Accidentally In Love
by milesprower06
Chapter One
Stormworks
'Come on Scribbles, get a move on!'
Sky Scribbles imagined how his boss would berate him for not getting the cloud to Ponyville's Summer Sun Celebration fast enough. If he wasn't afraid of retaliation, he knew exactly how he'd respond too.
"Not all of us have raw talent in speed, Ms. Dash. If you want it there two hours early, I'm sure you'd be more than capable of pushing it all the way there." The dark gray pegasus mumbled to himself as he beat his wings, slowly moving the cumulus across the sky towards the hills just outside Ponyville. It was considerably large, almost too big for one pony. But it was more hours; hours that would be on next week's check. They must have been planning something new for this year's festivities, a cloud had never been on the manifest before.
The flight wasn't made any easier by his saddlebags, which contained his entertainment for the evening. He wasn't the most sociable of ponies, and in retrospect, he was rather grateful that he hadn't attended last year's Celebration, seeing as how half of it was cleanup after that Everfree Forest disaster. But he had the feeling that he should at least be present after delivering the cloud. After all, he didn't want to be a loner all the time, especially considering he lived and worked in the capitol of Princess Twilight's Kingdom of Friendship.
At last, after an hour of flying from Cloudsdale, the outskirts of Ponyville came into view as the sun began it's final descent. Once the sun went down, the party would officially begin, and wouldn't stop until the sun came up the next morning to start the longest day of summer. Most businesses closed the day after the festivities, so ponies could continue spending time with friends, and then catch up on sleep.
As the instructions said, Sky pushed the cloud to over the northernmost hill. If a major outdoor event didn't take place around Town Hall, it was out here. The road snaked through these hills out to Sweet Apple Acres and beyond, continuing east.
With the cloud in place, Sky descended to the grass, and dug through his saddlebags for his chosen entertainment for the evening; a small stack of comic books. He began to flip through the first one when another pony bumped into him.
"Oof!" He grunted, nearly being knocked over. The comic falling for the ground, he looked over to the offender, a unicorn stallion pulling a small cart, who also had a comic book in his magical grasp.
"Whoops, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there. The hill looked clear when I started climbing." He said, also grabbing Sky's comic book with his magic, and offering it back to him. He eyed the title on the cover.
"Hey, you're a Crimson vs. Indigo fan too, huh? Awesome." The unicorn said, offering a hoof bump.
"Yep, been reading it for nearly nine years now." Sky replied, taking his comic back and completed the hoof bump.
"Name's Cobalt Blaze, nice to meet you."
"Sky Scribbles. Likewise."
Cobalt's coat was true to his name, a dark blue all over. His mane and tail consisted of an even darker blue, nearly black, striped with a contrasting orange. Both were roughly kept. A pair of short, wide oval-framed glasses rested on his snout,in front of his fluorescent orange eyes. His cutie mark was a light gray thundercloud with a bolt of lightning, not something you'd commonly see on a unicorn.
Cobalt likewise took in the features of the pegasus he had carelessly bumped into. His coat was a dark gray, his eyes were a rich blue, his violet and blue mane had been styled into a mohawk, and his similarly colored tail swayed behind him. His cutie mark was a rolled scroll and a black-feathered quill.
Cobalt put his comic back in his saddlebags as he got himself out of the harness of his cart. He walked around to the back, and opened the tailgate. Securely fastened in the back of the cart were several spring-loaded cannons, and a pile of dozens of head-sized spheres, that looked like they were made of either glass or marble.
"What are those?" Sky asked, coming around to the back as Cobalt began to unload the cannons with his magic. He set the cannons up in a circle around the top of the hill, each pointed up at the cloud Sky had brought.
"These..." The unicorn began, grabbing one of the spheres, "are Stormworks, my very own creation. A type of firework."
Sky looked at the fiery blue sphere, and didn't see any kind of fuse or anything.
"How do you light them? I don't see any fuses or anything."
"That's the point. It's my patented magically activated firework. It's much safer that way."
"So how do they go off?"
"Like this."
Cobalt lit his horn, and fired a beam of magical energy into the cloud above them that Sky had brought in. The white cumulus began to glow, and turned several darker shades into gray.
"We could've done that, if you said you needed a thundercloud." Sky offered.
