“I don’t think this is really necessary, how many times have we gone through this already?”
The light black heart pony let out a deep sigh and frowned, he had discussing this for far too long, his light and dark red tail that matched with his short forward mane moving from side to side under the seats of the train. Closing his green eyes he tried to ignore the vibration of the machine that didn’t do much to alleviate his annoyance, he accommodated moving his rump with a leash cutie mark.
“I don’t know, aren’t you the one keeping count?” the stallion pony deadpanned as he rolled his eyes.
“Of course I do, 30 in case you were wondering, I already gave up at number 6 in trying to convince you to use it again” the slightly light purple female unicorn, her horn instead of being straight was curved, with a collar cutie mark, smiled as she trotted from side to side, her short tail and messy dark blue mane, that matched her cat like eyes, moving behind her “I’m never going to get why you don’t just-”
“Not this again, keep insisting and I won’t let you out” the mare open her mouth and moved a hoof to her chest pretended to be offended. “We have an agreement, don’t make me angry, behave, and you can get out once a week, and for the love of Celestia, don’t prank anypony this time alright?”
“Me? I would never do such a thing!” she smirked getting another roll of eyes from the red manned pony. “Besides it’s no fun pranking somepony you don’t even know, if you know what makes them tick is a lot more funny”
“Right…” the stallion smiled a bit, he loved pranks as much as the next pony but she seemed to care less if the pony in the other end of the joke got hurt. “You can do those in your day of the week but as long as I’m in charge no pranking’s or using magic, understood?” he raised his voice a bit making sure she got the point.
“Yes my lord” she exclaimed with a sarcastic tone and bowed getting up immediately after “well if I do that, who knows? I mean third time wasn’t the charm, maybe we just needed to add a zero to it” the mare said as she finally stopped the trotting and sited next to the stallion.
“Maybe, but who knows, I have a bit more confidence because the rest of the places we tried where city’s, I hear town ponies are much more accepting”
The unicorn shrugged and sighed. “I just don’t want this to be boring, it’s not like all cities are interesting, but if this turns out to be the place, then at least I hope I don’t get bored to death”
“well I don’t know, after the fiasco in Canterlot I think I’m done with your idea of “excitement” for a while, I guess spending two months there instead of one could be a good idea.” the mare frowned and looked at him who simply responded with a confident smile, “I need some relaxation after all, and there has to be a reason for princess Celestia herself to choose this place for the summer sun celebration.”
“Yeah you told me about that, I still can’t believe it, isn’t that normally decided by a commute of stuck ups?”
The stallion raised an eyebrow. “I think you mean royalty.”
“No I don’t, and hey, after how they treated us in Canterlot not calling them something worst is a compliment.” she shuffled her hooves in annoyance. “Makes me angry just thinking about it!” calming down a bit the mare continued her trotting “anyway, don’t you think it’s a little weird?”
“Weird?” the stallion looked at her with a puzzled look. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean I can understand the princess thinking she found a really nice place for the celebration and all, but why a town? Aren’t celebrations like this usually in huge city’s so more ponies can attend?”
“Well…” the earth pony moved one of his hooves to his chin and thought for a bit. “Maybe she wanted to let a small town have the honor of hosting the party.”
The unicorn sighed and closed her eyes. “I guess… I still think is a bit weird though.” she kept her eyes closed and rested her head on the back of the seat. “I think need a nap, wake me up when we arrive.”
The stallion laughed a bit. “Now you are ordering me around? What kind of slave are you?”
The female smiled back “the kind who gets sad when her master doesn’t let her sleep.” she looked at the black furred pony having a pout on her face witch made him laugh a bit more. “Pretty please?”
“All right, all right” he kept smiling and nodded. “I think I need some sleep too.” the mare returned the smile, closing her eyes and, as if she was some kind of smoke, the mare disappeared in thin air, as soon as she was completely gone the white stone bracelet on tight leash’s left front leg became black, he then rested his head on the back of his seat and closed his eyes.
A few hours later the stallion was woken up by the sound of the train stopping, he stood up and trotted to the exit yawning looking around the station and taking the first glance of the town.
