//------------------------------// // Star Struck // Story: Entangled Pathways // by Storm butt //------------------------------// Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It belongs to The Hub, Hasbro, Studio B, and Lauren Faust. I do not own any of these characters in any way or how, nor do I claim ownership to the pony franchise. These characters are simply my toys. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Don’t look at me!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Entangled Pathways Chapter 9: Star Struck A whistle, the smell of smoke, and the slight jostling under Soarin’s hooves told him that the train had in fact started to move. Even though he was standing still as a statue, he was in fact moving. The thought seemed strange to him at the moment, alien even, in fact his thoughts wouldn’t add up to anything other than a few words at a time. It was unsettling him to say the least, the silence of Braeburn and his unchanging expression didn’t seem to fit with everything else moving, including the Wonderbolts who were settling in on their own beds around them. He became rather glad that all of them were giving private space to the two, knowing that Braeburn could very well be a time bomb at the moment. Why wasn’t he upset, or angry, or even the slightest bit unnerved that the entire world was looking at him, looking at what he had tried his best to hide back in Appleloosa before he met the pegasus. It was frightening just how un-frightened Braeburn was. All the yellow pony was doing was staring at that image. Perhaps his face did have at least one emotion on it… he was thinking. It was quite possible that Braeburn was wondering just how much his life would change now. The fact that he was indeed dating a celebrity had been covered up for the most part, and the media had died down in wondering why the vice-captain who swung both ways hadn’t been caught on camera with dozens of mares and stallions. This was different, in every way imaginable. The image made Braeburn look like a slut, plain and simple, like so many other camera’s that had captured his private moments in the past. But Braeburn wouldn’t want his fifteen minutes of fame, he wouldn’t enjoy the attention he got, and he sure as hell was going to have a hell of a time with Soarin’s crazy fans. Braeburn closed his eyes, Soarin began to feel the tiniest bit silly as he found himself jump as his lover’s face changed, even in this small detail. His eyes looked baggy, however they weren’t red nor angry. He just looked tired if anything, tired and used, the same way Soarin had let himself look in front of the Wonderbolts when he broke down, and in front of Spitfire the previous night. The earth pony’s green eyes revealed themselves once more as he finally folded the newspaper, shaking his head ever so slightly. Soarin didn’t dare open his mouth, in fear that whatever emotion Braeburn was hiding would show itself. Soarin found himself shifting uncomfortably on the small bed he shared with Braeburn, the earth pony sitting up with the back of his head against the window. Normally this wouldn’t faze him, he had been in the paper over something this humiliating several times…. But Braeburn… “Hey Soar?” Braeburn finally mumbled. His voice was raspy, he hadn’t said a single word since they had left the hotel, which was well over a few hours ago. “Y-Yeah?” Soarin asked, cocking up his brow. “What’s up, buddy?” Braeburn blinked a few times. “Ah think Ah’ve seen this newspaper before… my folks read it all the time.” He paused for a long while. “All er Appleloosa is likely lookin’ at me right now…” “And… Soarin began to approach this topic gently, his voice soothing as he reached out a hoof, gently sliding off Braeburn’s cowpony hat and stroking his mane. “How do you feel about that?” The yellow shoulders attached to the head of his lover went up and down in a shrug. “Ah don’t know if ah’m embarrassed er not.” He admitted, a chuckle in his voice that seemed rather forced. “But… part of me feels like… like ah’m laughin’ at them because of it… like ah went through everything, and can let ya love me now without guilt…” His voice was quiet so only Soarin could hear. Soarin let a goofy smile slide onto his face at the second half of those words. “Well I’ll be dammed, my coltfriend still has a few balls to spare!” He said this likely happier and more upbeat than needed, for Braeburn reached up his hooves as if to pull down his hat before remembering that it had indeed been pulled off. The earth pony’s face blushed a deep red, much likes roses, as he hid his eyes behind his hooves, letting out a pitiful mumble of the words “Not so loud…” “What’s that?” Soarin teased, louder than needed, reaching out his hooves to gently shake Braeburn’s body. “Don’t want me to talk about your sexy balls of steel?” “Will you two get a room?” Spitfire snapped from her bed, suddenly making Soarin stop dead as a shiver went down his spine. He looked at Braeburn, who was still hiding his face, and reached out his hoof to lower Braeburn’s legs. “I’ll lay off now.” Soarin said, sticking out his tongue playfully, watching as Braeburn refused to meet his eyes. Braeburn blinked a few times before slowly opening up the paper once more. “Ah…” He began, although stopping for a brief moment as if gathering his thoughts. “Ah think that this might be our first picture together…” He murmured. Soarin blinked several times as he stared at the same picture Braeburn was looking at. He mostly looked at Braeburn, his embarrassed expression, his outfit, his darting eyes. Soarin could almost feel the squirming in his arms once more, causing his own cheeks to tint as well. “At least…” Soarin blinked, coughing quietly to hide his sudden embarrassment. “At least you look cute in it. I look like I’m taking advantage of you.” He mumbled, leaning on Braeburn’s body now, whispering these words into his ear. Braeburn blinked a few times. “T’aint very special if the entire world see’s it though…” Soarin shrugged, throwing a shoulder around Braeburn’s neck and pulling him closer. “The hell needs a picture anyway?” He mumbled. “You’re famous now, aren’t you? Was gonna happen sooner or later if you intended to keep kissin’ me.” Braeburn let out what sounded like a half whimper before Soarin slammed a hoof over his mouth, nuzzling the side of his head. “Shut up.” He whispered. “You know my ass was worth it.