Clown Town

Your body clock, it wills you to awaken. An unfamiliar feeling greets you as you come to your senses. It’s the feeling of...a warm embrace. Shifting your gaze a little, you catch the creature holding you in place. Memories of the previous night rush through your head as you piece things together. You’re startled, but you catch yourself from making any noise.

Clamped in his arms, you remember just how drunk Anon was last night. You don’t really know if he’ll remember anything like you do when he wakes up, but then again, you don’t know much about his species yet either. Unfortunately, that means you’ll have to give up the snug feeling that you’re experiencing right now to make a getaway. You may never be embraced like this ever again, but you really need to leave before Anon wakes up. A heavy sacrifice, but a necessary one.

Slipping through his loosening grasp, you manage to successfully escape without waking him up. Turning your head, the closest thing you see is a dresser with...a mirror. You look like a mess. Frizzy hair, cow licks all over your fur, and you even smell like a mess too. In your self-evaluation, you strike a glance at a clock next to the mirror. It points at 6:22 AM, just a little over your usual wake up time.

As you stretch around a little, you freeze in place. You feel like you’re...being watched. You don’t see anything unusual in the room, but it’s a rather strong feeling you have.

You shake the feeling off. If you stay any longer, you might be late for your...thing. The mere thought of what’s to happen later fills you with both excitement and dread.

You start to silently make your way out of the room, making sure to avoid making any sound on the way out. At the door frame, you glance back at the sleepy Anon. There’s something odd about that stallion. It’s like you somehow know that you’ll see him again. Well, now’s not the time to be thinking about stuff like that. Time to leave.

Soft sounds of movement wake you from your deep sleep. It’s not very loud, but considering that it’s usually silent as a grave in the castle, it’s enough to pull you from the dream world.

Rubbing your eyes, you smell something quite...odd. It’s a pleasant smell, so sweet, so warm, so feminine. Speaking of warm, your arms feel like they're getting colder, like there was something keeping them toasty until just now. Something’s definitely not right here. All you remember from last night was drinking with Nurse Redheart and Stein. You didn’t really end up here with her now, did you?

You sit up from your bed to survey the room until-

“Fuuuwaaaaaaaah! Finally, so warm!” a strange, young-looking mare pomfs on your bed beside you. Upon closer inspection, she appears to be a batpony with a pale midnight blue coat. Her yellow eyes and

You don’t feel any hostility from her, but you’re surprised nonetheless, “W-who are you?”

“Does it really matter who I am? Wait, it does, right? This is a job, remember that.” she seems to be talking to herself for the most part. It’s hard to tell whether she’s just like that or she’s got something up with her head.

After stretching around a bit and moaning from relief, she perks herself up from your bed, “Sir Anonymous, I am Corporal Shade Fieldsworth, your designated companion. I specialize in combat and reconnaissance.You may refer to me as Shade.” she introduces herself quite cheerfully with a curtsy little bow.

“Companion for what exactly?” you follow up as her introduction doesn’t really clear anything up.

“I was tasked specifically to make sure that you stay out of harm’s way.” she explains.

That’s quite a vague description, but considering that nothing has tried to even harass you since your stay here, then this must be about that time you almost offed yourself.

“You were sent by Princess Twilight, I presume?”

“Yes, that’s right.” she answers.

Well then, under these circumstances, you don’t think you can get rid of her. Might as well let it be for now then. Who knows, maybe some good could come out of this.

“I see. You already know my name, don’t you? You can just call me Anon.”

“Okay!” she bluntly responds before plopping back down on the bed.

That was pretty blunt. Not exactly the answer you expected, but you’ll take it.

At least you feel like she’ll be more vibing than annoying.

On a more important note, she may know a thing or two about what happened last night.

“So how long have you been here?”

“Since yesterday afternoon. I arrived with Princess Twilight. I was told to observe only for my first day on the job.”

Knowing that you were being watched yesterday tingles your spine a bit. Was she watching you sleep too? Considering that she was here even before you woke up, that’s probably a yes.

