Chapter 9: A Romantic Party?
Thank you all for your continued support for Home is Where Your Heart Is. I hope you will enjoy this next chapter as you have enjoyed the previous ones :)
Read, enjoy, comment.
Wanderlust yawned as he and Twilight walked out the front door of the library. The sky had started to darken, turning from it's light blue color to a soft orange as Celestia's sun fell and Luna's moon rose.
Twilight had tucked Spike in before they had left and Wanderlust had watched them almost with envy. He had nopony to take care of as Twilight did and nopony to take care of him as Spike did. It made his chest ache a little as he watched and realized that he was alone. Some of the ponies that he had met in Ponyville could be considered friends but he still wasn't very close to any of them. Except maybe Fluttershy...
His thoughts fragmented as he heard a soft scream and something heavy collided with him. He heard a shriek of surprise but he wasn't sure if it came from him or from some other pony. All he knew was that his head throbbed and something heavy was on his back. He opened his eyes and tried looking around but he saw only blue. "What the hay..?" He muttered as he tried to find something not blue.
He quickly found it in the form of three small pink butterflies sitting just inches from his face. His eyes widened as he recognized it as the cutie mark of Fluttershy and realized just what was in front of his face. His face felt like it was going to burn off as he quickly turned away and crawled out from underneath the mass of blue and yellow.
Free of the crushing weight that was Fluttershy, Wanderlust took a deep breath before turning around. He saw Twilight worriedly talking to a very dizzy looking Fluttershy wearing a beautiful blue dress that, if Wanderlust wasn't already as red as a tomato, would have made him blush.
"Fluttershy? Are you okay?" Twilight asked her dizzy friend.
"Y-yes..." She said as she shook the dizziness out of her head.
"What happened?" Twilight asked.
"I...I don't really know." She lied. She knew exactly what had happened. She had left Rarity and had started flying back to her cottage so she could get things ready for Wanderlust's dinner which Rarity had so graciously agreed to make. She got about half way there when she had looked down and saw Twilight and Wanderlust. Recognizing the pony that she was soon to be having dinner with if things went right. Her mind flew to all of the things that could happen if things went well. Without even realizing it, she had started drifting towards Wanderlust.
When she had been about twenty feet straight above him, she realized what she was doing and started panicking afraid that they would notice her. This made her heart practically beat out of her chest and she felt her wings lock up. She screamed as she dropped...
...and landed right on Wanderlust.
Twilight raised an eyebrow at Fluttershy's response but decided not to say anything. She merely looked back at Wanderlust. "Are you okay Wanderlust?" She asked.
His blush had almost completely vanished, much to his relief. "I think so. No broken bones at least." He replied looking at his busted wing. "Well no new ones anyway."
Fluttershy tensed up at his voice. 'He must hate me now...' She thought before slowly standing up and turning slowly to Wanderlust. "I-I'm so s-sorry..." She stuttered.
Wanderlust simply walked up to Fluttershy and looked at her.
Fluttershy looked at him for a moment before looking at the ground. 'Here it comes.' She thought before closing her eyes. She imagined him saying all sorts of horrible things to her and she felt herself already tearing up.
She didn't expect him to hug her.
"Be careful you crazy pony." He said with his throat tight with emotion. "And don't apologize for landing on me." He added before breaking the hug.
Fluttershy took a step back and looked at him in surprise. Surprise for the hug, for his concern, and for his telling her not to apologize. "B-but..." She started.
He put a hoof gently over he mouth cutting her off. "No buts. I don't mind being a cushion." He joked. He smiled as he felt Fluttershy's mouth form a smile under his hoof. "Besides, think how bad you could have gotten hurt if you didn't land on something soft." He said seriously.
Fluttershy moved his hoof away from her mouth. "Y-yeah but..." She started again.
"But nothing." He said. "I am your new official landing cushion. End of story."
Fluttershy just closed her mouth. She knew that there was no way she was going to win with him. "O-okay." She said in defeat.
"Victory!" Wanderlust exclaimed as he threw his front hooves into the air and Fluttershy and Twilight just laughed. Wanderlust just smiled. "So what's with the dress?" He asked completely shifting from his excited mood to a curious one.
"Oh um..." She starting looking back at her slightly dusty blue dress. "Oh my. Rarity is going to be so mad..."
"Rarity let you borrow one of her dresses?" Wanderlust asked. "I didn't expect her to the type of pony who would let anyone touch her dresses."
Twilight looked at Wanderlust. "Actually Rarity is a very generous pony." She told him.
"Wow. That's a surprise." He commented before turning to Fluttershy. "So why do you have the dress anyways? Going someplace fancy?"
