My favorite restaurant was somewhere I had always gone with Fluttershy. It was a small place, really nothing special, but I liked it because she liked it. That’s all that really mattered, though. It made her happy, so I was happy too. However, would Exist like it?

I smiled at him as I always had. I watched his little paws press into the dirt, albeit shakily, as he followed next to me. Like he was leashed to me, the touch of my hand against his mane kept him close by. For some reason, I was excited. Well, excited and nervous more like it. Er, was it nervousness? Hmm…

The place was not far away now. As we got closer, I could see there was plenty of room for us. “Perfect!” I thought to myself, “We’ll have the place basically to ourselves!”

Colors of ponies and buildings passed us by as we approached the restaurant. The place, sitting on a small cozy corner within the nooks and crannies of Ponyville, was rather spacious despite its looks on the outside. Why they decided to buy up an entire building and not even have ceiling seating is beyond me. Despite my wondrous yet devilishly infinite wisdom of the world, there’s some things that I just may never know - and I’m fine with that, so long as it doesn’t get in my way of having fun.

“Here we are, little Existypie! My favorite restaurant!” I chuckled as I picked him up by his armpits, squeezing my fingers into his addictively squishy body. “I hope you’re prepared for an unforgettable luncheon! ...Or is this dinner? …Linner? Ah, it doesn’t matter.”

The little stallion was shaking a bit in my hands. He was so excited! I couldn’t help but squeeze him close to me as we floated effortlessly into the wonderful establishment. The smells of cooked food were completely lost on me, but I’m sure that he loves it. It was never really anything I had an interest in, at any point, to eat anything in particular. Always just chocolate milk and cotton candy. Oh so fun and pretty were the colors they made in the clouds - but no more! Let’s have something different for a change.

Lightly placing down my little cutiepie, I impatiently tapped on the front podium, “Excuse me, we need a table for two - and I don’t want anything but the best, got it?”

The doting mare, completely oblivious to my greatness, just said, “Oh sure! Lemmie get’cha a seat by the window, if ya want!” How could they not know I was coming? I practically advertised our date!

“That would be… fine, I suppose.” The window seat? Certainly not the worst, but she could do better. I know where the good seats really are, but hey, it’s not that big of a deal. My lips pursed as she escorted us over to the quaint boothed seats that were perched just next to a rather glossy window.

Menus were placed in front of us as she nodded and sauntered off to help whomever else. Of course, there was nothing really for me to eat - I didn’t need to eat! Or did I? ...Maybe today I will eat something. Oh well. I perused the menu, as I should be.

My eyes drifted off to my lover who shakily put a paw to the menu, his eyes twitching and shaking from sheer bliss and excitement. “I see you’re just eager to get something to eat, honey! Well then, pick whatever you want. I’ll put it on my tab.” I winked.

Exist didn’t say anything. More like, he murmured something from his adorable muzzle. What a happy boy he was. I’m so glad I was able to make him this excited that he’s at a loss for words! Gosh, what a perfect day.

“What are you going to get?” I smiled, chuckling a bit. “They’ve got plenty to choose from~!”

“... . …. ….” Exist seemed to mutter something. For some reason, he didn’t even look at me.

“Hmm? Is everything alright?” I reached over to the menu that was hiding his face from me. “Whatcha hidin’ from? It’s just me!”

The menu peaked down to reveal the yellow muzzle to me, and I was astonished to see how his face looked. His eyes looked forward, almost robotically, and he was shivering a bit. His mouth reminded me of a whining foal, as it was stuck in a slight frown and quivering.

I reached over further and pressed my hand through his mane like I always had, but he didn’t seem to budge. He stopped shivering when I touched him, but his eyes didn’t light up like they had previously. I wanted to say something but the words just wouldn’t come out. What had happened? I know I may have gone a bit overboard when I was, erm, giving him some love, but this is far from what I intended.

“Exist! What’s wrong? Speak to me!” I frantically shook his face to try to jossel him loose of his stupor.

His mouth opened, “I… I’m not a monster… am I?”

“Huh?” I blinked. “What are you talking about?”

There was something familiar in the way he said it, that got my old mind buzzing. Something long ago I had buried. He softly spoke again, “I just wanted to be happy, b- but everypony- else was unhappy. All the princesses were gone, b-because of me.” He looked like he was about to cry.

After putting a paw to my face as I was forced into this dilemma, I looked around for anything that might pull him out. Why was he acting this way? Did I do something so irreversibly bad that his mind is just gone? No, no. My tricks don’t work on him. He’s weird like that, but then, what is going on?

As I tried to think of a solution, the waitress arrived back at our table and happily asked, “What may I get y’all today?”

“Oh, some of that mushroom stew and -” I squinted at my menu, “D-Pop? Yes… that drink.”

“Alrighty. And what may I get Fluttershy--” She paused, noticing her error, “Er, your friend here?”

“H-h-h-he’ll get something spicy. The spiciest food you have! With water!” I blurted out without thinking.

“Is the Super Spicy Supremo Slamma Jamma Thank-You Mamma Sandwich-Sandwich, okay?”

“Yes! Just hurry.” I threatened her with my angry eyes.

It wasn’t very effective.

“No worries. It’ll be out in a jiffy.” The pink and purple waitress scurried off with the order.

I sighed a bit, glad that this may shock my little pony but I still was left to wait for the possible solution to my problem. Spiraling emotions I have no business trying to verbalize began to surface as a strange déjà vu began to choke me. There was a moment I could have ran away, snapped my fingers and attempted to fix everything, or let it all burn down in front of me, but no. I waited.

No, wait! Ah. What am I doing? I must be an idiot! There was an obvious solution I had overlooked entirely. The very thing that he liked the most, other than moi, was something I always used to tease him with. Yes… that thing.

