Impressions

Andante let out a held in breath upon stepping off the same old elevator on the same old building to go to the same old desk that she went to every morning at nine o’clock sharp, groomed wings close to her sides. Yet as she took slow steps down the familiar walkway to settle down into her chair, something felt...off. Like it was her first day all over again, and everything was new and exciting, but not in the good way. She was skeptical, to be blunt, of her new bosses, who had mysteriously appeared out of thin air to replace her former one, one that she had known for years and had a decent bond with. A soft sigh slipped through her lips as she sunk into the cushioned padding of the chair, tired rose quartz colored eyes lifting to the sounds of shoes softly clicking against the white tiles of the foyer.

They landed on a royal blue earth pony stallion, tall and muscular as broad shoulders filled the crisp white shirt that adorned his torso, long legs covered by black pants. His violet eyes were looking off to the side as he ran a hand through his black and grey streaked mane, soon snapping in her direction, a soft smile breaking onto his face when he noticed her, quickening his stride to get to the desk a little faster. Oh gods. She had only heard rumors about her superiors from her coworker and friend, Snow Fall, but to see one right in front of her (at least, that's what she assumed who it was judging by his gait), she didn't know that they would be so... attractive. The stallion's grin got larger when he reached her, eyes twinkling. “Good morning, beautiful~ I didn't know that I’d get to see such a lovely face coming in today.”

Yep, he was one of the bosses. Surprisingly to her, a faint blush dusted her cheeks as she replied, “Good morning to you too, Sir. Are you one of the CEO’s?”

He nodded once, rubbing the back of his neck afterwards. “I guess you can say that… I'm more of a Co-CEO, to be honest. My friend North will be the real runner of the show, once he gets his lazy ass out of bed.” Pausing, he quickly covered his mouth with a hand, face tinting red. “Oops, sorry. Force of habit.” Dropping it down onto the desk, he flashed her a meek smile. “Rule one of being a leader: don't curse in front of your subordinates.”

Anne couldn't help but laugh at that, figuring that maybe this one wasn't so bad. “It's ok, I've heard it all at this point. Do you need anything, Mr…”

The male held out his hand then in greeting. “Obsidian. But feel free to call me Sid.”

The pegasus stared at the outstretched appendage for a couple seconds before gently grasping it and giving it a shake, surprised to find how light his grip was despite having a hand that nearly engulfed her own. “Andante, Head Secretary.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Miss. And no, I think I've got it from here. Been around the office a few times last week alone. Thank you, though.” Letting go, he turned to start towards the elevator, then stopped abruptly, looking back. “Oh, and when you see North, could you send him up please? I need to talk to him real quick.”

“Of course, Sir. Er... what does he look like?”

Obsidian chuckled. “You’ll know. He's like a tree that's about to go into puberty. See you around.”

She blinked in slight confusion at the choice of words, but brushed it off as she watched him leave. She probably had a lot of emails to attend to, so thinking on it would have to wait.

Roughly two hours after the mare had started her shift, the lobby door opened, hurried steps coming towards her at a brisk pace. She looked up to find Snow with a wide eyed expression as she practically darted around the desk, shucking off her grey winter coat once she sat down. “H-hey,” she breathed out in a puff. “Sorry I’m late. Traffic was awful today.”

Anne blinked. The earth pony didn’t have to come in until noon, so why was she apologizing? “Your fine, Snow. What are you sorry for? I think this is the earliest you’ve ever been to work.”

Snow’s light green eyes glinted as she smirked. “I wanted to see the new hot studs. Did any of them come in yet?”

“Only one, and he was pretty cute.”

“Shoot. Well, maybe I’ll catch him in the break room. Everyone flocks in there whenever there’s a new recruit. Or doughnuts.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” Right as she finished speaking, the door reopened, and two tall figures entered. One of them in particular made her heart skip a beat. It was a tan unicorn stallion, dressed in a black suit that accented the white markings on his wrists that disappeared underneath the cuffs of his sleeves. Though he towered over his companion- a turquoise pony changeling hybrid- by a good foot or so, he was quite slender, so Obsidian’s description wasn’t quite far off. His ice blue eyes looked her over upon reaching the desk, nodding to each of them in turn.

“Good morning, ladies. Things haven’t been too busy, I hope?”

Anne shook her head. “No, Sir. Everything’s been running smoothly.”

