babablacksheep

"what do you mean, how is it embarrassing?" he asked her as he slowly stopped by a bush, he had a bit of a surprise behind this bush, he waited till she answered though.

"Well..." War Paint started a blushed slightly "My brother got his cutie mark before me as did every pony else in my class. I didn't get mine until I was a grown mare. That can be embarrassing." War Paint explained and then perked up a bit "But no pony ever teased me because, well, you know... Every pony was frightened of me.... And still are." War Paint said then she added a comment at the end softly.

Else Where, Luminous and Neon had stopped to get a bite to eat.

"So what are we doing tonight mama?" Neon questioned as Luminous sipped her drink. "Well darling daughter, we're going to see an up and coming brass band playing." She explained as Neon nodded smiling. She loved days out with her mother, because her mother always planned out the whole day.

"That's neat, mine's a morning star, a sheild and a sword. Basically it means no matter what, I can easily defend myself and the ones I care about. I got it when I was fighting a manticore to save my squad. I won, of course." War Paint said and then blushed slightly, "it's kind of embarrassing that I got my cutie mark later on." She mumbled

Acrylic sat outside of the house wheezing trying to catch his breath.

As Dawn wondered around the house, Acrylic's cousins where under the table.

"Let me go Emulsion!" Fresco hissed at his brother who was holding him back and rather tightly I might add.

"A couple times, it's mostly used by the rest of us gaurds as traditional test of bravery to welcome new ponies in to the forces. I was out here for my turn in here for the test and I was here last month because one new recuit got lost and didn't find his way out. Sure Whitetail isn't as dangerous as the Everfree but it can be dangerous if you're some pony with a bad sense of direction." War Paint explained calmly to Darkness

"oh it's quite alright. I have bits of staring spells myself so I cannot judge." Fresco said waving Delilah off in a polite and classy way that he was known for. "But I dare to ask, why in Equestia were you spacing out for?" he questioned Delilah.

"Alright." War Paint said getting up and heading towards the woods like Darkness wanted. She had no idea why he wanted to go there of all places but whatever happens she was sure she could handle it.

((And she was never seen again... Jk ))

Acrylic knocked on the door and said "hey guys let me in my hooves are full!" he shouted before running to the bushes. "It's about time he showed up!" Fresco said as the two of them trotted over to the door and opened it. "What took you so long Acry-." Fresco said but was then cut off by his brother's rather girlish scream "Tis the headless pony! It's come to take thine souls!" He shouted grabbing Fresco and running back inside the house and hiding under the kitchen table.

When Acrylic could not hold in any longer he fell out of the bushes and laughed as hard as he ever did. "That was so funny!" He said laughing with tears in his eyes.

"Pleasure to meet you Darkness. Maybe you should stop by at the house for dinner later on." Acrylic said with a blank face, as War Paint got off of Darkness. "That's a great idea!" War Paint said grinning as Acrylic sighed and said "Please don't be so loud War, I have head ache. That Blue Blood brat made me make yet another painting of him." War Paint blushed and then rubbed her little brother's head "Sorry." She said in quieter voice "See you around." She said as Acrylic nodded and then trotted off.

Elsewhere in Canterlot there was a tall slender mare with a wavy orange mane trotting down the street with a rather tall filly trotting beside her. "So what are we going to do mum?" Neon asked her mother Luminous who smiled as she lowered her sun glasses.

"Well first my dear daughter we're going to run around Canterlot and shop at serval places that you're mommy has to stop at, and then we're going to stop to get something to eat and after that we're going to go to the spa to have some mommy-daughter time!" She said explaining to her daughter as Neon smiled brightly.

Having quality time with her mother for Neon was rare considering how busy the mare was with work. Unlike the rest of the Paint family Luminous didn't make art for the castle. Luminous special talent was making other ponies and their special talents shine and that's why she was a talent agent, being an agent like that and a single mum kept Luminous busy and she hardly got to spend time with her child, of whom she adored, and so this trip around Canterlot was a very special treat for the both of them.

"Hey mum look at that stallion!" Neon said pointing at a tall stallion coming out of a clothing shop, Luminous sighed "Neon dear, I'm not looking for a special somepony so please, stop trying to set me up." She said calmly scolding her daughter as Neon pouted "I just want you to be happy mum." Luminous smiled softly and roughed up her daughter's hair with her hoof "I know." She said as the two went on trotting down the road together.