“Ummmm, about last night-“

“If you’re wondering about what happened, I helped a mare carry you home. You’re not the lightest of the bunch, but I managed to bring you to your bed.” she reveals audibly through the pillow covering her face just before yawning.

“Can you tell me about that mare?” you question her.

“Oh, you pulled her in your arms while you were asleep. She didn’t seem to resist too much after a little bit though.”

It might just be the warm temperature, but beads of sweat start to run down your skin after you heard her say that.

“W-would you happen to know who she was?” you ask, your voice a little shaky. Even though you’ve drank with Nurse Redheart already, you can’t deny that you haven’t known her for long. If that did happen, you really hope you didn’t scare her away.

“Hmmmmmmm, I do, actually…. But wouldn’t it be so much more fun if I didn’t tell you?” she giggles to herself.

“Wait, wha-No, just tell me.” you’re beginning to wonder what was going through Twilight’s head when she was picking your companion.

“Nope, you can find it out yourself.”

Damn. It’s not really a big deal anyway, but it does fiddle your sticks a little to start the day like this. Now, you may or may not have a word or two with Twilight when the occasion arises.

Heaving a little sigh, you turn your head to the clock on your dresser. “6:34 AM” it reads.

“Alright then. I have someplace to be at for lunch. Have you had breakfast?”. It’s your first encounter, so you don’t really plan on chalking her off as below an acquaintance yet, as important as a first impression is.

“No, I haven’t. I’m pretty hungry right now myself.”

“Okay, let’s get some from the pantry.”

With a few stretches, you stand up and head towards the door. As expected, Shade follows.

You find yourself walking towards Carousel Boutique after picking up some food. You probably need a change of clothes already. You don’t really want the folks here to think that you’re some kind of slob.

You didn’t really feel too hungry, and Shade said she would just take a mango, so you decided to take one of the leftover blueberry muffins. You didn’t happen to pass by Starlight, Trixie or Spike either. Sunday must be their sleep day, you supposed.

As Shade gobbles up her fruit while you munch on your pastry, you arrive at your destination. Though admittedly, it was a short walk anyway.

Giving the door three knocks, you turn to Shade, “So, are you gonna standby right outside orrrrrr…?”

“I’ll be around.” she gives you a rather exaggerated wink.

You don’t exactly know what that means, but you like the sound of it.

Hearing a door swing open, you turn towards it.

“Ah, Anon. What brings you here this fine Sunday morning?” the white unicorn greets you with a bit of a yawn.

“Nothing much, but if it’s not too much to ask, I could use some new clothes. Your boutique’s open on Sundays too, right?” you ask in the hopes that you’re not being a bother. Sunday is a day to rest, after all.

“It certainly is! If it’s clothes you want, it’s clothes you’ll get.” noticing you’re not alone, she moves her head a little to the left to see more clearly the mare that’s behind you. “Or would your little friend over there like some new clothes too?”

Without waiting for a response, she trots right behind you to meet up with your new...friend? You’re not really sure if you can call her that yet, but you have a feeling you will soon enough.

“Nice to meet you, darling. I’m Rarity. And you are…?”

Shade gives a sturdy salute before introducing herself, “I am Shade Fieldsworth, Anon’s designated companion. And no, I would not like new clothes. The only ones I wear are my armor.”

“Ah, just for you then, darling. I’ll see what I can make. Come, Anon.” Rarity turns around and makes her way to her work station, “And do make yourself comfortable here in the meantime, Ms. Fieldsworth.”

Leaving Shade to stand guard, you find yourself in an organized mess of a room after a short while.

“So, are you gonna take my measurements first?”

“Usually I would, but could you put these on first?” Rarity pulls out a plain-looking white shirt and shorts from a pile of cloth.

“Wait, you’ve already been making clothes for me?”

“I must say that I’ve had a fascination lately in making clothes for other species besides ponies. I don’t often make clothes for Minotaurs because they’re too gigantic, but I can settle with some of the smaller ones sometimes. I figured their clothes don’t look too different from yours so I started making a pair for you when I could.” she explains quite reasonably. That does sound Rarity.

