Salvation | Rebirth

Artful, over all the time he had been around Wild, had learned a good deal about him. He had seen many different parts of him, which he couldn’t help but find interesting. He had seen him aloof and, in a certain way, unwelcoming, those first few days when Artful met him first. Artful had heard rumors about him, of course, although there weren’t many. Wild hadn't appeared friendly, and the inhabitants of the Royal Orphanage knew to give someone like him space lest something bad happened. After the tournament in Ponyville, Wild had not changed, yet he got two ponies hanging around him. Artful didn’t know the specifics at first, but it appeared that they talked at him, and he simply let it happen.

Artful learned that ‘letting it happen’ seemed to be a default response of Wild to anyone who wanted to get to know him. He didn’t seem to avoid anyone on purpose, so Artful had judged it safe to approach him. He couldn’t say that the two of them talked overly much, and Artful had become aware some time past that he was mostly talking at Wild. However, it could be forgiven since Artful was, without a doubt, a bit flustered at the time. After all, he approached Wild with the explicit intent of getting physically close to him later down the line, and Artful could readily admit that sort of thing didn’t come very easily to him, certainly not to some ponies he knew that regularly went for casual hook-ups. Artful simply didn’t have the disposition for it, and he had learned to accept it.

Over the relatively short time Artful and Wild had been in an official romantic relationship, Artful saw more sides of him: the caring and tender, the awkward and shy, the vulnerable and fearful, and the lustful and desiring. Never in a million years would Artful have expected Wild to reveal that he was from a completely different world, which was an entirely new and unknown side of him that Artful, if he were being entirely honest, didn’t truly know what to do with.

It was true that Artful did his best to consider Wild as simply being from another country, because that was true, in a sense. However, the fact that he wasn’t just from a different country but a star system, it raised some questions, and those questions Artful did not expect to be answered, and so he didn’t voice them. From what he had learned of Wild, Wild’s past had been... painful, to say the least. Tragedy had befallen him, and Artful had a huge suspicion that whatever it was that Wild had gone through ended up with him traveling to this world. Artful couldn’t say he was a huge believer in destiny - he had never really thought about it - but, perhaps, there was something to it. Wild had appeared in a place the most likely to provide him help, after all. As far as Artful could see, Wild had gotten better. He was no longer averse to touch, he spoke regularly if awkwardly, his accent blatantly obvious even if it was even somewhat nice. And, of course, Artful could not ignore the fact that Wild had grown comfortable enough to accept a relationship offer from Artful. And what a relationship it had already been...

Artful was fully aware that Wild thought it was progressing too fast. Now that Artful knew the context, he understood that it was the cultural difference that had arisen between the two of them. However, Wild was still willing to go forward, and the two had certainly had a good time so far. Artful learned of Wild’s affectionate and loving side, as well as of his careful side. Artful could admit that he wouldn’t mind if Wild was a little rougher with him, but he also understood that Wild might simply not be comfortable with that himself for one reason or another. Either way, Artful was not going to push - he was comfortable with the pace of how things were going between the two of them, and he was perfectly willing to let Wild take the lead in that.

“Look!” Wild exclaimed, gesturing at a bouncy castle, a grin on his face, “Let’s go!”

Artful smiled and followed him, trotting not far behind. He was now learning of Wild’s fun-having side, after all.

The bouncy castles present were rated by weight, and the attendants made the two stand on weight scales. Wild was heavier than Artful, and not just because Wild was a unicorn and Artful was a pegasus. However, Wild was still lean, so the two of them could go to the middle bouncy castle. They were also made to wear weird squishy shoes on their hooves - presumably in order to avoid damaging the bouncy castles themselves. Walking on them felt pretty weird, and Wild made a face at it that made Artful chuckle.

“Let’s go!” Wild urged, jumping into the bouncy castle. It was big enough for plenty of ponies, and it features many things from upright pillars one can bounce to the floor with a solid kick, to a second floor with a slide to the first one. It wasn’t a small bouncy castle intended for the back yard of a home, it was a proper one, with many features to enjoy no matter the age.

Wild was bouncing in excitement, jumping from place to place, sometimes falling but always bouncing up, a huge grin of unrestrained joy on his face. Artful guessed that it perhaps reminded him of good things from wherever he came from. The Royal Orphanage had a trampoline park, which was, perhaps, a less childish version of this, so perhaps Artful would introduce Wild to that once they were back.

Wild jumped up, did a flip, and landed on his side, then bouncing right up and managing to land on all four hooves, laughter bubbling up from deep within him.

“Race you!” he declared, his eyes full of mirth, “Lap around the, the, the thing! Up to there and then slide to down!”

Artful, of course, had the natural advantage of being able to fly, but it would ruin the point. So, he bounced after Wild, who was surprisingly fast despite the awkwardness of their squishy shoes. Wild attempted to jump up the incline and not climb it via the stairs, but he fell right back down. Artful managed to overtake him, moving his hooves quickly along the stairs, which were less squishy than the rest of the bouncy castle if still soft in order to avoid injuries. Wild laughed freely, backed off, and then bounced back towards it. He collided with Artful, and both of them went down in a tangle of limbs.

