Under The Blue Sky

"Did you see me!? Did you see me!?"

"Yes, Rainbow, I saw. Nice work."

"Nice work? I was zooming so fast that I blew one of the judge's glasses off. There's no way I'm not getting on the team now."

"I told you so, didn't I."

"Yeah, I know, but like, dude did you see how fast I was flying. I honestly thought I may have broken a record there. I mean, it was just so," Rainbow Dash didn't even finish her sentence before flying off into the sky with excitement. She had just taken part in the tryouts and from the look of things, she was guaranteed a place on the team. There was no competition really. She took them all to school in that session, and Alfred couldn't be prouder. He watched her zipping through the blue sky from below, with a large smile on his face. It was good to see her so excited and filled with joy.

He wondered what it would be like to fly. He had been on aeroplanes when he was back home, but this was different. It looked marvellous and Alfred was pleased that Rainbow enjoyed it. He felt a little sad that he was immune to magic. There was still the mystery of dark magic, but it was probably best to leave that alone. He remembered Twilight using a spell on him that was supposed to give him wings, but it didn't work. He started to reminisce about the time he had spent living at Twilight's. They hadn't seen each other since that one night he left, which was unfortunate. Alfred did want to see her again, hopefully sooner rather than later. He wondered why she wasn't here at the tryouts. A lot of ponies had showed up, but not her. Alfred had already spoken to Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie who were also watching. They had said that Fluttershy was busy with her animals so she couldn't make it, which really sucked. Alfred wanted to see her as well. It had been a while since the whole gang had gotten together again.

Suddenly a large bell rang, which signified that the tryout sessions were over. It took almost two hours for Rainbow to eventually make her way back to Alfred and the ground, a little out of breath from her uncontrollable madness. Everyone was already gone by that point. She dropped to floor and sprang back up onto Alfred's shoulders, grabbing on for life.

"Hey, easy there! If you want a piggyback ride, you're gonna have to pay."

"Aw what? Don't I get a free one for having to put up with you for this long."

"Ok, I guess so. Just don't.." Before he could finish speaking, Rainbow had found her way on top of his head. This made him stumble and almost fall to the floor. Rainbow, being the adventurous girl that she is, found the most awkward position possible. She was literally sitting on his head.

"Woohoo! Maybe there should piggyback competitions at the games, I'd bet you'd win first place," Rainbow said, continuing to squash Alfred's head under her flank.

"I'm sure I would, but I'd probably be better if your ass wasn't in my face," Alfred struggled to say as he was being crushed. Rainbow suddenly leaped off of him and to the floor, cracking up while she did so. Alfred finally managed to catch his breath after being released.

"I thought you liked having my ass in your face," Rainbow responded. She continued to laugh hysterically while Alfred just stood still, watching her roll around on the floor like a complete maniac.

"Alright, Rainbow. Let's get going, I've got a lot things to do today."

"Oh, yeah like what?" Rainbow said, still recovering from her own joke.

"Oh, you wouldn't want to know. It'll be too difficult for you to handle." Alfred sported a smug look on his face which got Rainbow's attention. She swiftly flew in front of his face.

"Are you saying that I can't handle it? Did you just see me over there?"

"This is different. This requires an unimaginable amount of focus, responsibility, loyalty..." Alfred was cut off when Rainbow gasped in shock.

"Are you kidding? I'm the element of loyalty for goodness sake, I can handle this!" Alfred still held that smug look on his face while Rainbow grew impatient. He smiled and began to tease her more.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes!"

"So you think you can handle it?"

"YES! YES! YES!" Rainbow began to fly around his head angrily. He just stood completely still as she circled him.

"Okay, then. I need you to go grab all of our friends and wait on the hill for about three hours."

"Really? That's it."

"Yep."

"Three hours?"

"Yep."

"Piece of cake," Rainbow whispered into Alfred's ear as she began to zoom away, unknowing of Alfred's plan. He didn't expect her to be fooled this easily, but luckily he was wrong. As Rainbow started to disappear from Alfred's view, he made a mental checklist of all good things on that day: Rainbow had made it through the tryouts, he was going to meet up with his all of friends again and he was going to purchase the necklace while Rainbow was out for him.

