[Ponyville][lake] Taking a Swim...

[Ashton]

Celestia's sun was just reaching it's apex as the little pinto made his way to the lake just outside of Ponyville. He'd spend the day looking around hoping to find something unusual to impress his (hopefully) Special Somepony, but as usuall ended up spending the way wandering around aimlessly munching on the common flowers he found. The summer heat was starting to get to Pip as he reached the lake, smiling broadly while he slipped off his neckerchief and backed up a ways... he charged at the water and leapt, making a huge splash.

The foal paddled around, enjoying the feeling of the cool water flowing through his fur and over his skin beneath, most ponies thought he was Mad, or at least a little odd, enjoying the water like he did, but back in trottingham he had grown up with a private pool and his adventurous streak... or perhaps his rebellions streak against "ponies don't swim" made him eager to learn and since then enjoyed it daily back home and more than a few times since his family moved to ponyville.

Pip dove down, gently scooping up a stone and returning to the surface, with a flick of his neck, he sent it skipping across the surface of the lake, wondering once more why the other ponies didnt like water...

[ShadowStorm88]

"Hmmmmmmmmmm" Val hummed softly to himself as he lowered his head and concentrated as hard as he could. He pictured himself in the middle of a high cliff, circulating thousands of feet in the air. The cool breeze flowed gently through his mane; a comforting feeling that helped him to relax even further as he sunk deeper, and deeper into it. This was apart of his training whenever he wasn't racing, or doing something adventorous; he was to focus his mind and try his best to find his center so that way whenever he wanted to; he could fall on any hidden strength he had at will and apply it to his wings, or even his hooves when the time called for it. The problem was that although he was good at alot of things, meditating was difficult for him. It was taking every bit of concentration not to just jump up screaming how bored he was. But he knew that many trials had rewards at the end of them, and his reward would surely be of learning patience and being able to call forth his hidden strength. So he would endure, and he would tri..ACK!!!

Valoren lost his focus when a stone came up and smacked him in the middle of his forehead, knocking him onto his back from more of the shock of the stone rather then the pain from it. Sitting up as he rubbed his head, annoyed at being distrubed; he spotted a foal having tossed the stone across the lake. Waving in response to the foal, he wondered why he had done that??

[Ashton]

((welp look slike it's just you and me, Shadow *always waits a day or so to give others a chance to join*))

Something caught his eye and the pinto looked up, he was surprised to see another pony waving at him... with a big lump in the center of their forehead. Pip winced and hurried over "I'm so sorry, did my rock hit you? I was just playing and skipped it across the water" he said, he reached to retrieve a first-aide kit from under his neckerchief and realized he wasn't wearing it, he excused himself a sec, ran over, shook himself as dry as he could, retied his neckerchief, and ran back, this time he reached under the fabric and produced a first-aide kit, which he opened up and began cleaning off the lump and applying a bandage. "My name's Pip, whats yours?" he asked with a smile as he began checking the pony over for other 'hurts' that he might have gotten from the stone...

[Lux]

(OOC: Bringing in Light.)

Light walked to the lake, a towel draped on his back. The lake was a perfect place for him to cool off during those hot summer days. The lake was deep, but not too deep. It also didn't have big rocks at the bottom, making diving safe. Most importantly, the water was cool. He didn't expect to find many ponies there. Light always wondered why few ponies he knew didn't like to swim, when all (at least he hoped was true) took baths. Maybe some were afraid of getting dirty.

To his surprise, light saw that he was not alone. There at the lake was not one but two ponies. The first he had never seen before while the other was his friend Pipsqueak.

"Hi Pip! I never knew you liked swimming too."

[ShadowStorm88]

Valoren smiled in amusment at the foal's apologies, fighting the urge to roll his eyes in response. Looking at him, he nodded "Its quiet alright, it'll be a good lesson for me actually: always be aware of your surroundings less the unexpected will occur". Putting a hoof to his head as he thought about what he had just said, he commented "Then again, I suppose that lesson could be said for anything and even so; preparing one's self wont nessecarily mean that you cant be prepared for the unexpected; because that would...bah, Im rambling" he chuckled in amsument towards the foal. Valoren nodded as he responded "Valoren Seeker, adventurer/traverler of Equestria. I was actually in the area and wanted to get some relaxation after another great adventure, since I havent sat down from my constant movement in quiet some time". Blinking as he heard another pony call out Pip's name, he turned and smiled to the new pony. "Hello their" he nodded towards the pony.

