The Emerald Escapades

Just Leave me alone will you?

Come on, just give me another chance.

It's not going to happen. What you did was something that I don't want to deal with, ever again.

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Perspective: Emerald Crystal

I awoke from the nightmare that was from my past. I've been having these types of dreams for a while, and they've been getting more and more close to a memory that I don't want to go into detail. "It was just a dream though," I said to myself, "Just a dream and nothing else." I looked outside to see the sun shining with few clouds in the sky. Then I looked to my door to see my mom standing at the entrance smiling at me. She was 43, and still looked like she was in her mid 20's. Her amethyst colored coat had a nice shine to it and her dark purple mane was shining as well. For a 43 year old architect, she still knew how to look presentable.

"Morning Emerald," she spoke in a soft and gentle tone, "Did you sleep well?"

"If you think remembering bad memories from a bad part of your past was good, then yes I slept well," I yawned.

"You know, if you want to talk about it," her voice calm and soothing, "you can always come to either me or dad, okay?"

"It's alright, I'll be fine."

"Well that's good to hear," her mood changed to fit with the good response, "In the meantime, you can get your brother up and come downstairs for some waffles." This was a great start to a morning, but there's something that mom isn't telling me for some reason. I pushed that thought aside and got up to get Ardite up. He's gonna love to hear what we were going to have for breakfast.

When I got to Ardite's room, there were toys everywhere on the floor. I sighed and did my best to get to his bed while not tripping on toys and other stuff. I looked at the little brother I was so close to for all the time I knew him. I've never been close to my sister because she's always with her friends doing activities that I wouldn't want to be in. Ardite on the other hoof, was the brother I've always wanted. He never wanted to be by himself when I was around, and everypony liked him and his cheerful spirit, especially fillies and mares. He's always been one for romance and has the charm that grandfather Jewel has. Go figure.

"Ardite," I whispered while softly shaking him in his sleep, "it's time to get up and have breakfast."

The colt that was hiding under the blankets was tossing and turning, "I don't want to wash the dishes after we eat though."

"You won't need to," I assured to him, "I'll wash the dishes. Plus, we're having waffles, not cereal."

Suddenly the blankets flew up into the air, falling on my face while Ardite was up and active, "Really? We're having waffles?"

I removed the blankets from covering my face and smiled, "Indeed we are, with a hint of mint I hope." Another thing that I love about Ardite is that we both love mint. Not mint flavored chewing gum, but pure mint leaves. And we have it with almost everything. It pays to have a brother to have things in common with.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go and have some waffles!" Ardite called out jumping off his bed and running downstairs. I followed him and joined him at the dining room table. As Ardite looked into the kitchen to see what waffles mom was making, I noticed dad sitting in his favorite chair reading the Sunday newspaper. It's nice to have dad around on Sunday's because he usually leaves for work at a later time than on other days. Mom was finished making the waffles and both me and Ardite could smell the mint made into the waffles, which was the best way to incorporate mint with waffles. Still, I feel that there's something off about dad, he's more quiet than usual. But enough worrying about dad, time to eat some waffles!

As I finished up my two waffles I wanted, Ardite was busy trying to finish his fifth or sixth. He really does like mom's way of making waffles. I turned to see dad next to a stack of letters, packages and envelopes with a checklist beside him. Mom came beside me and watched him. I don't know what's going on today. I've never seen so much stuff my dad had to deliver. I saw mom giving me a smile I know far too well. Great so that's why we received the special breakfast.

"I'm guessing that you know what's going to happen today?" mom said with a grin.

"Dad needs me and Ardite to play as delivery boys for him while he's going to work," I sighed, "This is gonna take forever to deliver when they're at that size."

"So that's why we've wanted you to practice that shrinking spell so you can carry everything in one bag," dad added in, "You have been practicing that spell, right?" I been trying to learn this spell for mom and dad for about two months now and I gotta admit, I've gotten the hand of it. The only problem was that it took some concentration to turn them back to normal. It gets tiring when you use it almost all the time.

"Yes, I've been practicing, there's nothing to worry about." I replied.

Dad gave me this look of doubt and then smiled, "Show me."

