Learn to Love

“Well,” Perrie asks, “aren’t you gonna take off your armor? I mean, you’re indoors now.”

Sky Warrior just grunts whilst standing in the way of the door, trying to hide his utter rage right now, “I always wear my armor in places I’m not familiar with, and with ponies I’m not familiar with” “especially ones that are worthless pieces of shit…,” he thought.

“Well, I think you can trust me, silly filly,” giggled the Crystal Pegasus.

Sky Warrior just grunts as he sits down, still not removing his armor. A thousand thoughts buzzed over his head at the moment while he sits there, pouting away the afternoon with the Crystal pony standing in front of him with eyes staring at him as if she had just discovered a cure for cancer.

After about an hour of absolute silence, Perrie nonchalantly asks, “So, uh, is this how you spend your afternoons? Sitting like this?” After not receiving a response, she begins tugging on his right forehoof playfully. “Oh come on! Let’s go do something! I’m bored! The Crystal Fair is going on right now, and that’s when we power the Crystal Heart.”

Upon hearing the word, “Crystal Heart,” Sky Warrior instantly perks up and thinks, “Maybe I’ll find out exactly what the hell this ‘Crystal Heart” is…” He gets up and says flatly, “I guess I can manage that.”

Perrie squeals for joy while Sky Warrior just grumbles and they go out of the house again.

“So what exactly is this ‘Crystal Fair’,” asks Sky Warrior, not actually meaning the question, “as in, what does it do to power this ‘Crystal Heart’?”

“Love, silly,” replied the Crystal Pegasus.

“Love? Love doesn’t power protection for the entire Empire. It just ruins lives.”

Once she heard this, Perrie laughs loudly saying, “You’re so funny, Sky! I like you already!”

“Yeah, well don’t get used to it. I’ll be glad to get away from here when those damned changelings are gone,” he responded when he heard this, “I can’t stand being here around such fucking useless ponies.”

“If you say so, heh,” responds Perrie as she walks and thinks, “he’s freaking cute. I like him a lot.”

After walking a bit, they arrive at the Crystal Fair where tents and booths crowd the small field in front of the castle and Crystal Ponies everywhere. Sky Warrior and Perrie go about the different booths.

“One thing the Empire is famous for,” began Perrie ,“is its woven baskets. See?”

Upon her excitedly giving him the basket, Sky Warrior seems unmoved, yet is slightly confused as to how this basket could possibly help protect the Empire. “It’s a nice basket. What is it made of,” he asked as his original intention was to hear if it was powered or something.

Confused at the question, she replies with a dumbfounded look on her face, “Uhhhh, hay? String? Stuff you would normally use to make baskets? Why?”

“No, nothing,” he responds understanding the confusion, “was just…curious.”

Whilst saying that, he hears growling coming from his own and Perrie’s stomach. “What do you have to eat here? Does that come with this ‘Fair’ as well?”

“Of course! Come on! Let’s go get some food to eat,” replied Perrie

They arrive at a series of booths to gather a meal with Crystal berries, Crystal corn on the cob, and standard hay fries to go with it. While they were eating, a series of questions arose in Sky Warrior’s mind.

“How the hell does this and everything about this so called ‘Crystal Fair’ have to do with the Crystal Heart’s power? Seems like a fucking waste if you ask me. What the hell is this ‘Crystal Heart’ even made out of since I KNOW for a fact that crystal cannot store energy much less give off enough to protect a whole fucking empire. Why the hell does this pony I’ve been with since this afternoon have wings and every other fucking ‘Crystal pony’ doesn’t? WHY DOESN’T THIS PLACE MAKE ANY FUCKING SENSE! Lousy piece of shit…”

Amid his frustration, he ends up bringing up a conversation from earlier, “So, you haven’t answered my question.”

“And what’s that,” she asks with a mouthful of Crystal Corn.

“What the hell is this ‘Crystal Fair’ and what does it have to do with powering the Crystal Heart?”

She laughs once again, “I told you, silly. It’s love. The Crystal Fair is when the Crystal Ponies use their culture to spread the love of each other, thus, enhancing the power of the Crystal Heart.”