“How kind of you.” you commend her.

“Please, darling. You’ve been wearing that drab thing for over a week now! It would be a crime to fashion if I don’t do anything about it.”

Now that really sounds like Rarity.

“Anyhoo, you can change over here behind these curtains.”

“Gotcha.”

These aren’t half bad.

“How is it?” Rarity asks, anticipating in excitement.

“It’s a little tight, but they’re definitely comfy. How’d you make it without measurements?” you wonder, since you don’t remember being with Rarity and a tape measurer at the same time.

“After decades of experience, darling, one can measure with sight. Well, sight and a few ‘accidental’ nudges here and there.”

“So you mean to tell me that you haven’t been bumping into me by accident the last few days?”

“That’s right!” she gleefully replies with a cheery smile.

You don’t even feel that weirded out. It’s more astonishing than it is creepy.

“Don’t think too much of it, darling. I’ve heard stories of creatures measuring their enemies weapons while they’re in battle.”

“Damn.” that’s all you manage to say, amazed as you are.

“Language, darling.” she chides you as she begins carefully measuring you with a tape measure in her magic.

Adjusting her glasses, she asks “Any kind of clothes you have in mind? I can only make so much for you at one time.”

“At the moment? I guess I need some casual clothes for the most part.”

“That’s a bit of a shame. Though I will admit that the flashier clothes can wait. Do come back soon when you can. I already have some designs in mind for you.” she offers as she takes a few more measurements by your waist.

“Sure. I’ll probably need some more clothes for different occasions anyway.”. Sensibly, you really would need some more eventually, and you can’t really think of many other places where you can get some quality clothing.

“Swell! That should be all for now, darling. I might have one ready for you later if you come by.” she finishes with a smile as she packs up her measuring tape.

“Thanks, Rarity. I’ll try to stop by if I can. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got someplace to be at.”

“Would you like me to take you to the door?” she offers.

“No, that’s quite alright, thank you.”

“Off you go now then, Anon. See you soon.” she bids you goodbye in a melodic tune.

“You too.” you return her farewell, leaving her to her own devices in her room.

“Shade?” you call out, not seeing her where she was last at right as you come in the entrance of Rarity’s boutique.

Looking around, you catch her at the corner of your eye. She’s...playing with a ball of yarn…like a feline…

She notices you blankly staring at her. She stops to stare at you in return. You both just kind of...stare at each other.

Dropping the yarn, she stands up and coughs, “Shall we take our leave, Anon?”

And just like that, nothing happened. Nothing seen, nothing heard.

Whatever it may be, you’re sure Twilight has some special reason for picking somepony this...peculiar. I mean, she has to have had some reason, right?

“Y-yeah, we’re done here.”

Acknowledging your answer, you both leave Rarity’s Boutique.

The sun shines brightly the moment you leave. Christ, it’s scorching today. The rays of light are a little blinding even when you look level ahead of you.

On your way back to Twilight’s castle, an ice cream stand catches your eye.

The blazing heat combined with your single breakfast muffin results in a grave craving for a chilly snack.

You can’t take your eyes off the wagon of sweet delicacies.

For some reason, your wallet’s already in your hands.

Yeah, you’re buying some ice cream today.

Approaching the stand, Shade curiously follows you.

“Hey buddy, how much for a scoop?” you inquire the Pegasus vendor.

“One bit per scoop, sir. Two bits if you’d like our larger servings.” he dictates to you the surprisingly cheap pricing. Now that’s a bang for your buck.

You could really for a big scoop right now, ”A large serving of Vanilla, please. Well, that is, if you have any.” you toss him two bits from your wallet as you say so.

“We certainly do, sir! vanilla is a necessary standard for every ice cream cart.” he catches the bits right before scooping up your order to a cone.

Waiting as he gets your order ready, you notice Shade staring at the wagon in wonder.

