Six Words (Part One)
By UniqueSKD
Unique laid down his quill by the candle on his writing desk, and stared down at the paper in front of him. He picked it up in both hooves and read it quietly to himself. It did not take long for him to finish reading the message - he had only written six words.
But compared to the little mountain of scrunched-up paper balls piled up behind his chair, six words were better than nothing.
Unique read his letter once, then twice, three times, and ten times more. These six words, few they may be, were all he was able to think of writing. They were he could think of that made his point simple and clear to the pony he'd be delivering it to later tonight.
Maia.
Unique's face lit up with a sheepish smile, love hearts materializing above his head, and butterflies in his gut, at the thought of the mare he had admired for so long. Equestria was filled with many pretty mares, but none of them were that rare and special kind of pretty like Maia was.
And like himself, she was no ordinary pony. She was a bat-pony, otherwise known also as a Thestral, and one of very few who did not live in service to Princess Luna, and who was free to live in Equestria as one of its many citizens. Since the day he first laid eyes upon the mare, as she strolled into Ponyville that festive Sun Celebrations day to partake in the witnessing of that event, he had never been able to keep himself from melting at the thought of her.
And she had been so close to him as well that same day. She stood next to him, and they greeted one another in a friendly manner. She talked to him, and he talked to her, and they watched the princess of the dawn summon the mighty sun, and cheered together as its rays of light shone down upon the world. Then they attended the banquet together, and they had such a good time in each other's company. She even told Unique to come and see her in Canterlot if he ever visited that grand capital city.
And so they would meet up, and over time, Unique's feelings for the wonderful mare grew and grew as did their friendship and closeness. Of course, with Canterlot being home to many a noble snob, he would find himself the target of much sneering and cruel remarks because of his appearance - a pony whose hind legs bent the wrong way, forcing him to walk on two legs instead of four, was apparently considered a freak in the eyes of these upper-class wealthy unicorns. But Maia didn't treat him like they did. She always thought it was pretty amazing that he looked the way he did, and that only melted the anthro-pony's heart ever more, that she could accept him the way he was when others did not.
She was just perfect, and Unique so badly wanted to tell her how much she really meant to him, but alas, he could not do it. Whenever he thought that he had the courage to speak his heart to her, the words would just die in his throat, and come out of his mouth as strange and eerie collections of sounds and noises, which he would quickly pass off as a bad cough, or a bad cold. How he got away with that last one during a hot summer's day, he didn't have a clue, just as he didn't have a clue how to confess his love to the mare at all.
Until yesterday.
He had looked at the calender as he awoke from a restless night's sleep, having been dreaming of the bat-mare he had fallen for yet again. When he saw that dreadful day - Hearts and Hooves Day - was only two nights away from then, he had panicked for a good few hours. He had had enough of being alone on the one day where everypony should be happy, and he was determined to spend just one Hearts and Hooves Day, just one, where he would finally have his own special somepony.
And he knew who he wanted to have as his special somepony.
But would she even accept his proposal?
That was what frightened him. He thought himself fortunate to have such a lovely bat-mare as her as a friend. To confront her and reveal his love for her...that was risky. He would be risking his friendship all for the effort of being honest and truthful, and he couldn't bear the thought of losing that precious relationship he had with her. It wasn't so much that he was worried of being turned down by her, oh no. He already had an inkling that she'd politely decline his request, and having that thought implanted into his mind helped him feel less worried of experiencing the real thing, but making her feel awkward and sympathetic towards him, guilty even, that she would hurt his feelings terribly afterwards...
That wasn't want he wanted. But he knew that he couldn't keep living and carrying his lie with him. She had to know. He had to tell her.
But how could he, when he struggled to express his feelings to her?
And so it was that he had the idea of writing her a letter, telling her how he felt. Yes, it seemed rather foalish, but if writing his feelings out on paper was his only way of telling her how he felt, it was worth a shot. Besides, he wouldn't sign it. He'd give it to her himself, and if the response was a negative one, he'd simply just pass it off, saying he was given the letter by another stallion. Sure it was a lie, and he wouldn't feel right lying to her, but at least he'd have some sort of answer from Maia.
It wasn't very well thought out, he knew that, but time was short. When Celestia's sun shone its rays of light come the crack of dawn, it would be Heart and Hooves Day, and if he was going to be alone once more, he wanted to at least know if he'd have ever had a chance with Maia.
