FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was a rather peculiar feeling, walking down the road alone as I was. Even after the long minutes I'd been strolling along already.

I'd gotten so used to having Twilight beside me or at least in the same room at almost every moment of the day that it left me feeling uncomfortable without her around. Still, we needed to test her calculations on how far apart we could get safely at some point. Her taking a trip to the market while I headed out to Fluttershy's cottage seemed as good an opportunity as any.

From what Twilight could discern, we should be able to go close to a mile, maybe a mile and a half away now. The range between the tugging and escalation was also appearing to spread as well. Following any warning signs, I could easily head for town if anything more than the tugging happened, but I was almost there and it hadn't happened yet. So long as Twilight only went to the market and back, we should be alright for a while.

Of course, after growing so accustomed to always being near her, I felt a sort of incomplete. A curious sense of nakedness without her around me. Being necessary didn't mean I liked it.

For the hundredth time since we headed off in different directions, I wondered what she was up to. Thanks to our link, I knew she was feeling the same kind of unease, but she was otherwise comfortable. While it still took dedicated focus to read each other's emotions and general state, we'd just automatically know with a thought by next year. I smirked to myself, realizing it was turning into a sort of security blanket in a way for my mind now. Always feeling her presence and general direction. Silly, and maybe a bit sappy in a way, but nice.

My eyes fell closed for a bit as I listened to the late-morning breeze fluttering amongst the leaves in the trees I passed, the complex rhythm held within the simple beat underneath from the quiet sounds my footsteps added. The world around me soaked into my being as birds sang alongside vague echoes from town coming out of the distance. All of it melding together in a discernible melody somehow. Even a bit of faint audible accenting appeared from the wind whispering through my long hair. These moments calmed the soul in ways almost nothing else could. It took focus to consciously notice it most of the time, yet clearly Equestria had a strange underlying music ever flowing. The pulse of nature and life in complete harmony.

And it was beautiful.

Opening my eyes again after several long and appreciative moments to avoid wandering from the road, I saw I was nearly to the last bend before the cottage would be in view. I felt light and energized, even if I was still recovering a little. There were only a few more days before summit left, but between a chat with Dr Hoofmeister on an examination visit and Twilight's endless love of calculating probabilities, I was surprised to find I'd be entirely healthy again the week of our coming visit to Canterlot. I paused in my head again at that.

I'd bled out and managed to survive by transferring my spirit to Twilight's body somehow. Then not only physically heal, but was nearly done regenerating almost my entire blood supply without any permanent issues anyone could find. If there was some greater purpose why I could heal like this, I was almost afraid to ever find out, considering what rapid healing might be needed for. Probably just me worrying about the looming future and whatever it was that made me the target of that orb.

As I rounded the bend and walked the remainder of the way to Fluttershy's cottage, I pulled myself from heavy thoughts. I was here for happy reasons, after all. Hopefully, she wasn't out somewhere since I was doing this somewhat spur of the moment.

Once I was fairly close, I caught the quiet sounds of voices in song. I couldn't help the grin that came to me then, soon able to discern Fluttershy singing along with Big Mac. It was too muffled to catch the words but the interplay of their voices was certainly something special. And they sounded deeply happy in their song.

Stepping up to the door, I almost didn't want to knock for knowing the lovely sound would cease, but I did not wish to listen in uninvited in on what was expected to be a private duet. A light knocking on the door garnered a murmured squeak of acknowledgement from within by a familiar voice.

It wasn't long before the door opened a crack and a familiar pink-maned mare peeked out at me before opening the door wider, looking a little surprised even as she smiled, "Hello Vojin. Can I help you and Twilight with something? Is Owlowicious not feeling well?"

"No no, nothing like that. I'm actually here by myself, too." I said, returning the smile.

"But I thought you and Twilight couldn't get very far from each other without being hurt? Are you two in trouble? Are you feeling ok? You're not feeling anything bad, are you?" Fluttershy started to work herself up, but I quickly allayed her worries with a gentle shake of my head.

"Nothing to worry about, Fluttershy. Twilight and I are just lightly testing our current allowable distance. She's in town at the market right now and we should be fine at this range, if her calculations are right. Seems we are so far, at least. I hope I'm not interrupting anything." I told her before getting to why I dropped in, "I'm actually here to follow up with what I talked to you about a few weeks ago..."

