A Day Off

"Mind yourself in the forest, sister," Moondance had said before letting her sister take another day off.

Flare had only sniffed in annoyance. "Don't tell me what to do!"

With that remark, she had left the cafe and cantered to Whitetail, the only place she had become familiar with since coming to Ponyville. Her sister had adjusted perfectly, friendly as a ray of effing sunshine. It made Flare sick. For twins, they were such opposites.

It was midday when she reached the wood, selecting a willow who's branch was invitingly low to the ground. Happily she hopped upon it and settled herself in the tree, looking up through the long vine-like tendrils that kissed the ground.

"Weeping willow, o weeping willow, to thee I beg some solitude!" she rhymed to herself, pulling her book from a saddle bag she carried with her for this just occasion. She opened her copy of Interview with a Changling and began to read.

She heard a deep voice that seem trying to pretend it was like a ancient tree, giving a wispy-ness to it's end. "How can you have solitude when the very earth itself in alive?" A orange coated colt's head poked from behind the tree with a jolly grin on his face. "Though. Perhaps I and the natural could cover our ears?" He stuck his hooves to his ears motioning to the plants, removing his hooves to move leafs over the sides of the flowers, frowning when their leafs returned sticking out. "Nosy flowers! HAHAhAHHHAHaa."

He finally turned to her with a twinkle in his eyes and his unyielding grin. "I am sorry, but I can't seem to change their nature."

Flare was so startled by his voice that she blinked and almost fell out of the tree. At first, she was ready to snap at him with a vicious temper but the mood dissipated when her emerald eyes spotted the orange colt and his silly grin. She also looked at the leaves that he had messed with and picked a few of them, using her magic to turn them into balls of leaf and hurling them at him lightly, returning his own grin with a sly, mischievous one of her own.

"If you cannot control them, then I shall teach you how, pony boy!" she crowed.

The leaves fell around him, making his eyes watch as they fell in folds on the ground around him. He carefully stepped pass to stand a little closer with his grin, which seem chiseled to his face.

"Never been one for control, though if you have a way to convince them I'd be happy to listen."

"You're a bit of a smart-rump aren't you?" she asked, relenting on her fauna and flora attack.

Flare hopped down from the branch and used her magic to put her book back into her bag and brush herself off from the bits of bark stuck in her coat. After doing so, she trotted around the pony to take in his full threat meter. Deeming him unable to kill her to appease her paranoia that had sparked for a second, her smile faded a bit.

"What is it that you desire from me anyway? And what is your name? You should know that you must at least introduce yourself to a lady when you meet one, or did your parents raise to to be the heathen you are today?" she spoke, in a clear jest.

"They taught me to be the rudest and more raunchy of characters madam." he did a bow, letting his grin grow wide as his head lifted to meet eyes with the mare. "My name is Stormy Hugeheart. As for my desires.."

He turned a wider grin and lifted his hoof to the air. "I have so many. Lists upon lists of them that are either related or only held together with thread of reason. Though I guess you could say I was out for a little stroll somewhere." The colt's eyes had this twinkle, like he was in on some joke that had yet to be told and grin that seem to show his eccentric in full swing.

"Would I be wrong to assume you came here to get away from ponies and read?" he looked around as he asked. "It seems like one of those sort of spots."

"Of course, why else would I find somewhere AWAY from everypony?" she countered sarcastically. His grin dissolved her desire to tell him to leave her in peace, his silly grin becoming all the more creepy to her.

No one can be THAT happy all the time, she thought. Maybe it was just his way of dealing with life. Still...

"You sure do smile a lot, Stormy," she commented, eying him. But then she remembered she had not introduced himself. "Oh, I completely forgot. I am Shadow Flare, but Sister calls me Flare, so I suppose you can use that nickname as well. But seriously, how is it possible for you to be so....erm.... cheerful, I believe the word is, all the time?"