He smiled, it wasn’t so bad, very colorful houses, long open roads, the air smelled a lot better and he could notice how most of the ambient here was relaxed, not like in the city, the city ambient always made him feel nervous, not like here, he rubbed the bracelet he had with his hoof and a poof of light purple smoke appear suddenly taking the form of the mare as she yawned and took a look around.
-So… this is the place?- the mare asked, she realized no one was startled and let out a deep sigh -can I make myself visible?- she stopped for a moment to see the annoyed face on the earth pony’s face and added -please?-
-We been through this Scarlet, even if they were to be more open minded here, I think anyone would freak out if they saw a mare appearing out of nowhere- the mare looked at the ground witch made the stallion sigh -hey come on, before hoof I didn’t even let you stay like this-
The mare frowned her eyes and looked up -alight. But don’t forget your promise ok?-
“You keep yours, I’ll keep mine” the mare raised an eyebrow in disbelief but she seemed to accept this as they started trotting down the street.
The black pony was glad he could talk to the mare without having to actually speak, after all talking to himself wasn’t the best way to make a good first impression, and he could fell this was going to be a good place to stay, the ponies here looked really happy and without a worry, it seemed so different from the city’s where you could always tell every pony was panicking and whit something to do deciding not to waste time, he approached an apple stall, he was kind of hungry after the long trip and some directions as to where the city hall was would be nice.
“Howdy partner, would ya be interested in buying some? Recently bucked sweet apple acres merchandise” the orange earth mare beamed as she noticed the stallion coming closer.
“Sure, it’s been a while since I tested recently picked food” the stallion grabbed one of the apples with his hoof and smelled it, the smell was amazing. Suddenly the orange pony stopped for a second and looked at the black stallion with a curious luck on her face, to witch he answer laughing awkwardly, scarlet through all this was quiet and observing, not wanting to distract leash in meeting the people in town” am… is something wrong?”
“Ya ’all new here aren’t ya?” the orange pony smiled and smirked.
“Uh? How do you know that.” the black pony looked puzzled by the sudden question.
“For once I haven’t seen ya around here before, and second, I reckon ya look mighty lost” he simply kept the awkward smile and scratched the back of his head with the hoof he was holding the apple with.
“that’s right, I just arrived in the train, does evrypony here know evrypony else?” the earth pony looked very curious, some ponies managed to notice he was new when he asked about where he could get a place to stay but here he didn’t even manage that.
“Nha, that’s it’s just that is not that big of a town so when ya all be walking around you see the ponies in town often and I’ve never see ya around before” the orange pony extended her hoof and smiled. “Welcome to Ponyville, I’m applejack, if you need fresh apples I got the best ones in all of Ecuestria”.
The stallion returned the smile, and shook applejacks hoof, this was the first pony he had seen in this town and was extremely friendly, and even if she was trying to be friendly to a possible new costumer he was more than happy to accept amiability in any form. Scarlet looked happy as well this town seemed very open to newcomers.
“Thanks applejack, I’m thigh leash, but you can call me lee.” the black pony suddenly realized he was still holding the apple in his hoof. “Oh sorry, how much for the apple?”
“Nice ta meet ya lee, and don’t worry, first one is on the house, just so ya come here wanting some more latter.” she chuckled and moved back behind the stand.
-She seems nice- scarlet said looking at lee.
-Yeah I didn’t expect such a warm welcome from the townsfolk-
Lee was starting to keep moving but realize he still hadn’t asked for directions “oh applejack I almost forgot, would you mind telling me where the town hall is?”
“Sure thing is right down that path” applejack pointed her hoof to a road leading to the center of town.
Lee smiled and thanked applejack as he headed down the path while scarlet followed behind as he walked he focus his attention on the town itself taking note of where the stores and services where, there were a huge amount of sites of interest for such a small town a site with some arcade machines, a spa, a hospital, and even a marketplace, it seemed there wasn’t going to be any need to go out of town unless you needed something very specific.
-Why don’t we take a better look around? You know enter the stores, maybe buy some stuff? - The mare mentioned as they walked through the path.
