A Short Tale

Chapter 18: Same Rhyme, Same Reason

The couch was comfy. The room was silent. The strangeling was asleep. Travian, however, was fully awake. The entire cottage was dark, and very boring. Nothing was occurring except for the occasional chirp from outside. Travian spent most of his nights either sleeping or napping occasionally, but something really got him thinking tonight. He wasn't sure what. Maybe it had to do with the literal lack of rain. Maybe it was his spear, which he was staring at. Maybe it was something deep down, a place that was rarely touched by Travian.

It had been three weeks since his utter humiliation. During this time, there had been some sort of drought as rain had not fallen for this entire duration. He just couldn't sleep for a while, and this was a shock to him as he was thinking as to why he couldn't sleep. He eventually stopped thinking as he knew what would happen if he kept thinking. He found himself staring at the little strangeling upon his body. She probably hasn't been too happy with him not being able to move.

He looked back to the spear he acquired upon the wall. It was propped up against it, otherwise it would reach the ceiling. He thought about how it could dispel dust and fire. While it was cool in itself, that could be useful. He essentially had a broom. A broom with a pointy end. That made him smile. He would have to start practicing with it to try and figure out ways to use it. He liked the idea of using its shaft to bash the ponies across the noggin if they annoyed him. It would be hilariously funny for him.

He moved his head towards the window. He took a breath, which was remarkably easier to do when his body was more healed. He once heard from his brother that apparently he and his brother were cursed, causing them to heal extremely quick, but in exchange have to feel more pain. He asked his brother what he meant by that, but he never responded. Travian didn't believe in curses, but it was strange how he healed so quickly from such an event.

He looked outside, seeing the darkness outside only disturbed by this planet's moon. It was a nice sight, if he were honest. He couldn't see the moon, so he assumed that it was either going down or it was going up. He never noticed the directions the sun and moon moved across the sky. What he did notice was how the there were a few moving shapes in the darkness. It looked as though some clouds were moving. He predicted there would be some rain, interrupting the drought that was happening.

After a short while of contemplating such things, Travian laid his head down and prepared for a nap. His preparation for a nap was interrupted when the strangeling upon his chest arose from its slumber. She raised her head to look around, but she saw no one awake. Travian stayed down, and kept a small bit of his eye open. The strangeling scooted itself closer to Travian's head and then cuddled him a little bit. Why she would do such a thing, he would never know.

Mayella went promptly back to sleep, allowing Travian to have his nap. When he awoke, there was not a strangeling upon his chest, but a bunny. He looked outside and saw the sky covered in cloud. "What. No, seriously. What?" He was puzzled by how so many clouds got here. His response to such a random thing cause the bunny to wake up. He pointed at the window. "Do you see this?! Look at all these clouds!" The bunny looked at the window, and was surprised by the amount of clouds. "I know, right?"

Fluttershy moved into the window and took an immediate notice to Travian's utter confusion. She moved over to speak to him and hopefully explain what was going on. "Oh, you see, the pegasus missed a rain shower last week, so they have to make a storm to make up for it. I'm sure you understand." He had several questions about what she had just said.

"So wait... These... 'pegasus's can move clouds?" She nodded her head. "... Aren't you a 'pegasus'?" She nodded slowly. "So... You aren't out there, doing work."

"Oh no, I, um... I helped several animals evacuate their homes so they wouldn't be caught off guard for the storm." He had the ultimate response.

"Do you need to run a census on those animals, or am I just stupid?"

"Well yes, of course we need to have a census on all the animals, but that wasn't the case this time." Travian was supposed to be joking. He was officially dumbfounded at these ponies. At least the strangeling was equally confused. He put his back down in another defeat. One day he would catch these ponies on something stupid and call them out on it. Until then, though, he would have to live with it.

He really didn't like having to do nothing for such a long time. Sure, he had an interesting strangeling to talk to, but that was only when Fluttershy wasn't around. This supposed storm actually started picking up after a few hours. The rain fell down, causing little droplets to appear on the windows. There were a few knocks on the door, so Travian actually decided to go against the doctor's orders and tried to walk to it. Tried was the main word. He fell over, causing a worried bunny to run to his side. He, however, knew he was on the couch for the longest time. He lifted himself up, his legs waking up slowly. He then walked over to the door almost as slowly. He heard some more knocking on the door, so he opened it.

In front of the door was Pinkie Pie and... "So. What brings you here with her, Pinkie?" He let them in, hoping that the doctor wouldn't be mad at him.

"Oh you know, the storm and rain and stuff. Wait, why did you call *the rainbow menace* 'her' in such a weird way?" She answered the question for her.

"Pinkie, I don't think he likes me." When Pinkie got the idea, she was confused.

"But I thought you two were friends! In fact, I thought you two were marefriend and colt-" A cyan hoof appeared over her mouth.