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Soarin stared at a certain droplet of water running down the side of the glass. At times it would start up so fast that his focus had to race to catch up to it. Other times the simple drop of water would slow down, and take a little break. Soarin could imagine the droplet panting and huffing before continuing his race with the other droplets down the side of the glass. The pale blue pegasus opened his mouth for a mere second to let out a rather loud yawn in the almost empty cart where the small bar was held. The moment his eyes darted back to the spot where the droplet had been, it had already become lost in the dozens surrounding it, either that or it hit the beermat it was sitting on. Soarin’s lips lowered in a mixture of a pout and disappointment. He reached out his leg, grasping the ice cold glass in his hoof before lifting it to his lips, feeling the liquid run down his throat before setting it back to its original spot. He began to rest his head on his hooves as he laid his head on the table, keeping his eyes wide open as he stared at the body next to him. “Alright, why did you even follow me out here?” The words hissed out of his lips with ease. He wasn’t exactly angry, just a tad bit annoyed the other had stayed silent for so long. The gray shoulders of Rapidfire shrugged. “Can’t I want a drink now and again?” He asked, looking down at Soarin as his hooves went to the glass once more, mimicking Soarin’s previous movements. A smirk was on his face, although there seemed to be something else he wasn’t letting out. “Aren’t you hung over or something?” Soarin grumbled, his eyes narrowed as he half sat his body up, his back still hunched over and his weight resting on his upper legs. He gently rubbed his hoof against the other, blinking several times as he waited for a reply. “Point?” Rapidfire replied, a chuckle that Soarin simply rolled his eyes at. The silence continued for several moments, Soarin poking his half empty glass several times as the ice jiggled inside. “It’s just really weird.” Rapidfire suddenly spoke up, his voice devoid of any emotion. This for some reason grabbed Soarin’s attention as he straightened up, if a little slowly. “I mean… Brae here and everything, sure, but not only that, you’re acting different too.” “Different… how?” Soarin asked, not hesitating for a moment. “Dunno… happier I guess… and not the fake happy you used to try and fool us with.” Rapidfire said, smirking somewhat sadly at Soarin. “I mean… you don’t look all that sad anymore, when I see you with Braeburn, it’s almost like… you act like you did back when you and Spitfire first came to the Wonderbolts.” Soarin suddenly laughed half-heartily. “Like that?” He asked “Back when I was a stupid brat and everypony was at least five years older than me? And I still thought I was a big shot?” “Why are you using past tense, stupid brat?” Rapidfire teased, sticking out his tongue and earning a playful punch to the shoulder from his best friend. “But really, you are kind of freaking me out!” “Excuse me for being happy.” Soarin grumbled, albeit playfully. He was silent for several moments as he took another sip of his drink. He shook his head a few times slowly to clear his now clouding thoughts. “It’s just that… I really feel like I’m doing the right thing this time.” He said, a small smile on his face. “Whenever… whenever Brae gets near me and hugs me, even during his nightmares, my heart starts beating so fast I turn red… that hasn’t happened in a long time.” He looked over at Rapidfire. “It’s gotten to the point where… where whenever I’m not near him, my heart hurts… that sounds lame, I know… but…” Soarin blinked his eyes a few times. “I’m a little scared that I might lose him… I really… I really think I didn’t care about him as much as I did until the letters just… just stopped.” The words rolled off of his tongue through his half-drunken state with ease, each word clear and audible. “It just hit me how scared I was that I might not see him, that he got a new coltfriend, or got hurt or even died… I don’t know what I would have done even if it was just a simple as a new lover…” Soarin blinked once, twice, three times before continuing. He might very well have been riding his eyes of upcoming tears. “I don’t even know if I really loved him back then… or if I came back and offered him to come with us out of guilt… but when I sent that letter to him, something just changed… I think I might have been writing to cut him off or something, I don’t know… but I couldn’t go through with it, so I just sent a stupid, meaningless letter.” “Yeah, yeah, I know, those dumb love letters you got all gaga over up until recently.” Rapidfire mumbled. It might have been an attempt to lighten the suddenly serious mood, Soarin honestly couldn’t tell. Soarin chuckled