A Stallion of Law

Lawton had had to get up early today, something he was not used to. Being a regular drinker, getting up early was like trying to break out of a cage underwater; scratch that, under lava. However, seeing as this was for the unicorn of his dreams, Lawton felt it was his duty to fight the need to slip back into the covers. Of course, the fact that all of this was so she could see her coltfriend was rather depressing. After finishing combing his mane, Lawton went down to the party area; at least, he tried to. The one problem that Lawton came across when it came to being a drunk was that he tended to forget things quickly, except where he kept his vodka. When staying at a place of considerable size, with a plethora of rooms, chances were he would not be able to find a specific one. Lawton eventually found the room, where some guards were working. Twilight was just getting ready to head out when she saw Lawton.

"Glad you’re awake." Twilight said as she trotted towards him.

"Well, you know what they say, 'early to bed, early to rise, makes a pony healthy, wealthy, and wise.'" Lawton said with some fake cheer.

"I can't thank you enough for this Law." Twilight said with her smile. Lawton's heart was fluttering, never could something as a smile bring so much joy to him.

"It's no problem Twi, now you best be going before your coltfriend leaves you." Lawton said as he hoped that this coltfriend would leave her be so he could finally exclaim his feelings for her. Twilight gave Lawton the list of things to be checked on and went off to see this ‘Flash Sentry’. Lawton sighed, did she really not see the affection he carried? None the less, Lawton went on to accomplish his task of monitoring preparations.

First on Lawton's agenda was food. He entered the kitchen, which had the distinct smell of apples, to see Applejack, hard at work. Lawton felt that disturbing her would be impolite and so sat back and watched. Looking the food that would be served, Lawton chuckled to himself as he counted the multitude of apple products in his head. Apple pies, apple cake, apple strudel, even a giant apple kabob, 'Apple Tree, eat your heart out.' Lawton thought and chuckled once more. It took a while until Applejack finally noticed the law pony gazing at the display she provided.

"You just gonna’ stand there and admire?" Applejack joked, making Lawton blush out of embarrassment. "Calm down Romeo, I know ya’ got your eyes set on Twilight." Applejack said as she continued to work. Lawton coughed and re-positioned himself so that he was standing up straight. Lawton did sometimes look at mares in a suggestive way, but would never really act upon instinct.

"S-So how's the baking going?" Lawton asked, trying to get a different conversation started.

"Going nicely thanks to Apple Tree's recipe book...could ya’ pass the flour?" Applejack asked. Lawton levitated the bag of flour toward her.

"He gave you his recipe book?" Lawton asked and got a confused look from Applejack. "I’m surprised that he would give it so willingly." he said as he pondered to himself. Apple Tree liked to keep his things close to him, especially the mementoes he had from his late parents.

"Has it got some kinda’ emotional value?"

"Actually yes...how did you-"

"It has the name Pear Tree written in it." Applejack cut in as she put in something in the oven.

"We never did figure out who his real parents were...though we guessed they were from some southern part of Equestria." Lawton said in a deadpan tone. Pear Tree, the only clue as to who A.T's parent was. It was assumed by the orphaned five that Apple Tree came from pear farmers but had different talents. Madame Flora was usually the colts’ lead. She had told them that Apple Tree was found on the side of the road near the orphanage. The only thing that was with the foal was an akubra that he eventually grew into.

"Really, I thought he was a regular ol' Canterlot snob like a certain law horse." Applejack chuckled. Lawton also let out a snort before everything became quiet. It was only until the oven pinged that the two finally snapped out of their funk. "You know, ah think ma Granny Smith told me of that name once, but I was just a young filly so maybe ah'm just rememberin' things wrong." Applejack said as she set the dish down on the table. This intrigued Lawton. He definitely saw similaritied between Applejack and Apple Tree. But why would Applejack’s Granny Smith know the name Pear Tree?

"Hmm...well I should be going, Celestia knows, Twilight would kill me if I just stayed here the whole damn day." Applejack chuckled as Lawton left looking at the list she gave him.

