Ponyville: Carousel Boutique

The moon and stars were out, as evening set in over the small town in Maine. Generally, it was a peaceful night, a rarity in these days for Ponyville. Most residents were either staying in for the night with their loved ones, or had gone for a night out on the town, generally enjoying themselves.

But not all of them. One of them, our very own Robert Williams was lying awake on his futon, thoughts racing as he flashed back to a week ago.

“Said I was one… Didn’t mean I was good at my job all the time. Just when I needed to be,” Robert sniped back. “Sure, I can lie to anyone and everyone… Well, almost anyone and everyone but that’s only when I have to lie.”

“...Why do I not believe that? And what do you mean by almost everyone?” Sunset asked, eyebrow raised. Robert sniffed the air, she smelled like lavender today. “Robert?” she pressed when she didn’t receive an answer.

“W-Well, let’s see… There’s my commanding officers, you really can’t lie to them,” the Orange Ranger stuttered out nervously, still feeling Sunset’s eyes on him. “Trust me, Cruger’s eyes… They see right through you. And Sky’s… And Doctor Manx’s… Well, pretty much every high ranking officer at SPD really. Did you know one of them’s a parrot?”

“You’re deflecting,” Sunset remarked. “Making irrelevant remarks to try and get away from the real issue.”

“Which is?” Robert asked, his voice taking on an interrogative tone. “This is going to be a thing for us, isn’t it? Each one of us trying to figure the other out. Like Light Yagami and L. ...Only without the Serial Killer who thinks he’s the next God/Sherlock Holmes caliber Detective thing. ...Wrote Yaoi Fanfiction about them you know, and Hell… If you’re ever into roleplaying…”

“Robert!” Sunset snapped.

“Right, right. Keep on topic. ...Though could we do this some other time,” he corrected himself, before going back into a nervous state, when he remembered where exactly he was. “Like when I’m not hanging off a cliff with only you, who I can’t entirely trust to not drop me right now, and a harness to keep me from falling to my death?”

“Alright…” Sunset sighed before pulling him upwards to the top of the cliff with a flap of her wings and unhitching his harness. “Now, see… That’s the issue I have with you right now. Lack of trust, you just can’t seem to be in a really committed relationship.”

“To be fair… It is my first one,” Robert argued.

“Yeah, I’ll give you that…” Sunset admitted with a sigh. “But I’m not sure I can trust you. Sure, you’re nice and all, but I do know you have a history. You’ve told me yourself, you’ve pulled a love ‘em and leave ‘em tactic on so many women over the years it’s become a habit of yours. How do I know you won’t do the same to me?” she asked.

“I won’t, I promise you that,” Robert replied. “First… No, the second woman I ever loved, honestly. First being Luna of course.”

“That’s the thing as well,” Sunset replied sadly. “You’re in love with her as well, despite your… odd relationship status. And don’t think you can lie to me about that, I can see it in your eyes.”

Robert’s silence said it all on the matter.

“...Yeah, I figured about as much…” Sunset muttered sadly, wiping a tear from her eye. “How do I know I’m not just another... possession for you? Do… Do you love me?”

“Y-yes, I do...” Robert replied, but there was hesitation in his voice. And that was all Sunset needed. She closed her eyes and turned her back on him. Expanding her wings, she took to the skies once more and headed back towards Ponyville.

Robert, as he looked up at the ceiling and watched the clock tick away the hours realized he knew Sunset was right. He couldn’t be trusted to hold a committed relationship with anyone… could he? Especially not when he was still in love with someone else. His mind went back even farther, to a few months back when he was still not exactly the most popular resident of Ponyville and his circle of friends consisted of Rarity, her husband, the Rangers and only a few others.

The Prancing Pony:

It was just him and Artemis/Luna, at their usual spot where they met up for drinks. Nearby, ponies and patrons were giving him wary glances as ever, but Robert paid them no mind. He’d long stopped giving a damn about what they and Princess Genocide thought of him.

Privately, deep down and thought he’d never admit it, sometimes Robert questioned why he should even save them? They certainly didn’t give a damn about him, (And in all honesty, would rather see his head on a stake) so why should he do that same?

He actually chuckled darkly to himself when he imagined their reactions if they ever found out what he did as a side-job, saving their arses day in, day out. “This city is afraid of me...I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout “Save us!”... and I'll look down and whisper “No.” They had a choice, all of them. They could have followed in the footsteps of good men like my father or President Truman. Decent men who believed in a day's work for a day's pay.” Robert recited to himself, remembering an old comic he’d read once.

He then blanched in shock, did he really think like that deep down? Did Ponyville and the rest of Equestria really deserve to be left to rot and fell at the hands of Thrax and his Orgs?

Looking at the Animal Crystal in his hand, he sighed. No, those thoughts were ones of a madman, not the ones of a Power Ranger. That was his task now, like it always had been, to save people no matter how much they did or didn’t deserve it.

“All that brooding?” Artemis asked as she pulled up a seat next to him at the bar. “You’d honestly give Galaxy Swirls a run for his money.”

