The Ship that Sailed in the Sea

Chapters

The Two that Trailed the Terrain
The Bug that Badgered the Bronco
The Heart that Hated the Horse

The Two that Trailed the Terrain

"I'm tired."

The two stallions trudged through the feathery snow. The snowflakes danced lightly through the night sky, their next move unpredictable.

"You're always t-tired."

They've ventured a lot farther from home than they have thought. What time is it? It's probably past midnight because it's been dark for quite a while now, and they still couldn't fathom how many moons it'll take to reach their destination.

The snow-white equine kicked some snow out of the way and almost tripped. "Agh! Grr, I think I'm gonna lose it." He attacked the ground harder and slipped, falling face-first into the soft ice.

The pale-blue unicorn sighed and lifted his companion back to his hooves. "Goodness gracious, i-it's f-freezing out here," he stammered.

"Oh, it's not that cold. You'll get used to it."

"Easy for you to s-say, you were practically made for th-this place - " he suddenly stopped and stared awkwardly for a bit at nowhere in particular, then groaned and fell on his side. "Uuuggghhh."

"Looks like Party Favor ain't livin' up to his name A.T.M.," the snow stallion teased.

"Shaddup, Double Diamond," Party Favor snapped, "I'm feeling r-really painful, 'A.T.M.', I think I'm about to get f-frostbite. Help a f-friend out."

Double Diamond chuckled and dragged his bestie by his hoof under some forest trees and wrapped his scarf around him. Then he hoofed around for some wood and sanded them together. Favor eyed him in puzzlement and said, "What are you doing."

"What's with the deadpan? I'm making fire, of course."

"...in the snow? Essentially, frozen water?"

"Anything is possible if you try."

Party Favor smirked and replied nothing for a while. Double Diamond didn't manage to create a fire, but he did convince his pal to use the last of his magic to shield them from the cold. The two laid down facing away from each other in silence, admiring the snowflakes as they gently tumbled down from the heavens. Somewhere in between, Party Favor attempted to recollect his memory from previous events. It seems that the stallions were out for a walk, then they got chased by a deer Double was almost sure was a manticore, then something about being bombarded with potatoes by a mentally-concerning mare...whatever happened, the curly-maned pony eventually grew exhausted from thinking about it. "Hey," he muttered to the companion next to him.

Double Diamond yawned. "Mhm?"

"Why did you follow Starlight Glimmer?"

There was a little pause as the other member of the party conflicted on whether to talk about it or not. "I guess...I was kinda desperate."

"Mhm?"

"I was the first to get my cutie mark out of all my so-called childhood 'friends', I loved to ski, so when I pulled off some pretty cool tricks on this tall slope, I knew I was meant to do this for the rest of my life. Actually, no, it WAS my life. I couldn't think about what it would've been without it. But, well, my 'friends' weren't so happy about it, so they kicked me out of their group and left me on my own. My folks never really gave concern to me, either, so since I didn't have anything to stay for, I ran away when I got older. I was just skiing by myself one day until this unicorn came up to me and offered to get rid of my misery. She said, 'You're cutie mark has really ruined your life, hasn't it? I can take away that painful thing if you'd like, that thing that reminds you of everything you lost. Join me, and you will be the happiest stallion alive.' So I gave in, and I kinda served her for the most part until Princess Twilight and her friends came along. They all have such strong bonds, y'know? Even though they contrast each other a lot, they still stick together until the end. It was then I thought, now where can I find ponies like that? I was sorta jealous, which is why I doubted them at first. I know, it was stupid of me, but I couldn't help it. I only feel after all."

Party Favor listened to his friends speech intently. "You really liked Starlight back then, didn't you?"

"...yeah."

The blue stallion thought about Double's words thoroughly. The more he thought about his childhood, the more ticked off he got. "That wasn't fair. Just because you get your cutie mark early doesn't mean their envy should shame you."

"I guess it was for the best. They weren't the greatest friends ever, anyway. I have Sugar Belle, Night Glider, and you now, and that's more than anything I could ask for."

"Still, if I was there I would strangle them and try to go to the ends of Equestria to find you."

"You're a great friend."