Snow let out a light chuckle. “That’s only because you’re in charge, Anne.”

The unicorn raised an eyebrow. “You two know each other?”

The pegasus bobbed her head. “Yes, Sir, for a few years now. I’m Andante, Head Secretary. And this is Snow Fall, my assistant.”

The stallion hummed before shaking their hands, leaving his wrapped around hers for a moment longer then she normally would have liked had she not been so entranced. “North Star, nice to meet you both. No wonder the company’s been holding strong for so long, it has lovely mares like yourselves in it.” Her face flushed at the compliment, internally cursing at herself. Was everyone turning up the charm today? Eyes following his hand, she watched as he jerked a thumb towards the hybrid. “This is one of my assistants, Smoke and Mirrors. We just call him Smokey for short.” Pausing to glance at the expensive looking silver watch on his wrist, he bit his lower lip in a way that would have made Anne swoon had she not been sitting already. “Have you seen Obsidian come in yet? Blue earth pony, looks like a fashion model everywhere he goes…”

The magenta mare giggled, nodding once. “I’ve seen him. He was asking for you to come see him when you got the chance, actually.”

“Oh, great. Well, I’ll leave you alone. Keep up the good work. Smokey, shall we?”

The females waited until the stallions were on the elevator before Snow let out a delighted squeal, pressing her light blue fingers against her blushing cheeks as her eyes glossed over. “Gods, they are so hot! See, I told you, Anne. Didn’t I tell you?”

The pegasus didn’t respond at first, merely looking down at the hand that North had held, her own blush dark against the rest of her fur. Snapping her gaze to her friend to find that she was staring at her, her eyes widened as she stammered, “W-what? Oh, right. Yeah, you sure told me, heh heh…”

The earth pony gave her a knowing look. “Girl, you’ve got it bad. I haven’t seen you this flustered since Pine Needle first asked you out.”

Anne flinched at hearing her current coltfriend’s name, lips curling into a scowl. “I do not!” Shaking her head, she sighed in defeat. “Ok...maybe a little.” She quickly raised her hand to silence anything that the bubbly mare might spout next. “But, it’s nothing more than a small crush, you hear? And if I hear a peep about this from anyone else-”

“You’ll gut me like a fish, I know. You know, Anne. I think more folks would like you if you weren’t so uppity all the time. Your just as much of a helpless romantic as I am.”

The dark furred female looked off to the side, not meeting her eyes. “Maybe I don’t want them to know that.” After a brief moment of silence, an overly cheery smile pulled at her lips, turning to face her computer monitor. “Let’s get back to work, yeah? The more we do, the longer break we get.”

Snow snorted, but cracked her knuckles before resting them on her keyboard. “After you, sunshine.”

As the next few days came and went, Andante was quick to discover something: North was one of the most flirtatious stallions she had ever met, Obsidian’s occasional efforts and Smokey’s...more direct forms of showing off not holding a candle to the head’s advances. And, believe it or not, the mare played along with it, if only to hopefully reveal their true intentions, given that she wasn’t entirely comfortable with them like everyone else were. When she wasn’t turning up the charm, sass and snarkiness flowed through her like honey -especially at the head CEO- , worrying her other coworkers and merely amusing the unicorn. Snow saw right through her, pointing out that if this kept up, then problems were sure to be coming, either short lived or not. Anne was ready for it, though something in the back of her mind told her that maybe she was just doing it to keep her thoughts away from Pine...no, of course not. They were meant to be, he said it himself. But…why didn’t she feel like that was true?

Something suddenly moving in front of her face broke her from her thoughts. “Hello...Equestria to Andante...What’s going on in there? You haven’t said a peep all morning.”

The pegasus snorted after gently pushing Snow’s waving hand away from her muzzle, wings flexing. The two were off for the day, deciding to spend the morning at a local coffee shop, both to unwind and share their thoughts on the previous week. She, for one, had a good bit to talk about. “Sorry, Snow. I got lost in thought.”

The other mare didn’t seem too pleased with that answer. “Oh dear. I know what happens when you get lost in thought: you start getting ideas. And then those ideas turn into plans… please don’t tell me you’re thinking about killing our boss.”

Anne’s eyes narrowed. “Wouldn’t dream of it. I can be snappy, but not vengeful.” She paused, just thinking about him made her heart start to race. “Besides, I can’t crush on him if he’s dead.”