-We don’t want to get too lost, is not that big of a town, but just in case I think is better go get us a place to stay and then we can look around all you want. As long as you-
-Yeah, yeah as long as I don’t prank anybody I know- scarlet rolled her eyes as they reach the town square with the town hall in the middle of it, as they were getting closer to the door they suddenly hear music.
Both turned their head to the side and saw a weird contraption with music honks, flags, an oven and some kind of canons on the top with a pink mare jumping up and down in front of it. Before lee could even ask what was going on the mare started singing.
Welcome welcome welcome.
A fine welcome to you.
Welcome welcome welcome.
I say how do you do?
As the pony continued her singing the earth pony scratched his head with his hoof in confusion the pink pony seemed to move at an insane speed and, out of nowhere, she pulled out a drum and started playing it as she continued her song.
Welcome welcome welcome.
I say hip hip hurray.
Welcome welcome welcome.
To Ponyville today.
As the pony finished she did a sliding dash on the ground and looked up at lee, which raise a hoof to say something but again she spoke before even a word could be said.
“Wait for it” she said whit a wide smile on her face. As if on cue a set of confetti shoot up from the top of the contraption and a dinging noise could be heard as she moved back to the machine and then once again back to the confused pony with a plate with some cupcakes and handed it to him.
As tight leash tried his best to put the pieces on his brain of what just happened scarlet simply laughed out loud.
-I like her-she mentioned as he continued laughing.
Lee looked at the plate with the cupcakes and then back at the mare that was looking back at him with an expecting smile, he took one of the sweets and took a bite with a smile and a sound of satisfaction he looked back at the pony. “ this tastes wonderful, did you ma-
Before the stallion could finish the phrase. The pink mare jumped into the air and with a loud gasp she dashed away leaving a very confused lee and a laughing scarlet behind.
-What just happen? Was it something I said?-
Scarlet tried to content her laughter and took a deep breath talking in between laughs-I don’t think so maybe she is, like, the joker of the town-
-That was funny I suppose but… wait a sec, where did she even got the drum?-
-Hu... wait now that you mention it-As they both ponder this lee shook his head and sighed in resignation.
He continued trotting, up the stairs and into the town hall, as soon as lee enter he notice something cached the stallions eye, the place was beautifully decorated, made sense, after all it was only a few days for the summer sun celebration, what lee thought was weird was the fact there was only one pony decorating the whole room, a white unicorn that carried herself with grace, he approached her when it seemed like she was done choosing the color of the curtains for the stage.
“Excuse me”
“Oh yes, sorry I didn’t notice you, I was quite focused into my job as you might have guessed” the unicorn smiled as he got close. ”I’m rarity pleased to make your acquaintance, what is it that you needed?”
“I just came to town and we wanted to talk to the mayor since I’ve herd since this town doesn’t have a hotel the people who want to stay can pay to rent a room in the town hall, nice to meet you by the way, my name is tight leash but you can call me lee “he extended his hoof which she shook, once he explained he continue looking around the room with a smile. “I got to say this place looks great, did you decorated this all by yourself?”
The unicorn smiled and let out a soft giggle “why yes dear I have, thank you for the compliment, the mayor is upstairs; I’m guessing you came to the celebration?”
“Not really, I’ve herd good things about this town and I wanted to see what it was like to live outside the city for a while” lee sighed mentally, he wasn’t technically lying, but being dishonest with those who were so nice and welcoming made him fell a bit bad.
“I can say you will enjoy this place it is quite different from the city, although some of the ponies here can be a bit… how should I say, peculiar”
“Um… yeah I notice, speaking of which, a pink mare assaulted me with a musical while I was entering the town hall and then run away before I could even ask her anything, do you got any idea about that?”
“Ha” rarity sighed “that must have been pinkie pie, don’t worry she doesn’t mean any harm that’s just how she is”
“I see, well she didn’t seem to be any kind of dangerous, it was just odd that’s all, thank you for your time rarity I need to go talk to the mayor to rent a room”
“Don’t worry, if you need anything I work at the Carrousel Boutique, if you want to chat or have some questions about the town, or anything really, fell free to come”
“Wow am…”lee looked at rarity with a surprise look on his face. “Thank you rarity that’s very kind of you”
“It’s nothing dear, besides that way I make sure that if you want a dress you come to me” she let out a soft giggle and a warm smile that lee returned as he walked up the stairs of the mayor’s office.
