adventure Elements of Equestria: Ch. 6

[DivineMist1000 71,084]

Chapter 6: Past Mistakes

Two Days Earlier...

Lee woke up in his home and looked around his room in confusion. He remembered what had happened to him back at Canterlot and tried his best to clear his mind of what happened, even though he could still hear the sound of everypony laughing at him. While both Celestia and Luna had helped him ease his burden and they asked for him to come back today, he still wondered if he should go back.

"I do appreciate everything that they've done for me and I do genuinely like the both of them, I don't want to have to go through all of that again..."

Lee got up from the bed and made his way to the door to go outside and he was immediately greeted by the bright and blinding light of the sun. He shielded his eyes for a second and the next thing he saw was a bunch of fillies running around happily while flying kites that were high up in the sky. 

As Lee continued to walk the streets, he saw a huge line of ponies in front of an ice cream stand and a pink pony that was serving the ice cream. Lee wondered if he should stay and then felt a rumble in his stomach.

"Hmm, maybe some ice cream will help get my spirits up..."

Lee walked into the back of line and was relieved of how quickly ponies were getting they're ice cream so that the line was constantly moving. But as Lee watched the line, he noticed something important: Everypony was paying for the ice cream.

Lee searched himself and realized that he had forgotten his money pouch at home and groaned in disbelief at the situation. He was so close to the front of the line and the line behind him was stretched too far away. In an act of desperation, Lee tapped the pony in front of him on the back and ask if he had a few bits to spare, but he had told Lee that the bits he had were all that he had.

After another moment, Lee sighed as he decided to leave the line and forget about the ice cream, which only soured his mood now. Just as he turned to go back towards his house, he heard somepony yelling for him to stop and wait for a moment. He turned around and saw the pink pony that was serving the ice cream run up to him.

"Uhh, can I help you?"

"Well, I'm hoping you can explain yourself, mister. I saw you waiting in line for Pinkie Pie's Chocolate Chip Sundae Supreme and then I saw you leave WITHOUT the ice cream! What's up with that, huh? HUH?!"

"I-I'm sorry, I would love to try it honestly, but... I don't have the money to pay for it, so..."

Pinkie looked at him in disbelief for a moment, complete with her jaw hanging down to the floor and quickly went back to her ice cream stand. Lee remained confused about what was going on and not a moment later, Pinkie returned with a bowl of ice cream and brought it to a nearby table. She asked him to sit down and he did so as she slid the bowl of ice cream next to him.

Lee looked at the ice cream and Pinkie in disbelief, wondering if this delicious ice cream was truly for him.

"W-wait, what? Is this... for me?"

"You better believe it, silly pony. Now, I'm not leaving this spot until you try it and tell me what you think of it"

Pinkie widened her eyes and did her best to not blink as she watched Lee. Lee could only laugh a little as he looked at Pinkie, but he then looked at the ice cream before him and felt his mouth watering a little.

Lee took a bite of ice cream and got a bit of it on his face, but he smiled and laughed as he tasted the ice cream. He was blown away by how delicious it was and Pinkie noticed this as she started bouncing in her seat happily.

"So, how is it? Isn't it the most delicious thing you've ever tasted?! I bet it was!"

"I loved it and it tasted absolutely amazing! Thank you for giving this to me"

Pinkie let out a loud cheer and started jumping all around Lee and trotted in place giddily. Lee smiled happily at this and let out a laugh, something he hasn't done in a long time.

"So, how much do I owe you for the ice cream?"

"Owe me? You don't owe me anything, silly. I gave it to you because I wanted to make you smile and brighten up your day! Happiness shouldn't have a price and ice cream should be no different"

Pinkie smiled at him again, but looked away when she saw the line of ponies still waiting for their ice cream.

"Whoops. I spent so much time with you that I completely forgot about the other ponies who don't have ice cream! I'll see you around... uhh, hold on I didn't catch your name"

Lee smiled at Pinkie and happily answered her question.

"My name is Lee and I thank you again for being so kind and awesome!"

"Nice to meet you Lee! I'm sure that I'll see you around town again, yeah?"

"No doubt! I look forward to crossing paths with you again, Pinkie!"

