An Evenings Shadow

Chapters

Lost, hurt and scared
Watching the sunset
Getting closer
You wanna go out with me?
Taking Flight

Lost, hurt and scared

Ever since the return of Princess Luna, the night sky has been so beautiful. Celestia did well when she took over her sister duties for one thousand years but there was something about Lunas night sky that Celestias version missed.

The sky was probably the last thing the Batpony, who was wandering through the forest, was paying any attention to. No, she was clearly lost.

He could feel her fear before he could even see her, a sensation far too tempting for him to resist in his current state.

The pony sat down in the grass, looking around and then down to the ground and said, "What am I gonna do now?"

She was quite pretty with her gray coat and purple mane, mostly purple anyway. Oddly enough, the tips of a few patches of her hair were black.

He, however, didn't pay any attention to her mane. He came out of his hiding place and slowly and quietly walked up to her. With each step, he could feel her emotions more clearly, which only served to increase his hunger. Once he was standing right behind her, he slowly raised his hoof.

It's time to feast.

She jumped a little when she felt two light taps on her shoulder.

"Miss? Can I help you?" An unfamiliar voice asked.

She turned around and saw a blue Pegasus with a darker blue mane with red stripes in it, standing in front of her.

She could feel her fear subside immediately.

"Oh my, I am so happy to see you. I am lost... like, really lost. I've been wandering around this forest for hours," she rambled, sounding very relieved.

He smiled at her. "Yeah, I thought so, but may I ask why you aren't just flying out of the forest?"

"Well..." she started blushing a little and showed him her left wing. It had a hole in it, about 4 centimeters in diameter, but he knew that this was enough to make flying impossible for her.

"I see. Well, I think I can help you with getting out of the woods and with your wing. Follow me," he turned around and started walking. She followed him closely.

"By the way, I'm Crimson Shadow," he said, still having a warm smile on his face, "and yes, I am aware of the Irony of my name."

"Ves. It's nice to meet you, Crimson," she responded.

"It's nice to meet you too, Ves. That's a very... unusual name, isn't it?" Crimson said, then hastily added: "I don't mean to be rude, of course."

She giggled lightly at his reaction, then said: "It's short for Vesperum. Yes, my parents had a weird way to name their child, too."

"Vesperum...you mean like... evening? My Latin isn't what it used to be," Crimson asked.

Ves nodded, "Mhm. I prefer Ves though."

"Very well then. For what it's worth, I think Ves is a quite nice name."

Ves couldn't help but smile at that. "Thank you! How far is it until we're out of the forest?" She asked, sounding a little concerned.

Crimson scratched his chin, "Well, you wandered fairly deep, about 10 minutes till the edge of the forest and at least another 10 till you're back in Ponyville. But to be honest, I'd like to take a look at that wing of yours first, if you'd like. I'm pretty sure I have something that will help it heal faster."

"Well, as long as you aren't just some creep who brings me to his home just to rape me, sure," she said with a playful tone and while smirking.

Crimson laughed a little, "That would be pretty stupid of me. My house might be a little outside of town, but right now, we're even further away from any help. It would make much more sense to take you right here and the slit your throat afterwards. It would be at least a few days until somepony would find you," Crimson said without looking at her.

Ves wasn't sure how to respond to that and just looked at Crimson with an uncertain expression on her face.

Crimson looked over to her and started chuckling seeing her face and said, "You should see the look on your face right now," sounding amused.

"Hehe. I guess I was kinda asking for that one," Ves said, started blushing lightly.

Suddenly, there was a weird, high-pitched, screaming-like noise coming from deeper inside the forest and Ves immediately stopped and looked around.

It was hard to tell where the noise came from until they heard it again, then again.

It wasn't that close but it sounded very creepy, almost ghostly.

"W-what was that?" Ves asked, clearly more than a little scared.

The noise didn't seem bother Crimson at all, he just kept walking and said "That's just a fox barking."

"Barking? I never heard a fox bark before," she said, the fear vanishing strangely fast.

"Have you ever heard any noise a fox makes?" he replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Hehe... has anypony?" Ves replied while rubbing her neck slightly embarrassed.

"That's the noise they make when they're territory is being invaded," he said after they heard the noise for a fourth time, bringing a new, though lighter jolt of fear to Ves, which, just like the first one, Disappeared strangely quick.

"Who knew something that cute could make such a creepy sound," Ves mumbled, mostly to herself, as they continued to walk through the forest.

Despite any fear that came to her vanishing almost instantly, Ves was suddenly more motivated to get out of the forest and it didn't take them as long as Crimson had anticipated. They could see Ponyville in the distance and a little house on a nearby hill.

"This is where I live," Crimson stated while pointing at the house.

"There? I thought that place was abandoned," Vas said.

"It was, until a few days ago. I can't get a proper place to live for the next two months, so I make do with what I can get," Crimson responded.

"Oh, right. No apartments in Ponyville. You'd have to buy or build a house," Ves stated.

"There are some houses you can rent, but like I said, none of them are free for the next two months," Crimson corrected.

Crimson smiled at Ves, "No matter, the roof is, surprisingly, still holding the rain out and it's not too cold at night anyway."

"Oh, nice," Ves said sarcastically.

Crimson chuckled and walked towards the house with Ves following him closely.

The door opened with a loud squeaking noise. Crimson gestured Ves to come inside, "Please make yourself comfortable, there is no running water or electricity so please don't use the toilet."

"WHAT? You can't live here for two whole months without water or electricity," she said with an sympathetic look on her face.

Crimson closes the door and walks into a little room where he stored his potions and ingredients, "Well I don't really have a choice. Plus I usually am at Zecoras place anyways," he grabs two potions and a measuring cup and sits down on the couch, where he starts mixing the potions.

"Zecora? Why Zecora?" Ves asked as she sat down next to him.

"I started working for her when I first came here a few days ago. I'm apparently the only one who knows as much about potions as she does," Crimson said while pouring a little bit of the mixture into a glass.

Ves watched him as he started shaking the Bottle, "Oohh ok that makes sense "

"What are you doing?" she asked him curiously.

"Huh? Oh, this is for your wing. Should help it to heal a lot faster," he said as the mixture changed its color from a clear, water-like, liquid to a light blue one and started smelling a little strange.

Ves sniffed the air and grimaced at the mixtures smell.

"Smells disgusting, do I have to drink it?"

Crimson put some of the liquid on his hoof, "No don't worry, I'll rub this on your wing around the hole. Oh, and the smell will subside pretty fast."

"Oh good," Ves said as she expanded her wing so that Crimson could reach the little hole, who wasted no time and rubbed the mixture on a big area around the hole.

"This mixture will, among other things, widen your blood vessels in that area so it's probably gonna get pretty warm there soon and it might start to itch, you shouldn't scratch it though," Crimson explained.

Ves looked up at him, "How long till I can fly again?"

"About six to ten days," Crimson replied.

Ves groaned at that, which caused Crimson to smirk a little.

"Hey, look at the bright side, without this it could easily take twice as long," he said.

Ves sight. "I know, and I'm really grateful, but still... this just sucks."

Crimson looked at her with an sympathetic look on his face, "I'm sorry I can't do more."

"Don't be, you have done enough already," Ves said with a smile on her face.

The first sunrays start to shine through the window and hit Ves' face, who gasped and checked the time,"It's only 5am. Is the sun coming out that early already?"

Crimson chuckled at that. "Yup, summer is coming. Slowly but surely."

"Oh my, have you been up all night?" Ves asked.

"Don't worry, it's not the first time," Crimson said while walking to a water bucket to wash the tonic off his hoof.

"But don't you have to go to work with Zecora in the morning?" Ves asked, slightly concerned that she might be responsible for her new friend getting in trouble.

"Nah, don't worry, Zecora has gone to the Crystal Empire a few days ago and will stay there for a few more," Crimson replied.

"Oh? Is she taking a vacation or something," Ves asked a little curious.

"She didn't say," Crimson sat down next to Ves again, "do you know her?"

Ves made some room for Crimson and said, "A little. I first met her a few months ago when she brought some stuff to one of my friends who had some experiment going on for which she needed some of her plants."

This caught Crimsons attention and he looked at Ves curiously "Experiments? You don't happen to know what kind of experiments, do you?"

Ves was slightly surprised by his sudden interest and tried to remember what her friend told her about said experiments "Uhhm, it was something about... no, I'm sorry, but I really can't remember."

She expected Crimson to be at least a little disappointed, but he just smiled and said, "That's ok, no problem."

The room was lit up with blue light for a split-second followed by distend thunder, so Crimson looked out the window, "Was there supposed to be a storm tonight?"

Ves perked up and followed his gaze "I'm not sure. I forgot to check the weather schedule for tonight. It looks like it, though."

Crimson stood up and walked to the window in order to get a better look at the sky. It did indeed look like it was about to start raining.

"Maybe you should get going if you want to arrive home dry," Crimson said.

