Waking Eyes

Flare enjoyed his stroll down to Sugarcube Corner. He wondered what a muffin would taste like. He’d forgotten how muffins tasted, he forgot how even apples tasted. Flare hadn’t really eaten stuff that was considered food, so anything that was meant to be eaten was pretty special for Flare. He realized that the closer he got to Sugarcube Corner, the more memories of his mother's cooking he could remember.

At one moment, Flare was so lost in the past, he had tripped on nothing. He had gotten up, not bothering to wipe any dirt off, and continued toward his destination.

When he had gotten to Sugarcube Corner, he bumped into a white unicorn coming out as he went in. Her cutie mark was three blue diamonds; her mane was purple and perfected in just the right way where you could see her whole face. Whoever she was, she wasn't hiding anything. She was definitely showing off her beauty. She was as clean as could be, until Flare had got a bit of dirt on her coat.

"Oops, I'm sorry," Flare apologized, dropping his little bag of bits. "I got a little dirt on your coat." Flare didn't expect her to freak out over this; compared to Flare she was still a masterpiece. After a few moments of freaking out, she simply wiped the dirt off with a cloth in one of her saddlebags.

After that, she finally looked at Flare and gasped. To her, she saw a pegasus with one of the dirtiest coats, messiest manes and a couple terribly ruffled wing feathers. "Darling, please tell that's how you want to look." she asked, pulling out a mirror for Flare to see himself. Flare looked in and saw a wrecked pegasus; he hadn't combed his mane, washed his coat, or pulled the feathers out of wings for a few weeks now.

"I didn't plan myself to look like I've been homeless for weeks." Flare confessed frowning, and staring deep into the mirror. He hated how terrible he looked.

"Well, this simply will not do!" the pretty pony announced, "Follow me, we will have you fixed up and spotless." She picked up his money bag and put it in one of her saddle bags. "I can carry this for you." she said.

Flare was then levitated into the air with the unicorn's magic and was forced to follow. He waved goodbye to Sugarcube Corner. Flare was so close to tasting one delicious muffin. He was kinda depressed that he couldn't have a muffin.

"Ummm... My name is Flare," He said "Yours might be..." Flare waited a moment to hear a reply.

"Rarity." She said and posed for a moment. She then continued, still refusing to let Flare hit the ground. He didn't mind at all really, he felt like he was just drifting in the air. It was quite relaxing and peaceful, when Flare just blocked out everything and looked skybound.

"So Flare, where are you from?" Rarity questioned. She then noticed his hesitation. She looked over to see Flare lost in thought, and a face with no emotion whatever.

"I'm from..." Flare's voice had darkened, "far away..." He knew she would not like his answer. "I'm sorry Rarity, but I’d rather not talk about the past. It's more about today and the future, you know?"

Flare didn't even want to say the name of even the city where he had previously lived in. Then Flare had easily picked up on Rarity's worry. "I'm really sorry Rarity, but my life before now wasn't really that well."

Rarity respected Flare's answer and she didn't want to make him think of anything that would hurt him. Flare could see right into Rarity, who was concerned about his past.

After a few minutes, Flare was finally lowered onto the ground. Rarity had dragged him to a spa, and he wasn't so sure he was okay with this. As they entered, the smell of what he believed was perfume struck him. Flare almost gagged as they approached the main desk. The smell had been doubled!

"Two, for the usual." The ponies lead then Flare and Rarity to, what Flare saw it as, two buckets of perfectly warm water. After seeing them into the water, Flare closed his eyes. Other than the smell, it was really relaxing. He then felt something hit his face. Flare had saw that the weird mud stuff was being rubbed on his face.

"Uh... What's the mud for?" Flare asked, glancing at Rarity hoping she would answer him, instead one of the ponies rubbing it in his face.

"To clear up any facial problems" Rarity answered "and the cucumber slices are to erase puffiness around your eyes." She already knew his next question.

Flare simply shrugged and watched the mud be spread across all of his face. He knew any normal colt wouldn't like this, but he figured he was always a bit different. A few seconds later, he felt something he had not felt in forever; a comb began to run through his mane.