"It's no ordinary thundercloud. It's charged with my magic so I can control the lightning when I shoot these up around the cloud.
"Ah. Stormworks. Gotcha." Sky said, understanding.
"Well, since you made the long trip with the cloud, how about a front row seat with me for the show? View doesn't get any better than this. Cannon's aren't loud either because of the springs. No powder. I save the bangs for the stormworks themselves." Cobalt offered, grabbing a rolled up blanket from the back of the cart and unfurled it on the grass, taking off his saddlebags.
"Sure." Sky answered, taking off his own saddlebags, and taking a comfy spot on the blanket, getting his comic book back out.
"When does the show start?"
"Mayor Mare will come by and let me know when I can start. Usually not until it's completely dark." Cobalt said, looking off to the horizon, where there were still hints of light from the setting sun.
"So how long have you lived in Ponyville?" Sky asked.
"I've lived here most of my life. My mom's side of the family is from Baltimare. My dad's from Las Pegasus.
"So the stormworks is how you make your living?"
"Yep. I don't travel all that much for live shows, I just manufacture the stormworks, and serve as a reseller for the cannons that fire them. What about you? From around here?"
"I've only been living in town for about three years. Naturally, I'm from Cloudsdale. I was there until I was around six years old. Then my mom, my sister and I moved to Hoofington."
"You mom and sister? What about...?"
"Mom and dad split up when I was six. It was the reason we left Cloudsdale."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's alright. It was a long time ago. None of it was my fault. It's between my mom and dad, I never worried too much about it."
"So what do you do? I'm guessing something involving writing."
"Not as much as you'd think. I enjoy writing, but not so much as an occupation. Primarily, I'm with Ponyville's weather patrol, and I occasionally put a short story in the Ponyville Daily."
With that, the two of them opened their respective comic books. Sky had a reprint of issue #1 of Crimson vs Indigo. Cobalt had brought something considerably newer, issue #100. They were there reading for about fifteen minutes before Mayor Mare came up the hill.
"Good evening, Cobalt. Is everything ready?" She asked.
"Yes ma'am. At a periodic pace, we've got enough stormworks for a two hour show."
"Glad to hear it. You and your friend can start firing when the music starts."
Mayor Mare returned down to the festivities that were now starting to get underway. Ponies all around the hills were laying out picnic blankets, setting up lawn games like horseshoes, or gathering for the music Vinyl Scratch was mixing and playing.
"Alright, ready for a show?" Cobalt asked Sky, setting his saddlebags aside, and lighting up his horn.
"Absolutely. I think they are too." Sky pointed down to a small group of young ponies, and their parents, who had gathered at the bottom of the hill ready for the show.
Using his magic, Cobalt loaded each of the five cannons around the edge of the hilltop. When Vinyl's light show paused, he took that as his cue, and fired the first cannon. The fiery blue ball launched up into the sky. It arced over the cloud, and when it was at it's peak, the cloud struck the ball with a bolt of lightning. Blue bursts of fire shot up out of the stormwork as it exploded in a brilliant flash of light, to cheers and whoops from the bottom of the hill. Using his magic to toggle the cannon actuators, Cobalt fired off two more in quick succession. The cloud struck them at the same time, and red and yellow pyrotechnics filled the sky. The next two shots were also fired in pairs, and the lightning bolts were prolonged, remaining connected to the balls as they arced over the cloud, sending out a flurry of sparkling rockets even higher.
Needless to say, Sky was awestruck. As the show progressed throughout the night, the explosions contained within the spheres got bigger. At the two hour mark, Cobalt glanced in the back of the cart, and grabbed the last five stormworks, each wrapped in a red ribbon, letting him know that these were for the finale.
"Ready for the big finish?"
"Show me what you've got." Sky replied, eager to see what these last five were going to do.
Sky loaded them into the cannons, and with a signal from down below, Vinyl's music came to an abrupt pause. His horn glowing brightly, Cobalt fired off all five cannons at their highest setting, sending the balls up with a single strike each from the cloud. They spiraled around each other in a helix formation, each glowing a different color. These traveled higher than any previous shot, and when they reached the peak of their trajectory, the helix collapsed, and the five balls exploded in a spectacular display of multicolored fire. When the bang died down, there were cheers all around, especially from the younger ponies.