Snow nearly choked on the sip of coffee that she was in the process of swallowing, cheeks crimson as she sputtered. Seeing the other raise an eyebrow, she gave her a weak grin before trying to catch her breath. “T-that was the best thing I’ve heard all week. Are you sure you don’t want to quit your job at the lounge and become a comedian?”

Anne shook her head. “I’ll pass. And I may have gotten that from Sid. We have the same sense of humor.”

The earth pony smirked brightly at hearing the Co-CEO’s nickname. “You two have been getting awfully close lately. Will I be hearing of a hook up soon?”

The pegasus laughed, rolling her eyes. “Not a chance. He’s cute, but strong, silent types aren’t really my thing. I’m more of a ‘bad boy’ type of gal.”

“Makes sense considering you’re still with Pine. How are things going, anyways?”

The dark furred mare visibly stiffened, face ever so briefly flashing with fear. “It’s been...alright.”

Snow wasn’t convinced in the slightest. “Anne, c’mon. You know you can’t hide things from me. What happened?”

Anne sighed before pulling her long, wavy mane over her shoulder, exposing her neck to reveal a long, thin scar on one side, seeming to be from a blade wound.

“He cut you?”

“Yeah...one night while we were making out. He said that blood bonds folk together, and he wanted to be bonded to me forever. Next thing I knew, there was a dagger at my throat. I was so scared, so I let him do it.”

“Gods, Anne. I’m worried about your safety, you know. What if one day he decides that he wants to burn the both of you alive so your souls can intertwine or something crazy like that? You need to find a way to get out from under him.”

The pegasus’ ears drooped sadly. “I don’t know if I can do that...not right now. He’s the one who lives closest to work. If I leave him, I’ll have to drive six hours just to get here, on time or not.”

Snow frowned. “What’s more important, your job or your life?” After a beat of silence, she sighed. “Andante, look. I’m not telling you to walk out right now, but you need to be more careful. Stallions like Pine can be… dangerous if they get upset. I’m just trying to look out for you.”

“I know, Snow, I know. And I will.”

“Good.” With a hum, the light blue mare rose from her seat after downing the rest of her coffee. “I’ll see you on Monday, alright? You take care of yourself, or I’ll bring you hot water instead of coffee to drink all day.”

Anne couldn’t help but smile, chuckle and shake her head at her friend’s playful threat. “Sure, sure. Have a good weekend, Fall.”

The magenta mare tiredly closed the door behind her as she slipped into her shared apartment in the early hours of the morning. Her night spent singing at the lounge had gone longer then she had expected, but the bonus that she would be getting the following week from it would be more than enough to cover her half of the rent for the month, so she didn’t mind. As she quietly wandered down the dimly lit hallway to head to the bedroom, a dark figure suddenly obstructed her path, nearly causing her to jump out of her skin. A yelp was halfway out of her throat when the figure moved towards her, revealing to be none other than her coltfriend, Pine Needle. She grasped her chest as she struggled to catch her breath, wings hanging limply at her sides. “Celestia, Pine! You scared me. Did you want me to have a heart attack?”

Pine merely stared at her, shrugging his shoulders. “My bad. What are you doing coming back so late? You were supposed to be back at least two hours ago.” When she didn’t respond right away, his grey eyes glittered. “Were you at another stallion’s place?”

Anne blinked in surprise. The hell? What kind of question was that? “No...I was at the lounge.”

“How do I know your not lying to me? I can smell it from here.”

“What are you talking about? The only thing you might be smelling is the beer some drunkards spilled on me as I was trying to leave. I’m around stallions all the time, Pine.”

The brown male clearly wasn’t happy with hearing that answer, pulling something out from a pocket in his pants. It was a matchbook, and he carefully inspected it before pulling out a single match and striking it against the scratchpad. The pegasus’ eyes widened.

“Er, Pine? What are you doing?”

He snarled at her, bearing his teeth as he hissed, “Don’t think I’m stupid. I know your with someone else, I can sense it. Your aura changed ever since you first met them. Well, too bad. I had you first, and if I can’t have you anymore, then no one else will.”