"Shadow Flare hrm? Quite a name you have there. Why you sound like some sort of dark spell! AHhahahaahahahaha." H grinned brightly as twirled his hoof as she sat within a social bubble distant from the mare. "As for your question.." His hoof set to his chin as he pondered how best to explain. "I'd have to take the mind set it is strange to always happy first to understand your question I'd imagine."

His lip moved from side of side on his face as it finally came to him. "I think partly is because everyone should have bright first greeting, though that isn't really the reason I am so happy. Hrmm." He knocked his head with his hoof as he thought on, feeling like he might be ranting a bit. Needed to reset and try once more. "I suppose if I wanted to be cryptic about it. I could say I am happy because I know what it means to be sad." He raised his hoof for pause as he removed a black, leather bound book for his saddlebag. "Also. I am a traveling storyteller by trade and I have seen more then a few neat things." His grin spread as he tapped the book three times. "I have always gotten joy from the little things in life and I tend never to have to stay longer enough for the hard things. If any of that makes any sort of sense. HAHAHAAHAHHAahaHAHa. I tend never to do."

Flare blinked at him and his relatively simple yet serious answer. Thinking that he might be making fun of her, she opened her mouth for retort until he pulled out his own book and tapped on it, explaining that he was a story collector of sorts. This intrigued her a bit, prompting her to close her mouth and reassess her response. To know sadness, he had said.

"You know of sadness? What pony doesn't? Tell me, then, what stories have you collected so far?" she said, but added in her mind how crazy he seemed.

"Oooooo. I do enjoy the subject you have brought up. I am well versed." He grinned as he open the book to a picture of a sleeping pony in abed flowers, then flipped to a page where dark clouds covered the skyline. "I have collected the classics, though I have stories that one day will become fairytales. For they are things that happened only a month ago. My dream is to find one of those sorts of stories." He grinned as he turned the book towards him as he sat a bit more cozy. "Would you perhaps like to hear one? Something about magic? Or heartbreak? Maybe a jolly old tale to lift the mood?"

"I'd like to hear one that you like," she commented, plopping her butt beside him to marvel at the pages filled with literary gold and the detailed pictures to accompany the stories. She also thought for a moment, then smiled. "I do also know of a fairy tale about a princess just like Luna and Celestia. It is a tragedy, but hardly anypony knows it. Mother used to tell us this one to me when I was a foal, and it never lost it's magic.

"Hrm." He closed his book, tapping it four time sand opening to a page with pretty faces of mares in fine dresses. "I'm guessing it isn't the one about the love poison.. I'll have to think." He pondered a bit, flipping the pages as suddenly wore a grin, leaning around to rest on the arm of the chair to push the book between them.

His voice as he spoke had a feeling to it. like it drained the color of the room and used it's color to create a whole world from his golden voice. "Once the land was divided by race. Unicorn, Earth Pony and Pegasus. Bond only by trade and unsteady friendship they dealt mostly with themselves. This tale is about a Earth Pony Princess named Prinki-pissa." He wore grin as he flipped the page, showing a land much different from the land of Equestria and a pretty mare in a old fashion dress with paint on her face with a crowd standing around her.

"Once there was a small castle, owned by the earth pony who first learned to grow Olives and it made them wealthy. Later they made him king of the small castle city and in turn his first born was named Princess." He took in a breath in before going on. "She grew to be one of grace and beauty. Born a Earth Pony. They had no wings and no magic, expect for the magic to growing and making things."

He grinned widely, as if that was some kinda of joke. "So she declared to the countries wide she would take the hoof of any colt who could give her magic or wings." You could almost hear the crowds of suitors with jewels and gifts, yet a hoof refusing them. For they had nothings she wanted."

Stormy frowned a bit, like he was recalling a sad memory. "Many princes, some with stories of their own could not find her what she desired. Many princes looked for the way to grant her wish, but none found it. After a long while, when her father pasted and no suitors came. She passed to the next world as she came in... a earth pony."

