//------------------------------// // 10 : Apologies and Revelations // Story: The Journal // by TropicalWings //------------------------------// ... I’m flying. Well, I think I am, judging by the fact that I’m about twenty feet off the ground. I think one of the inner orchards was below my hooves, but it was really hard to see because of the bright sunlight slightly blinding me. I'm really confused right now; this is physically impossible. I'm a unicorn, not a pegasus, HOW the hay am I dangling twenty feet up in the air? WHY the hay am I dangling high twenty feet up in the air? And more importantly, HOW am I gonna get down from- ...wait. ...I think I can make out the figure of a pony down below at the orchard. Thankfully, my eyes managed to adjust a bit to the blinding sunlight. It’s still kind of hard to see, but I think the pony’s a mare, judging by how thin and slender the figure was compared to the physique of an average colt. The fact that the figure also has a long mane seems to prove my point. Suddenly, I found myself going higher up in the air for some reason. I tried to move my legs in protest, only to find no response on either of my legs. Okay, something is really wrong here. I suddenly stopped gaining altitude. I breathed a sigh of relief... Before suddenly dropping down into a dive, heading towards the unknown mare in the orchard. I tried screaming, but I found that like my legs, I also couldn’t seem to move my mouth. My vision was getting blurry the closer I got to the ground, the color purple was also slowly filling my vision for some odd reason. And then, darkness surrounded me and I couldn't see anything. I still felt myself falling though. And while I fell, the darkness around me embraced my body. ... ... ... ... ... ... My head hurts. A LOT. Within a few seconds, my vision slowly returned and I found myself back on the outer orchard. Lying on the tool shed’s bench to be exact. I looked around and saw Summerfree not so far away, apparently unaware that I’m awake. The fact that he was pacing the floor frantically suggested that he was very worried and nervous. “Oh dear, oh dear,” I heard him say. “They’re gonna kill me when they find out what happened, I’m so stupid!” I sat up and rubbed my aching forehead. “Urgh, Summerfree?” I called out to him. He quickly turned and faced me, his face filled with surprise and relief. “Twilight!” he cried out, making a dash towards me and then giving me a rather constricting hug. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry about what happened to you.” he said with a very troubled voice. I wrapped my hoof around him. “...It’s okay Summerfree... it wasn’t your fault.” He buried his face on my shoulder. He looked like he was in the verge of tears. “...No, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have ran away, I’m so stupid...” “Summerfree... don’t be so hard on yourself” I consoled him. “I’m alright. You didn’t mean to hurt me anyway. I just ran onto a tree, that’s all. No need to worry” Tears were starting to form in his eyes. “B-but... cousin Applejack will-” “Shhh...” I gently waved a hoof at him. “It’s okay. I’ve got your back, you have got nothing to worry about.” I told him. His grip loosened and he slowly broke the embrace. His mouth slowly formed a small grin. “Thanks... Twilight.” “I believe I owe an explanation.” Summerfree suddenly spoke up. It was around fifteen minutes since I woke up and we were spending the rest of our time strolling around the outer orchard. Summerfree had managed to calm down from his outburst a while ago. I rubbed my gauze-wrapped forehead and looked back at him in confusion. “An explanation to what?” I asked him. “...to what’s been happening back at home.” My mouth faltered to a slight frown. “Uhh... Summerfree, you don’t have to explain, I understand.” I told him. Summerfree shook his head. “No, I need to get this off my chest.” he sighed. "Please don't tell this to anypony else" I looked at him. “Okay...” He smiled back and took a deep breath. “If I remember correctly, I told you girls I was born in Mustangia right?” I nodded, clearly remembering what he said during dinner a few days ago. “Yeah, anyways, when I moved to Trottingham, the folks there didn’t exactly give me the nice treatment.” he said, his voice weakening a bit. My walking began to slow and looked at him. “Summerfree... what do you mean?” Summerfree stayed silent for a second before continuing. “...They said my accent was all stupid and that I didn’t belong there” he said nervously, his mouth quivering. “They’d sometimes gang up on me... and... call me names... and beat me up... and they'd throw rocks at me...” he said while raising a hoof and lifting up a portion of his mane, revealing a rather faint scar on the side of his neck, still partially covered by his rather dusty bandanna. “...I couldn’t really protect myself against them so I was easy picking” he said, lowering back his hoof and letting his hair fall back. “ but then... I met this mare” he continued. “She was way different from me, she was really brave and confident. It was really a mystery why she would hang out with someone like me. She always stood by my side, especially when I was in trouble.” he said smiling a bit before frowning. “But then, one