Seeing such unrestrained joy on Wild’s face made Artful’s own light up, although it quickly turned to a blush when he realized just in what position they ended up in once they fell down, with Wild on top of him. However, before it could be turned into any sort of detailed lewd thought, Wild was already off, moving his hooves quickly to climb the stairs in a way that Artful hadn’t seen before. It wasn’t exactly efficient either, but it was quick. Artful bounced up and raced after Wild.

On the second floor of the bouncy castle, Wild collided with one of the pillars, which were painted to resemble cacti. He backed off, reared on his hind legs, and kicked the pillar with his front hooves. The power of the kick sent it to the floor, but then it bounced off and hit Wild straight in the chest, sending him tumbling backwards. This did not deter Wild, only made him winded even as he laughed. This momentary delay allowed Artful to catch up. Wild, amusement and a mischievous smirk on his face, grabbed one of the pillars and sent it towards Artful, knocking him down. While he was cheering, Artful spun around on the floor and kicked at the pillar, sending it crashing into Wild, who fell down with a squawk and a laugh.

Artful rolled Wild over and pushed him off, sending him tumbling back to the first floor of the bouncy castle. Wild yelled joyfully, even adding some movement to the tumbling, making it appear even sillier than it already was, making Artful guffaw, his eyes tearing up, watching as Wild came to a stop at the bottom, his legs going every direction. Then Wild swiftly got onto his hooves and, faster than Artful could blink, started climbing the stairs again, his movements somehow resembling that of a cat. Artful was still laughing, feeling winded, but he did his best to get to the slide so that he could come down and claim victory. However, Wild was wicked fast, tackling him. The two rolled on the floor, and then somehow both ended up at the top of the slide. Both of them yelled and laughed all the way down to the bottom, where they finally came to a stop. Artful was breathing hard, covered in sweat, his cheeks hurting from laughing so much, and Wild appeared to be not much better.

They spent perhaps the next hour running and jumping around, giggling and laughing, sometimes lying breathlessly until they recovered enough to jump around again. They chased each other, jumped and performed tricks, landed in heaps of limbs, and overall had a great and fun time. However, eventually it came to an end, and Artful was the first to flop on the floor - and bouncing before settling - drenched in sweat and breathing hard.

“I am done,” Artful managed to get out. He was not fit or athletic, that’s for sure. He honestly hadn’t had all that much physical activity in some time. The tag game on the sleepover day and now these bouncy castle shenanigans as well as his self-defense training was more than he had done for the past, perhaps, four years. He hadn’t been especially active as a foal either, which definitely showed. He was thankful for the fact that, at least, he hadn’t grown fat - that would have taken a long while to fix.

“Giving up?” Wild teased, though he was nearly as breathless as he lay by Artful’s side.

“Yes,” was Artful’s simple reply, and then, for a while, the two were silent, recovering whatever strength they could.

Artful lay there on the bouncy castle floor, thinking of nothing and saying nothing until he could finally hear more than the rush of blood in his head and the thunder of the heartbeat in his chest. He definitely needed to pick up some regular exercising - what he had been doing so far was not enough.

Some time later, the two finally managed to get up.

“I am hungry,” Wild admitted, “Want... to eat?”

With that being said, Artful had recognized that he too had grown hungry over their time exploring the city and could, indeed, go for a bite to eat, and so he nodded. The two of them got off the bouncy castle, removed the shoes - which had grown a bit unpleasant to wear after all of this - and then headed towards the exit from the amusement park. While there was more they could do in the park, Artful had definitely grown a bit tired from it all, and a pause was certainly in order. Besides, he felt a bit sticky from all the sweat, so he hoped he would be able to take a shower soon. Thankfully for him and Wild, there were shower stalls near the exit, exactly for people who had an active sort of fun and needed to freshen themselves and wash away the sweat and grime. There wasn’t much grime to be had on the two of them, but then they hadn’t partaken in one of those mud wrestling rings. Artful didn’t know whether one was present there - hadn’t noticed one - but still. Besides, wrestling in the mud wasn’t particularly fun for him, considering how easy it was for wings to get dirty, and then he would also have had to spend quite a bit of time on aligning his feathers and getting rid of any broken ones.

Wild and Artful got into exactly the same shower stall, and Wild used his magic to help get Artful clean. Artful thought for a moment about, perhaps, doing something more than that, but the thought was gone from his head before he could act on it. He didn’t know exactly why, but he felt like now wasn’t the time to suggest sexy activities. Perhaps later, if Wild was up to it. Besides, while they were alone in a private shower stall, someone could likely hear them, and that would be a bit too awkward for Artful’s taste. He knew some people had sex in such places precisely because of the possibility of being discovered, but he stayed away from that.