Knowing what to do, I slithered my tail from beneath the table and pressed the tufted end against the unaware cutiepie. Snapping my fingers, I let my magic do its work. Instantaneously, the tuft turned into a ruffle of white feathers that quickly crept up the pony’s legs and began to brush slowly.

I didn’t have to do much, only lean against the table and smile as I do was all that was needed. Slowly, he noticed the enticing present I had given him, and he seemed to calm down. He placed his paws cutely on the tuft of feathers I could see from my angle, and squeezed it close. My eyebrows furrowed as I saw him start to frown, and a welling emotion filled his eyes.

The emotion continued, I could see, to develop into a downtrodden sadness I had never seen from him. It was interesting, despite the situation, seeing him look this way. His eyes reminded me of leaky fish bowls. He was like a little foal, clutching my tail close to his body like his mother had been taken from him.

“E-Exist… Do you like… my tail?” I tried to ask.

He nodded, but wept a bit, unable to speak it seemed.

If there was anything I didn’t understand, it was this feeling at this exact moment. I think I wanted to touch him. I didn’t understand why. There was something about him that seemed so soft and nice, but at the same time so sad and lonely. This wasn’t...anything I’ve ever done before, so really I’m not in my league here when it comes to consoling somepony.

I slowly reached over, and let my hand rest on his cheek. I really didn’t know what I was doing; my arm was working on its own at this point. My eyes followed my paw as it pressed against the stallion’s cheek, and glided slowly down until it rested beneath his chin.

He looked up at me with adorable tears welling up. His eyes reminded me of how wet the grass gets around Fluttershy’s home when I visit in the morning. Her grass being that way told me things are where they should be. While I’m not too happy about things being… in place, I know that she’d be happy that way. That’s what his eyes remind me of - that happy feeling. At least, they would make me feel that way if he wasn’t crying! Why was he crying? I didn’t do anything wrong, I don’t think.

“Why are you crying?” I asked, swiping away a loose tear.

“I don’t know. I- I just, um… I don’t know.” His face told me a different story. That, and anypony lying to me is like pink paint on concrete. “W-Was that all real? What you… showed me.”

I blinked, “I didn’t- show you anything. We just--”

“Alrighty. I got your orders here.” The waitress came back with a tray of our orders. “We got the Super Spicy Supremo Slamma Jamma Thank-You Mamma Sandwich-Sandwich with a water on the side - Aaaand, the mushroom stew with the drink. Can I get y’anything else?”

“Oh, no. That’s all.” I paused before realizing I forgot to say something, “...Thank you.” I grumbled.

“It’s my pleasure. Have a nice meal!” She left quite quickly.

I had pulled back and looked at the meals we were given. They were… up to somepony’s standards, but certainly not my own. I would change things up but right now there are more pressing matters. Namely, my little colt is upset over some phantom visions.

“Eat up, Existy!” I smiled, taking one of the mushrooms to the guild of my magic. I let one mushroom after the other start dancing as they hopped out of the plate, and formed a line around my plate.

He eyed his plate, not attempting to eat anything just yet. I watched has his paws slowly reached up over the table and shakily grabbed at the admittedly stocky sandwich. There were a few ideas that ran through my head about what could happen with that sandwich, but perhaps it’s time I lay those ideas down - for now anyway.

The sandwich had a healthy bite taken out of it by his adorable chompers. With only a few moments to spare, his face immediately flared up with a redness that reminded me of a certain apple variety I’m sure one of Fluttershy’s little friends would know. I smiled, as he quickly dropped the sandwich and grabbed for the glass of water and began to chug it like his head were about to expunge a factory’s worth of steam.

There was a reprieve as I watched the water do its magic. His face returned to its normal color as he seemed to be sweating a bit from the pepperine-infused sandwich. Chuckling, I popped a few of the dancing mushrooms into my mouth.

“Ughh…” I heard him groan from beneath his paws. “.....What was that…?”

Ah, okay. So he was just in a bit of emotional duress. “Oh, you know, just something super spicy to jump-start your body. Heh heh.”

He didn’t say anything more. His eyes remained pressed shut against the clutch of his paws as he continued to reel back. Quickly, my hand reached over again and pat him on the head. Flinching, he apprehensively accepted the head-pat and slowly looked up to greet me.

“What happened?” The recovering pony asked.

“Huh?” I popped another earthy piece of fungi into my mouth. “Nothing, why?”

“...” He let out a breath of hot air as he looked down at his sandwich. “Did you really have to order me this super spicy sandwich?”

A toothy smile accompanied my returning feelings of comfort, “I thought you liked spicy stuff!”

“I don’t remember saying anything about that.” He scrunched his snout in protest before quickly releasing, “But, yeah, I do like spicy stuff sometimes.”

This is how the rest of our day went. Just a quiet back and forth.

But…

You don’t wanna know about that from me, right? I mean, I could have just made this all up! Wouldn’t that be interesting? Well, regardless of if you believe me or not, this is the story I had to tell, and I’m done telling it. For now.

Before I go, let me sing you a song!

The last time I wore a striped sweater,

Was in the depths of my despair.

Falling, falling, falling

I found what I needed,

In the dark he came.

Over and Over.

The last time I wore a striped sweater,

Is the last time I’ll ever feel loved.

Cuz, well, that’s just how it is.

Kinda makes you think, huh?

Loving, losing, lamenting, and loving again.

Everlasting emotion was all I had left.

Let me leave now,

Leaving your favorite piece of mind,

I’ll find out how

To start it again.

Goodbye!

Author's Note

This took a while I'm sorry. I've just been busy with work! But, here it is!

Again, thank you for reading up to this point. I don't know when the next chapter will be but... just be patient!