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Post by Moxie on Jan 11, 2016 23:23:15 GMT
"The L-Light House?" she echoed mistified. Her eyes grew large. "I've n-never seen a light house b-before..."
Infact, she had never even been to a coast. She could only imagine what the Ocean must look like. She had seen it once in the distance flying high over the Smokey Mountains, but it looked more like a mirage then water. The thought of actually being IN a light house warmed her slightly, but only just. She still shivered on, unable to say much more as her teeth chattering got going again. She hugged her forehooves tightly to her chest with a meek and pleading smile to Flux, eyeing his duster. She was cold.
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Post by Flux on Jan 13, 2016 7:21:38 GMT
"Not just any lighthouse, the Light House!" he exclaimed grandly, unable to keep his excitement at bay. As eager as he was, however, he certainly didn't miss her glances at his duster and he couldn't hold back a mix of a smirk and a knowing smile. "Doesn't seem like such a bad idea now, does it?" he prodded as he slipped it off and held it up for her. The garment wasn't exactly light, but it had a comfortable weight to it, a solid feeling.
"For what it's worth, I apologize. I probably should have waited until we were closer; I didn't realize a little snow would spell the end for you," he smirked. "We still have to get across town and down the hill a little since we weren't "notably important" like what seemed like everyone else. I'll build us a fire when we get there if you'd like."
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Post by Moxie on Jan 18, 2016 22:17:31 GMT
She sighed in relief as the warmth from his duster surrounded her. It was bigger then she would have needed, but it made it all the more warm to wrap up in. She blushed and smiled meekly, "I'M the one who should say sorry, I should have packed warmer..."
Her chattering subsiding, she stood up and trotted towards town a bit, "Lead the way then!" She smiled to him, and then hesitantly added with a renewed blush, "And uh.... thanks for your jacket...."
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Post by Flux on Jan 20, 2016 6:47:25 GMT
Flux smiled back to her, a real smile made genuine by the feeling of helping a friend. "Bah, no need to take the blame. You are quite welcome; glad to be of service," he said as he gave her an overdramatic bow. He did notice the slight coloration in her cheeks but couldn't tell if it was from the weather, or maybe even embarrassment that she had accepted his help, though he wasn't sure why she would be.
It felt almost freeing to be out of his duster; considering that it both was and held nearly everything that he owned anymore he didn't often take it off, and in spite of the fact that Moxie now wore it he didn't feel the usual anxiety. He trusted her, and didn't realize until now that it was considerably more than he gave anyone else. He shook his head slightly before striking his hooves against the hard road and spinning to face the city with a cry of "Onward!" he began to lead them through the streets. He kept a decent pace but still found himself pausing in thought several times as memories from his childhood were dredged up by remaining relics. The walk would not be long, but the usually-bustling city still held plenty of sights for Moxie to take in, even on a slow day like today.
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Post by Moxie on Jan 20, 2016 15:45:55 GMT
Moxie was surprised as she hustled along with Flux, stealing glances out all around them as they went. What surprised her wasn't the ponies stringing up garland over the street lights, it wasn't the pegasi driving the clouds away over head, and it surely wasn't the changeling guards subtly exchanging gifts with each other and a few ponies in alleyways along the street; what surprised her most was the smile on every pony's face. They seemed.... happy. Actually happy, not just the kind of happy front you put on when things have gone to hell and you're simply thankful to still be alive kind of happy. Their smiles held hope, love, understanding, and excitement, a few traits Moxie had not seen outside of camp in years. This wasn't the dangerous, broken, bleak, dark pit of destruction and corruption that she remembered crawling through after the war years ago.
She gawked as they went, mistified that she couldn't find a single pony in despair, and soon voiced her disbelief to Flux just ahead of her. "I never knew ponies in Canterlot were THIS well off now adays, it seems everypony must be settled in to this new regime... or is this just for Hearth's Warming?"
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Post by Flux on Jan 25, 2016 6:58:50 GMT
The stallion sighed inwardly; he'd known that a question like this would undoubtedly come up, and he still had no idea what the best way to answer it was. He took a few moments to think before he spoke up, taking the time to look around them with fresh eyes so he could see exactly what it was that she noticed. And it was true, even without forcing himself to see the scenes as if he'd never before, his time spent away from the city during the war combined with his time in New Hayven left him with a bit of surprise at what he found. He took a slow breath and finally pulled his thoughts together to answer her, slowing his pace slightly so that she could walk beside him.