Next was the curtains...odd but Lawton didn't question it. Entering the party room, Lawton saw the ever-so-fashionable Rarity hanging up said curtains. Lawton, again, felt the need to stay quiet, but Rarity turned around to notice him.

"Hello there Mr.Law, come to inspect the curtains for Twilight?" said Rarity as she gave her trademark wink.

"W-What!" Lawton said with a blush, just how many ponies knew of his crush?

"Oh come now Lawton, the way you act around our lovely Twilight is pretty suspicious on its own." Rarity commented as she levitated more curtains to hang them up.

"Does everypony think this?" Lawton asked.

"No dearie, though I suggest you put up a better act." Rarity said with a chuckle.

"I assume Monty took you to Horse Shoe's shop?"

"Oh yes, I must say Lawton, your friend carries himself with a certain air of decency."

"What does that mean?"

"What I'm trying to say is that he doesn’t act like the rest of the unicorns in this part of the city." Rarity said as she hung up the last curtain. This was true, Lawton thought to himself. Monty was a pony who really didn't care for the idea of social class. His friends, Lawton included, had always suspected that Montesquieu was of noble birth. As with the rest of them though, it was mere speculation.

"Yes, he’s the only poor horse so close to the Canterlot nobility..." Lawton said matter-of-factly.

"Poor horse?" Rarity inquired confusedly.

"Just a name we give to ourselves here." Lawton said with a small frown. It was a shame that the Canterlot Poor Horses were mocked for their social class, but unfortunately this was how things were meant to be. Lawton cast his mind back to when saw a poor couple being cruelly ridiculed by a noble for the mare's inability to get pregnant. Of course, the stallion left them alone after Lawton had paid a very nice earth pony to beat to rough him up more than a little, but the damage had been done. It wasn't Lawton's proudest moment, but it sure had been nice to see the grin plastered on that earth pony’s face. Lawton snapped back to reality when he realized he had a giant smirk on his own face and Rarity was staring at him.

"Thinking of Twilight in her party dress?" she teased. Lawton tried to conjure a retort, but simply trotted away while Rarity went to full blown laughter.

Recovering from that embarrassing experience, Lawton headed down to the garden to see how the bird choir was doing. Lawton could hear the birds from quite a way away. When they came into view, he did a double-take when he saw Fluttershy. Trying to avert his gaze anywhere else other than her flank, Lawton instead focused on the choir. Their music certainly was something else; Lawton never knew birds could make such wonderful noises. When it finally came to a stop, Lawton clapped his hoofs together, giving Fluttershy a shock.

"Eh, sorry...just liked the music." Lawton said with a sheepish grin.

Fluttershy finally calmed down enough to voice a reply: "O-Oh...h-hello Mr Law.” Fluttershy said quietly as she traced in the ground with her hoof. Lawton was overtaken by a blush that wouldn't leave his face. How can this mare be so attractive? Lawton thought, still trying to keep his eyes from her flank. Luckily, he was distracted once more by a look of obvious concern from Fluttershy.

"Is there a problem Ms. Fluttershy?" Lawton mirroring her look of concern.

"W-Well, I was wondering something and I didn't know if I should ask...you." Fluttershy said, averting her eyes down words.

"You can ask me anything miss." Lawton said with a smile, trying to reassure her. Fluttershy slowly looked back at Lawton and gave him a smile that almost matched Twilight's. This smile sent butterflies down into Lawton's stomach; pink-winged butterflies, no less.

"S-s-so...do you think those two ponies that visited... the interrogators...are bad ponies?"  Fluttershy asked, slightly shivering when she saw the confused look on Lawton's face. "N-Not that I assume they're bad. It’s just that...after hearing what they do...Applejack reads ponies better than I do." Fluttershy looked at the ground with a depressed look. Lawton, however, couldn't help but smile at the mare's insecurity. He wasn't exactly sure if Shattered Psyche and Blackout were the ponies to hang around with, but after a couple drinks with them he had got to know them on a personal level. Lawton respected both ponies, admiring SP's history with protecting the regular ponies. As for Blackout, well...it wasn't common to hear about the stallion that won a divorce case against a mare.

