DISCLAIMER: My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro, as far as I can tell. They created the toy range, anyway, so I'm saying the whole phenomenon is theirs in the hope this little Disclaimer will somehow protect me from their wrath. I have no money, and even had to bump up the rent for the moths in my pockets. Suing me would be a waste of your resources and my time. Flames will be summarily ignored.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is essentially a thank-you fic for Harry Wriggle and the splenderific birthday piccy she did for my other work 'Of Beast and Blade'. Be warned, this is my first foray into MLP territory, and I haven't watched the show in many moons. Add to that the fact that my memory is rather lacking, and it makes for some interesting literary consequences. Basically I just took it upon myself to write some characterisation for a couple of characters I feel were woeful neglected by the scriptwriters. Please review. I'm a feedback junkie.
Archiving: email me at electric_hairdo@hotmail.com If you want this, then you can have it. Just ask me first, OK?
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'Do You Ever Wonder?' By Scribbler
December 2002
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'Friendship is genuine when two friends can enjoy each others company without speaking a word to one another.' -- George Ebers
*******************
Masquerade was, by nature, not the most happy-go-lucky of ponies. Although she wasn't as anti-social as some, and participated in many playful pursuits, she could often be found alone in one of her 'secret spots'; just pondering the universe and watching the world go by. It was difficult to approach her when she was in such a mood - most notably because she chose to vanish for hours on end where nobody could find and bother her. Still, there had been occasions when some had tried, and felt the sharper side of her tongue as a result.
Which was why she wasn't best pleased to be turned out into the cold, one night, when all she really wanted to do was settle down in the attic with a new book.
The reason for her expulsion was simple. Fizzy was missing. The flighty unicorn hadn't been seen since the previous evening, and had missed all of her meals between then and now. It wasn't like her to just disappear without trace like that, and so search parties had been dutifully dispatched to look for her.
_Just my luck I was the only Pegasus within shouting distance._
Masquerade grumbled to herself as she dipped and turned over the plains and fields that surrounded Paradise Estate, peering downwards all the while in the hope of spotting a telltale splash of green. Of course, it was almost pitch dark outside, which made such a colour difficult to see amongst the shifting shadows, but she ploughed on nonetheless.
It wasn't that she didn't *like* Fizzy, but the other pony was just so.... capricious seemed the best word to describe her. Fizzy's voice was always so bubbly, especially at the most inopportune times, that it often made Masquerade question whether the unicorn was a few sandwiches short of a picnic basket.
Of course, her light-heartedness and oft-times foolishness made her a great favourite with most others. If ever there was a dull moment, then you could be sure Fizzy would be called upon to make some inane comment or other and revel in the peals of laughter that followed. It was just so.... superficial, Masquerade thought to herself. Fizzy was an airhead without a care in the world, but she just didn't seem to mind. In fact, she almost seemed to take pleasure in her own stupidity. Her calling card, so to speak.
A particularly strong gust of wind buffeted the yellow Pegasus, and she instinctively wheeled high to regain her composure in the air. A cloudbank appeared beneath her hooves and she tutted, skirting around the edges to a less volatile patch so that she could resume her search.
"You wouldn't catch Windwhistler doing this," she groused. "Oh no, Miss High-and-Mighty's probably locked up in the library again. They'd never make *her* leave her books to go out looking."
Her annoyed litany continued as the colossal bulk of Dream Castle rose up on the horizon, dwarfing the smattering of trees planted around its base. The trio of pennants attached to the tower spikes fluttered in the stiff breeze, and she circled around them, wondering if Fizzy had taken it into her head to go visit the Grundles.
_But that wouldn't explain why she never came back. Or why she never said where she was going,_ she corrected herself.
Since the inhabitants of the castle were obviously sound asleep, Masquerade decided to move on and perhaps come back to question them later, if her searching proved fruitless.
She wasn't unduly worried about Fizzy. Not like the others, at any rate. Earth ponies were apt to get frantic at the slightest thing, and she'd long-since stopped listening to the most part of their babble, filtering out the important information needed from their verbal chaff. Masquerade had decided early on not to think the worst of situations before negative factors presented themselves. It wasn't that she didn't care, as such. More that she was keeping an open mind until someone closed it for her.
