Board Thread:Short Stories and Fanfictions/@comment-32987979-20190112205632/@comment-32987979-20190120185813

"You're doing great!"

Dex could hear Stina's voice cheering from down low. He grasped Ruby's harness, feeling as though he'd slide off the pegasus, which had just begun to take flight. He'd never ridden any kind of horse before, let alone a giant winged one. Despite the whole thing being his idea, Dex began to have serious second thoughts.

Four days had passed since their after school meeting, and each afternoon they met at Sterling Gables to work on taming their newest pegasus. It was Dex who had suggested her name, Ruby, for her unusual deep maroon spots as opposed to the usual blue or purple patches. Ruby had taken a liking to Dex after he hand-fed her a few stems of swizzlespice, which neither Stina nor her parents had been able to do previously. Even though his stomach was fluttering with anxiety at being so far from the ground, Dex felt a slight burst of pride. In the days he'd been visiting after school, when Vika and Timkin weren't present, Ruby had been making leaps and bounds of progress.

Stina's voice called him back to the task at hand. "If you fall, remember that you can always levitate! Riding a pegasus can be scary at first, but they're surprisingly stable. Just don't pinch them." Dex had suggested that someone should try riding Ruby in hopes that it would further her trust with elves. As the pegasus' favorite elf, the responsibility fell on him. He looked down, realizing Ruby was liftkng further and further off the ground.

"How do I get her to stop!?" Dex moaned, vertigo setting in as soon as he glanced at the ground. "Stop it, Ruby! You were only supposed to go a little high." She whinnied mischievously, as though enjoying his discomfort. She knows exactly what I want. The pegasus was doing it on purpose!

"She enjoys giving you a lift. Look at her happy eyes!" Stina said in an innocent voice. Through his dizziness, Dex noticed her smirk. She's enjoying this just as much as Ruby. Probably more. He couldn't believe he'd let her rope him into such a dangerous activity. The pegasus whinnied again, finally relenting and landing gingerly on the emerald green grass.

"She's coming so far, thanks to you. Wait!" Stina groaned, as if remembering something. "Dad asked me if I could feed our residents while he was gone. Well, I guess that'll give me the chance to properly introduce you to them all. If you're not too dizzy, that is." She winked, which Dex noticed she seemed to do quite a lot around him. In fact, she'd adopted several gestures that indicated she was letting him in on some kind of secret. He nodded, grinning.

"Nope. One little pegasus can't harm me." He joked. Ruby nudged him in protest, as if insisting he take it back. When he folded his arms, she pushed him over, causing him to fall over. "All right, I get your point! Didn't need the demonstration, thanks."

Dex followed Stina across the field, once again marveling at how much she transformed around the horses. She seemed like a normal girl, sharing her joys with him. He'd underestimated how much she cared for her family's equestrians. Dex had never expected her to be such a cheerful, passionate elf instead of the sneering girl he thought he knew.

"This is our permanent resident, Selene." Stina skipped over to a silvery, graceful-looking unicorn. Dex noticed that she seemed quite a bit smaller than the others. "She has some kind of defect that rendered her unable to grow past early adolescence. She gets scared around full grown unicorns, but loves hanging around the babies." She grinned, stroking the elegant unicorn's mane. Selene welcomed the touch, and Dex knew then that they had a strong bond. "Mom wanted to pass her off for Jurek to deal with, but dad and I insisted she stayed. Isn't she gorgeous? She's named after the goddess of the moon from human mythology."

"Sophie named Luna after the moon, too." Dex noted, copying Stina's stroking while she loaded swizzlespice into the large feeding bin''. I think I like Selene's name better'', he decided. He noticed that she shared a large enclosed field with a mother unicorn and her baby. There were several other fences like this, each with three to four unicorns each.

Stina looked up. "Really? That's super adorable! I'm so in love with the baby Alicorns." She sighed wistfully, leaning against the fence. "I wish I could see them every day. How are the parents? Are they still at Havenfield?"

"Yes! The babies were able to move in with them a few days ago." Dex told her. "They're getting along great, but Sophie says it'll be time to let them free soon."

Stina sighed. "I wish I could see them before they go. I'm so, so jealous of Sophie. She gets to hang out with Alicorns. Real Alicorns!" She closed the gate, leading him to the next enclosure. "These unicorns are underweight, so they're fed a special kibble to boost their calories. Poor things were found half starved. Their mother was nearly dead." Stina pointed at two scrawny unicorns and their weary-looking mother. "You're very lucky Luna and Wynn are as healthy as they are, or they could've ended up like them. Or worse."

Dex considered this, making a decision. "You know, it's thanks to you and your family that they're even alive. What do you say we go to Havenfield tonight and pull a little prank?" He gave her an evil grin.

"What do you have in mind? Surely nothing that'll hurt them."

"Not much. Excelp... it might involve fluffy neon-colored baby Alicorns." Dex remembered the elixirs he'd given Iggy which turned him all kinds of different colors. I'll have to adjust the formula to taste like swizzlespice. "Luna would look good with curly magenta hair, don't you think?"

Stina gasped, hardly able to contain her laughter. "You're sure Sophie won't get upset? And doesn't Havenfield have all kinds of locks and security?"

