Life, Love, & Magic

As Frost and Twilight entered the town hall, they were met by an older-looking earth pony mare with glasses and a scroll for a cutie mark. After Twilight took the time to introduce Frost to "Mayor Mare", the two unicorns dropped off the pile of books and headed back to Twilight's home, the Ponyville Library.

"Wait, so you live in a library?" Frost asked. "You must have a lot of extra room."

"Not as much as you'd think. I have a lot of personal projects scattered around, and I always keep some spare room for a few extra ponies just in case company visits, so there's usually more than enough space for us."

Us? Frost's heart sagged in his chest a bit. He tried to see a silver lining on the matter by realizing that "us" could mean a roommate, not necessarily a... back to the matter at hand. "Ah. Oh, Twilight, before I forget, do you know anywhere I can stay for the night? I don't really have any place to go, and I don't know anyone here, so..."

"Hmm...Well, you could stay at the library with me and Spike! We have plenty of room, and you can stay as long as you need to until you can get a hold of your own house!"

Frost nearly stumbled and dropped all his things when he heard Twilight suggest that he live with her. Putting aside the fact that he really really wanted to for obvious reasons, Frost considered the idea. He had only met this beautiful mare today, and wasn't sure about simply intruding upon her personal home so abruptly. "R-Really? Um, I don't know, Twilight. I...wait, who's Spike?"

"Oh, Spike? He's a baby dragon, and one of my closest friends ever since I hatched him from his egg. He's also my number-one assistant, or he WOULD be if he had bothered to wake up and assist me today."

Frost let out a mental sigh of relief. "You have a baby dragon? That's something you don't see everyday. Another reason that you're quickly moving to the top of my list of 'Most Interesting Ponies I've Met Today'."

Twilight giggled a little, and Frost could swear that it was one of the most amazing sounds that he'd ever heard. It reminded him of his sister's laugh....and as much as it pained him, he tried to avoid dwelling on that fact. He felt like every time he thought about it, it became harder and harder to hide.

His feelings proved to be correct as Twilight pointed out,"Hey, are you alright? You look kind of sad. Is everything okay?"

Frost almost immediately burst out, "I'm fine! Nothing's wrong! Nothing at all!" Twilight's confused expression at his outburst gave him a second to compose himself. "I-I'm sorry. It's nothing."

This almost warranted further interrogation from Twilight, but luckily a yellow pegasus pony, one of Twilight's friends Frost assumed, flew up to the two of them.

        "Hi, Twilight. Um, w-who's that?" She asked as she shyly pointed at Frost.

"Oh, I guess I should introduce you two. Fluttershy, this is Frost Grey. Frost, this is Fluttershy!"

"Uh, Hello?" Frost said cautiously. The shy little mare looked as if she wanted to be anywhere but here, and it seemed to him that the best way to handle it was to be gentle.

"...u-um....hi..."

Frost couldn't believe that a pony could possibly be this cute. Sure, Twilight was one of the prettiest mares that he had ever met, but Fluttershy took the gold in adorableness. The way she nearly whispered every word and hid her face behind her long pink mane just made him want to give her a really big hug for some reason. He noticed a small white bunny hop out from behind her head and jump to the ground. It looked at him and gave him a fierce stare, as if saying 'If you lay a single hoof on her you won't be getting it back.'

Fluttershy followed Frost's eyes as he stared back at the creature. "oh, this is Angel. he's one of my closest animal friends. oh my, I think he's taken a liking to you. he usually only does that with me!"

The look in Angel's eyes suggested a collection of words best not repeated at this suggestion. The gentlest thing that could be interpreted from it was the phrase 'Not Likely'. If Angel was always like that with Fluttershy, Frost had to wonder who wore the saddle in that relationship. Given her seemingly submissive nature, Fluttershy didn't look like the type of pony to boss others around, and Angel's more aggresive take on things, though a bit much in Frost's opinion, seemed to help balance the two out.

"I...can see that." Frost didn't get along well with animals. He didn't like them, and they didn't like him. They always got jittery or rowdy when he was around, and he felt his...condition begin to act up whenever he was near too many of them. Even now, Frost knew that being near even a bunny was a dangerous prospect for him.

"Oh! How did I lose track of time like that?!  I'd love to stick around Fluttershy, but we need to get back to the Library right now!" Twilight started stamping her hooves rapidly into the ground. She seemed extremely anxious, almost like she could... leave him right here, in one of the most awkward positions imaginable right now.

"Rrrright." Frost had no idea why Twilight wanted him along. He was just some stranger that she had run into and had help her with a simple errand. He figured that was a question for later, seeing how Twilight had already bolted off in the direction of what he assumed was the library.

"Well, uh, it was nice meeting you Fluttershy! See ya later, I guess!" Frost voiced in a hurry as he tried to catch up with Twilight.

"uhm, o-okay!" Fluttershy raised her voice just enough for him to hear as he hurried off. As he looked back, he noticed that Fluttershy was blushing lightly on the cheek that wasn't hidden from view by her flowing mane. She seemed to notice him looking back, as he noted that as she made eye contact, she averted her gaze and tried to seem aloof. Somehow, this made her seem even more adorable than before. It took Frost nearly three times the effort to resist running back and giving her a big squeeze. Before he turned his head back around, Frost caught Angel giving him one more icy stare before turning and leaping onto Fluttershy's tail as the two departed.

....

That bunny had a seething hatred for him. Frost got the feeling that, if given the chance, Angel wouldn't hesitate to somehow run him out of town with his tail between his legs. Well, the feeling was mutual. He hadn't known the bunny for more than five seconds before knowing that they were destined to be mortal enemies, entwined in a deadly dance of deception and bitterness with each other that would last until the end of days.

Then it occurred to Frost that he was in an unspoken feud WITH A BUNNY. Oh, how the once mighty have fallen.