At least a venture like this allowed her to stretch her wings a little. Her muscles were cramped, and she soared for a few seconds to get the stiffness out of them. It could get so stuffy on the estate. No privacy anywhere. Up in the air the only things one had to worry about were birds and other Pegasi, and she was doubtful many of the latter would be abroad this night with a wind like this.
Well, maybe Whizzer, but she hardly counted. Whizzer looked upon bad weather as a challenge, and was more likely to be practising loops far above Paradise Estate than actually be travelling anywhere.
_Unlike me._
Masquerade spiralled down a little as another blast of wind hit her in the face. She was nearing the eastern border of Ponyland now, and still no sign of Fizzy anywhere. She'd have to turn back soon and try somewhere else. The dark bulk of the Black Mountains beyond it were a forbidding sight, and she gave a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold.
A small clump of trees reared up at ground level. Not big enough to merit being called a wood, but at the same time, not small enough to really be a copse. It was one of Masquerade's favourite places that she went to get a little privacy. The nearness of Porcina's old lair and the strange mountainous creatures that now inhabited it made other ponies avoid coming out this far if they could help doing so. Perfect for a little downtime.
On a whim, she spiralled down towards the leafy cluster. She didn't know why she did it. Perhaps for comfort. This was one of the places where she could be herself without anyone around to judge her. Just her, the wind and the greenery. Few ponies would be able to understand the joy of just reclining back into nature like that. They were too concerned with trivial things like clothes, parties and playing games. Posy might, but she was so...obsessed with the aesthetic. Her ruthlessly weeded garden spoke for itself on that front. Posy had no time for imperfection, and abhorred anything she deemed 'ugly'. One would think the incident with the Crab-Nasties would teach her, but it hadn't taken long for that lesson to wear off. No, Masquerade preferred just letting herself go here, weeds, warts and all.
She alighted on the branch of an overhanging Oak, whose limbs dipped in rather an unnatural fashion as the result of growing under a weed patch in its youth. It made for a good landing, and the yellow pony found her feet with ease, despite the wind.
Around her the trees shushed and bristled, whispering their outrage at the weather for tearing their leaves away so savagely. Her ears flicked back and forth, listening to them.
And then she heard it.
Another sound, soft and low. One might almost have mistaken it for a trick of the wind. It wasn't unknown to hear strange things on blustery nights that couldn't be heard on fine days. Yet somehow Masquerade knew that this wasn't just some manifestation of her own imagination. It was too solid, too real.
It was the sound of someone singing.
Curious despite herself, the Pegasus launched from her perch and glided down to floor level. The tree branches interlocked too closely for her to fly in here, and so she walked the rest of the way under the network of wood towards the voice.
The wind was pretty much blocked by the trees the further she went, and the singing grew louder, signalling she was headed in the right direction. Masquerade picked her way through the fallen twigs and leaves, crunching them underhoof. Sometimes twiggy fingers snatched at her face and mane, but she knew her way around this place well enough to avoid them for the most part.
It was as she was nearing the Flatstone, as she named it, that the singing stopped. The Flatstone marked of the very centre of the trees, and nobody had any explanation as to how it got there in the first place. There were rumours that it used to be the marker for a coven of witches long before any ponies inhabited this land, but Masquerade, ever pragmatic, shook them off as just that - rumours.
Even so, she froze at the sudden silence, and the hair on her withers started to rise at its eerieness.
"Who's there?"
She blinked. She knew that voice. That high-pitched, airheaded voice that was never without a laugh or a twinkle. "Fizzy?" Masquerade started forward again, pushing her way through the underbrush and into the clearing that held the Flatstone.
It was an odd name to give the huge rock, really. The Flatstone wasn't really flat at all, but had a smooth surface that made it perfect for a little pony to sit on without falling from the impressive height. The stone itself was a good six feet high, at least, and Masquerade had always assumed that only a Pegasus could actually get up there, even with wingbeats to help.
Yet atop it now crouched a familiar green form.
"Fizzy? What're you doing all the way out here?" Masquerade pattered forwards to where she could face the other pony, and was surprised to see the unicorn's face uncharacteristically bleak.
"Just.... thinking," was the vague reply.
