Foalhoodby KMCAChaptersChapter 1 (re-write): The Feather GuardChapter 2 (rewrite): After SchoolChapter 3 (rewrite): Stress and RequestsChapter 4 (rewrite): The KissJust Visiting (Rewrite)Chapter 1 (re-write): The Feather Guard“What are you going to do about it princess narwhal, call daddy? Use your precious little horn? Or just sit there and cry?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, the unicorn they were making fun of never said a word to anyone, well not that I had heard in the last two days since I had started school here. It made me really angry because if he wanted to call her names for being a unicorn he’d probably do the same to me just because I was a pegasus. I didn’t even think, I did a rolling dive and landed in between the bully and his prey, my sudden appearance and my fully spread wings must have scared him because he took a step back. “Who do you think you are, picking on a pony just because she’s smaller than you, or because she’s not an earth pony. Well guess what, I’m not an earth pony and I’m just about as big as you. If you want a fight then come on!” I pawed at the ground ready to charge, I was so sure of myself and confident that I almost expected to get my cutie mark for this. “You’re going to protect princess narwhal? What are you a royal guard, feather duster?” My wings fluttered in anger, I knew he wanted me to attack him so he would have an excuse to hurt me but I wasn’t having it. I lowered my head, I had dropped the horseshoe now it was all up to him, would he chicken out or would I show him that pegasi are just as tough as any earth pony. “Pfft, dumb feather duster you’re not worth it.” He shoved his way through the crowd, they weren’t sure what had just happened the biggest toughest bully in the school had just trotted away with his tail between his legs. I turned to face the unicorn they had been picking on and saw her shaking, why would somepony pick on a pony that was going to cry like a little foal? It mean and not fair to pick on someone who wouldn’t even try to fight back. “Are you ok? He’s gone and no one else wants to hurt you.” I stared at the crowd and they all started to wander away. This only made her cry harder, I had no clue how to make her feel better so I simply flew off, making sure to keep an eye on her for the rest of the break. I didn’t pay much attention to her before I saw her being bullied. Of course I noticed her, she was the only other non earth pony in our class. Unlike the huge cloud city of Cloudsdale my hometown of Cloudadonia was built around a big flat topped mountain, where unicorns and earth ponies lived so I had some unicorn and earth pony friends, even if they were never allowed to come to my house on the clouds. But here? It was so weird being the only pegasus in class, how much harder was it for her? She was so quiet and before I started school here she would have been the only non earth pony. How did that even happen? When I got to the door a cream colored mare with a lighthouse cutie mark stopped me, it was my teacher. “Maple Leaf, I think we need to have a talk about what happened, please stay behind after school. We will be having a short talk.” “Yes, Ms. Light.” I hated history class, yesterday had been cool because Ms. Light had spent the class talking about Pegasi warrior history, from Lightning Strike all the way up to Commander Hurricane. Today though was really boring, we were done talking about the history of the three tribes and started talking about how they united the same story that they heard every Hearts Warming eve. I would have joined the rest of the class in the real lesson of sleeping with your eyes open if I didn’t keep getting the feeling that somepony was watching me. I kept sneaking looks behind me whenever I could but I couldn’t manage to catch whoever it was. The bully and unicorn were both behind me in the classroom the bully was asleep, drooling on his desk, the unicorn was staring at her desk not moving a muscle and in the desk between them sat a yellow earth pony, the only one who was actually paying attention to the lesson. I tried to pay attention to Ms. Light and soon enough I was zoned out like the rest of the class. “And that’s how Equestria was made. Any questions?” I jumped in my seat, I was having such a nice nap. Looking around I think that the rest of the class had been too, some of the other ponies were slower to wake up than I was. The only pony that looked wide awake was a yellow filly with a black curly mane and glasses. Then again if you so much as make a loud noise behind her she was likely to jump through the roof, I wish I sat behind her instead of in front of her, it would make staying awake easier. “Okay class, that’s all the time we have for today, I want everyone to do the assignment I gave earlier, anypony who doesn’t do it will have to do double homework tomorrow night.” I felt the desk behind me bump into my chair. “Ms. Light, Ms. Light! I don’t remember you giving us homework, how can I do it if I don’t know what it is? I don’t want double homework on a Friday! I can barely get my chores done and have time to have fun as it is.” Yep, that filly is high strung. “Just because you were paying attention Seam I’ll let you in on a little secret… There wasn’t any homework, but I want you all to get a good night’s sleep so you can stay awake in class tomorrow, can everypony do that?” Ms. Light was such a nice teacher, she always caught us when we misbehaved but as long as we didn’t disrupt the class and made sure to study when we got home she didn’t mind if we dozed off every once and awhile. “If you’re up for it I’d like you read the chapters about the years leading up to unification of the three tribes, we will review it tomorrow one last time before the test on Monday, but you need to be well rested, I won’t be so accepting of any student sleeping during class tomorrow.” The other students laughed, whatever Ms. Light did to whoever fell asleep it must be funny. “Now remember to read the chapter in your history books about the history of the three tribes. There will be a test on Monday, but we’ll do some review tomorrow just to make sure.” “Yes, Ms. Light.” We chorused like good little foals. “Good, class dismissed, have a nice night. Mr. Leaf, we still need to have our discussion about what happened at lunch today. I gulped, my doom was at hoof. Author's Note I hope you all enjoy this re-write. I know it's been in the works for the better part of a year since I started it but to be fair I've only recently hit a level where I feel like I'm capable of telling the story properly. Chapter 2 (rewrite): After SchoolI watched the other ponies walk out of the classroom, only three of them bothered to look at me. The bully, the unicorn and the earth pony that sat behind me, Seam something… I couldn't remember her whole name. The bully looked pleased with himself and smiled as he left, ignoring the look of disapproval from Ms. Light, the unicorn looked at me and smiled before blushing and rushing out. Seam gave me a comforting smile of support before trotting off to talk with the unicorn outside. I felt bad for not learning the name of the unicorn, or even the last name of the yellow filly, but if I got in trouble for fighting my aunt and uncle would probably send me home to my parents and I’d probably never get my cutie mark “Now about what happened at lunch.” “Ms. Light I can explain, I was practicing my flying and I saw a pony picking on a unicorn and I didn’t think that was nice so I went down there to ask him to stop but he called her a narwhal and me a feather duster and I told him that if he wanted to pick on someone he would have to fight me it was just so he would leave her alone don’t tell my parents please I’m learning so much here I don-” She interrupted me with a raised hoof. “Maple, I wanted to thank you for standing up for Angelic Note.” My jaw dropped, I was sure she was going to tell me off for almost getting in a fight, why would she want to thank me for almost starting one? “Umm… Huh?” “You see Maple, Angelic Note has been picked on by her classmates since she started here earlier this year, not just because she’s a unicorn but because her father was sent here personally by Princess Celestia. Angelic Note is a nice filly but she really hasn’t made many friends in her time among us, I’m glad to see somepony stand up for her and be a friend to her.” “Thank you Ms. Light.” I was so happy that I’d stood up for Angelic Note, I felt like a hero, just