"Big Mac is here early for our planned lunch, but we were just, um...talking," There was a pause before her eyes slowly widened, along with her smile as she grew visibly excited, "Oh my goodness! You're here to choose a pet today, aren't you! Oh I just know you'll find the perfect animal friend here! Come with me?"

She said it in such a way one might have thought it was optional. However, when said pegasus starts hovering with your hand clamped in her hooves and would probably just drag you bodily if you if you didn't come willingly...well, I was walking a bit quickly to avoid any dragging, chuckling softly to myself.

"Oh, Big Mac! Vojin is here to pick out a pet today! I'm going to help him find a new friend out back and I'll come back soon, ok?" Fluttershy said with surprising volume for her.

I gave a long-suffering roll of my eyes with a small wave and smile as I was swiftly dragged right past the big red stallion, practically jogging behind the mare and seeing him merely wave a hoof with a sleepy expression and smile as usual, his typical easy response was heard, "Eeyup."

In short order, my hand was freed in the yard behind her home as Fluttershy began humming a tune for a moment, before catching herself and faced me, "Since you never did mention what kind of animal friends you like most, what did you have in mind? Would you like a new friend that's more common like a dog or cat? Maybe one that's more unusual, like a ferret or parrot? Possibly even something more exotic like some ponies go for? A reptile? Maybe an adorable little bunny like my Angel? Tell me!"

Although she was hovering, I would almost swear she was otherwise bouncing on her hooves. It was hard not to smile at her display of enthusiasm when she spent so much time quiet and reserved, even if the contrast was almost incompatible.

Still, I looked around at the various critters. A number of them had gathered around, it seemed, looking at me expectantly. Honestly, I knew what I hoped to find but wanted to let Fluttershy enjoy her excitement a little, rather than let myself be all businesslike about it. It was nice to see her acting so energetic and eager, after all.

"Well, I've got a fondness for birds..." I offered a bit teasingly.

Fluttershy smiled, gesturing at several feathered friends, "I have lots of different birds you can choose from. What kind of bird were you thinking of? I have parrots, pigeons, hummingbirds, kiwis, birds of prey, even an ostrich! I'm sure one of my avian friends will be right for you!"

Chuckling at some of the mental images, trying to catch an ostrich and instead being carried myself being foremost among them, I mused quietly a moment before replying again, "Something bigger but still small enough to sit on my shoulder would be nice. Larger than a pigeon, I think."

There was a certain amount of utter adorableness in seeing many of the animals in Fluttershy's care looking disappointed and wandering away when I mentioned more characteristics I was looking for. I decided not to question the ostrich wandering off and sticking it's head in the ground while moping though, considering it was acting out a misconception like it was a normal behavior. I had the oddest impression that the ostrich was sulking. Some aspects of life in Equestria still left me no fathomable explanation.

"Well, that leaves us with raptors, parrots and a few other birds. Were you looking for something more social or more independent?" She said.

I couldn't help an internal laugh as Fluttershy unknowingly followed my lead, though I still hadn't seen what I was looking for. Considering the dwindling options, I was starting to worry she might not have what I was after. Still, I hope one or two last clues would bring out what I hoped to find, "I'm actually hoping for a bird that is both. Clever, too. Do you have one in black...?"

"Oh my...well, I do have one bird that might work, but he can be a kind of aloof and at others, he is just...different." Fluttershy commented softly, turning her head and whistling something that seemed specific as the other birds slowly wandered off.

A new rustle of wings found my ears, like satin cloth brushing against itself, and a raven alighted on a nearby fence post, giving a cautious kraa and eyeing me curiously. I finally grinned wolfishly and slowly approached the large iridescent black bird.

Fluttershy watched me in quiet curiosity as I went to one knee by the post where the raven had perched. It leaned back a little, wary as it eyed me. We watched each other silently for long moments, gauging one another. Beyond the curious awareness most animals in Equestria seemed to have, the raven's eyes gleamed with something a bit sharper, something more defined. It tilted it's head this way and that infrequently, seeming to study me as much as I studied him.

