Forged Steel's Wrestling Journal

Entry 16

My day begins like any other, the great sunrise waking me and giving a great view of the eastern mountains. I do my long workout and run, seeing more of this town with each day, and even some wrestling fans recognizing me. As I return back to my suite, I pass by the jewelry shop once again, and I see its proprietor arriving for the day.

Her body is a light powder purple, her wings having amazing frosted tips, her hair a light baby blue and snow white. She wore a tiara that nearly blinded me when she looked my way as I passed, not allowing me to see her eyes. Since I had already resolved to browse her shop anyway, I wasn’t bothered. The way she watched me as she passed almost seemed like she knew who I was. That could at least help conversation later.

After a large breakfast, I had a shower in preparation. Realizing it was still early morning, I decided to pass the time watching some old wrestling videos. Apparently I dozed off because when I was able to look at the clock again it was already noon and I was still in just the towel from my shower.

As I go through my dresser for what to wear, I find a good conversation starter, papa’s watch with a dead battery. After finding my wardrobe for today I elect to leave out the braid, the first time in several months I have while going out.

A short walk down the road and I find her store. Walking inside, she greets me almost immediately. She seemed quite in awe from my size but I've become used to it at this point in life. The dress she wore left much of her to the imagination.

I seek getting the battery changed on the watch and she's happy to oblige. I show her the watch and her eyes, a dazzling combination of icy blue and lavender, light up. “This is a world heavyweight champion's watch, I've only worked on one before,” her expression then soured, “Headcrusher. He's a real prick.”

I nod in agreement, after all I have to keep up appearances. “How in the name of the goddesses did you get this?” That's the question I was hoping to not be asked. Lying won't do any good, so I tell the truth, it's papa’s and he gave it to me as a keepsake. For an instant I see a follow-up question from her but it doesn't come. She only nods and begins work on opening it.

I mention I'm also looking for a watch of my own, as I didn't want to risk danger to such a sentimental item. After changing out the battery she hands it back and walks me over to the watch cabinet. “I assume you want it as an accessory since any cheap piece of garbage from the department store can tell time.” She pulls out about a dozen large faced ones, “On most stallions these would be comically large, but on someone with your imposing stature they'll fit right in.”

Many different materials from stainless steel to titanium, and even a couple of carbon fiber. “A bit of warning, the atomic watches frequently go out of sync here because we're so remote. If the time does matter that much, I'd suggest staying with a quartz.” As I look over my options, both on top of the display and within, a simplistic one catches my eye, even with its thousand bit price. I ask to try it.

“Citizen Chronomaster A660, titanium body with sapphire anti glare glass, also the most accurate quartz in the world.” I slip it on and it just feels like me. “Excellent choice, seems you like the more low-key appearances.” That I do, but this wasn't all that I came for.

When I ask she first laughs, but when she finds that I'm serious she says she's very busy, but would be fine meeting later at a downtown restaurant for dinner. So I have a date. Hopefully I won't be too recognized, distractions like fans can kill a mood. They really ruined a date I had with Rarity. The sneers from fans became too much for her.

The days seems to fly by and I meet her at the diner she mentioned. Of course, I overdress like a blockhead with the dress pants and collared shirt and tie my hair back. “Oh boy” she greeted with a laugh, “First date and you’re already dressed for marriage.” I didn’t know what to wear, so I stuck with what I normally wear.

Her name is Glitter Jewel. She was born and raised in the Crystal Empire, and has oddly never left even once. She majored in business administration, but has never really left school as she keeps herself occupied with taking more and more classes here and there. Whenever there’s something she doesn’t know about, she takes a class on it. She has her business master’s, a bachelor’s in accountancy, and is working on a second in marketing. She jokes that she alone contributes half the college’s annual revenue.

Her mother teaches at the college and her father is an orthopedist. The youngest of five, her brothers all went into the Royal Guard while her sister went into modeling. She had a peculiar brevity when mentioning what kind of modeling. Glitter always had a love for gemstones and minerals and even seriously considered becoming a geologist. In the end she became a jeweler because there’s more money in it. Not to say she doesn’t enjoy it.

Her knowledge of gems and jewelry surpasses my knowledge of wrestling. Most of it went over my head as she explained, all the types, the many kinds of flaws, how to cut out flaws without damaging the rest of the stone, how to tell natural from synthetic… Apparently she went at this for 10 minutes before she noticed I was lost at sea.

“So, tell me about you.” Oh great, where do I begin? Do I tell everything honest and chronological, or skip out the bad parts? Does she want to know everything about the past, or just more generally about me? If I omit any of the bad parts will she see right through me? I’m not saying anything yet, I’m blowing it. Something! Anything!

“Can I get back to you on that?” is all I can muster. Heavenly Sisters in Canterlot I’m a dipshit now. What’s worse is that now she’s laughing, and wildly. Is she laughing at me? Why is my brain so cooked from just one mare when I can monologue for several minutes in front of 20,000?

After a what feels like minutes of laughter she regroups and says “Oh wow, that bad?” She then pats me on the head “Tell you what, you big goof, just start with you right now, where you’re from, what you do, your college, and what brings you out here.”

Well, I'm a wrestler from Stalliongrad competing out here, went to university at Canterlot and have a degree in nutrition as well as physical therapy. I picked them because I have a gift that I want to share with the world. Most would laugh at that but it's the truth. I put my best efforts into educational because any fool can become a wrestler but less than one percent will ever get anywhere with it.

She wants to know more about me and wrestling. For as long as I can remember I've always wanted to wrestle. I'm such a great athlete that I was also good at basketball, but wrestling was always my biggest passion and what I always put my best effort into. Perhaps it is because papa was so good and doing it all the time.

I go into the differences between scholastic wrestling and pro wrestling, how scoring works in the former and shy we don't do it in the latter, but at the same time I keep careful to not expose it. She does seem to be interested in it and the technical details don't go over her head.

Despite her initial insistence not to, I pay for both of us. As we pass by her shop and my apartment building again, I point it out as where I'm living. She seems impressed, saying I have good taste and that I'm luckily as she's been on their wait list for years now.

We're the only ones out here not wearing coats now. She asks if I should be cold and I say I should ask her the same thing. She responds that she's lived here her whole life. I say that it feels just like home, only without the blizzard.

Eventually we get to her place, a small, unassuming duplex a mile away. I walk her to the door and she thanks me for the dinner and socializing. I ask when we can go again.

She gives another laugh and smile, then hops up to kiss my cheek, with a “Tomorrow night. Come get me from here.” With that, she goes inside and I back to my place for my evening workout. Obviously I can only reflect on the evening.

I've never felt like this around anyone before. I've never been so frazzled and at the same time so relaxed. And more oddly, I made a total fool of myself and she didn't seem to care at all. It seems she just wanted the honesty.

To be quite honest, with everyone who has beauty like hers I'm filled with a lust and desire to worship their body but I didn't feel that even for a moment with Glitter Jewel. That's obviously not to say that I wouldn't, but that itch, that sensation never came into my head. Could this be what love truly feels like?