"Oh um, no I was just going home..." She said quietly looking back and forth between Twilight and Wanderlust. "W-where are you two going?"
"We were actually going to your cottage." Wanderlust answered. "But if we were just going to be meeting you at your house, there really isn't a point in going to your cottage anymore."
Twilight and Fluttershy both panicked. Both of their plans involved bringing Wanderlust to Fluttershy's cottage.
"Oh, i-it's okay!" Fluttershy stammered out in panic. "We...We can still go to my cottage!"
"Yeah!" Twilight went right along with her. "Let's go there anyways! It should be fun!"
Wanderlust looked at the two mares with just a little bit of suspicion. "Why?" He asked simply.
"Uh..." They both responded at the same time.
Wanderlust narrowed his eyes. "Well, I guess I will just have to find out just what will be so much fun at the cottage." He said before taking off in a full gallop towards Fluttershy's cottage.
"Yes!" Twilight shouted while Fluttershy shouted "No!"
Twilight looked at Fluttershy in confusion. Twilight had done her job right. 'I got Wanderlust to go to the cottage without him knowing about the party. So why does Fluttershy look so upset...?' She thought to herself. 'She is in on this...right?'
Fluttershy panicked and started galloping after Wanderlust yelling at him to stop. Of course nopony heard her shouts as they were barely louder than whispers.
"Apparently not..." Twilight muttered to herself before galloping after them both.
Rarity pulled a small cart of food up to Fluttershy's door and knocked lightly, just in case anypony was already there. When she heard nothing she opened the door and was about to walk in when two sets of hooves, one pink, one blue, shot out of the darkness and grabbed her. She let out a loud squeak as she was pulled inside with the cart being pulled in with her.
She shook off the hooves after they had dragged her in and randomly swung her front hooves around trying to hit her kidnappers. "Stay back ruffians!" She yelled.
"SHHHH!" Came a very loud noise to her right and she swung her hoof in that direction but hitting only a plushy couch.
"Calm down Rarity." Came a voice from her left and she turned in that direction only to have a bright light shine into her eyes.
"Ow! My beautiful eyes." She gasped covering her eyes. "I'm blind."
"Drama queen." She heard and glared in the direction of the voice as the light illuminated a blue face with a mane of rainbow hair.
"Rainbowdash? Why are you here?" She asked, very surprised.
"Duh, for the party." She answered.
"What are you talking about?"
"The super, duper, awesome party for Wanderlust." Came a squeaky voice from behind her. She didn't even have to turn around to know that it was Pinkie Pie who had spoken.
"Oh...This could be bad." Rarity muttered before hearing a gasp come from behind her.
Pinkie Pie whispered really loudly. "There he is!" Rarity turned and saw the door slam shut, closed by some unseen pony and her cart of fancy food was whisked away, most likely to end up in the kitchen.
Somepony grabbed her hoof and dragged her away from the door while Pinkie Pie hissed. "Okay this is the real deal! When he opens that door you know what to do!"
Wanderlust stopped at the door and looked behind him. In the distance he could just make out Fluttershy and Twilight getting closer. He smiled and was happy about how fast he could run with his severe lack of extra weight. Normally that lack of weight was a bad thing, but at least it let him run fast. Turning back towards the door, he gripped the handle and opened the door.
He took two steps into the house before light blinded him and he heard a collective scream of the word "Surprise". Looking around he saw a dozen ponies looking towards him with smiles.
At first he was too shocked to do anything except stand there with his mouth hanging open. Soon after he felt a smile creep onto his face and a laugh bubbled in his chest. He tried to contain it but he felt himself shaking with excitement and one word escaped his lips. "PARTY!"
A wave of cheers erupted around the room and Pinkie Pie shot off her confetti cannon.
Twilight and Fluttershy stood a few feet away from the open door as Wanderlust ran inside and started partying along with all of the other ponies. They just stood there for a few moments before a white pony trotted out the door and stood before them. "Sorry Fluttershy." Rarity said sadly and hugged her now sad friend.
Twilight looked at both of them in confusion. "Rarity? What's going on?" She asked. "Shouldn't this be a good thing? Pinkie is throwing a party for Wanderlust being in Ponyville!"
Rarity looked at Twilight sadly. "We didn't know about the party. We planned something else for Wanderlust but now it's ruined."
"What did you have planned?" She asked and looked at Fluttershy in her dress. Her eyes widened as she realized why she was dressed like that. "Oh! Fluttershy we didn't know."
"N-no... It's o-ok..." She sniffed and stood up straight taking a deep breath. "For now let's just enjoy the party." She said without a single stutter or ounce of nervousness in her voice.