With the show concluded, the ponies who were captivated by the show at the bottom of the hill now moved onto other activities, while some of the younger crowd couldn't stay awake, and began napping on their picnic blankets. Vinyl's music continued as ponies began to dance in front of her light show.
Cobalt packed away the five cannons back in his cart, and without dozens of bowling-ball-sized fireworks, his return trip was no doubt going to be easier. When he latched the tailgate, his stomach announced it was time to get something to eat.
"My thoughts exactly. In the mood for anything particular?" Sky asked, as they began to descend the hill towards the concession stands.
"Oh yeah. I'm all about onion rings and barbeque sauce." Cobalt told him, his stomach rumbling at the mere mention of his favorite snack.
"I can't say that I've ever had that."
"Oh, then you are in for a treat my friend. Just wait until you try it."
Not even 30 seconds after getting to the concession area, they found a stand selling quite a few variations of fried snacks. They got two servings of piping hot onion rings and a generous bowl of barbeque sauce, and found a nearby picnic table. They dipped at the same time, and took a first bite, the fried breading crunching between their teeth.
Sky immediately wanted more.
"Oh wow, that is good."
Preferring a little onion ring with his dipping sauce, Sky was quite liberal with the barbeque. He quickly chewed his way through his serving of onion rings. The combination of the crunch of the breading, juiciness of the caramelized onion, and the sweet succulence of the sauce made it a perfect snack. After a few bites, Cobalt got up and returned a few minutes later with two mugs of ice cold apple cider.
"Here ya go, it's on me."
"Thanks."
To return the gratitude, Sky went and got a third serving of onion rings which the two of them shared with what barbeque sauce remained.
"So how often do you do shows yourself versus how often you just ship materials out?" Sky asked, taking his last bite of onion ring.
"It really varies. It depends on how many times I'm booked, and how far away it is. I don't like to charge too much if it's far away. But renting space on a train does get pricey sometimes. I try to get out to as many places as I can for that personal touch, but if there's not too many events close by, I'll usually just ship it out to them, because going halfway across Equestria for a two-hour show isn't really feasible."
"Yeah, I can see that."
"So, your cutie mark. You must do more writing than your occasional column in Ponyville Daily, right?"
"Yeah. There are a lot of my stories that I keep to myself."
"Why?"
"Well, sometimes I feel they're not up to par. But most of the time, I just feel like they're, well, too silly."
"What do you mean by too silly?"
"I write a little bit of everything. Comedy, slice of life, horror..."
"You write horror? What's silly about that?"
"Well you know those mythical human creatures? I got drunk one night and wrote a short story about a party planner who kidnapped party attendees, slowly tortured them, and then harvested their guts for ingredients for her desserts."
"Ah. Well, I'm certainly glad we've finished eating."
"Yeah. I enjoy writing, but I want to make sure I have something really really good before I try getting published or something like that."
"I should come by and see some of what you've written sometime."
"What about you? Your cutie mark is obviously centered around your Stormworks, but do you have any other hobbies?"
"Sure do. I like to draw on occasion. If I have some free time, I like working on my cart, to try to tweak it so I can go faster over rough terrain."
After finishing off their cider, they went to play some games, and listen to some of Vinyl's set. Sky didn't care for the dubstep as much as Cobalt did; their tastes in music were a bit different. Now that they weren't sitting around eating and talking, the night seemed to go by a lot faster. Before they knew it, Princess Twilight had come up on stage, and had formally announced the sunrise. After that, a whole lot of very tired ponies started to head back to town for what would either be a long, tired day off, or a day full of naps. Cobalt and Sky returned to the top of the hill, where the unicorn got hitched back up to his wagon.
"Tonight was awesome. It was great to meet you. It's always nice to make new friends. It'd be a shame if this was the last we saw of each other." Cobalt offered.
"Yeah. I'm sure you know how Twilight defeated Nightmare Moon with her new friends. Heh, can you imagine how it would be if Princess Twilight still wasn't the least bit interested in making friends after that whole mess?"
"It would be twisted, that's for sure. So, the next issue of Crimson vs Indigo comes out next week. Meet you at the comic shop?"
The two of them shared a hoof bump.
"Sounds like a plan to me."