"Thinking? You've put the entire of Paradise Estate in an uproar by vanishing off the face of the earth and you tell me you were just *thnking*?" A note of derision crept into her voice, and she wrinkled her nose in disgust. That was just like Fizzy, doing something stupid without a thought for anybody else. Typical.
But Fizzy's reply to her words was anything but typical.
"It's not unheard of for me to think, you know. No matter what others might think of me."
Blink. _Where did *that* one come from?_ Masquerade tilted her head a little. "Are you OK?"
Fizzy sighed, staring off at some spot in the distance. "Yeah, I'm fine." She didn't say anything more, and made no move to come down.
Masquerade bunched her legs under her and flapped her wings into a jump that got her approximately halfway up the side of the Flatstone. She clawed with her hooves a little, prising her way up until she could sit next to Fizzy. The stone was wide, wide enough for them both to rest without knocking each other off. The yellow Pegasus settled herself, whipping her tail about to clear away the dead leaves and plant her rump down. Fizzy didn't even acknowledge her, and just kept gazing at nothing. Her eyes, since they were the jewelled kind, betrayed little by way of her thoughts or emotions, but were still decidedly unfocused.
They sat that way for a while, neither saying anything nor bothering the other. It was unusual for the bubbly unicorn to stay silent for so long, and Masquerade had the feeling that it would be wrong for her to interrupt, somehow. Finally, Fizzy broke the taciturnity herself.
"Masquerade, do you ever wonder."
Masquerade blinked, unsure of what to say. "Wonder about what?"
"About.... stuff. Everything," Fizzy waved a hoof at the surrounding area, and then let it drop, "Nothing. Do you ever wonder about us."
"Who? You and me?"
"All ponies. All creatures. Grundles, humans, trolls, goblins - the works. Do you ever just stop and think about them; about how they came to be here. About what they're doing right now."
Masquerade glanced at her companion. That was deep. Deeper than Fizzy was generally wont to go, and it puzzled her a little. "Sometimes. Why? What sparked this off?"
Fizzy sighed again, and drew invisible circles on the rock with the tip of her hoof. "Just something Windwhistler said."
Masquerade frowned. _Windwhistler. I might've known it._ The knowledgeable pony seemed to take sport in making others feel small with her excesses of information and random facts that she liked spouting at odd moments. Recently she'd taken to singling out the meeker ponies, most notably Sweet Stuff and Shady, until Megan took her friend to one side and told her to stop it. Apparently she had, if only to move on to Fizzy.
"What did she say?"
Fizzy shrugged. "It doesn't matter that much. But it got me thinking, y'know? I never actually just wondered about stuff before. I just accepted it. I never tried to figure out why ponies are here. Why this is our land and nobody else's. Until the Grundles came to live in Dream Castle, we were the only creatures in Ponyland besides the forest animals. Even the name was kind of a warning sign, like saying 'keep out, this patch is ours'. Ponyland. We say we're welcoming, and that we like to make new friends, but it took almost losing our home completely before we even considered letting others move in."
"What about the Bushwoolies," Masquerade suggested. "They live here too."
"I suppose," Fizzy was forced to concede, "But still, haven't you ever wondered about it?"
Masquerade hunkered back on her haunches for a moment, considering the question. "I'd be lying if I said I never have," she said at last, "But it's never bothered me unduly. Other creatures can come and live in Ponyland if they want to. We're not stopping them."
"But they never want to," Fizzy persisted. "That's what I was wondering about too. Why don't other folk want to live in our lands. Are they afraid of us? Of our magic?"
"Except that most ponies don't actually have any magic," Masquerade reminded her. "Only you unicorns."
"So, does that mean that if there weren't any unicorns in Dream Valley, then other races would like to live here?" Her pretty face downturned a little. "That's a depressing thought."
Masquerade let the subsequent lull in conversation continue for a few long minutes before letting a breath out between her teeth and asking, "Fizzy, what's wrong? You're not usually this serious."
The flash of furious jewelled eyes and grim set of Fizzy's mouth startled her a little.
"What? The minute I'm a little astute there has to be something wrong with me?" she snapped. "I *do* have a brain, you know. Contrary to popular opinion, I'm not a *complete* airhead."
Masquerade was taken aback. "I never said that," she defended herself.