“Yeah…” Robert sighed to himself as he took a sip of his whiskey. “Just… all this hatred,” he muttered, gesturing to the ponies around him who were giving him disgusted and fearful looks. “Makes you start to wonder if…”

“They’re worth saving?” Artemis asked. “Give them time, ponies are herd animals just like you humans. Unexpected variable, new thing thrown into the mixture and they don’t know what to think of it. You scare them. To them, they’re sheep, and you’re a wolf in the fold.”

“Yeah,” Robert replied bitterly. “Sheep’s one word for it. Sheep following the orders of their dear Princess. If she says jump, they’ll ask how high. If she asks them to jump off a bridge, they’ll do it if it means getting rid of me.”

“...Robert,” Artemis sighed sadly. “They’re loyal, but not blind. Think about it, there are a few ponies who are starting to warm up to you. I mean, you told me you made friends with Fluttershy and Rarity, right? The words of two members of the Elements of Harmony would go a long way to establishing trust. Plus, there’s Sunset. She trusts you, and if one Princess trusts you, well the others will probably be soon to follow,”

Robert chuckled bitterly as he drowned the whole glass, before asking for another. “Yeah, doubt Celestia or Twilight will be lining up to shake my hand anytime soon…”

“Give it time, that’s all I can say,” Artemis said in return. “You know, I imagine one day soon, ponies will be hailing you as a hero, asking for your autograph,” she continued and when Robert looked at her in shock, she said: “What? I’m not stupid. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out what you get up to. There’s really only one Ranger I know of who speaks with a partial Germane accent and yet says “Hade ni ikuze!”, really… Surprised more ponies aren’t more observant to things like that...”

“Yes well, Clark Kent and Superman have the same face, and yet all the Big Blue Boy Scout has to do is slip on a pair of glasses and no one’s the wiser,” Robert commented with a chuckle. “But thanks, Artemis, I needed that laugh. You’re one of the few ponies around here that keeps me sane, you know that right?”

Artemis smiled, and kissed his cheek before walking off. “Hey, if you ever need me…”

“Yeah, just call. I will.” Robert replied with a smile on his face.

Now:

Robert sighed to himself at the memory and pulled the covers up over himself hoping for sleep to take him.

The next morning, one very weary-eyed Robert walked down into Rarity’s kitchen wearing nothing but his bathrobe and some fox-themed slippers. Rarity was already down there, making breakfast with her mane in curlers while Zephyr sat nearby reading the Ponyville Chronicle.

“Woah…” Zephyr muttered, eyes widening once he saw Robert tearing his attention away from the newspaper at once. “Dude, I really hate to be blunt, but you look like crap.”

“Rough night?” Rarity asked kindly.

“...To say the least, could barely sleep a wink. Kept thinking about…”

“Sunset?” Rarity asked, giving him a sympathetic look. “And before you ask how I know, Sunset admitted to me over lunch earlier that you and her were going through a “Relationship bump” as she put it.

“One way of putting it…” Robert grumbled, pulling up a chair and grabbing some whipped cream and trying to place it on his pancakes. Trouble was, he was so tired he ended up pouring it all over the table, not his breakfast.

“Here, let me…” Rarity sighed, taking the whipped cream away from him.

“Should we break out the ice cream and the chick-flicks?” Zephyr teased.

“Har-har,” Robert deadpanned. “Very funny, you dummkopf. I’m not that desperate… yet.”

“But seriously man,” said dummkopf replied. “Just go up and talk to her. Sure it’s a problem you two can work out. Hate to see my fellow man looking like this. Seriously, you’ve got all sorts of other problems you should be worrying about, more important ones like the Orgs, not your relationship with Sunset.”

“He’s right dear,” Rarity agreed. “Seems to be one of the few happy points in your life, don’t let that slip away from you. Not one bit, you understand?”

“Life’s a big pile of… and you’ll have to pardon me for my language here Rares,” Zephyr put in. “Shit, and you gotta dig through that shit to find the diamonds in it. Seems to me, for you, Sunset is that diamond.”

“...Wow, never knew you had the brains to be so poetic...” Robert snarked at him, and Zephyr simply rolled his eyes ignoring him.

“Point is, go get her back dude!” Zephyr exclaimed. “You want to be wallowing in misery for the rest of your life, going through the motions before you shrivel up and die in your sleep, fine by me, but if I was you…”

“What Zephyr means, despite his… bluntness,” Rarity said in a more polite tone. “is that you need her in your life from what I’ve seen. So…”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Robert replied, holding up his hands defensively. “I’ll go find her. ...Where do I go find her again?”

“Likes to go to the top of Ponyville’s tallest hill, every morning, to go and practice some Tai Chi. Keeps her calm, and her mind at peace.” Rarity explained, and faster than you could blink Robert had gobbled up his breakfast and was out the door.

Of course, he soon realized how he was dressed and blushed. “...Probably should get a change of clothes, eh?” he flushed, and Zephyr raised an eyebrow.

“You think?” He deadpanned.