Flare stared in wonder at the pages as they were flipped and listened intently. The story made her grin at the fairy tale aspect and listened to his skilled voice and smiled, taken with the entire story itself. She closed her eyes, letting his voice take her away as if she was right there, seeing everything in her mind... until it started to augment her reality, sparking the voices. She shook her head slightly, opening her eyes when he had come to the end and smiled.

"It was a lovely tragedy... but your voice changed at the end. Does this story remind you of a bad time, Stormy?" she inquired of her new friend.

"All stories are meant to relate back to too us in some way." He closed the book, brandishing his grin as he tucked it away, wiping a few stuck leafs on his bag. "Like I can relate to the princes." He said, looking up at the clouds chasing each other in the sky. "I understand the quest to nowhere and discovering things during the journey worth more then the prize at the end."

Stormy was a bright rusty orange colt, with blue eyes that seem to twinkle like a star. He stood taller then most colts and was a much larger size. His joke often he was part clydesdale. If it true was something no one had asked. "Also I can relate to the princess. She was earth pony. Having no magic or wings. We all day of flying, or being able to float things we couldn't carry with our own strength."

Flare nodded, understanding what he seemed to say. "Magic and flying isn't all it's cracked up to be, Stormy my boy. You have your own magic... the earth listens to your touch and even the mundane is better than being able to walk on clouds. You have your own special touch here on the ground."

It made sense to her the each type of pony had their place, be she had heard often of others wanting to be something different. She sighed. "Alright I shall tell you a story I know. There was once a princess who was greedy. She had a twin brother, who was raised to be her servant while she inherited the kingdom. The brother fell in love with the princess of the neighboring kingdom and in her jealousy, she ordered her brother to kill the princess. In her rage, she made the kingdom suffer. One day, they rose up and went to kill the princess, but the brother told her to flee, as they looked alike even though they were boy and girl. She fled while her brother was executed in her place, and she regretted everything she did for the rest of her life."

Stormy sat as he listened, truly listening to the story as he tapped his bag five times and if you were paying attention. You'd see it faintly glowed for moment between the closed flap. "It's seems a have little way with worlds as well Shadow Flare. AHahahaha." His jolly laugh echoed in the forest, leaving it a bit emptier when he stopped as his grin spread over his face. "A interesting story. For it could be a symbol of twins. The yin and yang of it all and how they needed each other to be truly whole and once the brother passed. She had emptiness in her heart. It seems we only learn are lessons too late."

His eyes seem to flicker a bit as it returned it's eccentric twinkle. "It seems your mother enjoyed telling the darker tales." He blinked few times, for something had gotten caught in his eye.

"Yes, she did. She, and most of the females in the family, are a bit morbid, but with good reason. The home island where we descend from is rather... interesting. But none the less, it was a good way to instill a few good values in us. Not all fairy tales have to have a happy ending, either. Are you ok? Seems you got something in your eye..." She said, trying to ramble until she noticed him blinking excessively.

"Yes..." He touched his forehead as his wrinkled his brow in pain. A faint light coming from his saddlebag as her suddenly appeared fine and turned with grin. "Oh sorry. I just had a sharp pain. When I tried to recall something.. strange." He said with bit of frown as set his hoof with crunch in the green grass.

"I have been to a few interesting islands myself. Sometimes because of a ship wreck or too. Ahahahahahahaa." He looked over at the mare as a thought attacked him. "Would you like to see something astounding?" he stood with a bit of a skip in his step as he offered a hoof to help her up.

She laughed, getting up and taking his hoof to steady herself. She blinked for a second, watching the bag shine and she began to ask what it might be but... She dropped it as he changed her train of thought. "Something astounding? Please!"

"Wonderful. Follow me!" He hopped a little, doing a fee skips before briskly running through the trees as he looked up at the sun as it went to slumber. They would make it just in time if they were lucky. He hopped over roots and ducked under branches as if he knew the route by heart as finally lead her to a lake. He motioned with hoof that is was starting.

From the lake so calm it showed a reflection of the sky above as little flickers of light came about, dancing and twirling till they grew to a great mass. Fireflies. More then any could keep track of or count flew in wonderful, dazzling patterns as their fire reflected upon themselves. Stromy grew a wide grin as he sat on the bank, drinking in the sight.