Fizzy turned away, obviously hurt and angry. "Yeah, well, you were thinking it. Don't lie and say you weren't. Everybody does."
Clearly there was more to this than met the proverbial eye. Masquerade regarded the other pony, cocking her head to one side. She and Fizzy weren't friends, not the same way Heart-Throb and Truly were, at any rate. They were more acquaintances who just happened to share the same home. Fizzy always seemed to have a gaggle of ponies around her at any one time, whilst Masquerade, more often than not, preferred her own company above anyone else's.
And yet.... Masquerade couldn't help but wonder, now that she'd caught the green unicorn in a more vulnerable moment. Fizzy, it seemed, was not quite the idiot she made herself out to be, and in the light of this her companion-of-the-moment found herself questioning just how much of her outward demeanour was actually true. How much of the real Fizzy did the little ponies really know?
"You don't have to keep staring at me, you know," Fizzy said without turning around. "If you want to say something, then say it."
Masquerade's mouth flipped shut, telling her for the first time that it had been open. "I wasn't staring," she said, perhaps a little too quickly. "I was just.... thinking."
Fizzy let out a bitter laugh, quite unlike her usual light giggle. "Yeah. This place tends to make you do that, doesn't it?" she paused for a second, hesitating, then added; "I didn't mean to snap at you."
Masquerade shrugged. "S'alright. No biggie."
"It's just that," Fizzy went on, chewing her bottom lip as if thinking how best to phrase things. "It's just that, everybody simply assumes that I'm some kind of moron. It's all they ever think of me as. There goes Fizzy, resident airhead. Not a serious bone in her body. I think 'Bubble Brain' is my latest nickname."
At this, Masquerade winced. She'd heard that epithet, and even used it herself a few times. Fizzy, however, seemed not to notice the action.
"I know I don't do much to stop them thinking that. I guess I kinda encourage it, even. It's just a lot easier that way. When people think you're just a stereotype bimbo they don't bother you as much. You're not a threat to them. But sometimes...." she sighed a sigh that seemed to come right from the bottom of her hooves, "Sometimes I wish I could just quit being so... so vacuous! I *do* have thoughts of my own. Just because I don't choose to voice them all the time doesn't mean they're not there. I'm not wise or clever like Windwhistler, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid."
Masquerade listened to her outburst without a word, nodding but not interrupting until the unicorn had finished. When Fizzy didn't seem able to say more, she spoke. "I won't lie to you, Fizzy," she said with her usual amount of bluntness. "You *don't* help yourself with the way you act. Perhaps if you stopped acting like a giddy teenager all your life people would stop *treating* you like one." She faltered, then added, "But don't for one minute think that just because you don't spout wisdom from the treetops like Windwhistler that people think any less of you. *I* don't." And, to her great surprise, she realised she was telling the truth. She didn't. _Heck,_ Masquerade thought wryly, _Who am I to talk about putting on a disguise to other people? I do it. I guess I just never considered other ponies did it too._
Fizzy was quiet for a moment, and masquerade wondered if she'd taken offence. It wouldn't be the first time a pony had misinterpreted her words. However, her doubts vanished when the unicorn shifted around to look at her. There was watery smile on her face; thin, but genuine. Much more so than her customary grin, in fact.
"Thanks," Fizzy said sincerely. "That means a lot to me, Masquerade."
Suddenly struck by embarrassment, Masquerade waved a careless hoof at her and fought down a blush. "Meh," she growled, pleasantly startled at the warm, glowy feeling her words elicited. The Pegasus rose to her feet and shook herself, dislodging a few dried leaves that had settled on her coat during their conversation. "We should really head back," she advised. "The others are all worried about you. If Cupcake sees you not turning up for another meal again she'll have an apoplectic fit!"
But instead of rising, Fizzy stretched out a hoof and touched the yellow pony's foreleg. "Wait," she murmured, eyes wandering to the small patch of sky visible through the tree branches overhead. "Can't we stay just a little longer. You can see the moon from here."
Masquerade looked up, following her gaze to the splash of night sky. She felt like she should make some cutting comment to that, but the remark died in her throat, and instead she hunkered down again on the Flatstone. "Yeah. I guess we could make them wait a little longer."
Silence stretched between them once more as they sat, staring at the sky, but it was a companionable silence, and somehow neither felt the need to say anything to the other.