like the pegasi in all the old stories. “I think that was a brave and noble thing you did but if you take things too far, my little pony, then I will have to talk to your parents about your behavior. I will not stand for fighting during recess or lunch breaks, is that clear?” Her tone went from being friendly to being super serious. “Yes Ms. Light.” The room seemed to get brighter after I answered. I reminded myself to never make her really angry with me. “Good, now head on home. I’m sure your aunt and uncle have chores for you to do and you still have homework for tonight.” She switched back to being super friendly like she’d never given me the warning at all. I rushed to strap my saddlebag onto my back and hurried out of the schoolhouse, she was right. Aunt and uncle Clementine had chores for me to do when I got out of school, it was part of the conditions of me staying with them. I galloped out the doors and jumped into the air, spreading my wings to fly home. I gave a short shout sounding more like a filly than a colt when something grabbed my tail. I dropped to the ground and looked over my shoulder. It was the unicorn, Angelic Note. “Oh my, I’m sorry I didn’t hurt you did I?" Angelic wasn't just her name but the best way to describe her voice. It was really peaceful. “No, I mean it did a little but you just surprised me.” I looked back and she shied away from me, was I scary or was it something else? Her eyes were fixed on my outstretched wings, I folded them down over my saddlebag. She briefly looked me in the eye before staring at the ground, she was so shy it was starting to annoy me. "I just wanted to thank you. Nopony has ever stood up for me before and I was wondering… Maybe… I mean if you would like to... sometime.” I had to get back to the farm, we were harvesting today and they wanted me to help with the clementine’s that got stuck in the branches high up in the trees. Besides, this shy act was getting on my nerves. “Look I have to go, I have chores at home I need to do… But I would like to get to know you better, after all what’s a narwhal princess without her royal guard feather duster.” I took off leaving the unicorn alone in front of the school. Author's Note This was originally part of chapter 1. But I wanted to add a cliffhanger at the end of ch.1 Let's face it, an OC fic NEEDS a hook on ch.1 otherwise no one will keep reading it. This is just the opening act afterall, I have 3 "books" in the works Chapter 3 (rewrite): Stress and RequestsChapter 3: Stress and Requests Three weeks later I hated Life Skills class with a passion, it was the last class of the day and we could only do two things, cooking or crafting. I know that I’m not any good at making things like clothes or sculptures and how many pegasi are legendary chefs? Then again you didn’t see many earth ponies with a talent for sewing but Seam Stress made it look easy… Stressful but easy. I on the other hoof had no such luck, I opened the oven that my apple crisp was cooking in, then slammed it closed as smoke poured out the opening. “Ms. Light, I did it again!” My teacher galloped over with a bucket of water in her mouth. If this had only happened once or twice I wouldn’t be so calm about it, but it had happened often enough that my teacher and I could probably put out an oven fire better than a team of fireponies. She nodded to me and I opened the oven again, flames shot out this time before Ms. Light emptied the bucket onto the burning desert. My apple crisp was apple extra crispy now. Ms. Light put the bucket down by the oven as I closed the door. “Maple how many times do I have to remind you not to turn your oven up so high?” Ms. Light didn’t even sound upset, we had done this too many times for that. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think it was that hot.” My wings drooped, my primaries almost dragging on the floor. I was so sure I had got it right this time. “Maybe you should try something else, something that won’t burst into flames if you make a mistake. Please?” I knew it was a bad sign that my teacher was pleading with me to stop trying to learn how to bake. But I wanted to learn how to cook, I could cook things on the stove. My pancakes were the best in the class, I could make a good stir fry if I had no distractions but I couldn’t make anything in the oven. If it was possible to burn down a cloud house I could probably do it making a loaf of bread. I abandoned my failed attempt at desert and went to check on my friends. Seam Stress was busy making a hat, I doubted that she’d even noticed my most recent failure. “Hi Seam, how’s the hat coming along?” I could see a hole in it for a horn, sometimes I was sure that she had become friends with me and Angelic Note just so she could experiment in unicorn and pegasus fashion. She held the hat on her hoof and shoved it in my face, it was close enough that I could take a bite out of it if I wanted to. “What do you think? Too simple? Or did I use too much glitter? Too many colours or two few? Oh, Celestia it’s terrible isn’t it? Tell me the truth.” The yellow filly always had a twitchy eye when she asked for an opinion, which didn’t make the rare criticism easy to deliver. “Why are you asking me? I don’t wear hats and even if I did I’m not a unicorn. Shouldn’t you be asking Note?” Her eye twitched several times and she glanced at the unicorn trying to make a bit purse at another work bench across the room. “No matter what I make all she ever has to say is that ‘it’s lovely’ I bet she’d say the same thing no matter what, how would you like it if she tried a bite of your baking and told you that it was good, you know she would!” My feathers ruffled at the insult, I know she didn’t mean it and I pretended to be deeply hurt by her comment. “Hey, no need to bring my cooking into this.” Seam smiled at me, just for a second she looked perfectly happy. Almost like she enjoyed being stressed out by her work and having her friends cheer her up, how anypony could live like that was beyond me. “Angel, can you come over here please?” Angelic always made time for us. I used to think it was because she had no other friends, but Angelic Note would make time for anypony who wanted her help. I was sure she’d get her cutie mark for helping out ponies or something like that. Then again Seam’s cutie mark didn’t really make her happier, did it? I was never sure. “I made a new hat for you, tell me what you think.” She put the hat on her friend, making sure the horn went into the hole. “Oh, a new hat? It’s lovely. Great work like always Seam.” Angelic Note probably had the most soothing voice in all of Equestria but Seam Stress was not a pony that knew how to be soothed. Seam let out a short little scream of frustration. “You see, nothing! Tell me, how bad is it? Should I give up high fashion and go live as a nun in the Church of Celestia knitting tea cosies or can I be saved?” This level of drama was so normal for her that none of the other students paid it any attention, not even Ms. Light so much as batted an eyelash at the yellow filly, leaving us as her friends to calm her down. I started to sweat as I struggled to find something small wrong with it, anything. “Well, maybe if you put some sequins around the horn collar, that’d put it over the top. I mean I could see some noblemare wearing that to the Grand Galloping Gala, right Note?” It looked pretty fancy but I know that she puts a lot of effort into making things well too. I’d have to ask her for a favour later, I know it’d cheer her up. “Oh, yes. I’m sure my father would agree, it’s perfect for Canterlot.” Me and Note struggled to maintain our poker faces. Actually it was a very nice hat and I was sure that Note would wear it somewhere. Seam stared at us for a minute before hugging both of us. “You two are the best friends anypony could ask for, I don’t know how you put up with me sometimes.” I had no clue where this came from and Note seemed confused by it too. We watched as Seam Stress cheerfully started cleaning up her work station and I left the two fillies to do whatever it is fillies do so I could clean up my mess from my latest failed attempt at baking. I managed to clean up most of the mess from my failure before the class ended, but when the bell rang Ms. Light said I could leave and she’d finish cleaning up my mess. I don’t know why she’s always so nice to me, I mean I’m just some new student who almost gets in fights and sets an oven on fire once a week. I grab my saddlebag and head