Chapter 14: Starchild

I awoke in my bed, in total darkness.
As I hastily searched for a light, I fell to the floor.
"Ouch" was all I could muster. I lazily got to my feet.
Feeling around for a light-switch, I had walked into the window.
The curtains moved slightly revealing the sunlight.
I heard a few voices outside the house.
"Now then, Nurse Redheart, can you tell us what's wrong with him?" the voice was quickly identified as Twilight.
"Exhaustion" the nurse stated.

I sat at the edge of the bed, mulling it over whether to crawl back underneath the duvet and sleep a little bit more.
"Hey, Sugarcube, you're awake" came the southern voice behind me.
"Yeah, I suppose I am," I smiled lightly while turning to face Applejack.
She could only watch as I stretched myself.
"How long have I been out, and more importantly what day is it?" I asked.
"Erm… you've been out for about three days, its Thursday" the orange mare summed up.
I took my suit out, and placed in into the washing machine with immense speed.
"Tell the others im awake," she nodded, "I'll be in the shower" I smiled.
I grabbed the red towel off the door, Running back down the stairs into the bathroom.
I started up the shower, began my usual routine.
After I got out of the shower, I had ran back up stairs in search of clothing.
Underwear was a must. Then I grabbed my cargo jeans, stuffing a screwdriver set in one of the pockets.

Finally settling on a t-shirt consisting of mildly offensive language, and a psychotic looking David Lister armed with a cannon.
I took a deep breath as I repeated the slogan on the t-shirt.
"Lets get out there and twat it" I said triumphantly as I walked out the front door.
So began a hectic day of applebucking.

Within a few hours and several clean bucks of a few trees,
I had successfully managed to knock down one of the trees.
Hearing a whistle emanating from a certain big red pony, "now that there's something ah usually do"
I rubbed the back of my head with a sheepish smile on my face. "Eh, sorry Big Mac"
"By the way, Pinkie Pie came lookin fer you earlier, something bout teachin you how ta bake"
My eyes widened at the thought, "oh holy horseshit" I exclaimed.
He then passed a bag full of bits to me, "yer pay for the week
I thanked him and quickly darted off.

"oh-shit-oh-shit-oh-shit" I ran through the town centre, I suddenly tripped on a branch,
and tumbled through the door of sugarcube corner.
"Well that's one way to arrive" Mrs Cake smiled, as Mr Cake helped me up.
I chuckled nervously. "Quite an entrance there, wasn't it"

I heard a giggling party pony "hehe yeah" she popped out of nowhere.
"Lets get started, I'll teach you how to"
"Bake cupcakes?"
I watched as her smile grew till it stretched from ear to ear
"Ohmygosh, I gotta song to go with it!"
She started to sing her little song… which coincidentally is surprisingly catchy.

I somehow managed to join in during the cupcake baking and randomly harmonized with the pony
After the cupcakes were done, she had the crazy idea of adorning them with tiny musical notes.
"Alright Pinks, what's next? Chocolate cake? Or perhaps something spongy?" I chuckled.
"Oh chocolate cake sounds good" I swear you can almost see her thought process.
We cracked on as she taught me the best ways to make a chocolate cake.
In the end, the kitchen ended up looking like mildly like a battleground.
"Hey, Pinks?" I smiled as we began cleaning the kitchen.
"Yeah rob?" she giggled
"Gather the others, im thinking a dinner party round mine tonight,
not much drinking but certainly a lot more fun"

It was a good job pinkie taught me how to bake; she had brought a few things, like cupcakes and muffins.

Applejack brought apple fritters and apple pies.
Twilight brought her book on dinner parties.
Rainbow dash had decided to just bring herself.
Fluttershy and brought an ensemble of different vegetables.
I rummaged around and began to cook up a vegetable stir fry.

I was so glad I still had some Sherwood's noodles.
After the food had been consumed, Rarity had asked me a very dumb question.
"So, what happened after that party anyway?"
"Well, how to explain it," I sighed before drifting my gaze to the floor.

"She went back to that noteworthy, all because he was a changed colt,"
I sighed even more. "That's why she's not here anymore, hell she hasn't been here for nearly a month,"
I looked up with a small frown "I thought I'd finally..."
I trailed off as a lonely tear fell from my nose, hitting the floor gently
"she broke my heart the day she left, didn't even say goodbye... just left a letter"
I pointed to the tear stained letter in question, the 6 then read it and looked up at me apologetically.
"I...I got nothing girls... nothing at all" the farmers dialect I once had, started to break through the pain.
"But... if there's one thing I do have, its forgiveness" pinks walked over to me and placed a hoof on my shoulder. "I forgive her... but I can't forgive myself for,"
They all started to tear up from that point. I sighed "falling in love in the first place"

What I felt and what Octavia felt were two completely different things.
She simply lusted after me, wanting nothing but casual sex and the potential musically inclined partner. "These things happen I guess"

Dear Robert

I don't know what you did, but Noteworthy is a changed Colt.
He mentioned you quite allot. I think he must have got jealous of you, said he wanted me back
and said that he changed. He recalled the story you told him. I then told me that after he was arrested,
he had volunteered for community work in Manhattan, he worked in a public school without a music programme.