Pinkie smiled at him one more time before she left him alone to finish his ice cream. Once he finished, he returned the bowl to Pinkie's stand and left the town square to go back to his house.

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As Lee made his way back to his house, he heard somepony calling his name and saw Twilight and another pony with lavender fur walk up from behind him.

"Oh, hey there Twilight. How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing just fine thanks. B-but what's been happening with you? I heard about... what happened up at Canterlot from Celestia and Luna and I just wanted to say that I'm so very sorry and I hope that you're doing okay."

The lavender pony next to Twilight nodded in approval with her words.

"Yeah, what happened up there was just not right! How could anypony just attack you like that? Hopefully you're doing okay now..."

Lee smiled at the lavender pony and thanked her kind words, but remained confused as to who she was.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name. Who are you again?"

"Oh, my name's Starlight Glimmer. Twilight told me about you and I can say that it's very nice to meet you"

"Starlight? It's nice to meet you too! I'm meeting a lot of nice ponies today, first Pinkie Pie and now you. It feels nice to meet some new ponies."

Twilight laughed when Lee mentioned Pinkie Pie and Lee looked at her.

"Hehe, you met Pinkie? She was a hoof-full wasn't she?"

"I thought she was nice. She gave me some free ice cream and we talked for a while"

"Well, I'm glad you two got along. So, if you're not busy, would you like to come along and sit with us? I'm sure you could use some company and you can tell us all about what happened." 

Lee agreed to walk with Twilight and Starlight and went towards Sugarcube Corner to sit down and talk with the two of them. Once they all sat down, Twilight ordered milkshakes for the three of them and Lee asked for a chocolate milkshake as Twilight and Starlight both got a strawberry milkshake.

As he took a sip of his milkshake, Lee sighed before he began his tale about what had happened at Canterlot and Twilight and Starlight listened carefully to everything he was saying. After an hour of talking, Lee had put his head down on the table and placed his hooves on top of his head in frustration. Starlight had became a little upset at what she heard from Lee and could feel a couple of tears well up in her eyes.

"Lee, I am so so sorry that you had to go through something like that. If I or Twilight had known, you can bet we would've been there to help you. Nopony should have to be subjected to such humility and we are both going to help you make this right, right Twilight?"

"Starlight's right, Lee. You're our friend now and we're both here for you now. And not just us, but Celestia and Luna too have said that you are always welcome to speak to them if you need to."

Lee raised his head slightly and listened to every word they said, but still felt the pain of being ridiculed heavily inside. He felt more sadness in his mind and stood up a moment later and walked away from the table to keep Twilight and Starlight from seeing him be upset.

Twilight watched him run away and both her and Starlight shouted at Lee.

 "L-Lee? Where are you going? Come back, please!" 

Twilight and Starlight followed him to a nearby alleyway and saw him turnover a nearby wagon and made it spill all of its contents onto the ground. Lee then pounded his hoof against the wall several times, only to them slide against the wall to the ground and held his head as he started crying from the pain in his head.

"Idiot. Idiot! I'm nothing but an idiot! Stupid pony!"

Twilight lowered herself to the ground next to Lee and placed her hooves around him as she hugged him tightly. Starlight joined a moment later and hugged him tightly too. Lee still didn't move though, but he could feel the warmth of both ponies surrounding him.

"It's okay... It's okay. You're gonna be just fine and I know that for sure because you have us to help you. We promise that we won't let anything happen to you again."

Just then, however, Twilight heard the sound of somepony screaming and quickly ran to the end of the alleyway to see a horrific sight: The sight of somepony's house on fire. A young filly and her parents were standing outside their now burning home and the filly was crying as she held her pony doll tightly. Many other ponies gathered around too to help put out the fire and watch as the house continued burning.

"What in the name of Equestria?! H-How did this happen?"

As Twilight and Starlight both rushed over to help out with the fire, Lee stood up and looked at what was happening, speechless to the destruction that was being caused. He looked away for a moment when saw the wagon he had turned over earlier had crashed into a nearby street lamp, knocking it over onto the house and caused the flame inside the lamp to start burning the house.