“But that makes no sense! How can love, something so silly and stupid, power a thing that can protect a fucking Empire somehow?”

“Dunno. But it works.”

Sky Warrior grunts in response to what he finds to be a “dumbass” answer. “So, what else is there left to do?”

“Well, there’s a jousting tournament soon,” replied Perrie.

“What?! A jousting to-...” controlling his excitement upon hearing this, “I would much like to participate in this jousting tournament.”

“Oh? Alrighty then!”

They then arrive at the legendary jousting arena where hundreds of Crystal Ponies were watching and some of the most burliest ponies ever to be seen or heard of where at the center warming up for the competition.

Perrie points to all the competitors will she states, “all of these ponies come from every part of Equestria just to compete. They are the strongest, meanest, toughest stallions around.”

“Right up my alley!”

“You sure? I mean, I believe in you. It’s just that I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Don’t worry,” Sky Warrior gives a smirk similar to that of a well-known athlete from Ponyville, “I got this!”

Sky Warrior takes his place to begin the competition, standing tall and proud in the complete golden armor of the Royal Guard, not caring about anything in the world but to win this competition. Perrie takes her spot in the stands which once she sat down, all the other ponies shunned away from her as if she had a disease. She was mildly depressed about this, but was mostly excited about Sky Warrior in the competition.

Sprinting a full speed, he knocks the first pony out of the whole arena with ease. A couple more ponies come along to the same outcome. No pony went home defeated by Sky Warrior went without a broken bone or some sort of injury cuzz he unleashed hell upon them. However, getting closer towards the end, the tournament gets fierce and Sky Warrior begins to feel weak. He’s still dominating and going undefeated, but he’s not doing as good as he was in the beginning.

Somehow knowing this, Perrie comes down to him before the next one right before the last stallion who seems to be three times Sky Warrior’s weight in muscle even though Sky Warrior is pretty strong, himself.

“Hey,” she says, “you alright?”

“I don’t know,” he replies in between panting, “I’m quite weak right now strangely. I just feel no life.”

“Then let my love give you life!”

Just as Perrie says this, she begins to glow brightly and hugs Sky Warrior. As she hugs him, he feels a strange rush of energy, strength, and power. While confused, he gets ready to take down the burly stallion ready to crush him. As soon as he makes contact, a large flash happens at the tip of the lance and the stallion was launched high in the air and hit the Crystal Palace behind the arena. A great cheering is heard from the stands and the streets of the Crystal Empire flare with light.

Once again panting, Sky Warrior comes up to Perrie and asks, “What the hell did you put into me that made me do that.”

“Dunno. I felt a rush in me that I’ve never felt before,” she replies with a startled look on her face, “I just heard you were down in spirits and energy and I felt my energy surging everywhere in my body.”

“Well, whatever you did, it was awesome, and it made me feel awesome. I feel MUCH better now.” He stops panting and asks a question that is very uncommon for Sky Warrior to be asking, “Would you mind accompanying me to the rest of the fair? There might be some things here that I might actually, er, uh, enjoy! Yes, that’s the word.”

“Alrighty then,” she responds as her eyes lit up trying to contain her excitement that she was finally getting through to him.

“So uh, what else is there to do at the Crystal Fair?”

“Well, there’s the flugerhorn performance. Doesn’t take much to play a flugerhorn though, and it’s such a wacky instrument too.”

“Well uh, I happen to be a flugerhorn player,” responds Sky Warrior as he recalls the time he used to play the flugerhorn in his years as a private, “but they haven’t played flugerhorns for years. What gives them bringing it back?”

“Uhhhh, they’ve always been here. Where have you been for the past five centuries?”

“Isolated,” he responds shrugging his shoulders, “but lemme see if I can’t go perform a song on the flugerhorn.”

They then go to the booth where they were issuing flugerhorns, and Sky Warrior picked up one with a stainless steel finish. After obtaining the flugerhorn, Sky Warrior waits in line to go on stage while Perrie sits in the audience, again, with everyone moving away from her as if she’s a demon from hell.