out, I had to catch Seam before she left, I was kind of embarrassed to be asking her to make me something. Besides she just finished a project... and she’d probably be upset if I just had my dad or aunt buy me something. I caught her right by the schoolyard gate, all the other ponies rushed to get home after school but Seam always took her time, almost like she didn’t want to go home. “Hey Seam, wait up.” I flew over to her, wanting to just get this out of the way. “Hi Maple, how are you?” She looked nervous, she always looked nervous when we hung out without Angelic, or was it guilt? I touched down in front of her and folded my wings against my sides. Now I was nervous. “Umm... I was wondering. If.” I took a deep breath, “Winter’s coming soon and I’m starting to get cold when I’m flying around. I was wondering if maybe, you’d like to make me a vest for me. You know, so I could stay warm when I’m flying around?” This was the first time I’d ever asked her to make me something. Usually she had to threaten or beg to get me to try on her newest outfit. They were pretty comfy usually but I’ve been forced to put on more than one embarrassing piece of clothes. I wasn’t sure how she’d react, I know she’d make me something that I would like but I didn’t know if she’d have fun making something simple. “You. Want me to make you a vest?” She didn’t sound very happy with the idea. Oh well, it was worth a- She screamed at the top of her lungs and grabbed me. I used to believe that a pegasus was just as strong as an earth pony, feeling her squeeze me so hard let me know that compared to an earth pony I was a wimp. I could barely breathe, then she kissed me. The world froze for a second and we both realized what happened. Our eyes bugged out and we leapt apart. Seam looked at the ground and I looked at her, when she finally looked me in the eyes again she blushed. I took off in a daze and slowly made my way back to the farm, all the while not being able to stop thinking about that kiss. Seam let out another happy squeal and started galloping home, over the moon at the idea of making her friend something he’d actually want to wear. And Angelic Note stood watching the ground where it all happened with tears in her eyes before she too ran home, sobbing like a newborn foal. Author's Note Again I'm splitting the chapter... Did I have any clue on how to play with emotions back then? Sheesh. Actually I intentionally avoided cliffhangers because as a reader I hated them. The next chapter will take a bit of time, I'm going to be redoing it from scratch and pushing my limits on it. Or the chapter will be split into 3 rather than 2. I haven't decided yet. Chapter 4 (rewrite): The KissAngelic Note watched curiously as Maple walked up to Seam Stress. His mouth moved, and Seam’s face lit up in utter happiness. Frozen, she watched as her best friend kissed the colt she herself had a crush on. Maple flew away, stunned by the kiss he’d received and Seam trotted happily off in satisfaction. How dare she! Seam knew exactly how big a crush Note had on Maple, she’d even reassured her time and time again that she didn’t like him in that way. Angelic Note stood outside on the bright and sunny Friday afternoon wishing for rain. Bad things were supposed to happen in the rain, not under the light of Celestia’s sun. The afternoon sky might have been clear but the dirt below her muzzle was getting rained on all the same. Seam Stress almost bounced on her way home, one of her best friends had asked her to make him something. Even without asking she knew he didn’t want anything fancy, but he was still her first client, in a sense. He’d asked her to do it. He didn’t go to some store or have his parents send him something from home. He’d been so shocked when she’d given him that kiss in thanks... The pale yellow Earth Pony skidded to a stop, realizing what she’d done. Oh no. “Buck me.” Angel ran all the way home, leaving a trail of tears behind her as she ran through town, her mane almost managing to hide her face as she galloped unevenly up the front steps of her home, through the front door and into the music room. Slamming the door behind her so that her father and the servant Alfredo would know not to bother her. She dove towards the piano where her pain, hurt and sadness could be written out as musical notes. Without realizing it Angel’s horn lit up and began flitting from key to key as she quickly scribbled the notes down on a blank sheet of music paper. The melody echoed sadly throughout the house, bringing a tear to the eye of the butler chopping onions in the kitchen. The act of chopping onions served as an excuse in case the little mistress of music decided to take a break and get a snack. Seam stitched her latest creation at a feverish pace. When she was stressed, she sewed, when her sewing wasn’t perfect she stressed. It worried her friends and scared her dad but she couldn’t help it, the stress of sewing was a good stress. It was something she could deal with, and an escape from her meddlesome emotions. This one wasn’t going so well. She’d already botched two attempts at making Maple’s vest. Why couldn’t life be as easy as sewing? If you made a mistake you just removed the thread and started over. She considered how she might remove the bad stitch in her friendship with Angel and Maple before the entire garment of her social life was ruined. The piano echoed through the whole house. A single passage that repeated over and over. Each time it underwent changes; diminuendo here, a sixteenth rest here, another bar of music, allargando towards the end for the repeating bit. Angelic Note sat so completely entranced by the pencil and paper in front of her that she didn’t even notice her father enter the room. It wasn’t until her father interrupted her musical reverie by playing a random note on the piano with his own magic that she realized that she wasn’t alone. “Daddy, no! It’s not ready yet!” She grabbed her sheet music and stuffed it into the music folder where she kept all her half-finished pieces. “Well, your daddy used to make music too, you know. Back before I first became a mayor I was considered a great composer and musician. Just ask Alfredo.” The musician turned mayor gave his daughter an affectionate head rub. If the townsfolk saw him now they’d keel over in shock. Their fair yet regal mayor giving his filly a noogie? The scandal! “Daaaad, stooooop. You’re always so embarrassing when other ponies can’t see you!” Like magic a smile appeared on her face. As professional as he behaved in public he was so childish with her. His love for her never ceased to get a smile out of her. “Now, tell me kiddo what’s got you so down? Your classmates aren’t making fun of you again are they?” “It’s not that, it’s just something one of the fillies did to the pegasus student in my class.” “I know how hard it is to stick up for another being bullied but sweetie, remember when you first started? How they were mean to you, imagine how things would have been better if you’d had someone willing to be your friend and stick up for you. I’m not saying that you have to be their friend, just be nice and help them see that it isn’t the end of the world.” He hugged his daughter to let her know ho proud he was of her. Angel blushed, her father had no clue what she meant, but she couldn’t bring herself to correct him. “Sometimes sweetie you just have to show your fellow ponies some love.” Author's Note Quite possibly the HARDEST chapter to rewrite. It went through no less than 3 complete re-writes and probably 4 or 5 more partial re-writes.. I hope I captured their emotions well. I'll let your comments tell me how well I did. Just Visiting (Rewrite)Chapter 3: Just visiting Flying through the late afternoon sky was a blessing, the cool air and simplicity of the open sky was always had a way of clearing your mind, but today it wasn’t helping. His mind was full of the experiences he had since moving away from his cloud home. He sometimes felt claustrophobic spending so much time on the ground, but he had no one to spend time with in the air. None of his friends from his cloud home were strong enough fliers to make the trip, or wanted to. He was never really sure on how they felt about the ground. Some pegasi didn’t like to even admit it existed, while others were okay living on the ground… Just none his age in the town he was living in. Cloudadonia was close now and my family lived on the outskirts, we even had our own cloud in the sky which was