[Ashton]

"Oh, have you had as many Adventures as Sky Pirate Harle?" he asked with a faint smirk

Pip turned and waved "Light!" he called out, he smiled "I've been swimming my whole life, back home in trottingham I had a private pool and swam every day" he said "I dont understand why all the other ponies think I'm mad to like to swim" he said

((and I don't care, I wasn't told 'no' so I'm bringing back the 'Sky Pirate Harle' books! lol))

[Lux]

"Oh... your name is Valoren," Light said to the older pony, "I'm Guiding Light, but you can just call me Light. Everypony else does."

Pip mentioned how he had a private pool. He never heard of a pony having one.

"Hey, Pip, I have to tell you something really cool!"

[ShadowStorm88]

"Ahh, Im afaird I dont follow you thier since I dont know much about Sky Pirate Harle" Val blushed, feeling like he had just become the butt of a joke he didnt really get. Blinking at the notion of other ponies thinking him mad for wanting to swim, he shrugged "I swim all the time whenever I want, some ponies think me odd for this but it really dosent matter to me since I enjoy the feeling of cold water after a day of training". Blinking as he realized that Light wanted to tell something, he offered to cover his ears if this was private.

[Ashton]

Pip smiled and Pulled a book out from under his neckerchief

SKY PIRATE HARLE was emblazoned across the top, with the subtitle AND THE SENTRY POST SCANDAL, on the front was a drawing of an island with a lighthouse and fortress and a storm nearby, and from the other direction an airship with a blue-tinted griffen wearing a vest and bandanna leaping from it towards the fortification, presumably the titular Harle

"It's book three, but if you'd like to take a look at it" offered Pip, handing the book to Valorean

The pinto turned back to Light "Really? Did the crazy librarian try to open a portal to tartarus and release an unspeakable evil that seeks to destroy the world by eating all the sweets and making all ponies eat grass?" he asked, his imagination going into over-drive again... as usual...

[Lux]

Light stared at Pip for a moment. The pinto pony was going into his imagination mode again.

"Erm... no. Actually I haven't met Twilight yet as she's been busy. But i did find a special somepony!"

[ShadowStorm88]

"You have quiet the imagination" Val chuckled lightly in response to Pip's response. Shaking his head, he responded as his inner child spoke for a moment, responding with. "However, that would be a terrible crime. Taking away all of Equestria's source of candy, and therefore forcing us to only eat bland grass". Blinking, he responded "Although I wouldnt exactly call Twilight crazy. Eccentric perhaps yes, but not crazy". Looking over the book, he smiled "Heh heh, thank you Pip. This was very nice of you". Blinking as he looked over at Light, he smiled "Good for you Light".

[Ashton]

Pip grinned "Congratulations! couldn't have happened to a nicer chap, really!" he said, hugging Light, though there was the tiniest hint of sadness and perhaps a pinch of jealousy in Pip's eyes "You have to tell me who she is, how you met her, and when you two are eloping!" he grinned

Pip looked at the Valorean and chuckled at the joke then shrugged "I've only talked to her a few minutes a few years ago, she seemed kinda crazy to me" he joked "and she sure does spend a lot of time outside of the library for a librarian... maybe she's secretly a mad scientist with a castle somewhere trying to create zomponies!" he said "or maybe she's a super-hero flying all over equestria righting wrongs and teaching foals how to cross the street and not drink the cleaners under the sink!" he said, breaking down laughing at the last bit...

[Lux]

Light was worried how Pip would take the news. After all the Pinto was desperately trying to find his own special somepony. Light even participated in helping Pip try to win that pony's heart. He definitely didn't want to see a friend sad or lose him as a friend. But happily he seemed ok about it.

"Thanks, um Valoren," Light said almost forgetting the third pony was there, "and Pip you're never going to guess who it is. I'll give you a hint: it's a pony that knows the pony you like."