A couple performances in and Perrie drifts to sleep because they’re so quiet and not as moving. Everything seemed distant. And just then, the music seemed to blast so loud, she was blown out of the chair she was sitting in. Expecting to see about 10 flugerhorn players, she looks up to see who it was, and to her amazement, it was one. It was the dark yellow colored Pegasus playing the anthem of Equestria from long ago. Slow and powerful he played it, with loudness that can be heard all around the Empire. When he finished, there was a brief moment of silence and then a cheer roared through the stands and Perrie was once again glowing and excited.

“That was amazing,” exclaimed the Crystal Pegasus, “I haven’t heard it before and that’s probably why it was amazing! Where did you learn to play like that?!”

“Heh, no one has really asked that question,” he replied with a light chuckle, “but I learned a long time ago when I was just a little private back in the Army.”

“Well I loved it. It was amazing,” she responds as she nudges against him.

Soon thereafter, it was getting close to dusk. Sky Warrior and Perrie had spent the whole day together and the streets of the Empire grew radiant as the sun began to set. They decided that it was time to go get some dinner, and so they go to the booths once more to get pretty much the same thing they had for lunch before, but this time, both were enjoying each other’s company, talking about the day’s events.

“The way you smacked that one guy that made him flip over his lance,” Perrie states amid her laughing, “PRICELESS!”

“Heh, it was funny wasn’t it,” responds Sky Warrior whilst chuckling.

“Hell yea! You were amazing out there!”

“Thanks.”

“No problem,” she states while fluttering her wings, “and that song you played, I’ve never heard anything more beautiful.”

“It’s the only thing I’ve ever learned on a flugerhorn, and I played it at a tone that was to address every soldier in the Aviation Division.”

“Really? Now, tell me about this Aviation Division.”

“Well, pretty much, the Aviation Division was the part of the Equestrian Army that was composed of pegasi. Hey! If you wanted to join, you could.”

Upon hearing the statement about her wings, she just shrugs her shoulders and says, “Yea, sure.”

“What’s the matter,” asks Sky Warrior, instantly detecting something wrong, “don’t you like having wings?”

“Well, they are useful. It’s just that, well, I’ve been pretty much treated as an outcast, a no-life all my entire life. Everytime I go somewhere, everyone treats me like I have a disease or something and they shy away. And it’s all because of these wings. My mom was a Crystal pony and my dad was a Pegasus, so I’m what you would call a ‘crossbreed’ and no one likes crossbreeds. That’s why I have room in my house since most Crystal ponies live with roommates and that’s why I was excited to see you. You were the first pony that I’ve actually been with personally, and I really wanted to be your friend.”

“Well, it’s nothing to be ashamed of to have wings, I assure you,” Sky Warrior says sitting up straight, “and I promise you that tomorrow, I shall fix that issue. That’s discrimination, and it’s not right.”

“Thanks a lot,” replies Perrie small tears, “that means so much to me.”

“It’s my duty to make sure everypony is treated equally under Her Majesty’s rule.”

“And because you have a heart that is golden. You’re the best.”

“Yea, well, I still can’t wait to get back to my blockhouse back at Canterlot with all my inventions and my normal life cycle.”

This devastated Perrie as she responds, “Yea, alright.”

As they finished talking, one of the scouters comes from the sky and lands between them.

“Sir,” the scouter begins, “the changelings have been spotted and our scouters have managed to pick up that they will be attacking at high noon tomorrow.”

“We’ll have to prepare then,” replies Sky Warrior as he gets from sitting with Perrie, “get along, and I’ll be right with you.”

“Yes sir,” says the scouter.

He turns to Perrie and says, “Farewell, Perrie. I wish you the best. Thanks for an amazing day.”

“You’re welcome.”

As Sky Warrior and the scouter leaves, Perrie is left alone, with no one to be there with her in her sadness.

As she sat there at the table, tearing up badly, she thought and said to herself softly, “No one will ever want to love a crossbreed…”