something not many pegasi had. My mom always used to tell me how lucky she was to have been able to get permission to use this cloud for her home, she said it was a perk of managing the small cloud factory in Cloudadonia. Yes, it wasn’t as big as the one in Cloudsdale and it couldn’t make snowflakes or rainbows but it suited our town and was probably the second coolest place to work in town. His dad worked the coolest job, he actually RAN the company responsible for changing the color of the leaves and getting them ready for the running of the leaves. He never told anyone except his most trusted workers how to do it, but every year the landscape beneath us would gradually go from vibrant green to beautiful reds and yellows as my dad and co-workers did their job. He was actually looking forward to it this year, he would get to see the change up close, maybe even get the chance to learn the secret of how they do it. He was so lost in thought that he flew right into the front door, the loud smack was greeted by a yelp inside from his mother. His dad opened the door to see his son getting to his hooves and shaking his head. “You know the doorbell still works son, no need to go knocking so hard with that noggin of yours.” His dad wasn’t one to talk, when the fall arrived and he was busy, the rest of the family learned to be quick on their hooves. His dad would come home and crash through anything and everything, no surface was hard enough to stop him and the entire outside of the house had probably been replaced by now from all his crashes. “I guess it runs in the family, hi dad.” He wrapped his hooves around his dad’s neck, he missed his dad all the time and was constantly hoping for his dad to come visit him, after all he helped the Clementine’s get started back when he was a just a foal. “I can’t believe how much fun I have down on the ground dad, I know you said you enjoy it but its way better than that. There’s just so much down there.” His dad hugged him back, enjoying the embrace of his son. “Well your mother is in the kitchen making some pancakes. Maybe since you like the ground so much, I’ll let you try some maple syrup.” I know my face lit up, my dad never let anyone have ANY of his maple syrup. He loved it so much that he insisted that my name be maple. We broke our hug and he nudged me towards the kitchen. I trotted into the kitchen and waited, mom finished the pancake she was making before coming over and giving me a brief nuzzle. She had never been the most affectionate mother, yes she never discouraged me but being judged ‘good’ at anything almost never happened. “Hi mom, the pancakes smell great.” I hopped up onto the stool and waited. Dad came in with two bottles of his prized maple syrup, one nearly empty and the other still with the wax seal around the neck of the bottle. He pushed the half empty bottle towards me then swapped it with the unopened bottle after mom cleared her throat. Mom put a stack of pancakes in front of both me and dad before joining us with a small stack of her own. “I hear that you are catching up acceptably well at your new school. I’m pleased to hear that it wasn’t a mistake to let you transfer.” That was about the average I could expect from my mom, in fact that was a compliment, I think. “It’s hard and a lot of what Ms. Light teaches us is what earth ponies need to know if they’re going to be farmers, but she says I’m doing really good.” I opened the bottle of syrup with my mouth, trying not to taste the wax. “Does this mean I can stay there for awhile? The Clementine’s told me they would like me to stay if you say I can.” I put the lid down on the table and carefully picked up the bottle, I know my dad would never let me have another bottle if I spilled even a single drop… despite the fact he had already spilled plenty of his all over the table in front of him. “As long as your performance in school doesn’t drop below acceptable levels I believe this is a good arrangement.” That was practically encouragement. “Of course, if you still feel that your cutie mark is something related to trees then how can I say no?” He gestured to his cutie mark, a yellow leaf showed that his special talent was related to trees as well. I took my first bite into a syrup drenched pancake, I felt like I was biting into heaven. If Princess Celestia said maple syrup was to be banned at that exact moment I would risk being banished for just one more bite. The second the sugary sweet syrup passed my lips I knew that it was maple syrup not trees that would be the focus of my life. I dumped more of the delicious substance onto my stack of syrup delivery devices and dug in with a passion that even my father couldn’t hope to match. My wings even gave a brief buzz. “Wow, I thought I liked maple syrup, I guess it runs in the family.” My dad said with a smile. I took a break to chew and nodded my head, my mother who was used to stuff like this with dad continued on like I wasn’t violating every rule of fine dining. “So sweetie, meet any interesting fillies?” Seam Stress and Angelic Note flashed through my head and I started choking on my wondrous meal. That question wasn’t just hard for me to swallow but it was coming from my mother, a pony that was probably famous for not caring about silly things like crushes. “Now dear, even if he does there is no need to embarrass him about it.” Dad looked on in sympathy as I started coughing really hard trying to breathe, he came over and started tapping me on the back with a hoof until I could catch my breath. The rest of the meal was very quiet, I don’t even remember taking my eyes off my plate. When I finished eating I helped clear the table without looking at either of my parents. Mom went to go listen to music and read a book in the living room leaving me and dad alone to do the dishes. “You know your mother might not be very good at the romance thing herself but she can certainly spot it easily enough. Is everything ok? I’m here to listen if you want to talk.” That was perfect, I wanted to talk about it but I didn’t want to bring it up and here was the person I wanted to speak about it with asking if I wanted help, I opened up immediately. “Well I met these two girls at school and we’ve become really good friends. I think one of them likes me, but I think I like the other one. I mean I like Stress but she’s just always so… Twitchy. But Angelic, well she’s so pretty and gentle and nice as can be. She’s nice to everypony even if they aren’t nice to her, I mean she can be overly shy at times but she’s the only unicorn in the school and I’m the only pegasus, but I think that just makes us closer. I don’t know what to do, what do you think dad?” He looked distracted which I knew meant he was thinking things through, my mom might be the head of the house but dad was a real thinker when he put his mind to it. The plate he was cleaning absentmindedly fell back into the sink, he just picked it up again, he was always dropping things or tripping over nothing but he never let it stop him from doing anything. “All I can say on matters of the heart is don’t force them. If you’re attracted to this Angelic filly then you should let her know. If she’s not interested then there’s no harm, at the same time you can’t let something like a pony’s work ethic get in the way of loving them. Don’t just shove somepony away just because things are hard for them, because sometimes all they need in their lives is somepony to love them.” He handed me the now twice cleaned plate and I held it as thoughts whirled around in my mind. I thought about the kiss that Stress had given me, I had blushed after getting it and felt light headed on my way home. Is that what love felt like? Or was it the feeling I got whenever I was alone with Note? That feeling of being perfectly happy with everything. I dried the plate and left it on the counter, dad drained the sink and walked out into the living room to snuggle up to mom. Just this once I wished I knew what they felt, that way I could have something to compare it to. I flew upstairs to my room and buried my head under my cloud pillows and fought with my emotions until I finally dozed off sometime later. Author's Note This one didn't see many changes. Some formatting, a typo here and there, fixing a VERY subtle hint about the timeline of this story and of course adding spaces between the paragraphs (something that I disliked when I started reading on fimfic and now can't live without) As usual please feel free to comment as they do help me... Also since my chapter notes are lost I can now make major changes too.