[ShadowStorm88]

Chuckling in response to this, Val shook his head. Yup, Pip was definatly a younger version of himself. Wild, active imagination that ran wild and usually got him into hijinks!! Problem was that Val sometimes when he was a foal went a tiiiiiny bit too far. To the point where he had a hard time staying in the real world because he was having so much fun in his own little imagination world. Nodding, he responded "I assure yah that Twilight is pretty oridnary. To be honest that would actually be kinda amusing, I could see her now: Twilight Sparkle, dressed in a dark purple cloak; her eyes glowing as she chanted some magical words to stop evil in its tracks. Words like, I dunno; Azarath Metrion Zin..meh, but thats just me" shrugged Val as he listened to the conversation between the two ponies, looking away as he could see that the two of them were best friends. Must be nice to have a best friend. He had friends yeah, but only friends in passing.

[Ashton]

((heh, Val should meet up with my GraveRob-I mean my archaeologist Dunes, they could have fun exploring burial grounds filled with ancient evils and cultists!))

Pip smirked "I dont see many ordinary ponies homes filled with purple light then green smoke pouring out the windows" he said "maybe she's not quite as crazy as I'd like to think, but I think 'ordinary' is stretching it a bit too far in the other direction" said the pinto

He then turned back to light "Somepony who knows the pony I like..." he blinked "You sly colt! I never knew you went in for the older mares! Putting the moves on Miss Rarity like that!" he smirked then laughed "kidding, just kidding" he said, thinking a moment "considering how your so wild and crazy" he said with sarcastic grin "and so... well built... I'm guessing you didnt get far with Scootaloo" he said, though he was smiling; it was all good-natured ribbing. "so..." he blinked "Apple Bloom?" he asked, looking quite surprised where his little train of thought found it's station...

[Lux]

(Love the Raven reference Shadow).

The talk of Twilight Sparkle casting dark spells and lights pouring out of the tree house windows made Guilding Light a little frightened. What if this pony would do something to him like turn him into a newt or something. But there was part of him that was excited that if she could help him learn more about his light magic he might become great at that magic.

"I'd like to someday meet her Valoren as I heard she's great at magic."

Pip then began to systematically try to figure out who Light's special somepony might be. He first mentioned Rarity which gave him a shock. Rarity was pretty and it was clear that Sweetie Belle's cuteness ran in the family. But the thought of having an older pony like Rarity was.... strange. Then Pip mentioned Scootaloo, albeit jokingly. Scootaloo was a a little too aggressive for Light. In fact of the three Crusaders, the orange pegasus was the least known to him.

Then Pip mention... her. Well, it wasn't a hard test for Pip, but nonetheless he seemed surprised.

"Yes... um... that's her. You seem surprised, Pip."

[ShadowStorm88]

Smiling lightly in response, Val let out a chuckle as he smirked "Ive met her myself a couple of times. Seems like the quiet time at times, but honestly she surprised me whenever something big and important was going down like, I dunno; the parasprite incident". That had been a gignatic mess that was rolling through town!! Heck, he himself had almost been eaten outta house and home by those little devils!! Shivering as he remembered them, he said "I remember her saying that we had to build an exact replica of Ponyville in five seconds".

Giggling at the thought, he then listened in on the conversation between Pip and Light as they spoke about Applebloom. Becoming silent for a moment, apart of him knew exactly how Pip felt. Wanting to get the attention, or falling for one that you knew for so long, and just wanted to let them know how you felt. Thats how he had felt around..Rainbow Dash actually. He even once told her how he felt, but than he figured it was best that they stay friends since they were too much alike!! Last thing he needed was to date somepony just as competive as himself.

[Ashton]

Pip snorted "yeah, Saner words were never said" he said sarcastically, smirking, feeling like Valorean had just shot down his own argument

The pony then turned to light "well, I'm just kinda surprised, personally I always saw you with some tall and graceful filly, sorta like a young miss fluttershy, not that little powerhouse who could hold her own against *several* colts..." he said "How exactly did this happen?" he asked, his curiosity overcoming the faint jealousy he was feeling. He was genuinely interested just how Light ended up with the young farmpony...

[Lux]

Light was at first shocked that Pip mentioned that he saw Light with a filly version of Fluttershy. It did make sense as Light was shy, and Fluttershy was indeed cute.

