//------------------------------// // Lover's Touch // Story: Deep Ocean Blue // by Selena Quintanilla //------------------------------// Deep Ocean Blue A series of cool winds whisked past the roads of Ponyville. Discarded trash was being thrown all over the place, dirt and leaves were flying everywhere. It was obvious that these weren't any regular type of breezes. Multiple forecasters predicted a rogue storm was headed for Ponyville. This caused many civilians to take shelter in their homes, and because of the obscurity of the storm, there were not enough pegasi to manage the entire storm alone. However, this did not only strike a menancing threat to the residents of Ponyville, but far away, on the east coast of Equestria, two stallions were also taking shelter in a rundown cabin. Somehow they would manage...somehow. At the east coast no sign of pony life was visible, but a couple of meters in-land, a small wooden cabin lay right near the ocean. Most shockingly the cabin withstood years of erosion, but the storm that was coming might prove to be a problem. For this day in particular day the cabin was secured with plank wood, that surrounded every edge and corner of the cabin. Looking at the flimsy, beat up cabin house, one wouldn't expect anypony to actually live in it. As it comes to a surprise from many ponies, two ponies live in the cabin. The first pony is a stallion, usually referred to as a grumpy pony, or "grumby," as his Oatstralian accent gives off. He lacks any social skills when it comes to making a decent impression. A bit pessimistic, but his friends love him either way. No taller than the average mare, and despises any pony who points it out. Yup! This ray-of-sunshine is Bruce Carcharodon. Bruce has a grey tanned coat, with dark blue-greyish mane and tail. Bruce has gorgeous blue eyes, with over expressive man-eye-brows to go along with it. Most importantly, Bruce is wickedly small for a stallion and is only bigger than the average mare by a couple of inches. Lastly, his cutie mark is an entire shark's jaw, with teeth and all. He got his cutie mark by trying to save a young shark when he was helping his father out at sea. He saved the shark, but it left him his trade-mark scar on his left cheek. His cutie mark represents his mission to preserve aquatic life, and as a marine biologist he has accomplished so much. However, it wasn't always like this, from his childhood things weren't easy going, and life was tough. Bruce is the son of Fey Ocean, his mother, and his father Captain Cutthroat. As a young lad he helped his family earn money by catching fish out from the sea, and sold them fresh on the market. However, he had endured some rough experiences from his father, who only started physically and mentally abusing Bruce and his wife after the death of his first son, Butch. Although, it was kept a secret from Bruce for a long time, he did have an older brother. The accident occurred before Bruce was born. At the time his mother was helping Butch, by teaching him how to swim in the ocean. When she turned to get something and looked back he had already died from drowning, he had simply been caught under the current and drowned in mere seconds. His mother grieved terribly over her son's death, and she still holds the burden with her till this day, blaming herself for his death. Bruce's father didn't take the news too kindly, and it only stirred anger within him. After the birth of Bruce he sought to make him the spitting image of Butch, even though he never would be. His father would ignore him and most of the time his mother was probably drunk, crying over Butch. Bruce never had a real role model to show him how to behave and act. The effects showed when he had poor relationships with other ponies, usually ending with a fights. The experiences he faced forced him to became a bully throughout his childhood life, to hide the fact that he was a mess inside. However, he regrets being a bully to many of his former classmates, such as Wilbert the massive nerd in his class, or his ex-girlfriend Pandora. Even then, he might not be able to fix what he did, he can still ask for forgiveness. Years later he stopped killing off oceanic sea life as means to gain money. He retaliated against his father for not agreeing to work in the family business, and mostly importantly not supporting him for being gay. His father kicked him out of the house and disowned him as his son, even after his mother cried for him to come back. He left to start a new life with his immensely loving boy-friend, Aerostorm. From time to time both stallions will reminisce on the past and wonder how life would be if they had not met. Bruce would not have it any other way, and no pony could ever be better than