matter-of-factly.

He sighed and whispered something under his breath. You give him a slight smile. He may not enjoy ‘the most insanely dull and mind numbing shopping experience of his life’ as he puts it, but he was being a good sport about the entire ordeal.

“So have you gotten a gift for Sparkler or Dinky yet?” you ask him, curious .

“Yep.” He nodded his head, taking a bag out of his saddlebags and holding it up for you to see. “I had a lot of time while you were out looking for the ‘Alicorn’s Grail.’” The tale of the Alicorn’s Grail was one of Wingsley’s favorite stories. The Grail was supposedly a mythical cup that held the ability to grant its owner the magical powers of Celestia and Luna. Whether the Grail actually existed was constantly up for debate. Multiple parties had rejected the story entirely, while others claimed its existence was fact rather than fantasy. You found the reference quite amusing when compared to your ‘noble quest’ at the moment.

“Well come now, young adventurer,” you try to say in your most regal voice to add a little humor to his dull day, “the Alicorn’s Grail awaits!”

After a couple more hours of shopping, all seemed lost. You had found nice, well-meaning gifts, but nothing truly spectacular. Saddlebags with a muffin clasp, an order for freshly made muffins, and the album that had your song on it for a slightly romantic inside joke.

“So I lost track, how many shops have we gone to today?” Wingsley sighed impatiently.

Defeated, you sigh in response. “Well there’s no use looking for something that obviously isn’t here,” you say grudgingly. “Might as well head back home.”

Sensing your pain, Wingsley tried to make you feel a little better, if only slightly. “Hey big bro, it’s alright I’m sure you’ll find it. And if you don’t, nothing bad is going to happen, she’s going to be happy with what you gave her. I mean you wasted hours on end looking for gifts for her. Don’t be so hard on yourself, even though I find it’s really weird that you’re dating my best friend’s mom. Oh, and what did Sparkler mean when she said that you two-?” You cut him off.

“-You know there’s a time and place for all questions, this is not it for that one.”

“Um, alright,” Wingsley cautiously said. Suddenly looking around you, Wingsley spotted something. “I know how much I want to go home, but I can’t stand you lookin’ like this. Have you gone there yet?” He points to a shop window you hadn’t seen when you were searching for gifts.

“Wingsley,” you say, staring at the window.

“Yes?” he replies.

“I think you found the perfect gift.”

About a week later, Hearth’s Warming Eve:

“YAAAWN!” You drift calmly out of your slumber. Becoming aware of your surroundings, you notice a nip in the air. Still in your bed, you glance over at the window to see snowflakes drifting lazily from the sky. Good ol’ snow, Wingsley will love this. Wingsley had never seen snow before this year, but with the sudden introduction to the cold white powder-like substance he now always got excited or anxious whenever he saw it. Up in Cloudsdale, ponies lived at cloud level, so there was no weather, only the sun and the moon. This change in lifestyle was a revitalizing blast to Wingsley; now he could live the life he never had.

Your bedroom door opened with a slam, jolting you upright. “It’s snowing! It’s snowing!” Wingsley yelled, leaping up on your bed. “Look, look! Snow!” Out of excitement, your brother began bouncing up and down on you, staring out the window.

“Yes, yes, I see that. Just please stop jumping!” you say with a hint of exhaustion.

“Can we go outside? Please, please, please?” he pleaded.

“Sure, of course we can. Just give me... five more minutes,” you say, drifting back off to sleep.

_______________________________________________________________

“Come on! Come on!” Wingsley said anxiously, hopping at the front door with wings slightly aflutter.

“The snow’s not going anywhere.” You yawn, still sleepy.

“I know, but I don’t want to miss a second of it,” Wingsley stated, still bubbling with energy.

“And we won’t,” you counter. “But you aren’t going outside until you put on your snow clothes.”

“Big Bro,” he whined, “Do I have to?”

“Yes you do. I don’t want you catching a cold,” you retort as if you were a naggy mother. You always made sure Wingsley had a set of snow clothes for the winter, even in Cloudsdale. It might not snow there, but the high altitude mixed with the endothermic reactions taking place beneath the clouds kept Cloudsdale in the negative degree range most winter days. After a little more convincing, Wingsley begrudgingly put on his winter clothes. “Hey! Wait a minute!” you call. “Where’s the scarf?”

“I don’t want to wear it,” he complained.

“Oh come on, Mom made it for you.”

“When I was a little colt!” he exclaimed.

“You are still a little colt, and besides, you look adorable in it.” You laugh as you go to grab the scarf and gently put it on Wingsley. “See, was that so bad?” you ask.

“Yes,” he said, frustrated.

“Well we can go outside now,” you tell Wingsley.

“Really?” he asked unconvinced. “No more torture you want to put me through?”

“No,” you laugh. “No more torture.”

Wingsley jumped outside onto the snow-covered ground, dancing and frolicking under the falling white flakes. You follow him out, slowly walking and inhaling the frostbitten air. You turn and looked down the street. Snow had covered the rooftops of all the houses. Families were playing outside, free from all worry and reveling in the spirit of Hearth’s Warming Eve. You see mothers and fathers playing outside with their children on the snow-covered street, lovingly embracing each other throughout their fun. As you watch them, a single tear falls down your face in remembrance of what could have been. Seeing them so happy, so carefree, so together; it was something that Wingsley had never felt and probably never would. You on the other hand, being the older sibling, were able to remember times with your parents as a whole family back in Cloudsdale. Wingsley wasn’t even born the first time your parents brought you to the ground, the first time you saw snow. You were only a foal at the time.

“Mom, Dad? Where are we going?” you asked, somewhat confused.

“We’re going down to see the ground,” your mother told you.

“The ground?” You had no idea what they were talking about, and everything they said only created new questions.

Your parents chuckled not unkindly at your lack of knowledge. “Don’t worry about it buddy,” your Dad replied, using his pet name for you at the time. “You’ll see when we get down there. Climb onto my back and hang on. We’ll get going.” You had just learned how to fly, but you weren’t ready for a flight on your own, especially since you were descending a mile beneath the clouds. You grabbed onto your father’s neck as you rested on top of him. Your mother gave you a quick kiss on the cheek and then you were off.

As your father left the ‘ground’ of the city and you looked into the abyss below, you shuttered with fright at the grey emptiness. Your breath was lost in your chest as your father tilted slightly downstairs, unbalancing the equilibrium in your brain. Hanging on tighter, your breath picked up as your father went in a gentle corkscrew motion, slowly descending through the clouds to the ground below. You were terrified, but completely trusted your father.

The grey clouds beneath you approached rapidly. The cold seeped into your veins and you closed your eyes in fear as you descended into the cloud. The wind rolled over your nervous form as you approached the ground.

Getting closer and closer, so many thoughts rushed through your mind, most of them fearful. The ground, the unknown place under the clouds, you had no idea what to expect.

“There it is,” your dad said to you. Looking down at what was below you, you saw a blanket of white. If your parents hadn’t been there to tell you otherwise, you would have assumed that you had arrived at another layer of clouds.

As your mother and father landed, they looked at you to see your reaction. Suddenly eager to experience this new land, you jumped from your father’s back into the icy snow. Expecting the consistency of clouds and not the sharp cold of ice crystals, you gave a yelp of surprise and leapt into the air, floating. “What is that!” you pointed at the odd white substance that you assumed previously was clouds.

“That’s snow buddy,” your dad told you.

“Why is it so cold?” you asked.

“Snow is cold, it’s like tiny pieces of ice that fall down from clouds.” He continued, “Underneath this snow is the actual ground.”

“So this is really the ground?”

“Yep, now come on. Your mother and I want to show you all the stuff down here.” You followed your parents shakily on the snow, slightly nervous, but you still trusted your parents completely.

Your first experience on the ground was one of your favorite memories of your parents, one thing Wingsley would never have. It was so easy to take for granted something that you already have, and you experienced firsthoof how important it was to have your parents in your life. Yet, in the blink of an eye they were gone. Having something so important ripped away from you doesn’t pass you on without scars, for the part inside you that held your loved ones close was replaced by a void. If you could, you would make sure no-pony could feel the pain you feel separated from your parents. A loss like that was something you wouldn’t wish upon your most hated enemy. Looking back, the emotions you feel about this are most likely what set you off on that pony in the post office all those months ago, then more recently at Nightmare Night. He wanted to take Ditzy’s children away from her because they ‘would have been better off.’ You know how wrong that is. No-pony should ever have their mother taken away from them because no-pony ever really recovers from that, no matter how much time passes. Having to be like a father to Wingsley, you knew that you took on a lot of responsibility. Responsibility to making sure that he has a happy life, no matter what that means for you. Time doesn’t heal all wounds, and this was one wound that you believed would never heal. Even if it doesn’t heal, you knew you could make him forget about it for awhile, keep him happy and be with him every step of his life. But that didn’t mean you couldn’t have fun as well.

“Think fast!” you shout, throwing a snowball simultaneously. The snowball hit your brother in the side of the head, catching him by surprise.

“What the hay are you doing?” Wingsley exclaimed.

“I think it’s about time you had a good ol’ fashioned snowball fight.” Wingsley looked a little nervous about facing you, so you gave him another choice. “How about we go over to Ditzy’s house and see if they want to play? That way I won’t crush you immediately,” you say, giving your brother a noogie.

“I could take you any day!” Wingsley said, ever-defiant.

“We’ll see,” you reply with a smirk.

You found Ditzy outside with Sparkler and Dinky, looking adorable in her ear muffs and matching headband. She saw you and waved you over with a large smile. “Hey!” she said cheerfully, giving you a kiss. Wingsley stood behind you a few paces, mock gagging.

“Hey cutie, how are you doing?”

“Pretty good, enjoying the snow before the play.” Sometime back, Ditzy and a few other residents of Ponyville were asked to perform the annual Hearth’s Warming Eve play in Canterlot. This was a big deal for Ditzy, and you had helped her practice for months so that she could get her lines and cues memorized. Despite knowing she was ready to perform, she was still nervous. But it was all you could do to try to keep her mind off of it.

“You are going to do fine,” you smile at her softly. To change the subject you ask her, “So what are you all doin’ out here?”

Dinky answered enthusiastically, “We’re building snowponies! Mommy taught me how! Snow is the best.”

You turn to her with a smile, “It is, I love the snow, Wingsley does as well. Did you know that this is the first year he’s seen snow?”

“No!” Dinky said in horror.

“And I think it’s about time he’s had a snowball fight, what do you think?”

Dinky nodded her head rapidly before dashing over to Wingsley, taking him by the hoof and dragging him over to where Sparkler was. “Come on, you get to be on my team.”

“So Ditzy, how does that sound? You up for a snowball fight?” you ask her playfully.

“You know it.” She winks at you.

“Okay guys!” you call out, everyone turned to look at you. “Adults versus kids!” Wingsley, Dinky, and Sparkler all went to begin making their ammunition and create their base of operations. To compete with them you knew that you would have to do the same.

The snowball fight lasted for a long while, both sides at a stalemate. Neither could gain the lead. The game ended with a surprise attack by Wingsley and the others. Not letting the victory get to his head, you gave him a quick noogie to remind him that you were still the boss. Needless to say, he didn’t take too kindly to it. After wiping off all the snow, Sparkler approached you, a serious look on her face, quite different from her usual appearance.

“Hey, I was hoping to talk to you,” Sparkler tells you quietly.

“Sure, about what?”

“Not really in public,” she replied, being purposely vague. You catch on to the nature of her request and go into the house to talk.

“What’s on your mind, Sparkler?” you ask, concerned.

“I- I just want to make sure your relationship isn’t going too fast.” Sparkler put her head down trying to avoid eye contact like she normally did.

“I would hope not,” you reply. “What brought this up?”

She took a deep breath before continuing. “It was around this time a long time ago when my mom met ‘him.’ It is one of the earliest memories I have.” You keep your mouth shut and listen closely to what Sparkler had to say. You believe that this might provide insight on why Sparkler hadn’t always been keen on your relationship.

“One day, like today, I was walking with Mom and ‘he’ appeared out of nowhere. I never saw him before but Mom obviously had. I was too little to really know what was happening, looking back I remembered how she looked at him, the same way she looks at you. He was nice to me then and I remembered how he always gave me attention. I liked him, I thought he was nice.” Sparkler wiped a tear from her eye. “And believe me, when I met you I thought you were nice also. You made my mom happy and I was happy to see her like that. But as you can see, I was a poor judge of character in the past, and stuff like that doesn’t leave you completely without a few scars.”

“I understand,” you say stoically.

“I was only a little filly, happy, content, innocent, just like a filly should be. I was blissfully unaware of what was happening around me. I wasn’t ready for what came after that.” She took a deep breath and continued, “No filly should have to grow up that fast.”

“What happened?” you ask, sitting on the edge of your seat.

“I was staying with Carrot Top. Mom was out all night, I only saw her when she got back home. I rushed over to see but I noticed something was wrong. She didn’t have that same joy she normally had. She looked tired and beaten, not physically but emotionally, although I have no doubt that she did have a few bruises.”

“He hurt her?” you ask incredulously, voice rising. Sparkler only nodded.

