Chapter 10: Two Roads, One Right Choice

Nails didn't get any sleep that night. He finally gave up sleeping and went outside to his safe. Once he was there he reached in and got out the old tattered book that had caused so much trouble in his life. He had taped the last page with his name on it back into the book. As he looked into the book and remembered everything that still had to happen, tears began to form in his eyes. He rarely cried unless it was something that reminded him of his mother. She had loved him enough to save him, but all he had to know her was this little tattered book. He closed his eyes and pictured what he always thought his mother looked like. An earth pony with a light green coat and a blue mane. She had a long flowing tail and her mane was styled so that it flowed to her side. The picture he thought of just made him cry even more. He had never known either of his parents. He had never seen either of them. All he knew was what he thought they looked like. He looked outside and saw small rays of light peeking over the horizon. It was about 6:00 A.M. he had twelve hours until the party. He decided that he might as well take Applejack's plow over to her farm. He decided that since Applejack had brought it in a cart, she would want the cart back so he put the plow into the cart and started making the trek to Sweet Apple Acres. As he got near he saw Big Macintosh harvesting, but Applejack was nowhere to be seen. Nails walked up to Big Macintosh.

"Hey Mac. Where's Applejack?"

"She went over to Sugarcube Corner to finish preparing for a party."

"Ok, well if she comes back tell her I left the plow in the barn ok?"

"Will do."

"Thanks."

Nails left at this point. He decided that it would be best if he stayed away from Sugarcube Corner for the day until the party. He made his way back to his house. Surely he could do something to take up time. He had an idea about what to make but it would probably take him all day and he would have to work with small parts. He took out a few golden bits and set to work.

6:00 finally came around and Nails had finished working in his workshop so he closed up and headed over to Sugarcube Corner. He packed some things to take for the party in his saddlebags and made his way to Sugarcube Corner.

When he got there the party was already in full swing, but that didn't stop everypony from stopping what they were doing to welcome him. He greeted all of them and set down his saddlebags before he headed over to the snacks table. It had been a long day and right now he was hungry. Rainbow Dash and Applejack stayed together most of the night as the party went on. Applejack kept trying to get Rainbow Dash to tell Nails how she felt about him, but nervousness kept becoming a factor for the normally brash pony. She had never done anything like this before and was scared of failure. Applejack finally reminded her that no matter what, she was going to be right behind her. Rainbow Dash finally decided to buck up and tell him. She swallowed hard as she told Applejack that she was about to do it. Applejack gave her a reassuring pat on the back to calm her down.

"It'll be fine. I'm right behind ya Rainbow." said Applejack.

Rainbow Dash walked up to Nails who had just finished bobbing for an apple. He was sitting at a table eating it when she got there. She turned to look back at Applejack who gave her a reassuring wink. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she started.

"Hey, uh, Nails?"

"Yes Rainbow?"

Rainbow Dash thought through what she was going to say several times before finally opening her mouth.

"Well, it's just that, I uh, well, I really care about you and like you. I was just wondering, after all that's happened recently, how you felt about me?" Rainbow Dash tried to smile but her mouth was quivering so much that she couldn't.

Nails just sat there for a while, staring down at the table before he began to speak.

"No."

"What?"

"No Rainbow Dash, I want you to leave me alone."

"What?"

"You heard me, just stay away from me." While Nails said this he hadn't looked up from the table. Tears began to form in Rainbow Dash's eyes. She had known that failure was a possibility but she hadn't expected Nails to be this cold. He was supposed to be her friend. Couldn't he have just said it nicely instead of telling her to leave him alone? She couldn't help it as she began to cry; she ran out of the room and left Sugarcube Corner running out into the night. When Nails turned around he was met with a strong kick to his jaw.

"How could you be so cruel!" yelled Applejack as the others watched with shocked expressions on their faces. The partying had stopped as the events began to unfold. "She cared about you enough to say she liked you and you had to say no in the meanest way you could think of! You don't care bout her at all do ya!"

"I do care about her."

"No you don't! You just broke her heart! That's something that you can't just pop back into place!"

"I do care about her a lot Applejack, I really like her! It's just that right now I'm going through hell and I don't want any of you to have to deal with it!"

"Well, I hope that you can know that when you get out of your problems you won't have her as a friend! Or for that matter me!"

Nails looked away from Applejack.

"Look at me right now!"

Nails ignored her but began to speak, "Two roads, an easy one, and the right one." he sat there for a few moments as an angry Applejack reared back to kick him again. This time he stopped it.

"Applejack, you can stop now."

"Why? You gonna fight back?"

"No." said Nails as he got up, "I'm going to go tell Rainbow Dash how I really feel."

Applejack watched as Nails picked up his saddlebags and left the shop leaving everypony shocked.

"What just happened?" asked Twilight.

"Ta be honest Twilight, I don't really know." was all Applejack could say.

Rainbow Dash sat on a hill overlooking Ponyville. She was crying. A pony that she thought cared about her had just told her to leave him alone. She couldn't stop the tears as they kept falling. It had been only a few minutes ago when she had asked Nails if he cared about her and now she knew he hated her. She was about to walk to Twilight's where she was staying when she heard a voice behind her.

"Rainbow?"

She turned around to see Nails standing there.