Flare watched Stormy take off into the forest, which made her all the more curious about what he had up his hoof. She laughed, following behind, getting snagged a few times or having a branch smack her in the face accidentally, but it did seem to add a slight comic effect that made her mood brighten all the more. She followed behind him, wondering if it was some sort of weird trick he planned, as he seemed to be the type.

When they arrived at the lake, she was taken aback on the scene. Being a city mare, she had never seen anything of the sort. Her jaw dropped slightly in awe as the scene became more of something like in a fairy tale with the fireflies dancing around in the air and reflecting onto the lake and each other. Her mouth closed and broadened into a smile, sitting down next to her new friend and watched them flit in the air.

"Oh my Celestia...." she whispered.

"Beautiful isn't it? It's just one of those things that keep my trotting." He leaned back a bit with grin on his face as circled in large orange dome of light, having the most lavish and wonderful a time a firefly could have. "To think this is simple wonder.. imagine the millions of things no one has ever laid eyes on, or the beauty that is held only in one place. For there is no lake like this one."

He had always been a seeker at heart. He had left his home of New Saddle the moment his hooves allowed him ad he had been traveling ever sense.

"I assume this is to your enjoyment Shadow Flare?" he said, grinning for the answer was very clear from her star stricken awe. Stormy removed two Dr,Pony's from his bag, setting one in her hooves and cracking one open for himself, drinking deeply as he smacked his lips with a look of bless. For there was no drink he loved more. "HAhahahaa. That hits the spot every time!" He declared loudly as the fireflies started a series of collapsing figuring eights.

"Tell me Shadow Flare. Why did you decide to live in Ponyville? What drives you to stay?"

She smiled and nodded absent minded at the dancing bugs for a few moment more, when her common sense brought her back down to Equestria. She cracked open her can with her magic and levitated it to her lips, taking in a few sips before she think of the proper way to answer his newest query. Honesty was the best policy, her mother had always dictated as a foal. She took another sip, letting the can hang in midair.

"I didn't choose. I was told I had to or my parents would disown me... I have... anger problems, amoung other things... I kind of attempted to murder somepony.... because I was jealous of his happiness. If given the chance, I would have not missed if I could do it over again. Cost me an eye, the one my mane covers. I have a glass one in, but.... You know. Kind of awkward to explain. How about you?"

Stormy hadn't really noticed the glass eye before and didn't seem even to move his eyes to sneak a peek. "You explained it quite fully in fact. It confirms in a sense your a... Killjoy. HAHAHHAAHahAHaHahahaha." Stormy touched his hoof to his chest as aughed a jolly laugh, spooking the fireflies for a moment before they returned to their patterns. "I'm sorry...AHhaha I'm sorry. I couldn't resist." He said with his deep, smooth tone as he sucked in a breath.

Stormy turned to watch the sparkling scene in front of him. "As for me. Well. I never stay anyplace to long. I travel and travel and travel some more. Seeing the wonders of this world. Meeting ponies. Though I can't say I haven't had sadness in my life.." He paused as memory came to him, but seem pass quickly as a small smile appeared once more. "I'll never let sadness catch me." His tone cryptic as he leaned back to turn to face the mare. "I can't help feeling a tiny bits sad your stove fueled by the wood of rage and revenge. Tell me. What would make you happy?"

While he spoke she pictured him traveling many roads, laughing and other ponies staring at him, as he seemed to know that as his trademark phrase. She even pictured him chasing somepony down for their story while laughing his head off, but she brought herself back down to reality and nodded at his statements to show that yes, she was paying attention. She held out a hoof to allow a firefly to land on it, watching it glow gently against her dark coat.

"Yes, a killjoy," she chuckled.

But the question that he queued for her at the end of the statement made her blink, unsure if he heard him correctly.

"Happy? I..." she began, watching the firefly take back off into the air. "That I am working on. I want to find out what makes one...happy."