"You're asking me that as if I'm not the world's greatest Technopath." Dex said matter-of-factly. "They won't even know we were there. You get to see the baby Alicorns, I get to dye them crazy colors, and it'll cheer Sophie up. The way I see it, everyone wins!"

Stina returned his evil leer. "It's settled then. Meet me at the shores at midnight tonight?" She outstretched her hand as if making a deal.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." Dex promised, grasping her hand and giving it shake.

~ ~ ~

Dex glanced at the clock, which read 11:54. It was almost time to go. He could hardly contain his laughter all evening, and he knew Juline suspected that he was up to something. I'm allowed to have secrets, too. He thought, surprised by the bitterness he felt. Now he sat alone in his room, packing elixirs into his bag.

About an hour ago Dex and Stina whispered through an Imparter call. They'd decided on sparkly cyan curls instead of magenta for Luna, and for Wynn, bright red dreadlocks. Silently he pulled out his pathfinder, leaping to the outskirts of Havenfield.

Stina was already waiting for him when Dex appeared. She bounced over to him with childlike excitement. "I can't hardly wait! Are you sure you'll be able to get past that lock? It looks pretty tricky."

Dex gave her an evil wink. "Nothing stops me from pulling pranks." Secretly, though, he was mostly happy about letting Stina see the twins. It felt good to do something nice for her. "Give me one minute."

In reality it took less than a minute, about thirty seconds, for Dex to work the lock before he heard a click. He slowly opened the gate, waving Stina over. "We have to be quiet or Verdi will throw a tantrum."

Quietly giggling to themselves, they made their way through the long, spanding meadows of Havenfield. Noticing Stina craning her neck to look out for the Alicorn enclosure, he pointed. "It's right over there. Grab some swizzlespice first. They'll trust you more if you have food."

Stina did as she was told, quietly dashing over to the barred space the Alicorns were snoozing in. "How do I get them to wake up?" She asked. But Greyfell was already blinking one of his gold-flecked brown eyes. He inched over to Stina, giving her a distrustful look.

"We see this a lot in horses that have been hurt before coming to us." Stina said sadly, watching him chomp at the swizzlespice. "Hiiii, little guy! Well, more like big guy." She whisper-shouted. Silveny was waking up now, noticing her mate's absence. At first she looked as if she was going to neigh loudly, but she seemed to recognize Dex and let out a welcoming nicker. She shoved Greyfell aside, snatching up the last stems of swizzlespice.

Dex fished out the elixirs, which he had formulated to smell and taste like a sweeter, tastier version of swizzlespice. This caught the baby Alicorns' attention and they trotted over curiously, their parents distracted by Stina's feeding.

"One at a time, guys! Luna first." Dex laughed as the female Alicorn baby eagerly lapped up the shimmery cyan liquid. As he was opening the second vial, he heard footsteps. "Stina, hide!"

"What? Oh, okay! Um..." She ducked under one of the surrounding bushes, rushedly covering herself.

"Dex? What are you doing out here?" He recognized Edaline's soft voice. She frowned at him, shining her flashlight. "The verminion escaped again and I heard a noise."

Dex turned around, quickly fabricating a lie. "Biana was certain that something was going to happen with the baby Alicorns. You know how paranoid she's been since Alvar's escape and Tam getting captured." He bit his lower lip. "I just wanted to calm her down and check. Nothing seems out of the ordinary."

"Well, you shouldn't have come by yourself if there was potential danger." Edaline said sternly. "Do-" A burping noise from behind Dex cut her off.

Dex turned around to see Luna's silver mane transform into frizzy, curly cyan. "I thought I'd pull a prank while I was here." He told her innocently. "It was supposed to cheer Sophie up."

Edaline frowned, and Dex worried he'd be in trouble. "You should've told us!" She laughed instead. "Grady could've let you in. She looks adorable! Well, hurry up then. It's a bit chilly out tonight." He watched her turn away, walking back to the house.

When he was sure she was gone he signaled for Stina to come out. "That was close." She whispered.

"I'll keep feeding the parents. You give Wynn the next elixir." Dex sighed with relief. He pulled clumps of the spicy-smelling sprigs out of the grass, waving them for Silveny and Greyfell to see.

When Stina finished she gave the twins each a long hug through the bars, stroking Luna's now obnoxiously curly mane. "You guys are too cute! And incredibly special. You'll be so gorgeous when you're older, especially if Dex keeps feeding you such awesome elixirs." She grinned at him. Wynn sighed through his nose when Stina turned away.

"I think they like you." Dex said, giving her an amiable smile. "Maybe they'll even want you to visit more often. I just hope Silveny doesn't give us away! Anyways, I'd better get back before Mom notices my absence."

Stina shrugged. "I've snuck out so many times my parents don't even realize. Early prankster gets the last laugh!" Dex wondered then who else she had been pranking. "But... it's really been great having you around. Maybe we can hang out more often." Her voice was casual, but through the darkness Dex could see the nervousness in her face.

"Of course! Bye!" Dex said, hoping she couldn't see his blush. It's been really great having you around. He held onto her words as he leapt away, and knew that this was the start of a long new friendship.