“She had an...” she struggled to find the right word, “...an ‘aura’ of sadness that day, I don’t know what happened but after that she started to get sick. Like really sick, she couldn’t work, she couldn’t fly, she couldn’t do anything, and she was starting to get a belly. After that I saw him less and less. He stopped dropping by the house, I saw him less and less on the streets where I lived. I had no idea what being pregnant was back then, but one day she told me to come sit next to her and she told me that I was going to have a sister. Being how naive I was, I jumped up and down in excitement, I had always wanted a little sister. I remember how her face lit up when she saw my reaction, that must have been one of the few times she smiled during those few months.”

Sparkler, having to remember this ordeal, found herself on the brink of tears again. “The last time I saw him face-to-face was sometime after that one night. Not knowing any better, I ran up to him expecting the kind pony I met in the snow. He wasn’t how I remembered him. He was mean, cruel, and hurtful. I ran back to my room and hid, but that didn’t stop me from hearing the heated discussion outside. It was the first fight I ever heard, and it was a bitter, bitter fight. I... don’t like to think about it.”

“That’s fine, no-pony is forcing you to.”

With another nod of her head, she continued. “Mom told me to stay with Carrot Top while she dealt with him. She went to the courts with evidence of abuse. From what I picked up, he was convicted but ran out of town before anything could have been done about it. A lot of ponies that he was close with didn’t like what my mom did so they made it their job to make her life hell.” Shaking her head and exhaling, Sparkler went on, “I know that this doesn’t all relate to you but I’ve seen history repeat itself. You say that you love my mom, I really hope you mean that. So I want you to know the story, at least from my perspective. That was a relationship that went way too fast and everypony involved got hurt.”

“Sparkler,” you say softly, “I have no intentions of going faster than Ditzy wants to. Ditzy is important to me and I don’t want to risk anything until I know that the time is right to tell her how I feel. It’s not enough for your mom to trust me, I want both you and Dinky to trust me. I love her and I love you and Dinky as well. It would be amazing if we could all get along under one roof, and I can’t wait until that day comes. You are equally important to me as your mother is, I want you to know that. I promise you that I will never purposely hurt Ditzy. I know that we will have our fights, but no matter what I still love her.” Giving Sparker a meaningful smile you tell her, “Remember, I’m not going anywhere.” To this Sparkler suddenly came up to you and embraced you, softly sniffling. You look down and smile again at her, knowing that you were closer to getting Sparkler to fully accept you.

“We should probably get going, the train’s going to leave soon.” Sparkler broke the hug and wiped her eyes. “Thanks for listening.” You walk through the house to meet Ditzy who was most likely getting ready for the play. You found her in her room, breezing through her cues in front of an imaginary audience, visibly nervous.

“Can you perform it backwards?” You chuckle at your joke, Ditzy wasn’t as amused.

“Very funny,” she said dryly. “But I think I have it. I think...” Her voice trailed off.

“Well that’s all going to be for nothing if we don’t leave for the train.” You turn to Sparkler. “Can you help your mom out with anything else she needs? I’ll go get Wingsley and Dinky.”

In the next few minutes you proceeded to gather the kids, get everything Ditzy needed, and head out to catch the train. The trek through the snow went without incident aside from needing to rein in Wingsley from time to time. Snow-covered Ponyville was quite a sight, and a blinding one at that. The weather team had scheduled clear skies for the day, so the sun reflected directly off the snow to every corner of the town. At times like this you wished for a couple of storm clouds to cut the glare, but the trip was just a brisk walk, so there wasn’t much to complain about in that short time. When you arrived the train was in the station.

“You all go wait by the door, I’ll grab us the tickets,” you say as you turn toward the counter and find a place in line.

As the four of them headed toward the nearest door to the train, you notice Wingsley run off to a pile of fresh snow and start to make a snowball behind a post so the girls couldn’t see. This won’t end well.

“Can I help you sir?”

You turn back to the counter to see it was your turn. The tan colt in front of you looked tired, and the pile of empty coffee cups only said more about how long the pony had been there. You notice a bad case of five o’clock shadow on his chin, and decide that this particular colt wouldn’t appreciate you running off to go stop Wingsley from his shenanigans while he waited for you to return.

You put on your best smile to try and make the colt behind the counter a bit more chipper. “Yes please, I’d like five tickets for Canterlot. Two adults, and three kids.”

“Yes of course.” The colt then turned to his cash register and typed a few buttons before turning back to you again. “That will be twenty eight bits please.”

You hoofed over the money and got your five tickets in return. You gave the ticket operator a friendly nod before turning back toward the train, just as Wingsley’s master plan came to fruition.

You just caught a glimpse of Wingsley tossing the snow toward the girls, and before you knew it, the powder hit Ditzy on the back of the head. Wingsley started to chuckle after the impact, and he waited for the reaction Ditzy would have.

Your eyes went wide and went to scold him, but held back because you were also a bit curious to see how the whole thing would play out. Ditzy hardly moved as the snow hit her, but after a few seconds she turned ever so slowly to face Wingsley with the most cheeky grin you’d ever seen her make.

As soon as Wingsley saw Ditzy’s expression, his own face went white as a ghost. “Uhh, sorry Ditzy, it was an accident.”

Ditzy remained silent as she stared toward Wingsley, her grin not fading a bit. In a split second Ditzy’s wings flared and she took flight toward the nearest pile of snow, grabbing as much as she could before turning back toward Wingsley and charging with a massive pile of the stuff.

Wingsley stood dead still as Ditzy flew high over his head until you could barely see her anymore. After a few seconds, you could hear a faint whistling sound that grew in intensity every second. Before long you knew what was coming and had to speak up.

“Wingsley! Take cover!”

Wingsley looked at you for a second before acting on your warning. In a split second he dove off to the side using his wings to glide as far as possible from his previous spot and hid behind a small pile of snow. Barely a second later, the snow Ditzy carried with her into the sky hit the ground where Wingsley had just been standing with a ‘thump’.

As soon as Wingsley got back up to his hooves Ditzy was already on her way down, some snow still in her hooves, ready to be thrown.

Wingsley reached for some snow, and frantically began rolling it into a ball shape, but before he managed to finish Ditzy was on the surface of the train’s platform again. Wingsley cowered in fear as Ditzy approached, snow ready to be thrown and a face devoid of mercy. Wingsley dropped the snow he had in his hooves and raised his forelegs into the air, “I surrender!”

Ditzy didn’t stop her advance toward Wingsley, and you couldn’t help but smile at the sweet revenge she was about to enact on him.

Ditzy was now standing right above Wingsley, snowball in hoof, ready to fire. You only just noticed that all the other ponies on the platform were now watching the entire scene play out with great interest. The tension was deadly on its own, and the world around the train station went quiet in anticipation of her next action.

But it never came. Instead, while Wingsley was cowering below her with his face in his hooves, she simply dropped the snow on his head and walked away with a sly grin.

“Well then,” Ditzy started as she continued toward the train, “shall we be off? I have a show to perform in, after all!”

“That’s right! Come on Wingsley, let’s go!”

“Y-yeah, s-s-sounds good...”

You had to grab Wingsley to make him move, as he was still experiencing trauma from the snow fight and was having trouble getting up on his own.

“Come on silly, let’s get on board to go see a show!”

At that Wingsley finally found the strength to get on the train with Ditzy, though he avoided eye contact with her the whole journey until the arrival in Canterlot.

As you walked Ditzy through the doors into the backstage area, the noise and movement of all the ponies woke you from your haze. Lights were being pushed every direction, the lens flare catching your eye occasionally and making you squint. Ponies in amazingly tailored costumes ran by, going to various places they were needed, the colors and sparkles creating the illusion of a rainbow that was constantly moving across the floor. It was all so impressive you couldn’t help but grin at the sight. You turn to Ditzy, expecting the same reaction you expressed, but her face was solemn, clearly still nervous about the performance.

“Hey,” you begin, “are you gonna be alright?”

Ditzy snaps back to attention and turns to face you. “I don’t know, the reality just hit me all of a sudden.”

“The reality?” you question with a mocking tone. “You mean the reality of how great you’ll look up there on stage? The reality of how beautiful you’ll sound when you utter your lines? The reality is, Ditzy…” You pause for dramatic effect and grab Ditzy’s face between your hooves. “The reality is that you’ll be the one up there I’m looking for, and you’ll perform your role beautifully no matter what.”

Ditzy moved her gaze upward from the ground into your eyes. “You’re such a liar,” she said with a teasing look in her eyes.

Good, at least I got her into a different mindset. “Liar? I am offended, how could you say something so hurtful. You’ll make me cry Ditzy!” Your tone of voice becomes playful and innocent.

“Oh I didn't realize,” Ditzy mock-apologized, her eyes now half lidded. “How ever will I make it up to you?”

Ditzy began pushing you back with her hooves on your shoulders. “Oh I could think of a few things,” you say as your back was pressed against the wall. Ditzy’s face now starts inching closer and closer to yours, her eyes closed now as she came in for a kiss. “But, I think that will have to wait until after your debut on stage.”

Ditzy’s face froze in its tracks only centimeters away from your lips. Her eyes opened and she was gave you a devilish look that made you almost frightened. “Fine,” she said, lowering herself from you. “But afterwards, we’re getting some alone time alright?”

“Whatever you want, only if you really convince me while you’re up on stage though.”

Ditzy paused for a moment. “Fair enough. Now get back to your seat, this area’s for famous actors only.”

At that you turn to leave, but just as you reach for the door, Ditzy grabs your foreleg and pulls you around for one last kiss. “For luck,” she says with a smile, before turning around back toward the other side of the stage. You can’t help but smile to yourself as you leave the backstage area. What a silly filly.

You return to the audience and find your seat next to the kids. As soon as you settle down and look back up at the stage you can see Ditzy’s face poking out of the curtain. You give her a wave which she returns before suddenly disappearing behind the curtain. Moments later the lights dim and the curtains are pulled away.

The play began, and the only reason you could pay attention was through anticipation of Ditzy’s appearance. Most of the beginning goes by quickly, and you can barely pay attention to the ponies on stage since you were too busy watching the sides of the stage for Ditzy’s part. Sure, it was a small role, but the fact that she got into the show at all was important enough to mean the world to you, and you weren't going to miss a single word of her character’s lines.

About thirty minutes into the show you spot a grey figure with a beautiful blonde mane fly onto the stage from above. She was wearing her own mailmare uniform to play her part of delivering messages from each of the leaders of the different pony races. She went to each one, and every time she came on stage you caught her eye, and each time you caught her eye, she smiled.

Her role was small, but very important nonetheless. You sat beside the young ones throughout the rest of the show, and you could have sworn that you saw Ditzy’s face poke out from the right side of the curtains at one point near the end.

The show finally came to an end, and you made a point to rush the little ones to the backstage area so you could meet Ditzy. A larger black stallion stood between you and the area behind the stage now, preventing any outsiders from getting a peek behind the curtains.

“Excuse me,” you mumble, “but I need to get back there. My marefriend is back there and I’d like to congratulate her on her performance.”

“Oh yeah, you and everyone else in here wants to get a sight of Rainbow Dash,” the stallion responds, turning away from you.

“Huh? No, actually I’m here for the grey mare with the blonde mane.”

The stallion turned back to you, “Oh really?” he asks sarcastically, “Well in that case go right on in.”

“Um, thanks?” You continue through the door as the stallion moved aside for you and the young ones, though you thought you heard him snort after you passed.

It takes you quite a while to find Ditzy; the whole area was filled with ponies trotting about trying to talk over one another over the madness. Everypony was congratulating each other, and your calls for Ditzy were muted by the sounds around you. Not only that, but because everyone was still in costume, you couldn’t even recognize anypony. The kids struggle to keep up with you as you try to navigate the crowd, and you keep having to check over your shoulder to make sure all of them are keeping up.

After a few minutes of searching you hear the sound of a young filly shout with glee. “Mommy!”

You turn to see Ditzy standing between you and the kids, her back toward you and her mail satchel still strapped to her side. On the other side of Ditzy you can see Dinky and Sparkler run up to hug their mother.

After the embrace Ditzy moved back and asked, “It’s so good to see you all, but why are you all alone back here?”

“Eh hem.”

Ditzy turned to face you, and her eyes lit up like fireworks. In a split second she was in your arms.

She backed up and her cheery expression turned to worry. “How was I? Did I overdo it? Do you think I was loud enough? Oh no, was I too quiet?”

You just wait, knowing this was bound to happen.

“Oh ponyfeathers I was too quiet wasn’t I? I knew I should have been louder! Ugh this is a disaster!”

Okay this is getting ridiculous, you say to yourself as Ditzy babbles on. Instead of listening to her needless worry, you decide the best course of action is to use your own lips to stop hers, and that’s exactly what you do. You lean in too quickly for her to back away and lock lips for just a moment. After all, the kids were right there.

“You were perfect,” you say gently after the kiss. “Easily the best performance I’ve ever seen.”

Ditzy was silent, her cheeks growing bright red as a smile appeared on her face.

“Ewwwww!”

The moment was interrupted by a little filly from the other side of Ditzy, causing you to snap out of you trance and look behind Ditzy to the three kids who all had a look of disgust.

“You’re gross!” Wingsley grumbled with a frown.

“Haha, sorry,” you say. “Sometimes I just can’t help myself.”

“Yeah whatever,” Wingsley mumbled.

