Chapter 13

“W-who are you?”, Angel asked me with a somber tone.

I almost didn’t know what to do. Here I am finally meeting one of my real friends face to face, yet it isn’t as exciting as I thought it was gonna be. Instead, I felt a little depressed seeing my friend in a hospital bed after he had attempted to kill himself. I didn’t even know what to say, considering I never told him before hoof that I would meet him. Yet, somehow, I managed to say all I needed to say when making my first impression on him now starting to calm down.

“Let’s just say, I am a friend who is here for his best friend who he owes a lot too.”, I said to Angel who was now slowly perking up with his eyes widening.

I stepped closer to his bed as I noticed his stare became more and more shocked.

“Especially with all you’ve been through, Angel.”, I said putting a hoof on the side of his bed.

He was now having a few tears falling down his face upon hearing this.

“V-V-Velvet?”, Angel asked slowly moving his hoof towards mine.

It was at this moment I couldn’t hold my tears either, as I let tears slowly give way as I gave him a nod letting him know it was me. His hoof almost swiftly took me by surprise as he put his hoof around me and pulled me in for a tight hug. It took me by surprise, but it was a welcome one, as I embraced my friend who was now slowly weeping over my shoulder. I took him in deeper as I began to cry a little as well. I never knew how much I meant to a pony before this. In this hug I knew that Angel wouldn’t have ever been okay until I showed up unexpectedly.

Once he managed to get all of his tears out, he spoke.

“I-I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t-I didn’t know what I was-”, Angel said before I cut him off.

“Shhhhh. It’s ok. You shouldn’t be the one apologizing here.”, I said to Angel.

“Wh-What do you mean?”, Angel asked.

“It’s my fault. I should’ve been there to hang out with you yesterday. I was selfish and left you alone where you….did what you did.”, I explained to Angel.

“No, it wasn’t you. It was never your fault for this.”, Angel said before pulling away from the hug.

“Then what was it? I need to know Angel.”, I asked him.

He just stared at me for a second before he let out a huge sigh.

“Let’s…..not worry about it now. I want to kinda catch up with you more personally and stuff. I-I think it will help me out with how I feel about everything right now. Do you mind?”, Angel asked.

I knew he was being evasive, but I felt I owed it to him after all he’s been through.

“Not at all Angel. Not at all”.

We managed to talk for a good bit. It was mostly about where I was when he attempted and what I was doing. He found it absolutely crazy how I had completely ran away from work hearing about his situation. Angel also found it completely nuts about how much the paper’s give away about an event, as he understood how I found out where he was from the newspaper article.

Angel also talked about the pegasus who managed to catch him. He said that he knew it was a wonderbolt who saved him because he recognized the mane being a rainbow color, sadly he didn’t know who exactly the wonderbolt was. Probably some pony who could fly fast, probably could clear an entire course in ten seconds flat. I did want to draw attention away from the whole situation and instead asked him more about his parents. To which he didn’t want to talk about either.

It didn’t feel right. Something must’ve been wrong. All those times I wanted to talk about something, he would reject. I knew that he was hiding something, and that something was the reason why he tried to do it. I knew if I was gonna figure out what caused all this, I needed to be more assertive with my way of wanting to know more. I closed my eyes and let out a slightly frustrated sigh sitting next to Angel’s bed.

“What’s wrong Velvet?”, Angel asked me.

“Look, I am happy to see you doing fine now and that you didn’t die. But I’m frustrated with this Angel.”, I said pointing over at him.

“Frustrated with what?”, Angel asked sitting up from his bed.

“Frustrated with this stalling. I continuously keep asking more and more about what happened. Yet everytime I ask, you always end up being evasive with answering it. I’m tired of it Angel, tell me what is going on. Why did you try to go through all of this?”, I asked now with a demanding tone.

He could tell right away that he couldn’t hold this up forever, as he gave out a sigh before speaking softly with a somber look.

“It all started the day before yesterday. I know I had seemed like I had completely given up on that Golden Fork, but in all actuality I was hoping that you would find it. I thought that if you would get it you would share half of the profit from it with me because of what I told you before with my dream. When I found out that another player had found it and wasn’t you, I felt I had lost everything. I felt that all my dreams of leaving this fucking hell hole to do what I really want to do had fallen away from me. What made it worse is that I had no pony to sympathize with in that moment. I felt I was truly alone”, Angel said as he began to look over at me.

