Silver tears fled the clouds and dripped hurriedly to meet forming puddles on the graying gravel. It was strange how such a beautiful spring day where the sun was at its highest peak in the sky could morph into a dreary, bleak and lifeless one full of never-ending showers of cold rain. Now darkened clouds cut off the sunlight, ponies of all shapes and sizes rushed to get out of the oncoming stormy weather, and the wind howled through the dull streets of boring old Ponyville.
Golden eyes full of sadness and concern caught the sight of it all through the window of the old church that hosted Ponyville's choir practices. The owner of the crestfallen deep eyes, a pony whose fur was as green as a sprig of mint, hung her head in defeat. There was no way she was going to make it home through that rain by herself.
"Why did it have to rain now?" she hissed angrily to herself. "Why couldn't the Weather Pegasi choose to make it rain when, I don't know, everyone's sleeping?"
She had volunteered to help clean up the church after their choir meeting. Everyone had packed up and said their goodbyes, departed and headed off to their homes before the rain would start. Despite her best efforts, the pony obviously didn't finish cleaning in time to get going before the bad weather took flight.
Grumbling, the unicorn whipped her head around to stare at the only other pony in the room (the one she had been expecting a response from and had not been given one.) Noticing her frustration, the larger stallion chuckled softly, his pale dusky blue shape edging closer to her.
She didn't appreciate his level of amusement.
"This is serious, smart guy," she almost hissed, though her yellow eyes were scraping the window which was smothered in weighted dewdrops of water.
"Don't be so dramatic. A little rain never killed anypony."
Annoyed, her cold eyes met his calm glance. "That," she said, jerking her head to motion to the window, "is not a little rain. I, for one, don't necessarily like getting wet without reason."
His head tilted to the side ever-so-slightly and his eyes rolled to the ceiling but his smile never faltered. "Technically, there is a reason."
Becoming angry with him now, the unicorn let out a sigh of frustration. "And what reason is there, Noteworthy?" She said his name with punctuated harshness.
"Well, you don't want to spend the night in the church, do you, Lyra?" He mimicked her ways of speaking, something that annoyed her further. His eyebrows narrowed and a slight smug expression of the action came to settle upon his face.
She grumbled, the dusty old wooden floors of the church suddenly becoming very interesting to her right then. Lyra shook her head, not wanting to agree with him. He had a point, though. If more ponies had volunteered to help clean up the church then maybe they could have gotten home faster before the rain started, she realized, but there was really no use in being frustrated over something that already happened.
He was creeping up on her nerves now. Why couldn't he just let the mare complain? It was becoming apparent to her that he obviously was one of those ponies. The kind that belonged to the group in which she classified as "The Long List of Ponies Who Don't Understand Me." Her face wrinkled in disgust when she realized that he must never stop to ask others' about their days, or try to understand their side of the story. He was very clearly that kind of pony, and she hated that kind.
"Anyway, unless you do want to spend your night in the church stuck with me, we'd better get a move on," Noteworthy explained, shooting a glance outside the window, smothered in rainy dewdrops. "C'mon, princess." He nudged her forward with his hoof, prompting her to take a step towards the door. She stayed put.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa-- we'd better get a move on?" she narrowed her eyes. "I'm not walking home with you. I don't even think I've ever met you." Curling her lip back, she tried to remember if they had ever talked. Maybe once. But she knew his name. And he didn't seem like the kind of pony who would do anything... horrible to her, but she definitely didn't want to be stuck with this character who she had deemed annoying seconds ago. Not that she didn't already find him rather annoying.
He was the kind of pony who always had mares surrounding him. Always charming the young ladies that slinked nearby the stallion. What made him so popular? Well, what didn't? He was charming, funny, good-looking, had a great voice-- all things the mares seemed to swoon over, something that left Lyra watching confusedly from a distance. She knew who he was, and she wasn't going to buy into his charming demeanor.
He raised an eyebrow. "And I suppose you've a better idea? You and I won't make it out there on our own. Now come on, we better get a move on. Princess." He smirked in a way that made her blood boil, and trotted for the door.
Lyra kept her mouth shut. She figured a walk home with him wouldn't be so bad. At least she wasn't spending the night with him. That thought made her shiver, and not from the icy air the old church was always filled with due to the faulty heating company the owners never payed. The unicorn could tolerate a walk home with him at the very least, she guessed.
That did not stop her from displaying an attitude that clearly read the fact that she did not want to be with him. Her eyes narrowed to some not that much bigger than slits, falling upon the smug stallion unappreciatively as she passed him on her way out to endure such a harsh wind. Her posture firm and straight, her head held high, she showed no interest in being with him at the moment.
She did flinch when the gust of cold winds and rain struck her right in the face. Almost yelping in surprise at the sudden contact with the strong weather, she fell into disappointment when she felt icy drops of water pelt her dry, neat mane and mint fur.