Ves joined him and looked at the sky herself "Yeah, you're probably right." She walked towards the door, then she stopped and looked at him, "Crimson?"

Crimson, who had walked her to the door, looked at her, "Yes?"

"Can we maybe hang out sometime?" she asked.

Crimson chuckled a little at that "Believe it or not, I was actually about to ask you the same. Like I said, I'm free for the next couple of days."

Ves smiled happily at that "Awesome, I'll come visit you then."

"I'll look forward to it," Crimson replied.

With that, Ves closed the door and hurried home. Crimson walked back to the couch and let himself drop on top of it, "Wow, what a meal."

Author's Note

Ok first of all I have to say that I'm not a native English speaker, I do my best to write correctly and I have someone to prove read my story but if there are still errors in this please tell me because I feel this is the best way for me to learn

You wanna know what a fox sounds like?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuw6YBn6pnk

Watching the sunset

Author's Note

I didn't have anyone to proofread this chapter so there are probably a few more spelling mistakes than in the first chapter, if you find any major errors feel free to tell me and I'll correct them asap

Watching the sunset

"That looks painful," Starlight took a closer look at the hole in Ves' wing.

"Naw don't worry about it, it's not the first hole in my wing and it won't be the last," Ves sat back down in the comfy reading chair again, "although it is hurting quite a bit less then it usually would after less than a day of healing. Huh, I guess that tonic really does help."

Starlight perked up at that, "Tonic? Oh did you go to Zecora already?"

"No I met her new assistant in the forest, he helped me get out and gave me something for my wing. Looks like he knows what he's doing," Ves replied.

Starlight looks at her friend curiously, "Zecora has a new assistant?"

Ves nods, "Yeah I didn't know either till I met him, a very nice Pegasus Stalion."

Starlight smirked, seeing an easy opportunity to tease her friend a little, " Is he hot?"

"Starlight!" Ves groaned.

Starlight giggled, "What? I'm just curious."

Ves sighed, knowing that she'll probably have to listen to 'Ves and Crimson are sitting on a tree' songs for the rest of the week now, "Yes, he is attractive, if you must know."

"Oooohhhh," Starlight cued, "What did you two do? Tell me everything, and don't leave out all the juicy details"

Ves facehoofed, "We did nothing like that, we met in the forest, he helped me get out and put some tonic on my wing, that's all."

"So you're not gonna see him again?" Starlight asked.

Ves was beginning to get pretty annoyed at her friends antics, "As a matter of fact we will. As Friends," she looked at Starlight seriously.

Starlight began to smirk again and Ves groaned internally, "You only met him last night and already consider him a friend? My, my, keep going at that pace and you'll land in bet together in like a week."

"Well at least I didn't have to brainwash him with magic to be my friend," As soon as Ves said those words she put her hoof in her mouth, noticing to late how painful that might be for her friend.

Starlight dropped the book she was holding and stared at Ves with a hurt expression, who stood up and hugged her tightly, "I'm sorry Starlight, I shouldn't have said that. You're a great friend, it's just... you can be a real pain sometimes."

To Ves' surprise, Starlight actually giggled at that and said, "It's ok, I shouldn't have teased you like that. I know how much you hate that but it's just so easy."

Ves smiled and looked her friend in the eye, "so we're good?"

Starlight smiled and nodded, "Of cause"

"Great," Ves replied and sat back down on the chair, "What are you doing there anyways?"

Starlight picked the book that she dropped up and put it on a little pile on a desk, "Huh? Oh just doing some research, one of my experiments just won't work and I'm not sure why."

"Oh? What's the experiment about?" Ves asked

Starlight looked at her questioningly, "Since when are you interested in my experiments?"

Ves blushed a little, "Oh well, Crimson may have asked about that once."

"Did he now?" Starlight started smirking again.

"Starlight, don't you dare" Ves warned, looking at her friend seriously.

"I didn't say anything," Starlight giggled, "Well, I tried to modify a spell I found, that shows Magic nexuses in such a way that I can cast it on twilights map, that way we would know where all nexuses in Equestria are."

Ves blinked slowly, "Magic nexuses?"

Starlight smiled in amusement, "A magic Nexus is a place where there is a lot of magical energy in the environment."

"And what do they do?" Ves asked.

"To ponies nothing, even unicorns can't use their magic directly without help," Starlight picked another book, "Some artifacts can use their magic for various purposes. The element of harmony for example, When Princess Celestia banished Nightmare moon to the Moon it created a Nexus in the Castle of the two sisters. Over the following thousand years it build up power and when Twilight and the others used them on Nightmare moon again they could use that power and managed to purge the corruption in Princess Luna. That's why they Turned her back to normal the second time they used the elements, instead of just banishing her again."

"huh... I never thought about that."

There was a moment of silence between the two mares, Starlight picked two more books and put them to the others and Ves was just sitting in the chair.

Then vas saw a familiar pony trough the window, "Crimson?"

Starlight turned around and looked at Ves, "Huh?"

"That's Crimson," Ves pointed at the Pegasus outside."

Starlight looked out the window, "Huh, speak of the Devil."

Ves stood up and knocked at the window to get crimsons attention. Once he looked back at her she waved at him and he smiled and waved back, then she motion for him to come in.

"You're right, he is kinda hot," Starlight said.

Ves walked out the library, "Common let's let him in."

Starlight smiled at Crimson, "Hi, Ves has told me about you and it's nice to get to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too miss Glimmer. I have heard quit a few things about you too of course," Crimson replied.

"You have?" Both mares asked simultaneously.

"Uh yeah, Princess Twilight's personal student, saved Equestria from an Changeling invasion, I don't know about you but that does seem like a pretty important Pony to me," Crimson replied.

Starlight blushed a little, "I'm starting to see why you like him."

Ves glared at Starlight but Crimson didn't seem to mind, or if he did, he didn't show it.

"Anyways, what were you up to if I may ask?" Ves asked, still glaring at Starlight a little.

Crimson sat down on one of the chairs, "Well, until Zecora's back I can't really work much and I don't wanna unpack much because I'm defiantly not planning to stay where I live right now for long, so I thought I'd take a little walk, see a little bit of the town."

Ves perked up at that, "If you don't know what to do then maybe we can hang out a little, it looks like starlight is gonna be busy reading for the next few hours."

"Sure, what did you have in mind?" Crimson asked.

"Uhm I don't know, maybe just walk through town and see if we find something fun to do and if we don't we can always go to my place and watch a movie or something."

"Alright, sounds fun," Crimson stood up and took a few steps towards the door, "You wanna go now?"

"Uhm," Ves looked at Starlight, "You don't mind me just leaving right?"

Starlight smiled, "Of course not, like you said, I'll be busy reading. Plus it's not like you just came and are leaving again already, I mean, you have been her for..." Starlight looks at the clock hanging above the door and then said really fast, "4 hours already? Shit, I still have stuff to do. Ok was nice meting you Crimson, have fun, bye," then she ran out the door.

Ves and Crimson looked after her with an surprised expression, "Well that was... something," Crimson said.

Ves chuckled, "Yeah, she gets like that sometimes."

"No, no way, you have got to be kidding me," Ves said in disbelief.

"I swear it's the truth, the guy was covered in purple spots, It was hilarious... well, it was once I knew it wasn't harmful," Crimson replied.

Ves giggled, "How did that happen?"

"Turned out he was one quarter Changeling and that caused him to react to the potion in an... let's say 'unexpected' way" Crimson replied while smiling.

Ves was about to say something when both of them suddenly herd a long, somewhat high pitched gasp. As they turned around a pink pony came right up in Crimsons face, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh your new. I haven't seen you before and I know Everypony in Poniville and I don't know you so that means you're new."

"Pinkie, remember when we talked about personal space?" Ves said

"Oh right, sorry," Pinkie took a few steps back an bounced in place.

Crimson smiled, seemingly not bothered by Pinkies antics, "So I assume you are Pinkie Pie, the element of laughter, I've heard a lot about you and your friends."

Pinkie smiled widely, "Yup, that's me and what's your name, new Pony?"

"I'm Crimson Shadow, it's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too Crimson," Pinkie said happily while bouncing, "come to Sugarcube corner sometimes, I'll make you a free 'Welcome to Poniville' Cupcake."

"Really? Wow thanks, you really don't have to do that," Crimson assured.

"Oh don't be silly, usually I'd throw you a welcome party but I'm afraid that will have to wait a little, busy as a bee these days" Pinkie replied, "Listen I gotta go now but we'll talk some more later, ok?"

"Ok, I'll be sure to get the Cupcake," Crimson said as pinkie bounced away.

"You really should, Pinkies Cupcakes are the best," Ves said.

Crimson chuckled, "Oh I will, don't you worry about that."

They kept walking and talking about all kinds of things until Crimson suddenly stopped talking mid sentence.

"Crimson?" Ves looked at him and then followed his gaze to see what he was staring at.

