//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: More than words 
// by Spitfire1010 
//------------------------------//

      I awoke in a quite literal hole in the earth. I wasn’t hurt, but I was more than exhausted and sore all over. Then I noticed the stallion lying almost on top of me. “Braeburn..?”
Whimpering, “Who are ya..? What are ya..?” He was obviously scared shitless, but thank the stars he wasn’t hurt.
My mind, which had held a turbulence of thoughts, went silent. My eyes rolled back into my head as I began to drool.
‘Ummm.. Hey..’	
‘Oh, Hey! What’s up?’
‘I kinda realized that.. I.. I..’
‘Are you okay?’
‘I kinda love you..’
‘Uh.. Oh... Uh..’
Whimpering.
‘Are you serious..?’
Sobbing, ‘Yes.. I’m sorry..’
‘Don’t be.’
More whimpering.
‘What’s wrong?’
A squeak.
‘I’m not going to dislike you only because you like me more, or rather, in that way. That’s only..’
I came back to reality explosively. Nothing had changed, and I mean literally nothing. Brae curled himself into a fetal position. I reached my right fore leg across and gently patted his back, repeating “It’s okay.. It’s okay..” I slowly and gently shifted under him so that his head was resting on my chest, ignoring the growing wetness of his tears.
“Ferrous..?”
I looked down at him, “Shh.. You’re okay..”
“Why me..?” 
I began to gently rub the fur on his back, “Shh.. Now’s not the time for that.”
He seemed to be calming rapidly, a general good sign. “Brae, I’m here for you..”
When the others showed up and tried to separate us, it was clear: he wouldn’t have it. “NO YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO US!! He was squeezing me in a bear hug so tight I was turning blue.
“Br.. ae..” With luck, he realized his mistake and released most of the pressure.
Thank you.. Now.. Wait a minute.. This couldn’t be a..? No.. I can feel everything..
“Braeburn, t’ey need ta see if y’all are ok-ay!”
“No.” All eyes turned to me, “You don’t need to separate us IF WE DON’T WANT TO BE APART!”
Shiiiittt… THAT wasn’t good..
Red Heart, who had, by this time moved beside me, began to nod slowly, “I can respect that,” She motioned for the other medical pony to step away from Braeburn, “just tell me, are either of you in pain anywhere?” Brae shook his head alongside my verbal ‘no’. “Alright." She bowed her head, “If anything happens, I guess you know where to find me.” She smiled sincerely and, alongside the other medical pony, walked out of the crater. And with her, the ring of ponies around us began to disperse quickly. After only two minutes, there was only one pony left, and she was staring at me with a look of absolute hatred. Hatred aimed solely at me.
“Ah don’t know who ya are, but Ah don’t want ya anywhere near ma cousin..”
“AppleJack! YA NEED TA SHUT YAR TRAP! ‘E JUS SAVED MA LIFE!”
Ummm… Uh oh, family feud
Recoiling a little, AJ only seemed to become more enraged, her face literally going crimson. All that’s missing is the steam.. “’E ALMOST GOT YA KILLED!! ‘E’S DANGEROUS!!”
My mane was turning a light cyan blue, my eyes flashing between their normal ocean blue and an evil crimson, “YOU STAY OUT OF OUR BUSINESS OR, BY THE STARS, I WILL RIP YOU LIMB FROM BLOODY LIMB!”
Aaaannd, back to Ferrous. I hated Saranade, my supposed protector personality. He was violent, to a rather huge extent, and believed that everything should be solved as such. I, from this surfacing, learned something rather interesting: Sara had a different look than I did.. For some reason, when he had taken control this time, I had been granted a mental image of who I had become. Still cement grey in body, my regal purple mane had been replaced with a light cyan blue duplicate, my eyes replaced with two glowing crimson orbs of pure hatred. Even my cutie-mark had changed, becoming a double half note where half was as normal, while the other half, which reflected his twisted soul, was jagged.
The look on her face was priceless. AJ was showing a physical effort to continue standing, a reaction born out of absolute terror. She backed up quickly before galloping off.
“Braeburn? I’m sorry, I…”
“Don’t worreh ‘bout ‘er she’s juss worryin’” He said as we lay there.
We lay in silence for a while longer before I came up with a rather intriguing question, “Hey Brae? You seemed kind of ashamed when I first asked if you if you were.. Well, you know.. But I guess my question is, is your family against being like that?”
He whimpered a little, “In short, ya can’t be like us or ya get thrown out of the family..”
“Are you sure you’re up for that? I mean, how will you deal with the fact that you can’t possibly live the way you used to?”
He nuzzled me a little, “We’ll find a way.”