Kind Hands

God, the sun feels so nice sometimes. Yes, it was pretty warm back in Canterlot- stiflingly so at times- but after getting into that mindset of being at the beach, it felt right. So, so right. I’m rambling already, which probably isn’t a good start.

But, a day after arriving at Flankerton Beach, this was everything that I’d hoped for: some sand, some sea, and some time alone. Or some time away from the ponies, at least. It was time to forget, and I was trying to do just that. It was just me and the two little girls who had been equally stolen from their home.

We were sprawled out on the sand of Flankerton beach, probably taking up a lot more space than we needed to. I served as the tip of a lopsided triangle, with Eve on one side and Eva on the other. The pair were slowly digging their way towards each other, causing untold damage to the sand that they waded through.

We’d spent a long time in this glorified sandpit. Sandcastles were made and broken; holes were dug in the spaces left behind; and the sea was noticed, commented on, approached and then promptly ran away from. It was about what you’d expect.

And it was perfect. It all felt homely; it felt like I was enjoying a holiday at home. Granted, there was still the obvious fact that there were children here, but I’d take what I could get. It wouldn’t be the same without them anyway.

“Mr. Bayard!”

Things were clearer now. Given the whole point of this trip, I felt as if I could have those mature conversations that I’d been avoiding for so long. And I wanted to engage in that- there was just nobody to engage with. That little lilac alicorn was nowhere to be found. The more reluctant side of my psyche suggested that it was likely better this way, that I needed more time, but I had my doubts.

“Mr. Bayard!”

And now wasn’t the time to worry about her. Eve was here, asking, “Are you listening?” with a familiar, impatient tone. Despite being in a whole new place, she was the still the same irritated soul; I would need to repay her for the trouble of walking all the way over here.

“How’re you doing, littlun?” I instinctively responded, squatting down to meet Eve at her level. I flicked at the large-rimmed sunhat that was perched atop her head, scratching my fingers on the brown material that I wasn’t invested enough to know more about. The little girl just grabbed me by the hand and turned back to whence she came.

“I want to do something.”

She led me to the trenches, her miniature shovel still poking out of the sand at a jaunty angle; I was happy that nobody had tripped over it yet. Given that, it was back in its owner’s hands in an instant, and the little girl periodically glanced up at me while she worked, wordlessly beckoning me to join in with the activity.

And so, I did. I stayed there for a while, actually. I’ll spare the details, as my contribution led to little more than a collection of sand under my fingernails and a verbal chewing from the ‘boss’. But Eve seemed to enjoy it, as she never lost her smile in spite of all the imperatives that she projected in my general direction.

The two of us kept at this for a little while, only stopping once we’d encroached slightly too far into Eva’s territory. I’d imagined that our two sides’ creations would connect at some point, but Eva didn’t seem interested in finishing what she’d started when she’d first set off.

Instead, the timid little soul had created a large rectangle in the sand. As crude and slanted as its sides were, it appeared to be a miniature border for the girl to reside in as she knelt on the sand, using a small stick to create a selection of marks within it. She hummed away as she worked, her face showing no emotion as she tasked herself with carving an image into the sand.

“What’s going on here, Eva? You’re a busy bee today,” I greeted the girl-at-work, who showed no indication that she’d even heard me. This absence was further compounded by Eve’s introduction, as she flicked up part of the outskirts of her sister’s creation with her feet while she failed to come to a complete stop in time- again thankfully receiving no reaction.

Rather than draw attention to what I’d just seen, I decided to sit beside Eva as she worked. I was eventually rewarded with a form of acknowledgement: one of the girl’s stubby arms reached out to me while the other remained committed to its duties. Unfortunately for her, this decision proved to be costly, as without anything besides her knees keeping her propped up, she fell forwards before I could even react to her initial movement, planting her face firmly into the sand.

After digging the little one out (and calming her down), I was able to get her to explain what she was doing. Eva said very little, but it was apparent that she’d created drawings of herself in a selection of school scenarios. Although largely indecipherable due to obvious reasons, no matter where she was- eating lunch, playing with blocks, being with her teachers- a smile was always particularly clear on each depiction.