It was a group of three armed ponies, one of them was pulling a cart with what appeared to be their prey on it. It was a creature that Ves had never seen before. It was about as long as two ponies, had black fur, pretty sharp claws and at least some sharp teeth, so it was either a carnivore or a omnivore.

"What is that?" Ves stepped closer to get a better look at it and saw the numerous arrow and spear wounds all over its body, "looks like it was quite a challenge to kill."

One of the hunters looked up and smiled gently, "Oh don't worry about it, these things have become so rare they were considered extinct a few times. Every now and then you find a few of those, usually far away from cities and Ponies in general."

"That doesn't mean they aren't dangerous, those few hunters who do manage to find one usually regret it. To be honest we only managed to kill this one because it was injured and it still almost killed us," added another hunter.

Crimson looked at the corps, "If they're avoiding Ponies and it's so dangerous to hunt them then why are you doing it?"

The hunters looked at each other, "do you know how famous we're going to be once this becomes known in the hunter community?"

"So you're doing it for fame then," Crimson looked at them with a dark expression, "What a Nobel reason to kill," he snorted and walked off.

"What's his problem?" One of the Hunters asked.

"I don't know;" Ves replied before running after Crimson.

Crimson was looking down at the ground, dark expression still on his face.

Ves looked at him a little worried, "are you ok?"

Crimson didn't look up and just kept walking, "You know why they keep away from ponies?"

Ves thought about that for a while, "Most animals that shy away from ponies are scared. We are amongst the bigger and heavier creatures at least on this continent... But I don't know why they would be afraid of us, I mean they look like they could take on a Manticore with little problem."

"We hunted them almost to extinction..." Crimson stated, anger now becoming present in his tone.

Ves stopped, looking at Crimsone in disbelief. She had never heard of ponies hunting any other creature to extinction, quite the opposite actually, ponies have taken great efforts in the past to keep certain creatures from dying out, "are... are you sure? Why would we do that?"

Crimson looked at her for a few seconds then sighed, "it's... never mind, forget I said anything,"

"Are you ok?" Ves asked, starting to become seriously concerned for her new friend.

Crimson started smiling lightly, "Yeah I'm fine, I just... I don't wanna talk about it right now."

Ves loked at him for a moment, then smiled back, "Ok, let's change the subject."

"Thank you," Crimson thanked as they started walking again, "So, where is this 'Sugar cube Corner'? I believe there is a cupcake waiting for me there."

Ves giggled lightly, "I'm afraid you're out of luck. It looked like pinkie was bouncing towards Sweet apple Acers, I'm afraid you'll have to wait for that cupcake."

"That's alright, guess we'll just have to find something to pass the time," Crimson said and smirked at Ves. She couldn't stop her mind from going to awkward places at that comment and she started Blushing lightly.

She tried to hide it but Crimson was looking right at her and she knew that there was no way he couldn't have seen that.

Crimson started chuckling lightly, "I didn't mean it like that," he said with in an amused tone, "I like the way you think but seeing how we only meet each other less than 24 hours ago we might wanna take it a little slow," he looked at Ves with a smirk.

"Ugh, you're just as bad as Starlight," Ves said and shoved him lightly, an amused smile forming on her face.

Ves was having so much fun talking to Crimson as they walked through town that she didn't even notice how time past, her stomach however did seem to notice and started rumbling rather loudly. They stopped walking and Ves started blushing lightly, "hehe, sounds like I could go for a cupcake myself."

"To be honest I more feel like eating a proper dinner rather than sweets," Crimson replied and started smiling at her, "know of any place we could pick up some food?"

Ves thought for a few seconds, "well... there is the Hayburger if you have no problem with fast-food."

Crimson looked slightly surprised, "I didn't take you for a fast-food eater to be honest."
Ves laughed lightly at that, "oh trust me, if it weren't for Thestral metabolism I'd be so fat."

Crimson joined Ves in her laughter, "Hayburger it is then, lead the way."

"Ok awesome," Ves said as she started walking again, "hey do you mind if we order to go? I kinda have a favorite place where I often eat dinner."

"Oh, and where would that be?" Crimson asked.

"You'll see, trust me it's great," Ves responded with a smile.

"To go it is then," Crimson was mirroring Ves' smile now as they walked towards the restaurant.

"This is... not what I expected," Crimson stated as he looked around. They were sitting on a small hill by one of the many lakes around poniville. It was a nice place, very quiet and peaceful thanks to the fact that they were a little ways outside from poniville but from what little Ves told him about her favorite eating spot he expected a little more.

"That's because we're too early," Ves said and started unpacking their food, "in an hour or two the sunset will look absolutely stunning from here."

"Oh?" Crimson perked up at that and looked around again. Poniville was to their west, the sun would set just a little to the left of the city. "that... could look pretty beautiful," he mumbled mostly to himself."

"Crimson? Your food is getting cold," Ves put down the last box of food containing Crimsons fries next to her. Crimson set down next to his friend and they started eating

Crimson grabbed his Burger and looked at it for a while, "wow this looks way better than fast-food usually does."

"Yeah apparently they have some kind of agreement with both the apples and the Cakes," Ves took a sip of her Soda, "the cakes make the burger buns and some of the deserts and the apples supply them with vegetables, hay and most of the other ingredients they use. That way they always have pretty fresh food for a fast-food restaurant."

Crimson took a bite of his burger, "mmmm yeah I can taste that."

They had a bit of small talk as they were eating, Crimson told Ves about the village he lived in before moving to poniville and Ves told Crimson about the experiment Starlight told her about, "fascinating," that was all Crimson had to say to that particular subject but that was probably because Ves didn't actually know that much about her experiments.

The Sun had started to set by now painting the landscape in a beautiful orange light. Crimson could barely look away from the beautiful scenery, "wow... you weren't kidding when you said the sunset looks stunning from here."

"I'm glad you like it," Responded Ves. They watched the sunset for only a few minutes when Ves started to glance at Crimson again and again, who pretended not to notice. Then she, slowly and hesitantly leaned closer and gently nuzzled against his neck.

Much to Ves' delight, he didn't draw back, rather he nuzzled back without saying a word or even hesitating. They were both blushing at this point but neither of the cared about that, they were much too busy enjoying the moment.

They staid like that for a while, neither of them saying a word. Even after the sun diapered behind the horizon making way for Lunas night, they didn't move for almost another hour, simply watching the night sky instead of the sunset.

Eventually, much too soon for Ves' taste, Crimson gently spoke up, "think it's about time to go home."

"aww, but you're warm," Ves complained making Crimson Chuckle lightly, "Yeah, you're probably right though. I only slept a few hours after getting back last night."

"Common, I'll walk you home," Said Chrimson as he got up and started walking Ves back to poniville.

The streets of poniville were already almost completely empty, with only a few ponies still walking about.

Ves stopped in front of one of the houses, "This is my place."

Crimson looked at the house that seemed a little big for one pony alone, "do you have a roommate or something?"

"No I live alone. I know the previous owner, he moved into a bigger house after they had a third foal and he offer to sell me the house for a really good price," Ves responded with a smile on her face.

"Wow lucky you," Crimson said.

Ves giggled lightly," thanks," then she stepped a little closer to Crimson, "I had a ton of fun today, can we do this again soon?"

Crimson smiled gently at her, "I'm glad you asked, I had a great time too."

"Awesome, I guess I'll see you soon then," with that Ves leaned in and kissed Crimson on the cheek as a goodbye and went inside.

Crimson the walked to his own home with a big smile on his face

"What in Tartarus do you think you're doing?"

Crimson jumped at the unexpected yet familiar voice coming from a yellow Pegasus sitting on his couch.

"Sister?"

Getting closer

"What are you doing here Sunny?" Crimson asked, "I thought you found a new home near Manehatten."

Sunny Haze, Crimsons younger sister, was a yellow Pegasus with orange Mane that had a red strand of hair in it. She was just a little bit shorter than her brother, making her somewhat tall for a mare. Just like Crimson and the rest of their family, she had stopped using her real name a long time ago. Crimson often joked that the only reason she chose 'Sunny Haze' as her new name was because of her coat color.

"I couldn't stand it there anymore," Sunny groaned, "everypony in that city is an asshole, I'm not even kidding."

Crimson couldn't help but chuckle at that, "so you thought you could crash here for a while?" he asked, not really believing that was the reason for her visit. Sunny always preferred living alone.

"What? No! I already found a new place, I just came here to visit my big brother. And stop changing the subject, I asked you what you think you're doing?" she almost demanded.

"I'm afraid I don't..." Crimson started until Sunny interrupted him, "oh don't give me that, you know exactly that I'm talking about the Batpony mare."

"Ves? I spend the day with her, as Friends," he replied, putting particular emphasis on the word 'friends'.

"Oh really?" Sunny asked with not a small amount of sarcasm, "because you looked just a little bit closer than just 'friends'."

Crimson looked at his sister skeptically, "did you spy on us?"

Sunny didn't reply "you have lived her for what? a week now? I don't care how much of that time you spent with her you don't know her enough to tell her..."