Chapter Two: Crimson vs. Indigo
Accidentally In Love
by milesprower06
Chapter Two
Crimson vs Indigo
Chaotic Comics, Ponyville's local comic shop, always had a few patrons here and there, but Wednesdays were a different story entirely, when new comics came out.
Crimson vs. Indigo was a military comedy comic, created by a group of writers and artists down in Faustin, in the southern area of Equestria. It told the story of two squads of royal guards; the Crimson Solar Guard, and the Indigo Night Watch. It gained popularity in the first few issues, as readers laughed endlessly, wondering how these soldiers could ever survive in the military, regardless of whether it was at two bases in the middle of a canyon. By now, more than ten years later, it was one of the bestselling series in Equestria.
There were more than comics at Chaotic Comics, however. The store carried all manner of board games; from simple board games a family could sit down around, to the more complex role-playing fantasy games. Sky never figured himself that much of a geek for those kind of games. In addition to that, there were posters, action figures, collectible statues, and trading cards.
By late morning, the line for the newest issue had died down, and now there was almost no wait to pick it up. Sky was browsing the racks of action figures as he waited for his new friend to arrive.
"I was wondering if you were going to get here before me." Came from a voice behind him. Sky turned, and was greeted by Cobalt Blaze's smiling face. They shared a hoofbump.
"Been waiting long?" The unicorn asked.
"Twenty minutes or so, just as I got done with my first shift. I've kept myself busy here. Besides, didn't want to get a head start on ya."
"Well, you're here, so let's go get our comic."
Getting in line, the two stallions had their new, plastic sleeved comic in three minutes.
"Want to read these over lunch? My next shift isn't until five." Sky suggested.
"Sure. Where do you want to eat?"
"Haystacks sound good?"
"You read my mind."
Exiting the comic shop, the two stallions made their way to what could be considered the food court area of downtown Ponyville. Here, ponies could shop for fresh ingredients for cooking of their own, or choose from a respectable amount of short order and full service restaurants.
Haystacks was one of the more popular oatburger restaurants in town. It got insanely busy during the lunch and dinner rushes, thus the restaurant ran with a crew of ten ponies during the busiest periods. Lucky, Sky and Cobalt's choice of meal time was not among these rush periods, and there was only a single pony in line ahead of them.
"I don't know why I don't come here more often. The burgers are fantastic." Cobalt commented.
"Yeah, the food's good, but I don't think I'd want to work here... Again..." his pegasus friend mumbled.
"Again? You worked here?"
"For just about two years. Got promoted to a shift manager position, but by then, I'd had more than my fill."
"Sounds like a story, once we get our food." Cobalt commented, noticing that the pony ahead of them had received their order.
"So you were fired for calling a customer an ass?"
"In my defense, he was a donkey, and he was quite rude. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a customer who thinks we have to take their crap attitude along with their order, especially not for eight bits an hour. You know, customers who want an order of hayfries cooked up fresh for them in the middle of a rush for just a bit. So yeah, day after day after day, with my vacation requests being ignored or overruled at the last minute, I snapped. He probably didn't deserve it alone; every pompous customer needs to have their ego deflated. But I was shown the door ten minutes later. Luckily, the weather position opened right after, so I kept bills paid, and I haven't been back to that industry since. It's also the main reason that I like to cook my own food most of the time."
"You like to cook? Why not become a chef?"
"Well, I know a lot of ponies say to do what you love for a living, but I think what a lot of people don't realize is that when you're doing it for a living, it changes. I love cooking for myself and friends occasionally as a hobby. I don't think I could do it every day for dozens and dozens of ponies as a profession."
"Yeah, that's certainly understandable."
When they had gotten halfway through their meals, they dug into their saddlebags and began to read their new comic. Every now and then there would be a chuckle, and they'd point out some obscure reference that had been drawn in the background. They were proud to be geeks.
"So what now? I don't have work for another few hours."
"I could show you my place, if you want. That's where I was headed next."
"Where do you live?"
"Small house on the south end of town."
They disposed of their trash, put their comics back in their sleeves, and were on their way. It was a short five minute trot down to Ponyville's south residential areas. When they got to a small, one story house, Cobalt did a quick check of the mail, and took Sky up the front walk. The small wagon he had brought to the Summer Sun Celebration sat next to the front porch.
