A New Chapter (Sea Swell)

[Deleted]

Strings stepped off the train into the Manehatten train station. When the battle against the Cult of the Eclipse was over, Eclipse was defeated and peace was declared over Equestria, Strings went back home to Ponyville for a few days. He visited his friends and family to assure them that he made it back. They even through him a party. After a few days of rest, he got on the train to Manehaten. He would of flown, but his wings were still quite bruised.

The whole train trip, Strings thought about the reason he was heading to Manehatten. Sea Swell. Before the battle, he met this wonderful mare in Cloudsdale. She was a musician, and beautiful. Strings' dream mare. But there was more bringing him to Manehatten then just love. If you can call it that. Can you truly love somepony you just met? No matter, Strings had proposed that they start a band together. Despite his young age, he was all ready an accomplished musician. Now, he was going to help a budding musician get into the industry.

Strings had been to Manehatten a number of times, but it always marveled him with it's size. He walked into the train station building and walked up to the main desk. "Hi," he said to the pony behind the desk. "I was wondering if there is a way I could look up somepony?"
"Ah yes," the pony replied. She then pulled out a large book and put it on the desk. "This has the names of all the residents of Manehatten and their homes. I hope you enjoy your stay in Manehatten." The pony smiled at Strings and answered the phone that was ringing beside her. Strings opened the book and looked through it until he found Sea Swell's name. When he did, he quickly asked the pony he had just talked to for a piece of paper and a pen, and then wrote it down. Once that was done, he was on his way.

Sea Swell's apartment wasn't too far away from the train station. Only about a twenty minute walk. When Strings arrived at the building he walked up the stairs to the floor Sea's apartment was on. He walked slowly to the door and took a deep breath. He then knocked on the door.

[mafipulater]

Sea Swell spent the days since coming back from her vacation in Cloudsdale in a state of conflicted emotions. On the one hoof, the future was promising - Strings, the pegasus she met in Cloudsdale, was not only a great guitarist but also one of the most caring stallions she had ever met, and wanted to start a band with her. But on the other hoof, Strings had to go fight in a war with the Cult of Eclipse, and Sea couldn't help but worry that he might come back a different stallion... or perhaps not come back at all. It became difficult to concentrate on other matters; her idle time at her job at Penn's art store was largely spent thinking about everything that could go right in the near future - and everything that could go wrong.

But soon, Sea heard news that the war was over, and that there were no casualties - at least, not on the Equestrian side - and everyone would soon be returning safely. Her mind eased greatly knowing that Strings was safe, and she was quickly able to get back into her regular lifestyle.

As the days passed, Sea became more anxious as her thoughts drifted back toward the future. It was exciting, seeing Strings again and starting a band with him, but she wanted things to go well when he came by. To that end, Sea cleaned up the usual mess her apartment was. There was only so much she could do, though; the building was old and run-down, and many of the floorboards and walls were too damaged for her to do anything about. Sea hoped Strings wouldn't think too much of it.

Then, there was the situation with finding enough room for the both of them while he was staying in Manehattan. Sea wasn't sure if Strings wanted to stay in Manehattan - and if not, she would stay in Ponyville instead - but he was going to at least be visiting, and she needed to make space. Sea finally decided to make room by making her music room a second bedroom, and moved all her music and recording equipment to the foyer instead. This made the foyer rather cramped, but whatever, it was something she could deal with. She set up the second bedroom with some basic furnishings, including a futon that doubled as a bed - it was really the same kind of furnishings her own bedroom had; after all, she really couldn't afford anything fancy. Then, after all the cleaning and the setting up, Sea was finally satisfied enough with the place and was ready for Strings's arrival.

Sea Swell was practicing an old b-girl trick of hers ending with a flashy hoof-stand when she heard the knocking at the door. The noise startled her into falling muzzle-first onto the floor. Rubbing her snout tenderly, she trotted toward the door. Upon opening it, the mare's face lit up as she exclaimed, "Strings!" Throwing her forehooves around the stallion, she pulled Strings into a tight embrace and kissed him tenderly on the lips.

Pulling back, she asked, "You didn't get hurt, did you?" Then, jokingly, "You beat up a lot of those crazy cultist punks?"

[Deleted]

Strings welcomed Sea Swell's embrace warmly and wrapped his own hooves around the mare, also returning her kiss. "I'm a little sore, I got thrown around a lot, but other than that I'm fine." He said with a smile. "And to be honest, I personally didn't actually beat any pony up. I definitely tried to though." He laughed softly, then plated another kiss firmly but gently on Sea Swell's lips. He then parted their lips and stared into the mare's eyes. "I've missed you Sea."

[mafipulater]

All her concern and her worry culminated in that kiss. At first, Sea was slightly apprehensive about being so forward, but she couldn’t help herself. And when Strings kissed back, those feelings were quickly washed away.

”I really missed you too,” she said. "You don't know how much I worried about you."

Looking back, things between them have been moving incredibly quickly, even though they both agreed in Cloudsdale that they would focus on the band first and foremost. But that was before she knew Strings was leaving to fight in a dangerous war, and before she realized how quickly just how attached to him she had gotten during the last days they spent together in Cloudsdale before he had to leave. And here he was again, right in front of her, safe and sound. And now that he was here, trying so hard to focus solely on the band seemed silly, especially next to making sure they spent time together in case something forced them apart again.

Sea relished the warmth she found in the stallion's embrace a moment longer before motioning him inside. "C'mon, we should probably get inside before my neighbors start yellin' at us," she said and flashing Strings a sly smile. Sea's neighbors had a history of yelling at her through the paper-thin apartment walls when she made too much noise. But with Strings here, maybe they could make even more noise together to get on their nerves.

Leading Strings inside, she said, "Make yourself at home. I'll get some tea started," motioning toward the couch in the music room/foyer before disappearing into the kitchen momentarily to begin heating some water.

When Sea returned, she said, "Hey, listen, about this band business..." as she sat down on the couch and looked earnestly into Strings's eyes. "Listen, I know I said before, like, back in Cloudsdale, that we should focus on being a band first, and all. But... I really like you, dude. And, honestly, while you were out fighting cultists, all I could think about was if you were gonna be okay. And now, I just really want us to spend some time together, y'know, in case... some other bad thing happens."

"I'm not saying we should forget the band or anything," Sea said quickly to clarify. "Jamming with you in Cloudsdale was some of the most fun I've had in a long time. But, y'know, if you wanted to... we could have some fun together outside of the band too." As Sea waited for a response, she hoped that Strings felt the same way she did - about wanting to spend time together, both in-and-out of the band. And if so, she had an idea of how they could actually do both at the same time. There was a certain festival in the Griffon Kingdom coming up that would surely be a lot of fun, if Strings was up for it.

[Deleted]

Strings followed Sea Swell into her apartment. "Tea sounds great. Thanks." He looked around the room, and admired the music equipment. "Some pretty cool equipment you have here Sea." When Sea came back from the kitchen, Strings sat on the couch next to her. He nodded and smiled at chocolate pony. "Yeah, I feel the exact same way. I mean, I do really want to continue with the band. But, I really like you too. And while I was at war, all I could think about is would I make it out of there alive to come back here to you."

"So yeah, I loved spending time with you in Cloudsdale, so I think we should continue to sped time together. And, continue with our music as well." Strings then remembered about something he heard that was going on in the Griffin Kingdom. "In fact, I heard about this thing in the Griffin Kingdom, the Wind Festival, that I think would be heaps of fun to go to, be a great opportunity, to really spend some quality time with each other, but also, they have an array of contests, one of which is a music contest. So, if you wanted, we could also enter that?"