I sighed as I focused on the pile. My horn started to glow a light green and so did the pile. After a few seconds, there was a flash of light and then, the pile was small enough to fit inside one saddle bag. I then grabbed mt saddle bag and placed all of the items into the bag, and placed it on my back.

Dad gave a smile, "I knew you could do it. All you had to do was concentrate, and there!"

I sighed, "So, it's almost 8:30, should you be heading to work right now?"

"That's right!" dad was grabbing his coat and his fedora off the rack, "I'll see you later tonight!" he called out as he went out the door.

Mom was actually ready to leave for work as well. She works at a museum and dad works at a paint shop as an artist and art seller. Ardite gets kind-of sad when mom leaves for work, but who am I kidding, I get a little bit sad as well.

"Make sure that each person gets the right package, letter, or envelope," mom stated, "The checklist is on dad's chair."

"Okay mom, see you when you get back from work." I replied.

Ardite had finished his waffles and ran to give mom a hug, "Bye mom."

She smiled and replied, "You two take care of yourselves while you make those deliveries." After that being said she left for work.

Now we have the entire house to ourselves until we have to leave, but there was nothing to do, unless we choose to do our chores. Ardite then sat on the sofa and pulled out one of his Daring Do comic books and started reading. After seeing Ardite dive into his comic book, I pulled out one of the three Lord or the Horn Rings books and dove right in. Let's just pass as mush time as we can, I thought to myself as I continued reading.

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It had been at least an hour of non-stop reading, and my eyes were adjusting to not focusing on small words on a page, and more on the rest of the world. I looked to where Ardite was sitting, to find that he's not there. I looked at the clock and it was at noon; I then looked in the kitchen to see the little guy making some salad wraps for the both of to eat while we were making the deliveries. Ardite noticed that I surfaced out of my book and gave a smile. I did the same and turned my attention to the saddle bag that held the things we needed to deliver.

"We're gonna have to leave soon so that we can make all of the deliveries done before dad gets home," I said still looking at the saddle bag.

"Well that's why I'm packing some stuff to eat while we do that," Ardite replied, still hard at work making wraps for us. He got this from mom when she used to make stuff for us while Ardite was young. Boy, I miss those days so much.

"Well, are you almost done yet? We're going to miss the train to Canterlot." I asked, getting the rest of the things we needed together before we left.

"They are," there was a short pause, then, "done! Alright, we can leave now."

I gave a sigh of relief as we were finally able to go. I levitated the saddle bag onto my back, went outside , waited for Ardite to be out the door, then locked and closed the door. I looked at Ardite, "Let's get going, Caboose wouldn't want us to be late." Ardite gave a nod and we left for the train station.

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We arrived at the train station with at least thirty minutes to spare. We were lucky that the train needed maintenance so they were delayed. Both of us were about to freak out when we saw the train at the station when we were at the top of the hill, but were amazed when it didn't leave on time. Caboose, the ticket cleric, was relieved that we go here when we did. So after that, we boarded onto the train, and took our seats. Caboose came by and sat down to chat with us, which was kind of nice.

"I see, so looks like dad wants you two to be his delivery boys for the day," Caboose said with a chuckle.

"It's a pain, but it helps him out when he's at work," I stated.

"Plus we get to leave the house and explore once in a while," Ardite added.

"Well that's good to hear, but tell me, is there any deliveries to a place called Clear Cut's Jewelry Store?" Caboose asked.

I looked at the list and did see an order by the name of Clear Cut, "Yeah, I have an envelope for a Mr. Clear Cut. Why do you ask?"

"I believe that he is a close friend to your father's, and Clear Cut's wife is friends with your mom," he said taking a sip of his tea, "They have been friends ever since high school and always found ways to stay in touch."

Wow, I didn't know that mom and dad had very close friends that I didn't know about.

"We should ask them to come over and have dinner some time," Ardite said.

"Only you would say that, little buddy," I smiled.

"Well the train's finally fixed and I got to get back to work," Caboose gave a sigh, "I hope we get to talk again soon." He left to head back to the ticket stand for the train station, leaving us back at our seats. The train conductor finally announced that the train will be leaving now, so that was a good thing to know. I just hope we can make it there before dad's lunch break.