So here he had been, in this little room, on the second floor of the small inn just outside of Canterlot' white stone walls. Had he had enough bits, he would have paid for a much better living quarters in one of the fancier hotels in the city itself, but he could not afford such expensive prices. His lack of wealth was another thing that had kept him from confessing his heart to Maia as well, the thought of being unable to provide for the mare his little heart yearned for making him doubt his chances of being with her.
He had spent the past several hours trying to think of the perfect message to write. His first few letters were quickly thrown aside, when he considered them far too long in length. The next attempts after that just sounded too soppy and needy, and the ones that followed afterwards didn't fare any better. It was only now, as he placed his last sheet of paper in front of himself, that he had decided the six words which he had written would have to suffice. They made his intentions clear as day, a short message that got to the point, and did not drag on and on for hours about feelings and desires and romantic poems or promises.
Unique sighed. He turned in his chair and looked at the small clock on the wall. The hands told him it was nearing five o' clock in the morning. He had not even slept yet, and neither would he do so until his task, his mission, had been completed.
He took folded the letter in half, and gave a loud yawn as a sudden wave of weariness came over him. He quickly shook away the feeling of exhaustion, and pushed himself away from the desk, letter in hoof, and got up from his chair. He walked over to the door, flexing his wings as he did.
This was it for him. It was time to take the letter to her. What happened tonight would decide if he would be spending Hearts and Hooves Day on his own again, or if he would finally be in the company of his dream special somepony.
Quietly, so as to not disturb any other lodgers in the other rooms, Unique crept out of his room, and shut the door behind him. Making his way downstairs and outside, he opened out his wings, and took off into the night, his target, his destination, a good hour's flight away on the other side of the city.
Six Words - Part Two
By UniqueSKD
A cool and chilly breeze blew through Unique's black mane as he soared above the homes of the wealthy elite. The moon was full, and the stars sparkled in the canvas of the sky, and all watched the anthro-pegasi as he flapped his wings to a rhythm, as he journeyed to the far side of the city. In his mouth, he held the letter which had those six fateful words upon it, those six words that he hoped would make tomorrow possibly the greatest day of his life.
Or at least make it more bearable.
Unique felt a yawn coming on, but managed to suppress it, lest the message that he had spent hours trying to construct just right for the mare of his affections be carried away by the breeze and be lost. Deciding to take a moment to rest just for a moment, Unique swooped down to land on the roof of one of the many large white-stoned decorative buildings. No doubt this was somepony's home, but so long as he remained quiet and made no sound, they would not have reason to think he was an intruder.
Unique sat down, and flexed his wings a bit. A little exercise did his feathery flyers a lot of good in the long run, particularly when traveling distances. As Unique was taking his break, his ears perked up as he heard voices coming from beneath him. Yep, this indeed was somepony's home. As he listened closely, he could make out the voices of a stallion and a mare, and they seemed to be engaged in conversation.
His curiosity getting the better of him, Unique quietly tip-hoofed towards the edge of the roof, and took a peek below. Underneath the ledge he saw a small window, through which light from inside shone out, and he could hear the voices a little clearer than before, but not well enough to hear all that they were saying. Laying down on his stomach, and pushing his body over the edge just enough so that his head could peer through the window, Unique looked into a rather glamorous bedroom, with a large four-poster bed and multiple artworks of ponies from what he assumed were previous generations of the family who lived here, whoever they were.
The ponies who lived here just so happened to be standing by the bed. There was a tall white unicorn stallion with a blue mane and a monocle, with a funny blue moustache, happily talking away to a very pretty white unicorn mare with a light pink mane and tail. When they both turned their bodies around a little, Unique was able to see their cutie marks - the stallion's displayed three crowns, while the mare's showed...now what did they call it? A fleur-de-lis, that was it.
The wealthy couple seemed quite happy, and they nuzzled each other with the most sincere affection. They clearly cared a lot for one another, not attracted by the other's wealth and status. He saw their mouths move, and he was pretty sure the stallion had said 'I love you' to the other mare, whose mouth moved, saying 'And I love you too' in response, before they moved in for a kiss. Unique smiled at the sight. He hoped tomorrow he would get to have what they had - somepony to love, and to love him back.
It must be nice to have a big fancy house and lots of money, the pegasus thought to himself as he left the lovebirds alone and stood back up, his wings ready to carry him off into the night again, but I'll bet it means nothing if you don't have somepony to share it with.
He continued his journey across the city. He had about several hours before the sun rose, and Heart and Hooves Day was upon Equestria once again. And he was determined to have his letter delivered to the bat-pony he admired so much before that time came.
The breeze seemed to pick up a bit as he soared over the building tops below.