The two laughed for no particular reason and glanced at each other. Party Favor turned away shyly and let out a slight huff. "You know, I used to be really poor. Back then, throwing parties and just having a good time wasn't widely accepted where I was from, so I had a lot of trouble fitting in when I got my cutie mark. I met Sugar Belle in a small bakery at the edge of town, and we ran from the place, and like you, we didn't have much to leave behind. One day, I couldn't find her anywhere, but it turned out Starlight took her in and asked if I wanted to join. So, like, I obviously agreed, for Sugar Belle and to let go of my past. But it really wasn't the same."

"I bet it wasn't, you always looked empty in your eyes."

Favor stretched and gazed off into the distance. "Was it that obvious?"

"I didn't hear anything else about it, so probably not. But it honestly made me kinda sad." Double Diamond shifted to his other side, and their faces were a few inches apart. Party Favor flinched and scooted a bit farther, turning slightly pink, though the other stallion didn't seem to notice for he had fallen asleep.

Party Favor stared at his face and felt something inside glow. He didn't know why, but its power was like a firefly full of bright pride. His eyelids drooped, and soon enough, he was sleeping too.

Author's Note

This is thick with headcanons and backstories because it was going to be a one-shot, but I didn't know how to fit the juicy stuff in so I'm gonna make this a chapter fic.

The Bug that Badgered the Bronco

Double Diamond suddenly flashed open his eyes to the small streams of sunlight filtering delicately through the trees. He rubbed his eyes and stood up from his back. Cold white feathers still laid stubbornly on the ground, but there seemed to be less of it now compared to last night. Must be the heating spell.

The white stallion shifted his gaze upon the companion with him. He was still sleeping off in Lalaland, his chest slowly rising and sinking each moment. It was rather relaxing to look at, but there were things to do, places to see, and they got to eat and get going. He decided to leave the scarf on Party Favor and walked out to find food.

It was a lot sunnier than last time. Though the rays seemed delicate through the trees' leaves, it was just a cover-up of much "shiner" weather. It wasn't even that hot, just...shiny. The icicles dangling from trees were too painful to look at because the sun's reflection was so bright, he couldn't tolerate it even for a second. He usually had a great appreciation for things related to cold weather, but he'd rather keep his vision clean, thanks.

Double Diamond found some patches of grass and some daisies, ripped them out, and dropped them in his ski helmet. He hoped Party wouldn't mind the slight spit, but he's always picking on him to be clean, so no guarantee. Yet there wasn't much of a choice, so he just went rip and drop, rip and drop.

Rip and drop. Rip and drop.

It was getting boring just ripping and dropping things into the helmet. He didn't even know what he was ripping out anymore, there wasn't any more vegetation. In the middle of it, he groaned in annoyance, "I wanna go hoome! Ugh, it's all my fault! When are we ever getting back ho-o-o-o-o - ACK!" He jumped back at the sight of a flying green bug a mere millimeter from his snout. "Who is it!? What is that!? I HATE THAT!" He desperately attempted to slap the bug away, but all it did was make it fly drunk-like around him more. It got to the point where Double Diamond quickly grabbed his helmet full of grass and daisies and snow and trotted away for his life. "GET AWAY FROM ME GET AWAY FROM ME GET AWAY FROM ME PARTY FAVOR PARTY FAVOR HELP OH MY CELESTIA GET THIS THING AWAY FROM ME!!"

Party Favor stirred a bit from the distant yelling of his friend. "Mmmm yeah Double? What'zzup I'mma kinda sleeeping right now so yeeeaaah come back lateeerr..."

"PARTY FAVOR FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE!!"

The sudden increase in volume jolted the curly-maned unicorn awake. "What? What's wrong? Woah, what is that bug chasing you? It looks like a beetle - "

Party Favor got the wind knocked out of him when Double Diamond slammed himself against his friend and gasped from fear. "I - GASP - always - GASP - had a fear - GASP - of flying - GASP - inseeeects!"

"Okay okay okay calm down I'll get rid of it," Party promised. Sparks surrounded his horn as he did his best to teleport the bug somewhere safe, away from crazy entomophobic ski ponies. With a flash, the insect disappeared to what he prayed wouldn't be life-threatening.

Double Diamond was still pressing against him, shaking from the event. "I n-never want to see that thing. Ever. Again." It took a moment for him to regain composure and calm down.