"Ms. Fluttershy, I assure you, Shattered Psyche and Blackout are two of the most kind ponies I've meet...next to you of course, being the element of kindness." Lawton said with a goofy grin, hoping Fluttershy would lighten up. She looked at him and smiled, feeling better now that her fears had disappeared. Lawton on the other hand was desperately thinking of a way to dash off these wildly inappropriate feelings he was having about the nice mare. "You know...I could arrange for you and SP to, uh, hang out if you want." Fluttershy was taken aback by this, as Lawton expected.

"Y-You m-mean like a d-d-date." Fluttershy stammered. The idea of dating had never really been something that 'clicked' for Fluttershy. She had been interested in colts as a young filly, but they had all found her too klutzy

"W-Well, maybe not a date, more like that, uh, thing friends do...’hanging out’ I believe it’s known as," Lawton said, wondering if Fluttershy would accept.

"I-Isn't that a little...rushed?" Fluttershy asked sweetly.

"Most ponies don't make friendships unless they go for it." which was true in Lawton's eyes, if a pony can't make the first move, then why care about the pony in the first place...funny  considering he still couldn’t confess to Twilight.

"I, I-'ll think about it...if that's okay with you." stammered Fluttershy in such an adorable way that it almost rendered Lawton completely unconscious

"Um...I should go check on the others. See you later Ms. Fluttershy." Said Lawton hurriedly, and he trotted away briskly as Fluttershy went back to practicing with her birds.

Upon returning to the party room, Lawton noticed that Rarity was gone, probably finished the curtain job. Before he could inspect the decorations, he remembered his heart medication which he should have taken a while ago. 'Usual routine, just wonderful' Lawton thought as he popped two pills in his mouth and thought about…

"Whatcha eatin'." Lawton leapt back in shock to see Pinkie Pie. Lawton hated explaining his condition, especially to ponies he just meet. It was even worse considering it was one of Twilight's friends. Twilight was a complete worrywart as a filly, and Lawton wasn't going to take the chance of seeing if she’d mellowed out over these years.

"U-Um... they’re...uh-" Lawton tried to finish but found a cupcake in his mouth instead.

"Have a cupcake, I think it tastes better than medication." Pinkie said with a cheery expression. Confounded, Lawton swallowed the confection whole, which nearly made him choke. "Silly, you’re supposed to chew it." Pinkie said as she bounced around the room, setting the decorations.

"E-excuse me, but I don't usually expect a cupcake shoved in my face...although now that I think about it, I probably should." Lawton said as he considered the number of times Horse Shoes had done the exact same thing. Thinking of Horse Shoes brought Lawton to a train of thought as he asked Pinkie a question.

"So how did the visit go?" Lawton aske, his voice laden with curiosity. Lawton felt that Pinkie would get along with Horse Shoes well, they did seem to both share some quirks.

"Ooooh, it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, Horsey was soooooooo fun! He had all these cool pranks and all these funny jokes. We talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and-" Pinkie went on in this fashion for several minutes, and Lawton eventually just tuned her out while. Horse Shoes was the kind of pony who'd make friends with ponies who seem to be easy to relate with. While Horse Shoes came from germane, a fairly hostile country, he was the most friendly out of the orphaned five. His cheery exterior harboured a troubled past. Unlike most of the group, Horse Shoes grew up knowing his parents...from what (little) he'd said they were quite abusive. Their relationship had been cut short however, as one day a massive fire took over their village, killing both of his parents, and him having witnessed the event. It took a long while until Horse Shoes opened up to his new friends, but he never really talked about the past. Lawton snapped out of his thoughts as he was drawn back to the fact that Pinkie had seen him taking his meds.

"…and talked and talked and talked-" Pinkie finally silenced as Lawton put his hoof to her mouth.

"Pinkie...could you do me a favor?" Lawton asked as he took his hoof away from the silenced pink pony. Pinkie nodded silently...but kept nodding until Lawton had to hold her head straight. "Could you...not tell anypony about my medication, I’d rather not talk about it with anypony." Pinkie stared at him for a moment as Lawton stood there uncomfortably. However, she smiled and nodded her head once more.