Anne’s confusion turned into panic as the earth pony dropped the match, setting the carpeted floor on fire, the glow from it bright against the dark walls. She was quick to shed her alcohol drenched coat and throw it off to the side, backing up when the fire started to spread, trying to figure out what to do. The fire extinguisher was nowhere to be seen as she ran to the kitchen to search for it, panic doubling. The fire was growing larger by the second, and water didn’t seem to be the best option, given that she had very few. As she darted back, anger bubbled in her veins to find that Pine was gone, and if her fate was sealed to die in her apartment alone then so be it, but she wasn’t going down without a fight. Then it hit her: the phone.

Her hands scrambled to find it in the dark, heart plummeting when she finally did locate it and pressed it to her ear, only to be greeted with silence. The line was dead. “Damn it!” she growled, dropping the phone at her hooves and being left with no other option but to evacuate, not even having time to gather anything as the hot, crackling flames blocked her path to both the bedroom and the living room, having fully engulfed the coat she had left on the floor and leaving dark stains on the walls. By that point, sirens were faintly wailing outside, coupled with the concerned shouts and cries from the other residents of the complex building, having been rudely awoken from their sleep to screeching alarms. As the mare dashed down the stairs to get to the busy parking lot, two stallions in particular caught her eye, wandering towards them. “Obsidian? Smokey? What are you doing here?”

The blue earth pony’s head lifted at hearing her voice, surprise clearly evident on his face. “Andante? I’d ask you the same thing.” He then handed her a spare blanket that was tucked under his arm, one already draped over his shoulders. “Here, no need to catch a cold. And to answer your question, we live here. Small world, huh? Mr. High and Mighty didn’t want us peasants on his property, so we’ve been renting a little spot in this nook. Anyways, what’s with all the fire trucks? It’s not like the whole building’s up in smoke.”

Anne frowned. “No, but my apartment probably is. Damn psychopath of a coltfriend lit the carpet on fire because he thought I was cheating on him. Now look where we are, and he’s nowhere to be seen!”

Smokey’s eyes lidded. “...Were you?”

“Zip it, moth horse. I’ll have you know I am very loyal to my partners, please and thank you!” The pegasus sighed, admitting defeat as she sat down on the sidewalk, head in her hands. “I just want to go to sleep…”

The pair looked at each other, silently sharing the same solution. Obsidian cleared his throat. “Well, it just so happens that we have a spare room, and no one is using it… so we could take you in for a few days while everything gets cleared up. And… we can cover the damages, if you’d like.”
Anne’s face shifted from devastated to awed in less than a second. “R-Really? You guys would do that for me?”

He nodded, flashing a soft smile. “Of course. Anything to help out the best Head Secretary in the city.” He offered a hand to pull her up. “Now let’s get you off the ground. Seriously, I think a dog peed right where your sitting.”

The mare jumped up with a squeak, grabbing his hand and barreling into his chest from the force, punching him in the arm when she felt him start to laugh. “Hey! Not funny! I could have died, and all your worried about is making jokes?” Seeing his eyes sparkling in amusement, she rolled hers, shaking her head fondly as her gaze softened. “Fine, Sid. You win...this time.” After a beat, her ears lowered in a grateful way. “I...thank you, really. I can pay you back in full when I’m able to.”

Sid raised a hand to dismiss that proposal. “No need. Call it a friendly favor, and I’ll stop pestering you for the night.”

Anne scoffed, then smirked, letting him wrap his arm around her shoulders to guide her towards the other untouched complex building. “Alright, Alright. It’s a favor.”

“Great.”

Monday had arrived, and everything started off quite well...as well as they could be. Anne couldn’t help but feel a bit unnerved at all of the best wishes and questions from her co-workers about the incident over the weekend. She understood their concern, but at the same time, it was like they were trying to get her to snap. When she sat back down in her chair after taking a quick restroom break, she noticed that Snow was as still as a log, staring at her computer monitor with a blank expression. “Er, Snow? You doing okay?”

Snow’s head snapped towards her at an alarming speed, eyes as wide as saucers as her pupils dialated to take her in. “What is it, Anne?”

The pegasus slowly leaned back a few inches, slightly concerned about her friend’s rapid change in behavior. “Just...asking if you were alright. You were staring at your screen.”

“Really? Oops, sorry! Got a bit distracted, or ‘lost in my thoughts’, as you put it.”

Anne’s eyes lidded, mostly in amusement, but also carrying a twinge of worry. Snow had never done that before, at least not at work. What was she so wrapped up in? “Is that so? What were you thinking about?”