forcibly. “Yeah, gaga…” He paused. “I thought I was going to break when I saw all that blood of the crime scene…” He mumbled. “I… I just thought the worst, and I wanted to cry so hard over everything I wish I had done, over how many times I wish I had held him when he cried… I want to do that now…” Rapidfire tilted his head at Soarin, cocking up a brow. “Really now?” Soarin shrugged, he wasn’t exactly sure why. “I guess… I guess that I want to give him as much happiness and love that he got for hatred… I want him to live with me long enough so that I can prove to him how much I love him, and I can finally stop hurting so many damn stallions and mares trying to fill this god damn hole in my heart!” He snapped out the last part with force, the bartender beginning to eye him oddly. “I just… I just feel like I’m so close sometimes… I’m so close to finally being happy, and falling in love for real for once that I think I can reach out and touch it, hold it to me and keep it safe forever… I feel like I can finally stop looking, and stop being so angry and unhappy all the time…” Soarin blinked a few times, trembling ever so slightly, and only once. “I’m so scared Rapidfire…” He admitted begrudgingly “I’m so scared that he might leave me, that I may hurt him, or say something wrong, or… or he’ll forget how to love me…” Soarin suddenly felt a throbbing in his hooves. As his mind came back to reality, he realized just how tightly he had been clutching his glass. He unclenched it slowly, carefully. His mind began to hurt, throb even. “I just want this to be real. I don’t just want to be loved… I want to love them in return, have them depend on my life I do for them… why was that so hard?” He asked. He closed his eyes to hold back the tears he knew would shed. Were they… from joy or sorrow this time? Rapidfire shrugged before turning his head to the bartender, who was looking at them oddly for Soarin’s little rant. He sighed before resting a hoof on his friend’s back. “C’mon you stupid brat, Braeburn’ll be missin’ you.” Soarin let out a tiny sniffle before grumbling and shaking off the hoof. Only his friends really knew how to get to him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Where in Equestria are we…” Braeburn mumbled. “Looks mighty like the last town… we visited.” “I don’t remember the name…” Soarin mumbled as his legs trotted at Braeburn’s limping speed, several feet behind the others. Braeburn still continued to wince when he walked, and it looked like he would collapse any moment, and was talking just to ignore the pain. “But I think it’s… Pony… something… or other.” Soarin began. “We have a whole bunch of shows around here within flying distance, and a few here itself. So we just decided to crash in this town for a week or so. I guess you could just stay in the hotel and sleep, since most of them are late at night and all. But I can always get you a free VIP pass for the ones you can walk to.” Braeburn nodded. Soarin suddenly realized he may not have heard a single word, for he looked to be deep in thought. It was almost as if he was still hung up on the subject of the town or something. “Yo, Soar!” Spitfire called from up ahead. “Get your flank in gear before somebody wants an autograph or something!” Soarin rolled his eyes. He used a wing to gently tap Braeburn’s flank, smirking in delight as the other blushed and picked up speed like a racehorse would. Fleetfoot’s voice reached his own ears as she began to speak to Spitfire. “So, this is our first time staying in Ponyville, isn’t it? Is the rest of the team already at the hotel, or are we just waiting for them again?” Braeburn stopped dead in place. He gasped just loud and alarmingly enough to freeze the rest of the Wonderbolts to freeze. “Ponyville?” He asked. He suddenly started trotting forward to Fleetfoot. “Did you say Ponyville?” Fleetfoot nodded almost without thinking. Braeburn’s sudden fear seemed to alarm them all as he began to breathe heavily. His mouth began to move, but no words came out. He breathed heavily before moving rather fast. “W-Where’s the hotel, we have to get there now!” He suddenly wailed out. Soarin reacted on pure instinct as he flew over the others and landed in front of Braeburn, resting a hoof on his shoulder. “Woah, buddy, don’t run, you’ll only get hurt. What’s wrong, why are you in such a rush?” He leaned in to nuzzle Braeburn’s forehead, but felt his face be pushed away. Hell, it was almost hit away considering it was Braeburn’s force. “Please Soar, we have to go now! I’ll explain later, you can get angry at me if you want but please just go!” He wailed out. “Braeburn?” The next ten seconds seemed to last hours… no, days to Soarin. The shock, fear, and pure terror that hit his face the moment his name was called by an unfamiliar voice to the pegasus unsettled him. His eyes grew wide as his body began to tremble, looking as if he might break into tears he bit his lower lip, looking at Soarin with pleading eyes, begging him to take him away from this place, to swoop him up and fly him anywhere safe to the hotel, back to Appleloosa, even to the deepest pits of hell itself, anywhere but right here right now. He wasn’t looking over at the voice, he knew who it was. Soarin blinked several times, looking over to see an orange mare with a cowpony hat atop her head, her mane blond and held together by a red band. She looked surprised, not happy to see Braeburn, she looked as if she had a million questions as her eyes widened and she began to trot forward. “Who is…?” Soarin began. But he wasn’t able to ask his question. Braeburn took off running, away from the orange mare.