finding usefulness

hear span nodded once understanding her warning and he took the same care as he would with the tools of the family shop. He sat for a moment and began to study its details, weight, balance point. After a few moments he carefully handed the knife back, handle first , the same way belle had handed it to him.

" Thank you very much." he smiled " I plan to make one of my own but i need to see the design up close."

he scratched his mane as he blushed.

" Well... you know i enjoyed our adventure so much that i thought i might take up exploration as a life goal. There are a lot of ruins out there in the wide world. Maybe in one of them i will find something to help make equestria a better place, or maybe bringing home parts of our history will help ponies value each other a little more." he offered in explanation. " I know it will be dangerous and so i thought i might need a weapon a bit better than a hard branch....besides, it will remind me of you..or at least your plot kicking side anyways."

Belle took the knife and replaced it gently in her bag.

"Oh, well, thanks, I think." Belle replied, looking away again. She pulled the statuette of her out of the bag, staring at it, "well, I have this as a reminder! Not that I need one." she added, beaming brightly.

"Um," she began, shifting her hooves, "Well, I was planning on leaving Ponyville soon, but, maybe I won't, um, perhaps I could stay with you for a bit?" she asked nervously, blushing furiously.

"Well, I was planning on leaving Ponyville soon, but, maybe I won't, um, perhaps I could stay with you for a bit?"

" yeah that would be great!!" Heartspan beamed with surprising enthusiasm

He suddenly caught himself, blushed a deep crimson, and resumed his more carefree posture.

" well, yeah of course stay as long as you like." he finished verbally while in his mind he thought Praise all that is lunar and holy.

Belle grinned, "Well, let's get going then." she said, trotting ahead of Heartspan towards the town.

She slowed down, waiting for him to catch up. She smiled and looked back at him with light in her sapphire eyes.

"So, how long have you lived in Ponyville?" she asked lightly.

Heartspan trotted up to her smiling in return.

" only about a year maybe a little more. " he replied. " i never really kept track. I left home as soon as i could and never really counted the days ."

" So what brought you out here?" he asked

"Ah." Belle nodded, she understood that, only she hadn't waited 'till she could, she just left.

"Well, I'd heard stories about this place, the Everfree forest and all. I thought it would be a great place to write about, or draw. Plus, I needed a change in scenery." she sighed, hiding her face among her mane. She looked up at Heartspan through her eyelashes and through her mane, blinking sweetly, if that's possible.

"Why did you move? Or rather, where from?" she asked, strolling along the path.

heartspan smiled seeing her bashful and sweet look. Then he looked up at the sky as they walked.
" Well, it's kind of dumb really. " he said with a little laugh
he turned to belle and continued.
" I just left home because my parents were enforcing me to take up a place in the family business. They had me going at dinner parties and all of that really isn't for me. "

His face darkened a bit " that and they wanted to use my special talent to enhance the family bank account and raise the family social station a little. That fight only happened once but i left pretty soon after it. I didn't mind making the jewelry and seeing how other ponies felt so good wearing it, although there is a much better use for my time in this word. It's all of the Canterlot posturing, trying to fit in and ridiculing people who don't. Then using my talent in such a fashion it is like living a lie or betraying honest ponies who work hard for their pay."

He smiled shyly as he finished.

"Well that's not a dumb reason. I would have left too." Belle whispered in his ear, smiling warmly and looking into his eyes. She broke away from the gaze and turned back to the path before she did anything stupid.

She bit her lip as she walked, preventing her to say anything else.

For a moment as she looked into his eyes he felt as if the entire world vanished. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Then she turned away to look down the path. he noticed how she bit her lip as if in thought and he smiled. Sometimes she was so timid and adorable, and other times she was fierce and cool. Leaned nearer her for just a moment as they walked.
" Belle, you are amazing and unforgettable." he said softly.

Belle's lips turned up in a small smile and heat rushed to her cheeks.

"I could say the same to you." she said quietly, leaning close to his face.

She looked into his deep azure eyes briefly before glancing away in embarrassment, her cheeks rosy red. She returned her gaze to his eyes and held them there.

"I could say the same to you."

Heartspan could hardly breath as she looked into his eyes, his heart felt like it would burst from beating so hard in his chest. She looked away but only briefly before holding him In her gaze again. He felt like the very ground was rushing away from him. he could feel the warmth radiating from her. Flashes of her played through his head, memories of every moment they had spent together. her eyes glimmered in the morning sunlight and it seemed as if they held a million stars inside. he felt as if they fallen into a gap between time, where a single moment might last an eternity. In that timeless moment he leaned forward and kissed her placing his hooves gently along her cheeks. No matter the outcome this was the moment that he wanted to keep with him forever frozen in timelessness.

Belle nearly stepped back in shock, but held her ground as the white unicorn kissed her. She closed her eyes and relished in the moment. Time seemed to freeze as they stood in the middle of the trail.

She relished in the frozen time, barely breathing, yet still alive.

After a little bit, she stepped back in need of breath. She blushed furiously, "Um...."

"Um...."