This time Sunny was interrupted by Crimson, "I didn't tell her anything!"

Sunny wasn't really surprised, she knew her brother well enough to know that he wouldn't just spread their secret to anypony, "all the more reason to stop this right now. Or do you really want to have a relationship with that kind of secret between you, you know that nothing good can come from that."

Deep down Crimson knew she was right, as much as he liked Ves, he doesn't know her enough to trust her with his families secret. However that still didn't give Sunny the right to tell him who he can or can't date, "don't tell me what to do, you're not Mom!"

For a second Sunny was furious, how dare he bring up their Mother like that! Her mind came up with all kinds of insults and replies to throw at Crimsons head but she stopped herself, taking a deep breath instead, "Listen, it's not that I don't want you to be happy, because I do, but not if your happiness comes at the cost of all of us. You understand, right?"

"It won't come to that," was all Sunny got in response.

Sunny looked at her brother for a second, searching his eyes for any hint of uncertainty.

"Alright," she said after not finding anything, "I trust you. Now come here, give your little sis a hug. It's been far too long."

Ves had to actively stop herself from sprinting towards the Castle, she couldn't wait telling Starlight about last evening. Even though she knew that starlight would probably tease her about it all day but she didn't really care. She just had to tell somepony.

The moment she slipped through the castles huge doors she stopped holding back and started running to where she expected Starlight. The library.

"Starlight you won't beli..." she started to say but cut herself off at the sight of a certain lavender Alicorn princess, "o-oh, p-princess Twilight, I'm so sorry. I-I didn't mean to interrupt," she stammered. Despite being in the castle with Starlight a lot she only talked with Twilight a few times and still didn't feel quite comfortable with her around.

Twilight smiled softly at Ves, "that's alright you didn't interrupt at all, please come in and make yourself comfortable."

Ves sat down on the free chair next to Starlight, the urge to talk suddenly completely gone.

"Hi Ves, sorry that had to run off like that yesterday," said Starlight, "how was your day with Crimson by the way?"

That brought the smile back to Ves' face, "In one word? Amazing! We had so much fun together."

Ves could almost feel the smirk growing on Starlight's face, "oh, sounds like somepony got laid," she said with a light giggle.

Twilight buried her face in the book she was reading in an attempt to hide the blush that was forming on her cheeks. Should she really be there when they were having this kind of conversation?

"We did nothing like that and you know it," Ves said with a slightly annoyed expression, "although..."

Starlights expression shifted from a teasing smirk to curious.

"What? Common, spill it," Starlight put down her book and turned to Ves, her mind already making up all kinds of possible scenarios.

"Well, remember that spot by the Lake I told you about?" Ves asked and continuing after receiving a nod from Starlight, "we ate dinner there, then watched the sunset and... we kinda... cuddled."

The memory of that, her favorite part of last evening was enough to make a considerable blush flare up on Ves' cheeks.

"Aww, how cute," Starlight cued, "so do you like him, are you two gonna be an item soon or something?"

That surprised Ves a little, she had expected Starlight to tease her a little more before jumping to those kind of questions, "I-I don't know. I mean I like him a lot but... we only met like what, 40 hours ago? "Ves said as she stated to frown a little, "it feels like we're going too fast, it's a little scary. I mean, I barely actually know anything about him and he knows just as little about me."

Surprisingly for Ves, twilight spoke up at that, "didn't you talk when you were together yesterday?" she asked, having lowered her book to the table. She still wasn't sure if she should actually be part of this conversation, but she was actually a little interested and neither Starlight nor Ves had complained at her being there so far.

"No we did... quite a lot actually now that I think about it," replied Ves.

"And did you learn anything about him from that conversation? I don't necessarily mean about his past, just about him in general." said Twilight.

"Well... he did tell me a few stories that happened to him... and I defiantly like his sense of humor... even though he is a worse tease then Starlight," both her smile and her blush returned as Ves mentally replayed the events of the past evening.

Twilight smiled at that, "sounds like you know more about him that you're giving yourself credit for and unless your conversations were extremely one-sided, he has probably learned a thing or two about you as well."

Ves had to think about that for a few seconds. She wasn't sure why she was actually surprised that Twilight gave good relationship advise. She is the princess of friendship after all, and relationships are like friendships just closer... right? "I-I guess so..." she said, "so, what should I do now?"

"What do you want to do?" asked Twilight.

Ves took some time to think about that, "I defiantly want to do something like last evening again."

This time Starlight spoke up, "Well you did complain that you didn't know enough about each other and talking is pretty much the only thing you could do change that so that's probably the best thing you could do... right?" She turned to Twilight for confirmation.

Twilight shrugged and picked her book back up from the table, "That's what I would do."

"So you're saying I should just hang out more with Crimson?" Ves asked, mostly for confirmation. She could defiantly do that.

Crimson couldn't say how long he was sitting on his couch by now, he glanced at the clock that hung on the wall, it told him that it was almost 10:30am. Unfortunately that didn't help him, he had a hard time sleeping last night and didn't know when he got up.
Like most ponies Crimson too had a morning routine, bathroom, breakfast, back to the bathroom to brush his teeth and maybe a shower (though he preferred to do that in the evening).

Seeing how his current home had neither access to water nor electricity he was forced to modify his routine a little but today he went from his bed, directly to his couch. Try as he might, he couldn't get his mind of his conversation with Sunny. Of course he assured her that Ves and he were just friends and that she didn't have to worry about anything but at the same time, they did kinda snuggle while watching the sunset.

Maybe... maybe I should stop seeing her for a little while, he thought, or maybe I should see her more, find out more about her? Until I can trust her enough to... his thoughts were interrupted by his complaining stomach.

"Hehe, I did kinda skip breakfast," he mumbled to himself, "I wonder if the hayburger has a breakfast menu," he finally got off his couch and made his way to his new favorite restaurant.

"Ugh, walking sucks," Crimson said to himself. He managed to get lost in town and had absolutely no Idea which direction the hayburger was, or anything else including his home for that matter.

"Screw this," he said as he took to the air. Poniville was a fairly small town, he figured it shouldn't be too hard to find were he wanted to go from the air. Instead of the small fast-food restaurant however he noticed a certain bakery that he had almost completely forgotten about.

Hmm, Pike did say she wanted to give me a cupcake, he thought. While cupcakes weren't exactly his idea of a perfect breakfast it wasn't like he couldn't also get something different and eat the cupcake as a dessert.

When he entered sugarcube corner he was greeted by the lovely smell of freshly baked bread that made his mouth water.

"Hey Crimson, you here to pick up your special 'welcome to Ponyville' cupcake?" asked Pinkie from behind the counter, a big smile adorning her face.

Crimson smiled back at her and walked over to the counter, "Hi Pinkie, actually I came here to have breakfast and to get the cupcake."

"Oh, oh can I join you?" Pinkie asked while bouncing up and down, "I was about to take a break anyways."

"Sure, I'd be happy to have some company," replied Crimson, "any recommendations?"

Pinkie stopped bouncing and thought for a while, "hmmm... oh I know, Mrs. Cake tried a new pancake recipe, I haven't tried them yet but they look delicious."

"Sounds perfect," said Crimson, "can I have a cup of coffee as well?"

"Coming right up," answered Pinkie and bounced into the kitchen.

"That was delicious," Crimson put down his fork on the now empty plate sitting on the table in front of him. he didn't think he'd actually be able to finish the giant pile of pancakes that pinkie had dropped in front of him, with a gravity defying throw complete with looping and all... somehow but they were just too good to waist any of it, "why didn't I come here sooner?"

Pinkie just giggled, "think you still got room for that cupcake or should I put it in a bag for you to take home?"

"To go please," he said, "I think if I eat even a little more I'm gonna burst or something."

"One extra special 'welcome to Ponyville' cupcake to go, coming right up," replied pinkie as she, once again, bounced into the kitchen and soon came out with a box easily big enough for five cupcakes, "here you go."

Crimson opened the box and was greeted by the sight of a pink and whit monstrosity of a cupcake, "Pinkie this thing is almost as big as a coconut."

"I know, isn't it amazing?" pinkie asked and giggled lightly, "I made it myself, though gummy helped me of course."

"Pinkie, I'm not sure I can eat it all. It would be a shame if it went to waste," said Crimson while inspecting the huge pastry.

Pinkie only giggled more at that, "you don't have to eat it all by yourself silly, it's more fun to share with a friend anyway," the smile that she had been wearing so far suddenly turned into a smirk, "perhaps with a certain thestral? I hear that you and Ves have become all cuddly wuddly recently."

A small blush formed on Crimsons cheeks, "wait, how do you know about that?"

Pinkie just giggled more, "oh I have my sources. I have to get back to work now, was nice talking to ya."

"Likewise," Crimson closed the box and walked out.

"Oh Celestia that was amazing," cued Starlight as she licked pink frosting off her hoof.