Slowly, the moon rose in the darkness, and they sat together. Not quite friends; but perhaps a step more towards friendship than before.
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Finis
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AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is essentially a thank-you fic for Harry Wriggle and the splenderific birthday piccy she did for my other work 'Of Beast and Blade'. Be warned, this is my first foray into MLP territory, and I haven't watched the show in many moons. Add to that the fact that my memory is rather lacking, and it makes for some interesting literary consequences. Basically I just took it upon myself to write some characterisation for a couple of characters I feel were woeful neglected by the scriptwriters. Please review. I'm a feedback junkie.
Archiving: email me at electric_hairdo@hotmail.com If you want this, then you can have it. Just ask me first, OK?
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'Do You Ever Wonder?' By Scribbler
December 2002
*******************
'Friendship is genuine when two friends can enjoy each others company without speaking a word to one another.' -- George Ebers
*******************
Masquerade was, by nature, not the most happy-go-lucky of ponies. Although she wasn't as anti-social as some, and participated in many playful pursuits, she could often be found alone in one of her 'secret spots'; just pondering the universe and watching the world go by. It was difficult to approach her when she was in such a mood - most notably because she chose to vanish for hours on end where nobody could find and bother her. Still, there had been occasions when some had tried, and felt the sharper side of her tongue as a result.
Which was why she wasn't best pleased to be turned out into the cold, one night, when all she really wanted to do was settle down in the attic with a new book.
The reason for her expulsion was simple. Fizzy was missing. The flighty unicorn hadn't been seen since the previous evening, and had missed all of her meals between then and now. It wasn't like her to just disappear without trace like that, and so search parties had been dutifully dispatched to look for her.
_Just my luck I was the only Pegasus within shouting distance._
Masquerade grumbled to herself as she dipped and turned over the plains and fields that surrounded Paradise Estate, peering downwards all the while in the hope of spotting a telltale splash of green. Of course, it was almost pitch dark outside, which made such a colour difficult to see amongst the shifting shadows, but she ploughed on nonetheless.
It wasn't that she didn't *like* Fizzy, but the other pony was just so.... capricious seemed the best word to describe her. Fizzy's voice was always so bubbly, especially at the most inopportune times, that it often made Masquerade question whether the unicorn was a few sandwiches short of a picnic basket.
Of course, her light-heartedness and oft-times foolishness made her a great favourite with most others. If ever there was a dull moment, then you could be sure Fizzy would be called upon to make some inane comment or other and revel in the peals of laughter that followed. It was just so.... superficial, Masquerade thought to herself. Fizzy was an airhead without a care in the world, but she just didn't seem to mind. In fact, she almost seemed to take pleasure in her own stupidity. Her calling card, so to speak.
A particularly strong gust of wind buffeted the yellow Pegasus, and she instinctively wheeled high to regain her composure in the air. A cloudbank appeared beneath her hooves and she tutted, skirting around the edges to a less volatile patch so that she could resume her search.
"You wouldn't catch Windwhistler doing this," she groused. "Oh no, Miss High-and-Mighty's probably locked up in the library again. They'd never make *her* leave her books to go out looking."
Her annoyed litany continued as the colossal bulk of Dream Castle rose up on the horizon, dwarfing the smattering of trees planted around its base. The trio of pennants attached to the tower spikes fluttered in the stiff breeze, and she circled around them, wondering if Fizzy had taken it into her head to go visit the Grundles.
_But that wouldn't explain why she never came back. Or why she never said where she was going,_ she corrected herself.
Since the inhabitants of the castle were obviously sound asleep, Masquerade decided to move on and perhaps come back to question them later, if her searching proved fruitless.
She wasn't unduly worried about Fizzy. Not like the others, at any rate. Earth ponies were apt to get frantic at the slightest thing, and she'd long-since stopped listening to the most part of their babble, filtering out the important information needed from their verbal chaff. Masquerade had decided early on not to think the worst of situations before negative factors presented themselves. It wasn't that she didn't care, as such. More that she was keeping an open mind until someone closed it for her.
At least a venture like this allowed her to stretch her wings a little. Her muscles were cramped, and she soared for a few seconds to get the stiffness out of them. It could get so stuffy on the estate. No privacy anywhere. Up in the air the only things one had to worry about were birds and other Pegasi, and she was doubtful many of the latter would be abroad this night with a wind like this.
