Regrets and Reasons

The door to Avan's house swung open as the alicorn forced himself inside. His eyes were dull as he quickly lashed out with his back hoof, causing the door to slam shut as he strolled forward. His foul mood was due to what had happened at the Castle of the Royal Sisters, having met his dear lost friend Winter Dream and then recalling things he would rather forget...Like his self-hate. He snorted as he came to a stop, his green gaze shifting around his house.

His eyes fell upon a picture hanging on a wall; a snow-covered mountain standing high against the moon as fully moon. It was a beautiful painting, but it caused Avan to grit his teeth slightly, more bad memories flooding in. His horn glowed as he grabbed the picture and took it off the wall with a quick flick of his horn. He quickly placed it on the table below where it had hung, but it was now upside down so Avan wouldn't see it.

He spun and stormed into the living room, his tail flicking underneath his cloak as he reached the couch that sat on one side and climbed on it. Now lying down, he stared at one of his hoof that had dried blood caked on it from where he had stuck one of the doorposts in the castle. However, he just shrugged it off as he buried his head in his hoofs, sighing deeply. He had been stupid and had let his emotion get better of him. Perhaps....Perhaps it would have to try again next week but he didn't want to burden Dream even if she wouldn't recall their meetings...Clearly, he was at a crossroad.

Occ: As you can guess, this topic is for Orchid. I suppose she can try to speak reason into Avan. Even the wise need a little help sometimes. Ah...What is the saying? The high and mighty have the longest to fall?

OOC;; Short post + late... I had something nice written out and I just lose the motivation to rewrite it after I deleted the wrong tab...

IC;; Seeing Avan down in the dumps, Orchid hadn't quite noticed 'til now. After all, she had been quite silly and mischievous, venturing around Ponyville as much as she could and whenever she could, pulling all kinds of pranks with a certain party pony. Flying in with pollen scattering everywhere, the fairy pony flew in front of the alicorn stallion, flipping herself upside down before asking, "Avaaaaaan! What're you doin'? How was the visit to the castle?"

When he heard Orchid's happy voice, he raised his head and looked at her with a soft smile. Orchid had been his closest friend in the many years he had been traveling; not leaving him in all those times. Just seeing her made him feel better, but he was careful to duck his hurt hoof under his cloak; he didn't want her to see that he hurt himself. Of course, Orchid had no idea about his history...About the pain he had went though; he wanted to spare her the tale of his years of woe.

"It ah...Was more interesting then I thought it would go, my dear Orchid," he said as he turned his head slightly; hoping she wouldn't see the pain that flashed in his eyes. He didn't want her to worry; he just wanted to see her as happy as ever.

Orchid, as curious as she was getting at the moment from his slight hesitation in speaking and the word 'interesting', gave him a glance, suspicious that something was up. Obviously. Muttering a few things under her breath in Breezie, the tiny fairy flew upright, zipping in front of his gaze once again, obviously noticing the flash that showed there was something he was hiding from her. Having a slight frown that Avan wouldn't try and trust her with something so important, after they had spent so long together, the mare let out a sigh before almost sounding as if she was ranting in a mocking, non-serious tone, "Now look here Mr. Prince Charming! If you have something to say, you could at least tell me a bit - I don't care how much you tell me, I just want to know." Cutting herself off after a bit, Orchid stuck her tongue out before continuing in a much more formal manner, "You could trust me after all this time, you know?"

Avan hadn't been expecting Orchid to fly up in front of his face, and stumbled backwards slight even though he was lying down. He debated what to say as he stared at her; unsure if he wanted to lie. However...The small Breezie did have a point. He was tired of lying to her; she was his best friend and lying was no way to build trust. So, with a defeated sigh, his ears folded back as he lowered his head. "Fine, fine...You are as right as always Orchid. The truth is that the trip didn't go as well as I hoped it would. It brought up some bad memories of my past that I've tried to forget about and pain I've been trying to hide for hundreds of years."

Flipping back right side up, her tiny wings fluttering quickly - faster than the eye could see -, the Breezie gave a sly smile, showing a victorious remark that she was right before clearing her throat loudly and attempting to mimic formalities without snickering ever so often. Unfortunately for Orchid, it wasn't as easy as she had anticipated. She had burst out laughing after a few moments, wiping a tear from her eye from her own hyper-happiness before actually getting to what she had meant to do. "Ahem, excuse me about that. I'm obviously... not laughing at you. I just can't be serious with myself today! I'm waiting for that pollen-bomb I set up to go off!" Orchid exclaimed before covering her mouth, realizing she had just told Avan about her latest 'prank'. "Oopsies... Anyway, do tell me about this. Come on, something definitely happened there if it wasn't as good as you thought! Tell me, is it like... 'Nightmare' Sun or something? Or... Celestia did something? Or... Prince Sombra is back, but evil... again. Oh, oh, oh! Something was up with Dream or maybe it was an 'evil' version of Tuli? Hint hint please!" She was goofing off most of the whole thing, but part of it was serious... Sort of.