She and Ves had eaten a good three quarters of Crimsons cupcake but he wasn't complaining. It has been a little while since he was able to share tea and cake with one friends, mostly because, until now, he wasn't able to stay in one place for long enough to make friends with anypony.

"You can say that again," replied Ves with a content smile, "thank you for sharing this with us Crimson."

"Thank you for the tea," replied Crimson, also wearing a smile though his was more amused than content.

One downside to living in such a big house alone was that it could become difficult to decorate it. Crimson never really thought about that if he's being honest, but it became glaringly obvious as soon as he entered Ves' largely empty living room.
It's not that she didn't have any furniture it was just that the house was build for a family with children and thus was designed with a lot of room for them play in. Room that Ves was struggling to fill, it would seem.

"Oh before I forget it, I wanted to apologize to you, Crimson, for just running off yesterday right after Ves introduced us," said Starlight as she leaned back into a more comfortable position on the couch that she currently shared with Ves.

Crimson looked surprised for a second, "No problem at all Starlight, I'm sure you're a busy mare."

"It's not that," Starlight started explaining, "but Twilight certainly is, at least recently, and I needed her help for an experiment I am planning."

"Oh?" Crimson perked up at that, "may I ask what kind of experiment?"

"I'm trying to find out if the nexus at the Castle of the two sisters is responsible for the Everfrees unnatural behavior," explained Starlight, "if it is then the forest should calm down quite a bit over the next few decades until the nexus has restored a good portion of the energy it had before nightmare moon was defeated by Twilight and the girls."

"Oh fascinating," said Crimson, "when are you going to do the experiment?"

"I don't know yet, were still in the early stages of planning so it might be another week or two," replied Starlight.

Ves looked at her friend with a thoughtful expression, "how come planning takes so long?"

"We have to stay in the castle and gather dater for a few days, which means that we'll have to set up a small camp. We'll have to bring supplies not to mention food and water and of course the fairly heavy equipment for the experiment itself. It's not that easy to get all that stuff deep into the forest," Starlight explained.

"Ok, that makes sense," Ves said with a faint blush.

Crimson couldn't help but chuckle lightly, she's cute when she blushes like that, he thought.

"Anyway, how is your search for a new home going Crimson?" asked Ves in an fairly obvious attempt to change the subject.

Crimson frowned at that, "not good, it looks like it's going to take longer than expected..."

"How much longer?" asked Ves with a concerned expression.

"Worst case half a year," answered Crimson in a defeated tone.

"What?!" Ves almost shouted, " Crimson you can't live in that place for half a year

"I know," Crimson groaned, "but I don't really have a choice, do I."

Ves thought for a few minutes, then she got an idea, "actually there is one thing you could do."

Both Crimson and Starlight looked at her with a curious expression.

"What if you move in with me?" she continued excitedly, "There is more than enough place for the two of us. I have three rooms that are almost empty, one can be your bedroom, you can store all your potion ingredients and stuff in another and there is even plenty of room her for your couch."

Crimson thought about her offer for a moment, "that's very generous of you but I don't feel comfortable living of someponys generosity unless I absolutely have to."

"But Crimson..." Started Ves, not sure how to replied to that. There had to be something she could do for him.

"What if you don't have to?" said Starlight after a few seconds of silence.

Crimson looked at her questioningly.

"You could live here and simply pay a bit of rent," she said with a smile.

Ves' eyes widened as she heard her friends suggestion, "that's a greater idea."

Crimson remained silent for a while which caused Ves' smile to falter, "Crimson please, I'd feel awful if I didn't try something," she said while looking at him with large, pleading eyes.

There was no way Crimson could say no with her looking at him like that, which actually made him a little uneasy. It reminded him of his conversation with Sunny.

"Alright," Crimson finally agreed with a smile, "let's try it then. But don't think that I won't repay you in some way"

"Awesome," Ves almost cheered, "tonight you can sleep in my guestroom and tomorrow we can go get your stuff."

"If you wait till noon I can come help you," offered Starlight.

Crimson looked at her slightly surprised at the offer, "Oh you don't have to do that Starlight, I don't have that much stuff anyway."

Starlight waved a hoof at him, "nonsense, I'd be happy to help."

"It's settled then, we can agree on how much rent you'll pay after we brought your things over," said Ves with a satisfied smile.

"Are you sure your cooking is not your special talent?" Crimson asked for the third time that evening.

Ves giggled and blushed, "oh common it wasn't that special."

"No, 'special' is not the word I'd use," he replied, " 'amazing', or 'delicious' seems more fitting. Seriously why do you ever eat fast-food when you can just make something this good yourself?"

He was exaggerating a little but Ves looked just too cute when she blushed like that for him to resist to sweet talk a little.

"You better not be saying that just to get me into bed," she joked but regretted it the moment she saw Crimsons smirk.

"Naw if I wanted that I would say something about that sexy flank."

Ves' blush shifted from a light pink to red, "oh you're impossible!"

Crimson laughed at that, "just telling the truth," he said, causing Ves' face to turn an even deeper shade of red, "besides, you started it."

"I didn't... I..." Ves started stammering, trying to find a good comeback. When she couldn't think of anything she just sighed, "what have I gotten myself into?"

Crimson laughed again but didn't say anything in response.

"It's still fairly early," Ves said after a moment of silence, "anything you'd like to do?"

Crimson checked the clock hanging on the wall, "actually there is but it's too early for that."

"Oh?" Ves looked at him curiously, "and what would that be?"

"there is a small meteor shower in about two hours," he said

"Oooohhh I've never seen a meteor shower," Ves said excitedly.

"Really? Well then it's about time. I think the balcony should be a good place to watch," he said with a thoughtful expression.

"Sounds like you know a bit about that kind of things," Ves noted.

"My sister Sunny got me into it a few years back," replied Crimson, a small smile forming on his face, "I remember how she used to sit outside watching the Stars for hours when we were little."

Ves didn't say anything, instead she just smiled at Crimson.

"Anyway," Crimson spoke up after a second of silence, "like I said we still have some time until it starts. Anything you'd want to do?"

"Hmmm," Ves thought for a few seconds, "I dunno, you wanna watch a movie or something?"

Ves blushed a little, finding her suggestion to be rather lame compared to Crimsons.

Crimson didn't seem to mind however, instead simply smiling at her, "sure, why not."

The movie, while actually being a fairly good one, ended up being a rather forgettable part of the evening. They talked throughout most of it and didn't really pay attention to it. There was still almost an hour left to the movie but seeing how Ves had watched the movie before and neither of them had really paid attention to, and thus missed the majority of it, they agreed to just turn off the movie and watch the meteors.

And so they found themselves sitting next to each other with a bottle of wine. It was a little bit cold for Ves' taste, which wasn't surprising seeing how it was still the middle of spring. She didn't say it but she wished she had brought a blanked or something.

"Beautiful isn't it?" asked crimson, barely louder than a whisper, "in a night like this you can really see the center of the galaxy."

Ves didn't answer, instead just looking up at the starts. It's been a while since she just sat outside and looked at the night sky. It really did become prettier after Luna returned.

That was when the meteor shower started.

Ves gasped lightly when she saw the first shooting star burning up high above them, followed by another one soon after and then another one. Soon the sky was lit up by dozens of little lights shooting through it. Ves felt like she should say something but she couldn't think of the right words

"Wow," was all she finally got out, causing crimson to look at her with an amused smirk.

"I take it you like it then?" he asked.

"It's... it's beautiful," she answered.

She was so entranced by the meteor shower that she didn't even notice that she started leaning against Crimson, gently snuggling him in a similar fashion as when they watched the sunset the prior evening.

They sat like that for a little while and watched the meteors. When a gust of wind made Ves shiver, Crimson wrapped his wing around her and pulled her a little closer. Only then did Ves realize that she had been cuddling with Crimson for a few minutes now, it just felt so... right. She blushed and looked up at him, crimson looked back down at her and started to blush now as well. They looked at each other for what felt like minuets, though it was probably no more than two minutes at most, until Ves gently nuzzled Crimsons neck and he rested his chin onto of her head.

Ves could have stayed like that forever, and Crimson was feeling similarly. Crimson made up his mind right there. If Ves wanted him, she would have him no matter what Sunny thought about it. Not right now of course, there was no rush and it was still too early for them to really start a relationship but he was confident that they'd find a way.

You wanna go out with me?

The next morning was slightly awkward. Both Crimson and Ves wanted to talk about last evening, they wanted to tell each other how much they enjoyed it and how they would like to become even closer as they already were but they also knew that it was still very early for that kind of things and they were afraid to scare the other away by trying to go too fast.

And so they spend most of the morning in an awkward silence, interrupted only occasionally by meaningless Smalltalk.

"I hope you could sleep well in the guest bed," Ves started another attempt to breach the silence,
"I know the mattress isn't the greatest but it's better than the couch."

"Ah don't worry, " Crimson assured with a smile, "the mattress was fine."

"Oh good," Ves said and glanced at the clock again.