"I know it's only been a week since we've known each other, but I've known way less about you than I thought. You're afraid of flying bugs?"

"Don't judge?"

"I guess not. Oh, you brought food! Great, I'm starving. Er, are you gonna let go of me?"

"Is it gone?"

"Yeeaaahhh."

"For good? You sure?"

"Come on, Double D, let's eat. We need to get back home."

Hesitantly, the snow-white stallion detached himself and moved the helmet between them, and they ate their meal of grass and flowers coated with snow. Party Favor held on to the warmth of the grasp of his buddy. His embrace was so tight and vulnerable from the oh-so terrifying creature, it almost made him giggle a little. It was so silly but so cute. Who would've known he was afraid of such a thing? Not like it was the stallion's place to make fun of him, he himself has multiple fears. But it was still pretty cute.

"Um, Party? There's a daisy in your mane."

The blue stallion jerked his head around to see it. "Huh? Where?"

"It's not anywhere you can see it." Double Diamond tried his best not to cackle. "It looks cute on you, though."

Party Favor turned red and glared. "I see, how about I put one on you?" He picked up a daisy from the helmet with his telekinesis and jammed it in Double Diamond's messy hair. Double tried to get it out, but it was in a spot he couldn't reach, and gave up.

Party Favor tilted his head at his friend and smirked. "Hey, you don't look too bad yourself."

The other stallion rolled his eyes and chuckled. "I know, we all know I'm fabulous." He stood up and struck a pose, perking out his lips and making a purposefully awkward pose.

Party Favor sighed. "Alas, we all know that I'm more fabulous." He too stood up and flipped his mane in an over exaggerating fashion and did an awkward pose as well. Then the two bursted out in laughter and fell on the ground. It was probably the hardest they have ever laughed in their lives.

Double Diamond quickly stood up and struck out his chest with a gray look on his face. "If you are boring, everyone will love you. The more you preach, the more successful you become, but of course it's not based off of passion and love, suckers, ya gotta do with what ya gotta do, am I right?"

Party Favor repeatedly bowed down in a flop-like manner. "All hail our god, Starlight! She can do no wrong! We will become boring for you our majesty because why the frick not?"

They continued this skit for a bit longer, constantly poking fun at their previous lives as dull copies of each other. Time has passed and it was already afternoon, so they quickly tried to run after the time they lost and got back to traveling.

Author's Note

Nothing much here, just setting up for a few things to come.

The Heart that Hated the Horse

Double Diamond came out of the bakery with a paper bag and sat down on a chair, sharing a table with his friend Night Glider. "Sorry it took so long, the line was pretty long. On the opening day, too."

"Tell me about it," the mare remarked. "Sugar's place is pretty much exploding right now. That mare's got some talent, and it's only been a day after we got our cutie marks back. Like, seriously," - she reached over for the bag and pulled out a raspberry muffin - "these things are invading my dreams. Sweet Celestia, I keep throwing my bits out for half a cookie." She took an enormous bite out of the baked good and a dream-like mist filled her eyes.

The snow-white stallion chuckled and pulled out his own muffin. "You should've seen her face. She was so shocked, but it's like she's having the time of her life in there. Baking sure keeps her happy."

"I bet it does," Night Glider said through a full mouth, "nopony's gonna be happy with doing nothing for the rest of their life, especially if they really want to do it." She swallowed. "I was pretty depressed with my life even after Starlight came around. I dunno what I was thinking, but then again, I don't think any of us did."

The sudden subject on the village's former dictator made Double Diamond flinch. "Oh, y-yeah, I didn't know what I was doing, either. Haha, Starlight was terrible, wasn't she? Trying to force us to give up ourselves to her, really? Why would she do that? I bet in the West that's practically illegal, with them being more structured and all. And level-headed. More common sense, right? I mean, not like you or Sugar Belle or Party Favor or anypony in this village don't have those things, or else we'd pretty much be burning these houses down, and we still wouldn't be here - "

Night Glider stuffed a muffin in his mouth. "Woah. D-man. More facts, less yaps." She withdrew her hoof and put on a concerned look on her face. "What's up? You don't look like the antsy type."

"Hahahahaha, what are ya talking about?"