His eyes narrowed when Orchid started to laugh, and sighed softly when she stopped and spoke about her prank. He shook his head, wondering what he would ever do with her when she started to list off of things. He titled his head as he listened to her, taking notes of the small mistakes that she made as he did it, but didn't bother to correct her as she finally hit the nail on the head, causing his ears to fold down again. "It was...I met Dream Spell in the castle; the first time I've seen her in over 1000 years but..." there was hesitation in his voice as he tried to come up with words. "She didn't remember me. She doesn't remember anything; she was so lost and even thought I tried to help her...She just wanted me to leave."

OOC;; Sorry, was on vacation!

IC;; It was quaintly obvious to Orchid that even Avan was being odder than the fairy today. More or less, he would've punished her right away at the very least in some shape or form. Raising an eyebrow and frowning when she noticed the alicorn's ears droop once again, listening attentively to the stallion as he explained to her what had happened. He was holding back from her... again. Turning away with a "humph", the tiny mare stayed like that for a few moments before letting out a sigh and replying, "It's obvious that she can't do anything about it. Dream doesn't know that you guys were friends nor how close you were. Sounds understandable..." Pausing for a moment when she noticed how harsh her words were, she continued abruptly, "Too harsh? Kinda hit the mark...?"

Avan sighed as he laid his head down on the couch, his ears flicking back. "'Kinda hit the mark.'" Avan echoed in response, before he lifted his non-injured hoof and laid it across his muzzle with a sad sigh. "I still wish she wouldn't have pushed me away; I just wanted to help her out..."

"Didn't you still tell her something like you were going to still help her anyway? Even if she did push you off?" Orchid replied, slightly curious as to what truly happened there. Was Avan leaving out details... Again? Did he not trust her or something? Shaking her head, the Breezie continued on, saying, "Why don't you try visiting her again? I'll come help! Might support in jogging her memory back where it should be if she sees more familiar ponies that she knew, right? And, I can help you both out too! Oh, don't forget about bringing Tuli as well. She might like that... If they knew each other. I think? Or too much?" And there goes Orchid with her babbling again.

Avan just softly muttered in response to Orchid talking...At least that was until he mentioned Tuli. His head shot up, his eyes growing wide. "Tuli cannot meet Dream!" He quickly said, his wings flaring at his side slightly, before he forced himself to relax as he shook his head. "I mean...Tuli doesn't know I am an Alicorn, and I want to keep it that way...I like things to be more simple between us," he stated simply, raising a hoof as he spoke. "Even if Dream doesn't remember the connection between us...I just don't want Tuli to ask questions. I would prefer to keep my Alicorn matters away from her. It would be just to far to risky." He paused for a second, before deciding to answer the question Orchid had mentioned before. "And I did tell her I would, but I am just worried about her bringing up bad memories again. She said the spell on her resets her memory every week so she would be asking the same questions over and over..."

Noticing her own mistake, the little fairy was a bit astonished by Avan's sudden outburst, twiddling her hooves before replying with a soft, "Oops..." Listening to the stalion's explanation... well it did make sense. If Tuli had met Dream, then, she'd be questioning why Avan was friends with an alicorn, which would bring up even more necessities... Shaking her head, when it was mentioned that her memories reset every week, Orchid had a frown on her face, trying to think of what kind of spell that was. "Seems strange she can only remember that. Did she specify who she forgets every week? If it means only close friends... As long as you don't get too close, Dream should continue remembering what happened the previous week, right?"

"She forgets everything...Well, everything other than her name and the fact its a spell that causing the memory wipe and that she will forget everything again..." he sighed as he laid his head back down. "But you are right, it is rather strange. Part of me thinks that whoever put the spell wanted her to suffer; leaving her with those details to always remember."

Going into her own little outburst, Orchid replied fiercely, "How do you know that? From what it sounds like Dream's been abandoning herself from everyone else! She's been making sure she didn't get into contact with others! Maybe think about experimenting with it a bit. Maybe she can remember a few things. Just try it!" Taking a few deep breaths, the Breezie let out a sigh before regretting what she just said... Some of it. "Sorry... But, do you think you know of a cure for a spell like that? I don't think it's unheard of... My only question is who decided to target a weaker and more fragile heir to the throne."