As he relaxed and seemed more curious than wary, I slowly extended a hand until my fingertips touched the top edge of the post, giving the raven a small smirk, "Hello there, shining little shadow. I give you the name Solomon and I'd like you to become my companion. Would you like to join me?"

There was a curious sense in my mind that the raven, now Solomon, was smirking at me. He rustled his wings and after another long moment, made a curious set of sounds mixed among a couple kraas before he walked up my arm and onto my shoulder, sitting proudly like he owned me all of a sudden. It made me chuckle and I gently stroked his head before turning back to Fluttershy, who was smiling brightly.

"Oh that's wonderful, Vojin! He's never had anypony interested in adopting him and I think it was giving him a complex. It'll be so nice for him to have a permanent home!" Fluttershy said, hovering next to Solomon and I, "If it's not too much trouble, may I ask why you wanted a raven? Most ponies are a little nervous around them or don't like them very much for some superstitious reason. It kind of seems like you knew what you wanted already."

I looked back at her with a small, somewhat sheepish smirk, "I confess, I did. It's just nice to see you get so excited once in a while and I kind of wanted you to enjoy it for as long as it lasted."

Fluttershy just made a small squeak with a blush, giving me her own somewhat sheepish smile as she hid behind her mane and looked off to one side.

Solomon made some curious vocalizations and fluffed his wings briefly as I grinned, looking back to Fluttershy, "One of the reasons I wanted to wait on a pet was because I didn't know what to choose. Yes, ravens do have a long association with death and evil things, but that's really just a culturally-inferred thing. In some perspectives, they come from the Void where all things began when there was nothing. They are also symbols of intelligence and cleverness. Often messengers of some kind, though that is most frequently death in one way or another. There is even one about Ravens being a solar symbol, with one living in the sun. I'm not much for the superstitious silliness for the most part. Something else they can represent, surprisingly enough, is protectors of warriors. I think it's pretty clear that I'll have to be more than a friendly face dating Twilight, whatever is coming. Part of me felt like having my own symbolic protector might be nice. Well, something like that. A little cheesy or something, I'm sure..."

Fluttershy smiled, "I think that's a perfectly good reason if it makes you happy. And I'm really happy for Solomon. He's been here since I found him at the base of a tree when he was still a baby. I couldn't find his nest anywhere nearby though, so I don't know what happened. He deserves a nice home and I'm sure he'll love you for being kind enough to take him in."

My new raven friend gave a few quieter kraas before beginning to preen his wing and seemed content.

"Well my dear, I'll let you get back to Big Mac. I have been feeling my link with Twilight tingling a little, so it's best I start making my way back." I said as I stepped up to her and pulled her in for a hug as she hovered, "Thank you for helping me find a new friend. We'll have to plan lunch again soon, too."

She moved back from the hug, smiling warmly, "You're welcome, Vojin. Please stop by if you have any questions about Solomon."

Waving to Big Mac at the back door as I headed around the side of the house, I began making my way back to the library. Solomon perched on my shoulder as he silently looked around.

***

Somewhere along the road back home, I began playing a vocalization game with Solomon.

It started when I had begun whistling to myself absently. I was surprised when Solomon broke his silence and mimicked the tune. A couple rounds and I tried to mimic a sound of his. Before I knew it, we were actually trading noises. Though if we were keeping score, he had me beat because of certain things I just couldn't do, like his curious popping effect.

As we were in the thick of our little game and on the last stretch of road before the library, I was surprised when Solomon suddenly gave a cry of alarm and leapt from my shoulder in a flurry of feathers.

More reaction to his distress than anything, I cast a quick spell I'd been working on. A simple wide field sensing spell that responds to movement, inspired by things I'd seen a Tai Chi master do by sensing air pressure and chi fields. And in the span of a second, I felt the large object heading straight for me from behind. A second of time in which to react.

A heartbeat more said 'pegasus' alongside registering a shout of "Look out!" reaching my ears at the same time I noted an attempt to slow down.