It’s been rather pleasant today, and you’re feeling generous. Eh, why the hell not? She may be a stranger, but it feels almost criminal to buy ice cream just for yourself on such a hot day..

“Say, could you add another order for a scoop of vanilla and chocolate?” you’re not really sure what Shade likes, so you figure that getting one of each ain’t such a bad idea.

“Coming right up, sir.” he hands you your cone of vanilla as he begins scooping your follow up.

You place another two bits on his counter while you lick away at your cold relief.

“Wow, Anon. I can’t believe you’re ordering two for yourself. You must be pretty hungry.” Shade comments, stopping you mid-lick.

“You know I bought that for you, right?”

“W-what?” she responds, quite confused at your question.

The vendor finishes up his scooping, to which you acquire the second cone of goodness from his hold.

“Thanks.” you gesture the kind stallion.

“Any time.” he returns with a nod.

Turning around, you kneel a little and hold out the untouched cone to Shade.

“B-but that’s yours!” she stammers, “You bought it with your own bits!”

Shade doesn’t seem to understand what’s going on at all. You don’t even understand what the hell she can’t goddamn understand.

“Wait, are you selling it to me? You’re selling it to me, aren’t you? If so, I won’t be fooled! I know that costs 2 bits!” she proclaims with a defensive stance.

Seriously, what the fuck? Even Mr. Vendor is giving her a concerned stare.

“Shade, holy shit just take the damn cone.” you shove it really near her face.

Getting a closer look, she quiets down and stares at the ice cream. It’s like she’s mesmerized by the sweet treat.

-The previous day-

“Who’s this?”

“Starlight, meet Shade Fieldsworth.” Twilight introduces the batpony beside her.

“How do you do, missy?” Shade greets you.

Just a few minutes after Anon left, Twilight came into the room, apparently with a batpony. You hadn’t noticed when exactly she got in the library, but you suppose that kind of thing IS their specialty.

“She will be accompanying Anon from now on. I have designated her as his official companion. You may go now, Ms. Fieldsworth. Take your time to make yourself at home here.” Twilight denounces the change that’ll happen here from now on, the presence of another tenant in the castle.

“Gotcha, Purple Celestia.” Shade quips right before disappearing into the shadows of the library. You’ve heard before of batponies having some form of magic, but it’s your first time actually seeing it in the flesh. Still, what caught you off-guard the most was her casual demeanor.

“How...how old is she?” you query your friend.

“Quite young, actually. Fresh out of The Royal Guard. She graduated and received one of the highest rankings she could achieve not long after. If you ask me, she’d get a higher rank if only she didn’t have insufficient experience. Quite the young prodigy to be proud of, she is.”

“Even for her age, isn’t she a little…” you trail off, not sure what appropriate word to use.

“Childish?” Twilight finishes for you.

“That’s the word I’m looking for.”

“I suppose that’s one of the reasons I chose her for the job.” Twilight slowly makes her way over towards the plethora of books on the shelves.

Scanning the titles, she starts, “I’ve had my eye on Shade for a while now. I...don’t think she has any friends.”

“Really? As in, not even a childhood friend or anything?” you cannot believe your ears. She’s even worse than you when you were growing up.

“I’ve been looking into her when I can, which, admittedly, isn’t often. I've asked her colleagues and even her former drill instructor about her, and all of them only talked to her when it was a matter of business. They even mentioned how they’d never seen her talking in a casual manner with anycreature at all.”

“That’s...pretty bad.” the gravity of Shade’s situation sinks in as you really think about it.

“On the bright side, she can at least deal with everyday conversations normally. However, for some unknown reason, it’s like the childish filly inside her is still there, ever-prominent, ever-persistent.” Twilight points out from her experiences with Shade.

You don’t really blame Shade for that. Experience promotes growth, and for some creatures, they can’t grow without developing relationships.

Twilight continues, “Even after making her part of my routine guards on duty, I still can’t get much out of her. It’s not that she’s shy, she just… doesn’t understand some social situations.” she words it as best as she can.

