Alone, not Lonely

Chapter 2

The Sun was still rising, but a certain number 1 assistant was already awake. Still, a few extra minutes in bed couldn’t hurt, right? When he finally decided to let go of his pillow, a he saw a gray pony was sleeping in the library, an open book before him. Spike was quite shocked to see somepony in the library, but knew that Twilight must have invited him. He hoped. Deciding against taking action himself, he slowly walked to the mare’s room.

“Twilight, Twilight!” He whispered, shaking the unicorn’s coat.

“What, Spike? Why are you whispering?” She didn’t open her eyes, enjoying what she knew to be her last moments in the cozy bed.

“There’s a stallion sleeping in the library. And he can’t hear me, so… why am I whispering?" As soon as Spike had finished his sentence, he smacked his own forehead in frustration.

Twilight sighted, wondering why she hadn’t predicted this would happen.

“His name is Ash Cloud, and since he didn’t have a place to stay I invited him over. Don’t wake him up yet, not until breakfast is ready.”

Spike lowered his head, knowing that he would have to cook almost twice as much as he was used to, but he was proud of the young mare. A few months ago she would have done almost anything in order to avoid social interaction and now, thanks to her friends, she had welcomed a complete stranger into her home. The old Twilight wouldn’t even notice if somepony needed her help, keeping a book glued to her snout pretty much at all times.

The dragon prepared the meal with ease, being used to the morning ritual. Now all he needed to do was wake up their guest and call his owner, no doubt busy brushing her mane and tail.  Spike poked him a few times, but to little avail. He tried calling the stallion’s name, which seemed to help. When he finally accomplished his task, the pegasus looked at him with a very confused expression. Then it finally hit him. He was in Twilight’s Sparkle library, having fallen asleep only a couple of hours before, judging by the position of the sun in a nearby window.

“Hi. I’m Spike, Twilight’s assistant. She told me to wake you up once the breakfast was ready. She should be coming down any minute now.”

Ash Cloud yawned loudly. He was used to sleeping a lot more than just a couple of hours a day, but knew he would have to change his sleep schedule to a more appropriate one. After thanking Spike he walked slowly to the kitchen, waiting for her host before starting the meal.

Twilight arrived not a minute later, levitating a scroll which she handed her assistant, giving him a look that was quickly understood. The two ponies greeted each other and started eating as Spike sent the scroll to Celestia.

Ash had never seen a dragon send a letter that way, and while knowing that it could be considered rude to question his generous host, but he knew most ponies used to talk during meals, dreading the silence he had learned to prize over the years.

“I guess that is a faster way to send mail than by regular mail, Miss, erm Twilight.” He had manager to correct his minor lapse in judgment, recalling the mare had requested being addressed as Twilight.

“Unfortunately it only works if I want to send a scroll to Princess Celestia. I don’t think I told you but I’m her student. In fact the reason I’m living here in Ponyville is because she sent me here to study friendship.”

While Ash would normally find it annoying being told so much about something he had barely asked, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Said laughter was met with surprise. Twilight had never seen the stallion laugh, the closest thing being the smirk he’d failed to hide when she had made a foal of herself.

“Allow me to elucidate. While I have never met the Princess, I would expect her to be far too busy to care about a socially awkward filly, that can’t even make friends on her own.” He knew he had gone too far, and was ready to apologize when the mare interrupted him.

“I’m not a filly! And yes, having friends was something I didn’t want or thought I needed, until I arrived on Ponyville, but I don’t regret how things have turned out. These past months have been the best in my life.” She smiled, acknowledging this for the first time.

“May I inquire what have you discovered about friendship so far? While I have an interest in social interactions, I never had the means or the will to experience them so far.”

The mare couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Such didn’t expect that somepony as civilized as Ash had trouble making friends. Not to mention he wasn’t hard on the eyes at all. She didn’t care about her friends looked like, but knew some did.

“Then what about a compromise? I’ll, erm, show you my research about friendship if you tell me more about yourself. I just realized I know absolutely nothing about you.” She didn’t want to show it, but the fact that he was a lonely bookworm like she used to be made her want to help him. After all her life had been so much better since she had met her friends, so she wanted him to feel that happiness too.

Ash didn’t know whether to accept or not. He was interested, but didn’t know if he wanted to share more about himself. He feared she had forgotten that he was travelling and had no intentions of staying for more than a couple of days, at most. But what did he have to lose?

“Fine, if you are so interested. I was born in Cloudsdale. I have an interest in all science-related subjects, but I also like philosophy and, as you probably know, the study of social interactions.”

Twilight facehoofed. That was not what she wanted to know at all.

“I meant, what do you like doing? Why are you traveling? How was your foalhood? Something more personal than your place of birth and favorite subjects.” She was mildly annoyed at the way he didn’t share anything about himself. Whether he was doing it on purpose or not.

“I apologize. I enjoy reading and gazing at the moon and stars. I decided it was time to leave my father’s house but haven’t found a place I wanted to stay in yet. My foalhood was…. Normal. Happy?”

She gave up. If she wanted to know more about the secretive stallion, she would have to befriend him first. Something that benefitted them both, since it allowed him to learn more about “social

interactions” firsthoof.

“For now. Come on, I’ll show you what I learned.”She said while heading for the front door. Noticing how Ash Cloud was following her, stopping once they arrived at the door.

“Where are we going?”

Twilight was still getting used to communicating with somepony who didn’t talk unless he needed to, noticing how he resembled Big Mac in this particular aspect.

“While studying friendship, I have discovered the only way to learn about it is actually making friends." She turned to the now visibly disturbed pony opening and closing his mouth, attempting to form the words that refused to leave his mouth.

“When I said I wanted to see the results of your research, I didn’t mean I wanted you to introduce me to your friends!”

“Since you came here, you might as well get to meet some of the locals. Besides, I have a friend that will love to meet you.”

Ash knew that it was too late to turn back, slightly comforted by the fact that Twilight used to be in a situation somewhat similar to his own, with the exception that he couldn’t see himself actually enjoying having friends. But perhaps he just hadn’t met the right ponies yet.

The pegasus refused to talk to Twilight for the short trip, but she knew better than to force him to talk. Knowing exactly what would happen in a few minutes she giggled, which didn’t make Ash any more comfortable with the whole situation. They arrived at a large building.

“Here we are. Carousel Boutique.”

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In Canterlot, Princess Celestia had just finished reading the scroll Twilight had sent her. She smiled to herself, knowing that whatever happened next, it was bound to teach her student some very important lessons on friendship. Perhaps even love, if she was lucky…