Stereoheart

by FimFan14

Eight: Owning Up

Three days. It had been three days since that horrible incident at the restaurant. Stereo had had fun at Applejacks farm with the crusaders, whom discovered his weakness whilst trying to wake him that morning (Cutie Mark Crusader Tickle Torturers was one thing that would haunt his sleep for years). But, fun and games over, there was a growing list of problems to solve, and loose-ends to tie up:

•He felt guilty about being the indirect cause of the other nights'... incident;

•Rainbow was obviously hiding something, and was uncomfortable;

•Pinkie Pie was sad, and locked in her room. Apparently this was really bad;

•He was still wearing that damned necklace!

At least there were a few good things happening today. Sweetie Belle had been really excited about one of them - the talent show. They would be performing the Cutie Mark Crusaders Theme Song, as they had so aptly named it.

With slightly lifted spirits, Stereo trotted down the cloud stairs of what was now officially called his home. Yes, even with all of the recent guilt and awkwardness, he felt at home in Ponyville, and living with Rainbow Dash.

"Morning, Rainbow Dash!" He called out to the mare behind the counter, putting on his best, most convincing smile and good attitude.

"Morning, kid," Rainbow replied as she usually would. "Sleep well?"

"Slept great," Stereo replied. "How about you?"

"Like a baby." Stereo almost believed it, almost.

"Drop the façade, Rainbow," he said.

"What do you..."

"I heard you scream, at least three times last night! Something's going on... is it about the other day?"

In a surprising display of forwardness, Rainbow answered truthfully. "...yeah," she said, and hung her head.

Stereo paused, and thought carefully about what to say. "Ar... are you okay?" He said, with genuine concern in his voice.

"Well," Rainbow started. "Y... I think... I don't know. I don't think so. The other day, Fluttershy cried for two hours, with me!"

Stereo gasped, but said nothing. Whatever troubled her had to be pretty nasty to make the Rainbow Dash cry; for two hours, no less.

"I'm gonna tell you some stuff you already know, Rainbow continued. "Lemme know if you get bored. First of all, I'm awesome and tough, and Fluttershy's a marshmallow. Second of all, we're best friends, since we were foals. Third, both of us never talk about our family, at least not around anypony."

"Fluttershy and I are friends, mainly because we went through the same thing together. That, and we're cousins. Our family - more specifically, our Dads and Brothers, were just as bad as your 'parents.'"

"Rainbow, I..."

"Let me finish!" Rainbow interrupted, before continuing. "They were abusive to us, My Dad and brother, her Dad and brother, to both of us, at the same time! We would go to flight school with bruises, cuts, black eyes, you name it. I tried to protect Fluttershy from our drug-addicted male family, but they noticed. And they let me get away with it."

"I was happy; Fluttershy was okay, and I could handle the pain for her. But one night, I was doing some extra-credit work at flight school, and when I got home, all seemed fine. I walked into our room, a bit earlier than everypony expected, to find Fluttershy gagged and bound, on the bed, and my brother... kid, are you okay?"

Stereo had a more than shocked expression on his face. His eyes were somewhere between intense grey and emerald green. Not a good combination, if you recall.

"I'm fine... I just need to..." He quickly ran over to the sink, pouring water over his face. When he opened his eyes, they were settling on a greyish hue. A few tears dotted his face.

"He raped her!?"

Rainbow had been on a tangent up until now, and, being forced to slow down to wait for Stereo, her story began to weigh down on her. Stereo's comment hit home, though.

She began to feel tears stream down her face. "Y-yeah. He raped her." As she spoke, her voice gradually rose, until she was grinding her teeth together. "When I caught him, I screamed, and then, I TORE HIM OFF OF HER, AND THEN I PUNCHED HIM ACROSS THE FACE, AGAIN AND AGAIN, UNTIL I COULDN'T EVEN RECOGNIZE HIM!"

Stereo hugged Rainbow, as she calmed down and began to shudder.

"...My Mum, she came in *sniff* and was about to hit me, then she *sniff* saw Fluttershy *sniff* and called the police. My Dad walked in, not noticing anything until too late, *sniff* half was through asking if Fluttershy had been 'a good Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo.'"