"Well, there's something about Apple Bloom that I like, although I can't but my hoof on exactly. Maybe it's her always full of energy, or the way she speaks. I can't say for sure."

Pip then asked how he became Apple Bloom's special somepony.

"Well it's kind of a long story, but here it goes. I was gong to Zecora's hut in the Everfree forest to see if she had a potion or something to help me find my special somepony. I saw Apple Bloom there who was helping Zecora. I secretly asked Zecora if she had something since I couldn't just tell it in front of Apple Bloom and Zecora gave me a potion. Well, I took the potion and all of a sudden didn't feel shy anymore. So I asked Apple Bloom if she could be my special somepony. And she said yesthat she wanted to be my friend and help me with my shyness. She even invited me over to dinner at her house soon."

[ShadowStorm88]

Ahhh, I see what's going on" nodded Val as he sat up, understanding completley. "So tell me this light, the effects of the potion did help you when you wanted to talk with Applebloom to begin with. But after the effects wore off, did you become shy again"? As he listneed to a response, he smiled "Because if so, then I could help you out as well to help speak your mind more often without worrying about the consequences". Sitting up as he streched his wings, he decided to relay an example of what he ment. "Before I became the adventure I was today, I was increadibly shy since I felt like I had to live up to my fathers expectations. At the time, he was the current Captain of the Royal Guard before he retired; shining Armor taking his place. I was a shivering mess all the time whenever he took me to Canterlot and showed me what it was he did. I felt like no matter what I did, I would never be able to live up to what he was". Glancing up, he smiled "However, with time, determination, and alitttle bit of getting in over my head; I was able to step up and become a better pony. Talking with my father how I felt, he explained that he didnt want to feel like I had to follow in his hoof steps; he wanted me to be my own pony and find my own path in life that made me happy". Blinking as he relaized he had been rambling abit, he blushed "But yeah uhh, Id be glad to help you if you want".

[Ashton]

Pip's hoof went to his face "did this 'potion' also make you a little dizzy? perhaps have some trouble walking?" he asked, though having no personal experience, he'd read more than enough Sky Pirate Harle books to be well aware of the effects of Alcohol aka 'Liquid Courage' certainly this was a black mark against Zecora in his book, to think she would do something so underhoofed... but he pushed it away and smiled "at any rate, at least you found her" pip looked uneasy "maybe... er... could you... ask her... if Sweety Bell might be... open to a relationship?" he asked awkwardly "not say who it's with or anything but see if she's open, or taken, or anything? he smiled equally awkwardly, and felt just as awkward inside 'using' his friend like this. He didnt comment on Valorean's story, he'd read far more interesting ones, but he did tuck the info away for later use if he needed it...

[Lux]

Light thought about what Valoren said before speaking to him. "Well, I'm kind of shy, but when I took the potion I wasn't as shy. I was able to talk to her more than I ever could. Now I'm feeling still shy, but not as much. Maybe the potion didn't wear off just yet."

He then heard the pony offer to help him overcome his shyness. Light knew that Apple Bloom was going to help him, but perhaps having two ponies help would make the confidence double. "Um... sure you can teach me how to be less shy if you want to."

Pip then mentioned if the potion made him dizzy. "The potion didn't make me feel dizzy although after talking to Apple Bloom I felt like I was floating. I can try to see if Sweetie Belle has a special somepony from Apple Bloom without twlling you're interested."

[ShadowStorm88]

"Hmmm, in my experince usually dancing around the truth rather then just out and telling it makes things worse instead of better" Valoren spoke softly, more to himself as he wondered how he could help these two out. Smiling as he got an idea, Val first turned to Pip as he spoke "Pip, why not try this? See what Sweetie Belle really likes to do, and do it whilst shes in the area? That way, it'll seem more natural to open up conversation about weather or not she's seeing anypony, rather than asking about it in a manner that implies that one has feelings". Turning to Light, he than spoke "Perfect, what needs to be done first is to expose yourself to what you feel? Its natural to want to not do this, I didnt want to be forced to face the thing I fear". Putting a hoof to his chin, he than smiled "But since what you fear is also what you seek, than will need to build our way up to that. Perhaps start off by communicating with other's that you like, but not in the same manner as how you feel for Applebloom. That way, it'll ease off any nervousness/anxiety that you feel around Applebloom".