In short, it was just a large drawing, much as she’d done before- but this one felt different. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but I could feel a sense of longing within those sketches. In all honesty, it was likely just my own feelings, as the sight of ‘what could have been’ presented in such an innocent way caused me to supress a bit of emotion. All in all, it really only left me with one question:

“Do you miss school?” I quietly asked her, perhaps sounding overly sombre. Eva responded with an equally disheartened nod of her head. My second question of, “Would you like to go back to school?” was met with the same response, with the girl’s eyes, yet to fully dry from a previous outpour of emotion, looking set to spring forth with fresh gestures towards a growing dissatisfaction with the status quo.

This was when Eve broke forth, colliding with her sister in a messy hug that caused further damage to the drawing beneath them as their bodies fell upon it. “I don’t want to go to school!” she gleefully announced in a manner that was wholly expected before pushing herself off the floor, making a good attempt to stay connected to the body beneath her as she rose. “I want to go in the sea.”

Uninterested in permission, Eve set off once more with Eva as her passenger. There was a certain slackness in the connection between their arms, but they headed off in the same direction. It was a shame to see Eva go- mostly for the sake of her drawing; the sand would soon return to normal now that there was nobody left to maintain it.

Our second visit to the sea was more fruitful: the girls actually stood in it this time. Naturally, I was there for moral support- and to stop Eve from splashing too much. She’d enjoyed the water so much, that she’d allowed me to help her float, which I wasn’t expecting at all. I certainly wasn’t expecting her to be so good at keeping still.

We’d eventually retreated, back to the sand where all of our things were located, in order to have some lunch. This all passed quite nicely, and so I was winding down underneath an umbrella with a good book and a sleeping child. Let me explain.

Not the ‘child’ bit. As I sat, reclined with Eva’s fragile frame leaning against me, I stared at the object in my hands, scanning the cover for any word other than ‘another’. I guess ‘another’ word would’ve been nice. I’m sorry- looking at that front cover was making my head hurt.

Yes, Discord’s book had followed me here. I say that in the literal sense; I sure as hell didn’t bring it with me. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the bastard was waiting for me on the contents page. If he was there, I might as well have gone to meet him; it was either that or listen to Eve noisily chomp down on her third slice of watermelon.

Perhaps having an apparently sentient book should’ve been disconcerting- yet it was also intriguing to no end. Discord was clearly a powerful being, and while not appearing to be a thoroughly stand-up-guy, I was sure that he had the ability to teach me many things. Maybe the trick was to be picky about the services he offered.

Hence, the book. The book with the one-word cover. It gave little resistance to me opening it up, and the view inside suggested that there wasn’t much of a pulse within it. To be honest, it just looked like one of Twilight’s little spell books, wherever she may be…

She probably wouldn’t want me to read this.

But that’s when it happened: the page lit up while I was thinking of a reason to look away from it. Indeed, presumably serving as the introductory chapter of this little book, a small passage presented itself to me. I ruffled Eva’s hair with my free hand as I focused on the page:

Every now and then, we cross paths again,

Although, I did not expect you so soon.

Yet, as my last bond breaks, my heart cries as it aches,

And Another has sung along to its tune.

How ever should I put this, so you shan’t overlook this?

The feeling is never the same.

I sense a soul that has changed, arrangements rearranged,

I cannot even fathom your name.

So, let us begin this trial on a whim,

As through this, our bonds are made.

Yet, with time, we forget the people we have met,

Like how the setting sun removes the shade.

It is clear that you fear that this time will disappear,

Given all the times you have done wrong.

But if what they claim are lies appear before your eyes,

Then you are right where you belong.

It was nonsense, as was expected- clearly written by somebody who believed that they were smarter than they actually were. Unnecessarily jovial too. I didn’t want to be friends with this guy.

“What’s the point of this shit?” I softly mumbled to myself as I flicked a page. My frustration grew once I’d set my eyes on the words that awaited me on the following page, only to watch them disappear right in front of me, sinking back into the paper as if it was playfully waiting for next time.