-You know, I kind of don’t like her-
-Let me guess, she reminds you too much of the “stuck ups”-
-Yep, although none of they would have offered that much help so… I guess she is good with me-
-But that doesn’t matter too much if you are not good with her-
-I guess- scarlet said with a sigh-do you think that’s ever going to happen?
-We can only hope-
As they approached the office door they could hear some kind of arguing occurring inside.
“-so that’s why you should leave the clearing of the clouds to me alone, that way you don’t have to bother calling the other pegasi and I can get some good exercise” an enthusiastic female voice said behind the door.
“Right, well I can see that rainbow dash, but the clouds need to be cleared tomorrow before the sun goes down and around 8 so that there is no need to interrupt the already programed cloudy weather”. A more serious feminine voice exclaimed.
“Yeah yeah I know I’ll do it tomorrow before the sun goes down, so? Are you going to leave this to me alone or not?”
A sigh could be Heard “fine, but you better not leave a single one, we don’t want to look bad in front of the princess”
“Great, see ya latter mayor” the door suddenly open revealing a blue Pegasus with rainbow mane that dashed to the exit.
“Oh, hello there I’ve never seen you around “the mayor offer a hoof shake that the black pony accepted with a kind smile “I’m mayor mare, let me welcome you to Ponyville”
“Thanks, I’m tight leash, please call me lee, pleasure to meet you, I was told to that I should talk to you if I want a place to stay here”
The mayor smiled and nodded “indeed since there isn’t much tourism in Ponyville we use the town hall extra rooms for any tourist, its 2 bits a day and 3 for a night”
Lee blinked in awe as did scarlet.
“Mh?” The mayor looked at lees face with a concern look “is something wrong?”
“No, sorry, it just surprise me how little it cost, most hotel are at least 5 times more for a day”
“Well since most people that stay here do it for a day or two and the town can deal with itself mostly on internal economy we... oh excuse me” the mayor let out a laugh” I have this thing for explaining everything, guess that’s what happen when you write so many speeches”
Lee smiled and let out a soft laugh as well “well the thing is I want to stay for at the very least a month and-
“A month?!” the mayor opened her eyes wide. Lee started at her in confusion and nodded leaving the mayor on a shock. “Well it’s been a while since we have someone stay that long, unless they straight up buy a house here, so it took me by surprise that’s all am…sorry to be rude but, you don’t seem to have any bits on you, how are you planning on paying?”
“I paid a delivery so they should be arriving any min-
As he says that a loud crash could be heard from the outside of the hall making the tree ponies there jump in place.
“What the hay was what” lee exclaimed as he moved down the stairs followed by the mayor.
“I honestly have no idea” rarity responded as she approached the door” it seem it came up from just outside” the white unicorn opened the door with her magic revealing a mess on the stairs leading to the entrance of the city hall, boxes, chest and luggage where all around the floor, luckily nothing seemed damaged.
On the side of the mess was a grey Pegasus with bubbles cutie mark lying on top of a struggling rainbow dash that was on the ground with what seemed to be a bag that said “fragile” on her mouth.
-Now I know which delivery service I’m not contracting anymore- said lee to scarlet letting out a deep sigh.
-You know this wouldn’t have happen if you just order me to levitate everything here-
-For the thousand time, that would have been a terrible idea-
-Worse than this? - Scarlet remarked with a smirk.
-Well…-Lee looked around to the whole of his pretenses on the ground some even making a hole in the wood stairs and let out a sigh- ok you win this one-
“Derpy will you get off of me?” dash asked in an annoyed voice as she obviously had to put a fair amount of strength in holding both the bag in her mouth and the mare on top of her.
“Sorry rainbow dash” the grey mare apologized and got off her back noticing lee she moved closer and looked down “s…sorry for the mess mister and mayor”
The mayor facehoofed and sighed “Derpy we been through this before, didn’t I told you not to deliver something all by yourself? You could have hurt somepony and-”
Lee looked around while the mayor scolded the grey Pegasus checking all of his stuff he got closer to rainbow dash that had putted the bag on the ground and sighed of relief.