The earth pony’s face fell, giving way to her feelings of melancholy and sadness. “About you, and the fire...you must have been so scared…”

The other mare’s gaze softened, nodding in agreement. “Yeah, I was. But it’s ok, I can move back in by tomorrow. I got a call from the landlord earlier saying that the painters and carpet installers finished their work last night.”

“And Pine?”

“The police got him. He only got away with having to pay a fine, but they also put a restraining order on him so something like this doesn’t happen again. Hopefully I won’t be seeing him around any time soon.”

Snow’s face lit up a little. “That’s great to hear, Anne. And hey, now you got the whole place to yourself!”

Anne groaned at that, ears slicking back. “Yeah, and I’ll have to pay the full amount of rent. Not to mention...it’ll be lonely. Sure, Pine was an asshat, but...he still kept me company.”

The light blue mare laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, giving her a warm smile when their eyes met. “You’ll be fine, Andante. You don’t need no stallion to keep you company. You’ve got yourself, and I’m always a call away if you need someone to talk to.”

The pegasus smiled back, wrapping a wing around her in a quick hug. “Thanks, Snow. Now let’s get back to work before Smokey catches us slacking.”

Right on cue, the changeling hybrid rounded the corner to stroll to the front desk, taking all the time he wanted to get there. When he (finally) reached it, an unreadable expression was on his face, something that made Anne’s stomach churn. “Good afternoon, ladies. Hope things are good here.”

The magenta mare nodded. “Just fine, Smokey. What’s going on?”

He merely hummed, face again shifting to that odd expression. “Nothing to worry about. North just wanted to have a word with you.”

Oh gods. “W-with me? Right now?”

“No, yesterday. Yes, right now. Unless you want to reschedule-”

“No, no! It’s fine! Just...give me a minute…”

“Sure thing. I’ll let him know your on your way.”

Anne could feel the cold sweat trickling down her back as he left, mind going a mile a minute. This certainly wasn’t how she expected things to be going. And Snow’s smug grin sure wasn’t helping. “What?”

The mare beamed. “Nothing. Just intrigued at how fast you went from calm to nervous. What was it, like five seconds?”

“Oh, hush you. Why are you so calm about this?”

“C’mon, really? He’s your crush, you flirt with him on a weekly basis. A little meeting isn’t going to hurt you.”

“Yeah, but he’s still my boss. What if he heard about what happened and tries to get me to stay with him or something? Or worse, put cameras all around the apartment?”

Snow snorted. “Anne, calm down. You’re blowing this way out of proportion. How about you stop moving your mouth and start moving your legs? The only way to find out is to go. You’ve got this.”

The pegasus took in a deep breath, tense shoulders relaxing when she let it go. “Okay...okay. I’m going. Wish me luck.”

The soft click of the door closing behind her made Anne’s nervousness rise by tenfold, the harsh reality of her being in the same room as her superior alone slamming into her like a truck. A cold breeze coming in from the air vent above her made her shiver, feathers ruffling to help keep her warm as she took a slow step forward. Thankfully, North was currently focused on something at his computer, so he didn’t hear her come in, at least she hoped. With him distracted, she took the time to look around his office.

It was a simple layout, what with a large desk in the center of the room and couple of bookshelves stood off on either side, a few various decorations spread out within them. On his desk, she noticed a small picture frame with a photo of the head CEO with his cohorts, seemingly taken at a bar considering they were all holding up mugs filled with some sort of beer. They looked...happy, much happier than they usually were on a day to day basis. A low ‘ahem’ caused her gaze to snap towards the stallion sitting behind the computer monitor, blue eyes locked on her while one well groomed eyebrow formed a near perfect arc as he noted her presence. “It’s a bit rude to be snooping around someone’s space while they’re still present, don’t you think?” his voice rumbled, sounding more amused than annoyed. Still, the mare’s brain went into overdrive as her heart skipped a beat -or two-, wings instinctively unfurling to hide herself as she stammered.

“O-oh, I’m so sorry, Sir! I didn’t mean-”

He dismissed her with a wave of his hand. “At ease, Andante.” Giving her a quick once over, he added, “You’re sweating, by the way.”

The female froze, then frantically felt around her face to find that drops of sweat were indeed dripping from her forehead. Deciding to play it off, her sass surfaced, if only for a minute. “Well, maybe if your office wasn’t as cold as a blizzard, I wouldn’t be.”