“I’m guessing this isn’t just about Anon then.” you read between her lines.

“Precisely. I figured that Anon could tap into Shade in a way no one else can, and Shade could soften his sorrowful heart. It’s merely a hunch, nothing more than a baseless idea, but...it’s an idea that I’ve got a strong feeling about. It’s almost as if the stars aligned just for this to happen. Anon doesn’t know anything about Shade, or the stereotypes on batponies, and Shade doesn’t seem to be apprehensive of any races either. She even seemed somewhat excited about the idea of becoming a foreign species’ companion, so this could definitely work...probably...”

“Unfortunately, stigma around certain creatures is still remarkable in most societies, despite the race unification. I’m just glad that Anon doesn’t seem to be prejudistic against anycreature.” you frown at the idea.

“Prejudice will forever remain so long as the sun rises, although thankfully, there’s much less of it now than there was before.” Twilight opens up a silver lining, to which you smile in return.

You put two and two together, and forcing two individuals to stay with each other for an incredibly lengthy amount of time is bound to make something happen between them. They’d at least be friends after a while. Perhaps combining the sorrowful human and the friendless batpony is an idea worth trying. Regardless, you’ll still put faith in your friend’s idea.

“Oh, and one more thing.” Twilight finally finishes looking through the multitudes of books as she pulls one out, “Can I borrow this?”

-Present time-

This cold, round snack… it’s so familiar. You can’t help but stare at it as you try to remember where you’ve seen this before.

“Shade, please just take it. It’s gonna melt soon. I already bought it and I don’t wanna have to return it.” your Lord snaps you out of your trance.

You don’t really understand why he’s so willingly buying something for you free-of-charge, but perhaps it’s a weird culture of his species. Humans sure are weird.

“I… I guess I’ll take it.” you concede, hoping that you’re not being tricked or anything. If you’re gonna spend most of your time with him then you might as well put some trust in him now.

With a little hesitation, you give the cone a lick. The sweet sensation flooding your mind takes you back to a time you’d nearly forgotten.

You… remember, but just a bit…
____________________________________________________________________________
“Ho■■y, you sho■■■n’t give Sha■■ s■■e ic■ cr■■■. S■■’s t■■ ■■ung for t■at.”

“I■’s f■■e, d■a■. ■ust a ■it w■n’■ do ■ny h■rm. S■e, s■e’■ smi■i■g!”

Faint voices of a tender lady and a caring stallion echo in your thoughts.

You can only remember vague silhouettes, but you feel at ease, you feel...so warm inside.

All that stands out in detail in your memory is the cone of sugary goodness being fed to you.
____________________________________________________________________________

“Uhhhhh, Shade? You alright?” your Lord snaps you back to reality. Wondering about the nature of his question, you feel that your face is a little wet. Wiping across your eyes, you confirm your theory.

Why were you crying?

“You don’t have to take the ice cream, Shade. I’ll just have it for myself, I guess.” your Lord relents from his assertive behavior.

“No, it’s...fine.” you don’t really understand much yet about all this ‘friendship’ that Princess Twilight’s been pushing you to do, but you feel like things aren’t going very well with you and your Lord.

Reluctantly, you pick the cone up from his hands.

Your Lord has started consuming his fair share of ice cream, so you do the same, readying yourself for this nostalgic clump of sugar.

A single lick revitalizes your taste buds as they greet an old friend they haven’t met for the longest time. They embrace one another quite warmly, filling you with a euphoric feeling you can’t quite explain. It’s so exquisite, so jubilant, so...so…

You chomp down the whole thing in two seconds, ridding the cone of its sweet existence mere seconds after its joyous birth. That unexplainable sensation is multiplied infinitely after coating every single corner of your mouth in ice cream. You feel as though you could die happy right now. Why haven’t you been eating ice cream all your life?

“Holy smokes, Shade. Calm down, you could get a-”

A sharp pain assaults your brain, forcing yourself to wobble until you drop to the floor.