Aerostorm. That brings us to our next stallion, Aerostorm. The fast, agile, large, hippie-dippie love stallion is the son Rainbow Dash, and Dumb-bell. As a young colt Aerostorm was already considered to be special, according to his mama. Taking after his mother, Aerostorm has an array of different streaks of hair color. He has orange, light blue, and beige highlights for his mane and tail, while his entire coat is blue. Aero has specific gene where in cold temperatures his entire body fluffs up, making him look like some sheep dog. Another thing his parents took notice was that Aerostorm had a peculiar condition of heterochromia, where someone has two different colored irises. His left eye is blue, while his right is purple, but most of the time his eyes are hidden beneath his large bangs. At a young age Rainbow Dash held high expectations for Aerostorm, praising him as the next best Equestrian flier, and Stormy is an incredible flier no doubt, but that is not his aspiration. Aerostorm embraces a calm, easy-going life, without the need of a competitive streak. This may sit wrong for Dash, and they might butt heads over it, but in the end they love each other too much to get into a fight. As for Dumb-bell, he supports his son, but Celestia above he needs to get a manecut. Aerostorm also has two younger sisters, Misty and Ember, which he adores them so much. They both love their big brother and they secretly strive to be like him. Over the years Stormy has made many great friends, his favorite best friend is, Rosemary. Rosemary is the daughter of Fluttershy and Bulk Bicep. The two have know each other for a long time, and their bond grows with time. They both enjoy being enormous hippies, to which Bruce disdains over. Rosemary has her own studio were she works as a fitness instructor. She teaches about learning to love one's body and self. On special days Aerostorm and Bruce will go to privately have nice relaxing meditation day. While Aerostorm is all into the moment, Bruce is kinda lost and really bored. Rosemary will come from out of nowhere and try to get Bruce to appreciate tranquility and harmony. Which Bruce would response, W-what! Bloody hell! I don't wanna' embrace rainbows an' flowers! Poor Bruce. Aerostorm and Rosemary are easy-going ponies to say the least, and there are only a few things that rarely tick them off. One common thing, or pony for this matter, that they both dislike is Chakra Blossom. Mainly regarded as Aerostorm's ex-boyfriend, which he'd rather not talk about, and Rosemary's obnoxious cousin. Rosemary knew from the begging that Aerostorm and Chakra's relationship would not work out, because behind Chakra's cool demeanor he secretly was a selfish, manipulative, insecure ass-hole. Many times Rosemary tried to warn Stormy, but Stormy was always lead to believe by Chakra that Rosemary was trying to ruin their relationship. Stormy being extremely naïve fell for this trick, and listened to Chakra. However, Stormy started getting too close to Chakra, which Chakra disliked completely. So he lead Stormy into a multitude of tasks that would either get him physically or mentally hurt. Finally, Stormy became furious with Chakra and broke up with him. Even though it was over a year ago the pain of the past lingered in Aerostorm's memory. Which brings us back to the present time, where Bruce and Aerostorm are hauled inside their cabin. Aero was comfortably lying down the floor, warmth from the rug underneath him. He was enjoying the heat coming from the fire that was blazing inside the chimney. He shook his fur causing it to puff out, it made him giggle with glee. At the moment Stormy was making a special flower-necklace for Bruce even if he didn't like to wear them most of the time. Gosh! I just love that stallion. I don't know where I would be after... HIM Stormy was referring to Chakra Blossom, everything that he did for him, loving him, singing to him, and cherishing him was all for nothing. It was a like a terrible romance novel, but the couple never stayed together, not in this story. Stormy's last words to Chakra were, "H-how could you!! I-i..... loved you and now. *Sob* You changed Chakra, and I'll never give you anything else, you jackass! AND DON'T CALL ME DAYDREAMER!!" Stormy stopped his process of making the necklace and bowed his head in sadness and anger. He could not believe he would let anypony treat him in such a rude and inhumane way. Tears formed in Stormy's eyes and he sobbed quietly into his chest, not wanting Bruce to hear him break down. Half-way from the foyer, inside the kitchen Bruce was preparing for a late dinner, using only herb ingredients and natural foods. Stormy didn't like guts and meat. Whelp, can't blame em' for that. Bruce chuckled at his