11:30AM, another 30 minutes until Starlight would come to help Crimson move and hopefully end the awkward silence between Crimson and her once and for all.

Hurry up, damn it. She thought

"Hey Ves?" Crimson started, causing Ves to turn around and face him, "I was thinking, why don't we go to my house and at least pack my things together? That way when Starlight joins us she'll only have to help us bring it over and unpack."

Ves looked slightly surprised. She had expected another attempt at Smalltalk to give them a brief pause of the painful silence between them but this was actually a pretty good Idea.

"Sure," she said with a smile on her face, "you wanna go now?"

"I don't see why not," he responded and got up from his chair.

"How did all of this stuff fit into such a small room?" Ves asked as she put jet another box on top of the quickly growing pile.

"You only notice how much stuff you own when you have to move it all to a different place," replied Starlight.

Despite having a 20 minute head start, Ves' and Crimson weren't nearly done packing all of his things when Starlight joined them.

"I'm just glad Crimson didn't convince you not to help us," said Ves, causing Starlight to giggle a little.

"Yeah that makes two of us," Crimson said as he came out the door, carrying the last box on his back, "we gotta find some way to repay you Starlight."

Starlight waved a hoof at Crimson, "that's alright, I'm happy to help."

Crimson put down the box he was carrying and looked at Starlight with a raised eyebrow, "you sure? We're not done yet after all, we still have to actually bring all this stuff to Ves' house and unpack it again."

Ves groaned as she heard that, causing Starlight and Crimson to laugh a little.

"Hey this was your idea, remember?" Crimson asked in an amused tone.

"look at the bright side," said Starlight as she started levitating all of the 15 or so boxes at once, "you don't have to unpack all of this stuff right away."

With that they started walking back towards Ves' house. They didn't get very far until Pinkie noticed them and started bouncing towards them, she was being followed by a yellow Pegasus mare that Crimson hadn't seen before.

"Hi you three, what'cha doing?" She asked, looking at all the different boxes that Starlight was levitating.

"Hi Pinkie, we're moving Crimson's stuff to Ves' place," Starlight answered.

"Ooohhh moving together already? Wow you two are going fast," said pinkie with a wide smirk and in a teasing tone.

"I-It's not like that," replied Ves with a blush, "but yeah he is moving in with me."

"It's not like what?" asked Pinkie while still smirking.

"Well... it's not... I mean we're not..." Ves stammered, her blush deepening, "Crimson you say something."

Crimson chuckled and turned to Pinkie, "Ves was so kind to offer me to move in with her when she found out that I would otherwise be forced to live in a ruined house without water or electricity for half a year."

"Oh my, t-that's very kind of you Ves," said the yellow mare next to Pinkie, in a tone barely louder than a whisper.

"Fluttershy's right," Pinkie said as she started bouncing in place, "hey, you know what this calls for?"

"Pinkie you can't throw them a party, us and the girls are going to Canterlot for a few days, remember?"

"Oh... right," Pinkie said and visibly deflated a little, "then I'll just have to throw them one when we're back, pinkie promise."

Pinkie drew a cross on her chest with her hoof and then put it over her closed eyelid.

How does she go from sad to ecstatic in this short of a time Crimson wondered.

Starlight giggled at that and then turned to Fluttershy, "Fluttershy this is Crimson Shadow, he's Zecoras new assistant. Crimson this is Fluttershy, the element of kindness and Ponyvilles resident animal caretaker."

"I-I think I've heard about you," Fluttershy said, surprising Crimson, "aren't you the pony who helped Mrs. Fox with her hurt leg a few days ago?"

Crimson looked at her surprised, "how do you know about that?"

"Oh, she told me, she was very grateful. Uhm...m- may I ask what you used on her leg? It seemed to work much better than anything I've tried on that kind of injury."

"That's a little complicated," replied Crimson, "I can give you some more though, in case you ever need it for one of your animals."

"oh yes please," she said, becoming a little louder as she started to become more comfortable talking to Crimson, "thank you, both for the medicine and for helping Mrs. Fox."

"Always happy to help," he replied with a smile.

"Fluttershy we need to go now," Pinkie suddenly said, "we don't wanna miss the train, bye you three."

With that Pinkie and Fluttershy left towards the train station and Starlight, Ves and Crimson continued to Ves' house.

"Do you and Fluttershy know each other, Ves?" Crimson asked.

"Yeah, I know all of the elements because I hang out with Starlight all the time," Ves replied.

"Fair enough," said Crimson, "and how do you and Starlight know each other?"

Ves was never a pony that takes a lot of naps, it just isn't really her thing but she too had her fair share of hard and exhausting days. Today was such a day and Ves was already almost asleep as she lazily flew over the hills just outside Poniville. She was initially planning to take a quick bath in one of the many lakes near Poniville but she quickly discovered that swimming wasn't a lot of fun in her current state and so she quickly decided to fly back home.

Her mind was so occupied by the thought of her soft, warm bed that she didn't notice the kite heading straight for her.

"Watch out!" was shouted by the pony flying the kite just a little too late.
The Kite hit Ves right in the face and caused her fall to the ground. Luckily she wasn't flying very high and only suffered a few bruises that would heel quickly on their own.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry, are you alright?" asked a pink unicorn mare as she ran over to Ves and helped her get up.

"Yeah I'm all right," replied Ves, defiantly wide awake now, "guess I better watch were I'm flying. Sorry about your kite."

Starlight looked at the now broken kite that Ves had landed on.

"Oh that's ok so long as you're not hurt. that looked pretty painful," Starlight said in an concerned tone.

"Ah don't worry about it, I've had worse crashes before," replied Ves, who really looked a Starlight for the first time now.

She's kinda cute, she thought while trying not to blush.

"Are you new in town? I don't remember ever seeing you before," Ves asked, partially to keep her mind from straying to places that she didn't want it to go right now.

"Yeah, I've only lived here for a little over a month now," Starlight said before snorting lightly, "hell of a first impression right?"

Ves laughed a little at that, "oh don't worry, I've had worse. I'm Ves by the way."

"Starlight Glimmer," replied Starlight with a smile, "nice to meet you."

"likewise, what made you move to Poniville?" Ves asked, causing starlight to frown and rub her neck with a hoof

"That's... kind of a long story..." Starlight said, averting her eyes.

Ves noticed Starlights discomfort and tried to smile reassuringly, "you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Starlight said nothing for a few seconds, then she sighed and looked down again, "no it's all right, you'll hear about it sooner or later anyway. When I'll tell you I can at least be sure that it's not mixed with lies or half truths or something."

"And then I told her everything. The Village, the time travel spell, I even told her about Sunburst," Starlight explained, "to my surprise she was very understanding and we became friends fairly quickly over the following days."

"Aww what a nice little story," Crimson said. He didn't know who Sunburst was but he figured it probably wasn't important.

By the time they finished telling the story they were almost done putting Crimson stuff away. Part of Crimson wanted to actually unpack everything right now just to get it over with.

"Anypony have any ideas on what to do next?" Ves asked once she put the last box in what will soon be Crimsons new bedroom, "I expected this to take a lot longer and don't really have any plans for today."

"Well, Twilight's gone to Canterlot as you know so I'd be alone in the Castle," Starlight responded, "I was kind hoping I could hang out with you guys."

"Sure, If we can actually find something to do," Ves said with a smile before turning to Crimson, "you got any ideas?"

Crimson thought for a while, "Well I want to take another look at your wing but that's probably not what you mean."

Ves giggled lightly, "No but we might still wanna start with that."

With that she took of the bandage that covered the small hole in her wing and let Crimson take a look at it. After looking at the wing for a little while Crimson nodded to himself with a pleased expression.

"It seems to heal quit well," he said with a little smile, "a little better than I expected actually."

"I wish I knew some healing spells," Starlight suddenly exclaimed, "maybe I should look into that."

"Yeah you do that. In the meantime, seeing how none of us seem to have any ideas, I guess I'll just make us some tea?" Said Ves.

"...and then she was like 'there is no revenge that you could imagine that would ever come close to what I will do to you' or something like that and then she flew off. Nopony has heard from her since as far as I'm aware," Starlight said after drinking the rest of her tea. Her story made Crimson completely forget his now cold tea.

"She swore revenge?" Crimson asked slightly surprised.

Starlight simply nodded appearing completely unfazed.

"And that doesn't worry you at all?" He asked.

"Well... maybe a little," Starlight said slowly, her expression shifting from neutral to thoughtful, "I mean so far her plans were... not exactly top notch as it was and now that she's alone and her former hive one of our closest allies I'm not too worried."

"Fair enough," Crimson said as he picked up his cup and took a small sip which he almost spit back out again, "how can something be so delicious when it's hot be so disgusting at room temperature?"

Ves and Starlight laughed at that, "maybe next time you should drink it as long as it's still hot," said Ves while picking up Crimsons teacup and then, to Crimson greater surprise and even greater delight, she kissed him on the cheek before turning around and putting Crimsons cup in the sink.