The show overall had been a huge success, and ponies were seen congratulating each other on a job well done. The last thing that remained was the clean up. Clean up duty was expected of all of the actors, but by being part of Ditzy’s family you were expected to help as well.

This is probably for the best, you think to yourself as you help put away some of the staging. We may have to take the second train out of Canterlot, but at least we won’t have to deal with as big of a crowd when we leave. In the midst of moving a particularly large stage piece, you realize that you took on more than you could chew. This was a job for at least two ponies. Damn it, you curse. “Hey, can anypony help me out here?” you yell behind you, hoping somepony would hear.

“Yes? What’s wrong?” Twilight Sparkle asked as she appeared from behind the curtain.

“Oh, hey Twilight,” you say cheerfully. “Great job out there, by the way.” Upon seeing you, Twilight looked confused.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, obviously not expecting you to have gone to the performance. It was an understandable reaction; performances were never ‘your thing’ and you didn’t look like a connoisseur of the fine arts, but this one time you made an exception.

“I came with Ditzy,” you tell her matter-of-factly, thinking that was an explanation in itself.

She brought her hoof up to her head in facehoof. “Of course,” she grumbled, upset with herself. “Sorry, I guess I just didn’t expect to see you here. But if you came with Ditzy it makes sense.”

Struggling with the heavy scene piece, strain started visibly appearing on your face. “Not to interrupt you, but...” You motion to the piece you were holding.

“Oh!” Twilight jumped. “Sorry!” With that, she used some of her magic to lift one of the sides and you were free to move as you pleased. You suspect Twilight was doing a little more lifting than you were, but it didn’t seem to bother her in the slightest. Putting the piece in its assigned position, you collapse with exhaustion.

“Thanks Twi,” you say breathlessly. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Oh it’s no problem,” she said quickly and waved her hoof dismissively. After a slight silence, Twilight spoke up again. “So you came here with Ditzy?”

“Yeah, she was pretty excited.”

“How’s that going by the way?” she asked quickly, changing the topic. “I mean, if it’s not too private.” She turned her head away.

“It’s fine.” You raise an eyebrow. “Everything is pretty normal.”

“Oh, okay. Just wanted to know.” She quickly looked to her left. “ You know, I think other ponies might need some help, see you later,” she stated before running off.

What the hell was that about?

The clean up took a little while longer and then it was time to get on the train back to Ponyville. Dealing with the crowd, you eventually got onto the train. Shortly after, the train started up and you were on your way back home.

“I wonder what we’re going to get,” Wingsley and Dinky whispered to each other, excited.

You smile, thinking how the day was almost over and allowing yourself to relax. Ditzy was fast asleep on your shoulder. That shoulder might have been sore from the clean up, but you let her rest. She earned it.

The peace of the trip was suddenly broken when the brakes of the train caused it to grind to a halt. Everypony in the cabin lurched forward in their seats.

“What was that?”

“What happened?”

“Did we get stuck?”

“We’re all gonna die!” One pony shouted amidst the other nervous whispers.

Looking out the window, you saw that the train was at a full stop. You couldn’t get up to observe the situation because of the crowd, so you were forced to have a seat. On cue, the engineer opened the cabin to give an announcement.

“Everypony, can I have your attention? It seems we have been caught in a massive snowdrift, the way ahead is blocked, and we have no idea when we will be operational again. If there is anypony that believes he or she could be of help clearing the snow, please move to the front car. We will organize you from there. Thank you, that is all.”

The nervous chatter continued as you turned to Ditzy and the kids. “I’m going to go out there to see if I can help,” you told them. “I’ll also see if I can learn anything new about the situation.”

“Oh no,” Wingsley murmured. “Hearth’s Warming Day is tomorrow and if we aren’t home for that...” His eyes widened. “Pony Claus won’t come!” Dinky recoiled at the thought.

You and Ditzy sigh. “I’ll leave you to deal with this situation. I’m going to see what I can do,” you say to Ditzy. Ditzy just looked at you with a sense of hopelessness. “Don’t worry.” You kiss her on the cheek. “I’ll be back really soon.”

The work was strenuous; it took a lot out of you to move the ton of snow away from the train. You worked beside quite a few other ponies, all eager to get back to Ponyville as soon as possible. You continue working for another few hours, and by that time you’re completely exhausted. You had even taken off your coat because it got too hot.

Collapsing on the ground, the pony next to you said in an even but friendly tone, “Go on and head inside, you did good out here. Go ahead and rest.”

You nod to him in thanks and go back to the train. Is there nothing else I can do to help? Ditzy needs me to help with the kids, but I’m not going to be able to calm them down. I can’t work on clearing the tracks until my muscles heal up. Damn, why can’t I do anything else? I mean the only way I could help Wingsley and Dinky is if... A single thought dawned on you. That will work. Yeah, I think I can do something else to help. I just need one thing though. For this to work I’m going to need Twilight’s help again.

Ponies were nervously milling around the inside of the compartment. The strain on their faces was clearly visible, as it should have been. Everyone was trapped on a train the day before Hearth’s Warming Day while their loved ones had no idea where they were. It was a terrifying thought. With Dinky and Wingsley upset in the other car, you knew you had to do something. At this moment you were thankful that all the performers decided to take the later train back.

“Hey Twilight,” you call over to the purple mare.

“Oh, hi.” She jumped a little in surprise, but calmed herself quickly. “Didn’t see you there. What’s up?”

“I’m sorry but I was wondering if I could ask you a favor,” you try to say apologetically.

“Sure,” she said happily, turning to speak to you directly. “What do you need?”

“Well I was wondering if you could ask Spike to send a letter for me. Dinky and Wingsley are upset thinking that Pony Claus won’t visit the house tonight because they aren’t there. I need to send a letter to Prevailing asking him to do me a favor. I know it’s a little thing, but I’d appreciate it a lot.” You scratch the back of your head while giving a little nervous smile.

“Sure, that would be fine. It’s the least I could do for a friend.” You happen to notice that she said the last word with a little bit of a sigh, but you decide not to give it much thought as you thank her. Giving Prevailing’s address and the letter you drafted earlier, you thank her again.

“Well I guess I you a favor now too,” you chuckle. “And you better watch out, ponies might start swarming around you if they hear that you two can send letters.”

“Well I might have to let them, their families should know what happened. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure Prevailing gets this letter.”

“Thank you again Twilight,” you waved as you left.

“I’m expecting that favor,” she giggled.

“Of course, what kind of pony would I be if I couldn’t do that?” You laugh and return to find Ditzy sitting with Dinky and Wingsley. As Ditzy looked up at you, she got a sudden look of confusion when she saw the small smile on your face. You sit down next to both Dinky and Wingsley who both looked devastated. “I don’t know what you guys are so worked up about,” you say with a hint of playfulness.

“I-if we aren’t home, t-t-then P-pony Claus won’t come to our house,” Dinky sobbed, with tears in her eyes.

“You know, I think that Pony Claus knows that we got stuck on this train-”

“So you mean he’s going to help free the train?” Wingsley cut you off exuberantly.

“Um, well, no. But he does know that you two have been really good this year and because of that you might not need to be home for him to drop off presents. I bet that when we get home tomorrow, you’re going to see that he dropped off presents for you both.”

“Really?” Dinky asked, wiping the last few tears from her eyes.

“I have no doubt,” you respond confidently. With their newfound hope, both Wingsley and Dinky went off, presumably to tell Sparkler the good news. Meanwhile Ditzy raised an eyebrow at your previous statement.

“And what do you plan on doing? Did you take some magic classes or something?” she whispered to you so that Dinky or Wingsley couldn’t hear.

Whispering in turn, you reply, “I asked Prevailing to take care of it.”

“Then all hope is lost,” Ditzy smiled mischievously and put her hoof to her head in mock despair. “Speaking of which, how long is the train going to be stopped?”

“I think I heard that it’s going to be stuck until morning.”

Ditzy let out a sigh. “Well no point in worrying about it now. All we have left to do is just wait it out.”

“It could be worse,” you say with a smile. “But thankfully for you, I’m here.”

She giggled in response. “I guess you’re right.” After saying this she gave you a quick kiss on the lips before curling her head into your neck. “Can you get a blanket? I’m cold.” She looked up at you with her trademark adorable look.

“Of course, how can I say no to that face.” You get a blanket from out of a storage compartment and drape it over the both of you. You sit together in the now pitch black train car, snuggled together and letting the warmth wash over you. You glance out the window. The night sky, looking at it took you back. You remember a clear night like this with Ditzy, snuggled together for warmth, sneaking out of the house to be together. A smile adorns your face. That night, that fateful night. Who would have thought that at that point your feelings for Ditzy would finally surface? The terrifying feeling of love, of complete dedication to another. But as time went on, you grew accustomed to the feeling. No longer did it scare you. You knew exactly how you felt about Ditzy, you had no illusions anymore, you knew full well how you felt. But did Ditzy?

“Do you remember that night on the hill?” you ask Ditzy in a quiet voice.

“You bet I do! That was a pretty fun night.”

Looking out the window, you whisper “It’s amazing to think that no matter where we go, no matter what we do, at any time the stars are always there. The symbol of permanency.”

“I guess you’re right. You really like the night sky, don’t you?” She buried her face into your neck.

“I do. I think it’s from when I was in Cloudsdale. Everything was always changing, but every night I could go out and look at the same stars. Sounds kinda corny, but it was something to hold onto. But now I’m looking at them less and less, like I don’t need to anymore.”

Ditzy was curious at this statement. “Why do you think that is?” she asked.

“Maybe because I finally have something that I hold onto now that I know will never change.” You spoke smoothly and answered Ditzy without hesitation, not realizing the weight of what you said until it was too late. Ditzy in turn rose up from on top of you and looked you in the eyes.

“And what could be?” she asked, dead serious. She looked deep into you, her gold eyes glistening in the moonlight. Her expression was tense yet stoic. It was as if she was preparing for fight or flight.

Your heart raced. “Ditzy...”

“Yes?”

The rhythmic drum inside your chest kept up its count of two and steadily increased. “I couldn’t help myself, but I...”

“Yes?” her tone grew more impatient.

You feel as though if you don’t say it now, your ribs may break from the beating of your heart. “I love you,” you blurt out. Your heart’s tempo decreased.

Ditzy’s eyes widened.

“I’ve fallen hopelessly, madly, head-over-hooves in love with you.” You take a breath of air, realizing you hadn’t been breathing. “It’s good to finally say that.” You turn to Ditzy with a smile.

She sat there for a second. The air was still, the wind outside settled. The world itself waited on bated breath for her response.

Suddenly, she grabs you by the head and forces herself upon your lips. Your body hadn’t been expecting for the mare to jump literally onto you as you’re pushed backwards almost onto the floor. Catching yourself with your hooves, Ditzy continues to kiss you. You’re stunned, still reeling from the shock, but after awhile your eyelids slowly fall and relax as you return the kiss. The kiss continued for a long while after until Ditzy pulled away and smiled. “Took you long enough.”

The night passed by quietly and without incident. The harsh winds of the snow storm calmed to a whispering breeze, nature itself seemed to have been in tune with you and how you felt. You felt as if you were watching the rest of the train ride from a perspective outside of time. Nothing else mattered, just like all of those moments you had with Ditzy.

As time went on, it became a blur, and before you knew it you had arrived at Ditzy’s house.

“Made it, finally!” Dinky cheered.

“I know, it took forever! Do you think Pony Claus really showed up?”

“I know he should have,” you say under your breath.

Opening up the door, you’re greeted with an amazing sight. Presents were displayed right next to the mantle, and the house was decorated top to bottom.

“Wow, I guess Prevailing went a bit overboard.”

“No kidding,” Ditzy agreed. In the sheer contentedness of the situation, you look at each other and crack up into laughter, both reminded by each others’ confessions last night.

Everything is finally normal.

You notice a small note with your name on it sitting by the entrance. It was wrapped up like a scroll. Undoing the string tying it, you open the parchment and read what lay on it. It was a short simple note left by Prevailing.

Now if I couldn’t play Pony Claus on Hearth’s Warming Eve, what kind of best friend would I be?

Also, you owe me a favor. But since you’re probably itching to pay your debt I’ll make it easy on you. Set me up on a date with Carrot Top, I look forward to you telling me when it is.

~Prevailing Wind

P.S. Tell Ditzy not to beat the stuffing out of me for going after her best friend.

Putting down the letter you sigh and smile slightly. “Oh Prevailing, what the hell are you getting yourself into?”

“Well he did pull through in the end, you’re lucky to have a friend like that.”

“Yeah, not to mention how lucky I am to have you.”

“Yeah, you are pretty lucky,” she said confidently as she flicked her mane.

Ditzy’s gift! The thought resonated in your mind. “Oh right! I need to go get something! Wait right here, I want you to open it first.”

“Alright, I guess,” Ditzy said slightly confused as you rushed off to grab her perfect gift. You brought back a wrapped up box, not exposing any hints as to its contents. Ditzy slowly undid the wrapping paper and threw it aside, not taking her eyes off of the box. When it finally came time to open the box itself, Ditzy peeled it open slowly, as if it were precious in itself. Inside of the box was the perfect gift. A handmade glass representation of a picture of Ditzy, Dinky, and Sparkler. The picture was a time in their past where they looked so carefree, so happy. A happiness not forced, not sudden, but a happiness that was stretched out over the vastness of time. The time that you want to share with Ditzy.