Well, maybe Whizzer, but she hardly counted. Whizzer looked upon bad weather as a challenge, and was more likely to be practising loops far above Paradise Estate than actually be travelling anywhere.
_Unlike me._
Masquerade spiralled down a little as another blast of wind hit her in the face. She was nearing the eastern border of Ponyland now, and still no sign of Fizzy anywhere. She'd have to turn back soon and try somewhere else. The dark bulk of the Black Mountains beyond it were a forbidding sight, and she gave a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold.
A small clump of trees reared up at ground level. Not big enough to merit being called a wood, but at the same time, not small enough to really be a copse. It was one of Masquerade's favourite places that she went to get a little privacy. The nearness of Porcina's old lair and the strange mountainous creatures that now inhabited it made other ponies avoid coming out this far if they could help doing so. Perfect for a little downtime.
On a whim, she spiralled down towards the leafy cluster. She didn't know why she did it. Perhaps for comfort. This was one of the places where she could be herself without anyone around to judge her. Just her, the wind and the greenery. Few ponies would be able to understand the joy of just reclining back into nature like that. They were too concerned with trivial things like clothes, parties and playing games. Posy might, but she was so...obsessed with the aesthetic. Her ruthlessly weeded garden spoke for itself on that front. Posy had no time for imperfection, and abhorred anything she deemed 'ugly'. One would think the incident with the Crab-Nasties would teach her, but it hadn't taken long for that lesson to wear off. No, Masquerade preferred just letting herself go here, weeds, warts and all.
She alighted on the branch of an overhanging Oak, whose limbs dipped in rather an unnatural fashion as the result of growing under a weed patch in its youth. It made for a good landing, and the yellow pony found her feet with ease, despite the wind.
Around her the trees shushed and bristled, whispering their outrage at the weather for tearing their leaves away so savagely. Her ears flicked back and forth, listening to them.
And then she heard it.
Another sound, soft and low. One might almost have mistaken it for a trick of the wind. It wasn't unknown to hear strange things on blustery nights that couldn't be heard on fine days. Yet somehow Masquerade knew that this wasn't just some manifestation of her own imagination. It was too solid, too real.
It was the sound of someone singing.
Curious despite herself, the Pegasus launched from her perch and glided down to floor level. The tree branches interlocked too closely for her to fly in here, and so she walked the rest of the way under the network of wood towards the voice.
The wind was pretty much blocked by the trees the further she went, and the singing grew louder, signalling she was headed in the right direction. Masquerade picked her way through the fallen twigs and leaves, crunching them underhoof. Sometimes twiggy fingers snatched at her face and mane, but she knew her way around this place well enough to avoid them for the most part.
It was as she was nearing the Flatstone, as she named it, that the singing stopped. The Flatstone marked of the very centre of the trees, and nobody had any explanation as to how it got there in the first place. There were rumours that it used to be the marker for a coven of witches long before any ponies inhabited this land, but Masquerade, ever pragmatic, shook them off as just that - rumours.
Even so, she froze at the sudden silence, and the hair on her withers started to rise at its eerieness.
"Who's there?"
She blinked. She knew that voice. That high-pitched, airheaded voice that was never without a laugh or a twinkle. "Fizzy?" Masquerade started forward again, pushing her way through the underbrush and into the clearing that held the Flatstone.
It was an odd name to give the huge rock, really. The Flatstone wasn't really flat at all, but had a smooth surface that made it perfect for a little pony to sit on without falling from the impressive height. The stone itself was a good six feet high, at least, and Masquerade had always assumed that only a Pegasus could actually get up there, even with wingbeats to help.
Yet atop it now crouched a familiar green form.
"Fizzy? What're you doing all the way out here?" Masquerade pattered forwards to where she could face the other pony, and was surprised to see the unicorn's face uncharacteristically bleak.
"Just.... thinking," was the vague reply.
"Thinking? You've put the entire of Paradise Estate in an uproar by vanishing off the face of the earth and you tell me you were just *thnking*?" A note of derision crept into her voice, and she wrinkled her nose in disgust. That was just like Fizzy, doing something stupid without a thought for anybody else. Typical.