Canterlot featured plenty of fancy restaurants, but none of them were appealing to either Artful or Wild. What they needed was plenty of food and cheap. Fancy restaurants had an unfortunate trend of serving little and making it expensive. Besides, to Artful’s knowledge, a lot of them would also require him and Wild to wear appropriate attire. Which, naturally, made him wonder how Wild would look like in a proper fancy suit. He certainly had a body that could rock any outfit, at least as long as it was properly fitted to him. Artful himself was, however, far more comfortable without clothes. He didn’t know what it was, but he simply didn’t like it when he wore anything but something like a scarf or his ever-present pair of glasses.

Artful and Wild made their way to one of the fast food places. Artful placed his order, then Wild did, both of them going for tasty and filling. And, naturally, they didn’t want to wait for long. They took a place in one of the booths in the corner of the fast food place, with Wild having led Artful there. Artful could understand why Wild chose that particular booth - it wasn’t surrounded by others, and it allowed Wild to observe the entire hall without having to put his back to any stranger.

“Order thirty-four ready!” the call came, and Wild offered to carry both orders.

Artful got a bean burger alongside fries with garlic sauce, spiced hay, and fried tofu bites. Wild got a large wrap with vegetables, mushrooms, and beans, some tofu bites as well, and some curry sauce to go along with the bites. Both of them also got a large cup of sparkling mineral water each.

Wild, Artful noticed, was a quick eater, barely pausing to savor the taste as he devoured the wrap in possibly record time. Artful’s burger was about a third, at most half of the size of Wild’s wrap, yet Artful only managed to finish it by the time Wild went through half of his tofu bites, although Wild also slowed down significantly, carefully dipping them in the sauce and taking his time to enjoy chewing them.

“You got some sauce on your face,” Artful helpfully pointed out, then almost giggled when Wild attempted to see it. Then, Artful leaned forward and gave Wild’s face a lick, taking that bit of sauce, making Wild blush and then open and close his mouth on repeat. Artful let out a small laugh at his expression, and Wild simply said nothing and continued to eat, though his tongue went over where Artful licked him.

Wild, Artful had found, welcomed affection like someone starved for it. For all Artful knew, that was exactly the case, and so he was generous with the affection that he gave. He knew Wild would always tell him to stop if it was something Wild didn’t want.

“It is nice,” Wild said, though Artful didn’t know if it was about the lick, the food, or the situation. After a short while of silence, Wild continued, “This... everything. I have not... been out in a city... for fun... in a long time.”

“I’m glad you like it,” Artful said, “I’ve been having fun with you, too. Think we can do this again sometime?”

“...maybe not Canterlot,” Wild said, “It is... too loud. In here,” he used a hoof to tap at the side of his head, “It is not... painful, but it is not good. Not pleasant.”

“Okay,” Artful nodded, taking a mental note about it.

Artful personally didn’t mind larger cities, but he now knew that Wild would not want to live in one, and certainly not in even bigger cities like those on the east coast. Those cities were known to be densely populated, denser than Canterlot, and plenty of people lived there, at least a million each. To be entirely honest, Artful also preferred the quietness of the Royal Orphanage, which was pretty much rural. If he were to choose a place to live, it would certainly be in a quieter parts of Equestria. He told Wild so.

“...I want a house,” Wild told him in response, “A quiet house... not far from things, but not too close. It should be a place where I... relax. Where I am not disturbed. A place where I can rest. You know?”

“Yeah,” Artful nodded, “So, what kind of house? How big? What should it have?”

“...don’t know,” Wild admitted, “Any house would be... fine?” he shook his head lightly, “I just don’t know.”

“I think I’d like mine to have two floors,” Artful said, “The first floor will have my art workshop and my art gallery, and the living room, guest bedroom and bathroom, and kitchen. The second floor will have a bedroom and a bathroom, both big, like so big you can fly in them.”

“I could be fine with a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen,” Wild shrugged, looking away, “I just... need my space. I don’t need it... large. But... I wouldn’t... be against large.”

“Yeah, that’s fair,” Artful nodded, “I don’t want to live in a mansion either. What’s the point? But I want to have space for all my stuff. Like, at least have my art stuff be separate from the rest, so that I have a space that’s just for art, you know?”

Wild nodded. Then, after some hesitation, he asked, “If... our relationship... goes far, then... we will have one house, together?”

“I’d like that,” Artful nodded, “But that’s fine if you don’t. We all need our spaces, you know?”

“...I do not mind being with you,” Wild said, “I think I would like to live together too. When... when I slept with you, it was good.”

Wild went silent again, a thoughtful expression on his face. Artful patiently waited for him to figure out what he wanted to say.

“I... have not slept as well without you,” Wild admitted, “If you want... I want us... to sleep together... often.”

Artful did not mind that one bit. He decided not to say that Wild had felt very warm, like hugging a stuffed toy but about a million times better. And so, the two of them talked of their possible future together, and Artful was glad to see that Wild did not seem hung up on his own past anymore, so the two of them avoided talking about where he came from without intending to do so. After all, both of them were ponies, both of them lived in Equestria, their future was likely in Equestria too, and that was all that mattered.