Chapter 1 (re-write): The Feather Guard“What are you going to do about it princess narwhal, call daddy? Use your precious little horn? Or just sit there and cry?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, the unicorn they were making fun of never said a word to anyone, well not that I had heard in the last two days since I had started school here. It made me really angry because if he wanted to call her names for being a unicorn he’d probably do the same to me just because I was a pegasus. I didn’t even think, I did a rolling dive and landed in between the bully and his prey, my sudden appearance and my fully spread wings must have scared him because he took a step back. “Who do you think you are, picking on a pony just because she’s smaller than you, or because she’s not an earth pony. Well guess what, I’m not an earth pony and I’m just about as big as you. If you want a fight then come on!” I pawed at the ground ready to charge, I was so sure of myself and confident that I almost expected to get my cutie mark for this. “You’re going to protect princess narwhal? What are you a royal guard, feather duster?” My wings fluttered in anger, I knew he wanted me to attack him so he would have an excuse to hurt me but I wasn’t having it. I lowered my head, I had dropped the horseshoe now it was all up to him, would he chicken out or would I show him that pegasi are just as tough as any earth pony. “Pfft, dumb feather duster you’re not worth it.” He shoved his way through the crowd, they weren’t sure what had just happened the biggest toughest bully in the school had just trotted away with his tail between his legs. I turned to face the unicorn they had been picking on and saw her shaking, why would somepony pick on a pony that was going to cry like a little foal? It mean and not fair to pick on someone who wouldn’t even try to fight back. “Are you ok? He’s gone and no one else wants to hurt you.” I stared at the crowd and they all started to wander away. This only made her cry harder, I had no clue how to make her feel better so I simply flew off, making sure to keep an eye on her for the rest of the break. I didn’t pay much attention to her before I saw her being bullied. Of course I noticed her, she was the only other non earth pony in our class. Unlike the huge cloud city of Cloudsdale my hometown of Cloudadonia was built around a big flat topped mountain, where unicorns and earth ponies lived so I had some unicorn and earth pony friends, even if they were never allowed to come to my house on the clouds. But here? It was so weird being the only pegasus in class, how much harder was it for her? She was so quiet and before I started school here she would have been the only non earth pony. How did that even happen? When I got to the door a cream colored mare with a lighthouse cutie mark stopped me, it was my teacher. “Maple Leaf, I think we need to have a talk about what happened, please stay behind after school. We will be having a short talk.” “Yes, Ms. Light.” I hated history class, yesterday had been cool because Ms. Light had spent the class talking about Pegasi warrior history, from Lightning Strike all the way up to Commander Hurricane. Today though was really boring, we were done talking about the history of the three tribes and started talking about how they united the same story that they heard every Hearts Warming eve. I would have joined the rest of the class in the real lesson of sleeping with your eyes open if I didn’t keep getting the feeling that somepony was watching me. I kept sneaking looks behind me whenever I could but I couldn’t manage to catch whoever it was. The bully and unicorn were both behind me in the classroom the bully was asleep, drooling on his desk, the unicorn was staring at her desk not moving a muscle and in the desk between them sat a yellow earth pony, the only one who was actually paying attention to the lesson. I tried to pay attention to Ms. Light and soon enough I was zoned out like the rest of the class. “And that’s how Equestria was made. Any questions?” I jumped in my seat, I was having such a nice nap. Looking around I think that the rest of the class had been too, some of the other ponies were slower to wake up than I was. The only pony that looked wide awake was a yellow filly with a black curly mane and glasses. Then again if you so much as make a loud noise behind her she was likely to jump through the roof, I wish I sat behind her instead of in front of her, it would make staying awake easier. “Okay class, that’s all the time we have for today, I want everyone to do the assignment I gave earlier, anypony who doesn’t do it will have to do double homework tomorrow night.” I felt the desk behind me bump into my chair. “Ms. Light, Ms. Light! I don’t remember you giving us homework, how can I do it if I don’t know what it is? I don’t want double homework on a Friday! I can barely get my chores done and have time to have fun as it is.” Yep, that filly is high strung. “Just because you were paying attention Seam I’ll let you in on a little secret… There wasn’t any homework, but I want you all to get a good night’s sleep so you can stay awake in class tomorrow, can everypony do that?” Ms. Light was such a nice teacher, she always caught us when we misbehaved but as long as we didn’t disrupt the class and made sure to study when we got home she didn’t mind if we dozed off every once and awhile. “If you’re up for it I’d like you read the chapters about the years leading up to unification of the three tribes, we will review it tomorrow one last time before the test on Monday, but you need to be well rested, I won’t be so accepting of any student sleeping during class tomorrow.” The other students laughed, whatever Ms. Light did to whoever fell asleep it must be funny. “Now remember to read the chapter in your history books about the history of the three tribes. There will be a test on Monday, but we’ll do some review tomorrow just to make sure.” “Yes, Ms. Light.” We chorused like good little foals. “Good, class dismissed, have a nice night. Mr. Leaf, we still need to have our discussion about what happened at lunch today. I gulped, my doom was at hoof. Author's Note I hope you all enjoy this re-write. I know it's been in the works for the better part of a year since I started it but to be fair I've only recently hit a level where I feel like I'm capable of telling the story properly.
Chapter 2 (rewrite): After SchoolI watched the other ponies walk out of the classroom, only three of them bothered to look at me. The bully, the unicorn and the earth pony that sat behind me, Seam something… I couldn't remember her whole name. The bully looked pleased with himself and smiled as he left, ignoring the look of disapproval from Ms. Light, the unicorn looked at me and smiled before blushing and rushing out. Seam gave me a comforting smile of support before trotting off to talk with the unicorn outside. I felt bad for not learning the name of the unicorn, or even the last name of the yellow filly, but if I got in trouble for fighting my aunt and uncle would probably send me home to my parents and I’d probably never get my cutie mark “Now about what happened at lunch.” “Ms. Light I can explain, I was practicing my flying and I saw a pony picking on a unicorn and I didn’t think that was nice so I went down there to ask him to stop but he called her a narwhal and me a feather duster and I told him that if he wanted to pick on someone he would have to fight me it was just so he would leave her alone don’t tell my parents please I’m learning so much here I don-” She interrupted me with a raised hoof. “Maple, I wanted to thank you for standing up for Angelic Note.” My jaw dropped, I was sure she was going to tell me off for almost getting in a fight, why would she want to thank me for almost starting one? “Umm… Huh?” “You see Maple, Angelic Note has been picked on by her classmates since she started here earlier this year, not just because she’s a unicorn but because her father was sent here personally by Princess Celestia. Angelic Note is a nice filly but she really hasn’t made many friends in her time among us, I’m glad to see somepony stand up for her and be a friend to her.” “Thank you Ms. Light.” I was so happy that I’d stood up for Angelic Note, I felt like a hero, just like the pegasi in all the old stories. “I think that was a brave and noble thing you did