My leading foot shifted my momentum and I moved into a spin, my sensing spell telling me more than eyes could have, and I tilted back as I faced the pony projectile with my arms coming up. Lacking time to even process colors, I caught the pony and reduced their momentum as much as I could, fearing they were, or were about to be, injured. The force easily threw me towards the ground, but with intentional direction of momentum, I was able to roll through it and disperse the impact enough to do little more than a dusting for us both as I came to a stop on my back with the pegasus hopefully safe in my arms.

With an annoyed groan as my eyes opened, I immediately recognized just who I caught when I saw the prismatic mane. This realization was quickly followed by planting my palm on the side of her head and unceremoniously shoving Rainbow Dash off of me before sitting up, eyeing her in mild annoyance, "What were you doing this time, Dash?"

She blinked at me with a sheepish grin for a moment, then it broadened to an impressed expression, "Hey Vojin! That was pretty wicked, catching me like that! How the hay did you react so fast? Nopony I've met has managed to dodge, much less catch me like before!"

I simply quirked a brow at her, "Sensing spell I based on my fighting techniques and experiences. Short answer is air pressure and motion detection. Now...why were you looking to pancake again this time...?"

Rainbow Dash blinked and went back to looking sheepish, sounding a bit apologetic, "New trick. You know how I am. Finished immediate cloud duties early as usual, so I was getting in a little more practice in. Whipped around a building and you were there. Was going for a ground skip when you caught me..."

"Dash...you do remember what I said about running low-altitude tricks in town don't you...?" I told her a bit ominously, frowning.

A slow blink, then her eyes widened and she began to jump to her hooves, "Ohnoyoudon't!"

Before she even separated from the ground, I had her by the tail and yanked her into my clutches, surreptitiously mixing a bit of levitation to avoid pulling too hard. Rainbow Dash quickly found herself in a headlock as I gave her a rough but affectionate noogie as I chastised her, "I told you, Dash! No crazy tricks in town! Ponies could get hurt like that you chromatic headache!"

"Ow ow ow ow ow! I'm sorry already! Ow!" Rainbow squirmed, trying to escape and falling on her flank when I released her, hissing as she rubbed the top of her head, scowling at me.

I just smirked, standing and dusting myself off, "Oh don't give me that look. You know it's a lot better than hurting anyone. Besides that, you probably scared Solomon."

As she cocked her head in confusion, I looked around and quickly spotted my new raven friend perched on a rooftop. Extending an arm and calling out to him, he thankfully flew back over to me and quickly settled back on my shoulder, though keeping a wary eye on Rainbow Dash.

Still rubbing her head as she stood, she looked at Solomon curiously, glancing back to me, "You got a pet now?"

"Yes I did. This is Solomon, my new raven. I was just heading home after picking him up when you decided to drop in. It would have been nice to let him settle in for at least a day without anything crazy, but then again, I have you and Pinkie to help with that." I smirked at her, reaching up to stroke Solomon's feathers gently, "Aside from the trick trouble, how are you Dash? I haven't seen you for a couple days. And let's head towards the library since I was almost there already."

Rainbow Dash fell in beside me after giving her wings a stretch, "Things are fine with me. Just some annual extra paperwork for Cloudsdale, so I was stuck at a desk longer than usual. Weather Captain isn't always stacks of clouds, after all. It's kinda cool you got a pet now. What made you choose a raven?"

"Well, without going in-depth, the myths about ravens in earth history I opted to go with was their representing intellect and cleverness, alongside protecting warriors. And they're beautiful birds on top of it." I said, giving Solomon another stroke of his feathers.

"Sounds kinda cool. Does the name Solomon mean anything?" Dash asked as we stopped in front of the door.

"Again, short answer...uh, basically a reference to wisdom. The name is also referencing an old magic user on earth named Merlyn that had a raven named Solomon as well, at least in one of the books I studied. Care to come in?" I said, pausing to looking back as I moved to go inside.

"Nah, I still have more moves to practice before I need to get back to weather work. I'll keep the rest of the low altitude stuff out of town today. Tell Twilight I said hi." Rainbow Dash said before taking off.

With a quiet sigh and a small smile, I opened the door to the place I called home. My smile grew as I saw Twilight relaxed on some pillows while she read a book. She smiled when she looked up from her reading, raising a brow curiously when she saw Solomon on my shoulder.