“Thanks for caching that” the earth pony smiled as he looked closer to the bag and started opening just to make sure it wasn’t broken.
“You are welcome what’s in there anyway? It was pretty heavy” rainbow looked into the bag as lee opened it and raised an eyebrow, inside was a typewriter with a piece of paper attached to the top. “A typewriter?”
“Mhm” lee nodded as he closed the bag and started moving around picking up the heavy luggage accommodating it on the side of the door having some trouble with some of the heavier ones.
Rainbow dahs let out a soft laugh and got closer to him piquing up the other side of the chest he was trying to get off the ground ”let me help you with that”
“Thanks” leash managed to say as they moved the last of his belongings to a place where they wouldn’t get in the way, not that it matter to much since most of the stairs where destroyed by the weight of his stuff falling down on it.
Lee turned around to see mayor mare still lecturing the poor grey pony who in what seemed to be an endless complains about how her shouldn't do things on her own and needed some help.
“I feel bad for her”
“The mayor is right; this happens way too often, you would be surprise how many times I need to catch her”
“How often is that?” lee asked with a skeptical voice.
“Way too much, we tell her constantly to stay off the sky for her deliveries butt she doesn’t listen”
“well…” lee took a closer look at the pegasi being yelled at her ears lowered as she constantly apologized for her mistake, she looked so vulnerable, he continued to observe her deep in thought.
-I know that look on your face- scarlet let out a soft laugh and smiled- better take your mind out of the gutter.
-Hey!-lee frowned in annoyance- this is not the moment scarlet.
-And you are saying that to me? You where the one looking at that poor little helpless mare-she lets out a smirk and laughed- what’s with you and cute mares?
-I don’t know, what’s with you and brute stallions? Never seen you trying to get one of the-
“You alight there” rainbow dash asked as lee seemed to still be looking at Derpy, he shake his head and looked at the blue mare.
“Yeah… sorry I just kind of got lost in thought” he quickly thought of a change of subject not to suffer further questioning. “You are… rainbow dash, right?”
Rainbow smiled proudly and stocked her chest up, “the one and only, what? Have you herded of me?”
“I heard you talking to the mayor; you said you would clear the sky all by yourself tomorrow right?”
“That’s right! It’s not that good of an exercise but it always help”
“But can you really clear the sky in that short amount of time?”
“Ha! Short amount of time? Are you kidding me? I can clear the whole thing in ten seconds flat”
Lee raised an eyebrow unbelieving at this “all by yourself?”
“You doubt me? Fine then come tomorrow at 9 in the main street and I will show you that I’m not kidding” the rainbow mare smirked “you can take it as a… welcome to Ponyville show”
Lee laughed and smiles “so first I got free cupcakes and now I get a full Arial show on my honor? That’s great, I’m tight leash by the way, call me lee” he smiled and offered his hoof as rainbow dash shook it.
“Free cupcakes? What do you mean by-
As rainbow dash was talking the mayor finally seemed to finish her scolding the Pegasus moved close to lee looking down as she looked up at him he then notice her eyes where crossed.
“Sorry about dropping your stuff mister”
Lee give her a warm smile which scarlet retorted with another laugh that he ignore.
“No harm done, nothing broke and no one got hurt so no harm done I suppose”
Derpy smiled brightly and nodded she then moved and graving a pen out of her saddlebag she offer it to lee, as he took it in his mouth she moved a clipboard to the front of her with her mouth once lee singed it she returned the pen and the clipboard to her saddlebag with a sigh of relief.
“Mh? What’s wrong?” the black stallion asked as the mare sighed.
“oh nothing I’m just glad you didn’t yell at me or refused to signs the papers mister, I get that problem a lot ”she laughed awkwardly as lee scratched the back of his head “thank you so much for using our services” the Pegasus smiled once again as she started trotting into town.
Just then lee notice that rainbow dash wasn’t here anymore he looked around to see if she had moved somewhere but didn’t seem like it.