"Yooouuuu...are a secret agent?"

"What? Of course not - "

"Read cheesy romance novels for a hobby?"

"No - "

"Secretly a sugoi kawaii desu shoujo magical mare!"

"Stop speaking Japonese."

Night Glider stared into her friend for a few moments, trying to comprehend what his problem was. Then her eyes lit up and her mouth silently made an "ohhhh". "You're still crushing on Starlight, aren't you? Dude, she's a hypocritical sociopath, what do you still possibly see in her?"

"No she is NOT!"

Passing by ponies stopped and glanced at the two equines sitting by the bakery. Double Diamond turned pink and hung his head in embarrassment. As everyone else shrugged it off and went on with their day, he lowered his voice. "S-Sorry. I mean, I know. She is."

The pegasus mare recovered from the surprise and gave a small sad smile. "I'm sorry, too. I guess you still really like her, I shouldn't have touched on it so badly."

He chuckled drlyly. "I still love her, even if she tore out my heart, ripped it to two, and shoved it down my throat. Frickin' head doesn't let you choose who you fall for."

"I guess not."

"You guess?"

"I mean," - she tapped the table a bit, a habit of her's when thinking - "yeah, you can't really choose who to go head over heels for. You can't really choose whether or not you fall in love at all. There's this colt I went out with a while back. He would write down a bunch of notes for me, a bunch of cheesy but romantic things. The one that I really liked? 'You will always be my sun princess.' When we broke up and he implied that I wasn't good enough for him? Ouch, it stung. All those notes for nothing, huh? Things turned from 'your mane is beautiful and you're fun to hang out with' to 'you're always showing off and talking so casually to other colts'. So yeah, he didn't really trust me. And I was depressed everyday after that. I would listen to sappy songs and walk out in the rain without a jacket or anything, and strangers who saw me would tell me not to do anything stupid. Well, stupider than walking in the rain without clothes, anyway.

"One day, I didn't know where I was going, so I ended up in this...forest, I guess. Then Starlight came around, telling me something about getting rid of my cutie mark and living a better life or something like that. I was too much in a lousy mood to really listen, I just wanted to stop feeling emotional pain. So I accepted, and look at me, I'm cutie markless. And even then I still didn't feel any better...until I met Sugar Belle. She was my cheerleader. Whenever I felt like giving up, Sugar would encourage me. I still remember that one thing she said that was the only thing that kept me going: 'Life is 10% of what happens and 90% of how you react to it. If you stop, that next 90% will never be worth it. And even if you keep bumping into obstacles, you're still way ahead of everyone who isn't trying.' I think that was the line that made me realize that my ex-coltfriend never said anything like that to me. Whenever I feel down, he just looks around awkwardly and make some remarks about how things aren't that bad. So I let him go."

Double Diamond tilted his head ever so slightly. "Lesson is?"

"Falling in love isn't a decision, whether you stay in love is. Also, walking in the rain can change the 90% of your life. I guess Starlight was good for one thing: Bringing us all together. I'm glad I met you and Party Favor and Sugar Belle."

The ski pony thought for a moment. He admitted that he was a bit in denial. He saw Starlight Glimmer betray them, right with his own eyes. And he still didn't let go. She always complimented him when he did something "right", even though afterwards she would tell everyone the same thing to keep things "equal", and he has to say that he didn't feel miserable as much after joining the village. Whether her attitude towards him was genuine or not was meaningless to his emotions, even though his head would say otherwise.

The stallion stretched a little and said, "So, since I have no shame in changing the subject, about you and Sugar Belle...you never told me you had a thing for her."

"Shut up, you're saying it too loud!" Night Glider hissed, which then turned into a giggle. "Fine. Well, yeah, I gotta confess..."

"...whenever I see her I turn to a mess!" he sang. The two laughed and continued chatting about it, and while it was a great distraction from his conflict, it didn't make him forget it completely.

~ * ~

"Hey Party Favor."

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever...fallen for someone before?"

"...yeah. But then we realized we were better off as just friends, and it's more of a brother-sister like relationship now."

"Oh, Sugar Belle?"

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering."

Author's Note

Building up some things, I know this is going slow, but patience is the key to get your OTP satisfaction. :P