But Fizzy's reply to her words was anything but typical.
"It's not unheard of for me to think, you know. No matter what others might think of me."
Blink. _Where did *that* one come from?_ Masquerade tilted her head a little. "Are you OK?"
Fizzy sighed, staring off at some spot in the distance. "Yeah, I'm fine." She didn't say anything more, and made no move to come down.
Masquerade bunched her legs under her and flapped her wings into a jump that got her approximately halfway up the side of the Flatstone. She clawed with her hooves a little, prising her way up until she could sit next to Fizzy. The stone was wide, wide enough for them both to rest without knocking each other off. The yellow Pegasus settled herself, whipping her tail about to clear away the dead leaves and plant her rump down. Fizzy didn't even acknowledge her, and just kept gazing at nothing. Her eyes, since they were the jewelled kind, betrayed little by way of her thoughts or emotions, but were still decidedly unfocused.
They sat that way for a while, neither saying anything nor bothering the other. It was unusual for the bubbly unicorn to stay silent for so long, and Masquerade had the feeling that it would be wrong for her to interrupt, somehow. Finally, Fizzy broke the taciturnity herself.
"Masquerade, do you ever wonder."
Masquerade blinked, unsure of what to say. "Wonder about what?"
"About.... stuff. Everything," Fizzy waved a hoof at the surrounding area, and then let it drop, "Nothing. Do you ever wonder about us."
"Who? You and me?"
"All ponies. All creatures. Grundles, humans, trolls, goblins - the works. Do you ever just stop and think about them; about how they came to be here. About what they're doing right now."
Masquerade glanced at her companion. That was deep. Deeper than Fizzy was generally wont to go, and it puzzled her a little. "Sometimes. Why? What sparked this off?"
Fizzy sighed again, and drew invisible circles on the rock with the tip of her hoof. "Just something Windwhistler said."
Masquerade frowned. _Windwhistler. I might've known it._ The knowledgeable pony seemed to take sport in making others feel small with her excesses of information and random facts that she liked spouting at odd moments. Recently she'd taken to singling out the meeker ponies, most notably Sweet Stuff and Shady, until Megan took her friend to one side and told her to stop it. Apparently she had, if only to move on to Fizzy.
"What did she say?"
Fizzy shrugged. "It doesn't matter that much. But it got me thinking, y'know? I never actually just wondered about stuff before. I just accepted it. I never tried to figure out why ponies are here. Why this is our land and nobody else's. Until the Grundles came to live in Dream Castle, we were the only creatures in Ponyland besides the forest animals. Even the name was kind of a warning sign, like saying 'keep out, this patch is ours'. Ponyland. We say we're welcoming, and that we like to make new friends, but it took almost losing our home completely before we even considered letting others move in."
"What about the Bushwoolies," Masquerade suggested. "They live here too."
"I suppose," Fizzy was forced to concede, "But still, haven't you ever wondered about it?"
Masquerade hunkered back on her haunches for a moment, considering the question. "I'd be lying if I said I never have," she said at last, "But it's never bothered me unduly. Other creatures can come and live in Ponyland if they want to. We're not stopping them."
"But they never want to," Fizzy persisted. "That's what I was wondering about too. Why don't other folk want to live in our lands. Are they afraid of us? Of our magic?"
"Except that most ponies don't actually have any magic," Masquerade reminded her. "Only you unicorns."
"So, does that mean that if there weren't any unicorns in Dream Valley, then other races would like to live here?" Her pretty face downturned a little. "That's a depressing thought."
Masquerade let the subsequent lull in conversation continue for a few long minutes before letting a breath out between her teeth and asking, "Fizzy, what's wrong? You're not usually this serious."
The flash of furious jewelled eyes and grim set of Fizzy's mouth startled her a little.
"What? The minute I'm a little astute there has to be something wrong with me?" she snapped. "I *do* have a brain, you know. Contrary to popular opinion, I'm not a *complete* airhead."
Masquerade was taken aback. "I never said that," she defended herself.
Fizzy turned away, obviously hurt and angry. "Yeah, well, you were thinking it. Don't lie and say you weren't. Everybody does."