Ditzy’s response didn’t come in the forms of words, but rather as tears. Tears of joy, the joy of someone who hasn’t known true happiness in a long time. And you held each other. You felt the warmth between you combine. For the first time, you and Ditzy were truly one with each other.

Dear Dad,

Well I finally said it, took me long enough. I can’t say I was ever this scared in my entire life, but you know what? She loves me too...

Chapter 13: Winter Wrap Up

“Last day of winter,” Ditzy sighs as she turns to you.

“Yeah, hard to believe it went by so fast,” you reply, looking deeply into her eyes. It’s been about three months since you told Ditzy you loved her and she told you she loved you back. You may have been unsure before if those feelings were real, but now you knew with every fiber in your being that she was the only mare for you.

The sun had just started to peek over the horizon as you and Ditzy sat on the roof of her house, watching it rise. You had to wake up early for Winter Wrap-Up anyway, so you both decided it would be more romantic to watch the sunrise all by yourselves. You inhale the cool fresh breeze, shivering slightly as it wakes you up and invigorates you. There was a thick layer of snowfall still on the ground and on the tops of buildings. If you were to fly above the town, you would only see a pure white blanket, as though Ponyville were buried under the snow, which was not far from the truth. Today would be a difficult Winter Wrap-Up.

“Say it again, please?” Ditzy asked.

“What, you didn’t believe me the other times?” you responded with a chuckle.

“No, it’s just good to hear you say it.”

Locking gazes, you tell her without hesitation, “I love you.” She smiles back at you, nuzzling her head under your neck. You could feel her cheek becoming warmer after you gave her a delicate kiss on the top of her head.

Giggling slightly, she kisses you on cheek and whispers, “I love you too.” Curling up together for warmth, you bring out the letter you received from your dad so that Ditzy can read it as well.

Son,

I am so happy you found your special somepony. Telling her you loved her on Hearth's Warming Eve, it reminds me of myself. I hope that one day you can introduce us, I can’t wait to meet her. Did you know that I told your mother I loved her during the winter as well?
It was a cold night in Fillydelphia where we were staying for work after being transferred from Cloudsdale. Unintended storm clouds trapped us inside our residence with blizzard winds and blinding ice. We had no idea what to do. Do we go out to try to calm the storm, or do we stay inside and wait it out?

Your mother wanted to go out and help protect the town from the storm. It was her way, always putting herself in danger to help ponies she never knew. But I convinced her to stay, convinced her that it was too dangerous, convinced her that if she got hurt I couldn’t live anymore. She looked at me with a shocked expression and asked me to explain myself. I wasn’t expecting to say that, it just slipped out. I always got flustered around your mother before we were married. After extensive prodding and interrogating, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I reached out and kissed her. I told her that I loved her more than life itself and then I asked if she felt the same way. But I guess you know how that turned out. One month later I proposed, and two months after that we got married. I hope you feel the same way I did about your mother. You may not believe this, but I love you and Wingsley. I can’t imagine what I would be without you.

Love,

Dad

“That was one of the sweetest stories I’ve ever read, and I’m so sorry…” Ditzy trailed off. Taken aback, you feel determined to understand why she feels like this.

“Ditzy? What are you sorry about?” you ask her in a gentle tone.

“I can tell how much she meant to him, and after she passed...” she sniffled a little before continuing. “I’m so sorry about what he did to you two. I’m so sorry that she had to go. I’m so sorry that it scared Wingsley. I’m sorry that, in a dark way, I’m glad that it happened so that I could meet you.” Eyes watering, she muttered so softly that you could barely hear it, “I’m sorry...”

Bringing her into a tight embrace, you hold her and let her cry it out. “Hey, it’s alright, it’s alright,” you whisper, trying to calm her down. “You don’t need to cry. You have no reason to be sorry, it’s all in the past. We were meant to find each other, it would have happened one way or another.” You lay on your back and bring her close to you, holding her in place and gently stroking her hair, watching the new day rise.

_________________________________________________________________

The first order of the day was to get Wingsley, Dinky, and Sparkler fitted into tasks that would be best suited to them. Wingsley begged to be part of the weather team, but he was still new to his wings and wasn’t yet suited for the strenuous task of weather management, so you had him stay with the girls despite his objections.

You had a feeling you knew where Ditzy and yourself were destined to be assigned, but it was for the sake of order that you approached the organizer and asked, “Morning Twilight, what’s the order of the day?”

Twilight jumped a little after you spoke, causing her to catch her breath. “Sorry, you startled me.”

“Sorry, my bad,” you offer cheerfully.

“It’s fine,” she replies, blushing. “So you want to know where you’re going to be working?”

“Well not just me, Ditzy as well.” Ditzy waves from behind you.

“Oh.” Twilight lets out a small breath. “Well, based on the experience you two have, I’ve assigned you under Rainbow Dash in the skies.”

“Alright, thanks Twi,” you call back to her with a smile.

“Oh, looks like you two are here. We need some help getting rid of the clouds in the north and Derpy needs to go and get the birds as she normally does. Try not to get lost this time, okay?”

“Hey Rainbow Dash? Would you mind if I go with Ditzy to keep her on track?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Maybe for once we can get those birds here before summer.” She turned to Ditzy, adding “You hear that, Derpy? He’s going with you.”

“Yeah, I got it. You can count on me,” you reply, giving a small salute. Turning to you, Ditzy asked quietly, “Does she know about us?”

“If she does, she probably forgot about it,” you say, giving a meaningful smirk, which Ditzy mimics. “Shall we?” you ask, motioning to the southern horizon.

Flying through the air, with you in the lead and Ditzy a couple feet behind, you both look out over the beautiful landscape. Trees, lightly brushed with snow, are visible down below. Question in mind, you turn around and ask Ditzy, “So why do they always send you to get the birds?”

“Is this about my lack of direction?” she responds in a heartbeat. Before you can stumble out that it wasn’t what you were implying, she goes on, “They always pick me because I’m the only one that can get the birds to fly. They tried sending a few ponies some other time, two were hospitalized with pecking injuries and we never saw the third again. They had to send me in to deal with the birds. I’m not as good as Fluttershy is, but no other pony can seem to do it.”

“Wow, I had no idea. And for the record, that wasn’t what I meant.”

“Sure it wasn’t,” she says sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

You noticed the landscape beneath you, but as you move into areas already transformed into spring, the full beauty of Equestria hits you. You were flying through a valley caught between two mountain ranges. The mountains, still capped with white snow, seemed to go forever into the horizon. They were creating a path for you and Ditzy to follow, similar to how a river flows down a streambed. The mountains were not jagged; rather, they were ramped on the sides with what looked like lush green grass. Descending below the clouds with Ditzy, you see that the grass is actually trees, thousands of trees. A forest growing on the side of a mountain. Ditzy notices how entranced you are by the landscape and shouts to you as you were fly along. “You know why I always get lost?” she asks rhetorically. “Because I always get distracted with this beautiful landscape. There is always so much to see, I spot something in the distance and before you know it I’m all turned around.”

“It’s all so...” You can’t finish your sentence as you gaze over the ground.

“Beautiful?” Ditzy offers. “I’m always doing this alone, I never have anypony to share it with.” Looking at you she smiles. “I’m glad I can share it with you. Come on, I want to show you something,” she calls before flying off. You follow without hesitation.

A few more minutes of flying along the mountain path and you come across an enormous lake. The lake was in the center of two mountains, both smooth and without fault. There was no shore around the lake; instead, it was as if the ground had exploded upwards and water rushed into crater. “This is one of my favorite places,” explains Ditzy. “It’s called Starswirl’s Lake. This is where Starswirl the Bearded fought the dragon, Bormahal.”

“I never thought of you as someone who liked history.”

“I surprise a lot of ponies like that,” she responds, laughing. “They like to think I’m a feather-brain because of my eye. I let them because I don’t need to prove anything. The only one I care about how they think of me is you.”

Flying upwards to a cloud, you land on it and motion for Ditzy to join you. “Why don’t we take a break for a little while? I mean, we’re making great time and they don’t expect us back for awhile.”

Ditzy looks at you with knowing eyes as she sits next to you. “What are you suggesting?” Ditzy asks as you lean in and kiss her.

“I think you know exactly what I’m suggesting,” you say with a smile.

“And if I say ‘no?’” she asks playfully. At which point you kiss her on the cheek and up to her ear, making her moan unintentionally, a little quirk you found out about her later on in your relationship.

“Well, are you going to say ‘no?’” you counter, putting your forelegs around her.

“No...” she replies. You lay her down on the cloud, kissing her passionately. Both giggling and nervous about what you are going to do next, you take the time to whisper sweet nothings to each other. You made love to Ditzy up high in the clouds, holding her close the entire time. Not letting the troubles of the world interfere in your minds.

________________________________________________________________

Ditzy rested in your embrace, but you both knew that you couldn’t stay there long. You had used up all of your extra time with each other and now you had to complete your task. Moving to get up, you hear moans of discontent from Ditzy. “Do we have to go?”

“Yes, come on.” You look at her, smiling. “We have work to do.”

She looks back at you and pouts in her adorable way. “Can’t it wait?”

“No, as much as I want it to, it can’t.”

“Fine,” she sighs. “Let’s get those damn birds.”

Flying through the air, Ditzy points out other landmarks. After a while, you start recounting stories to each other. Mostly light humorous stories about daily life, but it starts to get interesting when you begin talking about Cloudsdale.

“So I actually went to Cloudsdale once,” Ditzy tells you as you keep talking.

“Oh really? Not just for a deliveries?”

“Well, I flew up there one time when they were having a competition.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Was the competition for the ‘Greatest Young Flyers in Equestria?’”

“Yeah, why?”

“I was in the stands that day! I saw you perform!”

“No, really?” Ditzy asked, astonished. “Well how did you like it? My performance that is.”

“I remember I liked it. Hang on, I’m trying to remember all of the attractive pegasi I saw that day,” you tell her, hoping to get a reaction, pretending to think about all of the contestants.

“Hey, watch it buster,” Ditzy scolds, bumping you mid-flight.

“I kid, I kid,” you cry, throwing up your hooves in mock surrender while laughing slightly. “But seriously, I can’t believe that you were in that and I didn’t realize it. Say, how did your routine go again?”

“You want to see it? I mean, I still remember it, but are you sure?” she asks, blushing.

“Of course I want to see it.”

Resting atop a cloud, you sat ready to watch her. She flew through the air, rolling, diving, and showing off her abilities. You faintly noticed her trying to remember parts of it, but you still watched intently from your perch. She was having fun, that was evident. As you watched her, memories of the day flow back to you. You saw the pegasi of your dreams way back when you were still in Cloudsdale. It was a comical thought, it really was a small world after all.

After you finish watching her perform, you decide to do a small performance yourself, just for the fun of it. You twist and turn and roll in the air over her. Flying suddenly from underneath her, you grab her hoof mid-flight and guide her up over the clouds. Slowing down slightly, you take her other hoof and begin dancing in mid-air. ‘The Most Dangerous Dance’ as many non-pegasi have called it. It is a traditional pegasus dance done at high speeds in one direction. Because of the speed of the participants and their movements, it seems like in a flash, one could be ejected and thrown to their demise. Because of pegasi coordination, this is not the case. While beautiful to watch, it has very few true choreographed movements, and most of the motions are improvised. You and Ditzy fly through the sky, leaving a visible trail behind you. You always seem to have the most fun when you’re dancing with Ditzy. But to be perfectly fair, dancing was pretty bucking fun no matter what.

As the dance came to a close, you could see the bird sanctuary just a short distance away, a sunny plateau in the middle of the mountains. “Well it looks like we’re finally here, maybe Rainbow Dash won’t get on our case when we get back,” you say jokingly. Ditzy nods solemnly, though it seemed as if her mind was troubled. “Hey, what’s going on?” you ask, the concern evident in your voice. “Are you okay? You look…” You stammer for a moment to find the correct word until you found it. “...distraught.”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine. When you just mentioned Rainbow Dash, it just got me thinking. Don’t worry about it, I’m fine,” she tells you, avoiding eye-contact.

“You don’t look fine.” You move in closer, reaching your hoof over her and drawing her in. “You can tell me. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Okay,” she sighs, “but let’s get to the ground first.” Following her lead, you dive to the ground, pulling up only at the end. You look over at Ditzy as she sat down and gazed at the horizon. “Did I ever tell you why they call me ‘Derpy Hooves?’”

You shake your head. “No, never.”

“Are you sure you want to hear this?”

“Of course. I love you. I want to hear what you want to say.”

“So you can understand, I first need to go back a little further in time and start from the very beginning.” She sighed a little before continuing. “Everything started back when I moved to Ponyville from Fillydelphia. I had just adopted Sparkler from a family that I was good friends with before they...” Ditzy cleared her throat. “Passed on. Sparkler was just a little filly and I was barely a mare myself. She didn’t understand what had happened. I was already like a mom to her, so she trusted me. She was fine when we had to move. I wanted to take her away from that place, away from what happened. No filly should have to know those things.”

“Does she know, now that she’s older?” you ask.