Lee suddenly backed away from the scene when he realized how the fire had started.

"I-I did this... I did this."

As a strong sense of guilt and panic washed over him, Lee had suddenly opened up his wings, flew into the sky and quickly went towards the Everfree Forest without anypony noticing him.

Once Twilight and Starlight had finished putting out the fire and made sure that the residents were okay, they turned back towards the alleyway, but it was now empty with no Lee in sight. Twilight looked around and called out for Lee but there was no response whatsoever.

"Where did he go? He was just here wasn't he?" Starlight asked as she kept looking around for him.

Twilight continued looking around until she had noticed the overturned wagon and street lamp and remembered that Lee had turned over the same wagon when he was upset earlier. Twilight gasped in shock as she realized what had happened and turned to Starlight and told her about what she found.

"No... Not Lee! He would do something like this!"

"No, he didn't do anything Starlight. He would never mean to do something like this! I guarantee that whole thing was just an accident."

"But where is he? You don't think he... ran off do you?"

"I don't know, but let's go and check his house. Maybe he went there to get away from everypony."

Twilight and Starlight both agreed to finding Lee and made their way to Lee's house.

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Lee continued flying in the air for another hour before he decided to go back towards the ground and he landed in a clearing with a stumble and a large thud on the ground. He stood up with his legs shaking and wiped away the tears pouring out of his eyes, unable to get the thought of him burning down sompony's house down out of his mind.

"I can't go back there! I can never go back there again, not after what I've done!"

The wind in the trees gave Lee a chill and he started becoming cold from the breeze. He made his way into the trees and thought about all the ponies back in Ponyville, particularly Celestia and Luna and Twilight and Starlight!

"They'll never forgive for what I've done! They probably hate me now... And the princesses, who knows what they'll think! They'll probably have me hunted down and thrown into a dungeon."

Lee continued walking through the forest until he came to a large pond, where he splashed some water into his face to clean the dirt and mud off of his face.

"This is where I live now... I can never go back to Ponyville again"

Lee sat down by the water as he waited for nightfall, uncertain for how long he would last in the dangerous Everfree Forest.

 

Finally Finally FINALLY finished the next chapter of my story! Sorry for the long wait, my friends but I hope you enjoy my newest creation!

[Octavia Heartstrings 28,394]

This is great, my friend! You captured Twilight, Pinkie and Starlight perfectly! 

Damn... one mistake by Lee had a huge consequence. 

[DivineMist1000 71,084]

15 minutes ago, LyraLover ⚡ said:

This is great, my friend! You captured Twilight, Pinkie and Starlight perfectly! 

Damn... one mistake by Lee had a huge consequence. 

It just keeps piling on him unfortunately... 

But a certain two Alicorn princesses and storm pony will help him out soon enough! 

Edited May 27, 2020 by DivineKnight1000

[Octavia Heartstrings 28,394]

Just now, DivineKnight1000 said:

It just keeps piling on him unfortunately... 

But a certain two Alicorn princesses will help him out soon enough! 

The poor guy just can't seem to catch a break. 

At least Celestia and Luna will make everything better. 

[DivineMist1000 71,084]

Just now, LyraLover ⚡ said:

The poor guy just can't seem to catch a break. 

At least Celestia and Luna will make everything better. 

And Tempest too! She's gonna be a major part of the story now too! 

So tell me, what do you think of the story as a whole so far?

[Octavia Heartstrings 28,394]

1 minute ago, DivineKnight1000 said:

And Tempest too! She's gonna be a major part of the story now too! 

So tell me, what do you think of the story as a whole so far?

I think it's been quite good so far. It has a good mix of characters, and I like that Lee is a normal pony struggling to adapt to a high-class setting.

[DivineMist1000 71,084]

2 minutes ago, LyraLover ⚡ said:

I think it's been quite good so far. It has a good mix of characters, and I like that Lee is a normal pony struggling to adapt to a high-class setting.

What do you think of Lee? Do you think he's a good character?

[Octavia Heartstrings 28,394]

2 minutes ago, DivineKnight1000 said:

What do you think of Lee? Do you think he's a good character?

Yeah, I think he's good! His struggle is realistic and relatable.