remark and set all the necessary ingredients on the counter. Suddenly, his ears perked up at the sound of a silent sob. "W-what the. Stormy?" Bruce dropped everything that he was doing and trotted towards the quiet sobs. Bruce entered the foyer and noticed that Aerostorm was lying down near the fire-place, but he was body was quivering. Bruce became concerned, walking close to Stormy's side. "Hey, mate, you right?" Stormy was startled at the abrupt noise and jumped a bit. " O-oh!...Brucie, it's just you, I was just taking a quick power nap. No need to worry." Stormy said it as if he was totally fine, but Bruce could tell other wise. "Then, why are ya a sniffin' mess?" Stormy turned pale and tried to hide the fact that he was having an emotional break down. "Phhssh! This," Stormy wiped his eyes and nose," this is a common cold I am coming up with, nothing unusual." Stormy beamed a smile and played it off cool, but he sure as hell wasn't doing a good job at it. Bruce gave Stormy a deadpan stare and cocked his eye-brow, "Really? If I recall correctly mate, you didn't have a cold no more than an hour ago." Stormy's expression faltered from his wide smile to a gloomy frown. Bruce mentally slapped himself for making Stormy feel like shit. Goddammit Bruce! Watch your words. " Stormy! I didn't mean to make you feel bad mate." " It's just, I heard you crying and I got kinda worried. What's wrong?" Bruce lied down next to Stormy and waited patiently for his response. Stormy gave in and looked into Bruce's eye. He knew if there was anyone he could trust, it was Bruce. He fiddled around with the flower-necklace and sighed. "Ok, well Bruce, the reason I was crying was because.....I thought about.... Chakra Blossom." Bruce internally became enraged by the slightest remark of that BLOKE. "Why would you be thinking about him?" Bruce asked as sincerely as possible. "Bloody garbage never gave you nothin', and I know for sure he never deserved you. Why is this bothering now Stormy?" " Well," Stormy tried to keep his composure," I was thinking about all the cruel things he made me do, and how I gave him everything. A-and...I was so, so dumb Bruce I...I let him control me like a puppet. Why... why was I so stupid!?" At this point Stormy was sobbing into the rug and getting his face matted with tears. Bruce quickly dove in and supported Stormy's head onto his shoulder. He nuzzled his face, trying to reassure him. " Stormy, look at me, you are not dumb, nor a damn idiot. Any bleedin' dumbass who says otherwise is a bloody joke. You are brave Stormy, self-less, and most importantly you saw the good in me. Even when I didn't WANT you to love me!" " That damn Chakra Blossom can go jack himself off, for all I care. He was the one at fault here, not you." " After everything I went through with my parents I had no idea what to do. Then I remembered I had you." Bruce bumped his forehead against Stormy. Bruce pulled back Stormy's bangs and gazed into his beautiful eyes. "I was real asshole before, and I want to change who I am and become a better pony. You are a gem Stormy, and I wouldn't trade ya for anything ." Bruce nuzzled Stormy and the two embraced with a loving hug. Stormy was the first to part, wiping his tears and composing himself. Then he started to chuckle, "Wow. Brucie, have you been taking some poetry lessons from Rosemary. That was really romantic of you." Bruce suddenly became flustered by the remark and turned away. "Oh, quiet you great bleedin' sheep dog. If I didn't like ya I would have knocked you out for that." Stormy smirked and gave Bruce a sly grin. "Really now? If I remember correctly I am the one in bed who does all the knockin'." Bruce gave Stormy a shocked face and took the statement as a challenge. Stormy got up and trotted out of the foyer and into their bedroom, wiggling his flank as he teased Bruce. He turned around and gave Bruce a cheeky grin. " Now you've done it! Come over here you SMUG BASATARD!!" From inside the bedroom Stormy could be heard laughing his ass off, which got Bruce to laugh as well. Bruce ran in after Stormy and shut the door. Well at least the storm would block all the sounds out. Ahhh..... Boys! A couple of hours later the storm had moved past the cabin and for the most part everything had stayed intact. Bruce and Stormy were hauled inside the bedroom, cuddling close. While Bruce was dozed off in slumber Stormy was playing with his mane and petting his head. Bruce would scrunch up his face and in his sleep say stuff like, " O-oh, yeah, that's the spot." Stormy chuckled and made himself comfortable next to Bruce. Stormy kissed his snout and said," Goodnight, or.... morning? Ah, oh well who cares?" Aero placed his head on Bruce's chest, letting sleep take him away.