“No, I’m going to have to tell her everything at some point. She knows a little, but not the whole truth.” You nod your head in acknowledgement and she continues with the story. “So after we moved to Ponyville, I started looking for a way to support me and Sparkler. That’s when I first came across Carrot Top. She was the first to welcome me to Ponyville, and soon we became fast friends. She told me that the post office was in need of help, so I applied and got the job. It was a good life, a simple life, but you know that it doesn’t matter when your colt or filly is happy. But after working in that post office for a few months, everything changed when he showed up.”

“Who?” you ask, confused.

“Dinky’s biological dad,” she said, putting emphasis on the last two words, “Some ‘dad’ he was. He came into the post office, proud and bold. I had never seen anypony like him. After he finished his business, he winked at me; remember, I was young, very young. I blushed after he left, slightly infatuated. As you know, that wasn’t the last I saw of him. He wooed me with his influence, his money, his charm.” You could see her grinding her teeth beneath her closed mouth. “He was so important, so full of himself, it seemed like no-pony could touch him. Because of that I let him get away with certain things. Because I thought he loved me I didn’t object when he got angry at me, when he yelled at me, when he...” she trailed off. “I had my eye condition even back then, and he thought it was funny and gave me a nickname. He was the first pony to call me ‘Derpy’. He never stopped calling me ‘Derpy,’ even when he introduced me to strangers. I tried to correct them, to tell them that my name was really was Ditzy, but it never worked. The nickname stuck, and soon enough the entire town was calling me ‘Derpy,’ but not as a nickname. They thought my name was actually ‘Derpy’ because of him. And because we were always together, ponies started calling me ‘Derpy Hooves’ because of his last name. I was his, I was his property. True I liked him, but I could never imagine spending my life with him. After a while, I stopped fighting and I even started calling myself ‘Derpy.’ I mentioned how young I was at the time, how weak and bendable I was. He took advantage of me, and soon enough, I was pregnant. After that, he showed his true colors. I faced him head-on later, and that was the last time I ever called myself Derpy.” After she had finished her story, you could see the ancient pain reflected in Ditzy’s eyes.

“I see, I’m so sorry for what he did to you.”

“Don’t be, you weren’t there, it's not your fault.”

“Why are you okay with them calling you ‘Derpy?’” you ask, curious.

“Because that would force me to acknowledge that ‘he’ still has an effect on my life. The only good thing he did was give me Dinky before getting out of my life. Other than that, he can go buck himself.” Wrapping her in your hooves, you kiss her and hold her for a moment, letting her feel your presence. “Thank you for listening,” she mumbles.

“No problem,” you whisper back.

“Let’s get done with this,” Ditzy said. “I think we’ve done enough to deserve a little break.”

_______________________________________________________________

Winter Wrap-up was a massive success this year. Everything was completed with the help of Twilight Sparkle. You and Ditzy relaxed in front of a roaring fire with the rest of your family seated next to you. As they all slept, you decide now would be a great time to write your dad.

Dear Dad,
Winter-wrap up was today. I’m exhausted with the amount of work I had to put in. Ditzy is starting to open up to me more, I’m excited where my relationship takes me. I wonder if this is exactly how you felt around mom. Wingsley is still doing great and is becoming an extraordinary flier, you would be proud of him.

I’m anxious to hear from you. You never tell me what’s going on in Cloudsdale. I’m tired of just talking to you about what’s happening with me, I need to know how you are doing. I love you Dad, and I expect to hear from you in your next letter. I know I’m going to get you to come out of your shell eventually, and when you do, you are flying down here to meet Ditzy. I know you’ll love her.

With love, your son.

Chapter 14: Speak of the Devil

A few months have passed since Winter Wrap-Up, and you were enjoying a pseudo-normal life with Ditzy. Nothing exciting had happened for awhile, not that you were complaining. Dramatic events only made your and Ditzy’s life more complicated, so for the most part it was good to have a break.

With spring showers coming in seemingly random intervals, work had kept you busier than ever, and it was a group effort to get the clouds in position in time. But the start of spring also brought sickness. Ditzy was one of the many that caught this bug. It wasn’t a serious condition, but it had kept her bedridden for the past week with a fever and flu-like symptoms. Today you decided that enough was enough, and much to Ditzy’s displeasure, you were dragging her out of bed to go see Nurse Redheart.

“Don’t make me get up,” Ditzy moaned as she slipped under the covers. She clutched weakly at the bottom of the mattress, doing her best to prevent you from dragging her out of bed.

“Please get up,” you plead, refusing to give in without a fight. Well this has to be the first time I’m trying to get her out of the bed. You suppress your somewhat-dirty thoughts for the sake of Ditzy’s health and redouble your efforts to separate her from the sheets. “Sweetie, can you please come with me?” you exhale through gritted teeth as you try pulling her again.

“No!” she shouts, gripping the mattress even tighter.

“I need you to get out of bed, now!”

“I feel fine!”

“Good, that means you can get out of bed.”

“I don’t wanna!”

“You’re so difficult sometimes,” you grunted.

“Be nice, I’m sick. Now let me stay in bed.”

“See, you admitted it!”

She scowls, unhappy about walking into that verbal trap. “Don’t play mind games with me, mister!”

Stepping back momentarily to catch your breath, you lean against the wall and slide down to the floor. “What will it take to get you out of bed?” you ask with a hint of futility.

“Well,” Ditzy slowly pokes her head out from under the bedsheets, confident that you had given up for the moment. “You could, carry me.” She ended the sentence with a large bright smile, uncharacteristic of her current condition. You looked back at her with a defeated expression.

“Is that the only thing that will get you up?”

“Yep.”

“And if I try anything else you are going to flop on the bed and stay there until I carry you?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Wonderful.”

After somehow managing to get through the door, you start your walk to the hospital. As expected, the additional weight made you a little more sluggish. You turn your head to see if Ditzy is ready to walk on her own, watching as she lies contently across your back. She gives you a warm smile before relaxing again.

“You know, I never thought that having a girlfriend would be this much trouble,” you say, smiling.

She sticks out her tongue at you playfully. “And I never thought that having a boyfriend would have all these perks.”

You sigh. “Well, we better get going before my back gives out. I’m not your pack mule, you know.”

“That’s racist.”

“Do you want me to drop you off here and make you walk the rest of the way?”

“No...”

“Good, be nice.”

You walk out into the street, catching sight of Sparkler, Dinky, and Wingsley all standing together. Today, Wingsley and Sparkler were going to have a ‘practically-brother-and-sister-bonding-day.’ You and Ditzy feel that those two should spend more time together. Dinky was somewhat disappointed that she wasn’t able to go, but she understood how important this was. Sparkler said that she had a fun place to take Wingsley and you trust her judgement. They were in the middle of conversation when they saw you with Ditzy strewn across your back.

Wingsley turned his head, confused at the situation in front of him. “Hey Big Bro, what’cha doin’ with Ditzy?” he asked.

“I’ve noticed that Ditzy has had a sore throat lately along with some other things,” you say in a sincere voice. “It’s better for everyone if we can handle this as soon as possible.”

“When you say...” Wingsley’s voice trails off, the unspoken question hanging in the air.. “You know what, never mind.” Only now do you realize how your statement might have been interpreted to a colt at his age. To avoid any further awkwardness you decide to leave it be and walk off to get Ditzy her check-up.

Ditzy props her head up and calls to the kids, saying “Now be good girls, mommy loves you. I’ll see you both later. And make sure to have fun, Wingsley.” She waves to them as you both disappear down the street. “You know, I think you may have just scarred Wingsley with that little slip-up,” says Ditzy, once you’re out of sight.

“No kidding. I mean, it didn’t help that you were riding me as well, but...” Ditzy just smiled at you with her eyebrow raised. You hang your head in shame. “Dear Celestia, what is wrong with me today?”

“Ditzy Doo?” called the receptionist. You perk up and turn towards the front desk to see the receptionist looking at you and Ditzy. “Nurse Redheart will see you now.” Ditzy blew her nose into her final tissue and began to stand up. She was a little uneasy and wobbling, so giving her a hoof, you help support her as she made her way towards the door.

“Took them long enough.” Ditzy looks up at you and chuckles.

“Better late than never.”

“And by late you mean…” she prompted.

“I mean about two hours after the expected time,” you sigh.

For the amount of time you spent in the waiting room, the actual appointment was pretty short and straight forward. Once you were inside her office, Nurse Redheart gave a quick examination and asked a few questions to Ditzy while you were forced to wait outside. After what felt like an eternity, you were allowed back in and the nurse gave her diagnosis. She told you both it was a more severe case of the virus that was going around, and gave Ditzy some medication, saying it would take care of some of the pain but she should stay in bed during this time. The side effects are apparently different for everypony. You thanked her and headed back home with Ditzy in tow.

“Hey,” she spoke up softly, not more than thirty feet from the entrance from the clinic. “I’m feeling kinda tired, can you carry me back home?” She flashes a warm smile to go along with it while wobbling slightly.

“Sure,” you respond. You pick her up again and place her over your back, the same way you brought her here. Once she was safely secured, it wasn’t long before you heard a small sigh of contentment and the slow, steady breathing of a sleeping pony. Smiling, you begin walking back home. It wasn’t the most comfortable arrangement, but compared to your life before, carrying your girlfriend home on your back was easily bearable. You’re happy that you can manage to enjoy these small luxuries, not to say that Ditzy being sick was a luxury, but a cute pony cuddling up on your back certainly was. Laughing at how much of a hopeless romantic you are, you continue your journey.

“Hey, we’re home,” you call into the house, not sure if anypony was home. After hearing only silence in response, you conclude that Wingsley and Sparkler must still be out and Dinky mentioned earlier she was going to play with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. You sigh and move to Ditzy’s bedroom, placing her on her bed and pulling the covers over her. Doing this action awakens her from her slumber momentarily.

“Hey what’s up, is it time to work now?” Ditzy asks groggily.

“No, I know how much you wanted to work today but you need to rest. Go ahead and take a nap.”

“Nap time?”

“Yes, nap time.” With an affirmative grunt, Ditzy rolls over and begins snoring again. Chuckling a little, you take a moment to write a note to Ditzy explaining that you have to work a single shift today and she needs to stay in bed until you arrive home. Ditzy had volunteered a few weeks ago to help set up some event at Town Hall that was scheduled today. Although she really wanted to participate, you make it very clear in your note that you’re forbidding her from working. It’s for her best interests that you didn’t want her to do anything.

“I’ll be back to check up on you,” you say to an unresponsive Ditzy. Smiling lightly, you closed the door gently and left.

Work wasn’t anything too difficult. Standard operating procedure: Move clouds, move more clouds, destroy clouds, make sky look neat. It’s all habit at this point. At least it pays well, or well enough I guess. Anyway, it’s time to make sure that Ditzy is still in bed. You fly at a leisurely pace away from the weather station without a worry.

I mean what could go wrong at this point?

For a while this appeared to be the case; you drift through your tasks with ease and finish your shift for the day. Sitting on the bench across from your locker, you pack your items back into their respective places, slowly and without hurry. You close your eyes and take a deep breath, enjoying the relative peace. You aren’t in any rush to get back home. Ditzy should be sleeping, and after being on edge for a few days, you deserved this break.

From the side you notice one of the showers being turned off. You turn in mild curiosity to find out who it was. Seeing Prevailing come in, you wave lazily.

“You look beat,” stated Prevailing as he turned and opened his own locker.

“Yeah, it’s been a tough week with Ditzy being sick.” You sigh to emphasize your point.

“Oh I forgot,” Prevailing said, picking up interest. “How is she doing?”

“Hopefully better now, I just took her to see Nurse Redheart. She gave her some medicine to help with the symptoms. It’s a waiting game now.”

“So is she resting right now?”

“Yep, I’m going to head- Wait!” you shout in sudden realization.

“What is it?” Prevailing asked, unsure about what was happening.

“I remembered that I need to pick up something,” you hurriedly explain as you finish pack up your things. With a slight smile on your face you rush out the door. You thought that you heard Prevailing ask something regarding your sudden explosion of energy, but by the time he would have finished you were already out the door. You fly at breakneck speed to your destination, a smile plastered over your face.

“Here you go sir,” the store owner pleasantly says as he hands your item to you.

“Thanks, this was the first chance I had to come and pick it up.” You place the large amount of bits on the counter for the transaction.

“I understand, I’ve been in this business long enough to know how careful you have to be with something this important.” You nodd at him and put the item in a concealed section of you bags. As you make your way toward the door, the owner calls to you, “I feel I’m inclined to ask, when are going to do it?”

You pause, head tilted up in contemplation. After a moment, you turn back towards him, give a smile and say simply, “Soon.”

It doesn’t take you long after that to arrive home. Putting your bags down, you walk up to the bedroom. You open the door slowly, knowing that you probably wouldn’t disturb her but deciding to be careful anyway. “Ditzy? You awake?”

There was no answer. “I guess it’s for the best, she should be resting as much as she can.”

You walk over to where she was sleeping, pulling the covers up to make sure she was doing okay. Turns out the jury was still out on that question, since there was only a Ditzy sized imprint of where she was supposed to be. You nervously tilt your head to the side. “Or maybe she decided to run off while under the effects of heavy drugs. I guess that’s good too.” You pause, not exactly sure how to react to the present situation. “Okay this probably isn’t as bad as it seems,” you say to yourself, voice wavering. “Or maybe this is one of the worst things that could ever happen and lead to a series of catastrophic events, maybe. Hopefully not, but maybe, probably, I really need to find her.”