but if you take things too far, my little pony, then I will have to talk to your parents about your behavior. I will not stand for fighting during recess or lunch breaks, is that clear?” Her tone went from being friendly to being super serious. “Yes Ms. Light.” The room seemed to get brighter after I answered. I reminded myself to never make her really angry with me. “Good, now head on home. I’m sure your aunt and uncle have chores for you to do and you still have homework for tonight.” She switched back to being super friendly like she’d never given me the warning at all. I rushed to strap my saddlebag onto my back and hurried out of the schoolhouse, she was right. Aunt and uncle Clementine had chores for me to do when I got out of school, it was part of the conditions of me staying with them. I galloped out the doors and jumped into the air, spreading my wings to fly home. I gave a short shout sounding more like a filly than a colt when something grabbed my tail. I dropped to the ground and looked over my shoulder. It was the unicorn, Angelic Note. “Oh my, I’m sorry I didn’t hurt you did I?" Angelic wasn't just her name but the best way to describe her voice. It was really peaceful. “No, I mean it did a little but you just surprised me.” I looked back and she shied away from me, was I scary or was it something else? Her eyes were fixed on my outstretched wings, I folded them down over my saddlebag. She briefly looked me in the eye before staring at the ground, she was so shy it was starting to annoy me. "I just wanted to thank you. Nopony has ever stood up for me before and I was wondering… Maybe… I mean if you would like to... sometime.” I had to get back to the farm, we were harvesting today and they wanted me to help with the clementine’s that got stuck in the branches high up in the trees. Besides, this shy act was getting on my nerves. “Look I have to go, I have chores at home I need to do… But I would like to get to know you better, after all what’s a narwhal princess without her royal guard feather duster.” I took off leaving the unicorn alone in front of the school. Author's Note This was originally part of chapter 1. But I wanted to add a cliffhanger at the end of ch.1 Let's face it, an OC fic NEEDS a hook on ch.1 otherwise no one will keep reading it. This is just the opening act afterall, I have 3 "books" in the works
Chapter 3 (rewrite): Stress and RequestsChapter 3: Stress and Requests Three weeks later I hated Life Skills class with a passion, it was the last class of the day and we could only do two things, cooking or crafting. I know that I’m not any good at making things like clothes or sculptures and how many pegasi are legendary chefs? Then again you didn’t see many earth ponies with a talent for sewing but Seam Stress made it look easy… Stressful but easy. I on the other hoof had no such luck, I opened the oven that my apple crisp was cooking in, then slammed it closed as smoke poured out the opening. “Ms. Light, I did it again!” My teacher galloped over with a bucket of water in her mouth. If this had only happened once or twice I wouldn’t be so calm about it, but it had happened often enough that my teacher and I could probably put out an oven fire better than a team of fireponies. She nodded to me and I opened the oven again, flames shot out this time before Ms. Light emptied the bucket onto the burning desert. My apple crisp was apple extra crispy now. Ms. Light put the bucket down by the oven as I closed the door. “Maple how many times do I have to remind you not to turn your oven up so high?” Ms. Light didn’t even sound upset, we had done this too many times for that. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think it was that hot.” My wings drooped, my primaries almost dragging on the floor. I was so sure I had got it right this time. “Maybe you should try something else, something that won’t burst into flames if you make a mistake. Please?” I knew it was a bad sign that my teacher was pleading with me to stop trying to learn how to bake. But I wanted to learn how to cook, I could cook things on the stove. My pancakes were the best in the class, I could make a good stir fry if I had no distractions but I couldn’t make anything in the oven. If it was possible to burn down a cloud house I could probably do it making a loaf of bread. I abandoned my failed attempt at desert and went to check on my friends. Seam Stress was busy making a hat, I doubted that she’d even noticed my most recent failure. “Hi Seam, how’s the hat coming along?” I could see a hole in it for a horn, sometimes I was sure that she had become friends with me and Angelic Note just so she could experiment in unicorn and pegasus fashion. She held the hat on her hoof and shoved it in my face, it was close enough that I could take a bite out of it if I wanted to. “What do you think? Too simple? Or did I use too much glitter? Too many colours or two few? Oh, Celestia it’s terrible isn’t it? Tell me the truth.” The yellow filly always had a twitchy eye when she asked for an opinion, which didn’t make the rare criticism easy to deliver. “Why are you asking me? I don’t wear hats and even if I did I’m not a unicorn. Shouldn’t you be asking Note?” Her eye twitched several times and she glanced at the unicorn trying to make a bit purse at another work bench across the room. “No matter what I make all she ever has to say is that ‘it’s lovely’ I bet she’d say the same thing no matter what, how would you like it if she tried a bite of your baking and told you that it was good, you know she would!” My feathers ruffled at the insult, I know she didn’t mean it and I pretended to be deeply hurt by her comment. “Hey, no need to bring my cooking into this.” Seam smiled at me, just for a second she looked perfectly happy. Almost like she enjoyed being stressed out by her work and having her friends cheer her up, how anypony could live like that was beyond me. “Angel, can you come over here please?” Angelic always made time for us. I used to think it was because she had no other friends, but Angelic Note would make time for anypony who wanted her help. I was sure she’d get her cutie mark for helping out ponies or something like that. Then again Seam’s cutie mark didn’t really make her happier, did it? I was never sure. “I made a new hat for you, tell me what you think.” She put the hat on her friend, making sure the horn went into the hole. “Oh, a new hat? It’s lovely. Great work like always Seam.” Angelic Note probably had the most soothing voice in all of Equestria but Seam Stress was not a pony that knew how to be soothed. Seam let out a short little scream of frustration. “You see, nothing! Tell me, how bad is it? Should I give up high fashion and go live as a nun in the Church of Celestia knitting tea cosies or can I be saved?” This level of drama was so normal for her that none of the other students paid it any attention, not even Ms. Light so much as batted an eyelash at the yellow filly, leaving us as her friends to calm her down. I started to sweat as I struggled to find something small wrong with it, anything. “Well, maybe if you put some sequins around the horn collar, that’d put it over the top. I mean I could see some noblemare wearing that to the Grand Galloping Gala, right Note?” It looked pretty fancy but I know that she puts a lot of effort into making things well too. I’d have to ask her for a favour later, I know it’d cheer her up. “Oh, yes. I’m sure my father would agree, it’s perfect for Canterlot.” Me and Note struggled to maintain our poker faces. Actually it was a very nice hat and I was sure that Note would wear it somewhere. Seam stared at us for a minute before hugging both of us. “You two are the best friends anypony could ask for, I don’t know how you put up with me sometimes.” I had no clue where this came from and Note seemed confused by it too. We watched as Seam Stress cheerfully started cleaning up her work station and I left the two fillies to do whatever it is fillies do so I could clean up my mess from my latest failed attempt at baking. I managed to clean up most of the mess from my failure before the class ended, but when the bell rang Ms. Light said I could leave and she’d finish cleaning up my mess. I don’t know why she’s always so nice to me, I mean I’m just some new student who almost gets in fights and sets an oven on fire once a week. I grab my saddlebag and head out, I had to catch Seam before she left, I was kind of embarrassed to be asking her to make