-hey did you see where rainbow dash went?- lee suddenly asked scarlet who was also moving her head around she shock it from side to side.
“Now that we got that out of the way, you were saying you wanted to stay here for a month?”
The rest of the day went as expected; lee moved all of his belongings to the top floor of the city hall where the empty rooms where located, paid the mayor in advance for the full month and decided to take a look around town.
He didn’t have too much to worry about in terms of getting lost since the place where he was staying was located in the middle of town it was easy enough to locate, and even if it wasn’t it seemed most of the locals in town wouldn’t have a problem with giving him some guidance.
What seem to attract the most curiosity from lee and scarlet was how quiet this place was, sure there could still hear ponies chatting and talking about random things every now and them but compared to the noises of the city that was nothing.
-You know if we hadn’t seen all that weird stuff we did I would say this place is pretty boring- scarlet finally said as they were walking back to the town hall.
-Well I can’t say that I don’t agree with you, but maybe boring is exactly what we need-
-I think what you need is stop being you for five minutes, then you can enjoy life a little more-
-Ha-ha very funny, I know what your idea of enjoying life is and I don’t want a part of it-
As they reached the hall and went inside they continued discussing.
-That again? You know I’m just kidding when I say those things right?”
-Of curse I know, but taking in mind what you can do is not easy to ignore it when you bring it up-
-Right… I guess I can see that, now that I can have all the fun I want once a week, I don’t have to make you less of a stick in the mud now-
-I will keep my promise but try to show some restrain, and call me boring one more time and I will send you to sleep-
They kept moving up the stairs as they walked reaching the close to the door of lees room.
-Aw come on don’t get mad, I’m just teasing silly-
Lee sighed as he moved his hoof on the doorknob.
-yeah I know either way it’s late I can’t wait to get in bed and have a nice long…
As lee open the door suddenly a shower of streamer’s and all kinds of party ornaments came down on him with a loud shout of.
“Surprise!”
Recovering from the shock lee stood there with his eyes wide open as was scarlet, the room, as small as it was, held a fair amount of the townsponies that enjoyed themself drinking punch and talking. There were streamers on the wall, tables filled with food and beverages and a huge banner that stated “welcome to Ponyville” in big bright pink letters.
“Hi there” pinkie pie jumped out of the side with a wide smile “I’m pinkie and I threw this arty just for you, where you surprise? Where you? Where you? Where you?”
The stallion simply stared in awe as he looked around did that pony seriously threw a whole welcome party for a complete stranger.
“aha!” she exclaimed satisfied. “I can see that I was right so I did surprise you, that’s good because I honestly planed a much bigger party somewhere else but I could not find that many guest’s since tomorrow evrypony is supposed to stay up all night they said that they were going to go sleep early, I mean geez how am I supposed to throw a welcome party and make you meet new friends where most of the town is snoozing on their beds?”
“So… you threw this whole thing just for me?” the earth pony simply could not believe someone would take all that trouble for a complete stranger.
“Well duh silly how am I supposed to make friends with you when I don’t even trow you a welcome party, I mean what kind of friend does make a welcome party?”
Lee stood still as the pink pony talked; his eyes focus on her in disbelief scarlet on the other hoof had a wide smile on her face.
“So the reason why you ran off after welcoming me to town was…
“To set up this party yep”
Lee blinked as he looked around of the place he could recognize only pinkie and mayor mare seemed the rest of the ponies he meet must have been pretty tired.
“Well um… I don’t know what to say pinkie, thanks” he said with a smile.
“You are welcome” she said in a very chipper tone.
“How did you even get this many guests? Didn’t you just say evrypony wanted to go to bed early because of tomorrow?”
Pinkie let out a sigh “well at first I tried asking people to come, but there was no way to ask the whole town in such a short notice so I asked rainbow dash to-
“Rainbow dash? So the reason she disappeared was because she was helping you, I guessing you and her went through the whole town so that there was more of a chance to get more guests?”
The pink mare let out a gasp and raised an eyebrow “how do you know that? Are you psychic?”