Rarity and Twilight both blinked in surprise and smiled. "Okay!" They both said in unison and walked into the cottage with Fluttershy following.
Twilight went off to talk with a couple of ponies while Rarity went off to a table covered in cupcakes and punch. Fluttershy hovered at the door for just a moment looking around until she spotted Wanderlust with a blindfold on and a tail sticking out of his mouth. She smiled as she watched him play Pin the Tail on the Pony until she watched him pin the tail on an actual pony.
"Owwie!" Yelled the pinned pony as Wanderlust slipped the blindfold off.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" He exclaimed and took a step back looking at the gray pony he had pinned the tail to. She had a blond mane and a matching blond tail. Next to the fake black tail was a cutie mark that looked like a bunch of bubbles. "Are you okay?" He asked the pony.
She just smiled and looked at him. Nodding she said in a rather odd voice, "I'm okie-dokie!"
Her gaze unsettled Wanderlust as her yellow eyes looked in two opposite directions but he tried not to let it show. He heard a squeak come from next to him and looked over to see Fluttershy standing right next to him. She was looking at the tail stuck in the pony's flank.
"Oh Derpy! Are you okay?" She asked with concern creeping into her voice.
Derpy nodded and looked back at her new tail. "I look funny!" She laughed and started shaking her flank so that her new tail would wave.
This made Wanderlust laugh as Fluttershy took one of Derpy's hooves and took her into the kitchen. Wanderlust followed them since this was his fault. He watched as Fluttershy grabbed a small first aid kit and walked over to Derpy. "Need any help?" He asked.
She looked at Wanderlust and just shook her head with a smile. Shrugging Wanderlust just watched as Fluttershy removed the new tail and put a small bandage on the small bit of blood that started coming out where the pin had been.
"Aww...no new tail." Derpy said sadly and walked back out of the kitchen.
"What a ditsy pony." Wanderlust said thinking out loud.
"That's just how she is." Fluttershy said to him after putting away her small first aid kit.
Wanderlust looked at Fluttershy and couldn't help smiling. She was still wearing the blue dress and, despite her still being just as beautiful as before, this time Wanderlust was able to keep the blush off his face. "You know..." He started. "You look really good in blue."
Fluttershy felt her heart start beating faster and she blushed lightly. Despite this she was able to keep her voice steady when she responded. "Rarity actually picked this dress out for me."
"She has good taste." He said and cocked his head to the side. "I'm still wondering, just why you are wearing that dress."
Fluttershy swallowed and answered in a quiet voice. "I wore it for you."
Wanderlust raised an eyebrow. "Fluttershy I couldn't quite hear you."
She took a deep breath and repeated quietly. "I wore it for you."
"You wore it for me..." He repeated and looked down at the ground. Wanderlust felt his throat tighten with emotion and it hurt to swallow. "How nice..."
Fluttershy smiled lightly and took a hesitant step towards Wanderlust. This caused him to look up at her. Her eyes were filled with hope and a nervousness as she took another step towards him and another. She stopped about two feet from him and her cheeks grew warm.
"I-I like you Wander..." She started but was cut off when Wanderlust put a hoof over her mouth just as he had done before.
Wanderlust had a million thoughts bouncing around his head at the same time. His thoughts were not on Fluttershy though. His thoughts were on the memories of all of the places that he had left behind. All of the places he had explored and left and all of the towns that he had visited and never returned to. He knew that soon Ponyville would just be another similar memory. 'No attachments. No friends. Just explore.' Was his last thought before he looked at Fluttershy sadly. "How nice..." He repeated and turned away before walking back into the living room.
Fluttershy stood there with tears welling in her eyes. She didn't even try to wipe them away as they spilled from her eyes and slid down her cheeks.
Wanderlust walked out of the front door of the cottage and stood on the path leading away from the cottage. With a sigh he turned back to look at the ponies still partying inside. "No attachments. No friends. Just explore." He said to nopony and turned and walked away with the borrowed saddlebag feeling like it weighed a thousand pounds.
He found a decent sized tree in a nearby field and climbed into it's branches. He had to work at Sweet Apple Acres in the morning. He needed to sleep. He repeated the line over and over almost like a lullaby to himself. "No attachments. No friends. Just explore. No attachments. No friends. Just explore. No attachments. No friends. Just explore." He muttered this to himself until his eyes finally closed. 'I'm sorry Fluttershy.' Was his last thought before drifting off.
Chapter done. I fell bad about doing that to Fluttershy. Even just typing that she is crying, for whatever reason, makes me sad. Enjoy my pain people! See you next time.
PS: This story is only about half-way through so prepare for the madness!