me something. Besides she just finished a project... and she’d probably be upset if I just had my dad or aunt buy me something. I caught her right by the schoolyard gate, all the other ponies rushed to get home after school but Seam always took her time, almost like she didn’t want to go home. “Hey Seam, wait up.” I flew over to her, wanting to just get this out of the way. “Hi Maple, how are you?” She looked nervous, she always looked nervous when we hung out without Angelic, or was it guilt? I touched down in front of her and folded my wings against my sides. Now I was nervous. “Umm... I was wondering. If.” I took a deep breath, “Winter’s coming soon and I’m starting to get cold when I’m flying around. I was wondering if maybe, you’d like to make me a vest for me. You know, so I could stay warm when I’m flying around?” This was the first time I’d ever asked her to make me something. Usually she had to threaten or beg to get me to try on her newest outfit. They were pretty comfy usually but I’ve been forced to put on more than one embarrassing piece of clothes. I wasn’t sure how she’d react, I know she’d make me something that I would like but I didn’t know if she’d have fun making something simple. “You. Want me to make you a vest?” She didn’t sound very happy with the idea. Oh well, it was worth a- She screamed at the top of her lungs and grabbed me. I used to believe that a pegasus was just as strong as an earth pony, feeling her squeeze me so hard let me know that compared to an earth pony I was a wimp. I could barely breathe, then she kissed me. The world froze for a second and we both realized what happened. Our eyes bugged out and we leapt apart. Seam looked at the ground and I looked at her, when she finally looked me in the eyes again she blushed. I took off in a daze and slowly made my way back to the farm, all the while not being able to stop thinking about that kiss. Seam let out another happy squeal and started galloping home, over the moon at the idea of making her friend something he’d actually want to wear. And Angelic Note stood watching the ground where it all happened with tears in her eyes before she too ran home, sobbing like a newborn foal. Author's Note Again I'm splitting the chapter... Did I have any clue on how to play with emotions back then? Sheesh. Actually I intentionally avoided cliffhangers because as a reader I hated them. The next chapter will take a bit of time, I'm going to be redoing it from scratch and pushing my limits on it. Or the chapter will be split into 3 rather than 2. I haven't decided yet.
Chapter 4 (rewrite): The KissAngelic Note watched curiously as Maple walked up to Seam Stress. His mouth moved, and Seam’s face lit up in utter happiness. Frozen, she watched as her best friend kissed the colt she herself had a crush on. Maple flew away, stunned by the kiss he’d received and Seam trotted happily off in satisfaction. How dare she! Seam knew exactly how big a crush Note had on Maple, she’d even reassured her time and time again that she didn’t like him in that way. Angelic Note stood outside on the bright and sunny Friday afternoon wishing for rain. Bad things were supposed to happen in the rain, not under the light of Celestia’s sun. The afternoon sky might have been clear but the dirt below her muzzle was getting rained on all the same. Seam Stress almost bounced on her way home, one of her best friends had asked her to make him something. Even without asking she knew he didn’t want anything fancy, but he was still her first client, in a sense. He’d asked her to do it. He didn’t go to some store or have his parents send him something from home. He’d been so shocked when she’d given him that kiss in thanks... The pale yellow Earth Pony skidded to a stop, realizing what she’d done. Oh no. “Buck me.” Angel ran all the way home, leaving a trail of tears behind her as she ran through town, her mane almost managing to hide her face as she galloped unevenly up the front steps of her home, through the front door and into the music room. Slamming the door behind her so that her father and the servant Alfredo would know not to bother her. She dove towards the piano where her pain, hurt and sadness could be written out as musical notes. Without realizing it Angel’s horn lit up and began flitting from key to key as she quickly scribbled the notes down on a blank sheet of music paper. The melody echoed sadly throughout the house, bringing a tear to the eye of the butler chopping onions in the kitchen. The act of chopping onions served as an excuse in case the little mistress of music decided to take a break and get a snack. Seam stitched her latest creation at a feverish pace. When she was stressed, she sewed, when her sewing wasn’t perfect she stressed. It worried her friends and scared her dad but she couldn’t help it, the stress of sewing was a good stress. It was something she could deal with, and an escape from her meddlesome emotions. This one wasn’t going so well. She’d already botched two attempts at making Maple’s vest. Why couldn’t life be as easy as sewing? If you made a mistake you just removed the thread and started over. She considered how she might remove the bad stitch in her friendship with Angel and Maple before the entire garment of her social life was ruined. The piano echoed through the whole house. A single passage that repeated over and over. Each time it underwent changes; diminuendo here, a sixteenth rest here, another bar of music, allargando towards the end for the repeating bit. Angelic Note sat so completely entranced by the pencil and paper in front of her that she didn’t even notice her father enter the room. It wasn’t until her father interrupted her musical reverie by playing a random note on the piano with his own magic that she realized that she wasn’t alone. “Daddy, no! It’s not ready yet!” She grabbed her sheet music and stuffed it into the music folder where she kept all her half-finished pieces. “Well, your daddy used to make music too, you know. Back before I first became a mayor I was considered a great composer and musician. Just ask Alfredo.” The musician turned mayor gave his daughter an affectionate head rub. If the townsfolk saw him now they’d keel over in shock. Their fair yet regal mayor giving his filly a noogie? The scandal! “Daaaad, stooooop. You’re always so embarrassing when other ponies can’t see you!” Like magic a smile appeared on her face. As professional as he behaved in public he was so childish with her. His love for her never ceased to get a smile out of her. “Now, tell me kiddo what’s got you so down? Your classmates aren’t making fun of you again are they?” “It’s not that, it’s just something one of the fillies did to the pegasus student in my class.” “I know how hard it is to stick up for another being bullied but sweetie, remember when you first started? How they were mean to you, imagine how things would have been better if you’d had someone willing to be your friend and stick up for you. I’m not saying that you have to be their friend, just be nice and help them see that it isn’t the end of the world.” He hugged his daughter to let her know ho proud he was of her. Angel blushed, her father had no clue what she meant, but she couldn’t bring herself to correct him. “Sometimes sweetie you just have to show your fellow ponies some love.” Author's Note Quite possibly the HARDEST chapter to rewrite. It went through no less than 3 complete re-writes and probably 4 or 5 more partial re-writes.. I hope I captured their emotions well. I'll let your comments tell me how well I did.