It ripped out a lot of knots for the first ten minutes, at one point they asked him if they should stop because they found a huge knot and just yanked it as hard as they could. Flare had said no, but he asked to see how much hair was ripped from his mane. They removed the slices of cucumbers for a minute and handed Flare a bundle of hair. Flare held it in his hoof for a second and laughed. Then after his mane had been combed, he decided his time there was up.

He thanked Rarity and got his little bag of bits back, and headed outside the spa. Flare then met a very special pony, just as much as Pinkie Pie. He may have never met her if he didn't forget everything on his way here.

"Umm, excuse me, could you point me toward Sugarcube Corner?” Flare asked a pegasus resting on a cloud. When the pegasus turned around to look at him, His eye's grew wide. "Wait! Your name is Rainbow Dash, Isn’t it?"

"Rainbow Dash is my name," the pegasus said, "and speed’s my game." The pegasus was sky blue with a rainbow mane and tail. Her mark was a cloud with a lighting striking with three different colors. Flare felt tears form in his eyes; he held them back as much as he could. This was the other story his mother had told him. Flare was so happy to see Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah, could you point me towards Sugarcube Corner?" Flare asked, "I have to try some of their sweets."

"Are you crying?" Rainbow Dash asked Flare, who shook his head no. But a second later, confessed with a nod. "Well, yeah," Rainbow pointed towards the direction, "It’s that way, but are you gonna be okay?"

"I'm sorry, you just were a star in one of my mother's stories she told me as a foal." Flare told her. "Those stories are really precious to me; I want to thank you for giving my mother a chance to see the sonic rainboom.” Flare saw her smile as he retold his mother's story, surprised that she even cared to listen.

"That's a cool story, colt. What's your name?" Rainbow asked him, Flare took a moment to remember his own name.

"My name is Flare, at your service Rainbow Dash," Flare bowed, making Dash laugh. He thought he was funny, he was glad some other pony did too.

"You’re not that bad, come on we’ll go to Sugarcube Corner," Rainbow Dash said, lifting herself into the air. She wondered why Flare had not done the same. "You coming?" She asked impatiently.

"I have some terrible news." Flare glanced down and frowned "I c-can't fly." Rainbow Dash gasped, but before any words could come out, Flare continued to explain. "I have a medical problem with my wings; I haven't been able to fly since I was young. My mother was told by the doctors when I think I was three. Most mothers would let their fillies try before telling them. My mother told me at 6 years old, just old enough to understand. I tried my heart out until I was ten, until four years of never getting an inch off the ground told me, the doctors were right." Flare still had dreams of flying; just an inch would make him go crazy. "But my wings are still put to good use." Flare said with a smile. "My wings have saved my life a few times, I don't know how to explain it, but I can try if you want."

"I’ve never heard of a pegasus that wasn't able to fly at all." Rainbow Dash said sounded a bit shocked. She then hoped she hadn't offended him.

"Well you see one now, you don't need to hear it." Flare told her, and then began his explanation of how he uses his wings. "Well I felt like if I wasn't allowed to fly, I could at least use my wings for something on the ground." Flare smiled, "So I found my wings made me as agile as can be, this has helped me dodge a lot of trouble in my life."

"What do you mean?” Rainbow Dash asked, "Could you show me?" Flare was happy to show off his skills to one of his idols.

"Sure," Flare began by jumping almost twenty feet into the air, then dove towards the hard ground as if he was going to land safely in water. When he hit the ground, he turned into a cartwheel. Landing on his hind hooves then flipped backwards, and was standing on his front hooves. He pushed off the ground ten feet into the air, doing a few 360s before landing safely on his two hind hooves. "Ta-da!" Flare said; he didn't even break a sweat.

"There’s more to you than what you can see." Rainbow Dash commented, "But, I don't like how you can't fly still..." Dash thought for a few seconds, she never thought any pony couldn’t fly.

"We can agree on something," Flare stated, "But there’s nothing we can do about it. I asked doctors about surgeries, even if it was too late; I wanted to know if I ever stood a chance at flying." Flare had to remember when he was six, when he learned about this. Then, after telling him, a few weeks later he made him do all sorts of exercises. This made him realize wings could help his balance a lot if he used his wings correctly. That’s when Flare started practicing flips and stunts when he wasn't trying to fly. This saved his life a few months later.