"Moxie...before I say anything, you need to know that have only respect for your father, and that I am incredibly grateful for everything he's done for me and anyone else benefited by our makeshift home," he said, omitting even the camp's name. It was a day of peace, but that didn't mean that they could go throwing sensitive information about. "He's smart, resourceful, admittedly cunning...and one of the most stubborn ponies I've ever met. Life out here is...different, than the way it was before. Things were the same for so long before the war, which is a testament to the past leadership, being able to hold a nation at near-complete peace so consistently. But ponies as a general whole don't like to change. And when the world around them changed, many of them resisted that and were removed on the basis of societal threats, may they rest in peace. But it's not a bad existence." He hastily continued before she could object too strongly to his thoughts. "I know that things got bad, really bad, and you know that after all this time even I haven't finished picking up my pieces, but I don't necessarily agree with Genesee's long-term plan. Everything has changed, and if he tries to hold onto his little part of the old world forever he'll lose it and everyone in it."
Now he really sighed, his experience-aged eyes looking around at the ponies around them as he felt like his years had doubled. He made a decision before he could contest with himself about it, that he had to trust Moxie. "I knew her," he nearly blurted out, "before the war, years and years ago. The Queen. Well, the now-Queen. Maybe you heard me earlier, muttering about if she would remember me, that's who I was talking about. I did...freelance work; contracted with whoever had a job that would earn me some money and maybe a hot meal and a place to sleep at night if I was lucky. Many of those nights were spent under Chrysalis's gift. I know the image that's been painted of her for what happened, but for the most part she's fair, rewards those who do good by her, and protects fiercely those that are loyal. We're not in the years of a destroyed society anymore; it's been rebuilt right under your father's nose and he won't even see it. It's different, yes...but it's not bad."
Flux swallowed and took a shaky breath, trying to prepare himself for what would surely be a verbal lashing. Something he didn't even think about, that had become so normal to him was that with Moxie wearing his garment his forelegs were no longer covered and the row of horizontal scars down his left shoulder were exposed. They were under his fur and Moxie was on his opposite side for now, but the veil had been lifted nonetheless.
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Post by Moxie on Jan 27, 2016 22:07:20 GMT
Moxie didn't know what to say. She stared at Flux with widening eyes. "Flux.... how could you..... how could you even begin to think that this isnt still bad?... After everything that happened to us, the ponies we lost... I dont care if she's Faust herself! I will never bow to any of those foul creatures!" Her fur had risen. She had lost too much to this war, to those monsters. No matter how hard she tried, she couldnt see any reason behind such senseless killing. What they had in front of them now, was nothing the Queen had given them, but what ponies had salvaged in their own hearts enough to make light in the darkness. "Just because these ponies have found a way to live with some happiness, doesnt make everything okay!"
Though she didnt stand with her father on everything he did with the camp, she surely saw his reasonings and the fact he was trying to do his best for them all. This wasn't what made her upset and was nothing new to hear. What upset her most of all is the fact that she thought she knew this stallion saying all of this to her. Now?... all she could see is the pity he had for her hated enemy. The enemy who had taken her home, her companion, the princesses, her life. Who may have taken her brother. She felt her core numb as it dawned on her that Flux might actually be here for a different reason...
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Post by Flux on Feb 11, 2016 6:53:53 GMT
The cold air seemed to bite more ferociously against his exposed body, and the morning light that filtered through the light clouds seemed to fade around him, but nothing felt so frozen and crumbling as the stallion's heart as he endured the look in Moxie's eyes. He knew it well, the recognition that lead to disappointment and disgust, and he felt as though his very soul withered to have that look directed at him from the mare he'd come to admire. He felt that he'd been too rash, let his emotions get the better of him, but he knew that if he was ever going to have a chance at his daydreams he would have had to tell her at some point. The weight of her words hit him like a cart of bricks and he sat, holding his head and unable to keep eye contact with her as his uncertain and breaking voice tried to explain himself.
"N-no, Moxie, I...what do you think it was like when the Princesses came to power? When a society was uprooted and turned on its head, only to be formed into something else? I'm not defending her actions, I'm looking at those who suffered from it a-and finding hope because they won't give up, they won't be beaten!" He bit his lip and dragged a hoof down his face before letting out a breath. "I just...don't know who's right anymore; it was never this hard to see, but I can't just ignore what's good because of what's happened in the past. I never lied to you, I could never betray you, and you know that I'll do everything in my power to do right and protect anyone I can...but I just wish the fighting would stop. Hasn't enough blood been shed? Haven't enough lives been lost?" the broken pegasus pleaded as he finally looked back at Moxie's face. The pain of his own past was clear in his eyes, but so was the desperate cling to hope that ponies and changelings alike could stop living in fear that one wrong action could send everything they knew crashing down around them. Every life was too valuable to him to be tossed away in the name of righteousness.
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