"Sure, I pinkie promise, cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Pinkie said as she did these motions and proceeded to jab her own eye with her hoof. Lawton smiled at the pony and held out his hoof to shake it, in which Pinkie accepted.

"Well...I see you have things under control so I'll take my leave...oh, and Twilight wants the balloons to be hung higher." Lawton said gesturing toward the balloons.

"Okie Dokie Lokie!" Pinkie cheered as Lawton went off to find Rainbow Dash.

Lawton trotted on to the yard of the house once more to check on Rainbow Dash, who was supposed to be trimming the bushes. As luck would have it, Lawton found the mare in question very quickly. Upon finding her, Lawton once again felt the need to be silent once more, but not to keep the mare concentrated on her work, but rather to stifle a chuckle as he observed the spectacle that was before him. Rainbow was at a loss, trying to trim the bushes evenly, but failing spectacularly. He finally let slip a snicker, and was turned on in an instant by Rainbow Dash.

"You could help out ya’ know!" Dash shouted in annoyance as Lawton openly laughed at the state of the bushes.

"I-I'm sorry Rainbow I-I-I just thought you would need some quiet in order to concentrate." Lawton replied, struggling to get the words out he was laughing so hard. Rainbow just groaned as she saw the carnage left in her wake. Lawton stifled his laughter as he approached Dash.

"Alright, I'll help, hand me the shears." Rainbow gave an annoyed grunt as she did what was asked. Lawton levitated the shears and tried to salvage a good looking bush for the party. While Lawton was doing this, he started to notice that Rainbow was actually sweating from her job.

"You want a cold one Dash?" Lawton asked casually as he moved onto the next bush. Rainbow looked on with a confused face.

"Sure..." Rainbow said, not really knowing what to expect as Lawton pulled out a cold beer...from his scarf. "How do you do that with your scarf?" Rainbow asked, wide-eyed as he opened the bottle.

"I can't explain it, though Horse Shoes says it’s...'magical OC powers' or some such nonsense." Lawton said as he kept trimming the bushes. Dash just shrugged it off as she downed the refreshingly cold beverage. Lawton wasn't the best at gardening like his friend Apple Tree, but Madame Flora had at least taught him how to take care of bushes. Before Lawton had got his first job, he trimmed the bushes for the owner of his first home for a decent amount of money. "Ya know Dash, you remind me of a friend I used to hang out with along with the guys." Lawton said as he gazed at Celestia's sun, radiant as always.

"Really? Was he as cool as me?" Rainbow said as she took another swig from her drink.

"Well, I guess you could say that." Lawton said as he remembered his old friend. His name was Swift Wind, a green Pegasus with a black mane and a slight scar under his left eye. He’d gotten the scar from a tussle with one of the poor horse district’s many bullies. Swift Wind was the only Pegasus in the group, but he fitted right in with the band of misfits. Swift was a rebel, always doing things that ponies weren't supposed to. He would smoke, drink, and get into street fights, even at the age of 16. Rainbow had the same brash attitude as Swift Wind, but Swift was much blunter than her. Lawton smiled for a second, thinking of all the stupid things Swift Wind had done, but then looking out at the completed bushes in the garden and handed back the shears to Dash, pushing Swift to the back of his mind once more.

"Thanks for the assist." Dash said as she gestured a hoof bump. Lawton returned the gesture and smiled.

"No problem, well, since this is done, I'm off to get drunk." Lawton said as he trotted toward the house, leaving behind a giggling Rainbow Dash.

Lawton sipped his vodka. All the jobs were done, so the party would be happening soon. Lawton had never thought that he of all ponies would have been able to organize such a thing, and he was glad that he could help accomplish this task for Twilight, even if it was for her to see her coltfriend. For a while all was silent until the main doorbell rang. Lawton got up from his drink and trotted over to the door. He opened it to find Twilight, smiling brightly and looking overjoyed. To her right however, stood a very familiar orange Pegasus.

Oh, he thought, and then, Buck my life.