"I see you finally got yourself a pet." Twilight commented as she stood and stretched after carefully placing a bookmark, two centimeters from the spine for simple place-keeping, she had a meticulous system for how she placed them, stepping over to me as I dropped to a knee to bring Solomon closer.

"Yep. His name is Solomon and funny enough, one of my reasons for choosing a raven has already paid off. Dash ran into me on the way here..." I said with a smirk, encouraging Solomon to switch to my hand before I set him on my knee for Twilight.

As she slowly brought a hoof up to stroke Solomon's feathers, she gave me a look of curiousity, "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh just an old earth myth about ravens watching over warriors. Dash pulled a low-altitude move and was about to run right into me. Solomon saw her coming and I had enough time to react. I actually caught her and cushioned her fall, thinking she might have been an injured pegasus or a crashing one," I said casually before getting a devious smirk, "And yes, noogies were given."

Twilight giggled as she stroked Solomon a little more, "I'm glad neither of you got hurt. You are having an effect on Rainbow, though. She's a little more careful in town than she used to be. Whether it's because she is more aware of the importance of being careful or just trying to avoid your 'punishments', I can't really say. And thank you, Solomon, for looking after my stallion. Keep up the good work, ok? I can't keep him out of trouble all the time..."

I chuckled at her cheeky grin as Solomon gave a few soft sounds, seeming to agree with her, "I suppose we should introduce him to Owlowicious. Hopefully they'll get along, despite the issues ravens have with owls in the wild."

"Oh gosh...now that you mention it, I know what you mean. I guess we only have one way to find out." Twilight said with a sigh before calling out to her owl, "Owlowicious! Could you come down here please?"

A flutter of wings was heard and the owl soon flew into the room. Though Owlowicious came to rest on Twilight's back, Solomon swiftly hopped up onto my shoulder with a startled squawk. The way he was shying away and almost trying to put my head between him and Owlowicious said it was going to to take a little work to have them getting along.

Gently stroking Solomon's feathers, I turned a little to let him have a little more cover away from the owl, "Come now, Solomon. You're in good company. Owlowicious is nice."

The owl in question seemed to shrink into himself a bit as he made himself look a little smaller, letting out some gentle calls. I gave Solomon a few more gentle strokes of his feathers, trying to reassure him. Solomon didn't seem very reassured.

After another minute of encouragement, Solomon was just eyeing Owlowicious warily but not trying to hide. For his part, the friendly owl remained quiet and still.

Finally, Solomon seemed to let out an indignant kraa before seeming to turn his beak up and to the side in a huff, as if saying he would put up with an owl but it would be most inconvenient. I sighed a bit, hoping Solomon would warm up to Owlowicious over time, grumbling a little as I stroked him again, "You can keep your distance if you must, just play nice. As long as you behave, I'll make sure you get a bit of fish soon, alright Solomon?"

That seemed to perk him up, proceeding to preen my hair a bit with a few vocalizations. I rolled my eyes, realizing food was going to be far too easy a way to get his attention.

Twilight gave her owl a nuzzle, "Ok Owlowicious, I guess you might as well go back to bed now. Keep being nice to Solomon. I'm sure he'll settle in soon."

With a soft affectionate sound, the owl nuzzled Twilight back before going back to his napping spot during the day. I rose and set Solomon on the perch in the main room before turning back to Twilight.

"Well, now that we've taken care of that...what did you think of the distance test?" I asked her quietly, starting to move towards the couch.

"It seems we're safe enough for now. Not sure about longer times yet, we have to check longer times later, but aside from what was something like a magical equivalent of an itch after a while, it went perfectly." Twilight replied, moving to join me on the couch before letting out a somewhat annoyed huff, "Which also means I have to stop putting off my duties any further. It's been really nice to put almost all of it aside for a while but I can't do that forever."

I pulled her into my arms, nosing into her mane as we let ourselves relax, "You didn't have to put things off for me, you know. I could have just followed you around. At least we had this time to ourselves, Purple Angel. And that there weren't any crazy emergencies the whole time. That might have gotten interesting."

She laughed softly to herself, "Mmm...well, Celestia asked me to hold off after the first incident. She wanted to be sure our link could stabilize safely first. On the bright side, you'll finally meet the Cutie Mark Crusaders when they start coming over for lessons again. Think you can handle them...?"

