Sweet Beginnings Part (2) : A Pegasus-Centric Prelude

Hurricane had invited Clematis to stay with him during the summer and though she had accepted, she was quite nervous.

According to Hurricane's description, his house was a fortress, a proper, military fortress that only the upper-class pegasi lived in. Her little cottage near the woods, with it's thatched roof, the paint on the walls wearing off, was a joke in comparison.

Hurricane seemed to have caught onto her discomfort, if his constant questioning was anything to go by, however he was unable to pinpoint the reason behind it, naive as he was about economic status and other such social and political matters.

There was also another reason that she had been reluctant to accept Hurricane's invitation and that reason was Lightning Blaze.

One would have thought that after the cruel, humiliating words Lightning had spoken to her during their first and last encounter, she would have stopped pining after her.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. She felt angry, sure, after all, she was neither irrational nor blind, but she could also see things from Lightning's perspective. She had only been warning Clematis of the flaws Clematis knew Hurricane possessed, under the mistaken assumption that Clematis was Hurricane's fillyfriend. It had hurt her pride when Clematis rebuffed her.

Arsenal the dog's soft barks diverted her attention from her train of thoughts. He sniffed a bit, before rubbing his head against her hoof in a comforting manner.

Ms Tweedle the robin and Mr Welbert the blue jay flew down and ran their beaks through her mane, chirping softly.

"Thank you for your support, I truly do appreciate it", she smiled at her animal friends. Winnie and Wimber the snakes coiled around her in a protective manner in response.

She got up abruptly, much to the snakes', birds' and dog's agitation, her eyes gleaming with a newfound confidence. It was only for a week and it wasn't like Hurricane's parents knew about her economical. Neither did Hurricane, now that she thought about it.

Levitating a piece of parchment, a quill and an ink pod out out of the drawer, she began writing.

Dear Hurricane....

Everything had been going well so far.

Her encounter with Hurricane's father had been short, but during it he had been slightly gruff, but nice enough.

Hurricane's mother had been kind, but a little implicative before Clematis clarified that she had absolutely no romantic interest in Hurricane. That had been quite an awkward conversation but it was all sorted out.

Hurricane had been excited to see her, his eyes lighting up like a little foal's. All bravado had been abandoned now that he was safely sequestered in his home.

"You're here!", he exclaimed, squeezing her in a tight hug. She actually'd had to double take and make sure it was really him. It was hard to reconcile the image of the arrogant, flirty badcolt she knew with this adorable puppy-like pony.

"Yes, I am. Will you show me around or not?", she raised a brow.

"Yes yes, of course", he grinned. "Race you!", he yelled, flapping his wings hard, with Clematis at his tail. Soon, Clematis had to stop once the two had almost flown halfway through the entire fortress four times, while Hurricane, in a display of his superior stamina and speed, pulled through without too much effort, winning the race much to her chagrin.

"We should race again", Hurricane suggested with a smirk.

"Why, because you want to keep winning again and again", she sourly responded.

"Oh come on, don't be sore-loser, darling", he elbowed her lightly.

"How many times have I told you, don't call me darling", she growled and much to her irritation, he burst into laughter.

"Race you!", he announced, speeding away on his wings.

"Wait, Hurricane! I'm tired", she yelled after him, panting, but to no avail. He was long gone.

Wait, where exactly was she? All this while, she had been simply been going wherever Hurricane went, not really noting here she went.

She put her head in her hooves and groaned as she realised that she was lost. Damned Hurricane! What now? She supposed she could teleport out, but she couldn't picture the damned front door of the fortress and there was no way she'd be able to teleport all the way back home.

Well, Hurricane had taken a left turn and then a right turn before disappearing out of sight. She should start with that. Then she would think about what she'd do next.

She started tracing Hurricane's path as far as she could, which honestly wasn't too far, until she couldn't anymore. And then, she was lost.

Completely, utterly lost. Urgh, honestly, curse Hurricane! He was a horrible, arrogant, bastard- Just then, somepony bumped into her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I should've been paying atten......tion", she trailed off when she laid her eyes on just who she had bumped into.

"It's alright. You're Clematis, right?", Lightning asked.

"Yes, I am", she replied, her eyes never leaving Lightning's.

"I wanted to apologise, for all the things I said the last time we spoke. It was an.... overreaction", Lightning hesitantly stated, much to her surprise. Lightning, from what she had observed, was quite prideful. Even now, it was evident that it had taken a lot for her to actually admit that she'd been mistaken out loud.

"I- It's alright", she replied.

"What are you doing you doing here all alone?", Lightning inquired, her brow raised. "Where is my brat of a brother?"

"We were having a race, but I got lost", she admitted.

"Just like Hurricane, inconsiderate and always expecting ponies to act and think the way he does", Lightning spat, before adding, "Where were you racing to? I'll show you the way, if you want me to."

"Nowhere in particular. Just exploring around the place", she replied. Speaking of the place, it was the first time she actually took a proper look at it. It was built of bricks, painted a dark grey. With its grey walls, spikes, weaponry hung on the wall for easy access, it cast quite a foreboding aura. A proper military fortress, to say the least. Certainly nothing unicorns would have in their mansions and castles.

For once she felt lucky to not be from a rich family. Having to spend her entire life in such cold, terrifying place seemed like a terrible prospect. She would pick her cozy little cottage over this any day.

Lightning caught her looking at the walls and stated, "Probably thinking you got the treat of a lifetime, aren't you? Getting to live in such a massive fortress", she scoffed in a way that had anger bubbling up in Clematis' stomach. Crush or no, Lightning was going too far, taking a jab at Clematis' status.

