Split Fates

Cloudsdale, Equestria

Chapter 3: Peppermint Mishaps

Awoken and confused, Candy looked around her room. Studying every shadow she saw and figures that the darkness of the night were allowed to be seen. She stood up from her bed and headed to her bedroom door, reaching the stairs. She tried to figure out what had just woken her up.

It had been two months since the Everfree Incident and although it was a "decent" experience for when it came to letting go of the past, she'd rather not glop over it, as it was filled with more bad than good. Dromeda had been seeing some doctors every single week to see if they could help him recover from his injuries, but to no avail. The injury Dromeda had obtained has an unknown disease that not even the doctors could find the cure of, but Candy is determined and has high hopes for him. He was bed-ridden for the entirety of the two months, being routinely checked by Candy and Peppermint from time-to-time. Candy herself has spent most of her spare time helping locals, practicing on her flying, and hanging out with Peppermint.

Candy had finally made it on the first floor and stood still seeing that no-pony was there, she'd only assume that the noise was most likely caused by Dromeda next door. She headed towards her door and opened it, later making her way towards his approached his door and stopped herself from knocking on the door, without hesitation, she swung the front door open and looked into the room at Dromeda. He seemed to have tried attempting to stand on all fours, but kept on falling afterward, causing a loud thud sound. Candy entered with a stern look on her face.

"Seriously. Dromeda. Again?" She stomped into the room. He tried once more and quickly plopped right back down on the ground "Of course.. I'm not going to let some stupid disease stop me."

He grunted in pain as he looked back at his leg.

"..Well, a good warrior knows when he's admitted to defeat right?" Candy said trying to convince him.

"Then I guess I'm no warrior.." He limped his way towards his makeshift bed. (He made it himself out of pure boredom)

She replied "Dromeda just take it easy, doctor's orders."

He snickered in response.

"Please." She said in a more serious tone. He already knew he wasn't going to win this argument so he then climbed onto his bed and layed there in defeat

"Agh.."

A sigh came out of Candy and she felt relieved "Thank you."

He thought to himself and glanced over at Candy "So, you hanging' out with Peppermint?"

She nodded in response and later sat in front of him, completely oblivious to what was occurring. Dromeda glanced down without intentions and noticed that she had nothing underneath her frilly skirt. He sat staring for a small moment and his face faded to a light red color.

"U-Um.. Candy.." He stuttered.

She quickly glanced up at him and had affixed herself in a different position which had adjusted her skirt. "..Yes?"

He looked at her and shook his head brushing it off as he couldn't see it anymore. "Ehm.. It was nothing, don't worry about it.."

She looked confused "Ahm.. You okay?"

The front door opened and Dromeda looked over at it, Candy followed where his eyes were looking at and turned. Peppermint walked in.

"Oh hey Peps!" Candy stood up and greeted him.

"Heya! Everything alright?" Peppermint asked curiously.

"Yeah, just checking up on Dromeda, he seemed lonely." She snickered.

"HEY! I'm not lonely.. I'm just restricted." He seemed confident on his statement but both Candy and Peppermint bursted out laughing.

"...What's so funny? ..Was it what I said..?" Candy walked over to him and patted his head, still laughing to herself.

"Heheh, yeah. It was. But you don't know how much I needed that laugh."

Dromeda looked at her with a pout "I still don't get what was so funny.. BEING RESTRICTED ISN'T FUNNY." He crossed his fore-hooves in disappointment.

Peppermint cleared his throat "Well, I'd really love to stay and chat, but I have some errands to run. Candy, you wanna come with..?" He gestured at her.

"Well, sure! I guess I could tag along if its no problem"

She turned and waved at Dromeda and quickly followed behind Peppermint, shutting the door behind her and leaving Dromeda to himself.

Peppermint continues forward and leads the way, he looks over at Candy "Okay, so were going to go get some stuff from my house so we can quickly head on over to White Tail Woods, it'll be fun"

Candy paused "Hey, I thought you said you were going to run some errands!" She nudged him forcefully in a friendly matter.

"-Well, I didn't want to say were hanging out and having fun, he might feel left out, plus he's been through a lot recently.." He responded.

"I guess that's true..-" She paused and noticed something "Hey! hold on! ..I thought only Pegasi ponies could walk on clouds.. Not Earth ponies.." She gestured at him and the clouds that led back to Dromeda's house.

Peppermint stopped and looked at her "..I mean. I am a Pegasus. Or was..-"

Candy stared at him with widened eyes, dumbfounded "What.? How can that be possible? ..What do you mean..?"

Peppermint sighed as he then continued forward "Well, you see.. Back then when I had my wings, me and Dromeda would always race each other.. Just like normal Pegasi colts would do. But one day when we were heading back home, a storm had formed in the sky.. It seemed as if it came out of nowhere, low and behold we got stuck within it and we tried our best to land.. Especially me. I ended up crashing onto the ground and landing on my wings with hard force.. My bones were crushed, and my wings would not function anymore."

Candy looked at him in surprise, she still seemed interested in the story but somehow felt the pain he had endured and felt bad.

"Dromeda to this day still blames himself for the incident, but I know it wasn't in vain.. I'm sure he knows too, but he just doesn't want to accept it.

Peppermint looked up at the starry night sky and admired the stars above "So you see, me and Dromeda practically grew up as brothers. Our parents weren't the loving type everypony could've expected from them, so me and him were the only family we had."

Candy felt bad just by listening to his story, so-much-so that she even started remembering about her family and her memories from back then.