In fact, I was so bewildered by this paragraph’s elusiveness, that I didn’t notice Eve’s approach until my vision was obscured by her left shoulder. At some point, she must’ve gotten bored of her dessert and had decided to pounce on me. Maybe I’d spoken a bit too loudly and had gotten her attention.

“What are you doing?” she plainly questioned. I would’ve loved to have seen her expression, but she hadn’t moved her shoulder out of my face yet.

“Just reading a book, littlun. It’s incredibly…not good.”

Riveting. Although, I didn’t really have much to say about it. I’m not one to read at the best of times, and when I do, I prefer my stories to be tangible. In fact, Eve probably showed more interest in the book than I did, asking, “Is that the book Twilight gave you?”

I tried to laugh- and I think I wanted to- but it all came out as little more than a cough. My chest hurt when I thought of her, of that night, when I said all those things that I shouldn’t have. I forced out a, “I wish. Twilight gives out better gifts than this,” but it clearly wasn’t delivered with the vigour that it deserved. Perhaps that’s why Eve continued the conversation in the way that she did.

“Where did Twilight go?”

The little girl granted me some freedom by pushing away from me while she spoke. In doing so, she revealed Eva, somehow still asleep, but that wasn’t important at that moment. No, the eye contact she initiated captivated me more. Although not exactly sparkling, her eyes showed a desire to learn more. She showed an interest.

“I was…I treated her badly, and now we’re having some time apart.”

Now, at this point, I was expecting a long-winded conversation full of uncomfortable questions- but Eve surprised me. “Did you say sorry?” she innocently requested of me, as if that would solve anything. “You need to say sorry.”

Her gaze remained focused on mine. She sat cross-legged a short distance from me and waited patiently for me to give my response. “You always tell me to say sorry,” she suddenly added, sounding slightly sour about it, maybe due to my lack of a reply.

“Yeah, but you never do,” I lightly fired back at the girl, hopefully softly enough so that it wouldn’t garner any reaction. I was half-successful in this regard, as she looked back at me with slight confusion, as if she had difficulty understanding what I was saying.

“You’re the grown-up.”

I sat still for a while, processing what Eve had said. Blunt as ever, she helped to remind me that this whole thing was a bit silly. Twilight’s always been a dozy mare, but she was gentle and honest with me that night. Blame the drink, blame Discord, blame bad timing…no, it was me. Of course. And I should be the one to fix it.

Twilight deserved as much; she deserved a proper apology from me- something actually raw and honest, just like herself. I couldn’t believe that I’d needed a four-year-old to shine that light upon me. “I think you might be right, sweetie,” I finally informed the little girl, whose face reflected a similar optimism.

At this point, I thought of a way to achieve this, quickly remembering that mobile phones technically still existed. I did my thing, poorly explained as it was, but I stopped. I thought of the best way to do this, wracking my brain with wild thoughts about how Twilight would react to it all.

Eventually, I decided that this way of speaking was never going to work- certainly not in this context. I gave Twilight one last thought before putting my phone down, letting it fall into the sand beneath me. Sadly, that moment of petulant neglect was insufficient, and I picked the thing up once more before throwing it as far as I could, hoping that it washed into the sea. It didn’t mean much to me anyway; the majority of technology doesn’t.

Naturally, Eve watched me do all this, waiting for me to stop before questioning what she’d seen. “What did you do?” she curiously enquired, sounding as if she was preparing to run after my phone more and more with every syllable that was pushed through her lips.

I didn’t reply to that. Rather, I lay back until I felt my head touch the sand, closing my eyes for good measure as I felt a wave of drowsiness overtake me. “I’ll go get it,” Eve informed me from outside of my vision, and it took a bit of effort to find the words necessary to stop her in her tracks.

“Littlun…it’s alright.”

I heard sand being kicked up next to me as Eve approached once more, kneeling next to me and casting her gaze down up me. I think she looked happy- I couldn’t really tell. I might’ve even closed my eyes at that point.

“Shall I get it?” she asked, hoping for some confirmation. I tried my best to give her my answer, stretching one of my arms out on the sand in a fruitless attempt at pulling the little one in.

“No…trust me: we don’t need it anymore.”