Just Visiting (Rewrite)Chapter 3: Just visiting Flying through the late afternoon sky was a blessing, the cool air and simplicity of the open sky was always had a way of clearing your mind, but today it wasn’t helping. His mind was full of the experiences he had since moving away from his cloud home. He sometimes felt claustrophobic spending so much time on the ground, but he had no one to spend time with in the air. None of his friends from his cloud home were strong enough fliers to make the trip, or wanted to. He was never really sure on how they felt about the ground. Some pegasi didn’t like to even admit it existed, while others were okay living on the ground… Just none his age in the town he was living in. Cloudadonia was close now and my family lived on the outskirts, we even had our own cloud in the sky which was something not many pegasi had. My mom always used to tell me how lucky she was to have been able to get permission to use this cloud for her home, she said it was a perk of managing the small cloud factory in Cloudadonia. Yes, it wasn’t as big as the one in Cloudsdale and it couldn’t make snowflakes or rainbows but it suited our town and was probably the second coolest place to work in town. His dad worked the coolest job, he actually RAN the company responsible for changing the color of the leaves and getting them ready for the running of the leaves. He never told anyone except his most trusted workers how to do it, but every year the landscape beneath us would gradually go from vibrant green to beautiful reds and yellows as my dad and co-workers did their job. He was actually looking forward to it this year, he would get to see the change up close, maybe even get the chance to learn the secret of how they do it. He was so lost in thought that he flew right into the front door, the loud smack was greeted by a yelp inside from his mother. His dad opened the door to see his son getting to his hooves and shaking his head. “You know the doorbell still works son, no need to go knocking so hard with that noggin of yours.” His dad wasn’t one to talk, when the fall arrived and he was busy, the rest of the family learned to be quick on their hooves. His dad would come home and crash through anything and everything, no surface was hard enough to stop him and the entire outside of the house had probably been replaced by now from all his crashes. “I guess it runs in the family, hi dad.” He wrapped his hooves around his dad’s neck, he missed his dad all the time and was constantly hoping for his dad to come visit him, after all he helped the Clementine’s get started back when he was a just a foal. “I can’t believe how much fun I have down on the ground dad, I know you said you enjoy it but its way better than that. There’s just so much down there.” His dad hugged him back, enjoying the embrace of his son. “Well your mother is in the kitchen making some pancakes. Maybe since you like the ground so much, I’ll let you try some maple syrup.” I know my face lit up, my dad never let anyone have ANY of his maple syrup. He loved it so much that he insisted that my name be maple. We broke our hug and he nudged me towards the kitchen. I trotted into the kitchen and waited, mom finished the pancake she was making before coming over and giving me a brief nuzzle. She had never been the most affectionate mother, yes she never discouraged me but being judged ‘good’ at anything almost never happened. “Hi mom, the pancakes smell great.” I hopped up onto the stool and waited. Dad came in with two bottles of his prized maple syrup, one nearly empty and the other still with the wax seal around the neck of the bottle. He pushed the half empty bottle towards me then swapped it with the unopened bottle after mom cleared her throat. Mom put a stack of pancakes in front of both me and dad before joining us with a small stack of her own. “I hear that you are catching up acceptably well at your new school. I’m pleased to hear that it wasn’t a mistake to let you transfer.” That was about the average I could expect from my mom, in fact that was a compliment, I think. “It’s hard and a lot of what Ms. Light teaches us is what earth ponies need to know if they’re going to be farmers, but she says I’m doing really good.” I opened the bottle of syrup with my mouth, trying not to taste the wax. “Does this mean I can stay there for awhile? The Clementine’s told me they would like me to stay if you say I can.” I put the lid down on the table and carefully picked up the bottle, I know my dad would never let me have another bottle if I spilled even a single drop… despite the fact he had already spilled plenty of his all over the table in front of him. “As long as your performance in school doesn’t drop below acceptable levels I believe this is a good arrangement.” That was practically encouragement. “Of course, if you still feel that your cutie mark is something related to trees then how can I say no?” He gestured to his cutie mark, a yellow leaf showed that his special talent was related to trees as well. I took my first bite into a syrup drenched pancake, I felt like I was biting into heaven. If Princess Celestia said maple syrup was to be banned at that exact moment I would risk being banished for just one more bite. The second the sugary sweet syrup passed my lips I knew that it was maple syrup not trees that would be the focus of my life. I dumped more of the delicious substance onto my stack of syrup delivery devices and dug in with a passion that even my father couldn’t hope to match. My wings even gave a brief buzz. “Wow, I thought I liked maple syrup, I guess it runs in the family.” My dad said with a smile. I took a break to chew and nodded my head, my mother who was used to stuff like this with dad continued on like I wasn’t violating every rule of fine dining. “So sweetie, meet any interesting fillies?” Seam Stress and Angelic Note flashed through my head and I started choking on my wondrous meal. That question wasn’t just hard for me to swallow but it was coming from my mother, a pony that was probably famous for not caring about silly things like crushes. “Now dear, even if he does there is no need to embarrass him about it.” Dad looked on in sympathy as I started coughing really hard trying to breathe, he came over and started tapping me on the back with a hoof until I could catch my breath. The rest of the meal was very quiet, I don’t even remember taking my eyes off my plate. When I finished eating I helped clear the table without looking at either of my parents. Mom went to go listen to music and read a book in the living room leaving me and dad alone to do the dishes. “You know your mother might not be very good at the romance thing herself but she can certainly spot it easily enough. Is everything ok? I’m here to listen if you want to talk.” That was perfect, I wanted to talk about it but I didn’t want to bring it up and here was the person I wanted to speak about it with asking if I wanted help, I opened up immediately. “Well I met these two girls at school and we’ve become really good friends. I think one of them likes me, but I think I like the other one. I mean I like Stress but she’s just always so… Twitchy. But Angelic, well she’s so pretty and gentle and nice as can be. She’s nice to everypony even if they aren’t nice to her, I mean she can be overly shy at times but she’s the only unicorn in the school and I’m the only pegasus, but I think that just makes us closer. I don’t know what to do, what do you think dad?” He looked distracted which I knew meant he was thinking things through, my mom might be the head of the house but dad was a real thinker when he put his mind to it. The plate he was cleaning absentmindedly fell back into the sink, he just picked it up again, he was always dropping things or tripping over nothing but he never let it stop him from doing anything. “All I can say on matters of the heart is don’t force them. If you’re attracted to this Angelic filly then you should let her know. If she’s not interested then there’s no harm, at the same time you can’t let something like a pony’s work ethic get in the way of loving them. Don’t just shove somepony away just because things are hard for them, because sometimes all they need in their lives is somepony to love them.” He handed me the now twice cleaned plate and I held it as thoughts whirled around in my mind. I thought about the kiss that Stress had given me, I had blushed after getting it and felt light headed on my way home. Is that what love felt like? Or was it the feeling I got whenever I was alone with Note? That feeling of being perfectly happy with everything. I dried the plate and left it on the counter, dad drained the sink and walked out into the living room to snuggle up to mom. Just this once I wished I knew what they felt, that way I could have something to compare it to. I flew upstairs to my room and buried my head under my cloud pillows and fought with my emotions until I finally dozed off sometime later. Author's Note This one didn't see many changes. Some formatting, a typo here and there, fixing a VERY subtle hint about the timeline of this story and of course adding spaces between the paragraphs (something that I disliked when I started reading on fimfic and now can't live without) As usual please feel free to comment as they do help me... Also since my chapter notes are lost I can now make major changes too.