"I know just how you feel." She replied. "I didn't really have much of a family either, I only had a little brother named 'Michael'.. Yet he wasn't technically my brother, I considered him to be, we both grew up together."

Peppermint listened to her story and seemed interested, he formed a small smile in his face.

"Despite him being four years younger than me, we had lots of things in common." She paused and looked at the ground as they kept walking.

"There are some days I wonder if he had been adopted or has even forgotten about me entirely."

Peppermint looked at Candy and felt bad for her "I'm sure you'll see him again in the near future, don't give up hope" He formed a smile as he tried to cheer her up .

Candy eager to change the topic responded. "We should get finished with those 'errands' so we can finally head on down to White Tail Woods while its still morning."

They both glanced at the horizon and Peppermint thought to himself "I can survive without my stuff, why don't we head to White Tail Woods now?"

Candy agreed and they both ventured forth toward White Tail Woods.

Candy gasped in awe and observed the forest from head-to-toe, it seemed magical. "Woahhh! This place is amazing!"

Peppermint looked around as well "Yeah, I always loved going to these woods, helps me clear my mind off of stressful things.. And escape reality."

Candy continued by his side still observing her surroundings.

Peppermint looked around and seemed to know where he was going, he looked over at Candy.

"Follow me, there's a place we can lay down in and relax for a bit" Peppermint lead Candy over towards an opening.

It was an open spaced area. Untouched. Possibly unknown to any other passerby ponies at all. It was empty, the way he liked it.

Both Candy and Peppermint found a good place to sit and rest their hooves, they could not keep their eyes off of the trees around them.. They somehow brought peace and harmony into their minds.

Candy had noticed Peppermint, he did not move.. Nor blink.. Or even speak.. He watched and observed.

"...The trees are beautiful." Candy said, breaking the silence.

"..Beautiful indeed." Peppermint replied, still eying around.

"...I always visited the woods whenever I felt down, or whenever I felt the need to be alone and think for a bit.. It helped quite a lot actually."

Candy nodded and proceeded to watch the trees and up at the sky, feeling at peace. This place could almost completely washes away all your stress and bad memories.

"I see what you mean." She noted.

"We should bring Dromeda next time, I bet he'll like it too."

Peppermint shrugged lightly. "He doesn't even know I go here. Heck. Odds are he doesn't even know this place exists."

"..Maybe this could be our thing!" Candy implied giving him a big grin.

"Yeah.. I'm not too sure about that" He gave Candy a smug look on his face.

"Eh? What's that now..? You doubting MY ideas?" She said sarcastically.

Peppermint chuckled and faced her. "Well, not ALL your ideas are bad.. But some are.. For example-"

Candy stayed attentive and might've knew where this was going.

"..Your roof last month?" He paused and raised an eyebrow. "I told you not to mess around with the roof, but you didn't listen.. And then that resulted in..?" He swayed his hoof and gestured at her.

Candy stared and puffed up her cheeks as she faced the other way, hesitantly responding in a monotone manner. "...Making a big hole in the roof.."

Peppermint chuckled and nodded. "Yep. That idea didn't seem to have worked did it?"

Candy inturrupted. "-Okay okay, I get it now.. You don't have to keep rubbing it in." She pushed him playfully.

He started laughing even more and she laughed along with him.

Peppermint sighed and calmed himself down. "Heheh.. Well, to be fair.. Dromeda does deserve to visit this place. Maybe we can invite him someday"

Candy nodded. "Yeah, AFTER he's fully recovered of course."

Peppermint looked up at the sky, noticing a hint of orange arising. He stood up. "It's almost morning, we should get going"

Candy stood up next to him and looked up at the sky as well. "Yeah, let's go Peppermint" She started trotting back into the entrance of the meadow.

Peppermint kept up and stayed beside her. "You know, you can just call me Pepper right? Peppermint sounds.. Too formal."

Candy rolled her eyes sarcastically and chuckled. "Alright, Pepper. If that's what makes ya happy."

Both Candy and Peppermint headed out and continued on back to Dromeda's house just to check on him, it was already sunrise.

Candy went up to Dromeda's door and opened slowly opened it. They both noticed he was up and awake.

"Up already?" Candy walked in with Peppermint and greeted him.

Dromeda looked over at them and greeted back, he rubbed his eyes and slowly started to climb off his bed. "Yeah.. I honestly can't sleep with my leg being this way, it hurts like hell.."

Candy went over towards him and helped him get down carefully.

"Eh. Thanks Candy.." He stood up next to her the best he could.

She nodded. "Of course, we should probably take you to a doctor.. Again. Best hope for better luck today, Pepper.. You coming?"

Dromeda and Candy looked over at him and awaited his response.

Peppermint raised his hoof. "I would, but I'm awfully tired.. And it's most likely still dark in Ponyville.. I'll see you guys later.. Good luck though.."

They both nodded.

"Its alright, and yeah I feel ya.. I feel the same." Candy noted.

They both said their goodbyes to Peppermint as he continued on to Ponyville.

"Heh, I see you two are hitting it off well huh?" He nudged Candy and smirked.

Candy looked at Dromeda and tried keeping a straight face. "It isn't like that at all!"

Dromeda nodded sarcastically. "Mmhmm.. Alright."

Soon afterward, Candy helped Dromeda over to a nearby doctor in hopes of finding a cure.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed

Edited and Read over by Misticalcreations237

Till next time SECTION 30 OUT!