Crimson's blush was only matched by the one Ves was wearing and which she made sure none of her friends could see. Crimson on the other hand made no attempt to hide his blush, instead simply smiling happily. Ves was already preparing herself for the barrage of embarrassing jokes that was sure to come from Starlight any second now.

After several seconds of silence Ves turned to look at the suspiciously quiet Starlight, the smirk that Ves could have sworn she saw on Starlights face had disappeared, instead Starlight looked deep in thought for a moment before lightly nodding to herself.

"Hey it's not that late yet, how about we go out and have a little fun," Starlight suggested with a Smile.

"What did you have in mind?" Ves asked slightly confused. This was not what she had expected.

"We could go to the café and eat a slice of cake and maybe some tea," Starlight suggested.

"We could do that," Ves said, "but we just had tea."

"You had tea, I didn't have anything" Crimson corrected.

"And whose fault was that?" Ves asked with a smirk.

"Starlights," he responded.

"Excuse me, what?" Starlight asked while looking at Crimson slightly confused, "how was that my fault?"

"If you wouldn't have told such an entertaining story I wouldn't have forgotten about my tea," he responded with an amused smile, causing Ves to giggle.

Starlight started mirroring Cimsons smile, "fine, I guess I won't tell you any more stories then."

This time both Ves and Crimson laughed , "I have an idea," Ves said once she and Crimson stopped laughing, "why don't we show Crimson the castle? The view from the towers is greater."

"Oohh that sounds interesting," Crimson said.

Starlight smiled at that, "sure, why not."

"Wow," Crimson said while looking over the town and its surroundings, "you were right, the view is amazing."

"I honestly didn't think views like this would impress you," Starlight said as she sat down next to Ves, "I mean all you have to do is fly up and sit on a cloud. Honestly does anything really beat the view from Cloudsdale?"

"I wouldn't know," he responded, "I've never been to Cloudsdale."

Both Ves and Starlight perked up and looked at him incredulously.

"Really, you've never been to The city for pegasi?" Starlight asked.

Crimson just shook his head, "never had any reason to go there."

"Huh... don't let Rainbow her that," Starlight said with a small, amused smirk, "the way she always talks about it she'll drag you there and give you a tour."

Crimson chuckled at that, "I'll remember that should I ever meet her."

Now it was Starlights turn to chuckle, "unless you're planning on avoiding both me and Pinkie for the rest of your live I'm afraid that will be unavoidable."

Crimson looked first at Starlight and then the ground with a small frown, "I don't know... from what I've heard about Rainbow Dash, she doesn't sound like the type of pony who'd hang out with someone like me."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Ves asked, sounding somewhat upset, which surprised Crimson.

He looked at her for a few seconds and she arched an eyebrow in return.

Did I say something wrong? He wondered.

"I mean... you know, she's a wonderbolt and super athletic and I prefer spending my time either alone with my potions or a good book or sitting around talking with friends," he said before sighing, "I guess I figured she'd be bored with me."

"Hey you are NOT boring," Ves responded, "you are a very kind, very funny stallion that anypony would be happy to have as a friend."

Each complement made Crimson blush just a little bit more but he didn't look away, instead he simply smiled at Ves.

"I agree with Ves," Starlight chimed in, "it is true that you and Rainbow might not share a lot of interest but she doesn't really share many interests with Rarity either and they are still friends."

Crimson thought about what the two said for a while, "I guess you're right. I guess I was a little unfair towards her."

"Towards her and yourself," Ves corrected, "don't ever say you're boring again Crimson, because you're not," with that she stood up and gave Crimson a tight hug.

"You two would make a great couple, you know," Starlight said with a smirk.

Ves' face turned deep red and Crimsons blush got stronger as well, Ves stopped hugging Crimson and turned to Starlight with a shocked expression. Starlight had to keep herself from laughing at her friends display.

"You thinks so?" Crimson asked while rubbing his neck, when did it get so warm?

"Totally," Starlight responded with a more honest expression, "I think you two would be really cute together."

"Uhm, thanks... I guess," Crimson said.

Ves looked back and forth between Crimson and Starlight with her mouth slightly agape. This caused Crimson to chuckle lightly and he closed her mouth with his hoof, only to have it fall open again almost immediately, causing Crimson and Starlight to laugh.

"I think you broke Ves," Crimson joked with a smirk, "I better get her home and re-boot her before she swallows and insect or something. See you tomorrow?"

Ves glared at Crimson at that comment and Starlight laughed a little more, "sure, I'll come and visit once I'm done with my research."

With that Crimson and Ves left. Once they were outside the Castle and Ves' face had mostly returned to its natural color, her expression turned thoughtful. Crimson gave her a curious glance, "something on your mind?"

Ves remained quit for a few seconds before looking up at Crimson, "Starlight said we'd make a good couple, what do you think she meant by that?"

Crimson shrugged after thinking for a moment, "you know her better than I do but I think she meant that literally. What do you think?"

"I dunno..." Ves stated, her expression going back to thoughtful, "I mean she likes to make jokes like that to make me blush but... I don't know something felt... different ," Ves started blushing again after a short pause, "y-you think she's right?"

"Well I only see one way to find out for sure," he responded.

Ves looked at him curiously, "Oh? And what would that be?"

Crimson started smirking, "you wanna go out with me?"

Taking Flight

"You know if you wanna talk to me you can just come visit," Crimson said as he pick another of the red flowers. The Everfree might be somewhat dangerous but there were just so many useful plants growing inside it.

"I tried that, turns out Somepony doesn't find it necessary to tell his sister he moved," Sunny responded.

"I was gonna tell you," Crimson assured, "I just moved there yesterday."

Sunny looked at him with a serious expression, "and I assume that you were also going to tell me about her? What's her name again? Ves?"

Crimson just sight lightly, "so we live together, what about it?" He said and turned around to face his sister, "you should really come visit. I think you'd like her."

"Crimson you said you weren't gonna start anything with her!" Sunny exclaimed.

"I said no such thing. I said that there is not going to be any danger from my relationship with Ves and I'm sticking by that." Crimson responded almost instantly.

Sunny stepped closer to Crimson, standing right in front of him now and glaring at him lightly, "and how can you be so sure of that?"

Crimson glared back at her, "because I know her, at least a lot better then you. I think I can judge the situation a little better then you."

This caused Sunny to take a step back, looking unsure now. Crimson had absolutely no doubt that Ves was not going to be a danger to them, "Dad is not gonna like this."

Crimson turned around and started collecting plants again, "Dad is far away, he doesn't have to know for a while," he said and after a few seconds of hesitation continued, "and he doesn't control me, if he has a problem with me and Ves then that's his problem..."

"He can make it your problem fairly quickly and you know that," Sunny said with a concerned expression.

Crimson paused for a moment, "I can handle Dad if I have to..."

Sunny looked at her brother for a few seconds and the sighed, "your love for these ponies is going to be the end of you one day."

"And the unconditional hatred the rest of us have towards them is the reason why we're still hiding in the wilderness like animals," Crimson shot back, "I'm not defending what they did but that was nearly 300 years ago, a lot has changed since then."

"I know, I know," Sunny said and waved a hoof at Crimson before sighing lightly, "alright... if you're so sure then I'll trust you."

Crimson looked back at her and gave her a thankful smile.

"But I'm expecting you to introduce me to her, clear?" She almost ordered.

Crimson sat down on his bed and looked around, seeming quite pleased with his work. Ves was going to be away for a few more hours and so Crimson decided that it's probably about time to unpack his things.

The bed now had a small nightstand next to it, on which stood a small reading light and Crimsons alarm clock. On the other side of the bed was a small bookshelf filled with maybe a dozen books or so. Across the room and directly opposite of the bed was his cupboard, containing what little in the way of clothing he owned. On top of it was Crimsons small TV and two picture frames, one of Sunny an him from about 5 years ago and one of Crimsons Mother.

Well this is definitely a start, Crimson thought. There was still enough room for a few more things but he didn't really have anything else he wanted to put in this room yet, I wonder if Ves knows a...

Crimson was ripped out of his thoughts by the ringing of the doorbell. He glanced at the clock on his nightstand, which said that it’s just a few minutes after 1pm. Who could that be?

Crimson made his way down the stairs and opened the front door," Oh hi Starlight, Ves isn't here I'm afraid," he said as he stepped aside to let her in.

Starlight smiled at him as she entered, "I know, I came to visit you."

"Oh?" That surprised Crimson a little.

Starlight looked at him with a questioning look on her face, "why do you look so surprised? I consider you a friend too you know."

"Of course I know that," he said as he closed the door again, "it's just... I didn't really have any visitors in a while. Well, not counting my sister that is."

"Your sister?" Starlight asked.

"Mhm. She lives not too far from Ponyville so she drops by every now and then," he responded with a nod, "anyway, was there anything you wanted from me?"

"I was hoping I could talk to you a little," Starlight said with a smile, "unless I'm interrupting anything of cause."