"A what?"

"It's an acronym, spell the first letters."

"Oh... Oooohhh... So the police took both of them?"

"Yeah," Rainbow said. "It was the best day of my life. It's also the day Fluttershy changed. She was never that shy; she used to be normal. But that night... she changed, into the caring, sensitive pony she is today. But I would give up my wings for that day to never have happened. And that bring us to you, Stereo."

"Me?"

"Did you ever wonder why I was so nice to you in Cloudsdale? Princess Luna had briefed us on... you, and I couldn't stand to think that you lived like that. Fluttershy kept looking at me through that briefing... And then you got out, and I got permission to care for you."

"Does anypony else know about this?"

"Only Rarity, because I needed a non-family witness to sign the guardian papers. I told her everything, and it felt so good. I... I asked her to push me at the restaurant, and she probably feels terrible now because of what happened."

"I can handle her today, but are you okay?"

Rainbows mood improved dramatically. She’d had lots of practice with Fluttershy, of course, but that wasn’t the only reason. As the legend says, out of the ashes rises a phoenix. “I'm fine, and there's something I wanted to ask you."

"Yes?"

"I got some approved papers from Canterlot two days ago... It's why I had the nightmares."

"Oh... so, is it something bad?"

"No, they're papers for both of us!"

"What do you mean?"

"Stereo, would you like to legally be my son?"

"...You mean... You mean like adoption!"

"Yeah, that's right."

"I would love it! I've always wanted a Mum that cares about me!"

Stereo's eyes shone, literally glowing and sparkling purple. He really wanted her to be his mother, and was she going to deny him? Of course not! She wanted it too. While their relationship had started of a mutual understanding of a problem, a relationship founded on worry and fear, Stereo and Frisky had grown on her. She actually liked them, and had ordered the papers without regret. The only problem - she needed three witnesses without any blood relation to her or a criminal record. Rarity would be one witness, Fluttershy was ruled out due to blood relation. Pinkie Pie probably had broken the laws of physics on several occasions, as well as national hyperactivity laws. She would be ruled out, due to having a criminal record. So she needed Twilight and Applejack as witnesses. Easy, and she didn't need to tell them anything!

---

"You need to tell them everything!"

“What?”

Surprise was plastered over the sky-coloured pegasus ponies face. “Rarity, you know why I can’t do that!”

“I know why you must, Rainbow Dash!” Rarity flicked back her mane, levitating a comb and hairspray behind her head. “You of all ponies know just how dangerous secrets can be! Remember when I didn’t tell you how I felt about your gala dresses, and Hoity Toity came to see them?” Her voice seethed condescension.

“Yeah, well... we’re keeping Pinkies surprise birthday party a secret! That’ll turn out just fine, and so will I!” Rainbow lifted her head triumphantly, waiting to hear what comeback could possibly even come close to disproving her argument.

“That’s completely different, we’re doing that to make her feel happy and loved. That secret is beneficial, and a testament to our love and friendship. Your secret is tearing you up inside. If you don't tell at least one pony, then I'll be forced to report you emotionally unstable, and unfit to care for children!"

"Rarity... I... Is that even legal... I hate you Rarity! Why would you do this?"

"It's tough love, Rainbow, at least one pony besides Fluttershy and myself must know."

"Does Stereo count?"

"Of course!" Rarity assured him. "When Stereo comes to knowledge, I'll accept that as an adequate release... for now."

"He already knows..." Rainbow said. "I... kinda told him this morning."

"Well there you go, then!" Rarity said happily. "You can have my signature, when's the audience with the legal overseer?"

"Two days, in Canterlot."

"Canterlot!" Rarity cried. "This overseer must be very influential if he managed to convince you to go all the way to Canterlot... and for that matter, to even have the nerve to ask us to make such a trip."
"Yeah, well our 'legal overseer' is none other than Celestia herself."

"Princess... PRINCESS CELESTIA!" Rarity cried, once again. "Why?"

"I dunno," Rainbow said nonchalantly. "But she made a huge fuss about her overseeing the whole thing."

"Oh well, no matter," Rarity said. "I would like you to at least think about talking. That secret's absolutely tearing you apart!"