I know you must think me shallow after all that we've shared,
but im sorry to say that this was just a fling and nothing more.
I was simply attracted to you and the way you are.

I hope you find what you are looking for in your life.

I'm sorry.

Octavia

Rarity read it aloud for the rest to here. I simply held my face in my hands;
it had been two months since that day.
The day my little world came crumbling down once again, but I was putting the pieces back together, a little faster than usual.
"Who'da thunk it, a big guy like me reduced to an alcoholic state because I stupidly fell for my houseguest,"
they all looked at me "I'm doing it again aren't I" I chuckled. They all relaxed, hearing my laughter was more than pinkie needed.
maybe the thing had for Octavia was just a mere attraction, maybe it was just stupid infatuation,
but if there was one thing im glad we never got round to... it was the horizontal tango. I felt a bit better once I realized it.

"You know what would make me feel better, pinks?" I said, as no tears rolled down my cheeks.
I could feel her smiling into my shoulder. "I dunno" she grinned, looking at the others, who were giggling away.
"A party" I beamed at her.

I felt much better.
More than I had felt in a thousand years, so to speak.

I realized something else...
Octavia was a musician, like me... it wasn't any wonder
why I instantly felt a connection to her, but she didn't know how to have fun...
well...not on my level anyway. Luna, whenever she popped up was like a breath of fresh air
Noteworthy was right in saying Octavia was suffocating him heh.
...so as it turns out...

"We could walk forever,
walking on the moon"

I sung to myself, unfortunately she heard it.
"um rob?"
"yeah, I know" I said with a blush. the other five had started to giggle as they left.
"I...think we should go" she said half-heartedly
"Okay, just... ah never mind" I mentally berated myself.

Friday: 5:45 pm

I sat down, the food had been prepared. I saw that I had some spare time
on my hands so I picked up the blue Stratocaster.
A lot of things had seemed to appear before me.
Opportunities I once missed had presented themselves once again.
The freedom of the strings beneath my fingertips seemed to illicit some new found feeling of peace.
I began to play, feeling the song on the tip of my tongue.
I lost myself to the beat of the music once more.

"They can't break me
As long as I know who I am" I sang out the melody.
As the song reached its crescendo, I smiled.
The song had made me think back to all those stupid little mistakes, and how I learnt from them.
I whispered to myself after I finished the song, "heh, still got it" as I placed the guitar back near the wall.

"That was wonderful" I heard a soft voice.
Turning to the direction of the voice, she simply sat down on the sofa.
"Luna," she gazed into my eyes, piercing my soul. "I'm sorry about that; I was in one of my little…"

"Trances?" the princess giggled.
"Pretty much" I brought in a bottle of wine and two glasses and set them on the coffee table.
Glancing over to the music system, I pressed play.

"This music is…"
"Different? Bad?"
"Nice" the royal mare smiled. I forgot I left Slipknot in there.
I walked in chuckling as I stopped the music.
"Hey, I was listening to… that…" she took a glance at me for a moment as she trailed off.
The dining room was candle lit, the food was set out, and the wine glasses were placed gently on the table.

Still got it?

Still got it!

As I led her to her seat, I pulled it out, acting as a true gentleman would.
"Madam, please, takes a seat" I spoke in a mock French accent.
She sat down with a giggle, "thank you kind sir"
I watched as her eyes lit up with delight upon the first mouthful of food.
"That good huh?" I asked.
"Oh yes," she spoke between mouthfuls.
"Can I steal you? So you can cook for me at the castle?" she asked jokingly.
I chuckled. "You can try" I smiled as we simultaneously took a mouthful.

After the meal, she followed me to the kitchen, where I began the clean up process.
"So, anything interesting happen in canterlot?" I asked, not expecting a short answer.
"To be honest, there's not a lot happening in Canterlot, other than ponies talking about you"
I scrunched my face up at this. "Ugh, never was one for being in the limelight" I sighed.
"Really?"
"Yeah, the media can be quite brutish; they can make or break a career in…"
"Ten seconds flat?" Luna interjected.
"Yeah" I laughed.

"ya know Luna, your a lot more down to earth that I thought you'd be" I smiled, while pouring out a second glass of wine for her.
She glanced up to me with a small blush on her face. "Well, after being…well…" I raised a hand to stop her getting more flustered.
"Relax, I know the story," she looked at me apologetically "and besides, it's not like I cared about the whole nightmare moon fiasco anyways"
She had a look of confusion on her face. "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift," I smiled; she could hear the wisdom in my voice.
"That is why it's called a present" I took a small sip of wine.
She pulled me into an embrace. My heart began to race.
"thank you" she whispered in my ear.
She let me go, seeing the smile on my face mirroring hers.
"I need to go, the moon doesn't raise itself you know" she giggled.
She then kissed me on the cheek, and left me there.
As she disappeared into the night sky, I wondered.

I wondered what tomorrow would bring.

Tomorrow is going to be an awesome day.