“Hu? Am...” the black pony simply smiled and let out a laugh. “If I was I wouldn’t have been surprise now would I?”
“Ha I guess that’s true, well now enjoy the party lee” she stated as she bounce to a spot where some of the guests where drinking punch.
-You do realize you never told her your name right?-scarlet remarked laughing a bit.
Lee blinked and tough for a minute as he simply let out a sigh in defeat.
-I think its better if I don’t even question her-
-I agree, she seems completely and totally nuts… did I mentioned I like her yet?-
Lee smiled and moved closer to one of the tables grabbing some cupcakes on there and eating it as he had some idle chat with some of the townspony he had seen before, just then he notice a yellow Pegasus that was standing alone next to one of the tables that where the room she didn’t seem to talk to anypony, confused he said his goodbyes and approached the mare.
“Hey there” as soon as he say that the Pegasus hid behind her pink mane as she was felling threatened” am… sorry didn’t mean to scare you, what’s your name?”
Not retreating from the visual shield her hair provided the yellow Pegasus managed to say something barely audible that lee could not even begin to comprehend.
-Hey did you catch what she said?-
-She said her name is fluttershy, I think, even I barely heard that-
“Fluttershy?” the mare nodded slowly as she rubbed one of her hoofs against the other. “Pleased to meet you Fluttershy, I’m tight leash, call me lee, why are you here on this corner all alone?” the yellow pony didn’t say anything she simply held herself behind her hair and looked down. Lee simply scratched the back of his head.
“Is something wrong?” once again the only answer he got was a simple shake of her head the mare kept hiding behind her hair as if she could become invisible by doing it which lee thought it was quite adorable. “Ok let’s play the guessing game then, you are shy so that’s what you aren’t talking?” fluttershy nodded once again it seemed she became even more embarrassed.
-Well this isn’t going to take forever or anything, why don’t you go talk to someone who actually talks?-
-Hey that’s not very nice she is here all alone and the party is for me, wouldn’t you think it’s my responsibility for me to make sure she fells conformable?-
-I think you are making her fell more uncomfortable by actually talking to her, and even then you didn’t planed this party, pinkie did-
Lee let out a sigh, she did had a fair point fluttershy didn’t seem conformable at all talking to him, should he straight up leave? Keep talking to her like nothing? I mean who knows maybe she isn’t uncomfortable but she is just shy, or maybe she is and is being polite not telling him to away or maybe-
-You know the fact that you are standing still looking straight up at her probably doesn’t help the matter-
Lee shakes his head as he saw fluttershy still there rubbing one of her front hoofs with the others.
“Oh, sorry, ok I’ll leave you alone sorry to have bothered you” as he was turning around he once again herd something coming from the mare, barely audible as he sighed.
-She says you don’t bother her, he, good thing you have me don’t you agree? - Scarlet smiled, lee in answer rolled his eyes but thanked her with a nod.
“I don’t bother you then?” fluttershy nodded once again as lee let out a soft laugh and gave her a smile, “that’s good, what kind of work do you do here fluttershy” once again her voice was barely audible, before scarlet could translate for him he spoke up again. “You know I have a good ear but if you speak any lower I think the bugs might confuse it for a mate calling, can you please speak up a bit?”
Scarlet facehoofed and sighed-you know, you trying to flirt is worse than watching a clown do a drama it just doesn’t- in mid-sentence fluttershy let out a soft small giggled a bit and moved her head slowly a bit forward out of her hair-oh you have to be bucking kidding me.
-One I’m not trying to flirt, I’m simply talking to her, and two the only reason a clown making drama doesn’t work is because of the make-up-
“I…I’m sorry if I spoke to softly” fluttershy managed to say her voice still down but now it was audible.
“It’s nothing, so what do you do here? Lee smiled happy she was finally speaking up, or as up as she could manage, the unicorn for her part simply rolled her eyes and decided to take a look around the place in the midtime peeking in what the party guest where talking about.
“I… am... I own a cottage so… I mostly take care of the animals and sell animal food a...and give animals new homes… s...sorry if it’s not very interesting” fluttershy lower her head again which only made tight leash think she was more adorable.