With that you dash down the stairs as fast as you can, opening and hurtling out the door in one quick motion. As you run down the street, your head swivels left and right, surveying and scanning all visible locations. Where could she be? What was work that she was doing? Dammit, why can’t I remember? It was somewhere in town so that narrows it down to anywhere I haven’t looked yet. Fantastic. Sweet Celestia, I can’t think right now. You stop suddenly, eyes wide open, mouth agape. “Oh, buck me!”

“Now, careful, Derpy! Don't want to do any more damage than you've already done,” said Rainbow Dash in a mildly annoyed tone. You were speechless, it was like watching an oncoming carriage wreck. No matter how hard you tried you couldn’t look away. There was a crash, and the next thing you knew, everything was in pieces.

“I just don’t know what went wrong,” she exclaimed in her congested voice.

You weren’t sure what happened in the next few minutes; you had buried your face in your hooves to not look at the rampant destruction your girlfriend was causing.

Please Celestia, let this nightmare end, you beg.

Following the incident, fearing the medication she took had unforeseen side effects, you rushed Ditzy to the hospital with the help of Prevailing, who you had managed to flag down. The doctors had taken her from you and you were forced to stay in the waiting room.

“How long are they going to take?” you frustratedly ask no-pony in particular, your patience wearing thin.

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Prevailing gave you a slight shove to break you from your trance. “The doctors are just checking up on her, nothing is going to go wrong. Speaking of which, what happened?”

“Hmm? What do you mean ‘what happened’?” you ask sharply, not really in the mood for conversation.

“Town Hall, or whatever is left of it. When I saw it, it seemed like it had invoked the wrath of an angry god or something.”

You look away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, it was like that when I got there. Your guess is as good as mine.” Prevailing sighed in defeat; noticing you weren’t in the mood for casual chit-chat, he relaxed back into his seat.

The clock on the wall ticked away in a quiet rhythm. Seconds slowly became minutes, and the minutes seemed to take hours. You sat in silent thought, thinking of all the worst possible situations that Ditzy could be in. Beside you, Prevailing had his eyes fixed on a worn out magazine titled “Colt Quarterly”. If the clock wasn’t there, you could have sworn you had been sitting in the waiting room for word of Ditzy’s condition for days, but realistically it had only been 45 minutes before a light orange mare came through a door to your right and called your name.
“You and your friend can come on back now, Ditzy’s stable.”

You leap to your hooves and moved to the doorway before Prevailing even had time to put down the magazine. With Prevailing in tow, you briskly make your way through the hospital’s many hallways until you arrive at Ditzy’s room. The door to the room was open, and inside you could see a much more coherent Ditzy, skimming whatever reading material was with her. You knock on the doorframe before cautiously peeking your head in. Ditzy jumped at the noise, looking towards you, and as she realized who it was, she visibly relaxed and gave a small smile.

“Hey,” she said meekly, still smiling up at you. “Sorry to put you through all of this.”

Relieved that she was back to her normal self, you took a deep breath and returned her smile. It felt like you were holding all the stress of the day in your wings; as you exhaled, all of the built-up tension left you and was replaced by a soreness similar to a day of flying against the wind in a snowstorm. Having actually done that once or twice, the feeling was not welcomed. Even so, you shrug off your discomfort, trying to put on a calm face for Ditzy. You felt it was best that she didn’t know how worried you had been about her. While there was nothing inherently wrong with that, you liked to have the façade of a calm, cool stallion. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” you tell her in a smooth, level voice. “Just stay in bed next time, alright?”

Ditzy looks at you with an apologetic expression. “Yeah, I guess can do that.”

“Good,” you respond, going over to her and giving her a kiss on the forehead. Ditzy gave a cute giggle, happy you weren’t mad at her. Of course, it wasn’t like you could stay mad at her for very long, and by now you’ve pretty much forgotten that you ever were angry in the first place. You stare at each other deeply, comforted by the simple fact of being together.

“If you want a few minutes, or something, just let me know,” Prevailing interrupted. “I’ll step out for a little while. Just put a coat or something on the door, alright?”

“Come on Prevailing don’t be such an ass-” you began, cutting yourself off. Standing in the doorway was Dinky. Prevailing, also noticing this, forced himself to keep a lid on what he was about to say. The air of the room changed as everyone censored themselves for the young one in their midst.

“Dinky, where have you been?” you ask sternly, tone changing completely.

“Sorry,” Dinky responded. “I stayed at the town hall for a while. I thought it would be fine.”

“Didn’t you see me rush your mom to the hospital? Why didn’t you come with us?” you scold her.

“I did see you, but I was with an old friend of Mom’s, so I thought that it would be okay if I stayed.”

“Old friend?” You turn and look at Ditzy, who just shrugged, unsure about the conversation.

“When did I introduce you to them, sweetie?” Ditzy asked, clearly wanting to know more about this new pony.

“I just met him today, but he knew all about you, so I assumed he was a friend.”

“Dinky, were you ever taught not to talk to strangers?” you sigh, more than a little disturbed about this whole ordeal for some reason.

“Dinky, what was his name?” Ditzy asked, her voice a surprisingly emotionless monotone.

“He said that he was going to come back sometime soon and say hello and ‘catch up on old times,’ or something…” Dinky continued, not seeming to have noticed the question.

“What was his name!” Ditzy demanded, her outburst scaring you half to death. You had never seen her act this way towards Dinky before.

“He said it was... um... Max. Maxwell Hooves,” Dinky mumbled, unsure about being yelled at.

You turn to Ditzy, disturbed by her sudden change. “Hey, why did you need to know his name so badly? Ditzy?” You aren’t sure that she even heard you. Her eyes were wide open, pupils contracted to a dot. Her breathing came in uneasy gasps. A single bead of sweat ran down her muzzle. Unhappy at being left out of the loop, you glance over at Prevailing, only to see the same thing from him. A shroud of hostility swept over his face, eyes focused on the floor in front of him. His teeth dug into his lip so hard, he drew blood. “Ditzy? Who is this guy? Ditzy!”

“He... he. He’s Dinky’s father.”

You sit back in a chair, overwhelmed and lost. It had only been a few hours since Ditzy received the shocking revelation that her ex-lover had returned to Ponyville. It was almost too much for you to comprehend. You had no idea how to help her, nor did you have the faintest clue what you were going to do about the situation. Ditzy had been pacing impatiently for a while now, almost as if she was trying to wear a hole through the floor tiles.

You get up and walk over to her. The least you can do is try to comfort her, and it’s questionable at best if that will even work. You placed a hoof on her back, startling her as she jumped with surprise. “Are you alright?” you ask, equally surprised at her reaction.

“Sorry, I’m just a little tense.”

“I’m sure, it only makes sense,” you empathize with her. “But still, pacing isn’t going to help. It’s past midnight, you need sleep.” It wouldn’t fix anything and you understood that, but having her stay up won’t be healthy. Her mind is working in overdrive, thinking about her different moves in this chess game of life, how to effectively deal with this bad situation and come out ahead. Needless to say, Ditzy wasn’t making any progress.

As her emotions and exhaustion finally caught up with her, Ditzy dropped down and sat, defeated, on the floor. She looked up at you with tears in her eyes and managed to express all of her frustration, hopelessness, and pain with two words.

“I’m scared...”

Without any further prompting, you walk up to her and embrace her. You held her softly yet firmly, letting her know that you would be there to support her wherever she went.

Ditzy’s grasp around your shoulders faltered, and you managed to catch her before she slipped from your arms completely. She was so tired from the day’s events, you doubted she would even be able to stand up straight on her own. Carefully, you lead her up to her room and tuck her into bed. A grateful smile on Ditzy’s face eases your mind. It’s been a long day for all of us. Before bed, you decide to head back down to the kitchen for tea, and as you reach for the box, you notice something propped against a half-eaten muffin on the counter. It’s a letter. Your curiosity gets the better of you and you can’t help but look to see who the letter’s from.

“Cloudsdale? Huh, the hospital? Did they send me an overdue bill or something?” you mutter as you tear the top of the envelope off. Carefully removing the letter, you unfolded it and read what was on the page.

Dear Next of Kin,

It is with a heavy heart that we must send this letter. We regret to inform you that your father passed away Monday of this week and was discovered in his house at 8:00 pm. The report says that he was found by his neighbor, who told the officials that he was going over to bring over soup as a “late dinner.” He followed up by calling emergency personnel immediately after. The cause of death was most likely self-inflicted. Again we are....

The ceremony will be held...

...severe depression...

…don’t blame yourself...

...our sincere condolences...

“No. No. No. It can’t be. They’re lying.” You laughed , with not a speck of humor present in your voice. “Alright, the joke’s over, it couldn’t be right.” You go back to re-read the page, but the words refused to change. Your back leg became weak and you collapsed, not even caring. “No, please Celestia, Luna, tell me that this isn’t true!” You lay on the ground in shock. Your mind, normally active, was as empty as the void.

“It can’t be true...”

Chapter 15: Denial

A light breeze blew against your face as you rested your head on the bottom of the open window. The gust was unusually cold, a foreboding sign of the weather to come. The cold air brushed over your coat and permeated your skin, chilling you down to the bones, but you didn’t seem to mind. If the wind was bothering you, you showed no sign of making yourself more comfortable. Sounds of foals playing border on the edges of your hearing. The endless drone of chirping birds pecks away at your eardrums. But in the end, it was all white noise.

The one thing that was able to move you from your spot was the sound of the door opening behind you. As you turn to face whoever disturbed you, Ditzy’s concerned face came out from behind the door, the gray mare knocking softly to announce her presence. “It’s four o’clock,” she said gently.

“Thanks,” you respond with a sad smile.

“If you don’t want to-”

“No, I need to do this. I need to see him, one last time.”

Ditzy nodded. As you begin to get up, Ditzy comes up to you and wraps you in her arms, squeezing you gently. You could feel her gentle heat against your cold body as you placed your hooves around her in return. You wanted to stay there forever, but you know that you would hate yourself if you ran away now. You and Ditzy break the hug and stare into each other’s eyes.

“Do what you need to do, I’ll always be waiting for you when you get back,” Ditzy promised.

You nod solemnly and walk out of the bedroom door. Instead of going to the stairs, you turn toward Wingsley’s room and knock on the door, not really expecting him to reply. After a few moments, you open the door and step inside. Not entering any further than the door frame, you call softly to your brother. “Wingsley, it’s time to go.” He turned to you with empty eyes and stared at you. You motion with your head for him to follow you. Grudgingly, he did so.

“We’ll be back in a few days,” you tell Ditzy as you stand outside ready to take off towards Cloudsdale. “You sure you’re okay with me leaving, even with Him coming back?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine. I told you I had a friend I could trust, Time Turner can be very reliable.”

Making a disapproving grunt, you accept her answer. “Ready?” you ask Wingsley, turning toward him. He nodded emotionlessly. You both take off from the ground with great speed, your wings making the sound of a canvas sail buffeted in the wind as you fly against the air current. After a while, you reach a cruising altitude and let your mind wander.

How did all this happen? Everything was finally going to plan, my life was just beginning to calm down. Is it all over again? What will happen to all of the happy days with Ditzy? You torture your mind with questions. No, nothing is going to happen. Nothing is going to change. Why would anything change? It can’t change.

Several Days Earlier:

“So what are you going to do?” Ditzy asked.

“Well apparently there is going to be funeral, and I’m going to need to go there,” you reply. “It’s the least I can do.”

“The least you can do? He was your dad!”

You scoff. “My dad? Him? Hardly. He wasn’t a father to me or Wingsley. I’ll never think of him as one in a million years.”

“Don’t say that.”

“Why not? Why should I acknowledge a deadbeat like him?” You chuckle grimly at the pun.

“Stop that!” Ditzy stood up from her seat and glared at you. “Stop talking like that!” You withdraw, perplexed at her sudden outburst. “Stop lying to yourself! If you keep saying things like that, you are only going to hurt yourself.” She paused a moment to catch her breath. “Not just yourself, but Wingsley, Dinky, Sparkler, and me,” she continued in a softer, pleading voice. “This isn’t the ‘you’ that I fell in love with, this isn’t the ‘you’ who worried all through our first date, this isn’t the ‘you’ that was almost too nervous to ask for my name.” She sighed to emphasize her point. “This,” she motioned around your figure, “isn’t you.”

You sit there in silence, knowing she was right. You know you shouldn’t be this cynical, but how else were you supposed to react? Your father never cared for you while you were growing up. He rarely wrote to you, he hardly existed at all. How were you supposed to feel bad for him? How could you feel bad for him? But if it was for Ditzy, anything was possible.

“Fine, fine. You’re right. I’ll stop.”

“Good.” She nodded, accepting your word without asking for any proof, but you knew that she would hold you to that promise.

You both sat in silence for a long while before Ditzy spoke again, bringing up the topic your mind kept shying away from. “So what about Wingsley?”

“I’ll have to tell him, he needs to know. Frankly, I’m a little scared.”