"I'm sorry, you want me to leave you alone! I'll be going now!"

"Wait!"

Rainbow Dash turned around. "Why! So you can make me feel worse? So you can think of another way to say no? Why should I listen to you? Or care about you for that matter!"

"Because I really do care about you."

"Prove it! You told me to stay away from you! How can you stand there and tell me you care about me?"

Nails didn't say anything. Instead, his claw reached into his saddlebags and pulled something out. He looked at it and then tossed it to Rainbow Dash. It was a heart shaped locket.

"I made that today. It took me all of the twelve hours and all of my skill to do it just right. I melted a lot of golden coins before I got it just right."

"It's... Beautiful." was all Rainbow Dash could say. Tears began to form in her eyes, these were not if sadness though, but of joy. She looked at the pony that had just done this for her.

"I'm so sorry Nails, I guess that I got carried away."

"No you didn't, I did. I shouldn't have talked to you that way. I should have been nicer about it. But, if you're willing to forgive me, then I'm willing to be true with you. I really do care about you Rainbow, that's why I said no originally, now I realize that even though that was the easy path, it wasn't the right one."

Rainbow Dash looked at Nails; the dark pink eyes met his. Rainbow Dash had never noticed his blue eyes before. She began to snivel before walking up to him and hugging him. He returned the embrace.

"I'm so sorry Rainbow. Please forgive me."

"I forgive you Nails." said Rainbow Dash as she tightened the embrace.

"Hey! We need to have another party now! It can be a Rainbow Dash and Nails party!" came a voice from nearby. The two ponies stopped hugging and turned their attention towards the bush where they had heard the voice. "We could combine it with the hero party we're having for Nails! It can be a double party!"

"Pinkie Pie! You blew our cover!"

"Consarnit Pinkie Pie! Don't you know the purpose of hiding! It's so ya don't get found!"

"I must say Pinkie Pie, that was a little bad even for you!"

"Rainbow Dash! I'm so sorry if we're interrupting anything! Will you please forgive us?"

Rainbow Dash and Nails looked at each other and started to laugh. Then they began to hug each other again. They would have stayed there forever had Pinkie Pie not gotten right in between them. They laughed at this.

"Pinkie Pie, you are so random."

The seven ponies returned to their party and continued throughout the night without any more problems. Nails stayed close to Rainbow Dash all night and the two talked about various things. Nails still refused to explain what he meant when he told them that he had said no because he cared about Rainbow, but this was ignored. As the night began to come to an end the seven ponies left to go to their houses but not before saying good-bye to Nails and Rainbow Dash who both set out to Nails's home. Rainbow Dash was still staying with Twilight but she just wanted to say good-night to Nails before she went. When they got there Nails invited her in. Rainbow Dash had never been inside Nails's home and she wished that she had tried to go in earlier. The inside was beautiful, especially the handmade furniture. She was looking at the table when a letter caught her eye. Curious, she went over to it and began to read it.

"Nails!"

"What is it?"

"Why didn't you tell us about this?" said Rainbow Dash as she held up the letter.

"Oh, that"

"This is really big news."

"Ya, it is, I guess it just, um slipped my mind. Ya."

"What's wrong? Aren't you excited that Iron Foot is going to die?" Rainbow Dash paused; those were words she never thought would come out of her mouth.

"Ya, I am, it's just that, well, I don't know. I guess you're right, I should be excited."

"I'm going to go tell Twilight right now! She will be so excited!" once again, never thought that Twilight would be excited by death.

"Ok, Good night Rainbow."

"Good night Nails!"

With that Rainbow Dash walked out of the house and started towards the library with a skip in her step. Nails closed the door behind her but didn't move after it was shut. His claw formed a fist as he looked at the ground and he let himself slide until he was sitting on the ground.

"Strike three."

Author Notes.

Well well well, long time no see. I have quite a bit to talk about in these author notes so let's get started.

1. This story still has one more chapter. A much shorter epilogue. What's in it? Find out when you read it!

2. Originally the locket didn't exist and the only thing that happened was conversation between Nails and Rainbow Dash. I decided that this was too boring so I threw the locket in to shake things up.

3. In regard to the most recent episode, The Last Roundup, It is definitely my favorite episode so far. The fact that they actually say Derpy and give her a voice makes the episode. And so does demon Pinkie Pie. Plus the torture scene and the carriage chase.

4. When it says that Pinkie Pie got in between them, in my mind I had it look like when she starts at the bottom of the screen in "Sweet and Elite" and rises up before starting the party.

5. "Strike three" was the first thing I ever wrote in this chapter. Since I had planned on it being like this for a while and had decided to make "Strike three" the last phrase in the story (Not including Epilogue) I did before I forgot.

6. When I post the finale in The Price of Harmony trilogy it will start with a prologue and a single chapter to get things started.

7. Because it may not be easily found when searched for I will tell you now that the last story will be rated M for heavy language, blood and gore, and extreme violence. How extreme? Pretty extreme, enough said. But it will not be a blood bath story. It will still be a very well written story and include important key elements. Just a little preview, you finally get to learn what is in that book that Nails carries around.

8. I already had the ending of this series in my mind before I published the first story. I feel like if I know exactly where I want to go, I just have to draw the map to get there.