“I began to realize that I was alone because of how different I was with the rest of my family. I was in a family where they were all a preacher of some sort and none of them ever wanted to venture away from Hoovesiana. They all wanted to stay here and be traditional. Whereas I wanted to be different and wanted to go out and explore all that I was missing in this place. I told everypony in my family about my dream, and they all thought I was crazy. Even my own parents thought that. They never understood how much it meant to me to leave this place. I began to feel like such a black sheep that I felt that I didn’t matter to my family. I felt that hey didn’t care about what I wanted because I was so different from the rest of them. I felt that if I had gone away forever they wouldn’t even care. I-I felt like I had nothing left. My dreams were gone, my family doesn’t care, I’m better off-”, Angel says before slowly breaking down again.

It genuinely hurt me to see Angel go through all of this, especially right there next to him. I knew that it wasn’t going to take the regular,”You know that’s not true. A lot of ponies care about you `` phrase to cheer him up. It was gonna have to be something that I knew how to relate with Angel, something I knew all too well.

“Angel, you are not alone feeling this way. I know the feeling of having nothing all too well.”, I said to Angel with a more gloomy tone.

Angel sniffles a little bit before looking back up.

“Wh-what do you mean? Do your parents not care about you?”, Angel asked me.

Then it hit me like a flashback, like I was reliving the moment it happened.

“It was around five years ago when it happened. Both my parents were leaving to go on an anniversary trip. They both had decided to leave me home alone for the week. My father constantly said how I was getting older and one day would need to take care of myself. My mother was also nervous about it at first, but soon got into the idea of me by myself for a week.”I said, letting out a small chuckle remembering about my mom constantly being nervous for my sake.

“Anyway, they had left for their anniversary trip, leaving me to take care of myself. They were going to travel by carriage to New Neighlans. Little did we know at the time there was a huge storm that was coming from New Neighlans. The storm was the infamous ‘Kat Storm’ of Hoovesiana. When it happened, I was scared that the storm would flood my house where I was alone with no pony but myself. I prayed to Celestia that the house wouldn’t flood and that everything would be okay. Thankfully, the house didn’t flood and everything seemed okay. But then, about two days later there was a knock on the door. To my surprise it wasn’t my parents. Rather, it was a royal guard who was surprised to see me open the door. He had come by the house to tell me that-”, I said before I sniffled out of sadness before reiterating.

“He said that he was taking some ponies to a safe shelter away from the flood. That was when he told me that he saw their carriage floating down with both of them inside. He tried to fly after them in time to save them, but by then the carriage had tipped over a-and sank, t-taking them both down with it. He swam down to try and get them out of there. H-he said that as he swam down, he saw my father trying to swim up with my mother in his hooves. He said that he was truly trying to get out of there to the surface. But soon he ran out of air. The guard managed to grab them and take them to the surface. He tried to do CPR on them, but by then it was too late”, I said to Angel who was now sitting up.

“It was on that day it all changed for me. I felt that I truly had nothing left. Yes, I might have gotten all the money they left behind, but it didn’t matter to me. I lost my parents, and there was nothing I could do about it.”, I said before looking back up at Angel.

“I felt I lost everything until I met you on Smoke. That was when I learned that ,no matter what, you may think if you are alone when you’re not. That pony that is with you will always be there to help you out of that dark place. For me that ‘pony’ was you. And right now I want to be that ‘pony’ for you Angel because I love you, you brought me out of a dark place”, I said to Angel telling him my appreciation to him as a friend, who is now more calm.

“Velvet, you really mean that? I mean that much to you?”, Angel asked.

“I mean it, I would hate to see something like this happen to you again.”, I said to Angel.

Angel had a look of self confusion before looking back at me.

“Velvet, I-”, Angel says before putting his hoof on my hoof.

I looked into his eyes to listen to what he had to say. Then, in what seemed like it came from out of nowhere, Angel pushed himself onto me to plant a deep kiss. My eyes began widening from this sudden kiss from Angel. I didn’t really know how to react besides sit there with his lips against mine with my eyes wide open. After about fifteen seconds, Angel pulled away seeing my shocked face. I made it very apparent that I had no idea, that he was gay.

“What, was it- not good?”, Angel asked me seeing my shocked look.

I didn’t know what to do at all even after the fact. I had never kissed a pony, let alone a stallion. What made it worse was that I was never attracted to stallions, yet here I am being kissed by my best friend.