Ditzy got up from where she was sitting and plopped down next to you, her head leaning against your shoulder. “I’m sure it will be fine, he loves you. He might be sad but it’s gonna be alright. It’s something you have to get over with, like ripping off a band-aid. It’s gonna hurt when it happens, but it’ll go away after awhile.”

“Ripping off a band-aid? Who still does that? I mean, you might as well be getting your coat waxed. I don’t know if you have ever seen a pony waxed, but it is not pretty.” You turn to her with a slight forced smile in an attempt to lift the mood.

She giggled cutely. “I guess you’re right,” she said softly with a smile as she snuggled up against you. Your expression relaxed into a more genuine smile as you gave her a kiss on the forehead.

The blessed silence lingered for a few more seconds, allowing you to organize your thoughts. You had to tell Wingsley what happened, despite how painful it would be. “Ditzy,” you said hesitantly. “When Wingsley gets home I’m going to tell him what happened. Right now, I’m still pretty nervous, mind if we get some lunch first?”

“Nervous eater much?” Ditzy joked.

“You should have seen me at my senior year at high school.”

“I bet you were just as cute,” she teased in her adorable voice.

Sitting up from your spot on the couch, you lean over and gently kiss her on the forehead again. “You’re too good for me,” you whisper to her.

“Well you got me anyways, even though you totally don’t deserve me,” she giggled. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The lunch that you had with Ditzy was a nice distraction from your upcoming duty. When you were with her, you felt like you could just forget the rest of the world, like nothing else mattered. Not your job, not your dad, not even Wingsley. It was a horrible realization, you understood that. It was only recently that you had even been aware of it.

Sighing, you walk up to the door to open it for the both of you. To your surprise, it was already unlocked. With a puzzled expression you turn to Ditzy, who was becoming more concerned by second. You motion for her to wait outside while you go to investigate. Opening the door partially, you stick your head into the gap. None of the lights were on, but there was a figure inside. It was in the shape of a pony with a smallish figure.

“Hey!” you call. “Who’s in ther-” You pause for a moment. “Wingsley? Is that you?” You open the door fully and enter the house. “Hey bro, what’s up? You scared me there for a second.”

There was no answer.

“Wingsley?”

Silence.

“What’s going on with you?” You put your hoof on his shoulder. His motionless silence ended when he whipped around and slapped your hoof away, tears in his eyes.

“When did you plan on telling me?” he shouted at you through tears.

“Wingsley, I’m sorr-”

“Shut it!”

“Wingsley, believe me I was going to tell you myself when you got home today,” you try to explain calmly.

“Bullshit!”

“Wingsley!” you scolded, taken aback by his language.

“You were going to tell me today? That’s a little bucking convenient, don't you think?” he screamed. “Why should I believe you? You hated him anyway, were you just going to sweep it under the rug and forget about it?”

“No, of course not. I was going to-”

“I... I just don’t want to hear it from you right now!” he shouted.

“Wingsley,” you plead, “Let’s talk.”

He turned around and looked at you, disdain seeping from his gaze. “Stop treating me like an innocent kid!”

You’re taken aback by his statement. “I...”

“Just leave me alone.” With that, he raced toward his room, leaving you standing in the doorway as you struggled to take in what just happened.

The next day:

With the date and time of the funeral determined, there were certain arrangements that you had to take care of before then. One of the most important items on that list was asking for time off from the weather team. You went to the station early in the morning during the end of the first shift, assuming that your supervisor, Cloudkicker would be arriving shortly to read over the reports and prepare for the coming day.

The sky was still dark, since the way the sun was beginning to rise only slightly illuminated the clouds. Navigation remained difficult as you struggled to stay on course. Soft fog rolled away from the station, and through the fog, you could see the tops of the trees in the forest beneath you. With the lighting, the trees looked almost dead, as if they had given up taking in nourishment from the sun and earth. You also noticed that no breeze was blowing except the one you created with your wings as you cruised through the sky. The world itself was silent.

Landing on the roof as you normally do, you entered the main door to the complex. The sounds made by your hooves as you descended the stairs echoed through the building. The calm before the storm of a normal workday. Arriving at the door to Cloudkicker’s office, you knocked and waited for a response. On the other side of the door, you hear a thud, a curse, and the distinct sound of paper scattering. Obviously, she wasn’t expecting a visitor.

“Come in,” came a weary voice. You open the door and found Cloudkicker sitting in her chair, lightly rubbing her head. It doesn’t take much thought to infer what happened. “Oh, it’s you.” She looked up with general surprise. “What brings you in at this hour?”

“Felt I needed to explain why I’m going to need to take some time off,” you sigh, getting to the point straight away.

“Time off? Did something happen to Ditzy?” Cloudkicker asked.

“No, but close. Family emergency issues.”

“Can I ask you to clarify? You don’t have to if it’s a touchy issue,” Cloudkicker backtracked.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. A few days ago my dad died. I have to go to his funeral coming up.”

Cloudkicker gasped. “Ohmygosh, I am so sorry.”

You smile and nod your head in thanks. No you aren’t bucking sorry. You couldn’t care one way or another; you’re just doing what society deems acceptable. “Thanks, it’s been a tough time for all of us.”

“When are you leaving?”

“Two days from now.”

“That soon?”

“Yeah, just have to get everything in order first.”

“I understand. Work today’s shift and I can give you ten days off, that enough?”

“Plenty, thanks.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear it. You going to tell Prevailing? I know he is a close friend of yours.”

“I plan on it.”

“You have a few hours until your shift. Go grab some coffee and get some rest. You look like somepony that hasn’t slept in a few days. I can’t have you passing out on your last day, alright?”

“Yes ma’am.”

And you do just that. You find a comfortable place in the locker room, you sit up against the wall, and drift off into your first solid sleep in days.

The sound of hooves rouses you from your slumber. You open your eyes to find Prevailing standing over you, marker suspiciously in his hoof.

“Damn it, you woke up too soon.”

In your sleep-clouded state, you were having trouble processing exactly what was going on, but whatever it might be, if Prevailing was involved it couldn’t be good. You blink your eyes a couple of times as you struggle to stand up.

“And I was just about to show off my newfound artistic talent. Some ponies have no respect for the arts.” He smiled at you and gave you a light hit on the shoulder. “So whatcha’ doing sleeping here? Lose a bet? You love work so much you can’t leave? Hiding from the cops?” Prevailing asked, throwing his wild theories at you.

“No, no.” You yawn, still waking up. “Just had to ask Cloudkicker for some time off.”

“Time off? What’s up?”

“Just some family emergency stuff.”

“Just?” Prevailing questioned you.

“Well, I mean…” your voice trails off. You would prefer to not go into a lot of detail, you didn’t want his pity. “There’s just some stuff that came up, and I need to go for a few days back to Cloudsdale.”

Prevailing nodded his head, “Tell me when you get back, alright?”

“Sure thing.”

After finishing up your shift, you decided to fly back over to Ditzy’s house. The one thing that kept worrying you was what would happen if her ex came back when you were gone. You didn’t want to make her feel that you were suffocating her, but you were still worried about her safety.

Landing on the porch, you opened the door to the house and gave a knock post-entrance. “I’m home,” you called to anyone that may still be inside.

“Oh hey! Welcome back!” Ditzy greeted you with a hug and a kiss. “Did everything go alright? Were you able to get that time off?”

“Yeah, Cloudkicker was very understanding.”

Ditzy sighed with relief. “I’m so glad.”

“It does make things a lot easier.” You could tell your attempted use of small talk did nothing to conceal that you had something else on your mind. Ditzy saw through you immediately.

“So what’s really on your mind?” She looked at you with a smirk, and raised her eyebrow, proud she was able to read you so easily.

You sigh. “Are you sure you want me to go? I mean, what if he comes back while I’m gone?”

Her face darkened. “I understand, but I want you to go.”

“But-”

“But nothing. He is your family. Go see him off.” She smiled at you. “And don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. I have more than a few friends that can help me out.”

“Well, that’s good to hear. Anyone I know?”

“Have you heard of Time Turner?”

“Heard of him, don’t think I’ve run into him yet.”

“He’s one of my oldest friends in Ponyville, we go back a long way.”

“Oh?” you ask, sounding somewhat suspicious. “When you say you go back a long way…”

“Hmm?” She looked at you, confused, then with a flash of realization she stammered, “No. No! There was nothing between us.”
You sigh and accept her answer.

“Besides, I have you. I love you, you don’t need to worry about me alright?”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m just being paranoid.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Yeah, I trust you.”

She gave you a kiss on the cheek. “Good.”

“Hey Wingsley?” You knock on his door. “I’m coming in.”

As you entered his room, you noticed Wingsley slouching in his chair next to the bed. His attention was lazily fixated on a certain unknown object outside. After a moment, Wingsley passed a single bored glance over you before returning to his trace-like[S1] state.

“We’re leaving in two days.”

“Oh? What for?” Wingsley asked, in a disinterested tone.

“You know exactly why.” You raise your voice slightly, patience wearing thin. “The funeral is coming up soon.”

“So you’re actually going to that? Could have fooled me,” he scoffed.

“Celestia dammit, what the hell is wrong with you?” You glared at him in disgust. “He was your father!”

“Not according to you!” he yelled back. “You have never said one good thing about him, ever. You hated him!”

“Nevertheless, he is still our father. Who heard of children that didn’t go to their parent’s funeral?”

“You don’t deny that you hated him?” Wingsley challenged, raising his voice.

“How could I not!” you shout, raising yours in turn. “He ran away from us, he abandoned us!”

“Isn’t that what you’re doing?”

Taken aback for a moment, your voice becomes dangerously calm. “Excuse me?”

“Even though he’s dead, you are still running away from him. You want to scatter his remains into the sky and forget about him.” Scattering remains and cremation was tradition in Cloudsdale as well as other cloud cities, given that mass was an important factor to take into mind when living on a cloud. Burying the dead was usually not an option. Scattering the remains in the sky meant freeing the spirit of the deceased so they could be as free in death as they were in life. “And you’re just going to keep running away, just like you have your entire life. Well, like father like son, I shouldn’t be surprised,” he scoffed. And with that, he turned back to the window, his body language making it clear that he was done with the conversation.

In that instant, you lost all control. “Never compare me to that bastard ever again!” Snarling, you picked up your hoof and raised it by your head. The immediate reaction causes Winglesy to cower away from you, shutting his eyes in the fear of pain. Towering over him, you looked at the scared, sobbing form of your brother. You wanted more than anything to beat him, to assault him for the terrible insult that left his mouth. You were furious, livid even, but you couldn’t bring yourself to release your hand and strike him. The cruel irony of striking the one thing you gave up your life trying to protect. With a huff, you turn around and walk away, saying over your shoulder “Pack your stuff and get ready. We leave in two days.”

Two days later, departure time.

“Nothing is going to change,” you whisper to yourself. You knew it was an illusion, but it was a necessary illusion, to hold back the pain of everything past and everything to come. You take a deep breath to clear your head before turning toward Wingsley. “Ready?”

“Hmmph,” Wingsley affirmatively grunted, half disinterestedly.

You took off from the ground, rocketing up into the sky. Looking back, Wingsley was not far behind you. Confident that he could do it on his own, you speed up and gain the necessary altitude for cruising into Cloudsdale. As your wings carry you closer to your hometown, to your father, you realize how right Wingsley was. You weren’t moving forward. You were still running away.

Running away, just like him…

Chapter 1: New Life

This is the story of a young pegasus stallion, or more importantly, you. Take the time to imprint yourself on this character and make the character in your own image.

Moving day... The day that you leave your life time home of Cloudsdale to a small town neighboring Canterlot. You sigh; this was not your decision. If it were up to you, you never would leave your ancestral home. But now, for your little brother’s sake, you must.

As you help the movers load the last of the luggage into the carriage, you look for your little brother inside the house. You find him snuggled up inside a blanket that your mother made for him when he was still a newborn, the one thing that reminded him of her. A simple red and white blanket with her pet name for your little brother stitched in, “Little Wingsley.” You chuckle, having always entertained the thought that he looked like a candy cane, all curled up laying on the floor. Your mother passed-on when he was just starting flight school. Since then, he has attributed flying with almost certain death. Not long after her passing, your father ran off. You still keep in contact, but each time you see him you can’t help but notice the growing hollowness in his heart.

Watching over Wingsley leaves you feeling at peace, while you wish you could continue, but time is not your ally today. You doubt the movers will wait for much longer.

You nudge him from his slumber, “Hey sleepy-head, It’s time to go.”

“Hmm...” he sighs, still heavy with sleep as he begins to stretch out. “Already?”

Time indeed, to leave your entire life, your job, your friends and everything you hold dear. You quickly banish the thought. You are leaving for the sake of your brother who you love more than anything. “Yes,” you say, exhaling. “Grab your blanket; you can sleep in the carriage.”

Carrying your little brother on your back, you leave the house, and lock the door for the last time. The end of an era. Mounting the carriage, you turn your gaze back to your home, letting old memories flow back. The pegasi leading the carriage gave a snort and began to gallop before taking off from the cloud city. You watch the house until it becomes a speck in the distance...