North let out a soft chuckle, the sound kick-starting Anne’s heart again- only this time into beating too fast. “My apologies. I find myself working better in colder temperatures. Being too hot is just a nuisance, you know?”

He could say that again. “Of course.”

“Now, onto what I called you up here for.” He paused when he saw her panicked look, shaking his head. “Relax. I’m not going to fire you. I just wanted to make a proposal.”

Anne was confused. A proposal? For what? “Er, for what, Sir?”

The unicorn’s eyes lidded, and the mare could have sworn that she saw his irises flash red, but it was like nothing happened when she blinked. Weird. “I heard about what happened with your...coltfriend. While I couldn’t prevent it from occurring, I can ensure that it doesn’t occur again. My penthouse isn’t too far from where you are currently residing, and if you ever need a place to stay for a while, it’s wide open.”

The pegasus started to feel a bit suspicious at hearing that, crossing her arms over her chest. “You three have been awfully generous to me as of late. Giving me lodging, paying for the damages...what are you getting at? There are at least fifty other mares working for this company, and if this happened to any of them, you probably wouldn’t bat an eyelash. What am I to you?”

Instead of answering, North rose from his seat, walking around his desk to stand in front of her. Time seemed to slow down when he reached up to lightly trace the scar on her neck with his fingers, as it was left out in the open due to her mane being up in a ponytail. His voice was low as he murmured, “You’re a feisty mare, Andante. I like that.” Without giving her a chance to process what was happening, he headed to the door, glancing back behind him with that familiar smirk he typically wore whenever he greeted her in the mornings. “The offer still stands,” he noted nonchalantly before stepping out, the door closing with the same small click, but now it brought a whole different wave of emotions than before.

Anne brought a hand to her neck, just now realizing the heat that burned behind her cheeks and the wide smile that tugged at her lips. He...liked her. Her wings fluttered. He liked her! If her heart hadn’t decided to burst out of her chest already, it had the go ahead now. As much as the romantic side in her wanted to relish in the moment, her sensible side was quick to pull her back to the ground, causing her to groan and press her fingers against her temples as she too headed out the door to get back to her desk. “Gods, I’m a sappy mess…”

When North came into work the following morning, he expected it to be like any other: everyone at their stations, Obsidian and Smokey making their rounds from time to time, and Anne smiling that dazzling grin up at him whenever he stopped by to check in. That seemed to be the case….with the first two objectives. A twinge of worry occasionally flickered in his chest whenever he came around, finding Snow sitting at the front desk, alone. Everyone else seemed to be rather quiet as well, much to his dismay. Finally he decided to talk to the Secretary's assistant about it when noon hit, ears drooping at her answer.

“I haven’t seen her, Mr. Star. Nor has she answered my calls. She must have fallen ill, I’m sure she’ll be back tomorrow.”

He hoped so. “Does she have any medical conditions I should know about?”

“Not that I know of. It’s really rare for her to just not show up, given she lives not too far from here. Do you want me to keep calling her?”

North shook his head. If the mare truly was sick, he didn’t want to be down her neck about it so soon. From what the earth pony was telling him, she must of had a pretty good attendance record, so he shouldn’t be too worried about her not coming in for one morning. “It’s alright, Snow. Thank you though.”

“Of course, Sir.”

The next few days had passed, and the tan unicorn was getting more and more irate every morning he didn’t see Anne where she was supposed to be. He had sent both Obsidian and Smokey to check in on her the day before, becoming concerned when they reported that they didn’t get a chance to see her at all, her apartment sounding like no one was inside when they put their ears to the door. Tonight, he decided that he had enough, planning to go see what was going on himself. The air was cold as he got out of his car and traversed the flights of stairs to get to her door, pausing once he was in front of it. Thoughts swirled around in his head. Why was he doing this? She was just an employee, he shouldn’t be so upset over the well-being of a mere employee. She was replaceable, there were countless mares and stallions that would fight each other to the death just to get a chance at having her position. But...would they be like her? Would they have the same level of confidence and wit that she did?