She let out a soft squeak of discomfort at the feeling of being cold and wet. The two things she absolutely despised. Well, besides walking home with Noteworthy, she guessed.
The rain grew so intense that she had to close her eyes before they were assaulted by skydiving drops of water. Shaking water out of her hair, she groaned as she knew that every hair on her pelt was getting weighed down by the storm.
"Hey princess, you coming? Don't just stand there," a stiff voice caused her to open her eyes, and a blurry blue figure waved her on. Even through her impaired vision she could tell he was smirking and he was taking pleasure in calling her "princess." Letting it roll off her shoulders like the rain that literally did, to prove to him that his attempt at annoying her had failed, she followed at her own slow pace, enduring the rain until she caught up with the energetic pony, who didn't seem to be affected by the rain. She was going to do her best in pretending that his annoying jabs at her didn't move her. Besides, everyone knows stallions are immature.
Stepping in and over muddy puddles, turning corners, shivering from the rain, the pair said nothing to each other. Lyra knew the way back, and he simply followed her, keeping up with her pace, slowed and affected by the storm that tortured them.
Finally he spoke.
"So, you ever take a walk around the neighborhood?" he asked casually, eyes trained on the path above.
"What kind of question is that?" she grunted, blinking rain out of her narrowed golden eyes. "No, I never do. Unless I have to go someplace. Why?"
"I dunno, just thought I'd ask," he mumbled, obviously not satisfied with her answer. "Trying to make conversation."
She shrugged, letting rain fall off the blades of her shoulders. If her hair wasn't completely matted down by the rain, it might have been raised by goosebumps from the cold.
"I like walking," he continued, glancing back at her and then to the road ahead of them. "Walking is good for you, you know. Just take some time off your day to take a walk 'round your neighborhood. It might put you in a better mood."
She snapped back, "I'm in a perfectly good mood. Are you suggesting that I need to change my attitude?"
"Well..." he trailed off, obviously not wanting to answer that question. He changed his mind. "Yeah."
She rolled her eyes, throwing her head back. "Ugh. You just walk around the neighborhood? Doing nothing? Just walking?"
"Well, yeah," he replied stiffly.
"I just don't understand the purpose," she said, shaking her head.
"Of course you wouldn't."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing! I mean, it's just... I dunno, whenever I see you it looks like you're in a bad mood. Just thought that since taking a walk every once in awhile really puts me in a better one, you should do the same..."
She opened her mouth to shoot a snarky response, but couldn't think of one and let his words sink in. Lyra sighed in defeat. "Fine. Whatever. I'll give it a try sometime."
Noteworthy nodded, smiling through the harsh, rainy, blizzard-like weather that they endured. "Great. Then you won't look so stressed all the time."
"I'm not stressed," she protested, "and I don't see how tiring your hooves puts you in a better mood."
He smiled. "Well, it's good exercise. And sometimes walking for awhile and just enjoying the peace and quiet of the neighborhood can really clear your mind." Noteworthy gestured to the neighborhood they walked through-- the wet, dimly lit ghost town of a street that housed ponies shut up in the safety of their warm and cozy homes.
She had to admit she wasn't expecting that response from him. She simply muttered a noise that sounded like "hm" and shook the mud she had stepped in off her recently cleaned hooves. She detested mud. She hated the way it looked and the way it smelled and the way it squished when provoked. The thought of it made her wrinkle her face in disgust.
Silence inevitably followed for the next few feet till they turned the corner and Lyra decided to say something in an attempt to make conversation. "Do you have a girlfriend?"
The moment the words escaped her lips she regretted it. Why in Tartarus had she asked that stupid question? She didn't know. It had just come to mind, and she had just blurted it out without thinking the minute it did. Stupid, stupid, stupid! She mentally berated herself as he casted a sweet yet annoying smile through the rainy haze to her.
"Nah," he answered, and she forced herself to meet his awkward gaze. Raising an eyebrow, the stallion smirked. "Why? You like what you see?" He ran his hoof through the wet dark blue mess of hair that happened to be his mane.
Stupid reasons provoked the blush spreading over her face. Immediately set to counter, the pony hissed through the crackle of distant thunder, "No. Way. Don't get any ideas!" She glared at him through the icy rain.
"Relax, princess. I was only kidding." He chuckled slightly, and she saw that as a cue to relax. "But yeah, I hate to brag, but I am a bit of a lady killer." He threw his head back in a proud smile that made her roll her eyes, but she couldn't help smiling herself.
"Yeah right," she muttered. He didn't seem to hear her snarky comment through the rushing wind currents, but she continued anyway. "Wait, if you don't have a girlfriend then why are all those mares always surrounding you?"