"The answer was no, wasn't it?" Dash knew that she was right; she just didn't know what else to say. Flare felt himself almost collapse, when he thought about what doctors had said.

Flare just lay down on the ground. He had done too much thinking today about his past, he couldn't do much more. He rubbed his head; he was getting a massive headache. All he wanted was to eat a muffin, was it too hard? He figured he wouldn't meet any pony else before the end of the day, and if he did he would act as shy a possible. Flare arose, "Let's get to Sugarcube Corner, shall we?" Flare just wanted his muffin, and then he could find somewhere to rest. He thought how hyper Pinkie was; not knowing how much or how fast she could talk might affect his stay at Sugarcube Corner. Too much would make him require medicines or some other treatment, he wouldn't be okay with that.

All Flare needed to know was that he wanted that muffin, and he was getting it. Rainbow Dash lowered herself towards the ground and started towards Sugar Cube Corner. Flare took a second to find his tiny bag, and then he was right behind Dash.

"So, is the food at Sugarcube Corner good?" Flare asked, he still hadn’t gotten to try it. Flare knew there was no way he could get a bad answer.

"Yea!" Rainbow Dash replied; she should a bit excited to be going there. "They have fantastic sweets, like, their cupcakes are so good. What were you planning to get there?" Flare realized something; Dash didn't have any bits with her. Was she going to ask him to pay? He knew he will if he has enough.

"A muffin," Flare said, glancing at his bag. "Haven't had a muffin in forever." Flare thought about it, how expensive could a muffin be really? It shouldn't be too much, and if Dash wants to get something cheap too, he can pay for it. Flare knew he was really losing all his bits in the next few minutes or so.

"You’re going what to hide it if you take it on the go," Dash warned him, "or eat it as soon as you get your hooves on it."

"Why is that?" Flare asked, wondering what could possibly be so bad about saving a muffin for later.

"Because," Dash said leaning towards his into his ear, looking in every direction before starting. "If a certain Pegasus sees you with a muffin, she'll be your best friend. If you share it with her, your day will never end. Either way, you have a locked fate, unless you be as rude as can be to her. In the end, you'll never be free again."

Flare just laughed; well whoever this pony was, she must really love muffins. "What’s her name?" He was going to need to know if he stood even a chance of avoiding her.

"Derpy Hooves," Dash said, instantly bringing Flare to earlier today. Derpy seemed like a nice Pegasus. "She isn't really bad company, but her obsession for muffins can get a little annoying."

"Well, it's too late then," Flare announced, "I've already met her. So, I'll take my chances; if she finds me, I'll share." Flare made this a game, possibly a more dangerous one than he was thinking. Rainbow Dash thought he was out of his mind. If he could deal with Derpy all day and still stay sane and in one piece, she would owe his a congratulations.

"Good luck," Dash said, "You're gonna need it." The more Rainbow Dash talked, the more Flare wanted his muffin on the go. If Derpy found Flare before he found a peaceful spot to eat it, it was hers.

When they finally reached Sugarcube Corner, Rainbow said she had some things to take care of, but they could talk again later. Flare walked in and saw a few ponies at tables eating. Cupcakes, his first idea of what to get.

"Welcome!" Pinkie said. "I'm so glad you decided to visit us. Are you having anything?" She appeared from nowhere; that startled Flare so he took a second to answer.

"Yes, do you have muffins? And if yes, how much is one?" Flare asked, opening his bit bag.

"Of course we have muffins, silly filly, five bits each." Pinkie stopped for a moment. "But, I have a super serious warning about the muffins." Flare dumped out his bit bag.

"I'll take two then and I know about Derpy. Trust me Pinkie, I have a good plan." Flare said, but the plan wasn't for avoiding Derpy, but to get her to find him. Flare planned to find a nice spot and eat the muffins.

Flare made his purchase and skipped outside, but not before waving a Pinkie. He then headed towards Ponyville Park. He sat down on a bench and looked at what he was holding. A paper bag, inside containing two things: One friend-finder and one dream of taste in reality. Flare thought those were good names for each one. He opened the bag and took a whiff of the smell. He nearly fainted, Flare got worried. Was it possible that the muffin's smell was getting him high? He took one out.

"Is that a muffin you have there?" a voice said from behind him. Flare smirked.