"No problem." He said smiling before he stopped "Oh! Looks like we're here already." He said stopping infront of a small house that looked like most of the houses in Ponyville. Inside could be heard to stallions talking "[colour=#006400]What's taking Acrylic so long!"[/colour] [colour=#000080]"Calm down dearest brother thine cousin is safe and well!"[/colour] [colour=#006400]"I don't care about that I just want hay so we can eat! The food is getting cold!" [/colour][colour=#0000cd]"Brother thou doest realize that thou did not have to cook it right?"[/colour] [colour=#006400]"It's an expression!" [/colour][colour=#0000cd]"Myself doest think that it is a very stupid one."[/colour]

Acrylic sighed, "Those two... I'm so going to enjoy this." He mumbled then turned to Dawn "If you want you can do your spell now. I'll go hide in the bushes after I knock on the door." he said

War Paint paused and blushed slightly as well. "Well than! Isn't someone getting brave!" She exclaimed happily as a shadow suddenly loomed over the two ponies. War Paint looked over and saw her brother Acrylic. "I wish I didn't see that." he said sighing before looking at Darkness. "I would say it seems like you like my sister but it's fairly obvious that you do." He said before sticking is hoof out "My name is Acrylic Paint, I'm War Paint's younger brother." he said introducing himself.

(what can I say? War Paint's pretty forceful when she wants to be)

"so very cute~!" war paint sang

"why~?" war paint whined playfully " you're so cute and cuddly~!" war paint said hugging Darkness a little bit tighter but not too much to hurt him.

"Ehh...?" Acrylic questioned after letting go of Dawn's face, it took a moment for the normally anti social painter to realize what she said. "Oh! Okay! I think you're very beautiful, if I do say so myself." Acrylic said smiling as if it was nothing.

"Dawn are you okay?" Acrylic asked leaning in "Oh no! You're sick aren't you!" he said grabbing her face with his hooves. "I bet you are, you're red and your running a fever!" he exclaimed clearly worried about Dawn.

Acrylic's cheeks were stained with pink for a moment and then he trotted behind her "What's that supposed to mean?" he questioned curiously

"You sure? Is there something on my face or in my teeth?" He asked opening his mouth and pointing his hoof at his teeth.

War Paint merely smiled and said "Okay!"

Acrylic blinked in confusion and said "What? Is there something wrong?" He asked clearly confused as to why Dawn kept looking at him.

War Paint paused for a moment when Darkness licked her and then laughed and cuddled him even more. "That was so adorable~!" She sang sounding just a like a giddy school girl at the moment.

Just then two recruits that was in War Paint's group of recruits walked by. "Hey isn't that Sergeant Paint?" One of them said as the other one looked over and stared for a moment then bonked the first one on the head. "Of course not stupid! She would never be caught dead doing something like that!" He said as the first one rubbed his head. "Still looks like her though." He mumbled.

Fresco raised an eyebrow at this, "Do I have something on my face?" He questioned confused as to why Delilah stared at him for so long.

Acrylic smiled "It's fine." he said calmly

War Paint blushed darker than she ever had before in her life, her mind was racing at that moment. How was it possible that in less than a day this pony suddenly liked her in a romantic way? He hardly knew her, except for maybe when she poured out half of the story of her life to him.

But still, they had just met! Sure Darkness was very cute and half the time talking to him War Paint had to resist the urge to hug him and cuddle him because he reminded her of a cute little lost puppy. She also couldn’t shake the strange feeling that she knew him already in someway.

But that was mostly because of the reasons that it would’ve been not only strange for a mare that you’ve just met to start hugging you tightly and saying how cute you are but she’d be more than likely to bruise his ribs or close his air ways with her hug.

Darkness looked at her, "I..its ok, th..thats just how I feel," he said softly, "I...I don't blame ya if you feel differently, we..we can still be friends"

War Paint looked down at the ground; did she want to be just friends with Darkness? Sure she was ranting and raving about lack of luck in love but she wasn’t one just to jump in anypony’s arms just because they liked her. But Darkness seemed different, sure he could probably hold his own when the time came, but War Paint couldn’t shake the strong feeling of needing to protect him. She hardly felt that about anypony personally save her younger brother Acrylic of course.

War Paint paused and then turned around to look at Darkness, he reminded her of Acrylic when he was little, that’s why she felt like she knew him! He was sitting the same way Acrylic would sit and had almost every nervous twitch that Acrylic did when he was younger.

War Paint’s eyes widened even more, Darkness sitting like that was extremely adorable, in fact it was too adorable.

“Oh! I can’t help myself anymore!” She shouted turning around and tackling Darkness in a hug. Taking care that she didn’t hug him too tightly in fear that she might hurt him. “You’re just too cute! I couldn’t say no to you even if you were asking me to murder a village of innocent ponies!” She exclaimed very graphically while she was cuddling him.

War Paint froze she had heard everything Darkness had said. She just couldn't believe what she had heard though, no pony had ever said anything like that. She never knew she was such a coward because she couldn't find the will power to look behind her at the stallion.

"The headless horse would probably scare them more, War Paint used to tell that story all the time to scare them." Acrylic explained walking to the house with his new friend with the plans to scare his needy cousins.