Something in his chest tightened, and he felt his fingers curl into a fist. No, no they wouldn’t. Andante was different, and if he had to go to the extremes to make sure she was okay, then so be it. Raising his hand, he knocked at the door with the smallest amount of force he could muster. “Andante? It’s me, North. I heard you weren’t feeling well, so I just wanted to stop by to see how you were doing.” No answer. He waited a few minutes before knocking again, this time a bit harder, figuring she may not have heard him. “Could you come to the door, please? It’ll only be a second.” Still nothing. A few minutes later, he finally resorted to pounding on the door, a bit of his frustration seeping into his tone as he barked, “C’mon, I know you can hear me. ...Andante!” Silence.

North growled before letting his hand drop to his side. Something was wrong, he could sense it. Figuring that busting down the door would be a bit too forward, not to mention attention bringing, he settled for a more reasonable alternative: making a fake key. His horn lit up, fishing Sid’s key out of his back pocket before casting a quick duplication spell on it. The only difference between the two were that his key had malliable teeth, giving him the ability to match the lock without possibly bending the earth pony’s, which he may or may not have taken while the other’s back was turned earlier that morning...whoops. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the key into the lock, ears perked when he heard the click of the door unlocking, carefully peering inside the dark apartment. His stomach lurched at what he saw.

Anne’s frame was slumped over on the floor in the middle of the hallway, bare back facing him as the air was filled with the thick scent of blood seeping into the carpet. North pushed the door open, rushing over to her to roll her over and pull her up into a sitting position. “Anne? Are you alright? ...Gods, what happened to you?”

The mare’s right eye was swollen shut, bearing a nasty looking dark circle around it. Her nude body was riddled with cuts and scratches, all of which were bleeding and leaving stains on her coat, which looked unkempt and matted. She was battered and bruised, barely clinging onto consciousness as her good eye wearily opened at the feeling of being moved, a light smile ghosting on her face when she recognized who it was. “N...N…” A low whimper left her as her head fell back, not having the strength to even say his name.

The stallion held her as he sighed. “Shh...It’s ok, you don’t need to say anything. I’ve got you.” His ears suddenly lifted to the sound of something moving in the distance. They weren’t alone. Feeling an angered growl start to rumble within his chest, he gently laid the wounded pegasus back down before rising to his hooves, eyes scanning his surroundings while his heartbeat pounded thickly in his ears. Before he could blink, someone came up behind him, grabbing his mane and pressing a sharp blade against his neck. His eyes narrowed, clearly not in the mood for games. “You have three seconds to drop your weapon before it ends up embedded in your skull.”

There was a bit of hesitance, but the dagger fell to the ground with a thump, North whirling around to come face to face with his opponent. It was a dark brown earth pony stallion, long ombre brown and green mane draped over his shoulders and agitated grey eyes staring up at him with a bitter tone. “Who are you, tall stick?” he snarled, muscular arms across his chest.

The unicorn raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “Doesn’t matter. And you must be the infamous coltfriend, Pine Needle. Pyromaniac and mare abuser. I’m surprised that this is only your first restraining order. Which you just violated.”

Pine merely pointed at the pegasus on the floor, cutting her a sharp glare. “She was cheating on me! She was looking for it.”

North hummed, letting his eyes slowly shift into red. “The same could be said about you, but what do I know? I’m just a ‘tall stick’.” His horn then ignited in a blaze of color, lifting the shorter male in his aura by his neck, smirking at the panic reflecting in the other’s eyes. Oh, was he going to enjoy this. “You know, Mr. Needle, I could do a lot of things to you right now. I could break all of your bones, burn you alive, flip you upside down so the blood rushes to your head and you pass out, then throw you off of a cliff… But, for the sake of time, I won’t get to play with you tonight. I’ll just send you to a few of my friends, and let them take good care of you. Have fun.” With that, the earth pony simply disappeared into thin air, leaving no trace that he was there in the first place except for the dagger still lying where it fell.

Glancing over at the mare, the taller stallion let out a low sigh when he saw that she was sitting up, but pressed against the wall, fluffed wings hiding her frame as her eye stared at him with an emotion he knew of all too well. She was scared. Her whole body flinched when he took a step towards her, scooting away the best she could, not that she could get very far. “Anne, please. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have. I want to help you.”

She stared at him for a second longer before lowering her head in defeat, allowing him to get closer and help her stand. Feeling self conscious, she softly asked him to stay by the door so she could find some clothes to throw on, heat blossoming behind her cheeks when he told her that she looked beautiful when she came back out, but she was too out of it to come up with a snarky response. Together, they left the scene behind, and she fell fast asleep once she got in the car, hopeful that things would clear up in the morning.