"No, we are not." Travian said that at the same time as the rainbow heathen. He really did have an irrational hatred of her sometimes, but he liked that irrational hatred. Pinkie Pie looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I know! We can try some games while the storm's outside. It's going to be so fun!" Travian really did enjoy games. It was a shame he never had time for them. Also, most of them involved fighting, so he supposed he couldn't do the games with a lot of people.

"Alright. That sounds marvelous. So what're we going to do?" Pinkie grabbed a bottle from... Somewhere.

"Let's play spin the bottle." And so they all gathered in a circle. Travian was an unsafe distance away from his nemesis, but that was fine. "Now who gets to spin first..." There was a Fluttershy coming down the stairs. Unfortunately for her, Travian decided to have a bit of fun.

"Flutterwhy!" He walked over and welcomed her to the circle. "Come, spin the bottle." He didn't know how this game was played, but it seemed to have a simple concept. Spinning a bottle was not too complicated for him. He sat her down, and she was kind of speechless at how he was up and walking around. It was a thing, though, so she probably didn't want to question it.

After a short moment, she spun the bottle. The bottle landed on Pinkie. Pinkie then said "Dare!" Was that how this was played? Whoever the bottle landed on, they had to say a word? That would be easy. He could totally win this.

"I dare you to..." Fluttershy looked around. "Touch the ceiling!" Pinkie somehow jumped high enough to touch the ceiling. This was how it was played, then. While a little bit more complicated then he originally thought, he could totally do this. Now it was Pinkie's turn to spin the bottle. When she did, it landed on Travian.

"Dare," he said. Now he would have to do whatever she asked. This would prove enjoyable.

"I dare you to hug a bunny!" Now that got him by surprise. He shrugged and picked up Mayella. He then hugged her, causing her to get some weird look in her eyes. He then let go.

"Easily done." He took one look at the bottle before moving his hand over to spin it. It stopped on his number one menace.

"Truth." Now he was utterly stumped. Maybe this meant that she had to tell him something? He took that guess and went with it.

"Do you love Flutterpie?"

"Flutter what?"

"Flutterbye." Oh how his enemy was unaware of what he did. She picked up on it just then. She took one look at Fluttershy.

"Ew. No." Her response was expected, but he was still shocked by it. How could she not love that simply adorable face and the way she is? Now the braggart started to spin the bottle. The tables turned when it landed on Travian.

"Truth." This could be a big question she would ask, but he was willing to risk it.

"Do YOU love Fluttershy?" He put an arm around Fluttershy.

"Of course I do! Who wouldn't love her? You know, besides completely heartless beings who know of nothing adorable or cute to the maximum." He let loose a glare in Greatlow's direction. He used the word love very loosely compared to her, apparently. What an uptight individual. He let go of Fluttershy and looked to Mayella just enough to see her slightly annoyed expression. He took his hand to the bottle and spun it, landing on Pinkie. The game continued for quite some time.

When Fluttershy left to go do something along the lines of 'escape situation', the game got very interesting. It was Pinkie's turn to spin, and it stopped on Travian. "Dare." He found that he mildly enjoyed this game.

"I dare you to kiss *the cyan one*!" Suddenly his mood took a little dive. That was something he had not expected at all.

"Um. So I think-"

"You have to do it, you dared." He was successfully countered. He was about to use Twilight's excuse, but apparently that only works for her. He arose to his full height and came over to the rainbow maned pony. He crouched down, completely unwilling to do what Pinkie had asked. His menace was whining about how she didn't want to, or trying to say something along the lines of no. Unfortunately for her, Travian didn't like whining, so he thrust his head forth, connecting with her mouth. He flicked his tongue forward, as well, just to give a little bit of a warning for her to shut up.

He caught Jane Doe off guard, and in return he caught himself off guard. All round, it was actually a good situation for him. Thankfully, the contact didn't last more than three seconds and that seemed to satisfy Pinkie. It even satisfied Travian, as her face was priceless. Soon enough, Pinkie and Travian were on the floor laughing at her. "I don't know how to feel about this," was all she said. That worried Travian, but he decided that it was just to add to the hilarious effect.

Before he got up, however, he received a kick from a bunny to the side of the head. It was kind of expected. Mayella was rather possessive over him. He reached for the bottle, but his turn wasn't completed. A Fluttershy came to destroy the game with a warning about what time it was. It was effective as it disassembled the little game almost instantly. Those random Fluttershys... Ruining Travian's fun! It was rude of them.

So Pinkie Pie got to sleep up with Fluttershy, while Travian and his nemesis got to sleep in the same room. While he could consider that a coincidence, he thought it wasn't. He took up his spot on the couch. The bunny took up her spot on his chest. His nemesis took a spot close to Travian. Actually it was as if she was trying to tell him something. She then smacked him in the shoulder with her hoof. "Don't do that ever again."

"No promises!" He then laid his head down quickly to the other side, allowing the cyan one to threaten him without him listening. Even going to sleep was fun with these ponies around! That was strange. Normally he never had such fun going to sleep. In fact... He had never really had fun going to sleep before. Something was horribly off about these ponies, but something was also horribly right about that. He just couldn't put a claw on it.