The Shallow Series - Book 1: Making Friends
"Shallow? Shallow? SHALLOW SPARK WAKE UP!" Twilight Sparkle yells in my ear.
"Alright, I'm up! I'm up!" I groan as I flop out of bed and walk to the bathroom, the click of my one scaled hoof follows behind me.
Looking in the mirror, my mane is a mess. I quickly brush it out, careful to be weary of my horns. I walk out of the bathroom with a yawn and trot down the stairs. As I near the kitchen, I can smell waffles and sweaty dragon (I'm not sure if it's me or Spike though).
I push open the door and the aroma of syrup welcomes me. Nodding to Spike, I sit down as a plate of waffles magically floats in front of me surrounded in a pink aura.
"Good morning. I'm surprised you actually got out of bed." Twilight says to me.
"Good morning to you too, Twilight," I say sarcastically. "Good morning, Spike." Spike just looks at me because his mouth is full of syrup. I giggle at him as Twilight walks out of the kitchen.
I finish my last waffle and wash my plate. "Spike?" I say. "Where do the plates go again?" He just points at a drawer above my head and I swiftly put the plate away.
Walking out of the room, I try and make my way to the stairs. I stop as soon as I hear Twilight's voice.
"Oh no you don't. We have a deal remember? You're going outside today weather you like it or not." Twilight says sternly.
"UUUUUGGGGGHHHHH! I don't wanna go outside!"
Twilight just rolls her eyes at my response. "Stop being a teenager and go outside."
***
I blink as I see all the bright colors from the outside world. The sun beats down on my navy blue fur and I can already feel the summer heat. Twilight gave me a few bits before I left so I could buy something if I wanted.
It's not that I hate the outdoors, I just hate what's outdoors. There's bugs, pollen (I have allergies), and there's random ponies who always want to start conversations with you!
I try my best to stay away from other ponies. I mostly just stay out of sight and keep my head down. One thing you should know about me is that I hate interacting with other ponies. I just hate social activity, I always have.
I'm too caught up in my thoughts that I don't realize I was about to run into somepony!
"Oops!" Is all I say as I bump into the young stallion. I look up and blush as I see his face. He's adorable I say to myself. He's a light blue pegasus with a white mane and tail.
He starts to talk really fast. "Oh my gosh are you okay? I'm sorry-"
"Dude chill. I'm fine," I choked out. "The name's Shallow Spark. But I mostly go by Shallow." He looks at me and I blush again.
He began to smile an adorable at smile at me. "Shallow Spark. I like that," he grins and then reaches a hoof out to me and we shake. "I'm Rain Mist. I go by Rain though."
I blush again, and this time he notices. He giggles as I blush more furiously and I'm soon laughing at his giggle. Next, we both start laughing really hard and then we're laying on the ground, tears spilling from our eyes until our laughter dies down.
"Soooooo," Rain says. "Where you headed?" He looks down at me and allows himself to blush.
"I'm going to Carousel Boutique," I say as casually as I can muster.
"Do you mind if I tag along? I'm not doing anything today," Rain replies.
"I wouldn't mind in the slightest," I respond with a wink. "Shall we get going?"
Rain smirks, "We shall."
***
As we walk through the streets of Ponyville we start to point out funny things:
"Look at Mr. Cake trying to haul that huge cake!"
"Is Pinkie Pie harassing another new pony?"
"I wonder what the CMC will do today."
We are so caught up in talking that we almost run into the door of Carousel Boutique! We walk into the shop with the bell on the door jingling behind us.
We hear Rarity say, "Just a minute!" She walks out from the back room with her stupid little red glasses on and a tape measure around her neck.
"Oh," she says, looking at me. "I didn't expect to see you here, Shallow Spark. Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Um yes, Twilight sent me to do some secret fittings for something? She wouldn't tell me what though." I eyed Rarity suspiciously. After I said 'secret fittings' Rarity's eyes went wide and she broke out into a grand smile.
"Follow me!" Says Rarity in a sing-song voice. Suddenly, I was wrapped in a blue aura; Rarity levitates me onto the little raised platform in the middle of the shop. She quickly began doing measurements all around my body. After about two minutes she starts slowing down, and then she speaks to me. "Who is that stallion that came in with you?" Rarity whispered. She looked at Rain carefully.
"His name is Rain Mist-"
"I go by Rain!" I can hear him behind me. He giggles as I blush in surprise. Sweet Celestia, he's cute! My brain can't focus on Rarity's questions anymore. "I'm assuming you're Rarity then, yes?" He grabs her hoof and kisses it gently.
"Oh, a gentlestallion. Why yes, I'm Rarity," She looks up at me and mouths, 'He's a keeper.' "Well I'm done. Off with you. I got work to do!" And with that she shoos us out and we are back on Ponyville's streets.