Returning her mischievous grin with a smirk, "I'm sure I can. They're too adorable, despite their uncanny capacity for innocent destruction. You know, I heard you joke about it before but is there really a CMC repair fund...?"

"Um, not exactly. Although a disproportionate amount of the town's special Emergent Circumstance grant from the princesses does seem to cover them. Enough that Princess Luna was actually required to investigate their dreams to be sure there was no intentional destruction to public property going on. Nopony expected otherwise really, but for a while, Prince Blueblood was trying to drum up a fuss that somepony had to be embezzling and left the princesses no choice but to follow the law." Twilight noted, snuggling into me a bit further.

"Hrmph...that's one pony I knew about that should hope I don't meet him. I know how he treated Rarity at the Gala and I suspect the show softened it. Oh, speaking of the Gala..." I levitated a mane brush over from a nearby shelf and began running it through her mane. Once I'd tried it on her a single time, I was under orders to do it frequently. "Do you think you and the girls be attending this spring? I'd pretty much have to join you, if you did."

As Twilight settled into my lap more comfortably, her head and forelegs across my thighs, she gave a bemused smile, "Being a princess, I'm practically required to attend. Celestia and I already talked about it months ago and I am probably going every year from now on. The girls all wanted to try again, so they'll be coming as well. Missing last year's gala was probably the last time I'm not attending. On the bright side, at least Celestia, Luna, and myself can share welcoming duty. Last year was Luna's first since she returned and it really helped Celestia to have time elsewhere to enjoy the party. Luna was actually so thrilled to be meeting so many ponies that she did it for most of the night."

"That's nice to hear. You know I'm not the fancy party type but I'll stay by your side when you take a turn to welcome arrivals. Knowing you, it might be the most time I'd get with you during the party anyway, with how much time you'll spend discussing magic theory with Celestia. Sometimes I wonder if I am but a distraction..." I smirked a bit, breaking into a grin when she grumbled playfully.

"Hmph, I'd tell you less talking, more brushing but you do both at the same time too well." Twilight bapped my stomach lightly with a foreleg, "I'm looking forward to discussing advanced magic theory with you too, you know. Study faster and I'll distract myself with you more..."

That got me a good chuckle, "You'll distract yourself with me more? Is my sexy librarian making an innuendo...?"

The chuckle only grew when Twilight began blushing, her eyes widening, "Wait, I wasn't...I mean, we do but...wait not like that! I love being distracted with...wait, no, I mean you're not good with....ahh! No! I didn't mean..."

Finally, I had mercy on her linguistic scrambling and caught her chin, tilting her head up and meeting her lips, feeling a shiver pass through her as she went breathless, one wing coming around to press against the back of my head and deepen the kiss. I welcomed her tongue in and returned with my own as she drank me in. Before I knew it, my fingertips had begun to trace the edge of her wing joints again even as she moved up more and planted her forehooves on my shoulders. When the kiss ended, both of us were a bit flushed and panting, smiling knowingly to each other.

Another chuckle escaped me at a thought, fingers kneading muscles in her back with no distinction from her wings, rewarding me with a few shivers passing through her form as I lost myself in those eyes of hers again, "You know...something just occurred to me. I'm pretty much the boy toy cuddle colt escort of a princess. Or was that consort?"

She hummed to herself, looking thoughtful with a mischievous smirk, "Consort. If that's the case then shouldn't you be at my beck and call to do whatever I desire?"

"Isn't that how I am anyway?" I returned, fingertips of one hand traced up to one of her ears, drawing out a faint groan from her as I rubbed it.

A shudder passed through my frame when I felt one of her new tricks with her magic leaving a tracing tingle in sensitive places without warning, her expression grew a bit more smug when she saw my reaction, touching her nose to mine, "Well how about finishing what you started then and attend my desires right now, hmm?"

Giving up pretense, I slipped a hand under her flank and gave a squeeze, earning a breathless squeak as I stood up, still holding her to my chest as her hooves wrapped around me, starting for the stairs. The two of us distracted each other far too easily.

"As my lady wishes."