__________________________________________________________________________

You find yourself dozing off during the ride to Ponyville, but once again sleep’s embrace has eluded you. You sigh; at least your brother doesn’t seem to have trouble with sleep. It’d probably be fair to say that he sleeps way too much. Waking a dragon would be easier than getting him up... actually, he might be part dragon- he sure snores like one! You laugh at your own little joke as you look out at the scenery and view the world beneath you. Canterlot’s shining rooftops reveal themselves ahead, alerting you to the approaching close of your journey.

You feel the shift in your stomach and realize that you are descending. A sense of excitement washes over you as you begin to imagine your new life. Whether it will be good or bad, I better start to get used to the idea.

The carriage shakes as you start to land, the turbulence wakes your little brother. He awakens groggy eyed, but surprisingly intent. You feel him start to get more excited as you begin to enter your new lives.

After what seemed like a eternity, the carriage finally stopped and you became free to move around outside. You step outside to stretch your legs and wings and embrace the fresh air. Its so... different from Cloudsdale. Where the air in Cloudsdale was thin because of the altitude, the air here... so close to nature is... you struggle to find something appropriate to describe it, eventually you settle for, “indescribable.”

You enter the town and begin to take in your surroundings. Celestia’s sun was just breaching the horizon, illuminating your approach into town. The town was quiet this early in the morning, as far as you could tell no-pony would be awake this early; that was fine with you, all you wanted to do was move your luggage into your rental that you have made the arrangements for a month ago. As far as you could tell, the room was open and waiting for you to arrive.

You make your way through the town using a map that you were given to help find your new place of residence. As you weave through the buildings you realize that you and your brother has been awfully quiet.

You turn to him, “So, what do ya' think of our new home?” you ask with interest.

“It so different from Cloudsdale... I mean ground, actual ground,” he says incredulously, as you see him hop in place as if he is testing the solidity of the earth. “I’ve never felt anything quite like it...”

You laugh, you forgot that this is his first time on the ground, he has lived in Cloudsdale his entire life and only knows his former cloud home. Upon reflection, you think that “lived” isn’t the correct term as he has never felt safe high up in the clouds. A pegasus afraid of heights, who would have thought....

“Well if my map is correct, this should be the house,” you gesture to the building directly in front of you. “Shall we?” you say with a smirk.

“YES!” Wingsley exclaimed as you approached the house. “Its amazing! We are going to have so much fun here! Just you and me, together forever!” At this point he rushes you and wraps you in the largest embrace that he can muster. “I love you so much big brother,” he says with a sigh as he continues to hug you.

You can’t help but smile at this statement, that all of this was worth it in the end; the moving, the hassle, the fresh start, this was a good place that you would be able to call home. But first you need rest, you both would explore the town later in the afternoon. At this point all you can think about was sleep.

You unlock the door to the house and walk in to the entryway, it is obvious that nopony lived here in a while. But that does not matter to you right now, you just wanted to find the bed. After a few minutes of searching you found the bedroom, excused yourself, and retired for a few hours.

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You awaken still sleepy but rested, you pick yourself up and stretch your wings getting a satisfying pop out of them. Now is as good a time as any to explore your new home. You leave your room to search for Wingsley, you find him curled up on the couch, completely unconscious.

“Hey, rise-and-shine sleepyhead, we have a full day ahead of us, and we're already up to a late start,” it was true, you were up to a late start, as far as you could tell it was at least a couple of hours after noon.

After rousing your brother for what seemed like another half hour, you finally make it out the door. You lock the door firmly behind you and take a moment to observe your new house in warmth of Celestia’s sun. It was so inviting, you let out a small sigh and give a grin at your new home. Well so far so good, lets see where this takes us...

“Come on! We have to see the WHOLE town!” Wingsley says with an unbound excitement that is uncharacteristic of him.

“FINE...” you call to him with mock boredom, “I’m coming...”

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After what seemed like a few hours of meeting new ponies and introducing yourselves, you realize how exhausting of an ordeal this was. Sweet Celestia, how many more ponies are there? True, they might be some of the friendliest ponies that I've ever met, but I really can’t take much more of this....

As if on cue, a bright pink pony bounds up to you with a smile so intense it leaves you unnerved....

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Chapter 3: The Mailmare

The light shines in through your windows, rousing you from your slumber. It was the night after your “Welcome to Ponyville” party, and you still only had the grey mare, Ditzy, on your mind. It brought a smile to your face as you lied in your bed. You sighed, willing yourself to activate your muscles and move from the bed. Come on, upsie-daisy. You aren’t going to do anything productive if you stay in bed, as you try to convince yourself to wake up.

After a lifetime of aching and groaning you manage to leave your bed and sleepily walk downstairs to eat breakfast when you are surprised see that Wingsley is already awake. He turns towards you and motions to the cake that he is devouring.

“Do you want a piece?” he says in-between bites. It is clearly some of the leftover cake from the party. Needless to say you thought that you had an almost lifetime supply of cake in the fridge, but at the rate that Wingsley is ‘inhaling’ the cake, you doubt it will last the weekend.

As much as you wished you could lie down and relax for the day, there is too much to do and too little time to do it in. You think to yourself about all of the things you need to do since your arrival in Ponyville.

To do list:

Write Dad

Enroll Wingsley in school

Teach Wingsley how to fly.... hopefully

FIND A JOB!!!

Reading over the list, you realize that some of the items will not be something you can complete in a day. Better start off easy, you think to yourself. Not wanting to procrastinate, you decide to write to your father first. He told you to write when you got settled into town, and writing him was a great way to start off your checklist.

Grabbing paper from the desk that Wingsley is currently using as his personal table, you sit down to draft out a letter:

Dear Dad,
We have just arrived in Ponyville three days ago, and I wanted to write you to tell you that we are fine. Wingsley is happier than I have ever seen him in Cloudsdale.

You sigh, the letter was short, too short. He may not have been around after Mom died, but he is still my dad. He deserves more than just an empty response from his estranged son.
You continue this time on a more serious note, as you give a final desperate plea:

Dad, you cannot keep blaming yourself for Mom’s death, you are only hurting your family by doing that. I know how important she was to you, but we are still here. I’m scared Dad, Wingsley is now ten years old and he still has not learned how to fly. Mom’s death left him scared too, as it did with all of us. We need you, Wingsley needs you, I need you. I might be Wingsley’s brother, but a brother can only do so much... He needs a parent in his life. The town here is great and we have a spare room, please come and stay with us.

Love,

Your son

It wasn’t a fantastic piece of literature, but it sent a point. You glance back towards your brother, who finished his cake and found it time to take an after breakfast snooze. It was only your third day in Ponyville, so you leave him be. You finish addressing your letter when a pleasant thought makes you smile, you get to see Ditzy Doo again.

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Grabbing your saddle bags, you make your way out of your house, leaving a note telling your brother where you were going. The door closes gently behind you as to not wake your brother. Taking a deep breath, you lift off from the ground and begin your aerial approach to the post office. As you soar through the air, you try to take in all of the refreshing high altitude air, this is the first time you have had a moment to yourself. Your wings have not been used for a while, so this short flight put a strain on your wings that comes with intense stretching. Nevertheless you relished in the exertion, pushing yourself to the limits that you found safe.

Feeling awake and refreshed after your morning flight, you make your way to the post office. Still getting used to the layout of Ponyville it takes you a while to pinpoint the location. You land next to the entrance, taking a while to collect your thoughts before entering. Remember step one: Do NOT make an ass out of yourself. You continue to remind yourself, which is almost a necessity so that you do not repeat the ‘incident’ with Snow Angel that happened a few years back in Cloudsdale.

You open the door of the post office, peeking your head inside to see if anyone was there. To your great delight, Ditzy was sitting there at her office table. You give a small smile and fully enter into the post office.

“Morning, Ditzy” you say cheerfully.

“Oh hey, didn’t expect to see you here, couldn't stand not seeing me for a day?” she says to you playfully.

Truthfully, no I could not, you think grimly to yourself knowing that that was part of the reason, but you cover up your discomfort and give a small chuckle, “Actually, I have a letter that needs to be mailed.”

“To who?” she asks with general interest, “If it is out of town, you are in luck, I am going to make a round tomorrow.”

“It is actually,” you state, “My father lives in Cloudsdale, and he probably wants to know that we are okay,” you shrug.

“Why doesn’t he live with you guys? And you never really said why you left Cloudsdale,” Ditzy asked curiously.

“It’s a... long story...” you exhale with a very clearly pained expression.

Ditzy caught the touchy topic and decided to not push the conversation in that direction. “Well okay, a story for another time perhaps,” she said gently.

“Another time...” you repeat. “Anyway, I need to buy some stamps, I’m sure you can help me out in that regard,” trying to bring the conversation away from your troubled family history.

“You sure asked the right mare,” she chuckled to herself as she went to retrieve some stamps.

Something is nagging at the base of your mind, something that you never gave much thought before. Is she always this flirty with everypony, or just me? Convincing yourself for the sake of your sanity that she generally liked you, you wait for her to return with your stamps. You give the necessary bits for the stamps and walk off to the side to put the finishing touches on your letter before mailing it.

Carefully taking the stamp off of the roll of paper and placing it on the envelope you turn to hear a pony entering, and he did not seem happy...

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“Hey, Derpy!”

Derpy?

“What’s the deal? I ordered a package and sent for it to be shipped here three weeks ago! And it is still NOT here!” the voice shouted.

“I’m sorry, but I haven’t received any packages. I run most of this post office by myself, there isn’t much more that I can do,” Ditzy, who was clearly troubled, pleaded with the aggravated stallion.

“That’s not good enough, you good-for-nothing, cross-eyed mare,” the stallion raised his voice, “You can’t even see straight, why do we leave you in charge of handling our mail? Any bum off the street can do a better job than you can.”

Feelings of anger flow into you as you witness this horrid display. Glancing at Ditzy, you see her cowering slightly behind the desk, shaking and struggling to hold back tears. Taking the verbal abuse, you wonder why she is not defending herself. Your mind is made up, no-pony should have to take this form of abuse; one way or another, this stallion is going to leave, willingly or not.

Getting closer to the desk, the stallion raised his voice again saying, “You have anything to say you derped eyed filly? Or are you just going to sit there?”

“I-I-I’m sorry,” she squeaked out, choking back a barrage of tears.

“I’m sorry? That is the best you can do?” the stranger had moved past the fault with the mail and moved to pure insults, “We all know your story, yours and your bastard child.”

What child?

“That filly shouldn’t have a mother like you. How are you allowed to have custody over her? If anything, it would be better if filly-protective services took her. At least you wouldn’t be able to hurt her anymore than you already have, feather-brain.”

He did not just say that...

Something about the phrase struck a chord in your brain that caused your vision to go red with fury. You are unsure of what happened to you in the few seconds after thinking this, but the next thing you realize is that your back-hoof is extended behind you toward a now unmoving stallion. The post office was deafeningly silent except for soft sobs from Ditzy. A moment passes while you assess what you did. Adrenaline is still flowing through you after the physical altercation you just committed. The stallion is still breathing, slowly, but he is clearly unconscious. Fights were not something you participated in normally, but when he told Ditzy that her child was better off without her, you snapped; you never hit anyone as hard as you did seconds prior. Collecting your breathing, your attention is turned back towards Ditzy Doo.

Walking over slowly, you ask her softly, “Are you alright?”

All of the sadness, fear, and anger she was storing was now unleashed upon you in a torrent of emotion, “NO I’M NOT ALRIGHT YOU DUMB COLT! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO KICK HIM? ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE MY LIFE HARDER? HE IS GOING TO WAKE UP AND CONTINUE TO MAKE MY LIFE A LIVING HELL! DO YOU THINK BEFORE YOU ACT?” she screamed at you through the tears, “WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR HEAD? WERE YOU TRYING TO PROTECT MY HONOR OR SOME OTHER MORONIC BUCKING EXCUSE? YOU THINK YOU CAN SHOW UP AND THINK YOU CAN BE MY STALLION IN SHINING ARMOR? NEWS FLASH BUDDY, I HAVE GOTTEN THIS FAR IN MY LIFE WITHOUT ANYPONY! GET OUT!” At this point Ditzy rose from where she was sitting and moved towards you, pushing you towards the exit. In a final fit of rage, she yelled with added emphasis, “I SAID, GET OUT!! IF I CAN GO MY LIFE WITHOUT SEEING YOU AGAIN, IT WILL BE TOO SOON!”

Struck deep into your heart, you move toward the door. Feeling obligated to clean up your mess, you take the unconscious stallion outside draped over your back. Hanging your head, and moving silently you walk out into the fresh air, which tastes bitter and stale. You find a place far enough distance away from the post office to leave the stallion to wake up. Feeling sick, you turn your attention back at your home. You take off, flying high into the sky back in the direction of your house.

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Ditzy stayed in the post office for a while longer, crying and envisioning the possibility of having her daughters taken away from her. Sparkler was old enough to help her adopted sister if the worst came, which came as a minor condolence to Ditzy. She also felt bad about lashing out at that one stallion that came in earlier today. He was one of the few ponies that came to Ponyville and didn’t immediately judge me, Ditzy thought to herself. Maybe he didn’t do things the best way, but I shouldn’t have attacked him like that. Letting herself calm down, Ditzy found that the only thing she wanted to do was be with her daughters; so she packed up her saddlebags, locked the door, and flew back to her home.

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