Clearly there was more to this than met the proverbial eye. Masquerade regarded the other pony, cocking her head to one side. She and Fizzy weren't friends, not the same way Heart-Throb and Truly were, at any rate. They were more acquaintances who just happened to share the same home. Fizzy always seemed to have a gaggle of ponies around her at any one time, whilst Masquerade, more often than not, preferred her own company above anyone else's.
And yet.... Masquerade couldn't help but wonder, now that she'd caught the green unicorn in a more vulnerable moment. Fizzy, it seemed, was not quite the idiot she made herself out to be, and in the light of this her companion-of-the-moment found herself questioning just how much of her outward demeanour was actually true. How much of the real Fizzy did the little ponies really know?
"You don't have to keep staring at me, you know," Fizzy said without turning around. "If you want to say something, then say it."
Masquerade's mouth flipped shut, telling her for the first time that it had been open. "I wasn't staring," she said, perhaps a little too quickly. "I was just.... thinking."
Fizzy let out a bitter laugh, quite unlike her usual light giggle. "Yeah. This place tends to make you do that, doesn't it?" she paused for a second, hesitating, then added; "I didn't mean to snap at you."
Masquerade shrugged. "S'alright. No biggie."
"It's just that," Fizzy went on, chewing her bottom lip as if thinking how best to phrase things. "It's just that, everybody simply assumes that I'm some kind of moron. It's all they ever think of me as. There goes Fizzy, resident airhead. Not a serious bone in her body. I think 'Bubble Brain' is my latest nickname."
At this, Masquerade winced. She'd heard that epithet, and even used it herself a few times. Fizzy, however, seemed not to notice the action.
"I know I don't do much to stop them thinking that. I guess I kinda encourage it, even. It's just a lot easier that way. When people think you're just a stereotype bimbo they don't bother you as much. You're not a threat to them. But sometimes...." she sighed a sigh that seemed to come right from the bottom of her hooves, "Sometimes I wish I could just quit being so... so vacuous! I *do* have thoughts of my own. Just because I don't choose to voice them all the time doesn't mean they're not there. I'm not wise or clever like Windwhistler, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid."
Masquerade listened to her outburst without a word, nodding but not interrupting until the unicorn had finished. When Fizzy didn't seem able to say more, she spoke. "I won't lie to you, Fizzy," she said with her usual amount of bluntness. "You *don't* help yourself with the way you act. Perhaps if you stopped acting like a giddy teenager all your life people would stop *treating* you like one." She faltered, then added, "But don't for one minute think that just because you don't spout wisdom from the treetops like Windwhistler that people think any less of you. *I* don't." And, to her great surprise, she realised she was telling the truth. She didn't. _Heck,_ Masquerade thought wryly, _Who am I to talk about putting on a disguise to other people? I do it. I guess I just never considered other ponies did it too._
Fizzy was quiet for a moment, and masquerade wondered if she'd taken offence. It wouldn't be the first time a pony had misinterpreted her words. However, her doubts vanished when the unicorn shifted around to look at her. There was watery smile on her face; thin, but genuine. Much more so than her customary grin, in fact.
"Thanks," Fizzy said sincerely. "That means a lot to me, Masquerade."
Suddenly struck by embarrassment, Masquerade waved a careless hoof at her and fought down a blush. "Meh," she growled, pleasantly startled at the warm, glowy feeling her words elicited. The Pegasus rose to her feet and shook herself, dislodging a few dried leaves that had settled on her coat during their conversation. "We should really head back," she advised. "The others are all worried about you. If Cupcake sees you not turning up for another meal again she'll have an apoplectic fit!"
But instead of rising, Fizzy stretched out a hoof and touched the yellow pony's foreleg. "Wait," she murmured, eyes wandering to the small patch of sky visible through the tree branches overhead. "Can't we stay just a little longer. You can see the moon from here."
Masquerade looked up, following her gaze to the splash of night sky. She felt like she should make some cutting comment to that, but the remark died in her throat, and instead she hunkered down again on the Flatstone. "Yeah. I guess we could make them wait a little longer."
Silence stretched between them once more as they sat, staring at the sky, but it was a companionable silence, and somehow neither felt the need to say anything to the other.
Slowly, the moon rose in the darkness, and they sat together. Not quite friends; but perhaps a step more towards friendship than before.
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Finis
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