“Oh Celestia I am so sorry.”, Angel said in a slight panic realizing that I wasn’t referring to the love as “lover love”.

By this point i managed to snap back to reality and finally say something.

“N-No, it’s ok. I should’ve said that it was more like a ‘brotherly’ type of love.”, I said to Angel to try and fix this awkward situation.

“Yeah, remember what I said about me being different from my family? That’s one other way I am different.”, Angel said to me blushing.

“Yeah, I noticed. I’m sorry. I don’t swing that way.”, I said blushing.

Thankfully, there was a doctor who walked into the room, and sadly it was the one doctor I hoped wouldn’t be Angel’s. That grey unicorn was back, and now I could see a full glimpse of his name tag: Dr. Greyheart. “I’m very sorry to interrupt, but it is time for ze patient to be checked upon.”, Dr. Greyheart says.

“Um, yeah. Give me one second.”, I said to Greyheart before turning over to Angel with a concerned look.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll probably be back in about a week or so. Go, cause I know you might have some time to maybe check in for work you missed.”, Angel said, pointing at the clock that read 10:30. I still had time.

“Ok then, I-I’ll see you later hopefully. G-Get Well soon Angel.”, I said stumbling over like a drunk pony trying to hurry out the room.

Stepping outside, I saw Angel’s parents asleep on each other. I guess that is the appropriate thing to do when ever you go through stress to that level: Sleep the stress and worry away.

I managed to get back to Caramel quick enough to tell him to try and hurry back to New Saddle as fast as he could, albeit in a way where I was being vague for the sake of trying to make it back in time and hopefully not be fired by Peach. I was rarely late for work most days of the week, but never once have I ditched work without explaining.

“Oh Celestia, I am really gonna have to explain this to her without sounding stupid. Fuck Velvet!, Why’d you have to run off like that with no explanation?”, I scolded myself quietly.

Not to assume anything about Peach, but with her being an older mare I don’t think she would understand me going to visit a “friend” who I met online at a hospital. In fact, I think she would call me stupid for even doing something like this, or at least I think she would.

To kind of change my mind about this, I thought a little bit more about Ruby from this whole “friend online in distress” ordeal. I thought a little bit more specifically about that night where she had come to me for when she was exposed by that player. The more I thought about it, the more I kept thinking about how maybe there was a chance that Ruby liked me. The reason I kept going back to was that she came to me first, where she could’ve gone to some of her other friends on her list. She could have really trusted me like that, and maybe have developed feelings to help her with something so personal. At the same time, there was this feeling that it maybe was too good to be true to assume that about her. That was mainly caused by her calling me the “best friend she had ever had”. Some ponies would argue that maybe she had feelings for you because of being her best friend. Although some ponies would make the counter argument that it was a clear sign of being friend-zoned. I sighed loudly in the carriage on the way back.

Caramel must’ve heard my sighs, as he was quick to respond to it.

“Did it not go well at the hospital?”, Caramel asked me.

“Oh, no it went well. Just thinking about other stuff when I get back to deal with.”, I said to Caramel while looking out the window of the carriage.

“Like what?”, Caramel asked me.

“Well, I don’t think you would understand. To be honest, I think you would even find me stupid for thinking about it.”, I said with a slightly embarrassed tone. “Try me. As an ex candy shop worker and carriage puller, I have heard some crazy stories where they have the most bone headed ponies tell it. From what I can tell from you so far is that you are far from being bone headed.”, Caramel sa to me trying to get me comforted.

It was hard to really find a reason not to open up to him based on all he has opened with me so far with his hoof.

“Well, it’s about this friend who I like. Me and her are really good friends, and I have some feelings for her.”, I explained to Caramel.

“That doesn’t sound so stupid. Sounds like a regular Friday night for me with all the drunk ponies I pull in Bourbon Avenue.”, Caramel says coincidently pulling alongside the street.

“Well the thing is, me and her have not met face to face.”, I said nervously to Caramel.

“Oh, I see. So it’s like your friend who you just visited.”, Caramel said.

“Right. I really want to be her boyfriend, but I know I sound crazy for wanting to be in love with a friend online. Plus I feel that maybe she doesn’t feel the same about me.”, I said to Caramel.

“Well anything is possible. I mean, you just said how you were best friends with a pony who was in the hospital. I assume he felt the same about you when he saw you for the first time as a friend?”, Carmel asked me.