The Shallow Series - Book 1: Making Friends
"So, what's your story?"
I lick my snow-cone as I process this question. After we got kicked out of Carousel Boutique, Rain and I decided to get something cold to eat. Which brings me back to Rain's question.
"My story?" I ask. I was curious as to why Rain would question something like that. It was private business that I even had trouble talking to Twilight about.
"Well yeah, kinda," Rain put a hoof to his chin. "I was actually wondering where you came from. I mean I've never seen you around town and you suddenly show up out of the blue." I cocked my head. I've known him for what? Two hours? And he already wants to know about me? Wow. Friends are weird.
"Well it's gonna take awhile to tell you the whole thing," I say. "Alright, here it goes."
***
Travel back in time about... twenty years. My parents met at a trading fair, then they fell in love. My dad was a miniature dragon (a dragon the size of a pony), and my mom was a plain old Pegasus.
Fast forward about five years later. My mom had just died after giving birth to me. She went into cardiac arrest, her death was sudden. For many years my dad blamed me for it, then he became really depressed. I guess I can understand his pain a little bit, but I never really knew my mom.
Somewhere in the time period of my early teenage years, my dad kicked the bucket. I was really sad about it and I didn't know what to do, so I just packed my stuff and left. I traveled Equestria for about half-a-year before I picked my life back up again.
I came to Ponyville with high hopes. I was greeted with smiles, and for once in my life I felt welcome! Being a bit too young to live on my own, I needed a place to stay. I ran into Princess Twilight Sparkle one day and she asked about me, considering i'm part dragon. We talked for awhile and then, she took me in as her own. Since then, Twilight has become a mom to me and Spike became my little brother. I've been living with them for about a month.
***
"Wow," Rain says. "That's just. Wow." He looks at me with sympathy even though I don't care anymore.
"Stop looking at me like that," his face looks confused. "Anyways, what is your story?" He rolls his eyes while taking the last bite of his snow-cone.
"Well I was born and raised here in Ponyville, I have a marefriend named Snow Fog-" he stopped after he saw my reaction. I drop my snow-cone and watch it melt on the ground. Of course he'd have a marefriend. He's super nice and all around a great pony.
"Like I said before," Rain starts slowly. "I have a marefriend named Snow Fog. Now, my family... Most of my family lives in Cloudsdale. My parents are originally from there, so about six months ago they moved back and left me the house."
"Well that's cool. Hey, do you know what time it is? I think Celestia is going to make the sun set soon."
We both look over toward a clock shop near us. "It's six P.M... I think. I should be heading home soon." Rain says groggily. I hadn't noticed the bags under his eyes until now.
"Yeah," I say with a yawn. "I should too. It was nice hanging out with you, Rain. We should do this another time." We hoof bump and then go our separate ways. He walks toward town hall, I walk toward the giant crystal castle off in the distance.
***
After a quick shower, I head to dinner. Twilight said that she is going to be having guests tonight so Spike and I will be eating in the kitchen and not in the dining room with everypony else. Entering the kitchen, I see a giant mess with Spike in the middle of it.
"What did you do?" I ask. "Since when does making spaghetti cause a mess like this?"
"Well I didn't make spaghetti," Spike's bottom lip began to quiver. "Twi said that she wanted me to make a magic casserole instead. After I put the casserole in the oven I waited for it to finish. Then the timer went off, I opened the oven and BAM! It exploded."
"Does Twilight know what happened?" The little dragon shook his head no, tears spilling from his eyes. "Well we got what? Forty-five minutes before Twilight's guests get here? You think we can clean up and make a new, non-magic casserole in time?"
"I think so," Spike says nodding his head.
In twenty minutes' time, Spike and I clean the kitchen and we start making the new dish.
"The trick is to let it sit in the oven for a couple minutes after the timer goes off," I say reassuring Spike.
We wait. And then the timer goes off. And we wait again.
***
"Twilight! It's good to see you!"
"Twily!"
"Twilight Sparkle, it been long since our last visit, yes?"
"My dearest, Twilight Sparkle!"
...Is all I hear from the kitchen. I look over at Spike and he rolls his eyes.
"I almost feel like they forgot about us," Spike says rubbing his chin.
"You. They forgot about you. They don't even know I exist," I say. "Hey, you wanna do something nice for Twi?"
"Um sure," he says. "What are you thinking?"
"Let's play servants," I reply. "Bring them food and refill their drinks."
Spike nods his head in approval at my suggestion and we quickly set to work. I grab two serving plates and he grabs two aprons. I put my mane up and he slicks his scales back. We're ready.