“No its not boring at all I was always interested in some things about domestic animals, but of course there are things books can’t teach you so do you mind if I ask you some questions?”
“Oh n…not at all that would be wonderful” finally coming out of her pink mane completely lee sighed in relief that didn’t turned up so bad, he spent most of the night chatting with fluttershy, in reality most of the question he could come up about domestic animals where about some things he had read in fantasy books.
Luckily fluttershy seemed to know a fair share about mythical creatures as well so that he managed to come up with a new question every time fluttershy answer one.
At about one in the morning most of the ponies including fluttershy leave since even though they came to the party they still wanted to stay awake for tomorrows celebration, pinkie was the last one to leave, but before she did she made sure to tell lee she lived at Sugarcube corner and that if he wanted anything he could come to ask.
The earth pony thanked her as she leaved bouncing out of the door and down the stairs.
-Scarlet?-
-Yeah?-
-How… how can she bounce on the stairs like that and not fall?-
-I thought we agree not to question her-
Lee let out a sigh as he closed the door, there were still some streamer’s hanging but besides that most of the tables where folded and taken away by the ponies that assisted, the food on the other hand was on the fridge there was enough cake, candy and hay sandwiches for about a whole week.
He could not remove the smile out of his face. It was the first time he ever had received such a warm welcome, everyone in town seemed friendly, he trotted to the only bedroom and sighed satisfied laying on the bed.
-You know I just thought of something-scarlet stated with a worried voice.
Lee shuffled in the bed and closed his eyes-what’s that?-
-Isn’t it dangerous for us to be here? I mean with the princess coming and all-
The stallion let out a soft laugh-you just thought about that? Geez scarlet I thought you were brighter than that-
The mare sighed in annoyance-I just thought I would be nice for once and not rub in your face someone I thought about and you didn’t-
-Alright alright sorry- lee let out a sigh- still thought, no one can see the bracelet if I don’t want them to see it.
-Unless they can use chaotic magic-
-You really think the princess of Ecuestria that basses her whole kingdom in harmony can use chaotic magic?-
-I don’t know, and that’s the point, how do you know she can’t?-
Lee sighed once again and open his eyes looking at scarlet who was standing next to the bed-if I’m wrong and things get ugly we just teleport out and run-lee looked down a bit- I hope she doesn’t see it thought, this town seems nice-
-Sure, it’s nice, and a lot more exiting that I was expecting- scarlet let out a soft giggle as she smiled at the earth pony.
-Mh? What? Did you hear something interesting while at the party?-
-Oh master don’t be silly, do you think a nice little mare like me would go around telling others secret like that?- lee let out a laugh that was follow by the unicorn, they both smiled as he closed his eyes once again, scarlet looked at him for a few seconds and sighed-master?-
-Yeah? - The stallion answer absentmindly.
-Can…can I sleep next to you tonight?-lees eyes suddenly open as he looked at the mare who was facing the ground not daring to look up, he looked at her with an mixed of understanding an annoyed.
-Scarlet…- he felt awful each time he had to say no to a request like that, it’s not that he didn’t want her next to him, but each time she did sleep next to him and not in the bracelet she seemed to wake up cryng.
-I know, I know- she let out a sigh- sorry, it was a dumb question…-
There was silence in the room for a few seconds until the stallion finally let out a sigh of resignance and with an understanding smile he noded-alrigth-
-Hu?!- Scarlet’s eyes open wide as a huge smiled formed across her face- you mean it?-
-I wouldn’t play with you with that come on- the stallion shuffled in the bed giving the mare space as she moved into it he smiled at her and closed his eyes- good night.
-Good night master, thanks- scarlet smiled widely, it had been way too long since she had the chance to sleep with her master, she knew why he didn’t like it, it was the same reason she didn’t like it heiter, thinking about this she sighed. after a few minutes, once she made sure lee was sleeping, scarlet moved her hoof to tight leash’s but, instead of felling the warm soft fur of the stallion, her hoof simply went right through his, as if she was a ghost stopped as she was able to touch the bed, but not him.
The mare sighed once again and closed her eyes as a thousand and one thoughts in her head she resigned herself and finally fell asleep.