He suspected that she would see through his plan after a while, so he didn't have any time to waste. As soon as she was completely out of his sight he marched down to the closest jewellery shop. There wasn't anyone in the shop except for him and the cashier, who was also the owner. The cashier looked like an old pony. His fur was a dark brown and he had a golden yellow mane. A murky grey beard surrounded his mouth and he wore spectacles that put Alfred's to shame. They were vintage, and looked as if they were straight from the 1920's. After seeing the pair, Alfred considered replacing his current ones since he had worn the same old pair for most of his life.

The cashier walked up to Alfred immediately after he spotted him. Alfred figured that he didn't get many customers after seeing how excited he was to meet him. That, or he was really eager to impress the only human. Alfred managed to take a quick peek at his cutie mark and found that it was very similar to Rarity's. Everything was identical except the diamonds on his flank were bright red instead of blue, like Rarity's.

"Hello, my fine sir. Are you interested in purchasing any jewellery today?" His voice was raspy and reminded Alfred of a few smokers he used to know back home. They would always annoy him with their constant coughing and swearing. They would often distract him during working hours, which in turn got him in trouble with the boss, which in turn made his life a misery. Those were much less happy times.

"Oh, yes. I'm looking for a necklace. Are there any you would recommend?"

"Of course, right this way." Alfred followed the older gentleman while carefully observing his surroundings. He looked at all the various accessories and jewellery that a pony would buy. Most of it was very familiar to what Alfred had seen back home. There were many earrings and clothing attachments that caught his eye, but he was here for one thing and one thing only, Rainbow's necklace.

It needed to be a necklace that represented everything that Alfred loved about her, which was, well, everything. It needed to reflect their relationship in some way, and it needed to be something meaningful. Alfred was not very satisfied when the older pony showed him what was available. The necklaces were okay, but nothing extraordinary. He needed something that would bind them closer together, so it couldn't be some amateur necklace.

"No, I'm sorry. None of these are what I'm looking for. I was thinking more of a..." Alfred stopped dead in his tracks like a deer seeing headlights. What was he doing? There was only one pony who could supply him with what he needed, and that was Rarity. Rarity could easily create the necklace that he wanted. She knew Rainbow as well as he did.

"I'm sorry that these necklaces aren't to your satisfaction, what would you prefer?"

"Don't worry about it, I've changed my mind. Thank you for your kindness," Alfred said as he was beginning to head out the door. The cashier began to chase him up desperately to hopefully keep the customer but he was too late. Alfred felt bad for his business but it wasn't his problem so he tried not to worry about it. He knew that he couldn't visit Rarity now, since Rainbow was planning to find her quickly, so he figured that he had some alone time. He started to walk around Ponyville, taking a look into some of the shops. Since he wasn't going to buy the necklace today, he figured he might as well take a peek if he had brought the money.

The shops were all pretty familiar. He was still extremely surprised that most of this was relevant to him. You'd think that being from another world would change everything, but apparently not. He could understand a large majority of what this wonderful place had to offer, which was incredibly lucky. If he was thrown into a world of nonsense, he wouldn't know what to do with himself.

It was a strange feeling, being away from Rainbow Dash this long. It had only been an hour but Alfred was so used to being by her side and talking to her. Everyday was fun with her. Sure she could be a little arrogant, but Alfred liked her that way. Alfred saw her as a hero, someone to look up to. She was almost the complete opposite of him before he had came to Equestria. She was happy, confident and loving whereas Alfred used to be sad, shy, and guilty. She had turned his world upside down and inside out.