He shrugged. "I dunno, I guess they always like my company, and I do like theirs, but..." he seemingly trailed off before sighing and continuing, "they're pretty and all, but none of them are my type. I'd like to meet a mare that's different from the rest. Smart. Musical perhaps, witty and maybe a bit feisty. Always stands up for her beliefs." He glanced over at her quickly before biting his lip and shaking his head to clear the raindrops that were pelting his fur. His head snapped back away from her in an instant.
She didn't think she had ever seen him this nervous. He struck her as the kind of pony who was confident, arrogant, and flirty, but while he may have been all of those things, he just seemed... different. Like he had another side to him that most stallions lacked.
Lyra's gaze softened. Smiling slightly, the pony found herself warming up to him, cold as the weather may be. Her head turned to stare off into the gloomy distance of the watery village being consumed by short waves of water.
"What about you? Is there a handsome stallion you've got your eyes on?" Noteworthy asked, a smile creeping up slowly but surely across his dampened face, stained with pure crystal teardrops of rain.
She shook her head, the thought sadly settling through her. "Nope. Don't remind me." Lyra sighed heavily against the icy force of rain and buffeting winds.
He chuckled softly. "Then I guess we're both on the same boat, princess. Who would've guessed?"
"Not me," she muttered to herself, rolling her eyes at being called a princess by him again.
"But you really don't have a boyfriend?" he questioned, a puzzled look spreading over his face.
"I really don't," she almost hissed out of annoyance. Must she repeat that awful thought over and over again?
"Oh," Noteworthy replied simply, "I just thought that you would or something. Because you're beautiful." She could tell he had regretted saying that because his head suddenly snapped away from her direction, and he began stumbling over his own words. "Uh, I mean--! I j-just thought you might have one. I didn't mean you were beautiful. I-I mean you are, but--"
Amused now, the mare nearly burst out laughing. Leaning her head forward, she tried to remember her former roommate's lessons on how to flirt with stallions. She narrowed her eyes, still chuckling, and replied with: "C'mon, admit it, you do think I'm beautiful!"
"No I don't!" he growled stiffly, trying to hide his obvious smile that he probably hated himself for. She giggled - now it was his turn to be embarrassed.
"You totally do," she laughed again, finding it quite amusing to see the confident stallion so flustered. Elbowing him, she decided to take advantage of this moment by mocking him playfully with his own proud demeanor. "You know, I also totally understand why you think I am."
"S-Shut up! I do not think you're beautiful!" Through the rainstorm, the ponies' laughter was cut off. After a moment of silence, he spoke again in a quiet voice. "Okay. Maybe a little."
Still satisfied with that response, Lyra let out a short chuckle to symbolize her triumph in getting him to tell the truth. It also didn't hurt to have stallions say she was beautiful. It could really boost her self esteem, given the fact that there wasn't much of it.
Hooves splashed through the damp, dark, lonely streets of an abandoned Ponyville. They continued to talk about little things - work, friends, pets, hobbies. Before long Lyra found herself talking with him like they were old friends. The best kind of friend was one that could understand her. She was beginning to develop second thoughts on if he did or not.
"...and my good friend Derpy has her hooves full with her daughters. Being a single mother while raising two unicorn teenagers gets kind of stressful at times, I think. I'm beginning to wonder how my mother did it." Lyra sighed at the past memories of living in a disruptive household as a child with three annoying sisters.
Noteworthy opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly, through the haze and thick rain blurry lights appeared to reflect against the hard gravel on the dark gray street. A car materialized a second later, the lights being dragged along with it. Their pupils shrunk to the size of dots as the soaked large object began to speed their way, wheels over puddles and turning relentlessly like steamrollers. Both ponies froze as the car swooshed by them in a flash, causing a riptide of muddy black water from the gutters to spray into the air with it.
A tsunami of dirty, sticky street water was thrown over their heads heedlessly. Lyra was too shocked to squeak out in surprise. Luckily for her, that prevented her from getting the water into her mouth. If there was any hair on her pelt not completely soaked from the rain above, the provoked wave of rainwater from the ground sure fixed that. Gritting her teeth in anger, the unicorn swore she could almost hear that despicable driver laughing at them in his cozy, warm leather seat while she stood in misery and discomfort.
When the majority of the offensive rain had trickled down her neck and body, Lyra finally opened her mouth, this time to complain.
"Great. Just what I needed. That's disgust-- ewwww!" she squeaked, cutting herself off as she lifted a hoof out in front of her to examine the grayish black color of the water that had dumped over her.
"We already were wet," Noteworthy pointed out, raising an eyebrow and pushing back his night blue mane, black and matted down due to the effects of rain.