Crimson chuckled lightly, "no don't worry, I was just unpacking my things."

"And, making progress?" Starlight asked.

"The bedroom is just about done," he responded, "you wanna see?"

"Sure," Starlight said with a nod and they walked up the stairs and to Crimsons room.

"Oohh cozy," Starlight said, "but a little bit empty still don't you think?"

"Yeah but I don't really have anything else that I would want in my bedroom." He responded.

"Is this your sister?" Starlight asked as she picked up the picture of Crimson and Sunny.

"Yep, that's Sunny," Crimson said with a smile as he looked at the picture.

Then Starlight looked at the picture a little closer, " are... are you wearing braces in this picture?" she asked seemingly quite amused by that.

Crimson chuckled lightly, "hey a stunning smile like this doesn't come naturally you know."

Starlight laughed a little but then she noticed the other picture.

It had a young Pegasus mare with dark purple coat and a Blue mane and tail on it.
"Who is this?" Starlight asked as she looked at the gently smiling mare.

"That is my Mother," Crimson said after a small pause, a bit of sadness noticeable in his voice.

Starlight looked up at Crimson and saw him looking at the picture with a small, sad smile on his face.

"I... see," she said as she carefully put the picture back on its place.

"Hey can I ask you something?" Starlight asked after a moment of silence.

Crimson smiled lightly at her, "sure."

"Did anything happen between you and Ves after you left yesterday?" Starlight asked with a knowing smile, "I met her earlier today and she seemed ecstatic about something."

Under different circumstances Crimson might have pretended not to know what Starlight was talking about or something similar to get a bit of fun out of her but right now he was just thankful for the change of subject and decided to simply tell her, it's not like she wouldn't find out sooner or later anyway.

"I asked her out," Crimson stated like it was the most normal thing in the World.

Starlight was more than a little taken aback by that answer. She had expected that exact answer but the way Crimson said it seemed wrong to her, "o-oh?" was all she managed to stammer in her confusion.

"Yeah," was all Crimson gave in reply as he walked past Starlight and back down into the living room.

Starlight needed a second to collect her thoughts but then she hastily made her way downstairs as well.

"You don't seem very happy about that," she said once she caught up with Crimson.

Crimson was quiet for a while, "I am happy that she said yes but..."

"But what?" Starlight asked and stepped a little closer.

Crimson sighed quietly and closed his eyes. After a few more seconds of silence he opened them again, "did she tell you what happened when we spend the day together for the first time, you know, the day when you and I first met?"

"Uhhm," it took a few seconds for the memories to come back to Starlight, "yeah, she said something about eating dinner by the lake and watching the sunset and cuddling. It sounded like she was quite happy with how the evening turned out."

"Exactly, it was perfect," Crimson said in a defeated tone, "that evening felt more like a date than anything I've ever had before."

"Ok..." Starlight said slowly, still a little confused, "but how exactly is that bad?"

"How do you beat something like that?" Crimson asked.

Starlight looked at Crimson with a confused expression, “I’m sorry?”

"I want our first date to be special, something like watching the sunset but I just can't think of anything that would come close," He said and looked down at the floor, "Ponyville isn't exactly huge, there are only so many things we could do here."

To Crimsons surprise and confusion Starlight began to giggle a little. His ears dropped and he gave her a confused and slightly irked look.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to laugh at you," Starlight said once she calmed herself down a little, "it's just that I really didn't expect that from you of all ponies."

That statement only confused Crimson more, "huh?"

"Crimson you're over thinking things. This isn’t a competition or anything, you don’t have to ‘beat’ that evening as you put it," Starlight said with an amused expression, "I know Ves and I've seen how she acts around you. Honestly as long as you two can spend some quality time together I think Ves will be more than ok with that."

Crimson thought about what Starlight said for a little, "You really think so?"

"Totally," Starlight exclaimed with no hesitation, "honestly if watching the sunset with her was so amazing then why don't you just do that again?"

"Huh..." Crimson finally started smiling again, "I just might do something like that... thank you Starlight, you helped me a lot."

Starlight just smiled gently at Crimson, "that's what friends are for."

Finally Crimson had something to work with. He had no intentions of simply repeating that first evening he spend with Ves, no that just wouldn't do but it was a start. Plus he still had today and tomorrow to figure out the rest, plenty of time... I hope.

Ves had gone on her fair share of dates in her life, some of them were the start of a relationship that would last for several years, others turned out to be minor catastrophes and most were somewhere in between. There was one thing all of them had in common though, Ves had always been nervous. No matter how well she knew the Pony or how long they had known each other she just couldn’t help but imagine all the ways it could go wrong.

Not this time however, maybe it was because for the first time she didn’t know what exactly Crimson had planned for them but even now, less than two hours from the time they’d agreed upon she was completely calm. She couldn’t explain it but she wasn’t exactly complaining either.

“You ready to go?” Crimson asked as he came down the stairs.

“Already?” Ves asked and looked at the clock on the wall, “I thought we have two more hours.”

“We do but there is something else I wanted to do before our date,” he responded and walked over to Ves, “let me see your wing.”

He took off the bandage on Ves’ wing and examined it carefully. The hole was gone, leaving only a small scar in its place, “Looks pretty good so far,” he looked at Ves and smirked, “good enough to fly I’d say.”

Ves’ eyes lit up like Canterlot Castle at hearts warming eve, “Really??” she asked with a huge smile.

“If you’re careful,” Crimson said with a serious expression, “put too much strain on it and it will tear again so you really need to take it easy ok?”

Ves gave him a nod, still smiling like a filly counting her candy on nightmare night. Something that Crimson thought was absolutely adorable.

They left the house and Crimson took a quick look around, “let’s start with something easy, how about we fly to that cloud over there.”

Ves lifted off the ground with a few flaps of her wings and slowly made her way to the cloud. Crimson followed close behind her, carefully looking for any signs of pain or injury.

“How was it?” Crimson asked once they made it safely to the cloud, “any pain or anything?”

“No, everything’s fine,” Ves replied and took a look at her wing, which appeared to be just fine.

Crimson gave her a warm smile, “great, let me know if that changes,” he took to the air again,
“You ready to go for a proper flight then?”

“Like you have to ask,” Ves said with a smile as she jumped up and started flapping her wings again.

Ves couldn’t help but smile as they flew above Ponyville. It had been les then a week since her accident and yet it felt to her as if she flew for the first time in ages.

Crimson couldn’t help but chuckle at Ves’ expression, causing her to shoot him a questioning glance, “You look adorable,”

“Oh shut up,” she said with a blush, which made Crimson chuckle even more.

“Oh hey Ves,” they suddenly heard from above in a voice that was unfamiliar to Crimson. They looked up to see a certain blue Pegasus mare with a rainbow colored main sitting on a cloud a few meters above them, “glad to see your wing’s doing better.”

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who she was, even if Crimson hadn’t seen her on a few Wonderbolt posters.

“Hi Rainbow,” Ves greeted and joined Rainbow Dash on her cloud, “back from Canterlot I see.”

“Yup, just got back about an hour ago,” she said and then looked at Crimson who sat down next to Ves, “let me guess, you’re Crimson Shadow.”

Crimson and Ves gave each other surprised looks, “you’ve heard of me?” Crimson asked.

“Yeah Pinkie told us about you on the train to Canterlot,” she said and the started to smirk, “something about you being Veses new coltfriend.”

Ves facehoofed and started to flush a little while Crimson just chuckled, “of course she did,” he said.

“That mare, I am going to kill her,” Ves said through clenched teeth.

Rainbows smirk only grew as she heard that, “ah so it’s true then.”

“Oh shut up Rainbow,” Ves said. Crimson opened his mouth to say something but Ves cut him off, “don’t Crimson, just don’t.”

Crimson made a motion like he was sipping his mouth closed, causing Rainbow to giggle.

“Anyways,” Rainbow started after a few moments, “where you guys going?” she asked and then started to smirk again, “a date?”

Crimson said nothing and just looked at Ves, “w-well… yes actually,” she said, a faint blush still visible.

“Wait really?” Rainbow asked visibly surprised, “I was just joking.”

Ves smiled weakly and shrugged.

“Wait so if you actually are dating then why were you so pissed at Pinkie?” Rainbow asked, “Is nopony supposed to know yet?”

“No it’s not that,” Ves said and sighed, “it’s just today is our first date.”

“Oh so you weren’t dating when Pinkie told us.” Rainbow finished for Ves, who nodded in confirmation.

“Well in that case I’m gonna get out of your hair,” Rainbow said after a moment of silence, “I’ll catch you guys later,” Rainbow started to fly away but after a few meters she turned around to face Ves and Crimson again, “oh and remember to use protection,” she said a little louder than necessary and with a wink.

“Oh fuck off Dash,” said Ves with an annoyed expression.

This however only caused Rainbow to smirk, “gee, do you kiss Crimson with that mouth?”

Rainbow managed to dodge the pieces of cloud that Ves threw at her and she flew away, laughing as she did so.