Sure enough, as Rarity had explained to him, Robert found Sunset atop Ponyville’s tallest hilltop going through her Tai Chi stances in the middle of a stone courtyard surrounded by peach trees just beginning to blossom, with cobblestone steps leading up the hill to it. All in all, the area created an atmosphere of peace and tranquility. You could look over the entirety of the small town from here, and not be disturbed.

“Sunset?” Robert asked -Now clad in his usual SPD attire- as he walked up. “Can we talk?”

Sunset doesn't even look over, and just sighed to herself. “What is it, Robert?”

“Look, can we talk, and I mean seriously talk?” Robert asked. “You’ve been avoiding me for a week now, and to be honest, Rarity… amongst others are starting to talk.”

Robert almost at once winced, realizing how that must have sounded to her. Sunset probably thought he was only coming up to visit her to save face or something like that.

“Do you know why I've been avoiding you? Do you have any ideas at all why I would possibly be doing so?" Sunset looked at him, an irritated expression on her face. “Let them talk for all I care. For all I know, you’re just here to suck up to me.”

Robert sighed to himself, rubbing his temples. “Far from that, Sunset. Okay, I admit I’m a pervert and a womanizer… Got me there. But I do honestly care for you.”

“I bet you said that same thing to every other woman in your life. How can I risk trusting you on this?” Sunset huffed, crossing her arms. “Give me one reason why I should trust you after the cliff incident.”

“Let’s see, the fact that I was willing to actually open up to you more than I have with the women I’ve pulled the “Love ‘em and leave ‘em” tactic with. You know how many women in my life I’ve told about how I felt I’ve never been able to please my teachers or catch up to anyone? I can list that number off my fingers, if you like,” Robert growled out, starting to get quite irritated himself.

“You don't get it, do you? How do I know this isn't another trick to get me to put my guard down? To make me into another possession for you?” Sunset growled out, wings igniting slightly causing Robert to take a few steps back. “When we were on that cliff, and I asked you if you loved me, you hesitated. And you clearly still have...a thing for Luna. You don't love me. You're in love with the idea of being in love with me.”

Robert actually flinched at that, back when he was with SPD he’d actually run into (And arrested) people who had delusions of being in love with someone, stalked them and learned every little aspect of their everyday lives. It was a really rather sickening and sometimes pathetic sight. He thought for a moment on Sunset’s words, did some of them really ring true? After all, there was that first face-off with the Camera Org…

...And then, stepping out of the car as it pulled itself to a halt was Robert Williams, in a pure black trench coat, the very same in fact, that he had thought was for people who were trying way too hard to be badass. He pointed at Camera Org, who took a step back at the pure rage etched on Robert’s face.

“You… You, Camera Org are going to give those souls you took back. Most of all Sunset, the day you touched her was the day you signed your death warrant. She was one of the only ponies who was ever kind to me, and by taking her you’ve lined yourself up for destruction.” Robert snarled.

Robert honestly found himself at a loss for words for the moment. As much as he hated to admit it, some of those words and phrases did sound more like he was in love with the idea of being in love with Sunset than with Sunset herself as a person. When he finally managed to find his voice again, all he managed to stutter out was: ‘“I… I… I don’t know right now.”

“Honestly, I don't know either. That's why I've been avoiding you. I'm not going to pretend that it's fine, that this... is healthy. I can't... I can't do that. Not to you, not to myself.” Sunset began to shake as her eyes began to well up with tears.

Robert reached out to comfort her. “Hey, it’s alright… We’ll figure this out like we always do.”

“We can't. Not like this. This... this can't continue like this.” Sunset said as she rejected Robert's attempt to comfort her and brushed his arm away before wiping away her tears. “I... I think we need…”

“Time… Time away from each other. To figure things out…” Robert finished with a sigh, and Sunset nodded solemnly.

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking… You and me, right now, we’re not good for each other. I do love you Robert, but the question is, do you love me back?”

Robert, in all honesty, had to wonder that himself right now, given what Sunset had pointed out to him. “Goddamnit, why can’t things just be as simple as fighting a monster, then blowing the fucking thing up? Why can’t love be like that?”

“Goodbye for now… I guess.” Robert whispered. Sunset looked away from him, not able to bring herself to saying goodbye. Tears start streaming down her face as she clenched her eyes tight.

As she took flight into the skies once more, Robert stifled a sob and began singing an old song to himself...

“Am I blue
Am I blue
Ain't these tears in my eyes tellin' you
Am I blue?

“You would be too
If your plans with your man
Done fell through…”

Author's Notes:

Okay, so short breather chapter, but important plot-wise as it continues the sub-plot with Sunset and Robert, showing more that their relationship isn't perfect. They're out of the honeymoon stage, if you will.

Huge thanks to Legolassy123 for her help with writing out Sunset's dialogue. As ever, comments, thoughts, and critique are welcomed. Next time...

Otoko na n’ darou?
Guzuguzu suru na yo
Mune no enjin ni hi wo tsukero
Ore wa koko da ze Hito-ashi o-saki
Hikari no hayasa de
ashita e dasshu sa...