“Aw, jeez. You got a brain freeze.” your Lord explains.

“B-b-brain f-freeze?” Is this how you’ll die? It has the word brain in it so it must be serious.

Your eyes begin to well up, tears streaming down generously while the pain continues to flourish in your head.

You can’t die yet! There’s so many things you still want to do, like knocking on Princess Twilight’s door and running away, or drinking some real hard drinks like Mango juice.

W-what should you do now?

What the hell is happening?

One second Shade is cautiously denying the ice cream you clearly treated her to and then the next she’s breaking down over a brain freeze.

You have a fuckton of questions in your head, but the one you’d like the answer to right now is “What the hell are you gonna do?”

Well, there’s ONE thing you can do. Seeing the size of Shade’s hoof, you don’t think she can do it herself even if you told her how. You don’t even know if it’s gonna work on ponies, hell, you’ve never even tried it at all. You’re gonna have to do it yourself, but you’re not sure if you want to.

You take another look at the bawling mess by your feet. She’s now cowering beneath her membrane wings from the pain.

You’re gonna have to do it yourself.

“Hey, Shade. Could you look up here for a second?” you ask her.

Still wincing from the pain, she steels herself to stand up just enough to look up at you.

With reluctance, you prepare yourself for what you’re about to do.

You place your hand near her mouth. Carefully, you slip in your fingers and apply pressure at the roof of her mouth. Holding your hand still, you feel the moistness of every labored breath Shade breathes. Still suffering from the brain freeze, she gently nibbles your hand while wrapping her slender tongue around your fingers, which are now starting to feel wet and warm from her saliva.

Oh God, this erotic sensation… you can feel your mountain rising higher and higher.

Before your mountain geographically, but metaphorically, transforms into a volcano, Shade seemingly returns to her default state, which is being incredibly weird.

Retracting her mouth from your hand, she points out, “Mmmmm, salty.”.

A part of your soul yearns to feel that moist sensation once more, but it grieves sorrowfully knowing that the opportunity may never come again.

“Wah! Wait, I feel better now!” your klutz companion just realizes.

“Great, I guess. We should get goi-“

“I AM INDEBTED TO YOU, MY LORD!!!” Shade shouts at the top of her bagpipe-lungs with a ceremonial bow of honor.

Several curious looks from bystanders are shot your way. Of course…

“Shade, keep it down! And I told you to stop calling me that, it’s weird.” you reprimand her, but you feel that these efforts will prove to be fruitless.

“But you saved my life, my Lord. There is no greater act of honor than that. I lay down my life for you now.”

You literally didn’t do that.

“I literally didn’t do that.”

“Now, my Lord, if there’s anything that you’ll need from now on, just ask.”

Looks like she’s ignoring what you’re saying. Either that or she’s too deluded by you “saving” her life for her to notice.

Wait a second, anything?

“Anything?”

“That’s right.” Shade nods affirmatively.

“Hmmm…” you pull out a sheet of paper and a crayon from the bag you use for your job as a teacher and begin to make a rough sketch of something.

“Could you get me something like this? It doesn’t need to be red, or very long.” you ask her, unsure if she still even has access to her Royal Guard armory, or if she even has the ability at all to get you something like this.

“This is…” she trails off.

Damn, you knew that might’ve been a bit much.

“I-it’s fine if you can’t, Shade. Let’s ju-“

“It shall be done!” she shouts right before snatching the sketch off your hands and zooming away.

Well, at least she’ll be gone for a while. Maybe even too long a while.

Digressing, you put your focus towards your main goal.

You check your watch to see that it’s already 8:14 AM.

You’ve still got some time to prepare.

You take your time walking back to Twilight’s castle, relishing in the scenery and atmosphere of the outdoors.

You’re not particularly excited for this date, just like the ones before, but again, you’re not gonna be late. That’s just plain rude.

On your merry way back, a terrible thought lurking in your mind haunts you back as a troubling memory.

Crap! You forgot to take your students’ papers back home to grade over the weekend!