Any other pegasus would've probably attacked Lightning, but Clematis simply pursed her lips, pushing back tears that had momentarily threatened to stream down her eyes. It was true, wasn't it? She was nothing compared to Lightning and Hurricane. Goodness, why was she even here in the first place? Why had she accepted Hurricane's stupid invitation? She wanted to go back home.

Swallowing a lump in her throat, she replied with false bravado, "I was thinking more along the lines of how I can't entirely blame you for being so unpleasant to be around; growing up in such a terrible environment likely had a hoof in it."

When Lightning's eye twitched, she took it as a sign of victory. Hey, she was allowed some vindictiveness after basically being everypony's punchbag during most of her life.

"I apologise", Lightning sighed, pursing her lips. "We'll be staying here together for a while, so we should try to at least be civil to each other", she then added sternly, as though Clematis was the one starting all the fights between them.

Still, Clematis controlled her temper and held back a sniping response to the best of her abilities. Instead, she replied calmly, “I agree. Let's say, we have a truce", she extended her wing, to which Lightning responded by wrapping her own wing around the offered one and giving it a firm shake.

Clematis felt feeling a shiver crawl up her spine at the touch. Lightning's wing was firm because of being exercised so much, but at the same time so soft to the touch, so warm....

She shook her head, internally berating herself for her train of thoughts, all the while accepting that her infuriating crush on Lightning, despite how horrible she was towards Clematis, would never fade.

"Are you alright", Lightning asked. The hint of concern in her voice was almost Clematis' undoing, she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks.

"You look red, perhaps you are ill. Come, I'll take you to the infirmary", Lightning stated firmly in a way that almost had Clematis swoon, much to her embarrassment. She wasn't some unicorn damsel, for goodness sake!

"No, I feel fine. probably jut the heat getting to me or something", Clematis choked out. Then Lightning mumbled weakling under her breath and everything was back to normal.

She wondered since when she had started considering this normal. After all, only about a month ago, normal for her was discretely eyeing Lightning while she was playing her matches, getting bullied by Swift Flight, training, going to the forest to spend time in the nature, with her animals friends and repeat.

"Truce, remember", she pointed out.

"Yes, yes, I know. Truce", Lightning said in a way that reminded Clematis of a time when her parents were alive and the way she used to get annoyed and whine when they repeatedly reminded her to do her chores before they went to work.

The parallel almost made her giggle, before a deep sense of sorrow settled in her chest. She missed them so much...

"Hey, what's gotten into you", Lightning asked, frowning.

"Nothing", she quickly replied, though from the shrewd look in Lightning' eyes, she could tell that her lie had been caught.

“You really need to work on your lying skills you know. It’s almost like you’ve never told a lie before”, Lightning stated in a way that had Clematis wondering whether Lightning could ever say a word without sounding utterly condescending .

“What’s the matter?”, Lightning asked.

“Aren’t you being nosy”, Clematis said in reply, raising an eyebrow.

“Maybe, I don’t really care”, Lightning shrugged.

“I can tell”, Clematis snapped, to which Lightning shrugged again.

“So, what is bothering you so much?”, Lightning asked.

Normally, Clematis never talked about her parents and especially not about their deaths, but she had a feeling that Lightning wouldn’t leave her alone until she said something.

“Well, I was just thinking about my parents”, she finally replied truthfully. A part of her felt uncomfortable with the subject, the part that had always urged her to keep her pains and sorrows to herself, but a smaller part was oddly eager to finally share this with somepony.

“Your parents?”, Lightning asked, urging her to continue.

“They died a few years ago. Phoenix Flu”, she carried on. No tears came to her eyes, they never did. She had already cried so much when her father and then mother had fallen ill, seeing their weak condition being unbearable for her. She had actually been glad when they had finally died.

It had been what had pushed her to learn the healing magic she often used to regenerate trees and cure animals. She hoped, someday, that she would be adept enough to heal ponies and other sapient beings as well.

“I apologise for pressuring you into telling this to me. You have my most heartfelt condolences”, Lightning stated softly.

“Thank you”, Clematis replied, equally as soft.

“Do you miss them”, Lightning asked. Her lilt was more curious than the apologetic and sympathetic it had previously been, as though she couldn’t understand why Clematis would miss her parents.

“Of course I do”, Clematis responded, frowning.

“I wouldn’t, if I were in you shoes. I would’ve bidden my parents good riddance had they been in your parents place”, Lightning spat venomously.

Clematis recoiled. How could anypony wish that their parents were dead, when she would cut off a limb just to get a chance to see them one last time.

As though sensing her thoughts, Lightning added, “I’m sure your parents must have been good ponies who loved you a lot, but that isn’t the case with my parents. They have always preferred Hurricane and ignored my existence, just because I ‘m a filly, not a colt. And whenever I dare to speak against them….”, Lightning rubbed her neck as though it ached and Clematis understood just then.

It made sense, with how their seemed to be a rift between Hurricane and Lightning, how Lightning always stayed at camp for the holidays. She did wonder though, why Lightning would share this with her of all ponies. Why Lightning, self-assured and prideful as she was, would reveal this.

As though reading her mind, Lightning replied to her unasked question, “I pressurised you into revealing personal information. It’s only fair I reciprocate the gesture.

Besides, you’re like me. You’re broken too”

‘You’re broken too’, these words echoed in the corridors. It was such a simple statement but so powerful utterly true that it shook Clematis’ very being.

This was something Hurricane would never understand, growing up as he had with love, affection and all sorts of luxuries presented before him. And, with a jolt, Clematis realised that what she felt for Lightning was not just a simple crush or attraction. It was love, unadulterated love. True, so true, yet so impure, it’s foundations marred by sorrow.