Heartspan closed his eyes for a moment as Belle spoke. The feel of her lips still lingered on his. Time had not yet begun to speed up for him but still he opened His eyes and looked at belle. His eyes bright and alive. He smiled a small, shy, and very sweet smile as he pushed down the many confusing emotions and thoughts racing through him. He didn't know what to say, or to do, so in the end he spoke what was in his heart trusting that luna in her wisdow would give him the right words.

" Belle, there is an empty place in my heart where you have always belonged. I didn't realize that it was there until i saw you fast at work in the forest. " he said calmly

Belle blushed and seemed to be having trouble breathing. She beamed back at Heartspan, her eyes light and shy. She shifted the dirt around, thinking before replying. She nervously looked up, surprised at how calm he sounded.

"Um..." she said again, she wasn't very good with romantic statements, "I, um, well, I, what are you saying?" she finally asked, not really sticking to the romantic moment. She looked down in embarrassment, and silently cursed herself for ruining the moment.

Heartspan smiled in an innocent way as he looked at her.

" I am saying that i want you...To keep you ...as mine for ever." he declared softly " you belong with me, or maybe i should say i want you to feel like you belong with me."

truthfully he had never felt this way about anypony. He wasn't good at expressing this new feeling but he said what he needed to say.

Belle was stunned, almost frozen. She blinked a few times to regain control of her body.

"Well, I guess, I do. I do feel like I belong with you." she managed to say without stuttering, some how.

She stepped closer to him, placing her hoof on his cheek lightly, gazing into his eyes again. She bit her lip and leaned closer, pressing her lips to his.

The feel of her lips was indescribable and he held her close as they kissed. then when at last their lips parted he looked deeply into her eyes as he ran a hoof through her mane.

" If that is how you feel, then ..... Then i will say that I love you and i have from our first moments and i will until this worlds last ones." he said softly.

Belle grinned, a tad taken aback by him already saying he loved her, but, somehow, she knew it was true.

"I, I love you too." she said nervously, realizing it was true. She loved the way he spoke, she loved the way he ran his hoof through her mane, she loved the way he kissed her, she loved everything about him.

She blushed lightly and grabbed his hoof, "Perhaps, perhaps we should be getting back to town......" she trailed off quietly, not exactly wanting to leave.

"I, I love you too."

He smiled as her words sank in deep. They had not known each other long but that didn't matter. The words felt right, they felt natural. When he was with her he felt like he had always known her. Then it dawned on him. In all his life he had avoided love, and had hated it, eventually closing himself off to it. But truthfully he was just scared that he would never find the one mare that really belonged with him and that he would be hurt. Now that this very mare stood at his side he found that it was the only way he could ever feel about her. They had stood side by side and shed blood and tears. Without having to be asked she had shared in his search for himself. Looking at her as she grabbed his hoof he knew he could never feel this way about any pony else. in his heart he knew he belonged with Belle.

"Perhaps, perhaps we should be getting back to town......"

he looked of toward the town. In that direction was their future. He smiled a deeply thankful smile as he silently offered a prayer of thanks to luna.
" yeah, lets get home..." he said and he too trailed off not particularly wanting to leave.

Belle strolled along the path, her watchful eyes staring intently at the lights of town, but ever so often they flicked to the unicorn walking beside her. She couldn't keep her eyes off him for long, she herself had blocked everypony out. It had been easy, like breathing. It had been natural, but that habit had melted away the second Heartspan had kissed her.

Finally, she reached the beginnings of the town. She slowed down, motioning for Heartspan to lead. "I don't exactly know where you live." She said with a giggle.

"I don't exactly know where you live."

Her giggle brought an instant grin and he bowed his head slightly after the old fashioned way of his grandfather before taking the lead. He brought them by quick stride past the market, the library, and into the residential area. he trotted at steady cadence, down one street and across another until they reach his rather nondescript two story home. It was cozy but plain. He lead Belle up to the front door unlocking it he pushed open the door.

" After you miss.' he said politely but sweetly. " It is not much but I hope you will feel at home."

His eyes lit gently as he looked at her and his smile was tender as he waited for her to enter.

Belle grinned and curtsied all lady-like.

"Why thank you." she said to Heartspan, kissing him on the cheek before walking inside. The house was rather plain, but to Belle, it was a castle.

"Your house is wonderful!" she stated, spinning around, "so, where will I be staying?"

He couldn't help but smile as she twirled in his little living room. He sat his saddle bags by the door. Thinking about what she had asked as he levitated his things down to the floor. Though he preferred not to be apart he realized that with them barely beginning that it might be better if she had her own space. A place to be just hers.

" Well, the bedrooms are all upstairs. One is mine, one is for my little sister when she comes to visit and the third will be yours. " he replied sweetly " Follow me i will give you the tour. "

Belle nodded and followed Heartspan upstairs.

She never brought anything with except for her parchment, quills, and a cloak. The cloak she preferred to wear almost all the time, but when she is alone, or rather, thought she was alone, she would take I off. She wondered what she would do without luggage.