day, she had to leave me. Her family had to move away from the city... and she told me before she left that she'll try to visit me sometimes... So far, I'm still trying to contact her but I haven't heard from her yet.” he lowered his head. “And now that she’s gone, it was obvious that the bullying would come back soon and worse, no one was there to help me.” He raise his head a bit and he tried to averthis gaze from me. "I had to get away from it all, I took the next train headed here in Appleoosa." "And here we are" He sighed and look back down on the ground, finishing his story. My mind was trying to process what Summerfree just said. Did he really suffer that much back at Trottingham? It was then that I realized that I had my mouth hanging open. "I'm such a coward" he mumbled, his eyes still staring down at the ground. "B-but I didn't know what else to do... all I could think of was to run, I’m so stupid..." He was beginning to tear up again. I walked to him and gave him a gentle hug. He's hurting himself. He needs a shoulder to cry on. And I'm gonna be there for him. We were quiet during the trip back to the house. I could feel the metal nail secretly strapped on my sides gently poking me gently but I paid no attention to it, I was still letting the new information Summerfree told me to sink in my head. Summerfree on the other hand, just kept his head down while walking. He probably also has a lot of things going on his head right now. The sun was already beginning to hide in the horizon, the sky was tinted a deep shade of violet and our surroundings were starting to darken due to the lessening sunlight. It was not long before the faint lights of the ranch house began to glimmer between some trees. I saw Applejack standing outside the backdoor, waiting for us when we came. "Glad to see you two come back in time" she said, smiling. "Although you two look rather dirty" she added. "Did'ya go take a run around the orchard or something?" "You could say that" I replied. I saw her slightly raise one of her eyebrows and smirk in response. "Well come on in you two and get washed up" she said before turning her attention to the colt beside me. "Summerfree, Ah take it that yer going back to your place in town tonight?" Summerfree nodded in reply. "Ok, you can go back to town after washing up. Ya better hurry 'cause it's starting to get real dark now" Applejack said, looking at the now indigo colored sky above us before opening the ranch's back door and going inside. Summerfree and I immediately followed her and entered the house. I sat down on my bed, just finished having a relaxing bath. In my hooves lay the odd looking metal spike I found in the outer orchard. Its purpose still remained a mystery to me and I don't think I should ask anyone about this. After all, it will obviously rouse suspicion. "Hey Applejack, I got this metal spike in the tool shed while no one was looking, mind telling me what it is for?" Seriously, who wouldn't find that weird? I examined the object for a few more moments before stashing it in my little suitcase along with the small metal key I found and my journal, which I was still in the midst of reading in an effort to jog my memories. I grabbed a small notedpad from my suitcase and jotted down a few notes to help keep track of my thoughts. 'Found an odd metal spike in the outer orchard, find out what its meant for soon.' I tossed the small notepad back into the suitcase and I snapped it shut and stowed it below my bed before stepping outside to the hallway and headed downstairs. ... I sat outside in the front porch, relaxing and taking in the cool desert air. The gentle breeze blowing between the bandages wrapped around me. The door beside me opened and Summerfree walked out. We stared at each other in a rather awkward silence for a few moments before I spoke up. "So you're going back to your place now?" "...yeah" "..." The awkward silence began to creep back. I was gonna speak up again when Summerfree started talking again. "Twilight, I wanna thank you for everything" he said, looking down at the ground as usual. I brought a hoof up to his chin and tilted his head up. "It's no problem Summerfree" He smiled at me. "Yeah..." I smiled back at him and I looked back to the front of the ranch, my eyes tracing tracing the winding road leading to the house. Not so far away stood the property's long wooden fence. "Well, I guess I gotta go now, see ya again tomorrow Twilight" he said putting a hoof behind his head. "Okay, see you tomorrow Summerfree" I replied. "...oh and Twilight..." He suddenly said. I turned my face to look at him when he closed in on me and... ...gave me a kiss on the lips. "Good night" he said, before he turned and began walking out of the property. My mind stopped working for what seemed like a few minutes. I was trying to comprehend what just happened. Summerfree... He just kissed me on the lips... I heard the telltale sound of the door opening behind me. "Oh there you are Twilight" a voice behind me said, bringing me back to reality. I turned around and saw Rarity looking back at me. "It's dark out already, Applejack and Braeburn said that its dinner time now and... ...why is your face red?" I felt the heat rise up my face. ... I realized I was blushing.