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We finally arrived at Canterlot with a few hours before dad went on his lunch break. Both me and Ardite got off the train and began the delivery run for dad.

"So buddy, ready to get started?" I asked, turning to Ardite.

"Oh you bet bro," he replied with enthusiasm, "Let's get to delivering!"

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After a long hour and a half of delivering, receiving small amounts of bits, and getting other forms of gifts, we arrived at the last client. The name was Clear Cut, which kind of wasn't that hard to find. Apparently, he owned a jewelry shop named, you guessed it, Clear Cut's Jewelry and Gem Store. When we got to the store, I saw the most beautiful mare I've ever seen in my life.

She was a unicorn, about the same age as I am.Her coat was a snow white, which was kept in perfect condition, and her mane was a lilac color with purple highlights in it. Her eyes were a sapphire blue and shined like stars in the midnight sky. Her cutie mark was a trio of gems: a ruby, a sapphire, and a diamond, all of them were surrounded by a magenta sparkle. The saying "Love at first sight" really was true to its word.

Ardite, who was still holding the group of letters that we were to deliver, was starting to get frustrated, "Emerald? Hello, Emerald. Earth to Emerald. Are even listening, or are you still in la-la land?"

I shook my head as the mare went to a back room, "I'm sorry, I was uh," I looked to the door, trying to find a crack in the door to get another look at her, "spacing out."

"Well can you stop staring at some mare, and help deliver the letters," Ardite said. He was right, trying to get another look at that mare would have to wait. Time to do the thing we were told to do: deliver letters.

We walked into the store when a bell above the door went off. A teal unicorn stallion with a navy blue mane with light blue highlights entered from the back. He was in his late 30's to early 40's, but still looked strong. He had a cutie mark that had a a small gem cutting knife next to a diamond with a cobalt blue sparkle behind it. If my guess was correct, then this was Clear Cut.

"Hello and welcome to Clear Cut's Jewelry store," he was a cheerful guy, and knew how to get ponies attention.

"Hi," Ardite started, "Me and my brother are delivering some letters to a Mr. Clear Cut."

"That's me, which means you two must be Cobalt's boys," he said.

"indeed we are," Ardite replied, "I'm Ardite, and this is my brother Emerald."

"It's a pleasure yo meet you," I said to Clear Cut.

"Please, the pleasure is all mine," Clear Cut replied, "So, what will I be receiving today?" I gave him several letters and a small package that he got excited about for some reason.

"That's everything,"Ardite sighed.

"You two must be tired and hungry after all that walking around," Clear Cut started, "Why don't you join me and my family for lunch?" Ardite was about to say something when the door opened to reveal dad. Looks like we didn't get to the meeting site on time.

"Clear Cut," he started, "How's a going?"

"Cobalt, it's good to see you," Clear Cut replied, "I wasn't expecting you to come by today. Hows that art carrier doing for you?"

"It's going fine and smooth, but what about the jewelry store?" dad replied.

"Swell as always," Clear Cut answered.

I turned to my dad, "We're sorry for not getting to the meeting spot on time."

All my dad did was smile and replied, "Don't worry, you weren't late, I was just early. Plus I wanted to have lunch with all of you anyways, to catch-up on what went on."

"First you should meet the rest of my family," Clear Cut insisted, "It would be rude of me not to." Suddenly the back room door opened to have two mare unicorns exit from the back room. They both looked almost identical except for the color of their manes and their cutie marks.

"This is my loving wife Fine Sight," Clear Cut gestured to the older mare. She looked like she was in her mid 30's but the beauty she had was still present. Her coat was as white as snow, with a sapphire in the middle of a magnifying glass in front of a pink sparkle for her cutie mark.

"It's a pleasure to meet you two," she said in a gentle tome of voice.

"And this is my daughter Gemstone Elegance," he gestured to the younger mare that I saw earlier. The beauty that was radiating from her was overpowering for me to take in fully. I felt a blush on my cheeks when I saw her sapphire eyes.

"It's nice to meet you both," she said, her voice sounding like an angel to my ears. I then got hoofed by Ardite, who apparently noticed me staring at her. Gemstone laughed little, and I just smiled back.

"So, where do we want to eat?" my dad asked.

"Just follow us and you'll find out," Clear Cut replied.