"Will do, Rarity!" Rainbow said, her tone indicating that she had no intention of doing so.

Rarity ignored Rainbows ungrateful attitude, instead moving to another subject. "You look absolutely famished!" She said.

"I didn't eat this morning... I kinda came straight here after talking to Stereo."

"Well let me fix you up some toasts français."

"Some what?" Rainbow asked, her head tilted in a confused expression.

"French toast," Rarity deadpanned.

"Ohhhhh."

---

*knock* *knock* *knock*

Stereo sat on a doorstep, hopefully the one of his friend. Because, what could be more embarrassing than knocking on the wrong door?

It turns out that his friend is not the pony who opens the door, but rather a light green-blue coloured unicorn mare with a green and white streaked mane.

"Oh, hi!" She said kindly. "Did you need something?"

"Hello, ma'am. Is this where Aquaflow lives?"

"Oh, are you Stereo?" She said. "My names Lyra, I'm his mother. I'll go get him." She began to walk away, before pausing and turning around. "He told what you did yesterday... you're a pretty awesome friend."

Stereo blushed slightly, and turned his body a little away. "Thank you, Miss Lyra."

"Please, a friend of my son's is a friend of mine, and my friends drop the Mrs." She then chuckled and walked inside, emerging about a half minute later with Aqua.

"Hey Aqua!"

The coincidentally aqua coloured colt saw him, and immediately brightened up... not that he was sad, or anything. "Hey, Stereo!" He said. "I was gonna go swimming today, wanna come?"

"Yeah!" Stereo cheered, before realizing one important detail. "But I've never been swimming before..."

"Hey, It's easy!" Aqua assured him. "I'll show you how."

---

"You're right," Stereo said as he floated across highland reservoir. "Once you get the basics, that is."

Of course, as amazing as Stereo probably thought he was, he was nothing compared to the ultimate speed and grace of his friend. He was a natural - flowing through the aquatic substance, like oil on a pan, as Frisky would so crudely put it; or perhaps not, since both Aqua's swimming and Frisky's cooking were indeed works of art.

These musings were interrupted by the voice of the one being mused over. "WATER FIGHT!"

"Oh, you're on!" Stereo cried, as he was inundated in seconds. He sank like a rock, and Aqua celebrated thought victory. That is, until he saw a large ball of water floating towards him, surrounded by a violet aura.

"Oh come o..."

SPLASH

"Beat that!" Stereo cried, seeing Aqua with a deadpan expression.

"Okay, you win."

"Hey hey heeeey... What's wrong, why did you give up?"

"I... I can't tell you," Aqua responded sadly. "You'll make fun of me."

"No I won't."

"Yes you will!"

"I wouldn't be a real friend if you couldn't tell me your problems... and if I laughed at them," Stereo said.

"Well... are you sure you won't laugh?"

"Of course I won't," Stereo assured him. "It wouldn't be the first talk I've had today that revealed something totally mind-blowing, so you're pretty safe."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, don't ask about it. It wasn't pretty."

"Okay then... the truth is... I have non unicórnis piscinam."

"What's that?" Stereo asked.

"It means my magic pool was empty from birth, and since magic production need a little bit of magic to start with, I'll never be able to use it."

"Thats it?" Stereo asked. "You think that I would laugh at you? That's horrible, and I'm really sorry. If you want, we can talk to Twilight, though. She's Celestia's student, and the best magic user besides the Princesses themselves. She should have a cure!"

"Thanks, Stereo," Aqua said wholeheartedly. "You really are a good friend."

Author's Note:

For those not subscribed to my blog posts, I am officially able to write again. This story will be in full swing (as long as you want it to be) and I have more stories planned for the future.

I've delved into some character backstory... Fluttershy and Rainbow being related seemed plausible enough to include. And I threw away some vital fanon - I made Lyra into a happy mother, not a human-obsessed psyco (not that I don't love that, I just wanted to do something different). Why can't she be? I enjoyed writing this, and hope you enjoyed reading. That's all, have an awesome day or night!

Comments

[NyxLover]

So are they like alicorns but the necklace keeps them from having wings? but that would explain they can walk on clouds.