"Ugh. Do you have any idea how much germs are in this stuff?" She shook several drops of the repulsive liquid off her hooves and fur. "It's not just dirty rainwater, it's dirty rainwater that's been contaminated by every single living creature that lurks around in these streets!" She stopped when she noticed his quizzical stare. Pushing the curtain of dampened hair out of her eyes, she stared back with an equal structure. "What?"
He shook his head, suppressing a laugh. "Nothing, nothing - it's just - you're really funny when you're angry." He let out a short chuckle that he had struggled to keep back inside his throat.
Groaning impatiently, she rolled her eyes before taking the lead again back in the direction of her house. She couldn't wait to go home and take a shower - to wash off the disgusting, filthy water that plagued the city. Just the thought of it made her shiver - and not from the unbearable cold.
"I wish I had an umbrella," Lyra sighed, running her hoof through her mane briefly in case more of the street water had lingered around in her tangled, soaked mane.
"The pegasi really outdid themselves," Noteworthy remarked, a smirk still plastered on his face that showed no signs of regret regarding anything about the evening. "I do wish that they had warned us about it sooner, though." She wondered how he could maintain his smooth, optimistic personality during the roughest of times.
"Whatever. Let's just get home," she grumbled, using the light of street lamps and the magical golden glow of her unicorn aura to guide them through the advancing darkness.
Noticing her sudden change in attitude, Noteworthy's face lit up upon turning the corner. Her hoof was grabbed by his.
"Huh?" She seemed rather startled at the gesture, and she hated herself for allowing her face to turn a different shade of red. Hopefully it wasn't all that noticeable in the stormy weather.
He pointed with his other hoof to the sidewalk in front of them, covered in dark rings of water that flooded the cement. "Hey, c'mon, let's splash in the puddles!" He grinned like a little colt, a notion that both warmed her heart and annoyed her.
"Are you kidding me?" Her hoof slipped out of his grasp, retreating to her side once more. She pointed her head towards the clouds when he shook his. "Give me a break. I won't participate in such childish events."
She should have seen the wave of water kicked up in her face coming. Blinded by anger, the pony's devilish smirk changed her attitude. That was it. That was the last straw. She didn't care if it was childish when he splashed her. She was so going to get him back.
In an instant her hooves created a tidal wave of a murky water ring. The spray coated his face and hooves, reaching up to the ends of his messy mane. Chuckling at the gentle impact, he playfully kicked up water again at her. This time it splashed against her neck and chin.
Growling now, the flustered unicorn fought back with all her strength. Desperate to give him a taste of his own medicine, to show him she was just as powerful, Lyra laughed as he had to shield his eyes from the oncoming mess of water headed straight for him.
Satisfied when she proved to outrank him, he held up his hoof in a silent plea for her to stop. Grinning mischievously down at the cowering stallion, the pony giggled to herself when he began begging her to stop.
"Admit it, I'm not all that bad after all," she said teasingly, allowing him up with a hoof of her own for support.
"Maybe not," he agreed, sheepishly smiling as they continued their trek. He grinned every time Lyra stopped to kick up water in front of her or splash in one of the puddles like a little filly would. "See. It's fun to be a kid again, isn't it?"
"Ugh." Lyra rolled her eyes for the billionth time that rainy night. But they did splash in more rainy puddles as they advanced on. Silence ensued, but only for about a minute when Lyra broke it: "I think you were right."
"About what?"
"About taking a walk. I guess sometimes it can really improve your attitude."
Leaning back, a grin was reflected from his face, soaked with tiny little raindrops ready to make the adventure down the sides of his neck, eventually to the sidewalk. "See? Told ya." He elbowed her.
Awhile ago, she would have ignored that or groaned and rolled her eyes, but now instead she chuckled and nodded.
Finally the small shape of Lyra's humble, quiet house came into view. Like a true gentlecolt, Noteworthy walked her up to the front porch where they were at last shielded from the assaulting rain by the roof of the house's comforting protection.
"Thanks for walking me home," she muttered, exchanging a smile with her new friend. "I had a lot of fun. I really did."
He rubbed the nape of his neck. "You're welcome. I had fun too. Even if it was raining like crazy." He glanced up at the merciless storm clouds surrounding the neighborhood. "So... anyway... uh..." Noteworthy seemed to begin to tense up, a small nervous smile creeping across his face. "D-Do you... Do you want to take a walk with me sometime soon?"
Without even hesitating to think about it, Lyra cheerfully agreed. Oh, how a pony could change in a matter of minutes!
But a thought crept into her weary mind. "Hm, hey Noteworthy?"
"Yes?" he said through the joy he was clearly displaying.
"How are you going to get home?"
"Ah. I'll find a way," he said simply, narrowing his eyes and raising an eyebrow to punctuate his mysterious nature.
"Don't give me any of that. Come inside for awhile. At least till the storm stops." She gestured him inside with her hoof.
Her newfound friend smiled with appreciation when he stepped into the comforting light of her warm home.