He was sure that marrying her was the next step. From what he could tell, Rainbow had felt the same way about Alfred from the start. He remembered the first time he got married, with Debra that is. At the time, they couldn't be happier. They had been a couple ever since high school. What started out as friendship, turned into a sudden love that they felt for each other. That passion definitely didn't come without it's faults. Alfred still couldn't understand why they changed. Everything was going so well up until they got married. After that, they just started to fade away, and soon the love that they had once shared was replaced with hatred and anger. Alfred remembered what they had argued about on the night that he disappeared. They were arguing about Alfred's job. Debra was furious that he wasn't earning nearly enough to provide for his family. He remembered her calling him weak and a disgrace. He also remembered trying to convince her that he would turn it all around someday, that he would make right all his wrongs. He was hoping for one chance, one opportunity that would just catapult him from the abyss that he was in and into a place where life was good. He was hoping for that one chance to prove himself and earn his respect again.

Unfortunately, it never came. Every single day was just the same over and over and over again. Alfred hated it but couldn't let that hatred show. He never once stood out of line in fear that he would jeopardise his whole situation. He was too afraid to try new things and so he became a victim to an empty, soulless life. That was the case until Luke was born. Luke had managed to give him the hope he needed ever so dearly. Luke had given him the strength to continue and the passion to keep living. His entire life revolved around Luke. He started to lose interest in Debra, his job, his so called 'friends', everything, except Luke. That's why he felt so crushed after hearing the news. He wasn't sad that his life was left behind, he didn't care about his poor life. He was sad because he had lost the only thing that had meaning to him.

Alfred saw his own reflection in a shop window. He looked at the man he saw and was proud. He had a full head of hair that was cut relatively short. His glasses, although old, were in good condition. He was even beginning to grow a beard, which he was fond of. He was proud to see that man in the reflection and not the monster that he used to be. His face used to be a lot paler and his eyes were held up by bags upon bags. He also used to look lifeless, like he was dead on the inside. He was so glad that that phase was now over, and his new and improved one was already beginning. The glasses were the last remaining feature of his life back home.

He kept staring into the glass until he noticed the pony behind it. It was Fluttershy. She hadn't noticed him outside the cafe yet so he supposed a surprise was in order. He slowly crept in and caught her eye from the door. As soon as she saw him, she smiled eagerly and gestured him to come over. Alfred quickly walked up and pulled out a seat to sit down in.

"Hello Fluttershy! It's so fantastic to see you!"

"Hello Alfred, it's good to see you here. How are you doing?"

"Fine, great actually. How are you?"

"Good."

"I heard that you were spending some time with the animals this morning."

"Oh right. Some of them had pretty bad stomachaches so they needed to be cared for."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Are they better now?"

"Yes, very much so. Enough about me, how are you and Rainbow?" This question triggered something in Alfred. Should he tell her about what his plans were? He decided not to tell her, but after a few minutes of discussion he was having second thoughts. They had talked about recent events and other affairs, you know, the regular kind of stuff. After moving on to a topic about Alfred and Rainbow again, he figured that he should at least give it a try.

"We're good, better than ever to be more accurate..... Hey, how are you with keeping secrets?" Fluttershy immediately began to blush.

"Erhm, I don't know. I'm probably not the best."

"Don't worry, it's fine. I guess it'll be a surprise for everyone." He could see the curiosity behind her eyes. It was unlikely that she could keep it, and this was definitely a secret that could not be released.

"It's good to see you spending time with her, I always figured that you two would make a cute couple."

"Thanks, speaking of Rainbow, you haven't seen her lately have you, like today."

"No, not today. Why?"

"Well, we were thinking about having a little get together with the whole group. Rainbow is out now, fetching the others."

"Oh that sounds lovely. Where are we meeting?"

"Oh don't worry about that. I'm sure Rainbow will make it clear when she finds you, which she will."

"So, what are you doing now?" Alfred took a quick glance at a particular shop out the window and returned to Fluttershy.

"I'll be there, I just need to pick something up first," He said beginning to stand. "I'll see you later today."

"Goodbye Alfred. I'll keep an eye out for Rainbow," Fluttershy whispered as Alfred started to walk to the door. He hopped on to the street below and made his way to the shop he had seen from the cafe.

He stood outside the window for a second staring at his new pair of glasses, and then went inside.