I then got a flashback of him kissing me unexpectedly.

“Heh, Yeah. You could say that.”, I said with a slight chuckle.

“Then I feel that it is possible for you to have a relationship with her. Although I feel that with online relationships it’s a hit or miss with who you meet.”, Caramel said.

“What do you mean by ‘hit or miss’”, I asked Caramel.

“Well, I assume there are some cases where you don’t meet a pony at all.”, Caramel explained to me.

“She’s not a pony.”, I said to Caramel.

“Oh, then I assume she must be a unicorn or pegasus?”, Caramel asked.

“No. Um, how do I explain this without sounding so crazy? Well….. She’s neither a pegasus or unicorn. She is a Griffin.”, I explained before feeling the carriage stop suddenly.

“Oh my. I can see why you would sound crazy.”, Caramel said with a slightly concerning voice.

“Look, I know the whole stigma of what other ponies think of griffins here in Hoovesiana. I have seen it my for myself, but I disagree with all of it. I feel that they are misunderstood and maybe, even likeable. Once you really get to know one they aren’t bad at all. All this whole speciesism thing against griffons, it’s just out of ignorance. They are just misunderstood, that’s all. It took me by surprise, but I ended up falling in love with one because it felt right. Like I didn’t want to see anything bad happen to her.”, I said trying to explain thoroughly to Caramel.

There was a brief pause between us before Caramel spoke.

“Well, like I said before, anything’s possible. Even what you want, it’s possible. Although it sounds a bit insane to anypony who lives here in Hoovesiana. However, based on everything you’ve said about her and how you feel, I feel that you can make it work.”, Caramel told me.

“But how do I simply go about asking her if she feels the same about me?”, I asked Caramel.

“Sometimes there is no way to ‘simply go about asking’. You just have to do it. Although my advice, maybe try doing something that you both enjoy, maybe more so her enjoying online and then after all is done, just ask her. If you feel she is the one and she feels you are the one, then you have nothing to worry about.”, Caramel advised me before moving the carriage again.

“Yeah, maybe”.

On the way back I thought more and more about what Caramel said. I tried to think of something that me and Ruby could do together for when I ask her out. At first, I thought maybe play some SF2 together, but we do that all the time together that it wouldn’t feel as special. Then, I got an idea based on how we met. We had met in VRCinema. So maybe we could do something like maybe listen to more music together in a server, maybe even pull up some other videos of other Ourtube creators. I remember her talking about her favorite channel on Ourtube,”SkorchCynical”. Never really heard of the channel, but I guess I could figure out what the channel does if we do it. It was settled: The night I ask her how she feels about me being her boyfriend, will be after we hang out just like we met in VRCinema. The perfect plan, hopefully nothing would go wrong with it.

I had kind of forgotten I was in a carriage on my way back to the bakery, as it took me a little while to piece together where Caramel had stopped.

“We’re here, it looks empty.”Caramel told me.

“Oh damn. I hope I made it in time. Thanks so much for going through this. Here, I feel it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t pay you”, I said reaching into my hoodie to grab some money.

“No, don’t pay me. If you do want to pay me back, come by to hang out, you are not a bad pony to hang out with.”, Caramel told me as I stepped out of the carriage.

“Y-yes absolutely I’ll hang out. Um, yeah. I kind of have to go no so-”, I said before looking back at the door of the bakery.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you around Velvet. You better come by soon.”, Caramel said waving a hoof.

“Yeah, I’ll see you around.”, I say to Caramel waving as he leaves. I then turned around to the door to see if it wasn’t locked yet.

Thankfully, the bakery was still open. Stepping inside, I was greeted by all the workers staring at me as if I commited a murder.

“Uh, hi guys.”, I said nervously to all of the ponies working. None of them had anything to say, but all their looks simply said,” You fucked up not being here”.

“Oh fuck me.”, I said to myself in my head as I walk into the back past the starstruck workers.

Something about their looks also said that I might be in some hot shit for this.

Stepping in to the back, I was almost startled by Peach who was sitting on a stool who looked like she was waiting for me.

“Um, h-h-hey Peach.”, I said nervously seeing Peach.

She let out a disappointed sigh before turning back over to me.

“Sugar, I want you to know that I’m not mad at you for what you did this morning.”, Peach said before standing up to walk over to me before saying,”But friend, you better explain yourself really good for your sake.”

Author's Note

Uh Oh