"Welcome to mi casa," the unicorn announced, unlocking the front door and welcoming his new friend inside. He magically flipped through the three pieces of mail, and took one of them on he gave the pegasus behind him the dime tour.
"Not much to look at, really. Kitchen, bathroom, living room, and where I lay my head," he said, walking into bedroom, which was furnished with a twin bed, nightstand, and small bookshelf.
"New order of Stormworks going out..." Cobalt said, opening the envelope and reading the invoice. Sky followed further into the medium-sized bedroom, and watched as he opened the closet door, where several boxes with lightning symbols sat. Directly next to that, was camping gear; a considerable amount of it.
"That's certainly a lot of camping equipment." Sky observed as Cobalt put the boxes of Stormworks away. Among Cobalt's camping collection was a tent, sleeping bags, fishing poles, high-capacity saddlebags, and water containers.
"Do you go often?"
"No, not often at all. It's no fun without somepony else. It's a waste of a weekend if I set up a tent and campfire just to sit there myself."
"Well I'm standing right here, goofus. Have anything planned for this weekend?"
"Not really, no."
"Me neither, I've got this weekend off. So let's head out to Whitetail Woods for a couple days and camp. Whad'dya say?"
Cobalt didn't have to contemplate it for long. What else was he going to do this weekend? Plus he'd finally get to use all this stuff he'd asked friends and family for several Hearth's Warming Eves.
"Sure thing. Meet you here Friday afternoon?" Cobalt said, leading his friend back out to the front door.
"Yeah, and we can swing by my place on the way out of town. I have plenty of cooking equipment that's suitable for a campfire."
"Awesome. See you then!"
Sky went on his way, and Cobalt went back in to continue preparing the newest order of Stormworks to go out, now looking forward to what was no longer an uneventful weekend.
Sky was amazed by how quickly his friendship with Cobalt was blossoming. He had never been the most social of ponies, which probably explained his misery during his short-lived fast food career. But there was something different about Cobalt. He couldn't put his hoof on it, but regardless, he was immensely looking forward to the camping trip this weekend. Now he just had to go home and find the cookware he said he had.
He flew over to the east side of town, and descended to his front steps. His house was just a tad smaller than Cobalt's, but he had less furniture, so it never felt small. Walking through the door, seeing Cobalt's apartment and then his fifteen minutes later made him realize that spending these few hours between shifts cleaning would definitely be for the best. He didn't want Cobalt coming in and seeing how he constantly let housekeeping get away from him.
'First things first, might as well start with the kitchen,' he thought silently to himself, stepping over last week's, and last month's weather forecasts.
It wasn't going to be pretty, but at least there'd be clean dishes waiting for him when he got home late tonight, when he'd be too tired to do anything.
Cobalt drew in a deep breath as Princess Twilight Sparkle tightened her lips and swirled her tongue around his throbbing stallionhood. Her crown had been tossed on the nightstand before they had begun fooling around on the bed. The pegasus arched his back as the alicorn deepthroated a few times, the head poking at her tonsils.
He knew he was dreaming. This was one of his favorites. He had had a crush on the Princess of Friendship for months, and here in his slumber, he got to experience her friendship with benefits. He had found the best part of keeping this dream going as long as possible was keeping his eyes closed. It always sucked when it came to an abrupt end for any number of reasons.
The princess pulled up, the throbbing, flaring cock exiting her mouth with a pop. He felt her weight shift forward towards him. This was always his favorite part...
"Ready to give me a ride, sweetie?" a young stallion's voice asked.
Cobalt's eyes shot open at the sound of the absolutely-not-Twilight-Sparkle's voice, seeing a dark gray-coated pegasus stallion kneeling over him, his tail twitching centimeters above his cock.
"Sky?"
The pegasus smirked, looked down, and began to press his rump against Cobalt's rock hard rod.
Cobalt gasped, sitting up. Blinking away the shock, Sky had vanished, and Twilight was nowhere to be seen either, and it dawned on him that his mind had shaken him out of his dream state. But his heart still pounded, and his stallionhood doubled as a rigid tent pole for his bed sheets.
As his mind tried to make heads or tails of the sudden change that took place, he could only bring one word to his lips as his breathing began to calm.
"Wh-wh... What?"
